A soft, painful murmur slipped from her throat, barely audible but enough to shatter the weight of silence that had coiled around the room.
"…Adrien…"
His name.
Her voice was strained, cracked like it had been dragged through fire and frost, but it was his name nonetheless. Her lashes fluttered weakly, and she forced her heavy eyes open—only partway. Just enough for a sliver of that grayish-pink light to peek through, now dimmed but still alive.
She blinked, slowly, as if the world was too much to take in all at once. Her gaze was hazy, unfocused, yet it found him—drawn like a tether pulled taut across the dark.
Adrien's heart slammed hard against his ribs. His grip on her hand tightened, grounding him in the only proof he had that she was truly here.
"Back from your little wonderland, Alice?" he murmured, voice low but thick with emotion.
Alicia's lips quirked, just slightly—a small, trembling thing. But it was a smile, soft and real.
