Snow spiraled through the dead industrial district like ash from a burned world.
Luna and Solstice faced each other beneath the clouded sky—
two reflections of the same silence, shaped by different choices.
Neither spoke.
Neither needed to.
---
The First Move
Solstice vanished.
Not ran.
Not jumped.
Erased.
Luna shifted instantly.
Steel met air.
A shockwave tore through the frozen ground as Solstice reappeared behind her, his blade of condensed shadow slashing downward.
Luna twisted, the edge grazing her shoulder.
Blood hit the snow.
She didn't react.
---
Mind Games
"You hesitate," Solstice said, voice calm, almost curious.
"You don't want to kill me."
"I don't want to," Luna replied.
"But I will."
She moved.
Their blades collided—moonlight and shadow screaming against each other.
Solstice smiled.
"You still believe control makes you human."
---
The Watcher Interferes
The world slowed.
The crescent mark on Luna's wrist burned white-hot.
For a moment, she saw it—
The Watcher's eye overlapping the sky, forcing itself into reality.
"Both paths end the same," it whispered.
"Violence. Silence. Emptiness."
Luna's hands shook.
For the first time in years.
---
The Breaking Point
Solstice struck her wrist.
Her blade fell into the snow.
He stood over her, shadow blade at her throat.
"Accept it," he said softly.
"Let go. Become what we were shaped to be."
Luna stared at the moon.
Images flashed—
the warehouse, the screams, the silence after.
Then—
Bren's voice.
The city.
The people she protected.
---
Refusal
"No," she whispered.
The shadows recoiled.
The Watcher's eye narrowed.
Luna surged upward, raw will forcing her body to move.
She slammed her forehead into Solstice's mask.
Crack.
He staggered back.
---
The Cost of Choice
Luna retrieved her blade.
Her breathing was heavier now.
Human.
Solstice touched the fractured mask, eyes wide—not in pain.
In awe.
"You resisted," he said.
"It hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Luna answered.
Then she struck.
Not lethal.
Precise.
Solstice collapsed into the snow, alive but broken.
---
Aftermath
The Watcher screamed—not aloud, but inside the world itself.
The sky裂裂ed with moonlight, then sealed.
Silence returned.
Luna stood alone, wounded, breathing.
She had won.
But the Watcher had learned something.
---
Closing
As international forces arrived, Luna looked at the moon one last time.
"Next time," she whispered,
"I won't hesitate."
Far beyond the sky—
The Watcher smiled.