They didn't notice the sound at first.
A low vibration. Almost like wind moving through glass.
Seraphine's eyes snapped open.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.
Aiden frowned. "Hear what"
The air shifted.
Not dramatically. Not violently. Just enough to make the hairs on his arms rise, like the world itself had inhaled.
Seraphine pulled back from him immediately, her posture changing. Spine straight. Shoulders squared. Angel again.
"They're searching," she said.
Aiden stood. "The Choir?"
She nodded once. "They felt the interference. A human surviving a fall like that doesn't go unnoticed."
"So what happens now?"
Her jaw tightened. "Now they decide whether you're an anomaly… or a threat."
Before he could respond, the light above them shattered.
Glass rained down, freezing midair.
Aiden's breath caught.
The fragments hovered, trembling, as a sound rolled through the stairwell, not spoken, not heard, but known.
"SERAPHINE OF THE SEVENTH HALO. STEP FORWARD".
The voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Seraphine stepped in front of Aiden instinctively, wings flaring into existence, dim, fractured, beautiful.
"No," she said.
The glass began to glow.
"YOU STAND WITH THE FALLEN."
"I stand with the living," she replied. "You taught us that once."
Aiden grabbed her arm. "Seraphine"
She didn't look back. "Whatever happens, don't speak. They listen differently to humans."
The air thickened. Pressure pressed against his chest, heavy with judgment.
"HE HAS BEEN MARKED."
Seraphine's breath hitched.
"Then unmark him," she said. "Erase me if you must."
Aiden's heart slammed. "What?"
She turned then, eyes burning, not with power, but with resolve.
"You don't belong to them," she said softly. "And I won't let them claim you."
The presence hesitated.
For the first time, it hesitated..
Aiden felt something warm spread through his chest, not fear. Not courage.
Trust.
He stepped forward, standing beside her.
"I didn't ask to be saved," he said quietly. "But I'm glad it was you."
Seraphine's eyes widened.
The glass shattered fully this time, clattering to the ground as the pressure vanished.
Silence rushed in.
The Choir withdrew.
Seraphine's wings dissolved, and she staggered.
Aiden caught her.
She leaned into him without resistance, forehead against his shoulder, breathing hard.
"That," she murmured, "was a mistake."
He smiled faintly. "Didn't feel like one."
She didn't answer.
But she didn't pull away either.
And somewhere far above them, something ancient took note.