Page 19 of 8-Bit & Cat

Zero’s eyes remained intensely locked on hers. “Pain given with purpose. Because you see him. Because youknowhim.” His voice dipped lower, wrapping around her like silk and steel. “Because you know what haunts him. The ghosts he can’t outrun.” His gaze darkened with knowing. “You know that theright pain…” He took a slow step forward. “Given by the right hands…” Another step. “Will carve a path through his darkness.”

His head tilted slightly, studying her. “You’re not here learning how to hurt him, sweetheart.” His fingers trailed lightly over her cheek, his breaths thick behind the mask. “You’re learning how tosavehim.”

Cat swallowed hard as his words hit home and went deep.

Omnis stepped into her peripheral view, his presence calm but somehow more powerful. He stopped just before her, fingers skimming her wrist then circling it, barely holding. “Pain isn’t just somethinggiven. It’s somethingtaken away.”

Before she could answer, his grip tightened. The pressure was sharp and immediate, bringing a hitch to her breath as her body tensed with the rising urge to resist.

“What do you feel?” Omnis asked, his voice steady.

She swallowed. “It’s… sharp.”

“And beneath that?”

The pressure increased slightly until all she could think about was the pain.

“No thoughts of Ethan,” Omnis murmured. “No thoughts of failing, or what comes next. You’re forced to be righthere. Feelingthis.”

He released her slowly and her breath followed likewise on a shudder as understanding bloomed along with excitement.

“Pain isn’t always somethingdoneto you,” Omnis said, circling her now. “Sometimes, it’s something youtake, something youown.”

His palm struck her upper arm, a quick, jarring impact. It yanked a gasp from her chest while heat bloomed beneath the skin, making her heart pound like crazy.

“That,” Omnis said, his voice edged with something knowing, “plantedyou, didn’t it?”

She exhaled hard as she considered it. She certainly wasn’t floating around in her head. She was definitelythere. Every nerve, every pulse of blood waspresent.

“This is why Ethanneedsthis pain,” Omnis murmured. “Because it keeps him tethered. It keeps him in his body. In the here and thenow,not the past where ghosts like to roam.”

Zero’s voice slithered in, rich with amusement. “And doesn’t it make you feelalive, sweetheart?”

It didn’t make her feel dead, that was a fact.

Omnis was behind her again. At her ear. “Pain can shape,” he murmured as she braced, pulse humming beneath her skin. Even without touch, his presence was suffocating and powerful.

His voice dropped lower. “Pain can command.”

She swallowed hard, his weight behind her pushing in.

“Pain can open.” His first touch came suddenly—a slow, deliberate gathering of her hair at the base of her skull that sent her breaths flying. Not a yank. Not even a pull. Fingers winding through the strands. Claiming. Holding.

“The first kind of pain?” Omnis murmured, voice like dark silk, “It shapes.”

His grip tightened—not enough to hurt, but enough to forcefocus.Enough to cause her pulse to downshift and deepen, dimming everything around her to only that.

“This pain grounds you,” he continued, voice even. “It clears away the noise. It keeps you present.”

His hold adjusted, fingers pressing into her scalp, spreading heat through her skin. She fought to think of it like a tether. An anchor in the storm.

She exhaled slowly. Deeply.

He released a fraction of the pressure. Then—pulled—sharp and controlled, snapping her breath from her. He tiltedher head just enough to expose her throat while her pulse banged against her skin.

“The second kind of pain,” Omnis murmured, “commands.”

Her breathing came quicker now. His grip wasn’t cruel—it was absolute.

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