The conflict that threatened space-time stopped as quickly as it started, but fear remained in the most the defendant group’s faces. Was this how their lives were going to end, over a petty conflict that spiraled out of hand between wielders of the most powerful magic weapons?! Camelia pondered this. 

She had little to worry about, but her worry was for everyone else in her group, and being disproven as the perpetrators of the space-time incident wasn’t going to be enough to protect them from the petty feud that unfolded in front of their eyes!

“You have our permission to depart to the break room.” Thutmose said as he looked at the group. “Nay, we mandate it.” He added. Aiko and Mia nodded in agreement. Ragnar grumbled some curse words under his breath but otherwise agreed. 

Santana smirked, but held back his laughter. Legionnaire Imperatrix gave him a death glare, but it didn’t bother him as he got the last laugh. 

“We’ll tell you when the break is over.” Mia announced. 

A portal opened on the side of the wall where a door would’ve been. Everyone who was allowed to leave walked into the portal and into a large lounge with tables, comfortable-looking chairs, and neon lighting. On the other side of the room was a large counter with a coffee machine seated on it. 

Most of the group sat down and talked among themselves. They contemplated what was going to happen next. They were ruled to be not guilty, but the trial still continued. What was going on, and how would they survive while they’re stuck here without time travel?

Camelia was standing in front of the chairs and tables, and placed the camera in front of them, but it was pointed at herself. 

“Pardon me for interrupting, but who’s that over there?” Claire asked, and pointed to someone behind Camelia. 

Camelia was confused because she didn’t see anyone else in the break room except for her group. She turned off the camera, and turned around. Lo and behold, there was a red-haired woman of about 5’5” with a white hat, a black short-sleeved overcoat and dress pants standing by the coffee machine to brew a cup. 

“What is she doing here?!” Camelia thought. She wanted to turn back towards the group and work on the show, and hope that woman in the overcoat didn’t notice her, but unfortunately for her, that was not meant to be. 

The woman in the overcoat had medium-length reddish-brown hair that was curled at the ends. She turned around, appeared to be in her early 30’s, and had gray eyes with thick black-framed glasses, and was wearing a white shirt with black polka dots, and a white tie with black diagonal stripes. The band and bow on her hat had a matching pattern.  

“Hey, Errington.” She said. “Do you have the scoop with anything?” She scoffed. 

“McWright… Are you keeping up with the times?” Camelia scoffed back. 

“That’s Paige McWright, star reporter to you!” Paige said, angrily stirring her coffee to cool it off before she took a sip of it. 

After a few rounds of bickering, they reached the same realization. 

“I was going to start an improvised talk show, but our bickering might prevent that since we have a time limit for our break!”

“Is it about the space-time incident and the new timeline?” Paige asked curiously. 

“Yes. My group should have a voice to report on what’s happening since it’s affecting us personally.”

“Interesting!” Paige said excitedly. “I was looking for a way to follow up on my first report I published about the space-time incident!” 

“I was going to host an improvised talk show that’d last as long as this break, and I need a starting point.” Camelia said with a pause before she said what she thought would be unthinkable to her and Paige. “…Perhaps we should work together.” 

———

“Is this really the time for a show?” Claire asked. 

“Positively!” Camelia said with a smile. “This is a time we have to ourselves so we can get our thoughts out. Didn’t you feel cooped up at those tables in the court room?”

The others nodded in agreement. 

The lights dimmed except for a spotlight around her, and she materialized an improvised sign. The sign looked like a rectangular black screen with a metal frame. 

“Hello, State of Confusion and beyond! Welcome to the first episode of Intermission Time!” Camelia began. 

The light on the sign turned on, and revealed the name of the show. “Why is it called that?… We’re on a break in an absolutely important event that I might not be able to talk about until this episode is over! Who’s *we*?… Hahaha! Those are my impromptu studio audience, guests, and I!” 

The group who was seated looked nervous and chuckled nervously. 

“Who are the guests?”

“Are any of us going to get volunteered?” Someone nervously whispered in the group. 

“Are you taking requests?”

“I’ll be taking guests!” Camelia excitedly said to the audience before she looked back at the camera. “We were a class from Capital Remedial Action Prep School who went on a Field Trip to C Flats to visit the historical sites, but our first few minutes there were as bizarre as you could imagine!” She summarized for the studio audience beyond the fourth wall. “How would you describe it?” She asked the audience in front of her. “Keep it family-friendly!” She added. 

“It looked like one of Kayla’s pranks!” Katt blurted out. 

“Hey! I couldn’t change the date on everyone’s phones when we arrived!” Kayla snarked back. “Does this mean someone who didn’t like being at Capital Remedial will stop complaining?” She added. 

“The sky was falling… Some may have been bawling… Grieving over what we would miss, didn’t think it would end like this!” Alicia added. 

“The lights and the crystal shards, and the time portal vortex were so pretty!” Felicity added. “But it’s not a light show I’d recommend, but that gives me an idea!” She brought out her smartphone and a sketchbook, and started typing up her notes for how she’d make a satirical advertisement about *enjoying the view* of space-time while it collapses. 

“The scariest moments were when we were suspended in the darkness and couldn’t move!” Claire said. 

“I wanted to catch all of those glowing crystals that were flying past us.” Kayla said wistfully. 

“Yeah! We all would’ve been stuck with each other with no escape for who knows how long?” Katt snarked. 

“Nothing is scarier than not knowing!” Melody added. 

“It was about 2 minutes.” Cam confirmed.

“Only 2 minutes? It felt so much longer!” Claire added. 

“Do you mind if I have something to say about that?” Paige added. 

“Go ahead.” Camelia said.

“It was 2 minutes, but it felt a lot longer to you because it was excruciating. You were stuck in an unknown place in complete darkness without any information. None other than space-time crashing. This is a perception in your minds, but space-time was also distorted to be a lot slower before it rebooted.” Paige explained. 

“Time is relative, but that was absolutely excruciating.” Alfbern added. 

A lot of murmuring of agreement and curiosity, followed by delight rose from the audience. 

“Oh my stars, this is delicious!” Claire said with excitement. Camelia did a double take when she noticed that Santana handed out a large tray of cake. “Oh, do you want some too?” Claire said to Camelia. 

“Please save some for me!” Camelia said with a chuckle. “I’d rather not have an intermission within this intermission!”

“Whooooa…. That’s deep!” Kayla said with a bit of snark before she took another bite of cake. It was Devil’s Food cake with blood oranges in it. 

“Why does the label say there is no concentrated evil or soul-draining substances in it?” Melody asked. 

“As the king of the demons, I’m obliged t’place this disclaimer or you wilt trust me not. I bake this fine confectionary for you.” Santana said to the group. “Ima summoned me, but I give her not any of it, nor wilt I to the Gatekeepers. Tis little I can t’spite them, but I baked this and gave it wi’ out them hither. Tis a tiny gesture, but it filleth me with merriment.” Santana said. 

“Being nice to us out of spite? Whatever works for you, dude." Katt chuckled before she took another bite of cake from her plate. 

“They were making us fear for our lives before Camelia proved we didn’t cause the incident, but then we were afraid again because of her.” Melody added. 

The group looked at the holographic timer that was in front of them. The Gatekeepers placed it to remind the group of their time limit so everyone wanted to savor the cake, but eat it, and finish their impromptu talk show before time was up. 

——-

“Awwwww! I wish I could be there!” Chelsea complained while she was listening to Intermission Time on the radio. “I would’ve loved to be in the spotlight and bragged about how awesome the League is, and have some of that cake!”

Monica was also listening to the show. “He wouldn’t include us if we were there.”

“Why?… Why does he have to be soooo mean?” 

“He’s not happy to say the least about Imperatrix summoning her.” 

“Would you truly wish to be placed in that uncertain life and death predicament the rest of the group you and Claudia were from?” Roberta asked. “The trial.” She clarified. 

“Perhaps not. A bit of cake can’t compare to the power and luxury we have as elite officers in the League! Even if it’s the best cake!” Chelsea declared. 

——

“So… Is there any way we can communicate with friends and family that we had left behind?” Felicity asked, concerned. 

“Most of it is one-way, from the past to the future, but we have the technology for it so you can remind your friends and family that you’re alive!” Paige said. “You’ll also be reported as alive in the present time while the Department for Time Travel knows that you’re alive, but you’ll report to them soon after the trial is over.” Paige confidently explained. “…If someone doesn’t threaten space-time again…” She snarked under her breath. 

“Will we get a tour of the place and time?” Claire asked. 

“You will!” Paige began to explain, but she glanced at the timer. Only a minute and a half left. She looked pained over the time limit that was still counting down. “There isn’t enough time to say much more.”

“Oh that’s a pity for us and our audience! Let’s wrap this up!” Camelia said to the audience. “Thank you for watching or listening to my first episode of Intermission Time! Getting the scoop on scenes that are less told, we’ll be back another time!” She said, waving in front of the camera. 

“I’m her rival, but we’re collaborating to report on the space-time incident and life under this new timeline!” Paige added. 

“Our rivalry spans decades, but this is a situation that brought us together… and it was better to work together to cover these events!” Camelia said, cheerfully, but still sounding a little surprised. 

“Our rivalry over competing formats was a tie, or we put it on hold for now!” 

Camelia turned her camera, microphone and sign off just before the timer hit 00:00, and she put them away in a pocket dimension. “Alright… Let’s get back to this.” She said to the group. 

A portal opened on the same side of the wall they had entered the room. 

“Let not the words of delight of the confectionary I gave wi’ out them escape your lips.” Santana quietly warned them. 

———

“Did you relax on your break, and did Santana do anything petty?” Aiko asked with a laugh when the group returned. 

The group was trying not to answer the latter question, but the word would get out. 

“How— How doth thee guess— How the f**k did you guess that?” Santana said with shock. 

“What was that about not saying anything about this, Santana?” Katt said out loud. “Oh feared king of the demons?” She quickly added.  

“No forms of surveillance were employed in the break room. We can conjecture he engaged in petty behavior at our expense.” Thutmose began to explain, and sounded stoic. “We are petty towards each other, and we are… teammates…” he added. 

“He is our rival, forthy thou can assume we beth petty to him and he petty to us. We witen it.” (“He is our rival, therefore you can assume we’re petty to him as he’s petty to us. We know it”) Ragnar added. 

“I shall tell you the truth! Yea, I baked my award-winning confectionaries and shared them wi’ out you! I saved none for you!” Santana boasted. “Nor for you!” He said to Legionnaire Imperatrix. She and the Gatekeepers were stunned in silence, and felt a crushing sense of defeat. 

“We’ll finish the trial— you won’t break our morale!” Mia boasted. Santana shrugged. 

And so the trial continued…