Location: Skyfortress Aegis – Inner Command Corridors
The alarms began as a low, pulsing hum. Not the shrill battle sirens Aeris was used to—no, this was slower, deeper. Like a heartbeat.
Lucien's voice cut through the comms, clipped and urgent.
"Seal off Section 9. Do it now."
Aeris was already moving before she thought about it, her boots striking the steel floor in rhythm with the heartbeat hum. Something in her chest told her this wasn't an attack from outside—it was inside.
---
Location: Med-Bay Hall
The first body lay slumped against the wall.
Aeris knelt, fingers brushing over the woman's temple. The skin was cold, but not lifeless—it pulsed faintly beneath her touch, as if something was moving just under the surface.
Her stomach tightened. "Lucien… this isn't death."
"I know," his voice came back, lower now. "It's them."
The words turned her veins to ice. The Forgotten had made their move—not with fleets or firepower, but with whispers in the blood.
---
She rose, eyes scanning the hall. Every shadow seemed to stretch too far, every movement at the edge of her vision lingered a second too long.
From the far door, a figure emerged.
"Commander Vale," the man greeted. His voice was normal, almost pleasant. But his eyes—once a warm brown—now shimmered faintly silver.
Her pulse spiked. "Lieutenant Harrow… stand down."
He smiled. "We've been waiting for you."
---
A ripple of movement—a second figure behind him, then a third. Aeris stepped back, calculating distance, exits, and the exact moment she'd have to draw steel.
The lieutenant tilted his head. "We could end this, you know. Stop the war, stop the blood. You only have to listen."
"You're not speaking for yourself," she said coldly.
The smile widened, inhuman now. "Neither will you, soon."
---
They lunged.
Her blade was in her hand before thought caught up, silver arcs flashing in the dim light. She moved like lightning, each strike precise—no wasted motion, no hesitation. But for every one that fell, two more seemed to appear.
A voice shouted down the corridor:
"Aeris! MOVE!"
Lucien barreled into the fray, rifle crackling with contained plasma bursts. He positioned himself between her and the swarm without thought, his stance screaming one message—I'll hold them, you run.
She didn't run.
---
"Lucien, they're infected, not gone," she yelled over the chaos.
"They'll be gone if we hesitate!" His jaw was tight, but there was something desperate in his eyes.
For one heartbeat, their gazes locked, and she saw it—his fear wasn't for himself. It was the kind of fear that lives only in the heart of someone who would rather die than watch you be taken.
---
He caught her wrist, yanking her into the shadow of a side hall as the corridor filled with the silver-eyed infected. His hand pressed against the wall beside her head, his breath harsh in the narrow space.
"You don't let them touch you. Not ever. Do you hear me?" His voice was a growl, almost feral.
"I'm not afraid of them," she shot back.
"I am," he said.
The rawness in his tone hit harder than any enemy could.
---
Somewhere deep in the fortress, the heartbeat hum grew louder. She felt it now, thrumming in her bones, calling her name in a voice that was hers and not hers.
Lucien's palm cupped her jaw, forcing her eyes back to his. "Stay with me, Aeris. No matter what they promise you, no matter what they show you—stay. With. Me."
Her lips parted, but she didn't speak. There was no need. She simply reached up, fingers curling into the fabric of his collar, pulling him close enough for the world to blur at the edges.
Not a kiss—yet—but the kind of closeness that says if we survive this, there will be no distance left between us.
---
A metallic screech tore through the hall. The infected had found them.
Lucien's grip tightened on his weapon. Aeris drew her blade again.
The hum in the air whispered promises in her ear, but the only voice she followed into the fight was his.
---