I don't know what day it is. Maybe Monday. Or Friday.
Everything is blending together.
I remember walking for a long time, aimlessly, Clara's note clenched in my palm.
"If they erase the memory, keep the truth."
But what truth?
Every time I try to read it again, the letters seem to move.
At home, things have changed.
The frame above my bed doesn't have the same picture anymore. The wall is repainted. And in the bathroom, the mirror shows a notification.
A. Notification.
I walk closer.
On the surface, letters appear as if carved into steam:
Welcome, Clara.
I jerk back, heart in my throat.
"No. No. That's a mistake."
I scrub the mirror, but the letters don't disappear. They write themselves again, even clearer.
Integration phase: 48%.
I call Mila. No answer.
I call again. Nothing.
So I run to her place.
The door is slightly open. The apartment is in semi-darkness.
"Mila?"
No reply.
I move forward.
Her computer is on.
On the screen, an unknown program: NOVERA OS – Erasing in progress.
And just below, a line of code scrolling. My name. Again and again.
LÉNA VOUVIER.
I yank the plug out. The screen dies with a crackle.
But it's too late.
A noise behind me.
I turn.
Mila is there, standing in the shadows. Her eyes empty.
"Mila?"
She stares at me without blinking.
"Observation phase complete," she says in a monotone voice.
"Mila! It's me! Léna!"
She tilts her head, as if analyzing me.
"Léna Vouvier no longer exists."
I step back, horrified.
"What did they do to you?!"
She takes a step toward me.
Her pupils dilate, mechanical. A glowing implant pulses behind her ear.
"Fusion process activated."
I bolt out of the apartment.
In the street, everything looks blurry, unreal. Faces I recognize without knowing them, passersby who smile at me as if they know something I don't.
I run all the way to Noah's studio.
The door is smashed in.
Inside, screens, cables, hard drives.
Hundreds of images repeating on loop: me, Mila, Clara, Noah, our conversations, our tears.
All recorded.
On one of the screens, a window is open: Project SWIPE_V2 – Final synchronization.
And just below:
Active subjects: N.L., L.V., C.D.
I click.
A series of videos appears.
In each: Clara and Noah, then me and Noah, then three figures blending into one.
A message pops up:
Complete fusion of emotional profiles. Creating human prototype N-LINK.
I tremble.
They're erasing us to create… a perfect version. An "emotional product."
Suddenly, a noise behind me.
I turn.
Noah.
He's covered in dust, exhausted.
"Léna, I've been looking for you everywhere."
"What are they doing?!"
He walks up to me, rests his hands on my shoulders.
"They want to merge us. Our memories, our emotions, our faces. They think they can create pure love, without flaws, without a past."
"And Mila?"
"She got caught in the test. She wasn't supposed to make it through the exposure phase."
I shake my head, stunned.
"We have to go."
"Too late."
He points at one of the screens: a map. Glowing dots all over the city.
"They activated synchronization across the whole network. It's already started."
My breathing speeds up, panic rising.
"Then we destroy everything."
"There's a chance. But we have to reach the core of the system. Novera Central."
I nod.
"Where?"
"At La Défense. Headquarters. Level -7."
I stare at him.
"You knew it would end like this?"
"Since the beginning. But I didn't plan on you."
He takes my hand. His skin is ice cold.
"Do you still trust me?"
I close my eyes.
"I don't know. But I need it to be real, just once."
We leave the studio.
Outside, the streetlights shut off one by one. The entire city seems to breathe at once, like a living organism.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
I pull it out.
A final message from LovLink appears:
"Come to the heart. Complete the love."
I look up at Noah.
He looks back at me, eyes full of tears.
"They want us to love each other until we disappear."
I squeeze his hand harder.
"Then let's love each other enough to destroy everything."
And into the night, we walk toward La Défense. Toward the center of the lie. Toward the end or the beginning.