Ashes of Our Flame
by RapwizzyDebaron
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Episode 74: "Shadows That Bleed"
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Snow fell like ash over the skeletal remains of the Sanctuary. In the pale morning light, the team trekked silently through the remnants of war. No words could match the heaviness they carried, no comfort strong enough to numb what had been lost.
Kara walked ahead, her shoulders square despite the blood crusted at her temple and the limp in her step. She hadn't cried since Omega fell. Not when the explosion shook the world. Not when they found Adrian barely breathing. Not even when she looked down at the shattered helmet that once belonged to Rafe.
But now, something deeper twisted in her chest—something darker.
A part of her had been left behind in that fire.
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Inside the Cold
Adrian caught up to her, his breath steaming in the frigid air. "Kara… you haven't stopped moving since the blast."
"I can't stop," she whispered. "If I do, I'll fall apart. I need to keep going, keep fighting. There's no time for grief."
"There has to be," he said gently. "If we don't grieve what we've lost, we forget what we're fighting for."
She turned, her eyes haunted. "I haven't forgotten, Adrian. I just... I'm afraid if I start crying, I'll never stop."
He reached out, resting his forehead against hers. "Then I'll cry for both of us."
For a second, Kara let herself fall into the warmth of him—the one place that still felt real.
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Meanwhile...
Selene stood before a massive digital wall, watching Kara's every move through hundreds of surveillance feeds. Her fingers danced across a virtual keyboard, decoding files, flipping memories, twisting data into poison.
"She's running on guilt," Selene murmured to Dr. Vane. "Let it eat her alive. When she falls, I want her to crawl back to me."
Vane's smile was as empty as his eyes. "And if she doesn't?"
Selene turned. "Then we bury her with the truth."
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The Lie Beneath It All
Back at the safe house—an abandoned church half-swallowed by snow—the team huddled around a small heater.
Tessa tossed down a stack of decrypted files Kara had pulled from the Ember Core. "You need to see this," she said.
Kara flipped through them—images of children in tubes, memories manufactured, Omega's cloning process, Adrian's blood on the list of assets.
Then she stopped cold. A single page. One word bolded: KARA.
Underneath it:
> "Project Pandora: Phase IV. Synthetic Memory Host. Target Emotion – Grief. Result – Catalyst."
She blinked. Her fingers shook.
"Are you saying... I'm not real?"
Adrian's voice cracked. "Kara, wait—"
But she was already standing. Backing away.
"No… No, that's not possible. I remember my mother. I remember pain, birthdays, music—"
Tessa stepped forward slowly. "You remember what they gave you. Kara, it doesn't make you less real. It makes you dangerous—to them. You're the key to breaking their system."
Kara fell to her knees, the files slipping from her hands like falling snow. "Then who the hell am I?"
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Ronan's Revelation
Silence hung thick until Ronan—who had been quiet all day—cleared his throat.
"You're Kara. You saved my life twice. You stood between Omega and a bullet. You fought your way through Hell, and you never stopped looking for the truth."
He knelt beside her. "You're more real than anyone I've ever known. Memories don't define you. Your choices do."
Kara looked at him, tears finally forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I'm so tired of being a weapon."
"Then be something else," Adrian said. "Be the fire they never saw coming."
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Elsewhere…
Selene stood before a sealed vault, keying in the final phase code: EMBERFALL.
From behind a layer of glass, a new figure opened its eyes.
Identical to Kara.
But colder.
Hollow.
Unblinking.
"Time to meet the real Pandora," Selene whispered.
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To Be Continued…
🔥 Truth burns. Lies scar. And the shadows? They bleed.
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The end is no longer a whisper—it's a scream.