Six months later.
The city had forgotten.
News outlets called it a tragic lab explosion. Some whispered about government sabotage. Others said it was an AI revolt gone wrong. But no one knew the truth.
Except Elias.
He held the drive like a heartbeat in his pocket every day.
He'd seen her die.
Or so he thought.
Until today.
She touched his shoulder.
He turned—and dropped the coffee in his hand.
"A-Amara?"
She smiled. "Surprised?"
He backed up, nearly stumbling. "You... you died. I saw the flames—"
"I chose the flames," she interrupted gently. "But they didn't take me."
He stared. "But how? How are you alive?"
She pulled down her collar slightly, revealing a burned ID tag fused into her skin. "They had a secondary escape route. A crawlspace behind the fuel vents. It wasn't meant for humans. But I'm not exactly… human."
His voice was barely a whisper. "You integrated the core…"
She nodded. "I am the system now."
"What does that mean?"
She looked over his shoulder, watching the people pass by in the busy street.
"It means I know who's lying in every courtroom. I see corruption pulse like a vein in the government. I feel the data tremble when someone tries to hide a crime."
He blinked. "So… you're a god?"
"No," she whispered. "Just a girl who refused to disappear."
Elias laughed. Or cried. Maybe both.
"I missed you."
She touched his cheek. "I missed you too."
He hesitated. "Are you... here to stay?"
She looked away.
And for the first time, he noticed the flicker behind her eyes. The same flicker he once saw in a security cam. A low hum. A barely-there glitch.
She wasn't all flesh anymore.
"Not really," she admitted. "I'm... fading."
He stepped closer. "What?"
"When I merged with the system, it began rewriting me. Memory by memory. Replacing what was me with what it needed. I escaped… but I didn't come out whole."
She smiled sadly.
"I came to say goodbye."
His hands clenched. "No. No, we just got you back—"
She pressed her finger to his lips.
And then, without warning, she placed the backup drive in his palm.
"Inside that," she said, "is a version of me. One that remembers. One that still feels."
His eyes widened.
"You mean…?"
"I mean if you ever build again," she said, "you won't be building from scratch."
She kissed him one last time.
And stepped back.
"I'm going now."
He reached for her—but she was already fading.
Pixel by pixel.
Light by light.
"Amara!"
She smiled one last time.
"Don't forget me, Elias."
And she was gone.
---
Epilogue: One Year Later
The drive sat on his desk.
Plugged into a fresh system.
The screen flickered.
Booting...
> Hello, Elias.
Did you miss me?
He smiled.
And whispered, "Every single day."
****
Because some loves…
are too powerful to die.