Young Writers Society

Well that was fast.

Carter felt the sword go through him, skewering him like a piece of meat on a platter. Screams filled the classroom, and all of the voices started to blend together, morphing into groans and cries of agony. But with every scream they started to sound less and less human. Blood started to sputter out of him, pooling around the sword where it entered him, quickly staining his hoodie with deep red.

He could feel his consciousness slipping as he reached out to grab Lordshire's arm and steal the life from his veins in return, but he stopped.

No. This was his ticket out of this ḥ͐ë̦̻́̏ḻ̮̂̚l̬͙̏̊h̬̝̉͗ö͙͓̘͋̅ļ͒e̛͎̹͖̾͝.͎̱̌͊

Lordshire was a little i͍͍͗̂͘͢n̼̮̉̉s͇͇̓̽a͙͗nẻ̖̱͋, sure, and likely only meant to get back at Carter for his own pleasure - he wasn't even sure it was on behalf of the others anymore. But for Carter, this was his wake up call.

It was everyone's ẁ̺̤̤͌̚a̢̪̬̓͒͑ǩ͍ë́͢ ̢̼͔̾̐̐u͙͘p͇̻͆̄̾͟ ̧̛̮̳̿́c̥̑ǎ͇̹̞̅̀ļ̙̜̈́͐́l̗̲͎͊͆͝.

He stared blankly in front of him as he felt himself slip away. Something in front of him seemed to falter. Like the very image of Lorshire and the room itself was glitching. The imagine flashed and distorted into darkness for half a second, then half a second more.

Lordshire's face turned inside-out. The room was upside-down.

People were falling. Bodies were floating, and breaking and everything was spinning, and spinning, and spinning. Everything was moving in the wrong ways all at once. Every noise came together in a mind-numbing cacophony building up to a deafening white noise, and then--

Bo had been through enough to know that a lot of the improbable was possible.

But still, he never did imagine in his life that he would end up in the Matrix, or whatever the equivalent of this was. It wasn't quite Jumanji, because he didn't remember playing a game, and he wasn't even sure if it was the Matrix because the way everything was falling apart felt more like a video game, just real life.

As everything was falling apart, things in the back of his head were coming together.

Missing pieces to a puzzle he wasn't even aware he was solving.

Kazimir.

His dad was still incarcerated and would be for another few years.

He wasn't in college. Actually, he never went to college. Or culinary school. Never studied the culinary arts, though he'd always wanted to. Never had a college experience. Never stayed in a dorm. Never had a bunch of college friends, a pet chicken, or a pet pug.

Everything came back in a piercing, crisp moment of clarity.

I lost my eye a long time ago.

He saw the semi coming around the blind turn. He jolted, panicking as he rapidly veered to the side. The semi clipped the back of his bike, sending him spinning through the air with his bike in one direction and him in the other. The helmet hit something hard, and there was shattered glass. Blood and stabbing pain, blinding him.

How lucky did I have to be to survive that?

"...Very lucky..."

The voice of a doctor cut through, and for a moment, he saw a flash of a hospital room. Heard the single beep of his own heart monitor.

Then everything came to a halt.

As if waking from a really, really long too-real dream, Bo felt his mind crawling out of what felt like the deepest sleep he'd ever experienced. The first sensation he became aware of was the feeling of something thick and viscous pulling away from him, like a slimy jello blanket. It pulled away like a water level was going down, but instead of hearing the gurgling of water, he went from hearing nothing at all to suddenly hearing his own inhale.

He felt his feet hit a floor, and his eye shot open. His hand shot out to steady himself and it hit a glass wall.

His vision was unfocused for a moment as he stared down at his feet, watching the last of the clear, bluish goop seep into a series of vents around his feet on the him-sized platform he stood on.

Blinking, he felt the glass wall in front of him rapidly slide away with a faint shh, and he had to throw his hands out on either side of him to steady himself, again hitting thick glass walls that seemed to encapsulate him, like he was in some sort of human-sized preservation tank. Preserved like food was supposed to be.

He let out a little laugh as he pulled his hands away from the glass, brushing himself off, only to realize he wasn't exactly wearing clothes. At least, not normal clothes.

He looked down at himself, seeing that he was in some kind of sci-fi-looking bodysuit that clung to his skin like another layer, but at least covered everything up to his neck and down to his ankles. It cropped the sleeves at the shoulder though. He wasn't going to question that fashion choice. Maybe it was just so your arms could breathe.

That wasn't important.

Finally stepping out, he saw there were three other preservation chamber-looking things in the room. Across from him, he recognized the two faces in the chambers on the opposite wall.

Lordshire was right in front of him, his body floating - though it looked more like levitating - in the transparent, bluish goop. After having just seen Lordshire murder Carter in cold blood by stabbing him through the heart with a sword, it was kind of disturbing to see him in a skin-tight bodysuit, fast asleep as if peaceful, floating in a glass tube like a science project.

Though, he supposed... they were all in the same boat, huh.

He looked to the chamber beside Lordshire's and recognized Jerica. When he whipped his head around to look behind him, he saw Rek was there too.

Okay, so that was... four of them. He couldn't say how many of the others were "real" in the apparent simulation they were thrown into, but at least four of them were.

Already, Bo felt dread well up in his stomach.

When everyone woke up it was going to be chaos.

"Well," he started speaking to himself. "I think I'm pretty well-versed in being kidnapped by strange all-powerful beings. Assuming that's what this is, since I'm pretty sure Lordy at least is definitely not from the earth I know and if he is-- hah! Well anyways. I made friends with my last superpowered god kidnapper. Maybe I can befriend this one too. Though the odds of that happening twice would be very unlikely because that would just be really weird but also convenient..."

He trailed off.

A lot of things were coming back to him now. Real-life.

He slapped his face and let out a groan.

"Mel!" he said to himself. "I swear, if I-- okay first of all, explaining this to her--UGhghghghghhhh."

He dragged his hand down his face.

Mel was his fiance. He was 31, not the twenty-something he'd been a minute ago in whatever hellish simulation he woke up from.

"Seriously?" Bo said, looking up to the ceiling. Surely, whoever took him from his attempt at a normal life was watching. "Seriously, man? Do I just have a sign on my back that says: 'Please put this man through more psychological torture! Sure! He can handle it!' As if facing down space vampires, being turned into a mannequin and then a ghost, and going through literal PURGATORY wasn't enough? EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T DIE?"

Bo proceeded to slap his face again and then held his hands in front of him to make a pointed hand gesture at the invisible cameras he was just going to assume were there. Mostly to vent out frustration.

"Okay. I'm done complaining now," he said to himself, putting his hands on his hips. "Maybe. I will work this out in therapy."

He knew there would probably be more than enough complaining going on without him. He was glad he could get it out now before the others woke up. Though he wasn't sure when that would happen, exactly. A few seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days?

He looked around the room.

The only thing in there were the big sleep chamber things and then two heavy, metal doors with no conceivable way of opening them from the inside. They looked like they were automatically or remotely controlled sliding doors, seeing as they were no door handles, no hinges, and no slits under the door either.

Very sci-fi. Very I-don't-want-to-be-here-but-I-will-hold-the-single-brain-cell-for-everyone-if-I-must-so-we-all-get-out-of-this-so-help-me.

Above the door, he saw four circle bulbs. One was lit.

He looked around.

One person up. Four chambers. Four bulbs.

"Hah. Don't know if I want to find out what happens when we all wake up, but I assume it'll happen any--"

He watched as the second lightbulb turned on.

Lordy stabbed Carter.

And then the world broke.

Nothing felt right, and then everything did, and then Benji was suddenly all too aware that this wasn't real. It felt real. The memories were just as real as the ones that were all coming back at once. But the memories of a single semester of college were nothing compared to a little more than half a century of living. He was more the Benji who had spent years hiding who he was than the Benji who lived a relatively normal college life.

As soon as the memories came back, everything turned to black.

When he opened his eyes again, Benji found himself standing upright. He blinked. He was still groggy, but the realization from before the darkness stayed with him. He had been trapped in some kind of simulation. He reached a hand out in front of him, vaguely aware that there was glass in front of him. That there was some kind of goo pulling back across his skin, and that he hadn't really been standing until a second ago. He had been suspended in the goo, and it felt so wrong moving against his wings and fur-

...Wings and fur?

Benji's eyes widened in horror just as the glass chamber's door slid open in front of him. He stumbled forward, heart racing in his ears. Was it his heart? Was he alone? He was put on display, and he didn't need to look down to know what form he was in right now. He didn't need to frantically grab at where his necklace usually was to check.

He took a shaky deep breath.

He was in a closed-off metallic room. There was enough room to move, technically, but it felt all too small. The combination of the glass container, the room, and the form he was in right now made this feel like a horrible science experiment. Like he was being put on display just like Daniel always put his fake Jersey Devil on display-

Daniel.

Where was Daniel?

Daniel hadn't been fake. He had been real. He had to have been real. Daniel's wings had shown, and so had his horns. He had mentioned how it felt right being with Benji. Would a simulation say that? Benji tore his gaze away from the metallic, unmoving doors and really looked at the room. There was another glass chamber next to his, and one across as well. The one next to it held Morri, but he was...different. Not as present. It took Benji a second to realize he was a ghost, but at that point he was already looking at the chamber across from his.

Daniel was there.

Benji's breath caught in his throat. Daniel was there, but he didn't look human right now. He was in his normal form. Benji felt like he was looking at the fake Jersey Devil Daniel pulled out whenever a hunter questioned him too much. The one he kept tucked away in his mansion, because neither Benji or Daniel liked to imagine what it would be liked to be stuffed on display like that. The only thing that made Benji think otherwise was that this Jersey Devil was wearing a sci-fi bodysuit.

Benji focused.

He could hear his heartbeat. Benji took another shaky breath and let it out as a relieved sigh. Daniel was okay. He listened to the comforting beating of Daniel's heart, trying to steady his breathing as he did. After a minute, he sat down on the metal floor next to Daniel's chamber, watching Morri's out of the corner of his eye and waiting for Daniel to wake up.

It was strange. It was a normal day at work, and a normal day of... well, everything. Mel had woken up, went to work, chatted up her customers, cleaned up at the end of the day, went to happy hour with her colleagues... and that was it. It was strangely abnormal to be in a strict routine, and then she had a thought: this doesn't really feel like me.

It was a fleeting thought, really -- one that only lasted a few seconds before she shrugged and continued on the motions of life. But with each day that passed, it felt like she was tunneling more and more towards her stable life and job here, and that just wasn't her.

Where was the excitement and the adventure? This was all too boring. What in the world was she doing? Did she plan on being a stylist at a salon forever? Hell no, she had so much to see and still so much to do.

It was the start of the weekend, and after Mel closed up the shop, she drove straight home to pack. To where? She didn't know. But that was part of the excitement.

She periodically opened and closed her texts to figure out a way to tell Elias. They weren't broken up, per se, but every few months they tend to take a break... well, she takes the break. Elias never seemed to prefer them but would still always agree, saying that they should do whatever she wanted and was comfortable doing. And, honestly, sometimes that freaked her out, because that was too serious and mature. They had been dating on and off for, what, around five years now? What was the next step? Marriage?! Eugghhh. That thought sent a shiver down her spine.

Right. Tell Elias. It wouldn't be too difficult... if he hadn't been ghosting her the past few days. She wasn't really sure what was going on, but maybe her ghosting back was fine then. He'd figure it out.

So Mel packed her things, told her roommates she'd be gone for the weekend, and then drove straight to the airport. She had no idea where she was going; she planned on pulling a retro influencer move and talk to the ticketing clerk to snag the cheapest ticket. Fingers crossed it was Hawaii and not the middle-of-nowhere Iowa.

The airport was strangely empty. Now that she thought about it, she never actually used the airport here before since she typically drove to her destinations. Mel shrugged it off and headed straight to the ticketing clerk.

"Lucky for you, there's one last ticket to a destination that's leaving around now. Would you like to know where?" the clerk said, smirking like he knew that she wanted it to be a surprise.

Mel smirked back, waving her hand out as she threw her tote bag up to her shoulder. "Nah. I'll keep it a surprise."

"Perfect. Right this way then, ma'am."

He opened the ticket door and beckoned her in, which was weird, because wasn't airport security the other way around...? Maybe this was a shortcut? Mel felt a weird vibe from this airport worker, but decided to push the feeling down and go through anyways.

The door shut and then everything went black.



Mel did everything she could to scream and knock the door down in front of her. She had no idea what was happening or whose voices she was hearing, but the fight response kicked in and she was going to give them hell.

But when her eyes snapped open, she could barely process what was going on.

Her fists reverberated against the thick glass in front of her, sending an echo of pain through her body, but that was the least of her problems. She was stuck in some kind of chamber with glass separating her from the room in front of her. More notably, though, was this gooey icky gel that was draining through the vents on the floor. The level was at her chest but was rapidly decreasing. Since the gel clung to her skin, clothes, and hair, it must have fully enveloped her at some point.

... God, what was up with this track suit she was wearing? She would never wear this.

Focus. Focus. How did I get here? Why on earth am I covered with gross goop? Where the hell am I?

There was so much going on and her mind was racing, and it was a struggle to process everything at once, but Mel powered through. She wiped the goop from the glass to score a better view, noticing that she was in a small room with what looked like two giant locked doors. There were two other of these gel-infused pod things with people in them, but it was hard to see who it would be without going up close.

As if it read her mind, the glass then opened up, and the air was probably stale from this tiny room, but man did it smell fresh, like she hadn't properly breathed for a long time... which, maybe, was true. She didn't know.

Mel gingerly stepped out of her pod, taking one step at a time to not collapse from the atrophy. Or at least that was what she told herself since there were mysterious stains and more gel on the floor that she didn't want to touch with her bare feet.

The first thing she did was examine the pod people. One was Carter, floating in the air encapsulated in the gel like a sleeping baby. She'd laugh but knew that she probably looked like that too before she woke up.

She tried to remember how she got here, but nothing came to mind. It didn't make sense. Could it be that she was captured by the sectors and this was some weird experiment she went through? And maybe Carter was captured too...? But then what about everything that happened at the university? Elias and Evaline were there. She became friends with others too. Were they here too, like Carter? This wasn't just a dream? Which reality was real? This was making her head hurt.

Then she looked at the other pod, and her heart skipped a beat.

Elias.

She raced to him, pounding on the glass door.

"Elias, wake up. I don't think this is real. Or... well, I don't know what is real," Mel said first with urgency, but then trailed off with a little laugh as she gradually stopped banging against the glass.

In the university dream world, she was a stylist and Elias was going through school to be a nurse. They were dating, but not all that serious. That was what she remembered, and it felt so real.

But it wasn't real. She hadn't seen Elias in five years. She was not a stylist, but instead a deserter of the sectors and their jobs. Elias was the complete opposite of a nurse, instead fighting in the military. She didn't know what happened to him after he left from the... incident.

Mel's fists tightened into a ball. Which one was real? They both felt so real, but she knew in her bones that the university world wasn't her origin.

Fueled with determination, Mel was going to get to the bottom of this.

What she didn't know was that she had awoken days of advance of what happened in the simulation, but luckily simulation and real time were on varying scales.

Evaline only wanted to help.

With James struggling to write or type properly after the fight, she wanted to fill the gap and aid however she could. Of course, taking notes for him in class meant that she had to go to his class, which was odd, but she'd do it. In all honesty, she didn't think he should go to class in his state anyways, but she knew there was no convincing James since he took academics very seriously.

She only wanted to help. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Screams echoed throughout lecture when Professor Lordshire stabbed Carter's chest, and all Evaline could do was stare with wide eyes. She knew she was supposed to feel shock. But somehow, she felt nothing. Completely nothing.

With a shaking hand, she reached over to take James's hand. But when she looked over, she saw and felt nothing. He wasn't there. There was nothing.

Only darkness.




Evaline awoke with a gasp of air, heaving in deep breaths as her vision blurred into view. She could still hear the screams of the students ringing in her ears, along with the rushed beating of her heart pounding her chest.

This was the adrenaline that kept her going. This was just another jump back in time. But what... where... who...

In a panicked daze, Evaline leaned against the glass separating her from the room, feeling the anxiety bubble at the back of her throat. The glass seemed to heed her wishes, opening up without hesitation, sending her falling on to the floor.

She landed on her arms and knees, coughing and shaking as she tried to get a grip on reality. She should be safe. She was always safe after a detached dream or jump. But this wasn't her room. This wasn't... where was...

Evaline hissed back a pained grunt as she wiped a gelatinous liquid off her face, rapidly blinking to see her surroundings. She was in a small room with a harsh fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The floor was metal and cool to the touch, and it appeared that the walls were too. There were two giant, thick metal double doors that looked securely shut. There lacked any hinges, and above the doors were two bulbs similar to ones seen in elevators.

What Evaline was blankly staring at were not the doors, or the bulbs, or the walls.

It was James.

He looked different. Worn, and maybe even older, but it was undoubtedly James in the other chamber, floating in the same blue gelatinous liquid, asleep and unaware.

Silence had never felt so loud. Evaline tried to move or react, but she was frozen where she was, just staring at him. She didn't know what to do. What to say. What to think.

The seconds ticked by as the shock started to fade, and she slowly, silently, got up on her feet, eyes still glued on James. She took one step forward, then another, until she was in front of his chamber. Shakily, she daintily placed her hand on the glass, as if doing so would make him feel better.

Evaline had only seen him clean-cut and clean-shaven, always wearing nice fitted clothes and looking presentable should the opportunity arise. The James in the pod was wearing a tight gray track suit like the one she was also wearing, and his hair was longer and more untamed. There were faint scars on his face and his neck, which made her wonder if there were more underneath the track suit, and if this meant he had gotten into many fights.

Maybe this wasn't even the James she knew.

Memories of their time at High Point University fleeted through her mind. The first day they met, the dinner dates, the art shows, the sunset park, the Halloween party, the FaceTime calls, the fight... all of it. She remembered all of it. All the laughs, the smiles, the intimate moments. The way he'd brush her hair behind her ear and hold her face, the times he'd carefully bandage her up after every little papercut, the moment he held her and professed his love... Evaline remembered it like it was real.

And maybe it was real. Or maybe this was memory tampering, or a cruel punishment given for her actions.

But if it was real, then one other thing was true: that wasn't her.

It wasn't her.

Evaline balled her hand into a fist and then rammed it against the glass to not only attempt to wake James, but also snap herself out of this daze. She needed to snap out of it.

Snap out of it. Snap out of it.

She filed all memories of HPU away in a dark corner of her mind, knowing that the chamber she had woken up from had something to do with the memories. But it wasn't important. It wasn't important.

That wasn't important. That wasn't me. I need to go back.

Evaline screamed as she tore herself away from James's pod, rushing over to the metal doors instead. She knew she didn't have the physical strength to open it, but she tried anyways, pushing it and kicking it and pounding against it. The room was silent except for her, and there was nothing else to do. It was like the universe wanted her to suffer in silence and stare at James, but she refused. She refused.

In the midst of her pounding and kicking, a hushed brrr was heard, and with horror, Evaline looked back to see James's pod doors opening.

The sword came out of its sheath, and James watched in frozen horror as his former best friend was run through.

His eyes were glued to the front of the room as screams erupted all around him. As the bodies of students he once thought he knew started to melt away like ice under the beating sun. Pressure built in his skull, and he was being dragged underwater, plunged into the depths of darkness as spots scattered across his vision. Water filled his lungs, and in his last few moments of consciousness he understood.

Sometimes, realization settled in slowly like a poison being carried through your veins until you felt it all over. Burning, killing you from the inside-out.

But sometimes, realization settled in with the crushing weight of a landslide.

All-consuming. Inescapable. Overwhelming.

And he was buried.

Miles deep, staring back at the last few months of his life realizing that they weren't even real. Realizing that some of the best things he ever had since the early years of his childhood were actually a dream, no matter how real it had felt. All of it slipped away, and he was thrown back to Nye, face to face with his bloody, hopeless future.

He gasped as he felt a suffocating wet slime rip away from his face. It was all around him, sealing him on all sides, but he could feel it like a wave, going down as the waters pulled back from the shore.

Eyes open, but vision blurred, his clenched fists hit a wall of glass, and he found himself sliding to the floor of his cage as the water emptied under his feet. Coughing and sputtering on his knees, he continued to pound at the wall until suddenly it ripped away, and he fell forward, stumbling and rolling out onto the floor. On his side, he heaved heavy breaths as his vision blurred in and out of focus.

It was so bright. He feel the texture of something cool and gooey in his mouth - the remnants of whatever viscous liquid he'd inhaled that tasted like a bitter, lifeless dream. It made him want to puke, and the sensation gurgled in his empty stomach, but he pushed it down.

Spitting, he pushed himself up with his arms, staring at the ground.

Finally he saw his own hands. His bare arms. His knees, covered in a tight, grey layer of clothing that hugged him so tight it felt like another skin. Like a thin blanket of a creature clinging to him. The grey parasite spread all the way up to his neck, covering his skin, but hiding nothing else.

Where was he?

He snapped his eyes shut.

It wasn't real. It wasn't real. He wasn't home. What was home?

Nye. He had been on a ranch, working as a ranch-hand and herding cows with a group of men he was traveling with until they made it to the next rendezvous point. Then he was going to part ways, and he would be on his own again. He'd fall off the map again, like he always wanted. No one would rememember him. He would be forgotten, and no one would know his true name or his true nature.

He would run, and hide, deep in the forest. Further than he'd gone before.

And he was going to let nature take him in whatever way it chose.

So how did he end up here?

How had he ended up in some other life, with another family, with another past and another future? If it was only a dream, why was he here?

Was this just a dream too? If any of it was a dream, why did it all feel so real?

Finally, still on his hands and knees, James looked up and stared.

Evaline.

Jerica slowly had more and more memories return to her. They all did. And it was perplexing for each of them, but it made Jerica feel positively insane. There was a physician. And injections? And, the colors -- a hallucination? She killed him.

That was crazy talk.

She didn't kill people.

It made her feel uneasy that she'd wanted to kill Carter. And yet, the more she thought of it, the more she stood by that desire. There was nothing to be lost by ridding the world of vermin. And Carter was the most worthless of all the people she'd ever met in her entire life.

Biryn.

She didn't know what that name meant. But she hated it. Hated him. And she didn't know why. But she felt like he was vaguely connected to the massive scar across her abdomen. Connected to the prickle that ran down her back periodically, like injections that went straight to her spine. Connected to the bloodied physician apprentice laying at her feet.

Goddamn she was crazy.

She couldn't tell Rek or Derik any of this. They'd put her in a padded room with a huggy jacket. So instead she stayed in bed and refused to eat or speak or move. Which, of course, worried them all the more.

But Rek was also feeling insane; and was also not disclosing it. Why did he suddenly feel authoritative? Like he was capable of leading a battalion, even though he wasn't. And yet he felt like he'd be okay with people deferring to his judgment on things. On huge, important, literal life-or-death decisions. Trusting him with their lives.

Instead of being the little boy that cried when a girl kissed him.

Come Monday, Derik decided he was tired of watching Jerica stay in a blanket burrito, and of Rek sit and stare expressionless at the wall -- and forced them to go to class. Let Lordshire babysit them for a while. He'd drop them off then go... he didn't even know. He needed to clear his mind. Somehow. Maybe he'd send a letter to Zander.

Who was Zander?

He shook it off and physically pried Jerica out of bed and put her in the car, which garnered no small number of dirty looks and a lengthy explanation to the security guard. They stopped by the apartment on the way to class to get supplies, even though neither of them cared about this class whatsoever. Jerica never really had cared -- she just enjoyed getting sassy with Lordshire and arguing with him after having only the SparkNotes depth of understanding of the assigned readings that she definitely didn't read.

Rek numbly got his things together.

Jerica pulled open the end table and got out her portable speaker and turned it on, checking the charge. Then she checked to make sure it was paired to her phone. And then she cued up the perfect NSFW song for Carter with full intents of blasting it as she walked into the classroom.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) a single 'ha-ha' played before she could stop it. And Derik, having been called to her high school more than once because she used this song to bait the jocks into a fist fight -- knew what was happening immediately, and took the speaker away. He took her phone, too, for good measure. Then dumped them both at the lecture hall and waited until they'd both slunk into the building.

Rek had a half-heartedly packed backpack slung over his shoulder. Jerica was entirely unprepared, which honestly wasn't all that out of character for her, even though she usually brought at least a notebook and pencil and attempted to take notes in between her fish doodles.

"We will not antagonize Carter," Rek said just before they got to the room.

"Agreed. We will not."

She agreed too fast. Rek glared at her, deciding to clarify his grammar. "You will not antagonize Carter."


"You've got nothing in this. We're agreed."

"Jerica." He sighed, rubbing his face. "Stop. For once in your godsdamn life, stop. Do not antagonize Carter when we walk in there."

"You can't antagonize the antagonist, it's--"

"Stop." Rek gave her a look that was harsher than it'd been in this entire roleplay so far. "I'm not joking."

Jerica rolled her eyes and huffed a petulant sigh, but decided against her original back up plan of scream-singing the song herself as she walked in. Fine. She wouldn't--... she'd be subtle about --

They walked in and Jerica found the little weasel slumped down in the front row. Jerica lifted both middle fingers, even hurting her right hand to be able to manage it in her cast because it was worth it. Rek kept her moving fast enough she didn't get a chance to heckle him before they sat down.

Jerica instantly went back to sulking.

She didn't want to be here. She was so confused. And crazy. She was coming to terms with that. She was absolutely batty. Maybe this was psychosis. Maybe she should check herself into an inpatient facility. Maybe...

And then Lordshire walked in and Morrigan, too. She sighed softly.

And then Lordshire started ranting like an even madder man than normal, and before she knew it, he was stabbing Carter. She watched it expressionless. Emotionless. This was righteous. Exactly what the little rat deserved. Exactly -- she looked back at Rek with a little smirk.

He was also watching expressionless. He'd cringed, ever so slightly, at the initial strike. But the blood draining out of Carter didn't bother him even a little. What was wrong with him? Wrong with both of them? Why were they so used to death? Why--

He was dizzy.

His stomach churned.

And then he collapsed into darkness. Jerica did, too.



Rek woke slowly as slime started dripping off his shoulders. He rubbed at his face and snorted to get it out of his nose, eyes still closed. What the hell had Biryn done to them this time? Better yet, what could he have possibly done to deserve this? Or, he supposed, what had Jerica done that was bad enough that he'd intervened and gotten them both punished?

He couldn't remember.

He finally opened his eyes and saw the slime down to his waist now, rapidly draining out of...?

He blinked stupidly. He was in... glass? But it was curved? He put his hand on it to test it, confused about what this could possibly be. The only thing he could possibly think of was Jerica and Professor Orsetov having done some sort of experiment on him, in which case he would be extremely angry at this obscene overstep of both of them.

Suddenly, all his memories crashed into him like a blow to the gut, and he did feel winded. He put his hand on the slimy wall to steady himself, panting to catch his breath, as the slime was down to his ankles.

HPU.

Pianos.

Jerica.

Jerica!

He urgently started trying to get the glass open, but couldn't manage it. He leaned back against the wall of the pod and put one foot up, about to try his best to kick the glass in. Only in the exact moment he kicked, the pod opened, and sent him tumbling out face-first.

He landed heavily with a loud grunt.

There was someone else in the room.

Rek was on his feet in an instant, fist clenched and entire body tensed. He was far more muscular now than before, bare arms revealing his strength. He stepped backward to begin with, but his instinct was to go after the threat. He lunged forward, but stopped last moment, blinking stupidly up at the large man in front of him.

"Woah, woah, woah, man," a familiar voice said. "No need for that. Really. I'd rather not. Save your strength for when your sister wakes up."

In front of him stood Bo with his hands up in surrender, but this Bo looked different. At least five years older, somehow even a little bigger, and he was completely missing an eye. Three big scars ran down his face at an angle where an eyeball was supposed to be.

Rek panted heavily, staring at him, bewildered. His voice was gruff and cold. "Where is she?"

Bo pointed behind him.

Rek's head snapped towards where he gestured, but he stayed fully facing Bo, ready for an attack. But then he saw Jerica in a similar pod that he'd just woken up in, her body limp and lifeless-looking.

Rek searched for a lever or something he could use to open the pod.

"I don't know if we can wake them up," Bo started saying. "You kind of just woke up on your own. I was up for maybe a minute before you came out of it."

Rek still kept clawing looking for a lever, looking back at Bo with a venomous glare on his face. "What the fuck? Where are we and why?"

"Dude, if I knew, I swear I would tell you, man," Bo said with earnestness. "I'm just as freaked as you are. You just kind of uh, missed my whole meltdown earlier. Now my brain's all 'be functional' and here I am. But my best guess is that some crazy powerful person - crazy and powerful - kidnapped us and put us in some kind of simulation for kicks and giggles. Or maybe there's some 'greater purpose,' though probably a delusional one. Beats me."

Rek didn't know what a simulation was. But he knew a crazy and powerful person. Well, a powerful person that was evil to the core and incredibly cold and calculating. He spun in a quick circle, looking for Biryn. "I swear to god I'll fucking kill you myself if you don't wake her up right now." He snarled, looking everywhere and nowhere.

"I mean I guess if you wanted to you could try," Bo said. "But at some point I'd be obligated to defend myself. Not that I want to fight you."

Rek glanced at him irritably. "Not you. Where's Biryn?" He started towards the door at the end of the room.

"I'm sorry man, but I don't know who that is," Bo said. "And uh, good luck with the door. It looks like it opens remotely. Unless this is like a maze and we have to solve a riddle or something to open it. That would suck. I'm bad at riddles."

"Biryn!" Rek beat on the door. "I swear to god I'll tell Zander!" And then where would that leave them? Dead. The whole of them. Yes. That was fine, though, to avenge Jerica. "I've had enough!"

When nothing happened, he started back towards Jerica's pod. There was nothing at all he could use as leverage. So instead he kicked the pod. It didn't give even a little, and did nothing but hurt his hip and his knee. The slime did a sickening glug but otherwise there was nothing.

The R'hyk.

Rek closed his eyes and channeled his focus on feeling the reverberations around him. Yes. Right. This was his best bet. He tapped into the molecules vibrating in the glass in front of him, and did his best to pry them apart, but they were worse than a stone wall and didn't budge even a little.

He kept trying until he was literally sweating.

"I need... Father... Zander..." He put his hand on his forehead, looking dangerously close to a panic attack. He tugged his hands through his hair, pulling it. "Guild Master?" His breaths were shallow and rapid.

He was usually better at keeping himself together than this.

But he was also usually on a fairer playing field.

He knew where the threats were. What the threats were. And also knew where he could go for help. Biryn must have really gone all out to design a chamber like this. Rek needed to go. He needed to get out. He needed to get them both out.

A Transport.

It was the only hope. He wasn't really strong enough to carry them both for very far, but hopefully it'd be far enough to get out of the locked room. He tried again to get the pod to open, and tried to Transport through it to get to her, but it didn't work.

Fine.

He would go get help and come back for her.

He took a deep breath and channeled the energy of a Transport. He wasn't really supposed to do it in front of people. But to hell with the rules. Guild Master would understand that desperate times called for desperate measures. And, well, worst case scenario Guild Master could get rid of Bo. He didn't deserve that. But, well. Jerica mattered here, not Bo.

He focused all his energy on Transporting through the door.

His body vanished in an instant -- and then immediately reformed as he bashed face-first into the door. He fell flat on his back, dizzy, clutching his head. "Goddamn it."

"Man, I wish I had cool powers," Bo said, as if talking to himself. "Being normal gets kind of boring after a while. You know one of my best friends can shapeshift? It's wild."

Rek took a shaky breath, still winded, and forced himself to swallow hard. He was so defeated and didn't bother to get up, but lazily kicked at the door. "I don't suppose you tried to kick it down yet?"

"Don't think I could kick it any harder than you did," Bo said, walking over. Eventually Bo was standing over him, looking down and offering a hand to help him up.

Rek snorted, but took the hand he offered, and let him heft him up to a standing position. "Glad to have offered my forehead as the battering ram."

"I think it's better you keep your forehead intact," Bo said, glancing back at the pods where Jerica was kept. "Lordshire's here too, and somehow I don't imagine he's going to wake up as the most cooperative person. If we're stuck in here with him, I think we ought to come up with some kind of plan. I don't know if you and Jerica are much like the versions of yourselves I knew in the simulation, but I feel like it will be chaos by the time they're both up. And if the time between me waking and you waking is any trend to count on..."

He pursed his lips together.

"Then we don't have very long."

"Gods..." Rek looked at Lordshire's pod for a long moment, then back at Jerica's. "She's going to lose her shit when she comes to."

"You take care of Jerica I'll take care of Lordshire?" he offered. "In the event either of them get violent towards... you know."

"When," Rek corrected.

"Didn't want to assume, but I figured," Bo said with a small sigh.

Rek sighed, too. "I don't know what the hell is going on... but whoever we were... pretending? to be... isn't... we're not..." Rek looked down at his own tanned, muscular arm. He wasn't sure which felt more out of place -- the muscles, or the alternate reality where he hadn't needed them.

"It's okay," Bo said. "I don't know what's coming next, but we'll just do our best to get through it, and hopefully get out of this thing. Whatever this place is."

Rek took a shaky breath and nodded. Right. Yes. Stay calm. That's how they'd get out. Calm and caculated. He just had to come up with a plan.

"You know, this isn't my first rodeo," Bo said, walking over towards Lordshire's pod, folding his arms as he looked at it. "The whole waking up in a freaky place, not remembering how you got there, mysterious origins as to how it all happened, that whole bit. Last time it was on a cruise ship. It was a demon, that time. That was weird, you know. But the demons made good cookies."

Rek stared at him in dumbfounded silence. Great. He was insane.

"I'm aware of how crazy that makes me sound," Bo said casually. "Trust me, I know. Literally only like three people know all the crazy backwards stuff I've been through. Kartiel, my therapist, and my fiancee."

"Are you on drugs?" Rek rubbed his face. "Did you roofie me?"

"Dude. Hell no," Bo said quickly, looking offended that he even suggested it. "Though honestly, I don't know if I'm on drugs. Whoever put me in that pod might've given me drugs and I wouldn't know because I was out."

Rek sighed, but nodded. He supposed that wasn't particularly fair of him to make an accusation like that. But he was so bewildered. And confused. And angry. And afraid. He tried to think about what Bo was actually saying.

Therapist.

Yes, those had existed at... university? Which was like a tutor but for a lot of people? Well, a lot of tutors for a lot of people. He looked at Lordshire. There was no way in hell that lunatic for hired as a tutor. Who even--?

There were so many things he felt like he shouldn't know; and other things he felt like he should know -- all at the same time. Leaving him very confused and sad.

Fiancee.

He looked back at Bo. Right. Bo and Jerica had been an item. Which meant... he know. Bo didn't belong in their story. That was... was... gods, he was a General too, right? It wasn't Bo. He looked him up and down. It wasn't Bo... which meant Bo was in a relationship. And Jer was too. To Akeno-- "Ohhh shit."

"Her name's Mel, by the way," Bo said. "Not the one that was uh, friends with benefits with Elias in the simulation. Different Mel. The name is a coincidence. Anyway, she's back on Earth right now, I imagine. Hopefully in touch with my friend Kartiel who's probably losing his mind trying to help find me. That's what I'd like to assume, anyway, unless this whole thing is in our heads, which would honestly suck. I'm kind over over the whole... well I mean, I guess we already were in a simulation that was in our heads, so nevermind."

"Earth..." Rek repeated, trying to sift out the few helpful thoughts Bo was sharing in the midst of his rambling. "We're on Earth? No wonder. Father always said Earth was a shithole."

"I mean, I'm from earth," Bo corrected. "No idea where we are now, though. But judging from the looks of it, this doesn't feel like earth. Feels like a sci-fi horror movie. Just, you know, real."

It took Rek a few more moments to remmeber what 'sci-fi' meant, and even longer to remember the concept of movies. It was so bizarre. But that was the least of his problems just now.

"I want... to go home." He said, huffing a sigh. "Either one. I don't care. I just want out of this Realm. Now."

Bo stared at Lordshire's sleeping body for a moment.

He was tired. Tired of being sucked out of one world and thrown into another. Tired of being toyed with like he was a dummy big powerful people with god complexes could throw around like a science experiment. Tired of missing out on normal life and the good stuff, you know?

He wanted to be home, with Mel, making her dinner. Dancing in the kitchen while she talked about wedding planning and showed him a bunch of pictures of flowers and tablecloths and those little bubble-blowing party favors. He wanted to be on Earth, where he could go to a 7/11 and get a slurpee that would turn his tongue blue and a brain freeze. Where he could make references to trending memes that people would get. Where he could visit his family, and see his dad, even if it was with limited visitation.

Weary, he looked off to the side.

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"Me too."

But he didn't really have the freedom to think about home when he was stuck in this space prison or whatever and had more immediate concerns to think about - like Lordshire waking up and probably trying to stab anyone within reach.

He was kind of glad they all woke up in stupid bodysuits with no weapons or pointy objects in the room. He just hoped Lordshire didn't have some freaky magic that would kill someone on sight.

That was really not how he wanted to go.

"What's your world called, by the way?" Bo asked, glancing over at Rek. "Or realm. Or whatever your people call it."

"Beirania," Rek offered. "It's, ah... different."

"I mean, I figured," Bo said. "Is it a lot different from the world in the simulation? Earth is actually a lot like that."

"I'm not sure if it could get much different." Rek sighed again for the gods only knew how many time, rubbing his face. "We... don't have any of the..." He furrowed his brow, like he was trying to remember something that was abstract. "I think the book called it 'medieval' when it described the sort of place we're from?"

"Oh, that's cool," Bo said. "Medieval times. You have knights and stuff? Magic too I guess?"

"Knights are douche bags," Rek said.

"That tracks," he said with a nod. "Pretty sure Earth's medieval knights were douches too."

Rek nodded. "Yeah... Jerica has a squire, you know. She's not a knight, though."

"What are you and Jerica, then?" Bo asked.

Rek eyed him, considering him for a long moment. Then, "... I'm General of the Swordsmen... She's King's Assassin."

"Dude," Bo said with a small smile. "That's pretty sick."

He paused, before quickly adding.

"I mean uh. Cool? Awesome? Not sure if all of Earth's lingo carries over," Bo said with a little laugh.

Rek scoffed and shook his head, but smiled a little. "It doesn't... but whatever just happened, happened. What with movies and cars and frathouses... I'm glad those don't actually exist. It's bad enough having the barracks, much less adding alcohol to the egos." Rek looked back at Jerica. "Including hers... well... I mean..." He furrowed his brow. "At least there aren't kegs for her to stand on back home."

Bo looked over at Jerica, then at Rek.

"Just don't have her visit earth, then," Bo said. "Cause those things exist there."

Rek nodded, looking at Jerica for a long moment, then back at Bo. "I genuinely cannot say how she'd handle Earth, honestly. She'd either be paranoid of anything and everything, or she'd be picking bar fights. It's all up to her mood, really."

"Probably for the best you guys stay in uh..." he paused, trying to remember.

"Beirania... mostly."

"Bear... yes that," Bo echoed.

Rek nodded. "Agreed. She gets in enough trouble without adding whatever all that was supposed to be." He gestured vaguely.

"I think that was supposed to be the idealized and dramatized college experience, minus all the murder," he said. "Though I wouldn't know because I never went."

"We don't have colleges." Rek shrugged. "Lots of murders, though."

Bo snorted, even though that shouldn't have been funny.

"Speaking of murder--"

His sentence cut short when he saw one of the bulbs over the sealed doors light up, and with wide eyes, he looked to Jerica and Lordshire. But it was Jerica's pod that seemed to be making the faint whirring sound that Rek's had made just before he'd woken up.

He blinked slowly, and looked to Rek.

"That's all you, man," he said.

Rek nodded. "... she's gonna be claws out. I suggest you get out of a direct path."

Bo nodded and ducked out of the way on the other side of Lordshire's pod.

He just hoped Lordshire wasn't going to wake up at the exact same time.

Jerica was drowning.

She gasped, coughing as slime got caught in her throat. It was falling over her shoulders now. She couldn't see. She tried to drag her hands over her eyes to clear them, but still couldn't really see much, other than she was trapped.

She instantly lunged forward and hit the glass as hard as she could.

It didn't budge.

She didn't know where she was or why or who else was here.

All she knew was that she was in danger.

She finally got her hand to wipe off enough slime for her to be able to see as the slime got down to her chest level. She ran forward and slammed both palms into the glass as hard as she possibly could, trying to break it.

The slime was down to her waist now.

She turned and pressed her back against the back of the pod, and kicked hard again and again and again, but it didn't budge. The more her attempts at escape failed, the more frantic she got.

By the time the remainder of the slime had cleared away, she was panting, chest tight.

The pod started to open, and she dove towards it, slipping through the opening before it could even finish opening all the way. There was someone standing in front of her. She swung wildly at him.

"It's me!" Rek tried, but predicted it would fail, and ducked under her arm. "It's--"

She plowed her arm downward, catching him in the neck with her elbow.

He grabbed her arm and twisted it to get her away from him, hoping to get her attention, but before he could even find words she was twisting out of his grasp and making a pass at him with her left hand. He caught her arm.

"Jerica!" He gave her a little shove backward. "It's me! Stop it!"

Jerica was starting towards him again, but stopped short. It was... Rek? But-- how? And why? And where? What was going on? She did a quick scan around the room and caught another man hiding next to one of the pods, ready to ambush them, and she started towards him with her fist raised.

Rek saw what was happening, and saw that Bo wasn't planning to stop her. He clearly didn't know how much her punches hurt. They were tolerable, no doubt, and he'd taken more than his share of them. But almost every single one left a bruise. He couldn't just stand here and let Jerica hit him.

Besides, what if the goofy himbo act was just that -- an act? Jerica was far more intense in reality than she'd been these past few months. He supposed he was, too. What did he know but her punching him would trigger a fight or flight response in the big man? There was no room for flight here. And the last thing he needed was to separate a giant the size of Bo from the King's Assassin herself.

He dove forward, trying to tackle her. It made her stagger forward and took the momentum out of her strike, but she twisted at the last moment and elbowed Rek in the spine, hard, fully in survival mode and not understanding what she was doing. She swung back around, aiming her elbow for the giant's gut.

She rammed her shoulder into him, too, with a follow through, then jumped back, raising her fist again, ready to block whatever counter-attack he was going to throw.

But he didn't strike back. Instead, he lifted his hands slowly, in surrender.

She panted, bewildered. Not a threat? But, then, who was--?

Jerica cringed as she realized what she'd done. She bent down and hefted Rek to his feet. He leaned against her heavily. "For the love of god, stop."

Jerica looked at Bo suspiciously for a long moment, before her memories came back. At least, part of them. They felt so disjointed and fake. "... you're..." She took a deep breath and sighed, feeling like a jerk now that she realized she'd hit both of them for literally no reason whatsoever outside of her paranoia.

Bo brought his hands down to rub his gut, looking down where she'd hit.

"That didn't go as bad as I thought," he commented.

She blinked at him, bewildered. Had he just called her weak? She snorted. "I could do worse."

"Oh, no, I don't doubt that," Bo said with a laugh. "I'm just glad you didn't."

He paused and looked at Rek.

"You okay, bro?" he asked.

Rek was still leaning heavily against Jerica, not quite able to find it in him to fully straighten, yet. Jerica looked at him, realizing even more that this was all her fault.

"Sorry." She wrapped her arm around him to better support him, and looked back at Bo, blushing. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Bo said, his gaze drifting to the pod next to them.

Jerica stared at it dumbly, glowering as she saw who it was. She remembered the way he'd stabbed Carter and had a distinct flashback to parks and her sneaking suspicion that he'd murdered J.R. He was a full on lunatic.

She swung back around on Rek. "Where's Carter? Did he survive this?"

"I don't know."

She looked back at Bo with a glare. "Where is he?"

"I have no idea," Bo said with a shrug. "Woke up in here just like you. There's only the four of us in here. If Carter or any of the others are around, it's not here."

"If the little bastard survived, I'm going to finish the job," she hissed, looking down at her hand. It wasn't broken anymore, which meant she'd recovered, which meant he probably had, too. But she still remembered the way he'd choked James. Remembered him bashing her over the head with the bookend. This was a grudge that would transcend realms.

"Okay, I think we've got bigger things than Carter--"

"Like most things," Jerica commented. She heard Bo snort.

Rek scoffed. "First, we need to figure out where we are and how to get out. We can save the murders for the after party."

"We'll also have to deal with this guy when he wakes up," Bo said, pointing back at Lordshire with his thumb. "Or, I will. Who knows. Maybe he'll surprise us and be not as murder-crazy as he was moments before we woke up. But I'm not banking on that."

"Then I'll kill him," Jerica said simply, shrugging. She had bigger things to worry about just then than to be worried about a homicidal psychopath trying to kill her. Been there, done that. She didn't have the patience for it today.

"While that's probably the easiest solution," Bo said. "I'd really rather no one in this room die if we can help it. We don't know what kind of situation we're in yet. I think it's better that we don't do anything rash."

Jerica scoffed. "Have you met me? Rash is my middle name."

"I've been made aware of this," Bo said. "And I mean, I have met you. Or some version of you. It goes both ways. But I think we're all aware those weren't our real selves. At least, not entirely."

Jerica stared at him, brain slowly piecing things together.

"Wait, we were..." Her eyes went wide. "Noooo, I have a-- I mean, no, like. I don't have a boyfriend--"

"I have a fiance," Bo said. "This is weird for me too."

"And she does have a boyfriend," Rek offered.

Jerica snorted at him and rolled her eyes, but couldn't say much since he was right. So she focused on Bo instead, feeling vaguely unsettled. And also confused. Had he been as good as Akeno? Had he been better? This was all very perplexing. "... does it count as cheating if you don't remember they exist?"

"That's a complex issue that I don't feel qualified to answer on your behalf," Bo said. "But as for me, I'm just going to say we leave that in the simulation, since we're both in relationships, and we remember now."

Jerica nodded in agreement, still very confused. Bo and Akeno were both gentle and kind and talked her down. But they were so different. Well... not really. But kind of. But... she was very, very confused. "Yeah... let's."

"Glad we're in agreement," Bo said with a small smile and nod of his head.

Jerica nodded, too, then looked at Rek. "Get us out of here."

"I can't," he said with a shake of his head.

"She won't care," Jerica said.

"He already tried, I think," Bo said. "If you mean the spoofing thing."

Jerica looked at him, brow furrowed, then looked back at Rek. "No."

"'No' what?"

"No. That's unacceptable," she said, distraught.

Rek snorted.

"If you won't, I will," Jerica threatened.

"This room is impenetrable." Rek shook his head.

"Sounds like something a quitter would say," Jerica spat. She looked down at her hands, channeling the energy.

"Don't do it," Rek warned. "Your magic sucks at baseline, and--"

She did it.

He sighed, adding softly. "You're going to throw up."

She didn't even make it quite to the door before materializing so she didn't get thrown into it with quite as much force, but she still went stumbling directly into it. A moment later she threw up.

Rek sighed and rubbed his face, glancing at Bo. "I tried to warn her."

Bo shrugged.

"We all gotta deal with it in our own way," he said.

"How about you?" Jerica spit and turned back towards Bo. "Is yours stronger?" Was it proportional to body size? She didn't know.

"Unfortunately, I'm not as cool as you guys," Bo said with a sigh. "I don't have any magical powers or anything. I'm just some guy with one eye."

Jerica hesitated, brain very small and focused entirely on violence. "Okay. But have we tried..." She made a shoving motion towards the door.

"Rek almost smashed his head in trying to bust the door down," Bo said. "I think it that didn't work, there's probably nothing we can do to open it. Personally, I don't feel like turning one of the pods into a battering ram. If that door won't let magic through I highly doubt it'll let anything else through until it's unlocked by whoever's put us here."

Jerica's brain, however, got stuck on the concept of the battering ram. She turned back towards the pods.

"No," Rek said disapprovingly, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"Huh," Bo said softly. "Maybe I should've kept that idea in my brain."

"Okay, but--" She walked back towards the pod.

"Jerica, all of your bad ideas start with those two words and none of your good ones do."

"Okay, but," she repeated, undeterred. "We take tank and go thump-thump." She gestured at the door.

"Do you think all the goop will spill out, though, if we try to move it? That stuff was straight up nasty. I don't want to get it everywhere," Bo said.

It was in that moment that Jerica remembered that she'd been marinating in slime like a basted turkey. She looked down at herself, brow furrowing even deeper as she saw the form fitting fugly jumpsuit. She looked up and realized both of them were wearing the same ones. And a single glance at Rek was enough to make her decide she wanted to keep her eyes up because this was just weird now.

"Are these dampering the R'hyk?" Jerica asked.

"Are what?" Rek asked, not putting the pieces together.

"These." She grabbed on the shoulder of her jumpsuit and tried to tug it away from her skin. "They're the reason we can't Transport."

"I mean, they're definitely killing the vibes," Bo said. "But I don't think they're stopping your magic. I think that's a room thing. But that's just a Bo theory."

She kept trying to pry the jumpsuit up so that she could find a way out of it, but nothing was coming to mind. "No. It's these. Why else would it be going so poorly for us?"

"It always goes badly for you," Rek pointed out.

Jerica turned towards him angrily, having half a mind to hit him for that one. He deserved it. There was no reason whatsoever for pointing out how weak her magic was in front of her kind of? ex? But then Bo cut in so she turned back towards him.

"I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons why things are going poorly for us. Namely that it was designed that way by our kidnapper," he said, turning to watch Lordshire again, like he was keeping an eye on him.

"Where is he?" Jerica asked sourly, turning back towards Rek. "What are his terms?"

Rek shook his head gently. "I don't think it's Biryn this time, Jer."

"It's always Biryn," she huffed. Then she turned a skeptical gaze on Bo. "What'd you do to piss him off?"

"I don't know anybody named Biryn," Bo said. "But that's a great question. I too would like to know what I did to piss our kidnapper off, and would like to have some words with them, whoever they are. Namely of the 'please give me a break' kind, though I doubt they're looking for that kind of conversation."

"Never fear," Jerica said. "I am skilled in many kinds of conversations."

Bo flicked his eyes to Rek for a second. Rek met his gaze, not quite sure whether he should be amused or annoyed with Jerica or both. It was usually both.

"Noted," Bo said simply.

"You know like three languages and violence, shut up," Rek said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh! I know two languages. But it'd be weird if our kidnapper conveniently spoke Russian," Bo said, deflating a little.

Jerica looked at him for a moment, a few more memories unlocking. She thought about questioning his alcoholic last name and where his massive father was. "Your father--" She whirled around on Rek. "Your father. Needs to be here. Now."

"Agreed," Rek said. There were very, very few situations in which adding Derik made things worse rather than better. He got annoyed when Jerica got into fights, especially if she was boozed up when it happened. But otherwise, he was generally in their corner, offering them the protection of a mother hen. Well, as much protection as any hen could possibly give an assassin and a General. "But he's not."

Jerica thought for a moment, trying to think if anything she knew might be helpful. Languages. "You think they know Atraian?"

"Don't call them--" Rek said, predicting what she was about to do.

"Asp--"

Rek covered her mouth, giving her a shove. "Stop. running. your. mouth. That's what always gets us stabbed."

"That happened one time," Jerica said defensively.

Rek lifted both eyebrows.

"And I said I was sorry," Jerica pointed out, glancing at Bo. "I meant it, too."

"I'm a little lost here on your stabbing ventures," Bo said with a weak smile. "But it's probably best to learn from your past experience and not do whatever it was again."

Jerica nodded, glancing back at Rek. "I never actually got him back, did I?"

"We've got bigger things to worry about right now." Rek dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "... Unless... you don't think he did this?"

Jerica scoffed and rolled her eyes. "He couldn't manage to feed me to a dragon, you really think he'd be able to orchestrate something like this?"

"And uh, one thing to consider--" Bo cut in. "Whoever did this somehow knew all of us, or did their research before they captured us."

He pointed back at Lordshire.

"That guy included," Bo said.

"Are we sure he's not just a crackhead that ended up in the wrong soup kitchen line?"

"The only thing that's certain in life is death and taxes..." Rek agreed, eyeing Lordshire's pod.

"That, and--"

The fourth light over the doors lit up.

"Why does it always happen mid-thought," Bo muttered, turning to Lordshire's pod. He took in a deep sigh and positioned himself in front of it. "Okay, whatever. Let me take care of this one."

Rek stepped forward to position himself between Bo and Jerica, staying well away from the pod, but making sure he'd be able to stop... well... slow Jerica, if she tried to get in on the action. "Deescalating," Rek said. "This situation needs to be deescalated."

Jerica glared at him, but looked back at the pod as it started making a faint whirring noise, too curious to be argumentative. They watched the pod in apprehensive silence, waiting to see what personality the crazy man was going to emerge with.

Evaline stood still, frozen in place as she stared at James fall out of his pod, landing on the floor with a cough and shudder. Like her, he was disoriented and likely trying to understand their new reality. There was a pull in her heart telling her that she should help him, but she immediately pushed it down, knowing that doing so would be futile.

If he was equally as confused, then neither of them knew anything.

But there were still so many uncertainties. Did James knew who she was outside of the simulated environment they woke up from? Did he remember everything like she did? Did he know anything at all about where they were and how they got here?

They needed answers. Maybe he had them.

With him just being here, it felt like an invisible heavy blanket was placed around her shoulders. Evaline couldn't exactly place what she was feeling, but it was more anxiety-inducing than the usual dread and paranoia she felt.

James then finally looked up and they made eye contact.

It felt like an electric shock down her body, and Evaline immediately looked away in shame, unable to sustain it. Her eyes instead focused on the metal door next to her, and she lifted her palm to touch it. For a second there, she felt like she may lose her balance, and she needed something to ground her.

This was the reality they were in now.

And they had to get back. That was the most important thing. Get back.

"...Where are we?" she said lowly, her voice dry and hoarse.

Maybe he had answers.



Evaline was real?

James didn't know what to do with that information as he stared at her, watching as she turned to a door he hadn't realized was there. In the peripheral of his vision, he could make out two glass tanks that stood upright, now empty. They'd both been held in glass cages, surrounded by fluid, kept under and out of consciousness by whatever means until now. But to what end? What for?

And how could he be sure this was still real? What if he woke up from this dream, in the middle of the night, surrounded by a canopy of stars and cattle milling about in the fields?

But what scared him more was the possibility that he might never wake up. That this was in fact, all real, and he was far, far from home - by whatever stretch of the definition he could call Nye home.

He looked at the door. At Evaline, and then two lit bulbs that sat above the door.

If this was real, he couldn't afford to stay stuck in denial.

If this was real, and Evaline was real, then some of what they experienced at the college was real, even if the setting propping them up was a fabrication. But if Evaline was in the same situation, and neither of them were their full, true selves in that dream, then they were more strangers than they were friends, never mind anything else more than that.

Could he even afford to process any of what happened in the dream?

Someone or something had taken them. Brought them here. Trapped them. Taken away their memories. Thrown them into an imaginary world, and let them "live" as if those were their real lives until they were violently ripped out of it, only to have everything return.

This was a matter of survival.

They needed to get back home.

But... he wasn't sure he even wanted to go back home.

Slowly, he got to his feet, but he felt utterly disconnected from his body to the point where all sensation was lost.

"I don't know," he said, testing his voice.

It was low, and rough, like he hadn't used it in a long time. He had no way of knowing just how long.

"You remember it then, too," he said. "Right?"



Evaline could hardly look at James, nevertheless listen to him. His presence felt like a dead weight on her shoulders, and she found her mind fraying at the edges, not sure what to think or feel.

Her memories in the simulated world threatened to resurface, but she fought it for now, knowing that if she tried to think through it and make sense of it all at once with James in the room, she wouldn't know what could happen next. She may say something she'd come to regret, or do something stupid, or, or -- something. She couldn't do it. Not now.

Evaline needed a distraction. She needed to think through something other than the false memories and false version of herself.

How did she get here? How did James get here? Why were they here?

Evaline wanted to think this through carefully, and normally she would do it automatically without thinking, but she found herself forcing every thought, every move, and every emotion. She needed to be careful. She must not lose her control.

She dug her nails into the metal door a little at James's question, letting the minor pain prevent her from lashing out right then and there.

You remember it too. As in, he remembered their memories in the simulation. That was real. At least, the false version of them were.

It was likely that neither of them were who they said they were.

"I don't remember why or how I got here," Evaline said slowly instead, her voice neutral. She glanced up at the ceiling, still unable to make eye contact with James. "Do you?"



James looked around the room, taking it all in more now.

There were no exits. No windows, no vents, no doors they could pry open. They were sealed in. Imprisoned for an unknown purpose, like lab rats in a cage.

He wondered if anyone was watching.

Though Evaline didn't answer the question, he felt he already knew the answer. If she didn't remember anything from the simulation, she would've been more likely to ask him what he meant or demand more answers if she was honestly confused. But instead, she deflected.

"No," he said distantly, eyes drifting back to her.

Everything felt fuzzy. Emotions filtered through a thick wall of insulation like whispers of the real thing.

He looked down at himself, flexing his hands.

Nothing was grounding him. Nothing at all.



So James didn't know any more than Evaline did. She figured. She still had a lot of questions to ask, though.

Questions with unknown answers drifted in and out of her mind naturally, and with it she was able to calm her nerves and think more clearly. They weren't in immediate danger, and they were trapped in this room, so the best they could do was share what they knew.

But Evaline needed to get a feel of James some more. She wasn't the person she presented herself to be in the simulation, and sure James wasn't either. Surely he wasn't the man she knew.

Wordlessly, Evaline paced along the wall, stopping in front of her pod to fully inspect it. While she talked, maybe she could examine the pod and see if there were any clues, or if her pod was different than James's.

"What do you remember before the..." She paused, not really sure what to call it. "Let's call it simulation."



Simulation.

Though James knew in his former life, he might not have understood the full meaning of that word, now, he did. He understood what a simulation was because he'd been in one. Or at least, that was the closest word they had to describe what it was they'd just woken up from.

"Nye," he said, before having a moment of doubt.

Was Evaline even... from... Nye?

He didn't even know how to begin to process and comprehend the existence of other worlds, or if they were even on a different one at present. It couldn't even develop as a thought in his brain. It just existed, and he didn't know what to do with it.

"I was on a ranch," he said, feeling a growing sense of distance even from his own self and his own past. "Working. Herding cattle. That's the last thing I remember. Keeping watch by the fire by night."

He looked to Evaline, watching as she inspected the tank she'd formerly been kept in.

She must have woken up before him. He didn't know for how long she'd been up, by herself.

"What do you remember?" he asked. "Before?"



Nye. What was Nye?

Evaline was pretty well-versed with the maps, even the ones that were too far to ever travel to. But she had never heard of a place called Nye before. And James's answer of working on a ranch sounded strangely archaic and strange. Was it a lie? It sounded like a page from a simple fictional story.

But what did he have to gain by lying? In her gut, Evaline knew he was telling the truth. Still, she didn't want to trust his words. Something had to be wrong here. Nothing made sense. She just wanted it to make sense.

Evaline brushed along the back of the pod, not noticing any wires or tags. This machine was far more advanced than any other machine she had ever seen. She didn't even know what it was. It almost felt... alien. She couldn't put her finger on it.

She tried to let the pod origins weigh heavy on her mind, but it hardly did, especially when James turned her question around on her to ask her the same thing.

What did she remember before the simulation?

Evaline knew. Or at least, she thought she did. The days and nights were blurring together, and she was losing her sanity, and with it, her power and authority. She was slipping, slipping, slipping, unable to regain her sense of self without losing it all.

If she was truly crazy right now, maybe she'd have thought she was peering through someone's eyes, not really in her body, living as someone else. But right now, she felt sane. Or at least, sane enough to at least have a soft hold on to reality.

That was when it occured to her: maybe this wasn't reality. Maybe this was a dream.

Nervously, Evaline opened her palm to stare at it. This felt too real, so she expected the word "dream" to be scrawled on her hand as she did to reality check herself sometimes, but her palm was empty. Even in dreams, it was never empty.

She didn't know what this meant. She didn't know what any of this meant.

Maybe she really was going crazy.

"It was a normal night for me too. I was alone in a room and slept for the night," she said carefully, not wanting to give much away.

Evaline thought about lying, but even in the midst of the uncertainty, it felt wrong to do so. Still, she felt strangely protective about her identity and didn't want to share since doing so may lead to more questions she didn't want to answer.

"I'm not familiar with Nye. Where is it near?" she asked afterwards.



James blinked.

Maybe he could've laughed, but any sense of laughter was choked out by the deafening sense of emptiness hollowing out his chest.

"It's a world," he said, almost helplessly.

So he was right, then. She wasn't from Nye. She could've been from anywhere, and he wouldn't know anything about it. It could've been across the universe, for all he knew. Were they even supposed to exist in the same room? He didn't know. He didn't know anything. This was far bigger than him.

"A planet. It's called Nye," he said. "It's..."

What was it near?

He didn't know.

"I don't know about other planets," he settled on. And, proceeding on assumption, added: "What's the name of yours?"



The casual answer of "it's a planet" surprised Evaline so much, she almost wanted to laugh. Almost. Considering they had woken up from a gelatinous liquid that made them sleep through a false world and life, nothing should have surprised her anymore.

Evaline wanted to deny his claims of being a literal alien, but decided against it, instead toying with the idea and assuming he wouldn't lie. Even if this was all an elaborate trick, then at least she could think through the possibilities of what will be and is.

With his crazy answer still burning in her head, she decided to finally steal a glance towards James, but instantly regretted it when they made eye contact for a split second.

Through it all, she couldn't take it. She could talk to him and toy with the idea of getting to know this version of him, but with the memories of the simulation still so fresh in her head, she could barely look at him and maintain her composure.

Evaline quickly looked away and bit her lip, scurrying towards his pod to see if it was any different than hers. It likely wasn't, but she needed something to distract her racing mind.

"Earth," she answered naturally. "I don't know what you're talking about, but like the simulation, I'm on the planet Earth. I don't know what that version was, though. It was different than what I am used to. A lot different."

As she crouched behind the pod, Evaline felt the heat of embarrassment rush to her cheeks as she realized she told herself she'd keep her composure, but accidentally said more than she needed to say. She said too much unecessary amount of information he didn't ask for.

"So, I -- Nye," she stammered, pressing on to continue this back-and-forth interrogation. "I've never heard of it."

She paused, for probably far too long than she realized, because her mind was one endless loop of telling herself to calm down and keep herself together. She was just glad that she could at least hide behind the pod.

"What's it like?" she finally finished.



James watched as Evaline went around the glass casing she'd been kept in, still presumably inspecting it, even though it didn't seem like there was much to find. As far as he could tell, there were no buttons, no triggers, no levers, no labels. Nothing identifying and nothing that gave them any more information than they already knew, which was nothing at all.

Still, he stayed on the opposite side of it. Maybe she'd find something. Maybe she wouldn't. He had a feeling it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.

Whoever put them in the room went out of their way to keep them there.

"A lot less technologically advanced than earth," he said. "But it bears a lot of similarities in topography. A lot about the world looks very similar. It has a lot of the same plants, animals... humans."

He paused, still observing Evaline. Her face was hidden, but he could see the side of her head.

"But it also has magic," he added. "Goblins. Monsters. People with wings that can fly."

He inched to the side to poke his head around at her, still standing a few feet away.

"How is your earth different from the one in the simulation?"



Evaline rubbed her palm against the smooth backing of the pod, listening to James while inadvertently petting the pod like it was some kind of animal. When he started listing literal nonsense, though, she stopped and gritted her teeth.

She waned to believe him when he said he last remembered a peaceful night at a cattle renach. Despite how insane it sounded, she wanted to believe him when he said he was from a whole new planet. But after he listed off magic and magical creatures, she couldn't help but think that he was mocking her somehow.

That was the only logical explanation. James was mocking her, adding fuel to the fire from this false simulation they woke up from by taking on an identity that could only be from works of fiction.

And of course, Evaline was close to gobbling it up, blindly putting her faith into it.

Was she the fool, or was he?

"Oh, yes, Earth is also filled with flying fairies and pixie dust," she said, thick with sarcasm as she slowly stood up with irritation, still staring down at the pod. "It's all rainbow and sunshine. Not at all the doom and gloom we know today. Do you take me for a fool? I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, but I'm far too tired to find out what nonsense you're pulling."



"You don't believe me," James said quietly, looking off to the side of the room at the empty, beige wall.

"I cannot blame you. If I were from Earth, I wouldn't either," James continued. "I didn't know of earth until I was in the simulation, living as if I had always been, and always known of it. There, the existence of worlds like mine is pure fiction. I suppose there's no convincing you otherwise, but I do not mean to decieve you."



It was a well-thought and calm answer, but that made Evaline panic even more.

There was no way someone could so easily just tell another person all that. This couldn't be real. She was going insane. To be able to hallucinate this real of a reality, Evaline must have completely lost her grip of herself.

"Just who are you?" Evaline asked harshly, balling her fist.

She pulled away from the pod, pacing across the room instead, but avoiding looking at James directly.

"You say you're not trying to deceive me. But what am I supposed to believe? Are you the person that I remembered? Was that even real? If what we experienced wasn't real, then what is? How do I know that this is real? That you're real?"

Evaline's tone was getting more and more frantic, and so were her steps.

She tried so hard to push back the panic, but it oozed out of her like an overfilled cup of water.

"I don't know what to believe anymore," she continued. "I didn't want to go through this. And I'm sure -- I'm sure you didn't either. Now, I'm just trying to go back. But there's no way out. Why are we here? We don't have any recollection of how we got here. So if you have any idea of what to do, now would be time to say it, instead of fictional trivialities of where you're from and what you do."



He had only been answering the questions she asked. It was as simple as that.

James wasn't sure how much he could help Evaline. She wanted answers. She wanted to go home. She wanted solutions, not things that confused her more. He wanted answers too, but for as long as they were stuck in the room with no direction and nothing else but the cages they were held in and themselves, he didn't know what she expected. She probably didn't know herself.

They were both victims of this circumstance, and they had very little control over any of it.

"I wish I knew," James said. "But I don't know any more than you do. I didn't ask for this either."

His eyes drifted to the door.

"We may just have to wait," James said solemnly. "For what, I do not know. But I suspect... that if you and I are both real people who were in the simulation, that there are more."

But he didn't want to be right in that, because then that meant there was a possibility that Carter, or Eliza, or even his family could be there too.

Evaline knew that James was being perfectly rational, but this wasn't helping her. She couldn't be calm in the midst of a storm. How could he?

"How are you so calm?" she asked sharply instead, pacing faster now. "Has this happened to you before? Why are you so calm?"

James was quiet for a moment.

"What you're perceiving as calm is more of a... survival response," James said quietly.

Evaline could understand that. She wasn't a stranger to needing to be calm in the face of danger. But here, now, together? With no visible threat to each other? She didn't know how he could keep it together.

Unless... he perceives her as a threat.

Or he was hiding something else about the situation he was in. Maybe he didn't trust her. She shouldn't trust him either. Why should she? He was on guard. She should be too.

There were so many questions and possibilities swirling through her mind, and each one only made her more and more anxious.

"Was anyone else in the simulation someone you've known at some point before?" James asked slowly, cutting through the swirl of thoughts. "In your life before all of this."

"You tell me," Evaline said with unnecessary hostility. "Was anyone else in your fake life?"

"I'm just wondering if some of the people we ran closely with in the - the simulation - are here. Just not in this room," he said. "Because, yes. There were some people who showed up in the simulation that I knew on Nye."

Evaline stopped pacing, instead finding a spot on the opposite corner of James, still facing away from him to avoid having to see him. It felt childish, but she didn't care. She desperately wanted the door to open so she could get away, but for now she was trapped, and it felt like she may implode.

She still couldn't wrap the full idea of Nye in her head, but she could hardly wrap the idea of a simulated world in her head. She was being far too overstimulated with information, and she wished she could just be alone for days or even hours to process everything that was going on.

Evaline leaned her head against the wall, tilting it up but heavily closed her eyes so she could best think.

Okay, suppose Nye was real. That implied that other worlds and planets with life existed too. Perhaps other people in the simulation were from these other worlds. But James said that there were other people in the simulated world that were from his world. The same held true for Evaline. She recognized Mel and even Elias of all people, but she couldn't name the others. She tried to think through her fake backstory, but it was fuzzy at best. It felt like there was some semblance of truth in there, but she was far too overwhelmed to make sense of it with her real memories.

Evaline let the silence drag on for too long as she tried to collect her thoughts, but it appeared that James patiently waited for her. It stung her when she instinctively made the comparison that the simulated James would have done the same thing.

"There were a few," she finally said lowly.

"I see," was all James said in response.

She wanted to turn the question back at him and maybe even prod to figure out who he was, but she suddenly lost her determination to do so.

Maybe it'd be better if they just let the deafening silence envelope them both.

Or so she thought. Even now, Evaline never really knew what she wanted, and it irrationally irked her that James let her have this silence.

"...That's it?" she said, voice still thick with hostility. "That's all you have to say?"

"I'm not sure what else you want me to say," James said, his voice so gentle in comparison. "I'm just trying to... mentally prepare."

Mentally prepare.

Evaline was too, at first. But the longer they talked and dragged this on, the more she realized she couldn't do this. As much as she wished she could, she couldn't just forget what happened in the simulated world and solve problems together like there was nothing else to discuss. She couldn't do it. The false memories ate her up inside, and she hated -- she hated -- that even now, in the true world, James still held her heart in hostage.

She was trying so hard to keep it together, but she didn't know how long she would last like this.

Bitter tears threatened to make its way to the surface, but Evaline pushed it away again, letting the hostility come through instead.

"What do you expect?" she said more softly, trying to not sound so desperate. "Did you think we'd put our heads together and get out of this godforsaken room, shake hands, then be on our merry way? What do you want from me?"

"You don't owe me anything because of what happened in the simulation, Evaline," James said, his voice even softer. "I'm not--"

"I don't expect anything from you," she cut in quickly, wringing her hands together to release tension. "But I asked, what do you want from me?"

There was a pause that hung in the air.

"I don't know what's going on, and I don't know how any of this happened," James finally said, his voice growing quiet. "I don't know what to expect, or what I want. I hardly know what to make of all of this myself. I remember everything. My real life, from before. The months spent in that other world - that other reality. It all felt real, even if it wasn't all true. But if there were real people we interacted with, even if they didn't remember who they were... it couldn't have all been 'fake.' I don't know what was real and what wasn't, but I can't just write it all off."

The longer he talked, the more anxious Evaline felt. The uncertainty swelled and ballooned, and the number of questions with unknown answers cascaded down like an infinite deck of cards, and it drowned her, little by little.

"Stop it," she said through gritted teeth, trying not to shake. "Stop it."

Evaline remembered it all too. She had a life and a lifetime of regrets, but this was who she was. It crashed wildly against what she remembered in the simulation, and she was a completely different person, but at her core, she felt like she was the same. This was who she could've become if things were different. It was what could've been. A possibility and a future she didn't consider.

And knowing that it was a lie was somewhat comforting, in the cruelest sense. It validated who she truly was and brushed off the other version of her as being mere fantasy.

And it would've been fine if it ended there, but it didn't.

The people were real. James was real.

What did this mean? What did it imply? There was still so much she didn't know, like where he was from and where they were in now, but knowing that his existence was real sent her mind into a million different directions trying to grasp the reality they were in now.

Yes, if they were anything like they were in the simulation, then putting their heads together on this would be smart. They could feed off information they give each other and strategically plan for whatever may come next.

And Evaline wished she could end it there. She wished she could only see this as a surface-level alliance.

But she was never one to know when to let go.

"I can't do this anymore," she murmured, clenching her teeth as she finally turned to face him.

James was sitting down on the other side of the room, leaning against the pod as he stared at the metal door in the room. She had to turn off all instincts to observe the little details since she didn't want to do that with James, instead trying to pierce his attention with her eyes. It seemed to work since he noticed and looked back.

"Are you just going to ignore what happened? You don't owe anything to me but I can't just pretend everything is fine."

Evaline felt everything spilling out at once. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't contain it. She was pushed to her limits.

She stood up slowly, still talking while glaring down at James.

"I know you're not who you were in the simulation. I wasn't either. But you're still real, and so am I. So, what, now that we're here, are you just going to be on your way and shrug everything off? Just who are you? Were you trying to manipulate me? Did you even like me? Why bother going through all this trouble? If all of it was fake, why don't you just say so!"

She was yelling at the end of it, tension swelled in her fists as she continued to glare at him. Evaline felt rage and sorrow and regret all at once, but she didn't care. She wanted to rip the band-aid out and get it all out in the open now, even if it hurt.

She watched as James stared at her, at first with his expression unreadable, but as her voice rose and she went on, his face softened, and his eyes looked sad as his mouth pulled ever so subtly at the corners in the hint of a frown. His thick brows drew inward, into a line.

He'd been leaning up against the pod with his posture upright and alert, but by the time the last of her screaming voice hung in the air, his shoulders had sagged and he looked away, eyes landing somewhere on the floor by the door.

Still, James didn't respond right away, which only fueled her some more.

"I'm not who you think. Just tell me! Tell me none of it was sincere. Tell me that it was all fantasy. Tell me that you're not at all the person I know. Then we can proceed to find out what happened. But until then, I can't do this. So just... tell me, James! Tell me!"

She was yelling again, practically screaming as she had to take in ragged heavy breaths by the end of it. Still, Evaline kept her attention on him, never looking away once.

James stared at an invisible spot on the floor, the weary sadness in his eyes deepening as his brows knit together just a little tighter.

"If you want me to lie," he said, his voice quiet and steady. "Then I will tell you none of it was sincere. But it wouldn't be honest."

"So... so you're saying that you weren't lying," Evaline sputtered out. "You were yourself in the simulation, and everything was sincere."

"Sincere, yes," James said. "I can't tell you how the simulation would have been different if we'd both had the fullness of our memories. But while I was in the simulation, knowing what I knew, it was real."

It was the same for Evaline.

She wasn't herself either without her real memories, but given the situation, she didn't try to sabotage anything. She was herself, and by the end of it, she felt more like herself than she even did now.

She didn't know what any of this implied.

"What do you want me to do, James?" she asked more desperately, now burying her face in her hands. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer. "I know we're in a place we don't understand, but how do you expect me to tolerate... this?"

She slid down the wall to sit again and then dug her nails into her skin, as if she could only depend on herself to ground her.

"I'm not the person you know. And neither are you. So, what now? Do you just want to... move on?"

"Without knowing what may come next," James said. "I really don't know. But I do wonder if the simulation was meant to end the way it did. If it was an accident, or on purpose. Whoever captured us put us together in a room on purpose. Now that we're awake I don't know what we have time for. We may make a decision, and have it interrupted. Or be thrown back into another life against our will."

James was deflecting and trying to change the subject, but Evaline already got the answer she needed. He didn't know what to do with their history either. Neither of them knew.

It was naive for her to think that, maybe, if they were both sincere despite the fake memories in the simulation, it all had meaning. An idealistic part of her was hoping James had all the answers and would tell her what he wanted and what they should do, but it sounded like they were both equally lost, and he didn't want to talk about it.

But he didn't understand that if they didn't address this, she couldn't talk about anything. She could hardly face him, nevertheless talk to him.

He didn't understand that, even if she barely knew his true self, he would forever be her weakness. And she hated that she couldn't change it.

James let out a very long, heavy sigh.

"I really did like you, Evaline," James said softly. "And I think I still do. But if we're from different worlds, and different pasts... I don't know if this-- whatever this is-- would even be possible. And that's if we were to even get out of this situation somehow."

The words echoed in her mind like a ghostly whisper. Evaline knew she was being dramatic, but she still clung to those words like a lost child did with their mother.

Their love was sincere, then. Because Evaline would be lying if she said otherwise.

The feelings were there, but it was impossible. He was right. It was impossible. They couldn't just run away and start some impossible life. She couldn't be naive and pretend that nothing would go wrong, and that it would even be possible in the first place. She couldn't lie to herself like that. Not again.

There was only one solution. There was still a lot of uncertainty of their situation, but if they were star-crossed lovers destined to never have a future, then there was only one thing she could do to lessen the years of heartache and pain.

Not for her. But for him.

Because she knew that she would never fully get over the people she once loved. She never learned how.

She felt the tension increase in her hands as she continued to bury her face in them. Tears stung her eyes and wetted her hands as she prepared for the words she would say next.

"I never loved you," she said cooly and calmly, even though her heart was saying and feeling something else. "Like the simulation, it was a lie. I knew I wasn't sincere. I would be the one lying if I said that it was. I am sorry you feel otherwise."

James was quiet for what felt like forever. But this time, she said all she needed to say. She let the silence hang in the air, and it suffocated her, but she bore it. It was never about herself anyways.

"I know you're trying to make this easier for both of us," James finally said after the agonizing silence. "But it's going to hurt either way. You don't have to spare my feelings."

Evaline swallowed down the last remnants of the irrational feelings she had about James. If there was no future, it was useless to dwell on the past. She had to commit to this.

She slowly looked up, trying to revert back to her usual icy stare, trying to imagine this as two people who hardly knew each other... which wasn't that far off, considering he was from a world she didn't recognize.

"I'm not," she said adamently. "I'm trying to be honest with you. If I had said that from the start, you wouldn't have said everything I wanted to know. There's no point in lying now."

James looked up at her, meeting her eyes with a sad, but gentle sense of understanding, even though he couldn't possibly know what her true intentions were. Could he?

"I've lied to people too," James said. "Because I thought it would make it easier to say goodbye. To let go. But every time, I was wrong. It never makes it easier. It still hurts, all the same."

It took all of Evaline's willpower to not overthink this and send her spiraling towards more questions and possibilities that needed answers.

For all she knew, James was lying too.

"I don't know what you've been through," James continued slowly. "That made you do the same. But I'm sorry. Sorry if you'd had too many painful goodbyes, and now--"

"James," Evaline cut in before he could get too far. "It doesn't matter. You're right that there is no future for us. We're from two different worlds. There's no point in expelling energy on each other, especially with where we are now and the uncertainties that lie ahead." She gestured at the doors. "Do you have any idea what may lay on the other side of the doors?"

James turned his head, looking at the doors with an expression that was unreadable.

"... Carter," James said faintly.

"Is he from Nye too?" she asked.

"He wants me dead," James said instead, but somehow, that still answered the question.

Given what Evaline already knew about him, they seemed to have a lot more in common than they think.

"Why is that?" she continued.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked.

"As an unbiased third party, maybe I can piece together connections to why we may be there." She shrugged innocently. "It seemed that the simulation ended when Lordshire stabbed him. Maybe he plays a role in this, which means you do as well."

"Or maybe," James said. "The simulation ended because someone tried to murder someone else in the simulation. And succeeded."

"Could be. There's a lot we don't know."

James was quiet for a moment, staring at the door with the same schooled blank expression.

"It's Elias and Mel for you, isn't it?" he asked, his voice soft.

Evaline furrowed her brows, peeling away her stare as she instead gazed at the other door in the room. Considering that in the simulation they were all childhood friends, it wasn't that hard to guess. And it seemed that the simulation was cruel enough to let them all live in harmony.

"You don't have to tell me about them," James added. "I just figured it made sense."

"I wasn't going to," she said. "But yes. They were from my world. I don't know what to expect from them, though. And I doubt they have anything to do with why I'm here."

"I think... the real ones were the ones we knew, and Jerica. Rek, and Bo. Daniel. Benji. Lordshire. Morrigan. Those were the main ones we kept in close contact with," James said. "That's who I'm preparing myself to see whenever this door opens."

"Aside from Carter, have you ever met any of them before?" Evaline asked.

"No," James answered. "You?"

Evaline shook her head. "No. And if what you're saying is true about Nye, then the others may be from different worlds too. It's insane, but a strong possibility."

"Everything about this should be impossible," James said. "Them being from other worlds feels small in comparison to the scale of... all of this. Whoever put it together."

"And not just that, but we were put through a simulation," Evaline added. "Across space and time, we were brought here to live a fake life only to wake up here. Why and who would do something like this? What purpose does it hold?"

James pulled his legs up closer to his chest and leaned forward, folding his arms and resting them on his knees.

"Someone who likes to watch people suffer," James said. And though his face stayed neutral as he held his stare with the door, something in his voice seemed to betray him. He said it like he was all too familiar with people of that kind.

"Does someone come to mind?" Evaline asked, watching him closely.

"No one capable of something like this," he said, sounding weary.

Evaline nodded, glancing at the two pods in the room. This was far too advanced, even by Earth's standards.

"Maybe it's not just one villain," she said slowly, wondering if he would take the bait. "Maybe it's multiple people across everyone's worlds. Is there any one person that comes to mind who would even have a slight possibility they would be involved?"

James went quiet, and didn't respond.

"Do you have that many enemies?" Evaline pressed on. His silence and scars were telling.

"Forgive me if I'm hesitant to bear my soul when I've been trying to give you the freedom to closely guard yours," James said quietly.

Evaline deeply sighed. There wasn't a point in truly getting to know one another, and she really wanted to avoid it and would rather close her open wounds, but there was nothing else to do but gather information.

Maybe a small part of her truly was curious of what kind of life this new James lived, but at this point she was grasping for straws.

What did he have to do with the situation they were in? What did she have to do with this? What connection did they have?

Maybe she was searching for a connection that didn't exist, but she didn't know what else to do.

"The Earth I know is like a blend of Nye and the simulation," she said, settling on surface-level information instead. "Think of it like the simulation Earth, but with magic, as you call it, and years ahead in the future. Different societies and rules, but the concept is the same. I'm not likeable and have enemies of my own, sure. Not a single one would be capable of this, but with others, it's possible." She glanced back at him. "I'm just trying to find connections. That's all."

James let out another sigh.

"None of mine would do this," he said lowly. "Not like this."

"And Carter? Do you think he plays a bigger role in this?" Evaline asked.

"By the end of the simulation, everyone despised him," James said. "If this were in his control, he would never let that happen. I don't think he plays any more of a role than you or I or anyone else."

"... Would he be aggressive and try to attack you if he saw you here?" she asked.

James's eyes dropped to his lap.

"I can't say," James said. "If he was outnumbered... I don't know. I don't know how desperate he'll be when he comes out of it. If... if he even will."

"If what you say is true, then I'm sure he's just as surprised as we are. And you'll have protection."

Evaline cringed at her own words, more embarrassed by word choice than anything. What did she mean, he'd have protection?

"As in, the masterminds behind this place wouldn't put us through this room just to be attacked by one another," she added quickly. "At least, I would think not."

"You seem to be putting a lot of faith in our mystery kidnapper," James said.

"I'm just trying to make sense of the impossible," she said curtly. "I don't know what to think."

"Fair enough," James replied, but his voice was lot softer in response.

"What do you think then?" Evaline said.

"I think... if our kidnapper was willing to watch as Carter nearly ended my life, that they wouldn't have any problems watching Carter finish the job if allowed the opportunity," James said cooly, though it was clear his coldness was directed not at her, but whatever person or group had put them through this.

"Then it sounds like you should avoid Carter as best as you can. Don't allow him the opportunity," Evaline said.

James slowly lifted his head and met her eyes. This time, he looked hollow.

"We'll see what waits for us behind that door."

Elias could hardly process what was going on. He felt like he was barely even there to begin with. He was just going through the motions of life, going to class not because he had to, but because it was just what was expected for him to do. He could only think through things in short time intervals, not knowing what the day could look like past that.

But he never, ever thought that the day could go like this.

He watched with wide eyes as the blood dripped down Carter's shirt, Lordshire's pointed cane going through him like meat on a skewer.

Screams echoed through the classroom, and Elias found himself shakily standing up, drawn to help his friend. Despite everything that happened that weekend, Elias couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for Carter. He didn't know what he was going through or why he acted the way he did to attack James and Jerica like that, but no one deserved to die or go through the pain like that.

No one.

Elias tried to reach forward and help his friend, but then everything spun and turned to black. He was helpless. He was always so helpless...

It felt like his very essence was slipping, like the world was getting washed to the shore, and with it, he was too. It felt serene and calm. Peaceful.

Was this what death felt like?

There was nothing... no pain. Just nothing.

"Elias!" a familiar voice called. "Elias!"

If he were any more naive, Elias may have thought this was the light at the end of the tunnel, and he'd have seen his life flash before his eyes. But he had a feeling that he was not dead -- he couldn't have died -- and as usual, someone was waking him and bringing him back to the reality he dreaded returning to.

He looked forward to the day that he didn't have to return. But at this point, he was convinced it would never happen.

"Elias! You're awake! Can you hear me?" the voice continued, but this didn't sound like his comrade's voice. "Finally you're awake. I've been waiting for literal hours!"

No... that sounded like...

Slowly, Elias opened his weary eyes.

... Mel?

She pounded against the glass in front of him, grinning ear-to-ear. "Oh, phew. Thank goodness you're awake. You're here too. I have so many questions. So many..."

Mel continued to talk, but Elias couldn't hear her words. His mind physically couldn't process it. The glass was blurry from some kind of gooey liquid, but he was still too stuck on the image of her. Of Mel. Her smile, eyes, hair, skin. This was the Mel he had always dreamed about, yet somehow, he felt so distant and familiar.

Conflicting memories of her played through his mind. And with it, conflicting memories of him.

... What?

With her voice still blurred in the background, Elias finally looked down at himself, lifting his shaky palms to see himself. He was covered in the same gooey liquid, and it was covering him a second ago, but it was quickly draining below him. He was in some kind of... small... glass room... liquid... and not wearing military clothes.

And Mel was outside. What was this?

"Elias, come out. The liquid all drained out. I think you can step out now," Mel said, cutting through his thoughts and gaping stare at his hands.

Huh?

Elias stared back through the glass, this time, past her. What was this chamber? What was that liquid? Was this some kind of mission? Was he unconscious through all of it?

"I think you can, uh... just touch it. Like so," Mel continued, pressing her palms against the glass. "It's probably really sweaty in there, so..."

Elias wasn't even sure what he was doing, but he wordlessly followed her instructions, gently pressing his hand against the glass.

And just like that, more mechanical noises were heard and the glass pulled itself up, letting the air and light waft its way through the hole it created. Elias had to squint through the sudden light, but he hardly flinched.

He didn't recognize the room. And like usual, he was confused. He was always confused.

Mel's face softened as she wordlessly stepped to the side. "It's okay," she said gently. "You can come out. I'm the only one awake... so far, at least."

Elias didn't even know what that meant. He didn't even know why she was here. Nothing made sense presently, or in his head. He had such vivid memories of being a student and living a modern life, but at the same time, he had vivid memories of being a soldier against his wishes. He had two different backstories and two different personalities.

He wanted to question which one was real, but he already knew. The Elias in the modern world was someone he wished he could become if things were different. It wasn't who he was now.

Carefully, he stepped out, the pain of atrophied muscles feeling almost natural. His gaze naturally fell around the room, landing on Carter.

Or at least, he was sure it was Carter. He was in the similar chamber, the glass lid closed and filled with blue liquid. He was sleeping soundly, seemingly unaware of them.

"I know, I know -- you're probably confused," Mel said calmly, stepping in the way of his gaze. "So am I. I have no idea what in the hell is happening. But... Elias. It's me. You remember me, right?"

Elias stared back at Mel, his unfocused gaze landing on her now-long curly hair bouncing around her head. This was all getting to be too much, and when it was too much, he frequently thought back to old memories he held dear to his heart.

But this time, he only had to partly imagine it, because Mel was standing right in front of him.

"I love your hair. Why not show it off some more?" he said with a smile, twirling a strand of it with his finger.

It was after school, and they were in a rush. Mel had asked him to put it up in a high ponytail so it would be out of her face, but he wondered if it was that or insecurities. If it was insecurities, then he wanted her to know that she was beautiful regardless of how she wore her hair.

"What, like let it down?" she said back with a little scoff.

"Yeah," he said with a bigger smile. "It's really pretty."

Elias had dazed off so much that he hadn't realized that he reached over and twirled a strand of her hair again, just like the memory. She wore it down. It was pretty.

"Yeah," he said softly, the edges of his mouth ever-so-slightly turning up to smile, but even that felt forced. "I remember."

Elias couldn't remember the last time he talked to someone this candidly.

Mel awkwardly laughed, stiffly but gently pushing his arm down. Her touch was warm, just like her personality. He fought the urge to hold her hand right then and there.

"I, uh, I know it's been a while. But, uh, High Point University. You remember that, right?" Mel continued, a bit flustered, but Elias hardly noticed.

He nodded, maybe a little too late since he was distracted by her. "I think so."

"And?" Mel pressed, like she was expecting him to continue, but he didn't know what to say, and the silence was telling. She sighed. "Okay. So you don't know any more than I do. That's okay." Mel glanced at the bare wall on the other side of the room. "Why don't we sit down over there and catch up? Can you walk?"

Smart. She was smart. She always knew what to do next.

Elias nodded. "I can walk."

"Great. Come on, then."

They hobbled on over to the opposite side of the wall, and Mel helped him down anyways like he really was a helpless child, but he didn't mind. He was just glad she was here.

"So... Elias," she began with a sigh as he was distractedly wiping away the goo off his body. "I'm glad to see you. To really see you. I didn't think I ever could, and I don't count that weird simulation world." Mel offered a meek smile. "Don't get me wrong, this situation is awful and I have no idea how we got here, but if anything good came out of this... it's seeing you. I really am glad we could meet again. Truly."

This all felt too good to be true, but Elias didn't care. He was watching her, mesmerized, and lagging by a second, listening to every word. He had always dreamed of this moment that, maybe, his friends would forgive him for all his past deeds, and he'd come out of this with them. That small shred of hope brought him comfort. And he always imagined what they would say. And through all the fantasies, he always imagined Mel being the charismatic one, reiterating that she was so glad to see him again.

And seeing all this come to reality, Elias did something he hadn't done in so many years.

He cried.

"I am too," he said softly, a tear rolling down his cheek. He smiled, a little more harshly this time, because this finally felt like the familiar feeling of happiness he had been chasing for so long. "I am too."

"Oh... no, don't cry," Mel said with worry, setting her hand down on his knee, and with that, a jolt of more joy and tears. "It's okay. I'm here now. I don't know what's going to happen, but don't worry. We'll figure it out together."

And that was all he ever wanted.

Suddenly there was another whirring sound, but Elias hardly processed it since he was so focused on Mel, afraid that if he looked away, maybe he would lose her.

Mel was quick to point at the light, a glint shining in her eye. "Aha! The third light came on. Yours came on when you woke up, and there are only three lights. It must mean that Carter is waking up now."

Carter... Carter.

Elias had been so absorbed in the small world of just the two of them that he had nearly forgotten about the others. Carter, and... and...

He had to focus.

Bo. Jerica. James. Rek. Daniel. Benji. Even Lordshire and Morrigan. They all seemed extra real from this... simulation, as Mel called it.

And... of course... Evaline.

Elias wiped the leftover tears in his eyes as he watched Mel get up to bang against Carter's sleeping pod, trying to wake him up.

"Wake up! You're probably faking it, you weirdo! Do you like the gross smelly goop that's in there? Wake up!" she yelled, her fists banging against the glass wall.

The memories of their friends in the false simulation played through his mind, and specifically, Carter. He remembered that he fought his friends, which caused drama. But more importantly, he remembered what happened to him before the simulation ended.

Did Mel not know? Right, she wasn't there. He should have been more attentive to where she was. He should've been there for her, always.

"Mel," Elias said when she finally resorted to grunting against the door. The name still felt strange to say out loud. "Carter was stabbed before it ended."

Mel immediately whirled around, her eyes wide in shock. "hhWHHHAAAaaaAATTT? By who?!"

"Professor... Lordy."

"No way," Mel said with a wave of her hand. "Lordy wouldn't do that... or... maybe... hmmmm." She squinted at Carter, closely examining him. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know," Elias admitted. "Maybe because of the fight."

"Fight? What fight?"

Ah. She didn't know about that either. He was a bad friend... but he will do better now.

"Between James and Jerica. I think... I'm not sure why he did it. But he was aggressive," Elias answered plainly.

Mel hummed, crossing her arms and keeping her stare at Carter. "Interesting. Not sure what that has to do with all of this. Hey, Carter! You hear me? Are you dead? C'mon, there's no way you're dead. Quit being a wimp and come out."

As if his cane was a key and Carter's now limp body was a lock, Lordy felt as if he had just opened the door for something that has been trying to break through for ages. The class around him suddenly faded and the voices and shouting turned into nothing more than muffles. Everything went black.

But what was it all?

Lordy remembered the kids and the school and the town, but what else was there?

Wonderland.

His home. Everything started coming back to him; the rebels, the fighting, the throne, the entire kingdom. All of it seemed to hit him at once. The last few months were still fresh in his mind, but he knew it all seemed out of place.

A strange sensation surrounded him as he tried to get a grip of what was going on. It was almost a soft of jello feeling, slowly receding as he began to gain consciousness. He tried opening his eyes but everything was a fog. Thankfully, before he could feel too constricted, whatever contraption he was in released him and sent him down to the floor below.

After a small stumble, Lordy rubbed his eyes and looked down at himself. He was fitted in a disgusting suit made of who knows what and almost gagged at the sight of it. Before he could get anything out, though, he looked up at the people around him.

Bo, Rek, and Jerica stood there in the same suits, seemingly holding their breaths at the sight of him.

"Does this mean you all are the ones who thought i wasn't crazy?"

Huh. Well, Lordy wasn't violent, so Bo was going to treat him like he would any other person.

With respect, whether or not he deserved it.

Bo stepped up to the pod, offering Lordshire a hand to help him out, since he knew he didn't have his cane, and didn't know if the need for it carried over into real life.

"Welcome to the waking world, Lordy," Bo said with a small smile. "I guess you figured it out before all of us that it wasn't real."

Lordy took Bo's hand and stepped out to where everyone else was. After brushing himself off a bit he turned to figure out where he even was.

"Not gonna lie my boy, I was halfway caught between thinking I needed to check myself into the psych ward and thinking that something was really really wrong." He glanced up at the lights above the one door in the room.

He walked a bit closer to it.

"That and I just really wanted to stab Carter." He spun around quickly to face them once more, "That all did happen, right?"