summary: sylus didn't love you. how could he when she was around? but would he come look for you if you willingly step into EVER's boundaries?
word count: 2.4k
a/n: ALRIGHT GIRLIES IM BACK! lets ignore it took me 826254822 years to write the next chapter. tbh i really needed a clear mind to continue with this fic PLUS ive finally started balancing uni and my hobbies and all. really hope and wish you ahvent forgotten this fic. ill try my best to update regularly from now. as always suggestions are welcome, lmk what you think! <3
read rest of the chapters here!
VIII
"Wait, what?" you managed to utter, your voice betraying you midway. The sound was thin and weak, lacking the control you usually possessed. You stared at her, your mind frantically cycling through possibilities, none of them good enough. "Why are you helping me?"
Mara started to speak, a familiar ease coming to her voice. "(Y/N), we're--"
"No, seriously. Not the whole 'we're friends' bullshit." You cut her off, the genuine bewilderment overriding your usual caution. The stakes were too high for pleasantries. "I've broken a thousand company policies by now. I've compromised confidential data, and now this project. I was talking to the Subject against strict protocol. Why would you risk your entire position, your life, your career, just to help me?"
Mara took a deep, visible breath, running a hand over her face before letting out a soft, exasperated sigh. She didn't launch into a quick lie or a deflection. Instead, she walked over to the small, worn office couch and sat down, motioning for you to do the same.
"I'm not stupid, (Y/N)," she stated, her voice calm but firm.
You frowned, tilting your head in a silent, questioning "Huh?"
Mara licked her dry lips, her eyes fixed on you with an unsettling intensity. "It might come as a surprise to you, Y/N, but I too have the ability to put two and two together." She paused, letting the silence hang. "Did you seriously think you could act that way around the Subject, day after day, and no one, absolutely no one, would notice?"
"Mara, what are you--" you started, but she held up a hand, silencing you again.
"I know you know him somehow. You have history, deep history, I can tell by the way you guys act around each other. The way he looked at you through the glass," she shuddered faintly, "was not the look a prisoner gives a random lab tech. And the way you looked at him when you thought no one was watching? That was not professional curiosity, doctor."
She paused, allowing her words to sink in. "Whatever game you're playing with yourself needs to stop now, (Y/N). You clearly want to help him," she motioned around the dim office, indicating the risk you were both taking. "And if you want to help him, you need to go all the way. I'm not risking my life for your pride."
You recoiled, shaking your head immediately, denying the truth as much for her benefit as for your own. The word help felt like a betrayal of the two years you’d spent building your new life.
"Woah, Mara, slow down. I'm not helping him."
Mara’s eyebrow arched, her expression shifting from firm resolution to skepticism. "Then what exactly were you doing? Breaking into a colleague's office in the middle of the night, risking your job and possibly prosecution? What did that mean, (Y/N)?"
You forced yourself to hold her gaze, desperately scrambling for a lie you could live with, one that preserved the distance you had fought so hard to create. "I'm just soothing my curiosity, you are right. We know each other, but I'm not helping him."
Mara visibly looked bewildered, staring at you with confusion plastered all over her face. Your lie, though carefully constructed, was clearly not what she had expected. The cold professionalism she had adopted earlier began to crack, replaced by genuine, frustrated disbelief. She didn't reply, simply watched you, and the silence stretched tight and awkward.
You took the opportunity, turning swiftly toward the door. The immediate crisis of being discovered was over, but the anxiety of her knowledge was too much to bear. It was time to leave.
Just as your fingers brushed the cold metal of the door handle, Mara’s voice cut through the silence, sharp and arresting. "Do you know what they're gonna do with the Evol fragment?"
You stopped in your tracks, your hand frozen. The question was not a plea, but a sort of warning. You slowly turned back, acknowledging the fact that you could not simply walk away from that.
Mara rose from the couch, her gaze intense. "They'll weaponize it. Not just as a bomb, (Y/N). They don't think that small. They’re building a device capable of disrupting the kinetic energy systems of every single Evolver within a hundred-mile radius. Think about that. They won't just neutralize the N109 Zone; they'll turn every living creature in the city, Hunter or criminal, into ashes. The fragment is the core mechanism. It’s the greatest, most powerful weapon known to mankind, designed to enforce utter, absolute control. This isn't about him anymore. This is about handing an organization like EVER the power to render entire populations inert, without firing a single shot. This is about power consolidation on a scale that will make the N109 Zone’s crimes look like petty theft!"
You couldn't speak. You stood there, silent, your mouth dry. How do you reply to something like that? The horrifying scale of the plan was immense, yet it didn't surprise you. You had worked at EVER for over two years; you had learned to think like them, to recognize the terrifying ambition. You knew they'd come up with something truly great and remarkable in its complexity, but utterly and devastatingly destructive in its impact.
As Mara stepped closer, the harsh light of the office caught her face, and you saw it. You were sure you weren’t mistaken. Tears were glistening in her eyes. It was a complete fracturing of the composed mask she usually wore. Sure, things were not going great, the fate of entire populations hung in the balance, but you never expected Mara, the sharp-witted colleague, to cry. Maybe she was scared? But deep down, you knew you were too. Her visible terror was a mirror to your own internal dread.
"I don't know what you want me to do, Mara," you spoke softly, the words barely a whisper. You didn't have the guts to speak out loud, afraid of shattering the fragile, charged quiet of the office. Something about seeing those tears, seeing her break under the immense weight of EVER's ambition, oddly soothed something inside you. It confirmed that you weren't crazy, this was a terror that transcended professional boundaries.
She blinked once, and the tears were gone, ruthlessly swept away by a sudden surge of control. She used the back of her hand to swipe quickly under her eyes, a motion so quick it felt almost dismissive of her momentary weakness. You really couldn't read her now, her face was a display of conflicting emotions.
"You know exactly what needs to be done, Y/N," she stated, her voice tight, vibrating with suppressed fury. She didn't move yet, holding her ground opposite you, her intense gaze daring you to deny the truth of the situation. "But I can't do it alone, and you just don't wanna do it at all."
She finally broke the stare, turning her back to you with an exasperated movement. She didn't pace, instead, she went to her desk, braced her hands on the cool metal edge, her head hanging for a moment as she fought for composure. You could definitely feel the air become charged, thick with unspoken tension and danger. There was something different now. She appeared mad, pissed, frustrated, and deeply desperate. Her earlier cynicism had evaporated, leaving behind raw, dangerous emotions.
You watched her, the silence now a suffocating weight. You had to end it somehow, or the sheer horror of the plan would swallow both of you. "Mara," you began, trying to inject some logic into the escalating situation. "If you know all this, I'm guessing everyone on the project does too. Are you saying something of that scale is about to happen, no one else gives a shit, and now the fate of the world lies on us?"
Mara stopped, her shoulders immediately straightening. She slowly turned back to you, her tear-filled eyes now burning with a cold rage, every muscle in her face tense. She didn't need to speak. Her expression, raw and furious, was enough of an answer.
The project members knew. And they were either too scared, too complicit, or too ethically compromised to care. The crushing reality settled on you. You had tried to escape Sylus's deadly world, only to find yourself cornered by a greater, more cold-blooded evil, and the only person standing beside you was a colleague whose motives were still shrouded in ambiguity.
You sat there for a long moment, simply breathing, trying to pull your scattered thoughts into something comprehensible.
What were you going to do now?
The question was a desperate, looping mantra in your mind. You had been happy in your new life. Everything was perfect, like a complex puzzle where every piece fit exactly, every equation balanced precisely. And now, you hated to say it, hated to even think about it, it felt like a blasphemous thought, but you missed your pathetic life at the N109 Zone. At least there, the threats were clear, the rules were known. You could fix every mistake or just run away from it. You could never have fathomed things would escalate to this.
What were you even supposed to do? Would destroying the fragment fix anything? Even if it did, how would you deal with EVER? You were a single, highly specialized engineer against a global conglomerate with limitless resources and zero ethics. But in the midst of it all, a cold, clear clarity was beginning to set in. You were starting to see how things were going to end for you. Deep down, you just knew. No matter what choice you made, what path you took, your life, as you had meticulously built it, was already over. There was no future for you.
You pushed the existential dread aside, focusing your gaze. Your eyes landed on Mara. She had moved away from the tense posture at the desk and was now actually sitting, elbows propped up, hands covering her face. You couldn't see her expression, but you could tell she was crying by the slight, rhythmic tremble of her shoulders. The sight of her broken state forced the internal monologue to halt. Her pain, her fear, was real.
A new, complicated question formed. Who were you going to do this for? Was it for Sylus, the man who controlled you with a look? For Mara, the woman whose motives were conveniently unknown? For yourself? Or for 'the greater good', a concept that felt hopelessly abstract?
You took a deep, shuddering breath, the first steady one you’d managed in minutes. The answer, you realized, didn't matter right now. Only the action did.
"Mara," you said, forcing the words out, the volume slightly louder this time. "What are we supposed to do now?"
She didn't immediately reply, only a muffled sniffle escaping her hands. You waited, the silence stretching into uncomfortable minutes. You were about to repeat yourself, unsure if she had even heard you over the sound of her own distress, when she finally spoke up, her voice rough and thick, still muffled by her hands.
"The subject needs to retrieve his Evol fragment before it can be replicated."
"Okay," you said, pushing off the couch, your analytical side instantly taking the lead. You crossed the small space, moving to stand beside the desk, your gaze already seeking out her computer screen. "Sounds simple enough. How are we going to do that? And more importantly, how do we know when it’s going to get replicated? We need a time window."
The sound of your focused, professional tone instantly pulled Mara out of her distress. She stopped crying abruptly, her hands dropping away from her face. Her eyes, still red-rimmed, focused on you with a glimmer of disbelief.
"You'll help me?"
"Uh, I don't know about 'helping you'," you corrected immediately, maintaining the necessary distance. You still didn't trust her, and you certainly weren't signing up for a partnership. "But I do not want the world to end, Mara, especially knowing I could have done something to stop this, so yeah."
A wave of relief, or perhaps fierce determination, washed over Mara’s face. She frantically got up from her desk, wiping her face quickly with the back of her hand. Her movements were sudden and jerky, betraying her deep anxiety. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet," she confessed, her voice strained. "I just knew we had to stop them from replicating it. The time schedule is buried deep in Voss's terminal, probably encrypted. I just need to hack it somehow." She frantically started typing on her keyboard.
That was quick.
You strode toward the desk. "Let me help. My clearance isn't high enough for Voss’s main files, but I’ve got better system architecture knowledge. I can run a decryption script against the server logs while you check the physical files."
Mara immediately shook her head. "No. Your workstation is too exposed, and my terminal has the deepest security clearance we can use without triggering a red alert. If you try to decrypt the files manually, they'll know."
She logged onto her computer with practiced speed. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up various files, reports, plasma analysis data. She scrolled through reports, her brow furrowed in concentration, searching for the key piece of data.
TING! TING!
A notification sound cut through the tense atmosphere. Your phone, resting on the desk beside your tablet, had received a text message. You ignored it, your gaze fixed on Mara.
A couple of minutes passed in tense silence, broken only by the rapid clicking of Mara's keys and her muttered frustrations. Then, as if she suddenly remembered a critical detail, she stopped scrolling.
"Wait a minute," she murmured. She glanced at the bank of drawers built into her desk, her eyes widening slightly. "Voss is old school sometimes. He often prints things he doesn't want logged... especially for a high-value project like this."
She turned to you. "Look for the blue folder. Check the third desk drawer down, on the right. It should be labeled PU."
You immediately moved to the drawer, yanked it open and began sifting through notebooks and file tabs.
TING! TING!
The notifications came again, silencing through the quiet. Mara looked up from her screen, her attention briefly pulled away from the urgency of the task. "It's okay, you can check that. I can look for the files myself."
Reluctantly, you got your phone out. It was a minor distraction, but ignoring it twice had only increased the volume of the noise. The lock screen showed two texts from an unknown number.
Unknown: Sweetie.
Unknown: You might wanna consider maintaining distance from that friend of yours.
still unable to add anyone else into the taglist, so yeah
You sure you logged in using the same way you did the last time? Like was it through infold account of via gmail or something
my impatient ass didnt even see what i was logging into, ive got three accounts, infold, gmail and fb all using the same email so i was confused as hell LMAO
im genuinely so fucking mad right now i was so pissed off last night over smth but now isnt this just the cherry on top
i logged in to lads after a month or so and then they started asking me to create my avatar or whatever and im like okayyyy weird but maybe its cus i havent logged in for a while and then i got that whole ass intro scene and im like hmmmmm whatever
WHERE THE FUCK IS MY PROGRESS? MY MEMORY CARDS PROTOCORE OUTFITS BASICLLY EVEYRTHING WHERE IS IT HELLO IM SO FUCKING PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW
i quit this fuckass game i swear
edit: everything's good im just impatient and blind
The funny thing with my friend is that they were low-key high key flirting on ig notes but would not talk to each other irl unless school related. But then, while my friend was basically ranting and panic messaging me about the ig notes flirting, the guy messaged me asking me how he should talk to my friend. And I basically just told ne just go for it, and he did. My friend left him in read for a bit cause she was panicking. Yeah.
Personally I think you should make the moves but like start small.
IM ROOTING FOR YOU!!!!
so me and my friends are making this film club/society and once its confirmed, finalised and shit, im sooo gonna use this opportunity to talk to him like "heyyy do you wanna join our club" blah blah and i just hope to god he says yes cus theres absolutelly no other way i can approach him. my introverted ass is shaking already.
i havent even considered the possibility that he might in fact not be single 😐😐
I'm feeding your delusions girly!! The universe is trying to say something to you!! Something like this happened to my friend. According to her, every grouped project we have that isn't make your own group, she is always grouped with this one guy. Doesn't matter the subject, if they are classmates they will be grouped together... long story short: they're dating now
ooo thats so sweet! the universe def had plans for them
as for me, he isnt in my group :/ BUT i had a presentation yesterday and boy oh boy why does he stare like that like i really hope i wasnt blushing that bad, and then later we were outside studying for a test and boyyy OMG i really wanna talk to him
should i make the first move or just wait for him to?
okay so im DYING to let this out. i havent been able to tell anyone at uni, my sister or basically just anyone in general.
so its this pretty common thing where you seem to have "unlocked" a certain person at uni yk. you see them once and then POOF they're everywhere.
sooooo i was in my class and the prof was going on like i wont mind if you step out for a sec to take a call or to get coffee or smth and then at that very moment i heard someone get up and walk out. i looked up and its this guy. lets call him mango.
then next day, there's these two compulsory courses you gotta take here in my country no matter what youre majoring in. so i was on my way to one of these classes and there he is. mango, sitting right in front of me.
but ofc no biggie, its a compulsory course after all.
then next class, surprise surprise hes right there.
and then next fucking day, he was supposed to be in class but didnt come, so i think maybe hes skipping or whatever. so im omw to my programming class, im looking for the room and OH GOD hes in there, alone, working on some assignment.
he looks up as i come in and asked me "you have a class here?" and i go "hmm" bitch what is 'hmm'????? anyways he asks me which one and i say programming and then his friends come in and he leaves with them.
ok next class is one of those compulsory courses again. all my friends were in a diff section so i find a seat right at front and get my notebook out and start going through my notes. guess who comes in? MANGO. AND HES NOT EVEN IN MY SECTION. so he he explains to the prof that i just wanna take this class and leave early and shes like yea sure just find a seat. guess where he sits? NEXT TO ME. well not exactly next to me, he put his bag in the chair between us. but like thats basic uni courtesy, you dont sit right next to a random person, right? RIGHT?
anyways, next day. i step on campus, first person i see? yep you guessed it right. then mango is once again in that compulsory lecture. then i went to get coffee, mr mango comes in with his friends, then i leave for class, hes got the same class, then i left to get rackets to play badminton, he comes in like a minute later.
now in all this time, im starting to develop a teeny tiny crush on him. and i was able to confirm it the day when i looked in the class and saw him sitting alone, working on his laptop. hes tall, brunette, cute. come on.
ok so fast forward to this week. theres this other guy, and i always suspected they were brothers, cus they look kinda alike and were ALWAYS together. i have absolutely no way to confirm whether they are or not, but they got the same last names so. anyways, ive often found this dude staring at me, and its one of those blank stares where it looks like he other person is zoned out but he clearly isnt. idky im mentioning this, just seemed relevant.
ANYWAYS so todayyyy, i was outside sitting with my friends. it was getting pretty close to class so im like im gonna leave first and save seats for yall. so im going in and hes coming out. but he reached the door first and steps aside, and my slow ass is still at the steps. mind you there are literally just 3 steps and im not even trying to speed up, and i cant even look up cus im SHY AF and what if hes looking too? i cannot afford any more eye contact with him. whenever our eyes meet, i can actually physically feel my cheeks heat up and i dont want anyone to see that.
I HAVE OFFICIALLY GONE CRAZY! i have ofc caught him looking at me, but that was when i hadnt yet stepped in the danger zone and could actually look up if he was passing by.
how could i forget the most important bit? so i was noticing this weird smell in some of my classes, like a polished car seat. and i couldnt exactly tell whose deodorant it was or if it wa sthe scent of any other product they use. but i noticed it one time he walked past me. IT WAS COMING FROM HIM! and it wanst disgusting, but im generally very sensitive to smells. so i either start sneezing or get a heck of a headache.
so whenever he was sitting close or walking past me, id pull the edward move.
and i just noticed it today, but i didnt smell it today or even yesterday (he sat next to me again, this time we were separated by my bag) and i also caught a sneak peak at his hands. DUDEEEE his nails were filed so perfectly, like i swear an angel did that job cus no way.
I DONT KNOWWWW my delulu ass is romanticising anything he does. now i know for sure he doesnt like me, not one bit. he just looks at me cus he knows i like him, which i doubt cus your girl may be tweaking but i never let it show, OR he just finds me weird as in 'oh yeah thats the girl that keeps staring at me'
so basically hes in almost all of my classes, which could be a perfect opportunity to stare right???? NO cus i sit at the very front and he doesnt, the only time i can look is if he answers smth.
anyways, thank you for coming to my ted talk. ill lyk if there are any updates.
I'm rereading "Ever, ever after" bc wtf, it's so good 😭
Also, pls take care of urself!! UNI is pain, so u gotta make sure the rest of you is happy!!!!
//much love from a university survivor💀🩷
hiiiiii bbg!
honestly it just makes my day when i see ppl rereading my stuff cus i only reread top tier stuff ive come across. so its more of like an unsaid compliment for me <333
UNI IS KILLING ME! i literally do not have the time for ANYTHING atm. i do have a bunch of drafts just lying around.
im so so sorry i havent been able to update anything for a while now ESPECIALLY "do you remember me too" i just saw its been months (WHAAA where'd the time go)
ive got assignments and quizzes pilling up and the only thing i can manage to find time for is sleep. like thats all i do these days. ill try my best to update smth atleast this week.
hwo tf do people find the time to go out with friends, party, basically have a social life? and how tf does everyone know eachother on the FIRST FUCKING DAY? i swear its only been a week and i already fucking hate this place. and do you know whats worse? im not even studying what i like. maybe if i was, i wouldnt be crashing out right now.
idk if yall are going to see this or not, but i just noticed i had $50 in my patreon. i was super confused cus i removed the membership and even paused billing and shit. turns out there were still 5 active members that were charged for this month. so if youre seeing this, dont worry ive refunded all of you and to prevent it from happening again, i blocked you since i didnt know how else to remove you guys. sorry for any trouble!! <3
DONT MAKE ME CRYYY ill be back i promise 😭 literally all ive been doing these days is reading dps fanfics and just doing random shit. ive also taken up to watching all those movies i used to avoid just cus they had sad endings. im gonna be a tad bit busy this week but new update coming on monday PROMISE ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Where was the more than gold story going? I mean I like the attitude the reader has already 😂
sorry for the late reply. im gonna rewrite that story, the original request i got was very detailed and i wanna do it justice so ill write a 10k+ single part fic. maybe in this century, who knows?
