The morning had already been bad enough, adding Ixis' unusually fowl temperament did nothing to improve it. The headaches had been coming in waves, cropping up seemingly out of nowhere and for no reason. Simple things like reaching for his toothbrush sent him searching for a bottle of pain killers. It had taken him a while to realize what it was, the feeling that put his head in a vice.

"Déjà vu," he said out loud, forgetting where he was and what he was doing.

Marcus could hear the rustle of the paper in the back seat before the chill of his boss's stare began to set in. There weren't going to be any questions, and there would only be more pain if either of them opened their mouths to address the situation, just not the same kind. Thankfully Naugus wasn't the type to care are bout his situation. The man only wanted quiet to wallow in whatever fallout had occurred between him and his wife.

Just stay quiet, let him stay quiet.

As he eased back into to the drive, so too did the pain into his head.

Do something different, he wanted to scream at himself. The more he tried to repeat what he already knew was going to happen, the more it felt like someone was rubbing sand into the backs of his eyes.

A glance at the radio dial gave him an idea, but the thought of what Ixis might have to say was probably more painful than putting up with this unusual predicament. Instead, he turned down a different street. If he was lucky, Naugus would be too consumed in what he was reading to notice their alternative route.

"It's Monday," the man commented.

It was like an icepick through his eardrum.

Make it stop, he begged to no one. No one would believe me.

"You want me to go pay our friends in the Den another visit? Same as last time, right?"

The man sitting behind him folded down the corner of his paper with a skeptical look on his face.

Marcus' head was strangely okay, no throbbing, no anything.

I did something different!

It turns out knowing the future was useful. Getting out ahead of people kept them from saying things they had already told him, not that they would remember it.

If I know what's going to happen, I can do something different.

"Run home as soon as you have it," the man barked as Marcus pulled up to the front of the Breaker.

"Of course, sir." the kid was forced to hide his wince of pain.

Okay, maybe I won't be able to stop them every time.

Just like last time, she was there, standing against the building, her ears casting long shadows in the afternoon sun.

"Howdy sugar," Bunny called out.

The words nearly caused him to stumble has a new tremor scraped its way across the back of his mind.

Keep it together Marcus, he thought as he smiled back at her.

"You look worse than last time," she commented on his pained pale look.

"I feel worse than last time," he quipped back as he followed her down into the vicious shadows.

By the time that the dark had consumed him, Marcus had regained his composure only to have it shattered the moment he bumped shoulders with someone he couldn't see.

"Excuse me," he managed through the torrent of pain coursing through his brain.

Marcus had been so focused on what to do differently that he forgot to remember what was going to happen next.

This is too hard, he lifted a hand to his head to brace himself.

"hmmf," someone snorted. "You little…

"Wait," he shouted, trying to get his bearings. What happens next? I need to stop it. "Knuckles, right?"

The pain was as silent as the room.

"I get it," the kid began, "you're mad about who I work for, but I'm just as trapped as you are. And!" Marcus was quick to follow up before the Echidna could interject, "before you tell me nothing can compare to the source, I know what's trapped you is different than what's trapped me, but I think you can appreciate that the punishment for me leaving is probably about the same as it is for you, right?"

After a few more moments of still air, the kid breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Tell the Johnnies I said hi," he smiled at the creature hidden somewhere in the den's veil of darkness.

Even in the dim light he could see the look of confusion and shock on his compatriots faces as he took up his prescribed seat at their booth.

"What in the Sam Hill?" the rabbit began in a whisper, "… do you have any idea who that was."

"He could kill you in the blink of an eye…" the man snickered in amusement, "I've never heard anyone talk to him like that, not even the Johnnies."

"I needed to do something different," he pleaded with them.

"Something different?" the man guffawed. "Kid if you want to get yourself killed, go jump of a bridge or join a gang… I don't think you understand who you just messed with."

"It's these stupid headaches," he nearly screamed. "I'd do almost anything to make them stop."

The two shot him a look that promised consequences if he continued with his antics.

It's working he reminded himself, it's all different!

"The headaches," he continued in quieter voice, "so much for no side-effects, huh?"

"You took it," the man smiled as he turned to his partner, "told ya."

"Thought he looked smarter," the robian confessed as she reached into a pocket before pushing a fist full of credits across the table in man's direction, "should have know better than to bet against the poison you're selling."

"You… you two were bettering on whether I would take it?"

"Not a lot of fun in our line of work," the man shrugged, "and there's nothing in that blend that would cause headaches, so don't blame me or my product."

"It wasn't the drug, it's the déjà vu," Marcus insisted.

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"Déjà vu."

"No, I heard you the first time. It's just that's not a side effect, it's a feeling."

"That drug," Mracus began to ramble, "I've already lived today."

"Oh," the man sighed, "you're one of those."

"One of what?" the kid demanded.

"The people who thinks they saw the future."

"What the hell else was it? Everything about today has been the same, exactly the same, and when it happens, when I remember for a second time, it hurts worse than anything I've ever experienced."

"So we've already had this conversation?"

"Well… no, because I did something different, I had to… if I don't, it hurts."

"Look, kid, this isn't some kind of voodoo juice from north of the border. I've heard all the theories, but they just don't check out. The reality of it is that our brains are a whole lot more perceptive than we can comprehend. That little cocktail just removes the limits while you're off in dreamland. Whatever you think you saw in your vision, you saw it because your little noggin was able to piece together a day in the future with everything you had already seen and heard. You didn't take any magical journeys to another dimension or time, and you didn't see the future. You just saw what your brain wanted to tell you while you were awake but couldn't."

"No, look, you don't get it, stuff happened in my dream that I couldn't have possibly known!"

"Like what?"

"Like…"

Marcus struggled for a moment, trying to think of something he couldn't have reasonably anticipated so far. He had nearly the same conversations with Ixis every day, so those weren't incredibly hard to predict.

There was of course the other thing, the things that a certain fox had not given up teasing him about.

"Mina…"

"Mina? Who's that?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get this over with before it starts happening again."

"What happens again?" Bunny asked as she hoisted a rigid silver case onto the table.

"Everything goes back to normal, the not different way, the way that hurts if I don't react in time."

"Maybe I made a mistake… probably should have just offered you…" but Marcus cut the man off.

"Don't you dare say lollipop!" Marcus screamed.

Silence filled their corner of the den. He had no doubt there was an abundance of eyes on him, but he didn't care. The feeling of claws on his brain was horrid, and he would do whatever it took to spare himself the agony.

"What, don't have anything to say now that I took the word out of your mouth?"

"That's… different," the man agreed. "Did I say that in this dream of yours?"

Marcus nodded, "If I stop trying for even a second, it's like the whole day just snaps back to the way I remember it. It feels like the universe is perpetually nudging be back on some path I can't see."

"It isn't out of the ream of possibilities to for this stuff to cause memory issues," the man conceded.

"Now you tell me!"

"But that's only supposed to be a risk at much higher dosages. What you're describing sounds like overwrite protection."

"Over what?"

"You know," the rabbit chimed in, "that little warning on your terminal that won't let you name a file the same as another one. Keeps you from erasing stuff and what not."

He hadn't ever thought of it like that. Is my brain just trying to protect the integrity of my memories?

"What can I do to make it stop?"

"It's already 2:00 PM, kid. If it was only today in your dream, you've only a bit more to go. Seems like you've got it all figured out anyway. Do something different, right?"

Figured out!? I definitely do not have this figured out!

"But I'm still here, aren't I?"

"I don't get it."

"I mean the only thing I did was change our conversation. I'm still here, I'm still picking this up, I'm still brining it back to Naugus. Everything is still the same, even if it isn't exactly the same."

"Then go throw the case in a river, I'm sure that will change your future."

"It doesn't feel like I'm in control…" Marcus continued his thought instead of acknowledging the man.

"You're a bit young for a mid-life crisis don't you think?"

"Or an existential one," the rabbit added for good measure.

"I…" he searched for words but didn't find any, so he took the case and found his feet. All he could manage for a goodbye was, "Please don't say 'see you later sugah' when I leave."

He could hear the rabbit gasp, "oh my stars." The words had clearly been on the tip of her tongue like a spear ready to be hurtled right into his forehead..

I can do it, he assured himself, I just need to keep doing something different. Don't drive the same way, don't use the same entrances, avoid everyone, and no Barnyard. Just keep doing something different!

Which is exactly what he did when he entered Naugus office without more than the slightest tap on the door.

"I'll just put this on the couch over here, right?" he asked before the man could tell him what to do with the case.

"No, change of plans, this time I'm going to distribute through the Barnyard, bring it over there and leave it in my office. Blaze will know what to do with it."

"Uhhhh," he wanted so badly to protest, "of course, sir. Not a problem."

"And Marcus," his boss called out before he could reach the door.

Please don't say it, please don't say it.

"No need to pick me up tonight, I've made other arrangements."

It may as well have been an icicle through his eye socket.

"I'll be waiting for your call, sir," he replied reached for the door and slipped out before Ixis could say the next part of his sentence.

"Damn it," he swore loudly under his breath. "I can't go there…"

It would be too difficult to balance everything, to remember it all and then stop from happening.

"And Mina," he reminded himself for good measure.

He still hadn't finished processing that.

"I can do it, I can do it," he chanted as he strode by Kitty's desk as if it were his mantra. No doubt she already thought he was strange, what was happening now was just confirming it. At the very least it kept her from uttering a feigned goodnight as he hit the button to call the elevator.

"I'll walk there. No driving. I drove last time. Home and the Barnyard are practically the same place."

His ramblings were that of an insane person, but the shame of it all was gone. It kept the agony away.

Of course, he had never considered that walking through the streets of Capitol City with a case of the world most exotic designer drug was perhaps not the smartest plan, but it did give him an hour to think things through.

"I can just walk in and leave," Marcus assured himself as he approached the building. "No one is keeping me there. I'm dropping this off," he shook the case at no one, "so that's different, right?"

It took every ounce of self control not to swear when he walked in, "Ugg I forgot about the bell!"

The two Mobians looked over in his direction, "what?" they asked in unison.

"I… I forgot this place had a bell above the door. Never heard it until now I guess."

"You picked the wrong day," the cat responded sending a tremor through his brain. "the bar around the corner lets Mobians in on Mondays because they don't get enough customers otherwise."

Marcus staggered to the bar, trying to compose himself.

"You okay?" Mina asked, "you don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good," he replied as he hoisted the case onto the bar top. "Naugus said you would know what to do with this."

The cat nodded as she slid the contraband off the counter, "be back in a moment."

"What's wrong?" the mongoose implored as she took up a seat next to him.

He wanted to laugh, "I tried explaining it to someone already… they didn't believe me."

"I'll believe you," she assured him with a warm smile.

The door jingled as someone new joined the otherwise empty room.

"That damn bell," he massaged his temples.

Oh no, him! Focus, Marcus. Focus!

"Blaze!" he called out obnoxiously from the palms of his hands.

"What?" the cat replied in annoyed fashion from the kitchen.

"Need you to get my friend a drink."

"Friends?" the Dominion agent's voice asked sarcastically. "I feel honored."

"Who's this?" Blaze asked in a skeptical tone as she slid a cold beer across the wooden venire.

"Don't pay me no mind," the man smiled, "I'm just here to have a chat with my 'friend'."

"I want to skip the next five minutes," Marcus sighed. "I want to skip the part where you threaten me both physically and with calling my parents. Can we do all that if I just tell you now that I'll pass along your message to Ixis? You want Fiona to stop following you and I want you to leave without opening your mouth."

His favorite kind of silence filled the room.

Hmm maybe sometimes knowing the future is fun.

The Dominion agent paused for a moment as if he were going to speak before lifting the fresh pint to his lips. He grumbled at the taste but didn't speak.

"Since we have an understanding of sorts," the kid continued, "If you're willing to give Ixis what he wants in return for you loosing your red shadow, just walk out the door. If you want something else, now's the time to let me know."

Without hesitation the man removed himself from his stool and backed away until he was against the door. The Dominion agent seemed unwilling to take his eyes of Marcus.

He actually showed up! Marcus was panicking internally at the thought of something else coming to pass. Of course he did, you told Naugus to send Fiona after him. But I only did that because of the dream I had where he had been afraid of her… which means that my future has only come true because I saw it and acted on it? Is that even possible?

The circular nature of it hurt his brain nearly as much as the past repeating iteself, and no amount of arguing himself would fix that.

"Okay, just what the hell was that?" Blaze asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

The cat shook her head, "No, I don't. Besides, I've got work to do. Mina, show the kid out when you two are done, I've got to go."

Oh no…it reset.

"Feeling any better?" the remaining Mobian inquired.

All Marcus could do was sigh into the pain he knew was coming.

"I know how to fix that," Mina insisted as she dragged him off the stool.

All I had to do was walk in, drop the case off and leave…

"Game?" he asked knowing it would change the conversation enough to buy him a few moments to think.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I was thinking the same thing," he lied. He knew, he already knew everything that would happen tonight if he let it, and no one would believe him.

"What were you thinking?" Mongoose asked with a smile.

"I play a song, you sing along if you know it. Opposite for your turn. First one who can't keep up loses?"

"I… I was going to say the same thing!" the Mobian bounced with excitement. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"You can go first," he smiled in her direction… if you want anyway."

"I do!"

Lyrics by Luna Shadow – Cherry

Before she could even start the first syllable of her song he was playing along. She shot him an annoyed glance, but continued anyway, "Baby I'll wait. Love, it's never too late to save this. Take 'em downtown, go round, and rest assured, I'm hanging from your lips, dancing in the stillness while you're killing this."

"I can see why they call you the song goose," he smiled as she sat down next to him.

"How did you do that?" she asked as the sound of the piano faded into the wild sound of a city that never sleeps.

"Do what?"

"You knew what I was going to sing before I even started."

"Lucky guess?"

"It felt like more than that, like you were reading my mind," she eyed him cautiously.

"It's hard to explain he confessed," as he started up his own tune.

It only took her a moment, after all he knew it was the next song she was going to sing.

Lyrics: Elton John and Dua Lipa – Cold Heart

"It's a human sign. When things go wrong. When the scent of her lingers. And temptation is strong. Cold, cold heart. Hard done by you, you… you how are you doing this?" the Mongoose demanded. "How?"

Marcus couldn't bring himself to reply. He felt guilty about his seemingly perverse insight into this moment they were meant to share. He had ruined it.

Maybe knowing the future isn't always fun.… but is that such a bad thing in this case? How much further do I want to take this? Don't I have a choice?

"Stop," she practically begged him, "it's not fair."

"It's your turn," was all he could bring himself to reply with.

With a gruff, 'hmff,' the mongoose pondered her options for a moment before grinning.

"Slip into the night, join me in the fight," she began in only the way Mina could.

Her voice was spectacular right down to the last syllable.

"Run with me through the streets, we're playing for keeps."

Marcus was mesmerized by her voice as he watched her twirl between tables, dancing to her own beat.

"When I'm there with you I know no fear, won't you tell me the words I want to hear."

Wait… what song is this?

"Beneath these towers I'm strong, striving to right so many wrongs."

All he could do was attempt to play along with her melody as it flowed back and forth.

"If you'd only see, together we're invincible, some type of mythical."

He wound down his make-believe song as her let the breath out of the last of her lyrics.

"I'll give you points for trying," Mina giggled.

"I don't know that one," he happily admitted.

Did I finally do it, did I finally change the future?

"Well since you were over there reading my mind, I wanted to test you with a song only I know."

"Wait," he paused, "you wrote that?"

The Mongoose shrugged modestly, "I'm still working on it."

"Can't read your mind," he felt the need to point out.

"It sure felt like you could, but hey, at least I won."

"I'm not sure I would call me not knowing a song only you know a win…" he chuckled, "but I did have fun, so I think I'll let you have it."

"Good, now as for my prize."

Prize…?

"I didn't realize we were playing for anything."

"Well you should have asked," she replied with a sinister grin.

Oh no. think Marcus, get control of the situation before she does, before things reset.

"How about a date," he blurted out.

This is the opposite of control…

"Are you sure you can't read my mind?"

Oh no. Okay, just think it through. We need to be as far away from here as possible.

"It's hard to explain," he confessed as he stood up.

"What's hard to explain?" the mongoose asked eagerly as she wrapper her arm around his.

"This entire day."

The silence followed them all the way out into the alley.

"So, where you taking me?"

"Station Square."

"Ohhh fun."

"You said you would believe me?" he asked as they strode down the sidewalk together.

"Hmm?" she glanced up at him confused with her emerald-colored eyes.

"This whole day, from the moment I've woken up until about an hour from now, I've known what will happen."

"Really?"

It wasn't the dismissive tone he had anticipated, the kind Fiona would have probably given him.

"The guy that Ixis sent me to meet, the one that gave me the case, he gave me some kind of Nightshade to help me sleep."

"You took it?" She asked, more curious about where the story was going than judging him for his poor decision making.

Marcus nodded as the pair walked down the steps to the subway, "he promised that any of the dreams I might have would feel as real as tomorrow."

He watched as Mina mulled it over. It wasn't until the doors closed behind them and they sat down in a quiet corner that she replied, "so the dream was today?"

"Took me a while to figure it out."

"And that's how you knew what songs I was going to sing?"

"More than just that, it's how I knew why that Dominion agent showed up, how I was able to get him to leave without ever asking for anything."

"Wait!" the mongoose nearly screamed, "that was a dominion agent?"

"Yeah… don't worry about him though."

"Why, because you know the future?"

Marcus couldn't help but chuckle, "when you say it out loud it sounds ridiculous."

"So what do we do next? How does the night end?" the Mobian asked with a bright smile.

"Couldn't tell you."

"Wait I thought…"

"The thing is," Marcus began his long-winded explanation, "I'm not allowed to do the same things. Imagine the worst headache you've ever had in your life multiplied by thirty. That's what it felt like every time the same thing happened today. I have to do something different, or I end up wishing I had."

"Then why did you play our game, didn't that hurt?"

"I hadn't even planned on showing up there tonight," he confessed, "no matter how hard I try to stray from the future, I get shoved right back down the same path."

A gong sounded announcing their trains arrival at Station Square.

"So then how does tonight end?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

"Maybe not," she teased as they walked up the steps into the rotunda. "But you could still try telling me."

"In my dream you told me you lived in the middle of nowhere out west, that your parents wanted you to stay, but you ran away the first chance you got. And even after you discovered that Broadway wouldn't let Mobians on stage, you wouldn't give up on your dreams of performing. That's why you work at the Barnyard."

The Mongoose started at him blankly as he led her through a set of doors, down a hallway and into a lonely elevator.

"That's about how I feel right now," Marcus commented or her dazed look. "A bit lost, confused and maybe a tiny bit angry. I didn't want this, I didn't ask for it."

"We have to adapt," Mina smiled up at him. "The tree that…."

"Whooa don't say it… sorry, it's just that it really hurts when people say the same things. Can I say it for you?

She nodded gleefully, fascinated by the idea of having her thoughts spoken to her by another.

"The tree that doesn't bend, breaks. You bend, you adapt, and you overcome, but you do not break."

"You're not lying, are you?" she said in awe. "So, what do I do next?"

"Like I said before," he replied as he stepped out of the elevator, "I don't really know. Right about now I was boiling water for ramen in my dream. I have to prod things off course every now and then, or I'll pay the price sooner or later.

"Sounds like a boring dream," the Mongoose confessed.

"But tonight, we're up here," he smiled as he motioned to what few stars shown through the blanket of neon lights. "A lot less boring, a lot less familiar."

"We? I was there in your dream too, now, boiling ramen?"

"You were around," Marcus confessed as he found a familiar perch. It seemed pointless to lie to her when she was so willing to listen to the truth however strange it may have sounded.

The Mobian joined him at the edge of the helicopter pad, her legs hanging over the same railing.

"We don't fall, do we?" Mina asked as she peered down to the streets below.

"Don't think so."

"That's good."

Nothing but a city's worth of distant car horns filled the air between them. Marcus followed her eyes has she traced a distant helicopter across the city scape. Catching his gaze Mina leaned over and planted a soft kiss on his lips that he had all but forgotten about. He couldn't stop a confused look from washing across his face.

"Something different," she smiled at him reassuringly.