"Sometimes, there is no point in trying again, expecting a different result, when you give it your best to solve the same things in the same manner as before."- Hillary Wolf
The two walked towards Elton High and went through the library, straight to Elton University. There, they waited for Jude to arrive and help them out.
„Does it hurt a lot?", Sylas asked as he took her bandaged hand into his own.
„It's fine, I don't know why you're making such a big fuss about this. You know I have great tolerance to pain."
„Ah, so you don't mind? How interesting. Because I remember you screaming like a banshee when Tim stepped on your foot last year. Was that also ‚fine,' or are you just embarrassed to admit it hurts in front of me?"
„Why did you feel the need to remind me of that? It was an accident, and of course I screamed, it hurt!"
„Well, you're the one who claims to have a high pain tolerance. I just thought it was amusing how you were screaming from a little foot injury and yet you're acting tough now with a serious wound."
Vivien stepped on his foot, which made Sylas yelp.
„Was that really necessary?", he asked.
„Would you look at that? You also made a sound when I stepped on your foot. Does that indicate you have a low pain tolerance?"
„That's different," he protested."It's unexpected when someone suddenly stomps on your foot. Anyone would have reacted the same way."
„Exactly, anyone would have reacted the same way. That's the conclusion I wanted us to get to."
„Well, fine, I'll give you that one," he conceded with a reluctant sigh. „But my pain tolerance is still significantly higher than yours, you've got to admit that."
„I don't agree."
„Oh? You disagree? Then what do you call screaming bloody murder over Tim's foot when I've taken worse and walked it off like nothing?"
„HE ALMOST BROKE MY TOES! It was justified, it hurt a lot! I don't know what you had to go through, but there was definitely a difference! I was also able to walk off my pain!"
„Ahhh! So that's it! You were worried about your pretty little toes? Should I have Tim apologize to them?"
„Yes! Bring him here so that he can apologize to my poor toes he hurt ONE year ago. This is stupid! Do you realize how stupid it sounds?"
Sylas laughed, genuinely amused by how worked up she was over this. He almost forgot about his own foot pain for a moment.
„Sure, sure, I'll just call him, and he'll come running right over to kiss your toes. Sound good?"
He held up his cellphone, already scrolling through his contacts for Tim's number.
„Ew, no toe kissing! That's disgusting. You're not funny, you know that?"
„You wound me. And after I was being so... kind today as well. I even went to the trouble to be concerned over your wound, and all I get is this abuse?"
„You didn't have to. You care too much."
„And you don't care enough. You act like it's nothing when you get hurt. Like it doesn't matter. But it matters to me."
He took her bandaged hand in his again, holding it as if he was trying to heal her pain. But he did not have that superpower.
„This matters to me. You matter. Maybe not to yourself, but to me. So when you act like it's nothing, it pisses me off."
„Sorry..."
„Don't apologize, sweetheart."
After a bit of a longer wait, time which allowed them to keep chatting, Jude finally arrived at the scene. He panted slightly from having ran to them.
„We have to go to Sylas' college dorm. Follow me."
The two went after Jude and noticed all the dormitory rooms of the college. Multiple people were walking by, oblivious to their problems.
They followed Jude until arriving to their location. College dorm number 56 was right in front of them. Luckily, Sylas from the future was not in his room.
The space was just as messy as she remembered a few months ago when she first came here. Sylas from the future was telling her about his problems, and all she could do was listen and hope things would get better for him.
She wanted things to change, not just for him, but for other people hurting. For herself, too.
„You can use your device here. I don't recommend you both use it at the same time. One of you could get stuck in the future or past with no way back to our present.", Jude said.
„I will give two to you, Sylas.", Vivien shared a couple of her time altering devices with him.
„Two of them? How generous."
„Move fast. I will keep watch if Sylas comes back to his room."
Jude stepped outside the college dorm, leaving the pair to work. Vivien set the time backwards to understand why her from the future was not in the same university anymore. She wanted to travel from 2029 to 2028, going back one year in time.
„Ready, Viv? On three. One...two...three."
Both of them pressed on the button on the right and were teleported to the year they wanted to get to. The girl closed her eyes, waiting.
When opening her eyes, she saw herself and Sylas from the future. They were both lying down on the bed, next to each other, laughing. Everything looked to be great for them.
It didn't seem like the two from the future could see her, so she came closer. They looked very happy together, but the girl couldn't quite clearly hear them talk. Their words were muffled, like listening from underwater.
Vivien from the future shoved a book in Sylas' face, just then. The boy began to laugh uncontrollably.
It didn't seem like she could interfere in any way. So, all she did was try to use her device once again. It brought her a few months forward into time.
Sylas was alone, still lying down in the same bed. He was reading through a book, the same book that was given by herself from the future which she had shoved in his face.
Vivien used her device once again, slowly making time move faster. She saw herself and Sylas strolling around the room very fast, as time was moving just as quickly. Eventually, she noticed that she had stopped coming to his room. Only he was left in the same space. So she stopped time from moving forward faster, taking away her finger from the device.
Next, she made time move backwards again, eventually stopping it exactly when she noticed herself from the future arguing with Sylas. That was the moment she wanted to change. That was what caused their relationship to collapse, and what caused Sylas from the future to be sad and lonely. Vivien tried to interfere.
She used up her purple magic, trying to touch herself from the future, thinking something would happen, but it didn't work. The device was slowly beginning to break and fade away, too.
A purple strand of light escaped from her right hand. The light started to form letters on the ground. She looked down at them with sudden interest.
„You can't change this. Go back. I can't help you.", was written in purple on the floor.
She listened in on their argument that was happening right in front of her. She tried to reach for herself, but she couldn't touch Vivien from the future. She was invisible in this timeline.
„Why did you come to the future? You're like a ghost here.", the magic wrote on the floor. The letters slowly faded away.
Vivien ignored the magic's words and used up her second and last device. If she used up all the trips she had left, which were five to be exact, she would get stuck being invisible, in the future. That would be an absolute nightmare to have to deal with.
But she kept altering time. She went back to the moments her and Sylas in the future were laughing together once again. She watched them both, and it made her eyes swell up with tears knowing what would happen. That she'd leave him by himself after having an argument, and that he'd end up drinking and not taking care of himself anymore. After their quarrel, Vivien would leave her dream college and go missing, nobody hearing from her ever again.
„I can't help you. What did you do this for?", the magic was trying to share to her, but the girl didn't want to accept it.
„Can't help, or you don't want to help?", Vivien asked.
She waited slowly for the words to appear on the floor.
„I wish I could have done something. Forgive me.", were the magic's last words written on the floor as the purple strands disippated into thin air.
Vivien watched herself and Sylas from the future chatting casually and chuckling. Nothing she did would help their situation, that was for certain. Now, she'd realized it.
Nobody else except them were there. Nobody from this future saw her, she was like a ghost to the other people. The magic was right. Why did she go back? There was no reason to go back, nor forward.
Vivien trapped herself in search for new roads that would lead to the answers she was looking for. Only then, had she come to the realization that this wasn't needed.
She thought of her past, instead. There were a lot of actions to regret from it. A lot of pent up resentment, a lot of events that brought her down. She didn't think she'd be able to fight again. But she rose up, each time, repeteadly. She was thankful for the lessons. She was still glad to be here and to learn from her mistakes.
The girl knew that not everything was her fault. She had so many people at the time who have blamed her for her mistakes, who ignored her for how terrible they thought she was. She wasn't a bad person, she'd never meant to hurt anyone, or to ruin herself.
Nevertheless, after everything she'd seen, there was still something inside of her that made her unable to give up trying to erase the curse.
Vivien believed she would get through whatever life threw at her together with Sylas. And she hoped only the best was to come for him, too.
The girl used up one of the few trips she had left and went back to the current year they were in, 2029. She abandoned the thought of using the devices to change the future. They couldn't interfere whatsoever with anything that was occuring. They had assumed they would be able to do something, but they were proven wrong.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in the same, messy and dark room. Sylas from the present was nowhere to be found, yet. He was probably still trying to change both of their futures.
Jude was most likely still watching closely outside the door to notice if Sylas from the future would come back to his room. Since she was alone, for now, the girl decided to do something nice while waiting for present Sylas to arrive back from his time traveling trip.
She took a few moments to gather herself, then cleaned the room. She organized Sylas' clothes, threw away trash that was still left on the floor, all while moving as fast as possible to save up time and to not be caught in the act.
About twenty minutes had passed, and she was almost done cleaning up the room. She had told Sylas from the future that she'd come visit him again, someday. But she hadn't kept her promise. She felt even more disheartened by that thought, remembering his silent plea for her not to leave him again.
Vivien wrote a note to let Sylas from the future know who cleaned his room, and told him to keep clean and take care of himself.
She stuck the note on his desk and lay down on the bed. This failed attempt to break their curse of having a terrible future was not their last option. They still had something else they could try that would help them and make their future unfold well.