Chasing Shadows: An Alice In Borderlands Fanfic (Completed)

Chapter 25: Chasing Shadows (Jen 1.0 and Jen 2.0)

(Jen 1.0 POV)

The third window faded to black. I switched my attention back to the second window, but it was dark as well.

"What happened to that me?" I asked Karube. "The one where you were still alive?"

"I'll show you."

The window flashed to the other me running up the steps. She ran through the light and woke up coughing and gagging as the life support was removed from her....

***
(Jen 2.0 POV)

"Karube?" I called over the medical team helping me. "Where's my husband?"

"Relax," a nurse said, having me lay back. "You will see him soon. We've called him, and he's on his way."

I lay back against the pillow. "What happened to me? Why am I here?"

"You were hit by a motorcycle which was running running from the police. We were afraid you wouldn't make it."

"Hit by a motorcycle?" My memories were a jumbled mess.

"You were in a coma for almost two months. Most of your body has healed, but there are still a few areas of concern. How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Where's my husband?"

"He's on his way."

On his way?

"What time is it?"

"A little after midnight."

Oh no. They'd called him away from work.

The nurse continued. "Normally, we only allow visitors during the visiting hours, but when a comatose patient wakes up, we think it's important they have a loved one by their side as soon as possible."

"But he was working." Guilt flooded me. Leave it to me to wake up at such a crazy time.

"He didn't hesitate," the nurse assured me.

Just then, my husband rushed into the room, his eyes wide, his breathing labored. He still wore his factory clothes.

"Jennie-chan? Oh, thank the gods, you're awake." He immediately grabbed my hand and kissed me hard on the lips. "When I got the call, I was expecting the worst."

"I'm okay." Tears leaked from my eyes. He pressed his forehead to mine. The nurse left us after finishing her checks, and Karube sat on the bed beside me. I leaned into him as he put an arm around me.

"It was horrible," he said. "I couldn't do anything to stop it. You were there one minute, then gone the next. I wasn't fast enough." He broke down. "I felt like it was my fault. I paused because I thought I heard something and when I turned back..."

I squeezed him. "It wasn't your fault."

"That isn't all. Most of our money went for your care. Jennie-chan, we lost the bar."

My heart dropped into my gut. "We...what?"

"We lost the bar and our apartment. I tried. I worked at much as I could, but then you bills started coming in, and I couldn't do it." He hung his head.  "I'm sorry."

It was a heavy blow. The bar was everything to me. I'd worked so hard to get it going. "My bar..." The tears tumbled from my eyes in big, fat drops. I didn't want to hurt Karube, but losing the bar hurt. It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I had been in the accident. I had pissed the yakuza off by not complying with their demands.

When I told this to Karube, he hugged me tight and swore it wasn't my fault, either.

"Where did you go?" I asked him, the memory of me going up the stairs alone flashing through my mind. "After we went upstairs, you disappeared."

Karube looked at me with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean? Upstairs after what?"

I furrowed my brow. It was after...after what? Suddenly I couldn't remember. My mouth blurted out, "After I came back from Borderland," but I really didn't know what I was saying. "After Niragi attacked me...and you killed him." Another flash of memory. Another sentence I didn't even understand myself.

Karube laughed, a nervous titter. Worry marred his face when he asked, "Borderland? Niragi? Jennie-chan, I think you were dreaming."

"No. I remember." The memories became stronger. "You came to Borderland and brought me home. There was another me. She died, but she told you to go after me." He looked at me like I was crazy. "Karube, I'm serious! You don't remember?  Niragi came after me and you strangled him. Then you went upstairs. I went to follow you, but everything was dark. I ran up the stairs forever until I burst through the light."

"You just woke up from a coma. None of that happened. Do we even know anyone named Niragi? It was a dream, baby." He kissed the top of my head.

"No!" I pulled away. "It was real! I remember it clearly. All of it. Everything. It wasn't a dream!"

"Okay, okay. It wasn't a dream. But whatever it was, it doesn't matter now. You're alive and awake, and you don't know how happy that makes me." He kissed me again, and I opened myself to him, needing all the comfort I could get.

A yawn took me by surprise. I tried to smother it but a weariness came with it, and I disengaged from Karube to lay back against the pillows. "If I've been asleep for the past two months, then why am I so tired?"

"Your body did a lot of fighting while you were in a coma. I'm sure it still needs rest."

"Ah. Makes sense." My eyes drifted closed.

Karube kissed me again. "Sleep, Jennie-chan. I'll watch over you."

***

(Jen 1.0 POV)

I watched through the window as the other me drifted off to sleep.

"I don't understand," I told Karube. "How does he not remember all of that? We both saw it, right?"

"It's because it happened in Borderland. He wasn't there."

"In Borderland? Wait...so I didn't meet him for real? I didn't die in the real world?"

"If you'd died in the real world, you wouldn't be here. You'd have gone on to the afterlife. You were still in Borderland when you died."

"I...what? No I wasn't. I took the portal out. I was there. With the other Karube."

He shook his head. "It might have seemed like it, but no. You were at the doorway between Borderland and our world. Kind of like standing in a foyer. It's Borderland's last attempt to get you to stay."

"So, I never left Borderland?"

"You, nor I, nor Niragi. We, the original three. That's why we're here in the Fringe."

"Wait, if I didn't leave Borderland, then what's with all these different mes? All the yous and Niragis?"

Karube winced. "It's a bit complicated. But we still influenced the real worlds. Like when you called to Karube...He heard you in the real world. He saw just a shadow and your voice was just a whisper on the wind, but it was enough to make him pause."

"And the gun? Niragi's gun that he left behind?"

"Another anomaly. I'm sorry. Some things even I can't explain. It may be Borderland trying to pull people in." He shrugged. "I really can't say."

The door to the room slammed open. Niragi strutted in like he owned the place. "There you are!"