-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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvl7RYkM3gM
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:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2d3qLcKYOy
“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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBiDzHRJVY
It was half a memory.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99Lfs6AZPu
One she hadn’t lived.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IvbUf3aEM
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdl3pATqBz0
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTTG3OVVM7
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhCMEQHFxR
What this place did to people.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKfqepyxG6
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6k3qembcu
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLQaDSxxmF
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFY66ALuJw
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1v5ttzeFR
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnr32uMWyKU
Sometimes she was laughing.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNd6vvuDY7
Once, she was screaming.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0zJhILVZz
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBvAn5Ecj0
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:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1VqggIrmf
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjc7AEYUBY
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NpuUIbOP4
You named a paper crane after me.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnZFum0yAA
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡim2265qpMO
You died in my world.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP5TYSByl4
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGUk7yjXrw
Because now it was hers to unravel.
