Room 507, Saturday night/Sunday morning

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia lay quietly asleep in her bed, gripping the teddy bear Veronica had given her. Walter sat nearby, watching her carefully.

So far, her sleep had been peaceful.

Nadia walked through the deserted streets of the gray city. The red sun hung low in the sky, casting the now-familiar red/orange glow over everything and turning the shadows into almost living things, things that boiled over with twisted people and dark ideas.

She nervously checked over her shoulder every few seconds. They were after her, again. She had to find a place to hide.

Then she spotted Sparky Repairs. The business was closed--dingy and broken down like everything else in the city, but the door was intact and cracked open. She jogged towards it and pushed open the door.

Inside stood a gathering of strange women, huddled together and whispering about "the One" who would "make the Lady come back to them".

Nadia backed up, thinking it would be better to leave, when Agatha came into the room.

The strange women cheered. Agatha smiled at them and it was a nasty expression.

"Have you completed it?" the women asked.

"Yes," Agatha replied. "It's perfect."

Nadia's eyes widened as a blonde, cold woman stepped out of the back room behind Agatha. The strange women all gasped and cheered again as Agatha pulled out a small, brass device and flipped a switch at the top.

A rift opened in front of the cold woman and she stepped through. The strange women grinned, and Agatha cackled, and the rift shifted and swallowed Nadia before she could run--

And saw Angela. She looked . . . stern, but frightened, and she was talking to someone Nadia couldn't see.

"You've got to stay off the grid. I've reprogrammed him, he'll protect you, but you've got to stay out of sight. Make sure they can't find you."

"Don't you think I know that?" the person replied. Nadia stepped further into the room to get a look at the boy who was speaking.

She didn't know his name, but she'd seen him around school, and at the clinic after the robot day in Shop Class, taking care of Sydney. He stepped forward and put his hands on Angela's shoulders.

Angela smiled. "Of course you do. I just don't want anything to happen to you." She touched his face. She was wearing a wedding ring.

"I'll be careful," the boy said. He was wearing a wedding band, too, and they kissed.

Nadia frowned, wanting to yell at them both. This wasn't right! The boy was Sydney's and Angela was Marty's!

Before she could speak, the air was filled with a strange, heavy, repeating music.

(DudundundunDUN. DudundundunDUN. DudundundunDUN. . . .)

She felt something cold creep up along her back and swallowed as the boy and Angela, younger now, but still older than they were at FH, turned to face her, their eyes widening in fear. . . .

In her bed in her dorm room, Nadia gave a soft gasped "no" and rolled over, her right hand twitching.

Comments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter blinked and sat upright. He'd been lightly dozing, but Nadia's voice woke him immediately.

"Nadia." He got out of the chair and sat on the bed next to her, wary of her waking reaction. "Nadia, wake up."

[nadiathesaint]

A door slammed behind her, locking firmly, and the boy and Angela ran forward and then through her to start checking the door.

The boy's voice was resigned when he spoke. "This isn't the mainframe," he said. Angela swallowed and nodding. "It's a bomb shelter!"

The music continued to play. It sounded like almost like a stuttering heartbeat, now.

(DudundundunDUN, DudundundunDUN, DudundundunDUN)

Nadia shifted again, her face tightening, but she didn't wake.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Nadia." Walter reached out to shake her arm. "Nadia, you're dreaming. Wake up."

[nadiathesaint]

The world shook with the sound of an explosion and they all staggered.

"No," said the boy. "NO!" He began pounding on the door. Angela backed up, hugging herself.

"That's it," she said softly. "That was it, that was judgement day, they're all dead, John, it's happened. . . ."

Her words echoed through the bomb shelter. They're all dead, they're all dead, they're all dead. . . .

Nadia's voice joined John's in shouting "No!" as she turned to slam her fists against the door. This wasn't her fault, she'd just been pulled along, just a passenger and now the world was ending and she hadn't stopped it at all--

The music came closer, and Nadia now recognized the sound of a drum,

(DudundundunDUN, DudundundunDUN. . . .)

She turned--

It was Marty.

He was a bunny.

A PINK bunny, wearing large, black sunglasses and playing a drum.

(DudundundunDUN. . . .)

And Nadia gasped awake, her back arching, her arms flying up to cover her head as she struggled, for a moment, to breathe.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter pulled his hand away from Nadia's arm and wordlessly cursed Rambaldi and Sloane.

"Nadia. It was a dream. It was only a dream."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia stared at the ceiling, Walter's words drowned out by the sound of an accented, unfamiliar voice as she continued seeing the mechanical-bunny!Marty in her mind's eye.

You can't change the future. . . .

She blinked and shuddered, rolling over to curl into a ball.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Dammit!

"Nadia, can you hear me?" He put a hand on her back, still prepared for her to lash out at him. "It was a dream."

[nadiathesaint]

. . . it keeps going, and going, and going. . . .

The sound of drumming slowly faded and Nadia blinked again, becoming more aware of where she actually was. "W-walter?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"The same." Walter rubbed her back lightly before removing his hand. "You were dreaming."

[nadiathesaint]

She shook her head, her eyes tearing slightly. "It wasn't my fault, I couldn't stop it, I didn't even know it was happening until it did and they're all dead and I couldn't stop it--" She clenched her eyes shut and took a deep, shaking breath. "It was a dream. It was just a dream,"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"It was just a dream." Damn Rambaldi and damn Sloane. "None of this is your fault."

He scooted farther onto the bed and took one of her hands. "It was only a dream."

[nadiathesaint]

She took another deep breath and squeezed Walter's hand. "Do . . . do you think people can change the future? I mean, we know people can time travel, because you wouldn't even be here if they couldn't. . . . Do you think, if you knew something really bad was going to happen, you could change it?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter squeezed back and sighed. "That's something I think about a lot. I know really bad things are going to happen in my time and its future. I've read about them here. We've talked about it in one of my classes, too.

"I don't know if we can change it, or just create another parallel reality in which things are different while the original continues on its way."

[nadiathesaint]

Right. The war. She was an idiot. "I'm sorry."

She turned her head and peered at him. "What if . . . what if what I'm dreaming is real, somewhere? I mean, I dreamed about Sloane, and he came here, and I dreamed about Parker's music box and she said that was real. . . . What if I'm supposed to be doing something about all of this? Warn people, or stop it somehow?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Don't apologize."

He wanted to tell her that was silly, she was no oracle. But this was Fandom; what if he was wrong?

"I don't know, but I don't think you're responsible for the fates of people from different times and worlds." He tried to smile reassuringly. Who knows how well it worked? "But it's something you can bring up with Bridge. Maybe he can see if you have some big destiny."

[nadiathesaint]

That made sense. It was useless to keep asking herself these questions she was never going to be able to answer. Not by herself, anyway. And Walter was smart, but he didn't know any more than she did about what was happening to her.

She nodded. "I think I'm going to go down to the jail, later. Talk to Belthazor. He was in one of the dreams, and that was before I knew he was arrested. . . . Maybe he can help me figure this out."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Right. I know you don't want me holding your hand all the time, but I'm here for anything you need. Do you want to go see Bel alone?"

[nadiathesaint]

She hesitated briefly, then nodded again. "He's in jail, he can't hurt me. And I don't want him to feel threatened, or anything."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Alright. I don't have to repeat myself, but I will. I have my phone and you can call me any time. I'm not quite fast enough to be there before you hang up, but I'll work on it."

[nadiathesaint]

"I know. Thank you. For everything you're doing." She swallowed slightly. "I don't know where I'd be if you didn't keep showing up."

Well, actually, where she would be wasn't hard to figure out. Probably at the bottom of the ocean.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter ducked his head and looked at the blanket for a moment. "You're a friend," he finally said. "And you don't deserve to go through this alone."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia smiled slightly. "That doesn't mean I shouldn't thank you for it." She resisted the urge to kiss him on the cheek again. That hadn't worked out so well, last time. "I think I owe you several really big favors."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Knowing me, I'll need them." He looked up and smiled back. "I'm going to steal some sleep now, but I'd like to see you later today. To hear how things went with Bel and everything. Okay?"

[nadiathesaint]

"Of course." She squeezed his hand one more time, then let it go. "Go get some sleep. I'll be okay. And if not, I promise I'll call you."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Alright." Walter stood up and brushed his hair out of his face. "As long as you remember that. And don't forget to feed yourself."

He remembered on his way out the door and set a key down on Nadia's desk. "There's the key I mentioned. Use it if you need to. I'll see you later."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia waved as he left, then as soon as he was gone, flopped back down on her bed, letting out a heavy breath.

Right. Food. She'd forgotten about that.

She lay there and stared at the ceiling for awhile.