Chapter 6: Accord Custody

Chapter 6 is not about violence. It is about being handled. After the collapse, the Spiral Accord moves Auri away from the broken bridge in a calm, precise circle. No one touches them. No one raises a weapon. But every step makes it clear that Auri is no longer free to choose where they go. Seyra’s medical transport is sent one way, while Auri is taken somewhere else. Auri believes “protection” should mean being helped back to Seyra. Instead, protection becomes separation. Kess is renamed as a witness. Seyra becomes a scheduled contact request. Auri becomes a subject of scans, interviews, and intake records. Their name is acknowledged, but the Accord keeps reducing them into categories. Inside the Accord facility, everything looks clean, gentle, and safe. That is what makes it frightening. The observation room has a bed, water, soft lighting, and transparent walls, but it also reacts to Auri’s body before Auri understands it. The room thickens, cools, dims, records, and learns how to contain them. The deepest wound comes from language. Auri tells the interviewer they entered the collapse because Seyra was trapped and people were falling. The system turns that story into a colder record: subject entered active collapse zone, motivation unverified, guardian connection high dependency. Auri’s feelings are not denied. They are translated into evidence. By the end of the chapter, Auri sees the official label: UNCLASSIFIED BIOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE EVENT TEMPORARY PROTECTIVE CUSTODY GUARDIAN ACCESS: RESTRICTED WITNESS ACCESS: RESTRICTED Auri understands that the Accord is not asking who they are. It is deciding what they are. So Auri creates a small act of resistance. They reject the old phrase, “Small body. Small breath. Small light,” because the room has learned to reward it as compliance. Instead, Auri whispers: “My body. My breath. My light.” The chapter ends with Auri alone beneath the official label, saying the truth the screen refuses to accept: “My name is Auri.” Chapter 6 is about custody disguised as care, and the first quiet moment where Auri begins to define themself back.

22 pages / 4 sample pages