When She Opens Her Eyes

"The worst kind of goodbye is the one you never realized was a hello."

Viraj had fought wars against time itself. He had seen paradoxes unravel entire realities, had stared into the abyss of nonexistence—but nothing compared to this moment.

Because Aditi was waking up.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and the stillness that had held her in place began to break. A breath hitched in her throat as though her body had been frozen for centuries and was only now remembering how to move.

Viraj felt his heart hammering.

Lucius took a slow step back. “I don’t know if I should be relieved or absolutely terrified.”

Viraj’s alternate self said nothing. He just watched—waiting.

Then, Aditi’s gaze finally lifted.

She blinked once. Then twice. And when she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

“You came for me.”

Viraj felt something inside him fracture.

She was here. Really here.

He exhaled sharply, stepping forward. “Of course, I did.”

Aditi’s eyes locked onto him, searching, trying to understand. “But you shouldn’t have.”

Viraj’s steps faltered. “What?”

Her lips parted as though forming words was difficult, as though a battle was being fought in her mind that she couldn’t yet explain. Then, she looked past him—at the city of broken timelines, at the graveyard of discarded realities.

Her entire body went rigid.

Viraj followed her gaze. She recognized this place.

His stomach twisted.

Aditi had been here before.

Before he could ask, she spoke again, her voice steadier now. "How long have I been gone?"

Viraj hesitated. "Aditi, you weren't gone. You—"

She shook her head, cutting him off. "No. Tell me the truth."

He swallowed. “Years.”

Something flickered across her expression, something like grief and understanding intertwined.

Lucius scratched his head. “Okay, just checking—do you remember, uh, how you got here?”

Aditi’s gaze flicked to him, then back to Viraj. “Yes.”

Lucius raised an eyebrow. “Cool. Feel like sharing?”

Aditi exhaled slowly, then looked at Viraj’s alternate self—the one who had stood silently, watching everything unfold. Her voice was soft but certain.

"You told him, didn’t you?"

Viraj tensed. “Told me what?”

The alternate Viraj met Aditi’s gaze with something almost like sorrow. “That you’re the missing piece. That the cycle ends with you.”

Aditi didn’t react with surprise. She already knew.

Viraj’s breath caught.

“Aditi,” he said carefully, “what does he mean?”

She finally turned fully to him, her eyes filled with something he had never seen in them before.

Resignation.

“Viraj... I was never supposed to exist in your timeline.”

Silence.

Lucius’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

Viraj’s hands clenched. “That’s not possible.”

Aditi smiled faintly, sadly. “It is. I was never meant to be part of your reality, Viraj. I was—” She hesitated, looking for the right words. “I was an anomaly. A tear in time. And the moment you started fighting the Timeborne, the moment you refused to let go... the universe started trying to correct itself.”

Viraj shook his head. “No. That doesn’t make sense. I—”

Aditi stepped closer, placing a hand over his. “Viraj. You fought so hard to keep me. But some things... some things were never ours to hold on to.”

The words cut deeper than anything ever had.

Viraj felt his chest tighten. No. No, this wasn’t right.

He had fought across time itself to find her. To save her.

He hadn’t come all this way just to hear her say she was never supposed to be here.

Lucius ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. So what, the universe is just trying to erase you? That’s ridiculous.”

Aditi exhaled. “Not erase me.” She looked toward the shifting sky above them, the endless spirals of time collapsing in on themselves. “Return me.”

Viraj’s blood ran cold. “Return you to what?”

Aditi hesitated. Then, finally—

“The Timeborne.”

Everything stopped.