Marcus/Rocco
The first thing I felt was pain.
Every muscle in my body screamed as air forced its way
back into my lungs. I dropped to one knee, coughing hard enough that my chest
burned.
The taste of blood lingered at the back of my throat
as I struggled to steady my breathing.
"Rocky." Valen's voice was clearer. I looked up. He
was standing exactly where he'd always stood, arms folded, looking far calmer
than I felt.
"You look terrible." A shaky laugh escaped me.
"Good to know… somethings never change."
"You've looked better."
"I was trapped in a fake life."
"And yet you're still complaining." He tsked.
"I'll complain more in a minute." For a brief second,
everything felt normal again. Until, reality crashed back into me.
Callie. Noah. The battlefield.
Nysera.
I forced myself to my feet. The city came back into
focus. Nothing had changed. The broken buildings. The abandoned cars.
The smoke still hanging lazily in the air. I looked
around desperately.
Noah stood exactly where he'd frozen. Riley hadn't
moved. Seraphina's fingers were still resting lightly against Riley's shoulder.
"How long?" I asked. Valen glanced around.
"A few minutes."
"You're kidding…"
"You wish." My stomach turned. It had felt like days.
Nysera hadn't lied. She hadn't needed to do anything.
She'd simply buried me somewhere I wanted to stay. A
groan pulled my attention to the right.
Darren. He was on the ground, one hand pressed against
his temple. One of his laptops lay a few feet away, its screen cracked beyond
repair.
Livia knelt beside him, trying to pull him back.
"Darren…"
"I… need…" his voice sounded strained. "My head…"
another laptop sat open beside him, lines of data still scrolling frantically
across the screen.
He hadn't stopped working. Even trapped in the middle
of all this, he's still trying to understand it.
Then I saw her. Nysera. She stood only a few metres
away from them. Calm and composed. As though she had all the time in the world.
She looked down at Darren for a moment before shifting
her attention to Livia. Her expression never changed.
Livia instinctively moved in front of her brother.
"You… you stay away from him."
Nysera tilted her head and chuckled. "You would
protect him?" Livia nodded, with determination in her eyes.
"Even knowing you'll die." Livia didn't answer. It was
written all over her face.
Nysera hummed. "I've always admired that." She sighed.
"Love." She spoke so casually it almost made the word sound foreign.
"It convinces people to make such… inefficient
decisions." She looked between the two siblings. "The analyst and the
protector." Silence. "I don't need any of you."
A cold knot formed in my stomach. She wasn't
threatening them. She was deciding. Like someone choosing which book to read
first.
My grip tightened around my swords. She still hadn't
noticed. How? Then I realised, she
hadn't looked at me once.
To her, I was still trapped. Still smiling somewhere
inside a perfect dream. She had absolutely no reason to believe otherwise.
Nysera slowly raised one hand. Dark mist gathered
around her fingers. Livia's breathing hitched, but she didn't move. Darren
tried to push himself up.
His arms gave out. "Livia…"
"No, I'm not leaving you."
"You need to run."
"And leave you here?" he clenched his jaw.
"Yes, I have to find a way to help them."
"No." the answer came so quickly it caught even Darren
off guard.
"I'm not doing this again." I saw Darren's expression
softened. He knew exactly what she meant. And so did I.
"So, this is what humans call hope." She sounded
almost disappointed. "I've never understood it."
"You don't have to." The words left my mouth before I
realised, I'd spoken.
Nysera froze. The mist around her hand dissolved.
Slowly, she turned toward me. Her calm expression cracked. "No…" pure
confusion. Her eyes searched my face as if expecting to find some trick she'd
overlooked.
"How?" I took a slow step forward.
"You can say I had some help."
"That's impossible…" she shook her head. "No one… has
ever escaped."
I couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the
corner of my mouth. "Guess there's a first for everything."
For a few seconds, she simply stared. Trying to make
sense of something that didn't fit into her world.
While she's distracted, I looked past her and toward
Callie. I tightened my grip around my swords. "Time to get my sister back."
Nysera followed my gaze. Understanding settled across
her face. She smiled again. "So that's your intention. You'll fail, Rocco."
I met her eyes. "We'll see."
With that, I walk toward Callie while keeping an eye
of Nysera. Though she seemed more intrigued by my confidence to attack me.
I stood in front of Callie. Her eyes were still fixed
on a world only she could see.
"Rocky." Valen stepped beside me. "she's slipping
deeper." His voice was calm. "When someone stays inside an illusion long
enough…"
He paused. "They begin believing the memories they
make there."
My chest tightened. "If they stay, they won't remember
this world."
That was all I needed to hear. I reach for her
shoulder. "Cal…" nothing.
Behind us, Nysera watched quietly. She made no attempt
to stop me. She simply observed, like she'd already seen how this ended.
Valen stood beside me. "I need you to repeat after
me."
I looked at him briefly then nodded once. His voice
lowered into something older and foreign.
"Segui la mia voce…"
the words came naturally to me. I hadn't spoken Italian properly in
years still, they rolled off my tongue without effort.
"Segui la mia voce…"
I repeated, the bracelet lit up a bit. Valen continued.
"Non il sogno…"
I looked directly at Callie.
The wind shifted. "Non il sogno."
Callie's fingers twitched after a moment. Nysera's
smile faded. I felt my heartbeat quicken.
I repeated it again.
Elsewhere…
Darkness. Callie stood alone. The manor was whole.
Warm and safe. She heard laughter upstairs. Her brother was home and alive.
Her parents were alive and well. Everything she'd
spent years wishing for.
Then… a faint voice. Like someone calling from another
work. "Cal…"
She frowned. "Rocco?" silence at first then she heard
it again louder.
"… la mia voce…"
the walls trembled. Pictures hanging along the hallway tilted slightly.
Something… was wrong. She reached for the front door.
The handle disappeared beneath her fingers. The house
flickered.
She heard him again. "…Non il sogno!"
Rocco. No, not the one standing inside the house. The
real one. "Her breathing stopped."
"Marcus?" the illusion cracked. One thin line spread
across the ceiling. Then dozens. Outside, the blue sky shattered like glass.
Back on the streets- Callie gasped. Her knees buckled
forward. I caught her before she hit the ground. She blinked rapidly. "Rocco?"
I laughed.
Relieved. "Hey." She looked around
wildly.
"Where?" then
she saw Nysera. Everything came rushing back. The smile vanished instantly.
She looked at me. "You woke me up."
I nodded. "You would've done the same." She punched my
shoulder.
"Idiot." She mumbled. I chuckled slightly.
"Love you too sis." She stood. Still slightly
unsteady. Then picked up her whip.
The sound it made as it unfurled echoed through the
empty street. Nysera stared at us confused.
"I don't…" she looked between us. "…Understand."
Valen folded his arms. "That is because you have never
had anyone worth coming back for."
Of course, she couldn't hear him but somehow those
words felt like they'd reached her anyway.
Nysera finally sighed. "Perhaps." She slowly removed
her coat. Setting it across the hood of an abandoned car.
"I suppose… I'll have to do this myself." Callie spun
the handle of her whip once. I rolled my shoulders. For the first since she'd
arrived, Nysera lowered her stance.
She knew, the battle she'd wanted to avoid, had
finally arrived.
She moved, fast enough that the air cracked where
she'd been standing.
"Left!" Callie called out. I ducked instinctively.
Nysera's heel sliced through the space my head had occupied less than a second
earlier.
Concrete exploded behind me. I rolled and came up
swinging. Twin blades crossed toward her ribs. She leaned back just enough for
both swords to miss before driving her elbow toward my jaw.
I blocked with my forearm. The impact numbed my entire
arm. "Damn…" she wasn't physically stronger than Cassian. But she was precise.
Every strike landed exactly where it would hurt most.
There was no wasted movement, just efficiency.
Callie's whip cracked through the air. Nysera caught
it with one hand. "Predictable."
Callie smirked. "So are you." The whip suddenly
recoiled around Nysera's wrist. Callie yanked with everything she had.
Nysera stumbled half a step. And that was all I need.
I drove my shoulder into her. And finally, she hit the ground.
Nysera slid across the asphalt before stopping herself
with one hand.
She looked at the cracks running across the concrete
beneath her fingertips before lifting her gaze back to us.
"I see." She acknowledged. "I underestimated you."
Callie spun her whip back into her hand.
"Dan right you did." Nysera stood, dusting invisible
dirt from her sleeve.
"I believed attachment was a weakness." Her eyes
settled on me. "Perhaps I misunderstood."
"I wouldn't call it understanding." I shifted my
footing. "I'd call it never having anyone." Something flickered across her face
but it was gone so quickly I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it.
She raised one hand. The smoke thickened again around
her.
"Marcus!" Darren's voice crackled through the
communicator. He sounded exhausted. "I figured it out!"
"You picked a great time!"
"It isn't the smoke!" he coughed. "The smoke doesn't
trap you, it amplifies what she's already doing!"
"So, what's trapping us?"
"Her eyes!" Callie and I exchanged a look. "I've been
replaying the recording!"
"The smoke distorts perception but the illusion itself
starts the second you maintain eye contact!"
I blinked. "That's why- "
"The smoke keeps from realizing you're caught!"
Nysera sighed. "I was hoping that would remain a
mystery."
Darren scoffed weakly. "Sorry, I break things."
Nysera moved again. this time we were ready. "I've got
the left!" Callie cracked her whip across the street.
Nysera twisted beneath it before driving her palm
toward Callie's ribs. I used the bracelet chains to pull her back. The strike
grazed her jacket instead.
I closed the distance. One sword came low. The other
high. Nysera slipped between both strikes with unnerving precision. Every
movement effortless.
Like she'd already watched this fight happen. She
wasn't stronger or faster, but she read us too well.
"Rocky." Valen's voice remained calm despite the
chaos. "She is not predicting."
I ducked beneath another kick. "What?"
"She is observing." Steel clashed against claw. I slid
backward
"There's a difference?"
"A very important one." Nysera had never once attacked
before we moved. She always reacted.
"She's studying us." Valen nodded.
"You finally noticed." I smiled.
"So, let's give her something new."
"Callie!" she looked over. I didn't need to explain.
We'd trained together too long. She grinned.
"Oh, that's evil." She laughed. Then everything
changed. Instead of attacking together, we separated.
Callie sprinted across the street. I went the opposite
direction. Nysera hesitated.
She couldn't read a pattern that didn't exist. Callie
wrapped her whip around a bent traffic light.
Using the momentum, she launched herself over Nysera's
head. While I came in low.
As expected, Nysera blocked me. Then the traffic light
snapped, dropping Callie behind her. The whip recoiled around Nysera's ankle.
"Rocco!" I drove both swords into the road. Straight
at the crack beneath her feet. The impact shattered the already weakened
concrete.
Nysera lost her footing. Callie pulled hard causing
Nysera to fall forward.
I was already moving. One clean strike. The flat of my
blade slammed into the side of her wrist. A sharp crack echoed causing Nysera
to wince.
Several metres away, Noah twitched. His fingers
tightened around his tonfa. Riley inhaled sharply. Seraphina's eyes fluttered.
The illusion was weakening, because Nysera was
dividing her concentration. The more she fought us physically, the less
attention she could spare maintaining everyone's prisons.
Darren noticed it too. "They're coming back, keep the
pressure on!"
"We're trying, man!"
Nysera stood again. Her breathing was heavier now. She
looked between the three of us.
Me. Callie. And the others slowly waking behind us.
Understanding settled over her.
"So this…" she smiled sadly. "is why Aldo warned us."
I frowned. "What?"
"He said humans become dangerous, when they stop
fighting alone." A strange laugh escaped her. "I thought he was exaggerating."
She looked at the battlefield. Noah was rubbing his
head. Riley was blinking in confusion. Seraphina was tightening her grip on her
sword.
Darren leaned heavily against Livia as she helped him
sit up. Nobody had run or abandoned anyone. They were all coming back together.
Nysera closed her eyes. "I see it now." She opened
them again. "I've already lost. I can still kill one of you." Her voice
remained calm. "But I can't win anymore."
"My illusions depended on isolation." She smiled at
me. "You destroyed that."
She wasn't surrendering but was stating a fact. That
almost made me pity her. Then I remembered Darren lying on the ground and me
and everyone else trapped.
"No." I tightened my grip. "You did that yourself."
She looked at me confused. "You believed no one was
worth waking up for." I continued.
"Well said, Rocky." Valen muttered.
Nysera's shoulders relaxed. "Perhaps." Her gaze
drifted upward. "I've lived for centuries and I've never once had someone call
me back."
Valen looked at me. "Finish it." I didn't hesitate.
One clean movement.
She smiled while slowly fading away. "So that's… what
freedom feels like." With that, she was gone.
Silence remained until Noah finally broke it. "Can
someone tell me why I have the worst headache of my life?"
Riley scoffed. "You probably deserved it." Seraphina
let out a long breath before looking at me. "You did well."
I shook my head. "We did." She smiled, small and
proud.
Valen walked past me, hands in his pockets. "Took you
long enough."
I snorted. "I was living my best life."
"You were living an illusion."
"Details, Val." He chuckled, amused. But it was enough to remind me why I fought
so hard to wake up.
Because no perfect dream, could ever replace the
people waiting for me in reality.