The adrenaline faded slowly.
Too slowly. They drove until the city thinned into dark stretches of road and wet trees, until the weight of what had almost been lost finally caught up with them. Kairo pulled into an abandoned roadside shelter, engine ticking as it cooled, rain whispering against the roof.
Neither of them moved.
Survival had kept them sharp. Stillness brought truth. Naya broke first.
Her hands trembled as she reached for the zipper of her jacket, not from cold but from everything she'd been holding back. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, staring at the ground.
"I don't leave people," she said quietly. "That's the rule I live by. And I left you."
Kairo turned toward her fully now. "You didn't leave me. You were scared."
She laughed once, brittle. "I was terrified. Because the last time I loved someone in uniform, I watched them die and told myself it was duty."
He didn't interrupt.
"I thought if I didn't let myself care," she continued, voice low, "I could keep you safe. I thought distance was protection."
Kairo reached out, slow and careful, and covered her shaking hands with his own.
"I've built my life on control," he said. "Fighting. Winning. Owning everything so nothing could own me."
She looked at him then, really looked.
"And then you walked in," he went on, eyes steady. "And suddenly I didn't care about control. I cared about whether you were okay."
The silence that followed was heavy but not painful.
It was honest.
Naya leaned into him, forehead resting against his chest. His arms came around her without hesitation, strong and grounding.
"I don't know how to do this," she admitted. "Loving someone without losing myself."
He pressed his lips gently to her hair. "Then we learn. Together."
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance.
Inside the shelter, they held on not out of fear this time, but choice.
Somewhere far away, enemies recalibrated, plans shifting now that the game pieces had moved. Kairo's enemies still watched from the shadows.
Naya's ghosts still whispered.
But for the first time, neither of them stood alone against the dark.
They stayed like that for a long moment no kisses, no promises yet.
Just two stubborn hearts finally choosing to stay.