The dungeon ruins did not greet them so much as accept them. The stones were damp and old. The smell was sour and metallic, the kind of smell that makes the tongue go numb. Moss clung to the walls like bruises that refused to heal. Wind moved through broken arches and carried the echo of a drip that did not care about time.
Kuina landed on the shattered flagstones and folded her wings of air back into nothing. Green hair framed her face like wet leaves. Her red mouth was a line. Her eyes searched every shadow as if they might bite.
"Kylie, what is this filthy place?" she asked. "Why here?"
Kylie stepped ahead of her and turned, pale in the low light. Her wings folded tight. Her hands could not decide if they wanted to clench or open. "This is the place where I will show you everything," she said. "Everything you want to know, and everything you have to know, my love."
Kuina's brows drew together. She took a slow breath and let the cold air cut her lungs. "Kylie, why now? Where did this come from all of a sudden?"
Kylie swallowed. A small tremor ran through her voice before she forced it into words. "I had to. After Ortus exposed what I was for her. After Mira slapped me. I understood that it was not right to hide something like this. So I decided it is time you know everything. All of it. You will understand. But I need you to promise that you will not lose yourself. Do not burn me. Do not rage. Let me explain everything. Okay?"
She said the last word on a breath that was almost a prayer. Tears found the edges of her lashes and clung there. She sniffed once and hated the sound of it.
Kuina reached out and touched Kylie's shoulder. Her palm was warm. She let her thumb rub a small circle there that said more than her face would let through. "It is okay, Kylie," she said softly. "Do not worry. I will listen to you and I will try to understand everything. But you must explain everything without lies."
Kylie blinked hard. A weak smile cut through the fear. She nodded. She pulled the old tape from her coat, the plastic dull and heavy. She set a small player on a fallen pillar, slid the cassette in, and pressed play.
A rectangle of light climbed the wet wall and shuddered into clarity. The dungeon changed into a room made of memory. Both of them sat on a dead tree trunk that had broken through the floor long ago. They leaned forward as if warmth was hiding inside the light.
Kuina's breath went sharp. "That is my old house," she whispered. "In Washington."
Kylie kept her gaze down. Shame moved across her face like a shadow. She said nothing.
The tape kept going. A young girl burst out of the blue door and ran barefoot into the night. Her hair was fire on some days and embers on others. A fresh bruise lived on her cheek and had not chosen a color yet. She did not see the camera. She did not see the girl with black lipstick rise into the air to let her pass. She just ran, and the night took her.
Kuina's hands went to her mouth. Her eyes shone. "You filmed this," she said. "You were really there."
Kylie's head dipped lower. She could not meet Kuina's eyes.
A man stepped into the porch light with a bottle that looked like permission. His voice crawled into the night and made it dirtier. He called his daughter names that should never exist. He laughed at his own cruelty. When the laugh broke, it sounded like a chair leg snapping.
Kuina trembled. "Son of a bitch," she hissed, and then again. "Son of a bitch." The words were knives she had carried for years.
The camera fell to a skylight. Below, a body lay on tile, hair like sunset spread across the floor. A hand with a ring did not move. The kitchen smelled like copper that had learned to breathe.
Kuina stopped breathing for a long few seconds. "Mother," she said. The word cracked. "Mother, I ran. I did not bury you."
Kylie turned toward her and could not help it. Tears slid down. She wanted to reach across and hold Kuina. She did not touch her. She held the want like a hot coin inside her fist.
On the wall, the scene changed. Kylie broke the glass and dropped like a quiet blade into the room. She spoke to the man in a voice that made steel sound kind. He laughed at her and tried to pretend fear was a joke.
What followed was not a fight. It was a sentence being carried out. The bottle became rain and glittering knives. The cuffs of light arrived to keep him from lying with his feet. The first scream was long. The second had history in it. The third believed in nothing. Kuina watched with a face that tried to be stone and could not. Sweat pricked her upper lip. She wanted to look away. She did not.
Then she heard Kylie on the tape say it, cold and clear, a promise that carried fire.
"It does not work on me when you beg. I want you to understand something before you stop existing. I will find Kuina. I will help her. I will give her what you never gave her. Warmth. Love. A real home. Peace. A real hug. I will not abandon her. Ever. I will make sure she is happy and that she forgets all of this. As for Tipa, I will see to it that she is laid to rest the way she deserves. You will not leave pieces big enough for the crows."
Kuina turned to Kylie as if the wall had spoken from inside her own chest. For a heartbeat she could not see the dungeon. There was only the girl beside her and the voice that had crossed ten years to land in this place.
Kylie raised her eyes and held Kuina's gaze. There was no defense in it. There was no armor. There was only love that looked like exhaustion.
The tape did not ask for permission. It moved to the end. The man smiled a broken red smile and spat. He said words that did not deserve to become air. Kylie lifted two fingers.
"Two fingers of torture," she said on the screen.
Light came like thread made of lightning. It stitched pain through bone and nerve until he stopped being a shape and became a lesson. When it was finished, there was nothing left that could call itself a man.
Kuina stood so fast the log rocked. She stared at Kylie with rage that had honey in it because it was for her. "How did you do this to me," she said. "You took my revenge. You ruined everything I was reaching for."
Kylie stood too. Her tears came fast now. "Wait," she said. "Kuina, please. I understand. But I did it for you. You heard everything."
Kuina's eyes flooded. "Listen to me, just once and for all," she said. "Look into my eyes and tell me. All those things you said on that tape. Fate. That you would take care of me. That you would be my wife. Why did you say it? Why did you not come to me right then? Why did you wait ten years? Why?"
Kylie opened her mouth. The tape answered first. The girl on the wall looked into the camera and let her heart be simple.
"Kuina. You will see this someday. I meant every word. I am yours. I will take care of you. I will be your woman forever. Your mother is buried with honor. Do not worry. Your father is not anywhere you need to fear. When you feel the fire of revenge, remember there is nothing left to burn. I hope you understand me. I did all of this for you. For love. I love you, baby. I believe in fate. Fate says that in ten years we will be married and together. I will reach you. I will wait with the bottle. I do not know how long. You need time. I will watch over you. And Ortus, you will not see Kuina or this tape for a while. I am sorry."
Silence landed like snow. Kuina stared at the light. Then memories came like waves, not in order but all at once. Kisses. Blood. Laughter. The quiet way Kylie said good night when she thought Kuina was asleep. The ridiculous arguments about lipstick. The first time Kylie called her baby and did not blush after. The night they laughed so hard the neighbors banged the wall. The times they reached for each other at the same second and pretended it was an accident. The fights they did not finish because the bed was there. The way Kylie kept looking at her like prayer was a physical thing.
Her hands were shaking. She could not tell if she was cold or burning.
"Kylie," she said. "Come closer."
Kylie took two steps and stopped as if a cliff edge had appeared. "Kuina," she said. "Please. Forgive me. Do not hurt me. Do not leave me. I will explain everything. I swear. Just do not walk away. Please. I will die."
Kuina lifted her hand. It rose as if to strike. Kylie flinched and closed her eyes. For a breath the world did not move. Kuina's fingers curled. Her palm turned. She pulled Kylie into her chest and closed her arms around her like a door shutting against a storm.
"Oh, Kylie," she whispered into black lipstick and wet cheeks. "What you do to me. I cannot do this with you anymore."
Kylie sobbed into her shoulder. "I am begging you, Kuina. Do not leave me. Not now. Not ever."
Kuina took Kylie's chin between two fingers and lifted it. She erased a tear with her thumb. "Shh," she said. "Enough. I am angry. Do not mistake me. I waited years for this moment and you took it before it began. Your explanations are moving and I do not know how to digest any of what you said. Do you even understand how insane you are?"
Kylie gave a small, ugly laugh. "I know. I am insane. I am obsessive. I am sick with love. I cannot stop loving you. I cannot stop thinking of you. Everything I said on the tape, I meant it. I killed him and I hurt him for you. I did not want you to carry the stain of it."
"No one asked you," Kuina said, and some steel came back into her voice. "Ten years. I trained. I ate garbage in that small apartment you arranged for me. Yes, I thank you for it. But do you understand that now I have nothing to show my strength to?"
Kylie's face sharpened. She stepped closer and held Kuina's arms. "Nothing," she said. "You say that the revenge was everything to you. Then you are wrong. You are wrong a thousand times. You have me. You have all the girls who love you and respect you for who you are. Do you think anyone loves you for nothing. No. You saved them from their own hells. We are together in this now. Understand that and step out of that old grave in your head."
Kuina let the words settle. Her expression went neutral, almost calm. "Kylie," she said. "Listen carefully. We are not moving from here. Not one meter. Not until you answer everything. The system. Ortus. The powers. This world. All the questions. You will answer me now. Do you understand me? It is time I know everything. I flowed with you. I kept quiet. I fought. I protected. I did everything because I love you, and I love the girls. But you, Kylie, you are my weakness. You weaken me because of how much I love you. You affect me. And I…"
Kylie set a hand against her cheek and cut the sentence with a touch. "Listen," she said. "I will tell you everything. Okay. It is time you know it all. But before everything, I will not say a word until you tell me that you forgive me and that you love me."
Kuina did not look away. "I love you," she said. "I love you so much, Kylie. You are my whole world. You are my life. You are my weakness. I cannot believe I am saying this out loud, but it is the truth. You changed me completely. You brought me here. I appreciate that. But now all the powers I gain and all the growing strong feels empty because I have no one to show it to."
Kylie's mouth trembled. "My Kuina, my love," she said. "I may have spared you revenge on Tobi, but there is still James. The bully who made your school years hell. He is here. Ortus turned him into the god of rage. He drank a special serum that made him that. Ortus will present him soon. Then you can take your revenge yourself."
Kuina blinked. She straightened. The words fit a place inside her that had been hungry for years. "Yes," she said, and her voice cooled until it cut. "Yes. Exactly. That is what will happen. I will take my revenge on him. I will kill him."
Kylie searched her eyes. "So you forgive me, my love?"
Kuina looked at her a long moment. "Yes," she said at last. "I cannot not forgive you. After every word. After you gave my mother a burial when I ran from home and left her body. After you settled the account with my pathetic father. I forgive you. And I will think carefully about the wife part you said."
Kylie froze. Then a breath left her like she had been underwater and found the surface. "My love," she said. "Marriage. You will consider marrying me."
"Yes," Kuina said. "With you. With all the girls I love. Because I love them too much. But you, Kylie, you will be the first. I promise I will tell her that later." She smiled at her own slip and did not correct it, as if she had spoken to a future that already knew.
Kylie laughed through new tears and jumped forward. She kissed Kuina full on the mouth. It was not a polite kiss. It was hungry and grateful and shaking. Kuina did not return it at first. She trembled, still angry, still cracked open. Then she let herself move. Her lips answered. Heat met heat. They breathed into each other until air had to remember its job.
"I love you, Kuina," Kylie said when she pulled back a little. "I love you so much. I am yours. I will marry you whenever you want. Remember, I am yours, like I said on the tape. With your temporary green hair and always. I am ready for an open wedding with the girls. I love them too."
Kuina's smile was small and real. "Good," she said. "Sit. Tell me everything. It is time for the real question. Is Ortus connected to the system."
Kylie's eyes flickered. She nodded once, slow. "Yes, my love," she said. "Ortus is its sole creator. She made it for you. And you are not ready to hear why."
Kuina's head tilted. Shock widened her eyes. Her lips parted and no sound came for a heartbeat.
"Tell me everything," she said. "Now."
The tape's light thinned. The player clicked. The dungeon took its shape back, and the drip in the dark found its rhythm again. The wind outside moved through the red weeds and sent their shadows across the floor like long fingers reaching. Somewhere far away a cheer rose and fell, the echo of a world that had not paused with them.
Kylie drew closer and took Kuina's hands. She looked at her as if she had to memorize her face again before she broke it with truths.
"Listen," she said. "If I begin, we cannot go back."
Kuina did not blink. "Begin."
The screen went black. The ruins breathed. The stones remembered what they had seen tonight and understood it was only the beginning.
To be continued…