A shift in the air, and then she was simply there—Lexel's Lulu, the one he knew.
Her expression was flat, unreadable, eyes carrying a stillness that didn't belong to the companion who usually hovered at his side with easy familiarity.
She stepped forward without a word, her hand extending toward the other Lulu—the bleeding one, the one who'd called herself part of the Anti-System.
No words passed between them. None were needed.
Light poured from the wounded Lulu into the outstretched hand, not violently, but inevitably, like water finding a lower point to settle into. The absorption took seconds. What had been a separate, suffering entity thinned into strands of light and vanished into Lexel's Lulu, whose body shimmered faintly in response—a ripple across her form, there and gone.
Then it was over. The other Lulu was gone, folded into something else entirely.
Lulu turned to face him, and Lexel had already crossed his arms, watching her with an expression that gave little away.
