Noah Langford - September 2120
The rumble beneath us softens, then dissolves, and the car settles into silence. The engine cutting out is what finally nudges my brain back online. Evidently, I fell asleep. Irritating, but not unexpected. Today has been long.
I blink back into awareness and immediately catch Ethan and Ray looking at me with matching grins. When I turn to Finn, he's trying to smother one too.
Then I register the weight on my shoulder. Or rather… the absence of weight as Kai slumps forward in sleep.
Right. I must have drifted off on him and he on me.
Heat flickers annoyingly across my face. I'm twenty-one. This hasn't happened since we were kids.
"Don't worry" Ethan says already lifting his phone. "I took a photo."
"I didn't know Kai had a cute side" Ray adds as he hops out of the car.
I shoot him a look, but it's too late, Ethan is showing me the photo. Great. Both of us unconscious, my head on his shoulder, his chin tipped forward like someone unplugged him.
Finn snorts. "You two haven't changed at all."
I don't dignify that with a response. Instead, I turn to Kai and place a hand on his shoulder. His breathing stays steady and there is no reaction.
"Kai" I murmur... Nothing.
It's exactly like waking him up for school when we were barely tall enough to reach the light switch.
I lean in closer, raise my voice a bit. "Kai."
He jerks upright with a small gasp.
The sound is too sharp... too startled.
Ethan hears it too. His smile thins. "You okay?"
Kai rubs his face. "Sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep."
We exit the car, but I watch him carefully. There's a stiffness to him that wasn't there earlier.
Ethan immediately gravitates to him, taking his hand, speaking low. It seems he's trying to soothe him and Kai lets him. That alone tells me something's off.
For a second, Kai's mask slips. Barely, but I've spent my life reading microscopic shifts in him. This one is sadness.
Finn steps up beside me. "If you're worried about him, why don't you just talk to him?"
I exhale. "You know he won't tell me."
"Yeah. True." Finn admits.
Kai has always treated his suffering like contraband. Keeping it locked away and hidden.
But when I see him pull Ethan into a hug and press a kiss to the top of his head, something shifts inside me. A small, sharp pull.
I move forward. "Kai, shall we go for a walk together?"
He hesitates, glancing at Ethan, though Ethan nods him on. "I should show Finn where you two are staying tonight" Ethan says before heading inside.
"I think I'm sober enough," Kai mutters as he comes to stand beside me. "I don't need another walk."
"I want to show you something."
He looks confused, but follows.
I lead him toward the school shed, where I hid the equipment.
When we reach it, I unlock the padlock and push the door open. He steps inside behind me, scanning the room.
"What are we doing here?"
My hand trails over the metal case on the workbench.
"You seemed to have had a nightmare."
Kai freezes for a fraction of a second, then starts pacing the shed instead of looking at me.
"I'd say it was more of a memory" he murmurs, fingertips brushing the sniper rifle leaning against the wall.
A memory that triggered that kind of gasp? Only one category qualifies.
"Was it one about Father?" I ask.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
Of course he wouldn't. He never does. If he refuses to let it out, I'll have to apply pressure. The gentle kind.
"You don't have to be afraid of him anymore," I say, turning toward him. "I won't let him hurt you. If something's worrying you, tell me."
He lowers his head and silence pools between us.
Just when I'm about to assume he won't answer, he speaks. "It was just that time we had detention for being late to school. Guess it came back to me because you're here."
My stomach tightens.
That day again.
He took the blame for us being late and Father was furious. I was ordered out of the office while Kai stayed behind.
He never told me what happened after the door closed.
But I remember knocking on his bedroom later, only for him to stay hidden under the covers, muffled and shaking.
I couldn't protect him then.
But now? Now I can.
"You never told me what happened that day" I say.
"It's not worth talking about. The past is the past." He let's go of the sniper.
He turns, facing me. "Why did you bring me here?"
A smile tugs at my mouth as I flip open the metal box.
Kai steps closer. Cautious and curious.
"I have a gift for you" I tell him.
"A… gift?" He leans in.
I open the case fully. Inside, the two green vials gleam under the dim light.
"Ever since the day I thought you died," I say, "I made it my goal to find a way to neutralise the Guardians and anyone else abusing the Lunex powers."
I pick up one of the vials and take Kai's hand, placing it into his palm.
"This is the most important invention I've made. And I wanted the person who matters most to have it."
Kai grips the vial but recoils slightly, like the words hit him too hard. "Noah-"
"I can only spare two right now," I continue, "but when production starts, you'll never run out."
He swallows hard. "What… what does it do?"
"It reverses the effects of the Lunex Vial."
His eyes go wide and he nearly drops it.
"What do you want me to do with this?" His voice wavers.
He looks slightly shaken.
I take it gently from his hand and return it to the case. "I don't expect you to use it now and certainly not on yourself."
His shoulders lose some tension at that.
"I want you to have the option to protect yourself and the people you care about."
I lock the case again, set the fingerprint scanner, then take his hand and press it to the pad. It beeps green.
"Now you can open it whenever you need."
Kai stares at the lock as if it's a door to somewhere he's not sure he wants to step. The shed hums with quiet, dust motes drift lazily through the faint beam of the single lamp. He's too still. The kind of stillness he uses when he's building walls inside himself.
"Kai," I say softly.
He finally looks at me. His eyes are steady, but everything behind them is shaking.
"You created something that can neutralise the Lunex vial" he says. His voice is too level. "That's… a lot, Noah."
"Someone had to," I reply. "and you were the reason I started."
That lands, not gracefully, but more like a dropped weight.
Kai's gaze flicks away and he runs a hand through his hair, fingers trembling so lightly most people wouldn't notice.
"Noah… you can't just say things like that."
"Why not?"
"Because it makes it sound like I'm your responsibility, I-" His throat closes around the rest.
My pulse jumps, but I keep my face neutral. "You're my brother."
I inhale slowly, making sure my voice doesn't give anything away. "You matter the most to me. That's enough for me to act on."
He stands there absorbing that, shoulders rising and falling in uneven breaths. When he finally looks back at me, there's something raw there. Something he never lets surface.
"What does GeneX want with this?" he asks, motioning to the case. "Noah, this could change everything. It could ruin you."
"It could also save lives."
"Yours included?"
The question strikes deeper than I expect. A little too precisely.
I step closer, close enough that the lamplight catches the tired lines under his eyes. "Yes," I say. "But mostly it could have save Owens"
Kai flinches, not physically, but somewhere inside.
"I don't want anyone using this against you," he mutters. "I don't want you in danger because of something you did for me"
"That's not your decision."
He huffs a humorless breath. "You're impossible."
"Correct."
His eyes soften. Just a fraction. "You didn't bring me here just for this."
Smart. As always.
"No," I admit. "I wanted to know why that memory hit you so hard."
Kai drops his gaze. His fingers curl into the fabric of his sleeves.
"I told you. It's the past."
"That doesn't mean it's gone."
He stays quiet. I let the silence stretch, not to force him, but to give him a place to step into if he chooses.
Eventually, he exhales. "You remember the detention," he says. "But you don't know everything afterwards."
I nod, waiting.
"Father didn't hit me," he says. "Not that time."
I feel something coil inside my chest. Hit wasn't the only option.
"What did he do?"
Kai presses his lips together. His jaw trembles despite his best efforts to hide it.
"He told me you would never become anything if I kept interfering. Said I was holding you back. That I was… a flaw in your plan"
The temperature in my veins spikes, cold and bright.
"He said you'd be better off without me. That I should learn my place or you'd outgrow me and leave me behind."
I grip the edge of the workbench so hard the metal bites into my palm.
"And you believed him?" My voice comes out quieter than intended.
Kai swallows, throat bobbing. "I think part of me still does."
Something fractures in me.
I step forward and take his wrist, firm but not harsh. "Listen to me," I say. "There is no version of my life where I leave you behind. None. You're not a flaw. You're the constant."
Kai's breath stutters.
"I built the nullifier for you," I continue. "But I also built it because of what happened after that day. Because I swore I'd never let anyone else go through what you had to."
His eyes shine a little, like he's battling something fiercely private.
And then he whispers, barely audible, "Noah… thank you."
It's not something he says often or easily.
And it hits with far more force than I expect.
I let go of his wrist slowly, giving him space. "We can head back now if you wish."
Kai shakes his head. "No. I want to stay here a little longer."
So I stand beside him in the dim shed, the nullifier case between us, the air heavy with things said and unsaid.
And for once, Kai doesn't hide.