The sharp, fast sound of metal clashing echoed through the training room with deadly precision.
Rania moved first. Her blade cut through the air with practiced control, aiming a clean and efficient strike. Alisa blocked the blow effortlessly, while Xara lunged in from the side to break their lock. The rhythm of their combat was familiar. Too familiar.
But today, something was entirely off.
For the first time, Rania's strike came a fraction too late. Xara slipped past her guard with a triumphant grin. "Got you!" Rania reacted instantly, stepping back just in time to avoid the hit, but her footwork wasn't clean. It wasn't like her at all.
Xara froze mid-step, lowering her weapon. "…Okay, that was weird." Alisa lowered her blade as well, her sharp eyes watching Rania closely. "You're distracted."
"I'm not," Rania replied entirely too quickly. A brief silence hung between them before they reset their stances.
This time, Alisa attacked. It was a precise, calculated movement aimed directly at Rania's weak point. Rania should have seen it coming. She always did. But for a split second, her mind wasn't in the training room. She was back on the rainy rooftop. She could hear his voice. "Still calling yourself Vex… Rania?"
CLANG! The deafening ring of steel snapped Rania back to reality, but she was too late. Alisa's training blade had stopped mere inches from her neck. A heavy silence filled the room.
"…That's enough," Alisa said quietly, pulling her weapon away and stepping back. Xara frowned, stepping closer to her friend. "Okay, seriously, what's wrong with you today?"
Rania turned away to hide her face. "…Nothing." But even she could hear the hollow lie in her own voice. Alisa exchanged a concerned look with Xara before speaking in a much softer tone. "…Maybe it's about Phantom." The codename hung in the air, heavy and unavoidable.
Xara crossed her arms defensively. "…You think?" Alisa exhaled slowly. "I don't know," she admitted. "But something feels entirely off. About him…" Her fingers tightened slightly around the hilt of her sword. "I feel like… Rania and Phantom have some kind of history."
Xara raised an eyebrow in confusion. "History as in… what?" Alisa shook her head. "I don't know. But..." She paused, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Why did he save me?" Total silence.
"Yesterday," Alisa continued, staring at the floor. "He could have easily let me die." Xara clicked her tongue dismissively. "Maybe the sniper just missed."
Alisa didn't smile. "…He didn't miss." The training room suddenly felt much smaller and colder. "…Something is wrong," Alisa muttered, running a stressed hand through her hair. "This is too stressful."
Xara sighed dramatically, dropping her weapon onto the padded mat. "Okay, I've had enough of this gloomy atmosphere." She stretched her arms lazily above her head. "I'm hungry." Alisa blinked in disbelief. "…That is your grand solution?"
"Yes," Xara said with absolute confidence. "Food solves everything." She turned toward their leader. "Ran," Xara called out, using the nickname she rarely said while they were on duty. "Let's eat. Don't think too much."
Rania didn't respond immediately. Her grip on her training sword tightened as an uninvited memory surfaced.
Aiden. She remembered his hand brushing against hers, and that quiet, genuine smile he only ever showed when no one else was watching. "You trust too easily,"he had told her once. She had laughed at him back then, replying, "I trust you."
Rania's chest tightened painfully. She knew the terrible truth now. Aiden hadn't stumbled into her life by accident. He came with a calculated purpose: to get close, to gain access, to learn everything her father had built, and to use her.
And still... when she found out he was alive in that warehouse, she had smiled. It was a real, unguarded smile. For a split second, her broken world had felt whole again. And then it completely shattered. Because if he was alive, that meant everything else was real, too. His betrayal. His lies. His conscious choice to leave her.
"…Ran?" Xara's voice pulled her back to the present. Rania blinked, letting the training room come back into focus. "…Yeah," she said quietly.
Xara grinned, immediately grabbing Rania's arm and pulling her toward the exit. "Good! Let's go before I actually starve to death."
"You won't die," Alisa muttered, following closely behind them. "You've said that five times today."
"It's serious this time," Xara insisted. "It's always serious with you." Xara gasped dramatically. "You just don't understand my immense suffering."
Alisa rolled her eyes. "You had snacks an hour ago."
"That was emotional eating," Xara defended proudly. "This is entirely different." Rania let out a small, quiet breath. It wasn't quite a laugh, but it was close.
For a brief, fleeting moment, everything felt perfectly normal. The three of them were just walking side by side, arguing about absolutely nothing, and complaining about food. It felt exactly like the old days.
Xara suddenly stopped in her tracks. "…Wait." Alisa nearly walked right into her back. "What now?" Xara turned to Rania, narrowing her eyes mischievously. "…You're paying."
Rania blinked. "…Why?" Xara pointed at her with absolute confidence. "Because you're the leader."
"That's not how it works," Rania deadpanned. "It is now," Xara declared. Alisa nodded calmly in agreement. "I second that." Rania stared at both of her teammates in disbelief. "…You two are unbelievable."
Xara grinned widely. "You love us." A short pause followed. Rania looked at the two girls who had become her only family. "…Yeah," she admitted. Her voice was incredibly soft, almost too soft, but her friends didn't seem to notice the sadness lacing her tone.
Deep inside, something within Rania was breaking. It was fracturing slowly and quietly. Because for the first time in her life, she truly didn't know who the real enemy was.
Was it Aiden, the man who broke her heart? Or was it Brandon, the man who raised her? Somewhere caught between those two devastating truths, she was slowly losing herself.
Later that night, Rania stood completely alone on her balcony. The sprawling city stretched endlessly before her, its neon lights flickering in the dark like distant, fading memories.
There were no voices. There was no laughter. There was no Xara, and no Alisa. There was only suffocating silence.
Her hand trembled slightly against the cold railing. She didn't even notice she was crying until a warm drop fell onto her knuckles. It wasn't rain. It was a single tear.
Rania exhaled sharply, desperately trying to steady her erratic breathing. "…Pathetic," she scolded herself, her voice barely rising above a broken whisper.
She wiped the tear away immediately, treating the emotion like it never happened. Like it meant nothing. Because that was exactly what her father had taught her. No weakness. No attachment. No hesitation.
But tonight, the rules were so much harder to follow. Because no matter how hard she tried to bury the past, she couldn't erase him. Aiden. Phantom. The man who lied, manipulated and betrayed her.
He was also the only man who had ever made her feel entirely human. And as she stared out at the sprawling city, she realized that was the part that hurt the most.
TBC