Chapter Text
“Holy shit,” Jesper jumped at the sudden sound of thunder interrupting the conversation. A storm? The sky was cloudy, as usual in Ketterdam, but nothing foreshadowed even a hint of storm. The lightning bolt was sudden, the lack of rumbling after it – unusual. The silence that fell was overwhelming. The feeling in the air was strange. It felt like something changed, something shifted.
It felt like it wasn’t an ordinary lightning.
“It was red,” Wylan said slowly. “I’ve never heard of red lightning bolts before.”
“Are you sure you weren’t seeing things?” Nina looked at him, brows raised. Wylan firmly shook his head. He knew what he saw.
“I saw that too,” Inej said. Wylan smiled at her briefly, if Inej saw something and was certain about it, there wasn’t any reason to doubt anymore. Inej Ghafa never lied. Not to her friends, at least.
“So, what do we do?” Matthias asked and everyone looked at him. He asked calmly, seemed unbothered, as if he just assumed this was another thing for the Crows to check out. And, honestly, he wasn’t wrong. They all were itching to go outside all of a sudden. They all were itching to go check out what happened. Even Kaz, which was more than unusual for him.
“I suppose we should just wait? I mean, I don’t think that was normal,” said Wylan.
“Then wait, if you want.” Kaz’s voice was firm and a little raspy when he stood up and headed straight to the door. All five remaining Crows looked at each other and then, as if they were on signal, got up and followed Kaz outside.
The streets of Ketterdam seemed the same as always. No one but them seemed affected by the strange lightning. Wylan started to wonder, what if he really was seeing things? But Inej said she saw it too, and it was practically impossible for two people to have the same kind of hallucinations. But was there any logical explanation for what they saw, then?
But then, they saw them . Six people, seemingly confused, as if they didn’t know where they were. They seemed younger than the Crows, but eerily similar to them. Wylan felt his mouth opening up a little. He pinched himself and then Jesper, who gasped.
“What was that about?” he asked, rubbing on his skin.
“Look at them,” Wylan whispered back. Jesper did what he was asked for, and he cursed quietly under his breath, immediately understanding his boyfriend’s reaction.
A boy leaning on a cane with a crow's head on top.
Tiny Suli girl with a lot of knives tied to her body.
Huge Fjerdan with golden hair, holding hands with a girl with long brown hair.
Tall Zemeni boy, with two guns in the holsters on his hips, and a smaller boy with copper curls and freckled skin right next to him.
“Kaz?” Nina called out and Wylan’s eyes opened wide when the leader of the strange group also straightened his posture. Almost like that was his name as well. “Do you all see what I am seeing?”
“This is… strange,” Inej whispered, knife drawn in her dominant hand. The other Suli girl mimicked her movements and the similarity between them was overwhelming.
“This is surely some kind of a trick, but I haven’t figured it out yet,” said Kaz. He took a few steps towards the strange group, his cane making a clacking noise on the cobblestone. “So, who are you?” he asked, his blue eyes cold as ice.
“My name is Kaz Brekker,” the stranger with the cane also stepped forward. Jesper let out a loud, barking laugh.
“Yes, and I am the Fairy Queen of Istamere,” he scoffed. “If you ever want to pull this trick, maybe don’t try it in front of a real Kaz Brekker.”
“Jes, he talks just like you,” the ginger boy nudged his friend in the ribs and Wylan suddenly realized this was something he would say. He ignored Jesper, who was definitely trying to stop him, and took a step forward, his eyes running from his friends to those other people, making assumptions and connections. The logical thinker in Wylan had woken up and started to connect the dots. But he didn’t say anything, yet. He wasn’t sure if he was right. And, by all means, whatever was happening wasn't logical.
“Jes?” Jesper raised his eyebrow and the other Zemeni nodded, straightening his posture and smiling with pride. His fingers were drumming on his pistols, and it seemed almost like a subconscious thing.
“Jesper Fahey. At your service,” he said and this time it was Nina who burst into laughter. Jesper seemed to be too stunned to even speak.
“This has to be a sick joke,” she said and Wylan shook his head frantically. As strange as it sounded, he was pretty sure he knew what was happening. The answer was unfolding itself right before his eyes.
“Maybe it isn't,” he said. “Maybe it's not a trick and they aren't lying about their names.”
Jesper looked at him, snapping back to reality. He seemed concerned as he eyed his boyfriend head to toe.
“Wylan, love, did you hit your head?” he asked. Wylan shook his head once more, noticing that the curly-haired boy whipped his head up at the sound of the name. He was eyeing Wylan and his friends and his expression changed instantly into a look of understanding, very similar to the one on Wylan's face.
“No, I am fine. And I am pretty sure I know what is going on… as odd as it might sound,” Wylan said, looking at each of his friends. Each of his Crows.
“Care to enlighten us?” Kaz asked and Wylan nodded, shaking his hands a little.
“There is a theory about alternate universes. I know, I know, I sound insane right now, but listen. You're a Heartrender, right?” he looked at the girl from the other group. When she nodded, Wylan moved his gaze to her companion. “And you're a Drüskelle.”
“A former Drüskelle,” the blonde said with an annoyance in his voice and Wylan waved his hand dismissively.
“Whatever, you got my point. Anyway, according to this theory, there are several alternate versions of every universe.”
“The universes are almost the same, but with slight changes. You're another version of us,” said the ginger, who apparently was also Wylan. His blue eyes were sparkling and there was a certain hint of excitement in his voice that he didn’t even try to hide. “And this is another version of Ketterdam.”
“This is insane,” Matthias rolled his eyes. “This isn’t possible in any way.”
Wylan looked at him. To be honest, he quite understood where he came from. A few hours ago he would say the same thing. But he believed in the alternate universe theory. And now, the proof of its realness stood before them. But how did that happen, why were their counterparts suddenly in a universe that didn’t belong to them?
“The lightning bolt,” he suddenly heard his own voice. “I was right, it wasn’t normal.”
“We saw the lightning too,” said the Suli girl, who seemed to be the other Inej. “It was red, and when it hit, everything went dark for a second.”
“And you ended up here,” Jesper said slowly. “I can’t believe I say it, but I think Wylan might be right… both of them, actually,” he added after a while, eyes wandering from his Wylan, with those big brown eyes and messy hair, to the other one, with copper curls and freckles. They looked the most different from each other, but there was a sense of similarity between them, in the way they spoke, and in the way they moved.
Kaz, their Kaz, tapped his cane on the cobblestone twice and everyone looked at him. He was looking at his alleged counterpart, and there wasn’t a hint of emotion behind his eyes. And the younger Kaz didn’t seem intimidated by him at all, he returned the gaze with a small smirk playing on his lips.
“If we assume this fairytale is true,” Kaz said, looking at Wylan for a second, “we are not in a pleasant situation.”
“Oh, that’s for sure,” Nina said jokingly. “We have to deal with two Jespers for an indefinite time.”
Jesper gasped theatrically, placing his hand on his chest. “Rude!” he exclaimed in a mock offense. “It sounds just like a perfect amount of me.”
“I agree,” said the other Jesper. “There’s no such thing as too much Jesper.”
“That is up to debate,” Inej murmured. Wylan laughed quietly and in a sudden wave of courage, he decided to take the lead. He knew what they were dealing with and he felt like he could solve this odd riddle, with a little help of course. He stepped forward, stood next to Kaz, and smiled, his eyes trailing to the other version of him.
“May I?” he asked with a voice just a little bit louder than a whisper, and Kaz mumbled something about not touching this nonsense before nodding at him.
“I agree with Kaz that this is far from a pleasant situation,” Wylan said slowly. “Because this is not your Ketterdam. But it’s ours. So… I guess we need to team up and send you back where you belong.”
“And how are we supposed to achieve that?” the brown-haired girl asked; Wylan assumed it was the other version of Nina.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” his counterpart suddenly said. He seemed to be just as intrigued as Wylan with this whole situation. Which, honestly, was fair; despite the different looks, deep down they were the same person.
They smiled at each other. The rest of the Crows were rather cautious about their counterparts (on both sides), but Wylan and Wylan definitely liked each other. Probably because they both believed in the alternate universe explanation. Opposites attract, yes, but it seemed like similarities do too. He walked up to Wylan and offered his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said as they shook hands. “If I can say so to myself.”