Your Past Self Wasn't You; He Wouldn't Understand

Time Master had a dream.

You see, he was Time Master Richard Rip Hunter, and he rarely dreamed. For a time traveler, dreams often foreshadowed bad omens.

Theoretically speaking, all dreams throughout the DC Multiverse belonged to Dream Lord of Dreams Daniel Hall.

As the successor to the first-generation Dream Lord of Dreams, Morpheus, he should have been able to control the dreams of every living being, just as Death could control all death.

But he hadn't.

He had been busy with other matters, and had slightly neglected Time Master's dreams.

And in the Over-Time Stream, a future that was about to take shape was, at that very moment...

Slightly reflected in his dreams.

The entire experience felt like diving through the deep sea. He saw the sun's radiance filtering through the immense water pressure and casting scattered fragments onto the increasingly deep ocean floor, only for all those fragments to sink back into the shadows.

"Remember! Remember! Batman can save everyone! If he can't, then he isn't Batman!!"

Time Master heard Batman's shout. Even in the dream, the voice made him furrow his brow slightly.

"Bullshit. The Batman you're thinking of stopped being the real Batman a long time ago. He's a Batman you imagined!"

"Can you... I mean, can you think normally for once? Your obsession will get everyone killed... Think of all the people waiting for you to save them. You're a superhero. You have to take responsibility."

"...You're completely delusional now. To you, Batman has changed from a specific person into a symbol, an emblem. Admit it—Batman can't do all these things!"

Time Master couldn't tell whose voice it was, but he felt it belonged to Anti-Monitor. It was just as gloomy, and looked exactly like Anti-Monitor had when he saw him before.

Yet it inexplicably