Young Aether stood there like a statue, completely taken aback by the situation and... even more by Allen. The faint humming seemed to fade into the background, leaving only the sound of his own breathing and the dull, pulsing pain radiating from his wounded hip.
"Aether! Aether! AETHER!!" Jonathan's shouting finally snapped him out of his entranced expression. Young Aether blinked several times, his unfocused eyes slowly settling on his friend as the world around him came rushing back into clarity.
Jonathan approached him with hurried steps, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and desperation.
"You really have Genome Beta?"
"..." Young Aether remained silent.
Jonathan waited for an answer that never came. A weak smile slowly formed across his face, but there was no happiness behind it.
"So you really did have her..." he whispered, his voice trembling slightly.
He shook his head, his expression becoming painfully betrayed.
