-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.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5R5Fe7ICX
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:6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxb6wVgiaC
“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.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLi9kaaMafi
It was half a memory.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkYEpUUMI2
One she hadn’t lived.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjQvWvX6e2
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqxXeWzM4e
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cHuwQS0yS
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.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzbO2caBMw
What this place did to people.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjHzQihYJe
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5M1WhXAjh
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxHn75VULN
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpJSzHhIkC
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnR2rgiIVI
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.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47Xjrr0lhr
Sometimes she was laughing.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDKm7hNgPa
Once, she was screaming.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxmA9ARExZ
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.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5FVjUxESO
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:6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqMQIjr2SJ
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gR2JTZjsu
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJylwHloho
You named a paper crane after me.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft1cVn5MtR
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvAuEgnkAy
You died in my world.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjjf1qhGWU
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYoVm3pG2w
Because now it was hers to unravel.
and then Add to home screen.