Chapter 5: The Crew’s Romantic Struggles

The human heart wasn't designed to restart.

When Project Zero had wiped Novacore clean of emotions, it had been absolute. The mind couldn't remember what it had never known. Love, longing, jealousy, grief - these weren't things that the crew had ever felt before. They were words from an old world, concepts buried beneath decades of silence.

But now, they were returning. And no one knew what to do with them.

The abandoning train station was dimly lit, shadows pooling between the rusted train cars where the crew had made their hideout. Tia sat cross-legged on a mattress, watching a flickering lamp with something Nikk could only describe as wonder.

"Fire," she murmured.

She glanced up at him. "That's what it reminds me of. I don't know why."

Nikk sat across from her, resting him arms on his knees. "you keep saying things like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you remembered."

Tia hesitated, fingers brushing against the flame's glow. "Not remember. Just… feel." She looked at him, studying his face in that unnerving way she always did - like she saw something beneath his skin, something even he didn't understand. "Do you feel anything, Nikk?"

He stiffened.

No one had ever asked him that before.

The mind-wipe hadn't been a total for him. He had felt traces of something his whole life - flicker of warmth when his crew survived another day, a deep unease at the cold emptiness inside himself. But now?

Now, he felt something entirely different.

When Tia was near, the world was…louder. Colors seemed brighter, sounds sharper. her voice sent static through his chest.

It wasn't logical. It wasn't normal.

And that terrified him.

So he did what he always did - he pushed it down. "Does it matter?" he muttered.

Tia tilted her head. "I think it does."

He looked away, clenching his fists. "We need to focus on survival."

She sighed, falling silent. But as he stood to leave, he felt something - a pull.

He ignored it.

The rest of the crew was handling emotions even worse.

Ace and Kaya always worked well together. Kaya was methodical, calculating. Ace was reckless, impulsive. Their dynamic had been simple - until something changed.

Now, when she snapped at him during planning meetings, he snapped back harder. When she brushed past him in the tunnels, He found himslef hyper-aware of how close she was. He felt something, something sharp are irritating, every time she spoke with someone else.

One night, after a tense argument, he grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.

Her breath hitched.

"Why do i feel like this?" he demanded. His voice wasn't angry - it was desperate. Desperate for answers. Desperate for the explanation of what was that stung him inside his chest.

Kaya yanked his hand away, looking just as shaken. "i don't know." She turned quickly, disappearing down the tunnel.

Neither of them slept that night.

Bria sat beside Pryce, fiddling with an old radio.

Pryce had always been quiet. Calculated. He was the one who ran logistics, monitored security feeds, kept them from walking into death traps.

But lately, he found himself watching Bria more than screens.

But she didn't notice. Or maybe she did, but she pretended not to.

Because she was watching someone else.

Ray.

She didn't know why her chest felt tight when he laughed with someone else. Or why she wanted something when he leaned against the train walls, grinning like nothing in the world could touch him.

She didn't know what to call it.

And that frustrated her.

"Bria," Pryce said suddenly.

She turned, startled. "Yeah?"

He hesitated. "Forget it."

She didn't push.

Neither of them had words for what they were feeling.

No one in Novacore had ever fallen in love before.

Not truly.

But now, emotions were creeping back into their bodies, disrupting everything they had ever known. It was intoxicating. It was terrifying.

And it was dangerous.

Because love wasn't supposed to exist.

And if the government realized what was happening, they would come for them all.