Everything around me shook like the world was listening…
waiting…
terrified.
Tomorrow didn't move.
She watched me with unreadable calm.
The other me backed away slowly, eyes wide, horrified.
"You're not serious," she whispered.
"You can't destroy the timeline we both came from— that's suicide."
"It's survival," I said quietly.
"It's madness," she snapped.
"It's the only thing I've chosen for myself," I answered.
The ground beneath us cracked again — thin glowing fractures spreading like lightning under my feet.
Tomorrow stepped closer.
"Destroying a timeline requires power you do not yet control."
I met her eyes.
"Then teach me."
A ripple passed through her gaze — not pride, not admiration.
Recognition.
"You finally sound like the anomaly you were born to be," she murmured.
The other me clenched her fists.
"STOP ENCOURAGING HER! She's going to erase EVERYTHING!"
Tomorrow turned to her.
"You wanted her erased. She is choosing the same for you."
The other me flinched like those words stabbed her.
"I wanted my life back," she whispered.
"I wanted what I lost. I didn't want… this."
She looked at me.
Not angry.
Not jealous.
Just… tired.
"You think destroying the beginning will fix you?" she said softly.
"It won't. It will hollow you out."
I took a step toward her.
"You killed me once."
"Yes," she whispered.
"And I've regretted it every day."
The world fell silent.
Even Tomorrow studied her with curiosity.
I frowned.
For the first time… she looked human.
Not a monster.
Not a glitch.
Not a cosmic echo.
Just—
A girl who lost too much.
She looked at the fading particles of the stranger still glowing faintly in the air.
"Do you think watching him die felt good?" she said quietly.
"I loved him too. In my timeline, he was mine long before he was yours."
My heart clenched.
Her voice cracked.
"But he always chose you in the end. Even when he hated himself for it."
Tomorrow raised a brow.
"He never hated himself for loving her."
The other me laughed — a broken, bitter sound.
"You weren't there. You didn't see how he blamed himself when she died. You didn't see how he begged me to bring her back. I wasn't enough. I never was. Even in my timeline, he loved her ghost more than he loved me alive."
My breath stopped.
Tomorrow turned to me.
"She is shaped by grief. Not malice."
The other me finally looked at me fully.
"I didn't want your death, Anshu. I wanted your absence. I wanted a life where I didn't have to compete with a version of me who got everything I never had."
For the first time, I didn't see a villain.
I saw a scar.
She whispered:
"He loved you in every universe."
I swallowed.
"He doesn't remember me anymore."
She smiled sadly.
"That doesn't matter. His soul does."
Silence settled.
Heavy.
Soft.
Painful.
Tomorrow finally interrupted.
"Enough sentiment. Emotion collapses worlds faster than power."
She turned to me.
"You want to destroy your origin? Then you must enter it."
A crack tore open in the sky — bright, shifting, pulsing like a wound in reality.
I stepped back.
"That's… that's the timeline?"
Tomorrow nodded.
"The one where you died. The one where she was born."
The other me trembled.
"You can't go back there."
I looked at her.
"Why not?"
She swallowed.
"Because if you do… you will meet the version of him that loved you most."
My stomach twisted.
Tomorrow stepped closer.
"You must enter it and sever the root memory that ties you to that world."
"The root memory?" I whispered.
"The moment your existence formed.
The memory that birthed the anomaly."
"What is it?" I asked.
Tomorrow looked at me.
Her voice softened.
"The moment someone loved you enough to break time."
The world stilled.
The other me looked away.
Tomorrow held out her hand.
"Enter. End it. Or let it rule you forever."
I stared into the glowing crack.
It pulsed with heat.
Light.
Something familiar.
Something deeply, painfully mine.
A memory surfaced —
A man's voice whispering:
"I'll find you again in the next life."
My breath choked.
I stepped forward.
The other me suddenly grabbed my arm.
"Don't go."
I froze.
She shook her head, eyes wet with something that looked like fear.
"You think you're ready. You're not. That timeline will break you."
I pulled my hand back gently.
"That timeline already did."
She shut her eyes.
Tomorrow stepped behind me.
"Once you enter, you cannot return until the choice is made."
I inhaled.
Slow.
Shaking.
Certain.
"I'm ready."
The crack widened.
I stepped inside—
And the air turned warm.
Bright.
Gold.
A memory wrapped around me like a blanket.
And then—
I saw him.
The stranger.
Not fading.
Not broken.
Not memory-less.
Alive.
Standing in soft sunlight, smiling softly at someone I couldn't see yet.
Someone he loved.
Someone he promised forever to.
The girl he risked the universe for.
I stepped closer—
And that girl turned.
She lifted her face.
And I came face-to-face…
With myself.
The me who lived the life I lost.
The me who loved him first.
The me who died.
She smiled at me.
Gentle.
Understanding.
Heartbreaking.
And whispered:
"Welcome home."
---