Chapter Text
Darkness covered Arcadia, the city fell asleep, but the forest was filled with the sounds of life. Leaves swayed softly in the wind, a hare ran somewhere, and at the edge of the forest there was the sound of a fall. Someone grew heavily, and the forest fell silent.
...
Jim opened his eyes.
Feeling as if he were underwater, he inhaled the clean air with full chest, clearing his lungs of ash. Time travel always felt like a ride on a wheel. His left hand lay on his chest... And collided with metal.
His mind froze. Going over absolutely all the possible events in his head. He slowly raised... a four-fingered hand from the Magictech armor.
He didn't jump up. From the rapid change of position, his head ached violently, but this did not prevent him from seeing the clearing in which he was.
It was far from Jim's room. The trees were all a blur, and the sky was open and dark above. Fireflies were flying around him calmly. It was magical, but the circumstances made it scary.
"This isn't what I expected..." The voice was hoarse, but still recognizable. A hand reached up to his head and tugged on the horn in a familiar horn.
"Damn... this isn't what I expected..." Jim gets up from the ground and wipes the dust off his armor. Looking around again, he realizes that he is near the canals. Images of Troll Market, Stoneheart and its inhabitants flashed through his mind. Lost in his thoughts, he started to move towards the canals, but stopped himself in time.
"I don't think it's a good idea to go there, at least not now." But if he's here... then what-
Everything cuts off. Jim rushes from his place towards the house. If he's here, then what's going on at home?!
He has changed from running to jumping through the trees, and now he sees his house through the grove. A light comes on in the window on the second floor of his room.
He stops. There, in the window, he sees Barbara...
Jim looks out the window, and when the light goes out, he starts moving. When she seems to have left, he comes closer, and then climbs onto the roof. He slowly looks through the window and... and sees his childhood room.
It looks exactly like Jim remembered it.
He has gone back in time... but not 3 years ago. Jim feels himself panicking. He is already turning around to leave, but a knock on the window behind him makes him freeze again and look there.
There, little him, with an ecstatic and slightly frightened look, looks at him. Little Jim waves his hand at him with a smile, and he smiles back uncertainly. The little boy opens the window, which he didn't expect, and says:
"Hello, Mr. Monster! What's your name?" Jim, either embarrassed or afraid of the possible consequences of his actions, simply stars at his little version.
The boy in front of him... Jim recognizes those features.Of cours this child this he from the past! How far did the time stone throw him?! The question pulls him out of his thoughts.
"Mr. Monster?" Little Jim looks more and more uncertain and scared. It seems that Jim is scaring him. The older boy wonders again what he's about to do. Before he can think better of it. Jim slowly crouches down lower to make himself look smaller and says to the little boy:
"Why aren't you sleeping?" His thoughts explode like fireworks. What is he doing?! He should have run away! Jim has learned his lesson, time is no joke!
"So what am I doing!?" The thought is stuck like a record, a flurry of emotions in his head, and the boy in front of him is sulking...
Wait, what?
"I'm old enough to go to bed whenever I want!" Little Jim says smugly, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.
Jim looks at the child, who looks at him, both are silent. "So who are you?" The boy repeats his previous question.
Oh no.
Jim can't involve his past self in this, especially a child! At least not until he gets the amulet.
"Me... the Dream Guardian?"
...He's in complete sh—
Little Jim blinks and says, "Really?" He seems to believe you. The lie leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
"If only you believe." Jim answers reluctantly, looking anywhere but at the child in front of him.
"Why are you at my window?" The little boy said, tilting his head to the side, and Jim mirrored the gesture.
"That's my window too," Jim thought, but didn't say anything. "I'm making sure you're safe?" Jim said, watching the interest sparkle in the little boy's eyes, but it was interrupted by a yawn.
"Baby, you need to go to bed." He called himself the little boy before? That was... weird. Younger Jim nods absentmindedly, but doesn't go anywhere.
"Are you going to bed, too?" Little Jim was fiddling with the hem of his T-shirt and looking at it. Jim was taken back by the question and nodded hesitantly.
"Then goodnight!" the boy said goodbye, waving his hand.
"Goodnight," Jim replied with a smile, starting to move away from the window. Already at the edge of the roof, he looked at the boy again and left.
...