The museum no longer smelled like dust and oil.
It smelled like iron and wet stone.
The Black Bloom had crept all the way to the outer walls, red veins crawling through cracks like living graffiti. The lights flickered more often. People whispered in corners now. The sense of safety that had bloomed after Draton's death was gone.
And yet Andy smiled.
He smiled at everyone. Fixed broken equipment. Carried crates. Helped patch leaks. His voice was calm, warm even, when he spoke to the frightened survivors.
"Everything's going to be alright," he would tell them. "I'll keep you safe."
He said it so easily that some of them believed him.
Scene: The Whispering Crowd
Kaila walked through the hall and stopped when she saw it.
Andy in the center of a small group. Talking. Smiling. His hands moving gently as he spoke. The same survivors who had been skittish days ago now leaned in, nodding.
He was telling them stories.
About surviving Dive ambushes. About killing Draton. About how they all deserved a new world and how they were strong enough to take it.
The words were harmless on the surface. But the way they watched him… it made her skin crawl.
Skate hissed faintly in her skull.
"He is planting seeds."
"What seeds?"
No answer.
Scene: Alaric's Lab
Alaric was bent over the sample jars again when Kaila walked in.
"Tell me the truth," she said. "Is Andy contagious?"
Alaric didn't look up. "Not in the way you think. He isn't spreading a virus. He's spreading influence. Emotional. Neural. The fragment inside him is a living code. It wants to replicate. It doesn't need blood to do that."
Kaila's stomach turned. "It's infecting people without touching them."
"Yes."
She took a step back. "Then we have to stop him."
Alaric finally looked at her.
"Do you still love him?"
She didn't answer.
Scene: The Vanishings
That night another guard vanished.
Harper slammed her fist on the table in the mess hall. "That's four people in a week. We're being hollowed out. Nobody listens. Everyone thinks Andy's some kind of savior."
Kaila sat quietly, staring at the table.
Harper leaned closer. "You see it too, don't you?"
Kaila whispered. "He's still Andy."
Harper shook her head. "No. He's not."
Scene: Andy and Kaila Alone
Later that evening, Kaila found Andy sitting in the art hall under the dancer statue. The veins of the Black Bloom were climbing up the marble legs now.
"You're scaring people," she said.
He smiled. "They're scared because they're weak. But that's alright. I'll make them strong."
"That isn't your job."
He tilted his head. "You're changing, Kaila. Skate is making you beautiful. Untouchable. I can feel it. And I know you feel me changing too."
"You're twisting," she said quietly. "This isn't you."
"I'm becoming what I have to be."
"No," she said. "You're becoming what you think I want."
He reached out and touched her face. His hand was colder than stone.
"I'm becoming what we both need."
Kaila pulled away.
His smile stayed. But his eyes flickered red for a second.
Scene: Horror Spike
That night, in one of the dark hallways, a survivor named Jules thought she saw a child.
It stood at the end of the corridor, small and thin, back to her. When she called out, it turned its head completely around, eyes black and bleeding light, and whispered in Andy's voice:
"Soon."
Then it vanished.
She didn't tell anyone. She just packed her bag and ran.
Scene: Closing
Kaila stood on the roof, staring at the city. Andy was somewhere below, whispering to people who used to be her allies.
Skate murmured in her skull.
"He is making a world inside this one."
"What do I do?" she asked.
"Decide if you want to break it before it breaks you."
Kaila closed her eyes.
She could still feel Andy's cold hand on her face.