Override (Glitch)

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    This was Adrien. My Adrien. Our love could surmount anything. He’d proven it already when he’d thrown off the yoke of the Chancellor’s compulsion. It shouldn’t have been possible, but his love for me was stronger even than her ability. He could find his way back to me again, I knew it.
    “How are you feeling?” I asked.
    He didn’t look up at me. His hand was limp in mine. “The doctor says I am unwell.”
    “You’re going to be fine.” I tried to smile, but I was fighting back tears. “We just have to give it some time.”
    He didn’t say anything or nod.
    “Can I ask you a question?” I leaned in.
    “Yes.”
    I swallowed, gripping his hand tighter. “Why did you go on that raid? Why did you leave the Foundation at all after you’d seen the visions of what would happen to you?”
    “I had other visions, of you and me together at the Foundation. Several of them had not yet occurred, so I deduced that my capture would not be until later.”
    I felt hope flower in my belly. “So they’ll still come true?”
    He shook his head, but it looked like a mechanical movement, sharp jerks back and forth. “No. It was not me that I saw. It was Maximin wearing my face.”
    The bloom inside me wilted, replaced by an involuntary shudder. It was cruel and unfair. All those moments that should have been Adrien’s and mine had been shared instead with Max. I felt another rush of choking hatred for Max. He’d been locked up in a room on the lower level and was kept under constant supervision. It was far better than he deserved. If Sophia or I had our way, he wouldn’t be treated so humanely.
    “You thought you had more time,” I said, my heart breaking.
    “That is not the only reason,” he said. “I could not interfere with the causality chain. If I did not rescue Saminsa on the raid, she would not have been able to save you when you fell from the roof.”
    “You idiot,” I said, feeling guilt burn through my veins like fire. He’d gone because of me. Risked his safety for me. And worse, the only reason Saminsa had even needed to save me was because Adrien had gotten captured. If he’d only stayed home, none of it would have mattered. In trying to make sure one vision happened, he’d caused the circumstances leading up to it.
    I swallowed down my grief. At least he was responding to me. That was what I needed to focus on.
    “Do you know who the red-haired glitcher was in that hallway?”
    “He creates hallucinations based on a subject’s fears and desires,” Adrien explained in a completely blank monotone. “While your mind was busy in the world he created around you, the weapons from the ceiling were supposed to take you down. But you detected them and the gun he had with him as well. The Chancellor was afraid if she sent out more soldiers to kill you, you’d sense them with your telek in spite of the hallucinations. So she sent me out to kill you instead by taking off your helmet. As I had foreseen.”
    “She said you saw me die.” My voice was quiet.
    “I saw flashes of you writhing on the ground, and then not moving at all. I assumed that indicated your death.” His voice was still so empty and cold. He talked about my death with the same emotion as one might when discussing the components of a propulsion engine.
    “Do you feel anything ?” I asked, desperate for some spark of the old Adrien I’d known.
    He raised his head, and his eyes met mine for a moment.
    This was it. This was the moment our souls would recognize each other and I’d see the light come back into his eyes.
    I clutched his hand tighter.
    See me , I wished silently. Look into my eyes and remember.
    “No,” he said. “I do not feel anything.” His gaze was just as empty as my brother’s had always been under the control of the V-chip.
    No. I couldn’t lose him like this. I would make him remember. I scooted my chair closer to his, ignoring the screech of the chair legs scraping across the ground. His eyes did not follow me, but instead stared at the spot I had previously been.
    I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see his hollow stare. I touched my lips to his.
    He didn’t respond. I kissed deeper, harder, pouring all of my desperation into it and willing him to remember.
    His lips didn’t move.
    I pulled back and searched his eyes. He still wasn’t looking at me.
    And I knew.
    We hadn’t saved him, not really. We’d brought back his body, but that was all. The Chancellor hadn’t given me a