-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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOllnF7vA0
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:195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ438UJ28Z9u
“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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaktMoyv0i
It was half a memory.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkdEQBy4Br
One she hadn’t lived.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xfanSzoVH
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZvUuIuPxb
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLDhqiLCBJ
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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGQzmGonT2
What this place did to people.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbZQ2VVsJj
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAKPf8Zf3H
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycNDp0ruQT
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl23MiIzHm3
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zx0kfAleM
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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7p33pOYga
Sometimes she was laughing.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4dAb5QobP
Once, she was screaming.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeST3owIEHZ
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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoShFXIm0p
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:195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoLqmGljE6
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplQo0ZX2GS
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4toOizTxeQ
You named a paper crane after me.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SWxpFwO0U
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJv8Ds344k
You died in my world.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMpe9geMAM
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayqSDS7eca
Because now it was hers to unravel.
and then Add to home screen.