Donte's POV
Shante didn't seem all that bad when we were in the elevator going down, but I'm sure Cassandra would check her out to make sure she was fine.
Once the doors opened, my jaws completely dropped.
"Donte?" Cassandra questioned, "Just where in the heck were you?"
"Romaine?" I questioned
"Yes but, no." he answered, "I get that a lot around here."
"Yeah, I'm lost."
"And you, young man," Cas said, "have a lot of explaining to do."
"Yeah and you need to explain why Romaine looks like that; and also why he has that weird accent."
"And what happened to your sister?" Romaine asked
"I don't really know; I just woke up and went to save her."
"We're going to need more details than that." Cas said. "And I need to check your vitals."
"I don't know what else to tell you."
"Well maybe tell us how~" Cas got weirdly interrupted by the elevator opening again
"Romaine?" I questioned again with my jaws dropped low, "And some other dude?"
"What the bloody hell's going on here?" the first Romaine questioned
"He encountered Zero, I think I got there in time." answered the other guy
"And just who are you?" Cassandra questioned
"Come on Cas," he said, taking off his cowl, "You really don't recognize me?"
"I.. Romaine?.."
"Three Romaines?" I screamed in confusion
The third Romaine looked much more like an adult.
"I repeat," said the first Romaine, "what in the bloody hell is going on here?"
"Look we can all sort this out later." said the third Romaine, "But right now we have to take care of him; he's dying."
"You're right." Cassandra agreed, "Help me take him over to the medical room."
All of us helped to pick up Romaine #2 and did just as Cassandra had instructed.
~~~~~~~
We all had to wait until Romaine #2 woke up to get answers from #3.
When he finally did then at that point we were more interested in #3's story than how #2 was doing.
"He's finally conscious." Cas told us, "His vitals look stable; he'll be fine."
"Awesome, now who the heck are you?" I asked #3
"What's going on here?" #2 questioned when he saw #3
"Yes, now's the time you explain yourself." said #1
"Well," started #3, "I'm Romaine, from the future."
"Well that could've been deduced." Cassandra told him, "But from how far into the future?"
"Around 4 years." he answered
"So you're like 20?" #2 questioned
"Yeah."
"Well what's the future like?" I asked him
"Everything's so different, but I really can't tell you any of it."
"Because then it would risk changes to the timeline." said #1
"Exactly."
"But I assume that you saving this past version of yourself from Black Zero has already changed a lot of things." Cassandra said
"Well, hopefully."
"Guys," #2 stopped us, "Something's wrong.."
"What is it Romaine?" Shante questioned
We all turned to him on the bed and he kept vibrating and stopping.
"My powers are on the fritz." he said
"That stone Zero had," started #3, "he'd already started using it, I should've gotten there in time."
"Well what's happening?"
"The philosophers' stone, he was using it to take your speed; I thought I got there in time to stop it but, it looks like I was only able to prolong it's effects."
"Results showed your adrenaline levels to be slowly depleting." added Cassandra
"So what you two are telling me is that I'm gonna lose my speed." #2 said
"No Romaine, you are losing your speed."
~~~~~~~
Romaine's POV
You cannot be serious right now. Of all the things that bastard could've done, he took my speed.
"Run that by me again." I told them
"Romaine," my older version sighed, "we've been over this 5 times."
"I said to run it by me again."
"Black Zero's intention was to take your speed with the philosophers' stone. I managed to get here in time only to prolong what was to happen; so now rather than completely losing your speed, it's impaired. So think of it as a balloon filled with water. I was able to stop Zero from bursting the balloon, but now there's a small hole in it; with the water slowly draining out."
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Sadly, no."
"That damn bastard."
"Well I'll have to monitor your adrenaline levels from here on out, but you'll be fine otherwise." interjected Cas
"Look, um." started my older version, "I suggest we all sleep this off."
"Yeah, sure." I agreed
"And you'll have to sleep here tonight Romaine; I still need to monitor your vitals overnight, just in case." said Cas
"I understand."
~~~~~~~
Meanwhile..
3rd Person Narrative
"That fool stopped me before I was able to get enough for what I need." Observed Black Zero, "I'll need to carry out my plans a bit later than I'd anticipated"
~~~~~~~
Romaine's POV
I'm sure we all had a lot of questions for each other, but the one that was bugging me the most after almost an hour was where in the heck Dondre was.
"No one knows where Dondre is?" I asked
"He'd left hours ago saying he was going to go meet some girls." Cas answered
"Sounds just like Dondre." I relieved
"Speak of the devil." distressed the Prince
"I'm back y'all." Cheered Dondre
We turned our attention to him entering the room, all with varied expressions.
"What'd I miss?" he questioned, looking particularly confused as to why there was an older version of me here
"A lot." I responded
Dondre seemed a bit taken aback at my older version, whilst older me glared at him with discontent, though he tried to hide it.
"I guess we have more explaining to do." Cas said, breaking the silence
"I guess so." agreed older me
"Well any of you mind telling me who this sexy devil is?" Dondre questioned, presenting someone out of sight.
From behind the wall, Melany stepped out, greeting everyone in the room.
"Melany?" I questioned
"So this is where you were." she said
"You know her Romaine?" inquired Cas
"Yeah, she's my sister.." I answered
"You had a sister?" Everyone questioned