Chapter Text
I found an electric fly swatter on Amazon last week.
I had only two thoughts: That it seemed like it was overkill to have something that smashes and electrocutes, and that I needed it. It came to the door today and I then just laid on my bed staring up at the weapon. I gave it a little swing every few minutes, pretending to be swatting at millions of ghost flies. I couldn't believe that this was my life now. I turned my head to look at my Apple watch. I don't know what I would even be looking for, none of my friends have texted me in the last two days. Social media was the same, TV was the same, everything was the same it felt except me. I was back in the same room I grew up in at my parents house. The same dusty lavender walls surrounded me, but I was smart enough to remove the grunge band posters before I left to college. Even if I was leaving the nest, I didn't have to let my parents be reminded of their daughter's rebellious stage. I also didn't want to be reminded of my old high school crushes. I was an adult now! I had moved on to art and nicer band posters
I sighed as I dropped the fly swatter hand. There was a rattling noise on the far side of my room and I lifted my red haired head up. Tux our family's fat black and white cat was playing with a plate I left on my dresser.
"Tuxie, no," I said a bit too loud in the quiet house. No one was home anyway (which contributed to my boredom). Parents were off at work and my brother Jason had an early shift at Walmart today. The cat slowly lifted his head to me giving me "the far off look". The dopey cat always had a habit of staring at things - walls, ceilings, bed posts, the great abyss of the basement. We're pretty sure that he can see dead things, so maybe there were a bunch of ghost flies flying around me. That was enough though for me to get out of bed and get motivated.
I went downstairs into the basement rec room. Old green carpet from the 80s, the best old couch, and a big TV that dad could find to watch football on. I had brought the fly swatter weapon, a peanut butter sandwich, and the deep passionate feeling of nostalgia. I pulled out an old box with our old Playstation games, spent thirteen minutes hooking the entire system up, and then booted up my old Final Fantasy 7 game. I had found it the other week and unapologetically spent the last 7 days binging the entire content of the series all over again.
"This is my life now," I sighed pressing "continue".
I could almost quote the series and the full story. It was so nostalgic and the perfect long game to keep me busy from the lack of things going on. Tux joined me at some point and I paused long enough to help Mom with groceries and dinner. But soon enough, I was just spending my entire evening, dressed in my pajamas, a robe, and mismatched socks playing through my favorite story of my childhood. When I noticed that it was already 2 AM, I knew I was going to be too lazy to walk up two flights of stairs back to my room. So, I curled up on the old couch full of years of memories and fell asleep.
===
I woke the next morning to my phone alarm going off. Eyes pinched shut, I felt around for the pesky phone to snooze the living daylights out of the thing. I may have wanted to start getting up before nine, but sorry Lizzie, you're not going to get your wish this day. I grunted as I tried to feel around the coffee table, but I wasn't finding it. Also I was confused on the texture of the table. It was shorter, as my hand kept slipping off the edge, but the table was glass, not wood. I slowly opened my eyes, being greeted with pesky morning light trying to destroy my vision. Through the morning haze and alarm beeping, I immediately noticed the lack of a TV. Actually, I noticed the lack of anything that was the basement. No old wood and green carpet. All the cabinets full of videos and games, the glass coffee table with plates, Tux... everything was gone.
I bolted up. I was in a bed and wearing a set of plain pajamas that I had never seen before. I could feel my blood pumping in my ears as I looked around in panic. A normal person would probably think of this as a dream and fall back to sleep. Or maybe they'd get out of bed and look around the strange room they found themselves in. I wasn't normal and definitely not in the mood to do either of those two things. I found myself screaming in pure panic and fear. I panicked trying to escape the plain covers that were trapping me in the bed. The panic though was not helping any sort of logic.
I then heard banging on the door opposite of the room. The beeping still continued through the sounds making a strange rhythm, "Cissnei?!"
I had no idea who that was.
I was still screaming and the door opened. Two women I had never seen before came barging into the room with panic on their faces. One had dark olive skin and the other with long blonde hair. The blonde woman tried to help me escape the clutches of the bed sheet while dark skinned woman was trying to take my flailing hands. I almost wished that I had the fly swatter. My precious weapon was gone along with everything else!
"Cissnei! It's Naomi!" I had no idea who any of those names were. I was suddenly free from my bed sheet and felt myself falling. The women both failed to catch me as I found myself hitting my head on the bed's night stand. In one solid "fump" I found myself laying on the floor. My moan echoed all around me which startled me. I looked up and saw an emptiness of what looked like space all around me. This time, I slowly pushed my body up and back onto my knees. I wasn't wearing the plain pajamas this time... actually, I was wearing the same exact thing from yesterday. Robe, pants, mismatched socks. I grunted and shook my head trying to figure out what was going on.
"There you are!" A voice then echoed from my left. I looked over there, but didn't see anything different than the endless purples and blacks of a galaxy. I had no idea how I was laying on something solid with such a strange background.
"Huh?"
"I do apologize for my tardiness, I was hoping to get to you before you woke up."
The voice sounded male and came from my right this time. Again, no one was there. I was now looking around like a mad-woman trying to figure out where this voice was coming from.
"In case you are wondering, no you are not dreaming."
"I kind of figured that from the headache," I said now standing up and looking behind me, "I'd like to know what's going on."
"Well, you're in what I call a "Between", kind of like a hallway between the worlds."
Worlds? Looking around was useless now, the voice continued to echo around and I was going to not find out where this guy was.
"Let me tell you, it's so hard to find such strong connections between worlds. I'm pretty lucky to have found you."
"Yeah, can we have a conversation that's not like I'm in a fishbowl? Is there like an... office that this hallway is connected to?"
"Oh! I do apologize! Let me fix that-"
I didn't have time to react. It was as if I was caught in a wave pool at a water park. A current of wind and power pushed me from wherever I was standing in the middle of space down a current of me tumbling and flailing. I felt as if I was drowning in the current of power, but just as quickly as it happened, I was shot into a chair. The chair toppled to one side almost dropping me to the floor, but gravity came back to me and I stumbled back. Rocking a little bit I stared ahead of me with a crazed look to a man sitting behind a small table. My senses came back to me and I noticed that we were sitting across from each other in some sort of cafe. The windows looking out still showed the purple and blues of space, but inside it was like a normal shop full of people. At least... I think they were people.
"Sorry about that. I keep forgetting what it feels like for a recruit to go through the Between," he smiled at her. His hair and closely trimmed beard were like too perfect. The man was wearing a navy blue suit of sorts with a logo I couldn't recognize. In a normal world, he probably would be a stock broker, or a gangster. His accent though was throwing me off. He gave a laugh, "you look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Have I? Where am I?"
"Well, right now you're in a fragment of space pulled from other nearby worlds. Your office as you asked."
"Okay... so what's going on? What was all of that? Why am I here?"
He gave a chuckle which ticked me off. He caught the ticked off face and he cleared his throat, "sorry. Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Darren. A protector of the worlds of sorts."
"Like Doctor Who, or Doctor Strange?"
"I assure you that I am not a doctor. I'm more of a hero though."
I stared at him trying to analyze the situation. I wasn't getting any weird vibes or anything from this beautiful man. He just seemed a bit odd. Granted, maybe I was the odd one? He looked up after tapping his fingers on the table.
"I travel through The Between patching up holes in realities and stopping monsters called "Irks" from entering worlds."
"Was that where I was? Another world?" He nodded and I leaned back in my chair cautiously with my hands up, "I don't mean any harm, if you just let me go home I promise I won't tell anyone anything."
Not like they'd believe me or anything. He shook his head trying to be assuring, "oh no, you see, I was the one who put you there. Well... I was more so aiming for that cat of yours. I look for beings that have more of a connection to the world of the Between. Animals are normally such good sports. Natural hunters for the things I fight. He just moved the last moment when I was making the connection, so you're here instead!"
I stared at him more dumbfounded now. My cat... with his far off look and dopiness was going to be spirited away to some strange world?
"Don't worry though! It shouldn't take that long. Not much time will pass in your world anyway. All I need is for someone to go into this world and get rid of the Irk that got in. The body double of yours that I was able to connect you to should be plenty strong enough to fight them."
I still stared at him. What now about a body double? He hung his head and sighed. It seemed like I needed a six week course of understanding all that this man does. I dropped out of college, I didn't need another course. He tapped the table again, and I sensed that he was getting a little impatient. He was probably trying to get back to work. The thought disheartened me a little. Just like so many other companies who didn't bother to get back to me. He then snapped his fingers and leaned over. I noticed a bag that matched his suit on the ground. He rustled around in it and pulled out a book of information. He brushed off the cover and then handed the book to me.
"This is a book that my people use. It's kind of like an iPad but it's got a good magic component where we still have access to it no matter what forms we take in worlds. Just think about this book and it will appear in your hands."
"Okay...? Wait, I never agreed that I would do this! I don't even know what this "Irk" thing looks like!"
"The book will have all the information you need."
"Why do I feel like if I was my cat, you'd probably explain things longer?"
"Quite the difference. Animals are pretty one minded. I tell them to get prey, and they get it. Humans need to know the details..." he waved his hand and I frowned.
"Fine. I'll read it."
"Good! Once you're done, you can go back home!" He looked happy and chipper again. This sense of him trying to rush things was ever prevalent.
"How do I-"
The current rush once again came over me as I screamed being pushed through what I guess was time and space. I flailed and fell with the current into darkness.
"She's waking up!" a woman's voice said. I heard bare feet running across the floor and then hands on my shoulder, "Cissnei?"
I slowly opened my eyes, greeted with the lovely headache once again. I slowly rose up and I found the same women from earlier. They both were frightened and staring at me. I looked around at the unfamiliar place. Everything was so plain. Was this intentional or just how the world was? I realized that the women were waiting for some kind of response and I felt a shy smile and playing dumb was maybe a good response. I apologized, giving some sort of comment about a really bad dream. The women seemed to sigh in unison.
"Don't do that to us again!" The blonde growled.
"Do we need to call Tseng back? He was trying to reach you on your phone."
I shook my head, trying to look tired and sorry. It wasn't that hard to do in the moment though, "Oh, no it's okay. I just need to wake up and I'll call him back."
They nodded, believing my lie and both thankfully decided to leave the room. Not before telling me to be careful. I didn't stop smiling until they closed the door. I carefully looked around the room again and walked over to the window. I opened the curtains and looked out to the strangest yet nostalgic sight ever. A city that looked too current to be steampunk, but too old to be from my world. A 90s view of a future on a strange world would be. I knew this look far too well from my nostalgia binge.
Somehow... in some way I don't know how... I was in Midgar.