"Hi, Chelsea." Katt snidely said to the last person she wanted within earshot.
"That's Chelsea Daisy Mallory the third to you!" That person blurted out. She had bright blue eyes, and had a slight tan from her trips to the beach and had mint green hair tied into pigtails with gold ribbons. Her hairstyle helped show off her large gold earrings, which had a teardrop shape with a small cluster of gems along the bottom. She was an 18-year old student at Capital Remedial who was a direct descendant of the former royal family.
She takes pride in her family still being one of the richest, but her inherited wealth couldn't buy her any sense!
"Pardon me. I was just explaining this school's history to this time traveler!" Katt said.
"Don't you have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to be admitted to the elite prep school?" Aurora nonchalantly asked.
"It helps a lot, but there are commoners who got in through scholarships." Chelsea said in a huff. "Or from becoming witches who risked their souls to pay their way in, but you know they're losers and will get expelled if they become oath-breakers. I'm not going to do that and be a loser. I guess I'll have to... study." She explained after a pause. She grit her teeth for a moment at the thought of studying.
"Oh, I got something better than a silver spoon though!" She boasted. From one of the pockets of her jacket, she pulled out a golden spoon that had diamonds along it with delicate rococo-esque decorations. "I have a gold, diamond-encrusted spoon!"
"She thinks that makes her better than us." Katt whispered to Aurora.
Chelsea's flaunting of her wealth drew the attention of another of her rivals though.
"Nice spoon you got there! It looks so shiny... and valuable!" A blonde-haired student with a blue bandana said. Chelsea quickly recoiled, put her spoon away and ran off.
Aurora sighed. "She's definitely one of their descendants. It's a shame she doesn't have the humility the last king and queen had."
"I know, right? They were among the only good people in that dynasty." Kayla remarked.
"I should introduce myself. The name's Aurora, and I'm a time traveler!" Aurora introduced herself.
"I'm Katt! Some of my friends are getting their things and they'd want to meet you too!" Katt cheerfully said to Aurora.
"I shouldn't stay for very long." Aurora said nervously.
"Could you answer a few questions?" Katt asked.
"Well, what are they?"
"Which time period did you warp from?"
"The 1880's. I had to use a time machine to warp out of it, because I didn't have enough power left."
Aurora's explanation excited Katt and furthered her curiosity. "Was there a fight?! Were you in The Great Power Struggle?! Did you fight alongside the Magical Renegades?!"
The last question surprised Aurora, but she answered confidently. "Yes, yes, and yes! I was there doing some research when I witnessed and got caught up in it!" She boasted.
"Should you really be boasting about that?" Kayla butted in. "However, the reports about The Great Power Struggle after the past was changed didn't mention that any time travelers fought alongside the Magical Renegades. I would've expected that some witness or historian would've mentioned that, but they don't record everything." She said with suspicion.
"Are you saying I'm insignificant?" Aurora asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"No, the historians are." Kayla said in a deadpan tone as she shrugged. The wind started to blow.
"Harsh."
"Hey. I don't make the rules for this. I don't expect to be recorded in the history books. I'm not planning on it. Aside from the most famous or infamous, we're all-- Ooh-- There's the metaphor I was looking for!" Kayla snarked. The wind picked up, leaves and visible dust were blowing.
"A time traveler who fought alongside the Magical Renegades is cool with me!" Katt said.
"You got the idea!" Aurora said, having cheered up.
"Hmmph." Kayla pouted with her arms crossed.
A magic circle formed under Aurora's feet; it was a white circle with a 12-point star in the middle and Roman numerals from 1-12 arranged like a clock as with the circle she cast when she warped back in time. Leaves started to blow around the circle, and Aurora held onto her hat.
"I'm out of here, but perhaps our paths will cross with the Magical Renegades!" Aurora said. "Even for you, oh snarky one! Have you considered it?" She remarked to Kayla.
"You can't just teleport away before I can answer-- you could but you'd--" Kayla said in a hurry, but it was too late; the time traveler teleported away in a flash of lilac light.
"Aww... Not fair...She got the last laugh. " Kayla said dejectedly. "No one gets the last laugh but me..." She said more menacingly although it was mostly to herself.
That night, Aurora was at a vaporware-inspired bar. There were framed abstract 3D renders and some neon lights in different shapes along the walls and the bar had pink ambient lighting. She changed her hairstyle again to one she didn't wear as a student at the Academy for Time Travel; her hair was more of a dirty blonde color instead of the brighter shade it had been, and was in a short slightly spiky bob cut with some hair on the sides of her head sticking up, in a hair style reminiscent of A Flock of Seagulls.
Her outfit also fit the setting of the bar.
She wanted to ask Susana how The Great Power Struggle was resolved in the new timeline, but she was on the run from The Academy and couldn't stay in one place for too long.
"How did it get resolved? Did she and the other Renegades survive?" She wondered while she looked at her smartphone.
She read about a stand-off that happened between Susana-- not Renegade Liberty, but her regular self, against a crowd of distrustful humans and mages. The source she looked at showed an old sepia-toned photo of Susana standing against the wall with a defiant expression as if she was going to take something on.
"She could've powered up to defend herself, but she didn't... She persuaded them into not fighting?..." Aurora thought as she continued reading.
She continued reading, surprised by each event. Through the rest of the year, there were still clashes between the Magical Renegades and some humans and mages that didn't trust them. Some of them escalated into battles, but the Magical Renegades won through diplomacy and put an end to The Great Power Struggle.
Aurora's worries were eased. The outcome seemed to be one of the best-case scenarios and she felt hopeful as she read about the next few years after the end of the Great Power Struggle. What she read though would surprise her!
"The Magical Renegades became a prominent team of heroes?!" She thought.
There was a more surprising photo in the source she was reading. Another sepia-toned photo showing Susana smiling and dressed in a suit behind a backdrop with banners. This was her inauguration photo; she was elected the country's second president in 1893 at age 27.
"Susana got elected to office?!" Aurora thought. She was amazed and but shocked that Susana or anyone else with the Magical Renegades would run for office, but this is a historical photo that Susana would be proud to have in the history books! "What was her approval rating?"
After two more hours of reading...
"What was I thinking?... Bummer! Susana and the other Magical Renegades accomplished so much without me!" Aurora thought in frustration. She had a lot of conflicting feelings. "Good for her. Good for them. They proved that our style of magic can be used for good, and she earned enough people's trust as a community organizer to get elected to lead the entire country!" She thought proudly and without any resentment.
Aurora felt a sense of pride in helping the Magical Renegades, and seeing Susana accomplish things she didn't think she could before, to do the extraordinary. "She deserves the credit and her legendary reputation--" But her thought was interrupted by another frustration.
"Ack! That photo of us-- err-- of Renegade Midnight Conductor and Renegade Liberty at the celebration banquet was out of focus! Curse these 10 minute exposure times!"
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