The Halo Effect

Taking a deep breath, Noel closes his eyes and focuses. As long as he doesn't use his transference ability, he shouldn't be able to reduce the corruption at all and Jade will realize he made a mistake.

Guiding for Noel has never exactly been second nature, the way other guides describe. He's not sure if it's a result of his low aptitude or the presence of another ability, but he has to concentrate very hard to connect to an esper's energy and initiate guiding. He imagines it's similar to lifting just beneath your upper limit; possible but strenuous. 

However, this time, he feels their wavelengths mesh with much less friction than usual. It's as though his energy core is already reaching out, grabbing at the first esper to come close enough. With a lurch, he's back in that darkness he just barely remembers. It stretches before him, a vast, endless frozen lake, black ice extending in every direction, and Noel stands in the center, small and alone.

He's never had a visualization this vivid before. Some espers have energy that evokes a metaphorical sensation, and he's heard other guides talking about how they picture their espers' cores, but it's always been pretty grounded for Noel. Now, though, he can practically feel the biting wind on his cheeks, the slick crunch of ice beneath his feet, and his corporeal body shivers, grip tightening unconsciously. 

Then the guiding initiates, and he imagines it as warmth gathering in his palms. Kneeling on the ice, he presses his hands to the surface.

One person against an infinite, abyssal sea of ice.

Noel half expects to be rejected instantly, as usually happens when an esper and guide are too far apart in strength, but instead he feels his hands sink in, Jade's core accepting his guidance and beginning to cycle energy. Imaginary steam rises past his face.

But a D-class is still a D-class, and the corruption is so dense, so concentrated, that within seconds, Noel is dizzy, nausea building in his gut. He gasps, screwing his eyes shut even tighter, but it keeps coming, dragging his energy into a cruel vortex. Panicking, he tries to sever the connection and pull away, but Jade doesn't release him, squeezing his hand and forcibly holding the connection open.

"Stop," Noel chokes. "Please—"

Then he's free. Yanking his hand back, he curls into himself, hugging his chest and panting as he returns to his own body. His heart sprints behind his ribs, making his breath snag, and his head spins, which doesn't help the queasy chill sitting in his stomach. He feels as if he just ran a marathon.

"It really was you."

Cracking his eyes open, Noel peeks up and finds Jade staring at him, jaw tight, one hand pressed to his sternum. "What?" Noel rasps.

"It was you." A muscle in Jade's jaw jumps. "I've felt this before. Back then."

"Felt—?" Noel shrinks back, thoughts in disarray. "But how could you—"

"Every guide feels different."

Noel goes still. He thought Jade was too out of it at the time to be able to recall the very subtle distinctions between one guide and another. But leave it to an S-class to prove him wrong. Damn it. "I—I—listen, I don't—"

Jade's hand darts out, seizing the front of Noel's jacket and jerking him up to snarl in his face: "Why are you pretending to be D-class?"

"I'm not!" Noel squeaks, grabbing Jade's wrist. "I'm really not! I really am D-class!"

"Stop lying!"

Noel's mind races, adrenaline streaking through his veins until Jade's face wobbles in front of him. "Okay," he hears himself say, much calmer than he feels. "Alright. I…I admit it. Please, let me go."

Jade's fist loosens, and Noel scoots away as soon as he can, retreating to the far end of the couch.

"Tell me the truth, now," Jade demands.

Noel scrambles for some explanation other than the truth. "Okay, I…I'm not really D-class," he says slowly, picking at his thumbnail. "I tricked the test."

"Why."

"It's…a personal reason. Do you really need to know?"

Jade's eye twitches. "I guess not. It's not like I care, anyway."

"Right. Uh—so, yeah, that's the deal."

"Does Beckett know?"

"No," Noel says quickly. "And I don't want him to. I don't want anyone to know."

"You'd rather roll around in the mud with the other flunkies?"

Noel bristles. "There's nothing wrong with being low class. It's not like anyone can help how they're born."

Jade rolls his eyes. "You could be paid more, have more respect. If you're able to guide me, then you have to be at least B-class, probably higher."

"That's not important to me," Noel mutters.

"Well, it's important to me." Jade scans him critically. "You're the only guide my core hasn't rejected."

"Rejected? I thought you just had bad sync rates."

"I do. And my core repels guiding. I can only ever get a few minutes at a time."

Noel considers this. "That must be…awful."

"I don't care about guiding, but I do care about being able to do my job. And if I go crazy, I can't do my job, can I?" Jade presses his lips together in a thin line. "But now I've found you."

Noel's heart skips a beat. "What do you want from me?" he asks hesitantly.

"What every esper wants from a guide."

"You can't mean—"

"Most people would die for the chance to be an S-class esper's dedicated guide."

"Oh, no." Noel is on his feet, swaying slightly, before he realizes he's moving. "No, no, no. Absolutely not. That's a terrible idea."

"I'm not giving you a choice."

"You cannot force me to be your guide," Noel reminds him heatedly. "Coerced guiding is against the law—to say nothing of company policy—"

"Then don't make me coerce you," Jade says shamelessly.

Noel stares at him, mouth open. 

Jade narrows his eyes. "I'm not about to let the first guide I've ever been able to sync with just walk away."

"And how exactly are you going to stop me?" Noel snaps. "This wouldn't work out, Ransom. Even if we are able to sync, and even if I'm not actually D-class, I'm definitely not strong enough for what you need."

"You reduced my corruption nearly forty percent," Jade insists, scooting closer. "At once."

Noel cringes. "That was an extraordinary circumstance," he contends. "There was a lot of—adrenaline or something. Hysterical muscle or whatever. I was ill for two days afterward. I passed out, remember?!"

Frowning, Jade opens his mouth for another argument, but Noel cuts him off:

"Not to mention, our sync rate can't be high enough for any guiding to be sustainable. You've never had a sync rate over thirty percent, right? Ours can't be much higher, so consistent guiding would only harm you in the long run." Noel spreads his hands helplessly. "Honestly, the entire incident last week was probably just a fluke! A heat of the moment type of thing."

"So if our sync rate is higher than thirty, you'll be my guide?"

Noel blinks. "I didn't say that—"

Jade reaches out and grabs his wrist, and before Noel can react, the entire world twists.

When it straightens back out, Noel is standing somewhere completely different. An intense wave of vertigo nearly bowls him over, but two hands on his upper arms prop him upright. His stomach churns unpleasantly.

"Turn on the sync machine," Jade is saying.

"Did you teleport me?" Noel asks, too incredulous to be panicked. "You can't just—" he breaks off, taking in the room where they landed. It looks like one of the labs in the testing wing, but smaller, unlike the general areas where most sync and class tests take place. There's still quite a bit of machinery present, but there's a desk in the corner, where a single woman is lounging with her feet up. Noel doesn't immediately recognize her, but he doesn't interact with the science staff very much.

"I told you not to teleport—you're too close to the edge," the woman says, swinging her legs to the floor. "And this isn't your personal lab. Stop barging in here like you own the place."

"If I can destroy it just by looking at it, then I own it." Jade herds Noel toward a table where a machine Noel recognizes as a sync tester is set up. "Stop whining and come do your job."

The woman grumbles but nevertheless stands up and crosses to the table. She's a tall, very beautiful dark-skinned woman in her late thirties or early forties, long coily hair pulled into a fluffy ponytail at the back of her head, and the badge on her lab coat reads Dr. Juliet Summers: Director of Experimental Research. "Is this him, then?" she asks, tapping a few buttons on the machine and casting an unimpressed look at Noel as Jade shoves him down on a stool. "Your miracle guide?"

"I'm not—"

"Just do the test," Jade cuts Noel off, perching on the stool opposite him. Between them, the machine hums to life.

"Sorry about him," Dr. Summers tells Noel. "He's been obsessed."

Noel can only manage some kind of distressed noise.

"I'm Dr. Summers, by the way. I run the experimental research division, but most of my time is spent keeping this idiot from blowing up the city."

"I'm Noel Arden," Noel responds weakly. "D-class guide."

"D-class?" Dr. Summers directs her attention at Jade, typing a few commands into the machine. "I hope you're prepared to be disappointed. You've never matched well even with high-class guides, and Guide Arden is magnitudes below you in strength. You have to know this isn't going to end well."

Privately, Noel agrees with her. Despite what he told Jade, he really is a D-class, so their sync rate can't possibly be any higher than the bare minimum required to actually initiate guiding. Noel's sync rates are usually pretty middle-of-the-road. He's never had a match below 40%, but he's also never gone above 70% with anyone either, and an S-class wavelength is surely in a completely different league.

"You can laugh at me later," Jade mumbles, staring Noel down over the table. "Just do it."

Sighing, Dr. Summers hits one final button, and the glass compartment between Noel and Jade illuminates. "Insert your hands and link up," she orders, sounding almost bored.

With little choice, Noel complies, sticking his hand through the rubber barrier and meeting Jade's in the little clear box. They cross palms in a stationary handshake, Jade's long fingers clamping shut like a bear trap, and Noel's stomach flutters with nerves.

"You'll feel a light vibration," Dr. Summers recites, like she's said this a million times, which she probably has, if she's working in the testing wing. "And a tingling sensation. But don't release until I say you can."

The sync tester hums. Noel has only ever used this particular model of tester a few times. The ones used more often are smaller and more user-friendly, but the trade-off is a certain degree of accuracy. For everyday use, however, a general idea of the sync rate is all that's required. Larger, more complex testers like these can measure the sync rate almost exactly, so Noel supposes Jade didn't want to leave any room for doubt. Fine by him if that means this clown show will be over sooner.

Jade doesn't look away all through the test, eyes boring into Noel's skull, and Noel fights not to shift nervously in his seat.

"So are you Beckett Arden's older brother?" Dr. Summers asks idly, watching the screen.

"Yeah."

"You two seem very different."

Noel grimaces. "We're half-brothers."

Finally, after what feels like minutes but is actually only about forty-five seconds, the hum dies down and the machine emits a series of beeps. Dr. Summers taps the screen a few times, lips pursed. Then she pauses.

"This can't be right," she mumbles.

"What is it?" Jade asks.

"Stay still, I'm running it again," Dr. Summers says briskly, sounding more invested now.

Noel's palm is definitely sweating, and the repeated test crawls over his skin even worse the second time. He can feel his heart pounding in his teeth by the time the machine dings again.

"This is insane," Dr. Summers says, staring at the screen. "I don't believe this."

"What?" Jade snaps, clearly losing patience.

Wordlessly, Dr. Summers swivels the screen around to face them. The read-out is chaotic, cluttered with numbers and graphs Noel doesn't understand, but in the center of the screen, in a box unmistakably labeled SYNC RATE, one number stands out crystal clear.

98.001%