⋅•⋅⊰∙∘⭒❊✿❊⭒∘∙⊱⋅•
It was that sound that broke through.
Something about it, final and undeniable...seemed to echo louder than the sirens, louder than the voices, louder than everything else in that moment.
Adrien inhaled sharply.
It was the first real sign of life from him since the police had arrived, the first crack in the stillness he had clung to so tightly. His gaze was locked on his father, unblinking, as if he were trying to reconcile the man before him with the one he had known all his life.
Keith turned his head slightly, enough to look at him.
For a moment, something almost familiar flickered in his expression, not softness or remorse, but something that might have passed for acknowledgment under different circumstances.
"You'll understand one day," he said quietly.
Adrien didn't respond.
He didn't move.
He just stared.
