CHAPTER 4 – The First Distortion(4)

Later that evening…

"Oh my god!" Eve gasped when she and Kelly peeked through the gap of the door and she saw Adalind talking with the younger versions of her and Nick. "They really are here."

They both pulled away and close the door.

"You wanna go there?" Kelly asked.

"I rather not," was her reply. "That version of your Dad is still in love with Juliette. I don't want to show my face there and trigger an awkward air."

"At worst, he will just think that you're her daughter which is true though in a weird way," Kelly argued.

"And then he will ask 'How's my Mom?' and 'Where is she?'. I'm not gonna volunteer myself into that kind of conversation."

Kelly frowned. "Hey, is my Dad still affecting you? I'm getting jealous here."

"Of course not!" Eve defended. "It's just that the Nick I met after I was reformatted was a Nick that had moved on from Juliette thanks to your mother. But this one still belongs to her. I don't want to confront that man that my former self failed. It makes me feel guilty that I'm happy right now even though I don't deserve it thanks to her."

Kelly attempt to say something but, "Eve, Kelly," a familiar voice suddenly said from behind them.

"Yay!" Both of them made a start. It was Nick.

"What are you two snooping around there?"

"Um…hehehe, sorry Dad, I was just showing Eve about our special guests." Kelly explained.

"Then why just stay here? Go in there and personally meet them."

"I don't want to," Eve said. "It'll be awkward. You know…meeting that man."

Nick glanced to the door behind them, then sighed. "By the way Eve, I need to talk to you."

"Dad?" Kelly expression immediately turned concern.

"It's nothing too serious, don't worry," Nick reassured his son. "There's just something I wanted to talk with her about."

Nick then told Kelly to join his Mom and sister and then Nick brought Eve back to the garage.

"What is it?" Eve started.

"How's my son?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm asking how's my son? How's he'd been doing lately?"

"Why are you asking me that? He's your kid."

"This stage of a kid's life, their friends would often know something that their parents don't. In Kelly's case, that's you."

She isn't just his girlfriend. More than that, she's his guardian and best friend.

"I just want to be filled with whatever Adalind and I might have missed."

"It's nothing much," Eve said.

"I'm not asking beyond the obvious. Just tell me what you can."

"Well, he's happy, adventurous. Itching for fight and action, just like his old man. Heroic, willing to save anyone in need but as mischievous as his mother. Things you already knew."

"Anything else," Nick further probed.

At this query, Eve momentarily turned silent.

"He's getting too serious about us," she finally said after some serious hesitation. "There are times he would blabber stuffs like 5 years from now, marriage and settling down. And believe me, it disturbs me just as much as you do."

"It actually don't," Nick admitted. An opposite response to what Eve expected. "That's not my concern."

Eve frowned. "Then what's with all the probing then? I noticed it's becoming habitual lately."

"Just as what you just said," Nick explained. "His growing in age and is starting to envision what he wants in his life. And since you're a part of it, I just want to make sure that neither of you will make the same relationship mistakes we did with ours."

"With Juliette you mean," she corrected, glaring at him. "That bloody lesson is already learned and I don't have the slightest intention of repeating her mistakes. Now, if you have nothing else to say, I have to go."

Eve started towards the exit but then Nick raised a question which stopped her. "One last question."

"What!?"

"How much do you really love my son?"

"What?" Eve was startled. "Asking that all of the sudden."

"I never tried to ask before but seeing my younger self and what had become with his relationship with Juliette, I couldn't help but ask now."

"For the hundredth time, I'm not Juliette!"

"And for the hundredth time too, this is about my son. Juliette or not, you're not exactly the poster girl of a good relationship. So pardon me if I'm being overly meticulous."

Eve gritted her teeth. "More than my life!" She exploded. "When I returned as Eve, no one gives a damn about me. Everyone, including you just gauge how helpful I can be. Just a give and take, a matter of usefulness, nothing more. But when I first held him. When Adalind let me held him for the first time and his eyes just stared at me with complete trust. Those eyes that just ask me to hold him. All my walls broke down and from that moment on I swore with my life that I will give everything to protect him and everyone else he loved. That's how much I loved him. Unfortunately, I didn't account that sooner, I will also start to love him as a man."


Unknown by those two, there was someone standing behind the door and had been listening to their conversation. This someone is now covering her mouth with her palm, utterly shock to what she'd just heard.

This someone is none other than the Adalind from 2011.

"What are you doing here?" Diana suddenly appeared from the door connecting to the living room and asked. Then when she glanced to the gap at the door towards the garage and then look at Adalind's expression, he face suddenly turned pale.

"Eve is Juliette?" Adalind asked.

"What the hell?" Diana grabbed her elbow and dragged her to another room. "You're not supposed to know that."

"He's dating his father's ex-girlfriend and all of you are letting them? Are you all out of your mind?!"

"Oh please! No one likes their relationship even Eve herself. " Diana rolled her eyes and explained. "But this is about Kelly. The moment he sets his mind to this relationship we're all powerless to stop him."

"Why?!" Adalind exclaimed. "Don't tell me he's threatening you all with suicide or something."

"No!" Diana pointed out. "Things could have been simpler if that's actually the case. Unfortunately, the deal with Kelly is far more complicated."

"What are you talking about?"

"Damn it!" Diana stomped and grumbled. "Why does this have to fall on me? Come on, come with me."

"Where are you taking me?" Adalind demanded.

"To answer your question."

"What's going on?" Future Nick asked when he saw Diana dragging her.

"I know you know that she heard you and Eve," she countered. "I wasn't actually quiet when I reprimanded her."

"Where are you taking her?" He still asked, though it seems that he had a complete idea where.

"To that place," she replied, starting her car. "To give her a reason to shut up."

"It's late. Can't you just do this tomorrow?" He said looking at Diana and then to her.

"We have other things to settle tomorrow and I'm not gonna let her eavesdropping kick us off the course."

"Fine," Future Nick sighed, "but be careful."

Diana nodded and her car left the garage. Diana drove towards the heart of Portland. However, Adalind noticed that the deeper the go, the quieter it gets.

'Weird,' she thought. 'Wasn't this side of the town supposed to be busiest?'

"Where are you taking me?"

Adalind asked to Diana but she didn't answer. Fifteen minutes later, they finally stopped and Adalind gasped sharply when she peeked outside the car. What welcome her sight were rubbles. Tall buildings collapsed. Roads shattered. And above all, there's a dark miasma shrouding the entire area.

However, that's not the most shocking part. What was terrifyingly astounding was that she's familiar with the place. This was supposed to be a business district. From the time where she's from, this is one of the most developed part of Portland but now, it's a ghost town.

Both of them got out of the car and Adalind immediately asked, "What happened here?"

Diana still didn't respond, instead, she instructed her to follow her. She did and they then stood in front of a red line painted on the ground. "Try putting your hand beyond this line."

Diana finally spoke and Adalind complied to her instruction. She extended her hand beyond the red line. "Ouch!" She exclaimed and immediately pulled her hand away.

The wind beyond that red line was sharp, like needles stabbing her skin. And aside from that, the gravity too beyond the red line was pretty heavy. At least twice in her estimation.

"Seriously, what's going on here? What happened to this place?"

"The reason why Kelly with Eve is being tolerated," Diana answered vaguely.

"I…I…" she shook her head, "I don't understand."

Diana sighed and started, "It happened almost 12 years ago. Kelly was 4. Mom, Dad, me and Kelly, we were all in this place the day it was levelled to a pile of rubbles and it was all my fault."

"Why, what happened?"

"Back then, there was a Wesen terrorist organization called Black Claw. Supposedly, two years earlier, they should have been destroyed. Unfortunately, there were still remnants of them and that day, 12 years ago, those remaining of them made a simultaneously attacks to different major cities all over the globe including here in Portland."

At this point, Diana's expression turned complicated. "It was very manageable. It should have been easy, dealing with them. It was a surprise attack but Dad, Mom and me were there. With our line-up, it should have ended without any problem. However, I let my guard down."

Diana pulled up the hem of her shirt, exposing her scarred left stomach. "I was stabbed by one of them and Kelly saw the entire thing. The attacker also tried to lunge at him before I could kill it. I nearly died but Dad was there, he has that staff, I was saved. Problem solved." She then turned silent, tense. "But not for Kelly.

"Even though things turned out well, that mistake of mine had already struck my brother's state of mind. He woged, for the first time that day. The Zauberbeist with the bloodline of a Grimm."

Diana closed her eyes and hold Adalind's hand. The moment she did, Adalind gasped and saw a scene of destructions akin to the end of the world. There were earthquakes, tornadoes, buildings disintegrating, and meteors falling down from the sky. People, young and old, human and Wesen, all screaming and running for their lives.

And, in the middle of these mayhems, Adalind saw a little boy being soothed by her and Nick.

"Kelly, Kelly, honey," Adalind said repeatedly. "It's okay now."

"DIANA!" The little boy Kelly continued to wail and the destruction around them intensifies. "WAHHHH!"

"Kelly, I'm okay," Diana said, cupping her brother's cheeks. "See, see, I'm perfectly fine. Please baby brother, stop crying."

"Oh my god!" When the vision ended, Adalind flinched back, panting for air. Her trembling eyes, now full of fear and understanding, stared at Diana.

"Now, you understand. My brother can't be that upset again. When he becomes emotionally unstable, this happens. And it's not just the destruction. The pollution it left behind is pretty serious too. Since that day, this place becomes inhabitable. The gravity here is three times heavier and the wind is like needles. Stay in there and you'll die within a day."

"Oh my god," she panted, looking at the remnants of destruction that surrounds her. "Kelly did all of these?"

Diana nodded. "Mom and Dad did well parenting him. He's innately a sweet and kind kid. So it was easy giving him discipline while giving him as well everything he might want. But when it goes down to the non-material, priceless stuffs like love and relationships. It gets complicated. It's fine if it gets awry on its own, he had heartbreaks before. Eve is not his first girlfriend. But no one should impede how his heart will flow. It's a taboo. A taboo that if broken will procure this."


When Eve returned home to her apartment, she was still in a very foul mood. The banter with Nick was still echoing inside her head. However, it was not Nick's unease with her relationship with Kelly that keeps her in this sour state. Rather, it was the reality that she was once Juliette striking her again.

When she was born, the brainwashing of HW had helped her establish her identity using Juliette as a foundation. However, it doesn't mean that she didn't do what Juliette did. To Nick, to his mother, to Adalind who was pregnant with Kelly back then, to their friends. Regardless of who she truly is, this body of hers is burdened with the greatest sin ever done to the Burkhardts and she can never change that no matter what.

"Why do I have to be you?" She fumed in rage when she looked at the mirror and image who looked back was not the current young her but that dark haired witch who betrayed Nick 16 years ago. "It's not fair. I want a life!"

During her travel with Nick to the Mirror Dimension, she told Nick that happy doesn't interest her anymore. It was true back then. For what Juliette did, it's only fair to live the rest of her life atoning.

But as the old saying goes 'time and change beats everything' even conviction.

When Kelly loved her and she realized that she also loved him, that conviction of atoning for the rest of her life for Juliette's sins faded. Since then it started to feel unfair.

When Juliette died, she didn't ask to be born. She shouldn't have existed in the first place. But she did. She took over when Juliette died. She had nothing back then except her missions. But when that disappeared, she needed to find something else that will give meaning to her birth, to her existence. So she diverted it to hunting the Zerstörer. But when that too ended, she became empty again. That's not until she first held Kelly. That sweet, mischievous little boy.

She saw a new path that day when she held that child and she promised, with her life, that the meaning of her existence will be to protect him. Him and his happiness.

However, it gets complicated when it became romantic. That's because when it did, something in her that she thought she had long discarded returned.

Desire.

The most basic component of a living being. The essence of wanting something for one's self. And what she desire is life and everything else along that package. Not as Juliette's reformat or replacement or cleaner of her mess. But as her, as Eve. A life that's hers and hers alone. A life she can share with Kelly.

"I'm not gonna rot cleaning up your mess!" She roared and grabbed the first thing she can get her hands into and throw it towards the mirror. The mirror shattered along with the image of that damn witch.

"One day, one day I'm gonna find a way to completely get rid of you," she said with conviction. "You'll be gone from my life, from their lives. I'm gonna erase you one way or another!"


The next day…

"So, what do you two wants to talk about?" Adalind asked when after breakfast, the younger versions of her and Nick asked to have a talk.

In the living room, present at the moment are them, her, Nick, their kids, and then Monroe and Rosalee who both just arrived. They settled some initial plans yesterday and are about to tell 2011 Nick and Adalind about it this morning but the two beat them to it as they open up first.

"We…" 2011 Nick started, glancing momentarily to her younger self, "Adalind and I had a talk last night. About what we're supposed to do and expect while we're here and…we sort of come up with a decision."

"And that is?" Adalind asked.

"First," 2011 Nick started, "I know you all are trying to withhold details from us or at least, you're seeing to it that we won't ask. Making me embarrass yesterday for example."

Everyone diverted their gazes. A notion of guilt. Well, except for Nick. Her husband on the other hand, couldn't care any less.

"And I understand," 2011 Nick continued, glancing then to 2011 Adalind, "We both understand. The path is filled with bloodshed I believe."

"We're not sure how long you guys will stay here," Diana said. "The history is too horrible. My birth and Kelly's birth now for example. When we came out, people were dying all around us. It's not something that we would like to share to those who will just going to experience it once they get back especially that they're our parents. Even though you two will likely forget everything you saw here once you've returned, we don't want you two to carry the horror of the future while you're around."

"What makes you think that we'll forget our time here?" 2011 Adalind asked.

"The continuity of the timeline," Diana replied. "Time and time travel are very delicate matters. Just think about this: you two," her palms pointed at younger Nick and Adalind, "came from the past. 20 years in the future and yet, you," she pointed now to her and Nick, "are still here. I'm still here. Kelly is still here. Which means, that both of you were successfully returned to your original time which lead to the existence of this current world.

Except for Nick and Kelly, all of them nodded.

"Now Mom, Dad, I will ask you two. Do any one of you remember travelling into the future?"

Adalind and her husband shook their heads. "No."

"Which means that when we returned them to their original time, we erased their memories or their memories were erased by the travel itself. Bottomline, things had gone the way it should be given that this future of theirs is still intact."

"So we won't be able to do anything even if we know the future," 2011 Nick said.

"Another recipe for despair, I believe," Diana implied.

"I won't allow you too," then Nick added with a murderous glare, making 2011 Adalind flinch.

"I figured out that much already," 2011 Nick said. "That's why we decided to arrange our stays here your way."

"We won't ask about the process, the history," 2011 Adalind continued. "Instead, we decided we will just admire the life it created. Because to be honest, we both like what we're seeing so far."


Last night while he was unable to sleep, Nick had already considered what Diana had just explained. He and Adalind still exist in this timeline, which means that eventually, their displacement was corrected and they returned to the past but without any memory of what they saw here. He thought about this because if that wasn't the case then the future that welcomed them when they arrived here would have been the future written based on the night that he and Adalind disappeared during their fight at the Bremen Ruins. Diana and Kelly wouldn't have existed and the 2031 versions of them wouldn't have been here as well.

That's why he asked his self this: Does he really want to know the future that awaits him?

Especially that he noticed too that everyone are making the effort to tell him very little about it while his future self is completely unwilling to tap into it as well.

Seeing the person his future self had become. That man that by the smallest notion of threat to his family would without hesitation end another person's life says it all how much he'd experienced hurt and lost before he found his happiness in the arms of Adalind. Thus, the thought of knowing the future and be presented with the fact that there's nothing he could do to change any of it scares him. Plus, even if he could, he might not still do something about it because this future where everything is perfect and in place might cease to exist.

He will never let that happen. Never! And he's meeting eye to eye with his future self about it.

Even though it turns out that it would be with Adalind, this future is the best he could hope for. He's a powerful and influential existence in this timeline, thus, very few would have the thought of messing up with him and his loved ones. Also, having a Hexenbeist for a wife and having children with the strength from both sides boost the sense of security even further.

"We won't ask about the process, the history," Adalind said after he gave his piece. "Instead, we decided we will just admire the life it created. Because to be honest, we both like what we're seeing so far."

"Glad you finally see it our way," his future self said as he stood up. "Very well, you can ask everything you wanted that are within that scope. Not from me though, at least not at this time," he then glanced to his wife. "Adalind and I have plans for the day."

"Yeah, enjoy!" Kelly gleefully said to his parents.

"Where are you two going?" Nick asked.

"Today is their anniversary," it was Diana who answered.


When future Adalind and Nick left to celebrate their anniversary, their conversation resumed. The married couple never said a thing of their plans, probably because as evidenced to her future self's surprise, Nick and their kids had probably planned this day without telling future Adalind anything.

"It's a surprise until Mom sees it later but Dad bought her a yacht," Kelly revealed to them.

"Really!?" Monroe and Rosalee exclaimed while Adalind and Nick were both struck speechless.

A yacht!? Nick bought her a yacht!?

"Oh my goodness, Nick is really going all out this year!" Monroe continued.

"That's nothing, Dad had been hinting that he will buy her an island and name it after her on their anniversary next year," said Diana.

"Uhm…excuse me excuse me, all of you." Adalind called for their attentions after Diana gave her piece. "It's been bothering me since I'd arrived and it's bothering me again now that you mentioned a yacht. Kelly told me that your Nick built this house for his wife and it's obvious too that he has tendencies of spoiling her with luxurious things. Last time I checked, you mentioned that he's Chief of Police moonlighting as a government consultant but even then that doesn't explain the nigh unlimited money he's spending. So tell me, where did he get all those money."

"Yeah, I'm wondering about that too," Nick joined. "Did I found a goldmine or something?"

Both of them demanded for answers.

"Oh about that," Monroe lightly scratched her head. "You see…Nick you're…" he breathed deeply, "Nick, you're a Royalty."

Both their jaws dropped. "Wait what!?" Adalind exclaimed.

"What!?" Nick as well. "What are you talking about!? I know everyone in my family, I don't have any connection to any royalty!"

"And yet, your family tree on your paternal side stopped on great-Grandma Esme," said Kelly. "No, to be exact since Grandpa Reed is an 'orphan', it actually ends with him. Lots of gaps to fill in the family tree if you ask me."

"I believe this is how you were told about your paternal side of the family," Rosalee started. "Your Dad, Reed Burkhardt, is an orphan. When he was one, he was adopted by your Grandmother, Esmeralda Burkhardt. Then, he met your Mom decades later and they have you."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, that's all there is with my Father's life. Are you all telling me there's more to that?"

Rosalee sighed deeply. "It's a lie. Aside from his life with you and your Mom, the rest are made up, engineered by your Grandma Esmeralda herself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Grandma Esmeralda is your biological Grandmother. She's your Dad's real Mom."

Upon those words, Rosalee told them the story of Nick's paternal family.

Decades ago, Esmeralda Burkhardt or rather with her real name, Erecia Valeska was a noblewoman betrothed to the crown prince. She was not oblivious to the Wesen Community in which the family of her future husband is involved with. However, when she was absorbed to her husband's family, what was unveiled to her there was far more terrifying than the existence of the Wesens. And what terrifies her more is that someday, her unborn son will have to shoulder that burden.

Refusing to throw her son into that kind of fate, she runs away from her husband along with their son and using their own power against them, she fabricated new identities. One process is in which she left her then infant son to an orphanage, arranging that he won't be adopted by anyone until she returned a year later, with a new face and a new identity. From then, she and her son lived their lives together with her son believing that he's adopted. In this manner, her husband's people were misled as they will first look for a single mother with a biological son. Through this, the truth was buried even until her and her son's deaths.

"Great-Grandma Esme was really good," Kelly said to Nick. "Great-Grandpa had only succeeded in finding you decades later when technology was far more advance. You know, DNA, facial recognitions and all. It was a close call for him."

"When did this happen?" Nick asked, still in half of a trance.

"From today…around 10 years ago."

Ten years ago, Nick's grandfather finally found him. And though his son was long gone, he still had a grandchild, a grandson who can succeed him.

"Which House?" Asked Adalind this time. "From which House does Nick belong?"

Kelly momentarily gave a glance to the younger version of his father and replied. "Varia. House Varia."


"House Varia!?" Adalind exclaimed upon hearing Kelly's reply. "Are you serious!?"

"What's there about this House Varia?" Nick asked. Seeing such reaction from Adalind, it's obvious that his Father's family isn't as simple as the Royal Family that he already knew.

"House Varia is the world's Box of Secrets," Adalind began to explain. "You know the story of Pandora, Epimetheus, and the box containing all the evils in the world, it's that. Except that the real Pandora and Epimetheus are not just characters in the Greek Mythology. The real them are vassals of Greece's very first Empire. Then through the years, this family expanded, beyond the Empire, beyond Greece. Until in the later eras, they took the form as one of the seven Royal Families that we know now."

During the Middle Ages, though this was just some baseless hearsays, the other 6 Royal Families suspected that it was them that convinced the Templar Knights, the 7 Grimms that sacked Constantinople, to hide the treasure they found instead of surrendering it to the Royals . However, this claim was never proven and even if it was, the other 6 will never ever dare to offend House Varia.

"Why's that?"

"Because like what she just said," Rosalee spoke this time. "House Varia is the world's Box of Secrets or the Box of Evils, the Pandora's Box. Since their founding until the present day, their purpose had been the gathering and safekeeping of all of the most powerful and dangerous truths and knowledges that could tilt the world to chaos. That's why no one dares to mess up with them because even just a tenth of what they're hiding is enough to bring Armageddon to this planet."

Nick was shock. It's no wonder that his Grandma Esme escaped with his Dad. An eons worth of accumulated knowledges and truths of that degree. No mother will wish for their son to carry that kind of burden. However, that was his Grandma. What about him? How did he…?

He momentarily froze and then his gaze met that of Rosalee and Monroe then to his future children. And upon that unspoken query, the Rosalee nodded. "10 years ago, your Grandfather was dying. Like I said, it was close call for him, he needed a successor else, House Varia will collapse along with the foulest bowels of Earth that they're hiding. And you being you, the Nick who will not run from his responsibilities, accepted his heritage. House Varia had been under you ever since."

"Is that how I…I mean, how he got that staff?" Nick asked, suddenly remembering that staff his future self wielded last night to attack and nearly kills him. Actually, he might have actually killed him and then just brought him back to life. It sounds ridiculous but that's what he believed actually happened "It's from them?"

Nick assumed but Rosalee shook her head, "No. But I think you already have an idea where that staff is from."

Nick's forehead wrinkled and said, "The keys. It's the treasure hidden by the keys, right?"

Rosalee nodded. "Not the whole of it but yes. That staff is the treasure the Templar Knights found in Constantinople. The same treasure that your ancestors, from both sides, had hidden."

Nick sighed while Adalind's eyes widened. "That's the treasure hidden by those keys? Wow, judging what it can do, the fervor the Royals are investing on it are not in vain."

"Yeah. Unfortunately for those Royals interested on it, none of them lived through the treasure hunt to see what actually it is."

"They're dead?" Adalind asked.

Rosalee nodded. "And I needn't need to say that you two had a significant contribution to that."