I recently did a little thinking and I came up with an idea...what if I did a chapter sort of from Paradox's point of view?
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        Falling was never a pleasant feeling but by now, Add had gotten used to suddenly being dropped and being left at gravity's mercy. The only problem was he was wounded at the moment and didn't even want to think about the result of his fall once it was over. To his surprise, he did not meet the hard floor nor the rough grass outside his home. Instead he landed right on the padded cushioning of his bed.

        He was a bit surprised that the current Paradox would care to have him land in such a location. Add suddenly panicked when he realized that Ara nor Paradox weren't anywhere to be found. Ryu was still there in the corner, out cold from when Ara knocked him out before they initially left, but Ara wasn't within sight at all. Failing to realize that he really should have been trying to go anywhere in his condition, Add tried to leave his bed only to end up falling to the floor.

        He stayed still, dealing with the recoil of his actions when the door was suddenly opened. "Oh, there you are. Paradox wasn't kidding about being back so quickly. Paradox just told me where you were," Grace said as she stood at the door. Add looked up in surprise only able to stare at his mother with slight confussion. "What happened to you?" Grace asked once she actually noticed the state Add was in.

        She quickly dropped to his side attempting to reach for him but for some reason, the action scared him and Add backed away. Grace tilted her head a bit at his actions but said nothing as she stood up. "I'll go get the first aid kit," she said before exiting the room. When she did, Paradox made his appearance having walked from a portal near the door. He was still in his adult form and stared at Add with narrowed eyes.

         "You're lucky there are still more anomalies to fix. I would have left you for dead although Ara wouldn't be too happy about that. She's a bit different than my Ara but not far from her personality. Damn Paradox making us remember such troublesome things," Paradox muttered. "Where is she?" Add demanded, still not put at ease for he had not seen Ara himself. "In mother's room. Her arms are fine. I bandaged them a little before coming to you," Paradox said.

        "She isn't your mother. Stop calling her that," Add said as he rubbed his side a bit. He was extremely sore and likely a little bruised from being repetitively kicked. "You're such a weakling. At this rate, history will repeat itself and Ara will die at the hands of your enemies once again leaving you to helplessly watch as your whole world that you spent so long building up is ripped away from you in mere seconds," Paradox spat.

         Add had a feeling Paradox wasn't just saying those words off the top of his head and they surely had a background story but either way, Add was bothered by what Paradox spoke. "Tell me something I don't know. Why do you think I'm so mad at mysel?" Add muttered. Tears threatened to escape the edges of his eyes as he gave in to his negative thoughts. He was weak. He couldn't even protect Ara when she needed him to. He wasn't able to see that they were walking into a trap until it was too late.

        "What you don't know is that I can make you a deal. I know a way you can become stronger like me," Paradox said. Add looked to Paradox who wore a smirk, eyes radiating a promise of power. "I'm no idiot. I would never follow any path you have in mind. I'll have to fix this on my own," Add muttered, quickly averting Paradox's gaze. Where had his mother gone. Surely it didn't take that long to retrieve a first aid kit.

         Although he was still usure as to why Grace was free from her room and paying him attention, he was also sort of relieved that she wasn't trying to harm him. "How are you going to get any stronger. You're nothing without me. I suppose you have your smarts but that will only get you so far. I'll let you think about the offer. If you ever consider making a deal with me, just let me know. I need to go back and check on Ara before this time freeze of mine wears off," Paradox said almost mockingly.

         "Time freeze? Paradox said that it took a lot out of him to do that so how are you able to freeze time for so long?" Add realized. Paradox smirked. "It's a complicated scenario really. Both of us have abilities regarding time and space but since our minds are split, so is our power. There are certain things he does better even if I don't want to admit it. Besides, the more power I use up, the harder it is for him to return. Gaining control again is rather troublesome so I'd like to avoid that," Paradox explained.

        It wasn't too hard to comprehend but such things shouldn't be possible even with a being like Paradox. Before Add could comment or ask any further questions, Paradox made his escape through a portal. Not a single thing changed for a good minute or two until his mother returned to the room. "I just checked on Ara. She says she's fine but wants to know how you're doing. Why don't you go over after we get you fixed up?" Grace said with a smile as she held the first aid kit.

        Add didn't know how to react to her apparent change in personality so he simply nodded. He remained still and let his mother patch him up as he wondered how this had even happened. "I remeber everything you know. Your visit just recently returned to my thoughts," Grace said as she packed up the first aid kit. Add looked at his mother in surprise but didn't know what to say or ask. "That being said, I no longer have any memories of me ever mistreating you. My entire past has been rewritten...well no, I suppose I lied. There is one thing I do remember and I'm so sorry. I should have never said those hurtful things to you," Grace continued.

        Add would have said something, anything at all to keep his mother from blaming herself but Ryu suddenly woke up his hair turning white as he did. "Insolent humans. Release me at once. How dare you strike me and expect to get away with it," snarled. Perhaps it was convenient timing but whatever it was to be called, Ara showed up and walked into the room with the intention to check on Add. Ryu, but it was Ran that seemed to be present, instantly shut up and glared at her.

        Ara was rather confused as to what was going on but didn't hesitate to turn back around and walk out of the room. Add wondered what she was doing until she returned with the bag filled with the golden seals. "Paradox managed to get these before we left," she explained before walking over to Ran possessed Ryu. "Don't you dare," he growled. "Or else what? You can't do anything about it," Ara said with an expression of boredom. She pulled out a seal and stared at it before looking back at Add.

        "Um...how does this thing work?" Ara asked, a bit embarrassed that she didn't know. "You simply put it on the already present seal as one would apply a sticker. It's simple Ara," Paradox muttered. Add flinched norlt realizing that Paradox was back in the room. He looked behind him seeing that Paradox sat on his bed as if he'd been there the whole time with a hand tangled in his hair as he sighed in annoyance. "Yeah sure. I didn't ask you but thanks anyway," Ara said with apparent agitation.

         Add saw Paradox smirk much like Add would when he knew he was purposely aggravating Ara for no reason. The similarity between them in that moment made him shudder a bit. Ara reached to place the golden phoru seal but Ran tried to bite her hand so she pulled it a way immediately. "Did you just try to bite me?!" Ara exclaimed. "It would seem so," Grace said thoughtfully. Ara huffed and swiftly knocked Ran out.

        "There. All taken care of. Sorry about that Ryu," Ara said after putting the seal on the necklace seal Ryu wore. For a moment, nothing happened but then the room glowed with a bright gold light that slowly faded into red before disappearing altogether. Ara looked back at everyone in surprise. "I wasn't the only one who saw that right?" she asked. No one said a word and only shook their heads confirm that Ara had not been the only one to see the light.

        "I thought it exploded for a second. I was worried for a moment there," Grace said with a sigh of relief. Ara backed away from Ryu and now everyone could see the paw imprinted on Ryu's original seal but Ryu himself was still knocked out. "Too bad we didn't get rid of his past actions. He won't be happy to know that he'll still have to remeber all the lives he took," Ara muttered with a little sadness. "What do you mean? When did Ryu kill anyone?" Grace asked.

         All eyes instantly went to her and she looked around with a puzzled expression. "What exactly do you remeber happening from when we first got back from Altera up until now?" Paradox asked. Grace took a momemt to think before she answered. "Well, I know you brought Add and Ara back. Add was unconcious and Ara was crying nonstop. And then when Add finally woke up, you had changed back to being a kid again. You three left after Ryu came to me for help. That's all of the major things I remember. My memories started changing a bit when you three got back this time so if I left something out, I wouldn't know," Grace said.

        "So things change just that quickly then. I guess we never noticed since the time anomalies that we changed had never directly affected us," Add muttered. Even as he thought back and tried to remeber what really happened, he found it hard to piece his memories together and wondered if Ara had that same problem. "It really only affects you guys. I'm not entirely immune but I still get to keep the changed memories to a certain extent," Paradox said.

        Everyone remained quiet for a moment and simply reflected on their past memories, all except Paradox who was arguing with himself but no one could hear his thoughts and didn't know this. "Wait...if Ryu didn't kill anyone...my mother!" Ara exclaimed suddenly perking up a bit. Add met her gaze and gave a nod. "You should go visit her. I'm sure she'd be glad to see you even after whatever time has passed," Add reassured with a nod. Ara shook her head at him though.

         "Not now. We have to wait until Ryu wakes up and you're able to go with me. She'd be happy to know that you're okay too. My mother was just distressed the last time we saw her," Ara said with a slight smile. Add nodded in agreement but only he could tell the true meaning behind Ara's words. She didn't want to see her mother alone because she was afraid of what could happen if she did especially with her still having Eun with her.
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I'm a little more than halfway through the book!!? Since when? I didn't even realize it! Until next time you excellent readers!