Ethan opened his eyes.
The sun spilled gently through the curtains. The world smelled like coffee, paint, and a new beginning.
Noel was curled beside him, chest rising and falling in peace—no longer haunted by broken glass or whispering shadows. His skin glowed warm in the morning light, not cold like the mirrors had once made him seem.
They were home.
Not Reverie.
Not the mirror.
Here.
Earth. Reality. Present.
But not the same.
Ethan rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. It was the same cracked ceiling of his old bedroom—but something in him had shifted. Reverie hadn't vanished; it lived inside him now. In the way the light bent slightly, in the way Noel smiled, in the whispers of the wind outside his window.
There was no more curse. No more running. No more choosing between pain and peace. They had chosen each other.
––
A few weeks later, Ethan stood in front of a canvas, hands covered in black and violet and gold. The painting was messy, abstract, but alive. It looked like a storm swallowing itself.
It looked like Reverie.
It looked like survival.
He titled it: "The Boy in the Mirror."
Noel watched him from the couch, sketchbook in hand. On his page were mirrored drawings of their silhouettes—one with scars, the other glowing. "You'll show it?" he asked softly.
Ethan smiled. "I already did. The gallery accepted it. It's part of their 'Reflected Souls' series."
A moment of silence.
Then:
"We lived through something people would never believe."
"We don't have to make them believe," Ethan whispered. "We just have to remember."
––
Sometimes, in the quiet of the night, Ethan would catch a flicker of light in the mirror.
A ripple. A glimmer.
He'd freeze—heart skipping.
But there was no fear.
Just a soft presence.
Like Reverie was saying, I'm still here.
Not as a prison.
But as a promise.
––
And so it ended.
Not with death.
Not with tragedy.
But with love that crossed realities, reflections, and reason.
The boy in the mirror was never just Noel.
It was Ethan, too.
Both of them—split, shattered, saved, whole.
Together.
Always