Parker's voice cut through the conceptual realm with that crystalline clarity that had replaced his once-warm tone.
"For Balance to restore the Balance itself," he said, his words carrying the weight of cosmic understanding, "there must be a connection between the two."
Zhang Ruoyun's eternal composure shattered like glass hitting concrete.
She knew what he meant. Oh, how she fucking knew it.
How she had waited for such words to finally pass his lips—words that acknowledged what had always existed between them, what had been growing stronger with each passing eon, what she had cherished in the depths of her ancient heart but never dared to voice because, damn it, timing in the cosmic sense was apparently just as shitty as regular timing.
The Phoenix of Balance felt her millennia of careful emotional control waver for the first time since... well, since forever.
