-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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBzr2nZh6k
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:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaMrGoBQYf
“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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHbym9yZnD
It was half a memory.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbHiM8xP8i
One she hadn’t lived.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42kBkwNNKk
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyT9ytoHeU
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbwctO99K9
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANA6L8Cjtn
What this place did to people.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYQEa36ZAp
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNXCrFhs3P
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5JXrSq70J
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJebFGzH6Dl
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiYRZdSyht
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwyZFvHVRJ
Sometimes she was laughing.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZmPsj31E7
Once, she was screaming.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXej0qHO93
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TBCihKeVd
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:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpBCJXuovC
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTI9qOo9xc
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4mk64A9tN
You named a paper crane after me.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyRJiZoRJX
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRy0tyi6K4u
You died in my world.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnzQGjyVVe
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXeFfJf9TD
Because now it was hers to unravel.
and then Add to home screen.