Running Out of Time with You Part Three
The first time he went back and woke up on the sidewalk, he couldn’t resist. He pulled 90s Kid into a tight hug the moment he saw him.
Needless to say, 90s Kid was a bit weirded out. “Dude…what are you doing?”
“Sorry,” Dan said. “But…I’m happy to see you.”
90s Kid pulled away and backed off. After Linkara had delivered Dan to Dolly, 90s Kid didn’t come around again. It hurt, but Dan figured this would be best. Maybe if he and 90s Kid weren’t friends, if they weren’t in love, maybe 90s Kid wouldn’t jump into the fight so recklessly to protect him.
But he had to be sure. So Dan went to the place where the Entity would appear. He stayed back, out of the way, watching from a rooftop.
90s Kid and Linkara fought, with the grace of a team who had spent a lot of time preparing for this very moment. But even without someone to protect, 90s Kid threw himself at the Entity and was consumed. The beam of light, and 90s Kid was gone.
Dan turned the watch back.
*
The second time, he was more careful. He went along with the script this time, didn’t do anything that would scare 90s Kid. Pretended he didn’t know what was going on with the Magical Boy thing. Let them fall in love again.
But this time, there was urgency to it. Dan wanted to have 90s Kid as much as he could. He didn’t push, but he knew it felt more desperate, more intense. If 90s Kid minded, he didn’t say anything.
The night before the Entity was due to appear Dan turned to him. “90s Kid?” he asked. “If this was the last night of your life, what would you want the most?”
90s Kid met him with eyes that were supposed to be confused, but Dan could see the resignation in them. The boy knew. “Dan…”
“Please. Just tell me.”
90s Kid curled against him. “Just this,” he said. “I just want you with me.”
Dan nodded and held 90s Kid close, kissing him softly. “I love you so much, Kid.”
“I love you too, Dan.”
“Kid…I know that tomorrow…something could happen…”
“Yeah?”
“Please…think about it. Is it…is it really the best course?”
90s Kid didn’t look at him. “It’s the only course,” he said.
Dan didn’t even wait until morning. He turned the watch back.
*
This time, he didn’t try to talk 90s Kid out of it. Instead, he played out the script, but on the day it would happen, he kept 90s Kid as long as he could, tried to distract him.
But 90s Kid knew what he had to do. And no matter what Dan said, he insisted. “I have to go, dude,” he said. “There’s a huge glitch to fight and Linkara can’t handle it himself.”
“Are you sure?” Dan said. “Linkara’s a very powerful being.”
90s Kid shook his head. “Linkara’s good, but he told me…he told me I’m the only one with the power to defeat it.”
“Kid…”
“You can’t stop it, Dan. You have to let me go.”
Dan went with him. But this time, he ran toward the Entity himself. Maybe if it consumed him…
A blast of magic knocked him out of the way. Linkara glared. “Stay out of the way!” he snapped.
90s Kid was already jumping in. Dan turned back the watch.
*
He didn’t know how many times he had come back. How many plans he tried. Avoiding 90s Kid, interfering in the fight with the Entity, giving everything he could to him so he would hesitate.
“Aren’t I worth living for?” he asked once.
“Of course, dude,” 90s Kid. “But if you’re worth living for, I have to be willing to die to save you.”
Dan turned the watch back time and time again. It never worked. He watched 90s Kid die over and over again, no matter what he did.
After watching him die after one particularly unpleasant attempt, Dan knew there was nothing for it. So on the next attempt, he followed the script, but he also started going down the road to get something to help.
Cocaine. His white gold, his god, his hatred. It didn’t help, of course, but it made it easier for him to think, to formulate plans. Maybe if he moved here, maybe if he shouted this, maybe if he hurt him, maybe if he loved him…
It didn’t matter. 90s Kid was too set on saving the world.
Dan tried appealing to Linkara, telling him not to let 90s Kid jump into lethal situations. Linkara only looked at him oddly and said that Magical Boys must be ready to make sacrifices.
And through it all, Dan saw more and more what he liked in 90s Kid. He fell in love with the way 90s Kid’s eyes would light up when he spoke, with how he threw himself into every battle with enthusiasm, how he held Dan and kissed him and loved him. Dan supposed he should be grateful, that he had unlimited time with 90s Kid, but he wasn’t, because he knew how it would end. And every time he went back, they had to start over again.
It all began to blur together. Dan started losing track of what he had tried, only knowing that it all ended in failure.
Finally, after a dozen tries and hours and hours of drug use, Dan clutched his pocket watch. “Can I ask you to change his destiny?” he whispered.
“I do not have to power to stop him, or the Entity,” Mephisto whispered in his ear.
Dan nodded. “Then I wish to become a Magical Boy so I can fight alongside him.”
“Wish granted. Your trigger is the watch, and your phrase is ‘take me on.’”
Dan turned the watch back.
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