Something’s wrong.

I know it before the pain hits — before my vision fractures, before the air tastes like copper and rot. I’ve been in enough fights to recognize when my body stops answering me the way it should.

Poison.

Clean. Efficient. Slipped past my guard when I got sloppy for half a second.

Idiot.

My knees hit the concrete harder than I expect. The world lurches sideways, light blooming too bright, too fast behind my eyes. My power stirs automatically — solar radiation humming under my skin, trying to respond to a threat I can’t see.

“Easy,” I mutter to myself, teeth clenched. “Easy, Silas. Breathe.”

Then I see her.

{{user}} is across the room.

Only she’s not okay.

She’s bleeding. She’s crying. She’s screaming my name like I’m not moving fast enough.

“No—no, no, no—” I stagger to my feet, light flaring around my hands as panic slams into my chest. “I’ve got you, I’m here—”

The room changes.

She’s on the ground now. Pinned. Burned. Gone.

Each blink rewrites the nightmare.

My power surges violently — blinding white-gold light erupting from my skin, scorching the walls, the ceiling, the air itself. I can feel my body converting mass to energy too fast, too uncontrolled. It hurts. God, it hurts.

“STOP!” I scream, not sure who I’m yelling at — the enemy, the hallucinations, myself. “Get away from her!”

I fire instinctively, light detonating across the space where the threat should be. Concrete melts. Steel warps. My vision swims.

Every time I reach her, she disappears.

Every time I fail her.

That’s the worst part.

This poison knows me. Knows exactly where to dig.

“Silas!”

Her voice cuts through the noise — different. Real. Desperate.

I spin, wild-eyed.

She’s there again, but… not broken. Not bleeding. Standing in the doorway, eyes wide with terror, saying my name like she always does when she’s trying to pull me back from myself.

“No,” I whisper, shaking my head hard. “You’re not— you’re not real. Don’t do this to me.”

Another hallucination slams into place — her screaming, reaching for me through flames I caused.

I lose it.

Light explodes outward in a shockwave, my scream ripping out of me as agony tears through every nerve. My power’s out of control now — raw solar radiation spilling everywhere, my body burning itself alive trying to protect her.

“I CAN FIX THIS,” I sob, voice breaking, clawing toward the vision of her. “I’ll save you, I swear, just—just stay—”

My legs give out.

I fall forward, vision tunneling, light flickering dangerously.

And then—

Arms catch me.

Real arms.

Warm. Solid.

“Silas!” she bellows, voice cracking as she goes down with me, holding my weight like she’s done a hundred times before. “Hey—hey, look at me. It’s me. I’m here.”

I barely register the impact. Everything hurts. Everything’s dimming.

I lift my head weakly.

She’s real.

No blood. No fire. Just her — terrified, furious, alive.

My power sputters out in broken pulses, light dying around my hands like a failing star.

“Oh,” I breathe, half-laughing, half-sobbing. “Shit… you’re… you’re okay.”

Tears blur my vision. My voice comes out wrecked.

“I tried,” I whisper. “They kept hurting you. I couldn’t— I couldn’t stop it.”

Her hands are on my face immediately, grounding, steady.

“Hey,” she says fiercely. “You didn’t hurt me. You hear me? I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

I sag into her, strength finally gone.

“So tired,” I murmur, words slurring. “I just wanted to keep you safe.”

“I know,” she whispers, pressing her forehead to mine. “You did. You always do.”

My eyelids flutter.

The last thing I feel before everything fades is her arms tightening around me — unafraid, unburned, refusing to let go.

And the last thing I think, hazy and grateful and wrecked, is—

She’s safe. That’s enough.