She stayed like that for several minutes, letting months of grief and fear spill out of her. Eventually, she forced herself up, staggering toward the mirror again. She washed her face, splashing water repeatedly, as if trying to drown the exhaustion etched into her features. When she finished, she grabbed a clean cloth. Slowly… Carefully… She wrapped it around her lower torso, tightening it until the gentle curve of her belly flattened. She tied it securely and then tugged her shirt back down. To the world outside that bathroom door, she looked the same as always. But she wasn't. She was hiding something. Something monumental. Something terrifying. Something precious. Something that should have filled her with joy… …but now only filled her with dread. She placed one hand on the hidden bump beneath her clothes as tears filled her eyes again. "You're all I have left of him…" Her voice cracked. "Please… please don't take this from me too." She rested her forehead on the mirror. Her terrified and broken reflection stared back. She inhaled shakily… …and whispered: "I'll protect you… even if the universe burns." She wiped her tears one last time. Then she walked out of the bathroom… The argument inside the crystalline chamber of the pocket-star grew louder by the second. Voices overlapped, desperation clung to every word, and exhaustion coated every gesture. "…are you listening to yourself? Even if we had a hundred Alpha ranked Mixedblood on our side—ONE deity would wipe them out!" E.E slammed his palm on the transparent star-table, causing cracks of light to ripple across its surface. Aildris rubbed his eyes. "We've gone through this. Over and over. We can't mobilize anyone. They kill everything the moment it moves." Falco leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. "We can't keep running," Falco muttered, voice hoarse. "We need something that can match them." "And Falco is the ONLY one who even comes close!" E.E barked. "And even then—we're doomed! There are HUNDREDS of deities! Some older than recorded history!" Voices erupted again. "The alliance is gone—" "The MBO is dust—" "Every planet is screaming for help—" "Humanity is pretty much dead—" "Gustav would have known what to do—" "...But Gustav isn't here anymore." That last sentence hit like a blade through all of them. Angy arrived back in their midst since her nauseous spell had passed. She only hoped her face wasn't too pale. She hoped no one noticed. While the others were arguing, her mind was replaying visions and echoes that she had been seeing in her mind these last few days. At first she thought she was sick but it was happening again so she was starting to take it seriously. Stirring inside her mind were not words exactly… There were more like impressions... Something calling out to her bloodline. Something calling out… from beyond death. They group began shouting again... "No strategy will work!" "They'll find this place eventually!" "We're running out of food—" "Endric, say something—" Eventually, the meeting fell through since they couldn't come to an agreement and it got adjourned. The next day, Angy woke before dawn, breathing heavily as her heart beat intensely like it wanted to escape her chest. Again… the same fragments. A hand reaching through blinding white. A voice swallowed by static. A shadow falling through a spiral of collapsing universes. Something — someone — calling her name, but distorted as if spoken underwater. Every time she blinked, she saw Gustav's silhouette fading. But she didn't understand. She washed her face, stepped out of her quiet chamber, and the cold air of the Hidden Star greeted her. The Hidden Star wasn't a city. It was a massive refuge, carved into the crystal innards of a hollow star Gustav had shaped before disappearing. It housed, Mixedblood refugees and a variety of alien from different galaxies with a handful of humans Every morning, things started out with a fragile routine. Angy walked past the hydro-farms... glowing corridors lined with floating soil pads and photosynthesis arrays. Mixedblood kids harvested giant ganther leaves while an alien elder with three arms scolded them for picking the unripe ones. "Discipline! If you don't respect nature, nature won't feed you!" The communal kitchens smelled of spices both human and extraterrestrial. A Xurillian woman was stirring a pot beside a human refugee from Earth, arguing about salt levels. "We don't eat that much salt—" "Your people are bland!" "Well your food melts pots!" The pot actually did melt once. They still joked about it. In another sector, older Mixedbloods added an extra layer of protective barrier to enhance the Hidden Star cloak. Energy crystals were unstable; everyone lived with the fear that the deities would one day sense them. And beneath that fear brewed bitterness. Every two or three days, leaders(mostly the gang) gathered in the central hall for meetings. E.E. was usually first to raise his voice. "We cannot just hide forever! The universe is dying while we rot here!" Alero slammed his palm against the crystalline table. "We attack what, exactly? Deities? You want us to commit suicide as a group activity?" Inkun interrupted. "You're thinking emotionally—" Alero snapped, "Oh and you're thinking like someone who's already given up!" Even the old team that consisted of only Gustav's friends couldn't agree on anything. There were proposals: Evacuate to another hidden realm Search for a powerful artifact Try to awaken the ancient Mixedblood war-forms Attempt communication with the deities Or abandon everything and scatter Not a single vote was unanimous. Every meeting ended worse than it started. Angy attended every one. She listened with her hands folded, lips pressed tight… but her mind was elsewhere. Because every time someone mentioned Gustav, her vision flashed again: White light… falling worlds… a heartbeat inside a void… and his voice, too faint to grasp. She wanted to speak but what could she say? "Hey, I keep seeing visions I don't understand, and I think Gustav might not be fully gone"? They'd think she was grieving too hard.