Tides

TWO

Do you know who you are?

I sit chained down, torn-up suit and all, on an operating chair, a faint draft of light coming down from the ceiling and two uneven handcuffs jingling in the breeze.

"I do," I admit quietly. "I am Hugo Cavarette."

A pause. You knew this from the beginning.

I pause. "Yes, Masteret."

So what are you going to do about it?

I see flashes of a mirror between cities, a tear, a fallen city, engulfed in water, a planet, with a comet full of life, a suit struggling with vines tearing into its skin. A fight, and a helpless onlooker.

"I know what I have to do," I say. To save all of mes, I continue silently.

Good. I'll let you go with that.

The world dissolves around me, but this time, I don't black out, because I know who I am, know what I've caused.

And I'll save everyone, whether they like it or not.

"I AM HUGO CAVARETTE!" I scream, greasy hair covering my vision as I transit, "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!"

My glasses glint; a blur of light.

"I WILL BEAT YOU ALL!"

1.

Cavarette.

I fuse into place in the world of the prison, clocking my wristguards and walking into the breeze.

Around me, chains. Chains hanging whistling from grey towering stonework, a world in ruin, a green-grey sky. Above me, the world is cold, whisking, and in this reality, my helmet is broken, shards of glass nicking against the bare skin of my neck.

I need to save each version of myself, and catch us all until we get back to the Pink reality.

But first, I need to break up the fight.

"BERGIAN!" I yell, the name of the hulking man, "Where are you?"

Far away, his head turns around. Suited me shakes the poles with all his might, grating his teeth and leaning into the poles.

And I start to walk.

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