New York City, New York, 2026

March 5th, 12:11 PM

"Stephen! It's Lucas, open the door!" I heard in the distance, accompanied by loud knocking.

I didn't have the energy to even get up from my bed, but I knew I had to face the day sooner or later. I sighed and walked sluggishly to the door, where I greeted Lucas with a sad look. As soon as he saw me, he knew something was wrong because his expression went from optimism to concern.

"Hey, what happened? You look miserable." he asked softly.

I looked down at my clothes, the normal Marvel t-shirt and black sweatpants that I wore to bed every night. They did look less appealing on a Saturday afternoon.

"I'll explain in a bit. Come in."

I could tell he was surprised by my low, tired voice. I had spent a good while crying myself to sleep last night.

Once we were both seated on my couch, I took a deep breath as if it would make telling the story any easier.

"I had a problem with the machine last night," I began.

"I had it on and everything, but when I opened the app, there was this notification saying there was only enough resources for one more round trip. I tried looking for more of Mai's particles, but I had used them all. I couldn't think of a quick solution, which meant that. . .," I paused to swallow the lump in my throat, "that I would only get to see Daphne one more time. One more time until I can find a way to make the machine work long enough for an infinite amount of trips."

There was a pause as Lucas tried to figure out what to say.

"Our last night was so great though," I added.

I smiled slightly at the thought of her smile and the way her jewelry shined under the moon. Then I thought of our kiss, our last, amazing kiss.

"I'm really sorry, Stephen. I know how much she meant to you--how much she still means to you."

I scoffed.

"You're probably glad this happened," I muttered.

"No, I swear that's not the case at all. I actually came to apologize. I feel really bad about what happened last night. I wanted you to be safe, but I wanted that so much that I acted like a jerk. I really wish the machine would've worked out."

"Yeah, me too. It's okay, though. We're good. I could really use a friend right now."

"Get over here," Lucas said with open arms.

I scooted closer to him and he wrapped me in a big hug.

"I miss her so much. I have to see her again, I have to. Today I start my work on another machine."

"The one you have now has taken years, Stephen. Imagine how long it would take to make one that runs on unlimited energy."

"I don't care. Decades could go by and I would still wanna see her. I had so much planned for us. I was gonna look up nice places in Vienna for more dates and buy her jewelry and find more music for her. And, you're not gonna like this, but. . . I was gonna encourage her to tell her mom about me so that we might come back together. . . it wouldn't have worked, though. I would've made her situation worse. She just--she doesn't deserve an arranged marriage, even if the guy does love her. I told her to wait for me, but I don't even know if she can. I don't even know if she'd recognize me, depending on how long I take."

"Hey, don't say that. From what you've told me, she wouldn't forget you if her life depended on it. I can't promise she'll get out of the marriage, but I can promise she won't forget you. And all that stuff that you were going to do. . . that's all really nice of you. I wish I could do that for someone. You'll figure it out."

I stood up with energy that wasn't quite optimistic. It was more frantic and desperate and made me pace around the living room.

"Please help me," I asked.

"You know I will. Get dressed and we'll head over to the lab."

I let out an anxious breath. My emotions were a strange mix of immense sadness and intense perseverance.

Once I had changed into some black pants and a sweater, I met Lucas back in my living room. I hadn't noticed the cardboard box he was holding.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Some news that might make you feel a little better. Our graduation gowns came in yesterday. We're officially graduating with our doctorates."

"Really? That's great news. Hand it over, I'm gonna try it on real quick."

Lucas tossed the box, and he was right. I did feel a bit better.

I didn't bother taking my sweater off, so I slipped on the doctorate gown and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I had been waiting for this moment for years, and here it was. The black stripes on the purple sleeves gave me a melancholy sense of pride, and yet all I could think about was how I wouldn't get to tell Daphne any time soon. Looking at my tired face in the mirror, I couldn't believe how perfectly the image represented my state of mind at that very moment. Set for success, but too heartbroken to get caught up in it.

Clutching my cap in my hands, I prepared myself for what would come, and whether I would succeed or not. I prepared myself to put my career, my entire life on hold.

"This is all for you," I told her.