A visit to the future from the past

@Dean <3
Year: March 25 2034
______
It was on the edge of the end. She was standing on the edge to give up. She didn’t want to live in this fear anymore and still she was planting herself in more danger every single day. When was enough really enough? How long till she learned? Mariella could barely walk. Her face was covered in blood from the wound in her forehead. She was on the way over to Jamie. In the darkness it was easy to hide with a hoodie to cover her face. Her hands was shaking and she could taste the salty tears that had mixed themselves with her blood. All that blood. Mariella stopped up and leaned against a lamppost. She hated that she worried Jamie so much. He was the only one who knew about this. Mariella took a deep breath in and closed her eyes for a small moment. ”Fuck.. “ she took the hoodie off and frustratingly started running her hands over her hair. She look at her hands, Mariella had almost forgotten she had hit her head when he had pushed her over at the table. She could feel the scabs on her scalp. She took a deep breath in, then realised someone was else was nearby. Mariella pulled the hoodie back up, not wanting anyone to see her wounds.

Outfit

He opened his eyes, standing inside the stairwell of an apartment building, frowning slightly as he looked around the unknown place. He walked down the stairs, feeling a bit lightheaded as he opened the door, looking surprised around at the even stranger surroundings. The shopping street looked different, although he'd just been here two days ago. He leaned slightly up against a wall as he took everything in, realizing that he’d fucked up for following Fox. Then a newspaper blew by him on the street and he picked it up, only to read the date. He looked slack jawed at it, frozen in place, almost refusing to believe he’d traveled in time. However, the thought wasn't as strange as it would have been before he met the future kids. He looked over a few more of the articles, all of them proving that that he was indeed in the future. He looked up from the paper to the empty street. “Fox?!” he called a few times, slowly walking down the street as he looked around for her.

Further down the street, he noticed a girl leaning up against a lamppost. When she took the hoodie off, her face lid up from the lamp. He immediately realized who she was, horrified at the sight of her wounds. He parted his lips, about to something, when he realized she didn’t know him yet. In reality he should avoid her, because he knew that it was risky to interfere with time, but he couldn’t just let her be when she was bleeding like that. “I’m sorry but are you okay?” he asked as he approached her. “What has happened, Mariella?” he asked with a concerned expression as he looked at her, then realizing he’d said her name. “Uh- Amaryllis sent me.. here, to look for you,” he said but narrowed his eyes as he didn’t know if it made any sense.

The werewolf walked closer to her, and every instinct in her body told her, that she needed to go. Not because she thought of every stranger as a possible threat, but because she didn't want anyone to know. She was way to ashamed. Then he talked to her and she looked up. "I'm fine," she lied and was about to turn away from him to walk away. However, she stopped the second he knew her name. First it was like a cold shiver down her spine, how did he know her name? Mariella took a deep breath in and hesitated to turn around. Amaryllis.. the name made Mariella turn around. She pulled the hoodie down, almost like the name had made her forget about everything else. Vanya and Amaryllis had disappeared a few months back and Karmena had tried to track them after something had seemed to be wrong. Followed by Lion not long ago. Mariella narrowed her eyes a little.
"To look for me?" She didn't understand why Amaryllis would be looking for her, unless she maybe had a key to help them. "Are they okay?" She then asked still tasting the blood on her lips. Mariella had been close with Lion's friends once. Closer to some than others. Jeremy had ruined that. Like he ruined everything he touched.
"We can't stay here," she looked around them with fear in her hazel eyes. Jeremy would come and take her home if she stayed to long. That vampire never rested. "My mom owns an apartment down the block. We can go there.  Ellison Avenue number 3," she started walking but quickly realized just how weak she was. The air around her grabbed her before she fell. Mariella wasn't the type to ask for help, never had been.

“No,” he said, tilting his head as he studied the wounds on her face. “You’re not fine,” he said, but then she turned away. He noticed her stop at the mention of her name, only giving her a lie as he didn’t know what else to say. He still had a hard time getting past the fact that he'd traveled to the future.
It was typical Mariella to be worried about her friends when she was in pain, but right now that wasn't important. “Yeah, my name is Dean… and they are fine,” he said, although he wasn’t certain of it. It had been a while since he’d last seen them - or Mariella for that matter. He looked around when she said they couldn’t stay here, trying to see if he could sense anyone near them. Then she started walking, talking about her mom owning an apartment nearby and he followed her. “What is after you?” he asked carefully, trying to think of who it could be.

He reacted quickly as she fell, grabbing her before she hit the pavement. “It’s okay…” he said with a comforting voice, as he gently grabbed her hand and helped her stand up. The touch to her skin triggered his pain relief ability and he closed his eyes for a moment as he transferred some of her pain, then he moved his hand up to her sleeve. Looking at her with an even bigger concern. “Does it hurt when you walk?” he asked and put an arm around her for support. It had sounded like whoever was after her was close, so the faster they could get to the apartment, the better.

He was right, she wasn't okay. She was hurting in every single inch of her entire being. The wounds didn't even hurt, it wasn't what had caused most pain. He confirmed that they were alright, but she still didn't understand what he was doing here. Her nerve system was effected by the last bits of Jeremy's ability. Dean, she nodded. His name was Dean.
"It's not what.. it's who," she mumbled, but being a werewolf - she knew he could hear her mumble. He grabbed her before falling, and it was like a rock left her heart - at least one of many. His comforting voice made her close her eyes as she felt her tears pressing. It had been full of darkness. Simple plain darkness. Mariella opened her eyes as she exhaled, the pain seemed easier to handle. She blinked a little and looked over at him, she knew it must have been him taking some of it. "A little bit.. It's better now," she admitted. It was strange. The pain had been so brutal, that she had feared to breathe - but now, it seemed like she could overcome it.
Despite the newfound hope of being able to survive another day, she knew if she had to deal with Jeremy again before she got healed up. She knew that could be the last breath she ever took. He was way for strong for her to handle, and she just needed it to stop. Mariella didn't want to put anyone in danger. Last time, Jamie had gotten hurt. Who ever Dean was, she didn't want him thrown into the Lion's den. No one deserved to be put under the ability Jeremy had to inflict extreme pain.
"Please alert me if you sense a vampire nearby," she breathed out and looked around in the dark shadows that surrounded them. "Something tells me, that my boyfriend is pissed," she hissed a little at her pain. If they could just make it to the apartment it would be fine. She had burned Jeremy to run away, and he wasn't the kind of vampire to stop his hunt. They got closer to the apartment, and she felt hope spreading in her system. But they still had to walk faster. Jeremy would be dumb to attack in this area, and he was every but dumb. Mariella took her key and gave it to the wolf. Her hands was shaking to much for her to be able to lock up the door anyways.

“That’s good,” he said with a faint smile as she said she felt better. Then he continued to walk towards the address. He looked to her side as she said he should alert her. At the same time answering his previous question. If the vampire did find them, he could only hope that it wouldn’t be foolish enough to fight an alpha werewolf. “I don’t sense anything,” he said quietly, although he knew that vampires were fast and could appear out of nowhere. He looked over his shoulders as he did sense something but turned his eyes back when he realized it was a human. When she said the word boyfriend, it hit him. It had been the boyfriend she’d talked about the day they first met. “Your boyfriend did this?” he asked, feeling the anger and hatred grow inside of him. He’d never understood how anyone could do something like that to a person they were supposed to love. “I- I’m so sorry,” he said with a sadness in his eyes, wishing that he could’ve prevented him from hurting her in the first place. As they walked closer to the apartment, she handed him the key. He could sense how afraid she was, but at the same time, he was just happy that he got to her in time. He unlocked the door to number 3 and closed it behind them after they’d walked in. He pulled away the curtain with his hand to look out on the street, making sure no one had followed them, before he closed it again.
“Are you sure he won’t find you here?” he asked, looking back at her with a serious expression. After all, she’d said it was her mother’s apartment, so he might know of the place.

She hated to admit it was her so called boyfriend who had done this. But it had never been about love. It had always been about what he could have and what he wanted. So he took and took till it was broken - sometimes even after. Dean opened the door and she walked in. She closed her eyes to take in some air. Her throat felt sore from the screaming earlier. Mariella opened them again, when the werewolf walked over to look out.
"Not really," she admitted and breathed out. Her heart rate was unusually fast, but which only was expected giving the situation. "I'm not as stupid as I might look," she walked against the wall over to the fridge. She had small bottles of vampire blood in there. She knew it healed, and she needed to drink it if she didn't want her family and friends to realize the truth. Mariella opened a bottle and drank half of it. Then she walked over to the one of the shelves on Dean's left. She sat down on the sofa and placed the bottle of blood on the table. She opened the other one. "Holy water," she explained. "It's unlikely he will come.. he took a risk a few days ago, when he confronted my best friend Jamie. He wouldn't risk losing again.. He will just wait," she looked away and closed the vervain bottle again and grabbed the blood. She finshed the bottle and just looked at it.
"How was Karmena? Is she alright?" She asked curious. They hadn't spoken since Mariella broke up with her. A heart break caused by Jeremy. She was so lonely. Mariella breathed out. "I'm sorry.. You were looking for me.. and you find a mess.. I'm sorry," she breathed out and ran a hand through her hair. She fought the tears in her eyes, fought the emotions roaming in her system.

He gave her a long look when she answered that she wasn’t sure. He couldn’t exactly bring her somewhere else, so they just had to be cautious. He looked a bit away from her when she said she wasn’t as stupid as she looked. Hew knew that he had to tell her that he already knew her. She'd meet him eventually and recognize him. “I know you’re not,” he just said, watching her as she took out something from the fridge. He sat down in the sofa after she did, looking at the bottle of holy water, then to her as she explained it was unlikely that he’d come. “He’s not getting away with this,” he said with the same concern in his eyes. “Yes, I think… well,” he hesitated and took a deep breath in. There was no easy way to say this. He looked away from her as he thought of the others. “You need to know that they have been in the past for at least half a year now,” he said, knowing that it would be a lot to take in. “You’re going to follow them, that’s how I know you… I’m from the past,” he explained, not knowing if it made much sense to her. He looked back at her with a careful look. He couldn’t help to think that he was meant to meet her in this time, but at the same time he was worried of the consequence of doing so. He didn’t know if she would have made it to the apartment if he hadn’t shown up. He didn’t know if it would change nothing other than their first meeting. None of them did.

How did he know that, that Jeremy wouldn't get away with it? Mariella had tried to figure out a way to put an end to it since she got into the mess. But somehow, she always ended up on more pain than she wanted. How could you feel like you were drowning when you were a siren?
"I would like to believe that, but it seems likely that he does," she mumbled a bit and looked down. Mariella just wanted to know they were alright. Vanya and Amaryllis had went missing without a word, she remembered how worried Lion had been and Karmena. Their little club had been split up by that second. When he told her that they had been stuck in the past for longer than meant, she raised her brows in concern. Her mind started wandering and you could see in her eyes that she was thinking about answers. Mariella started playing with her hair, letting two fingers pull a few locks. She stopped. Froze in time the second he said she would follow them, that he was from the past. Was this a type of warning. If Amaryllis had send him, maybe they needed her help? Not that Mariella knew what she would be able to do. Her and Eilish had been thinking about following them, mostly because Mariella missed her brother and had a feeling of something being wrong. "So you know me?" She whispered underneath her breath.It was hard for her to believe that anyone would care enough about her to travel back in time to get her, or maybe he just simply was there to make sure Jeremy wouldn't get to her this night. Had he prevented something?
"Are things getting better when I go back to help them?" She was terrified of the answer to that question. Was she ever going to be happy again? Mariella would like to believe she could be happy again, but a huge part of her knew it was just wishful thinking. "Because.. I don't know how long I can handle this.. I don't want to be this.. broken," she breathed out and felt a few tears escaping her eyes. "How did you come here?" She asked. Maybe if she could help him back to his time, she could escape her own reality.

He knew for a fact he wasn’t, that he'd eventually get what he deserved. However, he understood why she felt that way. “You'll get out of it, Mari. I promise,” he said in a low voice, before glancing at the window. He heard some voices outside, quickly realizing that it was two people talking about something irrelevant, so he turned his attention back to Mariella. To be honest he thought it was best she didn’t travel back, that she’d be safer here. He knew they could take down the vampire, that it wouldn’t match up with all the suffering she’d get from traveling to the past, but he couldn’t make himself stop her. It was wrong of him to do that. She probably wouldn’t listen anyway. She’d just ignore his warning and chase after her brother and the others. At least that's what he told himself. “I can’t tell you,” he replied before looking into her eyes. He knew her life was in pieces right now, but he just had to believe that everything was going to be better. That’s all he wanted for her. “You’ll be okay… I won’t let him hurt you,” he said in a sincere voice, feeling his heart ache at the sight of the tears running down her face. It pained him to know everything else that was bound to happen to her, that the suffering didn’t end here. She’d done nothing to deserve that.  

He took another deep breath as she asked him how he got here. “I followed a girl named Fox… She opened a door to this time, but now I don’t know where she is,” he explained and sighed silently. He hoped that she was in Gaia somewhere so he could travel back sooner rather than later. “Do you know her?” he then asked.

Her heart stopped for a second as he looked over at the window. Her eyes studied the look on his face carefully - wanting to know if there was any signs of another fight. Mariella hated that she couldn't read his face, or knowing if he was being truthful. However, he didn't prove anything else and she was in no position to be skeptical right now - even, if it was running through her nerve system like a train on full speed. I can't tell, those words echoed in her mind like an endless hollow. It couldn't be good. However, it could be many things. It could be something that had happened to them - it could be something happening to her. Not that she cared about herself, it was a long time since she had had a spark of self-love in her system. Then he said she would be okay, it made her look over at the werewolf again. Still not knowing how she was going to get her feet back on the ground. How could she keep on carry on? Was there even a point to carry on? Mariella didn't even know this guy, how could he promise her that? How close were they where he was from?
Mariella wiped the tears off her face, as he answered her question. He mentioned Fox. Mariella turned her hazel eyes back to him and frowned a little.
"She is my cousin," she breathed out. Mariella had taken smaller trips with Fox before. Fox was not more than six months older than Mariella - but they had been on small adventures together. Sometimes she had thought about a key to an unknown place where Jeremy couldn't find her ever again. "She is a little hard to keep track on, but not impossible to find," she assured Dean. It was typical Mariella. Removing one problem by focusing on another. "What year did you travel from? And did she say anything before she walked through her door?"

“Really?” he said, a bit surprised to know that Fox was her cousin, but it was reassuring. It gave him more hope of finding her as soon as this was over. He nodded slowly when she said she was hard to keep track on. It certainly would be if she decided to travel in time again. The thought worried him, but he had to have faith that she wouldn't. Then she asked him questions, as if she tried to focus on something other than her own life. “I traveled from 2019... and she didn’t say anything, I just followed her… I'm not sure she even knows that I’m here,” he admitted as he looked at Mariella. He knew that he probably shouldn’t have done it, but there was nothing to do about it now. He didn’t want her to make this about him. Not when she was the one needing help. “Anyway… I’ll find my way back sooner or later,” he said, not wanting her to worry about it too much. For now, it was important to keep her safe and to stay here until they knew if the vampire was looking for her.  “Maybe you’ll even come with me, to find your friends again…” he said, looking straight ahead of him at the wall. He didn’t know who she’d traveled to the past with, but at this point in time, he knew that Karmena and Amaryillis were already there.

“Have you told anyone else… you know, about your boyfriend?” he asked carefully as he looked at her bruises. He’d understand if it was hard to tell others about, it had been the same thing for him when his father hurt him. However, he hoped she'd at least been able to confide to someone about it, and that she'd eventually ask for help to get out of it. That's all he wanted for her.

Mariella planted her focus on the informations he gave like small seeds. She didn't want to go back to the events from earlier this day. It would be typical Fox to have so many things to do. Imagine having a key to every place in the entire universe? There would be no boring moment.
"I can help you find her?" She suggested. If anyone could find Fox, it would be Mariella or of course Fox's parents. "Karmena and I haven't spoken in months.. If I should go it would be for Lion or Amaryllis. but If they need me, I will go with you," she nodded to herself. If Lion needed her, she needed to help him. She would of course help Karmena and Amaryllis too, and Vanya.

Then the image of Jeremy was thrown right in her face again, and she took a sharp breath in. Mariella moved her hand up against her arm and turned her head down to the table. Then realizing she was still covered in blood. She would clean it off soon.
"My best friend.. Jamie knows. He .. he found out last month," she admitted biting her lower lip a little. Then she got up from the sofa and walked back to the kitchen, still able to see Dean from there. She opened the water tap and used her skills to manipulate water to move the water up to her arms. Mariella let the water remove the blood. "Is it cold in here?" She closed the tab and dried her skin with a towel. She walked over and lighted up a few candles. Mariella took up her phone as she got a text from Jamie, it was a picture of Jamie and Reginald. It made her smile. It was good she hadn't interrupted them having their time together. She wouldn't want to worry more people. And Reginald already suspected she was hiding something. "It's was just Jamie.. him and Reginald are having some "bromance" time," she smiled a little. Through she missed being around her friends. Missed hanging out with Eilish. Theodore. everyone. But Jeremy drove her away from everyone. "I don't even know if you know them.. " she had no idea if Jamie and Reginald would travel back in time- would Theo. Of course would Theo if her, Reginald and Lion was there.

“You don’t have to help me,” he said as he looked at Mariella. He didn’t want her to feel obliged to help, especially not when she had her own things to deal with. “But it would be great if you could tell me where she might be,” he said. If she wanted to go with him, he wasn’t going to stop her, but he wasn’t going to ask it of her either. He nodded when she mentioned that she’d go for Lion or Amaryllis. “I just know you’ll go after them shortly after today… so if we do find Fox, she could probably get you there,” he explained.

It was a good thing that she'd told Jamie about it, because it wasn't anything he wanted her to go through alone. “Good,” he said. Then he watched her as she got up to clean her wounds in the kitchen. “No-uh.. It’s fine. I’m pretty warm,” he said and smiled briefly. He usually didn't get cold easily. He noticed her smile when she read a text on her phone. “What is it?” he asked curiously. When she explained that it was Jamie and that he was having ‘bromance’ time with Reginald, he sent her a smile. “I do know them,” he informed her and folded his hands in front of him. “But not like I know you,” he added, letting her know that they were closer. It was surreal to think about how many of them had traveled back to the past, and even crazier that they’d stayed there for so long. Dean had barely spent any time in the future and was already worried about screwing something up. “Are you going to stay here for the night?” he asked, looking around the apartment once more.

"Please. I might just take my mind off.. you know things," she sighed a bit. Mariella always did what she could to keep herself busy. Everything was better than to end up stuck with your own thoughts. "I don't know where she is, but I know where we can find her," she added. Mariella breathed out and gave Dean a nod. Her and Eilish had talked about going there, but maybe if Marielle could get there faster, she could help them quicker.

He said he knew Jamie and Reginald. Which meant they both had traveled back as well? Had everyone just decided to take a vacation or what was going on? His comment about him knowing her better, made her lift her lips up in a little half smirk. Mariella wondered how her relationships to everyone was there. What events had happened? Both good and bad.
"I think so. I will just write my parents that I'm with Eilish, then it should be fine," she smiled a little. Jamie would lie for her on this, but she also knew her parents couldn't ask questions if she said she would spent the night at Eilish' place. "Unless you want to seek out Fox in the middle of the evening. You are a werewolf, you would be able to track her... right?" She then asked and tilted her head a little to the side. Mariella was tired, but sleep was a thing she didn't mind push aside.
"Maybe I should have walked over to Jamie.. he would have cooked me dinner.. well never mind," she said shaking her head a little. "I don't know if you know this.. but I'm a terrible cook," she chuckled lightly before sitting down on the sofa again.