The Remnants of Time (Original Version)

The End?

Aris gasped in shock as he sat up straight in bed, his heart racing as he took in rapid breaths and looked around him wildly.

The warm morning sun was just starting to peek through the windows of the twins' bedroom. The room was completely empty except for the beds and cardboard boxes; the ones on Athena's side were stacked in organized piles, while the ones on his side were thrown in their own random sort of order.

Athena was sitting up straight in her bed as well, eyes wide with alarm as she looked around the room too.

Aris was alleviated to see her alive and in one piece, literally.

Without even thinking he leapt out of his bed, and though he was certainly no runner, practically sprinted to the other side of the room as if he was running in a track race, and his sister was the finish line.

He sprung into her bed, and tackled her in a tight embrace, afraid that she might disappear if he let go. He was so overjoyed to see her that he felt more tears pour from his eyes.

To his surprise, she didn't yell at him or shove him away, instead wrapping her arms around his body and hugging him back just as tightly.

It took a good minute before both of them finally calmed down.

"Aris, I...I'm so confused" Athena stuttered, as they finally let go of each other. "I had the weirdest dream. We screwed up the timeline, broke into a prison, tried to break up our parents..."

"...faced an army of time agents, started the weird apocalypse, and then died in the end?" Aris completed.

She looked at him with disbelief.

"Yes, that exactly!" she exclaimed. "You had the same dream as me? How is that even possible?"

Aris looked at her with the same bewildered expression in his eyes.

"What if...it wasn't a dream?"

Suddenly, the knob of their shut bedroom door squeaked as it turned, and the door started to swing open slowly.

The twins looked cautiously at the newcomer, waiting in anticipation to see who was behind the door.

The door finally swung open completely.

Standing there was adult Mara.

Her entire body seemed to be covered in some sort of smoky ash, and she smelled like burnt pine.

Her brown hair had been cut short, and the white streak in her hair was clearly visible in the morning daylight. She was wearing a loose white t-shirt with jeans, and a necklace with a snowflake pendant.

Although she was a little short for someone her age, she had an athletic build with brawny limbs and a slender waist.

Their mother raised an eyebrow questioningly at them.

"Exchanging secrets with each other at 7:00 in the morning?" she asked teasingly, as she walked into their bedroom. "Care to tell me about it?"

"No" the twins replied immediately, at the exact same time.

Mara didn't seem to be the least bit offended, instead giving them a knowing smile.

"No no, I get it. It's a twin thing" she said. "Trust me, I'm a triplet. I understand."

She started to make her way towards the boxes, bending down and picking one of them off the ground.

Just then, someone else entered the room with a bright grin on his face.