[ chapter three ] futureproof

( 2017... Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, Ohio )

AN ELEGANTLY DRESSED WOMAN WALKED DOWN THE HALLWAY, holding an emerald binder with a picture of a cutesy chameleon.

The viridescent chameleon was catching fluffy achenes of a dandelion, adorably looking upwards at the name of the class that Rebecca Tourniment was head of.

"What did I say about running down the hallways?" Rebecca raised her voice slightly as she saw a spriting pair of pupils. All of a sudden both stopped and turned to the teacher, bowing slightly in an apologetic gesture.

"We're sorry, Ms. Tourniment,"  the pupils apologized in one voice, like an echo.

"We just had a little competition to see who's faster," an innocent girl's voice described their intention, rubbing her hands together since she wasn't so thrilled about the fact that the teacher caught them.

"I have an idea," Ms. Tourniment rejoined as a light bulb suddenly kindled in her mind. She examined the pupils with childlike energy forming in her eyes, sparkling with enthusiasm.

Rebecca knelt beside them, holding the binder tightly on her chest.

Colorful post-it notes were noticeable at the foot edges since she enjoyed making notes and giving her students stickers as proof of high activity in classes.

"What if you suggest this head-to-head contest to your class teacher, Mr. Richards? I'm sure he would be interested since he's always about testing someone's limits," She grinned, seeing the students' reactions.

"Or you can help us with it and we will call it a Tournament," a chestnut-haired boy managed to make a great reference to her surname that got easily misspelled.

Either Tournament or Tourniquet, both of these were extremely wrong yet funny.

"I will think about it because that would be an honor," Rebecca repaid their endeavor with a heartfelt smile.

"But now, get back to your class so you both can get ready in time for the next period," She examined them strictly, navigating them to leave the hallway.

The pupils nodded without hesitation and although Ms. Tourniment warned them about their reckless behavior, they ran to the door of their class.

"No running!" Rebecca shouted across the hallway, as she was standing up, shaking his head at how heedless they were, almost knocking me down as I was walking towards Rebecca.

"They're little daredevils. How do you even handle them?" I interrogated the teacher. My words made her startled a little, jumping alongside the door frame of the teacher's office.

"It isn't really that hard," Rebecca grinned, taking the keys from the pocket of her knitted cardigan and shoved them into the keyhole as her hand was shivering in nervousness.

"Unlocking the door? It definitely isn't," I shook my head, glancing at the woman's hand that was shaking in subtle motion.

At one moment she managed to open the door, after unlocking it. It cost a lot of energy but she succeeded.

"For me, it's not that big of a deal since it's literally my job to handle them," Rebecca smiled. She reached for the light switch, switching it on that awakened the ceiling light that started to flicker in anticipation.

I let my shoulder lean on the licorice door frame as I was gazing at the neatly organized office. Everything had its own place or was placed in boxes according to colors or the types of stationery.

Rebecca's cork notice board was empty, having only a to-do list that was pinned on it and precisely written in cursive.

"Come in! Yet I'm a little worried that the principal is having an appointment," Rebecca stated as soon as she put away the binder back to its place on a shelf, slightly pushing it closer to the other binders that created a rainbow.

"Oh? Of course, I am early. You completely misunderstood me, I'm not here for the interview," I elucidated the true meaning behind my arrival as I was coming inside.

I closed the door and then I walked to the seat that was right in front of Rebecca's desk that was still a simple teacher, not principal, and sat down.

"Really?" Rebecca's mouth dropped wide open as soon as she quickly inhaled the air in shock. She was convinced that I visited the high school because of the job of the history teacher.

"It would be too good to be true. I don't like to say it out loud but history is quite repetitive. I mean without plagues, misunderstood conflicts, wars, and atrocious narcissists that called themselves dictators, there's nothing left, only an endless loop and a portion which has not been explored yet," I shared my experiences with her, knowing that she would be interested.

The portion that hasn't been explored yet should always have remained a secret because that was the future which was filled with every step, statement, and moment.

"Are you sure you don't want to attend the interview? Our school needs someone like you, someone who has the knowledge and knows when and how to use it," Rebecca exaggerated. She clutched her hands to fists since she was so excited about my screed.

"It isn't something that I should be praised for... It's... It's a curse. You certainly know what I am talking about... Constantly thinking about what you should've done to prevent the car accident that killed your fianceé rather than acknowledges that it is too late to do something good," I smirked, tilting my head, seeing the emotions forming in her face, making it red due to the fury that was previously asleep — forgotten to the core.

She dry-swallowed as she apprehended the truth of her cloak-and-dagger secret being revealed.

Her hands started to tremble even more until she couldn't hold the foam squishy that filtrated her anger, later slipped out of her hand and thumped down.

( Time Variance Authority )

THE PRESSURE OF SOMEONE'S HANDS ON NICHOLAS' SHOULDERS made him sit down on the leather upholstered chair that was so comfortable that his whole body relaxed, even his muscles, alleviating his exhaustion.

Nicholas' eyes were closing, but he wanted to stay awake as he felt that his eyelids carried the weight of trepidation. He had an inkling that if he fell asleep, that would be his ending. The moment seemed long to him, as he waited centuries not minutes.

This was a nightmare.

As he was running away from the kidnappers he managed to explore the rounded hallways of the Time Variance Authority. Everyone was so painstaking, well put together, carefree yet so peculiar. Something didn't sit right with him.

Although Nick felt the pain in his muscles, he stood up as proof that he is not a coward. He looked around the fancy furnished office, that shone with the virtue of a mystery that wasn't untold yet.

Nicholas gazed at the artifacts that were behind a glass display case on the bookshelf. He studied each one of them intently, noticing some that he had seen before at the New York Sanctum where his father spent most of his days when he was in the need of saving the world.

Nick passed by another antiquity, noticing his own reflection that went along with him, making sure that he found the way back to his home.

He froze, turning to the crystal clear cabinet that held all the infinity stones and most importantly the Eye of the Agamotto which was burnt and half-melted.

Fragments of the emerald green gem captured the moments of history. Besides the Earth's origin, they also showed the emergence of the universe.

The pieces levitated, defying gravity, spinning in the direction that Nicholas moved. These mirroring shards glittered as the colorful vapors veiled them, animating the events as a portable video player.

It was so magnetizing that Nick found it hard to pull away from it, eventually, he succeeded.

Nicholas saw rainbow flashes in front of his eyes so dazzling that he closed his eyes for a second to darkness to fill up the colorful spots. He backed away, having a collision with a spruce table that was in his way.

He leaped swiftly aside because it scared him for some reason, whilst it was just a table cluttered with nonsense.

Speaking of nonsense, he noticed it was filled with apples. Raising his eyebrows in uncertainty Nick grabbed one of the unnaturally saturated apples and examined its glossy scarlet red peel, ironically describing the fakeness of this place.

"Don't touch them. I leave these for someone that has a special place for me in their heart," I explained as I entered the main part of the office, holding a flowery porcelain tray with a teapot and with two cups.

Nicholas put the apple back in the bowl because the woman's voice surprised him a lot. Sadly he missed and the one apple made the apple tower fall down like a domino, rolling over the office's floating floor.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to," Nick apologized, trying to call the apples back with his abilities but he forgot that his powers were forbidden in the TVA.

I put down the tray. The teapot shook a little due to the sudden movement that made a milk spill on the pinkish porcelain.

I didn't even take a look at the apples that were rolling on the floor and a blue almost transparent flickering billow grouped the mellow apples back into the bowl in the same motion as they fell but reversed as soon as I made an elegant gesture with my hands.

"Have a seat," I vocalized, pointing stylishly at the seat that was right in front of me, near the dark-haired boy. Nicholas was bewildered bumping right into the seat, which seemed to engulf him and pull him down to sit.

"So," I paused, adjusting one of my chantilly lace gloves that were rolling up at the end. I stole one moment for myself, gazing at the coruscating ring that was like an embellisher of my body. I wiped the shimmering gem into the soft silk fabric of my light blue bouffant dress.

Thanks to the corner of my eye I checked out the mustard-colored file that was open on my table and took a deep breath.

"It's actually quite an honor to have someone of the Sorcerer Supreme's blood around this complex," I acknowledged the fact this made some sort of privilege for him. The others didn't even know who the Sorcerer Supreme was because in their minds he never existed but I luckily met Doctor Strange in person.

I was the one showing him the possible endings and the various denouements as he examined the possibility of his mind being able to drift through the time warp by virtue of using the time stone.

"We had Nicholas Scratch, son of Agatha Harkness, like three times here because he reflected the rabbit spell that Harkness cast on him, therefore Nicholas Strange is surely one of a kind," I smirked at him, nevertheless my smile faded away as I noticed a sentence that shortly described his powers.

The darkness reminded her of her twin brother, evoking all the memories which she managed to suppress a long time ago but now they were back — recalled out of nowhere.

Keeping straight-faced, holding back tears I glanced back at him with an apologetic expression, although he wasn't so sure what it was all about.

"How do you know my father?" Nicholas questioned in doubt. His glazed look induced his eyebrows to be raised in bewilderment.

"That's a pity question to ask, either way, that rare Eye of the Agamotto belonged to him. My brother gave it to me as proof of love right before his timeline was erased due to an error that occurred on the sacred timeline. Long story short your father came to him to bargain but Dormie did indeed use runes to protect himself, because he wanted to rule his own story, not to be the victim of anyone else's," I expounded very carefully, losing my temper after I avowed that I was in truth Dormammu's twin sister.

Nicholas' eyes widened, clutching the arms of the chair, letting out a gasp of unwanted realization, he started to sweat.

"Are you sure you two are siblings?" Nick asked hesitatingly, thinking it was just a dense exaggeration.

I nodded.

"Woah! Last time I saw him his head was extremely huge. Sorry! I mean... you don't look alike at all," He corrected himself, trying to hold back laughter, knowing that his remark was hilarious yet inappropriate.

I grinned as I noticed that I was still awkwardly holding the teapot, leading me to change the subject of our conversation.

"What do you think about my idiosyncratic collection? It's pretty extraordinary, isn't it? Perhaps too out of the world sometimes but it's... how you youngsters say... rad," I bragged, shrugging my shoulders a bit as I was holding the lid of the teapot which was pouring a hot tea to the boy's cup that I handed him later.

"No, we don't say that anymore," Nick mentioned doubtfully since he didn't want to ruin my ideas about the juveniles.

A strong lemon scent with bits of ginger punched him right to his nose, inhaling the calmness that tea's aroma brought to the room.

Nicholas breathed in and breathed out because the fragrance of freshly made tea reminded him of home.  Although he was always more of a coffee man, he couldn't resist perfectly brewed tea.

He was so scared of taking the cup as if there was poison dissolved in the fire-colored tea.

"I thought you'd be thirsty after that marathon, but you seem rather tired than dehydrated," I smiled, examining the dampened end of his curls.

"I'm sorry but I had the worst day of my life and nobody is helping me to cope with it. This whole place is reminding me of how ungrateful I was. I literally had everything, I was running on empty, trying to look for them, see if I am really the one who was lost and found... You don't know how much it hurts since there weren't any goodbyes, just a blinding flare," Nicholas' emotions had awakened, making his eyes water as he was describing how lost he was, not understanding anything like he was meant to be nothing this whole time.

"Trust me, I do," I responded quietly because I didn't really know if I wanted to elaborate it, break it down into details.

I shook my head slightly, put down the teapot, took the milk jug, and poured the silky liquid into my cup in which I prepared black tea, only for myself.

The milk cascade gave the tea the right taffy color and altered its consistency.

"But pain makes us stronger," I beamed, observing his reaction.

"It's not about the pain. I literally had everything and you and your people took it from me. Who gave you the right?" Nicholas started to interrogate me with sorrow flashing in his eyes.

"Oh? I swear I already heard that somewhere... How weird! Nevertheless, it's just how the story goes. The curse of life, even the future, can't be fair to anyone," I took a sip, glancing at the boy's revolting facial expression.

I chuckled as I was swallowing the slurp since the bitterness crawled in my throat, drowning the softness of the drink.

Nicholas glowered because I was mocking him.

"If I could I would do everything to save your family and the other billion of people that lost their lives there," I tried to assure him, watching that his chest calmed down, even though the truth was already told, shown in action.

It bothered me a little that he hadn't touched the tea yet.

"Are you genuinely that afraid of getting poisoned?" I asked, taking another sip as a demonstration that there's nothing to be scared of, although it was a completely different type of tea.

Nicholas half-heartedly outreached for the teacup that delineated spreading pink azaleas, inhaling the sharp citrus fragrance with warm flakes of the added ginger.

"What is this place?" He finally took a sip after he asked a little question.

The hot drink melted on his tongue simmering down his taste buds, thinning down the sourness.

My eyes sparkled with enthusiasm because I knew this was my time to shine. I put away the teacup and with a snap, I summoned a flipchart.

"Time Variance Authority is tasked with preserving the Sacred Timeline and preventing the creation of possible branching timelines," I began to explain as I turned one of the pages and pointed at an image with a pointer.

"Therefore wherever someone stepped from the path that they are meant to follow, it created a Nexus event," I said fiercely, pointing at a red-colored triangle that had crossed out N in the middle of it.

"But to be honest? Sometimes having Nexus events occurring at once is quite fun. I just love when others are consumed by their own chaos, because the world doesn't revolve around them. TVA is mainly in charge of fixing errors and making sure that everything goes according to the required flow, anchoring you back to your reality or to the reality of our choice," I continued in explanation but later I paused for a moment.

"Or neither of these things I just mentioned," I declared plainly as I was glaring at Nicholas.

As the tea from Nicholas' sip was melting off he gasped, instantly reaching for his throat as if an invisible hand was choking him.

Both I and Nick observed that the veins on his hands were covered in obscure, instantly darkening although they were enfolded with pale skin.

The pupils of his eyes shrank in terror, as his sore throat was parched, dry as a bone. I was examining him as if I was doing research for a scientific project. I noticed the blue almost greyed-out tones colored his chapped lips.

Veins in his eyes popped, coloring his sclera crimson red, confirming the fact he was dying.

When I took a look at my wristwatch, the loud ticking noise irritated my nerves. I acknowledged that it was enough suffering for both sides.

My hand went under the table where I pressed a button on a gadget that Ravonna gave to her, managing to unlock Nicholas' collar that later fell to the ground.

Nick collapsed to the floor as well trying to catch his breath, holding his neck as much as he could. Tears welled in his eyes, but he was unable to cry as he writhed convulsively.

He was suffocating as the gaze in his eyes adjourned me to help him.

I walked around the table, where I sat at the edge, glancing at him being helpless, losing his mind as the loud ticking noise of the clock was echoing in the office. This was the end.

All of a sudden his heart thumped.

Nick's loud gasping turned into panting as his mind became more vivid, losing the blackness which controlled him. He coughed to clear his lungs and the aftertaste that haunted his throat. His forehead became dewy from the constant catching breath.

As pale he was, his face gained back its lively color. Later the popped veins in his eyes healed, reducing the reds left in scleras, bringing back the white color representing the purity of his actions.

The darkness in the veins dwindled, leaving his body.

"Poisoned or not poisoned, you are and will be eventually alive," I stated, celebrating his achievement of getting fully recovered just in a few seconds in silence. In fact, I was terrified about him being future-proof.

"I'm so sorry, little one. This shouldn't have happened to you," I whispered, trying to keep my glazed look on, even though my heart was aching.

Nicholas glanced at me, slowly backing as he was trying at least to sit. The terror in his eyes flashed in agony.

"Who-Who are you?" Nick questioned as his eyes became alert and more focused on me. Swallowing the dread that formed in his mouth, slightly shivering under the pressure of understanding.

"I should be the one asking that. You're a bigger enigma to me than I am to others," I declared, putting the cup next to the one in which tea was poisoned.

author's note:

We literally spilled like a lot of tea this chapter, wth I am just now realizing it? Either way, I hope you liked the slight change and also that this chapter is longer, it's only because I had a problem with it and I am soo glad that everything is alright. I MEAN- not in this chapter 😄 because it's kinda brutal than I expected it to be 😏 What are your theories so far?

sign off gif was made by @/silksenses