I've been waiting for you all this time

I went through all of it again. Everything I’d once lived, I lived it again. But this time, I understood everything, I knew all of it, and therefore, a newfound appreciation for this time started to grow within me. All those times I’d been bickering with Emmett….I’d actually been doing so with myself, unknowingly.

I even allowed myself to observe Arthur’s memories once more, so as to not arouse suspicion as to why I wouldn’t want to see them. I lost count of how many times I’d seen them now.

But the most painful thing for me was watching myself and Maria connect with each other. When they went on their date, I followed sneakily, making sure they didn’t notice me. I looked into the restaurant window from outside and saw them having fun, and then I left, too hurt to continue watching. I reminisced on that time, and reminded myself why I came here. To save Maria. And then the second time was even worse, I was left to fend for myself as they played chess the entire time.

And then, after going through everything once more, the last battle came. I knew exactly what to do, and charged straight ahead. I don’t know if I charged because I saw it happen before, or if I saw it happen because I charged, but either way, that’s what happened.

We fought once again, and this time I was the one who offered to stay behind and split. I knew that they would have a tough time against the dragons that awaited them, but that eventually they’d win. I simply had to bide time and keep the masked men from overrunning them, which didn’t prove to be a very simple task, due to the sheer amount of overwhelming numbers that kept on coming at me.

My energy reserve started to quickly deplete itself, but I kept fighting anyway, even knowing the eventual result that I’d lose and be used as a hostage against Selphine. I wondered if I should keep going on this path or try to alter it, attempting to prevent Frawa’s resurrection. Could that possibly work? But the fact that this didn’t happen the first time meant it wouldn’t happen at all, wouldn’t it? So if I tried to change things, it would cause a paradox.

After much deliberation and careful consideration, I decided to keep going along with the flow. Who knows what would happen if I ended up changing things?

And so, things played out the exact same, as I’d remembered it. Up until the point where Frawa blew up the ceiling and caused debris to fall on us. I grabbed Maria and carried her out of the room, then placed her back against the wall and sat her down.

“Are you okay, Maria?” I asked worriedly.

“…What did you just call me?” Her eyes widened.

Shit, I’d just slipped up massively!

“S-Sorry, a slip of the tongue!” I tried to come up with an excuse. “There was this girl called Maria the other day, and I happened to be thinking about her, so-”

“I don’t believe you.” Maria interrupted. “You know, don’t you?”

“…Yeah, I do.” I decided to drop the act, as it clearly wasn’t going to convince her.

“Who are you, really?” She asked.

“...I’m Jack.” I mulled it over but eventually I finally decided to admit everything to her, the complete truth.

“..Jack? What-Emmett, what the hell are you saying?” Her eyes widened in shock, seemingly understanding the implications.

“Yeah, I’m the other one from the future.”

“How-How long have you-”

“The entire time. Emmett’s soul had already been long gone by the time I transmigrated into him, I made sure of that.”

She seemed to have a hard time believing that, and I wouldn’t blame her.

“I was sent back years to the past, just like you were. But unlike you, it wasn’t a couple of years, it was decades.”

“Decades? You’ve been here for decades?” She yelled out in shock.

“Yeah. I’ve been waiting for you all this time. And now, you’re here.”

Suddenly, she remembered something.

“Wait, we need to help your past self!”

She instantly started running back into the room.

“No, wait!” I started running after her. She was severely injured, so she wasn’t going that fast.

“Where are they?”

“Look up.” I said.

Suddenly, a massive dark shield appeared above us, trapping us inside.

“What the hell?” Maria yelled.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” I tugged on her shirt. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Let’s go where?” She looked confused.

“Home, where else?”

“And how do we do that?”

“The same way I went back the first time.”

“Wait, you managed to go back? Why the fuck would you come back here then, idiot?”

“To save you! Why else? Think for two seconds!”

“Seriously? You waited decades just for me?”

“Obviously, why wouldn’t I?”

She looked on the verge of tears, then hugged me tightly at full force.

“Alright, alright.” I let go. “We can do more of that stuff later, let’s just get home for now, okay?”

“Yeah, sure, so how do we leave this place?”

“Oh, it’s simple, all we have to do is-”

I froze.

“All we have to do is?” She asked.

Fuck. It had completely slipped my mind. I had literally years to think of it and remember yet it never had crossed my mind: I only managed to return back to Earth thanks to Frawa’s attack somehow connecting to the doorway between the void and Earth. But how were me and Maria supposed to go through it now? Provoke her to attack us again? What if that didn’t work? I had a feeling that last time might have honestly just been a fluke.

“Uh…Jack?”

“Damn it. I don’t know.”

“Wha-What the hell do you mean, you don’t know? How did you leave the first time?”

“...I got sucked into one of Frawa’s attacks, and somehow a gateway opened.”

‘Huh? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, but I only see one option left for now. We have to confront her and find a way home, she’s the key.”