The Spider-Men: Crisis On Infinite Earths

PROLOGUE: The Lost Years

"Thank you, Zain..."

"What's your name?"

"My name's... Rena. It's nice to meet you."

"Same, Rena." He said, before looking around. "Let's find your family." Zain suggested. "Did you plan on meeting them anywhere?"

"Um, yes." The girl replied, taking a bite of the meat bun. "We planned on meeting at the shrine at the top of the temple."

"Alright. Let's go." He said, getting up from the bench they were sitting at.

The two of them made their way to the shrine in relative silence. The area was quite crowded so they stuck close together in order to not get split up from each other.

"You mentioned you have sisters. Are they older than you or younger?" Zain asked, trying to make small talk.

"Um, actually, we're the same age."

"Ah, that's nice. I'm an only child, so I don't know what's it like having siblings. How many sisters are you in total?"

"There's five of us... We're quintuplets."

"No way..." Zain muttered. "That's so rare."

In the end, the two did get split up, and Zain was confused as to where she could have gone.

"Oh, come on... Are you kidding me?" he sighed. "It's already frustrating to be a 28 year old with the volatile emotions of a ten year old, and now this had to happen?"

He looked around for Rena, but couldn't seem to find her, so he decided to ask the people around him if they had seen a little girl in a white dress with pink hair.

Finally, a lady told him exactly what he needed to hear, and he went to the location provided by the lady.

After about 5 minutes, he eventually found her in a gift shop.

"Hey, where did you run off to?" Zain asked, as he approached Rena.

"Oh- um... sorry. I was actually looking for lucky charms for my sisters."

"No problem. Why not pick something else for them as well?"

"I don't really have that much money on me..." she said shyly.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it."

"No, no, no! I can't ask you to do that!" she said, rejecting his offer.

"I insist. Go ahead. Pick something nice." He said, before turning away and materializing more money from his watch. "While you're at it, why not pick something to commemorate the start of our friendship as well?"

"Wh- are you sure?"

"I am paying, so yeah, I'm sure."

"If you say so..."

'Fuck being a ten year old. I'm getting all lovey-dovey with this girl!'

...

After the duo reached the shrine, Zain noticed that the boy who was getting a shouting earlier was also in front of the shrine, looking around. But that's not what caught Zain's eye- beside the boy, there stood another Rena.

The same pink hair, and the same white frock. She was also looking around, maybe trying to find her sisters.

"Hey, look-" Zain nudged Rena's shoulder, and she looked to where he was pointing.

Rena's expression turned into one of joy, and she rushed towards her twin. Zain intended to follow her, but suddenly, out of nowhere, he glitched, and started being pulled into a portal.