The apartment was quiet, lit only by the soft glow of the city beyond the windows. Cashel sat cross-legged on the couch, a mug of tea cooling in his hands. Leonidas stood at the window, arms folded, watching the skyline pulse with distant sirens.
“I’ve been thinking,” Cashel said, voice low.
Leonidas turned. “About?”
“Children.”
Leonidas blinked. “Ours?”
Cashel nodded. “Dante told me it’s possible. That same-sex Awakened couples can have biological kids. That the pathogen rewrites DNA so thoroughly, it allows for fusion. All it takes is deciding who carries.”
Leonidas walked over slowly, sitting beside him. “You want that?”
“I want the option,” Cashel said. “I want to know that we could build something… lasting. That we’re not just surviving.”
Leonidas took his hand. “Then we’ll explore it. Together.”
The next day, they brought it to Unit 7.
Cashel explained Dante’s research—how Multi-Awakeneds might pass down their abilities, how mixed couples could produce powered or non-powered children. Rhea listened carefully, Milo’s eyes lit up with curiosity, and Tamsin remained unreadable.
“Do we tell the public?” Cashel asked.
Rhea shook her head. “Not yet. Let Dante’s data mature. If it’s real, it changes everything. But we need proof before we change policy.”
Before they could debate further, an alert came through.
A newly Awakened child—Ari, age six—had been targeted by the Sovereign Veil. Her parents were killed during the cocooning process. She emerged alone, terrified, and unstable. Her powers were still undefined, but the Veil wanted her.
Unit 7 mobilized.
They found Ari in a collapsed farmhouse outside Vancouver, curled in a corner, her cocoon cracked and glowing. Cashel approached first, his voice soft, his heat signature lowered.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re safe now.”
Ari looked up, eyes wide and glowing faintly. She reached for him.
Leonidas covered them as the Veil attacked—three operatives with enhanced speed and elemental control. The fight was brutal. Tamsin phased through walls, Milo hijacked their comms, Rhea predicted their moves with eerie precision.
Cashel shielded Ari, using gravity pulses to deflect debris and heat surges to drive back attackers. Leonidas absorbed a kinetic blast and redirected it, sending one operative flying.
When the dust settled, Ari clung to Cashel’s leg, silent but trusting.
They brought her back to base.
News spread fast.
“Multi-Awakened Cashel Vire protects orphaned child.” “Sovereign Veil targets minors.” “Is the future of power in bloodlines?”
Cashel’s father called.
“I saw the footage,” he said. “You were… incredible.”
Cashel swallowed. “Thanks.”
His father hesitated. “If you and Leonidas ever… have a child. I’d like to meet them.”
Leonidas’s mother messaged too.
“I’m scared,” she wrote. “But I’m proud. You’re doing something good.”
That night, Ari slept curled between Cashel and Leonidas on the couch, her small body warm, her breathing steady.
“She’s already attached,” Leonidas murmured.
“She’s lost everything,” Cashel replied. “We’re all she has.”
Leonidas kissed his temple. “Then we’ll be enough.”
Outside, the world debated power, politics, and legacy.
Inside, they built something stronger.
Family.
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