-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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qtzGQLrU5
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:440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡackLfU3hBk
“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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6F5Ys1z5j0
It was half a memory.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbK4Yi25kn
One she hadn’t lived.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhJH99q3Et
Yet.
-ARDEN-
He hated this place.
The way the ceiling curved into nothing.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7cWzUtAZW
The way every shadow hummed with wrongness.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6Usn7JujG
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9ZtKOlgJI
What this place did to people.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLdEpQExOo
What Davian did — with his casual smirks and history he never earned.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5BDbUsyhl
Mikael, too — standing there like some tragic poet who already knew how it would end.
They weren’t supposed to be here.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYW0Duoctz
This moment wasn’t supposed to happen.
Arden stepped between them, voice hard:440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvQzSlJSZ4
“She’s not here for this.”
But she was looking at them like she’d already been chosen.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvvRa6Qf5z
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46BugyxaEY
Sometimes she was laughing.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ze6AQVbvW
Once, she was screaming.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHKdH5vfIV
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tU4A1uTFB
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:440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVzkhXgeSb
“You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
He didn’t say:440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CD6QvI7hf
You used to draw stars on my arm with washable marker.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJt0O2xZib
You named a paper crane after me.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSfdXlVPN6
You saved me once, when we were small and the world still made sense.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMKmuZhrB0
You died in my world.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T5gWJ1Yom
You used to call me Mio.
He just stepped back and let the timeline breathe.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AxcMYihSq
Because now it was hers to unravel.
and then Add to home screen.