Icarus Awakens

"Why?" Alex was overcome with anger in seconds, charging the barrier and pressing a hand flat against it. "Why me?"

"It was you or Ami," Chris answered in a sad but unrepentant tone. "One of you had to cross over to stop Hourglass' plan."

"Why!?" Alex shouted at him. Gadriel reappeared from the room he'd taken Emily and stood ready, hand on his sword in case Chris decided to reveal he had some way of busting out of the ropes and crossing the barrier neither he nor Alex could pass. Daniel decided his caution was warranted.

Chris turned his head from his sister to the armory in general, speaking in the language of the Octyrrum. "Do you want the short answer first, or should I start from the beginning?"

"Answer me!"

Chris hung his head, and it felt as if it were someone else behind the eyes when it came back up. "Very well. Hourglass intends to use Daniel to bring his true form and the Octyrrum's system core to Earth, where he believes he will have finally escaped the system conflict. From there I have no doubt he intends to conquer the planet and use its people to strengthen his divinity. Just as you required a bond to make this ritual work, so too does he need one, the bond between the two Daniels."

"That was broken," Daniel said through gritted teeth. "I lost access to Bridge Space when Hunter died! You were working with Earth-Daniel, you should have known-"

"A broken bond is still enough," Chris answered, his measured voice still enough to overcome Daniel's. "The Karmic Link remains. But that's not all. That was the first step. The next was to create a sub-dimension on Earth bound to you. Eido. He had the Spoke within you modified to do it, forsaking the normal functions that stabilized the region to do so. It was all primed to go off as soon that Spiritualist touched it. The only you at the time was unknowingly lying in wait with everything needed to perform False Reincarnation. When that connection was established, Eido was sent through to Earth."

Alex beat a fist against the portal, growing impatient. "Fuck this magic crap! Why me!?"

"If Hourglass can assemble the rest of the pieces, Eido and the system core will exchange locations. Imagine a pulley. Daniel's the rope, and Eido's a rock he's hoisted up to Earth. When the time's right he'll tie the system core to Octyrrum-Daniel and release that weight to yank it across. But he can't do that if he violates a fundamental law in the process." Chris jerked his head in her direction. "As long as you aren't in the system core, and your sister is on Eido, going through with his plan would result in both of you inhabiting the same world. The Octyrrum can't handle the results of another fundament breaking. It's checkmate, so long as you are alive."

Lograve couldn't move too much or risk upsetting the ritual, but he still glared at Chris. "Charlatan. You're leaving out something rather important, aren't you? Alex isn't the only individual who would prevent this, if we can even believe your logic. You're somewhere on this world too, or another one of you is."

"Unfortunately, I drew attention when I intervened to stop the Daniel that was sent over from falling into his clutches. To stop you from becoming a Tyrant," he said to Murdon. "I knew he'd notice me either way. I'm being hunted, as much as that Daniel is, and there's no guarantee I'll survive the year."

"But you think Alex will!?" Daniel exclaimed. "She almost died the night we came back. We all did!"

"I… it was a necessary risk. Understand, if Hourglass is successful it will only doom another world full of souls. He's deluded himself into believing Earth is a blank, systemless, but that isn't true." Chris' head turned suddenly as a second door in the room opened. "Ah. I thought we had more time." His posture grew resigned, right before a fist connected with his face sending the still-bound man to the floor.

Gadriel moved to intervene but Shuni got there first. "Woah woah woah, hey, pretty sure we don't want that broken yet."

Daniel blinked as he watched himself shake out a fist, his mother walking quickly in the background to check on Chris with Gadriel. The original, as he didn't like to think of Earth-Daniel, looked changed. It had been less than a month so there hadn't been enough time for a dramatic overhaul, but it definitely seemed like he was slimmer, possibly working out. But it was more than physical. Rage, projected stronger from Earth-Daniel's face than anything Daniel had felt short of from Casia or awakening Defiant Rage. It was a far cry from the devastation he'd last seen when Alex had gotten trapped.

The strange mirror of himself frowned at Shuni's hand on his chest, not understanding what she'd said due to the language barrier. He moved to stand over Chris but it was now Gadriel who blocked his way, more firmly than the Rogue had. Earth-Daniel shouted down to the prone betrayer instead of lining up the kick he'd probably wanted to give. "That's just the start, you bastard! Just the start! Let go of me! He deserves it, he deserves to be set on fire and dragged by horses for what he did! I'll do it myself!"

Damn, Daniel thought to himself. I wasn't expecting… His thoughts trailed off as he registered Ami's absence. She could have been out of frame of the portal, but he doubted his mom would have left her standing alone.

"Mom?" Alex's heartbroken voice brought everyone on the other side to a stop. Kara Brant paused from probing Chris' face to assure nothing was broken and faced the portal she'd initially seen but had been distracted from. Earth-Daniel paused in his tirade, lowering his fists as he too saw who was watching.

Kara rushed through the portal, teary eyed, and embraced Alex while the other numbly walked forward and pressed against it himself. Still blocked. The rest of Wingcraft and Murdon had already backed up to give them some space, but now most left for one of the side rooms. Lograve remained an unwilling observer while he maintained the ritual.

His mother held Alex for the longest time, then looked over her shoulder and flinched as she saw Hunter. Thankfully the ringcat had preemptively taken his level 0 form and only appeared mildly threatening. They both were wearing golden scale armor as well if there was any room for doubt. I have to look like some extra out of a fantasy movie, he thought blankly. "It's good to see you again. We've been doing well." Daniel desperately wished she hadn't overheard the last thing he'd shouted before they'd come in.

Still clinging to her side, Alex hesitantly asked, "Is Ami?"

"She's unwell," Kara put succinctly, not having the will to say more. "My children… my family… I couldn't protect you."

"It wasn't your fault, it was his!" Earth-Daniel shouted, glaring at Chris. "His, d-Dad, and mine."

Kara's back stiffened at the mention of Garret but that too was something she didn't have the strength to face. She'd still been in denial that he'd been anything other than a loyal husband and father the last time he'd seen her. "I never should have let us come here," she answered back, gripping Alex tightly as if to keep her there forever. "There's no excuse. Alex, I'm so sorry."

"None of you are to blame." Chris had switched back to English, but he could have used any language and it would have set Earth-Daniel off.

"Shut up! Don't you dare-"

"I'm here to explain, aren't I?" Chris asked wearily, and still in a bit of pain. Gadriel had also yet to help him off the floor, more preoccupied with making sure Earth-Daniel didn't kick his face in. "Alex already knows what she needs to. What you need to know is that all of your suffering is Hourglass' responsibility first, and then mine. He chose to make you pieces in a game that I also had to play to stop him."

"I can't believe that." Kara turned to face Chris, still with one arm protectively around Alex. "Garret was a good man. We built a life together. You're wrong."

"I wish I were," he replied genuinely. "But I know that Hourglass inhabited his chosen Earth vessel from an early age, perhaps from infancy. I didn't realize what he was doing until later on, and by then I was on the back foot."

"Wait, what?" Daniel realized that of all Chris had told them, there was one thing he really wanted to know that hadn't been covered yet. "Who are you in the first place? The real you. And why were you watching Hourglass?"

Chris put his head against the floor and closed his eyes. "The full story would take longer than your gate would last. I can write it down for you if you want the full context, but something tells me at least some of you are getting tired of me talking." He flashed a half smile at Earth-Daniel who raised a fist again. Gadriel returned a disapproving look, and with the Hero's boneshaking pallor he grew serious. "Sorry. This will go over most of your heads but you'll understand enough. Every world needs to build upon the fundamental laws, involve them in their system in some way. You can favor one more than the other or keep things even. Part of my consciousness is derived from a god on a world heavily reliant on Karma. Existence there is far different than either reality present in this room. Words, actions, they weigh heavier. You must keep any promise you make or suffer the consequences. Our magic is heavily reliant on Karmic Links, the connections between people. As I grew more powerful I discovered through these means information from my past lives. I found that this was not the first time I had been a god."

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"You say this all so casually," Kara whispered, and Daniel could hear her faith straining. "I don't see a god before me. Our world has only one, and He is not you." She inspected the room around her, the clear magic and everything else that ran counter to what she believed. "I can't make any sense of this, but I know this is my daughter in my arms. I know your lies have only brought us pain. You aren't a god, but you could be a devil." She looked to the rooms the rest of Wingcraft had retreated to and came to a decision. "Alex, Daniel, if our time is limited then I would rather spend it with you than that evil wearing a dead man's face."

His sister looked convinced, but Daniel shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mom. I have to know. We'll still have time, and you could stay…" The suggestion died in his throat, Earth-Daniel giving him an unnecessary, furious shake of the head. It saddened him, because there were things she could appreciate about this world. But not now, especially when the Arcadian as a whole was in danger.

Daniel waited until they had both left to stare Chris in the eye, the supposed god now back in an upright chair. "Which one were you?"

"The original Cloak," Chris answered smoothly, giving him some credit by not acting surprised. "I reincarnated into a new world upon my death. I should say now that I don't know much of my past life. Much is hidden when one passes on, most of what I remember is this…" He would have physically reached for the word if he were able to. "This terrible weight. The mark of sin on my soul left unwashed, even after death. I had no choice but to seek to ease it, but neither was it my place to directly intervene. There are rules gods are expected to follow. Becoming one has costs, as much as rewards. Instead I watched as best I could, hoping a chance would come for me to offer assistance. Instead I witnessed Hourglass secretly sending himself to other worlds. At first I thought this was merely a way for some part of him to escape, until I realized he had been looking for one to conquer. By then, it was all I could do to stop him as best I could."

Daniel paused time. He had to, it was an insane amount of information to process. He'd known there was a wider multiverse out there, but what Chris' words had troubling implications. The least of which was that he'd been the current Cloak's predecessor.

Are you ok? Hunter asked as he thought.

No. Assuming he's telling the truth about everything, which is a huge stretch for someone claiming to have once been Cloak, this is more than I can handle right now. I'm starting to think Mom had the right idea. I'd just hoped there would be something he would say that would give us an edge, or clarity, or even just catharsis. But it's all bullshit.

Hmm. Can see your family at least.

Daniel would have ruffled the fur between Hunter's ears if he could. Thanks, Hunter. And thanks for staying.

It is better to be here than close to that thing.

What, the cat? Daniel laughed internally.

It's embarrassing.

You know no one actually thinks of you like that, right?

Khiat does, Hunter thought, and Daniel couldn't argue that point. He resumed time in a slightly better mood, the version of him on the other side bereft of that benefit.

"You know what, fuck this," Earth-Daniel said. "I don't know if anything you're saying is true. That doesn't matter. Tell us, right now, how to get Alex back to Earth."

"You don't." Chris looked at him sadly, not threatened at all by the violence emanating from him. "Daniel, I am sorry for the part you were given. I tried to be your friend, if only to soften the blow. You need to let go of the anger inside of you. It can be one of the strongest poisons."

"Alex," he repeated, leaving no room for negotiation in his words.

"The best thing you can do for her is to keep her safe." Chris directed the words to Ocytrrum-Daniel, almost pleadingly. "I'm aware of the factions present on your side. Either the Spiritualists or the Illustrious would be acceptable candidates, I can tell you what I know of the groups closest to you if you haven't encountered them already. They can protect you from Hourglass' church. I'd recommend the Illustrious, but if you didn't have a choice-"

"Soraso and Zozar are dead," Daniel said, and the astonished look in Chris' eyes was enough to stop Earth-Daniel from doing something about being ignored. "And Mavar's backing down. He's giving us a chance to resolve the system conflict on our own terms." Just like that, he'd taken control of the conversation. Chris actually tried to stand, only for Gadriel to put a hand on his shoulder to force him back down.

"Resolve the, how? How would you-"

"I'll tell you if you have a way to bring Alex back to Earth." Chris blinked several times, taken aback, but didn't find an answer before Daniel made up his mind. "Shuni, come on, you should meet my Mom. Other me, don't worry, we'll have her back through before the gate closes."

"Wait, you still need to know about the prisoners!" Chris exclaimed. That might have stopped Daniel if Gadriel hadn't spoken at last. The Hero looked better than he had before, as if he were actually taking care of himself and not spending every second at Masika's bedside. Having the two artifacts keeping him in constant pain removed probably helped.

"I know enough of this to speak on it with Commander Zolyra. Come, you have troubled them long enough. Your fate shall be decided another day." Earth-Daniel began to protest as Gadriel freed Chris and then led the now unresisting man away, but he wasn't willing to stray far from the portal while Kara was on the other side.

Earth-Daniel turned to the other one, who now had Shuni standing a little anxiously at his side. "I'm taking responsibility," he said, as if in defense of himself. "I'll make sure he pays. Part of it is my fault, but I'm going to make sure he pays."

"Don't destroy yourself to do it," Daniel replied knowingly. Only he had seen Jeras end, and what depths Claire had fallen to in seeking her vengeance. "How is Ami, really?"

Earth-Daniel's face softened. "Bad. Mom would've sent her away to get hospitalized if we could send someone off the island with her, but there's no way to come back without risking more of those bastards coming with them. She's barely eating, sleeping away most days…" He shook his head. "She hasn't done anything. It's just that she hasn't done anything either. It's all his fault."

In the background, Chris finally vanished from sight. Daniel still had questions he could answer, from what he meant about Earth not being a blank world to what his mother had said, but his well of knowledge was tainted. Besides, if his big plan was to have him throw behind the likes of Mavar or Soraso, then he was behind the times. His interference may have stopped Rikoor from abducting him immediately out of the Thormundz, but Daniel wasn't going to follow along just because of that favor. Nothing else the man had to say would change things, so why listen?

There was the point to consider that getting Ami off of Eido would ruin his failsafe should Hourglass get all the pieces in place, but fuck that plan too. He'd leave it up to Alex and his mother to decide whether it was for the best now that the twins could talk to each other again, but he wasn't going to stand in the way for Chris' sake. As for what happened to him? Not his world. Not his problem. He had better things to do.

"You should get Ami, ask if she's up to see Alex," Daniel suggested. "Hopefully that will help. I'm going to go introduce my girlfriend to Mom."

"Yeah, that might- wait, what!?"

…

One benefit of being eternally trapped on one side of a gate between worlds was that your other self was too, and you were free to walk away after dropping lines like that. Leaving Earth-Daniel with the knowledge that he'd unknowingly been walking around with his alter's girlfriend was enough revenge for stranding him in another world. It'd been a long time coming too, and now he could finally put that grudge to rest.

"I was messing with him," he whispered to Shuni as they walked down the hallway leading from the astral rift to the front rooms of the armory. "If you're not ready for this I'll threaten him with Hunter and keep it a secret until you are."

"I'm not going through that thing unless you can," Hunter said lowly, his voice able to drop lower in volume thanks to his currently reduced size. "How will that threat work?"

"Earth-Daniel doesn't know that," Daniel replied happily. He turned to Shuni and found her deep in contemplation. "Shuni?"

"Sorry, that was just intense." She stopped walking just as Daniel could faintly hear his mother's voice in the distance. "Reincarnation. Gods fighting across worlds, taking over people's bodies. Even I'm starting to get in over my head. That guy was one of the original gods of the Octyrrum?"

"A copy of him. And I'm not sure how true that is. Either because he's the one saying it, or that he's died since then. Hunter says he can feel what he lost from his past life when he looks for it and there's no getting it back." Daniel decided to end that train of thought there before they got into a discussion about regular death versus being broken into a spirit. "Back to my first question. Am I introducing you as a friend, or more than a friend?"

She smiled weakly at him. "It'd probably be more awkward in the future if we don't mention it now."

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Daniel asked teasingly.

"I've only done this a couple times, and when the family found out about my class…" Shuni trailed off. "The last time we tried to hide it but word still got around. Nothing even went missing, but they canceled our next dinner and all of a sudden his 'life was moving in a different direction'. I think he ended up taking a job in Aurus just to sell the lie. Or it was a coincidence, never found out." She sighed melodically. "Point is my past sounds like it's been carried by an ill wind headed straight for the Crest. Add the insignificant details that your family is from a world that only has humans, and they're dealing with all of this, and you might get why I'm a little stressed."

"I do, but none of that changes the fact that I love you." Shuni smiled and Hunter groaned at his side, lightly. There wasn't as much discontented conflict coming through the Empathic Link as there had been before. Shuni's suggestion no doubt helped Hunter channel his feelings into plans for his own future, but the ringcat was also beginning to regard the Rogue in a way that helped better contextualize the feelings he received in return from Daniel. The word sister didn't fully fit, but family was beginning to.

They moved on before something happened on the other side of the gate or, worse, Lograve guessed why they were stalling and decided to shout something vague but provocative. Daniel saw his mother and Alex quietly discussing not far from where she had spent her first night in the Octyrrum, reading the grief present on each's face. At the very least, there was one bit of good news he could bring.

Daniel glanced at Shuni before he spoke, and she nodded. "I'm sorry all of this is happening, and that we never really had a chance to talk the last time. I know everything seems bleak, but we really do have a chance to have lives here. In fact, there's someone I want you to meet." He put an arm around his girlfriend. "Mom, this is Shuni."