They started crossing the Nexus, scanning the blizzard of time streams around them. Each thread stood for a different choice, a different possibility.
"Look there," Sam said, pointing at the bright, pulsating thread. "That one feels familiar. It is from the time when I closed the last rift in 2285."
Finn nodded. "Well, we could use that to anchor ourselves back. If we could track it back to the moment before Cairn appeared we may be able to prevent him from gaining power in the first place."
They stretched out and clutched the shining thread, and as they did so, the world around them writhed and whirled, tugging at them to pull them back to the time they wanted.
Finn could feel it tightening, the Nexus growing more unstable with each step closer.
"Hold on!" Sam yelled as the energy started churning about them, lashing back and forth like a tempest.
In the blink of an eye, they were thrown into the middle of the city square in 2285, the crack swaying ominously before them, Cairn set to unleash his strength. "Now!" Sam yelled. "We have to break his concentration!" With adrenaline coursing through their veins, they hurled themselves toward Cairn, who, for a split second, was stunned by their sudden appearance in the open. "What? How in the name of.?" Cairn bellowed, eyes wide with incredulity.
"This ends now, Cairn!" Finn yelled, stepping forward. He couldn't be broken. "You won't control time anymore!"
The Chrono Nexus was coming to life around them. Energy crackled as Sam and Finn could feel the power churning in them, their connection to the strands of time.
Cairn drew a deep breath, flame burning inside of him. "You think you can stop me? I am time itself!"
But as he reached out to unleash a torrent of energy, Sam and Finn combined, moving the strength through the glowing threads. It burst from them, shining like a light so bright it blinded Cairn and the rift.
"No!" Cairn screamed, his form stretching like taffy as the light consumed him. The rift, further destabilized by the power burst, began its collapse.
In desperation, Finn and Sam clung to each other and held the energy bound Cairn away from the timeline. "Together!" Sam yelled.
With one final burst of power they released, sending a ripple of temporal energy cascading through the rift. Cairn's screams echoed through the air as he was pulled into the heart of the collapsing rift, trapped in the very fabric of time, never to threaten the timeline again.