A Problem With The Old World

When we finally woke up, we were back in my hometown.

"Huh?" I said, "How come…?"

"How odd." commented Christina.

"Ugh, I'm tired." complained Justin.

"Not sure what I was expecting," said Jeff, "but I wasn't really expecting anything."

"Same here." replied Charles.

"First of all," I said, "we should all get up off the ground."

"Right." replied Jean.

Slowly, we all stood up and dusted ourselves off.

"Something… feels weird." commented Justin.

"Are you sure it's not just your face?" I asked.

"The only problem is I can see yours." replied Justin.

"Now, now." said Iris, "We shouldn't be fighting."

"Who's fighting?" responded Justin.

"Weren't you two-" started Iris.

"That's just how men talk to each other." I said.

"Whatever." Iris replied, "Anyways, don't we have more important things to worry about?"

"I don't want to think," complained Kia, "it's just going to make my head hurt."

"We're just gonna have to put up with it." replied Clara, shaking her head.

"So, we stopped that version of Magia from being completely destroyed." said Lucas, "And somehow, we were sent here."

"After our fight, that world probably didn't know what to do with us," said Christina, "and then we were dumped here."

"Ordinarily," said Cerise, "one would think that we would have been sent to our own worlds."

"Must be a bug." suggested Mikaela.

"This isn't some game." responded Clara.

"Then… what exactly happened?" I asked.

"Perhaps… it's because someone here has a strong attachment to this world?" said Lucas, looking at me.

"Don't look at me." I said, "I don't like this world."

"But you're our leader, aren't you?" he said.

"Not this again." I complained.

"Didn't Justin say something doesn't seem right?" asked Kia.

"I thought this was just him being paranoid." I said.

"He might be right," said Cerise, "our enemies this time are messing with all worlds, so it's likely that something isn't right."

"Well, crap." I replied.

"Should we split up?" suggested Christina.

"That… sounds like a good idea." said Lucas, "We can all meet up at Dovacath this afternoon."

"Should we go in groups?" asked Kia.

"I've got somewhere I want to check." I said, "Who wants to come with me?"

"I'll go." said Jean.

"I'll come too." said Kia.

"Anyone else?" I asked.

Nobody answered.

"Alright." I said, "Let's go."

The three of us split up from the rest of the group and started walking around the neighborhood. As far as I could tell, there really wasn't anything out of the ordinary. However, I just couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't quite right. I did have a habit of feeling nervous about things for no reason, so I hoped that was all that it was. After about thirty minutes of walking, we made it back to my house.

"Ron…?" said Jean.

"I'm fine." I replied.

"...?" responded Kia.

"This is my house," I said, "so why am I nervous?"

"When was the last time you were home?" asked Jean.

"We started our investigation not too long ago," I answered, "so it hasn't been that long."

"Well, we're not gonna get anywhere with you just standing here." responded Jean.

"Right." I replied.

"I feel like… something's going to happen," said Kia.

"Way to make a guy feel more worried than he already is." I replied.

"Sorry." responded Kia.

"You don't need to apologize." I said, as I was finally headed toward the front gate.

I opened it and slowly walked over to the porch, putting my hands in pockets.

"That's odd." I said.

"What happened?" replied Kia.

"I don't have my house key." I answered, "Oh, well."

Then, I rang the doorbell. When the door opened, we saw Justin.

"Wait a minute." said Kia, "How'd you get here before us!?"

"Who are you?" Justin asked.

"You don't recognize me?" I responded.

"Aren't you two brothers?" asked Kia.

"I don't have a brother." said Justin.

"Right," I said, "sorry to bother you."

After that, he closed the door and we walked away.

"Are you sad?" asked Kia.

"I think I'm starting to figure something out." I said.

"I think I know what you're getting at." said Jean, "There's no possible way that our Justin made it back to the house before us."

"That's right," I said, "so that means this world isn't mine. It's another version of it."

"Really?" said Kia.

"It makes sense." responded Jean.

"But what really caught my attention is how this world's Justin doesn't have a brother." I said, "Maybe I just don't exist in this world…?"

"So it's like your old world, but you don't exist?" asked Kia.

"It's just a theory." I said.

"Well, you've done what you needed to do, right?" asked Jean.

"That's right." I said.

"Well, why don't we check a few more things out before we head back?" suggested Jean.

"Good idea." I replied.

The three of us walked around town for a bit longer. Nothing else about this world seemed out of the ordinary. When we were ready to head back, that's when my phone rang. I pulled it out and saw Lucas was calling.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Dovacath was destroyed!" he exclaimed.