((THANK YOU PLOT BUNNIES!! BH6 AU TYPE THING. JUST READ IT))
Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring
"CHARLIE! PHONE!"
Charlotte Elizabeth Winchester groaned and reluctantly got out of bed, just after she had flopped down onto the soft mattress and smothered herself under a mountain of blankets. She had just finished unpacking her last box after finally moving in with a friend in San Fransokyo.
"Who is it?" She yelled back, blindly trying to find the light switch that would illuminate her barren room.
"He says his name is Hiro Hamada. He's calling about a job for you. Something about time travel?"
It took all of three seconds for her to throw the door open, nearly fly down the stairs, and rip the phone out of her best friend's hand.
"Charlie Winchester speaking. Is this Hiro?" She asked breathlessly.
"Er.... Yeah. I was calling-"
"I know why you're calling. Oh gosh that sounded creepy, I didn't mean to say it like that. I just- yeah, anyways, I can't talk about the job over the phone. Where and when can we meet?" Charlie tapped her foot impatiently, hoping to get out of the house and start the job before the day ended.
"Um. The docks in fifteen minutes?" Hiro asked. Charlie grinned.
"That sounds perfect. I'll see you there."
Charlie made it to the docks in twelve minutes, just two minutes before Hiro.
"Hi Hiro!" She chirped, her springy brown curls bouncing as she jumped up to greet the stranger. "So, I'm going back in time. Who am I saving? Also, the rescue isn't a guarantee, because some things are fixed points in time. It's messy and hard to explain."
Hiro stared at the almost overly-happy girl. "How do you know you're saving a person?" He asked. Charlie laughed.
"Well, if I was being sent back in time to retrieve machinery, you probably wouldn't look as hopeful. Because machinery is harder to get ahold of," she answered, "also, I strictly rescue people on short notice because it's almost too easy to go back to a specific time and place if I know what I'm doing." Hiro nodded as he took in the information.
"My brother, Tadashi. He died in a fire four years ago, trying to save a man who didn't really deserve to be saved." Charlotte looked down at her sneaker clad feet, then nodded once.
"I heard about the fire," she murmured. A short pause later she made her decision. "Okay I'll do it. But, like I said, his death may be a fixed point in time. That doesn't mean that I can't work out a loophole and maybe prevent whatever caused his death to be a fixed point, but it might be tricky."
"How much will it cost?" Hiro asked, prompting Charlie to laugh again.
"Nothing. I don't charge to save a life. If I succeed you won't even remember this interaction, because the current timeline will be permanently altered and this won't have ever happened. Actually, I may even end up back in New York." She shuddered. "I hope I won't, but I can always save up to move again. Okay. So, you need to take a couple steps back so I don't accidentally pull you back in time with me." Hiro stepped back and watched as the air around Charlie glimmered and the woman disappeared.
-
Charlie hoped with every fiber in her being that Tadashi's death wasn't a fixed point. Hiro had looked so hopeful and she could tell how much he missed his brother. She hadn't needed to ask what Tadashi looked like, the young man's face had been burned into her memory when she had seen the news report on the fire.
She knew around what time the fire would happen, and the exact day, but she had no idea what day it was when she opened her eyes. That could be solved by finding a newspaper, but Charlie had to act fast so she wouldn't run out of time.
The girl only had a few moments to orient herself before she was pulled through time again, this time stopping in the middle of a science fair. This had to be close to the moment when Tadashi died.
A fire alarm was blaring, throwing off Charlotte's train of thought. Wasn't the area just filled with people?
"Professor Callaghan?" A guy's voice. Tadashi? Charlie had no time to think before a scream was torn from her throat and the building was exploding.
No! This shouldn't be happening! She mentally screamed. Tadashi is still in here!
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing outside the building as people were running out.
"Callaghan's still in there. Someone has to help."
Charlotte acted without even thinking, and ran into the building, quickly locking the door behind her so nobody else could get in.
"Professor Callaghan?" She yelled, trying to see though the smoke. It was completely useless, but Charlie knew she had to look for the guy who wouldn't die to make sure Tadashi would live. The explosion that would've ended Tadashi's life, the one that would now end her life, was never an accident. It hadn't occurred to Charlie that Callaghan set the fire until she saw the man in question being covered by microbots.
"Oh. Shit."
And then Charlie's only thought was how much pain she was feeling, and how her ears were ringing. It took a while, maybe she hadn't been standing in the right place, but darkness greeted the woman like an old friend.
Charlie awoke in a room with mint colored walls.
"Do you think she's awake yet?" A familiar voice asked, too loud to be a whisper but too quiet to be a normal speaking voice.
"Let her sleep, Hiro," a second, even more familiar voice responded.
"But Tadashi! We promised to show her around the city today!" Hiro protested. Charlie smiled to herself.
This timeline was going to be much more interesting.
