Upon entering the guerrilla camp, Alice and Pedro felt the weight of their exhaustion. The camp bustled with activity, but there was an air of somber determination. In the Captain’s tent, they found Juan, the newly appointed captain, standing over a hand-drawn map spread across the table in front of him. His eyes traced the lines of the map, but his mind seemed elsewhere.“Our condolences. I heard what happened to the Captain,” Alice said softly, her voice tinged with sorrow.Juan nodded grimly, not allowing himself to dwell on the loss of his brother. As the new captain, he needed to be strong, to lead. Mourning could wait until after they won this fight. “Thank you,” he muttered, his voice low but resolute.“What happened to the others?” Juan’s tone shifted, more focused now, as he looked between Alice and Pedro. His expression was solemn, the lines of responsibility weighing heavily on his face. They had been planning to rescue their townspeople from the Japanese, but when they arri
Second Lieutenant Ichiro Minamoto signaled his men to move forward with calculated stealth. He led a platoon of the Imperial Japanese Army, tasked with a crucial mission—scout the mountains in Quezon and Laguna to find and eliminate the guerrilla camps. Tonight, his instincts told him, they were going to succeed.Earlier that afternoon, one of his men had come running to their makeshift hideout with alarming news: three of their comrades had been captured by the guerrillas. The soldier had tracked the captors, observing from a distance as the guerrillas brought the captured soldiers deep into the mountains. The discovery of the enemy’s position was an opportunity Ichiro could not afford to miss. He rallied his squad leaders, knowing they were some of the best in stealth and night attacks."I trust them," Ichiro thought, glancing at the silent figures moving in the darkness beside him. He was confident tonight would bring victory, and the thought of it sent a thrill through his veins.
Suddenly, Roberto called out from the darkness. "Captain Terry!" His voice was sharp, cutting through the stillness of the night as figures began to emerge from the surrounding trees.Captain Terry, a hardened guerrilla leader known for his ruthlessness, stepped forward, flanked by his men. They had come running at the sound of the explosions, ready to assist. Terry’s sharp eyes immediately took in the situation—the defeated Japanese soldiers, the bodies strewn about, and the few captives still alive. His jaw clenched with grim satisfaction.“We heard the explosions and came as fast as we could,” Terry said, his voice low but firm as he approached Roberto. The firelight flickered across his face, casting deep shadows. He glanced toward Captain Juan, nodding in acknowledgment before his eyes settled on the Japanese captives.Captain Juan returned the nod. “We managed to capture their leader, Ichiro Minamoto, but he’s been tight-lipped so far.”Terry’s expression darkened as he strode t
"It’s because of love."Pedro whispered the words to himself as he stood by the stream, the sound of rushing water the only thing masking the weight of his thoughts. The blood from the Japanese officer he had killed still stained his clothes and hands, but it wasn’t the red smear that troubled him—it was the choice he had made.He had convinced himself that killing the officer had been necessary. If he hadn’t, their friends could have been captured, tortured, maybe even killed, and that would have destroyed Alice. His mind swirled with the memory of the officer’s face, his lifeless body crumpling to the ground. Pedro dipped himself into the cold stream, letting the frigid water numb his body, hoping it might numb his conscience as well.His hands scrubbed at the blood, rinsing it from his clothes, but it felt like it would never fully wash away. The water’s icy bite reminded him that, despite his feelings, the world would keep moving. He needed to keep moving too. He couldn’t afford t
As Rodolfo lay on the cot, the dim lantern light flickering across his gaunt face, Pedro knelt beside him, pressing a damp cloth to his friend’s forehead. The bruises and cuts that marred Rodolfo’s body were evidence of the torture he had endured. His sunken cheeks and frail frame told a story of starvation and suffering that words alone couldn’t capture.Juan, standing nearby with his arms crossed, eyed the man critically. He had seen enough men broken by war to know Rodolfo’s survival was nothing short of a miracle.“Rodolfo,” Juan spoke, his voice steady but firm, “how did you get out of Sakura Heiei?”Rodolfo opened his eyes slowly as if the effort was too much. His voice was weak, strained, barely a whisper. “It was... hell in there. Every day felt like a lifetime.”Pedro leaned closer, his voice soft, full of concern. “You don’t have to talk about it now. Rest first, Rodolfo.”“No,” Rodolfo rasped, shaking his head slightly. “You need to know... they’re planning something. Somet
The dawn light painted the forest in hues of pale gold, casting long shadows that danced among the trees as Alice and the others reached the guerrilla headquarters in Tipas. The camp was nothing like the one they had left behind in Laguna. The makeshift tents were replaced by sturdier structures—actual houses, some small, others large, clustered near each other like a hidden village within the dense forest. Beyond the trees, rice fields stretched toward the horizon, and a river flowed nearby, its gentle gurgling adding a sense of calm that was almost deceptive given the circumstances.As Pedro approached, his eyes weary from the recent battle, Alice spotted him instantly. Without hesitation, she ran toward him, throwing her arms around him. Her heart pounded in her chest as she whispered, "I saw you in my vision."Her voice was so soft, it was barely audible. The words were meant only for him.Pedro, feeling her warmth against him, felt his exhaustion melt away. He wrapped his arms ar
Alice slowly opened her eyes, her breath shaky as she blinked in the dim light. The familiar sight of Pedro and Odette sitting on either side of her bed helped ground her, but the weight of what she had seen in her vision still hung heavily in her chest. She tried to focus on the room around her, the small space dimly lit by a kerosene lamp, but her gaze landed on Captain Juan and Ramon, standing across from her, their faces lined with curiosity and concern.Juan's brows furrowed, and Ramon stood quietly beside him, arms crossed. They weren’t pressing her for answers, not yet. They simply waited for her to gather herself, patient but anxious.Odette squeezed her hand gently. “It’s okay, Alice,” she whispered. “Tell them what you saw. They need to know.”Alice felt her cheeks flush as the intensity of everyone’s attention settled on her. She wasn’t used to this—the pressure of bearing knowledge that could change the course of their plans, the lives hanging in the balance because of wha
The morning sun filtered through the trees as people stirred from their makeshift beds. The air felt different, charged with both tension and purpose after the critical strategy meeting. The officers had dispersed into smaller groups, relaying the new plan to their teams, ensuring that everyone understood their role in the mission to rescue the prisoners from Sakura Heiei.Odette, Alice, Pedro, and Fernando had gathered near a small clearing, away from the main camp. It was rare for them to have a moment together, especially after everything that had happened. Alice leaned against a tree, exhaustion still evident in her eyes, while Odette sat cross-legged on the ground, her gaze fixed on Alice as if trying to read her thoughts.Pedro and Fernando were seated nearby, deep in conversation about the mission, but there was an undercurrent of unease between them—something more personal lingering beneath the surface.“You really look exhausted, Alice,” Odette said, her voice soft but tinged
Two days later, Samuel and Emily boarded a plane bound for the United States. With them, they carried not only memories of Africa, but a child they had vowed to protect.Emily still hadn’t figured out how to face her parents. Her grief over losing her brother and sister-in-law was fresh, raw. She stared out the window of the plane, silent.Samuel squeezed her hand. “We’ll get through this, Em.”She nodded, her voice barely a whisper. “I just… I wish I had said goodbye to them.”“They knew you loved them,” he said gently. “And Cole will know who they were. We’ll make sure of it.”Before leaving, Samuel had written a letter to his parents:Mom, Dad—I’m coming home for good.I’ve decided to leave the front lines behind and live a quieter life in the States.I hope I’ll still make you proud, even from the small corner of the world I’ll be working in.Love,Samuel.Leonora wept when she read the letter. Holding it to her chest, she whispered a prayer of thanks. Then, looking to the garden
Alice gasped awake.Pain stabbed through her shoulder, but the fire in her veins was dying, no, burning away. Her blood shimmered faintly, glowing beneath her skin like liquid light. The poisoned arrow that should have ended her life sizzled out, the toxins neutralized by something ancient and wild inside her. Her healing power, once weak, unstable, had awakened fully, sparked by danger and Samuel’s sacrifice.She rolled to her knees beneath the bench. The air was thick with smoke. Gunfire echoed like thunder across the clinic grounds.“Samuel,” she whispered. But he was gone. So was the noise.Too quiet.Alice staggered to her feet, gripping the bench for balance. She stumbled toward the clinic, and froze.Shattered walls. Blood was smeared on the floor and doors. Flies already swarmed the broken windows.Inside, everyone was dead.Mike. Suzanne. The guards. Patients, even the elderly man who always handed out fruit to the children. All gunned down. Bullet holes pocked the walls and
Alice found herself staring at the thermometer that a young doctor had just pulled from her mouth.“She doesn’t have a fever,” said a young woman beside him after glancing at the reading.“Where am I?” Alice asked, her eyes scanning the sparse, humid room. Her gaze stopped on the young woman beside the doctor, and her breath caught.“Grandma!” she blurted, suddenly sitting up, eyes wide.The young woman stepped back, startled. She was beautiful, graceful even in her confusion. “My name’s Emily,” she said slowly, studying Alice like she’d grown a second head. Do I look that old? she wondered, frowning slightly.“I’m sorry. I just… had a strange dream,” Alice muttered, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.Emily exchanged a glance with the young doctor.“Brother, could it be…?” she whispered.“She doesn’t seem crazy,” he replied in a hushed tone.“I can hear you, Doctor…” Alice said pointedly. She glanced at the nameplates pinned to their uniforms. “Doctor Stevens and Nurse Stevens,”
The next day, the world felt heavier to Alice, though the sky outside was clear and bright.She sat on the edge of her bed, legs tucked underneath her, staring at the small patch of sun that pooled on her carpet. The light was warm against her skin, but a knot of sadness remained inside her, tangled tightly around something new, a quiet understanding.They gave me all the love that I needed, like a real mother and father, she thought, her hands resting limp in her lap. Alyssa and Cole weren't perfect, but they'd been everything she needed growing up. Every band-aid, every bedtime story, every small moment that stitched a childhood together, it had been them.Her anger wasn't really directed at them, she realized. It wasn't even anger, not truly. It was grief for a piece of her identity that had been hidden away. A missing corner of a puzzle she hadn't known she was even assembling.With a heavy sigh, Alice stood up. Her decision was made.---The house looked just as it always had, wh
Things would have been different if Alice had never time-traveled to the past.She knew that. Felt it in her bones.If she hadn’t gone back, Leonora would be on the brink of death by now—frail, isolated in the Philippines, her healing powers still locked away by Corazon’s curse.She would have never met her son. Never found the closure she deserved after years of torment.And Pedro… Pedro would have died alone in his apartment in California, the walls silent, no goodbye to his father, no final hugs from his siblings. Just emptiness.Alice thought about it often, late at night, when the world outside was quiet and her mind wouldn't let her rest.She had saved them. In a way. But the past was still unraveling in places she couldn’t reach.The only problem was, back in that stitched-together past she left behind, Leonora’s son still hadn’t returned. No letters. No word. Just silence, stretching for years like a wound that refused to heal.And Alice, she realized, knew almost nothing about
When they arrived in California in the early 1960s, they didn’t just cross an ocean, they crossed into an entirely new version of themselves. The paperwork was processed slowly, over weeks, and interviews and translations and signatures that Ramon didn’t understand but trusted Simon to guide.On one particular form, Ramon was asked his family name again. The immigration officer, tired and thick-accented himself, looked up and said, “Do you want to keep the old spelling? We can Anglicize it.”Ramon blinked. “Anglicize?”“Make it easier for Americans to pronounce,” the officer said, already halfway through typing.Simon looked at his father. “We can change it, if you want.”Ramon glanced at Marisa, at his sons, at Leonora who nodded once. A future was waiting, and it needed a name.“Taylor,” Ramon said. “We’ll be the Taylor family now.”The officer nodded and finished typing.And just like that, it was done.Pedro, legally became Peter Taylor.The name felt strange at first, like a suit
In the days after the wedding, after the time slip and the letter from Tomas, Alice finally began to breathe again.For the first time in years, the world felt like it was shifting under her feet, not because she was time-traveling but because she was finally grounded.And somehow, as all the loose ends of their wild, overlapping journeys began to settle, her mind and heart came full circle, back to Johnson.They had known each other since childhood. They were both stubborn, fiercely competitive, and raised on discipline and quick reflexes.They trained martial arts side by side, trained under the same instructors, and earned their belts on the same mats. As teenagers, they sparred in tournaments and sometimes walked home with matching bruises and matching trophies.They had always been close, even before magic and time travel turned Alice’s world into something only he could understand. Johnson has loved her since their childhood when everyone else thought Alice was weird and anti-s
The sound of laughter faded like a dream.For a moment, everything was light... Leonora’s arms wrapped around her, Pedro’s promise still echoing in the night air, the scent of sampaguita filling her lungs. The glow of lanterns, the feel of bare earth beneath her heels, it was all there.And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone.The lanterns became Edison bulbs. The laughter turned to modern chatter. The floral scent gave way to the sharp tang of city air and grilled skewers.Alice opened her eyes and blinked.She was back in Pasadena.Back in 2024.And... she was sitting on the same chair, beneath the same string of lights at Fernando and Odette’s wedding reception. Only seconds had passed for the people around her.Her champagne glass still sat on the table, full. Her plate of untouched food was still warm.The music continued playing, and no one seemed to have noticed her absence.No one except Johnson.He had turned just in time to see her blink strangely, her eyes suddenly gl
The church bells were still echoing faintly through the trees as guests made their way from the small church in Tipas to the reception at Ramon's house. The modest home had been transformed into a wedding wonderland: the entire front yard covered with strings of capiz lanterns, white curtains billowing gently in the afternoon breeze, and long tables lined with woven banig runners, fresh flowers, and candleholders fashioned from hollowed coconut shells.Children dashed under the tables, roosters crowed from behind the bamboo fence, and neighbors arrived bearing food wrapped in banana leaves, bowls of ice, and stories to share.A bamboo arch wrapped with palm fronds and sampaguita marked the entrance. The smell of roasting pork, fresh lumpia, and sweet coconut drifted in the air like a call to gather.Alice stood off to the side for a moment, taking it all in. Time travel had never felt quite this… alive.“I forgot how vivid it all was,” she whispered to herself, hands clasped tightly i