You’d told them it was just your period. Bad cramps. Nothing new.

Shiro had looked at you for a long moment—eyes scanning your face like he could read the pain there—but he didn’t argue. Just set a firm hand on your shoulder and said, “Rest. We’ll be back in a few hours. Call if anything changes.”

Lance hadn’t said much. Gave you that lopsided smile, soft around the edges, and told you to drink water and not die while they were gone. He hadn’t looked you in the eye since that drunken night a few months ago. Neither of you had brought it up. But now, with the pain twisting your insides, you couldn’t help but wonder.

You’d tried to sleep it off.

But hours later, you jolted awake, drenched in sweat, gasping—and felt it. Wet. Warm.

You sat up slowly, heart pounding, and peeled back the blanket.

The sheets were soaked.

A pale, watered-down blood-like liquid had pooled beneath you, staining everything. It didn’t look like a normal period. It didn’t feel like one either.

Your hands trembled. You were dizzy, disoriented, pain rolling through you in sickening waves. Something was happening inside you—something you didn’t understand.

Something that felt too late to stop.

And far above the Castle, inside the Black Lion, Shiro’s gut twisted. He kept glancing at the monitor, your bio-signs—something wasn’t right. He knew it. He could feel it in his bones.

Lance had gone quiet too. Focused on his controls, jaw tight, fingers clenched just a little too hard.

Neither of them said it.

But something was wrong.

And you were alone.