Sarah

After several hours of both sides discussing details—once they finally got back on track, of course—they were then brought to a hotel. They were given six hotel rooms, despite them saying they only needed one big one. Not really caring for their hosts, they went to a double room, pushed the beds together, and all slept in there instead.

The next morning, human Sarah told tigerkin Sarah, “I called Jess last night and booked her a flight here. Given that all the rifts are rapidly closing and you’re an important guest, she should be here in just an hour or so.”

“Thank you so much. Even nine years later, I still miss her.”

She nodded. “I would, too. I’m glad you were able to find good people otherwise, though. You’re doing much better than I am with that, actually.”

“Yeah, I definitely got lucky, there. They’re all amazing. So, I’m curious, are you friends with Michael and Earth Amber, like I am with Michelle and my Amber?”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve met them a couple times, but I was put in a different team.”

All the mages on Earth had been conscripted to fight the monsters that were appearing, as mundane weapons of any kind had little effect due to the lacking mana. They had so few mages available that even Luna had to join the fights.

The poor girl. She hasn’t had a childhood.

“What about that guy Adam? Why was he at the meeting last night?” Tigerkin Sarah asked her counterpart.

“Oh, he’s a super bootlicker chud, so government-types like having him around as security,” the human replied, grimacing.

I’m so glad he hardly got a chance to speak last night, then.

“Gross.”

“Gross,” the human agreed. “So, before Jess gets here, tell me what kinds of books you’ve written! I want to know how such an experience shaped your writing!”

“You have to do the same for me, though! Did you ever finish that draft I had about the musician guy?”

“I did!”

The two Sarahs had a productive and densely-packed hour and a half before a familiar girl entered the hotel dining room.

Jess…

Sarah stood up and walked toward her, her eyes watering. She reached out to hug her, but stopped herself.

I’m not the Sarah she knows…

Jess stepped forward and hugged her instead, and Sarah reciprocated and cried into her cousin’s brightly-dyed hair.

“I missed you so much…” Sarah said.

“I’m here,” Jess replied.

“I’m so happy I got to see you again.”

“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. Let’s sit down and catch up?”

 

———

 

Luna

“So, what is your life like?” E-Luna asked. That was what Luna had begun calling her in her head. The ‘E’ stood for ‘Earth’.

They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk the night before, as it had mostly been a meeting and discussing lots of boring details.

“Well, I go to school, hang out with my sister and friends, compete in tournaments—like, fighting tournaments—and help my moms out with the store and small projects in the workshop.”

E-Luna angrily shook her head. “That’s such fucking bullshit. All do is go to school, fight monsters, go to school, be a test subject to see how magic is affecting my development, fight monsters, act as some kind of fucking government mascot or some shit, fight more monsters…

“That’s all I fucking do! I hardly ever get to fucking live! I’m at a different school practically every fucking week! Dad and Amber help, but… God, it’s just not fair…”

“Um… I’m really sorry? It’s not like I had it entirely great either. At least at first, anyway.

“I woke up in another world, my… dad… was changed and was struggling with her new body at first, we were trapped in a cave, those guys tried to enslave us, then another army showed up and killed them, so there were bodies everywhere…

“And then we were stuck at that awful research base for several months just unable to do anything at all. When we were finally thrown out into the world, the locals despised everyone from Earth, and we were struggling to survive.

“We eventually made it out, though, and Mom Michelle, Mom Amber, and Mom Sarah then began this really long journey to our new home.

“There were lots of monster fights along the way, and even bandits at one point. One of them even tried to take me hostage, but my moms killed them.

“We eventually made it, though, and Diamond and Mom Roumazi entered our lives, which was great. Then I started school, and… yeah. Things picked up from there. But that entire first year at least was complete shit.”

E-Luna stared at her and sighed. “Sorry. I don’t really get to just sit and talk with other people my age very often, and because you’re an alternate version of me, I sort of unloaded on you. My therapist helps, but… there’s only so much she can do.

“Wait, they killed some people…?”

Luna nodded. “Yeah. They were trying to kill us, so my moms were left with no choice, and we were all feeling horrible for a while afterward.”

“Huh. Well, sounds like they deserved it. So what do people our age normally do over there? You mentioned a fighting tournament? What about dating? People always talk about romance and stuff, but I’ve never even had the chance to think about it.”

“U-Um… Well, there is someone I like… She never responds to my advances, though…”

“Sounds like a dense idiot.”

“M-Maybe… But I still love her! Um, yeah! The tournament! So it’s like, we use our weapons and magic and stuff, and it’s really cool!”

E-Luna shook her head, “It’s unfair that your magic is so much stronger than ours.”

They had learned from Roumazi last night that all the mages on Earth were drastically weaker than they otherwise would’ve been as a result of Earth having no ambient mana to naturally absorb.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

“I guess not. I saw that footage against the Behemoth. You were awesome!”

“Thanks! I’m still nowhere near as impressive as my moms, though, but I’ve learned that they’re kind of outliers. In the last tournament they entered, they placed fifth, which is really amazing.”

“I’ll bet.”

 

———

 

Michelle

The two elves and their Earth counterparts, as well as Roumazi and Diamond, were all sitting at another table.

“I still can’t believe you found three people to marry,” Michael commented to Michelle.

“I still can’t believe it, either. What about you? Have you seen anyone?”

He sighed. “No one. Though I’m beginning to think maybe I should’ve made at least a little time for myself.”

Amber Woods said, “I mean, it sounds like you were pretty busy…”

“Yeah. Bowman here did date a couple women, though.”

“I did,” Bowman confirmed. “The monster stuff kept me pretty busy, too, so I didn’t have a lot of time. The government also likes to parade me around to pretend they actually support gay people, which just makes it even harder.”

“Yikes,” Woods said.

Michelle asked Roumazi, “We talked a little bit about bringing Sarah’s cousin home with us if she wanted to come, but what about our counterparts?”

“If you think it’s a good idea, then I’ll trust you. I get a good feeling from them, too,” the goddess replied. She was mostly making conversation with Diamond, since they were unfortunately excluded in this situation.

Language barriers can be harsh… I’ll definitely make it up to them later.

“What if you came back with us?” Michelle asked their doppelgangers.

Bowman jumped up, “THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. YES.”

Michael looked hopeful but less sure than Bowman did.

“What would we do? Where would we live?” he asked.

Woods replied, “We have a house we could build additional bedrooms onto. You could work with us in our workshop. You wouldn’t have the languages shoved into our heads like we did, but we have a good friend who could find you a good teacher.

And no one would really care that you’re from Earth. We moved far, far away from where we initially showed up, and the people around us are pretty great. The ones who know are basically like, ‘Eh, that’s neat, I guess.’”

Michael looked at where his daughter and her elven counterpart were talking in a different part of the dining room. The entire hotel had been cleared out for the group from Torneltha, except for some staff members.

“But you said monsters aren’t going to show up anymore? If that’s true, then we could finally start a life here.”

“You could,” Michelle nodded. “I only have an idea of how you’ve lived all these years. You know better than I do whether or not you would be happier here or with us.”

He nodded absently. The two Lunas joined the group. “Moms, could we take E-Luna back with us?”

Michelle raised an eyebrow. “’E-Luna’? Anyway, I would be fine with that, but it’s up to Michael.”

“Do you want to go, Luna?” Michael asked the human Luna.

She nodded resolutely. “I’m sick of this place. Sick of everything. Even if monsters won't show up anymore, I’ll still be stuck doing… I don’t know what. And being the only mage my age when people can actually come up and talk to me sounds like a nightmare. And I hate being famous for being the only little kid that had to join the fight.”

He smiled. “I guess we’re moving, then.”

“Hell yeah!” Bowman held her hand up for a high five, which she made everyone reciprocate.

E-Luna then added, “And I guess start calling me Elana. It’s better than E-Luna.”

Michelle replied, “Make sure you’re happy with that name choice. I initially chose Michelle just because it was the feminine version of Michael. While I did end up liking it, it was kind of a half-assed decision on my part.”

She nodded. “Elana’s fine. It’s close enough, but also different.”

Huh. That’s basically what my thought process was back then.

Bowman tapped her chin, “Hmm… I guess I can’t really call myself Amber when I’ll be living with another Amber who is basically my twin sister. Elizabeth! That’ll be my first name now instead of my middle name. Just call me Liz.”

 

———

 

Sarah

The tigerkin spent many hours catching up with her cousin after such a long time, but sadly, they both had lives to get back to.

Sarah gave Jess another tearful hug. “I’ll miss you a lot, Jess.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” her cousin replied. “You’re just as much my cousin as the other Sarah.”

“Thank you. I’m so happy I get to actually say goodbye this time. Both of you are sure you don’t want to come with?”

“I’m happy here,” Jess replied. “But I have to admit it does sound like fun.”

“Likewise,” human Sarah said. “If there are no more monsters, then I can focus on writing again. Your home sounds fun, but I also choose to stay.”

“I suppose that’s a good thing,” tigerkin Sarah said. “Someone needs to keep this one in check,” she bapped Jess’ cheek with her tail.

“It’s a full-time job,” human Sarah said.

“It’s a full-time job,” tigerkin Sarah nodded sagely.

“Hey!” said full-time job exclaimed.