My Infinite System.

Lucy found him on the outer watch line before the light had fully changed.

Lucian did not seem surprised. He shifted once to clear a space on the broken wall and she settled down next to him as easily as she had in childhood, if not with quite the same freedom as she would have enjoyed as a girl.

They watched the land stretch out beneath the rise for a while.

”You’re quiet,” Lucy remarked.

”I’m always quiet.”

”Not like this.” She bumped her shoulder lightly against his. ”So. Evelyn.”

Lucian kept his gaze on the horizon. ”That’s not subtle.”

”I’m not subtle. I’m tired, you’re tired, and I am still your older sister. How do you feel about her?”

He did not answer immediately. When he finally spoke, it was with simple honesty. ”She matters. She always did. Even when everything else burned down around it.”

Lucy nodded once. ”Then stop pretending that she is another problem to survive around. It is high time you made room for yourself.”

Lucian gave a short, laugh-like sound. ”That’s rich, coming from you.”

”I’m serious.” Lucy turned to face him properly. ”Pursue a life with her. Actually pursue it. Not in the spaces between crises, but when this calms down – and it will – build something that isn’t just the next fight.”

”And Father?”

”Marc and I will take care of him.” Lucy’s voice softened slightly, although not much. ”You carry enough of this family on your back. You do not have to carry on their problems as well. When all of this is over, take away whatever you need to from their miserable little circle so that you can carve your own happiness and live with Evelyn.”

Lucian finally met her eyes. ”You make it sound easy.”

”It isn’t.” Lucy’s face was gentle but firm. ”It is necessary, though. You are permitted to want something that isn’t a burden. You are permitted to take it.”

The words had not fully left her mouth when the sky changed.

It did not happen gradually, as the light had changed at the beginning of the day. It was more like the sky simply decided to stop holding back.

”Contact!” Marc’s voice rang out from the far side of the formation.

Lucian was already up and moving before the sound had faded.

Lirael’s forces poured in with ruthless precision, containment specialists rolling in tight formations along the lower approaches, erasure class constructs taking up the flanks, and the pressure of wider Outer God lines folding over the terrain like a closing door. There was no wasted effort, no probing; they rolled in on what they knew to be the trail, and wasted no effort hesitating.

”Positions!” Lucian snapped.

Their camp scattered to meet the oncoming force. Reia drew Silas to one of the better firing angles on the rise, while Finn, Mira, and Dorian gathered close at his back. Vyn took up a position near Lucy, and Evelyn was already closing in on Lucian, her expression stern. Whatever argument had passed between them before was apparently over.

Lirael herself picked a spot in the center of the advancing force, and appeared at Lucian’s formation with little fuss or flourish.

”Lucian Black,” she said simply, addressing him across the space between their lines. ”You made this unnecessarily difficult for me.”

Lucian did not reply. The first rank of containment specialists was already upon them.

Containment rods flared as they opened fire, and constructs climbed the rise to meet them. Marc cut off the left approach with a decisive sweep of his blade, knocking two containment specialists off their feet. Silas took on a construct head on, taking a blast of energy to his chest before wrenching open its core in a spray of light. Reia took his place on his blind side, delivering swift, efficient shots that carved through the enemy with a vicious grace.

Lucian waded right into the fray. He cut down the first specialist, and sent the second into the side of a construct, knocking it over. Evelyn fought at his side with equal determination, and Lucy took up the interior defense with Vyn, making sure Althea and the others remained safe. The children held the line, Finn providing a sturdy anchor while Mira and Dorian flanked the enemies to either side, keeping them from closing in too quickly on the camp.

It was not enough.

Lirael picked her way steadily through the fray, her presence pressing against Lucian’s like a blade between ribs. She was gauging him, measuring him, trying to find purchase and make him give her something to cut away.

Lucian could feel the pressure from her and the rising weight of the battle. The lines on either side of their narrow ridge had already begun folding in around them, seeking to cut off their escape. If the young ones held back any longer, there would come a moment when someone would need them to be leverage.

He did not hesitate. ”Marc!”

Lucian wrenched open a sealed pocket dimension, the space between realms pulling apart at his command. He drew the edges together into a stable pocket. It would be nearly invisible to containment measures unless one was looking directly at it.

”Althea. Kids. In. Now.”

She hesitated for only a moment before Lucy shoved her toward the opening. Finn apparently understood what was happening, because he took to Vyn’s side immediately after Althea. Mira followed his example, as did Dorian. With a final effort, Lucian sealed the pocket and his own presence within it, hiding them from casual inspection.

Lirael narrowed her eyes at the space where the children had vanished. ”You cannot hide pieces of the board and expect to win by surprise.”

”I’m not hiding,” Lucian said. ”I’m eliminating the parts of the board that are a distraction to you.”

The battle turned. With the youngest ones out of the way, Team Zero settled back into their old pattern effortlessly. Lucy kept the inside defense, while Lucian took the front with Evelyn at his side. Marc took control of the ever-closing space around them, and the rest of the team fell into place. Reia and Silas took the outside shots, cutting through what containment there was while Vyn held the line between them and the enemy.

They did not fall back.

Lucian met Lirael head on, stopping long enough to glance over the battlefield. She had taken his attention, and it seemed that her containment teams had done the same for the others. Marc was wasting no effort, rolling up the approaches to snare any containment he could get his hands on. Silas and Reia were clearing out the constructs systematically, while Evelyn cut down any specialists who tried to get too close to Lucian’s blind side. Lucy kept the inside line, making sure nothing got past the team. Together, they broke up the first wave of attackers.

Lirael drew a second one, her containment specialists rolling up the ridge to meet them. Team Zero held their ground. The pressure from the other side was already starting to build, and the space along the ridge was growing more constricted. There was not much room to maneuver.

”You should have kept running,” Lirael said, her voice tight. The Outer God’s light flared around her hands, folding space in on itself in an effort to press Lucian back.

”I’m done running.”

Lucian simply walked forward. He closed the distance between them, and sent her tumbling backward over the ridge. The shock of it sent cracks through the rock beneath her feet.

”You should have kept running,” Lirael repeated, her voice strained. The pressure from the Outer God behind her was already starting to buckle the landscape.

Containment specialists adjusted their formation, seeking to use the momentum to roll up Marc’s sides. He growled in frustration, and cut them off with a sweep of his own geometry. Silas took a shot to his side that would have laid an ordinary man up, and he pushed through the pain, sending the energy right back into one of the constructs until it exploded in pieces.

”Left flank!” Evelyn shouted.

Vyn and Reia were already there, sealing the opening.

They were hurt. They were fighting through pain and exhaustion. But the line held.

Lucian shoved Lirael back once more, forcing her out over the ridge, and sending her sprawling onto her back. For the first time since her arrival, he saw something like doubt in her expression.

Team Zero held the ridge.

There was no order to fall back, and no command to retreat. They simply planted themselves firmly on the rock and met the next wave just as fiercely as the first. Just as they would meet the one after that, and the one after that, until the battle was truly over.

Lirael gathered up her containment forces, pressing them together into a tighter formation. Her Outer God pressure built behind her, another wall ready to crush what little space there was on the ridge.

Lucian stood at the front of his own team, Evelyn at his side, and waited for her to come again.

This time, they would not fall back.