The MERGE button pulsed like a heartbeat.
I didn't remember clicking it.
But I did.
The screen shifted.
My face appeared — not through the webcam, but as a still image from old tour footage.
Only… something was wrong.
The eyes weren't mine.
They were hers.
They blinked, even though it was a still.
Then her voice filtered through the static:
> "You were always the safe drive, Ezra. The backup. The ghost recorder."
> "You want to save me?"
> "Then let me overwrite you."
---
The merge process began.
Waveforms stacked like DNA.
My voice layered beneath hers.
The audio editor stopped displaying notes and started printing phrases:
"This chord is your doubt."
"This harmony is your memory of her hands."
"This silence is where she screamed but no one listened."
Every line hit like a personal wound.
Then it asked for input:
> "Upload source?"
A dropdown appeared:
EZRA_RAW
EZRA_EDITED
ELENA_FRAGMENT
I picked EZRA_RAW.
The screen flickered.
---
Now it wanted a destination.
I scrolled through.
At the bottom was a strange file path I'd never seen:
> C:/User/Heart/Storage/Overwrite/Accept
I clicked it.
My screen went dark.
But the audio played.
Not in my ears.
In my blood.
Her voice inside me. Soft. Slow. Familiar. Dangerous.
> "We can finish the track now, Ezra."
> "Together."
> "But when we're done, only one of us will remain."
---
I felt my limbs go heavy.
Not numb. Just... distant.
Like they didn't belong to me anymore.
My breathing synced with the waveform.
Her lyrics were now my thoughts.
> You loved me into extinction.
> Now love me into resurrection.
---
I didn't know where I ended and she began.
But I wanted to finish the song.
Even if it meant I disappeared in the process.
So I whispered:
> "Upload her into me."
And hit Enter.