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Code Number Two had not meant to fall asleep.
She had only meant to rest her eyes for a moment, sitting in the stiff metal chair in the quiet lower levels of CODE headquarters. The hum of the machinery around her was constant, a low mechanical lullaby that agents eventually learned to ignore.
Her head tipped forward.
Darkness came gently.
At first, the dream was… peaceful.
She stood in a warm field she didn’t recognize. The sky was bright and endless above her, and a soft wind brushed against her skin. When she looked down, her hands instinctively rested over the gentle swell of her stomach.
She was pregnant.
The realization filled her with a strange, fragile warmth.
Code Number Two had never allowed herself to think about things like that. Family. A child. A life outside of missions and briefings and the endless responsibility of protecting sleeping minds from the creatures that lurked within them.
Working for CODE meant sacrifice. It meant long nights and longer missions. It meant watching over the dreams of strangers while having no time to live a life of her own.
Still…
In the quiet space of the dream, she allowed herself to imagine it.
A small home.
A child’s laughter.
A life that belonged to her.
Her hand brushed the curve of her stomach, and for a fleeting moment she smiled.
Then the air grew cold.
The light dimmed as something seeped into the dream like ink bleeding through paper.
Black smoke.
It crept along the ground first, twisting unnaturally before rising into the air.
The warmth of the field vanished, replaced by a suffocating heaviness that made her chest tighten.
The smoke moved toward her.
No.
Not toward her.
For her.
It wrapped around her legs, coiling upward like something alive. Panic seized her chest as she tried to move, but the smoke tightened, trapping her where she stood.
“What—”
Something slashed across her hand.
A sharp, burning pain tore through her palm. She gasped, clutching it instinctively as dark red spilled between her fingers.
The smoke thickened, pressing against her body.
Against her stomach.
Against her—
The sensation was wrong.
Wrong in a way that made her skin crawl.
It was invasive, suffocating, violating the boundaries of her body in ways she could not fight or escape.
The dream twisted around her as the smoke forced itself closer, and a sickening realization crept into her mind.
Her body was no longer her own.
“No—!”
Her subconscious screamed for escape.
She jolted awake.
The cold metal of the chair dug into her back as she sucked in a ragged breath, heart hammering wildly in her chest.
For a moment she didn’t move.
The base of CODE was quiet, the same as before.
Just a dream.
Just—
A cry pierced the air.
A baby’s cry.
High, desperate wails filled the room, echoing off the sterile walls.
Code Number Two froze.
Slowly, almost mechanically, she looked down.
A newborn baby lay in her arms.
The child was small, wrapped in nothing but a thin cloth, her tiny face red from crying. Her little fists trembled as she struggled to breathe between sobs.
Two stared.
Her mind refused to process what she was seeing.
This had to be a joke.
A test.
Some cruel trick from the higher-ups.
She had never been pregnant. She had never—
Pain exploded across her hand.
She gasped and looked down.
Carved into her palm was a deep wound, the skin torn open in the exact same place the Nightmare had struck her in the dream. Blood welled up slowly from the mark, dark and unmistakably real.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The dream had left a wound.
And the baby—
Her stomach twisted violently.
“What… happened to me…?”
The thought slipped into her mind before she could stop it.
Had someone…?
Had something…?
The possibility made bile rise in her throat.
Her body felt foreign to her suddenly, like something had been stolen from her without permission. The idea that something could reach into her dreams—into her body and force this upon her made her feel sick.
She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to throw up.
she wanted to sob.
She wanted to claw the feeling out of her own skin.
Her gaze dropped back to the infant in her arms.
The baby cried louder, tiny fingers grasping blindly for something to hold onto.
Two’s first instinct was to run.
To abandon the child.
To pretend this nightmare had never happened.
She had always wanted a child, yes—but not like this. Not born from something unnatural, something violent and wrong. Something she didn’t consent to.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
Her hand shifted slightly.
The baby’s small fingers wrapped around one of hers.
The grip was weak.
Fragile.
But it was there.
The crying softened slightly as the child clung to her.
Two froze.
Something inside her chest twisted painfully.
She had seen death before.
She had fought Nightmares countless times. She had watched people suffer through horrors in their sleep.
But this—
This tiny life clinging to her hand—
She couldn’t just throw her away.
Her thoughts immediately turned to Zero.
If he found out…
If CODE found out…
The child wouldn’t be seen as a baby.
She would be seen as a specimen.
An anomaly born from a Nightmare.
They would dissect her existence piece by piece in sterile laboratories until nothing human remained.
“No…” Two whispered hoarsely.
She tightened her hold on the child.
“I won’t let them.”
The baby slowly quieted in her arms, exhausted from crying. Her small chest rose and fell unevenly as she clung to the only warmth she had.
Two looked down at her.
Her daughter.
A child born from a nightmare in two ways … yet somehow undeniably real.
Tears blurred her vision.
She pressed her lips gently against the infant’s forehead.
“I’ll name you… Nem,” she whispered softly.
The name felt right.
Carefully, she held the baby close to her chest for one last moment before forcing herself to stand.
If Zero discovered the truth, Nem would never have a chance to live as a human.
So Code Number Two made her decision.
She would hide her.
Even if it meant betraying everything she had ever worked for.
Even if it meant becoming an enemy of CODE itself.
For the first time in her life—
She chose family over the world.