Chapter Text
She remembers dying.
A car skidding. Headlights flashing. A sharp, unbearable crack.
And then—
Nothing.
But before that, there was exhaustion. Bone-deep, mind-numbing exhaustion. She had spent years chasing a dream that left her hollow. Residency was brutal—sleepless nights, relentless shifts, the crushing weight of expectations. She worked herself raw, moving from one patient to the next, barely pausing to eat or sleep. No family waiting at home. No friends who truly understood. Just an empty apartment and a single comfort: Love and Deep Space.
The game wasn’t just an escape. It was the only thing that made her feel something beyond survival. She knew it was pathetic—falling for pixels on a screen, memorizing the voices of men who weren’t real. But it was easier to love a world that couldn’t hurt her. Easier than facing the reality of being nothing outside of her job. And then, one night, she pushed too hard.
A multi-car collision. She barely registered the chaos—just moved, acted, saved as many as she could. She didn’t see the drunk driver approaching the chaos until it was too late. Metal screeched. Pain exploded through her body.
And then—
Darkness.
Until she wakes up.
The air is thick with smoke. Metal towers loom over her, their rusted edges jagged like teeth. It’s cold—freezing—and her body is small, frail. Her head pounds as she struggles to sit up, her limbs sluggish, unfamiliar. Panic tightens around her chest. Where is she?
A low chuckle breaks the eerie silence.
“Well, well. What’s a little thing like you doing out here all alone?”
She whirls around.
A group of men stands in the alleyway, grinning like wolves scenting fresh prey. Their clothes are worn, their eyes sharp with amusement. Something about the way they look at her sends ice down her spine.
“Lost?” one of them taunts. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We can help.”
Her heart hammers. She scrambles backward, her mind racing. And then she sees it. A flickering neon sign above a decrepit building. A symbol she knows too well.
N109 Zone.
No. That’s not possible.
Her breath catches. She’s seen this place before—countless times on her screen, in the game she knew better than her own reflection.
Love and Deep Space.
But this isn't a game. She can feel the dirt beneath her fingers, the cold biting through her thin clothes. This is real. She’s here.
She doesn’t have time to process it before the scavengers step closer, one of them reaching for her. She recoils, fists clenching, but she’s too weak, too slow.
"Hands off."
A figure stands at the mouth of the alley, shrouded in shadows.
Tall. Unmoving. A crimson gleam in his eye.
Her breath catches.
Sylus.
Cold. Lethal.
Beautiful.
He watches her with those eerie, red eyes, tilting his head as if deciding her fate.
“Stray,” he murmurs. “You don’t belong here.” She shivers. He lifts his gun.
“But if you want to survive, I’ll make you one of mine.”
She doesn’t understand what he means. Not yet.
But she’s about to.
Because the moment she takes his hand—
There’s no turning back.