Crisis on Earth-Prime (an Arrowverse novel)

Chapter 2: Doppelgänger

"But how?!" I started trembling. He was gone and there was no logical explanation for him being here.

Unless I was losing my damn mind.

"Sakher, it's me" he insisted and the moment I opened the door to my hotel room, I attempted to sprint off and lock the door, but he was too fast that he pushed the door with little to no effort.

"I was at your..." I cried.

"I know my doppelganger is dead on this earth" he began, which suddenly brought me a measure of hope that I was not losing my mind.

"Wait, are you from a different earth?" I was finally coming back to planet earth, realizing that this was something of a multiversal game of sorts.

"Yes. I am from Earth- X."

"Earth-X?"

"Think of it as Earth-Prime. Same history, same timeline, but with one crucial difference – the Nazis won World War II."

"Let me guess..." I suddenly began to think hard about this. "The Nazis developed the atomic bomb before the United States did, and had no problem using it against their enemies?"

"Exactly" he said, then noticed the sad expression he had. "Paris, London, Moscow, New York, Los Angeles, they were all obliterated by the Nazis."

"I see" I sighed and then out of instinct I placed my hands over his face, feeling his skin. It was warm, which meant that he was here and he was alive. Or at least his Earth-X doppelganger was.

"It's me" he assured me, smiling the same as my Rashid did when he was amongst the living.

"I'm sorry. I just never imagined that I would see you again, or rather his doppelganger."

"I understand" he took my hand and held it for a long moment. Almost as if he was trying to assure himself I was alive.

"Rashid, how exactly did you get here?"

"As you now know, our earth has been ravaged by the Nazis for decades. They have killed several innocents, labeling them as weak and deserving of death."

"So you came to Earth-Prime to escape and begin anew?"

"No. I came to seek yours and your friends' help."

"You want to seek the help of the Canaries?"

"Yes. Back on my earth, you, me, Maryam, and Futtaim are part of The Canaries. But we're also known as Freedom Fighters."

"So we know each other on Earth-X?"

"Yes, we do. But..."

"But what?"

His eyes began to tear and started crying.

"Just before I jumped through the breach, you were killed in front of me."

"Wow" I could not believe it. "But your earth is in grave danger."

"How so?"

"You know the attack that just took place at the Burj Khalifa?"

"Yes. We thought it was a bomb but it turned out it was a device that released dark matter. We're hypothesizing that the terrorists are trying to create meta-humans."