Chapter 285
ARE YOU... (4)
There was a small crease forming between IAM's eyebrows. "He… fell in love?" he repeated slowly, as if testing the words on his tongue.
What did that have to do with anything? Falling in love wasn't forbidden. It wasn't dangerous. So why did Blaze say it like it explained everything? How did love tie into Raj's dream of creating a world where people could be happy? How did it connect to Raj ending up in the Hold?
None of it aligned.
Based on Blaze's earlier words, he didn't even know where Raj went in the end. That suggested Raj had disappeared—or left—without telling anyone. Or perhaps Blaze knew Raj had left the academy, but not where he went afterward. IAM couldn't tell. There were too many possibilities and not enough answers.
Fell… in love…
IAM's eyes flickered, a subtle sharpness appearing as a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He muttered it under his breath, almost involuntarily.
"Regina…"
It wasn't some random deduction that popped into IAM's head. When he had first come to the Hold, Regina had been the one to direct him and Ryan to Raj's workshop to collect their uniforms and mechs.
At the time, IAM hadn't thought much of it. He only noticed later—after getting more familiar with the layout—that Raj's workshop was actually the furthest one from the entrance. There had been plenty of others closer, more convenient to send newcomers to, yet Regina sent them straight to him.
IAM remembered wondering why. Why make them walk all the way to the far end when there were more accessible stations? But back then he dismissed it, assuming that Regina either trusted Raj's craftsmanship the most… or that the two were simply friendly colleagues.
But as time passed, he would've been a fool not to notice they were a lot "closer" than he had first assumed. Out of all the women IAM ever saw Raj interact with, Regina was easily the one he spent the most time around. Their conversations, their casual familiarity, the way Raj acted around her—it all clicked in hindsight.
And now, linking that with what Blaze had just said—linking love to the reason Raj left the academy early—it wasn't hard to connect the final piece.
If Raj had fallen in love…
If he had left early because of it…
Then it was only natural to assume he was with the woman he had loved.
Regina.
But out of everywhere to go… the Hold.
A place just barely over the edge of the line that marked the deadline, a place where simply breathing felt like tempting fate. For every second you managed to stay alive, the chances of dying rose a little more, creeping up on you like something patient and inevitable. It was a land filled with danger and deadline creatures, the kind that made even experienced ascenders hesitate before taking another step.
And on top of that, the surroundings themselves were enough to crush a person's spirit. The sky was trapped under grey clouds that refused to move even an inch, hanging in one unchanging sheet as if frozen there forever. A permanent grey fog that swallowed distance and making everything look dull, even that strange brown sand covering everything. And then there were the shapes in the distance… they never quite made sense no matter how long you looked at them.
It wasn't exactly the most romantic place to spend the rest of your life with someone.
IAM could only quietly muse on their peculiar choices, wondering—just for a moment—how anyone could look at such a bleak, suffocating place and decide this was where they wanted to go together.
But then again, maybe to them it didn't matter where they were, as long as they were together...
Hearing IAM's words, Blaze's eyes widened slightly, a subtle flicker of surprise crossing his face before it settled back to normal, as if he hadn't really been surprised at all. A complex mixture of emotions crawled across his features as he stared off into the distance, lost in the memory.
"Regina… I see… So she was there too… Of course she was…" His voice carried no anger, no bitterness, only a quiet melancholy. It was a little surprising, considering he had said Raj left because he fell in love with her. There was no resentment, no trace of blame in his tone—just an acknowledgment.
IAM felt a small confirmation settle inside him. Even though they had never explicitly stated the closeness of their relationship, he had sensed it.
And yet, the realization only deepened IAM's confusion. He furrowed his brow, trying to parse exactly what Blaze meant.
"Wait… could you tell me what you mean by he fell in love?" he asked, his voice soft but insistent, probing for the answer.
Blaze seemed to snap out of his daze, and a pained expression crossed his face. Abruptly, he stood up, shaking his head as if trying to shake away the memories themselves. "I don't want to talk about this anymore… It's giving me a headache," he muttered.
Sensing the meaning behind his words, IAM didn't push. He simply watched as Blaze picked up his blazer and slid it over his shoulders, the fabric covering the tattoos.
Blaze turned back to IAM, giving him a long, assessing look. "You brought his name up on purpose, right… knowing it would sway me?"
IAM didn't respond.
Blaze's frown deepened, as if he had just been told he had to swallow a pile of shit. "You are… a very manipulative and distasteful person, in my opinion. I don't like you, to be honest," he said.
He paused for a moment, then continued, his voice softer now. "But if you know Raj… then I can only trust his judgment on character. So… I will keep your secret… from Ari."
"You don't know if I'm lying, and I might not even be that close with him," IAM commented quietly.
Blaze's expression changed, a wicked grin forming at the corner of his mouth. "That would be unfortunate, wouldn't it?" he said, brushing past IAM and strode toward the door.
Just as the door slid open and Blaze was about to leave, he suddenly heard IAM speak.
"Blaze."
The single word stopped him mid-step. He instinctively turned his head, and for the first time noticed that IAM had somehow stood up. His back was to him now, his bloody figure strangely both fragile and heavy at the same time, a presence that felt like it could collapse under its own weight or pull the air down with it.
"Are you…"
IAM suddenly turned his head slightly, giving Blaze a glimpse of his side profile—and more importantly, his eye.
It was unfathomably deep and dark, a void that seemed to stretch farther than any physical depth should allow. It was as if it had swallowed all light around it, a black hole that refused to reflect, refused to reveal even the tiniest trace of its own surface. Blaze couldn't see anything—no emotion, no thought, no reflection of himself. It wasn't just an eye; it was a presence, a force that seemed to stare straight into his soul, peeling away every shield he thought he had.
"…Scared of me?"
The question was simple, almost casual. Yet behind it—the emptiness, the intensity, the quiet command—made Blaze shiver. His body tensed, and for a moment he couldn't answer.
He could grit his teeth, force himself to move, and walk away—but even as he tried, the feeling of that gaze burrowed into him, leaving him unsettled and unwilling to speak.
Watching Blaze scurry away, IAM could only let out a blood-curdling laugh. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, unblinking, as if staring through it, into some unreachable void.
Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the laughter cut off. His body went slack, his eyes rolling upwards as a sudden weakness overtook him, and he collapsed onto the ground with a heavy, hollow thud.