Sneaking into the facility had gone better than anticipated. The cultists had truly not spotted the fault points and had them under-guarded, allowing the small task force easy access into the old Farrow facility. Jumping from nearby buildings or using grappling hooks to climb the walls in 3 specific locations, the breach was as quick as the rest. The few guards were quickly overwhelmed, knocked unconscious, gagged and tied up to be left for morning.

With only the stars above and the few still functioning spot lights highlighting the most walked paths, the shadows gave plenty for the Arconans to scale the side of the main building. From there, dropping sleeping gas and apprehending any that weren’t caught in that was just too easy.

Cole had been tense the entire time, ignoring any attempts at congratulations even after the battle was won. The rest of the Arconan forces that had come, barely more than a dozen, followed the task force and began the process of securing all the Mortis prisoners. He knew the buildings better than anyone other than Corvo, who followed him in as they took small groups to sweep each and every room of all the buildings on site bar one. Even hidden rooms were checked, though all but 2 had remained undiscovered evidently by the layers of dust.

Still he couldn’t relax.

Sofila’s hand brushed over his shoulder, a short gesture that he didn’t return. He could feel her concern. The sun was rising. It was over.

He looked toward the shortest building in the facility, the only one he’d requested be left alone. From their scouting attempts they knew no one was occupying it so the request had been respected but it left his adrenaline running high.

People who had once walked through this courtyard, between these buildings. Who had stared out the windows and flown the ships that had once cast shadows over the area, they were all still here. Their bodies hadn’t been buried, just shoved into a ditch that hadn’t been even covered against the northern most wall.

“What do you want to do with them?”

There wasn’t pressure to answer it yet. He didn’t know if he ever could. Corvo had stepped in, and started talking so hopefully it wouldn’t become his to handle. Cole wasn’t sure how to feel about that failing though.

The ghosts here thinned as he approached his home, Sofila following nervously until he offered her his hand. They stepped in together, before he released her as the door closed behind them.

Fire. There had been one, at least. Soot covered the floor, the walls, the ceiling. The duracrete had survived, plasteel doors warped until they barely seemed to be standing in their own doorways.

Cole was quiet, placing a hand to a door and pushing it, hearing the screech of the plasteel now incorrectly shaped for this task but forcing it open. The remnant of a living room provided some idea to the life once in this room. It was never much, but it was beyond repair. Beyond return.

He stared into the space silently, suddenly far more unsure of this plan. He had a task, sure, but was it worth this? His eyes burned with memories, wishing for the helmet he’d removed upon the fight being declared won.

At least it was only Sofila here.

He could feel her eyes on him. He could also feel the concern within them burning into the back of his head.

Cole forced his eyes away, glancing back toward the door of the meeting room but ignoring it and the next door. He peered into the open doorways that led into the kitchen and the dining room. The tables barely remained, the electronics still standing but ruined beyond repair. They were barely recognisable from the plain industrial items they once were. The dining room had the worst of the soot, a pile of debris that didn’t click any memories resting in the centre of the room.

“They started it in here.” Cole commented quietly, glancing toward the warped door of another guest room just ahead but turning away to return to the stair door, kicking it. The bottom swung out but the locking mechanism had survived.

He keyed the code in, seeing a pathetic flicker of green before the door clunked and fell loose, slipping off the hinges with the lock now no longer supporting it. It echoed through the air and they remained put until it stopped, Cole releasing a slight breath before stepping over it. The stairs were metal at least, and while it seemed distressed the structure itself felt sturdy as they ascended up. There was another keypad, and as Sofila watched him interact with it, with a different code despite being the same staircase.

This door clung onto the hinges at least, though the fire had clearly infiltrated past it.

Cole sighed, looking left as they entered and heading towards his old room. How many times had he climbed those stairs? Done all of this. Come home in armour, tired after a mission. Yet, as the door swung open his bed was destroyed and all the memories were nothing but that. There was no comfort to fall into, no familiarity. His feet had taken him into the middle of the room and he wasn’t sure how long he stood there. There was a safe under the bed, but everything outside of it was gone. The ghost of shelves that had once been on the wall and the items upon them were broken on the floor, only a few of the items having survived. A rock Zuza had given him, some other random bits. Even through the wreckage, the simplicity and lack of decor was obvious. Annoyingly the dents in the walls were still visible, what would Sofila think-

Grief rose, he couldn’t see suddenly and he squeezed his eyes shut. This had been a stupid idea, just for some pictures. Kark. Kark! His breathing hitched as he tried to contain himself, struggling to do that.

Cole had jolted slightly at her initial touch, but returned it. Gently squeezing her hand as she tried to help. And she did, in a way, bringing him back to the moment. To her.

“Thats why we’re here.” He spoke softly as she leaned down, not thinking much of it as he walked toward the bed.

As Sofila’s fingers brushed the rock, the Force blazed for a moment.

And she was looking into the young face of Zuza Lottson, running almost concerningly quickly toward her.

“Cole look!”

On looking behind her, Cole stood, leaning back ever so slightly as Zuza stopped altogether far too close. They were in the city still, but not on the compound. In some alleyway or another.

“Hey Zu.” Cole spoke, his expression not shifting but the almost on-guard stance relaxing.

“We found this on uh- uhm. I found this. It reminded me of you!”

She took his hand, not minding the tense of his shoulders and placed a shimmering rock into his hand. It had pale blue crystals shimmering just under the translucent surface.

“..Thanks?” He peered at it, then at her as Zuza beamed, her freckles somehow more prevalent than they were on her as a adult.

“Just hold onto it. I gotta-”

“ZUZA!”

Another voice called from far away and she started running, yelling over her shoulder, “I WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO BE GONE 10 MINUTES I THINK THIRTY MINUTES AGO I COULDN’T FIND YOU BYE!”

The vision conyinued as Zuza left, Cole examining the little rock closely before shifting to straighten up, clenching it in a fist as he looked behind himself, a figure approaching.

“Lottson?”

The figure was tall, taller than Cole was as an adult. He could have been an older Cole, if not for that and how much more slender Cole was. His eyes were paler too, maintaining the same neutral expression as he stood beside the teenager. Age was visible, wrinkles drawing in a slight frown and scars littering what skin was visible.

Cole glanced up, pocketing the rock and nodding as he returned to watching the alley, “Yes, it was father.”

“Your description was accurate, I thought you may have exaggerated the energy.” Trevor answered, “Where’s your brother?”

“He didn’t tell me.” Cole spoke softly, recieving a sigh before the Farrow patriarch walked past. There was a moment before Cole followed, looking up at his fathers back as they turned further in the alleys and the vision ended.

Cole was almost at the bed already, pausing at the strange words. What did she-

He looked at her, spotting the blue shimmer from the short distance away that he was and trying to piece it together. He knew exactly what that was, and remembered Zuza saying that but, oh. Right.

“…Did you see her giving it to me?” Cole asked softly, feeling the hairs on his arms raise but trying to contain the reaction. Sofila didn’t intend to, it was almost reactionary sometimes it seemed to him but it still was.. uncomfortable to have his memories peered at that way. Though that one at least was a good one. A ghost of a smile crossed his face after a moment, continuing just before she could reply, “Zuza got in trouble with her father a lot about doing kist like that. Finding me in the middle of the city. She never bothered to tell him where she was going. Never got lost though, I’ll give her that.”

Cole sighed but shrugged, “It’s okay. At least more remains here than it looks.”

The frame was badly damaged. A photo of a group of people in a dark space still laid inside it but it was no longer legible who was who. Sofila got flashes of memories, different lighting. Different times. Flickers of Cole, usually moving the picture but occasionally in other moments. The thud of a fist meeting metal, the crunch of bones and the heavy breaths of pain. Laughter. Focus. Focus. Focus.

It had mainly sat upon his desk across the room, rather than the shelves. Most of the flickers were filled with him focussing, glances of a frowning teenager, staring down at something or another. No moment stayed long enough to form a true vision. It lasted barely a second before sputtering away.

There was a screech of metal as Cole shifted the bed, kneeling down and pulling up a square from the floor with ease that spoke of how it was supposed to be removable. A small safe laid inside, a fine layer of dust and soot covering it but other than the discolouration fine. He lifted it, keying in a code and opening it.

Inside were pictures, a small pile of them. It took a moment to get situated, long enough for Sofila to walk over as Cole drew the pile out.

The first on top of the pile was Trevor Farrow with a blonde woman who held a baby with a head of blonde hair too, both smiling brightly toward the camera. Cole and Graham as teens fighting but looking happy, with the next one below it seemingly taken a moment later, Graham mid-air aimed at a wide eyed Cole. As adults, Cole and Graham in a club of some sort, other people there around them though none standing too close to the brothers. The next was Graham on the roof of one of the buildings in the compound in a superhero pose. Cole hesitated as he flicked to the next one, with him holding up Zuza in a club, both laughing. The next was a Zuza selfie with Graham and Cole in the back, Graham laughing as Cole pinched the bridge of his nose, hiding his face. A pre-teen Graham and Cole wiedling blasters at a shooting range, though it was their backs seemingly against their notice.

The last was Cole and Graham as adults, both looking tired but proud. Neither smiled but something in their expression held confidence, strenght. Despite bandages visibly on them, wherever it was they were, outside somewhere but not on this planet. It was taken by Graham, with the back camera leaving it off kilter.

Cole took care with each one as he looked through them, placing them as he looked each over into a bag.

Cole hesitated at placing the last photo, turning his head slightly to look at her before glancing back down. He spoke softly, “That was our first full mission where we did it all without our father’s influence. Everything from information gathering, planning, to the mission itself we lead it. And it worked. We took that territory from our enemy and were just waiting to go home. It had been weeks.”

He hesitated again before placing it into the bag, looking into the safe again. There was some credits, not a notable amount but enough for an emergency. He didn’t bother to take them, taking Sofila’s arm in his hand in return and standing with her.

He looked around at the room, eyes lingering on the dented walls before turning away from it. “Graham had more. He.. had them out though but I’d still..” He trailed off, sighing. It was probably pointless to look but he still wanted to.

Cole paused, pressing shut the cupboard he’d been looking into. He’d gone through most of them relatively quickly, finding nothing. He’d been about to storm out, honestly but the uncertainty in Sofila’s voice calmed him in a moment.

He looked, properly, and noted the same peeling. Cole frowned. Had Graham hidden things too?

…Of course he had. He hid an entire child.

He crouched at the corner of it, gently pulling away and… well kark. There was a false panel behind it. Metal. Not the original material. Cole pulled on it, and it slid, revealing a space that shouldn’t have been there. It was tiny, but three photos sat in it.

Sofila would see as clearly as he did, Graham in a hospital room, Evelyn in the beside him tired as anything while he held a silver haired baby, eyes with a softness that was nothing akin to the brash way he’d held himself in all the other pictures Cole had. The second showed Trevor, younger than in the other photo. He was still littered with scars but there was a lightness to his expression that hadn’t existed in the vision. He was stood behind a woman with hazel eyes, lighter hair, his arms wrapped around her waist. She clearly hardened by the same fights Trevor and Cole and Graham all had been, sturdy yet kind looking with one arm wrapped around her visibly pregnant stomach. Both adults seemed tired, while the young brown haired toddler, grasping onto her free hand with his other fist in the air, was yelling something. Graham didn’t have all his teeth yet, even. The last, was just Graham and Cole though young. Cole, seeming around the age Graham had been in the previous photo, on Graham’s shoulders as the elder brother did.. somethign that was clearly meant to be a pose. Both looked into the camera, pale blue and hazel and undamaged by the world. Graham grinning and Cole staring with a intense curiosity.

Cole hesitated to touch them, narrowing his eyes for a moment at the last picture before sighing. “I told him to get rid of that one. I… Kark.” He reached in for them, sticking it to the bottom of the pile. He couldn’t bear to look at it. At himself. If it wouldn’t piss Graham off he’d cut himself out of the damn thing so he could see his brother in it at least.

A beat passed, “Evelyn will want to see this one..” He was trying to distract himself, Sofila would know that surely. He wanted to cry. Two halves of himself raged against each other on it and he was left in the middle, staring at his brother. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t karking fair.

Months ago he’d felt rage, almost killed Zuza with the boundlessness of it. Now he just… wanted to cry. While the rest of him yelled at him for even admitting that was what he wanted to do, never mind considering turning his head and shoving his face into Sofila’s shoulder for a place to do it.

He didn’t move, just staring at the photos.

He hadn’t realised hed done it. Not until she said that. How many times had he come into this room over his own. Over his father’s. Over Corvo’s. Nightmares, injuries, secrets…

Cole’s shoulders shook once and he inhaled, shaking and trying to not lose it. But it caught in his throat and he pressed his face deeper into her shoulder.

He allowed himself a few minutes. Not sobbing but letting the tears wet her armour and his breathing shake in a way it usually wouldn’t. In a way he never let it shake. Eventually though, he calmed enough to speak again. He calmed enough that it felt.. lighter. Oddly.

It wasn’t as cold now.

“I.. yeah.” Cole cleared his throat. Awkward, lifting his head and rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes, avoiding looking at her or the photos. “I- kark. He’d.. I’d always come in here. Not always but.. a lot. He didn’t mind if I woke him up or.. needed to punch something without breaking my damn hand. Half the reason he got the bag in here, everyone thought he was a fitness junk now, and he kind of was but..”

Cole looked down at his knuckles. The scarring, the slight incorrect set to the one that he hadnt shattered on Selen. They’d put it back together perfectly, but his other fist was a remainder of the last time he’d shattered a hand before coming to Arcona. It still hurt on occasion.

“Yeah.” He half laughed, closing his eyes again. The cold of the lashes a slight shock, the moisture having cooled so quickly. “It stopped father on the threat of lining my bedroom walls with… sponge or some kist.”

Cole shook his head, squeezing Sofila’s hand before exhaling a heavy breath and turning to slip the backpack off his shoulder so he could place the photos with the rest. He looked over the one of him as a toddler again.

Despite everything, it’s still him.

“He’d kill me again whenever I do die if I got rid of it now.” Cole muttered, slipping it in behind the rest.

“Maybe.” Cole agreed, not entirely sure. If she was anything like Graham she’d probably want them. He was still scared to even meet her. What if she wanted to know the full truth? What if the moment she found out she… Kark. He didn’t want that for her. This life of his. It felt like a pathogen he could pass on.

He sighed, forcibly rising up to his feet and glancing to the window. The day was progressing, though he wasn’t quite done yet.

“One last room to check.” Cole spoke, holding his hand out to her.

“My father’s office.” Cole answered, unknowingly granting her fear as he helped her up to her feet.

His eyes were red, and cheeks still somewhat damp, but the firmness was back.

“I don’t know what will be there but, I spent enough time in the karking chair in there. I should look.”

Cole nodded, relief visible in his eyes for a fleeting moment before it was gone and they were back in the hallway. They went all the back down, toward and then past the door to the stair well. It was the last door on the left, and one of the lesser affected areas by the fire. Still scorched and blackened but the door wasn’t as damaged as others.

The fire had still gotten in, however.

Ashes crunched under foot, the remnant of what must’ve been dozens of books, binders and other physical information, scrolls and papers leaving naught but a thick layer of themselves across the floor. It hurt less to see it after the bedrooms and Cole didn’t quite hesitate this time as he had before. There was a desk, still standing with a half ruined chair seated behind it. Other chairs in similar states were beside the door, set to be pulled in if one should be sat across from the Farrow patriarch.

Cole stepped behind it, not bothering with the space to the left of the desk. Sofila would know from Wulfram what that space could’ve been. Planning. The pinned boards to the walls, even destroyed had the air of a station used to make plans, formulate tactics and maps.

Any attention to that would be drawn away by Cole yanking on a desk drawer, screeching as it pulled open. “Well kist.” He breathed. “Of all the things to survive, it was his karking paperwork with the local governments. By the void.”

It was almost a laugh, exasperated but amused. He dropped the binder he’d partially lifted back down into it, shaking his head and catching a glint of light beneath the ashes on the desk.

A photo frame. Any amusement drained quickly, the frame visibly made of metal. And apparently shatter resistant glass.

The paper was warped by the heat beneath, ever so slightly miscoloured. Cole had never seen this photo, it had always been on the desk facing his father.

There was 3, as if glued together. One half was Corvo, his mother and his father in wedding clothes, Corvo seemingly a bit awkward but Trevor had a hand on his shoulder as the trio’s picture was taken together. The second was when Graham was born, a small mess of blonde hair barely grown indicating his brother in his mother’s arms. She looked tired but happy, holding him. The third, a smaller photo glued to the corner of Graham’s birth was him, or him as a baby at least, in someone’s arms though who’s isn’t clear. Squinting up at the camera, unperceiving.

Cole placed the frame down, facing upward, so Sofila could see it but unable to find the words initially.

“Did.. I ever tell you what happened to her?” He was fairly sure he hadn’t. But in the moment he was uncertain, not expecting… this. Not at all. He’d always assumed it was his father and mother. Graham had too. Neither of them had been behind here before.

He saw the shake. It wasnt surprising. It still hurt, even if logically he knew it wasn’t his fault. It didnt change the weight of it.

Cole exhaled, picking the frame up and placing it in the bag in a seperate pocket to the others, “There was a complication when she gave birth to me. I’m not sure on the specifics but our medical facilities didn’t have what she needed. My father took her to a civilian place but… well. She didn’t make it. When we were little, Graham yelled it at me once. You killed mom.” He paused for a moment, closing the bag, “No one had told me anything before. I don’t remember precisely why Graham did then but kids are stupid and cruel. But, my father took him aside. Sent him to his room.”

Shed probably hate his father more if he kept going, Cole realised perhaps too deep into the story now to back out. There was several seconds before he continued.

“I just stayed put, he came back eventually and I didnt ask him but I remember looking at him. And he looked at me for a moment and..” Cole shook his head, ‘Corvo came in, armoured up, so they started talking. Never spoke about her with my father, she wasn’t forbidden, Graham did which is why I know what I do but it always.. felt wrong. You mightve been able to like the man if she’d not died. Corvo always said he gotten worse, didn’t need to say why.“

He smiled slightly, letting her pull him away from that set of thoughts at least. Cole closed the back pack, raising it up onto his shoulder and nodding.

“Between both of you I would probably have gone insane. Quickly.”

Glancing over the room there was nothing else sticking out to him. There were items he’d return for, mainly the papers in the desk, but they weren’t priority and he’d have some days to retrieve those. Days to visit graves and make one for his father even if it was only performative. Corvo had noted over the years they’d never placed a stone for him. The little things. Today was enough little things.

Cole took two steps, closing the space between them and wrapping his arms around her. It wasn’t the tightest embrace, and he released Sofila only after a few seconds but the message was clear.

“We should go. I’ll.. come back with Corvo at some point but that’s… that’s enough for today. We have all the photos that survived.” There was relief to his voice as the Human began to exit the room