-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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAfiRg54fb
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:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94tWx8lvAQ
“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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8r7PnEuHw
It was half a memory.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCg1q15e7Z
One she hadn’t lived.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLTJes09d5
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMV8iuWhp3u
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0SOlqPYrk
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVFRiTDi47
What this place did to people.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbSzopuwKq
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXNAXVqOiO
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuA4w4efX5i
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxa0cL2MztW
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9syP0Mf6H1
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKVpSYTGLL
Sometimes she was laughing.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lJ3BciKyO
Once, she was screaming.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMawZRroDJW
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocUUXuOYTx
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:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx6oQKFsCl
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJfkRLs6Yn
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGHsTQllB7
You named a paper crane after me.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG35PxVPBXh
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukMTLYA9eB
You died in my world.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtDDYGam6y
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdQO2s39WP
Because now it was hers to unravel.
