Leyla invited Aarav to visit a youth combat therapy center in Marseille. Most kids there were refugees—some former child soldiers, others victims of abuse.
They trained barefoot. In broken gyms. But their eyes burned with the same fire Aarav once had.
It shook him.
He extended his trip. Taught classes. Trained the trainers. Used IronSoul funds to buy gear. Built a temporary training dome they called "The Fight Nest."
One night, after a long session, Leyla and Aarav sat under the open sky. She asked him:
"What was your worst scar?"
He didn't lift his shirt.
He looked at her and said,"Thinking I needed to become someone else to be loved."
She nodded."And now?""Now I just fight to be me."
They didn't kiss. Not yet. But a war had already begun—in both of them.