The once-unstable planet was now in ruins, massive cracks running deep into its core, the sky above now a swirling void of black and gold.
Amid the rubble, Tim and Rei lay motionless - their powers drained, their transformations undone.
Tim's Solar suit had vanished, leaving him in his torn, burnt battle clothes. Rei's Lunar robes were reduced to rags, her aura flickering faintly around her.
They were just Tim and Rei now - two broken warriors who could neither transform nor fight as the ultimate attacks took the toll.
Both of them thought. "The Ultimate power is already used up and can never be used again. I could have never imagined, I would have to waste it on this fight."
They were laying beside each other.
Their hands were inches apart as they slowly found each other.
There hands touched and gripped.
For a long moment, there was only the sound of their ragged breathing.
Then -
Flashes of the past struck both of them like lightning bolts.
A boy with white hair, smiling brightly, showing off a small toy robot.
A girl with black hair, sitting quietly beside him, distant yet curious deep inside.
Tim offering the girl half of his sandwich.
The girl - Rei - the silent, outcast preferred solitude and him following her out of curiosity trying to solve her like a puzzle.
Then -
A sudden darkness. Screams. Dark tendrils pulling them apart.
Their eyes widened.
"You... were the girl," Tim rasped, realization crashing over him. "The one from Earth. The one I met when I was 10."
Rei's expression was blank for a moment - then a faint flicker of recognition crossed her face.
"And you... the cheerful boy from that time."
Her voice, soft and distant, seemed to belong to a different Rei - a younger one.
Tim's grip on her hand tightened.
"Rei... it's really you."
Still too weak to move, they lay side by side, the crumbling world threatening to cave in beneath them - yet, for a brief moment, it didn't matter.
"Fifteen years..." Tim said quietly, staring at the dark sky. "I've spent fifteen years training to become the Solar Warrior... fighting to protect Soluna."
Rei's eyes stayed fixed on the sky as well. "I spent those same fifteen years under Dark Void's guidance. He took me in when I had nothing."
Her voice was calm but laced with a hidden pain.
Tim turned his head slightly toward her. "Rei, Dark Void isn't saving the universe. He's destroying it. His way isn't justice - it's control."
Rei didn't answer right away. Her grip on Tim's hand remained firm - yet her silence spoke volumes.
"You don't understand," she finally said. "The universe is broken - full of discrimination, betrayal, and pain. I've seen it. I've lived it."
Her voice hardened. "Dark Void wants to fix it - to create true order. He sees what others don't."
Tim's heart sank. "But Rei... ruling by fear isn't justice. You can't force people to change."
Rei's lips pressed into a thin line.
"And what do you suggest?" she said bitterly. "Waiting for them to wake up and realize they've been cruel and selfish? Letting them trample the weak while we beg them to change?"
Tim shook his head. "Change happens slowly by showing people a better way, not forcing it on them."
Rei closed her eyes. "I don't need their opinions. They don't know what's right - I do."
Tim's hand tightened on hers.
"I won't let you become a victim of Dark Void," Tim said softly but firmly. "I won't lose you again."
Rei didn't pull away.
Her voice was quiet now - almost a whisper.
"You're still a fool, Tim. Like you were 15 years ago."
He didn't flinch. "Then I'll be the same fool if it means stopping you."
For the first time, a faint smirk crossed Rei's lips - not one of malice, but... something else.
"You really are ridiculous."
Tim blinked - confused by the sudden change in her tone.
Rei's eyes softened just a bit.
"I've never had a conversation like this before," she admitted. "Even though we're enemies."
Despite everything - the battle, the destruction, their broken bodies - there was a strange, unspoken warmth between them.
Two enemies - yet also two long-lost friends.
And though their paths now seemed irreversibly divided, for this single moment - they were just Tim and Rei again.
Alone on a dying planet, with only each other.
After a few tense moments...
The ruined planet was eerily silent.
Tim and Rei, still lying side by side, their hands loosely intertwined, remained unable to move - their energy spent.
But the quiet didn't last long.
A dark pulse rippled through the sky.
From above, a swirling black vortex formed, and descending from its core - with his imposing, shadowy figure wrapped in a cloak of darkness - was Dark Void.
His very presence seemed to poison the air, casting an unnatural chill over the broken battlefield.
His glowing crimson eyes gleamed with wicked satisfaction as he observed the two fallen warriors.
"What a beautiful sight," Dark Void mused, his voice smooth yet filled with cruel amusement. "The great Solar and Lunar Warriors... reduced to nothing but broken children."
Tim's teeth clenched, his body unresponsive, but his glare still burned like a dying ember.
Rei, her breathing shallow, forced herself to look up at Dark Void - the very being she had followed for fifteen years - the one she believed was her savior, her guide.
"My plan worked perfectly," Dark Void continued, circling them like a predator. "Two warriors, destined to unite Soluna... now tearing each other apart instead. A dream come true."
He grinned, spreading his arms. "Solar and Lunar Warriors- destroying each other so I no longer have to dirty my own hands."
Rei's mind spun.
The words hit her like a hammer - but she didn't want to believe them.
"You... used me..." she whispered, though her voice trembled.
Dark Void chuckled. "Used you? No, my dear Rei - I molded you. I made you strong. Without me, you'd still be that weak, pathetic girl suffering from loneliness and betrayals, constantly harrassed at some orphanage, being helpless. I saved you from that and made you realize to hold your ground against those insignificant creatures. Everyone is looking for a chance to betray so I believe they don't have a right to exist and should be ruled over to show them there place. But now it seems your usefulness has expired. You seemed to have formed a little bond with your enemy. Your resolve is weakened, No, you seemed to have lost your resolve."
Her breath caught in her throat.
The memory - her life at the orphanage was truly tragic. But everything she beleived about Dark Void trying to aid her in her revenge and bringing true justice, it was false.
Rather she had always been a disposable tool for him who lost her purpose now. She always felt she would get Dark Void's support even at her worse because he truly cares about true justice.
She didn't feel right about it as her entire world was crashing in front of her.
This was definitely not real justice.
And she realized maybe Tim... he wasn't entirely lying.
Her hand instinctively tightened around Tim, even though she didn't fully understand why.
Dark Void's smirk deepened as he raised one hand - a swirling sphere of black energy forming at his fingertips.
"It's time to end this charade," he said coldly. "You two would have been potential obstacles for me in the future. But I make sure you never exist."
The dark sphere crackled, growing larger - aimed at both Tim and Rei.
Rei's body froze. She had no strength left to fight back and was reluctant to accept her defeat after realizing her entire life was a lie.
But then -
At the last possible second -
Tim moved.
Through sheer willpower, he threw himself over Rei, his back fully exposed to Dark Void's attack.
"Tim-!" Rei's voice broke.
The dark energy struck him squarely in the back - a searing blast of pain ripping through his body. The explosion sent him crashing onto the fractured ground, blood spilling from his mouth.
The impact echoed across the broken planet, and for a moment - there was only silence again.
Tim lay there, barely breathing.
Rei stared in horror.
Dark Void laughed. "You fool."
He stepped closer, towering over Tim's broken form.
"You would rather die... for someone who wanted to kill you?"
Tim's vision blurred, but his lips curled into a faint smile - not of regret, but of quiet resolve.
Through the blood and pain, he whispered:
"I just... didn't want to lose her... again."
Rei's heart twisted.
The boy who once gave her half his sandwich.
The only person who ever showed her kindness.
The one she fought, the one she nearly killed - and yet, he still protected her.
Dark Void tilted his head, his grin fading into a faint scowl.
"Still clinging to foolish attachments, I see," he said, his voice colder.
But before he could strike again, Rei's aura flared - a weak, flickering glow of Lunar energy.
"Don't... touch him," she hissed.
She forced herself to stand, her legs trembling - her Crescent Hatchets lying uselessly on the ground.
Dark Void smirked. "Are you truly defying me, Rei?"
Her heart pounded.
He used me.
He wanted us to destroy each other.
Tim... he atleast tried to...save me despite everything.
Rei's mind spiraled - confusion, anger, guilt - a thousand emotions battling inside her.
But one thing was pretty clear to her now -
Dark Void never cared about justice.
He only cared about control.
Her voice cracked as she finally got the courage to speak, shivering. "You... manipulated me."
Dark Void chuckled. "I gave you purpose."
Rei's hands shook.
"No... you stole it."
Her Lunar power flared weakly again - a mere fraction of what she once had and she launched a desperate attack, hurling a blast of lunar wave at Dark Void.
But he didn't even flinch.
With a flick of his wrist, he deflected it with ease - sending Rei crashing into the rubble beside Tim.
"Pathetic," Dark Void muttered, his disappointment evident.
Rei groaned, clutching her ribs - the pain unbearable - but worse than the physical pain was the sickening realization that she had been a pawn all along.
She looked at Tim - his body broken, his blood staining the ground - and felt a sharp pain in her chest.
Not from Dark Void's attack - but from the weight of her own choices.
He protected me... after everything I did.
As Dark Void stepped forward, his shadow looming over both of them, Rei found herself reaching for Tim's hand again - just like before.
Their fingers intertwined - a fragile but unbreakable bond.
Tim, his breathing ragged, managed to whisper:
"Rei... I won't... let him win."
Her eyes, filled with pain and confusion, met his.
"You're an idiot," she said - but this time, her voice cracked.
Tim smiled faintly. "Maybe... but I'm not giving up on you."
Dark Void's smile returned - a cruel, victorious grin.
"And that's why you will lose."
The dark energy around him intensified, swirling into a deadly storm as he prepared to finish them both off - two broken warriors, too weak to fight back.
And yet - despite the pain, despite the betrayal - Rei's heart began to stir.