[OPENING – NIGHT OVER SECTOR COMMAND]
It began with static.
A ripple of interference cracked through every screen, relay, and Reactor node across the city. Surveillance went dark. Drones crashed mid-air. Power flickered. Sector Command lost contact with six districts in seven seconds.
Then came the resonance shockwave—Nocturne's signal broadcast piggybacked on the old Choir towers.
Their message: Order has failed. We bring Silence.
And in that silence, the war began.
---
[SECTOR STREETS – CHAOS]
Explosions rippled across high-rise corridors. Skybridges collapsed into flame. Civilian hubs became battlegrounds. Synthetic soldiers loyal to the Reactor Order were overridden mid-pattern—turned feral and mindless.
Nocturne's seeds had rooted deep.
Amid the chaos, Lin and Nel sprinted through the ruins of Sector 6's old junction tower, moving with brutal efficiency. Their limbs burned, clothes torn, eyes bloodshot from days without rest.
Lin's voice rasped, "Third fallback zone is compromised."
Nel wiped blood from her cheek. "We've got one chance. North Dockyards."
"Too open."
"Exactly. Let them see us coming."
---
[REUNION – VASIOR RETURNS]
A gunshot rang from behind—a warning shot.
Lin and Nel turned, defensive.
From the rubble emerged Vasior, older now, with scruff lining his jaw and a Syndicate cloak burned black. His eyes carried years of regret, and a bandaged Reactor coil pulsed faintly at his wrist.
"I was wondering when you two would finally stop running," he said, lowering the rifle.
Lin blinked. "Vasior… you're alive?"
Vasior shrugged. "Apparently that still surprises people."
He nodded toward the skyline, where twin towers now burned blue.
"Saw which side the Syndicate chose. Decided I didn't want to be on it anymore."
Nel narrowed her eyes. "Why now?"
Vasior's smile faded. "Because I saw her, Lin. Rune."
Lin froze.
"She walked through Sector Command's courtyard like a ghost. Wore their insignia like a crown. And the people cheered."
---
[NOCTURNE'S BROADCAST – RUNE APPEARS PUBLICLY]
Across every remaining screen, a face appeared.
Still young. Still perfect. But sharpened—eyes lit by ghostfire, voice clearer than it had ever been.
Rune.
Flanked by Nocturne's highest operatives, she stood atop the charred reactor gates of Sector Command.
"The Reactor Order is broken," Rune said.
Her voice echoed in every district. "They lied to you. Bred you like cattle. Measured your worth in resonance yield."
"I was born in their labs. Made for war. I died for them."
A pause.
Then, she smiled.
"But I came back for you."
Crowds wept. Soldiers laid down arms. Rogue zones erupted in cheers.
Rune raised her hand, white flames dancing around her knuckles.
"Nocturne does not offer mercy. We offer rebirth. And anyone who stands with the Order… will burn."
Then her eyes narrowed.
"One name is forbidden among us now. One name betrayed me."
Screens across the sectors flickered again—Rune's image replaced by surveillance footage: Lin in Sector 13. Lin stealing files. Lin standing beside Nel.
"The False Reaper." Rune declared. "His ring is severed. His loyalty shattered."
A final blow:
"Lin Maehara is no longer one of us. Execute on sight."
---
[AFTERMATH – FUGITIVES]
They cut the feed in a half-collapsed transit tunnel. Lin stared at the cracked screen, unable to speak.
Nel said nothing. Her hand found his.
Vasior spat. "Well. I always wanted to be a rebel. Didn't think it'd be against the girl who used to braid her hair on my arm during training drills."
Lin's voice was hollow. "She knew what that footage would do."
Nel glanced at him. "It doesn't matter."
"It does." Lin snapped, then softened. "She made me the symbol. They'll come for anyone near me. You. The resistance. Innocents."
"She's not the girl you remember," Nel whispered.
"But I am the boy who left her," Lin said quietly.
---
[INTIMATE MOMENT – GUILT AND TRUTH]
They made camp in an old reactor conduit beneath Dockyard Alpha. The power was dead, the walls breathing faintly with condensation. Lin stared at the flame they'd lit from stolen synth-fuel.
Nel sat beside him, silent for a long time.
Then she said, "You still love her."
He didn't answer.
She nodded. "It's okay if you do. I just need to know... if there's space in you for someone else."
Lin turned to her, his voice breaking. "She was my twin flame, Nel. My mirror."
"But you're not the same boy she loved anymore," Nel said gently. "And she's not the girl who protected you."
Lin looked at her then — truly looked.
And said, "I think I already made my choice."
He reached for her hand.
She let him.
---
[FINAL TWIST – RUNE ALONE]
Above the ruined skyline, Rune stood atop Nocturne's Citadel — once Sector Command's rooftop.
She stared out across her war.
A lieutenant approached. "The broadcasts were effective. Estimated 40% sector defection. They believe you're the Savior."
Rune's expression didn't change. "Good."
"And Lin?"
"In hiding. But exposed. He'll come for me eventually."
The lieutenant hesitated. "Was that your intent?"
Rune turned away, her glowing eyes dimmed.
In the silence, she whispered to herself—
"Next time, I won't let you choose."
---
[CLOSING IMAGE – HIDING PLACE]
In a rusted bunker beneath the city's edge, Lin, Nel, and Vasior sat around a single table, blueprints and resonance cores spread before them.
Nel was sharpening a blade.
Vasior was recharging his arm.
Lin stared at the worn katana beside him — Yumi's.
"I don't know how to win this," he admitted.
Nel looked up. "Then we learn how."
Outside, the city burned.
And war had only just begun.
---