The warehouse died quietly at first. Lights flickered. One by one. Not a blackout, but something worse. A staggered failure that left shadows in the wrong places and corridors half-lit, half-swallowed.
The suppression field stuttered. Felicity felt it like a breath caught in her chest.
Something loosened.
Damien was already on his feet, scales lifting along his neck, pupils slit sharp. "They're here," he said. Not fear. Recognition.
The first wall didn't explode.
It folded. Space bent inward with a sound like reality tearing cloth, and then the outer storage wing was simply… gone. Crates, steel, bodies, all swallowed into Victor's infinite void in a single, silent inhalation. Then the screaming started.
Zombies poured in from the breach Sarge had carved hours earlier, driven forward like ammunition, not allies. They smashed into guards, traders, Overseer techs alike, chaos blooming exactly where order had been most tightly controlled.
Snow Team entered through the smoke. Victor walked. Fire licked his steps. Ice webbed outward, freezing blood and bone mid-motion. He did not look left or right.
Voss moved like a thought made lethal, every strike calculated, every path chosen to dismantle infrastructure rather than bodies when possible. Doors sealed behind them. Control rooms went dark. Sarge laughed somewhere in the chaos.
Rose's vines ripped through corridors, tearing captives' doors open even as she fought through pain that hadn't healed. Finch and Giddy covered flanks, brutal and efficient.
They were not here to conquer. They were here to retrieve.
Damien pulled Felicity back as the floor shuddered. "Stay behind me," he ordered.
She didn't. The suppression field finally collapsed entirely, the Overseer's scream cutting off mid command as her systems failed. Power rushed back into Felicity all at once, dizzying, painful, alive. She staggered.
Damien caught her. And then Victor was there. He didn't attack. That was the terrifying part.
He simply appeared in the doorway, heat and frost coiling around him like a crown, eyes locking instantly on Felicity. Relief hit him so hard it almost shattered control.
Then he saw Damien's hands on her. Something old and violent surged.
Voss arrived half a second later, already reading the room, already furious.
"Step away," Victor said quietly.
Damien didn't move. Felicity did.
She turned, placed herself between them without thinking, one hand still gripping Damien's sleeve.
"Stop," she said. The word landed.
Victor froze. Voss's jaw tightened so hard it ached.
"Felicity," Voss said carefully, "he's involved in this place."
Damien opened his mouth.
"I am," he said, and met Victor's gaze without flinching. "But not like them."
Victor's space warped, reacting to his pulse.
Felicity felt it immediately and pressed back, instinctive, protective.
"He didn't hurt me. He protected me. He didn't touch me. He.."
She faltered, then steadied. "He saved me." Silence slammed down.
Victor looked at her.
Not at Damien. At her.
The rage didn't vanish. It receded, forced down by something stronger.
Voss exhaled through his teeth. "We can discuss this later," he said flatly. "We're still in hostile territory."
Damien nodded once. "I can get you out. There are tunnels. I memorized them."
Victor didn't thank him.
But he didn't kill him either. That was mercy. They moved fast. Snow Team cleared a path while Damien led, Felicity staying close to him despite every instinct in Victor screaming to pull her back where she belonged. Each time she shielded Damien with her body, Victor felt it like a blade.
Each time she checked Damien's breathing, Voss recalculated everything he thought he knew about her. She wasn't confused. She was choosing. They emerged into open ash just as the warehouse collapsed in on itself, fires burning down into its bones, screams swallowed by distance.
Damien stopped at the edge of the blast radius. "This is as far as I go," he said.
Felicity turned to him, eyes bright with unshed tears and relief and something far more dangerous.
"No," she said softly. "You're coming."
Victor stiffened.
Voss closed his eyes for half a second. Damien looked at her like the world had just shifted under his feet. "They'll kill me."
She smiled, small and certain. "No. They won't." She reached for his hand again. Not a mate's claim. Not a friend's comfort. Something unfinished. Something inevitable.
Victor turned away before anyone could see the war on his face. Voss adjusted his gloves, already planning how to keep Damien alive long enough not to break her heart.
Snow Team moved out together. And behind them, the place where light didn't travel burned itself out of existence. The ashlands fell quiet once the warehouse burned itself hollow.
Not silence exactly. More like the land was listening. Snow Team stopped moving only when Victor raised his hand. They formed a loose perimeter without thinking, habits older than language. Weapons stayed drawn. Eyes stayed sharp. And in the center of it all stood Felicity. Alive. Dust-streaked. Tired. Standing a little closer to Damien than Victor liked and a little farther from Victor than she ever had before.
For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then Tommy broke.
"FELI—"
She barely had time to brace before he crossed the distance and pulled her into a crushing hug, armor and all.
She laughed, a startled, breathless sound, arms wrapping around him automatically.
"I thought you were dead," he said hoarsely into her hair. "Don't ever do that again. Ever."
Victor's shoulders went rigid. Voss's fingers twitched. They let it happen.
Tommy released her only for Finch to take his place, then Giddy, then another pair of arms, rough and careful all at once. Each hug was a question and an answer both. Are you real? Yes. Are you hurt? No. You're here. You're here.
Damien watched it all from half a step back, eyes narrowing slightly. So many. So fast. So much care.
Luna was next.
She didn't walk. She ran.
"MUMMY!"
The sound cracked something open in the air. Felicity dropped to her knees just in time for Luna to slam into her, small arms locking around her neck like she was afraid Felicity might vanish again.
"I brought you shinies," Luna sobbed. "I didn't get to give you the shinies."
Felicity held her, rocking gently, tears spilling freely now. "You did so good," she whispered. "I'm so proud of you."
Frost followed more slowly, face tight, hands shaking. He didn't speak. He just pressed his forehead to her shoulder and held on. Victor turned away. He didn't trust his hands.
Damien's gaze flicked between the cubs and Felicity, brow furrowing. Confusion flickered, then something else. A fragile, aching warmth.
Rose noticed. She stepped closer to him, wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve and scoffing weakly. "They're not related," she said, voice thick. "She's just… like that."
Damien swallowed.
"Oh," he said quietly.
The word landed heavy in his chest. Rose didn't stop there. She stepped forward and pulled Felicity into a hug so fierce it knocked the breath from both of them. Vines curled unconsciously around Felicity's back, trembling.
"I failed you," Rose whispered, voice breaking completely. "I was supposed to keep you safe."
Felicity tightened her grip. "You tried. That's enough. You're enough."
Rose shook against her, tough edges crumbling at last, tears soaking Felicity's shoulder. No one laughed. No one looked away.
Victor finally stepped forward.
He didn't touch her at first. He just looked. Then Felicity reached out, took his hand, and pulled him down into the circle with her.
The world steadied.
Voss watched Damien closely through it all, wary, calculating. Damien didn't move closer. Didn't intrude. He just stood there, quietly witnessing something sacred he hadn't known existed.
Family.
Not blood.
Choice. When Felicity finally looked up at him and smiled, small and tired and real, something in Damien settled for good. Not claimed. Not yet. But no longer alone.
Snow Team closed ranks around her as they moved out, wary eyes still on Damien, but softened now by what they'd seen.
Anyone she loved was… under consideration.
And in the ashlands, for the first time since Tidehaven fell, the world felt like it might survive her kindness after all.