A/N: On my list of AUs to write for, it's one where Reader goes back in time to prevent the events of WTFuture! (Featuring a theory that Tord isn't Red Leader after all...) Enjoy!

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Tord sighed as he finished putting the last box in the attic. It wasn't bad for a London apartment, especially considering the budget he had. With his time in the army, he'd gotten a good sum of money (especially since they were paying him to never go into the army again). It was a sizely house, with a large bedroom, master bath, a guest room, guest bathroom, and a rather nice kitchen/living room combo.

He checked his watch and frowned. He had a job interview in the morning, so he had one night to make sure he had the necessary groceries.

He decided to go get some food for dinner. He grabbed his apartment keys and wallet and left the house. He took out the pocket map he'd gotten with the apartment and studied it, trying to find the best route to the supermarket.

When his fingers traced a path, he smiled and looked up at the street sign.

Suddenly, he heard someone yell. He turned to the right, confused, only to see someone charging at him from an alley with a gun.

He froze up. He'd left his knife at the apartment, and he didn't carry a gun on him anymore. Was he about to die?

"DIE, MURDERER!" The man shouted, his wide brown eyes crazed and furious. They looked familiar, but Tord couldn't place where he'd seen them before.

Just before the man could shoot at him, a girl appeared in front of him, her (h/c) hair in a low ponytail ending at her elbows.

"Stay behind me," she ordered, her voice rough. Her (e/c) eyes flickered to his for a second before she kicked at the man, sending him sprawling and the gun skittering across the ground.

"I should've guessed you'd have come back too, (y/n)," The brunet man growled as he struggled to stand up. "Why are you saving scum like him?! You know our world is better off with him dead!"

"You idiot, don't you learn?" (y/n) sighed, picking up the gun and pointing it at the brunet's head. "This isn't the Red we're looking for. If you kill him now, you kill our one chance of saving our future. Don't you understand? You'll never avenge Jon's death by doing this!"

"Shut up!" He roared. "You saw it too! He's Red!"

"He's not a clone!" Her voice rose, and she grabbed Tord's arm. He flinched at her strength. "Go home, Ed. I'll text you when I find the real Red."

With that, she stormed away, clicking the safety on the gun and sheathing it in her inner coat pocket. Tord could see a glimpse of a stained white hoodie underneath.

She sighed as soon as they were far enough away. She grasped his shoulders and looked him up and down with scrutinizing eyes. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"He would've if you hadn't saved me," he replied, still stunned. "Who are you? Who was he?"

"It's... a bit of a long story," she admitted, looking away for a second. "I'm not sure if you'd believe me."

"Try me," he challenged. "I've seen worse."

"Okay." She heaved a breath. "I'm from the future. --" a bus ran by them at that moment, concealing her words as she spoke them. "-- years, to be exact. And my future is in grave danger."

She took a photo from her pocket and showed it to him. He gaped in horror at his friends. "What is this?"

"Your friends, post-murder attempt." She replied solemnly. "Though you are not the one who tried to murder them. Well, not technically."

"You remember when the Evil Director made clones of you and your friends, right?"

When he nodded, she continued.

"Well, you didn't kill all of them. One managed to escape -- one of the trigger-happy Tord clones. He hid away from you all by signing up for the army and began dismantling it from the inside. In my future, he is known simply as Red Leader."

A chill ran down his spine when she pulled out another paper -- this time, a wanted poster. His own face stared back at him, disinterestedly into the camera lens. The side of someone's face was in the left corner, but he recalled who it was. "Is that-- is that me? And Paul?"

"Yes." She nodded, putting them both away. "In the future, your clone becomes a dictator, hellbent on taking over the world. Some former classmates of yours, Paul and Patryck, join him, albeit a little unwillingly. They are responsible for an upcoming zombeh outbreak in ASDF Land."

"That theme park that's due to open in five months?" Tord shook his head in disbelief. "What else?"

"They also destroy Edd's home in order to retrieve a giant battle robot that your clone had been developing in secret. Only one death is reported: your neighbor Jon was hit by a rocket meant for Tom." She continued.

"I... I try to murder Tom?" He whispered, terrified. "But... but Edd..."

"The injuries sustained are as follows: Your clone gives Matt a black eye, buries Tom under the rubble and gives him a fractured arm, and your clone himself breaks his arm and ends up ripping up his face badly enough to cause permanent scarring." She finished. "As for the neighbors, their house is destroyed as well, but two of the three get out alive."

"And... and that man..."

"Please pay him no mind. He's my subordinate, Eduardo." She sighed. "He never fully got over Jon's death. Seeing you sets him off. No matter how many times I explain that it was your clone, he immediately flies into a rage seeing your face."

"I... I see..." He exhaled shakily. She offered him an arm and he took it, leaning against her with trembling legs. "I cannot believe..."

"Believe me, had I been a normal civilian I wouldn't have believed it either." She shook her head. "As for me, I had been a scientist for the army before our enemy became overrun with reds, and I was one of the ones to perfect our time travel devices."

She showed him the time watch on her left wrist, and he studied it, fascinated.

"What about me?" He asked, looking up into her weathered (e/c) eyes. "Do I survive?"

"Well... yes, and no," she answered reluctantly. "When your future self sees the damage Red Leader caused to Edd and your friends, you visit them, but it takes a bit of intervention for them to realize that you're innocent."

"You see, your clone has a very distinct accent. One that you don't have." Her lips stretched into a thin line. "Apparently, something in the Director's machine went wrong, and your clone was produced with a Russian accent in addition to his gun-happy personality. Your neighbor Todd actually helped a lot in clearing your name."

"What happens next?" He asked, making a mental note to ask Edd about Todd later.

"Well, you go under the radar for a while. You help us with the time travel device, and as soon as you can, you and the others go into our army to try and fight Red Leader." Her eyes grew sad. "You were never the same after that."

She pulled out a device and brought up a picture, showing it to him. His eyes widened at his face, now older and scarred, laying in a hospital bed.

Future Tord no longer had a right arm, instead having a red robotic prosthetic. A black eyepatch was over his right eye as well, and his remaining gray eye was solemn.

"You were caught in a battle and sacrificed yourself to save Tom from an explosive device. In the aftermath, we had to remove what was left of your arm and your eye. You got a bionic eye, which is pretty neat."

"What happens to the others in the future?" He pleaded. "Is Edd okay?"

"No worries, he's fine." She smiled patiently at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Tom and Matt weren't so lucky, however. Tom is going to be blasted in the face with a laser, and that will give him cancer. He survives, but we had to implant an artificial pair of glasses on his face that allow him to see. Matt's lower jaw got blasted off in a fight with Red Leader, and he also received an artificial eye."

"How can I prevent this?" He exclaimed, causing a couple of people to give him weird looks. He lowered his voice and continued, "There's gotta be something I can do. I don't want to hurt my friends!"

"It's very simple. The first thing you need to do is remember that you are not the culprit of this." She firmly stated. "Your clone is. Second, I'm even hesitant to tell you about the future, because just me being here is wreaking havoc on this time. Nevertheless, if you want to start, I have a suggestion..."

...

It was all over the news a few days later that an enemy army had totally been destroyed. Someone had bombed their bases and the remaining soldiers were taken as prisoners-of-war. Tord had gone back to the house to see if he could find the robot, and lo and behold, he found plans and the beginnings of a battle bot under the house. When he told the others about this, they were stunned.

The Evil Director was given a stern talking-to by an angry girl (and another that looked just like her, but older), and he promised never to try cloning anyone again.

As for the older woman? She remained with Tord in his London apartment, living together in secret. While she'd been wary of staying in the timeline (she could erase her younger self), Tord was adamant.

The future as she knew it ceased to exist, and the only one to remember it was comfortably ensconced in a better timeline.

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A/N: Honestly, I was a bit skeptical when I first read about it, but honestly, it makes a lot of sense. Especially considering that, had Tord never met Edd, he would've tried to take over the world way before the events of The End ever happened. And besides, I, like many other Tord fans, really want this guy to be redeemed! ;-;

Please tell me what you thought, feel free to request, and I'll see you guys later.