Time Lapse Chapter 1: Another Beautiful Day, a daria fanfic

Time Lapse

by Kevin R.

Author's Note: Daria is a registered trademark of MTV and Viacom. The following work is for non-commercial use only.

First fan fiction, please don't criticize, blah blah blah...

This story's premise was based loosely on the novel "1632" by Eric Flint. This story, which has been expanded into a popular series of novels written by a number of different authors, is about a small town in West Virginia that is transported back in time to Germany during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century. My name for the event that transports Lawndale and the surrounding area back in time -- the Shard -- was also borrowed from the 1632 series (the event is referred to as an Assiti Shard by the original author).

My knowledge of Daria is as follows: I've seen nearly every episode in the first three seasons (except for Depth Takes a Holiday and a few others). I've been using my friendly neighborhood Gnutella application – yes, I use LimeWire – to download past episodes of Daria, and I'm currently working my way through seasons four and five. For the sake of convenience, and so I don't get the fans angry with any mistakes, I'm setting this fan fiction at the end of the third season. Which means no Tom. Sorry. Don't get angry.

In addition, for the purposes of this story, the Lawndale of this fan fiction is a suburb of Little Rock, Arkansas, which also gets taken back in the Shard. I must warn anybody reading this that I do not paint a very flattering picture of the South in this story. I will ignore any comments about states' rights, the evils of Abraham Lincoln, and how "the South will rise again."

On with the story, already!

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Chapter 1: Another Beautiful Day

Lawndale, Arkansas. Monday, January 24, 2000.

Six a.m.

Daria loathed to hear that alarm in the morning. It meant that, in an hour, she would have to put up with Principal Li's desire to establish a mini-dictatorship. It meant that she would have to put up with Ms. Barch's ranting about how men should be exterminated for the good of humanity. (Okay, perhaps there was something to look forward to.) It meant that she would have to put up with her "cousin" Quinn and the Fashion Gestapo for seven whole hours. It meant that she would have to put up with a whole list of things that she was too tired to think of right now.

And to top it all off, it was a Monday.

At least there was Jane. There was always Jane.

Against her better judgment, Daria climbed out of bed and prepared herself for a brand new day. She threw on her trademark uniform, took a bite to eat, and walked out the door before Mom could even bother to say goodbye.

Daria met Jane at the usual spot on the walk to school. They had the usual conversation about the trivialities of life and the world around them. They discussed the recent South Carolina primaries, the Army's sick sense of humor (how else does one explain their putting video cameras on the tips of bombs during Desert Storm?), the merits of Canadian culture and society, and Daria's Montana cabin fund. It was like every other conversation that the two girls had when they walked to school.

Neither of them could have guessed that it would be their last.

Sandi shrieked.

The latest issue of Waif, to her shock, stated that a sort of neo-punk look, led by a wave of new artists and bands from the growing "emo" subculture, was on the rise, and would dominate mainstream fashion within a few years. When Sandi read this news, it took all of five minutes to ring up all of her friends and hold an emergency meeting of the Fashion Club at the beginning of school.

By 8:30, all four girls had gathered in the girls' room. Sandi was on a mad rant about how she did not want to look like Johnny Vicious, and that these events had made her question the validity of Waif's fashion advice. When Stacy corrected Sandi by saying that the famous punk rocker's name was Johnny Rotten, and that less "fashionable" clothes would put less of a strain on their family's budgets, Sandi cursed her out, calling her a traitor. A high-pitched "Eep!" was Stacy's sole response. With Stacy silenced, Sandi said that they had little time to oppose this horrifying trend. If they didn't, she said, Cashman's would be replaced with Hot Topic at every mall in the country. This was enough to get Tiffany over to Sandi's side, but Quinn was still skeptical, feeling that what Stacy had said earlier had some merit to it. As usual, the Fashion Club was divided evenly, with Quinn and Stacy on one side, and Sandi and Tiffany on the other.

Sandi was right about one thing. They didn't have much time left. Nobody did.

Mr. DeMartino's class was the same mess it had always been. Kevin and Brittany were in their corner of the room, thoughts about Lawndale's championship season still bouncing around in their otherwise empty heads. Daria and Jane were sharing their plans for world domination. And the teacher was giving a lecture to the class in the same manner that a Marine drill instructor lectures the men he's training.

Mr. DeMartino asked the class a question about the goals of the Radical Republicans following the Civil War. Kevin's hand was the first one up. His answer, as usual, was an attempt to associate such men as John C. Fremont and James Garfield with the radical seventy-yard run that he had made for the Lions in the championship game. Brittany gave one of her usual cheers in response.

The teacher was barely able to hold back his disgust. He ripped straight into the football couple, telling them that, if it weren't for Ms. Li's prodding him to give them good grades due to their involvement with the athletics department, he'd have them thrown out on their asses in a nanosecond. He then asked for somebody with more than three brain cells to answer the question.

Daria raised her hand. She explained that the Radical Republicans were those members of the Republican Party who wanted the South to be harshly punished for its treason against the United States government. They pushed for protection and civil rights for freed slaves, the arrest of former Confederate leaders, and the abolition of the Ku Klux Klan. Southern whites hated the Radical Republicans, but as Daria explained, they weren't exactly in the right in this situation.

Mr. DeMartino congratulated Daria for paying attention to her studies, unlike some members of the class. He then went on to his lesson plan, which covered the Southern resistance to the civil rights legislation that the Republicans were attempting to pass.

It was at that moment that they all saw the flash.

Several theories have been sent around about what happened. All that is known for certain is that, at precisely 11:17 AM on Monday, January 24, 2000, something happened to Lawndale and the rest of the Little Rock metropolitan area. Everyone within thirty miles of downtown Little Rock reported being blinded by a stunning light and hearing a strange noise that sounded something like some sort of weird radio signal. The incident lasted for a total of 98 seconds, during which time many of the people in the area were sent into a brief madness. For some of them, this madness would be anything but brief.

When it was all over, everything seemed normal enough. Power was still on, although spotty in some parts. It was those who tried to leave and get help, however, who saw the true effects of what would come to be known as the Shard.

Outside, everything had changed.