Aure gasped as the light dimmed, his arms still wrapped around the one who had held him in the rift. But—
There was no name in his mind.
No memory of the man's voice. Just the warmth, the soul-deep ache that told him: He gave up everything. For me.
He looked into his eyes.
And he remembered love, even if he didn't know what to call him anymore.
The ground beneath them rumbled. The Rift wasn't done.
From the ceiling of eternity, stars collapsed inward, forming a shape—tall, radiant, terrible.
The Celestial Judicator.
Born from the laws that bound every realm, it moved without mercy.
"You have broken the order of soul and name," it boomed, its voice cracking time itself. "One has been unmade. The bond is void."
"No," Aure stepped forward, trembling, voice wild with defiance. "The bond is stronger than names. Stronger than laws made by cowards who fear love."
The Judicator raised his hand. "Then be judged together."
He didn't flinch.
He turned back to the one-who-was-once-Lian, who stood quiet, glowing faintly at the edges, beginning to fade.
Aure grabbed his face with both hands. "You're not vanishing on me. Not after all of this."
He smiled. "But you don't even know my name."
"I don't need it," he whispered. "Because I remember you in here" he pressed his palm to his heart, "where no Judicator can reach."
Suddenly, the soul sigil Aure bore sparked blue fire.
The mark on his chest though his name had vanished answered it.
And the bond, the untamed bond, surged.
A circle of violet flame erupted around them.
The Judicator recoiled.
"You rewrote fate," he hissed. "With love."
Aure's voice rang out like thunder wrapped in poetry:
"No. With choice."
They turned, hand in hand, faces steady, and walked through the flame. The Rift cracked. The Celestial collapsed into dust.
And the realm shook.
In the silence after, Aure looked into his fading eyes and said:
"From now on, I'll call you whatever I want."
He laughed, soft, ghostlike. "What'll it be?"
He kissed his cheek and whispered:
"Mine."