Prime doesn't know what's happening to him, or what's happening at all.
The first days after Prime's return were eerily quiet. Too quiet, even for him.
The Silent One always carried that aura of calm detachment, but now the silence wasn't stillness — it was tension.
When he walked, his shadow seemed to drag just a moment too long.
When he spoke — rare as always — his words lingered, like echoes in a hollow cavern.
And when he looked at you… his eyes didn't quite focus. It was as though he was staring through you, past your body, into something only he could see.
The others tried to ignore it at first.
Stream joked about how Prime probably just needed water, though his grin faltered when Prime didn't respond.
Omega, who usually brushed off strangeness, caught himself tightening his grip on his gauntlet whenever Prime was near.
Even Typhoon, the loudest of them, fell silent when Prime's gaze met his.
That gaze.
It wasn't anger. It wasn't sorrow.
It was the void.
A stare so empty, so absolute, that it made the strongest feel small.
Like being dragged to the edge of a cliff and realizing the darkness below was alive, waiting to pull you in.
Late one night, Stream found Prime standing at the edge of their camp, motionless, staring into nothing.
"Yo… you good?" Stream's voice carried a nervous chuckle.
Prime didn't answer.
*Agh... My head, is spinning... What's happening to me?*
The firelight caught his face — expressionless, still, but his eyes glowed faintly. Not the usual cold silver.
No… this was darker. Deeper. Something twisting behind the pupils, like black fire smoldering in the abyss.
"Prime?" Stream asked again, firmer this time.
Then Prime blinked, slow, like waking from a trance.
"…I'm fine."
His voice carried two tones for just a split second — his own, and something lower, distorted.
Stream froze. Did he just imagine that?
*It feels as if the void itself is looking straight at me*
Before he could press, Prime simply turned and walked away, disappearing into the night without a sound.
That was when the unease settled into the group for real.
Prime was still with them.
But the abyss… was staring back.
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