Chapter Text
Vyomi Interitus carried many regrets. Safe to say, she had her hands full of them, never being able to choose a specific instance of it without having to bring up a dozen others to give context and back it up. Those major ones, the true skeletons in her closet, she tried to hide to the best of her abilities, as sometimes these regrets never lined up with the other views of the people around her. Why would she regret treating someone horribly that her father thought to be a simple lab rat?
Yes, that probably had been her biggest regret: messing with lives that might not be as significant as her own, but still lives nonetheless. If only she managed to get out from under The Admin’s thumb sooner, maybe things would’ve been different for those she gave torturous existences to. Maybe nothing bad would’ve happened to them all.
These ruminations, however, should have never gone as far as this. Fixing the past had always been and would always be impossible. What was the point of fixing something when countless other timelines suffered the same scars? What was the point when others had the story that she wished she had given instead?
So what was the point of her staring up at the ceiling of an all too familiar bedroom inside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?
Vyomi instantly sat upright in the bed, somehow beneath an incredible weight of blankets. Dazed, she swept a weary glance around the room, heart beginning to pound loudly in her clouded ears. This didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. It felt so surreal sitting in the bed of a place she abandoned almost a full century ago. Surely this was just her regrets giving her an incredibly hyperrealistic dream.
Wait out the dream, that would be fine and dandy. When she woke up for good, then Vyomi would have a freaky experience to share with Ayumu. On second thought, maybe this experience actually was the dream-controlling idiot deciding to play a prank on her.
“Har har,” she said to the empty expanse of the room half-heartedly, a piece of her aware that no free-spirited ghost listened in. “Very funny, Ayu.”
As expected, and much to her dismay, silence greeted Vyomi’s ears. The part of her still deep-rooted in denial suggested that moon pretended not to hear her.
Wishful thinking quickly fled her mind as she swung her legs out of her bed, as she paused and stared. These were not her legs- at least- not for a long time. These belonged to Hu Tao, the funeral parlor director and the person she impersonated all those years ago. Where were her legs?
Vyomi held out an arm and her blood chilled. This wasn’t her arm either. The rings and gems around her fingers and wrist weren’t part of her fashion style at all. Confusion with a hint of panic, sending her heart to the fritz, caused her to finally hop out of bed and charge full kilter to the mirror propped against the wall. It felt as if pure muscle memory drove her to the spot where it rested.
She couldn’t even comprehend what stared back at her before she already knew that the person she’d seen wouldn’t be her. No, those eyes, so bright and wide, they didn’t belong to her. The hair felt uncanny in appearance. The clothes felt constricting and felt as much. Every last inch, from the hat on her head to the tips of her shoes, was all Hu Tao.
She didn’t even begin to question why she had been fully clothed in bed. Too many questions flashed within her head instead, taking over her mind like a wildfire of panic. This couldn’t be real.
The Hu Tao in the mirror reached up and pinched herself as Vyomi confirmed it wasn’t a dream. It hurt like crazy instead.
Forcing herself to close her eyes and turn away from the offending image in front of her, Vyomi gave a steadying exhale in an attempt to put out the blaze in her mind. She couldn’t give hope up just yet, this still could be a prank of sorts, a mean-spirited one at that, but still a prank.
Maybe… wait. An idea shot through her mind like a canon ignition and she slapped her pockets. Patting herself down, she finally caught a hard surface just on the side of her hip. Her fingers scrambled against the fabric before she pulled her phone out. Though it looked… different.
No matter, she still had to try. She quickly opened it up to the keypad and typed in the fist number to come to mind, the number of her father. He always had been good about answering his phone, and usually in dreams, he’d pick up with some nonsensical babble of words that would only make sense to her own sleepy mind.
Though the phone didn’t ring this time, only the receiver on the other end asking for a passcode instead. That never happened. Vyomi’s heart sank more, anxiety beginning to claw at her mind again as she recalled what this meant. Curiosity got the better of her once before and she quickly searched for the phone’s number.
After a few frantic taps, her father’s own number stared up at her. No wonder this phone didn’t look like her current one. She had given this to him… ages ago and he picked up the number she previously had.
Maybe she had to believe this wasn’t a dream. But she couldn’t accept that, just couldn’t. Again, another number jumped into her mind and she hastily dialed it though not without begging and pleading under her voice for it to work. If this went through, then she hoped with all her heart that the other end would explode in laughter.
It rang once. It worked! Vyomi’s heart shot into her chest as she pressed the phone against her ear. It rang again.
“Thanks for calling Wendy’s, how may I take your order?”
Vyomi never thought she’d be happier to hear that voice, even when moon’s famous prank opening met her ears.
“You big jerk!” she shot into the phone, even failing to fight the smile amidst her annoyance, “You really thought that you could get away with sending me here?!”
Silence met her on the other end before a laugh sounded. It didn’t sound like glee, it felt something akin to nervousness.
“Ma’am we don’t serve that here, but who tf are you? What did I do? Maybe you got the wrong number lmao sucks to be you.”
This had to be moon pulling her leg. But that paired with the painful pinch and her having her father’s phone, Vyomi felt her legs lose shape. She wobbled over to the bed before sitting down on it, feeling her throat burn from the panicked fire in her mind.
“Are you sure you’re not messing with me?” she asked again.
“Bro, how can I? I literally don’t know you.”
“Fine.” Vyomi felt her throat constrict more. “I really must have the wrong number but uh--”
She paused, swallowing a lump. Hearing such a familiar voice felt so comforting right now in this flood of stress and confusion. Even if Ayumu didn’t know her, hearing moon’s voice still helped, but hurt all the same. Why couldn’t the real one actually be there for her?
“--Care to be in touch?” she added hopefully at the end.
“I dunno,” Ayumu sounded resigned, “Sure though idk but I can’t talk for hours on the Wendy’s phone.”
That sounded as confirmation enough for Vyomi. She finally ended the conversation, thanking the phone and the recipient on the other end before hanging out. With that one click of a button, the entirety of the situation began to crumble and fall around her. Her own little tower of hopes and now delusions began to lose its base and stability.
This wasn’t a dream. It truly really wasn’t a dream.
Now what should she do? Just accept that all was fine and dandy? No, she didn’t want to be alone here. Ayumu had no idea who she was, she and her father never met, what about the others? Femi, Papa and Pops, Acer? Where were they? If this wasn’t a dream and she was in the time where she thought she was…
An unwilling life broke free from her as a bark, making her nearly double over and putting her elbows on her knees. This really couldn’t be real. There was no way she had traveled back in time. That kind of assumption would be impossible! Even when she knew about the presence of alternate universes and all the like traveling back in time simply didn’t work.
So why? Why was she here? It didn’t make any sense.
What felt like hours passed as she sat hunched over her knees, staring unseeingly at the ground. Slowly but surely, the dawning acceptance of her situation slowly settled over her shoulders, making chances for denial grow thinner and thinner. This wasn’t something she could laugh off. She now found herself in a world she left behind as someone she never wanted to be again, cut off from everyone she knew and loved. Not even Femi was here to give comfort.
No, Vyomi had to stop wallowing in her own putty and instead had to start figuring out how she needed to get out of this mess. There would surely be a way home, and all she had to do was find it and use it. Already a dull ache began to fester in her chest as she finally stood up. She’d see everyone again.
By the way… what date was it again?
Vyomi’s eyebrows knitted together as she took a sweeping glance around the room. She had no idea why the thought had occurred to her, it felt as some gentle push of an invisible hand behind her that caused her mind to wander as much as her body did. All the same, it felt warm, inviting, and most importantly, guiding. Whether it be her gut instinct or whatever placed her here, she had no second thoughts but to heed it.
One glance at the calendar told her everything she needed to know. Staring at it for a second much longer than she wished, memories long since buried began to resurface in her mind. They scattered away all previous thoughts, painting a vivid picture as if she had only seen the long since passed events yesterday:
A view from a hill, staring down at a beach with a tortured soul and a fake shaking hands over a deal that would crumble nations and drive them to horrific mental drains. The smug look of the fraudulent Harbinger and the reserved but confident stare of the future exiled alchemist.
The time…? She glanced at the two-handed clock beside the pages of dates. Just enough time to see the event for herself.
She didn’t even need to feel the gentle push of that hand behind her to tell her that she needed to go there. For something, surely. Every instinct told her that she needed to be there and rescue Albedo from such an agreement, helping them walk down a much better path.
That sounded right to her. So right that something other than her mind flooded through her thoughts, approving of such actions. It felt releasing, it lifted her heart higher than she ever thought possible when thinking of the past. Maybe she could do something about Albedo here. If this was the past, then she could be better…
Uncaring of the state of her new world around her, Vyomi dawned on her biggest smile and made her way for the beach as soon as she could. Things would be okay again.