Chapter 9(Lee) Uncertain Circumstances

"Matt, Kyle! You're with me, let's hunt them down!" The three of us ran off as the others took care of Sam. the pain she went through, the thing they used on her head, it was almost like when I was in the future, it really was strange, time travel, New Min, everything about it was strange

"Lee!" I heard Matt shout my name, I looked to my right where I heard his voice and saw one of the guards from before running around a corner

"Kyle! Go circle around, Matt, try to get to the roof, we'll trap them from all angles!" They both did as instructed, Kyle turned around and went to circle the building. Matt began to climb the emergency escape, climbing the stairs and ladders, as he climbed I heard shouting, probably from people inside the building.

I turned the corner and saw two guards running, if they're running then they must not have powers like we did.

"Hey!" I was getting close to them, and as they were getting ready to turn the corner Kyle appeared

"Now, where are you two going?" Kyle had a grin on his face "Hurting an innocent bystander isn't exactly the best thing to do, now is it?" The two guards began to worry, they looked up and saw the emergency escape, they both climbed up it, getting out of our view, Kyle and I just waited and soon we saw one of the guards get kicked off the emergency exit, and the other slowly came back down with Matt behind him. Kyle grabbed the other guard, raising him up.

"What a bunch of hypocrites" I walked towards the two of them "You had no evidence I did anything and yet you still tried something, who's the one causing chaos?" The guards said nothing in return "What's the matter? You guys talked so much!" I thought they had no magic at first, but then I saw it, a small flicker in one of the guard's hands "Kyle! Matt! get back!" The two jumped back, reading themselves, each of us summoned our weapons, but the magic that the guard was using was teleportation, and they were both gone in an instant "Damn it!"

I looked around, hoping they couldn't teleport that far, yet the only thing I was met with, was an alarm, I guess at this point we're fugitives.

"This doesn't sound like a normal alarm" Kyle was right, normally alarms would be loud and blaring, yet this alarm had a rhythm, like how when you use morse code, then it hit me, it wasn't just an alarm, it was giving a message, smart, I'll give them that.

"Let's get going, even I know when I'm outgunned" Matt led the way, we were hoping we could reach the others before they got into danger, but then my brain began to hurt.

"Lee? Are you okay?" Matt noticed my pain, I had to kneel, it was unbearable, right, it just hit me, the future or whatever me, said he'd contact me every night and guess what time it was, I did my best to focus, but with a snap with my ring finger and thumb, I was able to enter the realm I was in, but that was only in one eye, a part of me was also running back towards the others, it was really disorienting.

"Kyle, can you help me real quick?" I called for Kyle, hopefully just being next to him will give me some of his strength

???

"How's it going so far" I was once again conversing with myself "I'm assuming it's going fine so far, considering you're talking to me, and hunting down the people who did that to Sam"

"I practiced in the car" Tapping the wheel seemed to help when it came to snapping, it allowed me to stretch my fingers

"Right, that makes sense, although, I'm curious on how you knew that's what did it, well, the talking way I mean"

"It's draining, so I asked Kyle to support me"

"They don't know right?" He looked at me, something about him seemed off, more than usually

"No, they don't, yet, they're starting to suspect something" I looked around, I still wasn't used to my surroundings "Are those really my memories?" When I looked back at him, it seemed like he was looking at something before, I looked over to where he faced and saw nothing

"How else would we time travel?"

"How else would you time travel, honestly, I still don't understand why it had to be my time" The older me put his arms on my shoulder

"You don't need to know, after all, you can back out anytime" I sighed, he was really cryptic and annoying, he began to walk away "Go now, you'll need your energy from the looks of it"

Reality

When my entire focus was on reality, or where my real body was...I noticed that Sam and the others were nowhere to be found

"The hell? Where are they?" Kyle was getting pissed off, and a part of me was too

"They must've gotten here already" Matt suggested, I looked around, and then I saw them, they were on a hill being attacked

"No...there they are" I pointed at them, there was a dropship, and they went inside of it

"Hold on! They're not leaving us are they!?" We all began to run towards the dropship as Matt's theory seemed to be more and more right. I tried to turn on TTS, but for some reason, I couldn't use it

"Damn it!" Kyle dug his axe into the back of one of the guards, as Matt used his axe's shotgun attachment, blasting at some of the guards, tearing a hole in their chest and burning their clothes into their skin. I took out my sword and a backup pistol, firing and slashing the guards as I ran

"Wait!" The ship took off, ignoring my words, the rest of New Min's guards appeared at the gate, coming back wasn't an option "Matt, Kyle, we're on our own! Let's get out of here!" The three of us ran to where we parked the car, I tossed Matt my pistol as he got onto the turret section of the car, pressing his foot onto the circle entrance to prevent himself from falling, Kyle got into the backseat, taking out a bolt action rifle, that one of us left behind, most likely Neal. I got into the car and started it, there was no issue, it started up perfectly.

I began to drive away while Matt and Kyle provided cover fire, taking care of anyone that followed

"Lee!" I heard Kyle call, I turned over and saw a truck to our right

"What the..." The side of the truck opened, revealing guards with many different variations of guns

"They really want us dead huh?" I tapped Matt's leg that wasn't supporting him, signaling for him to get down "Any ideas?" The gunfire began to hit the car

"Ram it?" Kyle looked over at us, giving his insane suggestion

"We could try picking off the guards, unlike them, we have cover, we also have hea-" Matt cut himself off, remembering that the others left us

"Or, I can assist you" I almost lost control of the car as a voice in my head began talking to me "I mean, we are the same person, I know what you're thinking, and you can't do it, but me on the other hand, just give me 2 minutes with your body and I can take care of it" He had a point, you can use magic even if you weren't born with it, or haven't learned it yet, so if someone was to take over and use their magic, there'd be no issue, all you need to know is how to use it, hell, maybe I could learn something "Trust me, I won't use magic, just what I've learned"

"Is there some drawback?" I thought, it may have been me, but there could be so many different versions of me, maybe one that could even want me dead

"Nope, you can take your body back whenever, and as I said, I can only do it for about 2 minutes" I had no choice, and so I listened

"Do it, not like I know how"

"That's all you had to say!" My body felt a shock run through it, and now, your's truly is in control

"Go against what you said and I'll find a way to end you" The younger version of me spoke

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it" The only main issue was acting like this versions' Lee

"Matt! Drive for me for a second!" I got out of the driver seat, readying myself to open the door

"Hu- I mean alright!" Matt got in the seat, driving steadily, with a few errors, couldn't blame him, he didn't drive at all during the apocalypse even in my world. As Matt steadied the car and all the guards were reloading, I opened the door and jumped towards the truck, digging my...well the younger Lee's sword into the sides to hook onto it, then I threw myself at one of the guards, stabbing his arm, then inner thigh, causing him to fall in pain, I threw my sword under them causing it to stab the guard in the stomach, as that was happening I went to the middle guard, headbutting them and grabbing their pistol. I shot the guard in the leg, and shot the further guard in the head, then finished the guard I was beside, off with a headshot. Not as cool as I wanted it to be, but it was efficient enough. I was running out of time, and so I jumped back onto the Humvee and shot the driver back in the truck then I went inside through the turret hole. Another jolt ran through the body.

"My head..."I held my head as Kyle just stared at me

"What the hell was that!?" At first, I didn't know what Kyle meant, but then the memory came to me, jeez, making me have to explain it to them, what a terrible move.

"Well, during the apocalypse, a certain truck attack us, and I almost did it once, so I decided to try it again..." It wasn't totally a lie, but for some, it'd seem unbelievable.

"You understand how stupid that sounds right?" Kyle was right, it did sound stupid

"Yeah, yeah I know" I sat back in the passenger seat and began to relax, from the looks of it, Matt was driving towards the hideout but a thought came rushing into my head, if they left us to die, then maybe they want to kill us!

"Matt, change course, find somewhere else to stay" Matt looked at me estranged

"Why?"

"Think about it, why would they leave us? We were able to handle it perfectly fine! But Kenneth, Kayla, and Nicholai weren't? It clearly doesn't add up!" Matt began to think for a bit

"Alright, how about here" He opened his hud and pointed to a certain spot on the map, from the overview of it, it was an abandoned village, supposedly all of the villagers went on to create New Min after a plague hit the village, but that was over hundreds of years ago. After reading the overview I realized, we were still connected to the same team as the others

"Everyone, remember how we're able to cut off our location markers? Do it, just in case" And so everyone listened to me, all of our waypoints shut off "We'll have to be careful and pay attention to where we are, make sure you don't go alone!" I warned the others just if something were to happen, knowing my luck, something would happen.

"Alright, let's go to the horror movie village!" Kyle raised his fist in the air and we drove off. Matt and Kyle were talking throughout the entire car ride, but I was lost in thought, if they had the upper hand why leave? If dragging a sleeping Sam was hard then why not fight? More and more questions began to cloud my brain, TTS was still off, but there should be nothing blocking it! Even if there was something able to block it, I'd be out of range right!? It worked earlier after all...

"Lee, are you listening?" Matt had his hand on my shoulder, shaking me violently

"Yeah, yeah, stop shaking me" I took his hand off me.

"Really? Then repeat what I said" Damn it, Matt had me cornered

"Fine! What were you two talking about" He smiled after I admitted my defeat

"Nothing much, we were just talking about what we think happened to the village, I mean, if they were all healthy enough to be unaffected by the plague, then was the plague really the problem?" Matt began to spew his theories at me as I sunk into my chair, relaxing. Soon, the car was filled with silence, the night sky shining above us, it was cold and it seemed like it was about to snow

"There a radio in this thing?" I looked around the car, and I found what I had been looking for, the radio! Most of the time when we were human, it'd be garbage music, but maybe people's tastes are better in other worlds. I tried to turn on the radio, but it didn't even flicker "Of course it's broken!" I sat back down in my seat and focused my attention out the window.

Without me noticing we arrived at the village, I got out of the car just like the others, it truly was abandoned, no one was here, everything was either broken or missing, the only thing that was in good condition was the housing

"Something feels off" Matt was right, the main killer was the plague, at least from what the overview said, yet, there were no bones, no dried blood, no bodies, no anything!

"Stay on guard, this is unknown territory" We all had our weapons ready, a constant dripping noise was becoming annoying.

"Right!" Kyle covered our rear, Matt had our left while I took the right, we were facing all directions together, forming somewhat of an upside-down triangle formation. The dripping from earlier slowed down, I began to focus my hearing more on it, it didn't sound like water was hitting the ground, or anything for that matter.

"Hold it here, I'm going to check it out" Kyle and Matt stood still waiting, I went towards the noise of the dripping, I turned the corner and saw someone, they were using their hand to lean on the building, the dripping was blood that was coming from the person's stomach and face, but it was only small amounts of blood. The man turned my way and looked at me, it looked like he wanted to speak, but didn't have the energy to do so "Matt! Kyle! Get over here!" I called for the others as I kept my eyes on the man

"You..." Unlike the New Min guards, he said 'you' in a more sympathetic tone "You're Lee...right?" This guy knows me to, what, does everyone know me?

"Yeah? Why does it matter" Even though the guy was bleeding and looked tired, he walked over and handed me something. A journal? "What is this?"

"...It's mine" The older Lee in my head began to talk

"What do you mean it's yours?"

"Let me explain, you most likely know this by now, but I made rings in order to help people with their time powers, yet, half of them were spread throughout different timelines, that also includes a Journal I wrote, it has 16 sections, I wouldn't doubt if Raymond and the others already have some, that could be another reason to be weary of them" I understood what my future me meant, if the future Lee was to write something about the future, then there's a chance they'd think I was involved "I hope you understand that you are involved now" Well, I guess he had a point.

The two I called over earlier finally arrived and immediately started asking questions

"Who's the old guy" Kyle crossed his arms, probably thinking he wasn't a threat.

"And what are you holding" And Matt was talking about the Journal I was holding. At this point hiding the whole time travel thing would be near impossible, the old guy, the Journals. Just then the old man fell over, he was on the ground, using his hand to support himself

"Hey, are you okay!?" I brought the guy back up, putting his arm around my shoulder "Do you have a home?" The man nodded and pointed

"It's over there, I...have people over there" The man looked like he was going to pass out, I couldn't have him walk there

"Matt go over to where he pointed and tell them we're coming, Kyle, help me lift him up" With my orders Matt ran off to where the guy had pointed, and Kyle lifted the guy up by his legs, while I supported the other half. We slowly began walking towards where the man pointed

"Lee, when we get the guy to his home, I gotta tell you something" Kyle looked serious, yet passive

"I was right...you are Lee" Right, in just a few minutes I forgot about the Journal and that the man knew me

"Let's talk about this later" We continued to carry the guy, until he pointed again

"There's something over there..." Kyle and I looked over to where he pointed, the trees and bushes were rustling. "Put me down, deal with the threat" We listened to the old man's wisdom and set him down

"Kyle, go around and hide, I'll be bait this time around" Kyle was going to summon his weapon before I said that, instead he ran around the village, most likely preparing. I stepped in the center of the village, the place where we put the guy should make him safe, there were tones of bushes and foliage to cover him, so it should be alright. The trees in front of me finally dispersed revealing the thing we saw back during our first assignment

"So...You look human, but can you actually understand me?" I tried starting a conversation with it, but instead, it just stood there looking at me, it felt uneasy, like it was starring into my soul. This was a corruptor yet, it didn't look like one, or any of the ones we saw during the trials. After a few seconds of silence, it charged me, I summoned my sword, could this even kill it? If a sniper can't who says I could?

"Hey! Bite your thumb till it bleeds!" The hell kinda recommended idea is that!? "Listen, some powers for DTs require blood, either from enemies or yourself, if anything, just grip your thumb with your teeth, yank your mouth to rip off skin and bleed it, then aim towards it!" The creature was nearly in range

"Damn it, I have no choice, fine!" I bit my thumb, yanking my mouth away from it, it was painful, but I was still able to aim directly at the creature. I heard a noise behind me, as a blast went off at the corruptor, although it didn't hit, instead it dodged out of the way, the blast only grazed it slightly. The corruptor launched up into the air as its arm turned into an axe, I raised my sword, my right hand on the handle, and my left on the blade itself, the sword was in a position, that if the corruptor hit hard enough, the sword would sink into my skin, cutting it deeply but that was better than dying.

The corruptor clashed against my sword, it sank slightly into my skin as I could feel the warmth of my blood on my palm, I grabbed the handle of my sword with both hands and pushed forward while moving it to the left, causing the creature to lose their balance, but it jumped away before I could strike. My left hand was in pain, Kyle where are you!? I cut a part of my uniform and used it to wrap around my hand, the med-kit was in the car, or the hideout. While I was wrapping my arm with the makeshift bandage, I noticed the corruptor was rushing me again, but even faster than before, there wasn't anytime to draw my sword again, even if I were to desummon and resummon, so I did the only thing I could, I raised the hand I was bandaging, deciding it was better for one arm to get hurt than two, I expected it to be the axe again, but instead, a sword pierced through my arm, missing my hand entirely and almost stabbing my face, the pain, surprise, and panic that was coursing through my veins made it so I couldn't think clearly.

A gunshot rang through my ears following with a large thud hitting the floor and the blade in my hand to disappear. I held my hand and looked at where the gunshot came from, there were twenty people standing there, each with some sort of weapon. The creature that was attacking me was gone, leaving nothing but a purple stain.

"So, who's gonna introduce themselves first?" I stood there, holding my arm as the blood dripped onto the floor.

"How about we get you somewhere safe first?" The person who shot the creature spoke first "You know me anyways" The person brought down the hood "It's me, Madoka!" Huh? No, she left on the dropship, what kinda sense is that "You alright?" Madoka noticed the confusion on my face

"You left with Sam and the others, on that dropship!" As I talked Matt reappeared, coming from behind the others

"What? No, the flag is here" She pointed behind her, and it was there, the flag that had our colors

"What? Then, who went with the others?" The adrenaline already made me anxious, and now, hearing this, only made it worse, it made sense why they left us for dead now, it's because that Madoka wasn't Madoka!

"A mimic? But, those are rare!" The way Madoka talked was also different, the only thing that was the same was her looks, damn it, now the others are in danger! My head began to hurt, and my arm felt like it was ready to fall off

"I got ya" Matt supported me, it felt beyond painful. Matt walked with me as we went towards the flag.

When we arrived, i began to noticed many things, it was massive, there was practically a city here, it was beautiful as well, people going on with there daily lives and the such, how could a city the size of this be so hidden?

"Welcome to the New Min" Huh? Did Madoka just say...New Min?

"Wa-

"Before you say it, yes, there is a place named New Min just a few miles away, but this is the real New Min" WIth what Madoka is saying, it only made me distrust the DTs even more, they knew where they were sending us, and yet, it was an extremely hostile area, even trying to kill me because they think they know me! When I thought that last part I remembered

"The old guy? Where is he?" Madoka raised her hand, motioning me to stop talking

"We took care of him, the guy used to be a good fighter, but sometimes he forgets that he can't fight like he used too." That explained it then "Listen, I can tell you're skeptical of the DTs, Matt told me your guy's suspicion, and with how you're worrying now tells me even more" She really is an informant, just by my expressions she can tell what I'm thinking "If you want, you can stay here, we still have a lot of spare room"

"What!? This place is massive yeah, but I see thousands of people here, are you sure?" I was surprised, yet partially impressed, some buildings were on the trees, this forest was massive, as were the trees, so it only made sense to use the trees as a foundation.

"Sure! You two can stay here as long as you need" Two...two, which means Kyle hasn't come here yet

"Madoka!"

"Hmm?"

"Where's Kyle?" She looked at me confused, that can't be right, was the message that we were sent fake as well?

"Who's Kyle?" That confirmed it, Kyle must've been intercepted as he went around the village

"Madoka, I'll stay here sure, but I need to look for my squadmates" I marked this place on my map so I couldn't forget it, naming it "Real New Min"

"I'll come with you" Madoka summoned her weapon, it was a sickle, odd, that's for sure.

"Matt" Matt was looking around the place

"Yeah, let's go" Matt summoned his axe and the three of us departed

"I'll be back soon everyone! Take care of the place!" Madoka waved goodbye to everyone.

We made it back to the village, my arm was still busted up, but I would only be a scout

"Lee, don't do something stupid like forcing yourself to fight" Matt brought his axe from his shoulder to his arms

"Yeah" I still held my arm, the bleeding slowed, but it'd still require first aid "I understand, I'll let you two handle anything" The three of us walked around to where Kyle should've been, no matter how much me and Matt looked around we found nothing, that was until Madoka called us

"Lee! Matt! I think I found your guy!" Matt and I rushed over and saw an unconscious Kyle laying there. I knelt down and checked his pulse, he was fine "here, this was in his arm when I found him" Madoka handed me something, it was a dart, it was clear, when Kyle went around the corruptor hit him with a sleep dart, after all, it could understand weapons and stances, so I wouldn't doubt if it knew how to use a blowdart. "So, you want me to drag him over to New Min?" Madoka said with a joking attitude

"I'd prefer if you didn't" I began to feel a bit dizzy, it was most likely due to the blood loss that I was enduring.

"Of Course, I was only joking" Madoka picked him up and we began walking back to New Min

"This is different" I've begun to expect him to pop up every now and then, it wasn't surprising anymore

"What's different" I noticed instead of him being in my head, he was actually walking with us, it was weird, it wasn't the figure I saw in my mind when I found out how to enter that time travel area

"In my time, we fought the corruptor when we found Kyle, not after" I guess it was different, but not so much that'd it was worrying. "Anyhow, how's it going?" This version of me also seemed more relaxed, don't tell me...

"Hey, by any chance, am I communicating with different versions of myself?" After I said that he did a 180, looking away from me

"Maybe, I'm not you after all, even if we're the same person, we still get different powers, well, except for this one, we all have this power." Maybe it was the time travel power that allows me to communicate with other versions of myself, and I can only talk with versions of me who died, or their world is in danger, although, that wouldn't explain why this version couldn't talk with that Lee that I saw beforehand, I swear this whole magic is confusing.

We all walked to New Min in silence, even the other me said nothing. It was unsettling to say the least.

"Hey! Mitch!" When we got to New Min Madoka called for someone

"For the last time, My name, isn't, Mitch!" Someone came over, from his attire he was some sort of medical professional. "You're probably right"

"Huh?" I didn't expect him to say anything to me

"It's kinda obvious what you're thinking when you're looking at my clothing...unless...yo-

"No" I shut down anything that "Mitch" Was thinking.

"Listen, it doesn't matter, Madoka, I'm assuming you want me to help them two" He pointed over at me and Kyle, made sense, Matt didn't get hurt since he went after the New Min people

"Yep!" While Madoka said that, Kyle came into my view, he was awake but still seemed sluggish

"I'll be alright, I've been through worse"

"Heh, sure mister tough guy" I began to mess with Kyle, it was normal for us to do that, when we got along we got along, when we didn't care, we just messed with each other, it's just our thing.

"Better than you! Beartrap, launched through a tree, stabbed twice! I don't wanna hear you judging me!" Kyle's argument was kinda stupid

"Hold on, Kyle, wasn't this about how you've been through worse, wouldn't that just be saying he won" Matt said behind us, which seemed to make Kyle shut up, although, it may have been more fun if he kept rambling.

"Stop the chatter, you two" Once again 'Mitch' Pointed at us "Come along, I don't wanna hear any excuses" Kyle and I followed 'Mitch' I don't know why, but every time I thought of the word 'Mitch' he seemed pissed, wait, did Madoka say that to call him? Was one of his powers to be able to hear whenever somebody said 'Mitch' "You! Shut up! Stop saying that!" I was right, from the looks of it, every time I said that word, he could hear who and where they said it. A part of me wanted to keep saying it, if Nicholai or Sam were here I could guarantee we'd all be saying it.

"Why is it Mitch?" The guy looked at me again, he looked like he wanted to kill me

"It was some stupid joke that Madoka made me do! I didn't know I couldn't change it!" The guy looked serious

"Alright, what is your name then" Kyle looked like he was ready to laugh, maybe he was saying that in his head as well

"Mike, Mike is my name" So, 'Mitch' was Mike. I felt an impact hit my stomach, the guy ended up punching me

"That's about..right" I knelt down "Heh..heh" Kyle raised me up

"You were asking for it" I know...I know

"I swear, I should just leave you to bleed out" Mike led us into a building, it was obvious that it was an infirmary

"A bit extreme, for me calling you something" I recovered from the punch earlier and stood by myself

"Just sit down" Mike gestured to one of the rooms "Kyle, if that's your name, can take the other one" he motioned to another room "Whether I'm the one treating you or not is not my problem" I entered the room and sat on the bed that was in the middle of the room, it was comfy, felt nice and warm, it was perfect for the freezing cold, then again, we're not wearing our winter gear...stupid uniforms.

"Lee" I looked up and saw Kyle, he was standing in the doorway

"Yes?" I had my left knee on the bed, leaning on it "What do ya need?"

"Nothing really, just wanted to say I'm sorry" a part of me felt like I was about to be killed, maybe because of the future timeline I got forced into, but, that wouldn't happen.

"Sorry for what?" I questioned Kyle's words. Kyle walked over and sat on the end side of the bed

"Do you not remember how we met? I never got to apologize for it" RIght, the way me and Kyle met, the reason that we're not exactly on the best terms. If I remember, the first sight of him was his fist he threw at my face, it was the first fight I was in.

"If I remember, I was partly to blame though." Kyle looked at me, mainly confused

"Partly to blame? Lee, you were helping me, but I was such a brute I didn't get that, you didn't to anything wrong." I wouldn't argue against it, but I didn't listen when he told me to leave him be, so no matter what he says, I'd say I'm still a bit to blame.

"Even so, I don't think you need to apologize, it's thanks to you that I learned to fight...or, more so, gained the guts to fight." I stood up and looked out the door's window

"heh, still skeptical about them?" Before I knew it, Kyle was on the other side of the door, looking out it as well

"The first New Min wanted me dead, and there was a fake Madoka, how do I know this place isn't fake either?" My mood took a dive when I began to think more

"Yeah, for all we know the fake Madoka is brainwashing Kenneth and the others" No...I didn't think the fake...or real, Madoka would brainwash them. Raymond and Neal brought us to that specific New Min, and wanted us to meet with that Madoka

"I think the untrustworthy people are the superiors of Eaxura" Not a single doctor has come over here yet

"Because they brought us there?"Kyle opened the door and walked to his room

"Yeah.." I leaned against my doorway

"Well, just keep an eye out, if they really are untrustworthy, then we should play along, after all, this may just be a misunderstanding, but the coincidences surely make it seem off." Kyle closed the door to his room, as did I.

I took out the journal that I was given before and began to read it, later falling asleep on the bed.