~ Support & Read 70 Advanced Chapters on Patreon!
❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁
Did our past change the future, or did our future change the past?
That was the question Hawk had asked Wanda.
While Wanda worried about whether the Gwen in Hawk's timeline was truly Gwen or just another version of herself, Hawk dismissed her concerns and told her not to worry about it.
But the question lingered.
Wanda wasn't the only one thinking about it.
So was he.
Hawk usually hated thinking about the past. As someone once said, you only hold onto memories when you feel weak and want to escape. When you're strong and facing life, you focus on the present and the future.
Even though Hawk didn't like to admit it, after he asked Wanda to seal his powers and make him an ordinary mortal, getting sick made him think about everything again. Lying in the hot bath, sweating from his fever, he wondered: was Gwen, the wife who had watched him grow and stood by him from the start, actually Wanda all along?
More importantly—
What answer was he even looking for?
Was he trying to find proof that Gwen was just Gwen, completely separate from the Wanda who had crossed into his timeline?
Or was he trying to prove something else entirely?
Hawk lay in the steaming tub with his eyes open, his thoughts racing so fast it felt like his mind might burst.
The past cannot be changed.
Whatever happened was always meant to happen. Even if you changed the past, the timeline would still push things toward the same ending.
Time needed everything to come full circle. If a timeline stayed open, it was like leaving a tin can open; eventually, it would spoil and fall apart.
So then...
Wanda Maximoff was Gwen Stacy.
Gwen Stacy was Wanda Maximoff.
At least, on his River of Time, that was the absolute truth.
The moment the realization finally set in, Hawk closed his eyes in peace.
Clang!
A phoenix arrives in majesty, perching only upon the finest sycamore.
Its cry echoes through the sky.
It rises from the ashes, bathed in sacred fire!
The moment Hawk's mind became completely clear, the impossible crimson flame from the most unlikely life, now covering his restored River of Time, poured straight down into his Cosmo like a cosmic red lotus waterfall.
The crimson Chaos Magic blended into his Cosmo, making the phantom flames of the Phoenix inside his endless inner universe burn even brighter.
The fire from the universe's first creation joined fully with the fire of its most impossible life.
Hawk's Cosmo roared.
The boundaries of his inner domain expanded, tearing through the primordial chaos with unstoppable momentum.
A creation of a new reality was unfolding inside him.
Now merged with the crimson flames of chaos and surrounded by the fire of endless possibility, the Phoenix let out a deafening cry. It took shape inside his Cosmo, spreading its wings as fiery light filled every part of his universe.
And then—
An explosion of cosmic energy!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!
SKREE!!
A piercing, earsplitting avian screech echoed out!
Only this time, the cry didn't remain locked inside his Cosmo. It resounded directly through the physical universe.
To be precise, right at the outer perimeter of reality.
The flame of first creation alone couldn't shatter a universal barrier. Nor could the impossible flame of chaos do it on its own.
But together?
Combining the fire of first creation with the fire of the most impossible life created the ultimate flame: the fire where anything can happen.
With a force like that, a universal barrier was just glass waiting to break.
No barrier in existence could stand in its way.
When anything is possible, nothing can stop it!
——————————
Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Wanda was serving dinner and listening to Jean explain why she had come back tonight. When she heard the distant Phoenix cry, Wanda looked up. Her vision went through the roof, the atmosphere, the solar system, and the galaxy, finally locking onto a pure, liquid-gold energy leaking through the edge of the universe.
The cry had originated from that very liquid gold.
Under Wanda's gaze, the golden fluid seeped inside and began to coalesce, reforming into a majestic Phoenix shrouded in divine, golden fire.
The Phoenix spread its wings and let out a roar that shook the fabric of reality, announcing its presence to the cosmos. In the next moment, its piercing eyes fixed on Earth. It transformed into a flash of dazzling gold and sped directly toward the planet.
Wanda pulled her gaze back, a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
The entire process had taken less than a second.
Jean, caught mid-sentence, blinked when she saw Wanda look up with what seemed like real satisfaction.
"Mom?"
"Hawk's power just landed."
"Wait, what?" Jean froze. "Already? Didn't you say this morning it would take another year?"
Wanda shrugged. "I said within a year."
Jean's mouth twitched. "It hasn't even been a day, Mom."
"A day is technically within a year, isn't it?" Wanda smiled sweetly.
Anyway, both she and Hawk understood how the rules worked... Whether it was magic or law, everything depended on intent. And intent didn't care about the laws of physics.
For example, with Hawk's Cosmo power, Wanda had sensed that his energy would need at least a year to break through the barrier this morning.
But as soon as Hawk cleared his mind and found his focus, his energy unlocked completely. The golden flame of pure possibility broke through the universal barrier and came down at once.
"It's not fully here yet," Wanda added, seeing her daughter's bewildered expression. "His power just entered this universe's space. It hasn't fully materialized, so we still have some time."
Jean looked at her suspiciously. "Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not going to tell me 'some time' means another year, right?"
"Ask him yourself," Wanda said, glancing past Jean's shoulder as Hawk walked down the stairs in a pair of grey pajamas. "Your dad's down."
Jean turned around.
Hawk smiled as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Ask me what?"
Jean blinked. "Dad, if your power is already back, why do you still sound so stuffed up?"
Hawk walked over, taking the glass of lemon water and the cold medicine Wanda handed him. He offered a quick word of thanks, downed the pills, and then turned to Jean. "Because I haven't accepted the power yet."
"You haven't accepted it?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Ninety miles is only half of a hundred-mile journey," Hawk said with a grin. "I'm retracing my steps. I still have forty-two days left before I hit the mark on this second run."
Jean blinked, not fully understanding, then shook her head. She remembered why she had come home and mentioned the congressional hearing for the Mutant Peace Accord set for early next month in DC.
Hawk sat on a tall barstool, listening quietly.
When Jean finished, she looked at her silent father and asked cautiously, "Dad, can I go to DC with Professor X?"
Hawk didn't answer right away. He just looked at her with a calm, unreadable face.
"Do you want to go?"
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because I can—"
"Give me the truth."
"Fine," Jean sighed, meeting his eyes. "I've lived in this world for over ten years. Before we go, I just want to see humans and mutants shake hands and finally make peace."
Hawk stayed silent.
Jean looked at him expectantly. "Dad?"
"See? Your daughter got all your naivety." Hawk said, turning to Wanda as she untied her apron.
'Me? Naive?' Jean blinked in surprise.
Wanda stopped and rolled her eyes at Hawk. "A child without discipline is the fault of the father. So, whose fault do you think that is?"
Hawk paused, letting out a dry laugh as he shook his head. "Fair enough. My bad."
He turned back to his confused daughter and chuckled. "Thank god your adulthood here is only temporary."
"DAD!" Jean snapped out of her stupor, clearly annoyed by his tone.
"Sweetheart, do you really think a piece of paper can buy you peace?"
"It's a bill, not a piece of paper," Jean corrected him. "And Dad, once it passes the congressional hearing, it becomes actual law. People have to follow it."
As Jean spoke, Hawk's smile grew wider, becoming almost mocking.
Wanda sat on a nearby stool, handing out plates of food and watching the father-daughter debate as if she were enjoying a movie.
Honestly, there wasn't much to argue about.
At the end of the day, Jean was Hawk's blood.
As her father's smile grew brighter, and honestly a bit unsettling, Jean remembered his intimidating track record. She went quiet for a moment, then asked, truly confused, "Can a peace treaty really not bring peace?"
"Haha!"
Hawk burst out laughing, looking at her as if she had just told the funniest joke in the world. "Sweetheart, remember this: what you can't win on the battlefield, you will 'never' get at the negotiating table!"
❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁
~ 70 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)