I held my palms parallel to each other, drawing a slow breath as heat gathered between them. Sparks crawled along my fingertips, small arcs of red and white light snapping together until an orb began to form—dense, unstable, humming with potential. The others stared, half in awe, half in fear, the weight of my words still settling.
"What are you doing?" Chase asked carefully, his voice strained, as if he already knew the answer but didn't want to hear it.
"Turning back time," I said.
The words seemed to hang in the air like a verdict.
Booker's head snapped toward me. "You can't—Kaleb, you don't even know what that'll do."
Chase added quickly, "And what about us? Won't we lose everything? The memories, the progress—?"
I shook my head. "Not all of us. Only the world forgets. We won't." My voice was steady, but my stomach felt hollow. "I'm going to take us back to before all of this. Before Sentinel Solutions. Before the Nexus changed everything. The day before they took us." I looked at Booker.
For a moment, no one spoke. The silence was agreement enough.
They didn't argue. They just nodded. Maddie clenched her jaw but didn't try to stop me. Booker gave a single, heavy nod—the kind that said he trusted me even when he shouldn't. Chase glanced down at his data pad, shut it off, and whispered, "Then let's hope this works."
I drew in a final breath and pulled my hands apart. The orb tore open like an eclipse collapsing. Light exploded outward, swallowing everything—the floor, the room, the sound.
And then—nothing.
I woke to the sound of a ceiling fan.
Its low hum was steady, rhythmic, almost comforting. My eyes opened slowly. The world came back in pieces—soft light through blinds, the faint smell of detergent, the gentle creak of the old home floorboards.
My room.
The same one I'd slept in before my powers, before the Nexus, before the chaos.
I blinked hard, trying to ground myself. The walls were unscarred. No energy burned. No sigils. My desk still had a half-finished drawing of Booker's old gauntlet sketches. It looked… untouched. Like no time had passed at all.
A whisper escaped my lips. "It worked."
The door burst open.
"Kaleb—it worked!" Booker's voice was breathless, and when I looked up, he was standing there in the doorway, alive, unbroken, grinning like the world hadn't ended a hundred times. His eyes—clear blue again. His skin—unscarred.
I exhaled shakily. "Booker."
He stepped closer. "Do you remember? All of it?"
I nodded. "Every bit."
He flexed his hands, testing instinct. Nothing happened.
"Try again," I said, standing and reaching out to him. I took his hands in mine, let the Nexus current build between our palms, and pushed gently. Light flowed into him like breath.
He gasped. "Kaleb—"
Blue light danced across his fingers, rippling down his arms in shimmering waves. He stared at them, grinning through disbelief. "It's really back."
He hugged me hard, laughter cracking through his voice. "You did it."
I smiled faintly. "Yeah. Maybe."
But before I could say more, his expression shifted. "Wait… what about Aaliah?"
Her name hit like a pulse through my chest. I closed my eyes, feeling outward.
She was here. Her energy shimmered faintly in the distance—familiar, bright, alive. I could sense her focus, the slight tremor of excitement. She was practicing again, like she used to.
"She's fine," I said softly. "Down the hall."
Booker exhaled in relief. "And Mom?"
The air left my lungs. Mom.
I stretched my senses again, searching through the quiet hum of the house. There—steady, familiar, the soft warmth of her energy moving in the next room. "She's here too."
Booker's shoulders dropped. "You really did it."
"Yeah," I said. "But we need to be careful. No one can know what happened. You and Aaliah—don't fight. Not again. You know why."
He nodded solemnly, guilt darkening his eyes.
"What about the Renegades? And Rem?"
"They'll remember," I said. "We'll decide what happens next. For now, we lie low. Rem's still at Sentinel with the others. They won't realize anything's changed—yet."
He nodded again and turned for the door. "I'll go check on Aaliah."
"Go," I said. "And keep it quiet."
As soon as he left, I took a long breath and turned toward Mom's room. My hand rested on the doorknob—locked. That never stopped me. A flick of my wrist, and it clicked open.
"Mom?" I called softly.
She jumped, startled. "Kaleb—how did you—?"
I gave a small smile. "I have powers, remember?"
She hesitated, then sighed. "Right… that."
"I need to talk to you," I said, my voice heavier than I meant it to be. "It's important."
Her posture changed instantly—fear melting into maternal concern. She closed the door with a wave of her hand. "What's wrong?"
The words caught in my throat.
"I messed up."
Her face softened immediately. She crossed the room in two steps and pulled me into her arms. "Kaleb… what happened?"
I shook my head, the words breaking apart before I could form them. "I can't say. I just needed you to know that. And…" My voice trembled. "You seemed disappointed when you found out I had powers."
Guilt flashed across her eyes like lightning. She let me go, pacing in silence before whispering, "Okay. I'll tell you the truth. I—"
"I already know," I said.
She froze. "How?"
"I can't tell you."
Her tone sharpened. "Kaleb, don't tell me you went there."
I stayed quiet.
Her voice rose. "You did, didn't you? You went to them."
"Mom, I didn't want to."
"What do you mean you didn't want to? Is that how you got your powers back?"
I shook my head desperately. "No. Just—please, listen."
"What don't I understand?" she demanded.
I backed up, breath shaking. I couldn't tell her everything—not yet. "Mom, I'm sorry. I can't."
Her disappointment filled the air like static. She walked over, lifted my chin with trembling fingers, and said quietly, "You can't start a conversation with 'I messed up' and expect me to stop asking. What happened?"
My throat closed. "I just… needed to see you."
Her voice broke. "Oh, Kaleb." She hugged me again, longer this time, holding me like she'd never let go.
When she pulled away, her eyes were wet. "Tell me."
I summoned a small orb of energy in my palm. "I'll show you."
I pressed it to her forehead. Memories—every one of them—poured through the link. The destruction, the Harbingers, the betrayals, Aaliah's capture, her transformation, the end of everything.
When it was over, she stood still, trembling, trying to process it all.
"Kaleb," she whispered, "I don't even know what to say."
"There's nothing to say," I replied quietly.
She wiped her tears, whispered something under her breath. "Finis temporum."
"What?"
"The end times," she said softly.
I exhaled. "Yeah. Something like that."
She turned toward the window, voice barely audible. "Then we start over."
"I need to stay low for now," I said. "Figure out what comes next."
She nodded slowly. "And the others?"
"They're safe," I said. "For now."
Before I left, I turned in the doorway. "I guess that means you know about the other two now."
She nodded once.
"So do I," I said, and walked away.
I returned to my room, the door closing softly behind me. I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, every nerve humming with the faint echo of the Nexus. My hands were still trembling.
"What have I done?" I whispered.
The ceiling fan kept spinning. The world kept turning.
But nothing felt the same.