Chapter 108: A Day Outside

Chapter 108: Chapter 108: A Day Outside

*Acheron Deep*

Liora sat on the edge of her bed with the game console in her hands and the screen paused. She hadn’t touched it in nearly ten minutes, which was proof enough that something was wrong.

Normally she could vanish into a game for hours. Today the characters on the screen might as well have been wallpaper.

She sighed and dropped the console onto the blanket. "Boring."

The word drifted around the little room and died there. Her assigned training was done and her last raid had ended days ago.

So she was stuck, waiting, because the world outside was still picking up the pieces of the catastrophe. The rifts had behaved wrongly.

Thousands of heroes were dead across the globe. The Association had clamped down on everything, and even heroes who usually came and went as they pleased were being reassigned, watched, or grounded.

Liora understood why. She really did. It just didn’t make the walls any easier to look at.

She stared at the door. "I want to go outside," she muttered.

Then, quieter, like a wish: "I really want to go outside."

A few minutes later the door slid open, and Felix strolled in wearing his usual lazy smirk.

"Someone sounds miserable."

Liora’s face lit up. "Felix!"

She was off the bed and across the room before he could brace himself. Both arms went around him, and her face landed somewhere near his chest.

"Whoa. Hello to you too."

"I knew you’d understand."

"Understand what?"

"I want to go outside."

"That was fast." He glanced down at the pink head pressed against him. "You’ve only been cooped up for a few days."

"Forever." She tightened her hold. "Please?"

Felix looked up at the ceiling as if it might help him. "Liora. You know there are still restrictions because of the rift incidents."

"I know."

"So you know why you’re staying here."

"I know." She pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. "But I’m not scared anymore."

Something in her voice made him stop. The whine was gone.

"I used to be afraid of my own darkness." She held up her hand, and black mana flickered faintly around her fingers before she let it fade out. "Not now. I can control it. And I don’t want to spend the rest of my life locked away because people are afraid of what I might turn into."

"That’s not why you’re here," Felix said gently.

"I know." She looked down, then back up. "It’s just... I want to live a little."

He studied her properly this time. Her mana was steady. There was no bloodlust in it, no trace of the old slipping and tearing.

She had really changed. More than that, she had started wanting things that had nothing to do with survival: games, good food, fresh air, an afternoon with someone she trusted.

Felix smiled. "Fine."

Liora froze.

"I’ll take you outside."

"Really?!"

"Yes, really—" She had already thrown her arms around him again. "Okay, okay. But we’re doing this properly."

"I don’t care."

"You will when I start listing the rules."

She groaned. "You’re horrible."

"I’m your therapist."

"My mean therapist."

Liora let go of him, and instead of catching his sleeve the way she usually did, she slid her hand around his arm and held on.

Felix noticed. She looked completely at ease, as though it were nothing.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes!" She practically bounced.

He shook his head, smiling. "Come on, then."

Her excitement lasted about five seconds into the corridor, until she realized which way he was walking.

"Wait. Not that way." She pointed down the opposite hall.

His plan had been to take Liora out and nobody else, but after everything that had happened, leaving Seraphina behind didn’t sit right.

She’d been shut in here just as long, under the same restrictions. "Let’s invite her."

Liora’s smile twitched. "Of course."

There was something odd in the way she said it, but Felix didn’t catch it. He turned toward Seraphina’s cell, and Liora followed, still clinging to his arm.

He swiped his keycard. The lock released, and the door opened.

"Seraphina?"

The silver-haired woman looked up, and her whole posture changed. She was on her feet almost before he’d finished saying her name.

"Felix." A real smile crossed her face. She crossed the room and took both of his hands in hers. "Come in. Sit."

She steered him to the edge of her bed.

"You’re ordering me around now?" he laughed.

"Yes."

He sat. Seraphina stayed standing in front of him, and her azure eyes moved over him slowly: his face, his hair, his shoulders, his arms.

"You look well."

"I’m fine."

"Are you sleeping properly?"

"Mostly."

Her eyes narrowed.

Felix gave her a sheepish smile. "Don’t interrogate me."

"I have to. You disappeared."

"I was working."

"You were gone." Her fingers tightened around his.

The truth was simpler than she would ever say aloud. She had missed him. The disaster had pulled him away, then the emergency meetings, then the investigation, and the days without him had stretched far longer.

Now he was finally here in front of her, and she didn’t want to let go.

*I want to kiss him.*

The thought came so naturally that it startled her. Her heart picked up speed, and she made herself breathe slowly.

*Not yet.*

She had learned patience. Felix had taught her that much. She could wait.

*For now.*

"I actually came to ask you something," Felix said.

Seraphina straightened at once. "What is it?"

"I’m taking Liora outside. You’ve been stuck here too, so I thought you might want to come along."

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Outside. With him. Not a session, not therapy, not another gate. Just time with Felix.

"I would be delighted to go anywhere with you, Fel—"

"Felix, what are you doing?"

The voice came from the doorway. Felix turned. A pink head was peeking around the frame, and then the rest of Liora stepped inside.

Seraphina’s face went perfectly blank. Her eyes turned hollow as she slowly looked over.

That little punk. She dared to interrupt my time with Felix.

Liora saw it immediately. A week ago she would have shrunk back. Now she only smirked, because she understood. Seraphina’s hostility wasn’t subtle anymore, and Liora had no intention of giving up even an inch.

?So that’s how it is.

?Liora’s fingers curled into tight fists as her smile sharpened into something feral. Looking right into the Seraphina’s eyes, she silently mouthed three words:

?*He is mine.*

?Across from her, Seraphina’s expression fractured. A tiny, dangerous twitch ticked at her temple before her own lips pulled back into an icy, venomous smile.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Felix looked from one to the other. "Why does it suddenly feel cold in here?"

Neither of them answered. They just stared at each other.

He stood up. "Okay. Let’s go."

Liora slid to his right. Seraphina took his left.

Felix opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. "Uh..."

Liora looked past him at Seraphina and stuck out her tongue. "Bleh."

A vein pulsed in Seraphina’s forehead. Little gremlin. She stepped in close and linked her arm through his. "Let’s go, Felix."

"Yeah," Liora said, and squeezed his other arm harder.

Felix glanced left, then right. Two stunning women were hanging off him like he was a lamppost, and he burst out laughing. "You two are ridiculous."

Neither answered. Both of them were smiling, for entirely different reasons.

Felix didn’t notice. He just started walking.

Before they left the facility he made a string of calls.

The first was to Elena, the second to security, and the third went through the external authorization system.

Liora watched him with growing suspicion.

"Are we getting arrested?"

"No."

"Then why all the calls?"

"Because walking two Tier 1 prisoners out of a maximum-security facility without permission would be a terrible career move."

"Wise," Seraphina said.

He ended the last call. "Done. We’re cleared."

"So we’re really going?" Liora squeezed his arm.

"It’s not exactly a vacation. Officially, it’s therapeutic outdoor exposure."

Liora stared at him. "That sounds so boring."

"It’s in the Association’s rehabilitation guidelines."

"I like the sound of it," Seraphina said.

"You like anything he says," Liora muttered.

Seraphina smiled sweetly. "Is that a problem?"

"Please don’t start," Felix said.

Both of them instantly looked innocent. "We weren’t starting anything."

He sighed.

---

The Association’s underground garage was enormous, rows of vehicles gleaming on the polished floor. Some were ordinary transport units. Others were armored hero-deployment rigs.

Felix headed for one corner in particular, where a sleek, dark supercar sat under the lights, faint mana conduits running along its frame like veins.

Liora stopped dead. "Whoa."

He pressed his key. The headlights flashed.

"Is this yours?" Seraphina asked.

"Yeah."

"You own this?"

"I have a few." He shrugged. "I keep a car wherever I spend a lot of time. One here, one at my apartment, a couple in other cities."

Liora walked a slow circle around it. "Felix."

"Yeah."

"...Can I drive it?"

"Do you have a license?"

"No. But I’ve driven loads of cars."

"Where?"

"In games."

He covered his face with one hand. "That’s not how the real world works."

"The controls are probably similar. The steering wheel—"

"Absolutely not."

Liora pouted. "Fine." She yanked open the passenger door, and stopped.

Seraphina was already sitting inside, hands folded neatly in her lap.

"You cheater!"

"I was faster."

"You teleported."

"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Liora glared at her. Felix pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just get in the back."

She climbed into the rear seat with an exaggerated huff. "This is so unfair."

Felix slid behind the wheel, and the car woke up around him. The dashboard glowed, mana surged through the conduits, and the engine settled into a low hum. He adjusted his seat.

"So. Where to?"

"Amusement park!" Liora said, instantly.

Seraphina turned in her seat. "Are you a child?"

Liora leaned between the front seats. "I bet you’ve never even been."

"That’s irrelevant."

"So, never."

Liora grinned in triumph, then her expression softened as she looked out the window. "I went once with my old party. The rides were insane. They were all mana-powered, and that was years ago." She turned back to Felix. "They must be even crazier now."

"She’s not wrong," Felix said.

Seraphina glanced at him. "You’ve been?"

"Several times."

"And they’re truly that intense?"

"Some of them."

Seraphina thought about it, then smiled. "If you suggest it, Felix, I’m willing to try."

Liora rolled her eyes. "Heh."

"What?"

"Who’s the kid now?"

Seraphina’s smile vanished. The two of them glared at each other again, and Felix chuckled.

"Here we go."

He pressed the accelerator, and the supercar leapt forward.

"Whoa!"

"Felix!" Seraphina caught the edge of her seat.

"Relax," he laughed.

The car shot up the ramp and out into the daylight, and the city of Valemont opened up in front of them. They were outside, free to move, free to see the world.

Liora pressed close to the glass, watching the streets blur past, her eyes bright. In the passenger seat, Seraphina quietly watched Felix instead, the corners of her lips lifting.

Felix kept his eyes on the road, completely unaware of the two different hearts beating beside him.

---

Author’s Note:

?A new month is here, which means November Privilege is officially unlocked!

?For those who want to binge ahead without waiting, Tier 3: The Yandere Inner Circle(20 Chapters ahead) is now live alongside our 2-Chapter and 10-Chapter tiers.

?

?Thank you guys for reading and supporting.

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