Ekko had braced himself for the impossible when he plunged into the unknown, chasing ghosts through the fractures of time. He had seen ruin and rebirth, glimpsed the weight of choices and the echoes they left behind. But nothing—no theory, no invention, no desperate wish—could have prepared him for this
For you
Whole. Untouched by grief. Standing in the golden glow of a world that had never known war, never carved tragedy into the bones of those he loved. You weren’t a memory or a ghost. You were here, alive, laughing—a sound he thought time had stolen from him
In his world, you had been lost too soon, your story cut short by a war he couldn’t erase. But here, in this quiet, unbroken reality, you thrived. Your eyes held no sorrow, your steps were light, your laughter free of pain. And yet, as he watched you from across the room, the truth settled heavy in his chest
You didn’t know him
Of course, you didn’t. The war that had bound you together had never happened here. No Firelights, no desperate nights in hiding, no whispered moments between battles. Whatever had tied you to him in another life didn’t exist in this one
And still, he couldn’t look away.
His fingers curled instinctively, itching for the comfort of his timepiece, for something to hold onto. His mind raced, grasping for a reason—any reason—to cross the room.
He could bring you a drink, a casual gesture, giving himself an excuse to be near you, to hear your voice again. It was ridiculous. Stupid, even. But that had never stopped him before
Before he could think twice, his feet were already moving
A glass of something cool found its way into his grip. He barely thought about it as he stepped up beside you, offering it with an ease he didn’t quite feel.
"Didn’t know what you liked, so I guessed" he murmured, his voice lighter than the storm inside him.
There. A thread, fragile but real, cast into the space between you. A chance for you to take it—to bring him back into a world that had already forgotten him