A/N: A part of the plot to a (hopefully) upcoming Future fic I'm writing! Enjoy!

(Inspired by the song Apex Predator from Mean Girls: The Musical.)

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Honestly, (y/n) didn't know what she was expecting when she and Bingbong actually managed to create a time travel device.

Maybe she was expecting to see her and her friends, more grown up, perhaps married with kids, or even with fifteen dogs or something. Hell, she even expected to find herself when she stepped into the portal.

She didn't know what she was expecting, but she hadn't been expecting a fullscale war.

Only ten minutes in the future, and she'd managed to run into Edd and Matt, and after the initial shock and confusion as to why she'd found them and not herself, they sat her down in a little shack out of town -- their safe quarters -- to give her the rundown.

Apparently, her future self was dead in this timeline -- and had been for three years already. To add to her horror, Matt let her know that she absolutely must stay away from any Red Soldiers -- because their leader was trying to find a way to revive her.

Three years before, the leader and Future (y/n) had been in a romantic relationship when an unknown assassin gunned her down -- he'd been aiming for Red Leader, but she'd pushed him out of the way in time to bleed to death in his arms. In his rage, he demanded the assassin be caught and interrogated, and for Bing to find a way to bring his dead lover back.

Unfortunately for him, he'd been unsuccessful thus far, but he was so determined that he'd do anything to have her. Already, rumors were spreading of time-travel, a plot to kidnap a (y/n) from another universe to have, but so far those were false.

She'd promised them that she would stay away, but the very next day, she was exploring the city with Matt when she ran into Tom.

She'd cried at the sight of her old friend with that clunky black visor, and when the initial reunion was over he took her to a safe place. He was still technically in the Red Army, but they were coming closer to toppling the regime every day.

As soon as Tom left the hiding spot, she heard him. A familiar voice, though deeper and rougher after years of smoking, right outside.

"Soldier, correct me if I'm wrong, but did I just see you with her?"

"No, boss. Just a random civilian."

"Are you suuuuure? I'm pretty sure that this--" At this, he reached around and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her out into the light, "--is (y/n), the very (y/n) that I've been trying to recover all these years."

"Forgive me, boss. My visor must be malfunctioning." Tom looked a bit upset at him having found her, but he stayed quiet.

"We'll have to see to its repair effective immediately," Tord-- no, Red Leader-- weathered and years older, mumbled, before turning to her with his visible gray eye wide and bright. "At last, we're together again, my love!"

(y/n) wisely kept her mouth shut about the time travel device, but when he took her away she tried to cast a desperate look to Tom.

The man's teeth were grit in anger, his fists clenched -- and was that a purple aura about him?

She didn't get another chance to look, as Red picked her up and set her down in an awaiting car.

As soon as they got to the base, Red immediately had Bing do some checkups on her. Thankfully, he didn't seem to recognize her -- nor their little project. Once she was deemed healthy, she was whisked away to Red's private quarters.

They had a nice little dinner together, him asking about what she thought of his glorious empire. She didn't have much to say, feigning amnesia from the last ten years. He was, thankfully, sympathetic enough, and allowed her to change and lie down.

As soon as he left the room for her privacy, she looked in the drawers he'd pointed out and immediately flipped at the lacy red nightwear she found. What the hell was her future self thinking?!

Nevertheless, she put on the least revealing article, one (f/c) lacy nightgown she vaguely recognized (in an ad for a new lingerie store opening in five months, her time), and lay down on the impressive king-sized bed, breathing in the familiar scent of cigar smoke and cologne. It reminded her so much of her time's Tord, and she spent that first night crying herself to sleep.

As the days went on, however, she found it easier to deal with. Red was increasingly kind to her, a bit too kind, as if he was expecting her to run away. He never did anything lewd past the occasional forehead kiss, to her relief. (She honestly hadn't thought of what she'd do if this timeline's Red turned out to be a massive pervert.)

By the time she'd spent two whole weeks at the base, she'd all but forgotten her mission. The time-travel watch, so carefully designed to look like a regular timepiece, still wrapped around her wrist like normal, but she saw it as the watch it looked like now.

Her feelings began to change, too. Red had gone out of his way to romance her again, fully believing she had amnesia. With every day, she found herself falling in love with this tyrant leader. Every day that passed meant she sympathized with Edd and the others less and less.

One day, the three friends awoke to the news that Red and (y/n) were going to be married again, and when they took a look at her, they could hardly recognize the look on her face. She gazed at Red so dotingly, it almost reminded them of the (y/n) that had died.

On that same day, it was announced that a nationwide hunt for Edd was to begin, and the three gave each other mournful glances as they realized that the (y/n) they'd wanted to protect was gone.

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A/N: Boy do I love giving these characters bad endings!

Please tell me what you thought and feel free to request!