Crossed Fates (OLD)

Chapter 40: Questions Left Unanswered

Tyler returns to the dark room. He rubs his eyes and he sees Rin lying down on the floor.

Tyler: "What the... Rin?"

He quickly gets up, and he runs towards her, but he's grabbed by the shirt from behind.

???: "Sorry. Emi's sleepin'. She's just taking some time to cool off. Your talk is with me."

Tyler: "E-Emi?!"

He turns around, and he sees a man. He seems to be in rough shape. He's wearing a beanie, a brown trench coat with black buttons, and black pants with black combat boots. His clothes have all seen better days. They're very ragged with rips and tears.

Tyler: "W-Who are you..?"

???: "Who am I? I am Tyler. I seem to be another version of you."

Tyler: "Another version of me? Tyler 2? N-Now that I'm thinking about it, you were uttering some things when I was watching you through here."

Tyler 2: "You're smart, using Emi like that."

Tyler: "Emi?"

Tyler 2: "Yeah, the virus? Well... That's what I called mine, anyways."

Tyler: "Oh. Her name is Rin, not Emi."

Tyler 2: "I see. Do you have any idea on how I got here?"

Tyler: "Well, Rin took control of me, and as far as I can remember, she was complaining about some noise, and she found some sort of red orb floating around in a dungeon. She touched it, and then you took control almost immediately."

Tyler 2: "Red orb, huh?"

Tyler: "Yeah."

Tyler 2: "Strange... I thought I was dead... and then I woke up in your body, and everything was..."

He looks at his hands, and he shakes his head.

Tyler 2: "and Emi isn't here with me either... Two Primals can't co-exist in the same body..."

He tears up.

Tyler 2: "Damn it... This wasn't how it was supposed to be. We promised to take him down together... To avenge Leah and everyone else..."

Tyler 2 wipes his tears from his glowing green eyes.

Tyler 2: "Damn it... I've lost everything. I'm a damn idiot."

Tyler: "Lost everything?"

Tyler 2: "My family, Emi, even my life."

He shakes his head.

Tyler 2: "Is this... some sort of... blessing?"

Tyler: "Blessing?"

Tyler 2: "You touched that orb, and when you did, you somehow summoned me into your body. You saved me from the inevitable."

Tyler: "Saved you from your death?"

Tyler 2: "I was supposed to die, but I never did."

He sighs, and starts rubbing his head.

Tyler 2: "I should be knowledgeable about these kindsa things with the Primals, but... I have no idea how the hell this happened. This is a miracle... I can still take him down."

He turns to Tyler, and he starts shaking him.

Tyler 2: "We can take down Adon, Tyler! We can still do it! We can still-"

Tyler: "Wahh..? S-Stop shaking me, Tyler 2! What are you blabbering on about?"

Tyler 2 stops shaking him.

Tyler 2: "...Tyler 2? Come on, give me a better name than that. In fact, Give me a nickname."

Tyler: "Nickname? You don't like Tyler 2?"

Tyler 2: "No."

Tyler: "Okay then... Anos?"

Tyler 2: "Try harder."

Tyler: "Hisao?"

Tyler 2: "Nice name... for literally anybody else. Try again."

Tyler: "...Kashou?"

Tyler 2: "I ain't a cat, buddy. Try harder than that."

Tyler: "Man... this is a damn pickle... Might just call you Pickle now."

Tyler 2: "Right. You're not even trying now."

Tyler: "Neo!"

Tyler 2 nods.

Neo: "Finally. Something I like. Took you long enough, pipsqueak."

Tyler: "Pipsqueak?"

Neo: "Just messin' with you."

Tyler: "...Hey, question."

Neo: "Question? Go ahead."

Tyler: "Who's Leah? I heard you mention her when you took control of me, and you mentioned her again a moment ago."

Neo: "L-Leah..?"

He hangs his head.

Neo: "...Someone I mourn every single second."

Tyler: "Were you close?"

Neo: "Very."

Tyler: "Man... That sucks."

Neo: "...Wait."

He walks up to Rin, who is still on the floor.

Neo: "If I could do it with Emi, surely I can-"

He kneels down next to her.

Tyler: "Woah, what do you think you're doing?"

Neo: "Trying to access the Nexus Area."

Tyler: "The what area?"

Suddenly, a screen appears. It's quite similar to the screen that is used to see out of Tyler's eyes.

Neo: "Hah... Still got it."

He begins navigating through some sort of other world.

Tyler: "Woah! What the hell is that?! How are you doing that?"

Neo: "Heh... Well, since this is essentially a spirit realm inside your dream, you can check out things such as other timelines, universes, and the sorts. You can't do anything in them, though. You can just look around and watch things happen."

Tyler: "Are you serious?! That's awesome!"

Neo: "I reckon you'd want to check out what happened in my timeline, am I right?"

He looks behind him, and he sees Tyler staring at the screen curiously.

Tyler: "Your timeline? You can access your timeline here?"

Neo: "You can access any timeline. I'm just going to mine because it's relevant."

He swipes his hands through the screen quickly, and then they begin seeing through a barren looking world.

Tyler: "Oh god. What the hell? Your timeline looks awful."

Neo: "I guess once I stood up to the Gods, they must've made sure nobody else in my timeline would ever stand up to them."

He quickly searches through his timeline, but there are no signs of life.

Neo: "Hmph... Damn bastard has no mercy. Guess that's what I get for being so damn cocky."

Tyler: "Are you able to like... Turn back time in here?"

Neo: "That's just what I was about to do. Want me to try and look for somebody you know?"

Tyler: "Hmm... Let's start with Tezuka."

Neo: "Tezuka?  Who's she? That girl you're in bed with?"

Tyler scratches his head, and blushes a little.

Tyler: "U-uh, yeah. Her."

Neo: "Hmm. I could try."

Tyler: "Oh, and if it makes your searching easier, she's a Kitsune."

Neo raises an eyebrow.

Neo: "A Kitsune, ey? They aren't extinct in your timeline? Lucky son of a gun. Alright, let's see if I can find her anywhere."

The screen in front of them starts showing a lot of past things very quickly. He eventually stops in front of a dirty looking house.

Neo: "I can feel a bunch of Kitsunes in here. Let's check it out as if we were there, shall we?"

Neo stands up, and suddenly the dark room they were in transforms into Neo's timeline. Tyler stands up in shock.

Tyler: "Woah?! What the hell?"

Neo: "Relax. Nobody will see us or even feel us being here. Let's phase inside."

Neo phases inside the house, and Tyler does too. They walk in on a very tall, scarred man with his boot on a woman's head. A young boy has an armless girl trapped in his embrace.