Friday nights, of course, were busy nights. The mall housed one of the few movie theaters, a host of interesting stores, and a food court that any young couple would love to go on a date yet. It was the one place that teenagers from Levi's suburbs could regularly visit for a fun, exciting adventure with friends and teenage first loves - despite it being a good thirty minutes away from town by bus.
But some people, thankfully, didn't have to sit on a crowded bus to get there.
Case in point: Levi had absolutely no plans to hop on the bus after his trip. He had the route and its times memorized at this point: he knew how long it would take for him to get back. If he left the mall at just the right time and ended up at the bus stop at just the right moment, no one would ever be the wiser.
Levi took a sip of his strawberry coolatta. It was weird slush at the bottom right now, but he savored every last sip of it. He was heading to Hot Topic with a single goal in mind: he was going to snag another one of the endermen plushies to add to his collection. There were so many new things in the updates these days. Even Juniper, who didn't even play Minecraft anymore, knew about them and asked why he kept getting the same old things.
But Juniper didn't understand the importance.
She never would.
Levi took another sip of his drink.
It wasn't Juniper's fault; he hid it from everyone. (It just hurt a little more to think about hiding it from his sister.) He wasn't even taking the risk of someone recognizing him right now. Levi had the look down pat at this point: all black and mysterious.
A black surgical mask that rested around his neck. A black leather jacked over a black hoodie. Black ripped jeans. Tall black leather boots. Black fingerless gloves. He even accented his eyes with a little bit of black eyeliner. Add in his now very messy black hair and eyes that almost looked purple in the right lighting, and he had the perfect persona.
He looked absolutely ridiculous, but he knew the last thing someone would think when they saw him was that he was actually Levi Quinn.
As he passed one of his classmates, he lowered his drink and pulled up his mask.
The girl gave him a funny, almost creeped out look as she hurried on past him, but she didn't even utter a word.
He pulled his mask back down and drank more of his coolatta.
Just a second ago, Elias was peacefully sitting on the outside table, about to take a bite into the roasted stuffed zucchini boat that he was oh-so-looking forward to eating. He closed his eyes to chomp the first bite and savor the taste, but then opened his eyes in annoyance when he realized he must have missed, because he only ate air.
But then he blinked, realizing his precious stuffed zucchini boat wasn't in his hands. And even worse, he was sitting on a white, round, plastic table instead of the wooden one he was used to. And he was inside a building with awful white luminescent lights. And?
There was so much noise. People were chatting everywhere around him, and they all looked so weird.
"What the—" was all he managed to get out before once again sulking that he lost his zucchini snack.
Absolutely confused, he looked down at his empty hands and then down to his clothes. Hm, okay, strange, now he looked like one of the strangely-dressed people around him. Where was his school uniform?
That was the least of his problems, though.
Where in the world was he?
Elias knew that, if it were any other of his friends, they'd probably be freaking out wondering where they were. Well, except maybe for Mel. She'd freak out at first, and then shrug and decide she was going on this adventure. This was exactly why they made a good pair.
Adventure!
Elias got up on his seat and curiously started to walk around, not caring that he balked at everything he saw. Was this a dream? Why was everything so white? So noisy? So indoors? So big? And what was all the stuff around him?
He was casually walking down the hall, smiling and waving at random people who passed by, but they often looked at him strangely when he did. What, did they know he didn't belong here? They didn't seem to give him any more attention, so it was probably fine, right?
After some time, he found himself standing in front of a store called "Hot Topic."
He put his hand on his chin, rubbing it as he thought about what that meant. Maybe the name of the story meant it was trendy? Shrugging it off, he walked right in and started to mess with all the items. Everything here was either so soft, so shiny, or so firm! His eyes were practically shining as he went through each shirt, each trinket, each toy.
He found one plushie that was soft and looked mega cool. Elias didn't know what it was, exactly, but it looked like a creepy stick figure. Deciding he wanted it, he snatched it out of the shelves and casually left the store.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Elias was outside the store and didn't give the beeps any worry, but a scrawny man from the store seemed to think it was a big deal.
"Shoplifter!" he hooted as Elias began to walk away. "Come back here!"
Oh, now they were going on a chase?
Elias had no idea what was going on, but since people were running after him, he decided to run too, plushie in tow.
Then there was the actual physical feeling of someone running right into him - and spilling his strawberry coolata all over the ground and his shirt - but it was the smell that made him freeze. Levi knew that smell. It was a kind of smell that he knew from its absence, not from its presence. When the smell hit him, everything felt right.
Then the world came back.
He shook away memories from long ago and focused on the present. A boy had just run by. He was carrying one of the endermen plush. From the tag and security guard chasing him, it was clear that he had stolen it.
The smell was so strong now. It lingered in the air, taunting him with its sickening sweetness. The smart thing would have been to run away then and question the smell when the boy was long gone, but something inside Levi just clicked.
This was a chance.
And even though he didn't know who this boy was or what he meant, he couldn't allow that security guard to catch him.
Eyes glowing bright, bright purple underneath the shadow of his hood, Levi made the lights go out with a quickness and precision that only came with dedicated practice.
Then he grabbed onto the boy's wrist in the ensuing chaos, let the magic flow through him even more, and teleported far, far away to the mall. It would have been sudden and disorienting to the boy, but Levi was used to sudden teleportation.
As the last few purple particles faded around them, Levi let go of the boy's arm and pulled up his surgical mask again. The last thing he wanted to do was let this boy - who must have had something to do with the gods - figure out just who he was.
The next few minutes were chaos, and Elias wouldn't have it any other way.
He was determined to win the race against the man chasing him, but it seemed fate had other plans for him. The lights of the building went out, and suddenly someone grabbed his wrist and—
POOF!
Purple dots danced around his vision, and by the time he blinked them all away, Elias realized he was in a different place. Where he was at, he had no idea; he didn't even know where he was before.
The person—a boy his age—let go of his wrist and stood next to him, garnering his attention. Who was he? Was he the cause of all this? Or just another stranger who wanted to hold his hand? Why was he dressed in all black? What was up with the mask?
No matter; there were other things that were more important to discuss.
With the plushie still in one arm, Elias took a step back and pointed an accusatory finger at him with his free hand. It looks like he was about to cast blame and maybe get angry, but instead, he grinned.
"Whoa, that was so cool! Did you do that? How'd you do that? Can you show me?"
He had nothing to go off of besides how strange and sudden this encounter was, but he had a sinking feeling that this wasn't what he thought it was. He didn't have any other explanations. But things would have changed, especially with the arrival of...
He shoved the thought away.
Focus, he reminded himself. His green eyes flashed purple again underneath his hood. If he kept his attention on them, he could force them to stay purple a little longer.
"I might have done it," Levi said. "I might not have. It depends on who's asking. Who are you? And who do you work for?"
Elias blinked at the boy in front of him, but only because it was a natural reflex from seeing his eyes look so shiny and colorful. It appeared that the blinks helped his vision, though.
He stood up straight and dusted his clothes off with his hands, smiling over at the mysterious and dramatic boy.
"I'm Elias," he said matter-of-factly. "I work for... uh. Food? And what about you? What's your name?"
He couldn't tell if Elias was giving an honest answer or just avoiding the question. If he was sent by who Levi thought he was, Levi was sure Elias would be playing defensive. The lights could be explained away with faulty technology, but the teleporting could only belong to one kind of person.
"You can call me..."
He mulled over it for a moment.
"K," he settled on.
Then he fell silent again, still trying to assess the boy in front of him.
"Ohhhh," Elias said suspiciously, drawing out the consonant as he narrowed his eyes back at him. "I see, I see."
K was being awfully vague, and for a second, a flash of fear went through his mind. Was this not what he thought? Did Sohiro break his promise and sent him away anyways? Early? With no warning? Was this what this was all about? It would explain the powers he didn't recognize, but there was still so much Elias didn't know or understand.
He didn't want to think about this.
He let out an amused grin instead.
"In that case, you can call me E," he said smugly.
If this situation wasn't so tense, Levi would have smiled at that remark. He had to hand it to Elias - he had personality. That was a rarity with the gods; any kind of attitude was methodically stamped out.
"You seem out of place here, Elias," Levi remarked, crossing his arms and looking him over again. The shoplifting was one thing, but the outfit was another. The smell that lingered in the air was the final nail in the coffin. Even though Elias didn't have the same reaction he would have expected to the combination of the alias and his powers, Levi was sure he was onto something. "Where are you from-"
His phone rang in his pocket.
He slowly glanced down at it.
He could have ignored it, but only one person had that ring tone - and that person was very persistent.
He groaned.
Pulling out his phone, he pressed it up against his ear and answered the call. "I can't really talk-"
"Something happened at the mall," Juniper said. "It's all over the internet. Are you okay? I heard there was a shoplifter at Hot Topic-"
"I'm fine," Levi quickly said - maybe a little too quickly. How fast did news travel on social media these days? He had accounts but never checked them. Maybe he needed to. "I'm not even at the mall. I'm going to hang up now - I'm with a friend."
"But you don't have any-"
Levi ended the call.
"Sorry about that," Levi said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Now, where were we?"
Elias was about to open his mouth to gladly answer K's questions, but then something ran in K's pocket and he picked up a little thin box and held it on to his ear.
Elias leaned in with wonder shining in his eyes as he tried to determine what in the world he was doing. Was he... talking to him? No, he didn't seem like it. K seemed to be... talking to the box? Huh?
But then he put it away, and Elias stared at the mysterious box poking out of his pocket. K said something—a questions, maybe—but he didn't pay attention since his mind was too preoccupied.
"What was that?" he asked instead, looking up at him with starry eyes. "Is that like, a device for you to talk to people far away? Oooh, can I have one too? Where can I get one?"
Still, he could work with this. If this was an attempt from the gods to seek him out, they seriously underestimated him by sending someone who was so easy to manipulate.
He smiled underneath his mask.
"It's called a phone," he said, "and I might be able to get my hands on one for you if you're cooperative. Since you never answered my last question, we'll start there. Where are you from?"
"Huh, I've never heard of that," Elias mumbled, finger tapping his chin in thought. He had heard of technology being in the ungoverned lands outside the sectors, but not magical talking devices like this. He'll shelf the thought for now, though.
K didn't seem aggressive or was associated with Sohiro since he didn't seem to know who he was, which relaxed him. Elias was glad to share the information to K even without a free phone, but this only sweetened the deal.
"I'm from Earth, Sector 2," he said like it was obvious. He then nodded over to his mask. "What's with the outfit? Does everyone wear one of those? Should I wear one, too?"
He looked around him, not even knowing where he was.
"Oh, man, are we outside the sectors walls? Is the air here even breathable? Should I be wearing that mask too?!" he said rapidly, the anxiety showing through just a little.
'Cause, well, he didn't want to turn into a monkey.
If Elias hadn't included Earth in his answer, he would have be convinced that some horrific catastrophe had happened during the time he had been gone. Sectors, sector walls, and questionable air quality sounded like something out of a dystopian novel.
(Not his favorite genre, but he had been bored and had binged things like Divergent and Hunger Games when dystopian was the big YA genre. He could only stare at the clock after finishing classwork early for so long.)
But Elias had said he was from Earth.
Levi would have thought this was some strange kind of ploy to get him to slip, but he seemed surprisingly genuine with his anxiety. It implied that Elias was convinced he was telling the truth. Going off of that, Levi could have assumed that Elias had just lost it.
But that smell lingered in the air.
And so did a memory of long, long ago, when Levi had been taught that other worlds existed outside of his own. That if he wasn't careful - and if he got too strong - he could accidentally teleport to one of those other worlds instead of his own. They had been described as worlds similar to his own but not quite the same. Levi had always guessed that meant physical, tangible worlds.
But what if that meant realities?
...This was going to be a long night.
He pulled the mask down.
"You don't need a mask," Levi reassured Elias. "The air here is breathable. I just don't like showing strangers my face. As for your other questions, I don't think you'll like the answer. You're not in Sector 2 right now. You are on Earth, but it's a different Earth. Whatever catastrophe happened there hasn't happened here."
"Oh, cool," Elias said, immediately dropping the anxiety and letting out a smile.
Breathable air. Nice, nice, nice. So, he wouldn't turn to a monkey. Nice, nice, nice.
And not on Sector 2? Nice, nice, nice! Sure, he already missed his friends—they were practically the reason why he made the deal to stay there—but this didn't seem like a permanent move. Right? He wasn't stuck-stuck here... right? But even if he was, would that be so bad?
... Of course it was. He missed his friends too much, and he didn't even get to say goodbye.
Elias crossed his arms in thought and pursed his lips, really trying to think this one though.
"So where are we then?" he asked. "On Earth, but... where? Can I go back?"
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