The weeks stretched into a languid haze, November's monsoon easing into December's reluctant sun, the kind that filtered through city's smog like a half-hearted apology. Elara, Lara, as I'd started calling her in the quiet moments, the nickname slipping out like a secret between kisses, had become the axis my world spun on. School was a mere scaffold now, algebra equations reduced to scribbles in the margins of notes we'd pass under the desk, her handwriting looping elegant beside my jagged coils. "Your serpents are getting softer," she'd tease, her fingers brushing mine as she handed back the paper, her amber eyes promising later, always later.
Training? It was a relic, gathering dust in the recesses of my mind like an old textbook I hadn't cracked since September. The pendants still hung heavy around my neck, Phobos and Deimos' presences a faint thrum, like distant thunder over the sea. They'd murmur occasionally, *Coil loosens, pup,* Phobos would wire through my skull during a stolen lunch on the roof, his voice cool but edged with something sharper, almost pleading. *Fight fades without the bite,* Deimos would rumble in gravelly counterpoint, but I'd shove them down, focusing instead on the way Lara's lips tasted of salt from the rooftop breeze, her body arching into mine as I pulled her closer, the chain-link fence digging into my back like a forgotten warning.
I dedicated everything to her. Mornings started with her texts, *Pier at dawn? Bring coffee, serpent boy*, and I'd pedal through the waking streets, the rusty bike groaning under the weight of two steaming cups from the all-night stall. We'd sit on the damp boards, legs dangling over the edge, her head on my shoulder, my arm around her waist, fingers tracing lazy patterns on her hip through the thin fabric of her sweater. The sea would lap below, indifferent, but her warmth seeped into me, chasing away the chill of the pendants' growing silence. "Tell me a story," she'd murmur, her breath hot against my neck, and I'd spin half-truths, alleys that weren't quite erased, shadows that didn't quite hunt, edited to fit the light in her eyes, her laughter a balm that soothed the hollow I'd carried for so long.
Afternoons bled into the library, our corner table a fortress of stacked books and tangled limbs. She'd straddle my lap in the shadowed aisle between philosophy and astronomy, her skirt hiking up as she kissed me, slow and deep, her hands framing my face like I was something precious, breakable. "Rei," she'd gasp between presses of her lips, her tongue tracing the seam of my mouth, igniting a fire that pooled low and insistent in my gut. I'd grip her thighs, pulling her closer, the scrape of her nails down my arms leaving red trails that burned sweeter than any venom. The librarian's footsteps would echo distant, a half-hearted patrol, but we'd only pause long enough to stifle laughs, her forehead against mine, eyes molten and mischievous. "You're mine," she'd whisper, her voice raw, fingers threading into my hair to tug me back down, and I'd lose myself in her, the world narrowing to the slick heat of her mouth, the press of her breasts against my chest, the way her hips rocked subtly, teasing, promising more.
Evenings were ours alone. I'd skip shifts at the warehouse, texts to my manager half-apologies about "family stuff", to meet her at the noodle carts, where steam rose like ghosts in the twilight. We'd share a bowl, her chopsticks feeding me bites laced with chili heat, her foot hooked around my ankle under the rickety table. One night, under a sky bruised purple with the last of the rain, she led me to a side alley behind the carts, the walls graffiti-tagged with faded zodiac sigils that made the pendants twitch once, faintly. But her hands were on my shirt, yanking it up, her lips trailing fire down my chest, nipping at the skin above the pendants. "These," she murmured against my collarbone, her tongue flicking the chain, "they hum for you. Like a secret." I groaned, head thunking back against the brick, my fingers digging into her hair as she sank lower, her kisses hot and deliberate, each one unraveling me further. The alley smelled of garbage and jasmine, but all I knew was her, the curve of her spine under my hands, the way she looked up through her lashes, amber eyes dark with want, her breath ragged as she pressed herself against me, bodies aligning in a friction that bordered on ache.
Nights ended at her place sometimes, a cramped apartment in the east district she'd rented after transferring, walls papered in star charts and sketches that mirrored my own doodles. We'd collapse onto her narrow bed, clothes shedding like old skin, her body a landscape I mapped with hands and mouth. She'd arch under me, gasps turning to moans that echoed off the thin walls, her nails raking my back as I kissed down her throat, her breasts, the soft plane of her stomach. "Rei, please," she'd beg, voice breaking, legs wrapping around my waist, pulling me down until there was no space, no air, just the slick slide of skin on skin, the rhythm building fierce and unrelenting. We'd move together, sweat-slick and desperate, her eyes locked on mine, vulnerable and fierce, until release crashed over us like a wave, leaving us tangled and trembling, her head on my chest, fingers tracing the pendants as our breaths synced in the afterglow. "Stay," she'd whisper, curling into me, and I would, sleep claiming me with her warmth as anchor, the OS's faint pings lost in the dark.
But the world didn't stay drowned. Ophy started as a whisper, then a shadow. It began with a mist at the edge of my vision during a pier dawn, emerald eyes flickering in the fog rolling off the water, his voice threading cool through the salt air. "Pup," he'd say, smooth as serpent silk but laced with an undercurrent of frost, "the coil frays when you chase skirts over scales." I'd jolt, coffee spilling hot over my knuckles, Lara's head lifting from my shoulder with a sleepy frown. But by the time she'd blink fully awake, the mist was gone, leaving only a chill that I blamed on the breeze.
He escalated. A week later, during a library tangle, Lara's lips on my neck, her hand slipping under my waistband, breath hitching as I nipped her earlobe, the air thickened with ozone, the pendants scorching sudden and sharp. Ophy materialized in the aisle's gloom, his form coalescing from vapor, emerald eyes narrowed to slits. "Enough," he hissed, voice low but slicing, a salesman's lilt twisted into something venomous. "You've tasted the hook, Rei. Now spit it out. Training calls, shadows stir in the stacks again, leaks widening. Your squad pings unanswered; Mira's glitching edges without you. This... dalliance?" His gaze raked over Lara, who froze against me, her hand stilling on my thigh, eyes wide but unafraid. "It's erasure's bait. Sweet, sticky, pulling you under."
Lara stiffened, pulling back with a sharp inhale, her blouse askew, cheeks flushed not just from heat but indignation. "Who the hell are you?" she snapped, voice steady despite the intrusion, her hand finding mine in a grip that grounded me.
Ophy's laugh was liquid, mocking, mist coiling around his feet like smoke from a dying fire. "The one who uncoiled you, girl. Ophiuchus's whisper. And you, " he turned to me, eyes boring into mine, ", you're slacking the venom. Phobos and Deimos starve in silence. Call the card, pup. Hunt, or the fracture breaks you both."
The pendants burned, Phobos's wire voice surging faint but urgent, *Heed the thread, pup*, Deimos's growl echoing gravel over silk, *Bite back, or lose the fang.* My pulse thundered, the hollow twisting sharp in my chest, but Lara's fingers squeezed mine, her amber eyes flashing defiance. "Back off," I said, voice rough, pulling her closer, my arm banding around her waist like a shield. "I'm done chasing ghosts, Ophy. This, her, is real. Training can wait. Everything can wait."
His mist darkened, swirling turbulent, emerald eyes flaring like faulty code on the fritz. "Foolish pup. Happiness is the sweetest poison. You'll beg for the coil when she fogs." The words hung, a curse wrapped in silk, before he dissolved, leaving the air heavy with ozone and the faint scent of scorched pendants.
Lara exhaled, trembling slightly as she buttoned her blouse, but her smile was fierce when she turned to me, cupping my face. "Friend of yours?" she asked, voice light but probing, her thumb stroking my jaw.
"Old ghost," I muttered, dismissing it with a shrug, though the burn in my chest lingered. I kissed her instead, hard and claiming, pouring the irritation into heat, my hands roaming until her questions melted into moans. Ophy was wrong, irritated, meddling, but wrong. This was mine, deserved, a fire that didn't demand blood.
He didn't stop. Pings came next, ethereal chimes in my skull during a noodle cart evening, Lara's foot teasing up my calf under the table, her grin sly as she fed me a dumpling. *Warehouse. Now. Shadows pool thick; tar-beasts slither free.* Ophy's voice, insistent, cool wire fraying at the edges with ire. I'd flinch, chopsticks clattering, and Lara would laugh, mistaking it for clumsiness, her hand covering mine. "Nervous, Rei? Don't be. I've got you." And I'd nod, silencing the ping with a kiss that tasted of soy and her, dismissing the coil's tug as paranoia, Ophy's jealousy over my stolen time.
Mira texted once, *Glitch run tonight? Lena's scouting, but you're ghosting hard. Trouble?*, but I archived it, pulling Lara closer on the pier that night, her body draped over mine as we watched the city lights fracture on the waves. Ophy appeared again at midnight, mist seeping from the cracks in the boards, his form towering, eyes storms of emerald fury. "Dismiss me again, pup, and the venom turns. Your squad fractures without you, Mira's clones glitch wild, Lena's edges bleed. This girl? She's a veil-tear waiting. Call. Train. Or watch it all unravel."
The pendants scorched, Phobos and Deimos roaring faint in tandem, *Thread snaps,* *Fire blinds the fight*, but Lara stirred in my arms, her hand sliding under my shirt, lips brushing my ear. "Bad dream?" she murmured, voice husky with sleep and want, pulling me back to her warmth.
"Just noise," I lied, turning to capture her mouth, deepening the kiss until Ophy's mist hissed and fled, ire crackling like static in his wake. He was wrong. Irritated mentor, clinging to old coils. I deserved this, Lara's sighs, her body arching under mine as we tumbled back to the boards, the sea's rhythm matching ours. Training was a chain I'd slipped; Ophy's ire just the rattle of links falling away.
But the dismissals piled, and his intrusions sharpened. A week later, mid-kiss in a rain-slicked alley, Lara's back against the wall, legs hooked around my hips, her moans muffled against my shoulder as I thrust shallow, teasing, her nails drawing blood down my arms, Ophy erupted in full fury, mist exploding like a breached dam, slamming me back with spectral force. Lara yelped, sliding down, blouse torn at the seam, but Ophy ignored her, looming over me, emerald eyes blazing. "Enough! The veil frays because of you, whelp! Scorpio's labs spill unchecked, tar-beasts in the stacks, erasure fogging the east district's edges. Your 'happiness' blinds you to the hunt. Phobos weakens, Deimos dulls. Call the card, or I'll drag you back myself!"
The alley spun, pendants molten against my skin, Phobos's wire screaming, *Heed, pup, or coil crushes*, Deimos's roar thunderous, *Snap him, kid, or lose the venom.* Lara scrambled up, eyes wide, grabbing my arm. "Rei? What's happening?"
Ophy's gaze flicked to her, venomous. "She's the fracture, pup. A zodiac leak you ignore. Dismiss me? Fine. But when she fogs, don't whine for the scales."
I shoved to my feet, chest heaving, ire mirroring his as I pulled Lara behind me. "Go, Ophy. Irritate someone else. I'm not your puppet anymore. This, " I gestured to her, to us, rain mingling with sweat on our skin ", this is what matters. Training's your ghost, not mine."
His mist boiled, a low hiss escaping like steam from a cracked pipe, before he recoiled, dissolving into the downpour with a final glare. "Your funeral, pup. But the coil remembers."
Lara trembled against me, questions bubbling, but I kissed them silent, fierce and apologetic, my hands gentle now as I fixed her blouse, thumbs brushing her collarbone. "Old baggage," I murmured, dismissing it again, the burn in my chest fading under her touch. "Nothing we can't handle."
She searched my eyes, amber depths worried but trusting, and nodded, pulling me close. "Together, then." We slipped back into the night, her hand in mine, the alley's shadows receding. Ophy's ire was just noise, jealous, outdated. Lara was my now, my fire, and I'd burn the world before letting it go. The pendants cooled, Phobos and Deimos falling silent once more, and for a moment, the hollow felt full. But in the quiet, as we walked, the OS pinged faint, *Fracture's Edge: Imminent*, and I silenced it, choosing her light over the dark.