“Damn it!” Dae jumped to his feet and ran to the door, snatching his active duty coat. He apologized to Tessa but was gone before she could respond.

Dae began swearing aggressively in his head. 

“Of course this happens right as I'm reaching my corruption limit.”

“I should have gotten guiding sooner.”

“I should have been prepared.”

“I got too complacent since it’s been so quiet lately.” 

He rounded the corner and swung open the transport room door. The door thudded and someone stumbled away from it. She turned to glare at Dae. 

“You think just cause you’re S-rank you don’t have to pay attention to where you’re going?” A woman with tawny tan skin, silver dusted black hair and storm-dark eyes snapped at Dae.

Dae rolled his eyes at her and walked forward to join her. He patted her back and looked her over to see if she was actually injured or just acting petty. As expected, she was fine.

“You’re S-class too. I can’t pull rank even if I wanted to.” 

The other Esper, Jin-Won Song, frowned and kicked him in the shin. As a physical enhancement Esper she should have held back. But, as always, she showed no restraint when it came to disciplining Dae. Dae cried out in pain, hopping on one foot while holding the injured leg. 

“You’re such a bitch!” Dae hissed.

“And you’re a lazy bastard!” Jin-Won retorted, flipping Dae off like she was a high schooler not a grown woman in her fifties. 

Dae frowned at Jin-Won, “I’m plenty busy in the workshop! I’m not an adrenaline junkie like you or Neil.” 

A large hand clamped down on Dae’s shoulder, nearly throwing him off balance as he held onto his bruised leg. Dae turned to see Neil Rowan, the third and final S-class in Titan. Neil was a tall man with a large muscular frame, discerning olive eyes, and battle scarred sandy colored skin. Dae was by no means small but he felt like a child standing near Rowan. Dae couldn’t understand how Song, a short and wispy woman, was able to manage being around him all the time. The two made an unstoppable team but looked ridiculous standing side by side. 

With the two of them around it was rare that Dae got called into missions. But there were times his ability was called for. Ability enhancement and summoning were useful powers, but they didn’t cover every scenario. When Dae’s help was called for he tried to remind himself of 609’s willingness to help others. 

It was a pain but it was worth it to take care of people. 

It would have been more worth it if he could come home to guide 609 offering out his hand again. 

The three Espers stood in front of the teleportation platform and looked at their watches. Information on the dungeon flashed across their screens. The dungeon had opened in a playground. There were currently five children unaccounted for. 

It made sense why three S-classes were being deployed. No matter how powerful they were, each of them only had two hands. This mission needed to be completed as quickly as possible. A secondary team would be deployed to close the dungeon after Song, Rowan, and Dae retrieved the children. 

Dae hated missions like this. It was especially dangerous given the state he was in. Strong emotions tended to affect the rate at which corruption accumulated. Anxiety about a child’s wellbeing was one of the fastest paths to overload. Song recognized how poorly Dae was doing as they stepped onto the teleportation platform. 

“You can’t go like this!” she bellowed. She grabbed Dae’s arm, the one with his watch. They arrived in the triage next to the gate and Song yanked Dae towards her. She hissed her annoyance as she pulled up his corruption level, “You won’t be any good to us like this, what were you thinking putting it off this long?” 

Dae felt sick. She was right. He’d been neglecting his duty. Guide 609 would be disappointed in him. A guide willing to give up his own life as a 19 year old would have no sympathy for a full grown Esper refusing guiding because it was uncomfortable. 

“Any guides here yet?” Song shouted out over the buzz of the crowd managing the scene. A woman rushing by stopped to respond. 

“Guide’s are coming with the secondary team. We didn't see any need to bring them before you three even started. It’s hectic enough as it is.” 

Song grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose. Once again she turned on her commander's voice and called out to the crowd gathering around the scene, “Are any of you guides? We have an Esper who needs emergency guiding before we can start retrieval.” 

Murmurs swept through the crowd and finally a thin man with fluffy white hair pushed to the front. He was wearing a facemask and a government guide’s uniform. A fitted, black, sleeveless turtle neck along with a white and blue jacket and black jeans. The jacket had the emblem for the government Guide/Esper center and a name sewn on the front. 

Guide Nox Levi

Song gestured for Nox to be let past the barrier and turned to Dae, “Get this sorted before you even think about joining us.” 

Dae withered under her stern gaze. The guide approached Dae and held out a hand. 

“I’m sorry, this is really urgent.” Dae said before pulling down the guide's mask for a moment and locking lips with him.  The kiss was little more than pressing his lips against the guides but Dae felt a rush of familiar energy and excitement. Cleansing smoke filled his body and iron bloomed across his tongue. He almost fell to his knees at the euphoric sensation. He pulled away and took in the face he’d been looking for all these years. 

609, or Nox, as Dae now knew him, looked mostly the same as he had before. Aside from the fact that his once black hair was now entirely white. Dae’s entire face flushed but before he could say or do anything foolish he heard a crackling sound from the dungeon entrance behind him. 

“I um… Sorry I have to go.” 

It took all the strength in his body to turn away from Nox towards the portal. If it had been anything but a rescue mission Dae was sure he would have caved. But things being as they were he tried his best to reassure himself that he would be able to find Nox once he got back. Now he knew where Nox worked, Nox had guided him. It wouldn’t be hard to send a formal request to meet. 

Those thoughts didn’t stop the painful tugging in his chest pulling him back towards his guide.