literature

Team Future ch. 45

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It didn't take long until the other three teenagers were rescued from the lake. Vi hadn't even noticed how the helicopter approached because it flew completely soundless (probably because it had no rotor blades).
One after another was pulled up from the wing of the rescue capsule into the helicopter, where they were wrapped in warm blankets.

From the shore Violet's older version observed the rescue. She was relieved that they all seemed to be well; then she went to the side street, where she had left her bike. Of course she was invisible, finally, not everyone needed to see how terrible she looked right now, with her dress torn, all the scrapes, bruises and disheveled hair ... and barefoot.
The invisibility of everything she touched had another advantage: she could change clothes in the side street, completely undisturbed. Fortunately, she had been shopping with Liz before, so she just put on the dress, which she had bought for the Robinson ball. Unfortunately, she had no fitting shoes, but only black ballerinas who did not fit to the dress at all. But what could she do? It was better then running around without any shoes.
Then she began to half sliding, half carrying the broken bike to the lakeside.
On the way her relief and euphoria disappeared and gave way to frustration. Every single bone hurt, her hair was ruined, her shoes were gone and she just looked terrible. She would have to come up with an excuse. Perhaps she could say, that she fell down the stairs when the power blackout began.
A restlessness began to spread out in her for some reason. She would have liked to smoke a cigarette to calm down, but her bag was still in the secret hiding of the Incredibles ... and that annoyed her. So she also had no cell phone to call their parents or Dash, or Jack to pick her up ... and that annoyed her even more.
Apart from that she had not eaten the whole day, and now she felt queasy from hunger too. She had a chocolate bar somewhere, which she had bought together with Liz, so Vi rummaged in one of the cartons and she indeed found the chocolate. But before she knew it, seemingly within seconds, the entire bar disappeared... and Violet did not feel any better. Now she would even get fat at the end of the day...

When Vi reached the shore, everything was full of people. That bothered her even more for some reason. What if she met Lucy Duncan here or any other girls from school? Step by step Vi's mood became worse, especially because some people gave her quite surprised looks. Did she really looked that awful?
Nevertheless, she put down her bike and pushed her way through the crowd of curious onlookers to check whether the others were fine.

************************************************** **

On the other side of the crowd Liz and Pete walked hand in hand. Curious, they watched the large contingent of police and ambulances that were in the center of the crowd.
They had no idea what was going on, so they asked some of the other passers-by, but none could give them an answer.

Suddenly Pete discovered Wilbur's mother in the crowd. He ran up to her, dragging Liz behind him.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Robinson?"

Franny turned around. Pete was shocked a little because she looked very pale and exhausted.

"Oh, hi Pete," she greeted friendly.

"Um, do you know what happened?"

"Oh, just a small technical defect," Franny said soothingly, after all she couldn't say what had really happened, "But don't worry, the problem has been solved now!"

Suddenly a large helicopter flew from the lake and landed in some distance away from them.

"Would you excuse me?" Franny said quickly and ran to the helicopter, without waiting for a reply.

Pete and Liz looked after her, wondering.

"Okay ..." Liz began finally, "That was.... not very informative."

***************************************************

From top Violet could excellently see that the lake shore was full of people; police officers, photographers and numerous onlookers were everywhere. She could also see that a small area was cordoned off and in its middle stood the time machine.
The three teens were wrapped in thick blankets. After a few minutes, the helicopter went deeper and landed on a meadow by the lake.

Right after the helicopter had landed, a slim, dark-haired woman lunged at the older Wilbur, embraced him and overwhelmed him with kisses. Vi felt how the younger Wilbur beside her tensed.
That was probably his mother. Violet had only seen her briefly, when they had been in older Wilbur's room.

The older Wilbur tried to push Franny gently away from him, when Wilma suddenly ran towards him and jumped on his leg!
The leg, mind you, which was hurt.

"Wilbur!" she cried happily. Wilbur gave, however, a cry of pain in return after which Wilma let go of his leg immediately.

"Oh my God, what have they done to you?" Franny asked, very concerned suddenly.

"Don't panic, it's just my knee..." Wilbur brought out, with clenched teeth. At that moment two robot-paramedics already arrived with a barrow.

"Oh, don't you think this is a bit exaggerated?" he asked, while the paramedics helped him onto the borrow. After all, his kneecap only popped out, but they acted like he had torn off his leg. He really could have hobbled the short distance to the ambulance. At that moment Cornelius arrived at the helicopter. When he saw that his son was lying on a barrow, he became pale.

"Don't worry, nothing happened!" Wilbur cried, while the paramedic-bots brought him to the ambulance on the flying barrow.
Only now Franny discovered the younger Wilbur, who was just climbing out of the helicopter.

"Aha!" She shouted angrily, putting her hands akimbo and built up right in front of him. She was ready to give him a proper dressing down, but then she discovered the girl, who climbed after out of the helicopter, and Franny was taken aback.
Wilbur used the opportunity to speak first.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! That's not fair! When I return to my time, I'll get another rubdown from your past self! If you scold me now, I get twice of trouble for the same thing! And that's unfair, right? But if you insist to scold me now, then I want you to sign me an explanation that I already got my rubdown, so that your past self - "

He had always been good with talking, Franny realized once again, annoyed. She was about to interrupt her son from the past, when the girl suddenly began to speak.

"That's all my fault, Mr. Robinson. I broke into your house to steal the time machine and accidentally kidnapped your son!"

"And how did you got into the garage?" Cornelius asked, coming closer; he had a certain suspect.

"The door was open -" Violet began innocently, but only when she saw that Wilbur became red suddenly and gritted his teeth, she realized that she got him into big trouble with these words. She tried to revise it as fast as possible.

"Erm, I mean -"

"Yes, I see, the dear Sir is absolutely innocent!" Franny interrupted severely, folding her arms. Violet felt so very sorry for Wilbur, who now drooped guiltily.

They both now expected to get a sturdy tongue-lashing, but Wilbur's parents remained silent.
Franny gave Cornelius a challenging glance, but he shook his head and returned the look. Franny raised her eyebrows and then left without saying a word. This performance fascinated Wilbur over and over again. When it was about to punish him, his parents had developed a seemingly telepathic connection that allowed them to communicate without talking.

When Franny was gone Cornelius examined the two young teenagers and crossed his arms.

"We need to talk!"
Wilbur flinched imperceptibly and gulped when he heard his father's voice. Still drooping, he came up to him.

"Not you, I mean her," his father said sternly. Wilbur gritted his teeth and out of the corners of his eyes he looked over to Violet. Without protest she followed Cornelius. They walked away, until they were out of Wilbur's sight.
Wilbur bit his lip. She had to go through this alone ... But still he had a bad feeling because he wasn't able to help her.

Cornelius and Violet walked silently for a while, until there were not so many people around them.

"Mr. Robinson, I'm all so terribly sorry!" Violet exclaimed suddenly, because she couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"I hope so!" he said, and he didn't even try to suppress his anger, "What were you thinking?!"

They had stopped close to the lake shore. Violet stared at the ground.

"I don't know... it seemed like a good idea at the time... " she mumbled meekly. The situation was really unpleasant. Her face was feeling hot, her ears seemed to burn and her hands were sweating.

"Fine, you wanted to prevent to get frozen ..." Cornelius began again, "Didn't you think about the consequences?! Did it never come to your mind that your existence would have ended right at the instant when you would have saved your past version?"

Violet frowned questioningly.

"When you'd prevented your past self from getting deep frozen, I would have never saved you and so the Violet, who travels back in time to save her previous version - and that is you - would never exist." he continued, and while he spoke he remembered why he had destroyed the time machines... it was just way too confusing.

Now the dark haired girl seemed to understand. Her gaze became empty and she looked confused out on the lake.

"You mean... if my plan had been successful, I would have wiped out my own existence in the end?"

"Exactly!" Cornelius said angrily and folded his arms, "And to make matters even worse, you have also endangered my son!"

But Violet didn't really listen. She was pondering. It sounded logical. Very logical, actually... she really could have thought about this herself. She felt terrible all of a sudden, more terrible than at any time before at this day. Her plan had been absolutely not thought through! It was a terrible plan, which would have been completely useless and on top of that she had endangered, not only her own but countless other lives.
And if this wasn't enough already she had broken into the house of the man, who had saved her life! What kind of super hero was she?!

She felt so shabby and miserable that she could not hold back the tears any longer.

"I'm so sorry ..." she sobbed, her legs gave in and she sat down on the ground and cried bitterly.
Cornelius immediately got a bad conscience. He should be mad at her, but when he saw this poor girl in her deep despair, he couldn't help but feel pity. Especially in light of her special situation.
He squatted in front of her and put his hand soothingly on her shoulder.

"Hey, hey, nothing bad has happened ..." he began, "On the contrary, apparently it's due to you that Cobra could be stopped in time."

It seemed, however, not to work particularly well, Violet was still crying heart-rending.

"I'm so sorry that I broke into your house ... you save my life and that's the way I show my gratitude!" she sobbed.

"Well, you didn't really broke in..." Cornelius was hoping it would reassure Violet. After all, the door had been open. And that hadn't been her fault.

"And I'm sorry that I have put everyone's life at stake just because I was so selfish!"

"Well, Cobra wanted to destroy the city anyway, independent from you!"

"Stop sympathizing!" Violet cried at him suddenly, "There is no excuse for what I did..."

Cornelius sighed. The poor kid was already making enough reproaches, so he didn't want to make her feel even worse.
It took a while until Violet calmed down again.

"Everything okay again ...?"

She shrugged with a wry smile. Her eyes were still puffy from crying and her breathing was still not going regularly.

"Wait a moment," Cornelius said, then he got up and went in search for a certain person.


***************************************************

While Cornelius was talking to Violet, Wilbur went to his older self, who was treated in one of the floating ambulance cars. His mother and Wilma were there too. Wilbur put his hands in his pockets and leaned casually against the ambulance. The nurse was getting ready to set the knee again. When she turned around, however, she had a large pair of scissors in her hand and was about to cut open older Wilbur's jeans.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Said the older Wilbur in panic suddenly and held his hands protectively over his pants.

"I need to get to your knee..." the nurse said, "And I can't roll up the pants that high..."

"This is a designer jeans! You won't cut that for sure!" Wilbur protested determined. Franny and the younger Wilbur exchanged a skeptical glance. Both had never thought that he would develop that way one day.

"Well, fine. Then I try to set the knee cap blind," said the nurse irritable, rolled up her sleeves and began work the knee with both hands.

"Ouch, ouch ouch ...!" Wilbur cried after a few seconds, and waved the nurse off, "All right, all right ... then cut it up!"

When the nurse had cut the jeans open to the knee, Wilma made a wry face.

"There's no blood at all!" she said confused, almost disappointed.

"How boring!" said the younger Wilbur and grimaced. Wilma then imitated this expression perfectly.

"Yes, booooring!" she said, folding her arms. Franny and the nurse started laughing.

"But it still hurts like hell ...!" growled the older Wilbur annoyed, "Nice to see that my injury contributes to the general amusemen-aaaaaah!!!" with a loud crack the nurse had set the patella again. And immediately afterwards, she began to wrap a supporting bandage around his knee.

"Couldn't you warn me?" Wilbur moaned.

"You were just so nicely distracted..." the nurse said with a grin, without looking at him.

"Can I play football with the thing?" Wilbur asked, when the nurse was finished with the bandage. He lifted his leg and bent it a few times to test how he could move with the bandage. The nurse just laughed.

"You should look for another sport, kid," she said, while she packed her medical bag, "Chess for example?"

"Why football at all?" asked the younger Wilbur, wondering.

"Because of the girls!" replied his older self, as if this was the only reason why anybody would do sport at all.

"My brother is a quarterback!" Wilma said proudly.

"Really?" replied the younger Wilbur, pretending to be impressed.

His older version got up and slipped out of the ambulance, while Franny held his arm. He tried to weight the leg, but it was still painful, so he hobbled off a few steps from the ambulance before it finally closed its door and drove off.

"So, my sweety," Franny said and picked up Wilma, "Let's go to search for Daddy and Carl!"
Then the two disappeared into the crowd.

The older Wilbur waited until his mother was out of sight before he began.

"Let sum it up again: Violet Parr is a super hero from the past ...?"
This question hit Wilbur like a flash. Now he felt sorry that he had given away Violet's secret. He looked at the ground and said nothing. That wasn't necessarily true... his older self just pieced things together himself.
He was upset and confused ... somehow everything concerning Violet had completely changed; nothing was the same anymore, or was it? It was like he was seeing her with completely fresh eyes now. What was going on in a person, who had been frozen for so many years?

He startled from his thoughts when he suddenly heard someone calling his name. He looked in the direction where the voice came from and discovered Pete, who waved at him.

"Okay, time to go, kiddo!" he said hastily, and gave his younger self a slight nudge.

"Hey! Isn't that Pete? Hi Pete!" cried young Wilbur and waved.

"Shove off now!" hissed his older version and pushed him away, then he went to meet his friend.

***************************************

After a while Cornelius finally found the person he was looking for.

"Hey, Violet!" he said. She turned around. He was startled a little. Her usually accurate appearance looked pretty devastated.

"Looks like it was a tough battle ..." he stated.

"Oh, don't get me started on that! I'm glad it's finally over ..." said the older Violet. She looked exhausted and stressed. So Cornelius decided to come right to the issue for what he was here.

"So .. I can assume that you are fully informed?"

Violet nodded.

"So you know, that we have 'visitors' here...?" he asked carefully, because he couldn't estimate how much she knew exactly.

"Yeah, yeah ... Thanks to your great time machine!" said Violet, as if it was self-evident. A short silence followed, because Cornelius did not exactly know how to formulate the next question.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Violet asked instead.

"Yes, please."

"No problem, Mr. Robinson, this will be done immediately. I'll teach the young lady a lesson on time traveling!" Violet said, rubbing her hands.

"But don't be too harsh on her..." Cornelius said, a little worried.

"Oh, you know you can never be strict enough with yourself!" she said and then made her way to her younger self.

Cornelius sighed and went back to work. He still had to fix the time machine once more.

************************************************************

Violet found her younger version, sitting depressed on a meadow close to the water, the beige blanket was pulled up to the ears, so that Violet almost didn't recognize her.
She went to her younger version and sat down beside her.

"Hey... Are you okay?"

The younger Violet shrugged, looking over the lake. It was still obvious, that she had cried previously.

"Do you still want to change the time ...?"

"No ..." Violet replied, and frowned annoyed. By now she had enough of time travels for the rest of her life. But then another thought struck her.

"Why did you never try to change the time?" she asked her older version.

"And I could ask you why you did it ..." was the reply.

"I wanted my life back -" Violet began, and she almost started crying again.

"Man, THIS is your life!" interrupted the older Violet briskly, "Isn't that good enough for you?!"

Then she pointed at the breathtaking skyline of the city, which was glowing in all colors of the rainbow. The reflection was shimmering in the peaceful lake.

"Just look around! You were frozen for 32 years in a device that was designed for just the half of the time ...! Against all odds you have been brought back to life, and you want to throw this away so recklessly? "

She carefully observed her younger version. She had lowered her gaze and looked at the floor, thoughtfully.

"... Did Mr. Robinson tell you that you have been clinically dead for 3 minutes before they were able to revive you?"

"No ..." the younger Violet whispered barely audible.

"I think your brain got damaged! Don't you see what a miracle it is that you may live? It's a gift!" the older Violet said in awe and emphasis, "And you've got nothing better to do but to hang in the past with your mind, instead to concentrate on the good things that you may experience!" she stopped for a moment, because feared to start crying herself otherwise.

"For example, you have an absolutely fantastic family!"

Her younger version suddenly jerked her head towards her, and pushed the lower lip forward, insulted.

"I know!" she mumbled, offended. After all it was HER family!

"Yes, but you should better appreciate them, as they no longer take you for granted" said her older version casually. Violet, however, felt disturbed by this precocious, smart-alecky attitude.

"... And all the other things! Have you ever noticed that people are much less superficial in the future? They are friendly, courteous and helpful. No matter where you are...I guess it's because all those crazy inventions have really improved their lives, so they are much happier. Everybody can do what he can do best and nobody is forced to work on something he doesn't like. And the political development! Just imagine, there is no single dictatorship in the world anymore! And terrorism is almost extinct! And there is neither AIDS nor starving in Africa. Would you have imagined this would happen one day?"

Violet wanted to say something, though she didn't exactly know what - but her older version continued anyway.

"And Liz! I've never had a best friend like her. And - "

"Who's Liz?" Her younger version interrupted unnerved, simply to stop her earlier version from further ranting.

"Well... Elizabeth" the older Violet replied, "... Elizabeth Beckett?" she tried to help her younger version.

"This weird blonde one?" Violet asked, almost disgusted, while she remembered in the very shy girl.

"What do you mean with 'weird blond one'?" the older Violet protested, putting her hands akimbo, "I'm friends with her since the first day of school! I would die for this girl!"

"If you say so..." Violet said laconically, and shrugged. But then she remembered that she had never really given Liz a chance to get to know her...
Oh great, another thing to have a bad conscience about!

"Man, man, man, we are quite different!" noted her older version after a while.

"Thank God!" Violet murmured silently.

"What?" her older version asked slightly annoyed.

"Nothing!" Violet said with an exaggerated grin. Then she looked over the lake again. It was true... she had really focused only on negative things, and had used all her energy to find a way out of this situation, rather than settle and start a new life. Maybe her older version was right...
As if her older version could read minds, she began with a motherly tone:

"You got a second chance, and you may live in this incredibly great time ... Actually you should really be the happiest person on this planet."

"I know!" exclaimed the younger Violet frustrated, "I have no idea why I was so stupid ..." she continued, disappointed in herself.

"Well," said the old Violet pleased and stood up, "You just can't be as cool as I am!" she said, and stretched, but it was clear that she didn't mean it very serious.

At that moment the younger Wilbur came over to them.

"So, I go home now. After this day I deserved a nice, long bath." the older Violet said, trying to hide a yawn.

"Wait! I still have a question!" her younger version said hastily.

"You should never know too much about your own future," she replied suggestively.

"But it's important!" insisted the young Violet. Then she made an awkward pause, and looked over to Wilbur, who had sat beside her, as if she felt unpleasant that he was listening. But then she asked anyway:

"How do you get the volume in your hair?"

Both Wilbur and older Violet began to laugh.

"Be quiet, I wanna know!" she protested.

"That's pretty easy ..." her older version finally said with a grin, "The secret is ...", she began, looking around to both sides to make sure that no one was listening, "Beer!"

"Beer?" Wilbur and Vi asked at the same time, completely confused.

"I have to drink beer to get such beautiful hair?!" Violet asked incredulously. Her older version started to laugh out loudly, holding her belly.

"How cute! You are so funny!" she exclaimed before she calmed down, "You shall not drink it, you moron, but you shall wash your hair with it!"

Vi and Wilbur changed skeptical glances. That sounded even more illogical for them.

"Well ..." her older version finally said, "See ya. And take care!"

"Bye..." the two time travelers replied. Vi's older version gave them a wave and then walked away.

"Was it bad?" Wilbur asked after a pause.

"Well... It was okay..." she replied, after all she had deserved a rubdown. But only then she realized that Mr. Robinson didn't really had the opportunity to scold her.

"I just started crying like crazy" said she bashfully and buried her face in the blanket.

"Really?" Wilbur asked sympathetically. Violet just gave a hum of approval.

"That's good," he said suddenly, "He gets weak when you start crying!"

Violet lifted her head and gave him a skeptical glance.

"Hey, 13 years of experience!" Wilbur continued proudly, patting his chest.

Violet started laughing, which made Wilbur feel much better too. But shortly after that she became serious again; she looked guiltily at the floor, while she fumbled on a blade of grass.

"But ... you could've been killed ..." she murmured. Wilbur almost feared she would start crying again.

"Oh nonsense! You're a superhero! you would've saved me... "

Violet felt not only honored by his confidence into her abilities, but flattered too. She didn't really know what to say, she only felt how her cheeks became warm. She couldn't resist a smile and gave Wilbur a shy glance.

He returned the smile charmingly, then he folded his hands behind his head and stretched out on the lawn.

Then they heard a small child's voice behind them.

One second later Wilma came along and ran around them, squeaking happily. Violet grabbed her suddenly and she placed the little girl on her lap. Wilbur would have never done something like that, he didn't really feel comfortable with this kid. But Violet acted completely natural. That was probably her experience of dealing with small children.

Unabashedly, the little girl grabbed a strand of Violet's hair.

"Hey, you like my hair?" Violet asked. Wilma replied with an affirmative sum.

"You have beautiful hair too! Are you styling it yourself?"

"Sometimes," replied the little girl, "and sometimes my mom and sometimes Carl ... and sometimes my brother"

Violet had to laugh out suddenly, when she imagined how the older Wilbur - this muscle-packed quarterback - coiffed of his little sister's hair. But when she saw Wilbur's face, she had to laugh even more.

"Really ...?" asked Wilbur, partly horrified, partly in disbelief, and with slight hint of disgust.

"Yes!" Wilma said proudly.

"Would you have ever thought that you would braid your little sister' hair one day?" Violet asked, laughing.

"To be honest ..." Wilbur began, taking a breath with a hiss, "I never expected to ever have a sister at all!"

Violet looked at him in surprise. She had thought that Wilma would be a little baby in their time, but now it seemed like she didn't exist at all!

"Well then ..." she began, "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!" Wilma said with even more emphasis, throwing her arms up, then she turned to Violet, placed her hand next to her mouth and whispered into her ear, "It's his birthday today?"

The two time travelers laughed. Then Violet began a strange conversation with the little girl about how old they were, by showing each others age with their fingers. Meanwhile Wilbur lay on the side and watched this strange scene fascinated, yet skeptical. He had no idea what he should talk about with such a young person.
All of the sudden he had an idea. He jumped up on his feet.

"I'll be right back!" he said hastily, while he ran away.

"Oh, okay ..." said Violet. She and Wilma looked after him in surprise. Then the two looked at each other and shrugged.

*******************************************************

Wilbur was hoping that she wasn't gone yet. But then he discovered her between the people. It was getting empty, yet there were still many people on the lake shore, who just enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere.
When Wilbur saw her, he called her.

"Wait! I must ask you something... "

The old Violet, who was on her way to her bike, turned around in surprise.

"What?"

"Why can't you stand each other?" Wilbur asked out of breath when he had reached her, although it was not what he actually wanted to ask. Yet it would be useful to know, so he wouldn't make the same mistakes like his older version. Violet hesitated for a moment, then her expression became angry.

"You tell me!" she said after a brief pause, with a bitter undertone. There was silence for a while.

"What did I do? I mean, what will I do ...?"

"Oh, nothing!" Violet said, annoyed and wanted to leave, but then she remembered that she probably wouldn't have a chance like that so soon again. So she turned around and stomped towards Wilbur, so that he had to back off a few steps.

"You ignore me since I'm here! You've never spoken a normal word to me! And you slag me off behind my back! All you - he...!" she corrected herself, and then took a deep breath to calm again.

Wilbur gulped and bit his lip, when he remembered that he had just made the decision to ignore Violet once and for all, before all this had happened. By a hair, he had almost became like his older version.

"Whatever ..." Violet said finally, annoyed and rubbed her sore neck. All she wanted was to go home, she already had enough problems for a single day.

"So ..." Wilbur began when Violet was about to say goodbye, "We'll probably never meet ever again, so I can be honest ..."

"Honest...?" Violet asked, confused. Would she now find out the reason why Wilbur Robinson had never given her a chance? Did he think she was too ugly? Or too bitchy?
Wilbur looked around briefly, then took her hand and pulled her a little further away to make sure that Violet's younger self couldn't see them.

"What I want to know is - I -" he began haltingly, "I mean ... hypothetically! Um ... do you think there would be a chance ... that ... you and me ... well, me and her... that we... well maybe ... somehow ..." It didn't happen often that Wilbur was at a loss for words.

"That what?" Violet asked, irritated by this incoherent babbling. She felt though, that she would normally be quite sure what he meant, but her brain was working very slow after all the effort and so she didn't get what this confused talk was about.

"I'm afraid I have a crush on you - on her - ... on Violet!"

Excitedly, Wilbur was awaiting her reaction. But there was none.
Violet looked at him completely blankly, as if he would speak a different language. It took a few seconds until her mind had decoded the content of the message. And when it was time, her reaction was rather restrained.

"Uh ... what ...? No...." Violet disagreed at first, as if Wilbur was trying to convince her, that the sky was green. Only gradually the importance of this confession became clear to her.

"No! You're lying!"

"I'm not!" Wilbur defended.

"Really now? You're kidding!" Violet cried incredulously.

"I certainly wouldn't ask if it wasn't true!" Wilbur said, suddenly very serious.

Violet stared at the boy in front of her for a while in silence, while the wheels in her head began to move slowly. What did this confession meant for her? Did the Wilbur from her time might feel the same way? No, before getting to such conclusions, she had to clarify one more thing!

"Since when?!" she suddenly burst out. Wilbur jerked when she shouted at him. He looked away and thought for a moment.

"Since ... we met for the first time" he noted.

Violet needed a moment to remember, after all this meeting was a few years in the past for her.

"On the bus...?" she asked hesitantly. She couldn't find an earlier memory.

"No, the day before ..." Wilbur said uncomfortably. But Violet just stared at him quizzically.

"In front of your house ...?" he tried to help. Violet frowned but said nothing. She seemed to have totally forgotten this incident! Wilbur groaned inwardly. He had been so ashamed because of this accidental encounter, that he had decided to never ever talk to Violet. Back then (a few days ago) he would have liked to bury himself in a deep hole in the ground and had in all seriousness decided to ignore her for the rest of his life, only because he felt so embarrassed because of this incident. And she had just forgotten it! And now he even had to remind her on it!
"This is called an irony of fate," said a voice in his head suddenly, full of self-irony. He sighed heavily.

"While I was making a complete idiot out of myself...?" he only hoped that he didn't have to go into more details.

"Oooh ...!" Violet cried at once, when she recalled, "That was you! I had totally forgotten - "

She paused. The blood froze instantly in the veins. This contradicted all that had happened in the last few years, right? This meant that the Wilbur from her time had a crush on her too - or at least had had a crush!
Suddenly she felt sick. Had she been the one who had destroyed his feelings with her bitchy behavior? So it was also her fault, that they couldn't stand each other? All of a sudden the different emotions rained upon her; she couldn't decide what exactly she should feel. She felt guilty, she was angry, desperate, she would have liked to just laugh about all of it and at the same time she felt like crying her eyes out. And she was tired and starving. Somehow it suddenly seemed as if the world would have never been what it seemed. Then she suddenly felt somehow light and warm, and she realized that she was probably in shock.

"Well?" a voice asked expectantly beside her.

"... Well ...? Well what?" she asked totally bewildered.

"Oh man .." Wilbur muttered, rubbing his eyes. He wouldn't have thought that this conversation would be that difficult. That was almost more unbearable as talking with his older version. Violet shook her head, to clear her mind.

"What was the question again?"

"Do you think she likes me?" Wilbur asked, a little over-excited.

She had hardly heard the words, when the blood shot into Violet's head and she heard a pulsing noise in her ears. She began to waver.

"Are you okay ...?" Wilbur asked worried. All of a sudden Violet looked unhealthy pale.

"Huh? Yes, yes... What... ?" Violet asked, a little disoriented, "Oh right ... if she likes you..." she repeated, and then suddenly began to giggle totally ridiculous, so weird that Wilbur really thought, she had finally lost her mind.
Violet then cleared her throat and put her hands akimbo, grasping for self-control.

"I-I think you both come along quite well ..." she said with a bashful grin, but then her gaze suddenly became serious and she frowned, "But ..." she murmured.

"But what?" Wilbur urged.

Violet dropped her head to her chest for a moment. Man, it was so embarrassing to admit the truth! She felt how her cheeks turned red. And when she already felt so uncomfortable now, how would it be when she would talk to the Wilbur from her time?

"Yeah .... yeah..." was everything she was able to say.

"What...?!" Wilbur asked, confused. Somehow her words did not really make sense.

"I imagine that there's a realistic chance." Violet said with a gulp, without looking at him.

"Really?" Wilbur exclaimed relieved.

"Yep ..."

Violet wanted to say more, but her brain went on strike again
She breathed deeply, to provide her brain with oxygen. She tried to concentrate and to put herself in her younger self's position... Finally, who knows exactly how he felt four years ago?

"But it needs time, I think ..." she continued. When she saw Wilbur's tensed expression, she continued: "I mean, she has just lost everything she had. From personal experience I would say that she needs to get her life back on track first, before she can get involved with other things ... But generally I don't see any problems ..." she ended with a impish smile.

Somehow she felt totally stupid to talk about her feelings, and yet not about her own feelings at the same time.
Wilbur, however, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, thank you!"

"No problem ...." Violet replied relaxed. Then she thought about, how fortunate her younger version's life would be in comparison to hers.

"Maybe you could make sure that she cares for more than only handbags and shoes..."

"Okay, I will ..." Wilbur laughed.

"And promise me to not become a conceited muscleman, who puts more interested in his hair than in anything else ..." Violet said, and gave Wilbur a slight nudge. Wilbur hesitated for a moment, then grinned.

"You both have a lot in common," he said and nudged her back. Violet frowned.

"Haha, really funny ..."

"I think you should go to him." Wilbur said after a while.

"As if I would care for what you think!" Violet said in a bitchy tone and crossed her arms stubbornly. Wilbur only raised one eyebrow.

"... Do you really think so?" She asked uncertainly, after a pause. Wilbur nodded.

"I wasn't really nice to him in the past years..." Violet said thoughtfully.

"Then you should apologize ..." Wilbur replied casually.

"Yeah for you it's easy to say... " Violet cried suddenly, throwing her arms up, "Besides, why should I apologize?! He is the one who -" she paused when she noticed Wilbur's skeptical glance.
She took a deep breath and swallowed.

"O-kay ..." she finally said, but it sounded less than enthusiastic. Then she slowly left in search of Wilbur's older version.

"Good luck!" Wilbur said, waving.

"For you too!" Violet called back.

**************************************************

It wasn't long until Violet found Wilbur. Pete and Liz stood beside him. When Liz saw her from afar, she ran up to Violet, the strawberry red dress and her blond curls bouncing up and down.

Violet felt so strange. Within such a short time so incredibly much had changed... she didn't know how to deal with it all. Then suddenly she felt like crying - she didn't even know why exactly - because of the frustration of the day, because she was just looking terrible, every single of her bones was hurting, because of the realization that Wilbur Robinson had once had a crush on her and she had ruined it with her stupid behavior, or because she was constantly forced to lie to her best friend because of her super powers -

Suddenly Violet got a tight knot in her throat, when she realized that now Junior Robinson knew her secret! He knew her secret identity, but she still had to lie at Liz! This was so unfair! Violet held her breath, otherwise she had started crying her eyes out.


"What happened, honey?" Liz cried worried, while she embraced Violet motherly.
When Wilbur saw Violet and Liz, he went up to them. He was concerned. Perhaps something had happened, maybe something was wrong Medium...

"What's wrong?" he asked hesitantly.

All of a sudden Violet burst into tears. It was less because she heard his voice, but that she couldn't hold her breath any longer. But Liz interpreted this reaction differently.

"What? What has he done?" she asked, while she hugged Violet and stroked her head.

"What?!" Wilbur asked, confused. What should he have to do with it?

"He knocked me over me with his car!" Violet suddenly sobbed, since she couldn't tell her friend what had happened for real.

"Wilbur!" Liz hissed at him angrily.

"What?!!" Wilbur asked flabbergasted, "I - but - it ..." he stammered. He was totally confused. He had seen how Violet did such incredible things throughout the day and now she was crying her eyes out like a little child.
Liz, of course, knew nothing of all that. All she knew was, that Wilbur and Violet could not stand each others guts, and because her best friend was not feeling well right now, her protective instincts turned on inevitably.

"Shove off!" she snapped aggressively at Wilbur. Startled, Wilbur backed off a few steps.

"My dress is totally ruined, my bike is broken and my shoes are gone!" Violet continued, sobbing.

"Oh no, not the red ones!" Liz said, now almost crying herself, "We find new ones..." she added, however, it did not sound very convincing.

"They were unique! I'll never find ones like that again!" Violet sobbed.

Wilbur stared at the two girls, half-terrified, half in disbelief, his jaw dropping. His brain simply refused to understand what he saw.
Then he suddenly felt how someone grabbed him by his arm and gently pulled him away from the two girls.

"Come on ..." Pete said, "What's up with your leg?" he continued, trying to change the subject to distract Wilbur a bit, after his terrible loss. But Wilbur didn't seem to listen.

"I don't believe it! Pah! Getting upset because of some stupid shoes! That's ridiculous!" Wilbur bleated enraged.

"Hmm... Women ..." Pete said, and shrugged.

"That's ludicrous! The world is almost going to the dogs and she snivels because of her shoes!"

"Well, well ..." Pete replied laconically. He wondered how Wilbur could still complain about something like that, now that he himself had to get over such a terrible loss. Then suddenly Pete had an unpleasant suspicion, that hopefully would not confirm.

"Oooh, I still have to get my car!" Wilbur said suddenly, and struck his hand against his forehead. He had totally forgotten about the Lady Crema.

"It's standing somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully nothing happened to it..." he said, a little annoyed at the thought that he would still have to get his car. He actually wanted home as fast as possible...

"Damn ..." Pete muttered. His suspicions had just been confirmed. He suddenly felt hot. Why was he the one, who should tell Wilbur the terrible news?

"It's not as bad as all that... I have get the car to a garage tomorrow anyway... "

"Wilbur?"

"I've knocked over Parr's bike ... such a long scratch!" he said, showing the length with his hands, "That will take forever! I have to remove and repaint the entire lining! You know how much work that is!" Wilbur continued, applied. Nevertheless, he still felt a little better. He actually liked to tinker around at his car. Then he saw Pete's pained expression.

"Hey, it's nothing I couldn't fix" he tried to reassure his friend.

"Your parents didn't tell you...?" Pete asked hesitantly.

"Tell me what ...?" Wilbur asked. Pete suddenly had a knot in his throat and he looked like he was about to start crying at any moment.

"Is anyone hurt?!" Wilbur asked horrified.

"No! Don't worry! No one's hurt!" Pete waved, but then he hesitated, "Although ... "

"What ...?" Wilbur asked, still very worried.

Pete took a deep breath, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object, which he pushed into Wilbur's hand. Wilbur opened his hand. It was the badge on the front lid of the Lady Crema, with the Robinson R and the three diagonal lines ...

The girls had calmed down in the meantime. Relaxed, they stood on the meadow near the road, that ran along the lake, while Liz talked about her totally messed-up evening.
But suddenly they were interrupted by loud screaming.

"NO! No! Not her! Why? She never hurt somebody! She was so innocent!"

If Violet had not known that it was about a car, she had almost thought someone had died.
Wondering, the two girls looked over to the boys. Pete had laid a hand on Wilbur's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"What a stupid nonsense!" Violet grunted, "It's just a car!"

"Well, I can understand it ... after all, he built the car himself..." Liz replied sympathetically. Violet suddenly jerked around and stared at her.

"Did he?!" she wanted to cry out in disbelief, but she pulled herself together; instead she said with a derogatory tone: "Anyone can build a car from the construction kit!"

"This car wasn't from a construction kit" Liz corrected, "Pete told me that he and Wilbur had found the car a few years ago in a slope and later Wilbur had restored this thing from scratch..."

"All alone?" Violet asked in disbelief, and yet appreciative. She slowly understood that she had completely underestimated the value of this car.

"Well, Pete has helped him now and then ..."

"Aha..."

Wilbur, meanwhile, had calmed down again pretty fast, especially because he remembered that his sister had been sitting in the car. Thank God nothing happened to her! But Pete still looked pretty crestfallen, so Wilbur gave him the badge as a souvenir. Pete in return only patted his shoulder. A wordless farewell among men. Then he went back to his girlfriend and Violet.
Wilbur, however hobbled slowly to the shore and sat down on a stone to take a short rest. Not only his leg was hurting, but every bone in his body. Not to mention how fed up and confused he was about everything that had happened today... Completely exhausted, he buried his face in his hands.

Meanwhile Pete had reached the two girls.

"Do you want to come with us? We can drive you home if you want" Liz said kindly.

"No, thanks" Violet said with a wave, "I ... there's still something I have to manage... "

Liz began to grin knowingly.

"No prob, we'll wait for you" Pete said, but his girlfriend grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"She'll be fine! Let's go!" she said, still grinning.

Pete was pretty confused, but he only shrugged. Probably women would be a mystery for him forever. Then the couple said goodbye and left.
For a while Violet stood there motionless, a bit lost and uncertain. Carefully, she glanced over to Wilbur, who was still sitting on a stone close to the shore, with his back turned to her.
Then she grimaced, taking a deep breath. That would be very unpleasant. But she had no choice. After all he knew her super hero identity now...

But that wasn't only thing she wanted to talk about.
Okay, okay... I KNOW you are ALL disappointed!

No kissy-kissy this time... But wait for the next chapter!

though... don't get too excited over it... You all going to be even more disappointed....

:sniff: I whished it would be cooler, but it isn't...
So many boring stuff...

But to defend myself: This is the best i could come up with. My best: my love, my heartblood, my sweat and my tears.

I hope you liky-like it!

:iconinaligrimalkin: did a wonferful job with the beta reading! kudos to her! :la:


BTW: [link] This deviation is almost 2 years old!!! :omg:
See how early I knew how the end would look like? frunstrating! :XD:


Anything else? Well... The dialogue between older and younger Vi was really tough... and I don't think I managed to transport the feelings as I intedned it.

Whataver!
© 2011 - 2024 artificus
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inaligrimalkin's avatar
Kudos to me!! :XD: I'll get to work on chapter 46 asap, I wanna know what happens next :D