It Wasn't Meant to Be this Way

***Ares*** "Incredible..." I breathe, my words misting the mirror as I study my once-battered reflection. Physically and emotionally entangled with Ophelia last night, I’d woken feeling... better. Not perfect — there were still bruises, especially where the damage had been worst — but I could inhale deeply without the awkward sting in my ribs. One eye was still faintly bloodshot, and bruising clung to the underside of the socket. Still, a vast improvement... and all from being close to Ophelia. I exhale slowly, remembering the intensity of the early evening — the fight, the way it ended, and the unfamiliar emotions still buzzing beneath my skin. The face staring back at me in the mirror isn’t the same version of myself who arrived at Vale six months ago. Who was I, these days? A sha