The city felt different after they escaped the facility.
Not louder.Not calmer.Just… thinner.
Like every sound had an echo now.Like every street corner was watching them.
Kayden walked ahead with his hood pulled low, trying to pretend he still lived in the same world he woke up in that morning. Alex and Phineas followed in silence, both shaken, both deep in their own storm of thoughts.
But Kayden could feel Alex's eyes on him.Every few seconds.Like a heartbeat.
When they reached Kayden's apartment, Phineas mumbled something about scanning the building perimeter and headed downstairs again, needing distance to think.
Kayden unlocked the door and stepped inside.
He barely made it two steps before Alex closed the door behind him, leaned against it, and whispered:
"Kayden… what are we doing?"
Kayden turned.
It wasn't anger in Alex's voice.
It was fear.Deep.Raw.The kind that builds quietly until it has nowhere else to go.
Alex's hands were shaking.
"Alex… sit down."
"No." His voice cracked. "Just tell me. Tell me what's happening to you. Tell me why the lights whisper your name. Tell me why some… thing… inside the walls knows who you are when you don't—"
"I don't know," Kayden said softly.
Alex exhaled a trembling breath.
"You always say that," he whispered. "You always say you don't know. And maybe that's true. Maybe you really don't. But that doesn't make it any less terrifying."
Kayden swallowed."Alex—"
"No, listen." Alex stepped forward, fists clenched, voice trembling harder now."I saw you back there. When the lights flickered. When the walls bent. You didn't look scared, Kayden. Not the way I was scared. You looked like—"
He hesitated.
"—like something inside you answered it."
Kayden's heart stuttered.
Alex stepped closer still.
"Do you even realize?" he whispered. "Do you even understand how terrifying it is to watch someone you care about respond to something that isn't from this world?"
Kayden stared at the floor.
"Alex…"
The moment he said his name, Alex broke.
Not loudly.Not dramatically.
Just… broke.
"I can't lose you."The words came out in a strained whisper."Not to the government. Not to Hale. Not to that thing whispering names in the dark. Not to some destiny you didn't choose."
Kayden felt the words hit him harder than any anomaly ever had.
Alex shook his head, eyes burning.
"You keep acting like this is just happening to you. Like you're the only one facing it. But I'm here too. I'm right here, and I'm watching you slip one inch at a time into something I can't see, can't touch, can't fight."
Kayden moved toward him.
Alex didn't step back.
"When it said that name… Elion…" Alex whispered, voice starting to break."Your face changed. You looked like you recognized it. Like it belonged to you."
Kayden closed his eyes, breath shaking.
"I didn't—"
"You did," Alex whispered, softer now. "And that scares me more than anything."
Kayden opened his eyes.Alex was inches away now, not touching him, but close enough that every word hit like a pulse.
Alex looked down, voice cracking again.
"I keep thinking… what if one day you hear a name that isn't Kayden. And you decide that's who you are instead."
Kayden's chest tightened painfully.
That was the fear.
Not the anomaly.Not the breaches.Not the government.
Alex was terrified of losing him to something he couldn't compete with.
"Alex," Kayden whispered, stepping even closer. "Look at me."
Alex did.
Kayden held his gaze.
"I'm still here.Whatever that thing is—whatever it wants—that doesn't change the fact that I'm Kayden."
Alex swallowed hard. "But for how long?"
Kayden didn't have an answer.
And the silence that followed was the heaviest thing in the room.
Alex wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve, embarrassed by emotion he'd held in too long.
Then, quieter:
"I'm your friend. I'm supposed to help. But I can't fight this. I can't shout away destiny, Kayden. I can't keep you human if something else is pulling you."
Kayden felt something inside him give way.
He stepped forward, gently placing his hand on Alex's shoulder.
"You're not supposed to fight it," Kayden said softly."You're supposed to remind me who I am when I forget."
Alex froze—like those words were the only thing keeping him from falling apart completely.
Kayden let his hand lower.
"But Alex… if you want to step away from this… from me… I wouldn't blame you."
Alex's head snapped up.
"Don't say that."His voice was quiet but sharp."Don't you dare say that."
Kayden blinked.
"If I step away," Alex whispered, stepping closer again, "then who's going to pull you back when the world decides to rewrite you?"
Kayden opened his mouth—
But before he could speak, Alex pressed his forehead lightly against Kayden's.
A small, fragile gesture.
The kind humans make when the world feels too big.
"I'm scared," Alex whispered."But I'm not leaving you."
Kayden's breath trembled.
For the first time since the anomaly spoke his name—he felt anchored.
Not by APEX.Not by Hale.Not by the old voices in the dark.
But by this.
By Alex.
By something simple.Human.Real.
Kayden whispered back:
"Thank you."
Alex didn't move.Didn't let the moment break.
"Just… don't become someone I don't recognize," he whispered, voice fragile.
Kayden nodded slowly.
"I'll fight it," he said."I promise."
Alex finally exhaled, some tension easing from his shoulders.
But Kayden felt something else lingering in the air—
A warning.A thin line.A truth he couldn't ignore:
He didn't know if the anomaly would let him keep that promise.