The trip back wasn't smooth. It never was.
Ren sat against the transparent wall of the small chamber, seeing time itself fold around him. The floor hummed beneath his fingers. It would almost be beautiful if it wasn't nauseating. Like a single cube of clarity moving through coloured smoke, with him sat against it.
One steady breath.
Then—
A violent thud.
The room slammed against reality like it didn't want to stop.
Everything stilled.
The swirling colours collapsed into grey. Outside, the sky was thick with clouds, the light dim and sickly, like even the sun was tired of trying. The air tasted like rust and smoke and damp concrete.
Home.
Or whatever was left of it. A world that had ended, and all that remained was rubble, with people hiding in the cracks.
Ren stepped out, boots hitting the cracked stone of the hanger bay, the roof above long gone. He turned to the time machine, it felt weird calling it that when it didn't really travel through time, but dimensions, and it would be insulting to call something so elegant simply a 'machine'. It stood there, barely visible like a glass cage. Stolen technology from a god he had killed himself. He should have asked for instructions before cutting off its head.
He tapped the exterior wall, navigating buttons only he knew were there, and it collapsed down into a small glass cube.
He barely had time to put it in his pocket and stretch his legs before he heard footsteps.
"Ren?"
Zoe's voice. Older, but hers.
Sharp with concern, layered with relief. She crossed the space between them in seconds and wrapped her arms around him.
He noticed how much shorter she was with age, having spent so much time now with her younger counterpart.
"You're back early," she said, eyes scanning him for wounds. "Did something happen?"
"No," Ren said quietly. "I just wanted to see you."
Zoe narrowed her eyes. "Just to see me?"
He hesitated. That pause was all she needed.
"Okay," she said, as she motioned him into the bunker hatch. ".. And the truth?"
Ren rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling like he was sixteen again. He followed her into the bunker. The familiar smell of home washing over him. Dust and stale air. He sits down on the old sofa in a room that could barely be described as a social space, just another small hall they'd dragged whatever comforts they could find into.
"How long have I been gone this time?"
Zoe looked at her watch, "About 12 hours or so. How long were you in the past?"
"Nearly 3 months. I haven't quite figured out what its tethering me to, the timing is different to last time".
"Well at least you don't give me enough time to miss you. Also don't have much news, the army is still spreading west, I hear it's going well. Reckon we'll take back the continent soon." The look of determination was bright in her eyes, the same look he recognised from her younger self.
He nodded and then hesitated, choosing his words.
"Mom..there's something I need to ask you. It's... weird. I think I might've changed something. Or someone, and I'm not sure why but I think it's important".
That made her frown. "What kind of something?"
He reached into his jacket and handed her the envelope.
"Her name's Juno."
And then he told her.
About the convenience store. About how much time he spent with her. About how they'd talk at night, long after the store was supposed to be empty. About her sketchpad. Her stories. The characters she made. How he recognised them.
How she felt.
How that familiarity had started as a whisper but was now screaming in his chest every time he looked at her.
Zoe said nothing as she pulled the pages from the envelope, her eyes scanning them with sharp, trained focus.
She flipped the first one. Then another. Slower. Then slower still.
Her expression didn't change. But Ren could see it in her breathing. The way she suddenly stopped at one page. Her thumb hovered in place.
"You recognise this?"
Zoe exhaled.
It wasn't a breath of disbelief.
It was recognition.
"Yeah, you had this as a kid" she murmured.
Ren felt a cold knot form in his stomach.
Zoe didn't look up. "You had all three books when you were a kid. It wasn't really suitable for children, but you loved it for the action, I don't think you fully understood the story."
She smiled as if remembering, "You were obsessed with the main character."
Ren stared at the pages like they might catch fire.
He remembered. Not clearly, but... yeah. Something about this reminded him of who he wanted to be.
"You said you wanted to fight like him," Zoe added, tapping at the protagonist. "Out of all the weapons you were trained with... the sword seemed like such a silly vanity choice."
He let out half a laugh "I guess it was."
She pauses thoughtfully.
"So this comic inspired you to pick up the only weapon that's useful against immortals? And you met the author? Good job she didn't give him something useless like a gun.."
His voice dropped to a serious tone. "She gave him a sword because of me. When I met her, he didn't have one."
Zoes expression didn't change. "Interesting little paradox you have there…"
"What happened to the books?" he asked, voice tight.
"Gone," Zoe said simply. "Burned when the East Wall collapsed. Paper doesn't survive. You must have been around 14 years old."
That tracked. That was how things were here—no matter how vivid a thing once was, it faded, fell, vanished under ash and noise. They had to move so often, leaving and losing everything to avoid destruction.
"Do you know when they were published?" he asked.
Zoe leaned against the wall, thinking. "Not long before the immortals descended and started the slaughter. I think you'd pick these up whenever we passed abandoned stores. Remember when you were young and we would camp out in the malls while they still had supplies?"
"And the writer?" Ren pressed. "What happened to her?"
Zoe gave him a strange look. "Why?"
"Because..." He hesitated. "Because I care about her."
That gave her pause. She knew all too well this wasn't about the paradox, he had spent more time talking about her than the timeline. She knew her son well enough though, he had to find his own conclusions.
"You say she worked in the store by the Omnivale campus?"
Zoe's eyes narrowed. "Nobody survived when the city was levelled except the 12 of us in that bunker."
"I remember her," she said slowly. "Sort of. I didn't know her name, but yeah—I saw her a few times. She worked right outside the gates. She was still working the store when everything ended, surprising she would still be there given she was published?"
He thought for a moment about how that sounds like something she would do, even if successful she wouldn't change her life to reflect it. Then, clarity hit him like a brick and he stared through his mother. "So she dies in the first week?"
"Ren stood across from her, heart pounding. He hadn't realized how badly he needed to know. He had his suspicions. This just confirmed it, she was important to him, she's the reason he survived this long.
And like everyone else, she dies.
Ren felt like he couldn't breathe.
Two years. That was all she'd had.
All that colour. All that story. Gone in rubble. She had mattered. She had been part of something bigger. He had turned the tide on the war here, maybe even be able to prevent any of this from happening. It was all thanks to the man she inspired him to be.
And now, he had met her. Spoken with her. Laughed with her. Stood too close to her and tried not to let it show.
"You okay?" Zoe asked gently, standing to face him.
He nodded, but the answer was hollow.
Because he didn't feel okay.
He felt undone.
He'd travelled through time to save the world. But he hadn't expected to find someone in it—someone who had shaped him long before he ever knew her name.
And now?
Now he didn't know what going back meant anymore.
He looked down at the pages in Zoe's hand—raw and real, pulled from a timeline that wasn't his.
Ren leaned against the wall, arms crossed, jaw tight. "I think I need to stay away from her. If I'm the reason she creates that character, and that character is the reason I picked up a sword... it's a loop. A paradox. And if I change anything—"
Zoe cut him off, her tone sharp but steady. "So what? That loop already exists. You're not breaking anything by being in it. You're living in it."
He glanced at her, uncertain.
Zoe's expression softened. "Besides... she dies. Right? In our timeline, she's already gone. So what could possibly be worse for her?"
She leaned forward. "Seems to me like you didn't break anything. Sounds like you were always part of it. Maybe you were supposed to find each other. Maybe you're supposed to save her."
Zoe gave him a knowing look, arms folded. "Your problem isn't paradoxes, Ren—it's that you're not used to having anything good, so the second it feels real, you look for an excuse to run."
"I have to save her," he whispered.
Zoe's eyes softened. "Maybe you were always supposed to. Sounds like we owe her that."
She looks at her son. A man who spent his whole life fighting, surviving, never having a moment to build relationships. And when he finally does, it's the one girl who's had influence over him. She didn't believe in fate but even she had a feeling there was something more important going on. Only the gods would know, as manipulative as they are.
That's when she realised, even she had been so wrapped up in their purpose, saving the past, preventing the end of everything... that she had forgotten for a moment that he had met someone.
Just like her, he had been too caught up in what this meant for the timeline he hadn't thought about what this meant for him.
He had feelings for this girl.
Zoe smiles.
"You like her."
Ren shuffles in his seat as if processing his own thoughts. He looks at his hands with a resolve she recognised.
"Not like that, I don't think.. she's a friend."
"I know that look. You want to save her, but you're not sure what happens once you do?" she said it quietly, her voice softer than usual.
"I don't—" His throat felt tight. "What am I supposed to want? She's right there, alive in the past. I can't tell her any of this, who I am, that I'm from a future where the world has ended? That one day I'm going to leave and never go back?"
Zoe sighed, standing up and leaning against the desk. "Do you want to be with her?"
Ren hesitated.
He didn't know.
Or maybe he did, but he was afraid to say it out loud.
Finally, he exhaled. "I don't want her to die."
Zoe nodded, unsurprised. "And?"
Ren swallowed. "And I don't know if I can be honest about who I am."
Zoe looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable.
"You know," she said, "when you first stole the stupid time cube thing, I told you not to mess with things too much." She glanced at him. "But saving the world sort of implies we're going to change everything."
Ren huffed a quiet, humourless laugh.
Zoe smirked slightly, then turned serious. "Maybe just being there has changed things more than you realize. But this? This isn't a war. This isn't about stopping one before it begins. This is about one person, who despite her impact on your history, sounds like someone you actually have a real connection with."
Ren clenched his jaw. "I know."
"And you care about her," Zoe said simply.
Ren hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah."
Zoe sighed, shaking her head with a small smile. "Then I think you already know your answer."
Ren swallowed hard. "We can't be together, in her world I haven't even been born yet. She doesn't know what I am."
Zoe gave him a knowing look. "What if you told her? That you're from the future. That you're my son. That the world ends because some gods get pissy. That... you're well.. you know?" She trailed off, knowing he hates people attempting to label what he is. Even in a world of Lycans, immortals and vampires he couldn't quite be defined.
And that frustrated him. Ren, the only hybrid, worst of both.
She hesitated as she said it. She knew it was a touchy subject for him. For all he was part of the Lycan royal bloodline, he had never been able to transform. He had all the strength, the speed, but he had failed to reach his full potential even though he had other abilities unique to him. She knew that made him feel inferior. Broken.
Ren looked away, his thoughts racing. "I don't even know what I am. It's better if she doesn't know. I don't know."
He sighed "None of this matters if I can't save her."
Zoe patted his arm as she passed him. "Go sleep on it, kiddo."
Ren nodded absentmindedly, but he already knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.
Zoe felt a deep sadness for her son. A man who had grown up in the most unforgiving of worlds but still dedicated his life to saving others. It was obvious to her where this was going, she could see how he was trying to hide his feelings. But he liked this girl more than he would admit to even himself.
--
The next morning the hum of the central computer was the only sound in the dimly lit lab. Ren sat in front of the screen, staring at the data.
He had barely slept, he couldn't stop thinking about the loop. That this was some sick game from the god he stole the cube from. Maybe his mother was right, he was only determined to run from her because it got too personal. He was protecting himself.
He was going to go back to her.
And he wasn't going to let her die.
Zoe leaned against the console beside him, watching him carefully. She had been quiet for a long time, letting him process. She knew him well enough to recognize that look—the sharpness in his eyes, the way his shoulders had tensed. He had made his decision.
"You're going to save her aren't you?" she finally asked. Ren exhaled slowly, shaking his head. "I'm going to save everyone."
Zoe gave a small, knowing smirk. "You're going to tell her too." Ren looked at her, slightly surprised. She shrugged. "What? You're going to lie to her? That's not how I raised you."
Ren swallowed, nodding. "No, she doesn't deserve this burden.."
He then clenched his jaw. "The plan is the same. Nothing has changed."
Zoe smiled slightly. "Maybe."
Ren exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. He felt like the ground beneath him had shifted, like his mission had changed without warning. But it hadn't—he was still here to stop the gods. That had always been the goal.
The difference was, now it wasn't just about preventing an event he had never witnessed, that happened to people he had never met.
Now it was about Juno.
It wasn't just that she made him laugh. Or that she listened like no one else had. It was the fact that every version of his life—from the boy who read comics in a bunker to the man holding a sword in the dark—had led him straight to her.
He stood up suddenly, straightening his shoulders.
Zoe watched him, tilting her head. "Going somewhere?"
"Back." His voice was firm, certain. "I have work to do." Zoe grinned. "That's my boy."
Ren hugged his mother and left the bunker.
Stopping the immortals had always been about justice. About fixing what had been lost, though maybe there was more to it than simply beheading gods.