The glass was cool beneath his forehead. His breath fogged faintly against it, blurring the sunlit courtyard outside. Nathan's laughter, Adrian's easy grin, the chatter of passing students, it was all so fragile, so impossibly ordinary.
Merlin's fingers pressed harder into the windowpane.
'Real… it has to be. It has to.'
He didn't trust his own pulse anymore. He didn't trust the silence, the light, the way the world moved as though he had never left. His reflection stared back at him, golden eyes rimmed red, hair clinging to his temples. A stranger. A survivor. A ghost.
The click of a door handle broke the stillness.
Merlin stiffened. His head turned slightly, gold flickering as the door creaked open.
Soft footsteps. Careful. Hesitant. He could almost taste the hesitation, the pause just inside the threshold.
And then—
A voice, soft, uncertain. "…Merlin?"
He froze. The sound cracked something in his chest, deeper than any blade or curse.
