The idea of repairing the Time Window seemed like a good thought at first, but then you came to realize how overwhelming it would be to even start. Where could you even begin with a contraption such as this?

"Now, let's start from the beginning." Cyrus offered. "What caused the Time Window to give a sudden burst of energy?"

Instead of answering right away, Monty gave an annoyed sigh as he slightly adjusted his glasses. "My story has not changed." he told Cyrus, sounding just as bitter. "Minerva had the Time Window working for over an hour before I joined her. After that, it must have been another hour before I remembered you saying that the Time Window can not operate for long periods of time. Minerva and I fought at the main console for less than two minutes. What buttons we pressed or levers we pulled are not something I can remember easily- we immediately stopped at the power inflection and went to bed without further investigating. There is nothing else to tell, Cyrus."

"Hmm..." Cyrus thoughtfully hummed to himself as he moved his wheelchair from Monty, Nya, and Jay. "Two hours (perhaps even five, if we're being generous) is hardly enough time for the generator to gather enough heat to repel the excess energy. When I gave that warning; I meant in the time frame of a good day or so, not half a night."

"Well, apparently," Jay interjected with a scoff of his own, "It must have overheated a lot faster than you thought it would."

"Perhaps..." Cyrus agreed, "But even then, there would have been greater signs of overheating. And there are none. None that we've found so far, at the very least."

"So, assuming that it was enough," Nya then questioned, "It still wouldn't be enough to force a wormhole, would it?"

"No." came Cyrus's immediate answer. "This surge would not have caused enough power on its own. We would have needed a second wave, perhaps placed in a future point in time, to make this first more potent. But when could that have happened...?"

No one was able to answer him, leaving the question as a rhetoric. Completely despising the lull of conversation, Jay gently nudged Nya a bit.

"H-hey Nya," he quietly said to her, "Can I talk to you alone?"

"Sure!" she agreed without a moment's hesitation. The duo excused themselves and went out to the hallway. Unlike the room where the Time Window sat, the lighting in the hallway was a bit dark and not at all a place to stay in for too long, And yet, Jay was just now getting to see all the signs of age of Nya's face, and realizing that he still loved her all the same. Jay could see that Nya had faint signs of crow's feet along her eyes, and her once jet black hair was starting to gray in certain areas.

"What's up?" she asked him in that same, bubbly voice. Jay couldn't help himself from smiling before shaking his head.

"Look Nya, as riveting as trying to repair this thing is going..."

"It is kinda dull, isn't it?"

"I just gotta know; what happened to us?"

Suddenly, Nya visibly froze. She then put on a wide, fake smile before asking, "W-what would make you think that something happened to you guys?"

"Nya, please," Jay snorted. "I may be Jay and occasionally a moron, but that doesn't mean I'm a moron all the time. When Kai brought up Lloyd, everyone went silent like something bad had happened. Also, there's no way our future selves wouldn't be here if you're able to. Not to mention the fact that that kid screamed at us when she saw us. I mean, who does that?"

"Mina screamed at you?" Nya repeated, amused if only for a moment.

"Right?! Isn't that weird to you? Something's up."

"Jay," Nya started to say, faltered for a moment, then started back up again, "I can't tell you."

This was not enough for the stubborn Jay. Instead he got down on his knees and begged. "Please Nya! You don't have to say everything, just enough to… oh, I dunno, make sure that we're not totally hopeless causes or something."

To Jay's horror, Nya shrunk a little. "Jay, I… You're missing."

"What am I missing, Nya? What?"

"No, you idiot. You and the other ninja? You're missing, as in, we can not find you no matter how hard we try."

Suddenly, Jay jumped to his feet with a horror stricken expression. "How?"

"I can't say."

"Yes you can."

"No, I can't."

Then a sudden idea came across Jay's mind, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "If we're missing, then why aren't you?"

Nya gave Jay a horrified stare, her face quickly paling in the poor light. She was so in shock she could only get out a small, "What?" in horror. Jay found himself recoiling at her reaction.

"You're part of the team." he told her. "If we went missing, then why didn't you? You're the Master of Water! Where were you when we went missing Nya?"

"I..." the woman stuttered. Her feet were trying to shuffle backward, but the rest of her seemed frozen in place. "I..." All of her words seemed to fail her as Nya tried to find some answer, something that couldn't give away any details but sating his curiosity. In one last final bid, she admitted, "I… I'm not the Master of Water anymore."

"What?!" Jay all but shouted. For some reason, this wasn't the answer he had been expecting, and it showed. "Why?!"

"I had a son." she told him, simply enough. "And he inherited my elemental power."

And, in that moment, everything started to sink in for Jay.

"What… happened?" he asked one last time.

"Jay, I really can't say." Nya admitted for the last time as well. "I want to. Believe me when I say I want to so badly Jay, but I can't. I can't risk telling you in case in changes the past. Just knowing that our son exists could change the past. Please understand, I can't."

Jay let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in until now. "I understand." he agreed. "Know that whatever happened, I still love you."

Nya gave a small smile. "I know, Jay. I know."

. . .

Just months prior, he had said the exact same thing to her; almost in the exact same voice too. All the preparations were finished and all the remaining ninja needed to do was give their goodbyes. At Kai behest, their castoff was to be at the docks. The Destiny's Bounty was ready to leave the moment the four ninja boarded her; but it did not mean that the ninja themselves were ready to leave yet.

"Know that whatever happens, I still love you." Jay told Nya, pressing his forehead against hers.

"I know." she admitted. "But it doesn't make it any easier."

"Make sure Mont keeps up on his training? He's so close to earning his true potential, I can feel it."

"Of course I will. He's a lot like me, though, it's hard for him to give up."

The two shared a fond laughter at the thought. Not far from them was Zane and PIXAL, having a similar discussion of their own.

"In the event that you do not make it back," PIXAL carefully told Zane, "I plan on reactivating her. Perhaps changing a few parameters so she isn't so… uncanny. I really do not want that to be a possibility- is that wrong?"

"No." Zane softly disagreed. "I do not wish for it to be a possibility either. But… I have fears."

PIXAL gave a small nod to show she understood before looking around the room. There was Nya and Jay, of course, and closer to the Bounty was Cole and Kai. Cole was going over some of the Bounty's communications systems with Cyrus Borg and Montgomery. Kai looked as though he was composing some sort of letter, his hand nervously combing through his hair. PIXAL looked back at Zane with a frown.

"Why is he not telling her of your departure in person?"

"I do not know." Zane admitted. "Minerva is a smart child, she will find out eventually."

"But how soon is 'eventually'?" PIXAL rebutted with a frown. For this, Zane found that he could not give a straight answer.

"I guess this is it." Jay announced as he and Nya walked about to the nindroids. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Zane agreed. With that said, the four of them went to the others.

"Everything should be good to go." Cyrus informed them with a grin. "Just remember, the moment you four get into trouble, set off the emergency beacon and find safe ground immediately."

"Immediately." Montgomery repeated with a grimace. This was some how the cue for everyone to glare at Kai. He refused to acknowledge anyone or even look up. Of anyone, Nya was the most annoyed by it- she immediately walked up to her brother and put a hand on his shoulder. She squeezed it, almost a bit too tight, before forcing him to look her in the eye.

"If something happens to you guys, I'll never forgive you." Nya told him- her tone dark and filled with a deep-seated warning. "Neither will she."

For a moment, Kai hesitated. This conversation seemed too eerily similar- he almost had to hide the fact that a cold chill ran down his spine.

"I wouldn't expect you to." he replied before starting to head into the Bounty. But a single voice stopped everyone in their tracks.

"What's going on?"

Everyone turned their attention to see a rather frazzled Minerva Florence. Her hair seemed to be more frizzed that usual, and her expression was an anger born from fear. Slowly, carefully, Kai approached the girl like one would approach a snake posed to strike.

"Why aren't you at dance practice?" he calmly asked her.

"Because my instructor is right there." Minerva instantly rebutted, pointing a quick finger at Cole. "So I decided to go home. Guess what? No one was there."

"Mina..." Kai tried to say, but he was instantly silenced by the teen holding up her hand, signaling for him to shut up and let her talk. Because of his guilt, he let her continue.

"Then I go to Borg Industries- you know, because Cyrus invited me for a 'very important request' earlier, but he wasn't there either. You want to know what Annabeth told me? She said that he was here, out by the docks, with the ninja. Can you believe it? After years of the ninja being 'retired,' they suddenly have a mission that requires meeting Mr. Borg at the docks. How funny is that?"

"Min..."

"I want answers!" Minerva demanded as she stomped her foot on the ground. "Why are you lying to me?!"

"No one's lying to you."

Every fiber of Minerva's body shook as she questioned, "Then where are you going?"

"It's… complicated." Kai admitted. He tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but the girl quickly rebuffed him.

"No, it's not." she argued. "Just tell me. You… You're acting like you're going to..." And that was when something in her mind clicked. She quickly looked around the room before looking at Kai again, staring at him with more scorn than before. "You honestly don't think he's alive, do you?"

No one answered her. In this silence, Minerva started to back away from them.

"You… you wouldn't." she mumbled, more to herself than everyone else. "You may never come back. What if he's already…? You can't do this!"

Once more, Kai tried to move toward her. "Mina," he tried to plead, "We're only trying to protect..."

"I don't need to be protected!" the child screamed. "I hate you! I hate all of you!" And in a complete fury, Minerva ran from the docks. In her wake, everyone went into a tense silence.

"One of us should go after her..." PIXAL quietly suggested, but no one dared to move.

Eventually, Kai -still hoping that Minerva would come back so he could better explain- hung his head in a sullen defeat before heading back to the Destiny's Bounty. As he passed the others, he mumbled a small, "We leave as soon as possible." and boarded onto the ship.

. . .

"Mother, I brought you some tea."

Nya almost jumped out of her skin in hearing her son's voice. After seeing her son with a mug of tea in his hand, she gave him a small smile.

"Thank you Monty." she thanked, taking the mug from him. She didn't even bother waiting for the tea to cool off before taking a long, meditative sip. When she had her fill, Nya set the cup down in front of her to face her son.

"You know," she mused, "No one ever went after Mina."

Montgomery raised an eyebrow before realizing what his mother was talking about. He seemed to recoil a bit at the thought. Talking as if he were speaking more of a thought, he said, "It's not like we really had to. She carries the Falcon around as often as she does her pendant. We could have tracked her to the First Realm if we had really wanted to."

"Did she ever go home that night? To Midori Blaise, at least."

"Not that I'm aware of."

Nya gave a small nod at this before taking another long sip of tea. "I really hope they found him." she rasped for a moment. "No, I believe they found him."

"But you don't believe they'll come back?"

Mother and son exchanged a silent glace between themselves. Nya took another swing of her tea before telling him, in almost dead certainty, "Not without help."

A/N: Is anyone still out there? It's been months! The worst part about this fic and its original was trying to describe how the Time Window would be fixed, but this time, I got past most of it! Well, sorta. But now I'm back to the timeline I have set up.

The flashback was something I added because I hoped it would get me through this chapter, along with giving some context on what happened to the ninja. It was given outright in the original, but so far the rewrite hasn't really said anything about it. The flashback was also supposed to feature the moment they lost communication with the ninja, but this chapter ended up pretty long (2,318 words!) so I ended up not doing it. Maybe next chapter, since I mostly only have it planned for Mina and Monty to talk a bit before messing with the Time Window again.

Who knows. Send me your thoughts, even if it so happens that you exist in the future where this fic was finally finished.

Thank you for reading!