tis Jess's pov again
enjoy
or not, because this one's boring
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The gauntlet. He had the gauntlet.
This was bad.
Lukas had come up beside me, and I could tell from his surprised face that he'd seen it too.
"Julia, Radar. Come here." I called, trying not to be too loud. They both turned and hurried over.
"What?" Julia asked, looking apprehensive and excited.
"I found the Prime, and when we are." I said grimly.
Her eyes went wide, and she grinned. "What, already? That's great!"
Radar, however, seemed to catch on that I wasn't pleased with the discovery. "It...is great, right?" he asked carefully.
With a shake of his head, Lukas said, "Not completely. He still has the gauntlet."
"...Oh." Julia's face fell. "Oh. Shit. We're in trouble."
'In trouble' was right. If the Admin hadn't removed the gauntlet yet, that meant it wouldn't be long before he was returning to Beacontown in his snowman form, trapping the town in snowy night and demanding that the Prime go through his icy palace of despair. And after that happened...
"Wait, how do we know that's actually the Prime? What if it's already Romeo in disguise?" Radar suggested nervously. I turned back to study the man who may-or-may-not have been a version of me. He had a very gentle, open face, and was smiling slightly as he spoke to the group of townspeople. From the gestures he was making with his hands, he appeared to be suggesting ways to repair the buildings the Admin had broken.
I was about to point this out, but Lukas spoke up first. "No. When Romeo came back as Jess, he wasn't wearing armour. And he didn't really talk to and help people, just strutted around being strange. That's gotta be the Prime."
His tone was grim, and I got the feeling he was mentally reliving the period of time where I'd been gone, when Romeo had completely overturned our precious town.
"What do we do?" Julia asked me. "I was intending to go straight in and tell him about the timelines like I did with you, but I don't know if we're gonna have time for that. If he's still in the middle of the whole Admin mess, we probably shouldn't distract him."
"Maybe we should go back to the In-Between and try a different timeline?" Radar tried.
"There's not that many other timelines, Radar. I really think this one's our best bet at the moment." Julia argued.
"Then the only thing to do is talk to the Prime." I decided. "We've got to figure out the missing constant, and soon."
Lukas was frowning worriedly as I said this. "But...you can't influence this timeline too much. That could create who knows how many deviations and just...other problems."
I suddenly remembered the paper I'd found that explained some effects of the deviations, and how it had said other people weren't meant to know about the timelines. Lukas was right in that we needed to be careful, but we had to figure this out.
God, we were stuck.
"Okay, here's an idea. You two," Julia started, pointing to Lukas and Radar, "need to hide, so no one sees you and gets suspicious. Jess and I will talk to the Prime, and try to get information without saying too much. With any luck, we'll be able to figure something out without disrupting everything too majorly."
Lukas snorted sarcastically. "Any luck? More like massive, unrealistic amounts of luck."
Julia waved a flippant hand at him. "Wha-atever. We'll manage."
"Where are we supposed to hide?" Radar asked.
I paused for a moment. "Somewhere in the Order Hall. No one should be around there, since everyone who normally would be is helping with the repairs."
They hurried away, and Julia gave me a scrutinizing look. "Are you sure we should do this?"
I almost laughed, remembering that Lukas had said the exact same thing to me earlier. This time, I replied with, "No. But I don't see another option."
She and I strolled out into the main street, trying not to be conspicuous. Luckily, the people the Prime had been talking to were now walking off, and we caught up to him right before he turned away as well.
I became more aware of little details as we approached him. He had surprisingly bright green eyes that contrasted with his dark skin, and his armour looked a lot like my favorite set, the Ender Defender, except that it was purple.
He gave us a light, mildly cautious smile as Julia casually said, "Hey there."
"Hello. Are you new to Beacontown? I don't think I've seen you before." he asked in a kind, genuine tone.
That was the moment that I discovered what an alarmingly good liar Julia was. "No, we've been around for a while," she said with an easy smile. "but my friend here is kind of a hermit, and neither of us bother to get around very much."
His grin widened, though he gave me an appraising look. I knew from experience that he was wondering why we seemed familiar. "I know the type. I'm Jacek, by the way."
"I'm Julia." She returned, then subtly elbowed me when I didn't speak up right away.
"Call me Jess." I said. I noticed the other man arch an eyebrow curiously, obviously noticing the J thing.
Julia made a show of looking around. "We've been out of town for a little while; what happened here? It looks like...some giant crashed through and broke everything."
I wanted to kick her for getting so close to the truth, but luckily Jacek just laughed. "Well, that kinda is what happened. I sorta got mixed up in some things I probably shouldn't've, and, well...I'm not sure if you've ever heard any stories about the Admin, but..."
"The Admin! Here?" Julia gasped theatrically. Jacek nodded somberly.
"Yeah. He's the reason I'm stuck with this, too." he explained, lifting his hand to show us the gauntlet. "The fact that this is still on me kinda makes me think he's not really gone, though it's been several days since I defeated him." Jacek continued, flexing his fingers and giving his gauntleted hand a thoughtful look.
I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Several days? It had only been a few hours before Romeo had shown up in his snowman form. What on earth had happened?
Julia looked equally stunned, and Jacek's expression had slipped into one of suspicion as he looked between our shocked faces.
"What? You two look like you've just seen a ghost."
"W-we, um..." Julia stammered, eyes darting around as she searched for an excuse. "We...didn't realize we'd been gone for so long? We were traveling, and, uh, slipped into the Nether for a while; we must've lost track of time. Y'know, with no real day or night cycle, i-it can be so hard to figure out, uh...when you are?"
Jacek seemed at least a little appeased, though it was obvious he still had his guard up. "Hm. Well, I can't say I've been in that exact situation, but that doesn't mean it can't happen."
He briefly glanced around again, as though assessing what else needed to be done. "So, was there something else you needed? There's a lot to be fixed after the Admin wrecked everything, so..."
I cleared my throat. "Actually, yes. There's something else going on, something big."
"What kind of big? Does this have to do with the Admin?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Julia and I exchanged a look. "No. At least...I really hope not." Julia told him.
"And as for the first question, think...fate-of-the-entire-universe kind of big." I said hesitantly.
Jacek crossed his arms lightly. He studied the two of us again, seeming like he was trying to catch the hint of a lie darting across our expressions. He didn't say anything else, which made me both relieved and apprehensive.
"Look, can we talk to you in private?" Julia requested. "This isn't really something that...most people are supposed to overhear."
"Why not?" he challenged. Another nervous glance passed between us.
"It's hard to explain. But this is really important, I swear." Julia tried.
Jacek seemed to relax slightly, relenting to our pleas. "Fine. We can talk in the Order Hall, so long as this doesn't take too long."
As we started towards the large building, Jacek asked, "What exactly do you mean by the 'fate of the universe'? I mean, the Admin wasn't bad enough?"
"The Admin just wanted Beacontown, though I suppose he ended up almost harming the entire world. This is...different." Julia hedged, ignoring the surprised and curious look she got from Jacek. "We're not talking about just this world, or even just the Portal Network."
"...What else is there?" Jacek asked cautiously.
Julia's face was calm and serious as she turned towards him and said, "Dimensions, Jacek. Alternate dimensions."
He paused in his tracks, just a few paces outside the Hall. He stared at Julia for several moments, then looked at me.
"Other dimensions." he said slowly. "And are you two...from these alternate dimensions?"
Julia nodded. "And the thing is, when I say 'alternate', I really mean 'equivalent'. Our dimensions are nearly exactly like yours."
Jacek raised one eyebrow. "Nearly?"
"Wait, are you sure we should hit him with that one just yet?" I asked Julia before she could say anything else. She gave me a distinctly superior look. "That was the first thing I hit you with and you handled it fine."
She addressed Jacek again. "Yes, nearly. All of our dimensions- except they're actually more often called timelines -are almost completely parallel. The same places, the same people, even the same events. That's where things get weird. Because we're not just any interdimensional travelers; we're two different variations of you."
The uncannily green eyes went wide, and he gaped at Julia as though she'd, well, just told him there were multiple versions of him. She had a rather smug look on her face, and I was getting the feeling she had more of a flair for drama then she'd originally let on.
"Y-you're...you're me?" Jacek said in a hushed voice, pointing at me.
I shrugged. "Actually, with the way our timelines work, it's more probable that you're a version of me. But same difference, I suppose."
Jacek reached up and ran a hand through his hair, which didn't completely work because of the ponytail. He didn't seem to notice or care, though.
"That's why you two seemed so familiar? When I first saw you, I could've sworn I knew you, even if I didn't. Is that why?"
Julia nodded. "Yep."
"Hold on. How can you be me if you're, well, a woman? No offense, I just...don't get it. And if the events are the same in different dimensions, how come you guys are here instead of dealing with your own Admin-induced problems?" he asked dubiously. I noticed his eyes zero in on my bare right hand, and knew he was starting to get even more suspicious of our claims.
"Because there's two 'original' timelines, the ones that all the others stem from. Yours branched off from Jess's here, and mine came from the other one, where the Prime is a woman." Julia explained easily.
"Prime?" he echoed.
"Primum Movens. Us. The 'heroes in residence' of each dimension. The people who drive the timelines." I clarified. "And as for the second question..."
I paused, realizing too late that I didn't know how to explain the deviations and time difference. Luckily, Julia seemed more prepared.
"Even though our timelines are all technically duplicates of each other, there's still some differences. Those differences are actually why we're here, though we're not quite there yet. This timeline, your timeline, takes place quite a while after either of ours. For Jess, it's already been three months since the whole Admin mess."
Jacek turned his attention to me again, looking interested. "So you've already defeated the Admin for real? He does come back, then?"
"I don't think I'm allowed to tell you that." I said with a slight smile. "See, most people aren't supposed to know about the timelines. It messes things up, makes them match up a little less."
"Then why are you two here?" he asked curiously. Somehow, he seemed to be accepting what we were saying, though I wasn't sure if we were doing a good job of explaining, or he was just a more trusting person.
"That's where things get complicated." Julia said. "Like I said, there's little differences between the timelines. Things here and there that don't match up. They're called deviations, and they haven't been that big of a deal until recently. All we know is that someone or something has been...messing with the timelines, screwing around with the variables and deviations. And it's damaging the universe, to put it simply."
Jacek gave her anther wary look. "How?"
"Our different dimensions are the universe, as far as I know. Things haven't started getting really bad yet, but if they do, who knows what could happen. Basic things in life could be completely overturned, if the timelines aren't set right soon."
"So you came to...recruit me?" Jacek asked carefully.
Julia shifted her shoulders slightly. "That depends. We're searching for a 'missing constant', something that's supposed to be consistent in every timeline but for some reason isn't. We need to find out who or what is behind all this, and fix everything before it's too late. And if you would be willing to help...well, I'm not going to force you to, but it'd be nice."
The other Prime crossed his arms again. He was silent for several long moments, before finally saying, "I need some time to think about all this. You've gotta know that this is a lot to process at once, and I'm not sure how much of it I'm willing to believe."
He shifted his weight slightly, glancing at the ground. "I'll admit that I have considered the possibility of alternate dimensions before, though not to this extent. So some of this doesn't sound too far-fetched, though it's like nothing I've ever encountered before and I've learned from experience not to trust everything people tell me."
Jacek glanced over his shoulder, back out at the town. "Give me an hour. There're some things I need to take care of, and I'll think about what-all you just told me. Wait for me in the treasure room, and I'll be back when I've made a decision."
"Alright, that's fair. Just...don't tell anyone else about this?" I requested. He replied with a small grin. "Wouldn't dream of it."
He turned and strode away, leaving Julia and I head into the Order's headquarters on our own. I was dearly hoping that I'd been right, and that there was no one else in there.
The place was dead silent, not so much as a whisper from any of the rooms.
"Lukas? Radar?" Julia called hesitantly. "It's us. Are you guys in here?"
I heard a door shut, and Radar came from the direction of the library. "So? You talked to the Prime?"
"Oh, we did. Found out some pretty major shit, too." I replied.
"Where's Lukas?" Julia asked, frowning.
"I'm right here. How'd your little investigation go?" he inquired on his way down the stairs.
I headed towards the treasure hall. "We told Jacek- the Prime -about the timelines and stuff. He actually took it a bit better than you or I did, though he said he needed some time to think about it all."
"Anything on the missing constant?" Radar asked apprehensively.
Julia shook her head, then paused. "I'm not sure yet. But something weird's going on here. You know how when Jess 'killed' the Admin in his Prismarine form, it was only a couple hours before he showed up again?"
"Yeah, 'course." Lukas said impatiently.
"Well, it's been several days since this timeline's Admin was 'defeated', and he hasn't come back."
Radar stared. "What? How can that be possible?!"
"I don't know. It doesn't seem like Jacek actually killed him for real, since he's still got the gauntlet, but...it doesn't make any sense." I said.
Lukas began pacing the length of the room. "Maybe this is because of us and our timeline jumping? We might've messed something up somehow."
"Or there's something completely different going on here, and we're looking at a crazy-major deviation." Julia contradicted as she walked over and sat down on the steps that led up to where the different sets of armour were stored.
Radar was biting his lower lip, something he did when he was thinking hard. "Well, something must've caused this timeline to be paused somehow, right? We should figure out the major events of this timeline, see if there's anything that would've thrown it off badly enough to cause this."
"I guess. He said he'll meet us back here in an hour, so we can talk to him then. Until then, we're just gonna have to wait." said Julia. She was rubbing her temples, brows pulled down and eyes squinted slightly like she had a headache.
Lukas stopped his pacing, standing near the center of the room and propping his hands on his hips. "Great, waiting. Just what we've got tons of time for."
Julia scowled at him from below her hand. "We can't push him too much if we want him on our side. I would think that you would- arrghhh."
Her words cut out into a pained groan. She shut her eyes and rubbed at her forehead with both hands, still whimpering.
Radar hurried over to her. "Julia? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm- I'll be...aaarghh, not now!" she exclaimed, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes.
"What's wrong? Did you get hurt?" Radar insisted, kneeling beside her.
She grimaced in pain, shoulders tensing up as she let out another small wail. I also hurried over, concerned that something was seriously wrong.
"Julia? Seriously, what's- WHAAAA!" Radar suddenly shrieked in surprise and jumped away, a look of shock and horror taking over his features.
"What? What happened?" I demanded, over Julia's continued noises of pain. She had her eyes screwed shut, kneading her forehead with one hand.
"Sh-she- that isn't- she's- that isn't Julia!" Radar stammered frantically, pointing at her. At that moment, Julia opened her eyes, staring at me with an expression of pure desperation.
I sucked in a deep gasp and stepped back, almost tripping over my own feet in my panic.
Because her eyes weren't Julia's calm oak-brown anymore. The sclerae had turned dark red, and her irises had changed to shades of yellow.
She had Admin eyes.
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*steals Queen of Cliffhangers crown from FanfictionalWarrior and puts it on*
no, i am not sorry about any of this. fite me.
i'm fairly certain i've already spoiled this for the people who read my old art book, but oh well.
so, what do you all think of Jacek? he's a lot nicer and more trusting than Jess...though that may not be for the better.
((:
feed me your theories on, well, everything! i loooove hearing what you all have to say about this story, it's somehow interesting and amusing at the same time
there's still a lot of weird things to be uncovered and explained, so honestly, no theory is too 'out there'.
next chapter coming next week, as always!
Word count- 3087