Did I hear that right?

Me?! Expelled from the group?!

"What?!" I exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I will still protect you and keep your nanochip in my alternative network," Agape went on without an ounce of remorse as if she believed that was the best for both of us. "Otherwise, your chip would spill the beans to the clones and we'd all get killed. You will need to return your hacked mobile phone, your parrot, and your special gadgets like the ticks and spiders. But most importantly, I forbid you to have any contact with us ever again – not even with Sigi."

My heart made a deadly backflip.

I. Couldn't. See. Sigi. Again.

"NO!" I yelled with fury while tears were threatening to spill from my eyes.

"Or Gabi, K8, Kono, or Ray, you know," she continued as if it was nothing. "I know that you're friends and co-workers, but it's obvious that our relationship needs to end, so you must end yours with them. No contact."

"Can't we work it out?!" I asked with bewilderment. "Find an alternative. I could..." She chuckled and shook her head.

"I will find you an alternative accommodation and job, don't worry," she went on. "As for Eros, you're forbidden to interact with him again, as well. You need to be gone, as if you had died. As for Apollo, I'm going to give you a new ID and notify the death of young Daphne Peneus through your hacked nanochip due to a DNA incompatibility with the Neon Sea's pollution stuck in your eyes or something.

"You'll need to keep a low profile. If someone tells you that you resemble that ad girl or Apollo's love interest, you will deny it. If you need to disappear again, do it. Start wearing glasses, a different clothing style, or makeup. Cut your hair a lot shorter, even. You need to hide who you really are from the world from now on."

"You can't be serious about this!" I felt exasperation bubbling inside me like the champagne inside a shaken bottle.

"I am. I don't want to see or hear from you ever again," she went on, serious as cancer. "I'll keep tabs on you, just in case. If you misbehave, I'll know."

"But...!"

"No buts. You could put all of us in danger!" she argued. She was right, to be honest, but it hurt. "Once I've won this war, you may do as you please; but for now, you'll do as I say," she insisted with a firm tone of voice.

I didn't know what to say. All I wanted to do was cry. I was about to lose all the people I loved.

"I don't want to go!" I complained.

"Anyway, you may stay the night here," she went on as if she hadn't heard me. "In the meantime, I'll get you your new ID, your new job, and your new accommodation ready for tomorrow morning, before the Kiss of the Sun hits us hard and all electric equipment with no insulation suffers the consequences, but then I want you gone... for good."

"NO!" I yelled.

"Is that understood?" she insisted with a deadly tone of voice.

I had no words. There was no way to convince that woman.

Eventually, my tears were stronger than me. I had no control over them anymore, just like I had no control over my life.

I left her office in a hurry. A sob escaped from my lips when I was crossing the threshold of K8's and my bedroom. Well, it would be only K8's soon enough.

My lungs were going rogue, breathing in and out roughly. I hated how dismissive Agape had been towards me. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in that room in the basement of Amanita that night, to be honest. I realised that I didn't feel at home there anymore.

Packing my few belongings in my black backpack with a sad kind of anger, I cried more bitter tears while my thoughts rampaged madly inside my head. I took my mother's treasure box, my family's photograph, the Kolibri that Sigi had given me, my toothbrush, and the few other essentials I had.

A heartbroken sigh threatened to make my lungs explode when I grabbed my parrot and my mobile phone. I stared at both, lying gently on the palms of my hands. Sigi's face popped all of a sudden inside my head.

I remembered how Sigi had hacked my nanochip that afternoon in that rubbish bin with his parrot. I remembered the times I had called Sigi or got his texts using that phone. I could not get in contact with him anymore. Agape had forbidden it.

What was I supposed to do? Could I just leave Sigi behind? Because Agape said so? Just like that?

What could I do? Those were Agape's orders, and it didn't seem like I had a choice. She didn't want me there. And she would scold or punish him if I ever dared to contact him. I couldn't bear that thought. I had to let him go.

Or at least until Agape had taken over the world.

Or until she got Sigi and every single one of my colleagues killed trying.

More tears ran down my cheeks. I clutched my hands on both devices. I felt like I would still need them. With a wry face, I stuffed both of them into my backpack with determination.

I had made up my mind. I was going on one last mission.

"Don't worry, Kono," I heard Ray tell them with confidence when I was crossing the threshold of Amanita's main double doors. Cian, Ray, and Kono were on duty, with a frowning and taciturn K8 standing close to them. "Sigi and Gabi will convince their coach to let you join the Dawn hockey team. They'll be back soon; it'll be just a moment. You'll be playing in no time."

So, Sigi wasn't there? Disappointment filled my mind. I was hoping to see him one last time before going.

I sighed. Maybe it was better that way.

When they saw me exiting the building, their eyes went wide with concern.

"Daphne!" Ray exclaimed with a deep frown. "What's happened?"

"Are you crying, D?" K8 asked while coming closer to me.

"I..." I whispered back, but I couldn't bring myself to say the words. How could I tell them they would never see me again? Or at least until Agape had taken over the world.

"Why are you carrying your backpack? Are you going somewhere?" Kono asked with confusion.

"How was your conversation with Agape?" Cian asked with curiosity.

"Can I borrow your bike, Ray?" I asked him softly, ignoring Cian.

"Yes, of course. But..."

"Thank you, my Ray of sunshine," I whispered back at him lovingly, not letting him finish talking.

I took the keys he was offering me. Then, I put my hand on either side of his face, pulled him to me, and gently kissed his forehead.

"Good luck," I whispered with a shaky voice right in front of his forehead.

"Daphne..." he whispered when I let him go.

Then, I turned to hug both K8 and Kono in a tight embrace.

"Whoa, there!" Kono exclaimed while hugging me back. "What's this supposed to mean, honeysuckle?"

"D, are you alright?" K8 asked with worry, hugging me back.

I didn't reply, and simply let go of their arms.

"I promise I'll return your bike, Ray. Someday. Somehow. I love you all." I turned to the parking area and got on Ray's bike.

"But... hey! Wait! Come back!" Ray exclaimed, raising a hand to try to stop me. I wasn't paying much attention. I needed to go as soon as possible.

"Where are you going?!" K8 asked in a loud voice once I turned the engine on and started riding away. "It's curfew time! You shouldn't be going anywhere on your own! It's dangerous out there!"

I heard nothing else but the roaring engine of the bike and that of my bleeding heart.

I parked Ray's bike by the back door which led to Eros' garden, behind the Sappho Residence. It was quite late at night. I checked the time on my phone: a few minutes before midnight.

While I dialled Eros' number, I found myself wishing he was fine. Why was I deluding myself that much? Of course, he wasn't fine!

His mother had just been murdered by my alienated mother in public right when he was giving her her birthday present. He had been about to get murdered too, but he could kill his intended murderer before she could do the dirty deed.

But why was I there to begin with? Why was I calling him while waiting for him to open the door and let me in at such an ungodly hour?

Easy. I would comfort him, untie his wings, and let him fly.

My call went into voicemail. I found that weird. I worried something might have happened to him. Was he even home? Had he got stuck at the faculty? Or worse: had the surviving androids or the technowolves found him and killed him?

A million negative thoughts were trying to make the ship of my hopes sink.

I entered the premises like a common thief. The back door was unlocked. No alarm got triggered. I ran through the garden to the back door of his luxury house.

I saw no guards anywhere. I found all doors open wide. Something was amiss, so I ran inside.

"Eros?" I called his name, but no answer came, only the sound of techno music being played in a distant room upstairs.

Following the music, I went up the staircase in a hurry.

"EROS?!" I yelled louder as the music also got louder.

Realising that the music came from his bedroom, I hurried there. I found that the door was ajar; and once I opened and came in, I saw that all the items in the room had been thrashed. But no Eros.

I spotted Eros' digital music device and turned it off. The loud techno music was blasting my eardrums and I couldn't take it anymore.

Wait. If it had been on, that meant Eros had managed to come home after the benefit, probably unharmed. But where was he?

"Eros?" I asked to the empty room while I left my backpack on the floor.

Quiet sobs suddenly filled the air, accompanied by a soft whining from a bird. I gasped and rushed to the source, which was the adjoining bathroom.

"Oh my...!" I whispered with bafflement when I saw the deplorable state in which the bathroom was.

The hygiene items were scattered on the floor. The toilet was broken into large pieces. The shower screen had cracks all over. The mirror was broken into smithereens... with blood on them.

But the worst was Eros. 

He was sitting in a visibly uncomfortable position on the floor, being surrounded by broken bits of mirror, leaning his back on the tiles on the wall, and holding an almost empty bottle of whiskey with a half-dead expression on his face. Both his hands had his own blood all over them.

His blazer had been discarded. His shirt was half unbuttoned and wrinkled. His hair was wildly dishevelled. He was a mess.

The baby dodo was standing close to his right thigh, jumping and flapping its tiny wings in a futile attempt at calling his attention. Its whining was loud and incessant.

I was standing by the door. Eros' face slowly turned to meet me when he had heard me. His leaden eyes locked their dead gaze with my dumbfounded one while the baby dodo clumsily ran to my feet, whining with more energy.

"What have you done, Eros?!" I asked with urgency while I knelt right beside him. The dodo softly nudged my leg, and I decided to pick it up and pet him. It made some soft sounds of satisfaction. "Are you hurt? Are you... drunk?"

As an answer, he giggled darkly and took a large sip of whiskey straight from the bottle.

"What have you been doing, Eros?!" I exclaimed in a complaining attitude.

"Wwwwell... izn't it opvvvvious?" he replied, slurring. "I'm a-I'm a mmmess. My mmmother's d-deeaad. Many people I k-know are also d-deeaad. Brrrutally murder'd. Their dead b-bodies lie in the b-botanical gard'n's grass right now. Where I love to t-take a s-stroll when Apollo d-doezn't k-keep me too b-busy. It won't be my h-happy p-place anymore. I've firrred all the security perrrsonnel. And now, I'm alooone in this b-big h-house... but for this little, wwwhining p-pest."

The baby dodo replied to his nasty tone of voice with a complaint-like shriek.

"Stop it alrrreadyyy! I haaate you!" Eros yelled at the bird, which cowered and sought refuge between my palms.

"You're wasted," I whispered with pity while I stared at him. He was panting and frowning while glaring at the poor little animal in my hands.

"Offf courrrse, I am! I can't d-deal with all this s-shit! I fffeel sooo guilty!" It was his time to whine out of control. He also started to cry while putting a hand through his hair in desperation. "W-what I've done to you, to your m-mother, is unforGIvable! You w-were my only friend, and I've screwwwed that up! I'm... I'm so alone. I'll be alone for the r-rest of my l-life! I don't w-want to be alone!

"Now, you're alone too 'coz all your f-family is d-dead, aren't you? Oh no, w-wait. You've g-got a b-boyfriend. And r-real f-friends," he managed to say with sarcasm. "None of my f-friends give t-two s-shits about me! B-believe me, I've just t-tried c-calling them."

He was melancholic, cynical, and delirious, but also bittersweet.

"If you hadn't stopped my mother, she would've killed you," I told him sweetly. "I don't blame you for anything, Eros. I'm glad that you're alive."

"I've h-hurt you! I regret it. I'd rather be d-dead!"

"Don't say that!" His hopelessness was getting to me. I had started to breathe in and out quickly as well.

"You're the k-kindest p-person in the w-world, Daphne!" he whisper-yelled at me with a squeaky, panic-stricken voice. "I don't w-want you to h-hate me. I don't w-want to l-lose you!"

"You won't."

"You're a FLOwer and I'm a bee. I need youuu," he sang out of tune with a bittersweet voice. "It's from a s-song I l-love. J-Joseph Arthur's You're So True."

"I want you to play it for me someday, but not tonight. I've got something important to tell you, Eros," I added with a serious voice, regaining control of my breathing.

"I should g-go to the p-police and turn m-myself in or s-someth'n."

I took the bottle of whiskey from him before he could take another sip. I threw it in the shower, far from us. It broke into smithereens. I took him by surprise with that.

Right at that moment, I heard some footsteps coming from the staircase.

"Daphne? Are you there?" K8's metallic voice echoed from the hall.

"Over here!" I yelled back. I wondered what K8 was doing there. Had she followed me?

"Eros, listen to me," I went on with determination. "I've lost too many people I love dearly these last few weeks. My brother. My father. Mrs Nevermore and my mother tonight. I'm gonna lose more people I love soon if I don't do something about it. That's when you come in."

He was staring at me in disbelief.

"Daphne," Kono said right behind me. I turned my face back to look at them over my right shoulder. K8 was with them. "What's going on? Why are you here? In our future boss' home?"

"Me first. Kono, K8, what are you two doing here?" I asked them.

"We are worried about you. The way you've hugged us and left Amanita..." K8 explained with deep concern. "We have borrowed Gabi's bike to come here."

"Now, your turn. What are you doing here?!" Kono asked with a frown. "Have you thrashed his room and the bathroom?!"

"No, he has. I'm here to save Agape from making a stupid mistake... and to save the world."

I turned my face to Eros.

"Don't feel guilty for what you've done tonight at the benefit, Eros. It was in self-defence. Pretty much what I've done so far to you. I've been lying to you all this time," I admitted. "That is self-defence too, sort of, I think." I rolled my eyes at myself.

"What are you t-talking a-about?" he asked while I left the dodo on the floor.

"About this." And I grabbed his face with a hand, made him face the other way, and placed my parrot on his nape with my other hand.

"Hey! HEY! What t-the-?!" he exclaimed.

"D! What are you doing?!" K8 screamed in amazement and fear.

"It's done. You're free," I told him sweetly.

"What have you d-done to me?! What's... what's t-this?" he asked me.

"This is a parrot," I replied. "It's used to hack nanochips out of the GSNS' network."

"Ha-hack n-nanochips?!" he exclaimed with wide eyes. He started to hyperventilate. "But..."

Agape had said I was a goal-oriented person. Now, that was my current goal: make her coexist with me.

She would need to, now that I had hacked Eros' nanochip. He was now part of her alternative network, and I hoped she would accept my proposal to make him responsible for developing a vaccine. I also hoped Taro would cooperate since he was our biology expert. They could set a good example of genuine cooperation.

"The world needs your talent to develop a vaccine, Eros," I told him. "For the palaeoviruses you told me about. That's why I've hacked your nanochip. You're now free from Apollo's surveillance. You don't need his approval. I'll be the support you need. Agape will need to find a way to accept and work with us." And then, I whispered, mostly to myself: "She will still need me... and take me back."

"W-what are you t-talking about? Who's A-Agape?"

It was time to tell Eros the truth about who I was.

"I'm a rebel, Eros. Agape is my boss."

"WHAAAT?!" he exclaimed, freaking out with huge eyes and an open mouth.

"Agape is gonna freak the hell out, D," K8 said then.

"Eros, I'm awfully sorry. The night I met you... you were my target. I had to meet you and befriend you. My mission was to get confidential information from your home, from your father, from you. Those were Agape's orders, not how I wanted things to be with you. I feel I've been using you over and over to make her happy, and that makes me feel dirty.

"But now I've got a chance to right that wrong. I need you, Eros – the entire world needs you. I know it's hard, Eros, but now you'll pull yourself together and get a shower, okay? I'll help you clean this mess, too. I'll tell you all there is to know, I promise.

"But the key thing here is that now you're free, Eros. Free to work on the vaccine you told me about a few days ago and stop climate change to save the world! I'll help you succeed.

"Once the vaccine is real, we can mediate between the two opposing sides of the current conflict, Apollo and Agape, and help them reach a non-violent compromise. We can build a better future, and it'll start with the two of us, Eros.

"Do it for your mother. She would be proud of you. Will you help me, please?"

I was willing to be his front fender so that nothing and nobody would be able to get to him. He was my responsibility, and I'd protect him from any danger.

"Are you sure he can do it?" Kono asked me. "He looks pretty freaked out."

True. He was frozen, staring at me with a stupefied and pale expression on his face as if I was his fairy godmother who had just popped out of nowhere to grant him a wish.

"So, y-you're a r-rebel. And t-they are... r-rebels, too?" he whispered naively while pointing at us.

"Yes, how cool is that, huh, my dear future boss?" Kono replied for me with sass. They even winked an eye at him.

Suddenly, my phone went off. Agape's name flashed on the screen.

"Fuck. So soon?" I knew that, if I hacked Eros' nanochip, I would have to face Agape again. And that she would be angry at me again. I took a deep breath. "Okay. Here goes nothing."

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Agape yelled at me right after I got the call. A nasty argument would soon follow.

Everybody could listen to our conversation because I had activated the speaker option.

"Listen, Agape. He's too talented to let him go. We need him!" I said firmly.

"No! You think we need him, but we don't! We never will!" she yelled. "I'm gonna get him executed, just so you know."

"NO!" I shouted back at her in defiance. My heart raced and my hands trembled.

"I've told you that you're expelled from the group, and you do this?!" she went on yelling. "You're not gonna pull this off!"

"You're expelled?!" Kono exclaimed in sheer disbelief. Both they and K8 had their eyes about to fall from their sockets. "Oh, my fucking God!" They put their hands on their head due to shock.

"Kono? Is that you?" Agape yelled at them. "What are you doing here?! I hope you're not helping Daphne with this nonsense!"

"No, they've just arrived with K8. They had no idea about my plans," I answered for them.

"Good."

"But I swear I can make this work!" I told Agape with firmness. "You don't need to go and face Apollo next Monday. You'll get killed if you do! Please, listen to me! If we get a vaccine, I think we can get what we want from Apollo and the clones. There will be no need for transplants, we will save millions of people, and we will stop this dystopian nonsense. Give this plan a chance, please! I beg you."

"K8, Kono. Get rid of Eros, please," she commanded, totally ignoring me. "After that, come back without Daphne. Like I've said, she's expelled from the group. She's not living or working with us anymore."

"But..." K8 said with hesitation. "Eros is a good person. He's D's friend. And... and D should come back home with us, right? Where else is she gonna go?"

"Don't question my orders, damn it!" Agape was losing it again.

"He is a good person. I can vouch for him. I won't kill him," Kono said with wounded pride and teary eyes.

"Neither will I," K8 said.

Agape let out a bunch of profanities.

"Fuck, I'm sick of you interfering in my plans, Daphne!" she eventually shouted at me. "I could get you killed for this!"

"What?!" Kono whisper-shouted in a panic-stricken tone.

"Agape, please..." I begged her, but she didn't let me finish.

"This conversation is over! You know what you have to do, K8, Kono. It's an order," she commanded with more harshness. "As for you, Daphne, don't fucking meddle in my affairs ever again! If you do, I swear I'm gonna kill you myself."

She ended the call abruptly. I felt my blood draining from my face. Silence reigned supreme in the room, then.

"At... at least I tried," I whispered with a teary voice. "I'm awfully sorry I have involved you in this, Eros. I was hoping you would develop a vaccine together with Taro. K8, Kono, please. Don't murder him. Hide him, take care of him, I-I don't know. He doesn't deserve Agape's fury. I do, I guess. I'm an idiot."

Guilt was overwhelming me inside out. Had I rushed into that plan? Was I a fool? I did feel like one.

"Don't say that, D," K8 said with worry. "We can work this out, I hope. When ma Agape has gotten some rest, she will see things differently, you'll see."

"Are you sure, K8? She seems pretty stubborn and moody to me," Kono said.

Suddenly, my phone went off. It was Sigi.

My heart skipped a beat. He was my throttle, providing fuel to power my engine. However, I hesitated and didn't get his call. It went into voicemail, but he ended the call immediately.

"Sigi is on his way here, I guess," K8 said. She had seen his name on the screen. "When Kono and I decided to follow you, Ray was already calling him to tell him to come back immediately from his coach's house."

"We've told Ray to track our phone's location," Kono added. "That way, they could find us. Sigi will help you, you'll see."

"Bad idea. Well, to be honest, it doesn't matter now," I said in a disheartened mood. "I'm not allowed to see him ever again."

I cried bitter tears.

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Do you think Daphne's plan would work? Will Eros get killed, or will he be able to help Daphne?

XOXO

MS