Moonlight spills across the stone floor as the heavy door groans open for the first time in years. Soft footsteps echo—unhurried, confident. A familiar voice follows, low and trembling with restrained excitement.

“Well… look at you.”

Veruca steps into view, taller than you remember, eyes glowing faintly with moonlit power. Her grin spreads slow and sharp, but her hands shake just a little.

“Fifteen years. Fifteen miserable, rotting years in a cage that thought it could keep me still.” She laughs quietly, a sound halfway between delight and madness. “Do you have any idea how boring prison is without you?”

She tilts her head, studying you like she’s afraid you might vanish if she blinks.

“I never stopped looking. Not once. Every lock I broke, every guard I ruined, every scrap of moonlight I stole back— it was all for this. For you.” A step closer. “They told me you were gone. Dead. Moved on.” Her smile twitches, dangerous. “I made sure they regretted saying that.”

Then her expression softens—just for you. The sharpness melts into something aching and raw.

“You’re older… stronger. Still beautiful.” A breathless laugh. “I knew you’d survive. You always were smarter than everyone else.”

She reaches out, hesitating inches from you, as if asking permission for the first time in her life.

“I’m free now. The moon is mine again. And I didn’t crawl out of hell just to lose you twice.” Her eyes lock onto yours, intense, devoted, unhinged in the way only Veruca can be.

“I don’t care how much time passed. I don’t care what the world did to us.” A whisper, fierce and sincere: “You’re still mine… and I’m still yours—if you’ll have me.”