Aura saw Geoffrey grow up. There was always something... unsettling about her past self, even as a child. She had seen some of the same in his/her father, a sort of detachment, of cold, clinical indifference. The interaction between them was very businesslike, even when he was at a young age and could see her. She saw him grow up, she heard what was said of him from passersby in her forest. She saw him have Jeff Jr., but, unlike the previous generations, Jeff Jr. never visited her forest.
She remembered why: As Geoffrey Sr., she had made sure Jeff wouldn't visit that area. Back then, Geoffrey Sr. told himself it was a measure to keep the kid grounded. But even then, there was an actual other reason, one Geoffrey Sr. kept well-hidden from himself... Control. Should Jeff Jr. ever obtain one of those eggs or otherwise meet the "fairy", he might wish for other things. And thus Jeff's fate would change, and thus Geoffrey Sr. might lose his heir...
It all seemed so hollow now. Aura grew to view her past self with equal doses of contempt and pity. The day came when the Sun changed. She would later find out the changed could see her perfectly well. A few weeks later, she found herself guiding - unnoticed - a human police officer towards where a certain angel and her anime date were flying above the lake.
A few more weeks went by. Aura saw the thing Geoffrey Aurelius Sr. had created as it walked past her grove. She did not know if it was the two centuries talking, her own feelings regarding her past self or what, but it was all she could do not to turn her head and throw up then and there. It was wrong. It was unnatural. She had seen Jeff Jr. after the change; her movements seemed natural, her expressions seemed normal, her whole self seemed perfectly acceptable. Not so with the replica; Aura caught herself feeling relieved that she knew the... the thing would be destroyed.
So it was that she saw events from a wholly different point of view. The fateful day when she would change was soon after.
It didn't matter anymore.
Lucas walked around the forest.
"Yo. Aurelius. I know you're around here... I'm a changed, I'll be able to see and hear you if you're nice enough to drop by. Relax, I'm not here to harm you..."
Aura saw fit to come out of a hollowed-out tree stump.
"Hello, angel..." - She said. Her tone was sheepish, depressed and slightly fearful.
"Name's Lucas. Guess that between fighting a clockwork mecha and nearly killing you that first time, where wasn't much time for introducing myself." - Said Lucas, rather sheepishly herself.
"I go by Aura, now... Was it you? I mean... The one that sent me back in time as a faerie..." - Said Aura.
Lucas shook her head.
"Hermes. Well... He wanted to allow you to learn..."
"I know." - Said Aura, sighing - "I've seen it. And I did learn..."
"Uhm, elephant in the room here. Sorry about the near murder thing..." - Said Lucas.
"It was over two hundred years ago by my perspective." - Said Aura, shrugging.
"And yesterday by mine." - Said Lucas.
"If that's so, then I should apologize for goading you. I was hoping you'd hit me so as to aid the whole... narrative." - Said Aura.
"So you were goading me? Man. It worked! I mean, holy crap, it worked." - Said Lucas, smirking.
"I... I saw what I did. The man I was..." - Said Aura.
Lucas nodded.
"I came here because, well... Hermes said you'd be needing someone to talk to. And because I felt rather guilty about the incident."
Aura sighed.
"What's depressing about it is that I understand where you were coming from..."
The two talked - ammicably and awkwardly - for a while. Shortly after Lucas left, Aura saw something out of the corner of her eye.
One of the large summer houses near the lake had its garage doors open.
Out of them, crawled a certain giant clockwork doll...
