The reconstructed plaza shimmered like fading glass, its architecture both real and unreal— like memory and dream intertwined. Jay stood at its heart, the fragmented sky flickering overhead, colors bleeding between familiar and alien.
His coat flared as a soft breeze passed. Not real wind, he knew. The simulation coughed up ambient data to maintain illusion. Still, it stirred something in him.
"Jay!"
A voice. Clear. Warm.
Alicia.
She ran up the short steps that framed the plaza's center, her boots echoing with odd cadence— half muted by fractured code beneath them. Her expression, a blur of tension and relief, softened as she met his eyes.
"You could have waited," she huffed.
Jay gave a half-smile. "I knew you'd find me."
Alicia crossed her arms, eyes narrowing. "That does not make it okay."
