The world was breaking.
Zero could feel it in every shiver of the air, every flicker of the fading light.
The mansion was chaos — screaming, shattered glass, powers colliding, and the raw edge of desperation.
Vanya stood at the center, the source and the storm.
(Time is bleeding out. If she loses control, it's the end.)
He moved toward her, pushing past Luther's frantic orders and Diego's cold glare. Allison's voice was a distant echo, pleading for calm. Klaus was shouting to the ghosts only he could see.
Zero reached Vanya just as the air around her sparked violently, warping reality.
"You don't have to be this," he said, voice barely a whisper over the storm.
Her eyes, wild and unrecognizing, met his.
"Who… are you?" she asked, voice trembling.
"I'm the one who's seen every possible ending," Zero said. "And I'm here to stop this."
Power crashed around them — a wave of destruction ready to drown everything.
Zero grasped her hands firmly. Time bent around them, slowing, holding the moment.
(If I fail here, it's not just the Academy. It's the world.)
Vanya's breathing faltered. Then steadied.
The glow dimmed.
The storm's rage softened.
The mansion was still.
For a heartbeat.
Then sirens wailed outside. The world was waiting.
Zero looked around — his family, fractured but alive.
Maybe, just maybe, this was the chance.
The thread wasn't broken yet.
It was time to start weaving a new one.