Dawn in Darkness

Location: Gaia HQ – Infirmary Wing

Soft morning light spilled through the frosted windows of Gaia's medical wing. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic and blooming lilies, a calm that contrasted the chaos just hours before. Hikari lay on the padded bed, her body lightly bandaged, but her face… peaceful.

Cyg stood nearby, leaning against the wall with arms crossed, his gaze never straying from her sleeping form.

Elaine peeked into the room quietly, whispering to Mia behind her.

"She's still asleep?"

"Yeah," Mia nodded, smiling gently. "But… something's different about her. She doesn't look afraid anymore."

Charlotte followed, adjusting the settings on a small ether monitor beside the bed.

"It's because she isn't," she said. "She didn't run from her power this time. She embraced it—and in doing so, she saved us."

"That's the light we've been waiting to see in her," Sylvia added, arms folded and leaning on the doorframe. "Not the scythe. Her."

The quiet harmony between them was interrupted by a soft murmur.

"You're all too loud," Hikari mumbled, eyes fluttering open.

They broke into warm laughter—gentle, unforced, like the first signs of spring after a long winter.

Later That Day – Gaia HQ Courtyard

The eight of them gathered in the training field. Not to train—but simply to be together. The cherry trees that framed the field were in bloom, petals drifting slowly on the wind.

Hikari sat beside the fountain, her legs drawn up as she held a cup of tea Elaine had brought her.

Cyg sat across from her. Unmoving. Unsmiling. But his presence was steady, patient.

"You never left," she said quietly.

"Didn't need to," he replied.

A pause stretched between them. Then:

"Do you remember what you said? Before the battle?"

"Which part?"

"The part where you said… if I fall, I should fall toward someone willing to catch me."

Cyg's eyes shifted, watching the petals fall beside her feet.

"Yeah. I meant it."

She looked up, her expression hesitant, but brave.

"Then I'm falling."

He blinked. Once. Then twice.

And then—very slowly—he extended his hand.

"Then I'll catch you. Every time."

Her fingers slipped into his, fragile yet firm. The warmth between them wasn't a blaze. It was a quiet fire, constant and real.

Location: Tactical Hall – Briefing Room

The Octagon had been summoned.

On the holo-display, satellite footage zoomed in on fractured tectonic lines beneath the Northern Atlantic.

Eun-Ha spoke first. Calm, focused.

"Abyssal readings are rising again. Low-frequency tremors suggest another Rift is forming… but this one is behaving differently. There's distortion—like it's cloaked."

Julius gritted his teeth. "So we're fighting ghosts now?"

Diane shook her head. "No. We're fighting something smarter."

Thea Synthesis 0 appeared on-screen.

"Prepare yourselves. The peace you've earned may be fleeting. But your bond—it will be what carries you through the storms to come."

Later – Rooftop Balcony

Hikari stood beneath the stars, Sanguira floating beside her in its dormant form. The breeze tugged at her coat, but she felt warm.

Cyg approached slowly.

"They'll come again," he said, watching the clouds shift in the distance.

"I know."

"And we'll fight again."

"Yes."

A pause.

"You scared?" he asked.

"Terrified," she admitted. "But I'll be standing beside the people I chose… and the one who caught me."

Cyg didn't say anything this time. He didn't need to. He simply stood beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

And they both watched the night—calm, knowing that darkness was never the enemy.

It was the silence before dawn.