The second time Shinra left the infirmary, nobody tried to stop him.
They couldn't have, even if they wanted to.
He wasn't running.
He was walking.
Carefully.
His steps were steady but not quite natural, as if he were borrowing his own body and hadn't finished adjusting the weight distribution. The infirmary gown was gone; he was back in a simplified version of Sanctum's uniform — dark, unadorned, jacket left open.
Yuna walked half a step beside him, not hovering, not touching.
Just there.
"Doctor said one lap," she reminded him. "Around the floor. Not 'wander the whole guild until someone drags you back.'"
"One lap," he agreed.
He didn't say how long he intended to make that lap.
The corridor outside the infirmary was quieter than usual.
Not empty — a few members moved back and forth carrying files or equipment — but when people saw him, their pace stuttered for half a heartbeat.
Some nodded.
Some looked away quickly.
Some just… stared.
Yuna noticed.
She always did.
"Word got around," she said.
"About me?" he asked.
She gave him a look.
"About the cafeteria menu," she said. "Yes, about you."
They passed the emergency map where he'd stood before the Catastrophe.
The gratitude wall beside it had grown again.
More notes.
Some messy, some neat.
"To the one who stopped the sky."
"My little brother came home. That's all."
"Please don't die out there. We're counting on you whether we want to or not."
Mixed in now with different kinds of messages:
"If you lose control… please don't let it be here."
"I'm scared of you, but more scared of the Breaches."
He paused.
Yuna watched him read.
"You're not obligated to feel good about any of it," she said quietly.
"I don't," he said.
He didn't feel bad about it either.
He felt… aware.
This was what power did.
It didn't just bend reality.
It rearranged the way people looked at you.
He stepped away from the wall.
The corridor stretched ahead, the familiar Sanctum interior — light panels along the ceiling, reinforced doors, the distant murmur of conversations from other rooms.
For one heartbeat, all of that vanished.
The clean lines of Sanctum's hallway blurred and overlaid with something else — tall stone pillars, banners sagging from a soot-stained ceiling, a long carpet burned in places. The air tasted of ash and incense.
"Your Radiance," someone said, voice echoing.
He didn't turn his head.
There was no head to turn toward.
The vision snapped.
Sanctum slid back into place.
He missed a step.
Yuna's hand shot out, fingers brushing his elbow to steady him.
"Hey," she said sharply. "Talk to me."
He blinked.
The burned hall was gone.
Just corridor.
Just light.
Just her.
"Memory bleed," he said after a second. "Nothing broke."
"You sure?" she asked.
"No," he said. "But I'm still standing."
Her grip tightened, then eased, as she let go of his arm.
"Is that going to happen a lot now?" she asked.
He listened inward.
Arios stirred, sluggish but responsive.
[The partitions we used to keep your past locked away took damage,] Arios said.
[Some memories will push through. Occasionally… the world will echo them.]
Echo them? Shinra thought.
[A momentary overlay. Your perception trying to hold two eras at once,] Arios replied.
[If it worsens, then we worry.]
"Probably," Shinra said aloud. "Not constant. But it won't be the last time."
Yuna exhaled through her nose.
"Okay," she said. "Then if you're going to randomly overlap with ruined thrones and dying worlds, try to do it near someone who can catch you."
He almost smiled.
"That a medical recommendation?" he asked.
"Call it common sense," she said.
They resumed walking.
When they reached the junction near the main operations room, the hum of conversation grew louder.
Sanctum was awake in full now.
On one wall, a display screen showed muted news feeds — headlines scrolling, commentators gesturing in small windows. Even without sound, he could read the text:
"TEN SECONDS THAT SAVED THE CITY?"
"NEW THREAT OR LAST HOPE?"
"UNCLASSIFIED ENTITY IN HUMAN FORM? EXPERTS DIVIDED."
Someone quickly changed the channel when they noticed him looking.
The new feed showed a weather report.
Sunny tomorrow.
How optimistic.
Yuna's band buzzed.
She checked the notification.
"They're almost here," she said.
"Authority?" Shinra asked.
"Ryou and the Envoy," she confirmed. "Kaizen wants you in the briefing room before they arrive. Mizuki insisted."
"I'd hate to disappoint her," he said.
The briefing room wasn't large.
Sanctum didn't believe in intimidating their own people with vast tables and towering ceilings. It was one of the mid-level rooms — long table, wall screens, simple chairs. The blinds over the small embedded window were half-drawn.
Kaizen sat on the table itself, legs swinging idly like he had no appreciation for furniture as it was meant to be used. Mizuki stood near the display, tablet in hand, glasses slightly askew.
Hana and Riku were there too, hovering near the far end.
Daren leaned against the wall, arms folded, expression unreadable.
When Shinra and Yuna entered, all eyes shifted.
"Good," Mizuki said. "You're mobile. Saves me having to wheel you in."
"I would have refused," Shinra said.
"I know," she replied. "It would have been entertaining."
Kaizen hopped off the table.
"Today's schedule," he said. "Breakfast, political pressure, possible existential panic, then maybe lunch."
"Efficient," Riku muttered.
Mizuki flicked a data window onto the nearest screen.
It showed the Authority crest, followed by a brief dossier.
"Envoy Name: Kurogane Daichi," Mizuki said. "High-ranking representative from Central Authority. Ryou is acting as local liaison and buffer."
Yuna frowned.
"'Kurogane' sounds familiar," she said.
"It should," Mizuki replied. "He's been in charge of Breach policy negotiations for the last five years. The kind of man who can smile nicely while signing away someone's freedom in the name of 'public safety.'"
"Charming," Shinra said.
Kaizen leaned back against the table.
"Authority saw what you did," he said. "Now they have to decide what box to put you in. Weapon, threat, protected asset, future problem… whatever they choose, we're not going to like all of it."
Riku lifted a hand.
"Question," he said. "Are we going to let them 'escort' him somewhere for 'evaluation' and 'special care'?"
Hana answered before anyone else.
"No," she said simply.
Kaizen grinned.
"Correct," he said. "Sanctum's position is clear: Shinra is our member, not an Authority experiment. They can observe. They cannot own."
Mizuki nodded.
"We'll cooperate enough not to look like rogues," she said. "But there are lines. We decide how much we tell them. And we do not, under any circumstances, agree to hand him over."
All eyes turned to Shinra.
"You're making a lot of decisions on my behalf," he said mildly.
Yuna's mouth quirked.
"Feel free to disagree if you want to be detained," she said.
He thought about that.
About Ryou's quiet stare.
About Kurogane, whose name he didn't know yet, but whose type he understood.
He'd seen versions of them before.
"They won't stop at polite requests," he said. "If the higher tiers of Authority decide I'm too dangerous to leave here, they'll escalate."
Kaizen's expression lost some of its usual lightness.
"That's why we're not the only ones at this table," he said.
Mizuki flicked another feed onto the screen.
Arisa's face appeared in a window — not in person, but via secure holo-link, the Obsidian Crown crest faintly visible behind her.
"Sanctum," she said by way of greeting. "I see your Tier 1 is alive. That makes this conversation easier."
"Obsidian likes making an entrance," Riku muttered.
Arisa looked at Shinra through the projection.
"Good to see you conscious," she said. "The last time I saw you, you were bleeding on the ground or rewriting a giant mistake out of existence. Neither is an ideal way to hold a conversation."
"I've been told," he said.
Mizuki crossed her arms.
"How generous of Obsidian to join us," she said. "Not that we're ungrateful, but what's your angle?"
"Straight to the point," Arisa said. "Good. Here it is: Central Authority has already contacted certain guilds off-record. They're worried you're emotionally attached to your Tier 1. They think you might 'lack the necessary objectivity' if he becomes a risk."
"And Obsidian?" Kaizen asked.
"We told them they're underestimating both you and him," Arisa said. "And that if they attempt to remove him from Sanctum 'for the greater good,' Obsidian Crown will oppose the action."
Hana's brows lifted.
"Publicly?" she asked.
"Quietly first," Arisa said. "Loudly if necessary."
Yuna nodded once.
"Why?" she asked. "You don't exactly strike me as the sentimental type."
Arisa smiled faintly.
"It's not sentiment," she said. "It's strategy. Whatever he is, he's already reshaping how Breaches behave. Removing him from the one guild that has actually chosen to protect the weak and cooperate with others would be incredibly stupid."
"So this is enlightened self-interest," Riku said.
"The best kind," Arisa replied.
Shinra listened, absorbing.
"You're not worried I'll break?" he asked her.
Arisa studied him.
"I am," she said. "But I've seen enough to know two things: one, you're more likely to hold if you're surrounded by people who see you as more than a tool. Two, if you do break, there won't be a 'safe' distance anyway."
"That's… comforting?" Riku said.
"Realistic," Arisa corrected.
Kaizen clapped his hands softly.
"Good," he said. "Then that's where we stand. Sanctum up front. Obsidian in our corner. Apex Radiant is… undecided, but Sol isn't blind."
Mizuki glanced at the time on her band.
"Envoy arrives in seven minutes," she said. "Shinra, one more thing: do not, under any circumstances, demonstrate whatever that ten-second 'Authority' thing was. Even if they ask. Especially if they ask."
"I had no intention of repeating that," he said.
"Good," she said. "Because if you do, the world's map won't be the only thing that gets redrawn. Our political situation will too."
He inclined his head.
"I'll be… cooperative," he said. "To a point."
Kaizen smirked.
"Try not to sound so ominous when you say that," he said.
Sanctum's main meeting hall wasn't grand, but they'd made an effort.
The table had been extended.
Chairs added.
The room smelled faintly of fresh polish and strong tea.
Kaizen sat at the end closest to the door, relaxed but clearly presiding. Mizuki took the seat to his right, data feeds active on a small projection in front of her. Yuna, Hana, Riku, and Daren lined one side.
Shinra sat opposite them, slightly apart, not at the head, not at the edge.
A statement.
He was not the one hosting this.
He was the subject.
The door slid open.
Ryou entered first.
He looked more tired than Shinra remembered from the plaza — lines deeper at the edges of his eyes, posture a fraction tenser. He wore Authority's dark formal uniform, high collar crisp, band on his wrist set to official mode.
Behind him came Kurogane.
He was older than Ryou by at least a decade. His hair was iron-grey at the temples, neatly combed back. His face had the kind of calm you saw on people who made decisions that ruined lives and then slept anyway.
His aura, for those who could feel such things, was carefully folded inward — muted, steady.
Dangerous in a quiet way.
"Thank you for receiving us," Kurogane said, voice smooth. "Guild Sanctum, Guildmaster Kaizen, Vice Director Mizuki." His gaze passed to the others. "Unit 3. And…"
His eyes settled on Shinra.
"…Tier 1 — Shinra," he finished, tasting the name like a new word.
Shinra inclined his head a fraction.
"Envoy Kurogane," Mizuki said. "We've prepared reports on the Breach and will share what we can without compromising internal guild security."
"I appreciate your cooperation," Kurogane said.
Ryou took a seat slightly down the table, not at the head, not at the far end.
Between worlds, as always.
Kurogane sat opposite Kaizen.
For a few seconds, they simply regarded each other.
Two men used to holding authority in very different ways.
"I'll be direct," Kurogane said. "The world watched what happened at the Convergence Zone. A Catastrophe-tier Breach manifested. Guilds responded. Authority supported. And then…"
His eyes shifted to Shinra again.
"…something we do not have a name for, yet, intervened," he finished.
Riku coughed under his breath.
"Could call it 'him,'" he muttered.
Yuna nudged his foot under the table.
Kurogane didn't comment.
"Authority's official position," he continued, "is that we are grateful. The city still stands because of the efforts of everyone in this room, including your Tier 1. Thousands of lives owe you their continued existence."
He paused.
Unofficially hung in the air.
"And?" Kaizen prompted.
"And," Kurogane said, "we are also… concerned. When a power manifests that lies outside our existing classification, when it overrides our sensors, burns out our equipment, and erases a threat beyond our understanding, we must ask: what happens if that same power turns against us?"
Shinra didn't flinch.
"That's a reasonable question," he said.
Kurogane's gaze sharpened.
"You agree," he said.
"I have seen what happens when power is misused," Shinra said. "I mislike repeating that pattern."
"You speak as if you've done this before," Kurogane said quietly.
"Parts," Shinra replied.
Mizuki tapped her stylus lightly against her tablet.
"To your underlying point," she said, "we're not ignoring the risk. Shinra's presence, his abilities, and the recent override — they're all under internal review. We are not treating any of this lightly."
"That is reassuring," Kurogane said. "But internal review is not enough. Authority is responsible for the safety of all civilians, not just Sanctum. We need to understand what he is."
"A member of this guild," Kaizen said.
"And something more," Kurogane replied.
He looked directly at Shinra.
"In the plaza," he said, "just before the final phase of the Breach, an unfamiliar voice spoke through you. It referred to you as 'Master.' It claimed to be initiating an 'emergency override.' It declared it would use your 'true power' for ten seconds. What was that?"
Silence lapped at the edges of the table.
Shinra met his eyes.
"My support system," he said. "You have tech. I have Arios."
"Arios," Kurogane repeated. "Is that an entity? A second consciousness? A Breach-linked intelligence?"
"Yes," Shinra said.
Kurogane's brow furrowed.
"Yes to which?" he asked.
"Yes to it being my support system," Shinra said calmly. "The rest is… complicated."
Kurogane's lips flattened.
"I understand the instinct to be vague," he said. "But vagueness doesn't help anyone here."
"It helps keep panic from scaling beyond your control," Mizuki said. "Authority is already struggling to explain the footage to the public. Imagine trying to sell them 'oh yes, in addition to Breaches, there are now sealed ancient subsystems riding inside certain people.'"
Ryou finally spoke up.
"Envoy," he said, voice steady. "We don't need every detail to make a judgment call. We need to know one thing first." He looked at Shinra. "Can you lose control?"
Shinra considered the question.
He could lie.
He didn't.
"Yes," he said. "Under the wrong conditions, I could."
Yuna stiffened, but she didn't interrupt.
Ryou's eyes didn't waver.
"And if you do?" he asked. "What happens?"
"I don't know," Shinra said. "My best estimate is: things break until something stops me, or the seal collapses, or I… disappear."
"That is not reassuring," Kurogane said.
"It's not meant to be," Shinra replied. "You asked for honesty."
Kurogane folded his hands.
"Given that risk," he said, "leaving you in a non-secure facility—"
"Excuse me?" Mizuki said sharply.
"—in a guild without the infrastructure to restrain a power like that—"
"There is no infrastructure to restrain a power like that," Kaizen cut in. "Let's not pretend Authority has a secret box big enough for a Catastrophe-tier countermeasure that walks and talks."
Kurogane's gaze cooled.
"You underestimate our resources," he said.
"You underestimate our stubbornness," Kaizen replied.
Ryou rubbed his temple.
"This isn't productive," he said quietly.
Kurogane shot him a glance, then refocused on Shinra.
"Do you intend to cooperate with Authority?" he asked. "With oversight. With monitoring. With structured engagement. Or will you insist on acting purely as a guild asset?"
"I will cooperate," Shinra said. "To a point."
"That point being?" Kurogane asked.
"When cooperation becomes a cage," Shinra said. "When 'oversight' becomes 'ownership.' When you stop seeing me as someone who chose to protect this era, and start treating me as a tool you can aim."
Something flickered in Kurogane's eyes.
"Do you blame us for wanting to aim you?" he asked. "From our perspective, you are a deterrent. A weapon. A… possibly divine anomaly. Other nations are already asking if we can 'deploy' you. Do you understand the political pressure that creates?"
"Yes," Shinra said. "That's why I chose Sanctum."
"Meaning?" Kurogane said.
"They're the only ones I've met so far," Shinra said, "who evaluate my choices before my utility."
Yuna looked down for a second.
It wasn't pride on her face.
It was something quieter.
Relief.
Arisa's voice cut through from the holo-feed.
"You've seen what he is," she said to Kurogane. "You were there, even if your instruments weren't. If Authority tries to take him, you will be starting a conflict you can't control. Not with guilds, not with the population that just watched him save their families."
"You're threatening me," Kurogane observed.
"I'm describing reality," Arisa said. "Obsidian Crown already has people whispering that maybe, just maybe, someone like him is needed in this age. Sanctum has that, multiplied. Apex Radiant is halfway to building a monument in his honor. If you drag him away in chains, you don't just anger guilds. You fracture trust."
Ryou exhaled slowly.
"Envoy," he said, "we can't treat this like a normal Tier 1 complication. You saw their faces out there. The civilians'. They're terrified of him, yes. But they choose that terror over dying in a red dome."
Kurogane looked at him for a long moment.
The older man's expression didn't change much.
But something in his posture shifted.
"So your recommendation?" he asked.
Ryou didn't hesitate.
"We classify him as a Strategic Independent Asset," he said. "Not conscripted. Not detained. Monitored through guild channels. Sanctum remains primary contact point. Any call for his deployment goes through them, not directly from Authority."
Mizuki blinked.
"You rehearsed that?" she asked.
"In my head," Ryou said. "Several times."
Kurogane was silent.
At last, he turned back to Shinra.
"You understand," he said, "that this makes you a walking argument. Every time you act, someone will say you should be under more control. Every time you refuse, someone will say you're a danger. You will not have a quiet existence."
"I didn't have one before," Shinra said.
Kurogane actually huffed once, something almost like a laugh.
"No," he said. "I suppose you didn't."
He rose.
Ryou followed.
Kurogane adjusted his collar, then looked around the table.
"My official report will recommend Ryou's classification," he said. "With additional conditions. We will want access to your data, your Breach recordings, and… partial readings of his condition."
"Which we will share," Mizuki said, "to the extent that doing so doesn't endanger him or us."
Kurogane inclined his head.
"A negotiation, then," he said.
"As always," Kaizen agreed.
Kurogane's gaze settled on Shinra one last time.
"Unofficially," he said, voice lower, "I am not convinced any cage we could build would hold you. Or that it should."
Shinra held his stare.
"Then why try?" he asked.
"Because people are afraid," Kurogane said simply. "And when people are afraid, they ask us to put bars around whatever scares them. Even if those bars are an illusion."
He turned toward the door.
"At least," he added, "this time, the thing in the cage seems to be on our side. For now."
The door slid open.
He and Ryou stepped out.
The room breathed.
Riku sagged back in his chair.
"I hated every second of that," he said.
"Welcome to politics," Mizuki said dryly.
Arisa's holo-image flickered.
"We'll keep our channels open," she said. "Obsidian Crown doesn't forget debts. Or leverage."
"Comforting," Kaizen said.
She smirked.
"Try not to die before I get to spar with you properly, Shinra," she said. "I'd like to see your power when you're the one holding the reins, not your support system."
The feed cut.
Silence settled again.
Yuna looked at Shinra.
"You okay?" she asked.
He thought about the Envoy's words.
About Ryou's recommendation.
About being labeled a strategic asset, a deterrent, a walking argument.
About the hall that kept overlapping with Sanctum's corridors.
No.
He wasn't okay.
But he was standing.
"For now," he said.
Yuna nodded.
"That seems to be the theme lately," she replied.
Later, when the meeting room had emptied and Kaizen and Mizuki had gone to draft their own version of events, Shinra walked alone down a side corridor on the upper level.
He stopped at one of the narrow windows.
Outside, the city stretched — buildings still standing, lights flickering on as evening approached. Traffic moved again. People walked.
Alive.
Their screens carried his shadow.
His name.
Their fear.
Their gratitude.
He watched for a while.
His reflection stared back — ordinary, layered over the view.
Then, just for a moment, the glass changed.
The city outside flickered.
The sky beyond it darkened, turning into a ceiling of cracked stone and swirling void.
Far away, on a horizon that didn't belong to this world, something vast shifted.
A voice, distant but clear, brushed the edges of his awareness.
"Found you."
He blinked.
Sanctum's window returned.
The normal sky.
The normal city.
[Root activity has increased,] Arios said quietly.
[It is searching for points of contact. You are one of them.]
"Authority is watching," Shinra murmured. "And so is the thing behind the Breaches. I'm very popular lately."
[You always were,] Arios replied.
[You just remember it more clearly now.]
He rested his fingers lightly against the glass.
Not pressing.
Not pushing.
Just there.
Below, in Sanctum's courtyard, Unit 3 walked out together — Yuna talking with Hana, Riku gesturing animatedly, Daren listening. They didn't know he could see them.
He watched them for a moment.
Then let his hand fall.
"Popular or not," he said, "I'm not leaving them to deal with this alone."
The city lights brightened as night approached.
Shadows lengthened.
On the edge of the Breach network, something old adjusted its focus.
Authority had knocked today.
Sooner or later, something else would.
Shinra turned away from the window and walked back into Sanctum's halls.
The World has started Changing.
Not with an explosion.
With scrutiny.
And the quiet, heavy work of deciding
what he would be to this era:
weapon, warning, or something else entirely.