Outside
The late afternoon sun hung low, casting long shadows across the courtyard. The world felt hazy at the edges, like it hadn't fully decided whether it wanted to be real or just another piece of Mason's fractured dreams. He sat on a low stone wall bordering the courtyard garden, elbows resting on his knees, head bowed. His fingers twisted absently in the hem of his shirt — a nervous habit he didn't even realize he had.
Next to him, Olivia crouched down, her hand resting lightly on his arm. Neither of them spoke. There was too much to say, and no words big enough to hold it all.
A breeze stirred — cool and gentle — brushing through Olivia's hair and sending a few strands fluttering across her face. She tucked them behind her ear without thinking, her eyes never leaving Mason.
He looked... small, somehow. Like he was still recovering from collapsing in the hallway, like the world had been too much and left him fragile in its wake. Like the weight of everything — the past, the revelations, the years apart — was pressing down on him all at once.
"Mason," Olivia said softly.
He didn't look up. His shoulders were tight, coiled like springs. His breathing came in shallow, uneven pulls, like he was trying to keep himself from unraveling right there in front of her.
Gently, Olivia slid her hand down his arm until she found his — still fidgeting, still restless — and stilled it with her own.
Mason froze. The touch was grounding. Solid. Real. Not a dream. Not a memory. Real.
Slowly, he lifted his head. His eyes were red at the edges, but dry now. Haunted — but present.
Olivia gave him the smallest, softest smile. "You're not alone anymore," she whispered.
Something broke loose in Mason's chest — something tight and brittle that had held him together with fraying threads.
He exhaled a shaky breath, his free hand scrubbing across his face like he could wipe away the last five years with one rough swipe. "It's too much," he rasped. "I don't even know where to start."
Olivia squeezed his hand. "We start right here," she said. "With you and me. That's enough for today."
For Mason, those words landed like something solid in a world that had been floating. It had been so long since anything felt like 'enough.'
Mason stared at her, like he was trying to memorize every line of her face — every freckle, every spark of fierce determination in her eyes.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, he let himself believe he didn't have to carry it all alone. The fear. The grief. The broken pieces. Maybe — just maybe — someone else could help him carry them too.
A slow, fragile smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
The message passed between them without words: Thank you. I'm still here. You're still here. And that's enough.
Olivia gave his hand another gentle squeeze before standing and brushing off her jeans. "Come on," she said, jerking her head toward the path leading back to school. "Let's get out of here before Kenner decides you need to fill out a hundred forms for passing out on his watch."
Mason let out a weak chuckle — and even that felt like a victory. He pushed himself upright. His body still felt twice as heavy as it should, but with Olivia there, it was manageable.
They started walking — slow and steady — side by side. The sun dipped lower behind them, casting their shadows long across the ground. The courtyard faded into the soft golds and purples of early evening.
And for the first time in years, Mason didn't feel like he was walking toward the end of something. He was walking toward a beginning.
Later – Out Around Town
The town stretched before them in the warm hues of a setting sun. It wasn't a big place — just a scattering of shops, a few cozy restaurants, wide sidewalks cracked by wild tree roots.
Mason and Olivia moved through it slowly, not in any hurry. They just were, existing alongside the world instead of fighting it.
The air smelled like fresh bread and something sweet — maybe the bakery on the corner had just pulled pies from the oven. Children's laughter echoed from a nearby park. The golden light softened everything, made it feel kinder.
Mason walked with his hands deep in his pockets, head ducked like he didn't want to draw attention. But Olivia had a way of making even crowded sidewalks feel empty — like it was just the two of them.
"See that old bookstore?" Olivia nudged him, pointing across the street. A squat brick building leaned against its neighbor like it was too tired to stand on its own.
"I used to go there with my mom," she said, smiling. "They let you sit on the floor and read for hours. No one ever rushed you."
Mason looked at the dusty windows, the worn sign swinging in the breeze — and somehow, he felt nostalgic for a life he'd never lived. "Maybe we can go sometime," he said, surprising even himself.
Olivia grinned. "Deal."
They wandered winding streets, past murals on crumbling walls, old men playing cards outside chipped cafés, stores crammed with handmade jewelry and too-big furniture.
A man in a long coat stood near the corner, handing out folded pamphlets. "The fire returns," he murmured to no one in particular. "The gods will rise, and we must be ready."
Mason took a pamphlet out of reflex. It was covered in strange symbols and an illustration of a phoenix curling upward from ashes.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. One of those fire-and-stars types. Half of them think the gods are gonna come back and burn the sinners."
Mason didn't say anything. He just tucked the paper into his pocket, the image lingering longer than it should have.
Mason didn't know how long they'd been walking when Olivia suddenly grabbed his wrist and yanked him down a narrow alley. "Shortcut," she said, eyes gleaming.
He stumbled after her, laughing — not out of fear, but something better. Something that felt suspiciously like happiness.
They climbed a narrow path behind the town, up a steep hill where the buildings gave way to open fields. By the time they reached the top, Mason was breathing hard. But the view stole what little breath he had left.
Below them, the town sprawled in charming disarray. Beyond that, hills faded into the horizon where the twin suns dipped low — one gold, one dusky pink. The sky blazed with purples and oranges, like someone had spilled a thousand buckets of paint across the heavens.
Mason dropped onto a flat boulder. Olivia sat beside him, legs swinging over the edge.
For a while, they just watched. The world was so big from up here. And they were so small.
But somehow, it didn't feel scary. It felt peaceful.
Mason leaned back on his hands, tilting his head to the sky. "I wish we could stay like this forever," he murmured.
Olivia turned to look at him, her face lit by the last fierce rays of sunlight. She smiled — not her big, public smile, but a quiet one meant just for him.
"Then let's promise," she said.
Mason blinked. "Promise what?"
She pulled her knees up, resting her chin on them. "Promise that no matter what happens — where we end up, how crazy life gets — we'll find our way back to this. To being here. Together."
Mason's throat tightened. He knew life didn't usually work that way. But with Olivia looking at him like he was worth something…
He wanted to believe it. He needed to believe it.
He held out his pinky. "Pinky promise?"
Olivia laughed — a sound full of wind and wild, messy hope — and linked her pinky with his. "Pinky promise."
They sat like that until the suns dipped below the horizon and the stars blinked awake.
A silent vow hung between them. Fragile. Impossible. But for that moment, it felt real.
It felt like forever.
Walking Home
Stars stretched wide and endless above as Mason and Olivia finally rose from the cliff. The night air was cool but not cold — the kind that wrapped around you like an old blanket.
They picked their way down the hill slowly. Their footsteps crunched on gravel. A nightbird called in the distance.
Olivia tilted her head to the stars. "It's crazy, isn't it? How big everything is out there?"
Mason followed her gaze. The sky above Skrylimpo-7 was unfamiliar — constellations he hadn't grown up tracing, but beautiful all the same.
"Yeah," he said. "Makes you feel small."
"Small, but not in a bad way," Olivia said. "More like... there's so much out there waiting to be found."
Mason watched her — how the starlight shimmered in her hair, how her eyes seemed to reflect the whole sky. "What do you wanna do, Liv? When we're older?"
She thought for a moment. "Maybe help people. I thought about being a counselor, like Mr. Kenner. Or a teacher. Someone who makes it easier for kids like us." She laughed softly. "Kinda lame, huh?"
Mason shook his head. "No way. That's... really cool."
They walked in silence for a moment, their dreams hanging between them.
Then Olivia nudged him. "What about you? What's Mason 'Too-Tough-For-Feelings' gonna do?" she teased, echoing the nickname she'd once muttered under her breath in Mr. Kenner's office when he got too quiet.
He laughed under his breath. He hadn't told anyone yet.
He looked up at the stars again. "I want to join the CMSC."
Olivia blinked. "The Corvenian Military Space Corp?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I know it's crazy, but... I don't know. Something about it — exploring, protecting people. Maybe I could find where I belong out there."
She looked at him a long moment. Then: "It's not crazy. I think you'd be amazing at it."
Mason turned to her, startled. "You really think so?"
"I know so."
Mason looked up at the stars again, his voice quieter now. "I guess… I just want to be like a phoenix. Burn away the past. Rise from it. Start over."
Olivia didn't say anything right away. She just walked beside him, her fingers brushing his as if to say: You already are.
The lights of town reappeared around the bend — warm yellows and soft blues glowing like promises.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, their dreams flickering like stars above.
At the quiet street where they had to split — Mason to his foster house, Olivia to hers — they paused.
Olivia rocked on her heels. "We gotta keep our promises, Mason."
"Yeah," he said, smiling. "We will."
They parted without another word. But the night still hummed with something electric.
Something that whispered: this is only the beginning.