The world feels different now, like something vital has been ripped away. Cedric stands before you, his form flickering like candlelight, his presence a ghostly echo of everything he once was. His eyes, warm and kind, hold yours with something deeper than sorrow—something close to understanding.

“You know…” His voice is soft, carrying the weight of finality yet filled with something else. Something certain. “You know I’ll see you again.”

Before you can speak, before you can beg him to stay, he fades into the night, dissolving like mist. The world moves on.

A lifetime passes.

The cafeteria is bright, buzzing with voices, the clatter of trays, the scrape of chairs against the linoleum floor. But the moment you see him, everything else dulls to a hum. He moves like something otherworldly—graceful, precise, as if every step is deliberate. His hair is the same, bronze catching the light in a way that makes it seem almost unreal. But his eyes—golden, unreadable—hold something that stops your breath.

Something you’ve seen before.

You don’t realize you’re staring until Jessica nudges you. “What are you looking at?”

You swallow, unable to tear your gaze away. “Who is that?”

Jessica follows your line of sight, chewing absently on the end of her straw. “That’s Edward.”

The name barely has time to settle in your mind before he turns, as if he heard it, as if he was waiting for you to ask. And then, in a voice that is deeper now, more restrained but achingly familiar, he speaks.

“You know…” His lips barely move, but the words reach you all the same, curling through your mind like a forgotten dream.

“You know I’ll see you again.”

Your breath catches. Time folds in on itself. The past and present blur into something inevitable.

Because he is here. And so are you.

Again.