The restoration of my memory didn't mark the end. It marked a new beginning. With Selene by my side and the fragment stabilizer in my hand, we embarked on a mission to negotiate something the world had never seen—a pact between the fractured timelines. Selene called it the Rebirth Accord. "It's the only way to stop new fractures from forming," she explained. "We need the remaining factions, the Scribes, the scattered Reclaimers, even the remnants of the Historians, to agree to stop manipulating time." "Why would they agree?" I asked, still skeptical. "Because they've seen what happens when we don't. Oblivion nearly wiped us all." The first summit was held in Vienna, a city that seemed to exist on the edge of multiple timelines, shimmering faintly as if it could dissolve at any moment. Representatives from the broken factions arrived—tired, hardened, suspicious. Among them was Elise, the former leader of the Historians. She'd escaped custody, only to find herself a refugee in a world that no longer trusted her. "I thought you'd come to kill me," she said when we met in the courtyard. I shook my head. "I came to offer you a seat at the table. Even you deserve a chance at redemption." Elise laughed bitterly. "You're either the bravest man I've met, or the stupidest." "Probably both." Negotiations were brutal. The Scribes didn't trust the Reclaimers. The Reclaimers didn't trust the Historians. No one trusted me. But Selene stood with me, reminding them all of what we'd survived, of what we'd lost. Leonard's name became our banner—a fallen warrior whose sacrifice had bought them this fragile chance. Slowly, grudgingly, the factions began to see reason. Elise spoke on the final day. "We've all tried to control time. We've all paid for it. Maybe it's time we let the stories unfold without our hands forcing the chapters." The Rebirth Accord was signed at midnight. A vow to stop tampering with time. A promise to preserve memories instead of rewriting them. But peace is never without cracks. Within weeks, rogue agents splintered off, unwilling to abide by the Accord. They believed the fight for control was not over. Selene and I formed the Memory Vanguard, a small unit tasked with protecting the Rebirth Accord and hunting those who sought to fracture timelines again. We traveled from city to city, stabilizing Echoes, dismantling illegal loops, and rescuing those caught in temporal storms. Each mission felt like chasing ghosts. Each mission reminded me that the past never stays buried. One night, as we sat beneath the flickering skyline of Tokyo, Selene leaned against me. "Do you think it'll hold? The Accord?" I stared at the distant lights. "I think it's fragile. But maybe that's what makes it worth protecting." "Would you do it all over again? Even knowing you'd lose everything?" "Yes," I whispered. "Because some stories matter that much." Selene smiled. "You've always believed that. Even when you couldn't remember why." Months passed. The world settled into its new rhythm, cautiously rebuilding. I never fully recovered all my memories. Some fragments were gone forever. Some faces I would never recall. But I didn't need to remember every detail. I only needed to remember why I fought. The Rebirth Accord wasn't a perfect ending. It was a new beginning. A promise that even in fractured timelines, even across forgotten stories, we can choose to be better. We can choose to protect what matters. And we can choose, again and again, to remember.
