-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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVvVTZ4jT7
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:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnAsygwUz7
“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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTEpQyznON
It was half a memory.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1T3BapiY9g
One she hadn’t lived.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCep1J5y9M1
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYZolpPiEh
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCUFBb7tH4
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HWP5eyO4s
What this place did to people.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcwBUL0N5A
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahJPVL8JpG
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5v7FUa9Xh8
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrvOES9Sk3
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWRyUL7MB4
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOJERkjhuC
Sometimes she was laughing.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxPnpBxFj1
Once, she was screaming.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1otFgU802q
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGxG5CJhnA
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:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnD9q7wMYcJ
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuxgpj7S2i
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelZ3E9As3H
You named a paper crane after me.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kVhBcHk6I
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ425mKdxwla
You died in my world.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXt0LE8SnH
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCedBv4ntEq
Because now it was hers to unravel.
