#oc: helges family

[falmerbrook]

Meet the Saber-Skins

Helga is the companion of sorts to my Last Dragonborn, Elisere, and a few months ago I went a little ham developing her husband and kids. I've been meaning to draw them and introduce them for awhile now and thought this would be a fun way to do it!

I am incapable of just creating one single OC with no relatives. I always gotta give them a whole family. But this family is thematically important so I've put a lot of thought into them

[myers-meadow]

Otis B. Driftwood x fem OC: 🌺 A muse for him and him alone 💟

Title: A muse for him and him alone (chapter 1)

Warnings: (mild) gore, rape/non-con, dub-con, captivity, necrophilia, mentions of torture.

Summary: Even the Devil himself has art block sometimes... In the fresh group of victims that comes to the house, Otis discovers a muse. Inspiration and amusement drive him to keep her around, and both grow attached. With complex feelings keeping her alive, she must find a way to ensure her survival in the household, even if she gets in the way of what the family considers as their normal.

Word count: 2137

This is a very 'Meadow'-esque exploration of what it would be like to be kept by Otis as a victim and a muse. It follows a theatre-like akte structure, and is overall somewhat fragmented, as dairies can often be. In this fic I allow myself to be entirely myself and go as dark, as soft, and as intimate as I want. This will have multiple parts, a lot of it is planned out, but I will take my time and enjoy the process.

Please enjoy! Don't forget to let me know if you did! <3

Dividers by delishlydelightfuldividers

AKTE 0: “Ich will Frei sein – richtig Frei sein!“

The road was long, never-ending, the heat almost bearable with the windows down, stray hairs catching in my lipstick at the corners of my mouth, singing along to those songs about freedom on the cd we brought from home, complaining about the mediocre gas station food. Andra, Jip and me squished in the backseat; Christoff and Bram in the front, doing their best to ignore the off-key singing from behind them, focussing on road and directions. This trip was so unplanned it was ridiculous, yet each of us joined with that enthusiasm of feeling like the summer laid in wait at our feet. We slept in joined beds or when one of us couldn’t stand it anymore, they took the car, stayed up too late to see the stars, to see so far across the plains, to hear different birds from those we have at home. To feel the coldness of the night set in, the dew waiting on the grass when first light woke us since each motel room had those shitty thin curtains, and telling ourselves we’d nap in the car. I’m sure Bram had a friend of a friend he was meeting at our destination, and Christoff and Jip were mending their messy relationship, but I was there for Andra. I hoped that if we spent these two weeks together, that her friendly touches would grow to linger. That I’d know for sure that she’d taste like cigarettes and toothpaste, that I’d not have to ask Jip to rub sunscreen on my shoulders again, that the ride would be full of stolen touches and pretending we didn’t notice the others staring.

AKTE I: Disbelief

How did we go from singing along to Helge Schneider and daydreaming in the car to this- to being hunted for sport; Andra and me stripped almost nude, tied up and gagged in some disgusting room with faded bloodstains on the floor. It was the big man with the dark hair who took us, but it was a team effort. Bram, Christoff and Jip must be somewhere, taking by the others. There were so many of them – god my head hurt. It throbbed and my vision followed the pulse of my heart. The rag around my head to gag me was tied so poorly I managed it down with ease. Andra, next to me, already awake, was littered with bruises and small cuts, open skin on her knees and forearms from falling and crawling away, panicked eyes staring into mine. And before I could think of what to say, before I could even test the give of the rope binding my arms behind my back, the bear of a guy came back. It was a blur of screaming, dizziness, cursing, and being pulled by my hair as a sharp pain through it all.

“Fuck, the bitch broke my nose!” the bear roared, knocking me to the wall with enough force that the wall itself shook. The door slammed open, and the white haired guy entered. Otis. Why did I remember his name with my head splitting open from the pain? He was angry, but when he saw me already down on the ground (cowering), Andra still tied, fallen over on her chair, and the bear clutching his nose, he burst out laughing.

“Finally met one who bested ya? Serves you right for taking first pick, asshole.” And he easily dodged my attempts to swat at him like a cat and dragged me off by the scruff of my neck.

Otis’ room was in sharp contrast to the rest of the house and I didn’t dare say a word as he strapped me to the wall, and stepped back to admire me, sleazy grin on his face. As he retreated to put on a record, I looked around at the many crude drawings on the walls. On the ceiling too, and in the middle of it was written ‘god won’t help you now’ and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. It was a laugh like the ones where the roller coaster creeps closer to that tipping point, close to the free fall – but not knowing when it’d come. Maniacal and scary. Some upbeat blues rock perfected the absurdist reality of the situation.

Otis, reappearing, eyebrows raised, said: “You havin’ fun, missy?”

But of course I wasn’t, as much like roller coasters, this was no fun at all. “I didn’t even meant to kick him that hard,” I said, wheezing, trying to catch my breath from laughing. The knife in Otis’ hand glinted as he came closer. Death was a given, but I’d love to have another go at the fighting thing- The door swung open, a girl marched in, voice loud and high-pitched.

“They got away, Otis quick!”

���Goddamnit!” he cursed loudly, slamming the knife right next to my head, the sound of the splintering wood resounding in my head as he grabbed a rifle from behind the opened door. He complained all the while, and I leaned my head back against the wall, sighing with the relief of my demise pushed back.

AKTE II: Art show

Evening fell. When Otis returned, I’d almost fallen asleep. He let me, or made me, depending how you look at it, go to the bathroom. It was no more or less bad than anything else I could imagine to have my last moments on this earth be. There was a song stuck in my head and I hummed it quietly as I washed my hands for as long as Otis let me, before he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to his bedroom. Where the big bear of a man favoured rope, Otis preferred chains. Of course they were heavy, of course they were uncomfortable – but did any of that truly matter at the end of a life like this? I remembered family, and all the girls I had just a little too intense of a friendship with, and the many cats I’ve loved and cuddled. It would’ve been nice to have more time. To tell my parents of my travels, of what America is like, of how the people were all so nice.

Otis set me down on his desk chair, wrapping the chain around my chest and the back of the chair. I let my head fall back to watch him as he chatted idly, referencing conversations we shared the night before, when things were still normal, as he sharpened his knife or whatever it was that evil men do.

“You and your friends,” he said, pointing at me, “you sure are a lively bunch. We don’t get ones like you often. I don’t appreciate the noise as much, but you, you’re filling my head with thoughts. Do you have any idea how it is to be cooped up in here all day – no fresh ideas, no thoughts to share, nothing of value to ever come through these parts? But you’ve opened the doors of my mind.”

“So all those things you said about being an artist, about your art, that’s all bullshit?” I asked, moving my legs to try and swing the chair around to face him properly.

“A simple guy like me can’t be an artist? Is that it?” his tone was all venom. He wanted to scare me.

“Yeah, sure, you kill people, everyone can do that, but do you create? Can you create something from the ground up?”

He scoffed, but seemed amused as he leaned himself down to my level, his hands on my underarms – surprisingly warm, but I could practically taste the copper and cigarettes that clung to him. His eyes were even stranger in the low light than they were in the candle light of the dinner the night before.

“Oh, I’ll show you, mama.”

The ‘art’ was behind a curtain, and he pulled it back with a grand gesture, grinning widely. Going behind me, he pushed the chair until it was in front of it. It was a creature, unclear of what it was made of, but it resembled half snake, half human. A long forked tongue past horrifyingly realistic looking lips. The human half was endearingly ugly-looking.

“Wow,” I said, too absorbed in looking at it that the sound of my own voice startled me. I scooted the chair closer with awkward movements to see the detail better. Each scale was painstakingly carved and painted, the colour almost shimmery, just like how real snakeskin looks. “This is amazing. What is this made of? Is that clay?”

Otis stared at me, without words for a second.

“The detail is incredible,” I said, scooting myself another few centimetres closer. “The tongue is a very nice touch. It almost looks like a man captured by a witch, who cursed him after he lied to her. Like something out of a fairy tale. Cursed to reflect the crime committed.”

Otis just laughed but I paid him no mind, too busy staring at the complexity and high level of realism in the artwork.

“I can’t believe you created this – how long did it take you? Must’ve spent entire days on it to get all these details just right.” Admiration, mixed with a healthy measure of disbelief, dripped from my voice. “Each individual scale… You’d almost think it’s a real snake.”

Otis snorted.

I tried to reach out to feel the texture of the body, but was held back by the chains and cursed at the feeling.

“This should be in one of those big museums, selling for millions to those eclectic rich people in ugly suits. To think of a concept like this! The mythological meaning of a snake, and that with a sizable project like this. Do you make things like this regularly? God, it’s beautiful.”

In my head, thoughts swirled around, clashing in opposite directions. How could art this beautiful exist in an unassuming place, so far out in the middle of nowhere? Assuming he had no formal artistic education, and learned by doing, making it all the more impressive. Worse than that; how could a man so deeply evil have created something of such beauty with hands that have taken the lives of my friends?

All thoughts halted when he grabbed me by the neck and planted a wet, open-mouthed kiss on my lips.

AKTE III: Bad moon rising

Night fell, and my fear of death went down with the setting sun. Otis dropped a corpse down on his bed. Where did he even get her? She wasn’t anyone I knew. A small relief.

“It’s time for bed,” he announced with a vile grin. He tied the chain that bound me to the frame of his bed, leash short. I’d have to sleep on the floor. Somehow that wasn’t the worst that happened in the past 24 hours, so I laid my head on my folded arm and closed my eyes to rest. Once I laid still for a couple minutes, a harrowing tiredness set in – yet my thoughts raced. As soon as I felt my consciousness fade, the bed creaked. Grunts accompanied it and I looked up. It was dark, but without question, there was the shape of Otis, mounting the corpse. I stifled my gasp with my hand, eyes wide, lip curled with disgust. He noticed, and laughed, teeth bared in a grin like that of a wolf.

“Ain’t ever seen a guy make sweet love before?” he taunted. “Or would you rather join us? Sure you can, if ya ask nicely.”

The hardness of the cold floor was far preferable. The chains rattled as I shook my head wildly. Pressing my eyes closed, trying to shut it all out, to pretend it wasn’t happening. The noise was worse with my mind filling in the blanks, so I stared up at him again, with disbelieving eyes. How could he get worse, so, so much worse than he already was? What is wrong with this family? And then, at the back of my head: at least it wasn’t me. And, for her: at least she wouldn’t have to live with the trauma of it – although I will, for the both of us. His pleasured grunts and the creaking increased in speed and volume. No words in any language I know of could describe this.

With a final grunt, and then a deep sigh, he came. A cold arm that hit mine made me crawl as far away from the bed as the chain allowed me. Just in time, as Otis rolled the whole body off the bed, thudding down to face me, mangled and twisted with lifelessness. I screamed. Loud and shrill. The first time I did that day. I could barely hear his laughter over the blood rushing in my ears. 

[nikkzwrites]

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.”

[falmerbrook]

WIP Whenever

I was tagged by @boethiahspillowbook! TYSM! I was having a rough day but that made me feel a little better <3

Tagging @slusheeduck, @angiemaniac, and @snowy-weather (only if you want to!)

First: the player characters with their respective Daedric princes. Rough thumbnail for a full piece I hope to do someday when my hands are better. This is why I asked a little bit ago about what the "generic" Vestige would be, but I think I'm going to lean into the look of their soul at the end of the main quest instead.

And some wee sketches for OC stuff. I thought this one was kinda cute enough to share. I have a number of OCs I either need to touch up on their designs or design them in the first place, but my inability to focus and chronic pain recently has made those hard to get to. In particular, I want to flesh out Helge's (my main Nord character) family. This is her and her husband. I still need to get to her 5 kids

[nikkzwrites]

Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 8

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:  5.5k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Helge rode his bike home from school. The small boy heard the police siren and waited for a young Egon to drive past. The small boy followed the car to the build site where they had found two boys’ bodies there dead in the dirt pile. As Egon turned, Helge noticed he was going to be spotted. He turned and started to head home once more in 1953. 

Back in 1986, the older Jonas walked into Tannhaus’ shop. Tannhaus looked up and commented, “On time, like a clockwork.” Jonas walked and sat in the waiting chair for him. The clockmaker then asked, “Where were we?”

“The Einstein-Rosen Bridge,” Jonas said as if he had done this a million times before. 

Tannhaus nodded, “A passage between a black hole, the entry, and a white hole, the exit, which connects time and space. To pass through it, is to travel through time.”

In 2019, Ulrich tried to follow the older man, who was repeating ‘Tick-Tock’, down the tunnel. He slowly followed the path. Hesitant to be misled, Ulrich took it one step at a time. 

Tannhaus continued, “Our thinking is shaped by dualism. Entrance, exit. Black, white. Good, evil. Everything appears as opposite pairs. But that’s wrong.” The man drew a symbol on a piece of paper and showed it to Jonas, “Have you ever heard of the triquetra?”

“The trinity knot,” Jonas confirmed seeing the picture.

Tannhaus smiled, “Nothing is complete without a third dimension. There isn’t only up and down. There’s a center, too. I think Einstein and Rosen overlooked something. A wormhole connects not just two, but three different dimensions. Future, present, and the past.”

Ulrich, having reached the crossing, crawled inside. It tried to push him out. Like he didn’t belong there.

Just outside that connection in the cave, Helge just got home. He opened the door to his home to have his mother come down the stairs to berate him about being dirty. The timid boy tried to explain himself to no avail. She just ordered the boy to remove his clothes so that she could have it washed. Helge shrunk into his jacket as if he were a turtle trying to hide.

His mother pulled on his ear, “I told you to take off your clothes.”

Helge winced then started to strip out of his dirty clothes dropping them carelessly to the floor. He stood in front of her embarrassed to be seen in such a sight. His clothes felt like armor. Now there he was, without it.

His mother angrily huffed before demanding, “Stay here.” She turned and stormed up the stairs.

Bernd walked into his house to see his shy son standing in the entrance hall in just his underwear. He coughed and took off his hat to let Helge know he was behind him. Once his son turned to look at him, Bernd caressed Helge’s face, “Hello, my boy. What have you been getting into?”

Helge smiled happily at his father. He explained, “I was at the construction sight!”

“Oh that’s good,” the man said laughing.

Helge nodded, “They found something there.”

“What did they find,” Bernd asked, trying to ignore his cruel wife.

Greta stood annoyed, “He’s been creeping around again.”

Bernd ignored the comment with disdain and asked his son again, “Tell me, what did they find?”

“There were police everywhere at the construction site,” Helge started to explain again.

“Police,” Bernd asked.

Helge shook his head and clarified, “Two dead bodies. In the middle of the construction site.”

“What are you talking about,” Greta asked.

“They looked like kids,” Helge looked to both of his parents.

Bernd leaned down and whispered, “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Helge confirmed. 

Bernd looked up at his wife pleadingly hoping she would understand. He grabbed his hat and hurried out the door once more.

Once the door closed behind her soft hearted husband, Greta asked, “Are you lying?”

Helge shook his head scared. He trembled as his mother gave him new shorts to put on. She scolded him, “You’re late. The coins for Claudia are on the table.”

Ulrich emerged from the cave in 1953. He looked around confused. THe forest was so different. He ran trying to go find the old man he had been trying to follow.

“One, two, three,” Helge practiced as he rode his bike to their family’s small cabin out in the woods. His eyes were closed every time he counted, “One, two, three, four, five…” Once there, he grabbed a large stick and started to pretend that it was a rifle. Then he spotted it, the bunker. He walked over to it and opened the heavy door. It screeched having been lost to time with no oil. He walked inside and started to pretend he was making his rounds. He grabbed a pine cone off the shelf that he had carefully placed and threw it pretending it was a grenade. After tossing it, the boy ran for cover and hid behind the shelf in the fetal position. He spent a lot of time playing in the bunker. He looked to the side to see dates written in chalk on the walls.

“You write about Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence,” The older Jonas brought up to Tanhauss in 1986, “A universe that expands then collapses again. A universe that repeats itself endlessly.” Jonas placed the book on his desk.

Tannhaus smiled, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that.” He grabbed the book and started to look through it, “There were only 500 copies in total.”

Jonas continued to question, “You write about the lunar-solar cycle, in which everything repeats itself every 33 years.”

Tannhaus nodded, “From a cosmic point of view, yes. Every 33 years, the cycle of the mood is synchronized with that of the sun. But the 33 is more than that. We encounter it everywhere. Jesus performed 33 miracles. There are 33 litanies of angels. Dante’s 33 cantos in purgatory, and 33 in paradise.”

“And it is the age at which the Antichrist begins his rule,” Jonas concurred.

In 1953, Noah stood outside the church. A sixteen year old boy walked towards him. “Noah,” he called.

Noah turned to the boy, he smiled, “David, where are you heading this fine morning?”

David shrugged, “Adam told me to come check up on you. Then I can do generally whatever I want. I’m leaving soon anyway.”

Noah nodded. He watched as the boy walked away, “Oh, David?”

David stopped, “Yeah?” He turned to the man. He looked at him with a small tilt in his head. Noah couldn’t help it but to laugh a bit. So much of David reminded him of his once friend. He was so natiive and quiet. Yet, he was like the sunrise in the morning. He filled the world with so much light and hope. Noah guessed he couldn’t help it though. David was practically raised by Adam since he was small. There were very few people he had seen Adam treat with sentimentality, David was one of that few. The aforementioned man had even given the boy his name when the young boy couldn’t remember it 12 years ago. All he could remember was his last name, Dahlheim. 

Noah chuckled, “Can you go get us some bread? I think we will be expecting a visitor soon. Also, don’t forget how important your part in all of this is.”

David rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything is connected and I have to make sure I do my part.” He sighed seeing Noah’s upset face at David’s dismissive attitude about everything, “Sure, I’ll go get us the bread. I have nothing better to do unless Adam suddenly decides he now wants me to do something here.” He forced his hands into his pockets and walked away with a light and airy whistling tune.

Noah watched the teenager walk away again. He knew that he couldn’t say much to reprimand the boy. He needed to have this rebellious streak in him so when they sent him to America to complete his part, he would be more charming to the girl he eventually were to marry there. 

The file of the dead boys splayed across Egon’s desk as he stood there smoking. He wondered to his captain what made people want to kill and hurt others. No matter how much he had been through and seen, he still didn’t understand such cruelty.

“Why someone becomes a murderer,” Daniel asked to make sure he had understood Egon right.

Egon nodded, “Yes. Are they born one or do you become one?”

“It would certainly make our work easier if we knew ahead of time,” David chuckled as he started to put out his cigar, “Lock them up while they’re still little. Before they get on the wrong track.” He laughed, “Why does someone become a murderer?” He walked out of Egon’s office to leave the man alone to contemplate.

Helge was just leaving the cabin when two older boys confronted him. 

“Hey weirdo,” One of them called out to him. He threw a rock towards his direction, “Why the big hurry?”

“Buying silk stockings for mommy,” the other one tormented. He commanded the other boy who had just then grabbed Helge, “See if there’s anything in his pockets.”

The large boy pushed Helge down easily and sat on him to hold him beneath him.

“Leave me alone,” Helge yelled.

The boy on top of him laughed, “Scream, no one will hear you.” He grabbed the money from his pockets then slapped the boy across the face. He stood up and backed away to allow the smaller older boy to stand in front of him.

“Don’t piss your pants,” he teased as he undid his fly, “Your old man’s got dough coming out of his ears.” He started to urinate on the poor little boy for a split second before being tackled down.

David, who had been passing through the woods right at that second, saw the two older boys tormenting Helge. His blood boiled. He howled in anger as he dove in head first into the other boy and just started to wail on him with his fists. “Pick on someone who can fight back, asshole,” He yelled as he hit. All of his anger and hatred of what happened to his family, his people, bubbled to the surface as an animalistic rage took over him. He didn’t even care that his clothes and fists were becoming bloodied and that his knuckles were going to scab over due to the scraps and force he was putting on them. His teeth barred. He was an unstoppable force for a while. No one could get to him through his anger.

Hearing another stick break, the bigger one of the bullies turned. “Someone else is coming,” He warned, punching David off so that the 16-year-old landed next to Helge and pulling the other boy away. David stayed on the ground only realizing how tired and hurt his arms actually were from his encounter. The adrenaline started to subside and bleed out of the boy as his red blood dripped onto the brown dirt below him.

The smaller boy looked to see Ulrich in the distance, “Let’s get out of here!” He ran assuming that Ulrich was either a guard for Helge or maybe even David’s dad. Hearing the commotion, Ulrich turned to see two boys on the ground as two larger boys ran away. He looked devastated at the two lying on the ground. He started to jog over to them as David helped the young boy up and started to help with the bike.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Ulrich called to them. David stopped and turned to look at the strange man. He started to study him. Helge put his bag back on his bike and looked up at Ulrich as well. With both of the boys attention he asked, “Did someone just come by here? An old man in pajamas?”

Both boys shook their heads at him confused. Blood dripped from David’s nose, mouth, and knuckles causing Ulrich to wince. He looked at poor Helge and could smell what must have happened. The two boys reminded him of himself and Mads when they were younger and alive. He turned to Helge and told him, “You have to defend yourself, or they’ll never stop.”

“But they’re stronger than me,” Helge complained.

Ulrich walked closer and whispered, “Then just bite them next time. You can’t always rely on your brother to save you. You have to be able to do that yourself.”

As Ulrich walked away, David shook his head, “I’m not his brother. Just someone passing by!” He gave up trying to talk to the strange man in costume and turned to Helge, “He is right though. What’s your name, kid?”

“Helge,” The boy replied, holding out a hand for David to shake, “Helge Doppler.”

David nodded and grasped the boy’s hand to give him a firm handshake, “David. David Dahlheim.” He smiled and asked, “Need an escort? I’ve got nowhere I got to be.”

Helge nodded and walked with the boy to Claudia’s. Helge listened as David told Helge the most amazing and awe inspiring stories. Helge watched as David told the stories with such skill and passion. His eyes lit up while talking. It made the younger boy feel safe and understood.

Tannhaus explained to Jonas in 1986, “Imagine you’re standing in an infinitely large, dark room, shining a light to the left. The beam should continue in the same direction forever. There’s no reason to assume that it could come back at you from the right. But a wormhole changes the topology of space-time. Bends it. Nothing is where it belongs anymore.”

Ulrich, in 1953, jogged trying to find the older Helge in vain. He looked around confused as a woman pulled her car up next to him. Agnes walked out of the car and walked up to him, “Hello, can you help me?” She explained, “Excuse me. We’re not from around here. I’m looking for Killinger Strasse 61.”

“That’s where I live,” Ulrich replied automatically, “It’s down the road and then to the right.”

Agnes smiled and asked, “Are you Egon Tiedemann?”

Insulted, Ulrich replied, “No.”

Agnes shook her head, “How rude of me. My name is Agnes Nielsen.” She walked over to her grandson and held out a hand to him, “And this is my son Tronte. We’re new in Winden.”

Ulrich’s face contorted in confusion. He squinted and looked towards the car.

“Tronte,” The boy’s mother called to him, “Come and say hello to the nice man.”

Ulrich took a step back as he saw Tronte and heard the boy greet him. This must have been a mistake and he was more injured going through the caves than he thought. He asked, “You’re Tronte Nielsen?”

Tronte nodded.

Ulrich continued, “And you are Agnes Nielsen?”

“Yes,” the woman replied simply.

Ulrich looked at the book he had taken from the older Helge’s room and decided that would probably be the best place to stop next.

Tannhaus continued to explain to the older Jonas, “Imagine traveling back in time and meeting your father. Before he had you. Would you have already changed things with this encounter? And is it even possible to change things? Or is time an eternal beast that can’t be defeated?”

“What do you think,” the older Jonas asked, “Can we change the course of events?” He was desperate. He needed to know if he could fix this.

Tannhaus shook his head, “Any scientist would tell you no. Causal determinism forbids it. But it is human nature to believe that we play a role in our own lives. That our actions can change things. All my life, I’ve dreamed of traveling through time to see what was and what will be.”

Jonas shook his head, “You don’t dream that anymore?”

“Dreams change,” Tannhaus answered, “Other things become more important. My place is not in the yesterday or tomorrow. Rather, it’s right here and now.”

Ulrich walked into the younger Tannhaus’s shop. The younger man walked to see Ulrich there and asked, “Can I help you? Are you looking for a watch?”

Ulrich looked down at the book then looked up to ask, “Are you H.G. Tannhaus?”

Younger Tannhaus nodded while taking a step back.

Ulrich then held out the book and asked, “This H.G. Tannhaus?”

He shook his head in response seeing the older picture of himself, “No, not the same guy then, right?”

Ulrich looked at him seriously and asked, “What year is it?”

“1953,” Tannhaus responded, “Stalin is dead. England has a Queen and Nanga Parbat has been conquered. 1953 as it lives and breathes, yes.”

Ulrich shook his head, “It’s not possible. Impossible.”

“The number 33,” Stranger Jonas in 1986 commented, “you write that it could be the time difference between the planes of a three dimensional wormhole.”

“That’s just a theory,” The man mumbled as he continued working, “But perhaps it could be the crux of the matter.”

Claudia played with her dog until she heard the doorbell. There at her door stood Helge with a handsome boy she had never properly met before. She looked down at Helge and said, “You’re late. I told you before to be on time.” She held out her hand for her payment

Helge lied, “Claudia, I forgot the money at home. I’ll bring it over later.”

Claudia sighed as she held her dog close, “Fine. Come in then after you introduce me to this fine gentleman.” She watched as David had turned to walk away putting on his cap.

“David,” Helge told the older boy, “I think she wants to meet you.”

David turned just enough to see her and turned back to Helge, “Well you’ve told her my name now, huh Bud? No reason I need to scare a cute girl like that with my messed up face and hands.”

“I can handle it,” Claudia pouted and stomped over to the boy. She turned him around to see a big coy smile on David’s face.

“Well then,” He took off his cap and playfully bowed, “David Dahlheim. It’s nice to meet you…” He trailed off waiting for her.

Claudia rolled her eyes. She did not like this boy’s attitude as if everyone loved him. She decided she had to be polite enough since she was the one who started this conversation in the first place, “Claudia Tiedermann. Nevermind about you. You get out of here before I tell my dad that you were the one who beats up poor Helge.” 

David chuckled and waved, “See you later Helge. Stay strong pal!” He turned and walked to the bread store whistling his happy tune knowing full well he was probably going to be stopped by some concerned mother.

A little later, Claudia and Helge sat at the table while he tried to do some math problems. Helge had such a hard time with school that it practically bored Claudia to death. Soon there were two people at the door. Doris smiled as Claudia came in. She introduced her daughter to the new tenants that were going to be living with them.

The Tannhaus in 1953 offered Ulrich some water and asked if Ulrich would like him to call a doctor. The man shook his head. Soon his store bells started to ring again. He turned to see Ines and Jana walk in. He shook his head. Those two were inseparable weren’t they?

“I’m here to pick up my Dad’s watch. Is it ready,” Ines asked.

Tannhaus pulled out his orders and started to look through them trying to find the one labeled Kahnwald. He smiled, “Here you go, Ines. Purrs like a kitten again.”

Ines leaned over the counter and asked, “Did you hear what the police found this morning?”

“No,” Tannhaus replied, “But, I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

Ines started to gossip, “Jana heard it in the teachers’ room. They found two dead bodies on Doppler’s construction site.”

Upon hearing his mother’s name, Ulrich leaned forward and whispered to himself. He continued to listen in now. He really felt as though his was vindication.

“Two little boys. They were abducted by aliens,” Ines continued, “For experiments.”

Ulrich hurried to the girl and turned her around to face him, “What did you just say?”

Ines stared at him terrified, “About the aliens?”

“No, about the boys,” Ulrich grit his teeth.

“The police found two dead boys this morning,” She explained.

Ulrich looked at the rest of the people before running out. He left his coat in Tannhaus’s Shop.

Tronte and Claudia walked through the woods together with Helge trailing behind. Part of the young boy wished that he had asked David to stay with him or something so that he could have someone to talk to while Claudia doe eyed at the new boy who just moved in. When they got to the caves, Tronte stopped and stared at it as if something was calling to him.

“These are our caves,” Claudia explained, “We’re not allowed to go in very far. But sometimes we do it anyway. As a dare, you know?”

Tronte asked, “A dare? Sure.”

Claudia turned to see Helge standing near them, “Shouldn’t you be heading home by now? And you still owe me a mark.” She watched as he nodded then ushered Tronte to walk with her, “Come on. Let’s keep going.” She wrapped her arm around his and whispered just loud enough for Helge to hear, “We’re rid of him.”

Helge became angry. He looked at the dog Gretchen and tossed a stick for her to go fetch into the caves. He stood there for a moment waiting for the small poodle to come back out of the cave, but it did not. Instead, Helge ran from responsibility as Claudia tried to call for her dog.

Ulrich argued with the officers inside of the station. He was just trying to find his son, he tried to plead with the other officers. Egon walked back into the station and asked, “What’s going on here?”

“The two boys you found this morning, what did they look like,” Ulrich asked the man, “Did one have brown hair? 11 years old?”

Egon asked, “Why do you want to know?”

“My son…” Ulrich explained, “My son disappeared. All I want to know is if one of the dead kids is mine.” He started to break down, “His name is Mikkel. He’s 11 years old. Brown hair. Blue eyes. He’s about this tall,” Ulrich gestured, “I have a picture.” He reached to grab it out of his jacket when he realised he had left his coat at the shop.

Egon dismissed the other two officers and replied, “No. One’s pretty dark, brown eyes. Foreign. The other a bit taller, bright red hair.”

“You’re sure there wasn’t a third,” Ulrich asked.

“Have you reported your son missing,” Egon asked.

Ulrich walked back to Egon and asked, “Do you know someone by the name Helge Doppler?”

“Bernd Doppler’s son?”

“No. Old, about 70.”

“The only old one is Bernd Doppler.”

Ulrich started to back up. He started to put all the pieces together. He ran downstairs trying to find Helge.

“But you…” The older Tannhaus talked to the bearded Jonas, “Why are you so fascinated with time?”

Jonas answered honestly, “I want to understand if I can change it. If everything has a purpose, and if so… who decides about this purpose? Coincidence? God? Or is it us? Are we actually free in our actions? Or is it all created anew, in an eternally recurring cycle? And we can only obey the laws of nature and are nothing but slaves of space and time.”

Egon walked into his house, finally off of his shift. Doris greeted him at the door and helped him strip out of his over coat. She whispered to him about the new tenants being there in their house. Doris brought him over to meet Agnes himself.

“Your wife has told me many things about you,” She smiled at Doris and looked back at the man, “You have a very nice home.”

“Thank you,” Doris blushed.

Egon studied Agnes and asked, “Did you arrive today?” When Agnes nodded, Egon then asked, “May I ask why you came to Winden of all places?”

Doris tried to scold him, “Stop questioning her!” She turned to the other woman and explained, “My husband is a policeman. He can’t help being curious.” Doris laughed.

“My grandmother is from Winden,” Agnes told him, “She always gushed about this town.”

Egon nodded, “May I ask what your grandmother’s name was?”

Right as if on cue, Claudia ran in exasperated, “Gretchen is gone! In the woods.” She doubled over panting with the leash in her hands, “She was there and then she was gone.”

Egon strolled over to his daughter, “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Claudia took in a deep breath, “I was showing Tronte the woods, the path down into town. Gretchen was with us the whole time then she disappeared.”

As Claudia spoke, Doris started to look around worried. She felt as if something was off. “And where’s Helge,” she asked?

Claudia started to put together some pieces, “Maybe Gretchen is with Helge.”

Doris nodded, “Yes.”

Egon nodded, “That must be it.”

Doris gently touched his arm and asked, “Can you go and find out?”

Egon made a face then said, “I was going to see the Dopplers anyway.”

Doris stopped him before he left and said, “I invited Agnes and Tronte to dinner. Don’t be late again, Okay?”

Egon nodded and walked out of the house to go and try to find Gretchen for his beloved daughter.

“Time loops have a significant impact on the principle of causality,” Tannhaus lectured Jonas, “On the relationship of cause and effect. As long as a wormhole exists, there is a closed time loop. Inside it, everything is mutually dependent. The past doesn’t just influence the future. The future also influences the past. It’s like the question of the chicken or the egg. We can no longer say which of the two came first. Everything is interconnected.”

Ulrich snuck around the back of the Doppler house looking for the boy. Helge sat on a little stone monument in the backyard. He was admiring his collection of dead birds he had started collecting. Ulrich climbed down to meet with Helge.

The man asked the boy, “You’re Helge Doppler, aren’t you?”

Helge looked up at him, “Yeah, why?”

Ulrich pulled out the coin necklace and handed it to Helge, “Look at this.” Helge took it into his hand to study it. Ulrich sat down next to the boy and asked, “Have you ever seen that before?”

Helge shook his head, “No.” Ulrich swallowed hard. Was he really going to do what he thought he needed to do? Would he really go that far to save his own child? Helge looked up and asked him, “Did you find the man you’re looking for?”

“Yes,” Ulrich said, staring straight into the boy as if he was a predator that just trapped it’s prey. Yet he still held remorse.

“You look sad,” Helge stated.

“What’s in your box,” Ulrich asked the boy. Helge grabbed the box, opened it, and showed it to Ulrich. The man winced then asked, “Did you kill them?” When Helge didn’t respond, he asked again, “Hey. I asked if you killed them.”

Helge shook his head then looked up at the sky, “They just fall from the sky. They just plop down. I just collect them. They’re so beautiful when they’re dead.”

Ulrich looked down at his hands trying to figure out how to phrase what he was thinking. He looked up and said, “But you will kill something. The two boys at the construction site. My brother. My son. Not now, but in the future.” Ulrich started to play with his hands. He mumbled to himself, “But I can change it, you know. I can change the past.” Getting scared, Helge started to try to get up to run back into his house. Ulrich quickly grabbed him. “If you don’t exist, all of this won’t happen.” He carried the boy back.

Helge bit Ulrich’s hand just like he had taught him and tried to scramble away from the large man, but Ulrich was quicker and grabbed his ankle. Helge then kicked him in the face and started to run out towards the bunker. Ulrich closed on his tail. The boy had just made it to the door when Ulrich grabbed him and threw him down. Helge tried to grab a rock to defend himself, but Ulrich quickly took it from him. The man’s face wrinkled in agony at what he was going to do. His stomach churned as he held the rock up and started to bring it down straight on the side of Helge’s head.

Upset with what he had done, he dropped the rock and stared at the lifeless boy. He stood up and looked around. That was when he spotted the perfect place to put him. The bunker. 

Egon waited for Greta down in the entrance way. When she came down, they discussed the matter at hand about his family’s missing dog. Greta was insistent that the dog was not in her house because animals were not allowed inside. Egon left without too much arguing knowing that he really didn’t want to be on that side of Greta’s wrath.

After this encounter though, Greta walked out calling for her son. He didn’t respond quickly which was a bit uncommon for the boy. Then she saw it. The box of dead birds.

Ulrich dragged the limb boy’s body down into the bunker and closed it up.

There was a new feeling in Winden. As if everything was just starting in their tiny home town. 

Years later, the bunker was actually converted into the make believe bunker Helge had once pretended it to be. The old woman stared at all the connected pictures of the major players in Winden. Their pictures all next to each other to show how they had ages and connected like a web all together. She stared, hoping  to figure out Adam’s moves and how to get herself out of this Apocalypse and knot.

“All our lives are connected,” Tannhaus told Jonas, “One fate bound to another. Every one of our deeds is merely a response to a previous deed. Cause and effect. Nothing but an endless dance. Everything is connected to everything else.” The man unfolded his arms, “But that’s just a theory. I can’t shake the feeling that you’re actually here about something else.”

Jonas chuckled, “What if I told you that everything in your book was true? That time travel is possible. Your theory on the formation of wormholes through gravitational impulses is not just theory. There is such a hole. Here in Winden.” Jonas paused before continuing, “I come from the future.” He walked to his bag and started to open it to give the man his time machine. “I traveled through the wormhole to 1986,” He explained. He opened up his time machine and showed it to Tannhaus.

The man responded, “Where...Where did you get that?”

“It’s broken,” Jonas responded, “You have to fix it.”

Tannhaus laughed, “I can’t do that.”

Jonas pointed to his initials, “Aren’t those your initials? You built it.”

“This device,” Tannhaus asked, “enables you to travel through time and space? It can create a wormhole?”

Jonas stated to clear up Tannhaus’s questions, “It opens a portal through which one can travel 33 years into the past and 33 years into the future.”

“And the wormhole you traveled through,” he asked, “Did that device create it?”

Jonas shook his head, “No. A few months ago an incident at the nuclear power plant released a blast of energy. But the device is able to repeat the same process.”

“And you want to create another wormhole,” Tannhaus asked.

Jonas shook his head again, “No, I want to destroy the one that exists.”

Tannhaus pointed to the door. “I want you to leave now,” he said.

Jonas stared at him confused, “This town is like a festering wound. And we’re all a part of it. But I can change it. Your device can change it.”

“Leave,” Tannhaus demanded, “Leave now.”

Jonas closed his suitcase, grabbed his bag, and started to respectfully leave. He turned to give the man one last message, “I’ve seen the future. I know what will happen. I have to set things right again and you have to help me.”

Tannhaus sighed after the man walked out. He slowly went to his own secret project and pulled it out. He stared at it. Remembering just when he first started to work on it.

The young Tannhaus walked to Ulrich’s jacket and picked it up. He placed it on his coat rack. He then checked it, finding a cellphone, a device completely new to him and this time. The man studied it carefully before getting startled by the noise and dropping it to reveal the picture of the Nielsen’s and Annalise there on his background.

Ulrich sat distressed in front of the bunker having no idea the repercussions his actions were going to have.

[nikkzwrites]

Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 10

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:  6.6k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Back on the day of Mikkel’s disappearance, Peter walked down into his father’s bunker to compose himself. He was once again thinking of cheating on Charlotte. He couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t at all. He slapped himself as he just sat there trying to compose himself. Slowly a bright light over came the bunker. It seemed as if the fabric of reality was ripping itself apart. Then a dead Mads dropped to the ground. After trying to give the boy CPR, Peter grabbed the ID off the boy’s chest. When he saw it was Mads, he called Tronte immediately.

Tronte drove down to the bunker to find that Peter was indeed telling the truth. There on the ground lay a perfect angel-like boy dead. Tronte couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There was no way his son could be here after 33 years of having gone missing exactly as he once was. He started to cry over the small boy knowing in his heart that it was true.

The older Claudia walked down into the bunker and said, “Tronte. Peter. There’s a lot I have to explain. But first we need to take Mads to the place where he is to be found. We don’t have much time left.”

November 12, 2019, Jonas lay in his bed asleep. A small hand reached over his shoulder to make him turn to look at him. Instead of Annalise, there staring at him was Mikkel with a knowing smile.

A dream, Jonas shot up panicked. He turned his head to the side where Mikkel was to see Annalise’s back towards him. She was fully asleep. Her soft breaths mimicked almost like a sleeping cat’s content noise. He slowly uncovered himself and tucked Annalise back in. The sleeping girl turned in her sleep now to face him. She was curled up as if wanting to find comfort with anyone. She pulled the blankets up to her face in her sleep as if trying to cling to the boy that had just gotten out of bed. He brushed some stray hair out of her face then turned to grab his pill bottle. He sat there debating it before putting the pill he had taken out back in and tossing it into the trash. He panted as he looked at the supplies on his desk. He walked over to his desk and scribbled a quick note to Annalise about where he went, placed it on the nightstand for her to see right when she woke up, and left.

Martha paced around chewing on her nails not knowing really how her boyfriend was reacting to the news. She was crying. She didn’t know what to do. “I’m sorry,” the girl told Bartosz, “I really fucked up. Since Mikkel disappeared… I don’t recognize myself anymore.” She sobbed. She knew she was only going to him because Jonas and Annalise rejected her, but what else was she supposed to do in this situation. Her best friend was gone with the boy that held both of their hearts in his hands. It was so fucked up.

Bartosz stoically walked over to Martha and held her. He could feel her pain. He knew she didn’t love him, this was just all to try and have someone love her back and to go back to things before Jonas came back. The boy held her close knowing exactly how it felt to love someone who would never love him back. He pitied Martha. He too wished for everything she was, yet he could never let her know why his heart yearned for that simpler time. That it was also him that was suffering in all of this madness of teenaged love and feelings. “It doesn’t matter, okay,” he comforted her. He rubbed her back, “Everything’s okay. Everything’s okay.” He questioned to himself if he was actually comforting Martha or really more himself about this fucked up situation they all had landed in.

The nurse showed Charlotte into Helge’s room explaining that he’s never been gone this long and how normally he was back in just a couple of hours. They chatted about if Ulrich was there and the nurse explained that he was there on that Saturday, but no time since that she knew of. 

Helge slept in the deer scare in 1986. He slowly woke up knowing exactly what he had to do.

In 2019, Jonas stared at his grandmother as he asked, “Did you know?”

“Did I know what,” Ines asked the boy.

Jonas replied, “The boy from the future.” When Ines sighed, he knew. He then told her, “you knew.” He nodded a bit to himself then looked back at her.

Ines walked to a small box on her selves and sat back down. She opened it and handed Jonas back the letter that he had burned. This letter looked more pristine. She commented, “This is for you.” 

Jonas grabbed it and scanned through it. It was indeed the same exact letter. Just cleaner, more preserved. “That’s impossible,” the boy commented.

“What,” his grandmother asked him.

Jonas looked up at her and explained, “I burned it.” He stared down at it, then looked back up at his grandmother, “How long have you known?”

Ines looked down and shook her head, “I’ve always known, really.” Seeing Jonas just stare blankly at him, she explained, “When your father came to me, he was a disturbed little boy. I just thought he had an overactive imagination. That something bad must have happened to him, something that he couldn’t bear. He told me… he came from the future.” She started to weep, “I didn’t believe him.”

Jonas’s anger started to burn inside of him, “If you knew… Why didn’t you stop it?”

Ines shook her head at him, “I didn’t know he was going to take his own life.”

“But you could have saved Mikkel,” Jonas screamed as tears filled his eyes. He was so angry. He was angry at Ines, the world, but most of all himself for allowing all of this to continue to happen as well. “Now I have another grandma and she’s the principal of my school,” he started to angrily process through his emotions that he was hiding from himself, “Her husband, who’s fucking my mom, is looking for his son, who’s my father!” He huffed and finally growled out, “A few days ago, I kissed my aunt.” Jonas shook his head, “And the crazy thing is… there’s nothing wrong with any of them. They’re okay. I’m what’s wrong.” His tears finally started to fall.

Ines tried to comfort him, “I think things… no matter how abnormal or strange they seem to us, happen for a reason. Who are we to play God? What’s past is past. But you… live in the here and now. Who knows what the future will bring?”

Jonas looked at her and said, “I just want everything back to normal.”

This reminded Ines of Jonas’s father in 1986. Mikkel was sitting there explaining, “As a kid, all that Houdini dreamed of was becoming a magician.” He did his magic trick of moving an object from one cup to the other.

Nurse Ines, at the time, asked, “Do you have the same dream?”

“Yes,” Mikkel admitted, “But the magic I want to do is impossible.”

Ines asked, “Which is what?”

Mikkel sighed, “I just want to finally wake up.” He missed his home, his family, his Annalise. He missed Jonas. He missed everyone and his normal life. He just wanted to wake up from this living nightmare to find him cuddled up to the American girl he had come to love. With Martha snoring just a few feet from them. Annalise touching her lips and sneaking downstairs with him to go get him some candy that Katharina had stashed away from him so that he wouldn’t eat it all or eat it at inappropriate times. Magnus’s loud music abetting them in their heist of candy in the wee morning hours. Only to get caught by Ulrich… Who would then chuckle with a finger to his lips handing them both what they had sought. Mikkel just wanted that life back.

“Have you heard of Master Zhuang’s paradox,” Ines asked the boy. When Mikkel shook his head, Ines explained, “I dreamt I was a butterfly. Now I’ve woken up and no longer know if I’m a person who dreamed he’s a butterfly, or if I’m a butterfly who’s dreaming it’s a person.” Ines smiled and asked, “What are you? A person or a butterfly?”

Mikkel thought for a second then said, “Maybe I’m both.”

In 1953, they were taking Ulrich’s lineup photos. Egon introduced himself to the stange killer before him, “My name is Egon Tiedemann. Maybe we can just start with you telling me your name.”

Ulrich stared up at the man, “Tiedemann? Egon, yes… Of course.” Ulrich started to laugh. He shook his head and said in English, “My only aim is to take many lives. The more, the better I feel.”

“Are you a Satanist,” Egon asked, not breaking.

“A Satanist,” Ulrich asked. He shook his head, “No, I’m a cop.”

Egon’s eyebrow raised then lowered in humor, “a cop?”

Ulrich smiled, “It’s a song from the 80s. I can tell you now, you won’t like it.”

Egon instructed him, “Look into the camera.” When Ulrich did so, Egon asked, “Why did you kill the children?”

Ulrich shook his head, “I didn’t kill them. I tried to save them.”

“What did you do to Helge,” Egon asked.

Ulrich’s breath became uneven, “He’s still alive. He must be. Or the children wouldn’t be dead.”

“Where is Helge now,” Egon pressed Ulrich for answers, “Where is he?”

Ulrich shook his head, “I can change it all. I can change everything that’s going to happen, but you have to let me go.”

Egon commanded once more, “look into the camera.” When Ulrich tried to plead with him, Egon just repeated himself. Then asked, “You know what we do to child murdered here?”

“You stupid asshole,” Ulrich growled, “You’re just as small-minded as everyone else in this shitty town. Are you already drinking or will you start after your wife leaves you and you realize how pathetic and pitiful you are?”

Back in 2019, Jonas and Annalise finally made their way through the rain to school. Annalise removed her hand from his as they got closer and spotted Bartosz standing outside. She slowed down seeing Bartosz was upset. Her heart started to race. Oh no, Annalise thought as she saw Jonas just walking to go inside with no care.

Bartosz intersected Jonas’s route and said, “I waited for you. On Thursday.” He nodded towards Annalise letting the girl know he knew she was there.

“Yeah, fuck…” Jonas tried to cover for himself.

Bartosz shook his head, “What do you mean ‘fuck’? I didn’t tell anyone you were in the nuthouse. I lied for you. France, baguettes…Blah, blah, blah… Turns out you lie pretty well for yourself. You don’t even need me.” He motioned to Annalise then focused his attention back to Jonas, “Martha told me everything.”

Jonas shook his head, “It just happened. I really didn’t…”

“What didn’t you want,” Bartosz yelled, getting angry and shoving Jonas back. Was Jonas really going to just focus on kissing Martha? He wasn’t going to even at all think about the poor girl behind him that was now starting to try to get between them? Bartosz’s heart shattered on the pavement seeing Annalise trying to get into the middle of them to protect Jonas. He yelled, “To blow me off? To lie to me? To make out with my girlfriend? To lie to her best friend?” He shoved Jonas completely down this time, “You’re a sick piece of shit!”

Annalise, at this point, stood between him and Jonas. “Bartosz,” she yelled at him, “He fucked up, but leave him alone.”

Bartosz just pushed her out of the way into a wall to make sure she was safe from the two of them fighting, “He’s just like his dad Anna.”

Jonas couldn’t let the boy just insult his father like that. He stood and tried to tackle Bartosz only causing Bartosz to toss him back to the ground and start to wrestle him trying to make Jonas stop fighting back.

Annalise kept trying to yell at them to stop causing enough noise for Martha to come out of the school and yell at them as well, “What are you doing?!”

Jonas got up and pushed Bartosz down. He backed up closer to Annalise trying to keep himself out of this as much as possible now.

“Have you lost it,” Martha yelled.

Annalise yelled at Martha, “Tell your damned guard dog to back the fuck down.”

Martha looked at her shocked that Annalise suddenly had a fight in her and the first thing she had said to her ex best friend was a slew of curses and insults. Bartosz turned to Annalise, “Oh yeah! Of course! He lied to you too! Don’t you see that?!” He started to go up to the girl again. His heart pounding from trying to fight Jonas, “You know who really fucking found you drunk off your ass?!”

Annalise started to cry. She could smell his familiar cologne. He didn’t need to tell her, She knew he was going to yell it at her anyway though. She backed up towards the wall. Annalise shook her head. She whispered, “Bartosz, please.”

“Yeah! Me,” He yelled at her, “When will you get it through your thick head that he doesn’t give a shit about you?!” He poked at her head hard. 

Jonas and Martha’s eyes widened. They started to slowly realize there was more to this that the two of them had kept as well. Everyone had secrets in this town. Martha started to slowly try to intervene. She gently walked up to Annalise and asked, “You got drunk?” Martha’s eyes started to release tears as well.

Annalise nodded, turned to Bartosz, and yelled, “But he kissed me! I was just trying to go home. I hated Winden and everyone in this shithole!” She tried to push the taller boy away from her. 

Bartosz sneered and pushed her towards Jonas, “Well you didn’t try to fucking stop me. You made out with me!” He pushed her away from the wall knowing she wanted to be free. Even while angry and fighting, he was still looking out for the girl’s wants.

Jonas looked at Annalise. Suddenly this made a lot more sense. She must have not remembered who it was just some of the general events that happened. Annalise must have thought that he had kissed her that night and that’s why she had forgiven him so quickly. She thought… Jonas snapped himself away from his thoughts. He started to get in between Martha and Annalise trying to keep the other girl away from the one looking terrified.

“You kissed my boyfriend,” Martha roared, trying to rage at the girl only to get intervened by Jonas.

Annalise sobbed, “I was drunk. I forgot who it was.” She looked down. She started to let her anger take back over, “But you cheated on him first anyway! Why do you give a shit?! You are just like your bastard murderous father!” Bartosz started to get in between the two girls as well, but he kept Annalise from getting closer towards Martha and Jonas. Bartosz actually lifted the girl up and placed her down a bit farther away again to put distance between them.

She tried to fight against Jonas to get to Annalise. “At least, I’m not the reason my father’s fucking dead,” Martha yelled at the girl. 

Everything stopped. Everyone froze and looked at Annalise. It even seemed like for a moment that the rain itself had stopped. Martha clasped her hands over her mouth knowing she had gone too far. Her hands shook in front of her mouth. Annalise started to tremble. Her face contorted more into agony. The former track star turned and bolted into the forest again. The rain wasn’t helping her stay out of her thoughts. Her mind just kept flashing to the memories and she just wanted everything to stop.

“Annalise,” the three yelled after her. Everyone suddenly unfrozen at the same time. Bartosz tried to grab her, but she was too quick for his reflexes. Everything was also too wet so even if he could grab on, she could have slipped away from him anyway. 

Bartosz watched her go. His breathing unsteady. He turned to Jonas and roared, “This is all your fucking fault!” He punched Jonas this time, “Don’t ever come back here. Get the hell out of here!”

Jonas stood there for a second looking at Martha who was sobbing. He touched his lip to feel the warm blood drip onto his fingertips and down his chin. He turned and started to walk away hoping that Annalise was just going to run home or just hide out in the woods again until she was ready. He knew he wasn’t going to catch up and if anything all he could do was to go back. He needed to go back, get Mikkel, and bring him back. Bartosz was right, this was all his fault so now he needed to fix it.

Bartosz watched Jonas walk away calmly and growled. Bartosz turned and took off after Annalise trying hard to try and get to her before anyone else did. Somewhere in his heart, he knew this was his fault too. If he were just honest himself, she wouldn’t have had to have her heart dropped on the cement and crushed like that in front of all of them. She could have just been in his arms, safe and sound. “Annalise,” He screamed trying to have her hear him. He panted and called, “Annalise, please! Come back! Martha didn’t mean it!” Annalise could have just been in his arms, huddled up in his jacket, with her giant radiate smile on her face instead of running through the trees and woods, alone, scared, and crying.

The door to the 1986 Tannhaus shop opened and closed. There stood the older Jonas. He knew he didn’t have that much time left to try to get to the girl before any of the other options did. He knew that if she were with him, she would be safe and maybe actually prevent her fate that he accidentally had caused again. He kicked himself for being so weak to her doe eye charms and buying her alcohol that night. The Stranger Jonas had tried to keep a hold of her, but she slipped away from him and disappeared before he could catch her again. He shook his head at that memory and walked over to the man. He looked at the machine and commented, “You repaired it.”

Tannhaus looked up at the man and pointed to one of them, “That one’s yours.” He pointed at the one in front of himself and said, “And this one’s mine. I built it many years ago. It’s the same device, but in different condition. You see. It’s as if one could look at the beginning and end of something at the same time. Wait a moment.” Tannhaus squeezed past him to go grab the cellphone he had been holding onto. “This thing here,” Tannhaus explained, “it sends a kind of signal. An electromagnetic impulse. As if it were trying to communicate with something. And look at this.” Tannhaus turned on his machine to demonstrate, “this part has never moved. It was included in the blueprint, but I never knew what it was for. This thing communicates with the device. It’s not just the past that influences the future. The future also influences the past. You see. If you hadn’t shown me what the device looks like in the future, I wouldn’t have been able to build it. A paradox. These openings… didn’t exist either. I have no idea what their purpose is.”

Jonas opened up a small vial and put in a small tube into the machine, “It’s Cs-137. A radioactive isotope of Cesium.” Then started to pack it up so that way he could then use it to get back to try and get her. He knew where she was hiding so that gave him a bit of edge, but that also gave someone else the edge as well. He needed to protect her from her fate. All would be for nothing if he couldn’t stop this at least.

Tannhaus looked up, “The device generates a Higgs field. It increases the mass of the Cesium. An electromagnetic impulse causes it to implode into a black hole. The same thing must have happened during the nuclear power plant incident.”

Jonas looked up and asked, “Why did you decide to help me after all?”

“Why,” Tannhaus repeated back at Jonas, “That’s a big word.” The man sat back down in his chair to continue his work, “Why do we decide for one thing and against another?” Tannhaus continued not seeing Jonas nearly crying over that set of words, “But does it matter whether the decision is based upon the consequence of a series of casual links? Or whether it stems from an undefined feeling deep inside me? That perhaps everything in my life boils down to this one moment. That I’m part of a puzzle. One that I can neither understand nor influence. Will you tell me… what the future’s like?”

Jonas stared at the man and explained, “I’m hoping that by tomorrow, it’ll already be different from today.” He turned and walked out the door leaving Tannhaus there.

In 2019, Charlotte called Peter. When he answered, she asked, “Your father was kidnapped as a kid, right? Do you remember when exactly?”

Peter blanked. He wondered if he even knew that information to begin with. He asked her, “Can we talk? I…I have to tell you something.”

Charlotte then asked, “When exactly? ‘53? ‘54?”

Peter shook his head, “Fall of ‘53.”

Charlotte nodded to herself, “1953, exactly 66 years ago. Two times 33. It’s all connected.” 

Peter tried to interrupt, “Listen, Charlotte, I… I have to talk to you.”

Charlotte put on her seatbelt, “Later, okay? I’ve got to go.” Charlotte then hung up.

In 1986, the middle aged Helge drove up to his cabin. When he walked up, he saw an old man sitting there. “Can I help you,” he asked, “Were you looking for me?”

The older Helge looked at his younger self. “You have to stop,” he said.

“What do I have to stop,” asked Helge.

The older and wiser Helge replied, “He’s using you. All of his promises are lies. You will never meet David again.”

The younger Helge shook his head, “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.”

The older one repeated the phrase back at him while taking off his beanie to reveal his scar, “I’ve said that before.” He laughed and shook his head, “Everything Noah says is a lie. He’s not the chosen one. You’re not the chosen one. He doesn’t want to save the world from evil. He is evil. He probably killed David when David didn’t want to go through with this.” The older Helge held his younger self, “Today is the day. The beginning and the end. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

The younger Helge pulled away and ran while the older one called after him begging for him to stop. He then realized what he had to do. The old Helge walked away.

2019, Jonas walked into his dad’s studio. He looked around first for Annalise. She was still not home yet. Jonas looked up at the support beam contemplating for a moment before walking downstairs one more.

Hannah looked up at her son and saw his wound. Worried she asked, “What happened to you?” She was surprised that Annalise wasn’t with him. Normally if they skipped school, the two would be together as if held by glue. Hannah stood up and rushed to Jonas.

“I got into a fight,” Jonas explained.

Hannah’s face scrunched, “what?” Her son had never done this before in his life. This was so unlike her Jonas. “With whom,” She asked, caressing his face. Part of her wandered if that’s why Annalise wasn’t with him.

Jonas stared at her, “It doesn’t matter.”

Hannah took her hand away and asked, “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?”

Jonas walked over to her and held his mother. He closed his eyes as his arms wrapped around her. He tried to imagine him hugging all of the people he cared about in his arms at that moment. Bartosz, Martha, Mikkel, Annalise… They all deserved to hear this. He whispered to his mother, “Everything will be fine.” He soon pulled away and said, “I left something at school and I still need to find Annalise. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine, Mom.” He forced a small smile before leaving Hannah standing there confused and worried.

Down in the bunker, Peter and Tronte talked. They spoke of Claudia and if they believed her. They could feel everything was going to start happening very soon. Peter was worried because half of the book's pages were missing. He wondered if Claudia was hiding this from them.

In 1986, Helge confronted Noah about what happened. Noah calmly told Helge a story, “Years ago, I was still a little boy. A stranger came to us. He looked as if he’s been in a war. Didn’t talk much. There was this sadness in his eyes. The kind you see sometimes in those who want to die, but life wouldn’t let him.” At this same time, Jonas crossed the police line to go to the cavern that would lead to 1986. Noah continued, “He took a room in our house. The bedroom right next to mine. And… Sometimes I heard him talk in his sleep. Confused words. But one night, he was suddenly very clear. He stood in the hallway, his eyes wide open and said, ‘Nothing is in vain. Not a single breath. Not a single step, not a single word. Not pain. An eternal miracle of the One.’ I didn’t understand any of his words. Only years later, when I felt the pain, did I understand what he meant. That none of the horrible things that befall us should be in vain. That they make us what we are. That they give us our strength. Your pain made you who you are, Helge. But it no longer has power over you.”

Helge nodded in understanding then asked, “Who is next?”

Noah opened his book and instructed Helge on to where to find their next target, Jonas Kahnwald.

Jonas walked out the tunnel and started to walk to the hospital. His plan was simple. Grab Mikkel, set time on the correct path, done. 

The social worker turned to Ines and comforted her, “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry. You can always come and visit him.” She turned to Mikkel and said, “I’m taking you to your new home. There are lots of other children there.”

Mikkel didn’t respond and Ines walked her out. Ines looked at the social worker and said, “You know, I’ve made the decision. I want to adopt him and to take provisional custody of him during the adoption procedure... ”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy,” the worker tried to argue.

Ines shook her head, “I have references. I own a home. I know it may seem rash, but it’s not. The boy likes me. He trusts me. I’m the only person he lets close to him, and… And I like him too.”

Charlotte sat in the forest with her dead bird investigating it. A strange boy in a yellow coat approached and asked what day it was. “The 12th,” She shook her head. When he asked for the year, Charlotte looked at him more confused, “1986.” He then just paced forward as if on a mission. She turned and asked, “Are you from here?” The boy turned and shook his head. Charlotte then asked, “What are you doing here?”

Jonas answered, “Bringing someone back from the dead.”

“How does that work,” she asked him curious.

Jonas sighed, “It’s hard to explain.” He smiled.

Charlotte looked down at the birds, “Can you bring these back?”

Jonas shook his head, “No, you have to find them when they're younger.”

Charlotte looked up at him and said, “But then they’re not dead yet.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that they will die,” he explained.

She looked down at the birds then back at him, “You’re crazy.”

Jonas slightly smiled before turning away to get back to his original plan, “Maybe.”

In 2019, Charlotte was investigating Helge. There on page five in the records, she saw Ulrich staring straight at her. 

Ulrich, still stuck in 1953, was having a rough time while in prison. They kept asking him about Helge and beating him when he wouldn’t tell them.

Our yellow coat wearing Jonas, in 1986, roamed through the halls of the hospital trying to get to Mikkel’s room.

Annalise, in 2019, curled up in the church. Something she had learned from her grandfather that was a pretty safe place not to be found. She tried to think back to how he told her to get to a special hiding place. She slowly followed his instructions to find a burnt to a crisp office. The girl could feel it’s raw energy and safety. She curled up in the corner and kept herself there. Annalise shivered from the cold. She spotted a fireplace. She looked around trying to find something to light it.

When Jonas finally got to Mikkel’s room, there sat Noah reading to the boy. Mikkel was fast asleep. Noah looked up at him. “Who are you,” Jonas asked. Noah held a finger up to his mouth and shushed him before Helge popped out from behind the door and started to smother him with a cloth covered in chloroform.

Jonas slowly woke up in a blue room with foxes and hedgehogs. There was a large chair in the middle of the room. He heard a noise from outside the door and the slot opened. A familiar face looked through and tried to comfort him, “There’s no need to be afraid.”

“Hey,” Jonas cried at him. He slammed himself against the door, “What’s this supposed to be? What is this? Why did you lock me in here?”

The older Jonas looked at his younger self, “It wasn’t me. It was Noah.”

“Who’s Noah,” our Jonas asked, “Where am I? What is this?”

The older Jonas explained, “This is a kind of prototype of a time machine. You’re the guinea pig. The passage in the cave lies directly under this bunker. If opened, the energy flows through this room. But it needs to be increased. No DeLorean. No hissing or steam. The first time machine is a bunker with four walls. But it still doesn’t quite work.”

“Let me out,” Jonas plead.

The Stranger Jonas shook his head, “I can’t. It’s the only way for things to be normal again.”

Jonas asked, “Who are you?”

“You don’t know,” he asked. He started at him, “The letter, you burned it. Yet it still exists. You’ll carry that letter for almost 33 years before you pass it on. To yourself.”

The younger Jonas started to cry realizing that he was indeed bigger in this than he could have ever imagined at first. He started to understand that there was no easy fix for his life. 

“I am you,” The Stranger Jonas told his younger self, “My name is Jonas Kahnwald. I sent the letter to you. Or should I say, to me. Everything you’re experiencing, I’ve already experienced.” He backed away from the door and from his younger self starting to break down, “I burned the letter, just like you. I got it back from our grandmother. I’ve already had this conversation. But I was on the other side then. We think we’re free, but we’re not. We follow the same old path. Again and Again.”

The younger Jonas slammed against the door, “That’s crazy! It doesn’t make any sense! You can decide to let me go now. Come on, let me out!”

The older self stared at him. His heart broke again watching himself throw himself against the wall, “I thought it was crazy for a long time. That I’m crazy. But I can’t let you out because then you won’t become what I am today. If I now change my past, I will change who I am right now. And I won’t be able to destroy the hole once and for all.” He stared at his younger self, “Why did you kiss Martha? Why didn’t you run after Annalise? We are not free in what we do, because we are not free in what we want. We can’t overcome what’s deep within us.”

Our Jonas sobbed, “Stop it.” He hated being faced with this. He knew in his heart that it was true. That all of what the older him was saying had to be true, “Stop.” He thought of the two girls in agony. “Please stop,” he begged, “I have to bring Mikkel back.” The older Jonas sighed at his younger self’s ignorance. But the younger continued, “I want everything to go back to normal. I want all this sick shit to stop!”

“You still do,” The Stranger Jonas tried to comfort himself, “33 years later. I still want that. But Mikkel… Our father is just a small part of the sprawling sickness. I’ve seen things that n one should ever see. I’m sorry.” He closed the slot and left.

The younger Jonas started to panic again.

Helge drove through the dark and rainy night back home only to be hit by a car. The younger Helge exited his vehicle having magically survived. He limped to the other car to see the dead limp body of his older self sitting there.

Charlotte was in her office in 2019 right on the cusp of everything. She looked down at the phone to see that her husband had texted her talking about meeting him in the bunker.

Noah sat in his car. “Everything is about to begin,” He told Bartosz, “The older Jonas will destroy the hole, but… he doesn’t realize that he will be the one to trigger its existence. A paradox. The cesium in his useless machine won’t destroy the hole forever. It’s what creates it in the first place. He thinks he’s the savior.” He turned to the boy once more, “But Claudia lied to him. Most people are nothing but pawns on a chessboard. Led by an unknown hand. Their lives exist only to be sacrificed for a higher goal. Jonas, Mikkel, the children, they’re nothing but unfortunate yet necessary chess moves in an eternal war between good and evil. There are two groups out there fighting over control of time travel. Light and Shadow. We belong to the light. Don’t forget that.” Bartosz shrunk in his seat as Noah explained, “Even though some of what we do is of a dark nature. But no victory is ever won without sacrifice. As long as we’re in this time loop we who know have to make sure that every step is repeated exactly as it was before. No matter how inhumane it seems to us. No matter what sacrifices it demands of us. But believe me, the others are the ones who are truly inhumane. They have lost all humanity. They belong to the shadow. Your grandmother, Claudia, belongs to the shadow. Never trust her. No matter what she says. Jonas trusted her before and he will trust her again. Jonas thinks he will change everything… but he’s just her puppet. He doesn’t deserve any better.” Noah chuckled looking down at his book and handing it to Bartosz. “Time is an infinite field. Millions and millions of interlocking wheels. We have to be patient to be victorious. But our time will come. We will free humanity from its immaturity. From its pain. But you must be strong. Can you do that?”

Bartosz looked out the window knowing exactly what he wanted, “Yes.”

Noah checked his watch. “It’s time.”

The older Jonas crawled through the tunnels with his time machine under his arm. He sat inside and activated the machine. He looked next to him to see his father covered in the black goop next to him. 

Mikkel smiled at his new home and Ines lifted him up to bring her new son inside of his house. The boy clinged onto his new mother. Charlotte walked down into the bunker to be greeted by her husband. While Katharina stared at her phone and tried to call her husband not knowing it was all in vain because he was getting beat up in a prison 66 years away from home. The middle aged Tannhaus and Claudia just starting to work on their new knowledge of time travel. Both sets of the Doppler families held onto each other as they felt Winden start to shake. Hannah stared at the gun on her table as Doris and Agnes shared a glass of whiskey. Tronte and Janna held onto each other. Magnus and Franziska sat up from the movie they were watching while cuddled on the couch together seeing an old 1986 candy commercial. Aleksander and Regina hopped out of their car to look at the giant black dome starting to encase the forest. Hannah lifted the gun and pointed it towards the wall as the older Nielsen couple held onto each other. The older Claudia held out her hands and felt the snow start to fall once more. 

Helge and Jonas both felt the shaking. Then a bright light over took both of them. There in the middle of the room, almost like a mirror looking in to see the other one in a different place in time. Slowly they approached and touched fingers suddenly changing positions. Now Helge was in the blue room and Jonas was in the dark bunker. But something seemed off. This didn’t look to be the same from where Helge left. He stared at the pictures on the wall all linked together. He then ran out of the bunker to investigate.

It was snowing. He looked around and saw all the destruction. There before him was the aftermath of the Apocalypse. It wasn’t long before he ran into a band of people on a military styled truck. They called to him to put his hands up, which Jonas quickly complied scared of what was going to happen. He then was forced onto the ground. He started to ask questions wondering what was going on. Then a drone flew overhead. When he looked back to the girl with a scar, she simply told him, “Welcome to the future.” Then hit him with the butt of her rifle.

Annalise felt the ground shake. She curled up in her corner until she heard a strange noise. She looked up as a shining light illuminated her and the old room. She started to shake, “Jonas?” Whenever she asked she seemed to calm. Then slowly her face changed from one of confusion and terror to one of overwhelming joy and fondness. As if she was seeing a long lost friend, she started to cry happily, “Oh, Adam. You’re finally here.” She reached towards the light only to be sucked in.

[nikkzwrites]

Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 4

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:  6.7k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter][Next Chapter]

Black holes are considered to be the hellmouths of the universe. Those who fall inside disappear. Forever. But whereto? What lies behind a black hole? Along with things, do space and time also vanish there? Or would space and time be tied together and be part of an endless cycle? What if everything that came from the past were influenced by the future?

Helge sat in his tree of life chair repeating, “Tick-tock. Tick-tock.” The old man with a damaged eye trying to come to terms with the man standing in the entrance of the caves looking out into Winden.

The forest was still. The town was still until Franziska stormed out of her room. “That sneaky little bitch,” she whispered to herself before she screamed across the house, “Ellie! Where’s my lipstick?!”

This caused both Charlotte and Peter to emerge from their rooms across from each other. They awkwardly greeted each other. Peter explained he was going to stop to see Helge before work. Charlotte nodded and agreed to take Elisabeth to school in that case. Then they both walked to follow their elder daughter to try and break up the fight.

Annalise tossed and turned in her bed. She was still having nightmares, but at least she was trying to sleep on her own. She couldn’t stop getting the images of Mikkel, Erik, the boy the found, and her father out of her head. Everything kept feeling connected and she had no idea why, but her nightmares kept stringing them together in each exaggerated way after the next. Her phone had other plans for her though and started to go off with notifications. Annalise shot up in a cold sweat and panted. She turned slowly to her phone and stared at it. She slowly picked it up to reveal that Bartosz was bothering her about Martha again. 

‘I know you are probably shoving some Kahnwald sausage down your throat, but don’t let that be the reason you don’t reach out to Martha. She definitely probably needs you.’ The boy had texted her.

Annalise’s nose scrunched at his lack of decency. She silently thanked him for waking her up from her horrible sleep though. She texted her friend’s boyfriend back with a slight tint of pink across her cheeks, ‘Please don’t assume inappropriate things about me.’ She stood up though and started to get ready for the day.

Jonas stared at the maps of the caves of Winden. It lay there sprawled on his crossed legs. ‘Where is the crossing?’ kept calling to him. He had no idea what this meant, but a part of him felt as though this was very familiar. He decided to fold up the map and put it into his bag.

Elisabeth was reading an astronomy book when her sister yelled at her, “There you are, you stupid cow!” Franziska ripped the book away from her and yelled while signing, “Where is my red lipstick?”

Elisabeth signed back, “I don’t have your stupid lipstick. I’m only eight. I don’t use lipstick.”

Franziska argued, “You may be able to fool those two upstairs with your puppy dog eyes and your pitiful deaf-and-dumb act, but I don’t buy it.”

A coy smile grew on the younger sister’s face as their mother walked in. Charlotte looked to Elisabeth and asked, “Have you packed your backpack? I’ll drive you.” She turned to her older daughter and asked, “Shall I take you too?”

“Am I a baby or what?” Franziska snarked. 

Elisabeth signed to her mother, “Because of Mikkel?”

“Yes, because of Mikkel,” the mother signed back.

Elisabeth asked, “Do you know who stole him?”

Charlotte replied, “I won’t discuss police work with you.”

“I don’t like Mikkel,” Elisabeth signed to her mother, “He’s a show-off and a jerk. I don’t really care if he ever comes back.” She crossed her arms and fell back more into the sofa.

Hannah threw her phone down as she smoked in the kitchen. Her legs tucked inside of her red sweater. She smiled seeing Jonas come down the stairs, “Hey!” She cheerfully greeted her son. Annalise had left a little earlier so Hannah was grateful for this time alone with Jonas. “Where are you going,” she asked.

“To school,” Jonas lied.

Hannah shrugged and offered, “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I can call them.” 

“I’m fine,” Jonas told his mother.

Hannah started to rock herself holding in tears, “Jonas?” She then tried to offer, “We could also do something nice together. Just the two of us.”

Jonas stared at his mother. It was such a tempting offer. He rarely had got the opportunity where he could just spend time with her. “Mom,” He complained. He hated this feeling of having to decline the offer, but he needed to see about the map he had found in his father’s studio.

“Okay,” Hannah let the subject drop and allowed him to leave.

Peter sat next to his father in his retirement home. Helge was acting quite strangely. He called his father, “Dad? You can’t keep walking out.” 

“I have to tell him,” Helge muttered to himself.

Peter sighed and asked, “Tell who what?”

Helge just repeated, “I have to tell him. It has to stop. It has to stop. It has to...”

Peter reached out his hands and clasped them around his father’s shaking ones. He felt so guilty, but he pushed a little bit and asked, “What has to stop?”

“Tick-Tock,” Helge replied, “Tick-Tock.” Peter pulled away from his father and sighed. He placed his hands in his lap and stared at them. Helge slowly reached out his hand to caress his son’s cheek, “Don’t be sad.”

Jonas walked through the woods trying to get to the caves. He wanted to have enough time where no one would suspect anything so he walked quickly. A sweet almost like a lullaby of a song stopped him though. Someone was singing. He stood there frozen in terror as he just listened to the melodic tune. It was a feminine voice. It was singing in English. He sighed realizing who it was.

Annalise sat on a large rock humming and singing to herself. With the birds chirping all around, she decided she was going to try and sing hoping that Mikkel would hear it and follow it back to her. She closed her eyes as she started, 

“Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you

Why do stars fall down from the sky

Every time you walk by?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.”

Leaves crutched and scurried away causing Annalise to stop. She looked towards the noise to see Jonas standing there. Jonas looked at the girl. He knew this wasn’t too far into the sun’s rise, but for some reason, he felt as though the sun was making its way back down to go to sleep. The dewy morning light glistened off of her. He felt as if he had walked into a scene where a guardian angel was trying their best to look after their chosen human. The light from above also cast a darling halo on her hair. Her tender tears rolled down her beautiful face and reflected the distilled light from the canopy of leaves above. Jonas swallowed his hitched breath and asked, “Are you okay?”

Annalise slowly raised her hand to touch her cheek suddenly understanding that she was crying. She swallowed and nodded, “Yeah… I’m just…” She stared up at the leaves above them for a second and said, “I was just singing a song my Bube sang to my Zayde who sang it to my mom who sang it to my dad who sang it to me. It’s one of my favorite songs.”

“Do…” Jonas paused and tried to gain his courage back up again, “Do you want to continue?” He sat down next to the rock so that way they could look up at the beams of sunlight together. His head basically being near her lap level due to the height of the rock.

Annalise nodded and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes again as she started to sing once more.

“On the day that you were born the angels got together

And decided to create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold And starlight in your eyes of blue.”

Jonas’s eyes closed as he listened to her sing. Her family had the right song to pass down. He leaned his head against the rock.

While singing, Annalise ended up readjusting on the rock to lay on her stomach. She held herself up with her elbows and kicked her legs up into the air, her ankles hooked together, to let them sway with her. Her hands and face not too far from the blond’s head now.

“That is why all the girls in town

Follow you all around

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you”

Annalise slowly absentmindedly gently combing her fingers through the boy’s sand-colored hair. Her eyes closed allowing her heartache about losing Mikkel and her father flow through her crying. Jonas let the tune envelop him and soon found himself humming along. His breathing slowed as a small smile crept across his face. Lost in the moment with each other in the stillness of the forest.

“On the day that you were born the angels got together

And decided to create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold And starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town

Follow you all around

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.”

Jonas slowly found his voice and sang along with the girl trying his best to not seem too far off. He was about a beat behind, but he still tried and actually got the repeat.

“Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.”

The two sat in quiet while Annalise pulled her hand away from playing with his hair. She turned over onto her back and looked up at the sparkling tree cover around them. Jonas sighed contently. Longing for her contact once more, he leaned his head against the top of her head. It wasn’t too long before he heard the whimpering of Annalise’s soft sobs. He slowly stood up and wiped her tears from her face, “Hey… Annalise.” He waited until she looked at him. Jonas smiled gently and said, “You should do that more often?”

Annalise laughed. She looked up at him with a small smile, “Sing or cry?”

Jonas shrugged, “Both?” He wiped her cheeks with his thumbs once more. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. He left it there as he whispered, “I need to go. Will you be okay?”

Annalise swallowed her sorrow and nodded against his forehead. A small squeaked voice replied to him, “Sure. Yeah.”

Jonas asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” She smiled gently at him and started laughing a little bit.

Jonas pulled away gently and slowly, “What?”

Annalise’s eyes filled with tears, but she wiped them away as she explained, “I used to do the same thing to Mikkel when he was upset because my Zayde and mother did it to me.”

Jonas chuckled and said, “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah,” Annalise waved him off as he walked back going to the caves once more.

Jonas took the map out of his bag as soon as he was out of sight of Annalise and made his way to the cave. He looked around now more paranoid hoping that no one had followed him. He looked down at the map then peered upwards once more. He pulled the police line up and walked into it unknowingly being watched by the bearded stranger.

The man looked down at his watch then looked back up towards the caves.

Charlotte knelt in front of her daughter and explained that she was going to be the one to pick her up after school. She noticed her daughter trying to look past her at another young boy. She looked at Elisabeth and asked, “Who’s he?”

“Yasin,” Elisabeth replied, “We’re dating.”

Charlotte stood up a little surprised at what her eight-year-old was telling her, “You are doing what?”

Elisabeth rolled her eyes thinking to herself that she shouldn’t have to explain what that meant to her mother, “Yasin is my boyfriend. That’s how you say it nowadays.”

“Well then…” Charlotte started.

Elisabeth smiled and pulled her mother’s forehead against her own and held Charolette there for a moment before kissing her head and running to meet up with the boy.

“A web of symbols and references runs through the novel,” the professor lectured his literature class. Franziska sat in the front doodling instead of taking notes. “The ‘sycamores by the sea’ are an example of symbolism. A special form of Goethe’s work is what we call doubling. The characters consciously and unconsciously…”

The door opened interrupting the lecture. Magnus walked in and stared at Franziska for a second before moving to take the seat behind her.

“Magnus, this isn’t your class,” the professor scolded.

Magnus stared at him and commented, “Won’t you continue?”

“Where was I…” The instructor continued as Franziska turned to look at the boy behind her, “Symmetry is a special kind of doubling. The repetition is mirrored along a central axis. So the repetition begins at an imaginary center point and branches off in two opposing directions. There are several encrypted references to later events in the novel.” Franziska looked down at her phone to check the time and saw a message there. “Ottilie’s starvation, for example, is referenced in the third chapter part one, as her “excessive abstemiousness in eating and drinking.” This reference is again repeated later.”

Franziska stood up and explained, “I have to go to the bathroom.” The teacher excused her. Franziska hurried out the door and put on her bag looking back at Magnus.

Magnus waited until she was completely out the door before he started to follow her.

The medical examiner opened up the bird after a few notes. She asked Charolette about the boy that they had recently found.

“Mikkel,” Charlotte asked before replying confused by the other woman’s intention, “Disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

“No, not Mikkel,” She clarified, “The dead boy.”

“Oh. Yes,” Charlotte realized, “No. We ran everything through the missing persons database. No match.”

The examiner then asked if everything as alright with her police chief. 

Charlotte said yes at first then recanted. She then explained how all of this felt exactly as it did 33 years ago.

Jonas sat in the dark with his flashlight looking at his map. He looked up at one of the openings and decided he should try and take that one. He walked through terrified as if something was going to jump out at him like in those campy horror movies they always played on Halloween. He looked back down and checked his map again before continuing on.

Charlotte walked through the station when Woller stopped her. They had a very short conversation about trying to find out the boy’s identity and to start checking the database for a longer period of time than they initially had checked. He did give her a small clue about a red soil that must have come from the scene of the crime before Charolette had stormed off.

Katharina sat in her son’s room. She was trying to hold herself together and her family together. She watched as Ulrich finally woke up from sleeping in Mikkel’s bed. He blinked and looked around.

“What time is it,” Ulrich asked panicked.

“Just past ten,” Katharina replied. As Ulrich sat up Katharina told her husband, “Charlotte called. She still doesn’t have a search warrant for the power plant.” Katharina sighed and told her husband, “It’s been nearly 36 hours, Ulrich.” She had been an officer’s wife long enough to know the time span of these sorts of incidents.

Ulrich stood up and stormed out of his son’s room.

Martha looked to Annalise and whispered, “Tomorrow is my dress rehearsal, Lise.”

Annalise smiled at her friend and asked, “Do you want me to go?”

“Yeah,” Martha nodded, “I’ve been working really hard on it and I just want…” She sighed and asked, “May you come to watch me?”

Annalise’s brow scrunched up in confusion, “Yeah.” She whispered noticing that their professor was starting to catch on, “I am here to support you through whatever.”

Martha nodded and asked, “Can you move back home? The house just feels too empty without you there too.”

Annalise smiled, “Of course.” She clasped her hands around her friends and used her thumb to stroke her friend’s hand. She interlaced her fingers with Martha’s and let it hang down. 

Franziska walked through the forest to make well on her deal with Benni. She walked vert deliberately through going to the train tracks. She could feel herself being watched, but could not be able to find the person responsible. Magnus walked on the higher part of the land mirroring the way she walked to keep a close eye on her. This wasn’t an uncommon practice for him. Being the eldest of two other siblings plus a host to a new foreign friend, this skill was honed in with near perfection. He watched as Franziska bent down and took a package from a tin that was covered with leaves. Franziska gently placed the tin back and recovered it.

Ulrich walked up to the fence of the nuclear power plant determined to have his son back. He had his bolt cutter hidden with a drop blanket so that the cameras didn’t catch him and alert the guards immediately.

Jonas continued his way through the caves. His mouth was wide with awe and wonder. When he realized he had reached a dead-end, he cursed to himself. He checked his map again to see what he was missing.

Helge sat and repeated to himself, “The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning.” His eyes closed as he repeated the phrase. He, then, heard two voices of nurses talking about having found a boy in the woods.

Annalise forced a smile as she watched Martha go to her next class. This was one of the ones they actually didn’t share. She walked into the class to see Bartosz smirk and motion for her to sit with him. The girl rolled her eyes but sat next to him anyway, “What Bartosz?” 

He laughed and pulled a dead leaf from the girl’s hair. Annalise squinted, had she had that the entire time and no one else noticed? Bartosz leaned on his elbow looking at her. “I was wondering if you talked to Martha today,” He chuckled.

“Yeah,” Annalise nodded, “But what am I? My best friend’s keeper? You are getting really creepy about this.” She turned to face forward.

Bartosz’s face dropped. His heart sank knowing that she was right. He was acting a bit obsessive, but no one was talking to him since the accident. Martha had Magnus, Magnus had Franziska and vise visa, Jonas and Annalise also had each other. Why should he be left out? His chair squeaked as he leaned over to her. He hoarsely breathed into her ear, “Is it wrong that I want someone, the person I am supposed to have this with, to share my feelings? To hold them while we watch the world crumble around us?”

Annalise turned to look at the boy in surprise. She could understand that feeling on some level. A tightness clenched her chest. Maybe she should talk to Jonas when they got home to try and get him to spend time with the boy that was supposedly his best friend.

Franziska made her way back into the school. She walked into the locker room, put away the money in her bag, and changed to get ready for her class. 

Jonas, having given up for the day, walked back to his bike. He noticed something strange about it. He knelt down and pulled a red string off of the handlebar. Two ends dangled from a knot about halfway up the loop. The boy stood up and started to look around anxiously trying to find a suspect to who may have left this. 

Magnus followed the girl back into the school. He watched as she exercised in her dance class. He tried to formulate what he was going to tell her.

After a series of clues, Charlotte found her way to the family’s cabin. She knelt down realizing that this road had the red dirt one of her investigators had told her about. She cleaned her hands of the dirt and answered a call from her medical examiner. The birds had burst eardrums on both sides. All the birds did. Apparently, the Electromagnetic fields interfere with the bird’s sensory systems. 

Elisabeth sat talking to Yasin after school. She was telling him about what she had learned about the reproductive habits of snails that she had learned from a documentary on television. Yasin laughed with her until he heard his mother calling to him that it was time to go. 

Yasin’s mother looked worried at Elisabeth and asked, “Do you need a ride home?”

Elisabeth shook her head and replied, “My mom’s picking me up.”

“I’ll drive you home,” The mother tried to insist, “It’s not a problem.”

Elisabeth shook her head again, “My mom will be here any moment now. She’s the chief of police.”

Yasin’s mother nodded accepting the girl’s answer and walked to her car with her son trailing behind.

Meanwhile, Charlotte broke into her husband’s cabin. She looked around for any clues. Seeing nothing out of place, she walked out to the bunker. She opened it up and walked down. While she was down there, she got a call about Ulrich.

Franziska walked into the locker room after her class. She walked to her bag noticing instantly that something was off. She turned to see Magnus standing there with the money in his hand.

“Franziska, what is this,” he asked motioning towards the money in his hand.

Franziska angrily replied, “Money, you idiot. My money.” 

“Why do you have so much money,” Magnus questioned, “Are you dealing drugs? Is that why you were at the caves?”

Franziska grabbed the money from him and turned to put it away, “How I earn my money is none of your damn business.”

“What are you going to do with it,” the boy asked walking closer to her again.

“What am I going to do with it,” Franziska yelled, “I’m getting out of this phoney shithole. Behind everyone’s friendly smile there’s nothing but lies.”

Magnus chuckled and shook his head, “You’re no different. You pretend to be the straight-A student, but that’s not you. Maybe you should start telling the truth.”

Furious, Franziska asked, “Do you want the truth?” She shrugged and said her voice getting louder and louder as she continued, “Fine. My parents have slept in different beds for over a year. My mom found out my Dad’s actually into dicks. Their marriage is over, but no one will say it.” Her voice started to lower in frustration, “Instead, this big fat secret is always with us at the table. It eats our bread rolls, the butter, the homemade jam. It gets fatter and fatter until there’s no space left in the room.” She pushed the boy away, “Until you can’t breathe.”

Magnus looked at the girl. He had never felt so tied to someone before. He knew exactly what she was talking about. He wandered closer to her and placed his hand on her cheek. The boy looked at her silently asking if she wanted to do the same. She leaned closer to him giving him all he needed to know. Magnus leaned down and kissed her. Their passionate kiss fueled with this sense of finally curbing a craving they had long harbored. They were hungry to feel each other to fully have someone that truly understood and loved them.

Peter worked at his desk. He answered a call from his wife and asked, “Did you forget something?”

“No,” Charlotte replied, “You have to pick Elisabeth from school. I can’t make it.”

“I have a patient,” Peter pleaded, “I have to go to the office.”

“Just pick her up, okay?” Charlotte asked him, “She can wait at your office. I have to go to the power plant.”

Peter nodded, “Okay. I’ll pick her up.” He was just about to leave when Charlotte brought up a very painful memory. He couldn’t handle that on top of lying to her about not knowing anything about the boys so he made an excuse and went to try and pick up his daughter.

Elisabeth, bored, pulled out a small tube from her pocket. She played with the tube in her hands before opening it to reveal that it was the same red lipstick that Franziska was yelling at her about earlier that morning. Elisabeth put some of it on, then put it back into her pocket. Now frustrated from how long it was taking, she stood and started to walk her way home like she normally did before Mikkel went missing.

Rain fell across Winden giving Helge a perfect opportunity to slip out of the building. He walked back into the woods trying to find himself.

Elisabeth skipped through the rain. She stopped noticing an old Raider wrapper. She had never seen this before. It looked nearly identical to Twix. She wondered if it was just some kind of a ripoff.

Peter jogged up to his daughter’s school and asked one of the teachers if she had seen Elisabeth because he was there to get her. The teacher seemed confused and told him that school had let out early so she thought the girl had already gotten picked up. Peter panicked hearing this information and jogged back to his car in hopes of trying to find his daughter.

Aleksander walked with Charlotte explaining, “Security found him on our grounds, close to the caves. He must have climbed over the fence.” Charlotte nodded as she followed the director to his office to reveal Ulrich sitting, bloodied, guarded by an armed security guard. Charlotte turned to Aleksander who explained, “He hasn’t been very cooperative.”

Charlotte turned to the man and forced him to get into her car with him so that way she could drive him home. They sat in silence most of the way until Charlotte couldn’t hold it in anymore, “You’re lucky Aleksander isn’t pressing charges. Everyone understands your situation. Everyone! But climbing over the fence?”

“Understanding is nice, thank you,” Ulrich sarcastically remarked. He continued, “But it’s not enough.” He felt as if he was back 33 years ago. His heart ached. He looked at Charlotte and growled, “My child is gone, okay?” He didn’t know if he was actually saying it to her or himself or to Egon, “This isn’t just some file on your desk. It’s my child.” He looked out the window, “Why Mikkel? I keep asking myself that. Why him? Why my son? Why not his son? Why not his?” He sighed, “I’m being punished. And all I get is fucking sympathy. Well, you can take that and shove it. Where’s the search warrant? Why is no one doing anything? Should I tell you why? Because it’s not his kid. And because it’s not your kid.” He stopped and then said, “Stop here. I want to get out.”

Charlotte ignored him figuring he was just trying to be more emotionally dramatic.

“Stop the car,” Ulrich demanded.

Charlotte safely stopped the vehicle allowing the man to get out to walk in the rain. She watched him go for a second. She noticed her phone ringing. She answered it and asked, “Yes?”

A panicked Peter replied to her, “Elisabeth wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean she wasn’t there,” Charlotte asked growing concerned.

“She wasn’t at school,” Peter sobbed into the phone, “Mrs. Clemens is sick. She wasn’t waiting there. I’ve been up and down the forest road twice already and she’s not here.”

Charlotte tried to reason with him, “Maybe someone from school took her home? Maybe Yasin? Go back home. Maybe she went a different way. Call everyone in her class. I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

Martha and Annalise laughed as it started to rain on them. They ran down the sidewalk trying to splash each other. Annalise had wanted to walk Martha home just to make sure Martha wasn’t alone. Now they were taking this time to let out some frustration they couldn’t around everyone else. They were screaming and laughing just like they used to do. The two girls danced around each other trying to just have fun with the other. Soaking wet from just messing around in the rain, they listened as their feet caused more splashing. Their hearts felt connected and cleaned for the first time in days. Martha, at one point, slipped and dragged Annalise down with her laughing. The two girls illuminated the world with their smiles. The gray hue didn’t disturb their vibrancy of life. Eventually, they tired themselves out and walked together arm in arm to Martha’s.

When they got back to the Nielsen home, Katharina rolled her eyes and called to the girls as they ran upstairs to go and get into dry clothes. She offered for Annalise to wait out the rain or to wait until Ulrich came back so that he could drive her back to Hannah’s.

“Can’t she stay,” Martha complained.

Katharina shook her head and said, “We can’t have her just moving around so much. I am just going to text Hannah to let her know what’s going on. In fact, this is the perfect time for Annalise to finish picking up her things.”

Annalise pouted. Martha just rolled her eyes as they went up to fully strip out so they could get into warm clothes. Slowly, the darkness started to creep back. They both silently did their own thing as they tried to prepare themselves for the loneliness to settle in again.

Jonas spread the map down on the floor of his father’s studio to try and figure out where he went wrong. He was growing really frustrated with it. He sighed as he sat on his heels looking down at in almost in a trance until he heard Hannah call from downstairs. He jogged downstairs and asked, “Yeah?”

“Annalise got stuck at the Nielsen’s because of the rain,” Hannah explained, “So Ulrich will probably be dropping her off soon. Can you...” She trailed off.

Jonas shook his head and threw on his raincoat. Right now was possibly the worst time for his mother to be pulling what she normally did. So he grabbed an umbrella and said, “I’ll just go get her. Don’t worry about it.”

Hannah tried to call after him, “She is going to have a bag! It’s probably best if you just let Ulrich bring her.”

Jonas waved to his mom as he braved the rain to go and get the girl.

Charlotte drove down the forest road one more time. She went painstakingly slow to try and scan around looking for any sign of her daughter. She ended up spotting something. There lay on the moss-covered ground was an orange fox beanie that Elisabeth always wore. Charlotte stopped the car and rushed over to pick it up. She looked up and started to try to find if there were any more clues to where her daughter possibly had gotten off to. Her heart started to panic praying that Elisabeth wasn’t taken and instead just with one of her classmates.

Jonas slowly dredged his way to the Nielsens’. He took a more direct way. His yellow raincoat was the only color with him. He tried to debate if this was truly actually the best idea. He had no clue what he was going to say if he ran into Martha. Were they even going to have a conversation if Annalise was standing there? As he contemplated, he found himself at the doorstep.

Katharina opened the door with a small smile, “Hello Jonas.”

“Hello,” Jonas bowed his head as a slight greeting.

The woman stood back from the door and asked, “Why not come inside and I’ll call for Lise for you.”

Jonas nodded. He listened to Katharina call upstairs for the girls. He took a deep breath as he watched Martha descend down the stairs after Annalise.

Peter thanked the last parent on the phone. No one had seen his daughter. Misery started to grow over in him. He turned to see his wife had returned home. He stared at her trying to hold back his tears, “I called everyone on the list. Nothing.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened in fear. She couldn’t hold in her woe. Her face contorted with sadness as she showed Peter Elisabeth’s hat in her hand. 

Peter took a deep breath. Realization hit him hard. He looked up at his wife and walked to her to wrap himself around her. He hadn’t held Charlotte like this in such a long time, but he couldn’t even enjoy the feeling. He just wanted his daughter back.

Annalise walked up to the boy with a cheery smile. She giggled and said, “Hey Jonas.” A small blush formed across her cheeks, “Thanks for coming to get me.”

Jonas nodded. His eyes never leaving Martha, “Yeah. It’s no problem.” He darted his eyes to Annalise then back at Martha.

Martha rubbed her elbow nervously, “Hey.” She forced a small smile.

“Hey,” Jonas breathlessly replied.

Katharina, tired of the awkwardness of the moment, urged Jonas and Annalise out. “Thank you, Jonas, but you two should go before it gets worse.” She urged them out the door and said before closing it behind them, “Thank your mother for me.”

Jonas and Annalise stared at the door for a second. Annalise huddled under the small awning to keep her new dry clothes dry for the moment. Seeing Annalise do this snapped Jonas out of his trance. He smiled gently and opened up the umbrella before handing it to her. “There you go,” He said confidently.

Annalise giggled as he and her started to walk home together. The pavement shined with the moonlight. They stayed silent as they walked. Annalise daydreaming about how romantic it was to be sharing an umbrella with such a cute boy. Also, the fact that he went out of his way to come and get her. She tried to run through conversations she could try to have with him.

Jonas took this time to look at the misty lights through the rain. He tried to figure out what to say to Martha the next time he saw her. He really didn’t know what he wanted to do about it. He blinked hearing a car driving down the road and pulled himself closer to Annalise. He wrapped an arm around her as he pulled himself closer to her and not into the street.

Starlight filled the trees. Annalise’s face blushed as Jonas pulled himself closer to her. Her breath hitched in her throat. She licked her now dry lips. She smiled and asked, “What made you come and get me?”

“I didn’t want my mom to try anything with Ulrich,” Jonas answered honestly. He didn’t even notice Annalise’s nervousness and pink hue.

“Oh,” Annalise said disappointed. She looked out in the darkness. Everything seemed a bit less bright.

They continued in silence again. A cold wind brushed past the two in the walkway. Jonas noticed out of the corner of his eye that Annalise started to shiver. Her hair was still soaked from her earlier escapades with Martha. He took pity on her and moved closer so that the could share his warmth. Annalise gave him a small smile and rest her head against his shoulder as he took the wield of the umbrella instead. 

Once they got back, he ushered her inside then watched as she climbed the stairs going into her room. He knew he wanted to say something before she walked away for the night, but he couldn’t think of what to say to her. His heart gnawed watching her knowing how silent they were walking home. She normally was so brilliant. Everything brightened around her, yet tonight it seemed as if they were strangers once more.

Jonas walked upstairs and gently rest his head on his pillow. He stared up at the ceiling wondering if or where he had gone wrong.

Ulrich returned home to Katharina vacuuming the carpet from the mess Martha and Annalise had made coming inside from the rain.

A dark figure opened up the Doppler family cabin just as Franziska returned home to find her mother crying into her father’s lap. Her father looked up at her as a light came on within the cabin. Helge walked to the police searching for Elisabeth trying to warn them of the upcoming danger so that way they could stop what was going on. Franziska really didn’t need to be told what had happened. The look on her parent’s face was enough for her to know that her little sister had now disappeared as well.

Ulrich sighed as he made his way upstairs to once again go sleep in Mikkel’s bed.

The Doppler family’s door slowly unlocked causing Peter’s head to perk up to look towards the noise. He grabbed onto his wife who then also looked towards the door. Soon, Elisabeth walked in. Charlotte couldn’t contain herself and rushed to hug her daughter. She held the girl in her arms. When she pulled away, Elisabeth signed, “I lost my hat.”

Ecstatic, Charlotte signed, “Where were you?”

Elisabeth sneered, “You didn’t pick me up so I walked.”

“And that took you this long,” her mother asked frustrated from being left in such a state of distress.

“I met someone,” the girl explained. She held out a gold pocket watch to her mother then continued, “He gave me this.” 

Charlotte pulled her daughter to her and asked, “Who did?”

“Ouch,” Elisabeth winced, “You’re hurting me.”

Charlotte let go of her daughter and asked again, “I want to know who gave this to you.”

“Noah,” Elisabeth replied.

“Who is Noah,” Charlotte asked.

Elisabeth, annoyed, explained, “He said it used to belong to you.”

Charlotte looked down at the watch as Peter took his daughter into his arms to hold her. She felt freezing.

“Elli,” Franziska called relieved to hear her sister was back home. She rushed into the room and pulled the girl away from their father so that she could hold her. “I was so worried about you,” Franziska admitted. She pulled her sister away and asked, “Where were you?” Franziska then noticed red lipstick on Elisabeth’s lips. She wiped it away just to be sure then slapped her sister across the face. With tears streaming down her face she told her sister, “Hands off my stuff!” She turned away and stormed to her room.

The phone rang. Peter walked to answer it telling the officers that Elisabeth had returned home only to here about his dad being in the woods. He hung up and explained to Charlotte the situation before leaving. Charlotte looked down at the pocket watch. On the inside, there was an inscription of, ‘For Charlotte.’

The next morning, the bearded stranger stood in a very familiar room to him. He walked over to the map inside of Jonas’s desk and marked a location with a red marker. He thought back on Ariadne’s thread; how we are all searching for it, the one that is meant to guide us along the right path. A beacon in the darkness. We’d love to know our fate. Where we’re headed. But the truth is, he thought, there is but one path through all times. Predetermined by the beginning and by the end, which is also the beginning.

Helge bolted awake and took the nurse’s wrist. He stared up at her and earnestly said, “He needs to be stopped. I need to stop him.”

The nurse asked, “Who?”

“Noah,” he simply replied.

Yasin walked though the woods walking to school. He vented to himself, “I’m not a baby anymore. I can go to school on my own.” The poor darling boy had no idea how wrong he was as he walked into a tall man with a large hat.

[nikkzwrites]

Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 3

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:  4.9k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Jana laid on the couch watching a commercial for Mads’s favorite candy bar called Raider. 

Mikkel blinked and decided to walk into the home. There must have been some mistake. This was just Martha and Magnus playing a joke on him with their friends and his family would be there waiting for him to give him a giant hug. Martha would be there apologizing for never paying attention to him. His brother would be there never letting him go. Katharina would be making his favorite sweets while she tended to his wounds. Ulrich finally getting him that magic set he was eyeing for a while...And Annalise would be there smiling and crying thanking everything that he was back home safe pressing her forehead against his.

When he walked in, he was welcomed to no such sight. He walked into the dining and living room and called, “Mom”

Jana looked up from the couch and responded, “Mads?” She desperately looked at the boy before her.

Mikkel shifted uncomfortably, “Who are you? Where are my parents?” He felt so confused. This was his house. Why wasn’t everything making sense?

Pitifully, Jana moved from around the couch and knelt to study the boy standing in her dining room.

“Who are you,” Mikkel repeated.

Jana held onto the boy and asked, “Do you know where he is?” Mikkel tried to pull away from the woman but she held onto the only thing that may be a clue to her own son having gone missing. “Do you know where Mads is?” she clarified for him.

“You’re hurting me,” Mads protested. He kept trying to get away but Jana’s grip was one of a mother still clinging to the hope of finding her child.

“Want are you doing here,” Jana pleaded, “Say something.” She finally allowed the strange boy to go. She fell back to sob to herself not fully believing any of this was real. Mikkel backed himself into the hallway and bolted to the front door to getaway. Jana bawled, “When is he coming back?” She lowered herself into a ball on the floor to cry.

Ines walked into her work. The sounds of her shoes echoed throughout the white hallways. Her uniform was neat and orderly as always. She paced down the hall before a coworker commented, “Ines, can you do the night shift today too? Mrs. Schuttler’s daughter has a fever and I have to take Benni to soccer. Since you have no…”

Ines stopped and turned. She interrupted the lady to confirm, “No family.”

Her coworker sighed and tilted her head, “That’s not what I meant.”

Ines laughed to ease the tension and commented, “It’s not a problem.”

“Thanks. And please, don’t tell Dr. Reimann?” The lady called to her coworker’s leaving form.

Ines stopped and turned once more to pantomime locking her mouth with a key and putting it into her pocket. “Mum’s the word,” she whispered with a small giggle. Her heart remembering the young boy who had taught her to do that. She wondered what he could be doing and where he could be. It had been at least thirty four years since she had last seen him.

“Thanks.”

Ines continued down the hall once more.

Egon sat in his office listening to the radio berate him about Mads’s disappearance. He sat disheveled at his desk staring at all of the mess around him. His phone started to ring. He sighed then answered the phone, “Tiedemann.” He sat and listened before he asked, “Where?” He continued to wait then responded, “I’m on my way.”

Claudia used her rearview mirror to put on her signature red lipstick. “In times like these...One must face one’s own fears.” She quoted to herself, “Because the future…” She looked down at her speech, “the future belongs to the bold. Not to the doubters, those forever stuck in the past.” She looked at her daughter with frizzy hair in the back. She shook her head and criticized, “Would you take a look at yourself? You can’t go to school like this.” Regina sat in the back of her mom’s car just looking out the window to the forest. Claudia continued, “Sometimes I think you have no idea what it is I do. Food, clothes, fencing classes. Who pays for all of that? And you can’t even bother combing your hair.” Claudia shook her head again. “Look at yourself. You look like a limp dishrag.” Fed up with her daughter’s silence she called back, “Hey, Regina, I’m talking to you. This is a huge deal for me, and I won’t let you spoil it. The board’s decision to entrust this post to a woman for the first time...”

Regina just stared out the window wishing she was already at school.

Mikkel walked to the high school hoping to find his mother, his siblings, or Annalise. He looked around. Everyone seemed to be dressed oddly. 

Katharina leaned against the lockers as she handed her friend a tape, “It’s awesome.” She commented then asked, “Know what the song’s about?”

“No,” her friend answered.

“A man who kidnaps a girl and takes her to the forest, just because she’s wearing red lipstick. In the end, he kills her,” The blonde explained.

Hannah raised her brow but stayed silent as their other friend responded, “That’s heavy.”

“My dad says lipstick is only for prostitutes,” Hannah, then, explained, “Anyway, I like Nino D’Angelo way more than Falco.”

Katharina shook her head, “Hannah, you’re as square as they come.”

Hannah smiled awkwardly.

Their friend scolded, “Come on Katharina. Don’t be so nasty.”

Mikkel slowly made his way to the small group of familiar seeming girls. He stared at them awkwardly.

“What are you looking at,” Katharina addressed the boy, “Weren’t you at Ulrich’s place earlier?”

Hannah looked at him and asked gently, “Are you new here?”

Mikkel shook his head quickly. “I..” he started, “I’m looking for my mom.”

Katharina smiled cockily at the boy, “This isn’t kindergarten.”

“She’s the principal here,” Mikkel defended himself.

Katharina’s eyes widened as she asked, “Mr. Hubert?” Hannah laughed as the blonde continued, “he may be a fag, but he’s certainly not a woman.”

Mikkel looked down at the floor then back up at the girl, “Isn’t this Winden?”

Katharina scoffed at him then started to make her way to class. As she passed him, she asked, “Aren’t you a bit young to drop acid?”

Hannah deflected the conversation to ask, “You guys got history now?”

Mikkel stood and watched them leave annoyed. He had no idea what was going on.

Claudia pulled up to the nuclear power plant. She opened her door but stayed sitting in her car to put on her high heeled shoes.

Helge looked up from sweeping the street of paint. He smiled seeing Claudia. He greeted her, “Morning, Claudia.” He had always admired her even as a child.

“Morning,” Claudia tried to rush past him, but when she saw his sweet face she stopped to talk to him. He was just the same as the little boy she used to tutor.

“Your first day as boss,” He happily commented.

Claudia nodded and reaffirmed, “Yes.”

Helge lightly chuckled and swayed with his broom, “My dad told me the board voted unanimously for you.” He sighed and shrugged before continuing, “I wanted… Congratulations.”

Claudia smiled and nodded, “Thanks.”

“I always knew something would become of you,” Helge continued.

“Oh, Helge.” She nervously laughed. He was doing his weird Helge thing again, she thought to herself.

Helge, then, said as he stopped her from leaving. “And I have…” He paused to pull out a nicely wrapped gift, “A present for you.” He smiled proudly at her. Claudia looked down anxiously. The man then explained, “It’s a book.”

Claudia didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t expecting this at all even if it shouldn’t have surprised her that the man would go to such lengths. She just looked up and thanked him for it before looking back down at it. The stood awkwardly for a moment. Helge stared at her expectantly. Claudia smiled again, “Well, I’m running late. I have to get going.”

Helge let the woman pass finally and called after her, “We’re all behind you, Cl..”Helge stopped himself shaking his head knowing that Claudia didn’t much care. The wet rustles of the broom against the pavement started up once more as he tried to remove the painted graffiti of ‘No Future’ from in front of the plant’s gate.

“I came just before six t feed the animals and found this,” the farmer explained to Egon as the men stood in a field surrounded by a flock of unexplainable dead sheep.

Egon asked, “Maybe a wolf?”

The farmer looked up at the chief of police as if he was stupid, “No bite marks. Nothing.”

Perplexed, Egon looked around the field of sheep corpses around him, “Poisoned?” He asked with a shrug.

The man let out a small instinctual shrug and commented, “Yesterday they were lively as can be. First the thing with the boy, and now this. Such things didn’t use to happen here. Who would just kill 33 sheep? ‘Be on guard. Be alert. You do not know when that time will come.’ The Gospel of Mark, 13:33.”

Egon nodded then shook his head, “Didn’t know you were a churchgoer.”

The farmer nodded, “The parish has a new priest. A good man.”

Egon stared at the man for a second then sighed looking down towards one of the sheep. The autumn trees behind them bare and the bright green grass being early the only color in the dreary field.

Claudia stormed into the large building trying to get to her office. 

“Mrs. Tiedemann,” Her mousy secretary called to the woman boss as she rushed to catch up, “Mrs. Tiedemann. Tronte Nielsen from the paper is here, for the interview.” She smiled as Claudia looked back at her. She handed the other lady a binder, “and here are the figures from 1986 and 1985, as you requested.” The secretary watched as Claudia opened it up to examine the information. “They weren’t easy to get a hold of,” The woman admitted proud of her own hard work. When Claudia basically ignored her, she spoke up once more, “And congratulations again. I still can’t believe we have a woman as boss.” The woman cheerfully beamed.

“Are you sure these are the right figures,” Claudia asked concerned with what she was looking at.

Her secretary confirmed with a simple, “Yes.”

Claudia slowly closed the binder and nodded to her secretary to let her know she did a good job and that she could leave her. Once the other lady left confused, Claudia went back to investigate the numbers.

Egon sat in his office typing up his report. He still seemed to be learning how to use the modern typewriter. There was a small shuffle that came from the entrance to his office. Egon looked up to see a small boy in a dirty red puffy jacket over a skeleton costume. He looked at the dazed boy and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Mikkel looked at the man. He blinked several times. Today was just getting weirder and weirder for him. “I…” He stumbled over his words until he got his footing, “I’m looking for my dad.”

Egon smiled gently. He finally felt as if he could have a win in these dark times. His heart leaped happily at the thought of being able to help this boy. He asked, “What’s his name?”

Mikkel took a breath and replied, “Ulrich Nielsen.”

Egon’s brow furrowed. “Ulrich Nielsen?” he asked, “The Ulrich Nielsen?”

Concerned, Mikkel asked, “Doesn’t he work here?”

“No,” Egon replied, “And I’m certain he never will.” He looked at his report then back at Mikkel in disbelief, “Oh, so this is a joke? Was this Ulrich’s dumb idea?” He walked over to the boy and examined his scraped up face, “Did he do this?” Egon would be surprised if the teen would have beaten up a kid to make him go along with a stupid prank. He asked again, “Did Ulrich do this?”

Mikkel shook his head quickly at the officer. He stared up worried. The realization started to hit him that this wasn’t just a joke.

Egon stood up straight once more and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Mikkel,” the small boy choked out.

“Last name,” Egon asked with a shrug.

“Nielsen,” Mikkel anwsered honestly, “I am Ulrich’s son.”

Egon sighed and then asked, “Now tell me your parents’ real names and I’ll take you home.”

Mikkel shook his head and then asked, “What’s the date?”

“The 5th of November,” Egon replied with a shrug.

Mikkel, then, asked, “What year?”

Egon laughed figuring the boy had a sense of humor. He shook his head as he chuckled, “1986.”

Mikkel took a step back. Everything was fully hitting him now. He repeated back the year to Egon. He, then, watched as Egon went to the phone to make a call. He listened as the man described him over the phone and asked for someone to come pick him up.

After hanging up, Egon picked up his coat and explained to the child, “Someone will be coming to pick you up and take care of that.” He motioned to Mikkel’s injuries before continuing, “In the meantime, I’ll take care of Ulrich.” He walked past the boy and vowed, “He won’t hurt you again. I promise.” The man then closed the door behind him leaving Mikkel to sit and wait.

Mikkel walked over to Egon’s desk and started to play with the Rubik’s cube. As soon as he solved it, he gently placed it down so that he could try calling his house. Sadly, he only got the robotic voice telling him that the number was not in service. Mikkel shook as he held back tears. The boy sat back down and tried to look around to find anything else to do. He found a lighter on the desk. He slowly pocketed it after checking if it still worked. Mikkel, then, spied a report on Egon’s desk about his Uncle Mads. He looked at it still processing that he was trapped in 1986. He looked at a picture of Ulrich and Mads that was near the exact one in his house. Hearing someone coming, Mikkel panicked and placed everything back before jogging to the front of the desk.

Ines carefully walked into the room and greeted the boy. She walked a bit closer then explained, “I’m Nurse Ines. But you can just call me Ines.” Mikkel stayed quiet as he stared at the woman. She slowly approached him and knelt down to be eye to eye with him, “I’ll take you to the hospital now. We’ll take a look at your arm, okay? Then I will bring you home safe and sound.” She smiled gently and held out a hand.

Meanwhile, Egon pulled up to the Nielsen’s. He tried the doorbell then knocking. When he got no answer, he slowly made his way inside the house. Rock music blared upstairs from inside the teenaged Ulrich’s room. Ulrich sat in his trashed room playing an old plug and play game when Egon walked in. Egon looked at the turntable and carefully removed the needle to get the boy’s attention.

Ulrich sneered. His eyes looked him up and down before asking, “What are you doing here?” He stood up from his chair.

Egon placed his hands in his pockets and quoted the song in English, “‘My only aim is to take many lives. The more the better I feel.’ Why do you listen to such stuff?” He walked closer to Ulrich, “The boy you sent, do you think that’s funny?”

Confused, Ulrich shrugged, “What boy?”

“Don’t think you’ll get away with this,” Egon threatened.

Ulrich leaned over to sniff the man. He pulled away and commented, “Have you been drinking again?”

Insulted, Egon asked, “Beg your pardon?”

Ulrich repeated, “I asked if you’ve been drinking again?”

“Who do you think you are,” Egon asked growing angry, “I want us to find your brother just as badly as you do.”

Ulrich stood his ground and watched as Egon turned to leave. 

Egon, then, had something catch his eye. He picked it up. There he held a sheep’s hoof in his hand. He turned and showed it to Ulrich, “What’s this?”

Growing annoyed, Ulrich responded, “A hoof. That’s obvious.”

Egon grabbed the shirt of the boy and pulled him closer, “Did you do that on the pasture?”

“What pasture,” Ulrich questioned.

“Did you kill the sheep?”

Ulrich started to raise his voice, “If you’d stop drinking your brain to mush, then Mads might be back by now.”

Jana walked in hearing her elder son had raised his voice. She stood in the doorway with her hands crossed over her chest. She looked at the man surprised and asked, “Mr. Teidemann?”

Egon let go of the teenager and slowly turned. Ulrich snatched the hoof back from the man. Egon tried to explain, “The door was open.”

Jana nodded, “Because of Mads. He forgot his key.”

Just to stir the pot, Ulrich lied, “Chief Inspector Tiedemann wants to update you on the investigation. They’ve got new findings. Hm?” Ulrich, then, sneered, “Exactly. You have nothing. Now kindly piss off!” The boy put away his hoof and turned his music back on before sitting back to continue his game.

Egon carefully moved past Jana and walked downstairs to see himself out. Jana just stared at her older son grateful that she still at least had Ulrich.

At the hospital, the doctor checked Mikkel’s vitals. Ines stood in the corner as the doctor took a look at the boy’s arm. “Everything’s in working order,” He commented. He then asked the boy, “How did this happen?”

Mikkel remained silent in mourning his old life.

“And you still won’t tell us your name,” The doctor asked the boy. A ring of a pager filled the room. The doctor looked down at it then told the boy, “Nurse Ines will bandage you up, okay? Then you can go back home.” He pet the boy’s head to try and comfort him before leaving.

Ines stared down at the empty name and general patient information on the intake report. Her heart ached. She looked back up at the boy and slowly sat in front of him. Mikkel just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears started to fall from his eyes. He was never going to be able to have his life back. Ines’s heart wrenched. She caressed the boy’s face and comforted, “Don’t cry. Everything will be okay.” She forced a small smile at him.

Claudia knocked on the door of the old director’s office. “Brend,” she called to him after opening the door, “I have to talk to you.” She walked into the office and closed the door behind her. She stormed to the retired man’s desk and slammed the binder she was carrying down. “Were you trying to slip this past me,” she accused. She angrily explained, “I said I need to know if there are skeletons in the closet.”

Bernd sighed, “There are things that are worth knowing and things worth not knowing because you can’t change them anyway.”

“What is this,” Claudia motioned with her hand. She opened up the report, “These are nothing like the reported figures. Here.” She looked up and nodded at him, “And here.” She looked up angrily again, “Everywhere. It’s been like that for three months now!” She motioned for him to speak to defend himself.

The man asked, “Do you know what has changed since Chernobyl? People have lost faith. In us, in nuclear power. They saw the images and they can’t get them out of their heads. But fear is the worst enemy of progress.”

Breathing hard, Claudia tried to piece together what he was trying to say. She shook her head, “So?”

“How many people around here rely on the plant for their livelihood,” Bernd counterpointed.

Claudia swallowed realizing now what he was saying. “We have 612 employees, excluding…”

“Everyone!” Bernd corrected the woman, “And when you take over this job tomorrow, you’ll be taking on responsibility for the nuclear power plant, but you’ll also be taking responsibility for the entire town. And now tell me, was I wrong about you?” 

Claudia sighed. She crossed her arms across her chest then stated, “All the more reason for me to know just what this means.

Egon stood in the morgue with the examiner who was opening up one of the sheep’s heads. The examiner droned on about how exciting and historical it was for Claudia to be taking over the plant. He tried to just focus back on the case, “So were they poisoned?”

“Hardly,” the examiner chuckled, “All signs point to sudden cardiac arrest.”

“Cardiac arrest,” Egon asked surprised.

“Yes.”

“All 33?”

The examiner explained, “It’s common with sheep. They’re very sensitive creatures. If a few start to panic, the entire herd freaks out. It’s a vicious cycle. They just drop dead. Like flies.”

Egon, then, asked, “And what could cause such a panic?”

“All kinds of things,” the other man educated the officer.

“A person,” Egon asked surprised.

The medical examiner asked, “A single person?” He replied back, “Unless he’s Freddy Krueger, he’d have his work cut out for him.”

Egon, still focused on Ulrich, asked, “Did one of the sheep…” He stopped and rephrased his question, “I mean, was one of them missing a hoof?”

The medical examiner shook his head, “No. They are all as God created them.”

The men had a bit of an exchange about if this could be Satanists when the examiner found something. His brow pushed together, “Strange.” He motioned for Egon to come to see, “Look here.” The medical examiner pointed to its eardrum, “The eardrums are ruptured. On both sides. Strange.”

Claudia rolled Bernd into the woods to a place that he instructed. The man held out a yellow key to her and said, “What we know is a drop, what we don’t know is an ocean.” He then handed her a flashlight.

Claudia opened up the gate that enclosed a natural cave system. She repelled down into it. Leaves rustled out of the way and screamed as her heels punctured them. She turned on the flashlight and tried to look around.

Ines wrapped Mikkel’s hand and asked, “Won’t you tell me your name and where you live?” Mikkel stayed quiet so she asked, “Don’t you want to go home? If something happened at home… You can stay here for now.” 

Mikkel refused to look at her. He was just trying to focus on not crying. Magnus and Martha would have made fun of him for crying. What was it that Annalise used to do that would stop him from crying? Agony struck him while he started to realize he was starting to forget little things. Or was it that he never actually fully appreciated them so he never paid full attention in the first place. He longed for Katharina’s arms to wrap around him. 

Ines finished her work and told the boy, “If you want to talk, I’m here.” She held his hands in hers and gently rubbed his wrists with her thumbs, “I’m on the night shift too.” Seeing the boy not letting up from the ground he stood on, she placed some comics down on the bed for him and explained, “Here, something to read.”

“I’ve come from the future,” Mikkel explained as she walked away.

Surprised, Ines turned and asked, “What did you say?”

Mikkel turned to look at her and repeated, “I come from the future.”

Ines started to fill with fear. Her eyes darted down to the comics she had placed on the bed seeing that they were called, ‘Captain Future.’ She started to sigh thinking that the boy was just familiar with the comics and not actually telling her the absolute truth that he actually came from the year 2019.

Claudia made her way through the dark caves. She kept walking until she found it. Copious amounts of yellow barrels labeled as toxic. Right there, under the city.

Regina walked into her house and dropped her bag down in the hall. She removed her jacket and called her for her mom. When Claudia didn’t respond, Regina walked to the answering machine and listened to the message of her mother telling her just to heat up a pizza. She sighed as she stared at herself in the mirror and lifted the sleeve of her blue sweater to reveal her self inflicted scars. She sniffled as she tried to pull herself together.

Egon pulled up to the pasture to try and investigate more about the sheep incident. He walked around with his flashlight.

A large mechanical boom resonated inside of Winden.

Egon looked towards the noise only to have a bird drop dead right next to him. His light started to flicker as more birds dropped from the sky attacking him and the earth below with their corpses.

Lights all around Winden started to flicker. Everyone started to panic.

Mikkel used this as his opportunity to try and sneak out so that he could get back home. He pulled the curtain and climbed out the large window just as Magnus had once taught him to do.

Ulrich sat at the bus stop. He looked out into the forest as he smoked. He started to come out here more and more hoping that one day he would spot Mads and be able to bring his brother home. The smooth sounds of a bike chain pulled him out of his wandering mind. He smiled and called to the younger girl riding it, “Hey, Hannah!”

Hannah smiled and rode to meet up with Ulrich at the stop, “Hey Ulrich.” She parked her bike and sat down next to her crush. They sat in silence just enjoying each other’s presence for a second. Hannah spoke up and asked the boy, “Is this the Apocalypse?”

Ulrich hummed and then commented, “A bit disappointing.”

“I imagined it being louder,” Hannah affirmed with Ulrich, “More glaring.”

Mikkel ran through the trees making his way to the caves. Desperate to make it back home into the loving arms of his family. He bolted to the cave in which he came to this world then stopped to take a breath. He took out his stolen lighter and started his way into the caves hoping to find his way home.

“If the world ended today and the world started anew, what would you wish for,” Hannah asked Ulrich.

“Easy,” the teenager replied, “A world without Winden.” The boy watched as the lights flickered in the bus stop.

Hannah paused and thought for a second before proposing a cheer, “To a world without Winden.”

“To a world without Winden,” Ulrich agreed. He took one last puff of his cigarette before tossing it away onto the street. Just then the flickering stopped. Everything seemed to have gone back to normal.

Hannah smiled, “I don’t think Winden is going to give up that easily.”

Ulrich chuckled back and shrugged, “Well, maybe next time.”

Little did Winden realize all of this mirrored the exact feelings all of the town would be feeling 33 years from now. This feeling of hopelessness, confusion, hurt. Claudia slowly opened Helge’s present to reveal a book titled, ‘A Journey Through Time’ by H.G. Tannhaus. Regina looked at her body unsatisfied and selfconsciously. Charlotte still investigating what was making all of these birds die in such a strange fashion. Tronte still coming home late to a disappointed and worried Jana. Ulrich still mourning the loss of a little boy he held so dear to him.

Ulrich, sick of this feeling, drove down to the caves with a crowbar. He crossed the police line and stormed inside trying to find his son.

Mikkel, 33 years in the past, climbed his way through the caves only to get take a slid. His body slid down the rocky floor and only stopped when his leg hit a hard rock at the bottom injuring it.

Ulrich, in 2019, walked up to the metal locked door with his flashlight. He placed his light down so that he could have light as he worked and approached the door. He shoved his crowbar into the door.

In 1986, Mikkel heard the noise coming from all around him. He looked down at his bloody injured leg. He winced and grit his teeth through the pain. He just wanted to make it move again so he could go back to trying to make it home. Hearing the banging noise again, he called to it, “Hello?!” His voice was raspy and desperate, “HELLO? Help!”

Ulrich turned hearing the ghostly echoed voice of his son calling for help. Ulrich stopped banging on the metal door and asked, “Hello?” He repeated himself in a whispered tone, “Hello? Anyone there?” He started to pant and repeated his son’s name in the hope that he would hear him, “Mikkel? Mikkel?”

Mikkel pushed his way up and limped over to his still lit Zippo lighter.

Both ended up struggling out of the cave alone and sitting right at its cursed entrance in torment. Both wishing they were with the other as a lone Tannhaus worked in his office on a new invention.