Evening crept in, and with it, the sun dipped lower on the horizon, casting long shadows across the forest floor. The air grew colder by the minute.
The group had settled into a loose routine—each person occupied with their own tasks. Roberto was prepping raw ingredients scavenged from the rehabilitation center's pantry, trying to keep them from spoiling. Illyana had disappeared, saying something vague about "patrolling," and Hal leaned silently against a tree, arms crossed, observing.
Near the center of camp, Dani crouched beside a bundle of dry leaves and branches, trying—and failing—to spark a fire using two random stones. Frustration was clear in her eyes as she clacked them together with increasing aggression.
"You sure you got any idea what you're doin'?" Sam asked, a teasing edge in his voice.
"Don't worry about it," Dani muttered, gritting her teeth as she struck the stones again.
"Let me give it a shot."
"Nope. I've got this." She didn't sound convincing.
Roberto wandered over, brow raised. "What's taking you two so long?"
He glanced at Sam, who simply shrugged, then at Dani—who ignored them both and kept furiously grinding the stones.
With a sigh, Roberto raised his hand toward the pile of kindling. His fingers darkened, as if dipped in cosmic shadow, and for a moment, his hand resembled a sunspot—pitch-black, pulsing with heat. A flare erupted from his palm, and in an instant, the fire roared to life.
Dani flinched back. "What the hell—?"
She spun around to see Roberto already turning away, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Clicking her tongue, Dani tossed the stones to the side with a huff. "Well, guess that answers what his powers are."
Sam gave her a look, then sighed. He turned away from the fire, only to catch Hal quietly laughing to himself, shaking his head in amusement. Instead of staying by the fire, Sam walked over and sat beside him.
"What's up?" Hal asked without looking over.
"Nothin'," Sam said, his voice low. "I just… 'bout back at Milbury—I'm sorry."
Hal glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "For what?"
"For the things I said back then. I know I already said sorry, but... it felt like you were the only one really hurt by it. So I just wanted to say it again. Right to you."
"I get it," Hal said softly. "We're different. And we're still teenagers. When the adults in your life degrade you for that—treat you like something broken—you start to believe them. Especially if something tragic happens because of it. I don't know what you went through, Sam, and I won't pry. But you shouldn't think like that. We deserve to live, with or without their approval. Most of them don't have their lives together either."
Sam stared down at the dirt, fingers digging lightly into the soil. "How old are ya, anyway?"
"Honestly?" Hal shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe sixteen. Seventeen, at most."
"Huh. So you're a bit older than me, huh? Didn't you say you ain't got no amnesia?"
Hal chuckled. "Again, don't believe everything you hear. I am amnesiac—just not entirely. I don't remember the state of the world, or exactly what happened to me. But I have pieces. Enough to know something's wrong. If someone would just tell me what year it is… I'd guess it's after 2018?"
Sam clenched his fist. "2018… the year half the world turned to dust. It's been three years since then now."
"So… 2021." Hal nodded slowly. "Good to know, I guess." He glanced over. "You got family, Sam?"
Sam hesitated, then shook his head. "No. They just disappeared. Same as the rest of 'em."
"Oh." Hal winced. "Sorry—I said I wouldn't pry, and here I am—"
"No, it's fine." Sam gave a weak smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "We was a mining family. It happened on my first day down there with 'em. They just… vanished. Turned to dust right in front o' me. Then my friend, who was joining us that day, got trapped under the rubble."
He swallowed hard, voice lowering.
"I panicked. I ain't fond o' tight spaces—never have been. And right in the middle o' all that, somethin' just... snapped. That's when my powers kicked in."
Hal didn't respond, but he turned fully toward Sam, listening. He could feel the shift—the heaviness in the air, like sorrow bleeding into reality.
"I blasted through the rubble," Sam went on, his voice barely a whisper. "But I wasn't careful. The rest of it caved in. He… didn't make it."
His voice cracked just a bit. "That's how they found me. They said they could fix me. Make me normal again." He let out a hollow laugh. "Now I know that was all a lie."
Hal's words are barely a whisper, he felt something, sparking in his chest, a gentle, radiant warmth. "I'm sorry."
"I told you," Sam said, smiling again, this time a little more honestly. "It's alright. I just... needed to say it out loud."
Without warning, a portal split the air open beside the campfire, crackling with raw, unnatural energy. Everyone jumped. A gust of eerie wind swept through the clearing, and for a brief, terrifying moment, they glimpsed the twisted realm beyond—Limbo.
Illyana stepped out.
The others instinctively scrambled for cover, panic flashing across their faces. It was the first time any of them had seen her portal in action—and Limbo's grotesque landscape didn't help ease the tension.
But when they recognized her, still very much Illyana and very much alive, the group slowly relaxed… if only slightly.
"I found something," she announced, as the portal behind her snapped shut with a metallic thrum. She looked around at their shaken expressions, lifted a brow, but said nothing about it. Instead, she pointed to her left. "There's a sign. A welcome sign. That way."
"What does it say?" Roberto asked, stepping closer.
"'Welcome to Visigoth, Maza-shusitz.'" She stumbled slightly over the last word.
Dani blinked. "You mean Massachusetts?"
Illyana's expression soured. "Whatever."
"That's great!" Roberto lit up. "We're in Massachusetts! That means Boston isn't far. We're not too far from New York either."
"'Not far' is relative," Dani muttered under her breath.
"So… Visigoth," she continued. "We heading there next? See what we can find?"
"There's not much else in this direction," Hal said. "Maybe there's a working bus stop."