Chapter Text
Tord lie on his side, headphones on, casually listening to KMFDM on his iPod. He lived the idealized life any teenager in the early 2000’s could only dream of, enviable for his careless, edgy swagger, and he knew it. He was perusing the glossy pages of a certain porn magazine, not particularly enthralled by what was being presented to him as this sort of thing was something he did out of ritual at this point. This was Tord’s typical evening routine, getting lost in those countless pages of women with bountiful breasts, listening to his favorite alternative music, not a care in the world.
Suddenly, there was a doorbell ring. It wasn't unusual, seeing as his roommate Edd was a pretty popular guy. Figuring it didn't concern him, he resumed his browsing of an endless selection of bolted on plastic blow up doll tits to ogle at within the magazine's pages.
"Tord, it's for you!" Called Edd's voice from the living room.
Tord sat up in bed, confused by the announcement of an unexpected guest in his name. For me? He thought, as he mentally ran through a list of possibilities at the identity of the visitor. He rarely talked to anyone outside of Edd, Tom, or Matt, and for someone to be asking for him at, no less the late hour of night that it was, was a bit alarming. Paranoid as ever, Tord took a butterfly knife with him, burying it in the pocket of his black trench coat, and going to meet Edd and this mysterious guest in the living room.
In the doorway stood a tall, disheveled man with dark brown hair and a scruffy stubbled beard. His eyes were hauntingly sunken in like a corpse, something Tord would know the look of personally from his several close encounters with the undead. Disturbed by the hollow appearance of their house guest, Tord tentatively put his hand in his pocket, reaching for his knife as he approached him.
"Tord, this man says that he is me from the future. Do you believe it?" Edd snickered.
Tord looked at both the strange man and Edd and saw few similarities between the two. Sure, their hairstyle was about the same, but there were probably a million dudes in England sporting a shaggy nondescript brown mop on their heads. Whether this guy was just an old kook or he actually had malicious intent, Tord was the most concerned of all by the question of why he was the one this creep was asking for? As his fight or flight response began to kick in, Tord's fingers gripped tighter on the thin, metal blade, ready to attack.
"Tord, it really is you," said the man, his gruff voice commanding a certain authority, and now that he heard it, Tord did suppose it somewhat resembled what Edd might sound like if he were 20 years older and maybe became a chain smoker. There was something beneath it's forceful timbre, though, a base layer almost melancholy, like nostalgia for a long destroyed home.
Tord looked around, parsing how to react. This man was acting as if he's known Tord, but hadn't seen him in ages, looking at him with eyes beginning to water as if he were feeling the catharsis of finally finding the only other human on Earth after decades of lonesome. Which doesn't make any sense to him, because even if– and this was a big if– but even if this was a time traveling middle aged Edd, why would he react that way to seeing a younger Tord at long last? Could he not simply see his own timeline’s Tord? God, was Tord going to die young?! Is that why this so-called Edd would miss him so badly?!
While Tord’s head was still reeling with so many questions he could hardly keep them straight, the alleged time traveler just shook his head. "Now's not the time for getting carried away," he muttered to himself, then proceeded to take a pair of high-tech handcuffs from out of the pocket of his gray trench coat, "Tord, I'm going to have to ask you to please turn around and face the wall, as you are under arrest."
Tord looked at the pair of handcuffs the man was holding, and they definitely did not look like any other pair he's ever seen. They had a bit of a sci-fi, futuristic flair to them, with extra buttons and switches and blinking lights he couldn't parse the purpose of. Unable to take it seriously any longer, Tord began to laugh at the absurdity of this situation, now coming to the conclusion he should have to start with, that this mysterious man must be a cosplayer or a LARPer or some other manner of dork who was completely disillusioned with reality. As he laughed, the man began to get visibly annoyed, until Tord eventually slammed the door shut on him.
He them turned to Edd, the real Edd who lived in the house with him, still laughing as he managed to breathe out between chuckles and ask, "Seriously, who the fuck was that guy?"
Edd laughed back, taking a swig from his cola can as if it were a can of beer, "I have no idea. I already told you what I know, when I answered the door he started prattling on about how he was me from the future or something. I didn't know what to say so I just kept entertaining his obvious delusions."
"Whoever he is, don't let him in here again."
Suddenly, the sound of banging could be heard from outside as the man claiming to be Edd from the future began furiously beating down on the heavy wooden door. Edd and Tord could do nothing but laugh like a pair of hyenas.
"Look at this fucking idiot!" Tord exclaimed, but Edd didn't seem as entertained by now, a worried look softening his features as he anticipated what damage could come to this house that he would be responsible for if the beating resumed for much longer.
As if on cue, the door was finally done in by the man knocking it down in one last swift, fatal kick. The two boys froze and then began to back away in fear, terrified of this man's strength. No longer did they believe he was just some weirdo who dressed in costume, he must actually be the real deal.
"Tord, you heard me. Stop resisting arrest or I'll have to use lethal force," the man commanded sternly yet not angrily. He approached Tord, who had, at this point, fell to the ground from fear, cowering with his back against the wall.
The time traveler expected some kind of snarky remark from Tord, so when he instead saw him down on the ground, shaking like a leaf and unable to speak a word, he realized it may be time to be a little bit more gentle. He held a hand out to the boy to help him get up, and, reluctantly, Tord took the man's calloused, rough hand, allowing himself to be lifted up by this man who he didn't know at all, let alone trusted.
"Please, face the wall and put your hands behind your back. You're under arrest." The man commanded in a much more gentle, yet still firm tone. The man went on to inform Tord of his right to silence while Tord stood there, dumbfounded by this whole situation. He couldn't muster up an insult, a jab, a snarky remark to his detainer. Not even a simple why is this happening? as his brain went into shock. And he just let the man turn him around when he was unresponsive, shoving him up against the wall as he crudely put the futuristic handcuffs around his wrists.
“H-hey! What are you doing with Tord, you freak!?” Edd stammered, somewhat meekly demanding to get an answer from this creep who has just barged into their household and unlawfully detained his best friend.
The time traveler did not answer. Instead, with a now subdued Tord in his grasp, he pulled up the sleeve of his trench coat to reveal some manner of device on his wrist that looked like the kind a high tech movie character might use to teleport with. He fidgeted with a few buttons and switches on the device, and within a moment, both he and Tord were flashing with a bright, white light.
“Stop this, right now!!” Edd helplessly screamed at the man. He had no idea what was happening or what sort of technology this strange man was now using, but he knew at least enough to understand that this was something that was far beyond his grasp. In a last ditch effort, he lunged after them, but it was too late. As the white light dissipated, the pair of them were gone without a trace, leaving Edd helpless to do anything but stare at the empty room where his friend Tord once stood, tears beginning to prick his eyes as the crushing reality swallowed him that he very well may never see him again.