With a soft sound, they landed on the floor of the boss's private gallery. Isaac briefly squeezed his eyes shut as another sharp pain shot through his leg.
Instinctively, he clung tighter to Noctis, who was still holding him in his arms.
"I still think it's a stupid idea to come here," Noctis snorted. "The old man can wait until tomorrow. It hasn't even been twelve hours since your gunshot wound."
He looked at him with concern.
"You're already sweating after such a short distance—and you didn't even take a single step yourself."
Isaac let out a shaky breath. His heart was racing as if he had just run a marathon, not merely stepped through a portal.
"Maybe… I really shouldn't have brought you along," he muttered exhausted.
Noctis let out a short, dry laugh, almost mocking. "Forget it. As if I'd let you go anywhere alone in that condition."
Isaac grimaced slightly.
"…then at least cut the stupid remarks."
He raised his hand, his fingers trembling slightly as he severed the magical link between the paintings. A barely visible shimmer passed through the room before the energy dissipated completely.
He didn't want to take any risks. No one should accidentally stumble through the portal and gain access to his home.
And honestly…
He simply didn't have the strength to keep it open any longer—not while the protective spell for Noah was still active and steadily draining his magic.
Noctis watched him closely.
"Do you think you'll be able to open another portal later?" he asked more quietly this time, without any trace of mockery. "Seriously, you really don't look good."
Isaac didn't answer right away.
Instead, he let his head sink against Noctis's shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment. His breathing was shallow, uneven. His heart was still pounding against his chest. Everything in him was crying out for rest.
He wanted nothing more than to finally lie down in bed. It had been a long time since he had longed for sleep this desperately.
Slowly, he nodded.
"Put me down," he said at last. "I'll walk."
Noctis stared at him as if he had misheard.
"What?"
Then disbelief gave way to open outrage.
"You've completely lost your mind!" he snapped. "If you keep this up, you'll collapse before you even manage to greet that bastard!"
Isaac pressed his lips together. He simply didn't have the strength to reprimand Noctis again for insulting his boss.
"I can't let you carry me in," he replied quietly. "Not in front of him. I still have a shred of dignity left."
For a moment, there was silence.
Noctis's face said it all. His jaw tightened visibly, and his gaze held a mix of incomprehension and underlying irritation.
"Your pride is going to get you killed," he muttered at last.
Isaac gave a tired smile.
"You can punish me for it later."
Noctis let out a quiet snort, anything but amused. "If I decide you've had your way, then we'll do this my way."
"Don't worry," Isaac replied calmly. "I can manage."
Noctis rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner.
"Of course," he said sarcastically. "Because your stubborn head can apparently surpass the limits of the human body. A fascinating phenomenon."
"I feel much better now that the portal is closed," Isaac said with a faint smile. He loved the way Noctis worried about him. He could still do without the wound and the pain, though. "Put me down, Noc."
"You're an idiot, Isaac Walker."
"Imagine if I were also unpredictable and insane like a certain someone," Isaac replied dryly, casting him a brief, amused glance.
Noctis's eyes narrowed slightly.
"In that case," he growled quietly, "I'd take a very different approach."
Even so, he finally set Isaac down carefully.
For a brief moment, Isaac clung tighter to his clothes as his body lost its steady support. Only then did he force himself to let go. The pain returned immediately.
Why do gunshot wounds always hurt so damn much…?
His leg threatened to give out.
Before he could actually buckle, Noctis's arm wrapped firmly around his waist, holding him upright. Isaac's hand closed reflexively around Noctis's jacket, clutching the fabric as if it were the only solid point in the situation.
Then he took a step.
And another.
Each one cost him more strength than he was willing to admit. His breathing grew heavier, his vision blurred at the edges. Neither of them said a word. The silence between them was dense—filled with unspoken resistance, concern, and a quiet agreement: Isaac would walk. And Noctis would make sure he didn't collapse in the process.
Isaac was painfully aware that he wouldn't have made it a single meter without him.
And at the same time, he could feel in every fiber how much Noctis despised the situation.
Slowly, they made their way through the long, high corridors of the estate. Their footsteps echoed dully across the floor, accompanied by the curious, partly suspicious glances of the guards.
Some of them exchanged brief, irritated looks, but said nothing.
Until Constantine finally came toward them. He stopped abruptly when he saw Isaac.
"Damn… what happened?!" he asked, shocked.
Noctis answered before Isaac could even open his mouth.
"Took a bullet," he growled. "So spare me the look and move. Tell the boss we're here."
His tone left no room for discussion.
"He's already waiting for us."
Constantine ran a stressed hand over his face, then nodded quickly. "I'll let him know—and I'll get some bandages. That wound is bleeding way too much."
Isaac only returned the nod weakly. Speaking felt like an impossible task right now.
"I hope for your sake you regret this decision," Noctis hissed quietly, close to his ear.
And he did.
But Isaac clenched his teeth. He wouldn't give Noctis that satisfaction—not now. Not while they still had to get through this. Instead, he forced himself to keep moving, step by step, breath by breath.
When they finally stood in front of the boss's office, Isaac paused briefly. His lungs burned, each breath coming in sharp bursts. Noctis said nothing, didn't push him—just gave him the moment he needed.
It'll be fine…
At least, he hoped so.
They stepped inside. Behind them, the doors closed with a dull thud that echoed through the silence of the room. The boss sat, as usual, behind his desk, his gaze fixed on the documents in front of him.
However, he didn't look up until they were standing directly in front of his desk—and even then, he didn't bother to raise his eyes. His entire posture betrayed his tension, and his anger.
Not a good sign.
Isaac said nothing. He simply waited, even though his legs were trembling and threatening to give out at any moment. He knew this behavior all too well. The boss made others wait when he was angry. So he had to be very angry.
Noctis, on the other hand, had far less patience.
"Afternoon, boss," he said, an impatient edge in his voice that made it clear just how irritated he was by the boss's behavior.
Please hold back, Noctis, Isaac thought tensely.
Only then did the boss look up.
"Noctis. What are you doing here?" the boss asked. For a brief moment, his confusion was clearly visible.
"I'm helping our dear Isaac out here," Noctis replied casually. His gaze swept across the room. "As I can see, there isn't even a place to sit. Even though I specifically told you he's injured."
The boss's eyes shifted to Isaac, narrowed, and then returned to Noctis. Isaac had a bad feeling this conversation was not going to go well. Then again, he wasn't surprised. He had messed up—badly.
The boss folded his hands, leaned back slowly in his chair, and regarded Noctis with cool composure.
"Yes, you did mention that. However, I didn't expect to see you here today." His voice remained calm, but there was something cutting beneath it. "Didn't I give you an assignment, Noctis?"
Isaac's stomach tightened. For a moment, it felt as if his blood ran cold. He forced himself not to look over at Noctis. He had ignored his assignment. Had instead taken the time to torture that Nico… and afterward had even misled a cop.
Noctis let out a quiet snort. A dangerous, almost provocative smile spread across his lips.
"Right, there was something." He gave a slight shrug. "But I took the liberty of ignoring your assignment and finally taking the vacation you promised me weeks ago."
Noctis's body tensed. Isaac almost feared he might pull out his knife next and simply kill the boss—just because he felt like it. He was unpredictable, and that worried Isaac even more right now than the boss's reaction to what he had done.
Isaac pinched Noctis sharply in the side. How could he be so disrespectful and show his dislike for him so openly?!
"I'm really not in the mood for jokes today," the boss growled.
Noctis's reply came instantly, accompanied by an amused, cold snort. "What a funny coincidence. Neither am I."
The air in the room seemed to shift.
Damn it—if this kept going, everything Isaac had hoped to achieve with this conversation would blow up in their faces. The two of them stared at each other for another moment before the boss rang a bell and ordered one of his men to bring in a chair.
Noctis helped Isaac sit down, which Isaac accepted with more than a little gratitude. Only once he was seated did he feel like he could truly breathe again.
"Wait outside, Noctis. This doesn't concern you," the boss growled.
Noctis crossed his arms. "Forget it. I'm staying."
Isaac immediately raised his hand before the situation could escalate again. He looked up at Noctis.
"Wait outside for me, okay?" he said quietly.
Noctis's expression made it very clear what he thought of that. He looked at the boss with complete composure and didn't move an inch.
"I said no," he replied coldly. "Besides, I have information relevant to this."
The boss's eyebrows lifted slightly. For the first time, he seemed… interested.
"What kind of information?"
A slow, triumphant grin spread across Noctis's face.
"All in good time. How about we start with Isaac's part first?" he suggested calmly.
The boss's eyes shifted back to Isaac. The look he gave him was so cold it felt as though it could freeze him on the spot. Isaac's hands trembled slightly. As expected, the boss was more than disappointed in him.
Again and again, he heard the boss's voice in his head: "Never disappoint me again."
The words echoed in his mind, louder than anything else.
"Then say what you have to say," the boss growled.
Isaac took a deep breath and began to explain how Nico and his subordinates had approached him several times, only to disappear again without openly engaging in a fight. He told the boss that they were after him because of his special abilities—but that to this day, he didn't know whether they meant his dexterity or his magic.
The boss listened without interrupting him once.
When Isaac described the first physical altercation, the boss's hand twitched dangerously. He finally clenched it and fixed Isaac with an angry look.
Eventually, Isaac came to the events of that very morning and the fight he had endured. He left out no detail—no knife, no gun that had been aimed at him. He told the boss that he had needed to get a new phone because his own had been destroyed, which was why he had contacted him through Noctis.
He finished by explaining that they had dragged the bodies—and Nico—out of the alley, and that Nico had then been under Noctis's supervision.
By that point, the boss seemed to have been holding himself back with difficulty, because his anger was now unmistakable.
"You damn idiot!"
His voice crashed through the room like a thunderclap.
Isaac flinched involuntarily.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" The boss's anger was now open, unfiltered. "You're a thief. Nothing more, nothing less! Who gave you permission to just kill other clan members?! You're ruining everything I've built over the past years!"
Isaac lowered his gaze.
He had known.
And yet, hearing the reality spoken out loud hit him with full force.
"I—I didn't want to kill them," he stammered. His voice sounded weak, unsteady. "After the gunshot wound… all I could see was red. It was either them or me. In that moment… I couldn't think of anything else."
"I always thought you were one of my most reliable men, Isaac," the boss growled angrily. "Turns out you're worth less than the dumbest piece of scum among my men. I should never have given you the freedoms I did."
Every word struck him like a blade to the heart.
He was right about everything. After what he had done, he was worth no more than the dirt beneath his boss's shoes.
With what he had done, he was nothing but a mistake. A burden. Something that should have been controlled better.
"I'm disappointed in you, Isaac."
That sentence hit him harder than anything before.
Isaac clenched his hands into fists and pressed them against his thighs. The pain shooting through his injured side was nothing compared to the pressure building in his chest.
His shame over his failure weighed far heavier.
He didn't lift his gaze again.
"I'm sorry that I've disappointed you again…," Isaac said quietly.
"At least your birdbrain is aware of what you've done. I suppose I should be grateful for that alone," the boss snorted disdainfully.
Beside Isaac, Noctis tensed. He had felt that underlying urge to kill the entire time, but now it was unmistakable. The boss, however, seemed not to notice.
"Did you at least clean up the blood in the alley?" he asked sharply.
Isaac felt his stomach twist. He would have preferred to disappear into the ground.
"N-No… The cops were already on their way. We only managed to dispose of the bodies."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—
—the boss suddenly shot to his feet.
"How much more are you planning to screw up?!" he roared. "How can someone be this utterly incompetent?!"
He stormed toward Isaac, seething with anger. Isaac simply looked at him. Whatever the boss would do, he would accept his punishment.
"Careful."
Noctis's voice cut through the moment.
He hadn't said a word while Isaac had been talking about Nico, and his own part was still unspoken. But now his voice sounded so lethally cold that Isaac shuddered.
"Stay out of this, Noctis!" the boss snapped.
He raised his hand and brought it down toward Isaac's face. Isaac clenched his teeth, biting down on his tongue as he shut his eyes—
—but the expected pain never came.
Instead, someone groaned in pain.
Isaac looked up quickly, only to see Noctis gripping the boss's wrist in an iron hold. His heart skipped a beat.
Partly because he had never seen Noctis like this before—and a part of him, disturbingly, wanted to see more of it.
And partly because reality hit him with the blow the boss had intended for him. A wave of nausea washed over him.
"Let me go!" the boss snarled, but Noctis didn't move an inch.
Isaac forced himself up, ignoring the pull in his leg. His hand grabbed Noctis's jacket, clutching it tightly.
"Noc… let him go," he said quietly, tense.
But Noctis didn't react. Bones ground together ominously, and the boss let out a pained groan. Before anything worse could happen, however, Noctis released him and shoved him back.
"I warned you, boss," Noctis said coldly. "I told you to be careful."
The boss clutched his wrist and shot Noctis a furious glare.
"Why are you interfering?! How dare you?!"
Noctis's lips curled into a thin smirk.
"You don't seriously think I'd just stand by and watch you beat Isaac right in front of me—for something that isn't even his fault," he said, amused. "Or do you really take me for as stupid as the rest of your subordinates?"
The boss's face slowly turned red—first a dark flush, then an angry, almost unhealthy purple.
"Enough of your games! That's enough, Noctis!"
"Noctis, please stop!" Isaac pleaded quietly.
This couldn't escalate any further. But Noctis didn't react. Isaac pushed past him and stepped directly in front of the boss.
"Boss! What can I do to fix this?"
The boss's gaze hit him hard and unyielding.
"You do exactly what I tell you and nothing else. Wait at home for your instructions," he hissed. His eyes flicked to Isaac's leg. "Make sure you're ready for the heist in two weeks. I don't care how—the date will not be moved just because you're too stupid to keep a low profile."
Isaac pressed his lips together and nodded.
In two weeks, the wound definitely wouldn't be healed enough.
"Understood," he said.
"Hey! What the hell is this?! How is he supposed to pull off a heist with that wound?! Send Noah in alone—he can handle it just like Isaac always does," Noctis snapped angrily.
He took a step toward the boss. The boss took one back. Isaac's hand tightened in Noctis's coat.
"Noc…" he said quietly.
Finally, Noctis looked at him. There was such cold fury in his eyes that Isaac's heart seemed to skip another beat. Had anyone ever been this angry because of him? He cursed softly and looked back at the boss.
"Fine. Then I'll take the next two weeks off and make sure he gets the job done. Any objections? No? Perfect."
He pulled Isaac into his arms and turned away from the boss.
Isaac resisted.
"Noc—what are you doing?!" Isaac hissed as pain shot through his leg.
"Quiet," came the curt reply. "You didn't want to be carried in. Carrying you out was never part of the deal."
"But—!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" The boss's voice practically exploded with rage. "I didn't give you permission! And you haven't even given your report yet!"
Noctis stopped. Slowly, he turned around, Isaac still in his arms. His expression was empty now—dangerously empty.
"This conversation is over, and I'll pass on the information when the time is right," he said coldly. "Be glad my hands are occupied with Isaac, because I'm barely holding myself back."
With that, Noctis turned away again, and Isaac wished for nothing more than for there to be no further consequences.
"You ungrateful brat!" the boss roared. "Who do you think took you in and raised you?! Is this how you repay your father?"
The next moment, a whiskey glass shattered against the door beside them. Isaac flinched. Noctis set him down without a word, steadied him for a brief moment—and then turned halfway around.
The movement was so fast Isaac could barely follow it. A metallic hiss cut through the air. The knife buried itself deep into the backrest of the chair—just millimeters from the boss's head.
Silence.
Isaac's heart pounded.
For a moment, the boss seemed just as frozen as he was.
"Stay here," Noctis said to Isaac, leaning him against the wall where no shards of glass were embedded.
Then Noctis started walking slowly toward the boss.
"N-Noctis! Get a hold of yourself!"
Noctis didn't stop.
"Get a hold of myself?" he repeated, his voice murderous. "As my 'father,' you should know by now that I don't have much patience."
He pulled the knife out of the backrest.
The wood cracked softly.
Then he grabbed the boss by the collar and pressed the blade against his throat. The tip rested exactly where a single wrong breath could end everything.
"I get my two weeks off for my very satisfactory work, and you will leave Isaac alone. Once the job is done, you'll give him time to recover—and how the job is carried out will be up to us. When you have what you want, he'll get his well-earned break too. Do we understand each other?" he asked, his voice low and threatening.
Isaac felt dizziness wash over him. He wanted nothing more than to give in to the pain, just so he wouldn't have to witness this catastrophe any longer. But fate, as usual, wasn't particularly merciful.
The boss nodded quickly.
Noctis studied him for a moment longer, then released him and straightened up.
"See? That wasn't so hard," he growled.
He turned away and walked back to Isaac. But after a few steps, he stopped again.
Slowly, he turned around one last time.
"And if you ever lay a hand on him again," he said quietly, "or insult him…"
A cold smile flickered across his face.
"…I'll mutilate you so badly you'll never be able to enjoy your wife—or your whores—again."
The room fell silent.
In an instant, the boss went pale, and Isaac knew that Noctis wasn't just saying that.
Then he picked Isaac up and left the office. He ignored Constantine, who was waiting outside the door with bandages, and headed straight toward Isaac's home.
But not to the gallery to open a portal—rather, out into the cool night air.
Only once they had left the estate far behind did Noctis finally exhale.
"Two weeks, then…" Isaac murmured, exhausted, looking up at the sky.
In two weeks, the moon would be full again, lighting up the night so brightly that the break-in would become even more difficult. He was exhausted. The meeting with the boss hadn't gone as planned—but he had Noctis to thank for not being beaten. He couldn't say what would have happened if he had gone alone. The way the boss had been… he might not have made it out alive.
The thought hurt—and yet it wasn't far-fetched.
He rested his head against Noctis's chest, who continued to carry him through the night in silence.
Noctis was always there when he needed him. Isaac hoped he would be able to repay him someday.
"Thanks, Noc," he murmured quietly. "Without you, that… in there… would've ended differently."
Noctis's jaw tightened slightly.
"The next heist," he growled. "You're not going in there alone. Understood?"
Isaac lifted his head again. "You want to come with me?!"
Noctis snorted. "That's a suicide mission, and I'm definitely not letting you walk in there alone."
Isaac pressed his lips together and leaned back against Noctis's chest.
"What else are you going to do for me?" he asked quietly.
"Everything. Damn well everything."
Strangely relieved, Isaac let himself sink into Noctis's embrace. He was glad about Noctis's words, and in his arms, he felt safe. Nothing and no one could harm him as long as he was with him.
"Noc?" Isaac murmured tiredly as his eyes began to close.
"Hmm?"
"…you're damn hot when you're angry."
He caught the faint sound of Noctis chuckling before exhaustion finally overtook him, and he fell asleep in his arms.