Just as if fate was nudging him toward destiny, Sébastien found the fifth piece of his puzzle when he least expected it.

The earthquake had struck hard—an 8 on the scale, devastating everything in its path. Entire districts flattened, roads cracked open, buildings crumbled like sandcastles. The air was thick with smoke and dust, cries for help echoing from every direction. Emergency calls were sent out nationwide. Volunteers poured in.

Sébastien, along with Xander, Pablo, and Martus, was among them—clearing debris, pulling survivors from the wreckage, doing whatever they could to help. It wasn't glamorous work. It was bloody, grueling, and heartbreaking.

That's when he saw her.

She was small—just a kid, maybe fifteen at most. She stood quietly among the circle of healers, not drawing attention to herself, sleeves rolled up, hands already glowing with mana.

At first Sébastien almost walked past. But something about her made him stop.

She knelt beside an unconscious man with a broken leg and torn abdomen. Her brows furrowed in concentration, lips pressed in a thin line. No staff. No tome. No artifact to help focus or amplify her magic. Just her hands. Just her.

And the way the mana moved...

It was unlike anything Sébastien had seen before. Where most healers struggled to channel magic with stability, hers flowed like water—smooth, precise, and instinctive. Not strong, not yet, but pure. Controlled. Natural. Healing wasn't a spell to her—it was breathing.

He watched her quietly from a distance as she worked through patients with other volunteers. Her technique was rough, clearly lacking formal training or experience, but she compensated with focus and heart. And that control—damn, that control.

Most only saw a brave little girl helping the injured. But Sébastien saw a miracle in the making. Without taking his eyes off her, he pulled Xander closer.

"Hey, look at this kid," he'd said, voice low, like he was sharing a secret.

Xander had raised an eyebrow. Sebastien never wasted words.

"A healer. Young, yeah. But her control's unreal. Like... her mana listens to her like it's part of her."

Xander watched the girl for a moment, then let out a low whistle. "Damn, you're right," he muttered. "Most people can't get their magic to flow like that, even with training. Kid's got something special."

Sébastien nodded, his eyes still locked on the healer as she moved seamlessly through the crowd.

"What are you two doing? Let's go," Pablo suddenly appeared next to them, his tone flat and unamused.

Sébastien blinked, momentarily jarred out of his thoughts. He glanced at Xander, who was still watching the healer, and then back at Pablo, who was already heading toward the next group of survivors.

Sébastien hesitated, then took a breath, shaking his head slightly as if clearing away the moment. He wasn't wrong. They had a job to do.

"Yeah," Sébastien muttered under his breath, following Pablo's lead. "Let's go."

But even as he turned away, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder, just one last time, at the healer in the crowd. He saw her working, her focus sharp, and for a moment, the chaos of the disaster faded around him.

Pablo's voice cut through his thoughts again, sharper this time. "I'd be careful, Durant. If I were her father and saw two grown men staring at my daughter like that, I'd have beaten you both to a pulp."

Sébastien chuckled nervously, finally turning away fully, his eyes back on the task at hand. "Right. Noted."

Xander smirked. "Guess we're lucky her father isn't around then."

"Oh, he is," Pablo responded, tone dry. "You two were just lucky he was preoccupied with injured people..."

Sébastien raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "You know them?"

"Of course I do," Pablo scoffed, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "But this is not the time for this. Focus. There's work to do."

Sébastien didn't argue. He turned back toward the wreckage, but that healer, her calm control over the magic, stayed in his mind.

***

That night, after the last survivor had been pulled from the rubble and the sky finally turned dark, Sébastien sat with his team. They were scraped up, bruised, and bone-tired, the exhaustion sinking deep into their bones. But even as the world around them went still, Sébastien's mind kept turning.

"She's it," he said quietly.

"Who?" Xander asked, leaning against a wall.

"The healer. The little one."

Martus scoffed. "A kid."

"She's raw," Sébastien had admitted. "But I don't want someone perfect. I want someone who can grow with us. She's the fifth piece."

Xander didn't laugh, didn't question Sébastien. He never did. Because if Sébastien said he saw something, you believed it. He knew the man was capable of seeing things that others couldn't, understanding potential where others saw only weakness. After all, he was here because of Sébastien's belief—despite the bloodied record, the past filled with bad decisions and worse company. Sébastien had looked at him and seen something else. Something worth saving.  Xander trusted him, perhaps more than anyone.

But Martus and Pablo? They weren't as convinced.

Pablo, with his grizzled experience, scowled. "You can't be serious. She's a kid, Séba. She probably hasn't even lost all of her baby teeth."

Martus crossed his arms, his expression hard. "And we're supposed to just... take her in? Let that kid join our raids?"

Sébastien let their doubts wash over him. He had expected their resistance. He had expected the doubts. But in his heart, he knew. He had seen enough to believe in her. More than that, he felt like he had to believe in her.

"We're taking her in because she's capable. I've never seen someone with mana control like hers. I can see the potential in her, something no one else is looking for," Sébastien said, his tone calm but firm.

Martus snorted, clearly unimpressed. "Potential doesn't mean anything if she can't handle herself out there. You're risking all our lives on a hunch, Sébastien."

"She'll need training, of course. But her ability to adapt... It's unlike anything I've seen in anyone else, regardless of age. With the right guidance, she could be the backbone of our team."

Martus leaned back against the wall, his expression a mixture of skepticism and reluctance. "Fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it. If she gets someone killed because she's too young, that'll be on you, Séb."

Sébastien met his gaze unwaveringly. "If she gets anyone killed, it will be on me," he replied. His voice was steady, unshaken.

Pablo opened his mouth to argue but then closed it, biting back his words. He couldn't deny the truth in Sébastien's eyes. He knew Sébastien, knew how relentlessly focused he could be. And when Sébastien believed in someone, it wasn't easily shaken.

After a long moment, Pablo finally spoke, his tone rough with reluctant acceptance.

"Well, if you say so," Pablo sighed. "Good luck recruiting her, Durant. She's an Adelhart—Elaine Adelhart, the only daughter of  Franz Adelhart, the current head of the Adelhart family. You're going to need more than charm to get him to let her join us."

Sébastien paused at Pablo's words. The Adelhart family. He had heard of them, of course. A well-established family in the healing and defense world, their reputation was impeccable. It wasn't just that that kid had potential—she was tied to one of the most respected bloodlines in the entire continent.

"So?" Sébastien asked, not one to be easily deterred. His mind was already working. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Pablo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'what does that have to do with anything?' The Adelhart family isn't just going to let their only daughter leave and join a ragtag group of adventurers. "

Sébastien paused for a moment, his gaze focused on the ground as he considered his next words carefully. When he spoke again, his tone was steady, but there was a quiet resolve beneath it.

"I'll convince her father," Sébastien said, the weight of the decision hanging in the air. "I don't expect them to be happy about it, but I'll make it clear that this isn't just a whim."

Pablo and Martus exchanged skeptical glances, but Sébastien's decision was firm. Xander, on the other hand, simply nodded. He understood Sébastien's resolve. He had seen it before, the way Sébastien wouldn't back down when he believed in something.

There was a quiet moment, and Pablo finally sighed, giving a half-hearted shrug. "If you're sure about this, Sébastien, then I won't stop you. But don't say we didn't warn you."