In a way, he should have been used to these types of mishaps. After all, his life was one giant mishap, but this one hurt far more this time around.
Jack often found himself in different messes of his own making. Sometimes they were easily solved, and other times it would take months, even a year, to come back to a sense of normalcy. Regardless, Jack always had his friends next to him, supporting him and reassuring him. He didn't feel like a complete failure or mistake with them around. But now? Wren and Simon had gone missing, leaving Jack to try and figure it out by himself, trapped in his own vicious loop cycle.
A couple of weeks ago, they had been experimenting with gateway magic, a magic that would take them across the universe in an instant. They had avoided messing with it since coming back home after being trapped on Nod all those years ago, but now they had finally gotten over their fears and decided it was time to test the magic to its limits. When it finally came time to put their plans into action, it all quickly fell apart. All Jack could recall was a surge of magic flowing through him, followed by a blinding light before everything went dark.
That was 17 days ago now, and Wren and Simon had been missing since. No traces of anything, just gone, leaving Jack behind with nothing but their memory. He found himself more desperate than usual, and that was saying something. He was used to everything going wrong, used to someone, mainly himself, getting hurt. He was used to scrambling to find a solution, and he was used to miserable nights, facing his mistakes and his past. But even then, it didn't hurt like it hurt now.
The air in his home became heavy with a sadness that wasn't all that foreign to his residence and a sense of darkness that shouldn't have been. The walls were witness to Jack's decaying state as he worked day in and day out to try and bring Wren and Simon back. All that mattered to him anymore was getting them back, no matter what should happen to him. He found himself working at getting the Gateway to work the same way it did that fateful day, but it refused to give way.
He became more shaky, his thoughts becoming cloudy and afraid, a feeling he was far too familiar with. Logically, he knew he wasn't dying, but it sure did feel like it. He was sure that if he couldn't get them back, he might as well be dead, but giving up on them was not an option. It didn't change the fact that he was very obviously at the end of his rope, having gone through every rhyme book he could think of and even experimenting with dark magic, something he told himself he would never go back to. Then, he finally stumbled across something.
He found a book theorizing the existence of other universes, where things were the same across universes, but some things would be different. This Jack was on the verge of giving up, so maybe a different Jack would have a solution to this problem. A different Jack would also mean a different Wren and Simon as well, his support would still be present (at least, he hoped).
With that, he set off to research a different type of Gateway magic. One that instead of taking him across the universe would take him across universes and dimensions. One that would bring him a long forgotten sense of hope. He would quickly learn how to make miniature Gateways, ones that acted more like windows into the worlds beyond rather than trying to travel. Jack found it quite entertaining, almost treating it like a television set rather than a dangerous form of magic that could easily trap people on the other side. He couldn't help but be captivated by the lives of these different Jacks. Some were very similar to him, while others looked vastly different, went by entirely different names, and lived different lives. Jack even grew envious of some, with how good they had it compared to him. But one thing seemed to stay the same, the troubled pain in their faces. Even if they tried hiding it and had everyone fooled, Jack knew he was looking at himself.
Eventually he would stumble across a certain universe. Jack couldn't quite pin what it was about this one, but he found himself watching it a lot more than the others. After about a few weeks of watching this one, he would figure out some details. This Jack's name was Jesse, and there seemed to be absolutely nothing special about him. He lived a normal life, living with his family and hanging around with his best friend, who's name turned out to be Fletcher. The most interesting thing Jack ever saw him do was work on his car at night when he should have been sleeping. He knew nothing of a world of magic, and neither did Fletcher (who seemed to be his version of Simon) or his sister Jennifer (his version of Wren). What was it about this world that captured his attention? Jack wasn't sure, but now he knew he had to find out.
The air in the house soon turned to something of pure determination. Now with a plan in mind, Jack was quick to start placing things together. His workshop became more of a mess than it usually was, with papers and stardust littering the space as he worked in a frenzy. He had to make this work, this was his last resort, and he couldn't afford to mess this up. Somehow, someway, things came together easier than they should have. Jack wasn't sure to be thankful or afraid, but he pushed those thoughts aside as he worked along. Whatever it was, he couldn't second guess himself, not now when he was so close.
The night was crisp when he finally got it all figured out. Tension hung in the air as Jack recited the last piece of his rhyme to open the Gateway, all he needed now was a sliver of stardust to get him on his way. He gripped tightly to his staff as he worked the magic he was all so familiar with and held his breath. He willed for the stardust to come alive, to guide him on his way.
Then the flash of light came.
