A Curious Happening
It was a nice house – not too quaint, but with a kind, homely feel to it. Mostly that was due to the people that lived in it.
Personally, Yassen had never met two kinder people than John and Helen Rider. The former had taken him under his wing and taught him everything he knew, and the latter accepted him instantly as family, despite everything her husband must have told her. She had even gone so far as to let Yassen hold the couple's newborn child.
And so that was how the young assassin came to be holding a baby, not something he thought he'd ever do. It was a mark of how much John trusted him that the older man didn't try and snatch his child back, and simply watched with amusement as Yassen desperately tried to make his face blank – he was sure that he looked completely out of his depth. Which he was, but no one else needed to know that, did they?
But he was grateful to the couple for letting him have this novel experience. Alex was, for want of a better word, adorable. He had a few tufts of fluffy blonde hair and wide brown eyes that Yassen was sure were impossibly big. It wasn't everyday that a hardened killer from one of the world's most ruthless organizations used the word 'cute', but really, there was no other way to describe the child.
Really he was surprised that he had been allowed anywhere near-
BANG!
A blinding flash filled the room, forcing it's occupants to shut their eyes in protest. And about ten seconds later…
"-never forgive you, Tom! I- wait a second…"
Everyone opened their eyes and stared at the two people who had seemingly materialized in the living room. One was a rather short boy with pale skin and dark brown hair and eyes who was looking kind of shocked at the surroundings. The other was another boy, but significantly taller and a little more tanned, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. They both seemed to be teenagers, around the fourteen - sixteen range.
The pair looked at each other. Yassen and the Riders looked at each other. The two groups refused to look at each other for a moment.
"Awkward…" the pale boy muttered, breaking the silence. His friend cuffed him over the head and hissed, "Not the time, Tom!"
'Tom', apparently, just grinned at his companion and finally took in the other occupants of the room. Only to step back and go even paler.
"A-Alex?" he stuttered. "Is that..?"
The one called 'Alex' glanced at the adults in the room – first seeing John and Helen, then Yassen himself. Alex stepped back too.
"This is messed up," he muttered, dragging his hands through his hair. "This is so, so messed up…"
Yassen recognized that gesture as the one John performed when stressed. With a shock, he realized that he recognized the hair too – it looked like John'. In fact, this 'Alex' had a lot of features that matched with John… and Helen.
Suddenly registering the significance of the teenager's name, Yassen looked at the baby in his arms to the new figure.
"Alex?" he said in confusion. The teenager just looked at him and smiled.
"Hello, Yassen," he said wryly. "You look a lot better than the last time I saw you." Yassen saw an expression of sadness settle briefly on the kid's face, but it passed quickly.
"Yassen? As in, the crazy Russian assassin?" The two looked around at Alex's friend Tom, who instantly blushed at the almost identical raised eyebrow expressions.
"Yeah, that one," Alex told him, smiling. Tom turned to the other two adults and frowned.
"But they look like…" he trailed off with a somewhat pleading expression directed at Alex. The boy sighed.
"Yeah. They are," he said quietly. Tom stayed quiet.
John finally found his voice. "Who are you?" he demanded. "How do you know Yassen? And how the bloody hell did you get into our house?"
The two teenagers shared a look and simultaneously burst out laughing.
Obviously, the adults were confused. John was more than a little annoyed.
"Answer the question!" he yelled. Alex and Tom settled down and smiled at the man.
"Sorry sir," Tom said in a tone that suggested anything but. "But, that was what the guy we just visited said!"
"I mean, not 'how do you know Yassen', but the 'how the bloody hell did you get here' thing," Alex said, grinning.
John shook his head in annoyance. "Just answer the questions," he growled.
At this point Alex fell to the ground laughing again, but Tom just sighed and said seriously, "I apologize for my friend. He's not right in the head."
"Hey!" Alex gasped out between laughs.
Grinning, Tom said to John, "No, but seriously, we will answer your questions. We were just caught a bit off balance by… ah… well, you people," he ended bluntly.
Finally regaining some control, Alex stood up and nodded. "To answer who we are," he began, "we are Alex and Tom."
"We got that," John said, frowning.
Alex gave him a look. "Then why'd you ask? Anyway," he went on hastily before John could reply, "As for how we know Yassen – well, I know him, I just told Tom about him – that's kind of a long story. It also ties in with how we got here."
John opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a soft hiccup from Yassen's direction. Everyone in the room turned to stare at the baby in his arms, who gave another little hiccup, and promptly threw up all over Yassen's shirt.
For a second, the man's face was one of utter shock and helplessness. And that sent Alex over the edge again, making him howl with laughter at the sight of the usually stoic assassin with baby vomit all over him, looking so… normal.
Thankfully Helen, who before this point had stayed near the couch, took pity on him and took the wailing Alex into her arms, shushing and calming him. The baby, that was, not Yassen. Although he did look a bit in need of some calming…
"What say we move this into the dining room?" Helen said firmly. The rest of the people present walked behind her as she led the way to said room.
"Oh, and Yassen, go clean up, you know where the bathroom is," she called back. "You can borrow one of John's shirts."
Shaking his head, a slightly dazed Yassen stumbled off down the hall, leaving two highly amused teenagers, one annoyed man and a surprisingly calm woman in the dining hall.
Once they were seated at the table, John sighed and messed up his hair, a sure sign of stress. "Don't tell your story yet," he told the two boys. "Wait until Yassen gets back."
The mention of the assassin sent Alex into a new wave of hysterics, but Tom grinned and with a mock salute he said, "Will do, Mr. Rider sir."
John ruffled his hair again. It was going to be a long night.
When Yassen finally got back, he'd gotten his emotions under control as well – didn't stop Alex from cackling madly at the sight of him, but ah well.
Since Alex was still giggling slightly, Tom started off the story. "Well," he began, "there we were in school, minding our own business, when suddenly Alex looks over at the old tree, near the soccer field, you know? Guess his mini-James-Bond sense was tingling," he added with a grin, which grew larger when Alex whacked him upside the head.
"I'll tell the story," Alex declared. "At least I can be somewhat sensible," he added with a glare at Tom. "Anyway, I looked over at the tree, and there was this kind of dark patch next to it – like a shadow, except in mid air. So I tell Tom, and we walk over to check it out. But," he grimaced, "when we get there, it kind of – I dunno, sucked us in. And we disappeared."
Yassen tilted his head. "So you… appeared here?" he said skeptically. The teenagers smiled.
"Oh no," Tom said excitedly. "First it was, what was it Alex? 1784 or 1884? Anyway, some 'ye olde England' time perios, and then after about an hour or two there we both got the shivers, like, we both got really cold at the same time, and a minute or two later we disappeared again, and ended up…" he shuddered.
"In the time of the dinosaurs," Alex finished. "Tom's still a bit freaked out 'cause he almost got eaten by big one."
"It was ENORMOUS!" Tom shouted, waving his arms about. "HUGE!"
Alex rolled his eyes. "Man up," he told his friend. Tom pouted. "And then it was this big war, maybe World War I or II," he said with a small shiver.
"And then we came here," Tom finished.
The three adults stared at them for a moment.
"You're crazy," John said flatly. Yassen silently agreed.
Alex looked right into the man's eyes. "How do we prove to you that we're from the future?" he said quietly.
And then Yassen spoke up. "If you're from the future…" he trailed off.
"Yes?" Alex prompted. The older man's eyes narrowed.
"If you're from the future, then you're Alex Rider."
Alex sat back, looking at Yassen with interest. "When did you figure it out?" he asked mildly. Both John and Helen were staring at him as if he were a ghost. He might as well be, Yassen reflected wryly.
"When you dragged a hand through your hair," he answered calmly. "One of John's mannerisms. You look a lot like him, and a little like Helen for that matter. And, obviously, you bear the same name as the child present hear," he added, with a gesture towards said child's room, where the little Alex lay sleeping.
The teenager smiled. "You always were astute," he observed.
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, both teenagers shivered simultaneously, goose bumps forming on their arms.
"Alex," Tom yelped. "We're going soon!"
"I noticed," Alex replied testily, still shivering. He looked up at the two Riders unexpectedly. "Who did you name my godfather?" he snapped out. The couple blinked at him.
"Surely if you're from the future, you would know?" John said skeptically.
"I do," Alex replied. "Is it Ash or Yassen?"
John and Helen glanced between themselves. "We named Ash godfather," Helen said eventually.
Alex looked down, defeated. "Too late to change that?" he asked half hopefully.
"Yeah," John said gently. "Sorry, kid." Alex looked up in surprise – a moment ago he'd been treated with suspicion and skepticism, and now he was getting apologies?
But no, he saw, the apology was directed at Yassen, who, to his surprise, was looking a little saddened.
"Not a problem," the assassin said quietly.
Quite suddenly, the room had dropped several degrees, and the two teenagers were now constantly shaking with cold.
"I'll see you soon, Yassen!" Alex said cheekily. Tom turned on him with a severe expression.
"Alex!" he said mock seriously. "You're not supposed to spoil the ending! Isn't that called foreshadowing or something?"
Alex rolled his eyes. "Well you can take your foreshadowing and shove it up your-''
Before the sentence was finished, another blinding flash filled the room. And when it was safe for the occupants of the room to open their eyes, the two strange teenagers were gone.
This was inspired by, surprisingly, the Harry Potter fandom – there were a lot of 'Harry goes back to the time of the Marauders' fics, and I noticed that almost no other fandom has a fic about the character going back and meeting their parents. So, I decided, why the hell not. For the lulz.
Anyway, I'd appreciate feedback, as this is my first Alex Rider fanfic. Really, it would make my day.
Oh, and I might be turning this into chapter fic, if it gets a lot of positive reviews.
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