Chapter 52: Tick Tock
"tick tock, tick tock, tick tock," Xavier said, voice light and unhurried, utterly unbothered by the horror unfolding around him. "choose fast, Julian. time is running out."
[Host. Updated threat assessment.]
Julian’s stomach dropped even before the System finished, some old, dreadful instinct already bracing for the worst.
[Over one thousand rogue-classification Aberrations currently active across the surrounding region, moving at accelerated speed consistent with direct coordination. Four hundred civilians confirmed bitten. Two hundred already fully converted. Casualties rising by the minute.]
Julian’s breath caught hard in his throat, the number landing like a physical blow. "a thousand," he whispered, more to himself than anyone. "that’s not... that’s not possible..."
Reid’s brow furrowed, watching him closely. "Julian, what is it. what are you hearing."
Right. Nobody else could hear the System. Nobody else had ever been able to.
"my... My um... something’s telling me numbers," Julian said, forcing the words out fast, no time to explain properly. "over a thousand of them, spread out. four hundred people already bitten. two hundred already turned into more of them. I don’t have a way to prove it, you’ll just have to trust me."
[Additional data: a significant portion of the horde is now converging on the capital itself. Academy Guides are actively engaging multiple incursion points simultaneously. Several have already collapsed from reserve depletion. Medical support is being overwhelmed.]
Julian’s face drained of what little color it had left. "the city," he said, voice breaking. "he’s hitting the capital too. the academy’s fighting on multiple fronts right now. Guides are collapsing from overuse."
"how do you know that," Jayden said sharply, though there was no time in his voice for real suspicion, just desperate need for the information to be wrong.
"I just do," Julian said. "please, just trust me on this one."
Reid’s face had gone pale, jaw tight. "Julian," he said, low and urgent, "whatever you’re hearing, don’t let it decide this for you. we can still..."
"a thousand," Julian said again, quieter this time, the number refusing to fully process even as it sat heavy and undeniable in his chest. "Reid, over a thousand of them are out there right now. hundreds already bitten. hundreds already turned. and it’s hitting the capital while we’re standing here."
The color drained from Jayden’s face. "the capital," he repeated, horror dawning. "my cousin... if the academy’s already stretched thin..."
"I know," Julian said, voice shaking now despite every effort to hold it steady.
Logan’s hands curled into fists at his sides, torn between fury and helplessness in equal measure. "there has to be another way," he said. "we can’t just let him..."
"can we stop them," Julian said suddenly, turning sharp toward the fox still pressed tight against his leg, dropping his voice low enough that only it could hear him properly, though the others watched the exchange with visible confusion, unable to hear the fox’s answer at all. "if I don’t go with him. if we fight this properly. can we actually stop a thousand of them before they do real damage?"
The fox hesitated, and that hesitation alone told Julian everything he needed to know before it even spoke.
"I don’t know," it said quietly, voice pitched only for him. "maybe, with enough time, enough coordination, enough Sentinels pulled from every other duty. but Julian, that’s hours, maybe longer, and every hour that passes right now is another dozen people bitten. I can’t promise you we’d win that race."
Reid watched Julian’s face carefully, clearly picking up on some silent exchange he had no way of following. "what did it say," he asked. "your... whatever’s talking to you. what did it say."
"that it doesn’t know if we can stop them in time," Julian said flatly.
The words landed hard across the whole group, silence pressing in thick around the fire.
Julian’s chest heaved, the weight of it pressing down harder than anything Xavier had thrown at him directly, harder than poison, harder than a mountain full of toxic air, harder even than hands pinning him to a wall. This wasn’t a fight he could win by being stubborn enough, tough enough, willing to take one more hit than the other guy. This was math. Cold, ugly math, with real people’s lives sitting on both sides of the equation, and no version of the answer that didn’t cost somebody something.
’three years,’ Julian thought, distant and strange, watching the fire crackle low near the old couple who’d taken him in without question, thinking of people bitten right now in the dark somewhere he couldn’t see, couldn’t help, couldn’t even properly picture. ’three years I held that gate because giving up meant people behind me died. I don’t get to stop believing that now just because the math got harder.’
He looked up at Xavier, and something in his expression must have shifted, because Xavier’s patient, satisfied smile widened just slightly, sensing victory close enough to taste.
"careful," Xavier said softly, "before you answer. I don’t offer this twice."
"how do I know you’ll actually call them back," Julian said, voice hoarse. "how do I know this isn’t just another trap, another lie, another version of the vent that led nowhere."
"you don’t," Xavier admitted, unbothered by the accusation. "you’ll simply have to trust that I want you far more than I want a thousand mindless creatures scattered uselessly across a countryside. they’re a means to an end, Julian. you are the end. I have no interest in wasting resources I don’t need once I’ve gotten what I actually want."
Reid’s hand closed hard around Julian’s wrist, desperate. "don’t," he said again, voice cracking now. "please. we’ll find another way. we always find another way."
Julian looked at him, at the raw fear plain across his face, at Jayden and Logan standing tense and helpless just behind him, at the old couple watching with wide, frightened eyes, at the fox pressed trembling against his leg, and felt the weight of every single one of them pressing down alongside the weight of everyone he couldn’t see, couldn’t save, couldn’t even count properly because the number kept climbing every second he stood here deciding.
"I can’t let hundreds of people die because I’m scared of what happens to me," Julian said quietly, and the words tasted like ash even as he said them.
"Julian..." Reid started, horror plain in his voice.
Xavier’s smile sharpened, satisfaction bleeding through his composure at last. "so," he said, voice soft, patient, terrible in its calm. "what is your choice, Julian? I’m waiting."