-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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRh6SpzwNr
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:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8imNFWKpDW
“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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKHQqxFq8B
It was half a memory.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8MCQ7EJ87
One she hadn’t lived.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYCf4exO14
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSsPEBxAxO
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtGKbjJSGL
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvnMJPIu4B
What this place did to people.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVKcy08Tjg
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50gtNSnbMD
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPNLak7FA8
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cj4X6vJqR
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnGCtbO7oT
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQVIA7k20y
Sometimes she was laughing.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJAyKN3K8G
Once, she was screaming.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1sgOAkgsv
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk19sClRuRf
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:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoqW3bGg3d
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMoWKEhV4I
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFS0R3PA7c
You named a paper crane after me.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FmJAZTTcr
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjughwR5Ux
You died in my world.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaMPQziCXX
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGR92LcX1p
Because now it was hers to unravel.
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