THE MOMENT
"I don't care if she is a kid...," Ophelia steeled herself once she noticed the teenager. The girl with bright pink pigtails was obviously a time traveler like the others had been. Something about her stood out from the other shoppers around. She wore a crisp white suit that seemed brighter than everyone else. It was a Thursday morning and the mall had just opened. There weren't many people yet; and, Ophelia easily spotted the teenager walking toward her. She spent a lot of time wondering why exactly a seamstress was deserving of so much attention; but, by now it no longer mattered. She decided she was going to be the villain they all thought she was, starting with this new attempt.
She grabbed the sturdiest pair of shears she had on hand and waited. She wasn't concerned about causing an uproar, though. The Kiosk she made her living from was somewhat out of the way. It only made it more apparent that the pink-haired teen was headed to her. Somehow, she'd always managed to survive their attempts and continue working like nothing happened. She chalked it up to time shenanigans. There'd been too many to count, and they all kind of blurred together. She knew she must have defended herself and this time she was going to make the first move.
The teen met her eyes as she approached and smiled. Ophelia returned the smile while she formed her plan. There was a certain rhythm to the attempts on her life and she wanted to wait until the last possible second to catch the teen off guard. And, she wanted to make sure she wasn't letting herself get paranoid by lashing out at anyone that happened by.
"Hi, I'm Justice," the teen greeted her once she was close enough.
"Ophelia," she nodded and introduced herself.
"I'm looking for some special thread, I'm hoping you can help me," Justice said. Ophelia nodded with a fake smile. So far, everything was as expected. Justice seemed more polite than the others, but she was still following the same script.
"Sure, what exactly are you looking for?" Ophelia asked. She tightened the grip on her shears. The girl would say what she was looking for and Ophelia would say she doesn't have it in stock. After that exchange, the time traveler would attack.
"It's kind of rare, so I understand if you don't have it...," Justice said. "It's called Void thread."
"Oh sure, I have some..," Ophelia nodded as she turned to face her victim. She was noticeably surprised.
"You do?" Justice asked.
"Uhuh,... it's right... HERE!" Ophelia moved as fast as she could. She raised her arm to bring down the shears on the girl's neck and shoulder. But, she didn't complete the motion.
"STOP," Justice said. She didn't even blink; but, she had a pink crystalline crown glowing above her head. Ophelia stopped instantly before she reached her target. "That's not supposed to happen," Justice giggled as she reached up and pried the shears out of Ophelia's hand.
"What's your favorite number?" she asked.
"14!" Ophelia answered before she could process anything that had just happened.
"Okay, that explains it," Justice nodded. "You can move now," she said as she stepped back with the scissors in hand. The crown faded out of existence and Ophelia felt in control of her body again. "I'm sure you have some questions. I can't answer all of them, but you can ask some while I arrange for someone else to help you out," she said.
"Why are time travelers trying to kill me?" Ophelia asked. It was the most obvious question to ask first and yet, Justice tilted her head in confusion.
"Time travelers? Says who?" she asked.
"It's obvious...," Ophelia answered. "I've seen others appear from out of nowhere. You're dressed kind of appropriately; but, I've seen all kinds of people from knights to futuristic engineers coming to try and kill me. No one else in the mall seems to notice them; there's obviously something going on. I just want to know what I did; what I eventually do to make the future want to come back and kill me."
"Nothing," Justice shrugged. "It has nothing to do with you," she said.
"I think it has a little something to do with me! All those attempts on my life have to be for a reason!"
"Well, of course, there's a reason," Justice nodded. "It's just that the reason has nothing to do with you; it's pure chance," she said. "And, they're not time travelers exactly," she added.
"What does that mean?" Ophelia asked.
"Someone will explain it better; but, here's a quick version. This is the AlterNet," Justice spread her arms to gesture at the entire mall, or maybe the entire Earth. "It's a game and you were a character that drops quest loot. No one singled you out; you just happened to be programmed as the quest NPC. But, now that you're Awake, we'll get you taken care of."
"A game!??" Ophelia asked. She didn't want to believe it; but, it lined up with several details she'd noticed over the countless attempts. She looked around at the few shoppers walking by. "They're NPCs too...?" she asked
"They're NPCs," Justice nodded. "You're not anymore. But, I'm curious; what was your plan? You didn't know they were NPCs, were you just going to kill me and keep working?"
"I noticed that they didn't notice..," Ophelia shrugged. "I decided to become whatever it was the time travelers were trying to stop," she said. Justice giggled and shook her head.
"You didn't even know what that was; were you just going to be evil to everyone?"
"Pretty much...," Ophelia nodded. "...how was I supposed to know you weren't time travelers?"
"Why was that your first guess?" Justice asked.
"It fit," Ophelia replied. "Something strange was happening that I couldn't explain. But, things always went back to normal after I fought off their attempts, so I assumed time was involved."
"Oh, I can see that...," As she answered, a tall black portal opened next to her; just like all the other ones that Ophelia assumed were time portals. A red-haired man in a white suit walked out and smiled at her. "...this is Phoenix, he'll get you squared away," Justice said.
"So there won't be any more attempts on my life?" Ophelia asked.
"About that...," Justice nodded even as she answered. "You don't want to keep referring to them as 'attempts'," she said.
"Well, I'm standing here, so they failed. I think it's a fair...," Justice shook her head while Ophelia explained herself. It took her a few moments but she finally understood. Now she knew why she was always at work the next day after an attempt. It was clear why she could never remember anything after the fact. They'd all been successful and she had no idea how many times it had happened.
"... this is the first time this happens, right??" Ophelia gestured at Phoenix and Justice.
"Probably," Phoenix nodded.
"As far as we know," Justice agreed.