Chapter 10: The Night She Kept Burning
Selene didn't sleep.
She sat on the edge of the bed, spine straight, arms resting on her knees, eyes fixed on the shadows curling across the hotel's peeling ceiling. The faint hum of electricity still ran through the old building, just enough to keep the lights buzzing, just enough to keep the illusion of normalcy. But outside, the world wasn't quiet.
The city kept moaning — low, guttural sounds like metal twisting underwater, like streets trying to shift themselves back into place. Rain tapped against the windows in a rhythm too steady to be natural. It wasn't water anymore. Not really.
Aria slept beside her.
Tangled in the thin hotel sheets, one arm curled under her head, her lips slightly parted. She breathed like someone still halfway between dreams and remembering. Her skin glowed faintly in the flickering light, hair splayed across the pillow like spilled ink.
Selene watched her.
Not in a romantic way. Not in that easy, storybook kind of watching. It was the kind of gaze you gave to something you'd already lost once. Careful. Quiet. Reverent. Like if she blinked, it might all vanish again.
Aria stirred, a soft hum leaving her throat as her brows pulled together.
Selene didn't touch her.
But she whispered, just barely, "You're safe."
Aria blinked awake, slow and disoriented. Her voice was still scratchy when she said, "Are you always this creepy in the morning?"
Selene smirked. "Only when I'm guarding sleeping civilians from ancient horrors and malfunctioning streetlights."
"Ah," Aria mumbled. "So, Tuesdays."
She didn't sit up. Just shifted, letting the blanket fall off one shoulder, her fingers grazing the edge of Selene's knee without thinking.
"I had another weird dream," Aria murmured. "The field again. But this time I wasn't scared. It felt… warm."
Selene didn't answer right away. Her expression stayed still, unreadable.
Inside, though, her thoughts moved fast.
It's happening.
Not fully — but Aria's bloodline was stirring. The hunger would come next. The ache. And when it hit, it would be wildfire. They couldn't leave the city. Not until Aria was stable, anchored.
And of course… Elara was here.
Selene narrowed her eyes slightly.
Different this time. In the last version of this timeline, Elara showed up later. The connection was sharp, but newer. More distant.
But here?
This Elara had been Aria's neighbor. Her playmate. One of her earliest bonds. She was tangled in Aria's roots, whether she meant to be or not.
And Selene didn't like how natural it felt. How easily Aria said her name now.
Aria tilted her head, sensing the silence stretch too long. "It's not just a dream, is it?"
"No," Selene said finally.
"It's like… that place knows me. Like it's mine, but I forgot it existed."
"It is yours," Selene said. "You created it without meaning to. A part of your bloodline. It's a sanctuary. But it won't open fully until you're ready. Until you're awakened."
Aria's lips parted slightly. "And Elara?"
"She's still the key," Selene said carefully.
Aria nodded, not surprised.
"She's always been warm," she said softly. "Even when we were kids. She used to grab my hand like I was already hers."
That made something curl tight in Selene's chest.
Too familiar. Too easy.
"I remember her in the other version," Selene said. "We met her later. She didn't mean as much then."
"But she does now?"
"She does to you," Selene said. She hated how sharp it came out. "That's what matters."
Aria glanced over, curious. "You jealous?"
Selene arched a brow. "No."
Aria gave her a look.
"Okay," Selene added with a smirk. "Maybe a little. She's just… clingy."
"You think everyone who looks at me is clingy."
"They usually are."
Aria tried to bite back a smile. "You're such a brat."
"And you're blushing again," Selene pointed out, eyes gleaming.
"I am not."
"You are." She leaned in, lowering her voice. "So… do you have a crush on her?"
Aria groaned, hiding her face in the pillow. "I hate you."
"No, you don't," Selene whispered.
Then she kissed her. Slow. Steady. Just enough to remind her who she kissed first in this timeline.
Aria melted into it. No resistance. Just heat meeting cold.
And Selene thought, not for the first time,
Let her crave. Let her awaken. But let her still be mine.
Selene stood up, her shadow stretching over the floor. "We can't stay here much longer."
"I know."
"The lights won't last. And if they don't know where we are yet, they will soon."
Aria reached for her phone, which was half - dead on the nightstand. A single message blinked on the cracked screen.
[JULES]
They've moved the safe zone east. Niko and I are heading there now. You still have time to join us. But you'll need to decide soon.
Aria didn't reply immediately. She stared at the text like it was a riddle that meant more than it said.
Selene noticed. "You trust them?"
"I trust Jules. Niko's… Niko. They're not bad people."
"But not safe either."
"Who is anymore?"
Selene didn't respond. She turned, moving through the small room, gathering what little gear they had — a couple protein bars, a flashlight with dying batteries, a switchblade with a cracked handle.
"I need to show you something," she said finally. "Before we even think about going to Jules."
Aria stood up slowly, still barefoot, hair a mess, but there was something clearer in her eyes now. "Where?"
Selene looked out the window. The rain had slowed, but the ash hadn't stopped. It drifted sideways now, floating in lazy spirals.
"A place that remembers us," she said. "Even if you don't remember it yet."
They left the hotel together.
The halls were quieter now, like the building knew it was emptying out for good. Elevator dead. Stairwell reeking of mold and burned carpet. Every step they took echoed like it didn't belong to them.
Outside, the world was still a bad dream trying to reset.
Street signs bent in the wrong directions. A taxi smoldered in the middle of an intersection, the fire long since gone, but the smell still clinging. Billboards flickered with ads for things that never existed. The air tasted like battery acid and memory.
Selene led them through back alleys, away from where the sirens still whined and the shadows leaned too long.
They passed the mural again.
The one of the girl reading.
This time, Aria paused. "Why does that feel familiar?"
Selene just looked at her. "Because you were the one who painted it."
Aria blinked. "I can't paint."
"You could then."
She didn't push it further. Just started walking again. Aria followed.
The studio was hidden behind an old storage unit, three blocks into the collapsed edge of the Old Quarter. Ivy hung low over the door, trying to erase it from the world.
Selene knocked three times.
A pause. Then she pushed the door open.
Inside, the air changed.
Warmer. Older. It smelled like turpentine and dust, like canvases and rain - soaked pages.
Aria stepped inside, slow, quiet, eyes wide.
"This place…"
"You used to come here when you needed to breathe," Selene said. "Back when the war was just starting. Before it all fell apart."
Aria touched the edge of a broken easel. Dust clung to her fingers like proof.
"I don't remember," she whispered.
"You will."
Selene moved to a cabinet near the wall, pulling it open to reveal stacks of faded sketches and photos. She dug through them until she found it — a photo, folded and yellowed at the edges.
She handed it to Aria.
The girl in the picture was smiling in front of a mural. The same mural they passed earlier.
"I…" Aria swallowed. "That's me."
Selene nodded. "And that mural? You painted it. Just before you burned everything to protect what was left."
"I don't understand."
"You're not supposed to yet."
Aria sank down onto the old bench near the wall, the photo trembling slightly in her hand.
"This all feels fake," she whispered. "Like I stepped into someone else's movie halfway through."
"It's not fake." Selene crouched in front of her. "It's just unfinished."
Aria looked up. "And what if I don't want to be whoever I was before?"
"Then be someone new. But don't ignore the part of you that already bled for this world."
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message from Jules.
[JULES]
Last chance. We're heading underground soon. If you're coming, tell me now. If not, we'll try again if we make it back up.
Aria stared at the message. Then looked at Selene.
"I'm not going yet," she said. "Not until I figure this out. Not until I remember enough to know what I'm walking into."
Selene didn't smile. But her shoulders relaxed just slightly.
"Good," she said. "Because it's not just about running anymore."
They didn't speak for a long time.
Outside, the ash began to slow.
Somewhere deep in the city, power lines buzzed like nerves trying to remember how to feel.
And far beneath the broken skyline, something stirred.
Something waiting.
Something old.
But for now, in this forgotten studio, Aria Solenne sat with a photo of herself smiling in front of a mural she didn't remember painting — and felt, for the first time in years, that maybe the world wasn't done with her yet.
Maybe some things still burned for a reason.
And maybe — just maybe — she was one of them.