The cavern wound downward, twisting deeper into the heart of the mountain.
The air grew colder, sharper, tinged with the metallic scent of something old and waiting.
She walked beside him, their hands barely brushing with each uncertain step.
Neither spoke.
There were no words left for the silence that wrapped around them now.
Only the crystal at her throat pulsed steadily, a soft heartbeat against her skin, reminding her she was still here.
Still alive.
Still choosing.
The path widened into a vast underground chamber.
At its center stood a stone dais, cracked and ancient, carved with symbols that made her stomach twist with half-remembered dread.
Upon the dais lay a single object.
A mirror.
Framed in black iron twisted like vines, its surface smooth and dark as a frozen lake under a starless sky.
He stopped so suddenly that she nearly collided with him.
She caught herself, looking up at him.
He stood rigid, every muscle taut, his fists clenched at his sides.
"What is it?" she whispered.
He didn't answer.
Couldn't.
The mirror called to her.
She could feel it a tug at the edges of her mind, gentle but insistent.
Step closer, it seemed to say.
Remember.
Know.
She took a hesitant step forward.
He caught her wrist.
The strength in his grip startled her.
His eyes, when she met them, were wild with something she had never seen before
Fear.
Real. Raw. Human.
"Don't," he said, voice hoarse.
"Why?" she asked, heart pounding.
He shook his head, his grip loosening.
"Because if you look, you may not come back."
She stared at the mirror, its surface rippling faintly like something alive.
"What will I see?"
"Your true self," he said.
"Everything you lost. Everything you gave up."
She turned back to him.
"And if I don't look?"
"You remain who you are now," he said.
"Half-remembered. Half-whole. Safe."
She studied his face the shadows under his eyes, the tight set of his mouth, the way he looked at her as if already mourning her choice.
"You're afraid for me," she said softly.
He closed his eyes briefly, a tremor running through him.
"I'm afraid of losing you again," he admitted.
She reached up and touched his cheek lightly, feeling the way he leaned into her hand despite himself.
"I'm still here," she said.
"For now," he whispered.
The mirror pulsed again, stronger.
Calling.
Demanding.
She turned to face it fully.
Her choice.
Her past.
Her truth.
And perhaps, her undoing.
She stepped toward the mirror.
Each step felt heavier, as if the ground itself tried to pull her back.
The closer she came, the louder the whispering grew
Not from the mirror.
From within herself.
Fragments of memories she didn't know she still carried.
Laughter under golden skies.
Tears under blood-red ones.
A hand reaching out and another letting go.
She stopped just before the dais.
The mirror's surface rippled once, then stilled.
In it, she saw not her reflection.
She saw a girl.
Eyes bright with hope and pride.
Hands clean, untouched by blood or sorrow.
The girl smiled a beautiful, radiant smile.
And then the mirror darkened.
The girl twisted, her face contorting with grief, rage, loss.
Blood stained her hands.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream.
The vision struck her like a blade to the gut.
She staggered back, but the mirror's pull held her fast.
She heard footsteps behind her
Felt his presence, steady and desperate.
"Come back," he said, voice cracking.
"You don't have to see this."
She turned her head slightly, enough to see him out of the corner of her eye.
He was reaching for her, but he didn't cross the invisible line the mirror had drawn.
He wouldn't force her.
He never would.
Tears blurred her vision.
She faced the mirror again.
The girl inside reached out
And this time, she didn't flinch.
She stepped forward and placed her hand against the cold glass.
The world exploded in light.
Pain.
Memory.
Truth.
She saw everything
Her rise.
Her fall.
The betrayal she had committed and endured.
The choice to sacrifice the man she loved to save a crumbling world.
The way he had smiled at her even as she struck him down.
Not with hatred.
With love.
Always love.
Her knees buckled, but she didn't fall.
Hands caught her warm, strong, real.
He pulled her back from the mirror, gathering her against him.
She sobbed into his chest, the memories tearing through her like a storm.
"I killed you," she choked out.
"No," he said fiercely, holding her tighter.
"You saved me."
She shook her head, tears soaking into his cloak.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He pressed his forehead against hers.
"I chose you then," he said.
"I choose you now."
The mirror's surface cracked with a sound like shattering stars.
The fragments rained down, vanishing before they touched the ground.
The chamber grew still.
The choice was made.
The truth accepted.
She pulled back just enough to see him clearly, her vision blurred with tears.
"You knew," she said.
"All along, you knew what I did."
He nodded.
"And you still stayed."
He smiled a sad, beautiful thing.
"I stayed," he said, "because even broken, you were the only thing worth saving."
Her heart broke open in a way that it hadn't before.
Not shattering.
Expanding.
She reached up, cupping his face in her hands.
"I won't leave you again," she promised.
His eyes darkened, emotions warring in their depths.
"I will hold you to that," he whispered.
Their foreheads touched again, breath mingling, souls tangled in a bond that no mirror could shatter.
For the first time, truly, she was whole.
Broken.
Scarred.
But whole.
Together, they turned away from the broken dais and the shattered past.
The path ahead was still steep.
Still dangerous.
But they would walk it as one.
Hand in hand.
Heart to heart.