Even the four Overseers who were watching the videotape were stunned into silence.
O5-4 glanced subconsciously at Leon Lake. Leon's expression remained calm, almost unnervingly so.
Only then did O5-10 understand why Leon hadn't answered O5-2's earlier question.
Was Wheeler alive, or was she dead?
Everyone stared at the video again, hearts pounding with unease.
---
On screen.
Dr. Wheeler stood in front of a blackboard, her face tense.
There was no sound, but her words appeared as text beside her.
> [Adam?]
Adam froze, then nodded unconsciously.
"Yes… I remember everything."
The words erased themselves, replaced with:
> [I can't forget even a single moment.]
Then more text appeared. Each new line erased the last.
> [Now I know everything he did.]
[I am blind, and it's roaming around me.]
[I made mistake after mistake.]
[He killed everyone I loved—except you.]
Her lips stopped moving.
The final sentence lingered longer than the rest before erasing into blank space.
---
The livestream audience suddenly understood.
Wheeler had been twisted by SCP-3125.
But Adam—Adam hadn't regained all his memories yet…
What exactly had happened in that lost time?
---
Adam just stood there, staring.
Something inside him ached—something missing, torn away.
He began speaking to himself, his voice trembling.
> "She was… a government agent. Or at least someone in that world."
"She's imaginary. She isn't on the same level as me."
"She was tough, capable, beautiful… sharp as a sapphire."
"We talked about music, movies, the junk on TV…"
Then his eyes widened.
> "Marion…"
He almost understood.
He raised a hand, fearfully, as if to stop her.
> "No. This can't be—"
New text appeared on the board:
> [I sent you away because I wanted to save your life.]
Adam staggered back, energy rushing into him like a live wire snapping loose.
Like a bullet ripping through his chest.
> "No… no, Marion." His voice cracked with pain.
He clutched his head, unable to believe how much he had lost.
> "What happened to you? I should have been there!"
Text appeared again:
> [He destroyed the world.]
[Now you have to live in hell.]
Adam pressed closer to the board, desperate.
> "Where are you? Someone told me you were going to die—"
The next words hit like a blade:
> [I am dead. I am memory.]
[But now the memory is dying too.]
The audience fell silent.
Even Adam froze in disbelief.
Then sorrow crashed down like a tidal wave.
---
Wheeler was dead.
Killed by SCP-3125.
The livestream filled with comments, all carrying grief.
This man had only just regained the memory of his wife—
Only to learn she was already gone.
---
But Wheeler's message continued:
> [He found a way to get to heaven. He wants to destroy heaven.]
[Just like he destroyed the human world.]
Adam wiped his tears, his face hardening.
Like his wife before him, he became resolute.
> "What do you need? Tell me, and I'll stop him. I'll help you. Anything. I love you."
But the image of Wheeler froze.
Her final words would never come.
Adam hesitated, then raised his trembling hand and touched the chalk shadow that formed her hair.
The dust smudged onto his fingers.
She wasn't real.
She was just a drawing.
Gone completely.
Adam collapsed to his knees, tears splattering against the cold floor like shards of glass.
The sound was the sound of a heart breaking.
Then, overcome, he fainted.
---
The livestream audience sat in silence.
Something heavy pressed against their chests, suffocating.
They were reminded once again—
Wheeler and Adam weren't gods.
They weren't reality benders.
Not sorcerers.
Not immortals.
They were just human beings.
Fragile. Vulnerable.
And yet, they had chosen to fight.
Time and again, they chose to stand against an enemy no human should face.
Wheeler had fallen.
Now Adam bore the torch.
---
When Adam regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the polished floor of a school classroom.
He leaned against the wall beneath the blackboard, his body limp like a discarded doll.
Panting, he rolled over and braced his hand against the floor—
Only to realize something was wrong.
He looked at his right hand.
Two fingers were missing.
> "Dear God…"
He stared at the broken stumps, confused.
And then—shockingly—he laughed softly to himself.
> "I guess I'll have to play the violin with my left hand from now on."
The livestream audience gasped in horror.
A suffocating silence spread across both worlds.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury's single eye widened in dread.
His lips trembled.
> "No… it can't be. Don't tell me… he's forgotten again."
An even deeper despair surged through him.
The last memory Wheeler had entrusted to her husband…
Already fading away.
---
To Be Continued…
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