The morning after the Rift-class encounter, the Academy hummed with unease.
Not tension.
Not suspicion.
Something worse.
Curiosity.
Cadets whispered as Lyle passed. Instructors gave too-short nods, too-warm smiles. Even the cafeteria worker asked how he was feeling—not if he was okay, but how. Like they were taking notes.
He ignored them all.
Until he couldn't.
---
Juno didn't meet him for drills.
Didn't show at meal rotation.
Didn't respond to the silent glyph pulse they'd agreed on weeks ago—just three lines traced in the air behind a training wall.
Nothing.
By noon, Lyle felt the first curl of something he hadn't experienced since arriving:
Uncertainty.
The Codex flickered once across his vision:
> [Stability Node Status: Suppressed]
Bond integrity: Stable but Unconfirmed.
Outside interference probable. No internal degradation detected.
> They're isolating her, he realized.
Just like they tried with me.
---
Meanwhile…
Juno was being walked through an unfamiliar wing of the Academy's inner tower.
Everything was white stone and silence.
No glyph hum.
No surveillance shimmer.
She was brought to a circular chamber, windowless, with six chairs facing one.
She was expected to sit in the one.
She did.
Eventually, a voice—not a person—spoke from a glyph on the ceiling.
"Ravyn. Do you believe Greenbottle is manipulating you?"
She scoffed.
"Do you believe the sun is manipulating the sky?"
Silence.
Then: "Are you aware of the depth of your synchronization?"
"I'm aware I'm the only one who's ever seen him bleed."
Another pause.
"You should know," the voice said, "he's being considered for Shadow Tier classification."
Juno blinked. "So you are afraid of him."
"We're considering options."
"No," she said. "You're trying to pre-empt him. Maybe even cage him. But the problem is—he was born in a cage. You just never noticed until he learned how to pick the lock."
---
Back in his training dorm, Lyle finally received a message.
It wasn't from Juno.
It wasn't even signed.
Just a single sentence on a plain strip of parchment, tucked under the door.
> "What will you do when she's told not to trust you?"
He burned it without reading it twice.
But the words stayed.
---
That night, he returned to the eastern stairwell.
The one with the cracked handrail.
Where Juno always lingered after lights-out.
She wasn't there.
At least not immediately.
But just as he turned to leave, a shadow moved.
Then she stepped into view.
Tired.
Worn.
Still Juno.
"You get the same treatment?" she asked.
"Worse," he replied.
She sat next to him without asking.
And after a long silence, she said:
"They want me to report on you."
"I know."
"I told them to go to hell."
"I figured."
Another pause.
Then, softer:
"Do you want to run?"
He turned his head, brow raised. "Now?"
She shrugged. "I just want to know if you would."
Lyle looked ahead.
The stairs spiraled upward. But somewhere, they also spiraled down.
"I'd run," he said. "But only if you were the one chasing me."
She smiled.
And just like that, the silence wasn't empty anymore.
It was shared.