"It is clear to me," he said away from the earshot of Cindy, "that this deafness is the cause of my horrid life. Remove it from my life and my whole life will be right. If I had not grown deaf I would still have Cindy and we would have had a perfect life together. Remove it now!"
The young entity is caught at a crossroad.
"This can be done. However, if you do you will realize that your deafness is the cause of some of your best inventions." She suggests. Jimmy ponders for a moment and asks what she means by that.
"Before you went deaf, you invented for the sake of being noticed. Being the town hero was your main concentration in life. But when you finally lost your sense of hearing, you finally invented for the pure love of science and to make others happy. The ghosts, they've been speaking to you for as long as you've known. You could only hear them when you had everything else blocked out for you. Jimmy, your adventures and heroism were only a temporary moment. But your inventions are going to blow the minds of everyone for generations.
She then shows the old genius a vision of him slipping deeper into his total silence. The whole time, the spirits talk into his ears.
FEEL
THE DARKNESS SMILING
EVERY NOTE IS DYING
SILENCE IS
REFINING
EVERY THOUGHT IN HIS HEART
STILL
THE FATES ARE WEAVING
EVERY NOTE THAT'S BLEEDING
AS HE SITS
THERE SEETHING
ALL ALONE IN THE DARK
ALONE IN THE DARK
ALONE
IN THE ...
BUT
IN THE NIGHT
THE DARKNESS BREATHES
IF HE WILLS IT TO BE
BEFORE
HIS EYES
THE MUSIC DIES
BUT HE WILL ALWAYS HEAR ME
HE
SITS ALONE
THE CARDS ARE SHOWN
AS HE EMBRACES THE DARK
THE
ONLY SOUND
THAT HE WILL HEAR
IS THERE IN HIS HEART
SOMEONE
IS WHISPERING SOFTLY TO ME
SHADOWS OF THINGS THAT NO ONE CAN
SEE
THEY ARE THERE FOR YOU IF YOU WANT THEM TO BE
YOU WANT THEM
TO BE
YOU WANT THEM TO...
BUT
IN THE NIGHT
THE DARKNESS BREATHES
IF HE WILLS IT TO BE
BEFORE
HIS EYES
THE MUSIC DIES
BUT HE WILL ALWAYS HEAR ME
HE
SITS ALONE
THE CARDS ARE SHOWN
AS HE EMBRACES THE DARK
THE
ONLY SOUND
THAT HE WILL HEAR
IS THERE IN HIS HEART
Jimmy realizes that if this were taken from his life he would have lost the love of inventing. Fate then takes him to a bar on the outskirts of Retroville. They see Jimmy and Cindy in the same room, but Jimmy is not aware of Cindy's presence. The two are now considerably older, in their 40's. Neither of them has married for they cannot forget about what they had at one point.
From a distance, Cindy wonders the question that always infects her mind, questioning what could have been. She follows him home, making sure he gets there safely and gazes in the lab window that night.
TIME
ONLY
TIME
COULD NEVER TAKE ME AWAY FROM YOU
AND
WHY
SHOULD IT TRY
TIME NEVER CARES JUST WHAT WE DO
IT
JUST SITS ON A STAR
AND GAZES DOWN
DROPPING ITS MOMENTS ALL
AROUND
AND IF I COULD WISH UPON THAT STAR
I WOULD FIND WHAT YOU
DREAM
AND THEN ASK GOD TO GRANT IT
I
WANTED
TO SAY THIS
LONG BEFORE THIS DARK WOULD FALL
AT NIGHT
I
WOULD PRAY THIS
THEN WONDER IF GOD HEARD AT ALL
FOR THE
CHANCES I'VE HAD ARE NOW LONG GONE
AND THAT STAR IS NO LONGER
WISHED UPON
FOR ON THIS NIGHT IT SEEMS TOO FAR AWAY
TRY
I
HAVE TRIED
TO PRETEND THAT I DON'T CARE
BUT THEN
SLEEP
ARRIVES
AND IN EVERY DREAM I FIND YOU THERE
BUT
I DON'T WANT THE PAST TO BE MY LIFE
AND I DON'T WANT TO LIVE
INSIDE THIS NIGHT
BUT I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR SHADOW FADE
SO I
SLEEP AND I DREAM
THOUGH I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT
I
WANTED
TO SAY THIS
LONG BEFORE THIS DARK WOULD FALL
AT NIGHT
I
WOULD PRAY THIS
THEN WONDER IF GOD HEARD AT ALL
FOR THE
CHANCES I'VE HAD ARE NOW LONG GONE
AND THAT STAR IS NO LONGER
WISHED UPON
FOR ON THIS NIGHT IT SEEMS TOO FAR AWAY
YOU
CAN LIVE YOUR LIFE IN A THOUSAND WAYS
BUT IT ALL COMES DOWN TO
THAT SINGLE DAY
WHEN YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU REGRET
WHAT YOU CAN'T
RECLAIM BUT YOU CAN'T FORGET
IF I COULD JUST FALL BACK INTO MY
LIFE
AND FIND YOU THERE INSIDE THIS NIGHT
AND LET ETERNITY JUST
DRIFT AWAY
Crushed, Jimmy realizes that Cindy would have kept her word that life altering night. She would have loved him despite the deafness and solitude. Fate observes the look on his face and the tears beginning to form in his eyes. Taking pity upon the man she catches his attention.
"Come, I will show you a glimpse of the future." She invites, smiling a reassuring grin.
The two of them return to the clock. She turns the dial with a slender hand to year 2050, where they see a large building.
"Where are we?" He questions skeptically.
"The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum at Dulles International." Fate says. They see a new branch of the building being constructed. He notices a large stone plaque.
"The James I. Neutron center? They commemorated a branch to me?" He asks in shock turning to Fate. She nods her head.
"You inspired many people James Neutron, including your friends. Your friend Carl, the champion llama breeder, donated a large sum of money for this museum to put the center in. Sheen, the male model, wrote a 36-chapter book on why you deserve it."
Seeing him still looking doubtful, she told him of Butch and how he uses the perfected nanobots as a security system that has saved him from a murderer and of Brittany who would be lost without the also perfected Smart Pants for her 7 children.
Upon hearing this he realizes that to remove the most painful moments would be to remove the inspiration of his greatest inventions. If he changes one thing, he'd change it all.
SOMETIMES
SLOWLY
TIME
BRINGS REVELATION
WAITING
SOFTLY
FOR
SOMEONE TO BELIEVE
THAT
THE GHOSTS WE'VE HIDDEN OR LEFT TO DIE
HAVE NOW ARISEN AND WILL
ARRIVE
TO SAY WHAT HAS HAPPENED
SAY WHAT HAS HAPPENED
SAY
WHAT HAS HAPPENED
TO ME
AND
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT
THAT YOU'D BE THE ONE
THAT I WOULD HAVE
FOUND HERE WAITING
LOST
IN THIS NIGHT
UNTIL YOU ARRIVED
AND ALWAYS TOO BLIND TO SEE
AND
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT
THAT AFTER THIS TIME
THAT I'D BE THE ONE
YOU'RE SAVING
NOW
UNDISGUISED
THE GHOSTS THAT SURVIVE
NOW SAY WHAT WAS MEANT TO
BE
I
NEVER WANTED TO GIVE MY LIFE AWAY
WHO EVER THOUGHT IT WOULD MATTER
ANY WAY
WANDERING
INSIDE THIS NIGHT
FINDING PIECES OF A LIFE
NEVER SURE I'D EVER
KNOW WHAT IT MEANS
IT'S
THE STRANGERS IN YOUR LIFE
THAT YOU'D NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D
MEET
IT'S THE HAND THAT PICKED YOU UP
WHEN YOU'RE LAYING IN THE
STREET
IT'S
THE HAND THAT CUT YOU DOWN
IT'S THE DREAM THAT SOMEONE SHARED
WHEN
YOU THOUGHT THAT ALL WAS LOST
IT'S THE FRIEND THAT WASN'T THERE
YOU
CAN RUN FROM ALL THE MEMORY
BUT NEVER GET THAT FAR
FOR IN THE
END THEY'LL FIND YOU
FOR THIS IS WHO YOU ARE
CHANGE
ONE NOTE
CHANGE ONE LINE
NOTHING'S GOING TO BE THE SAME
CHANGE
ONE LOSS
CHANGE ONE CUT
EVERYTHING IS RE-ARRANGED
EVERY
ACT
CRUEL OR KIND
LOST INSIDE OUR MEMORY
IF YOU LOOK
THERE
IN TIME
YOU'LL
FIND IT IN
FIND IT IN
FIND IT IN
YOU'LL FIND IT IN ME