A/N - If you listen to this song I highly recommend the erich lee gravity remix version it just gives me all the feels :)) anyways lmk if you like this chapter!

Unsteady (by the X Ambassadors)

"Hold on, hold on to me. 'Cause I'm a little unsteady . . ."

ii. autophobia; the fear of oneself

"Can you tell me again why we're not inside yet?"

They were standing outside Waffle House, waiting in a line that seemed to be impossibly long. They'd been waiting for a solid fifteen minutes already, shifting from foot to foot with rumbling stomachs. After discovering this sacred place for eating breakfast, Kara had been the one to suggest that they go to eat there.

"I could jump forward in time, but it's kind of satisfying to wait," Kara said to Owen, who was standing next to her with growing impatience. There was a strange, foggy feeling in her head that she couldn't shake away, but she didn't take much notice of it, as she was too focused on getting inside the restaurant.

"But we've been waiting for ages!" Owen complained. "Could you jump forward in time? At least five minutes in time would be fine. We'd get in quicker, and then we'd be able to eat right away!"

She shoved her shoulder against his. "You must not see the benefits of the plan."

"Not really, no."

Kara laughed a little. "The restaurant has an all-you-can-eat breakfast special today," she said, nodding towards the sign at the front door. "That means that the hungrier we get, the more we can eat."

Owen stared at her. "That doesn't make any sense. Are you trying to make me starve?"

She gave him a small grin. "Only because I care about you," she said, which made him blush in the most adorable way possible. Her heart fluttered. "It'll be fine. We only have, what, ten people ahead of us? That's a lot less than it was earlier."

He sighed, glancing at the line ahead of them. "I'm pretty sure the line for Kiel Gnomenfoot and the Source Of Magic was just like this."

Kara cringed a bit. "Is this one of your nonfictional things?"

"Oh, yeah," Owen said, and it was his turn to smile at her. "But that time, I was working and I wasn't actually in line. This takes more time than I could've even imagined, and it's not even for a book!"

"Yeah, perspective does change things," she agreed. "Trust me, it'll be worth it once we're ordering dozens of waffles. You'll love it."

Owen grinned.

Twenty minutes later, they'd finally made it inside the restaurant. They were sitting at a booth, alternating between talking about what they'd get and looking at their menus. Soft pop music played in the background, filling Kara's ears with a pleasant noise.

It felt peaceful to Kara, who had come to appreciate the good, safe moments. Currently, there was no ominous threat, no dinosaurs and certainly no time agents seeking to destroy her. Instead, she was sitting in a Waffle House with her best and only friend, about to dive into the most important meal of the day.

Too bad the universe had other things in store for them.

At first, Kara didn't notice the sound. It was too quiet and hardly noticeable unless one was purposely trying to listen for it. But then, it got louder, loud enough to make her lift her head from her menu. That was when she saw something that made her mouth go dry. The forks and knives on their table had begun to rattle.

Looking around, she saw that it wasn't only the utensils. Everything in the entire restaurant was rattling, from chairs to plates to drinks that threatened to spill over. Kara barely had time to acknowledge what was going on, but the tightening sensation in her stomach told her that something very bad was about to happen.

Owen looked up from his menu only seconds after she had, his doe-eyes wide. He looked from her to the moving objects around them. "What's going on?!"

Kara opened her mouth to say something, but never got the opportunity, as all of the windows in the restaurant shattered. Just outside, she heard the wind and thunder roaring in the distance. She and Owen immediately ducked their heads to avoid getting injured, covering their eyes as the glass from their window flew right into their booth.

Surprised screams sounded from all around her, but it was no louder than the storm that was growing just outside. The wind was becoming stronger and stronger, and just about everything looked ready to fly away. Her heart racing, Kara tugged on Owen's arm and quickly pulled him out of the booth.

"Come on, we need to get somewhere safe!" she shouted over the noise.

"Where?"

Kara didn't reply; she didn't really know. The safest place would be inside, or somewhere very, very far away. But with how strong and huge the storm was, she had a feeling that staying inside wouldn't be a smart move. Even if they teleported a good distance away they might still have to face the storm. The only way to get out of this was to travel backwards in time, but that still wouldn't stop this from happening.

It dawned on her that this wasn't any ordinary storm. It was one that had the strength to destroy the entire world. She'd seen a few instances like it before. Even though the world wasn't supposed to end until a decade from now, for some reason it was no longer happening that far in the future. It was happening now.

It didn't make sense. Why was it happening right now, when Kara thought she'd have more time? Time never worked in her favor, but it was the one thing that had distanced her from the destruction of the world. Time had given her some opportunities to take every risk she could, anything that would stop the future from getting ruined. Nothing she did would prevent it, though.

The worst part was, she knew who the cause of it was. It was her. It was always her, and that terrified her to no end, because nothing she ever did could stop things in the future. She'd been cursed to unleash evil and end all of reality, but despite doing everything she could to prevent that, Kara always managed to cause destruction. She was afraid of what she was capable of.

Back when she was twelve, Kara had met her future self, who'd given her a time bracelet and had warned her about the events she'd cause in the future. Not yet understanding, Kara used time travel for enjoyment, naively believing that she'd be able to easily change what was to come in the future.

But she was wrong. So wrong. She soon understood that she was immune to paradoxes, which meant that her future was set in stone. There was absolutely no way to change it. The circumstances were the only things that changed, but the end result was always the same. Because of her, the world was destroyed and her best friend ended up dying.

"Watch out!" Owen shouted, jolting Kara from her darkening thoughts. She had barely enough time to look up and see what he meant. The wall nearest them, which had been creaking from the increasingly strong wind, had started to move. Okay, that wasn't a good sign.

Before she knew it, the wall was bending towards her, the entire restaurant collapsing in on itself. People fled for the doors and windows, hurrying to escape, but Kara didn't have time to see if they all made it out. Both Kara and Owen began to scream as the wall came closer, only seconds away from crashing into them.

"Hold tight, I'm going to move us geographically!" Kara told Owen as she quickly laced her fingers through his, a gesture that was as natural and effortless as breathing. Hurriedly, she jammed her finger on one of the symbols on her time bracelet and prayed that she'd pressed the right one.

The restaurant faded away, and Kara's body felt as though it were being pulled in different directions, which was a sensation she'd gotten used to. A second later, the two of them landed outside, a short distance away from the restaurant. Kara let go of Owen, breathing heavily as she tried thinking of a way to solve this.

A sudden loud smack of thunder made her jump, and Kara instantly turned her head towards the sky. What she saw made her mouth drop open. It was so much worse than a normal thunderstorm, or even a tornado. Above her, there was a gigantic vortex. It swirled around and around as lighting stretched across the sky, turning the wind stronger by the second.

Shaking all over, Kara slowly turned around in a circle, her eyes on the world around them. It was worse than anything she could've imagined it to be. Everywhere she looked, chunks of buildings were breaking off, flying up into the sky and getting absorbed by the vortex. People fled left and right, trying to get to safety, but there was nowhere to run or hide. The storm was too intense.

They, too, were unable to withstand the strength of the wind. It was so strong that it began pulling them off their feet, and even while some of them held onto objects, many were sucked into the vortex. More objects went flying up, from benches to trees to soon even entire cars. Not even the heaviest objects had a chance against the vortex, which was as powerful as a magnet.

This was the same future that always showed the world ending, which was always because of her. No matter what she did or tried not to do, this future was something she couldn't prevent. It was just a reminder that every step she took would always lead to here. No matter how hard she tried, some things — such as the future — weren't easily changed by a different timeline.

And all of it, every single part, was her fault. This storm was happening because of her, because she'd been the one to spark the world into utter destruction. People were getting hurt because of her, and it made her loathe herself. She felt so lost; she had no idea how to fix anything. The only thing she had was a time bracelet, but that couldn't prevent this.

What did she do to deserve this? Was she a good person at all? Or was she always destined to be bad, no matter what she did? It seemed that way a lot of times. In many people's eyes, Kara was an evil time criminal who would wipe out all of existence in the future.

They weren't wrong. Even though she didn't have a choice in the matter, she knew that a person would definitely be evil if they destroyed the world. Villains always did that sort of thing. Kara never used to think of herself as a villain, because she always tried her best to be honest and do the right thing, but sometimes it really did feel like she was evil.

For the hundredth time, she wished she was a different person. It would solve all of her problems, and the world would thank her for it. If she was someone else, she wouldn't be pushed to cause destruction. She wouldn't be desperately scrambling to stop her own mistakes, only to dig herself further into a hole.

If she was someone else, she wouldn't be immune to paradoxes, so she'd at least be able to change her future. It frustrated and scared her that she never could. If she could just change the future, then the world would finally be safe from her. Most importantly, Owen would be safe from her.

"Kara?" Owen asked, seemingly hundreds of miles away from her now. That's what it felt like, as she could hardly process what was going on. No, she understood perfectly well what was going on. She told herself that she was smart enough to figure out how to handle this, since she was a time-traveling expert. But the truth was, she had no idea how to handle this. No idea at all.

All she could do was blame herself over and over again, feeling ashamed and horrified that she could ever do something so horrible. Owen had once called her a heroine, but what kind of heroine would do that? Not the kind he always read about. She didn't know why he'd ever thought that. All she did was good, but the things she received were bad.

All noises came out muffled as Kara tried to hide her growing panic, not wanting to scare Owen. Her heartbeat was loud and prominent. The world was getting torn apart right before her eyes and she didn't even remember causing a storm. The vortex was growing bigger by the second, and would've surely lifted her off her feet if she hadn't dug her heels into the dirt.

"Kara? Are you okay?"

Owen's words managed to drawl her back to reality, and she looked over at him. He was staring at her with a mix of concern and fear, and she wondered for a brief moment if he was afraid of her. "Kara? What's going on? Are you okay?"

Kara took a deep breath. "I'm okay," she said, her own words tasting bad in her mouth. "But bad news: the world is ending right now, so I need to get you out of here. You need to go far back in time where you won't get hurt."

It looked like Owen hadn't fully registered her words. He glanced fearfully at the gigantic vortex before looking back at her. "Me? What about you?"

She shook her head, forcing a smile. "Don't worry about it. I don't even know how to stop this, but I need to face it. I'll be fine."

"No, you can't stay here either! You need to be safe, too—!"

"I'll be fine!" Kara insisted, her eyes locked on his. In a softer voice, she added, "I need you to trust me."

"O-Okay," Owen said, his voice faltering slightly. "Okay, I trust you."

She gave him a small, sad smile, this one slightly less forced than the first one. "Come on, it's more important for you to be somewhere safe."She grabbed his hand, prepared to move them backwards in time, but what he said next made her pause.

"Wait . . . this is your fault, isn't it?" Owen whispered, his expression changing to one that she didn't recognize. From his tone, Kara could tell that it wasn't a question. "This is your whole prophecy thing. You're the one that's destroying the world. It's not just a storm."

She nodded, not letting go of his hand even when she saw the look on his face. She pushed away the hatred and fear swirling inside of her and focused on Owen. In that moment, it the only thing she could focus on that would make her feel better.

If her world was a rushing river, Owen was her life support raft. Even though she had knowledge about things like paradoxes and wormholes and cosmic strings and the theory of relativity, he was the only one who was kind to her after her whole mess with time travel had started. He gave her life more joy, especially in a time where she hadn't felt so joyful.

Owen pulled his hand out of her's. It was like a sting in the heart. She tried not to feel hurt, but it was hard not to. "W-Why would you do that?"

"It was never my choice," Kara said as the wind whipped violently through their hair. "I guess the universe just keeps pushing me to destroy it." She scrunched her eyebrows together, trying to hold back the tears that flooded her eyes. "It just doesn't make sense." She looked back at the vortex, feeling more afraid by the second. "This wasn't supposed to happen so soon! That way at least I'd have more time to stop it."

"I thought you said you couldn't stop it."

Kara nodded glumly, glancing back at him. "Exactly. I've tried so many times, and I can't." She took a shuddering breath, not even feeling embarrassed when a few tears fell from her eyes. "That's why I need to get you out of here. It's way too dangerous."

And so am I, she thought to herself.

"No." Owen slowly took a step away from her, swallowing nervously. Kara had expected his words of comfort or even his optimistic attitude, because that was normally how he responded in this type of situation, especially when Kara was close to losing hope. But the last thing she expected was for him to walk away from her.

"What?" Kara muttered, her eyes widening. "Owen, what are—"

"I can't go with you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're scaring me, Kara!" Owen said quickly, stumbling back even more. He was looking at her in the same way he might look at Nobody or a dinosaur — with fear. "The danger isn't the storm. It's you."

"What?" Kara stared at him in shock, her heart raced harder. She'd never, ever expected him to say something like that. He never had, and he'd never blamed her for destroying the world in the future before.

She took a small step towards him, and he jumped away from her like she was on fire. "P-Please, get away from me."

"Owen?"

He stumbled back. "G-Get away from me! You're hurting everyone. You're going to hurt me, too!"

Guilt wracked Kara's nerves. She was so angry at herself, for the mistakes she'd made and the ones that she seemed to keep making. He was right to believe that she was going to hurt him, because one way or another, it always ending up happening in the future. He always got ripped away from her.

Kara's heart twisted painfully when the realization sunk in — that something had changed within Owen and he was no longer the book-loving boy who was just as gullible as he was kind. He no longer seemed to trust her. Instead, he was afraid of what she was capable of, just as much as she was. He was afraid of her.

It felt like a slap in the face, and Kara didn't know how to respond. "I just want you to be safe," she said finally, her words coming out slightly choked. "You might be right, but I never — I never wanted to hurt you."

Owen was still staring at her like she was some kind of monster, and that hurt more than anything. Unlike all the times he'd looked at her with a smile, he was looking at her in the same way many people had. He was shaking like a leaf, looking about ready to be whisked away in the intense wind. He took another step back, then another, then another until he bumped up against a lamppost.

"Owen?"

They both turned.

A girl that definitely hadn't been there before was standing a few feet away from them, quickly walking towards them with an angry look on her face. She had her hair in a tight ponytail, and the side of her face, leg, and arm were covered in robotic parts. Something about her features looked familiar, but Kara didn't fully recognize her as anyone she'd met before.

"Charm!" Owen squeaked, and let out a huge sigh of relief as he went to the girl's side. "Thank god you're here. I was hoping that Bethany or Kiel would show up to protect me, since they're a lot better at that type of thing."

Kara felt another pang of sadness as she eyed the girl, feeling hurt and confused. Now that she knew who the girl was, she could confirm that she did know her from somewhere. The only thing that was confusing was that Kara could barely interpret why Charm would be here in Kara's world. It was stranger than paradoxes sometimes were.

Charm stared at Owen, her gaze hard and stony. In spite of her expression, her words were more sympathetic than Kara would've expected. "Are you alright? Did that girl hurt you?"

"Almost," Owen breathed, looking visibly afraid as he glanced back at Kara. "But we need to get away before she destroys everything! She's already destroying the world. Who knows what she might destroy next!"

Something about the situation made it even stranger. A voice in the back of Kara's head told her that this interaction between Charm and Owen wasn't one that would normally happen, but the stubborn side of her disagreed. How couldn't it be real, when it was happening right in front of her? Even with this assuring thought, she couldn't shake off the weird feeling.

"Exactly," Charm said, nodding a few times. "I hate her already. I never understood why you liked her so much."

"I'm so sorry. I take all the blame and responsibility for it. It was all my fault," Kara said quietly. "But I promise that I would never intentionally hurt Owen. He's my best friend."

Charm stared disgustedly at her for a moment — like she was someone's gum underneath their shoe — before looking at Owen. "We need to get to my spaceship. You'll be safe from her there."

"Good idea," Owen said with a grimace. "The farther I get away from her, the better. I'll be in danger if I stay anywhere near her."

Kara's lips trembled, but she straightened up and forced herself to remain strong. "Owen, I need to try saving the world as much as I can. Even if there's a ninety-nine percent chance that it won't work," she told him softly. "Just promise me you'll stay safe, okay? I'd feel awful if you got hurt because of the storm — well, because of me."

Owen didn't say anything, which was strange in itself. It was unusual for him to be quiet; usually he'd ramble when he was nervous, a habit that Kara had noticed over the time they'd known each other. His eyes were locked on her's and normally they'd be filled with some hope. But now? All she saw was his fear. It was painted all over his face.

The ground suddenly shook beneath them, the sidewalk beginning to split into two. It was so sudden that it nearly knocked Kara off her feet, and it seemed to be happening all over the street. A few unlucky people tripped and fell, getting swallowed up by the ground if they weren't already getting pulled up into the swirling vortex.

As the ground split forcefully open, Owen yelped in surprise, swinging his arms as he tried keeping his balance. But it was too late. He was already teetering over the edge, and within seconds he'd fall into the ground. From the looks of it, the fall went so deep that anyone who fell in likely wouldn't be able to survive.

"Owen, watch out!" Kara yelled. Her heart jumped in her throat. Running only on autopilot, she raced forward and leapt into the air, her feet leaving the ground. Her arms outstretched, she threw them around Owen, having just enough momentum to send both of them flying backwards, where they'd be a safe distance away from the chasm.

They both hit the ground hard, and Kara winced as pain erupted throughout her body. Not that she really cared. All that really mattered was that Owen was okay. She coughed a few times, then rolled off of Owen and stumbled shakily to her feet. It was even harder to keep her balance now, both with the strong wind and the intensely shaking ground.

"W-What d-did you do?" Owen whimpered, and she turned to see him still on the ground, scooting away from her. His eyes were huge and frightened, his movements just as shaky as her's.

"I saved you," Kara mumbled, feeling that same sharp pain in her heart again. She was tempted to nudge her shoulder against his — an action that she normally did with him — but she held herself back. When Owen would stop being afraid of her, she didn't know. Not that she blamed him. Everyone had the right to be afraid of her when she was capable of something like this.

Charm ran over to them, grabbing Owen by the arm and hoisting him up easily with the use of her robotic arm. "Let's go, Owen," she said, shooting a death glare back at Kara. Kara shivered. If looks could kill, she would be obliterated on the spot.

"O-Okay," Owen whispered, not meeting Kara's eyes a second time. That hurt more than anything Kara had ever experienced. Even getting taken away into solitary confinement had been easier than this. He was so afraid of her that he couldn't look her in the eyes. Everyone was afraid of her.

Kara watched as Owen and Charm walked away, somehow keeping themselves balanced against the earthquake and the strong winds that the vortex caused. She had only a second to watch them go, however, as another crack of thunder radiated across the sky. It was so loud that it nearly shook the earth, and she felt that the wind whipping through her hair and clothes was stronger than ever.

She turned her tear-filled eyes to the sky above her, where the whole world seemed to be splitting itself apart. And it was. Objects of all sizes were flying up into the vortex, as well as people. The only person who was rooted to the ground was Kara, at the center of it all. She was directly underneath the vortex now, standing in the eye of the storm as everything else fell apart around her.

She remembered it so clearly, the first day she'd seen her future self. That was the day that had started it all. A twenty-five year old Kara had given her the time bracelet, showing her how to make it work. She'd told her what was going to happen in the future, promising that only Kara could fix it. But her future self was wrong.

If only she'd known better.

Three Years Ago

Kara was sitting cross-legged on her bed, scribbling down the answers (or what she hoped were the answers) for her history homework. History was probably one of the only subjects she was good at, besides science. It'd always been easy for her to understand.

For her, seventh grade wasn't an any better experience than the average twelve-year-old girl's. She'd always felt different from her classmates. There was a physical difference obviously, since she just recently had made the decision to dye her hair pink. None of the other girls had pink hair, but she didn't mind the difference. She embraced it, so she might as well dye her hair to embrace it even more.

She sighed, setting her pencil down on her bed and running a hand through her short hair. She glanced at the window and was slightly surprised to see that it was dark already, and a crescent moon was peaking from out of the trees. She'd been so lost in her homework that she must've forgotten to take a break!

Suddenly, there was a strange crackling noise coming from her bedroom door. It sounded almost like mini fireworks, like the ones that went off in her neighborhood on the Fourth of July. Kara turned in confusion, expecting to see one of her parents opening the door, but it was in the same position that she'd left it when she came into her room.

Huh. That was weird.

Kara stared for a moment longer at her motionless door before shrugging and turning back to her history homework, ready to delve back into the American revolution of the 18th century. She reread the question she'd been on and picked up her pencil, trying to think of the correct answer. That was when she heard the noise again, only it was much louder this time.

She jumped, and this time when she looked over at her door, she saw something that she had never, ever expected to see. She must've been dreaming, or else there really were little electric fireworks exploding right in front of her door. The air was beginning to spark out of nowhere, and it was the most magical, jaw-dropping thing that Kara had ever seen.

What happened next was even more jaw-dropping, as a literal person appeared out of thin air. Too shell-shocked to scream, she watched as the person — a woman with noticeably short pink hair — stumbled a few times before collapsing right on the spot. The woman looked utterly exhausted, with huge bags under her eyes and her entirely body weakened.

"Oh — oh my god! What the heck just happened?" Kara whispered to herself, feeling strangely faint.

She was so surprised that she could only sit there, completely paralyzed. She couldn't believe what had just happened! A person had just appeared out of nowhere (out of nowhere!) and had collapsed to the ground. That same person was laying on the ground, barely looking like they were alive.

Then, her brain caught up with the rest of her, and Kara quickly slid off of the bed. She fell to her knees, crawling the rest of the way towards the woman and cautiously tapped her in the arm. "Um, excuse me? Hello?"

The woman stirred, then slowly cracked her eyes open and fixed Kara with a dazed look. Kara, having never seen someone faint before, had absolutely no idea how to handle the strange situation. Who was this woman? What should she do? Call her parents for help? Every instinct told her to, since this was a complete stranger, but something told her she should keep this to herself.

Kara touched the woman's forearm, feeling a shiver go through her as she did so. There was something about the woman that seemed so undoubtedly familiar, and with her pink hair and blue eyes, she almost looked like, well, Kara. But that couldn't be possible! Kara didn't have any siblings that she knew of.

Then again, she'd never thought it was possible for someone to just appear out of nowhere . . . and in the middle of her bedroom, of all places! If it was possible for that to happen — which was still so shocking, by the way — then it was definitely possible for her to have an older sister that she'd never heard about. That was a lot more believable than someone magically appearing in thin air.

"Are you okay?" Kara asked, setting aside her other thousands of questions for now. "How did you — how did you—"

"Appear out of nowhere?" the woman rasped, her voice barely a whisper. Despite her exhausted state, she managed to chuckle a bit. She slowly started to push herself to her elbows, almost looking like she might faint again.

". . . Do you need anything?" Kara asked, nervously glancing around the room. "Um, I can get you some water. Or food?"

The woman only nodded weakly, and Kara stumbled to her feet, her mind a confused blur as she crashed out of her bedroom and raced to the kitchen. Her hands were shaking with nerves and excitement as she grabbed for a cup and started filling it with water. All the while, millions of questions raced in her head, which couldn't be answered until the woman was in a better state.

As soon as she was finished, Kara raced back to her bedroom, her socks almost skidding against the wooden floor in her attempts to get there faster. She flung open the door and quickly closed it behind her, then locked it for good measure. The woman was right where Kara had left her, sitting in a heap on the floor.

"Sorry if I took too long," Kara told her, handing her the water. She watched as the woman shakily lifted it to her mouth and drank it, barely having enough strength to even do that. The woman handed the cup back to Kara, and Kara set it on her bedside table before sitting down beside the woman.

"It's fine, Kara," the woman whispered, and Kara's heart jumped. "I'm just glad I made it back here alive."

"You know my name?"

The woman smiled a bit, nodding. "I'm sure this is all very shocking for you, and it might be a lot to process, but you have to understand that I'm your—"

"Sister?" Kara finished.

The woman stopped talking entirely and turned to stare at her. After a few seconds of looking shocked, she burst out laughing. "No! No, of course not! I'm not your sister! I'm you, from the future."

"You're . . . me?" Kara said slowly. She felt so lost. How on earth was that possible? "Me, like actually me? You're me from the future? You're me?"

The woman — well, Kara's future self — didn't respond to her remarks. Instead, she slid what looked like a watch off of her wrist, then placed it firmly in the palm of Kara's hand. "I came here to give you this. It's very important. This is a time bracelet."

"A time bracelet?" Kara asked, staring in wonder and puzzlement at the bracelet in her hand. It looked so futuristic, with many symbols and buttons on it. She'd never seen anything like it before. "What's that?"

"You can use it to travel backward or forewords through time," the woman told her, as if it made perfect sense in the world. "There's a lot more, too, but I'll have to actually teach it to you."

"What?" Kara couldn't have been more shocked if a kangaroo had jumped into her bedroom. "Wait, you have to be kidding! That's possible? I can do that? Time travel is real?" She gently ran her finger along one of the symbols. "But why — why are you giving me this?"

The woman sighed tiredly. "There are four things that are going to happen in your future, and I believe there's still a way for you to prevent them . . ."

"You did this to us!"

Kara was brought back to reality as she quickly turned to see a woman, who was latching onto a lamppost nearest her. She had both of her hands around it, trying desperately not to be blown away. Her fingers were already slipping, however, and it would only be a matter of time before she was sucked into the vortex, along with the tons of other objects and civilians.

"No, I never wanted this! I—" Kara began, but the woman cut her off.

"You are a monster, Kara Dox. You've destroyed the world! It's all your fault!"

Kara blinked several times, her throat feeling tight. She was used to being called a monster, mostly by the other prisoners back in the time prison, the time agents, and the Countess. Almost everyone had called her that, all because of the prophecy that she'd destroy the world. And they were completely right. She was a monster. Because of her, the world was dying. The people had every right to hate her. She hated herself.

She forced herself to run over to the lamppost, stretching out her hand towards the woman. She had to do something, anything to help. She was so afraid of what she'd done, afraid that she'd been capable of destroying an entire world . . . all on her own. No matter how many jail cells she locked herself into, there was sadly nothing that could ever stop herself from destroying the world.

Almost all of the woman's fingers was slowly slipping, meaning that she wouldn't have enough time before her hands slipped all the way. Glancing around, Kara saw that the amount of people had lessened, and a lot of the people who were here were quickly getting sent into the vortex.

"Here, take my hand!" Kara shouted, standing on her tiptoes as she held her hand out. She quickly found that she wouldn't be able to reach the woman unless the woman put some effort into it, too. Kara's fingers were a few inches from grazing the woman's hand, but if the woman moved closer, she could definitely grab her and pull her down to the ground.

The woman eyed her distrustfully, clearly very afraid of her. She was breathing heavily, and Kara couldn't tell which she was more afraid of; her or the vortex. Kara sighed, then stretched out her arm even more, trying but failing to grab the woman. "Come on, just give me your hand!"

"No way," the woman said, shaking her head over and over. "Get away from—"

"I'm so sorry about this," Kara said sincerely. "I never meant for this to happen. I'll do everything I can to help you. I promise." She placed her feet on the bottom of the pole, and finally managed to graze the top of the woman's hand, but the illogically woman ripped her hand away, leaving herself to hang on with only one hand.

"Don't you dare touch me!" the woman shouted, and Kara flinched, pulling her arm back at her side. "No one here wants anything to do with you! You're nothing but a monster! If anyone should disappear, it's you!" At that moment, her fingers slipped the rest of the way, causing the woman to fly up into the air.

The woman continued to glare hatefully at her, up until when she disappeared into the vortex. As soon as that happened, the winds suddenly died down, as did the earthquake. Kara watched in stunned, horrified amazement as the vortex grew smaller and smaller, until finally, it closed in on itself. The storm was gone.

Kara gasped out loud, rubbing her eyes with her hands as tears rolled down her cheeks. When she opened her eyes, she saw that everything, everywhere was gone. The people were gone, and so were the cars and the street lights and the bicycles. Everything had gotten sucked into the vortex. The only parts of the world that still remained was some broken pieces of the buildings that had once been there.

The world was gone. Her heart sinking in despair, Kara made her way around the destroyed world, her eyes huge as she took in everything. Her legs were trembling, barely keeping her upright. There was no one left! It was too late, but maybe . . . maybe there was still one last person left. The last person who could make any of this worth fighting for.

"Owen?" Kara muttered, pulling her legs into a run. She avoided the gaping holes in the ground, not wanting to fall into one of those. She raised her voice to a shout, which sounded hoarse and strained. "Owen! Owen, where are you?!"

She ran for what felt like miles, whipping her head around as she called out her friend's name. She wasn't sure if she'd find anything or more specifically, anyone, but it was the only thing she had left to hold on to. Just being here escalated her fear, and horrible thoughts went through her head, telling her that all of this was her fault.

Her breaths grew more unsteady, and Kara could tell that she was growing hysterical. An unquantifiable emotion swelled in her chest and she felt tempted to just stop running, to give up and let herself sulk. But Kara wasn't a quitter, so she held onto one last shred of hope, no matter how stupid or nonsensical it was. She had to hold onto something, or else she'd break apart.

Then, miraculously, she spotted a person laying on the ground in the distance. Kara skidded to a stop, her blood going cold as the worst of her fears escalated. Even from far away, she could recognize the boy. It was Owen. She stopped breathing. Was he . . .? No, he couldn't be. But there he was, laying on the ground in the same way that she'd seen thousands of times. In the past, this had always happened because he sacrificed himself for her.

"No, no, no, no, no," Kara whispered, racing over to Owen. Her legs were shaking horribly, and by the time she reached him, she collapsed to the ground. "Owen! No, no, no. Not again. Not again!"

She knelt beside him, desperately grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. Tears built up in her eyes, and she swallowed down the lump in her throat. She watched as Owen cracked open his eyes, coughing weakly. His honey-brown eyes landed on her, but he looked unfocused and dazed, almost like he wasn't really seeing her.

"Owen," Kara whispered, all of her self-loathing swallowed by the unspoken emotion that poured from every fiber of her being. She forced a shaky smile and took both of his hands, holding them firmly in her's. "Don't worry, I'm here."

"Kara . . ." Owen choked out, attempting to lift his head. He immediately winced and lowered it to the ground again. "I . . ."

"Shh, don't speak," she said gently. "You'll only feel worse if you do that."

He nodded weakly. Kara sniffled. "Oh god, I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." She searched his eyes. "Just . . . just hold on a little longer, okay? We'll be out of here soon. I'll get you home. I'll take you back to the nonfictional world, a-and . . ." She took a deep breath. "And you can finally show me that Star Fights movie you love so much. You're going to be okay." She could feel herself getting choked up, so she stopped herself from saying more, certain that she'd burst into tears.

Even as she said it in her most convincing tone, she already knew the truth: that Owen wouldn't survive this. That she was desperately holding onto this last shred of hope that he would, but no amount of hope could save him from this. Over thousands of timelines, Owen had died sacrificing himself for her. She would be shocked and immensely grateful if that wasn't the case this time.

"I was . . . wrong," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hey, don't—"

"I was wrong about you." Owen met her eyes, and she was surprised to see an almost angry, spiteful look that she'd never seen before on his face. "I said . . . that the world . . . ending wasn't . . . your fault, but . . . I was wrong. It . . . was. You . . . did this . . . to me."

Kara felt her heart sink. She felt a sob crawling up the back of her throat, threatening to escape at any moment. "What? Owen, I would never do that! I understand that you're a-afraid of me, but would never hurt you."

His eyes fluttered closed. "You . . . already . . . have."

He took one last breath, and Kara watched with horror as his hands — along with the rest of his body — went slack. She gasped, dropping his hands in horror. Balling her hands together, Kara brought them down on Owen's chest over and over, trying to revive him. She yelled for him to wake up for what must've been hundreds of times, but she lost count.

It was to no avail, because he didn't move. She hit Owen's chest one more time, then slowly pulled back her shaking hands. Tears streamed down her face as she began to sob, and she collapsed to his side. She dug her hands into the dirt, her head buried into her elbows. Her body wracked with sobs. She could hardly get a breath in.

"Please," she choked out. "Owen, no. No! Don't die! You can't do this. Not again!" She fumbled with her time bracelet, her shaking hands making it harder. She typed in a random date in the past, sniffling several times. "I'll stop this. I'll save you."

Kara pressed the button that would send her back in time. It was the only way to fix this. Except nothing happened. There wasn't even a flicker of electricity that showed it was working. Her eyes widened, and she hit the bracelet again and again, her panic rising as she attempted to jump back in time. Instead of going to the past, however, she stayed right where she was.

"Come on!" Kara shouted, desperately punching the bracelet several times more. Out of frustration and heartbreak and terror and desperation, she yelled, hoping it would relieve some of the pain that coursed through her. All it did was make her throat feel dry.

This couldn't be happening. How was her time bracelet broken? She glanced at Owen again, giving up and dropping her hands at her sides. It was too late. With her time bracelet broken and the world destroyed, there was nothing she could do. After everything, the world was still destroyed because of her. Her best friend was dead because of her. She had failed to save him. She had failed to save the world.

Kara gently lifted Owen's head, cradling it with her hands. The tears were still falling down her face, blurring her vision. She bent over until they were only inches apart, willing for him to open his eyes and end this horrible nightmare. "Come on, Owen. Please, please don't be dead. You can't die on me again. I'm begging you, j-just open your eyes!"

Her shoulders shook from all the sobbing, and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before placing her hand back underneath his head. She released a shuddering breath, unable to stop her tears from falling. She watched as teardrops fell onto his unresponsive, emotionless face.

Kara didn't know how to handle it, both the world being destroyed and her best friend dying. The prophecy that she'd tried so hard to stop was fulfilled, whether she wanted it to happen or not. Across various timelines, this had always happened. And ever since her twenty-five year old self had come to warn her, the only thing she'd done was try to stop it from happening. But it had. It was destiny.

All she could think about was how wrong Owen had been, telling her this wasn't her fault. It was. It would always be her fault. And nothing could change her future, because she was immune to paradoxes. Her timeline was set in stone, and the world would always be destroyed because of her. Owen would die because of her. And now, both things had happened. It was impossible to change anything.

Kara felt dizzy from all the crying, but she refused to let go of Owen. She couldn't. He was her closest friend. He'd always been there for her, ever since she met him back when they were twelve. And now, the light was gone from her life. It felt like a black hole had sucked everything Kara had ever loved right into it. And Kara was that black hole, unwillingly watching as she destroyed everything and everyone in her path.

All she could do was sit there, feeling as though all the happiness had been drained out of her. Her heart felt like it'd been ripped out of her chest, like no other pain that she'd felt before. Shuddering, Kara bent her head down, touching her forehead to Owen's. A shiver ran up her spine from the contact. Even in her hysterical state, she was dimly aware of how close she was to him.

Not that it mattered anyway. He was never coming back.

Kara's hands still clutched the back of his head as she continued to weep, her heart shattering into millions of pieces. Her world, both her literal and hypothetical one, had collapsed. And there was nothing left to do except sit there, crying until there were no tears left. She begged for Owen to wake up, to open his eyes and tell her that everything would be okay like he usually did, but he didn't. He was gone.

She wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but she heard footsteps, which grew louder which each passing second. After a moment, Kara realized that it wasn't just her imagination. She didn't want to look up. She didn't want to look away from Owen, but somehow, she managed to.

Sniffling, she wearily lifted her head to see the last person she would've wanted to see. The sight of her future self was walking towards her was enough to make Kara feel even worse than before, especially given the pitying look on her older self's face.

That did it. A hot, seething anger spread throughout Kara's veins, years of heartbreak and hatred and sadness that'd been building up finally coming loose. It unlike anything she'd ever experienced before, and she exploded like a firework releasing into the sky.

"Why would you tell me?!" Kara screamed, filled with fury and sadness. She took a shuddering breath, barely able to breathe at this point. "Why would you tell me all those — a-all those things that would happen in the future if I couldn't do anything about it?! Wouldn't it have been better if you'd never told me, i-if you'd just given me a time bracelet without saying anything? Why wouldn't you?!"

Her future self held up her hands in surrender, taking a few more steps towards her. "Look, I'm—"

"NO!" Kara shouted, pointing a finger at her. She glared furiously at her future self. "I — I hate you! Y-Y-You got Owen killed! It would've been easier for everyone if you hadn't told me anything! So WHY DID YOU? WHY DID YOU?!"

All she received was a sad smile. "You just had to know, Kara. I'm so, so sorry. I believed that you'd be able to stop it . . ."

"You were wrong!" Kara shouted.

"I know."

"You know?" she asked, her voice faltering. Another sob erupted from her chest. "Is that all you can say?"

"All I can say it that I'm sorry," her future self said, averting her eyes towards the ground. "I thought you'd be able to change things. You had more time than I did, and you had more hope. You had Owen. I guess it was always just too late for both of us."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on to me. 'Cause I'm a little unsteady, a little unsteady . . ."