Remember when Wu was hit with the Reversal Time Blade at the end of season seven and he de-aged into a baby, which eventually led to the ninja having to take care of a toddler in the First Realm? Good times. Remember when Ray was hit with the Reversal Time Blade?

There was something different about Ray. At first, Maya thought it was because she and Ray were finally free after nearly fifteen years of captivity. But as that first week back home passed, something kept bothering her.

"What?" Ray asked when he caught her staring at him for the fifth time that morning.

"Are you using my moisturizer?" Maya asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because your wrinkles are fading."

"What wrinkles?"

"Ray, you're not twenty-five anymore," Maya said as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm not using your moisturizer."

The next day, Maya thought that Ray's hair looked browner.

"Did you dye your hair?" Maya asked.

"Did I dye my hair? Yesterday you asked if I was using your moisturizer and now you're asking if I dyed my hair?"

"I'm sorry, but I swear it looks like you're getting younger!"

"That's physically impossible."

"I know, but… I don't know what else to say. You look younger than you did when we first got home."

"How can you tell? That hole Krux kept us in was so badly lit you couldn't really see anything," Ray pointed out.

"I guess you're right."

Maya tried to put it out of her mind, but as one week turned into two, there was no denying that Ray was getting younger. At the end of the second week, even he had to admit there was something strange going on. Maya tried to call Wu, but Misako was the one to pick up the phone.

"Is Wu there?" Maya asked.

"Kai and Nya didn't tell you? Wu's lost," Misako said.

"Lost?"

"Yes. Krux and Acronix opened a time portal and he went after them. We don't know where or when he is. The ninja are all out looking for him."

"I see. Well, thank you for your time." Maya hung up the phone. She sighed and went looking for Ray. She found him staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"How old do you think I am now?" Ray asked as Maya hugged him.

"I'm not sure. Let's say you lose a year every day, and it's been two weeks, so maybe forty or forty-one?"

"And what happens when I become a baby?"

"I don't know."

As time went on, Ray continued to de-age. They tried a few different teas they had managed to get from Mystaké, but nothing worked. Maya was glad her children were too busy to have time to visit. She didn't want to worry them. They did call occasionally, but Maya did most of the talking. A few weeks later, Ray's clothes started to become too big. He tried not to let it bother him, but Maya saw through the facade. She did what she could to make him comfortable.

"I don't really want to buy you new clothes since they won't fit you in two days, but I'll see what the store has," Maya said as she pinned up Ray's pants.

"New clothes?"

"Yeah. You need something to wear."

"No, I mean… Should I go with you?"

"No. Stay here and stay out of trouble." Maya kissed his cheek and left.

As Maya wandered up and down the aisles, she wondered what Ray would need in the coming days. She turned down the baby aisle and was disheartened to find that diapers had gotten complicated the past fifteen years, with different sizes, materials, and styles. Baby food wasn't much better and finding a simple baby formula proved difficult. After staring at the baby food for almost ten minutes, she finally just grabbed stuff at random and moved on. For clothes, she did something similar and headed to the checkout.

When she arrived home, Ray was staring at the pictures of Kai and Nya on the mantle. Maya approached him.

"Nya asked about you the last time she called. I don't know what to tell them. I don't want them to worry when they're already looking for Wu," Maya said.

"Who's Nya?"

"Our daughter?"

Ray stared at her.

"You don't remember our children?" Maya asked.

"How can we have children if… never mind," Ray said.

"Ray?"

"It's fine. I was just confused." He smiled at her and went upstairs.

Maya sighed and watched him. Lately, he had been getting confused a lot. Maya was worried. Without Wu, there really wasn't anything she could do for him.

A few days later, Ray refused to get out of bed. He looked to be about fourteen.

"Ray, are you okay?" Maya asked.

Ray just stared at her.

"Ray, please tell me what's going on." Maya sat in the bed next to him.

"It's nothing," Ray whispered.

"It's clearly not nothing. Talk to me."

Ray pulled the covers up over his head. Maya sighed and left him alone for the rest of the day.

The next day, Maya woke up when Ray gasped and jumped out of bed. By the time she rolled over, he was out the door.

"Ray?" Maya got up and followed him. She saw him trip and fall down the stairs. Maya ran down the stairs, but he got up and backed away as she approached.

"Ray, stop," Maya said.

"No! Stay away from me!"

"Ray-"

"Kidnapper!" Ray grabbed a knife from the kitchen and held it in front of him.

"I am not a kidnapper. This is your home."

"Liar! I don't live in a house!"

"So where do you live?" Maya asked.

"You should know. Now take me back to my mom!"

"Your mom? Ray, your mom is dead."

"She… No! She's not dead! She's just sick is all. She'll get better."

"Ray-"

"Shut up!"

"Put the knife down and we'll talk."

"No."

"Do not make me do this." Maya took a knife out of the sink. He kept his knife trained on her. She jumped so she was perpendicular to him and threw her knife, knocking his out of his hands. Before he could grab it, she ran over and kicked it away from him. She pinned him down and held his hands behind his back.

"How…?" Ray looked up at her.

"You're lucky I love you." Maya quickly grabbed the two knives and put them in the sink. She then grabbed Ray's hands and led him upstairs. She decided to put him in Kai's old room. They were halfway down the hall when Ray stopped. He gasped and sank to the floor. He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his arms. Maya sat down next to him and rubbed his back.

"I don't know what's happening anymore," Ray said.

"It's okay. We'll get through this."

Maya groaned when Ray climbed up onto the bed. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. She tried to pretend she was still asleep, but Ray shook her shoulder until she rolled over. He was four years old now.

"Good morning, Ray," Maya said.

"Where's Mommy?" Ray asked.

"Still on vacation." Maya didn't have the heart to tell Ray that his mom was dead every single day.

"When is she coming back?"

"I'm not sure. Do you want some breakfast?"

"Yeah."

Maya nodded and went downstairs into the kitchen. While she made some scrambled eggs, Ray watched her.

"That's not how Mommy does it," Ray said.

"Well, I'm not your mother," Maya said.

"Mommy flips her eggs."

"Ray, why don't you go play while I make breakfast." Maya had pulled out some of Kai's old toys and books from the attic.

"I want Tiger Knows Best!" Ray said.

"Tiger Knows Best? What's that?"

"My book."

"Your book?" Maya was super confused. She knew Ray couldn't read and he had never mentioned having a favorite childhood book before.

"Yeah. 'Little Cub, it's time for bed. Come on now, it's time to rest. Put down your head, don't ask me why. It's 'cause Tiger knows best.'"

Maya chuckled.

"My mommy got rid of it, do you have it?" Ray asked.

"Why did your mommy get rid of it?"

"She said-she said-she said I'm a big boy and I'm too big for little kid books, but I still like it. She says I can't have my toys in the new apartment. Mommy says we hafta move 'cause it's less money."

"Ray…" Maya didn't know what to say. She knew Ray grew up poor, but she had no idea Ruby had to resort to selling her son's things. She was a little bit mad at the woman, but she also didn't want to judge her too harshly.

"I don't have Tiger Knows Best, but I'll look for it when I go shopping, okay?"

"Okay." Ray ran into the living room to play.

As soon as he was gone, Maya picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Misako said.

"Hi, it's Maya. Um, Kai said it was possible to buy things on a computer?"

"Yes, you can buy things online. What did you need?"

"It's an old children's book called Tiger Knows Best. I don't even know where to look for that. But Ray mentioned it was his favorite childhood book and I want to surprise him."

"Tiger Knows Best… Oh, it's at the used bookstore here in town. I can get it for you if you want."

"Yes, please. I don't suppose Wu has been found yet?"

"Not yet, no. And it's hard for them to chase leads now because threats are starting to rise up again. I'm helping them look for Wu as best I can, but so far I haven't found any leads."

"Okay, well, thanks for your help with the book." Maya hung up the phone and looked at Ray. She didn't know what she was going to do.

The next day, after lunch, Ray was extremely grumpy. He needed a nap but he didn't want to take one. Every time Maya tried to put him down, he ran away and hid. Maya chased him under the kitchen table. When she eventually got a good grip on him, someone knocked on the front door. Ray hit her arm as she picked him up and put him on her hip.

"Misako. Hi," Maya said. She wiped some hair out of her eyes.

"Hi. Who's this?"

"You remember Ray, my husband?"

"That's Ray?" Misako's eyes went wide.

"Yes, although if he doesn't stop hitting me, he's going to seriously regret it."

Ray growled and kicked Maya.

"Excuse me, he needs a nap. I'll be right back." Maya took Ray upstairs. There was a bit of yelling from both of them, but Maya eventually came back down.

"Sorry about that. Would you like some tea?" Maya asked as she gestured towards the kitchen.

"No, thank you. I have that book for you."

"Oh, great."

"Was that really Ray? What happened to him?" Misako asked.

"We don't know. Ever since Kai found us and freed us, he's been de-aging. And I don't know what will happen after he becomes a baby."

"Interesting. And you haven't been de-aging?"

"No. Mystaké gave us a couple of teas to try, but nothing's worked."

"Hm. Did anything happen to him when you were rescued?"

Maya thought for a moment then gasped.

"Krux and Acronix had the Time Blades. One of them hit Ray with the Forward Time Blade, but Kai managed to get the Reversal Time Blade to undo the effects," Maya said.

"Really? How fast is he de-aging?"

"A year every day."

"A year a day… And if Wu was also hit with the Reversal Time Blade… Thank you, Maya. You've been very helpful." Misako sprang up.

"You think Wu's de-aging?"

"It's a theory. I need to look into it some more. I'll let you know if I find anything." Misako ran out the door.

Maya groaned as she rolled over. Ray was crying for food. Maya looked at the clock. Two forty-five in the morning.

"I'm too old for this," Maya groaned. She forced herself to get up.

Ray had stopped de-aging once he was a newborn. The problem was he had been stuck as a newborn for the past two months. Maya had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to raise her husband. She was somewhat comforted by the fact that she could give him a better childhood than Ruby had.

"Yes, yes, I hear you," Maya said as she flicked on the light. She stopped when she saw Ray standing in his crib. Ray held out his arms to be picked up.

"Ray?" Maya picked him up. He was heavier than he had been just a few hours earlier.

"Maaa…" Ray said.

Maya shook her head and took him downstairs. She made herself some coffee and drank it while she fed Ray. Once she was more awake, she took a good look at Ray. He looked to be about a year old now. Yesterday, he couldn't even hold his head up.

"What is going on with you?" Maya quietly asked.

Ray took his spoon out of his mouth and offered it to Maya.

"No, thank you."

Ray put the spoon into Maya's nearly full coffee.

"Really?"

Ray giggled and reached for the spoon.

"Nope. No coffee for you." Maya took the cup away before Ray could knock it over and put it in the sink. Ray began to whimper.

"You're fine." Maya picked Ray up and took him back upstairs.

"No, no, no," Ray said when he saw the crib.

"Yes, yes, yes," Maya said as she placed Ray into the crib.

"Noooo!"

"Yes. Go back to sleep."

Ray started to cry when she turned off the light.

"Good night, Ray." Maya closed the door. She only got a few hours of sleep before Ray woke her up again. When she went back to his room, once again he was standing up in his crib waiting for her.

"Well, I didn't dream you were getting older," Maya muttered. She took Ray downstairs and tried to call Misako, but she didn't answer. Maya tried a few more times over the following week but she could never get a hold of anyone.

Ray grew at the same rate he de-aged: one year every day. Maya did her best to accommodate the growing boy, and even though she was able to reuse a lot of the supplies from when he was de-aging, she was still woefully underprepared. Maya tried to teach Ray how to read and write a little bit, but he wasn't really interested in learning. The more Maya pushed him to learn, the more Ray fought it.

Ray didn't ask about Ruby this time around, but on the fourteenth day, he became extremely moody. He mostly sat on the couch curled up in a blanket. He had found a pencil and a piece of paper and had started to draw his mother.

"Oh, she's pretty," Maya said when she noticed what he was doing.

Ray shrugged.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She rubbed his back.

"No," Ray said.

The next day, as they were eating lunch, Ray suddenly perked up.

"Maya," Ray said.

"Yes?"

"No, sorry. Your name, it just came to me."

"This whole time you didn't know my name?"

"No. I don't know how I forgot it. I'm sorry."

"As long as you remember it now, that's the important thing." Maya took a sip of water to hide her smile.

"But you're… You're…"

"Your wife?" Maya finished for him.

Ray gulped and went slightly pale.

"It's okay. I'm sure you'll remember marrying me soon enough." Maya patted his hand.

Ray rubbed his forehead.

"Do you remember anything?" Maya asked.

"No. But… I feel like we should be somewhere else. In the mountains maybe?"

"Well, when we met we were both living in a monastery that is at the top of a mountain. But that was many years ago."

"Hm… There were other people there I think."

"Yes. Do you remember any of them?"

"Um… A girl. A really, really annoying girl."

"Cara. Yeah, she was… ugh. Anyone else?" Maya asked.

"Hermes?"

"We don't talk about Hermes. Do you remember Ice or Libby?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll remember them soon. Perhaps even tomorrow." Maya hoped Ray's full memories returned. She didn't know what she would do if Kai and/or Nya decided to come down for a visit and Ray had no clue who they were.

As Ray quickly aged back up, his memories returned a little bit each day. Maya was glad when the weirdest six months of her life were finally over and she had her Ray back.

"Maya?" Ray asked as they snuggled in bed together.

"Yes?"

"Can we agree to never talk about… You know…"

"I won't talk about it if you won't."

Ray smiled and kissed her.