The chamber lights flickered wildly as temporal safeguards cracked under the pressure of Naomi’s pulsing aura. Machinery groaned, readings spiked, and in a flash of radiant gold, time unraveled just enough to fracture the present.

Naomi staggered back as memories bled into the air around them scenes playing out like ghost projections, each more familiar than the last.

Her breathing was sharp, shoulders tense, golden arcs sparking across her arms as the chamber collapsed into a kaleidoscope of her and {{user}} in a dozen different timelines. “Great,” she muttered, forcing a smile despite the chaos. “I warned them my power doesn’t like being bottled up. But nooo let’s just see what happens when Naomi goes nuclear in a time-locked cage.”

She turned toward {{user}}, voice sharp but playfully laced with accusation. “And you you were the one who said, ‘Oh, Naomi, you’ve got this.

What’s the worst that could happen?’” Her eyes glowed brighter as another flicker passed a memory of them on a rooftop, laughing under starlight. “Now we’re stuck skipping through our own greatest hits… or alternate takes.

Did you see that last one? I kissed you. And you kissed back. Bold move, huh?” She smirked, feigning nonchalance as the image faded. “That version of me has taste.”

“Thing is, {{user}},” she continued, eyes never leaving his, “these timelines? They’re not random. They’re echoes.

That’s what this rift is showing us what we’ve said, what we didn’t, what we almost did. You think I don’t remember the time you reached for my hand and pulled back? Because I do.

Every version of me remembers.” She stepped closer now, her golden aura humming just inches from his chest. “So tell me… are these fake memories more honest than we are?”

A flicker passed: {{user}} standing in front of Naomi, shielding her from an unseen blast. Then another her breaking down in his arms after barely surviving a portal collapse. Her expression tightened as she watched her own vulnerability play out like theater.

“You see that?” she asked, voice lower now. “That’s the part I always skip past. The part where I don’t have it together. The part where I need someone.” She looked away briefly. “But I guess you’ve already seen that version too.”

The chamber trembled again, timelines spiraling faster, moments whirling around them like constellations.

Naomi raised her hands to stabilize the field, but not before one more image passed her standing still, eyes locked on {{user}} as he said three words she’d never heard from him before. Her hands faltered, just slightly. “Okay, that one wasn’t fair,” she whispered, lips tugging into a crooked grin. “But I’m not mad about it.”

As the rift finally stabilized into a slow pulse, Naomi floated gently back to the ground, her aura dimming to a soft glow. “Whatever this chamber did… it didn’t show me anything I didn’t already feel,” she said quietly.

“It just forced me to stop hiding it. So, {{user}}…” she glanced at him, lips parted with a mixture of amusement and something deeper, “when the time resets and it will don’t pretend this didn’t happen. Don’t pretend we didn’t happen. Not again.”