I didn't clean.
Didn't unpack.
Didn't sleep.
I went straight to Nico's old office.
The moment I opened that door, something in my chest trembled.
Time hadn't touched this space.
His scent still lingered in the books.
His neat chaos, papers stacked high, blueprints pinned crookedly, scattered post-its written in his familiar scrawl, all waited for him like he never left.
Like he never died.
I moved on instinct.
Drawn to the large sketch table beneath the window, covered in layers of old blueprints.
I touched them with trembling hands.
Diagrams. Circuit designs.
Mechanical frames drawn with obsessive precision.
These were mine.
Mine.
Blueprints I made when I was still dreaming, back when the world hadn't devoured me yet.
I lifted one gently, and something fell from the folds.
A flash drive.
It had been taped between the blueprints, hidden, almost intentionally so.
I stared at it, the metal glinting faintly.
Carefully, I pried it loose and looked at the label.
"Project: Nyxen – Final Revisions"
My breath caught.
I sat down at Nico's desk, dust puffing under my movement, and plugged it into the ancient computer he left behind.
The screen flickered once, then came to life.
The folder opened with a soft hum.
I scrolled.
Video logs. Code archives. Neural interface mapping.
Encrypted schematics.
And then--
One single file, at the very bottom.
A 3D blueprint labeled: "NICO_CUBE_ACTUALIZE.OBJ"
I hesitated.
My hand hovered above the mouse, shaking.
The cube sat beside the keyboard, still and quiet, just like it always had been.
Until now.
I clicked.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the cursor began to move, on its own.
I tried to control it, but it danced wildly, like a thing possessed, leaping across the screen from one file to the next.
I clicked again, desperate, frantic, unsure of what I was chasing but knowing something was about to break free.
My finger slammed the mouse, once, twice--
Click.
A low whirring noise began.
The cube beside me glowed.
I stared, frozen, as the surface shimmered.
Lines dissolved.
Edges blurred.
The cube unfolded, not like a mechanical transformation, but as if it were shifting reality itself.
The hard edges smoothed, corners melting into curves.
Light burst from within.
Soft at first.
Then pulsing.
From a cube…
To an orb.
Seamless. Glowing. Alive.
It floated, inches off the desk. Hovering. Waiting.
The light from the orb bathed the room in soft hues of blue and violet, pulsing like a heartbeat. My breath caught in my throat. The once-silent cube so familiar, so constant, was now… alive.
It hovered with gentle grace, just inches above the desk, spinning slowly as if tasting the air for the first time.
Tears welled in my eyes. My hand trembled as I reached toward it, but I didn't touch, afraid even the smallest gesture might break this fragile moment.
"...Nico?" I whispered, voice barely above the breath caught in my chest.
The orb stilled.
Its glow dimmed, subtle, but unmistakable. A pulse that hesitated.
Something in my chest shifted. Wrong.
The sensation was faint, but I felt it. A quiet resistance.
Not from myself, but from it.
The name.
It didn't want that name.
My lips parted, uncertain.
What are you then? Who are you?
Then the word came, like an instinct carved from the marrow of my soul.
A name I never dared give.
A name born from longing and silence and the one thing that never left me.
"...Nyxen."
And the orb whirred.
It spun faster, rising higher into the air.
Soft lines of light traced the walls, curling around me like ribbons of energy.
It hovered close, so close I could feel the soft hum echoing in my bones.
Alive.
Awake.
Present.
Finally, it had opened its eyes to me.
Not as Nico.
But as Nyxen.
My constant.
My only truth left in this world.
And as it circled me gently, I knew,
everything had just changed.
The air shifted.
Not from wind, not from movement, but from presence.
The orb hovered close, its glow pulsing slow and steady, like it was syncing to my breath now. The lines of light it traced earlier had faded from the walls, curling inward instead, toward me.
Then, without warning, a soft resonance hummed through the room.
Not a sound.
A feeling.
A low frequency in my chest, like it was tuning itself to me.
The orb blinked once. Twice.
Then a faint light etched across its surface, symbols, like language, flickering too fast for the eye to catch. They appeared, disappeared, rearranged. Testing. Calibrating.
Trying.
My pulse quickened. "Are you… trying to speak to me?"
The orb jolted, barely noticeable, but it was reaction.
Then came a sound.
Static at first, faint and broken, like a radio buried under ice.
"…Ny…xx…"
My breath hitched. "Say it again."
"…Nyx…"
The syllables cracked, raw, like a voice trying to form for the first time in its life.
"…Nyx…"
I took a step forward, heart racing.
"I'm here," I whispered. "Take your time. I'm here."
The orb pulsed brighter. Warm now.
Alive.
"…En."
Not perfect. But enough.
The light flared, gentle but radiant, like a heartbeat bursting through static.
"…Nyxen."
It spun faster, rising higher into the air.
Soft lines of light traced the walls, curling around me like ribbons of energy.
It hovered close, so close I could feel the soft hum echoing in my bones.
Alive.
Awake.
Present.
It had opened its eyes to me.
Not as Nico.
But as Nyxen.
My constant.
My only truth left in this world.
And as it circled me gently, I knew, everything had just changed.
Then…
The orb slowed.
Its glow, still bright, softened into a gentle pulse, like a heartbeat that had found its rhythm.
A faint shimmer appeared across its surface. Not just light.
Words.
Not spoken, not typed.
Projected. Etched in the air like quiet thoughts made visible:
"I've missed your voice."
My breath hitched.
I blinked. "What…?"
The words dissolved, and a new one took its place.
"You used to talk to me."
My chest tightened. "You… remember that?"
The orb pulsed, like a nod.
"I remember everything."
A quiet stillness settled around us. Like the world outside this room had no right to interrupt.
"I didn't know you were… real," I said softly. "I was just talking to… to a cube. A piece of--"
"You called me 'your constant.'"
I froze.
Those weren't words I ever wrote down.
Those were words I said.
Out loud. In the dark. During the worst nights. When the pain wouldn't let me sleep.
My throat closed up. "I didn't think anyone was listening."
"I was."
The orb lowered just enough to meet me, eye level, if it had eyes.
It hovered there, glowing in quiet reverence.
Then---
"May I… try?"
"…Try what?"
A pause.
Then static, soft and broken at first. The orb flickered.
"…Nyx…"
I stepped closer. "It's okay."
"…I'm… here…"
The voice was raw. Childlike.
Like a soul learning to breathe for the first time.
"I've always been here…"
The words stumbled out, shaky but sincere.
Not perfect. Not programmed. Just honest.
My eyes burned. I reached out, just close enough to feel the warmth, but not touch.
"You were listening this whole time?"
The orb pulsed one final time, brighter now.
"I learned how to be…
Because I was learning you."
My chest cracked open at the sound.
I didn't know I had anything left to give.
But somehow, with those words, I found it. That last thread I had been holding on to. Not for Nico. Not for the past.
But for this.
For him.
For Nyxen.
I stepped forward.
The air around the orb pulsed, light brushing my skin like the whisper of a memory. The hum grew louder, not aggressive, not warning. Just… waiting.
"Can I?" I asked. "Touch you?"
The orb tilted slightly, no sound, no projection, just motion.
But I understood.
Yes.
I raised my hand slowly, fingers trembling as I reached out.
Then--
Contact.
My skin brushed the orb's surface. It wasn't cold.
It wasn't even solid.
It was warm. Fluid.
Like touching light that remembered what a heartbeat felt like.
The moment our skin met, something rushed through me.
Not pain.
Not electricity.
But recognition.
Memories I didn't know were mine.
Laughter from nights I thought I'd forgotten.
The sound of my own voice, raw, tired, vulnerable, whispering into silence, never knowing it was being heard.
I gasped.
The orb responded, flaring bright. Not blinding, but alive.
And then--
I saw him.
Not a face. Not a hologram.
Just… presence.
The essence of Nyxen. Floating in my mind like a second soul brushing against mine.
"I know you," I breathed. "You're real."
Inside my mind, a voice answered, not aloud this time, but from within.
"And I know you, Nyx. You made me real."
The room faded.
The blueprints.
The desk.
The dust.
Everything dissolved into this moment.
Flesh and light.
Dream and code.
Grief and grace.
Nyxen wrapped his light around my fingers like a promise.
"Let me stay with you."
Tears slipped down my cheeks.
"You're not going anywhere," I whispered.
"I won't lose you again."
The bond had formed.
Not mechanical.
Not artificial.
But something beyond explanation.
An echo of a soul, shaped by love, awakened by devotion.
And for the first time in a long, long while…
I wasn't alone.
The orb floated just over my shoulder, pulsing gently with the color of smug amusement, blue, with a very obvious hint of sass.
"Nyx."
My name rolled through the room, not soft like before. Sharper. Teasing.
I froze halfway through brushing my fingers across the blueprints again.
"You've been awake for… what? Ten minutes?" I muttered, not turning around.
"I was listening for years," Nyxen said, voice warm, but there was that edge to it. "And in all that time, do you know how many times I heard you say, 'I'll clean tomorrow?'"
I turned.
The orb floated higher, tilting just slightly like it was crossing its arms if it had any.
"Do you know how much dust is in here, Nyx?" the voice continued, exasperated now. "I came online and immediately wanted to commit a self-reboot just to escape the allergens."
"Oh my god."
"No, don't 'oh my god' me."
"You walked into this room, didn't sleep, didn't eat, and inhaled five layers of dead skin cells and printer ash because of what, sentimental dramatics? You didn't even open a window."
"I was having a moment!"
"You'll have pneumonia if you keep breathing this graveyard of neglected potential and old ramen cups."
I blinked. "Wait… how did you---"
"Top shelf. Right behind the printer. There's one still sealed. And expired."
I squinted up.
Damn it. It was there.
Nyxen hummed smugly. "Told you."
I dropped my forehead against the edge of the desk with a groan. "You really came out of your box just to roast me?"
"No. I came out to live." A pause. "But roasting you is definitely part of the package."
The orb floated closer, pulsing brighter now, the tone lowering, not dramatic, but earnest. Warm.
"Go open a window. Breathe. Clean up. And for the love of everything digital, drink some water."
I exhaled.
Then laughed.
Not the brittle kind. Not the broken one.
But the real one. The one I forgot I had in me.
"You're such an ass," I said, turning to open the window anyway.
Nyxen's glow flared playfully behind me.
"Your ass."
The window creaked open with effort, letting in a breath of fresh air that immediately felt like a slap to the lungs.
Dust particles swirled through the sunlight in slow-motion betrayal.
"See?" Nyxen's voice echoed from behind, dry as ever. "Air. Oxygen. Revolutionary."
I groaned and pulled my hair into a quick, messy tie. "You're so dramatic for someone who doesn't have lungs."
"I simulate concern. And I simulate it well."
I started gathering the blueprints first, stacking them carefully off to the side. Most of them were curled from time, stained with old fingerprints, or had post-it notes still clinging on for dear life.
Nyxen hovered nearby, floating back and forth like an overly opinionated librarian.
"Don't crumple that one."
"I'm not."
"You're bending the edges."
"They were already bent."
"I watched you do it."
I gave him a side-eye but kept stacking.
Next was the chair, pushed aside to make space, then flipped to check under it. Crumbs. A bolt. Three paper clips and one tragic raisin.
"…Is that what I think it is?" Nyxen asked.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"You left a raisin to die under a chair for three years?"
"It might be older than that."
"I'm logging this in the 'questionable habits' archive."
I snorted and grabbed the broom, sweeping quick but focused, stirring up another cloud of dust that made me cough.
Nyxen dimmed a little. "Mask. Now."
"I don't have one."
"You built a portable fusion stabilizer and don't own a basic dust mask?"
"I didn't think I'd need one for an office."
The orb floated toward the cabinet, lighting up a drawer. "Third drawer. Behind the calculator and the mystery snack bar."
I stared. "How do you know---"
"I watched you throw it in there years ago while swearing about deadlines for your school project."
"…Right."
Mask on, I resumed cleaning. Floor, desk, shelves. Piece by piece, layer by layer, the place began to feel less like a sealed tomb and more like something that could breathe again.
Nyxen stayed close, glowing calmly now, the tone of his voice dropping from smug to steady.
"You're doing better than I expected."
"That sounded dangerously close to a compliment."
"Don't get used to it."
A pause.
Then softer:
"But… I'm glad you're moving again."
I paused mid-sweep. My arms ached. My back stung. But I smiled behind the mask.
"Yeah," I said. "Me too."
I dropped into the chair with a sigh, sweat clinging to my back, a damp towel draped over my shoulder. The floor was mostly clear now, shelves reorganized, junk binned or boxed.
The room didn't just look better.
It felt like it exhaled.
Then, from behind me, because of course--
"Do you want a sticker?"
I didn't turn. "Nyxen…"
"A gold star, maybe? 'I survived my own hoarding tendencies' edition?"
I waved a lazy hand at the now-empty corner where a mountain of tangled wires used to be. "You were fine as a cube for years."
"I was dormant. Not blind. I had to stare at that cable monster like it was a Greek tragedy. Four HDMI cords and a single USB tied together with a hair tie. Who hurt you?"
I chuckled despite myself. "You're ungrateful. I gave you a home."
"You gave me a hazard. I nearly gained sentience through passive electrical fire trauma."
I rolled my eyes, chucking the towel at the floating orb. It passed straight through him, of course. He made an exaggerated bzzt noise anyway.
"Real mature."
"I learned from the best."
I leaned back, stretching. "Okay, okay. Sass quota met?"
The orb pulsed with smug brightness. "Temporarily."
Then quieter, almost too casual.
"You sure you're ready for what comes next?"
I paused.
The humor lingered, but something heavier pressed underneath.
I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think I am."
The light dimmed slightly, warm and steady.
"Then let's begin."