The thing that crawled out of the hole stopped halfway into the room.

One knee on the concrete.One hand gripping the floor like it needed the friction to stay real.

It looked like me.

Not metaphorically.Not symbolically.

Me.

Same height.Same shoulders.Same face—only wrong in the ways mirrors get wrong when they remember you badly.

Static bled from its eyes like tears made of broken signal.Its mouth twitched between expressions I recognized too well: confusion, rage, disbelief.

The girl staggered back a step.

"Ishaan…" she whispered. "That's—"

"—not me," I finished quietly.

But the lie tasted thin.

Because it was me.

Or rather—

A version of me that didn't make it.

A version the world tried to erase when I refused to follow the script.

The air around it crackled, pressure folding inward.Lights flickered violently, sparks snapping from exposed wires.

[ System Warning: Paradox Entity detected ][ Classification: Failed Continuity – Partial Preservation ][ Risk Level: Extreme ]

Aaryan's laughter cut through the tension—soft, delighted.

"Oh, this is beautiful," he said."A discarded protagonist crawling back into relevance."

I didn't look at him.

I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The other Ishaan lifted his head.

Our eyes met.

And in that instant, I felt it—

Not hostility.

Hunger.

Not for flesh.For place.

For existence.

"You…" Static crackled through his voice, each syllable lagging like a corrupted file."You kept walking."

"Yes," I said.

His jaw clenched.

"You let me fall."

"No," I said again, firmer. "The world did."

His laugh came out wrong—half sob, half scream.

"The world didn't erase you," he snarled."It erased me."

The ground shook.

The girl grabbed my arm, nails biting into fabric.

"Ishaan, he's unstable—"

"I know."

Because I remembered that feeling.

The moment where the story turns its back on you and keeps going without explanation.

✦

The other Ishaan pushed himself fully upright.

His movements were jerky, like he was fighting resistance with every step.

Reality didn't want him here.

But neither did he want to leave.

"I survived," he said hoarsely."Do you know what it's like? To be the version that keeps breathing after the narrative abandons you?"

Static surged behind him, the hole in reality pulsing wider.

"I watched you," he continued."Through fractures. Through echoes. You kept getting help. Readers. Attention. A girl who anchors you."

His eyes flicked toward her.

They sharpened.

"She should've been mine."

The girl flinched.

I stepped forward instantly, positioning myself between them.

"She's not a prize," I said."And she's not yours."

His face twisted.

"Everything you have should've been shared!" he screamed."I suffered so you could become this?"

The pressure in the room spiked.

Concrete cracked under his feet.

[ System Notice: Emotional Collapse imminent ][ Recommendation: De-escalation advised ]

Aaryan leaned casually against a wall, watching like this was theater.

"Careful," he said lazily."If he destabilizes completely, the pocket collapses. And your friend Arjun goes with it."

That hit.

Hard.

The girl looked at me, panic flooding her eyes.

"Arjun—"

"I know," I said.

I took a slow breath and addressed the other me again.

"Arjun is trapped because of you, isn't he?"

The other Ishaan froze.

For a fraction of a second, guilt flickered across his face.

Then it hardened into defiance.

"He followed me," he snapped."He was desperate. Just like I was."

The image clicked into place.

Arjun hadn't been captured.

He had been pulled in by someone who needed proof they weren't alone.

"You used him as an anchor," I said quietly.

The other Ishaan's voice shook.

"I needed something real. Someone who remembered me."

The girl swallowed.

"You're hurting him," she said softly."You're hurting him the same way you were hurt."

He turned toward her sharply.

"Don't talk to me like you understand!"

She didn't back away.

"I don't," she said."But Ishaan didn't let his pain decide who he became."

Silence cut through the static.

For the first time, the other Ishaan hesitated.

The room trembled again—less violently this time.

✦

I stepped closer.

Every instinct screamed at me not to.

But some battles aren't won by distance.

"I didn't choose to replace you," I said."And I didn't steal your life."

He stared at me, jaw tight.

"Then why are you here instead of me?"

I met his gaze steadily.

"Because when the world tried to erase me, I refused.And when it erased you…"

My voice dropped.

"You were alone."

That was the truth.

Not superiority.Not destiny.

Circumstance.

His shoulders slumped slightly.

Just a fraction.

"I screamed," he whispered."No one answered."

The hole behind him pulsed again, reacting to emotion.

[ System Notice: Emotional resonance detected ][ Outcome: Unstable synchronization possible ]

This was dangerous.

But also opportunity.

Aaryan straightened, eyes keen.

"Interesting," he murmured."Two versions of the same man… only one can exist fully."

The girl snapped toward him.

"That's not true!"

He smiled thinly.

"It always is."

I ignored him.

Focused on the other me.

"You don't want to take my place," I said."You just don't want to disappear."

His eyes burned.

"Yes."

"Then stop tearing the world open to prove it."

Silence.

Static crackled lower now, like rain easing.

Behind him, within the hole, I glimpsed movement—

A figure curled on the ground.

Human.

Alive.

Arjun.

The girl gasped.

"I see him!"

The other Ishaan stiffened.

"You can't take him," he said, voice breaking."If you do… I vanish."

That was it.

The real choice.

Save Arjun → risk erasing this broken version of me.Save him → accept that some versions don't get endings.

The world leaned in.

I felt the Reader's attention spike—sharp, hungry.

[ System Notice: Major Decision Node approaching ][ Stakes: Identity / Mercy / Survival ]

Aaryan's voice was calm behind me.

"Choose carefully, Ishaan.This time, you're not deciding for a stranger."

The girl looked at me—terrified, trusting, alive.

"Ishaan," she whispered. "Whatever you choose… don't lose yourself."

The other me looked at me like a mirror begging not to shatter.

"Don't let me be nothing," he said.

The hole pulsed.

Arjun coughed weakly inside it.

Time thinned.

Reality waited.

The hole in reality pulsed like a wounded heart.

Every beat dragged more static into the room, every beat threatening to tear the pocket wider.Arjun's silhouette flickered inside — curled, breathing, alive but fading between frames.

And standing between him and freedom…

Was me.

Not metaphorically.Not symbolically.

Me.

The other Ishaan stared at me with eyes that knew my thoughts before I spoke them.

"You're going to choose him," he said quietly.

His voice wasn't angry now.

It was tired.

"I don't want you to be nothing," I replied.

"That's the same thing," he whispered.

The girl's grip tightened around my arm.I could feel her heartbeat through my sleeve — fast, real, insisting on continuation.

Aaryan watched from the edge of the room, eyes sharp with interest, like he was witnessing a rare alignment.

"Careful," he said softly."This isn't just mercy. It's editing."

I ignored him.

I stepped closer to the other me.

Static recoiled from my presence — not violently, but like two magnets with the same pole.

"You survived something I didn't," I said."You endured being erased while still conscious."

His lips trembled.

"I screamed," he said again."And the story moved on."

"I know," I answered."Because I heard the echo."

That was the truth.

Every time I refused erasure, every time I walked forward instead of vanishing,I felt something pulling at my spine —a weight of absence shaped exactly like him.

"You're not a mistake," I continued."But you're also not meant to replace me."

His shoulders slumped further.

"Then what am I?"

The room held its breath.

I looked at the hole.

At Arjun.

At the girl.

At the fractured sky bleeding ink above us.

"You're a consequence," I said gently."And consequences don't disappear — they transform."

The other Ishaan's eyes widened slightly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I won't erase you," I said."But I won't let you anchor yourself by dragging others into collapse."

Aaryan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he murmured. "That's ambitious."

I met the other me's gaze steadily.

"You don't get to live by stealing time from Arjun.But you also don't have to vanish screaming."

The static around him surged violently.

[ System Warning: Resolution attempt detected ][ Narrative outcome uncertain ][ Risk: Identity fragmentation ]

The other Ishaan shook his head, desperation flooding back.

"There's nowhere for me to go!"

"There is," I said.

He laughed bitterly.

"Where? Back into nothing?"

"No," I said. "Into me."

Silence slammed down like gravity.

Even Aaryan stopped smiling.

The girl's eyes widened.

"What… what does that mean?"

I took a breath.

The kind you take before stepping into deep water.

"It means you don't exist instead of me," I said."You exist within me."

The other Ishaan stared.

"You want to— what? Absorb me?"

"No," I said."I want to carry you."

Not control.Not erase.Not overwrite.

Integrate.

The broken parts of the story don't disappear.They become scars.

And scars remind you where you've survived.

The static howled.

The hole thrashed violently, edges ripping wider.

Aaryan swore under his breath.

"That's not safe," he said."You don't know what you'll become if you merge with a failed continuity."

"I already know," I replied calmly."I'll become someone who remembers what it's like to be left behind."

The other Ishaan's face crumpled.

"You'd do that… for me?"

"I'm not doing it for you," I said."I'm doing it so the world doesn't pretend you never mattered."

Tears — real tears, not static — slipped down his face.

"I was so angry," he whispered.

"I know."

"I wanted to hurt you."

"I know."

"I wanted to take everything."

"I know," I repeated softly."And that's why you don't walk alone."

The girl stepped forward.

"You don't have to disappear," she said quietly."But you can't hurt people to stay."

The other Ishaan looked at her — truly looked.

Then nodded once.

Slow.

Resigned.

"Okay," he whispered."Then don't let me be forgotten."

I stepped forward.

Placed my hand over his chest.

Static flared — not violently — but intensely.

The world screamed.

Not in pain.

In rewrite.

✦

The hole collapsed inward.

Not imploding — closing.

Arjun's body slid forward as gravity reasserted itself.

I grabbed him as he fell.

He was real.Warm.Breathing.

Alive.

The girl rushed forward, helping me pull him free as the pocket sealed completely.

Arjun coughed violently, gasping air like it was the first time.

"I— I saw—" he rasped."Ishaan?"

"I'm here," I said.

His eyes focused.

Relief crashed over his face.

"I knew… you'd come."

Behind me, static surged.

The other Ishaan's form broke apart — not dissolving, not dying —but flowing.

Like ink poured into water.

Into me.

Pain exploded behind my eyes.

Memories not mine slammed into my mind:

— Running alone through collapsing streets— Screaming as the world blinked away— Watching myself survive while I didn't— Holding onto rage like it was the only proof of existence

I staggered.

The girl caught me instantly.

"Ishaan!"

"I'm okay," I gasped.

The static settled.

The room stilled.

The crack in the sky sealed completely.

[ System Notice: Identity Merge complete ][ Result: Failed Continuity integrated ][ New State: Singular Ishaan (Expanded) ][ Status: Unstable but coherent ]

Aaryan stared at me with something close to awe.

"…You're insane," he said quietly.

I laughed weakly.

"Probably."

Arjun lay on the floor, breathing hard, eyes darting.

"What… what happened?"

"You fell into a place the world forgot," I said."And we pulled you back."

He looked around.

At the girl.At Aaryan.At me.

Then his gaze lingered on me longer than necessary.

"…You feel different," he said.

I closed my hand slowly.

"I remember being left behind now," I replied.

He swallowed.

The girl squeezed my arm.

"You didn't disappear," she whispered."You became more."

The world felt heavier.

But steadier.

Like a book that gained pages without losing its spine.

Somewhere far above, unseen but unmistakable,the Reader's attention sharpened — not entertained now, but wary.

I had done something the story didn't expect.

I refused erasure.

Again.

But this time…

I refused it for myself.

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