“Not the greatest timing,” Daniel said as he stood in an infinite void. He was annoyed at the fact that he had gotten used to it. The feeling of walking on black glass. The different shades of black in the distance. The dull hum of silence. He was annoyed at a lot of things, but mostly the fact that he needed to talk to Eliza and couldn’t. She’d just told him that she wasn’t even coming with him. He was going to have to go back and he was going to have to do it alone. Sure, he’d wake up soon, but ‘soon’ was not nearly soon enough. 

“Hey you,” Sally said, waving. She sat on the bench, idly kicking her legs. She appeared to have small horns now. Not a major change, but it did give her a very distinct definitely-not-human look. “You look glum as heck. Liz was pretty sure send-magic-thing worked, but we’re getting a little worried since neither of you is showing up. Did something go wrong?” Daniel sat down heavily next to her.

“Yes. No. No, it didn’t. It’s complicated.” The look she gave him was one of those universal ones. He had gotten quite adept at picking them out. His world and Sally’s had a few expressions that meant different things. One universe’s ‘are you kidding me’ was another’s ‘how dare you’. But the one she gave him was universal, and he was annoyed at how easy he could read ‘you can leave it at that, but I’ll judge you for the rest of the day if you do.’ He sighed. “Well, for one, it showed up in a different country.”

“Oh?” Sally’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “That’s… unexpected. Liz tried to send it somewhere that is significant to the Demon Queen, to make sure it ended up close to you. Where, uh, where did it end up?”

“Iceland,” Daniel said grumpily. 

“That is not very close.”

“No, it’s not.” Daniel rubbed his face in annoyance. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t ask to be here. He didn’t even want to be in Iceland. He just wanted for all this to be over and for him to finally find some godforsaken peace.

“Weird. Do you know why?” Sally asked, leaning back on the bench. 

“Apparently it served as inspiration to the original concept for the game that just happens to share every major beat of our very lives. You know, somewhere useful,” he said, his voice sharp, and then he groaned. “I apologize. I’m… conflicted, about many things.”

“Well, wanna talk to Aunt Sally about it? I’m a great listener when you can get me to shut up. My grandma -- the good one -- she told me that she used to want to be a therapist and she thinks a lot of that runs in the family, but personally I think it’s just her and me because my parents are absolutely awful at listening to people…” She gave him a sheepish smile. “Anyway,” she grinned. “Wanna get it off your chest?”

“Well, first things first,” Daniel said as he leaned heavily against the back of the bench too, “I met the people I think are your parents. Father named Will.”

“Oh,” Sally said. The smile had come and gone. “Shit.” Well, that confirmed it. 

“Yes,” Daniel said. “They didn’t recognize me, though. Or you. But I see now why you decided to take your distance from them. They seemed to have some… preconceived notions.” He scratched his chin, the stubble now present both in this in-between place and in reality. Hormones had really done a number on him. “Not the most… open-minded people.”

“Yeah, no. They’re really not. I’m so sorry you had to deal with them,” Sally said.

“It’s fine. They just confirmed to me that… I was never going to really be myself,” he said. He balled his fists and relaxed them again. “It’s only been in here that I look like… me.”

“What do you mean?” Sally asked. “Like, how your body feels versus how it looks?” Daniel nodded. She gave him one of those weird looks that maybe translated to both realities. He wasn’t sure, because it seemed to be one of those conspicuously-knowing ones. “Like how your body in here looks like it feels?” More nodding. Where was she going with this? “Well, I mean, you’ve seen me change in here, right? Look, I’ve got little horns!” She poked at them. “Same with you.”

“What? I look like me, here,” he said. His hands were the right size. He was taller. His chest was flat. He felt good like this. 

“Yeah. But you don’t look like you used to. You look more like… like you’re an older relative of mine, I guess?” She made a face, clearly a bit disgusted. “Or a kid of ours. Ew. No offense.” 

“None taken,” Daniel said with a frown. He felt his face. It felt like his face. Hard jaw. Maybe his hairline was a little less receded than it had been. But he was definitely himself. He knew that much. “What does that mean?” Sally shrugged.

“Ask someone who knows what they’re talking about,” Sally said. “Sure as heck ain’t me. Anyway, we’re getting way off-topic. What did you want to tell me about?” Well, for one thing, he hadn’t actually volunteered to give her any information, but he felt a little compelled to tell her anyway. She was the closest thing he still had to a friend, outside of Eliza. Which, of course, brought his thoughts to her door. 

“Eliza...” he said, and then stopped. Good. Great start. Sally gave him a cheeky look and he rubbed his face again. Why did he feel so damn confused whenever he talked about her to Sally. It was supposed to be simple. “Eliza isn’t coming with,” he said. 

Sally cocked her head. “Oh? That’s… curious.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said. “I don’t know how you or Liz are going to come home, but I’m afraid it won’t be through Eliza. She doesn’t seem to have any intention of coming with m-- of coming to her old world.”

“Daniel,” Sally said with a smile, “Liz and I don’t want to go back.” Daniel looked up at her, slightly bewildered. “Whatever we left behind there, we’re leaving behind willingly. We’re happy here. Both of us. This is home. By the way, did you know that Liz has two girlfriends now?! And that’s only because she doesn’t realize that the freaking Queen herself has a crush on her too, or it would be more. Yeah, it’s crazy. I’m not getting involved in that. Too much hassle for me, I don’t get the whole attraction thing, but they seem happy and honest, but still, can you believe it?” Finally, she stopped talking to take a breath. Daniel was surprised someone could talk that long without needing to come up for air. “Anyway… we’re fine. We don’t want to come back. ‘Coming home,’ for me, is crossing the hall from where I hang out with the people I’ve met here to go to my bedroom.”

“But… you’ve got a place here. And a family. I mean… we’re supposed to--”

“Oh, screw that,” Sally interrupted. “I’ve got a place here too, and a family. In fact, I’ve picked this one. This one doesn’t matter any less, so don’t even try that with me.” She seemed genuinely a little annoyed. 

“I apologize,” Daniel said. “I meant no offense.”

“You’re… fine, Daniel. No offense taken.” Sally huffed. “I just don’t care for that ‘supposed to’ stuff. My parents were all about it and it’s not me. I’m happy here, and I’m staying. So is Liz. And, it seems, so is Eliza.” She gave him another Look, the Significant kind. “She has stuff to stay around for too, it seems.”

“But I have to go back,” Daniel said. “I am the hero, Sally. I can’t not. And Eliza knows that.” He hung his head.

“And she’s not coming back with you,” Sally said. “That is a conundrum.”

“Yes,” Daniel said. “It’s already clear I’m not… I can’t stay. So if she does, that’s a clear enough message.”

“The message here,” Sally said matter-of-factly, “is of course that she doesn’t feel about you the way you clearly feel about her, despite the way you’ve described the way you two make each other feel, about how comfortable you are around each other despite being sworn enemies, and that she has no intention of staying with you.” Daniel frowned. Did she have to be so harsh about it? This felt almost cruel, but he was sure she was going somewhere with this, so he decided to humour her. 

“Yes,” he said. “It is.”

“And that because you’re the hero, you can’t stay behind,” Sally said, “despite the fact that you would actually not mind staying behind if it meant that you might have a future with her. You have to, because you’re the hero.”

“That’s correct,” Daniel said. “I’m not supposed--”

“Daniel,” Sally said, “if you say the word ‘supposed’ one more time, I’m going to scream.” He clamped his mouth shut. “You know, for someone who is supposed to be world-weary and experienced in life, you can be incredibly dense, you know that?”

“Oy,” he said, sitting upright. “Now listen here--”

“No,” Sally interjected, again. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you be that way again. I’m not in the mood for it. I swear to god, boys. All of you.” She crossed her arms and looked at him in a way only his mother used to look at him. “Have you told her any of this?” The accusatory stare pried his mouth open before his brain even had a say in it.

“Well, no, but it’s pretty clear to me th--”

“Yes or no would have been enough, and the answer is a clear ‘no’. But she talked to you about not wanting to go back, right?” Her interjections were frustrating. He felt like he was being dragged by the hand through the conversation like a nine-year-old through a busy market. If he let go he’d be lost, sure, but…

“Yes, she did. We didn’t get to talk more, because this,” he waved his hand around, “happened, but yes, she just mentioned that she was staying behind.”

“So on your way to pick up whatever to send you both back home, Eliza tells you that she wants to stay,” Sally said, “and you took that to mean that she wants you to go, so she can stay behind alone.”

“Well, yes,” he said. 

“Oh my god,” Sally said and put her palm to her face. “You are so… What do you want to do, Daniel?” He opened his mouth. “If your first words are any conjugation of the verb ‘to suppose’ I will slap the hero right out of you,” she warned, and he closed his mouth again. 

“I…” he said, picking his words carefully. “I want to… I don’t know if I’m allowed…” He felt his face redden. The temperature in this place hadn’t changed, but that didn’t stop him feeling like he was suddenly up close to a campfire.

“Screw all of that, Daniel! For the love of mercy, my dude, you are a person! You aren’t ‘The Hero’, that’s just something people have called you! It’s not, like, something that’s been tattooed on the inside of your soul or something. You are just a guy!” Sally was getting increasingly exasperated. “You are allowed to want things, man! Does being around her make you happy?” Sally grabbed him by the shoulder. Daniel’s stomach was in knots, his head was full of noise, his ears ringing. It was like there was a storm in his brain and it made his eyes sting. 

“I… Yes!”

“Do you want to stay with her?” She was practically shaking him now. He felt tears begin to run down his face.

“Yes!”

“Then, in the name of everything that is even remotely holy, do you want to stay too?!” Sally wasn’t quite screaming in his face. Not quite. 

“Yes!”

“Then wake up, you asshole, and tell her.”

He did.