Finn Lennoy - December 2120
The old gym always smells the same, metal, sweat, rubber mats, and the sharp sterile scent of disinfectant.
The overhead lights hum softly while I roll tension from my shoulders and circle Kai across the mat with measured steps. Distant footsteps echo somewhere down the corridor, mixed with muffled voices, but the room itself remains quiet enough that every movement feels amplified.
Just me and him.
The familiarity of it pulls an old memory to the surface before I can stop it.
A young Kai, skinny and bruised, glaring at me across cracked training mats after I pinned him for the third time in a row. Blood had been running from the corner of his mouth, but instead of resting he'd immediately straightened back up and demanded we start again.
He'd always hated losing more than pain.
Now, years later, he stands across from me with that same steady focus, except something about him feels subtly off in a way I can't immediately define.
"Only one month back from almost dying and Noah's already letting you train properly again?" I ask while loosening my wrists.
Kai shrugs once. "Well he is monitoring everything."
"That wasn't really my question."
A faint smile flickers briefly across his face before disappearing almost immediately. It feels automatic rather than natural, like he remembered halfway through that he's supposed to react normally.
I keep circling him carefully, studying the details I know most people would miss.
His stance looks relaxed at first glance, almost lazy, but I know better than to trust appearances with Kai. I spent too many years training with him not to recognise the difference between relaxed and restrained.
Right now he feels restrained. Like he's holding something tightly beneath the surface.
Kai rolls one shoulder before tilting his head slightly. "Are we fighting or talking?"
There he is.
I exhale slowly before moving first.
The attack is fast enough to catch most people off guard, but Kai blocks immediately. My wrist barely reaches striking distance before his hand catches it and redirects the force sideways with effortless precision. I pivot sharply into a kick aimed toward his ribs, but he moves before the strike fully commits.
He's not reacting, but anticipating my every move. The distinction unsettles me more than I want to admit.
We separate again, circling slowly.
"You've gotten faster" I mutter.
Kai glances away briefly. "Maybe."
No. Definitely.
I know exactly how fast Kai moves because I practically grew up learning his patterns. When we were younger, I used to overwhelm him by forcing him into fast close-range exchanges before he could fully think through his responses. Back then there had always been a tiny delay between analysis and action, even when he started to beat me more in fights.
But that delay is gone now.
I attack again, harder this time.
Three strikes in quick succession.
Kai avoids every single one with smooth mechanical precision, his movements flowing together without hesitation or wasted effort. The shadows beneath his feet shift faintly while he pivots, reacting instinctively to his movements even though he hasn't consciously summoned them.
A cold feeling slowly settles beneath my ribs.
I feint left before driving forward suddenly, finally forcing him backwards by a single step.
The shadows react instantly.
Darkness ripples across the floor around him in thin restless waves before snapping sharply back beneath his boots again. It happens so quickly that someone unfamiliar with his abilities might have missed it entirely, but I don't.
I stop moving automatically and Kai notices my expression immediately before he glances downward.
For a moment neither of us speaks.
"Did you mean to activate you powers?" I ask carefully.
He flexes his fingers once before answering. "No."
The quietness of his voice bothers me more than the shadows themselves.
We begin circling again, though the sparring has already shifted into something else entirely. Now I'm watching him instead of fighting him.
Noah told me Kai was recovering physically, but this doesn't feel like ordinary recovery.
Since we started training again, his posture became sharper than before.
His awareness began feeling wider somehow, like part of his attention stretched beyond the room itself. Even his eyes seemed different. More focused, but also more distant at the same time.
I move suddenly again, mostly testing him now.
Kai reacts instantly.
One second he stands several feet away from me and the next his shadow hits me in the chest, stopping all my momentum so abruptly that my breath escapes me.
Kai realises it a second later and pulls his shadows back in immediately.
"Finn…"
"I'm fine"
"I'm... sorry"
I slowly catch my breath while keeping my eyes on him.
There's sweat gathering faintly along his neck despite the cold temperature in the room, and although his breathing remains controlled, I can hear strain underneath it now.
Probably another headache.
"We should stop for today" I tell him.
Kai immediately shakes his head. "I'm fine, lets keep going."
I almost laugh. "You know Noah tells me off if I don't put a stop to it."
That earns the faintest flicker of amusement before it disappears again.
"I can keep going though", Kai protests, shifting his stance like the idea of stopping physically irritates him.
I step in before he convinces himself otherwise and place a hand on his shoulder. It's firm. Familiar in a way that goes back years.
"I know you can," I say quietly. "But I don't think I can."
Kai stills.
If I let him keep going and his shadows spike before he can pull them back in time, I don't just worry about injury anymore. I worry about what slips through the cracks when control fails. And I don't trust that margin right now. Not with whatever is changing in him.
"You've seem to have gotten all your stamina back though" I add, trying to keep it light again.
Kai rolls his shoulder once like he's checking a joint that used to hurt but doesn't anymore.
"Yeah. I think I am almost back to how I was before the burnout."
He says it casually, but I don't miss the way his eyes flick for a fraction of a second when he mentions it.
Over the last month, Kai has been training between me, Monica, and Daniel to get him back on his feet properly. At first none of us were happy about it. None of us wanted to see him pushed too far again, not after everything that happened.
Especially Ethan.
I still remember that day clearly. Ethan walking out mid-conversation, jaw tight, eyes bright with anger that wasn't really aimed at any of us in particular. Kai had gone after him immediately afterwards. I don't know what was said between them that night.
No one does.
But they came back the next morning and Ethan didn't look any less upset, just quieter about it. And Kai looked like he'd been awake the whole time.
After that, Ethan agreed. Not happily, but he agreed.
With Noah constantly monitoring Kai's condition, we've all been careful. Sessions have been structured with controlled intensity. Enough to rebuild him without pushing him over the edge.
At least that's the theory.
I reach for a water bottle from the side bench and toss it lightly to him. Kai catches it without looking, which would have impressed me a month ago if I wasn't already getting used to how unnaturally sharp he's become.
We both take a drink at the same time, the room settling into a brief quiet.
Then the door opens.
Cold air spills in before Ethan does.
"What are you doing?" he says immediately, arms crossed, eyes narrowing as he takes in the scene.
Me and Kai glance at each other.
"Finn said he would help get me a quick sparring session in" Kai answers, as if that explains everything.
"It's Christmas Day, you know," Ethan huffs. "You're allowed a day off."
Kai steps closer to him without hesitation, the tension in him softening in a way it rarely does around anyone else. He leans in and presses a quick kiss to Ethan's temple.
"Sorry," he says, smiling faintly. "We're done now anyway."
Then he looks back at me. Not asking permission exactly. More like checking alignment. Like he knows I'll support whatever version of reality is easiest to stabilise in the moment.
"Yeah," I say, matching his tone. "We're done now."
Kai relaxes slightly, grabbing his towel and shifting his weight like the session never escalated in the first place.
I gather my stuff, rolling my shoulders as I start walking towards them.
"Oh," Ethan says as I pass. "Noah looks like he's about to head to the lab again. I think you need to go get him."
Both me and Kai sigh at the same time.
Of course he is.
"Okay," I say. "I'll go get him. We'll see you both in a bit."
I don't wait for another comment. I just jog out of the room, down the corridor, through the exit doors and into the cold outside air.
Snow hits my face immediately, sharp and clean, the kind of cold that wakes you up whether you want it to or not.
And there he is... Noah.
Walking across the snow-covered field, a metal case in hand, heading straight for the lab like the rest of the world doesn't exist unless he physically drags it into relevance.
I don't even slow down.
"Noah!" I shout.
He glances back briefly. That's all I get. One look. Then he turns away and starts walking faster knowing he's in trouble.
I swear under my breath and sprint after him.
"I'm only just popping in for a second" he calls over his shoulder.
"For a second my arse!" I call back.
He speeds up. Of course he does, because if Noah ever says "a second," what he actually means is "until I forget what day it is."
I close the distance quickly, snow crunching under my boots, breath sharp in my chest. He's faster than he looks when he wants to be, but I know his pattern. I've known him long enough to recognise when he's slipping into tunnel focus.
If he reaches that lab, he'll lock himself in and I'm not letting that happen.
I catch him just as he reaches the path to the lab door.
Before he can step inside, I grab him and pull him down with controlled force, making sure I angle it so he doesn't hit the ground badly.
We land in the snow together.
I keep one hand under his head instinctively, the other moves to the metal case so it doesn't slam into the ground. Snow bursts up around us, cold soaking through fabric immediately.
For a second everything is just white noise and breath.
Then Noah speaks.
"Finn, that was unnecessary" he complains, staring up at me like I've personally offended his entire workflow.
"It was necessary when you started running" I say.
"You ran at me first."
He says it like that's a legal argument he's about to win.
I laugh before I can stop myself.
It catches me off guard how easy that is with him. How quickly everything else fades when it's just him looking at me like this, annoyed and stubborn and entirely too focused for his own good.
I don't move for a moment longer than I need to.
Just enough.
Just enough time to notice the way my chest tightens when he's this close.
Then I push myself up.
"There is no way you're going to the lab today" I say firmly.
He sits up slowly, brushing snow off his coat, hair slightly dishevelled now. I find myself reaching out without thinking and wiping some of the snow from his hair properly, fingers lingering a fraction too long before I register what I'm doing.
"I just have to check on latest results," he says, quieter now. "It will not take long."
His eyes flick briefly towards the lab, then back to me.
There it is.
That pull.
Like the lab is a magnet and he's just pretending he has a choice.
It's the same expression Kai gets sometimes before he pushes too far. Just less visible and more controlled. Wrapped in logic instead of impulse.
I rub my face briefly, exhaling.
"Fine," I give in. "But if you're not in the canteen by the time I get out of the shower, I am sending Kai after you as well."
His expression tightens immediately at that.
"Fine. It is a deal."
I reach out and ruffle his hair properly this time, ignoring the way he immediately tries to fix it like that matters more than the snow melting down his collar.
"Merry Christmas, by the way" I say.
His expression softens slightly.
"Yes," he replies. "And to you."
I hold his gaze a second too long.
Just long enough for something unspoken to sit there between us, but then I force myself to stand properly, stepping back before I overthink it.
"Don't break your promise" I warn, more lightly.
And I walk away before the cold stops being the only thing I feel.