1036 days ago
The day of discharge came sooner than expected. At least, that's what Kiolle told himself as the nurse carefully removed the IV lines from his arm and handed him a stack of papers and papmlets he didn't bother reading. His body felt light, yet overfed and content. They had been pumping him with the fed pills and blood bags, after all, he even managed to gain some weight, much to the delight of the doctors
He had packed his overnight bag slowly, methodically. Every zip of a pouch, every fold of a shirt, was another tick of the clock toward returning to the dorm... to them. Corin. Loran. And Eldrin.
His fingers tightened around the strap of the bag. "Someone's here to pick you up," the nurse said with a polite smile. He already knew who it was before he even turned.
Eldrin stood in the hallway, leaning against the doorframe in his usual silent presence. Dressed down in a hoodie and baseball cap, no one would suspect he was some sort of killer. His eyes met Kiolle's. Calm. Watchful. Still impossible to read.
"Ready?" Eldrin asked, voice neutral and kind as always. Kiolle gave a stiff nod. "Yeah."
The walk to the car was quiet. Eldrin didn't fill the silence, and Kiolle didn't know how. He expected Eldrin to bring up the hospital stay. Or the diagnosis. Or anything. Instead, Eldrin opened the car door and said, "Backseat. You'll be more comfortable lying down."
It was oddly considerate. Kiolle hesitated but eventually obeyed. The city passed in a blur of gray-blue glass and neon streaks. Kiolle watched the passing buildings with narrowed eyes, head resting back against the headrest, heart beating just a bit faster.
Eventually, Eldrin spoke. "You'll have to avoid strong lights for a while. They adjusted the dorm room lights. And we've bought new curtains."
Kiolle blinked. "You… changed the lighting and curtains?"
"Loran wanted to, so we helped," Eldrin replied smoothly.
"Oh." The car rolled to a stop at a red light.
"You're not saying much," Eldrin noted.
"You're not asking much," Kiolle shot back.
Eldrin gave the faintest smirk. "That's because I'm waiting."
Kiolle frowned. "For what?"
"You'll tell me when you're ready," Eldrin said simply, turning his gaze back to the road. Kiolle's annoyance sky rocketed immediately. That again. That damn calmness. Like he knew. Like he'd already seen through everything but didn't want to spoil the ending.
"Do you always let people unravel at their own pace?" Kiolle asked, unable to hide the frustration in his voice.
"No," Eldrin replied. "Just you."
Kiolle stared at him from the backseat. He didn't know whether to feel exposed or… special. But Eldrin didn't explain. He just kept driving. It annoyed him to no end.
And in the back of the car, Kiolle clenched his fists slowly, fingers brushing over the fading scars under his sleeves. His body and mentality had improved since a little over a year ago. His plans hadn't changed.
But something about Eldrin, something about that voice, that gaze, that knowing, was starting to complicate the script he'd already written. Maybe it was time to revise a few pages.
At the dorm
The door creaked open quietly as Kiolle stepped into the dorm. He was met by total darkness. For a split second, panic flared in his chest. Was he back in that hellhole? Had something gone wrong? Did they all leave? Was this—
"WELCOME BACK, KIKI!"
The lights turned on—low and warm, soft enough not to hurt his eyes, but bright enough to see the glitter confetti raining down and the handmade banner stretched across the living room:
"Welcome Back, Kiolle!! ♡ We Missed You (Don't Scare Us Again)"
A pop of streamers went off in the background as Briar came flying at him first, almost tackling him with a hug. "You scared me so bad, idiot!" he half-shouted, half-sobbed.
Deon followed more quietly, handing over a tray of fruit skewers with an awkward grunt. "I told them the processed stuff would mess with your anemia."
Kiolle blinked, stunned. "...You made food?"
Deon couhed and looked away. "Tch. You were dying or whatever. Don't make it a thing."
Then came Corin, smiling a little too wide, and Loran, whose eyes sparkled like a cat that had spotted something shiny. "Welcome home, darling," Loran said with a sly grin. "Looking fragile. I like it."
Kiolle didn't dignify that with answer. Not because he didn't have something to say, but because his brain was still buffering. Everything was... warm. Lively. Cheerful.
There was a cake with a little vampire cartoon hiding from the sun on it, rather ironic if you asked him. There were presents piled on the side of the couch. Someone had even made a playlist of his favourite songs. They had celebrated his return.
His heart clenched. He hadn't prepared for this part. He'd imagined coldness, tension, awkward silences—maybe even avoidance. But not this.
And Eldrin—he was leaning quietly against the hallway wall, arms crossed. He gave a small nod. "Told you they'd be idiots about it."
Kiolle's lips twitched. "That's a lot coming from the guy who made them dim all the lights."
"Wasn't for you," Eldrin replied smoothly. "I just hate fluorescent bulbs." That earned a rare chuckle from Kiolle—and the others noticed.
The party only lasted about an hour before Briar declared Kiolle needed rest. He was ushered to the couch, wrapped in a soft blanket (Briar's doing), and handed a glass of pomegranate juice, which Deon insisted was "the closest thing to blood to match the theme without freaking anyone out."
They talked, laughed, played a round of dumb mobile games, and for a second, everything almost felt... normal.
Then, Brair jumped and clapped his hands. "Umm guys, check your phones! everyone check your phones right now!"
Kiolle blinked. "Why?"
"Just check."
He opened ChirpNet and was shocked. The fact is, they had been so busy taking care of Kiolle that they forgot that their new album dropped. There is also the fact that they lacked a manager to alert them to such things. They were small independent artists after all.
NYXX's 2nd ALBUM: Lunaris
Album "Lunaris" hits #1 on global charts
102M YouTube views in 7 days
Trending in 25 countries
"Holy shit," Loran whispered.
Deon whistled. "We did that."
Eldrin smirked, satisfied. "Told you the comeback would crush it."
Corin stretched luxuriously across the armrest, casting a sideways look at Kiolle. "Looks like your little hospital visit helped the press remember we exist. Lucky us."
Kiolle didn't deign that with an answer. He stared at the numbers on the screen. One hundred million views. One week.
And he hadn't even been there to promote it. He should've been proud. Thrilled. Maybe even cocky. But something inside him stirred—something deeper. Something darker. The others were celebrating. He was calculating. Maybe he'd go fame hungry after all.
From the moment Nyxx's second album dropped, the fandom—and the internet at large—erupted into collective chaos. The lead single, "Starstruck", a bright, catchy pop anthem with sparkling guitar riffs and a singalong chorus, instantly became a global earworm.
It wasn't long before the MV soared past 100 million views on ChirpNet in under a week.
#NyxxStarstruck began trending in multiple countries.
"That chorus lives rent free in my head. I'm smiling like a fool."
@blueorbitbyte
"Not Nyxx dropping the feel good hit of the summer just like that?"
@themusicdust
But amidst the buzz for the song's addictive hook, the internet had a very specific focus: Kiolle. With tousled black hair with white streaks, bright purple eyes, soft features that verged on doll-like, and a gaze that shifted between shy and unreadable, Kiolle stood out—magnetic without trying.
Fans started editing clips of him into dreamy montages set to lo-fi or melancholic piano versions of the song. Others made memes about his "mysterious fairy " aura.
Then, just as Kiolle's solo fancams passed two million views each, a quiet post appeared from the band's official account. The news rippled instantly. Soon, news outlets picked up the buzz. Speculations on what was wrong ran wild. What's worse was that they ran their own agency, them being independent artists and all and could only rely on the member's posts to know what was happening.
"Who's the guy with the soft smile in the second verse?? He looks unreal."
—@sundaysoda
"I can't tell if he's innocent or hiding something but I'm OBSESSED."
—@veiledlilac
"Kiolle looks like the kind of guy you fall in love with and regret it forever."
—@dripbubble
Repost
@Nyxx_Official
"Our Kiolle is finally back home after a necessary hospital stay. We're grateful for all the support and patience. Please continue to cheer him on while he recovers fully #GetWellKiolle #NyxxStarstruck"
"Wait, he is in the hospital??"
@waveflower
"I thought he looked paler than the others... omg poor baby "
@mintpastelpages
"Now I feel horrible for thinking he looked tired the past few posts. Man's just trying to survive."
@softkoalastar
"Ok wait, who ARE these guys? Why haven't I heard of them before??"
@glitternova
"I just got served Kiolle's fancam on my FYP and now I'm spiraling. What do you mean this isn't a mainstream group already??"
@sugarteaxx
"100M views in a week and I've never even seen a teaser? Wtf is Nyxx?"
@starpunkvoid
"Why does this feel like I've missed a whole prequel?? WHERE did they come from??"
@unpixelatedsun
Fans quickly began digging, and the lack of public info only fed the frenzy. The group's label, was agency called StellarGrid Entertainment, and it didn't do much since the members formed the company thus had no employees nor PR and resources to market clearly.
Only 100k followers on their official page?? Bro this is insane.
@meltedpolaroid
WHY are they this good and yet this lowkey? Is it intentional??
@sunleafchant
#WhoIsNyxx and #MeetNyxx began trending as fancams and short clips of interviews by various small time YouTubers got passed around like wildfire.
Most of the attention, though, centred on Kiolle—his uncanny, polished visuals, his soft-spoken mystery, and especially the news of his hospitalisation that emerged just as the song hit peak virality.
Who is this beautiful guy and why do I want to protect him???
@petallinejunkie
It's giving tragic romantic lead in a kdrama. The eyes. The silence. The stare.
@echoesswept
He looks like he's been through something. I need lore.
@digitaltearoom
Others, less emotionally invested, were just curious.
Was this some insane marketing tactic or do they really just have zero promo and good music? @criticalkiwi
They're too polished for a new group. How long have they been in the industry??
@lofimeteor
Old content of Nyxx's first album started gaining views, with fans noting the stark contrast in energy between that era and the present one. Kiolle barely appeared in earlier material.
Wait, was Kiolle not part of the debut? Why isn't he in the old photos?
@neonumbrellastorm
So he's the newest member? This is a mystery. I'm in.
@playlistghost
The next day, Kiolle sat back on the couch, letting the numbers wash over him. He sipped the green tea someone had shoved into his hand earlier. He hadn't even asked for one. But he didn't complain.
Deon looked like he hadn't slept, face lit only by the glow of his laptop screen. "Website's crashing. Merch sold out. I need to double the server capacity by tonight."
"Maybe we should finally hire someone," Corin muttered, tossing a cold fry into his mouth, groggily waking up
"We are someone," Deon replied dryly. "And until we have an actual infrastructure, guess what? We run everything."
"You think I don't know that?" Corin stretched lazily and flopped on the couch beside Loran. "You're just cranky we got famous too fast."
Eldrin stood quietly near the windows, watching the city below. "It's not too fast," he said without turning. "We've been building toward this. This is just the moment the world caught up." Kiolle blinked. The world had caught up, huh?
On ChirpNet, posts were flooding in:
"Who is Nyxx?? This song is giving old Matrix vibes. I'm OBSESSED."
"That chorus is stuck in my head. Who's the sultry-voiced one? He's pretty."
"Why is no one talking about the visuals? The one with the refrigerator build ??"
"This group feels different. Raw. Like they actually love what they're doing."
Then came the inevitable:
"Wait, is this the guy that was just in the hospital??"
[Attached post from NyxxOfficial: "Our beloved Kiolle is recovering well. Thank you for all the love!"]
In one breath, they were being praised for their sound, and in the next, their most mysterious member was being dissected by the internet. Briar chewed his lip. "Should we have posted that?"
"We needed to," Eldrin said calmly. "If we didn't, someone else would have. Better they hear it from us."
"It's working," Deon added. "People are invested. They're not just listening—they're watching. That post humanized us."
Kiolle felt the heat of the room intensify. Because he didn't like being exposed like that without controlling the narrative. But... Eldrin had posted it, and Eldrin was calculating. Which meant— He must've wanted people to see him that way.
"Kiolle," Briar said, eyes flicking to him over the rim of a soda can. "You okay with this? The attention? You're kind of the main character right now."
Kiolle blinked. "Of course."
Corin raised an eyebrow, like he didn't believe that for a second.
The others were still fussing about—Briar chasing Deon around with leftover frosting, Corin joking loudly with Loran, pretending like nothing had happened between them. Eldrin stood in the corner, quiet, phone half-raised to take a photo of the moment, then lowering it before the shutter clicked. As usual.
But Kiolle didn't see any of it. His chest tightened. His eyes burned. He started to remember. It came in flashes, the way it always did—never in a full reel, just sensations strung together like cheap beads on a necklace.
The weight of keys under his fingers. The bright lights overhead. The roar of a crowd chanting his name. A small boy grinning as he bowed, basking in applause so loud it shook his ribs. And then... blankness. Screaming. A cage.
But now, now, strangers across the world were flooding the internet with his face. Screenshots. Slow-mos. Edits with soft music in the background. Some part of him, deep in the hollowed-out vaults of what used to be his soul, whispered; you were meant for this. This is who you always were.
He had starved. Killed. Survived. Hidden. And now he was in the light again. A hand dropped lightly on his shoulder.
"You okay?" Eldrin's voice. Calm, casual, with that weird way of asking where he already knew the answer. Kiolle nodded and forced a smile, tucking the phone away.
"I'm just... surprised," he said softly.
"Good surprised or bad?"
Kiolle hesitated. "Both."
Eldrin nodded. "Don't let it drown you."
Silence, then a question. "You mean the fame?" Kiolle asked, trying to measure something in Eldrin's tone.
"No." Eldrin's lips curled into a half-smile. "I mean what you are feeling right now, you seem conflicted" Kiolle blinked. What the hell did that mean? Was it a test? A dig? A warning?
But Eldrin had already walked away, grabbing a paper cup and sipping flat soda like the conversation never happened. Kiolle sat back. Still and quiet.