Bonds and Emotions

A gentle touch, a word sincere,
Can break the walls of pain and fear.
Yet kindness falters, left unheard,
Lost in the noise of a cruel word.

---

I felt a weight resting on my right arm. I must have just woken up. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I was still in the same damp, dimly lit place. So, everything that had happened wasn’t a dream. I felt better. Turning my head to the right, where my arm was, I saw Aeon.

Her head was resting on my arm, and she was asleep. Her face was so peaceful, as pure and calm as clear water. I smiled. Aeon was okay. We had managed to survive.

I realized tears were streaming down my face. I was crying, but they were tears of joy.

Aeon began to stir. I must have accidentally woken her up. Her eyes slowly opened.

“Hey.” I gently stroked her head with a smile. Aeon turned her gaze to me. At first, she didn’t understand, but the moment she did, her eyes went wide.

“Kaen? You’re awake!” she exclaimed, a mix of shock and happiness as she threw her arms around me.

“Hey, hey, take it easy! My wounds haven’t healed yet.”
“Oh, sorry!”

She quickly pulled back. I could see the joyful tears in her eyes. It felt like a butterfly was fluttering inside me. I was so happy.

“It’s fine. How long have I been out?” I asked curiously, glancing around for the old woman and Narya, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“You’ve been sleeping for about 1 day and 3 hours since I woke up.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to be so specific.”
“Well, I can see the exact time directly… so…”

Aeon averted her gaze, embarrassed. Right, the chip attached to her head let her see much more than just the time.

“I see. Thank you for staying with me.”

There wasn’t a moment I wished more for my sibling to be by my side.

“Y-you’re welcome. By the way, I’m glad we managed to escape. Once you’ve recovered, I’d like to hear how we got out.”

She was smiling shyly, looking at me with a bashful expression. I nodded in agreement. I wished these moments would never end, that we could return to our family and live normal lives. But that wasn’t possible. That’s why I needed to stay strong and do whatever it took.

“Where are Narya and Kaida?”
“They said they’d step out for a while. They’ll be back soon.”

A bad feeling crept into my chest. What if they’d abandoned us and reported us as fugitives? If they did, and if they were complicit, they could get reduced sentences.

I tried to sit up. This time, I at least managed to get on my feet. My head was bandaged, and there were IV lines inserted into my hands for feeding. I removed the IVs. Aeon watched me in shock, trying to figure out what I was doing.

“By the way, Kaida left a message for you in case you woke up while she was away.”
“What is it?”

I wasn’t expecting that at all. I stood up and started searching for my jumpsuit.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

Aeon said it in a flat tone.
“Don’t do anything stupid?”

I tried to process what I’d heard.
“Yeah, that’s what she said.”
“That old hag…”

I understood better now why she left me a message. She already knew me too well. She knew I wouldn’t trust anyone and would try to leave. I let out a deep sigh. My jumpsuit, filthy from mud and grime, was wrinkled but slightly cleaner than before. Someone had washed my clothes.

“Did you clean my jumpsuit?”
“No, I think Narya did.”
“Those two…”

I didn’t know if they were genuinely trying to help or if they had another plan in mind.

I turned to my sibling, who sat silently, watching me with a curious yet healthy expression. They’d helped us recover and even cleaned our clothes.

I let out a deep sigh and sat back down on the bed. Even though I didn’t want to lower my guard, I could at least wait for them out of respect for what they’d done.

“Alright, when they get back, we’ll talk to them and then leave this place,” I said.
“But where will we go? We’re wanted everywhere.”
“W-we are?”
“Yes. The military confirmed during a general scan that there were two survivors.”
“And those two survivors are us?”

I looked at Aeon in disbelief. All this just because we wanted to escape...
“Yes.”

So many people had accidentally lost their lives during that time. The robots had gone into prevention mode and wiped out everyone in panic. The only ones left were us, those whose testing time hadn’t come yet, and those highly compatible with the chip. But only Aeon and I were fugitives.

A deep sense of regret washed over me. Of course, the vast majority of them would’ve been eliminated regardless, but still, maybe a few of them would’ve been compatible with the chip. Their deaths were my fault.

“Kaen, what’s wrong? You’ve gone pale!”

My sibling looked at me in fear. I glanced at my hands, pale and trembling like those of an old man. Just thinking about what had happened yesterday plunged me further into despair.

“I…”

At that moment, a loud noise came from the direction we had first arrived from. Someone was running down the sewer tunnel toward us.

“Something’s coming,” Aeon said anxiously.

“Administrator mode: Sca—”
I covered Aeon’s mouth with my hand.
“K-Kaen?”

Aeon looked at me in shock.
“I don’t want you passing out again.”

When Aeon lost consciousness before, experienced a nosebleed and had bloodshot eyes. I couldn’t risk that happening again. It had to be a last resort.

“If it’s someone we don’t recognize, use direct elimination. But only as a last resort,” I whispered.

I stood up and picked up a piece of fallen stone from the wall of the sewer. I took cover by the wall between the corridor and the room’s entrance. Aeon stared at me in surprise. The sounds were getting closer.

I didn’t know who—or what—was coming, but there was more than one of them. I could take down one as they came through, but the rest would be up to Aeon.

The sounds were right on top of us now. I nodded at Aeon, signaling readiness.

Here they come…