Page 250 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

"Halley," he says, and my name is said softer than usual, like he's trying to cushion what he's about to say. "I think it’s time."

The room shifts without anyone moving. Viper’s knife stops turning, Blaze’s hands still, and Knox’s presence at my back steadies, his attention narrowing to Shade.

I meet Shade’s gaze and cock my head. "Time for what?"

He hesitates, which is not like him. Then he gets up from his chair, walks across the room, sets the datapad down, and turns it toward me.

"To finish what you started."

My fingers curl in the fabric of my dress.

"You didn’t leave the Omega Division and start training because you volunteered. You left because General Stone threatened your friends if you didn't."

The words instantly burrow deep and dig into an old wound, something I’ve been avoiding thinking about. There has been too much to do here, and it's easier to stay busy than to think about what I've lost.

"You were always trying to get back to them," Shade continues, his voice coaxing and soft. "Even when you left us, it was for them, so you could protect them and bring them to safety."

My eyes glaze over as I'm transported back to Barkrood Base, to our home in the Omega Division. I remember the way we watched out for each other and tried to stay true to ourselves inside a place built to strip that away. They never gave up on me, and they were more of a family to me than my biological one.

Shade’s voice stays even. "I know you had to set that mission aside because the world was on fire and you had to be the one to put it out. Then Blackreach was cut off, and you had no way to reach them."

Across the room, Viper’s attention settles on me, watchful and steady. Even without the bond, I would feel his support in the way he holds himself, ready to back whatever choice I make.

Shade nudges the datapad closer.

"Well," he says quietly, "the world’s no longer on fire, and Viper created you a way into Blackreach."

I look down at the screen, then back at him. He holds my gaze with calm certainty.

"You were their protector first," he says. "Before you were ours and before you were the savior of our species."

His voice softens.

"It’s time to finish what you started, Halley."

I stare at the datapad.

For a while, I don’t touch it.

The screen has gone dim, the glass reflecting the firelight and the shape of my own face back at me. I look softer than I have in years, or maybe ever. My cheeks are slightly flushed from the heat of the room, and my hair is loose around my face. I wiggle my bare feet and stroke the soft floral fabric of my dress.

He's right.

There is nothing holding me back from picking up my mission again. I'm not the same Omega who was desperate, with blind hope, but ultimately powerless to save them.

Now, I've grown into someone who has the emotional strength to carry this out, and the authority to make it happen. I could actually save them.

"What is it?" I ask, gesturing to the datapad.

Shade’s mouth tightens. "The files recovered from Stone about the Omega Division."

We rarely speak the General’s name now, and the effect is immediate. Blaze’s pistol clicks as his grip shifts around it, Viper’s scent turns bitter with protectiveness, and Knox stills behind me.

I reach for the datapad, and my thumb brushes the screen awake.

General Stone’s personnel records open beneath my hand with folders, labels, clean little categories for all the lives he thought he owned.

My file is at the top.