Chapter 29: Nothing Happened
Day 4 of the Apocalypse ——The Escape from the Safe Zone
The morning was eerily silent.
Too quiet.
It felt like the world had taken a deep, reluctant breath, pausing just long enough for the weight of everything—every mistake, every loss—to crash down. The safe zone they'd left behind felt miles away, even though it had only been hours. And with each step farther from it, Aria felt the threads that once held her together starting to unravel.
⸻
Aria stirred slowly, her eyelids heavy, her body sore, aching with the strain of a night spent in uneasy, restless sleep. She barely remembered falling asleep—just the distant sounds of gunfire, muffled by the crumbling walls, and Selene's steady presence beside her.
Now, in the fragile calm of morning, she could breathe more easily. Her skin, once burned with fever, was cool again, but the heat that had filled her chest the night before refused to dissipate completely. It clung to her, a memory she couldn't shake.
And yet—
She remembered fire.
And lips.
And a voice, so low, so full of need, that it still haunted her ears.
"…Selene?"
A soft rustle answered her, distant but real.
Selene stood near the window, the light of dawn filtering through the broken panes, casting an ethereal glow on her silver hair. She was unmoving, a figure of stillness, as though the world itself had paused around her. There was no noise from the streets below, no signs of life, only silence, stretching out like a void.
Her gaze turned toward Aria, and for a moment, her eyes flickered—darkened—before she masked it again.
"Morning," she said, her voice smooth, controlled, as even and distant as it had always been.
Nothing else. Not a hint of warmth. Not a trace of guilt.
Nothing.
⸻
Aria blinked, her mind struggling to connect the fragments of the night before. "Did I… say anything strange last night?"
Selene's lips twisted into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. "You had a fever," she said, almost too calmly. "Nothing more."
Aria wasn't convinced. She could feel the residue of something lingering in the air, a taste that had no place, no reason to be there. She could still feel the heat of Selene's touch, her presence so close, but now, all of it was fading into a fog she couldn't pierce.
"But I—" Aria started, but the words slipped away like sand through her fingers. There was something there, something so real—so vivid—that she couldn't quite grasp it. The memory of lips, of pressure, of hands, clinging like life depended on it.
But Selene was already moving, crossing the room with quiet grace. She knelt beside the bed, offering a bottle of water like it was a ritual, something so ordinary that it almost felt like an apology. A routine.
"You're better now," Selene said softly, her voice like a calm, distant shore. "Your power was adjusting. Awakenings like that… they're never gentle."
Aria took the bottle, her fingers brushing Selene's as she did, but the contact was fleeting, and coldness settled where warmth had once been. She sipped slowly, watching Selene carefully. Her gaze was intense, but unreadable.
Selene didn't flinch. She didn't even blink.
Her face remained as impassive as ever—strong, stoic, untouchable.
But Aria felt it. She could feel the tension, the weight of something unsaid, hanging between them like a storm on the horizon.
⸻
Inside, though, Selene was unraveling.
She still felt Aria's lips on hers, still burned with the memory of how Aria had clung to her like a lifeline, how her hands had sought something—anything—to hold onto in the midst of the chaos. The fire. The need. The pull. It was all still there, too real, too raw.
But Selene had locked it all away. She couldn't afford to be weak. Not yet.
Aria didn't remember—not yet. She didn't know who Selene was, who Selene had once been. The girl who had died to save her. The girl who had been everything to her.
Not yet.
Selene would not be selfish.
She wouldn't let herself be. Not yet.
⸻
"We should move before the streets fill again," Selene said, her voice clipped, practical, as she stood. Her posture was perfect—untouched by the chaos that still churned inside her.
Aria hesitated.
There was a weight in the silence that filled the space between them. The tension was palpable, the absence of something she couldn't name gnawing at her. It was as though the world had shifted in the night, leaving them both in an unfamiliar place—too close, and yet impossibly far.
She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the words caught in her throat. What could she ask? What could she say to bridge the chasm growing between them?
But the silence stretched on. The absence of touch. The coolness of Selene's restraint.
Aria wanted more—she was certain of that. But what was more? What did it mean to reach for someone who seemed so far away, even when they were standing right there?
Without a word, she followed.
She had no choice, not really. Selene's silence wrapped around her like a shroud, a constant presence that demanded obedience, even in the face of Aria's own turmoil.
She followed, not because she understood it all, but because she had to.
Because, somehow, Selene was the only one who knew what came next.
⸻
The streets were empty as they moved through the city, the silence stretching out unnervingly, as though even the world had stopped in its tracks. The buildings, once symbols of life and possibility, now stood like hollowed-out shells. Broken windows and crumbled walls were the only remains of a world that no longer seemed real.
Aria kept her eyes on Selene, but it wasn't the same. The woman she had followed into the night was different now—more distant, more cold, like the city itself. The warmth they had shared felt like a memory, and yet the touch of her lips, the softness of her breath against Aria's skin, still lingered like a shadow.
But the silence was suffocating. It was a chasm, stretching between them, and no matter how close Aria walked, no matter how much she longed for the past, the gulf remained.
And for the first time in her life, Aria understood the true meaning of loneliness. Because, even though Selene was right there beside her, there was no bridge between them. Nothing to hold on to.
Only silence.
Only the echoes of a kiss that never was.