The stadium was a ghost of itself, draining out in a slow, jagged rhythm. It wasn't the usual post-game surge; it was the heavy, shuffling sound of people who had just seen the sky break and forgotten how to walk. Some were sobbing into their phones, while others just stared at their hands like they were looking at foreign objects.
Above them, the silver scar stayed open. It didn't pulse or flicker anymore. It just sat there—a permanent rip in the world.
Lucien didn't move for a long time. The gold aura that had erupted from him had died down, but it hadn't gone away. It sat on his shoulders like a faint, shimmering weight.
Nox noticed. "You're still glowing," Nox said. His voice was low, cutting through the distant drone of the crowd.
Lucien looked down at his palms. "...Am I?"
"A little."
Lucien flexed his fingers. A ripple of warmth moved under his skin before settling back down. He let out a breath that sounded more like a sigh. "That felt... weird."
Nox didn't say anything.
Lucien turned his head, his eyes catching the light from the scar. "That thing said my name, it called me Michael."
"It did."
Lucien looked at him then, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're taking this way too well, Nox."
Nox didn't look away from the sky. "I'm taking it seriously."
"Not the same thing." Lucien stepped closer, his voice dropping so the passing students wouldn't hear. "You already knew this was going to happen. Don't lie."
Nox finally looked at him. "I knew something would."
"Something." Lucien's brow furrowed. "That's vague."
"It's the truth."
Lucien studied him for a long beat. It was that same expression Nox had been wearing for weeks—the look of a man who had already braced himself for a hit that hadn't landed yet. "You act like you've been waiting for this longer than the rest of us."
Nox looked away first. "Someone had to."
"That's a non-answer."
"I know."
They stood there in the silence of the wreckage. The wind shifted, and the scar in the sky gave a slow, rhythmic throb.
"When it called me," Lucien said, his voice barely a whisper, "it didn't feel like power. It felt like... a debt. Like a responsibility I didn't ask for."
Nox's chest tightened. "It suits you."
"That doesn't make me feel better," Lucien countered.
"You're steady, Lucien. You always have been."
"That sounds like you're giving me a job."
"I am."
Lucien let out a short, tired laugh. It was the first real sound Nox had heard from him since the world ended. "There you are."
"What?"
"You actually sounded normal for a second."
Nox didn't reply. Lucien's face softened, his gaze shifting to the spot where the white sphere had glitched earlier. "Unregistered," he said quietly. "What does that actually mean for you?"
"I don't know yet."
Lucien's eyebrows shot up. It was the first time Nox had sounded genuinely uncertain all day. "You really don't?"
"No."
Lucien moved in, his shoulder nearly brushing Nox's. "That's good, if you said you had that figured out too, I'd be even more worried." He paused, looking at Nox's profile. "You looked different when it called your name. You didn't look scared."
"I wasn't."
"Then what?"
Nox exhaled slowly. "Annoyed."
Lucien stared at him for a second, then actually laughed. "Of course you were. Only you."
The tension broke, just enough to let them breathe. Lucien looked out at the stadium one last time. "Fifteen days."
"Fifteen days."
"It doesn't feel real."
"It is."
Lucien glanced at him. "You say that like you've already made peace with it."
"No," Nox said, his jaw tightening. "I just don't plan on losing."
It was a simple answer, but it was enough. Lucien studied him for a second longer, then nodded once. "Good." The gold at his shoulders flickered, then went quiet. Lucien looked down at it. "I guess I better get used to this."
He turned toward the exit, then stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Nox."
"Yeah?"
"Don't run ahead by yourself just because you're thinking faster than the rest of us. It's annoying."
Nox almost smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Do."
They walked out together, side by side. The world was over, the sky was open, and for the first time in two lives, Nox wasn't walking into the dark alone.