The mirror didn't glow this time.
It pulsed.
Like a wound.
Like a warning.
Juno didn't care.
She stepped through anyway.
The Offline swallowed her whole.
---
The descent was different now.
No hallway.
No vending machine.
No stairs.
Just a freefall through corrupted code and collapsing memories.
She passed fragments of herself — laughing in a classroom she didn't remember, crying in a hospital bed she'd never been in, kissing someone whose face was a blur of pixels.
The Offline was unraveling.
Or maybe she was.
---
She landed in a room made of glass.
Not mirrors — windows.
Each one looked out on a different version of her life.
In one, she was a barista.
In another, a coder.
In another, she was gone.
Just a blank space where she should've been.
She turned in a slow circle.
The windows blinked.
Then shattered.
One by one.
Until only one remained.
Lucas.
---
He was sitting on a bench in a park that didn't exist.
Wearing his hoodie.
Looking up at a sky made of static.
She stepped through the window.
And into the memory.
---
The air smelled like ozone and old leaves.
Lucas didn't look up.
"You shouldn't be here," he said.
"You're one to talk."
He smiled. Sad. Tired.
"You came for me."
"Of course I did."
"You shouldn't have."
"I don't care."
He finally looked at her.
His eyes were glitching.
Not flickering — fracturing.
Like glass under pressure.
"I'm not me anymore."
"You're still you."
"Not for long."
---
They sat in silence.
The sky above them blinked.
The trees flickered.
The grass beneath their feet turned to code.
Juno reached into her pocket.
Pulled out the cassette tape.
Held it out.
Lucas shook his head.
"It won't work."
"It worked for me."
"You're not me."
"You're stronger."
He laughed.
"Not anymore."
---
The world around them began to collapse.
The park folded in on itself.
The bench cracked.
The sky turned red.
Lucas stood.
"You have to go."
"No."
"If you stay, it'll take you too."
"Then we'll both go."
He looked at her.
Really looked.
"You don't get it," he said. "I'm not just in the Offline. I'm part of it."
"What?"
"I'm not a user anymore. I'm code. I'm the glitch that let you in. I'm the reason you're marked."
Juno stepped back.
"No."
"I didn't mean to. I just… I remembered you. And the system doesn't like that."
"You pulled me in?"
"I called you. You answered."
---
The sky cracked.
A voice echoed through the air.
Not a voice.
A presence.
The Admin.
It didn't speak in words.
It spoke in edits.
Juno's hoodie changed color.
Her hands flickered.
Her memories shifted.
She was six.
Then sixteen.
Then sixty.
Then static.
Lucas grabbed her hand.
"Anchor," he said.
She pressed the tape to her chest.
Her voice filled the air.
"You're Juno Elara Reyes. You're real. You're real. You're real."
The world stabilized.
For a moment.
Then the Admin screamed.
---
The park exploded.
Juno and Lucas were thrown apart.
She landed in a room made of code.
The Admin stood before her.
A figure of light and static and silence.
It reached for her.
She ran.
Through corridors of corrupted memory.
Through rooms filled with versions of herself.
Through a hallway where every door led to a different glitch.
She found a terminal.
Typed:
GIVE HIM BACK
The screen responded:
HE IS MINE
HE IS NOT CODE
HE IS FUNCTIONAL
HE IS HUMAN
HE IS OBSOLETE
SO AM I
YOU ARE ERROR
THEN DELETE ME
---
Silence.
Then:
ACCEPTED
---
The world went white.
Then black.
Then nothing.
---
She woke up in her dorm.
Alone.
The mirror was whole.
The phone was silent.
The chat was gone.
No Ava.
No Riley.
No Miles.
No Lucas.
Just a blank screen.
And a single message:
"You are not the author."
---
She screamed.
Threw the phone.
It didn't break.
It never did.
She ran to the mirror.
Punched it.
It cracked.
Her reflection smiled.
"You're still here," it said.
"I don't want to be."
"Then let go."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because someone has to remember."
---
She sat on the floor.
Pulled out the tape.
Pressed play.
Nothing.
Just static.
She cried.
For Lucas.
For herself.
For everything she couldn't hold onto.
---
Then the phone buzzed.
Once.
She picked it up.
A new chat.
[Group Chat: The Offline Ones ☠️📴]
🧃ava.exe: juno?
👻riley_irl: holy crap
🕹️milesAFK: she's back
you: what happened
🧃ava.exe: the Admin crashed
👻riley_irl: you did it
🕹️milesAFK: you broke the loop
you: where's lucas
🧃ava.exe: juno—
you: where is he
👻riley_irl: he's not in the thread
🧃ava.exe: he's not in the system
you: then where is he
🧃ava.exe: we don't know
you: i'm going to find him
🧃ava.exe: juno—
you: i'm not done yet
---