Ren settled into his sofa and started reading her book, some of it he was aware of from the conversations he had with her but the more he read the more unsettled he became.
He knew this entire story, these characters.
Ren exhaled, shaking his head.
He had read this whole book before, and not just this one, but several sequels.
Juno wasn't just some girl working at a convenience store.
She was a piece of his history, and that felt relevant.
He leaned forward with his head in his hands. "Fuck."
Zoe shuffled down the stairs from the bedrooms towards the kitchen. She glanced over at him and said in a wry tone "So dramatic."
She pours herself a drink of water before turning to look at him. Sitting on the sofa, pensive. A distinct look of frustration in his eyes.
She smirked. "So you finally going to tell me about this girl?"
Ren stiffened. "What?"
Zoe grinned knowingly. "C'mon, you think I don't recognise that look you've had in your eye the past few weeks? I don't know who she is, but she's clearly taking up space in that big empty head of yours."
Ren sighed, rubbing his temple. "How do you know it's a girl?"
"Because you almost look happy and like your father you're bad at talking to people so I assume she's doing all the work".
Ren sighed, rubbing his temple. "She's... just someone I met at the store."
"Uh-huh," Zoe said, unconvinced. "Is that why you look like your whole world just fell apart? She say no?"
"It's not like that… it's about the future". He lifted his face from his hands and she saw the look in his eyes. This was something different, something bigger than a simple crush on some girl.
He looked at her as if pleading for answers "I cant explain whats happening.. But I think it's important." He handed her the first page of the book.
"When I was a kid, I found this comic in a ruined bookstore. It was called 'New Dawn'" He handed her the first page and her eyes scanned it with a confused expression.
"This book… it wasn't just something I read. It was the only thing that gave me direction when the world around me fell apart. I saw this character—this kid with nothing but a sword and his will—and I thought… Maybe I could do that too. Maybe I could fight for something, even if I wasn't the strongest."
Zoe listened carefully, the full weight of his words settling in.
Ren had told her plenty about the world he came from, the future, after the end of the world—about the wreckage, the war, the shattered skeletons of cities long gone. But this? This was different. This wasn't about the apocalypse.
It was about him.
For the first time, he was showing her not just what he'd survived, but how—what had mattered to him in that bleak future, what had shaped the boy long before he became the man who travelled back in time to prevent the world ending.
And that, somehow, meant more than all the ruins he'd ever described.
"I can't transform like the other Lycan, I don't know why." He clenched his hands watching his knuckles turn white.
"Something in me is broken, so I didn't come with claws. When I saw this character with the sword, I was inspired. It was pure luck that the only way to kill the immortals was cutting off their heads with something as simple as steel." He let out a faint yet bitter laugh.
"By the time I realised, I was the only one left fighting."
Ren looked away, thinking about that. "The only reason I'm still alive is because I picked up a sword. Because I picked up this book".
Zoe looked at the page "So you met her here, is this character inspired by you?"
Ren nodded. "I think so, she added the sword after we met."
"And in the future, this character inspires you to be you?"
He nodded again.
Zoe tilted her head "Well that's a very frustrating time paradox."
"Mom… I.." She smacked him playfully. "Hey, you know the rule, it's 'Zoe'. People will freak out if they figure out you're my son. We're almost the same age!"
He smirks at her in a teasing tone "Almost.. You're 30?!"
She groans, "Ugh don't remind me. I hope I at least age well in 24 years?"
Rens smirk fades into an honest smile "Best looking woman in the city."
She nudges him.. "Am I the only woman in the city? Wait.. don't tell me! You're avoiding the subject. So what's the deal with the girl… girlfriend?"
He sighs, "No nothing like that."
Zoe raises her eyebrow "but you want her to be?"
He leans back into the sofa trying to hide from this conversation. "That's not the problem.. What if I've changed her future, but in the wrong way?" He motions to the paper on the coffee table and she picks one up to look over.
"I don't know if she would have written the same thing if i was here or not, how do I know if i'm influencing history the right way?"
Zoe went uncharacteristically quiet, listening as Ren continued.
"I don't want to hurt her. I'm going to leave in 2 years. She'll never know or understand why. It feels selfish, like I'm taking something from her. Something I don't deserve.. And it's made worse by how I know this." He leans forward and taps the pages.
She looks down at the paper spread across the table. "I'm no physicist. But the time machine's not.. A time machine right? It's more cross-dimensional? Sounds like the only way to know what's supposed to happen to her is to go home?"
He rubs his temple, he dreaded going home, it wasn't something to be taken lightly. He didn't fully understand time travel, it wasn't his technology, it wasn't even technology. It was stolen power from gods who hated him.
All of it was a mental labyrinth he wasn't ready to walk. Being here with Zoe—this Zoe, younger, sharper, not yet worn down by the weight of the world—watching her carry the child who would become him. It was disorienting. Familiar and foreign all at once. Maybe the truth was, the store hadn't just been a place to pass time—it had been a refuge. A place where he didn't have to think about time travel, legacy, paradoxes, or the impossible weight of what his existence actually meant. There, with Juno, he could just be. And sometimes, that was the only thing keeping him steady… and now even that was a part of something bigger.
"I could be gone for days.. Weeks.. It feels completely random where..When the stupid cube takes me sometimes. Am I just chasing pointless questions?" He thought for a moment. He was here to train Vilnius and then the rest of the Lycan in techniques he had learned fighting the immortals, how to kill them.. Is it worth the loss of time to chase something so… So personal?
Zoe crossed her arms and smiled knowingly. "This isn't about you, it's about her. You like her."
His head darted up "It's not that. This feels important and I can't explain why."
Zoe smirked. "Uh-huh. You're as obvious as your father."
Ren shook his head, unwilling to engage further, and Zoe just laughed, waving him off. "Fine, fine. Be careful, okay?"
"I will."
—-
The next morning, Ren stood outside the Omnivale lobby, rolling his shoulders as he prepared himself for two very different conversations.
First, Vilnius.
His father was in the training room, as usual, the hum of the machines echoing through the halls as Ren stepped inside. Vilnius stood in the center of the chamber, arms crossed, his training gear covered in a sheen of sweat. The air was thick with pressure.
Ren cleared his throat. "I'm heading back to check on things for a few days."
Vilnius barely reacted. His dark eyes flicked to Ren, assessing him, but he didn't ask why. Instead, he just smirked. "Just don't die while you're gone."
Ren smirked back. "Wouldn't dream of it."
That went about as well as he expected.
With that, his departure was settled. But first—he still had one stop to make.