Lucien couldn't breathe.
Not from fear. Not from pain.
From recognition.
The memory wasn't a dream. It wasn't a suggestion. It was real. Snow falling on their shoulders. The red scarf he had wrapped around her neck. Her eyes glistening as she whispered—
"Yes."
Aveline was staring at him like she wanted to run. Her lips trembled with the truth she could no longer hide.
"You remember the proposal," she whispered.
Lucien nodded slowly. "I remember you saying yes. I remember thinking I had never been so certain of anything in my life. And I remember…" he trailed off, frowning.
"What?" she asked, a tremor in her voice.
"I remember... screaming. And then fire."
Aveline's blood ran cold.
Loop 1's collapse.
The memory Lucien had just recalled wasn't just their proposal. It was the beginning of the end—the moment fate tore them apart.
She reached for him. "Lucien—"
But he stood, backing away. "What is this, Aveline? What the hell have you done to me?"
In a dimly lit café across the city, Jules was bent over his laptop, eyes scanning the log files Clara had recovered.
Loop 1. Loop 6. Loop 9.
In every version, one constant remained: Aveline was the only one who remembered.
Until now.
"She's slipping," Clara said from behind him.
He turned. "Or the loop is breaking."
Clara poured herself a shot of espresso. "Either way, Lucien's consciousness is syncing with the origin memory. That was never supposed to happen."
Jules's jaw clenched. "Unless she wanted him to remember."
Clara scoffed. "You don't build a time prison to relive your trauma."
He looked her in the eye. "Don't you?"
Aveline followed Lucien through the narrow alleyway behind the observatory, calling his name as he stormed ahead.
"Lucien, please! Let me explain!"
He turned so fast she nearly slammed into him.
"Explain what? That my life isn't real? That I've been dying over and over and you've just been pressing rewind until I love you back the right way?"
Her voice broke. "It was never about getting it right. It was about saving you. Every time, I tried something different. Every time, you—"
"Die," he finished bitterly. "And you just start over."
She nodded, tears falling freely now. "I couldn't bear it, Lucien. I loved you too much to let you go."
His voice softened. "And what about what I want, Aveline? Don't I get a choice in this?"
Silence.
And then, quietly:
"No. Not when I started. But maybe now… maybe you do."
He took a shaky breath. "Then tell me the truth. All of it."
The Concordia logbook flickered.
Loop 24Subject Consciousness Sync: Lucien R. Hale – 73%Emotional Equilibrium: CRITICALProject Status: COLLAPSE IMMINENT
And underneath it, a flashing prompt:
Would you like to exit the loop?
[Yes] [No]