/~Contrario~/
The wind felt cold as the tournament med drones lifted us out of the cratered arena.
One after the other, they carried the broken bodies of Irish Valley's finest. Renn, unconscious but smiling in his sleep like he'd just finished a game. Seraph, limp, her wings flickering with sparks. Kage and Maxi, side by side, bruised and still breathing.
Jennifer lay nearest to me in the hover pod, wrapped in soft red-blue fields of regenerative light. Her breathing was shallow but steady. She was the only one awake.
Our eyes met.
"You're still with me?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
She gave me a small, weak smile filled with half pride, half exhaustion.
"I'm here," she whispered.
The med bay's platform beneath us hummed as we were taken inside the skyglass-paneled chamber above the arena. Below us, the crowd still roared. The battle replayed on holo-screens, with streamers breaking down every move, every clash, every cry of pain.
I turned back to her. "We won."
