“Ace,” Baxter said, stepping beside him before things could tip further. His voice stayed calm, but his eyes were sharp with worry. “Enough. You’re going to wake the kid.”

  He rested a hand on Ace’s shoulder.

  Ace jerked away. “Don’t! Don’t fucking tell me to calm down.”

  His gaze snapped to Ava. “You were a soldier. You fought. How can you believe something like this so easily?”

  Ava met his eyes. Her green stare did not waver.

  “Because they killed my father,” she said. “That lead scientist. He was my father.” Her voice stayed steady, but her hands trembled. “So I don’t have the luxury of living in your delusion.”

  Ace’s jaw clenched hard.

  “Ace,” Baxter said again, quieter now. “Look at yourself.”

  Ace dragged a hand through his hair, breathing hard. His composure was gone. His reality splintered, bleeding through every crack.

  “You want me to believe,” Ace said, his voice breaking despite his effort to keep it sharp, “that your brother is dead. That the man who put us in this game to save humanity is actually imprisoning us. That the world is habitable while we’ve been stuck in here leveling up and playing hero.”

  Kyo swallowed. Then he nodded.

  Ace let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob. “That’s insane. I bled for this place. I defended people. I watched friends die. Not for some coward to trap us in a game while he walked free.”

  His voice shook. “Not for that.”

  The words fell heavy and ugly between them.

  Baxter exhaled slowly. His eyes flicked once toward the dark shard, then back to Ace.

  “Whether you believe Kyo or not doesn’t change what we saw.”

  Ace scoffed. “Oh yeah? Enlighten me.”

  Baxter’s jaw tightened. “I saw sunlight.”

  That stopped him.

  Baxter went on, voice rough now. “Real sunlight. Through a window. People walking around like the world didn’t end. Like they weren’t frozen in time.”

  He looked at each of them.

  “Meanwhile, we’re stuck here. Fifty years passed without us. Kids who should have grown up already are still children. Kids who will never get to choose their lives.”

  Ava hugged herself, staring at the ground.

  “Kids should be worried about school,” Baxter continued. “About dances. About crushes. Not about monsters killing their parents. Not about syndicates stealing them. Not about surviving another night.”

  His voice dropped. “We shouldn’t even be here anymore.”

  He gestured to himself. To Ace. “We should have lived our lives already. But we didn’t. And thinking about that makes me want to live. It makes me want them to live.”

  Ace’s hands trembled.

  “What I care about,” Baxter said, “is that there is a world out there that still has sun.”

  He jabbed a finger toward the dark screen. “And if there’s even a chance that we’re being left to rot here. Waiting to be used or enslaved, then we need to prepare.”

  Ace’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Prepare for what.”

  “To get out,” Baxter said. “And to make damn sure no more kids have to watch their parents die just to survive a game.”

  Kyo spoke then. “Miles still asks when his dad is coming back.”

  Ace stared at the floor, chest heaving. His shoulders were shaking. For a moment, it looked like he might argue. Might scream. Might break something.

  Instead, his shoulders sagged. “I want out,” he said hoarsely. “I want out of this damn place.”

  He lifted his head. His eyes burned now, not with denial, but fury.

  “And if there are kids suffering like Miles,” Ace said, voice hardening, “then I’ll burn Eden to the ground to save them.”

  The silence did not last long.

  Kyo glanced down at the shard in his hand and tapped it once. A faint timer blinked into view.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “We’ve got about three and a half hours,” he said quietly. “Before the event window closes.”

  Baxter nodded. “Enough time to get some rest.”

  “And plan,” Ace added.

  He crouched, resting his forearms on his knees. “Umbra’s our best bet. Neutral town. White-marked players and red-marked players can coexist there without the system losing its mind.”

  Kyo looked up. “Neutral?”

  Ace nodded. “Supply routes run through it. Black markets too. If we want to get out of the red zone without drawing every hunter in a mile radius, that’s where we go.”

  “Umbra gets quieter at night,” Baxter added. “Fewer patrols. Less attention. We move after dark.”

  Kyo absorbed that, nodding slowly. “Got it.”

  Ace’s eyes flicked back to him. “That health potion you took earlier didn’t seem to help much.”

  Kyo shifted, wincing. “Yeah. I overdid it with the technomancy.” He rolled his shoulder, grimacing. “Feels like I got hit by a bus.”

  Baxter laughed and slapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward. “Yeah, well, we’re gonna need to build you up a lot more, nerd boy.”

  Kyo coughed. “Ow and nerd boy?”

  Ace looked him up and down, expression unreadable for a moment. Then his mouth twitched.

  “How old are you anyway?” Ace asked. “You don’t act like a teenager.” He jerked his chin toward Ava. “Does she know your age? Do you even know hers? She was in the military, so I’m guessing she’s basically an adult.”

  Baxter burst out laughing.

  Kyo froze.

  Color rushed straight to his face as he flicked a glance over his shoulder.

  Ava lay still, eyes closed, breathing slow and steady.

  Asleep.

  Or at least she looked like it.

  Kyo swallowed, then leaned closer to Ace and Baxter, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Keep it down. You’re going to wake her up.”

  Ace grinned, clearly enjoying this far too much.

  “I’m serious,” Kyo hissed. “I’m twenty-six. At least I was when I got put into this game.”

  Baxter’s laughter cut off mid-breath.

  Ace blinked. “Wait. What.”

  “I’m twenty-six,” Kyo repeated, mortified. “I just happen to look young. And no, before you ask, I did not expect to be stuck here for fifty years.”

  Baxter stared at him for a second, then lost it again. “Oh my god. I thought you were like nineteen.”

  Ace snorted. “I’ve been calling you kid this whole time.”

  Kyo groaned, covering his face. “Please stop.”

  Ace leaned back, arms crossed, eyes still on Kyo. “Hold on. Say it again.”

  Kyo groaned. “Don’t make me.”

  “How old,” Ace pressed.

  “Twenty-six,” Kyo muttered. “I was twenty-six when I got put into the game.”

  Baxter stared at him. “There is no way.”

  Ace squinted. “You look like you’d get carded for a movie.”

  Kyo rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t control my face.”

  “You’re scrawny for twenty-six,” Ace said bluntly. “No offense.”

  “All offenses taken,” Kyo replied.

  Baxter grinned. “What, you never lift anything heavier than a keyboard.”

  “I was busy,” Kyo said.

  Ace smirked. “Busy doing what. Avoiding human contact.”

  Baxter studied Kyo for a moment, then asked, almost casually, “So. Ever have a girlfriend.”

  Kyo stiffened.

  Ace noticed immediately. “That pause tells me yes.”

  Kyo exhaled slowly. “We… tried.”

  “Tried,” Baxter echoed.

  Kyo nodded. “It didn’t last long.”

  Ace leaned back. “Why.”

  Kyo hesitated, eyes drifting briefly toward Ava before he caught himself. She lay still, eyes closed, breathing even.

  Asleep.

  “At first,” Kyo said, choosing his words carefully, “it made sense. Same program. Same internship. We understood each other. That was… rare.”

  Baxter stayed quiet, letting him talk.

  “She was intense,” Kyo continued. “Smart. Driven. Everywhere I was, she was there too. Same labs. Same projects. Same hours.”

  Ace frowned. “That doesn’t sound bad.”

  “It was,” Kyo said quietly. “Not at first. But it got fast. Too fast.”

  He swallowed.

  “She started talking about our future. Marriage. Kids. Where we’d live.” His jaw tightened. “We hadn’t even been dating for threee months.”

  Baxter let out a low whistle.

  Ace’s expression shifted. “That’s… a lot.”

  “I tried to slow things down,” Kyo said. “Told her we needed time. Space.” He shook his head. “She didn’t hear it. Or didn’t want to.”

  Baxter frowned. “That’s not intensity. That’s fixation.”

  Kyo nodded. “It felt like I was already living in a life I didn’t agree to.”

  Ace crossed his arms. “Yeah. That’d freak me out too.”

  Kyo exhaled, relieved not to be dismissed. “I didn’t even bring it up to Ren. I didn’t need to. Before I knew it, she was cut from his program. Picked up by another team.”

  Ace scowled. “That’s not a coincidence.”

  “No,” Kyo agreed. “It didn’t feel like one.”

  Silence settled again.

  Ace glanced toward Ava, lowering his voice. “She know any of this?”

  Kyo shook his head. “No.”

  “Does she know how old you are,” Baxter asked quietly.

  Kyo winced. “Yes but she didnt say anything about it...”

  Ace smirked faintly. “And do you know if she’s got a lover?.”

  Kyo’s chest tightened before he could stop it.

  “I'm not sure.. I don't think so.” he admitted.

  His mind betrayed him. The memory surfaced without warning. The closeness, Ava’s breath warm against him. The almost kiss that had never quite happened, but had changed everything anyway.

  He looked away.

  From the edge of the clearing, metal shifted.

  One glowing eye opened.

  “Are you alright, Kyo,” Broderick asked calmly.

  “I’m fine.” Kyo said, startled from the moment.

  Broderick studied him for a beat. “Your heart rate suggests otherwise.”

  Ace snorted softly. “Told you.”

  Broderick closed his eyes again. “Then I will continue resting.”