Chapter Text
While Zain knew the consequences of intentionally abandoning someone to die, the aftermath was him unable to recognise that his childhood friend truly was gone. He eliminated a future threat, but that meant the boy who used to cling onto him during recess was gone. Zain won’t deny — It pained him truly when he revisited old photos to see how much Djin trusted him. Djin used to cling onto his arm and glare at everyone who dared to cross paths with Zain. He chuckled lightly, remembering all the times the young Djin was startled and gave him a bloody nose by accident. Always, Zain defended him for being the one to activate Djin’s fight mechanism. The more they grew up together, they took string instruments as their hobby and played together. Djin liked more electronic like bass or electric guitars whereas Zain preferred acoustic.
How horrid the paths blurred and transitioned into cruelty. He wondered why. He loved him with ineffable love deeper than what society considers friendship. Yet, he avoided calling him something he loved because men were not supposed to like another man.
But, it was not like he longed for a man.
Yearning is not something Zain does all of a sudden. No, he just wanted to find someone on the same wavelength as him. Someone who would challenge his insight to broaden a full framework of information. Someone who loved Zain for him; not for his intelligence or appearance. But, for him only.
And Zain had to pay the price for what he had done to the person he considered his soulmate.
20XX – Days After “Protokol Gegas”
Protokol Gegas’ name was fully established as an official protocol in MATA. Othman refused to employ a replacement for Djin and therefore Zain had to work two roles in the Core Leaders. Missions became tougher to manage now that both Aliya and Djin were dead and without additional support, they were crushed under uncountable pressure. Shame really, Zain did not know how to teach the Invisos their Core — Therefore, Zain learned how his dead Inviso would have done it. Neuro stats for Invisos increased immensely after Djin’s death.
Rizwan, Rudy, Alicia, Aleks were the agents reported for having high Inviso and Neuro. They were the ones who could optimise both Neuro and Inviso greatly — Rizwan’s recognition in what agents need to improve in, his ability to calculate and connect dots added onto the diligence and precision of a Neuro, Rudy learned how to analyse a situation’s probability and used his new strategic abilities to manipulate an outcome by shapeshifting. Alicia had additional support from her father and her uncles, so Zain did not need to do much. Aleks was naturally good at leading the team after training for so long.
Regardless of how proud he was of the children’s success, his intrapersonal situation was slowly disintegrating from a solid structure to small crumbles of what it used to be. Everyday when he looked in the mirror to observe and style his hair, some strands of his black hair turned into grey. With how much his mental stability plummeted, he was unbothered by what was coming for him. He was already too far gone to be saved by anyone — his dream collapsed the moment he finally acknowledged Djin’s death and how hated he would be by everyone. He exhaled a sigh, looking at the family portrait of him, Djin and the small Rudy. He would at least make sure the children still maintained their youth and stability for as long as they could, even if it will cause him his eventual demise.