Jen got up quickly in mid panic to look for her child. God! Every time the stone was used it always seemed to do the unexpected. The most innocent of wish was just... well.. not exactly 'twisted' in a malevolent way, but certainly in a very awkward way to say the least. It also seemed only limited by the imagination of the one who held it, and few had greater imaginations then a child.
Gwydion and Ernestine were unconscious, and their 'future versions' were sparkling with rainbow-energy in the corner of the room. The magic stone was gone, although that was not her main concern. She crawled to her daughter to try and rouse her from the sleep.
Slowly the young Ernestine woke up. "Big... sister?" She blinked as the large figure came into focus. "Miss Madison?"
Then Gwydion woke up. "huh... Mom? Why do I have legs? An... I'm a boy?"
Jen and Lilly glanced at each other. "Uh oh."
Jen was fuming as she was in the living room, it took Tim to hold her back from her anger. She was the head of the magic circle. The final authority as far as magic was concerned, and one of the core rules was just violated in her own house.
"Time travel! Time Travel! God! Why the heck did the stone do that of all things! And you! You both should have known better then to open that box! Do you have any idea what the consequences of any wish made on it are? Why I'm so reluctant to use it?! I changed the world just from one simple wish and God only knows what your wish could have done! What it might still be doing!"
Lilly bit her lip with her large front teeth, as she watched her teacher get so angry. She had never seen Jen like this and she felt like this was her own fault. She should have been watching what her little brother was doing. Now that people could download magic spells from the internet, who knows what trouble people got into? Locks would no longer be any good unless they were enchanted for one. Even locks made for a child's safety.
Gwydion was having a lot of trouble crawling with the slug-girl's body, even if he- now she had seen this done a million times by her friend. Her friend being the girl she now saw in the mirror. "I... I'm sorry Miss Jen... Please... I'm sorry... I just wanted to wish for my dad back..." The slug-girl started to cry.
"It was my fault!" said Ernestine. "And you don't cry Gwyd! You don't cry in my body 'cause I aint a crier! An' you'll just make me dry out an' be unable to crawl anyway so you ain't cryin'!"
Jen... looked sadly at the two children. even though she knew that the child in there was not Ernestine, it broke her heart to see the little girl in the form of her daughter cry. Lilly was about to comfort her too, seeing just her little brother in those eyes- and the two got very confused onto who should be trying to re-assure the child- especially now that it was Ernestine in Gwydion's body that was- well- not exactly 'crying' but certainly in distress as he tried to work the strange human legs.
'ow do I walk on these!" He said acting like little miss bossy- a usual trait in her when distressed. "I can't make 'em move! They don't even bend all the way! How am I supposed to wiggle mom?"
"Human legs don't work like that," Sighed Jen as she went to her 'daughter'. "I used to have them, I'll show you."
Lilly took this as meaning she should comfort her new 'sister'.
Tim looked quietly at them, very stoically. "Well... this is quite unacceptable. We need our daughter restored" he said matter of factly.
"It shouldn't be too hard to fix," said Lilly. "It's not like changing their bodies. It's just a body swap... it could have been a lot worse."
"We can't do anything while 'those three' are here though..." sighed Jen. However she couldn't help but look at her future children. They looked healthy as young adults- and quite happy if looks were anything to go by. It was certainly nice to know things were going to work out.. assuming things worked out as they did before (Time travel was strange.)
Tim looked at them. The three time travellers, his own flesh and blood... here in the now. Unable to move or do anything though, due to the strange static of energy surrounding them. It was obviously nature's way of preventing a paradox. But while they were here, it prevented them from fixing their younger selves back to normal. "So... what's the name of our second child?"
"At this point, I'm going to call her mad," sighed Jen.
"Mad? Hm.. Madeline. I like it," nodded Tim.
Jen sighed again. They just created another paradox. "Get Lucas... she'll have to drop them back to the 'future'."
"She's um.. out," said Lilly.
Jen blinked. That was unexpected. What could make an angel with a time machine busy? "Well- then call Brittany. Maybe she can get one of the gods to sort this out."
"You mean Chronos?" asked Lilly. "I... guess we can try. But the Titans don't really like being bothered. The last time we tried that, time nearly stopped. They said to only bother 'em when it looks like ragnarok is happening." the squirrel said with some embarrassment.
"This is 'regnarock' to me. I can't have my daughter in your brother's body and their older selves running around. I'm supposed to be protecting the world from magical accidents like this. We need a spell to fix this." The magic circle had uncovered many secrets but... would any of it be enough?
It was her daughter that had the answer. "Use the internet mom! There's lots of spells there now."
Jen realised that Ernestine was quite right. She was reluctant to use a spell though that they had not researched but... this was an emergency. Quickly she went over the internet, with Lilly's help until they finally found a spell that they felt could be applied to this situation. Though searching moogle for 'how to fix a time paradox' nearly broke the search engine.
"Accordin' to this, it will summon the Titan Chrono." said Lilly. She drew the magic circle as instructed on the floor, even as she felt the curious static of magic being performed.
Jen, Tim, and Lilly stood at each point of the circle, as they performed the spell... each feeling the rush of magic between them.
The strange storm appeared again, a cloud of energy...
But in the center, there were eyes... eyes that were both old and young, as the great titan Chronos appeared before them. He was huge, and had to sit down to fit in the room. four to five times the height of any of them.
"Lady Madison," said the Titan. "Do you know how often I've been summoned in the last month? People have been asking me for eternal life, or youth, or to go back or forward in time... I am almost at my wits end. Are you not able to control your people?"
Jen bit her lip. Chrono obviously didn't realise how the advent of technology has worked. "Great Titan, I humbly apologise. The secrets of your summoning have become... freely available, though not by us as we didn't have the means either until recently."
Chrono groaned a little. "Oh... its this. Yes, of course it is. I suppose you've had an 'unfortunate' encounter with your future self?"
Jen shook her head. "Not I Chrono. My children and Lilly's brother. All of them are here in duplicate."
Chrono looked at the five individuals then to Jen with his old, wise eyes. "Two of Three... one within. Well... this is certainly very annoying. The first thing to do is to... take an average of these time-lines..." The titan started to create a powerful godly spell. It struck at the three time travellers, and their younger counterparts... it also struck at Jen, as she was carrying their future self.
... suddenly, there was only one of each. They had become younger... much younger.
Lilly looked at them. "Divided by six..." She could see the 'math' behind the spell...
"Chrono nodded. "I have done my best not to affect the one growing within you Lady Jen. I'm afraid the time storm has done some... other damages. There are parts of the Earth that now exist in the future, parts of it in the past... it will take a while for me to fix this all.
"Six years?" asked Lilly.
Chrono chuckled. "You are a 'good' mage, arn't you. Yes, Six years... Be careful if you accidentally find yourself in another time frame. I'll do my best... to sort out the 'big' things."
"But what of their lost life!" said Jen quickly. "I don't want my children growing up so fast and missing out on their lives as children."
Chrono looked at Jen. "But my dear... that never happened. Five years have passed... as normal."
Suddenly Jen had memories of years... years in the future, she knew 'everything' of what had happened to her family in the years that had passed. She recalled giving birth to Madison, and watching her grow up... The good and bad with Tim as they argued over which school to send the children to... she had to check to make sure she was 'still' pregnant.
Jen had to blink a little in confusion. "What... year is it now?" DId she just... travel into the future? Or was she now in the past? Chrono's was confusing things!
Chrono shrugged. "The only one out of place now, is the one growing within you Lady Jen. As she remains part of you, there is little I can do at this current juncture. On the plus side... your children are now at an age they can do what they want. It has been several years since the disappearance of Lilly and Gwydion's father... I think they are anxious to look for him."
"What about my little brother an' Ernestine? Are they in the right bodies?" Asked Lilly. She realised she was herself older now too. But being magically trained as much as Jen, (And a chossen of a goddess no less) she was able to 'perceive' memory and experience a little differently. It was awkward to have a memory that was indeed exactly what it should be, but to also know it wasn't 'experienced' in the present, but only in the past. It didn't make it any less real... but the duality was unsettling.
Chrono looked at the two of them. "Well... mostly. Now that time has passed... I'll have to let you work out the details. I believe you have lead good lives, in the past six years... rest assured, it was the life you would have lead... there is no difference. Just that some things are still stuck in the past, and I will try to bring them forward as well. Honestly, one can't take time for granted in this age... I have to fix everything 'personally'. Do me a favour, and ask your people not to keep summoning me."
Jen nodded thankful. "Okay... well... at least everyone is back to normal... somewhat."
It's just that she was now six years in the future, with memories of those six years, having lived them.
But some people were still in the past...
... this was complicated.
