Finally, Kayla was healed.
Her injuries—once life-threatening—had faded into scars. Her body could move freely again. Her strength had returned.
But her heart still carried the weight of everything she'd seen.
She thought, just for a moment, about staying hidden a little longer. It would be safer. Cleaner. No more conflict. No more war.
But then she thought of Annie.
The girl she once stood beside—the girl who smiled even when the world broke around her.
That girl was gone now.
And in her place stood someone cold. Ruthless. Unstoppable.
"She's becoming the very thing she hated."
Kayla clenched her fists.
"No. I won't let that happen."
Taking lives…
Slaughtering people…
That wasn't Annie's path.
That was never supposed to be her burden to carry.
It wasn't justice. It was revenge.
And if no one else could stop her, then Kayla would.
Even if it meant standing between her and the fire.
That night, Annie had only one thing on her mind.
Revenge.
Another location. Another tip. Another piece of the Garden to destroy.
As always, she ignored Rose's attempts to reason with her.
But this time, Rose didn't let her go alone.
She followed quietly, keeping her distance in the shadows—not to interfere, just to make sure Annie came back in one piece.
But what happened next…
Was beyond anything she expected.
Annie moved with her usual precision, slipping through the ruined alleyways of the city's underbelly toward the old factory marked on the intel.
Rose kept pace, unseen.
Then it happened.
A figure appeared in front of Annie—blocking her path.
Annie froze.
So did Rose.
And in that stillness…
Rose saw something in Annie's expression she hadn't seen in a long time.
Shock.
It was Kayla.
Standing right there—blocking the path, framed by the broken moonlight through the factory beams.
Annie froze.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Her mind screamed that it couldn't be real.
"Move," she hissed, fists trembling. "Get out of the way… I need to take revenge. For Kayla."
But the figure didn't move.
Instead, she stepped forward—and hugged her.
Warm. Solid. Real.
Annie's breath hitched. The world tilted. Her sword dropped from her hand, clattering to the floor.
"Kayla…?"
There was no answer. Just the quiet, steady embrace of the person she'd mourned a hundred times over.
And that's when it hit her.
This wasn't a hallucination.
This wasn't a dream.
Kayla was alive.
Annie collapsed into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably—years of pain pouring out all at once.
From behind them, Rose stepped forward from the shadows, unable to keep hiding.
She watched them—two souls clinging to one another in the wreckage of everything they'd lost.
And for the first time in a long while…
Rose cried too.
She knelt beside them, wrapping her arms around them both.
Three broken pieces of a ruined garden, holding each other together.