From One Belt to Another

“So, is this the Alpha Belt?”

Arzen Venura looked towards her Canon Parallel, who gave a firm nod as they inspected the school grounds. “It doesn’t look that different from the one in the Beta Belt.” It was uncharacteristically empty for a school day, but Arzen had a feeling that her other version was in there. Somewhere. With other people that were not XD to the XD Power. “Eri, are you sure we landed in the right timeframe? We’ve got only one chance to go here – for now. That’s what you said back in there. Back in that weird room.”

“I’m sure, Arzen.” Replied the taller woman, checking the watch on her wrist before glancing back at the human. “Besides, all we need to do is pose a warning. That’s all.”

“How can we do it without creeping her – me – out?”

“Well.” Eri Blitzschnell glanced up at the building, and then back at her. “We’ll figure that out along the way. I’m sure of it.”

And with that, they began to walk, Arzen leading the duo as they searched from the grade school to the high school. It was like they were back in their own Beta Belt, where the school was surrounded with lush green plants and harboured heat all throughout the year. Except, it didn’t have the familiarity of home. The Alpha belt yelled at her to go back where she belonged, and she really did – except, this kind of mission required her to actually travel there with her Canon Parallel and search for this other Arzen…

She was curious.

Would she be named Arzen as well?

“Eri?”

“Hm?”

“Is she different?” she picked her words carefully. “Different in a sense that her name would be different?” at that, the green-eyed lady paused to think.

“I’m guessing so. Ancient Earth looks different compared to my world,” she noted as they passed by a pond and some wooden benches. “That would be much more than H20, and wood  would be considered scarce. You’d only see it in the museums, and they wouldn’t be as strong as that.”

She kept quiet, walking up a staircase.

Just like the staircase to the different classrooms of the various levels.

“You miss Technika, don’t you?”

“It’s home.” Eri shrugged. “Much colder than this place.”

“I’ll have to agree with you there.” Thinking back, she recalled what the other Parallels had agreed on – that the mortal herself would be the one to talk. The Parallel would be there to guide from the sidelines, and it would be worse if the Parallel would appear to the other mortal – the other one from the other belt. They feared damaging the laws of time and space even more.

“So what do I do?”

“Explain.” That was the simple answer of the Lightning Parallel. “Explain that…God, he didn’t explain this enough to us,” Eri grumbled under her breath. “Damn. We’re here because something is going to happen in the future, and we somewhat want to prevent it from crossing to the other belts. A tragedy in one belt would be enough for the universe to handle.” Emerald green eyes met chocolate brown ones. “That’s all the Watcher would say about us coming here. He wants you to warn the other and keep her from losing her sanity. Easy enough, right?”

“Because I’m a totally legit person to tell others to prevent them from cracking. Sure.”

“And you have to convince her.”

“Of course I have to. How much time do we have left?”

Another glance at the watch told Eri and Arzen the answer.

“Fifteen minutes.”

Heaving a sigh, Arzen muttered a curse under her breath and went on to the third floor of the building.

* * * * *

“So what’s it going to be, guys? Shoelaces, the Aurora Borealis, or Antique Shop?” immediately answers came from opposite sides of the room, and Arianne Maxine felt like slamming her head into the nearby wall. It wasn’t easy, she thought, being Secretary and News Editor. Klea and Ina were right, she supposed. “Alright, alright. Let’s have a vote?” she looked towards the Editor in Chief, who nodded in approval, and she proceeded to write the three topics down on the blackboard.

“Ladies, after Arianne writes down the topics, let’s have a lunch break?” suggested their club moderator. The Department Heads exchanged glances and they said a united ‘yes’, making the older woman smile. “Okay. We’ll have voting after we eat, and then we can proceed to proposing articles already. Dismissed for now, you may have your lunch.”

Arianne turned around and wiped the sweat off her brow, setting the marker on the table as the other students in the room got up with their food and exited the Computer Laboratory. Ina approached her with a smile. “Doing well so far, Green Lantern,” she observed, making the Junior grin.

“Thanks – same to you.”

“Ed meeting in thirty, over here.” Ina adjusted her glasses and gestured towards the corner of the room. “I’ll do the liberty of telling the others. I think you need to finalize the news arrangements for the second half of the year?” at Arianne’s nod, Ina wished her luck and eventually left with the Sophomores, alerting them of a meeting within half an hour. Arianne stretched and ran a hand through her black hair, setting it into a bun and yawning.

“Damn. This is a lot of work,” she grumbled, reaching her station and sitting down as she checked her phone, spotting a reply to a message from Giselle.

Okay~ I’ll send the prompt soon.

She fished the orange highlighter out of her pocket and glanced at the list of events on the paper in front of her, highlighting ones that seemed necessary and marking the ones she would think about much later. Minutes passed and the room was eventually empty, leaving Arianne to herself with the highlighter, paper, and dozens of high tech computers in the cold, air-conditioned room.

Now alone in the comp lab. Haha!

Her phone immediately ‘beeped’ at a reply.

Aww. Why?

News stuff. I want to eat.

Then eat.

Not until I finish this shiz.

She turned back to the paper, lifting a brow.

February 2014:

Juniors’ Prom = assigned to ________.

“Fucking prom,” she grumbled, scribbling her name on the blank and highlighting said event. “It’s only June and it’s shoved in my face.” Note to self: do make another rant regarding prom later.

She didn’t hear the sound of the door creaking open.

But she did notice the odd drop in temperature. Her teeth chattered and she dug into her bag, pulling out a varsity jacket of her fathers’ and sliding it on. It only seemed to relieve the cold by a small percent, and she had no choice – either work on the assignments outside in the smouldering heat, or work on it inside the Mini-Antarctica that was the computer lab.

“…screw it, I’ll check if the outside is bearable.”

She stood up and turned around, only to have herself curse loudly at the shock of seeing another person in the room.

Wearing a light green shirt and black skinny jeans with sneakers.

Her hair short, reaching her shoulders in some sort of bob style.

Watching her with a slightly analytical look in her brown eyes.

Arianne wasn’t sure if she should have felt awkward, pissed off, or relieved.

Possibly all three.

“Hi?”

The newcomer gave a nod.

“So…” Arianne felt weird.

It was like that girl wasn’t supposed to be there.

Which made her feel bad. She wasn’t supposed to be thinking like that.

“Can we talk?”

Holy shit she sounds like me.

“Uh. Sure?”

The girl approached her and sat on the seat to her right. Arianne sat as well and looked at her.

Well. She looked normal, at least.

“Look. This isn’t…what I’d say is normal, but…” she ran a hand through her hair, just like Arianne would do whenever she felt unsure. The action was creepily familiar. “I have to make this quick. I have to tell you important things. Really, really important things.” Arianne simply stared, and the girl introduced herself. “Arzen. Monika Arzen Venura of the Beta Belt.”

“Arianne Maxine of planet Earth.”

Arzen could taste the other’s sarcasm.

It felt right.

“Okay. Good. At least I have some kind of confirmation.”

“Confirmation?”

“Just listen,” the green-clothed girl interrupted impatiently. “Don’t interrupt. You and your friends – XD to the XD Power? Yeah. Keep your stability in check if you want to live.” She saw the doubt in the other’s eyes and quickly went on. “I’ve had a taste of it back in my belt. That’s why I’m here – I don’t want you and the others to go through the same level of hell I and my other friends did.”

It felt like something that would happen in fiction.

Eri had warned Arzen beforehand to not make physical contact.

She was trying her best not to.

“If you lose it, it would cause a chain reaction of events. You’d have to go to the Delta belt and the Delta you would go to the Gamma you, eventually continuing this cycle, causing it to go on in the other undiscovered belts in the universe. And we don’t want that – we don’t want a paradox to happen. We don’t want the flow of time and space to be more whacked up than it was before.”

Arianne felt like her life was being broadcasted on a Doctor Who episode.

She wondered if the Eleventh Doctor would appear with the TARDIS.

“…so what you’re saying is,” Arianne began after that large supply of information, “that my friends and I have to keep our emotions down to prevent something that happened to you in your world. If we lose it, a reaction would happen and I’d have to go to wherever the hell and possibly cause a continuous paradox. Right?”

Arzen nodded.

“Right.”

“And that you’re the me from this certain Beta belt.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly tell you that.”

“But you are.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement asking for clarification.

“I am.”

“What if we do lose it, hm?”

“You really have to ask? Hell’s going to crash. Time gets wibbly. Things would repeat themselves over and over until it would be stopped. I’m telling you this because something is going to happen in my belt. I’ve lost it and so have my friends, and we’re being told to possibly prevent it from happening in your belt, Arianne.”

“What’s the worst case scenario?”

Arzen gave a look.

“Death.”

A beeping started in the room, and Arzen’s eyes grew wide.

“Shit, Eri – not yet, I haven’t told her everything!”

Eri?

“Arianne Maxine of the Alpha belt, listen to me.” Her eyes were afraid. “Don’t lose it. Don’t lose yourself, don’t lose the others, don’t cause the destruction of your world, don’t let her down. That’s all the reassurance I need.”

Arzen’s form was paling.

Her transparency was increasing by the second.

“Promise me, damn it!”

The words I promise left her lips, and the Arzen Venura she had talked to was gone.