Unrequited (Prequel to IMPOSSIBLE and INFAMOUS)

Part One: When They Met

She was going to die. He knew it. There was no way she could get out of this one.

As Time watched from the safety of Nowhere, he analyzed her situation. She was surrounded. While that certainly was a disadvantage, it wasn't what signed her death sentence. She had been surrounded on a number of occasions. He had seen her wriggle her way out of tighter situations. There was a knife at her throat and one at her back, not to mention the weapons in the hands of all the other men around her. Again, though, this did not mean her demise. She had uncanny skills when it came to combat, and he had seen her take on more attackers than this.

No, what was going to kill her was the poison that the knives had been polished with. And not just any poison—Queen's Blade. It was the deadliest poison in all of Wonderland, perhaps even beyond. Even if she managed to escape with only a few scratches, she would be dead in seconds.

But she didn't know this. She had no idea about the poison. And she wouldn't until it was too late. She would only know about it when it was coursing through her veins.

She was going to die.

Time clenched his fists as he watched the scene in slow motion. This was how it had to be. He wasn't supposed to interfere. It was one of the rules. Not that he remembered ever being taught the rules. But it was one of the many "laws" that were somehow already in his head. Much like he knew how to slow and speed any moment or how he could replay any scene in history to entertain himself.

It was wrong to interfere.

She was going to die.

She had to die.

The knife at her throat drew closer and closer. The glint of the blade nearly blinded him as he pictured it adding another scar to that limber body. Except it wouldn't. It would never have the chance to become a scar. It would hardly have a chance to bleed before she was cold and dead on the ground. His chest tightened at the thought.

He shouldn't interfere.

She was going to die.

And he couldn't interfere.

She had to die.

She had to die.

She had to die.

Before he knew what he had done, he was standing in the middle of the scene he had previously only been observing. He was a stone's throw away from the crowd of men. There were so many of them that it was difficult to spot her. But then he caught movement amidst the still scene, and he couldn't help but smile when he saw the look of utter astonishment on her face. She ducked her head back and forth and waved her hand in front of their faces, trying to get some sort of response out of them. But there was nothing. Not a blink, not a snarl, not a breath. It was only when she moved to touch the tip of the blade that had been held at her throat that Time made known his presence.

"Don't touch that, you silly girl," he said as he approached. She looked up at him in surprise, but she didn't cry out or try to run. She simply watched as he moved the statuesque men. "After all that, it would be ridiculous if you still managed to kill yourself after all I did."

"Kill myself?" she repeated as she marveled at the way he tossed the men aside like discarded furniture.

"The knives. They're laced with Queen's Blade. One touch and you'll be dead before you can muster up a single tear."

Sporting a smug smile, she crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her braid over her shoulder. "I never cry, especially not over a little flesh wound."