"I know Papa...I know... Time heals everything... I just wish it would speed up for me."

He smiled a little, "Now there's a mutant I would like to meet."

"Time Reaper. You've met him but you don't recall it. Actually, you have..." She looked at him, "Is Horatio's grave still in one piece?"

"Hmm..." Eric turned his head as though to look off in the distance, although his eyes weren't really searching. "... yes... it's one of the few things that remained structurally sound. The monument above his grave still stands."

"I think I need to go mourn... You'll know where to find me." she kissed his cheek before heading off.

Ciara sat in front of the monument, "I'm sorry.... I'm sorry I didn't stay... I'm broken Horatio. I miss you. You just had to die. Just like Logan did. I'm so lost Horatio. I've fallen down the rabbit hole but there's no light at the bottom. At the battle for Genosha, I... I was so angry. I didn't care if I killed them... I should have. They're people too... Terrible people but still people. I'm falling Horatio... And I don't know how to get back up..." She curled up in a ball and leaned against the monument. She wiped tears from her face. "Neptune give me strength. I don't know how much more I can take..."

"Ciara?" A small voice spoke gingerly from the sidewalk where a teen-aged Horatio stood.

His voice made her heart stop. It was like a stone was being thrown into a pond. That's right... Even though Horatio was dead, he was still alive else where. Younger but alive.

"Horatio.." She whispered softly, almost afraid he would disappear upon saying his name. When he didn't, she glomped him, yelling his name as loudly as she could. "I...I was so scared... Scared I'd never see you again, Horatio."

He blinked, hesitantly hugging her back, "Ciara... oh dear..." he frowned, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry" he hugged her tighter, closing his eyes.

"I don't know why... but I can't seem to stop shaking. Every since Gotham.... Why didn't I listen to you? I....Am I broken Time Big?" She asked.

Horatio ran his hands through Ciara's hair, breathing in her scent a moment he sighed, "... yes." he admitted, "you are broken, and it's all my fault. I'm so sorry, I'll fix it next time, I promise you. I will get this right."

"Next...Next time?" She looked up at him, "I...I don't understand what you mean. "

"I have to go, you can't imagine how sorry I am Ciara, but I'm leaving and you won't see me again." horatio replied, "I have to start over."

"What?! What do you mean you have to go? Don't leave me Horatio. I don't want you to leave. Don't leave me!" She pledged, clinging harder onto him.

"Ciara McCoy, calm down" Horatio urged, trying to pry her fingers off of him, "Please, Let go. I need to try and explain, I owe you that much."

She sniffed, "M...Mk. But I'm not letting go." She said holding tightly to his arm.

With a sigh he continued, "This is not my original timeline" he explained, "In my timeline, you died very young, many terrible things happened and no matter how I tried I couldn't make it better. I didn't fully understand my powers then, I accidentally tore the universe apart with paradoxes and in the end I realize I meddled too much. I've learned since then, I've learned to keep more of a distance and to let things play out the way they are meant to-but with only the smallest of changes. I tracked down the source of it all and always seems to come back to you Ciara. I need to save you, and then the future will follow. I've tried... so many times. So many things I cannot change so I have to work around them. I've had to start sending in clones of myself, with all my memories to try and find the perfect timeline. This one" he nodded towards his grave, "failed, like all the others."

"...I die when I'm young?" Her grip loosened on him as she thought it all over. Her expression when from wonder to anger. "So this isn't your first goodbye is it?! You've done this to me before? You just get up and left! You've left me! You've abandoned me over and over again... So you're just gonna pack up you stuff and leave me. Leave me to rot alone. I... I... I HATE YOU!" The thought of Horatio leaving forever made her heart break. She pushed him out of her arms. "I wish you have let me die! This is cruel, Horatio." She slid down to the sidewalk and onto all fours. "It hurts. My chest... I know you must care for me but leaving me alone forever is just...I rather die... I wish I was..." Tears flowed from her face. "How can you say I'm a failure like it's nothing!!!" She screamed at him.

Horatio fell silent, his eyes staring blankly ahead-emotionless and dead. Finally, after several moments he spoke again, "There is only one of me... in all multiple existences, I'm the only me. No matter which timeline I choose, I will be abandoning millions of Ciara McCoy's to a worse fate. A fate where I wasn't there to save her. I can't..." for a moment his voice broke but he stubbornly fought to keep himself from breaking down, "I can not save you all. But I can save one... and I regret having to say, that it isn't you, nor the one before, or the one before that, or the one before that. It will never be the steampunk Ciara McCoy, or the Preppy Ciara McCoy, or the Ciara McCoy with blond hair, or the one with a scar on her left ear, or the one who would call me Piper. Even though you all have the same laugh, the way your nose crinkles when you smile, the way you touch my hand, the way your voice cheers up when you say my name-No matter how similar you all are, you are all just slightly different as well. So I can never save the Ciara McCoy that I loved with all my heart, but I can save one of you."

Ciara listened to his words and slowly got to her feet. She wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "Then go save me, Time Bug.... Your princess is in another castle. Goodbye..." And trying with all her might not to cry anymore; she turned and walked away. Her head hung low, her eyes dull and her body numb from the pain. She reached for the phone, hand trembling. "Daddy.... I need you to come get me... No it's not alright... I want to k-kill myself.."

Horatio froze in shock, he stiffly hugged her back in confusion and stared off in her direction as she walked away. He didn't know what to say to that, in all the timelines he had never encountered a reaction quite like this one. Did that mean he was getting closer to the solution he wanted? Or perhaps... he was only breaking her apart even more...
"Ciara McCoy..." he whispered after her, though his words were swept away on the wind as a tear fell from his sightless eyes, "I will save you..." he clenched his fists tightly.

"But not this time" spoke a deadly voice from behind Horatio. The time bug spun on his heel to attack Michael but it was already too late. Michael was making his move on Ciara, grabbing her wrist from out of nowhere and bringing a blade up her throat.

"STOP!" yelled Horatio as he grabbed the two of them and brought them into a time stop. "Don't you touch you bastard!"

"I'm at the park where Horatio's grave-"Ciara gasped, dropping the phone out of surprise and froze like a statue. "What are you d-doing?" She whispered, afraid to talk any louder in fear of the blade going into her neck.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Max replied to her, keeping Ciara between himself and Horatio.

"You're mad Max!" Horatio accused.

Max pressed the knife a little closer into Ciara's neck, forcing Horatio to quickly back off before she was cut, "Me?! You must be joking Horatio. You're the mad one here. You're desperate, you're fucking up everywhere you go and what happens to the places you leave behind? what happens to your failures hm? You don't even know do you?"

"They're... fine" Horatio replied, watching him closely, "I said my goodbyes, they just have to manage without me now."

"And do they?" Max demanded, "I'll give you a hint, they don't. They learn to depend on you and then everything falls apart."

"You're obviously lying" Horatio rolled his eyes, "They lived without me before, they can do it again."

"then go back" Max challenged, "check up on one of them, if you can."

"I told you, I said my goodbyes. Those worlds are in my past now, I need to move on." the Time bug insisted.

"Then move on" Max snarled, "you've said your goodbye to this one. Move on and forget her like the rest"

She whimpered when the knife moved closer to her neck. She listened to them argue and finally summoned up enough courage to speak, softly "...M-Max," This Max seemed different then the one she'd met. The mad, power hungry, crazy man... He seemed much calmer and collected. Gently, she rested her hand on his bicep and let the tension in her shoulders go. For some reason, she felt like Max was right even though all her experiences with him had been negative.

"What has happened to all the other mes'?"

"They're dead" Max replied bluntly.

"You're a liar" Horatio accused, "I'll admit, I made some mistakes with one or two, but they didn't all die. I've figured out so much more than I ever knew before. I'm so close now, I just need to change one more thing, it might be the key to everything!"

"And it's worth the deaths of all the worlds before?" Max questioned, "All those lives, whole universes of people obliterated just so you can find your perfect world?"

"No world is perfect" Horatio glared at him, "but if there is only one me, and countless worlds, why can't I have the one where I actually belong? Why can't I live in a world where things are right for me? for once, Why can't I have something for myself? You take everything away from me Max, Everything damn you!"

Ciara appeared rather calm after continuing to listen to the two of them, "Horatio... It's ok... The others Ciaras would understand if they are anything like me. You've given up so much to help others but once you help them, you can never stay with them... It's sad. Tragic even... So if you plan to kill me Max go ahead. You'll just untie the chains that keep Horatio here; away from his perfect princess.."