Time Bound (TomTord Fanfic)

-:\FIVE/:-

Tord was back in the same cell he and Tom had been originally put in. He grimaced when he heard a loud gunshot from a floor above. That couldn't be what I hope it's not.. He thought to himself. Panic takes over him as he also realizes that as far as he knows, he's stuck here now since Tom can't take him back to Matt's stupid party if he was just shot and all. He'd do anything to go back there at this point.

He shrunk away into the back of the cell, curling up and waiting for something to happen..

He'd killed Edd and Matt? They're his friends, he'd never do that! And he wouldn't threaten shooting Tom either; and he wouldn't purge an entire world. He always knew his parents were stupid to be a part of their stupid Red Army; Pat will die for it.

Oh god..

He's such a terrible son! He never listens to anything Pau or Pat says. Not even if they're trying to help him. Pat, at least in this future, died probably thinking this other Tord hated him and everything he'd done for him..

And Edd and Matt must have felt so betrayed, since they had been trying to revert this future, apparently. And then they died for doing the obvious right thing.

And now this future's Tom may be gone, too..

He didn't know this world, he was completely alone now; he couldn't even trust the Red Leader, which was himself.

Tord hadn't noticed when he'd started crying, though thinking in depth about the deaths of people closest to you kind of does that to someone.

"..Hey?" A barely audible voice says to him, startling him.

"Huh!?" He says, assuming it had to be someone else in a cell. There was a tapping on one of the cell's walls, so Tord approached it.

The voice was clearer this time as it spoke, "Why are you in here? I was put here for taking part in the rebellion against this shit head, 'Red Leader'."

"I.., I don't actually know exactly.." Tord says truthfully, sitting against the wall now, "But they took my, er, friend? down the halls awhile back.."

"He isn't coming back, kid." The voice says, "That's just how it is with the Red Army."

"Your voice sounds kind of familiar to me, and I don't know why.. who are you?" Tord questions as he realizes this.

"My name's Eduardo. You?"

Fuck. "Uhh.., Tord?" Tord says as more of a question than statement. It'd be just a bit odd if someone were to have the same name of "Tord", which he'd never heard of anyone else with the name in his life; and he can't even say it's a coincidence that he looks like, sounds like, and has the same name as Tord, the Red Leader, because they're the exact same person anyways!-

"Tord, huh? That's an unlucky name nowadays, I'd say." Eduardo comments.

"Heh.., yeah..- wait, do you know people named Mark and Jon?" He remembers that those three were friends as long as they'd known each other, and he wonders what's happened to them in this future.

"How do you know those names?" Eduardo asks suspiciously.

"Uh- because I used to know two by those names who talked about an Eduardo a lot." Tord says.

"Jon's dead; the Red Leader shot him dead at what was supposed to be a particularly death free event the Red Army was forcing everyone in that city to attend. He was killed as an example of what happens to those who don't listen to the Red Army.. and Mark was with me before I got thrown in here, so I don't know how he is right now." Eduardo recounts, sounding quite angry about it all.

"How long have you been here?"

"Oh, you know, just at least a month by now.." Eduardo grumbles.

A short silence fell between them before Tord asked what was probably a risky question, "Hey, do you know what a "pass" is? A couple of soldiers got upset when I didn't have one."

"You don't know what a pass is?" Eduardo says in disbelief, laughing, "You're kidding me, right?"

"...No?"

He sighs, "I could tell you as much as I know or as brief a summary as I can. Basically, it's very, very weird, rare, and surprising for someone to not have any kind of pass."

"Why? That wasn't very helpful."

"A pass has the name of the city you live in, and the region the city's in. And if you don't live anywhere, since that's not all that odd nowadays, it would just say the region. By working in a different city, you then have access to two or more, and the Red Army, no matter the rank, have free access everywhere whether it's for their job or not. If you show up in a place you have no pass for, or proof you work or live there, then you're taken away as a prisoner." Eduardo explains.

"Huh. Why did my friend who had been with me, and had this pass thing, get taken here too then?"

"Though it's usually done with someone who has a pass for somewhere else, rather than none at all, they call that "smuggling" or sneaking, pretty much. Basically just getting someone somewhere they shouldn't be, however the Red Army doesn't apply to this either, bastards."

"How did you not know what a pass was?" Eduardo continued.

"Uh.., I'm not from around here. At all." Tord answers.

"Where from? And why would you come into the Red Army's territory?"

"That doesn't matter, and I followed someone here." Not a complete lie overall, but not exactly the truth.

Footsteps could be heard from down the long hall, both Tord and Eduardo falling silent to see who it was and why they'd come down this far. Squinting into the darkness, Tord made out the all too familiar horn shapes of his own hair; this Red Leader guy had come back and was now standing in front of his cell.

"You..- You killed Thomas, didn't you? How could you!?" Tord yells at the Red Leader, launching himself at the bars to try and hit him. But it was to no avail, as he couldn't reach the leader.

"Shut the hell up and listen here, brat." The Red Leader says, looking Tord straight in the eye, "You can't go back to the past where you belong, and I'd just off you if it wouldn't kill my current existence. You have two options. Stay in this cell for the rest of your life, or leave the cell and never come anywhere near this place again. What'll it be, Tordy?"

Tord scowled at the nickname as he thought hard about this for a moment.