#an angsty time travel fic because i object to shiros death

[pi-cat000]

MSA: Take Back The Future (part 1)

Summary: Vivi and Arthur travel back in time to the beginning of Hellbent. Neither of them are okay. (Vivi and Arthur friendship. Time travel fix it. Lots of angst. Hurt Arthur)

(Ah, yeah, its another time travel fic. sorry not sorry)

(Part 2: here)

...

Mystery looms over him even as Vivi is pulled off to the side by a panicking ghostly Lewis. Good. At least Vivi is safe. Vicious jaws curl into a grin, revealing with rows of elongated teeth. Serrated, they glow white against the Kitsune’s blackened fur. Three glowing eyes snap onto him, pinning him with their intensity. Arthur finds himself rooted to the spot, too scared to move. In his mind's eye, he sees those same jaws clamping onto his arm, ripping it free. He feels a phantom sting of pain run down his mechanical limb.

/Well, well, well, if it isn’t my wayward host./

The voice is hauntingly familiar, and Arthur’s mind screams at him to run. Do anything other than stand here! The creature who was once Mystery leans forward so Arthur’s looking right into its central eye. It is coloured a familiar green and seems to be looking into and through him.

/I have to say, this one is a definite upgrade. Nothing personal, just common sense./

There is a flash of movement. Those pointed teeth lock around his neck and upper body, biting into him.

Pain. His vision is inundated with red and green splotches.

Arthur thinks he may have heard Vivi call his name.

Then...

Darkness and…

Arthur jerks, slamming his head against something hard and metal. He flinches back and immediately hits his head on the ground below him. Confused and panicked, he freezes, gawking with incomprehension at the assortment of metallic pipes and metal panelling above him. It looks like the underside of his van but that can’t be right. Slowly, Arthur rolls out from under the vehicle to stare up at a clear night sky. He seems to be lying on the ground next to his van…tired, but no worse for wear.

“Arthur!”

There is the sound of things crashing and tipping over from inside the van followed by the bang of metal doors slamming open. Arthur squints up just in time to see Vivi fling herself out of the van at top speed, skidding to a stop in the middle of the empty highway they’re parked next to. Confused and frantic, her eyes dart around until they meet his.

“You’re alive,” She breaths.  Her face is pale with acute fear.  

Arthur stares at her, equally shaken. “Ye..yeah. I’m…alive?”

He is almost too scared to talk. He is afraid that this a pain-induced hallucination and he’s actually bleeding out on the tarmac outside Kingsman Mechanics. Arthur struggles to sit and Vivi rushes forward to help, grabbing his hand and yanking up him into a forceful hug. Too dazed to say much, he leans into the physical contact. This definitely feels real enough.

“I had a dream,” Vivi mutters, face burying into his shoulder, arms tightening, “We were attacked by this living tree lady with a huge pair of garden shears. I had this weird vision full of snow and ice. It was so cold. There was a woman in blue, holding a katana and…” He feels her shiver or maybe he is the one shivering.

“Mystery was there as well but he wasn’t a dog anymore. ” She pushes away, scanning him again with increased urgency, “You died! I saw it happen…”

Arthur just blinks, too stunned to move, trying to get his brain to start up again.

“Arthur? It was a dream right?”

It’s the panic in her voice that snaps him out of his stupor. He takes a shuddering breath.  He's not sure what Vivi means by 'woman in blue, holding a katana' but he remembers not-a-dog-Mystery and he remembers dying.

“It wasn’t a dream. I remember it as well. Mystery turned into that…thing. Lewis was …I mean the purple fire spirit from the mansion was there…” He starts then stops because Vivi wouldn’t know the significance of Lewis being there and Arthur definitely didn’t want to think about the implications of it for too long. Lewis being there meant that Lewis was dead. He’s not sure he can deal with that revelation right now.

Instead, he asks, “Are you okay?” because he remembers Vivi being injured just before everything had turned from a total disaster into a complete nightmare.

“I was cut here,” She gestures to her side, glancing down, “But I’m fine now. Are you okay? You’re the one who…ah…died.”

He gives a curt nod, only then realising that he’s still holding her other hand with his flesh and blood one. He doesn’t let go, giving it a reassuring squeeze instead. The gesture calms them both and Vivi exhales, glancing around again.

“If it wasn’t a dream, then what was it?” She rubs her forehead, “Where are we? What happened to scary nightmare Mystery?”

Arthur winces and shivers, deliberately focusing on his surroundings and not reimagining the nightmare version of Mystery.

“I think we’re on the interstate just out of Tempo. I stopped here to check on the van because it was having some weird electrical issues. You were asleep in the back.”

Vivi’s eyes narrow in contemplation, “So, we didn’t just crash into your Uncle’s workshop then get attacked by a walking tree?”

They both turn to examine the undamaged van.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

Perplexed, they both wait, too uncertain to move or try anything.

Unsurprisingly, its Vivi who first shakes off lingering weight of dread which has them rooted to the spot. She steps forward, pulling him with her, yanking the door to the front passenger’s seat open. Mystery is lying cured on the front seat, dozing.

“Mystery?”

The dog shifts, lifting his head, expression befuddled.  Head cocked to one side, Mystery’s body language screams nonchalance. Apparently, Mystery had not shared in his and Vivi’s vision of …the future??? Arthur’s not sure what to make of it.

“You…" Vivi takes a deep breath, "you asshole!”

Mystery almost goes cross-eyed trying to look at the finger Vivi points right between his eyes. Having made brief eye contact with Mystery, Arthur freezes. Almost immediately, he is lost in the deluge of memories he’d been avoiding. He doesn’t even get to appreciate the fact that Vivi is calling her dog an asshole.

“All this time you’ve been hiding the fact that you’re some super awesome fox spirit! What the hell! You better start explaining or so help me….”

Unlike Vivi, whose preferred method for dealing with danger is to get angry and confront it head-on, Arthur’s first reaction is to panic and run. Adrenaline takes his breath away and he stumbles backward, uncoordinated. Several unpleasant memories via for his immediate attention. A lot of things start clicking into place, forming an unpleasant picture. That night he had lost his arm…he had always suspected it had been Mystery…but now he knew. Mystery had been the one take his arm. Arthur’s sure it had something to do with that sickly green energy that had twisted the Mystery in his Future vision. He remembers that horrible voice, winding around his thoughts, pulling at his free will, leaving him empty. It was all somehow linked to Lewis’s …Lewis’s supposed death.

“Don’t you dare pull that ‘I’m just a dog’ routine. I know your hiding something,” Vivi’s sharp tone tapers off, seeming far away now. “Isn’t that right Arthur….Arthur?”

If they had travelled back in time that meant Lewis was about to come barrelling down this very highway in an attempt to kill him.

“Arthur?”

He blinks and Vivi is standing in front of him, holding his hand. He focuses on the physical sensation again. Mystery is watching them both, expression calculating, bordering on surprised.

/This is wrong./ Vivi whips back around to stare at Mystery, eyes wide. /You are both different./

The voice isn’t quite the same as the green nightmare, but it is similar enough that Arthur’s first instinct is to recoil away.

/What happened./

.

(Part 2: here)