Chapter 6: She Knew Her Before the End
It was raining again.
Soft, cold, and almost mournful. The kind of rain that made the world look like a photograph left too long in water.
Selene didn't say much as they walked. She moved like a shadow—always ahead, never quite touching anything. She led Aria down winding alleys and quiet streets, past shuttered cafés and newsstands still filled with yesterday's headlines.
Somewhere behind them, sirens screamed.
A building was burning.
No one looked up.
⸻
"Where are we going?" Aria finally asked, voice raw from silence.
Selene didn't turn around. "Somewhere they won't look for you. Yet."
"You keep saying they… Who are they?"
Selene stopped walking.
Turned.
There was something ageless in her eyes now. Not cold. Not cruel. Just tired. As if she'd lived this before.
"They're not people anymore," Selene murmured. "Some of them never were."
⸻
The shelter was a forgotten art studio. Broken windows. Cracked marble floors. And the faint scent of turpentine and dust.
Selene locked the door behind them and lit a candle.
Aria sat on the floor. Her hands were shaking.
"…That place I went. It wasn't a dream."
"No," Selene said softly. "It wasn't."
"It felt… safe. Like time didn't move there."
"It didn't."
Aria looked up. "What do you know about it?"
Selene walked closer. The candlelight flickered across her face, making her expression unreadable.
"I know it's not supposed to exist," she said. "But you… you've always been the exception."
Aria blinked. "What?"
Selene hesitated. For the first time, the unshakable girl looked like she was choosing her words carefully.
"You don't remember me. Not yet," Selene whispered. "But I remembered you the moment I opened my eyes again."
Aria's breath caught.
"What are you talking about?"
Selene crouched beside her. Close enough that Aria could see the faint scar beneath her jaw. Close enough to hear her say:
"You're not the beginning of the end, Aria.
You're what comes after."
⸻
Outside, the rain turned to ash.
And across the city, something screamed with no mouth.