A/N: Hello! I'm back! Before we get into the chapter, I wanted to answer a few questions I've gotten and in case more people are wondering the same things, I just thought I'd address them here.
1: Do I have an upload schedule? Sadly, no. I wish I could be that organized, but my schedule is pretty crazy right now so I honestly just write when I can.
2: Who is Paul Christian? He's a real (minor) DC character, but he's never been in the Arrowverse before and I'm changing him somewhat to better fit this fic. I like when LoT or other Arrowverse shows adapt lesser known DC characters and, since this is an attempt at a season-long LoT story, I wanted to try doing it. I decided to use him because his story in the comics involves making a deal with Neron. If you don't know much about him, you really don't need to for this fic to make sense because I'm adapting him pretty loosely and everything about him that's relevant to the story is going to be explained at some point.
3: Not a question, but I really appreciate all the nice feedback! I know this fic has been going for a long time now, so it makes me really happy that people are still reading and staying engaged with it. Thank you so much!
"Yay!" Wolfgang shouted, clapping his hands joyfully as he followed John. "Magic! Magic!"
"Just the one trick," Constantine reminded him as he searched through his pockets for mystical items to start a spell with. "Nothing else. Got that?"
Without acknowledging the reminder, Wolfgang ran to the corner of the room and picked up a tiny violin case. He carried it to John and opened it. "Make it play itself," he told him. "Make it play itself like the harpsichord."
John paused his search and stared at the violin. "That's what you want? I was thinking something a little more rabbit-from-a-hat…"
"I want it to play itself!" Wolfgang insisted.
"Demanding, aren't you?" John muttered.
"Hey," Mona pointed out, "as magic tricks go, that sounds pretty innocuous."
John thought about it, then shrugged and replied, "Well, it's not the worst option out there." He took a pinch of the same magic dust from before and whispered an incantation over it, then sprinkled it on the violin. Instantly, the instrument rose into the air and began to move independently, played an upbeat tune as it floated just above Wolfgang's head.
Wolfgang giggled and jumped up and down. "Magic violin! It's a magic violin!"
"Well, the violin isn't technically the magic part," John pointed out, "but that's a minor point."
Mona smiled at the young boy. "Isn't that fun? Don't you love music now?"
Wolfgang grinned at her. "Yes!" He reached forward and tugged on Constantine's sleeve, then pointed with his other hand at a harp sitting at the opposite end of the room. "Do that one next!"
"Oh, no," John quickly replied. "No more magic. We said one spell. That was one. It's time for you to practice."
"But…but…" Wolfgang tried to argue.
"We did have a deal," Mona agreed.
"See?" John said. "We had a deal."
Wolfgang frowned, then suggested, "I'll practice if they practice with me."
"The instruments?" Mona asked.
"Yes. I want to play with them. Then it'll be like I'm doing magic, too."
"Aw," Mona cooed. "That's adorable."
"No," John corrected her. "No, it isn't."
"He just wants to do something magical," Mona insisted. "He's finally seeing the magic in music. It's so cute!"
"No, he's just a small child manipulating you with his cuteness. Stop falling for it."
"I'm not," Mona insisted. "I just said it was cute. I'm not saying you should actually go along with it."
"Well, that's a relief," John said dryly.
"Please!" Wolfgang begged, reaching out to pull him closer to the harp. "It would be amazing!"
"It would not," John argued. "We made one deal. We're not making another one until you've upheld your half of the first one."
Wolfgang crossed his tiny arms and pouted. "I want more magic instruments."
"We all want a lot of things," John replied. "Sometimes, you don't get them. Sorry."
Wolfgang seemed to consider his words for a moment, then asked, "What about my sister?"
"Um…" Mona said as she and Constantine exchanged confused looks. They hadn't expected that question at all.
"It's not fair that I get to see magic and she doesn't," Wolfgang pointed out.
"Oh…I'm sure she's seeing plenty of…equally surprising things," Mona assured him, unsure of how exactly to explain the situation to a six-year-old.
"How?" Wolfgang asked. "Father said she must be somewhere in the palace. Did you show her the magic trick, too?"
"Well," John started, "not really, but…ow!"
To the two Legends' shock, little Wolfgang suddenly lunged forward and stomped on Constantine's foot. Then, while Constantine was still distracted from the unexpected attack, he snatched the pouch of magic dust right out of the magician's hands.
"Hey!" John shouted, attempting to grab him. "Don't do that!"
"I'm going to find her!" he announced as he narrowly avoided the magician's hands. "I'll show her!"
"No!" Mona exclaimed. She chased after him and successfully grabbed his coat, but he wriggled out of it in seconds and bolted toward the door. John tried to shut it with his magic, but the boy snuck through the crack just in time.
"Nannerl!" they heard him call out as he ran down the corridor. "Come here! Look at this!"
"Oh no," Mona breathed. "This isn't good."
"That's an understatement," Constantine replied. "We've got a mad six-year-old running around with dangerously potent magic. If we don't stop him soon, then Mozart's career isn't going to be the only thing we need to save." He pushed past Mona, flung the doors open, then sprinted out into the hallway, calling, "Wait! Stop! That's not a toy!"
Mona waited only a second longer before chasing after John, also calling out, "Wolfgang! Wait! Oof!" She nearly tripped as her wide skirt bumped against a corner of the wall. "Stupid eighteenth century fashion," she grumbled as she regained her balance. She started running again. "Wait for me!"
"He's alive," Gary's captor repeated, as if trying to convince herself. "He's really alive. I…I can't believe it." Her dazed expression became more focused as she looked sharply at Gary with an accusing intensity that made him even more nervous than he already was. "Why didn't you tell me that Leonard Snart is alive?"
"I…um…" Gary had no idea what the safest answer to that question was. "I…don't know? I mean…who said he's alive? I didn't say that. I just misspoke. I meant to say who he 'was.' Silly, isn't it? 'Is', 'was', grammar is crazy."
The woman continued to stare him down just as intensely. "You didn't misspeak, Gary. That's the kind of mistake someone makes after a week. It's been years. Years. You're not fooling anyone." She took a step toward him and began firing questions at him in a demanding tone, "How did he survive? How long have you known he wasn't dead? Where is he now? Is he in trouble?" She noticed his hesitance to respond and clenched her fists as she shouted, "Answer me!"
"Well," Gary observed aloud, "I was not expecting that kind of escalation. I felt like we were kind of developing a rapport here…ah!"
The woman clapped her hands loudly just inches from his face, startling him. "No!" she said, pointing a finger at him as if giving a warning. "No more games. You just told me that someone very important to me is alive after the whole world believed he was dead. Explain yourself. Now."
Gary blinked, still surprised by her extreme reaction. "Okay, okay. You're right. He's alive. But if you're asking where he is right now, I honestly don't know. He could be anywhere." It wasn't a lie, technically. Gary had no idea where or when the Waverider was. However, he also wanted to avoid revealing too much about the Time Bureau and felt that the less information he gave about Snart's whereabouts, the more confidential time travel remained. That seemed especially important given the fact that he still had no idea who this person was, aside from an expert kidnapper with a strangely specific interest in Snart.
"Anywhere?" she repeated skeptically. She bent down so that her face was right in front of his. "Anywhere, huh? Well, maybe we can figure it out together. You see, I have a theory. You're clearly highly connected with the government, and you're trying to dig up dirt on Snart while keeping his location under wraps."
"It's not under wraps," Gary corrected her. "I honestly don't know it."
"Then maybe your bosses just haven't told you," she suggested. "If the government knows that he's alive and doesn't want anyone else to figure it out, they must want to keep him hidden away somewhere." She narrowed her eyes, still staring him down. "Where do they have him, Gary? Where is it? Lian Yu? Iron Heights? Arkham Asylum? Did A.R.G.U.S. put him on the Suicide Squad? Talk!"
Gary gulped, wanting very much to put at least a few more inches of space between his face and hers. "Um…well…I can say pretty confidently that he's probably not in any of those places," he answered.
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Liar!" She straightened up and turned her back to him, walking a few paces before stopping in place. "If he's been okay this whole time," she said, her voice a little shakier, "he wouldn't have let me go this long without sending a message. He might have left me in the dark for a few days, or a week, or maybe even a month if stuff was really that crazy, but not for all these years. He's either locked up or in serious danger. There's no other explanation."
"Eh…I feel like you might be jumping to some conclusions there," Gary said. "Maybe he just...couldn't reach you during that time for...uh...some reason."
The woman spun around to face him and crossed her arms. "Fine. You want me to believe he's okay? Then tell me where he is, what he's doing, and who else knows he's alive."
Gary shook his head. "Well, I can't possibly tell you all of that." He saw her scowl grow colder and stammered, "But…but wait a minute. Wait just one minute. You're asking me for all this information and telling me nothing about yourself. Don't you think that's a little unfair?"
"Not as unfair as refusing to tell me where Leonard Snart is after letting me believe he was dead for so long," she retorted.
"I assure you, I had nothing to do with his disappearance," Gary said. "Or fake death. Or whatever you want to call it. And I certainly had nothing to do with what you did or didn't know, or how long you did or didn't know it."
"Doesn't matter. You've got something to do with it now." She stepped forward until she was only inches in front of him, towering over him as she glowered intimidatingly. "If he's locked up somewhere, I need to know. If he's not, I still need to know. As long as he's alive and somewhere out there, I need to know." She bent down and glared directly into Gary's eyes. "So, tell me now: where is Leonard Snart?"
"I can't believe I get to introduce you to Star Wars," Ray said gleefully as he pulled a chair over in front of Gideon's nearest screen for Nannerl to sit on. Nate smiled approvingly beside him while Zari observed from a few feet away. Nannerl took her seat as he continued, "These movies literally changed my life. I would probably be a totally different person today without them."
"You're really lucky Snart isn't here to respond to that," Zari pointed out.
"Well, he's not," Ray responded. "It's just us, and we are about to blow this girl's mind." He noticed Nannerl's eyes widen in shock and added, "But, uh, not literally. It's a figure of speech."
"But first," Nate said, jumping into the conversation, "I get to explain how movies work."
Nannerl looked at him curiously. "Yes, that's what he said. Movie. What is that?"
"What who said?" Zari asked, taking a step closer to the group.
"The boy at the arcade," Nannerl answered. "He asked if I wanted to see Star Wars."
Zari crossed her arms and smirked. "A boy asked you to see a movie, huh? Aren't you a little young for that?"
"What?" Nannerl asked, looking at her with confusion.
"Doesn't matter. I was joking." She gestured toward Nate. "Floor's all yours, babe."
"Oh yeah," Nate said, pumping his fist excitedly. "You know I always love an excuse to explain history." He turned his attention to Nannerl and began, "So…you know pictures?"
Nannerl seemed confused by the simplicity of the question. "Um…yes?"
"Well," he continued, "imagine if you make a bunch of pictures and put one after the other – I mean really fast, like one, two, three, four, bang, bang, bang," he said, snapping his fingers on each word to emphasize the speed, "you can make it look like they're moving. Does that make sense?"
Nannerl shook her head. "I'm not sure."
"Okay. That's fine. How else do I explain this?" He thought carefully for a moment, then continued, "You know those video games you were playing? They had little people and images moving around on the screen, right? So, it's like that, but with an actual story, and script, and cameras…wait, let me explain cameras first." He spoke quickly, excited to share historical information. "People are going to figure out a way to take pictures faster by inventing a camera, which processes images by using light instead of painting or drawing. So, instead of sitting forever waiting for your portrait to get painted, you can just click a button and have a photo." He took a breath, then continued, "So, after a while, they figure out a way to take pictures with a camera, except instead of capturing one moment, it captures a longer period of time by putting those multiple pictures one after the other on film. They also figure out a way to record sound at the same time, not just images. And what you end up with is a whole story – kind of like a play – except it's told by moving pictures on a screen instead of people on a stage. Kind of like what you saw on the video games, except a lot more complex. And you can watch them in theaters, or at home, or anywhere you want." He paused, then quickly added, "Of course, they also now have the ability to do all of that digitally instead of on film. And animation is another process, too. Really, it would take days to explain all the steps of the development of the modern movie industry. The history of special effects alone could be its own lesson entirely…"
"Nate?" Zari said, interrupting his ramblings. "I think you lost her."
"I did?" Nate looked down at Nannerl's face. She seemed completely lost. "I guess I did. Which part was confusing?"
"Um…I think it was all of it," Nannerl answered honestly.
"Oh." Nate's face fell. "Sorry. I get a little carried away."
"That's all right," Nannerl said with a smile. "If you just show me, I can find out." She looked around for a clock, didn't see one, then asked Nate, "Do you know what time it is?"
Nate was surprised by the question. "I don't know. Hey, Gideon?"
"It is now three-fifty-two in the afternoon," Gideon answered.
"Thanks, Gideon," Nate said. He looked back down at Nannerl. "Why did you want to know?"
"That boy said he wanted to see the movie at four-thirty," Nannerl said.
Ray shook his head. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but unless things get a lot better really fast, you're still going to be on this ship at four-thirty." He grinned cheerfully and gestured toward the screen. "But that's okay! You can watch Star Wars here! With us! We're fun, right?"
"Of course we are," Nate answered before Nannerl could. "Let's get that movie going, bro."
"Gideon?" Ray asked loudly, directing his voice at the ceiling. "Play Star Wars, Episode Four: A New Hope." As the screen began to activate, he added to his audience, "Technically, it's episode four because of the prequels that were made decades later, but it was actually the first one they made, so if you're going to start watching them, you have to start with this one. There's just no other acceptable order."
"Shh," Zari said, placing a finger over her lips. "It's starting. Let her enjoy it."
The three adults grabbed chairs and sat down, ready to watch the movie. It opened on a dark screen. Ray leaned over toward Nannerl and whispered, "Just wait until you hear the opening theme, it literally gives me chills every time."
Music began to play, and words scrolled across the screen. Nannerl gasped. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as she tried to read each word before it became too small in the distance.
Ray, however, wasn't smiling. "Wait…wait a second," he said, his brow furrowing. "That's not how it goes."
"Not how what goes?" Nannerl asked.
"Holy crap, you're right," Nate agreed. "The music is different."
"Why's it doing that?" Zari asked. "Did Gideon switch the audio?"
"I did not, Miss Tomaz," Gideon answered.
Ray pointed at the screen. "Gideon," he said sternly, "pause the movie." Gideon obeyed. "Now restart it from the beginning."
Once again, the dark screen opened, words scrolled, and music played. However, it was not the right music. While certainly enjoyable, it was not the famous fanfare associated with Star Wars.
"Gideon, pause," Ray ordered. He jumped to his feet as the screen froze. "Something in the timeline messed with Star Wars," he announced. "Or John Williams. Or George Lucas, again. That's definitely not the opening theme I remember, and believe me, I remember it."
"But what could it be?" Zari asked. "That theme's pretty iconic. It's probably one of the most famous movie soundtracks ever. Something big must have happened to change music history that much."
A lightbulb went off in Nate's head. "Guys!" he shouted. "Guys, I've got it!" He, too, jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. "Whoa…my bad. But guys!" He waved his hands excitedly as he pieced the situation together. "It's not John Williams. It's her!" He pointed down at Nannerl, who seemed very confused by everything.
"Me?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows. "I…I didn't do anything."
"No, you didn't," Nate agreed reassuringly. "You're doing great. Nothing wrong with you." He looked back up at his teammates. "No piece of music exists in a total vacuum. No matter how original an artist may be, they are always at least somewhat influenced by their predecessors. And who's one of the most influential classical musicians of all time?"
Zari and Ray exchanged looks, simultaneously understanding what Nate was saying. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," they said in unison.
Nannerl balked, then laughed. "Sorry, but…my brother? The most influential in the world? He's quite impressive for his age, of course, but he's only a child."
"He's only a child now," Nate explained. "But in the future, he's going to be huge."
"Unless an interference in his life prevents him from becoming huge," Ray said, connecting the dots.
"Like one of the things driving him to become a musician suddenly going missing," Nate said. "Nannerl is the older sibling. She started learning first. Wolfgang followed in her footsteps. Without her in the timeline during Wolfgang's first big tour…"
"…his career is derailed and classical music changes forever," Zari said, finishing his sentence.
"And the ripple effect goes all the way down to John Williams," Ray added. He sighed sadly. "Wow. I can't believe we really ruined Star Wars."
"We didn't ruin it," Nate assured him. "It's starting to solidify, but if we act quickly, we can still fix it. Right, Z?"
"Right," Zari agreed, "but we still don't have the jump ship."
"Can the Waverider take the time jump?" Ray asked.
"Possibly," she answered. "Normally, I'd let Gideon rest a minute after going through so many updates in a row, but it might be fine to go ahead with it. I'll head to the engine room just to make sure." She hurried out of the lab.
"Whether we can take the jump or not, we need to tell Sara," Nate pointed out to Ray. "Now that we have a real, solidifying aberration on our hands, the stakes are way higher."
"Exactly," Ray agreed. "Do you know where she is? I think she was with Snart, but I'm not sure where they went."
"We'll have to look for them," Nate said. "And the others, too, wherever they are. You go left and I'll go right." The two of them headed toward the door.
Nannerl turned around in her chair and called after them. "What's going on? Why do we need to look for them?"
The Time Bros stopped in their tracks. Ray turned around and responded, "Just…just stay here. We'll be back in a second. We just need to take care of something."
"But–"
"Just hang tight, okay?" Nate said. "Enjoy the movie and don't worry about this. Gideon, play the movie." The screen came to life again as the two men quickly exited the room.
"Nannerl!" Wolfgang called as he sprinted through the corridors of the palace. "Come out wherever you are! I have something to show you!"
The boy pushed his way through a large door and let it swing behind him, smacking John in the face as he attempted to catch him. "Ow! Bollocks!" John exclaimed. He stumbled back into Mona, who had finally caught up with him. "Watch it," he grumbled.
"Sorry!" she said. She held out her hand to catch the door and pushed it open, allowing both of them inside the room. "Wolfgang?" she said as they entered. "Will you just listen to us for a minute?"
Wolfgang stood in the center of the room. It was a fairly large room. Along the surrounding walls were paintings, sculptures, and ornate mirrors. A shining chandelier hung from the ceiling. There were two windows facing the palace gardens on the far end of the room. Most unique, however, was the glass case displaying multiple highly valuable instruments including several horns, a flute, a small drum, a violin, and a guitar. They appeared to be part of a collection, and the elaborate designs carved into them indicated that they were more for decorative use than anything practical. Wolfgang looked at the glass case and grinned wide. "Perfect," he said.
John took a step forward, trying not to startle him. "Now, now," he said calmly. "That's not what that's for. Let's not rush into this."
Mona also took a step forward and lean in toward John. "He can't, like, actually do magic with that, right?"
"Eh…yes and no," John whispered back. "That dust is powerful stuff. Incantations give it directions and control it, but the power is still there without any magic words."
"So, if he tries to use it without controlling it…" Mona mused.
"We're in trouble," John finished for her. He inched a little closer to Wolfgang. "Why don't we have a little chat, eh? You don't need to do anything rash…"
"What about your sister?" Mona asked, trying to help as she followed John's lead. "You don't know where she is yet. You can't show her something if she isn't here." She made eye contact with John for a second, received an approving look, then continued, "I think we just need to calm down and relax. Do you want to take a break? Let's take a break. That could be a nice thing to do."
Wolfgang turned halfway around, just enough to partially face them. "Nannerl loves music," he said, explaining his six-year-old logic. "If she hears some, maybe she'll come back."
"Or," Mona said, taking another cautious step forward, "maybe we can let the grownups keep looking for her and give the magic man his stuff back."
John inched a little closer. "Exactly, love." He held out his hand to Wolfgang, who seemed to hesitate as he decided his next action. He reached a little farther, almost close enough to take the pouch from Wolfgang's hands. "Yeah…yeah, there it is. No need to do anything drastic, lad. Just let me take that off your hands for you. Everything's going to be fine, okay?"
Wolfgang looked up at John's face, hesitated one more moment, then bolted toward the case, opening the pouch as he ran. "Magic instruments!" he shouted as the threw a handful of magic dust at the case. "Go! Play!"
"No!" Constantine and Mona exclaimed at the same time.
"That's way too much!" John added on his own, seeing the dust fill the air around them.
The wild, uncontrolled dust expanded and hit nearly every object in the room. The chandelier started spinning. Paintings floated off the walls. Mirrors warped into unnatural shapes. The floor shook. The windows flung themselves open, as did the doors on the glass case. All the instruments flew out of it and into the air, each one beginning to play a totally different tune completely on its own.
While John and Mona fell to the ground as a result of the shaking, Wolfgang somehow managed to stay on his feet. He clapped his hands gleefully. The flying instruments began to dance around above his head in an extremely disorganized manner until, as if seeking more space to explore, they began to slowly float toward the open windows. Wolfgang followed them, reaching out to grab a tree branch just inches outside the closest window. He swung himself out onto it and called out as if the instruments could hear him, "Find her! She must be out here!" He laughed, then climbed down the tree and into the garden just as the final instrument floated out into the open air to join the others.
John scrambled to his feet and bellowed a series of quick magic words at every aspect of the room that was in an abnormal state. Once everything around them returned to how it had been before, he ran to the window and looked out. He could see the flying instruments forming a line as they bounced through the wind, making a cacophonous, mismatched sound that grew fainter as they moved farther away. They headed toward the maze of bushes surrounding the rose garden. John could see little Wolfgang following them excitedly until all were hidden within the bushes. John slammed his fist against the windowsill. "Bollocks! Leave it to bloody Mozart to make off with an enchanted orchestra."
Mona stood up and followed him to the window. "What do we do?" she asked. "How do we stop him?"
"The instruments will run out of steam eventually," John explained. "But that'll take too long. We have catch up and put an end to this immediately, before he spills any more of that dust." He glanced at the tree branch below the windowsill and climbed onto it, moving slowly and carefully to make sure his adult body wouldn't break it. "You coming?" he asked, glancing up at Mona.
"Um…" She looked down at her dress, then out the window. "I normally would, but I don't think this," she pointed to the tangled branches, then her wide skirt, "is a good mix."
John rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just go around and meet me in the garden." He jumped down and landed on the ground. Mona rushed away from the window to find another exit. John cupped a hand to his ear and listened until he finally caught the multiple tunes of Wolfgang's runaway band. "Aha," he muttered to himself. "There it is." He hurried toward the mass of tall bushes, following the sound of magic, uncoordinated instruments.
"Okay," Nora said, studying Gideon's holographic projection of the middle school's layout, which was hovering above the table in the library. "We don't know the exact location of the rift, but Ray and I went through the entire left side of the first floor and didn't find it. Mick, did you see any signs of it upstairs?"
"No," Mick answered, slumped in a chair on the other side of the room, barely paying any attention to the projection. "I still say we should just get it over with and punch out this new magic guy. Already too many magicians around here. We don't need another one."
Charlie rolled her eyes and leaned in toward Nora. "Ignore him, mate. We all love you."
"I wasn't talking about her," Mick clarified. "I meant Neron's evil girlfriend. But either way, I vote we forget about the rift until the magic sidekick's not a problem anymore."
"We're not taking votes, Mick," Nora replied.
"Fine," he said, crossing his arms disapprovingly. "Go ahead, then. Search every inch of a school while there's an annoying warlock running around waiting to get punched."
"Why do I get the feeling that you just want to fight somebody today?" Nora asked, turning her face toward Mick.
He shrugged. "Maybe I do."
Before the other two could respond, Ray burst into the room. "Guys!" he exclaimed, panting from running through the ship. "Guys! We have to save Star Wars!"
Nora raised her eyebrows. Mick gave him a confused look. Charlie cocked her head to the side. "You got any more context for that one, mate?" she asked.
"The music," Ray sputtered. "It's different. We changed Mozart's timeline, so we changed classical music's timeline, so now John Williams wrote a totally different score for the Star Wars soundtrack. We have to get Nannerl home if we want to change it back!"
While he explained the discovery, Nate reached the corridor closest to the bridge. He spotted Sara and Leonard walking toward him and waved both his hands in the air. "Snart! Captain! Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Geez, where's the fire?" Snart asked.
Sara was a little more interested in what he had to say. "Is something going on, Nate?"
"We found an aberration," Nate explained. "When Ray and I played the movie for Nannerl, the soundtrack was totally different. Not bad, sure, but not what it's supposed to be. We think it's because…"
"…Wolfgang's sister disappearing from the timeline affects his musical career so strongly that his legacy and influence are either completely gone or significantly changed?" Sara guessed before he could finish his sentence.
Nate paused for a second, then responded, "Well…yeah. That's about it."
Sara looked to Leonard. "Mozart's one of the most influential classical composers in the world. If his history is changed…"
"…that's a lot of music," Leonard said, completing her thought for her.
"How deep does this go?" Sara asked Nate, turning to face him again. "Is it just Star Wars, or did you find anything else that's different now?"
"We haven't checked yet," Nate answered. "We literally just caught this." He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the library, then took a step toward it, waving at the other two to follow him. "I just saw the others in the library. If we join them, we can figure this out. Come on!"
"Right behind you!" Sara called after him as he hurried away. However, before following him, she placed her hand gently on Leonard's back, causing him to look at her in response. "If he's right," Sara told him, "we have to send her home immediately."
"I know," Leonard replied.
"And you're going to be okay with putting her back in the timeline, knowing everything that you do about her future?"
Leonard shrugged. "It was going to happen eventually. She can't stay on the ship forever. And she's been wanting to go home this whole time." He added a little more quietly than the rest of his statements, "Besides, she…misses her brother."
Sara patted his back lightly, then dropped her hand. "Yes, she does." She took a few steps forward, letting him follow her toward the library. "And, apparently, so do a whole bunch of Star Wars fans."
Meanwhile, Nannerl sat quietly in the lab, staring at the movie playing in front of her. Her eyes were wide with awe. She'd never seen anything like this before. She had a million questions about how any of it was possible, but even if someone had been there for her to ask, she was too entranced by the epic science fiction story unfolding in front of her to do so. However, she did manage to break out of the fantasy galaxy for just long enough to remember something.
"Gideon?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling. "Do you know what time it is?"
"It is four-thirteen, Miss Mozart."
"Four-thirteen," she repeated to herself. She fidgeted in her seat as she mulled over what to do. They said to stay put, she thought. But they didn't say why. If all I'm doing here is watching a movie, then what's the difference if I watch it with Jake and his friends? She stood up and began to walk toward the door.
"Miss Mozart," Gideon's voice said, "I do not think it wise to leave the laboratory. Dr. Heywood and Dr. Palmer were very clear that…"
"I'll only be gone a minute," Nannerl insisted as she pressed the button that she had seen the adults use to open the door. "I swear, I won't get into any trouble. I'll be very careful."
She let the door close behind her and snuck quietly through the ship until she found her way to the cargo bay. She stepped toward the door and studied the control panel beside it. "Hm…Gideon, how does this door open?" she asked.
"I do not think that the Legends would want me to tell you that, Miss Mozart," Gideon answered. "You were instructed to remain in the laboratory."
Nannerl frowned, then studied the control panel again. There were two primary buttons. One was green. One was red. She took a guess and pressed the green one. Sure enough, the cargo bay door rolled open.
"Miss Mozart," Gideon warned. "This seems to be an unwise decision. I would strongly advise against disobeying …"
"Please don't worry about me, Gideon," Nannerl said, staring out into the parking lot. "I'll be back before you know it." She hopped out the door, her tennis shoes hitting the pavement of the parking lot for only a second before she sprinted toward the entrance to the mall.
