"Alright folks," Mike began, settling down the crowd that filled the Ealing College common room. He adjusted the mic stand and spoke into it with a proud grin, everyone on stage had that similar sort of comfortable electricity, "Now I know you've seen us up here before as Ibex, but since the leave of our dear drummer Miffer," off to stage right Freddie rolled his eyes, no sense immortalizing Miffer after the way he bitched about, "We've decided to change our name. Performing tonight for the very first time: Wreckage!"

The audience cheered! Although made up of friends mostly, tonight's crowd seemed to thoroughly enjoy the new rebranding of Wreckage. Nearly everyone the boys knew had shown up, even a few friends of friends had come down. The room wasn't quite full, nowhere near it in all honesty, but it was filled with the friends and faces who made the band feel right at home. The energy of the night was representative of that connection.

"And might I also introduce," continued Mike, "Richard Thompson, on drums!" Richard nodded gently, and sounded a drumroll in response. Even from sitting back against the right wall of the room, you could tell he seemed a little intimidated to be backing up Wreckage tonight. His level of practice in no way stifled his ability, but you could tell the day—and night—of practice had drained him more than prepared him. Richard spent all this morning listening to the Green demo tape trying to get it right, poor lad. Everyone, however, was quite thankful to have him along, no matter how good he played.

Mike started the count-in, Freddie took to the middle of the stage, and just like that, they were off.

"There's a sudden change in me," Freddie began, closing his eyes to soak in the spotlight. As soon as the words left his lips the crowd grew closer to the band, most certainly just as enthralled as you were with the bright clarity of his voice, "I'm another person inside of me".

There was so much to marvel at with the Wreckage crew. Say what they will about Freddie and the boys' ability at this stage, they were fantastic. Near equals to Smile in many respects. Freddie had his stage persona already blossoming into its full form. He commanded the ground he ruled over—Queen very obviously a very apt name in the future. Even now his regality shone strong. For as long as you'd seen Mike and Tupp live you've always regarded them as very strong performers. Not in the aggressive nature that Freddie had as he seized the sound waves, but in their versatility and warmth. You knew Tupp's baselines to always have heart, and a kind soul to them. They didn't stand out as anything unique in their style, but the way he could make a bass sound gave you a warm sort of comfort. Mike too had this same level of comfort to the melodic ringing of his chords. With the measured pace of Richard's drumming, and the experimental force of Freddie, all things balanced out. Maybe why Wreckage never quite made it in the future was because of this balance. They would never be as unique as Queen. Still, they made for good listening now. The sound of an era.

Roger, Brian, Tim, and, surprisingly, Mary had all come to Ealing this evening. You knew Freddie had invited them, but you never expected that with all Smile has been up to that they'd be able to make it. Last you knew, Smile had been working on recording a few of their tracks. Roger said something about a release in America, things were looking up for them.

Just as you were glancing over at the Smile crew, Brian's eyes met yours. He smiled, and waved, you returned the gesture. Next thing you knew, he was walking over.

"Hey y/n!" Brian began, doing his best to talk over Freddie has he sprang into the chorus of Green, "I was wondering if we might talk a minute?"

"Talk?" you replied, trying not to attract the attention of Freddie as you raised your voice so Brian could hear, "About what?"

"I spoke with—-stein," said Brian, you couldn't quite make out what he had said, the music rang loud next to you.

"Huh?" you replied.

"The professor, Dr. Goldstein! I spoke with him!" Brian nearly shouted. You glanced back to the band, Freddie and the group didn't seem to notice. Good. The band launched into the guitar solo, Richard did a good job of keeping up and Freddie seemed pleased, as did you, "I think we should go outside and talk, it's important".

The ring of the word important was enough for you to accept. You didn't like the idea of leaving Freddie and Wreckage mid-gig, but information such as this could be bigger than the gig. Anything the professor had to say had to be helpful.

Brian led you outside into the corridor of hall. You hoped Freddie wouldn't take too much notice of your absence, there are enough friends there tonight maybe it won't be so bad if he sees I'm gone. Wreckage's gig would be short tonight, you hoped you wouldn't miss it all. Brian closed the door behind you both and was anxiously digging under his nail beds, uh oh.

"Brian, what's wrong?" you dared to ask.

He walked towards the staircase and leaned up against the railing, "You should sit," you took a deep breath in and willed your feet to walk towards the staircase. You took a seat on the lowest stair. Brian paused a moment and you wished he'd just get it out with already, what is it Brian! He tapped his foot a minute and suddenly stopped. Besides the music that rang out of the room next to you, the corridor was deathly silent. Finally, he answered, "I spoke to Goldstein. Although I spoke in hypotheticals, he was very adamant to warn me of one thing. You should NOT mess with Freddie's timeline any longer".

"Wh-what does that mean?" you knew what it meant.

"Clearly whatever sent you back here in time is also fixed to Freddie's timeline. Why else would you, having full knowledge of who he is, end up outside his door in Feltham in 1964?" continued Brian, "If you care about Freddie, as you do, I don't think you can risk being a part of his life anymore".

The tears in your eyes caused the room to swell and distort, damn him, you thought. But it wasn't Brian's fault, and for all the reasons you had for blaming yourself, it wasn't your fault you were in this situation either.

"But how does that—?" you could barely get the words out. In some ways what he said made sense, but in others it did not, "I-I'm trying to keep him on the right path, I knew he had to be dating Mary Austin soon, I know he's not supposed to be with me right now, but just—God! I'm doing my very best Brian," you put your head in your hands, it was almost as if you were begging Brian for mercy—as if that would do anything.

You also were lying. You weren't doing your best, you should've stayed away as soon as you knew how your being here could affect Freddie.

"The thing is, y/n, we don't know how your timeline affects his. Goldstein discussed with me the various issues that could arise from altering timelines that were never meant to intersect. There's just no way of knowing the real damage," he sat down with you on the stair, "You might even risk neither of you existing at all".

"What!?" you cried out, you didn't know how the hell it could be that extreme. How ill prepared you were for understanding anything to do with your situation so it seemed.

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry y/n, I'm making a whole mess of this aren't I?" he responded with a kindness, and a dash of something else you couldn't quite place. Pity, maybe that's what it was. You didn't know what to do with pity.

"I'm the one who's fucked everything up Brian, not you," you sniffled, you leaned your head unto his shoulder almost reflexively. He put his arm around you and gave you a brief friendly tap on the forearm for reassurance.

"But I've made you upset," he said gently and then paused, "Look, let's forget all the unknowns about your timeline and I'll help you with what we can do".

"And what's that," you said quietly, asking another question you already knew the answer to. Brian didn't bother answer, he was gentleman enough not to answer. You both sat there, hearing the band move on from Without You to Blag-A-Blues...you felt a hint of sadness remembering how Freddie wrote Without You after your break.

Your mind pieced together the puzzle your mind simply refused to piece together.You had to leave Freddie. The tears returned and cascaded down in silence.

"I have a plan though," Brian spoke, clearing his throat, maybe he was getting emotional as well. He paused, "I know you told me about when you tried to end it with Fred before and it didn't quite work," he reminded you of the deeper sadness you felt, violent waves of guilt washed over you, "I think this will work—and it will solve another issue we're facing...but you're not going to like it".

You took in a deep breath, both as preparation for what you were going to hear, and out of the realization that you'd forgotten to breathe. You bit your lip and stared into the large travertine tiles that lined the floor. You closed your eyes, took a breath in, and opened them. A single tear fell. Were you ready to ask? You didn't know.

"What is it, Brian?" he didn't answer you, "What do I have to do!?" You near demanded, the tears that flowed were equally violent to the waves of guilt that crashed savagely against your heart.

"I think you're going to have to cheat on Freddie," he stated plainly. You couldn't look at Brian, you couldn't look at the door where Freddie took to the stage. You could only look straight ahead. You were biting your lip so hard you could taste it bleed, the salt of your tears joining its metallic acridity.

"And with who," you continued staring straight ahead, your voice in only monotone. Freddie's happiness and future demanded you become an automaton, it was the only way.

"Well, I was thinking with me," he replied, almost too comfortably. It irked you.

"So that's what this is about is it?!" you stood up forcefully, forgetting the robotic nature you were supposed to be entering. The anger you felt towards yourself came out towards Brian—and came out strongly.

"No, no! Not at all y/n," he did his best to reassure you, but you were still a discombobulated mess of disturbed, destroyed, and desperate, "I've thought this out," oh he's thought this out, you thought to yourself, rather pissed off. You needed to calm down a moment and hear him out, "You said Freddie needs to be dating Mary. Mary is dating me and you are dating Freddie. It makes perfect sense".

You looked away from both the floor, the door, and Brian a moment, thinking things over. Doing your best to shoo away the emotions briefly so you could evaluate this rationally.

"How would Freddie and Mary end up together?" you said, wiping away a tear with the whole of your hand. You needed to do what was best for Freddie. Forget the emotions, think about this like an adult. Do what is right for his sake.

"The only things I've learned about Mary since we began dating are: that she's got an eye for Fred, and that you don't get her mad. I'm sure they'll get together," he replied. You were having a hard time separating the Freddie and Mary you knew from the Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin you once knew of back home. It was like you were reading a story but living it at the same time. A choose your own adventure, but you're forced into a single path and outcome.

Wreckage in the next room moved on from Blag-A-Blues to Cancer On My Mind. The final song. Freddie probably knew you were gone by now. The song was short and it wouldn't be long before the whole gig was over.

You paused, "Brian, I don't think I could do that. I love him too much".

Brian walked over, he took your hand. You didn't pull away. He brought you up small flight of stairs and led you to a spot where you could look out the window. The sun had set long ago, and across the courtyard night fell with a sheer and near-satin shiver. The night was smooth, and besides all the noise from the concert inside the room the corridor, it seemed that London was silent. Only the twinkle of lights and stars could convince you that there might be some brief crystalline chime filling the world. A sliver of hope among the silence.

"Now, I don't know much of what the future will hold for Freddie," he started, staring out the window with you. His curls were nearly silhouetted in the low light, "But at least from what you've said, I know that it will all be because of what you've given up to let it happen," you held back the tears, "That whole world out there, it's going to know the whole world that is in there" he gestured towards the common room, "All because you let him go".

You ached to run back to Freddie, to hold him and kiss him and let him know what a gift he is to this world. You wanted to tell him how gorgeous he looked in early morning sunbeams, how the warmth of his laugh brought about contagious comfort and joy, how the twinkle in his eye could never fade from your memory. But it's hard to imagine a hello or goodbye when've fallen too deep in love to ever think of leaving.

Brian was right. No matter how much you wanted to think that it didn't have to be this way, you knew it certainly did. It was the only way.

The crowd cheered in the next room. The gig was over so it seemed. A people began filing out into the hall and all you could do was sit staring out the window, watching their shadows grow smaller in the night. Brian stood by your side and your mind sat empty. Empty of course, excepting thoughts of Freddie. All silent thoughts, but nonetheless beautiful.

"Brian?" you heard a voice call. It was Mary, "Brian where are you, I'm ready to go home. Brian?"

You could hear her nearly coming around the corner, her footsteps soft yet like daggers. She pierced the world she walked on. It would be now or never. You had to think quickly.

You turned to Brian, pulled him close, and kissed him deeply. A final tear streamed down your face. The last dagger plunged in. 

_______

God this chapter was hard to write. I spent an hour this morning lying in bed just thinking about how to go about it delicately. I wanted to make sure that although it is a surprise twist, it is still something that is warranted and could be accepted. I've been planning it and building up to it for over 2 years now. But damn...I can't imagine being in y/n's shoes. 

I know this chapter was a bit late, I posted a message saying that I was going to post it a little late because I'd be seeing Queen. And I should mention, Queen was great! This tour was so much better than their last, I definitely recommend seeing them if you can. It's a strange feeling writing about talking with and kissing Brian when literally just a couple of days ago I was less than 7 feet away from him. (The little group of us gals in the front row got a salute when we screamed at him as he walked past before the bows...I love that I have a photo of Brian looking directly into my eyes with just sheer... what's a combination of fear and disappointment? tbh, he looks like Smelly from that episode of Spongebob with Kelpy G, I am so sorry Brian 😂😂😂If only he knew the real fear and disappointment he should have in me). I hope everyone who's seeing them soon has a wonderful time! And to everyone who is unable to see them, I both hope that someday you will be able to, and that your life is filled with so many more memories of pure joy!—Queen related or other. 

As far as any facts about what made up this chapter, there isn't too much I completely based this off of. The setlist is what they're reported to have played that night. No matter how hard I looked I could not get the exact layout of the room they preformed in and what the corridor surrounding it looked like. It very well may not have had stairs or been something that this scene could've taken place in. I was just going off what I could find. Ealing has remodeled quite a bit over time and names have changed. One of the pubs mentioned on an assorted Wreckage flyer might be still there (under a new name now) but that's really about it. 

I also really distorted time within this chapter. Smile recorded their single that was released in America back in July 1969, not October. Mary was most definitely still not dating Brian at this time, she would've been dating Freddie, but because of how y/n is still with Freddie, Freddie never would've asked Brian if he could go out with Mary. Little things like that are changed to fit the effects of y/n being there. 

Anyway, this was a rough chapter but I hope you still enjoyed 😊