The mirror was covered now—an old linen shroud pinned tight to its frame. But that didn't stop Echo's whispers.
They came when Amelia closed her eyes.
They came when Kestrel kissed her.
They came in the silences between her breaths.
"He sees what he wants. Not what you are."
"Dominic broke you. I can put you back together."
Amelia pressed her palms to her temples. "Shut up."
But Echo wasn't screaming anymore. She was whispering like a friend. Like a lover. And part of Amelia wasn't afraid of her anymore.
In the lab beneath the monastery,
Eris worked with her sleeves rolled, sweat at her brow, a thousand lines of code splayed across six separate monitors. She hadn't slept in almost thirty hours.
The discovery came as a glitched ripple through old Mirror archives—buried deep beneath Project HEARTGLASS.
A forgotten subroutine: REVERSION_13.EXE
Its description: "Restoration of Original Sentience & Emotional Imprint."
It was, in theory, the key to restoring all of Amelia.
"Found something," Eris muttered into the comms. "But it's dangerous."
"How dangerous?" Kestrel's voice crackled through the speaker.
"Think nuclear surgery. If it works, it'll bring her whole self back. Full identity reintegration. But… it could also force a full Echo reboot."
There was silence on the line.
Then: "What does Dominic say?"
"He doesn't know yet," Eris replied. "And I'd rather keep it that way until I'm sure."
Meanwhile, in the upper monastery,
Dominic had been watching Amelia like a man monitoring the aftermath of an experiment he couldn't undo.
She moved with confidence now—but no warmth. She fought with skill—but no fear.
She was flawless. And it scared the hell out of him.
"You're better like this," he told her one night, voice low, almost apologetic. "You're not fractured anymore."
Amelia looked at him, her face expressionless. "You took the choice from me."
Dominic stiffened. "I saved you."
"Then why do I feel like a ghost of myself?"
He reached out to touch her shoulder.
She flinched.
Dominic's eyes hardened. "You're not Echo. You're not Kestrel's. You're mine, Amelia. You chose me before."
She met his gaze and said flatly, "Maybe I didn't know what I was choosing."
That night,
Kestrel found her alone in the greenhouse, surrounded by violet-leafed creepers blooming under artificial moonlight. She didn't move as he approached.
"I heard about Eris's find," he said quietly.
"You already knew, didn't you?"
"I felt it," Amelia said. "Something calling me back. Like there's still more of me waiting to come through."
He stepped closer. "Then why haven't you asked for it?"
"Because I'm afraid of what I'll lose. Of what Echo might become. Of who I might be without her."
Kestrel gently took her hand. "You don't have to choose between the pieces of yourself. You're not a puzzle. You're a storm."
Her eyes flicked to his, wide and aching.
"I feel echoes of how I used to love you," she whispered. "They're… sharp. Unfinished. I want to feel it again. Fully. Not like a memory in someone else's mouth."
"Then let me help you remember."
He leaned in and kissed her. This time, she kissed back with fire—uncontrolled, instinctive, real. Her hands tangled in his hair, his pressed to her waist.
But in the kiss, she felt it: a deep tremor, like two voices clashing. One her own. One… not.
She pulled back, panting. "It's now. It has to be now."
In the lab,
Eris was still calibrating the formula when Amelia walked in—alone, resolute.
"I want the code," she said. "Now."
Eris spun around. "Wait—Amelia, we haven't tested it, we don't even—"
"I choose both," Amelia said. "I want every part of me. Even the broken ones. Especially the broken ones."
Before Eris could stop her, Amelia grabbed the injector, stabbed it into her arm, and pressed the trigger.
A pulse of light burst beneath her skin. Her body seized.
Her scream was short—but not human.
In the control room,
Kestrel and Dominic came running—too late.
Eris's voice cracked. "She didn't wait. She just did it."
Amelia's body was convulsing on the floor, glowing veins pulsing like fire beneath her skin. Her breath caught. Then—
Flatline.
Monitors screamed. Pulse: 0. Brain activity: zero.
Dominic collapsed to his knees. "No. No—no"
Kestrel stood frozen, fists clenched.
For 72 seconds, time stood still.
Then—
Beep.
One slow heartbeat. Then another.
Amelia gasped awake, body arching.
Her eyes flared gold—then slowly dimmed.
She blinked. Then looked at each of them,
one by one.
"Kestrel," she whispered, voice cracking.
"Dominic. Eris."
Tears pooled. Real ones.
"I remember everything."
As they gathered around her, the comm crackled on the table beside them.
A woman's voice, smooth as silk and laced with venom, echoed through the room:
"Amelia. You've passed the first trial. Now come finish what we started."
Kestrel looked at the signal. It was pinging from a remote site—
Mirror Node 2.
Dominic stepped back. "That voice... that's not Echo."
Amelia stood slowly, heart pounding. "No," she said. "That's the one who made me."