He was a ruin.
The feed's viewers catalogued it in horrified real time: the seared wound above his hip, the opened forearm, the blood dried down one side of his face from scalp to collar, armor plates missing in strips where the flensers had peeled them.
He came out of it all upright, unhurried, Alice's head tucked against the plate over his heart.
The little sister had fallen asleep in his arms as soon as she ensured her brother was safe.
The gate's last motes lifted off the rubble behind him and winked out. Where a dimensional tear had stood, there was nothing but evening air over a broken market.
Kaiden looked down at the small, exhausted face against his chest. Every step of that descent, she had been above his head, burning herself down to keep the dark off his back.
"You're far too amazing, partner," he told her quietly. "Thank you for everything."
Alice slept on. The corner of her mouth curled anyway, as if the words had found her wherever she was.
