Chapter 511 - 511: The Traitor
"What… nonsense are you spouting?" Jareth said, the sound sharp and brittle. "You're talking like you knew Bull. Like he sat you down and explained everything."
"He did," Xavier replied, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. "Just not the way you're imagining."
Jareth's expression hardened. "Bull didn't name a traitor because there wasn't one. He trusted his people. All of them. You're spinning half-truths and calling it insight."
"He trusted everyone equally," Xavier said. "That's why he never narrowed it down. He didn't know who sold him out, so he didn't let himself suspect anyone enough to say it out loud."
Jareth shook his head, a short, dismissive motion. "You're bluffing. You're misinformed. And you're doing it in front of people who don't know any better."
He took another step forward, voice rising. "If Bull himself stood here and said what you're saying, then I'd listen. Until then, this is just noise."
Xavier nodded slowly. "That won't be happening."
Jareth scoffed. "Of course it won't. Because it's a lie."
Xavier corrected him without changing his tone. "Bull won't come and say it because he's dead."
The words landed heavy.
Kylus straightened abruptly despite the pain, disbelief cutting through his exhaustion. "You're lying," he shouted across the wreckage. "No one kills Bull. No one."
Xavier shrugged. "I did."
Every head turned toward him.
"In the prison on Earth," Xavier continued. "Same place they sent him to disappear quietly."
He lifted a hand and pointed toward Lyra. "You don't have to take my word for it. She was there."
Kylus froze.
His gaze snapped to Lyra, jaw clenched tight, eyes burning with something that looked a lot like refusal. He didn't ask her. He didn't say a word. He just stood there, staring, like the answer might change if he waited long enough.
Jareth didn't wait.
He turned to Lyra, his voice lowering, confusion bleeding through the anger. "You told me he went on a mission. You said he'd be back."
Lyra met his eyes.
"That was a lie," she said.
Jareth stared at her like the ground had shifted under his feet. "Why?" His voice cracked despite his effort to hold it together. "After everything I did for you. After everything my crew did to keep you safe."
Lyra swallowed, steadying herself before answering. "It wasn't because I didn't trust you."
Jareth's brow furrowed. "Then why?"
"Because I was taught to be careful," Lyra said. "Bull raised me that way. He taught me to keep things close until I understood who I was dealing with."
Her gaze didn't waver. "I wasn't accusing you. I was surviving."
Jareth shook his head slowly, a hollow sound escaping him as he laughed again.
"This is ridiculous," he said. "Stories stacked on top of stories. You expect anyone here to believe this circus?"
He spread his hands towards his ship. "After everything I built. After everything I sacrificed. You want to pin all of this on me because it's convenient."
Xavier watched him without reacting.
"You keep talking about betrayal," Jareth continued. "About proof. About ghosts and dead men whispering secrets. You don't have anything. You're guessing and dressing it up as certainty."
Xavier finally spoke. "You want proof?"
Jareth turned sharply toward him. "If you have proof, bring it. Otherwise stop poisoning the ground with lies."
Xavier nodded once.
"She's already here."
A figure stepped out from behind the wreckage.
She moved slowly, hands visible, her armor scorched and cracked like everyone else's. Blood streaked one side of her face where shrapnel had caught her earlier. She stopped a few steps behind Lyra, close enough that Reva shifted instinctively, then relaxed when Lyra didn't pull away.
Jareth's face changed the moment he saw her.
"Grace?," he said. He spoke her name aloud, sharp and incredulous. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She didn't answer him right away.
Her eyes went to Lyra first. Then to Kylus, lingering there for a second longer than anywhere else. When she finally spoke, her voice carried clearly despite the smoke and ruin around them.
"I have everything," she said. "Logs. Orders. Payments. Names."
Jareth took a step toward her. "You're lying," he snapped. "Why would you do this? Why would you throw everything away?"
"Because I got tired of watching you hunt people who said no. And trying to involve Lyra in this was the last straw."
"You didn't go after Bull's crew because they were dangerous," she continued. "You went after the ones who refused to join you. The ones who wouldn't betray him. The ones who wouldn't hand you his legacy."
Jareth's mouth opened. No words came out.
She kept going.
"I was the one who leaked Lyra's movements. I sent the locations and routes to Kylus." She swallowed once, steadying herself. "I did it because I knew Kylus wasn't hunting her. He was tracking her to keep her alive."
Kylus stiffened.
Reva stared at the woman, disbelief and fury colliding on her face. Rin's grip tightened on his sword until his knuckles went white.
"So it was you!" Jareth said slowly. "You fed him everything."
"Yes," she replied. "Because you would've killed her the moment she stopped being useful to you."
She turned slightly, gesturing toward the scattered remains of Jareth's crew. "Ask them. Or what's left of them. This wasn't the first time."
The air felt tight enough to snap.
Jareth's hand dropped to his weapon.
It happened fast.
A sharp crack split the basin, louder than the distant gunfire still echoing at the edges. The woman's body jerked violently as the shot tore through her chest, the force throwing her backward into the debris behind her.
She hit the ground hard and didn't move.
Smoke curled from the muzzle of Jareth's weapon.
He stood there, arm extended, breathing heavy, eyes wide and wild like he'd acted on instinct rather than decision. The weapon in his hand was still humming faintly, multiple barrels rotating down as its systems cooled.
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
Lyra gasped.
Reva surged forward, but Xavier caught her arm before she could move, his grip firm, his eyes locked on Jareth.
The truth lay bleeding on the ground between them.
"Traitors deserve death!"