The city was folding in on itself. Screeches of bending steel echoed through the Veins, punctuated by distant crashes as walls I'd memorized for years suddenly betrayed their purpose. Smoke curled like malevolent fingers through shattered conduits, carrying the metallic tang of imminent collapse.
Elliot was there, framed in chaos, holding the gate. Not hesitating, not faltering. Every muscle tensed, every movement precise. I counted the seconds it took him to jam the lever, to wedge the hatch just enough to slow the tide of destruction behind us. A shard of twisted metal grazed his shoulder. He didn't flinch.
drip… low groan… distant clatter…
I watched, silent, cataloging. This wasn't a trap. This wasn't a calculated gambit masked as courage. This was loyalty, raw and inconvenient. My chest tightened. Trust had always been a currency in the Veins, but Elliot was spending it recklessly. And for me.
I pressed my fingers against the cool railing of the platform above, feeling the vibrations of the crumbling structure beneath. Each shudder of steel was a reminder: everything could fall apart in a heartbeat. And yet, Elliot remained steadfast, the anomaly in a world designed to betray.
He glanced up briefly, eyes catching mine. No smirk, no sarcasm, just the gravity of a man accepting the cost of his choice. I wanted to argue, to remind him of the stakes, but the words got lost in the roar of collapsing walls.
soft hiss… muffled bang… distant scream…
The gate groaned under pressure, bending like it might surrender at any moment. Elliot gritted his teeth, muscles burning, and forced it into place. Behind him, the chaos slowed, just enough for me to pivot, to move through the gap he'd carved. He wasn't asking for thanks. He didn't want it. And yet, I couldn't help the pulse of something unfamiliar respect.
I exhaled slowly, letting the moment sink in. Loyalty was a dangerous thing, especially in the Veins, but sometimes it was worth the cost. Sometimes it carried a weight heavier than any blade.
And Elliot? He was paying in full.
"Of course, someone had to be the responsible one," I muttered, a sardonic edge in my tone. "Guess it won't be me this time."
The smoke, the rubble, the groaning metal it all receded slightly in the background, not out of mercy, but because for once, someone had held the line. Someone real. And for the first time in a long while, I realized that even in the Veins, loyalty could still exist.