Re-Awakened: I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner

Sophie took a seat on one of the built-in benches, her posture tense but determined. "So," she said, meeting his eyes directly, "are we going to keep pretending that night didn't happen?"

"I wasn't planning to," Noah replied, settling across from her. "But I also wasn't sure how to bring it up without making things weird between us."

"Things are already weird between us," Sophie pointed out. "Have been since we woke up in that bed with three other people."

Noah ran his hands through his hair, a gesture that had become habitual when he was trying to organize complicated thoughts. "Sophie, you know it wasn't our fault, right? The pheromones, the chemical manipulation—we weren't in control of our decisions."

"I know that," she said quickly. "My rational mind knows that. But..." She trailed off, looking down at her hands.

"But?"

Sophie was quiet for a long moment, and when she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "But there's this part of me that can't stop wondering if maybe... maybe the drugs just lowered our inhibitions enough to act on things we already wanted."

The words hit Noah like a physical blow. He'd been trying not to think about that exact possibility for days.

"What are you saying?" he asked carefully.

"I'm saying that Zara—the girl with the pheromone abilities—she specifically told us that her power only works on feelings that are already there. That she can't make people want things they don't actually want." Sophie looked up at him, her eyes reflecting a mixture of confusion and something that might have been hope. "So if that's true..."

"If that's true, then we chose to be with those people because some part of us actually wanted to," Noah finished.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a moment, both processing the implications of what they were discussing.

"But here's what I don't understand," Noah said finally. "Back at the academy, when I was spending time with Lila, you were furious. You called it cheating, said I was betraying what we had together. But now..."

"Now I was right there with you," Sophie said, her voice tight with self-recrimination. "Participating. Enjoying it. Being the aggressor half the time."

"So which version is the real Sophie?" Noah asked, and there was no accusation in his voice, only genuine confusion. "The one who wants exclusivity, or the one who's open to sharing?"

Sophie buried her face in her hands. "I don't know! That's the problem, Noah. I honestly don't know which version of me is more authentic."

"Tell me about the academy thing," Noah said gently. "When you got angry about Lila. What were you really feeling?"

Sophie was quiet for a long time, clearly trying to sort through complex emotions. "Jealousy," she said finally. "But not just the normal kind. It was this... this possessive rage that felt completely out of proportion to what was actually happening."

"Out of proportion how?"

"You were just talking to her, Noah. Having conversations, perhaps there was more and actually there was that one time. But in my head, it felt like you were choosing her over me, like every moment you spent with someone else was proof that I wasn't enough." She looked up at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "It was irrational and controlling, and I knew it even then."

"So what changed?" Noah asked. "Between then and that night at the club?"

Sophie laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Maybe I finally admitted to myself that the possessive jealousy wasn't making either of us happy. Maybe I realized that trying to be your only source of intimate connection was putting pressure on both of us that wasn't fair."

She stood up and began pacing in the garden space, her movements sharp and agitated. "Or maybe the drugs just revealed something I'd been denying about myself. Maybe I actually like the idea of sharing experiences with other people, and I was too scared or too culturally conditioned to admit it."

"And maybe," Noah said carefully, "it's more complicated than either explanation."

Sophie stopped pacing and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean maybe we're both different people now than we were at the academy. We've been through combat together, we've faced life-and-death situations, we've had to rely on each other in ways that changed how we relate to the world." Noah stood up as well, moving closer to her. "Maybe the person you are now is someone who can handle complexity in relationships, while the person you were then wasn't ready for that yet."

"So you think I've grown out of jealousy?"

"I think you've grown into someone who trusts me enough to know that being intimate with other people doesn't diminish what we have together."

Sophie stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "You're giving me way too much credit, Noah. I was jealous as hell that night too. But it was different. Instead of wanting to control you, I wanted to... I don't know, compete? Prove that I could be more exciting than they were?"

"And how did that feel?"

"Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time," she admitted. "Like I was discovering parts of myself I didn't know existed."

Noah reached out and took her hands, his touch gentle but steady. "Sophie, I need you to know that I was just as confused as you were. Maybe more so."

"How so?"

"Because I enjoyed it," he said simply. "Not just the physical aspects, but the... the emotional side of it. Being with you while also being with other people, watching you explore your own desires, feeling like we were sharing something instead of competing for it."

Sophie's breath caught. "Really?"

"Really. And that scared the hell out of me, because it meant questioning everything I thought I knew about love and relationships and what I actually wanted." Noah's grip on her hands tightened slightly. "It made me wonder if the exclusive, monogamous relationship model is something I actually want, or just something I think I'm supposed to want."

"And what conclusion did you come to?"

"I didn't," Noah said with frustration. "That's the problem. I still don't know. Part of me loved sharing that experience with you, loved seeing you confident and uninhibited and exploring your own pleasure. But part of me also felt like I was betraying something important about what we have together."

Sophie was quiet for a moment, processing his words. "So we're both confused."

"Spectacularly confused," Noah agreed.

"And we're both questioning fundamental assumptions about what we want from relationships."

"Seems like it."

Sophie pulled her hands free and resumed pacing. "Okay, so let me ask you this: if we could go back to that night, knowing what we know now about the pheromones, would you do it again?"

The question hit Noah like a gut punch. "I... that's not fair."

"Why not?"

"Because it asks me to separate the experience from the context. Would I choose to be intimate with those specific people under those specific circumstances? Probably not. But would I choose to explore that kind of dynamic with you in a setting where we both had complete control over our decisions? Maybe."

Sophie stopped pacing and turned to face him fully. "Maybe?"

"Sophie, I'm not going to lie to you. The idea of sharing intimate experiences with other people, with you as a full participant rather than a victim of circumstance, is something I find intriguing. But I'm also terrified that exploring it would change what we have in ways I'm not prepared for."

"Change it how?"

"I don't know! Maybe it would make us stronger, more honest about what we actually want. Or maybe it would create jealousies and complications that would tear us apart." Noah's voice was rising with frustration. "Maybe it would help us grow as individuals, or maybe it would make us treat each other as interchangeable with other people."

Sophie sat back down, her expression thoughtful. "Those are all possibilities."

"Yeah, they are. And I don't know how to weigh them against each other."

They sat in silence for several minutes, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Sophie spoke up.

"Noah, can I ask you something else?"

"Of course."

"That night... did you feel like I was different? Like I was someone else?"

Noah considered the question carefully. "You were more assertive than usual. More... comfortable with your own desires. But you didn't feel like a different person. You felt like a version of yourself that had permission to fully express things you normally keep controlled."

"That's exactly how it felt from the inside," Sophie said, her voice filled with wonder. "Like I was finally allowed to be completely honest about what I wanted, without worrying about judgment or social expectations."

"So maybe that's the real question," Noah said slowly. "Not whether we want to be with other people, but whether we want to give each other permission to be fully honest about our desires, even when they're complicated or unconventional."

Sophie looked at him with something that might have been relief. "You mean like... giving each other room to be complex people instead of trying to fit into simple relationship categories?"

"Something like that."

"I think I could handle that," Sophie said quietly. "The complexity, I mean. As long as we're honest with each other about what we're feeling and what we want."

"Even if what we want sometimes includes other people?"

Sophie was quiet for a long moment. "I think so. But Noah, I need you to promise me something."

"What?"

"I need you to promise that if we ever explore this, it's something we choose together. Not something that happens to us, not something one of us pushes on the other, but something we both actively decide we want."

"I promise," Noah said immediately. "And I need the same promise from you."

"You have it."

They looked at each other across the small space, and Noah felt some of the tension that had been building between them finally begin to ease.

"So where does this leave us?" he asked.

"Honestly? Still confused, but maybe okay with being confused," Sophie replied. "At least now we're confused together instead of confused and avoiding each other."

"I can live with confused together."

"Good, because we're going to have to table this conversation for a while," Sophie said, her expression shifting back to professional focus. "We've got bigger problems to deal with right now."

"Like finding the Eighth Ancestor," Noah agreed.

"Like finding the Eighth Ancestor and getting back to the Vanguard station before someone starts asking questions about why we've been missing for so long."

Noah stood up and moved toward the door. "Ready to rejoin the others?"

"Ready," Sophie said, but she caught his arm as he reached for the door controls. "Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For being honest with me. For not trying to make this simpler than it is."

"Thank you for the same."

She smiled, and for the first time in days, it reached her eyes. "Come on, let's go figure out how to save the galaxy."

They ventured back into the palace to find the team gathered around a holographic display that Lucy had activated using the communication systems. The image showed a star map with several systems highlighted in red.

"What's the situation?" Noah asked, settling into his seat.

"Intelligence reports," Lucy replied without looking up from the display. "We've been monitoring EDF communications and cross-referencing with Raiju surveillance networks."

"Monitoring how?" Diana asked suspiciously.

"Let's just say that being royalty has certain advantages when it comes to accessing restricted information," Lucy said with a slight smile.

Kelvin looked up from his own interface. "She's been hacking government databases while I've been trying to contact someone who can help on Earth. I'm not sure whether I should be impressed or terrified."

"Both," Lucas suggested. "Definitely both."

Lucy highlighted one of the systems on the display. "This is what caught our attention. Sigma-7, an uninhabited system on the edge of explored space. For the past six months, there have been reports of unauthorized human activity in the area."

"What kind of activity?" Lyra asked, her attention immediately focused on the data.

"Ship movements, energy signatures consistent with large-scale construction, communications traffic that doesn't match any known EDF or civilian patterns," Lucy explained. "But here's the interesting part—spectroscopic analysis of the ships suggests human origin, but the design principles are unlike anything in current production."

"Older designs?" Noah asked.

"Much older. We're talking about technology that predates current standardization by centuries. Ships that look like they were built using principles that have been abandoned for generations."

Uncle Dom looked up, "Oh, that sounds familiar. Technological regression combined with isolation breeding. Classic signs of a breakaway civilization."

"A what now?" Kelvin asked.

"A group that separated from mainstream human development and continued evolving along different technological paths," Dom explained cheerfully. "Usually happens when a population becomes isolated for extended periods and develops solutions to different problems than the main civilization."

Sophie frowned. "You think the Eighth Ancestor has been building his own civilization somewhere?"

"It would make sense," Lyra said, studying the data more closely. "If he's been planning this revenge for centuries, he'd need resources, infrastructure, personnel. A hidden base of operations."

"The question is, how do we approach it?" Lucas asked. "If this really is the Eighth Ancestor's stronghold, walking up and knocking on the front door probably isn't the best strategy."

"We need reconnaissance first," Diana said. "Intelligence gathering, threat assessment, understanding what we're up against before we commit to any action."

"Agreed," Noah said. "But we also need to consider timing. We've been away from the Vanguard station for..." He paused, calculating. "Too long. Eventually, someone's going to notice that an entire team has gone missing. Which I'm sure they have a long time ago. Although it's scary no word has gotten to us from them. Who knows what they are planning to do with us?"

Kelvin's interface chimed with an incoming message. "Speaking of which, we just received a priority communication from the EDF. They're requesting a status update on our current mission."

"What mission?" Sophie asked.

"That's the problem," Kelvin said grimly. "According to this communication, we were supposed to report back from a routine training exercise two weeks ago."

The team exchanged worried glances.

'Commander Cassandra, I owe you so much!' Lucas thought for a second but didn't say a word to the others.

"How much trouble are we in?" Noah

"Well," Kelvin said, reading through the message, "the good news is that they're not officially listing us as missing yet. The bad news is that they want us to report to Vanguard Station immediately for debriefing and reassignment."

"Can we stall?" Lucy asked.

"For a little while, maybe. But not indefinitely."

Noah looked around at his team, at the two million elves who were depending on them for shelter, at the evidence of an ancient conspiracy that threatened the stability of human civilization.

"We need to make a choice," he said finally. "Do we return to the Vanguard station and deal with the political consequences of our unauthorized departure, or do we follow this lead to Sigma-7 and risk being declared AWOL?"

"There's a third option," Uncle Dom said suddenly, his usual cheerfulness replaced by something more serious. "We split up."

Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Some of you return to handle the political situation," he continued, "while others investigate the Sigma-7 situation. Divide the risk, maintain operational flexibility."

It wasn't a bad idea, Noah realized. But it would mean making decisions about who went where, and those decisions would have consequences that rippled far beyond their current mission.

"We need to decide quickly," Lucy said, "The longer we delay responding to that EDF communication, the more suspicious it's going to look."

Noah looked around at his team—his friends, his family in everything but blood—and realized that whatever they decided in the next few minutes would determine not just the success of their mission, but the future of their relationships with each other.