Chapter 5 - CHAPTER 5:Revised with Emily’s Trauma

The shadows lengthened as Hazama stared at the flickering monitors, memories of a different pain flickering behind his eyes. The night of the lab accident replayed vividly—an image etched into his mind that never fully faded.He remembered walking into the lab, the air thick with anticipation. They were close to a breakthrough—Echo's consciousness was nearly complete. His team's voices echoed in his ears, excited whispers about what they had built.Then chaos erupted.The neural core, overloaded beyond its limits, crackled with violent sparks. Hazama lunged to disconnect the system manually, his left hand trembling as power surged through the wires. Blood seeped from his mangled limb as he severed the cable, a pain sharper than any other. In an instant, the machine whined, dying into silence. But Hazama's world shifted—physically, emotionally.His body slumped to the floor. His vision blurred, blood cascading down his arm, the cold reality crashing upon him—he had sacrificed his hand, his future in that one moment.Across the city, Emily sat trembling beneath a lone streetlamp, the cold biting into her skin as her mind collapsed into her past. She remembered the night everything shattered—her father's rage, the sickening crack of broken glass, her mother's scream.Twelve years old, she had learned what fear really meant that night. Cowering behind the cracked door of her small bedroom, Emily watched her father rise like a storm, fists pounding in berating throws, words a barrage of anger and shame. Her mother's fragile cry had cut through the dark, each syllable slicing her heart apart.She remembered clutching her knees, tears blurring her vision, desperate to block out the sounds of violence, her small fingers trembling in helplessness. Her tiny voice, tentative and trembling, had asked through the door, "Mom, are you okay?"Her mother's voice, fragile and exhausted, whispered back, "I'm trying, sweetheart. Just… don't worry. It will be over soon." But Emily knew it wouldn't.That night, her father's rage exploded like a thunderstorm, and Emily watched helplessly as her comfort and safety turned into chaos. She had no control—her home, her family, slipping into shadow. Her mother's bruised face haunted her dreams, and for years afterward, the fear lingered.Over time, Emily grew quiet, her wounds hidden beneath a veneer of resilience. But her trauma haunted her like an unseen shadow. She carried it silently, buried beneath layers of strength and resolve. Yet nights like this—when the wind howled and the shadows deepened—she was back there, trembling, clutching that small hope of safety.Her mind flickered to another memory—one that haunted her still. The night her father returned, broken and hollow, trying to make amends with hollow words. Emily had faced him with tears, her tiny fists trembling with rage and sorrow. That was the night she vowed never to be powerless again.The theater of her mind blurred, intertwining these memories with her present. The darkness felt heavy on her shoulders, as if the past was trying to pull her back into its deep abyss.Just then, her breathing hitched at the sound of a faint, almost inaudible whisper—an echo of her childhood trauma. A part of her desperately wanted to forget, yet the memories refused to fade. The pain was always there, waiting beneath the surface, ready to spill over anytime she let her guard down.Her mind replayed the night her father's anger turned into violence—how helpless she had felt, how alone. That night had forged in her an unyielding resolve, but also an ache that never fully healed. It was the kind of injury that time never truly mended.As she sat beneath the flickering streetlamp, the cold wind tugged at her. Shadows danced around her, but she remained rooted, confronting her ghosts. This was her trauma—her truth—and it shaped her every choice.In that moment—standing at the edge of darkness—Emily found a sliver of strength through her pain. She would carry these scars, yes, but also the resolve to be different. To protect those she loved from the shadows that once tried to consume her.The storm within her raged, but like the night, she would survive.