Through Space and Time

Chapter Two: Two-faced

Hugo stood there with his jaw to the floor, gawking at the endless blue sand dunes.

This was definitely not Ingvarr, in fact, he wasn't even sure this was within the seven kingdoms. He'd never heard of a place with blue sand before.

The dunes stretched as far as the eye could see with no civilization in sight.

"No, no, no." He was tugging at his hair now. "I need to go back. Don is gonna kill me, and all my life's work... my research, Olivia, the moonstone—"

He looked down at the young man on the ground who'd passed out after entering the portal, his blue hair blending in slightly with the sand. 

The moonstone was worthless now that Selene rested within Varian, which Hugo still couldn't quite comprehend. The young man should have died already, his brain fried, unable to make coherent words, but what he saw back there... Selene and Varian had both been present and conscious of each other almost like two completely different people were standing next to each other talking, except it was all happening within one body.

That's when Hugo noticed he was still wearing the orange hazmat suit. Peeling it off his body and casting it aside, he crouched beside Varian.

The eyes were covered by blue hair, and he reached his hand out to brush it away, but hesitated. Was he safe to touch now that Selene inhabited his body? He remembered the hair stripe Varian had before and how that hadn't affected the guard's ability to touch him, so he took a gamble and let his fingers come into contact with the soft locks.

Nothing happened and he brushed it aside, revealing the truly handsome face beneath.

Hugo had so many questions. Varian somehow already knew Selene, had been previously touched by her, and could withstand her power. Hugo wanted to dissect him, study him like a lab rat, experiment on him. He could learn so much from just this one person. 

He licked his lips excitedly at the thought.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he steadied himself. Dissection could happen later. They needed to find a way out of here, and he had a feeling that as soon as Varian woke up, he'd go berserk again.

Luckily, some of his equipment had been sucked into the portal with them and was littered about the ground around them. He blessed the stars when he saw that some of his sunstones had made it through along with some chord. 

Turning Varian on his side, Hugo tied his hands and feet, and slipped the sunstones into his pocket for future use. Hefting the small man easily over his shoulder, he began his trek to who even knew where.

It was slow going with Varian's weight and the shifting sand underfoot. About an hour passed when he spotted a small town on the horizon. That's when the before still cargo on his shoulder began to stir.

A small groan escaped Varian's mouth. "Wh...where am I?"

"Morning, Moon Boy," Hugo said, his left hand sliding into his pocket and resting over one of the sunstones within. "Had a good nap?"

He wriggled in Hugo's arms. "What's going on? What happened to the machine?"

Unable to hold him any longer, he set Varian down on the ground, crouching in front of him. "You sent us to some kind of forsaken land with your moon powers."

He searched his face with regular, non-glowing blue eyes. "Who are you?"

Hugo blinked. Did he not recognize him? Oh right. The hazmat suit. "The name's Hugo."

"What is this place? How did we get here? Untie me at once!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You really don't remember?"