--Daycare--

Teeny!Evan:

"Prove it!" I demanded, glaring my brown eyes at the boy. The boy pulled up his long sleeves to reveal multiple dark, large bruises like mine. "T-that still doesn't prove it!" I said angrily. The boy sighed, and lifted up part of the back of his shirt. On his back near bruises, there was a thin silver scar that looked exactly like mine, the only difference was mine was still pink and new. I had gotton that from my dad not to long ago. My lip trembled, "That's...that's from him isn't it."

The boy nodded slowly. He really was me. I bit my lip, not letting the tears fall. I took a deep breath and silently told myself to be strong. I looked up at me, "I..I believe you."

Evan:

I nodded again, not sure what to do next. I looked down at me, gosh was I always that tiny? "So...how's school?"

"It's okay," I..he... mumbled. "I like art."

Teeny!Peter

"I miss mum and dad, and Kim and Rachel," I mumbled into his shoulder, which was now very wet. "I...we...don't get to see them again? Ever?"

"Not yet," he answered softly, "but there's always hope..."

"Then...what happens?" I asked.

"In two years you're going to meet three very nice people," he told me. "They'll take you and Senet away from the city, and they'll give you a home. The five of you will be like a family. ...I know they won't ever replace the original, but they'll help take the pain away. You'll call Senet your brother, and Izzy your sister. And Karin and Elizabeth will both be like mothers. And...they'll help train you, too. You'll train to control your--"

"No!" I snapped, pulling back suddenly. "N-no! I don't...I don't want to use fire! I don't want to use it ever again! I...I hate it!"

"...Look, I know," he said, his voice still soft. "I know. I'm you, remember? I know how it felt--feels. But you have to listen to me." He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know what you were doing. It was beyond your control. And you are not a bad person."

"But I...I...!"

"I know it hurts. And I know that right now, you think your control of fire is the scariest thing in the world. But soon, it'll be your greatest ally. You just have to trust me."

Tickety
He didn't follow me, this time. With an pang of loneliness, I realised that I had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Tickety, older Tickety, was gone. Tickety never gave up. Tickety said they'd always be a team; invinsible, even. I'd always thought we'd just keep living day by day, slow and steady, like a clock. So...I wouldn't make it that far?

I sank down against the playground fence, trying to hold back tears that were pushing to come out. It made my breath quiver. What about the promises I'd made? Of course, Crooks, I'll always be right there beside you. Ruby, I swear, someday I'll repay you for everything. Crick, see this watch? As long as it's still working, I'll be there. Finn, I never asked for a kiss on the cheek, so why would I give one back? Someday I will, when I'm good and ready. Would I have the time?

I tucked my head to my knees, letting a couple tears drip down my cheek. I just needed more time.

Castle: Still sipping my juicy juice, I walk into the daycare, looking around. Huh. So I guess not a lot of people got hurt. Oh well.

Kaya: I spotted Castle walk in and wheeled myself over. "You're back!" i said. "The laws of physics dont make sense here. Its scaring me." i said, frowning. "Oh, here's your gun back, by the way. I didnt have to use it, but thanks for lending it to me. It was reassuring that i had a way to fight back if somethign were to go wrong." i said, handing the gun back carefully.

Castle: I stuffed it in my back pocket and handed her the almost empty juicy juice. "Wait, so nothing happened? At all? What happened to the creepy guy?"

Kaya: I stared at the random mostly-finished juice he handed me, not sure what that was about. "Umm, well, there were some threats made, and some people were shot, i think. And then a bunch of older versions of the kids here burst in which freaked me out since that shouldnt be possible and now im all scared because im worried about paradoxes and altering the future and all the horrible rammifications this is likely to bring, and then the creepy guy decided it would be best to make a tactical retreat and left." i said.

Ezra

I walked up to Kaya and Castle, "Hey have you guys seen a small child...looks like me?"

Kaya: I blinked, glancing over at a boy who i didnt know, and pushed my glasses back up to stop them from falling off. "Um, no. Sorry. I dont know many people around here. Just Castle, really. But i would stay away from your other self if i were you. You may destabilize the entire structure of time and the natural order of events, destroying the future as it should be. That would be bad." i said.

Castle: I grimaced. "Ugh, too many words," I muttered, taking back my juice.

Kaya: I was glad i was no longer being used as a human cup holder. "Basically, it means that if things happen in the past that arent supposed to happen, it could mess up the future in a very bad way. Or just destroy everything." i attempted to explain to Castle. Sometimes i forgot that not everyone knew as much as i did and i said things that noone else understood. It was frustrating at times.

Marley
Now there was... hugging... and... tears. Oh geez... I bit my lip, watching the quiet but meaningful individual scenes. They all seemed to be reconciling a bit at least. I wasn't even going to try for that... I felt like an intruder. Not belonging in this tender scene. My cue to leave. I turned toward the door, and saw... me. I forgot I was that sneaky, I nearly gave myself a heart attack. And not just a faked one to get out of sappy talk. My miniature was looking up at me with huge hazel eyes, and I practically winced. This... isn't good. I took a tiny step backwards, and she took a step forwards.

Castle: "But, you know, Creepy Guy could've killed us, and then our future selves would fade," I said. I may not know a lot, but I was quick to catch on.

Kaya: I nodded. "Exactly. It wouldnt have ended well. Anyhting our future selves ever did would be erased. The future would be re-written. But if your future selves say or do something to change the path of their past selves, it could throw the entire universe into chaos." i said.

T.Mor:

We sat like that for some time. Me, spouting gibberish, and him...also me...er...whatever, crying. Silently. "Does it at least get easier? I mean...the whole job thingy?" He asked eventually, not even looking up from my soaked turtleneck.
"Not...Not really. I mean...It gets easier to ignore people...It gets easier to objectify and rationalise...It gets easier to stay awake on half a cup of coffee...It gets easier to...To do all that...But I mean...No..." I tried to explain in some kind of coherent way.
"Why...Why don't you just...er...I don't know..." He sniffled. "I mean..."
Wow. Did I really sound like that? I mean...I knew I was bad at speaking english but...Wow. "Erm...I can't. I mean...You have your sister." I told him.
"Yeah...But I mean...How is that worth dead people?" He asked.
"It's...It's not. There's no logic. Auda...it's a bad place. Just...Don't die..." I remembered Riddle. "You do get a friend...She's insane..and Immortal...and...nearly gets you killed the first time you meet her...But...Yeah." Riddle was the high point of my life. That was a sad state of affairs.

Teeny!Peter

"I don't want to use fire," I said, barely audible. "I...I want to use wind, like Senet..."

"You know," he said with a slight smile, "you actually get to learn how to use wind."

"I do?!" I asked, my face lighting up a little. He nodded.

"Senet teaches you. Wind is your subtype, or secondary shape. Senet's subtype is light. You'll both learn a bit of control for those while you're still in the city; the people you'll meet will teach you the rest."

"Huh. Actually, this girl named Nike asked me about my subtype!"

"Nike?" he asked, surprised. He looked around, spotting her where she stood near the younger Mr. Face. He gave a slight shudder at the sight of the faceless boy, but a small smile touched his mouth at the sight of the black-haired girl. "My gods..." he said with a short laugh. "She's so tiny..."

"You know Nike?" I asked him.

"Yeah, she's part of my team. Right, the team. Oh wait, if Nike's here, then does that mean that Sarah is...?" He looked elsewhere in the room, his eyes falling on an auburn-haired girl. "Oh wow. This is too weird..." He returned his attention to me. "Anyway, in several more years, when you're much closer to my age now, you'll become the leader of a team of Scouts. It'll be you, Senet, Nike, and Sarah. You'll go on missions with them, and you'll be giving all the orders."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You'll be the team's fire specialist." I winced; he frowned. "...You'll also be the team's interpreter for a language called Pedla."

I'd never heard of that language before. In what country was it spoken?

"And, uh...Scouts?" I inquired.

"You'll learn in two years."

Mr.Face:

Well...This was odd. I felt like the world's biggest eavesdropper- I could hear everything that people were saying. Of course, this helped me immensely with what the room looked like, but at the same time...That all wasn't right. I had no buisiness manipulating silly people's emotive words so that I could see. This was clearly an unwanted intrusion on my part. I unlooked towards Nike. "Erm...I am uncomfortable playing eavesdropper like this..." I told her. "Perhaps we should relocate?" I suggested.

T.Mor:

Uhm.
Well.
"So..." I said awkwardly. What to do....what to do...I hadn't done this 'being comforting' thing since...since my parents died. "Erm..."
"Uhm." He pulled himself out of the hug, and sat, knees to chest, staring at me. I did that. Like...ugh- this was wierd. That's exactly how I sat when I was in some kind of bad mood. Freaky. "Sorry... for getting....Getting... you wet."
"It's...It's fine. It's an old shirt. I've washed worse out of it." Blood. More blood. Some gore...Ketchup that one time...Did I mention blood?
"Oh..." He paused. "I shouldn't have taken that job." He was absolutely miserable. Still.
"You would have died otherwise...you know that right? Starvation in the cardboard slums...Not fun." I reminded him...Myself....I already said screw grammar.
"But...Killing people...That's... That's not right...And...For food?" He looked at me like I'd have an answer. He WANTED me to have an answer. Desperately.
"Yeah...I mean...It's bad. I dunno really what else to say. Erm...I still have trouble with that question...Actually...The answer might be treason....Or...er... killing yourself...If it's really that bad...I mean...It's..." And now we were mirror images. My knees up to my chest, chin balancing between them,and him doing the same thing across from me.
"That's your advice?" He sounded...Sad...Slightly angry. Kind of hopeless. "Er...Wow. Things... Things really don't get better at all then do they?"
"No. They don't. That question is going to eat away at you for years...And then...Uhm...You're either going to save the world or die. It hasn't been officially decided yet." While I'm wrecking what little optimism he has left...why not pile on some uncertainty? I felt like a terrible human being. But hey. What else was new?
"Fantastic." He answered completely humourlessly.
"Yeah..."I was just using filler words again. No idea what to say. At all.

Nike

"Um, sure," I said. "Did you want to go back outside or something?"


Teeny!Peter

"So...does it get better?" I asked. He sorta cringed.

"...Um...well..." he said awkwardly. "Ah..."

"It doesn't, does it..." It wasn't exactly a question.

"Well...there are some good times..."

Cricket
I saw something click. A flicker of recognition in my smaller self, and I smiled sadly. "See? It's...I'm...you're me." He still didn't say anything, and for a moment, I wondered if he was real. This was all too bizarre. I slowly reached to touch his face, in the same fashion one might reach to touch a butterfly's wing; expecting him to flee once I got too close. Carefully, my rough fingers brushed his jaw. I felt slightly more convinced that I wasn't dreaming. My touch accidentally drifted closer to his scar, and his quick hand caught my wrist.

"Don't," he said, eyeing my own half-hidden scar. He frowned. "The letters...don't go away."

I drew my hand back. Oi my my. So that's what I sounded like when I was a kid. "No..." I smiled. "But actually...they grow on you. Give it a couple years, and you won't dream of going without 'em." He looked skeptical. "Ah...'ow old are you?"

"Eight. 'Ow old are you?"

I had to think about that one. "Fourteen. Give or take, if you count th' maturity level." So...eight years old. Things hadn't started going downhill yet. Well of course...at that age I'd thought things were bad, but now that I looked back, things were good. Very good.

"Do you...I mean, 'ave you...are you still--"

"A thief? Aye. In Luna? Aye. But I'm 'oping not for long," I answered bluntly.

His face fell. "So...six more years?"

With Uncle? I could read the unspoken question on his face, and opened my mouth to respond...but my expression softened. "Listen, Cricket." I tried to find the words. "See your friends? Tickety and Finn and Crooks and Ruby?" The kid's brow furrowed. He just looked...sad. I hated that look, so much. "See those...are your very best friends. You might not get it right now, but you will someday...maybe when it's too late. You can't focus on th' bad when th' highlights of your life are right there in front of you...or you might miss 'em--" Suddenly he was clasped around me, head buried in my shoulder. I stiffened in surprise.

"I--I don't want six more years...I don't want t' steal from people! You can't be me, b'cause I leave. I never come back. And my letters go away, and nobody yells things at me, or shoots at me, or stares when I walk past 'em, and I don't...I want a family, and I want an 'ouse, and there won't be any guns there, and...Uncle 'asn't even called me by my name...I just don't...you aren't me!"

I softened in his grasp. He didn't cry, though by his voice...he wanted to. Desperately. I could feel his heart beat against my chest, quick as a frightened bird's. I wrapped my arms around him, gently, as if he might break. He felt so, so fragile. "Aye Cricket...you're me."

Mr.Face:

"That...I cannot believe that I am saying that the outdoors would be preferable...but...I believe that that's what I'm saying." I told her, somewhat surprised at myself.

T.Mor:

"So..."
"Erm..."
"Yeah, It's..."
"UHM...You..."
"Er....Yeah....It's..."
"No, I understand...."
"Uhm." We continued like that for a while as well...It's kind of hilarious....In a really...un-funny kind of way..."I never get better at sentences then?" He finally asked after more useless stumbling over words.
"Not...Not really...no."
"That...That...Sucks."
"Uh-huh."
"yeah...."
"So."

((Lmao at the two T.Mors xD))

Nike

"Alright," I said with a shrug, leading him back outside. "This is just the strangest thing...with the younger and older versions of people. Makes me wonder what I'd be like..."

Mr.Face:

"You'd probably be...Intelligent. And...er...Taller. I would assume. Unless you contracted some rare strain of dwarfism that isn't genetic or something." I told her. "I kind of wonder what went on to make me a psychopath though...That was...Enlightening..." I said, my teeth clicking again.

Nike

"I know I'd be smarter and taller," I said. "I just want to know what I'd be like. You know, like how the Peter we met was shy and uncertain, while the older one that came through the door was confident and fierce. He threatened to set the bigger you on fire. Just...changes like that. I wonder what the bigger me is like."

Mr.Face:

"Oh. I see...I still hold that smarter and taller are good solid proveable assertions...I don't know how to determine the rest though. I'm not much of a people person you see..." And apparently I was also a homicidal maniac. That kept coming back to me. Hmm...

Evan:

I looked at the drawling again. "If you shade here and here," I said, pointing to two different places, "it may add more of an effect."

"Really?" He...I asked smiling up at me. I nodded and the younger me grinned. I couldn't help but smile.