Mommy? Daddy?
1638 Words
POV: Celine Ashvale - The Girl Who Heard a Child
“Mommy? Daddy?”
The voice came from the crack in the ground.
Small. Young. Scared.
My blood went cold.
I don’t have a child.
I’m not married.
I’m at a wedding. My wedding.
Kael’s hand crushed mine. “Don’t answer it.”
Player One watched us. Smiling. “You should. That’s your future calling.”
The crack widened.
A small hand came up.
Not a monster’s claw. A child’s hand.
Five fingers. Dirt under the nails.
And on the wrist, a birthmark.
Mine.
POV: Kael Blackthorn - The Man Who Wouldn’t Look
I didn’t look at the hand.
I looked at Celine.
Her face was white. “That’s my birthmark,” she whispered.
“I know,” I said. “It’s not real.”
Player One’s voice was soft. “Isn’t it? You broke the key. You made two halves. One for the Door. One for the Shield. Two halves make a whole.”
He pointed at the crack. “And a whole makes a child.”
The child pulled herself up.
A girl.
Eight years old. Hair like Celine’s. Eyes like mine.
She wore a white dress.
A wedding dress.
Miniature.
POV: Celine - The Girl in White
The girl stood in the crack.
Not climbing. Just standing.
Like the ground was her floor.
She looked at me. Then at Kael.
“Mommy?” she said. “Daddy? You’re here.”
My knees gave out.
Kael held me up.
“Don’t,” he said to the girl. “Who are you?”
The girl tilted her head. “I’m you. If you sit. If you rule. If you stay.”
Player One clapped. “Meet your heir, Celine. Your future. Your reason to sit the throne.”
The girl took a step out of the crack.
The ground didn’t break under her feet.
Because it was hers.
POV: Kael - The Heir
She was us.
That was the trap.
Her eyes were mine. Brown. Not gold. Human.
Her mouth was Celine’s.
And she wore white.
Like the wedding we never finished.
“Don’t talk to it,” I said to Celine.
“It’s not an it,” the girl said. “It’s me. I’m Lyra.”
Lyra.
Celine gasped.
That was the name she told me once. In the tower. When she was scared. “If I ever have a daughter, I’ll name her Lyra. After the stars.”
Player One smiled. “See? She remembers.”
Lyra walked to us. Stopped at the crack’s edge.
“Please,” she said. “Come home. The throne is cold without you.”
POV: Celine - Lyra
Lyra.
My daughter.
That wasn’t possible.
Unless…
Unless I sat.
Unless I became Future-me.
“Are you real?” I whispered.
Lyra nodded. “I’m as real as the choice you make next.”
She held out her hand.
Small. Warm.
“My hand hurts,” she said. “Because you’re not holding it.”
Kael stepped between us. “Back away from her, Celine.”
“I can’t,” I said. “She’s me.”
“No,” Kael said. “She’s bait.”
Player One sighed. “Always so suspicious, Shield. She’s not bait. She’s consequence.”
POV: Kael - The Consequence
Consequence.
That’s what she was.
If we sat. If we ruled. If we gave in.
We got her.
If we didn’t, we didn’t.
Lyra looked at me. “Daddy, you’re shaking.”
“I’m not your father,” I said.
“Yes, you are,” she said. “In the timeline where you sit. Where you protect her. Where you don’t break the key.”
She looked at the half-key in my hand.
“Put it together,” she said. “And I can stay.”
The broken half in Celine’s shadow-hand floated up.
Toward mine.
POV: Celine - The Two Halves
The two halves of the key floated.
Mine. His.
Close.
Almost touching.
Lyra watched them. Hope on her face.
“If you join them,” she said, “the door opens. And I don’t have to go back.”
“Back where?” I asked.
“To the chair,” she said. “Alone. Like Grandma.”
Grandma.
Future-me.
Alone.
My chest broke.
“Kael,” I said. “She’s alone.”
“I know,” he said. “Because we didn’t sit.”
The two halves touched.
Click.
POV: Kael - The Key Joins
Click.
The key joined.
Whole again.
Black iron.
Hot.
Lyra smiled. “You did it. Thank you, Daddy.”
Player One’s eyes went wide. Not with victory.
With surprise.
“You actually—”
I dropped the key.
It hit the dirt.
Clang.
Lyra’s smile vanished.
“No,” she whispered.
POV: Celine - The Key Falls
The key fell.
Lyra staggered back.
Like I’d slapped her.
“Why?” she said. Tears. Real tears. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re not real,” I said. My voice broke. “You’re a choice. And I choose not to make you.”
Lyra’s white dress flickered.
Like bad light.
“No,” she said. “I am real. I’m your blood. Your love. Your future.”
Player One’s smile was gone. “Celine. If you let her go, you’ll never have her. Not in any timeline.”
“I know,” I said. “But I won’t make a child to fill a throne.”
Lyra screamed.
POV: Kael - The Scream
Lyra screamed.
Not angry.
Grief.
The crack in the ground shook.
Dirt fell.
Her white dress turned gray.
“Daddy, please,” she said. “Don’t leave me.”
I wanted to.
God, I wanted to pick her up.
But I didn’t.
Because she wasn’t mine.
Not yet.
Not unless we sold the world for her.
“She’s fading,” Celine said. “Kael, look.”
Lyra’s hand was translucent.
I could see the crack through it.
POV: Celine - The Fading
Lyra was fading.
Piece by piece.
“Wait,” I said. “Wait, don’t go.”
“I don’t want to,” she said. “But you won’t sit.”
Player One stepped forward. “Last chance, Door. Pick her up. Sit with her. Be a mother. Be a queen.”
Lyra reached for me.
Her hand passed through mine.
Cold.
“I love you, Mommy,” she whispered.
And she fell.
POV: Kael - The Fall
Lyra fell back into the crack.
No scream this time.
Just quiet.
The crack closed.
Sealed.
Like it was never there.
Silence.
Celine collapsed.
I caught her.
“She’s gone,” she whispered. “I killed her.”
“No,” I said. “You saved her. From being born into a cage.”
Player One stared at the sealed crack.
His face was empty.
“You were supposed to pick her,” he said.
“I picked her by not picking her,” Celine said.
POV: Celine - The Empty Ground
The ground was empty.
No crack. No child. No dress.
Just dirt.
I should have felt relief.
I didn’t.
I felt hollow.
Kael held me tight. “You did right.”
“Did I?” I said. “Or did I just become the monster who kills her own child?”
Player One lifted his head.
His eyes were not gold.
They were black.
“Then you leave me no choice,” he said.
POV: Kael - The Choice Gone
He had no choice.
Because we took his.
Player One raised his hand.
No key.
No door.
Just him.
“The game needs a player,” he said. “If it’s not your child, it’ll be you.”
The dirt around us moved.
Not a crack.
A circle.
Around our feet.
“You wanted to avoid the throne?” he said.
“Then the throne comes to you.”
POV: Celine - The Circle
The dirt rose.
In a circle.
Around us.
Walls.
No roof.
No door.
A room.
Made of earth.
Player One stood outside it.
“Welcome to your wedding suite,” he said.
The walls sealed.
Darkness.
POV: Kael - The Wedding Suite
Darkness.
Then light.
Torches.
Stone walls.
A bed.
White sheets.
A table.
Two chairs.
One cake.
And a crown.
On the bed.
“Your wedding,” Player One’s voice came through the stone. “As you wanted. No guests. No war. No game.”
Celine looked at me.
“This is the hotel,” she whispered.
“It is,” I said. “But not ours.”
The crown on the bed glowed.
POV: Celine - The Crown on the Bed
The crown glowed.
Not gold.
Bone white.
“Put it on,” Player One said. “Sit. Rule. And Lyra comes back.”
I looked at Kael.
He looked at the crown.
Then at me.
“Or,” he said. “We break it.”
He picked up a stone from the floor.
Heavy.
He threw it.
POV: Kael - The Stone
The stone flew.
Hit the crown.
CRACK.
The crown split in half.
Light died.
Silence.
Player One didn’t speak.
For ten seconds.
Then the walls shook.
“Wrong move,” his voice said.
The bed vanished.
The table vanished.
The floor opened.
POV: Celine - The Floor Opens
The floor opened.
Not a crack.
A mouth.
Stone teeth.
Dark throat.
Kael grabbed me.
“Jump!”
We jumped.
We didn’t fall into stone.
We fell into water.
Cold. Black.
And above us, the mouth closed.
POV: Kael - The Water
Water.
No air.
No light.
Just down.
Celine’s hand in mine.
Tight.
Something moved below us.
Big.
Slow.
Eyes opened.
Hundreds.
All gold.
And one voice.
Not Player One.
Older.
“Welcome home, Door.”
- Writer
