Jay POV
The fire was finally dying.
Most of the warehouse had collapsed into a twisted pile of metal and debris.
Smoke drifted slowly into the sky.
The firefighters were still spraying water across the ruins.
But the search had stopped.
There was nothing left to search.
Felix stood beside me quietly.
"I checked the docks again," he said.
Nothing.
Ci-N came back from the shoreline.
"Still nothing."
My chest tightened.
Keifer approached slowly.
"Jay."
I knew what he was going to say.
"We should go."
The words felt like knives.
"No."
"Jay…"
"He could still be out there."
Keifer didn't answer immediately.
The harbor wind moved softly around us.
Finally he spoke.
"If he survived… we would have found him."
Tears burned behind my eyes.
I forced myself to look at the wreckage one last time.
The place where Hex had been.
The place where he stayed behind.
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
"…He saved us."
Felix nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
For a long moment no one moved.
Then Keifer placed a hand gently on my shoulder.
"Come on."
I didn't want to leave.
Every part of me screamed to stay.
But eventually my legs started moving.
We walked away to the ambulance slowly.
Behind us the ruins of the warehouse continued to smoke .