Chapter Text
"...Again."
The voice weeded through edges of searing blackness. Blackness, that had become all too familiar these days. He couldn't see-not yet-but he could feel. One of the many side effects.
Cybezin didn't work on Caleb. Not anymore.
He choked down another scream, letting it writhe in his throat. Wrecking it until it died. Only then did color bleed into his vision.
Chip Integrity: 95%
It was all going fine. Another mission, not even venturing into Deepspace. No, he was still in Skyhaven when it happened. The smallest slip in his defenses. Black hole wavering, just enough to be hit by a stray Wanderer. He wasn't badly hurt. Just some synethetic skin off his arm. Yet wires exposed, and control slipping from his mind... his body shut itself down. A failsafe. One that let EVER get another 2% of him.
Now, he only had 5% left. Five. Percent. Of his life. Another wave of pain shot through him, as sparking wires were forcibly sutured back together. He bit down, not giving the Fleet's physician the satisfaction. Lucius would be all too pleased. His perfect weapon nearly complete. Nearly obedient.
His aching and ire gave way when he remembered what he could still see. On the other side of his evol. Time. All of it. Every life he was destined to live, for their fleeting sweetness. He could swallow the base entirely, a seismic vacuum, an end to this cycle's breathing. But despite the marring, he knew this arm, this chip, this doom... was the only way. To spend another lifetime with them still. To do it all over again.
"...Again." Caleb choked. Hoarse. Face ashen and sweat-soaked. Yet by the faintest measure... alive. Until they could no longer steal away his wish to die together.