The kingdom of Praedones was in ruins. Almost everyone had some sort of injury, ranging from scratches to broken bones. The castle was completely destroyed, and most of the homes were in tatters, but we were alive. By some miracle, we were alive!

“We did it!” cried Ellie, wrapping Thomas into a hug and planting him with a massive kiss. Cassian collapsed to his knees in relief, and Melanie put her hands on her hips, staring out at the fleeing Boujie Collective as if daring them to come back.

I didn’t say anything, I just looked off into the distance and was mentally coming to terms with everything that had happened. We’d fought against like five armies at once, gone toe to toe with a wizard, and somehow, against all odds, my cousin had been able to find me, albeit with a little help from my time meddling.

Suddenly, I was wrapped in a spine-shattering hug. “I didn’t have time to say this earlier,” said Gerard, “but I’m glad you’re okay.”

I flashed a pained smile, returning the embrace; I really did have the world’s best cousin.

“All of you,” said Gerard, letting go of me and turning to face everyone, “thank you for watching after my cousin while she was here, but now it’s time for us to go.”

Gerard fiddled with his watch again, and a portal appeared in front of us. “Ready?” he asked, motioning to the portal.

I took a step back, conflicted. “It’s time to go, already? “All of this was happening way too fast.

“What’s going on, Piper?” Asked Ellie, untangling herself from Thomas, eyes cutting from me to the portal.

I stared down at my feet, unable to meet anyone’s gaze. “I’m going home,” I said in a small voice, trying and failing not to burst into tears.

“Back to your realm?” asked Cassian.

“Back to my own time,” I mumbled. “Hundreds of years into the future.”

“Oh,” said Cassian, looking at a loss for words.

We were silent for a long time after that, Gerard thankfully having the social grace to remain quiet.

“Will we ever see you again?” asked Thomas. I felt a lump form in my throat; I didn’t think I’d be able to respond.

“Nah.” Said Princess Melanie, walking past me and staring curiously into the blue portal, “Not you guys, at least.”

Gerard nodded, expression mournful. “Long story short, we’re from the future, like far into the future. There was a malfunction with my time machine, and Piper ended up in the past with you all. By the time we return to the present, to where we belong, your great, great, grandchildren will have already died of old age.”

Everyone went silent again. I forced a brave smile. “But maybe I can visit from time to time,” I said, mind racing as I tried to think of some way to dull the pain of goodbye, “maybe I can pop in every couple of months, and we can do theater stuff or talk about boys, or raise the dead.”

“Absolutely not,” said Gerard, his tone encouraging no argument.

“Why not?” I countered, still deciding to argue.

“Piper, look at all this,” Gerard pointed to the ruins around us. “Do you understand how much you’ve massively screwed with the course of history?”

I stared at him blankly. I had no idea, but all my shenanigans had been relegated to one tiny European kingdom; it couldn’t be nearly as bad as Gerard was hyping it up to be.

Gerard reached into the portal and retrieved dozens of stacks of newspapers. Space Ghandi declares a start to World War 7. Read the front page in bold font. My eyes bugged out; those words weren’t supposed to be grouped together like that. I kept reading, flipping through the pages. Mecha Hitler wins third presidency in a landslide victory. Our Machine Overlords have decided human rights are superfluous and will be dissolved along with all of our internal organs.

“What the?!” I managed to choke out, flipping through the newspapers and seeing worse and worse headlines with every new page. “All I did was whip together a crappy-looking flamethrower!” I raged, throwing up my hands, “How in the world did that cause Hitler to become president!?”

Gerard crossed his muscular arms. “You introduced the works of Shakespeare 300 years before the guy was born, you created disinfectants 400 years before anyone even knew about the concept of bacteria, you showed these people how to create electricity, and to your point, you gave these people, who primarily fight with bits of metal and pointy sticks, freaking flamethrowers!”

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I blushed; I was also responsible for saving Princess Melanie from a kidnapping attempt and was probably also to blame for uniting all those various armies against the kingdom of Praedones. I may or may not have also been responsible for unleashing an unhinged necromancer onto the world. I guess I had done a lot more damage than I’d initially thought.

“Here’s what we have to do,” continued Gerard, “the future is utterly screwed, so to fix everything, we’re gonna have to go back in time to stop past Piper from ever using my time machine.

My eyes widened, “But if we do that–”

“Then that means no one here will have ever met you,” he confirmed, voice firm but sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but it’s either keeping your friends or having Ghandi start a world war.”

I looked back and forth from Gerard to the Praedonians, a feeling of hopelessness threatening to swallow me whole. Was it gonna be like none of this had ever happened? “But they’re gonna die!” I cried, voice cracking with emotion, “If I didn’t help save these people, they would’ve been wiped out weeks ago, every last one of them! You can’t seriously stand by and let them all get killed off, can you?!”

“We’ll, be okay, Piper. You head back home.” That was Thomas. “You’ve done a ton for us,” he continued, tearing up as he forced a smile, “But now it’s my turn to figure out a solution; after all, I’m a scientist.”

I blinked; Thomas had called himself a scientist, not a wizard. He must’ve picked up the word while reading Gerard’s textbook. I honestly didn’t know how that made me feel.

“Say, said Gerard, walking up to Thomas and staring at his physique appreciatively, “you’re pretty jacked. Do you work out?”

“Uh, yeah,” replied Thomas, looking weirded out by the question.

Gerard lifted Thomas’ arm and casually ripped off part of his bicep armor. “I’d recognize that shredded physique anywhere,” whistled my cousin, “you’re a McBuff, aren’t you?” Thomas nodded mutely, staring wide-eyed at the man who’d ripped off his metal armor with his bare hands.

“I know you’re worried about these guys,” continued Gerard, turning to me with a knowing smile, “but I’ve got a feeling they’ll be alright. After all, the McBuffs are our direct ancestors.”

I gaped, my mind short-circuiting from the revelation. “Then does that mean–”

Gerard nodded, “Piper, meet Thomas McBuff, your great great great great great great great great grandfather.” He turned to Ellie, “And Ellie Birchstock, your great great great great great great great great grandmother and Thomas’ wife.”

“Yes!” shouted Ellie. Blushing profusely when she saw everyone staring at her.

Huh, well, now I was even more conflicted. I didn’t want to say goodbye, but if these people were my ancestors, I guess that meant, in a way, they’d always be with me even after they were gone. I don’t know if I found the thought comforting or depressing.

“Piper, thank you for everything.” King Cassian stepped forward, bowing at my feet. “I’m not quite sure what’s happening, but we’ll miss you. If you ever come back, you’ll be always be recognized as an official citizen of Praedonis.”

I was quickly running out of tears to cry; this was far too much for me to handle. “We’ll miss you, Piper,” Ellie ran up, wrapping me in a huge hug. “I wish we could’ve spent longer together,” she said, eyes and nose both running, “I would’ve wanted you to be in my wedding.” Oh gosh, she was right; I was gonna miss her and Thomas’ wedding, ugh, all that shipping work for nothing!

Ellie exited the hug, and suddenly, it was just me and Thomas. “Well, I guess this is it,” he said simply. I nodded. Thomas blew air out from between his teeth. “I’ve never really known what to say when it’s time for goodbye,” he mumbled as he shuffled his feet, “but thanks for showing me so much magic, er, I mean science.” Thomas was quiet for several seconds before speaking again, but when he spoke his voice was strong and confident. “Your cousin implied I might forget it all, everything you’ve taught me, but even if that’s the case, I’ll figure out new ways to help everyone around me and I’ll take good care of Ellie and Praedones.”

He opened his arms, and I ran into them. I cried into his shoulder, wishing we could hang out, make more science things, spend time with Ellie, and do more theater, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. “Maybe I won’t be able to see you again,” sniffed Thomas, squeezing me tighter, “but take good care of your parents, alright? One of them is my descendant, after all.” I nodded, wondering if I’d ever see flashes of Thomas or Ellie in either of my parents.

“Are we quite done with the waterworks, or are you all gonna cry for the rest of the night?”

I looked up, realizing I had forgotten about Princess Melanie. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she was gritting her teeth like she was willing herself not to cry and just barely holding on.

“Thanks for everything, Melanie,” I said, wiping snot from my nose, “I’m really gonna miss you.”

Melanie sighed, “I’ll miss you too,” she admitted, “but this isn’t goodbye; it’s just see you later. That’s a promise.” Her eyes flashed green, and she broke into a jagged smile, “one witch to another.”

I felt she didn’t quite understand the intricacies of time travel, but I nodded anyway, not wanting to upset her. “Yeah, see you later, I said.”

I turned and numbly walked back to Gerard. He hugged me as well; it felt nice to be back in his big, strong arms. I suddenly realized that his arms felt incredibly similar to Thomas’. “Did that goth chick just call you a witch?” He whispered down at me.

I half-chuckled, half-sobbed at the question. “I’ll explain later,” I promised.

I stared out at the kingdom of Praedones one final time, thinking I’d have to visit one day once I got back to the present. Maybe I could talk my parents into taking me here someday for a family trip. Then, turning back to everyone, I swallowed the lump in my throat and gave one final wave. “Goodbye, everyone,” I said, “No matter what happens, I’ll never forget you.”

Everyone waved, everyone cried, even King Cassian. Gosh, goodbyes sucked.

Gerard took my hand in his. “Ready?” he asked softly.

I took a breath and walked with him towards the glowing blue portal. “Not really, but I guess I have to be.”

We entered the portal, and everything turned blue.