Chapter 13: ANSWER ME

Licht remained where he was.

Crouched over Isaac’s body.

The wind swept through the broken camp.

Dust drifted between shattered walls.

A loose sheet of rusted metal groaned somewhere in the distance.

Blood dripped steadily from his fingertips.

One drop.

Another.

Then another.

Each struck the cracked pavement with a quiet…

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The sounds were almost peaceful.

Around him…

The camp had fallen silent.

Moments ago it had been filled with screams.

The crash of collapsing buildings.

The sound of bones breaking.

Men begging for their lives.

Now...

Nothing.

Only ruin.

Only corpses.

Only silence.

Licht slowly drew in a breath.

It hurt.

The air scraped against lungs already torn and battered.

He ignored it.

Slowly…

He turned.

Crimson.

That was the first thing he saw.

Crimson hair.

Moving gently in the wind.

Crimson eyes.

Watching him.

For a single heartbeat…

The ruined camp disappeared.

A warm afternoon.

A ruined convenience store.

Laughter.

“Come on, Little L!”

His small legs struggled to keep up.

“You’re too fast!”

“Of course I am.”

A girl stood with her hands proudly on her hips.

“I’m the strongest girl in the world.”

The memory shattered.

Reality returned.

No.

Not her.

She was taller.

Older.

The way she stood was different.

The warmth…

Was gone.

Everything about her was wrong.

Everything…

Except that face.

His jaw tightened.

The hand hanging at his side curled into a fist.

When he finally spoke…

His voice was barely louder than the wind.

“…How...”

A long silence.

“…dare you…”

Another.

“…say my name?”

Iris couldn’t answer.

Her lips parted.

Nothing came out.

She closed them again.

Her throat tightened.

She tried to breathe.

The air refused to stay in her lungs.

She had imagined this moment countless times.

She had rehearsed apologies.

Excuses.

Confessions.

Now...

Standing before him…

She couldn’t remember a single word.

Licht took one step.

Broken glass cracked beneath his boot.

“…How...”

Another step.

“…dare you…”

The distance between them grew smaller.

“…show me that face?”

His voice never rose.

It didn’t need to.

Every word landed heavier than the last.

Iris felt her knees weaken.

Every instinct she possessed screamed at her to run.

Run.

Hide.

Survive.

She didn’t.

Her feet refused to move.

Not because she was fearless.

Because she was tired.

Tired of running.

Tired of obeying.

Tired of surviving.

If this was where her life ended…

Then it would end here.

In front of him.

Licht stopped only a few steps away.

The wind carried strands of crimson hair across Iris’s face.

She didn’t brush them aside.

He stared.

The resemblance was unbearable.

Too close.

Far too close.

It made something deep inside him ache.

Far beyond the ruined camp…

A low screech echoed across the city.

Then another.

Then another.

The sound rolled over broken buildings like distant thunder.

The ground trembled.

Small pieces of rubble danced across the cracked earth.

The Nyxfel had heard.

The battle.

The screams.

The collapsing buildings.

They were coming.

Neither of them looked away.

“…Why?”

The word escaped him quietly.

Not as an accusation.

As a wound.

Silence.

Iris opened her mouth.

Nothing.

Her breathing became uneven.

She swallowed.

Tried again.

Still nothing.

Her hands shook uncontrollably.

She curled them into fists.

That didn’t stop them.

“…Why?”

This time…

His voice was colder.

The question lingered between them.

The silence stretched.

Long enough for another distant screech to echo through the ruins.

Long enough for another piece of concrete to crumble from a nearby wall.

Long enough for Iris’s eyes to fill completely.

She looked at him.

Really looked at him.

The missing forearm.

The burns.

The scars.

The blood.

The eye that no longer belonged to any human.

She had done this.

Every wound.

Every scar.

Every nightmare standing before her…

Existed because of her choice.

Her lips trembled.

“…I…”

The word broke.

She closed her eyes.

A tear escaped.

Then another.

“…I’m…”

She couldn’t finish.

She covered her mouth with trembling fingers.

A sob escaped anyway.

Licht’s expression didn’t change.

His patience finally snapped.

“ANSWER ME!”

The shout ripped across the camp.

Birds burst from distant rooftops.

The echo bounced between broken buildings.

Even the approaching Nyxfel seemed to fall silent for a heartbeat.

Iris flinched violently.

A small whimper escaped her lips.

Then…

The words finally came.

“I’m…”

She couldn’t breathe.

Her chest rose sharply.

Fell.

Rose again.

“…I’m sorry…”

The apology was barely audible.

The wind almost carried it away.

Licht stared at her.

For a brief…

Painful…

Moment…

He wanted those words to matter.

He wanted them to heal something.

Anything.

Instead…

All he saw...

Was another face.

A rooftop.

A smile.

“Oopsies.”

Chains.

Darkness.

The pit.

The memories crashed together until he could no longer separate them.

His fingers trembled.

Not from hesitation.

From restraint.

Iris finally broke.

“I’M SORRY!”

Her voice cracked into pieces.

“I’m weak!”

“I was scared!”

“I couldn’t survive by myself!”

The words poured out between broken breaths.

“I thought…”

She choked on the sentence.

“I thought if I listened…”

“…I’d live.”

She looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

“I was afraid.”

Silence.

Licht lowered his head.

For the briefest instant…

He pitied her.

A frightened girl.

Broken by fear.

Used by someone stronger.

Then—

He remembered being dragged across stone.

He remembered being thrown into the pit.

He remembered her standing above him.

Watching.

He raised his head again.

Whatever softness had existed…

Was gone.

His voice became colder than the wind itself.

“Every life…”

He took one final step.

“…is shaped by its choices.”

“You made yours.”

His visible eye met hers.

“You chose to become a roach.”

A long silence followed.

“So…”

His voice never changed.

“I have no pity left to give you.”

Those words settled between them like a gravestone.

There was nothing left to say.

No argument.

No apology.

No forgiveness.

Only an ending.

The rubble beneath Licht’s feet burst apart.

He disappeared.

One heartbeat.

That was all.

When Iris blinked…

He was standing directly before her.

His bloodstained hand rose slowly.

Two fingers aligned with her heart.

One thrust.

One heartbeat.

One life.

Then—

“BASTARD!”

A young voice shattered the silence.

TYSM FOR READING