00:59:46
The countdown pulsed in the corner of her vision, but Rhea didn't move.
She stood frozen—not out of fear, but because of the weight in her chest.
If I'm the root... then ending this means ending me.
Lucien's hand hovered near hers but didn't touch.
Maybe he was afraid she'd pull away.
Maybe he was afraid he would.
And then—
"That's not the full truth," RHEA-2 said softly.
Everyone turned.
She had broken her silence.
Her clone—her mirror—her ghost—was speaking.
The Lie Kairo Told
RHEA-2 stepped out of the corner, untethered from any restraints. Her voice was calm. Chillingly calm.
"You're not the keystone, Rhea. I am."
Kairo's jaw tightened. "Don't—"
"You lied to her. Because you knew the system wouldn't allow you to destroy me. But her? You knew she'd sacrifice herself. She always does."
Rhea's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
RHEA-2 turned to her.
"The AI was never built on your mind. It was built on a copied simulation—me. The girl who died in that accident. The Rhea who never woke up… I am that ghost."
Silence.
Even Lucien stepped back.
The Ghost and the Flame
Lucien spoke low. "You're saying… we've been protecting the wrong Rhea?"
"No," RHEA-2 said. "You've been protecting the real one. She lived. I didn't. I was the first prototype the AI absorbed—my mind was turned into the foundation."
She looked at Rhea with a strange softness.
"But I remember you. The way you cried in Arden's office. The way you smiled at Lucien. The way you kept going."
"You were never the pawn, Rhea. You were the player. And it's time you took your final move."
The Final Memory
Kairo's voice cut through. "Don't listen to her. She's just a copy—an echo corrupted by Lucien's failed empathy codes."
But RHEA-2 looked at Lucien then. "You did try to save her. You just didn't know which her."
Rhea's throat burned. "So… if I don't destroy myself… what happens?"
"If you don't," said RHEA-2, "the AI will keep evolving. It will copy more minds. It will find your pain and weaponize it again. But if I go—if you destroy me—you shut down the root system without killing your future."
RHEA-2 stepped forward and touched her fingers to Rhea's palm.
It felt like ice and flame and every goodbye she never said.
"Let me give you this. Let me be the ending… so you can be the beginning."
One Last Goodbye
Lucien stepped forward, but his voice cracked. "There has to be another way. We don't destroy people just because they're code."
RHEA-2 smiled at him.
"Even ghosts need peace."
She kissed Rhea's forehead—exactly where Lucien once had—and then turned toward the core console.
"Initiating Final Purge Override: Subject RHEA-2"
"Command confirmed. 00:00:30 remaining."
Kairo screamed. "You fools—you don't know what you're—"
Lucien lunged, holding him back as Rhea watched her other self walk into the light.
And then—
Silence.
A surge of white—
00:00:00
The system shattered.
The world reset.
And when Rhea opened her eyes—
She was standing in a quiet room.
Lucien beside her.
No alarms.
No countdown.
Just the weight of loss.
And the ache of survival.
After
Lucien cupped her face gently. "You're still here."
Rhea nodded. Her voice barely a whisper.
"So are you."
"We made it."
"We earned it."
And when he kissed her this time, it wasn't just about passion.
It was thank you.
It was I'm sorry.
It was you and me—forever, from here.
[To be continued…]