The moon was high by the time they returned to the surface. A pale silver light filtered through cracked ceiling panels, washing the hospital halls in soft gloom.
The others were quiet.
Still shaken. Still processing.
But Anna had made her decision.
They all had.
"We're going back down," she said simply, her voice steady. "We're not leaving them here. Not like this."
No one argued.
Beneath the Vault Again
It felt different the second time.
No longer a cold, sterile secret buried beneath steel and time—but a grave. A prison. A home.
Anna walked ahead, her steps sure, and approached the sealed pod where her parents lay.
No frost coated the glass.
Her mother's dark hair was spread like ink behind her head. Her father's hand rested near hers, just barely touching.
They looked… peaceful. Not frozen. Not dead.
Just… waiting.
"I don't know if you can hear me," Anna whispered, placing her hand against the glass. "But we're not leaving you here."
Charles stepped forward, helping her disengage the locks, his fingertips alive with sparking blue light as he interfaced with the dimensional seal.
"Slow," he warned. "This isn't like lifting a normal pod. This is an embedded construct—half stasis, half pocket space."
Anna closed her eyes and reached inside herself—into her Spatial Core. She opened a portal beside the pod, one designed not just to store, but to stabilize.
The pod shimmered—and then, with a deep hum, vanished into the space she carried.
She slumped slightly as the strain hit her, but Annabelle steadied her.
"You okay?"
Anna nodded. "Yeah. Just heavy. Not the pod—just… everything."
They copied all the data from the vault's terminal before leaving: information on Penelope and Arthur's parents, Gwen's family, even coordinates that hinted at other "Rested" Storage Sites.
And finally… they sealed the vault again.
The Ride Back
The drive home was quieter than usual.
No music.
No jokes.
Just the steady purring of the engine and the occasional sleepy yawn from Percy curled around Gwen's shoulders.
Anna rode behind Marcel, the big tiger's pace smooth and unhurried, her eyes half-lidded as she watched the road unspool beneath the moonlight. She clutched the pendant at her neck like a tether.
Behind them, in the back of the truck, her parents lay silent in their pod—secure inside her spatial space, which she'd left half-open so they wouldn't feel... forgotten.
No one said it, but they all felt it:
This wasn't just survival anymore.
This was a mission.
A reason to keep moving.
A future to reclaim.
Back at the School Base
It was close to sunrise when they returned.
They carried the pod into the classroom-turned-sanctuary, setting it gently in the corner between the warm beanbags and soft rugs.
The heaters were turned on.
Anna placed a thick quilt over the glass, more out of emotion than necessity.
"They're safe now," Annabelle said, her voice hushed.
"They will wake up," Anna whispered. "Somehow… I'll make sure of it."
Penelope was already uploading the copied files into the terminal they'd salvaged and reprogrammed earlier that week. Gwen helped Arthur set up a map board, marking the location of Site 09 and the unknown storage centers.
Charles leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, his silver-blue eyes watching Anna. "We'll find them all," he said softly. "We'll bring them back."
"And if there's more?" Anna asked, meeting his gaze. "If it wasn't just our families? If there are thousands more?"
Charles didn't hesitate. "Then we bring them back too."
That Night
They didn't sleep right away.
They sat in a circle in the candlelight, blankets wrapped tight, Marcel curled behind them like a wall of fur, Percy resting in Arthur's lap.
Annabelle told a story about one of their old New Year's Eve parties.
Penelope started laughing halfway through.
Even Gwen cracked a tired smile.
And Anna?
She looked around at them—this strange, makeshift family—and felt the faintest flicker of something like hope.
Not the kind that whispered promises.
The kind that planted roots.