Ashton is Milo's oldest friend. After the rest of their crew skips town, they only have each other left. Milo can totally get Ashton back on their feet and out of Jrusar before the woman they've robbed gets her claws into them both. Totally. Except, Ashton is having strange dreams.
(When Ashton accepted the years of indenture to Hexum, it wasn’t just on behalf of the Nobodies, who had left, but also Milo, who had stuck around and whose involvement remained, as far as we know, a secret from her. This fic explores how the deal came about.)
Let me come clean: this story doesn't end on a happy note, because it explores the lead-up to an unhappy event in pre-canon. Nevertheless, although I'm not above tugging on a heartstring or two, the goal here is to explore hope, agency, and holding on to each other as hard as we can in the face of the world's cruelties.
