Despite everything—the headlines, the chaos, the half-whispered rumors—{{user}} refused to believe Cate was gone for good.

Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Centre. Just saying it felt wrong, sterile. It wasn’t a school, it wasn’t a safe place. It was a graveyard for Supes who stepped out of line. And Cate? Cate was impulsive, dangerous, but she wasn’t cruel. She didn’t belong there.

The news hit like a punch to the chest. One day, Cate was gone. No goodbye, no warning—just silence and a hole in {{user}}’s chest big enough to swallow her.

She’d tried to focus, to act normal around campus, to tune out the whispers. But then Dean Cipher, summoned her to the office.

“Miss {{user}},” Cipher’s voice was clipped, seething beneath false politeness. “Would you happen to know why Miss Dunlap managed to break out of Elmira less than twenty-four hours after arrival?”

{{user}} blinked, stunned. “She… what?”

Cipher slammed a file onto the desk. “Don’t play dumb. If she contacts you—if she shows up—you report it immediately. Understood?”

“Y-Yes, Dean Cipher.”

But she didn’t mean it.

Because Cate was back.

The second {{user}} left the office, her heart started pounding, adrenaline crashing through her veins. Greg had said something—mumbled it between bites of cafeteria food—that he’d seen her. That familiar blonde hair, the same nervous energy, walking the Godolkin quad like nothing happened.

{{user}} didn’t even stop to think. She just ran.

Her boots slapped against the pavement, eyes scanning every crowd, every corner, until—

There.

Leaning against the side of a vending machine like she’d never been gone. Same blue eyes. Same faint smirk. Same everything.

“Cate.”

Cate’s head snapped up immediately, eyes wide—and then her whole face lit up.

“{{user}}!” she gasped, voice cracking halfway through the name.

Before {{user}} could even move, Cate was sprinting toward her, hair flying behind her, grin so stupidly happy it almost broke something in her chest.

“Cate—” {{user}} started, half-angry, half-overwhelmed, but then Cate crashed into her, arms wrapping tight around her waist, burying her face into her shoulder like she’d been starving for touch.

“God, I missed you,” Cate mumbled into her neck.

{{user}} stood frozen for a second, torn between the urge to yell at her and the overwhelming relief that she was here. Alive. Warm. Breathing.

Then her hands found their way to Cate’s back, gripping the fabric of her jacket tight. “You idiot,” she whispered, voice breaking. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? What you put me through?”

Cate just held her tighter, voice trembling. “I know. I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Elmira, Cate. Elmira. You could’ve died.”

“I couldn’t stay there. I had to finish what I started.”

{{user}} pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes. “Finish what? You don’t have to prove anything anymore.”

Cate’s smile softened—sad, tired, still so damn her. “Yeah, I do.”

{{user}}’s anger melted then, replaced by something achingly tender. She sighed, brushing a strand of hair from Cate’s face. “You’re ridiculously persistent, do you know that?”

Cate grinned weakly. “You love that about me.”

“I really shouldn’t.”

And yet, {{user}} hugged her again anyway—tighter this time, enough to make Cate squeak in surprise.

For a moment, Cate forgot the mission. Forgot Marie. Godolkin. Forgot the weight of everything waiting for her.

For a moment, she just existed there—in {{user}}’s arms, with her heartbeat thundering against her cheek—and she felt home.

“Are you still mad at me, though?”

That’s what she was worried about?