About 12 years ago, at Selene's place;
The small room smelled of faint soap and old wood. 🏬
A little girl sat cross-legged on the floor, her tiny fingers playing with a blue ribbon.
She hummed softly to herself, a melody that felt both familiar and strange.
Selene watched from across the room, her eyes heavy with exhaustion and guilt.
The child—Feriha's sister;looked up occasionally, blinking at shadows on the wall as if trying to remember something just out of reach. 🙄
"Do you remember the ribbon?" Selene asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.
The girl's fingers tightened around the blue silk, a flash of emotion in her eyes.
She shook her head slowly.
"No… I… I don't know." 🤔
Selene's chest constricted.
She had erased so much, convincing the child that her family had abandoned her, that this cold, silent room was the only home she needed.
But sometimes, in her sleep, the child muttered names: "Feriha… sister… no, wait…" 💭
Whispers of a past Selin couldn't fully erase.
The girl's small eyes drifted to the window.
She remembered the smell of rain, the warmth of another hand, a voice calling her name… 💤
Selene's heart ached as she realized these fragments were memories she could not control, no matter how much training she had endured.
"Don't remember too much," Selene whispered, brushing the child's hair back gently. 👧
"But remember enough to be safe. To survive."
The girl tilted her head, clutching the ribbon tighter. 💠
Something deep inside stirred;a bond, unbroken despite the years, despite the lies.
A flicker of hope, a fragment of love that Selene could not erase. 🔎
And somewhere, hidden in the shadows of the Circles Gang, that flicker might one day grow…
A thread that would lead the little girl back to her sister. 🔗