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#typical sic mundus
yellow-dejavu · 3 months
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i think a lot about this picture because there are other people besides the 6 that we know, and they never explained who the others were supposed to be...
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so I like to think that it was really just the 6 of them and that they decided to bring in random people to take a picture to make their cult look more legit.
idk, but I can imagine sic mundus doing random and dramatic shit like that, maybe they just thought the more people it would look better for the aesthetics of the photo.
i'd like to know who suggested it, and who told Adam to wear a hat for the picture, or maybe it was his idea.
this photo is so iconic.
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dragneto · 4 months
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Title: Die Geständnisse des Pfarrers Fandom: Dark (2017) Pairing(s): Hanno Tauber/Elisabeth Doppler; Hanno Tauber/Jonas Kahnwald; Hanno Tauber/Elisabeth Doppler/Jonas Kahnwald Word Count: 20,006 Rating: Teen & Up Audiences Tags: Diary/Journal, During Canon, Post-Apocalypse, Missing Scene, Character Study, Introspection, Crisis of Faith, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Angst, Canon-Typical Existentialism
Summary: In the secret lodge belonging to the society of travelers known as Sic Mundus there sits upon a pedestal an untitled book, its plain binding worn with use and its pages filled with accounts of a time long past.
read the fic on AO3
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daimonclub · 4 months
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Latin phrases in English
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Common latin phrases used in English Latin phrases in English still used in everyday language plus a complete list of Latin abbreviations, for students, teachers and common citizens. Humanum genus est avidum nimis auricularum. (Lucrezio) Mankind is too greedy for lies. Vita brevis, ars longa, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile. (Hippocrates) Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult. Mundus universus exercet histrioniam. (Petronio) The whole world plays the comedy Mala tempora currunt sed peiora parantur. (Cicerone) We are living bad times, but worse are coming Ad vitam Paramus. (Unknown)  We are preparing for life. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames. (Virgilio) What do not you force mortal hearts , accursed hunger for gold. Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. (Ennio) He is too good to whom there is nothing bad. Ignorantia legis non excusat. (Unknown) Ignorance of the law does not excuse. Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus. (Unknown)  Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work. Ampliat aetatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est vivere bis vita posse priore frui. (Martial) The good man extends the period of his life; it is to live twice, to enjoy with satisfaction the retrospect of our past life. Sic lusus animo debent aliquando dari, ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi. (Phaedrus) So, from time to time, you have to let your mind wander, so that it comes back to you more ready when you need to think. Viva enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita. (Cicero) The life of the dead is retained in the memory of the living. Vitanda est improba siren desidia. (Horace) One must avoid that wicked temptress, Laziness. Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia. (Cicero) Fortune, not wisdom, rules lives. Non est vivere, sed valere vita est. (Martial) Life is not about living, but about feeling good. Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior. (Publilius Syrus) Our life is short but is made longer by misfortunes. As I wrote in other two articles about the influence of Latin in the English language we must be conscious that the English language is full of words that come from Latin or from Romance or Neo-latin languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese ans so on. A Latinism therefore (from Medieval Latin: Latinismus) is a word, idiom, or structure in a language other than Latin that is derived from, or suggestive of, the Latin language. The Term Latinism refers to those loan words that are borrowed into another language directly from Latin (especially frequent among inkhorn terms); English has many of these, as well. There are many Latinisms in English, and other (especially European) languages. Did you know how much of the English language comes from Latin? About 80% of the English we speak can be traced back to Latin. Many English words share Latin roots with the Romance languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian, so it's often easy to decode a new word by considering the bits of Latin you know. For example, the Latin root "aud" means "to hear," which forms the basis for the English words "auditorium" and "audience," both of which have to do with listening. But then we have also many Latin phrases and abbreviations that are still used in English; they are typically used in laws and legal documents, but not necessarily only in these texts, and they are more commonly in written English than in spoken English. So here’s a guide to the most common Latin words that are used in English. Learn these and you’ll sound like a native English speaker. Some Latin comes to English in more than the roots of words. There are many phrases used wholesale from the original Latin. It pays to know these common Latin words and phrases we use in English as they come up in a variety of situations. You'll often see Latin still used in inscriptions or used as an organization's motto, but you may also be surprised how often it crops up in day-to-day use. Common Latin Words and Phrases We Use in English with their meanings Ad hoc: To this, specific. In Latin, ad hoc literally means to this, which has been adapted by English speakers as a saying that denotes that something is created or done for a particular purpose, as necessary. We did not have an HR manager at the company, so I formed an ad hoc HR committee. Ad nauseam: repeating or continuing to the point of boredom The apparent risks of secondary smoking have been debated ad nauseam. Alibi: Elsewhere The word alibi is a Latin phrase that simply means elsewhere, which will make sense to all you crime drama addicts out there who are familiar with the term as used by police, investigators, and other law enforcement professionals. Nowadays, alibi commonly refers to evidence that someone did not commit a (usually) criminal act because he or she was elsewhere at the time the act was committed. A Priori: Based on hypothesis or theory, rather than experience. Derived by logic, with no observed facts. Although I have never been a bachelor myself, I of course know a priori that all bachelors are unmarried. Bona fide: Unquestionable, in good faith. Since my boss has never been friendly to me, I was surprised when he offered me his bona fide advice on how I could succeed in business.
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Latin phrases you should know Bonus: Good. Bonus, from the Latin adjective bonus, which means good, refers to any number of good things in its current English usage. Most often, bonus refers to an extra sum of money or reward from one’s employer for good performance, which of course is always a good thing. Carpe diem: Seize the day! An exclamation urging someone to make the most of the present time and not worry about the future. Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am. French philosopher Descartes’ famous formula of 1641 attempting to prove his own existence. Caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. The principle that the buyer is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made. Circa; c. around; approximately The house was built circa 1870. Coitus interruptus: interrupted congress; aborting sexual intercourse prior to ejaculation. Coitus interruptus is the only form of birth control that some religions allow. Compos mentis: in control of the mind (often used ironically). Please call me back later when I’m compos mentis. De facto: in fact; in reality. Nowadays, it is used to highlight something that is simply a fact or someone who holds a position, with or without the right to do so. She was the de facto leader of the book club. Although the Emperor was the head of state, the de facto ruler of Japan was the Shogun. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: It is a sweet and glorious thing to die for one’s country. From Horace, Odes III, 2, 13. Used by Wilfred Owen for the title of his anti-war poem Dulce et Decorum Est. E.g.: For example Commonly confused with the similar Latin term i.e., e.g. stands for the Latin phrase exempli gratia, meaning for the sake of example. In English, it is used to introduce a list of examples in place of the phrase such as. Ego: I. A popular term in psychology, ego in fact began as the Latin equivalent of the first person pronoun, I. It makes sense when considering its modern meaning, which refers to an individual’s sense of self-worth or self-esteem. Ergo: therefore, consequently. It is one Latin phrase that has maintained its meaning exactly in English usage. I have never been to Kim’s apartment. Ergo, I cannot tell you what it looks like. Erratum: error; mistake. Lists of errors from a previous publication are often marked “errata” (the plural, meaning errors). Et cetera: etc, and the rest; and so on; and more. We urgently need to buy medical equipment, drugs et cetera. Ex gratia: from kindness or grace (without recognizing any liability or legal obligation). They received an undisclosed ex gratia payment. Ex libris from the books; from the library: In the front of a book: Ex Libris John Brown Extra: In addition to A common English adjective and prefix, extra is a Latin preposition that means outside or in addition. In English, extra is an adjective, adverb, or prefix that means additional, in addition, or to a greater extent. Festina lente: Hurry slowly. An oxymoron =similar to “more haste, less speed”.
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Latin proverbs used in English Habeas corpus: a court order instructing that a person under arrest be brought before a judge. The right of habeas corpus has long been regarded as an important safeguard of individual liberty. I.e.: That is Sometimes mistaken for the similar abbreviation e.g., i.e. stands for the Latin phrase id est, which literally translates to that is. It is most often used to add information that states something in different words or to give a more specific example: Most of the puppies (i.e., four of the six) found homes over the weekend. In vino veritas: in wine, truth. Meaning that a drunk man reveals the truth about himself. Latin phrases still used in English Latin phrases still used in English Impromptu: It means spontaneous or without preparation. Something that catches you by surprise. From the Latin phrase in promptu, meaning in readiness, impromptu is a common English adjective or adverb that describes something spontaneous. My boss called an impromptu meeting today and my colleagues and I were totally unprepared. She threw an impromptu birthday party for her best friend. In loco parentis: in the place of a parent. Teachers sometimes have to act in loco parentis. In situ: in its original place. The paintings have been taken to the museum but the statues have been left in situ. In vitro: (biology) taking place outside a living organism (for example in a test tube) in vitro fertilization Inter alia: among other things. The report covers, inter alia, computers, telecommunications and air travel. Intro: Within. Originally the first-person present indicative form of the Latin verb intro, meaning to enter, intro in English usage has become a prefix or informal noun that describes the beginning of something (i.e., an introduction). Multi: Many. Multi is the plural form of the Latin adjective multus, meaning many. In English, it is used as a prefix to describe something that contains more than one of something else. Multicolored, multifaceted, multicultural, etc. Nil desperandum: Do not despair. Per: for each. This petrol station charges $4.00 per gallon. Per annum; p.a.: for each year The population is increasing by about 3% per annum. Per ardua ad astra: through struggle to the stars. (motto of the Royal Air Force and others) Per capita: for each person. The country’s annual income is $30,000 per capita. Per se: In itself, intrinsically, of an inherent nature. My friends and I were celebrating and having a great time, but it really wasn’t a party per se. These facts per se are not important. Persona non grata: unacceptable or unwelcome person. From now on, you may consider yourself persona non grata in this house. Post-mortem: examination of a body after death; autopsy. The post-mortem revealed that she had been murdered. Pro bono (publico): For the good (of the public). Pro bono indicates that something is being done without payment or reimbursement. The phrase is often applied when lawyers provide legal services for little or no money, though its use is not exclusive to the legal profession.
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Latin phrases and abbreviations Pro rata: proportional; proportionally. The car rental charge is $130 per day and then pro rata for part of a day. Quid pro Quo: It means “of equal exchange or substitution.” Literally, it means “something for something”. You exchange something of the other’s interest for something of your own interest. They finally agreed on a quid pro quo agreement, in which John will disclose confidential information to George in exchange for free access to George’s company database. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who shall guard the guards? Quod erat demonstrandum (QED): which was to be demonstrated. The abbreviation is often written after a mathematical proof. Re: about; concerning; regarding Re simply means about, and in modern times, we see it used most often in responses to emails and in other correspondence to refer to an earlier topic of discussion. Re: Unpaid Invoice Sine qua non: essential condition; thing that is absolutely necessary. Words are a sine qua non of spoken language. Semi: Half A prefix borrowed from Latin, semi translates to half. When used in English, it indicates that something is incomplete or partially finished. Semidetached, semiautomatic, semi-final, etc. Status quo: Existing state of affairs This straight-up Latin phrase literally translates to the state in which and is used in English to describe an existing state of affairs, usually related to political or social issues. Monarchies naturally wish to maintain the status quo. Sub rosa (adv.): privately, secretly Latin, literally "under the rose," which was regarded as a symbol of secrecy Tempus fugit. “Time flies.” Terra firma: dry land; the ground as opposed to the air or sea. Sandokan and his men set foot on terra firma after three weeks at sea. Veni, vidi, vici. “I came, I saw, I conquered.” The report sent by Julius Caesar to the Roman Senate after his battle in 47 BC against King Pharnaces II. Verbatim: in exactly the same words. I had to memorize the text verbatim. Versus; vs.: against. What are the benefits of organic versus inorganic foods? In the case of Trump versus Biden, the judges decided… Vice versa: the other way round. Vice versa is a Latin phrase that literally means in a turned position. In English, it is commonly used to indicate that two things are interchangeable. My telephone serves me, and not vice versa. Latin Abbreviations in English Many Latin abbreviations are still used in English today, though usually in writing. This page lists some of the more common Latin abbreviations, with meanings and explanations. Although you may not need to use Latin abbreviations yourself, it’s useful to be able to recognize them. Their full forms and meanings are given below.
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The ancient Roman Empire A.D. (anno domini): in the year of the Lord ad inf., ad infin. (ad infinitum): to infinity A.M. (ante meridiem): before midday B.A. (Baccalaureus Artium): Bachelor of Arts B.D. (Baccalaureus Divinitatis): Bachelor of Divinity B.L. (Baccalaureus Legum): Bachelor of Law B.Lit. (Baccalaureus Literarum): Bachelor of Literature (or Letters) B.M. (Baccalaureus Medicinae): Bachelor of Medicine B.Mus. (Baccalaureus Musicae): Bachelor of Music B.Phil. (Baccalaureus Philosophiae): Bachelor of Philosophy B.S., B.Sc. (Baccalaureus Scientiae): Bachelor of Science c., circ.: circa cf. (confer): compare D.D. (Divinitatis Doctor): Doctor of Divinity D.G. (Dei Gratia): By the grace of God D.Lit. (Doctor Litterarum): Doctor of Literature D.M. (Doctor Medicinae): Doctor of Medicine D.V. (Deo volente): God willing e.g. (exempli gratia): for example et al. (et alii, et alia): and others etc. (et cetera): and the rest, and so forth et seq. (et sequens, et sequentes, et sequentia): and the following id. (idem): the same i.e. (id est): that is lb. (libra): pound M.A. (Magister Artium): Master of Arts M.D. (Medicinae Doctor): Doctor of Medicine M.O. (modus operandi): method of operating N.B. (Nota bene): Note well no. (numero): by number non obst. (non obstante): notwithstanding non seq. (non sequitur): it does not follow p.d. (per diem): by the day p.a.: per annum Ph.D. (Philosophiae Doctor): Doctor of Philosophy P.M. (post meridiem): after midday P.S. (post scriptum): written after Q.E.D.: quod erat demonstrandum R. (rex, regina): King, Queen R.I.P. (Requiescat in pace): Rest in peace sic (sic erat scriptum): thus was it written v., vs.: versus vox pop. (vox populi): the voice of the people Learn more visiting these useful websites: https://www.latin-english.com   Latin English Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com     Online Etymology Dictionary You can download the following books on Latin at this page: Latin Language: Bennett, Charles E.: New Latin Grammar; D'Oogle, Benjamin L.: Latin for beginners; Wine, women and songs. Medieval Latin Student's Songs, including translation and commentary by John Addington Symonds. Read the full article
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nikkzwrites · 3 years
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(They Long to Be) Close to You | Dark Fix-It Fic Series Part 2 | Chapter 7
A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah. This is part two of the series! You can start the full series here!
CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence.
Word Count: ~5.0k
[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]
Jonas cried over Martha’s body promising that he would set everything right. He looked up hearing the explosion and then ran down into the basement to stay safe.
The older Jonas shot up in bed breathing hard from his nightmare. He must have fallen asleep in his clothes. He turned to look at the letter labeled Jonas on it. He opened it to read,
‘Dear Jonas, you promised to make everything right again. I want you to know that you will do that. You must never lose hope that there is a way out of this maze. A way to save me and you...But we will have to make sacrifices… do unimaginable things...to untie the knot at the end. Each fate in this knot is linked to the next. A thread, blood red, that connects all our actions. In light and in shadow. But the apocalypse must take place. You must let her die, so I can live. We have to let some things go before they find their way back to us. We are perfect for eachother. Never believe anything else.’
Martha cried over Jonas’ dead body clutching Annalise’s necklace in her bloodied hands. She stood and walked away from him still shaking from the shock she just received. Annalise walked out from the door and ran to Martha. She held the girl close in her arms and started to cry for her. Her fingers intertwined within Martha’s hair. Yet, Martha felt close to nothing. This is what she had always wanted, so why does it still feel wrong.
The short haired Martha looked up at the swirling God Particle in their world knowing what must be done now. Her two older selves watched it twist and turn just like their hearts. Their eyes crying from the knowledge each of them had. Mary smiled proudly at her work. She had spent years getting back to this point. Yet, her eyes still cried knowing just as soon as she was going to experience the greatest ecstasy, she was going to experience the pits of despair. Unknowing of her own fate that was just close to happening.
Silija took her rifle and shoved Martha into a cage. She locked the girl in, ignoring her cries of confusion. Adam watched on with a sigh.
The older Jonas took the letter and burned it after reading. He felt disgusted at what she was trying to imply, let Annalise die so that Martha could live as if he could possibly do that. As if he could let that happen. 
Annalise and Martha walked back to Martha’s home. It was the day of the apocalypse. As they got inside, Martha started to panic about how dirty and covered with his blood she was. 
Annalise took hold of her and said, “Hey, hey… shhhh… It’s okay.” She carefully walked the girl to the sink and washed her up. Her hands were gentle, yet dexterous at getting off the blood. After cleaning her hands and face, Annalise heard someone stirring upstairs so she quickly helped Martha undress and shoved the blooded clothes in the trash.
Magnus hurried downstairs after hearing the door open and close. “Martha,” he breathed relieved at his sister being back home safe. He looked between Annalise and Martha asking, “Where were you? Mom cried all night long.” Noticing that Martha wasn’t her normal self, he turned to Annalise and asked, “Is she okay?”
Annalise shook her head as Martha tried to wipe her tears away. She turned to look at her brother.
“Hey,” He spoke softly. He opened his arms to her which were gladly taken by Martha. He held his sister and asked, “What happened?”
Martha sobbed into Magnus for a second. She held him tighter than she had ever held her brother before. “Bartosz was right,” she whispered. She shook her head and said, “What he said in the woods… about the end of the world.” She started to panic. “The nuclear power plant… Today. Bartosz’s father is trying to cover up an accident. The containers… The world is going to end today.”
Magnus looked at her then to Annalise, who just shrugged and shook her head acting as if she didn’t know anything… 
While in truth, she did. Annalise knew exactly what Martha was talking about and it was her job to also get to Bartosz so that way they could all go fix this mess. At least, that’s what Eve told her and her older self told her. There was no reason not to trust them. 
Meanwhile in 1986, a younger Mary smiled with a young Noah. She turned to him and said, “We did it! We found the way back! We can get Bartosz and go back home.”
Magnus shook her head at her, “Have you gone crazy? When did you last sleep?” When she tried to yell at him, he shook his head and said, “I haven’t got time for your psycho crap. You can handle this, right Anna?”
Annalise nodded. She shook her head at Martha, “I’m sorry.”
Short haired Martha looked down at Annalise’s necklace and started to cry. She trembled as her fingers traced the tree of life pattern.
“They had to die,” The older Martha explained, “It’s all wrong.” They stood in the old Eris Lux meeting area. “I know what you’re feeling. But you’ll learn to let the feeling go. Everything will run its course. Just as fate determined our world and his.”
In the other world, Martha tried to escape her cage. When Adam appeared to her, she screamed, “why did you lock me up? You promised me there would be a way to change everything.” She started to cry, “So the apocalypse won’t happen. You lied to me, just like my older self lied to me!”
Adam looked down at the sphere in his hands. He spoke, “Sic Mundus. Old Tannhaus. He firmly believed he was creating a paradise where we’d all be free of destiny, and free of our pain. A world outside your world and my world. But I have finally realized what this paradise really is. Unending darkness, in which nothing exists. But for that...the apocalypse must happen. In my world...and in yours.” He turned and walked away from her.
“Jonas,” she roared, “Jonas! Let me out!”
There was only six hours before the apocalypse left and Aleksander was speaking to Obendorf about the containers. He had seen Annalise leave earlier that morning so he knew it would be safe to speak about it.
“Dad,” Bartosz said, walking into the room and surprising Aleksander, “Is everything okay?”
Aleksander nodded, but sadly said, “I know I said I’d stay home today...But something important came up. I’m sorry.”
Bartosz shrugged and grumbled to his dad, “It’s alright”
His father turned and said, “I have to tell you something. Someone is blackmailing me.”
Bartosz’s face turned into confusion, “What?”
Aleksander turned and showed his son, “With this. Something that happened a long time ago. Sometimes we make decisions in our lives that we can never undo.” He sighed and continued, “My name is not Aleksander. It is Boris. Boris Niewald. But it was an accident… You must believe me. I’m not a murderer.”
Bartosz shook his head and asked, “What about Mom? Did Mom know about this?”
“Your mother is the best thing that ever happened in my life,” said the man, “she saved me from all that and I never told her the truth.” He looked at his son, “Bartosz, I’m sorry.”
Bartosz threw the newspaper down and walked away from his father.
Across town, Charlotte walked to Ulrich’s house with the file to let him know what they found on the investigation for Mads resulting in Ulrich leaving quickly and Hannah realizing it was her the entire time.
Annalise sat with Matha. She tried to convince the girl to take a nap, but Martha felt too wired for that. 
The girl walked over to her mirror to look at herself. “I hate this,” she sneered at herself. She grabbed the scissors from her things and started to cut.
“Hey,” Annalise said. She walked over to the girl and stopped her, “Let me do that for you. You are going to mess it up.”
“I don’t care,” Martha mumbled, but conceded giving the scissors to Annalise anyway.
Annalise smiled and giggled, “Come on. Let’s cut off all the things weighing you down.”
Martha watched as everything happened through the mirror. She just wanted everything fixed and over with.
Katharina slept on Mikkel’s bed calmly. She awoke to Martha standing over her, “You scared me. Where were you? Did you cut your hair? What happened?” She looked over towards Annalise who stood awkwardly behind her daughter. She looked back to see Martha nearly in tears.
Martha spoke, “Do you believe in fate?”
“I don’t know,” Katharina admitted watching Annalise walk out to give them some space. She spoke again, “No. I believe that we take our lives into our own hands. That we decide which road we take.”
Eve stared at the older Bartosz with a sigh. She spoke to him motioning towards the hideout and to his child Jonah. Her heart sunk, but she knew this was what was needing to happen. Everything was so so close. She needed everything to continue just as it had before. She knew what this would cause though. She knew what this part would lead. She needed it to happen. This was one of the finally domino effects needed for her plan to see him again.
Katharina shook her head and said, “I’m sure I’m the last person you want to talk to, but...If you do...I’m here.” She took her daughter's hand and held it. The woman spoke again, “Your dad and I… A lot of things maybe different now, but that’s not necessarily bad.”
Martha started to cry. She shook her head and said, “No, I’m sure it’s not.” She held her mother closely. She let go after a moment and explained, “I promised I was going to do something.” Then she walked out.
In the other world, Claudia stared at a picture of the blond boy who had started this all. Her breathing was all that could be heard in the small bunker. She sighed and looked down to open one of the journals letting her know what she was supposed to do as well. It spelled out where the God Particle was and to follow the signals to it. She found herself going to the area in her yellow radiation suit. Inside, she saw only a bright white light. Her heart pounded as she reached out to it.
“Stop,” A man called to her. Claudia turned to see Jonas.
She sighed in relief and said, “Jonas…” She looked surprised. Her voice shook as she spoke again, “You’re alive.”
Back in Eve’s world, the short haired, scarred Martha wrote Jonas a letter. She knew all of it to be absolutely true. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was doing all of this for her own Annalise as well. Something for them to be together just as Mary and Eve were. To raise this child together. She sighed and spoke, “I murdered him. Why is he still alive?” 
Mary drew a diagram for the young Martha, “There is a switch point in the loop of time. The moment that causes things to run in one direction or the other. You bring him into your world, or you don’t. A line that starts at one point, then loops onto itself once more. Two possible ways on the outer edge of the line or on the inner edge of the line… yet it is the same line. Two overlapping realities happen in a single moment.” She spoke quieter, more in reflection, “In one, she goes with you… in another she’s kidnapped and trapped until she figures out the puzzle of this.” She shook her head and spoke louder again, “One, he dies...on the other road, he doesn’t.” She pointed and said, “Both realities continue from the point of the sphere’s activation, then collide on itself if it’s in the same reality. Both of your worlds continue from that point and repeat in an endless loop. One triggers the other one to happen. You two are locked in Quantum entanglement.”
Eve interrupted and spoke, “Adam has tried to sever it for 33 years. So that the thing growing inside of you will never be born.”
Mary spoke up again, “But it is impossible now. Your worlds… they can never be disconnected.”
The older Martha took the letter and folded it up to be put into the envelope as Ever spoke, “Every step Jonas takes is guided by us. He cannot escape his fate.”
In Jonas’ world, Claudia stared at the blond and asked, “What is this?”
Jonas spoke while looking at the glowing white orb flowing suspended in the air, “That is what was left over after the catastrophe.”
Claudia breathed heavily and asked, “The God Particle… and this here? What is this?” She pointed to the equipment not too far from them.
Jonas looked at her confused and explained, “I’ve seen where all this goes.” He pointed towards the equipment, “in the future. There is no way back now. The cave was destroyed. There’s nothing there anymore. The passage is completely gone. But this here… If I find out how it works, I’ll be able to go back. Then I can save them. Martha, Mikkel, and Annalise. I can save all of them.” He stared at her. She seemed off. She didn’t seem to support any of this. He spoke to her and asked, “How is it that you found me?” He waited for a moment then asked in a slightly different way, “How did you know I would be here?”
“The apparatus,” Claudia explained, “The matter it needs.”
“The apparatus,” Jonas yelled, “You still have it?! Where is it?”
Claudia reluctantly showed him to where she was keeping the machine. She knew if she didn’t he would only become more aggressive. She watched as he rushed towards it. As he toggled with some of the switches, she spoke, “It doesn’t work. Maybe this is how it had to happen first. For all the things to change for next time.” As he slowly turned towards her, she explained, “The substance in the device. You and I brought it into the passage again. The variables in the equation were changed. There’s a chance it might work next try.”
Jonas yelled, “I can’t wait 33 years to try!” He growled as he walked towards her, “I’m supposed to just hope this won’t happen again? Maybe next time I’m on the other side of the bunker door?!” He sneered, “She didn’t say anything… Your older self. She knew Annalise was going to die. That Martha was also going to die. How they would die.” Tears dripped down his dirty sweaty face, “Why should I trust you now?”
Claudia felt a pain in her chest hearing about Annalise. Yet she pressed on, “The material in the plant. I know what it is. I can assist you. I can help you save them. To save all of them.”
In Eve’s world, there was only three hours left before the apocalypse. Martha stormed to Bartosz’s house with Annalise behind her. She screamed, “BARTOSZ!”
He very quickly went to the glass door as if by instinct. He opened it for her and asked, “Martha?” He looked at her then saw Annalise not far behind her. He bit his lip hoping this wasn’t going to affect them then turned back towards Martha to listen to what she had to say.
“Can we come in,” the short haired girl asked him. She stared up at him pleadingly. It was the least he could do now right? After stealing the girl she loved, the least he could do was let her inside.
“Eh,” Bartosz shifted uneasily. He swallowed and nodded, “Yeah. Come on in.” He moved out of the way for the two girls to rush in.
Martha shakingly explained, “33 years ago there was an accident at the plant. Somehow the accident caused some strange matter to form… and your father helped cover everything up.” She started to breathe heavily. Her eyes flickered between Annalise and him, “And everything we heard in the caves. It’s all the same… The substance… It starts the end. Today. We have to talk to him.”
“Starts what end,” Bartosz spoke calmly.
Martha’s voice shook as she said, “The apocalypse.”
Ulrich stared at Mads body in disbelief. There was no way any of this was happening. He’s heart raced as he realized it had to be. He unlocked the jail cell and stared at Helge. He lifted him up and asked, “The Kid in the bunker. You said it was you who killed him. But you didn’t mean him. You meant Mads. The boy in the bunker looks just like Mads. How did you do it?”
Helge shook and said, “They...They both said that I must do it.”
Ulrich growled, “Who? Do what?”
Helge swallowed and explained, “To help send him to the future. To fill the gaps.”
Ulrich let go of him and took a step back in disbelief. He took the pennies out of his pocket and showed it to the man, “The pennies… What does this mean?”
Helge looked up and said, “I must stop him.”
“Stop who? Who will you stop?”
Helge swallowed and spoke softly, “You.”
Ulrich pulled back and looked down before looking out the door. He said, “You can go now.”
Helge hurried out to go on his own mission to stop the man.
“And this Jonas guy,” Bartosz asked, “He’s dead now? And you killed him there. Well it’s not you… It’s...another you?” He looked at her completely confused. This sounded a lot like how Annalise was trying to describe being in two places at once just the other night. He ran his fingers through his long hair thinking about everything.
Martha nodded and explained, “I was there. In the future. There’s nothing left.” She shook her head. “Nothing.” She sighed and stated, “It all has to do with your father. He can’t be allowed to open those containers.” Watching his thumbs rub together and him look down then back at Annalise, Martha knew he was deep in thought. “Bartosz,” she tried to reach out to his mind to pull him back to her. She pleaded with him, “Please.”
Bartosz reached for his phone and called his father. He didn’t get an answer due to his father looking at all of the sins of his past and what they lead to. Aleksander called Charlotte now knowing what he must do to make amends.
The Unknown looked up at the sphere. He turned it on and watched it descend. The youngest walked in first, then the oldest. The middle one took out the ball and held it in his hand.
In Adam’s world, Silja let Martha out of her cage and at gunpoint led her to where Adam wanted her to go. She explained that all she was here to do was to help fill the gaps for everyone so that everyone could reach salvation.
Adam stared at the swirling mass. He spoke to himself mostly but turned to see the ghost of Annalise standing there with him, “We have waited a long time for this moment.” He turned towards Magnus and Franziska and told them, “you know what to do.” He nodded to them to leave him alone with the ghost of the girl he loved.
Magnus and Franziska swallowed. They shifted and took hold of each other’s hands not sure if they were really ready for the other world yet and to see their long dead best friends.
In Eve’s world, Magnus and Franziska sat at the edge of the pond unknowing of the apocalypse about to hit them in just one hour.
Franziska turned to him and signed, “What do you think it means? The birds? The light? The boy in the bunker?”
Magnus shrugged a bit then signed back while mouthing, “Martha has lost it. She thinks the apocalypse will happen today.”
Franziska shook her head at him. She could tell without words that he was nervous. She smiled a bit to comfort him and slid her hand into his. She signed to him and mouthed, “If we die today, then at least we are together.”
Magnus smiled and signed back, “Together.” He leaned close to her so that they could kiss all his troubles away.
Bartosz and Annalise rode their bikes down to the powerplant. Martha sat behind Bartosz looking up at the boy. They tried to ride as quickly as possible to stop the canisters from being opened by Charlotte and Aleksander.
Helge waddled through the woods muttering to himself the sounds of the clock in his mind. He walked toward the cave knowing exactly what he was going to try to do.
Ulrich called Charlotte trying to get a hold of her to let him know of what was going on as he tried to follow the man.
Adam’s world Magnus and Franziska stood in the road and stared at the group on the bikes. Bartosz and Martha stopped smoothly while Annalise crashed Martha’s bike trying to avoid them.
Martha stood up and walked towards them, “Who are you?”
Magnus chuckled, “You can’t take a few guesses?”
Annalise groaned on the ground causing Bartosz to run towards her side, “Anna!” He looked over her and caressed her face, “It’s okay. You’re okay. Where does it hurt?”
Annalise reached her hand down towards her side. She groaned as he touched it, “Ow...Ow. Ow.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
Mary screamed as she walked into her family’s part of the hideout. There her older Bartosz, her husband, held their dead baby in his arms crying. He looked at her pleadingly, “Please, Annalise. Forgive me.”
Mary screamed at him, “What did you do?!”
“I had no other choice, Annalise please.”
Martha stared at the man and whispered, “Magnus?” She gasped as he stared at him, “You’re from the future.”
Magnus nodded, “But not from yours. They lied to you. Your older selves. They want the apocalypse to happen. They’re the ones responsible for it happening in the first place. But there is a way to change everything.”
Annalise struggled out, “Liar! You’re just working for Adam.”
Bartosz cooed at her, “Shhhhh. Anna… Please. You’re hurt. You are only going to keep hurting yourself. Shhhh.”
The older Bartosz looked sadly at his wife, “Please don’t look at me like that. She said I had to or else he’d die anyway.”
Mary rushed at him and started to hit him, “Liar! She would never do this to me.. MARTHA WOULD NEVER!” She stole her dead Jonah from him. She cried over his small body. 
Franziska looked from the couple on the side of the road then looked at Martha and said, “But you have to choose our world and trust in him. Jonas.”
Bartosz started to question them as well. Annalise could see it on his face as Martha asked, “Jonas? He’s alive?”
“In our world,” Franziska nodded, “And he knows what the origin is.”
Mary trembled as she realized, no. Eve could, and Eve would. She started to realize everything was just Eve’s fault. She had been using her just as she used Jonas, but to what end. Mary sneered at him and said, “Of course in the end you would choose her. I hope you rot in the hell you both made.” She walked away from him to go to Eve’s office.
Franziska continued, “But before that, you must save Jonas from the apocalypse in his world and bring him into your world.”
Bartosz stood up and growled, “All of you are crazy, you know that?!”
Magnus stepped towards the girl and said, “You can’t stop what’s happening now, but...if you come with us, you can prevent it. Another time.” He took out the orb and held it towards Martha.
Bartosz helped Annalise up and asked, “What is that?”
Martha stared into her other worldly brother’s eyes. She panted as she tried to figure out what to do. What was the best step. Who should she trust? What should she do?
Bartosz’s voice cut through the noise in Martha’s head, “Martha what’s going on here?”
Martha walked towards them and turned towards her two closest friends, “you have to come with us.”
“Come with you where,” Bartosz asked.
Franziska spoke up as Magnus got the orb ready, “They aren’t one of us. They work for the others. She will save them.” Franziska nodded towards Annalise. 
Martha looked between the two groups unsure of who to go with or who to trust. She looked at her friends and whispered, “I’m sorry.” She disappeared in a cloud of ashes and ember.
“It’s time,” Eve spoke to her group, “Adam has moved each of his tokens into position. It is time that we do the same.”
Mary burst into the room angry with her Bartosz trailing behind her, “You MONSTER! You LIED TO ME.” She growled and launched herself at Eve. 
Eve laughed as everyone else left the room to leave them alone. She shook her head, “I did no such thing. This was all just a test for you, don’t you see that?”
Mary screamed, “You killed my son!? After everything I had done for you! I made your damn machine for you! I traumatised myself for you. I worked years and years for you. Blindly trusting you. You separated me from Bartosz for years to motivate me to make the machine work! I helped convince someone I was an angel with the son you had my husband have after me so that we could have your dad’s brother killed! Who even does that?! Why me?!”
Eve sighed, again, she chose Jonas in the end just like every cycle. Annalise chose Bartosz. As her heart slowly broke, she spoke, “I am so sorry you see it that way, but I want to hear it from you. Say what you are truly feeling deep inside your heart. Tell me.”
The younger Eve took over speaking to the rest of the group, “This knot has given us all life and we are its keepers. In both worlds. He’ll never be able to untie this knot. In all these years, he’s never understood how everything is connected. How it all ends and begins. Not only in our world, but in his as well. We are destiny. We raise the walls of this labyrinth. Each of us shapes the paths and extend their hand. Bartosz, you must help save yourself and Annalise to save our lives. Claudia, you must guide yourself to be our eyes in the other world. Egon, you must create your past to preserve the family tree. Noah, you must bring love and friendship... To start everything anew. Every darkness is followed by light. With every death comes life.” The younger Eve opened the portal for them.
In Adam’s world, Martha pleaded with the scarred man, “You brought me into your world. You promised me we could change this. Why are you doing this?” She struggled against her chains crying. She sobbed and asked him, “Where are the others? Where did you send them?”
Adam’s raspy voice grated in the air, “They are all fulfilling their destinies. Magnus and Franziska. Charlotte and Elisabeth. Silja and Agnes. They’re sustaining the cycle’s life. So that you and I exist here, now.”
“What are you saying,” She shook her head in confusion.
Adam looked at the ghost of Annalise dancing around them and looked back at her, “This is the end we’ve reached. What’s growing inside you, the origin, must die. But it can’t be killed by normal means. It’s born of both worlds and so the energy of both worlds is necessary to destory it. The apocalypse in my world...and the apocalypse in your world. This here is the end. A machine that crosses not only time, but space as well. Which then focuses the energy of both apocalypses on one concentrated point. This spot. Your son only exists because the matter exists. Now, through it, he will die, and all of us with him. None of this will exist anymore. Both worlds will erase one another. Absolute annihilation.”
Martha shook her head. She looked at him with sorrow for him, “You’ve gone insane.”
Adam slowly walked towards her, “There is no hope. No salvation. No paradise.” He took Annalise’s necklace from her, “We were wrong. You and I. In your world, and in mine.” He walked away from her.
“Jonas,” She called out to him, “JONAS! Jonas, please don’t do it. Jonas.”
Adam closed the door to prevent him from still hearing her call his old name. A name he had not associated with himself in a long time. A name when he was still Annalise’s. As she cried, he sighed knowing what he had to do. He turned it on and watched her struggle.
The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. Every connection in one world must also be closed in the other world. Everything is interconnected. In the light and in shadow.
Slowly, all of Eve’s foot soldiers reached where they were to go. Older Noah to Sylvie and Elizabeth, Helge and Egon back to the past, Claudia to her other self, and Older Bartosz to Annalise and his younger self. Ulrich going into the past to stop Mads from dying.  Older Jonas creating the machine while young Eve went to place the note. The Unknown going to help create the end. 
Mary screamed, “ADAM WAS RIGHT. There is no salvation! You are the monster and this should end. All of this should end. There is no paradise! There is only pain!”
Just as a gunshot rang out deep in the cavern walls, The Unknown all yelled out desperately, “MOM!”
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tesbloodline · 5 years
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Demiprinces (And Why Meri Isn’t One)
So first off, demiprince lore is severely lacking - which is extremely disappointing, since the idea of them is so interesting. We have two main passages that discuss demiprinces, which I’ve included below (formatting preserved from the original source).
Lyranth the Foolkiller says, "A demiprince is a by-blow of a Daedric Prince or Daedra Lord and a lesser entity, perhaps even a mortal. A demiprince often inherits aspects of its princely parent, but it may also be curiously lacking in characteristics such as foresight, memory, cruelty, or willfulness. Some acquire, or are given, minor realms to rule, and many of these of these [sic] pocket realities are bizarre or eccentric, even by the standards of Oblivion. Some demiprinces, such as Fa-Nuit-Hen, are known to occasionally visit the Mundus for the express purpose of interacting with mortals. As I said: eccentric." (Lyranth the Foolkiller Answers Your Questions, ESO Loremaster’s Archive)
Lord Fa-Nuit-Hen says, "What makes a Prince a Prince? A broad and well-defined sphere of influence that enables clarity of purpose and focused expression of will. My sphere of influence is well-defined but not particularly broad, so I am a mere demiprince—an entity of power and consequence far outstripping that of any mortal, but trivial compared to the Greater Princes. I have ambitions, of course, like every Ada, but I keep them within my sphere, lest I suffer the same fate as you-know-who."  (Lord Fa-Nuit-Hen and Tutor Riparius Answer Your Questions 2, ESO Loremaster’s Archive)
Now, for the purposes of this universe, there are four qualities that determine what category a Daedroth falls into (Prince, demiprince, or lesser): biology, sphere, mindset, and strength. Let’s go through them one by one.
Biology
This is the first category for a reason; all else being equal, biology is what determines a Daedroth’s class. The Princes were, of course, et’Ada - created by the interplay of chaos and order after Time became a thing. There is a common belief that the Lesser Daedra were created by the Princes, which I’m using, but I couldn’t find any solid proof of this (if anyone can point me towards a source that indicates this, please let me know! I’m new to TES lore, but I’m doing my best.). Demiprinces, then, are the children of a Prince and Lesser Daedra or a mortal, in accordance with the first quote.
Meri doesn’t squarely fall into any of these classes, because she has to be complicated. When she was conceived, she was fully mortal - her father was an Imperial and her mother was a Dunmer, nothing particularly special there. The complication comes in about a month into Tamrela’s pregnancy, when she ends up mantling Sheogorath and functionally becoming a Daedric Prince. Since Meri is essentially still part of Tamrela at this point, this ascension affects her as well, taking her “essence” of sorts from mortal to something more like an et’Ada. It’s complicated, but think of it as Meri and Tamrela essentially being turned into et’Ada, as if they had existed that way unchanged since the beginning of time.
Sphere
The next category deals with a Daedroth’s area of influence, or their sphere. As described in the second quote, Princes will have a broad and well-defined sphere - think of Sheogorath’s Madness, Jyggalag’s Order, or Hircine’s Hunt; each is clearly defined, conveys a complete concept, and is very broad. A demiprince would have an equally well-defined but far narrower sphere - perhaps a very specific emotion (loneliness, heartbreak) or action (legal execution, eavesdropping). Lesser Daedra don’t really have spheres, but they have a sort of focus - think Dremora and their clans and hierarchies, or the Golden Saints/Dark Seducers and their rivalry and matriarchies. A few overarching traits that they are specifically known for.
I haven’t written much about Meri’s sphere - the most I’ve written about it is here, where I mention that she is the Prince of Devotion, Family, Youth, and the Crushing Deep, the Lady of Change, and call her realm the Abyssal Caverns. Her title looks a bit complicated compared to the canon examples above, but those examples are simplified. Consider Sanguine, the Prince of hedonism, debauchery, and dark desires. Meri’s title would be summed up as “Change”, but her specific areas of focus are Devotion, Family, Youth/Childhood, and the Crushing Deep/water - all things that shift and change even as they stay the same. In this, her sphere definitely fits a Prince more than a demiprince.
Mindset
There’s a certain sort of mindset that comes with being a Daedroth, which is only intensified for a Prince. Demiprinces, on the other hand, seem to take most of their mindset from their mother. If she was a mortal, they have a mostly mortal thought process and set of values, although their morals are generally pretty lax. If she was a Lesser Daedra, they pick up that sort of mindset - although they tend to be loyal to their Princely parent, regardless of who their mother’s race typically serves. If their mother was the Prince, they think like Prince - but these are the ones that tend to die the youngest, because they don’t have the power to back it up.
Now Tamrela is an incredibly interesting example, because she was born and raised mortal. At some level, she will always think like a mortal, even as the nature of the madgod has almost drowned her. Meri, however, became a Prince before she was even born; while there is a teeny tiny spark of mortal nature in her (which pops up for literally the first time during the Forgotten City quest and grows from there, mainly through interacting with Marcurio, she will always think and react like a Prince. Morals, mortals, or the opinions of strangers, nothing matters to her but her personal happiness and entertainment. Even when she starts to get attached to her traveling party, her logic is based on ‘this will upset them, and when they’re upset I get upset, so let’s not do that’.
Strength
Finally, there is simply a power difference between a Daedric Prince and a Lesser Daedra. As et’Ada, and furthermore as those who did not put any of their power into the creation of Mundus, the Princes are literally the most powerful beings in existence. At least, the most naturally powerful - those who achieve CHIM are of course more powerful. The Lesser Daedra just can’t match up.
Meri, despite her youth, is an incredibly powerful person. Sheogorath is arguably the most powerful of the Princes, and Meri inherits enough of that to make her a very dangerous foe. Additionally, Meri is the only one of the Princes to come into her title as a child - despite inheriting a large amount of power, that’s only her starting point. She’s still growing and getting stronger. She’s designed to be an impossibly overpowered character, with almost nothing she can’t do; most of her limitations come from trying not to horribly upset her party and looking for the most entertaining option. (I literally play her with immortal mode toggled because her whole deal is that she can’t die; if she were ever at risk of actually dying, Tam would yank her back to the Isles in a heartbeat.)
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nikkzwrites · 4 years
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Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 13
A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah.
CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence, Suicide Mentions, Cutting, Violence.
Word Count:  4.4k
[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]
“I’ve seen you grown up,” Noah told the small boy, “Become a man. The whole cycle of your life. Time chose you. God chose you. That’s why David saved you.” He continued to strap him into the chair version of the time machine that Helge would later help the man develop to work once more, “Don’t forget that we are your home now, too. No harm will come to you. We’re watching over you. Time is always with you. Wherever you go. You carry it in you. And it carries you. It sees and hears everything that you do and say. Tick tock.”
The small Helge repeated after him, “Tick. Tock.”
Doris lay in bed blissfully happy as Agnes removed herself from beneath the other woman’s skirt. The two giggled until Claudia opened the door. Doris hurried up off the bed as Agnes quickly pulled away. “Claudia,” The mother exclaimed, “You haven’t left yet?”
Claudia shifted uncomfortably, “I forgot the milk money. But it’s okay.” She turned to leave.
“Wait,” Agnes turned and grabbed her purse. She handed Claudia some money and told her, “Get yourself some fruit drops.”
The two women smiled at the young girl who harshly thanked the woman cheating with her mom on her dad and walked away. Agnes hurriedly closed the door behind her. Doris started to panic, “Oh God. Do you think she noticed?”
Agnes held the other woman’s hands in her’s, trying to comfort her, “Don’t worry. Every family has its secrets.” They nodded at each other. Agnes then realized the time and started to leave.
“Going somewhere,” Doris asked.
Agnes grabbed her bag and coat. She told the woman, “Nowhere special. Just some errands.” The two gave each other a tender kiss before Agnes pulled away, “You’re beautiful.” She giggled and walked out the house.
Doris, slowly, slid down the drawers and giggled.
Helge slowly limped his way back home. There was only 4 days before the Apocalypse left. He stood in the entry waiting for his mother. Greta hurried down the stairs. When she saw her son, she ran to him. She dropped to her knees and held her injured son. She started to pray thanking the absent God that her son had been returned back to her.
Daniel sat in the police station talking to Egon, “Seven months on and we still have no idea who this monster is.” He placed the picture of Ulrich down, “Why is he refusing to reveal his identity? Why is no one looking for him? It makes you wonder how some people live. Almost like ghosts.” He looked towards his friend, “Egon?”
Egon sighed and asked, “Can I ask you something? Your wife and you… Are things still... Do you still have...”
“A lot,” Daniel asked.
Egon shook his head, “No. At all.”
“Look at that,” Daniel said, “I didn’t think they still made people like you. Boy, Egon… You’ve got to let out some steam. Marriage isn’t the way it’s sold to us. As soon as they have children they become different people. It’s like they're married to brats. It’s how nature wanted it. But out there… there are still loads of tender buds to pluck.”
Another officer ran in and informed the men, “They found him!”
“Found who,” asked Daniel.
“The Doppler boy,” replied the man, “Helge Doppler?”
Egon stood up and asked, “His body?”
“No,” the man replied, “The boy is alive. He just walked in the door as if nothing had happened.”
Claudia asked Tronte, “Do you like your mother? Mine is peculiar sometimes. She acts like I don’t get anything. When I have kids, I’ll be different. How come you never talk about who it was where you’re from? Before you came to Winden?”
Tronte sighed, “My mother was often sad. I was in an orphanage for ages. She doesn’t like to talk about it, so I don’t either.”
“Don’t you have any family besides your mother,” the girl bluntly asked.
Tronte explained, “My mother has a brother. But I think they hate each other.”
Claudia asked, “Do you think she’s happy here?” Tronte shrugged in response. They paused in the woods. Claudia looked around to make sure the coast was clear. After, she turned to him and asked, “Will you show it to me now?”
Tronte stood there uncomfortably. He complied with her and lowered his pants for her to look at his penis. He shifted his eyes away as she looked.
In 1987, Regina stormed through the house yelling, “Where are those damned ghosts?!” Claudia stood up and closed the suitcase with the time machine in it. She looked at her daughter when she asked, “Have you seen my book?”
“What book,” asked Claudia.
“ ‘The Ghosts,’ “ replied the girl, “You don’t have to gawp at me like that. I know I’m late.” She checked around the room only to find her book beneath some stacked newspapers. She turned to her mother and accused, “Did you put that there?”
Claudia shook her head, “No, I… I thought maybe… Maybe you’d like to skip school and we’ll do something nice.” This gave her daughter pause. Claudia continued, “I don’t know. I just thought we haven’t done anything together in so long.”
Regina shook her head and explained, “I have a German exam today and I wanted to go to the lake later.”
Claudia nodded, “Maybe another time.” When Regina turned to leave, Claudia grabbed onto her wrist, “Regina, wait.” She used that time to pull her daughter into a hug. Regina froze in her mother’s arms not actually able to process what was going on. She stared at her mother when Claudia complemented her, “I like how you wear your hair now. It makes you look so...grown up.” 
Taken back, Regina really had no idea what to say. She just held her mother’s hands for a second and took a step back, “Thanks.” She looked down at her watch and told her, “I don’t have any time. I have to go.” She turned and walked away to head to school.
Claudia turned and thought. She had a revelation. “Time…” She rushed to her bookshelf and grabbed the book that Helge had given her on her first day and looked at the man who wrote it.
Egon sat at his desk with the vinyl that Ulrich was talking about. He shook his head slowly putting the pieces together as the younger him checked in on Helge in 1954.
“Good evening Ms. Doppler,” he greeted Greta.
Greta folded her arms, “I’ve already told your colleagues everything.”
Egon explained, “I’d like to ask Helge a few questions.”
Greta shook her head, “He still hasn’t said a single word. Something is odd about the boy.”
“It won’t take long,” Egon assured her. He forced himself to swallow his anxiousness.
Greta walked the man to Helge’s room where the boy solitary sat staring at his train set.
“Helge,” Egon asked, approaching the boy slowly trying not to scare him, “Remember me? I’m Claudia’s father.” Helge looked up at him then back down. Greta stood outside watching as Egon knelt besides the boy. The officer asked, “Won’t you tell me where you were all this time? And with whom? Who did that to you?”
Greta told Helge, “The inspector asked you something.” She screamed at the boy, “Say something, for goodness sake!”
Helge sat remaining silent holding his ground like David would have done. 33 years later, Helge could still remember that day as if yesterday. 
Claudia told the man, “I just wanted to see how you were doing. It may sound peculiar, but I...” She placed the book down in front of him, “The book from last year. Why did you give it to me?”
“I…” The man started, “thought… you may be the only one still in Winden who understands me.” Helge touched the book, “Time… is always with you. Wherever you go. You carry it in you. And it carries you. It sees and hears everything you do and say.”
Claudia asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Helge took in a breath through his teeth, “He said… it’s a battle between good and evil, between light and dark. That the travelers can undo everything that happens. If we succeed, it will all never happen.” Helge fought back his tears.
“Who said that,” questioned Claudia.
“Noah,” replied Helge.
Claudia asked, “Who is Noah?”
Helge’s hand lurched out and grabbed onto her arm. He stared at her in the eye and said, “You mustn’t trust him. Never! Do you hear? Never!”
He started to hurt her without realizing. “Helge,” Claudia called to him. She had to rip his hand away.
“I’m sorry,” Helge looked down ashamed. He rocked himself back and forth to self sooth, “I didn’t want all this. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.”
Noah walked out of the church and put on his hat. He was getting ready to go to the Doppler’s.
Agnes looked around her to make sure she was not followed as she climbed down the stairs of the bunker to meet the elder Claudia.
The white haired lady asked her, “Did anyone see you?” Agnes shook her head. Claudia nodded and commented, “They sent Helge back today. Noah is back, too.”
Agnes shifted, “I’m not scared of him anymore.”
Claudia scoffed, “You carry the same blood.”
Agnes replied, “You can’t choose your family. Renouncing your blood means freeing yourself. You said so yourself.”
“Still,” Claudia said, thinking more of the grander scheme of things and how to place the pieces just right, “our family shapes our entire lives.” She watched Agnes nod as she continued, “Sic Mundus… They’re preparing the next cycle. In four days.” Claudia walked towards her, “Your brother is a blind fool. All the suffering he causes people. But it will have an end.” Claudia sighed and said, “You must give me this. Not now. There is still time.” Claudia handed the woman a newspaper article.
As she looked down at it, she looked up with a furrowed brow. “Today,” she asked.
Claudia nodded, “I wanted to thank you. For everything. My mother loves you, do you know that? She will make you happy if you let her.” Claudia held Agnes in a soft embrace before pulling away to go on with her business.
Tannhaus sat in his store working on the pocket watch for his granddaughter in 1987. Claudia walked in and stared at him. She placed her suitcase down as he slowly approached the woman.
“Are you H.G. Tannhaus,” she asked.
Tannhaus nodded then commented, “Heterochromia. One blue eye, one brown.”
Claudia looked down embarrassed. She pulled her book out of her pocket and asked him, “Did you write this book?”
“I wondered when the day would come,” He commented, “When we’d meet again.”
Claudia shook her head, “I don’t even know you.”
Tannhaus nodded, “But I know you. A never-ending cycle.”
Daniel, in 1954, shook his head, “Peculiar. And he didn’t talk? What do you make of it? He just turns up out of nowhere.”
“Maybe,” Egon commented, “They are unrelated after all. The madman who killed the children and the Doppler boy. How could he have done it? He’s been doing time for six months.”
Daniel made a face then shook his head, “Maybe he wasn’t alone?”
Egon asked, “You mean he has an accomplice?”
Daniel took a breath and said, “Visit the madman again.Maybe he’ll talk now. An accomplice. Yeah.”
In 1987, Egon visited Ulrich again and showed the man the vinyl. “I want to know what it all means,” he told the man. When Ulrich opened it up, Egon clarified, “These lyrics. You said those words to me in 1953. But this… It was only released last year. You said… you had a son yourself. Why did you murder the children?”
Ulrich handed the man the vinyl saying, “I didn’t murder the children. I wanted to save them.”
Egon set the vinyl down on the table and commented, “You said I was going to die. How did you come to learn that I have cancer? The White Devil? Who do you think that is?”
Ulrich laughed, “You’re more deranged than I am.”
Egon shook his head and asked, “Why did you never tell us what your name is? Who you are?”
“Ulrich,” he answered, “Ulrich Nielsen. And I come from the future.” This rang a few bells in his head. He went into Michael Kahnwald’s file and looked at the initial report which recorded the boy saying that he was Ulrich Nielsen’s son.
Tannhaus explained to Claudia, “I am what one would call a fraud. Have you ever heard of the bootstrap paradox? In the bootstrap paradox, an object or information from the future is sent back to the past. That creates a never-ending cycle in which the object no longer has any real origin. It exists without ever being invited. Put simply, this book traveled back in time. It found me before I even wrote it. It’s all a question of origin. Where is the beginning? When is the beginning? Is there a beginning at all? The world is full of such paradoxes. Only most of the time, we choose to look away. Don’t you want to tell me at last why you’re really here?” 
Claudia looked towards the suitcase giving him a clue.
“You want to know how it works,” Tannhaus asked. 
“How did you know what,” Claudia asked.
Tannhaus explained, “She told me you would turn up here one day and that I should explain the device to you. That is you, yourself. Your future self. The paradox is that a short time ago I wouldn’t have been able to explain it to you. But last year, someone else explained it to me. Another… time traveler. I think she knew it. She knew everything would happen again right up to the present moment. She knew that you would show up here for me to tell you, and therefore her, how the device works.”
In 1954, Greta explained to Noah, “I find him creepy. As if he were empty inside now, merely a husk. He was never the brightest child, but you could now believe him to be mindless. He scares me. And without Bernd at home, I don’t know how to deal with the situation. Perhaps the devil himself has possessed him. Please look at him and tell me everything is all right with him.”
Noah’s brow raised as he asked, “And he hasn’t said a word?”
Greta shook her head and walked to the side. She called her son down, “Helge. Come downstairs. Someone wants to talk to you.”
Helge ran and held the man seeing that it was Noah. Noah knelt down to him and said, “Time is always with you. Wherever you go. You carry it inside you. And it carries you. It sees and hears everything that you do and say.” He stood up and told the boy, “Your mother is worried about you. Shall we show her she has no reason to be?”
Helge nodded up at the man remembering that he agreed to follow the man so that he could possibly get to see David again.
Noah pointed out a verse in the Bible and told the boy, “I would like you to read this for me. Will you do that?”
Helge read aloud, “‘You are my protection, my shield. I hope for your word.’” This quote reminded him of the older boy. He had no idea that Noah was lying through his teeth about being able to see David again.
Surprised, Greta stepped towards Noah and whispered, “He speaks!”
Noah smiled and pet Helge’s head, “Give him a little time. I’m sure he’s just choosing his words with great care.” He lifted the small boy’s chin to look up at him, “You can keep it.”
“Why don’t you stay a while,” Greta pleaded with the man.
Noah held her hands and told her that Helge was a miracle. He turned and walked away. He walked back to his church to see that Agnes sat in the pews. He asked the woman, “What do you want? Did Claudia send you? If you think Adam will let you back in, you’re wrong. You picked your side. There’s no salvation for you.”
Agnes walked towards him and said, “I know where the final pages are. I also know how long Adam’s been looking for them. Don’t you think he’d do anything to get them?”
“I don’t believe a word you say,” Noah commented, shaking his head, “She would never have told you where they are.”
Agnes took out the news article and handed it to him, “Claudia has them on her.” She watched as he saw the sketch of Claudia staring back at him, “In return, I want you to tell Adam I want to come back. Before the new cycle begins.”
Noah looked up at her, “You’re sacrificing her?”
Agnes touched the man’s cheek, “You can’t hate your own sister the way you hate her.” She looked down then said, “Consider it a peace offering.”
Agnes walked away with Noah watching after her.
Something bugged Egon about this case. He stared at Ulrich’s picture as if something was missing. Soon he received a guest. A fragile looking old woman sauntered into his office and sat down. She just stared at him for a while taking in how he looked.
Claudia finally spoke after he compared her to her younger self, “You’re too good of a person. But you always have been.” She started to cry, “The world doesn’t deserve you.” When he asked if she knew him, she replied, “I am here because I have to tell you something. I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about,” Egon asked.
Claudia explained, “Everything. You don’t deserve any of this. But sometimes the good ones get hit the hardest.”
“I don’t understand,” He said.
Claudia nodded, “You will one day. And then I want you to know that I’m sorry that things turned out the way they turned out.”
Egon started to become impatient, “Either you tell me this instant what this is all about or I’ll ask you to leave immediately.”
“I’m sorry,” Claudia told him, “I really am.” She turned away and thought about how one simple person could make such a difference in this world that would leave only pain and destruction behind. 
In 1987, Claudia walked through her work. She got news that her father was there and rushed to her office. She placed her bag down and asked, “Why are you here? Why didn’t you call first?” Egon tried to assure her that it wouldn’t take long but she interrupted him, “This is a really bad time. You can’t just show up here. Why don’t you make an appointment with my secretary that suits us both? Next week for example.”
“I have cancer,” Egon blurted out to her. When Claudia turned surprised at him he explained, “Prostate. I didn’t want to upset you. But now the cancer has spread. And I thought it’s best for you to know that.”
“I…” She shook her head, “I don’t know what to say.”
Egon nodded, “It’s okay. I just wanted you to know. I’ll be on my way then. I’m sure you have loads to do here.” He turned to leave, but stopped when Claudia called to him. He froze for a second when Claudia held him close. She hadn’t done that in so long.
In 1954, Claudia turned when Egon kissed her head. She happily exclaimed, “You’re back!” She held her father close but for some reason, something or someone felt missing.
“Hello, my precocious princess,” Egon greeted her with a smile. He looked around and asked, “Where’s Mom?”
Claudia looked down and shrugged not wanting to tell him.
Egon placed the flowers he got his wife on the table and sat next to Claudia. He had a weird sense of deja vu happening, “Can you keep a secret?”
Claudia smirked and nodded at her father.
Egon explained, “I think I saw a witch today.”
Excited, Claudia smiled, “There are no witches.”
“There are,” he exclaimed, “This one was very real.”
His daughter asked him, “How did she look?”
“Long white hair,” Egon started to describe, “Like in books.”
Claudia giggled and asked, “And what did she say?”
Egon shook his head, “That she was sorry.”
“That doesn’t sound like a witch,” Claudia explained. 
Egon laughed and asked, “How’d you know? You’ve never seen one.”
Claudia blushed then looked at the flowers on the table, “Are those for Mom?”
Egon looked at them and nodded, “Yeah.”
“You’re too good a person, Dad,” Claudia told him, “The world doesn’t deserve you.” He sat back with his brow furrowed prompting Claudia to ask, “Is everything okay?”
Egon nodded, “Yeah.” He smiled, “Just deja vu.”
In 1987, the same man explained, “I used to think the worst thing that could happen to a person in life is to lose your own child. But we can’t do anything about that. No matter how hard we try to hold on to them, they still leave, sooner or later. Parents… Children… They only share a common path for a part of their lives. In the end, they are miles away from one another. Last winter, a boy came to Winden. A stranger. He said something peculiar to me at the time. It makes no sense, but…” Egon sighed, “Maybe my cancer is already driving me crazy.” He took out the picture of Michael and showed it to Ulrich, “Do you know this boy?”
Ulrich looked at the picture of Mikkel staring straight at him. He looked up at Egon and asked, “he’s here?” Egon nodded causing Ulrich to yell, “Where is he?! You knew he was here? You knew the whole time? Where is he?” He grabbed onto the other man’s throat and begged, “Where is he?”
Egon started to scream, scaring the other patients. Nurses soon pulled Ulrich away from the man and Egon struggled to catch his fleeting breath once more.
The bell in Tannhaus’ shop rang causing the man in 1954 to explain, “I’m closed for the day.” He was bent over his desk working on the time machine based on the plans the woman had given to him. He turned around to see her and he stood, “It’s you! I… It’s not ready yet.”
She smiled, “It will take another 33 years before it’s ready.”
Tannhaus explained, “This thing… The blueprint… I don’t really understand what it is.”
Claudia walked to him and handed him his book, “All our lives we wonder what our journey will be. This is yours. Keep it. I don’t need it anymore.”
The man shook his head and asked, “Why are you giving it to me?”
“I’ll be dead soon,” Claudia explained, “You will understand one day. Then we will meet again.”
Tannhaus nodded and asked, “Before you die?”
Claudia shook her head, “No after that.”
“How… How can that be possible?”
Claudia explained, “Time is just an illusion. Then you’ll have to explain the device to me.”
Tannhaus called after her, “But I don’t know what it’s for. Why don’t you tell me what it’s for?”
She smiled, “Because you told me someone else explained it to you. Things take their courses as they always have.”
Tannhaus shook his head, “No, I didn’t tell you anything. No one explained anything to me.”
“Not now,” she explained, “but in the future. All this will come to an end soon. But until then everything must remain as it always has been.”
“Wait, please,” the man begged her and walked behind her. But she left him there to do his work.
Young Helge prayed at night with the penny clasped in his hand. Egon stared at the Kreator vinyl slowly realizing his mistake all those years ago. Ulrich stared at the picture of his son. Young Egon slowly descended down the stairs to catch his wife with Agnes. Claudia stood in the caves and started up her machine for the first time.
The older Claudia walked to the cabin when Noah’s voice rang through the trees, “You thought you could trust her. She betrayed you. She didn’t even bat an eye.” He cocked his rifle and pointed it at her, “You took everything from me. You’re going to die. And everything you stand for will die with you.”
Claudia shook her head, “I know that I’m going to die. But am I going to lose this match? Or is here, our meeting, you and your gun, only part of a game you still don’t know how to play?”
“You think you can manipulate me with your words,” Noah told her, “I am no longer one of your pawns.”
She replied, “But you’re still one of Adam’s. The paradise he’s promising you is nothing but a lie. He’s selling you the illusion of freedom. Ask yourself if you are really free. If you were really free, you’d have a choice. Do you have a choice?”
Noah lowered his gun for a second, but shot her anyway.
Agnes looked over to her son to make sure he was still asleep. She took out the news article that explained Claudia’s death and where it happened. She knew that it must have happened now because it was still with her.
Noah searched the body and found the last pages. He slowly looked through them and realized that Adam had been lying to him for all of these years about what had happened to Charlotte. He felt as though he was going to vomit.
The sun slowly arose the next day in 2020. Claudia walked to her old house and started to spy as Adam explained to his followers, “No matter how much we want to fight it, we are all connected through our blood.” Claudia watched as Annalise helped Regina through her house to the back patio. When Claudia saw Regina remove her scarf to show that she was bald, she started to cry. Adam continued to explain, “We can be alienated from our families, and not understand their actions. Still, in the end, we would do anything for them. A common thread that connects all of our lives with each other.”
The man turned to reveal the board behind him with the five families on it. In the four corners were the Kahnwalds, The Dopplers, The Tiedemann’s, and the Nielsens. There in the middle was the Dahlheim’s family photo. He asked Noah, “Did she have the pages on her?” Noah took a deep breath and lied to the man. Adam nodded and told Noah, “She got what she deserved.” He turned back to the board and said, “In the end, we all get what we deserve.”
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nikkzwrites · 4 years
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(They Long to Be) Close to You | Dark Fix-It Fic Series Part 2 | Chapter 1
A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah. This is part two of the series! You can start the full series here!
CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence.
Word Count:  5.7k
[Next Chapter]
If we knew how things would end where our journey would take us would we still make the same decisions? Or would we choose a different path? Could we escape our fate? Or would what is deep within us lead us to the same end, like an invisible hand? Does it matter which path we choose? If we end up facing ourselves again and again?
A strange man with a cleft lip walked into Sic Mundus’ office followed by a girl already known to us, yet somehow very different from how we saw her last. They stared up at the painting of ‘The Fallen of the Damned’. His lantern squeaking as it swayed with each step they took. They both looked around the office as if searching for something. When the man found the plan for the time machine. He carefully folded it into his pocket. Annalise, walked over seeing herself laying dead on one of the couches. The body looked so painstakingly cared for. It was as if she was supposed to be preserved for eternity. She reached over in a mystified horror and moved the hair from her face and plucked a petal of one of the roses stuck within the wound at her waist. The breathing girl stared at the dead girl in a lovely white dress with red roses sticking out of her. She crumpled the petal in her hand and turned to the man nodding. Her face dripping with tears. Two more people then emerged from the shadows into the room. A young boy and an old man who looked exactly like the man walked in with lanterns. They all looked at each other before setting the room ablaze. After setting the room on fire, they all surrounded the girl to give her a gentle embrace. Annalise watched as her soft innocent dead mirrored self in Adam’s world became engulfed into the hellish flickers.
That morning, Annalise ran down the steps of the Nielsen home. She was going to be late to being early if she didn’t hurry. That nightmare from last night certainly didn't help her. Who was that boy and why did Martha seem different? She shook her head. She really wanted to make it to school so that she could talk to her crush privately without the rest of the group there. It wasn’t like everyone, well besides maybe him, didn’t already know that she had an interest in the boy, but she wanted to be able to have an excuse to be alone with him. Right as she reached the bottom step, Ulrich scooped her up into his arms and swung her around.
“Where are you going in such a hurry,” Ulrich laughed, setting the girl back down. He smiled at the young girl that had grown to be like a daughter to him and Hannah. It was nice to sometimes pretend she was actually Martha and that his kids didn’t fully hate him. But, she was just Annalise, his children’s best friend. So at least she was somewhat of a connection and a reason to see them.
Annalise smiled and laughed as he swung her around. After having lost her own father, it was nice to have a surrogate one, even if he was the estranged father of your best friends. She smiled up at the man as he put her down, “To school. I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now.”
Ulrich looked down at his watch, “No. No, you won’t. School doesn’t start for nearly another hour.” He walked with her through the house.
Annalise nodded and shrugged, “Yeah, well… If I walk, that only makes me twenty minutes early and I…”
Ulrich smiled a knowing smile, “You wanted to meet someone, didn’t you?” He was never early like that back in the day unless he was going to meet Katharina and Annalise had that same lovestruck look on her face. Her hair and outfit basically screamed for someone to take notice of her.
“I did not,” Annalise blushed and hit his shoulder, “I just had some projects I wanted to prepare for so I wanted to go in early.”
Ulrich laughed and grabbed his keys, “So nothing to do with that rich boy you’ve been staring at?”
“His name’s Bartosz,” Annalise defended forgetting she was supposed to be in denial for a second then turned, “But no! It is not because of him. I have to drop off a few papers and start practicing my speeches.” She followed him to his car, “I will see you later.” She started to walk down the driveway.
Ulrich shook his head, “Jump in, I’ll drive you.” The man started to tease her once again, “We don’t have to continue talking about Bartosz if you don’t want to.”
Annalise playfully sneered at him then got into the car with him. She really couldn’t say no. She knew this was possibly the best route to take if she wanted to catch up. While they drove, she looked out into the woods.
Bartosz walked to school. He wanted to get there early to prepare for his speech for his class today. He was still a bit nervous about it. His paper was actually on the same type of work his father ran so why wouldn’t he have been nervous to present it. He stared down at his work as he walked until a car slowed next to him. 
Annalise saw Bartosz and told Ulrich to stop. She gave the man a quick hug and told him that she would see him when he got home. Then she hopped out the vehicle. “Hey,” she greeted him with a wild smile. The girl was very excited that she caught up to him and didn’t actually pass him up.
“Hey,” Bartosz greeted. Seeing that it was just Anna, he went back down to his notecards.
Annalise pouted, “Bartosz.” She stood in front of him trying to get the boy’s attention. She laughed, “I guess I have to forgive you. I am a foreigner so my German can still be bad.”
Bartosz blushed. He bit his lip for a second. “Yeah.” he quickly looked up after realizing what he was agreeing with, “You’re German isn’t bad.” He shook his head trying to explain himself to the girl next to him.
Annalise smiled and laughed, “Oh now you’re going to pay attention to me? I have to insult myself for you to look up?”
Bartosz turned his face away, “It’s not like that, Anna.” He tried to keep his eyes from making eye contact with her or even looking at her outfit. His heart fluttered as the girl started to play with his scarf. Did she really have to wear something so enticing to school, he thought to himself, it was as if Anna was begging for him to make a move. He felt completely bewitched by her and her antics. He just wished he had the courage just to grab her and hold her in his arms. He let out a huff trying to feign annoyance. 
“Is it not,” Annalise teased and leaned closer towards him. After getting a few centimeters from his face, she backed away giggling. She threw part of his scarf over his shoulder so that it was actually being used as a scarf. She wished that she knew how he felt so that way she could use it and the pompous jacket he always wore to pull him down and kiss him. Instead, though, they just walked to school while the girl teased him and tried to get his attention.
It wasn’t long after they were in school and put their things away in their lockers that their friends had arrived. By that point, Annalise had tossed on her headphones and was listening to music knowing that she was probably not going to be talked too much.
Martha looked at her foreign friend. She tapped her shoulder and waited for her friend to acknowledge her. “You didn’t walk with me this morning,” she complained, “where were you?” Normally they always went to school together, but lately, her best friend had been acting really weird. 
Annalise shrugged, “I just walked to school with Bartosz. Right?” She lied. The girl really didn’t want to tell the truth that Ulrich had offered to drop her off that morning. She thought that he must really have missed his kids because he was pouring all of his paternal instincts into her. She really didn’t want to tell her friends about that though because she thought it would just bring up what they both had been suppressing for a long time. Annalise really didn’t want to deal with that this morning. So she looked towards her friend pleadingly asking for his help in the deception.
Bartosz nodded, “Yeah. Sorry about that.” He gave Martha a small chuckle and shrug before going back to his presentation cards.
Magnus laughed. He greeted Bartosz with their handshake and leaned over to tease so that only Bartosz could hear, “You two should just fuck already.” He pulled away to see his friend fumble his cards nearly dropping them to the ground while his face was completely red.
Martha looked at the boy and asked, “Have you seen Kilian?” Her heart slightly broke seeing Annalise so sweet to Bartosz. She loved being the closest person to Annalise. Yet since Bartosz got back from his leave of absence after his mother’s death, the girl’s attention was back on that boy. She couldn’t blame her too much. She did start dating Killian pretty recently too.
Bartosz shook his head, “Nope.” He focused back on his cards that were now terribly out of order because of Magnus’s comment. Annalise must have noticed as well because she started to help rearrange them back with him.
“Why all the effort,” Magnus turned to continue his conversation with Martha, “We all die in the end.”
Martha rolled her eyes, “Are you sure you’re not adopted?”
“Are you sure you don’t have a stick up your ass that needs surgical removal,” Magnus countered as the group walked up the stairs. 
Kilian walked down the other flight of stairs and greeted Martha, “Hey Martha.”
“Kilian,” Martha greeted. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss while Magnus and Annalise started to text. She opened one eye slightly to peer at the other girl to see if she was going to have a reaction.
Awkwardly, Bartosz asked, “Is there any news about Erik?” He knew he still had lingering feelings for the girl making out with the boy in the hallway. He looked towards Annalise who was still texting and listening to music making her too busy to notice. He felt glad. He knew those feelings for Martha were all for not and he would hate to have Annalise give up just over the remnants of a soul mate who wasn’t supposed to be.
Kilian pulled away from his girlfriend and held her hand, “No.”
The group all started to walk again leaving Bartosz and Annalise in the back. Magnus spoke up, “It’s all pretty creepy.”
“Good morning,” Katharina’s rang through the halls, “We request all grades to gather in the gym for first-period assembly.”
The group stopped and huddled together. Magnus looked towards Kilian, “It’ll be about your brother.” He tried to warn his sister’s boyfriend just in case it was going to be a sore subject for him so that Kilian could just skip it if the boy wanted to.
“It’s been two weeks already,” Killian explained, “He’s never been away this long. He’d always send me a message whenever he couldn’t stand it at home anymore.” He sighed, “But this time, nothing.”
Everyone else awkwardly shifted. Martha leaned a bit towards Annalise while she and Bartosz leaned towards each other. Magnus shifted towards Bartosz but commented, “Let’s go. Otherwise, Mom will be angry.” He turned to leave with Killian and Martha. Annalise started to leave, but noticed that Bartosz was lagging behind again, so she waited for him in the hall. Bartosz turned to stare at Erik’s missing poster and silently wondered what happened to him.
“It’s all going to happen again,”  Helge whispered to himself, “It will happen again.” 
Peter looked on at his father mumbling to himself. When he heard the door open and close to reveal his wife, he leaned towards her and whispered, “It’s all he’s been saying since this morning.” He turned to Charlotte and asked, “How’d it go at the doctor’s?”
Charlotte shook her head, “Fine. Just a check up.” She looked to her concerned husband and said, “I have to go. I’m running late. I just forgot something.” She walked back out of the house.
Jonas jogged out from the cave that this new Martha had dropped him in. He trekked his way home to find it was not as it seemed. Instead, what he found was that the rest of the Nielsen’s lived there. He jogged up to his room to a very different sight. He looked at the taped pictures on the wall. One with Martha, Bartosz, and a boy Killian from his school. The other of Annalise and her making cute poses in different polaroids, one of which was them kissing each others’ cheeks. He shook his head in confusion. This was entirely strange. How could a place so similar be so different?
Ulrich gave a meeting about Erik’s disappearance to the police station. He made a face as he spoke. He was reminded of Mads as he tried his best to try to find any leads he could get his team to work.
Hannah was vacuuming in the house as Ulrich and Annalise were at work and school. She walked to Ulrich’s dirty hoodie from that morning and went to put it in the laundry. When she lifted it up, a blonde hair caught her eye. She lifted it up with her brow furrowed. The pregnant woman lifted up his jacket and sniffed it. She placed it down deciding what she needed to do was to investigate Annalise and Katharina about this matter.
“Well a black hole forms when a central region collapses in upon itself,” Bartosz anxiously explained to the class, “and it contains neutrons. Well, more like neutron matter. But not enough of it. So when the light of a star three times the mass of the sun goes out…then it explodes… No sorry. It implodes. And that is a black hole.”
Martha sat in class doodling without paying attention. She only looked up when a strange blond boy walked into her classroom. He was dirty, sweaty, and had a noose scarring around his neck. 
“Can I help you,” The teacher asked the boy. When he didn’t respond he tried again, “Hello? Are you new?”
Jonas turned and told the teacher, “I’m Jonas.” The shock that he was in an entirely new world where no one knew him still lingered. His mind was not entirely clear enough to understand that in this realm, he did not exist.
The teacher reached for his planner, “Are you sure this is your class? I wasn’t notified of any new students. A signature is missing.”
Martha turned to Killian. Something ate at her about this boy. There was this feeling. As if she knew him from somewhere. She just couldn’t place where. There was something missing about him. Martha couldn’t figure any of it out.
Jonas just walked to the back of the class and sat down. Everything about this was strange. He could recognize everyone, but yet everything was so different… Almost opposite of how he remembered things. 
With that, Bartosz continued his speech as the new strange boy stared at Martha, “So then we have a black hole. And it has a huge gravitational pull. Everything flying around the hole is drawn to it and somehow dragged inside.”
Suddenly, the door opened again. This time it revealed Annalise. Jonas’s breath got taken away. There she was, yet she seemed so different. Her outfit was… more outgoing… showy. Her lips looked as if they were gnawed at. Her hair was shorter and wilder. He watched as her eyes first met Bartosz’s causing them both to blush. Jonas’s heart started to sink. She bit her lip before the teacher interrupted their moment, “Ms. Dahlheim. To your seat please.” Annalise nodded and went to walk to her seat.
The world stopped when she spotted the boy. Her heart froze in place. Her breath refused to exhale or inhale. She was there. Locked in fear. There he was, in the flesh. Annalise turned back to the teacher, “Sorry. I’ve…” Her body wretched seeing him. The small breakfast she had with Martha right before going into class burned coming back into her throat. Her hands rushed to her mouth as she ran back outside. 
Jonas stared down at his bloody hands. His heart raced. He shook his head as the memories of what happened just basically an hour ago, for him, rushed through him. He shook as he listened to Bartosz who had turned towards the teacher. The man’s voice replied, “After your presentation Mr Tiedemann.”
Bartosz started to rush through his talk as Martha turned to look at the boy who made Annalise turn and run like that, “Other stars, planets, and even light. The gravitational force is so strong that even light is pulled into it. Nothing can escape it’s inside. Basically no one knows what’s behind it/ Maybe nothing. Or maybe a new world. A world in which nothing is as it is in ours.” Jonas started to panic as he noticed Martha’s and Annalise’s reactions to him.
“All I’m asking is to review your employees’ shift schedules,” Charlotte told Aleksander, “Erik was last seen on the forest road. The schedules will allow us to check employee vehicles with the tire treads we found.
Aleksander asked her, “Do you have a court order?”
Charlotte raised her brow, yet shook her head, “This is a request. Not an order.”
Aleksander sighed and handed her his card, “I’ll have someone search them out.” He also made a note to himself to keep him reminded.
“How are you,” the woman asked.
Aleksander sighed and placed down his pen, “Holding up.”
“Okay then,” Charlotte said standing up. She then turned and commented, “I was wondering… Do you think Erik could have made his way onto the grounds? The caves are partly located under the nuclear power plant.”
Aleksander shook his head, “That’s impossible. The access point was sealed up years ago. No one can get in that way.”
Charlotte nodded and walked out of the man’s office as Aleksander turned to look at the pictures of his dead wife on his desk.
“A quick reminder that all afternoon activities after four o’clock are canceled due to the parents’ meeting,” Katharina’s voice echoed through the school from the intercom system. Hannah stood in the hallway listening to the woman before going to talk to her. Annalise had texted her about her throwing up and Hannah was actually worried now. Katharina’s voice continued, “Except theater, which will go on as planned, but vacate the auditorium an hour earlier. The school newspaper will meet in the youth cafe today under the supervision of Mr. Hopf.”
Hannah walked to Katharina’s office just as the blonde was walking out, “Katharina.”
Katharina held her folders in front of herself and asked defensively, “What are you doing here?”
“Annalise texted me. She’s sick,” She said, taking out her phone to show her that the teenager did text her about vomiting. When Katharina seemed to accept this answer, Hannah saw her opening to also tell her, “I also wanted to see you.”
Katharina nodded. Of course Hannah would have some alternative motive, the woman thought. Aloud, Katharina said, “Uh-huh.”
Hannah shrugged and told her, “I don’t know. I know you and Ulrich… Ulrich and the kids… I know they’re a part of him. And I want you to know I won’t stand in the way of that.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Katharina said snidely. She walked away upset trying to forget this happened.
Hannah asked Katharina, causing the woman to stop, “Did Ulrich stop at your place this morning? He wanted to bring something by.”
Katharina shook her head, “Bring by what? Couldn’t he have had Annalise bring it?”
“I don’t know,” Hannah admitted, shaking her head and looking down towards the ground, “Something for school. For the kids.”
Katharina started to smile at the irony of the situation. She turned back fully to face the woman, “No.” She was very pleased now. This was all that she needed to feel better. The woman that took her husband away as her own, was now being cheated on by that same man. It was so cathartic. 
Hannah swallowed and nodded. She tried to cover everything up by saying, “Then maybe he forgot. Can you help me find my daughter please?”
The bell rang signalling to everyone that it was time to leave for their next class. Bartosz had already rushed off to try to find which bathroom Annalise had ran off to while she was sick. The rest of the class just shuffled trying to get ready to head out. Martha was still in a daze. She looked down at her phone and texted the other girl asking if she was alright and asking where she was. The teacher told the class, “Please don’t forget to turn in your presentations by next week. No exceptions!”
Jonas slowly approached Martha. He stared at her trying to figure out the words. Martha looked up at the boy confused. She shook her head at him and asked annoyed, “Something up?”
“You didn’t tell me why I’m here,” Jonas’s brow furrowed as he talked to her.
Martha shook her head, “Do we know each other?” She waited and turned to him, “Do you know Anna? Or rather should she know you?”
Jonas swallowed and said aloud without thinking, “You have no idea who I am.”
Martha stared at him. The space around them froze. She couldn’t quite understand anything that was going on, but there was something pulling her towards him. A feeling. A sense of knowing. Her phone beeped signalling a text from Annalise had just came through. Both of their eyes looked down at her phone. As she looked down to read it, Killian interrupted.
“You coming,” He asked the girl. He glared over towards Jonas’s direction. 
Martha looked towards him and grabbed her raincoat. She walked towards him leaving her play behind. She followed Killian but kept looking back at Jonas.
Jonas stared at the book. He was just about to pick it up when he remembered Annalise and Martha’s blood still was evident on his hands. He rubbed them off on his pants and panicked.
“Jonas, right,” The teacher asked, walking up to the blond boy, “Is everything okay?”
Jonas walked over to the man with a realization and asked, “What day is today?”
The man shook his head, “November 4th.”
Jonas licked his lips in thought and asked, “What year?”
“2019,” The man replied. He looked at the strange boy, “I don’t understand…”
Jonas interrupted his comments by brushing past him and storming into the hallway. He was back on the day it all started, yet everything was so different. He walked down the steps and looked around the cleared out halls for something familiar to him. Anything.
Hannah, having found Annalise, walked ahead of the girl. She was ready to get out of there. She felt as if everyone was staring, judging her. She readjusted her purse as she walked. Her eyes turned to see the lone boy in the hall.
Annalise slowed down seeing the boy in the hall as well. Her heart raced again. She started to hyperventilate. Her head started to spin. She leaned against the lockers trying to steady herself. Her eyes closed trying to stop the whirling. All that flashed through her mind was that dream. The boy leaning over her sobbing trying to have her stay alive as her midsection bled all over them. Her blood painted over her hands and all over his face and hands. It's almost as if some of it was still left on his face.
“Are you sure everything is in working order,” Aleksander asked. He walked around the accelerator that the woman he was speaking to had talked him into installing. She had told him that even if the power plant needed to shut down, the particle accelerator and her research would still keep the town alive. His hands traced one of the machinery components.
Mary turned to him. She smiled gently. It lit up the room in a dusk like state. Her gentle voice danced through the air as she spoke, “Don’t you trust me?” She laughed and said, “I’ve been working with you for so long and now you want to be afraid? You silly man.” Mary shook her head. Her sunset-like smile parted to let out a giggle, “It’s working perfectly, Mr. Tiedemann. Now, is this really all you wanted to discuss with me?” Her dementor slowly changed to one of sly and knowingness. Everything was going right as planned. Soon, he would leave her alone once more and she would be able to go with Noah to grab who they needed to continue the cycle once more.
“Mom,” Jonas called to Hannah who was just trying to leave. His jaw shivered as he tried to hold in his tears.
Hannah turned to the boy, “Pardon?” She looked towards Annalise who seemed to be having a moment herself. She looked back at Jonas and noticed a tear rolling down his face, “Are you okay?” She walked a bit closer to him. Something about this boy made her want to help. He reminded him of someone, but she couldn’t place who or from where. “Can I help you,” She asked. Jonas shook his head and watched as Hannah turned to leave. She looked to Annalise and back at him, “May you tell her that I’ll be waiting outside for her? I need to get some fresh air.”
Jonas nodded and turned to see Annalise shaking against a locker. From what he could hear, the girl was mumbling to herself. He slowly walked over to her. He placed a hand against her cheek. He whispered to her, “Lise?” When she didn’t reply, he placed his lips against hers. She tasted like strawberry chapstick. That was new. He held her face in his quivering hands.
The taste of iron brought Annalise back out of her thoughts. She blinked. The girl shoved the blond away. “What the hell,” She yelled as tears ran down her face, “Who the fuck even are you?” She could just punch him yet she couldn’t. There was something stopping her. Something called to her to rush back to him and kiss him again, but the large space between them held them separated. It was a comfort to her, as if it knew that they needed Space’s large interruption. Yet, it angered her. It felt as if it was keeping them from their destiny, from exactly where she needed to be. Bewildered tears fell from her quizzical eyes.
“I’m Jonas,” He whispered to her. He tried to close the gap between them, but his feet refused to move with the rest of his body for a second. He pushed through it and rushed to her. He held onto her shoulders. Tears ran down his face, “Lise, please. I know you recognize me. Please tell me why I’m here.” His voice a raspy whisper as he quoted to her, “Just like me, they long to be close to you.” He rested his forehead on her shoulder as he cried, “You have to remember. Please tell me you love me and this is all some cruel joke. Please. I love you. Please just...” One of his hands brushed where her bullet wound once was.
“Love you,” She asked, “Love me?” She shook her head and told the boy, “I don’t even know you.” She ripped herself away from him and walked out of the school. Annalise, as she started to get away, started to run out the doors. She panted once out the doors and looked up at Hannah.
Upon hearing the doors burst open, Hannah stood up. Seeing Annalise’s face, she rushed to the teenager. “Anna,” She wrapped her arms around the girl, “Are you alright?” She kissed the girl’s forehead, “Come on. Let’s get out of here and grab some soda. Just don’t tell Ulrich I did this, okay?”
Annalise slowly nodded and walked, still embraced by the pregnant woman. She turned to look at the boy staring at her. She turned to Hannah and asked, “What were you going to name your little son again?”
“Jonas,” She smiled and shook her head, “Why? Are you just trying to ground yourself with things you already know?” Hannah pet the teenager’s head lovingly. She adored having this girl around. Annalise was the one person in town that Hannah felt was truly on her side and understood her.
Annalise nodded as they put more space between her and the other world’s Jonas, “Yeah. You can say that.” Part of her, though relieved, felt sad. Her eyes squinted. There was something he said that brought her to an unfamiliar feeling. She shook her head, why… those were lyrics… why did she know that?
Charlotte walked back into the police station. She walked with Ulrich into the file room. They walked into one of the more private parts of the room to talk. He slowly approached her with a devilish smile. Knowing that look on his face, Charlotte whispered to him, “We have to stop this.”
Ulrich slowly closed the gap between them and told her, “That’s not what you were saying this morning.” He slowly pressed his lips against hers. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him.
“Ulrich,” Charlotte whispered as she pulled away from him, “Not here.”
Woller burst into the room looking for his coworkers. He watched as Ulrich jumped away from Charlotte. He shook his head, “Oh… I’m sorry.”
“What is it,” Ulrich asked as Woller tried to close the door and leave.
The man opened the door once more and explained, “Oh… Uh… The tire treads. Forty-seven cars and two trucks… In Winden alone there are 21,000 registered vehicles.”
Ulrich nodded, “Yes. What do you want me to do with that?”
“I…” Woller stuttered, “No idea…”
Charlotte nodded, “I got the power plant shift schedules. We can run a check.” She walked away from Woller. As she walked out, she called to the man who had interrupted her and her boss asking for him to follow her.
Annalise kicked a few rocks outside in the garden. Hannah started to have some cramping so Annalise had helped her into a bath. The girl also figured it would be best to go outside for some air. She stared at her phone waiting for a response from Ulrich. Annalise shook her head and sighed. She should have known. She shoved her phone into her pocket again and went to sit on the deck he had made for Hannah and him to have for when the new baby was going to arrive. Getting quickly bored, Annalise took out her phone again as she lowered herself to lay down against the wood. She tried to text Martha. She completely had forgotten the other girl had rehearsal today and that it wasn’t cancelled for the parents meeting later that night.
“From then on,” Martha said in her monologue on the stage, “I knew that nothing changes.” Jonas watched as the girl wrapped red yarn around her arm as she spoke, “That all things remain. The spinning wheel turns. Round and round, in a circle.”
Annalise heard a strange noise near her. She sat up and looked towards the sound. There in the grass not too far from where the deck stopped was Martha, yet she was so different. The girl had much shorter hair, as if chopped in a haste. There was a scar beneath her eye. Seeing this, Annalise hurried up onto her feet and ran to the other girl. She grabbed the girl’s face and studied it, “Martha! What happened?” Annalise panted in fear. Her eyes looked deeply into the other girl’s eyes.
“One fate tied to the next,” Martha continued with her practice of the play across town, “A thread, red like blood, that connects all our deeds. One that cannot unravel the knots. But they can be severed.” She finally took notice of the boy from earlier sitting in on her practice. She tried to put him out of her mind for the moment and press on, “He severed ours with the sharpest blade. And yet…”
The short haired Martha intertwined her fingers with the other girl’s hair. Her face full of sorrow and just yearning. Once her hand was fully behind Annalise’s head and tangled within her hair, Martha pulled the girl’s lips against hers. She wrapped her other arm around Annalise’s waist to keep Annalise from pushing her away too quickly.
“Something remains behind that cannot be severed. An invisible bond.”
Annalise froze at first, but slowly started to melt into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around Martha’s neck and pulled herself closer. The girl deepened her kiss with the other whom she thought was her best friend. This wasn’t exactly unexpected. There was always some sort of chemistry there between them. This only confirmed her thoughts and feelings on knowing what was going on.
“On many a night, he tugs at it,” Martha continued, “And then I wake with a start knowing that nothing ceases to be. All that remains…”
The two girls slowly pulled apart. Annalise gasped for air. The short haired Martha started to huff as they pressed their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a while with their eyes closed. Their hearts beating in sync with each other’s. There was no space between them. Nothing could pull them apart from that moment. Martha looked into the other girl’s eyes. She pulled her hands away to start up the clockwork sphere, “Please come with me.”
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nikkzwrites · 4 years
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Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 12
A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah.
CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence, Suicide Mentions, Cutting, Violence.
Word Count:  6.9k
[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]
“We have managed to stabilize the God Particle and the resulting mass,” Claudia’s recorded voice echoed through the empty power plant, “In a stable state, it seems to create a kind of portal which allows for time travel. If the matter is supplied with sufficient voltage, it can be kept in a stable state in the long term. Sending objects through the stabilized matter has already proven possible.” Jonas stared at the swirling dark mass before him as the recording continued, “A generator has to supply sufficient AC current for that. Even after lengthy observation, we’re not sure what the energy source of the unstable matter is. Measurements indicate there is no form of energy loss.” Jonas looked down at his sheet as he continued to work on the machines trying to make a portal for him to go back home. “It appears to be a type of self sustaining recursive system.” Jonas stood back and threw the switch. Frustratingly, the system still didn’t work as the prerecorded Claudia droned on, “The matter’s radiation levels exceed control values. Still no sign of decay has been observed. This is consistent with the laws of conservation of energy, yet contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. Moreover the matter seems to exist independent of external temperature, in solid, liquid, and gaseous states at once. And the molecules seem to be in a constant cycle.” Jonas tried once more. Only this time the machine actually powered up. The ball formed into a perfect sphere causing Jonas to start awestruck at the dropping sphere only for the power to stop. He turned around annoyed trying to find the source of the problem. There, the generator lacked the proper oil to continue.
The sun rose on the 22nd of June 1987. It was five days until the apocalypse. Mikkel shot up in his new bed. There on his wall was a picture of the Goonies. He squeezed his eyes closed and slowly opened them again to study the ‘Captain Future’ and ‘Nuclear Navigators’ comics scattered across his floor. He slowly pulled himself out of bed and shook his head. He could almost feel like Annalise was there. Like a phantom of her fleeting across his imagination. He slowly made his way downstairs where Ines was working on making a sandwich for him. 
“Hey, sleepyhead. We’re running a bit late today,” Ines commented. She packed his lunch into his bag. When she saw Mikkel just staring at her, she sighed and said, “Come on, everything will be fine. Just one more week and it’s summer vacation.”
Part of him wondered if this was what it was like for Jonas on his first day back to school. He sighed and recounted to Ines, “It’s my mother’s birthday today.” He longed to be there. He knew in his heart that had he been in his time, Magnus and Martha would be rushing around downstairs decorating as Ulrich swooped back into the house with the last of the needed icing for the Black Forest gâteau Annalise was making. His heart yearned to be on the counter kicking his legs as he stole some of the cherries that were going to decorate the top of the cake. As punishment, Annalise would place a bit of Ganache on the tip of his nose while licking the rest off her finger with a smile that lit up his dreams. Ulrich would then place a bit of the left over batter across her cheek using one of the spatulas that she had used to stir it and wink at his son as if he knew how much Mikkel loved her.
Ines slowly put down her keys and cupped the boy’s face, “You know what we said about that.” She tried to reason with Mikkel, “The past is the past…” She brushed his hair away from his face.
Mikkel nodded, “The now is now.” 
Ines caressed him before asking, “Shall we?” At Mikkel’s shrug, she stood up and told him, “Come on.” She led him outside so that he could go to school without any more talk or thoughts of his past life.
Claudia called through her house, “Regina! You’re going to be late!” She turned to Egon and told him, “The French delegation is visiting the plant. I just can’t do it.”
Egon shook his head and explained, “No problem. I don’t have anything else to do.”
Claudia stormed to try and find her daughter, “Regina!”
“I can really do this more often,” Egon told his daughter. When Claudia walked back Gretchen followed her. Something in the back of the man’s head tingled with familiarity. “Where did you find this little one,” he asked Regina. He scooped the dog up into his arms as Claudia stared at him in panic. “Looks like Gretchen,” he commented.
Claudia shook her head quickly lying, “Nonsense.” She took the dog from the confused man and called for her daughter once more, “Regina! Where are you?”
“Listen,” Egon confessed wavering, “I actually wanted to talk to you. There’s something I have to tell you.”
Regina, who was finally ready to go from straightening her hair, walked out right at that moment, “Hi, Grandpa. Can we go?” She was in a rush to go and she walked around with her head held high and a newer self confidence that could only be led back to her meeting the boy Aleksander.
“No need to say bye.” Claudia yelled, “No problem!” After hearing the door slam, she turned back to her father and asked, “You wanted to tell me something?”
Egon bit his lip and shook his head. He, then, nodded and told her, “Never mind. Alright. I will see you later.” He walked out following his granddaughter. 
At the police station in 2020, Charlotte stared at the picture of Noah and Sic Mundus. She turned it over to confirm that on the back it indeed still read, ‘8. January 1921. Sic Mundus Creatus Est.’ She looked up and rolled to her search engine on her work computer and typed in ‘Sic Mundus Creatus Est.’ When she searched it she came across the meaning, ‘Thus the world was created.’
Clausen walked into Charlotte’s office and informed her, “The interview with Mrs. Tiedemann. Already forgotten?”
Charlotte shook her head, “No. I thought you might do it alone after all.”
“Why,” Clausen raised his brow, “Do you have something better to do?”
Charlotte’s hands raised defensively, “No. I just wondered why we’re starting with Mrs. Tiedemann. She has no link to any of the missing people.”
Clausen sighed, “Everyone disappeared near the caves and the nuclear power plant grounds.” He walked in as he explained, “Your colleague Ulrich Nielsen’s brother disappeared in that area in 1986 as well. And then… There’s also the door in the caves leading right to the nuclear power plant.” He leaned over the desk and asked her, “How long have Aleksander Tiedemann and his wife been married?”
Charlotte furrowed her brow then shook her head looking at him, “I don’t exactly know. Regina was… in her mid twenties. Why?”
“Don’t you find it unusual,” He asked. 
Charlotte asked for clarification, “What?”
“That Aleksander Tiedemann took his wife’s name,” Clausen spoke. 
Charlotte shook her head, “No.”
“Shall we go,” He asked her again.
Charlotte, taking the hint, stood up and started to walk out. When Clausen didn’t make an immediate move she called to him and asked, “Are you coming?”
“Yes,” he called to her as he walked away still curious about what his colleague was trying to hide from him.
Elizabeth stared at her book that she got from her great grandfather’s old shop. She was completely absorbed in it that she nearly didn’t notice her sister standing up to go get the door. She was a bit confused because their parents weren’t supposed to be home yet.
Hearing the doorbell, Franziska stood up and walked to the door. She opened the door to reveal Magnus. Annoyed, she asked him, “Hey, where have you been?” He paced inside with the girl hot on his trail, “Why didn’t you call me back? I was trying to reach you the whole time.”
Magnus turned to her and scowled, “Last year, I know where you got the money.” He shook his head and quoted Bernadette, “ ‘Blow job 40 euros, anal 85. Kinky stuff costs extra?’ Who did you do it with, huh? Who did you blow in this damn shithole?” Franziska’s face contorted in confusion and hurt as Magnus continued, “Nothing has changed. Everyone lies. Everyone cheats.”
Franziska shook her head. Her face reddening from trying to hold back tears, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I followed you,” confessed Magnus, “I know who you get your money from.”
Franziska took a large breath and angrily asked, “So your first thought is that I prostitute myself?”
Sneering, Magnus replied, “What else?”
Franziska yelled at him, “I don’t sell my tits or ass! I sell hormone therapy prescriptions, you idiot! My father used to use them to pay for his visits. He stopped going and now I’m the new supplier.”
Magnus stared at her and shook his head, “Why do you do it?”
“I help her, she helps me,” Franziska shouted at him, “It’s that simple!” Magnus started to shake his head causing the girl to continue, “The secrets aren’t the problem, it’s the shit we all project onto others. I said it’s none of your fucking business, and it isn’t! I can’t believe you spied on me. How messed up are you?” She stormed past him to go back into the den to sit on the sofa. 
Magnus stared at her for a second before storming out the house.
The older Jonas watched as the girl started to cry in her sleep. He reached over to her and started to wipe her tears away. He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her pulling the girl on top of him. Her hair stuck to his beard as he kissed the top of her head once again. He held her closer as she started to thrash and scream.
Annalise was drowning in the void. It felt as if someone, or something, was dragging her down deep within the depths. Before, she was on a small makeshift raft with Bartosz, Magnus, Martha, Regina, and Aleksander, a storm hit causing her and Martha to be thrown overboard. But now she was in a deep, black void.  As she cried out, it only felt as though the dark liquid rushed into her mouth and lungs. Every turn she saw another cold, swollen, lifeless face there with her. Mikkel, Erik, Jonas, Ulrich, Yasin, Helge, her own father Lukas, and when she looked down, there smiling up at her, each holding an ankle was herself and David. Every fiber of her being was on fire, yet ice cold.
Jonas winced at her scratching at him as if she were a caged animal. He called to her, “Annalise, my love. Wake up.” He squeezed her a bit tighter in his arms, “Darling. Wake up.” 
Annalise shook awake. Her body convulsed as it coughed up air as if she was choking. Her eyes released more tears as she tried her best to breathe. She buried herself into the man’s neck and wrapped herself around him.
He slowly pulled her close to him and lifted them out of bed. He cradled her as he walked with her still crying into his shoulder. He cooed, “I know. I know. It’s okay. You’re safe now. You’re right here with me. Everything’s okay.” As he comforted her, she only responded by wrapping her arms around his neck tighter. He sauntered to his bag and wobbly bent down to place it on the chair so that he could grab a clean shirt out of it. After placing the clean shirt onto his arm, he slowly started to walk them to the shower. Jonas started it running. He whispered into her ear, “I’m going to slip if I keep holding you like this. Are you okay?” When he felt her nod, he placed her down gently and grabbed her face. He kissed right in the middle of her big puffy red eyes. Jonas told her, “It won’t take long okay?” He put his shirt in the sink.
Annalise nodded. She looked at his chest finally to see tiny red scrapes that seemed like claw marks. 
When Annalise reached to touch the scratches she gave him, Jonas turned from her and chuckled, “don’t worry about it.” He said, “As you can see, you have to do a lot more than that to hurt me. I have thick skin.”
Her lips trembled as she nodded and waited for him to be done before going in herself. She washed away the cold sweat off of her. She could feel him still there in the room with her, yet she just focused on the warm water carrying all the fear from her.
Jonas stared at her form hidden from him by the curtain. He didn’t want to leave her alone just in case. He knew what trauma did to people all too well. He turned to face himself in the mirror. He stared at his face wondering how, if things were different, would he still be the same. Would he still look like this? He tried to imagine what Annalise herself would look like. He only ever knew her at this age. Would she still love him if she were able to go past this?
Annalise slowly turned off the shower. She dried herself off and walked out. She noticed him looking distressed. She smiled gently at him, “Is there something wrong?”
He shook his head, “No. I’m sorry for worrying you.” He watched as she stole one of his old hoodies and slipped it on. A smile spread across his face. His heart was young and light once more. His eyes lit up. His troubles felt so far away seeing her in his clothes. He couldn’t believe he took all of this for granted so long ago.
Annalise gave him a hug and asked Jonas, “Should we head downstairs? Get some breakfast?” She kissed his hidden jaw.
Jonas nodded, “Yeah.” He watched as she walked into his room to place her phone to charge. He started his way downstairs after grabbing his suitcase. 
Hannah sat at the table looking at pictures of her son. She felt at a loss. He was here with them, yet her Jonas was off in the future. Annalise seemed to have moved on very quickly to this new Jonas that actually burned inside of her a bit. She placed the picture down when she heard his heavy steps go down the stairs.
Jonas silently placed his suitcase on the table and opened it up for his mother. He took out his time machine to show to her.
“What’s this,” Hannah asked.
Annalise answered from the stairs, “A time machine.” She walked down stairs and kissed Jonas’s cheek. She told him, “I’m going. I will see you later.” She pulled away from him after he gave her a small acknowledgement nod and walked towards the door.
Hannah looked back at Jonas, “Since when? You know what… Please continue.”
“This machine takes you 33 years into the past,” Jonas explained as he finished opening up the box, “and 33 years into the future.”
Hannah stood up and examined the box, “You’re both serious?”
Jonas stared at her then sighed, “I did it all wrong. I tried to keep a secret. The truth is, that is exactly what’s destroying us. The secrets. Mom, I know that sounds insane. That’s why I want you to see it for yourself. With your own eyes.”
“What do you mean,” Hannah asked her son.
Jonas whispered, “Dad’s secret.”
Mikkel walked up to the school. He zoned out for a second only to get shoulder checked by a black eyed Katharina who told him to, “Get out the way dork.”
Hannah stopped to look at him giving him a small smile before getting called back by her friend.
“Hannah, come on!” Katharina commanded. When Hannah hurried up to meet her, she asked, “What are you staring at?”
Mikkel sighed and turned away from the school to walk away.
Claudia power walked her way through the power plant with Gretchen in toe. Her heels clicked against the concrete floors.
Her assistant rushed to her and said, “Thank God you’re here. Someone’s waiting for you in your office. I didn’t know… It was about the dog. She says it’s hers.”
Claudia looked up at the woman in shock. She then walked into her office to see an older lady with long gray hair. The small poodle trotted up to the woman proving that Gretchen did indeed know who she was. 1986 Claudia looked at the woman and asked, “Is that your dog? I’m so sorry. She ran up to me. We called the shelter and no one reported her missing. And she resembles the dog I had as a kid.”
“Gretchen,” the older Claudia told her younger self.
Scared, the younger Claudia asked, “How do you know that?”
The older woman shrugged a bit with a playful look in her eye, “Because it’s my dog. Just like it’s yours.”
The younger Claudia took a step back realizing the full scope of what the older woman had said. Breathing hard, she asked, “Excuse me?”
“And the blood test results,” Egon asked the doctor, “So it’s already spread. To the hospital? This Friday? No. Yes, that should work. Don’t worry. I have someone. Yes.” He hung up the phone and slowly walked himself to his chair to sit and contemplate his life. Seeing Mads face in the newspaper reminded him of his missed appointment with Helge. He looked up knowing what he had to do.
“I know it’s hard to believe,” The older Claudia told her younger self, “But I remember.”
“What,” 1987 Claudia shook her head.
The older Claudia clarified, “this precise moment. Go to the blinds. Trust me.” She watched as her younger self followed her instruction then stated, “two people are sitting at their desks, Hermann and Kowaltschik. Our secretary will approach the desk on the right in a moment. She’ll fan her face on the way. Watch Kowaltschik. He’s about to drop his pen.”
Everything happened just as the older woman described causing Claudia to turn to her and ask, “How did you do that?”
“I experienced it all,” The older Claudia explained while holding the small poodle in her arms, “Everything you’ve ever experienced and everything you ever will. I am you. And I was told by me that you and I are the same person.”
Claudia shook her head, “That’s impossible.”
Her older self sighed and watched as she moved to sit back down again. “This is Gretchen,” The older self explained, “The day she ran into the cave. I was there waiting for her. She recognized me at once as if I hadn’t aged a second. I brought her to the other side so that you would find her. Some things have to happen as they always have.”
Claudia nodded, “The cave. The incident last summer. Something else happened after all!”
In 2053, Jonas walked through the empty foggy streets to grab some more fuel. He then set up a small music player in the school to distract everyone from what he was doing. The ghost form of Annalise danced around him with a smile on her face and an arm around her own waist as she twirled. She beckoned him to join her, Martha, and Bartosz in having fun. Bartosz was there with her dancing with her with one of his arms limp to the side as Martha sat on the desk with a hole in her heart bobbing her head to the music. He walked past their phantoms and grabbed his things to continue his work so that he could actually join them in their time rather than just seeing distant memories of them. Just on time, the patrol truck passed. The group hopped out to prepare their raid on the building. Jonas, then, jumped over the wall so that he could syphon its gas into his canister. He quickly ducked behind the wall scared out of his mind as the person guarding the tank had started to move over towards the side he was previously on. There beside him as he breathed quickly was a hazy form of Annalise. As if a memory of her sitting pressed a wall. Her breathing slow. Her eyes were closed helping him slowly close his eyes and calm his breathing so that he was less likely to be heard.
“Do you believe in ghosts,” The young Regina asked.
Aleksander replied, “What do you mean?”
Regina laughed, “The book we’re reading at school. It’s about ghosts and demons” They sat facing each other tangled up in the other’s legs. She continued, “that we inherit from our parents.” She lifted up their held hands and explained, “And...that you pass them on. Dark stuff. From generation to generation.”
Aleksander shrugged and shook his head, “Maybe.” His thumbs grazed the back of her palms. He chuckled and smirked, “I’m sure you inherited your mother’s best features.” He folded his arms so that her arms were even more intertwined with his.
“I didn’t know if she had any,” sighed Regina. 
“No,” the lovestruck boy teased.
Regina smiled as she shook her head, “You have no idea. She...She’s never around. And when she is, all she does is gripe about me.” Aleksander let out a large breath and started to trace his loved one’s scars on her wrist as she continued, “She has never once said, ‘I love you’ to me.”
Aleksander sighed. His eyes held her hostage as he told her, “I love you.” He held that moment between them before they both leaned forward to press their lips against their partner’s.
Clausen asked the older Regina, “How would you describe your relationship with Ulrich Nielsen?”
“I think it’s known that we have no relationship with the Nielsens,” the woman explained.
Clausen heckled, “Yet he showed up at your hotel the day before he disappeared. What did he want?” 
Charlotte stared at the box on the table as Regina explained, “He wanted to know what really happened in 1986. Because I was the last one… to see his brother alive.”
Clausen looked around the room and commented, “Your husband. How long has he lived in Winden?”
“Since 1986. Why do you ask,” asked Regina right back.
Clausen then asked, “Why did he take your last name?”
“What does one have to do with the other,” she asked while shaking her head.
Charlotte threw up her hands and started to act as if getting up, “If we are done here--”
Clausen shushed her and motioned for the  woman to stop. “There is still something,” He commented to his coworker. He turned towards Regina and asked, “Isn’t there?”
Regina nodded and said, “Last year, a stranger came to the hotel. Those are his things.” Charlotte nodded and opened the box as the other woman continued, “He wanted to rent a room. He looked like a homeless person. He paid cash. He left after a few days, but he wanted to keep the room. He never came back.” She watched as Charlotte started to spread out all of the older Jonas’s things across the table. Regina told Clausen, “These were all over his walls. As he was leaving he asked me to mail a package for him. ”
“To whom,” asked Clausen.
Regina took a baited breath and then told him, “Jonas Kahnwald.”
Annalise stared down at the lake beneath her. The stone ledge was the only thing keeping her from it’s depths. She swallowed down her anxiety and started to strip down. She hung her borrowed clothes on a tree branch. She walked a little away from the ledge, turned, then sprinted right off. As her feet left the hard ground, she performed a dive straight into the lake below her. Her eyes closed. Her heart beat faster than she ever knew it to beat.
Magnus happened to be passing by as he sulked in the forest. He saw Annalise run, then, jump into the water. He started to panic. The boy knew how she was about water and swimming. He threw off his shirt and pants hurrying to get into the water. “Annalise,” yelled the boy as he swam out towards where she had jumped.
Weightlessness was a melancholic memory. Annalise opened her eyes feeling herself submerged in the water. She needed to get deeper. She spread her legs much like a frog and forced them together propelling herself farther into the lake. Her hair flowed behind her as she tried to force her way into the darkness. She kept swimming down until she started to hear thrashing near the service of the water. She turned her head to see a pair of legs there. It wasn’t long until she saw Magnus dive down as well. He looked so scared. Annalise swam over to him and grabbed his shoulders.
Magnus flailed beneath the water looking for the girl. He couldn’t spot her until she grabbed onto his shoulders and turned him towards the surface once more. She pointed upwards indicating that they should go up to talk. He nodded and swam up after her. Once he was out of the water he watched her breathing deeply and screamed, “What the fucking hell?” He pushed his hair out of his face.
Annalise turned toward him, “What are you doing here Magnus?” She had finally caught her breath. Her eyes burned from trying to transition from water to air again causing her to repeatedly blink.
“What am I doing here,” He yelled at her, swimming them towards the rocky edge for them to sit, “What the hell were you thinking? That was so fucking stupid! What if I weren’t here?”
Annalise smiled at him as she pulled herself out the water and wrung out her hair. She giggled for a second and slyly commented, “I’d probably still be trying to see how far I could go.”
He growled at her, “You could have gotten seriously hurt.” He watched as she sprawled on top of the sun-warmed rock. As much as he hated to admit it, he felt a little proud seeing her so nonchalant about the water now. He ended up laying down next to her and asked, “But seriously, what made you do this?”
“Honestly,” Annalise sighed, “Everything is just so...crazy right now, that I might as well have done it, right?”
Magnus nodded, “Yeah. I know what you mean.”
The two lay there in the sun letting its heat dry them from the darkness they were once surrounded by. They were there in silence for several minutes before Annalise spoke up again, “You never told me why you were here.” With her eyes still closed absorbing the warmth of the light, she raised one of her eyebrows.
Magnus nodded with his closed as well, “Franziska and I got into it because of some dumbass thing I did.”
Annalise nodded, “Ah.”
Silence overcame the moment once again as they just tried to process their life. They both enjoyed being with each other not having to say anything at all sometimes. Their friendship allowing them to feel the passage of time and their responsibility to it without words. Magnus didn’t realize how much he was going to treasure this memory with her as his life would continue without having her physically being around him.
After a while, Annalise turned to her friend and asked, “Do you hate me?”
“Sometimes,” Magnus admitted, turning to look at her. He huffed and explained, “I sometimes think that you do actually know more about what happened to my father and brother, yet you are refusing to tell me or anyone. Then, I remember that you would never do that to us.” He lay back onto his back and stated, “You love us far too much to ever do anything like that.”
Annalise lay back down as well, “Yeah.”
The older Jonas led his mother through the Winden caves. He periodically looked back to make sure she was still there with him and not hurt. When they got to a large cavern within the space, he set up his machine.
“What is this,” Hannah asked the older version of her son. She breathed heavily and asked, “What are we doing here?”
“It’s safer to travel from here,” He explained to his mother. He knelt down and started to fiddle with the box to start up the machine. He looked up at his mother and told her, “I told you it would be easier to understand once you’ve seen it.”
Mikkel was walking his way back home on the outskirts of the woods just as the box in 2020 was powering up.
Stranger Jonas turned to his mother and told her, “Don’t be scared.” He held her shaking hand as they prepared to travel.
Mikkel continued his walk through the woods avoiding school. Then he heard it. The noise he recognized. He ran his way to the caves hoping to find his way home. He walked closer towards it only to be stopped by a man’s voice.
“Should you be in school,” asked Noah. He walked towards the boy as he continued to cut and eat his apple.
Mikkel looked at him, “I know you.” The boy said, “You were in the hospital.”
Noah strolled over to the boy and explained, “I like coming here. Special place. So...Why aren’t you in school?” When Mikkel didn’t reply, the man smiled, “I see. Sometimes we don’t really know where we’re supposed to be.” He pointed with his knife towards the caves and said, “But I wouldn’t go in there. It’s like a maze in there. Some have never returned.” Noah put away his knife and started to walk away.
“At the hospital,” Mikkel said to the man, “you said something. The thing about God and that he has a plan for everyone. But what if God has no idea what he’s doing? What if the plan is wrong? If God is mistaken?”
Noah shook his head, “God doesn’t make mistakes. Sometimes we have to have more faith that everything will be okay again.” He turned away and tossed the apple to the side as he walked away.
Egon smiled at Helge, “I’ve been wanting to come by for quite some time. Now that I’m retired, I have time.” Helge looked up at him then started to make his little nature soldiers once more. Egon continued, “I… Mads’ disappearance. I can’t stop thinking about it. On that day… you had a shift at the nuclear power plant. You said you took the country road home, but that’s a detour. Why didn’t you take the forest road?”
Helge slowly spoke, “He… He said… He can change everything. He can change the past, and the future.”
“Who said that,” asked Egon.
Helge replied, “The man with the stone.”
Egon asked, “But that was 33 years ago. What does that have to do with Mads?”
Helge took a deep breath, “But no one can change it. No one. Not even the White Devil.”
“The White Devil,” Egon asked, “You’ve said that before. Back then, as a child.” 
Helge started to work once more. He kept repeating to himself, “Tick-Tock. Tick-tock.”
The older Claudia stood in the cave with her younger self. She explained, “I would like you to trust in an idea that’s bigger than you. Bigger than any of us.” She started to unscrew a canister of the God Particle.
“What’s that,” the younger self asked.
Older Claudia explained, “This is humankind’s greatest discovery. And also its doom. It allows you to travel through time. Thirty three years back. Thirty three years forward. And it will take exactly 33 years for the cycle to be completed again. Until you are standing where I am standing now and accept your role in this never-ending dance, and every sacrifice it requires. In five days, everything will start over. You must stop Adam.”
The younger Claudia shook her head, “Who is Adam?”
“You don’t understand it yet,” She explained then took out some diagrams, “But you soon will.” She let the younger version of her take it then continued once more, “Until then, everything will happen as it always has. As it must.” She started up the machine allowing herself to back way, “In the end, life is just a collection of missed opportunities. You don’t have much more time with Regina. But if everything works out… she will live.” After that, she disappeared in a black sphere leaving Claudia alone in the cave.
Jonas trekked back to his secret place in the nuclear power plant. As soon as he crawled under. Silja and her group were there with guns pointed at him. Elizabeth walked out from the woods and the boy knew he was in trouble.
Charlotte drove and called Peter. She explained what she had learned to him in a panicked tone. She looked over to her grandfather’s book next to her then back onto the road. She started to break down with her husband asking, “Why did he never tell me who my parents really were?”
Jonas stood there with the noose around his neck and his feet and wrists bound. He glared out at Elisabeth as he shed a tear.
Silja translated for her once more, “You know the rules. Do you think they don’t apply to you?”
Elisabeth held her gun up at him then Jonas asked her, “Why are you lying to them? Why don’t you tell them what’s really in the dead zone?” She shot his leg causing the boy to cry out in pain. He yelled, “In five days, in my time, everybody is going to die! I have to stop that. There is no prophecy! The passage will never open. Your paradise does not exist! But behind the wall-”
Elisabeth had enough of his desperate pleas and kicked his stand from under him. Silja couldn’t even watch as she heard him choking. After a short while, Elisabeth shot the rope allowing the boy down from his hanging.
Egon sat at his home and answered his phone, “Hello? Egon here. Yes. Listen, in 1953 we arrested a man. What happened to him after 1953? He killed two kids back then. Then he abducted Helge Doppler. Yeah. I wanted to know what happened to him. Yes, I’ll hold.” He stared at the picture of Ulrich then when he heard a reply, “Yes? Okay, that’s the case. What? He’s still here? Where?” 
He then went to visit the mental hospital where Ulrich was staying. When the nurse led him to the man, he slowly approached. “Excuse me, please. You may not remember me anymore. My name is Egon Tiedemann. I arrested you 34 years ago.”
Ulrich turned towards him and said, “Egon Tiedemann.” He stood up and asked, “How could I ever forget you?”
“I…” Egon stumbled over his words, “I wanted… I have a few questions.”
Ulrich leaned over and sniffed the man. He then quoted in English, “‘My only aim is to take many lives. The more the better I feel.’”
Egon moved back, “I know that. You’ve said that before. What does it mean?”
Ulrich shook his head, “It means that you, you moron, still haven’t understood a thing.” He sat back down at his table, “But now you have to hurry. You don’t have much time left. I know when you die. It was in the paper.”
Egon moved closer to him, “I don’t understand.”
“No,” Ulrich told the man, “Of course you don’t. But maybe that is also your fate. To die as clueless as you were when you were born.” Ulrich laughed, “Everyone gets what they deserve.”
A storm brewed in Winden causing Mikkel to walk back home to an awaiting Ines. She sat at the table smoking. She ran to her son and asked, “Where have you been?” She held him and told the boy, “I was so worried.” She sniffled, “I called the school. They said you never showed up there. Did something happen?” When Mikkel didn’t reply, she looked down, “You know what? There are days it’s best to just forget. But… There’s no better comfort food than ‘Toast Hawaii.’ We always had it at home when I was little, with two maraschino cherries. And my dad used to dance like Elvis.” She put down the can of pineapples.
“Do you believe in God,” asked Mikkel.
Ines made a face. She remembered back to the handsome boy who made her interested in the church. His strong sense of will, right and wrong, and how his smile reminded her of a sunset. He always knew exactly what to say and could make her laugh even on her worst days. He would clown around and end up just hurting himself trying to make her smile, but he would always pop back up with a large goofy smile. He was like that with nearly everyone though. He was constantly making Helge feel better about himself. She remembered one time he really made her heart race though. They were helping the community kids learn how to dance. David was sitting out initially and was there to help demonstrate with the Pastor, but no one wanted to partner with her, so he walked over to her. He smiled oh so gently at her and held her close as they danced. He leaned down and in a low voice sang the song just for her, into her ear. After he pulled away, he, in a husky voice just loud enough for prying ears to hear and with a devious smirk, said, “Here’s looking at you, Kid.” He made her feel like the most desirable person in the room. It worked on everyone else too because boys stopped bullying her and girls started to be a bit nicer to her in school. In fact, the group of girls pulled her and Jana to cluck with the rest of them about the boys and question her about David. She started to go to church a lot more after that just to see the older boy. He would walk her and Jana home. After dropping Jana home first, he’d always leave her just like how he pulled away from her after dancing and adding a sweet chaste kiss where her forehead met her hair line. She could remember how lonely he looked walking away. As if, his happiness was simply a mask to make everyone else happy and there was some darkness lurking beneath the surface.
Ines looked at her son and nodded.
“Do you believe he has a plan for us,” Mikkel asked. 
Ines sighed. She thought back to David and her own life after trying to chase the feeling of what he left her...then the feeling of losing her birth son… She nodded once again, “I believe… he does. I believe, for example, that God saw to it that you came to me. And that his plan for me is to be there for you.” She smiled at the boy and rubbed his shoulders, “Right, let’s make ‘Toast Hawaii,’ okay?” She sniffled back tears, “Will you help me?”
Mikkel followed the woman and gave her a much needed hug to comfort the both of them.
In 2053, Jonas sat in his cage. He struggled with his leg and breathing. When he heard Silja, he backed himself more into the corner. His breath hitched as she pointed the gun at him. 
“Why didn’t she kill you,” She asked. She stared at him and asked, “Who are you really?” When he didn’t reply, she yelled, “Who are you?” Jonas stared at her debating for a second before she knocked off the lock and opened his cage. She told him, “I want you to show me. What’s really in the dead zone.”
Jonas agreed and they snuck into the dead zone as Charlotte in 2020 looked for answers of her parents. The older Hannah walked towards the 1987 version of her house. There in the window was Ines and Mikkel laughing. Ulrich looked out of his window as Egon looked over his files. The older Jonas held his mother as she realized her husband was Mikkel. Peter rushed to his wife’s side holding her knowing that she needed it. Annalise walked Magnus home and held him close as tears fell from her eyes. Jonas showed Silja the mass. Claudia trekked back to her house and dug up the time machine her older self left for her 33 years prior. 
Jonas put the gasoline into the generator and cranked the machine to life.
“What is that,” Silja asked.
Jonas said, “She said it’s a portal.”
“Who,” asked the girl.
Jonas explained, “I have tapes with a woman speaking on them. Her name is Claudia Tiedermann. I know none of this makes sense, but that may be the only way back home.” He pointed to it, “No clue if it works.” He turned the electrical on to see the blob turn into a sphere.
“You want to go in,” Silja tried to reason with the boy.
He turned to her and explained, “It doesn’t matter if I die inside of it or out here.” He walked his way to the sphere and slowly let his hand be consumed for a second. He took it out to see if it was okay. With that, he stepped in with the girl calling for him back in 2053.
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