Q was on the floor of the NGF room completely disgusted with himself. If Ten were to die from NGF overdose, it would all be his fault. He was the only one to blame. Ever since what happened with Daphne, the Fourth just hasn’t been the same. It was because of his indecisiveness which led to Ikara, and then Dreya, and now Ten. The Fourth was slowly collapsing because of his failure as a Vice Captain.

He heard Ten and Dreya fighting. Was he just going to let another promising person lose their life to drugs?

No.

He didn’t want to go through the heartache of what had happened before. Turning a blind eye to Daphne’s situation and only doing something once it was too late. 

Ten had taken quite a large dosage of NGF but there was still hope. The substance has changed over the last two years and its lethal dosage (also known as LD50) has become significantly more safe.

He knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes and snorted up the remaining contents of the NGF which had laid strewn across the floor. His pupils began to dilate and his demeanor had suddenly changed.

He was done running away. This time for good. 

He got up and ran towards the fighting, crossing paths with Wolf who had just arrived. One look at Q’s face was all Wolf needed to know that he had finally conquered his insecurities. 

The two of them managed to step onto the scene just moments before things took a turn for the worst.

***

Q had managed to subdue Ten into a trance like state. All of a sudden the world around him faded into a dark void. The immense emotions that Ten had been feeling from Q’s inscription had activated his own.

A mirage of memories began flickering around the black plane as Ten’s gaze widened.

***

“Q! The tad we rescued last week finally woke up!” Ikara said as she bursted into his room.

Q jolted up in surprise. The girl that had been sleeping with him shuffled around.

“Am I interrupting something…” Ikara looked a little disturbed.

“No… not really…” He said casually brushing it off.

The two of them hastened their pace towards the room where Daphne had finally awakened. Wolf had been out on a mission, meaning it was up to Q to get her up to speed with her situation.

When they arrived, the girl recoiled in fear, tears were streaming down her frightened face.

Q carefully approached her. He had seen this exact same scene a countless number of times. Unlike Wolf, Q was a much more gentle and amiable talker. Making him the primary person in the Fourth to introduce tads to their new reality. It was also thanks to his Love Inscription, which helped make them much more agreeable and calm.

“It’s alright… you’re not in danger…” Q spoke softly as he slowly sat on her bed. She let out an eep.

“I still can’t get over the fact that you use your inscription for these… something about it just feels wrong…” Ikara mumbled to herself.

“It’s not like that… when I do this, I have no ulterior motives… my only goal is to ease their minds and make their conversion to this world go by a little more smoothly… you and I both know that feeling quite well…”

Ikara looked away. It was usually taboo to mention a person’s past protocol here at the Fourth.

“I do…”

“Would’ve been nice if I had someone there holding and guiding my hand through this cruel world… we both got thrown into the fire and had to figure things out on our own…”

Ikara nodded silently, still looking off at something that seemed far away.

“It’s like we’re raising newborns… except… it’s not their first time at life…” Q chuckled as he activated his inscription, slowly caressing the girl’s head.

“A rebirth…” Ikara muttered.

“Something like that.” He smiled.

The girl had finally made eye contact with Q. The mesmerizing glow in his eyes intensified. Her eyes widened as she suddenly pushed him away and began to scream.

Q was taken aback. This was the first time it had happened. Was his inscription not working on her? The only explanation would be if her neural potential was higher than Q’s or if an accidental activation of her inscription somehow countered his.

“It didn’t work… Ikara, what’s her neural potential at?”

Ikara lifted the bangs that had always been hiding her left eye, which had been replaced with a mechanical structure that looked like a camera lens.

“She’s currently at 10.6%. For a tad it’s a little bit on the higher side, but considering she’s going crazy right now, it seems pretty normal to me.”

Then that meant she was somehow countering his inscription or his inscription simply didn’t affect her. Q had to do things the old fashioned Wolf way.

After several hours had passed, the girl had finally become exhausted and quieted down. After another couple of hours, Q had finally managed to finish talking with Daphne. It was her name.

Over the next couple of days, Daphne would refuse to take the bandages covering her face and head. Even though she was clearly much better thanks to Mag’s cooking. She was still extremely shy and nervous.

Things made much more sense when Q had finally convinced her to take them off. Saying she might get an infection and make things worse if she kept them on for too long.

One glimpse at Daphne completely struck his heart. She looked like that of a princess from a children’s fairytale. Beautiful sparkling eyes, luscious hair and a pure maiden-like innocence. 

No wonder why she had been so reserved. The loud and rowdy environment of the Fourth was something she was completely unfamiliar with.

As weeks passed, Q had become addicted to her presence. Perhaps it was the fact that his inscription didn’t work on her. That she was unattainable, making him want her even more. As he persisted, he learned more and more about Daphne through their long royalty-like conversations. Whenever he talked with her, it felt as if he had been transported to a grand castle, sipping on expensive exotic tea.

She had come from a fable protocol.

Q had come from a harem protocol.

And Ikara had come from a romantic drama protocol.

In fact, a majority of the Fourth’s members had once been tads that were all trapped in their unique simulations. They had been rescued by the original four associations that had existed decades before. Humanistics had only been formed five years ago.

However, it was known to be taboo to openly speak about one’s past life. These were conversations only to be held behind closed doors and small whispers. A rule that Wolf had instated ever since the founding of the Fourth. Even the rule itself was not to be spoken of, and only mentioned as a last resort warning.

Q and Ikara found themselves talking about Daphne one day.

“Say Ikara… do you believe in things like love at first sight…”

Ikara recalled her past life, when that boy had saved her life from a fatal truck accident. What was his name again?

She couldn’t remember. But that day, she fondly remembered falling in love.

“I do…”

“I truly think that this time…”

“Don’t you say that to every girl you damn womanizer…”

“I know I do… but this time it’s different…”

Ikara rolled her eyes.

“No really… I’ve finally figured out why…”

Ikara looked at Q waiting to hear what kind of mental gymnastics he would perform this time around.

“The reason why my inscription doesn’t work on her… she told me… about her protocol…”

Ikara sounded intrigued now.

“She was born into a powerful royal family… but her entire life… she had to endure harsh neglect from everyone around her…”

“Why is that…”

“She had mixed blood… Her Father, the King, had an affair… after some accountability and punishment, she ended up becoming indentured to them…”

“That sounds horrible…”

“My inscription can’t work on someone if they’ve never felt love before…”

Q paused.

“I wanna change that…”

Ikara looked a little irritated.

“I see…”

Perhaps it was a slight hint of jealousy. It was the first time she had seen him this heartstruck over someone.

Over the next couple of weeks, Daphne slowly emerged from her shell. Embracing the warmth of the Fourth, something that was completely nonexistent in her previous life. She felt indebted to Q who had helped her get through such a rough patch.

Eventually, she started training under him. Q had been extremely curious as to what her inscription could be. But when they reached phase three, things began to fall apart. Due to Q’s negligence, Daphne had begun forming a powerful addiction to the NGF pills administered at the time.

Up until that point, she had been a person who lacked a strong understanding of love and emotion. But when she was under the effects of the NGF it felt like the chains holding her back would shatter. Feeling strong and wild emotions that she had never experienced before.

She had fallen in love, not with another person, but with a dangerous drug.

When Q finally realized what was happening, it had been too late. She had entered stage 4 of addiction, the point of no return. Her tolerance had grown immensely, and whenever she was sober, she would turn into a violent and aggressive girl. The opposite of the Daphne that Q had come to know and love. She had become a completely different person. Unrecognizable.

Q had tried a bunch of ways to help her recover. Quitting cold turkey was extremely dangerous due to the severe withdrawal effects associated with it. He tried lowering her dosage, medication that was supposed to help with addiction and a variety of exercises. Slowly, he began to see slight improvement, or so he thought.

One night, Q decided to check in on how Daphne was holding up. At first, she had seemed like her old normal self as she tried to convince Q that everything was fine. But in reality, she had managed to steal a significant amount of NGF pills earlier that day and was preparing to fully indulge once Q was gone.

Q took off his fedora and set it on a counter as he stroked his hair. He was relieved that Daphne’s condition was getting better. Although Stage 4 addiction was usually considered the path of no return, there were rare cases of individuals managing to recover through certain regimens he had researched on the deep web. 

“Glad to see you’re getting better Daphne…” Q said as his eyes began tearing up.

“It’s all thanks to your help, Vice Cap…” She said with a sad smile.

“Just to make sure, let me check around your room…” He smiled back.

Daphne’s heart sank for a brief moment.

“You don’t mind do you? Just in case… I want to make sure that you recover from this no matter what… you understand don’t you?” He chuckled.

“O-of course!” Daphne laughed nervously.

Q began to snoop around, checking for anything out of the ordinary. Her heart began to race as he got closer and closer to the secret stash she had been hiding. She knew she had to do something.

Her eyes glowed a crystal blue as she grabbed his hand and turned him around. In that brief moment the world seemed to slow down as Q found himself sharing his lips with Daphne’s.

“I love you Q…” She whispered softly.

It was like he was in a complete trance. As he nodded his head, smiled and walked away completely flustered and ecstatic. The only girl he had truly fallen in love with had just announced her affection towards him.

***

Q and Ten had just finished looking through a batch of his memories inside of Ten’s infinite dark plane.

“I was weak back then as well. Even to this day I’m still unsure of what her special inscription could do. But it seemed to have a similar effect to mine.”

Ten remained silent. Realizing that his addiction and withdrawal shared striking similarities with Daphne’s.

“I walked out and decided to check the NGF room instead. Making sure there was no missing inventory. But that was a huge mistake…”

***

“Seems like the inventory checks out…” Q said, still in a daze after Daphne’s confession.

He went back to his room where he blankly stared at the screen of his computer. A short form video about dealing with withdrawal was playing on repeat. He then heard a knock on his door.

“Who is it?” He asked.

“Ikara…”

“Come in…”

Ikara opened the door and walked up to Q and the computer.

“How are you holding up?” She asked, referring to Daphne.

“It’s going well, she’s slowly starting to improve.” He assured her.

“Really? Even though she’s at stage four?”

“Yeah, her daily dosage is slowly decreasing and she’s been less violent lately.”

He smiled as he turned around.

“But guess what? She confessed to me today.”

Ikara’s eyes widened with sadness for a bit and then returned to normal. 

“T-that’s good to hear… You’ve finally managed to find the one.” She laughed trying to brush off her jealousy.

She stared at Q for a long while, his eyes felt distant.

“Say Q…” Her heart began to race with nervousness.

All of a sudden she noticed that something was off.

“Where’s your fedora?” She curiously asked.

“My hat? Ah… I think I left it in Daphne’s room.”

“I-I’ll go grab it.” Ikara blurted out.

“It’s ok, I’ll go get it.” Q said as he walked out the room without hesitation. He wanted to see her again.

Ikara was left standing all alone in his room. She looked at the floor as her body filled with heartache.

“Stupid…” She muttered to herself as she depressingly walked back to her room and shut the door.

Q knocked on Daphne’s door. No response. He tried calling her name. Still no response. Maybe she went to sleep early.

He slowly opened her door, being careful not to wake her. Little did he know, he wasn’t prepared for what he was about to see.