The first crack spread across the core like lightning splitting glass.
A sharp, echoing CRACK—
followed by a pulse of blue light so bright that Palo covered his eyes.
Ash didn't move.
His palms stayed pressed against the glass pillar, even as energy surged against his skin, burning cold and hot at the same time. The glow wrapped around his arms like living static.
Palo shouted, voice muffled by the noise,
"Ash, get back! It's going to explode!"
Ash didn't turn.
He spoke calmly, though his voice trembled.
"It's not exploding. It's waking up."
The core vibrated under his hands.
The cracks deepened—delicate, branching, luminous.
Behind him, the officers regained formation.
One of them yelled,
"Subject Eleven—stand down!"
Palo whipped around, raising the fallen injector he'd grabbed.
"No—stay away from him!"
The officers advanced anyway.
But before they could reach Palo—
The copy flickered into their path.
Barely standing.
Barely formed.
But still shielding Ash with everything he had left.
His outline glitching, dissolving, reforming.
Palo's breath tightened.
"He's… fading…"
The copy lifted one hand, pointing weakly toward the core.
"Ash…" he whispered, voice fragmented, "break… it…"
Ash's jaw tightened.
No more running.
No more hiding.
No more being what they built him to be.
He pushed both hands against the core.
The core pulsed back—almost pleading.
Palo stepped forward, terrified. "Ash—what if this hurts you?"
Ash's voice was low, steady.
"It already does."
---
The Collapse
The core let out a deep, resonant hum.
The floor vibrated.
The ceiling dripped dust.
Every light in the chamber flickered violently.
The officers braced themselves.
"Protocol breach!" the lead one shouted.
"All units—prepare for collapse—!"
But his warning came too late.
The core shattered inward.
Not outward—like glass sucked into a vortex.
A swirling void of blue energy erupted from inside the pillar, pulling everything toward it in a spiraling gravitational twist.
Palo grabbed a support beam.
"Ash!"
Ash's feet began to slide across the floor.
Palo reached for him—barely catching Ash's sleeve.
"Ash, hold on!"
Ash held onto Palo with one hand—
and the broken core with the other.
The copy, struggling near the wall, reached out too, his glitching form dragged toward the vortex.
"Ash!" Palo yelled, straining. "Let go! You can't hold both—"
Ash's voice cracked.
"I can't let him be pulled in!"
The energy roared, ripping metal from the walls, pulling cables free like vines snapped from the earth.
The officers braced themselves, shouting into their radios—
Then the vortex stopped.
Instantly.
The room fell silent.
Everything suspended—
floating—
weightless.
Ash hung in mid-air, Palo still gripping his sleeve.
Even dust motes stopped drifting.
Time stood still.
And then—
The energy collapsed in on itself with a sound like the world inhaling.
A flash of blue light filled the chamber.
Palo squeezed his eyes shut.
---
The Aftermath
Silence.
Not the heavy, humming silence of machinery—
but a natural, quiet one.
Palo blinked the light out of his eyes.
The vortex was gone.
The core was gone.
The officers were gone.
Just… gone.
The chamber was dim now, emergency lights casting a soft orange glow.
Palo staggered to his feet, heart pounding.
"Ash? Ash!"
Ash was sitting on the floor, dazed but alive.
Palo rushed to him, kneeling.
"You're okay—thank goodness, you're—"
But Ash wasn't looking at Palo.
He was staring at the far corner of the room.
Where the copy lay motionless.
Palo's chest tightened.
"Is he—?"
Ash crawled to him, hands trembling as he turned the boy-copy onto his back.
The copy's chest flickered faintly with static.
Like a dying signal.
Ash touched the boy's shoulder gently.
The copy's eyes opened.
Dim.
Unstable.
Fading.
"Ash…" he whispered, glitching, "no… more… core…"
Ash's voice broke.
"It's gone. You're safe now."
The copy shook his head weakly.
"Not… safe…"
Palo leaned closer, unable to breathe.
The copy's glitching fingers reached for Ash's face—hovering close but never quite touching.
"You… unstable…"
The glitch deepened, fracturing the boy's voice.
"Fix… yourself…"
Ash whispered, fragile,
"I don't know how."
The copy blinked slowly.
And for the first time, his expression softened—not blank, not cold, but almost… understanding.
He whispered, barely audible—
"I do."
And then—
His body dissolved into a soft burst of grey static.
Crumbling like ash.
Then gone.
Ash froze.
Palo covered his mouth, voice shaking,
"Ash… he… evaporated."
Ash didn't speak.
Didn't move.
Just stared at the space where the copy had been—
expression raw.
As if something inside him had been torn loose.
Palo placed a gentle hand on his arm.
"Ash… I'm so sorry."
Ash closed his eyes.
"I wasn't supposed to be the one who survived."