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Maya's sharp retort hung heavy in the air, a jarring discord in the melody of hope that had begun to play just moments before. "No, Ben, that's not what I mean!" she exclaimed, her voice laced with a mixture of frustration and hurt.

A wave of confusion washed over me. "Then what do you mean?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Had I misinterpreted her entirely? The hesitant smiles on Maggie and Curry's faces mirrored my own bewilderment.

"Look," Maya continued, her voice softening slightly, "I just… I miss our lives before all this. The normalcy, the simple joys. Remember game night? The way we felt this morning, together?"

Her words, a painful counterpoint to the battle raging within us, struck a deep chord. I did miss those moments, the fleeting glimpses of normalcy amidst the chaos. But the cost of surrendering to that yearning felt too high.

"Maya," I said, my voice heavy with the weight of our predicament, "we can't just pretend nothing's happening. Zephyr's web is tighten