Speak or forever hold your….

Victor continued with his explanations.

“I never wanted humans to die. I swear it,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything I know—about the virus, about the Cycles, my world. Ask me anything. Just... don’t let what I did ruin our chance to fix this.”

“What happens if the Cycle opens again?” Leland asked. “Will more like you come?”

“No. Not unless I send the signal. If I don’t return by the next Cycle, the path will close.”

“Forever?” Keller asked.

Victor hesitated. “I don’t know.”

He shifted, wincing slightly. “Can… can I have some water? Please.”

Leland looked at him for a long beat. “Cassie, could you get him some?

Cassie frowned, clearly unhappy, then muttered something under her breath as she turned away.

“Dr. Keller,” Leland added, “go with her.”

Once they were gone, silence filled the room like fog.

Then Leland turned to Victor and pulled a handgun from his coat.

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”

Leland checked the magazine, then locked it back into place with a clean click. He didn’t raise the weapon, but it sat heavy in his hands.

“I have a simple question to ask you,” he said quiet but firm. “And how you answer will decide the way forward for our little group.”

He raised the gun, not quite aiming—just holding it steady between them.

“Do you want to save humanity… or be the reason it ends?”

Outside

The cool night air wrapped around Emily like a slap to the face. Her chest rose and fell, her thoughts a whirlwind of pain and confusion. The tears in her eyes hadn’t fallen yet, but they threatened.

Boots crunched behind her on the gravel.

Kiyora approached slowly.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said.

She turned sharply. “Don’t.”

“You’re angry. I get it. But the world’s burning—we don’t have time for this.”

“Respectfully,” she hissed, “leave me the fuck alone.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“What do you want from me?” she snapped. “Don’t you get it? I loved him. I loved him.”

Her voice cracked, the words tumbling out fast.

“I let him in and all this time…he’s been the cause of everything. He’s been lying since the day I met him. He lied to me, to everyone. And I knew something was off, I felt it. But Ignored it, all the fucking red flags…every gut instinct—because for the first time in a long time, someone made me feel alive again.”

She pressed a hand to her mouth, her breath hitching.

“So don’t talk to me about time. I’ve already lost enough of it.”

Kiyora stood still, his expression unreadable.

“Are you done?” he asked after a pause. “Done feeling sorry for yourself? Good. Let it all out now because you might not get the time tomorrow.”

He stepped closer.

“You’re angry. You should be. I met Victor only today so I can’t tell if he is a good person or not. I’m a soldier, I only follow orders. They say shoot, I don’t think twice before pulling the trigger. But the fact is, he didn’t have to fight Zero. He didn’t have to help us. He could’ve stayed in the shadows and watched the world burn. But he didn’t.”

He looked her dead in the eyes.

“I choose to believe that says something about who he is.”

Emily stared at him, her jaw clenched.

“Love is complicated,” Kiyora said. “I can’t help you with that. Love isn’t something you can simply choose when it happens. After all the heart wants what it wants. Even if you knew everything from the start, who’s to say that your feelings would be any different.”

He paused.

“For now, we do our best. For ourselves, for everyone who have no idea of what is happening.”

Emily sniffled, her expression softening.

“And regardless of what Victor lied about. “Kiyora looked at her gently. “I haven’t seen a monster tonight. Have you?”

He strapped his gun back over his shoulder and turned back.

“The real monsters out here are all dead at least. I’ll give you a moment to yourself. But we need you back inside. I’m no genius, and I sure as hell can’t fix this alone.”

Emily let out a breath. A quiet chuckle.

She stood there, alone in the dark contemplating everything she just learned.
Above her, the moon loomed—pale and distant. It looked like something that didn’t belong to Earth at all.

A breeze passed over her cheek, soft as a whisper.