It had been eight hours.
Eight long, torturous hours.
Zeff was still in the operating room, no word, no updates. Outside, the hospital was still chaos—patients screaming, doctors rushing, the smell of smoke and disinfectant tangled in the air.
Yuki lay quietly in the bed beside me, still unconscious. Her breathing shallow, but steady.
Me?
I hadn't slept. I couldn't. My eyes were heavy, my body aching, but my heart kept me awake.
Then—
A knock.
I stood. My legs felt like stone, but I opened the door.
A doctor stood there.
Tears in her eyes.
In her trembling hands—a small, silver bracelet.
She knelt down in front of me, her voice breaking.
"...I'm sorry. Zeff Brion passed away at 4:31 a.m. We did everything we could. The surgery…"Her words faded into the sound of blood rushing in my ears."...was a failure."
I stared at her. Knees buckled.
The world shattered again, just like it always did.
Zeff was… gone.
No.No.
I refused to cry—not here. Not in front of them.
As the doctor reached out to comfort me, I turned and ran.
I ran through the sterile white halls, through the bloodied stretchers and crying families. I ran past the emergency tents, past the burning lights of the broken city.
And I cried.
I cried harder than I had in years.
It felt like a part of me had died with him.
"Zeff…"
Why did it all fall apart?
I kept running—my boots splashing in puddles, the cold rain soaking into my skin. I didn't care. I just wanted the world to stop. I stumbled and collapsed at the side of the road, mud smearing my palms, my shoulders shaking.
Make it stop. Please. Just let it all stop.
That's when I noticed the rain had stopped falling on my face.
I looked up.
Alex.
He stood there, holding an umbrella above me. No words. Just quiet eyes watching me break.
I felt shame burn through me. I pushed at him with weak arms."Go away…" I choked out. "I don't want anyone to see me like this."
But he didn't move.
I screamed."I SAID GO AWAY!"
The umbrella fell to the ground. He stepped forward—and gently picked me up.
I tried to resist, but my body wouldn't fight. I didn't know if it was exhaustion or if I just didn't want to be alone anymore.
He carried me back to the apartment without saying a word.
Inside, he grabbed a towel and dried the rain from my arms and hair while I sat on the floor, staring at nothing. My hands were trembling. My lips wouldn't move.
Then his hand touched my cheek—soft, unsure.
And I broke again.
Tears streamed from my eyes, unstoppable. I tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. Like the grief was flooding out of me, and I couldn't control it anymore.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice cracking. "I'm sorry, don't cry. Please… Did I do something wrong? I—I couldn't just leave you in the rain like that. I didn't know what to do…"
And then—he hugged me.
Tight.
Real.
Warm.
I clung to him, not because I needed saving—but because for the first time in a long time, I let someone see the pain I'd buried.
All I could think about was Zeff.
How was I supposed to tell Yuki?
How do you tell someone that their best friend died… saving the world?