Chapter Text
Jake loves them because Rachel gives him his spirit unflagging, Cassie his self-searching, Ax his duty unwavering, Marco his keen-seeing, Tobias his dream-seeking – and if it wasn't them he was leading, he wouldn't be any leader worth following.
Marco loves them because every time he forges his pain into jokes that make them laugh, every time they let him cry without comment, it gives him the strength he needs to fight his family free.
Cassie loves them because they listen to her moral objections while never seeing or smelling the blood she can always feel sticky on her palms. She loves them because they let her pretend, despite everything, that she's a good person.
Rachel loves them because sometimes she's like a live grenade beneath her skin, and they find that not only useful but beautiful, a firework tearing red-gold wounds into the sky.
Aximili loves them because they show him the flaws in the society he always knew, and make him realize that he could become so much more than the academy taught him he could be.
Tobias loves them because they're family, and they taught him what that word – so mysterious to him for so long – really means.