Rewind
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Impossible Pictures™.
Darkness was closing in, sniffing out the last vestiges of burning flames, while the burning sensation in his chest was growing ever stronger. "Tell Claudia Brown, never mind, it doesn't matter..."
"Tell me what, Nick?"
The sound of that voice – Jenny's voice? Claudia's voice? – was like a bomb exploding in Nick's brain, and the sudden flare-up of daylight was almost as bad. Nick felt something shift under the small of his back and he jumped up, his eyes fluttering open.
The sight that he saw was confusing as Hell. James Lester, Connor, Abby... Very much alive Stephen and very much not-Jenny Claudia... The other ARC personnel... and the Forest of Dean?
"Nick, what did you want to tell me?" Claudia repeated, clearly almost as confused as Nick felt.
Nick blinked and shakily stood up from the forest's floor. "Today is March 17, right? Not, say, April 11 or some time like that?"
"No – Cutter, you alright?" Stephen spoke in a voice that caused Nick to take all of his self-control from bursting into tears of joy.
"No," he managed to say. "I've been gone for over two hundred million years, Ryan and others are dead, Helen's gone mental, and I think-" he fainted.
* * *
The next time Nick opened his eyes, he was lying in an ARC's hospital bed, with Stephen holding a cold compress over his head. Personally, Nick would've liked the compress to be held by Claudia, but seeing Stephen alive was almost as good.
"Oh, you're awake," Stephen said still in a somewhat cheery voice. "You put all of us – though it's hard to say about Lester – into a fright. What had happened to you back in Late Permian anyways?"
"I believe that I have summarized it all pretty neatly," Nick protested with a small smile. "Ryan's dead, Helen's fled... and for some reason I keep thinking that linear and non-linear are going to be important terms when dealing with the time anomalies. How are things on your end?"
"Nick, you've been gone for just a few hours!"
"Trust me – it has been much longer on my end," Nick grimaced. "Tell Lester that we'll probably need-" he paused.
"Tell him what?"
"Nothing yet, I need to get my thoughts in order. Can I get off the bed?"
"Let me call on the nurse and she'll tell you."
Stephen left, leaving Nick trying to figure out what has happened, besides the fact that the last two years of his life have apparently been erased completely, giving him a window of opportunity to-
"And how are we feeling, professor?" the nurse's voice caused Nick to snap to attention immediately.
"Helen! How did you... Stephen," Nick exhaled, remembering the relationship between his wife and his assistant.
"No – Stephen isn't on this," Helen's voice was flat and cold, "leave him out – he has already died for you, remember? No, Nick – I am capable enough of sneaking in and out by myself."
"Fine – but you're behind this," Nick said just as flatly, indicating his surroundings. "You did this – why?"
"Because I could and because killing you and your little friends wasn't the right solution in regards to saving the world."
"Say what? You're trying to save the world? You?"
If Helen was a gorgon, Nick would have been dead; instead, after seeing that her gaze left no effect on him, Helen responded:
"Should I leave it to you instead, Nick?"
There was a pause as the former spouses just held their pauses; finally, Nick spoke first.
"You killed Connor and Abby and Jenny?"
"Well, the first two are quite alive, just like Stephen, and Jenny... well, Jenny has been assimilated back into Claudia, if you haven't realized it yet."
"What do you mean, assimilated? Helen, what do you think you are? G-d?"
"No, Nick, I am not," Helen shook her head. "In fact, just between you and me, I feel more like the Wandering Jew, if you want to talk religion."
"The Wandering Jew? Who's that?"
"Essentially a one-man Flying Dutchman – look it up. Now listen. I brought you back and I brought Stephen back and I gave you all a chance to do it right – but remember one last thing: you all are just pebbles in my hand, skipping wherever I throw you. Keep it in mind... and you'll remain sane for a longer time than otherwise. Oh, and when you get back home, you'll find our divorce settlement papers there already. Have Lester's lawyers read them, if you don't have any of your own. TTFN – ta-ta for now!"
Nick only stared as his soon-to-be ex-wife left, still dressed in a nurse's uniform left his room. Hell had no fury as a woman scorned, and Helen certainly seemed determined to prove the validity of that statement.
And yet... Nick had no intention of letting Helen manipulate his life as she saw fit. He had foreknowledge of the next two years or so, and he was going to use it to save Stephen at least and possible the whole of ARC at most. He was going to win and defeat whatever Helen had cooked up for him...and he was going to clear up the air with Claudia as well. It was time to start living his life anew!
And back outside, Helen Cutter smiled in her usual style – things were going exactly as she foresaw them going, when she had the 'Claudia-Jenny hinge' 'installed' into this time line. It was time for others to begin to realize, who was running their world – and it was her.
Life for Helen Cutter was good and was going to get better – and she was going to keep it that way...