Lucas didn't think about it again that night.
That should've bothered him more.
Usually, when something slipped like that, it stayed with him. It replayed in the background, picking apart the timing, the decision, the exact moment things went off just enough to matter.
This time, it didn't.
He noticed that as he sat on the edge of his bed, staring at nothing in particular while the low noise of the dorm filtered in through the walls. Conversations. Footsteps. A door closing somewhere down the hall.
Normal.
Too normal.
He leaned back slowly, resting against the wall.
"…That's not good," he muttered.
Across the room, Dreyden didn't look up.
"No."
Lucas frowned slightly.
"You didn't even ask what I meant."
"I don't need to."
Lucas let out a quiet breath.
"Yeah. Fair."
The next morning, it came back.
Not as a memory.
As a feeling.
Lucas felt it the moment he stepped into the training hall. Not tension. Not pressure.
Something quieter.
Awareness.
