Marc didn't tell Luca he was struggling.
Not at first.
It started small — hesitation before choices, silence where jokes used to be.
Luca noticed anyway.
"You've been quiet," Luca said as they walked back from class.
Marc shrugged. "Just thinking."
"About?"
Marc stopped walking.
"About whether we're doing the right thing."
Luca turned to face him. "What do you mean?"
Marc exhaled slowly. "We keep fixing things. Helping people. Changing outcomes."
"So?"
"So they don't remember," Marc snapped — then immediately softened. "They don't remember the pain we erase. Or the effort it takes."
Luca clenched his jaw. "That doesn't mean it doesn't matter."
"But does it matter enough?" Marc asked.
"What happens when we leave this world? When everything resets without us in it?"
Luca didn't answer.
Marc continued, voice lower. "Hana won't remember how hard she fought. Aria—"
He stopped himself.
Luca caught it. "What about Aria?"
Marc hesitated. Then: "She remembers too much."
That landed wrong.
"She's not supposed to," Marc said. "And I don't know what that means for her."
Luca's chest tightened.
"We protect her," Luca said firmly.
Marc looked at him. "From what? The system? Or us?"
The silence between them was thick — unfamiliar.
Marc turned away. "I'm not saying we stop helping people. I'm saying… this is costing us something."
Luca watched his best friend walk off.
For the first time since the loops began, Luca wondered if Marc was right.
And that scared him more than any reset.