Iris´s eyes fluttered open to dim light and the clinking of glasses downstairs. Her body felt heavy, the air thick with the sterile scent of medicines. The sharp taste of blood still lingered in her mouth, and she felt multiple layers of thin bandages wrapped around her forehead over her hair. She felt as if she were waking up from a nightmare, her thoughts sluggish, tangled in the haze of exhaustion and pain."You're awake," a voice murmured slowly. Siri leaned over her, a wet cloth in her hand, pressing gently against Iris´s forehead.Iris’s hand twitched, reaching instinctively for the wound on her side. The pain there was a sharp, constant reminder of the last hours. The feeling of dying, of falling, of barely hanging on. But there was something else too. Something new. Something she couldn’t explain."How long was I out?" she rasped, her voice rough as if she'd been screaming for hours."A whole week," Siri replied, her eyes scanning her with practiced care. And curiosity. "You were in really bad shape."Iris tried to sit up, wincing as the movement made her chest tighten with pain. "What happened?" she asked.Siri hesitated, glancing at the door, where a few of the others were gathered. "You should rest. We’ve got time for explanations later."Iris clenched her jaw, refusing to back down. She needed answers. Her mind raced back to the last moments she could remember. The fight, the Ghouls, and then- then, that woman. The one who had chased her. The one who had nearly caught her."What do you remember?" Ed asked from the doorway, coming up to her."I. . . she was one of them," Iris said, her mind trying to piece together the fragments. "After that Prowler woman grabbed me, I thought it was over. I didn’t recognize her- I mean, who kidnaps someone by stabbing them first?"Her thoughts turned sharp again as Siri made her lie down on the bed, the memory of the Prowler´s face fresh in her mind. She remembered the way the woman had grabbed her, the way she'd yanked her to her feet with inhuman strength. But Iris had outsmarted her. She had to. There was no other choice. She could barely stand, but she had to act."I was unconscious for a while, bleeding out, and she just dragged me through the streets like I was some prize. I led her into a trap," Iris continued. "I. . . I lured her through the ruins, weaving around the broken walls. She didn’t realize it until it was too late."Lancer’s brow furrowed. "You’re saying you fought back? In your condition?"Iris nodded slowly, her chest tightening at the memory of how *close* she'd been to death. No, maybe she *had* died. "I could barely walk. My clothes were bloody. But I managed to lose her at the sector walls, close to the edge. I used what little Arcane energy I had left to blind her just for a second. . . for all her beauty, she really was quite lacking with brains.""But how did you outrun her?" Siri asked."Good thing we Downers know the streets better than those damned nobles. Led her through a maze of alleys. Eventually, I lost her. Or maybe she just gave up."She thought of the Prowler, that woman with her strange, almost magnetic presence. Iris had survived. But at what cost?"So, who healed my wounds?"Lancer looked at Siri, who didn´t respond."A doctor who can fight? Never seen one of those before," Iris quipped weakly.Lancer raised an eyebrow. "And I’ve never seen someone heal from wounds like yours. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?""Yeah, well. . . I’ve got a knack for proving people wrong." Her voice was tinged with both defiance and exhaustion. She shifted her gaze to the doorway. "Where’s Ed? The others?""Ed’s. . . occupied," Lancer said, his expression darkening. "He took a hit at the scouting too. Although it isn´t as bad as yours.""And what about Max? I haven´t seen him and Ash yet either."A dead silence filled the room before Siri cleared her throat. "Prowlers ambushed the place while you guys were gone," she said slowly. "They. . . Max. . . and then they took Ash away. . ."Iris was silent for a long moment, the weight of his words settling heavily on her shoulders. "Why did I come back?" she asked softly, almost to herself.Lancer’s eyes locked with hers. "Why did you?"The silence lingered for a long moment, heavy with the weight of Iris’s words. It wasn’t that anyone doubted her. In truth, there was something about the way she said it that struck them all: she wasn’t just trying to convince them, she was convincing herself. Her voice was soft, almost lost in the space between them, but there was a quiet resolve there, something undeniable. They could hear it in her tone.Lancer shifted uncomfortably, stepping back from Iris. He hadn’t been a part of the rebellion long enough to understand everything she’d been through, but he had seen enough to know that the road ahead wasn’t one anyone could walk without breaking. The truth of her words settled deeper, like a splinter in her mind. She had wanted something different from the world. For so long, she had thought she would be the one who could change things. But now, after everything, she wasn’t so sure anymore. The battles, the bloodshed, the betrayal- it was all starting to blend in a way that made her feel more distant from the person she thought she was.It felt as if she were a stranger in her own life, trying to figure out which path was hers to take. Fighting against one that was already decided for her. Iris thought about how she still had her funds with her, the money given to her by Ed after their loot. If she ran, taking all of it, she could live comfortably for decades. It was more tempting than she wanted to admit, at least before she almost got killed at the ambush. Images of the Ghouls kept returning to her. The battle. Her "death". That is exactly what waited for her if she remained. But the others knew that too. Everyone here was risking their lives at every turn. She had just been too selfish. So why couldn´t she go? Why couldn´t she leave? Perhaps, after the incident, she believed she could help. She thought that Ed somehow depended on her, even just a little bit. He had given her the gift of Technomancy, and the first thing she´d done was run away. Not anymore. To survive, she had to do her job just like the rest. Years in the underworld still told her that these people were fools, but she found the possibility that they offered way more enticing. They were an insane bunch, trying to kill god. But more than that, they trusted each other. They seemed like friends. It almost felt like she was back with her family again, she admitted. She’d been hiding away that feeling for far too long. She was lonely, and maybe that was because the only person she’d been thinking about up to that point was herself. Not anymore."No, why did I leave in the first place? All my life, I´ve sought this feeling of. . . freedom. But it was so selfish of me. I thought I was done for. . ."And Max was dead. Ash was missing. They hadn´t deserved that. Nobody did. She punched her hand against the table downwards. "I´ll be the proxy," she said firmly. The rebellion was on the brink of collapse. But they were still standing. And she was still here. Not because she was special. Not because she was destined for greatness.But because she refused to let everything she had lost go to waste. Because she still had something to fight for."Iris, it´s no use," Lancer said, looking over briefly at Finn. "Kieran has stopped talking to us.""I´ll talk to him. I´ll be the Proxy, so give me the comm," she said again, the words more resolute than ever. "We need him. And I won´t let anyone else die."She looked over at each person in the room, sitting upright. "Right now, I don´t understand any more than the rest of you. But the world is changing," she continued quietly. "And I want to see what happens.""We will learn the truth of this world."
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