Kael's Apartment – Morning.
Sunlight slid across the floor like it didn't care what happened the night before. But the air was different now.
Kael sat at the dining table, both hands cupped around a mug he hadn't sipped from. The sketches of Rin and Amara sat folded beside it.
He didn't move.
He just stared at his reflection in the dark liquid—like it might tell him who he was now.
The door opened behind him. He didn't turn.
"Still drinking silence?" Rin asked.
Kael exhaled slowly. "I didn't think you'd come back."
Rin walked in, calm. Controlled. She set her keys on the counter like it was any normal day—but her eyes didn't touch anything else in the room.
"I didn't come back," she said. "I came to hear it. The truth."
Kael finally turned. He looked tired—like truth was the weight he'd been ducking under since both worlds collided.
"I never wanted to put you in a place where you had to ask for me," he said. "But I don't know how to look at her and not feel like something's unfinished."
Rin sat across from him, spine straight, jaw tight. "Do you still love her?"
He didn't pause.
"Yes."
She swallowed.
"And me?"
He nodded. "I do. But not the same way.
You were sunlight when I needed warmth.
She was fire when I needed to burn."
Rin blinked hard. A single tear slipped out—just one.
She didn't wipe it away.
"Then stop trying to stand in two seasons at once," she said. "You don't get to have both."
Kael's voice dropped. "I didn't want both. I wanted to not lose again."
"You already did," Rin said, standing slowly. "You just didn't notice when it happened."
She walked toward the door.
Kael stood. "Rin—"
She turned, hand on the handle. Her voice shook.
"You never once told me it was me.
You just let me believe… until I couldn't anymore."
The door clicked shut behind her.
Boston Medical – Amara's Room.
Amara sat by the window, dressed in a soft sweater and loose jeans, sketchbook balanced on her knees. The drawing was almost finished this time—two people sitting on a bench, hands almost touching. Almost.
There was a knock.
Kael stepped in.
She didn't look up right away.
"I felt it," she said softly. "The shift."
Kael stood there, hands in his pockets.
"Rin left," he said. "I didn't ask her to. But I didn't ask her to stay either."
Amara closed the sketchbook and set it aside.
"Is that what you came to tell me? That your guilt finally collapsed into decision?"
Kael walked to the chair beside her.
"No," he said. "I came to ask if you could still love someone who let you die in his memory… and only now realized you were never gone."
Amara's eyes locked on his. Her voice was quieter than the wind through the cracked window.
"I screamed for you every night.
I carved your name into the walls of my mind to keep from disappearing."
Kael's hands curled into fists.
"I was drowning in the idea of you," she whispered. "And now you're here. But I don't know if I'm reaching for the man I loved… or a ghost of who we were."
Kael leaned closer, eyes burning. "I'm not a ghost. And neither are you."
She searched his face.
And after a long, silent war…
She whispered:
"Then hold me like you believe that."
Selene's Bar – That Same Night.
Eli sat with a notebook open in front of him. Just blank pages.
Nari walked over, leaned on the bar.
"Gonna write it?" she asked.
He looked up at her.
"I've never written anything real," he admitted. "Not since…"
He stopped.
Nari waited.
Eli closed the notebook.
"I watched my mother destroy everything around her with affection.
She gave it too easily. Took it back just as fast.
She made love look cheap."
Nari's voice was soft. "Then maybe it's time you learned it's not."
She took his hand.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And this time, Eli didn't flinch.
Nova's Apartment – 1:12 AM.
She stood at the window, looking out at the dark city. Kade sat on her couch, eyes closed, shirt unbuttoned, bandage on his side.
He'd been attacked earlier that week during a routine sweep connected to Rayner's case. The knife wound was deep—but missed anything vital.
Still, it shook them both.
"You almost died," she said.
"I didn't."
"But you almost did."
Kade opened his eyes. "And the only thing I could think about was you. Crying in that hallway. Begging me to bring her back."
Nova turned.
He stood now, breath slower.
"I didn't save her," he said. "But I'd die trying to keep you safe."
Nova stepped closer. "You're not just her detective anymore."
"I never was."