CTS TIME RE250.09.05 — 2:43 AM
NEON CITYSCAPE — TOWARD WARP GATE, SECTOR 13
The city never slept.
High above, holo-ads flickered across skyscrapers like living murals, painting the streets with shifting shades of violet, gold, and deep emerald. Flying vehicles cut streaks of light across the artificial sky, while pedestrian lanes buzzed with the footsteps of androids, humanoid robots, and Detroit's going about their midnight routines as though it were midday.
Valerian and Luna moved side by side, their biomechanical layering faintly visible under their casual clothes the stormy blue glow leaking like veins under his jacket, the soft lilac shimmer tracing under her sleeves. From a distance, they could almost pass as ordinary Mechatopians.
But silence stretched between them.
Valerian walked with measured calm, hands tucked in his pockets, his storm-blue eyes forward. His reactor glowed in its unsettling half-red, half-green swirl, pulsing faintly with every thought he refused to voice. His footsteps were precise, steady as though he could control the entire world if he kept his rhythm perfect.
Luna, by contrast, was adrift in her own tide of thoughts. Her cheeks still warm, reactor pulsing pink with every step. The memory of Oliver's tears, Clara's trembling embrace, Alex kneeling in disbelief—it all flooded her.
Machines… with families. With bonds stronger than half the humans I've met. Oliver didn't cry oil, he cried hope. Clara's pink light for him was so pure… More than human. So much more.
She placed a hand over her chestplate unconsciously, fingers brushing the faintly glowing reactor. It pulsed brighter, syncing with her heartbeat.
She glanced at Valerian—tall, composed, sharp as a blade in the neon haze. But he didn't look at her. Not even once.
The silence burned.
She wanted to say thank you for apologizing, even if his words were cold. She wanted to tell him she saw his hand hesitate before crushing Clara's throat, that deep inside him something cracked open. But instead, she walked, letting her reactor betray her emotions in a soft pink glow.
Valerian, meanwhile, wasn't as composed as he looked. His thoughts churned.
Why did she give them that money? Why so much, to strangers? What if it exposes us? What if they start questioning who we are?
Yet beneath the caution, something else clawed at him. A faint image of Luna's face glowing with happiness when Oliver bowed, when Clara thanked her, when the Vault Void room filled with light again. That smile fragile, radiant, impossible to look away from clung to him.
She smiled… like it was worth everything.
His jaw tightened. He kept walking.
They approached the Warp Gate plaza, where dozens of glowing circular arches lined the square, each humming with translucent light. Android families held hands as they stepped into the portals. Couples laughed softly. Delivery drones zipped past in lines of perfect coordination.
The warp attendants called out destination sectors, their voices clipped and efficient.
"Sector 7—warp initializing!"
"Sector 19—two-minute delay."
"Sector 13—clear entry!"
Valerian stopped just short of the gate. The blue-white glow of the portal washed over his face, highlighting the faint red in his reactor. He finally spoke, his tone as sharp as ever.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Luna blinked, turning toward him. "What?"
"The money," Valerian said, eyes narrowing. "One-point-five million star credits. To machines we barely know. To machines who already lied about their situation. You trusted them without hesitation. You exposed yourself. You exposed us."
His words were cold, each syllable measured like a knife.
Luna's lips parted, but no words came out at first. Her reactor pulsed pink brighter against the portal's glow. Finally, she said quietly, "I couldn't watch them break. They reminded me… of us."
Valerian's eyes flicked to her, but only for a second before he turned back to the gate.
Her voice softened further, trembling slightly. "You saw their eyes, Valerian. Their reactors. That bond. You can call them machines, but in that moment… they were more alive than half the people in ISA headquarters."
She clenched her hands against her skirt, her glow softening. "I didn't give them money. I gave them a chance to keep that alive."
Valerian didn't reply. His reactor pulsed red once, then green, then settled back into its uneasy mix. He stepped into the warp gate without another word, the blue-white light swallowing him.
Luna lingered, her lilac glow trembling. Why do you never say anything, Valerian…?
She followed him, and the gate sealed shut behind them.
The warp gate released them into Sector 13 with a low hum, its light dissolving into the dim, crowded streets. Sector 13 was calmer than the central city, its skyscrapers jagged, their neon lights flickering with faint advertisements. Narrow walkways were lit by floating drones, projecting signs and holograms across the cracked ferrocrete ground.
Above them, the sound of Distant Echoes bled softly through the air from an unseen holo-speaker. The melancholic synthwave track pulsed with layered notes, filling the streets like a heartbeat—half sorrow, half serenity. The kind of song that seemed to linger in the veins long after it ended.
Luna walked a step ahead, her reactor glowing faintly pink beneath her blouse, her lilac eyes alive. For the first time since stepping into Mechatopia, she felt light. I did something today… something right.
Her thoughts spilled warmly
Oliver's tears. Clara's gratitude. The way Alex trembled when he realized they had hope again. That's why we're here—to bring light, not only to Flame but to everyone caught in darkness.
She turned her head slightly, catching Valerian in the corner of her eye. His storm-blue glow trailed steady as ever, his stride unbroken. He looked calm—no, colder than calm, almost unreachable. Yet Luna couldn't miss the subtle flicker in his reactor: green mixing into red, pulsing irregularly as though it couldn't decide which side it belonged to.
Her lips curled into a soft smile.
He doesn't say it. He'll never say it. But he saw what I saw. He felt it too.
Valerian, meanwhile, kept his gaze forward, but his thoughts clawed at him.
Why did her smile stay with me? Why… when she looked at those machines, when she gave them hope—why does it feel like something in my chest cracked?
The memory replayed again Luna's face glowing faintly pink in that dim fighting pit, her voice gentle but firm as she promised Oliver help. That laugh when she reassured Clara. The way she stood against him—not with strength, but with heart.
He exhaled sharply through his nose. This is weakness. That's all it is. She's reckless, emotional… and yet…
The neon reflected in his storm-blue eyes. His jaw tightened. Why can't I stop replaying her smile?
Luna's boots clicked softly against the ferrocrete, her reactor pulsing brighter the closer they reached the familiar street. She clutched the hem of her sleeve, cheeks warm. She wanted to say something—anything—but the words twisted in her throat. If I say too much, I'll lose everything. But… if I stay silent… I'll lose him anyway.
They stopped at the base of Nikhil's apartment tower, the building stretching into the smoky night sky. Windows flickered with faint holographic curtains, and drones hovered lazily along the perimeter.
Valerian finally broke the silence, his voice low, flat, yet laced with something he couldn't contain:
"You smiled too much today."
Luna blinked, taken aback. "What…?"
Valerian's storm-blue eyes shifted toward her, only briefly. "In the club. With them. You smiled like it mattered. Like they mattered."
Her heart skipped. She swallowed, her reactor flaring pink brighter than before. "That's because it did matter. To them. To me."
Valerian's gaze hardened, but his voice softened almost imperceptibly. "You'll break yourself if you keep giving that much."
Luna smiled faintly, turning toward the faint glow of Nikhil's window above. "Then let me break. At least… at least it will mean I gave something real."
Valerian froze in place. Something tugged deep in his chest, sharper than any blade, more dangerous than any enemy. His reactor pulsed green for a single heartbeat before settling back into its mixed glow.
She didn't notice she was already climbing the steps, humming softly with Distant Echoes still threading through the night.
Valerian followed, silent, his storm-blue glow trailing her lilac one up the stairwell.