and I'm here to remind you, what's lost is never gone

VIII

Dan walks Suzy to the nearest cafe and they enter and place their orders at the counter together, both of them more quiet now that they're in each other's company properly. Suzy still looks nervous and unsure of her actions to help Dan but she stays by him none the less, accepting her order of coffee and waiting for Dan to receive his tea before they make their way over to a free table.

When they sit down, they have another moment of silence between them, the air holding an almost awkward tension to it since in this world, Dan is simply a stranger to Suzy and not a close friend. It hurts him to know that although Suzy is with him here, it's the same situation with his other friends; although they're his friends, they're not his friends from his world. They're like clones or doppelgangers, the same but not, and knowing this only makes him feel all the more alone. Still, the Suzy of this world is just as kind and helpful as the one from his, and right now Dan feels that he can use a friendly face who doesn't know him well enough in this universe to judge his actions.

Suzy takes a sip of her coffee and gives an audible sigh of content. When she looks up towards Dan her eyes seem focused and she folds her hands on the table in front of her, her fingers interlocking with each other. He can tell that she means business and so he sits up straighter in his seat, turning more so that he's fully facing her and giving her his full attention.

"Okay Dan," she begins, although he interrupts her quickly to say, "Most people call me Danny."

A flicker of a smile graces her face and her eyebrow cocks in amusement. She corrects herself before continuing.

"Okay, Danny, I want to try and help you with whatever seems to be troubling you. First things first though, what exactly is troubling you?"

Dan hesitates for a moment before taking a sip of his tea. He averts his eyes from her as he replies, "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

She doesn't seem happy with his answer, he brow furrowing and lips turning into a pout. She runs her index finger around the rim of the coffee cup absentmindedly and responds, "Well I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. The truth can't be so unbelievable that I couldn't try to understand it."

He pauses at that, unsure of what to say. He obviously can't tell her the entire truth about the situation because he knows he would sound insane, but on the other hand if she's willing to help him, a complete stranger, than perhaps it would be best to reveal the truth. Not all of it, because he would still sound crazy and it would probably drive her away, but perhaps if he revealed some of the truth and twisted it slightly to be more understandable, then perhaps she would be able to help him better.

He mulls his answer over in his mind quickly, his fingers rubbing against the handle of his mug unconsciously while he thinks. Eventually he takes another sip of his drink, trying to buy himself more time, and settles on a half truth that may be more convincing than he's been transported from his reality to this one and in this place of existence, his friend doesn't exist at all. No, he settles for a lie that's as close to the truth as he can manage and when he looks up, Suzy is watching him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"I have this friend," he begins, fingers still playing with the handle of his tea cup as a way to distract himself, "who's gone missing. I need to find him and I think he's left me clues on how to do that, but I need to find all the clues first to find out how to get to him."

He looks away from her for a moment before continuing with, "I've already found one clue but I don't know how to find the next," he feels his lips twitch up into a sad smile and in this moment he can't help but feel both lost and hopeless. He just misses Arin and wants to go home, and before he realises it he admits, "Even if I find all of the clues, I'm not even sure if they'll lead me back to him. I'm not sure if they'll take me home."