I groaned, light filtering in from somewhere forcing me to scrunch my already closed eyes even more tightly shut.
"This is a serious problem, I don't think you fully understand the ramifications of what you are talking about here."
The voice was stern, an almost pleading tone lacing every word. I cringed, the convoluted way of speaking making it all to clear who was presently in the room with me.
I blinked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the bright room despite the cries of pain from my raging headache begging me to fall back asleep. There, standing before me, blurry at first but becoming every clearer, stood Professor Paradox.
"Ah yes," he nodded at me, acknowledging my consciousness before I was even aware who the giant blurs of color standing before me were. "Glad to see you're doing well Gwendolyn. Or rather that your past self is well, which I suppose at present is actually your present self as your self that would otherwise inhabit this time period is no longer in existence."
I rubbed my forehead, his usual ramblings only worsening my throbbing headache.
"What on Earth are you talking about?" I mumbled quietly, cringing from the pain every word caused me.
"That's just it Gwendolyn, as I've been trying to explain to these simpletons for the past hour," he gestured irately towards Ben and Kevin, who were standing behind him, frowning in response to his insult. "There is no Earth. The planet as you know it no longer exists."
I paused, trying desperately to make sense of his cryptic message.
"Come again?" I finally sighed, giving in to the fact that I required more information.
"What you have done, and what you will do, will be the deciding factor for the fate of the planet." He sighed heavily, as if exhausted from having to explain something that he thought to be obvious.
"I see," I rolled my eyes, sick of his cryptic answers. "Well in that case I wish for world peace."
His face was flat, obviously un-amused by my use of sarcasm and without missing a beat he continued on with his explanation.
"When you and Kevin were transported to the dimension you found yourself in, the jump caused a ripple effect in the space-time-continuum. The very fact that you stopped aging effectively erased all your future selves, thereby separating you both from the normal fluctuations in Earth's dimensional time. By returning to this dimension in a time different to the one from which you came, with a child no less, you have caused such severe damage to Earth's reality that your own present existence has begun collapsing in on itself."
"So what you're telling me is that because we've created ripples in the very fabric of time and reality I technically don't exist?" my voice was cracking, I could hear it as I spoke.
"That's just the beginning of the issue!" he threw his hands up, exasperated. "Because your child was conceived out of the confines of time and reality his growth rate has been highly accelerated. Normally I could correct the problem, however seeing as your body has channeled all of its power into protecting the child that option has proven to be impossible."
I found myself holding my stomach, suddenly weary of what the Professor was trying to say.
"The only option we have to correct the ripple effect is to prevent the child from being conceived in the first place, however with the power of two anodites working against this goal I found it necessary to first come to you directly in hopes that you would see reason. Something that judging by your present reaction was a naive hope indeed." He shook his head, obviously displeased with my cold expression and protective hold over my stomach.
"There has to be another way." I declared flatly, unwilling to sacrifice my child to secure my own existence. "Besides, why is it only me who's affected, what about Kevin?"
"Kevin's powers insulated him from the ripple effect, however the second you conceived the child and your own powers were suppressed the only thing keeping yourself unaffected was taken from you. Besides that I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. Assuming you have the child, you yourself will still almost surely be removed from existence. This means even in the past you would not have been an influencer in Earth's fate. All the times you saved Ben, Ben receiving the Omnitrix, everything even slightly connected to your existence would be altered causing the fate of the Earth to shift, possibly even resulting in a shift in the fate of the universe."
"But," Kevin piped up from the corner, his arms folded across his chest and a furious expression plastered on his face. "If after giving birth she no longer exists then wouldn't the child also no longer exist and this entire problem would no longer have occurred, thereby resetting reality?"
I arched my eyebrows, stunned by Kevin's grasp of time and space and his apparent solution.
"It's not that simple! As this child was born separate to time and reality it will not be affected by Gwendolyn's lack of existence. Simply put, once he or she is born, his or her existence is certain and cannot be undone."
I sighed, somehow relieved that my child was safe even if I wasn't.
"How much time do we have professor?" Ben finally spoke, his tone implying an all business attitude.
"With the rate of accelerated growth the child will be born in less than a week and Gwendolyn's existence will be entirely erased not moments after."
My breath caught in my throat, the sudden revelation of a due date not only for a life but for my own demise somewhat unsettling.
"I have a plan." Ben announced, reminding me to exhale and continue to breathe.
Professor Paradox nodded, his expression calming and his breath becoming more even as he no doubt saw a new future begin to unwind before him.
"That just might work."