The path ahead was nothing but mud and broken concrete, the remains of roads. Water pooled in the uneven ground, dark and still, reflecting the skeletal remains of drowned buildings. The strong smell in the air never left.

Lilith was careful, precise, but the terrain fought her. Her boots sank slightly into the mud with each step. A sharp curse slipped out under her breath. Musa smirked.

“Something wrong, sweatheart?”

Lilith shot her a glare. “I’m fine.”

“You just look real comfortable back there.”

Lilith exhaled sharply, clearly trying to hold onto her patience. “Not all of us grew up wading through ruins.”

I grinned. “City girl can handle a little dirt, right?”

Lilith didn’t answer. She just kept walking, her eyes scanning the landscape ahead. The water was higher in this area, creeping up the sides of the ruins. Some buildings had collapsed entirely, their remains half-submerged. Others stood tall but empty, dark windows staring down like hollow eyes.

“This place ever dry?” Lilith asked.

I shook my head. “Not for long. The floods come and go, but the ground’s never solid. You step wrong, you sink.”

Lilith didn’t look thrilled at that. She eyed the nearest building, the way the foundation looked like it had been eaten away by water. “And people live here?”

“Some.” I’ve seen most of them at the higher ground in the distance, where faint lights flickered. “Scavengers. People with nowhere else to go.”

Lilith didn’t say anything for a moment. Just kept walking, quiet.

I glanced at her. “This your first time out here?”

Lilith hesitated. Then nodded. “Yeah.”

—

The water was rising fast.

Lilith’s foot sank into the wet earth. The ground under her shifted as if it had no intention of holding her weight. The flood had spread quicker than I expected, going futher in the ruins up.

“Watch it!” I snapped, grabbing her arm before she could slip deeper.

She shot me a look. “I’m fine.”

But the look in her eyes said otherwise. She was in full soldier mode, but even she had to know the ground wasn’t giving up without a fight.

We were in the heart of it now, the flood pushing faster than it should’ve been. The water surged around our legs, tugging at us like it had a mind of its own.

“Move.” I pulled her forward, my voice clipped. “We have to find a place to hide before this gets worse.”

Lilith didn’t argue, but I could see her struggling to stay on her feet, her boots sinking into the muck.

“This is disgusting,” she muttered under her breath, glancing down at her feet. “Next time, remind me to pack a snorkel.”

"What's a snorkel?" Lilith looked at me, but didn't say anything.

“You ever seen a flood this bad before?” I asked, my voice steady despite the growing urgency.

She hesitated for a moment. “Nothing quite like this.” She looked at me, her expression softening a little.

The water was rising faster now, but I noticed Lilith wasn’t fighting me on it. She was sticking closer to my side, matching my pace.

"I have a question,” she said, her voice almost drowned out by the rushing water.

“If we die here—”

I interrupted her immediately. “We’re not dying here. Not today.”

“You’re awfully confident for someone sinking into the mud.”

I scanned the ruins, spotting a half-sunken building still holding its ground. “There,” I said, nodding toward it.

Lilith followed my gaze. “Think it’ll hold?”

I smirked. “Only one way to find out.”

She shot me a dry look but didn’t hesitate.

—

“Guess we’re stuck here for a bit,” I said, glancing back at Lilith.

She nodded, her eyes scanning the area. She looked uncomfortable.

“So, this is what your life is like out here?” Lilith finally spoke, her voice quiet.

I shrugged, sitting down on the slightly dry patch. “A lot of this, yeah. But not just the floods. You get used to it, or you don’t. Some people stick around, some don’t. They call it home.” I glanced at her. “But you don’t get a choice out here. You do what you have to. And you keep moving.”

Lilith didn’t respond right away. She just leaned back against the crumbling wall, arms crossed, her eyes flicking over the rising water like she was trying to make sense of it. Like maybe, if she stared long enough, she could find some kind of order in the chaos.

Finally, she sighed. “That sounds exhausting.”

I huffed a short laugh. “Yeah, well. It’s not like I get to clock out at the end of the day.”

Lilith shook her head, rubbing at a smudge of mud on her sleeve. “I don’t know how people live like this.”

“Because they don’t have a choice,” I said simply.

For a moment, there was only the sound of the water sloshing against the ruined structure. I watched her as she stared out at the drowned city, her jaw tight.

“You’re thinking about something,” I said.

Lilith exhaled through her nose, a dry, humorless sound. “Yeah. Just… when I was a kid, I used to think I’d end up in the Wasteland one day. You know—saving people. Fixing things.” She let out a short, bitter laugh. “Turns out, nobody’s looking for a hero out here.”

I tilted my head. “You still think you can fix things?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to believe it was possible.”

That hit harder than I expected. Because the truth was, once, I’d thought the same thing.

“You do what you can,” I said after a long moment. “That’s all.”

Lilith turned to look at me. The usual guarded sharpness in her eyes had softened, just a little. “That how you see it?”

I shrugged. “How else am I supposed to see it?”

She didn’t have an answer for that.

The wind shifted, and a shiver ran through me. The water wasn’t rising as fast now, but it wasn’t going down, either. We were stuck here for the time being, whether we liked it or not.

Lilith must’ve noticed. “You cold?”

I scoffed. “This is nothing.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Right. That’s why you’re shivering.”

“Maybe I just enjoy the dramatic effect.”

Lilith laughed. But then, before I could process it, she shifted closer, just enough that I could feel the warmth of her body next to mine.

“Don’t say anything.”

Lilith shifted again, and before I could react, she tugged off her coat. Without a word, she draped it over both of us, the heavy fabric settling across my shoulders.

I blinked at her. “Seriously?”

She didn’t look at me. Just stared straight ahead, like this wasn’t happening. “You’re shivering.”

“I told you, I’m okay.”

“And I told you not to say anything.”

“Bossy.”

Lilith finally glanced at me. “You want me to take it back?”

I hesitated. The warmth of the coat, the warmth of her, was already seeping into my skin. I wasn’t about to give that up.

“…Didn’t say that.”

She looked happy. We sat like that for a while, pressed close under her coat, listening to the water slosh around us.

I glanced at Lilith. The sharp lines of her face were softer now, her usual edge dulled by exhaustion and cold.

Maybe I wasn't the only one who needed this