Xavier stood after a while after Arlen turned away from him, staring at the back of her head like the answer to whatever he'd missed might suddenly appear there. Nothing did. The silence stretched, and eventually he exhaled, rolled his shoulders once, and forced the tightness out of his chest.
He didn't try to wake her.
He didn't walk over and apologize.
He didn't crawl into bed and pretend everything was fine.
Instead, he turned and walked toward the balcony.
The sliding door opened with a soft chanical hiss as he stepped outside, the night air hitting him imdiately, cooler than the room, the city stretching endlessly below. Helior Pri still glowed despite the lockdown, traffic rerouted, lights moving in distant lines while drones drifted across the sky in silent patrol patterns.
Behind him, Arlen's eyes snapped open.
She pushed herself up on one elbow, irritation flaring all over again. Of course he wasn't coming to bed. Of course he wasn't going to say sorry. She watched his silhouette through the glass, leaning against the balcony rail like nothing had happened.
"Unbelievable," she muttered.
She swung her legs off the bed, ready to go out there and drag him back inside, tell him to sleep, tell him he'd done enough damage for one night. He had to be exhausted after everything.
Then she heard him speak.
His tone changed, lighter, almost casual.
"Alright," he said. "Looks like we're live."
Arlen froze.
'Live?'
A second later, her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
She glanced at it, annoyed, then picked it up—and her stomach dropped when she saw the notification.
Xavier — LIVE NOW
For a mont, her brain refused to process what that ant.
Then instinct took over. She opened the stream.
The feed showed Xavier on the balcony, city lights behind him, cara angled perfectly like he'd done this a thousand tis before. Comnts exploded across the screen as viewers flooded in, usernas scrolling too fast to read.
Arlen stared at the phone in disbelief.
She was in the sa room as him.
And she was watching him through a livestream like everyone else.
The realization hit harder than she expected. All the excitent she usually felt when his streams popped up twisted into sothing uncomfortable. She'd spent months watching him through screens before ever eting him, laughing at the sa jokes, following the sa adventures as millions of others.
And now she was back in that place again.
Just another viewer.
Just another fan.
Outside, Xavier smiled faintly at the cara.
"Hey," he said. "Sorry I've been gone so long."
The chat exploded.
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??
BRO WE THOUGHT YOU DIED
NO UPDATES FOR WEEKS MAN
ARE YOU ALSO ON JUPITER??
WHAT HAPPENED TO REVA AND LYRA??
IS LILIA STILL SAFE ON EARTH??
Arlen scrolled through the ssages, her chest tightening as more nas and questions filled the screen. So people were worried, so joked. So begged him not to disappear again.
And he answered them easily, naturally, slipping back into the persona that millions recognized.
"I know," Xavier said. "I disappeared. My bad."
More ssages poured in.
YOU OWE US AN EXPLANATION
WHAT'S GOING ON?
YOU LOOK BEAT UP BRO
Xavier exhaled once and leaned slightly toward the cara.
"Yeah," he said. "And that's actually why I'm here."
The chat slowed just enough for anticipation to build.
"I need to tell you guys sothing."
Inside the room, Arlen sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the phone in her hand, watching the man on the balcony speak to millions of people with ease while she sat only ters away feeling further from him than she had all night.
Xavier leaned a little closer to the cara, resting his forearms on the balcony rail as the comnt feed kept rolling faster than it could be read.
"Alright," he said, tone easy, familiar. "Do you guys rember what I said in my last stream? About having a surprise planned."
The response was instant.
The screen flooded with confirmations, emojis stacking on top of each other, inside jokes from old streams, people spamming the sa words like they'd rehearsed it.
YES
THE SURPRISE
YOU PROMISED
WE'VE BEEN WAITING
Xavier nodded once, like he'd expected nothing less.
"That was the plan," he said. "I wanted to show you Jupiter. I wanted to take you with , show you what's out here, show you what I was going to do next."
The chat slowed, attention tightening.
"And then everything went sideways."
Inside the room, Arlen shifted on the bed, phone still in her hand, eyes fixed on the screen. She watched his face change just enough to sell the story.
"When we hit Jupiter's orbit," Xavier continued, "our ship got attacked. Not warning shots. Not a misunderstanding. We went down hard."
The comnts exploded again.
WHAT?!
ATTACKED BY WHO?
ARE YOU OK
WHERE IS REVA?
Xavier raised a hand slightly, calming them the way he always did. "I'm fine. Mostly. But we got separated in the crash. Reva and Lyra went one way. I went another."
Arlen's jaw tightened.
"And yeah," Xavier said, letting out a short breath, "I got arrested."
The reaction was instant outrage.
ARE YOU SERIOUS
FOR WHAT
JUPITER IS CRAZY
FREE XAVIER
Xavier shook his head gently. "No. Listen. They did their job."
The chat slowed, confused.
"I didn't have proper ID on . No permits. No registration. On a planet like this, that matters. They didn't know who I was. They treated like anyone else."
Hashtags started appearing anyway, people already spinning up campaigns.
Xavier noticed and cut in imdiately. "Don't do that. Seriously. Don't."
Arlen scoffed quietly under her breath.
"They weren't wrong," Xavier said. "Laws exist for a reason. Rules exist so things don't fall apart when stuff goes bad. You don't get to ignore them just because you're scared or angry."
He went on, voice calm, patient, explaining how systems worked, how cities survived because people followed procedures even when it was inconvenient. He talked about responsibility, about not escalating situations, about trusting institutions to do their job instead of tearing them down.
"Breaking rules just because you feel justified doesn't make you right," he said. "It just makes everything worse."
The chat flipped tone almost imdiately.
THIS IS WHY WE LOVE YOU
ACTUAL ROLE MODEL
BRO FOR PRESIDENT
TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD
Arlen shook her head slowly, a humorless smile tugging at her mouth as she watched.
She knew exactly how much of this was performance.
She knew the man who ignored laws when they got in his way, who bent systems until they snapped, who walked into fortified buildings because he decided it was ti. She'd seen him tear power structures apart with his hands and call it necessary.
And now she was watching him talk about order and patience like he believed every word.
Outside, Xavier smiled at the cara, nodded along with the praise, thanked people for worrying, for sticking with him, for being patient while things were ssy.
Inside, Arlen lowered the phone slightly and stared past the screen at the balcony door, at his silhouette beyond the glass.
The disconnect sat heavy in her chest.
To them, he was kind, careful, and principled.
To her, he was none of those things when it mattered most.
And for the first ti since she'd t him, she wasn't sure which version hurt more.
User Comments
0 comments from readers