The air around Raven trembled.
The golden haze in his eyes pulsed once, then settled—soft, steady, and impossibly warm.
For a while, he didn't move.
He couldn't move.
Because the woman before him—the one wearing his sister's body—didn't seem like a stranger anymore.
He didn't know how he knew, but something deep within him whispered her name before his lips ever could.
"…Mother?"
The word came out hoarse and fragile, as if his throat had forgotten how to speak it.
The woman's golden eyes widened, shimmering faintly.
Then she smiled—a trembling, aching smile that seemed to hold eighteen years of silence behind it.
"Yes," she whispered, her voice breaking like dawnlight through mist. "Yes, Raven. It's me."
For a moment, neither of them breathed.
Then, Raven's sword hand lowered slowly until Omni's black edge touched the floor.
The glow around his eyes flickered. His chest felt too tight. "You're… you're really here."
He almost didn't believe the words himself.
