Henry and Adam stood on a street that was recognizable as Mytertown. An eight-year-old boy played with a ball on the cobblestone. Looking at the two young men, he said, “My name’s Joe. Will either of you play kickball with me?”

Looking at one another, Henry said “Sure, Joe. My name is Henry and this is Adam. Let’s play kickball.” Joseph kicked the ball to Henry and it passed through his incorporeal foot as he tried to kick it.

Looking at the pair strangely, young Joe Baxtor asked, “How’d you do that, mister?”

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you, kid,” said Adam Hudson.

“Maybe he would,” said Henry Cook. “Joe. In the future you become Captain Joseph Baxtor, a Pantheon naval officer and Captain of the Phoenix, the finest ship in the fleet.”

“Gee,” said Joe.

“Gee, indeed,” agreed Henry. “After you defeated the Gegmun, a bunch of bad guys, they sent an assassin to kill you and they stuck you in the chest with a magic dagger. It’s in your heart right now, and it’s sending you back through your life to your moments of greatest regret. Each time, you have a chance to avoid your greatest regret and save your life, but your experience and personality draw you into the same mistake each time. We’re your crew and we’ve been trying to help you make better decisions, but each time we’ve failed to help you. You’re close to the beginning of your life now and all of us have gotten swept into the reverse time with you and we’re falling unconscious in the future. This is our last chance to save you.”

“What’s a regret?” asked the boy.

“This is hopeless,” said Adam.

“It isn’t hopeless,” said Henry. “A regret is something you did, that you wish you’d done differently. I never realized that Captain Baxtor regretted anything, but it turns out you have more regrets than I realized.”

“So, why don’t you two just stay with me and stop me from doing whatever I’m going to regret? Then we’ll save the whole ship in the future,” said Joe. “You two can be my guardian angels.”

“Well, technically it’s just the captain and the officers, not really the whole…” Adam started to say.

Cutting him off, Henry said, “That sounds like an excellent idea.”

The scene shifted and Joseph was being taught by his mother. She was quizzing him. Adam Hudson started feeding the boy the answers.

“I don’t think we’re here to help him cheat on his lessons,” said Henry dryly.

“Maybe his great regret is not impressing his mother with his academic diligence. Now shush, you’re distracting him from the lesson,” said Adam.

After the lesson finished up, Henry got up to go outside and was followed by the two young men. “I wish you two could kick a ball,” Joe said as he began playing with his balls on the street again.

Looking down the street, Joe said, “Uh oh”. Five older boys approached.

“Hey Joe, let’s play ball!” said the largest.

“Ok, Tommy,” said Joe. He kicked the ball to the larger boy, who bent down and picked it up.

“Thanks, sucker,” said Tommy.

“Please don’t steal my ball,” said Joe.

“Law of the jungle, pipsqueak. The lion takes what he wants and the monkey cries about it after he leaves,” said Tommy. The other boys laughed.

“Want to earn it back?” asked Tommy.

“Maybe this is the situation you regret and you shouldn’t go,” suggested Henry.

“Or maybe you have to go to encounter the situation and handle it differently,” said Adam.

Joe looked helplessly at the two men.

“Well, cockroach, do you want to get your ball back or not?” asked Tommy. The group of boys started walking away.

“Yeah,” said Joe, making a decision. “I’ll come.”

“See, the thing is, vermin, you have to learn who your betters are and accept that,” Tommy said, starting a lecture as they walked. “The only reason you’re upset is that you don’t realize that I deserve to take anything I want from you. Once you accept that, your life will go much smoother.”

“Maybe he’s supposed to stand up to them and fight the bullies?” suggested Adam.

“All five of them?” asked Henry.

Joe looked wildly around at the group of larger boys in a panic, then shook his head at the two men.

“Why are you shaking your head like that, twitchy?” asked Tommy.

Walking along, the five boys spread out and surrounded Joe. They guided him into an alley and brought him towards the back, where a cat was strung up with twine. It growled, hissed, then helpless swatted at the approaching boys.

Handing Joe a knife, Tommy said, “Why don’t you cut off it’s tail and we’ll see how it likes that.” The five boys laughed. “I’ve got some kerosene,” said Tommy. “After we see how it likes losing its tail we can light it up and let it loose.”

Holding the knife tightly as he approached the cat, Joe whispered to Adam and Henry, “I don’t want to hurt the cat, but if I don’t they’re going to beat me up.”

“This is it,” said Adam. “This is the moment of regret. Captain Baxtor cut off the cat’s tail and he’s regretted it ever since.”

“They’re going to kill the cat anyways, regardless of what I do. It doesn’t make a difference,” said Joe.

“What we do always makes a difference,” said Henry. “You taught me that!”

“Why are you muttering to yourself, you little nutter,” said Tommy. “Get on with it before we put a boot up your ass.”

“Here’s what you do,” said Henry, thinking quickly. “Slash the twine with the knife. If the cat has any brains, it’ll make a hasty retreat once it’s free. Then turn around, scream at the boys and charge at them with the knife. They’re bullies, which means they’re cowards. I suspect they’ll get out of the way when you’re running at them, then just keep going. Throw the knife into the gutter when you’re out of the alley.”

Nodding, Joe slashed the twine and cut a few of the strands. The cat howled.

“Ha, you missed it,” said Tommy in amusement.

Gritting his teeth, Joe took another swipe with the knife, severing the twine and freeing the cat. Turning, he raised the knife in a stabbing motion towards the boys and ran at them screaming.

“He is a nutter,” said a horrified Tommy as the group fell back and away from Joe. Joe charged through their center, then kept running towards the street. Behind him, he heard Tommy shout, “Get him!”

Running out of the alley, Joe tossed the knife into the gutter and started tearing towards home. Adam and Henry kept pace with him.

“Move it, move it, if you slow down you’re going to get your ass kicked,” said Adam encouragingly.

“Run!” shouted Henry, as he held onto Captain Baxtor’s hand in the infirmary and looked down at his prone body. The Gegmun dagger pushed out of the Captain ‘s chest and clattered to the ground. Adam Hudson looked around as Joseph Baxtor and the other officers regained consciousness.

Looking around him, Joseph Baxtor met the eyes of each of his men in turn and smiled in thanks. When he reached Radiance and received a hard, cold look back from the elementalist, the captain nodded his acknowledgment that they had a tough conversation coming.

* * *

Looking at the two young men gravely while seated at the head of the table in the captain’s mess, Joseph Baxtor said, “You know what I think of junior officers who don’t follow orders?”

“No, sir,” said Henry and Adam. Adam looked back at the Captain uncertainly, while Henry had a small grin and knew where this was going.

“Senior officer material when they make the right call,” said the Captain. “I’m ashamed you saw that side of me, but having had a chance to confront the mistakes of my past has given me a new perspective on them.”

“What can I offer the two of you to drink?”