Ethan Knox - July 2120
Maybe I shouldn't have pushed him so quickly. Of course he wouldn't handle it well, not after being locked away in that facility for so long. But I just wanted to show him how different this place is, how much better it could be for him.
He still hasn't fully settled on the idea of staying, and I know I have to do everything I can to persuade him. I can't let his father drag him back to that place. I won't.
But now, standing here in the corridor beside him while he tries to catch his breath, my chest aches with the realisation of what I've done. I was being selfish, rushing him like that. And now I've probably done more harm than good.
I need to say something, anything, to make this right, but the words don't come. Which is rare for me.
Before I can figure it out, footsteps echo down the corridor. We both turn, and Ray appears, wearing that signature grin of his.
"Good to see you finally up, sleeping beauty," he says to Kai.
"Morning, Ray," I reply before Kai has to.
Kai tenses beside me, likely remembering last night's fight. I'm still shocked by how effortlessly he took Ray down. Ray's one of the strongest fighters we have; I've never seen him lose in close combat.
But really, I shouldn't be surprised. The way that punching bag used to shake under Kai's fists at the facility… it still sends a chill through me.
I can feel tension building in Kai again, like he's bracing for something, but Ray just sticks out a hand for him to shake.
Kai glances between Ray's hand and his face, suspicious, like he expects a trick.
"Let's start over. I'm Ray. Ray Turner," Ray says, still smiling.
After a moment of assessing him, he takes the hand.
"I'm Kai Langford," he says quietly.
Ray claps him on the back, hard enough to make him step forward a little.
"Tell you what, you're one hell of a fighter," Ray laughs.
The comment catches Kai off guard. He looks awkward, almost shy and for some reason, I find that ridiculously endearing.
"You're telling me," I add with a grin. "Even when I could see each attack coming, I still couldn't avoid it."
Kai keeps flicking his gaze between us like he's waiting for something to explode, and it hits me again just how different his world has been from ours. From mine. He doesn't know what to do with casual friendliness. Not yet anyways.
So I soften my smile, try to make myself as non-threatening as humanly possible, even though my heart is still doing anxious somersaults.
Ray, of course, barrels straight ahead. "Seriously," he says, nudging Kai with his elbow, "you move like someone twice your size. Scared the life out of me for a second there."
Kai stiffens at the nudge, not used to that rough friendliness, and I instinctively step just a little closer to him, but not enough to crowd him, just enough that he knows he's not alone.
"Ray gets dramatic when someone bruises his ego," I joke, elbowing Ray lightly.
"Cheeky Sod" Ray protests, but he's laughing.
Kai just blinks at us again. He looks… confused. Like he's waiting for the punchline, or the trap, or the moment when Ray will suddenly decide he will attack him.
My chest squeezes painfully. He deserves so much better than what he's been given.
Ray must sense it too, because he sobers slightly. "Look, Kai," he says, tone warming, "yesterday got heated. My fault as much as anything. But we're good, yeah?"
Kai hesitates again, he always hesitates, and I wish he didn't have to.
But then he nods. Just once. "Yeah… we're good."
Ray flashes that big grin of his. "Great. Now I can brag that the only person to ever take me down here is the new guy."
I can't help but laugh, bright and embarrassing and too loud, but it makes Kai look at me in that flicker of surprise that people are aloud to laugh.
"As long as it doesn't make the others try to fight him to test him" I say, still grinning.
Ray shrugs. "Anyways, I only came here to let you Know Edmund want to meet the new guy".
He heads off down the corridor with a wave, leaving the two of us alone again. And as the silence settles back in, I turn to Kai.
He's still standing stiffly, shoulders slightly hunched, eyes cast downward. My smile softens. I want to take his hand. I want to tell him he's safe.
Instead, I take a small breath and say quietly, "Hey. That wasn't so bad, right?"
He lifts his gaze to mine, just barely. "I… guess"
I laugh gently, not at him but because it's such a Kai answer.
The corridor feels strangely quiet after Ray leaves, like all the noise he brings with him has been sucked away. It's just the two of us again, and the air between us shifts, slower, heavier, almost expectant.
Kai is still standing a step away, posture rigid like he's bracing for impact even though the danger's gone. I take a tiny step closer, careful, slow enough that he has time to move if he wants to.
He doesn't.
Not immediately.
"I didn't mean to overwhelm you," I say softly. My voice comes out quieter than I expect. "Earlier, I mean. I shouldn't have pushed."
Kai's eyes flick to mine, and for a moment there's something raw there, uneasy, conflicted, and something else he tries desperately to hide. "You were trying to help," he says. His voice is low, almost defensive, as if he needs to justify me to himself.
"But I went about it the wrong way," I insist gently. "I just… I wanted you to see that it's safe here. That you can also make a home here"
His breath stutters, almost imperceptibly. And God, it does something to me.
He looks away, jaw tightening. "A home isn't something I understand easily."
I swallow. "I know."
A moment passes, taut with something neither of us names. I lift my hand, slow, deliberate and let my fingers hover near his hand. Not touching. Just offering.
His gaze snaps back to me. For a heartbeat, he moves his hand the tiniest bit closer like he's drawn in despite himself.
And then it hits him. The awareness. The closeness.
He shifts back half a step, like he's trying to pull back inside himself and shut the door before anything can get through.
"Ethan," he says quietly, eyes dropping to the floor, "you… shouldn't get too close."
My chest squeezes. "I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable."
"You don't," he says quickly, too quickly. Then his brows pinch together, as if regretting the honesty. "I just…"
He trails off, and maybe I shouldn't, but I step into the space he retreated from, still not touching him, but close enough that he can feel the warmth of me. Close enough that he can step away again if he needs to.
"Kai," I murmur, "you don't have to handle anything right now. Just… breathe with me, okay?"
He lifts his eyes slowly, cautiously.
There's tension there, not the dangerous kind, but the kind that curls low in your stomach, tightens your chest, makes every inch of space feel charged. His gaze flicks to my mouth for a fraction of a second before he pulls it away, almost violently.
I don't comment. I pretend I don't notice.
I smile instead, "If you ready, how about we go see Edmund?"
He swallows hard. "Yeah sure" he mutters, barely audible.
I lead Kai across the courtyard, not too fast, not too slow. Just enough that he can follow without feeling chased. He walks half a step behind me, silent, but I don't push him. I don't even look back; I want him to feel like he has room to breathe.
This part of the courtyard always feels like a secret, flowerbeds spilling colour over the cracked stone, wild blossoms growing in tangles of pink, purple, and gold. It makes the ruined building ahead look even older, like the flowers are trying to make up for the parts time can't fix.
The morning heat presses down harder with each step. I open the door to the side building and hold it long enough for him to slip in behind me. He does, quiet and alert as ever.
We walk down the hall to one of the old offices and I knock gently.
Kai shifts beside me, small movements, barely noticeable unless you're looking out for it.
"Don't worry. Edmund's pretty cool," I say, giving him my friendliest smile. "Or maybe I'm biased because he saved my life."
It was supposed to be a joke, but Kai doesn't even blink. His expression stays sharp, unreadable. Right... wrong delivery. Too soon.
I clear my throat awkwardly, but Edmund's voice saves me.
"Come in."
We step inside. The room is exactly as it always is, dusty but dignified. Books crammed along one wall, a solid oak desk standing like it's older than the rest of us combined, and that huge window casting warm sunlight across the floor. Edmund stands in front of it, hands clasped behind his back, calm as ever.
"Ah, hello, welcome, welcome," he says, turning with a gentle smile.
He gestures to the chairs. I sit automatically, muscle memory at this point. Kai follows, but instead of sitting, he stops right behind the chair, still staring Edmund down as though waiting for the man to reveal fangs.
"Kai," I say softly, patting the seat beside me hoping it would coax him to relax.
But he doesn't move.
Edmund doesn't seem bothered and just looks back at Kai still smiling.
"For twins, it's interesting how much more you resemble your mother than Noah does," he says casually, adjusting his glasses.
It's such a light remark, soft, observational. But the air in the room immediately shifts. I swear the sunlight dims. Shadows gather like smoke curling around Kai's feet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kai's voice drops low, sharp enough to cut.
Edmund remains unfazed. "Perhaps it's the hair. Noah's platinum white is… a very unusual trait. But yours, yes, yours is nearly identical to your mother's. Quite striking, really."
Kai's shoulders snap tight. "What do you know about Noah?"
The temperature of the room dips. That familiar pressure rolls through my head and my instincts flaring causing my eyes to flash blue. For a terrifying heartbeat, I see it:
[Kai's shadows slamming forward, wrapping themselves around Edmund's throat, lifting him off the floor.]
And then the vision snaps and the present rushes back like a cold breath.
Kai's shadow is already sliding across the wooden floor, reaching, stretching.
I'm out of my chair before I can think. I plant myself between him and Edmund, hands outstretched.
"Kai. Stop."
My voice comes out steadier than I feel, warm enough I hope it reaches him through all that fury.
I take one slow step toward him, palms still open.
"Hey. It's okay"
"Kai," I repeat, softer this time. "Look at me."
His shadow still spills across the floor like ink searching for something to destroy, but it hesitates, flickering, testing. His eyes are fixed over my shoulder on Edmund, jaw clenched so hard I'm half afraid I'll hear something crack.
Edmund finally speaks, his tone maddeningly steady. "I'm not your enemy, Kai"
Kai snarls under his breath. "You don't get to decide that."
I take another careful step toward him. Close enough now that I can feel the cold bleeding off his power. "Kai… please."
His eyes snap to mine, a mix of stormy, confused, and furious. The moment he locks onto me, the shadows hesitate again. They don't vanish, but they pull back a fraction. Enough that no one's getting strangled in the next five seconds.
I exhale slowly.
Edmund clears his throat. "May I speak now? Or will the floor attempt to murder me again?"
"Edmund," I warn.
He lifts his hands in surrender. "Only light humour. I assure you."
Kai's voice is a growl. "Say what you need to say."
Edmund folds his hands behind his back, stepping slightly into the sunlight. It gives him this strange halo effect, turning the dust in the air into gold.
"I knew your parents," he says calmly.
Kai goes still. Completely still. Even the shadows freeze mid-curl.
Edmund continues, voice gentle. "Both of them. Before the… tragedy of what GeneX became."
My stomach twists. Even I didn't know that. but is this really the right time? He could've eased into it. But no. Edmund never eases. He drops truth like bricks.
Kai's voice is low, deadly. "You're lying."
"No," Edmund replies. "I am not."
Kai's shadow shivers again.
Edmund steps closer not recklessly, but deliberately, as if showing he isn't afraid. "I worked for GeneX once. In the early days. When it still pretended to be a place of hope. Before the corruption spread."
Kai's fists clench. I shift slightly, my shoulder brushing his, close enough to ground him, not close enough to crowd him. He doesn't move away this time. That alone scares me.
Edmund continues, "I helped create the Lunex Vial."
Kai inhales sharply, like the words punched him.
I tense. That vial is the reason Kai became what he is and the reason so much went wrong. Not just for him, but for all of us that live here.
Kai's voice shakes with restrained fury. "You helped make it?"
"Yes," Edmund says without flinching. "And I regret it every day."
The shadows creep closer again, licking toward Edmund's shoes.
I raise my hand and grab him wrist lightly. "Kai, wait" I whisper. "Please"
He doesn't look at me, but the shadows flick back an inch.
Edmund goes on, softer now. "Your father was a brilliant man. Truly. But brilliance can be twisted. He began tests we never approved. He experiment on humans, without any of us knowing for so long and when we confronted him… he turned on us. On me."
"You expect me to believe that none of you knew," Kai snaps. But the word wavers.
Edmund nods, not insulted. "I understand why you would think so. But it is the truth."
Kai's power ripples again, darker.
"Kai," I murmur, stepping a little closer. I don't touch him—not unless he reaches first. But I'm a solid line in front of him, the thing between him and a mistake he can't undo. "I know this is a lot. I know you're angry. You should be."
His breath shakes.
"But just hear him," I ask. "Please."
Slowly, painfully, the shadows withdraw just enough that I can breathe again. His voice is tight, furious, aching. "Then tell me everything. All of it."
Edmund nods once, gravely. "I will."
And as I look at Kai jaw tense, body trembling, eyes burning with a storm he's trying so hard to hold back, something in my chest aches for him.
And I wish, more than anything, I could take even a piece of that pain away.
Edmund moves behind his desk, not to put a barrier between them, but to steady himself. He sits with a heavy exhale, fingers steepled.
"It began with Project Lunex," he says. "An initiative designed to enhance human resilience, strength, regenerative capacity, cognitive speed."
Kai stands rigid beside me, eyes locked onto Edmund like he's memorising every word, every breath.
Edmund nods slowly. "And your father was the project's genius. He pushed boundaries no one else dared approach."
"Sounds about right," Kai mutters bitterly.
Edmund continues, "We admired him. But admiration blinded many of us. Including myself. We believed he sought progress." His expression darkens. "We did not realise he was seeking… control."
Kai's jaw tightens. Hard.
Edmund leans forward slightly. "He used your mother's connections within the buisness to get away with his experimentations."
Kai's breath stutters. Shadows curl like smoke around his ankles again, but this time slower, heavier, like the air itself is thickening around him.
"Your father was always fixated on rising through the ranks, no matter the cost. And your mother… she became his first stepping stone."
Kai whispers, "Stop."
Edmund's voice softens, not pitying, not dramatic, just painfully honest."And once your father got what he wanted, his ambition shifted. He became obsessed with the idea of an heir, someone he could shape into a perfect reflection of himself."
Kai's eyes lift, sharp and wounded all at once. "Noah?"
"Yes. Noah," Edmund confirms with a slow nod. "He was meant to be the sole product of your father's grand design. But then you were born as well… and your father saw an opportunity"
A chill trickles through me as Edmund continues quietly. "From that day onward, he set his sights on turning both of you into weapons he could command in different ways."
Kai's face empties. Not calm. Not distant. Just frighteningly blank like the ground beneath him has vanished.
That blankness terrifies me more than his rage ever could.
Edmund exhales, rubbing a tired hand across his forehead. "I tried to reason with Joseph. I told him he was crossing every ethical line we had. That he was hurting his own family. That he needed to stop before he destroyed everything."
Kai's shadows twitch at the mention of his father's name.
"But he would not listen," Edmund goes on, voice steady but heavy. "He shut me out. Told the GeneX board that I was sabotaging Lunex's progress."
Kai's hands curl slowly into fists.
"And they believed him," Edmund says, bitterness creeping into his tone for the first time. "Years of work, loyalty, research, all dismissed in an instant. They dragged me out of the building like a criminal." He gives a slow shake of his head. "To them, I was nothing. Disposable."
The room hangs in thick, suffocating silence.
I glance at Kai, his breathing turned shallow and uneven, shadows flickering across the floor like restless serpents.
Edmund eyes Kai carefully. "Your father's ambition was a wildfire. It consumed everything, your mother, your brother, the project. And it nearly consumed you."
Kai's throat works, his expression still frighteningly unreadable. When he finally speaks, his voice is low and tight. "Why didn't anyone stop him?"
"We tried," Edmund replies softly. "Some of us tried. But he had power, influence, and a vision that blinded far too many."
Kai's eyes flicker with something that looks like grief and rage tangled together. "And Noah… he's under fathers control?"
"Yes," Edmund says, pain flickering through his eyes. "Your brother... your brother seemed to lose hope after you "died"."
Kai's breath shudders.
I feel something twist in my chest an ache so deep I want to reach out and take his hand, even though I know he'd pull away.
His eyes flick to me, brief, raw, almost pleading, before he looks away again, unable to hold the contact.
"What do you mean after I died?" Kai asked.
Edmund folds his hands on the desk. "The day you were taken to the facility," he says quietly. "Your father told everyone you died along side your uncle."
Kai's shadows swirl slowly at his feet, coiling and uncoiling like wounded creatures.
Edmund looks down at the desk.
Kai takes a step back, like something inside him just broke loose.
"Kai-" I reach toward him.
He flinches violently, shadows recoiling like struck animals.
"Don't," he rasps.
I freeze, pulling my hand back, but staying close.
Kai swallows hard, eyes fixed on the floor. "Noah thought I was dead all this time?" He looks up at Edmund. "Father always told me that he hated me... that he never wanted to see me again"
Edmund's voice is quiet but steady. "Your father lies to anyone to get what he wants"
"The Lunex vials have caused more devastation than anyone outside those labs will ever know. It's precisely why we built this movement, to take GeneX down piece by piece."
The shadows pulse again, gathering in a thick swirl at Kai's feet.
I take a breath and step fully in front of him, meeting his burning eyes.
He squeezes his eyes shut. "I can't-" His voice fails. He tries again. "I don't know how to handle this."
That protective instinct in me flares so hard I can feel it in my bones.
"Edmund, I think that's enough for today," I say quietly.
"Yes," he sighs, nodding. "That's quite enough." Then he looks at Kai, voice softening. "But Kai… you have a home here. We won't force you into anything you don't want."
Kai freezes. Just for a heartbeat.Then he turns and walks out, sharp, fast and the door slams behind him.
The sound echoes through the room like a warning.
"He's never going to join us if we keep dumping on him," I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck. My chest feels tight. "He's already drowning."
I take a step after him, but Edmund's voice causes me to pause.
"Ethan." His voice has that low, heavy edge I hate. "If he won't join us, you know we can't risk him going back to the facility. We can't risk him reporting to his father."
My stomach knots. I swallow hard."I know." I leave before he can say anything else.
Because I know what he means. Get Kai on our side… or he becomes a threat.
But I will never, ever, let them touch him. He's been a weapon his whole life. He doesn't deserve to become their prisoner too. I'll protect him. Even if I have to stand against everyone in this place.
By the time I reach the courtyard, Kai is already halfway across it, his shadows curling and pulsing around him, restless, uneasy, like they're guarding him from the world.
"Kai!" I call out.
He pauses mid-step.
When he turns, the sight knocks the breath out of me.
His face, usually guarded, looks shattered. Lost. Like someone pulled the ground out from under him.
"Ethan…" His voice cracks just a little. "I… I just need time to think."
And before I can say anything, he turns away and keeps walking.
I let him go.
Because right now, space is the only thing he's asking for and the only thing I can still give him.
_________________________
The day drags by painfully slow.
Kai still hasn't come back.
I've paced my room so many times I'm surprised I haven't worn a groove into the floorboards. Every hour that passes twists tighter inside my chest until I can't take it anymore.
Enough space, I tell myself. I've given him enough.If I stay in this room any longer, I'm going to lose my mind.
The moment I step into the hallway, I nearly walk straight into Jack. He's holding binoculars in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other, clearly stolen again, with the posture of someone playing spy in a children's cartoon.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
Jack jumps like I've set off a grenade next to him. "Surveillance," he whispers dramatically. "He's up to something. I can feel it."
"Who?" I ask, already bracing myself.
Jack hands me the binoculars, and when I lift them-
My heart stutters.
Kai.
Sitting at the very edge of the cliff in the distance, legs dangling over, staring out at the ocean like the whole world is waiting for him out there.
I lower the binoculars, but I don't give them back.
"Hey! Those are mine!" Jack complains, reaching for them.
"Go snoop somewhere else," I mutter, already moving past him. "I'll handle this."
He opens his mouth to protest, but I don't even give him the chance.
Right.
Time to talk.