Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

Where the Wild Things Lurk

Time: 2:45AM

Location: The Basement, Death-Tastin Desert

Darius opened his eyes slowly, feeling the light on his face before seeing it, cast gently upon him from the window. He blinked, groaning, feeling his eyes flutter before squeezing them shut again.

He was back again. Great. He wouldn't move again; he was content to just lay here for as long as he could. Let his other self come in on him, Darius wasn't going to look for him.

He shifted in the covers, yawning, not even getting up when he heard the door creak open. He only tensed, silent, in anticipation, clutching the sheets tightly between his fists.

But when the soft fabric didn't disappear under his hands, he slowly, cautiously cracked an eye open. Maybe they hadn't seen him...?

No, no chance of that. When Darius opened his eyes and looked at the door. Ben was standing in front of it, framed in the doorway, and giving Darius a stunned look.

When Darius looked at him, he flinched, before a look of regret briefly flashed over his face and he squared himself, standing up straighter as he glared down at Darius.

"You're not the real Darius," he said, almost as if it was a question, but Darius knew it wasn't.

Still, he shook his head, frowning. Man, he was to tired for this. "I am the real Darius. That one out THERE is the fake one."

Ben's eyes narrowed. "The other Darius doesn't disappear into thin air whenever he wants."

"Well, it's not like I do it by choice," Darius grumbled. He fixed Ben with a glare of his own. "I don't even know if YOU'RE the real Ben."

The (fake?) Ben gave him an odd look, odd enough that, once again, Darius found himself almost questioning everything.

"You... think I'm..." Ben shook his head. Whatever he'd been expecting Darius to say, it wasn't that. But Darius wasn't done.

"You AND Brooklyn," he muttered, and Ben gave him an even wilder look. But Darius ignored that, because that thought just made him question what else isn't real. Sam? Yaz? Kenji? They probably weren't all fake... Darius hoped.

"Seriously?!" Ben cried out, after a solid minute of spluttering out in confusion. "You expect me to believe that?! Who are you?!"

Darius rubbed at his face, exhausted. "I TOLD you, man, I'm the real Darius. The real versions, or... the ones I think are real, are in another world, some world from an alternate dimension or something... I don't know why we're there, or how this happened, but somehow, someday, we're going to get back. I just don't know how. The real me, the real Ben, and the real Brooklyn."

Ben stared at him, and something occurred to Darius.

"And, no, I don't expect you to believe this," he told his old friend quickly.

Ben gulped. His harsh glare was just starting to fade when he seemed to suddenly remember it again, and his expression snapped back to a glare. "Yeah? You want me to believe you? What was my ankylosaurus named?"

"Bumpy?" Darius asked, surprised. He guessed he shouted by, this was a tried-and-true tope in these situations... but someone he still had never expected to be quizzed. Suddenly, he felt nervous.

Ben's glare deepened. "Are you SURE about that...?"

Darius rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure! I liked her, too, you know, and I miss her, I miss all of you guys! I've spent so long and tried so hard to get back to you all... I've lost new friends, people who didn't deserve to die... I've seen horrible things that I couldn't ever imagine... and I've nearly died from so many horrible things that it really sucks to see you again and immediately be treated with suspicion!"