The stars were falling.
Not in the poetic way Aveline once imagined, but literally—skies fracturing, constellations bleeding static, and the moon itself flickering like a dying bulb. All of it, breaking down around them.
Lucien tightened his arms around her as the world crumbled beyond the observatory walls.
"This is it," he whispered.
She nodded against his chest. "The loop is collapsing."
They stood in silence, surrounded by the ghost of the world she had built for them. The rooftops below flickered in and out of view. The scent of roasted chestnuts from the street vendor she programmed last week was gone. A violinist in the square played one last note, and then—silence.
Aveline looked up at Lucien. "We have to make a choice."
"I know."
"We can escape," she said slowly, voice shaking. "There's a failsafe. A backdoor into the origin timeline. We'll wake up... wherever our bodies are. Wherever Concordia left us."
"And the cost?"
"We lose this," she said, gesturing to the world. "Everything. This life. These memories."
Lucien's eyes darkened. "And the other option?"
"We stay." Her breath hitched. "And we dissolve with the loop."
"Together?"
She looked up into his face. "Always."
In the real world, Clara's fingers hovered over the failsafe.
Jules watched the data stream with mounting horror.
"Neural patterns are syncing," he said. "They're not separate anymore. They've merged."
Clara cursed under her breath. "If we don't pull them now, we lose them both."
Jules's voice was quiet. "Or we set them free."
Back in the collapsing loop, Lucien took Aveline's hands.
"I remember you," he said softly. "In every version. Even when I didn't know who you were… there was always something in me that felt you."
Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You always smiled at me. Even in the loops where we never spoke."
"That's how I knew."
A gust of wind tore through the observatory, and the stone beneath their feet shimmered, fading like mist.
Lucien took a deep breath.
"Let's find the door."
Aveline blinked. "You want to go?"
He nodded. "I want you. In the real world. In the ugly, broken, unpredictable now. If that's where you are, that's where I want to be."
"But we won't remember," she whispered. "Everything we built here... all of this... we'll forget."
He kissed her forehead. "Then we fall in love all over again."
Clara's screen lit up.
EMERGENCY EXIT REQUEST INITIATEDSUBJECT: AVELINE S. RUESUBJECT: LUCIEN R. HALESTATUS: MERGEDEXITING…
She exhaled, eyes glistening. "They made it."
Jules leaned back in his chair, voice soft with awe.
"Or maybe… they're just getting started."