-DAVIAN-
She didn’t remember the lightning.
Not the static, not the fall through fractured glass, not the way she used to say his name like it was a secret they shared.
But she looked at him like she felt something. That mattered.
The shimmer closed behind her, leaving that fragile girl with wonder in her eyes and quiet in her throat. Davian watched her like you watch a déjà vu you don’t trust.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxB7FVviwC
He wanted to smirk, say something snarky — but the truth pressed harder:
She’s real this time.
And that scared him more than he’d admit.
He circled her slowly, catching her scent — something like lavender and notebook paper, like memory — and let the words fall out before he could stop them:57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsFG0Wa1e2
“You look different without the lightning.”
He felt Arden tense behind her, already bristling like he could guard her from old truths. Cute. Pointless. Davian had lost her in a dozen timelines — Arden couldn’t even hold on in one.
But this one… this one felt anchored.
When he asked about kissing in a collapsing timeline, it wasn’t a line.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6E1sgFjZje
It was half a memory.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2X7Z8GJ24
One she hadn’t lived.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD8lCsRuWc
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87tOUW7iwq
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfluVNBTTC8
But mostly, he hated them.
Davian. Mikael. Parasitic ghosts who clung to timelines that should’ve died.
And now Elowyn — his Elowyn — had walked right into their trap.
He watched the way Davian circled her, saw the way her cheeks flushed, the way her lips parted just slightly. Not in fear. In curiosity.
Arden’s fists clenched.
She didn’t know. She couldn’t.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjGMgI5bsP
What this place did to people.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvIC6kFNnG
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ExpLs3GAM
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuNBuGl6o1
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptniLhUFXf
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF46E0EB8sP
And that terrified him more than anything else.
-MIKAEL-
He had seen her before.
In bits of corrupted code, in places where time folded wrong.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FfNis8nVK
Sometimes she was laughing.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqKhZYgbG0
Once, she was screaming.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZWmM3DfCu
Another time, she was holding a paper crane and whispering his name like a promise — soft and lopsided, the way kids do when they’re still learning how to love.
But this Elowyn... this one hadn’t met him yet. Not here.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsMGGZKCR2
And somehow, that hurt more than the memories.
He watched the moment settle between them — the way Davian played it cool, the way Arden burned like a fuse — and stayed quiet.
She didn’t need more riddles. Not yet.
She needed truth, the kind that wrapped around you slowly until it became your new skin.
So he said, gently:57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvCVefIOHa
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6WwUxBRvr
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4RLTpeHVC
You named a paper crane after me.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoOVtQ9HRS
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH92FFSGFsN
You died in my world.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCoOxDOVlI9
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIb4RARUv8
Because now it was hers to unravel.
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