The base was quiet when Kaila stormed through it.
Her boots echoed on the stone floor. Her heart was hammering. Skate buzzed like a dying alarm in her skull.
She knew.
She didn't know how she knew.
She just did.
Something in Andy was gone.
And something worse had taken its place.
Scene: The Confrontation
Andy was in the observatory wing, staring out the shattered window at the ash-covered city.
He didn't flinch when she walked in.
Didn't even look her way.
"Tell me what you did," Kaila said.
His voice was calm.
"I made us whole."
"No riddles. No creepy god shit. Tell me what the fuck you injected."
Andy turned to her.
His eyes weren't glowing now, but they didn't look human either. Something behind them shimmered like oil over fire.
"I took the fragment. The one from Draton. I modified the serum. I let it in."
Kaila's stomach dropped.
"You infected yourself with Dive tech? Are you insane?"
"I had to," he said. "You're leaving me behind, Kaila. Every day you get stronger. Brighter. More… unreachable."
"I never left you behind."
"You will."
He stepped closer.
"I saw it. In my dreams. In the static. You die. Everyone dies. But I don't. I can save you. I can be more."
Her voice cracked.
"I never asked you to change."
"You didn't have to," he said. "Love does that on its own."
Scene: The Split
Kaila stepped back.
"Do you even hear yourself?"
"I hear everything now."
"This isn't love anymore. This is obsession."
"No," Andy said, voice hard. "This is clarity."
"You think if you turn yourself into some mutated god, I'll stay with you? You think that's love?"
"I think it's the only way you'll survive," he said, stepping forward. "And if I have to become a monster to keep you breathing, then I'll be the most beautiful fucking monster this world has ever seen."
Kaila stared at him.
Tears slipped down her cheek, but her voice stayed steady.
"Then I can't be with you anymore."
Andy froze.
His smile cracked.
"What?"
"I love you. I always did. But I can't follow you into this."
His hands trembled.
"Kaila…"
"I'm done."
She turned to leave.
He grabbed her arm.
She yanked it back like he burned her.
"Don't touch me," she snapped.
Andy stood there.
Alone.
Shaking.
Scene: Alone Again
Later that night, Andy sat in the dark storage room.
Blood dripped from his knuckles. The wall in front of him was cracked from where he punched it. Over. And over. And over.
The mirror he once stared into was shattered across the floor.
Pieces of himself stared back at him in every jagged shard.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"She was supposed to understand."
He laughed once. Dry. Hollow.
"Guess I'll have no choice."