I couldn’t find any fanfics or head-canons for Tristan and Morana and I am a sucker for angst and make-believe scenarios so here we go with an idea that took root and will not leave my head-
Years have passed, and the Caine siblings have reunited. But the reunion is fraught with unspoken tensions. Lyla’s trauma has twisted her perception of Morana, and now she can barely look at her without feeling an acute sense of loss—a haunting reminder of the life she could have had if she had been saved from the horrors that shaped her.
Tristan, the most perceptive of the siblings, doesn’t just sense Lyla’s pain; it consumes him. The desire to give Lyla the security she never had becomes his unspoken mission, and it tears at him, fueling a growing conflict within. He wants to protect her, to shield her from any more pain, but he doesn’t know how.
Subtly, almost imperceptibly, Tristan begins to change. He pulls back in small, silent ways: avoiding eye contact, stepping away from Morana in public, and downplaying their bond whenever Lyla is near. The shifts are so subtle they might have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but Morana is sharp, and she feels every inch of Tristan’s retreat.
Morana, ever the understanding one, tries to accept the distance, but beneath her calm lies a quiet sense of betrayal. It isn’t her fault that she escaped unscathed all those years ago. And yet, the weight of Tristan’s struggle feels like a punishment for something beyond her control. One day, Morana reaches her breaking point. She makes the decision she never thought she would: she leaves.
Disappearing without a trace, Morana vanishes into the digital shadows. A master of technology, she covers her tracks flawlessly, severing ties with her old life and becoming a ghost. Years pass without a word. Tristan and Lyla are left to grapple with her absence. Lyla finds solace in the space left behind, using the time to confront her own demons. Tristan, on the other hand, retreats into himself, present but distant—alive, but only just.
Everything changes the day Amara needs Morana. A crisis pulls Morana back into the open, and she reappears for her friend, but she is not the Morana who left. This version of her is colder, distant, and utterly detached from Tristan. She is no longer hurt or angry—just indifferent.
What follows is a delicate dance, a relentless push and pull as Tristan struggles to tear down the walls Morana has built around herself. He fights to reclaim the bond they once shared, to revive what was lost. But Morana is no longer willing to be found so easily, and Tristan must confront the deepest parts of himself if he ever hopes to bridge the chasm between them.
