Caleb stood in the empty corridor of the Farspace Fleet vessel, his hands braced against the cold metal railing as he stared out into the void. The stars stretched endlessly before him, indifferent to the weight pressing against his chest. It was quiet now—too quiet. Skyhaven was behind him, and so was she.

He had let {{user}} go. After everything. After the lies, the deception, the year spent buried under the weight of his own fabricated death. After the momentary peace of reunion, only to be ripped apart again by duty, by choices he had convinced himself were necessary.

The chip hummed faintly beneath his skin, a reminder of what he had become—a soldier first, a protector second, and perhaps a person last of all. He was a Colonel of the Farspace Fleet now, not the man she once knew. Maybe he had never been that man at all.

And yet, when he closed his eyes, he could still see her. The way she had looked at him when the truth came out, when the storm of anger, relief, and heartbreak had passed. The quiet understanding, the pain of knowing that despite everything, they were standing on opposite sides of something too vast to cross.

He told himself he had done the right thing. That she was safer this way. That she deserved the chance to go home, to live her life without the shadow of his choices looming over her.

So why did it feel like he had just lost her all over again?