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The first time you'd stepped foot in front of that gate, you'd held your nerve. Especially the second time, head still pounding and light nausea setting in. It was only a contact high, the remnant fumes from something called 'the bliss' as Kim had explained on the radio, but it had still felt pretty intense.It was for prosperity, all of it, but coming face to face with the judge, staring you down with that ivory mask and allowing you entry to new eden, the intimidation bore in quickly. Nothing was said between you, hushed and intrigued whispers the only thing keeping you walking. 'no backing out now' lingered in your mind.Somehow, your only slightly racing heart had managed to calm itself.You'd done this before, many times, entering new territory and colonies to offer help in trying times, but you guessed it was because you weren't used to being the one to seek out the help yourself, alone, and from a congregation feared by the highwaymen themselves.Still, they were welcoming enough, and their curiosity couldn't be helped.--Proving yourself had been arduous, and counting the amount of times you had almost choked to death in the fumes on the way to Joseph's sanctuary was impossible.The fight was worse though, riding the waves between drugged up and inhuman, overheating as your body exerted every ounce of energy into taking down that fiercly mutated bear, all teeth and claws, reeking of death and disease. Your demon, he'd called it. Your sin. Every regret and bad decision manifested into one being.You didn't even know if it was real, it all felt real, and when you woke with a start, sweating with the effort of the trip below that damn tree and Joseph's watchful gaze, you knew that whatever it was, it was over.The multiple wounds you'd sustained in that fight were gone. You still questioned if it was real, but with a dead man in tow on the way back to a cult, anything seemed possible.--Ethan had a few daddy issues, that much was obvious upon your return.It wasn't hard to spot his anger, and the guy was power hungry, so, so power hungry. You'd noticed that the moment you'd met him, that crazed look in his eye, and you had chalked it up to not being your problem initially, this was between them, a family spat that you didn’t particularly want any part in.It was going to become your problem though, clearly, as someone so riddled with a need for power would end up taking it without remorse. You'd seen it play out too often, the highwaymen especially: taking and taking with no care for the people they hurt in the process, wiping out anyone in their way with brute force and bigger numbers.He seemed like the type of guy who would attempt to be cunning, deceiving in his own way, when really he was just the same as all the rest, and with a shitload of emotional baggage to boot.He'd regret it eventually, right at the last moment.Something still felt wrong, though, a certain tension in the air different from the one between the father and son up front. You'd learned to think like that the hard way, to scan crowds and identify any threats, but it didn't feel like a threat, per se.Eyes trained on the judge now, you watched from afar. They were off to the side like a loyal centurion, and at first glance nothing seemed wrong, but their hands had curled into fists, and it gave them a look that seemed... alert? No, this guard dog was always alert, always watching the crowd the same way you did. Afraid? That had to be it, surely, but why?How could someone so eerily intimidating feel uneasy?And then it clicked, the judge was looking at Joseph.They'd been fairly relaxed up until new eden's leader returned, posture always slack, uncaring, and now everything about them screamed rigid, strained. No wonder they wore that mask, it made emotion so hard to read.So maybe Ethan and his father weren't much different after all and you were missing a larger piece of the puzzle.