"Every day is weird, because I feel like there are all these memories just behind a veil in my mind. I can never get to them, but I know they're there. The person I used to be exists somewhere behind that veil."
-Galaxy

TEMPEST

"What now?" I shout at the woman. The portal still glows purple.

"Nothing. They're gone now. When they come back, if they come back, they won't be themselves." She shrugs so nonchalantly that I get the sudden urge to punch her. "I tried to warn them."

"That can't be it. There has to be a different answer," I yell at her.

"I'm sorry, there isn't."

She moves to the control panel, I assume to begin the process of closing the portal. I have to make an impossible decision: Stay here--well, ultimately, not here, but back to the Mayflower--, or go after the boys, both of whom I care about.

What will I accomplish by going in after them, though? I wonder. It's not going to bring them back.

But how will I live with myself if I don't?

I curse under my breath.

"What was that?" the woman asks.

My heart is racing.

My feet begin stepping in place, as if gearing up for the dumb thing I'm about to do.

"What's--no, stop!"

This lady can't stop me, I've already started into a sprint.

I'm going in.

Into the portal.

Goodbye Janus.

Goodbye me.

Goodbye, this life. It will never be the same from here on out.

I jump into the portal, consumed by purple light, screaming the whole way.

The whole of my life, of my body, of my memories feel as though they are stretching out from me, all around me, like putty or string or glue or something. And then, just as quickly as I jumped into the portal, everything snaps back into place.

I land with a thud on green grass, scraping my knees and elbows as they break my fall. "Ow," I groan before fully realizing I've been transported. As soon as I realize I'm still alive, I check my body for obvious mistakes in the teleportation process.

Everything is where it should be, at least that's what my initial pat down tells me. "Yes," I cheer.

Someone clears their throat.

I look up, hoping to see Yuri or Neo, safe. But what I do see seems impossible.

I'm standing in a public park. Filled with people. Filled. With people. Before the blast. I can't believe it.

A nearby playground in the park swarms with kids in clothes that aren't old or newly crafted by new world seamstresses. Cars, real cars that haven't been destroyed yet or completely refurbished, drive past on the streets surround this city park. The sky is blue. The air is clean, at least cleaner than it is back on my earth. Well, I guess, in the future on this earth.

Robert's plan to go back in time worked. And clearly the portal took me to a time before the blast, so... maybe he wasn't too far off with his hopes to try and stop it.

A guy who looks more like guys in my time—gruff, dirty, tattered—stares at me, his brows raised, and clears his throat again.

I smile. "Sorry. New here." I brush the dirt off my clothes, realizing now how strange they must look to people before the blast. "Any chance you saw two guys wearing outfits like mine around here recently?"

He looks at me with the most confused stare I've ever seen and then slowly points behind me. I turn and see a cross section of roads, at the paved corner of which stands Neo and Yuri. Arguing. People give them disgusted and nervous looks as they rush around them.

I start into a sprint towards them. "Neo! Yuri!" I call.

They turn, and as if it were rehearsed, say in unison, "Not you too."

"What? Thought I'd leave you two out here on your own?" I ask as I slow on approach. "I couldn't live with myself knowing you two went in and I didn't try to do something about it."

Neo looks like he's about to yell at me now too, but Yuri smiles.

"So, boys... where did we land?" I ask, trying to avoid what I can only imagine is an inevitable lecture from Neo.

"DC," Neo says angrily. "We're in Washington DC."

"Why are you so pissed about that?" Yuri asks.

Neo groans and rolls his eyes. Then, finally, he explodes with an exasperated, "Because that means we can't just try to get back now. We have to try to stop all of this. We have to try to stop the end of the world."

I smile. "Such a shame that we get a chance to be heroes."

He's not in the mood. "Not at the expense of ourselves. Not at the expense of you, Tempest."

I feel my cheeks and heart warm, and I can tell Yuri is jealous by the way he shifts his stance; but before he can say anything, Neo's expression changes to one of utter amazement as he gazes past my face at something just behind me.

"Oh my god... Galaxy," he says. "It's you. Guys, that's Galaxy from Hicksmon."

I turn around to see her. I remember her from my trips to see Esther in Hicksmon, and feel a tugging sense of remorse at the idea of never seeing her again, at least consciously if I come back to my time like Galaxy did, mindlessly. But all I can do now is make the most of the choices I've made. I can't let my sadness get to me now.

Galaxy smiles a confused grin. "You just portalled here, and you know me. I guess we have some catching up to do."