Still (Y/N)'s POV
I embraced the Rake tight as I readied my body for this heavenly strike, hoping to protect at least someone after all that had happened. As I felt tears well up in my eyes, I looked up to see Sally and Benny, my first two friends, let down by me for the last time. As tears fell from my cheeks and landed on the now burning carpet, I cried out to them in sorrow. "I'm sorr-" *BOOM*. I was interrupted by the godly might of this lighting strike, and that was the last they would see of me...
"HOLYFUCKINGSHITFUCKWHATTHESHITBALLS!?" I yelled, immediately jumping to my feet and getting in a defensive stance. My eyes darted around where I awoke, my brain seemingly on combat autopilot. "Wait, what...?" I questioned, my arms slowly lowering as I looked down to see I was now stood on my bed. Well...
My old bed at least.
"How the fuck am I in my house?" I mumbled, hopping off of the bed and landing on the hardwood floor. "Last thing I remember, I got my legs sliced up and then I was struck by lightning..." I said, thinking aloud as I stroked my chin. I turned around to see my somewhat unkept bed, my pillows were mildly askew and the covers were neat up until the halfway point where they had been flipped and twisted. "Was it all just a dream?" I questioned, my mind thinking of a million things at once. I looked to down at myself to see I was in just a hoodie and some baggy shorts, the clothes that I considered to be my staple pyjamas. "But... it couldn't've been" I mumbled, patting myself down in the hopes I'd find out that I was dreaming. As I was in the process of checking myself out, I ended up tugging on my shorts and accidentally pulled a bandage alongside with it. I felt this tug on the back of my leg, causing me to grunt lightly in pain.
I looked over my shoulder and down my back to see what it was, but I was both shocked and relieved to finally realise that most of my body was covered in bandages. "Okay, we're getting at least somewhere with this..." I mumbled, rolling up my sleeves as I walked over to my door. I analysed myself to see that the bandages were all the way up my arms and covered my whole chest, meaning that my bandage habit wasn't something I just dreamt up. I scratched my head in confusion, but as I looked at my door properly I stopped dead in my tracks. My stained oak door looked the same as when I left it, but what surprised me was that the door was open ever so slightly...
And my vigilante coat was hung up on the corner.
In a moment of shock and awe, my hand subconsciously moved and felt the coat. My hand touched its centre back, and upon realising what I was doing, I pinched the material and rubbed it between my fingers to see if it felt like I remembered. It did for the most part, but there was something different about it that I couldn't quite pinpoint. I let go to try and investigate the situation further, and as I did I heard some light crumbling. I got a closer look at the coat and realised that there was a large amount of dried mud stuck to it, some patches much thicker than others. "And before that night I met Slenda, this never left my closet" I mumbled, grabbing it and tossing it over my shoulder as I opened my bedroom door. "Either way, it reeks and needs a wash" I stated as I stepped into my home's carpeted hall. "Well if I really am home, then I better see if the rest is the same as I left it" I said, thinking aloud yet again.
I did a quick peek in and out of my parent's and sister's rooms, and I saw that nothing was out of place. "I'm so confused..." I said, rather loud, as I got to the top of my stairs before heading down.
"Oh good! You're awake!" An unfamiliar feminine voice called from what I assumed was the kitchen. "I was about to come and try to wake you again, but since you're up on your own I won't need to worry anymore" she explained. "Could you please come down and help me out? I'm in the kitchen" she asked politely.
"Uhhh... s-sure..." I responded sceptically, slowly backing up into my room.
"Thank you, honey!" She called out lovingly as I swiped my stiletto off of my desk.
"My pleasure" I returned, doing my best to act normal as I pocketed the weapon on my way down the stairs.
As I got to the landing, I fairly heard the familiar sound of sizzling in a pan as the smell of pancakes began to fill the house. I was entranced by the wonderful smell, but I quickly remembered my situation and immediately raised my defence once again as I neared the bottom of the stairs. Standing on the bottom step, I quickly scanned the floor I was on and noticed the date and time that was on the TV which was playing that news. It was the exact week before I met Sally for the first time, the last Monday before my life got interesting. And then I checked the time, and I realised I was late for school. "Shit! I'm late!" I yelled, turning to the kitchen and seeing who called me earlier.
"Yes! You are!" She exclaimed, matching my energy exactly. "So eat these and hurry up! You can't ruin that attendance of yours!" She added, repeating the thoughts I used to have whenever this situation arose.
"Wait what?" I asked, facing this woman with my jaw agape.
"What's wrong? Do I not look right for my first day?" She asked, now looking herself up and down.
Her white hair was flowing gently as she panicked a little as she began to overthink her outfit. "Is my skirt too short? *gasp* Do I look like a slut?" She panicked, looking down at her pale-gray legs.
"R-rake? How are you here? And how is your English so good? And where did you get those clothes!?" I quizzed, my brain running at a million miles a minute as I wondered how the events I remembered led up to this point in time.
"I'll tell you later! We've got to get ready!" She said in an anxious tone, picking up my plate and putting a pancake in my mouth before ushering me up the stairs. I chomped down on the fluffy disc, and turned fully around to face her and stand my ground.
"Neither of us are going anywhere until you answer my questions" I said sternly, chewing the pancake as I spoke.
"Seriously, honey? You're doing this while we're late?" She asked, astounded at the situation.
"Rake, tell me what's going on. I can get to school in five minutes if I run down the faster route, so I've got all the time in the world" I bluffed, crossing my arms and looking down at her from the landing.
"Fine" she huffed. "After we were struck by lightning I woke up underneath you in your bed. You've been asleep for the past three days, so in that time I used my limited reading knowledge to broaden my vocabulary and understanding" she explained, most likely skipping several details.
"Zalga's 'gift' most likely helped with that..." I mumbled, thinking to myself about how her understanding of the English language went from the level of a toddler to that of an adult in such a short time. "You could barely form a sentence when we first met" I added, chuckling a little to myself.
"Don't remind me..." she groaned, moving another step up. "Can we get ready now?" She asked, giving me puppy dog eyes.
"Where'd you get the clothes?" I asked, having that question still unanswered.
"One of the rooms upstairs, the biggest one" she said, pointing in the direction of my parent's room.
"Cool, and you're not coming to school with me" I added, turning and jogging up the steps.
"What!? Why?" She asked, quickly closing the gap between us and following me.
"It's the situation that has developed has become clear to me" I began, now turning into my room. "I'll explain when I've gotten changed, please just wait out here" I added, attempting to close the door. However, it didn't shut all the way when foot blocked the door from closing.
"Oh no, I got you into those pyjamas so I can watch you get out of them" the Rake declared, shoving the door open and pushing me back. "Why can't I go to school with you?" She asked, giving me the eyes again.
"Ugh, fine" I groaned, not wanting to waste time before quickly discarding my hoodie and tank top before spraying my (now non-bandaged) armpits with deodorant in an attempt to cover the stench of combat. "The situation, my dear Rake, is that me and you are once again proof of time travel" I began, retying my armpit bandages before putting in the nearest white t-shirt on and a (F/C) hoodie over it.
"Time travel? Once again? No way" She asked, seemingly unaware of our experiences together.
"Yeah, this is our second time doing it together" I reassured, checking and seeing that my entire lower half was also bandaged up as well. "Remember when we met Liu and you met the girls?" I asked, going to my underwear draw and grabbing myself some boxers and socks.
"Yeah, Liu tried to kill me and the girls and I watched a movie after that was dealt with" the Rake recalled as I found a pair of jeans to put on.
"Yeah, that was in the future" I said simply, putting my underwear on. "Three years and some months after we met in your cave" I added, swiftly jumping into the jeans.
"What!? How?" She questioned as I started to eat the pancakes she made.
"Zalga's teleportation gateway things" I said simply, my mouth full of food. "They go to a dimension outside of our world, and apparently there was an issue with the teleporting out and it spat us out at a different time" I explained, scarfing more food in my mouth as I reached for and pocketed my phone.
"Okay, that's one time" the Rake stated as I put on some (S/F/C) sneakers and left for the bathroom.
"But what about the second time?" She asked, following me in as I was putting toothpaste on my toothbrush.
"You remember getting kidnapped, yeah?" I asked, now brushing pretty aggressively.
"I remember getting dragged into the big castle, but everything between that and the lightning strike is pretty fuzzy" she explained as I spat into the sink.
"Ah, well" I began, clearing my throat before brushing again. "You commanded your 'people' to attack and lay siege to the house with the help of my evil father. He killed most, if not everyone, who lived there and I was the last one of the last on his list" I explained, a strong feeling of sorrow washing over me at the memory as I was able to see Jess' corpse in my head like a photo. "He was the one who controlled the lightning, but you had to take me down before he could strike me. He was fully willing to take you and I out together so, in a last ditch effort to save someone, I tried to use my body to shield you" I continued, tears welling up in my eyes as I remember the tragedy that was that day. "And then I woke up here, exactly one week before I met Sally. Meaning me and you met in the present, fought in the future, and are now stuck together in the past" I finished, taking a long and deep breath after spitting a mix of toothpaste and blood into the sink.
"And after all of that..." the Rake said solemnly. "You still won't let me go to school with you!?" She whined, sounding genuinely upset about me not letting her come with me.
"I assume you don't know what the 'butterfly effect' is then?" I asked, rinsing off my toothbrush before swishing, gargling and spitting out some mouthwash.
"Can't say I do, can you explain?" She asked simply.
"Basically means that the smallest thing can lead to a chain of events and have a massive outcome" I explained as we walked back to my room. "I don't want to risk anything in the timeline changing, so I need to try and relive the next week and a bit exactly as I did before. Then I can meet the girls again and be on good terms" I explained, grabbing my bag and walking to the front door.
"I understand..." she said sadly, walking with me to the door.
"Can I at least get that kiss you promised me? We did make it home after all..." she asked shyly, making me smile a little bit.
"That depends, have you brushed your teeth?" I asked, picking up my keys at the door and turning around to look at her.
"Well... no, but-"
"Then you'll have to settle for one of these" I interrupted, putting my hand on the back of her head before pulling close and kissing her forehead lightly. "Maybe I'll give you one when I get back though, how's that sound?" I asked, unlocking the door.
"That... that would be nice" she said, blushing lightly and smiling like a goofball as she hid behind her hands.
"I'll see you when I get home, I trust that you know how the TV works?" I asked, just to make sure she wouldn't be too bored.
"I think so, the stick-thingy does most of it for me" she said, pointing to the the remote.
"Cool. Well I'll see you in 6 hours" I declared, opening and exiting the door. "Byeeeeeee" I called, watching her blow me a kiss as I shut the door.
As I locked the door behind me, pulled out my phone to see how long I had left until school started. And of course, I only had four minutes left. 'Shit!' I mentally exclaimed, breaking off into a full sprint and eventually turning into the first alleyway that was a part of my shortcut. 'Nightmare! Can you get me the fastest route to my school?' I asked, running down another alley and hopping a series of fences. As I made it over the fourth and final fence, I still hadn't gotten a response from my 'partner'. 'Dude! Please! I can't risk the chance of anything changing!' I mentally yelled, hoping to get his attention or at least some form of an answer. But I heard nothing. I turned out of an alleyway and onto an empty sidewalk and kept running as fast as I could, realising that I most likely wouldn't hear from Nightmare until I spoke to him face to face. 'Well then, better not start slacking now!' I thought, the determination to see my girls alive and safe again making me run faster than I've ever ran before.
I made it to school and got to class with probably about 30 seconds to spare, much to my relief. As I flopped down in my chair, I didn't even take note of a bunch of people staring at me as I was sucking down wind since I had just sprinted a mile and a half. "Whatcha out of breath for, nerd?" An irritating and familiar voice said as felt something hit me on the back of the head. Turning around, I saw that it was exactly who I thought it was. So I did what I normally did when he would do this sort of thing, I ignored him. "Hey, freak, I'm talkin' to you" (B/N) said, presumably flicking me on the back of the head again.
'Do not act out, be the nerd again and you'll see Sally' I mentally repeated, doing my best to stay calm and collected in the moment.
"Pfft, whatever" (B/N) groaned, seemingly bored at my lack of reaction.
'Great, now fuck off, asshole' I thought as I watched him go to his seat, which was just in the range of my peripherals.
As he sat down, the noise of my class finally died down and the teacher finally walked in. "How's it goin', class? Yeah, cool, well I'll be honest I haven't got much planned for class today so I'll let you do what you want" he explained, sitting behind his desk and logging into his computer. "But, there are two things that I do need to mention beforehand" he began, clearing his throat. "First off, a new student will be enrolling with us so treat her nicely. Lazari? Wanna come and introduce yourself?" He asked, looking towards the door. After he finished a girl who was barely shorter than Sally walked in wearing some black and white sneakers, black leggings and a light blue hoodie.
"Hi, everyone!" She exclaimed joyously. "My name's Lazari Swann and you guys are gonna be stuck with me for a while" she said confidently.
"Nice" the teacher said simply. "You can take a seat next to (Y/N) over there, you can choose the spot either side of him" he added, pointing to me and giving me a sly wink when no one was looking.
'Alright, this is going the same as last time' I thought, subtly following my classmates' movement with my eyes.
"Hey there!" She said cheerily as she sat down beside me and put her bag on the floor.
"Hi" I mumbled flatly, trying my hardest to both remember how this day went and how to mimic it.
"Alright everyone, 'cause we're nearing the end of the year I say we just chill. I'm gonna turn the lights off, shut the curtains and put on a movie" the teacher explained, earning an cheery uproar from the class. "Just do me a favour and get your books out and pretend to take notes, just in case another teacher walks in" he added, earning a large amount of rustling from everyone and a collective sound of books slapping desks as he turned the lights off and shut the door as someone else shut the curtains.
After the whole class was set up, I laid down and put my head in my arms to look as if I was going to sleep. I knew I needn't worry about a teacher coming in, the lesson was on its way to continuing without a worry if I was remembering correctly. As I felt myself begin to slip into my dreamscape, I felt a tap on my physical shoulder - and a sudden pit in my stomach. Turning a little, I saw it was Lazari. "Hey, (Y/N), do you have any notes I could write down? I don't want to be too far behind so if you helped me I'd really appreciate it" she whispered, also laying in my level.
'Oh right, I forgot about this' I thought, reaching into my bag and grabbing my books for the day. "Yeah, take whatever notes you need" I responded quietly, gently laying my books out across our space.
"Thank you" she whispered with a smile, flipping through my Math book first. "Hey, why the bandages? Are you hurt?" She asked, still quiet as she worked away.
'Shit! This didn't happen last time!' I mentally panicked. 'Just say something that doesn't need following up!' I told myself. "Oh. I, uh, cut my arm at a family event on Saturday. This is just to let it heal a bit more" I lied, trying to end the encounter.
"Oh, man, that sucks" she said empathetically, patting me on the back kindly.
As soon as she touched me, a million alarm bells started going off in my head. Not only because this was a cute girl in public, nor the fact that this situation is changing from how I had already lived it. The panic I was feeling was something else entirely, every instinct I had screaming at me to run as far away and not look back. I did my best not to show this on my face, and luckily I was broken out of my trance when I heard something I recognised. "Oh dammit, I left my pencil case at home" Lazari mumbled to herself. "Sorry to be a pain, but is it okay if I please borrow a pen?" She asked politely.
"Yeah, no worries" I responded kindly, reaching into my bag and holding out a black pen for her to take.
"Thanks" she responded, gently taking it from my hand. However, as she reached out her bare fingertips accidentally touched my bandaged ones. Normally this wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the feeling kicked in once again and that was when I heard it.
"OH FUCK! KID YOU GOTTA GET AWAY FROM HER NOW!"