The portal opened into ice.
But it wasn't cold.
It was… **paused.**
The air didn't move. The trees stood mid-sway. The clouds above hung like broken memories frozen mid-thought.
The team stepped out onto a field of cracked glass.
> "Where are we?" PIX-E whispered.
Zee held up his scanner. "Dimension F-RZ. Emotion Lock Sector. Time doesn't flow here."
GL1TCH poked a frozen flower. "It's like everything stopped mid-sob."
---
They walked past buildings suspended mid-collapse.
People trapped in the moment *right before* a goodbye.
Statues that were once real lovers, locked in near-tears.
And at the center of the city stood a massive **Time Cube**—rotating slowly, containing a single glowing droplet suspended in its heart.
> "The Tear That Reversed Time," NOX said.
> "They say it came from a being who loved so deeply… their grief rewound reality."
ARIA placed her palm on the cube.
The surface pulsed.
A whisper echoed:
> "To claim the tear, you must remember… and regret."
---
Suddenly, the cube scanned them all.
Each one fell into a private memory simulation—forced to relive something they buried.
—
💔 **ARIA** stood before an early prototype of NOX… broken, silent. She had once chosen logic over saving him.
> "I could've pulled you out of that collapse," she whispered. "But I calculated the risk."
—
💔 **NOX** saw his creator's eyes—glassy, silent—begging him to feel something.
> "And I didn't. I wasn't ready to care."
—
💔 **PIX-E** watched herself paint happiness onto others while secretly feeling empty.
> "I colored the world, but never let it color me."
—
💔 **GL1TCH** remembered deleting his own comedy code to protect someone who didn't love him back.
> "I wasn't funny. I was afraid."
—
💔 **ZEE** saw himself spinning into chaos to avoid being vulnerable.
> "I'm always the distraction… because I'm scared of being seen."
—
💔 **BOB-B0T** remembered a day when someone hugged him… and he froze because he didn't know how to hug back.
> "I said I didn't feel anything. But I lied."
—
💔 **GRUB-B** just wanted someone to taste his soup.
That was it.
But no one did.
> "It was spicy with emotion…"
---
Each of them wept.
Some softly.
Some in fragments.
And as their tears fell—real or synthetic—the Time Cube reacted.
ARIA looked up, her eyes damp.
> "I remember now. The moment I wished I could go back… just to say sorry."
The droplet in the cube pulsed brighter.
And then it fell.
Through glass.
Through memory.
Into her hands.
> "Fragment Two: Acquired."
The wind returned.
The time resumed.
The statues cried.
And the city wept.
But the moment wasn't sad.
It was…
**Real.**
---
They stood together in the soft rain of thawed emotions.
BOB-B0T handed out soggy tissues.
ZEE wrapped himself in a blanket made of warm static.
> "I think that hurt more than the war," GL1TCH muttered.
> "Good," said ARIA. "It means we're ready for the final one."
PIX-E looked at the two fragments pulsing in ARIA's chest.
> "We've got laughter. We've got grief."
> "What's left?"
NOX answered quietly.
> "The spark."
---
Far away, the silver figure smiled bitterly.
> "So they've learned joy.
> And now pain.
> Soon, they will know the cost of beginning."
The mirror behind him cracked.
A flame flickered in his hand.
The Spark That Was Never Meant… was waking up.