Yandere Stream

White swallowed everything.

Kai couldn’t see Luna.

Couldn’t hear Adrian.

Couldn’t feel Finn’s hand anymore.

For one terrifying moment, he thought the Archive had separated them again.

Then he heard a heartbeat.

Slow.

Steady.

Close.

Another heartbeat joined it.

Then another.

Kai opened his eyes.

He was lying on the floor of a bedroom.

Not his bedroom.

Cael’s.

He sat up slowly.

The room looked like the childhood bedroom from his memories, but there were differences. The walls were covered with drawings. Pages were taped everywhere. Some were covered in handwriting. Others had entire worlds sketched across them.

At the center of the room was a desk.

A very old computer sat on it.

Kai stood.

”Cael?”

No answer.

He looked around.

”Luna?”

Nothing.

”Adrian?”

Silence.

”Finn?”

Still nothing.

Kai’s heart began pounding.

Then he noticed something written on the wall.

DON’T PANIC.

Kai stared.

”Very helpful.”

A second sentence appeared beneath it.

YOU ALWAYS PANIC.

Kai sighed.

”Okay. That’s definitely me.”

The door opened.

Cael walked in.

He looked exactly like the boy Kai had seen before, except now he was older.

Not much older.

Maybe eighteen.

He wore a plain black shirt and jeans, and his hair was messy in the same way Kai’s had always been.

But his eyes were different.

They weren’t tired.

They weren’t afraid.

They were calm.

Too calm.

Kai stared at him.

”You’re real.”

Cael nodded.

”I am.”

”Where are the others?”

”Safe.”

Kai narrowed his eyes.

”You’re sure?”

”Yes.”

”How do you know?”

”Because I sent them somewhere else.”

Kai’s expression hardened.

”Why?”

Cael walked toward the desk.

”Because you needed to hear this without them.”

Kai frowned.

”I don’t like where this is going.”

”You never do.”

Cael sat down.

Kai remained standing.

”So tell me.”

Cael looked at the computer.

”The first thing you need to understand is that I didn’t create you.”

Kai stared.

”What?”

”You created me.”

Kai shook his head.

”No.”

”Yes.”

”You said you were the reason I exist.”

”I am.”

”Then how could I create you?”

Cael smiled.

”Because you don’t remember being first.”

He turned the computer toward Kai.

A single file was open.

PROJECT MERCER.

Kai stared at it.

”What’s that?”

”Everything.”

Cael clicked the file.

Hundreds of documents appeared.

Names.

Dates.

Timelines.

Memories.

Kai’s stomach dropped.

”How many?”

”Four.”

”Four what?”

”Versions.”

Cael clicked the first file.

CAEL.

The second.

KAI.

The third.

ADRIAN.

The fourth.

FINN.

Kai stared.

”Where’s Luna?”

Cael didn’t answer.

Kai looked at him.

”Where is she?”

Cael finally clicked another file.

LUNA — EXTERNAL VARIABLE.

Kai’s expression changed.

”External?”

”She wasn’t created.”

”Then what is she?”

Cael leaned back.

”That’s the part you aren’t going to like.”

Kai folded his arms.

”Try me.”

”Luna created you.”

Kai laughed.

”No.”

”I’m serious.”

”Luna was ten.”

”Not the Luna you know.”

Kai went silent.

Cael continued.

”The first Luna existed before any of us.”

”She found you.”

”When?”

”Before the story.”

Kai shook his head.

”I don’t remember.”

”Of course you don’t.”

Cael looked at the screen.

”That was the first thing she took from you.”

The computer displayed a memory.

Kai saw himself.

But not as a child.

As a newborn.

A hospital room.

His mother was crying.

Elias stood beside her.

And a little girl was sitting in a chair near the window.

Luna.

But she looked different.

Older.

Much older.

Kai stared.

”That’s impossible.”

Cael shook his head.

”Watch.”

The girl stood.

She walked toward the newborn Kai.

She placed her hand against his forehead.

The baby’s eyes opened.

Luna smiled.

”Hello.”

Kai’s breath caught.

She whispered something.

A single sentence.

”You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

The memory ended.

Kai couldn’t speak.

Cael looked at him.

”That’s when everything began.”

Kai stared at the blank screen.

”So she created me?”

”No.”

Cael shook his head.

”She gave you the idea.”

”What idea?”

”That someone could stay.”

Kai closed his eyes.

The answer suddenly made sense.

Adrian.

Finn.

The stories.

The endless rewrites.

The obsession with keeping people alive.

It hadn’t started with death.

It had started with loneliness.

The door behind Kai opened.

Luna stepped inside.

Kai turned immediately.

”Luna.”

She smiled.

”Hi.”

He walked toward her.

”Are you okay?”

”Yeah.”

”Where were you?”

”With Adrian and Finn.”

”Are they safe?”

She nodded.

Kai stared at her.

”How much do you remember?”

Luna’s smile faded.

”Enough.”

”Do you remember this?”

Kai pointed toward the screen.

She looked at it.

Her expression became unreadable.

”Yes.”

Kai’s heart sank.

”You knew.”

”I did.”

”Why didn’t you tell me?”

”Because you weren’t ready.”

Kai laughed bitterly.

”Apparently everyone knows something I’m not ready for.”

Luna stepped closer.

”I’m sorry.”

Kai looked at her.

”Did you create me?”

She shook her head.

”No.”

”Then what did you do?”

Luna took a breath.

”I found you.”

”Where?”

”In a place that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Kai frowned.

”What does that mean?”

”It means you were already there.”

She looked toward Cael.

”He was too.”

Cael nodded.

Luna continued.

”You were all fragments of the same person.”

Kai stared.

”Same person?”

Cael answered.

”Me.”

Kai looked at him.

”You?”

Cael nodded.

”Before the first story, there was only one consciousness.”

”Mine.”

”Then I split.”

Kai’s expression hardened.

”Why?”

”Because I couldn’t survive as one person.”

Cael looked down.

”I was lonely.”

Kai stared.

”I created versions of myself.”

”One became you.”

”One became Adrian.”

”One became Finn.”

Kai’s voice was quiet.

”And Luna?”

Cael looked at her.

”She was never part of me.”

Luna smiled.

”That’s why I could love all of you.”

Kai went completely still.

Cael continued.

”She was the only one who wasn’t a fragment.”

”The only person who could look at us and see individuals.”

Kai looked at Luna.

She reached for his hand.

He let her.

”So that’s why you always came back.”

She nodded.

”Yes.”

”Because you remembered me.”

”I remembered all of you.”

Kai swallowed.

”Even when I didn’t.”

”Especially then.”

A loud crack echoed through the room.

The computer screen shattered.

Cael stood immediately.

”He’s here.”

Kai’s expression changed.

”The Reader?”

Cael shook his head.

”No.”

”Then who?”

The lights went out.

A voice spoke from the darkness.

”You finally remembered.”

Kai froze.

He knew that voice.

Elias.

But something was wrong.

The voice wasn’t coming from outside.

It was coming from the computer.

The broken screen lit up.

Elias’s face appeared.

Not a recording.

He was looking directly at them.

”I was hoping you wouldn’t find Cael.”

Kai stepped closer.

”You knew.”

”Yes.”

”You knew everything.”

”Yes.”

”Then why did you let me keep forgetting?”

Elias’s expression became sad.

”Because forgetting was the only thing keeping you alive.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed.

”Alive from what?”

Elias looked at Cael.

”From yourself.”

Cael’s face became serious.

Elias continued.

”You’ve been trying to rebuild the original consciousness for years.”

Kai looked confused.

”I have?”

”Every story.”

”Every timeline.”

”Every reset.”

”Every character.”

”They were pieces.”

Kai’s blood ran cold.

”You were putting yourself back together.”

Elias nodded.

”And now...”

The computer screen flickered.

”...you’ve succeeded.”

Kai looked at Cael.

Cael looked back.

Then Kai felt something inside his chest.

A second heartbeat.

Not his.

Cael’s.

Luna stepped backward.

”Kai...”

Kai looked down.

Light began spreading beneath his skin.

His memories started overlapping.

His childhood.

Cael’s childhood.

Adrian’s memories.

Finn’s memories.

Luna’s memories.

All of them.

Everything.

Kai grabbed his head.

”Make it stop.”

Cael walked toward him.

”It can’t.”

”Why?”

”Because you’re remembering.”

Kai screamed.

The room shattered.

And when the light finally disappeared...

Kai opened his eyes.

He wasn’t Kai anymore.

He was all of them.

Cael.

Kai.

Adrian.

Finn.

Every version.

Every memory.

Every life.

Every ending.

Every beginning.

And standing in front of him...

Luna was crying.

She whispered his name.

Not Kai.

Not Cael.

Not Adrian.

Not Finn.

A name that none of them had ever heard before.

The name of the person they had all been.

”Eden.”

Kai looked at her.

And smiled.

For the first time...

He remembered everything.