The rain didn't stop. It poured through the night, hammering against the hospital windows, drowning out the city's usual noise. It was almost poetic. Almost cruel.
Rea didn't move from the hospital rooftop for a long time. She wasn't sure how much time had passed—minutes, hours, it all blurred together. Andrew had eventually left, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before telling her he'd be inside if she needed him.
She didn't need him.
She didn't need anyone.
She needed Aster to walk through that damn door, smirking, rolling his eyes, making some sarcastic remark about how pathetic they all looked. She needed him to be alive.
But he wasn't.
The world was different now. Colder. Emptier.
She wasn't sure how to exist in it.
---
When she finally forced herself to move, the hospital felt suffocating. Too bright. Too full of people who whispered and tiptoed around her like she was made of glass.
Jaxon had stopped pacing and was sitting silently in the waiting room, his hands pressed together, his face blank. Rina was trying to focus on her laptop, but her fingers weren't moving. The screen was dark.
Christy wasn't in the room.
Rea had a feeling she was wherever Aster's body was.
Eric and Andrew stood in the corner, speaking in hushed voices, but they stopped when they saw her.
She hated that.
Hated how they all looked at her like she was fragile.
She wasn't fragile.
She was just… lost.
---
Aster's funeral was quick.
No grand ceremony. No fancy speeches. Just the people who had fought beside him, standing in the rain, watching as the ground swallowed another part of their family.
Jaxon stood stiffly by the grave, fists clenched at his sides, his jaw locked so tightly it looked painful. Rina stood beside him, looking like she had aged years overnight.
Christy didn't cry.
Rea did.
Silent tears, rolling down her cheeks, mixing with the rain. She didn't wipe them away.
Aster had always teased her about how she never let herself cry.
Now he wasn't here to see it.
---
She didn't speak much after that.
The days passed, but they didn't feel real. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. The fight was over. They had won. Collaway was dead.
So why did it feel like they had lost everything?
Jaxon left first. He didn't say goodbye, just packed his things and disappeared. Rina followed a few days later, saying she needed to go somewhere, anywhere. Eric and Andrew stayed behind, but their presence didn't bring comfort.
Nothing did.
Christy was the only one who still acted the same, but there was a weight behind her usual sarcasm. A bitterness she hadn't tried to hide since that night in the hospital.
And then, one day, Rea woke up and realized she couldn't stay here anymore.
She packed a bag and walked out without telling anyone.
Because if there was one thing Aster had taught her, it was that life didn't wait for anyone.
And if she stayed here, drowning in her grief, she would never find her way back.
So she left.
And for the first time since Aster died, she felt like she could breathe.