Chapter Text
"So did you tell your dad what we're "doing"?" Bill asks, while double checking his backpack.
"Yeah," Ted pauses, swinging his backpack off of his shoulder. "I'm staying a week to help you study."
"I mean that's technically what we're doing, just not in the way he thinks." Bill chuckles, unzipping his bag.
They are going to use the time machine for a report that's due next week. It's a report on what people of the past would think of now vs. how people of the future would think of now. Hypothetically of course.
However, they figure it would be easier to just ask them themselves.
Mr.Preston and Missy are gone on a second honeymoon, so no one would be none the wiser if they didn't make an appearance for a few days.
As they make sure of the supplies; food, water, spare clothes, and other things they may need, they lay out their plan for where and when to go.
"So past or future first?" Ted says, closing up his bag.
"I mean," Bill pauses for a second," we technically already know what the people of the past know about the future. We just need the future's opinion on our present."
"Oh yeah!! Good thinking dude" Ted says playfully shoving Bill.
They air guitar in response.
[The middleman of them getting in and getting thrown through time.]
"Dude, what's wrong with it?"
"I don't know," Ted says, looking around the booth hoping to find some answers.
Sadly no luck.
As they continue to be shoved around, they feel like the booth won't ever stop.
It finally crashlands at an unknown location.
Bill falls out landing harshly onto the ground. As he groans he feels Ted fall onto him.
He looks up at the brunette, eyes wide as he feels a heavy feeling in his chest.
Ted gazes back, a faint blush visible on his cheeks. He could feel Ted's heart beat erratically against his chest.
Tho that could have been from falling.
He could've sworn he saw Ted staring at his lips. But he could've been mistaken.
They quickly separate themselves and stand up just as the booth begins to shake violently.
Ted stepped towards it only to have Bill grab a hold of his arm.
"Dude.."Ted panicked as Bill held him back.
"Watch out!" Bill says, struggling a bit to keep Ted away.
Before Ted could get loose, the booth falls to the side and collapses in a puff of smoke.
All that is left is a pile of rubble and metal pieces. Bits of exposed wiring poking out from it.
Bill dejectedly walked over to the pile of rubble.
"This is not good." Bill says, looking back towards Ted.
"Most heinous" Ted replies.
"Most un-triumphant." Bill agrees.
As Ted walks over to Bill's side, Bill takes note of their surroundings.
"Dude….does this look...familiar?"Bill asks.
"Yeah...almost like we've been here before…."Ted's brow furrowed, looking more intently at the large building they crashed in front of.
They see large glass doors entering into the building, no visible lettering left.
They cup their hands around their eyes to peer into the doors.
Inside is in varying stages of dilapidation.
From where they stood they could see a large escalator had fallen over long ago.
Multiple entrances into vacant stores, some on the ground level and upper level.
"Dude...is that..?" Ted asks, panic laced in his voice.
"I think it is…."Bill says, also connecting the dots.
On the ground floor, near the escalators, is a shop. The logo is still visible.
'Pretzels 'n' Cheese'
Bill and Ted had just been hired to work there.
"Woah….no way...this is.."Ted trails off, looking over at Bill.
"Dude….I think.."Bill pauses, gulping heavily,"this is the mall…"
They both came to the same conclusion; 'we are in San Dimas.'
They walk out from the entrance. Their guard up.
They gaze out into the open parking lot, long since deprived of human interference.
The city beyond in the distance looks just as abandoned.
"What happened here?"
"I don't think anyone has been here in a long long time." Bill says, looking over at Ted.
He looked just as freaked as he felt.
With no direct way home left, what are they going to do? Will they ever be able to go home?
How far in the future are they even?
Bill ponders these thoughts as they make their way onto the highway.
Ted pauses looking left to right.
"Where do we go?" Ted asks.
Bill hums in response, weighing the options.
"Well we could go by the school?" Bill gestures roughly in that direction. "They might have some information."
Ted nods, hair bouncing around his face.
"Good thinking."
They make haste towards the high school, wary of what they may find there.
It doesn't take long for them to approach the street leading up to the school.
The parking lot out front is empty except for a broken down school bus.
The school was all but destroyed.
Vegetation had taken over and made itself home.
An unsettling feeling sat in them.
"What do you think happened to them?" Ted asks, looking up at the building in front of him.
"Them?"
"Everyone….the people we knew…."Ted says, turning his head to look at him.
There didn't seem to be any trace of life left. Almost like they vanished as soon as they left.
"Hopefully we can find out,"Bill says, looking back at the school.
They walk up the stone steps into the school.
Bill reaches out to open the door, pushing it open. Barely cracking it open before the door just breaks off its hinges and falls to the floor with a loud smash.
They cringe at the sound of glass shattering.
They look around, almost expecting something to jump out after the sound.
But nothing. The cool wind rustles through the trees.
Bill shivers, a cold chill goes through him.
He looks back over to Ted, who is sharing the same unsettled look as him.
Cautiously they step over and around the broken glass and metal door frame.
They make their way down the school hallway, looking for any left behind.
Most rooms have the same old boring textbooks and assignments. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Others had the roofs caved in exposing the sky above.
They make their way to Mr. Ryan's classroom, still intact.
They look through the items left on the desks and bookshelves. A thick layer of dust had built up on everything.
Nothing stood out from the ordinary yet again.
Just as they were about to leave, something catches his eye.
On one of the shelves, the yearbooks we lined up. The last year it has is the year they graduate. 1989.
Intrigued, he pulls it off the shelf.
Opening it, he flips through it seeing the faces of people in his class.
He turns the pages until he's past his grade.
"Dude...check this out."
Ted ambled over to his side, looking over Bill's shoulder.
"Notice anything odd about this?"
Ted is quiet as he looks over the pages.
Ted's eyes widening looking up at Bill.
"We aren't in here…"
Bill shakes his head 'no', a bad feeling setting in him.
Ted grabs the year before off the shelf, flipping to their grade.
"We aren't here either…."
Bill has a feeling that they won't have to look at the other to know they won't be there.
"It's like we didn't…"
"...Even exist." Bill finishes
They gaze at each other, dread setting in.
"Is this what happens if we don't…"
"I believe so…"
"If we don't get back home, is this what will happen?"Bill says, not wanting to panic. "But we have no way home…" Ted says.
They come to the same realization that they're stuck there.
They don't have enough time to dwell on it, before their thoughts are interrupted by a loud crack of thunder.
Moving to look out the window they see the sky gradually darken.
Loud pitter patter grows to a downpour.
"We should probably wait for the rain to pass.." Ted says taking his backpack off.
"Yeah" Bill says as he discards his bag.
" We should rest for a while." He says sitting down on the linoleum, leaning his back against the wall.
Ted joined him on the floor, sitting next to him.
"....not like we have anywhere to go…" Ted says, dispirited.
Bill opened his mouth in protest but he couldn't think of anything.
He wishes he had some sort of hope.
A ray of sunshine.
But
Nothing.
He just silently agreed, nodding
A moment went by before he spoke up again.
"What time is it over there by the way?"
Ted checks his watch "currently….5:30 pm"
He hums in response and before a thought strikes him.
"Huh...they won't even notice we are gone for like a week.."
"...nope."
"Wonder how we even got here."
They were silent for a bit before Ted said something. "Remember when Rufus first took us through time?"
"Yeah.."
"Maybe we somehow ended up on a different timeline where we didn't exist."
"....could be."
They were silent again. The only noise that can be heard is the rain.
"Do you think there are time lines where you exist and I don't? Or or I exist and you don't?" Bill asks
"Probably….I can't even…"Ted trails off, looking down at his hands
"Even what"
"Imagine life without you." Ted says looking back up at Bill.
Oh.
"Me neither" He says back.
They look at each other for a moment longer, before being interrupted by another loud crack of thunder.
They flinched, as the building rattled.
In the distant part of the school, something loud could be heard falling.
They turn their head away from the loud noise back to each other.
"Maybe Rufus can find us."
"Hope so."
As they sit there, it gradually gets darker. And the storm is showing no signs of lightning up.
Bill stands up looking out the window, watching as the rain hits the pavement below them.
"I don't think we'll be heading out any time soon."
"No...we should probably stay the night. We can leave in the morning" Bill suggests, turning to look at Ted.
Ted nods.
Bill sits back down, opening his backpack.
He didn't even realize how hungry he was until he saw the snacks inside.
Ted looks up from his bag,a worried expression on his face. "Dude….what are we going to do for food?"
"I don't know…." Bill says, growing more unsure in their situation.
"We should take it easy on what we do have, just in case." Bill suggests, grabbing a bag of chips from inside.
Ted nods and opens up a small thing of cookies.
"We can go tomorrow and see if there's anything left in the stores." Ted says, before biting into a cookie.
"Good idea, dude." Bill says, a small bit of relief hit.
Ted smiles back, almost too dark to tell.
They eat in relative silence, rain and thunder echo throughout the school.
As Bill finishes eating, he can't see Ted, or much of anything in the room. He gets brief glimpses when lightning flashes, lighting up the room.
"So if we didn't exist….what happened to everyone?"
Bill ponders this for a moment.
"I don't know….it's almost like they just vanished." Bill says.
As if one day.
Poof
Gone.
"Huh...that's another thing." Ted says, shaking Bill out of his thoughts.
He hummed in response.
"Have you seen any other life? Other than plants."
Now that Ted mentioned it.
No.
No animals. Or bugs for that matter.
Bill furrowed his brow, unsettled by this.
"No…."
"Me neither.."
Bill hears Ted lean backwards to lay down next to him.
He follows suit, feeling the exhaustion from the day hit.
"Night Bill" he hears Ted say quietly.
"Night Ted." He says back, reminding him of their sleepovers.
Slowly but surely, they fall asleep in Mr. Ryan's classroom. The sounds of the storm continued on through the night.