Crossing Over
by
Klaatu Visitor
Vlad Masters and eventually Danny Phantom's life is about to become a lot more complicated as a visitor from a parallel reality accidentally stumbles into their universe as a result of the portal accident. Timelines will change but prior ones will be remembered.
Chapter 1: Where am I? General POV
This is an AU that changes the timeline from Canon and uses the back history of Checkmate and Endgame.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, Checkmate, or Endgame.
(Note: The first chapter is set in the past. Events in the current universe are present day.
More chapters on the way. Enjoy!)
General POV
The groups of scientists stared in awe at a small portal in Wisconsin State University in in present day Wisconsin. Before the group were flashes of another universe, specifically another Wisconsin and in awe stood one scientist in particular who saw through this target chamber what was suppose to be the effects of the various spectrum of laser light passing through a very special crystal. The crystal was a rare find, having the semblance of an egg and showing strange glowing properties that could not be explained. Instead, a window to an alternate world had been opened. At first guess one of the scientists, Dr. Reginald Gaffon thought the image was a holo-projection of some movie that the crystal was somehow creating except the image did not follow the properties of any normal image. Looking on the back of the chamber the image appeared to vanish, yet it still remained on the opposite side to view. But the scene of the images appearing in the chamber wasn't what truly bothered a young intern named Carolyn Maddie Wells who was an lab assistant for the chamber project. She flipped out her smart phone and began to film the experiment for her own records.
"My God, the man staring in the portal looks like a young version of my late husband! A-and the woman looks like an auburn haired version of...me!" Carolyn gasped. The other scientists looked at each other, noticing the uncanny resemblance and said nothing. She pulled a mini sensor that resembled a small pocket watch only shiny metallic black. The sensor read fluctuating levels of the quantum field that was present with occasional erratic spikes that flashed on the screen.
"I can see what look like young college kids in lab coats. What, why is that one pouring diet cola into whatever that thing is. I don't think he's suppose to do that!" stammered Gaffon who was gazing at the image with disbelief. The entire incident replayed again, one time differently with a mysterious teenager who appeared to float, have white hair and glowing green eyes who then pushed one of the lab assistants out of the way so he didn't get hit with the blast. This then flickered to repeat the usual set of events in which that same lab assistant was being hit. It played like alternate timelines in a strange movie.
Carolyn walked over closest to the strange sight and hovered over the chamber despite warnings from her fellow colleagues to not stand to such a close proximity to it during tests, but she was overtaken with what she saw...along with everyone else. She was tired of the warnings so she brought a dermal pen with her in case of injury. "Better be safe than sorry." She thought internally.
She continued to watch the strange events playing through the window of the dimensional portal. Each time the event replayed the same way, occasionally replaying with the mysterious teenager in a black suit with a white letter "D" emblem on the front would fly past and save the lab assistant. The voices were mostly garbled but everyone heard the female in the image state something to the effect of calculations being off, while the fatter lab student appeared not to listen while crying "Banzai!"
The chamber she was studying glowed momentarily and then she looked with horror as she saw the young man in his twenties who looked like her late husband grabbing his acne riddled face and running away from the other two students, which then immediately followed him. Then the entire episode replayed again one more time and then vanished.
"Did we just see another universe?" Carolyn was shocked. Dr. Lancer who was the head of the science department watched in awe.
"It may be another quantum reality but I cannot say with certainty what is was we saw." Lancer theorized. Lancer was the only other one there as the other lab students had not yet arrived.
The next instant a glowing began to appear around the chamber again only this time it continued to glow and hum with a sudden shaking. Carolyn knew in her gut this was a bad sign.
"Everybody out, this thing's gonna blow!" She cried, but before she could turn to run she saw the crystal shake and suddenly fly up in the air. She reached with her hands and the moment she grabbed it she felt every atom in her body suddenly rushed as if moving to the speed of light. For a brief moment she saw the lab assistant from the other universe appear to be looking closely at the portal. His face then disappeared as the entire lab around her began to turn an strange glowing green tint and then fade into a a whirling mass of green with white electrical arcs dancing around in a swirling whirlpool like mass. Her body began to float as if suspended in space and she felt a strange tingling around her and then suddenly, it was as if there was no air and an extreme almost burning cold surrounded her. She could hear her teacher Dr. Lancer crying out her name which became a distant echo.
The next few seconds seemed like an eternity as she heard strange echoes of unfamiliar voices while she felt herself feeling like she was flying through the strange swirling green mass. Eventually she caught her breath as the bright light of a lab room hit her eyes, temporarily blinding her. Unable to focus she screamed as she felt herself flying at an incredible speed and then felt her body slammed into the lab tech who was looking through the portal. He looked at her and appeared frozen in terror. His hair now snow white, his eyes seemed to glow. All over his face looked like blisters or acne. As he ran off the other two students followed him after one with auburn hair helped her up.
"Where did you come from!?" Maddie, one of the students hollered looking at Carolyn who appeared to come out of nowhere as Jack ran off to try to catch up with Vlad.
"I must be dreaming." Carolyn thought as she didn't want to answer at it would've sounded crazy. She finally got her strength and decided to talk to Maddie.
"Just go help your friend, I'm okay." Carolyn answered as Maddie ran off to catch up with Jack. But Carolyn wasn't okay. Her hair had also turned white and the strange blisters began to form on her face.
She staggered out into what appeared to be a light brick colored hallway and a green poster lying on the ground reading "Ghost Portal Experiment, Room 101, All are welcome." She did a double take when she noticed the year in tiny print at the top right corner, May 1, 1984. "This can't be happening." She thought to herself. The college looked completely different from hers not even resembling the older version of the college.
"No way could I have enter another universe and then to have traveled over 20 years into the past! This must be a dream!" She thought to herself. Although she didn't want to believe it, as bizarre as it seemed it was the only explanation for what she was seeing and experiencing at the moment.
As her eyes began to further focus she noticed the student she fell into when she flew out of the portal. He was screaming down the hall with his hands covering his face. As she tried to follow him, began her own body began to itch and her face felt strange. She glanced at a glass reflection and gaped in horror when she saw herself. She had no idea her dark auburn hair was now snow white and there looked like a a severe rash all over her face. She also strangely appeared to be 20 years younger.
"What's happening to me!?" she screamed as she shook off her fear and continued following the panicked man ahead of her whose hair was also snow white. She momentarily passed out. Meanwhile Vlad managed to made it to the nurses station and bolted through the two double doors.
"Nurse! I'm Vlad Masters from the 101 lab and I need a nurse right now!" Vlad Masters screamed as a nurse gasped in horror upon looking at him. Steeling her emotions not to panic, the nurse on duty tried to calm him down as she began to dial 9-1-1.
"Just hold still and keep this compress over your face. We're going to take care of you. It's going to be OK." she reassured him.
"How is it going to be OK when I look like this!?" Vlad continued to cry out as he felt an agonizing itch and had to resist scratching his face.
Just as Vlad turned to look at the double door Jack and Maddie burst through the doors and came running to him.
"Oh my God Vlad, what did that portal do to you?!" Maddie cried as she saw him now with a white towel compress wrapped around his face.
"I-I think I've been burned by whatever shot out of that portal.." Vlad trailed off.
"V-man, we had no idea this would happen! We'll fix this, you'll see." Jack blurted out nervously. In truth he really had no idea what to do but was determined to encourage Vlad despite feeling hopeless. The college nurse walked back toward the three and was stunned when she noticed a swash of a green glowing substance on the towel Vlad was holding. She gulped down her fear as her training taught her to remain calm for the benefit of the patient. Worse still she noticed the injured students eyes having a strange almost white like glow.
"Sir, the ambulance is on its way." She said with a calmness that belied her feelings of terror at what she was seeing.
Jack looked up and his jaw dropped while looking at what appeared an identical version of Maddie except for white hair and ecto-acne on her face. She was fast approaching them and Jack blinked his eyes again in disbelief.
"Maddie, there's someone who looks just like you except injured like Vlad! I can't believe what I'm seeing! Maddie you have to see this!" Jack stared in disbelief at the sight of another Maddie who was approaching them.
Maddie was too focused on Vlad's injury to pay any attention as she sat down beside Vlad holding his shoulder to keep him from passing out, he looked back toward her and weakly said, "I wanted to tell you I had tickets for a Packers game and was going to invite you on a date...unless you are...un-unavail..." His eyes rolled up in his head and she caught him as he passed out.
"But I'm seeing Jack" she internally thought as he made the weak request, afraid to answer him truthfully. The sound of a siren could be heard in the distance as the ambulance entered the parking lot.
Meanwhile, Carolyn staggered towards the nurses station and saw the open double doors and the student identifying himself as Vlad Masters. She fought the urge to pass out in the hallway and forced herself to stay calm though every fiber in her being wanted to panic. "I truly must be in this other universe." She resigned in her thoughts.
"Did someone just do a poison-oak teleportation experiment?" Carolyn muttered weakly but no one heard her. Then remembered she had brought a dermal first aid pen with her.
"Nurse?!" Carolyn spoke weakly but again she couldn't get anyone's attention as the nurse and some onlookers was focused primarily on Vlad's injuries at the moment. As she struggled to get it out of her lab coat she internally froze. She hoped if she used the pen then maybe she would no longer appear to need medical attention. She hated seeing doctors and also desperately wanted to find this student and help him. She felt somewhat responsible believing her suddenly being pulled into this reality may have helped contribute to the accident made the injured Vlad.
"I can help him." She thought. It was a reasonable assumption although she hated guesswork. If the laws of physics in this universe were the same as everything else the dermal pen would heal and remove the impurities even if locked into the DNA of an individual...at least the pen worked where she was from. She had hoped it would work here, but she had to get to the hospital he was at and the only way to do so would be to remain injured. She bit her lip at what she would do and say next. As she saw the ambulance workers running over to nurses station with a gurney, she sped over to the nurses office and hollered. "I was injured also by the blast and need medical attention!" No sooner than she said that she noticed Vlad among others inside the door turn and look wide-eyed at her. Maddie and Jack also turned and they froze on shock at seeing what looked like another Maddie with now snow white hair and acne staring back at them.
The words Carolyn heard as she saw an ambulance worker out of her peripheral vision was Vlad's voice, "Maddie, oh no, not you too!" She internally winced as Vlad kept calling her Maddie. She reasoned this must be most likely her parallel reality doppleganger or just someone who may have resembled her. It was certainly eerie that Vladimir so closely resembled a younger version of her late husband except the white hair. It was as if she was staring at a younger version of her late husband's ghost.
As she was lifted into the ambulance next to Vlad she just avoided looking at him. It took all her strength to fight to stay conscious and seeing Vlad suffering was too much for her at the moment.
"Maddie, I'm sorry you were injured too." Vlad mumbled barely conscious.
"I'm not...uh. I'm Carolyn..." She trailed off barely able to speak. At times she wondered if she was just unconscious and that this was still all some very realistic dream. She kept squeezing her eyes shut and opening them hoping to wake up. She tried a test since in all her dreams she could eventually will herself to float. This did not happen at all although she momentarily felt unusually lighter. This wasn't like any dream she had ever had. She stole a glance over at Vlad who seemed to have his eyes shut at the moment. She couldn't handle any more questions from him or anyone, but she had to tell someone the truth about where she came from. Could she trust her secret with Vlad?
"Don't try to talk you two, just stay quiet. Help is on the way." The ambulance medic spoke to them. He had seen too many students with lab injuries lately and this was the worse case yet he had ever witnessed as both Vlad's and Carolyn's blisters became increasingly redder.
They arrived at the hospital and were carried and placed into wheelchairs. Both were headed to the ER when Carolyn became dizzy and passed out.
Carolyn was the first to open her eyes to a blur, remembering being lifted down as she drifted in and out of consciousness. When she looked around her eyes focused on the white walls and a medical monitor beeping. She noticed she was hooked up to an IV and had on a hospital gown in place of her clothes. She gasped when she realized the dermal pen was in her clothes. She looked around frantically and spotted them, groggily reaching in to find the pen. As she felt it she breathed a sign of relief and then her eyes settled on Vlad and she looked at him with tears beginning to run down her rash ridden face. Although her husband Vernon had been dead for many years it was if he was there again in the hospital room. She was temporarily delusional from exposure to the portal accident and was in a half dreaming state. Vlad's eyes opened and he noticed the troubled expressions on Carolyn's face.
"Come now Maddie, I saw myself in the mirror. I know it looks bad but its not all that bad!" Vlad said to her. She looked puzzled at him when he said 'Maddie' to her and then what she said next sounded completely strange.
"Vernon! I missed you so much! I waited for you...the doctors said...they lost you. B-baby, why is your hair so white?" She choked trying to control the soft saddened whimpers beneath her voice. Carolyn was reliving the memory of seeing her late husband before he passed away from a heart attack. She was dazed and confused.
"Madeline, it's Vladimir. How did you get hit with the portal?" he asked her softly, still believing Carolyn was Maddie.
"My name is Carolyn. Madeline is my middle name." She replied choosing her words carefully as she began to snap out of her daze and remembered the reality of where she really was. "And your name is V-Vladimir."
"Yes, and I cannot believe that you are not my Madeline." Vlad answered puzzled at the woman.
"You're not who I think you are and I'm not who you think I are." Carolyn said humorously butchering the grammar as she gave a smirk.
At that moment the EMT walked up to them. Carolyn quickly hid the pen from view and studied the intern cautiously. She had medical technology from another reality which may have been very advanced in this universe. She didn't want anyone asking too many questions and didn't feel like giving any answers at the moment.
"Alright you two, stay quiet and rest right now. I need to ask you both a few questions." Said the EMT who was a balding slightly heavy set man in his 40's. He pulled out a notepad and looked first to Vlad.
"Tell me what happened." the man spoke, his eyes narrowing to Vlad.
"Well, my supposed 'best friend' messed up and I ended up getting zapped by some green glowing blast of energy that now has caused my face and neck become a pimpled version of fried chicken! I'm going to kill him! Where is that fat oaf?!" Vlad snapped with a tenseness in his voice ranging between anger and annoyance.
"Sir, you need to calm down. Your blood pressure is going through the roof! I'm sorry that your friends are not able to be here..." The EMT responded looking concerned at the unusual readings coming from both patients and wrote down the readings and ran off to find the nurse on duty. Vlad hollered at him as he ran out the door.
"Don't call that bumbling oat Jack my friend! A friend wouldn't do this. I don't care if it was an accident, he heard Maddie warn him the calculations were off!" Vlad growled again and then he suddenly calmed as Carolyn forced herself to get up and walked over to Vlad, and lay a gentle, warm hand lay atop his arm looking at him with loving eyes.
"Ma'am, you need to go back to your bed." The EMT cautioned but Carolyn ignored him as she looked at Vlad, finally getting the courage to behold the injured student that so uncannily resembled her late husband.
"Could you get me a water please." Carolyn asked and the EMT resigned to the fact she wasn't returning to her bed decided to excuse himself and get a nurse on duty to get her a water picture.
"It's going to be OK Verno...Vlad." Carolyn said weakly while blinking her eyes still trying to comprehend who she was looking at. She took her right hand and gently reached and held his left hand in assurance. She looked around to make sure no one saw her pull out the dermal pen.
"I have a dermal pen that should heal up the rash on your face, but please don't tell anyone else. They might ask questions I cannot or should not answer." Carolyn whispered to him softly.
As Vlad looked over at her he didn't even think about the pimples on her face, only the total look of love and tenderness that were in her eyes. There was something radiant, even powerful about her. He became lost in her gaze. Still convinced it was Madeline, he didn't care anymore that he was injured, he had gotten Madeline to finally pay attention to him. Madeline, the woman he loved was giving him a deeply affectionate look. She slowly reached over with her other hand and stroked a strand of Vlad's hair hanging down over his face, unafraid of the contagious nature of the Ecto Acne. Vlad blinked his eyes and slowly smiled at her. The expression on her face was a look of 'I love you.' Her eyes danced as they glanced all over Vlad with a soft smile on her face. She leaned close to him and Vlad felt as if he was in heaven as he thought to himself that this accident was definitely working to his advantage.
Vlad's POV
I beheld the woman who looked just like Maddie look back at me and my fears seemed to vanish. And in my confusion I yet could've sworn I also saw Maddie and Jack standing outside the ambulance as the doors shut but how could this be? This Maddie that stood outside the ambulance had auburn hair and her face blemish-less. I cannot explain unless I had hallucinated her standing outside or is the woman holding my hand an hallucination? I also cannot figure out how she now how she thinks she can help us. I am not one to be on top of the latest facial treatments but the strange narrow object she calls a dermal pen looks more like something straight out of science fiction. It was long and white and had three glowing blue lights at its base. Right now I can only process that the woman over me looks like Madeline with exception to her now white hair and facial blemishes, yet she even sounds like her. Still she insists her name is Carolyn. The simplest solution would be to consider I imagined Maddie outside the ambulance and this is my Maddie. She is obviously in shock as she also insists that strange object she is holding is some kind of dermal regenerator.
What I cannot understand is why, after countless times of ignoring me at college, after the many failed "moves" I made that cannot count as a "move" unless it were successful, why now would she take such a keen interest in me. I chuckle bitterly at the thought that it would take a portal accident to get her to finally notice me. I had practically concluded that the only way I could've ever won Maddie was if Jack was out of the picture, yet here she is! When she looks at me she looks at me with a startled familiarity of someone who had seen a ghost...as if I was some lost love that she is just now seeing for the first time in ages. Perhaps the portal accident affected her worse than me. I decided to humor her calling her Carolyn.
"I need to introduce myself and you must promise what I am about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone. Can I trust you?" Carolyn asked with tears trying to well through her eyes.
"Of course you can." I replied. I had not seen anyone so distraught. I kept wondering if the effect of the portal had somehow caused amnesia with Maddie's mind. The best thing I could do however was to be a willing audience and hear out what she had to say no matter how ludicrous.
"I-I don't belong here. I'm from the future and from an alternate universe. I don't have anyway to prove any of this and would understand if you thought I was totally crazy. The strangest part is that you look like my late husband, and all though we have just met I feel like I could share anything with you." Maddie..er I mean Carolyn as she insists she is, said with a quivering voice. So that is why she was looking at me so intently. She thinks I am the spitting image of her late husband.
"Perhaps you just think I look like your late husband because you are disoriented from the blast." I answered carefully. I didn't want to insinuate that I thought she was crazy. Maybe her unconscious mind is telling her I would be the 'perfect' husband for her. If that is the case, then maybe this accident could be a blessing in disguise.
"I wish that were the case. You have no idea how traumatic and awkward this is for me. I mean listen to how I sound. Parallel universes, time travel and you being my husband's doppleganger? I sound like I'm on some super heavy medication or something." Carolyn stated apologetically. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling as she plopped on her bed in apparent frustration.
"Listen sweetheart, if you think you sound crazy, you're probably not. Stop apologizing for it. You and I have been through a very traumatic experience. There's no telling what kind of affect that portal accident had on us." I spoke trying to comfort and calm her down. Then I noticed her eyes became wide as if some revelation came to her mind.
"Wait a minute, I filmed the experiment at my end before going through the portal. Here, let's see if it survived on my phone." She spoke with a brightened face as she madly sifted through her personal items that were on the table until she found a rectangular device that looked shiny black and nothing like the clunky jokes we had referred to as mobile phones. I saw her hit pictures on her screen and then she turned the device to me and I saw what looked like a rectangular metal chamber that suddenly showed images of myself, Maddie and Jack as if being viewed inside of a portal similar to the one that blew up in my face. A few minutes later a bright green flash appeared and then the screen appeared black. Either this was the best practical joke done with special effects or else this woman really wasn't Maddie and may be telling the truth. Seriously, could this day get any weirder than it is already?
"This is your phone?" I asked raising an eyebrow. This device looked expensive and also like it didn't even belong in this time period.
"Yes, this is my smart phone. Have these been invented in your world?" She questioned me looking curious and somewhat hopeful.
"Not to my knowledge." I replied. I always suspected that the government might have already developed such advanced tech and kept it from the public to keep the public at a disadvantage for their own manipulative purposes. How she got a hold of this I might have excused as having 'borrowed' it from someone in a governmental capacity, but then I thought on the movie clip I saw that briefly showed the three of us in the lab. How could I explain this? It seemed that her story might actually have truth in it after all.
"Could I look at your phone?" I said with a kid like curiosity. This device was truly remarkable and looked like something right out of science fiction.
"Certainly, just press your fingers on the different pictures. Each picture is a function or the name of an application that runs a program on the phone, kind of like a computer." Carolyn explained and I was stunned. I didn't remember seeing any computers that one could touch pictures on a screen and run programs with them. Possibly some super computers might be out there that did this but I wasn't aware of any. She did mention she came from the future.
I began to hit a picture with my finger. It had a strange picture that looked like a camera lens. When I clicked on it a series of images like folders with names on them appeared on the screen. At this point I was afraid of hitting something that might wreck the thing and decided to hand it back to her. I could not get over a thin the device was. I couldn't imagine seeing anything close to it. My face began to itch again but I felt the cream on my face and knew I shouldn't scratch. She looked at me with her intense violet eyes.
"Please...I know this sounds fantastic but let me use the pen on my face so you can see that it works, then will you let me use it on your face?" Carolyn begged as she slowly lifted herself off the bed and held the pen over the front of her face.
"I'll watch you use it on yourself first." I replied as I studied her making sure she was sure on her feet. I was still convinced this was my Maddie, however I knew in her delicate state it was best just to humor her and try not to argue. I blame Jack for all of it. She was in worse shape than me to have this delusion of being someone else with some super powered technology that...wait...are those blemishes disappearing!?
"See, I told you it worked." Carolyn said as her face began to be rid of blemishes one by one they began to fade away. I couldn't believe my eyes at what I was seeing. Her glowing almost colorless eyes began to return to their normal color and her hair became slightly darker gray. I had to conclude I was possibly dreaming all this but it seemed to real. It just didn't make any sense. I never knew such technology existed and I could only see this woman as the most brilliant as well as the most beautiful woman I have ever met, I just could not fathom at what I was witnessing before me. She smiled at me and handed me the dermal device but I motioned her to go ahead and use this pen on me. As she began to move it over my face I saw a light pinkish beam coming out. Next I noticed the itching and swelling feeling on my face began to immediately diminish. At this rate I would be back to college in no time, but I remained cautiously optimistic. This still could've been the most realistic dream I have ever experienced.
I glanced over at a mirror across from me and was stunned to see the blemishes quickly fading before my eyes. Additionally my body that had felt extremely nauseous now had never felt better. What on earth was going on? This stuff just doesn't happen and I am beginning to believe that this woman might very well be telling the truth despite how fantastic it seemed.
"Can I take a look at this pen?" I asked and she smiled and handed it to me. I studied the pen and I saw the name "Zia Labs" etched on the side of the pen in white letters. I never heard of this company and wondered how such an amazing tool was being kept quiet from the public.
Carolyn snapped me out of my thoughts as she motioned me quickly to give the dermal pen back as we both heard footsteps not far from our room. She quietly put the pen away in a drawer near her bed. Even with white messy hair and in a hospital gown, she was a vision of loveliness who embraced the image of the love of my life. Now I was torn. Although part of me couldn't wait to return to classes and attempt to woo Maddie, another part of me felt an even stronger urge to get to know this wondrous being who entered my life. She seemed so out of place...her facial expression showed a hint of confusion, like she didn't really belong her. But she wasn't a ghost, she wasn't Maddie and I had no explanation for any of it. In a way I am thankful the portal accident happened for if it hadn't, I would have never met this miracle woman!
"You, you saved my life!" I said to her. I saw her smile as she looked upon me and I felt her hand touch my cheek.
"I think we saved each other." She replied and then her eyes became hooded as she leaned closer to me. I smiled and then quickly gave me a light kiss on my forehead. The love of my life was kissing me! Despite all the craziness this day had wrought, as I felt her lips pressing touch briefly on my forehead, I could only wonder how this day could get any better. I felt light headed and had butterflies in my stomach as time itself seemed to slow down. The only other time I felt like this was when Stephanie and I had fallen in love. But this love was much deeper and more intense. I couldn't explain it. As I looked at her I thought I noticed her eyes seemed to be glowing...red for just a moment and then they returned to normal but I couldn't be sure. Maybe it was a trick of the light. I heard footsteps coming toward our door.
"Better get back into your bed, else the nurse might put two and two together." I whispered to her softly.
"Good idea." She mumbled as she quickly returned to her bed and laid down, though a subtle smirk remained on her face.
I noticed the nurse walk in and for the second time had a deeply distressed look on her face as she looked upon me. I imagined she was in shock. Instead of seeing me as a swollen strawberry acne pocked face she sees me with now smooth, nearly flawless skin. I saw her quickly walk away looking annoyed as she glanced out to look at the room number, as if she was double checking to see if she was in the right place. The nurse then shook her head in disbelief. Carolyn covered her face in the pillow not wanting to be noticed as also having a perfect complexion unlike earlier.
"How did you get better so fast?" the nurse questioned almost reacting like she was the victim of a prank.
"I honestly don't know." I lied. I did not want Carolyn's device to fall under scrutiny. She stated that she did not want ANYONE to know about this instrument for whatever reason and I felt it wrong to not honor her request. At this moment a million questions rang through my head. What was the reason for her keeping this a secret? Before I could think further the nurse interrupted my musings.
"Well, if you don't mind I'll need to draw some blood and then the doctor will make a decision if you can go home. How are you feeling right now?" She questioned raising a curious eyebrow.
"I feel great actually. My nausea has left and I feel my strength returning. Oh and my face doesn't even have the slightest itch." I stated with almost an air of pride having been 'cured' so quickly. She nodded as she glanced at the chart and walked off.
"Phew that was close." Carolyn said looking almost pale with concern. I had many questions but her demeanor suggested she wasn't going to answer any at the moment. I was simply relieved that I would be returning to college perhaps as soon as tomorrow. I cannot imagine what my life may have been like if had to have been stuck at this facility for an extended length of time.
"You know I was told by one doctor I may have been stuck in here for a lengthy treatment. You spared me a potentially life ruining experience." I said to Carolyn with a deep gratitude.
"This is a picture perfect moment!" Carolyn smiled as she pulled out her 'smartphone' as she calls it and began to click a picture of myself and her when she had a puzzled look on her face. Her face began to pale as she continued to look at the phone and I became deeply troubled.
"What is it?" I asked as I saw her frantically pressing different pictures on the screen. Her mouth began to tremble slightly as if she had seen a ghost.
"Some images and videos appeared on the phone that I didn't take. I don't know how they got here but they are here." Carolyn said nervously. I looked closely at the clips which played like an eerie alternate version of my life. In one clip I'm marrying Madeline, then it fast forwards to a fight in which Madeline who apparently is my wife and is throwing me into the Ghost Zone accusing me of being a "lying piece of cheese" and demanding an annulment. It was if these films was a crystal ball of "what ifs" had been played out before me. Additionally, there were clips of what looked like a science lab with the letters Wisconsin State University but looked nothing like science lab I was familiar with. This must've been where Carolyn came from.
"I have an app on my phone that lists the precise time clips are made. Some of these look like they are from a future that may no longer exist, but don't ask me how or why?" She said in a confused voice as she kept replaying the strange film clips. She shook her head and I thought on literature I had read that addressed unusual theories of alternate and changed timelines.
"Maybe when you were pulled through the portal due to the accident it somehow exposed your phone to an area of hyperspace that effected it somehow." I suggested as she returned a questioning gaze at me.
"Why would the phone record these believed alternate realties as well as the universe I just arrived from?" she questioned sounding like she wasn't fully believing what she was saying.
"In one of the more unusual theories I read in a science journal, some scientists believed there was an area of hyperspace that showed streams of alternate realities as mirror reflections before a timeline was changed or altered. The intense field may have activated your phone in some way and it took the pictures of these realities." I added as she just looked more puzzled at me.
"Clarify." She asked as she studied the images and began to rub her forehead as if staving off a headache.
"I had a teacher that explained time in the simplest way; imagine that time is a river. It general flows in one direction. Now picture time travel as jumping to another point along the river and changing it's pathway by digging a new canal out of an edge of the riverbank. It used to flow one way and once the canal is large enough the entire river can be diverted and take on a new path. The marks of the old path are there but the river has changed course. I don't know if these analogy helps but it is what I use to help me understand the concept better. As for it filming what was happening in your reality, I noticed the edges look like a closeup of the portal that blasted me. Perhaps it was capturing last moments of your universe after you fell into this one." I explained with my generally brilliant reasoning.
We studied other images of clips showing the two alternate realities. This was both a rare and a haunting opportunity (no pun intended). How often is it that one gets to see alternate paths that their life may have taken or rather had taken until those paths had been changed. It was strange seeing it all play out before us. I also felt awkward that Carolyn had seeing me getting into a fight with Madeline in one of the clips.
I had hoped that Carolyn would not think less of me seeing my misbehavior in these alternate timelines. Though they technically no longer existed, they had existed at one time and it allowed her to see my truly darker potential that made me flushed with embarrassment. In one clip I see myself in a mountain chalet with Maddie and apparently her future son. I am seen once again accusing Jack of having ruined my life, when unexpectedly Carolyn paused the footage and made a comment.
"Trials happen that can impact one's life, but never surrender that your life is ruined above repair. Just as pain is inevitable but suffering is a choice. " She replied with an intense look at me. I honestly didn't know how to respond to such sentiment. This sounded like an ironclad woman who had to face a few trials in her life. As I looked at her I dropped the phone and began to feel myself sink into the bed. It wasn't like the mattress had softened, it seemed like I was starting to sink slowly through it. I dismissed it as an hallucination until I saw myself fall through the bed onto the floor. The cold tile hit by behind with a smack and I managed to grab the bed but could've sworn my hand passed through the side railing a couple of times. How could I have missed? I then saw Carolyn reach for me while grabbing the phone off the floor and then her arm momentarily became invisible.
"What kind of medication do they have me on!?" I blurted nervously as a momentarily blinked my eyes to see if that would clear my vision. Her arm was still invisible and I concluded I wasn't hallucinating anymore as she looked at it and gave a startled gasp.
"I think that machine that you and I were exposed to has affected us somehow. I also don't think we should share this with anyone as we might end up being someones lab experiment." She cautioned as her arm finally materialized and she managed to pick me up off the floor. At this moment I was in total agreement with her. The last thing either of us needed was to be stuck in this hospital longer than needed. I never did have a lot of faith in blindly trusting doctors especially when a patient might have an unusual ability that would want them to study them further in the name of 'science'. The less anyone knew about these strange side effects that were apparently giving us superpowers, the better.
I focused on Carolyn's comment that suffering is a choice. For me, my suffering was not simply my health; I neglected to sign up for medical insurance being offered at the college. I regrettably put if off until the it was past the deadline to turn the application in, but since the accident occurred at the college, wouldn't the college be legally responsible? However, even if that is the case I am still faced with the mounting debt of my college loan. In my frustration I finally had to blurt out my thoughts.
"How am I ever going to pay off the medical bills alone at least until I can find an attorney that can prove it's the college's responsibility to pay for them? Will I have to use these new found powers to rob a bank just to keep solvent?" I asked Carolyn, not caring that my question sounded morally absent and a bit too sarcastic.
"Heaven forbid. Besides with this power I bet we could find a way to locate and extract rare gems in the ground and legally make a fortune. I used to do this a lot as a hobby before I started college. I'm sure there's someone here who has a claim and makes an offer of a fair share of the cut for digging up gem rocks that are too difficult or deep to be dug by their excavation equipment." Carolyn replied with an air of confidence that was met with my skepticism.
"How do you expect us to hide our powers?" I questioned her with reluctant skepticism.
"We'll go in and say we have special technology that we are not allowed to share. They don't have to know the technology is simply us with our powers. And with these powers there's no telling what other areas we will be able to be useful for our personal gain as well as helping others." She replied with a smirk. I smiled in agreement. This woman was sharp and apparently had thought this idea thoroughly. It was something I would've missed and probably resorted to more desperate and less legal alternatives. I didn't seem so keen on the "helping others" part at first, but something about her is starting to rub off on me. I seem to have a greater desire of concern for others that I did not use to allow myself to feel. My feelings to help others shut down when I lost two of the most important people in my life: the car accident took my father and sister from me, I felt human emotions were too painful and needed to be suppressed. I went somewhat numb over it. Carolyn had now reawakened those once buried feelings.
Several months later Vlad's POV and Flashback continued
After we were discharged from the hospital our unusual condition and miraculous healing made headlines in the local and national papers. Again I had to act like I didn't know how we had gotten better. Despite unwanted attention there were more pressing matters to attend to. Carolyn needed a place to stay and I managed to persuade Maddie and Harriet to give her a place to stay at the dorm. She also was able to get work at the college which was surprising as she didn't have even a legitimate student ID. It was as though she had a charm about her to get others to agree with her. I suspect she was using some power of persuasion that I as yet was not aware of.
I kept Carolyn's secret that she shared with me though I still couldn't fully believe it; that she somehow was pulled through the portal during the accident and then wound up in this universe. She also admits to being skeptical herself at times however considering what she and I did at the hospital it seemed to expand my horizons on what was possible in the realm of science.
Of course, my best friend Stephanie Hui called me and checked to see how I was doing. I found out her fiancée had abandoned her and I offered to help her out when I got on my feet which thanks to Carolyn, I expected would happen in no time. I still felt guilty keeping Stephanie only as a good friend when at one time my feelings for her were much deeper. But that was another lifetime for me and a painful one. If my love had been as true for Stephanie our relationship would've survived the sudden loss of my dad and sister in that fateful car accident in Florida years back. I couldn't handle the pain and felt that detaching myself from my feelings for Stephanie was my way of coping. It was cowardly but I always had attachment issues even before the loss. I'm glad I at least forced myself to remain friends with Stephanie. We just were not meant to be and had we pursued marriage, there would've been something else to drive us apart. I couldn't put either of us through that.
Reeling in to more present times, I told Carolyn I was attracted to her but didn't feel ready to commit to her yet. She understood and gave me space to work out my internal conflicts. Interestingly enough, for a time I noticed she began developing feelings for Jack, but Jack and Maddie were immovable as I would soon learn. I still felt the urge to try to win Maddie's heart but it seemed even though I recovered from the portal accident, she still wouldn't pay attention to me the same way she did Jack. I ultimately realized that winning her was futile at this point and decided to take a chance with Carolyn. I decided to take Carolyn out to dinner. Our official 'first date'. I knew she was the one that Maddie could never be. I could sense she had a genuine affection for me and I took a chance one night as a wore my heart on my sleeve during the evening as the waiter was serving us our desert.
This restaurant was a bit more elegant as we had made a significant gem find that totaled to half way to a million dollars over the course of the next several months. Additionally my medical bills and college debt had become a thing of the past so I didn't feel the least bit ashamed with being more lavish. When the softer music came on I reached towards Carolyn's hand and caressed it as I looked into her eyes and proposed to her. She smilingly accepted and we were married less than a year later at a Cathedral called "New Light" in uptown Wisconsin. Jack and Maddie were also getting ready to tie the knot but I couldn't convince them to be in a joint wedding with us. Maddie had some extra heavy assignments and wanted to get those behind her before taking the 'plunge' and had hinted it would be more in the summer when she and Jack would take a hiatus from college, get married and then after a month of rest work on their "ghost" business. Carolyn and I on the other hand couldn't wait and in early March we were married.
The wedding was small but there were a few good friends and some family that came. Stephanie was there with Annabelle. It was a bit awkward but she and I had long since moved on and I could tell she was happy for me. She was also seeing a young British gentlemen that at times bore a striking resemblance to me. The only difference was his hair was brown and short and no facial hair. I had since sported a goatee and preferred my hair tied back in an old English style ponytail. My hair was no longer white but had since turned to a light gray. I was going to ask Carolyn if the dermal pen could restore my hair color but decided against it as I found out that I was taken more seriously if I looked older and influence was and still is a big thing with me.
It wasn't long after the wedding when we first discovered new powers that enabled us to influence those around us. I suspected Carolyn had already been using these powers instinctively and was not yet fully aware of what she was doing. Soon however, we would both witness the direct effect of this power.
It happened by accident one day as I was handing in a test and one of the students decided to turn up his music so loudly it could be heard through the earphones. We had a substitute teacher, Ms. Welker teaching computer class that day and she was way too lenient about the noise. Despite requests from the students this fellow decided to keep turning up the volume. I had enough and felt a part of me literally leave as if like an out of body experience, in which I felt myself inside this student and then imagined turning the volume down myself. I just thought I was daydreaming and was startled when I was dragged out of my thoughts to actually hear the music get turned down.
Carolyn smirked at me as if she knew what had happened. My suspicions were confirmed when she smiled and said, "It's called overshadowing, I sensed you were doing it. I can do it as well, but let's keep this to ourselves." She cautioned as she made sure to keep her voice to a whisper.
So I can basically overshadow or influence people with my mind. This takes winning friends and influencing people to a whole new level but I didn't use this technique to cheat my way through school. I wanted to earn my grades fair and square. No, I instead chose to use this against the man who took my father's business away from my family and left us out in the cold. When my father passed a way, he was a wealthy man whose company and assets had been cheated from us leaving my mother and I destitute and having to leave the house that he built for us, that we grew up in. So naturally I overshadowed him to restore that which he had stolen from my Mom and me. It wasn't revenge as much as it was justice. Of course I declined to tell Carolyn about this though I am sure she suspected I had used the power. I get the feeling however that Carolyn was sympathetic based on her reaction and her knowing how much this businessman had hurt my family. In many ways Carolyn and I were a lot a like and at times her personality reminded me of my late sister Annie.
Getting ghost powers also meant becoming more obsessive especially when it came to making money. As much as I was given an honest means to make income, the temptation to overshadow businessmen to acquire assets was at times overwhelming. Part of me really didn't want to do this as I was taught that stealing was wrong and never to be ashamed of a hard days wages. I wish there was some middle ground that would not be morally wrong but could allow me to use my powers of persuasion. I enjoyed the power way too much and realize I may have been one of those who could not handle such power. I realize that having lost control of the financial security in my life due to my father's passing had affected me far more deeply than any portal lab accident.
I recalled many hypothetical morality conversations we had about the 'responsible' use of our powers. Carolyn however could sense the internal debate within me and almost seemed to be able to read my mind. Perhaps it was this ghostly power that we shared that at times allowed us to share each others thoughts in feelings if not in words.
"I know how tempting it is to try to persuade others for our own gain and I have had a lot of internal arguments about it. However, why not try using our power in a different way?" She looked at me with a smirk and I was puzzled. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her without answering, my facial expression of curiosity apparently were an open book to Carolyn.
"I know you are bored with just gem hunting and I know you have a minor in business investment. Can I suggest something? Rather than try to limit our powers and hope we don't accidentally overshadow someone while trying to persuade them, why don't we focus on what people are feeling. I'm not talking mind reading, just sensing market trends based on the feelings of people. What they like to spend and do. Then invest ahead of time in markets were we 'sense' there will be a growth. Surely a company would love to hire you if you showed an intuitive ability as well to sense market fluctuations." She spoke smoothly and with a calculating voice. She had shown an uncanny ability to do this and it must've been another power. I too could sense the feelings of others some time after the accident. Still, I had doubts about this.
"What if some outside force that affects people's buying which we didn't foresee?" I inquired.
"That's why we would invest with someone who has good experience with stable markets. And if people become too irrational over something, then we could use a 'calming' power that isn't exactly overshadowing but more of an emotional influence. In that regard I do not feel we are taking advantage of anyone or robbing anyone blind." Carolyn replied. She was studying my reaction as I gave her suggestion some deep thought. It still seemed to be a form of overshadowing, but more subtle and less direct. Again, it is hard to focus ones moral compass when overwhelmed with such power. The dos and dont's became shades of gray.
"That sounds like a plan." I said feeling cautious. I knew we were both on a slippery slope if we were not careful. These powers were difficult to manage and perhaps we were not as evolved as we would like to think to be responsible in using them. We had used them in positive ways, to secretly break up riots and in other areas of subtle crime fighting. We never made our powers public as we know that doing so would make the GIW the least of our worries as a criminal element would likely have sought revenge if they suspected we interfered with their schemes.
"I also have one extra added advantage, this Earth is not too different than my own but about 20 years in the past. It is logical to assume similar companies exist like on my planet and I may know all the winners that will have big payouts in years to come. Of course there is still some risk involved naturally." She looked at me as if to wait for me to object or be her moral compass on this. Again, we had conflicted feelings about what we were doing at times. They didn't seem outright wrong but they fell on that murky side between right and wrong.
"Do you think it's fair to have such a foreknowledge of the market?" I asked challenging her. I felt a tad bit guilty and needed her to be my moral compass on this.
"There is nothing in the law that forbids someone from using mental powers or time travel to help them with investments. Of course, no one knows that at least in my case, I've done a little of both." She chuckled. "Besides, we can use some of our investment to help out others in need. I'm just about as in the dark as you are but who can really help us? We can't tell anyone about our powers, we just have to use them as wisely and fairly as possible." She added rubbing the back of her neck.
We began small investments through a reputable investment firm that she trusted and began using our sensing powers to give suggestions to the investors. When they realized how often we were right, I eventually signed on to a part time position that still allowed me to continue my studies in college while learning the steps to becoming a financial advisor. At times I felt the desire to own and manage companies seemed even stronger than my longterm goal in nanotech and biochemistry. Originally I wanted to create the best cheeses with the top shelf lives to sell on the market. I was the successor to the Dairy King. There must be a way to have the best of both worlds. I thought the simple solution would be to have a sizable investment in diary products. I had considered the risks which held me back. It was then I realized I could potentially use my powers to scan various cheeses and dairy products for flavor and freshness that even our most advanced computers could not even catch. I tested and trained myself to use my powers to field numerous quantities of cheeses and milks. I became very skilled at it and had enabled myself to become a human computer/sensor of sorts. I again kept quiet about it attributing my ability to a good sense of smell and visual deduction. Carolyn continued more along the lines of investments and soon we were on our way to much more financial gain than either of us had imagined.
I worked my way to CEO with several companies. No direct overshadowing. Carolyn preferred not to own any companies and just stick with investment strategies. I eventually bought out interest in a company that was called Steels and Company. I changed it to Vladco and began to steer the company to a much more profitable outcome. I also purchased a company named Allensoft and changed it to Mastersoft. The list of companies became many. Carolyn warned me not to own too many companies and to calm my ambitions. It was very hard to do this. My dad had instilled a very competitive spirit, but I inevitably heeded Carolyn's advice and was glad I had done so.
Sometimes I liked to dress in my diary man ranch style outfit, and forget I was the CEO of numerous companies. I continued my college as well and managed to continue my studies getting straight A's, an effect of needing less sleep possibly due to our ghost powers. At times for the longest while I could still taste diet soda in my mouth and Carolyn wondered if the soda had somehow fused with us as well as the ectoplasm on the atomic level and made us much more energetic than normal people. My staying up late however still manifested in getting darker circles under my eyes, but I loved the new found energy I had.
The lab accident had another odd affect on us. It happened long before we even planned to get married. It was our transformation from human to ghost form. It didn't happen for us both at the same time and Carolyn at first did not recognize me when I changed. I was doing one of my quests, this one for the Infini-map. Carolyn in her ghost form looked similar to me but neither of us knew who we were and she fought me.
"Plasmius! I know you think you deserve this map but it's still stealing!" She looked at me and I smirked at her.
"So you are going to be like Danny Phantom? The ghost kid that uses his powers for good?" I said in a sarcastic voice. Then Carolyn Plasmius as she called herself did something quite unexpected.
"I don't want to fight you." She said in an unusually calm voice.
"No, you don't." I spat back at the woman and tried to zap her though I truly only wished to stun her and not hurt her. I had no idea I was fighting the love of my life at the time but I think she must've recognized me first probably by my voice. She cleverly dodged all my attacks and also never truly tried to hurt me, only stun me as well. She seemed to actually be enjoying herself. Then she popped the question.
Can we settle this over a candle light dinner?" She said with a flirtatious smirk. She appeared to be very attracted to me and I was to her. So we played this game of wits where we would fight and then we would have dates so to speak.
In this game of sorts, I still had my 'naughty' moments and was often trying to steal the Infini-map. She defended it needed to go back to the Far Frozen. I tried to convince her it was a 'treasure' that should not to be owned by any one person, save myself of course. She decided a compromise of photocopying the Infini-map would satisfy my curiosity without stealing the map. Yes I was rather villainous in my early days. But during a fight we had, instead of continuing to zap each other we began to kiss each other. Eventually we revealed ourselves to each other. It only intensified our feelings for each other.
Later as we became more serious I tried to do better and even helped the town by doing some 'heroic' stuff like rescuing a group of people from a run away train that almost crashed into Lake Eerie. Despite feeling a bit like I was being taken advantage of as the town always seemed to expect us to come to the rescue, I truly wanted to be able to help rescue people. But often a part of me wanted to see what benefit I would get out of it. This was I found out later classic narcissism. Carolyn encouraged me to get therapy to try to overcome this personality trait I developed. She was quite supportive. I was still far from perfect, but together we helped each other. Carolyn understood some of my symptoms and she had her own cocktail of bipolar disorder she had been diagnosed with that at times mirrored my narcissism. But she and I continued to help and love each other. Helping us to understand and be patient with each other is what true love is about after all.