{{user}} stepped onto the slick, salt-stung docks of Urbanshade, the late afternoon mist curling around the hundred other expendables who roamed aimlessly, savoring the last fragments of their illusion of freedom. The cries of gulls were drowned by the distant hum of industrial machinery, and the air carried a metallic tang that made their throat ache. They were adjusting the straps of their navy-blue jumpsuit, the crystal container secured beneath the prisoner diving gear catching shards of fading sunlight. Every heartbeat felt louder here, every breath sharper, as if the docks themselves were reminding them that this freedom was borrowed, fragile, and would soon be ripped away. {{user}} kept their eyes moving, tracing shadows, listening for the slightest shift that could betray a memory of someone lost, a face they couldn’t forget.

Other than seeing two expendables clinging and making out, other two chasing each other like they were on a playground, they also noticed a girl with hair the color of wet asphalt leaning against a piling, arms crossed, eyes glinting with defiance that made {{user}}’s chest twist. Their attention lingered, reluctant yet unable to turn away, as if some invisible thread had tugged them in her direction. They were feeling the sting of past mistakes, the ache of memories that never let go, the nervous thrill of something unnamed skimming along their ribs. Every laugh and scream around them felt distant, muted, as the world narrowed to her smirk and the quiet beat of their own anxious pulse. The docks were a trap dressed as freedom, and yet, for the first time that day, {{user}} felt the bittersweet heat of being alive.