The Ember and The Queen

Rain's POV

The fluorescent lights above me were too white, too still—like everything else in this room.

The hum of machines, the soft beep of my heart monitor, the whisper of oxygen slipping through tubes—everything sounded distant. Muffled. Like I was underwater. Like I hadn't really surfaced from the darkness yet.

They wheeled me out of ICU an hour ago. Or maybe more. I wasn't sure. Time was sluggish here, slow and heavy. My body ached, my head throbbed with every beat of my heart—but none of it compared to the ache lodged deep in my chest.

It wasn't the pain.

It was the absence.

I could still feel her. Her presence—like heat fading from a seat left just moments ago. On the rail of my bed. In the corner of the room. In the crease of the chair cushion. I felt her near me. I knew she was there.

I saw her.

And still... I told her to leave.

And she did.

Ate Riley sat quietly by my side now, pretending to scroll through her phone. But her eyes flickered to me every few seconds—like she was holding back the urge to ask me the one thing that had been burning since I woke up.

I broke the silence.
"She left?"

Ate Riley blinked and lowered her phone, surprised I finally spoke. "Yeah... she did."

I nodded slightly. The weight in my chest pressed down harder.

"Rain," she said carefully, gently, "bakit mo siya pinaalis?"

I turned my gaze to the window. The city looked gray. Lifeless. Like me.
"Because if I didn't, I'd fall apart again. And I can't do that anymore."

She didn't speak for a while. But she was listening. She always did.

"She never left your side, Rain," Ate Riley said softly. "Not for one second since you were brought in. She... she operated on you. She didn't flinch. She didn't rest. She fought for you like hell. We all saw it."

My throat tightened.
"I know," I whispered.

And I did. Somewhere deep inside, in the haze between life and whatever came after—I felt her. I felt her hands. Her panic. Her voice whispering in the dark. I felt her love, still burning even after all the years and silence.

But I also remembered my pain.

The endless waiting. The questions that went unanswered. The way I searched for her in every crowded room, in every success, in every version of happiness I tried to build without her. I remembered how it felt to love someone who disappeared before the story ended.

"I loved her," I whispered. "I still do. God help me—I do. Even when I told myself to stop. Even when I screamed at myself to let her go... I still do."

A tear slipped down my cheek, tracing the hollow of my temple. I didn't wipe it.

"I gave everything to love her, Ate. But my cup... it's running empty. So I did what I thought was best for both of us," I added, voice cracking. "I should have let her go long time ago"

Ate Riley reached for my hand. Warm. Anchoring.
"If you're tired, Rain, then rest. You're allowed to rest. God knows you've given too much of yourself for too long. I saw everything you gave up. And I believe... I know Kai understands that now more than ever."

She shifted a little, holding my gaze more firmly.
"But if you're going to walk away, Rain... do it right this time. Talk to her. Tell her the truth. Don't leave her with the same silence that broke you both ten years ago. Don't do what you both did back then—because that silence ruined everything."