Chapter 178: Between Two Sons

Jet arrived at Darkstar Guild headquarters that afternoon, wearing a loose jacket over his bandages.

His right arm still ached with movement, and the physician had warned him against circulating Mana unnecessarily.

Nevertheless, when Alessandro’s call came that morning, Jet had accepted the invitation without hesitation.

He had spent two nights wondering whether their last exchange at the crater would become the final conversation they ever shared.

The receptionist directed him upstairs. Alessandro was waiting in his private office, standing beside the windows overlooking the training grounds.

Jet saw Awakeners practicing beneath their instructors, reminding him of the hours he’d spent training here.

Alessandro turned when the door opened, and neither spoke. The Guildmaster looked tired, but composed.

"Thank you for coming, Jet," Alessandro said, approaching the seating area.

His gaze briefly settled on Jet’s bandaged wrist. "I heard the doctors discharged you. Are your injuries improving?"

Jet sat carefully on the offered sofa, keeping his injured arm close to his side. "Slowly, Guildmaster. They told me to rest, so I haven’t trained since the fight."

He glanced toward Alessandro’s untouched cup of tea. "How is Damian?"

Alessandro took the opposite seat, resting his hands together. "Conscious. His condition is stable, but recovery will take time. O.R.D.O. is keeping him under medical supervision."

He studied Jet’s face. "I should have answered your message sooner. I wasn’t ready to speak without letting my feelings decide what I said."

Jet nodded. He had imagined this meeting many times, but now that Alessandro sat before him, his prepared explanations seemed inadequate.

He didn’t want to sound defensive, yet he couldn’t allow the circumstances of the battle to become distorted simply because Damian was family. Alessandro appeared to understand that hesitation and waited rather than pressing him.

"I need you to hear what happened from me," Jet began, leaning forward despite the discomfort in his ribs.

"We found evidence that someone was tracking the expedition survivors and arranging attacks through hired people. Odhran was taken, his memories were searched, and he was killed. The others weren’t safe either. Even their families became targets."

Alessandro’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt. Jet continued, choosing his words carefully.

The investigation had led them to Damian’s operations; the coordinated raids were meant to stop the network before more people disappeared.

Damian had escaped in an armored convoy, and Jet had intercepted it while Adesewa was occupied elsewhere.

Jet knew that allowing the mastermind to flee could expose Inez and the remaining survivors to another round of attacks.

"I stopped the convoy because he was getting away," Jet explained, meeting Alessandro’s eyes.

"His escorts attacked me, and I fought through them. When Damian came out, he wanted me captured alive. He wanted what I knew about the Palladium Tree. He didn’t offer to surrender, Guildmaster. He fought me until neither of us could keep going."

Alessandro looked toward the training grounds, where two young Awakeners were sparring with wooden weapons.

He remembered arriving at the industrial district too late to understand anything except the sight of Damian beneath Jet’s sword.

Hearing the sequence now did not make that image disappear, but it placed the confrontation within decisions his nephew had made long before the final attack.

"Did you know who he was before the raids?" Alessandro asked, turning back toward Jet. "Not his connection to me. I mean, did you have proof he was directing the operation?"

Jet shook his head slightly. "We had leads that brought us to him, and the raids were meant to secure the evidence. I knew he was involved by the time I intercepted the convoy. What happened during the fight removed any doubt about what he wanted from me."

He paused, watching Alessandro absorb the answer. "I didn’t know he was your nephew until you told me."

Alessandro rubbed his forehead, then lowered his hand. "I believe you, Jet. I’ve reviewed enough of the investigation to know Damian’s actions weren’t a misunderstanding."

His voice grew rougher. "But when I saw him lying there, I wasn’t thinking like a Guildmaster. I saw the boy who grew up in my house, and I thought I was about to watch him die."

Jet’s fingers tightened against his knee. He had no answer that could lessen what Alessandro had experienced.

The memory of the older man’s face remained painfully clear, but Jet also remembered the terror he’d felt whenever he considered what Damian’s men might do to Inez.

Those two truths existed together, and neither could erase the other.

"I’m sorry you had to see that," Jet said, his expression serious. "I’m sorry I put you through that moment. But I can’t tell you I was wrong to stop him. If he’d escaped, Inez might have been next. I couldn’t gamble her life on the hope that he’d leave us alone."

Alessandro studied him before nodding. "I wouldn’t ask you to gamble with your sister’s life. Damian made that danger real, and I can’t pretend otherwise."

He exhaled slowly, looking older than Jet remembered. "What troubles me is how close I came to losing him, and how little I understood about the man he’d become. Those are things I have to face myself."

Jet shifted on the sofa, feeling the tension in his shoulders ease slightly. He had feared Alessandro would demand an apology for defeating Damian or insist that family loyalty outweighed the evidence.

Instead, the Guildmaster was refusing to make Jet responsible for choices neither of them had controlled. That didn’t restore their old ease, but it gave their conversation somewhere to go.

"I kept thinking about the introductions you mentioned," Jet admitted, glancing toward the window. "You said there was someone you wanted me to meet. I used to wonder what he was like. I never expected our first meeting to happen on that road."

Alessandro gave a weary nod. "Neither did I. I thought you’d have something in common because you were both talented and determined. I didn’t realize how differently you understood what strength was for."

He stopped, unwilling to turn the meeting into another assessment of Damian. "I can’t undo what happened. I can only decide how I behave now."

Outside, a training bell rang, and the Awakeners below began clearing their practice area. Jet watched them briefly, remembering how uncomplicated his visits to headquarters had once seemed.

He had come here to learn from a veteran whose experience he respected. Now every familiar corridor carried the knowledge of a connection neither of them could ignore.

"Does this change things between us?" Jet asked, turning back to Alessandro. "I don’t expect you to forget what happened, but I need to know whether you still want me here."

Alessandro considered the question. "It changes how we feel right now. I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But you haven’t betrayed me, Jet, and I’m not going to punish you for surviving an attack Damian arranged."

He leaned forward, meeting the younger man’s gaze. "I may need time before things feel ordinary again. I hope you can understand that."

Jet nodded, grateful that Alessandro hadn’t offered an easy promise neither could keep.

He noticed the Guildmaster had left his desk between them, choosing deliberately to sit close enough for an honest conversation rather than sheltering behind the authority of his position.

"I understand, Guildmaster. I don’t want you to choose between caring about him and treating me fairly. I only wanted you to know why I fought."

Alessandro’s expression softened. "And I wanted you to know that I heard you. Whatever happens with Damian’s case, you can still speak to me. I won’t ask you to hide the truth to spare my feelings."

He glanced at Jet’s injured arm. "For now, your first responsibility is recovering properly. You’ve already pushed yourself hard enough."

Jet managed a small smile. "The doctor said something similar. I think she’d personally drag me back to the hospital if she caught me training."

The attempt at humor earned a brief smile from Alessandro, though the silence that followed reminded them both that their conversation had not repaired everything.

Alessandro rose and walked toward the window, watching the empty training grounds. When he turned back, his manner was gentler, less formal than it had been when Jet arrived.

"There’s something else I wanted to ask. With the investigation underway and your family safer, what do you intend to do next?"

Jet looked down at his hands before answering. He had discussed the decision with Frey.

Leaving wouldn’t erase what had happened, but remaining in Zenith City no longer felt like the right choice.

He raised his eyes to Alessandro, knowing the answer might hurt more than either expected.

"I’m planning to leave Zenith City, Guildmaster," Jet said quietly. "Once I’ve recovered enough to travel, I’m taking Inez and the others somewhere else."