(Outside - Yuuta Apartment)
The night stretched long across the city, casting shadows that crept up the walls of the apartment building like dark fingers reaching for something they could not quite grasp.
The streetlights hummed their monotonous song, pools of orange light scattered along the sidewalk, and the bench where Fiona sat had grown cold beneath her.
She had not moved.
Not since Erza left.
Not since the dragon queen's words had settled into her chest like stones dropped into deep water. I will end the demonic era. The declaration echoed in her skull, relentless and unsettling. Fiona had expected negotiation. She had expected conditions, compromises, the careful dance of two parties who needed each other but trusted no one.
Erza had not negotiated.
