Lala lay still.
Breath shallow, skin glistening, heartbeat slowly returning to its natural rhythm.
The moonlight spilled through the window, tracing silver lines across her bare shoulders. Scourge was beside her, silent in his newly formed body. Not withdrawn, not hidden.
Present.
Real.
She blinked slowly, adjusting to the silence—not of absence, but of fullness.
She wasn't alone.
Not in the usual way.
He was in her still… but now also outside her. Divided, yet joined. A reflection of her own wants, her fears, her trust.
"…You were intense," she whispered, her fingers still tracing lazy circles on his chest.
"Yes," Scourge answered. His voice was no longer just in her mind—it vibrated in the air, settled in her bones. "I wanted you to know the difference."
She turned onto her side to face him. "Between what?"
"Between taking and receiving. Between obedience and connection. Between being possessed…" His hand brushed against her wrist, featherlight. "And being chosen."
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn't look away. "You're not just a suit anymore."
"No," he agreed. "You made me more."
There was a pause.
Not heavy.
Just… thoughtful.
Then she asked what had been simmering in her mind since her heartbeat first slowed:
"Is this still just about merging? About control? Or do you… feel this too?"
He looked at her—really looked at her—and for the first time since awakening into the folds of this world, hesitated.
"Yes," he said.
But it came quieter.
Because something in him had shifted.
The hunger hadn't disappeared. The mission still pulsed beneath his skin like heat in cooling metal.
But it was no longer the same mission.
Something new had joined it.
A desire to be seen. Not just obeyed.
And Lala had seen him.
Not as a tool. Not as a weapon. Not even as a lover.
As Scourge.
As someone.
The silence wrapped around them again, but this time it felt earned.
She shifted closer and laid her head on his chest. "I don't know where this leads…"
"Neither do I."
"Is that scary for you?"
"Yes," he said. "But not enough to stop."
A breath. A heartbeat.
Then, in the system's core—a spark.
[System Mission Unlocked: "To Belong"]
Objective: Deepen emotional synchronization with Host: Lala
Reward: [Unknown]
Status: In Progress...
And far away, in another room, Haruna sat up suddenly in her bed, eyes wide, heart racing.
The Hivemind hummed gently in the back of her thoughts.
She didn't know why she was flushed.
But her body remembered a whisper:
"Do you want to be seen too?"
And somewhere deeper still, Aiko smiled in silence.