Anabeth did not plan to take control that morning.
Control was forced into her hands by absence.
---
The first emergency alert came at 6:14 a.m.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just a quiet system-wide notice:
INTERIM ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL UNAVAILABLE.
AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTION.
---
Mara stared at the screen.
"That's not possible," she said. "They don't all vanish at once."
Rafael was already on his feet.
"They didn't vanish," he said. "They stepped aside."
Cassian frowned.
"For her."
All three looked at Anabeth.
---
"They're removing buffers," Cassian continued. "No intermediaries. No shared blame."
Anabeth felt it settle into place.
"They want a single point of responsibility," she said.
Mara's voice dropped.
"They want you to be the decision-maker when things go wrong."
---
It didn't take long.
By 7:00 a.m., facilities requested authorization for lockdown adjustments.
By 7:20, medical services requested permission to override triage limits.
By 8:00, security asked for clearance to detain three students accused of "preemptive disruption."
---
Every request carried the same tag.
PENDING: A. ROWAN APPROVAL
---
Rafael's jaw tightened.
"They're making you sign the knives they plan to stab you with."
"They're making me visible," Anabeth said. "So no one else has to be."
---
She didn't answer the requests.
Not yet.
She walked.
---
Across campus, tension lay low and sharp, like wire pulled too tight.
Students whispered instead of shouted now.
Guards didn't shout at all.
They waited.
---
Anabeth entered the central operations hall.
Once ceremonial.
Now stripped down to function.
Screens lined the walls—feeds, requests, projections.
Every path ended with her name.
---
Mara followed her in.
"Once you approve even one of these," she said quietly, "you're no longer symbolic."
"I know."
"You'll be accountable for consequences you can't control."
"I know."
---
Cassian stopped at the door.
"You don't have to do this," he said.
Anabeth turned.
"Who else will?"
He didn't answer.
Because there was no one left.
---
She took the chair.
Not the head.
The center.
---
"Route everything through me," she said.
Mara's fingers hovered.
"This changes everything."
"Yes," Anabeth replied. "That's the point."
---
The first decision came immediately.
The three detained students.
Charges: agitation, unauthorized coordination, incitement.
Real translation: fear.
---
"Release them," Anabeth said.
Rafael looked at her sharply.
"That will look weak."
"It will look human," she replied.
---
Mara hesitated.
"If something happens—"
"Then it happens with them free," Anabeth said. "Not because I proved their fear right."
---
The order went out.
The reaction was instant.
Half the campus exhaled.
The other half stiffened.
---
By noon, word spread.
She wasn't hiding.
She wasn't delegating.
She was deciding.
---
That was when the fracture appeared.
---
A faculty representative requested a private meeting.
Urgent.
Concerned.
Long-standing supporter.
---
Mara flagged it.
"Professor Lorne," she said. "He's been quietly feeding the delegations compliance models."
Anabeth closed her eyes.
"How long?"
"Since before the rooftop incident."
Cassian's voice was bitter.
"Everyone wants a clean exit."
---
Anabeth agreed to the meeting.
Public.
Transparent.
Recorded.
---
Lorne didn't expect that.
His smile faltered when he saw the room.
"You're moving fast," he said.
"I have to," Anabeth replied. "They removed my runway."
---
He folded his hands.
"You're being positioned," he said. "You see that."
"Yes."
"And yet you stepped forward."
"Yes."
---
"This ends badly," Lorne said gently. "For you."
"Probably," she agreed.
"For everyone if you insist on controlling it," he added.
She leaned forward.
"Then why are you here?"
---
He sighed.
"To offer you an alternative."
---
He slid a proposal across the table.
Temporary resignation.
External stabilization committee.
Ceremonial return later.
Face-saving.
Safe.
---
"You disappear for six months," he said. "Things cool. The system resets. You come back as reform, not rupture."
Rafael's hands clenched.
"That's exile."
"It's survival," Lorne countered.
---
Anabeth looked at the proposal.
Then up at him.
"You've already told them I might accept this," she said.
Lorne hesitated.
Too long.
---
"You're afraid," she said softly.
"Yes," he admitted. "Because I've seen what happens when systems feel humiliated."
She nodded.
"So have I."
---
She pushed the proposal back.
"No."
Lorne's shoulders sagged.
"You're choosing martyrdom."
"No," Anabeth replied. "I'm choosing presence."
---
He stood.
"They'll break you."
She met his eyes.
"Then they'll have to do it where everyone can see."
---
By afternoon, the consequences sharpened.
Funding delays became shortages.
Two buildings lost power "temporarily."
A medical transport was rerouted.
---
Rafael slammed his fist into the table.
"They're punishing the campus to punish you."
"Yes," Anabeth said. "And teaching me the price of refusing to disappear."
---
Cassian watched her carefully.
"You're learning faster than they expected," he said.
"That won't save me," she replied.
"No," he agreed. "But it might save others."
---
Then the message came.
Not encrypted.
Not hidden.
Public.
---
INTERIM AUTHORITY REVIEW SCHEDULED — 72 HOURS
SUBJECT: ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURE RISK
---
Mara paled.
"They're setting a countdown."
Rafael swore.
Cassian closed his eyes.
---
"They're preparing to remove you," Cassian said. "Publicly."
Anabeth nodded.
"Good."
They all looked at her.
---
"If this ends," she said, "it should end with truth, not silence."
Rafael stepped closer.
"You're putting yourself on a chopping block."
She looked at him.
"I'm putting myself on a stage."
---
That night, Elias sent nothing.
Which frightened her more than warnings.
---
Anabeth lay awake.
Not afraid of death.
Afraid of failing to matter before it came.
---
She realized then:
Leadership wasn't power.
It was absorption.
Taking impact meant for others.
---
And the system was winding up for a strike that would test whether she could endure it.
---
Outside, the perimeter tightened.
Inside, loyalties thinned.
And somewhere very close—
Someone was already preparing to leave her behind.