Why did she do that?
Who were those men?
Is she…?
My brain was buzzing so loudly it felt like electricity under my skin. My breath wouldn't steady. My eyes were glued to the monitor, to her tiny figure walking away on the screen.
I know that walk.
That confident, straight-backed, I-am-right-and-the-world-is-wrong walk.
Then—
She stopped.
Turned back.
Walked straight toward the camera.
Her eyes—God.
Even through a grainy feed, they slammed into me like a punch to the ribs.
Sharp, furious, blazing.
Her stare poured straight into my soul and yanked breath back into my lungs—the breath I thought I had lost forever.
And then…
She lifted her hand.
Middle.
Finger.
If I read her lips right…
"Fuck you."
My mind blanked.
Went white.
Silent.
Then it clicked.
A whisper slipped out of me, low but absolutely certain:
"She knows…"
All the weight crushing my chest—gone.
Evaporated.
My lungs opened, my heartbeat steadied, and something warm and wild twisted inside me.
She kept cursing—tiny, furious expressions I couldn't fully catch.
But watching her?
Watching my Chibi throw rage at the camera?
A laugh escaped me. Soft. Disbelieving. Worshipping.
My adorable little demon.
She turned around and walked away again.
And something inside me snapped perfectly into place.
I straightened, every thought razor-clear.
Every fear burned out of existence.
The one thing that held me back…
The one thing that made me hide…
It was gone now.
Everything was clean.
I started laughing—loud, sharp, unrestrained—and the guards beside me froze, staring like I'd gone insane.
Let them look.
They have no idea.
"I am free now," I whispered, a smile cutting across my face.
"free to chase you, my chibi."