Reunited

Halo sprints across the roof, shingles cracking under her boots. Her spear flashes, slashing through the shoulders of blue Skelloids, severing slime and bone with every strike. Her orange braids whip behind her, frayed strands tousled in the wind as she cuts down anything in her path. 
          A scream splits the air. Halo whirls. Yumi stands frozen in the street below, her spear trembling as she shields a collapsed Benji. A massive Skelloid bears down on them, its hulking form dripping with glowing blue slime. 
          “Yumi!” 
          Halo bolts forward, leaping from one eave to the next. The gap widens beneath her, but she doesn’t slow. She charges up the slanted roof and drives her spear into the ridge, vaulting herself high into the air. For one breathless moment she hangs weightless in the air, then she comes crashing down. 
          The spear plunges into the Skelloid’s eye socket with a sickening crunch. Its skull caves under the force as it staggers forward, then crashes sideways, the ground shaking with its fall. Halo rides the monster down, using its collapsing frame to break her landing. 
          She tears her weapon free and rushes to Yumi’s side. Benji lies face down, unmoving. 
          “Help me,” Halo says quickly, already grabbing his shoulder. “We need to get him under the bridge.” 
          Yumi nods, her face pale but determined. Together they drag Benji into the shadowed arch, propping him against a shallow groove in the stone wall, his chest rising faintly with each breath. 
          Skelloids pour in from both sides of the bridge, shadows blotting out the fading light. 
          “Halo, what do I do?” Yumi cries, voice breaking. 
          The creatures crouch low, their arms snaking under the arch. Claws rake at the air, slashing inches from flesh. Yumi jerks back, barely avoiding one strike, while another hand clamps around Halo’s leg. 
          She’s ripped off her feet, slammed into the cobblestones, and dragged across the sharp stones as the Skelloid hauls her out. 
          “Halo!” 
          Rubble’s voice tears through the chaos. He bolts across the top of the bridge, spear crackling with blue electricity. He leaps, plunging down, and drives the blade deep into the creature’s neck joint. With a savage twist, he severs the spine. 
          Sparks erupt. Bones splinter. The Skelloid convulses, slime melting down its face before it slumps forward, dead weight collapsing over the bridge. 
          Another Skelloid rears up, but Thorn is already there. He vaults, landing with brutal precision, his spear plunging through the skull. The monster shrieks once, then topples backward into the canal, sending a wall of water crashing against the stone. 
          But more come. Dozens. 
          Rubble turns, spear raised, ready to meet the charge. Behind him, Halo staggers to her feet, breath ragged, her eyes locked not on the enemy, but on him. 
          The light catches his face. His pale blue hair. The curve of his lips. 
          Her heart stutters. “Ryousei?” 
          She steps forward, dazed, her spear half-raised yet her thoughts scattered. Each movement of his only confirms what she’s terrified to believe. 
          I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him until he healed. 
          Rubble is… my Ryousei. 
          She slashes at a Skelloid, unfocused, her strikes erratic as her mind spins. 
          Then the canal erupts. 
          A massive Skelloid surges upward, its shoulders broad enough to scrape the buildings next to it. With it’s claws it swats Rubble, sending him crashing into the water. 
          The giant leans down, plunging its arms into the canal, keeping him beneath the surface. 
          Bubbles rise. Rubble thrashes, trapped. Electricity bursts from him, flooding the water with violent light. The current surges through the Skelloid, its body convulsing, slime boiling away. With a final spasm it collapses, falling backward into the canal. 
          Steam hisses across the surface. 
          Rubble rises from the water, his body steaming, eyes blazing. 
          Skelloid bodies lie strewn across streets, their slime seeping into the canals. Buckets of water splash over the last of the fires, sending smoke billowing toward the sky. Debris clogs the walkways, ash coats every surface, and the waterways have turned dark and murky. The town stands battered, scarred, but not fallen. 
          Halo turns, seeing Rubble staring back at her. 
          For a long moment, silence stretches between them. Then Halo rushes forward, Rubble drops his gear, and they collide in an embrace, tight, clumsy, desperate. She buries her face against his shoulder. His hands tremble as he holds her, the first flicker of safety he has felt since exile. 
          “I wasn’t the traitor, Halo,” he says, pulling back just enough to meet her eyes. 
          She stares into his ocean-blue gaze, guilt tugging at her ribs. “I’m sorry I doubted you.” The words come out in a whisper. 
          The weary team gathers, their armor scorched, their eyes bloodshot. Thorn steps forward, stopping in front of Rubble. “Ossamaris owes you a debt.” He extends his hand. 
          Rubble hesitates, then takes it. The handshake is brief, firm. “You weren’t nearly this kind when I was just bare metal,” he says, his voice edged with bite. 
          Thorn folds his arms, unflinching. “It seems the tables have turned in your favor.” 
          Whispers ripple through the team as they connect the pieces, their unease plain. 
          “We need him,” Halo says suddenly, locking her green eyes on Thorn’s dark brown ones. 
          Thorn rubs his beard, weighing the weight of her words. 
          “We can’t have an android with us,” Norio argues, shaking his head. 
          The others shift, anxious, waiting. Thorn exhales sharply, pride giving way to necessity. “You don’t have to like him. But we do need him on our side.” 
          The team erupts into rebuttals, voices overlapping, heated and raw. Rubble lowers his gaze to the ground, letting the accusations wash over him. 
          “Silence!” Thorn’s command cuts the air like a blade. The voices die down. 
          “I’m doing what’s best for Ossamaris,” he says, turning to look at the wreckage around them. “Or what’s left of it... Tend to the wounded first. Get Benji to the barracks. Search the debris for survivors. Move!” 
          The team scatters to their tasks. 
          The town itself lies in uneasy stillness, blackened beams, crushed walls, toppled towers, and hulking Skelloid corpses draped over the ruins. Ossamaris hangs suspended between its natural beauty and the fragility of man-made creations. Its brilliance undeniable, yet always at the mercy of the dangers that lurk in this world. 
          Night falls, but Ossamaris doesn’t sleep. Lanterns burn low along the broken streets as people rush past, their voices hushed and urgent. Supplies are ferried to a makeshift medical station in the training yard, where bandages are wrapped, splints set, medicine administered. 
          Halo kneels beside a guard, flushing out a deep gash in his leg before pressing gauze over it and wrapping it tight. She exhales, weary, then rises to gather the next set of supplies, only to find Thorn standing over her. 
          “Get some rest,” he says quietly, his face shadowed with thought. 
          “I can keep helping,” Halo insists. 
          “No. If the Skelloids return, I need my team alert and ready. We have things covered here.” His gaze moves past her, already shifting to Norio, whom he gives the same command. One by one, the team drifts back toward the barracks, reluctant but obedient. 
          On the roof, Rubble sits alone. Halo climbs the rattling ladder and sits beside him. 
          For a moment she doesn’t speak. She only stares at the ruins below, the destruction of her fragile new home. Her chest feels heavy. When she finally looks at Rubble, she realizes he’s focused on something completely different. He’s looking up at the stars breaking through the clouds above. 
         “It’s strange,” he murmurs. “The world feels ruined, but when I look up… the sky always stays the same. Like nothing bad ever happened.” The constellations glimmer in his gaze. 
          Halo watches him more than the sky. 
          “Maybe that’s my way of burring my head in the sand,” he says quietly. 
          “Or maybe that’s what hope looks like.” 
          The night air is cool, laced with the bitter scent of smoke. Halo sits cross-legged on the tiles, her braids trailing over her shoulders as she tilts her head back. For a long while, they sit in silence. 
          “I know this is going to sound crazy,” she says at last, her voice low, “but… your real name might be Ryousei.” 
          Rubble turns, puzzled. “What makes you say that?” 
          “Now that you’ve healed, you look just like him.” She lifts a hand, touching the new skin along his face, startled by its warmth, its humanity. Rubble leans into her touch. 
          “Who was he to you?” he asks quietly. 
          “He was…” Her throat tightens. “You were my person, and I was yours.” 
          The words hang in the night air, heavy and fragile. 
          “I don’t remember anything from before,” Rubble admits, voice tinged with regret. “But I know how I feel when I’m around you. It’s like déjà vu. Familiar in ways that don’t make sense.” 
          “Maybe bonds go deeper than lost data,” she whispers. 
          Side by side, they lie back on the slanted tiles, their fingers brushing. Together they stare at the stars, glittering sharp against the velvet sky, as if the heavens remain untouched by all the ruin below.