Chapter 12: The Unspoken Past
The clinic was quiet.
Too quiet.
Cyan had left without warning. No note. No message. Just… gone.
Mira stood outside the door where he used to be, staring at the empty bed. Anger surged first. Then worry. Then… something she didn't have a name for yet.
He had said he didn't know how to be honest.
And now, he was running again.
But this time, she wasn't chasing him for the story.
This time, it was personal.
---
Cyan stood in front of an old, weathered church at the edge of the city—its stones cracked, its bell tower silent. This place wasn't sacred anymore.
It was haunted.
He stepped inside, where the pews were broken and forgotten. And in the corner, covered in dust, sat a rusted plaque:
> Operation Emberlight – Field Base 09.
This was where it started. His beginning. His curse.
He dropped to his knees, breathing shallow, the ghost of his childhood pressing against him.
He remembered being trained. Watching. Obeying.
He remembered her, the woman who once said, "Feelings are weakness. Use them, don't keep them."
And now… all he could think of was Mira's voice whispering, "Then let's start over. From truth."
---
That night, Mira found him.
She didn't ask how. She always found him.
He turned around before she could speak. "I didn't want you to see this part of me."
She looked past him to the plaque, then back at his eyes. "But I already do."
> "You're not a lie, Cyan," she said. "You're just scared of being real."
He swallowed, trying not to break. "What if my truth ruins everything?"
Mira stepped closer, until they were only inches apart.
"Then we'll rebuild it. Together."
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