Chapter Text
“Don’t forget me, my lord.”
It felt like the world was dissolving around her. And she supposed it was, in some kind of awful poetic way - the Storm, though it didn’t actually destroy anything, took the world as she knew it with her. Just like it had before. Just like it had every other time. Just like she lost Ring and Isabella and the rest of their friends, just like she lost all the people before Regulus, she was watching it again. Was she doomed to watch it over and over? Was she doomed to see the world rewind forever?
Was she doomed to keep loving everyone and keep losing everyone?
“Don’t forget my heartbeat… on the right.”
Schneider’s voice echoed in her ears, her body frail and fragile in her arms, going limp, fading, fading, fading–
And then she wasn’t.
Nothing was.
Everything was gone.
Vertin sat in a void of frozen time, the world standing on pause around her. Against her arms, she felt the last traces of warmth from someone she barely knew and already missed fade away. Some profound sense of longing was washing over her, like waves crashing over her head. A sense of loss and grief and desperation and wanting and a broken, whimpering need, how do I fix this, there has to be something I can do– and her breathing got heavy, and the world spun around her, and she felt her heart race, and she heard the blood pounding in her ears. She was surrounded by a blur of motion, struck suddenly and sharply by the noise of something tick, tick, ticking in the back of her mind like a clock with a stuck second hand, and then there was a flash of light.
This small ball of light pulsed in front of her, glowing and flickering in the frozen space around her. Through the tears and around the lump in her throat she reached out, her hand brushing through it, the light glimmering at her fingertips.
She muttered a silent prayer.
Since when did she pray?
Since Schneider?
There was silence, and stillness, and then–
She stood inside an old, rundown building, what looked like some sort of covered parking lot. Outside the building there was the simple, natural sound of life moving as it always did. No matter what year it was, what time the Storm took her back to, there was always life and things were always moving. The world never stopped moving, no matter how much she wished she could stop for even just one moment and breathe. People walked, pigeons cooed, cars rattled by on the roads that outlined the structure she found herself standing in.
Where am I?
“Timekeeper?”
Sonetto’s voice shook Vertin from her stupor. “I… Sonetto?”
“Timekeeper, are you alright? You looked… distant.”
“Where am I?” She asked aloud, the burning question spoken into whatever world she had entered into.
“Um… Chicago?”
“Chicago?” Her voice wavered. What was happening? It was gone, this was gone, it couldn’t–
“Chicago, the United States? We are… on a mission. Did something happen? Are you alright?” The look of worry on her assistant’s face was blatant and genuine. She felt a sudden pang in her heart. She had just seen that look, but it wasn’t directed at her. Just a few minutes ago… with Sotheby, at the dinner…
“Remind me… what we’re here to do, please, Sonetto.”
“We are here to investigate reported activity of Manus Vindictae in conjunction with the timing of a massacre that took place in the square just outside of this building. Right now, we are waiting to intervene when necessary. It should happen in just a couple of minutes–”
A gunshot sounded from just outside where they were standing. One brick wall was all that separated them from whatever bloodbath stood outside. One brick wall was all that separated them from…
“Schneider…”
Sonetto looked frantically between the Timekeeper and the door to the outside. “We should… Timekeeper…”
“I’m going,” she said, and then she stepped outside.
She was greeted by the sight of several bodies. The metallic scent of blood hung in the air, red splatters sat just inches from the doorframe. Behind her, Sonetto gasped in shock.
Vertin was frozen.
Vertin was frozen because despite the bodies, despite the blood, despite the fact that there was a gun pointed very nearly at her from point-blank range, none of those things registered quite like the person in front of her.
“Schneider?”
Sonetto nudged her way through the doorframe past Vertin, immediately taking up a stance as if she intended to fight the dark-haired girl. “Step away from them… why are you doing this?”
Schneider - it was her, it couldn’t not be her - had an amused expression spread over her face. She giggled softly, looking at the two of them. “What a pleasure… Ms. Governor. I’m sure you can understand… these people kill people like you. Surely you do not want them to ensure you meet the same fate?”
“We are here to protect the peace and order of mankind. If you intend to hurt these people, human, arcanist, or anyone… we will stop you.”
Schneider pointedly ignored her. Turning back to the men she had lined up to execute, she raised her gun to another one of their heads. “Next on my list… Adam Heyer.”
“Stop it!” Sonetto interjected. “Get away from these people!”
The man, still shaking in fear, turned his gaze on her. “Are you an arcanist? Like her? I don’t want someone with blood like yours to save me. I’d rather die than be indebted to someone like you!”
Another gunshot rang out, and his body fell to the ground, blood pooling slowly beneath it.
“Why… why are you doing this?” Sonetto pleaded, but Schneider paid her no mind. She turned her attention to Vertin again, looking her up and down.
“You… know my name, do you not?”
Vertin was still frozen. She stared at her, mouth slightly open yet struggling to breathe, what must have looked a little too much like fear frozen on her face.
“Are you afraid of me, my lord? Do not worry… I mean no harm to you.”
“You’re alive…?”
“Timekeeper, what’s going on? Do you know her?”
“Be quiet,” Schneider instructed, and Sonetto shrank back a little. “How do you know me?”
“I… you’re…” She stammered, in shock. How could she be here? How could she be alive? Was this… her own past? Was she reliving her memories? Could she be that traumatized?
“Hmm… you seem a little bit stuck. Is it cold enough outside to have frozen your mind too?”
“I’ve done this before…”
Schneider looked at her curiously, then smiled, a cheshire grin spreading across her face. “You’ve done this before? What do you mean by that, my lord? Could it be… do you remember me?”
“Do you remember me?” She asked.
Schneider grinned wider. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, my lord. I’ve never seen you before in my life. Perhaps you have made some sort of mistake.”
“Timekeeper. How do you know her? What is happening?” Sonetto finally got the courage to interrupt, and Vertin turned to her. “Timekeeper…?”
“I need to go,” Vertin blurted out, and turned around, sprinting back into the building and turning a corner, desperately wiping at her eyes. When she pulled her wrist away from her face, she saw the sleeve of her jacket stained with tears. She was crying.
Had she gone back in time? Not the way the Storm took you back, but… properly back? Back into her own past, instead of the world’s?
She heard footsteps behind her. Instinctively, she reached for her own gun, the one she kept at her hip.
“Relax, my lord. As I said, I don’t intend to harm you. I just want to know… how you remember me, if I’ve never seen you. I think I would remember such a pretty face…” Schneider’s voice came from behind her. As she turned, she saw the girl, gun holstered at her hip instead of in her hand. She looked at Vertin as if trying to solve a puzzle, examining the expression on her face, her shaking hands - when had her hands started shaking?
“I think… I… I think I’ve gone back in time.”
“So you remember me from our future? How romantic. Tell me, my lord… why does seeing me scare you so, yet you seem somehow hopeful?”
“You were dead,” She said, voice carrying louder than she would have liked in the enclosed space. “You were dead. I saw you die. You were gone, and then I was…”
“And then you were here,” Schneider finished. “I see. I have heard of strange forces at work…”
“The Storm,” Vertin interjected.
“Yes, like that. But nothing that can take just one person back in time… you must be truly special, my lord.”
“You are far from the first person to tell me that,” she wiped tears from the corners of her eyes again. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t.”
“Now, now, don’t cry. Surely there must be something to this all. Perhaps you’ve come back to prevent something… could that be right?”
“You’re not an arcanist,” she said. Schneider’s face fell momentarily. She quickly regained her composure, but Vertin knew she hadn’t imagined it. “You’re lying to everyone. You’re a human.”
“I… do not know what you’re talking about, my lord. I assure you I would not lie about that.”
“Only arcanists are safe from the Storm. And the Storm is what killed you. Beyond that, you told me yourself, right before you died.”
“I told you, did I? Why would I do that?” She looked at Vertin curiously. It occurred to the white-haired girl that maybe she should stop backing up - perhaps a little too late, as she felt her back hit the stone wall behind her. “Is there so much to this story that I would share something so personal?”
“It… was only a day and a half. That I knew you.” Vertin trembled slightly as she spoke. “But we… it was…”
“Don’t tell me… I can guess. You fell in love with me. And I with you, and so I told you my secret. That I’m not a real arcanist.”
“Yes,” she blurted out, and then covered her mouth. “I– I mean–”
“How romantic. A whirlwind romance… caught in the eye of the Storm. Tell me, my lord, do you know what is coming?”
“It should not be more than a few hours from now that my watch marks twenty-four hours until the Storm starts. After that… everything sort of falls apart rather quickly.” Vertin elected not to mention the fight at the Walden, or the nearly killing her, or the rescue, or the… anything else, really.
“I see. And do you know what happens tonight, at the Walden?”
“The stock market crashes. Hundreds of people panic, and… the chaos is what kickstarts the Storm. Manus Vindictae have found some way to… influence history, so that it begins when they want it to.”
“You really are from the future,” she grinned again, that too-wide smile that threatened to rip a hole in Vertin’s chest. “So tell me, my lord… when do I get to kiss you?”
“To… kiss me?” She stammered. “I don’t… why would you…”
“You told me we fell in love. I heard you correctly, yes?”
“I… yes…”
“So, did I manage to kiss you in that twenty-four hours?” She pouted. “I would hope I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity like that.
“You did,” she said. Her voice was quiet, and even Schneider for all her pressing seemed to let a heavy silence hang in the air after Vertin spoke those two soft words. “You did, and… it was wonderful.”
“I’d hate to miss out on it, my lord. Perhaps we can come to a more… satisfying conclusion, if we work together. But you work against Manus Vindictae, your companion said? That won’t do me much good.”
“They have your sister,” she spoke quickly, trying to stop her from forming any idea of retreat. “Marian. They have her in captivity.”
Schneider paused. “I was right,” she muttered under her breath. “That… changes things, a little bit.”
“At the Walden tonight. Arcana and Forget-Me-Not ‘convince’ me to join them. Join you. But they know, then, that you betray them, and they have me kill you. Only… you survived. Your heart…”
“Don’t forget my heartbeat… on the right.”
“Your heart is on the wrong side of your chest,” she said. “That’s why it didn’t kill you. I shot you right where your heart should be, and it didn’t kill you.”
“You… really do know everything, don’t you, my lord?” Schneider sighed. Her voice had taken on a tone that Vertin didn’t recognize. She sounded… subdued. Resigned, even. Like the more she told her, the more resigned she became to her own fate.
“We can fix it.”
Schneider looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”
“All of it. Your sister, the Storm, everything. We can free her, we can stop Forget-Me-Not, we can keep Manus Vindictae from furthering the Storm. I just need to make a few calls, talk to a few people– we might still have a chance–”
“You are getting ahead of yourself, my lord. One step at a time. You really want to fix what went wrong?”
“I would do anything to keep you alive,” she said, not caring how desperate she sounded. “I can’t… I was sent back to fix it. I can’t lose you again. I won’t.”
Schneider touched her gently on the shoulder. Without any real intent, Vertin grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her into an embrace, clinging to the smooth fabric as if it would somehow spare her from everything this cold, cruel world had to offer.
“So rough, my lord. There will be time for pulling at my clothes later. For now… where is your assistant? Perhaps we should discuss our plans.”
“You’re going to help me?” She blinked back tears. “You… want it fixed?”
“I am generally interested in staying alive. And I am more interested in keeping my sister alive. But perhaps what I am most interested in…” she paused, looking up into Vertin’s eyes. Vertin looked down at her - she was short, but Schneider was shorter - and met her gaze, tears still lingering at the edges of her vision.
“What are you interested in?”
“I think I’d like to see… what that kiss might have felt like.”
And with a simple tug on the lapels of Vertin’s jacket, the smaller girl pulled her into a kiss. Where the first time Vertin had paused, frozen, this time she was determined for it to be different. Clumsily, going off of a severe lack of experience, she tried to kiss back. For a few moments, they stayed lip-locked, clothes clutched in each other’s fists, holding onto each other for dear life. Then, just as quickly as it had started, the kiss was broken, both girls panting as they tried to catch their breath.
“I love you,” Vertin said, voice pleading and desperate. She clung to Schneider like a lifeline, like she thought she might sink into the sea and drown if she let go.
“There will be time for that later, my lord. Right now, we have planning to do. And I… want to make sure that there really will be time. I quite like you already.”
As if on cue, Sonetto appeared behind them. “Get away from her!” She shouted, moving to push Schneider. Vertin held her arm out, blocking her path.
“Sonetto… trust me. She wants to help us. She has information on the Manus, information we can use. She is on our side.”
“I mean no harm,” Schneider smirked. “See? I’ve even put my gun away. Relax. Sonetto, is it?”
“You are… Schneider? Timekeeper called you that.”
“I have to assume your real name isn’t Timekeeper, my lord. So what should I call you, in case I ever get tired of what I’ve come up with?”
“Vertin,” she said. “My name is Vertin.”
“Alright, Vertin. And Sonetto. We have some things to work out. And we need to get to the Walden. So follow me - I can get us a ride.”
She walked toward the door, a confidence to her walk that Vertin felt hypnotized by. I could watch her for hours, she thought, just doing anything. She would be beautiful doing anything.
She hung there for a second, watching her walk, and then came to her senses, shaking her head and moving to follow. Sonetto, confused but determined, followed after her.
Maybe I can still fix this, Vertin affirmed. Maybe it doesn’t have to be over.
Outside, thunder rumbled. For once, Vertin felt hopeful enough to ignore it. The Storm was coming, maybe… but she had a plan.
And she had Schneider.
That would have to be enough.