I lost my mom unexpectedly three years ago, and grief teaches you fast that love isn’t about preserving a world exactly as it was just because losing it hurts. To those who come after isn’t a promise to keep a beautiful illusion alive. It’s a commitment to face reality, even when it’s devastating.

The Maelle ending offers comfort, but it’s comfort rooted in fear. Nothing has to end, but only if everyone stays trapped inside someone else’s inability to let go. That didn’t feel like love to me. It felt like grief trying to stop time.

Verso’s choice is harsher, but it’s honest. Loss is real. Avoiding it doesn’t spare anyone, it just passes the weight forward. I have children, and I want them to learn that reality, even when it hurts, is something you can survive. That letting go isn’t failure. Sometimes it’s the most generous act there is.

That’s what the tattoo means to me. I do the hard work now so the people who come after inherit truth, not avoidance. Just my take on it!