Yandere Stream

For several seconds, Kai couldn’t move. The city had become a sea of broken glass and distant voices, yet somehow the loudest thing he could hear was his own breathing. The first page trembled between his fingers, the ink shifting across it as if the words were alive.

And this time, the boy gets to write himself.

He read the sentence again before lifting his eyes toward the man standing across from him.

Elias.

His father.

The man he had been told was dead before he was old enough to understand what death even meant.

”You lied to me.”

Elias didn’t deny it.

”Yes.”

Kai’s jaw tightened.

”Why?”

”Because if you knew who you were, you would’ve gone looking for the truth.”

”I did.”

”No.” Elias shook his head. ”You went looking for the story. There’s a difference.”

Kai stepped forward.

”You knew about all of this.”

”I knew enough.”

”You knew about Adrian.”

”Yes.”

”Finn?”

”Yes.”

”Luna?”

Elias glanced toward her.

”I knew her before you did.”

Luna’s expression hardened immediately.

”And you let him forget?”

Elias looked away.

”I didn’t have a choice.”

Kai laughed bitterly.

”Everybody keeps saying that.”

He took another step closer.

”Mom said she didn’t have a choice. The older Luna said she didn’t have a choice. The Reader acted like it didn’t have a choice. Now you’re telling me the same thing.”

Elias remained silent.

Kai’s voice rose.

”Then who actually made the choices?”

Elias looked directly into his eyes.

”You did.”

Kai froze.

”What?”

”You always did.”

Elias pointed toward the first page still clutched in Kai’s hand.

”Everyone thinks the Author was controlling you. That’s not what happened.”

He took a slow breath.

”The Author was protecting you from yourself.”

Kai stared.

”That doesn’t make sense.”

”It will.”

Elias looked toward the city.

”Because the person you think you are isn’t the person who started this.”

A scream suddenly echoed somewhere nearby.

Kai turned.

A woman stood in the middle of the street, looking terrified. A man ran toward her. They stopped inches apart and simply stared at each other. Then the woman began crying.

”I remember you.”

The man grabbed her shoulders.

”I thought you were dead.”

”I was.”

Kai watched them embrace. More people began appearing from every direction. Some clearly recognized one another. Others looked lost and confused. Many stood in the streets crying over memories they couldn’t explain.

Adrian looked around.

”These are the people from the old worlds.”

Elias nodded.

”The ones you erased.”

Kai felt his stomach tighten.

”I didn’t erase them.”

”You rejected their endings.”

Kai frowned.

”Isn’t that the same thing?”

”No.”

Elias pointed toward the growing crowd.

”Erasing someone means they’re gone. They were never gone.”

Kai looked at the people again.

”They were waiting.”

”Yes.”

”For what?”

Elias’s expression darkened.

”For you to remember them.”

The ground suddenly shook beneath their feet. A deep rumble rolled through the city. Buildings flickered strangely. For a brief second Kai saw the familiar city around him.

Then he saw something else.

A massive black structure towered beyond the skyline. Its surface was covered with thousands upon thousands of doors. Every door carried a name.

ADRIAN.

LUNA.

FINN.

KAI.

And countless others.

Kai stared.

”What is that?”

Elias looked toward it.

”The Archive.”

”Archive of what?”

”Everything you refused to finish.”

The structure began opening.

One door.

Then another.

Then hundreds.

Darkness spilled from every doorway. Figures stepped through. Some looked human. Some didn’t. Some were familiar. Others were complete strangers. One man walked past carrying a sword. A woman in a school uniform followed behind him. A child emerged from another doorway while a creature with glowing eyes crawled from the darkness of a different one.

Kai slowly backed away.

”This is insane.”

Adrian looked at him.

”You’re saying that like it hasn’t been insane for the last hundred Chapters.”

Kai glanced at him.

”Fair.”

Finn stared at the Archive.

”This is bad.”

Luna frowned.

”How bad?”

Finn didn’t answer.

Elias did.

”If the Archive opens completely, every possible version of your story becomes real.”

Kai stared.

”Every version?”

”Every choice.”

”Every ending?”

”Yes.”

”Every death?”

”Yes.”

”Every version of us?”

Elias nodded.

”Yes.”

Kai looked toward Adrian.

Adrian had gone pale.

”That means...”

Kai finished the thought.

”Some of them won’t be friendly.”

A door slammed open behind them.

A man stepped through.

Kai recognized him instantly.

Older.

Scarred.

Broken.

Adrian’s face changed.

”No.”

Kai looked at him.

”You know him?”

Adrian stepped backward.

”That’s me.”

The older Adrian smiled.

”Hello.”

Nobody moved.

The older Adrian looked almost identical to the one standing beside Kai, except his eyes were completely empty. His body was covered in scars and a long black coat stained with dried blood hung from his shoulders.

Kai stared.

”What happened to you?”

Older Adrian laughed.

”What happened?”

He looked toward his younger self.

”You happened.”

Adrian swallowed.

”I don’t know you.”

”You will.”

Older Adrian stepped forward.

”I remember every time you died.”

His eyes shifted toward Kai.

”And I remember every time he brought you back.”

Kai’s expression hardened.

”What do you want?”

”To finish what you started.”

Older Adrian pointed directly at him.

”You wanted a world where nobody controlled anyone.”

A smile spread across his face.

”Fine.”

He opened his arms.

”Then nobody gets controlled.”

The Archive shook violently. Doors began opening even faster.

Older Adrian’s smile widened.

”Not even the monsters.”

Luna moved closer to Kai.

”That’s not what you meant.”

Older Adrian looked at her.

”No.”

His expression turned cold.

”But it’s what you wrote.”

Kai felt heat spread through the first page in his hands. The words shifted again.

A story without an Author still needs consequences.

Kai looked toward Elias.

”What happens if I destroy the Archive?”

Elias didn’t answer immediately.

When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet.

”You destroy every version of yourself.”

Kai’s eyes widened.

”Every version?”

”Every possible Kai.”

Kai turned toward the Archive. Hundreds of doors stood open. Behind them were countless versions of himself. Heroes. Monsters. Children. Old men. Broken survivors. Happy strangers. Versions who had never met Luna. Versions who had never known Adrian. Versions who had never created a story at all.

Kai stared at them.

”So I’m supposed to let them all live?”

”No.”

Elias looked at him.

”You’re supposed to decide which one is you.”

Kai lowered his gaze to his hands.

For the first time, he understood what the first page had meant.

The boy gets to write himself.

Nobody else could decide who Kai Mercer was.

Not his father.

Not his mother.

Not the Reader.

Not the Author.

Not even the countless versions of himself scattered throughout endless worlds.

He had to decide.

Kai slowly stepped toward the Archive.

Luna grabbed his hand.

”Don’t go alone.”

He looked at her.

”I wasn’t planning to.”

Adrian stepped up beside him.

”Neither was I.”

Finn sighed dramatically.

”Guess I’m coming too.”

Kai smiled.

”You don’t have to.”

Finn gave him a flat look.

”Don’t start.”

Kai laughed.

Then he looked back at Elias.

”You coming?”

Elias shook his head.

”No.”

”Why?”

”Because this is yours.”

Kai nodded before stopping.

”One more thing.”

Elias looked at him.

”Why did Mom tell me you were dead?”

For the first time, Elias looked distant.

”Because technically...”

His gaze shifted toward the Archive.

”...I was.”

Kai frowned.

”What does that mean?”

Elias smiled sadly.

”You’ll understand when you reach the last door.”

Suddenly the doors of the Archive began slamming shut one after another. A massive countdown appeared across the sky.

100. 101. 102.

Kai’s eyes widened.

”What’s happening?”

Elias looked toward the structure.

”The Archive is choosing.”

”Choosing what?”

”Which story gets to survive.”

The number changed again.

97.

Kai tightened his grip on Luna’s hand.

”Then let’s make sure it chooses ours.”

They ran.

Behind them, Elias remained beneath the shattered streetlights, watching his son disappear into the Archive. A faint smile appeared on his face.

”Good.”

His voice was barely a whisper.

”Now you can finally meet the real me.”

The countdown continued.

96. 97.

And somewhere deep within the Archive, a single door slowly opened. A name was written across it.

Not Kai.

Not Luna.

Not Adrian.

Not Finn.

A name Kai had never heard before.

Yet the moment he saw it, something deep inside him stirred.

He remembered loving it.

MERCER.