It really has been a while since I'd last been on this platform. Life's been a bit busy, and hectic, and I want to bang my head onto a wall. I've also recently gotten sucked into a Time Travel Rabbit Hole, and now I can't do anything about it. I've read too much stuff to get the idea out of my head.

And then one day I just thought: Hey, what happens if IF goes back in time? That sounds like an okay idea, so here it is!

Disclaimer: AU. Storyline is a mix of all games, current setting is some time before Re: Birth 2.


[1] - Re: Turn


It was a normal day. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming.

It was a normal day, and IF woke up screaming. She screamed and screamed and screamed until her voice sounded no more, her throat long gone dry. Her mind ached, and she clutched at her ears to stop the screaming wails in the back of her mind. It didn't work. The voices grew louder, and IF could only hide herself under her blanket and cry a soundless scream.

They were gone. She was gone.

Everything was gone.

EvEryThINg wAS goNE.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, shivering under her blanket as wails pounded at her ears. It felt like hours went by before the voices began to soften.

Slowly, she peeled away her blankets, whimpering as the morning cold kissed her skin. Everything felt too sensitive, too loud. She pushed herself off the bed and promptly fell onto her knees. Her legs felt like pudding.

Thank god Neptune wasn't here.

She choked back a sob. That's right, Neptune was still alive, wasn't she? She wasn't friends with her; they hadn't met at this point, but she could never forget that lovable buffoon. Ah, if only she had enough money to fill the Basilicom with pudding. She doubted Histoire would enjoy that.

Gently, she pulled herself up, using a nearby chair as a crutch as she made her way to a mirror. The chair's legs clanked against her floor, and she heaved her breaths as she inched towards it.

After a minute, she stopped and sighed, bringing her eyes up to the reflection cast upon it.

She cringed. She looked terrible. Her eyes were red, visible bags were under her eyes, and the smooth brown hair she loved so much was frayed. It looked as if she'd just gotten out of an active volcano dive. She tried smiling at the mirror, but even that came out as a grimace.

She couldn't leave her house looking like this. Not that she'd be able to. The return had sapped most of her strength away.

Name: IF | -

Lvl 1 [0/1000]

HP: 150/150 | SP: 250/250

Str: 3 | Vit: 2

Int: 9 | Men: 4

Agi: 9 | Tec: 5

And most of her stats were taken as well. She grimaced. Her Level 1 base stats were even worse than her first run, and that was an accomplishment. She'd need to grind her way back to the top, and the thought of it already sent her reeling. All that hard work she did, all she'd gone through, reduced to nothing.

No. Not nothing. IF grit her teeth. This was a chance. She was back in the past; she wasn't sure by how much, but she had a chance to do so much now. So many things could be changed.

But she'd need to get stronger before anything else.

Active Skills | 2 more slots unlocked at Lvl 10

[ - ] [ - ] [ - ]

Passive Skills | 1 more slot unlocked at Lvl 10

[ - ] [ - ]

Agh, even her skills were gone as well…? All those awesome tricks she could do…

No, this wasn't the time to despair. Skills could be regained. Experience could be remade. But a life can never return once it's lost.

She took a deep breath and focused. A skill, both passive and active, is born through imagination and emotion. The clearer the image one can picture, the easier it'd be for their emotion to act as a conduit to create it. She knew her skills, remembered the way they felt and what they caused. She dug all those memories back into the forefront of her mind and did her everything to will them into existence.

Pain stabbed through her as her hand pressed against the chair she was holding, but she ignored it. She thought of the pain, of the fatigue, of the heaviness injuries would bring, and she willed them to disappear.

Then, two words formed in her mind, and she shouted,

"Green Noah!"

At her call, the world turned bright as green sparkles seemed to sprout from thin air. They hovered in the air before they began to fall like snowflakes, landing onto her skin and kissing them with healing magic. She withheld a sigh as she felt the weakness weighing her down begin to disappear, and before long, her body felt as healthy as it could be.

She looked at her reflection, and though her hair remained unkempt, the rest of her face seemed to have magically turned clean. The bags under her eyes were gone, the ache in her eyes was healed, and she could stand on her two feet without needing a crutch.

[ Green Noah* ]

Rank: Starter | 01%

A powerful restoration spell originating from an ancient spell. Though its original was lost to time, this remains as its reminder.

Costs 45 MP to cast

Heals (10%) of the target's max HP.

She allowed herself to grin. She remembered how much time she spent making this baby. She'd scoured through thousands of scrolls, trying to find some way to create a powerful healing spell, before she stumbled onto an old book about magical medicine.

Ah, good times.

Her grin quickly fell, and she narrowed her eyes. She needed information. The jump back hadn't been all that specific, so she didn't have a single clue as to how far she'd ended up in the past. Judging from her body, it seemed she jumped back to her teens, but she couldn't be too sure. She was never the tallest person.

She looked around the familiar room, trying to see if she could find anything with a date. She dug through closets and drawers, and still, nothing.

Until she found herself face to face with a…diary, of sorts.

Tale of the Five Legendary Heroes

She quirked a wry smile. Ah, this thing. She'd honestly forgotten that this thing existed. It was a part of her black past, of when she dreamed of these ancient tales of glory and victory, where every cliche happened and where the heroes always won.

If this thing was still in her closet, it meant that she really had gone back to her teens. She'd thrown the thing into a fire after she became a member of Planeptune's Guild. And since the book was still unfinished, she probably ended up years before that, when she hadn't even thought of becoming a guild member.

Well, there was no reason she couldn't start early.

She began walking around the apartment she lived in, silently remembering things as she looked for something she could potentially fight with. This place was given to her by the orphanage after quite a decent amount of begging. She was glad she did. She would've never met Compa if she didn't move out.

She eventually found something; a pair of kitchen knives. It wasn't ideal. Far from it. But beggars couldn't be picky, and she grabbed the pair and stuffed them into the makeshift scabbard she made from a couple leather pouches she found lingering about.

She then looked through her fridge and grabbed a small bag of cookies, both as a snack and a quick healing item.

She looked over herself again. She had weapons, snacks, and a head full of future memories. Her MP had taken a hit because of Green Noah, but she still had more than 200 to use. Honestly, if she ignored her Agi, she could play pretty well as a mage-archetype.

But speedsters were the best, and there was no changing that.

As discreetly as she could, she snuck out of her apartment, locked the door behind her and began making her way down the stairs. She stumbled from time to time, still unused to her smaller body, but she made it down to the ground safely.

She took a deep breath, and ran.

And as the wind ran through her hair, it finally sunk in. She was back. She was back. Everything that's happened-, no, everything that will happen, she could stop them. She'd made it back, and she could change it.

She could feel tears building in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She'd face the future. She'd run forward and hold her head high.

Everything will change. That was the oath she promised to the sun above.


It didn't take her all that long to make it to the outer edge of Virtua Forest. Her legs were screaming at her, but she didn't feel like slowing down her run in the slightest. Virtua Forest was special to her, and she needed to see it.

And her breath was stolen as she saw the vibrant grass and leaves, saw the flowers blooming, so the way the trees danced as the wind flew by.

She choked back a sob. It was back.

She wiped her eyes and smiled. The plan today was simple: She'd hunt the weaker monsters down and level up. The stronger ones would remain untouched. She wasn't looking for a quick game over.

Before she went further in, she pulled out her knives and took a deep breath. Her legs parted, and she began swinging, following movements she'd memorized in the future. Her moves were clunky, unused to the smaller reach this body had, but she kept swinging, kept following those phantom memories. And before long,

[ Dagger Mastery* ]

Rank: Starter | 01%

The biggest impacts come in the smallest packages, and this one isn't an exception. Daggers were wonderfully powerful, and suited as both a primary and secondary weapon.

Str increased by (+10%) when using a dagger

Agi increased by (+10%) when using a dagger

The passive skill popped itself into her status, and she smiled wryly. It was incredible really. It took her months of swinging her knives in the past before she got this skill. She'd gotten it in minutes now. She wondered if Neptune would call this cheating. Probably not.

She gave her knives a quick look over. If she was careful, these should be enough for today. She'd obviously need to buy another pair for tomorrow, but that was fine. She just hoped she could gather enough credits for that.

With a quick breath, she smiled and ran in. She followed along an already carved path, her ears trained at her surroundings to catch any sudden sounds.

Then, suddenly, she heard something bounce,

And she stopped, letting a wild dogoo sail past her before stabbing it on the back. The monster let out a whimper of pain, before she stabbed it with her other knife. It let out one last wail before it exploded into shards of light.

[Gained 10 Exp and 10 Credits]

She resumed her run, hopping over tree roots and swerving around incoming branches as she looked for more monsters to slay. It didn't take long for another dogoo to leap from the bushes, and like before, a couple stabs to its face sent it to oblivion.

[Gained 10 Exp and 10 Credits]

It…made her feel somewhat bad. Dogoos were rather cute, and she'd kept one for a pet at one time. Having to kill them so relentlessly was…harsh. But she didn't mind. She needed the Exp and Credits. She needed to level up.

Another suddenly sprang from behind her, and she spun and kicked it in the face before stabbing it.

[Gained 10 Exp and 10 Credits]

She frowned. There were three dogoos already, and no other monsters. At this rate, she'd need to kill another 97 dogoos to get to Level 2, and she didn't know how long that'd take. She hoped other monsters would begin showing up.

She continued running, slashing and stabbing at incoming dogoos. She watched as her Exp bar slowly crept up, watched as the Credits in her bank went up inch by inch, and she smiled. The sum of credits she had wasn't much compared to what she once had, but it was still way more than her old teenage self would've imagined making.

Then, she came into a clearing, and a triplet of Tulips stood at the center, hopping and dancing around each other. Their flower heads bobbed as they hopped.

She took a step forward, and they suddenly turned to her, beady eyes flashing. With a shrill cry they charged at her. It would've been somewhat threatening if they actually moved fast, and didn't trip. IF just watched as the tulips struggled to rush her, stumbling from place to place and even bumping to one another.

She sighed and brought forward her knives.

With a single leap, she crossed the distance between them and sliced one of the tulips' head right off its body. The other two turned to her, but she'd already moved and stabbed another between its eyes. The lifeless tulip shattered into particles of light, and IF turned to the last remaining tulip. It was cowering, beady eyes filled with fear.

She stared at it and stabbed it.

[Gained 40 Exp and 25 Credits]

[Gained 40 Exp and 25 Credits]

[Gained 40 Exp and 25 Credits]

With that over, she returned to her run, going deeper into the forest but making sure to remain at the outskirts. She wasn't quite strong enough to head into the inner Virtua Forest.

So she kept on grinding, killing monsters as they pop up and scrounging for materials to deposit into her inventory. After some time, Radishers and Real Gamers began appearing. The former was essentially a Radish that stood on two feet, and the latter was a disproportionately short human with nerdy glasses. Her knives easily cleaved through both.

It didn't take long for her to level up.

[Level up!]

Name: IF | -

Lvl 2 (+1) [20/2000]

HP: 200/200 (+50) | SP: 305/350 (+100)

Str: 4 (+1) | Vit: 3 (+1)

Int: 10 (+1) | Men: 5 (+1)

Agi: 10 (+1) | Tec: 6 (+1)

A single increase to all her stats. Not bad, but nothing great. Not that she expected much. Her level was still in the single digits after all.

…She'd probably get herself to level 3 and return back to her apartment. She could go on after that, but her legs were slightly tired already. Having her legs go immobile in the middle of a monster-infested forest didn't sound like the best way she could spend a day. Well, that, and she wanted to buy a new pair of daggers. These kitchen knives were fine, but their durability had definitely taken a rough hit.

She took a quick moment to breathe, busying herself with reading through her status to pass the time. The forest didn't allow her to and threw another dogoo at her.

She swiftly stabbed it between its eyes.

[Gained 10 Exp and 10 Credits]

With a small sigh, she closed all her menus, turned around and ran back the path she took. There was no point in going deeper now.

It didn't take even a minute for monsters to appear. Groups of dogoos and tulips began ambushing her, and she could spot Radishers and Real Gamers hiding behind the trees. It seemed as if they were trying to keep her from escaping.

She stabbed through them all without hesitation.

The sounds of shattering glass echoed through the forest as Exp, Credits, and Items flooded her menus. Notifications kept popping up, though years of combat allowed her to easily ignore them.

Then,

[Level up!]

Name: IF | -

Lvl 3 (+1) [10/3500]

HP: 250/250 (+50) | SP: 405/450 (+100)

Str: 5 (+1) | Vit: 4 (+1)

Int: 11 (+1) | Men: 6 (+1)

Agi: 11 (+1) | Tec: 7 (+1)

Two level ups in a single day. That wasn't all that bad. She could've gone on for longer if she'd bought some consumables, but that was a scenario for another day. Letting out a breath, she held up her knives to the sky. Repeated stabs and slashes had chipped the blade, and she could see the metal beginning to fracture from all the stress she forced onto it.

It was the perfect time to head back.