AN: TWO CHAPTERS LEFT!!

Part Seven: Decay's End

Chapter Twenty: Chronokinesis

Jimena stood in open-mouthed wonder as she saw the new power her Daughter, Blaze, had acquired since her own personal battle. She swallowed hard, watching her own son walk towards her in slow motion. It was actually quite comical, but she just couldn't find the voice to laugh with.

When Blaze first came to her some three months before, all she could do was stop time. Now she could mingle that power with Hailley's, and she could isolate an object and slow its speed down. Not even Catty could expand on what her own power was; she could only try to further herself into the future or past. What if… What if Blaze could eventually shape her chronokinesis to time travel?

"K…am…rrr…in," Conrad spoke, his mouth moving in a badly-dubbed-movie kind of way. His face moved slowly, his eyebrows inching together.

Collin stepped into the room then. He blinked slowly as he saw his son, took a deep breath, and turned to his wife. "Do I…want to know?"

Blaze giggled, focusing her energy on her watch to bring it up to normal time. Conrad stumbled out of slow motion, tripping over himself in the process and fell flat on his face. Blaze laughed out loud, doubling over at the sight. Jimena smiled and shook her head as her husband joined in on the laughter. Conrad rolled over, blowing the air out of his lungs.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. Just fine." He sat up, smirking at his still doubled-up girlfriend. "Thanks for asking."

"I-I'm…That was just…" Blaze wiped the tears from her eyes.

Jimena looked up into her husband's face. "What did you want?"

Collin swallowed the rest of his laughter, reaching over to pet Jimena's hair. "I know the girls are coming over. I was going to take Conrad and pick up some dinner."

"That would be nice," Jimena agreed, taking Collin's hand and squeezing it.

"The Daughters of the Moon, they're much stronger than you and Serena and the other girls were, aren't they?"

"I'm scared of the power they could have," Jimena whispered, watching her son with the dual Daughter. "If the past tells us anything, it's that power can corrupt."

"You will do fine with them," Collin reassured, squeezing her shoulder. "Just like our son."

Her face fell when he said that as he had just pinpointed her exact problem at the moment. "You've seen what happens—"

"To the people who get close to the Daughters. Blah, blah, blah. He gets to do something I never could."

"You did help me," she whispered, smiling up at her husband. "You kept me happy in those desolate days."

"I wanted to do more…" Collin sighed and ran one of his hands through his pale blonde hair. "They remind me of us, minus the harsh attitude."

Blaze held out her hand to Conrad, pulling him up. His smile matched her own, playful and teasing. "Next time, we should record that."

"You're evil. Very evil," he joked, rubbing his sore face.

"You could have tried to get out of it," she replied, shrugging.

"I don't have that kind of power," Conrad sighed, throwing his arms around her.

"Well, that's just too bad for you, ain't it?"

"Evil."

"So you say."

Collin came over to them, the same goofy grin on his face that was trademarked by his son. "Hey, kid, I need you to come with me."

Conrad frowned some, glancing at blaze. "What for, Dad?"

"Aren't you cheeky?" Colling winked at the girl before grabbing the back of his son's neck. "Have you ever seen a bunch of hungry girls before? Trust me, it's not pretty."

"Da-aa-ad!" Conrad stumbled after his father, his tanned face turning slightly red, the one lone pierce in his eyebrow glinting in the sunlight as he was dragged away. He turned back to look at his African queen, giving her a tiny wave before disappearing from the room all together.

Blaze turned to Jimena, sticking her thumb out at the two. "Eh, did I miss something?"

"No. Collin just wanted to feed us later. He's right about hungry girls," Jimena laughed, waving away their antics.

Blaze nodded, fingering her charm slowly. Her fingers wrapped around it, nervous to be finally alone with mentor. "I need to ask you something." She took a step closer, looking at Jimena through her lashes.

"The older woman patter the seat next to her, inviting Blaze to sit down. "I'm here for a purpose. You girls seem to forget that."

"You know that we saw visions that night."

"That night?" Jimena asked, prodding the girl to say more.

"The night I had…we all had to face Erik," Blaze answered shakily, licking her lips constantly and swallowing hard. Erik, Erik. The guilt hardened in her stomach; she couldn't rid herself of it.

"Yes. Torrence told me. She, uh, needed advice, too."

Blaze felt tears prick at her eyes. So, Torrence had already exposed her vision. "I couldn't tell anyone what it was. I couldn't tell Conrad and Hailley, and they couldn't tell me theirs. I've been to Vanessa; she says Ariel told her nothing, too. Orlando started complaining about the arrogance of 21st century women."

"I see. What do you want? You want to tell me what you saw?"

The girl ran to her Magna Mater, falling to her knees before her. She placed her head in Jimena's lap, choking on her threatening tears. "I can't, I can't."

Jimena leaned over the time goddess, her arms encircling the other's back. "How bad was it?"

"I've destroyed the Daughters of the Moon, Jimena. No amount of chronokinesis will save me." The tears drowned her cheeks, soaking Jimena's knees. "Tell me that the end isn't set! Tell me I can still change it!"

"I don't know," Jimena apologized, whispering the awful words. "My visions have always come to pass. But I've learned recently that some visions can be very ambiguous. I also know that some futures can't be seen. I don't understand Tiberius' visions, but they weren't like mine. I can definitely say that."

"So, I can change? I can make sure none of what I saw comes to pass?"

"You can try; that's all I can tell you."

"How many before me failed to even try?" Blaze mumbled, trying to turn her fear into courage, like Pandora said.

"Hey, Aunt Jimena! We're here!" Torrence called out, and three sets of footsteps approached the room where the two women were.

Blaze backed off, wiping her eyes and face. Had the moment finally arrived, and could she tell her sisters the crimes she'd committed?

Up Next: The moment has arrived for the Daughters of the Moon to talk about their frightening visions, and to say the least, Torrie's might just be the most interesting. For now, anyway.