Finn Lennoy-February 2121
The holiday is over before any of us are ready for it.
The silence says more than words ever could as we load the car. No one complains, but I can see it written across every face. We all wish we could stay. Out here, the world feels smaller. Safer. Unfortunately, reality has a habit of finding us, no matter how far we run.
"Ugh," Ethan groans from the back seat. "Can't we just stay here?"
"You know we can't stay forever," Kai replies gently, passing him a bottle of water.
"I know..." Ethan sighs dramatically. "Still."
A faint smile tugs at the corner of my mouth before I glance across at Noah. He's sitting beside me, staring silently out of the window, his reflection ghosting across the glass.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yeah." He doesn't look away. "I'm just wondering how Dr Edmund and Dr Thomas got on."
Of course he is. The holiday isn't even officially over and his brain is already back in the lab.
"I'm sure they've managed without you," I say with a quiet chuckle.
He finally smiles, even if it's only for a second.
The journey back to Trinity passes easily enough. Music drifts through the speakers while conversations come and go, and before I realise it, we're turning through the school gates. Darkness has settled over the grounds, leaving only a handful of lights glowing through the school windows.
Ethan leans forward between the seats.
"You know what?" he says. "Now that I'm here... I'm actually glad to be home."
I understand what he means. This place isn't perfect, but somewhere along the way it stopped feeling like a headquarters for a revolutionary group and started feeling like home.
We decide the luggage can wait until morning. After a long day of travelling, no one has the energy to unpack tonight.
As we head towards the entrance, the front doors swing open and Edmund steps outside to greet us.
"I hope you're all feeling rested," he says with an easy smile.
"Very," Ethan answers. "Thanks again for letting us use the house."
"It was my pleasure."
Edmund's attention shifts to Kai. He gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before studying him carefully.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better."
Kai instinctively rubs the suppressant cuffs around his wrists. They'd barely been off before he'd chosen to wear them again. He hasn't zoned out once since we left, but I know the episodes are still sitting in the back of everyone's minds.
"I'm glad to hear it," Edmund says.
He steps over and offers me a firm handshake before moving towards Noah. The two of them exchange a few quiet words that the rest of us can't hear. Then Noah's eyes widen.
"Are you sure?" he asks.
Edmund nods. Without another word, Noah turns and heads straight towards the laboratory and I let out a slow breath.
Of course.
"Noah?" Kai calls after him.
He doesn't even react.
"I'll go," I tell them.
Someone has to make sure he remembers the world still exists outside his own head.
By the time we arrive at the lab Noah is already pushing through the doors with enough force to make Thomas jump.
"Noah!" Thomas says, pressing a hand to his chest. "I didn't realise you were back."
"Is it true?" Noah asks immediately. "Did you find a way to help Kai?"
My feet stop where they are and Thomas blinks before a smile slowly spreads across his face.
"We believe we have."
He turns his laptop around and opens several files filled with research notes, brain scans and simulation results. Noah studies everything in complete silence.
Watching him work is almost unsettling. The rest of the world disappears whenever his mind locks onto a problem.
Eventually, he steps back.
"I think this could work."
"What could work?" I ask.
He turns towards me, his entire face brighter than it's been in weeks.
"A cure for Kai's episodes."
For a second, I just stare at him. Then relief hits me harder than I expect and a laugh escapes before I can stop it as I reach over, ruffling his hair.
"Told you there was nothing to worry about."
He immediately bats my hand away, muttering a quiet protest as he smooths his hair back into place.
Some things never change.
Within seconds he's already turned back to Thomas, the pair of them disappearing into a conversation that loses me somewhere around the third scientific term.
I don't even bother trying to follow. Instead, I take my usual chair beside the door.
Old habits.
From there I watch Noah work.
I've spent years watching him disappear into research, and somehow it never gets boring. Most people only notice how quiet he becomes. I notice the tiny things. The way he forgets to blink when he's concentrating. The way his hands move faster than his mouth ever could. The way his entire face changes whenever he thinks he's close to solving something impossible.
It's probably the happiest I've seen him since Kai collapsed.
Maybe all of us needed this.
The past few weeks have felt like walking across thin ice, never knowing when it might crack beneath us. Kai's burnout shook everyone more than any of us wanted to admit. We stopped planning attacks. Stopped taking risks. Every decision revolved around making sure he recovered.
No one ever said it aloud, but we all knew the truth.
Without Kai, taking the fight back to GeneX wasn't an option.
I'd carried more than usual during that time. Not because anyone asked me to, but because someone had to. Keeping Noah safe had always been part of my job, yet somewhere along the way I'd found myself watching Kai just as closely.
That was the strange part.
For as long as I'd known him, Kai had always been the one everyone else relied on. Seeing him become the person who needed protecting never quite felt real.
Now, watching Noah smile over research that might finally free Kai from those episodes, something settles inside me.
For the first time in weeks, the weight on my shoulders eases.
Maybe we're finally moving forward again.
And if Kai really is getting back to the person he used to be, then GeneX should start looking over their shoulder.
Because we've been waiting long enough.
A moment later, the door beside me opens and Edmund steps inside.
"I see you're already back to work," he says, his hands clasped neatly behind his back, just as they always are.
Noah looks up before walking over, a stack of papers still clutched in one hand.
"From everything I've read, there isn't much left for me to contribute," he admits, glancing down at the research. There is genuine surprise in his voice, and I can't help finding it amusing. It isn't often Noah is the one caught off guard. "But... I don't want to risk using Kai as our guinea pig again."
The smile fades from my face.
I know exactly why he says it.
He has never truly forgiven himself for rushing the serum that saved Kai's life.
The rest of us see it differently. Without Noah's decision that day, Kai wouldn't have survived long enough to suffer any side effects at all. The episodes, the memory lapses, the loss of control... none of it was intentional.
We've all told him that countless times.
Kai has told him, I've told him but it never makes a difference. Noah carries that guilt like it's something he deserves to keep.
My eyes drift past him to Thomas, who is trying and failing to hide a knowing smile. When I glance at Edmund, I find the same expression waiting there.
They've planned something.
"I have something to show you," Edmund says.
Noah frowns, his curiosity immediately outweighing his self-doubt.
Without another word, Edmund gestures for us to follow.