Cabre fell to his knees and doubled over, grasping his stomach. He’d been sent on mission after mission and it seemed his body would never get used to warping. As soon as he had landed on the outskirts of Foolshope, he could feel his head start to spin and, almost immediately, his body had decided that his lunch needed to go. He tried to steady himself and even took a few deep breaths in hopes that the sensation would pass, but he was no match.

He grumbled, wiping his mouth with a scrap of cloth he promptly buried in the sand and poured enough water into his mouth to swish out the aftertaste. To his delight, they’d dropped him off fairly close to his destination; This wasn’t always the case. Within five minutes he was standing at the city gates, waiting in line to get in. It was an odd system for letting people in but, then again, he hadn’t been to many big cities so what did he know? This was standard for all he knew. Before long, he was standing face to face with a tired-looking man who seemed ready for his day to be done.

“Identification please.” He said with a sigh.

He pulled a translucent grey card from his pants pocket and handed it to the man, who took a moment to look it over before handing it back to Cabre. The two stood there for a moment and Cabre watched as the man looked him over.

“Anything illegal in that pack?” He asked, raising a brow.

Cabre shook his head.

“Just traveling supplies.” He replied.

To be honest, he wasn’t entirely sure what was considered illegal in the city. He shrugged the concerns away and looked back up at the guard.

“Do you have a permit for that weapon?” The guard gestured towards the sniper clipped to Cabre’s belt.

Cabre paused.

“Permit?” He furrowed his brows.

The guard let out another frustrated sigh.

“When you purchase a weapon, you receive a certificate of authenticity proving it’s yours. You’re also supposed to register any energized weapon with your town's EPWD to certify that you know how to properly use it.”

Cabre stared at the man in disbelief. The idea of needing registration for weapons was foreign to him. This was something most people had? Was it just the Legion that was out of the loop? The guard stared back at Cabre, narrowing his eyes.

“If you don’t have a permit-” He started.

“No, no, no.” Cabre waved his hands. “Of course I’ve got a permit.”

He gave a nervous chuckle, pulling his rucksack around to the front, rummaging around its contents. Did he actually have a permit floating around his bag somewhere? No. But pretending to look bought him some time to think of a plan. Surely, this wasn’t the only way to get into the city.

“Ahh grain beetles!” He exclaimed. “Seems I’ve forgotten it back home.”

Cabre shined his best innocent smile at the guard, hoping it was convincing enough. The guard didn’t seem impressed.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you into the city then. Unless you sign a form and leave the weapon with us. You can collect it when you leave.”

“No, that’s alright.” Cabre grumbled, turning away. “I’ll come back when I’ve got it on me.”

If he was going to capture the Celestial, his sniper was the best way to do it. The more he thought about this whole mission, the more discouraged he became. First, he had to get into the city, and then what? In a place this big, it would take ages to track this person down. What if he grabbed the wrong one? It was clear in his last visit, the Patron’s patience was growing thin. He couldn’t fail this time. But how would he get out of the city with an unconscious person? That isn’t something they’d just let slide.

“This is going to be impossible.” He mumbled, walking away from the gate.

Maybe he could forge a permit? Would the guard even believe him after their last conversation? What were the chances that they’d believe that he just so happened to conveniently find it after a solid 10 minutes of being gone? Maybe he could go to another gate and try that idea. Foolshope was big enough, he figured the likelihood of them having multiple entrances to be pretty high. He considered waiting until nightfall to take the risk of climbing the wall, but, looking at it, it didn’t seem very promising. There weren’t very many places to get a good grip and he was sure they had a regular watch circling the wall for that exact reason.

Eventually, he decided that the best option would be to go to another gate and try out his fake permit. He wandered away from the city walls to create his forgeries, which didn’t look half bad in his opinion. Once he finished, he wandered along the wall from a fair distance until he saw another gate.

“Identification please.” The guard said.

This lady seemed to have a bit more pep in her tone than the last guy so maybe she would be a bit more forgiving if there were a few minor details missing in his permit. To be fair, he didn’t exactly have anything to reference when making it.

Cabre pulled his ID from his front pocket again and handed it to her, waiting patiently as she inspected it. She looked at his picture and then back up at him.

“Remove your hat, please.” She prompted before lifting the ID again.

Once she was satisfied, she handed the card back to him.

“Anything that needs reported in that pack?” She asked.

“Nope, just traveling supplies.” He answered. “And here’s my permit for my rifle.”

Maybe she’d also be forgiving if he didn’t have to wait for her to ask? Figuring it was worth a shot, he grabbed his “permit” from the outside pocket of his pack and handed it to her. She furrowed her brows for a moment as she took the pieces of paper, looking over his person until she found the collapsable rifle clipped to his belt. She gave a small nod of realization before unfolding the papers to look them over. An awkward silence settled in around them that unsettled Cabre. Did it normally take this long to confirm someone's weapon permit?

“Says here you got your rifle from Gallyway’s Gun Shop?” She raised a brow.

“Yes, I did.” Cabre replied with a nod.

“Where’s that?”

“It’s in Gallyway. It’s pretty far north of here.” He lied. “There’s a great pastry shop there too.”

He’d made Gallyway up entirely.

“Uh, huh.” She seemed convinced.

She looked over the permit one more time before handing it back to him.

“Seems in-order to me.” She concluded.

“Wonderful.” Cabre replied, trying his best not to sound as relieved as he was.

Just as she was about to signal for the portcullis to be raised, a mechanical clicking sound called from the guard's waist.

“Sorry, just a second.” She apologized quickly before turning away from Cabre.

He watched as she pulled a communication device from her belt and pressed a button, speaking into it.

“Yeah?” She asked.

Cabre couldn’t hear the muffled, crackly voice coming from the other end of the radio. He was tempted to get closer to hear the entire conversation, but it would only make him look more suspicious. Instead, he opted to stay put and kick at the sand to pass the time.

“Really?” She peeked over her shoulder at Cabre, her eyes landing on the sniper at his waist.

He lifted his gaze, making eye contact with the guard.

“What’s he look like?” She quickly turned back around, asking in a hushed tone.

He raised a brow, curious as to what was going on. At this point, he couldn’t even hear what the guard on this end was saying. Not a moment later, he heard the radio click off and watched her slide it back into place around her belt. She paused briefly before turning back to Cabre. She looked him over one last time before walking over with a confident stride.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you in.” She finally said.

Cabre’s face fell and he looked at her in disbelief.

“Wait, why?” He asked, puzzled.

He was so certain this plan was going to work and it was crumbling before him. Despite his pleas, the guard seemed committed. She crossed her arms, giving him a stern look.

“I have reason to believe your permit is a forgery.” She replied simply.

Before he could protest further, she looked past him and waved the next person forward. Cabre slumped his shoulders and walked off, away from Foolshope. So that was it. He was going to fail. At this rate, he’d never find the last Celestial and the Patron would probably do away with him the next time he arrived at Camp Primary. Maybe it’d be before that. Maybe he’d be on his way back and he’d be taken out before he could even reach the gates and plead for his life.

He plopped himself down on top of a nearby sand dune, slumped over with his head in his hands. His only other option was to try to scale the wall and he already knew that wouldn’t end well. He’d either get caught or fall and get hurt. Or die. Sure it wasn’t that high up but there was always the off chance he fell wrong and bam. That’d be the end of it all. Maybe that outcome would be better. That way he wouldn’t have to face the Patron. What would happen to Yvonne, though? He’d always been close to her. He didn’t want to think of how his death would impact her.

No.

He was going to get into Foolshope. One way or another.

He lifted his head just in time to see a cloud of dust headed for the city gate. The closer it got the clearer it became. A large carrier headed for the city gates. A smile crept over his face and he got to his feet. That would be his ticket into the city.