Date: Sixteenth Day
Location: Outskirts of Narshia Border Woods
Weather: Cloudy sky, stifled breeze
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The woods were calm that day.
Too calm.
No birds. No monsters. No bandits.
Even the wind passed through the trees without a whisper.
Like the world was holding its breath.
And so were we.
---
Anna
Anna hadn't laughed all day.
She still smiled. Still twirled her fingers and made a small firebird chase Riya's bun through the air.
Still teased Leander when his sword snagged on a branch.
But the light in her eyes was dimmer.
And her jokes didn't land like they used to — not because they weren't funny,
but because she didn't wait to laugh.
She cast her illusions faster than normal. Sharper. Too clean.
At one point, she summoned a puppet shaped like Nitsuo holding a sign that said:
> "This is your commander. This is your commander on silence."
Everyone chuckled.
Except Lily.
She was watching Anna's hands — how tightly they clenched between spells.
---
Riya
Later, Riya sat beside Anna near the stream, brushing her hair into a braid.
She didn't say much. Just hummed softly.
But she watched the way Anna stared at her reflection — and how her eyes darted away before they could settle.
Riya offered a flower to place in her braid. Anna took it, smiled, then quietly… dropped it behind her back when Riya wasn't looking.
---
Leander
That evening, as firelight flickered between tents, Leander plopped down next to Anna with a loud groan.
> "If I have to eat one more moss-flavored biscuit, I'm going to declare war on the entire plant kingdom."
Anna smirked. Barely.
> "You'd lose. Trees have more spine than you."
He grinned.
> "Yeah, but I've got charm."
Silence lingered.
Then he leaned in, voice gentler:
> "You okay?"
Anna blinked.
> "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm okay."
> "That's not a real smile," he said. "Yours usually makes Elric flinch."
She paused. Then forced a grin, wide and toothy.
> "Better?"
> "Now you look like a deranged squirrel."
She laughed — briefly. But it stopped too fast.
And when it did, something in her face sagged.
She whispered:
> "Do you think we'll go back to who we were after all this?"
Leander stared at the fire. His voice was almost too soft.
> "Yeah. Of course."
But his eyes didn't match the words.
Anna nodded, like she believed him.
But when he walked away…
She wiped the edge of her eye with the back of her glove.
---
Lily
Lily saw it.
All of it.
But she didn't speak — not yet.
That night, she wrote something in her notebook by the fire.
A line she wouldn't show anyone.
> "Some people break with screams.
Others with silence.
Anna's mask is cracking…
I just pray we notice before it shatters."
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Final Lines – Nitsuo's Journal (Unspoken Entry)
> "The team's gone quiet.
Words replaced by glances.
Humor replaced by habit.
Anna's laughter is too perfect now.
Leander's jokes too timed.
Riya's smile too persistent.
And I?
I watch the cracks.
Because someone has to see them
before they bleed."
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