⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
SYLVANNA — SPECIALIZED RESEARCH FACILITY
HOLDING LOUNGE — MORNING
Morning light filtered through the high windows in pale bands. The room felt smaller now. Crowded with quiet movement and the weight of things about to end.
They lingered anyway.
Mae stood near the table, checking the seals on her pack with deliberate care. She glanced up when Kit drifted closer.
“You’re steady now,” she said, meeting his eyes. “That matters more than anything else.”
Kit nodded. He knew what she meant.
Mae continued as she handed out responsibility.
“You decide your lines,” she continued. “And you keep them. That’s how you last.”
Kit absorbed it. A torch passed cleanly from one set of hands to another.
Colt leaned against the wall, arms folded, weight favoring his good side. He watched the exchange, then pushed off and came over, clapping Kit on the shoulder with a grin that carried history they hadn’t known they were making.
“You belong in rooms bigger than this, kid” Colt said. “Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”
Kit smiled, a little embarrassed.
“We wouldn’t have made it without you,” Colt went on. “That’s just the truth. One day I’m going to say, ‘Yeah, I survived the Wilds with that guy,’ and people are going to listen.”
He held Kit’s gaze a beat longer. Peer to peer. Brother to brother.
“You’re going to do great things.”
Aria and Lisa drifted in from opposite sides, an easy orbit settling around Kit. Aria bumped him lightly with her shoulder.
“Try not to forget us when you’re famous,” she said.
Lisa smirked. “Or do. We’ll remind you.”
Their tone stayed light, but their eyes stayed with him, steady and warm.
“You’re never on your own,” Aria added. “You know that now.”
Lisa nodded. “Wherever you end up, we’re there. Maybe not in person. But we’re there.”
The room fell into a soft quiet. No one rushed to fill it.
Kit took a breath and faced them all.
“I don’t have fancy words for this,” he said. “But I know one thing.”
They waited.
“I’m going to see you all again.”
That landed as a promise.
Mae’s mouth curved. Colt exhaled through his nose, amused and moved all at once. Aria raised her brows like she’d expected nothing less. Lisa’s smile deepened.
Kit stepped forward and started with Colt, fist bumping him with a solid knock and a grin that came easy. Colt returned it, pulling him in for a quick half-hug that said more than either of them would admit.
Aria was next. She met his fist with a playful tap and a laugh, then squeezed his hand before letting go.
Lisa followed, mirroring the gesture, her smile bright. “Don’t be a stranger,” she said.
Kit turned to Mae last.
She didn’t offer her fist.
She opened her arms.
Kit stepped into the hug without thinking. Mae wrapped him up fully, grounding and fierce and warm, holding him like she was sealing something into place.
For a moment, that was the room.
Then Aria joined, arms around both of them. Lisa followed, laughing as she squeezed in. Colt hesitated half a second before shaking his head and stepping forward.
“You’re going to make me cry,” he muttered as he wrapped an arm around the group.
They stood there, five people bound by something that didn’t need a name.
At the edge of the room, Kofi Asher watched.
He didn’t interrupt.
He simply stood, hands folded behind his back, taking in the sight of his son at the center of it all.
Proud. Certain. Surrounded.
When the moment loosened and the group began to pull apart, Kofi stepped forward.
“Kit,” he said gently.
Kit turned, smile still on his face.
Kofi met his eyes and nodded once.
Time.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣