-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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkXH5yAlLv
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:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHcMcSaqAd
“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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonJK0o8Qh5
It was half a memory.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoviIaRWh5
One she hadn’t lived.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmg7aa00FO
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnHFMLK5Ct
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTynpTXFfIV
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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BWjzLtkS6
What this place did to people.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8glL8eyHaD
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1Fg6L1Npg
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSm3iUfQXq
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLmcNbfO9s
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmVYWLAWpV
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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RFxzdKssr
Sometimes she was laughing.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuN51KiYUh
Once, she was screaming.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7X4uM81TG
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.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIvUDCZ925
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:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyx5IowLgj
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27xFqG88Us
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGCNlPlSFX
You named a paper crane after me.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8WYBSGZk1
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwKh33YWVQ
You died in my world.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmv00IAulE
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0FPhTIFqW
Because now it was hers to unravel.
