SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Forty - One Battlefield to Another

There was a humming in Leon's ears, and he tried to shake it away as he stumbled back to his feet. He could hardly see more than four feet in front of him, the smoke and dust so thick it was disorientating, his lungs burning from breathing it in.

It took a moment for him to remember which direction the Citadel was in, and then he carefully made his way toward it. Silhouettes moved around him and he heard coughing, murmuring, the sounds of people in shock or in pain, but none of them had his sister's Kyra signature. He reached for it with his own Kyra, the only thing that could see when his eyes couldn't, and he pushed down the rising fear that perhaps he couldn't see Raven because there was nothing to sense.

Crest, please be all right.

The smoke and acrid smell of chemicals burned Leon's throat and lungs, and somewhere at the back of his mind he knew he was inhaling too much, but he pushed aside to deal with later.

A figure came toward him through the smoke, just a hazy silhouette that stumbled over the scattered debris. Leon held his breath, but the smoke cleared and it was a woman dressed in the civilian uniform of a Citadel staff-member. Leon would've grabbed her to ask if she had seen Raven, or even the Renark, but Raven's Kyra signature suddenly caught on the edges of his reach and he turned toward it.

Finally he found her, clutching her arm as she stood amongst the debris and faced the rubble that had once been the Citadel.

'Raven,' he rasped – too much smoke, he reminded himself – and stepped around her. Her red hair was darkened with soot, the same soot that streaked her face. He saw an injury on her head, a few tracks of blood staining the side of her face, but he remembered the injury from earlier.

The arm she held to her side had a gash up her bicep, but it was a glancing wound. Nothing fatal.

Leon breathed out.

He cupped Raven's face, drawing her eyes to his. 'I thought the worst,' he admitted. 'What happened?'

'The worst,' she murmured, and her eyes cleared as if her focus was drawing back in. Leon had only ever seen such a glazed, lost look on Raven's face once before and it had been when their parents were killed. Some of her familiar, business-like demeanour returned now as she drew in a long, steady breath.

'Talk me through it. Was it The Palms, RedEarth?' Leon asked. 'I came as soon as I heard that the Citadel was being targeted, but before I could even reach the Citadel I heard the order to retreat from it.'

'It was Lilith's order,' Raven replied. 'She knew what RedEarth were coming for. You know too, don't you?'

Leon's brow lifted with surprise, before guilt struck him and he dropped his hands from Raven's face. 'So the Renark told you. We never discussed it, but I had my suspicions when RedEarth became so intent on capturing Sage. I didn't believe they would start a war just to procure it though. Did the Renark make it to the safehouses?'

'She refused to be evacuated,' said Raven, and then her expression cracked with sudden remorse and her eyes clenched shut. 'I followed her orders, Leon. I always follow orders – but what if I shouldn't have?'

Realisation dawned on Leon then, and he felt it like the frigid touch of ice against his skin. But he loosed a breath calmly and drew Raven into his arms, her head tucking under his chin. Despite how tall they grew, the height difference between them never changed.

'Dying for your city,' said Raven as she drew in a deep breath, her shoulders steadying under Leon's arms, 'is dying with honour.'

Leon was silent as she pulled away from him, understanding the mantra all Soldiers lived by - that he had taught himself to live by - but he knew she was using it as a shield for her grief. For now, he'd let her.