When Someone Else Remembers You
India – EchoNet Vault, 1:17 AM
The fluorescent lights in the abandoned vault buzzed above, but Sky barely heard them anymore.
Shivin was scanning the AI logs, muttering code under his breath. Micah stood nearby, tense, rifle slung across his back like they were in a warzone instead of a research site. But Sky—
Sky had gone somewhere else.
His head tipped back slightly, breath shallowing. Then came the rush.
Not a memory.
Not a dream.
Something in-between.
He was standing on a rooftop in Prague. Cold air, the scent of rust and jasmine. Rhea was laughing—no, half-laughing, half-crying. And Lex—Lex was holding her face like she was something he'd lost once and just found again.
> "I never chose to forget you," Rhea said.
And Lex said her name like it was sacred.
"Muri."
Sky staggered back from the terminal, hand slamming the wall.
Micah turned fast. "Sky—?"
"I saw them," Sky whispered. "Lex. Rhea. Prague. The rooftop. I felt it."
Shivin looked up. "You're syncing. Not fully, but enough."
Micah narrowed his eyes. "How can he feel Lex's memory?"
Shivin hesitated. "They were bonded by blood. The Cartwright protocol embedded dormant neural bridges. If one reawakens…"
"...the other follows," Micah finished grimly.
But Sky wasn't listening anymore.
A new flicker surged through him—this time darker.
A restaurant. Warm lights. Jazz.
Lex walked in and saw Rhea.
But she wasn't alone.
Siddharth Manik was already there.
Already smiling.
And Rhea—Rhea smiled back. She touched Manik's wrist as she laughed.
Sky's stomach clenched. The emotion didn't belong to him—but the jealousy did.
"What the hell?" he muttered, pushing a palm to his temple.
Micah stepped closer. "What did you see?"
Sky's voice was low. "She was with someone else. Manik. Lex—he felt it. Like it was nothing. But it wasn't nothing."
Micah's eyes narrowed. "You're syncing deeper than we thought. You're not just seeing—you're feeling."
Sky's jaw tightened. "He still wants her."
"Do you?" Micah asked carefully.
Sky didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Shivin. "If Lex and Rhea reawaken the bond, what happens to me?"
Shivin glanced at the glowing code on the wall. "Depends how much of you was buried in him."
---
Meanwhile – Prague
Lex stared at the closed laptop. The drive was powered down, but the memory had rewired him.
He turned to Rhea, heart raw. "Was it real? What we had?"
She nodded. "It was everything."
But then she hesitated.
Lex caught it. "What?"
Rhea's voice softened. "When I left… Manik helped me disappear. I didn't tell him about you, not at first. But over time…"
Lex stiffened. "You two were close?"
She didn't deny it.
Lex nodded, quiet. "So I was replaced."
Rhea stepped forward. "No. He helped me survive. But he wasn't you."
Lex's voice was cold. "You still trusted him with your truth. You never gave me that."
Rhea flinched like he'd slapped her. "Lex…"
But his eyes had gone distant again.
---
Next: Sky begins to lose time—moments that belong to Lex bleeding into his present.
Lex finds a coded note in the Geneva files marked: "SKY_07 – Fail-Safe Host."
And Rhea receives a private message from Manik:
> "You're not safe. Not with him."