"What did I just hear...?"
Noir's voice broke the sky's thick silence. Hovering in Cloud's grasp, wind rushing past his face, the words echoed louder in his mind than they did in the air.
Kill me.
He had heard it again. Not from Cloud, not from the voices of the Victinions below—but from her. The white-haired, black-eyed boy clenched his fists as the phrase buried itself in his heart.
Kill me...
A flame ignited.
It wasn't physical. Not the heat of fire, not some burst of energy. It was internal. Something deeper. A resolve he hadn't felt in years. Maybe since the night his family was taken from him. Or when he was forced to abandon Earth.
"Fine," Noir muttered under his breath. "I'll help you."
Cloud, gliding midair with the weight of Noir in his arms, blinked. "Huh? What did you say?"
Noir's eyes locked with the rampaging girl flying below them—Kyi, the human-like girl with strange glowing markings who moments ago had nearly taken their lives.
"I said… I'll help her."
Cloud looked like he'd been struck. "Noir, what are you—"
Noir screamed, voice cracked with fire. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
His voice was for her. For Kyi. A declaration. Not from hate, but... mercy. The kind only someone who's known true pain could offer.
Cloud froze.
His wings stalled, his grip loosened. Noir slipped.
"NOIR!"
The drop was sudden. The world spun. For a heartbeat, everything was silent.
Then Cloud darted after him in a streak of blue flame, catching Noir just before he hit the ground. The two landed hard, tumbling across the burnt grass of Venus's strange crimson meadows.
Kyi crashed down just meters away, sending debris and light spiraling. She said nothing. Her expression blank, mouth twitching. Her markings pulsed with unsettling energy.
From the hills behind them, laughter echoed. No, not laughter—cheering. Chanting.
Joma and Yureth stood at the front lines of the remaining Victinions. Their faces no longer kind. No longer cautious. Eyes lit with a triumphant glow, Yureth raised a hand.
"You see, Cloud Solslade! White-haired boy! This is your punishment for meddling!"
Joma grinned. "Behold our new hope."
From behind them, they revealed it—a cage. Then another. Fifteen total.
Out walked the clones.
Each bore the same face as Kyi. Some older. Some younger. Male and female. But all with the same markings. All glowing. All silent.
Cloud took a defensive stance, wings spreading protectively in front of Noir.
Noir, though, didn't hide. He stepped forward.
Yureth sneered. "You would dare threaten the only chance for this race's survival?"
Joma added, "You think you can take her from us? We built her. Sculpted her into something greater. Syris was the only fool who objected, and she rid us of him herself."
Noir's fists clenched. His voice was low, calm, and somehow more terrifying than a shout.
"She asked me to kill her."
"That was weakness," Yureth said. "We have corrected that. Once you are gone, we will adjust her mind again. We'll erase these regrets."
Kyi—the original—hovered just behind them, her eyes lifeless.
Cloud growled. "You monsters."
"No," Noir said, that strange fire behind his voice again. "They aren't monsters. They're just desperate. And desperate people do terrible things."
He took a step forward, even as the clones began to glow with unstable energy.
Cloud grabbed his arm. "Noir. Don't be reckless."
"She wants to die, Cloud. Not because she hates herself. But because she thinks it's the only way to stop the pain she's causing. And I know that pain."
The clones moved. Like waves. Fifteen Victinions enhanced by forced adaptation, built for one purpose—to kill.
Noir turned his head slightly. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Let me go."
Cloud looked into Noir's eyes.
And saw it.
The same fire he'd seen once before, back when they stood in the ruins of Jupiter's throne room.
He released his grip.
The clones charged.
Noir stood still, head down.
The words came out soft. "If I can't save her… then I'll burn down everyone who tried to use her."
His hair fluttered. Not from wind. But from power.
Somewhere deep inside, something unlocked. Not seen. Not understood. A system awakening, an echo of something ancient.
The flame grew.
Not literal fire. But something worse.
Resolve.
Pure, untamed, furious resolve.
And in that moment, the battlefield paused. Kyi's clones halted mid-run. Joma and Yureth took an unconscious step back.
Cloud, eyes wide, muttered, "He's changing again."
But Noir didn't notice. Couldn't notice.
Because all he could hear was the echo.
Kill me.
And he would. Not out of hatred.
But to end the cycle.
To end the pain.
To set her free.
---