Disclaimer: I do not own the Tales of Arcadia franchise. If I did, Rise of the Titans would be extremely different.

Have I seen the movie? No, but I've seen spoilers, which lead to me coming up with an idea that I shared with the Klebuckets server, and Ray convinced me to write said idea.

This fic is not canon compliant in that Akiridion kissing does not lead to pregnancy any more than kissing between two humans leads to pregnancy. (And also not canon compliant in that again, I did not actually watch the movie and do not want to.) That being said, this is probably the most RotT-compliant fic I will ever write.

Mother's three rules did not help. Being prepared for change and embracing their mistakes had only led to them being sent to Principal Levit's office, and playing with their phones had resulted in detention. All Aja wanted to do was go home, even though she knew when she got there she'd have to deal with another lecture from Varvatos and Mother about staying inconspicuous.

Aja found her and Krel's path blocked by three humans.

"Aja and Krel, right?" the tallest of them said. "I'm Jim, and these are Toby and Claire." He gestured with his head to the boy and girl standing beside him as he said their names. Mother had definitely been wrong when she'd claimed that girls on this planet were invisible. "I've been trying to do this for a couple days."

"And what is 'this?'" Aja asked.

Jim pulled a small disk out of his pocket. Along the top half of the disk were the words "for the good of all". Along the bottom half were a series of scuff marks, like words had been marred out to no longer be legible. Some parts of it looked eerily similar to Akiridion technology, and yet other parts were far too different.

"It's a school tradition. Touch the disk, and you'll do well on your finals and everything because you'll have the entire school backing you up."

Aja didn't believe that was real, and she didn't care about finals. But, if she complied, then Jim, Toby, and Claire would hopefully get out of her way. And so Aja looked closer.

Oh.

Oh.

Of course that was why the amulet looked almost like Akiridion technolgy, because Krel had been involved in building it. These weren't three random humans who were taking up Aja's time, they were her friends from the future. A future that, hopefully, wouldn't fully come true. Hopefully she'd be able to save her Mama and Papa, and Tronos, and Buster, and Toby, who was once more alive in front of her.

"What did you do to my sister?" Krel demanded.

"Krel, just touch it," Aja said.

"No, I don't want to." He lowered his voice to a hiss. "That looks like an inferior form of Akiridion technology! I think they're disguised bounty hunters!"

Ah, so he had recognized his work on the amulet, but not that he had been the one who worked on it, and definitely not that Douxie had been helping him. Of course not. He didn't remember. Well, that was easy enough to fix.

Aja grabbed her brother's wrist. He fought back as she forced him to touch the amulet. For a brief moment, his eyes flashed with blue-green light.

So that was why he had been so concerned.

Krel smacked his forehead before dragging his hand down his face. The gesture looked familiar, but also like it belonged on someone else. "I was clearly wrong when I said it was inferior. But, seriously? School tradition? That was the best you could come up with?"

"Just in case it didn't work," Toby said.

"Why wouldn't it work?" Aja asked. "Wait, did it not work on the trolls?"

"No, it worked on them," Claire said. "I have no idea why Douxie's been so worried about it not working on the two of you and Varvatos."

"Douxie's been worried about me?" Krel smiled and looked away as he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. That was... odd.

"Yeah, he even stuck around extra long passing out flyers for the Battle of the Bands on the day you guys arrived, since he knew you two'd be showing up," Jim said. Krel smiled a little wider. "Everyone's been trying to herd you two towards me so I could unlock your memories. If we hurry, we could go meet up with Douxie before he has to switch shifts from the bookstore to the bistro."

"I mean, we should probably go make Varvatos remember, maybe then he won't try and demand Eli's thumbs anymore," Aja said. "Plus, we might be able to fight off bounty hunters better!"

"Or," Krel said, already walking ahead of the rest of them. "We could go find Douxie so he stops worrying. I mean, Varvatos is just waiting around the Mothership so it's not like we'd have to worry too much about him getting into trouble. It's not like the bounty hunters will actually show up for another week, anyways." He stopped walking, wrapped his arms around himself, and frowned. "Um, where is it? I didn't ever actually go there, since Bellroc burned it."

"Come on, it's this way," Toby said, beginning to walk in the opposite direction that Krel had been walking in. Krel sighed, probably in relief, but why? Why was he so concerned?

They exited the school and made their way down the street.

"So, when you said everyone's been trying to herd Krel and I towards you, does that mean the entire town remembers?" Aja asked.

"No. I can only unlock the memories of people I had a strong enough positive emotional bond with in the first timeline, and I have to be holding onto the amulet for it to work," Jim said. "I tried unlocking Señor Uhl's memories so he wouldn't give Toby and I detention for skipping class for trollhunting duties, and it backfired."

"Why isn't he principal? Who even is Levit?" Aja stole a glance at her brother as he walked silently beside her. He looked nervous, and she wasn't sure why.

"Well, since Strickler went to our side early in the timeline," Toby said, "he decided not to kill the guy who was our principal at the beginning of the year. Which also means I didn't have to worry about him flirting with my Nana."

"Why would he flirt with your Nana?"

"Well, the only reason why Strickler flirted with Jim's mom in the first place was because he was the trollhunter," Toby said.

Aja's jaw dropped. "You're not the trollhunter anymore?"

"Of course he is," Claire said. "It's hunters, not hunter. But, Toby's got the Daylight sword. Eclipse, too."

"I guess it makes sense why you can't command daylight anymore with the amulet Douxie and I made, since daylight would be Toby's to command." Krel tucked his hair behind his ear again when he said Douxie's name. Why was he doing that? "But does it still have any other powers or is it just for unlocking memories?"

"Oh, yeah. I can still summon armor, and I'm using it to store my daggers. Though, I think the issue with daylight summoning is more the fact that the Green Knight still has Excalibur." Jim frowned, and Claire put a hand on his shoulder.

"And none of us are going to get controlled by him. Him or his sister," she said. Come to think of it, Claire didn't look as sick as she had when Aja first met her during the...

"Hey, did we go through a bunch of time loops at the science fair?"

"Yep!" Toby said. "Though, like, Steve and Shannon and everyone doesn't remember them since they didn't have their memories protected. Just us, Blink, and my Wingman. And Vex wil, too, when he remembers."

"Thank Deya we got Saturday detention with Shannon the first time around," Claire said. "She's been a major help, but I'm not sure if we ever would've bonded enough if not for that."

"And we're here," Jim said, holding open the door to GDT Arcane Books. Aja glanced at her brother. There were tears in his eyes. But why? He hadn't even been this emotional when he had reunited with Eli in their first timeline.

"Douxie?" Krel called out in an incredibly soft voice.

A broom clattered to the wooden ground.

Aja looked up in time to see Douxie standing on the top floor of the bookstore next to the fallen broom. He spun around and brought a hand to his mouth. He then ran and vaulted over the railing, using magic to slow his descent. At the same time, Krel ran to Douxie. They hugged tightly. Upon closer look, Douxie was crying just as much as Krel was. Aja could hear the two of them whispering to each other, but she couldn't make out the words.

Aja knew they were friends, just like she was friends with all of the other Guardians, but she hadn't realized they were so close. Then again, she knew that Douxie was skilled in music and wizard technology. Perhaps Krel had finally found someone who truly understood him while Aja had been ruling as queen. It was good for him to have a close friend.

Right as their hug began to grow a little long, Krel took half a step back and placed his hands on Douxie's shoulders. Krel then used them as leverage as he pressed himself onto his toes to kiss Douxie.

What.

What?

"Uh, did they get together after I died or something?" Toby asked. Aja looked away from the kissing couple to Toby and the others. They looked just as perplexed by the situation in front of them as Aja felt.

"No, there was no time," Jim said.

"Then," Aja sputtered. "Then when did that happen?"

To answer Aja's question, Douxie and Krel finally confessed their feelings to each other either shortly before or during the events of RotT. However, because everything was so tense and chaotic, they chose not to reveal the change in their relationship to any of their friends until after the titans were defeated. Instead, of course, Jim reset the timeline, so they didn't get the chance before their dramatic romantic reunion. If the kiss described above isn't their first kiss, then it's probably their third kiss at most - though it's not like they need to actually count them.