(Narrator: Unknown) [Intro — Immediate Pulse] The war continued. No one knew for how long. Some still said peace was coming. Some had stopped asking when. Morning came anyway. People went to work. Children woke. Hospitals filled. Someone set a table for two— then remembered. [Verse 1 — Fast Human Montage] A woman checked three times that the voice belonged to her daughter. A man crossed two virtual borders without leaving his room. One passport called him citizen. Another called him foreign. A child watched his mother smile from a presence she had authorized before she died. “She died yesterday.” “Then why is she talking?” No one had built these systems for grief. Before the war, being everywhere had felt like freedom. Now everyone asked: Who is really there? [Pre-Chorus] Some turned everything off. Some stayed connected all night. Some needed proof. Some were too tired to ask. One city counted casualties. One family counted one. [Chorus — Melodic, Driving] We are citizens of the void, connected everywhere, alone somewhere. Tell me you're real. Tell me you're here. If your face can stay when your body disappears— what do we lose? What do we keep? Everybody can reach everyone. Who is really there? [Verse 2 — War Consequences] Trains stopped between lives. Hospitals moved beds into corridors. A father waited for a name. A woman learned hers would not come home. Some lost houses. Some lost money. Some lost the person who made both of those losses small. Friends woke on opposite sides of borders they had never chosen. Multiple citizens. Multiple loyalties. Then war asked the oldest question: Which side are you on? And millions discovered they had more than one answer. [Break — Lucas] Lucas watched himself appear before millions of people. Perfect posture. Perfect voice. His public double spoke of the dead. Words Lucas might have chosen. Words Lucas had never said. Helena stood behind him. “People needed to hear you.” “They didn't hear me.” “They heard what you would have said.” Lucas looked at the man wearing his face. “Then why do you still need me?” [Verse 3 — Intimate, Tighter] His wife reached for his hand. He let her. For a moment, he wanted to believe that was enough. Then he asked: “If I wasn't the Chosen... would you still be here?” She looked at him. A second too long. No accusation. No cruelty. Just a silence that answered more than either wanted. On the screen, Lucas kept speaking beautifully. The real Lucas couldn't breathe. [Chorus — Bigger] We are citizens of the void, connected everywhere, alone somewhere. Tell me you're real. Tell me you're here. If they can keep your face alive after everything disappears— what do we lose? What do we keep? Everybody can see everyone. Who is really there? [Bridge — Strip Back] Lucas turned the screen off. No speeches. No crowd. No Chosen. Rex crossed the room. He put his head against Lucas's leg. Lucas looked down. No password. No authorization. No title. Rex knew exactly who was there. [Final Build — Population + Lucas] Somewhere, a woman deleted nothing because deleting felt like another death. Somewhere, a man erased everything because remembering had become unbearable. Someone waited for peace. Someone buried the person they had planned to wait with. Someone chose a country. Someone chose two. Someone refused to choose at all. And Lucas sat in the dark while another Lucas lived online. [Final Chorus — Emotional, Expansive] We are citizens of the void, carrying the living, carrying the gone. Tell me you're real. Tell me you're here. We don't know when this war will end. We only know who's missing. What do we lose? What do we keep? Everybody can reach everyone— but tonight, stay close enough that I know you're really there. [Final Refrain — Short, No Outro] The war continued. Morning would come anyway. Lucas put one hand on Rex. Across the world, millions did the same thing in a thousand different ways— holding what was still alive.
