The tunnel smelled of damp concrete and oil.
It stretched ahead of them like a vein cut into the earth narrow, dimly lit, designed for escape, not hesitation. The hum of generators echoed through the walls, steady and indifferent.
They should have kept moving.
They didn't.
Naya stopped so abruptly that Kairo nearly ran into her back.
"What is it?" he asked, already scanning, already ready.
She didn't turn around.
Her shoulders were rigid, her breathing uneven not from exertion, but from decision.
"There's a split ahead," she said. "Left leads to the extraction point. Right leads to the old service corridor."
Kairo frowned. "Then why are we standing still?"
"Because," she said quietly, "the service corridor will put us off-grid."
"And the extraction won't?"
"The extraction is compromised."
He studied her profile, the tension carved into every line of her face. "You're sure."
"Yes."
"Then let's go right."
She flinched.
That was when he knew.
"This isn't just tactical," he said. "What aren't you saying?"
She finally turned to face him. The low light caught her eyes, dark and unguarded in a way he had never seen before.
"If we go right," she said, "I disappear."
He blinked. "What?"
"Not for a day. Not for a week." Her voice was steady, but something beneath it trembled. "Forever, if I have to."
Understanding hit him slowly.
"You're talking about breaking protocol," he said.
"I already did," she replied.
He stared at her. "When?"
"When I chose you over the mission my job."
The words landed heavy, irreversible.
"You were supposed to be a shield," she continued. "An assignment. A contract. I was supposed to hand you over alive and walk away clean."
"And now?"
"And now I've altered routes, burned contacts, killed a man who was still technically an asset." Her jaw tightened. "I crossed the line the moment I couldn't imagine you bleeding out like Elias."
Kairo took a step closer. "Naya"
"This is the part where you walk away," she said quickly. "Because staying with me means your life gets smaller. Darker. Harder."
He searched her face. "Is that what you want?"
"No," she whispered. "But it's what you deserve."
He reached for her hand, stopping just short. "Look at me."
She did.
"I didn't grow up with choices," he said. "Everything I have came from fighting inside cages other people built. Don't tell me I can't choose you."
Her breath caught.
"You don't understand what I'm giving up," she said.
"I understand exactly," he replied. "Control. Safety. Distance."
Her voice broke. "I've never crossed that line and survived."
"Neither have I," he said softly. "But I'm tired of winning alone."
For a long moment, the tunnel seemed to hold its breath.
Naya closed her eyes.
Then she made the turn.
Right.
Kairo could not make the turn,he could not leave everything behind,the feeling he had for her he didn't know if it was enough.
I can't Naya not like this i don't believe in running.
Naya immediately understood the though stings a little because she felt they were on the same page about the whole care thing but she guessed it was not enough.
She had no time to cry now..she had to keep moving..I have to go.
The service corridor swallowed her whole.
As she walked, her steps slowed not from fear, but from the weight lifting off her shoulders. Each footfall felt like shedding an old skin.
He wanted to reach out and take her hand fully this time.
But in a minute she was gone.
No kiss. No promises
Just a decision that couldn't be undone.
Behind her, the tunnel to extraction collapsed in a controlled blast Naya's final severing of the past.
Ahead of her was uncertainty, danger, and something far more terrifying.
A future chosen freely.