“Don’t. I’m coming home.”

When the screen returned to the title menu, he ejected the blue card and held it in his palm.

Leo remembered that save. He was thirteen. It was the summer his mom got sick. He’d spent every night in this room, Tidus and Yuna’s story bleeding into his own. He’d maxed every character’s Sphere Grid. Bred the perfect chocobo. Dodged two hundred lightning bolts. He refused to finish the game. Because if he walked into that final battle and defeated Sin, the story would end. And in real life, his mom was fading.