Ethan Knox - December 2120
The mattress dips slightly under our shifting weight as I lie on my side, my entire world narrowed down to the few inches of space between me and Kai.
Even in the dim, shadowed quiet of the cell, I can see the heavy toll yesterday has taken on him. His eyelids flutter, heavy and strained, but he forces them open anyway, fighting a losing battle against sheer exhaustion. I know that look. It isn't just tiredness; it's fear. He is terrified that if he lets his guard down, if he drifts off for even a second, I'll vanish into thin air, or worse, the fragile reality we are holding onto will shatter.
"You can sleep, you know," I murmur, keeping my voice soft, like a physical blanket to wrap around his frayed nerves. I offer him a gentle smile, letting every ounce of my affection show. "I'll stay here with you."
"I'm not tired," he lies. His voice is a raspy whisper, stubborn to a fault.
A wave of tender warmth rushes through me. I reach up, my fingers moving slowly so as not to startle him, and gently rub the pads of my thumbs against the dark circles carved beneath his eyes. "These say otherwise," I tease softly, my smile widening.
For a beautiful, fleeting second, a genuine smile touches his lips. My heart does a familiar, frantic flutter in my chest a reminder of how effortlessly he can undo me. But just as quickly as it appears, the warmth vanishes from his face, swallowed by the cold reality around us.
Clink.
The sharp, metallic sound of a knuckle tapping against iron bars shattered the quiet. We both turn toward the noise. Standing on the other side of the cell door are Finn, Gerald, and Monica.
"Are we intervening in your lovely-dovey time?" Monica asks, leaning forward with a slight, knowing smirk.
Instantly, the air in the room shifts. Beside me, I feel Kai's entire body go rigid. The soft, vulnerable boy from a second ago disappears, replaced by a defensive wall.
"Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up," Monica continues, her tone light and teasing.
I immediately move to help Kai sit up, my hands stabilising him since his wrists are still bound by the heavy restraints. I keep a lingering, reassuring touch on his back as he stands and takes a hesitant step toward the bars. The weight of his guilt practically radiates off him, suffocating the room.
"Monica... I'm-" Kai starts, his voice cracking, the unspoken apologies hanging heavy in the air.
But before he can spiral into remorse, Monica waves a dismissive hand, cutting him off. "Oh, forget about it. Did you actually think you could kill me that easily?"
"How are you feeling?" Finn chimes in, his steady gaze fixing on Kai.
"Like shit," Kai admits bluntly. Then, his eyes flicked past them, searching the empty hallway. "Where's Noah?"
I swallow back a bittersweet sigh. Of course. Even when he is the one locked behind bars, exhausted and broken, his mind immediately goes to protecting everyone else. He cares more about Noah's state than his own survival.
"In the lab, like always," Finn answers.
Kai shifts his gaze, his shoulders dropping a fraction. "Looks like you're doing better."
Gerald smiles, adjusting his posture. "Yeah, that Sophie sure has a great ability."
As the casual banter fills the cramped space, I tune out the specific words and focus entirely on the room's emotional climate. My chest loosens slightly. I can see the rigid tension bleeding out of Finn and Gerald's shoulders. They had walked down here expecting a shell of the boy they knew. Seeing Kai talking normally is letting them breathe again.
The future lines in my mind, usually a chaotic, tangled mess of worst-case scenarios, begin to settle into a calmer, quieter hum.
Until Finn reaches for his keys.
The metallic jingle is deafening. Finn leans over, unlocks the cell door, and swings it open with a heavy creak. He steps inside, extending a hand toward the heavy cuffs binding Kai's wrists.
But the moment Finn takes that step, Kai flinches away, taking a sharp step back.
"What are you doing?" Kai's voice is suddenly laced with panic.
"You don't need them anymore, Kai," Finn says calmly, taking another step forward to bridge the gap.
Kai backs up again, his heels nearly hitting the edge of the bed.
"Will you stop that?" Finn groans, rubbing his eyes in sheer frustration, his patience wearing thin.
"You can't take them off," Kai insists. The finality in his voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Everyone freezes, their eyes locking onto him.
The calm energy in the room instantly curdles into thick, suffocating dread. My stomach drops. I can feel the invisible threads of the future suddenly fraying, snapping in a dozen different directions, clouded by Kai's overwhelming fear of himself.
I can't let him slip back into that dark, isolated place. I won't allow it.
Moving quickly, I step up right beside him, close enough that he can feel my body heat, close enough to anchor him back to reality.
"Kai," I say softly, injecting as much fierce, unwavering certainty into my voice as I can muster. "You'll be fine. You won't hurt anyone."
"You don't know that," he whispers, looking at me with eyes so full of terrified conviction it nearly breaks my heart.
From the doorway, Monica lets out a loud, impatient huff. "Will you just come out already before I drag you out?"
Beside her, Gerald quickly nudges her arm, giving her a warning look to back off, but the damage is done. The tension in the cell is a taut wire, ready to snap, and I grip the edge of Kai's sleeve, silently vowing that no matter which way the future tilts, I am not letting go.
I shift my grip from the edge of his sleeve, sliding my hand down until my fingers wrap firmly around his locked wrists. The metal of the cuffs is cold against my palms, a harsh contrast to the frantic, hammering pulse I can feel beating in his veins.
"Can you two give us a second," I say, not looking back at Monica and Gerald. My voice is quiet, but it carries a weight that cuts right through the lingering impatience in the doorway. Behind me, I hear Gerald mutter something low to her, and the restless shifting of their boots finally stalls.
I step even closer, completely cutting off Kai's view of the open cell door, of Finn, of everything outside this tiny perimeter. I need him to look only at me.
"Kai, look at me," I murmur, tilting my head to catch his downcast gaze. When his panicked, dark eyes finally meet mine, my heart aches at the sheer desperation swimming in them. "You are not a monster. You survived yesterday. We survived it. Leaving this cell doesn't mean you're letting go of control."
"Ethan, you don't understand," he whispers, his voice cracking as he tries to pull his restricted hands away from my grip. I don't let him. I just hold on tighter, grounding him.
"It's still there. Under the surface. If I go out there and something happens... if I lose it again..." He looks past my shoulder at Finn, then back to me, his eyes wide with a terrifying certainty. "I won't risk it. I won't risk hurting you. Or them."
"You aren't going to hurt anyone" I say, my voice dropping into that fierce, unyielding tone that only comes out when he's trying to destroy himself. "Because I'm going to be right next to you the entire time. I am not leaving your side, Kai. Not for a second and if you do feel like you're slipping away, I will see it first."
Kai swallows hard, his jaw clenching as he looks at the open door, then down at the heavy steel binding his wrists. He's drowning in his own fear, fighting a war against his own mind, and I can see him desperately looking for a compromise, any foothold that will keep him from slipping entirely into the abyss.
"Fine," he breathes out, the word raw and strained. He looks up at me, his eyes pleading. "I'll go. I'll leave the cell. But only if the cuffs stay on."
Finn frowns, stepping forward. "Kai, that's ridiculous, you can't just walk around the school-"
"Finn, stop," I interrupt sharply, raising a hand to cut him off without breaking eye contact with Kai.
I read the emotional weather of the room, feeling the precise point where Kai's anxiety will tip into total shutdown if we push him too hard.
If these chains are the only anchor that makes him feel safe enough to take a step forward into the light, then I will let him keep them. For now.
"Okay," I say softly, offering him a small, reassuring smile that I force all my own worry into hiding. I squeeze his bound hands gently. "If that's what it takes to get you out of this room, we keep them on. Deal?"
Kai lets out a long, shaky breath, his shoulders dropping a fraction of an inch as the immediate panic recedes, replaced by a exhausting relief. "Deal," he whispers.
Finn sighs, rubbing the back of his neck, but he steps back and pockets the keys, gesturing toward the open hallway.
"Alright," Finn says quietly. "Let's go."
"Come on, sleeping beauty," I tease softly in his ear, letting my usual playful warmth bleed back into my voice to cut through the remaining dread. "Let's go see what Noah is blowing up in the lab."