Chapter Text
Present day. January 20, 2056
"Rosemary Ludenberg..can you tell us how your life's changed ever since your father built that time machine?"
"Ms. Ludenberg! Can you tell us what your father is planning to build next?"
"Ludenberg? Have you've tried the time machine out yet? Does it really work?"
All Rosemary wanted to do was to go to school. But all she saw were bright cameras flashing in her face, and microphones being held against her mouth.
Yes, life has definitely changed ever since Rosemary's father built that time machine....
Before then, nobody knew she existed. Nobody had heard of the Ludenberg name.
But now...
Everyone at school seemed to want to be friends with her..
Either that, or they wanted her help with homework because she was "smart."
She hated that she was smart. She hated that everyone seemed so interested in her all the sudden. It felt...fake.
And..what she hated most of all was the fact that her dad had stopped paying attention to her. Instead, he would be at interviews, interviews, and more interviews.
All she wanted was to live a normal life; one where she could live everyday in peace. No cameras, no chaos. A world where she'd be forever alone.
Rosemary pushed her way through the reporters and the cameras, and began her walk to school.
Apparently, the reporters wanted to document her walking, too.
"Not only do I walk, but I eat and drink too. How fascinating!" Rosemary thought.
Yet, reporters and people on the street were gawking and pointing at her like she was some alien that came out of a UFO.
She didn't look like an alien, did she?
She forgot to brush her hair this morning, so maybe she did look like one...
"just a few more minutes and I'll be at school..and I won't have to deal with these reporters.." Rosemary thought.
"Ludenberg! Why are you wearing that watch?"
"Because..I like to check the time sometimes. Crazy, I know." Rosemary thought.
but...one of them asked a question Rosemary just couldn't ignore.
"Rosemary? Do you think we could speak to your father about his work?"
"Well, he barely has any time for me, so I doubt he'll have time for you." Rosemary said.
She then opened the school doors, and walked inside..
"Wait! Rosemary!" The reporter yelled.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
We'll let the security guards deal with you....
And as the doors closed, Rosemary finally felt a sense of calm...of freedom. She quickly pulled her phone out to get a good look at her black mop-looking hair, and tried to fix it....
"Hi Rosemaryyyy..." two identical voices said.
Oh. No. These were her followers...the students who wanted to be her "friend."
She didn't even know any of their names. So she came up with some.
It was a group of two girls who looked like siblings, so she just liked to call the two "tweedle dee and tweedle dum."
"So..like..is your dad rich..?" Tweedle Dee asked.
Of course he was. But that's the exact answer Tweedle Dee wanted.
"Not yet." Rosemary quickly lied.
"What a shame.."
How did she believe that?
"Do you like..need a step mom or somethingggg..." Tweedle Dum asked.
"Excuse me?!"
"Calm down. It was just a joke.."
Rosemary rolled her eyes. "Can you just..let me get to Science class? Please? I'm not in the mood."
"Fineeee. I guess...." Tweedle Dee said.
They both left, and Rosemary felt like screaming. But unfortunately, she could not.
Who would even ask that type of question...
Apparently Tweedle Dum would.
———————————————————
Rosemary stepped into Science class, which was her favorite subject..despite the annoying kids in her class.
She hated that Science was her favorite. So predictable.
But..the only reason why she liked the class was because of the teacher; Ms. Lee.
She made Science fun, wasn't too strict...but wasn't too nice either...
She liked rewarding the "good kids" in her class with lollipops, and Rosemary would always make sure she got one.
Teacher's pet? Yes. Competitive? Also yes.
"Good morning class!" Ms. Lee said with a bright happy smile on her face. You could tell she enjoyed her job..
The class didn't say good morning back...they were all half asleep.
"Today, we will be doing a group project."
The whole class groaned, including Rosemary. She preferred doing things by herself...not because she hates people, but because she has a VISION.
Every project Rosemary gets, she has a clear blueprint of what she wants it to look like..and the partner always messes her blueprint up.
Maybe she would get a partner who also has a specific blueprint laid out...
"The group project will be on making a cell. You must make it out of paper mache..and it must have all the parts of the cell in it. The nucleus, the mitochondria, everything!"
"Should it be life sized?" A student joked.
Ms. Lee laughed. "Obviously not..."
"Can we pick our partners?"
"Nope! I'm picking partners!"
The class groaned again.
"I know..I know.....so terrible.." Ms. Lee murmured.
"So lameee..." a student complained.
"Ok...first pairing issss..Vanessa..and Sarah."
Rosemary started to think about which partner she was going to get..it would either be someone cool, or someone really..annoying.
"Next pairing...Rosemary and Asher." Ms. Lee finally said.
Asher Vu? oh no...of course Rosemary got a super annoying kid.
Asher was known as the "class clown" of the class. Him and his friends would always say inappropriate jokes, thinking they were comedic geniuses.
They weren't.
Rosemary didn't like Asher. But, she didn't despise him. She just hated his stupid curly toothpaste blue hair, and his weird black beanie, and the fact that he wears the same brown flannel like..every day.
Granted, Rosemary wore the same Varsity Jacket every day, but that was different. that was her mom's...
Maybe she was being a little biased...
but, she didn't like Asher. That was for certain. And now, she was forced to work with him.
Asher glanced at her for a second, and then glanced back at his phone.
Yep. This is going to be fun. Oh, well. Not like it mattered, anyway. She'd just...do the project by herself. Or just..skip it entirely.
"Ok..get with your pairs and discuss! Your projects will be due in two weeks." Ms. Lee said.
So...Rosemary got up out of her seat, and sat beside him to discuss the project.
"So..uh...let me just do the project on my own, ok?" Rosemary began.
Asher just kept staring at his phone, Rosemary wanting to throw it across the room...
"What are you looking at on there that's so entertaining?" Rosemary asked.
"Oh. Sorry! I'm looking at what a cell model looks like so that I can get some ideas!"
"Oh." Rosemary blushed in embarrassment. "Look, I said I'd do the project on my own, so don't worry about it."
"I..want to help, though! Do you not trust me with this project?"
"Well..you don't really have the best reputation...."
"What do you mean?"
"You and your friends don't really..take stuff seriously."
"Oh. That's..understandable..but I'll try my best to be serious!" He smiled.
Rosemary didn't believe him for a second. He would ruin everything.
"I still need to convince him..." She murmured.
Asher put down his phone, looking Rosemary straight in the eyes. "So...should we meet up at my house to work on the project? Or yours?"
"We should go to your house."
"Why?"
"There might be..reporters at my house. We'll never get the project done."
"Oh, I don't mind. I wanna do it at your house!"
"N-no. We should really do it at your place..."
"I seriously don't mind!"
Rosemary could tell that he wasn't going to budge anytime soon. "Ok..fine. We can do it at my house. Only if you promise not to touch the time machine."
"I promise!"
Rosemary gave a death glare to him. "..don't lay a single finger on it."
"I swear! I won't touch it." Asher put his hands up.
"Hmm..alright. I'll see you after school, then."
———————————————————
Rosemary walked home with Asher by her side, blankly staring at the sidewalk.
"..We're almost there." Rosemary said, her heart pounding out of chest for..some reason.
"Good because my phone is almost dead...and there's no sunlight to charge it."
"That's why I have the IPhone 13. It's old, but at least it doesn't need solar power to charge it."
"True..but my IPhone 24 can take high quality 4K pictures!"
"True but...at least mine was affordable."
"No offense, but you could probably buy a million IPhone 24's with the amount of money you have..."
Rosemary just nodded, too tired to argue.
She walked up to her house, and again..was bombarded by reporters..
"Woah! So cool!" Asher said.
"Who is this Rosemary? Your boyfriend?" One reporter asked.
"Sorry, Mr! We're..not together..!" Asher said sheepishly.
"Stop...you're giving them what they want."
"I've never gotten this many pictures taken of me before!" Asher said, ignoring Rosemary.
Rosemary quickly walked away from him, opening the door. She was about to slam it shut..when..
"Waiiit! I'm here..I'm here." Asher yelled.
"You done?"
"Yeah. I'm done. Sorry."
"Ok. Come on in..."
Asher stepped inside, looking around in awe. "..I thought you would be living in a mansion or something..."
"Nope. It's a normal boring old house."
"Wow! Where are your parent's?" Asher quickly changed the subject.
"My dad's doing an interview. He'll be gone all day."
"And your mom....?"
It took a lot of willpower for Rosemary to not start yelling at him..
"My mom's in the living room if you want to say hi." She said through gritted teeth.
Asher innocently went into the living room, and soon realized there was nobody there...
"Where...."
Rosemary pointed to the shelf where a blue urn was sitting.
"There she is."
Asher's jaw dropped for a split second, cringing to himself.
Rosemary walked off to collect newspaper for the project, while Asher stood there bewildered...
"S-so..where's your time machine?" Asher asked, changing the subject. Smart move.
"It's in the garage..." Rosemary said, looking down at the newspaper.
"but you shouldn't go in there. Remember your promise-" Rosemary looked back up, and Asher was gone.
"Of course. Why did I tell him?" Rosemary thought.
She sprinted after him, putting the newspaper on a table nearby.
"Wh..what are you doing?!" She yelled to him, trying to catch her breath.
"I'm going to Antarctica. What do you THINK I'm doing?! I'm gonna look at your time machine!"
Rosemary groaned, silently hoping that Asher would transport himself to Antarctica....
She followed Asher anyway to make sure he didn't do anything too stupid...
"Woahhh! So cool!" Asher said.
Rosemary finally made it to the garage, her heart pounding out of her chest.
"REMEMBER..YOUR..PROMISEE.." She struggled to say.
"Of course! I would never break a promise."
He looked around more, peeking around at the boxes nearby the machine.
"What's in here?"
"My dad's artifacts from the past..."
"You sure he didn't get these from a museum or something..?" Asher said, holding a rusty horseshoe.
"I'm sure!"
Asher put the horseshoe back, and stepped closer to the time machine.
"Whattt are you doing..." Rosemary said.
"I just wanna...step inside...."
"NO! Do not..step inside! We're...We're supposed to be working on the cell project! Does that ring a bell to you?"
"We have two weeks to get it done...I'm sure looking at this machine won't drastically change everything..."
"P-please. Don't go in there..."
"I won't touch anything...!" Asher repeated. "Come inside! It's cozy!"
Rosemary reluctantly squeezed in with him in hopes she could convince him to stop his horseplay, crossing her arms. "Can we leave now? It's dangerous in here..."
"Yes! We can- What is this a keyboard?" Asher went to press the numbers, but Rosemary pushed his hand back.
"Those numbers are for the date you want to travel to!"
"Oh! So I could just put...4..21..2038..it would take me there?"
"Yes! It would. Why did you pick that date..?"
"It was the day I was born. First thing I thought of..."
"Ah. I see....well. This was fun, but I'm gonna need you to leave."
"Can I just try it one time?" Asher reached for the buttons again.
"No! You promised not to touch it!"
Rosemary pushed his hand back again, but he wouldn't go down without a fight...
They frantically fought, pushing each other left and right.
"Stop!" Rosemary said.
"I just want..to-"
Suddenly, the machine made a loud noise that resembled a car engine roaring to life...
"What's happening...?" Asher said.
"..You idiot! You pressed the start button!"
"I didn't press it!"
The machine started shaking uncontrollably, sparks began flying everywhere...
"Ahh!" Asher screamed.
"Hold on tight...."
"Are we..actually going somewhere?!"
"Yes!"
"No way. NOOO way....."
The machine shook more rapidly, Asher looked like he was about to hurl...
then...the machine suddenly stopped moving.
———————————————————
??, ??, ????
Asher's legs were shaking. "Thank god..that's over. Uh..where are we?"
"I don't know..."
"Um...neither of us put a date in, right? So...we were probably taken somewhere random..." Asher stepped out onto the grass, looking rather dizzy. He wasn't able to stand upright...then..he threw up.
Rosemary looked away in disgust. "Motion sickness, huh..."
After he was done, Asher then started to look around at the scenery. "Seems normal..."
Rosemary laughed. "You look like a dork..."
"I...do...?" Asher looked down at his outfit, which somehow magically changed. He was wearing a brimmed hat, along with clothes that a safari explorer would wear.
"Well...you've got the same outfit I do..." Asher said.
"Yeah, but I look cute. You don't." Rosemary said, striking a pose.
"...Cute? You wish." Asher laughed.
"Whatever. Let's just..go home. I had my fun."
"Agreed. We need to get that project done!"
Just then, they both heard a loud roar from the distance.
"W-what...was...that?!" Asher yelled.
"I don't know.." Rosemary shrugged.
Asher ran off, looking for where the noise was coming from.
He pushed through all the leaves and vines, frantically looking around. Rosemary followed behind him.
"So...cool time machine, huh?"
"I don't believe this is real. There's no way we're in a different time zone. I mean...all this time machine did was give us a new wardrobe."
"We're in a different timeline I swear!"
"No...we're probably still in present time...just.....in the Jungle..."
"The Jungle? You think we're in the Jungle?"
"Yeah. And that noise was probably coming from a monkey..or a Lion...!"
Rosemary face palmed. "Ugh. Follow me..."
"Why?"
"I'll show you where the noise is coming from."
"...ok..."
Rosemary turned the opposite direction, and led the way. Asher was surprised she knew where she was going; it was almost like she had been there before...
"Ok. Behind this leaf..will reveal the animal who made that noise..." Rosemary said.
"Ok! Show me!"
"Are you sureeeee you want to see..?"
"Yes!" Asher said, trying to move the leaf. But Rosemary wouldn't let him.
She laughed as he got more and more irritated.
"Can you show me already?" He said.
"Ok...Welcome...to Jurassic Park..."
She moved the leaf, and Asher quickly ran out. He suddenly stopped, his jaw dropped.
There, standing right in front of him..was a huge dinosaur...
It roared again, shaking the ground beneath them.
"Oh my god. Oh my god..." Asher said, his voice shook.
"I've always wanted to say that! So glad that I finally have someone..." Rosemary said in excitement.
"I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming..."
"Nope. That's a real Brontosaurus...I'm surprised it's here....it should be extinct by now..."
The dinosaur reached it long neck towards a tree, and bit into a leaf. Asher looked like he was about to faint.
"This isn't the Jungle now, is it?" Rosemary said, smirking.
Asher gulped, nodding his head. "This..is crazy! This is insane! I-I..can't believe...we're actually..standing next to a dinosaur!"
"There's a lot more where that came from...wait till you see the T-Rex."
"T-REX?"
"Yeah. This is the Cretaceous period...which is why I'm surprised that this Brontosaurus is still alive. Must be one of the last ones..."
Asher was trying to wrap his head around everything, which was quite hilarious to see.
"I thought you said...you had no idea where we were.."
"..I lied. Sorry."
"Why do that...?"
"...I don't trust others much."
The dinosaur then looked straight at Asher, and lowered its head down to get a better look..
"Nice dinosaur...good dinosaur...." Asher said.
The dinosaur started sniffing Asher and he cowered in fear.
"I do not smell appetizing...please leave me aloneeee..."
"It only eats plants, you dingus!"
"O-oh..it does..?"
Asher watched as the dinosaur lifted its head back up..and moved on, chewing on the leaves again.
"Well..that's good. Plants are good...." Asher sighed in relief.
Rosemary laughed, clearly having way more fun than Asher was.
They then heard another roar..this time, not coming from the Brontosaurus...
"Uh oh..." Rosemary said.
"Uh oh? What do you mean uh oh?"
"That's the roar of a T-Rex..."
"IT'S HERE?!"
"Yeah..it's here."
"Right. I wanna go home now. Where's the time machine?"
"I know where!" Rosemary said, glancing at her watch. "Follow me..and be sure to be very..quiet."
"You're asking a lot out of me." He laughed.
"Asher."
That was the first time she had referred to him by name, which quickly caught his attention.
"This is a matter of life or death. Follow me, and stay quiet." Rosemary said.
Asher seemed to finally understand the seriousness of the situation.
He nodded, and Rosemary lead the way again...
Rosemary made it past the trees and foliage again, Asher not making a single sound. It was quite odd...
Rosemary kept staring down at her watch, and suddenly ducked down.
Asher ducked down too...Rosemary quickly covered herself and Asher in leaves.
They then saw a huge T-Rex, biting into the Brontosaurus they saw earlier..
"Well. Now Brontosaurus' are extinct..." Rosemary whispered.
Asher gulped, looking away.
"Come on. We're almost there. Stay low to the ground."
They made it back, but Rosemary was shocked to see that the machine was gone...
"What..? It was just here...where did it go...?" Rosemary said, looking at her watch.
"Why do you keep looking at your watch?" Asher whispered.
"Oh. This is a GPS for the time machine. But..it looks like it doesn't work that well since...it's not here."
"Maybe you went the wrong way."
"No. I went the right way. See? Your vomit is all over the grass."
"Gross. But you're right. The time machine was here just a moment ago..."
"Wait..look! In that nest..!" Rosemary pointed to a dinosaur nest across the way, which had the time machine laying neatly inside, along with two eggs.
"How did it get over there..?"
"Looks like one of the dinosaurs thought the time machine was a lost egg."
"It's not gonna be happy when we take it away..."
"No. It's not..."
They jumped when they heard the loud roar again, and Rosemary quickly turned around...
The T-Rex was starting to catch up to them, with blood staining it's teeth...
"Please don't tell me that those eggs are the T-Rex's eggs..." Asher said.
"I think they are...."
"Of course."
"It doesn't seem hungry though...it already ate that Brontosaurus!"
"Oh..I bet it's still hungry."
"It'll be ok. Let's just...be very stealthy..."
"Stealth is my middle name..." Asher said.
"Mine is Ophelia."
"Shusssh..I'm being stealthy..."
Rosemary covered her face with her hands, giving a long sigh.
Asher crawled slowly towards the T-Rex nest, making sure to look at the T-Rex every now and again to see where it was at.
The T-Rex gave a loud roar once Asher touched its nest.
"I'm not trying to take your eggs!" Asher said, taking his hands off.
The T-Rex stomped towards him, fury in its eyes...
"Oh...oh no...."
"Asher-" Rosemary called, but it was too late. Asher started bolting away from the T-Rex...
Him running just made the T-Rex go even faster. Rosemary saw it gaining up on her, so she tensed up her muscles and remained still.
She watched as the T-Rex flew right past her...and keep gaining towards Asher, who was frantically running towards the open fields, screaming.
"My hair..may look blue..but it's NOT blueberry flavored!" Asher shouted at the dinosaur.
The T-Rex was just moving closer and closer...shaking the ground beneath..
Asher was slowly losing his footing, but he just kept on running...
Asher felt hot air from his back, and saw that the T-Rex was inches away from making him dinner...
"AHH!" Asher closed his eyes..bracing himself for the impact..
Suddenly a force pushed him out of the way, causing him to topple down onto the grass. Asher opened his eyes, and saw Rosemary crouching in front of him.
Asher lifted his head up, but Rosemary just pushed it back down.
"Don't..move." She said.
Asher remained still, trying to control his pounding heart...
He saw a pair of big yellow eyes staring right at Rosemary, and Rosemary staring right back.
Asher just laid there, admiring her bravery. The T-Rex then moved its head, and walked off into a different direction...
"They can't see you if you don't move. See that, dad? Movies taught me something.." Rosemary suddenly said.
"Oh my god! Rosemary that was awesome..!" Asher said, standing up.
"Thank you. Thank you..." She bowed as if she was in a theater performance.
"I..thought I was gonna DIE. I swear..I think my life flashed before my eyes back there."
"Well it's a good thing I saved you..."
"Yeah! Anyway..our time machine is free from any dinosaurs now! We should go before Mama T-Rex comes back..."
"Yeah. We should. I'll race ya!"
"No way...I don't think I can run anymore..."
"Aww...no?"
"Nope. Once I get home, I'm gonna take a 5 hour nap..."
"M-Me too...."
They made it back to the dinosaurs nest, where the machine laid with two other eggs..
One of them was already broken..the shell pieces were scattered about everywhere, and the other was still in tact...
Asher picked up one of the shell pieces, and pocketed it.
"Souvenir." He said to Rosemary.
"Now do you still believe that my dads artifacts were from a museum..?"
"Definitely not."
Rosemary laughed, entering the time machine. Asher squeezed in with her, trying to make himself some room..
"Alright...let's set it back to...what's the date again?"
"January 20th, 2056." Rosemary pressed the numbers as she said them.
"Righttt...I always forget it's January. Feels more like March right now..."
Rosemary pressed the start button, but the machine did nothing.
"Hm...hang on. Let me try again..."
She tried it again, but still..nothing.
"What's going on?" Asher said.
"I-it's not working!"
"What do you mean it's not working?"
Suddenly, the machine shook, volts of electricity were flying at every direction...
"Um...is this supposed to happen?" Asher said.
"No!"
The machine shook more and more...and suddenly, they were gone off to another time period....