Trinity

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Silence filled the room like a heavy fog, dense and choking, smothering any conceivable sound in favor of nothing. Instead, Nera continued repeating softly, emerging from the murky depths of the surrounding silent and stifling mist. The stares of those around her were not lost on Ten, but she couldn't take her eyes off the ring Miles left in the palm of her hand.

They stared at her, and she stared at the object threatening to send her newfound mental stability crashing into the depths. She doesn't bother opening her mouth in shock or to speak; nothing would come out if she tried.

Even if she did, what could she say? What kind of reaction was she supposed to have to this confession? Did an appropriate reaction for this exist?

It's not like she wasn't aware of her being 'reborn,' that's how Trinities worked. The three were always reborn. Why? She didn't know, she wasn't a cryptic as fuck Tsahik who actively dealt with the Great Mother's bullshit!

Why did it hurt?

Teetering on the edge of potentially losing her sanity or not, she understood what the ring meant. There was only one thing it could mean. She'd seen it so many times. Reached out for it. Grasped it between unreadable and blurry dog tags. Never before able to see the person who wore them. Everything had always been so hazy, but now it was as clear as the silver band currently resting in her hand.

It was Miles calling out her name as he caught and carried her to safety after she shielded him from the arrow.

Red eyes in the reflection of his face shield before he ripped it off...

A desperate yell for a medic.

Realization within his blue eyes that she was quickly losing the ability to breathe.

A choked gasp and plea left him as he cradled her face as he begged for the same thing she'd always done in the dream—a different outcome.

Months later, he was still wearing his ring... the cool metal pressed into her cheek.

Her hand weakly touching his face with her remaining strength until it fell to his dog tags.

Her ring, nestled safely between his tags.

She managed to choke out four words. Her lungs wouldn't let her breathe, no longer capable of taking in air as her heart slowed to a stop.

A still blurry figure kneeled behind Miles, hiding behind dark lenses. She knows who it is.

Mansk

Her vision is fading, but she sees Mansk's hand gripping Miles' shoulder, tensing between each struggling gasp she tries to take. There was nothing left; the neurotoxin affected her just as it would anything else. They'd wondered about that... she supposes they'd know now. Darkness progresses from the edges of her remaining vision. She can only see him, and the last thing she sees is Miles' final shred of hope falling away with her hand.

"Nera?" Unseeing, but she can still hear. "Tenera..." Her heart manages one final ache at the crack in his voice; he screams in anguish, and her ears ring.

That's it... The constant ringing in her ears throughout the years of this dream... it was the last sound she heard. His pain echoed through every crevice within her mind, remnants of a broken man. Remnants she had held up to their bonding. The ringing was a piece of his soul.