Word Count: 1601

~Rosie

Time is by my side in an instance.

My mind is overwhelmed, as I come to terms with the fact that my mate, from my era, has come here, instead of me having to go and save him. I had an elaborate plan within my mind, which for a moment, was put on hold, but Time did it himself. He escaped from whatever hell he had left himself in, and has come to save me.

"Are you okay, did he...I hurt you?" Time questions, holding my shoulders tightly while he looks down my body, examining me. I can see the flash of concern in his eyes, as he sees my silken clothing supplied by his past self, and the fact that I look better than when I first arrived.

"No...What's Thought going to do to him?" I question, brushing Time's arms off me. Moving past him, I go to follow to pair into the room past Time was dragged into, but my arm is grabbed.

I pull away. "What?"

"Thought will take his memories away. Then we need to leave while we still have enough power to channel," he tells me, but I still pull my wrist away from him. I have a right to say one more thing to him before that part of him is taken away forever. I spent a few weeks getting to know him, and now suddenly it is being taken away. I knew it was going to happen, so I'm surprised why I feel this way.

Following Thought into the next room, I see he's pushed past Time into a chair, circling him. Thought looks no different to how I saw him that night he promised to take Time's memories and failed. He must have escaped too, and contacted his brother.

So much has happened that I'm not aware of...

"That's it, you're just going to take his memories away just like that?" I question. Thought's circling comes to a stop, as he looks over at me, silver eyes flashing.

"We need to get out of here now," Thought tells me darkly.

I'm not so sure why I'm surprised everything is going so quickly. They have no reason to waste time in this realm, when Thought surely wants to return back to his own era. But after everything I've been through with this Time, this feels so...abrupt. The way he looks at me, not even fighting back, simply looking betrayed, oddly breaks my heart.

"I don't want to forget you, Rosie. I need something to make this cruel existence worth it, even if it's just one memory of you," Time begs from his seat. His desperation looks real, twisting my heart, even if he could be manipulating me for his freedom.

"Don't be sappy. Keep it to yourself like you did before you found out you had a mate, it suits you better," Time says from behind me, walking in, looking at his past self with disgust.

Time, sitting in the chair grits his teeth. "You wear a lot of black clothing for someone who supposedly changed their lifestyle.

I blink. This is a strange inception, watching the exact same person speak to themselves.

Thought places his hands on both sides of Time's head, bringing a sense of seriousness back to the situation. He flinches, looking at me with eyes that feign fear, which I can't decide if it's not sincere or not. Maybe he will miss me, or dread the years without me, but I didn't think he would act this way. Especially when he knows eventually he will cross my path again.

"I'm sorry," I breathe, even though I know I'm not.

Suddenly, his eyes roll back, turning milky white as his memories are drained by Thought's hand. I watch with my jaw clenched, my expression in a wince. I hope it doesn't hurt him. I hope he wakes up and his life resumes as normal, and nothing in the future is changed.

Thought let's go of his head, which lolls backward. No doubt he will be uncomfortable for quite some time, hopefully to give us enough to get out of here.

"Is it done?" I ask warily, as silence stretches between us. Focusing on Thought, I notice something seems off about him. He blinks a few times, his hands dropping back to his side as he stumbles backward, his eyes also turning cloudy. My yelp freezes in my throat, as I go to reach for him, but he falls to his knees, before his entire body disappears, as if it were never there, leaving nothing but a faint silver vignette in the air.

I look at Time, dumbfounded.

"His powers have run low. He had to return back to present day to recover," Time explains. I deflate, all the stress and tension releasing, although enough remains to make me anxious. Especially as I look at Time, from this era, slumped on his chair, his memories being shattered and reconstructed all while he sits there, unbeknownst to me.

Turning around, I look at Time's concerned expression as he speaks. "Nevermind any of that. What did he do to you while you were here? Did he hurt you, threaten you? I haven't had you off my mind since it happened."

"He didn't hurt me, actually. How did you get enough power to come here? I thought he had it all," I say, motioning to Time's body. It feels strange, speaking about these two as if they aren't the same person.

It's even stranger seeing them in the same room.

Time steps forward holding my forearms as if to comfort me. "Thought channelled some of my power from the future, using his abilities. I have enough to get out of this era to another, but we may be stuck there for quite some time until my real powers return. I have the exact place in mind where I want to take you."

I expected him to be happy, excited even, but he looks grim. It suddenly hits me that Time still has a lot to show me of his past, which I should be afraid of, but this event taught me a lot. Even though he acted on whim, the power having gone to his head, younger Time had a conscience, and wanted something to care about, to change himself. It's a shame he never got that...

And there is no way I'll speak of that to Time now. At least not yet. I now know his deepest vulnerability is being alone, which I won't yet expose to him.

"I'm just happy you're back," I say softly.

I can tell he wants to ask me a million more questions, convinced his past self would have done something to hurt me, to change my mind on him, but he refrains. Instead, he practically reads my mind, cupping my face gently, leaning in to kiss me.

It immediately feels right. Something about his spicy scent, the warmth and spark of his touch has me melting. Time from the past is nothing like this, and I'm grateful I turned him down to wait for this. Just feeling his lips against mine, moving softly, sweetly. He's apprehensive, most likely wondering why I'm still in his arms, untouched by the weeks prior.

He pulls away, brushing my hair fondly back behind my ear. "You have to tell me everything that happened. What did he say to you? Did he hurt you?"

I smile. I forget how attentive he is.

"You didn't hurt me. You wanted my affection, to have something to look forward to in the future. You were kind, you looked after me, but I'm happy this is over," I tell him assuredly, hoping it's enough to take the stress from his mind.

He nods, but I can see it lingering. At least he trusts me enough to let it go, for now at least. Surely later when we are properly alone that he will demand more details.

"I'm skipping forward to only a few hundred years before present time. I hope this won't scare you," he murmurs. I shake my head at him. After everything I've been through, nothing could scare me at this point. So as confidently as possible, I grab his hand, and allow the feeling of falling to consume me.

The moment the feeling disappears, I open my eyes.

I'm standing under a canopy of pine trees, Time's hand tightly clasping mine. Wherever we are, it's not anywhere near civilisation. Fresh air brushes against my cheeks, still heated from Time's kiss, coming from the never-ending trees we stand beneath. A wide, beaten dirt path is beneath us, leading into the shadows of the forest.

"Where did you take me?" I question, looking around in amazement. This place is beautiful, but something about this chills my blood to the core.

"I'm going to show you a revenge story, that may make you despise me," Time tells me softly, watching me closely for my reaction. My throat goes dry, my voice failing me. However, there's no need to speak, as I see a figure approach from the darkness, dressed in ratty, unkempt clothing, but can't yet tell who it is.

Time sighs. "This is Jasper. And this is how I ruined his life."

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