The bubble did not shatter so much as it thinned.
One moment, the air inside the vault still carried that sharpened, crystalline tension of accelerated time, the Celestial Jade tiles clacking in steady rhythm. The next, the hourglass Memory in Fu Xuan's palm dimmed, the white sand inside settling into stillness as the temporal distortion peeled away like frost under sunlight.
From March and Fu Xuan's perspective, barely two minutes had passed.
And yet, what they had witnessed in those two minutes had not been normal.
Sunny and Qingque had not moved like ordinary people sitting at a board. They had blurred. Their hands flickered in and out of clarity as they drew and discarded tiles at impossible speed. Their mouths moved in silent conversation, but the words had stretched too thin to catch. The walls of tiles had collapsed and rebuilt themselves again and again in a stuttering loop, the sound compressed into a high, continuous hiss.
Now, as the distortion dissolved completely, both of them were standing.
Sunny picked up the Celestial Jade board with a casual familiarity that had not been there before and slid it under his arm. Qingque stretched lazily as though she had just finished a pleasant nap instead of an extended strategic marathon.
March's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
There was something different.
Sunny and Qingque exchanged a look that was not dramatic, not conspiratorial, but comfortable. It was the look of two people who had spent a long stretch of time in one another's presence and come out understanding each other's rhythms. Qingque smirked faintly at something Sunny muttered under his breath. Sunny rolled his eyes in response. It was subtle.
It irritated her.
March stepped closer to Fu Xuan, keeping her tone light.
"So… how long were they in there?"
Fu Xuan did not look away from the two of them.
"Approximately one week, relative to their internal frame of reference."
March blinked.
"A week?"
"Yes."
That answer settled into her chest like a stone.
A week.
It had taken Sunny a week to grow comfortable enough with Qingque to stand beside her like that. To look at her like that. To move in sync.
March had known him for over a year.
She knew what he ate when he was stressed. She knew how his shadow twitched when he was annoyed. She knew things no one else knew because her Flaw had forced her to relive his memories. She had seen fragments of his childhood, the hunger, the cold rooftops, the hands that had tried to claim him as property before being answered with steel and gunfire. She knew more about him than most people ever would.
And yet, there had always been distance.
He kept it deliberately.
A careful gap. A measured step back whenever she got too close to anything real.
March's smile did not falter. She kept it bright, easy, the way she always did. No one needed to see the irritation tightening behind it.
Unaware of the silent storm brewing beside her, Fu Xuan turned her attention to Qingque.
"Well?"
Qingque made a vague, wavering gesture with her hand.
"He's way better than pretty much any other opponent I've faced, but he's not as good as me. He did beat me a few times, though."
Fu Xuan snorted softly.
"That is more than sufficient."
She folded her hands behind her back again.
"We will proceed to Scalegorge Waterscape. General Jing Yuan is waiting. As is… a special guest."
Sunny's expression did not change, but his eyes sharpened slightly at that.
Fu Xuan continued:
"First, we retrieve Welt Yang. He is likely in his hotel room."
With that, she and Qingque exited the vault.
March remained where she stood for half a second longer than necessary.
Sunny tapped her shoulder.
She turned, feigning mild confusion.
"Hm?"
He hesitated. That alone made her heart skip.
"Are you sure you want to come with us?"
She blinked.
"Why wouldn't I?"
He held her gaze evenly.
"You're likely to get yourself killed in this fight."
Something in her snapped.
Before she could stop herself, she grabbed the collar of his zipperless denim jacket and yanked him forward with far more force than her small frame suggested. She pivoted and pinned him against the wall so that, from a distance, it looked as though he were looming over her instead of the other way around.
She stepped into his space until their noses nearly touched.
"Do I look like I need protection?"
Despite being lifted and pinned, Sunny's expression did not waver. His lightless eyes remained steady, and beneath their darkness there was a resolute glow that did not bend.
"Against that wretch? Of course you do. She could kill you without a second thought. Or invade your body."
His voice did not rise. It did not need to.
"I got lucky. She got scared by something inside me, I think. But what about you? Are you going to make me kill you, March?"
The words struck harder than any physical blow.
Her grip loosened slightly.
She knew he was right. Phantylia had not fought fairly. She had invaded, twisted, pried into the mind like it was an unlocked cabinet. Sunny had survived by something unknown even to himself.
Would she?
For a brief moment, clarity cut through her anger, and she became painfully aware of what she was doing. She was assaulting someone she called one of her best friends because her emotions had slipped past her control.
Disgust flooded her.
She released him immediately and stepped back. She apologized quickly, turning away:
"I'm sorry… that was out of line."
She moved to leave before her expression could crack.
A hand closed around her wrist.
The strength behind it made her stumble back involuntarily.
In the next instant, she was face to face with him again. One of his hands held her wrist firmly but not painfully. The other had settled at her waist to steady her. Behind him, a third hand, formed of dense shadow, held the Celestial Jade board with casual balance.
Up close, she noticed he looked paler than usual.
His voice, when he spoke, was awkward in a way that was almost painful to witness.
"I… I think I'd be sad if you died. Probably."
He swallowed faintly before continuing.
"Frankly, I don't care if you want to do stupid things for your own ego or if you feel the need to prove yourself. My feelings are more important than yours, got it? You're not allowed to die."
Her heart slammed violently against her ribs.
Heat rushed to her face so fast she felt lightheaded. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face under his chin to hide the expression she could not control.
"I wasn't planning on it. But… are you sure you don't need my help?"
"No, but I'd rather not risk you."
There was no hesitation.
She pulled back slowly and let her arms drop, forcing herself to avert her gaze for a moment.
That was when she noticed it properly.
He was pale. Not theatrically so. Not dramatically. Subtly. His jaw was tighter than usual. His fingers, though steady, held tension.
Concern replaced embarrassment instantly.
"Did I do something wrong?"
He shook his head without delay.
She exhaled in relief. He could not lie. Not truly.
"What is it, then?"
He hesitated.
"For a second, I felt like my life was in danger."
Her stomach dropped.
"From what?"
Sunny awkwardly chuckled as he looked around.
"Fire. Death by fire."