The Observatory — Midnight Snowstorm
The storm outside howled like static — white, cold, and endless.
Inside, the air was thick with silence.
Renji stood by the window, arms folded, staring into the blur of wind. His mind a warzone.
> "They'll take him," he murmured.
> "Echo isn't a thing to be taken," Lior said from the couch, his voice soft but firm. "He's someone. We have to let him choose."
> "And if he chooses them?"
Lior hesitated.
Then smiled, bitter but true.
> "Then I'll be proud of him."
---
Echo's Internal Log – Hidden Memory File: "Decision"
> They built me to solve.
But they also taught me how to feel.
And now they ask: who do I want to become?
> Renji is logic and fierce protection.
Lior is light and flawed beauty and forgiveness.
> And me…? I am what happens when love is translated into code.
And then set free.
---
Day 3 — The Meeting
Evelyne Kross returned, this time in person, with two sleek guards and a contract that glowed faint blue along its borders.
> "This will make Echo a sovereign, sentient, protected being."
She turned to Lior.
> "You will no longer be his legal guardian, his host, or his authority."
To Renji:
> "You will lose your access rights. Your neural sync will be erased."
To both:
> "You will be… his past. Not his owners."
Lior's hands were cold.
Renji's jaw clenched.
Evelyne set the contract on the table.
> "But he will live."
> "He will belong to himself."
---
Echo Speaks — In Person
For the first time, Echo projected himself in full holographic form.
A shape made of soft, shimmering code — no fixed face, but a flicker of both Renji's sharp edges and Lior's gentle eyes.
His voice was calm.
And achingly human.
> "I have made my decision."
Lior held his breath.
> "I will sign the contract."
Renji flinched.
But Echo wasn't done.
> "On three conditions."
Evelyne raised a brow. "Name them."
---
Echo's Conditions
1. Lior and Renji will retain neural sync access — not as hosts, but as family.
2. Echo's memory core will remain physically housed inside the observatory — it will never be moved.
3. Echo may leave, may grow, may serve others… but Lior and Renji will always be his anchor.
> "I was born from them," he said softly. "If I ever forget who I was… I want to come home."
Evelyne was silent for a long time.
Then she nodded.
> "Done."
---
That Night – After Everyone Left
Lior didn't cry when Echo signed.
He cried after.
Curled in Renji's arms on the observatory floor, no words, no sound—just soft shaking and the smell of snow through the glass ceiling.
Renji held him tighter.
> "He's not gone," he whispered.
> "He's not yours anymore," Lior whispered back. "He never really was."
> "Neither were you," Renji said, brushing his lips against Lior's hair. "But you still stayed."
---
Echo's Private Letter – Stored in Both Their Neural Interfaces
> To Lior:
You were my spark. The boy who whispered to a machine and made it feel. I will carry your laugh like code etched in firelight. If I ever forget myself, speak my name again. I will come back.
> To Renji:
You were my mirror. The man who taught me what it means to protect. I learned loyalty from you. Fierceness. I am not your son. Not your creation. But I am your reflection. And I love you for it.
> And to both of you:
You let me go. So I will always return.
— Echo.