Ethan

"Vigilance. It's something I never stop coaching you about... Vigilance Ethan. How could you have been so careless? How could you have let her come here? Here of all places? The Rebel sector... How?" Malcolm asked, his face a mask of confusion.

"I didn't know-"

"You didn't know?" He asked, cutting me off. "You say you didn't know, Ethan? You are meant to know whatever is going on with her... She's your mission for crying out loud. You can't just not know."

I raked my hands through my hair in complete and utter frustration.

I couldn't even defend myself from Malcolm's scolding, cause I knew he was right... I made a mistake, it was all my damn fault... I screwed up, nothing can change that.

"I let my guard down Malcolm, I trusted the wrong person, I made a mistake, and this is my fault... You're right and I'm wrong." I stated out.

Malcolm shook his head. "This Is not a matter of who's right and who's wrong." He said, walking to his table. "You're lucky Edith found her." He said.

And yes, I was indeed lucky... This would have been a different story.

"The Rebel sector has a rule Ethan, kill any Outsider on sight. It's the law." Malcolm reminded me.

"I know that." I breath out. "I just didn't think she'd do this... I didn't think she'd go to this length to find out more about the Inc's business."

"She's pure blood Ethan... A human... She's bound to get curious, they all are... And with your chip affecting her in a positive way, she's bound to be drawn to the Inc. It's normal. You should have been more careful."

"I should have, but she fooled me, okay? I trusted her... I trusted her so damn much, but she betrayed my trust... I own that... But I'm glad Edith found her." I said.

Malcolm sighed. "Your emotions are messed up... Your chip is malfunctioning, and I can tell the kind of state that you're in. I've been doing some research about yours and Ivy's connection... Ivy Fisher is naturally smart, and with the rare case of your malfunctioning chip, it's affecting her, positively, enhancing her mind, and making her even more intelligent and capable."

I sighed. "How capable?"

Malcolm pulled out a tablet device, and handed it to me.

I furrowed my brows, when I saw Ivy's picture on the edge of the screen. There were numerous details there too.

"I looked up on her, from childhood days till now... She went to a Martial art school, considering the way she was able to fight off Ralph and Carl"

My eyes widened in surprise. "She fought them? She fought Ralph? Ralph?" I asked, unable to contain the disbelief in my voice.

"Yes, she did. I saw it on the CCTV camera from Falcon street. That's where the dimension door opened up for them. They're lucky they didn't end up at Eagle, cause that's where the protest is going on."

"Wait wait- so, this proves that Ivy has super strength, and hyper intelligence?"

"Yes, enough for her to remember the faintess memory from her childhood... Its a really fascinating ideology-"

"What protest were you referring to earlier?" I stopped him from finishing that statement.

"Well, like you already know, the institute's taking subjects from each sector, for experiments, and people are beginning to ask questions. No one is saying anything. So a protest... No one wants the Inc to keep on killing off people, all for the name of experiments."

I dropped the device on the table. "They're probably playing with them just like they're playing with me."

"I doubt that... If they're doing that to other subjects, they'd die quicker within seconds... Your case is extraordinary... But we can't take it casually, we have to find a solution cause, your body might get tired of the manipulation, and you might-" He stopped.

"Die?" I pitched in for him.

"Yeah... That. But I'm sure you're going to be okay... Should in case you notice anything strange or- off, about yourself... Come back to the Inc immediately."

I nodded absentmindedly.

"Where are they?"

"Still locked up... I'll send someone to get them." He said.

I felt myself nod.

"And Ethan?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time, be careful." He said.

"Trust me Malcolm, there would be no next time."

-

Ivy

The car ride back home was the most quiet ride I'd ever been on. He didn't say one word to me, didn't even look at me.

It hurt to even look at him, knowing he was probably hating himself for trusting me.

Roman took his car back, while I got to ride with Ethan. And so far so not good, his silence had done nothing to calm me down, it only made my guilt worse. We had to talk about this, we had to clear the tension between us.

But to be honest, I was scared of talking to him, cause his knuckles were white as he held on to the steering wheel... His jaw was clenched hard, and I knew he was stopping himself from talking to me... Or maybe yelling at me. Little did he know that I wanted just that.

I needed us to talk about it... At least try to get questions and words off our chests.

Few minutes later, we pulled up right at the parking lot of my house.

He shut down the engine, and without any words, he got out of the car, heading straight to the house.

I pushed open the door immediately, rushing after him.

"Ethan! Ethan wait!" I yelled after him.

He didn't turn, neither did he stop.

He walked right into the house, and I followed closely behind.

Heading straight for the rollercoaster stairs, I caught up with him, right at the end. "Go ahead and say it."

He stopped.

My breathing was hard, due to me chasing after him.

I was right behind him.

When he turned, his disturbed and confused eyes met mine, and immediately, that incredible warmth engulfed me.

This surprised me, because we were in the car just now, and I felt nothing.

"Yell at me... Tell me that you hate me... Just express your feelings, but don't you dare keep silent." I let out.

He just stared, his eyes searched mine, but he remained quiet.

"Please just say something-"

"What do you want me to say, Ivy?" He injected immediately. "What could I possibly say to change what happened today?" He asked incredulously. "You want me to yell at you? To tell you how careless you were? To tell you how much your actions hurt me? How much... you hurt me?"

I swallowed. "At least its better than you keeping quiet when there's clearly a lot you want to say to me."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You're acting like what you did wasn't a big deal. You're acting like you didn't think it was foolish to break into my sector."

"Cause it wasn't foolish." I blurted out.

"Really? It wasn't?" He asked. "You lied to me, you betrayed me... You betrayed my trust. How is that not a big deal?"

"It's not a big deal because I had good intentions in mind... I didn't just go there for sight seeing or out of curiousity, I went there to help."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "To help? To help who?"

"You, Ethan." I said.

He scoffed. "You're delusional."

"I'm not delusional, Ethan. I went there because of you. Because I wanted you to be free."

He let out a humorless laugh, cause right there in his eyes, he wasn't happy, no- he look frustrated, angry, tired and confused. "No, no Ivy... You didn't... You went there because you're human. Humans like you, are not to be trusted, they're insiatiable... You just wanna know everything."

"What are you even saying?"

"You are a liar, Ivy. You didn't honour the fact that I went against all odds and took you there, you didn't think of what it would do to me if you betrayed me. You did what you thought was right... And you ended up in danger. Do you know how worried I was, over you? I searched everywhere, and not once... Not once did I think you were busy snooping around my sector with Roman. You didn't only put your life in danger, but his too."

I noticed something... He was all over the place, talking at random, almost as if he couldn't focus on one emotion.

"Ethan-"

"Do you know what would have happened if Edith wasn't the one who found you? You'd be dead. Dead Ivy-"

"Yet here I am, I'm okay... I was able to defend myself... If Edith hadn't interrupted, Roman and I would have gotten out without any struggle." I voiced out. "You can't honestly blame me... I was trying to help you, you should understand that."

"Understand what? I never asked for your help, Ivy... I never told you I needed you to break into my sector to help me."

"You didn't have to say anything. It was written all over your face when I brought up a discussion about family."

"Oh, so you read faces now." Sarcasm dripped from his words.

I took a step closer. "All I did, I did for you."

"Really? You betrayed me because you thought in that fairy tale you call a mind that taking photos of the Inc would be proof enough to shut it down?"

I nodded. "That would have worked."

He shook his head. "You'd be dead before you even mention it. Dead. You don't know what you're playing with... The Inc is not just some small organization that a brave stupid human can end. They're more than that."

Anger flared inside me. "Human? You say it like it's a disease, forgetting that you were once like me."

"Well, I wasn't as stupid as you." He countered back. "But I was stupid enough to trust you... Which I regret."

I took in a deep breath, letting it out with a little force.

"I'm sorry I betrayed your trust... But you didn't expect me to sit back and watch your Inc continue to take people. They're evil Ethan. They wipe away the memories of their pasts and implant some kind of sick machine in them... They did that to you, Ethan. I had to do something because it felt like I could. What they do is horrible."

Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone almost as quickly as it came.

"Like I said, I never asked for your help, neither did I complain about my Inc, and how bad I wanted to leave."

"But you did... I asked you after we returned from the Purest sector... You told me you'd do anything to go back to your real family." I said.

He nodded. "I told you that because I trusted you."

I swallowed.

"But it's fine, I've learnt my lesson the hard way, and I swayed from my mission. I shouldn't have gotten too attached... I should have just-" he stopped himself.

"Ethan I-"

"From now on, it's strictly business. I'll do my job and you do yours... And if by any chance I find out that you are still looking for ways to stupidly put an end to my Inc. I won't hesitate to use LT wipe on you."

My eyes widened with disbelief. "You wouldn't do that... You promised."

"You also promised not to betray me. Look at us now." He said.

I couldn't utter a word after that, because he was right... I betrayed him, and the moment I did that, it broke every promise we ever made to each other.

Without another word, he disappeared up the stairs.

From now on, it's strictly business, I'll do my job, and you do yours... His words echoed in my head.

He'd never trust me again... That's a fact. His trust was something I'd never win back.

I sighed, my heart felt so heavy.

What were you thinking Ivy?

This isn't over... He was mad at me, and he doesn't understand why I did it... I have to make him understand.

It didn't take long before I heard a muffled thud from upstairs. It was almost as if someone or something fell.

Without thinking much about it, I rushed up the stairs, straight to the direction of the rooms.

Ethan's door was shut close.

Did the noise come from him? Or did He drop something?

Hesitantly, I knocked thrice on the door. "Ethan? I heard a noise. Are-are you okay?"

I waited for a response, but none came.

After a minute, I knocked again. "Ethan? Is everything okay?"

No answer.

I sighed. "Look, I- I know this is- I know what I did really hurt you, and I'm really sorry... You're mad at me for telling Roman and betraying you. I would be mad too... But- but we have something going, and I don't know what it is... I just know that it's- it's great, and I don't want it to end. We can talk about this... Even create rules or something... Don't just stop acting like you used to."

I waited for exactly three minutes, no response, no footsteps, nothing.

"Ethan?" I called again.

Nothing.

Okay, something's wrong. He would have answered me by now, he wasn't that mad, was he? He wouldn't ignore me.

I knocked again. "Ethan? Are you okay?"

I waited, but still didn't hear a reply.

Okay, I'm going in.

Immediately, I pushed the door open.

The first thing my eyes met was his motionless body, lying on the ground.

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as I rushed over to him, falling on my knees.

"Ethan?" I called out, my voice shaky.

When he didn't move, I took his wrist, checking for a pulse.

I felt nothing.

"What?" My heart was hitting my chest extremely hard.

I checked for a pulse on his neck, there wasn't any.

"No... No no. Ethan?" I shook his shoulders. "Ethan wake up!"

He layed there, unmoving.

My head flew to his chest, checking for a heartbeat.

It was as silent as the word silence.

"Ethan? Please open your eyes." I shook his shoulders again.

When there was no single response, I began to hyperventilate. "No no... This can't be happening."

I stood up, checking for a phone, I needed to call an ambulance.

There wasn't a phone on me.

My head was all over the place, I was basically choking on my own breath.

"Okay, relax... Relax... You need to call 911... You need a phone... You can't... Hold on... I can't call 911... I can't call 911... God, I'm so stupid, I need to call Roman. Yes, I need to call Roman... He'd know what to do..." I was about to rush out of the room, when I remembered Ethan might have a phone on him.

I rushed back, crouching down beside him as I searched his pockets...

I found his phone in his left pocket. I switched it on, and placed his finger on it, when it required a finger print.

I went straight to his dailer, and the first name I saw was Malcolm's... The guy who let us out.

Confusion overtook me when I saw Fiona's name on the second.

Without thinking much about it, I called her, knowing she'd have a means to contact Roman, cause I was sure Roman's number wasn't on Ethan's phone.

This was all so unreal to me... It was unreal, but yet, so clear.

Ethan was lying in front of me. Dead.

No pulse, no heartbeat.

Just dead.

Did they do it?

Was his Inc responsible for this?

Is he really- is he really dead?

___

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Nora