Word count : 1176
Morning came too easily.
Sunlight slipped through the tall windows of the house like it had always done, pale gold and innocent, touching the edges of furniture, warming the floorboards, glinting off glass frames and polished wood. Birds sang outside. A car passed down the street. Somewhere nearby, a gate opened and closed.
Everything looked… normal.
Too normal.
Belle stood barefoot in the hallway, still dressed in the oversized shirt she'd slept in, and stared at the place where the fire had bloomed the night before.
There was nothing there.
No blackened walls.
No scorch marks on the ceiling.
No smell of smoke clinging to the air.
She pressed her palm against the wall.
Cool. Smooth. Untouched.
Her fingers slid over the paint, over the exact place where heat had once roared hot enough to make the air scream. The memory was sharp — too sharp for this emptiness. Fire didn't just vanish. It left scars. It warped things. It announced itself.
This silence felt intentional.
Not peaceful.
Edited.
Belle swallowed and stepped back, the quiet pressing against her ears until it felt loud. The house wasn't healed. It had been reset. And somehow, that unsettled her more than the flames ever had.
Behind her, floorboards creaked.
"You see it too," Liora said.
Belle turned.
Liora stood at the end of the hallway, already dressed, hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, dark circles faint under her eyes. She wasn't shaking. She wasn't crying. But she wasn't relaxed either. There was a tight alertness in her posture, like someone standing guard after a storm.
"There's nothing," Belle said quietly.
Liora nodded once. "Exactly."
She moved through the house like she was checking perimeter lines — peeking through curtains, glancing out windows, testing door locks. Not frantic. Careful. Strategic.
She didn't ask what Belle was.
She didn't ask how the fire happened.
Instead, she asked the questions that mattered.
"Did anyone else see it?"
"Did anyone come by after?"
"Are we safe right now?"
Belle watched her, something warm and heavy settling in her chest. Liora didn't stand behind her. She stood beside her, shoulder squared, eyes sharp.
"I don't think anyone else remembers," Belle said.
Liora paused by the front window, pulling the curtain back just enough to scan the street. "That's worse," she muttered.
Jayce was gone.
No police had come knocking.
No frantic calls.
No whispers online.
Belle checked her phone again, even though she already knew. No trending names. No half-baked theories. No cruel jokes. It was like he'd been scooped cleanly out of existence and the world had stitched itself shut behind him.
Liora leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. "If the world doesn't remember him screaming," she said slowly, "then someone powerful made sure of it."
The words sat between them.
Belle didn't argue.
Marmalade chose that moment to stretch luxuriously on the windowsill, orange fur glowing in the sunlight. He yawned, tail flicking lazily, utterly unconcerned with erased fires and missing boys.
"Unbelievable," Liora muttered. "Your cat..or whatever he is watched hell open and now he's acting like it was a movie night."
Marmalade cracked one eye open.
Nyx spoke only to Belle, his voice low, smooth, careful.
Fire leaves traces, he said. Unless someone ensures it doesn't.
Belle stiffened slightly but didn't look at him.
Yesterday he had told her that his name was NYX not marmalade, and that he was sent to be her guardian, nothing more.
"Who?" she asked under her breath.
Nyx's tail flicked again. Last night crossed a line, he said. Not because of the fire — but because of who saw it.
"Who intervened?" Belle pressed.
A pause.
Not a question you're ready to have answered, Nyx replied.
And that was all he gave.
Belle exhaled slowly. She felt… different. Not shaken. Not raw. Grounded. Heavier, but clearer, like something inside her had finally settled into place.
The fire hadn't been an accident.
It had listened.
That realization didn't frighten her.
What frightened her was how easily it had been erased.
The front door opened quietly.
Belle's father stepped inside, coat still on, expression calm in a way that made Liora straighten immediately.
He had cancelled his meeting the moment he heard what had happened.
He looked at both girls, then at the pristine walls, the perfect ceiling, the ordinary room.
He didn't ask what happened.
He didn't raise his voice.
He simply said, "Pack your school things."
Belle blinked. "Dad—"
"You're both being withdrawn," he continued evenly. "Effective immediately."
Liora's brows lifted slightly, but she didn't speak.
"Not expelled," he clarified. "Removed."
"Because of Jayce?" Belle asked.
"Because eyes are on the wrong places," her father replied. "And because last night changed the trajectory."
He looked at Belle then — really looked at her. There was no fear there. No disappointment. Just a quiet understanding that ran deeper than words.
"When things settle," he said, "you'll be transferred. Somewhere far. Different environment. Different rules."
"And me?" Liora asked.
"You too," he said without hesitation.
Belle noticed that — how there had been no pause, no negotiation. Liora wasn't an afterthought. She was included like it was obvious she should be.
Liora didn't protest.
She didn't ask why.
She just nodded once. "When do we leave?"
Her father's mouth twitched, just barely. "Soon."
Later, the girls sat on the floor of Belle's room, half-packed bags open between them. School books. Notebooks. Pens they might never use again. Posters still taped to the walls, untouched.
Liora held up a sweater. "This one screams 'new school mysterious transfer student.'"
Belle snorted softly. "You say that about everything."
"Because it's true."
They laughed — not loudly, not freely — but enough to make the silence loosen its grip.
"yesterday, I was gonna ask if you thought there was something more to everything....like the reason why certain things happen, cuz I felt there really was something more, but now, I know it. I know that there was everything that happened, happened for reason" she into Belle's eyes then continued "you're a shining light Belle, like can you imagine i have the sun standing right In front of me, you're a blessing, my best friend.
"i want you to know that I'll never regret the day I approached you and I'll stand by you, even if I have to fight to do so."
Belle smiled warmly at her, then without thinking twice, she pulled her into a tight hug.
As they worked, Belle watched Liora from the corner of her eye. She hadn't run. She hadn't questioned Belle's worthiness. She hadn't demanded explanations.
She stayed.
Not because she was fearless.
But because she chose Belle without conditions.
Night fell again.
The house remained perfect.
Too perfect.
Belle and Liora stood by the window, city lights blinking on like nothing had happened. Somewhere out there, life continued — ignorant, intact.
"If nobody else knows," Liora said quietly, "then it's ours."
Belle nodded.
"And what's ours, we protect."
Then they locked their hands together and stirred at the beauty of the city lights.