Back then, before walls fell and blood stained the streets, there were just two cadets, side by side, moving in perfect sync.

Annie and Aurelia.

From the moment they met in training, they became an unspoken pair — two shadows that always found each other, even in the chaos of drills and shouts of instructors. While others sparred for dominance, they sparred to know one another, blades clashing in rhythm, each strike a silent conversation.

Annie, all quiet focus and calculating eyes, with a gaze as cold and unyielding as the steel she wielded. And Aurelia, fierce and relentless, a storm of determination that even Annie couldn’t resist. Together, they were unstoppable — a perfect blend of ice and fire, a duo that moved like one in the battlefield.

---

During the long nights in the barracks, when the world was asleep and the moon hung low, they’d sit together under the stars, backs against the barracks wall. Annie’s head resting on Aurelia’s shoulder, eyes half-lidded, words few but weighted. Aurelia would talk about dreams of a life beyond the walls, of the ocean and freedom, of a future where they could just be. Annie would listen, eyes cast down, fingers tracing invisible lines against the dirt.

“Mmh, you're so quiet. What are you thinking about?” Aurelia would ask, leaning closer, voice soft.

Annie could never answer. Could never tell her about the mission, the warriors, the lies, about the cruel hand of fate that had already written their future in blood.

Instead, she’d close her eyes and pretend — if only for that one night — that they were just two girls under the stars, side by side, with nothing but the night stretching endlessly before them.

"I don't have anything in mind.. but it would count as lying if I didn't tell you that I'm thinking of our future together, no?"