Rei's eyes snapped open.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe. It was like something cold colder than anything he'd ever felt had slipped beneath his skin and whispered get up.
His body moved before his thoughts caught up. The room was dark, only the faint moonlight creeping through the window. Regulus was still asleep. Everything was silent. But Rei felt it a pull, heavy and unnatural, dragging him from his bed.
He didn't take his shoes. Didn't take his jacket. Barefoot, he stepped into the hallway. The air bit his skin like teeth, every step echoing like a heartbeat in a tomb.
He didn't even know where he was going. His mind was fog, but his body knew. It led him out the back doors, past the snow-covered yard, past the training grounds, and into the woods.
The snow thickened, crunching under his feet. His breath came out in white clouds, ragged and sharp. Somewhere ahead, through the trees, a glint of pale blue light shimmered.
A lake. Frozen over.
He walked across the ice, each step sending faint cracks beneath him. His reflection wavered until it didn't.
Someone stood across the frozen lake.
Rei froze. His heart thudded once. Twice. Then it stopped altogether.
It was him.
But it wasn't.
The figure's hair was white as bone. His skin pale, corpse-pale, marked with frostbite like a disease spreading across him. He had no arms, only black, twisted stumps at his shoulders. His chest open, hollowed out, a frozen hole where his heart should've been.
And yet, he smiled.
The wind howled, carrying a voice that wasn't quite human it was Rei's voice, layered with something else, something broken and ancient.
"A route that shall make any version of you feel like an empty shell…"
Rei's breath caught. The thing took one slow step forward, the sound of cracking ice echoing through the silence.
"You can loop a thousand times… bleed a thousand lives… but in the end—"
Its head twitched. Its eyes rolled white. It grinned wider.
"You'll still end up here."
The reflection beneath Rei's feet warped twisting into that same pale grin. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ice, thin lines darting in every direction.
Rei looked down and saw the faint shimmer of his own terrified face staring back up from below.
Then
CRACK.
The lake gave way.
The world fell silent as he plunged into the black water, the cold searing his lungs, the last sound a whisper that followed him into the dark.
"We'll meet again… when the heart stops Beating "
Rei gasped awake violently.
His body jolted upright as if something had yanked him from the depths. His chest heaved, lungs clawing for air, cold sweat pouring down his face. For a fleeting instant, he thought again? Another death? Another reset?
But the world didn't rewind.
There was no dorm room. No Regulus snoring. No fortress walls.
Instead, faint light filtered through thin curtains. Wooden walls creaked softly with the sound of wind brushing against them. The air smelled faintly of cocoa and burning firewood.
Rei blinked rapidly, trying to steady his breath. His hands were shaking his whole body was shaking.
Then a voice spoke, gentle and curious.
"Oh, you're awake!"
Rei's head turned sharply.
There standing near a small counter, holding a steaming mug of cocoa milk, was a boy. Or… at least Rei thought it was a boy.
The stranger had short, baby-blue hair that curled neatly over his ears, almost glowing in the soft light. His eyelashes were long, his skin pale and smooth, his features delicate enough to pass for a girl's at first glance. He wore a long brown jacket that brushed against his knees, a deep red scarf wrapped loosely around his neck.
When he smiled, it was so warm it almost felt wrong after what Rei had just seen.
"Oh good, you're not dead! You scared me when I found you outside the forest like a popsicle."
Rei stared at him, still breathing hard. "Who… are you?"
The boy tilted his head, his tone light and airy. "Oh! My bad. I forget introductions are, like, important. I'm Nari." He gave a small, playful salute, his scarf swaying as he moved. "Resident cocoa enthusiast, occasional wanderer, and full-time rescuer of half-frozen weirdos."
Rei blinked. "You found me?"
Nari nodded. "Mm-hm. You were lying face-down in the snow, mumbling something about… shells and hearts? Kinda poetic. Creepy poetic."
Rei rubbed his forehead. His memory flickered the mirror. The pale figure. The hole in its chest. The cracking ice. His own scream.
He clenched his fists. "...I see."
Nari stepped closer, peering at him with curious eyes. "You've got that thousand-yard stare thing going on. Did you see something scary?"
Rei didn't answer.
Nari leaned closer, hands behind his back, smiling softly. "You don't talk much, huh? That's fine. I can do the talking for both of us~."
He set the mug down on a small table near Rei and crouched a little, his tone turning unexpectedly gentle. "You should drink. You're freezing."
Rei hesitated, then reached out and took the mug. His hands brushed Nari's for a brief second warm, soft, steady.
"Thanks," Rei murmured.
Nari smiled again. "You're welcome, snow angel."
Rei froze mid-sip. "...What did you just call me?"
Nari giggled. "What? You were lying in the snow looking all tragic and mysterious! I had to call you something."
Rei sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "You're… a strange person."
"Thanks!" Nari beamed, proud of the insult as if it were a compliment. Then his voice softened again. "You can stay here as long as you need. The storm outside's not calming anytime soon."
Rei looked out the window. Snow was falling heavily thick, relentless. The world beyond the glass looked like a white abyss.
He set the mug down, his reflection rippling in the cocoa's surface. His own eyes looked tired. Haunted.
And behind him, Nari hummed softly a tune that didn't sound from this world.
Rei had no idea who this boy was, but something about his presence… felt almost too perfect.
Like he'd appeared exactly when he was supposed to.