A/N:

Okay so our gang is … back?

I'm gonna continue putting the disclaimer here just be sure that everyone is aware of where this story originated.

This story isn't 100 % mine. I have transformed it into a story from an interactive story app called Choices (an app I am completely obsessed with atm) and the creators are Pixelberry Studios.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

{Chapter 14}

We stood together and gazed out at a fiery hellscape.

"It's..." Tanya couldn't get the sentence out and trailed off.

Benjamin looked at me as if I was insane. "You're saying this is...?"

Garrett silently watched the destruction, his face creased with pain. His voice was hoarse when he finally offered an answer. "Yeah. It's Hartfeld."

Emmett frowned angrily and shook his head. "Nah, man … No way!"

"Yeah!" Peter agreed. "Last I remember there wasn't a freakin' volcano in the middle of Frat Row!"

Victoria trembled on the spot, her arms tightly wound around herself. "I don't understand. What happened?"

"Surely this is the distant future. It must be," Alistair mumbled with a distraught expression.

I could understand him. I was quite torn up myself as I spun around to take it all in. The lava stretched as far as I could see in every direction.

"What the hell are we supposed to do here?" Kate asked, siding with those who had resorted to anger.

I sighed. "We have to figure out what happened."

Rosalie glanced at me. "Good point. We have no idea how to stop this if we don't know what it is."

"There could be people out there right now, suffering," Garrett exclaimed and glared at me as if this was my fault. "Don't you care?"

I glared right back at him. "Of course I do, Garrett. I just think we should try to save everyone instead of however few have managed to survive this long," I retorted and took a step toward him, my fists clenched. Edward held me back, though, and I took a deep breath to calm down before turning toward the fire escape. When I started to climb down it, the rest weren't slow to follow, and soon we stood on the street below.

The magma bubbled up from cracks in the asphalt, but there was still enough room to walk.

"Okay," I said and turned to the others. "Let's look around. But be careful, okay?"

"Hey, guys, come check this out!" Benjamin said from a few yards away. "Something's stuck in the lava over there!"

I joined him by the edge of a lava pool near the foot of the fire escape. There, a golden chest plate gleamed in the red light.

"Is that … armor?" I asked and squinted as if it would make it clearer what the object in front of us was.

Benjamin nodded. "Yeah. Looks ancient too. Look at the engravings. Must be from a museum or something."

Alistair came up behind us. "How in the heaven's name is it intact? The lava should've melted the gold instantly."

"I don't think it's gold," Victoria said and crouched down. "I think it's amber!"

The armor shimmered, beckoning. I felt drawn to it and I acted on instinct when I squatted down and reached out to touch it.

"What on earth are you doing? Don't touch it!" Alistair exclaimed.

"You're gonna burn your hand off!" Benjamin agreed and tried to hit my hand away, but my fingers were already on the chest plate.

"I … It's … cold!" I told them in shock. "It's not hot at all! Feel it."

Benjamin daintily touched the armor. "Okay, that's not normal," he said and instantly pulled his hand back.

"Sadi Carnot is rolling in his grave as we speak," Alistair said and ran his hands through his hair.

"What does the engraving on the back say, Bella?" Tanya asked me.

I ran my hands along the intricate engraving that ran down the spine of the armor. "Looks like a DNA helix … that turns into … a chain?" I ended it like a question because I wasn't really sure what I was looking at.

"And there's a blue crystal at the nape of the neck," Benjamin pointed out. "Wonder what that's for?"

Rosalie smirked at me. "Man, Bella, you've got a serious death wish for touching that thing."

I opened my mouth to respond, but when I turned my head to look at my friends, I saw vague, colorful auras glowing around some of them.

I swallowed. "Some risks are necessary," I finally replied, and it caused Peter to chuckle.

"Damn, you're more of a daredevil than me, Bella."

Kate glared at him. "Why are you saying that like it's a good thing?"

Somehow, I'd known that was what they were going to say in reaction to my words, and it startled me. I blinked and tried to shake away the feeling.

I looked back down at the amber armor with a frown and my fingers were still touching the engraving on the spine. Maybe it had been the armor that allowed me to see what they were going to say? I couldn't come up with a better explanation.

Edward, who had been quiet up to that point, crouched down next to me, and I looked at him. We exchanged a look and then he reached out and pulled the armor out of the lava to examine it closer.

Tanya shook her head. "I don't understand how you can hold it."

"It's like Bella said," Edward said and grinned. "It has not been affected by the lava!"

Alistair frowned. "While it's certainly a handsome set, none of this explains how it came to be sitting here!"

Suddenly, Tanya shrieked and clapped a hand over her mouth and pointed with a trembling finger.

I followed her gaze to an ash-covered pile of debris nearby. "What's wrong, Tanya? It's just—" The rest of the sentence got caught in my throat when I stepped closer and realized that it wasn't debris.

It was bones.

Rosalie made a small sound. "Oh, man. That is not a good way to go."

Behind me, Emmett retched while everyone else backed away from the skeletons. Only Kate seemed unaffected as she poked around the pile.

"There's gotta be a dozen of them," she observed sadly.

"Those poor people," Victoria sniffled. "They were probably classmates. Hartfeld students just like us."

Emmett wiped his mouth. "Did they die quick and painless at least?" he asked with little hope.

Kate glanced at him. "Quick, yes. Painless … no."

Garrett crossed his arms and looked increasingly uncomfortable. "Let's leave 'em be. And make sure we don't join 'em."

We wandered down the streets of our college town and climbed over hills of smoldering wreckage. The world was eerily silent, save the distant, sustained rumble of the mega-volcano.

"There's the coffee shop I would always code at," Rosalie said and nodded toward a ruined building. "Everything looks pretty much the same, except, ya know, on fire."

"How far in the future are we?" Benjamin asked rhetorically since none of us really had the answer.

"Do you think most people evacuated in time?" Tanya asked and grabbed Alistair's hand for support.

Leah shook her head. "Evacuated to where? Looks like this goes all the way to the horizon."

We continued down the middle of the street and the despair and dread hung heavily over us.

"This cannot be," Alistair continued to deny what was in front of us. "We did everything, everything we were supposed to."

"Dude, look," Emmett said and lightly hit Peter on the arm to gain his attention. "This was Andrews Field. Used to play Ultimate out there every weekend."

"And there's Greene Library." Tanya was looking at the rubble. "That was like my second dorm room."

Next to me, Victoria wandered along, her eyes blank with unshed tears. "No..." she whimpered.

"There's gotta be a way to prevent this from happening. There just has to," Kate said passionately.

Leah turned over a piece of wood with her foot and frowned sadly at the small pile of charred bones she found underneath. "I thought I was numb to death. But this? This is just..."

I looked up at the sky, which was completely blocked out by the black smoke coming from the volcano. "I can't believe this..." I mumbled to myself.

Edward put a hand on my shoulder. "Can't imagine how hard this is for you," he said sympathetically. "To see your home like this."

"I don't even recognize it anymore."

"Peter? You comin'?" Benjamin asked behind me, and I halted and turned to see that Peter was lingering behind, staring up at a huge billboard.

It was still possible to make out the text advertising for season tickets, as well as pieces of the two men, photographed side by side, the number 5 and 68 emblazoned on their jerseys.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "I'm comin'."

I forced my tears back and cleared my throat. "Let's pick up the pace. It's dangerous out here."

Leah nodded. "Don't know why you need Bella to remind you of that. This isn't Memory Lane."

Rosalie huffed. "Damn. And I thought I was the heartless one here."

Garrett stopped walking, and I saw him swallow hard.

"Garrett?"

He didn't answer me. Instead, he broke off from the group and marched forward across the crumbling street.

"Where is he going?" Kate asked and looked worriedly after him.

I followed him into a half-collapsed building, up a charred staircase to a second-floor apartment and found him standing in the middle of the soot-coated living room.

"Garrett?" I tried again. "What are we doing here?"

He sniffled slightly. "This is my mom's place." He cleared his throat. "Was. Was my mom's place."

My stomach ached for him. "Oh … Garrett..."

"After we finally managed to get away from my dad, she wanted to stay close to me. I wanted her close," he told us. "She got this apartment when I was a freshman. Closest building to Hartfeld Stadium."

He walked up to a cracked photo frame barely clinging to the wall and wiped away the soot on the glass. Beneath it was a faded photo of a young Garrett, beaming after winning a peewee football game. His proud parents were hugging him.

"I always hated that she kept this photo up." He wiped at his face to remove the tears that were falling from his eyes. "She still loved him. After everything. After everything that bastard did to us, she still loved him. At least … she loved the old him. But that man was dead."

He slumped down, the frame in his hands. He blinked as more tears welled out.

I sat down next to him.

"I wasn't here, Bella," he said with a broken voice. "I told her I'd always protect her, and I wasn't here..."

I put my arm around him. "It's not your fault, Garrett."

"That's all I was ever good at, you know? Taking the punishment so someone I care about doesn't have to. And for my mom, for the person that mattered most … I couldn't even do that."

"Garrett, we'll fix this. That's a promise!" I vowed to him even though I wasn't at all sure how that would be possible, but I knew I couldn't just give up either.

He shook his head dejectedly. "You say that with such certainty … I don't know how you do it." He looked at me and then started laughing. "Only you could make me look at the end of the world and think 'Yeah, this is fixable.'" He wiped away the last of his drying tears. "It seems completely nuts. But I look at you … and I believe it."

"I believe in us," I said, corny as it was, but it was also true. We had all contributed to getting as far as we had.

I rose and offered Garrett a hand up. "Come on, Heisman. The world needs saving."

He took my hand, and we headed back down to the street where we found the others arguing.

"That's total conjecture! You don't know that!" Kate said angrily.

"Since when are you the authority on what's possible on Loco Island?!" Peter yelled.

Tanya was trying to break them up. "Guys, please! We can't fight!"

"Listen to Tanya, you imbeciles," Alistair said, backing her up. "We must do whatever we can to prevent this future from happening."

Emmett coughed to gain the attention of the others. "Yeah, uh … one problem. I don't think we're in the future." He pointed across the street to the entrance sign for Hartfeld University.

In faded marquee letters, it read '2017 Summer Session begins this Monday, June 5!'

Rosalie's eyes widened. "June fifth of this year?"

"Oh my god!" Victoria exclaimed. "That means this eruption would've happened around the day we—"

"The day we flew to El Jardín," Kate finished for her.

"We're in the present," Garrett breathed out.

Rosalie exhaled sharply. "The world ended six months ago. We just got the memo."

"But … how?" Victoria gasped.

I thought back to everything that had happened on the island, and I remembered the horrifying transmissions from the Observatory and what Cullen had told me back in the jungle.

"I strongly suspect that was an echo from our planet's likely future. Right now, we are in a bubble of time, safe for the moment. But an eruption of Mount Suerte risks plunging the planet itself into a prehistoric time when all the world was lava. Civilization would immediately be engulfed in the fire of a bygone era."

"The storm," Edward mused.

"You mean, all that turbulence on the way in? The sudden dark clouds and the lightning?" Emmett asked him.

"Holy crap … that was Mount Suerte erupting," Benjamin realized. "We flew straight through it into some … time bubble or something."

"The island alone stayed safe … while the rest of the world burned," Leah filled in.

Edward shook his head and frowned. "Hold on. How does one volcano thousands of miles away do this?"

Tanya shrugged sadly. "We all know Suerte's no ordinary volcano. It was a massive build-up of energy that tore space-time," she said, reminding us of what we had seen when we reversed time. "Honestly, what this Earth reminds me of most is when it was first forming. Before the crust cooled."

"You're saying that the eruption somehow sent the planet back into…" Rosalie scrambled for the right time period, and Alistair helped her out.

"The Hadean Eon."

"And everything and everyone was suddenly living on a molten rock," Garrett said, looking slightly green, and I suspected he was once again thinking about his mom.

Victoria shuddered. "That's … so horrible."

"Worst game of 'The Floor Is Lava' ever," Benjamin said with an uncomfortable expression.

Garrett hung his head. "Okay then. There's no one left. There's nothing we can do here."

"Aw, don't say it. Don't say it, dude—" Emmett tried, but it was in vain.

"We have to go back."

Emmett threw his hands in the air and paced away while ranting to himself. "This can't be happening. It can't be happening. It's a nightmare. I can't deal with this. I can't!"

"I think we broke Emmett," Rosalie said, looking very sad.

I walked over to him. He was running his hands through his hair, wild-eyed. He continued to pace, but I managed to snare him into a hug. Suddenly, he stopped moving.

"I … I..." he stuttered.

"We're here, Emmett. We're here with you," I said and leaned my cheek against his chest.

He finally exhaled and wrapped his arms around me as well. "Okay. I'm okay. I'm good now. Thanks, Bella." He tightened his hold slightly. "You're a pretty good hugger by the way."

"You too, big guy," I said and smiled gently at him.

The twelve of us headed back toward the dorms when Benjamin suddenly froze and squinted.

"What's up, Benji?" I asked him and stopped walking as well.

"So. This might sound weird, but … does the horizon look … closer?" he asked us uncertainly.

We all looked out to follow his gaze.

"Huh?" Edward said as he understood what Benjamin was talking about. "That ain't right."

Then Rosalie's eyes widened in terror. "That's not the horizon … That's a tsunami!"

Peter frowned. "Ya know what? Hot take here, but a giant wave of water sounds pretty refreshing right now. I think this whole planet could use some—"

Rosalie interrupted him. "It's a tsunami of lava, Peter!"

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that's bad."

"Run!" Leah yelled at us.

"Hurry! Back to the rooftop! Go!" I pushed and ran at the very back to make sure no one got behind.

As the wave approached from the distance, we all sprinted as fast as we could and finally reached the fire escape and scrambled up to the roof.

"The Gate!" Victoria exclaimed. "It's gone!"

"How the hell do we get it back open?!" Rosalie cried out.

"I … I don't know!" Tanya said with terrified eyes.

"Oh no," Alistair groaned.

I saw the wave of lava cresting, barely a mile away and closing in fast, a churning wall of molten rock consuming everything in its path.

"Jacorel!" Benjamin exclaimed in realization. "He must've taken the Island's Heart out of the machine and is on his way back to Elyys'tel!"

"So we're totally screwed then?" Kate kicked hard on a pile of rubble. "Great!"

I thought back to the times I had felt my mind linked with Jacorel's and wondered if I'd be able to do it again, from so far away.

Looking at the others' panicked faces, I knew I had to try.

I closed my eyes and searched for him in my consciousness. "Jacorel … can you hear me?"

In a flash, I was seeing through Jacorel's eyes.

He was still in the MASADA Complex, slinking past Arachnid patrols. He hid behind a corner and checked the Heart in his satchel.

"Still safe and sound," he thought.

He watched a patrol pass by and was about to sneak forward when he paused, finally sensing something in his mind.

"I think I can reach him," I told the others with my eyes still closed.

I felt Benjamin take my hand and then whisper in my ear. "Help me, Jacorel. You're my only hope."

The words rang in Jacorel's ears, just as they did in mine.

"Benjamin! He's in trouble," he thought with a start.

He whipped around to go back the way he came and ran straight into two Arachnid mercenaries. They raised their guns.

"Hey!"

"Stop right there!"

I felt Jacorel's muscles coil as he leaped into the air, spinning. He extended his powerful leg and kicked one of the mercs in the head and sent him straight into his partner.

Jacorel sprinted past the unconscious soldiers until he was back at Theoretical Prismatics. "Please be okay, Benji!"

He quickly yanked the Heart out of his satchel and placed it delicately between the electrodes, but nothing happened.

"No … no!" he yelled in frustration.

Back at Hartfeld, I could feel the heat of the approaching lava wave.

"Holy mother of—" Benjamin breathed out.

"Jacorel's got the Heart in! But it's not turning on the Gate! Something's wrong with it!" I told them.

"Something's … missing," Tanya said.

I opened my eyes and realized with relief that I could still feel Jacorel in my head.

Everyone was looking at Victoria, and she gaped.

"I … I don't know what I can do so far away, but I'll try!" she said and closed her eyes to focus. It didn't take long before scraps of debris started to float in the air around her.

"Aw man, here we go again," Peter said and cringed away.

"No … I don't sense it," Victoria said with a frown. "Wait! ...There!"

Jacorel was desperately tapping keys on the command panel when suddenly the Heart began to radiate a blinding light.

The sphere splintered open and revealed the portal within.

"It's open!" Kate exclaimed.

A sphere of purple light materialized on the rooftop as the shadow of the lava wave darkened the sky.

"GO!" I yelled.

Everyone ran for the portal, but as the others leaped through, Tanya tripped and fell hard to the floor. An eroded crossbeam fell on her ankle.

She screamed in pain.

"Tanya!" Alistair cried out.

"Go!" Garrett told him. "I've got her!" He ran back and heaved the crossbeam off her before lifting her into his arms.

"Come on!" I ushered him.

We dove through the portal just as the wave hit.

I felt a blast of heat behind me. There was a flash of white and then I fell flat on my face back in MASADA. The cold, rusted steel was such a sweet relief I could have kissed it.

"Oh thank you. Thank you!" Peter mumbled and actually did what I had not and kissed the floor.

All around me, the others were sprawled, completely exhausted.

Edward was on his back next to me, and when our eyes met, both of us sat up and leaned against each other, grateful we were still alive. He kissed the top of my hand and put his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his body.

I glanced at the others and locked my eyes on Victoria. "Vicky .. are you—"

"I'm okay," she reassured me. "I'm me."

Jacorel pulled Benjamin into a tight hug. "You are okay. I came as quickly as I could."

"Did ya miss me?" Benjamin asked, grinning.

"Why did you come back?" Jacorel asked. "What did you see?"

I filled him in on the details and he furrowed his brow.

"This makes little sense," he said. "Harrvel may have answers. We must return to Elyys'tel."

"The gondola," Victoria said. "We can get out that way if we hurry. Security's still scrambled, right? Maybe we can get across before they realize what's happened."

I nodded. "Agreed. That's the plan. Find our way back up to the gondola, get back to Elyys'tel, and regroup—"

"No. No, enough!" Alistair yelled, interrupting me, and we all looked at him in shock. He was sitting on the floor with Tanya lying in his lap. Smoke rose from her singed hair, her face was flushed and her breathing shallow. "Enough plans! Enough adventures! Enough!"

"Easy, Malfoy, just—" Edward clapped him on the back, but he swatted his arm away.

"No! We almost lost Tanya! Do you fail to realize that? She almost died just now! And we could have all joined her! Why?" His angry expression fell and he became sad. "We are fighting against something we cannot possibly understand, and we will all die!"

"We'll be alright, bro," Peter tried.

"Alistair, I promise you, I won't let anything happen—"

Alistair interrupted Garrett and was instantly back to anger. "Ah, of course. And you've never failed to keep a promise, is that right, Garrett?"

"I..." Garrett looked down with a pained expression.

"Don't you understand? You can't promise that. You can't promise anything anymore," Alistair continued. "The world is gone. The future is gone. We've lost." He shook his head. "It's over. It's all over."

Everyone looked down at the floor uncomfortably, and Benjamin turned to me.

"What are you thinking, Bella?"

I locked eyes with him, took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. "I just know we can't quit trying." I glared at Alistair. "No matter what. I'm not giving up."

Garrett looked at me with a small smiled. "I can't imagine you being any other way."

Alistair shook his head at me. "You damned fool..."

Tanya opened her eyes, still flushed and singed, and looked up at Alistair. "Alistair … I know it looks bad … unfathomably bad … But there's always hope. There has to be," she told him.

"I wish I could believe that," he replied hopelessly.

Rosalie exhaled in frustration. "Look, are we making a run for the gondola or not? Clock's ticking."

"It always is."

All of us scurried through the corridors of MASADA and avoided the patrols.

"I think we're almost there," Rosalie whispered to me.

I looked over my shoulder to check for guards, but instead, I noticed Victoria's stoic expression. "Vicky? You holding up okay?" I asked her worriedly. I had no idea how connecting to the spirit in her had affected her this time.

"Huh?" she said as if I'd brought her out of a deep thought. "Oh … I think so."

"You saved us back there," I told her solemnly. "Somehow you were able to connect with the Island's Heart, even from thousands of miles away. I want to thank you for that." She met my eyes. "I know it's scary to let that … that thing take over."

"Not as scary as losing you guys," she replied seriously. "I know this is serious. Each time I do it, I feel it lingering more and more. But in a way … I'm used to it. I'm used to knowing something in my body will eventually destroy me."

I grabbed her hand in mine. "The same goes for all of us," I said. "All of us are temporary. Every last one of us is a physical thing that weathers away … killed by the very thing we were trying to keep alive." I squeezed her hand slightly. "It's unfair that you're facing this so young. But I just don't want you to feel like you're alone in this. Because you're not."

She smiled at me. "I guess you're right. This is part of life, and my time is now." She shrugged. "So nothing's changed from before I came here. If my own body is still going to erase me, then I'm going to do all the good I can in the time I have."

Up ahead, Alistair bumped into a pristine white trash bin and knocked it over. The contents scattered all over the floor.

Leah glared at him. "Are you trying to attract attention?"

Emmett backed away. "Oh, gross! Get away from that, yo! The bin says 'Biohazard Disposal' on it! That means poop! Or blood! Or blood poop!"

Peter cringed. "Nasty, dude. Please don't use those words together."

As Alistair and the others continued walking, I paused by the overturned bin. "I don't see anything gross in there," I said. "It's just some crumpled paper, and—" I gasped.

"It's one of those amber idols!" Victoria said when she saw what I reacted to. "Are you gonna take it?"

I delicately picked up the idol with two fingers and lifted it out of the garbage pile. I closed my eyes and waited for the visions, but nothing happened.

Victoria frowned. "Are you okay, Bella? You're making a funny face."

I looked at the idol, and I knew that it was Alistair's since the head of it looked like a snake. For a second, I had forgotten that both of us needed to touch it at the same time for me to have the visions at all.

I looked up and saw that he was walking far ahead with the rest of the group.

"Yeah..." I reassured Victoria. "I'm just … distracted."

She giggled. "Well, come on then! Let's catch up with the others."

I put the idol in my bag and ran with her as quietly as we could.

"What was something so valuable doing in a trash bin of all places?" Victoria asked as we slowed down. "And why a biohazard one?"

I shrugged. "Maybe someone was trying to hide it?" I suggested. "Cullen was so keen on getting them, I can't imagine he'd throw this one out."

In the front, Edward reached a closed, automatic doorway and hit the touch panel. It beeped and flashed, and he cursed. "Access denied. Looks like we a hit a dead end."

"Let me try," Alistair said. "I was able to activate my father's computer at The Ethereal." He pressed his hand to the panel, and the door slid open.

Edward grinned. "Nicely done. I knew you'd come in 'handy.'"

Alistair looked at him, unimpressed, but Edward just continued to grin. "Are you finished?" Alistair asked him.

Edward's grin fell and he sighed. "Yeah..."

I sidled up to him and hooked my arm around his. "Top Gun, you know I love you, but your puns are getting worse," I said, and he looked down at me with a disappointed expression.

"That was a bad one, wasn't it?"

"Terrible," I replied but smiled anyway and kissed his cheek in hopes of cheering him up a bit.

We continued through the winding halls of MASADA when suddenly a set of video monitors nearby flickered on.

On every screen, Carlisle Cullen smiled serenely.

"Hello, Alistair," he said.

"Dammit. He's onto us," Leah cursed.

"I received an alert that my DNA signature was being used to access restricted areas," Cullen explained. "Finding this curious, as you are to be in custody, I reviewed my security systems, only to find a very subtle worm manipulating its data." He grinned. "No doubt the work of Rosalie Hale. My dear guests, you are every bit as resourceful as I could have hoped."

"Ignore him," I told the others. "Just keep moving." I started to jog and threaded faster through the halls, but around every bend, more monitors showed Cullen's unnatural grin.

"Oh, Junior, how your recent cleverness makes me regret all the time we spent apart. Perhaps you would've been a worthy successor after all."

Alistair looked uncomfortable and sad as he continued to walk.

"Does this guy ever shut up?" Kate asked.

"Alistair, just remember that he's messing with you," I said, hoping it would help him to tune his father out.

Leah did not like it, though. "Sure. Tell him he's his father's puppet. That'll help."

"No, Bella's right," Alistair said. "My father manipulates everyone around him."

"Alistair, look!" Tanya exclaimed.

Straight ahead was another hallway connecting two wards of the complex, with sealed hatches at each end.

"The security station is here," Alistair said. "I'll try to override using my father's ID."

"I must admit I was wrong about you," Cullen continued. "The way you've handled yourself. The way you've defied overwhelming odds. After all this time, you've come into your own. You remind me … of myself."

Alistair shook his head. "The cretin thinks I'll fall for this." He tapped several screens, then pressed his hand down. The door slid open, and we all ran inside.

"We're in," I said happily. "Get the next hatch, and we're through, Alistair!"

"On it."

"I handled this all wrong. I discarded you, and now you will be my undoing … But that is not what breaks my heart." Cullen frowned sadly. "What breaks my heart is knowing how this will end. Knowing that I drove you to this. Knowing I drove you to get your friends killed."

Alistair hesitated for a second.

"You're more like me than either of us ever wished to admit. Too stubborn to admit we're in over our heads. All I can do is think about what we could have accomplished together. Together, we could have restored the world. We could have undone the harm of this terrible eruption. How we could have built a paradise for us … for your friends … For Tanya..."

Alistair's breathing quickened.

"We could have even saved your mother. And now, because of what I've done to drive you away … My son … you're going to erase the only chance we had at bringing her back."

Alistair's face went cold.

From inside the next hallway, I turned around and looked back at him. He was frozen, his hand hovering over the control panel, and I realized what he was about to do.

"Wait! Alistair, don't—"

"I'm sorry," he said and moved his hand to the side and pressed a different panel.

"No!"

I sprinted back, but the first hatch sealed shut and trapped us all inside.

Peter gaped. "What the hell?"

"He locked us in!" Garrett exclaimed angrily, and he and Peter pounded on the door.

"Alistair! What are you doing?! Let us through!" Tanya yelled through the door.

Alistair stepped up to the small glass porthole in the hatch. His voice was muffled through it. "This is for your own good. I know you'll see that one day."

Edward looked deadly as he glared at Alistair. "You slimy son-of-a-bitch, you've got five seconds to rethink this!"

"Open the hatch. Right now," Leah demanded threateningly.

Tanya stepped up to the glass, just inches from Alistair. "How could you?" she asked, betrayal coloring her tone.

"Don't you understand?" Alistair cried out at her. "My father's right. He's always been right. If we keep running, we'll all just get killed. We'll be as dead as those skeletons back at Hartfeld." He gestured toward Edward, Garrett, and Leah. "They can't protect you. Not from this. So if they won't keep you from getting killed, Tanya … I will."

"By selling us out to your father?!" she asked, tears falling freely from her eyes and staining her glasses.

"He's a genius," Alistair insisted. "He built this facility. Built that gate. If there's anyone who can fix this … anyone who can protect us … it's him."

"But, dude, he's evil!" Benjamin pointed out.

Alistair looked at him. "Don't you think I know that? But right now, he's our only chance. You'll thank me one day. You'll live to thank me. That's what counts."

The doors behind him opened, and several Arachnid troops surged through.

"Alistair, you just made a big mistake," I told him.

He glared coldly at me. "I'm not stupid, Bella. I don't expect you to understand this yet. You will."

"Oh, but you are stupid, Alistair," Leah said through clenched teeth. "You just signed your death warrant."

"Step back!" One of the soldiers ordered.

Alistair turned away and let the troops close in. Once they had us covered from every angle, they opened the hatch.

"Out! Slowly! Hands in the air!"

Each one of us raised our hands and cautiously stepped out into the control room. A dozen semi-machine guns were aimed point-blank at us.

"So, uh, any great ideas right about now, Cap?" Edward asked and glanced at Garrett.

"I've got nothin'."

The soldiers parted and Cullen entered, followed by McKenzie and Alice.

"I must say, I'm getting quite the sense of deja vu at the moment," Cullen said with his grin in place. "Then again, we all know how this place play tricks with time."

McKenzie crossed his arms. "That's the last time you make me chase you, Wolf," he said and stared at Edward.

Edward glared right back. "Gettin' tired? I could do this all day, you mechanized sack of—"

Cullen held up a hand to stop him, and then looked over at me, Rosalie, Garrett, and Peter. "You four entered disguised. Quite brilliant. Was this your plan, Bella?" he asked.

"We're a team," I replied coldly.

He chuckled. "How delightfully humble. Now then…" He stepped forward to Jacorel, who already had Arachnid soldiers holding him still. Even with three of them, they struggled to hold him back. Cullen dug into Jacorel's satchel and withdrew the Island's Heart.

"No," Jacorel growled out.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Alice?" Cullen asked, completely ignoring Jacorel.

"Yes, Mr. Cullen. It is," Alice replied obediently.

"So much energy in so small a thing. It seems I've never been more wrong in my life."

"You talking about the day you picked out that suit?" Edward threw at him in disgust.

Cullen ignored him. "For years, I believed that the eleven of you would lead me to the Endless. That you were the keys to unlocking its secrets. But all this time, your destiny was to lead me to this."

Alistair looked at his father in confusion. "Father? I don't understand."

Cullen sighed in exasperation. "I no longer have use for the Endless. I no longer have use for any of you. I must thank you, frankly."

"So you'll keep them safe. As you said," Alistair said to clarify. "You will not harm them?"

Cullen smiled widely. "Are you kidding? Of course I won't harm them! I've no reason to!"

"Tell that to your rabid dog," Leah gritted out.

"Easy, pipsqueak—" McKenzie warned her, but Leah rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm talking about her, dumbass," she said nodded toward Alice.

Cullen shrugged. "I've no reason to harm them at all … provided they don't give me one."

Alistair looked from his father to us. "Well?" he asked us. "Will you let me keep you safe? Will you surrender peacefully?"

I looked around at each of my friends and I knew there was no way I would surrender. I turned back to Alistair and spit directly into his face.

He flinched and wiped it away. "Making this easy on yourselves, I see."

"Well, well. Perhaps they are still a problem," Cullen mused.

Despite the fact that he had some of my spit still in his face, Alistair didn't hesitate to defend us. "No. They aren't. They cannot do a thing now. Lock them up until this is over. Father. Please."

He nodded. "Very well. We shall imprison you in moderate comfort until the conclusion of this … experiment."

"We had a deal, Cullen," McKenzie reminded him.

Cullen glared at him with a curled lip. "And I will keep my bargain, as I said, at the conclusion."

"Better hope you do," McKenzie said menacingly.

Edward laughed mirthfully. "Look at you taking orders, McKenzie. I see a spot on Cullen's shoes that could use a licking."

McKenzie smirked evilly at him in response. "Your time's comin', Wolf. Sooner than ya think." He marched out with a sneer.

"Relieve them of their belongings, then take them below," Cullen ordered.

Alistair grabbed my bag. I pulled back on it angrily, and the snake-head idol tumbled out. We both reach down for it, touching it at the same time—

I was instantly pulled into the first vision.

I was looking at an auditorium, packed with serious-looking men and women wearing expensive suits. And on the stage, pacing back and forth, framed in a bold white spotlight was none other than Cullen.

"Which brings us to my final point. That, in the end, for all our technology, for all our progress, we are still collectively bound to the same wheel as our ancestors were, ten thousand years ago. We are born. We age. Sometimes, we breed. And then … we die. For all our achievements, all our victories and defeats, all our moments of joy and sorrow … we end up nothing but dust. We have shattered the atom … set foot on the moon … built networks that instantly connect the whole world … And yet we are all still slaves to time. This, then, is the true final frontier. Not space. Not life. But time. And Cullen International, as always, will lead the way."

The room burst into applause, but one young man sat with his arms crossed, looking skeptical.

The conference ended, and Cullen made his way off the stage. He shook hands with a few colleagues, but as he stepped out back, Alistair was waiting for him.

"Father."

"Alistair. Now, this is an unexpected surprise. What are you doing at C. ?"

"I was in town for an interview, and I thought I'd stop by," Alistair replied. "Had to buy my own ticket, of course."

Cullen shrugged. "Invitations are for my employees. And I don't see your badge."

Alistair frowned in anger. "You know damn well I don't work for you."

Cullen shrugged again. "I only hire the very best."

"And I—" Alistair started, but then sighed deeply and collected himself. "I thought you should know … I've been accepted into a Master's program. It's at the Hoffman-Conahan School for Business. The most prestigious business program in the country. They've offered me a full scholarship."

"Hm," Cullen said and nodded. "Is that all?"

Alistair's face fell. "Well, I … I just thought you should…"

Cullen shook his head. "By the time I was your age, I'd built a prototype jetpack with my bare hands. I'd climbed Kilimanjaro. I'd made myself a millionaire. And you expect me to … what? Pat you on the back because my name got you into some fancy little grad program?" he asked condescendingly.

"It wasn't your name! I did it! I earned it!" Alistair exclaimed.

"Tell yourself whatever you want, son. Come to me when you've actually done something worth praising. Now if you'll excuse me … I do believe I have a jet to catch."

Cullen walked off and left Alistair alone, fuming.

"I'll prove you wrong, you bastard," he snarled out. "I'll make it all on my own … I don't need you." His anger fell from his face and was replaced with pure sadness.

I was lurched out of the moment and hurled along, forward in time, into the master bedroom at the Elysian Lodge.

Alistair sat alone on the bed, gazing out, a strange haunted look on his face. "Well, well. So it's come to this," he mumbled out.

Someone knocked on the door, and Alistair rose up with the help of a polished wooden cane that he used to assist his walk.

"Come in."

An Arachnid soldier entered, holding a report. "Sir."

"Well? Don't dawdle. How bad is it?"

"Hale's Killswitch virus has decimated our operation, sir. MASADA, the Observatory, the Daedalus station … they're all gone. Our force is down to less than a dozen men. We're on the ropes."

"The Ethereal?" Alistair asked cautiously.

"Still ours, but the Hostiles are on the march. They'll retake it by sunrise."

Alistair swallowed hard. "And … my father?"

"I'm sorry, sir. He's dead. Hale shot him."

"I see." Alistair turned to gaze out the window. "So what did you add up to, old man?" he asked the air. "What did you accomplish in the end? Nothing but dust." He stared out at the snowy landscape, and the towering columns of smoke reaching up from all over the island. "Gaze upon my work, ye mighty, and despair." He squared his shoulders and straightened out. "Well, then. Enough self-pity. Time to work."

Alistair turned back to the door, but the soldier wasn't there anymore. He was lying, unconscious, on the floor, and I was pulled into my own body where I stood in the doorway in the soldier's place.

"You. Traitor."

"Bella!" he exclaimed in shock and staggered back, pressing against the glass. "H … how are you … you're supposed to be..."

I paced toward him. My outfit was stained with blood, and my hands were clenched into fists. "You lied to us, you bastard. You sold us out. To Cullen! And for what? A seat at his table? A pat on the back?"

Alistair frowned. "I did what I had to do. I don't regret it," he defended himself.

I crossed the room, cornering him against the glass. "They're all dead, Alistair. Because of your father. Because of you."

He shook his head. "You can't blame me for every single thing that went wrong on this island!"

I narrowed my eyes. "I can blame your father. And instead of standing up to him, you took his side. You chose him over us. Over Emmett. And Kate. Over Rosalie and Peter and Benjamin. Over Leah, Garrett, Victoria, and Edward … Over Tanya."

At her name, Alistair's eyes softened. He took a deep breath. "Whatever you're going to do, Bella, do it. Otherwise, you're just wasting time … and time is all we have."

I was only a few feet away from him at this point. "In another life, I think you could've been a good person … but not this one." I shoved Alistair hard with both my hands. He flew backward, shattering through the window.

He screamed as he plummeted down before smashing hard into the cold earth below.

In the blink of an eye, I was back at MASADA. Alistair tore the idol from my grip and stuffed it back into my bag.

"Stop. It's over, Bella," he told me furiously.

I glared at him, and all I could see was the look on his face as he died by my hands. "Not yet it's not," I said.

The guards piled our things in the corner, and Cullen nodded in approval.

"Good work, my boy. Meet me in my office."

"Wait!" Alistair stopped him from leaving. "I … I don't want Tanya to be imprisoned." He walked up to her. "I'll make sure you're treated well and—"

Tanya slapped him hard across the face, which resulted in a stinging red mark. "Don't you … speak to me … ever again," she said while sniffling.

Alistair simply nodded, but as he paused before walking off. "I still want her kept in her own residence, not a cell," he said, and Cullen conceded.

"Very well." He snapped at a mercenary, who grabbed Tanya and dragged her off after Alistair.

The rest of us remained on our spot.

"So are we back to the Ghostbusters part now?" Benjamin asked defeatedly.

Cullen chuckled. "You mean the containment pods? Oh, no, no, no. That's no longer necessary. Alice?"

"Yes, Mr. Cullen?"

"Kill them all."

A/N:

Soooo…

They were back … in their own time … but the world was burning because of Mount Suerte. Now our gang needs to figure out how to save the world before they can go back home, but will they succeed?

And Bella kills Alistair? What do you think of that? What's your thoughts on all of this? I know it can be hella confusing, but if you need anything cleared up, just ask me and I'll see what I can do without revealing too much of what will happen in future chapters ;-)

Until next time,

Stay Awesome!