Clyde's Adventures in Time Travel (WIP)

>She had finally done it
>Lisa Loud, after 13 days of hard work, had finally developed a working time machine.
>Everything was going well. Well, except the fact that she needed a guinea pig to test it.
>All of her siblings refused.
>However, for some reason, Clyde got wind of everything that was going on, and not even a day after, he was in the Loud front door, eager to volunteer himself.
>Desperate, Lisa accepted him as a volunteer.
>"Come on in, McBride." Lisa invited him to his room, given Clyde's reluctance to enter Lisa's quarters. "Prepare to be amazed."
>Lisa turned Clyde's attention to a huge cylindrical shaped object under a blanket. "Here it is, in all it's splendor!" She shouted as she pulled on the blanket.
>"The Very. First. Time Travel Machine." She said as she marveled at her own creation.
>"Is it safe?" Clyde asked."
>Lisa turned her head around and looked at him deadpan "....yes."
>"Great! So what happens now?"
>"Now you give me a moment to explain how it works. What YOU do is simple, just step up on the platform and wait for me to finish some final preparations."
>Lisa cleared her throat and continued.
>"I am going to hand you a watch. The watch, aside from its obvious function of telling the time, has a button that lets you return to this timeline at any given moment. I cannot pull you out myself, so DO NOT lose in under any circumstance."
>She reached into her pocket and handed him the watch, still in its plastic bag.
>"Don't lose the watch, got it." Clyde said as he struggled to rip the bag open.
>"I assume I do not have to tell you to not cause any paradoxes out there do I?"
>"Nope. I've watched Back to the Future 23 times. I know my stuff."
>"Alright then, step right up." She pointed to the platform while she prepared herself on the command board.
>Clyde could not contain his excitement as he jumped inside the capsule.

>"Any requests?" Lisa peaked her head over the control panel.
>"2010, my lady."
>A few beeping noises came from the panel as Lisa entered the details.
>"2010, got it. Good luck, Clyde. And thank you for your help." Lisa put her hand on the level, and slowly pushed it up, powering up the machine.
>The interior of the capsule turned blue, as an loud noise in increasing intensity took over the room. As the machine reached it's highest energy points, sparks began to shoot out of the machine. Lisa said nothing, so Clyde assumed it was normal. Or at least he hoped so.
>But then, something popped up on Lisa's mind. 2010. Lisa, looking completely focused, began to count down with her fingers. After finally figuring out what was bothering her, she let out a dissapointed sigh, and immediately shut off the machine.
>Clyde opened his eyes and saw everything around him slowly lose power. Lisa stepped out of the control panel, her hands behind her back. She looked at Clyde in displeasure.
>"What's wrong?" Clyde asked.
>"You're not going to back to twenty-ten just for the sake of it, aren't you?"
>"What do you mean?" He answered nervously.
>"My theory is that you're planning to go back 6 years because you believe that the reason Lori seems unattainable to the likes of you is because of the age difference...and nothing else."
>"Exactly!" Clyde fist bumped his palm in frustration and resolve at the same time.
>"Fool." She whispered to herself. "Clyde, I'm sorry to tell you but I do not think you're a suitable candidate for this project."
>"Why?"
>"Because if I let you loose in 2010, I cannot stop you from trying to socialize with Lori. I cannot risk you causing a paradox."
>But another realization popped up on her mind.
>"But...what if I let you go anyways?" She said to herself.
>"Huh."
>"Think about it, Clyde. We're still here. Everything is normal. If I were to let you use the machine, that means I've already done so, infinite times before. This could work."
>"Huh?"

>Clyde was very confused. Lisa was contradicting almost everything she had just said.
>"Huh? What to you mean 'we're still here'? What are you talking about?"
>"Well, assuming you I let you use the machine and we worked together for a good amount of time, whatever it is that you did back then either had zero effect on our current reality..."
>Clyde puckered his lips in disappointment
>"Or, it caused our present to be the way it is, and quite frankly, this reality is fine. Unless we were destined to be rich and famous, and somehow you managed to prevent that, in which case at this moment I would be penetrating your lungs with a scalpel."
>Clyde instinctively put his hands on his chest, mildly afraid.
>"BUT," she banged that first word, "I'm afraid there is no way of telling without using the machine myself, and that is not an option."
>Clyde let the built-up on his throat out rapidly with a powerful sigh.
>"So, uh, does that mean we're doing this?"
>"Absolutely. However, since I know I cannot stop you to trying to woo 11-year-old Lori, there must be a reason she does not have any recollection of you. And I think I know what proto-Lisa did, if unfortunately that is not me."
>"Proto-Lisa?"
>"Clyde, chances are, this is not the first time we've done this. Once you time-travel, you create an infinite amount of layers in the past, and the future. The reality that you are going back to had its very own Clyde. Which will grow up and become my test subject so he himself can travel back. It's an endless cycle."

>"I'm..." Clyde looked at his hand in disbelief, "not the real Clyde?"
>"Oh yes, you are real. It's just that you are one of many. But this is no time for an existential crisis. We got work to do!"
>Clyde shook his head, to reset his thoughts and go back to normal.
>"Yes, sir!" He made a military salute.
>"This is the plan. I am going to disguise you, you will take a new identity when you go back. You will no longer be Clyde, you will be..." Lisa stopped to think. "Huh...computer, generate a random male name for a millennial."
>"Alex." A monotone female voice responded from seemingly nowhere.
>"Alex! But uh, we need to do something about your clothes."
>"Why? I like what I wear."
>"The way your dress is just as recognizable as your name. I can borrow some things that Lincoln never used, and give you a new wardrobe. Besides, you have very little sense of style."
>"Girl, have you looked at yourself!?" He talked back in an extremely sassy tone.
>"Well what I wear is fitting for a genius like myself. My mind makes up for anything that is superficial, like clothing. The same cannot be said if someone of merely above average intelligence."
>"HEY-uh, thanks?"
>"You are welcome. Now hurry up and follow me, we are wasting time you could be wasting in another timeline." Lisa said as she marched out of the room.

>Knock. Knock. Knock.
>"Who is it!?" Lincoln's voice answered from inside.
>"It's Lisa! Open the door, I need to borrow something from your room."
>"Are you gonna burn it?"
>"Most likely not."
>Clyde turned at her and spoke softly, "What do you mean most like-"
>"Quiet. May we come in?"
>I guess," Lincoln replied, "wait a minute did you say 'we'?
>Lisa opening the door, revealing a half-naked Lincoln reading a comic on top of his bed.
>"...hi." Lincoln said to Clyde, trying his best not to look embarrassed but failing hilariously at doing so.
>"Pfft...hey." Clyde put his hand on his mouth to contain his laughter.
>"Uh, Lisa," Lincoln talked through his teeth, "You didn't tell me Clyde was coming over. Maybe had you given me a little warning I would have put on...something." The boy stared at Clyde with the widest fake-smile he had ever pulled off in his life.
>"Apologies if I glossed over the details, but I'm in a hurry to get this started. We need to borrow some shirts, maybe a cap, if that is acceptable to you.
>"Sure, grab it as long as it ain't orange. What are you guys doing anyways?"

>"Clyde will be my test subject for the time travel machine you people brutally declined when I offered you the chance. Clyde volunteered." Lisa explained as she picked out a collection of shirts from Lincoln's drawer.
>"I'm gonna go back and make Lori my girlfriend!" Clyde shouted enthusiastically.
>"Sure you will." Lisa replied sarcastically.
>"Clyde, I don't think that is such a good idea."
>"Sorry, Lincoln but my mind is made up already. This my chance to get close to Lori without her flat-out rejecting me from the get-go. I want to do this."
>"Alright, Clyde," Lincoln raised his comic to read once again, "just be careful out there."
>"I will, thank you, Lincoln." Clyde grabbed the shirts from Lisa and turned to the door.
>"Oh, and Clyde..." Lincoln lowered his comic again.
>"Huh?"
>"Don't you go and walk in unannounced at Lori's room like this, okay?"
>Clyde looked side to side suspiciously, "Yes." He replied with a smug face.

>Following Lisa's instructions, Clyde picked out a red shirt out of the pile she brought him, and exchanged it for the sweater he was currently wearing.
>He was also handed a baseball cap, which he put on backwards in an attempt to act cool, to Lisa's cringeful disapproval.
>"You are trying way too hard." Said Lisa, "anyways, hand over the glasses."
>"But I need those to see."
>"Just trust me on this one. You will look like a completely different person without them. I have an alternative.
>"I am putting enough trust on you already...but okay."
>Clyde reluctantly removed his glasses and handed them over to Lisa, who carefully stored them in a small case. But before he knew could react, Lisa sprayed his eyes with some sort of chemical.
>"AH! AH!" He wailed in apparent pain, pressing his hands against his eyes. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS! WHAT THE HECK!"
>"It doesn't, Clyde. Open your eyes."
>The kid stopped running around, let go of his eyes, and carefully opened them one after the other.
>"I can see...perfectly! How?!"
>"Oh, that? Just a solution I prepared in case I lost track of my glasses. Nothing major. The effects should last around 26 hours." She said as she casually placed it back where it belongs.
>"WHY ARE YOU NOT SELLING THIS?!" Clyde berated at her in total disbelief.
>"My research is not for profit, but for knowledge. At least for the time being. Now could we please begin, we are 17 minutes behind schedule."
>Lisa sat back on in the control board, impatiently inputting the settings again.
>"Oh, shoot, sorry." Clyde ran across the room and jumped on the capsule.
>"Here we go, Clyde! For real this time!" She pushed the level up once again. The machine began working as intended.
>Blue sparks clouded Lisa's room once more. The machine for progressively louder as the floor began to vibrate, the shake.
>"WAIT!" Lynn kicked the door suddenly, "I changed my mind! I wanna time trav-"
>SLAM, the door closed automatically at the touch of Lisa's keyboard, "You had your chance, dummy!"
>Clyde's visibility started to falter, everything seemed to get whiter and whiter. He tried to scream but no sound would come out of his mouth. His feet no longer felt like they were on the platform, as he if he was floating around weightlessly.
>"Good luck, partner." An echo of Lisa's voice was the last thing Clyde heard before everything suddenly went pitch-black.

>A sudden Flash of light blinded Clyde. He couldn't see anything, or hear anything, as a horrible ringing noise overpowered everything else.
>He could feel his body once again, his fingers moving around timidly. That is when he noticed he was laying down on the floor of what was going to be Lisa's room one day.
>But none of her lab equipment was there. Instead, it was just a bunch of colorful toys piled up in the corner, which looked like they haven't been used in months.
>He had done it. Clyde successfully traveled back in Time. He would have let out all his excitement out had his body not felt like complete shit on that moment.
>He struggled to stand up, having to push himself with his arms multiple times. Not that it was very helpful.
>But when he did manage to stand, what he saw made his blood freeze and his heart sink.
>A small, dark haired toddler, standing up on Lily's crib, looking at him intensively in the eyes. The kid did not look happy to see her uninvited guest.
>"H-h-hi...Lucy...don't cry...I'm just your pal Clyde, remember me? Wait, darn you don't. Uh..."
>Lucy didn't seem to care enough about him for it to be worth interrupting her nap. She just laid back down and fell asleep once more.
>"Oh thank God." His air just escaped his lungs like a pressurized can, "I need to get out of here."
>Clyde opened the door the door just enough to look around, and when the coast seemed clear, he tip-toed across the hall to sneak out.
>Or at least that was his plan.

>"AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-OOF" A speeding Lincoln, pretending to be a ninja impacted Clyde, and the small kid found his butt hitting the floor.
>"Ow...that hurt." He said, rubbing his injured buttcheeks, "Who are you?"
>"Oh, me? Uh..." Clyde pulled on his shirt to cool his now sweating body. He looked around for a few seconds, and took a breath to relax.
>"Me?" Clyde squatted down to face Lincoln, "I'm your best friend."
>"You are?"
>"Yeah!" Clyde extended his hand to help his friend up, "You just don't know it yet."
>Clyde would meet Lincoln a year after.
>"Oh, okay!" Lincoln responded adorably, "Hey, do you want to see my Batman costume?"
>"I'd love to. But maybe some other time. Right now," he looked around again, "I need to sneak out of here."
>"Oh. Do you want me to help?"
>"Actually, yeah. Do you mind distracting your parents while I get out through your door?"
>"Okay!" Lincoln turned around and ran down the stairs, "Mom! Mom! I want ice cream! I want ice cream now!" He yelled as he ran.
>Clyde saw the opportunity and ran down the stairs, went out the door, and knocked on it.

>"Honey!? Honey, someone's knocking on the door!"
>"..."
>"Yeah, I know I'm the closest to the door but I'm watching TV! Ugh, fine but we're putting that on the favor bank!" The door opened. Mr. Loud looked at him with certain degree of confusion, as some kid is just randomly showing up at their doorstep.
>"Hi Mister..." Clyde stopped himself from saying his last name out of habit, but as a result the sentence came out awkwardly, "...I'm Alex, my family just moved in a few houses away and I was stopping by to say hi to my new neighbors."
>"Hi Alex!" Mr. Loud looked more in the loop now, "Nice to meet ya, I'm Lynn. Hey, lemme introduce you to the family! Make yourself at home!" He extended his arm showing off his brand-new couch, having yet to be worn off by a family of 11 kids.
>Lynn Sr. turned around to project his voice upstairs
>"Kids! Come down! Quick! Kids!" He cupped his mouth to get louder.
>"Ugh, what did we do now" "What is it this time?" "I swear I walked Charles, I'm not cleaning anything!" A flock of whining girls dragged themselves downstairs, not excited to learn what had their father so agitated.
>"We have a new neighbor and I want him to feel welcome." He said assertively. "Now come down and be nice."
>And so, the children, begrudgingly complied, but complied nonetheless. One by one, the young girls, and a deviously giggly Lincoln walked down the stairs to meet "Alex"
>"Hope you don't mind me asking" Lynn Sr. asked him privately, "Are your parents around?"
>"Oh, they had to go to work very early. I don't see them too much."

>"Oh, well that's okay, I bet they work very hard." Mr. Loud cleared his voice to address his children who lined up in front of him. "Girls, and Lincoln, this is Alex, he just moved in and the least we can do is make him feel welcome in our nice neighborhood. Ahem, that is my daughter Lynn,"
>"Hi!" The fiery girl on the sport pajamas greeted him.
>"Luna,"
>"H-hello." Her timid voice weakly squeaked out of her. The sight of Luna before her transformation was bizarre but fascinating. Her tone was so polite and reserved, and her word choice so refined that assimilated an English Princess. There definitely was a bit of an accent in her speech, which came as a result of imitating her favorite Disney princesses. Present Luna's accent is a complete different story.
>"Leni, my son Lincoln, Luan, and, uh...dang it. Lori! Lori!" While he couldn't say anything about it, Lori's absence was the first thing Clyde noticed.
>"Lori, come on baby girl!" Lynn Sr peeked his head around the staircase, hoping her first-born would listen, "Lori, it's a chance to make a new friend. Don't be rude."
>"Finnnnnnnnnne. I'll try."
>Lori finally popped out of her shelter. The sight of her immediately redirected Clyde's blood flow, but a good look at her stopped the entire process. She wasn't the Lori she left back in the future.
>Even though Clyde knew what Lori looked like at his age, nothing about her reflected the powerful woman he had fallen in love with. She looked afraid, weak, spineless(and not just because of her bad posture). She definitely was not thrilled about having to socialize with someone she didn't know.
>But Clyde was sure that he could get that that Lori out of her. It was worth fighting for because she was still perfection in his eyes. If you ignore her teeth of course, jeesh.

>"Hi! My name"s Alex! Nice to meet ya!" He extended his hand, desperately hoping Lori would shake it or something.
>"Come on, do it! Do iiiiiiiiiiit!" Clyde thought to himself. Lori touching his hand would literally melt it.
>"Hey." Lori reluctantly grabbed his hand and weakly shook it.
>An explosion of sensations detonated from every nerve of his body. The touch of the woman of his life had left his hand burning. What little he could think about at that moment, was only the dread of realizing whatever humiliating act he was putting on in front of her.
>But a few milliseconds after he realized he was still standing, and his shirt was not painted red with his blood. He was, somehow, actually keeping his cool.
>Lori turned around to leave the scene and go back upstairs but saw her path blocked by Lynn Sr., who shifted his leg just enough for her to get the message.
>"Hey, kids! Maybe we should have Alex over for dinner and get to know him a little better. Whatcha' say, kids!?
>The living room filled with a choir of noises of approval, and a face of utter disgust and confusion from Lori.
>"Dad!?" The girl whined, pulling his father aside, "What do you THINK you are doing?"
>"We're having someone for dinner."
>"You know what I'm talking about! We LITERALLY just met him! A total stranger! And now you're having him over for dinner. Why!?"
>"Honey," his voice turned into one of deep concern, "before you can make friends, first they gotta be strangers, and then acquaintances. There is no other way!"

>"Well, what if I don't want to make any friends!? I'm good on my own!" Lori's eyes watered as her voice began to break.
>"Lori, baby, this is a good chance to make a friend! One that lives close too! Didn't you want that?" Lynn set his hand on the girl's shoulder to try to calm her.
>"He's gonna hate me once he knows me, just like everyone else." Lori shoved aside his hand, and ran up the stairs embarrassed of the scene she just caused.
>"Baby..." Lynn sighed in sadness as his daughter disappeared. He turned to Clyde who was still eagerly sitting on the couch as if nothing had happened.
>"Look, I'm sorry about that, she's just-"
>"It's fine, I understand, Mr. Lynn..."
>"Loud. Alex, if you don't wanna stay over that's fine. Lori is in a really weird stage where she feels the entire world is conspiring against her. You don't have to deal with that if you don't want to."
>"Oh don't worry, Mr. Loud. I'll be happy to stay over."
>"Yes!" He whispered to himself, closing his fist in excitement. "HONEY! HONEY, GET THAT OVEN HEATIN'! WE ARE HAVING BIG LASAGNA TONIGHT!
>"Honey," Rita's voice answered from the kitchen, "It's always Big Lasagna. We have 7 kids and another two in the 'other' oven to feed."
>"YEAH BUT THIS TIME MAKE IT BIGGER!"

>A few hours passed, and there was still no sign or indication that Lori was gonna reappear any second.
>Still, Clyde had high hopes that she'd come back to her senses and try to socialize. After all, it's for her own good.
>In the meantime, Clyde had a chance to interact with the young Loud, and learned some fascinating stuff.
>Turns out Luna had always had a knack for music, before she turned into a rocker. She loved to play the oboe, and was very good for age. Rumor has it she secretly continued to play it in the future.
>Luan was a terrible comedian. Worse than Clyde was used to. Although she tried her best, she had to resort to read out loud jokes from a book, and her delivery was woeful, but everyone clapped and "laughed" regardless. Poor soul.
>Lynn was the same but just slightly less dangerous, as she unsuccessfully tried to surprise chokehold him.
>The house began to fill with the aroma of delightful cheeses and beef. That was the cue for everyone to rush to the kitchen to grab their own plate and silverware, and claim their spot on the dinner table. All except Leni, who was kind enough to carefully set the table for Clyde, and then herself.
>And in came her majesty, in all shape, color, and beauty.
>And and a hilariously pregnant Rita who carried her.
>"The Lasagna."
>If you were there you would think you'd be in a rainforest, given the amount of liquid that dropped down out of everyone's mouth.
>Just as soon as the dish came in contact with the table, the entire family jumped to get their piece, and they would have been successful if not by-
>"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!" Everyone suddenly paused.
>"A-hem." Leni cleared her throat, "We have a guest."
>Everyone Lynn Sr. included set their butts back down on their seats, in deep sorrow.
>Leni pulled the Lasagna in close to a comfortable distance, cut a reasonable size square of deliciousness, and gently placed it on a plate.
>Then proceeded to lift the entire Lasagna and handed it to Clyde, causing mass hysteria.
>"HONEY! HONEY!" Lynn Sr. reached at her in desperation. "Ahem, honey. I think you're doing it wrong."
>"Oh whoops!" She humorously slapped her forehead, "I'm such a dork...I forgot to put in his plate!" She yelled as she lifted the Lasagna once again and tried to flip, causing more panic. Thankfully Lynn was able to take it away from her before she ruined the family meal.
>"Sweetie, I think I got it from now on, okay?"
>"Okay, Dad." She nodded in sadness, not completely sure what was that she did wrong.


>In all the commotion, nobody seemed to have noticed that Lori was completely absent from the dinner table, partly because Clyde was taking the spot that where Lori would have say if he wasn't here.
>Well, everyone but Clyde who was praying inside for her to come down and sit next to him, but didn't want to comment about and come across as a little obsessive.
>But it turned out that the wonderful smell of dinner was enough for Lori to eventually succumb to her hunger.
>The girl nonchalantly walked past everyone, glancing at Clyde for half a second. She helped herself to a Lasagna slice and turned right back to disappear, before getting grabbed by the wrist by Lynn Sr.
>"Hey, Lori!" He said with a hint of irony, "Are you here to join us for lunch? Our friend here dying to meet you."
>"...sure, daaaaad." Her fake smile could cover the entire territory of Mongolia. "That's exactly why..."
>Suddenly a space opened in between Clyde and Lori, both of them smiling genuinely.
>"Oh by the way we ran out of seats here but you could grab one of those tall stools from the kitchen if you'd like."
>"That'd be perfect...thanks..."
>Never mind Mongolia, more like the late Soviet Union.
>Whatever was going on in Jesus' mind when he was carrying her cross, was probably the same Lori felt while struggling to carry her owm symbol of shame to the table. She had been downgraded to a stool and was forced to sit down next to the stranger.
>The girl quietly sat down, dropped her plate on the table, and ravaged the Lasagna like a cavewoman, entirely to spite her father. She looked up, saw "the face", put the fork down and wiped her mouth.
>"Excuse me." She said, acting completely normal, causing some giggles from the children on the table.
>"Lori, why are you acting like this?" Rita asked.
>"I don't know what you're talking about." Lori replied defiantly, licking and sucking the tomato out of her hand, keeping eye contact at all times.
>"Alright that's it!" Lynn intervened, "you're going to your room! And don't come out until you learn some manners!"
>"Thanks!" She smiled as she grabbed her half-empty plate, threw it on the sink, and ran upstairs to safety.
>"...you're welcome." He said to himself, visibly distraught.

>"Is everything alright, Mr. Loud?" Said Clyde.
>"Ye...no. I just don't know what to do with her. One day she comes crying to me saying she has no friends, no one gets her, she hates school, yada-yada-yada. And now she's telling me she doesn't need anyone, and wants to be alone. I just want her to be happy and I don't know how to get through her." He rested his face on the table.
>"We should buy some ice cream." Lincoln put in his two cents while he played with his fork, "When I feel sad ice cream makes me feel good again."
>"Thank you Lincoln but it's gonna take a little bit more than ice cream to help her."
>"How about two ice cream?"
>"No ice cream, Lincoln."
>"Aw." Lincoln pouted as he shifted his focus back to his fork.
>"Maybe she doesn't wanna talk to me because she feels it's kinda forced." Clyde suggested.
>"What was that?" Lynn removed his face from the surface to listen better.
>"Maybe I should try to talk to her by myself. I don't think she likes to be told to do things."
>"So you still want to try to be her friend after all of that?" A glimmer of home illuminated Lynn Sr.'s heart. "I like you kid. I say go for it."
>Clyde nodded, and ran upstairs to look for her.

>Surprisingly, Lori's door was wide open. She was buried deep in the covers of her bed with only her head being visible, playing Mario Kart on her Wii console.
>Clyde only peaked around the edge of the door, but didn't dare to trespass the limits of her sacred bedroom, because of prior "incidents" that usually involved his eye being blacker than usual. The memories stuck him against the wall, hoping she hadn't noticed him.
>"Don't pretend I didn't see you." Lori's voice clotted his arteries.
>Clyde panicked, he prepared himself to 'poof' away before Lori finished her statement.
>"Are you gonna come in or what? I don't like people creeping on my door." She said as she continued to play her game.
>Clyde's heart beat like a marching bass drum. Today's goal was to accomplish some sort of interaction with her. Now he is being invited to her bedroom. This is happening to fast.
>"Heheheh..." Clyde scratched the back of his head nervously as he stepped into the lioness' territory, "Sorry, I-I just didn't know if it was okay for me to come in into your room."
>"It isn't. But I prefer it to being watched like a fish in a bowl. So you are our new neighbor."
>"Uh, well, technically we got two houses in between, so I don't know if-"
>"That's close enough. So are you gonna be crashing here everyday from now on?"
>"What? No-no-nononono, I would never-"
>"Is it because I'm THAT ugly? Is that why?"
>"What the-wu...wha....w-w-w." Clyde couldn't think of anything. His hands were shaky, a drop of swear began forming on in his neck.
>"PFFFFFFT"
>Lori couldn't contain herself anymore and started laughing to the point she had to pause her game.
>"Oh My gosh look at you! I'm just messing with you. Jeez I didn't think you would take it so seriously."
>"So you are not actually mad at me?"
>"Well..." Lori paused her game, threw away the covers and sat up on the bed, "I'm not mad at YOU specifically. I'm more mad about why you're here."

>"How so?"
>"It's my dad. He thinks I need help, like some sort of retard. He thinks I'm some loner who doesn't have any friends and wants to kill myself because I'm sad and alone."
>"Well, are you?" Clyde looked at her intensively, taking the role of Dr. Lopez to heart.
>"Um..." Lori looked away in embarrassment, "maybe a little. But that's not my fault. It's the other kids! They are just..UGH!" She looked increasingly frustrated, and started walking around talking, "I just don't get them! I try to talk to people but they never take me seriously! They usually just say something mean about my braces and walk away. And it's not like I actually want to talk to them, they never talk about nothing interesting.  It's usually some stupid stuff like "OMG Justin Bieber is sooooo cute! I know! I want him to be my boyfriend! HUEHEHEUHUHEUHUEH"
>Lori took a moment to realize she was starting to act crazy. By the time she finished her ranting she was already at the opposite side of the room.
>"I did it again, did I."
>"Uh..."
>"Leni is right. I talk too much." Lori walked back in shame to her own bed, and stuffed her face on her pillow.
>"No, I'm actually interested in what you were saying."
>Lori, dumbfounded by Clyde's claim, removed her head from the pillow to make sure she wasn't hearing things.
>"Wait, seriously?"
>"Yeah, I like listening to people. It's kind of my thing."
>"Oh man, you just brought a curse upon yourself." Lori turned herself, set her sights on the ceiling, and rested her hands on her chest, as if she was about to start a session with the real Dr. Lopez.

>"And that's part of the reason why I don't like talking about boys in front of my parents."
>Lori spent more than an hour-and-a-half narrating her sack of woes to the alternative identity of Clyde, opening herself like she never had before.
>"Wow, that was...eye-opening. Thanks for sharing this."
>"Thanks for listening, Alex. For the first time in forever did I feel like someone was actually trying to understand me..." Lori suddenly sat up straight and looked at him, "But I swear if you tell anyone about this I'll make sure your dead body makes headlines."
>"No-no-nononono, there won't be any need..." He laughed nervously, not sure if she was serious or not, "This dies with me."
>"That's the plan."
>"Of course it is." He gulped in fear.
>"But thank you, though." Lori stood up and have him a warm big, sending his body into a shock. He could feel his rib-cage collapsing onto itself. He wasn't even able to actually hug her back, so his arms remained stuck to his sides. Thankfully, she didn't notice/mind.
>"Y-y-you're welcome. I d-do think that's all the time we have today..." He said looking at this watch. He was already feeling extremely tired too.
>"Will I see you at school?" She asked.
>"Oh...uh..." QUICK! THINK OF SOMETHING!
>"I don't think so. My parents enrolled me in a private school."
>"Shucks, that sucks. Well, I guess we'll talk some other day, neighbor."

>"Yeah, hehe. Some other day. Good bye, Lori." He scratched his head as his body begged for release. He turned for the door, when Lori called for him again.
>"Actually!" Clyde turned, and saw her fidgeting with her Wiimote, looking at everything but him. "Would you mind passing by tomorrow, I could use somebody to talk too."
>"Sure. I'll look forward to it." He turned back around and closed the door.
>As soon as he heard the sound of the door, he furiously clicked on his watch, as he was feeling like his body was gonna explode. In a few seconds, he disappeared without leaving a trace.
>Clyde woke up face down on Lisa's room, laying on a pool of his own blood. All the windows were closed, and everything was kind of dark.
>"Note to self: Travel back ejects the traveler violently. Leave some soft surface on the spot next time." Lisa wrote down on her notebook. "Also, is there a reason why you're bleeding on my floor?"
>"That. Was. Awesome!" Clyde exclaimed with the little energy he had left, then wiped his nose with his forearm.
>"I see our session was a success. Congratulations."
>"Thank you Lizz, now if you excuse me, I would like to go home and sleep the night out."
>"Actually, about that."
>With a flick of her fingers, all the windows opened, allowing deadly rays of sunshine on Clyde's exhausted eyes.
>"WHAT!? HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN!?"
>"6 seconds. Sorry, Clyde. Apparently, parallel time layers travel a lot faster than ours. I recommend that for our next session, you find some sleep back there, as to not disturb your sleep schedule."
>"...thanks for the tip." He said ironically as he dragged himself out of the room, and back home.

>To Lisa's frustration, any session would have to be postponed until Sunday in order for Clyde to recover his energy, which meant wasting an entire day.
>But, Quality over Quantity, better not try to rush these things. But Lisa couldn't hide the fact that she was very excited about this next session.
>Clyde showed up at his scheduled time, looking a lot better than that Friday afternoon. He came prepared, dressed completely in character. However, it was Lincoln who opened the door.
>"Hey Clyd...Oh..." He sighed in disappointment after looking at the clothes he was wearing, "you're here for Lisa, right?"
>"Sorry, buddy." He put his hand in his shoulder in a half-arsed attempt to console him, "but I'm doing this in the name of SCIENCE." Clyde as he closed his fist dramatically.
>"Yeah, whatever. I'll go up with you."
>The two headed upstairs and for Lisa's room, which was open. She sat on her control board, looked like she was reviewing some data or something from the last trip.
>"Clyde, Clyde, come in." She waved at him, somehow aware of is presence.
>"Coming!" He rushed to see what had Lisa so excited, while Lincoln quietly sat down on a very small chair with a frown on his face.
>"I was looking through some old archives, and I by archives I mean Lori's ancient first generation iPhone. She hasn't used it in 5 years." She opened a cabinet on her desk and revealed the old device, "my findings were, rather interesting."
>She unlocked the phones, opened the gallery application, and handed him the phone.
>It was a selfie of him and Lori, it appeared it was from the furthest backseat of Vanzilla.
>"Wow, when did this happen!?" He said with a smile on his face.
>"Many years ago. Or as you might be concerned, a day after the day we set today's session on. Keep swiping."
>The next picture was another selfie, but this time they looked like they were in swimwear, and they were at a pool. He swiped again, and the next picture shook him. It was the same angle, same location, but this time, Lori was giving him a kiss on the cheek.
>Clyde stood motionless, except for his shaking hands that were bound to drop the phone at any given second.
>"I know right?". Lisa removed the phone from his hand to avoid damage to the crucial data.
>"Uh-Uh.....EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
>"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" They screamed in unison.
>"Ow, ow, ow, the screaming!" Lincoln protested with his hands on his ears.
>"Sorry, brother." Lisa composed herself, "I did not realize you were here, and I should let myself get invested in someone else's emotions. A-hem."
>"What was that all about?" Lincoln asked, slightly irritated.
>"This does not concern you, Lincoln. This is a private matter and I would appreciate it if it stayed that way."
>"Ugh, fine! Have fun with "your" thing! I'm out of here!" He banged the door as he marched angrily out of the room, feeling slightly betrayed.
>"Lincoln, wait!" Clyde reached for him uselessly, holding up his nose with his other hand.
>"Disregard him, Clyde. We have more important things to do. Besides, don't you wanna live those moments?" She held up the phone with the last picture on the screen.
>Clyde shook his head and zoned Lincoln out, filled with determination. "You're right! Let's do this!"
>In what seemed to be three or four steps, he covered the entire distance of Lisa's room, and landed on the machine. He gave Lisa a thumbs-up, and she gladly complied.
>"Remember, those pictures surfaced the day AFTER the one I'm sending you in! Don't get too desperate! Now, I made a few adjustments, and I think I figured out a way to put you outside of the house, instead of inside."
>"Thank you, Lizzy!" He answered back rather quickly, in a hurry to get through with it.
>"Please don't ever call me that again." She whispered under her breath, "Good luck!" She exclaimed as she powered up the machine and sent Clyde on his way.

>This time, Clyde woke up on the front porch of the house, a much better spot than inside Lisa's or currently Lucy's room.
>Knock Knock Knock
>"I got it! I got it!" Lori's increasingly loud voice came from inside, fending off other people from the door.
>"Hi, Alex!" She opened the door, unable to cover her excitement, "I'm glad you could make it."
>"I wouldn't miss it for anyth-"
>"OKAY GOT IT COME ON!" Lori grabbed Clyde by the wrist and ran to her room, kicking the door closed on the way.
>"Wow-wow! Okay. Wait, where are your parents?" He asked while trying not to fall on his face.
>"They are working!" She said as she dragged him upstairs, "don't worry about them!"
>"I...don't? But...okay."
>Lori rammed the door open, waking Leni from her regular after-school beauty nap.
>"Lori...? Like, what's going on?" She rubbed her eyes as she was feeling the effects of a rude awakening.
>"Go back to sleep, Leni." Lori ordered as she pushed her bed to the side of the room, and set up a foldable chair that she grabbed from her closet in the middle.
>"I would, but...um, I need...help." She said, looking slightly embarrassed.
>"Leni, you're ten years old. You don't need Mom to tuck you in for you to just sleep. Besides, she went to buy clothes for Lola and Lana an hour ago. Grow up."
>"Why is Mom buying clothes for people that don't exist?"
>"It's not that they don't ~exist~, Leni. They just aren't born yet. They are still in Mom's tummy."
>"GASP. Mom a-?"
>"No, Leni, she didn't eat them. That's how it works."
>"Pfft. I knew that. So anyways, why is Alex here?"
>"We are just talking. And this is a private thing, that's why I want you to either go back to sleep, or get out of the room."
>"This is MY room, too, you know." Leni crossed her arms and turned her face away, unwilling to cooperate.
>"Sigh. If I try to tuck you in, could you ~please~ make and effort to fall asleep?"
>Leni continued to look away in a frown, but after some thought, her frown went away, and she looked back at Lori.
>"Okay." Said Leni, rubbing her arms for comfort. She laid down in her side and placed her head on the pillow, allowing Lori to do her thing.
>"Just know I'm not gonna be doing this every single time Mom's not here." Lori said, sitting on the edge of Leni's bed, her back turned to her."
>"Alright, so I guess we just pull up the covers...there you go...now what?"
>"I don't know, by now I would be falling asleep. I don't know what Mom does."
>"...Okay...just...there, there..." Lori began rubbing on her arm like she saw her do to herself a moment ago. Surprisingly, it seemed to have worked. Leni's eyelids slowly began to shut, and she let out a faint purr before exhaling loudly, and ultimately, sleep.
>Lori looked around for a long time, unaware Leni was far gone. Only until she saw Clyde staring at her with an 'aww' look on his face, did she pull herself away from the sleeping beauty.
>"That was cute." Clyde commented.
>"I'm not usually this nice. I just needed to get her out of the way." She dismissed. "Let's get to the point."
>Lori threw herself on the bed the boy was sitting on, creating enough force to bounce him off, and comically landing him on the chair Lori had set for him.
>"You get style points for that one." She said as she accommodated herself on the bed.

>"Good luck...I've got to admit, I never thought this would develop the way it did."
>Lisa pondered in front of the dissipating siluette of Clyde, had just traveled back.
>"I grossly underestimated the influence age had in the impossibility of your connection with Lori. Maybe, perhaps, you are not such a hopeless fool as I originally thought you were..."
>"Shoot! He should be be back any second!" Lisa remembered. She rushed to the back of the room, behind her control board, where he kept the cushion she had prepared for his violent return.
>I'm In the process, she managed to catch a glimpse of the data the machine was collecting, and what she saw was rather, concerning.
>"Oh...my...G-word." The cushion bounced on the floor and away. "That's not right, that couldn't...CRAP!"
>The screen that monitored Clyde's current location in time was the cause of Lisa's dismay. It had been days, weeks almost. He should have been back alreadu. And by every passing day, the next one passed by even faster. Lisa was caught between two minds, wait and hope Clyde came back any given second. Or take action. But her indecision rendered her useless.
>A whole month had passed.
>"Dangit!" She uttered. This was no time for hesitation. Lisa stepped out of the control board and reached for the door of her room. She had an emergency watch she had been keeping hidden in the garage. She needed to act, and fast, time was running out.

>With great force, Lisa turned the doorknob, but as soon as she moved her arm to open it the door, a loud, glitchy-sounding noise blasted on her ears, and before she knew it she was down cold on the floor, and the door was already wide open.
>She felt her nose go numb, and a faint touch made her realize that it was bleeding.
>Her brain took a few seconds to put two and two together, but it was obvious when it did as she ran screaming to the bathroom like a little girl.
>"This cannot be happening" she cried as she tried to wash the blood from her nose. "This was supposed to be foolproof!" She clamored, shutting down the water flow in anger, and resuming her mission. "If only I hadn't been so stupid to let-"
>That terrifying sound came back. Lisa's walking feet swapped places with one another, tipping her forward. But she wasn't the worst victim.
>"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" Lincoln's desperate screech came from the stairs.
>"Lincoln!" Lisa yelled, fearing he would get hurt.
>After sprinting across the hall as her small legs allowed her, she found her brother sitting at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing his head in pain.
>"Brother!" Lisa trotted down the stairs to assist him, "are you alright?"
>"Yeah...I think. I don't know what happened, I was just walking down, then I missed a step, I think, and fell down. But I don't remember doing that, I just suddenly went down."
>"It seems like our timeline is fragmenting, Lincoln, causing these random skips in time. Which means one of two things. Either Clyde got lost in time, or even worse...he's gone rogue."
>"GASP...wait a minute who the heck is 'Clyde'?"

>Somewhere else in the vastness of time, Clyde's Alter-ego and Lori were having a rather fruitless session, as the 'patient' failed to strung a single coherent, workable sentence.
>Um...so is there ANYTHING that you might want to get off your chest?  We've been sitting here for about...wait, 2 hours!?"
>"What!?" Lori sat up instantly in total disbelief. "No way so much time has passed!"
>"I'm with you there...maybe my watch's just broken."
>"Yeah, it probably is..." Lori said as she laid back down and closed her eyes.
>"Did you have anything in mind before I came here?:
>"Oh yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to remember what it was." Her tone was offensively relaxed.
>"Well, in the meantime, maybe I can bring up something to talk about."
>Lori's eyes opened wide, moving side to side as she felt suddenly cornered.
>"Uhhhhhhhhh, okay? I mean, go ahead." She falsely displayed confidence midsentence.
>"Great! So, let's talk about your classmates a little more. I think this was an important topic and we just glossed over it."
>"I had a feeling that was gonna be it. But like, the people in general, or anything like that?"
>"I just want to know how you really feel about the people you see almost everyday. I don't think you were being honest about everyone else just...sucking."
>"Alright, not everyone is bad, okay. Actually...there's this boy in my art class..."
>Tension started building up inside Clyde's throat.
>"Interesting, go ahead." Clyde pretended to take notes in a little notebook he brought with him.
>"And...um." Lori turned her hesd to him for eye contact. "Okay, this is really personal so please never ever talk about this to anyone, ESPECIALLY Dad."
>Clyde lifted his right palm and set his other hand on his notebook. "Don't worry, Therapist's oath: unless me no telling anyone endangers your life, it is totally confidential." He could feel random fingers on his lifted hand just kind of twitch a little.

>"I guess I can take that." She turned her eyes to the ceiling once more, "this boy in my art class, his name is Roberto."
>If Clyde had been wearing his glasses they would have surely shattered right there.
>"Roberto who?"
>"Santiago."
>"I thought his name was Roberto."
>"No, that's his last name. Roberto Santiago."
>"Roberto Santiago, Roberto Santiago, robersaniag..." Clyde chewed on his pencil, pretending to think about the name.
>"And he's like, super nice. He always needs help with his paintings but I always try to help him because he's so sweet about it. He always says funny things too, so he keeps me sane because I hate painting. Also, I think he's kind of cute...but I don't think he'd actually want to date me. I'm probably not pretty enough for him."
>Clyde kept mumbling his name under his breath, as if the name caused some deep memories in the back of his brain to resurface again, until finally...
>"GASP. BOBBY."
>"Huh?"
>"I knew I remembered that stupid name from somewhere. Oh No, it's coming back..." Clyde began to run on his forehead, looking pained.
>"Al, are you okay? You look sick."
>"Oh, Lori. I think there's something you need to know about Roberto." He feigned concern and sorrow masterfully, beyond anyone could have thought him capable of. Lori had taken the bait.


>"What do you mean you don't know who Clyde is! He is your best friend, for goodness sake stop playing with me."
>Lisa grabbed hold of the boy's shirt and shook him, trying to get him back into his senses.
>"What are you even saying!?" Lincoln shoved Lisa's hands off and got on his feet, dusting off his shirt as well, "I don't know any Clydes, Rusty is my best friend, you know this!"
>"So you never met him."
>"No. Sorry."
>"No worries. I realize this situation must be very confusing to you. To be completely honest I'm not totally clear myself. I apologize for my behavior, but now I require your help. I need you to-
>HDUSGSJSHDUDYSUDYUDHDCHDUSHSY
>"MMPH!" Lisa immediately put her hands on her mouth, hopping in pain.
>"Lisa, are you Okay?"
>"Theah...I theem tho haff fhitten my thong...I'm okay now."
>"It happened again." Said Lincoln.
>"Which is why we must hurry. With the frequency of these time skips, some tragedy is bound to occur."
>"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" An unfamiliar voice cried from upstairs, "We need to go the music store!"
>That was enough to identify Luna, but Lisa suspected something was off.
>And her suspicions were proven correct, as the fifteen-year-old was rocking her long, luscious caramel colored hair, and a modest set of pajamas as she ran down the staircase.
>"Luna!" Lincoln yelled in concern, "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
>"Thank you, but it wasn't me who was hurt." Her voice cracked, as she revealed something in her hand.
>"I was going to take it out to practice and I don't know how, but I accidentally stepped on it and chipped it. -sniff-, I've had this one for over a year and it's the best one I had..." The item in question, was a worn but still perfectly functional wooden oboe reed, or at least it was before.
>"I only have one left and these things are kinda expensive. I'm gonna have to pay out of my own...Lisa are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
>Only then Lisa realised the appalled expression her face was wearing. Lincoln called her Luna, and she had her older sister's facial features, but she didn't know this person. She could not being herself to believe.
>"Yes, I am fine, "Luna", just a little overwhelmed by the current situation. Lincoln, we must not waste any more time, follow me." Lisa said as she signaled to his brother, and walked briskly to the garage.

>Lisa was abruptly stopped by Lincoln, who pulled her back by the arm.
>"Wait!" Said Lincoln, "I'm not gonna just do what you say, you gotta explain to me what's going on!"
>"I would, Lincoln," Lisa responded, adjusting her glasses, "But I don't think you would be capable of understanding.:
>"What? Am I not "smart enough" or a "child prodigy" to be able to understand a simple explanation!?" He said, sounding offended.
>"No, that is not the reason at all, do not take this the wrong way. What I'm trying to say is that if I explained it to you, you wouldn't believe me. You wouldn't believe it if I told you that the life you think you're living is a total lie." Lisa turned her back to Lincoln and opened the garage door, stepping inside.
>"A lie?" Lincoln took a moment to think about that. "What are you trying to say? Am I adopted or something?" He felt like his throat was imploding.
>"Adopted?" Lisa turned her head to look back at him, "I don't know where you got that from."
>"Oh thank God..." He let out a massive sigh of relief.
>"I'm afraid it is far worse."
>"Oh God No."
>"Two days ago, I completed the development of a time machine..."
>"Yeah, I know, you made sure literally everyone in the house knew about it."
>"I did, did I? Well, that just furthers my new theory. Anyways, I finished the time machine, and I needed someone to conduct the experiment with. Clyde. Your best friend, or at least was in some other reality. For reasons unknown to me, he never returned from his second session. And it seems that both timelines sort of overlapped on top of another, causing them to merge into this horrible, causing this unstable pandemonium of a reality. You need to help me, Lincoln."
>Lisa pulled a small safe out of one of the boxes that were spread around the garage. She placed it on a table, and opened, revealing two duplicates of the one she handed to Clyde.
>"We need to use the time machine, Lincoln. You and me are gonna go back and find Clyde wherever he may be, and pull him out. I'm gonna need you to carry Lily out of the room too, the machine is very loud and she might-
>"Lily?"
>Whatever was in Lisa stomach at that moment filled up the inside of her throat, but fortunately didn't come out. The garage suddenly got chilling, sending shivers down her spine and limbs, making them numb.
>"No...Lincoln..." She laughed nervously, almost tearing up, "this is not the time for games..."
>Lisa saw Lincoln's genuine confusion, but she could also see signs of empathy coming from her brother. He knew that this Lily was most likely her sister, who in turn was also his. But his empathy wasn't exactly for Lily...
>Lisa couldn't help but to squat down and cry. The only thing keeping her head up was the hands resting on her thighs.
>"Lincoln...we gotta hurry...our sister..." She hardly managed to stand back up to hand a watch to Lincoln. "We gotta get her back too."
>"Lisa, I'm sorry, but I think you're going crazy...Look, I'm sorry about 'Clyde' and 'Lily', but are scaring me a little...I gotta go."
>And just like that, her brother turned her back on her. She had no else to turn to, if anyone was gonna believe her, it was Lincoln.
>"I don't need you, Lincoln...I don't need anyone. I'm gonna fix this, the way I have accomplished everything to this day..." She clutched the wrist deep in her fist.
>"Alone."

>After taking a moment to breathe and wipe the tears from her face, Lisa lifted her head up and walked with determination.
>Following a fortunately untroubled walk upstairs, Lisa found yet another surprise, which she couldn't determine right away whether it was a welcome one, or a horrifying one.
>The structure of Lisa's room changed almost completely. Lily's crib was obviously gone, an empty space Lisa forced herself not to look at. Her bed, no longer on a corner of the room, was placed right in the middle of the wall opposite to the wall. There were two other beds to the left and right of hers, which were alarmingly similar to each other.
>Lola and Lana, dressed in white lab coats and safety goggles, accosted her at the door. There was no discernible difference in their appearance, other than Lana's voice being just slightly deeper than Lola's but not by the margin she became accustomed to. In all other regards, however, they were pretty much the same.
>"I guess I've got to take some blame in this, do I?" Said Lisa, looking back and forth between her unrecognizable sisters.
>"One could say that, yes. But time travel was never going to be a risk-less task." Said Lola in a emotionless tone, completely unaware of what Lisa was referring to.
>"Worry not, sister." Lana intervened, "We will find a way to fix this. We're not gonna let our greatest achievement become a total failure."
>Lisa sighed in disappointment, disgusted at what her sisters have become. But at the very least, they are useful.
>"Tell me," said Lisa, "you wouldn't happen to know who Clyde is?"
>"No m'am." Said Lana.
>"Then who did we send back in time?"
>"You m'am. You told us you were in search of some "Subject C". Is that Clyde, m'am?"
>"I would assume so. Gosh, this is so weird." Lisa grabbed her face in frustration.
>"Weird indeed, m'am." Lola cut in from the control board, "We've got another shift expected to happen any sec-"
>BRUZHWKSUWHDIXIDJSUAIDUEBSKWIDHJDUDHD
>"...ond now."
>"How long was that!?" Asked Lisa.
>"A whole second, m'am."
>"Darn it, they are becoming worse each time. At this rate they are gonna-"
>"And a half."
>"Huh?"
>"A second-and-a-half, m'am. My readings just updated."
>"Crap. Prepare the machine, I'm gonna go in. If this continues countless of people could die."
>"Right on, m'am." The twins said in unison, as they each got on their seemingly predetermined stations. Lana came back with a syringe, containing a purple substance of sorts.
>"What's that?" Lisa backed away a step.
>"It's the Anti-Scramble serum, m'am. It's protects you from any memory loss should any paradox occur. Same as last time."
>"Who developed this?" Asked Lisa in total disbelief.
>"I did, m'am. You instructed me to...perhaps it is not working as intended." Lana pulled the syringe away, disappointed.
>"No, No, it's good. I'll take it. Actually, it's working perfectly."
>Just then, the sound of Lori ranting on the phone could be heard from outside.
>"Totally! This is ridiculous, hope insurance covers your car. Glad you're okay tho." She stopped in place as she passed Lisa's room.
>"Give me a sec, Liz." She put her phone down, "could any of you three losers care to explain to me just what the HELL is going on!?"
>"We can't. But we're trying to fix it, sister."
>"Man that was a weird drive back!" A strange voice was coming from downstairs.
>"Babe, I've never seen anything like that before, oh hey Lisa!"
>A fully grown Clyde stood in front of Lisa, seemingly unaware of the pure anger that was building up inside of her.
>"...you..." Lisa's eyes twitched, her foot furiously tapped on the floor, her blood bubbled up in her veins.
>"...uh."
>"YOU!" She growled, as she ran and jumped him.


>Clyde's game could not last very long. You can only show up everyday in the same outfit, secretly ask to use the shower cause the one home's broken, and keep yourself from starving with 20 bucks in your pocket.
>He eventually had to spill the beans. For all purposes, he was homeless. After 8 days, he confessed this to the Louds, not that he was a time traveler, but that he needed a place to live, that he ran away from an abusive home, and needed help.
>Thankfully, Lori had been looking a lot happier with him around. She begged, cried, that they take him in. The Louds decided there is always room for one more.
>Except for Lily, there was no space for Lily. After Clyde occupied the closet that was originally meant for Lincoln, Lisa would have to sleep with the twins. After that, they decided there were enough mouths to feed in the house, closing Lily's path into existence.
>And so it leads to this day. The day where Lisa suddenly regained memories from an alternative timeline.
>"You dirty cheating scoundrel!" Lisa jumped him like a feral cat, before being intercepted by Lori.
>"Let me go, Lori!" She tried to shake Lori's hold to no result, "You killed my little sister, you monster!"
>"Lisa, what are you talking about?!" Said Lori, trying to avoid getting accidentally punched in the face by Lisa.
>"My experiment! He ruined my experiment! I was doing you a favor! And what do I get in return!? You destroyed our world and turned it into some unrecognizable mess!"
>"Oh no..." Clyde finally came to terms to what he had done, "...Lily...I forgot..." For a black teenager he looked quite pale.
>"Lily? Alex, who's Lily?" Lori asked.
>"Huh!?" He shook his conscience away, "No, no one, babe." Clyde tried his best to play innocent, but the guilt raging inside of him was killing him.
>"You are a snake, Clyde." Lisa cut into his soul, "Just put me down, sister. I'm not gonna hurt him."
>She gently shoved Lori's arm away from her body, and she easily let go.
>"If you excuse me, I've got a world to save." She said as she signaled her assistants to get the thing up and running.
>"Clyde? Lily?" Lori questioned him, "Alex...I don't know what is even happening or why she called you Clyde, but if you've got something to do with all this nonsense you've got to tell me."
>"Nothing babe, I swear." His voice trembled.
>"Alex, We've been together enough for me to be able to tell when you lie. You're lying. Is Alex even your real name!?"
>Lisa's departure was looking imminent inside her room.
>"June 25th, 2010." She instructed them as she stepped into the platform.
>"June 25th...That's around the day we met." Lori said to herself before turning to 'Alex', "Are you a freaking time traveler!?
>"Lori, please I can expl...I can..."
>Clyde was interrupted by the loud, vacuum-like noise of the time machine.
>"Lisa, stop!" He yelled as he burst in speed at the machine, and tried to pull Lisa out.
>"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU STU-" The last words heard as both Lisa and Clyde instantly dematerialized.
>Lola and Lana looked at each other concerned, before they themselves, disappeared.


>In a sudden gasp for air, Clyde woke up to total darkness.
>Well, not total darkness. Some TV was turned on, but the screen was black anyways. He felt his body around, and quickly realized he wasn't 17. It had all been a weird dream. But was it?
>He had never recollected so much out of a dream before; what usually would be occasional flashes of memory, or just total loss, he could remember so many things in fine detail, so many things.
>"But wait a second," Clyde patted around his space, "why is my bed so hard?"
>"It's not my bed...It's just some blankets and a pillow on the carpet. What the heck is going on...oh."
>In his struggle for comprehension, he accidentally hit Lori, who was knocked out at a terryfingly close distance to him.
>"That just raises more questions."
>The young blonde shook a bit, before opening her eyes and looking at Clyde, quickly noticing his disquiet.
>"Alex, are you okay? You look confused."
>"A little bit...I forgot why we're here. Is this your living room?"
>"Oh yeah, I think we were watching a movie, but I guess we asleep halfway through it."
>"What time is it?...Aren't I supposed to be back home?"
>"It's, um, 12:01. And well, you're staying over aren't you?"
>"I am?"
>"Uh, yeah? I mean it was your idea, remember? The whole pool thing tomorrow, I invited you and then you suggested a sleepover...If you're not feeling homesick I can just wake up my dad and-"
>"No, it's fine...it's just that I just had the weirdest dream ever. Like, we've been friends for years, and we were seventeen, and..." Clyde stopped himself from revealing too much, "...and it felt so real."
>"Friends for years, huh." Lori gave a hearty chuckle to herself, "It definitely feels that way, doesn't it."
>The girl closed her eyes and rested her head back on her pillow with a warm smile on her face.
>"Get some sleep, Alex. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."
>"Thanks, I'll try."
>Clyde slowly lowered his head back on the pillow, but could not relax one moment. He was still thinking about the dream. Was it a sign? We're they meant to be? Or did everything really happen, but we've gone back for some reason? Or is it all just wishful thinking? A cruel trick?
>All of these thoughts clouded his mind through almost the entire night. Clyde only found sleep when he eventually passed out due to exhaustion.