The room or place he was felt familiar but in a different way. Propping himself on his elbows, his ears rang with white noise, once clearing he could hear a few voices speaking. Familiar voices.
"Dude are they alive?"
"I dunno,"
"and why does that one kinda look like you?"
"I don't know okay,"
"Poke them."
"What!"
"To make sure they're alive, poke em."
"Tobes I'm not going to pok-"
"Wha... Toby?"Jim questioned, recalling that his friend had been bunkering at his house, gathering some supplies while Jim broke the news to Claire. Wait. Claire! Jim quickly opened his eyes, turning to his right to see Claire laying right beside him, Cass in her arms. Beside them, Douxie was awakening alongside Nari. Releif overcame him, Jim turned up to the voices, blood rushing cold to only see himself and Toby, staring wide-eyed.
"Woooaaahhh, Jim he's you or looks like you, "Toby blubbered, tugging at his younger selves arm.
"I can see that Tobes," Younger Jim said, staring at his future self in a daze of confusion.
"What the hell did you do?"Jim asked Douxie, who didn't hear as he sat up, grabbing the Time Map which had fallen beside him.
"He is you, Jimbo," Toby exclaimed now shaking Younger Jim.
"I-I see that, stop shaking me-"
"Douxie!"Claire screeched now awake and able to tell what he'd done."Why the hell would you bring us back in time!"She shouted, still angered after yelling at Jim.
"Well while preparing for the official shut off of Troll Market, Nari and I realized that if we were to hide in time in a literal way, it would be almost impossible for the Arcane Order to track her down, "Douxie explained, his explanation logical.
"Rollback a sec because Blinky said nothing bout Time Travel," Toby said as he and Jim were extremely confused.
In her mother's arm, Cass whined, most likely still hungry. But her whines quickly turned to gasps for air, her breathing which had been left behind, absent." Jim, " Claire panicked.
"Is it okay?" Younger Jim asked, looking over Cassidy in curiosity. Scooting back, Jim felt fear bubbling in his chest as Cassidy continued to wheeze. It wasn't a full-blown yelp for oxygen but had to take longer on each breath. But he and Claire knew soon her oxygen would most likely be completely cut off.
"It's okay baby," Jim said quietly, whispering as he did when speaking to Cass. From behind his younger self and Toby stood quite puzzled. Stroking her chubby, drained to a creamy white cheek, Jim turned his head back."Get the first aid kit mom keeps in the bathroom." He ordered. For as long as he could remember, his mom always had the best first aid kits and could remember there was a manual oxygen mask that had never been used. He knew it wouldn't fit Cass but it would help until they could get their hands on some better form of a breathing tube.
His younger self looked at Cass and how the faint tracings of rosy cheeks had disappeared. Bobbing his head up and down, he gulped taking an immediate step back towards the kitchen."C'mon Tobes," he muttered, pulling his chubby friend by the arm, hurrying to find the kit.
Cassidy's wheezes turned into whimpers, screaming help."Sshhh," Claire cooed, cradling her with one hand and with the other holding it over her small chest, pushing down ever so lightly with every breath in a hope to help."Just breathe. It'll be over soon." Looking in her eyes, Jim saw fear which he could mirror respectively. They'd gone through slight scares, all more recently with her constantly trying to pull her tube out, but none had been so bad. She'd never gone so long without her breathing tube in her short life and in those three months, her lungs hadn't gotten any stronger from birth. He'd never thought about it but suddenly felt grief for her daughter realizing she would miss out on so much in life. Doctors had already warned them of the possibilities of mental disorders and she was 100% guaranteed to be delayed in at least some aspects of her life. But it didn't stop there. She would never be able to run around and play ball. She'd never get to ride a rollercoaster. She'd never get to live without the burden that was not caused by Claire. But by the person who caused the crash.
It had been a hit and run scenario and they were unable to find the culprit. For the first time, Jim wanted to find that person. Find them and hurt them. It was all their fault Claire had been hurt. It was all their fault Cassidy was disabled. It was their fault she wasn't guaranteed to live a full life. It was their fault she would never live a normal life. It was their fault she almost died.
Forget it, he yelled at himself. He had more dier issues to focus on. Turning his attention which never left Claire and Cassidy, but just focused back on the here and now. Cass was pale and continuously gasping but still breathing. Claire, who was holding a very calm composure, stared down at Cassidy, seeming to not be acknowledging him.
"Hurry won't yo-" Jim cut himself off as his younger self who appeared very confused about everything going on and who the baby both was freaking out about was, knelt down, setting the unlatched first aid kit beside him. As he opened it, Jim reached in, rummaging and scattering the band-aids, gauze, and alcohol wipes about, eventually finding the mask that was made for an adult."Switch her over," Jim told Claire, recalling the simple way to use the mask. Mindlessly, appearing to be in a daze of shock, Claire quickly but gently switched Cassidy over to her other arm that was closer to Jim, letting her rest away from her torso so Jim could get the mask on her. Lifting her head, being gentle around her soft spot that was still prominent, he looped the mask around her round head, resting the mask part over her mouth, so large it covered almost her retire face. He tugged on the slack gentle, which there was a lot of, pressing his hand against the mask, praying it would help her.
"Come on Cass," he said waiting for the wheezes to cease and be replaced with actually breathes. They'd been through too much pain over the past year to lose her(Of course if this did not work he planned on calling an ambulance but that would cause complications since his mother worked at the hospital and would question seeing her son and son's girlfriend doppelgangers. And even if he were to call an ambulance, he doubted they'd arrive in time.) over such a simple problem. If she were to... cease to be, he'd blame himself and knew Claire would too. They should've been more prepared with more Cassidy sized masks, though they didn't really expect to pay a visit to the past that day.
Waiting about 10 more seconds, Cassidy's gasps seem to even out, fraying into uneven breaths. Jim smiled, the relief he felt unexplainable. Noticing that Claire's arms were strangling, going limp, he gingerly took Cass from her, still holding the slack tight so the mask wouldn't fall off. A smile crossed his fear-ridden face, his eyes making contact with Cassidy's. Her blue eyes wilted, definitely exhausted from near suffocation.
"I'm sorry," Claire said beside him, no emotion in her voice. Jim was confused if she meant that towards him or Cass. Assuming it was Cassidy he opened his mouth to comment but was cut off.
"What. The. Hell." Toby muttered, he and Younger Jim standing on the outskirts of the living room."Is going on?"
