What Could Have Been (EVENT)

[KingJ]

Whether it was something a prankster put in the punch, a gas that a villain pumped into the room, someone hacking the ALISE systems, some combination of the three, or genuine supernatural intervention, Bradley Alans, Felicity Taylor-Hanson, and Ribbon Harmony received a vision of What Could Have Been if things were just slightly different. A different decision at a critical moment, or not being born at all, resulting in an altered present that could have been, but is not.

((You have one post to write a short one-shot about what your character sees in their vision of What Could Have Been. It can be as accurate or inaccurate as you like. No posting order. Your characters can't really interact with any of the other characters, their vision is unique to them.

Bradley Alans
@chance
Ribbon Harmony))

[Deleted]

She blinked.

"So what now?"

She stood over the area that was her mother's grave as she looked up. "What now?", she asked as the older woman looked down at her but she said nothing. "Guess that means I'm on my own?" The woman nodded. "Well I'm seventeen so I'll be good."

She had always been a late bloomer in everything and that was her single thought as she made her way back with the woman and packed her bag. "Thanks for coming. I'll keep in touch."

As she walked she tossed her bag across her shoulders and felt a small jolt as it zig zagged along the bag and she stopped and looked down. Her feet ached a bit and she assumed it was simply from all the standing as she took a second to sit down on the abandoned road. As she took her shoes off she spread her toes and noticed the pink energy flow through the space in her toes.

"Holy crud. Holy crud!" She had heard about them but she had never imagined that she would be one of them. She was scared to touch her toes though as she quickly slipped her shoes back on. "What is this and why is it happening now?" The steps of feet had never been quicker as she walked down that road and into the nearest diner.

She slid into a booth and felt the slip of human contact as she looked up and came face to face with the male. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a boyish smile which did nothing for her neither did the fact that he extended his hand. "I'm Ace, I've been waiting for you." She rolled her eyes as she put her feet up on the table. "Got feet like mine?"

He nodded. "Yes, though my.." His voice faded as she looked around at the Christmas party . "Ugh," she groaned. "No more parties."

[Bradley Alans]

Bradley sat on a porch, overlooking a farm. It wasn't much, but it was honest work. He smiled as he watched the sun set over the fields he had worked that day with his son.

"Bradley! Dinner's almost ready! Go get Caleb!"

"We'll be right in Maddie!"

Showing some restraint, all those years ago, was the best thing that Bradley had ever done. It wasn't long after that that Madeline had found out she was pregnant with their child. They both retired, Bradley proposed, and they found a happy life working a farm in Nebraska.

Caleb had moved out, but stayed close. Heck, he technically worked for Bradley on the farm. Someday, the whole farm would be Caleb's.

Bradley found him working on the old truck in the barn. "Your mother says dinner's almost ready."

He gave a mischievous look at a well-worn dartboard hung across the barn, picked up a handful of darts, and winked at his 40-year-old son. "Your father says one more round of darts, and the loser has to buy the next case of beer."

[Deleted]

Felicity was told that this was what could have been. And then she was put into the mind of an alternate version of herself. She could see the thoughts, the memories of the alternate version of herself.

In her version, she'd been bullied mercilessly. There was nothing she could do. Her powers had always been somewhat scrambled, but in her universe she'd teleported away from a bully. She'd studied from home until graduation since the bullies wouldn't stop and there was nothing she could do.

In this version, she could see the memories of her alternate. In this version, Felicity had responded to the bullying by fighting back. By practicing behind her parents house. In alleyways. Getting good at martial arts, as well as learning how to use her powers to their greatest benefit. She learned the probability of getting teleportation and superspeed, and how to use it to her benefit.

Felicity looked through the eyes of her alternate. A public hero of Aegis. Someone who had fought against her bullies, taught them a lesson. Stopped her own pain. And then used her knowledge of her own powers to rise through Aegis's ranks. Her parents seeing her being named successor to a Pillar. Everything Felicity could have wished for in a life, in an alternate life. A future never to be her own.

But she was alone. She was among team-mates that she had pushed aside to rise to the top. She was the cream of the crop, a literal Pillar of the community. But Felicity was alone.

Felicity was pushed out of her alternate's mind and couldn't help but notice that in either future she was alone. Even in the most golden future she could imagine, she had no-one. Even her parents were distant, pushed aside constantly by Felicity's work. Felicity was glad she'd made the choices she'd made.

[KingJ]

TO BE CONCLUDED IN ROCKIN’: EPILOGUE