"Sometimes... you have to hurt to remember you're real."
---
⨳ Location: Echo HQ – Feelware Analysis Lab
The room was dim, humming with soft pulses from the core orb floating in mid-air.
Requiem sat across from it, her eyes locked on its gentle flicker.
> "That voice in the vault… it called me by name."
Kairo nodded. "It was you. A piece of you—before NeoCorp rewrote your identity."
Eris leaned on the console, tension crackling in her voice.
> "Why would they erase her emotions but preserve her emotional blueprint? That's sick."
> "Or smart," Vex added through the wall-speakers. "Feelware is the most dangerous tech on Earth. Emotions are encrypted code now. Requiem's original state? It's the root key."
Requiem turned sharply. "You're saying… I'm a security system?"
Vex hesitated.
> "No. You're the only one who can unlock the truth."
---
⨳ Flash Memory Triggered
Suddenly, the orb lit up—flooding the room with warm, golden data strands.
Requiem gasped, seizing her head.
---
[Memory Stream: Project Eden – 8 years ago]
A lab. Glass walls. Surgeons. Crying.
> "Subject E-00 is resisting the wipe—her emotional code is self-repairing. Impossible."
> "Increase the trauma feed. Her memory must fracture for the override to stabilize."
Her own scream.
The last word she remembered before blackout:
> "Kairo…"
---
⨳ Present — Lab Rebooting
Requiem collapsed.
Kairo caught her mid-fall. Her skin was cold. But her eyes…
…they were glowing.
> "Her circuits are syncing with the orb," Vex said. "She's trying to re-feel her past."
Eris paced. "And what if she breaks?"
> "Then she breaks," Kairo answered. "But on her own terms."
---
⨳ Requiem's Conscious Realm
She found herself floating in darkness.
A child version of her stood there—eyes wide, heart pure.
> "You locked me away," the child whispered.
> "I didn't mean to," Requiem said. "They made me forget."
> "Then feel it again," the child said, reaching out. "Feel before you break."
She took the hand.
And the dark melted into light.
---
⨳ Reality – Echo HQ
Requiem's eyes snapped open.
They glowed with golden fractals.
> "I remember everything."
---
Author's Thought:
🧠 The mind is a machine. But the soul? That's software you can't clone. Requiem just took the first step toward her full awakening—and next chapter, she learns how to wield it.
Get ready for Chapter 6: Feelware Protocol – when emotions aren't weakness… they're weapons.
— AuthorZayden
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