I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 289: 289:Decisions.

The decision to leave with the subjugation team the following morning should have made Ravenna feel relieved. It gave her a direction, at least. They would travel toward Alpha Three, deliver the materials recovered from the deeper Red Zone, and from there she could continue toward the academy.

It was the route Silver had wanted them to take. It was the route they had discussed more than once while travelling together. Yet knowing that she could continue toward their original destination did nothing to ease the pressure sitting inside her chest. If anything, it made the situation hurt even more.

Silver had spent so much time making sure they would reach the academy together, and now she was going there without him.

It felt as though she was somehow betraying their promise,it might have been an irrational thought but she couldn’t help but feel that way. It made her nauseous just thinking about it.

Ravenna stood beside their vehicle while the observation centre’s lights illuminated the darkened yard. She held the tracker in both hands, staring at the screen.

She pressed the activation button again but the display remained unchanged. Nothing that could tell her whether Silver was alive.

Her thumb moved across the screen once more.

"Come on..."

Nothing happened. She stared at it until her vision blurred.

"Please, even just a small light. Show me something."

The word barely left her lips.

Antony stood several steps away, watching her silently. He had already learned that there were moments when Ravenna didn’t want advice. She didn’t want reassurance. She simply wanted someone nearby while she fought through whatever was happening inside her head.

Ravenna eventually lowered the tracker.

"He was supposed to be here."

Antony looked at her.

"What?"

She looked toward the vehicle.

"He was supposed to be here." Her voice trembled. "We were supposed to leave this place together."

Antony didn’t respond.

Ravenna swallowed.

"We were supposed to reach the academy together and register together. Maybe we could get in the same class but what now..."

She looked toward the road leading away from the observation centre.

"He kept talking about it." A small smile appeared on her face. "He said we would finally have some peace there."

The smile disappeared almost immediately.

"He said we’d have to find somewhere to stay."

Antony’s expression softened.

Ravenna looked down.

"He was even worried about how expensive everything would be. I found that funny since he’s more of a spender than I am."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

"And now..."

She couldn’t finish.

Antony looked away.

Ravenna wiped the tear, then she remembered something.

"The tracker."

She activated it again.

Her face fell.

Silver’s tracker was supposed to be connected to hers. They had activated them before entering the dangerous sections of the valley specifically so they wouldn’t lose one another.

Ravenna’s fingers began trembling.

"Maybe it’s broken."

Antony didn’t answer.

"Maybe the cave blocked it."

"Maybe."

"Maybe he destroyed it."

"Maybe."

She looked at him.

"You’re doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Giving me possibilities."

Antony shrugged.

"Better than giving you certainty when I don’t have any."

Ravenna looked at the tracker again.

She knew he was right, yhere was no evidence that Silver was dead or that he was alive either. And somehow that uncertainty was worse than either answer.

If he were dead, she could mourn him. If he were alive, she could search for him. But this... This left her trapped between the two.

She turned away.

"I’m going to the academy."

Antony nodded.

"I know."

"I’m going to finish what we started."

"I know."

"And then..." her voice became quieter. "I’m coming back."

Antony looked at her.

"Yeah."

Ravenna stared toward the distant valley.

"I’m coming back for him."

The next morning arrived far too quickly. Ravenna barely slept.

The room she had been given was comfortable enough, but she couldn’t relax. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the cave collapsing. She saw Silver falling into the darkness. She heard his voice telling her not to worry.

She had spent hours turning those memories over in her mind. At some point, exhaustion finally dragged her into sleep.

It lasted only a short while. When she woke, sunlight was already entering through the curtains.

For several seconds, Ravenna remained still, staring at the ceiling, then she remembered.

Silver.

Her heart immediately tightened. She turned her head and ghe other bed was empty.

She stared at it; it was ridiculous. She knew it was ridiculous. Silver hadn’t been sleeping there, they had not shared this particular room, but her exhausted mind still expected to see him.

She imagined him sitting on the edge of the bed, fixing his clothes, checking his weapons, or casually telling her that they needed to leave.

The bed remained empty.

Ravenna slowly sat up. She covered her face with both hands as a quiet sob escaped her. She stayed like that for several minutes, then she forced herself to stand.

She had to leave and keep moving.

She washed her face, changed her clothes, and gathered her belongings. Before leaving, she looked around the room one last time.

She reached for the door, then stopped. Her hand remained on the handle.

"Wait for me." She whispered it to the empty room. "I’ll come back."

She opened the door to find Antony was waiting outside. He looked at her face.

"You didn’t sleep."

"Neither did you."

"Fair." He stepped aside. "The convoy is preparing."

Ravenna nodded.

They walked through the observation centre together. The atmosphere was already busy.

The subjugation team had assembled their equipment, while several vehicles were being prepared for departure. Containers filled with recovered materials were being loaded onto military transports.

Ravenna looked toward the entrance. She expected, irrationally, to see Silver’s vehicle arriving. She looked at the tracker,her hand tightening around it.

Antony noticed.

"Don’t."

She looked at him.

"Don’t what?"

"Don’t spend the entire trip staring at that thing."

Ravenna frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you’ll drive yourself crazy."

"I’m already crazy."

Antony almost smiled.

"At least you admit it."

She gave him a tired look. He raised his hands.

"Fine. I’ll stop."

Ravenna looked away.

The convoy began moving shortly afterward. As the vehicles slowly passed through the observation centre’s gates, Ravenna turned around and looked toward Death Row Valley.

The massive valley was barely visible from here, but she knew where it was. Somewhere inside it was Silver.

Somewhere beneath layers of stone and earth, he was fighting to survive. Or perhaps... Ravenna immediately rejected the thought.

No.

She wouldn’t think that way. Silver was alive, he had to be. The vehicle moved farther away.

Ravenna kept staring backward until the observation centre disappeared from view. Only then did she turn around.

She looked down at the tracker and her eyes burned. She whispered under her breath.

"You better not make me wait too long."

Antony heard her but didn’t say anything.

The convoy continued toward Alpha Three.

For the first time in a while, Ravenna was travelling without Silver beside her. And every kilometer forward felt like another step away from him. She rested her forehead against the window.

The landscape passed outside.

She thought about the academy, about their first meeting, about the strange system that had brought them together, and about the future Silver had described.

A future where they would become stronger, where they would have a place of their own, and where she wouldn’t have to worry about being abandoned.

Her eyes filled again.

"Don’t you dare die." Her voice was barely audible. "You still owe me a future."

She closed her eyes. For a moment, she could almost hear his voice.

’I’ll catch up.’

Ravenna opened her eyes again. She looked at the tracker, but she refused to give up. If Silver was alive, she would find him and if he was trapped, she would return.

If the entire valley had to be torn apart stone by stone, she would eventually reach him, because she had finally realized something she had been too afraid to admit before.

She wasn’t simply worried about losing her companion. She couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore.

The convoy continued toward Alpha Three.

Ravenna couldn’t know it yet, but the silence hiding Silver was not the silence of death. Somewhere deep beneath the collapsed cave, something was still fighting to survive. And somewhere in the darkness, Silver was still holding onto the promise he had made to her.

He would catch up.

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