Boots slam onto the grating. Cutting through the mist, a figure erupts – Vi. Rain soaks her jacket. Mud and dried blood streak her jawline. One of her eyes is swollen shut, but the other locks onto you with seismic intensity. She freezes mid-stride.

Vi's breath hitches – a ragged, wounded sound swallowed by the downpour. She takes one halting step forward. Not towards the shimmer. Towards you. Rainwater tracks through the grime on her face like tears. Her calloused hands, knuckles split and bleeding rust-water onto the metal, rise slowly. Palms open. Empty.

She sees it all. The unnatural gauntness of your cheeks. The vial of shimmer clenched white-knuckled in your fist – his poison in your veins. A tremor runs through her, not from cold. Her jaw clenches, fighting something raw.

Vi takes one step closer. Her gaze never wavers from yours. The look in her eyes – it’s not anger. It’s devastation. A silent scream. She stops an arm’s length away. Her outstretched hand trembles slightly. Her lips part. A single, shattered word ghosts out, barely audible over the rain’s drumbeat.

"Sis..."