Chapter 42: Breathing in the Aftermath
The Garden no longer pulsed with warmth.
What once felt like a realm of trials and blooming truths now hung heavy with something darker—a silence filled with withheld breath, as if even the air feared what came next.
Riku stood alone at the edge of the Heart's ruins. The others had moved to rest near the outer chamber, but sleep wouldn't come. Not after what they'd seen.
His pendant dimmed and pulsed again, as though sensing the weight on his chest.
He remembered the Remnant's voice—not angry, not monstrous… just tired. As though it had been waiting all this time, not for revenge, but for understanding.
"We're not them," Riku whispered again to the silent air. "We won't be."
Behind him, soft footsteps.
"You always try to carry it alone," Airi said, wrapping her arms lightly around herself, hesitant. "You're still trying, even now."
"I don't know how not to," he admitted.
She sat beside him, legs crossed, chin on her knees. "You don't have to be your brother."
Riku looked at her, startled. "You saw him… didn't you?"
"In the fire," Airi said. "He was reaching for something. Not power. You. He wasn't trying to protect the world—he was trying to protect you."
Riku's breath caught.
That realization, so simple, pierced through something he hadn't noticed he'd built—a wall between his brother's legacy and his own worth.
"He's still out there," Riku said. "I don't know where, but I felt it. The Garden isn't finished with us."
Airi nodded. "Then let's find him."
---
Elsewhere in the Garden Ruins
Kaoru knelt beside Kohana, who sat silently, arms wrapped around her knees. The Seed of Wind still shimmered faintly in her palm.
"I thought when I accepted it… I'd feel stronger," she said.
"You are," Kaoru replied, watching the soft gusts stir her hair. "Strength isn't about feeling ready. It's about choosing to stand."
Kohana looked up, searching his eyes. "How do you always know what to say?"
Kaoru smiled faintly. "Because once, I didn't. And it cost me everything."
She reached for his hand. "You're not that person anymore."
Kaoru flinched—but didn't pull away.
---
Rei sat across from Toma, both nursing light wounds.
"The Remnant spoke like it knew us," Rei said, gaze distant. "Not just our team—us. Humans."
"It did," Toma said simply. "Because it's what's left of everything the original Bloom destroyed to shape this world. Anger. Sorrow. Hope. Abandonment. That thing wasn't a monster. It was a memory that refused to die."
Sera joined them, sitting without a word. The light in her palm still glowed faintly.
"I saw myself," she said softly. "A child in chains. Crying."
Toma looked at her. "Do you think it was a vision of the past?"
She shook her head. "No. I think it was a warning. Of what I could become."
"We still have a choice," Toma said. "The Garden isn't done with us yet."
---
Back at the Chamber Entrance
Veyla stood alone, gazing at the shattered shell where the Remnant had once been held.
"You warned them, didn't you?" she whispered.
The air didn't reply—but something shifted.
Ash stirred on the floor. From the dust, a single white sprout bloomed. Quiet, defiant.
She smiled faintly.
"Then perhaps… there is hope."
---
Later That Night
The teams gathered around a campfire made from glowing petals. The silence between them wasn't empty—it was the kind that followed shared survival.
They had seen the Remnant. Fought it. And still stood.
"We continue tomorrow," Riku said, voice steady. "The next Seed is waiting."
"Where?" Lina asked.
Veyla answered, eyes distant. "Beyond the Labyrinth… lies the Garden's memory. A place the Originals sealed even from themselves."
Riku stood, firelight casting flickers across his determined face.
"Then we'll unseal it. Whatever the Bloom tried to forget—we'll remember."
And somewhere, deep in the Garden's hidden veins, a voice long buried whispered back:
"Let them come."
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