Echoes of the System

The silence between them wasn't empty. It was loud, filled with everything Ember refused to admit and everything Kai refused to say.

She stepped back first, needing space, needing air. His words clung to her like a second skin.

"You're already part of it."

She hated that he was right.

Ember stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, fingers brushing against the hidden chip. It felt like it was burning through the fabric, branding her with something she didn't want.

"I didn't ask to be part of anything," she muttered.

Kai's expression softened slightly, the hard edges fading just enough to make him seem human again. "No one does. But here we are."

She didn't reply. Couldn't. Instead, she turned, ready to leave, to pretend this conversation never happened—like she'd been pretending her entire life.

But then she heard it.

The distant hum of drones.

Kai's head snapped up, his body tensing. Ember knew that sound too well. It wasn't the casual patrol hum. This was sharper, faster—hunting mode.

"They found you," Kai whispered. Not us. You.

Panic hit her like ice water, cold and fast.

Kai grabbed her wrist—again with that warm grip, like he was trying to remind her she wasn't alone, even if she didn't want to hear it. "We have to move. Now."

They sprinted through the underground tunnels, Kai leading with the precision of someone who'd done this too many times. Ember didn't ask where they were going. She just ran.

But the drones were faster.

A sharp burst of light exploded ahead of them—white, blinding, followed by the deafening crack of an energy pulse hitting concrete. Ember stumbled, coughing on the dust.

Enforcers flooded the tunnel, their black armor gleaming under the flickering lights, visors hiding whatever hollow humanity they still had.

Kai didn't hesitate. He pulled a weapon from his belt—a compact pulse blade that hissed with blue energy. Ember had never seen one this close before. It looked illegal. It was illegal.

But he wasn't the one frozen. She was.

Her feet wouldn't move, her mind screaming at her to do something, but all she could do was watch as Kai lunged into the fight.

He moved like he'd been born for this—fast, precise, ruthless. The pulse blade sliced through the air, leaving trails of blue light. Enforcers fell, one after another, but more kept coming.

One of them aimed directly at Ember.

Time slowed.

She didn't think. Didn't plan. Her body moved before her mind caught up. She grabbed a metal pipe from the ground, swung it with every ounce of fear and fury tangled inside her.

The Enforcer crumpled.

Ember stared at the body, her chest heaving. She'd never fought back before. Not really. And now there was blood on her hands—literal and metaphorical.

Kai grabbed her arm. "Move!"

They ran again, hearts pounding louder than the alarms echoing through the tunnels.

When they finally stopped, hidden in the maze of the city's underbelly, Ember collapsed against a wall, gasping for breath.

Kai crouched beside her, wiping blood from a cut on his cheek. "You did good back there."

She didn't feel good. She felt like she was unraveling.

"This isn't me," she whispered, more to herself than to him.

Kai's gaze met hers, steady and unflinching. "It is now."