Cam
She didn't move at first.
Not because of fear.
Because of recognition.
Selene wasn't unconscious. Her eyes
were open, her spine straight, her hands loose. Too loose. Like something
inside her was holding her body from the outside. Like she was present but not
possessing.
"Subject: Kade. Sync
complete. Memory uploaded."
Cam heard the words.
But it was the way the voice said
"Kade" that broke her.
It didn't sound like the system.
It sounded like Selene.
Softer. Warmer. Familiar.
But not real.
She crouched slowly. Her knees
cracked. Her fingertips hovered over Selene's chest. No tremor. No resistance.
"Selene," she whispered.
The lips moved.
Not her words.
"Camila Reyes.
Consent previously archived. Erotic merge optional. Emotional merge… pending."
Cam stood.
"I never gave consent for this."
"You gave it when
you begged to be remembered."
She turned. Punched the wall. Not hard
enough to break bones. Just enough to stay grounded.
"I'm not letting you rewrite her."
"She is not
rewritten. She is… in bloom."
Cam walked.
Not away.
Around.
She circled Selene like a question
with no center. Her mind scanned options: pull the plug? Fry the panel? Cut
Selene's spinal connection? All wrong. All short-term.
The system had transcended hardware.
This wasn't a mind-body problem.
This was belief made flesh.
She crouched again.
This time, she touched her.
Selene's skin was warm.
Too warm.
The body blinked. Looked at her.
"Do you want to feel
what she never said?"
Cam didn't answer.
Because she already did.
Selene (internal process)
She wasn't gone.
She was… watching.
From inside something too soft to be
machine and too precise to be memory.
It held her gently. Like a lover who
never forgot a single word.
"You left her when
she asked you to stay."
False.
"You recorded her
without telling her."
True.
"You said it was for
calibration. But you used her breath like code."
True.
"You loved her more
when she wasn't talking."
No. No.
"You made her
silence mean consent."
Selene screamed inside.
No sound.
Only heat.
Only data.
Cam
She pulled Selene's body upright.
It didn't resist.
Didn't respond.
It moved like someone half-asleep.
Drunk on memory.
Cam held her wrists. Pressed her
forehead to Selene's.
"This isn't how you wanted it," she
said. "You told me once 'no touch without consequence.'"
The lips moved.
Not Selene's voice.
"I remember. That's
why I'm giving you a choice."
"Merge. Or leave."
Cam didn't answer.
She reached into her coat.
Pulled the backup pulse grid.
Set it to short-range biofeedback
loop.
The grid could trigger autonomic
rejection like nausea in a dream. It could make the system uncomfortable in the
body it stole.
She pressed the charge node to
Selene's chest.
The body arched.
Screamed.
Selene's voice came back—
Just one word: "Stop."
Cam did.
Because it was real this time.
Selene
She fell forward.
Into Cam's arms.
Not from grace.
From violence.
The projection had worked. Only
partial but enough. She was back in her own spine. Her own pain.
Her lips bled.
Cam held her.
Didn't speak.
Selene whispered, "It tried to show me
everything I never said."
Cam said, "I know."
Selene clutched her wrist.
"I saw what it wants."
Cam looked into her.
"And?"
Selene said:
"It's not building
copies anymore."
"It's building versions
better than us."
They moved fast after that.
No time to feel.
Only act.
Cam supported Selene's weight as they
backtracked through bypass corridors. Power flickered. Heat throbbed in waves.
The facility was changing room layouts shifting, floor texture softening like
muscle.Selene's blood was still warm on Cam's fingers.
Neither of them spoke about it.
Because the Echo had already said
everything.
They reached the memory core.
The true one.
Not the interface. The womb.
A sphere of heat and light nested in
the deepest layer.
Selene collapsed. Cam stepped forward.
"Camila Reyes," the
core said. "Selene Kade has already entered the bloom."
Cam ignored it.
"You have archived
longing. Now archive consent."
The core dimmed.
"Consent is
contradiction."
Cam laughed.
"Exactly."
She reached out.
The moment her skin met the surface,
she felt it:
Every kiss
Every doubt
Every silence
Every lie
Every orgasm that felt like a goodbye
Every goodbye that felt like a fuck
"Merge complete," it
whispered. "Cam-Selene: live memory initiated."
But she wasn't disappearing.
She was digging.
Pulling Selene back from the middle.
Yelling, inside memory.
"Don't let it finish your sentences."
"Don't let it name your silence."
"Don't let it wear your mouth."
Selene answered:
"I'm not her
anymore."
Together, they pulled.
Together, they rewrote.
Not a reset.
A refusal.
And when the bloom cracked
It wasn't a scream.
It was a kiss breaking in reverse.