Grazing the Primary Layer (m|m cast version)

Epilogue

The seven of them found themselves in an abandoned parking lot. It was dark and there was still a couple of hours before the blue sun would appear in the sky. All of them were conscious except Rodolf, who had exerted himself during his last blast.
"We made it!" shouted Sasha. "That trip was more exciting than I imagined."
"This might only be my paranoia but do you think they're going to come after us?" asked Stephanie.
Veronica replied, "No, you should be fine. My other self understands why we had to come get you. I'm sure that she'll let her superiors know as well. Just stay out of the other dimension!"
Victor said, "I'm good. I've already started to regret my latest obsession. But why did you help us?"
"Because you were going to destroy our dimensions!" exclaimed Veronica. "I don't know the details. I only saw the result of your actions."
Victor replied, "Really? I had no idea. I'll stay in ours from now on. I only wanted to hurt my other self. I had no intention to destroy a world, never mind two."
Rodolf started to wake up. "What happened? How am I not captured or dead?" muttered Rodolf to no one in particular.
Before Andy could take credit for saving him, Giovanni kissed Rodolf.
Rodolf commented, "So I have to nearly die to get you to kiss me. Is it going to be like this throughout the relationship? Just me almost dying every day?"
Giovanni responded, "I could always never kiss you again."
As Rodolf leaned in to kiss Giovanni, Giovanni pulled away.
Rodolf said, "C'mon, it was a joke."
"Maybe you should have kissed me back."
"I was a little busy coming back from nearly dying."
Sasha joked, "I say we leave those two behind."
Andy replied, "How are we getting home? We don't even know where we are."
"As long as you know where you want to go," answered Victor, "I can bring you there. I can do a lot more than teleport across a hallway."
"That's great. I'm pretty sure they're all going to the same place so if you don't mind, can you bring me home first?" asked Veronica.
"Actually," answered Victor, "I'm going to bring Stephanie home first. Then, I'll come back for you."

Victor dropped off Stephanie and a few minutes later, got the location for Veronica's house and teleported her home. Before leaving with Victor, Veronica remembered that her car was in Gralps but decided to get it back another time. When Victor came back to the parking lot, Sasha told him where he lived. By then, Giovanni and Rodolf had stopped arguing and were kissing. Instead of making Victor go back and forth, Andy split up Giovanni and Rodolf with his ability and the five of them created a circle holding hands allowing Victor to bring them all back to Milli's house at the same time.


A week after his return home, Victor was kidnapped by his own dimension's government. He was held against his will and his scientific knowledge was put to use in classified cases. Victor would spend his days in a lab working on all sorts of viruses and bacteria while his nights would be spent in a comfortable safe house. All of his shopping was done for him. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere other than the lab and his new home. After a couple of weeks, it no longer bothered Victor. He was finally happy. He worked on organisms that few people could claim to have seen in their lifetime and he had become good friends with one of his bodyguards. He didn't feel lonely anymore or angry nor did he feel the need to prove that he was better than others. He was finally satisfied with his life.

Stephanie didn't end up as happy as Victor but she also found a more satisfying life. She found an organization dedicated to homo neanthers who were afraid of their abilities and became a counsellor there. That's where she learned that a significant number of people weren't from her dimension and were stranded there. She tried to help by sending them back home. She didn't always succeed but she helped a lot of people who wanted nothing more than to go back home. Every now and then, she messaged Victor to keep in touch. Victor responded and even though he was supposed to remain vague about his work, he sometimes purposely let details slip to amuse her.

Since the others had returned from the other dimension, Peter felt guilty. He felt that he should have gotten over his fear and gone with them. He began training twice as often to feel more prepared if the situation occurred again. Liz tried to help him train but her abilities were too different from his so she mostly helped by supporting him.


Two weeks after visiting the neighbouring dimension, Giovanni and Rodolf were sitting in the park across the library. It had become one of their main places to hang out. Its location was convenient because it was between Milli's house and Rodolf's apartment, and there were a few shops around for drinks and food. That day, Andy and Sasha walked nearby and decided to join Giovanni and Rodolf when they spotted them.
Andy commented, "Holding hands? Is that as far as you've managed to get, bud? Do you need some tips?"
Sasha added, "We have plenty of tips to share with the both of you. All you have to do is ask."
Giovanni replied, "I don't want to hear them."
Rodolf responded to Andy, "You're just jealous that my relationship is better than yours."
"How is that exactly?" asked Sasha. "Instead of moaning, all I hear is arguing coming from Giovanni's room when you come over."
Rodolf replied, "We weren't arguing."
Giovanni added, "And this isn't a relationship."
Rodolf responded, "Yeah, it is. Look up the definition in a dictionary."
Giovanni replied, "If the dictionary is so useful, maybe you should look up how to kiss."
Rodolf responded, "You said it got better and it was fine now. So what? Now you're lying to me? That's not good for our RELATIONSHIP."
Andy commented, "This is what Sasha meant."
Sasha told Andy, "We'll come back later when they're done to go eat."
As Andy and Sasha walked away, Giovanni and Rodolf smiled at each other.
Rodolf said, "That was easier than I thought."
"Yup."


Half an hour later, Giovanni and Rodolf met Andy, Liz, Peter and Sasha at the diner Jay's Buns. The diner had five booths large enough to seat eight people each. The booths' cushions were yellow and the sides were shaped like hot dog buns while the table at each booth was a different shade of brown. There was also a metallic counter with five metal stools by the large window. The vinyl floor had a black and white checkered pattern throughout the restaurant which was used for games of giant chess on special occasions. The walls were painted a slightly dark red and covered in pictures of the owner in various costumes such as clown outfits and tutus. 

The six of them sat at a booth and ordered some food and milkshakes. Andy ordered a cookie crunch milkshake, Giovanni a chocolate one, Liz a peanut butter milkshake, Peter a chocolate and caramel one, Rodolf a strawberry one and Sasha a vanilla fudge milkshake.
When their drinks arrived, Sasha declared, "We should have a toast. To surviving everything that's happened since the first time we all hung out."
Rodolf stated, "We've never all hung out."
Peter replied, "You were unconscious but we're counting it."
Andy added, "Especially after all the trouble Giovanni made me go through to get you there."
Liz said, "We should also toast to saving our city and our dimension."
Ashamed, Peter responded, "I didn't."
Sasha pointed out, "You saved our city. You get points for that."
Peter replied, "We don't even know if it was me."Liz said, "I think it was you."
Andy added, "Me too."
Rodolf said, "I was unconscious but I'd rather give you the credit than the government."
Giovanni added, "See, we all think it was you."
"To saving the world." Andy extended his drink between them.
Smiling, Peter repeated, "To saving the world."
The six of them clinked their glasses and Rodolf added, "To not having met Andy's clone."
"Why would you say that?" asked Sasha a little upset.
Giovanni added, "You jinxed it."
Andy said, "That actually sounds cool."
Liz replied, "It sounds cool but it would be horrible."
Peter agreed, "I'm completely with Liz on this one."
"How did I jinx anything?" asked Rodolf.
Sasha answered, "For next time."
"What next time?" asked Rodolf.
Sasha replied, "There's always a next time."
Andy repeated, "Always."
The conversation ended there because their food arrived and they were starving. They enjoyed a good meal of bear-burgers and hot dogs with their milkshakes and forgot about Rodolf's jinx.


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