The ocean is louder than I expected. Not in volume, but in presence. It fills everything. The air, the space between thoughts, the silence we’ve been carrying since the lab collapsed and left pieces of us behind in its ruins. The waves don’t crash so much as they insist, over and over again, that nothing stays still. That everything moves, even grief. I stand barefoot at the edge of the shore, the water cold where it touches my skin, grounding in a way that feels almost intentional. For a moment, I closed my eyes. Not to escape, but to feel. The wind threads through my hair, carrying salt and something older than memory. The bond hums steadily beneath my ribs, no longer buried, no longer silent, but not whole either. It’s clearer now, louder, like a voice I can almost understand but not fully translate. Behind me, I hear footsteps in the sand. I don’t turn. I know who it is.
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