Rhett smirked—and then lunged.
He charged straight at Nyra, full speed, blades flashing. The moment he passed the doorway of Yuki's room, a shadow moved.
Veyron stepped out.
His arm bent in a tight arc, bicep locking around Rhett's neck mid-charge. The impact was brutal. Veyron twisted and slammed Rhett straight into the floor.
The house shook.
Rhett hit hard, air knocked from his lungs.
For a split second, clarity sliced through him.
I lost it.
The moment his emotions took over, his focus shattered. The zone weakened. The dreams were unraveling. He could feel it—everyone was about to wake up.
Rhett slipped low, ducking under Veyron's arm and sprinted.
"Nyra—!" Veyron shouted.
Threads snapped toward him, but Rhett leaped over them and tumbled down the stairs, hitting each step in a painful roll.
Upstairs, Nyra didn't hesitate. She ripped the black tape from Akari's mouth and hands, then rushed to Shin, tearing him free as well.
Downstairs, Rhett staggered to his feet, body screaming in pain. The front door was right there. Just a few steps.
He ran.
The door flew open.
And then—
A dark zone snapped into place.
Gravity crushed him.
Rhett was slammed face-first into the dirt outside, the force pinning him like a hammer from the sky. The ground cratered beneath him.
Goro stepped out calmly.
He looked down at Rhett, then bent, lifted him from the dirt like dead weight, and slung him over his shoulder.
Without a word, Goro carried him back inside.
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The night finally loosened its grip.
9:30 AM.
Sunlight poured through the windows, harsh and unforgiving.
Everyone was awake now—some shaken, some furious, all exhausted.
Rhett sat bound to a chair in the living room. Black tape wrapped his arms and legs, securing him tight. His mouth was left free. His red hair hung messily over his eyes.
"We're not here to kill you," Yuki said firmly.
"Yet," Veyron added from the side.
Yuki shot him a sharp look. Veyron raised his hands in surrender and retreated into the kitchen, where Nyra stood quietly.
"We won't hurt you unless you force us to," Yuki continued. "But we need to know—are you on our side now?"
"No," Rhett said flatly.
The answer landed heavy.
"But I can't go back to them either," he added, voice distant. "Not after everything they did."
Goro crossed his arms. "We were in the same prison. Trust us—we know."
Rhett exhaled slowly.
"The prison moved," he said. "I didn't know where at first. I only knew we were underground. Everyone who didn't escape… and everyone they caught afterward… they were all sent there."
He lifted his gaze to Yuki.
"I didn't find out where it was until I agreed to work for the government. That was the price of freedom."
"Where is it?" Shin asked from across the room. A white bandage wrapped his forehead. "We wondered about you for a long time."
Rhett's expression softened for a moment.
"Is your head okay?" he asked quietly.
Shin snorted. "Question is—is yours? You hit yours harder than I did. Three times. In under a minute."
"Yes," Rhett said, eyes dropping to the floor.
Silence swallowed the room.
One by one, people began to turn away, thinking the conversation was over.
Then Rhett spoke again, voice low but steady.
"It's under the mayor's house," he said. "Under the entire man-made lake."
Everyone froze.
"That's where the prison is," Rhett continued. "And the lab."
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Time passed quietly.
The sun climbed higher.
Outside, Goro stood near the edge of the hills, lifting his hand in a slow wave. His watch caught the light—2:00 PM.
Across the field, Rhett stood near the village road.
Yuki waved first.Shin followed.Even Axel gave him a nod.
Rhett returned the gesture, small, restrained.
Veyron didn't move.
Neither did Nyra.Akari stood stiff, arms wrapped around herself.Reina watched silently, unreadable.
Rhett turned away, walking over the hills. Step by step, he disappeared from view.
They had given him a second chance at life.
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The door closed behind them.
Inside the house, tension snapped.
"We shouldn't have let that motherfucker live," Veyron said sharply.
Nyra stood by the table, jaw tight.
Yuki entered the room. "Veyron, stop. Nyra's just stressed because—"
"She's stressed because Rhett attacked her with knives at full speed," Veyron cut in."She's stressed because Rhett almost killed Shin. Because he black-taped Akari."
Yuki inhaled. "Nyra knows Rhett. He was brainwashed. We saved him—just like we saved Nyra, Shin, Akari—"
"If Rhett wasn't putting us at risk to die, we wouldn't need saving!" Veyron snapped."Not even Rhett would've needed it—"
"Shut up, you fucking asshole!" Yuki shouted.
"I am one of the few people here making sense," Veyron fired back. "I am not shutting up!"
Nyra looked at him.
Sad. Torn.
She knew he wasn't wrong.
"You're out," Yuki said, pointing toward the door.
Veyron froze. "I'm… I'm out? Fine. Then Nyra and my family—we'll all go—"
"Your family and Nyra stay," Shin said, stepping into the room."You're the only one leaving."
The words hit harder than any punch.
Veyron crossed the room in a flash, grabbing Shin by the shirt, fists shaking.
Before it escalated—
"We're not removing you from the group," Axel said, entering behind Shin."And not from Nyra either. We're splitting up for a mission."
Veyron loosened his grip.
Let go.
"While you and Nyra were arguing," Yuki said calmly, stepping closer, taking Veyron's hand,"we were making a plan."
He looked down at her. She met his eyes without hesitation.
"Goro, Axel, you—and Akari—will infiltrate the prison lab," Reina said from across the kitchen.
"Mom—Akari can't go, it's too danger—" Veyron stopped mid-sentence.
A small hand tightened around his.
"It's okay, bro," Akari said softly."I'll be okay. Trust us."
Veyron exhaled shakily, eyes lifting to the ceiling fan as it spun too fast, like his thoughts.
Then he looked back down.
Nyra stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
He held her.
The room fell quiet—heavy, awkward, real.
Veyron finally spoke.
"What's the plan?"
Yuki picked up the marker and turned back to the whiteboard.
"Listen carefully," she said, voice steady. "Me, Nyra, Reina, and Shin stay here."
She underlined the words STAY HERE twice.
"At the very bottom of the PDF we found earlier, there was a link. We opened it. It led to an unlisted government website—locked behind a specific ID and password."
She drew a crude laptop icon.
"Your only job is to infiltrate the base and find an ID card marked scientist or high-class. The site only allows those credentials. Whatever's behind that login—data, protocols, contingencies—it's either leverage… or a way to burn the whole place to the ground."
Yuki paused, then continued, drawing stick figures.
"Akari stays next to Goro. Always. You and Axel move slightly ahead—just a few feet, nothing reckless."
She sketched butterflies around enemy silhouettes.
"Akari's butterflies can distract, blind, confuse. Quietly. We don't want alarms. You'll take gear, armor, weapons from the first lab security you neutralize."
She stepped back.
Everyone nodded.
Veyron didn't.
"I'm not sure I want to put Akari in that much danger," he said quietly.
Yuki didn't snap back. She erased part of the board instead.
"Shin's already hurt from Rhett's attack," she said, scribbling Shin's name out."That leaves me, Nyra, Reina, Goro, Axel, you—and Akari."
She erased again.
"Nyra's exhausted. Not useless—but if she goes, that leaves Reina alone. And Shin injured."Nyra and Reina disappeared from the board.
"Akari can't be protected with just one person here," Yuki continued. "That's where I come in."
She erased herself.
"That leaves you, Goro, Axel…"
Yuki hesitated, then circled Akari's name instead of erasing it.
"And Akari."
She looked straight at Veyron.
"She has powers. Two people in your group do too. And you—" she tapped the marker against his chest, "—you're dangerous even without them."
Veyron stayed silent.
"So I taught Akari how to use her butterflies properly," Yuki said, softer now."She agreed."
"She's fifteen," Veyron said.
"And so was I when I was caught in 2396," Yuki replied evenly."I was eighteen when I escaped in 2398."
She didn't sound proud. She sounded certain.
Axel stepped closer, resting a hand on Veyron's shoulder."She's a sealbreaker," he said. "And she's family."
Veyron stared at the board for a long moment.
"Okay," he said finally."But Akari's safety is the top priority. Above the mission. That's my demand."
Yuki nodded immediately and offered her hand.
"Of course."
They shook.
"And you get the ID and password and get out," Yuki added sharply, eyes on Goro and Axel."No side quests. No heroics. Not like last time."
Akari smiled faintly."My safety matters to us too," Axel said. "We're family."
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Preparations moved fast after that.
Axel slid into the driver's seat of Shin's old white van. The engine coughed, rattled—then held.
The van pulled away.
Reina stood by the door, watching until it vanished beyond the road.Inside it: Veyron, Akari, Goro, and Axel.
Gone.
Shin and Nyra went to rest—Shin wounded, Nyra drained.Reina and Yuki sat at the kitchen table, tea steaming between them.The old TV flickered in the living room, barely catching signal.
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The scene shifted.
Rhett walked alone as the sky darkened, the road stretching endlessly ahead.
Then—
Lights.
Familiar rooftops.
He stopped, breath hitching.
"Yes… finally," he muttered."That's—that's my village."
Rhett Kael started walking faster toward the place he once called home.
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The scene shifted.
A much smaller Rhett appeared—still a child, still a baby girl by the world's rules. She sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes glued to animated heroes meant "for boys." Her parents watched from the doorway, smiling softly.
Time accelerated.
Her room changed with her—walls repainted, toys replaced, posters shifting. The girl grew taller, sharper, more certain. Every year made it clearer: Rhett had always known. The mirror never matched what he felt inside.
School wasn't kind. There were bullies. Whispers. Looks.
But there was one constant.
A boy who stayed.
He walked with Rhett. Defended him. Laughed with him. And one night, still kids, Rhett told him the truth—that one day, he would become the man he already was inside. The boy listened. He didn't laugh. He promised he'd be there.
Years passed.
Rhett told his parents. His hands shook—but they accepted him. They loved him. They hugged him. They never tried to change him.
February, 2397.
Rhett was twenty-two.
The boy—now a man—proposed. They planned a future together. Work. Money. Therapy. A real beginning. A life where Rhett could finally be himself.
Then—Rhett vanished.
Taken by the government's Red Army force.
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The scene returned to the present.
Rhett's parents sat in their home, years older, quieter. They spoke gently to each other, pretending. Hoping. The absence never left—it only learned how to sit still.
Rain fell.
Rhett ran.
The village lights came into view, blurred by tears and water. He laughed breathlessly as he ran, soaked but unstoppable. Night had fully fallen now, but he knew these roads.
He searched for the house.
The other side of the village.
He stumbled once, scraped his hands, but got up again—crying now, not from pain, but from relief. From hope.
There.
The house.
Light behind the windows. Rain hitting the roof. Home.
Rhett stepped onto the wooden stairs. They creaked softly beneath his weight. He knocked.
Voices inside.
Footsteps.
Then—
Something unseen tore through the night.
A force so sudden, so overwhelming, it erased him before his body could react. Rain and wind swallowed the moment. The air hit through hundreds of meters like a shockwave. Rain followed the spinning air, then, silence.
The door opened.
Rhett's mother screamed.
The scene did not linger.
Rhett's body was split in half, his lower half left at the porch, his upper half completely missing.
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It shifted again.
Armored hands placed what remained of Rhett gently atop a hill overlooking the village. The rain washed over stillness. His skin was pale now, unmoving.
Rhett Kael was gone.
The village lights flickered below, unaware.