Between Realities

That is a Horrible Idea

(M) Shadow Sabre/Dark Elite POV:

"Giving someone a second chance."

I stared at Dopple for a second in shocked silence. She's giving Twisted, of all people, a second chance?!

It took me a few long moments to even attempt speaking. "No." 'No'? Really?? That's all you can think of to say?

"No offense, Elite, but you don't have the right to say who deserves redemption and who doesn't," Dopple responded with a sharp curtness I wouldn't expect from her.

My face burned with shame. "I-..." My words abandoned me once again.

"I know what you're thinking. That this won't work. That Twisted could never be redeemed. That he's done 'too much evil' to possibly hope for forgiveness. But that would be wrong. After all, if M can forgive you, the man who destroyed almost all of the Red Steves, as well as making his home a pile of ruins, then surely there would be hope for Twisted. Of course, for something like this to happen, he'd have to regret what he's done, understand why what he did was wrong, and wish to fix his mistakes. Otherwise, any hope towards him would be empty and naive."

"...What do you plan to do, then?"

"Well..." Dopple trailed off for a moment, glancing away before facing me once more. "The first part of my plan can't start with you here- at least, Twisted and Hypno knowing you're here."

"I'm not going to leave you alone with him- er, them, since there's two."

"I know. That's why you're going to be hiding in plain sight. And before you can argue, take this." Without another word, she shoved a loaded crossbow into my arms. "You have to swear you won't shoot this unless you're absolutely certain there's no other way. Be aware that any shot will immediately destroy any progress I might make, alright?"

I fumbled with the crossbow, staring at it in astonishment. Did Dopple of all people just hand me a weapon?! "But- how am I supposed to hide in plain sight?"

"Oh, that's the easy part! Just remember this: flowers can't talk!"

"Wait, what-"

In an instant, Dopple snapped her fingers and everything started to get larger. Or wait- am I getting smaller? I felt my body morph into something else, though it surprisingly didn't hurt and wasn't uncomfortable. It just felt... strange.

"There. You really suit the look of an allium. You should be a flower more often," she joked, picking me up and placing me on a small table that wasn't there a moment before. "Now that that's done, I can start phase one: separation."

"Wha- how did you-" I stared at Dopple as she walked towards the bed. On the other side of the room, an identical bed poofed into existence. "How are you doing this?!"

"Hm? Oh, this is a sort of pocket dimension that Gänger and I have. We can make anything here, though we can't take anything out of it and into the overworld. The effects of things given here seem to follow us into the overworld though. People can be healed, die, be given blindness, be fed, and all sorts of things here and it'll still affect you in the overworld," she answered casually, waving her hand as if to push away the astonishment of my voice, almost as though I should have known this information in the first place, or that the information was no big deal. "Anyways, flowers don't talk, remember?"

Before either of us could say another word, there was a quiet groan of pain and movement on the other side of the room. It was-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(F) Dopple POV:

A sudden feeling of vertigo washed over me as I clutched my head with both my hands.

"...So...Care to explain what the heck is happening here?" Elite's voice rang out as I had a strong feeling of déjà-vu and realization.

"Holdup- you already asked that ages ago. Also, you're supposed to still be a flower."

Elite stared at me for a few solid seconds before speaking, concern and confusion etched on his face. "...What?"

"Wait- let me guess, you just got here and have no idea what I'm doing."

Elite nodded, still very evidently confused.

Not again... except this time, I was here when time got messed up... As I thought this, a sharp feeling struck me.

"Elite, M and Gänger need you."

"I- what? But-"

"No 'but's. It's either you help them, or Sabre does, and something tells me that Sabre's help is going to make things infinitely worse, even if it has a smidgen of character development."

"What about you? You expect me to just leave you to that guy?"

"That's exactly what I expect you to do. And you don't have to worry about me. 'That guy' won't be able to cause any trouble. I'm stronger than I look. The door can take you back to my house. Oh, and take this." I handed Elite a teleportation mushroom and an allium. "The one you took is still fresh, so it might not be the safest to use."

"...What's the flower for?"

"They make a good first impression... or would it be second impression? Either way. Oh, and be prepared to be... uncomfortable. You're going to encounter people you've met before..."

"What?"

Before Elite could say or do anything else, I shoved the mushroom and allium into his hands, then pushed him through the door and closed it behind him.

I hope he gets there before M gets "kidnapped"...