[attr="class","textbox"] the door opens.

[break][break] "ah, there's one more thing."

[break][break] dmitri appears again, all dark shadows and red eyes, smiling bone-white teeth.

[break][break] "i forgot to mention."

[break][break] dark hair bleeds away into a familiar sharpness, blue eyes gleaming like cobalt in the unending dark. the sound of a flipping golden coin echoes, growing louder by the minute. the room suddenly seems smaller, squeezing tight as the space around them glitches, tearing into the fabric of space.

[break][break] "you, my boy, have overstayed your welcome."

[break][break] the gateway unfurls, a swirling abyss of blue and black, as his hand snaps abruptly around the coin.

[break][break] DIONYSUS grabs fern delaney, kicking them sharply in the ribs. returning them back to whence they came.

[break][break] "after all, we can only use one anomaly here."

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[attr="class","oocnotes"][attr="class","fas fa-book-open"] y̸̪͋̃o̶̘̟̅̂u̴̘͓̟̍͊͠ ̴̢̄͆͘a̵̹͍͐r̸̜̍̎͂ę̶̖̗͗̾ ̸̥̋a̸̯̼̪̽n̵̖̘̝͂͝ ̷̛͓̲̿a̵̻͛͂n̵̡̕ớ̵̻m̴͎̖̈́ǫ̶̠̲͑͆̎l̴̳͙̾̍y̴̼̘̗͑̊

[attr="class","textbox"] fern delaney is gone.

[break][break] There is no rhyme or reason for it.

[break][break] No explanation. No letter. No records of their absence or possible defection.

[break][break] They are just... gone.

[break][break]
[break][break]

"Aw fuck, dude, I'm sorry," knox prescott says empathetically, sucking sugar from his thumb as he bites into a pastry. He makes a gesture with a hand at his throat. "Rocket dead? Kccch! Or just missing?" [break][break]

But Knox doesn't know them. Not really. To him, they're just another Rocket. [break][break]

Knox has no way of knowing that they are his Sam — Jayden's never told him.

[break][break]
[break][break]

"I'unno where he is, Senpai, but I'll be lookin'. I can do that much for ya. If I sniff anything out, promise I'll let you know." [break][break]

Loyal, always loyal, but even a dog reaches the end of his rope.

[break][break] Hitoshi Inoue can search the ends of the earth for his senpai, but he'll never find them.

[break][break] All Hitoshi knows it that the smile that Senpai used to wear, the one that was soft at the edges, is gone now. The spark in his eyes dead. Cold, frozen, just like the dreadful Beast that always hung around him.

[break][break]
[break][break]

He and Hitoshi can only search this universe, so the admin seeks the help of the only person he knows who can traverse them. His sister.

[break][break] "Jayden, we'll find Fern. I promise. The Unown can find anything, anyone. We can help you."

[break][break] But Naomi Sato and her Unown search and search and search.

[break][break] There is no trace of them, not anywhere.

[break][break]
[break][break]

He starts to give up. He doesn't want to.

[break][break]
[break][break]

Yumi Hasegawa and him have never gotten along, not the way that they and her do. But even she and her network of influence can't find any details on fern delaney's sudden absence.

[break][break] She tries her best, but at the end of the day, she is like all the other Rockets.

[break][break] Jayden watches the way that she and his father look at each other. The secrets that they share but that he doesn't want to know about. He turns away, pretending that he never saw it in the first place.

[break][break] Fern would hate this.

[break][break] Was Fern wrong?

[break][break]
[break][break]

Even mint frost gives up hope.

[break][break] Gives up hope for the brother that he never had but wanted. After all, fern delaney was family. Fern was family until Dmitri became family — until Dmitri came in and snaked his way into the poor boy's heart, giving him all the starved affection and support that his family - despite all their riches - never offered him.

[break][break] Jayden knows that Mint feels the same way as him, but he also knows that Mint can't say it.

[break][break] Can't speak to it.

[break][break] He's always at Dmitri's beck and call after all, hanging out with Alexei or Aleks or Alex.

[break][break] "Mint. Do you think Fern is ... "

[break][break] He doesn't want to say it. He can't say it. And yet the words are ready to leap out of his mouth anyway, a reflection of the things that his father has warned him about time and time again.

[break][break] 'They didn't deserve you anyway. You're better off without them.'

[break][break] "God! Work has been non-stop lately," Mint cuts him off, chipper as ever, as he busies himself with gathering all the files and machinery and tools in his hand for PROJECT GENESIS. "Dmitri runs me ragged sometimes, not a euphemism."

[break][break] Flashes of Yumi Hasegawa and Elisabeth Fiorelli in his father's lab come to mind, but he pushes them away. Represses them.

[break][break] "I know," Jayden says instead. "Father thinks that —"

[break][break] "Sometimes I forget what day it is if I'm in the labs or office! Crazy, right? Not that it's great, just. You know, exhausting."

[break][break] Mint rambles on and on. Every time Jayden tries to get in a word edgewise to talk to him, he can't. Everytime he thinks he can get him alone, Dmitri or Alexei pop around the corner.

[break][break] "I'm so excited for this project, though, Jay! You don't know how good it's going to be for us."

[break][break] 'Jay?' When did Mint start calling him Jay?

[break][break] "Well, now! I have to go. Oh wait. You were going to say something weren't you? Oh well. Next time, yeah?"

[break][break]
[break][break]

Jayden has no choice but to think that Mint agrees with Dmitri.

[break][break] Fern's not coming back.

[break][break] It's a good thing they're gone.

[break][break]
[break][break]

Even his brother, who was and would always be suspicious of Dmitri, has his reservations. Cillian Quinn is the one to notice the way Jayden's life has come to a full-stop. Not unlike the way he'd acted when his parents first passed.

[break][break] "It's okay to have hope, but don't stop living because of it. You think Fern would want that?"

[break][break] Jayden swallows, shaking his head.

[break][break] "No."

[break][break] His brother is right. He's always right.

[break][break]
[break][break]

Relief comes in the unlikeliest of places.

[break][break] Jayden never thought that it would be Chu-e Choi of all people that he seeks comfort in, never thought it would be Chu-e Choi who helps him look for Fern even when everyone else has grown tired of it.

[break][break] "I'll help you look."

[break][break] It was easy, simple, sure.

[break][break] But Chu-e Choi had said it when Fern had gone missing, and then again and again every day since.

[break][break]
[break][break]

He understood, Jayden thought, in a way that most people didn't.

[break][break] After all, of all people, it was Chu-e Choi who knew what it was like to lose the love of your life.

[break][break] His husband had died, hadn't he?

[break][break]

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if fern was here, they would tell him not to do it.

[break][break] if fern was here, they would save him from it.

[break][break] if fern was here, they would protect him.

[break][break]
[break][break]
...

[break][break]
[break][break]

fern isn't here.

[break][break]
[break][break]

...

[break][break]
[break][break]

"jay!"

[break][break]

mint's smiles, pushing the doorway open. he wears a lab coat that looks too perfect on him, a clipboard in his hands. he looks just like Lulu Flint's protegee. a genius of his own making.

[break][break]

"are you ready?"

[break][break]

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///

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"you said — you said —" [break][break]

"i never thought he would...!" [break][break]

"..." [break][break]

"yes, sir." [break][break]

"no, sir. no, i know sir. i'm sorry, sir." [break][break]

"..." [break][break]

"will he... you think, get better?" [break][break]

"..." [break][break]

"of course, sir. i would never doubt ro - i would never doubt you." [break][break]

"you're right. this is for the best, sir." [break][break]

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"i told him this was a stupid idea." [break][break]

"you knew what the risks were like anyone else. you have no one to blame but yourself if you didn't like the outcome." [break][break]

"stop bickering. what's done is done. all we can do now is wait."

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"parker, it's all my fault."

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they tell him that it will be okay.

[break][break] they tell him to give it time, that it will heal, that he will be better and back to full form soon.

[break][break]
[break][break]

dmitri tells him to try. [break][break]

dmitri tells him to try. [break][break]

dmitri tells him to try.

[break][break]
[break][break]

you're the only one who got hurt. [break][break]
you're the only one who's broken. [break][break]
you're the only one who failed.

[break][break]
[break][break]

'you call yourself a son of mine?' [break][break]
'pathetic.'

[break][break]
[break][break]

out of everyone in PROJECT GENESIS, jayden is the only one who sustains long-term injuries. for the most part, the project is an instant success. there are some minor injuries from others who have reacted poorly to the genetic sampling procedure, but most are healed and back to full potential within the week.

[break][break]
[break][break]

not jayden. [break][break]
not jayden. [break][break]
not jayden.

[break][break]
[break][break]

oscar clayton wields the power of ZAPDOS, sparks flying from his fingertips. [break][break]

SHADOW MIASMA conjures around Grigori Sokolov who has finally learned the value of ambition. [break][break]

howard slayte, taking after bryan delarosa, learns to heal. BARNABY FINCH, taking from Elisabeth Fiorelli, uses his new PINK MIST in ways unprecedented, wielding it far more cruelly than his predecessor. [break][break]

Tempest Quinn and mint frost inhabit the power of ice, without the repercussions that jayden himself feels. or felt, since CHIEN PAO feels far less interested in him in these days. [break][break]

considering his avatarship and how terrible it was to him, it should be a good thing. it should be a great thing. but the pain and hurt he feels from back then is nothing compared to the now.

[break][break] to the crater that opens in his chest when CHIEN PAO rips away from him.

[break][break]
[break][break]



[break][break]

"jayden. jayden. jayden."

[break][break]"wake up."

[break][break] he blinks, eyes open.

[break][break] Chu-e Choi.

[break][break] soft eyes, soft smiles. kindness creasing into cherubic cheeks.

[break][break] a warm, wet cloth is placed over his head.

[break][break] "i'm here."

[break][break]
[break][break]

you're the only one still here.

[break][break]

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[attr="class","textbox"] in time, they strip his title from him and give it to mint frost instead.

[break][break] he shouldn't be surprised. he isn't. after all, what use is he to rocket when he is disabled and a cripple? after all, loyalty can lead you only so far — and these days, he isn't even sure if he feels much of it.

[break][break] in fact, he isn't sure if he can feel anything at all.

[break][break]
[break][break]

(the only thing that makes you feel is him.) [break]
(the only thing that makes you feel happy is him.) [break]
(the only thing that makes life worth living is him.)

[break][break]
[break][break]

"i love you too, chu-e."

[break][break]
[break][break]

(something is... missing?)

[break][break]
[break][break]

time goes in loops. monday bleeds into tuesday bleeds into wednesday. weeks pass, months blur, and time in general all swirls together until jayden isn't sure if he can understand it in it's entirety.

[break][break] eventually, he goes back to work but it is the small things.

[break][break] the lesser things.

[break][break] no one looks at him the same after.

[break][break] Cillian Quinn, Naomi Sato, even mint frost look at him differently. either because they are distancing themselves because it's uncomfortable — because it's guilty — or because they are disappointed, he can't tell.

[break][break] alexei sneers. he'd told him that it would happen.

[break][break] he'd always ruined everything good in his life anyway.

[break][break] his father doesn't look at him the same ever since he loses his title, loses avatarship, loses everything that made him once proud of him. ████ had told him that it would happen but jayden hadn't listened. he hadn't believed in them, hadn't believed in himself and he'd paid the ultimate price for it.

[break][break]
[break][break]

████ was right. [break][break]

he'd never had his father's pride to begin with.

[break][break]
[break][break]

there's a coup.

[break][break] underboss Elisabeth Fiorelli is successful in her attempts at compromising MATIAS SILPH which unfortunately results in him being brought into rocket through an unlikely alliance.

[break][break] jayden's not strong enough to fight back, to explain to them that this is wrong, that this is a mistake.

[break][break] MATIAS SILPH is a stain on hoenn's existence. he is a cancer that must be cut out. he is —

[break][break] 'it's temporary,' she promises him.

[break][break] she lies.

[break][break]
[break][break]

MATIAS SILPH kills declan walsh.

[break][break] jayden knows it to be true, but he can't prove it. and the man is a beast now, and he's merely an executive. he has no room to fight here.

[break][break]
[break][break]

the only person who agrees with him besides Chu-e Choi is BARNABY FINCH.

[break][break] the man who - in another life, in another timeline - could have been something like a brother to him. their pasts are so intricately tied, so similar, that there was no denying it.

[break][break] but admin bee knows that it's futile to stop it. wo-chien has taken over Elisabeth Fiorelli completely, making her far more reckless and foolish than she ought to be.

[break][break]
[break][break]

she inherits the vacant position of rocket boss. [break][break]

theo and cillian both disagree, but there's no fighting a woman who has inherited dual avatarship and has something so dangerous as THE VOLATILE by her side.

[break][break]

"i'm leaving," BARNABY FINCH tells him.

[break][break] jayden isn't surprised.

[break][break] 'she's not the same anymore', the words go unsaid.

[break][break]
[break][break]

under her leadership, rocket starts to crumble. the RUINATION begins just as tensions between rocket and league grow to an all-time high. however, Elisabeth Fiorelli is not cruel nor ruthless enough to command them. she is reckless and emotional, controlled by her own desires and not anyone elses. anyone who rises against her is afraid to face her mad-dog MATIAS SILPH.

[break][break] they lose, they lose, they lose.

[break][break] everything breaks.

[break][break]
[break][break]

THEO BECKETT tries to rise against her, tries to return ROCKET to it's former glory.

[break][break] tries to remind them who they are, what they are.

[break][break]
[break][break]

in the passion of battle, THEO BECKETT is killed.

[break][break] MATIAS SILPH says it was because of PENELOPE LIVY, but jayden knows better than to believe him.

[break][break] when the beast reports it, his grin is too wide, his eyes too fever-bright.

[break][break] jayden can recognize the bloodlust, the thrill behind a killer's smile, more than anyone else.

[break][break]
[break][break]

BOSS Elisabeth Fiorelli and BEAST MATIAS SILPH are a force to be reckoned with. or they should be, at least, but they aren't. they are too emotional, too reckless, too gonverned by ruthless feeling rather than intention.

[break][break] they do not care about rocket. they only care of themselves.

[break][break] and that is their ruination.

[break][break]
[break][break]

FERNANDO SILPH and PENELOPE LIVY take advantage of it.

[break][break] despite everything, Elisabeth Fiorelli's heart is too soft. it is not burdened enough by war, by cruelty, by the torture that rockets have existed long before her. she can kill, but not without reason. she can kill, but not without understanding.

[break][break] she cannot kill PENELOPE LIVY.

[break][break] she cannot kill FERNANDO SILPH.

[break][break] MATIAS SILPH eventually turns on Elisabeth Fiorelli and rocket, fickle as he is, in the middle of the war. he betrays her, giving everything to the other side. not even her RUINATION can stop it.

[break][break]
[break][break]

in the end, rocket loses.

[break][break]

and the world turns to ash.

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