Author's POV
The convoy reached the compound shortly after midnight.
The industrial building stood completely still beneath the night sky.
No workers.
No traffic.
No ordinary activity.
Only the distant sound of vehicles arriving.
The first convoy stopped.
Then another.
Then another.
Their backup teams spread around the outer perimeter.
Nobody rushed.
Everyone knew the plan.
The main group stayed together.
Jay stepped out of the vehicle.
Keifer followed immediately.
Alex looked toward the building.
"Everyone ready?"
A series of quiet nods answered him.
Jay looked toward the entrance.
Her expression was calm.
Focused.
Not fearless.
But ready.
They began walking.
The massive doors opened before they even reached them.
Someone had been waiting.
Kyle's people stood inside.
A long line of them.
Jay stopped.
Keifer stopped beside her.
Percy and Aries stood behind them.
Alex looked around the building.
"So he really prepared."
Denial glanced around.
"At least he has good taste in dramatic entrances."
Nobody laughed.
Not even Denial.
Then footsteps echoed from the upper level.
Everyone looked up.
Kyle appeared.
He slowly walked down the stairs.
His eyes immediately found Jay.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then—
"You came."
Jay didn't answer.
Kyle smiled.
"I told you to come alone."
Jay finally looked directly at him.
"I know."
Kyle's smile faded slightly.
"And yet…"
His eyes moved toward the people standing behind her.
"…you brought everyone."
Keifer stepped slightly closer to Jay.
Kyle noticed.
Of course he did.
"You never listen."
Jay's expression remained calm.
"Not when you're the one talking."
Denial quietly whispered,
"Okay, that was good."
Aries gave him a look.
"Not now."
Kyle's expression hardened.
"You think these people can protect you forever?"
Jay didn't respond.
Percy stepped forward slightly.
"They don't need to protect her forever."
Kyle looked at him.
"Then what?"
Percy smiled faintly.
"They just need to be there tonight."
Silence.
Kyle looked across the group.
They weren't afraid.
They weren't scattered.
They weren't confused.
They had come together.
Exactly the opposite of what he wanted.
His eyes returned to Jay.
"You really aren't the same anymore."
Jay's voice was quiet.
"No."
Kyle's jaw tightened.
"Then let's see how strong you've become."
He lifted one hand.
His entire team immediately prepared.
Alex looked toward his own team.
Everyone shifted into position.
Keifer glanced at Jay.
She looked back.
For one brief second, neither said anything.
Then Jay gave the smallest nod.
Kyle's hand dropped.
And the compound erupted into motion.
The fight had finally begun.
Author's POV
The fight had already spread through the compound.
Shouts echoed from different sections.
Footsteps.
Doors slamming.
The sound of the teams moving through the building.
But one corridor remained strangely quiet.
Jay stood there alone.
Her breathing was steady.
Barely.
She had lost sight of everyone else during the chaos.
Keifer.
Alex.
Percy.
Aries.
All of them.
Then—
footsteps came from the opposite end.
Jay stopped.
Kyle appeared.
He wasn't smiling anymore.
There was something different in his expression.
Something colder.
"You really thought you could walk into my compound and leave?"
Jay said nothing.
Kyle slowly moved closer.
"You've changed."
Still nothing.
"You don't remember me, do you?"
Jay's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I remember you."
Kyle laughed quietly.
"No."
He shook his head.
"You remember the person I became."
He stopped several feet away.
"You don't remember what happened before that."
Jay's expression shifted.
Kyle noticed.
"There."
He smiled faintly.
"That look."
Jay's fingers slowly curled.
"What are you talking about?"
Kyle's voice became quieter.
"When you were five."
Jay froze.
Something inside her chest tightened.
Five.
The number felt strangely familiar.
Kyle continued.
"You were little."
Jay stared at him.
"Your mother was folding clothes."
A fragment flashed through her mind.
Clothes.
Her mother's hands.
A room.
Jay's breathing changed slightly.
Kyle noticed.
"Your father walked in."
Another fragment.
A door.
Footsteps.
A man's voice.
Jay's fingers began trembling.
"And I walked in with him."
Jay's eyes widened.
For a second—
nothing.
Then another memory appeared.
A shadow.
A familiar voice.
Someone standing beside her father.
Her mind tried desperately to connect the pieces.
Nothing.
Who?
Who had been there?
Kyle watched her carefully.
"You remember now."
Jay shook her head.
"No."
"You do."
"No."
Her voice became weaker.
"I don't…"
Kyle stepped closer.
"You were there that day, Jay."
Jay's breathing became uneven.
"That was the day everything changed."
Her hands trembled harder.
Kyle's voice remained calm.
"You saw what happened."
Jay stared at him.
"You saw what your father did."
Her breathing hitched.
"And then you killed him."
Jay's face went completely pale.
The words seemed to echo inside her head.
Killed him.
"No…"
"You did."
"No."
Jay took a step backward.
Her mind suddenly filled with fragments.
Her mother's clothes.
The doorway.
Her father.
Another figure.
A voice.
Then—
nothing.
A complete blank.
She pressed a hand against her forehead.
"I don't remember."
Kyle's expression hardened.
"That's what you tell yourself."
"I don't remember!"
Her voice cracked.
Kyle continued.
"You've spent years pretending you forgot."
Jay shook her head desperately.
"No…"
But her body was already reacting.
Her hands wouldn't stop trembling.
Her breathing became faster.
She tried taking a deeper breath.
It didn't work.
The corridor seemed to grow smaller.
The walls felt closer.
Her thoughts became tangled.
Five years old.
The house.
Her mother.
Her father.
Kyle.
That day.
Something had happened.
Something terrible.
But she couldn't see it.
She could only feel the fear attached to it.
Kyle watched her struggle.
"You really don't remember."
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
Jay's knees weakened.
She reached for the wall.
Her breathing became shallow.
"I can't…"
Kyle didn't move.
Jay squeezed her eyes shut.
The fragments kept appearing.
Then disappearing.
She couldn't connect them.
She couldn't breathe properly.
Her chest tightened.
Her vision blurred.
She knew what was happening.
She was losing control.
Again.
She tried to steady herself.
But her body wouldn't listen.
A few steps away, Kyle finally understood something.
She genuinely didn't remember.
His expression changed.
"No…"
Jay barely heard him.
She was too overwhelmed.
Her hands trembled violently as she tried to breathe.
And then—
another voice came from behind.
"Jay."
She froze.
Kyle looked toward the entrance.
Keifer stood there.
His expression changed the instant he saw her.
Jay turned toward him.
Their eyes met.
Keifer immediately noticed her trembling hands.
Her uneven breathing.
The fear on her face.
He didn't look at Kyle first.
He looked only at her.
"Jay."
He moved closer.
Slowly.
Carefully.
"I'm here."
Jay tried to answer.
Nothing came out.
Keifer stopped a few feet away.
He didn't grab her.
Didn't rush her.
He simply stayed where she could see him.
"Look at me."
Jay's eyes remained fixed on his.
"You don't have to remember anything right now."
Her breathing remained shaky.
Kyle stood silently behind them.
And for the first time that night—
he looked uncertain.
Because the memory he had spent years believing Jay carried with her…
wasn't actually there.
Jay had forgotten.
And Kyle had just discovered that he had been fighting a version of her past that existed only in his memory.