Corrupted Timelines

Behind the Void

A/N: Names are back to normal (Ina instead of Ina'nis)

Ina rubbed the tear streaks off of her face, as her room faded back in from the gray fuzz. She sniffled and cleared her throat, making sure to be as presentable as possible. Her friends would want to know why she had been gone as soon as they saw her.

"Ina?!" Gura's familiar voice yelled from behind her. Ina had not even realized that she was fully materialized in her timeline yet. Quickly turning around in surprise, she saw Gura shoot up from her desk chair.

"G-Gura, what are you doing in my-" Ina tried to give herself a little time to think by deflecting away from the inevitable question. She was interrupted when Gura leapt towards her, tackling her to the ground. The small bruises left over from her fight with the Priest ached when she hit the floor.

Gura laid on top of Ina, pinning her to the floor with her weight. The Atlantean might be small, but she was very dense with muscles. Ina debated on getting up, using tentacles to prop herself up, but decided against it. Gura needed this.

"Why'd you leave like that, you idiot!" she cried into Ina's hoodie. There was a light amount of anger in her voice, making Ina begin to feel incredibly guilty over what she had done.

"It's only been a couple days, right?" she asked, her bottom lip quivering from the guilt. Gura pulled away and let her stand up.

"I mean yeah, but it felt like a lifetime ago. We were gearing up to go back to the Hatchery soon, in case you didn't make it back..." Gura's voice trailed off, not wanting to think about that possibility. Ina sighed.

"I'm sorry that I scared you guys like that..." she apologized.

"Why did you even-" Gura started to ask, but the door behind them opened, interrupting her.

"Gura, is everything-" Amelia walked in and stopped her sentence short. She saw Ina standing in the room next to Gura and stared at her for a moment.

"H-hey, Ame," Ina stuttered. When Amelia began to walk towards her, she prepared to get slapped. However, Amelia instead embraced her and held her tight.

"Oh my god, I am so glad you're back, Ina," she said in a relieved tone. It was obvious that she had been worried about Ina's sudden departure, as well. Ina reciprocated the hug before it was broken up by a loud voice outside.

"Ina's back! Ina's back!" Kiara paraded into the room. Ina was squeezed into another hug by the Phoenix, but this one was strong and short. Ina was glad because she definitely couldn't breathe in it. Calliope and Emersyn walked in soon after, bringing the entire group into one room. They all took their seats on various chairs and Ina's bed. Ina stood in the middle of them all, gathering her thoughts.

"Where did you go, Ms. Ninomae?" Emersyn broke the silence. The question was very direct, so Ina took a deep breath before laying everything out for the group.

She explained that she had gone to see her past, but ended up instead in Amelia's old timeline. This, of course, brought a fair few gasps and a flurry of questions. Emersyn told them all to leave their questions till the end in case Ina answered it in her explanation.

Ina talked about how she accidentally stalked Amelia's Ina and wound up flat on her ass when Amelia's Gura attacked her. She then explained how she wound up at their apartment and provided details on Amelia's old room at the place. This almost brought tears to Amelia's eyes when she heard about how the room was exactly how she left it.

"Sounds like they are together, eh?" Kiara nudged Gura who was sitting next to her on the bed. Amelia flinched slightly, unbeknownst to everyone. Ina laughed awkwardly. "Holy shit they are together..." Kiara realized, her eyes and smile growing wide.