Portals & Realms

Chapter 10 - Here We Are

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     Mae woke up much later than she had intended, but it didn't come as a surprise that it was nearly noon when she had first stirred out of her sleeping state. Her stomach growled like a lion as she grumbled and sat up in the messy bottom bunk she had slept in and grabbed her glasses from beside the bed. Her new pjs that she had changed into were slightly wrinkled, but nothing happened to them that could've destroyed them entirely. She climbed out of her little bed and took the last remaining outfit that was hung up on the room's dresser. The outfit contained a short sleeved button-up shirt, a tightly fit jacket, some knee-length pants that had golden swirls over them that mimicked the jacket, and a pair of close-toed sandals to finish off the look. She quickly changing, putting the dirty pajama wear on top of the dresser as to keep it out of sight.
     Her stomach grumbled again as she yawned tiredly, stretching her arms as she pushed open the slightly closed door with her side. As she opened her eyes, she saw a familiar figure walking down another hallway. Mae moved in a hurried manner to follow the figure from a distance, their stance seemed to shift as soon as she began following. The person turned around to look and see who was possibly following them, but saw no one. Mae took in a deep breath as she heard them continue their route, her heart beat going back to a normal pace. As she peaked back from her corner, she froze and saw the figure right in front of her with an annoyed look. She kept her eyes to the floor as the figure just stood there, looking at her.
     "Where you trying to follow me?" Julian asked and gave her a glare.
     "Maybe...."
     "Look at me when you say it," he put a hand under Mae's chin carefully and tilted her head, and her gaze, up. He wasn't wearing his eyepatch at that moment and time, so his plague-infected red eye was showing as clear as daylight.
     "Yeah... look I'm confused. You are confused, can't we just be confused... together?" She asked and didn't make an effort to move away from him as her gaze kept returning to his red eye. I worded that wrong. Oh boy.
     "I don't know, because the Mae I was together with isn't real."
     "Oh for the last goddamn time, that Mae was a part of me, and I'm part of her. I remember everything, the only thing screwed up is my emotions right now! I told you that I'm going to try and find out the truth about this other Mae!"
     "Are we sure that's the only thing screwed up? Your arrival here took away the person I trusted the most out of anyone, and now look where you five are. Or should I say, where you three are?"
     "You leave my friends out of this whole argument Jules or I swear I will kick that attitude into its grave," Mae threatened, finally taking a step back and away from him. "I know I'm screwed up right now, and I know that now...everyone's emotions are completely different and their all evolving to cope with all of this information but I just...want to make things right. I don't want to be alone anymore."
     "Mae wasn't alone, she had me," Julian mocked and turned around, taking his leave. "But you are alone, because now I'm alone too."
     Mae watched in silence as he walked away and down another corridor into nowhere. She felt her emotions already boiling as she wanted to run after him, yet run away. She looked at her wrapped up arm that was showing since the jacket was wrapped around her waist, and began tearing at the bandage. As she did in the middle of that hallway, she began feeling as if eyes were watching her and hoping she would collapse. "It's too early, I don't have time for any of this," she said to herself and ripped off the final piece of the bandage with a mighty RIPPP and tossed it all onto the floor in a corner as if that inanimate object resembled her emotions. The deep scab had covered the majority of the wound and it didn't look as infected as before, but it still hurt slightly. She walked back the way she had come from originally and put on the jacket to hide her exposed arms.
     She walked in silence a moment longer before she entered a completely deserted kitchen area, no one seemed to even be in there. There was still some food left out, though it was only a small amount, and it seemed just the right size to fill Mae's stomach. She sat down in the lonely room and was glad, her worried, about having another evaluation period. Just her and her meal.
Did Perri successfully reach Dante, or did I not give her enough of my magic to somehow connect to him? That was something Mae did not yet know, for Perri was...well, not right in reach at the moment. Did Ramille succeed on her second attempt all by herself? Did I EVEN give any magic to a Perri? Did she get there on her own then if mine didn't work? Mae went to her first thought, which was a no, for Ramille said she still couldn't feel any kind of magic in her, but then again, she didn't feel much either. The only real "magic" she had felt was the strong shock when she got possessed by... something, and also the string of connections she might have with other people. Along with the brief encounter with Asra's cards, which he hadn't pulled out since.
     As she ate the freshly made toast, eggs and bacon, her mind began to doze off as she imagined herself back at home before all of this. She had been doing fine, working her job, talking with friends and focusing on getting the career she was working towards. Plus, she was aiming to settle for some money making hobbies on the side, like steaming. But now she didn't know if she would be able to even go back to anything remotely similar to the life she wanted and had before. The first day she had confidence, but now she had zero clue if anything was possible.
     "Oh, you're awake," Nadia opened the door and walked in, which startled Mae at the sudden socialization. "How's the food settling?"
     "It's doing good for now, I don't think I'm going to get sick again," Mae gave a weak smile as Nadia sat down beside her and looked at her with a satisfied expression, but it also looked worried.
     "Look, I hope you don't mind doing me a favor real quick Mae, just a small one. I know you need to get home, but it'll only t-"
     "I don't mind, I kinda want to get out of the castle for a while to get some fresh air as well. Maybe discover the solutions to all of life's solutions and crisis right now."
     Nadia didn't seem to notice that she was talking about her consistent arguing with Julian, and sighed. "I just need you to run into town and grab a few ingredients for Asra to see if he can help you connect to your friends. I'll let you take one of the horses in the stables if you want, it will be faster that way."
     Mae nodded and ate the last bite of her food that she could stomach at the time. There was one more egg on the plate, but she knew that if she ate it, there was a possibility of sickness. "That sounds great actually, I wouldn't mind that." Mae picked up the small glass of water in front of her and took a sip.
    "Oh, and would you mind taking Julian with you?"
Mae gagged on her water and nearly spat it out like Violet had down in Incredibles 2. She coughed after swallowing it and looked at Nadia with an alarmed expression. So she did get the hint.
     "Listen, you two need to adjust the most I think, but I am hoping this would work for Julian's sake. I heard the whole argument from the garden below the corridor, and Perri explained to me what she had heard from Portia about you two meeting each other after the sudden portal hop. I know a sad man when I see one, and I'm sure you do too," Nadia explained, the memories of the count and the countess's consistent arguing and horrible relationship flashed through both of the women's minds. This time however. Nadia seemed worried about the relationship breaking. Does she really care? Does she hope that somehow, someway, both of us don't turn out like they had? I'm not even sure if I like him that way. It's so different seeing him in 3D than through a screen.
     "I don't want to talk to him right now," Mae answered back plainly, drinking the rest of her water in one fell swoop as to be sure there were no more moments where she could've spat out water.
     "Then you both could go in silence. Besides, anything is better than nothing," Nadia said and stood up after the short talk and gave Mae a hand, helping her up as well. She lead Mae out of the door and down a corridor she hadn't gone past in a long while, in fact, it seemed nearly recognizable. As Nadia opened the door to the open air, Mae took in a deep breath and felt as if everything that had happened that morning was washed away by the sunlight.
     As Nadia turned the corner outside of the palace, she pointed out the stables right before them and in the garden. "See them? Those are the royal steeds that I had gotten a while ago when Vesuvia was at its most prosperous phase. They all lived through the plague as well."
     "That's wonderful," Mae said, trying to lace some enthusiasm into her voice as Nadia walked up to one of the stables and began to pet the stallion she and Perri had rode on when chasing Mae around the main part of town. The horse neighed with what seemed to be joy and let Nadia stroke its snout as another large horse poked its head out. There seemed to be some hair covering its eyes, but it looked at the two visitors as if he could see through his hair...which he might be able to. Mae went over to the Clydesdale as it sniffed her hair curiously, its large head seemed to dwarf her own.
     "This one," She said and stroked its snout as well and began to pet its overlapping hair, obviously avoiding the action of moving it out of its face. "I'll ride this one."
     "Oh Kigu? He hasn't been on a ride in a while, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping you around. I found him a month or two ago with a collar on his neck like he was a dog! How silly of him," Nadia said and observed Mae's actions. The brown, orange and dark grey horse neighed softly as Mae ruffled his messy hair even more. Nadia grabbed a blue saddle, some reins, and some riding boots from the side of the stables and walked back to Mae, putting all the items that needed to go onto her and onto Kigu on the ground. "I'll go grab Julian while you do this," she said and walked away, leaving Mae and Kigu alone.
This is not happening. This cannot be happening. "Look... Kigu, I would recognize that color scheme and stature anywhere. I know you're not a normal horse. You're not from here."
     "Yeah no duh," the horse neighed back in some foreign language that Mae could somehow understand, though it only sounded like normal horse noises. She didn't even seem shocked that she could understand it. This was not the weirdest thing she could experience. From possession to demons to weird people guiding her? Yeah this was a walk in the park.
     "So how on God's green Earth did you get here?"
     "What I must ask is how do you know where I am from?"
"Uh... magic?"
The horse snorted, "of course. I've seen too much of it..." the mudsdale stomped its front left hoof and looked at Mae as she was leaning against the wall of the stable. "My trainer released me for the night, let me go wandering around the woods to get fresh air when suddenly I found a ball of light flickering. I touched it and bam, I woke up here."
     "They released you?" Mae asked if shocked.
     "Well yes and no...he wanted me to go around independently for a while before I came back home and depended on him once again. He wanted me to learn how to properly defend myself in case no one else was there. I got a little lost and.... and well... now I am here."
     "How long have you been here?"
     "A month or so possibly...time passes so much slower here than in Alola it seems. Maybe a month... yes a month in this time...but at least a year in Alola's time." Kigu sighed as Mae opened up the gate to his stable and walked in beside him, holding the saddle in her hands.
     "I know you don't need any reins, so I'll just put this on you," Mae said and stood on a small step stool and swung the saddle over his smooth back. "Ok so maybe someone else is also going to hitch a ride as well." Great, so that means that not only is Vesuvia real, along with wherever Elvadoer and Dante might have gone, that means that a pokemon world exists. I'm sensing a pattern.
     "Two people is no problem. I used to lug around really heavy equipment for building, didn't you know?"
    "I assumed that was the case." Mae strapped on the bottom of the saddle, the last little touch to make it secure was in place. Mae put a foot in the stirrup and lugged herself over and onto the saddle in a secure position, but even though she did all this which could've tipped him off balance, he didn't even flinch.
     "Wow, look at that endurance you somehow achieved!" Mae teased as he shook his head. At this point, she wasn't even surprised someone from a different realm somehow had gotten here. All she had to ask was who's next?
     Kigu didn't reply as he walked out of the stable he had been assigned and stopped in front of an unfamiliar figure. Well, unfamiliar to him at least. The figure was in new clothing that looked like a casual outfit that Asra would wear, but it was obviously tailored for someone else.
     Mae didn't speak a word as Julian walked beside Kigu and swung himself up and onto the far side of the saddle, leaving no space between him and Mae. Mae felt some heat rise to her cheeks, but didn't pay attention. "You know where to go, right Kigu?"
     "Yep, I've explored by myself a bit in my own time here," he responded in neighs, which were only decipherable by Mae. She put her hand on his fluffy hair and gripped it like it was a rein. Kigu reeled backwards, which startled Julian into grabbing Mae's shoulder, and took off into a medium paced gallop down the garden and towards the main gates of the palace. The gates had since been painted a blue and a new coat of yellow to keep its shine, but to also add a new level of flare to the decor. The two guards standing beside the gate nodded at Mae and pulled a lever, which resulted in them swinging open and out towards the greeting place were Mae and Dante had first laid their eyes on Vesuvia. Kigu went back to his normal trot after passing the last of the palace walls and rode through the barren streets.
    "Ok so first we need to buy some myrrh and fruitflower for the first phase of the potion that Asra is making, since he gave Nadia the list that she gave me, and then we need to get cobra to finish it off completely," she said to herself and Kigu, not directing her speech to Julian. Kigu slowed to a slow walk as they went to the main part of the city, which was littered with people on the sides of the street, and to Mae's surprise, most people were getting out of their way. Was it because she was once the magicians apprentice? Because she knew Nadia? Because she was riding a "royal" horse?
     As they began reaching the selection of stands they needed to make their purchases from, Mae pulled Kigu over to the side and jumped down, landing perfectly on her two feet. When Julian made no effort to move down and off of the horse, she simply shrugged and motioned Kigu to follow her, which he did like a good boy. Mae walked up to the first stand, which was selling both Myrrh and another ingredient, Gardendroller, which was highly poisonous to some people with certain sensitivities.
     "Hey there, I'd like to buy a pouch of myrrh and a handful of some gardendroller please," Mae said and began to dig in her jacket pocket, which held some money Nadia must've snuck into there. Thank god she had a bigger brain than me. I forgot to ask for money.
     The salesman nodded and put on gloves which collected the myrrh and gardendroller from its place. He placed the myrrh in a separate pouch while the gardendroller was then placed in a much more sturdy material, seeming that he was taking extra precautions to make sure no one was infected by handling it. Mae handed him the few coins in cost and placed the small bags in her other jacket pocket.
     After acquiring the last few ingredients needed for the potion, Mae remounted Kigu in front of Julian. However, she had a different idea at the time, and hopefully one that would lighten the mood between the two riders and one that would bring back some pretty heartfelt memories. She hoped that this would at least quit their arguing for as long as possible. If this meant he would at least speak to her, it would be a step in the right direction. She just wanted to heal his mind, not torment his heart.
     "Aren't we supposed to go back to the castle?" Kigu neighed as Mae began to steer him a different way down the winding streets.
     Julian was also curious on why they were going away from the stands that they needed to look at. He tapped Mae's right shoulder and turned around back towards where they needed to go. Oh, we are playing the silent game now aren't we Mr. Plague Man?
     Mae just shrugged and continued steering Kigu along the lesser crowded streets and into the lower part of town she originally wanted to go into to look for Julian. That's when I met Elvadoer... she thought to herself quietly and looked around at the newer crowds. Their energy wasn't "let me grab some things and go home" like the shoppers and the merchants in the upper part of town. No, their energy revolves around "let me grab some things in an illegal manner and go home".
     There weren't many people walking along the streets, the houses or even on any other creature. No, Mae, Kigu and Julian were all one of a kind right now. As she went along the path she was currently attempting to paint in her head, she hummed aloud a familiar tune to herself that she had playing in her head, "The End Of Times". As the roads got darker and the builders got more rickety and old, the more she began to fear her safety. This is worth it. Don't blow it now.
     She sighed in relief as she saw the familiar tent-like building from the corner of the street and got off of Kigu abruptly and steered him through the now populated streets. He growled something to Mae as she guided him to their destination, and laid down quicker than a normal horse most likely should've. Julian hopped off when Kigu quit moving and stood beside Mae, giving her a look.
     Mae wasn't sure if she should talk yet and went with her instinct to stay quiet as she opened the door to the area that would bring back memories that seemed so far away. The first part of the area has coats on hangers, boots against the walls, and other random items scattered about that seemed to be of no real value. Julian looked at the walls as if he was suddenly put into an entirely new environment, which he technically was, because he was in this environment with a different Mae.
     She reached up on her tiptoes and yanked the black and grey lined plague mask from the wall hook and felt tears hit her eyes. She flipped it around in her hands and looked at Julian, who was also looking at her with the same look of remembrance. Mae slipped it on and over her head and glasses, hooking it on in the back with the small loop in the back. After making sure it was on all the way, she looked back up to Julian who seemed lost in thought. No... he's lost in his memories. Mae thought and stepped closer to him by what felt like only an inch. He looked back down at her and sighed, grabbing a notepad from his brown and red coat pocket and began scribbling something down on it.
     After what felt like a long moment, he handed her the small notepad, which had his signature terrible penmanship. If you want a visual, imagine a bird holding a pencil and forced to write the Declaration of Independence. It was that kind of handwriting, but maybe slightly better. On it read a few words. You look good in the mask. Mae smiled from underneath it and took the pen and the paper and wrote down thanks, do you want to wear it? Would that make you feel better? As he read the note, he nodded to her and held out a large hand for the mask. Mae unclipped the mask and instead of putting it in his hand, she stepped up on a step stool next to the counter and began trying to put it on him herself. She clipped the back on as the beak kept on getting in the way of her hand and his red fluffy hair kept on taking up her sight, but honestly, Mae could care less.
     She stepped down and looked at him as her chuckled from beneath the mask. Please talk.. please talk to me..
     "You know, Mae and I never figured out how on Earth you could kiss with these on," Julian laughed and crossed his arms, the mood brightened instantly with his voice. Mae let out a nervous sigh she had been keeping in and smiled back, happy with the progress made with this operation.
     "I-I'm sorry for everything basically...mostly for taking away your Mae, though... I don't know how or why any Mae would've been here before me."
Yes you do.
     Mae let out a small yelp of fear and stepped back from Julian as the staticky voice spoke in her head. Julian looked at her worriedly, but made no move towards her. Ok not funny "strange voice in my head", not funny.
     "Mae? Are you ok?" Julian asked as he unclipped the mask from his face and shoved it into his coat, which wasn't really working out in his favor. She simply nodded and headed for the door and towards Kigu.
You are going to be forever alone Mae. I'm your only friend Mae.
     "Yes I'm fine, I just...got scared. I thought I heard a voice, but it was nothing," Mae brushed it off as she gently woke up Kigu, who had fallen asleep against the brick wall he had laid near. He woke up quickly and looked at Mae.
     "You're not fine," Julian stopped her and put his hand against the side of her neck to check her pulse, which made Mae scream and swat his hand away quicker than she even realized she could. Julian looked at his gloved hand and then back to her as she had a hand to her heart and was trying to steady her heartbeat. "I'm sorry I forgot you-"
     "I-Its ok," she said, her voice shaky as she took in a deep breath and put a hand out for Julian to check her pulse the other normal way. "It's slowed down now if that was what you wanted to check."
     He took her hand and did as suggested and checked her pulse through her veins in her wrist, and sighed. "It is slower, but you were so shocked from...something and me trying to check your pulse on your throat. Why were you shocked when I tried?"
      "I just don't like being touched around that area. I am both ticklish and.. it's a long story." Mae blatantly lied to his face and remounted Kigu with some struggle, but she managed. Julian hopped on right after her and put a hand on her shoulder as they went back to the castle. They both had some explaining to do and that's what made Mae scared the most.