Charlotte's Law

"You Will Die."

Camden entered the office after he heard a grunt from inside, letting him know it was okay to enter.

Kenn waited at his desk, fiddling with his fingers fretfully and drawing his eyebrows together in a frown. Camden cleared his throat to get Kenn's attention and waited. Kenn finally sighed and looked up at Camden.

"Did you lock the door?" he asked.

"Yeah," Camden responded, his voice a touch shaky from nerves. "You 'aven't shaved."

"I haven't the time for such tedious tasks right now," Kenn waved it off in exasperation. "Here, take the ring. Save my brother. Just convince her that she shan't hang herself."

Camden bit his lip as Kenn searched his desk for the ring. He grew frantic, throwing papers around and searching through drawers in an attempt to find the missing ring, which actually sat on Camden's right middle finger.

"I 'ave it, Kenn," he admitted, holding his hand up. Kenn looked up suspiciously, but shook his head and nodded. He grabbed the clothes he'd set aside and shoved them at Camden.

"Well, take them!" Kenn demanded when Camden didn't take the clothes.

"I won't be goin' back in time t'day, Kenn," Camden said sadly. Kenn's face fell and he furrowed his brows, trying to piece together what Camden had suggested by refusing.

"I've done all the calculations," Kenn protested. "You'll be fine. You already agreed! You can't go back on your word! Have you no integrity?"

"I got plenty o' intergrity," Camden shrugged, stumbling over the word "integrity". "I've already gone back in time."

"So Charlotte's alive, then?" Kenn asked excitedly, a smile stretching across his face. Camden shook his head sadly.

"No," he replied. "I 'ad to fix it all back th' way it was. We really messed up the timeline, Kenn. I 'ad to change it all back. I- I 'ad to stop meself from savin' 'er."

"You're a murderer," Kenn seethed, his eyes flashing with pure anger. "You're a cheat! You should be dead! You don't deserve to be alive! You killed her! My poor brother; you killed my brother. She deserves to live! She's pure! She's perfect! You're scum, a puss sack on the face of the Earth! Get out of my sight!"

"Kenn, would ya let me explain meself?" Camden asked, exasperatedly running a hand through his hair.

"No!" Kenn screamed, brushing everything off his desk with one angered sweep of his arm. His books and papers clattered to the floor loudly, making Camden wince and involuntarily take a step back. "You were such a waste of time! Three weeks! Three weeks of training! I poured my life story into you! I trusted you! You're a disappointment! You're a freak, a putrid ball of wasted flesh!"

"Kenn, ya don't understand," Camden insisted, his voice considerably quieter. "She- she wanted me to. She asked me to fix it. She had one last message for ya. She told me to tell ya that she loves ya and she knew what she was doin' and she did many great fings by doin' it. She said she's proud o' ya and she would never ask ya to change anyfin'. You've saved so many lives. She said don't give that up for 'er. She loves ya, Rodney. Ya know it."

A sudden flash of pain seared across Camden's face and he stumbled backward, slamming into a wall and sliding to the floor. He clutched his face in shock, tenderly nursing his split lip and bleeding cheek. He felt over his face and found that his eyebrow was cut open, his lip was swollen and cracked, his cheek was bleeding and hot, and his eye was starting to swell up.

He hadn't even seen it coming. He looked up at the man standing over him. Kenn held a thick, hard leather-bound text book in his right hand, and Camden knew that was what had hit him. Kenn looked horrified at what he'd done, but his jaw clenched and his face settled into a frustrated mask of calm.