Wielder Of The Dragon Flame

Chapter 34

Meanwhile, back at the labor quarters bunker...

The room was dark except for the pale moonlight filtering through the small window near the door, casting a silver rectangle across the wooden floor between their bunks.

 The day's exhaustion should have pulled them both into immediate sleep. Four months in the labor section had trained their bodies to pass out the moment they hit their beds,but tonight, something was different.

Asta lay on his back on the top bunk, his hands folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling he'd memorized over four months. Every crack, every water stain, every place where the wood had warped slightly,he knew them all by heart. 

Beside him, pushed against the wall, his practice sword rested within easy reach. A habit he'd developed early: always keep your weapon close. You never knew when you might need it.

Below him, he could hear Jabber shifting on his bunk, the old wood creaking softly with each movement. The sound was familiar now, comforting in its way. For four months they'd shared this room, existing in parallel but never really connecting. 

Roommates by circumstance, not by choice.

But today had changed something. Today they'd become guild mates. Today Asta had stepped between Jabber and that official's fist, had declared without words that he wouldn't stand by and watch someone get hurt. Today Jabber had named their guild with words that spoke to something deeper than just clever wordplay.

Today they'd actually started to see each other.

"Hey." 

Asta said into the darkness, his voice quiet but clear. 

"Are you still awake down there?"

A pause, then: 

"Yeah. Can't sleep."

"Me neither." 

Asta shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position on the thin mattress.

 "Today was... a lot."

"Mm."

 Jabber's noncommittal sound could have meant anything.

Another stretch of silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Just two people existing in the same space, not quite ready for sleep, not quite sure what to say.

Then Asta heard something unexpected,a soft sound from below that might have been a chuckle. Quiet, barely there, but definitely a laugh.

"What?" 

Asta asked, surprised. He couldn't remember ever hearing Jabber laugh before. 

"What's funny?"

"Just..."

 Another small laugh, this one a bit stronger.

 "Today. All of it. This morning I was lying here thinking about how I'd probably spend the rest of my life breaking rocks and trying to stay invisible. And now I'm in a guild. With people who actually want me there. It's... it's ridiculous."

Asta felt his own lips curving into a smile, even though Jabber couldn't see it. 

"Yeah. Yeah, it is pretty ridiculous. This morning I was worried about not being able to use the dragon flame. Again. For the hundredth time. And now I'm in a guild with Flora and Mira and you, and we're called Ember Watch, and tomorrow we're supposed to train together like we're actual flame wielders preparing for actual missions."

"We are actual flame wielders."

 Jabber said quietly. "Well, three of us are."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah." 

A pause.

 "Does it bother you? That I said that thing about embers? What's left after the fire burns down?"

Asta considered the question seriously. 

"No. Actually, I think it's perfect. We are what's left after everyone else decided we weren't good enough. And you're right,embers aren't dead.They're just waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"For their chance to burn again."

 Asta's smile grew.

 "For someone to give them air and fuel and a reason to reignite. And then they come back even stronger than before."

He heard Jabber shift again, and when he spoke his voice carried a note of something that might have been hope, fragile and uncertain but definitely there. 

"You really believe that? That we can come back from this? That we're not just... finished?"

"I have to believe it." 

Asta said simply. 

"Because the alternative is giving up, and I'm not ready to do that. Are you?"

"No." 

The word came out firm, decisive.

 "No, I'm not ready to give up either."

Then Jabber laughed again, and this time it was louder, more genuine. Asta found himself laughing too, and suddenly they were both lying in their bunks in the dark, laughing like idiots for no particular reason except that the day had been insane and they were still here and they were part of something now.

The laughter eventually faded into comfortable silence again. Asta could hear night sounds through the window,distant voices, someone's boots on cobblestone, the ever-present background noise of the labor quarters that never quite went silent even at night.

"Hey, Jabber?"

 Asta said after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about yourself. Like, actually about yourself. We've been roommates for four months and I barely know anything about you except that you're quiet and you got kicked out of Cassian Xavier's squad."

The silence that followed stretched long enough that Asta thought maybe he'd overstepped, asked for too much too soon. But then Jabber spoke, his voice soft but steady.

"What do you want to know?"....