Aveline sat on the rooftop of the old observatory, knees pulled close to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them. Below her, the world shimmered with city lights. Above, stars blinked with cruel indifference.
Lucien was beside her, silent.
For once, she didn't try to fill the space with comfort or lies.
"December 14th," she said. "That was the night everything ended."
Lucien didn't look at her. "The night I died."
She nodded slowly. "You had just proposed. I said yes. We were walking home. It was snowing."
"I remember that part," he said quietly.
"You didn't see the man in the alley," Aveline whispered. "But I did."
Lucien's eyes flicked to her.
"He wasn't just some thief. He was from Concordia."
He stared. "The lab?"
"Not just a lab. A program. We were working on temporal resonance—ways to isolate memory loops and store them. You were against the ethics of it from the beginning. You tried to shut it down. That night, they made sure you couldn't."
Lucien leaned forward, gripping the edge of the ledge. "You're saying I was killed... by our own project?"
She nodded. "Because you were the only one who understood the implications. You said Concordia wasn't a tool—it was a trap. And you were right."
He swallowed hard. "And you? What did you do?"
Aveline looked at him, eyes glassy. "I broke into the core system. And I rewrote time."
Lucien was silent for a long moment.
Then he asked the question she'd been dreading.
"How many times?"
She closed her eyes. "Twenty-four. Twenty-four lives. Twenty-four deaths. Twenty-four times I watched you slip away."
"And every time... you kept going."
Her voice cracked. "I couldn't bear to live in a world where you didn't exist."
Lucien turned to her. "And what if I don't want to exist like this? In a world you created just to save me? What if I want something real?"
Aveline looked down at her hands. "I thought I could keep you safe. I thought if I just loved you enough, it would be enough."
He reached for her hand. "Then give me the truth. The real you. No resets. No loops. Just this moment."
She looked up at him, heart thudding.
"And if I lose you again?"
Lucien smiled faintly, brushing her cheek.
"Then love me like it's the only time we'll ever have."
In a cold server room beneath the city, Clara stared at the flashing prompt.
LOOP 24: COLLAPSE THRESHOLD REACHEDDO YOU WISH TO EXIT?
Jules stood beside her.
"You know what happens if we pull out," he said. "Lucien dies. Again."
Clara's jaw clenched. "And if we don't...?"
He hesitated. "Then the loop might destabilize permanently. This version of Aveline and Lucien could merge with the origin timeline. No more resets. No more control."
Clara hovered over the screen.
Her hand trembled.
[YES] [NO]
She took a breath—
And pressed Nothing.
For now.