[LOCATION: SECTOR 9 – TEMPORARY SHELTER OUTSIDE THE RUINS]
[TIME: 10:42 A.M.]
The rain hadn't stopped since dawn.
Droplets drummed steadily against the rusted sheet-metal roof of the makeshift shelter. Inside, the light was faint, filtered through tattered curtains, swaying in the breeze like forgotten ghosts. A quiet hum came from the center table where Lin sat, hunched over a thin array of tools. Sparks flickered momentarily as his fingers worked with careful precision, soldering fragments of silver and crimson wire.
Nel sat nearby, legs drawn up, blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Her gaze wasn't on him, but on the pendant lying open in his palm — a cracked crystal orb encased in old brass with etchings faded by time. She clutched her knees tighter.
"You didn't have to fix it," she murmured.
Lin didn't look up. "It was broken."
"I've worn it for years like that."
He paused then. "I know," he said. "But it's important to you."
Nel exhaled. Rain misted through a hole in the roof, dotting her shoulder. She pulled the blanket closer.
"I keep dreaming about her," she said suddenly, voice hushed. "A girl with silver hair. I never see her face, but she's always standing in fire. Calling someone's name."
Lin froze — the soldering iron trembling slightly in his hand. He looked up slowly. "…Did she call for me?"
Nel met his eyes, unsure whether to lie. "Yes."
A silence stretched between them. The humming stopped.
"That's impossible," Lin whispered, eyes darkening. "She's dead."
"I thought that too. But… her voice felt so real. Like I knew her."
Lin looked down at the pendant again, now nearly restored. He touched the final joint, sealing the crack with a soft blue glow from the Reactor Ring pulsing under his glove.
"I gave this to her," he said finally.
Nel blinked. "To the girl?"
He nodded. "To Rune. My sister."
The pendant lay still between them. Nel felt her heart sink slightly — a sudden, unwelcome chill settling into her chest. So that's why he kept it. That's why he fixed it. Her hands curled under the blanket.
"She must've meant a lot to you," she said softly.
"She was everything," Lin said without hesitation.
A beat passed.
"Do I remind you of her?" Nel asked.
Lin looked up sharply.
"I mean—" She hesitated, then steadied herself. "Sometimes I wonder. If the only reason you keep protecting me is because I remind you of what you lost."
The question cut through the air like a blade. Lin stood slowly and walked to the edge of the shelter. The rain had picked up again — sheets of gray veiling the ruined skyline.
"You're nothing like her," he said.
It took Nel a second to realize how much that answer hurt.
"I see."
"I don't protect you because of the past," he added after a pause. "I do it because I want to. Because you—"
A flash of blue light snapped through the air. Instinctively, Lin turned, his blade sliding into his hand without thought.
A figure descended from above, landing on the muddy ground outside with the grace of a trained killer.
Umi Kisaragi.
Her silver-black cloak shimmered with Sector insignia, but her face bore none of the calm authority she once wielded. Her eyes were wild — narrowed into slits of scorn and fury.
"You're hard to track down, Lin," she said, drawing her saber with a fluid motion. "Too bad you weren't smart enough to keep running."
Nel stood quickly, instincts screaming. Lin stepped between them, blade drawn, stance wide.
"Umi," Lin said coldly. "You shouldn't be here."
"I could say the same about you," she hissed. "You're a wanted man, and she's carrying Syndicate-class information she doesn't even understand."
"We're not enemies."
"You made that choice the day you turned your back on Sector Command."
The air vibrated. Lin activated his Reactor Ring — sparks crackling along the edge of his weapon. Umi followed suit, her own ring glowing cold violet.
They clashed in an instant.
Steel met steel in a shower of energy. The shelter exploded outward as their duel ruptured the terrain. Nel leapt clear, landing hard on wet concrete.
Lin countered Umi's strikes with precision, but she was faster — sharper than before. Anger made her powerful. But Lin fought not with rage — with clarity, with the memory of Rune, with the promise he made to Nel.
In one deft maneuver, Lin feinted left and sliced low — disarming Umi in a blink. Her saber hit the mud.
He didn't press the blade to her throat. He didn't need to.
"Stand down," he said.
Umi glared at him, panting. "You chose her over us. Over everything."
"I chose what was right."
A siren blared in the distance — a signal from Command.
Umi stepped back, fury clenching her jaw. "This isn't over."
Then, without another word, she vanished into the storm.
---
[LATER – TEMPORARY SHELTER REBUILT UNDERGROUND]
The two sat in silence again. The hum of the repaired pendant filled the space with faint resonance. Rain still trickled faintly above them, but underground it was warm. Safe.
Nel looked at Lin as he cleaned his blade.
"Did you love her?" she asked.
Lin didn't answer right away. "She was my sister."
"That's not what I meant."
He paused.
"I don't know anymore," he said. "What I feel. What I should feel."
Nel turned away. Her voice was a whisper.
"You still think about her."
"Every day."
"And me?"
He looked up.
"You make me forget," he said.
Nel didn't know what to say to that.
Lin reached for the pendant and placed it in her palm, closing her fingers around it.
"She's gone," he said. "But you're here. And I need you."
Her fingers tightened. Her eyes misted.
"I'm not a replacement," she said, almost too softly to hear.
"You never were."
The words lingered. And for a brief moment, something real passed between them. Something delicate, vulnerable.
Maybe not love yet.
But something close.
---
[BLACK SECTOR COMMAND – TWO HOURS LATER]
Umi stood in front of the Commandant's desk, soaked in rain, bruised and silent.
"You were given explicit orders not to engage," the officer barked.
"He was there," she said. "I could've stopped him."
"You disobeyed direct command. You've lost containment privileges. You're suspended indefinitely."
Umi stared blankly at the floor.
"…Understood."
She turned, walking from the room with silent steps.
In the shadows of the hallway, a voice greeted her.
"You're angry. I like that."
She turned. A figure in a black coat leaned against the wall, smile cold.
"You want justice," the stranger said. "We can offer you a better purpose. Come with us. Be more than a discarded pawn."
She said nothing at first.
Then Umi stepped forward into the dark, eyes sharp with fire.
"…I'm listening."
---
TO BE CONTINUED..