Xander awakens amidst the sounds of bustling streets and concerned faces looking down at him.
“You okay mate?” A man asks him as he peers down at the awakening man lying on the street in front of him.
Xander sits up, looking at his surroundings and concluding he can only be in Melusarej. Next to him is Kayde, who is still passed out. He looks around but doesn’t see any of the others.
It’s then that everything starts to replay in his mind, their confrontation with the humanoid distortion and it summoning a monstrosity that forced them through separate portals. The helpless feeling comes back to him, knowing there was nothing he could do to get to Gwendolyn. They are separated again, except this time around they might not even be in the same timeframe.
He starts to punch the ground in frustration causing those around him to become even more concerned, them thinking he is a madman passing out in the street before waking up and angrily punching the ground.
Dirt starts to get inside the small cuts forming on his hands as he continues, this being the only way to vent his frustration.
“Dude, stop that, you’re freaking people out,” Kayde tells him, having woken up due to the commotion of the people around them as Xander started to seemingly go insane.
Xander pulls his last punch, sinking down on his knees, sulking in the middle of the street surrounded by all these people.
“He isn’t normally like this I promise. Anyway, do any of you guys know what day it is… oh and I need the year too,” Kayde asks, wanting to get his bearings on wherever they ended up.
“Uh… it’s the fifty-sixth, year one thousand and five,” one of them responds, uncertainty in his tone, as asking for the year is quite odd.
“Thanks, man, you guys can disperse now. I am going to help him out,” Kayde tells the others, noting that they are twenty-four years in the past.
“Wipe off your hands, we need to start to figure things out,” Kayde throws Xander a handkerchief as the people around them start to leave. Xander doesn’t listen, continuing to stare at the ground thinking if there was anything he could have done.
“I couldn’t do anything. I experienced the moment where everyone was slipping away, and I couldn’t stop it and now we don’t even know if we are all in the same place, let alone time period,” Xander finally speaks, blaming himself for what transpired.
“Hey, stop acting like you are a god. You’re human; you’re not always going to be able to control everything. So I need you to pull it together so we can figure this out,” Kayde shoves him as he tries to snap him out of it.
Xander realizes Kayde is right, but still he shouldn’t have been so helpless. He wipes off his hands and gets up to follow Kayde.
“Okay, so we are in the past… how are we supposed to get to the future again?” Kayde asks the obvious question as they start to walk in a direction.
“The Scientist… but he doesn’t get that working for another… twenty-four years, we might as well wait,” Xander starts to think out loud.
“Yeah, seems pretty hopeless,” Kayde agrees, turning to look at Xander as he tells him this.
When he looks over Xander isn’t there, instead, he is running off towards the crowd. Kayde notices that he is chasing a woman that looks like Gwendolyn from behind and even he starts to think it could be her for a second.
Xander catches up to her, stating, “Gwendolyn, I thought I lost…” he stops when he realizes it isn’t her, but instead is an extremely pregnant woman.
“I’m sorry, I think you have mistaken me for someone else,” the woman tells him, an innate kindness present in her voice.
“Yeah, sorry, I must have scared you,” Xander apologizes as he gets a better look at the woman. She is the spitting image of Gwendolyn, but her facial features are slightly more rounded.
“It’s okay, I understand. You know it’s kind of funny, Gwendolyn is what I am going to name this little one if she is a girl,” the woman informs him, putting both of her hands on her stomach.
Kayde leans over to Xander and whispers the obvious, “Is this Gwendolyn’s mom?” Xander just looks back at him, trying to convey that he believes that as well.
“Yeah, what a coincidence,” Xander tells her, trying to play off Kayde’s whispering as nothing.
“You’re lying, I can tell by the way your friend whispered to you that there is something going on here,” she doesn’t hesitate in calling him out on it.
“No, seriously it really was just a coincidence. We should get going now,” Xander insists awkwardly, caught off guard at how similar even her personality is to Gwendolyn’s.
As he tries to walk away she grabs his wrist, “Wait! Before you go let me at least introduce myself. My name is Guinevere”.
“Umm… I’m Xander and this is Kayde,” Xander responds automatically out of courtesy.
Guinevere pulls on Xander’s arm; having never let go of it, “Let’s go sit down on that bench over there. I have things to ask you two”. Xander doesn’t have the gall to resist, finding it rude if he just ripped his arm away and left.
She remains determined, still pulling on his arm towards the bench.
“Dude, it would be really awkward if Grayson walked up right now,” Kayde can’t help himself from commenting.
Guinevere’s eyes dart directly over to Kayde causing him to immediately regret his mistake.
“Now I definitely know something is up, you two know the names of my husband and unborn child. Both of you are coming with me and you will explain what is going on,” she demands, not going to let them leave under any circumstances anymore.
They begrudgingly follow her to the edge of the street, sitting down on the bench she suggested.
“So who are you two really and how do you know so much about my family?” Guinevere asks them.
Xander’s eyes travel down to the ground, “Really, it’s better if we don’t tell you anything”.
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“Doesn’t matter, it’s too late for me not to know now. I don’t care if you think it is bad if I know, this will eat away at me forever if you don’t tell me, please, I have to know,” she begs, all the while staring into Xander’s eyes.
Xander is unable to refuse her anymore, that face reminding him too much of his wife.
“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone, not even Grayson,” Xander finally agrees, making her promise before he says anything.
“Seriously, don’t! Let’s just go,” Kayde tries to prevent him from saying anything, but he can see in Xander’s eyes that his mind is already made up.
“Fine, have it your way, but I’m not going to be around for it,” Kayde tells him before leaving, not wanting to have anything to do with Xander telling someone about time travel.
As Kayde disappears into the crowd, Xander asks Guinevere again, “So do you promise to keep what I am going to tell you to yourself?”
“Yes, I will,” she declares, willing to agree to find out the truth.
Xander takes a deep breath before explaining, “This may be confusing, but I am married to your daughter”.
She glances down at his ring as he continues, “My friend and I are from the future”.
He waits for her to tell him how ridiculous that is but instead, she just sits there, unfazed by this discovery and continuing to listen for more.
Xander takes this as her telling him to go on so he does, “We were forced through a portal and ended up here. Gwendolyn and our other comrades were pulled into other portals. When I saw you in the street, I was so happy, I thought that perhaps the portals all lead to the same place, but that doesn’t appear to be the case”.
Guinevere looks at him with a stern face, “So, being that you are from the future; you know how it will end for me don’t you? You knew Grayson and Gwendolyn’s names, but when I told you my name it was new to you. That means this illness does get the best of me”.
Xander winces, knowing what she says is true.
“My child survives though,” she gets out before breaking down into tears.
“I’m sorry, I…” Xander stops as he notices she is smiling.
“It’s okay, you have given me the best news of my life. I was so worried that this illness would end up killing both me and my child… but now I know she lives,” Guinevere tells him as she starts to hug him.
“Is she okay? Is she healthy?” Guinevere thinks to ask, starting to contemplate if there are any issues caused by her disease.
“Yes, she is,” Xander can’t keep himself from smiling when he tells her.
She starts to hug him even tighter, “Thank you. You have given me to will to see this through until the end”.
She continues to hug him for an uncomfortable amount of time, causing Xander to say, “Hey, you should stop hugging me, it really would be bad if Grayson saw this right now”. Guinevere lets go of him, agreeing that it would probably get ugly.
“Will you tell me about her?” Guinevere requests, this being the only opportunity she will ever get to hear about her child. Xander doesn’t seem sure, still hesitant because she might say something to someone.
“Promise me again this stays between us?” Xander makes her promise again.
“Yes, of course, now tell me about Gwendolyn,” Guinevere agrees instantly.
“Your daughter is the most amazing person I have ever met. She is intelligent, beautiful, and tough. She is a great leader, she is supposed to be running the Silent Brotherhood right now, but I kind of got in the way of that. Honestly, I don’t know how I was lucky enough to end up with her,” Xander starts to go on about Gwendolyn.
“Well, you’re really kind… and you know you are rather pretty. I mean I don’t prefer pretty boys as you can tell by my husband, but if my daughter decided to marry you then you must be an extraordinary person,” Guinevere assures him.
“Thanks, I guess,” Xander scratches the back of his head awkwardly at the compliment. As he lowers his hand down to his neck he realizes something, having felt the chain of the locket.
He takes it off and opens it up, “Actually I have a picture of her in here”. He turns it towards Guinevere so she can see Gwendolyn’s picture in the locket she gifted him.
“You are right, she is beautiful,” Guinevere comments as she takes the locket from him, clutching it as she examines her own daughter. Xander’s eyes grow wider as he notices her finger get close to the switch that changes the picture, he tries to stop her, but it is too late.
“Oh my!” Guinevere gasps as the picture flips around to show the one of Gwendolyn completely naked.
“Sorry, I should have mentioned that… Gwendolyn is kind of… she can be very forward when it comes to me,” Xander tries to explain why that picture is there.
“No, she is your wife, it is perfectly normal. Although I’ll have you know she got that forwardness from Grayson, not me,” Guinevere notes as her face starts to turn bright red.
“She really is well endowed,” she can’t help but comment as she continues to glare at it.
“Maybe I should just…” Xander starts to say as he flips the switch so it is back to the regular picture.
“She would be mortified if I told her I showed this to her mother,” Xander quickly explains himself, not that he needed to.
“Yes, I understand. Just let me look at this picture a bit longer if that would be okay?” Guinevere requests, continuing to look at the locket.
“Yeah, no problem,” Xander just sits there awkwardly next to her.
It isn’t hard for Xander to notice now fondly she is looking at the picture, causing him to suggest, “Why don’t you keep that?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t, she made it for you. Plus you are away from her too so you still need it. I know that is what she would want,” Guinevere refuses, trying to hand Xander back the locket.
“It’s okay, I could never forget her face. All I have to do is close my eyes and think about her and she is there, so I’ll be fine. Please hold onto it for me,” Xander insists, knowing how much this could mean to her.
“Okay… if that’s what you want,” Guinevere relents, knowing he isn’t going to take it back willingly.
“It is,” Xander reaffirms for himself just as Kayde comes back.
“Hey, sorry to break up the whole meeting the in-laws’ thing going on here, but you guys have been talking for hours. I’m sure Grayson is worried and we need to be on our way, so wrap it up,” Kayde tells the two of them, causing them to notice it has started to get dark.
“We don’t have to…”
“It’s okay your friend is right. I have taken up too much of your time,” Guinevere interrupts Xander as she starts to slowly stand up. Xander quickly gets up and helps her back to her feet.
“Thank you, now let me give you one last hug,” Guinevere states as she wraps her arms around him.
“Tell my daughter I love her,” she whispers in his ear.
“I will,” he nods once they are apart.
“Well, goodbye Xander, I am truly glad I was able to meet you,” Guinevere tells him before turning around and walking off into the dimly lit streets behind her.
“What was that thing she slipped into your pocket?” Kayde asks once she is gone.
“What? What do you mean…” Xander asks as he reaches into his pocket and finds the locket he tried to give her.
“I wanted her to have this, but I guess she wouldn’t take it,” Xander explains, Kayde having not been present for the earlier exchange.
“Well now if you’re ready, let's start talking about what we should be doing instead of visiting people’s parents,” Kayde starts to get into planning mode.
As he says this he notices a glint in Xander’s eye and he realizes what that must mean, “Hold on. Don’t go thinking we are going to visit your parents”.
“No, I thought about it… but if she is that pregnant than my parents are already dead, I am supposed to be half a year older than Gwendolyn, but you know her living out those two years with the Cult of Chaos while we traveled forward in time made it so she is older,” Xander explains, knowing even here there is no way he will be able to speak with his parents.
“Sorry, I mean it’s good, but sorry,” Kayde gives his condolences.
“Well it doesn’t matter now, you’re right, let’s start thinking about this,” Xander sits back down on the bench ready to help figure out what they should do.
“The only people I can think of are the ones underground where we just came from, but they are long dead by now… or the Cult of Chaos in the arctic. I mean they wouldn’t know how to create a machine, but they probably know something given the distortions are related to the portals opening up both times,” Xander starts to postulate.
“Alright, I only see one way forward then. Let’s head to the arctic, we should start looking for boats headed towards the Sacrosanct Empire,” Kayde declares as he stands up.