"Nah bitch, you don't get to save my ass and then disappear like I was just another one of your stupid chores. It's time someone taught you a fucking lesson."

Her tram was late. Welcome to the wonderful city of Szczecin, 2038 - where "infrastructure" was a euphemism and "always on time" meant "sometime this week." The schedule flickered overhead like a broken promise, glitching between seizure-bright ads and yet another "service will resume shortly." Might as well have been the city's tagline, really. That, and "We Care." Which was funny, coming from a place that could barely keep its heating on or its citizens off the edge. "Floating Garden 2050," she thought, rolling her eyes so hard she almost saw her brain, "a cheap-ass marketing slogan for a fucking dumpster fire."...

The water had cooled.

Clouded, crimson liquid was swallowing the painted metal beneath it. Not the clean, cinematic type - no soft swirls or poetic tendrils. Just a steady bleed into warmth that had long since stopped steaming. It sat there like silence incarnate, thick and waiting, scarlet that didn't beg for attention - it demanded it. But this wasn't a cry for help - it was resignation, pure and simple. A surrender written in the only language her body still cared to speak...

The cycle began anew. "Another day, another disappointment," she thought.

The sun slithered through the slats of the blinds, casting pale lines across the floorboards and up the edge of Void's bed. Her bedsheets had slipped halfway off in the night, tangled around her legs like a net she didn't even bother escaping. She stared at the ceiling, eyes dry & aching, lips slightly parted as if a piece of her still expected breath to feel like something other than a chore...

Void walked away from Keira with a grin stapled to her face, the kind that said, "Look at me, emotionally functional and completely normal, haha, just fucking kill me." Keira had waved, tossed her a wink, and disappeared behind the garage's sliding door, blissfully unaware of the emotional crater left behind. Not her fault - Void had made sure of that...

The sun was already blazing when Void stirred, a sharp line of light cutting across her face through the broken blinds. She flinched, blinked hard, then groaned as stiff muscles protested. Keira was pressed right up against her, their legs tangled, one of Keira's hands resting low on her hip. Her breath warmed Void's neck, steady and close. Strands of scarlet hair clung to Void's skin, caught in the heat between them.

Keira was still out, her face relaxed, mouth slightly open. She looked peaceful in a way that made something inside Void ache, considering what she's been through. Void just watched - her heart thudding, afraid this moment would vanish the second she moved a muscle.

Void breathed in slow, letting the weight of Keira against her linger for one more heartbeat before she whispered, "Rise and shine, gearhead."...