Chapter 3

Before I start, I just want to tell you that this is a Time Kid fanfic.

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He could've been the luckiest man with Lady Luck; his mind suddenly hallucinated, falling down like a bouquet of red confetti hailed in a grass clearing. He was a man in his 30's; he should be one by now. She was the perfect woman for him, a man with brownish-ash hair, a killer smile, a worked-up body, and his perfect build! She had a blonde-brown hair, smooth skin texture, a white complexion, her businesswoman uniform accentuating her hips, her contra-killer smile, and a kind personality. It's like a game of love, matchmaker perhaps, until the hallucination came to an end.

"Marcus, Marcus!" said Therese, rapidly slapping his face, he felt that he was left out by time,

"Oww, ow! What do you think you're doing?" Anger and pain painted his cheek red and rapid slaps from her.

"I was trying to take you away from you and your devilish delirium! And what I get is reprimanding from you?"

"Oh, the mall. Sorry, I give your word to reimburse you by taking you to the supreme mall yet! The Fort Knox!" He addressed the sky with a huge shout heard from the neighborhood in the building, that is. And so, they discussed as they trotted the 19th floor staircase and into the elevator,

"The renowned Fort Knox?"

"No, the other Fort Knox. It's just 127 blocks away from here, but it's worth our while." said Marcus suggestively just the approximate time that the door opened,

"Hey, is this the lobby entrance or the kitchen?" asked Therese, her eyes browsing the gallery of paintings and a buffet of food, then it began to rain heavily,

"Whoa, no time for eating. This is the lobby and dining hall, both functions as one. Oh, there's my beloved Porsche 911 Turbo!" He darted out the glass doors and knocked open the driver's door,

"Wait for me!" She followed Marcus outside, slipping in the way, Marcus exited the door and he tried to stop her from sliding so he got bumped and knocked down, caught red handed, kissing her accidentally. He immediately stood up and broke away from the kiss, averting his eyes off her,

"I didn't mean it." He felt a light blush elucidate his face as he walked away from her and into the car, he was really the luckiest man alive, he couldn't believe that Therese would take away his virginity, stupid coincidence, she entered the front passenger car door,

"Coincidence again, sorry about that." said Therese reflectively, trying to set aside what had happened just a second awhile ago, people were looking at them and found them both dripping wet, the downpour was too continuous for the windshield wiper to cleanse,

"I stand corrected." stated Marcus embarrassingly,

"About what?"

"About the coincidence matter. That was so humiliating, but let's just not talk about it shall we?"

"Sure, anytime." She turned on the air conditioner to dry their clothes but in exchange, drop their thermostat. The time they reached the mall, when Marcus opened the door, his hands were freezing blue, and the car door was icy with fog emphasizing the ice,

"N-n-n-n-ext t-t-time, d-d-d-don't se-se-set i-i-it to lo-lo-low... F-for heave-heaven's s-s-s-s-sake..." He tried to fix his tuxedo, shook it and broke the ice that had frozen it.

"S-s-sure... I-I-I'd-d ne-ne-never d-d-do tha-th-tat ag-ga-gain." said Therese, lips trembling and disabling her to speak properly. Then the temperature rose as a car very hot drove by them, and the time the car fully passed, they were dry already,

"Wow, that's what I call 'quick remedy'!" Therese tittered, bonking his shoulder, and for the first time, Marcus put his hands on her shoulder and grabbed her closer. Now dazed, she too started to feel a blush in her cheeks, which was still quite iced is now thawed,

"Don't even think of wondering around, I see dangerous people." said Marcus, as he moved her closer protectively, she missed the small beam thump his face when he averted his eyes; she contemplated, searching for something weird in him. The only thing peculiar is somewhere nobody notices, in his psyche. He was gratuitously tickled pink, which explains that his hypothalamus just gathered a deep-seated feeling called 'love' from a stimulus,

"Maybe nothing's wrong with him." She whispered, and Marcus stared at her, who was talking to herself,

"Anything wrong, Therese?" interrogated Marcus,

"No, nothing. Just talking to myself, it happens." reiterated Therese, which triggered silence between them.

Marcus said, breaking the silence, "You just shuddered, didn't you? Well, whatever you say. I'm just here to believe or doubt." He closed in his face to hers, seeing the slight blush spread in her cheeks. Twisted thoughts started to bewilder him, thoughts of what might be in her mind about him, she might think that he's just another mediocre guy and not-a-good kisser. He scowled gradually, making other people fix their eyes at him and wonder. Soon, they arrived at this clothing joint at the mall. They canvassed through the vast, hung clothes. Therese got two new nightgowns, lavender and a sultry red one. Marcus just paid, who wanted to look like a gentleman. They entered a brasserie a story higher than the clothing joint, coffee spilled on Marcus' lap. A huge food fight occurred which caused all the customers to clean the whole place. And by the time they finished, it was 10:28 in the clock's watch.

"Oh, that was the greatest food fight ever in my life!" Therese yelled joyfully, who was rubbing tissue paper in her face and gradually, she nuzzled her head in his shoulder. He in the other hand, wrapped his arm around her, gleaming past the open parking lot. Only a motorcycle and a bus was left hanging around,

"10:28, exactly the time of the queen's kidnapping." Exactly after he finished speaking, they heard a scream at the department shop. A huge branch of the mall, there was another kidnapping going on!

"Stay here." He darted off the staircase, falling in the podium top of the stage just a floor beneath since the sound resonated from below. He pushed the chairs aside, spiraled himself around the pole, changing his direction and flung himself to the kidnapper. But the kidnapper's image flickered,

"Hologram, advanced technology. I can use this." He got the transmitter and wired it to his notebook, trying to locate the kidnapper. When the loading screen reached 100, it was shown that the kidnapper was nowhere to be seen. He dashed outside and instantly stippled the kidnapper boarding his motorcycle. He switched on the hologram and recorded his image and pointed it at the motorcycle's path. The kidnapper backed off and reversed the vehicle, which was already late since Marcus was in his back. The crowd exited the exit door and saw Marcus showing his badge and handcuffing him. They applauded loudly, Marcus turned around and saw the people cheering and whistling. Therese slowly approached him and gently spoke,

"You're such a hero, Marc." She hugged him tight, but then... Marcus fell to his knees and started to bleed,

"Marcus! You're bleeding!" Blood covered his shoulder and stomach, and then the people suddenly put their hands in their mouth and some turned around.

"I'm okay... don't worr-" He squirted out blood from his mouth and fainted before he could even finish.

"No, Marcus. Wake up! Don't die on us! You can't leave just yet! You still have a case to work out!"

His eyes blinked faintly the last time before his eyes shut tight. Before she even knew it, rain hailed down her teary eyes, weaving together her grief and sorrow.

The next day after the unexpected incident,

7:30 AM...

"Uhnn..." He opened his eyes groggily, still blurred by yesterday's incident. Marcus glanced at the tranquil room, there was a dextrose stand on the side of his bed, a woman that resembled someone he knew... it wasn't Therese, she had a certain brown but prominently gold hair that sparkled if there was only light and to be complimented by her fair complexion.

"Where am I?" Then, the woman slowly unfastened her eyes, rubbing sleep off her eyes.

"Marcus, you're awake!" She hugged him as if it would be the last she'd ever pull off on him.

Marcus' eyes started to clear out, the blur subsided as he mentioned her name in a slow manner.

"Is that... you, Rissa? I'm sorry, I mean your highness?"

"Oh shush. Don't call me such majestic names, just call by my name. Besides, I'm just about to be crowned. Edmund is busy in his duties right now. I heard you got shot by a kidnapper yesterday, and also the kidnapping of the queen a week before that." She changed the direction of her eyes down the marble floor,

"Anyone could've been hurt if I didn't try," He said, fixing his position up the bed's headrest,

"But-"

"It's not your fault; Clarissa. It was the right thing for me to do anyways." He giggled lowly, registering a feeling of remembering all their happy days when they were juvenile; they were close friends until they were college. It would've been still great if Prince Edmund didn't take her away, he would've asked her hand in marriage a long, long time ago by now. He just let her slip away, letting go all the memories spent but yet, wasted... Therese opened the door slightly ajar, peeking and listening from the other side of the door with a bouquet of roses on a vase and a wicker basket of fruits,

"You know, Marcus. I and my husband aren't really that close, I've been waiting for 19 years for me to see you again." She stated, releasing an exasperated sigh, changing the grievous frown into a charming smile,

"Yeah, I kind of, sort of do too." Before it even came to his senses, he had already been kissing her for 2 seconds! The vase holding the bouquet broke and the wicker basket fell from her grip, she walked away with tears streaming down her face, trickling down her chin and dropping into the cold hospital floor. It wasn't a cliché of love, but rather a coerced passion, she wouldn't last long enough to stand someone whom she cared about the other day now taken by a higher, more decent lady. Marcus broke the kiss and immediately pulled the dextrose needle off his skin, opening the door fully to see the roses untangled from the string, the fruits soaking wet from the water inside the vase, and the clothes he bought for her yesterday,

"Therese... what happened?" His eyes went wide in despair just after Clarissa opened the door, looking sympathetically,

"You should go look for him or her." She ordered and she knew that she means much more to him than her, she beamed and went down the elevator,

"It's her, she might get kidnapped or worse..." He laid his hands on his face showing the apathy he just felt, that was meant for no one but himself. He bolted out the other elevator door, quickly putting on his clothes and getting the car alarm, signaling that the door lock is now open. He drove past the empty, unfazed streets to search for one who had been lost.

"What did I do wrong? Wherever you are, I'm coming." He muttered as he had a momentary dementia, he was suffering from an unknown-to-him symptom. He didn't realize that the closer he gets to "saving" her, the more he loses memory.

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The connection of this fanfic is the Disney Channel movie Time Kid; you'll see the connection later.