I hadn't told them yet.
But they knew.
It hung in the air now, soft and sharp like rain before a storm. Every smile lasted a second too long. Every glance held the shadow of something unsaid. They hadn't asked for confirmation. Maybe they were afraid to hear it out loud.
Maybe I was afraid to say it.
Because once I did, it would become real.
I was leaving.
The academy. The story. The five impossible girls who had once been nothing more than lines on a page.
Now they were everything.
And I didn't know how to breathe without them.
But tonight—tonight was mine. Ours.
It began with a letter.
Slipped under my door just past twilight, folded neatly in Lillian's elegant script.
The rooftop. One hour before midnight. Come as you are.
Nothing more.
No teasing. No questions. No promises.
Just an invitation.
And I went.
The academy had long gone quiet. The celebration had ended. The lanterns were gone now—only stars remained, scattered like salt across the sky.
I climbed the steps, one by one, my heart beating louder than my footsteps.
When I opened the rooftop door, they were waiting.
All five of them.
Lillian stood nearest the edge, wind tugging gently at her pink gown, her gaze turned upward to the stars. Diana was lounging against a stone pillar, arms crossed, emerald eyes sharp with emotion she wasn't ready to name. Camille leaned on the railing, silent and still, her platinum hair gleaming like frost under moonlight.
Claire sat on the floor, legs crossed, camera resting in her lap—forgotten for once.
Tessa stood apart.
Just slightly.
Like a shadow.
But her eyes met mine first.
I stepped forward.
None of them spoke.
I didn't either.
Instead, I walked to the center of the rooftop, into the circle they'd made without realizing it. The night air wrapped around me, cool and thin, carrying the scent of garden soil, old stone, and the faintest trace of perfume.
"I don't want this to be goodbye," I said finally, my voice small in the open air.
"It isn't," Lillian whispered. "Not yet."
Diana pushed off the pillar. "That's what this is for."
Camille turned, walking to me. "One last night."
"One we don't forget," Claire said softly.
They stepped closer.
All of them.
The space between us melted.
Tessa's voice broke the silence next. "No masks tonight."
"No pretending," Camille added.
"No questions," said Diana.
"No regrets," Claire finished.
And Lillian…
She reached for my hand.
"Only you," she said. "Only us."
And just like that, something shattered quietly inside me.
I didn't know who reached for me first.
Maybe it was Claire, pulling me down onto the blankets they'd spread across the floor. Maybe it was Camille, brushing a hand through my hair as if committing the texture to memory. Maybe it was Diana's hands on my shoulders, grounding me, or Lillian's whisper in my ear, or the way Tessa gently brushed her thumb along my cheekbone like I might break.
But suddenly I was in the center of all of them.
Held. Surrounded.
Loved.
I had never felt so exposed.
Or so safe.
There was laughter at first. The kind that spills out in soft waves when no one wants to cry yet. Claire made a dumb joke about the moon. Diana rolled her eyes. Camille leaned against my side and told me my hair looked like moonlight dipped in gold.
And then…
Then it was quiet again.
Hands.
Fingers tracing the shape of me like I was a constellation they were afraid to forget.
A kiss at my neck.
A soft breath against my shoulder.
Fabric slipping.
The warmth of Lillian's lips just below my ear.
Camille's voice, a murmur against my spine. "You're beautiful when you let go."
I trembled.
Not from fear.
From too much tenderness.
Too much love.
Tessa's hand found mine, her fingers curling around mine tightly—tighter than anyone else's. She never said the words. She didn't have to.
They were all around me.
In every touch.
In every glance.
And when we moved—together—it wasn't chaotic. It wasn't competitive.
It was worship.
Claire whispered that I was everything.
Camille kissed me like I was something sacred.
Diana teased and praised me in the same breath, her voice trembling under the weight of control she almost lost.
Lillian held me like she was offering up her heart in pieces.
Tessa never looked away.
The night slowed.
Stretched.
Warmed.
And when I lay there—limbs tangled with theirs, my skin still tingling with the memory of their mouths, their hands, their breath—I realized something.
This was the end.
But it wasn't a goodbye.
It was a gift.
A memory.
A promise that I had been loved completely. Fully. Without limits.
And as we drifted into sleep, curled around each other under the open stars, I knew that no matter where I went next…
They would always be with me.
The morning light was different.
Gentler.
Like it knew something had ended.
I woke in silence, surrounded by warmth—limbs tangled around mine, breath soft against my neck, the scent of skin and flowers and night still clinging to the air.
Claire was draped half across my back, her fingers still twined in my shirt. Diana slept facing me, one hand beneath her cheek, the other loosely curled around my wrist like she'd been holding on in her sleep. Camille lay behind me, her breath slow and steady, an arm across my waist.
Lillian was closest to the open balcony doors, the light catching in her pink hair, glowing like rose gold. Her face was turned slightly toward me, serene.
And Tessa?
She hadn't slept.
She sat in the chair by the window, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them, watching the sky turn from lilac to gold.
Our eyes met.
She didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
I closed my eyes again, just for a moment.
Just to hold onto it.
But time… always moves.
And I had already decided.
I dressed quietly.
Carefully.
The uniform I'd first worn at this academy felt heavier now. The white jacket with gold embroidery, the fitted gloves, the polished boots. I pulled my hair back, tying the black bow behind my head one final time.
When I stood at the door, I turned back.
They were still asleep, all of them.
Still warm. Still close. Still here.
I didn't want to wake them.
I couldn't.
So instead—
I left the letters.
One for each.
Tucked into their shoes. Folded beneath a sleeve. Placed gently beneath a hand.
Nothing long.
Nothing final.
Just words.
Thank you. I love you. I will always carry you with me.
I stepped out.
And didn't look back.
The halls were empty.
No one knew I was leaving.
Or maybe they did, and they were just kind enough not to stop me.
The path to the southern gate was long and quiet. Mist curled through the garden hedges. The trellises were still draped in silver-lilies, petals beginning to fall. I reached the gate slowly, hands buried in my coat pockets, the wind catching the edge of my cape.
And then—
A voice.
"Sera!"
I turned.
Lillian stood there, breathless, hair tangled from sleep, wearing only a thin wrap over her nightgown. Behind her, Claire ran to catch up, holding her shoes in one hand and my letter in the other, crumpled from how tightly she'd held it.
Camille walked behind them, silent but composed, eyes wide.
Tessa was last. Diana too. Both slower.
But they came.
All of them.
They stood in front of me like the world was ending.
"You weren't going to say goodbye?" Claire's voice cracked.
"I couldn't," I whispered.
Lillian stepped forward. "You were just going to disappear?"
"No," I said. "I was going to live."
They fell quiet.
I took a breath.
"I stayed because of you," I said. "Because this became more than a story. More than survival. I stayed because you made me feel like a person again."
Camille looked down, then up. "So why go?"
"Because I don't know who I am if I stay in a place where I'm everything to everyone."
Diana stepped forward, her arms crossed tightly. "You're selfish."
"I am," I agreed. "But not for leaving. For staying this long."
Lillian swallowed. "Will you come back?"
"I don't know."
Claire's face fell.
"But I promise," I said, voice breaking, "I will write. I will never forget. I will love you, even if I don't know how to carry all of it at once."
They didn't argue.
They just… stood there.
Five girls.
Five hearts.
Each of them holding something I couldn't take with me.
Each of them holding me.
I turned.
Walked past the gate.
Didn't look back.
Didn't breathe.
Until I was far enough to cry.
Years passed.
Or maybe just enough time to call it "after."
The academy remained, distant and glittering in the past. My name faded from the rosters. Life went on.
But then—
A letter.
One day.
Five letters, actually.
Unsent for months. Maybe years.
Until I finally folded them, sealed them, and wrote the names by hand.
Lillian. Diana. Claire. Camille. Tessa.
I didn't say where I was.
Only:
I miss you. I think of you every day. Thank you for loving me. If you still think of me too… then maybe, someday, find me.
And then…
One final scene.
The sound of footsteps on stone.
A voice—soft, familiar, bright.
"Sera?"
I turned.
Then another. "There you are."
And another.
"Hey, idiot."
"I told you we'd find her."
"Sera."
I looked up.
Five voices.
Five smiles.
And me—
Smiling.
Before I said anything…
The story ended.
Right there.
Where it always began.
With them.