Chapter 5: C4 – An Everwinter Forest (2)

‘Remember, stop messing around with people you can’t handle.’ 

This quote, left to her by her father, was one of the most important lessons Bailey ever heard. It was so important, in fact, that she routinely ignored it. After the January where her parents ran into a car crash, her existence was deleted (well, legally, at least) and she had ceased to exist as a registered entity, being declared dead in the crash. But the third body in the car was not hers- it was her dearest friend, Maybelline.

‘Bailey! Wake up! You need to- you’ll never believe what- You need to listen to me!’

Yes, that was Maybelline. After she learned about the crash, Bailey began hearing voices in her mind. Or rather, just one very, very annoying one. Was this called haunting? Was she going to live with this miserable annoyance for the rest of her life?

‘LISTEN TO ME, BAI!’ Maybelline shouted. Bai blinked herself awake, sitting up in her bed. ‘What is it, May? Did Excel or Strix fail?’ Bai threw her blanket aside, and staring at May’s floating form. Bai knew that when May was serious, it was a serious affair, and deserved the highest level of respect.

‘Let me tell you about what happened. Just believe me.’ 

--

Ten minutes later, a very confused Bai got dressed and dropped down the stairs. 

‘Morning, Boss,’ a gruff voice projected from the corner of the room. ‘The two petty thieves are no longer with us, unfortunately.’ 

May said Excel would say that. May also said a small boy would… 

The bell rang. ‘A customer! Let’s take a minute of silence for the deceased fools whilst I take care of this new customer, everyone.’ The group chuckled as a very unsettled Bai dropped down to see the same boy attempting to bait them in. 

‘What should we do, May?’ thought Bai, mentally. ‘I’m in favor of repeating the same day, and meeting the same person. I feel like he knows a lot. I found so many things in his room, including-’ 

The boy interrupted their mental conversation with his request for help, and Bai decided to repeat the same day. 

--

The execution of the thugs was swifter than ever. Bai rushed with her shots, rather than taking her sweet time with it, much to the confusion of Excel. It was quite out of character for Bailey to pursue efficiency. She preferred the spectacle of execution, which lended itself to her demonic reputation. ‘Sort out the cleaning, Excel. I have rooms to loot.’ Bailey threw the boy out of the warehouse and rushed to the office. Same key. Same note. But where was the portal room?

‘Bai, you’re walking directly past the room! Where are you going?’ Maybelline shouted frustratedly. ‘There isn’t anything there! That’s just a wall, May!’ Bai shouted, frustratedly. 

‘I think his memory manipulation has made you unable to see the door. Just put the key where I point…’ 

Bai inserted the key straight into the wall, and found it deeply unsettling that it seemed to sink straight into it. The lock clicked, and the portal lay in the middle of the room once more.

‘Do we need any preparations, or shall we just head in, May?’ Bai inquired, before inputting the number code and going in anyway. ‘Maybe we should- you know what, let’s just go!’ 

--

Bai once again landed face first in the snow, but this time she quickly jumped up and saw the pink-haired aggressor flying quickly towards her. ‘Did I mess up the memory cleanse? I could’ve sworn I modified them to make her…’ 

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‘Jordan!’ Bailey shouted. ‘What were you talking about before?’ 

He froze in place, before dropping his flight and walked slowly towards her. ‘You seem to have maintained your memory,’ he stated upon reaching her and walking around her. ‘How did you do it?’ 

‘Natural talent!’ Bai proclaimed, much to the annoyance of Jordan. ‘There is no natural talent that can sustain memory against a time rewind. I spun your entire universe back a day. Such a weak universe you live in. How did you really do it?’ He seemed to be more curious than hostile, now. 

‘Well, I’d be fine to tell you, but can we get out of this frigid snowy forest?’ 

--

Bailey walked past the waterfall into a cozy cave that Jordan seemed to call his home. A simple mattress lay on the floor with illumination being provided by a backpack full of strange, glowing balls. Pictures were the main attraction of the mostly barren room, having pinned portraits of beautiful people on the wall. There was a name under each. ‘Lovers or friends?’ Bailey inquired, much to the chagrin of Jordan. 

‘Indeed, they were all friends, but we’ve been separated for now. Soon, I’ll get to see them again.’ Jordan replied, laughing. He cut himself once more on his watch, and two chairs materialized in front of himself and Bailey, and he took a seat. ‘So, tell me, Miss…’ 

‘Bailey,’ she responded. 

‘Miss Bailey. If you remember what happened, why have you chosen to return?’ Jordan asked. ‘You should know how I threatened you. Any normal person would simply stay far away, especially inhabitants of such a primitive universe.’ 

‘You see, Jordan- I can call you Jordan, right? I’m actually a detective, in search of knowledge! The mechanic of teleportation is entirely unknown to us, and so I was very interested in getting to know the secrets of this snow-tipped forest.’ 

--

Jordan finally had an interesting day.

It had been years since the last visitor- or maybe decades? It was very unfortunate that the visitor had to be put down- After all, the Soul could not return to a Recall Bay if there was no Recall Bay in the present universe. The unfortunate Rabbit was now going to be a long-term coinhabitant of this universe in the form of a bright light in the sky. Well, it wasn’t all bad- It wasn’t like they were conscious while in Soul form. He was pretty sure, at least.

And now, this well-dressed primitive woman, wearing an incredibly fancy looking suit, claimed to resist the memory wipe. That doesn’t seem possible. How did she do it? 

Normally, a genius like Jordan would refuse to converse with someone of little intelligence. But years of boredom gets to someone, and eventually you get tired of all the training and practice, and especially the bleeding. The pain isn’t felt anymore- rather, the warmth of his blood served as the most comforting feeling in this Everwinter forest. 

Naming the forest after himself might have been pretentious, sure, but he discovered the universe, so it technically could belong to him- No, but that train of thinking was dangerous. He could become similar to the Ministry. He needed to….

Focus on the angry girl in front of him, waving her arms in front of his face for attention. 

‘Yes, well, as I’m sure you noticed by now, the multi-universal theory is entirely true. I come from the Origin Universe- at least, that’s what we call it.’ Jordan replied, unfocused.

‘And what about the time travel thing? How did you do that?’ Bailey asked passionately.

Jordan dangled his bloody pocket watch in front of her eyes. It was constructed with an immaculate black onyx-like colour, and golden hands rotate through the beautiful field. ‘This is called a timepiece. It is used by… well, anyone who happens to have one, and we are called timekeepers. It is used to control the flow of time.’ 

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