Hana held Yuki tightly in her arms, gently rocking the child as the walls around them trembled with each distant explosion. The floor beneath them vibrated in uneven pulses, and the acrid scent of burning metal and scorched flesh leaked in faintly through the cracks in the boarded windows.
Yuki clung to the small, worn monkey doll with white-knuckled fingers, her cheek pressed hard against Hana's chest. Her expression was unreadable, unnervingly calm as her sharp eyes stared straight out toward the smoke-hazed skyline.
"Is it… brother Yunfeng?" Yuki's voice was barely above a whisper, her breath warm and steady.
Hana looked down at her and nodded, stroking the child's soft black hair gently, soothingly. "Yes. Yunfeng got his powers back," she said, her voice soft but firm, as though saying it with enough certainty would make the chaos outside bend to her will. "He's very strong. He'll protect us."
