The night before the ambush, the Tidam base was suffocatingly quiet. No one laughed. No one sparred. Even Amy's kitten chatter was gone.
Tim sat at the table, sharpening his knife. The rasp of steel on stone echoed through the chamber like a heartbeat.
A soft knock broke the silence.
Casey leaned against the doorway, hair loose around her shoulders, jacket half-open. She looked less like a soldier and more like she'd stepped out of a lingerie ad — the kind meant to blur toughness and temptation.
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.
Tim didn't look up. "Too much to plan."
She crossed the room with slow, deliberate steps, the kind of sway you'd see in a club when someone wanted every eye on them. "Planning won't help if you burn out before the fight."
He gave a thin smile. "And you think I can sleep with what's waiting tomorrow?"
Casey leaned down, her lips brushing his ear like an ASMR streamer whispering secrets into a mic. "Then don't sleep. Spend the night with me instead."
Tim froze. She wasn't teasing this time. Her eyes were soft, sad even.
Her hand pressed against his chest, sliding lower with the confidence of someone who'd done this a hundred times. "One more night," she murmured. "Maybe my last."
He remembered his open-arm promise to his alliance. Comfort when they needed it. Release when survival's pressure was too much.
He gave in.
The cot creaked as Casey pushed him back, straddling him with wild urgency. She moved with pornstar boldness, unafraid to show every curve, every grind, every gasp. Her nails scratched down his back, leaving marks like a lover staking her claim.
Tim gripped her hips, pulling her closer, harder. She rode him with the kind of stamina you'd expect from a fitness influencer showing off endurance drills — relentless, controlled, sweating but smiling.
Their mouths met in messy, desperate kisses, nothing soft about it. This wasn't romance. It was a nightclub floor hookup, heat and lust, bodies grinding like the world outside didn't exist.
Casey pulled off her top with a smirk, tossing it aside like a camgirl discarding lingerie for tips. Her body gleamed under the candlelight, curves made sharper by the shadows. "Eyes on me, leader," she teased breathlessly. "Tomorrow, I might not be here."
Tim's breath caught, but he couldn't look away. His hands roamed, her gasps spilling out, each sound a mix of need and farewell.
The night stretched into sweat, tangled sheets, and broken moans. A final release before war.
When it ended, Casey lay draped across his chest, her skin sticky with sweat, her body trembling. For the first time since he'd met her, she cried.
Tears slid down onto his chest.
"Casey…" Tim whispered.
She kissed his neck once, then pressed her lips to his ear. Her whisper broke with emotion. "Jenny really does love you, Tim. Please… cherish her. Regardless of what you've heard."
Tim stiffened. His heart slammed against his ribs. He wanted to ask what she meant — but her eyes were closed, lashes wet, her breathing steady like she'd already decided that was all she would say.
Dawn came too soon.
—
By nightfall, Tidam moved.
They crept through alleys, shadows swallowing them whole, the torches of Nomerci glowing ahead like a wound in the dark.
Inside, the ambush exploded. Blades clashed, bodies fell. Lacey swung with brutal precision, Yuko's knife flickered like strobe lights, Amy clawed and scratched like the kitten she pretended to be.
Tim carved his path to the platform where Jenny was chained.
Casey stayed at his side, fighting like a storm — blocking, deflecting, intercepting — but never killing. Not once.
It was deliberate. Tim didn't notice until it was too late.
As Jenny's chains cracked loose, a spear lunged from the shadows, aiming straight for her chest.
Casey moved first.
Steel tore through her side.
She gasped, blood spilling hot down her body, staining her leather. But she smiled faintly, even as her knees buckled.
Tim caught her, rage and disbelief burning in his throat. "Casey! No—stay with me!"
Her hand smeared blood across his cheek. Her voice was faint, but clear. "Don't… waste it. Save her."
And then, like every fighter who failed to kill before dawn, her body vanished in his arms, leaving only warmth and bloodstains.
Tim froze, staring at empty air, her whisper still burning in his ears.
Jenny really does love you. Please cherish her.
Tears blurred his vision as he screamed, not just for Casey, but for everything she had carried, and for the truth he couldn't yet face.