[Flashback – Two Years Ago | Rael's POV]
They slept in the back of a stolen truck, using worn jackets for blankets and empty crates for pillows.
Kieran was already dozing, arm slung over his face, breath even.
Rael sat beside him, watching the moon flicker through a cracked windshield. The world outside was sharp, cold, and hungry—but here, under the rust and ruin, they had each other.
"You know we're not getting out of this clean, right?" Rael whispered.
Kieran cracked one eye open. "You always talk like we're dying."
"We are," Rael said softly. "Just... slowly."
Kieran reached into his pocket and pulled out half a chocolate bar. He broke it, handed Rael the bigger piece.
Rael took it. Bit into it like it was treasure.
Silence.
Then Kieran said, "You're not just some soldier to me."
Rael's heart paused.
"You're my family," Kieran added. "No matter what."
Rael swallowed hard. "Yeah. Same."
But what he wanted to say was more than family. More than what Kieran would let himself admit.
He stared at Kieran's profile—jaw tight, lashes brushing his cheek, even in sleep looking ready to bleed for someone else.
Rael leaned in closer, whispering a promise no one would ever hear.
"I'd burn the world before I let them take you."
---
[Back to Present Day]
Rael stood in an empty church.
His fingers hovered over a lighter.
Kieran's name was etched in the wood of a bench—graffiti from years ago, scratched by a knife during a storm.
"Still think of me when it rains?" he murmured.
Then he lit the flame.