[A/n: I know that I made a promise of posting this update sooner than it should have but, as of ya'll know it's holiday so... Fun aight? Ehrm yeah, I'm joyfully wishing you all advance Merry Christmas! 🎅🏼🎄 Stay shipping Ddeulgi and Baechu tho~ 😂]
Seulgi's POV
"Irene!" I screamed in horror. Then I shoved the pistol in my belt, ran to her and cradled her in my arms.
She opened her eyes then slowly began to speak, "He was going to shoot you in the back. Couldn't let that happen..."
It was at this point I suddenly became aware of the shouts of several people and what sounded like several dogs coming in my direction.
"The shot's came from over there!" I heard someone shout.
"OVER HERE!" I shouted back in response.
Looking down at Irene and seeing she had been hit in the chest, I burst into tears.
"N-no Baechu, you can't die, you shouldn't have done that!"
Irene then slowly reached up and touched my cheek with a loving gaze, she weakly smiled. "Had to save the woman I love... right?"
"No... no... no... you can't die." I croaked, my voice cracking.
At this point, four men with several dogs burst into the small clearing we were in.
"Where is he?" One of the men shouted.
I pointed off towards the direction I saw him run, "He went that way, I think he's running towards the river... I- I hit him in the arm."
"Alright men, after him!" Shouted by the tall man holding a rifle.
Then the group followed by a few others ran off leaving me alone.
However just a few seconds later, Irene's father burst into the clearing. Once he saw her had been shot, he turned ghostly white and ran to her.
"What happened?"
"Irene and I were talking and that bastard snuck up on us. She spotted him as he was about to shoot me in the back. She pushed me out of the way, but got hit herself. He dropped the gun and ran. I picked it up and fired. I'm sure I hit his left arm." I tell him in rage through my tears.
His brow quickly creased with worry as I handed his stricken daughter to him.
"Father, h— he was going to shoot Seulgi..."
"Don't talk, Irene, please save your strength. You did a very brave thing. I am so sorry I ever arranged for you to marry that scoundrel. Had I even an inkling of his true character, I would have never, ever agreed to it. Please forgive me."
"It's okay, father. Y-you didn't... know."
I hastily reached in one of my bags, ripped off a piece of one of my dresses and tried to apply direct pressure. "Mr. Ferrer, Sir. She needs a doctor!"
He then looked at the wound and seemed to cringe as his face turned more ashen. He knew something that I could not tell.
"What is it? Tell me!"
He then looked at me gravely, "I've seen combat many times and I've seen wounds like this all too often. If she doesn't reach a surgeon in a short space of time, then she will expire."
"How much time do we have?"
"The nearest surgeon is Dr. Hayes and I know for a fact that he's in London this afternoon. He said he'd be traveling there yesterday, when I briefly chatted with him at the inn. The next doctor I can think of is halfway to London." He said with resignation.
He then began to cry himself hysterically as he took her hand, "Oh my precious daughter, I cannot lose you."
Standing there, I began to panic. "Think, think, fucking think damn it!" I ranted.
Then it hit me, as far as I could see there was one and only one way to save Irene. I had to take her home. But I knew she would expire long before I got her to the wormhole. I then remembered the emergency recall. But that could fail and would certainly ruin the machine.
I had to save Irene, I couldn't let her die.
I rushed to Mr. Ferrer and Irene's side, "Mr. Ferrer. I know it looks hopeless and grave, but there is a way to save her. I have a way."
He looked up at me with a mixture of surprise and hope, "H— how?"
I had no other choice but to tell him and I had to tell him fast. "What I will say to you will sound like the ravings of a madman, but I swear to God that I am speaking the truth. I am not what I appear to be. I am a human being of flesh and bone. I am no agent of hell or angel from heaven. I am a person. But I am a person from another time...
I am from beyond tomorrow. In the years to come, a brilliant man will develop a machine that will allow the user to cross the centuries as one could cross a room. I came here from many years in the future, to right a great wrong...
I assure you, my world or time is much like this one. England still exists, it has a queen, a parliament, with a house of commons and a house of lords...
England is still a respected world power. People still play cricket, here are still churches and people worship God. Do you understand?"
Him being religious, I had to stress that this future still had religion in it.
He looked at me blankly, but nodded after a moment.
"Okay, I was heading back to London, so I could return to my era. Go back through the doorway between our worlds. But I can as a last resort, cause a doorway to be here. I could take Irene with me. There, I can arrange for a very fast transport and get her to a fully equipped hospital in minutes. We have doctors, nurses and surgeons that use the most advanced techniques."
I'm not sure if he really understood me, but at the mention of hospital and doctors he seemed to become a bit more animated. I could tell that he would do nearly anything to save his daughter.
"You can save my daughter and this is no fantasy. I need to know if this tale of the future is not the ravings of a madwoman." He was biting, but I needed to sell him and quickly.
Having an idea, I reached in and grabbed my phone. Looking through my photo album on my phone, I found the picture I was looking for.
Then, I held up my phone. "This is a device from my time. One day, nearly everyone in England will have such a thing. It can do many things, it can send messages like a telegraph, it can take pictures like a camera and many other things. This was invented by man and made in a factory. It is no object of evil, it is device, like a steam engine or a coffee grinder. I can use it to keep a copy of a picture and see it when I want. "
I held it up and showed him, "You recognize this, don't you?"
He gave it a dubious look at first but soon became very interested, "That is a picture of St. Michael's church, the one we attend in town. I have never seen such a picture before, it is in color. Amazing!"
We need to get over it fast, just believe me already! Alright, calm down. So with a hopeless sigh, I continue explaining things to him. He wants answers so might as well give it to him fully to understand.
"When I first came to Herford, I took a picture of the church. In my time it still stands and every Sunday they still have services. Do you believe me?"
He looked at me and then to Irene, but I got the impression that he just wasn't totally buying it. Damn it.
Irene then weakly took her father's hand, "Father please, trust her. S— she is a good person. Trust her, please..." Then she passed out.
He seemed to think for a moment, then looked at Irene's blood soaked dress. "If you can save my daughter by taking her to your world, then do so."
I breathed a sigh of relief, finally. "Okay, I do need to tell you one thing. In order to open the door here, I will ruin the device that creates the door. It is a last resort emergency I will be using. Once I am through, I will not be able to bring her back. At least for some time. But I assure you that she will be safe. I will also make sure that she is taken care of. I swear to you and I also swear I will bring her back someday. I promise you."
He suddenly became very serious, "Swear to me in the name of God that you will take care of my daughter and see that someday she is returned."
I held up my hand, "I, Seulgi Kang, Swear to you in the name of God who is in heaven, will take care of Irene and will bring her back to you someday."
He still had every reason to think if I was either a con artist or simply mad, but he loved his daughter and wanted to save her. I can't blame him for grasping at straws.
Suddenly he seemed to think of something, "But how do I explain her disappearance?"
I thought quickly and after a moment came up with something, "Okay, I got it. Say that she was so embarrassed by this affair, that she has decided to join a convent or go into some secluded religious retreat. She'll devote her life to God. I know it's a lie, but it is something that people will believe. I do also ask that you say nothing about me. Simply say that I was a person from America who quit one day and went home. Tell no one that I was from another time, I beg of you."
He nodded understandingly, "Okay, I promise. How do you open this doorway? If I could help, please let me know."
I stood up and moved back, exposing the watch that I had under the sleeve of my shirt. "I'll hit a button until we'll see some lights and sounds. Just— don't be alarmed."
Then I hit the red, emergency recall button, 3 times.
Meanwhile...
In the year 2018, Zacharov was lounging in an easy chair reading a comic book when suddenly the alarm went off. He burst out of the chair and looked at the monitor.
On it were the following words:
"EMERGENCY RECALL ACTIVATED
3:49:15 PM
7/10/1869
LOCAL TIME:
START EMERGENCY PROTOCOL:
RECALCULATE WORMHOLE COORDINATES.
BEGIN PROGRAM..."
Soon as its own accord, all the machines in the room came to life. But the sounds of the machines was making were not the normal one's they made. It sounded like they were operating under a tremendous strain. It was then he noticed a wormhole opening, but ever so slowly.
Seulgi's POV
Back in 1869 nothing happened at first and soon I became worried that it would fail. However, after a few tense seconds I noticed a strange wind begin to pick up. A few seconds after that, there was a burst of red and purple light from a 7 feet of the ground.
Soon a wormhole opened up, but this one looked different. It was a different color and I could tell it was having problems staying open as it seemed to convulse and pulse.
"MY GOD!" Mr. Ferrer shrieked.
"Don't worry, that's the doorway. A basket will be lowered in a minute." I said quickly to reassure him.
A few seconds after that, I could see the basket being lowered down. Not wanting to leave anything behind, I quickly grabbed all my bags and tossed them in the basket.
Mr. Ferrer carefully picked Irene up and kissed her on the forehead, "God speed, my daughter. May the angels protect you."
I then jumped in the basket and put my arms out, where he ever so gently placed her in my arms.
"Good luck Seulgi, and may God bless you!"
Once I had her, I hit the button in the basket to tell Zacharov that I needed to be pulled back up.
I soon felt a jerk as the basket was being pulled up, "God bless you as well and I will be back some day."
The wormhold was acting strangely, which made me very nervous. It kept expanding and contracting, plus it made strange noises and sounds.
As we were halfway up I frantically shouted, "ZACHAROV, CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
As we neared the top, I noticed that the wormhole had started to collapse and had started to close in on me as it slowly turned a purplish black color. Those last few seconds were tense as I wasn't sure if I'd make it up all the way. But I made it out of the wormhole about half a second before it closed completely.
The lab was partially filled with smoke and all around me I could see huge sparks and terrible sounds coming from all the various pieces of equipment. This was not good.
"Help me!" I screamed.
Zacharov, who was using a fire extinguisher to put a piece of equipment that had caught fire, put it down and ran up. I handed Irene to him and jumped out of the basket.
"What happened?!"
"That asshole of a man name Mark Tuan, tried to shoot me in the back and Irene pushed me out of the way. She got hit instead. He ran off but had a whole posse after him."
"An ambulance is on its way. I'll take her to the other room where she'll be safe, you put out the fires."
As he took Irene to safety, I grabbed my bags and tossed them in a corner then picked up the fire extinguisher. First thought, I ran and turned off the main power. He had shown me where the master power switch was when I first started to use the machine.
Though the power was and it was no longer sparking, several parts of the machine had fire shooting out of them. Fortunately, I was able to quickly put out all the fires.
But taking a quick look at the burnt and smoking machines, the time machine had been utterly ruined. It was all too obvious. Running back into the front room where Irene and Zacharov was, I could tell he was applying direct pressure to the wound.
"They should be here in a minute. I'll stay with her so why don't you change quickly? You're a bit overdressed."
I nodded and in record time, stripped out of my 1869 dress and into some blue jeans and a black t-shirt. However, much to my dismay, I realized I still had the pistol in my belt. I pulled that out and shoved the now antique firearm in my bag. By the time I came out I could hear the ambulance coming up the street. I can say, that I've never been gladder to hear that sound in my life.
The paramedics quickly pulled and we carried Irene out.
"What happened?" A female paramedic quickly asked as she came out of the ambulance.
"She was attacked and shot."
The other paramedic came out and both looked at Irene's odd clothes for a moment, but quickly got to work getting her into a gurney.
"We've got a gunshot wound, looks pretty serious. She needs to get into surgery right away." The man reports to the woman beside him.
Though an ambulance had arrived, I was still half out of my mind with worry. "Can I ride with her? I'm her I— uhh... sister."
I don't know why I said sister, but it seemed like the easiest explanation.
The man nodded, "Alright, we're taking her to the Royal London Hospital. Get on in."
I looked to Zacharov who nodded, "I'll make sure everything is shut down here and safe then I'll meet you there."
As soon as I was in the ambulance, we tore off. I watched helplessly as the paramedic began the first aid and of course attempted to stop the bleeding.
"What's her name?" The other female paramedic asked.
"Her name is Irene."
After a few minutes, we were at the hospital where the ambulance having radioed ahead. An operating room was already waiting. She was holding on but only barely. I had made it just in time.
Once she was in the operating room, I walked to an empty waiting room and began to cry.
Zacharov showed up about 35 minutes later. I had stopped crying by this point, and was just blankly staring into space. Trying to digest all that had happened.
"Is she okay?" He asked with concern as he sat down next to me.
"No word, she's still in surgery. Sorry about your machine, I had no other choice. It's ruined isn't it?"
He nodded and put his hand on my shoulder, "It's only a machine, that girl is far more important."
About 20 minutes later, the nurse came out. "Are you the girl's sister?"
Desperate for news I stood up, "Yes."
"She looks like she's going to make it. You got her here right in the nick of time. She'll be in surgery for a while longer, but the doctor said that unless there is any unexpected complications she'll pull through."
I breathed a deep sigh of relief and hugged Zacharov, "Thank you nurse."
The nurse then handed me a clipboard with some papers, "You'll need to fill these out so we can admit her. We'll keep you posted."
Once she left, I looked at the clipboard which had about 7 forms that needed to be filled out.
"OH FUCKI—" I suddenly cursed as the weight that had been lifted off my shoulders was placed right back on it.
"What?"
I held up the clipboard, "Let's see, uhh... we have a woman in surgery with a gunshot wound. They'll call the police for sure, then I can't even possibly begin to fill this out. Irene has no Identification, no records of her existence and no insurance. If I say that she was born in 1850 they'll think I'm nuts. Hell, with the fact that she has no ID and a gunshot wound, the cops will probably think she's Al Qaeda or the Irish Republican Army or some stupid shit like that. So I'm totally fucked!"
"Is the IRA even around anymore?"
I growled dangerously at him, "How in the hell am I supposed to know? That's not the point. All I know is, that we live in a somewhat paranoid age. Crazy mother fuckers, blow shit up all the time these days. Believe me, the cops will get suspicious and start asking all kinds of questions. It's not like I can take her back. It won't take them long to jump to some paranoid and completely fucked up conclusion. Then they'll lock us all up and we'll spend weeks answering questions."
That seemed to sober him up, "I see your point."
I dropped the clipboard on the chair and walked out in frustration.
"Where are you going?"
"Cafeteria to get some coffee and try to think of a way out of this mess. Out of the frying pan, into fucking fire. I'll be back in a bit. Providing I don't jump off the friggen roof."
It was beyond frustrating. I get her to a hospital so she can be saved and I walk straight into another problem. I had no clue how to get out of this jam.
As I walked towards the cafeteria I spotted a small crowd of people outside. They were watching an old woman cut a big red ribbon in the doorway of a new building next door.
"What's that?" I asked to a passing elderly.
"Oh... that's the dedication of the new Wright family cancer center. They donated the funds to build it. Looks like a nice building doesn't it? I'm told it will have the latest in cancer treatments and—"
"Whatever." I said dismissively, turning on my heel and walked off.
A few minutes later, I was sitting in the cafeteria drinking a cup of coffee. I had been sitting there for a bit and the best plan I had so far was to sneak Irene out of the hospital as soon as she was stable. That was hardly a good plan at all.
I was holding it together but only barely, all I wanted to do was cry. Once again I had totally fucked things up and Irene was still going to suffer.
I happened to look up and saw the old woman who had been cutting the ribbon at the building dedication earlier, talking to some important looking doctor in the doorway. She was well dressed and looked to be about 80, with short white hair and was well dressed. With her and the doctor, was a young woman of about 30 with long blond hair. She was also well dressed.
For a moment she looked at me and for an instant, I got the oddest feeling of déjà vu. As I looked at her she stopped talking at the doctor and gave me a strange look back. I quickly averted my eyes and just put my mind back to trying to get out of my mess. I was totally fucked and kind of wishing Mark had shot me in the back instead of Irene.
About 3 minutes later I heard someone approaching. Looking up, I could see it was the old woman with the young woman behind her.
"I'm sorry, you look so much like someone I once knew." She said, her voice trailing off.
"That's nice." I said sarcastically, before turning my attention to my coffee.
"I see you look preoccupied, my apologies for disturbing you." She said in a kind and oddly familiar voice.
Then the girl spoke, "Come on Grandmother, the limo is waiting."
The old woman began to walk away and as she did, I thought about her face. I couldn't help but think about it. After a few seconds I realized I had seen it before.
Like a bolt of lightning it suddenly hit me who she was. So I stood up and shouted across the cafeteria;
"MARY, THE KEYCHAIN. DID THEY KEEP YOU SAFE FROM THE BOMBS?!"
The woman stopped dead in her tracks and turned to me as if she'd seen a ghost. A moments later she reached into her expensive handbag and pulled out a small but gleaming keychain; The keychain in which, obviously once belonged to me before.
•
Thought I'd end it here. Hope you liked the chapter.