[LOCATION: OLD SAFEHOUSE – SECTOR 2 DOWNSHIFT BLOCKS]
The safehouse door groaned open after Lin bypassed the biometric lock—still coded to his DNA, despite being abandoned for nearly six years. Dust coated the walls. Time had eaten through the floorboards, exposing bits of underground tubing.
Nel followed in silence, eyes adjusting to the dim.
"This place feels like it's holding its breath," she murmured.
Lin didn't respond. His attention was locked on the steel panel behind a false shelf. He pried it open—inside, a micro-core recorder blinked dim red.
He hesitated, then tapped play.
A burst of static.
Then—her voice.
> "If you're hearing this, Lin… it means I lost the bet."
> "Don't trust Sector Command. They lied. They always knew about Nocturne. About me."
> "I'm alive. And I'm not alone."
> "I'll wait for you… in the Dead Zone."
The recording cut.
Lin stood still. The room felt smaller. Colder.
Nel's voice broke the silence. "That was Rune."
He nodded.
"She sounds… changed."
"She is."
---
[FLASHBACK – LIN, AGE 13 – SECTOR 5 TESTING WING]
Rune sat on the edge of her bed, swinging her legs.
"You always frown like someone stole your future," she teased.
Lin didn't smile. "They said your frequency is mutating."
She shrugged. "They said that yesterday, too."
"I don't want to lose you."
She looked at him. "Then hold onto me."
---
[PRESENT – SAFEHOUSE ROOFTOP]
Nel stood outside, wind tugging at her coat.
Lin joined her, silence hanging between them.
"She's in Sector 13," he said.
Nel turned. "The Dead Zone."
Lin nodded. "Where the core resonance grid collapsed. Unlivable. No extraction teams allowed since the riots."
"So, naturally, we're going," Nel said flatly.
He didn't answer.
She stepped closer. "You think she's trapped. I think she's changed."
His jaw clenched.
Nel softened. "You're scared. Not of her… but of what it means if she chose to stay gone."
Lin's silence was confirmation.
---
[NOCTURNE CITADEL – INNER CHAMBER]
Beneath a black canopy of humming conduits, she stood.
Silver hair flowed down her back, eyes veiled by a lattice of neural resonance bands. Her body hovered inches off the floor, wrapped in a cocoon of frequency streams.
To Mael and Severin, she was no longer Rune Takara.
She was The Choir.
Mael approached the control node. "She hasn't moved since Ona touched Lin."
Severin examined the readings. "Not moved… but responded. Her pulse synced with his frequency for twelve seconds."
Mael grinned. "Then he's coming."
A faint ripple pulsed around her—musical, layered. Like multiple voices trying to harmonize through one body.
Her lips parted.
"Lin…"
The word echoed through the chamber—distorted, haunted, yearning.
---
[SYNDICATE – BLACK SECTOR HQ]
Umi Kisaragi watched from behind a one-way mirror as an agent reviewed footage of the relay tower attack.
She smirked.
They still had no idea who sabotaged it. Nocturne had wiped everything clean—except for one fragment she let them find.
Nel's image, blurred but unmistakable.
That was the plan.
They'd chase shadows—and she'd chase her.
The door opened behind her. A man in civilian attire walked in—her new handler.
"You're on thin ice, Kisaragi," he said. "That attack wasn't sanctioned."
She turned, smile thin and brittle. "I'm not asking for permission anymore."
---
[PREPARATIONS – DEPARTURE TO SECTOR 13]
Lin packed light—just weapons, field medkits, and a backup core battery for his Reactor Ring. He paused only once—staring at Rune's pendant, still in pieces on the desk.
Nel entered, dressed in travel armor.
"Got word the tunnel routes under Sector 9 still connect. Smugglers use them to get close to the Dead Zone."
He didn't look at her. "It's going to be dangerous. Core-dead zones mess with Reactor-born."
"I'm Reactor-born too."
"That's why I'm not sure I want you there."
Her voice turned steel. "I'd rather die beside you than rot wondering if you needed me."
Finally, he turned.
Her eyes held no fear—only that ache of knowing she'd always come second.
Even so, she whispered, "Even if I lose you to her, I'd rather be there than left behind."
Lin stepped forward—lifted her chin.
He kissed her forehead.
Not passion. Not goodbye.
But thanks.
---
[NOCTURNE – THE CHOIR'S CHAMBER – LATER THAT NIGHT]
Ona knelt beside the hovering form of Rune.
Her mimic core pulsed erratically.
"Why do you hum when he's near?" Ona whispered. "Why does your heart speak through mine?"
Rune stirred faintly. The lattice around her glowed soft blue.
"Because… I never stopped waiting."
---
[FINAL SCENE – TRAIN TO SECTOR 9]
As Lin and Nel ride the rails underground, passing into the scarred outer rings, the screen of Lin's core terminal flickers.
A new file appears.
Encrypted.
Voice only.
Rune again.
> "They think they're using me. But they don't understand the song I carry."
> "If you hear this, Lin… know this."
> "The Choir was born because I screamed. And they made it music."
---
TO BE CONTINUED...
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