Chapter 119: 119:Farewells.
The sound of collapsing steel echoed through the greenhouse long after the first support beam came crashing down.
Broken glass still rained from above like glittering hail, striking the stone floor with thousands of sharp, metallic chimes. Dust exploded into the air, enveloping the entrance in a thick grey cloud that reduced visibility to only a few metres.
For several terrifying seconds, Silver couldn’t hear anything except the groaning of twisting iron, then voices emerged.
"Everyone report!"
Brian’s command cut through the confusion with remarkable clarity.
"I’m here!"
"Still standing!"
"Over here!"
One after another, the survivors answered. Silver instinctively counted the voices: Jonah, Brian, Ravenna beside him, three other contractors, and another two farther back.
His shoulders relaxed slightly. Everyone was safe, then his expression changed.
"...Claire?"
Silence, no answer came. Brian shouted again, louder this time.
"Claire! Report your position."
The greenhouse answered only with the creaking of strained metal.
Silver slowly pushed himself to his feet. The moment he stood, a wave of dizziness swept through him so violently that he almost fell again.
The world tilted as his vision blurred around the edges. A strange pressure spread through every part of his body, unlike the mental exhaustion caused by repeated use of Spatial Sense.
This felt... Different, almost as though every muscle in his body had been stretched beyond its limit.
Ravenna immediately noticed and caught his arm before he could stumble.
"Silver."
"I’m alright."
She gave him a look that clearly said she had heard those words far too many times.
"No."
"You aren’t."
Silver took a slow breath, forcing himself to steady his footing.
"...This isn’t the same as the other times, I swear."
"What happened?"
He frowned.
"I don’t know."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, replaying the instant before the collapse. He had activated Short-Step without thinking. That part wasn’t unusual since he had done it many times, but this time...
His eyes widened slightly.
"...You."
Ravenna blinked.
"What about me?"
"You came with me."
She looked confused.
"Of course I did, what’s wrong?"
Silver slowly shook his head.
"No. I’ve never been able to teleport anyone," he whispered to her.
The realization settled over both of them. During that desperate instant, he hadn’t simply used Short-Step. He had instinctively carried another person through the distortion of space. It was something he had never accomplished before or even known was possible.
A familiar notification quietly appeared before him.
[Skill Evolution Detected]
{Short-Step Lv1
Proficiency Increased.
Special Condition Achieved: Shared Transit (Unstable).
Current Limitation: Severe Physical and Mental Burden.
Synchronization Requirement: High Trust Between Participants.
Further mastery required.}
Silver stared at the notification.
"...Shared Transit..." He whispered the words under his breath.
Ravenna tilted her head.
"What is it?"
He hesitated for a moment, then smiled faintly.
"I think... I accidentally improved one of my abilities."
She blinked once.
"...Accidentally?"
"I wasn’t trying to."
Her lips curved into a small smile.
"That sounds like something only you could manage."
Silver briefly laughed, but it eased the crushing tension in his chest.
Brian’s voice brought everyone back to reality.
"We’re wasting time. We need to find Claire."
The group immediately spread out around the collapsed section of the greenhouse. Silver ignored the lingering ache running through his body and began moving shattered beams aside with the others.
Chunks of rusted steel scraped loudly across broken concrete. Jonah pulled away a twisted support column. Another contractor cleared away shattered glass.
No one spoke since every second felt heavier than the last. Then...
"I found her!"
The cry came from one of the contractors near the edge of the collapse. Everyone hurried over.
Claire was lying beneath part of a fallen steel framework. Most of the weight had been caught by a thicker beam above her. Had it fallen directly... No one wanted to finish that thought.
She was still conscious, breathing, and covered in dust from head to toe. When she saw everyone rushing toward her... She smiled.
"...You all look terrible."
Jonah let out a shaky laugh that sounded far too close to crying.
"You still have enough energy to insult us?"
"Someone has to."
Brian immediately knelt beside her.
"Don’t move. We’re getting you out."
Claire looked toward the beam pinning her before looking back at him.
"...You can try," she wheezed out," I think something tripped me, you know, there is no way I was slower than anyone."
No one had the time to respond. Several strength-type contractors immediately positioned themselves around the collapsed framework.
Brian nodded.
"On my mark... Lift."
Their muscles strained as the heavy beam rose slightly. It wasn’t enough. Silver joined them despite the burning pain still coursing through his body after the unstable teleport.
Together they pushed. The beam shifted another few centimetres, then stopped. It felt as though the entire greenhouse rested on top of it. No matter how hard they tried, it wouldn’t move farther.
Brian’s jaw tightened.
"Again."
They pushed until veins bulged across their foreheads. The beam trembled. Another section of the greenhouse groaned ominously above them.
Silver immediately looked upward. His expression changed.
"...Stop."
Nobody listened.
"Stop!"
This time, Brian looked at him.
"What?"
Silver pointed upward.
"The support."
Everyone followed his gaze. The beam they were lifting was holding the remaining roof together. If they forced it higher, the rest of the structure would collapse right on top of everyone.
Silence followed. The realization settled over the group like cold rain.
Claire quietly sighed.
"...I was hoping you wouldn’t notice."
Brian looked at her sharply.
"We’ll find another way."
"You always do, Brian," she smiled, "But not this time. I think it’s sinking deeper into me. Oh fuck... this is more painful than I thought. I think I’m losing blood somewhere. You’re going to have to leave me here."
Her face had slowly started to get paler, even with the dust all over her. Sweat dripped down her temples, and a small frown marred her face.
Brian touched the beam in urgency.
"No." His answer came instantly. "We don’t leave people behind."
Claire looked around at every familiar face. At Jonah, who had fallen to his knees beside her.
"I think I jinked myself... You’re... gonna miss me, huh?"
Jonah shook his head." You’re not going to die, I’m going to find a way to get you out of there."
She chuckled, but it was more of a wheeze.
"I don’t want to, I can’t even feel my legs," tears started dripping down her temples," You’ve got to buy me flowers on my anniversary, okay, I don’t want you guys to forget me."
Brian just stood there, not knowing what to do.
"We will."
She tried nodding but couldn’t.
"Good, I’m... really happy. Don’t forget me, okay? And tell the others I’ll haunt them if they do that."
Brian and Jonah forced a chuckle. She turned toward her gaze, sweeping across the contractors she’d spent the last three days travelling with. At Ravenna and finally... Silver.
"You remember what I told you yesterday?"
Silver frowned.
"...Which part?"
"The part about treasure."
Despite the situation, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"You said you found gardening instead."
She laughed softly.
"...Turns out... I really don’t like flowers."
Several people laughed through tears, even though she was clearly contradicting herself. Brian couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Claire looked toward Ravenna.
"Take care of him."
Ravenna blinked.
"...What?"
"You know, I was kind of jealous of your relationship. He’s smart." She smiled gently. "But unfortunately, he’s also the kind of idiot who’ll destroy himself trying to save everyone."
Silver opened his mouth.
"I object."
"No, you don’t." Claire continued smiling. "Remind him... that surviving is more important than being a hero."
Ravenna slowly nodded.
"I will."
Then Claire looked back toward Brian.
"You’ve been carrying everyone’s problems since the day we met. You don’t have to carry all of them."
Brian lowered his head.
"...I’m sorry."
She frowned.
"For what?"
"I couldn’t..."
Claire interrupted him immediately.
"You got us this far... You took us in and created a team. If anything..." She smiled with quiet warmth. "...Thank you."
Brian felt something tighten painfully in his chest. He had known Claire for a long time, since the day she integrated until now. They had lost a lot of people along the way, but this felt worse... seeing her getting paler and paler. She was already part of the strange little family they had created.
The ground she was lying on was now starting to show signs of her loss of blood.
Everyone quietly waited until her chest slowly stopped moving. Jonah lost the strength in his body and sat on the ground, his hand lightly touching her face.
Muffled cries filled the greenhouse as everyone created a small tomb-like structure around her.
Brian slowly stood. His hands clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. For a long moment, no one spoke.
Outside, somewhere deeper within the botanical gardens, another faint tremor rolled through the ground.
Silver looked toward the heart of the greenhouse. The roots beneath the floor continued to pulse and had started getting redder. He didn’t need to know where they were getting their next nutrients. And as long as it remained alive, no one in Detroin would truly be safe.
Brian took a slow, steady breath before speaking. His voice was rough, but steady.
"We finish this." He looked at each member of the group in turn. "We don’t waste the chance we’ve been given."
Silver met his gaze, then nodded. One by one, the others did the same. With heavy hearts, they gathered their weapons once more.
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