Deja Vu

Chapter 40: Loose Ends Make New Beginnings

Summary:

The meeting comes to a close, but not before the most important loose end gets addressed.

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You've solved most, if not all of your problems. They aren't fixed, but, you have a plan to tackle each one. The only issue that remains is the question that has lingered since day one;

How do you get home?

To your real home; The one you originally were ripped from.

Does that world even exist to you anymore? Do you still have a home waiting for you? Do the loved ones you were taken from still exist? How much time have you lost? Do the people from your original life think you just up and left them behind? Got bored? Do they think you dead? Would they even believe you if you even found a way back?

What damage has actually been done?

How much have you actually lost?

Years. You've been at this.. For years.

You've been swung to the whims of the man in front of you, solving all of his problems, fixing all of his mistakes, covering all of his bases, and you don't even know if you can get back home.

The question claws at your throat, screaming in your chest, as the room has gone quiet. It seems that everyone is anticipating something from you. A resolution?

You might be set for life in either of these realms, but now that all the problems have been solved.. You finally have time to think about yourself again. And thinking about yourself is hard. You thought for a long time that thinking of survival WAS thinking of yourself.. It's all you knew for so long.

So here, faced with the reality that you can choose any path forward that you like, you're forced to come to terms with the fact that the one path you want to chase is.. Obscured at best.

"... Do we know anything about my world?"

You look up to Crowley as you ask this. He's been trying to get you home, supposedly. All these years. All that effort. Has it amounted to anything?

"..." Crowley's eyes avert as he looks to the table, avoiding your earnest expression. Just one more disappointment to add to the collection.

You're both surprised when Barbatos speaks up; "Ever since hearing you weren't from this realm, it's been a part of my job to ensure that we return you to the realm you belong to. However.." The look in his eyes is serious as he matches your gaze. ".. Even I haven't been able to find your realm."

Lucifer is surprised as he hears this. "What does that mean?"

Barbatos continues; "It means that ___ has found a rare limit to my abilities."

The demons and Crowley wear grim expressions with this information, but the other NCR staffers don't know why finding a limit to Barbatos' power is such an.. Anomaly.

"Every power has its limits." Vargas raises an eyebrow to the demon, crossing his arms. "Is it truly so rare for you to find one of yours?"

Barbatos nods. ".. Yes. It's something new to me entirely. There could truly be any number of causes. ___ could be from a realm outside of my domain. A place that none of us have ever heard of. Their world could be in another dimension entirely, untouchable by my magic.. Could it be that their realm defies connection? Is it impossible for me to find it? Am I looking for an empty space where something could hide, or am I looking in the wrong places entirely..?" He murmurs, curious, watching you. Your past has been ever-changing since you arrived. It was undetectable, because he thought nothing was out of the ordinary - So when he realized something was, and he began looking, he saw a different story every time he looked.