"My last mission was the worst."
Ashen watched as the older man's fingers clenched into a fist.
"They sent to a small town, told to set up shop as a butcher. But that was just a front."
"There was a group of scientists there; brilliant minds who had built sothing dangerous. A device that could pierce the Shroud around Earth and see what's beyond it."
Ashen's breath hitched. "Beyond the Shroud? But no one's ever—"
"I know." Braun cut in, his voice grim. "It's supposed to be impossible. The Shroud's been there forever, blocking everything… ships, signals, even light. Only sunlight gets through. But sohow, these scientists cracked it."
"And whatever they saw on the other side terrified them so much that they destroyed their own work." His jaw twitched. "One of them… took his own life not long after. The rest… They started unraveling. Slowly, quietly. Like their minds were rotting from the inside out."
Ashen frowned, unease coiling in his gut. His mind flickered to the black mist from his dreamscape, the haunting presence lurking just beyond sight, before shoving the mory down.
"The organization wanted the device?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Braun nodded. "They tried buying the scientists off; money, protection, anything they wanted. But the group wouldn't budge. So the organization sent in." He let out a slow breath. "My job was to get close, find leverage; secrets, weaknesses, anything they could use to force them to rebuild it."
"Did you?" Ashen's voice was barely above a whisper.
Braun's gaze dropped to his hands, his fingers flexing, as if trying to rid himself of the weight they carried. "I got in deep. Earned their trust. But the more I learned, the more I saw just how afraid they were. One of them… she told that what they saw wasn't just space." He hesitated. "Sothing was out there. Sothing alive. And it was watching us back."
A cold shiver ran down Ashen's spine. "Watching us?"
"That's what she said." Braun's voice was distant, like he was speaking from the edge of a nightmare. "I don't know if it has anything to do with what's happening now, or the monsters we're supposed to fight. But…" He shook his head. "It felt bigger than anyone could handle."
Ashen swallowed, his stomach twisting. Every ti he thought he had a grasp on the situation, the scope widened. "What happened next…?"
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Braun exhaled sharply. "I couldn't go through with it. I didn't give the organization what they wanted." His expression hardened. "I took Jenna and ran. Thought I could leave it all behind. But that was wishful thinking. My past caught up to . Worse—I put my baby's life in danger because of it."
His hands trembled for a mont before he clenched them into fists. "That's when soone ca to with a contract."
Braun fell silent, lost in the mory. His voice, when it ca, was hollow. "It guaranteed my daughter's safety. Nothing more. In return, I had to work for them for twenty years."
Ashen's breath ca slow and asured. "And you took it."
Braun let out a bitter laugh. "I felt like that ten-year-old kid again. Swept away by circumstances I couldn't control. But this ti, it wasn't about hunger or survival… it was about Jenna's life. I had no choice."
His eyes darkened. "The contractor knew everything—who I was, what I'd done, even how the organization worked. I even suspected he was part of it at first… but the disgust in his voice when he spoke of them? That alone told otherwise."
He dragged a hand down his face, his exhaustion palpable. "That's how I ended up here. And Jenna…" His voice broke slightly. "She's back ho. Alone. While I'm stuck in this hellhole. I see her in my nightmares—her face, her voice, begging not to go…"
Ashen exhaled, his own voice tinged with a weary, knowing tone.
"Yeah… The ones who beg you to stay are always the ones you lose."
He didn't know what to think anymore.
Should he condemn Braun for the lives he had destroyed as a spy? Or for the lonely, uncertain childhood he had forced his daughter to endure—never knowing when, or if, her father would co back? Never even knowing who her mother was?
No.
Braun had his share of bla, but most of it wasn't his doing. Life hadn't just broken him; it had bent him and taught him how to stand crooked.
And he had no way out.
But right now, Braun didn't need judgnt. He didn't need a lecture on morality or a reminder of the things he couldn't change.
He needed sothing far rarer. Sothing that had probably been missing from his life for a long, long ti.
Hope.
Ashen pushed himself up slightly, wincing at the sharp sting of pain that shot through his ribs. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to et Braun's eyes. he needed to look sincere enough for Braun to believe him, after all.
"Braun," he said, voice steady, "you didn't know how things would turn out. Life kept dealing you bad hands since you were a kid, and you did what you had to do to survive. And later… to protect your daughter."
Braun shook his head, his eyes rimd red. "Did I? Or was I just a coward?" His voice cracked. "I've spent my life making mistakes, and now they've caught up. If I don't make it back, Ashen… promise you'll look after Jenna. She's all I've got."
Ashen's expression hardened. "I promise."
Braun exhaled shakily.
"But we're not done yet," Ashen continued. "We'll fight these monsters. We'll win. And we'll go ho. Together."
Braun looked up, a faint flicker of sothing—doubt? Hope?—in his tired gaze. "If you believe that… then maybe it's possible."
"I do believe it," Ashen said, firm as iron. "You're not a dreg, Braun. You're a father. A friend. Whatever you did back then… it doesn't change who you are now."
For the first ti, Braun's shoulders eased, as if he longed to hear just those words. He let out a shaky breath, managing a small, worn-out smile. "Thanks, Ashen. For listening. For not turning away."
Ashen only nodded.
Silence stretched between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Braun's confession lingered in the air, but it no longer felt suffocating.
And that… was enough.
*
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