#haha lil rascal is the only one who'd end up meeting a past version of themself

[mythicandco]

“Hey, guess what?” Philip asks one day. 

This is a regular occurrence. Edward’s younger goofball brother will come home from an outing in the woods without supervision (how he always manages to sneak out, Edward doesn’t know and probably never will) and return with a creature or demon that either tries to eat him or tries to eat someone else. It’s always resolved in the end, and frankly is more annoying than anything else. 

So when Philip pokes his head through the doorway of their shared cabin and asks this, Edward doesn’t even look up from his book as he responds, “What?” 

“I found a couple of kids in the forest!” Philip replies with all the enthusiasm as when he first presented his swan carving to their parents back in the Human Realm, back when the brothers where children. Edward falls out of his chair. 

“WHAT?” 

Philip gets that smug expression all over his face and steps aside to reveal, indeed, a pair of children - a shorter, skinnier girl with slightly darker skin, brown eyes, and short hair. She’s wearing a dark blue and purple cape, and she keeps shifting her weight from foot to foot, a nervous-excited energy keeping her from completely standing still. 

But the second one causes Edward to stop in his tracks. He looks to be about sixteen, and is wearing a white cloak and golden, triangular clasp, but it’s his bright red palisman that catches Edward’s attention. That, and the shape of his nose, the style and color of his hair - other than his strange red eyes, he looks like an exact copy of Edward, albeit a younger version. The children must make the same connection because the boy takes a step back and the girl’s eyes light up. 

“OH MY GOSH! Hunter, he looks just like you!” She shakes the boy’s shoulders and he grunts and pushes her off. Unfazed, the girl dashes up to Edward and holds out her hand. “Hello old version of Hunter,” she beams, “I’m Luz Noceda. Nice to meet you!” 

Edward awkwardly takes the girl’s hand and gives his brother a “What the Hell is this?” look that Philip misses completely. “Um... hello, Luz,” he says. Her name is strange in his mouth. “Edward Wittebane.” 

“I totally thought your name was gonna be William for some reason,” she scratches her chin thoughtfully for a moment before picking up enthusiasm again. “There’s a lot of weird stuff going on right now, but maybe you guys can help us!” She waves at who Edward presumes to be Hunter, and the boy makes a face. “For starters - why do you two look exactly the same?” Her eyes widen even further, somehow, and she lets out a dramatic gasp. “What if you’re a clone? Oooh, angsty backstories, eeeeee!” She jumps up and down a little bit. 

Hunter looks at his hands and up at Edward. “No, that’s not possible,” he says. “My parents were killed by wild magic, there’s no way I’m a clone. It... has to be something else.” His voice wavers, and then he adds, “Belos took me in, remember?”

“Oh.” Luz shrugs, oblivious. “Worth a shot.” 

Philip freezes. Edward notices. 

“Did you say ‘Belos’?” 

Both kids look up at him. “Yeah.” 

Philip frowns, his expression confused and more than a little worried. “Belos is my middle name. I never told you that, so where did you hear it?” 

Luz’s eyes widen even more - that girl is going to hurt herself - and she stares at the youngest Wittebane brother. “Your middle name is the what now.”

Hunter lets out a strangled laugh. His legs fold underneath him and he curls up against the wall. “Oh, no no no. That’s not possible. Sorry.” 

Edward glances at the boy. “Is he alright?” 

“NO!” Hunter leaps to his feet, edging on hysteria. “No, that cannot be your middle name,” he looks at Philip, “no, I am not okay,” he looks at Edward, “Luz, we have to get back to our time right now.” He grabs the girl by her cloak and starts dragging her towards the door. 

“Ahh! Let me go!” She snatches the cape out of his hands. The little red palisman on the boy’s shoulder lets out an angry chirping noise. “Hunter, calm down! Maybe-” but she stops mid-sentence, and turns to face Philip again. “Oh. Whoa.” 

“I think I’m missing something,” Edward says. Philip shrugs, for once just as confused as his brother. 

“So, uh, we’re from the future,” Luz explains. “Probably should’ve mentioned that earlier. Belos is... ah... well, um, it doesn’t really matter,” she smiles uncomfortably. “But we know him. You. I guess.” 

Philip pauses, biting his tongue, but curiosity takes over and he leans forward. “You’re from the future? What’s it like? Do Edward and I ever return home?” 

Luz squirms under the weight of the questions. Hunter stares at Philip, horrified realization in his eyes. Edward feels like he’s only understanding a fraction of the conversation. 

“We need to get back to our time,” Luz says instead, her hands clenching into fists. “And I’m pretty sure you’re the only ones who can help us.” She closes her eyes. “Please?”