i've! been!! planning!!! this chapter!!!! since the very beginning of working on this story!!!!!
let's hope it's just as good as past me imagined it!
!!!!!!!!!
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Reuben.
Beacontown faded to a colourful blur as I raced back to the Order Hall. It felt like I'd been tossed into a two-dimensional world, with no space to breathe. My heart pounded mercilessly in my chest, feeling almost like it was trying to break free of my ribs and escape to a world where this wasn't real.
This wasn't real.
This couldn't be real.
But it made too much sense. Fred had sent something forward in time that the Prime- me, in this case -would connect with. No one had actually said it had to be an object, we'd all just guessed that.
And what had I connected with more than Reuben? He'd been my loyal pet, and my closest friend.
And now I was going to have to kill him.
I threw open the doors of the Hall, not bothering to close them behind me as I hurried up the stairs. I called Julia's name, but there was no answer.
The bedroom at the far end of the hall was usually empty, reserved for any travelling friends that didn't have another place to stay. That was where Julia had been staying in the time she'd been here, and I didn't hesitate to go inside.
She was sitting on the orange bed, looking silently out the window with an expression of detached despondency. The door creaked loudly when I entered, but she didn't look up.
"Julia?" I asked. Her shoulders tensed slightly, but she didn't make any other movement.
"Julia. Come on, I know you can hear me, just listen." I ordered. When she still didn't acknowledge my presence, I sighed. "Julia, I know how to fix it."
She finally lifted her head to look at me, her expression laced with confusion. "You...what?"
"The timelines. I know how to fix them. I know how to put everything back to normal; I figured out whose timeline is the problem. I know Fred's failsafe." I rambled.
"Who? What do we do?" She asked, starting to get to her feet.
"Essa. In all of our timelines, there's only one thing that's been entirely consistent. Yours, mine, Jacek's, Jo's...all of them except Essa's."
"What is it?" she asked quietly. I could practically see the complicated gears of her brain turning as she tried to puzzle out the difference.
I inhaled deeply, trying to prepare myself to say the words aloud. "Reuben. He's still alive in her timeline. Lukas fell, and Reuben survived. He's the variable we need to remove." My voice cracked on the last sentence, broken by the tightening of my throat.
It's impossible to describe Julia's expression at that moment. All the colour drained from her face, and she stared beyond me, beyond anything, as she realized what had to be done. "No. That's...oh no."
"It's the only constant. We've been looking in all the wrong places, following all the wrong leads. That's why it took us so long to figure it out. We were looking for something that was absent, not something that was still there. But the whole time..."
Julia pressed a hand to her forehead. "Oh god, no. This can't be right. Not Reuben."
"It is." I whispered. "He's the problem. He's...he's the thing we need to...need to remove."
"We have to kill him." Her voice was barely loud enough to hear. "We have to kill Reuben. Watch him die all over again, but this time it'll be us..."
I didn't say anything to this. She was right.
"Jess, how are we supposed to..." she trailed off again.
I shook my head slowly. "I don't know. I just...I don't know."
"How are we even supposed to do this? I...even to save our known universe, I don't think..."
I jumped in with a new thought, to avoid that one. "And get this: I think I know what Essa's planning to do, too."
Julia figured it out before I could even say the words. "She's in the new timeline...she's going to save Reuben. So there'll be another one where he's alive, pushing the universe even more out of balance. Oh my god."
"So we're in a bit of a time crunch." I added.
She touched a hand to her forehead. "Shit, I'd say so. We don't have a way to know how far along the new one is, and Essa does. If we don't stop her before the Prime of that timeline goes into the final battle with the Witherstorm..."
Julia leapt to her feet. "We need to act now. We've gotta find Jacek and Jo, and form a plan to stop Essa. Ivor said it was risky to have multiple Primes working together, but I think we'll be stronger as a team."
A door slammed from downstairs, and I heard the indistinct voices of Lukas and Radar.
"Jess? Are you here?" Radar called.
Julia brushed past me, heading back out of the room. "Yeah, we're here." She returned, walking purposefully towards the stairs. I followed hesitantly.
Lukas, Aiden, and Radar were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. They all looked worried, which I suppose was justified, considering that I'd just bolted off with no explanation.
"Are you alright?" Lukas asked me. I hesitated.
"I don't know. We have to do this. But..."
"But you're not sure if you're okay with it." Lukas guessed, and I nodded.
"Somehow, I didn't think that dealing with the missing constant would be this hard. It was difficult enough to find it out, but now that I know that we...what we have to do..."
I trailed off uncertainly, feeling my chest constrict. My eyes stung with building-up tears, but I closed my eyes and tried to calm down.
Aiden rubbed his chin thoughtfully, frowning. "Do you think you're actually going to be able to do this? Even if the fate of our entire world is at stake, are you physically going to be able to-"
"Don't say it." I interrupted, wrapping my arms around myself and looking at the ground. "Don't."
"One of us will do it." Julia put in. "It'll be hard, and heartbreaking, but we will. There's no other way."
"Are we sure? Maybe there is another way to fix everything, and we just haven't found it yet." Radar said, though his tone didn't match his should-be hopeful words.
I shook my head. "I really doubt that, Radar. Everything we've found so far...it all seems to point to removing the missing constant being the only way."
Removing Reuben is the only way.
I wasn't fully sure why the idea hurt so much. My Reuben had already been dead for seven years. He'd died a hero, and even though thinking of his death still made me sad, I'd accepted that he was gone.
But maybe that's why it hurt so much. He may be gone for me, but he still existed somewhere. He'd been given another chance at life, and it was going to be me that had to take it away from him. And even if it wasn't actually me, I would still be there.
"How are you even gonna do this? I doubt Essa's just going to sit there while you murder her pet and ruin her schemes." Aiden said.
"Aiden, be nice." Lukas chided.
Julia shook her head. "No, he has a point. We need to make a plan. And in order to do that...I think we're gonna need some help."
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The brilliant white faded gradually away, and I stepped out the other side of the gate, glancing quickly around to make sure no one saw me. Luck was on my side- the back alley was empty, just like I'd been hoping.
I carefully headed out to the main part of town, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. It didn't look like Romeo had returned, but I kept my guard up anyways. I felt a vague uncomfortable instinct that I didn't belong here, some deep-rooted feeling telling me to return to my own reality.
Julia and I had decided to divide and conquer- she was going into Jo's timeline to find her, and I was collecting Jacek. If all went well, we'd meet back in the treasure hall of my timeline.
I still didn't know why Jacek's timeline was paused. What had happened differently that prevented Romeo from returning to Beacontown? Could Essa and her plans be involved somehow? Logic said they probably were...but it was hard to say for sure.
I tried to shake off my paranoia as I walked along the center street, being mostly ignored by all the other people out and about. I wasn't sure where Jacek might be, but I headed indirectly towards the gates, keeping an eye out for the brown-skinned man.
Approaching the partially smashed buildings near the front of town, I wondered how much time had passed since we'd been here. It didn't look like repairs on the places the Admin had wrecked were completed yet, so it couldn't have been that long.
I paused under the bridge that spanned the main street, looking casually around. It was somewhat jarring to see empty space where Romeo's tower was in my Beacontown, and I turned away, instead carefully studying the people I could see. I knew it may be a long shot that Jacek would be somewhere within my range of sight, but that didn't stop me from hoping.
It was somewhat disconcerting to pass as just another Beacontown citizen. In my own hometown, everyone knew me, even if by no more than name and appearance. Looking around, I could see all sorts of people, many of whom seemed almost like those I knew, but not quite. It was bizarre, to say the least.
My eyes settled on a small grassy corner just inside the wall. The miniature park was right by the main gate, shaded by a pair of oak trees and the towering wall. Two people were standing near it, appearing to be deep in a serious conversation. One was a tall blond man in a black jacket; the other was a short brown-skinned man with dark hair pulled into a ponytail.
Lukas and Jacek.
I hurried over to them, though they didn't seem to notice me at first.
"I'm telling you; this isn't right. The Admin is not gone- I don't know what's going on, but that wasn't the end of it. It couldn't be." Jacek was saying. He was no longer wearing the violet-hued armour, instead standing simply in a white button-down shirt, faded blue jeans, and dark blue suspenders.
Lukas reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Jace, listen to me. You've been through a lot these past few years; you're just getting paranoid. If you-"
"No, you listen to me!" Jacek snapped, gesturing dramatically with his right hand. "If I'd really defeated the Admin, why do I still have the gauntlet? And why was it so easy?"
"You call that easy?" Lukas asked gently. "He nearly killed you, multiple times, and he smashed up Beacontown. If he was still alive, wouldn't he have returned to finish the job?"
Jacek huffed. "I don't know. This just doesn't feel right."
He glanced up then, and noticed me. His bitter expression transformed into one of surprise as he registered who he was seeing.
This version of Lukas gave me a curious look as I approached them. "Hey, Jacek. Can I, uh...can I borrow you for a moment?"
"Yeah...no problem." He replied cautiously, obviously wondering what I was doing back. Lukas cleared his throat softly, and Jacek stiffened. "Oh, right! Lukas, this is Jess, he's a...new friend. Jess, this is my fiancé, Lukas."
I tried not to let my surprise show on my expression as Lukas extended a hand to me. Sure enough, I noticed that he wore a simple engagement ring.
"Nice to meet you." he said with a light smile.
"Likewise." I said quietly, accepting the handshake. He seemed so much like the Lukas I knew...but different, at the same time. I suddenly understood what Julia had meant when she'd told me how strange it was to have to re-introduce herself to my versions of Lukas and Radar.
"So what's going on, Jess?" Jacek asked.
I glanced between him and Lukas, somewhat nervously. "Uh...remember how Julia and I said we'd be back if we needed your help with...that thing? Well, we do."
Jace nodded somberly, and Lukas let out a small laugh. "Julia? What are you guys, the J squad?"
Jacek frowned slightly. "Something like that. We can head over to the Order Hall while you tell me the details, Jess." he said simply. "Lukas, I'll catch up with you later. I should take care of this."
"Alright. Good luck." Lukas said. Jacek leaned up to tap a quick kiss against Lukas's cheek, then turned back to me.
We started towards the large glass and quartz building, and Jace remarked, "So, I'm guessing you and the Lukas of your dimension aren't...quite as close as me and mine?"
I laughed, a little awkwardly. "Nooo way. I'm aromantic, and he's with someone else. We're close, but completely platonically."
"Huh. I wonder why things are different for me." He mused quietly, then shrugged. "But I suppose that's not what's important right now. What happened? Did you guys find your missing constant?"
I sighed. "So much happened, and yes, we did. But we should hold off on the explanations for a little bit. We need to get to my timeline- Julia and Jo will meet us there, and we'll tell you everything."
"Alright, then." Jace agreed patiently. He was quiet for another few moments before asking, "You said that, in your timeline, you defeated the Admin for real, right? You're not still stuck with this thing? Well, obviously you're not, but...you know what I mean."
He lifted the hand that was incased in the gauntlet, wiggling his fingers. I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He was already suspecting that the Admin wasn't gone for good, I couldn't hurt things too badly by confirming his hunch. "Yeah. He came back, in a completely different form. But the weird thing is...it should've already happened."
"What?" Jacek asked, blinking in confusion.
"He came back only a few hours after I'd 'defeated' him, but here, it's already been..." I trailed off. "How long has it been?"
Jace paused, counting on his fingers. "Five days, six if you include this one."
"Wait, so does that mean...? It's only been like two, three days since we were here before?" I checked.
He nodded. "Yeah, that's right."
I ran my hand through my hair, trying to make sense of it. It should've been much, much longer than that. I guess time was being even screwier than I'd originally thought.
"Goddamnit. We gotta fix this fast." I muttered, quickening my pace. Jacek hurried to keep up with me.
"What? What's wrong?"
"It should've been much longer than just two or three days, Jace. I don't know exactly how much longer, but I'd bet a week at least. This timeline is way behind, which is a whole bucketa terrible. I knew time was getting a little off, but this is really major. We need to get a move on. There's no one else in the Order Hall, right?" I asked.
"Uh...there shouldn't be." He said distantly, still seeming a little caught up on what I'd said about time.
We entered the Hall, and I led the way into the treasure room. Like with my own version of the building, that was the room with the highest ceiling, which made it the best place to open a gate. I didn't waste any time in beginning to trace the exit symbols in the air.
Jace was acting very excited. He bounced up on the tips of his toes, making his ponytail swish as he came back down. The motion was mildly distracting, and I had half a mind to tell him to stop, but he seemed so eager to be travelling to another dimension that I didn't quite have the heart to.
I slashed the sword through the symbols I'd drawn, and the gate appeared in all its glowing white glory. I motioned for him to go through. "Come on. We can't waste any more time."
Taking in a deep breath, Jacek stepped forward and walked into the gate. I followed right behind, not batting an eye as the perfect pure white swirled around me. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I was so accustomed to travelling through dimensions now, but it was a thing either way.
I stepped out into the In-Between, having to gently push Jace aside as he stood frozen, staring around at the new sights. "What...what the hell is this place?" he breathed.
"This is what Julia and I call the In-Between. Think of it as a crossroads, or a minecart station, but for dimensions." I explained briefly. "It used to look a lot different, but I think that between Essa's meddling and our timeline jumping, it's gotten a little...corrupted, I guess?"
He nodded slowly. "Wait. Who's Essa?"
"Oh, right. I didn't explain her, did I?" I realized. "Well, she's another Prime. But unlike the rest of us, whose timelines are more or less the same, with smallish differences, hers is insanely different. It's pretty whacked. Long story short, a lot of her friends died, and she's using the timelines to try to turn back time to save them. It's...more complicated than that, but I honestly don't have the capacity to explain it all right now. The point is, she's evil, and we need to stop her."
"There's just no escape from dealing with mad villains, is there?" Jace asked with a trace of humour in his voice.
I sighed. "Yeah, there really isn't. Even when I thought I'd gotten out, they still managed to find me." I said in an undertone.
"What?" Jace asked, not fully hearing my grim muttering.
I shook my head. "Nothing. Let's go."
He looked around at the other gates again. "Which one is yours? Wait, hey, why is that one so much dimmer? Is...whoa, is there MORE timelines up there?"
I hesitated, my brain scrambling to answer each of his questions. "The gate right here leads to my timeline; that gate is dimmer and smaller because it's a newer timeline that isn't nearly as far along as the rest of ours; and yes, I think so, though I haven't had the chance to investigate."
"Whooaaaa." He murmured, still gazing up at the second circle of timelines. I grabbed his sleeve, tugging him towards my gate. "Let's go. I swear Julia and I will do our best to answer all your questions later."
Hoping he would follow, I stepped into the white abyss, clearly picturing the large entryway of the Order Hall. Colours and shapes started to fade into view around me, mimicking the image I'd formed in my mind.
I could hear a young-ish female voice coming from the direction of the treasure hall, asking questions about a variety of things. She was answered in short, one-to-three-word sentences by another woman, which I took to mean that Jo and Julia had beat us here.
Jacek appeared beside me, glancing around. "Whoa. This is trippy. It looks like my Order Hall, but doesn't feel like it. That sounds pretty weird, but..."
"Nah, it's not too weird. Believe it or not, that's normal for going into new timelines." I informed him.
He snorted. "Yeah, like anything about alternate dimensions could ever be normal."
We entered the treasure room to see Jo eagerly examining all the artifacts from my adventures, including the ones I know she had her own versions of. Julia looked bored, and was leaning against the bookshelves that lined one wall, but she straightened up when she saw us.
"There you two are." she said by way of greeting. Jo whirled around, waving when she noticed me. "Jess, hey!"
"Hi again. Jo, this is Jacek. Jace, this is Jo. Don't answer any of her questions about the future."
Jace and Jo shook hands and exchanged hellos while Julia walked over to join the rest of us. "Jess, you are not going to believe what happened. So, you know how it's been a couple days since we left Jo's timeline? Well, according to her, it's been almost THREE WHOLE WEEKS. Can you believe that? What the hell happened?!"
I nodded grimly. "Something similar happened with Jacek, except the other way around. It had only been about two to three days, where it should've been at least a week. This is getting bad."
"Wait. Two days or three?" Julia asked, turning her attention to Jacek.
He shrugged guiltily, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "I...don't know. Time has been weird the last few days. Things drag on forever, or seem to happen in only a moment. I can't keep track of it anymore."
"It's the same with my timeline." Jo put in. "And the mob situation has gotten worse."
Julia and I both looked at her. "Wait. What mob situation?" Julia asked.
Jo made a vague gesture with her right hand. "Mobs just...not acting normal. Completely passive mobs like chickens and sheep are suddenly being super hostile. I mean, they can't actually hurt you, but it's not for lack of trying. Zombies spawn in the middle of the day and don't burn, but it doesn't even matter because they won't attack you even if you go right up to one and poke it with a sword. Cows have only been spawning in caves. Skeletons sometimes have swords or even pickaxes, and they drop the weirdest things. And pigs are still acting like pigs, which is almost the most suspicious thing of all. It's madness." She explained.
Julia pressed a hand against her forehead and began pacing. "Oh, this is bad. Scratch that, it's awful. This is exactly what we didn't want to happen. Shit, shit, shit."
"We...can fix this, right?" Jacek asked nervously.
I dragged in a deep breath. "Yes, we can. Like we already told both of you when you first met us, there's something called a missing constant. It's a...thing that's in only one timeline, while in the others it's already gone. If we remove this thing, the timelines will straighten out again, and things will go back to normal. Since we told you about this, we've found out a lot more about it, including some solid proof that this is the way to fix everything."
Jo was looking at me suspiciously as I said this. "I thought...when you told me about this, I thought it was the other way around. That the missing constant was in every timeline except one."
"Well...that's true too. It depends on how you word it." I said carefully.
"So? What is it?" Jacek asked eagerly.
Julia and I looked at each other for a moment. "It's Reuben." she blurted out.
Jo froze, and Jacek took a small step back. "What?" he asked.
"In all four of our timelines, he's gone. He's been dead for years. But in Essa's timeline, the Prime who's causing all this trouble...he's still alive. She made some weird choices that majorly changed things, and...yeah."
"But...wait...w-we...h-how do we..." Jacek stammered. He seemed like he knew what I meant, but didn't want to accept it. Jo, on the other hand, came to grips with it immediately.
"We have to kill her version of him. That's what you're saying, right?" she asked shakily.
I ducked my head. "Yeah. That's what we're saying."
"It'll fix all the messy problems with time and consistency and normality...but it'll force at least one of us to live through a nightmare." Julia said quietly.
Jacek was staring straight ahead, his green eyes focused on something in the middle distance and full of tears. "Jace?" I asked carefully. "Are you alright?"
He raised his un-gauntleted hand to cover his mouth, eyes still unfocused. "So...Reuben was...always meant to die? It didn't matter what we did or didn't do...in the end, he was always going to be gone?"
"Yeah. I think so." I murmured. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "That's...god, I don't even know what that is."
"Cruel. Twisted. Absolutely sickening." Jo said in a low voice. She lifted her head confidently, looking at Julia, then me.
"What's the plan?"
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this chapter has gone on long enough, thank u very much
would you believe me if i said i was originally worried that this chapter was going to be too short?? because jeez
anyways
see you next wednesday with another chapter!
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