Stefan's POV,

The story was all over the news. A girl had been sucked through a worm whole... not the most typical of stories but it was trending all over the world. The governments all over the world banded together to try to come up with an explanation and a way to figure our where she was. Just a few hours after the information had been released, everyone wanted to find out everything about this girl, and like the government they all wanted to know where she was.

If she was even still alive.

The guy who had been conducting the experiments that has caused the incident was being questioned beyond compare. Some blamed him for what happened, claiming he was a murderer, while others were fascinated by his ability to create the thing physicist have been trying to study for ages.

The family of the girl was devastated.

The Johansen family was just an everyday family, nothing too interesting about them. Now they were at a UN meeting fearing for their daughters life. They weren't science geniuses like their daughter Claire was, but from what they managed to understand, there were three possible outcomes of their daughters fait.

The first being that she was dead, if she had appeared in open space or an unsuitable planet she would have been dead within minutes.

Then there was the option she had survivied and was maybe just in another part of our planet.

The last option being the least probable was that she was in another world that was habitable and could possible have other living things.

The worlds greatest minds and the boy responsible were gathered at an international lab to try to find her. Thankfully they had an idea on where to start and the resources to do it. The boy responsible was in charge of the whole operation.

The boy responsible being himself...

Her family was surprisingly understanding, but he still carried the guilt with him every where he went.

At least 70% of the world thought he was a killer. Maybe he was, but he would make this right. Stefan wouldn't sleep or rest until he find her, then she could be the judge of his fate, if she was even alive.

Although it sounded impossible, he thought he knew just how to find her, the residue of the worm whole would be a good start.

Luckily he had been given a large lab in a secluded government facility where he could try and figure it out, and he wouldn't leave until he did.

*AFTER 3 MONTHS...*

To be honest he thought it would take a lot longer, maybe even years. But he did it.

It turned out, the thing he created didn't behave much like a worm whole. It behaved.... like it was alive. Thankfully it had properties than could help him track down where the other end of the portal opened up when Claire fell though.

The thing was... the results he got didn't make sense.

She was billions of years aways from their solar system, in a place the world's most advanced telescopes couldn't reach as of yet.

The part of this that made absolutely no sense is the fact that she might me alive and well. In simple terms, the portal gave off a reading of the energy that has passed through it, since this portal has only been used once that energy is hers. After making an algorithm that could help him map where the portal "dropped her off", Stefan made one that could help him map her energy...

And it was constantly moving from place to place, then would disappear for a few seconds and then it would come back. It didn't happen in a pattern either, it was just random...

The other thing was that some of the energy from the portal lingered around her. If he could tap into that, maybe he could be able to see her with the help of a machine he'd been working on for the past month.

So while the world worked on a powerful telescope, Stefan had been working on a space camera.

Just another day in the normal paradise that was his life.

Her family saw those results as hope.

It helped them cope with the situation, that and the support from the world had been a big help.

He'd seen their grief up close, they were doing much better from how they were 2 months ago.

Especially Claire's mom, Lily, and her sister, Adelina.

They were the sweetest people on earth, but also the most sensitive. They had come once or twice a week to make sure he wasn't working himself to death and to bring him food so he wouldn't starve.

He didn't deserve their kindness, after all he was the reason they might never see their daughter again. If they hated him, they did a great job at not showing it.

Claire's father on the other hand did hate him. Mr. Johansen had made it very clear that he wanted me to find his daughter, whatever it takes, or else...

Stefan for one use that as his motivation.

If he can get this machine to work, he may just be a step closer to redeeming himself.

"Stefan! Hello.... earth to Stefan.." said Lily as she came through the door with that warm motherly smile.

"Oh hi, sorry I got lost in though I guess. How have you guys been?" he asked shyly.

The truth was, every time he looked at her he saw her daughter, they look almost identical.

Thats when his guilt kicked in at it's highest.

"We have been alright, how is the machine coming along?" Said Adelina from behind her mom.

She had a habit of doing that in front of him, hiding behind her mother that is. She saw him as some sort of unstable crazy scientist, judging by his lack of sleep he could see why she saw him that way.

"Almost ready actually, though this is will be my first time testing it" Stefan said enthusiastically

If there was one thing that could cheer him up, it was science, its always brought a smile to his face.

According to Claire's mom, that was one of the things Claire and he had in common. She insisted that her daughter and him were very much alike, she also insisted it was compliment but it felt like a stab though his heart.

As if the TV could read his guilt the breaking news broadcast began. Stefan tended to stay away from TV and social media these days, there weren't many positive things about him in either of those places but today was an important day...

The government has announced the progress on the search for the young 18 year old girl, Claire Jean Johansen, that fell through a sort of worm whole three months ago. She was found billions....

He plugged in his headphones not wanting to hear anything else about Claire being gone.

Although he had only met her for a few minutes he had screwed up her life so quickly. That and he felt like he's known her for years, all the information about her released on the news, the way her family describes her, and the fact that she has been the only thing on his mind for the past few months has made him feel even worse.

No. Focus.

Stefan snapped out of his thoughts and plugged in various components of the machine.

"You guys might want to go to the safe room, I'm about to turn this on. We all know what happened last time someone was this close to my projects... I would feel safer if I knew you guys weren't here" he said

The words came out faster than he intended so he wasnt sure if they had understood him or not.

To his luck they gave him a warm smile and walked over to the observatory room, otherwise know as the safe room.

Ever since he had started working on stuff again, he could be the only one that was in the lab, for safety reasons.

As the leaders of the world, reporters, and Claire's family settled in the room above he got ready to turn the machine on. There was no time for doubt or fear, he just had to pray this would work.

Otherwise everyone showed up for nothing and he'd have to go back to the drawing board.

As levers were switched, lights turned on, and buttons pressed, Stefan closed his eyes and let a single tear fall from his eyes.

'Please work, I need to see that she is ok...' he though

Then out of nowhere a strong wind current filled the air that was so strong it knocked things off all over the room. A light came from my machine shining brighter and brighter till it dimmed out as the wind disappeared. There in front of him was the screen he had set up, it was dark at first, making him believe that the experiment had failed.

But then a light came trough, and he saw a girl standing by a lake. She was wearing armor and had a sword in hand, and to his surprise, she looked just like Claire.

Though he had only seen her for a few minutes, he could see her so clearly in his mind, and that girl standing on the other side of the screen looked just like her without a doubt, the only difference was that she had short hair.

She seemed focused with a very defensive stance, her armor fit her tightly showing off her curves, though he wondered why she was wearing it. She had different clothes from what she was wearing the day they met, not to mention she had a sword, a bright blue sword.

What on earth?

As he began looking around, he could see she wasn't alone... other people that looked just like humans... she was with humans, two of them to be exact. Then he remembered...

Stefan had set up a mechanism that would allow them to communicate, so he quickly ran to the microphone still amazed at what was on the screen.

He ran, stumbling through the endless amounts of cables on the floor not caring if he fell flat on his face as long as he made it to that microphone.

"Claire, can you hear me! Hello! Claire!! Please answer!" he said screaming off the top of his lungs, desperate to get the worlds out of his mouth.

She didnt even flinch. After 15 minutes of screaming her name his voice gave out and everyone came in once they saw it was safe. Her parents gave it a try, but she showed no sign of hearing us.

At least they could see her, that was a great first step. She was alive. He didn't kill her.... she was ok.

Relief filled his body as mounts of reporters crowded around him mumbling questions he couldn't bring himself to focus on. All he could focus on was her...

She couldn't hear them, but she is alive.

*******

Hello! I apologize for taking so long to update! I had a family trip to England and the town we stayed in isnt modern enough to have internet. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Interesting things are coming now that the foundations are set! Enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment!

Love,

Lady Claire