Aec stood there frozen, breath suspended, mind blank.
Sharon's terrified face replayed in his skull like a violent echo.
She had looked at him as if he were a stranger.
Worse… as if he were a threat.
Her footsteps faded into the forest, swallowed by the trees.
For a long moment, he couldn't move.
His chest rose and fell sharply, breaths ragged, unstable.
His fingers twitched at his sides.
He felt the world tilt, not physically… but inside him.
How could she not know him?
How could she run from him?
He took one unsteady breath, then another, forcing himself to snap out of the haze.
"No," he muttered, voice breaking. "She's scared. She's confused. I need to find her."
He stepped forward.
A branch snapped behind him.
Aec spun sharply.
Zion stumbled into the clearing, breathless, sweat dripping down his neck, chest heaving like he'd sprinted through the entire forest.
"Aec!" Zion called, leaning on a tree. "I've been looking for you… what happened? Where is she?"
