“She warned us about Andrei,” the blonde reminded, looking at Ethan before specifying who she was talking about. "The wolf, the sister of the deceased. I don't know how, but she suspected that something was up."

"If she's so insightful, it's a shame we lost the opportunity to have her as our ally," Adam concluded. "What happened is regrettable, but it is nothing compared to what humans have suffered."

Both Vilas had been brought up with the idea of ​​being pragmatic and utilitarian above all else. Ethan could understand that it was sometimes necessary to resolve to sacrifice a few pawns for the common good. It didn't particularly move him either, since he'd never been one to bond with others. It was different, however, when the pawns in question were Mia and himself. They might be more important to the Resistance's plans than the dead werewolf, but he wasn't fooled. If they were no longer useful or if they started to get in the way of the rebels, they would meet the same fate, he was sure of it. In his eyes, the werewolf's death was not necessarily bad or good; it was simply necessary, but Mia did not agree and smoked by his side hearing the speech of his big brother.

"It's not a contest," she snapped annoyed. "Someone died, moreover by accident. He had a family, his sister even tried to help me... It's not just 'regrettable'. What makes you different from those who slaughtered humans if you start doing the same?"

Embarrassed, Adam turned to the young human, scratching the back of his head before his gaze slipped to Ethan. The young Vila raised his eyebrows as if to say "you are on your own" to mean he would not enter the debate. He hadn't known his soul mate for very long, but he knew enough about her to understand that some battles were lost in advance. She was temperamental and sometimes selfish, but she had a big heart and ideals which she stubbornly defended. Even when she was wrong. She was mostly relatively carefree and had trouble realizing the gravity of situations, but he couldn't blame her for that. She had a kind of naivety, the kind that children have until they are faced with all the horrors in the world, something he would have liked to protect in calmer times, but which for him was a flaw in times of war.

"The reason why we do it. You know you can't lead a revolution without sowing some corpses and sacrificing some things. If it's necessary to free everyone, it's an acceptable sacrifice. What do you think, Ethan?"

Great, save your skin by diverting the attention on me, the Vila inwardly grumbled since his brother was practically forcing him to take sides, or at least to get involved in the debate.

"You can't avoid a few wartime deaths," he shared, hoping he'd be left alone with something so generic.

"That doesn't mean we should disrespect them," Mia replied, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "His death was unnecessary, and he is worth no less than anyone here. You would be outraged if the reverse had happened."

"Come on, that's enough," cut Irina who finally came back to them to encourage them to move forward, addressing her husband in particular. "Decades of war can make you a little numb, but that's no reason to bicker about it."

Her intervention closed the debate and everyone started the march to leave the neighborhood and join the HQ. Irina and Adam were positioned in front of the young couple since they knew the way, and Mia and Ethan followed them a few meters further.

"Do you think the same as your brother?" she asked when the couple was far enough behind that he couldn't hear them.

Ethan sighed and thought for a few moments to collect his thoughts. He didn't want to exasperate her further, they had enough to worry about for her to get mad at him for a subject that was so trivial in her eyes.

"Omitting the fact that it involves us directly, yes. That he died by accident, maybe it's wrong... but it does happen. It's not the worst thing that can happen in a war."

"I'm not as naive as you think, you know. I know very well that these things are not all white or all black and that each camp commits horrors. I don't need to have lived through the war for that. It's just that he's... so callous in his words. We are still talking about living beings."

"You get used to everything, even death," Ethan said finally, hoping that would end the discussion.

"Perhaps, yes…" she calmed down, thinking. "I imagine living in those conditions for so long after witnessing a genocide can... make you feel a little numb."

Indirectly defending the people who had put them in this situation in the first place didn't particularly appeal to him, but lying about his opinions wouldn't do them any good. Actually, Ethan fully understood why they wanted to use them and might even objectively think that it wasn't such a stupid idea given the situation, but Mia's safety and his own came way before thousands of human beings he didn't know and didn't want to meet. Sacrificing a few individuals for the greater good, he was capable of and understood the necessity of the thing without concern, but it was different when it concerned the blonde. He refused to take the risk of sacrificing something so precious to him, no matter the repercussions of that choice. He had never sought to be a hero and had never claimed to be one either.

"All the more reason not to get involved in this war."