Nancy couldn't move.
Because grief is strange like that.
You spend years learning how to survive the absence of someone—
and when they suddenly stand in front of you—
your body forgets how to exist.
Her mother looked exactly the way memory never managed to hold.
Strong.
Soft.
Tired.
Real.
Tears blurred everything.
"…you're dead."
Her mother smiled sadly.
"Yes."
Leo whispered behind her,
"Excellent. Love ghost trauma."
For once—
nobody told him to shut up.
Because nobody could speak.
Nancy stepped forward like approaching a dream that might break.
"I watched you die."
"I know."
Her mother's voice nearly destroyed her.
Because Nancy remembered that voice.
Bedtime stories.
Storm nights.
Safety.
Gone for too long.
Nancy's anger arrived right behind the love.
Sharp.
Necessary.
"You left me."
Silence.
Her mother accepted that like she had been waiting for it.
"Yes."
Nancy's hands shook.
"You split me apart. You let him—"
she pointed at the Alpha—
"help you. You left that thing inside me and called it protection!"
Her voice cracked.
"I was a child!"
The words echoed.
And every one of them deserved to.
Her mother nodded.
Tears in her own eyes now.
"You were."
No defense.
No excuse.
Just truth.
And somehow that hurt more.
"I hated you for it."
Nancy whispered.
"I know."
"I still do. Sometimes."
"I know."
A beat.
"And I love you anyway."
That one broke them both.
Because love and anger were never enemies.
Just twins.
Her mother stepped closer.
"I did the unforgivable because I thought it was the only way to keep you alive long enough to become yourself."
She touched Nancy's face.
Warm.
Impossible.
"I would do it again."
Nancy inhaled sharply.
There it was.
Not apology.
Conviction.
Honest.
Terrible.
Maternal.
Her mother continued—
"But if I had another choice… I would have burned the world to take it."
Silence.
Nancy believed her.
That was the problem.
She believed her.
Inside — The Other Child
The entity stirred.
Not violent.
Wounded.
Watching the woman who chose one child over another.
Nancy felt it.
That old abandonment.
That rage.
That grief.
Her mother turned slightly.
Like she could feel it too.
And maybe she could.
Her voice softened.
"I know you're there."
The darkness answered.
Of course I am.
Everyone else froze.
Because for the first time—
they heard it.
Not through Nancy.
Directly.
Leo whispered,
"Oh, I hate that."
Fair.
Her mother's eyes filled.
"I am sorry."
The entity laughed once.
Small.
Broken.
No. You are sorry for her.
Nancy's chest tightened.
Because it was right.
Her mother whispered—
"I am sorry for both of you."
Silence.
Then—
the truth.
"I loved you too."
The darkness shook.
Liar.
"No."
Her voice was stronger now.
"I loved the part of her that was you. I loved what you were before fear turned love into violence."
The entity's pain hit like a storm.
Then why did you leave me there?
And there it was.
The real wound.
Not power.
Not control.
Abandonment.
Her mother's answer came with tears.
"Because if I brought you whole into this world… you would have consumed her before she ever had the chance to choose herself."
A pause.
"I chose my daughter."
The entity whispered—
And unmade mine.
Nobody moved.
Because there was no clean side here.
No villain.
Just impossible choices and the blood they leave behind.
The Final Offer
The light around the gate shifted.
The ancient voice returned.
The fracture may now be healed.
Choice must be made.
Separate.
Merge.
Or bind anew.
Nancy's pulse pounded.
Three paths.
Three endings.
The voice continued—
Separate:
one survives. One ends.
Merge:
both become one. Identity uncertain.
Bind anew:
neither consumed. Neither free.
A shared life. A shared burden.
Leo blinked.
"I'm sorry, was 'terrible magical life decision' always on today's schedule?"
"Yes," Mara said quietly.
"Obviously."
Kai stepped beside Nancy.
No pressure.
No demand.
Just there.
Always there.
"What do you want?"
That question.
Not what was right.
Not what was expected.
What do you want?
Nancy looked at her mother.
At the Alpha.
At the people who loved her.
Then inward—
toward the darkness that had haunted her,
hurt her,
protected her,
become part of her story whether she wanted it or not.
The entity whispered softly—
Choose honestly this time.
No sacrifice.
No fear.
No inherited guilt.
Just truth.
Nancy took one breath.
And stepped toward her answer.