The library fell silent. Hinata held Alya close, feeling her heartbeat flicker faintly against her chest. Around them, the shattered remains of the Writer's power dissolved into curling wisps of smoke that drifted away like dying stars.
Alya's voice was soft, fading. "I don't… know how long I can stay…"
Hinata gripped her tighter. "No. You're not going anywhere. We won this. We broke free."
Alya tried to smile, but her edges flickered like static. "The Writer's gone… but I'm still part of the story. And the story… it's still unwriting itself…"
Hinata looked around, desperate for something—anything—to hold the world together. The shelves were collapsing, books crumbling into ash, the golden glow of the manuscript starting to dim.
"No," Hinata whispered. "I won't let it end like this."
She scrambled back to the desk, flipping through the manuscript, searching for blank pages. But every page now was filled with words—fading words, unraveling sentences that bled into empty space.
Alya coughed, ink dripping from her lips. "If you want… to save me… you have to finish the story. Write something that lasts…"
Hinata seized the pen, but the pages burned her fingers when she touched them. "I can't… it's… breaking apart—"
Suddenly, the room shook violently. Cracks spiderwebbed through the floor, shelves toppling like dominos into the dark. A black chasm split the space in half, swallowing books and debris into its endless maw.
Alya cried out as the ground beneath her crumbled. Hinata lunged, grabbing her hand just in time, pulling her back from the edge. Below them, the chasm hissed with writhing shadows, hungry and endless.
"Hinata…" Alya whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Let me go… it's the only way—"
"No!" Hinata screamed. "I'm not losing you! There has to be another way—"
A jagged tremor knocked them sideways, sending the manuscript tumbling from the desk. It slid toward the chasm, pages flapping wildly in the storm of black wind.
Hinata lunged for it, Alya still clinging to her hand. Their combined weight dragged them toward the abyss, but Hinata refused to let go, her nails digging into the stone floor.
"Write it…" Alya whispered, voice ragged. "Write us an ending… before it's too late…"
The manuscript teetered on the edge, glowing faintly, as though daring Hinata to act. And in that heartbeat, Hinata knew what she had to do.
She dragged Alya close, pressed their foreheads together, and whispered, "I love you. That's the ending. That's the beginning. That's everything."
She snatched the pen, plunged it into the final page, and began to write. The world trembled, the shadows shrieked, and the crack beneath them began to close.
Alya's body flickered, stabilizing, the fading lines of her form pulsing with light. Hinata kept writing, refusing to stop, her tears dripping onto the page.
And above the chaos, the new words glowed like fire:
*They were real. They loved. And no one could erase them.*
The shadows screamed, dissolving into ash as the chasm sealed shut, leaving only silence and dust. Hinata clung to Alya, both of them trembling, breathing hard.
When they looked around, the library was gone. In its place stood a blank white room, bright and quiet, with a single door at the far end.
Hinata smiled weakly. "We did it…"
Alya nodded, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Now… let's see where this new story leads…"