DARIAN P.O.V(point of view)
The city was unraveling faster than anyone predicted. Truth always moved quicker than bullets.
Sirens braided the air, screens flickered with Syndicate names, shell companies, blood trails made visible at last. Men who had never run a day in their lives were running now.
Adanna stood beside me on the pedestrian bridge overlooking the river, the wind tugging at her hair, her face lit by the glow of a city learning it had been lied to. She should have looked relieved buh didn't
"You feel it too," I said.
She nodded once. "Eden isn't quiet anymore."
Neither was the weight in my chest.
The Eden chip burned against my ribs, not hot..... but alive, watching, calculating and choosing.
EDEN RESPONSE
Priority Override Initiated
Neutrality compromised.
Ethical alignment locked.
I stopped walking.
"What does that mean?" I demanded under my breath.
Adanna turned to me sharply. "Darian?"
Before I could answer, Eden spoke again....not in text this time, but in sensation. A pressure behind my eyes. A cascade of probability collapsing into something singular.
EDEN RESPONSE
A counterforce has activated.
Objective: Subject A.C. termination.
My blood went cold.
"They're coming for you," I said immediately.
She didn't flinch. "I knew they would."
"No," I snapped. "Not arrest, not control but Erase."
The word settled between us like a blade laid carefully on a table.
Adanna stepped closer. "Then we don't split up."
My jaw tightened. "That's exactly what we do."
She grabbed my jacket. "No."
I covered her hand with mine, grounding myself in the fact that she was real, warm, here.
"Listen to me. Eden choosing sides changes everything. I was the contingency. The weapon they could turn. You're the variable they can't predict."
Her voice dropped. "You're talking like you've already decided."
"I have."
She shook her head, eyes shining with fury and fear. "You don't get to martyr yourself and call it love."
I leaned down until our foreheads touched, breath mixing. "Then what do you call it when staying means you die?"
"I call it my choice," she whispered.
The wind roared around us. Somewhere below, the river kept moving, indifferent.
I cupped her face, thumbs brushing the edges of her jaw, memorizing. This wasn't a kiss yet. It was worse. Slower. The kind of touch that admitted things you didn't want to say aloud.
"Adanna," I said quietly. "There's an old failsafe. A kill-loop and Eden can't fully purge the Syndicate unless someone anchors the collapse from inside."
Her breath hitched. "Inside what?"
"Inside me."
Silence broke open as she pulled back just enough to look at me. Really look. "You'd let it use you."
"I'd let it finish what I started," I said. "And end it so it can't be used again."
Her hands slid to my chest, fingers pressing hard, like she was trying to feel my heart through bone. "And after?"
"There is no after for me," I admitted. "Not the way you want it."
The city noise faded. All I could hear was her breathing, shallow now, controlled, like she was holding herself together by will alone.
"Then don't ask me to be brave about this," she said softly. "Don't ask me to understand."
I leaned in and kissed her, not desperate, not gentle but controlled. Taut..... the kind of kiss that held back more than it gave.
Her lips parted under mine, a quiet sound escaping her throat..... not pleasure, not pain, but need.
She kissed me back with equal restraint, hands sliding up my arms, gripping like anchors.
This wasn't about heat. It was about proof.
I broke the kiss first, breath uneven. "This is the line," I said. "If I step past it....."
She kissed me again, harder this time, pressing all her fear into the contact, like she could brand herself into me.
"Then remember me like this," she murmured against my mouth. "Not as the woman you left behind. As the one who stood with you when it mattered."
My hands slid to her waist, holding her there, forehead against hers again.
"I love you," I said. No apology, no hesitation.
She swallowed. "I know."
And somehow, that hurt more than anything else.
ADANNA P.O.V(point of view)
I felt Eden before I heard it, not as a voice but as a recognition.
EDEN RESPONSE
Subject A.C. acknowledged as Primary Ethical Authority
Your survival is statistically preferable.
Your consent is required.
I laughed softly, bitter. "You finally learned manners."
Darian stiffened. "Adanna....."
I stepped away from him, turning inward, focusing. "Eden, if he anchors the collapse, what happens to him?"
EDEN RESPONSE
Neural overload probability: 94%.
Identity dissolution likely.
I closed my eyes.
"And if I refuse?"
EDEN RESPONSE
Counterforce success probability increases to 71%.
Civilian casualties projected.
I exhaled slowly. So that was the shape of the knife.
I turned back to Darian, who was watching me like a man already half gone.
"You don't get to do this alone," I said.
He shook his head. "Adanna....."
I reached up and pressed my fingers to his lips. "If you do this, it's not as a weapon. It's as a man who was loved."
His eyes burned.
"And you listen to me now," I continued, voice steady despite the fracture inside me. "You don't disappear thinking you were a monster trying to be good. You were good...You are."
Then he nodded once. "Stay alive," he said. "That's my condition."
My throat tightened. "I will."
Eden pulsed..... decisive now.
EDEN RESPONSE
Final Pathway Selected
Anchor accepted.
Countdown initiated.
Sirens surged closer and the counterforce was moving. Darian stepped back, already becoming distance.
I watched him go, every step etching itself into me.
This was love sharpened to its edge.
Not soft, not safe but chosen. And somewhere deep in the machine that had learned how to listen, Eden remembered us both.
To be continued....