Zenithar – Safehouse
Raiga stepped into the hideout.
Behind him, the garage door shut with a metallic thud, sealing the room in the darkness of the night.
Liara was already seated in front of her screens, fingers moving swiftly across the keyboard. Her eyes scanned the data as she recalled the drones to base and erased every electronic trace of their presence.
She was silent.
Too silent.
Raiga noticed immediately. Her movements were sharper than usual. Her breathing, short. Her shoulders, tense.
Not the focused kind of tension. The kind that came from holding something back.
With a weary motion, he removed his gear, letting his holster and sword drop beside the bed. Then he collapsed onto the mattress, exhaling slowly.
He didn't speak.
Neither did she.
The silence stretched.
Then Raiga stood again, walked over, and held out the device.
She took it without a word. Without even looking at him.
Set it down gently on the corner of her workstation.
Then went right back to typing.
Her fingers never stopped moving.
Raiga's voice came low.
"You're pissed."
Liara didn't answer.
He waited.
Still nothing.
Her face remained lit only by the glow of the monitors, her jaw tight, her eyes locked onto the code flashing across the screen.
Then, finally—
"You didn't have to kill them like that."
A beat.
"That last one was begging for his life."
Raiga didn't respond.
Liara's voice trembled, barely above a whisper.
"He was a kid, Raiga."
Raiga stood still, his gaze heavy on her back.
He didn't explain.
Didn't justify.
Liara turned just slightly, just enough to glance at him over her shoulder—but her eyes didn't meet his.
She looked past him. Or maybe through him.
"I know what this place does to people," she said quietly. "I know what we've had to become just to survive. But every time you go that far…"
She hesitated.
"…I see less of you."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Then Raiga spoke. His voice was quiet, steady.
"You sent me in to finish a job. That's what I did."
Liara didn't answer.
She just turned back to her work.
But her hands moved slower now.
Raiga stood there for a moment, jaw tight.
His eyes dropped to the floor. Something flickered behind them—just for a second.
Frustration. Guilt. Maybe something worse.
He turned away without a word.
Picked up his coat from the chair, threw it over his shoulder, and headed for the exit.
Liara didn't stop him.
Didn't even look.
The door creaked open, and cold air rushed in.
Then—
Click.
Silence.
———————————————————————
The night air was cold. Crisp.
Raiga sat on the edge of the rooftop, one knee up, an arm draped over it as he stared at the sky.
Zenithar stretched endlessly beneath him, a labyrinth of steel and concrete swallowed by flickering neon and perpetual smog. But above it—above the filth, the smoke, the endless war—there was only silence.
Only the stars.
He exhaled slowly, watching his breath vanish into the night.
A faint creak of metal behind him.
He didn't turn.
Liara.
She sat down beside him, close enough for warmth but not enough to touch.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The silence was comfortable.
But it wasn't empty.
Not tonight.
Raiga's gaze stayed locked on the sky, but something behind his eyes flickered—tight, distant, unreadable. Not guilt. Not regret.
Something older.
Something heavier.
Liara knew.
She didn't need to ask. She could feel it in the way he breathed, in the way his jaw clenched every few seconds like he was biting back something too big to swallow.
She knew why he was angry.
Why he never hesitated when it came to killing.
Why, sometimes, even when they were alone, he looked like he was still at war.
And for a moment, she wished she hadn't pushed him back there.
Her voice came out quieter than she expected.
"I didn't mean to come down on you like that."
Raiga didn't respond.
Didn't nod. Didn't flinch.
Just sat there, still and silent like a statue built out of pain.
Liara hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top.
The wind brushed past them.
Neon danced in the puddles on the roof behind them.
And for a few seconds, they weren't soldiers, or rebels, or fugitives.
They were just two kids watching the sky.
She broke the silence again.
"Do you ever think about it?" she asked softly. "Living forever?"
Raiga's brow twitched.
That wasn't the question he expected.
He tilted his head slightly, but still didn't look at her.
"Immortality?" he muttered. "Sounds like a punishment."
Liara gave a soft smile.
"Maybe. But also… maybe not."
He finally turned his head a little, just enough to glance at her from the corner of his eye.
She was still looking up at the stars.
"I mean," she continued, "what if we weren't stuck down here? What if the world wasn't like this? Wouldn't you want to see how far things could go? How far you could go?"
Raiga didn't answer.
But his fingers curled slightly against his knee.
Liara's voice dropped to a whisper.
"When we were kids, you said you wanted to be a soldier. Not to fight. Not to kill. But to protect people. To be someone others could count on."
She turned to him, slowly.
"And now… you're doing it. Just in the only way this world allows."
Raiga's expression didn't change.
But his eyes did.
Just for a heartbeat, something softer slipped through them. A shadow of the boy he once was.
Liara looked away.
Not because she was embarrassed.
But because she didn't want to break the moment.
She drew in a breath.
"I don't know if I want to live forever," she said. "But I do know I want to live long enough to see you come back."
Raiga lowered his gaze.
Not at her.
At the city.
The stars.
The void between them.
He didn't say anything.
But for once…
He didn't walk away.
Behind them, the rooftop door creaked again.
But no one was there.
Far below, in the maze of alleys… a single red lens blinked once, then vanished into the dark.
In a hidden server across the district, a data feed came alive.
SUBJECT 002 CONFIRMED.
ENGAGE OBSERVATION.
And somewhere, a voice whispered:
"He's still alive."
⸻
[To be continued.]