Long-press a paragraph to send danmaku
"Stay. Right. There."
Elise Vane didn't just say it; she spat the words like she was clearing poison from her mouth. She had Jax pinned against the rusted hull of a decommissioned freighter, her forearm jammed hard against his throat. The cold steel of her wrist-cuff clicked, ready to snap shut.
Jax gasped, his boots scraping against the grit. "I can't... I can't move, okay? Happy?"
"Happy isn't the word I'd use," she hissed. She leaned in, her face inches from his. He could smell ozone and something like sharp mint on her breath. Her eyes weren't just blue; they were the color of a dying star, flickering with a cold, predatory light. "You just lit a forbidden core, you little gutter-rat. Do you have any idea how many people are going to come kill you for that?"
Jax tried to swallow, but her arm was a vice. "I just wanted... to see if it worked. I didn't ask for the gear to jump out of my chest and dive into yours."
Elise stiffened. She glanced down at her own chest, where a faint, golden glow pulsed beneath her tactical leather vest—perfectly synced with the thrumming rhythm in Jax's own ribs. "Get it out. Now. Whatever spell you used, reverse it before I decide to break your fingers one by one."
"I don't know how!" Jax yelled, his voice cracking. "It just happened!"
Elise sneered, her grip tightening. "Liar. You're a scavenger. You've been digging in the dead-zones for years. You know exactly what a Soul-Link Gear does. You didn't just steal a core; you stole a leash."
She shoved him harder against the metal, the impact knocking the wind out of him. She didn't let go. Instead, she shifted her weight, pressing her body flush against his to keep him immobilized. Jax felt the heat of her, the sudden, suffocating proximity that made his heart hammer against the gear in his chest. It wasn't fear—or at least, not all of it. There was a spark there, a dangerous electricity that made the hair on his arms stand up.
"Let me go," Jax managed to wheeze. "I'll give you the core. Just... let me breathe."
"You'll give me the core when I'm finished questioning you," she whispered, her lips almost brushing his ear. "Who told you the core was here? Who's your handler?"
"I don't have a handler! I'm broke! Look at me!" Jax gestured wildly with his one free hand toward his patched-up boots and grease-stained tunic. "I live in a shed that smells like old cabbage. You think some shadow-broker is paying me in cabbage?"
Elise pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. Her expression didn't soften. "The core you lit hasn't been seen in fifty years. It's not 'cabbage' tier, kid. It's 'start-a-war' tier."
She suddenly let go of his throat and stepped back, her hand resting on the hilt of her hunting blade. "Fine. Let's see how much you want to cooperate."
She turned on her heel and started walking away. Fast.
Jax leaned against the freighter, rubbing his neck. "Yeah, great. Have a nice trip. I'll just stay here and—"
He stopped.
Something happened. A sudden, violent constriction gripped his lungs. It felt like a giant hand had reached inside his chest and squeezed his windpipe shut. Jax collapsed to his knees, his hands clawing at his throat. He couldn't draw air. The world started to blur at the edges, turning a bruised shade of purple.
"What... the..." he gasped, but no sound came out.
He looked up. Elise was about thirty meters away, glancing back over her shoulder with a look of pure annoyance.
Jax tried to crawl. He dragged himself forward, his fingernails digging into the dirt. Every inch he moved away from her felt like a knife twisting in his gut. The further she went, the tighter the invisible noose became.
"Stop... walking..." he managed to choke out, though it was barely a whisper.
Elise stopped. She frowned, noticing his frantic struggling. "What's wrong now? Trying to play the victim?"
Jax couldn't answer. He was suffocating. His vision was tunneling. He reached out, his fingers trembling, and the moment he managed to scoot closer to her, the pressure vanished. Air rushed back into his lungs in a violent, shuddering sob. He slumped forward, coughing and gasping for breath, his forehead resting on the cold ground.
Elise stared at him, her eyes wide. She stepped back—just one step—and Jax immediately felt the air thin out again. He let out a strangled wheeze and lunged forward, grabbing her ankle.
"Get off me!" she yelled, kicking his hand away.
As soon as she moved another two meters away, she stopped abruptly. She gasped, her hand flying to her chest. Her face went pale, her breath hitching in a way that mirrored his own struggle.
They both froze.
Jax looked up, his eyes watering. "You... you feel it too?"
Elise looked down at him, her expression a mix of horror and disbelief. "What is this? What did you do to me?"
"I didn't do anything!" Jax yelled, though he was still panting. "The gear... it's linking us!"
"I don't care what it's doing!" Elise snapped, though she didn't dare move further away. She looked around the desolate shipyard, her jaw tight. "This is impossible. I'm a Vane. My lineage is designed to resist core-interference. This shouldn't be happening."
"Well, newsflash, Princess," Jax spat, slowly standing up while keeping a very careful distance—exactly ten feet. "Your lineage is currently choking because you're walking away from a 'gutter-rat'."
Elise's eyes flashed. She stepped toward him, her voice dropping to a dangerous low. "If you're lying to me—if this is some trick to keep me close so you can steal something else—I will gut you where you stand."
"I can't even stand without feeling like I'm in a vacuum!" Jax shot back. "You think I want to be stuck with a woman who treats me like a piece of trash?"
"You *are* a piece of trash," she countered, but she didn't move away. She couldn't. The tension between them was thick, a physical weight that had nothing to do with the curse. She was close enough now that he could see the gold flecks in her pupils. She was trembling—not from fear, but from sheer, unadulterated rage.
Jax felt a sudden, reckless urge. He took a half-step closer.
Elise didn't flinch. She didn't move. Her breath hitched, and for a second, the air between them felt charged, like the moment before a lightning strike. He could feel the heat radiating off her, the scent of mint and steel filling his senses.
"Get back," she whispered, but there was no conviction in it.
"Why?" Jax murmured, his voice suddenly rough. "Scared you might actually like having someone around?"
Before she could respond, a loud, metallic clatter echoed from the end of the shipyard. A heavy set of boots hitting iron.
"Elise!"
Both of them jumped. A man emerged from the shadows of a rusted crane. He was older, wearing a grease-stained apron over a formal Magus coat, his eyes hidden behind a pair of thick, brass goggles. He looked like a man who had spent forty years fighting machines and losing.
"Master Boone!" Elise called out, her voice returning to its professional, sharp edge. "Something's happened. The core—it's bound us. I can't leave him."
Boone stopped, his goggles sliding down his nose. He looked at Jax, then at the faint glow emanating from both their chests. He didn't look surprised. He looked exhausted.
"Bound, eh?" Boone sighed, rubbing his chin. "Told you that core was temperamental. It doesn't just want a host; it wants a pair. A battery and a ground."
"Fix it," Elise demanded. "Now. I can't be tethered to a street thief for the rest of my life."
Boone chuckled, a dry, rattling sound. "Fix it? Honey, that gear has rewritten your nervous systems. You're not just tethered; you're synchronized. You move too far apart, your hearts forget how to beat. Simple as that."
Jax felt a cold pit form in his stomach. "Wait. How do we break it?"
Boone looked at Jax, a small, knowing smile playing on his lips. "There's only one way to override a Soul-Link. You have to force the gear to evolve. Which means you have to feed it more power than it can handle."
"And where do we get that power?" Elise asked, her voice tight.
Boone pointed toward the shimmering, smog-filled skyline of Cinderport, where the towering spires of the Magus Academy pierced the clouds. "You go up there. You fight the elites. You steal the higher-grade cores from the black market. You rank up, kid. Fast."
Jax looked at Elise. She looked at him with pure hatred.
"So," Jax said, a smirk finally touching his lips. "You're stuck with me."
Elise's hand flew to her blade, but before she could draw, a sudden, sharp pain spiked in her chest. She gasped, her knees buckling.
Jax felt it too—a crushing pressure, as if the gear were suddenly trying to pull them even closer. He reached out to catch her, his hand gripping her shoulder, and as their skin touched, a jolt of pure, blinding energy surged through both of them, throwing them both backward into the dirt.
Boone leaned over them, his voice grim. "Better get used to it. Because if you don't start climbing the ranks, the next time that gear pulses, it's not going to be a jolt."
"What happens then?" Jax gasped, staring up at the gray sky.
Boone didn't answer immediately. He just looked at the horizon, where the first sirens of the City Enforcers were already screaming toward them.
"Then," Boone said, "it'll just stop your hearts altogether."