[Scene 1 – Waking Up]
I come too slowly. The air smells like damp cloth and rust.
My whole body feels like it's been stitched together with fire.
When my eyes focus, I see a dimly lit room — the four sisters around me. Anna is pressing a cloth to my side. Ryn is kneeling at my legs, wrapping fresh bandages.
Selene is at my head, her hand resting against my temple like she's checking if I'm still here.
"You're awake," she says quietly. Not relief exactly, but something close.
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[Scene 2 – The Care]
They work silently for a while.
Every time I try to move, pain bites into my muscles and the room spins.
I notice Level Three — the one whose name I never got — sitting apart from the others, sharpening her claws on a piece of stone. Her eyes flick to me now and then, but she says nothing.
"Hey," I rasp, my voice rough. "You. I don't even know your name."
She pauses. The sound of claw on stone stops.
Finally, she says, "Lyra."
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[Scene 3 – Small Conversation]
"Lyra," I repeat, tasting the sound of it.
She doesn't move closer, but I notice the faintest softening in her expression — like hearing her name from me changed something.
Ryn smirks from her spot by my feet. "Careful. That's more than most get out of her in a year."
Selene cuts her a glance, and Ryn goes quiet.
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[Scene 4 – The Warning]
As they finish bandaging me, Selene leans closer. Her eyes meet mine, colder now.
"You can't take bullets like that again," she says. "If you die, you're useless to us."
But I see the way her hand lingers on mine for a second longer than it should before she pulls back.
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[Scene 5 – Closing Moment]
The pain keeps me from sleeping, but the sisters stay close — even Lyra, who eventually moves to sit near my head.
I realize then that they're not just keeping me alive because I'm useful.
Something else is starting to grow between us.
And I'm not sure if that's more dangerous… or safer.
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