Resonant Heart

Location: Gaia HQ – Observation Wing, Twilight

Sylvia sat alone, her eyes drifting over the cityscape below, a quiet hum resting on her lips. The events at the Resonantia ruins still echoed inside her—Calistea's final song, the overwhelming ether, the Lament reborn within her.

Yet something else stirred now. A warmth not born from legacy... but from within.

"You've been quieter than usual," said a voice behind her.

She turned slightly. Cyg stood at the door, arms crossed, the fading sun reflecting in his eyes like cooled steel.

"Me? Quiet?" Sylvia asked with a small smile. "Isn't that your job?"

He didn't smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched—close enough.

"I watched your output data," he said, sitting beside her. "You triggered a dual-wave resonance. One I thought impossible unless you'd harmonized your Artifact with your... emotions."

"So what if I did?" Sylvia asked, lowering her voice. "We're not just weapons, Cyg."

He looked away.

"You think I don't know that?"

She reached out and gently placed her hand over his.

"I think you do know. I think you're just scared to admit it."

Location: Gaia Training Room – Later That Night

In a chamber filled with suspended sound panels and floating harmonic projectors, Sylvia stood across from Hikari, both in casual armor, their Divine Artifacts activated.

"We haven't sparred in weeks," Sylvia said. "Up for a duet?"

Hikari smiled softly, her shy demeanor cracking as she nodded.

Their battle was graceful, almost like a dance. Sylvia's sound-based attacks twisted through the air like violin strings; Hikari's scythe countered in sweeping arcs of calculated restraint.

Sylvia's voice rose, not in combat, but in purpose.

"You hide because you think you're dangerous," she said, dodging a swipe. "But you're more than your fear."

Hikari hesitated. That pause was all Sylvia needed—she surged forward, placing her hand gently on Hikari's chest.

"Your heart is a melody too. You just have to stop muting it."

Hikari's eyes filled with unshed tears.

"I... I don't know how."

Sylvia hugged her gently.

"Start by letting someone else hear it."

Location: Cyg's Quarters – Later

Sylvia knocked. Once. Twice.

"You always open on the third knock," she said, tapping one more time.

The door slid open. Cyg stood in a black training shirt, looking disheveled but alert.

"I figured I'd stop pretending," Sylvia said, stepping in. "About the team. About you. About me."

He closed the door.

"I'm listening."

She walked up to him and placed a hand on his chest, mirroring what she had done to Hikari.

"I don't know where this path leads. I don't know if my voice is meant to inspire, destroy, or both. But... when I sing, I want you to hear it."

His eyes flickered. A rare crack in the frost.

"I don't deserve that," he whispered. "Not after everything I've ignored. Not after I let you get hurt so many times."

She leaned in closer.

"You don't have to deserve it. Just don't run from it."

Their foreheads touched, breaths synced.

For a moment—no war, no strategy, no Octagon.

Just resonance.

A heart beating in time with another.