ELYSIA
"Hey, Elysia? Have you got Nicole's response to us? Her number still says it's out of service."
I let out a slow, weary sigh, the weight on my chest refusing to ease.
Five days.
Five days without a single call.
I leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of my nose as frustration and worry tangled together in my mind. Every possible explanation had crossed my thoughts, and somehow each one was worse than the last.
"I don't know, Shai."
Shai let out a defeated sigh before turning away.
Without saying another word, she walked back to the bench at the edge of the training ground and dropped into her seat, resting her elbows on her knees as she stared absentmindedly at the floor.
The usual spark in her eyes was gone.
None of us had the energy to joke anymore.
I let my gaze wander across the training ground until it landed on Ethan and Ivan.
The two were sparring in the center of the arena, trading blows with practiced precision. Ethan lunged forward with a swift punch, only for Ivan to sidestep and counter with a quick strike that forced him back.
They fought as though they were trying to distract themselves from the same thought that weighed on the rest of us.
Nicole had been gone for five days.
"Should we find her on our own? Dr. Weiss's guards are not even trying their best to find Nicole."
Shai let out an irritated groan and raked a hand through her hair, her fingers scratching roughly at the back of her head.
"This is driving me insane," she muttered, letting her hand fall to her side.
"Let's go to her house and check if she's there; we can't keep waiting like this." Ethan finally spoke, and we agreed.
The ride to Nicole's house was painfully quiet.
No one bothered to start a conversation. There wasn't anything left to say that hadn't already been repeated over the last five days.
Maybe she'd finally come home.
Maybe she'd lost her phone.
I clung to those thoughts as we pulled into her neighborhood.
Shai was the first to get out of the car.
She hurried to the front door and knocked loudly.
"Nicole!" she called. "Open up!"
There was no answer, so Ethan tried the doorknob, but it was locked.
The curtains were drawn, and the house was completely silent.
"Maybe she's asleep," he muttered, though even he didn't sound convinced.
I pulled out my phone and pressed her contact again.
The ringtone echoed from my speaker.
It kept ringing.
And ringing.
Then it ended.
By the time we'd all called her countless times, hope had become little more than stubborn denial.
I lowered my phone, my hand trembling.
"...She's not here."
No one argued.
Ivan took one last look at the empty house before speaking.
"We're wasting time."
I looked at him.
"If she's not here..."
His jaw tightened, and I saw him grip his phone tighter.
"...Then Weiss owes us an explanation."
Less than an hour later, the four of us stormed through the doors of Dr. Weiss's research facility.
The guards stepped forward immediately, but Weiss's voice echoed through the corridor before they could stop us.
"Let them through."
The guards stepped aside.
We found Dr. Weiss waiting in the observation room overlooking the Meta Core laboratory.
He didn't look surprised to see us.
"You've come about Nicole."
I stepped toward him.
"Where is she?"
"We've searched everywhere," Shai added, barely able to contain her anger. "You said your security teams were looking for her."
"They were."
"Then why haven't they found anything?"
Weiss remained silent for a long moment.
Something about his expression made my stomach twist.
He looked...
Regretful.
Finally, he spoke.
"They were never going to find her."
The room fell silent.
"What does that mean?" Ethan demanded.
Weiss turned toward one of the holographic monitors and activated it.
A familiar energy signature appeared on the screen.
Nicole's.
Unlike Genevieve's unstable readings...
Nicole's was almost nonexistent.
A single gray line stretched across the display.
No fluctuations.
No activity.
Nothing.
Weiss lowered his gaze.
"Nicole's Core has stopped responding."
Shai frowned.
"I don't understand."
He inhaled slowly before answering.
"The moment a Core synchronizes with its host, it continuously emits a unique energy signature."
He pointed at the flat line.
"Nicole's signature disappeared five days ago."
The same day she vanished.
The realization made my chest tighten.
"So find her!" I shouted.
"We can't."
"Why not?"
"Because she isn't on Earth."
Silence.
Weiss continued.
"She isn't anywhere within our solar system."
Confusion spread across all of our faces.
"What...?" Ivan whispered.
"We expanded the search."
The holographic display shifted, revealing countless star systems.
"Our scanners covered the entire galaxy."
"No trace."
Ethan stared at him in disbelief.
"You're telling me she vanished from an entire galaxy?"
"Yes."
"But that's impossible!"
"It should be."
Weiss's voice grew quieter.
"And yet..."
He looked back at Nicole's inactive signal.
"The only conclusion supported by the data..."
He hesitated.
"...is that Nicole is no longer alive."
The words struck like a physical blow.
"No."
Shai immediately shook her head.
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"You're wrong."
Weiss didn't answer.
"She can't be dead!" Shai shouted. "You have to be missing something!"
"I wish we were."
I stared at the screen, unable to process what I was seeing.
Nicole...
Dead?
No.
That wasn't possible.
She'd promised she'd come back.
She couldn't just...
Disappear.
"There has to be another explanation," Ethan whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
"There isn't," Weiss replied quietly.
Ivan stood perfectly still.
His fists slowly clenched until his knuckles turned white.
Shai stumbled backward, covering her mouth as tears blurred her vision.
"No..."
She slid down against the wall, burying her face in her hands as quiet sobs escaped her.
Ethan turned away, his breathing uneven. He pressed a trembling hand against his forehead, trying desperately to hold himself together.
I couldn't.
My knees gave out beneath me.
I stared blankly at the motionless line on the screen, unable to hear anything beyond the ringing in my ears.
Nicole's laugh.
Her sarcastic comments.
The way she'd always roll her eyes whenever Shai did something reckless.
All of it flooded back at once.
"...No..."
The word barely left my lips.
Tears spilled onto the floor before I even realized I was crying.
Five days.
For five days we'd convinced ourselves she was somewhere out there...
Waiting to be found.
The room was consumed by silence.
No one had the strength to speak.