Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/456039. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M Fandom: Homestuck Relationship: Jade_Harley/Dave_Strider Character: Dave_Strider, Jade_Harley Additional Tags: Explicit_Sexual_Content, Underage_Sex, Smut, One_Shot, Doomed_Timelines, Timeline_Shenanigans, Gangbang Stats: Published: 2012-07-10 Words: 5733 ****** Just Another Failed Timeline ****** by CleverCatchphrase Summary In which CleverCatchphrase writes the kinkiest thing in their entire life and is actually insane enough to post it so others may get off. Enjoy. Notes I guess I better post this fast before I come to my senses. Just some hardcore smut I wrote over the course of a few nights when I was deranged enough to think of such perverted things. I'm surprised the idea of multiple alternate timeline Daves and one Jade hasn't been used more for this ship. Oh well. *crawls into dark cave and dies* You knew you were in a failed time line the minute you ran into your half-dead, mutilated future self who came back to warn you while you were on your way back to Jade’s volcano with a net full of amphibian. You were currently on LOFAF, helping Jade collect frogs by exploiting your time powers to make the whole process faster. She was the first of any of your friends you were finally able to meet face to face, and you had to admit you found her… captivating. Jade… You don’t know what it was about Jade that make your train of thought jump the rails at a million different spots of the track. Every car in the line would go careening off in a different direction, crashing into innocent civilians and buildings while your heart decided to learn the mambo and your tongue practiced the knots from your Cub Scout manual you had when you were ten. Jade was the one you’ve practically had a crush on since you first met. She always the first to hear your new sick beats and ill rhymes, she was the one you’d adjust your sleep schedules for so your internal clock would be lined up with her time zone just so you could pester with her for hours on end about any random thing, and she was the one whom all your thoughts lead to in one way or another. “You’re coming to LOFAF? It’s cold here, so be sure to dress warm! :D” was the last message you received from her on pesterchum before you hopped through your next gate that would take you straight there. You heeded her precaution and made sure to wear one of your long sleeved shirts. You expected to meet Jade, bundled up in the “cute, fluffy squiddle parka with matching boots, mittens, scarf and hat” she said she alchemized and wanted to show all of her friends. But what did you find when you got here? Only a striking young lady in a tailored-to-fit, strapless, black, glittering-green dress that looked like it was made out of the night stars and couldn’t possibly been more insulating than the morning dew and spider’s silk. As if you didn’t think she was already… amazing. “Dave! It’s so good to finally see you in person!” Jade practically leaps on you when you meet, and you can’t help but wonder if Bec taught her this bad habit. You hug her. She’s surprisingly warm, warmer than you even after coming straight from LOHAC. “What happened to squiddle parkas with matching hats and boots?” You ask stupidly. “Oh, I had to switch out of my iron lass suit because it was too clunky, and this was easier to get out of my fetch modus instead of the entire squiddle ensemble,” she smiles and blushes. Cute dimples appear on her cheeks. You found it impossible to take your eyes off her face. “Plus, once I alchemized this I knew I could only wear it on super special occasions and I thought, well, meeting you would be super special! Why? Do you not like it?” she asks in genuine distress. “No, it’s beautiful. You’re… beautiful.” The stupid continues to flow out of your mouth like Niagara Falls. But Jade doesn’t seem to care. She smiles even wider, takes your hand then leads you back to her house next to a giant active volcano to give you the run down on frog catching. From there you preceded to build the stable time loops, help Jade find, choose, and collect frogs for their slime imprints and potential universe DNA. In the back of your mind you were carefully keeping track of all the different places you were at any given moment. With the time loops you figured you and Jade hunted frogs all over the planet for almost three weeks. Of course, you weren’t always on frog duties. Whenever you and Jade would call it a day, you’d head back to her house and converse and tell jokes and secrets, and share hopes and stories and dreams until you both drifted off to sleep. You realized during those moments, you could have cared less about the passage of time. On your eighteenth day of stable time loop manipulation, it happened. Up until that moment you were the Alpha Dave. You had seen yourself plenty of times, coming back to prevent you from screwing up somewhere on the timeline. You knew all these Daves you saw came from failed timelines, yet even though they were technically you, they weren’t you you and, although you knew their fate and tried to prevent as many alternate Daves from appearing, whenever one did, there was always a strange detachment that came with them. But not this time. This time, looking down with a sick sense of familiarity growing in your stomach, you knew you were staring down at your future self. Your future self, who you would eventually become. “So, what’d I fuck up this time,” You ask your dying self. “Nothing,” future you says in a labored voice, blood dripping from multiple wounds on your body. “Jack Noir… is attacking. We need… as many Daves to help as possible… to protect the Alpha Timeline… Which the game decided we weren’t.” You’re future self is standing on his last legs and looks ready to collapse. You manage to catch him before he actually does. In your arms he tells you the last of the information you need to know. “Go back… four hundred and thirteen hours… in your time loops… It’s…a little more than… seventeen days back from this moment… That’s where you’ll find Jack.” With your mission complete, you watch with a sense of surrealism as the light dies from your future eyes. With two fingers you close your eyelids. You guess you’d better get rid of your bloody body before Jade sees it and freaks out. “Hey, Dave! I just caught two more frogs and- DAVE, OH MY GOD!” Woops. Too late. “Dave, please tell me this isn’t you,” she begs, her voice quivering. “I-it’s an alternate timeline you, r-right? A failed timeline Dave?” “Yeah,” You whisper, not daring to look Jade in the eye as you get to your feet. “It’s a failed timeline Dave.” Beside you, you hear Jade let out a breath of relief. “And… it’s also me.” “W-what?!” Jade gasps. “B-but you just said it was a failed timeline you!” “It is,” you look down at your shoes in grief. “He came back to tell me this timeline is doomed.” “No, it can’t be,” Jade grabs your hands in hers. She pulls them up and forces you to meet her gaze. “You can fix it, right? Isn’t there something you can do?” You shake your head to break away from her pleading, desperate eyes. “Jack Noir is attacking in the Alpha Timeline. It’s calling all Daves to the front lines to help fight him off. Alpha Dave is going to need all the help he can get. So… I guess I’d better go,” You turn your body away from her, trying to pull your hand out of her grasp as gently as you could, but instead of letting your fingers slip though her hands, Jade holds them tighter. “No… you don’t have to go,” Jade says quietly. “Yes I do,” you argue, trying to keep your voice from cracking. “That future me was me. I can’t change what must happen, and if I must die, maybe I can land a few blows before I go out.” Behind you, you can hear Jade sob as she tried to fight back her tears. “But I hardly just met you. I-I know you have to go eventually, b-but can’t you put it off for just a little while? You can control time for fucks sake! I don’t want to say good bye just yet…” Jade starts to break down and you stand there, motionless as thoughts race through your head. She was right, after all. You essentially could put off your suicide mission indefinitely with enough stable time loops, but why delay the inevitable? When you know your end is upon you, what else was there to look forward to in the remainder of your life? This timeline was doomed no matter what; you would all die eventually even if you didn’t jump back. So why keep living with such tormenting thoughts, trying to extend your finite existence? You couldn’t think of any reason to try to keep going with such a burden hanging over your head... Actually… yes you could, and it was currently clinging tight to your hand, desperately trying to not let you go. “Alright, Harley. You win,” You sigh. “I’ll stick around a bit longer.” “Oh… oh thank God,” she hugs you then, squeezing you tight with sorrow and relief. You delicately hug her back and close your eyes. God, she’s so warm. After a while, you let each other go. Then, abandoning your frogs, you head back to Jade’s house next to the volcano dispose of your cadaver and figure out what you were going to do next. For the most part you’re both silent, too preoccupied with your own thoughts to speak. But once you get back to the volcano Jade tries to strike up a conversation. “So this is a failed timeline, huh?” “Yep,” you say as you toss your future corpse into the boiling lava. “Which means there is no way we can win the game no matter what we do?” “Precisely.” A small fire flares up where the body hits. You watch the flames flicker for a moment. “And everyone from a failed timeline eventually dies?” You swallow a lump in your throat. “Yeah…” “Even if they go back in time to the Alpha Timeline?” “Even if they go back in time to the Alpha Timeline.” “Oh… Well… I’m glad I at least got to meet you before the timeline was doomed.” “M-me too…” “I kind of wish I was able to go see the other planets, though. Ah, well. This world is nice enough.” “I could take you to the others if you want,” you offer. If you had to go off and die soon, at least you could make Jade happy before you went. “You would really do that for me?” She smiles sadly. “Sure. Why not spend a bit more quality time together before I have to go and get myself killed?” You summon your timetables before she can reply, and whisk yourself away with her in tow. For the next time loop-free twenty-four hours you hang out with Jade as she cuddles with salamanders while they cultivate their mushrooms, plays with nakkadiles while they attempt to make you into a soup, and dances in the iridescent rain with turtles while they regard her with their nervous, wavering eyes. Seeing her so happy is rewarding enough. You find that simply watching her can almost make you forget your fate. Almost. Once you finally go back to Jade’s planet, you spend the next hour sitting atop her skyscraper house and watch the multicolored auroras swim across the night sky. Neither of you talk much. “Dave? Thanks for taking me to all the other planets. I had a great time,” Jade says to you. “Don’t mention it.” You say, trying to keep your negative thoughts about the rapidly approaching end out of your mind. “I think… even though I know this timeline is going to die, I have no regrets. I’m just… really glad I got to meet you. I still wish we could have spent more time together, though.” God, is she trying to break your heart? She’s quiet for a moment, but then goes on. “What about you, Dave? Do you have any regrets?” “I regret I’m going to die a virgin,” you say, meaning to be sarcastic. Ever so lightly, Jade touches your hand. The action is like a magnet, causing you to look her directly in the eye. “We could fix that,” she says, blushing. You’re eyes practically bug out from behind your shades and you can literally feel your face flushing scarlet. Surely, she wasn’t serious… was she? “Harley… That was… I was just kidding. I didn’t mean for it to be taken seriously.” “I know, cool kid. But even if you were serious…” Good God, her face is practically crimson. She can’t even meet your eyes anymore. “I really did mean it when I said I was glad to have met you, but wished it could have been longer… I… wanted to get to know you better…” For the first time in your life you’re starting to lose your cool. “Jade, are you saying you’d seriously sleep with me just to make sure I died with no regrets? W-we’ve hardly just met face to face for fucks sake!” Jade puts her face in her hands and gives a loud sigh. “No, you idiot. I’m not that easy. I’m trying to say I’ve had a crush on you practically since we’ve met.” It’s suddenly all starting to make sense. Was she just too shy to let you notice these feelings toward you earlier, or where you just too dense to pick up on them? You figure it was the latter; being too love struck yourself to notice her subtle hints. “Oh.” You’re at a loss of words, but you’re determined to keep any more stupid from overflowing out of your mental dam. “Well… I guess that makes two of us.” She jerks her head up, and the biggest grin spreads across her face as she comprehends your words. This time you’re the first to initiate the hug and you even add a kiss to her forehead to make it more sincere. “I still wish you didn’t have to go,” she says into your shoulder. “Well, then can I still take you up on your offer? It’ll force me to stick around some more.” “That’s pretty sly, cool kid,” Jade pulls away and gives you a naughty smile. “Of course. Anything to make you stay even a bit longer.” You kiss her again, this time directly on the lips. Your mind goes fuzzy when you do and it feels as if your stomach is full of butterflies, but the sensation is oh so wonderful you almost regret having to stop so you can both head inside and get to a bed. xxx “Hold on, I need to take a leak first,” You say once you’re in her bedroom. “Okay, but It’s rude to keep a lady waiting.” “I won’t take too long,” You assure her as you head off to the bathroom. Once you’re done relieving yourself do you stop to think about what you’re about to do. “God, am I really about to go through with this? What am I thinking? She’s only thirteen! I’m only thirteen…” You look at yourself in the mirror for a long time and try to rationalize with your reflection. “Does age really even matter now? Does anything really even matter now? The end of the world is upon me, and I’m going to spend the last few hours with someone I care about. Someone I… love…” It feels a bit weird saying it at first, but it also feels good. “Someone I love… Yeah. I do love her. There’s no denying it. What’s better is that she loves me too. She practically told me straight up in my face which is more than I can say I did. And what better way is there to express love than to make love? Yeah… I’m gonna go through with it. I need to. I want to.” You quickly wash your hands then confidently return to the bedroom. Jade’s sitting on the bed, brushing her long, silky black hair and wearing that stunning black and green dress she wore when you first met. “You’re… gorgeous,” You stutter. “Well, like I said when we first met, I can only wear this dress on super special occasions,” she winks at you. “I think this counts.” “Pretty soon you won’t be wearing anything,” you say devilishly as you move in close to her. Jade swiftly grabs your shades, whisks them off your head and places them onto her own. “Neither will you, cool kid.” At first you just play, passionately kissing and hugging and touching until you’ve positioned her onto her back on the bed with you on top. Your hands explore each other’s bodies, but dare not to touch what you wanted most. The teasing of it all was almost unbearable. You’re getting so aroused you take the dare and advance, hands slipping up underneath that delicate black dress, gently running your fingers over that smooth, warm skin. She mirrors your movements, sliding her hands under your shirt and feeling her way up your abs. Your hands drift up her sides and stop at her bust. There you make an interesting discovery; Jade’s not wearing a bra. “Dressing light, I see,” you whisper between your frantic lip-lockings. Jade tries to reply but only manages to let out a gasp and a few pleased moans as you begin to fondle her breasts. Her nipples instantly go hard as you massage them with your thumbs. You pinch and twist them lightly to make Jade groan some more, pulling and squeezing with different intensities to get her to emit different sounds. It’s like playing a living, breathing instrument; one you had to pleasure to play right. While you’re busy with your hands, Jade gets busy with hers. She continues to pull up your shirt, past your naval, up to your armpits, and before you know it, she’s pulling it over your head. The cotton material slides down your arms, bunches up at your wrists and gets in your way. You cease your nipple play to finish removing Jade’s dress, hastily slipping it around her head then toss both articles of clothing aside. Now both bare-chested, you gingerly press yourself on top of her. Her warmth, god her warmth, is like a security blanket, enveloping you in a safe, comforting aura. You begin to kiss her again, starting with her mouth, then her neck, collarbone, chest, stomach, and continue heading south. Jade limply loops her arms across your back as you shower her with these affections, but they don’t stay there for long. As you slowly move lower so do her hands, past your rib cage, along your spine, then to your hips where she wastes no time sliding them into your pants and gropes your ass. “You’ve got such firm little cheeks!” She giggles. That’s Harley for ya; making jokes about your butt right as you’re about to fuck her senseless. “What’s on the other side is more impressive, I assure you,” you murmur into her ear. Her fingers nimbly slip to your ventral side and press upon your briefs which are doing little to restrain your rapidly hardening junk. “Getting excited, are we big boy?” Jade asks between breaths. “A little,” you smile and groan as she strokes you through the material. “You’re all pent up. Here, let me help give you some space.” Pulling her hands out, she quickly turns to the button and zipper of your pants. With one flick of the wrist your fly is undone and the restrained feeling your dick has been suffering from is greatly relieved. For a second there you were speculating if Jade had reached the top of her echeladder and learned some other tricks dealing with space. ,i>‘As if I needed any improvement,' you think concededly. Jade begins to wiggle your pants down your legs and you help her by leaning in so they come off easier. Your “leaning” quickly turns into rutting as you fervently grind your hips into hers until you practically make her wail. She’s so wet that your drawers are getting soaked from hers, and being fully rock hard isn’t helping. Pausing long enough only to for you to both strip of your underwear, you toss the last pieces of clothing aside with the others where they proceed to tangle in an orgy of shirts and socks while you prepare for an orgy of your own. You steal a quick look at the bedside clock to take note of your starting time. It’s 10:25. You hover over Jade, fully erect and horny, but still sober enough to want to fool around. Dozens of dirty and inappropriate ideas race through your head as you ponder what to do with Jade. You finally decide on finger play, inserting your pointer and middle finger into her and begin a scissoring motion. Jade continues to moan and pant and clutch your back as you explore the inside of her with your digits. “God, Dave. Quit… quit teasing me!” she hisses. “Why? We’ve got all the time in the world.” “I fucking want you already!” Jade’s hands go down to your dick. Before you can stop her, she has your shaft in her grip and begins to jack you off. You pull your fingers out and your mind goes blank as you surrender to the sensation her warm hands are causing. A few minutes into your hand job you begin to notice that Jade’s pulling more than jerking. She’s trying to guide you, literally force you in her, and you decide it’s time to give her what she wants. With one hand, you swiftly grab both her wrists and pin them above her head. You lower yourself, stopping when you feel your crown hit her hot slit. “Are you ready for this?” you ask rhetorically to taunt her. “Yes!” She says angrily. “I’ve fucking been ready! Now quit fucking around!” “Are you sure? I don’t think you’re ready,” “Dave!” “It’s okay, I can wait,” “Fuck you, Dave!” “I think you mean to say ‘fuck me’.” You lower yourself into her, slowly penetrating that hot, wet tunnel. Jade throws her head back and shouts, her voice growing louder as you go deeper. You go slowly, smoothly, until you’ve forced all you’ve got in to her. She’s already tight by the time you stop, but she’s clenching her muscles, making the space even tighter. “Jade, relax,” You whisper. “I-I can’t. I-it hurts,” she whimpers. “I’m not pulling out until you relax.” Jade shivers and whines a little before taking a deep breath and forcing her body to go slack. You keep your promise and pull out slowly, but stop with only your head still inside. Without warning, you thrust yourself back in. Jade screams and clenches again, but this time you don’t care. You let go of her wrists to give yourself more balance. Jade’s hands instantly latch onto your back, her nails digging into your skin, but you hardly feel them. You’re drunk on love making, zealously thrusting with everything you’ve got. For minutes on end you just fuck her. Half the time you’re both madly trying to kiss, the other half, Jade’s screaming your name and the lord’s while you gasp for breath. Suddenly, a hot sensation grips your lower abdomen and you can feel that you’re about to climax. “Fuck, Jade, I’m about to come,” “Come inside me!” Jade demands and you obey. Your rhythm slows until you’re at a steady, violent push, each repetition bringing you closer to your orgasm. The next thing you know, you’re feeling an abrupt, burning rush as you explode inside Jade. Your dick begins to pulse, expelling more semen with each pump into her. Jade screams at the top of her lungs as she has an orgasm of her own. Finally, the sex-high fades and you pull out, spent and flaccid. Breathless, you glance at the clock again. It’s… it’s only 10:35?! How THE FUCK is that possible?! You never finish that quickly, even when masturbating! You can’t end this soon. You needed to do something, and fast. “Is that it?” Jade pants. Even her voice sounds disappointed. “No,” you promise her as you get off the bed and head to the bathroom. A solution is forming in your brain. “I’ve got to go take care of something real fast. I’ll be back in a minute.” There was no way you were going to stop the good times here, and thanks to your abilities you didn’t have to. As soon as you were out of Jade’s sight, you pull out your timetables. “One minute for you, one hour for me,” you murmur then jump back in time. You go back to the bathroom. You sit and wait and listen to your past/current self grunt and wheeze as you fuck like mad. The waiting is almost unbearable. An hour was more than enough time for you to recover and you’re raring to go again. It’s 10:34. Just one more minute. “Is that it?” You hear Jade say for the second time. “No,” your past/current self replies. “I’ve got to go take care of something real fast. I’ll be back in a minute.” That’s your cue. You crack the bathroom door to make sure you’ve really gone then stride back into the bedroom. “That was fast,” Jade comments. “’It’s rude to keep a lady waiting’,” You quote her. “Are you ready for round two?” “Ready when you are,” she smiles. “Let’s try something new this time,” you request, eyeing her crotch. “Like what?” “Oh, I dunno…” you give her a suggestive smile. “But that first go sure made me hungry.” Jade knowingly smiles right back and spreads her legs. “Well, then you better dig in.” With that you go down on Jade for a second time, this time orally. Jade once again gasps and moans and sighs as you learn her contours with your tongue. Her fingers are practically ripping out your hair as she claws your scalp, and you eat until you think you’ll be sick. Once you had enough you switch back to traditional style intercourse. When you finish this time the clock reads 10:58. ’That’s more like it,’ you think. You turn to Jade. “Do you want to keep going?” you ask her. “I will if you will,” she vows. “In that case, I’ll be right back.” You leave for a second time, pull out your timetables and once again jump back. And you continue to do this time and time again, building stable time loops to have one endless stream of sex. The best part was Jade never wanted to call it quits. The girl never seemed to tire, never complained or needed a break. She was your puppet, for you to do with what you pleased. Any perverted thing you wanted to try, she readily agreed. Any position, and angle, she let you use her, play with her, toy with her, and she never seemed to tire of it. She also never questioned where you went after each round, but seemed to relish the fact that you always came back fresh. She probably never would have guessed what you were doing either, if you hadn’t screwed up. After building so many time loops with still an hour between each one, you began to run into yourself again. It didn’t really matter so long as you knew when you were up next, but when you lost track of yourself and two Daves appeared on the scene, you knew you had seriously fucked up big time. “What… what’s going on?” Jade asked to both of you. “Why are there two of you?” “Shit…” you say, deciding to come clean. There was no use trying to cover it up. “Jade, I haven’t been entirely honest. I’ve been using time loops so I could endlessly fuck you. There are actually quite a few of us in the house right now.” “There are more of you here? Just waiting for their turn with me?” She says slightly upset and you begin to beat yourself up mentally. “Dave, you should have told me sooner so I could please you all at once. It doesn’t have to be one at a time.” You look at her in unbelievable shock. “Jade… you are seriously fucked up,” you can’t help but grin as you say it. “More fucked up than me, even.” Sitting up, she softly hugs and passionately kisses you. “People do some pretty fucking messed up shit for the ones they love. Especially if it keeps the ones they love from having to go off and get themselves killed.” With the truth out in the open, and after receiving a response much better than you expected, you break your façade and come out of hiding. And after getting over the initial awkwardness of multiple Daves all using Jade at once you had to say watching yourself in the act turned you on in a way you had never felt before. Jade was amazing, taking on up to five of you at once, vaginally, orally, anally, and two hand jobs on the side. A handful more of you stood around servicing yourselves as you waited for one of your other yous to tire and give up his place. It was like a scene out of the universe’s kinkiest hentai. Jade was your fuck puppet, your cum bucket you were endlessly filling. While her vag was occupied self-pleasing selves made the rest of her body look like the world’s greatest bukkake party. Every angle conceivable, every position invented, and every style known to man was used on her all at once, and she never refused your request. Every so often, when she wasn’t moaning or shouting your name, Jade would manage to get a word in edgewise, but it was usually nothing more than a demand of “Harder! Fuck me harder!” or “Faster!” or “Deeper!” and you were only too happy to comply. The clock was almost a thing of the past. Every so often you’d steal a glance at it when you’d want to go back, but you came to realize that just waiting in the present moment was sufficient enough. For the next five hours Jade diligently hosted a party for your manhood, squeezed you out with her hands, and sucked you dry with her mouth. It was only when she seriously began wheezing and fighting for breath that you decided enough was enough. You couldn’t deny the girl was a trooper, willing to literally give her entire self to please you, but not even you could stand to watch her labored breathing as she struggled not to choke on your cock as she swallowed more of your seed. You look at the clock. It’s 4:13am. “Guys… I think we’re done,” you tell your other selves. After assessing Jade for themselves, they wordlessly nod in agreement before pulling out their own timetables and depart to restore order to the time loops. Once they’ve all gone, you sit on the cum-soaked bed next to Jade. “No… I… can keep going,” Jade sputters, sitting up and leaning heavily on your shoulder. You look her over. Her face is flushed, her hands and inner thighs have been rubbed raw, jizz of all states of dryness coats her body. Her eyes are half open and her body’s so exhausted she can’t support herself. “I really don’t think you can,” you tell her. “But… now you have to leave,” she sobs, and clutches your arm. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to go off and die. I don’t want to lose you.” “You seriously think I’d leave you in this state?” you whisper to her. “What kind of lover would I be to leave you when you truly need me the most?” Jade proceeds to sniffle and hiccup as you hush her and rub her back. “We’ve had a long night. Do you keep any extra sheets? These are a bit too soiled to sleep in.” Jade tells you where they are and you fetch them as she stumbles to the bathroom to get cleaned up. When she returns there are fresh sheets on the bed with you waiting nearby. You both silently snuggle in and get cozy. “Dave?” Jade mumbles in your ear. “Hm?” “Just in case I never get to tell you in the Alpha Timeline… please know that… I love you.” “I love you too.” With that, you both surrender to sleep. xxx 6:12 am. It’s about two hours later. Jade’s sound asleep on your chest, listening to your heart beat. You decide it’s time for you to go. The thought of trying to say goodbye to her face… you don’t think you could do it. As carefully as you can, you slip out of bed, replace your body with a pillow for Jade, and then go dress yourself. For a while you just stand there, watching Jade sleep, totally at peace with the world. God, you were going to miss her. With one last kiss on the cheek, you force yourself to leave the room and not look back. Once outside you look up at the brilliant auroras threading through the early morning air. You’d have to go back four hundred and thirteen hours, plus the day you spent with Jade and the five or so hours you spent making love. You summon your timetables, deciding to take it one jump back at a time. You look back at Jade’s house one last time. ’I’m sorry I’m not man enough to say goodbye to your face, Jade,’ you think. ‘If I tried I think I’d end up never going back at all. But the Alpha Timeline needs me. The Alpha Dave and Alpha You need me. Maybe I’ll be able to help alter its fate, perhaps even into one that will allow us to both live and be together,’ you mentally set the clock back approximately seventeen days. ’There are probably a thousand other off-shot cases just like ours, all having to go back as well. I bet we succeed in onereality,’ you take a calming breath and wink out. ‘But until then, we’re just another failed timeline.’ With that, you’re gone, back into the past to fight Jack Noir, get fatally injured, and jump forward one last time to complete the circle. You were done with your timeline. And behind you, the world goes dark and everything ceases to exist. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!