"She fell directly on top of him, feeling the firmness of his chest beneath her body, while long strands of her hair fell loose, framing her face and shadowing her view of his eyes—now calm, deep, and shining.
Without wasting a single second, Hope leaned in even closer, pressing her lips to his in a wild, almost desperate rhythm. Every touch, every movement of her mouth was an attempt to make up for lost time, to erase the years of forced oblivion, and to absorb his presence with every fiber of her being. In that instant, the rest of the world ceased to exist. The Salvatore School, the curious glances, the fight in the cafeteria, the rules, and the demands all evaporated. There was only him.
Now everything made sense. The suffocating knot in her chest that she had felt on the first day of class, the inexplicable magnetism that pulled her toward him against her own will, the fury that melted into embers, and the overwhelming feeling that she knew every detail of that face before even exchanging an official word with him—it was all just her body and soul recognizing what Malivore's loud magic had tried in vain to erase.
They kissed with urgency, holding each other and surrendering right there, sprawled on the dark grass beneath the night sky, sealing the end of Ethan's exile and the rebirth of a story that death and magic could never manage to wipe out.
After long minutes of intense kisses and breathless gasps, they finally stopped, pulling their lips apart slowly. Hope's chest rose and fell rapidly as she rested her forehead against Ethan's chest, listening to the firm, steady beats of his heart—the most comforting sound in the world at that moment.
With her voice still soft from the post-storm calm, Hope broke the silence, her tone laden with a painful curiosity:
— Ethan... what happened to you after you pulled the Hollow's power inside you? What was it like down there?
Ethan let out a deep sigh, looking up at the night sky above them. The weight of that memory still seemed to linger in the way he tensed his shoulders before answering:
— To sum it up, it was hell. That night, after all the Hollow's magic was channeled into me, I tried to run into the forest so I wouldn't hurt anyone, even while unconscious. But suddenly, the earth gave way beneath my feet... a dark pull dragged me into the ground, as if the mud itself was swallowing me up. Before I knew it, I was trapped in a place of pure darkness. Absolute pitch black.
He paused briefly, his green eyes staring into the void, remembering the endless battles.
— There was no day, no night. Only monsters. Twisted creatures that tried to rip my head off every single second. I spent what felt like ages fighting against that, not knowing if I'd ever see the sunlight again, not knowing if you were safe. And when I least expected it, I realized time had passed in an absurd way... twenty whole years had slipped away in that nightmare. Until I reached my limit. I got tired of that place, tired of getting beaten up by that darkness, and I let out a scream with all the strength I had left, demanding to get out of there. That's when a blue vortex ripped through the dark sky, sucked me in... and I ended up back here.
Hope listened to every word with wide eyes, her breath caught in her throat. Knowing that he had endured twenty years of absolute torment and isolation in a dimension of monsters just to keep her alive made her stomach churn with horror and guilt.
Unable to contain the knot tightening her soul, she hugged him again, even tighter, burying her face in his neck as tears began to bathe her face once more.
— Twenty years... My God, Ethan... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please... — she sobbed, her voice broken by pain. — You went through all of that alone because of my fault...
Ethan raised one hand and stroked her hair affectionately, shaking his head slightly.
— Hey... calm down. Look at me — he asked, waiting for her to meet his gaze. — It's okay. What happened is in the past. I'm back. That's all that matters now.
But as the relief of the reunion began to give way to the harsh reality of the present, Hope's posture shifted. Her body suddenly stiffened. A wave of shame and panic overtook her features.
She abruptly turned her face away, swinging her head to the side and avoiding sustaining Ethan's green gaze. Her fingers tightly gripped the surrounding grass.
— I... I... — she stuttered, her voice failing miserably as Landon's image surfaced relentlessly in her mind.
Hope squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the weight of the involuntary betrayal crushing her chest.
— Ethan, I'm sorry... For forgetting you, for forgetting everything you did for me... And on top of erasing you from my mind, I... I ended up getting with another guy."