Looking Through Jaune Arc's Multiverse

A Generic Beginning Pt. 2

Nora pushed her way through the doors with her friends and co. trailing behind. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the doorway, they all felt their weapons disappear. That only made them paranoid. Had they fallen into a trap? Was this man preparing to kill them? But that feeling quickly faded for some reason. They looked around for any possible threats but were only perplexed by the new room.

The room looked like a very spacious screening room. It somewhat made sense, what with the lobby they first appeared in and the hallways. However, there were no seats. Just one large screen at the front, and a large reclining leather chair. In that chair was another man.

They almost thought it was Dee, their interactions with the mystery man had led them to believe he had some sort of mind-affecting semblance like Emerald's. But looking closer, this man was slightly different. He looked very much like their strange guide, but he was dressed differently. Where Dee had hair parted to the left and somewhat long hair, this man's hair went to his right and was shorter. Instead of a light gray zip-up hoodie, he had on a Navy blue one. Instead of Dee's dark gray shirt with "The Beatles" in black text, this man had a black shirt with a large picture of bright red lips, white teeth, and a bright red tongue hanging out. But he wore similar-looking jeans, shoes, and had the same skin tone. He even had the same blank, glowing white eyes.

"Uh... Mr. Dee?" Ruby asked, hoping to get answers.

"Yes?" The group looked back toward the door to see Dee, the way he was introduced to them, walking toward them with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Turning around again, they saw that this new had remained seated, looking up to the ceiling with a thousand-yard... stare?

"Oh," Dee saw the source of their confusion. "Yeah, that's not me."

Marrow began asking a new question, "Then who-"

Dee, again, interrupted his guests, "That would be my brother."

"No kidding," Robyn somehow conveyed both genuine confusion, and sarcasm at the same time.

Dee made his way to his brother sitting in his chair. "Hey."

His brother, not taking his eyes off the ceiling, lifted his hand as if to say 'Hey' back.

"Are you high?"

For the first time, his brother spoke, "You know I don't do drugs." His voice seemed apathetic. Like he had given up on life. It was very similar to Dee's voice, if only slightly deeper.

"I know, but you perpetually look stoned."

His brother returned the chair to its upright position and stood up to face him. "So do you."

Dee's brother turned towards the screen and took only a few steps before stopping. Again, he stared into nothing. Like he was zoning out.

"Um... what's with him?" Robyn asked Dee.

Dee lifted his right hand to his face and held his chin. "I think... he's having a crisis."

"No," Dee's brother spoke up. "Just... processing." A blank look was ever-present on his face.

"Oh shit!" Dee's exclamation startled a few out of their stupor. "We forgot some people!" Dee turned away from them and lifted his right hand to the empty space in the room. The room seemed to brighten, then a flash of light forced all to shut their eyes. When the lights dimmed enough to see again, they saw five new faces familiar to some.

The first three were the three members of the Cotta-Arc family, Terra, Saphron, and Adrian. The next two were Sun and Neptune, formerly of Haven Academy. They all looked around confused before their eyes landed on the group. They recognized Jaune's team and their friends. "Wha..." Saphron began. "How did we get here? Where are we?"