(...continued at Grown-up Jasper’s end)

There were no more thunders.No signs of storms.No voids.

No collapsing reality or eternal turmoil flipping them side by side.

Just—Jasper sitting on a half cracked stone ledge like this was a mildly inconvenient family meet in the middle of a vacation.

His elbows rested on his knees.Fingers tapping.Slow at first.Then faster as if trying to match Autumn’s motion.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Tap.

His storm-blue eyes tracked his mother as she paced in front of him.

Left.

Right.

Turn.

Back again.

If pacing burned calories, Autumn would have evaporated by now.

She had crossed the same stretch of shoreline so many times the wet sand had flattened smooth beneath her feet.

"Okay. Okay. Fine. Great. Fantastic," she muttered under her breath. "My son is here from the future.Great! This means he didn’t just break rules, the natural flow of all events has fractured. That’s just— that’s just perfect."

Jasper smirked.

He leaned back slightly, watching her like this was a live performance.

She stopped abruptly and pointed at him.

"Do not look at me like that."

"Like what?" he said innocently.

"Like you didn’t just drop a multiverse-level bomb on my head and then stand there looking like Kieran with better cheekbones.What an absolute menace you grew up into, Jasper Ulfsen!"

He blinked once, laughing louder

"That’s rude,Mamma."

She resumed pacing.

"You broke rules you said, Jas...How many?" s

She went on, hands moving now. "What rules? Whose rules? Universal? Temporal? Divine?Space time?Because those are not the kind of rules you just casually say, ’Oops, my bad.’"

Jasper’s fingers resumed tapping.

"Technically," he said lightly, "I didn’t get to say oops."

She stopped again.

Slow turn.Dead stare.

"Jasper!!!"

He grinned wider.

The grin was trouble.

"So you are out of shock and have some hint about the situation!Great!That’s progress."

She inhaled sharply.

"That is not progress. That is me trying not to lose my damn mind."

He laughed under his breath.

She looked absolutely unhinged—wind-tangled hair, lightning still faintly flickering in her irises, pacing like a general who’d just been told her entire family died in some bull fight.

And the grown ass handsome man in front of her was her son from the future.

He tilted his head, studying her more softly now.

"You always did this," he said casually.

"Did what?"

"Pace when you’re scared."

She froze.

"I am not scared."

"Yeah," he nodded. "You are."

Her jaw tightened.

"Of what exactly?" she snapped. "Of some man showing up calling me Mamma and telling me the future sucks?"

Jasper winced.

"Okay, when you put it like that..."

She ran a hand through her hair and resumed pacing.

"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. I was just trying to fight a void-wielding maniac, psychopathic bitch..."

"You mean Grandma!" He chirped in, excitedly.

Autumn shot him a fierce glance that made him shrink back, as she continued. "...we all nearly got erased from existence because of that woman...she has no relationship with us whatsoever...not even your father..." Jasper looked like he was scared at this point. He had really pissed off Autumn.

"And now my adult child is here from the future thinking it’s some grand family reunion..."

He coughed to hide something.He hid his face.Did not want Autumn to read his expressions for some reason.

"You’re taking this better than I expected." He finally blurted out at which Autumn whipped around.

"How much worse did you expect it to be?"

He considered that.

"Lightning first. Questions never."

She opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

"...Jasper your body grew up, you brain did not..."

He snorted.

There it was.

That flicker of reluctant humor.

She resumed pacing, though slower now.

"You broke rules. Let’s get this sorted first," she repeated, quieter. "What kind of rules, Jasper?"

He leaned forward, forearms resting on his thighs now.

The casual edge softened slightly.

"Big ones."

"That is not helpful.Be specific.What rules and what are the consequences...Do you have anybody after you?"

"Okay," he sighed. "You know those lines in reality you’re not supposed to touch because they’re... structural?"

She stared at him.

"Yes."

"Yeah. I touched those."

She dragged both hands down her face.

"Moon help us."

"Relax."

"Relax?!" she barked. "You tampered with structural timeline anchors and you want me to relax?Do you have any idea about the consequences,Jasper?And here I was thinking..."

He raised both hands defensively.

"In my defense..."

"There better be a phenomenal defense."

"I had a very good reason."

She stopped pacing.

Finally.

The silence between them shifted.

He didn’t smirk this time.

Didn’t joke.

Just watched her.

"You might disappear,Jasper," Autumn said softly.

The casual tone thinned.

Her expression didn’t change.

But her fingers curled slightly at her sides.

" I know, but this was better than existing without the rest of my family... doing nothing when I knew there was a chance... maybe a thin chance.

Autumn looked at her son and smiled. A sad smile.

"And before you ask," he continued, "no, it’s not heroic. It’s not noble.I know that...but you weren’t there,Mamma..."

Her throat tightened.

"And Kieran?" she asked carefully.

He huffed a breath.

"Dad went feral for about three years."

That made her blink.

"Feral?"

"Yeah. Not metaphorically."

Despite everything another ghost of sadness flickered in her eyes.

"Of course he did,that idiot..."

Jasper shook his head faintly, amused.

"You both are a mess, by the way."

She crossed her arms.

"Excuse me?"

"You two love like it’s a battlefield strategy."

She stared at him.

"That makes zero sense."

"It does, not arguing about that."

She rolled her eyes.

"Goddess have mercy, what an insufferable young brat you are..."

He grinned.

"Genetics."

She almost smiled.

Almost.

Then her anxiety surged again, bleeding through her composure.

She resumed pacing—shorter strides now.

"You should not be here," she muttered. "If you changed something just by arriving we are in for a big...big trouble..."

"I know."

She looked at him sharply.

He wasn’t smiling now.

"I know,but in this timeline,this moment in time, at least I know you are all still breathing...all of you," he repeated looking proud.

His fingers had stopped tapping.

Completely.

"And I also know if I didn’t interfere at this exact moment?" he added quietly. "You wouldn’t have survived the next sequence."

Her stomach dropped.

"Sequence?What sequence?"

He gave her a long look.

"You think any of these minions you fought were the main event?"

A beat.

She exhaled slowly.

"Nope.I know very well who is behind all this..."

He gave her a tight nod.

"Yeah?You think it’s Grandmother,but for your information,you are wrong."

The wind shifted faintly around them.

The mine pulsed once in the distance.

Autumn’s pacing stopped for real this time.

She stood there—still—processing.As if Jasper had slapped her.

Then she muttered under her breath:

"You are one of her creations,aren’t you? Send here to confuse me?!" But she knew, her heart knew this wasn’t true.

He shrugged lightly.

"I wanted to ease you in.I know from your lived experience till now, it is very logical to hate Grandmother.She isn’t very proud of the things she has done either. But she is willing to fight against her own actions,she is willing to change..."

She stared at him.

"Wait a minute, Jasper! What the hell do you mean by Grandma isn’t proud and she is willing to change her actions?"

Jasper looked a little scared but he took a step forward and held Autumn by her shoulders

"Mamma, calm down. I will explain everything...I am from a different timeline. Things are not the same in the future..."

She pointed at him."You! You are making no sense whatsoever.Come around.Tell me your real agenda young man. Don’t go beating around the bush! "

He leaned back a little,his sad smile deepening.

"Oh,I will. Eventually."

Her eyes narrowed.

He clamped his mouth shut.

Too late.

She advanced one step.

"Jasper."

He laughed nervously.

"Okay, that one might be my fault."

Her paranoia spiked visibly.

"What the hell does that mean?"

He raised both hands again.

"Relax. You only knock me unconscious once."

Her eye twitched.

"I am going to regret every single second of this, aren’t I?"

He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"Statistically? Yeah."

She looked skyward like she was begging the universe for patience.

"You brought chaos with you."

He smiled faintly.

"No," he corrected softly.

"I came because chaos was already coming."

The casual air thinned again.

Something heavier settled.

Autumn’s posture shifted.

Not pacing.

Not panicking.

Listening.

"What happens next?" she asked.

Jasper’s eyes flicked toward the horizon.

Storm-blue darkening.

"They notice," he said quietly.

"Who?"

He swallowed once.

"The ones who really don’t like it when someone rewrites fate.The ones who offer you darkness at your weakest phase..."

A beat.

Then he smirked again, trying to lighten it.

"But hey— no pressure."

Autumn stared at him for a long second.

Then muttered:

"You are absolutely your father’s son."

He grinned.

"And yours."

The mine pulsed again behind them.

Stronger this time as if it agreed too.