The morning light filtering through the window wrapped Aveline in soft gold. Lucien lay beside her, one arm slung protectively over her waist. His breathing was slow, steady. Peaceful.
For the first time in what felt like centuries—she wasn't alone.
And yet, her heart beat with dread.
She had lied.
Not about her love. That was real. As real as the ache in her chest every time she looked at him. But she had lied when she said she didn't know what caused the loop.
Because somewhere, in the buried corridors of her fractured memory, she did.
She had made it.
Or… she had helped make it.
She slipped from the bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor as she moved toward her coat draped over the chair. Inside the pocket was the photograph—the one with all four of them—and the word Concordia scribbled on the back.
She touched the corner of the image, then turned it over again.
There was more now.
Words that hadn't been there the night before.
"She built the cage, and then forgot the lock."
Her fingers tightened around the photo. A low voice echoed in her head—hers, and not hers, layered with static and echoes:
"You said you wanted time to love him properly. So we gave it to you."
Jules paced his apartment like a man holding a grenade with the pin halfway out.
On the table lay a folder he had no business possessing—one Clara had found, tucked away in a sealed archive beneath the city's university hospital.
Inside were names. Codenames.
Concordia Project: Timeline Repetition, Loop Theory, Emotional Retention Testing.
And listed under "Project Architects":
Dr. Aveline Elise Monroe – Neural Mapping & Temporal Emotion Transfer
She hadn't just participated.
She had led it.
Jules stared at the name until it blurred.
It wasn't just the betrayal. It was the growing fear that none of this—none of them—was ever meant to last.
And worse: maybe they weren't real at all.
Lucien awoke to the scent of tea.
He blinked, disoriented, and reached toward the empty space beside him in bed.
Gone.
He rose, dressed quickly, and found Aveline curled on the windowsill, holding that damned photograph again.
"You left," he murmured.
"I was scared I'd stay too long," she said.
He crossed the room and knelt before her.
"You always leave," he whispered.
She looked at him, pain in every line of her face. "Because I always lose you."
"Then don't run this time."
She swallowed. "Lucien… what if I'm the reason you died in the first place?"
He cupped her chin, gently lifting her face. "Then I forgive you. Even if I never remember why."
Across town, Clara had taken matters into her own hands.
She walked into a restricted research wing with nothing but her ID badge, a USB stick, and the steady conviction of someone who'd seen enough.
Inside, glowing softly behind thick glass, was a prototype memory pod—Concordia's last known artifact.
She plugged the USB in.
The screen flickered, then revealed a list of simulation loops—each labeled by sequence and failure date.
Clara scrolled through them.
Loop 17: Lucien DiedLoop 16: Aveline DiedLoop 15: Jules Removed by ForceLoop 14: Emotional CollapseLoop 13: Subject-Subject Conflict (Clara vs. Aveline)Loop 12: Lucien Rejected Emotional Bonding
It kept going.
Until she found Loop 1.
Loop 1 – Origin Memory: Marriage Proposal – ACCEPTEDSimulation Seed Trigger: "I would give anything to love you again."Architect Memory Retention: ENABLEDCollapse Override: DISABLED
Clara's hands shook.
Aveline hadn't just created the loop.
She had done it to keep Lucien.