The bathroom of their base was thick with steam, carrying the scent of lavender soap and the sound of a five-year-old's laughter echoing off stone walls.

  Domino wrapped Luv in a fluffy towel that practically swallowed his small frame, lifting him out of the tub with ease. Water dripped from his brown hair, plastering it to his forehead that made him look impossibly vulnerable.

  "Alright, kiddo, time to get dressed," Domino's voice carried maternal warmth she was still getting used to hearing from herself, rubbing the towel over his hair with gentleness that contradicted years of mercenary training.

  Jay emerged from their bedroom with an armful of clothes, various shirts, pants and socks that they'd hastily grabbed from storage. Most were too big for backup outfits, but surely something would fit. He dumped the pile on the counter, fabric spilling across the stone surface in a cascade of colors and sizes.

  "Okay, so we've got..." Jay paused mid-sentence while his hands sorted through the pile, his expression shifting from hopeful to resigned. "Actually, we've got nothing that'll fit him properly."

  Domino's scarlet-tinted eyes gleamed with sudden inspiration. "Hold that thought."

  Crimson strings materialized from her fingertips, her quantum manipulation made visible. They wrapped around one of Jay's old t-shirts, and the fabric began to shift at the molecular level, threads unweaving and reweaving themselves in new patterns, probability collapsing countless potential configurations into the single outcome she desired. The oversized shirt compressed, reshaped, and became a perfectly sized outfit for a five-year-old.

  A simple blue shirt with a cartoon dinosaur on the front.

  "There!" She held it up with pride that felt disproportionate to the simple act of reshaping fabric. "What do you think, sweetie?"

  Luv's blue eyes went wide. "Whoa! That's so cool! Mom, you made the shirt small! How did you do that?"

  "Magic," Domino winked while slipping the shirt over his head, and her hands smoothed the fabric across his small shoulders with instinctive care.

  But then she paused, crimson strings still hovering around her fingers, and a mischievous smile crossed her face that Jay recognized immediately as trouble. "Actually, wait. Let's try a few options first."

  What followed was pure chaos in the most cute way.

  Domino's quantum strings danced through the air, transforming Luv's outfit again and again with the enthusiasm of someone discovering a new favorite game. A red shirt with a rocket ship became a green one with a smiling frog. Shorts morphed into overalls, then back to shorts, then to tiny jeans that made Luv look like a miniature hipster.

  Jay pulled out his phone, snapping pictures with the enthusiasm of a parent discovering their child's first smile.

  "Oh, this one's perfect," Jay said as Domino created a tiny leather jacket over a white t-shirt, and his phone's camera shutter sound clicked rapidly. "He looks like a baby biker. Do we have a tiny motorcycle somewhere?"

  "Don't tempt me," Domino laughed, already shifting the outfit again. This time, a formal button-up shirt with a tiny bow tie appeared, complete with miniature dress shoes that materialized on Luv's feet.

  "Ooh, fancy! Look at our sophisticated little man!" She grabbed her own phone, taking pictures from multiple angles with the focus of a professional photographer. "Luv, sweetie, can you turn around? Perfect! Now smile! Oh my God, Jay, look at how adorable he is!"

  Luv stood patiently at first, enjoying the attention and the novelty of watching his clothes change like magic, his small hands touching the different fabrics with curiosity, patting the leather jacket, rubbing the soft cotton of the t-shirts, tugging at the bow tie with fascination. Each transformation drew gasps and giggles from him.

  "This one's scratchy," he said about a wool sweater. "This one's soft!" about flannel. "This one's got buttons!" He tried to undo the button-up shirt, fingers fumbling with the small fasteners.

  But as the minutes stretched and the outfits multiplied into double digits, a superhero costume with a cape that dragged on the floor, a tiny three-piece suit that made him look like a miniature businessman, pajamas with stars that glowed faintly in the dim bathroom light, his patience began wearing thin.

  The outfits kept changing with increasing speed as Jay and Domino got more competitive. A pirate shirt with an eye patch and a tiny plastic sword. A soccer jersey with the number five. Even a onesie with a hood that had bear ears, complete with a tail that Luv kept trying to catch.

  Jay and Domino were completely absorbed, phones out, taking what had to be hundreds of pictures.

  "Wait, wait, go back to the overalls," Jay insisted while scrolling through his phone to compare images. "Those were so adorable. Actually, can you add a tiny bandana? Make him look like he's about to go farm some crops?"

  "No, the dinosaur shirt was better," Domino countered, strings already shifting the fabric again, her competitive streak emerging. "Classic, and the blue brings out his eyes. See? Perfect."

  Luv's small face scrunched up with growing frustration. His shoulders sagged, and he started shifting his weight from foot to foot. His hands dropped to his sides, no longer reaching to touch each new outfit.

  "Mom," he said quietly. Then louder. "Mom. Mommy!"

  When neither adult responded, too busy debating the merits of a cowboy outfit versus a astronaut suit, his voice rose with the indignation only a five-year-old could muster.

  "Stop it!" The words burst from him, loud enough to make both adults freeze mid-motion. "I don't wanna wear any more! You keep changing and changing and I'm cold and bored and my arms hurt from holding them up!"

  His lower lip trembled dangerously while tears built at the corners of his blue eyes.

  Jay and Domino exchanged guilty looks, phones lowering simultaneously.

  "Oh, sweetie," Domino said while crouching to his level, her hands reaching out to steady his small shoulders. "I'm so sorry. We got carried away, didn't we?"

  Jay knelt beside her with his phone hastily shoved into his pocket, his face showing sheepish regret. "Yeah, buddy, that's on us. We just... you looked so cute, and we couldn't help ourselves."

  They both wore matching silly smiles of embarrassed but unrepentant expressions that only proud parents could pull off.

  Luv sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, his small chest heaving with emotion he was trying to control. "You promise no more changing?"

  "We promise," they said in unison.

  Domino's quantum strings moved one final time, settling on a compromise that made Luv's face light up immediately. Black overalls with brass buckles over a shirt split perfectly down the middle, black on one side and white on the other, mirroring Domino's own coloring.

  "There," she said softly while her hands smoothed the overalls into place. "How's this?"

  Luv looked down at himself, small hands touching the fabric, then at Domino, then back at the outfit. His small face broke into a grin that could have powered the sun. "I look like you, Mom! We match!"

  "You look like a million bucks," Jay said, ruffling his damp hair. "Now, how about we get you set up with some cartoons while Mom and Dad talk about boring grown-up stuff?"

  "Cartoons!" Luv's earlier frustration evaporated instantly, replaced by pure excitement that made him bounce on his toes. "What are those? Are they tasty? Can we have some? Please, please, please?"

  Jay lifted him easily, carrying him to the couch and setting him down with care, adjusting his position to make sure he was comfortable, grabbing a blanket and draping it over his lap with the fussiness of a new parent.

  The TV flickered to life under Jay's technoforming, the familiar theme song of Tom and Jerry filling the cave.

  "Alright, buddy, this is a cartoon. It's like... moving pictures that tell a story." Jay settled beside him briefly, pointing at the screen where Tom was already chasing Jerry through a kitchen. "See? The cat wants to catch the mouse, but the mouse is too clever. It's funny. And this one happens to be my favorite."

  He grabbed the remote, making sure the volume was appropriate, then stood. "Mom and I need to talk about some important things, but we'll be right over there. You enjoy the show, okay? And when we're done, we'll all go outside and explore together.

  Luv nodded enthusiastically, his eyes already glued to the screen where Tom was chasing Jerry through a kitchen. His small hands clutched the blanket, pulling it up to his chin while his legs kicked beneath it in unconscious excitement, and within seconds, he was completely absorbed, giggling at the cartoon violence with the uninhibited joy of childhood.

  Jay straightened, exchanging a look with Domino. They moved to the kitchen area, far enough to have privacy but close enough to keep Luv in their line of sight.

  Neither could help stealing glances at him every few seconds, watching his small form curled up on the couch, and his face lit up with each new scene. watching their son exist in their space and still barely believing it was real.

  Domino leaned against the counter, her expression shifting from maternal softness to serious. "So. Any ideas what's up with Luv's memories? Because the way he talks, the vocabulary he uses, it doesn't match someone with a completely blank slate."

  Jay mirrored her posture, one hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. "We know Sinister imprints knowledge in his clones for total control and immediate functionality. Basic to advanced information is pre-loaded, so they can operate independently from activation. Absolute commands to follow sinister, Combat training, language skills, tactical awareness, the works."

  He paused, watching Luv laugh at the TV, the boy's whole body shaking with giggles, completely oblivious to their conversation.

  "But it appears," Jay continued, his voice dropping lower, "when Luv was stuck in the spiritual plane, and you saved him, the resurrection process somehow reset everything in his soul. Wiped the slate clean except for the basic functionality. Language, logic, motor skills, instinctive understanding of how the world works. But his personal memories, his sense of identity, any programmed loyalty to the Cabal..." Jay shook his head. "Gone. And he imprinted on you as his mother because you were the one who pulled him out of that darkness."

  Domino's eyes fixed on Jay's face, searching. "But we can never be too sure, can we? I mean, what if something's still buried in there? What if Sinister had deeper programming we can't detect?"

  "Exactly." Jay's jaw tightened. "I don't want to assume the best and then have it blow up in our faces. This is a kid's life we're talking about. Our kid's life."

  Domino thought deeply, her analytical mind working through possibilities. After a long moment, she spoke. "If it's about checking Luv's mental wellbeing, it'd be best to have Jean herself examine him. She's the most powerful telepath we know personally, and she'd be thorough without being invasive. Plus, Sue should be there too. They both deserve to know what happened to their sons' genetic material."

  She straightened, decision made. "So I'll arrange a meeting with Susan and Jean together. We'll explain everything, let them process, and then have Jean do a full mental scan. Make sure there's no ticking time bombs in his psyche."

  Jay nodded slowly, relief evident in his expression. "That's good. That's really good."

  "Meanwhile," Domino continued, her hand reaching out to rest on Jay's chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her palm, "why don't you take Luv to meet with Master Ancient One? You haven't seen her since that long-ass apocalyptic day that was yesterday. Get her to check up on Luv in any way she can. Mystical scans or whatever tools she has that we don't."

  Jay immediately nodded, recognizing the logic. "Yeah, that's the best plan. Cover all our bases. Telepathic scan from Jean, mystical examination from Master, and our own observations. If something's wrong, we'll catch it."

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  But before Domino could continue to call others, Jay took Domino's hand, his other arm sliding around her waist, pulling her close. Their bodies pressed together naturally, fitting like puzzle pieces that had long since memorized their counterparts.

  He looked into her eyes, black meeting scarlet, and his voice came out thick with emotion. "Before we face the world, before we deal with explanations and scans and everything else... I just want to say something."

  Domino's breath hitched while her hands moved to grip his shirt, anchoring herself to him.

  "I can't express how much I love you, Dom." The words came raw, carrying weight that made her chest tight. "I never thought I could be this happy. Never imagined having a family like this was even possible for someone like me. Someone who doesn't belong."

  His hand came up to cup her face, thumb tracing her cheekbone. "But you made it possible. You trusted me enough to build this life together. You gave me this family and so much Joy I never thought was possible."

  Domino's eyes glistened with moisture threatening to spill over. Her hands moved to grip Jay's shirt, anchoring herself to him.

  "You dummy," she whispered, voice shaking.

  Then she kissed him deeply, pouring everything into it. Lips moved against lips with desperate intensity, sharing breath and heat and the taste of morning coffee. Her hands slid up to tangle in his hair while his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.

  They broke apart just enough to breathe, foreheads pressed together, panting.

  "I love you too," Domino said fiercely.

  Jay smiled, that ridiculous lopsided grin that made her heart skip, and leaned in to kiss her again.

  "Ewww!"

  They both froze.

  Luv stood beside them, having somehow crossed the room without either of them noticing, completely bypassing their enhanced senses. He'd brought his blanket with him, trailing it behind him like a cape. His small face was scrunched up in exaggerated disgust, nose wrinkled, eyes squeezed half-shut, tongue sticking out in the universal expression of childhood revulsion.

  "That's so gross! Yuck, yuck, YUCK!" He hopped from foot to foot, in agitated little jumps, hands flapping at his sides. "Why are you pressing your mouths touching? That's where food goes! Eww!"

  Jay and Domino startled apart, both looking down at Luv with expressions of pure shock that would have been comical if they weren't so genuinely surprised.

  Then they burst out laughing, the sound echoing off the cave walls and mixing with the distant rumble of the waterfall.

  Jay recovered first, scooping Luv up into his arms despite the boy's squirming protests. "Settle down, buddy. There's nothing gross about showing affection. This is what people do when they love each other very much."

  He planted a kiss on Luv's cheek with deliberate exaggeration, making loud smacking sounds.

  "Ack!" Luv's hands flew to his face, wiping frantically at the spot. "It's wet! My cheek is wet! Dad, gross!"

  Domino leaned in from the other side with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh yeah? Well, you're getting double attacked now!"

  She kissed his other cheek with exaggerated sound effects.

  "Nooo!" Luv squirmed harder, but his protests were weakening as laughter started breaking through. "Stop! I'm gonna be all sticky!"

  What followed was a full-on kissing assault with both parents taking turns planting kisses on Luv's face while the boy squirmed and giggled and made token protests that fooled no one. His small hands pushed at their faces, but without any real force, his laughter filling the cave with a sound that neither Jay nor Domino had realized they'd been waiting their whole lives to hear.

  "I give up!" Luv's voice came out between giggles that made his whole body shake. "You win! Just please, no more kisses!"

  They relented finally, and Jay set Luv down carefully, making sure his small feet found solid ground.

  The boy immediately wiped at his face with both hands, dramatic in his disgust, but he was smiling so wide it looked like his face might split.

  Luv looked up at Jay with that expression of wonder children wore when seeing something fascinating. His small hands reached up, grabbing at Jay's hair and tugging gently, experimenting with the texture, testing how far it would stretch before springing back, making it stick up in weird directions that made him giggle.

  Jay let him play, watching with soft eyes as Luv experimented with different hairstyles, and his hands automatically supported the boy's weight to make the exploration easier.

  After a moment of comfortable silence broken only by Luv's occasional giggles, Jay spoke gently. "Hey, buddy? Daddy's going to take you somewhere special to meet someone very important. Would you like to come with me?"

  Luv's hands stilled in Jay's hair, small fingers tangling in the strands while he looked over at Domino with uncertainty. "Will Mom come too?"

  When Jay shook his head, Luv's lower lip jutted out. "But I don't wanna leave Mom."

  Domino smiled at him lovingly, nodding in agreement. "It's okay, sweetie. You'll like her. And you'll be safe with Dad. When you come back, you can tell me all about what you saw, okay"

  That was all the permission Luv needed. "Yes! Let's go, let's go!" He bounced in Jay's arms with excitement. "Where are we going? Who are we meeting? Is it fun like Tom and Jerry?"

  Jay laughed, adjusting his hold to make sure Luv was secure. "Something like that."

  He turned to Domino, leaning in for one more kiss. This one was softer.

  Domino kissed him back, then shifted to kiss Luv's forehead with tenderness that still felt new and overwhelming. "You behave yourself, okay? And listen to what Dad tells you."

  "I will!" Luv promised enthusiastically despite not knowing what 'behave' meant.

  Blue light began building around Jay and Luv.

  "Love you," Jay said while his eyes held Domino's.

  "Love you both," Domino replied, her hand reaching out to touch Luv's cheek one more time before the light consumed them.

  The blue flash consumed them both, leaving afterimages burned into Domino's vision, and then they were gone.

  Domino stood alone in the cave, the silence suddenly oppressive after the chaos of the morning. She looked at the TV where Tom and Jerry still played, at the bathroom still damp from Luv's bath with wet footprints marking the floor, at the kitchen where they'd planned their next steps while pretending they had any idea what they were doing as parents.

  Her family, small and imperfect and hers in a way nothing else had ever been.

  With a smile that carried both joy and determination mixed with a healthy dose of terror at what came next, Domino pulled out her phone and started typing a message to Jean and Sue.

  Time to face the music.

  Kamar-Taj

  The Ancient One had been deep in meditation since yesterday evening.

  After witnessing Jay's broadcast, after watching Domino orchestrate a global resurrection using a stone that resembled the Time Stone but felt fundamentally wrong, after sensing cosmic disturbances that rippled across dimensional barriers with the force of reality itself screaming...

  She'd tried to center herself through meditation.

  But the wrongness persisted, an itch beneath her astral skin that refused to be scratched.

  First, the suspicious timing of the Sentinel attacks, perfectly coordinated to occur precisely when Jay had been meeting with Gaea, as if someone had been watching and waiting for that exact moment of vulnerability.

  Then, Domino reviving 41,000 people simultaneously across the globe using what looked like concentrated death itself shaped into a stone, wielding an artifact that shouldn't exist in this reality.

  The Ancient One had attempted contact with the Vishanti multiple times, sending out calls through the mystic currents that connected all sorcerers to the trinity of cosmic entities that empowered their magic.

  Silence answered every attempt, absolute and terrifying in its completeness.

  That silence spoke volumes. Something major was happening in the cosmic planes, something significant enough that even the Vishanti couldn't spare attention for The Sorcerer Supreme's concerns.

  And she couldn't ask Jay directly. The boy deserved rest, time to process and recover after everything he'd been through. Disturbing him felt wrong.

  So she'd meditated, seeking answers in the mystic currents, finding only more questions.

  Suddenly, a gentle knock interrupted her contemplation.

  The Ancient One's eyes opened, and despite the cosmic dread weighing on her consciousness, a tiny smile crossed her face as she sensed the familiar presence on the other side of her door.

  "Enter."

  The door opened to reveal Jay in casual clothes with a beanie over his head and a thick bag slung over his shoulder.

  He set the bag aside carefully and moved to sit across from her, positioning himself at her eye level in a gesture of respect she appreciated.

  "Greetings, Master," he said formally, hands coming together in a respectful gesture.

  The Ancient One nodded, pleased by his manners. She produced a tea set with casual magic, two cups filling with her famous herbal blend. Steam rose in delicate spirals, carrying the scent of chamomile and honey.

  She offered one cup to Jay, who took it with both hands and brought it to his lips. He sipped slowly with none of his usual irreverence.

  That set off alarm bells immediately.

  The Ancient One's expression shifted, maternal concern replacing her usual serenity. "What troubles you, Jay? This formality, this careful respect, this is not your typical approach. No sudden revelations delivered with inappropriate humor, no teasing about my age, no arriving with ridiculous plans that somehow work despite violating every law of probability. Did something serious happen?"

  Jay put his cup down carefully, the porcelain clicking against the low table between them. He nodded once. "Yes, actually. Quite a lot."

  The Ancient One's hands moved in practiced patterns, mystic energy flowing outward to create a ward around them. The air shimmered as privacy spells activated, layering protections against scrying, eavesdropping, dimensional observation, and every other form of surveillance she'd learned to defend against during her tenure.

  "I'm all ears, child."

  What followed was the most absurd story the Ancient One had heard in hundreds of years that tested her carefully cultivated ability to maintain composure in the face of absurdity.

  Jay began with his meeting with Gaea, explaining the Elder Goddess's domain, their negotiation, her acceptance of his request but in return for a promise. His voice remained steady as he outlined the deal: Gaea would help humanity become independent of heroes, but in exchange, Jay would deal with Tiamut and stop the Celestials from destroying Earth.

  The Ancient One's teacup paused halfway to her lips, her carefully cultivated ability to maintain composure in the face of absurdity. "You really promised an Elder Goddess that you'll deal with a Celestial?" Her voice rose slightly with her composure cracking. "Jay, I sincerely hope you comprehend the magnitude of such a vow, especially given to a being of Gaea's nature."

  Jay nodded seriously. "Of course. Mother Gaea was willing to go against abstracts for my request. Of course I'm taking the promise seriously."

  "Abstracts?" The Ancient One's cup lowered completely. "What do you mean, Jay? Be specific about what you encountered."

  Jay's hand moved to rub his ring unconsciously, the Space Stone glimmering in Tether's setting like the most normal thing in the world. "Well, After leaving Gaea's domain, Tether activated on its own, pulling me toward Domino, who was fighting something called FURY. A cybernetic organism with adaptive capabilities."

  He said it so casually, like discussing the weather.

  "Turns out it wasn't just a super-adaptive robot. It was being possessed by the soul of Jim Jaspers."

  The Ancient One's cup clattered against the table. "You mean the mutant you resurrected after my battle with Mephisto? How?"

  Jay continued, his voice taking on a storytelling quality as he explained the fight across multiple universes, the breach into the fourth wall, the blank verse where reality manipulation became impossible.

  The Ancient One listened with growing shock, each revelation more absurd than the last.

  But then Jay said something that made her physically recoil.

  "And after finishing FURY, after using everything I had to destroy Jaspers' soul permanently so it couldn't be used against us again..." He paused, and his next words came out quiet. "I began fighting Lady Death herself."

  The Ancient One choked mid-sip on tea she'd automatically raised to her lips, spraying tea across the table in a most undignified manner. "What do you mean Lady Death?" Her voice came out strangled. "You fought what? Please tell me you mean some local death deity you mistook for the personification of death, right? Right?"

  Jay smiled at her reaction, but it was a wan expression that didn't reach his eyes, producing a napkin from his bag and offering it to her. "No, Master. I mean Lady Death. The multiversal abstract who claims dominion over all endings in our cosmology. The one who sent FURY after us because I resurrected 1,200 people without her permission, and even more because I resurrected Jim Japers to steal his powers."

  The Ancient One took the napkin with trembling hands, wiping tea from her face while her mind tried to process the sheer absurdity of a mortal, even one as powerful as Jay, engaging in combat with a fundamental force of the universe.

  Jay continued narrating, and the Ancient One found herself leaning forward despite her shock, drawn in by the story despite its impossibility. He explained the desperate flight to the Amalgam Universe, his voice painting pictures of a reality where Marvel and DC had merged, where heroes from both cosmologies existed as fused entities.

  And described wielding the Life Equation with reverence that suggested he understood the magnitude of what he'd touched that gave him power to match a multiversal abstract.

  "Wait, wait, wait!" The Ancient One raised both hands, stopping him mid-sentence. "What the hell are you talking about?" Her voice carried genuine distress. "Otherworlds I can't understand? DC? Marvel? Amalgam? Life Equation? What's that, and how does it give you power to be on par with a multiversal abstract?"

  Jay put it all to his outsider nature, trying his best to explain without revealing the true nature of his original world. He described the DC multiverse, the Life Equation representing life and free will, the fundamental opposition to Death's ending.

  Then he explained Death of the Endless, another abstract of death from DC who'd stopped him from doing something catastrophically stupid.

  The Ancient One's expression cycled through disbelief, horror, fascination, and back to disbelief.

  Jay continued. The Living Tribunal's appearance. The Spectre's judgment. Doctor Strangefate's authority. The cosmic trial that had decided his fate. And finally, his compensation: the Death Stone, taken directly from Lady Death's skull and modified by Death of the Endless to be corruption-free.

  The Ancient One sat in stunned silence, digesting everything.

  Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out, placing them on Jay's shoulders with more force than necessary, gripping hard enough to make him wince. "Have some mercy on this old woman's sanity, child. From this moment forward, if you have such catastrophically absurd adventures, consider just not telling me about them. My heart can't take it, even with Selene's life force extending my lifespan." She took a shaky breath. "At least tell me the worst has passed."

  Jay scratched his cheek, an unconscious gesture that made the Ancient One's blood run cold. "Well, actually, I have one more thing I need to tell you about, but before..."

  The hall's door burst open despite the multiple layers of mystical protection that should have made entry impossible for anyone below a sorcerer supreme.

  The protective spell shattered like glass, mystic energy scattering harmlessly as a small figure came running through with complete disregard for barriers that would have stopped armies.

  Both Mordo and Wong sprinted behind the child with expressions of panic and awe.

  A five-year-old boy with brown hair falling in soft waves across his forehead and blue eyes falling in soft waves across his forehead, wearing denim overalls over a black-and-white shirt.

  In his small hands, he spun the Staff of the Living Tribunal with ease that should have been impossible for a child, the artifact blazing with golden light that filled the chamber.

  Three faces of judgment appeared at the staff's head, Equity, Necessity, and Vengeance all glowing brighter than they had ever shone for Mordo in fifteen years of dedicated service, each face distinct and terrible and radiant with cosmic authority that recognized something in this child.

  "Dad! Dad, look!" The boy's voice carried pure excitement as he waved the staff around with surprising control. "I can use magic! Aren't I cool?"

  He leaped into Jay's arms without hesitation, the staff still spinning, still blazing with power that should have been impossible for a child to channel.

  The Ancient One stared while her mind, tried to process what she was witnessing.

  A five-year-old channelling the Staff of the Living Tribunal. This naturally and with more raw output than Master Mordo had ever achieved, an artifact that required absolute dedication to cosmic law to even touch without being destroyed by its judgment.

  Calling Jay "Dad."

  The Ancient One's vision went dark at the edges.

  Her last coherent thought before her eyes rolled back was:

  'What in the name of the Vishanti has this boy gotten himself into now?'

  Then her eyes rolled back, and the Sorcerer Supreme fainted dead away.