Torres remained seated for exactly eleven seconds.
That alone worried everyone.
Normally, Adrian Alejandro Torres recovered from emotional damage instantly through the power of excessive talking and aggressively unnecessary movement.
Now—
he simply stared at Ryven like his entire understanding of reality had personally betrayed him.
"…over a year," he whispered.
Nobody interrupted him.
Mostly because they wanted to see where this went.
Lucian leaned slightly toward Rafe. "I think we broke him."
Rafe watched Torres carefully. "No." A pause. "He's buffering."
"That's worse."
Torres slowly lifted one hand and pointed weakly toward Mei.
"Mei."
She looked up from her datapad immediately. "Yes?"
"Can you run a genetic confirmation for me?"
The room paused.
Aria blinked once. "…what."
Torres remained completely serious.
"I need to confirm I'm biologically related to House Torres."
Silence.
Then—
Kael started laughing first.
Not loudly.
Just sudden helpless laughter that immediately weakened him enough to make Ryven reach over automatically to steady the tray before Kael launched anchovy ice cream across the room.
"You think this is funny?" Torres demanded weakly.
"You missed two idiots openly dating for over a year," Kael answered between laughter. "Yes." Another laugh. "That's extremely funny."
Torres looked devastated.
"I watched everything," he muttered. "THE SIGNS WERE EVERYWHERE."
"They really were," Sylas admitted calmly.
"You literally climbed through Ryven's dorm window once," Lysander added.
"That was tactical."
"You stole his hoodie."
"It was cold."
"You sat in his lap during simulator review."
"That was—"
Torres stopped.
The room stared at him.
Kael slowly raised an eyebrow. "…continue."
Torres looked personally cornered. "…efficient seating."
The room exploded laughing.
Even Lucian lost composure briefly.
Outside the observation glass, Serena finally looked away toward the hallway because Supreme Commander Serena Benton apparently refused to let her cadets see her laughing at catastrophic stupidity.
Leona failed much harder.
"Oh no," she wheezed softly. "He really didn't know."
Leon leaned against the wall with both arms crossed while openly enjoying Torres suffering. "This might honestly be the funniest thing I've ever seen."
Cassian adjusted his glasses calmly. "I diagnosed the bond before surgery."
Torres looked betrayed immediately. "YOU KNEW TOO?"
Cassian looked genuinely confused. "…yes."
"HOW."
"You synchronize breathing patterns unconsciously."
Silence.
Cassian continued calmly.
"You lean toward each other automatically." Another pause. "Your neural frequencies stabilize faster through proximity."
Kael stopped eating slowly.
Ryven looked away first.
Which honestly answered enough by itself.
Mei tilted her head thoughtfully. "…that explains several irregularities in your combat synchronization."
Torres pointed wildly. "YOU KNEW TOO?"
"I suspected."
"WHY WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW?"
"Because," Aria answered immediately, "you're emotionally loud."
"That is not a diagnosis."
"It should be."
Torres turned toward Darius desperately. "You didn't know either, right?"
Darius considered the question carefully.
"…I thought they were married already."
The room collapsed again.
Torres physically slid lower into his chair.
"I have brought shame upon my ancestors."
Lucian looked thoughtful. "Honestly, House Torres might disown you for poor observational skills."
"YOU ARE NOT HELPING."
Kael grinned tiredly from the bed while stealing another bite from his horrifying food combination.
Ryven noticed immediately.
"…you're smiling too much."
Kael looked innocent. "I almost died." Another bite. "I deserve entertainment."
"You are the entertainment," Aria muttered.
Outside the room, Serena's expression softened briefly while watching her son laugh again.
Not forced.
Not brave for everyone else's sake.
Real laughter.
The kind that reached his eyes.
The kind she honestly had not been sure she would hear again several days ago.
Leona noticed the shift beside her quietly.
"…he looks better."
Serena nodded once slowly. "He does."
But her gaze sharpened again almost immediately afterward.
Because beneath the laughter—
she still saw the exhaustion.
The strain.
Kael sat upright mostly through stubbornness and pure refusal to appear weak in front of his friends.
His movements remained slower than normal.
Careful.
The wrong sky still lingered inside his body whether he admitted it or not.
Inside the room, Mei finally reclaimed control before Torres started another existential breakdown.
"Focus," she said calmly.
Nobody listened.
"Focus," she repeated louder.
That worked slightly better.
Mei activated several floating displays beside the bed showing neural synchronization charts and combat stress analysis.
"Your neural feedback stabilized faster than projected," she told Kael. "That shouldn't have happened this quickly after that level of overload."
Kael looked at the graphs vaguely. "…that sounds positive."
"It sounds impossible."
Ryven answered quietly before Mei could continue.
"The bond accelerated recovery."
The room quieted slightly again.
Because even now—
that still sounded strange aloud.
An Omega pilot.
Bonded.
Alive.
Synchronizing at levels the Federation claimed should not exist.
Lucian folded his arms thoughtfully. "If Parliament learns about this before the inquest…"
"No," Serena said immediately from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Nobody noticed her entering.
That honestly felt very Serena Benton.
The room straightened instinctively.
Even Torres sat upright automatically before remembering he was still emotionally damaged.
Serena stepped inside calmly with Leona, Leon, Krysta, and Cassian following behind.
"You will not discuss this outside secured channels," Serena continued quietly. "Not with instructors. Not with families. Not with anyone."
The atmosphere shifted immediately.
More serious now.
The laughter remained.
But reality returned with it.
Lucian nodded once. "Understood."
Rafe looked toward Serena carefully. "The Federation would remove him from service."
Not a question.
A conclusion.
Serena met his gaze directly. "Yes."
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Because every cadet in that room knew what Kael had done during the Wrong Sky.
They saw him hold collapsing formations together.
Saw him stabilize battlefields.
Saw him survive things nobody should survive.
And the Federation would still try removing him—
because he was an Omega.
Aria looked disgusted immediately. "That's stupid."
"It's policy," Lucian answered quietly.
"That policy almost got all of us killed."
Nobody argued.
Because again—
she was right.
Lucian leaned back slightly afterward, expression sharpening into something colder.
"That law needs to change."
The statement landed differently coming from him.
Not emotional.
Certain.
Rafe nodded once beside him. "So does the orphan intake system."
Now the room focused fully.
"How many cadets were ignored because they didn't fit the model?" Rafe continued. "How many people never received opportunities because the system only recognizes one type of excellence?"
The words settled heavily.
Because they all knew examples now.
Kael had changed that.
Forced them to see differently.
The twins.
Valerie Walsh.
Little Bean.
Camille.
Hana.
People who thrived precisely because Kael ignored traditional categories.
Lucian exhaled slowly. "…we climb high enough eventually."
A pause.
"Then we fix it."
Nobody laughed.
Nobody dismissed it as impossible.
Because sitting inside this Medbay room right now—
surrounded by survivors of the Wrong Sky—
the future suddenly felt much less fixed than before.
Krysta watched the younger generation quietly from near the doorway.
Analyzing.
Not judging.
Just watching the structure forming naturally between them.
The support.
The trust.
The way they gravitated toward one another automatically now after surviving together.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Leon noticed her expression. "You're doing the thing again."
Krysta blinked once. "What thing?"
"The scary genius thing."
"That explains nothing."
"You look like you're planning something illegal."
Krysta looked genuinely offended. "Rude." A pause. "…I'm planning several things."
"That somehow made it worse."
Serena ignored them both gracefully.
"The inquest begins in three days," she said calmly. "Until then, all discussions regarding the Wrong Sky remain restricted."
The room nodded collectively.
Then Torres raised one hand slowly.
Everyone looked at him cautiously.
"…can I still update the board?"
Silence.
Aria smacked him again immediately.
"OW."
"YOU MADE A CATEGORY CALLED 'PROBABILITY OF MARRIAGE BEFORE GRADUATION.'"
"It's statistically relevant now!"
Ryven closed his eyes briefly.
Kael looked delighted.
"You included percentages?" Kael asked.
"Multiple variables."
"Oh my god," Lucian muttered.
Torres sat up straighter immediately now that someone appreciated his work.
"There's also a subsection for likelihood of emotional declarations under combat conditions."
Rafe stared at him. "You need therapy."
"I need validation."
"You need supervision."
"I survived the Wrong Sky. I've earned hobbies."
Krysta finally spoke from the doorway.
"…I want access to the board."
The room froze.
Torres stared at her in awe.
"You understand me," he whispered emotionally.
"Don't encourage him," Leon warned immediately.
Too late.
Krysta walked forward already reaching for a datapad.
"Show me the data categories."
Torres practically vibrated with excitement.
"THERE ARE SPREADSHEETS."
Serena pinched the bridge of her nose slowly while Leona outright laughed beside her.
And for the first time since the Wrong Sky—
the room stopped feeling like survivors waiting for disaster.
It started feeling like Helius again.
Loud.
Chaotic.
Alive.
Exactly the way Kael liked it.