Nostalgia

He put a hand out to steady himself as he came out of the portal and instantly knew something was wrong. Where there should have been obsidian, the portal simply petered out into the Overworld, like some kind of cloth with ripped and frayed edges.

"Hey! Who are you?"

Two players were coming towards the portal, wielding what were presumably weapons, although they were like none Keralis had ever seen.

"I'm Keralis," he said. "Doc, is that you?"

"Scar, it's another shifter! Quick, fuse!"

More elegantly than Keralis would have expected, Doc twirled Scar around, did a little bit of fancy footwork, and the two of them clasped hands. As soon as their fingers interlocked, a blinding light erupted from their bodies and forced Keralis to shield his eyes.

When the light died down, Keralis opened his eyes and immediately took several steps back. A player, taller than both Doc and Scar, and replaced Doc and Scar on the field. He lifted his weapon (the same one that Doc and Scar had used, albeit larger) and aimed at Keralis.

"Whoa, wait -"

But before he could do anything else, the player launched his weapon and Keralis knew no more.

—————-

The prison uniform was orange and itchy. He rolled the sleeves up as much as he could just to get it on his skin. He rested his forearms on the icey door to do away with the feeling.

On the other side of the door, Doc's and Scar's heads were bowed in deep conversation. Keralis half-heartedly pounded the door in an attempt to get their attention. To his surprise, they stopped talking and looked at him.

Doc pressed a button next to the door. The speakers in the ceiling crackled to life. "Alright, Mr. Alien. Why are you here?"

"I'm not an alien."

Doc took his finger off the button and said something to Scar. Scar nodded. Doc pressed the button again. "If you're really Keralis, you should be able to prove it rather easily."

Keralis nodded eagerly. "Yes! Yes, I can prove I am me."

"Keralis is a master builder, right? If you are truly Keralis, you should be able to build something pretty amazing. We're going to send you some stuff now. You have one hour."

Several cubes shot out of the delivery shute in the wall.

Keralis picked them up. "What are these? Shulsher boxes? Shulker?"

He placed them down and found that they had items inside. Blocks, fences, lanterns, and... "Two bushes? Two ?" He shook his head and got to work.

After a couple shenanigans involving creepers, his hour was up and his build was looking good.

Doc and Scar let themselves into his cell and spent some time hemming and hawing over his build.

"It is a nice build, but is it a master build?" asked Doc. "Scar, you are the builder here."

Scar pursed his lips. He rubbed his chin.

Keralis crossed his fingers behind his back.

"I'm going to say..."

Keralis crossed his fingers on his other hand.

"90% minecrafter and 10% alien, because of those big eyes. It's Keralis."

Keralis threw his hands up into the air. "I told you it was me!"

"You can never be too careful," said Scar.

"Come on, we'll show you around," said Doc.

They gave him a quick tour of the base, but Scar had to leave to check the security cameras. Doc and Keralis strolled along, in no hurry to get anywhere, just catching up.

"By the way, who was that big person?" asked Keralis.

"Who?"

"That big person. You and Scar did some kind of dancy-dance and boom, big person."

"Oh, you mean when we fused. That's Ambition."

"What do you mean, fused?"

"Recently, maybe a little less than a year ago, we found out about this thing called fusing. You dance with someone, and suddenly there is a big flash of light and you're one person."

"That big guy was you and Scar as one person?"

Doc nodded.

"That is absolutely amaze-balls!"

Doc laughed. "Want to try it?"

"Right now?"

"Why not?"

"I am not very good at dancing," he warned, "but this is your idea, so if I step on your feet you are not allowed to complain."

Keralis put one hand on Doc's waist and clasped one of Doc's hands in his own.

Doc raised an eyebrow. "The tango?"

"I only know two dances, and the other one is the chicken dance."

"Fair enough."

They began slowly, but sped up quickly and by the time they did the scorpion move with the arms for the fourth time, light filled their vision, and for the second time that day, Keralis knew no more.

—————-

He opened his eyes.

He was in the middle of a field. The grass nearby was trodden by feet smaller than his own - but he knew they were his own. Just like the wings and glasses he wore were his. But they weren't. If that made any sense.

He stretched and examined his clothing. It was a god-awful orange prison jumpsuit with a very ripped lab coat - not a good look in the slightest. The clothes, he felt, did not represent who he was.

But who was he?

"Do I have a name?" he asked out loud.

No one was around to answer.

In the back of his mind, memories stirred. The memories weren't his, although they might as well have been. Memories of laughter and friendship and nostalgia. That's me , he realized. I'm them. I'm me.

"I am two old friends, and my name is Nostalgia."