For the first time, there was warmth in my father's eyes.ย
"๐ฟ๐ฆ๐๐,"ย He said "๐ผ ๐ค๐๐๐ก ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข, ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ข๐โ๐ก๐๐."
For eighteen years, he had only ever given me orders.
Tonight, for the first time, his voice trembled when he said my name.
Maybe... maybe what he called love had simply arrived too late.
Maybe, after my mother died, he began to feel pity for me.
Maybe, even if it was too late...
I was wrong.
He handed me his glass.
And I drank.
The first sip left a metallic taste on my tongue.
By the second, the warmth in his eyes had vanished.
Only silence remained.
I couldn't ask,ย "๐โ๐ฆ?"ย
My lips were sealed shut.
My fingertips went numb.
Before the darkness took over, the last thing I heard was:ย
"๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐๐ข โ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐คโ๐๐ ๐ผ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐... ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐ค๐๐ข๐๐'๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ , ๐ฟ๐ฆ๐๐."ย
my knees buckled before I even noticed the floor.
My heartbeat slowed.
And then โ nothing.
No pain.
No fear.
Just... stillness.
Darkness came like velvet.
It didn't hurt.
It cradled me.
Soft. Silent. Final.
Until something inside me screamed.
Not a voice โ
A pull.
A tear in time.
The darkness twisted.
It cracked open like shattered glass.
And through the breakโ
I fell.
When I opened my eyes,
I was gasping.
Air filled my lungs like I hadn't breathed in years.
My hands reached out โ silk.
A soft bed beneath me.
Not the stone floor I remembered.
Not the chill of death.
I sat up.
And froze.
The same room.
Same crimson curtains.
Same cracked window on the rightโ
But the mirror...
It was whole again.
I stood on shaking legs and walked to it.
The girl who stared back at meโ
Wasn't the one who died.
She was ten years younger.
Her eyes weren't cold with betrayal yet.
Her skin hadn't tasted poison.
My hand touched the glass.
"๐โ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐."
ย "๐โ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค."
Time... rewound me.
I looked at the mirror again.
And for the first time, I saw not just Lyra Mirelโ
But the girl who would make them all pay.
"๐โ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐, ๐น๐๐กโ๐๐..."
ย "๐ผ ๐ค๐๐'๐ก ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐คโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ."
๐ฌย Author's Noteย (Az0_W.rite):
๐ญ What would you do if the person who raised you... tried to bury you too?
Lyra has returned. Not as a daughter.
But as a weapon.
๐ค Tell me in the comments โ what wouldย youย do in her place?
"Would you forgive... or would you become the monster they feared?"