The door groaned as it opened...
Zayaan stood just behind it, gun holstered but visible. Not threatening — just honest.
Kiran didn't flinch.
She was older than Arwa remembered — or maybe just more tired. Her hair was pulled back in a tight...frayed braid. Her eyes flicked past Zayaan in a heartbeat, settling on Arwa like they'd been waiting to land.
And for a second, nobody moved.
Then Kiran breathed out — not a word, not a greeting. Just breath, like she'd been holding it since the day Arwa disappeared.
"You're real," she whispered.
Arwa's throat burned. "Yeah."
Kiran stepped forward slowly, her hands open at her sides — not quite reaching for a hug, but close. Her voice cracked around the edges.
"They told us you died."
"They tried," Arwa said quietly.
Kiran blinked hard. "I—I have so much to tell you. But I didn't even know if you'd remember me."
"I didn't. Not until just now."
That landed heavier than either of them expected. Arwa saw it in the way Kiran's shoulders folded in on themselves, like she'd been bracing for that moment. For not being enough to spark anything.
But then Arwa stepped forward and did something she hadn't done since this all began — she reached.
Their arms wrapped around each other in an awkward, too-tight hug. Not graceful...Not gentle...But it held.
When they pulled apart, Zayaan motioned them both inside. "We can talk, but not out here."
The safehouse swallowed them again. The lights hummed overhead. And for the first time, three felt like a crowd in the best way.
Kiran looked around. "You still keep your emergency setups in industrial ruins, huh?"
Zayaan smirked faintly. "Nostalgia's a hell of a thing."
But the smile didn't hold long.
Kiran dropped her bag onto the table and pulled out a drive. "I don't have much time. They'll be tracking the leak within the hour. But I found something."
She plugged it into the burner terminal. A grainy image flickered onto the screen — surveillance footage. A hallway. Two men in coats walking fast, whispering. The audio was low, but just enough came through.
"…Arwa. She's showing signs again."
"…then we'll have to restart the cycle."
Kiran paused the video.
"That was taken a week ago. They didn't know you were out yet. They think you're still on lockdown inside that compound."
Arwa's eyes stayed glued to the screen. "Restart the cycle. What does that mean?"
Kiran hesitated. "They never let us close to the real data. But there were whispers. About memory loops. Controlled resets. Every time someone remembered too much… they wiped and reprogrammed."
Arwa's stomach dropped.
Zayaan ran a hand through his hair. "Which means the longer you stay conscious of this reality, the closer you are to being hunted again."
Kiran nodded. "They never wanted you to stay awake."
Silence.
Arwa's voice was low when she finally spoke. "I want the whole file. All of it. Everything they had on me. Everything they erased."
Kiran nodded, digging deeper into her bag. "Then you'll need this."
She slid a black keycard across the table.
"This gets you into Sublevel 3 of the Asra Facility. The real lab. Not the one they show their board members. It's where the originals are stored."
Arwa stared at the card like it burned. "How did you get this?"
Kiran's eyes darkened. "I made sacrifices."
Another silence.
Zayaan reached for the keycard. "If we do this, there's no turning back. They'll know the second we breach the lower levels."
Arwa didn't flinch.
"Let them know. I'm done forgetting."
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