Reflections in the Void

Therrin's POV

The water had gone still.

Not in the physical world, where the stream still murmured and kissed the stones beneath my bare legs. But inside. The part of me where Ari lived—where she waited—had become silent, as if holding its breath.

You're quiet.

"I'm waiting." Her voice brushed the inside of my mind, velvet-smooth and edged with patience.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

I did. A crackle beneath my skin. Like the surface of my soul was a frozen lake, and something had struck beneath it—fracturing the ice without breaking through.

What am I supposed to feel, Ari?

"The pull. The ache. Him."

Dion.

The name echoed with too much weight. Not just mine—hers too. Our combined longing. Confusion. A want I didn't know how to hold without it turning into something jagged.

You really believe he's ours?

She didn't answer immediately. Just a pulse of emotion—warmth, laced with hunger.

"I don't believe. I know. Therrin, do you remember how it felt when his hands touched the bark of that tree near us? You weren't even facing him. You couldn't see it. And yet you felt the impression of his fingertips like they were brushing your spine."

I shivered. Because I had. That phantom touch had nearly unmade me.

That doesn't mean he's mine. Maybe he's just… tempting.

"No, he's not just anything." Ari's voice sharpened, but not cruelly. It felt more like she was trying to snap me out of something. "You feel this because we were made to feel it. For him. With him. And you're scared of it."

Of course I'm scared!

The thought snapped through me like a whip, and I felt her flinch.

You think I don't want to give in? That I don't feel it—this strange, magnetic pull that shakes me? But I can't lose myself again, Ari. I already share my body with someone I didn't ask to be born with. I'm not ready to give more of myself to anyone else.

There was silence for a long moment. Not the cold kind, but something softer. Like a pause between heartbeats. Then, gently:

"You didn't ask for me. And I didn't ask for this body either. But here we are. And I love you for everything you are. Even when you fight me."

Something behind my ribs cracked. My chest tightened, breath catching.

Ari… I don't hate you. You know that, right?

"I do."

And I know you don't want to hurt me. But this whole thing… It's confusing. I want control, and you want to feel everything all at once.

"Because I feel alive when I do."

But I'm afraid. Every time I start to want more, something dark creeps up behind it.

Ari sighed softly inside my mind. I felt her settle beside me like a shadow curling around warmth.

"We're both afraid, Thera. But you don't have to do this alone. You never did. I've always been here. I always will be."

I swallowed thickly, emotions rising in a tide I didn't know how to stop. I closed my eyes, letting the soft trickle of the stream ground me. The water, cool against my skin, felt like it could wash away every lie I told myself. Every doubt.

"Can I show you something?" Ari whispered.

What is it?

"Not words. Just a memory."

And before I could resist, it bloomed.

A hallway of mirrors. Countless versions of me and Ari—some older, some younger. Some crying. Some laughing. One of them kissing Dion beneath a blood moon. One standing alone in a storm, screaming into the wind. But the one that caught my breath… was standing between two flames. One hand in shadow. One in light. Both sets of eyes glowing.

United.

Whole.

The memory wasn't from the past. It was from a future Ari wanted to believe in. And maybe… I did too.

I breathed in sharply.

Why did you show me that?

"Because I know the strength inside you. And I want you to know you don't have to keep fighting me. We're strongest when we stop pulling in opposite directions."

A ripple of quiet passed between us. Not silence—but understanding.

I reached inward, like extending a hand across a fragile bridge.

Okay. Just… don't take over again. Not like before.

"I won't. Not unless you want me to. This is your body. I'm just part of it."

Part of me.

For the first time, I didn't feel caged by that. I felt supported.

I stood in the stream, letting water drip from my hair, and took a deep breath.

Maybe it's time we start listening to each other more.

"Maybe it's time we become who we were always meant to be."