The team had claimed the recovery room like territory. There was enough space for the four of them, and Bodhi was able to get pads and blankets for everyone. He and Kivi went to raid Limbo for provisions and med kits.

  Rain was rebuilding her Rage Mode safeties when Beatrix sat down next to him. Close enough their shoulders almost touched.

  "You don't have to keep doing that," she said. "It's past 0200."

  "Yeah, I do." He didn't look up from his tablet. Didn't explain why.

  She watched him work. The focused way his fingers were plugged into the device, allowing him to operate mentally. The small frown when he hit a problem. The tiny satisfied nod when he solved it.

  Comfortable silence. The kind that felt like something. Beatrix noticed Rain had a glitchy mark in his right arm. An old contract, malfunctioning.

  Kivi appeared with stolen protein bars from the medical supply closet. "Dinner. Such as it is."

  "That's theft," Rain noted.

  "I'll turn myself in later." Kivi tossed one to Rain, one to Beatrix. Kept two for herself.

  "Why do you get two?" He protested.

  "I do all the hardware work. Double rations."

  "That's not how it works."

  "It is now."

  Beatrix watched them bicker. Watched them just... be. Normal people having normal stupid arguments about nothing. When had she last had that? When had she last felt like part of something other than survival? Distracted, she reached out for a diagnostic tool near her.

  Rain's hand reached for the same tool. Their fingers touched. Both froze for just a second. That second stretched.

  He cleared his throat. "Need this diagnostic tool or can I borrow it?"

  "Yeah. Take it." Beatrix pulled her hand and looked away, finding the complicit gaze of Kivi staring back. She decided the floor was really interesting to look at, while feeling something in her chest that wasn't pain or fear or guilt. Something warm. Something dangerous.

  Her comm unit pinged.

  [PRIORITY MESSAGE: Dante Aliger]

  The warmth died.

  Rain was the first to notice. "B?."

  She couldn't make herself tap it. Knew what it meant. Knew what he'd seen.

  Kivi glanced up from organizing supplies, hair cycling from focused blue to concerned yellow. "Beatrix?"

  "He knows." Her voice came out flat. Empty.

  Bodhi turned from the window. "About the fight?"

  "About everything."

  The message preview showed on her screen: "I saw. Call me. Now." Five hurting words. The end of every lie she'd been telling.

  "Want us to leave?" Rain asked quietly.

  She did. She didn't. She wanted to not exist for a while.

  "Yeah," she said finally. "I need... privacy."

  They filed out without argument. The door sealed behind them with a soft hiss, the medical room's soundproofing engaging automatically.

  She stood there, dripping, staring at her brother's message.

  Virgil noted unnecessarily.

  "Do I have a choice?"

  "That was rhetorical."

  She accepted the call.

  Dante's face materialized on the holo-display. He looked worse than the last time. The treatment delay showing in the hollows under his eyes, the way his skin had that translucent quality that spoke of systems failing. But his eyes weren't weak. They were furious.

  Silence stretched between them. He was waiting for her to speak first. Waiting for the excuse, the justification, the lie.

  She had nothing.

  "When were you going to tell me?" His voice cut clean.

  "Tell you what?" The words came out automatically. Stupid.

  "Don't. Don't insult me by pretending."

  He turned his screen. Showed her what he'd been watching. News feed. Entertainment category. "Scavenger Executes Cerberus Clan Member in Brutal Display."

  The footage played. Her standing over Troika. Blood on sand. Her shaking hands. Seven strikes. The arena's uncomfortable silence.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The commentator's voice:

  Dante muted it. "That's you."

  Beatrix couldn't speak. Couldn't deny it.

  "Yes," she whispered.

  He didn't look surprised. Just... destroyed. Like watching something he'd known was coming finally arrive.

  "How long?" Voice steady. Too steady. "How long have you been fighting in the Grind?"

  "This was my second real fight. The first was…"

  "I don't care about the count." He cut her off. "How long have you been lying to me?"

  She tried to explain. The desperation. The contract. No other options. He wasn't listening. Not really.

  "You promised Mom." His voice cracked on that word. Broke. "You promised her you'd never go back to the cages."

  "This isn't the cages."

  "Isn't it?" He gestured at the screen. At her. At the blood she could still see even though the shower had washed it away. "You just killed someone. For money. For entertainment. How is that different?"

  "Because I did it for you."

  The silence after that was worse than screaming.

  "No." Quiet. Absolute.

  "Dante…"

  "No. You did it because you can't stop. Because you break yourself into smaller pieces and call it love."

  The hits just kept coming.

  "You think I don't see it?" Dante's crying now but his voice doesn't waver. "You think I don't know you've been burning yourself down to keep me warm? Mom saw it too. That's why she made you promise. Not because fighting is wrong. But… Because you can't stop once you start."

  "I can stop. After this Circle. Once you're…"

  "Once I'm what?" He laughed, bitter. "Healed? Saved?" He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "And what will you be? What's left of you after you've torn yourself apart?"

  "I'm still me."

  "Are you?" He stared at her through the screen. "The sister I know wouldn't hide this. Wouldn't lie about where the money came from. Wouldn't..." He gestured helplessly at the footage still frozen on his secondary screen. "Kill people."

  "I didn't have a choice," Beatrix said, but even she knew how hollow it sounded.

  "There's always a choice. You chose not to tell me. Chose not to trust me with the truth. Chose to make me complicit in whatever this is."

  That's what Blake made her. What the Stygia Contract made her. Now she'd done it to Dante.

  "I got a job," Dante said. Voice going flat. Professional. "Remote data analyst position. Started yesterday…"

  He stopped. Coughed. Not theatrical, just body failing. Took him fifteen seconds to recover.

  "...started yesterday. Pays about fifteen percent of bills if I work sixteen hours…"

  Another pause. This time his hand went to his chest. Pain visible.

  "You okay?" Beatrix asked.

  "...sixteen-hour shifts." He ignored her question. "I can do it. I will do it. I don't need your money."

  But his hands were shaking. She could see it even through the holo-grain.

  "Dante, you can't work sixteen hours. You can barely breathe right now."

  "I can't rest while you're out there destroying yourself for me." The voice was raw now. "I don't want your money, Beatrix. I don't want money from... from that."

  Everything stopped.

  "What?"

  "I'm not taking it. Any of it. The prize money, the fight earnings, none of it. Find another use for blood money. I won't touch it."

  "Dante, no. You can't… the treatment… you need…"

  "I need my sister alive. Not just breathing, but alive. With her soul intact. With some part of her that's still the person Mom raised."

  "My soul isn't worth your life."

  "It is to me."

  He was crying fully now. She was crying. Neither hiding it. Neither looking away.

  "I won't live knowing you became a monster for me," Dante said. "I won't be the reason you cross lines you can't come back from. If that means I die, then I die. But I die knowing you're still you."

  "That's not fair…"

  "None of this is fair." His voice broke completely. "But it's the only thing I can control. I can't save you. But I can stop being your excuse."

  "Just take the money," Beatrix begged. Hated the sound of it. "Please. Just… I'll stop after this Circle. I'll walk away. But take the treatment. Let me…"

  "No." He steadied himself. Wiped his face. "I love you, Bice. That's why I can't. That's why this hurts so much."

  His hand moved toward disconnect.

  "Wait," she said. "Dante, wait…"

  "I hope you win," he said quietly. "Whatever you're fighting for now, I hope you get it. But it won't be for me. Not anymore."

  "Please…"

  "I love you," he whispered. "Remember that. When you don't remember anything else, remember that."

  The feed died.

  She stared at the empty screen. At the place where her brother had been.

  Virgil noted.

  "Please."

  Silence.

  She sat there. Body still shaking from crying. Staring at nothing.

  Dante had refused. Fine. He could refuse.

  But she had choices too.

  Pause.

  The contact appeared on screen. She initiated connection before she could think about it. Before her conscience could kick in.

  A tired-looking administrator appeared. Professional smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Medical Services, financial department. How can I help you?"

  "This is Beatrix Aliger. Patient Dante Aliger, account number 7743-A. I need to discuss payment authorization."

  The administrator pulled up files. "Ah, yes. We received notification from the patient earlier today. He's declined to accept further funding from your source. We'll be suspending treatment pending alternate payment arrangements…"

  "No." Her voice came out cold. "The payments are coming from my earnings. My account. Legally mine to direct. I want the treatment to continue."

  "Ms. Aliger, I understand your concern, but when a patient refuses a specific funding source, we're obligated to respect…"

  "He didn't refuse treatment. He refused to accept money from me. Those are different things." She leaned forward. "The treatment was scheduled. I'm paying. I'm not asking you to force medical care. I'm asking you to process a payment. That's your job."

  The administrator's professional smile faded. "This is... unusual. I'll need to verify with our legal team. Patient autonomy is…"

  "I'm not violating his autonomy. It’s not like he’s refusing treatment. He has scheduled these appointments. He showed up. He wants to live, and someone has to pay." She kept her voice level. "I'm paying. Let him make his choice about treatment without the financial barrier."

  "If he discovers the source…"

  "Then he will decide if he wants to live. But you don't make it for him by suspending care before he even has the option."

  Long pause. The administrator looked at something off-screen. Probably regulations, legal framework, precedent.

  "The payment would need to be processed as an anonymous third-party benefactor. We couldn't disclose the source if the patient inquires."

  "Perfect."

  "Ms. Aliger…"

  "Process the payment. Tomorrow's session happens. Every session after that happens. I'll handle my brother."

  The administrator nodded slowly. "I'll submit the authorization. Treatment will resume as scheduled."

  "Thank you."

  She disconnected and sat in silence.

  Virgil observed carefully.

  "I know."

  "I know that too."

  She stared at the empty screen.

  "Better angry and alive than principled and dead." She stood, legs shaky but holding. "I'll carry that weight. He gets to live."

  Virgil said.

  The team. She'd forgotten about them.