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They stepped out into stillness.
The gate behind them folded shut, disintegrating into thin threads of purple thread. Before them lay a still expanse—an in-between space. No earth, no sky, only stars floating in darkness. As if they now stood within a memory that had not yet chosen what shape to assume.
Kael let go of Rin's hand gradually.
They remained silent for a long time.
Rin walked a few paces, boots brushing against nothing and yet making sound. It was like walking across breath. She sat down, drawing her knees to her chest. For once, the silence wasn't hostile. Just… tired.
Kael remained standing for a while before finally joining her, lowering himself beside her with a soft sigh.
"Are you okay?" he asked, voice quiet.
"No," she said truthfully. "But I'm not breaking either."
"That's something."
She looked to the side. "You knew. About us. Didn't you?"
Kael didn't lie. He looked at her straight on. "I remembered glimpses before you did. Didn't know what they were about at first. Just… moments. Your voice in a storm. Your hand bleeding. A kiss that felt like a promise we both broke."
Rin's breath caught. "A kiss?"
He smiled weakly. "It wasn't a dream."
Silence fell again, softer now.
"Maybe I knew too," she whispered. "Somewhere in my bones. Every time I glanced at you and didn't understand why I trusted you so quickly."
"We've always managed to find each other," he said. "Even when the world resets the board."
She looked up at the stars above them—if stars they were at all. "Do you think we ever got it right? In any version?"
Kael was silent for a moment. "Perhaps not. But I think this time, we're doing it of our own will. Not due to fate or threads or anchors. Just. because we want to."
Rin stared at him, really looked.
His face was lined in still strength, in sorrow that had not yet lessened, in hope he would not speak out loud. And at the heart of it—her. In every decision he had made since they had reunited.
She placed her hand over his, not interlacing, but lying lightly.
"I don't know who I used to be," she said. "But I know who I am today. And you're included in that."
Kael nodded once, the faintest smile on the edge of his lips. "Then let's get through this. Find Elias. Stop the unraveling."
"And afterward?" she asked.
"We determine who we are when we're not saving the world."
For a moment, they sat together in the emptiness, under a sky that wasn't there, surrounded by memories that hadn't yet been born. Not heroes. Not lovers. Just two people lying in the places between tales.
Then a shiver ran through the stars.
A new road appeared before them—dark stone and old runes, to the shadows of a lost city.
Kael rose, holding out his hand again.
Rin accepted it without question.
And they moved ahead.
Together.