AN: I have written this a while back but considered and reconsidered the ending for a while now. Read it at your own risk :))) and review it if you like it.
PS: I might have taken some inspiration from Supernatural and Doctor Who, but just a little.
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, except for the OCs, make no money out of this, but do own the story and don't agree with it being copied without my permission.
Enjoy!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It was a hot, sunny day in Los Angeles, as most were during the summer months. Diego, De Soto, Victoria, Mendoza, and Don Alejandro were all sitting at the same table on the tavern's porch, looking to escape the heat and quench their thirst with some lemonade. The plaza and the streets were mostly empty as it was almost siesta, and the people were all trying to escape the heat at that hour, hiding in their houses.
"I wonder if it's cooler in the garrison." De Soto muttered at some point, as they were all doing their best to cope, Mendoza using his hat, Victoria a fan, and Don Alejandro one of Diego's just-out-of-the-press newspapers. "Perhaps we should get going, Sergeant." The alcalde suggested.
"But," his man pointed out, "in order for us to go inside, we'd have to cross the entire plaza. I won't have a chance at surviving in the sun for that long, alcalde! I'd better stay here…"
"We should probably also head home… But riding in this heat…" Don Alejandro muttered.
"I wonder if we could invent some kind of cooling device. It might make for an interesting project. Perhaps something based on Doctor Wayne's invention… the one you bought from him, Victoria," Diego said with some pensive on-brand enthusiasm, prompting his companions to throw him a dirty look as they were wondering how come the man wasn't even sweating.
The taverness was about to reply that she had returned that useless invention to Doctor Wayne when he started working with the alcalde, demanding for a full return of her money, when her eyes found something completely unexpected. "Is that a puddle?" She suddenly wondered as her gaze fixed a patch of water that seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere, right in front of her tavern's main entrance.
"That wasn't there a moment ago…" Diego said, intrigued, as he stood up to go take a closer look.
"It's just water. What on Earth do you find fascinating about it, Diego?" His father asked.
"Puddles don't just appear out of nowhere." He stated as he realized it seemed to be growing. "Interesting. Some underground stream must be responsible… I wonder where it comes from…" saying that, he turned back towards the people looking at him, a mixture of annoyance and boredom on their faces. "If it passes under the tavern the stability of the entire building may be at risk. I think you should get away from the terrace…"
They looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Don't be absurd, Diego! It's just a puddle." De Soto pointed out, unwilling to stand up just because one of his least favorite people in the world said he should.
Just moments later the puddle started growing in size exponentially and Diego found himself retreating to the porch.
Everyone stood up then, quite worried.
"We really should get away." He told them.
"But… My tavern!" Victoria uttered as, looking around the building, she realized they were slowly but surely being surrounded by water.
"Your life is more important!" Diego replied as he took her hand and, together, they jumped over to the plaza, without touching the water.
Don Alejandro followed him but, as Mendoza and De Soto were trying to do the same, the puddle's expansion made it impossible for them to land on dry ground. Instead, they both landed in the mud and got stuck there, feeling themselves getting swollen inch by inch.
"Help!" De Soto shouted. "For God's sake, De la Vega, do something!"
Diego looked around, but couldn't find anything of use. "I'll find a rope!" He said, heading towards the cuartel.
The doors were locked from the inside and nobody seemed willing to answer his insistent knocks.
Trying to find another way to help, he turned around to notice that both Victoria and his father had meanwhile entered the muddy puddle in a bid to help the alcalde and Mendoza, both of which were now shouting desperately as the mud was soon to swallow them whole. Returning to them, he reached one hand for Victoria's and another for his father's and did his best to pull them towards him, but the combined weight of all four people was too much for him to handle. Mendoza and De Soto were completely swollen when Diego realized he wouldn't hold on for much longer.
"Let them go!" He shouted towards his father and the taverness.
"I already did, but it's pulling me in…" Victoria muttered as she saw in terror that the strange quicksand were now nearing Diego, as well.
"You still have time! Save yourself, Son!" Don Alejandro urged him.
"I am not giving up on you!" He replied, pulling harder.
"There's nothing you can do!" Victoria said, desperately.
Don Alejandro, agreeing with that assessment and, hoping to save his son, let go of his hand and instantly found himself prey to the mud.
"Nooo! Father!" Diego shouted.
Victoria let go of his hand just a second later and, the next thing he knew, Diego dove after her, with no second thought about the absurdity of his actions.
ZZZ
"What the…" De Soto muttered as he woke up in an alley to see a large bird flying high above him.
"Are we dead?" Mendoza inquired as he also glanced around, terrified.
"Is this hell or is it heaven?" Don Alejandro wondered, making an effort to get up.
"Wherever we are, we are not in Los Angeles anymore," Diego uttered.
"I'm quite certain we're no longer in California, either!" Victoria said, looking around and noticing various signs written in English.
They all stood up and gazed in amazement at the large buildings around them. It all seemed as a different word entirely and they had a hard time deciding if to be amazed or just afraid. A distant roar was heard above them and they looked up to see another of those birds De Soto first saw, bearing symbols and letters on it instead of feathers, and flying without moving its wings.
They were all left open-mouthed as they watched it until they could no longer see the strange apparition.
Then, timidly, following Diego, who was simply following the noise, they dared to leave the dead-end alley where they were upon waking up. Turning a corner, they found themselves on a busy street, strangely-dressed people walking in all directions, while horseless, metal carriages did the same only a few feet away, on what seemed like a specially-marked, smooth, grey road aimed at separating them from the people walking.
"What do we do now?" Don Alejandro asked after they took a few minutes to just stare in awe.
"We try to find out where we are and how we can return home…" Diego suggested.
"And how do you suggest we do that?" De Soto inquired, making an effort to talk, despite being scared out of his mind.
The tall caballero glanced around, his eyes resting on an older woman wearing white shoes, a strange pair of pants, a glowing, colored blouse, and half-a-hat, who was inquisitively looking at them as if they were the odd ones.
"We ask?" He suggested as he headed towards her. "Excuse me, Ma'am," he uttered in English, "would you mind telling us what this place is called?"
The woman continued staring for a few moments. "Ain't that sign big enough for you? What did you smoke, young man?" She inquired as she turned and left, muttering something about drugs everywhere.
Diego watched her leave, somewhat taken aback by her rudeness, then turned to look at whatever she had pointed at. His mouth dropped open as he saw, written in large characters "Los Angeles".
His father, Victoria, and their other companions followed his gaze and reacted exactly the same way.
"I believe the right question to ask is when are we, rather than where." Diego pointed out.
"Impossible!" Victoria muttered. "We must be at least a thousand years into the future!"
"Perhaps even more," Diego muttered as he noticed an attractive young woman wearing very high heels and a short, revealing, body-hugging dress, looking admiringly at him as she passed them by.
"Hey, handsome, why don't you give me a call? I'll make sure to show you a really good time!" The woman said, putting a business card in his right hand and seductively running a hand down his chest.
He took the card dumbfounded and watched as she headed away while turning her head to smile flirtatiously at him.
"How can she walk in those shoes?" Victoria wondered as she also gazed after the beautiful, young woman. "Diego! Diego!" She found herself shouting as the tall caballero seemed mesmerized.
He turned towards her as if suddenly awaken from a dream. "Right… We need to find out what year it is." He replied as he started walking ahead after noticing a newsstand.
Reaching it, he looked curiously at all the colors on it and at the pictures on the covers of the magazines, then took a newspaper and read the date out loud for his companions. "Thursday, 10th of May, 1989. That's almost two centuries from now… I mean… from our time." He said.
"Hey, if you want to read that, you must buy it!" A man shouted at him.
"Of course…" he answered. "How much is it?"
"One buck! It says right there!" The man pointed out the price.
"A buck? How much is that in pesos?" He inquired.
"Pesos? What do you think this is? Mexico? In the US you must pay in dollars!"
"Dollars? But you just mentioned a buck…" De Soto pointed out.
"A buck is a dollar, you putz!" The man selling the papers told him.
"I would suggest you watch your language, Senor!" De Soto said, unable to understand what 'putz' meant but certain it was some sort of insult. In his fury, he reacted out of instinct, taking his gun out and pointing it at the newspaper vendor.
"Gun! Gun! He's robbing me!" The man shouted, and the nearby people started running in all directions while he hid behind the stand.
The five companions again glanced at each other. "Put that away, Ignacio!" Diego said in a warning tone, just as they heard whistles some sixty feet away. Moments later, they noticed two men in uniform, guns drawn, running towards them. "I think it's time to leave!" The caballero suggested as he grabbed Victoria and his father, leading them away from the policemen.
De Soto and Mendoza didn't need any persuasion to follow them.
For several blocks they ran, as the caballero remained behind to do whatever he could to block their pursuers, throwing to the grownd boxes and all he could find in his way useful in his efforts to stop them. Shots flew by their heads a few times, while innocent bystanders ducked and ran out of their way.
"Have we lost them?" Don Alejandro asked ten minutes later, as he was breathing heavily, the five of them hidden in an alley, some seven blocks away from where the chase had started.
"I believe so." Diego replied, barely sweating, his breathing normal.
"Why did you run? We should have stayed to clarify everything. I'm certain it was nothing but a big misunderstanding." De Soto uttered.
"All we know about this place, Ignacio, is that these people are Americans. They have obviously taken over at some point… And we have no idea how, what happened, or how they treat strangers, especially those coming from the past."
"Maybe you're right... Americans are savages, after all. I doubt they've changed in 200 years." De Soto replied, certain that his bad opinion was more than justified.
"About that," Victoria said, "I was meaning to ask: how come we all speak and understand English, when I, for one, have never learned it before?"
"I don't know… We all came here the exact same, impossibly absurd way! We should all be dead… or sleeping, depending on what came first. Perhaps… that must be it! This must be some sort of dream…" Diego suggested.
"A nightmare, you mean!" De Soto corrected him.
"That would explain why we can all understand English," Mendoza pointed out, "but what about everything else? If I am asleep, how can I imagine such things like these, if I've never seen them before?"
"Good point, Sergeant," Diego replied. "This must be my dream. Someone pinch me!"
De Soto volunteered and caused Diego to give a shout of pain as he did his best to wake him up.
"Ah… So not a dream." He stated.
"Not Diego's!" Victoria said, as she pinched herself, and the rest of them did the same, all letting out a shout of pain and ending up disappointed when nothing happened.
A door opened just as they were doing that.
"Hey! You!" A chubby, middle-aged woman said in English. "Are you here for the audition?"
They looked at each other as if waiting for at least one of them to have the answer.
"Audition?" Diego asked just as they heard the policemen nearby, talking about what to check. "Yes. We are here for the audition." He said, visibly concerned, as they all hurried towards her.
"Well, two of the ones before you didn't show up, so you're up next!" The woman told them, closing and locking the door behind them just as one of the policemen entered the alley.
They found themselves in a large, empty room, only a few chairs there, next to one of the walls.
"Names?" The same chubby woman asked. "You do have stage names, don't you?"
"Stage names?" Diego inquired.
"What are you? Novices?" She asked, seemingly enraged by his question.
"No. Of course not!" De Soto uttered. "I am Don Ignacio De Soto. At your orders, Senora."
"Don Diego de la Vega!" The tall caballero continued, smiling in an attempt to appease her. "And these are…"
"Victoria Escalante."
"Don Alejandro de la Vega."
"Sergeant Jaime Mendoza."
The rest of them introduced themselves, waiting expectantly for the woman to clarify what exactly they were expected to do.
"Method actors, are you? Hmm!" The woman said. "Very well… I'll fill in the forms after your audition. I suppose you'd like to go in together… not sure they will like that, but I'll ask. Wait here!"
As she disappeared through a different door, the five Los Angelinos headed for the chairs and sat down.
"What is an audition?" Victoria inquired.
"I'm not very certain. We did use a similar word for when we decided who'd play which role in our theatre days, but I doubt it is the same." Diego answered.
"We don't have time to act in a play, Son!" His father pointed out.
"At least we're safe here." He answered. "Besides, perhaps we can find the answers we need here… Who knows?"
"Alright! They agreed to see you all together. You may enter!" The woman's voice was heard as she half-exited the door behind which she had previously disappeared.
They all stood up and headed that way, Diego first, followed by Victoria, his father, De Soto, and Mendoza.
"Careful, Son! We don't know what's in there!" Don Alejandro muttered as he reached to open the door.
The tall caballero glanced back and nodded, then carefully turned the doorknob, wondering at its mechanism. There was another room behind the door and, glancing around, he saw four people standing at a table, looking bored.
Assessing that they were neither armed nor dangerous, he entered, and his companions followed.
"Hello! Don't be shy!" A lady in her thirties encouraged them at seeing they were hesitating. "Now, what part of the script will you read for us?"
"What part?" Diego asked.
"Yes." She answered, seeming a little distracted. "You do have the script, don't you?"
"I believe this is a last-minute audition. I told Mary this very morning that we were at an impasse to find out mains, and in quite a hurry due to the filming schedule, and she promised me some good candidates. But I doubt they had enough time to prepare." A man to her right whispered just loud enough to be overheard by everyone in the room.
"I see. That explains why we don't have their pictures and information on previous work they've done…"
"The one in the middle is Henry Darrow. He played Don Diego in Disney's Zorro and Son. Not sure you remember the show. They canceled it after five episodes… I thought he was busy on another project, though…" Another of her companions answered.
"I see… Sarah, do find them some scripts so that we may start. We've had a long day and we all want to get home…" The woman said. "While we wait for the scripts," she then addressed the group, "we can tell you a little bit about the TV show if you want…"
They nodded, rather puzzled. "What is a TV show?" Mendoza asked.
"They're method actors, Jane." Sarah uttered before exiting.
"Oh! I should have guessed. They even dressed the part." The other woman said. "Well, then, you know what this show is about since you did decide to wear those costumes, so, while we wait, why don't we start instead with you telling us a bit about yourselves?" Jane suggested.