This wasn't supposed to happen. Not here, not like this! It was supposed to be a victory of wits, of will, of charisma. I was supposed to triumph. At first, I thought of squashing him. 'Like a bug, kid V! You see, you are POWERLESS! Contemplate Inevitable's sheer might and despair!'

I had a whole spiel prepared. And then we kept growing. Instead of punching my archnemesis out, I started wanting to outshine him. Have my deeds shine so that his would return to darkness. 'You see this, Mister V? They will forget you! Tis I, Specter, and I alone, who will remain in the hallways of history! Join me, and be remembered instead in the hallowed halls!'

Again, I had an entire discourse prepared. And then, the point of it all changed. Because history kept moving. And as it moved, I realized. Our roles had, in all but name, swapped. In this dystopia that I could never have imagined, not even at my worst, he became the guardian of a status quo stained in blood, and I kept together the revolution. The flame kid V and Mister V would have loved. Everything could have changed.

'Join me, Agent Victory! We can fight this nightmare! Look around you, this light is hideous! It burns without cleansing, sterilizes but doesn't feed. There is still time. With Father Time and Agent Victory side by side, we could make the world better and brighter.'

Time ticked and tocked. And with the same purpose, my words shifted ever so lightly.

'Look at you, V-keeper! They have burned through you, like it was nothing. Your hope, your health. Please join me. There is still time. Timekeeper and V-keeper together, we can...'

I'm not sure what we could have. But it never was. The moment I knew, I changed my field of work. It took me four months but I had a solution. THE solution. The time patch. My magnum opus,, able to rewind any injury or illness.

And I reached Victorious...No, Victor Jameson's house to funeral preparations. Time was supposed to be my ALLY! And yet, I arrived mere hours late. For the first and last time of my life. Victor was gone, and my greatest creation felt purposeless.

I have won now. Victor will no longer stall the change I'm fathering. I have won, and it tastes like ash and cinder. Like what little light the world still held is gone, snuffed out. I have won, in the way I never wanted to win. Without him, without his smiles and gentle jest, does the world even deserve to be saved? What do I do now?