The alarms wouldn't stop.
Red emergency lights flashed violently through the hidden room while distant voices shouted somewhere inside the archive. Smoke drifted faintly through the hallway outside, making the air harder to breathe.
But Luna barely noticed any of it.
Her eyes stayed locked on Ethan.
Ask him what happened the night you disappeared.
The words echoed endlessly inside her head.
Ethan avoided her gaze for only a second.
But that second was enough.
"You knew something," Luna said quietly.
Ethan's jaw tightened. "This isn't the time."
"That means yes."
"Luna—"
"No."
Her voice shook this time, but she didn't back away.
"Every time I get close to the truth, you tell me to wait. Every single time."
Another explosion echoed faintly somewhere in the building.
The floor trembled slightly beneath them.
Ethan grabbed her wrist carefully. "We need to leave. Now."
But Luna pulled her hand free.
"Not until you answer me."
Silence.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Ethan stared at her for a long moment before exhaling slowly.
The control in his expression was cracking again.
And Luna was starting to realize something terrifying—
Ethan looked calm most of the time because he forced himself to be.
Not because he actually was.
"The night you disappeared…" he began quietly, "…was the last time I saw you before the accident."
Luna's heartbeat slowed strangely.
Not from relief.
From fear.
"Where?"
Ethan hesitated.
Then answered.
"At my apartment."
The room suddenly felt colder.
Luna frowned slightly. "Why was I there?"
This time he looked directly at her.
And whatever she saw in his eyes made her chest tighten instantly.
Because it wasn't guilt.
It was regret.
"You came to warn me," he said softly.
Fragments flashed immediately through Luna's mind.
Rain against windows.
A dark apartment.
Her own voice saying urgently—
"You don't understand how dangerous this is."
Luna grabbed the edge of the table beside her as another sharp pain hit her head.
Ethan stepped forward instinctively, but stopped himself halfway.
The hesitation hurt more than if he'd touched her.
"What happened after that?" she whispered.
Ethan stayed silent for several seconds.
Long enough for Luna to realize he was choosing his words carefully.
Too carefully.
"You wanted me to leave the city with you."
Her breath caught.
"What?"
"You said people were watching us. That staying together would get me killed."
Another flash.
Ethan grabbing her wrist.
"You're not leaving alone."
Luna's chest tightened painfully.
"But I did leave," she whispered.
"Yes."
"Why?"
This time—
Ethan looked away completely.
And Luna already hated the answer before he even spoke.
"Because we argued."
Silence crashed between them.
The alarms outside kept screaming, but inside the hidden room everything felt strangely quiet now.
"What kind of argument?"
Ethan laughed softly once.
A bitter sound.
"The kind people have when they care too much."
Luna stopped breathing for a second.
Care too much.
Those words carried something deeper than either of them wanted to admit.
Another memory surfaced.
Her standing near the apartment door.
Ethan in front of her.
Angry.
Desperate.
"Then trust me enough to stay."
Luna gasped softly.
The emotion from the memory hit harder than the images themselves.
Fear.
Love.
Panic.
All tangled together painfully.
She looked at Ethan again, shaken. "We were together."
Not a question.
Truth.
Ethan closed his eyes briefly before answering.
"Yes."
The world inside Luna's chest shattered quietly.
Because somehow—
That truth hurt.
Not because she disliked it.
Because part of her already felt connected to him long before she understood why.
And now she knew.
The contract.
The tension.
The way he looked at her like he was afraid to lose her again.
None of it started recently.
It started years ago.
"You should've told me," she whispered.
Ethan's expression hardened slightly. "And what would that have changed?"
"Everything."
"No," he said quietly. "It would've pressured you into feelings you couldn't even remember."
"That wasn't your choice to make."
For the first time—
Ethan had no answer.
The silence between them felt raw now.
Human.
Painfully real.
Then Luna asked the question she was almost afraid to hear answered.
"…How did we end?"
Ethan went still.
Outside, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed faintly through the archive again.
But neither moved.
Because this mattered more now.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
"You left after the argument."
His voice had gone quieter than before.
"I followed you."
Luna's pulse quickened instantly.
"And then?"
A long pause.
Too long.
Then—
"I saw the accident."
Everything inside her froze.
Rain.
Lights.
Screaming brakes.
Fragments exploded violently through her head again.
Luna stumbling backward into the road.
A car speeding toward her.
And then—
Someone pushing her away.
The second version.
The fearless one.
Luna grabbed her head sharply as the memory intensified.
"I remember…"
Her breathing became uneven.
"She pushed me…"
Ethan's expression changed instantly.
But Luna kept speaking through the pain.
"And you—"
Another flash.
Ethan running toward her through the rain.
Blood on his hands.
His voice breaking for the first time.
"Stay awake!"
Luna's eyes widened slowly.
"You were there…"
"I told you I was."
"No…"
She looked at him like she was seeing him differently now.
"…You were crying."
Silence.
Ethan looked away immediately.
And somehow—
That tiny movement confirmed everything.
Luna's chest tightened painfully.
Because she could feel it now.
Not just the memory.
The emotion attached to it.
The terror he felt that night.
The helplessness.
The desperation.
And suddenly—
She understood why Ethan never wanted her memories to return too quickly.
Because he remembered all of it clearly.
Every second.
Before either of them could speak again, gunshots echoed somewhere closer this time.
Much closer.
Ethan's expression snapped back into focus instantly.
"We have to move."
But Luna grabbed his sleeve before he could turn away.
One question remained.
The most important one.
"…Why did she say she protected me from you?"
Silence.
Ethan stared at her for a long moment.
And for the first time since this began—
Something unreadable appeared in his eyes.
Not fear.
Not guilt.
Something worse.
Then quietly—
"Because before you disappeared…"
A pause.
"…you found out what I really was."