Yandere Stream

Eden couldn’t move.

Mira stood in the doorway as though she had been there all night, patiently waiting for someone to finally notice her. She looked young, but there was something ancient in the way she carried herself. Her black hair fell loosely around her shoulders, and the scar crossing her face disappeared beneath one eyebrow before continuing toward her temple. She didn’t look angry. She didn’t look happy either. She looked relieved.

Luna stood beside her with tears silently running down her cheeks.

Eden looked from one sister to the other.

”You have a sister.”

Luna nodded.

”You erased her.”

Another nod.

”And you made me forget her.”

Luna closed her eyes.

”Yes.”

Eden took a slow breath.

”Why?”

Mira answered before Luna could.

”Because she was afraid.”

Luna’s eyes snapped open.

”Don’t.”

Mira ignored her.

”She was afraid you’d choose me.”

Eden stared at Luna.

”Is that true?”

Luna’s lips trembled.

”I didn’t know what else to do.”

”That isn’t an answer.”

”I know.”

”You could have told me.”

”You would have chosen her.”

The words were so quiet that Eden almost missed them.

Luna looked at Mira.

”You always did.”

Mira’s expression softened.

”And you hated me for it.”

”I loved you.”

”You loved him more.”

Luna shook her head immediately.

”No. That’s not what happened.”

Mira gave her a sad smile.

”You don’t have to lie anymore.”

Eden stepped between them.

”Enough.”

Both women turned toward him.

He looked at Luna first.

”You said you wanted me to choose you.”

”I did.”

”And you thought if I remembered her, I wouldn’t.”

Luna nodded.

”So you erased her.”

”Yes.”

Eden’s voice became quieter.

”You didn’t trust me.”

Luna lowered her gaze.

”No.”

That answer hurt more than an excuse ever could.

Eden turned toward Mira.

”And you?”

Mira met his eyes.

”I never wanted you to forget me.”

”Then why didn’t you stop her?”

”Because I couldn’t.”

”Why?”

Mira glanced toward the sky.

”Because Luna wasn’t the one who erased me.”

Eden froze.

”What?”

Luna’s face immediately went pale.

Mira looked directly at him.

”You did.”

Silence filled the room.

Eden stared at her.

”No.”

”Yes.”

”I didn’t even remember you existed.”

”Exactly.”

Mira stepped forward.

”You erased me before you became Eden.”

His thoughts began racing.

”Then why did Luna say she did?”

”Because she helped.”

”Mira...”

Luna’s voice barely rose above a whisper.

Mira looked at her.

”You did.”

”I didn’t know what he was going to do.”

”You knew enough.”

Eden raised a hand.

”Stop.”

They immediately fell silent.

He looked at Mira.

”Tell me everything.”

Mira nodded.

”Before Kai Mercer. Before Cael. Before the Archive. Before the Reader. There was Eden.”

He listened without interrupting.

”You were a child carrying too many memories and no way to bear them. You created people because you couldn’t understand why you were alone. Cael was your first attempt to divide yourself. Adrian came after him. Finn came later.”

She paused.

”And then there was me.”

”What were you?”

Mira smiled faintly.

”The first person you created who wasn’t a piece of yourself.”

Eden’s expression changed.

”Like Luna.”

”No.”

Mira shook her head.

”Luna wasn’t created by you.”

She looked toward her sister.

”She was created by what you felt for me.”

Eden stared at Luna.

Mira continued.

”When you realized you loved me, you couldn’t understand the feeling. So you gave it a form.”

Luna looked away.

”That form became Luna.”

A strange pressure formed inside Eden’s chest.

”So Luna is...”

”The part of you that wanted to love without being hurt.”

Mira turned toward Luna.

”And I was the person who taught you what love was.”

Luna’s eyes filled with tears.

”That isn’t fair.”

Mira’s expression hardened.

”Neither was forgetting me.”

Eden looked between them.

”So what happened?”

Mira took a slow breath.

”You grew afraid.”

”Of what?”

”Losing me.”

The answer came instantly.

Eden frowned.

”Why would I lose you?”

”Because I was dying.”

The room fell completely silent.

Luna lowered her head.

Mira continued.

”My body was failing. Your world was failing with it. You couldn’t accept either.”

A memory flashed through Eden’s mind.

A hospital room.

A girl lying in bed.

His hand wrapped around hers.

Machines beeping.

Luna crying outside the room.

Mira whispering softly.

Don’t let me become a memory.

Eden staggered backward.

”I remember.”

Mira nodded.

”You do now.”

He pressed a hand against his forehead.

”I promised you.”

”Yes.”

”I promised I’d save you.”

”Yes.”

”But I couldn’t.”

”No.”

Eden looked at Luna.

”And that’s when she erased you.”

Mira shook her head.

”No.”

Eden looked at her in confusion.

”I erased myself.”

He stared.

”You?”

”I knew what you would do if I died.”

Her voice softened.

”You would rewrite reality until you found a version where I survived.”

Eden remembered.

Hundreds of worlds.

Thousands of attempts.

Every timeline ending the same way.

Every time Mira died.

Every time he rewrote reality.

Every time something else broke.

Mira continued.

”I realized the only way to stop you was to make you forget me.”

Eden whispered,

”You asked Luna to do it.”

”Yes.”

”Why?”

”Because Luna was the only person you trusted enough to let inside your memories.”

He looked at Luna.

She nodded through her tears.

”I promised Mira I’d protect you.”

Mira smiled sadly.

”And she did.”

Eden looked at her.

”By making me forget.”

”Yes.”

”You both decided for me.”

Mira nodded.

”Yes.”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

There was no humor in it.

”That’s becoming a theme.”

Luna stepped toward him.

”Eden...”

He moved away.

She stopped immediately.

”I understand why you did it,” he said quietly. ”But I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

Luna nodded.

”You don’t have to.”

That answer made him look at her.

She wiped her eyes.

”I don’t deserve forgiveness just because I was afraid.”

Mira watched them both in silence before speaking again.

”There is one thing you still don’t understand.”

Eden turned toward her.

”What?”

Mira pointed at the first page lying on the table.

”You think you created the story.”

Eden looked at it.

”You think the story created you.”

He frowned.

”What else is there?”

Mira walked over and picked up the page.

”Someone was writing before you.”

She turned it around.

A symbol was drawn on the back.

A small black circle surrounded by four lines.

Eden recognized it immediately.

It was the same symbol that had appeared on the oldest pages in the Archive.

He stared.

”Where did that come from?”

Mira looked toward the window.

”The place before the beginning.”

His expression tightened.

”You’ve been there.”

”Yes.”

”What’s there?”

Mira’s eyes became distant.

”Nothing.”

Eden frowned.

”Nothing?”

”That’s what makes it dangerous.”

She placed the page back onto the table.

”There is no Author there. No Reader. No story. No characters.”

”Then what’s there?”

Mira looked directly at him.

”Possibility.”

A chill ran through him.

Mira continued.

”Every story that could ever exist begins there. Every world. Every person. Every version of you. Everything.”

Eden stared at the page.

”Then why does someone keep writing to us?”

Mira smiled faintly.

”Because someone is trying to come back.”

”Who?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, the entire house shook.

A deep sound rolled beneath the floorboards.

Luna grabbed the edge of the table.

”What was that?”

Eden turned toward the window.

The sky outside had changed.

The moon was gone.

In its place hung a gigantic black circle.

The same symbol from the page.

Adrian and Finn rushed into the room.

”What happened?” Adrian asked.

Eden pointed upward.

Both of them looked outside.

Finn’s face immediately went pale.

”I know that.”

Eden turned toward him.

”You’ve seen it?”

Finn nodded.

”In the Archive.”

”When?”

”Before we found the Mercer door.”

He swallowed.

”There was a room we couldn’t enter.”

Eden looked at Mira.

She nodded.

”That’s where I found it.”

Adrian frowned.

”Found what?”

Mira stared at the sky.

”The first door.”

A crack suddenly appeared in the air.

Then another.

Then another.

The black circle slowly began opening.

Something existed behind it.

Not a person.

Not a creature.

A world.

An enormous world floating within endless darkness.

At its center stood a house.

The exact same house they were standing inside.

Eden stared.

”That’s us.”

Mira shook her head.

”No.”

She looked at him.

”That’s the first version.”

The crack widened further.

Inside the other world stood four children beneath a tree.

Eden.

Luna.

Adrian.

Finn.

But something was different.

Mira wasn’t there.

Another girl stood beside Eden instead.

A girl none of them recognized.

She slowly turned toward them.

Then smiled.

Eden’s blood ran cold.

The girl had his eyes.

Mira’s voice dropped to a whisper.

”That’s the version where I never existed.”

The girl raised her hand.

The entire world behind the crack began moving toward them.

Eden stepped forward.

”What does she want?”

Mira’s expression darkened.

”To replace you.”

The crack widened again.

The other Eden looked directly at him.

Then spoke.

Not through the air.

Not with sound.

Through his mind.

You were never supposed to survive me.

Eden clenched his fists.

Luna stepped to one side of him.

Adrian moved to the other.

Finn cracked his knuckles.

Mira stood behind them.

For the first time, all five of them stood together.

Eden looked at each of them.

Then at the approaching world.

A smile slowly appeared on his face.

”Guess we’re not done after all.”

The other Eden smiled back.

Then stepped through the door.