Chapter 403: Surprise

They talked the night away on the roof of Mark's home.

The conversation wandered from Ethan's ridiculous family situation to Mark's condition, Kaela's strange new abilities, Elara's discoveries, and countless smaller topics that had nothing to do with Gates or monsters.

It was almost normal.

Almost.

Eventually, however, Elara decided that this was probably as good a time as any to show Ethan her surprise.

Well, it wasn't much of a surprise anymore.

She was fairly certain he had already figured it out.

It was hard to miss.

Every time Ethan visited Mark's family, he noticed the house next door.

The old place that had once been his home, the place that had remained empty for years, and that Elara had been quietly working on.

The thought of finally showing him made Elara strangely nervous. She had been confident about the idea when she'd started, but now that the moment had actually arrived, she wasn't so sure.

Ethan had suddenly learned so much about his past.

All the pieces of his life he had spent years avoiding had suddenly been dragged back into the light.

And maybe he was finally ready to face this one too.

"You want to check it out?" Elara asked.

Ethan stared at her for a moment.

Then he sighed.

"Sure."

It had been an idea he'd had for a while now.

From the moment he first got his hands on some money as a Titled, he had considered buying his old house.

But he'd never gone through with it.

There was too much attached to the place.

That house wasn't simply where Ethan had grown up.

It was where he'd watched his mother slowly lose herself to addiction and where he'd experienced some of the worst years of his childhood. After his mother died and Ethan eventually moved in with Mark's family, he had never returned.

Then he went to prison.

The house remained unclaimed, eventually becoming little more than a hiding place for homeless people and addicts.

'A crack den.'

That was what Ethan had always thought of it as.

And yet now, as he followed Elara toward it, he found himself strangely curious. Elara led them down from the roof, and the four of them crossed the short distance between Mark's family's home and the old property.

Ethan stopped when he saw it.

He had expected the same miserable building he remembered.

Instead, the entire place had been transformed.

The exterior had been cleaned and repaired. The windows were new, the yard had been maintained, and the entire property looked like an actual home again.

Ethan stared at it.

"Elara..."

She smiled.

"Come on."

She opened the door, and they stepped inside.

Ethan immediately understood why she had been so excited.

The place was beautiful.

And rather than excessively luxurious, it was warm.

Comfortable furniture filled the living room, soft lighting illuminated the walls, and everything had been arranged to make the house feel lived in rather than like some expensive showpiece.

Elara had somehow managed to preserve the feeling of a home while completely erasing the atmosphere Ethan remembered.

She had designed it for him.

Every room seemed to have been chosen with him in mind.

There was even a small storage area filled with cheap cigarettes.

Ethan stared at it.

"You bought me cigarettes?"

Elara crossed her arms.

"I hate the smell of them."

Ethan laughed.

"But I know you're going to smoke them anyway," she added.

He smiled.

That was Elara.

She could complain about his smoking while still making sure he had somewhere to keep them.

Kaela walked past the storage area and immediately looked around.

"Where's my storage of liquor?"

"You already treat my bar like one," Mark called from behind them.

Kaela shrugged.

"Fair enough."

They all laughed.

The house had cost Elara a ridiculous amount of money.

But money wasn't really the point.

They all had money now, more than they really needed.

Between their Gate earnings and the resources available to them, buying a house wasn't exactly difficult. What mattered was that Elara had taken the place that contained some of Ethan's worst memories and turned it into somewhere he could make new ones.

And the location made it even better.

It was directly beside Mark's family, so if anything happened, they could be there almost immediately.

Ethan looked around again.

It was perfect.

More perfect than anything he could have designed himself.

"Thank you."

The words came out quietly.

Elara looked at him.

"You don't have to thank me."

"I know."

Ethan smiled.

"But I still want to."

On the table were four sets of keys.

One for herself, one for Ethan, one for Mark, and the last for Kaela, each labelled with their names.

Ethan picked up his own set.

He then looked at Kaela.

"I'm probably going to regret letting you have one."

"You definitely will."

She grinned.

Beside the keys was another surprise sitting on the table.

A folded black tracksuit.

Ethan picked it up.

"Are these those special clothes you told me about?"

Elara nodded.

"Greg gave them to us."

Ethan studied the material that looked completely ordinary.

"Does it really work?"

"None of us has tried them yet," Elara admitted.

Kaela's eyes immediately lit up.

"Then why don't we test it?"

Ethan and Elara answered at the exact same time.

"No."

Kaela frowned.

"Why not?"

"This is our new house," Ethan said.

"I'm not destroying it right after getting the keys."

Kaela looked disappointed.

Her abilities might have changed, but thankfully her personality hadn't.

Or maybe not so thankfully.

She still seemed perfectly capable of turning any situation into an excuse to fight.

Mark, meanwhile, had already dropped onto the couch.

"I'm going to stay here."

Ethan looked at him.

"Really?"

"It's next door to home."

Mark closed his eyes.

"And I just want to sleep."

Ethan nodded.

"Sure. It's your house too."

Kaela immediately walked over and made herself comfortable.

"I'm staying as well."

Ethan looked at her.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't really have a house anyway."

Everyone paused.

Now that she mentioned it, Kaela didn't actually have anywhere she settled down.

They had a base for the Enforcers, and she spent most nights there anyway. She owned a bike shop and had more money than she knew what to do with, but she'd never bothered getting a proper home.

Ethan glanced at Elara.

Neither of them minded, not in the slightest.

If anything, it was nice to have a place they could share besides that Association-provided base.

But the look they exchanged said something else.

They wanted privacy and were used to having one place they could retreat to together.

Elara smiled.

"Ready?"

Ethan nodded.

"Yep."

She raised her hand.

Spatial Leap!

The air split apart.

Ethan's eyes widened.

The rift looked remarkably similar to a Gate.

For a moment, he stared at the distorted space beyond it.

'How the hell is she doing this?'

He had a dozen questions about how it actually worked.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to ask.

Elara suddenly pushed him through.

"Hey-"

The world twisted.

Then they were gone.

A moment later, they appeared back at what had become their home.

Ethan looked around the familiar basement.

He couldn't help smiling.

After everything that had happened, it was strange how comforting the place felt.

They were alone again.

And after everything they had talked about that night, there was still one thing they both wanted to do. With no missions waiting, no monsters nearby, and no one else around to interrupt them, Ethan and Elara spent the rest of the night together, doing what had occupied so many of their previous nights.

For once, there was nothing else demanding their attention.

And Ethan was perfectly happy with that.