They made it about half a block before Mira just stopped.
She turned around, shielding her eyes to look back up at the building. "...We're not going back to campus, are we?"
Garrick didn't even look back. "We are."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Lucien stopped walking. The whole group came to a halt like a chain reaction. He looked at the building, then at Orion. "You have utilities?"
"Yes."
"Security?"
"Yes."
"Access?"
"Yes."
Lucien looked at the others, his decision already made. "...We're not going back."
Garrick stared at him. "You decided that fast."
"I did."
Kaida smirked. "I'm fully in favor of this terrible idea."
Seris let out a long, weary sigh. "...We at least need bedding. And clothes."
Mira already had her phone out, her thumb flying across the screen. "I'm ordering delivery. Everything. Blankets, towels, lo mein."
Orion didn't say another word; he just turned on his heel and headed back toward the lobby. "The elevator code is the same."
That was it. Move-in day.
__
An hour later, the second floor was a disaster zone. Boxes, overstuffed backpacks, takeout bags, and two mismatched lamps were scattered everywhere. Someone had even managed to haul a heavy plastic chair all the way from the campus courtyard.
"I did not steal it," Mira said, sounding remarkably defensive.
"You absolutely stole it," Seris replied.
"It was communal!"
"It had a property tag on the bottom, Mira."
"It said 'Property.' That's vague. Whose property? The people's property."
Garrick walked in carrying two massive duffel bags and dropped them with a thud that shook the floor. "We need structure."
"We need vibes," Mira countered.
Lucien leaned against a concrete pillar, watching the chaos with a faint, genuine smile. Nox was already at work, dragging a heavy industrial table across the room. "Couch goes against that wall."
"Why?" Mira demanded.
"Clear sightline to the entrance," Nox said without looking up.
Mira stared at him for a second. "...You're actually serious."
"Yes."
Kaida walked past with a box of gear. "He's always serious, Mira. Get used to it."
__
Up on the 8th floor, the atmosphere was different. Garrick was already tinkering with the reinforcement plates Orion had installed.
"You're reinforcing the reinforcement?" Lucien asked, walking over.
"Yes."
"It was already rated for high-impact Authority."
"Yes."
"And you're adding more."
"Yes."
Lucien shook his head, though he didn't look annoyed. "Overkill."
"Prepared," Garrick corrected.
Lucien stepped into the center of the training floor. Gold light shimmered briefly around his hand before he released a narrow, concentrated beam. This time, the floor didn't crack. It didn't flare or splinter. The energy hit the surface, compressed, and dissolved into the dampeners.
He exhaled slowly. "...Good."
Nox was leaning against the doorway, watching. "You're regulating your output faster than before."
Lucien glanced at him. "You expected that, didn't you?"
"I did."
Lucien stepped closer. "You've been correcting everyone's form all day. Giving tips you shouldn't know yet."
"I've been paying attention," Nox said calmly.
"Why?"
Nox looked around the vast, empty training space. "Because we're not small anymore, Lucien. We can't afford to be sloppy."
Lucien studied him, the weight of the answer hanging in the air. "...Okay."
__
Down on the 6th floor, the housing war had begun. Mira was already standing in a doorway like she was guarding a treasure. "This one. I'm taking this one."
"You haven't even looked at the others," Seris said, walking past with her own bag.
"I don't need to. This one has the best view of the bridge."
Kaida opened the door directly across the hall. "Better lighting over here."
"That's mine!" Mira snapped.
"You already chose, Mira."
"I can re-choose! It's a free country."
"It's an eight-floor building. Pick a room."
Garrick opened a door near the stairwell. "I'm taking this one."
Lucien looked in. "Least window exposure?"
"Yes."
Seris chose the room nearest the elevator. "In case of an emergency exit."
Orion took the corner room without saying a word to anyone. Lucien stood in the hallway, looking at Nox. "And you?"
Nox pointed quietly to the room directly across from his own. "That one."
Lucien blinked. "You planned that."
"Yes."
Lucien smirked. "...Of course you did."
__
Back downstairs, Mira tried to assemble a flat-pack shelf she'd ordered. It collapsed into a pile of wood and screws within three minutes. "I followed the instructions! I swear!"
"You definitely didn't," Kaida said, not looking up from her book.
"Don't gaslight me, Kaida."
"That word doesn't mean what you think it means."
Garrick walked over and picked up the entire shelf frame in one hand. "Move."
Lucien leaned back against his pillar, just taking it all in. The noise of a living building. Footsteps, the smell of oily takeout, the stupid arguments. He laughed softly when Mira nearly tripped over a stray power cable.
Nox heard it from across the room. For a moment, it felt like the world had finally snapped into alignment.
__
Around midnight, they all drifted up to the 8th floor. No furniture was up there yet, just the open floor and the city lights bleeding through the glass. Mira was lying flat on her back in the middle of the room. "This is so much better than that freezing rooftop."
"The roof was fine," Garrick said, sitting nearby.
"It had pigeons, Garrick."
"It built character."
"It built respiratory diseases."
Kaida sat cross-legged near the center, her veil flickering in a controlled, rhythmic pulse. Seris leaned against the glass, watching the river, while Orion stood by a structural beam with his arms crossed.
Lucien stood next to Nox. "...We did this fast."
"We did."
"Too fast?"
"No."
Lucien looked around at his friends. Their voices were echoing off the high ceilings, and faint traces of their power shimmered in the air. "...We're ready."
Nox didn't answer right away. He looked at them—really looked at them. They were alive. They were laughing. They were arguing about who stole whose phone charger. In his other life, this didn't exist. This building, this peace, this early stability—it was all new.
He closed his eyes for a second, just to anchor the feeling. When he opened them, Lucien was watching him.
"You're overthinking again."
"A little."
"Stop."
"...What?"
"Just stay here," Lucien said, gesturing to the room around them. "This is ours."
Nox looked at the skyline reflected in the glass, then back at the team. "...Yes. It is."
For tonight, there were no gates. No government hearings. No rival guilds. They were just... there.