The museum was quiet again. Too quiet.
No alarms. No drills. Just the soft echo of tired feet on tile floors and flickering lights that buzzed faintly in the ceiling. Outside, the ashfall had stopped. The ruins were still. Like the world had paused to breathe for once.
Andy and Kaila sat together on the roof. Blanket draped around their shoulders. A thermos of lukewarm coffee between them.
Kaila leaned her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were half-closed. She hadn't slept properly in two days.
Andy glanced down at her. She looked peaceful. Finally. And all he could think about was how close he had come to losing her.
"I never want you to go back out there again," he whispered.
Kaila didn't answer right away.
"If I don't go, someone else dies," she said. "You know that."
"I don't care."
His voice was sharp. Too sharp. He caught himself.
"Sorry. I just... I can't go through that again. Watching you bleed. Watching you nearly…"
She looked up at him. His eyes were dark. Heavy.
"I'm still here," she said softly.
"But for how long?"
Scene: The Room
Later, the two slipped away from the others. Back into their shared room. The door clicked shut behind them. The blanket was still wrapped around them both.
Andy sat on the edge of the bed, fingers rubbing his temples.
"You know what scares me the most?" he asked.
Kaila walked over, knelt down in front of him. Took his hands.
"That I won't be able to protect you," he said. "That even with everything I've done, every shot I've fired, every monster we've melted, it still won't be enough."
She leaned in close. Her forehead pressed against his.
"You don't have to protect me from everything," she whispered. "Just don't let me face it alone."
His lips trembled. Then he kissed her.
It was slow. Gentle. Real.
No adrenaline. No panic. Just two broken people needing something soft to hold on to.
The blanket slid to the floor.
Fingers traced scars. Breath caught. The room blurred out.
They didn't speak for a long time.
Only the quiet sound of skin on skin, and the pulse of something deeper between them.
Skate stirred inside her — not in alarm, not in fear, but in stillness. As if watching. Learning.
Scene: After
Kaila lay in his arms, her body warm against his.
Andy looked at her like she was the last person left in the world.
"I love you," he said.
She looked up. "I know."
He kissed her forehead.
She didn't see the flicker in his eyes after that.
Didn't notice how his hand lingered near her chest. Near where Skate lived inside her.
Didn't feel the hunger that wasn't physical. The question that had been growing louder in his head.
What if I could be enough?
What if I could hold what she holds?
Scene: Dream Again
That night, Kaila dreamed.
She stood in a hallway with no walls. Just pillars. The sky above her bled like oil. In front of her was a door made of glass.
Behind it stood Andy. But not Andy.
He had her eyes.
And someone else's smile.
He spoke, but she couldn't hear it.
Then the door cracked.
Shattered.
And Skate whispered from the void:
"You have opened the heart.
But something else has crawled in with you."
Kaila woke up gasping.
Andy was still asleep beside her.
Smiling.