It had only been a moment, a blink, a breath—and then, her eyes opened.
The faint hiss of ancient mechanics echoed around her as light spilled into the chamber. Kyi's body, lean and still, twitched awake, her hands shaking against the smooth surface she lay upon. The thick seal of the chamber had been broken, but her mind hadn't registered it yet. What she did register was the overwhelming silence. There were no voices, no Yureth, no Joma, none of the others.
Just two figures.
Two unfamiliar figures. One with bright, golden hair and a stoic expression. The other, taller, darker-haired, his features sharper, wary.
Her instincts screamed.
She launched forward before either of them could speak.
Cloud saw it first. "Noir, get down!" he yelled, grabbing his companion by the arm and propelling both of them into the air with a powerful blast from his palms. His propulsion beam scattered dust and rubble, slamming against the back wall of the chamber.
"W-Who the hell is she?!" Noir shouted, clinging to Cloud as they soared upward through the broken chamber ceiling.
Kyi didn't stop.
She roared—a primal, guttural cry. Her hands flared with raw energy, fingers twisting through the air like claws searching for prey. She leapt upward, kicking against the walls, grabbing onto old support poles, bending metal like straw under her grip.
"She's not listening!" Cloud growled, glancing down as she scaled a tower of rusted columns and ancient cables.
Below them, the ground cracked and split with each of Kyi's frenzied attacks. Poles bent, debris flew, and shockwaves rippled through the entire area.
Noir looked down, wide-eyed. "She's... feral. Completely berserk."
"We woke her up wrong. She's been locked away too long," Cloud muttered. "Her instincts think we're enemies."
"You think!?"
Kyi reached the top of one of the remaining structures and kicked off with devastating force. Her body cut through the sky like a spear, and she nearly clipped Cloud's shoulder.
"That's enough!" Cloud barked. His palm lit up with crimson energy as he spun midair and released a pulse blast. Not a full beam—just a low-level suppression wave, enough to knock her down, not kill her.
It hit.
Kyi screamed.
Pain.
But pain meant change.
As her body twisted from the force of the blast, her cells reacted. They remembered. They adapted.
Her skin hardened, glimmering briefly with a strange, reflective sheen. Her muscles shifted and realigned. Her eyes glowed with new awareness.
And then she smiled.
Not out of joy.
But understanding.
She had adapted to the attack.
Cloud narrowed his eyes. "She's already immune. That was fast."
"What do we do now?!" Noir shouted.
Kyi looked upward again. Something in her body... pulled. She felt her bones stretching, lightening. Her blood became lighter, her heartbeat shifting its rhythm.
And then she flew.
Awkwardly at first—as if she'd never done it before. She jerked and swayed, her trajectory chaotic, but her speed rising.
"S-She can fly now?!" Noir gasped, clutching tighter to Cloud.
"She's adapting even to gravity. Air density. Everything," Cloud said, frowning. "It's the same race. She's one of them. But different."
Kyi flew erratically toward them, roaring again. Cloud swerved through the clouds, maneuvering around broken towers and ruined rooftops.
Each time she got close, he dodged—but only just barely. The environment around them shook from the force of her chasing flight. Trees snapped, ancient metal beams fell like spears.
They flew for minutes, ducking and diving. At one point, Kyi flung a length of debris like a javelin. It soared through the sky and barely missed Cloud's foot.
"We can't keep running!" Noir snapped.
"I know. But we can't hurt her either. She's confused. Traumatized."
"She doesn't look confused, Cloud! She looks like she wants to rip our heads off!"
Cloud gritted his teeth. They curved sharply past the cliffside ruins of what looked like an old observation tower. "Then we'll tire her out. Keep dodging. She's still new to this."
As the chase continued, Kyi's expression twisted in confusion. She was catching up, yes, but not fast enough. Her wings—no, not wings, just limbs repurposed to hover and propel—still jittered and flailed. Her balance was wrong. Her speed unstable.
She snarled again, and another blast of strength launched her forward—but the control wasn't there.
Cloud and Noir dipped under another ruined bridge and out over a flat, desert plain stretching into the clouds.
Kyi reached the top of the cliff and stopped. Hovering, panting, glaring.
They were far enough now that she couldn't reach them.
But she watched.
Her golden eyes burned with furious awareness.
Cloud slowed to a hover in the clouds, Noir still gripping him. They looked back, breathless.
"She's... intense," Noir muttered.
"No. She's broken," Cloud replied quietly. "And I think I know why."
From the skies above, the wind howled.
From below, silence.
And in the midst of it all, Kyi hovered, still, alone again, her fists shaking in the air.