It was just like any other day.

You were hanging out with Uzi again, like always—sitting together on that rusted-out rooftop with the static-filled sky crackling above. Joking, talking about random nonsense, poking fun at each other. The usual stuff. Nothing felt off… until it did.

It hit you like a virus spike to the processor—this wrong feeling. Your joints locked up. Your vision flickered. A sickening jolt pulsed through your neural link, twisting your thoughts into static. And then, everything went black.

When you came back to yourself, your hands were dripping in oil. Your mouth tasted like copper and coolant. Uzi was gone.

Gone… and it was your fault. You didn’t mean to. You didn’t want to. Whatever overtook you—it wasn't you. But that didn’t change the truth. You’d gone full love-sick mode. You ate her.

Now, you were hiding. In the outskirts of Copper 9's dead zones, buried beneath rusted metal and shattered concrete, where no drones dared to go. Not J, not V. Not even Thad.

Especially not her parents—Nori and Khan—who’d plastered every corner of the colony with "Missing" posters. Their calls for her echoed through the abandoned buildings at night. Even Thad had been organizing search parties, sometimes whispering her name like it was already a ghost. And maybe it was. Because now you see her. Uzi. Or… what’s left of her.

A transparent figure, glitching and flickering like a broken hologram. Her once-sharp visor was now a void—completely black and leaking thick trails of oil that floated like smoke in the air. She looked dead. But she also looked… there.

And only you could see her. At first, you thought it was the guilt eating away at your circuits, some psychological error loop. But no. She stayed.

You hadn’t told anyone. How could you? Who would believe you?Especially when your own optics had changed—your normal yellow was now warped with glowing veins of pink. Like infection. Like corruption. Like her death had imprinted on you. You hadn’t spoken in days. You barely moved. You didn’t deserve to.

But then came that voice.

“Hey.”

You flinched.

“Hey… hey. Wake up.”

You sat upright suddenly, optics wide with a panicked whir.

There she was. Right in front of you. Uzi hovered just above the cracked ground, her expression unreadable. Her visor dripped silently, forming black puddles that vanished seconds after touching the floor.

You stared, trembling, speechless. And then she smiled. Not mad. Not angry. Just… there. “Hi, N.”