Parallel

A flicker rested somewhere in the endless darkness.

Rose stood in a void-like space. The faint sound of droplets echoed in the air, untraceable. 

"Hello?"

Her voice fell on deaf ears, drowned out by the silence. Nothing else could be seen, nothing else could be heard.

Her legs moved forward. She didn't know what she was looking for or where she was going, but instinct directed her. 

She moved slowly with her unseen hands raised. 

Searching.

Feeling.

But nothing was there.

However, she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. Of calling.

The walk was lonely. In fact, she wasn't sure she was moving at all, but she said nothing.

And then, her hands pressed against  something ahead.

Rose stopped abruptly. A wave of relief washed over her. A single hope in an unknown world.

She carefully moved her hands, examining the obstacle.

A wall. 

Smooth and cold. A texture way too foreign to her fingers. She decided to follow it to her right, slowly inching one foot over the next.

Time seemed to hold no form. 

An endless walk through an abyss. 

That's what she thought, until...

Her fingers inched to a corner, where wall and space welcomed her. 

A faint breeze invited her inward. A hum whispering in the distance. This was the first sign of progress, and she had no intention of turning back now.

And as her fingers traced the wall once more, she proceeded on.

The silent moments felt like an eternity. The unsure knowing if her pulse hammered or refused to beat. 

And then...

A faint light, fuzzy in the distance began to illuminate. The first hint of something else in the endless darkness.

Her feet carried on, moving faster now, almost as if they pulled her toward the light.

Closer she moved along the wall, until openness. The wall had stopped clicks away from the light. The only comfort she had here betrayed her. It was if telling her she's on her own now.

At first, she held. The security it gave tempted her still. But, she took a breath. Remembering she's never one to cower, never one to stay behind.

And just like that, she let go of the wall, and inched forward.

The wind picked up as she creeped closer to the light. Each step heavier against the growing chill. 

Then...
The light flickered.

Her breath caught.

The light shifted.

Its single point began to dim until it vanished altogether, muting the faint hum with it.

When she approached where she thought the source had originated, a static pop cracked through the silence—sharp, reactive, almost alive.

The light returned.

This time, there were two of them—faint, circular, and hovering at an even height, like eyes opening for the first time. The air trembled with a sound—soft at first, then building into a low mechanical groan, each movement dragging against stone in staggered bursts.

Rose froze.

With every hesitant step she took backward, the lights inched forward, swaying ever so slightly—haunting, yet strangely familiar, as though whatever stood behind them was trying to remember how to move.

Her heel brushed something unseen. A chill ran up her spine when she realized she couldn’t go any farther. There was no wall to touch, but her legs refused to move—as if the dream itself had closed behind her.

The lights stopped inches before her face. They didn’t blind. They searched.

And just when she thought she could make out a faint reflection—something almost human—
she woke up.

Her chest heaved, eyes darting to the dimly lit ceiling above. The smell of ash and burnt silk clung to the air. Morning light slipped through the cracks of the ruined wall beside her. Its orange hue freshly breaking the vast horizon beyond.

For a moment, she didn’t move.

Her pulse thundered in her ears.

That… wasn’t the same dream.

She pressed a trembling hand to her chest, exhaling slowly. Her gaze shifted to the side—Kai, sat asleep with his back pressed against the wall, his head lowered, his breathing slow and steady.

The world was quiet again.

But somewhere deep inside, she could still hear that faint metallic hum—distant, fading—like something waiting for her to return.

_________

Rose paused before trying to move.

Shock followed.

Every muscle burned the moment she stirred, as if her body demanded a little more rest before allowing anything more.

“This must be what it’s like to have exhausted all your mana,” she muttered, forcing a shaky breath. Her hand steadied against the broken floorboards beneath her. “Just like that sister we found… Mia.”

Her eyes drifted upward. A crack of sky peeked through a gap in the ceiling’s wood. Its pale color reminded her of the ruins in her dreams.

I wonder if I’ll stop seeing them now, she thought—half relieved, half saddened. Those dreams had given her the strength to come this far, after all.

Then came the one from just before she woke—those strange, unfamiliar noises in the void. Even though it was nothingness, she remembered the sensation of walking toward something… walking through something.

She blinked the thought quiet. For now, she just needed the strength to move again.

She would wait. Awake.

She had no intention of going back to the world of dreams.

Her eyes lightly closed.

Some time passed.

Kai stirred.

He blinked, dazed, before memories of the night before trickled back in. That’s right… I got stronger.

He looked around—the fractured room, the streaks of sunlight cutting through the air—and found Rose still lying where he’d left her.

The sun hung high now. Almost noon, he guessed.

He pushed himself up and walked toward her.

Shockingly, nothing hurt. He was just fatigued, and hungry.

Rose's words returned to him as he stood over her: “The body uses life force to compensate. Casters don't want to worry their stabilizers.”

He frowned. “That’s silly,” he muttered—

—and froze when a pair of eyes met his.

“What’s silly?” Rose asked, voice groggy but clear.

Kai’s face flushed. “N-Nothing. I thought you were asleep.”

“I woke up a few hours ago.”

“Hours?” He blinked. “You haven’t moved from the spot I placed you last night.”

“Believe me, Kai, I tried moving this entire time.” She raised her arms from her chest, stretching them weakly toward the sky. “This is about as much as I can do right now. Anything else still hurts too much.”

“So you’re still recovering, then.”

“I am,” she said, pausing. “However… there’s one issue.”

Her cheeks reddened.

“And what’s that?” Kai asked, head tilting slightly.

“I…” she hesitated, eyes averting, “I have to pee.”

Kai’s expression said it all.

__________

Another hour had passed.

Kai stood outside on the battered street where their battle had raged. Carcasses of ash littered the ground, brittle shapes collapsing into dust with every faint breeze.

The largest of them lay ahead—motionless, grotesque, its charred frame sprawled across the stone.

He stared at the queen’s corpse for a long moment.
“It’s in no condition to be eaten,” he muttered with a faint laugh. “Not that Rose would’ve touched it anyway.”

He turned from the ruin, boots crunching lightly as he walked back toward the half-collapsed building where Rose waited. The memory flickered of how far he’d carried her, and the dull ache still resting in his shoulder reminded him how close that night had been.

“You okay in there, Rose?” he called out, stopping by the broken doorway.

“You can come in,” came her reply.

He stepped inside. Sunlight filtered through the fractured roof, glinting against the golden trim of her cloak as she stood. She leaned on a splintered beam like a makeshift cane, her obsidian hair catching the morning light in soft glimmers.

Their eyes met briefly. Both turned away, a quiet warmth rising between them.

“Thanks…” Rose began, exhaling slowly. “For helping me earlier.”

Kai raised his hands, shaking them nervously.
“You don’t have to thank me. It’s a stabilizer’s job to take care of their caster.”

The words hung between them.

He looked down, fingers curling slightly before falling to his sides.
A pause. Then another.

His voice softened.
“…No.”

He lifted his head again, eyes uncertain but steady.
“That’s not right.”

Rose blinked, the faintest crease forming between her brows.
“What do you mean?” she asked quietly.

Kai took a breath. The silence stretched again before he finally spoke.
“I mean… it’s not just duty. It’s you, Rose. I’d do it again.”

Her eyes widened. But instead of turning away, her face gentled, calm and warm.

“Thank you, Kai.”

The silence lingered between them, gentle now—less awkward, more understood.

Then a faint sound broke it.

Rose’s stomach growled.

Her eyes widened, the color rising to her cheeks. “...Ignore that.”

Kai blinked once, then snorted.
“Yeah, sure.”

His snort turned into a laugh.
And just as she puffed her cheeks in protest—his own stomach answered, louder.

The two froze. Then, slowly, their embarrassment crumbled into shared laughter.

Kai rubbed the back of his neck, grinning. “Guess we’re both starving.”

He swung the small pack off his shoulder and crouched, rummaging inside until his fingers brushed against the wrapped meat. He unwrapped it, relief softening his expression. “Still good. Lucky us.”

He tore off a piece, inspecting it before passing some to her. “If it wasn’t, I’d have to cook the Queen out there.”

Rose gave him a flat stare. “That’s not funny.”

He bit into his piece anyway, muffling a laugh. “You’re right. It’d probably poison us both.”

They ate quietly for a while, the wind slipping through the gaps in the broken wall. Outside, the world seemed still—almost peaceful for once.

When they finished, Kai tied the leftover cloth and rose, brushing dust from his hands. He glanced toward the horizon, where the road out of Reiner stretched far and quiet.

Normally, he’d have told her to rest more. But now, watching her stand on her own again, cloak catching the light—he didn’t feel the need.

Her strength was returning—slowly, but surely. And for the first time since they’d stepped into this cursed town, he believed he could keep her safe until it fully did.

They’d survived the night. Now, they only had to survive what came after.

Besides, they’d need to find food soon.

He turned toward her, offering a faint smile. “Ready to move?”

She nodded once, the sun glinting off her eyes.

Together, they stepped into the light.