The silver-veined walls pulsed with a slow heartbeat as silence stretched between them.
Jack waited a long moment before speaking.
"You know what it's like," he said quietly, surprising himself with the admission. "To be hunted for what you are."
Ren's star-bright eyes softened, just enough to cut through the icy gloom. "I know exactly what that feels like," he said, his voice carrying centuries of bitter understanding. "Your very existence threatens those in power. I wore the word Hero until it became a death sentence."
The air shifted with the weight of old grief. Frost hissed along the floor.
Jack drew a steady breath, the cold scraping his lungs raw. "Then you understand. I can't stay weak. Not here. Not anywhere."
Ren's gaze held him, ancient and knowing. "Power isn't a choice for people like us. It's survival."
