Reality Changer

Chapter 8 - A Broken Reality

Author's Note: In which Harmony and Cassie have to deal with the fallout of the breaking of reality. :')

~ Amina Gila

The machine is still beeping loudly, red lights flashing in warning as Cassie watches it. She entered everything properly, so what's wrong with it? Unless this is how it normally reacts when a reality is changed so much. The only thing she's been able to make out of the warnings that appeared on the screen is that the universe has been changed too much to be reversed.

Good.

Because she knows Harmony would stupidly try to undo all the changes as soon as she gets back, so it's a good thing that she can't.

On the floor, Ahsoka suddenly starts to stir. She turns her head, looking around in confusion before slowly climbing to her feet. "Who are you?" the Togruta demands.

She doesn't remember her at all? Cassie supposes that's not really a surprise. But it does mean she's going to have to go through the awkwardness of trying to explain to her where she is. "I'm Cassie Swamp, and –"

"Where is this place?" Ahsoka cuts her off impatiently, eyes darting around the room, almost as though she's sensing something.

"You were taken to a different galaxy, I think," she explains hastily. "I'm assuming you found a version of this machine already in your own galaxy?"

"What do you mean 'different galaxy'?" she demands, suspicion never leaving her gaze. Why is she being so... closed off?

"This machine, it transports from between different galaxies, universes even," Cassie adds. Honestly, how did Harmony ever explain this properly the first time around? Was it this awkward for her?!

Ahsoka eyes the flashing lights on the machine and steps over to it, inspecting it. "What's wrong with it?" she asks. Right. She can't read English.

Great, now things really get awkward. "I don't know, actually. Beyond transporting... the machine can be used to make changes to reality?" How else is she supposed to say this?!

"What does that mean?" She sounds completely disbelieving.

"Like it can make changes to entirely different realities. Something with the Force. I don't understand it," she finishes lamely, because how else is she supposed to explain this, even?

"How would you even know enough about another reality for that to work?" Ahsoka still sounds dubious.

"Because here they're fictional? Like there's movies – I mean holofilms – about your universe, or at least what it used to be like, and –"

"What do you mean used to be like?"

Right. Riiight. "I don't know what the last thing you remember is," she blurts finally, "But I made a few changes. To make things better."

***

Is this what Jedi mean by saying they sense a disturbance in the Force? Harmony has no idea, but she can't shake the screaming feeling of wrongness. She's sensed it on a rare occasion before, when something bad was about to happen, but never at this intensity. All living things have a connection to the Force, so it makes sense that she can sense things sometimes, she supposes.

The first thing she instantly notices is Cassie's car in her driveway. What does she think she's doing here? Harmony sprints into the house, rapidly tracing everyone's steps down to the basement. The machine is beeping in warning about something, lighting up the otherwise mostly dark room. Ahsoka and Cassie are standing across from each other, talking about something.