"He's close," she said, her voice tightening despite herself. "Too close."
A beat.
And then, quieter—
as the realization fully settled in:
"He's still moving."
The air in the corridor seemed to shift around them, tightening, sharpening, as if the building itself had been waiting for those words to be spoken.
Kidd didn't hesitate.
"Which way?"
Ithilien turned her head slightly, focusing inward, forcing herself to separate the layers of scent that clung to the air. Blood. Chemicals. Decay. And beneath it—
Marco.
Fresh.
Unmistakable.
She took a slow breath and pointed down the corridor to the right.
"There."
Kidd nodded once.
"Move."
The pack snapped into motion instantly, their earlier caution dissolving into something faster, more direct. The formation tightened without needing instruction, Levi and Zane shifting ahead to clear the path while Kidd stayed just close enough to Ithilien to intercept anything that might come for her.
The corridor stretched longer than it should have.
Or maybe it only felt that way because of the way her pulse had started to pound, loud and relentless in her ears. Every step seemed heavier, every second dragging just enough to stretch the tension thinner, tighter.
The scent grew stronger.
And stranger.
Ithilien slowed slightly, her brow tightening as she tried to make sense of it. It was still Marco—there was no doubt about that—but something else clung to it now, something she couldn't place, something that didn't belong to him.
Not entirely.
"Kidd…"
He glanced at her immediately.
"What?"
"There's something wrong."
A pause.
"There's always something wrong," Levi muttered from ahead.
"This is different," she said, more sharply than she intended.
Kidd didn't question it.
He trusted the way her tone changed, the way her body had gone more rigid, more alert.
"Stay behind me," he said quietly.
She ignored that.
Or tried to.
Because the scent—
It was pulling her forward.
They reached a junction where the corridor split into two narrow hallways, both equally dark, equally silent.
Ithilien stopped.
Closed her eyes.
Listened.
Not with her ears.
With something deeper.
There.
To the left.
Closer now.
Too close.
"This way," she said, already moving.
Kidd caught her arm for half a second—not to stop her, but to slow her just enough to keep control of the pace.
"Together," he said.
She nodded once.
Barely.
Then pulled free and moved forward again.
The hallway narrowed.
The walls here were different—less worn, less damaged, as if this part of the facility had been used more recently. The air felt colder, the chemical scent sharper, cleaner, layered with something metallic that made Ithilien's stomach twist.
The lights flickered once overhead.
Then again.
Then steadied into a weak, uneven glow.
Zane slowed first.
"There's something ahead."
They all felt it.
Not just the scent.
The presence.
Ithilien's breath hitched slightly as the realization settled in her chest.
He wasn't just close.
He was waiting.
Kidd stepped forward, his body shifting subtly, ready, controlled, his focus narrowing into something lethal.
"Stay sharp," he murmured.
Then they turned the corner.
The room was larger than the others.
Cleaner.
More intact.
The equipment here wasn't rusted or abandoned—it had been used recently, the surfaces wiped, the instruments arranged with a precision that felt deliberate, intentional.
And in the center—
someone stood.
Ithilien didn't process it all at once.
Not the shape.
Not the posture.
Not the way he was turned slightly away from them, as if he had already known they were coming.
She saw the outline first.
Then the shoulders.
Then the tilt of his head.
And then—
Marco.
Her breath caught so sharply it almost hurt.
For a moment, everything else disappeared.
The lab.
The pack.
The smell.
All of it faded behind the simple, undeniable fact that he was standing there.
Alive.
"Kidd—" she started, but her voice broke before she could finish.
Marco turned slowly.
And that was when everything fell apart.
Because it was him.
And it wasn't.
His face was the same—recognizable, familiar, human—but something beneath it had changed in a way that was impossible to ignore. The lines of his body were sharper, tighter, as if everything about him had been pulled just slightly out of alignment. His skin looked too pale, stretched too thin over something that didn't sit quite right underneath.
And his eyes—
His eyes were wrong.
Not empty.
Not gone.
Just… different.
Too focused.
Too aware.
"Ithilien."
Her name left his lips clearly.
Softly.
Like nothing had changed at all.
She took a step forward before anyone could stop her.
"Marco…"
Kidd moved instantly, his hand catching her arm again, firmer this time.
"Wait."
She didn't look at him.
Couldn't.
Because Marco was watching her now, his gaze fixed on her in a way that made something cold settle in her chest.
"You shouldn't be here," he said.
His voice was steady.
Too steady.
"What happened to you?" she asked, her voice barely holding together.
He didn't answer right away.
Instead, he tilted his head slightly, studying her, as if he were seeing something new, something he hadn't expected.
"I was right," he said quietly.
That made her frown.
"About what?"
A faint smile touched his lips.
And that—
that was wrong.
"About the stability," he said.
Kidd stepped forward.
Enough.
"That's far enough," he said sharply.
Marco's gaze shifted to him.
And for the first time—
something changed.
Not recognition.
Not exactly.
Something colder.
More distant.
"You shouldn't have followed her," Marco said.
Kidd didn't react outwardly.
But Ithilien felt it.
The shift.
The tension tightening beneath his control.
"She's not yours," Kidd replied.
Marco's expression didn't change.
But something in the air did.
"He's still there," Ithilien said quickly, her voice urgent now, stepping forward again despite Kidd's grip. "Marco, listen to me. Whatever they did to you—"
"They didn't do anything," he interrupted.
That stopped her.
"They showed me."
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Unstable.
"What?" she whispered.
Marco's gaze softened for just a fraction of a second.
"You don't understand yet," he said.
And then he moved.
Too fast.
Ithilien didn't even see it coming.
One second he was standing there and the next he was already on her.