Shift was tugged back into consciousness by a strange sense of something — like a gust of wind through his mind — and immediately wished he hadn't been.

His body ached all over. His head was pounding, his ears ringing, the mask skewed over his face. Every breath was shallow and painful, and his chest felt like it'd been crushed — which, he supposed, it had. It was blurry, but he vaguely remembered something about fighting the Wardens, trying to buy enough time for Athira to—

Athira.

Shift pushed himself upright to look for her and almost fell straight back down as a sharp pain lanced through his side and shot stars through his vision. He pressed a hand against his ribs, muttering a breathless curse as he adjusted to the pain. There was no blood, but this kind of pain didn't come from just bruises.

His hand dropped, landing on something soft on his lap. He squinted, trying to stop the world spinning long enough to identify it. It was Athira's cloak, but something was off. It glistened, almost like it was made from water instead of fabric — but his Green knew better.

Her cloak was drenched in Black.

Help her, whispered a desperate voice that felt like feathers and wind from the corner of his mind — the same place where what remained of his shifted Black still lurked. I tried, but he's too strong. He's pushing me out. I can't—

A harsh, tight laugh interrupted the voice. "You're all worthless."

Shift looked towards the sound, wincing as he pressed a hand to his side.

Athira held the Yellow Warden by his hair. On his knees in front of her, the Warden made one last, exhausted swipe at her arms with a shard of bloodstained glass — a cut that healed instantly in a swirl of careless Black — before the shard clattered to the ground.

"What are you?" said the Warden, going slack in her grip, defeated.

Athira lifted him up, the Black twined with his hair.

"The last mistake you'll ever make," she said, and tossed him across the room.

The movement was scarily effortless, but that wasn't why Shift couldn't look away.

Her runes — or at least, what was left of them — were in ruins.

Without her cloak, her arms, shoulders, and upper back were completely exposed. The elegant, sweeping lines of her runes were barely recognisable, their blazing, aqua light flickering — and though he'd never seen a rune flicker before, Shift doubted it was a good sign.

He'd promised her he'd run if they broke — but they hadn't broken yet.

Biting down on a gasp of pain, Shift somehow managed to get on his feet, vaguely aware of the faint scent of lavender in the air. "Need help?"

"Stay over there," said Athira, not looking at him as she stalked towards the Yellow Warden, who was crawling towards the doorway. "I need to finish dealing with these idiots."

"Looks like you've already dealt with them," said Shift, glancing at the Red Warden clutching her knee as she gasped for air on the floor. "Don't you think this is going a little far?"

"Too far was thinking they could control a Sin," said Athira, slamming her foot into the Yellow Warden's side and shoving him onto his back. "Too far was infusing it into an armband and giving it to a Spectrum." She placed her boot against the Warden's throat with a snarl. "Too far was slamming you with a point-blank shockwave when you were down."

"I'm fine now," said Shift, limping his way towards her. "Talking and everything. You're gonna wish I was still unconscious just to get me to shut up."

"This time," she said, her voice tight, restrained. She pressed down, choking the Warden beneath her boot. "But I'm going to make sure there isn't a next time."

There's Sloth gas in the room, whispered the feather-and-wind voice again, each word a little more distant than before. The dome cracked. You need to get her out. The longer she's in here, the harder it'll be to—

The voice cut off.

Shift glanced at the dome, seeing the spiderwebbed cracks and recognising the faint lavender scent for what it was.

He didn't have time to think about what it meant that he'd inhaled it, if he'd end up like the people in the rooms upstairs. His only job right now was to get Athira out of this room, because if he didn't, she was going to kill the Wardens — and even if a part of Shift was convinced they deserved it, that small measure of vengeance wasn't worth the cost of Athira's guilt.

"Thira, stop," said Shift, reaching for her arm. "We have to get out. There's—"

"I told you already," she hissed, shaking him off as soon as his fingers touched her skin. For the first time, she turned to look at him, taking her boot off the Warden's throat. "Anything—and right now, that means sending a message that every, single one of these idiots will never forget."

Shift found himself staring back at her, realising that there was nothing he could say that could soothe her anger. He couldn't even tackle and pin her like he had in the training room on the first day — at least not without puncturing a lung and passing out in the process.

Yet they stood here now because she'd trusted him enough to come back to base and tell Indigo the truth, to fall asleep beside him with her head over his heart. They stood here with the Wardens half-dead on the floor, because in a rage so blinding that even Talon couldn't get through to her, Athira had protected him.

Shift refused to believe anger had anything to do with that.

Unable to come up with another way to prove it, Shift grabbed Athira's face and kissed her.

He held her as tightly as he dared, palms either side of her jaw, his thumbs brushing beneath her mask to stroke gently over her cheeks. He expected her to pull away, to shove him back, but it didn't matter — he just needed to get her attention for a moment, to give her a chance to snap out of it and realise—

Athira began to kiss him back.

Her lips moved slowly against his — uncertain, almost — as her fingers curled tight in the crook of his elbow. A soft gasp mingled her heated breath with his as she leaned up into him, pressing herself closer, claiming his mouth with hers. Shift slid a hand behind her head, threading his fingers through her hair as she grabbed the fabric on the front of his torso, holding him against her, until—

Shift pulled back with a hiss of pain as her hand pressed against the tender spot on his side. "Ow. Almost forgot about that for a moment."

Athira stepped back, a new kind of hesitant concern in her movements. "Did I hurt you?" Her hesitation sank beneath a predatory stillness. "Did they—"

"I'm fine," said Shift quickly. "Just sore. But there's Sloth gas leaking into this room. We need to leave."

"Sloth gas?" she said, her head turning towards the cracked glass of the dome. Her fingers curled into a hard fist at her side. "He—"

"No," said Shift, wrapping his hand around hers. "We need to leave, and right now, I'm not sure I can walk more than a few steps without your help."

Athira took a long, drawn-out breath, and after a tense moment, she released it along with a shake of her head.

"Let's go," she said stiffly, a slight hitch in her voice the only hint that she might've been in pain. She took Shift's hand in hers, coiling a tethered loop of Black around his waist that held the weight off his side. "We'll take that one scientist with us. He's apparently the Orange in charge of the databases, so I'm sure that our own Orange will figure out some use for him."

Shift didn't care if she'd suggested a world tour of Thols by turtle-back as long as it got her further away from the leak in the dome. "Sounds good to me."

They passed through the room of contained Sleepers without incident. Athira sealed the doorway behind them with crystal Black, but as they were about to exit the cupboard room, voices drifting in from the next room brought them to a stop.

"What is this stuff?" muttered someone. "Damn crystal has practically fused with the floor."

"Does it matter?" replied another. "Just keep going."

Athira poked her head around the doorway before pulling back to look at Shift. "There's an Elite or two trying to get our scientist friend out. You stay here, I'll deal with them."

Shift squeezed her hand. "Deal with them, or deal with them?"

He could practically hear her eyes roll beneath her mask before she stepped around the corner. "I'll be gentle."

Shift leaned back against the wall as the Black around his waist went with her. He'd downplayed it to stop Athira from going berserk again, but he was looking forward to the moment he could shift Zoe's Yellow. Every breath was a battle to keep himself from wincing, to hide what he could from Athira until they were safely back at—

Something cold slipped into the side of his chest, sucking what little breath he had from his lungs.

"That's my dagger you can feel," an icy voice said beside his ear. Invisible fingers grabbed Shift by the shoulder, pulling him off the wall and facing him towards the doorway Athira had gone into. "Move. Nice and slow."

Shift could do little else as his captor shoved him from behind and into the room.

Athira had made quick work of the two Elites beside the scientist's chair and was dragging both the scientist and his chair over towards the doorway when she saw Shift and froze.

"Hello, Owl," said the icy voice behind Shift. "Before you do anything you'll regret, I should tell you: the blade of my dagger is currently intangible, but if anything disrupts the rune keeping it that way or he gets too far from me, it will solidify directly into your partner's heart. Am I understood?"

Athira gripped the chair hard enough that Shift was surprised it didn't crack. "What do you want?"

The grip on Shift's shoulder materialised into long, tan fingers, and from the corner of his eye, Shift could see the sleeve of a Blue Wardens suit. "First, release that man from the furniture so I know I have your full attention."

Athira slashed her hand downward. The crystal split, hitting the ground with a heavy thud before the scientist fled, scrambling across the ground.

"Good," said the Warden behind Shift. "Next, take off your mask."

Shift wriggled against the Warden's grip. "Don't even—"

The Warden's hand left his shoulder to jab her fingers into his side. Shift couldn't stop the cry of pain as his legs gave out. The cold bite of the dagger still buried in his side left him breathless, as the Warden's grasp on his cowl became the only thing that stopped him from collapsing entirely.

"I said, take off your mask," repeated the Warden as Shift tasted blood. "Or do I have to make my point again?"

Athira was shaking as she lifted her mask up and over her head, throwing it on the ground beside her.

"Athira," said the Warden, sounding almost amused by the revelation. "We did have our suspicions, but I'll admit, we weren't convinced. Fortunately, we were given a tip from a reliable source about your plans for tonight."

"You suspected I was the Owl, and yet, you let me join a Keeper team?" said Athira. Her voice prickled with the same kind of stillness that came before a storm, smashing the ocean against the land in its rage and flattening anything caught in its wake. "The Wardens truly are a sight to behold, Karma."

Karma. Somewhere in his pain-fogged thoughts, Shift recalled the name of the tattooed Blue Elite at Athira's Keeper interview — the same one that'd given Zoe the creeps, that Athira hadn't been able to shake from her suspicions.

"It did make it easier to track your movements," said Karma. "Though I am curious as to how you've been sneaking out of the base without our knowledge. I suppose your team's Orange had something to do with that, which likely means the leader knows, too."

"They don't know anything," hissed Athira.

"And of course, there isn't much Raphael doesn't share with his sister," continued Karma. She nudged her knee into Shift's back. "Which I suppose makes this one Shift. Teamwork at its finest."

"They're—"

"I'll be having a conversation with them regardless of what you say here," said Karma, cutting her off. "Right now, I only have two questions for you — and please, keep in mind that any lie or unnecessary threats will result in another punishment for Shift here. Am I clear?"

Athira's tone could have cut diamond. "Crystal."

"First, how did you find this facility?"

"I used a tracking Colour to follow the residue from the Sleepers through the tunnels."

"Very good," said Karma. "Secondly, are you the Herald?"

"The only thing I'm heralding right now is an end to your little project," said Athira through clenched teeth. "Do you know what you've achieved in the last eight months, aside from putting half of Sirah in a coma?"

"I think you'll find I know exactly what we've achieved," said Karma, a smirk in her words. "But I'm satisfied, at least for now." Karma stepped back, releasing Shift's cowl and letting him sink to the ground, the dagger still in his side. "Contain them."

Athira rushed over to Shift, rolling him onto his back as the doors to the room slammed shut, sealing them alone inside.

"I can't get it out," said Athira, her hands hovering around the hilt of the dagger in his side. "If I touch it, the Black might dissolve the rune and—"

A hiss, almost like pressurised air, cut her off. Athira glanced around frantically, realising what the strong scent of vanilla coiled around them was far too late as she swore and shoved a palm over her head. A small, Black dome enclosed them, but the vanilla scent of the gas was already inside, dragging Shift's eyelids shut.

"Shift," she said, placing her hand against his face. "Shift, wake up."

Half delirious from pain, Shift placed a hand over hers.

"Go," he murmured, attempting to push her hand from his face. "Get... get yourself out, Thira. Tell... tell the others..."

"You expect me to leave you here after the crap you pulled earlier?" she snapped, but there was no fire behind it.

Shift exhaled — the first breath in a long while that hadn't hurt as the knock-out gas took effect.

"Yes," he breathed. He managed a smile. "Anything, remember?"

"Not this," she whispered, bracing herself against the ground with both hands as she leaned over him, fighting to keep her head from drooping. "Not you."

The Black dome crystallised, the shards raining down on her back. The vanilla swept in, and finally, Athira collapsed beside him, her haggard face bathed in the flickering Blue of her tattered runes.

Her voice was little more than a whisper at the edge of his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

The last thing Shift felt was her touch on his arm before the darkness dragged him under.

*+*+*+* 

A/N - If this chapter doesn't get some reactions out of people I don't know what will 

A KISS, AND THEN EVERYTHING GOES ~WRONG~

9 chapters left! 

Also side note: A late decision, but Zoe now has a small, gold locket she never takes off that Athira gifted her when they were 12. The edits will be in when this chapter goes live, namely chapter 6+11. Will also post the added paragraphs into the Indigo channel of the Discord if you don't want to try and find them on Wattpad <3