29 .1| too good to be true

Tony

I never knew such happiness existed until I met Andrea.

The length of time she needed to completely win me over was quick. It was as if the universe meant for me to fall in love with her. And when she fell in love with me, even if it took quite a while, it felt right.

Everything felt good. The way I was lying beside her in bed. My hand stroking her hair. Her chest against mine. Her smile lighting up my world. Her eyes somehow showing me the way. Everything felt good, felt right.

I suddenly wonder if all of this is too good to be true. And I kept asking myself that. Because I was scared that I'll wake up one morning and realize it was all a dream.

I guess I shouldn't have asked myself that over and over again. I should have been content when I answered it the first time.

"What just happened?" I said as I stood in the middle of the beach, looking around, panting.

Because suddenly, everything really did become too good to be true,

8 hours earlier

"What?" She asked when she caught me just staring at her with a smile on my face.

Define 'lucky'. For me, that's me right now. Out of all the cars she could have crashed into that night, she crashed into mine. Out of all the people she could have compelled to take her away from the scene, she compelled me. Out of all the different and complex scenarios of her being in another timeline, she ended up going through one path with me.

Perhaps, it's not luck. Perhaps, it was simply fate. Either way, I'm glad it happened.

"Nothing." I said.

I took the duvet tangled in our feet and pulled it over our bodies. I couldn't help closing my eyes when I felt her move towards me and hug me while her head rested on my chest. I wrapped an arm around her perfect body and leaned down slightly to kiss her forehead.

I want to stay like this forever. Even if the world is burning, I would gladly stay in bed with her and let it burn. So that my last moments would be with her.

Though, if the world was burning, Klaus would probably want to see his daughter and be with her then it will end up in him and me having an argument about who gets to be with Andrea longer.

Klaus is not here and yet he still manages to annoy me.

"Your dad's going to kill me." I said. I'm already calling it. I really think Klaus will kill me someday.

Andrea simply laughed in response.

The fact that she didn't even try to deny it made me uneasy.

"I can't believe this." She suddenly said, muttering it under her breath.

I furrowed my brows slightly as I brushed my fingers through her hair. "What, that you had sex with the genius, most handsome man in the planet?"

"That the genius, most handsome man on the planet likes someone who's damaged beyond repair." She answered.

If that's how damaged looks like, then what about me?

I used my fingers to lift her head, placing it on her chin so she could meet my gaze.

"You're far from damaged." I whispered before leaning in to catch her lips in mine.

She smiled at me, her eyes gazing into mine. The way she's looking at me right now, as if I'm the only person in the world. I know that look, because that's how I look at her every time she's not looking.

"I'm starting to think that this is a gift rather than a punishment." She whispered, still boring her eyes in mine.

"Well, if you like punishments, that can be arranged." I mumbled as I buried my face in her hair, the coconut scent making me slightly drunk.

She then playfully glared at me, her eyebrow arching.

"What?" I asked. "I thought you like it when I'm inappropriate."

She simply rolled her eyes and placed her head back on my chest. Though, I didn't miss the smile that tugged on her lips as she did.

"It's crazy how at first, you hated me so much and now we're here." I said.

Who would have thought that the person that magically tied me up in my own couch would be the first woman to ever steal my heart? It's like she just walked through the walls and snatched it.

"I know." She answered.

I still remember how she would threaten me everytime I joked around.

"You were so cold to me back then." I said. "You can even beat Elsa if you wanted to. That's how freaking cold you were."

I proceeded to caress her arm as I stared at the ceiling. Then Andrea slowly pushed herself up and turned her head to look at me. The smile on my face lessened when I saw the bewilderment evident on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked so worried.

"You said Elsa." She said.

"Yeah, you know, the snowblower." I replied after shrugging.

My answer seemed to have confused her even more considering she moved away from me while clutching the blanket against her body. Did I say something wrong?

"Tony, how did you know Elsa?" She questioned.

Everyone knows Elsa, right? She's the main character in Frozen. I watched it when—

Wait, when did I watch it? I don't remember watching it. Maybe, I saw it somewhere?

I opened my mouth to answer her but when I realized that I don't exactly know the answer, I closed it again before looking away from her.

I'm supposed to know the answer, right? Because why would I know Elsa and yet not know where or when I've seen the movie. Is my mind playing tricks with me?

"I-I don't know." I said when I looked at her he shook my head.

"Exactly. Because you're not supposed to know that yet." I could already hear the slight panic in her voice as she sat on the side of the bed, gathering and putting her clothes back on in a hurry.

I furrowed my brows and sat upright as I tried to decipher what was going on.

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked, but Andrea didn't answer me and kept clothing herself back up. Therefore, I grabbed her hand to get her attention. "Andrea, hey."

She finally looked at me and I saw the uneasiness in them. The doubt. The fear. Her eyes were making me feel them as well.

"What's wrong?" I asked again, calmer.

She drew a deep breath and parted her lips to exhale.

"Elsa? She's a main character in a movie called 'Frozen'." She said.

"Yeah, that I know." I answered.

Then she gulped, as if what she said wasn't at all the point. Though, I could feel that what she's about to say next is what's going to surprise me.

"That movie didn't come out until 2013." She explained.

2013. That's 19 years from now. I'm familiar with a movie that hasn't been filmed or even thought of by anyone for the next couple of years. I know something that I shouldn't yet.

I moved away from Andrea as I tried to gather my thoughts. Looking away from her, The world suddenly fell quiet and still. Like I'm in my own mind and the things around me were suspended in time as I collected my frantic thoughts.

How did I know something that hasn't even happened or does not exist yet? Am I a clairvoyant? I don't think so. But am I some sort of supernatural? God, I hope not. Because as cool as that sounds, I can only imagine the struggles that came with it. I mean, dating a supernatural being alone is already complicated enough. What more if I am one.

"Tony!" Andrea's voice pierced through my bubble of tranquility, causing me to look at her. It seemed as though she had been trying to get my attention earlier before I could finally hear her again.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I need you to think about where you knew it from." She asked.

I shook my head slowly as I moved to my side of the bed and began putting my clothes back on as I spoke. "Don't you think I would've already told you that if I knew?"

I didn't mean for my tone to come out that way. But the frustration was already creeping up on me because the one moment that I thought was peaceful and romantic and normal and just...everything good, suddenly came apart because of one, unexplainable thing again.

When can we take a break from all of this?

"I know. Just..." She stopped and sighed. She crawled over to my side of the bed and sat beside me. She took my face into her hands and gently forced me to look at her, causing me to let go of my shirt as I was about to pull it over my head.

The frustration I was feeling was beginning to dissipate when I saw her eyes. There was no more worry or fear or uneasiness in them. There was only sincerity and determination.

"We'll figure this out." She reassured me, her whispering voice like a siren's song, alluring and beautiful.

I simply sighed as I gazed at her before leaning in to kiss her again. I'm starting to become addicted to the taste of her lips. I don't think I'll be able to live without her lips. Or her in general.

"What was that for?" She asked when I pulled away, our faces still inches apart.

"Just a thank you." I said, my voice in a whisper as hers was. "For everything."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one saying that?" She asked while she moved away, a playful smile on her lips. "I mean, you did help me after Kai dumped me in this timeline."

She's already mentioned Kai Parker to me when she admitted everything. Though, I never really sunk the name too much in my head considering I was too bewildered by all the revelation. But, for some reason, the name Kai suddenly became familiar to me.

"Kai is the sociopathic heretic, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" She said.

I looked away from her and shrugged before pulling the shirt over my head and down my body.

"Name sounds familiar." I said. That's when I finally remembered. "Kai! I actually met a guy named Kai like two weeks ago. Then he was there again the night we watched Harry Potter. Gave off, like, a stalker vibe."

And there it is again. The look Andrea has when she realizes something is terribly wrong. She closed her eyes and sighed as she stood up from the bed.

"It's the same Kai, isn't it?" I asked.

She turned to me with her fingers fiddling. "Maybe. What did he say?"

"Well, he said he needed help finding someone named..." Hope.

Hope Andrea Mikaelson.

"Who?" She asked.

It's funny how someone like me who has achieved a lot of things through the brilliance of his mind be so fucking stupid at times.

"Hope." I said. "He was looking for someone named Hope."

"And you didn't tell me?" She said, equally frustrated as I am.

"I didn't think it was important. I still didn't know your full name at that time. Or that the sociopathic heretic's name is Kai."

"What about when I told you everything!" She exclaimed, almost as if she was panicking of some sort.

I narrowed her eyes at her and tilted my head as I stood up from the bed and approached her.

"I'm sorry, I was too busy losing my mind when you said you came from a different timeline and you are actually the daughter of one of the longest living creatures on the whole planet!" I responded.

She turned her back on me and ran her palms down her face.

"Stop taking out your frustration on me. I'm the victim here. He's the one messing with my mind." I stated.

I don't know which one is worse, Ms. Pokes-A-Lot that squeezed and jabbed my brain or the Hippie Heretic who's slowly making me go insane with information that I, or anyone in this timeline for that matter, shouldn't know yet.

Andrea turned around and witnessed the change of her expression from frustrated to guilty before sighing and walking back to me.

"I'm sorry. That's unfair of me." She said when she reached me. "I'm just angry that he's always getting away with everything."

I reached for her hands and pulled her towards me, wrapping her in embrace. "Not everything. Because people gotta learn to stop messing with my brain."

"Don't I do that to you, though?" She sassily said. My, my. She's flirting with me.

"Oh, you do. Everyday. But I like it." I answered.

I felt her hug me tighter as she laughed softly. I placed my chin on top of her head and gently caressed her back.

"Did we just have our first fight?"

"Tony, we fight everyday."

"Good point."

—

"I'm going to kill him."

Andrea started hurrying out the door of the house when we found out what exactly Kai did with my brain.

Apparently, he made me his own personal spy camera to keep tabs on Andrea. Imagine having someone in your brain, watching your every move. Creepy much? And then because of that, our brains were somehow linked. So, some little things he knew became the little things I know, which explains how I know bits of the future.

It explains the whole Harry Potter debacle. Though, why do I only get movie infos from him instead of anything actually helpful? Does he like watching movies and munching on chips?

Probably.

"Let's not do anything impulsive at the moment." I suggested as I ran in front of her to stop her from marching out of the house,

"Says the man who lacks self-control."

"It took a lot of self-control for me not to kiss you all those times."

"You still kissed me."

"But you liked it."

"I did, but that's not the point." She said before groaning. "Stop flirting with me! I'm trying to focus here."

I couldn't help the smile that crept to my lips when she couldn't hold back her smile when I flirted with her. I might even say that she's blushing. How cute.

"Sorry." I said, very insincerely. I'm not at all sorry for making her blush because it's one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.

"Back to the topic." She said. "I'm going to kill Kai."

I arched an eyebrow at her as I crossed my arms against my chest. "Do you know where he is?"

She held my gaze longer than she should have in silence. "No."

"Why don't we figure out where he is first, yes?" I said.

"Fine." She answered before turning around and walking back to the basement.

"See? Dynamic duo. I'm the brain, you're the brawn." I said while catching up to her, walking by her side.

"Your brain has been compromised." She said in a monotone voice.

"Your brawn was as well last night." I joked. I mean, for someone who looks good with her power and strength, she also looks gorgeous when weakened under me.

She shot me a glare. Not a playful one, but a warning, so I immediately held my hands up in defeat.

"I was kidding." I said.

I wanted to say that one of these days, she's just going to seal my mouth shut again.

But I don't exactly have more days with her, do I? Because as lovely as last night was, it was also a goodbye. Then she'll get back to her own year, own home. And I won't be able to see her again.

It's terrifying. I just want to keep her in my arms forever and forget everything. I mean, we deserve that kind of peace and happiness. At least, she does.

That doesn't mean I regret building the time machine. I want Andrea to be happy, even if it's not with me.

"Does that mean he saw us having sex?" I asked while we're in the basement with Andrea setting up two maps, one of Miami and one of the entire USA, just in case Kai jumped states.

"I like to think that he didn't because that would be—" She said but I cut her off and finished the sentence for her.

"Creepy? Disturbing? Invasive? Perverse? Utterly disgusting?" I said, trying to figure out what word she was going for.

"All of the above." She answered before holding out her hand in front of me while her other hand held a small knife.

"What?" I asked.

"I need your blood." She said.

My what now?

"I beg your pardon?" She did not just ask me for blood.

"To do a locator spell, I need something that's connected to Kai to track him. You two are practically linked, so I need your blood." She explained.

I moved away and shook my head frantically. "No. Nuh-uh, Spunky."

"Tony." Her tone sounded like a warning.

"You want to cut me?"

"Just the palm."

"Nope."

"Why are you so afraid of blood?"

"I'm not afraid of blood, I just don't like the nausea or the pain that comes with it."

"Well, you're gonna have to get used to it, Snarky." She kept her hand out in front of me, wiggling her fingers in encouragement. I simply crossed my arms and held her gaze.

She groaned and rolled her eyes as she dropped her hand. "If you let me cut you, I'll do whatever you want."

That offer of hers suddenly piqued my interest. I untangled my arms and shot my eyebrows upward as I walked towards her.

"Whatever I want?" I echoed.

"Yes, whatever you want." She confirmed.

Be careful, Spunky. 'Whatever' is too vast of a concept.

With a smile, I neared her and offered her my hand, my palm facing up. I watched how she rolled her eyes at the smug expression on my face before she took my hand in hers and sliced the knife through the skin of my palm quickly.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, appalled by her roughness. "You could have been gentle with it!" I complained.

She only shot me a playful smirk before guiding my hand into a fist, squeezing the blood out of my palm and down to the maps below.

She opened up my hand again and held it with both hands before muttering something under her breath. I witnessed the wound close up before my eyes. No matter how crazy everything gets, the little things still stuns me.

"All good again." She said before planting a kiss on my palm.

It took every fiber in my body not to pull her in for another long, heated kiss that would eventually lead to something more like last night. We needed to focus. But this side of Andrea, this soft and caring side of her just breaks me—both in a good and bad way. Good, because it makes me feel so loved by her. Bad, because I would only get to feel it for a limited amount of time instead of forever.

"You're touchy today." I joked, to conceal my real emotions.

"You don't like it?" She said, narrowing her eyes at me with a teasing smile on her lips.

"Oh, I do." I answered.

She simply laughed softly before returning her attention to the two maps. She closed her eyes and started chanting the incantation. The words were clear now. I wasn't sure what language it was, but some words in the incantation sounded oddly enough, like it was Latin.

"Ahsorum, dolusantum, infidictus." She chanted.

I looked down on the maps, waiting for something to happen. Will the blood move or something? Because if so, I would love to see that.

But nothing happened.

Andrea opened her eyes and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at both maps.

"Nothing happened." I told her.

She sighed. "Yeah. This happens when the person is already dead or under a cloaking spell."

I shrugged as I leaned on the table where the maps are placed. "The former is certainly not possible just yet. So, a cloaking spell?"

She crossed her arms, her brows not moving as it remained pushed together, busy collecting her thoughts.

"I don't know. Kai likes games. He would've wanted me to come for him." She said, her gaze not faltering from the maps.

Well, then, maybe he does want you to come to him.

"Maybe he's not here." I said.

She whipped her gaze to meet mine. I can already tell that she immediately knew what I was talking about based on the way her puzzled and suspicious expression turned into that of sadness.

"Oh." She just said.

"It's time." I looked down on the ground as I said it, rocking my feet back and forth. "I mean, last night was a goodbye, wasn't it?"

"It was a lot of things." She said, a short, soft laugh escaping her lips.

"I hope amazing is one of them." I commented.

"It sure is." She answered.

This is it, isn't it? This is the last time I'm ever going to see her again. The last time I'm ever going to touch her. The last time I'm ever going to talk to her. After this, all I'd have of her is our memories together.

At least I have those, right?

I walked around the table and put her face into my hands, cupping her cheeks and brushing my fingers in her hair before our foreheads touched.

"I don't know how to do this." She said, my heart breaking at the same time her voice did.

"Well," I started, trying hard not to strain my voice while I held back my tears. "You're gonna go inside the machine, and I'll be standing on the other side of it. We'll memorize each other's faces. And while we do that, you will not say a thing."

She pulled back slightly to meet my gaze.

"If you say something—anything, I don't think I'll be able to go through with it." I muttered.

She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek before she lowered her head and shook it.

"This is so unfair." She mumbled.

"And cruel." I added, a bitter laugh escaping my lips.

"I love you, Andrea." I whispered, leaning in to kiss her one last time.

The kiss was a mix of things. It was filled with sorrow, longing, and care. I wished our kiss wouldn't be this way, but there's no other way to feel it when it's the last,

When we pulled away from each other, I brought my hands from her face down to her arms then her hands before I gently pulled her towards the machine. I guided her inside it, holding her hands in mine tightly for it would be the last time I'd ever hold them.

I closed the glass door and watched her behind it, looking back at me with her glistening blue diamond eyes. I can only imagine what mine looked like.

"J.A.R.V.I.S." I called, swallowing hard before continuing. "Start it up."

"Will do, sir." He answered.

The sound of the machine powering up was accompanied with the sound of the single sob that Andrea didn't mean to let out. I looked at her and I could see how she's trying not to fall apart in front of me. I'm trying not to fall apart myself but seeing her like that made it so difficult.

Seconds. Mere seconds left before she disappears right before my eyes. I placed my hand on top of the glass door as I had my jaw clenched. She placed her on top of mine. The absence of her touch already made me feel empty inside. The barrier between us seems so thin at the moment, but I know that seconds later, the wall between us would be decades-worth of time.

"I love you, too, Tony." She said.

That's the first time she said it. The first time I heard it. But also the last time she'll say it, and the last time I'll hear it.

Hearing those words froze me on the spot, like I'm currently deferring time just so I could prolong this moment, so I could stay in this second.

Then I heard the launch sound, but nothing happened.

"Sir, the machine is only 99.38% successful. In order for it to completely work, it needs to be a full hundred." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed me.

Well, this is kinda awkward.

"I'm..." I looked back at Andrea and gulped. "I'm gonna fix it, hold on."

I turned around to make my way towards the computer but was stopped when Andrea spoke up.

"Don't." She said. This caused me to whip around and look at her in slight confusion. "Open the door."

With hesitation, I reached for the door and opened it. I moved backwards as she stepped out of the machine, all while our gazes are fixated on one another.

"I still owe you." She said. "I told you when you give me some of your blood, I'll do whatever you want."

"No offense, but nothing you do will be enough at the moment." How can anything be enough when she's not here? She's all I want. She's all I need. It will only be enough when she's with me.

"There's one." She reached for my hand, her gaze not faltering. "It's incredibly selfish. But..."

She pulled me closer, placing her hands on my face, caressing my cheeks with her thumb as I watched her glistening eyes let out tears with my own glossy ones.

"If you are willing to be as selfish as I am, I'm fine with it." She said, a small smile filled with a promise of forever evident on her lips. "Just say the words and I'll do it. After all, my family values promises."

So, if I say this one little thing that I want, then everything that comes with it that I've been dreaming of, can also come true. A life with Andrea, in this timeline, in our own home, with our own family.

All I have to do is say it,

"Don't leave me." I whispered.

And everything that's too good to be true, can really come true.

—

I wasn't supposed to divide this into two. This is supposed to be one long chapter but I haven't written for two days because I'm really really sick. I thought I should just post this half finished chapter and do a two-part instead. I'll start writing again when I feel better because at the moment I feel like shit and I might get tested for covid later.

Stay safe and hydrated, lovelies.