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Belle lingered exactly three steps behind them.
It was a quiet night, the rhythmic sounds of shoes against the bridge's pedestrian walkway formed a steady, unbroken loop.
But Belle wasn't paying attention to the distant city lights or the passing cars. Her gaze was locked entirely on the movements of the two figures strolling in front of her.
If anyone, who knew those two well, saw them right now, their minds would likely short-circuit.
Sarah Floren, the untouchable entrepreneur and secretive Exaltist leader of Janus Quarter branch, had left her imposing red coat in the backseat of the car. Without that heavy fabric dictating her silhouette, her posture was completely stripped of its usual terrifying authority. She walked with her hands loosely clasped behind her back. Every few steps, her body swayed with a light, almost airy momentum. When she listened, she tilted her head toward the person beside her, the sharp angles of her form softening into something remarkably relaxed.
And then there was Wise.
Belle knew her brother’s walking habits better than anyone in New Eridu. As one half of the Anonymous Proxy and Co-Manager of Random Play, Wise usually moved through the streets with subtle attentiveness. His shoulders normally slightly rigid, weight perfectly distributed, eyes always remained observant of his surroundings.
But tonight?
His hands were buried deep in his jacket pockets. The familiar line of tension across his upper back had entirely dissolved. His footsteps were light, unweary, lacking any of the nervous energy he normally carried after a long week of doing Proxy commissions.
Belle narrowed her eyes, tracking the precise distance between them. It was a small thing, but impossible to ignore.
Whenever Sarah slowed her step to let a breeze wash over them, Wise did an immediate pace-adjustment. His sneaker dragged just a fraction of a second on the concrete, killing his momentum to ensure he remained perfectly parallel to her side. And when Wise took a slightly longer stride, Sarah’s heel struck the ground a beat faster, effortlessly closing the gap before it could even form.
"You have to admit, the movie relied far too heavily on cheap lighting tricks in the final act," Wise’s voice drifted back to Belle. His tone was a casual critique for the movie they just watched.
"Perhaps.” Sarah replied. The usual manipulative tone of her voice was completely absent, replaced by a quiet, teasing veil. "Then again, your pulse spiked during the basement sequence. The tricks were effective enough for that."
"I was surprised by the sudden volume shift that came with it. Not the monster."
"Ah, what a convenient excuse."
A comfortable silence fell between them. Belle watched the empty space between their arms.
Three inches. Sometimes two.
A gust of wind brushed past, and Sarah leaned just a millimeter closer to Wise's side, as if instinctively seeking the warmth radiating from his jacket. Wise didn't pull away, he just kept his hands in his pockets and matched her pace.
Belle bit the inside of her cheek to stop a grin. What could she tell from this? Were they enemies? Were they on the opposing sides of an ideological war?
Nah. Not out here. Not with the way their presences kept pulling them into the same, familiar gravity.
A millimeter of fabric brushed. Wise’s sleeve against Sarah’s arm. A fleeting contact. Neither flinched. Neither shifted an inch away from each other.
It was a fluid motion.
It was an accidental intimacy that spoke louder than any of Sarah's carefully constructed reputation or Wise's well-guarded Proxy identity.
Belle watched the subtle shift in their weight, the way the invisible tug-of-war they usually engaged had completely dissolved into a shared moment.
She reached into her pocket. Her fingers curled around the smartphone. She couldn't help it. The scene was simply too rare to let pass.
The highly cunning, charismatic leader of a hidden cult and one half of the legendary Proxy, strolling side-by-side like two ordinary people who had known each other for a lifetime. The suffocating tension of the Hollows, the heavy weight of their respective secrets, all of it evaporated in the narrow space between their synchronized footsteps.
Belle pulled the phone out, her thumb quickly swiping across the glass to unlock the screen. She checked the settings with practiced speed, flash disabled, shutter sound entirely muted. A Proxy's instinct for stealth, applied strictly to a sister's teasing indulgence.
She lifted the lens and framed the shot.
The screen illuminated the two figures walking ahead. The subtle lean of their bodies toward one another formed an undeniable attraction in the center of the frame.
Click.
A silent capture.
Belle lowered the device, her screen displaying the frozen image of their shared walk. She grinned to herself, quickly saving the image to a hidden, encrypted folder. It was another premium ammunition preserved for later, maybe something along the lines of a quiet reminder that her brother and Sarah were actually capable of lowering their walls in each other's presence.
Up ahead, the unbroken rhythm of their footsteps finally ceased.
Sarah paused, her heels coming to a smooth halt on the concrete. She turned her head, the soft expression lingering on her features as she looked back over her shoulder.
Wise stopped a fraction of a second later, perfectly mirroring her movement, his calm gaze finding Belle in the moonlight.
"Belle," Wise called out. "You're falling behind."
“Are you tired?” Sarah offered a gentle smile, her hands still resting playfully behind her back. “We can slow down our pace if you need a moment."
"I'm fine!" Belle chirped, slipping the phone back into her pocket before either of them could register the movement.
She bounded forward. A light, tip-toeing spring carried her steps. A bright energy built up in her chest. As she closed the distance, she caught the faint, lingering warmth of their shared space.
"Just admiring the view," Belle added, her smile widening as she slotted herself into step beside them.
Wise raised an eyebrow with a faint flicker of mild suspicion, but the tension in his shoulders remained entirely absent. Sarah merely hummed in amusement and resumed her relaxed sway.
The three of them moved forward, their footsteps falling effortlessly back into sync.
/