Juno Blaze sat alone in the Velvet Atrium.
The velvet didn't respond to her touch. The mirrors didn't shimmer. The koi pond didn't ripple. She was the only one in Class Obsidian who didn't pulse.
She wasn't stitched.
She wasn't chosen.
She was built.
The Doubt
She stared at her hands.
They had always been steady. Always ready. Always burning.
But now they trembled.
She remembered the sealed room beneath the Noctis Tower — the flame that whispered "You are ignition."
She whispered back, "But what if I don't want to burn?"
The Confrontation
She found Headmistress Virelle in the Clock Room.
"I want to know what I am," Juno said.
Virelle didn't blink. "You are containment."
Juno's voice cracked. "And if I refuse?"
Virelle's eyes narrowed. "Then the school unravels."
Juno stepped forward. "Maybe it should."
The Choice
Juno returned to the sealed room.
The flame pulsed.
It whispered:
> "You were built to erase memory. To silence emotion. To protect the weave."
Juno whispered:
> "Then I choose to remember. I choose to feel. I choose to burn differently."
The flame flickered.
Then it bowed.
The Shift
Juno began to change.
Not visibly.
Emotionally.
She started dreaming.
She started pulsing.
She started cracking mirrors.
Nova Quinn gasped. "She's stitching herself."
Zephyr Vale murmured, "She's rewriting her thread."
Lyra smiled. "She's choosing her flame."
The Book Again
That night, the book pulsed.
New ink appeared:
> "The fire was built to burn. But even flame can choose what it consumes."
Maris whispered, "She's no longer the lock."
Lyra nodded. "She's the key."