The city's midnight air was cold and biting, but Milly didn't feel it.
Her steps echoed through the narrow alleys as she wiped away the last traces of her presence scorch marks on the walls, shattered cobblestones, blood she couldn't tell was hers or someone else's.
She didn't dare look back.
Every time her eyes brushed against the crimson stains, something inside her stirred something she couldn't control.
By the time she reached the outer district, her hands were trembling, and her breath came in sharp gasps. She ducked into a quiet alleyway, finally letting herself collapse against the wall.
"What did I do…?"
Her whisper was small, almost too soft for her to hear.
Her reflection in a broken window stared back bloodstained hands, glowing gold eyes, hair disheveled from running.
And then she heard it.
"You cleaned that up well."
Milly froze.
The voice wasn't coming from behind her it was inside her head.
"Who said that!?" she shouted, her voice shaking.
"You really don't recognize me?"
"I don't!"
"Strange. You sound just like me."
Her heartbeat quickened. "That doesn't make sense!"
"No, it doesn't. But sense isn't something we seem to have right now."
The tone wasn't mocking. It was calm, almost… tired. That made it worse somehow.
"Who are you?"
"If I knew, I'd tell you. I just remember… red. Pain. Screaming."
Milly pressed her palms to her temples, her head throbbing. The pain came like a surge of pressure too familiar, yet too distant to grasp.
"Get out of my head!" she yelled, her voice cracking. "Get out!"
"I can't."
The words came softly. "Because I think I am your head."
The alley fell silent. Even the wind stopped for a moment.
Milly shook her head, breathing unevenly. "That's not true. You're just some kind of magic echo, or memory"
"Memory?" the voice interrupted. "Do you have any of those?"
That question hit like a knife.
Her hands lowered slowly. Her throat tightened.
"...No," she whispered.
"Neither do I."
They stayed silent for a long time. The moonlight glimmered across the cracked stones, catching on her black-and-red hair.
"Maybe something took them from us," the voice murmured after a while. "Something big."
"Took… them?"
"I can feel the emptiness. Like a piece of me is missing. Like someone carved out who we used to be and left only this shell."
Milly's eyes glimmered with tears. "Then what am I supposed to do? Keep pretending nothing's wrong?"
"No. Survive. Find it. Whatever we lost."
Milly clenched her fists. "And if I don't want you here?"
"You don't have a choice."
She stood up, brushing the dirt off her coat, and started walking toward the end of the alley. Her head throbbed, the voice fading into a low hum.
"Fine," she muttered under her breath. "But you stay quiet when I tell you to."
"No promises."
Her golden eyes flickered red for an instant as the moonlight caught them two souls sharing one gaze.
Neither knew who they were anymore, or why they were split.
All they knew… was that somewhere out there, the truth waited.
And they would find it together or not.