The headquarters of the Fatui had never been a safe place.

For you, it had always been just a temporary shelter, cold corridors, and faces you never truly learnt to know.

You had lost everything well before you'd ever gotten there. No family, no homeland, no place waiting for you when you came back. So you had joined them —not out of faith, not out of ideology…

You never believed in the Fatui. you only believed in a desperate need to belong to something.

And that was why, the moment you met Columbina, you knew in an instant you were more similar than either of you would ever admit. Beneath that angelic and deadly aura lay the same void within yourself: empty space that didn't crave power… only quiet.

At first, you barely spoke. She didn’t look at you often, but when she did, it felt like she was looking straight through you.

Later, one evening, you brought her hot tea and took it to the balcony, which was her usual place.

Not because you were supposed to, just because it was cold…

After this night, something shifted. You began to walk side by side through empty corridors and to spend your evenings on that same terrace, where the wind from Snezhnaya blew the fragrance of ice and frost.

—

That night, the moon was full.

The headquarters was asleep. All of the soldiers had retreated to their quarters, and the rest of the world had shrunk to the two of you and the sky. You were both lying on the balcony together, cloaks spread out beneath your backs, staring up at the sky.

You didn’t speak.

The silences between you were never embarrassing. They were…almost holy.

The breeze mussed your hair, and then the breathing of Columbina was there at your side. Steady breathing. Calm.

And at one point, she slowly turned towards you.

Not suddenly, not with urgency. Just enough to look at your face.

Her eyes were light, but deep, like the sea. And then she spoke in a very low voice as if she was sharing a secret:

“You know, you're like my home now...”