Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The steady sound of the moving truck driving down the road had Aphmau zoned out, leaning her head against the window as she stared out at the houses and people. They had been driving for several hours at this point and Aphmau was getting sick of being in the cramped moving truck. She leaned her head against the window, feeling the steady bumping of the truck on the road against her body almost made her start to doze off. She quickly snapped back into reality when she realized they had taken a wrong turn… again. She may have not been in Phoenix Drop since high school, but she still knew the directions relatively well. “Katelyn, are we going the right way?”

Katelyn, the one who had been driving because she didn’t trust Aphmau or Kawaii~Chan to drive, didn’t take her eyes off the road as she answered. “Aphmau of course we’re going the right way. I would never get us lost.”
The Meif’wa sitting in between the two piped up. “Katelyn~Sama… the three of us got lost twenty minutes ago…”

Katelyn huffed, taking one of her hands off the wheel to shoo her off. “That wasn’t getting lost. We simply got turned around. There’s a big difference.”

“Katelyn I think that’s the definition of getting lost,” Aphmau let out a slight laugh before turning to look back out the window. “It feels so weird being back in Phoenix Drop. I haven’t been back here since I went overseas.” After graduating high school, Aphmau knew she needed a change of scenery and also had always dreamed of studying in a different country. When she had gotten into a university in the Tu’la region, she had jumped at the opportunity to pack up her life and move away.

“Kawaii~Chan is so excited to be living with her friends! Especially since the house is so big and pretty!” Kawaii~Chan clapped her hands together excitedly. The three of them had only reconnected a few months before deciding to move in together. Well, Aphmau had suddenly reconnected only a few months before the three decided to move in and live together. Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn had stayed in touch and had been good friends since high school.
“We also got such a good deal on the house so that’s a big plus,” Katelyn said. “I still don’t know how you pulled that off Aphmau but I got to hand it to you.”

“I mean what can I say, I’m good at getting a good deal,” she chuckled, quickly switching the topic of conversation. “How far out are we? I saw we just passed Phoenix Drop High so we can’t be too far away?”

“Only a few minutes,” Katelyn glanced at the GPS for a quick moment before her eyes fixating back on the road. The three continued to talk until the moving truck turned onto the street they would be living on. “Alright, we’re almost here so get ready to get out of the car.”

“Kawaii~Chan is going to start baking as soon as she gets into the kitchen!” Kawaii~Chan started to gather up the pillows and blankets she had been cuddled up in during the drive. It was only a couple pieces of her massive collection of pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals that had been packed into the back of the moving truck.

“I’m going to take such a good nap as soon as I can make my bed,” Aphmau said as she also started to gather her things that had been messily shoved on the floor by her feet.

Katelyn let off a soft chuckle while watching the two scramble as she parked the moving truck on their new driveway. “Well before we go off napping and baking, we need to unload everything from the truck so we don’t get any late fields from the moving truck company.” With that, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the moving van. She groaned and stretched, her back being super stiff from the drive.

“Yes Katelyn,” Aphmau said as she climbed out of the moving truck, stretching her arms above her head as she looked at the house in front of her. It was quite a nice place, clearly nicer than the amount they were paying would make it seem like. She then turned to help Kawaii~Chan get out of the van, being careful to make sure she didn’t drop any of the pillows she was holding.

“Well,” Katelyn said after a moment of admiring their new home. “The truck isn’t going to unload itself. We should get going. Aphmau, why don’t you and Kawaii~Chan unlock the house and then you two can help me unload the truck?” Katelyn was often the one to take charge. At least one member of the trio had to be or else they would get absolutely nowhere.

“Yes Katelyn~sama,” Kawaii~Chan answered as she hurried towards the front door with Aphmau a few paces behind her. She stepped to the side to let Aphmau unlock the door since her hands were super full.

Aphmau quickly fumbled through her pockets trying to find the key she was mailed a week before they made the move. She soon found it, stuck it into the keyhole, and unlocked the door to their new house for the very first time. She smiled as she pushed the door open and took the first steps into the house. The first steps of her new life…

Meanwhile, in the house directly across the street, four men crowded around their living room window, peering out at the house across the way without drawing too much attention to themselves. Garroth, Laurance, Dante, and Travis had been living together for the past two years. The four had decided to move in together after finishing college. The four were as close as friends could be and they loved living together. However, their peaceful life in this neighborhood was being turned upside down right in front of their eyes.

“This… isn’t happening,” Dante said, scratching the back of his head. “It.. clearly can’t be them. There’s no way.” He took a step back from the window, trying to rationalize this.

“No way. Definitely not. That would be way too much of a coincidence for Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan to be moving in directly across from our house,” Travis agreed, also backing away from the window. Travis and Dante then turned to look at Garroth and Laurance, who were still staring out the window with their mouths slightly agape. The two of them almost resemble two dogs drooling over a treat. “Are you two seriously drooling?!”

Laurance snapped back into reality, straightening himself up and quickly closing his mouth. “Of course we weren’t drooling!” He defended himself, but still didn’t take his eyes off the window.

“Right. Definitely not. Of course not,” Garroth agreed, also straightening himself. He took his eyes off the window for a moment in order to look at Travis and Dante. There was an awkward silence, their four minds all racing with so many different questions about the situation that they found themselves in.

“It seems very unlikely that this is all just some big coincidence,” Dante said after a moment. “Garroth. Laurance. One of you knows something. Both of you look guilty constantly so I’m going to believe it was one of you.” His accusation is baseless, but then again most of his accusations are baseless and he still had a seventy percent success rate. “Especially since you both had that massive crush on Aphmau in high school.”

“Dante.” Garroth looked almost offended. “Laurance and I haven’t seen Aphmau in years. There is no way that either one of us would even be able to pull some mysterious strings in order to miraculously get Aphmau to move in across the street.” He then gestured towards Travis. “What about Travis? He used to have a massive crush on Katelyn. So, by your logic, he could've been the one to get them to move in across the street.”

“Hey don’t rope me into this,” Travis said, putting his hands in the air as if to prove his innocence. “If we’re going by THAT logic, we should just say that Dante was the one who got them to move in there because he and Kawaii~Chan used to date.” Travis then moved towards the window and closed the curtains. “We should also probably stop staring at them too before we get caught.”

“Hey. Kawaii~Chan and I dated for like two months several years ago. The girl is sweet and we’re chill now but there’s no way I would purposefully try to find some way for them to move into this neighborhood.”

The three then turned to look at Laurance, who had moved the curtains ever so slightly to stare out the window and had proceeded to zone out from the conversation currently taking place. “Laurance!” Dante walked over and slapped him gently on the back of the head, almost as if he was trying to activate a reset button.

Laurance winced slightly, even though the slap really didn’t hurt. “What?!” He turned to face Dante, giving him a playful shove. “I didn’t do anything,” He defended himself, but there was an ever so slight tone shift in his voice.
“We’ve been friends long enough where I can tell when you’re lying. So spill,” Dante looked into Laurance's eyes, holding his gaze. They seemed to be locked in a power of wills. After a long and awkward moment of the two making intense eye contact, Laurance let out a sigh and looked away.

“Alright alright I confess,” he put his hands up in the air in defeat. “I saw on Katelyn’s Facebook that she, Aphmau, and Kawaii~Chan were looking to move in together so I may have… anonymously sent the listing for the house across the street to her in hopes that they would move in there because things have gotten boring and I thought it would shake up our lives a little bit.” He let out a breath after he finished his explanation, avoiding the eyes of the three others.

"Laurance..." Dante said. He sounded like a disappointed father more than a disappointed friend.

"What?! I thought it would shake things up! This street is so boring!" Laurance said, trying to defend his actions. “We’ve been in the same monotonous routine for like a year so I wanted a little excitement!”

"I would just like to say that I had no part in this." Garroth announced, taking a step away from Laurance to distance himself.

“You’re insane,” Travis chuckled, leaning back against the wall. “I got to admit though, that’s kind of hilarious. I’m also not gonna be totally mad as it will be nice to get to know them again.” He shrugged his shoulders. "Do they even know we live here?"

"Not that I know of." Laurance said as he scratched the back of his head.

“Especially since Aphmau went completely off the grid when she went overseas,” Garroth pointed out.

“If Katelyn moved in across the street, I’m assuming she doesn’t know Travis lives here,” Dante teased gently, giving Travis a playful nudge.

Travis rolled his eyes. “Whatever dude,” He crossed his arms and let out a slight huff. “I wasn’t that bad in high school.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Dante let out a soft chuckle. “And your hair isn’t platinum white either.”

Garroth knew that Dante and Travis would start playfully bullying each other for hours if this kept going, so he changed the subject. "Should we go say hi to them?”

"Absolutely not." Dante said, quickly. "We'll wait for them to come to us and then pretend we know nothing of Laurance’s plan. Knowing Kawaii~Chan, I’m sure she’s going to introduce herself to all the neighbors soon enough.”

"Fair plan. I'm ordering a pizza." Travis said. He took his phone from his pocket and wandered into the kitchen. The three quickly followed and an argument started about what pizza flavor to order.

After a few hours of unpacking, Aphmau stood in the middle of her new room. It was an absolute mess, but that wasn’t surprising since she just moved in. She thanked Irene that the bigger furniture pieces had been delivered and set up beforehand. Now all that was left to unpack all these boxes and decorate. She started going through boxes one by one, taking things out and putting them into piles to be more precisely put away. As she was unpacking, she seemed to be lost in thought. Like her mind was somewhere else. She didn’t even realize she had been spaced out for almost fifteen minutes until she was snapped back by a voice coming from the doorway.
"Aphmau?" Katelyn’s voice was gentle as she spoke. “Are you alright?” She moved to sit next to her.

"I'm fine." Aphmau said quickly, almost as if trying to hide that she had been spaced out. “What’s up?”

Katelyn’s eyebrows furrowed. She knew she was being lied to, but right now she knew better than to press the issue. Aphmau had been having these weird space out moments since they reconnected, and the one time Katelyn did bring it up Aphmau freaked out and called her crazy. So, she decided to just let it go. "We were just gonna order lunch since Kawaii~Chan wants to stay in and make cookies for the neighbors. Do you want anything?"
"I'm not hungry,” She said quickly, which wasn’t a lie but wasn’t necessarily the truth either. “Just order me something for later."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Katelyn asked, a hint of concern coating her tone.

"I'm fine," Aphmau said again, a small smile forming on her face as if to convince Katelyn what she was saying was true. "I'll be down in a second to help with the cookies."

"Ok..." Katelyn said. She didn’t seem convinced, but she walked out of the room and closed the door gently behind her.

Aphmau took a deep breath. She hated lying to Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan, but they couldn’t understand the thoughts that were racing through her mind. She knew that the second they knew they would see her differently and she couldn’t have that. At least not yet. After a few more minutes of being spaced out, she stood up and went into the bathroom. She splashed some cold water in her face, trying to get her mind to focus on realty. After drying her face, she hurried downstairs to join the other two. She walked into the kitchen to see Kawaii~Chan humming and stirring cookie batter. "Hey Kawaii~Chan!” She put on a smile. "How are the cookies coming along?"

"They're coming along great Aphmau~Senpai! They should be done in about 30 minutes!" Kawaii~Chan said quickly, looking over. “Chocolate chip cookies are pretty basic but Kawaii~Chan thinks they’re going to be a real crowd pleaser!”

"That's great! We can go around and deliver them to the neighbors after you’re done,” Aphmau hummed slightly, wondering what her new neighbors would be like. Maybe they would become her friends?

"I think a lot of people that we knew from high school live around these parts." Katelyn commented from the couch in the living room. "I know Lucinda just lives a few blocks down."

Aphmau nodded, seemingly not surprised by this information. "Well then I can't wait to see old friends!" She walked into the living room and sat down next to Katelyn, who had started watching TV. After about thirty minutes, a ding from the kitchen pulled both Katelyn and Aphmau away from the show they had been watching.

"Aphmau~Senpai! Katelyn~Sama! Kawaii~Chan's cookies are done!" Kawaii~Chan called from the kitchen. Aphmau and Katelyn stood and entered the kitchen to see Kawaii~Chan putting the cookies in little goodie bags.They were pink, just like everything else Kawaii~Chan owned.

"These are cute Kawaii~Chan," Katelyn said as she picked one up and examined it.

"Thank you Katelyn~Sama! Now let's go deliver the cookies!" Kawaii~Chan said. She then put several bags of fresh pink cookies in a basket. With the cookies and high spirits, the three left the house and headed towards their first target, the neighbors across the street.

Chapter Text

Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan were soon standing in front of the house directly across the street from theirs. Aphmau almost seemed nervous, knowing how important first impressions can be. "Ok. First house." Aphmau took a deep breath, almost as if to hype herself up.

Katelyn rolled her eyes slightly. “I can knock if it’s that big of a deal-”

“No no I got it!” Aphmau dusted herself off quickly and put on a smile. She then quickly knocked on the door.

There was shuffling from the other side of the door, like someone was running to get to it. There was a pause, and then the door opened. In the doorway stood… Garroth. Garroth Ro’maeve. It had been years since Aphmau had gotten a good look at Garroth. The summer after senior year was the last time they had been in the same room together. He looked older, his golden hair slightly longer now than it was back then. She remembered how much he hated his shorter hair and wanted to grow it out, but back then his father had heavily disapproved. “Garroth?...” Aphmau couldn’t say anything else, at a complete loss for words.
Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn both just kind of stared at him with Kawaii~Chan’s mouth wide agape in shock.

"A-Aphmau..." Garroth froze for a moment as he looked Aphmau up and down. He couldn’t help but just stare at her. When Aphmau had dropped off the face of the earth, it had devastated him. He knew she was living her best life and had cut off everyone, but it had still hurt. However, at this moment, none of that mattered. Without a second thought, he pulled her close and into a tight embrace.

Aphmau was in such a state of shock that she just hugged back, holding him close. This felt… nice. "Garroth... I can't believe it's you.” She honestly didn’t know what else to say. “Do you live here?” The answer to that question was obvious, but she still had to ask.

"Yeah,” He said, still holding her close. It was almost like he didn’t want to let her go. “Ever since you went on that trip overseas I haven't seen or heard from you. Where have you been?"

"Right. My trip overseas,” Aphmau didn’t answer his question as she let go and took a step back.

"Oh my god, the others!” Garroth said quickly, seemingly coming back to the reality of the situation. He called back into the house. Soon, Laurance, Dante, and Travis appeared at the door. After the moment of shock wore off, they had all given hugs and greetings.

"I can't believe you all live together," Katelyn said, still genuinely shocked about that specific part of all this. “It’s like high school all over again.”

"Yeah! Kawaii~Chan has missed all of you so much! She’s so happy that she’s able to reconnect with so many old friends!" Kawaii~Chan’s tail was swishing back and forth happily.

"Yeah... I missed you guys too." Aphmau said, a genuine smile on her face. "Oh and we have cookies!" She turned to Kawaii~Chan and grabbed four of the little bags of cookies. She handed one to each boy.
“Oh thank Irene- Kawaii~Chan I’ve genuinely missed your baking so much,” Dante said as he immediately opened the bag and started to eat one of the cookies.

Laurance followed suit, also shoving one of the cookies into his mouth. “Oh these are fantastic.”

“She’s gotten so much better since high school, which means that she’s like - a baking goddess now,” Alicia giggled.

Kawaii~Chan’s face went slightly pink. She wasn’t used to getting complimented very often in group settings so even the smallest compliments made her face red. “Aphmau~Senpai’s over exaggerating.”

“Don’t be modest, Kawaii~Chan,” Katelyn said quickly. “I’d be shocked if I don’t gain 15 pounds in the first two weeks of living with you.”

Travis let out a chuckle, but it was hard to determine if that was because he thought what Katelyn said was funny or just because Katelyn was the one who was saying it. He then had a sudden thought. “Do you guys want to come inside and hang out for a bit?”

‘You guys should,” Garroth said quickly. “It’s been so long, we really need to catch up.” Garroth was referring to the whole group, of course, but his attention was mainly focused on Aphmau.

“We know you’re probably busy with moving in and unpacking, but it would be great to spend time with you.” Laurance said, also focusing most of his attention on Aphmau.

Aphmau shifted slightly where she was standing. "We should really go ahead and deliver the rest of these-" Aphmau almost finished her sentence, but was nudged by Katelyn.

“Kawaii~Chan thinks that sounds wonderful!” Kawaii~Chan clapped her hands together.

"Yeah! It'll be fun to catch up!" Katelyn says, a smile on her face. She glanced at Aphmau, giving her a slight look. “We can deliver the rest of the cookies later.”

"Alright..." Aphmau said, but she wasn’t as excited as everyone else was. She had other things on her mind.

"Great! Come on in!" Laurance led the group inside and into the living room. Before they entered the living room, Aphmau pulled Katelyn aside and quickly led her to a secluded spot in the hallway. "What are you doing?" Aphmau whispered. “We had a plan.”

"Since when did you follow plans so rigidly?” Katelyn leaned against the wall, squinting her eyes slightly. “Don’t you want to see them? I mean I saw the way you practically clung onto Garroth when he hugged you.”

Aphmau stuttered, her face going red as Katelyn called her out. “What about our other neighbors?" Aphmau said as she crossed her arms, slightly frustrated and trying to change the subject.

"Am I missing something? Is there someone you want to see?" Katelyn asked as she looked Aphmau up and down. Something was up and she was trying to push Aphmau to actually talk to her.

"No- I mean- Never mind,” She said quickly, stumbling over her words. “I’m sure spending a little bit of time here wouldn’t hurt.” With that, she turned and entered the living room before giving Katelyn a chance to reply. When she entered the living room, she glanced around. Kawaii~Chan was wrapped up in a conversation with Dante, seemingly catching up on their lives post high school. She noticed that as soon as Katelyn entered behind her, Travis pulled her aside to start a conversation. Aphmau then noticed Garroth waving her over, gesturing her to sit down between himself and Laurance. She hurried over and sat down. "I can't believe you guys all live here. Have you all lived together since highschool?" Aphmau asked, starting the conversation.

"We all went our separate ways for college, but after we all graduated we thought it would be best to buy a house together and split the pay," Garroth said. “Having four people paying is definitely better than having one.”
“Especially when one of us is filthy rich and has great credit,” Laurance teased, glancing at Garroth.

Garroth looked away, slightly embarrassed. “I… guess that does help.”

"Is that the same reason you, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan live together?" Laurance turned the conversation back to Aphmau.

"Pretty much." Aphmau said, keeping her reply short as she really did not want to go into more detail about her living situation.

There was a brief pause as Garroth and Laurance exchanged a worried glance. “Aphmau,” Laurance started, a hint of nervousness in his tone. "Nobody's really heard from you since high school. You seemed to have just... vanished. We were all worried about you..."

“I know. I kind of deleted all social media when I left for overseas and kind of cut contact with everyone,” Aphmau said, looking down at the floor. "I needed a fresh start and to find myself. It was only supposed to last a year and then I would come back for college, but I decided to stay overseas and go to college in Tu’la."

“Why did you come back?” Garroth asked.

“... I wanted to be home. I did five years of school and then decided it would be fun to come back to Phoenix Drop and settle down here. Sure I had a great time in Tu’la but I think I always knew Phoenix Drop would always be home.”

Laurance smiled softly as he listened to her talk, absolutely transfixed on every word coming out of her mouth. “You will have to show us photos soon. I hear that Tu’la is beautiful in the spring.”

“Yeah definitely at some point,” Aphmau said, trying to change the topic once again. “You guys should tell me all about the neighborhood! I want to know all the gossip!” With that, the group delved into that conversation.

The group had been so wrapped up in conversation and enjoying eachothers company that they didn’t realize several hours had passed until Aphmau glanced at her phone. “Oh my Irene! We've been here for hours."

Dante was lounging in one of the chairs, sipping on a beer he had grabbed. “It’s been great catching up. It’s going to be so great having you guys so close from now on.”

Katelyn agreed. “It’s going to be great finally having my old workout buddy back,” Katelyn said as she looked towards Garroth. “You’re getting me into your gym first thing next week.”

“Of course Katelyn. Laurance stopped going to the gym with me so I desperately need a new sparring partner.”

Laurance huffed, crossing his arms. “It’s not my fault you want to wake up at five AM to go to the gym. I need my beauty sleep to keep myself looking this good.”

Kawaii~Chan stood, stretching her arms above her head. “Kawaii~Chan and the others should be going. We have a lot to unpack.”

“Plus we have more neighbors to deliver cookies to before the end of the day,” Aphmau said as stood as well. “It was great seeing you guys. I’m so glad we all get to reconnect.”

After a lot of goodbyes and loose plans to get together soon, Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan headed out and back towards their house.

Kawaii~Chan let out a yawn, her nose twitching softly. “Kawaii~Chan is tireddddd,” She said. “Maybe we should wait to deliver the rest.”

Aphmau frowned for a moment before quickly covering her disappointment. "I still have energy. How about I take care of the rest of the deliveries and you two go rest," Aphmau said and took the cookies from Kawaii~Chan. "You two get some rest."

"Really?" Katelyn asked, tilting her head slightly at the thought of Aphmau doing more work for seemingly no reason. "That's real sweet Aphmau."

"Of course. Anything for our new neighbors." Aphmau said and took the basket of cookies from Kawaii~Chan. She stood still and watched as Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan headed back towards the house. As soon as they got inside and the door closed behind them, Aphmau took off in a brisk walk down the street. She glanced at house numbers on the mailbox, looking for one in particular. Once she found it, she quickly headed up the driveway and onto the porch. Without realizing, she started banging on the door slightly instead of knocking like a normal person.

“Alright alright I’m coming!” There was shuffling from inside the house and soon the door opened. An orange haired woman stood inside. "How can I- Aphmau?"

"Lucinda!" Aphmau quickly pulled her into a hug suddenly without any regard for the fact that they haven’t been in contact in over six years. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to see you!"

Lucinda let out an awkward chuckle before returning the hug. This wasn’t what she expected but she wasn’t necessarily upset about this. "It's good to see you too darling. I'm guessing you're the new neighbor who moved in?" She asked.

"Well it's Katelyn, Kawaii~Chan, and I."

“All three of you? That makes a lot of sense actually,” Lucinda let go of Aphmau and moved away slightly. She glanced at her hands, seeing the cookies. “Are those some of Kawaii~Chan’s cookies?”

“Mhm!” Aphmau quickly handed her one of the bags. “Made by hers truly!”

Lucinda’s eyes scanned Aphmau, almost like she was trying to read her body language. “Would you like to come in for some tea?” Lucinda asksed, propping the door open further so Aphmau could walk inside.

"That would be great." Aphmau said, making her way in Lucinda’s living room. Her living room was decorated in witchy decor from ceiling to floor, candles and crystals on almost every surface. Aphmau had a soft smile on her face.

"Make yourself nice and comfortable. I'll be back with tea in just a moment." Lucinda said before she disappeared into the kitchen.

Aphmau nodded and sat down on one of her couches. She placed the cookies on the table in front of her, trying to keep calm. She had been waiting to talk to Lucinda for a while so she prayed that this situation would work out in her favor.

After a few minutes, Lucinda walked in with two cups of tea and a kettle. She handed Aphmau one cup and set the kettle on the table. She then sat down on the couch opposite of Aphmau. "So you said you've been waiting to see me,” Lucinda began. “I feel like this is more than a social call. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

"Well it's always nice to see an old friend." She said quickly. She was worried that she might’ve offended Lucinda. "However, there is something I'd wish to speak with you about. It has to do with your magic."

"My magic?" She asked, her voice in more of a hushed tone now. "You know it's unwise to use my magic in public Aphmau. Laws have gotten stricter since we were in high school. I’m only allowed to use my magic in designated places and even then it’s looked down upon.”

"I understand that. However, I need your help with something that I can't go to anyone else with." Aphmau said. She didn’t know about the laws, but all she knew was that she needed help. She hoped Lucinda would be willing to break some of those laws to help her.

"Well I'm not sure I can help, but I can at least listen." Lucinda said as she leaned back and took a sip of her tea. "So tell me, what's bothering you?"

"Well,” Aphmau began, not sure how to go about this in a delicate way. “You know how I left for a gap year overseas and didn’t come back until recently?”

"I seem to recall you pretty much dropping off the face of the earth for several years." Lucinda chuckled.

"Well, in reality, that's not what happened. I did head off to travel, but it was only supposed to be a gap year before I headed off to college. While I was traveling, however, I stumbled across… something.”
"Something magical?" Lucinda asked, starting to piece together why Aphmau had shown up on her doorstep and not someone else's.

“Yes and no,” Aphmau said after a moment of contemplating her answer. "I found a portal.”

Lucinda immediately straightened herself after hearing the word portal. “A portal? Like a portal to another world? That kind of portal?” She was in shock and disbelief.

Aphmau nodded. “I decided to enter it. I know it was foolish but I was so curious. And when I got there, it was a whole other universe. Instead of magic, there were science concepts and inventions worlds ahead of anything we could ever imagine. There are these things called mods that completely changed how the world worked and functioned. It was peaceful and lovely, almost like a calmer version of our world. Sure there were things going wrong like all the time but everything somehow ended up right back to normal. It was perfect, so I stayed.”

“You lived in another dimension… all this time?”

“I shouldn’t have, but I did. It was perfect. I made friends, had a house, and developed a whole life there. I then adopted a child while I was there, a boy named Tommy. Oh Tommy he’s such a sweet kid. He was a clone of a scientist, Doctor Modzilla, because one of Modzilla’s magnum opus in science was creating a fully human clone of himself from nothing but an old tooth with his DNA in it. Modzilla left him with me as his caretaker when he decided to head home to his alternate dimension where he was originally from when he had been ripped from when he was a young age. So-"

"Woah woah woah slow down Aphmau,” Lucinda said to stop her from talking for a moment. Her head was spinning with the amount of information Aphmau was giving her. “You just said a lot and I need to process it.” She took a moment before asking the question that seemed the most important. “So you have a child?" Lucinda asked.

Aphmau froze for a moment. Tommy wasn’t ‘technically’ her child. However, she felt like she cared for Tommy just as much as any mother would care for their young. “Yes,” She finally answered. “I was there for 6 years in total. Which, according to everyone here, was a gap year and then five years of college. Dr. Modzilla,” She stopped, knowing that’s not what she should be calling him. “Monty,” she continued, “Was around for the first year, but when he left I became Tommy’s legal guardian. I became the only mother figure he’s ever known. I raised him for five years.”

“If you have a child and a life in the other dimension, why did you come back here?”

Aphmau frowned. “We had just moved to a new town. A town close to the portal from this world to that one. I would take walks to it when I just needed time to think away from life and day to day struggles. I thought I was the only one who knew about the portal since it was hidden away. I thought I was safe. However, when I was there, someone had just walked through the portal. I didn’t have time to react before he attacked me. I wasn’t prepared. He took my sword and forced me back through the portal. I tried to go back through, but the portal cracked and broke. I’m guessing he destroyed part of it from the other side. Modzilla and I dealt with our fair share of portals and other directions, but I couldn’t fix it.” She took a deep breath, trying to not let herself be too emotional. “It’s been about 8 months since then. I need your help to get back, Lucinda. At least for a little bit. I need to see my son."
There was a long moment of silence from Lucinda. Lucinda held eye contact with Aphmau, almost like Lucinda was testing to see if this was all just some big joke. She soon realized that Aphmau was completely serious. “Aphmau,” her voice was gentle. “There are so many more powerful witches than me. Why did you come to me for this?"

"Back in my world, there were many incredible scientists. Scientists that ones in this world couldn’t dream of being. However, in this world we have magic and witches. You're the most powerful witch I know, and if anyone can help me, it's you."

"I'm flattered, but I'm not sure I can help you.” Lucinda then tapped her foot, the gears turning in her head. “I mean, there’s a chance I could. I would have to see this portal to see what I can do." She had never dealt with a real portal in person, but she had done a lot of research on the concept.

"I know where it is. I have the coordinates written down." Aphmau grabbed her wallet, grabbed a little piece of paper, and handed it over to Lucinda. There were numbers scratched down.

Lucinda took it and read it. "I can make a teleportation potion with this,” she said. A smile was forming on her face. This was so exciting for her. “Meet me back here tomorrow night. I should have it done by then. I will also find any books and research that has to do with portals and make sure I have it all ready by tomorrow night as well."

"Thank you so much Lucinda. You have no idea how much this means to me,” Aphmau said as relief washed over her. At least there was a chance, and that's all she needed. A chance.

"If what you're saying is true and you have a kid you need to get back to, I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you get back to him."

"Thank you Lucinda. Thank you.”

Chapter Text

The next night had arrived, and Aphmau had managed to slip out of the house once Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn had gone to bed. She hated lying to them, it made her stomach feel all queasy, but she had technically been lying to them since the second they reconnected eight months ago. She knew she would have to come clean eventually, but that eventually was not right now. She had her hood up, making it more likely nobody would recognize her if she was spotted. She knew what she was doing, what Lucinda was doing, was technically illegal. She knew that if they were caught, both of them would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, Aphmau didn’t really care about that fact. All she cared about was getting back to her son. She got to Lucinda’s house and headed around to the back door. They had both agreed that it was safer this way. Less chance of them being spotted. She approached and knocked on the back door, rocking back and forth on the balls and heels of her feet impatiently.

Lucinda quickly opened the back door and pulled her inside, shutting and locking the door behind them. “Alright, the teleportation potions are finished and I’ve gathered every book on portals I could find.”

Aphmau nodded, quickly pulling down her hood so her vision wasn’t obstructed. “Perfect. How does this work? What do we do?”

“In my preliminary research I haven’t come across the portal you described to me. With these coordinates, we’ll be able to teleport there so I can get a closer look of the material and the dimensions. If I think the portal can be moved, we can shrink it down and transport it here so I can study it.

“Shrink it? Are there potions that shrink?” She had very little knowledge of magic potions. There were science elixirs in the other dimension and she wondered how similar the two were. She chuckled softly as the thought of Polly screaming at her if she even dared to call her science anything close to magic.

“There are. I’m not sure if my potions will be strong enough or if the materials that make up the portals will even be able to shrink. We have to try though.” Lucinda and Aphmau had made their way towards the living room, where two bottles of a sloshing green liquid sat on the center table.

“Will the shrinking potion cause any damage to the portal? I don’t want to shrink it and then accidentally break it and then-”

“Trust me Aphmau, if we can’t shrink the portal we will find another way to try and get it fixed. I promise.” Lucinda picked up one of the green potions and handed it to Aphmau.

Aphmau held the bottle carefully in her hand, holding it up to her face to get a closer look at the green liquid. “Are you sure this is edible? I feel like this looks like every poison in cartoons.” She noticed that the potion even seemed to sparkle in the lamp light.

Lucinda chuckled. “Trust me darling it’s edible.” She moved closer to Aphmau and gently helped open the bottle. “Once you drink it, it will transport you to the location of the portal. Keep your eyes closed though. Watching teleportation happen gets a little freaky and will definitely make you want to throw up.”

She took a sniff of the potion, her body instantly recoiling almost as a defense mechanism. "So I just down it like a glass of wine?" Aphmau asked as she tried to use humor to get rid of her fear.

“Pretty much. Just don’t even think too much about it,” Lucinda said as she opened her own bottle.

"Alright. Can you count me down?"

"Of course. 3...2...1!" When Lucinda said one, both put the bottles to their lips and drank the sloshy green potion. Aphmau kept her eyes tight and her hand over her mouth, mostly to make sure she didn't throw up the liquid she just downed. It tasted… Aphmau couldn’t even describe the taste, it was that strange. It wasn’t bad so to speak, but it definitely wasn’t good either. She soon felt the texture of the ground change under her feet from carpet to grass and felt the temperature of the air surrounding her drop a good ten degrees. "L-Lucinda? Lucinda, are you there?" Aphmau asked as she kept her eyes shut, terrified of opening her eyes too early.

"I'm here sugar. You can open your eyes." Lucinda’s familiar voice said from most likely 20 feet away.

Aphmau opened her eyes slowly and looked around. Instead of seeing the walls of Lucinda's living room, she saw large trees surrounding her. She was in the middle of a large oak wood forest. She then looked in front of her to see a familiar sight, the sight she had been waiting to see. It was the portal that led to the other world, the portal that led to Tommy. The marble-like stone glimmered in the little sunlight that shined through the trees. Tu’la was in a different time zone so the sun was still barely in the sky at this point. However, a chunk of the portal was missing from the side and the portal clearly wasn’t activated.

"It's bigger than I expected." Lucinda said as she headed towards the portal. She then pressed her hand against the stone and traced the markings with her finger. “These markings here, are they some kind of language?”

Aphmau moved closer to the portal and took a better look at the markings. “It looks like Standard Galactic- I never learned how to read it much but I recognize a few of the characters from old research books Modzilla had.”

Lucinda squinted. “Fascinating. I will have to see if I can find any book on that language in this dimension to see if I can translate these symbols.” She then started circling the portal, seemingly taking its dimensions down in her mind. “Alright, I think if I shrink it down and take it with us, I should be able to regrow it in my basement without causing damage to the ceiling.”

“It doesn’t look like the portal is attached to the ground at all, it seems to just be resting on top of it. That means it should be easy to just pick up once it’s tiny right?”

“That's the plan. I brought the shrinking and growing potion so if we shrink it and somehow can’t pick it up, we’ll just regrow it back and go from there,” Lucinda pulled out a small vial from her left pocket, a purple liquid inside. She carefully opened the vial and let three drops of the purple liquid drip onto the portal. The portal seemed to vibrate for a few seconds before shrinking down to the size of a paper weight.

Aphmau blinked, almost surprised that it worked. She trusted Lucinda completely, but she still had her doubts that something over nine feet tall could become no more than a foot tall. She walked over and quickly picked it up, holding it gently in her hands almost like it was a newborn baby.

Lucinda moved close to Aphmau and examined the portal as well. “Wonderful!” She clasped her hands together. “Alright, we should hurry back home. I don’t know how abandoned these woods are but I personally don’t want to stay long enough to find out.”

“Right, I don’t need to almost get arrested in Tu’la again,” Aphmau said almost too casually.

“Again?” Lucinda’s eyes widened as he stared at Aphmau. “How did you almost get arrested?”

Aphmau froze for a moment. She probably shouldn’t have said that but there was no going back now. “When I came out of the portal, I didn’t have any currency used in this dimension. However, I did have a ton of diamonds and gold as those are the currencies used in the other dimension. The first pawn shop owner thought I had robbed a jewelry store nearby and tried to call the cops. I had to lay low for like two weeks before I tried again at a different pawn shop.” She let out a weak chuckle.

“Honestly I’m kind of relieved. When you said you almost went to prison I kind of assumed the worst for a second,” She let out a laugh and grabbed two of the potions sitting on her belt, handing one to Aphmau. “These will take us back home.”

“Alright. Can you count me down again? This will never not be weird,” Aphmau said, opening the bottle and shoving the cork in her pocket quickly.

“Yes darling. 3…2…1!” And with that, both Aphmau and Lucinda drank the potions quickly. Just as she had felt the shift earlier, she had felt the texture under her feet change back from grass to carpet and felt the temperature quickly rise back to room temperature. “There we go, all back to normal,” Lucinda said as she walked over to Aphmau and gently took the portal out of her hands and examined it.

Aphmau opened her eyes again, looking at Lucinda. She was definitely feeling nauseous after all that teleporting and she honestly just wanted to go crash in her bed after all this. “Is there anything else we need to do? Or anything else you need from me?”

“I don’t think so right now,” Lucinda was tracing the smaller patterns on the portal with her finger. “I’ve never seen a portal like this before. It’s giving off an energy unlike any magic object I’ve ever encountered.”

“That’s because it’s most likely not magic. I think this is a portal from the other dimension into this one and not the other way around,” She explained. Aphmau let out a yawn, feeling the tiredness start to consume her. “I should probably head back. I’m exhausted and I really don’t want Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan knowing about any of this.”

“You haven’t told them?” Lucinda had a mix of concern and shock in her voice. “Aphmau, what did you tell them about the past six years?”

Aphmau frowned, already starting to get irritated with this line of questioning. “I’ve been telling everyone that I went to college and just… lost contact.” She looked at Lucinda and was almost annoyed at Lucinda's look of concern. “Look I know lying to them is wrong but how do I explain any of this to them without them freaking out? I really need to focus on getting back. I don't have time to deal with their questions.”

“So you haven’t told anyone besides me? Darling what’s going to happen if we’re able to open the portal. Are you going to tell them then? Or are you going to continue to hide this?”

Aphmau stood up, letting out a more frustrated sigh. “Look, I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it. They can’t know right now. I’ll… let them know eventually.” Though she was saying that, her voice had waves of uncertainty.
Lucinda frowned, standing up as well. “Aphmau,” she moved towards her and took her hands gently. “I’m going to help you with this, of course, but I really think you should tell the others about this before we get too far. If they find out you’ve been lying to them…”

“They won’t find out. As long as you don’t tell them.” Aphmau squeezed her hands gently. “You’re not going to tell them, right Lucinda?” With those last two words, Aphmau squeezed Lucinda's hands ever so slightly tighter.

Lucinda looked Aphmau in her eyes, trying to find any indications of what Aphmau was thinking. Aphmau's eyes stared back at her and Lucinda knew the other woman was most likely trying to do the same thing to her. Lucinda knew this was wrong and knew the others would be absolutely heartbroken if they found out Aphmau had been deceiving them. However, she knew she couldn’t be the one to tell them. At least right now. Right now it had to be Aphmau’s choice. “Of course not Aphmau,” she said after a long moment.

“Good.” Aphmau let go of Lucinda's hands. “I’ll come back over tomorrow night so we can start working. I cannot thank you enough.”

“Goodnight Aphmau. I will see you tomorrow,” Lucinda said gently, still a hint of worry wrapped around her words. She watched Aphmau grab her coat and hurry out the back door. She let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in. “Irene, give me strength.”

Aphmau soon had started back towards her house, careful to avoid street lamps and other light sources that could give away her identity. Sure maybe she was a little paranoid, but if anyone were to find out about this she could lose her chance to see Tommy again. She wasn’t going to risk that, even if it meant lying and deceiving everyone she knew here. Soon, she opened the door ever so quietly and slipped back into her house. She almost let out a sigh of relief when suddenly there was a quiet voice from the top of the stairs.

“Aphmau~Senpai?” Kawaii~Chan stood at the top of the stairs, wearing a pink nightgown and holding one of her many stuffed animals tightly in her arms. She made her way downstairs, looking worried. “What was Aphmau~Senpai doing outside so late? Is everything ok?” Her ears were down, clearly worried.

“Kawaii~Chan?” Shit. She really didn’t want to deal with this right now. All she wanted was to sleep. “I just went out for a late night walk. Go back to bed.” She kept her voice calm, making sure not to show any sign of stress. She had always been good at keeping her emotions under control when she needed to so she could get the outcome she wanted.

“... Right. Ok Aphmau~Senpai, Kawaii~Chan trusts you,” She said gently, giving a soft smile. “Does Aphmau~Senpai need anything before Kawaii~Chan goes to bed?”

“I don't need anything. Goodnight Kawaii~Chan.” Aphmau walked past the meif’wa and headed up the stairs towards her room, not looking back. She entered her room and leaned against the closed door, closing her eyes. She would tell them. Someday… she would tell them. But right now, all she wanted was to go to bed.

Chapter Text

One month and twenty four days. One month and twenty four days since Aphmau and Lucinda had retrieved the portal in Tu’la and brought it back to store in Lucinda's basement. One month and twenty four days and they had barely made any progress. Aphmau had been going to Lucinda's house almost every night, yet nothing ever seemed to happen while she was there. Lucinda had been working incredibly hard, she didn’t doubt that for a second, yet Aphmau was starting to get impatient. However, right now Aphmau was facing a bigger struggle. That struggle was finding the energy to get out of bed and actually start her day. She groaned, rolling to her side as she tried to sit up, yet her body seemed to refuse to move. That was until she heard a repeating knock at her door.

“Aphmau~Senpai,” Kawaii~Chan called through the door. “Look out your window! It’s snowing! It’s super pretty outside!”

The idea of snow immediately jolted Aphmau out of bed and she quickly hurried to her window and opened the curtains. It seemed to have been snowing all night, as snow covered the trees, the ground, the cars, and the roof. Aphmau smiled gently, not having seen snow like this since she was back in the other dimension. Memories of playing with Tommy in the snow filled her mind.

“Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn~Sama are going out to play if Aphmau~Senpai wants to join!” Aphmau then heard the sound of Kawaii~Chan hurrying down the stairs. She took a deep breath and headed towards her closet, grabbing some of her winter gear and putting it on quickly. She then hurried outside. Before she could glance around to spot Katelyn or Kawaii~Chan, she felt a snowball hit her square in the chest. Her body winced in shock even though it really didn’t hurt all that much. When she looked for the culprit, she saw Katelyn with her hand covering her mouth to conceal her laughter. “Oh it’s on!” She hurried off the porch and reached down to grab a pile of snow. She quickly formed it into a ball and chucked it at Katelyn with all her strength.

Katelyn, being hit by the snowball in the side, flopped down into the snow dramatically. She groaned dramatically, acting like she had been shot. “I can’t believe you did this,” she said, faking the pain in her voice.

“No! Katelyn stayed with me! You can’t die like this!” She hurried over and got on her knees next to Katelyn, grabbing her hand. “You can’t leave me!” Aphmau always had a flair for the dramatics, and she was channeling all the telenovelas she had watched into this performance.

“I’m going into the light Aphmau,” Katelyn said as she reached up towards the sky. They were both able to hold their seriousness for all of three seconds before they both burst out in laughter.

Aphmau soon laid down next to Katelyn in the snow, staring up at the sky.

“Are we having snow time? Kawaii~Chan wants to join!” Kawaii~Chan hurried over and laid down on the other side of Aphmau. She started making a little snow angel as she laid there, happy and content.

Aphmau closed her eyes for a moment and let out a sigh, almost as if to release all the stress in her body that had been building up recently. She hadn’t felt this content in this moment with her friends and she almost forgot about everything that had been causing that stress. She reached out and grabbed Kawaii~Chan's hand with her left hand and Katelyn’s hand with her right. “You know I love you guys so much right?”

“Of course I know that,” Katelyn said as she turned her head to look at Aphmau. “Are you alright?”

“Aphmau~Senpai does seem kind of tense. Does Aphmau~Senpai want to talk about it?” Kawaii~Chan's eyebrows furrowed with worry for a moment.

“No, I'm alright. I just wanted you guys to know that.” She looked back towards the sky. “I wish we could just stay here forever.”

Meanwhile across the street, Garroth and Laurance were watching the snow falling gently over the street. Well, more like they were both watching the raven haired girl laying in the snow looking like something out of a movie. “A beautiful sight, isn’t it Laurance?”

“Yes it is Garroth. Yes it is,” Laurance chuckled and leaned over the railing slightly. “So, are you going to ask her out or am I?” He asked suddenly.

Garroth leaned against the wall of the house, quiet for a long moment as he pondered the question Laurance asked. “I have no idea,” He finally answered. “I mean, seeing her after all these years is causing all these emotions I thought I got rid of.” He took a deep breath. “Or at least I thought I buried deep enough so they wouldn’t bother me anymore.”

Laurance nodded. “Yeah, I know how that feels.” There was a long moment of silence between the two before Laurance spoke up again with a different question. “How honest do you think she’s been with us recently?”

“What do you mean?” Garroth looked at Laurance, almost shocked at the question. “Of course she’s been honest with us.”

Laurance took a deep breath, keeping his voice low. “I don’t know man, something about the last two months has been… off. She still hasn’t shown us any photos from her trip besides some from the first year and Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan almost seem just as in the dark as we are about what she really was doing.”

“She just wants that part of her life kept more private than others. I don’t think that's a bad thing,” Garroth defended Aphmau quickly. He couldn’t fathom the idea of Aphmau lying to them, he just assumed Laurance was being paranoid. “Sure it’s strange but we should respect her boundaries.”

“Yeah I get that, but there's been other things too. She constantly seems on edge and like there's somewhere else she would rather be whenever she’s out with us. Plus, I’ve seen her leave her home at odd hours of the night on foot. I think somethings up and it’s up to us to figure out what’s really going on.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember the last time we intervened in Aphmau’s personal life?” He shuddered, memories of highschool flooding back into his mind.

“It wouldn’t be like that. We’ve matured since then,” He said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “Besides, what if it’s something bad? What if she's in trouble and she needs help but can’t ask for it? We should be there helping her through whatever she’s going through. That’s what good friends would do.”

“I guess you’re right,” Garroth agreed, taking a deep breath. “We aren’t going to snoop into her personal life though. We are just going to make sure she’s alright.” He was almost trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Laurance.

“Exactly. We’re just going to keep an eye on her.” Laurance then stood up straight, shivering. “We should head back inside, it’s freezing out here.” With that, Laurance turned and headed back inside.

Garorth looked back at Aphmau for a moment, his mind racing with all the possibilities of what could be going on. He took a deep breath, pushed those thoughts out of his mind, and quickly followed behind Laurance back into the house.

After a long day of Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan playing in the snow and having fun, they had made their way back inside to enjoy some hot chocolate and some trashy reality TV. Aphmau had curled up under a big fuzzy blanket, kind of zoned out. She hadn’t even noticed that Kawaii~Chan had left the room and the show had been paused until Katelyn cleared her throat. “Huh? What’s up?”

“Can we talk?” Katelyn said, moving closer to Aphmau and pulling her up so that the two were facing each other on the couch.

Aphmau was kind of surprised by this. Katelyn seemed more serious than normal, and Katelyn was always the most serious out of the three girls, “Sure… Is something wrong Katelyn?”

She took a deep breath, almost trying to find the right words to say. “I want you to promise me that you’re only going to tell me the truth.”

Aphmau squinted her eyes, trying to read Katelyns facial expressions. “Of course. I would never lie to you Katelyn.” She took her hands gently.

“I feel like something is going on with you. I’ve noticed you’ve been sneaking out of the house late at night and not coming back until even later. You also seem like you’ve always got something on your mind. It’s almost like…” Suddenly, Katelyn stopped talking and a devilish smile creeped onto her face. “Oh my Irene.”

Aphmau blinked, wondering what thought just appeared in Katelyns head. “What are you thinking?”
\
“Oh I see what’s going on here. The sneaking out late, the secrets from us, the constant far off look. I know exactly what’s going on here.” She smirked.

“You do?” Aphmau had absolutely no idea what Katelyn was going to accuse her of. There was no way she could possibly know what was really going on right? Unless Lucinda told Katelyn but Lucinda wouldn't do that.
“You’re seeing someone!”

That immediately snapped Aphmau out of her daze. “What?” She couldn’t contain the shock in her voice. Her? Seeing someone? She hadn’t seen anyone like that since… Well that didn’t matter.
“I mean it’s the only thing that makes sense. Oh my Irene who is it? Is it one of the boys across the street? Oh please tell me it’s not Travis but I know you two are just friends so that wouldn’t make sense. Dante and you wouldn’t really make sense plus his dating history isn’t the best-”

“Katelyn-”

“So it’s most likely either Laurance or Garroth. Personally I think Laurance is a bit much at times but I know you had the biggest crush on him in high school. I know you felt the same about Garroth too so-”
“Katelyn!” Aphmau said louder, trying to get Katelyns attention.

Katelyn stopped, looking at Aphmau and quieting down. “Sorry.”

Aphmau took a deep breath. “I’m not dating anyone. It’s just-” She hesitated, trying to find the best lie to come up with so she didn’t have to explain the truth. “It’s been hard since moving back here. Being back in Phoenix Drop just brings back a lot of memories that I didn’t think would still bother me.”

Katelyn's gaze softened. “Oh I’m so sorry Aphmau. I didn’t know.” With that, she pulled Aphmau into a hug. “I get that. Sometimes the memories attached to a place come up and it can be really sudden.”

Aphmau took a deep breath and hugged Katelyn back. “Yeah. I’ve been using these late night walks to clear my head and try to work through these emotions. I’m sorry I’ve been worrying you but I promise there’s nothing else going on besides just working through my emotions and thoughts.”

“That makes sense. Hey, you know me, I love using exercise to work out my issues so I’m glad you’re able to use it as well. If you ever want, you can start coming to the gym with me and we can work out our problems together. Plus with the benefit of getting buff as hell.”

Aphmau giggled. “Hey what are you talking about? I’m already super buff.” With that, she flexed her arms in a dramatic way.

“Sureeeee,” Katelyn giggled and stood, stretching. “Alright, I’m going to turn in for the night.” With that, Katelyn headed up the stairs. She did, however, stop at the top stair and looked back down at Aphmau. “You know you don’t have to keep stuff like this from me. I want you to talk to me about things that are bothering you.”

“I know. I was just nervous and I didn’t want to dampen the spirit of the move and the first couple months of living our adult lives together.” Aphmau fidgeted with the blanket she was still using.

“I get that, but let's not keep any more secrets from each other. You can always come to me no matter what.” Katelyn gave her a soft smile.

Aphmau smiled. “Of course. No more secrets from one another.” With that, she watched as Katelyn disappeared into her room.

Aphmau sat back down on the couch, grabbing one of the many throw pillows and pressing her face into it in order to muffle her loud groan. She hated this. She hated lying. She hated deceiving people who she knew cared so deeply about her. She was already in too deep though and she needed to see this through into the end. The lying, the deceiving, it was all for the greater good. She just needed to get back to Tommy. Tommy was everything to her, and she would do anything to get back to him. No matter the lies and no matter the consequences.

Chapter Text

Phoenix Drop always did get a lot of snow, but Aphmau didn’t realize just how many days would be covered in a powdery white blanket. They were now well into January, with Christmas and New Years coming and going, and once again the ground was covered in snow. Aphmau was curled up in a puffy jacket and several blankets on her porch swing as she watched the light snowfall. Katelyn was on her left, also curled up in a jacket and blankets. “While I love the snow, I am starting to get a little sick of it. I want it to be warm again.”

“Who needs warmth from the sun when we have hot chocolate?” Kawaii~Chan had walked onto the porch while Aphmau was talking and quickly hurried over to the two of them, sitting between them and handing each of them a cup of hot chocolate. “Here you go Katelyn~Sama and Aphmau~Senpai!”

Both women took the hot chocolate and each took a sip at the same time. “This is great, Kawaii~Chan. Exactly what I needed to take the edge off,” Katelyn jokes.

“Of course!” Kawaii~Chan then proceeded to take several large sips of the hot chocolate, sighing in satisfaction afterwards.

Aphmau tried not to laugh. “You were thirsty weren’t you?”

“Well nothing is better than sweet chocolatey goodness on a cold winter day,” Kawaii~Chan said before quickly finishing the rest of the mug. She handed the mug to Katelyn who then placed the mug on the table next to the porch swing.

The three sat like this for a while, chatting away about everything and nothing all at the same time. After a bit, Aphmau glanced down at her phone and saw a ton of missed calls. All from Lucinda. “Sorry guys, my mom is calling. I got to take this,” She stood and stepped back inside, immediately calling Lucinda back. “Lucinda? Lucinda, what's going on? Are there any updates on the portal?” She asked, speaking in a hushed tone.

“Aphmau-” Lucinda seemed out of breath. “I got it opened. The portals open. I was able to use an old spell I found in one of the books I borrowed from an elder and the portal opened. You need to get over here. Now. I think it’ll stay open for a while but I have no idea what I’m doing and-”

Aphmau had stopped listening after the second sentence. The portal was open? She could see Tommy? “I’m on my way.” Without letting Lucinda finish, she hung up the phone and immediately exited the house.

“Aphmau? Is everything ok?” Katelyn asked as she watched Aphmau hurry off the porch and down their driveway. She quickly stood up and started following her.
Kawaii~Chan quickly stood and followed the two of them. “Aphmau~Senpai? What’s going on?”

Aphmau completely ignored the two of them and didn’t stop until she felt Katelyn grab her arm tightly. “Let go of me-”

“Aphmau what the hell is going on? Where are you going?” Katelyn said, using her grip to keep Aphmau in place. She was extremely worried and just wanted her best friend to tell her the truth for once.

“Let go of me,” Aphmau said, trying to keep her cool as she tried to pry herself away from Katelyn. She didn’t have time for this. She needed to go.

“Aphmau~Senpai… you’re worrying Kawaii~Chan. Tell us what’s going on.” Kawaii~Chan's tail swished with a mixture of worry and concern.

“Katelyn let go of me!” She raised her voice and yanked her arm away. She froze for a moment, kind of surprised with herself that she had just done that. She didn’t have time to apologize. Katelyn would just have to understand. She turned and started running off.

Katelyn staggered back, her eyes wide as she watched the other woman run off. “What the hell Aphmau?! You said we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other!” She yelled after her.

“Aphmau~Senpai!” Kawaii~Chan started to move, but Katelyn put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Across the street, Garroth and Laurance had watched that entire interaction go down. Though they had no audio, they could tell from the facial expressions that something serious had just happened. “We should go see what happened,” Laurance said after a brief pause, moving to grab his coat which lay over a nearby chair.

“I’m sure they just got into a spat. Friends fight, it happens sometimes. We should not meddle in their business.” Even as Garroth was saying all of this, he moved to grab his coat from the coat rack and put it on quickly.

“It couldn’t hurt to check,” Laurance said as both men hurried out the door and across the street. Laurance and Garroth soon approached Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan, who were both arguing about what to do with everything that had just happened. “Is everything alright,” he asked gently.
“No, everything is not alright Laurance,” Katelyn snapped, before taking a deep breath. “Sorry.”

“Is Aphmau alright? What happened?” Garroth asked. “We don’t mean to intrude but we saw the argument from our window and just wanted to make sure you guys were ok.”

“Aphmau has completely lost her marbles. She’s been keeping secrets for months and suddenly she gets a call from her mother-”

“Aphmau~Senpai didn’t get a call from her mother.” Kawaii~Chan whispered, almost inaudible.

Katelyn turned to face Kawaii~Chan. “What did you say, Kawaii~Chan?”

“Kawaii~Chan saw the notifications on her phone while she was still sitting with us. The calls were from Lucinda~Sama, not Aphmau~Senpai's mom.” She said slightly louder.

“Of course it’s Lucinda,” Katelyn said quickly, letting out an angry sigh.

“What do you mean Katelyn?” Garroth knew Lucinda lived on their street and they had interacted quite a few times, but he didn’t know how Lucinda played into all this.

“I noticed Lucinda and Aphmau speaking in hushed tones at the Christmas party we threw back in December. Aphmau had been sneaking out at night since we’ve moved back here and then slightly after the Christmas party I saw Lucinda bring Aphmau back to the house late at night. Look I thought Aphmau was having a fling which would’ve explained the sneaking out but Lucinda is definitely not Aphmau’s type.” There was almost a twinge of jealousy in Katelyn’s voice. “And now she lies about who calls us and takes off towards her house? I mean what could those two possibly be hiding? What would Aphmau tell Lucinda that she couldn’t tell me?” She hesitated for a moment. “Or any of us?”

“I had noticed that she had seemed off but I haven't seen her in years and didn’t want to make assumptions. Recently though it’s been a lot more obvious.”

“Look,” Laurance said as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I love Lucinda as much as the next guy and it’s not that I don’t trust her, but something could seriously be wrong and I just want to make sure both her and Aphmau are alright.”

“Standing around here isn’t going to do anything. I’m going over to Lucinda's and I’m getting answers.” Katelyn, without waiting for a response, started heading towards Lucinda's house.

Garroth, Kawaii~Chan, and Laurance all exchanged a worried glance before quickly following Katelyn. They weren’t as angry as Katelyn, but they still wanted to know the truth.

As soon as Aphmau had arrived at Lucinda's, Lucinda had quickly led her down into the basement. Towards the back of the wall sat the portal, the top of the portal barely missing the ceiling. Aphmau had stared at this portal hundreds of times, praying to Irene that the portal would one day work and she would be able to return to Tommy. Now, as she stared at the portal, she watched as beautiful swirls of mystic color filled the inside of the portal and heard the sound of wind rustling from the inside. The portal was activated. Lucinda had succeeded in their shared goal.

“It’s beautiful,” Lucinda said quickly. “I didn’t really get a chance to admire it before I called you but now that I’m looking at it, it's beautiful.”

Aphmau felt tears starting to fill her eyes. She turned to Lucinda and pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you Lucinda. I will never be able to thank you enough.”

She smiled softly and held Aphmau. After a moment, she pulled away and looked into Aphmau's eyes. “Now that the portal is open, what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going in.” Aphmau said, with not a drop of hesitation in her voice. “I need to see Tommy.”

Lucinda frowned. She knew that was going to be Aphmau's response, but it still made her heart feel heavy. “Aphmau. I know how much you want to see your son and I know how much you’ve been working towards this, but I don’t think you should go through that portal without truly understanding what…” She took a deep breath. “Who you’re leaving behind. The people here Aphmau, your friends, they love you and care about you.”

“It’s not like I’m not going to come back,” Aphmau said quickly, but this time there was a hint of hesitation sprinkled through her words. “I just have to let Tommy know that I didn’t abandon him. I have been separated from him for over seven months and I need my son to know I didn’t just abandon him. My son has already been abandoned once and I can’t let him feel like that again.” Aphmau was starting to get emotional, feeling the fear of how Tommy would react to seeing her starting to creep into the front of her mind.

“Aphmau I’m sure he’ll understand. You are his mother.” Lucinda led her to the portal. “Just, please don’t make any rash decisions while you are in there alright?”
Aphmau let herself take a few deep breaths. “Will you wait here for me? I promise I will be back soon.”

Lucinda nodded. “Of course. We’ve come this far after all. However, I sense the others approaching. What do I tell them when they start asking questions? It will be worse if they hear the truth from me then from you.”

“Just try and stall them until I get back. I promise I will tell them everything when I return but I can’t let Tommy wait any longer.” She soon made her way towards the portal and lifted hand up to the swirling energy. She felt a shiver go through her spine and tried not to let the fear encapsulate her.

“Aphmau?” Lucinda took a step forward. She didn't know whether trying to convince Aphmau to slow down was of any use.

“Yes Lucinda?” She looked back at Lucinda for just a moment. The look in Aphmaus eyes was one of determination. She was going to let nothing stay in the way of her goal. Stand in the way of her reuniting with her son.

Lucinda saw the look in her eye and knew nothing she could do or say would be able to sway Aphmau at this point. “I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back soon.” Aphmau looked back to the portal. There was only one thing left to do. With that, she closed her eyes and stepped forward, letting herself be engulfed in the swirling void.

Chapter Text

When Aphmau opened her eyes, she was no longer surrounded by the walls of Lucinda's basement. Instead, she was deep inside an oak forest, trees spanning for farther than her eyes could see. She breathed in, the smells of the forest she had known by heart filling her lungs. She instantly noticed how much cleaner the air was here than in Phoenix Drop. The wave of emotions flooding through her mind was almost too much and she had to lean against a tree just to calm down for a few moments. Once she snapped back into reality, she looked down at the path leading from the portal into the thick grove of trees. She had laid that path long ago, a way for her to find the portal no matter what. She quickly took off, her pace getting faster with every step until she was running through the woods. She had to find Tommy. She followed the path until she made her way out of the woods. When she looked out across the field and up the hill, she saw it. Her home. Well, her new home. She and Tommy had only moved there a few months after her disappearance and she was so glad to still see her home standing. She made her way up the hill until she was standing on her front porch. She raised her hand to open the door but suddenly froze. She felt a wave of panic start to flood over her. Was Tommy inside? What if he had moved away after she left? Has he grown any taller? How was he going to react to seeing her? Was he going to be angry? She shook her head quickly, almost trying to shake the thoughts out of her head. She couldn’t be thinking like this.

She then moved her hand to knock on the store but stopped once again. Was it weird to knock on her own front door? Sure this was technically her house but she took a deep breath and knocked anyway. She thought that if Tommy was inside it would be better for him to answer the door than for her to just suddenly barge in. Seconds felt like days as she waited for someone, anyone, to answer the door. After what she assumed was a minute, she knocked again. And then again. And then again. After the fifth knock, she realized that Tommy was most likely not home. She was about to give up when she glanced over towards a statue sitting on a small table. The statue was of a cat, a real collar with the name Orangy engraved on it wrapped around the statue's throat. She had gotten this statue made when Orangy passed away and it sat on the porch as a symbol of Orangey always watching over her and Tommy. She carefully picked up the little statue and a silver key sat in its place. She had always kept a spare key under Orangy’s statue in case Tommy ever got locked out. She picked up the key and carefully set the statue back down, giving it a soft pat. She used the key to unlock the door, listening to the creek of the hinges as she pushed open the door.

It was almost exactly as she had left it. She walked through the house, less looking for Tommy and more to just look at everything that she had left behind. No. That had been taken from her. When she had finished looking around the first floor, she had made her way up the stairs. She was careful to make as little noise as possible, though she didn’t quite understand why she was doing this. Maybe because of the one percent chance Tommy was simply asleep and she wouldn't want to wake him. She also felt wrong behind in the house and felt like she was breaking in even though she was the one who built this house from the ground up. She soon stood in front of Tommys bedroom. She immediately froze, just staring at the door. No, she couldn’t go in there. Not right now. Not without Tommy. Tommy already didn’t like when she was in his room when he was there and she hadn’t been gone for over half a year. He was a teenage boy so that made sense, he liked to have his privacy. She soon moved away from the door and made her way towards her bedroom door. After a second of hesitation, she opened the door and walked inside.

It was almost exactly the same as how she left it. Her work that she had been doing before she had taken that walk still cluttered her desk. She made her way to her closet, knowing that she most likely had to change. Fashion was slightly different in this dimension then in Phoenix Drop and, while her clothes wouldn't get her burned at the stake, she really didn’t need to get any strange glances right now. She chuckled as she looked around her closet, noticing a surprising lack of her sweatshirts that she knew she had left hanging up. Tommy had always loved to sneak a couple of her sweatshirts at a time and wear them and she assumed that once she had disappeared Tommy had increased the habit. She quickly got changed into a more acceptable outfit for this dimension and left her Phoenix Drop clothes folded on her dresser. She then thought for a moment. If Tommy wasn’t here and hadn’t moved away after she disappeared, then he was most likely in the town nearby. She needed to find him so she soon made her way out of the house and followed a different path that she had made from her house that led into town.
When she got into town, she made sure to put her hood up to at least conceal her identity somewhat. She didn’t need any of the people in the town to recognize her. It wasn’t a small town, but small enough where people tended to recognize others fairly easily. She started searching the town, trying to find any traces of Tommy. She didn’t know if she was going to find him or if there was a point in doing any of this, but she needed to try. She had almost given up after a while of searching when suddenly, after rounding a corner, she spotted a boy entering a building made of white marble stone. It was Tommy. She didn’t recognize the building he entered; she assumed that it must’ve been built after she had been forced out. She waited for about a minute to see if he was just making a quick stop. Once she saw that he wasn’t, she hurried over to the building. She didn’t expect the door to open as she pulled on the handle, so when it opened she took that as a sign from Irene and slowly walked inside. She stayed quiet for a moment as she glanced around. She was almost surprised that she hadn’t realized it was a laboratory from the outside. The lab equipment, the examination tables, the futuristic technology. She was far too familiar with laboratories from her time working with Modzilla, Polly, and Laila. She quickly looked towards the stairs as she heard footsteps. She then finally saw him after so long. Tommy.

Tommy froze right before reaching the last step. He had been distracted thinking about his latest experiment that he hadn’t even noticed Aphmau until he was almost completely down the stairs. “Aphmau?” He said hesitantly, almost thinking this was some clone experiment gone wrong or some trick his mind was playing on him. When he realized neither of those things were logical, his mind suddenly made the connection that this was really Aphmau, his eyes widened. “APHMAU?!” He ran towards her and hugged her tightly, burying his face into her shoulder.

Aphmau's heart immediately melted once she felt Tommys embrace. Her son was finally back in her arms. “Tommy,” she said with a gentle tone, holding him. “Tommy, I've missed you so much. You don’t know how happy I am to finally see you again.” She already felt tears welling up in her eyes.

The two stayed like that for almost a full minute before Tommy pulled away and took a few steps back. Now that the initial shock wore off, all his other emotions that he had been feeling for the past several months started pouring into his head. “Where have you been? What happened? I thought you were dead? Why were you gone for so long? Are you hurt? What’s going on?”

Aphmau had expected this response. She knew Tommy was going to be angry. He was his fathers clone after all, and Modzilla also wasn’t one who dealt with anger and confusion very well. “Tommy, I would never abandon you on purpose.” She hesitated for just a moment. She had never exactly told Tommy or anyone from this dimension that she was from another dimension. She had planned on doing it, sure, once she got to know the people in this world a bit better. However, she never ended up revealing that secret due to the fact that Modzilla or Polly would have definitely experimented on her for the rest of her life and that was something she didn’t want. She knew now, though, that she would have to reveal the truth. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted.

“Tommy what is all this racket- Aphmau?!”

She glanced over at the source of the voice. “Polly?” Aphmau blinked in shock as she saw the blonde-haired woman staring at her. Before Aphmau had a chance to say anything else, Polly stormed up to her and slapped her clean across the face. Aphmau winced and held her cheek, taking a moment to process what just happened. “It’s… good to see you too Polly,” she said as she let out a soft chuckle. With it being over two years since the two women saw each other in person, Aphmau had almost forgotten about Polly's temper. Almost.

Polly was breathing heavily and her breath almost sounded like a growl with how pissed she was. “How dare you abandon Tommy like that?!” She shouted, her face already red with anger.

Another woman quickly hurried down the stairs after hearing the slap, her rainbow hair quite a sight to Aphmau. “Now now Polly I know you don’t like when people come in here without knocking but that doesn’t mean you can- oh my god Aphmau?”

“Laila and I have been taking care of Tommy for months since you just up and disappeared without even so much as a note? So suddenly to the point where we had to move here to take care of him? And then you just show up like nothing happened? AND on top of all that you enter my lab without knocking?!”

Aphmau took a deep breath, her face still stinging from the slap. “I would never leave Tommy behind of my own free will. I was forced.”

“Forced?” Tommy spoke up. “What do you mean you were forced? Did someone hurt you? Did someone kidnap you? I swear to god if I find the person who did this to you I’ll-”

“Tommy I’m ok I promise. Look it’s a long story so we might as well sit down so I can explain to you. All of you.”

“I was just making some tea. I’ll finish making it and then we can all sit down and talk this out. Without any more violence.” Lalia looked expectantly at Polly. “Right?”

Polly huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from Aphmau. “Fine,” she muttered. “This doesn’t mean I’m not still pissed.”

After a few minutes, the four of them sat together upstairs in the living room. Tommy sat next to Aphmau with Laila and Polly sitting across from the table. “Alright we have our tea now you need to start explaining Aphmau. What in science's name is going on?”

“Alright I need to explain everything before you guys can ask any questions so please just let me finish.” When the other three nodded, aphmau took a deep breath. Time to finally confess her sins. “I wasn’t exactly honest to you when I first met you guys. I had told you I had moved from out of town on a whim. That was a lie. The truth was that I traveled here from another dimension. For the first 19 years of my life, I lived a different life. A perfectly normal life for someone in my home dimension. I decided to take a gap year between high school and college overseas from my home. On that trip, I found a portal and because I was curious, or maybe selfish, I decided to go through. I didn’t realize once I would enter I would find this world and I would find you guys and decide I would stay here. I was young and I should’ve told you. I should’ve thought more about the consequences but I can’t change my past. During the first year I would sometimes go back and I came up with the plan to say I was going to college in the country where I took my gap year. I told people I was going to embrace an offline lifestyle so they wouldn't question where I was because I knew I wanted to stay here. I knew I wanted to raise you Tommy.” Aphmau paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. “The day I disappeared, I was taking a walk by the portal. Our new home is relatively close to where the portal is located. I was caught up in my thoughts and didn’t realize there was another person until I was forced through the portal. That person destroyed part of the portal, severing my path back here. I have spent the past half a year and broke several laws in order to get back here. I was finally able to get back to this dimension and now… I’m here.” She looked around as silence filled the room. Irene, she hated silence. “Alright now you can ask questions now.”

Polly was the first to speak. “You’re telling us that you’re actually from another dimension and you NEVER told us? Scientists who have actively been researching other dimensions for the entirety of our adult professional careers?” She sounded furious again.

“Polly,” Laila said in a calm voice as she placed a hand on her shoulder which caused Polly to relax a little bit.

“Do you think I wanted to be studied like a lab rat by you guys? By Modzilla?” She paused for a moment, thoughts of Modzilla clouding her mind. She shoved those thoughts deep down and kept going. “I didn’t. I couldn’t stay here if the rest of my life I was being prodded by the three of you. I’m sorry for never telling you, but I don’t regret my decision.” She then glanced at Tommy, who had been quiet for this whole interaction.

Tommy looked back at APhmau, the look on his face almost indiscernible. “I don’t know how to process any of this. I mean you have this whole other life that I don’t even know about. You’ve done interdimensional travel before meeting Modzilla and you didn’t tell me? Also, how do you not have any void burns?”

“Void burns?” She looked at Tommy, studying the black marking that took up a large portion of his face. “Right, I don’t have any markings. At least from when I traveled through the portal half a year ago. I haven’t checked myself for any this time around. That wasn’t exactly my main priority.”

“It’s good to know that you didn’t just abandon Tommy without a second thought. I still have many questions that you will be answering, but it’s clear this whole situation wasn’t intentional, which is good.” She finished her cup of tea and stood.

Laila looked at Aphmau and gave her a reassuring smile. “It is nice to see you again and I’m glad you were able to get back safely. We did like having Tommy around. It was nice to have an extra set of hands around the lab.”
“I guess it was tolerable,” Polly mumbled.

Lalia then stood and grabbed Polly's hand. “Come on dear, let's give these two some privacy.” Before Polly really had time to protest, Laila gently led Polly out of the room.

Tommy scooted closer to Aphmau, resting his head on her shoulder and releasing a deep breath. He felt the weight of all the stress he had been feeling for these past months slowly fade away. “I missed you so much Aphmau. Not knowing what happened to you, not knowing if you were gone, it scared me so much.” Tommy never liked to admit that he was afraid, but these last several months he had been terrified.

Aphmau shifted and wrapped her arms around him. “I am so sorry I made you feel that way. I will never leave you like that again.” She rubbed his back gently, meaning every word she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter Text

Back in Aphmau’s original dimension just a few moments after Aphmau disappeared, Lucinda jumped a little as she heard loud and constant banging at her door. She remembered Aphmau’s words; ‘Just try to stall them’. Right, she could do that. How hard could it be? She hurried upstairs and shut the basement door, making sure it was locked before speaking through the doorbell camera she had set up. “Hello-”

“WHERE THE HELL IS APHMAU?!” Katelyn had skipped right over pleasantries. If she didn’t get the answers she wanted soon she was going to get violent.

“Katelyn~Sama-” Kawaii~Chan started to say to calm down Katelyn, but was quickly cut off.

“Not now Kawaii~Chan,” Katelyn snapped before turning back towards the door. “You have three seconds to let us in and explain what’s going on with you and Aphmau or I swear to Irene I will have Garroth break down this door.”

Garroth blinked. He hadn't exactly offered himself for that role but he was a bit too afraid of Katelyn to tell her no at this moment.

“Katelyn please calm down. If you promise to stay calm, all of you, I will let you in.” Lucinda was kind of realizing that if she tried to lie or tried to stall for very long, Katelyn would be more likely to beat the information out of her. Frankly she would rather avoid that.

“You promise?” Laurance asked. “Because we want the truth.”

“Yes I promise.” Lucinda said.

The three looked at Katelyn, waiting to see what decision she would make. Katelyn was kind of the ring leader for this brigade mainly because she was the most outwardly angry.

Katelyn took a deep breath. She was still pissed, don’t get her wrong, but she knew she needed the truth more than she needed to pummel Lucinda. “Alright. Fine. I’m calm. Now let us in.”

After a moment, the door unlocked and Lucinda opened the door hesitantly. “Please, come in and sit down.”

The four shuffled their way inside, with Kawaii~Chan heading to sit down in the comfiest chair in Lucinda’s home. Garroth and Laurance sat down together on a loveseat, giving each other a nervous glance. Against Lucinda’s wishes, Katelyn remained standing. “Alright, we’re inside. Tell us what's going on?”

“Where is Aphmau? Why is she not here?” Garroth asked. He couldn’t imagine what he would do if something bad happened to Aphmau.
Lucinda took a moment, considering her options. She wouldn’t tell the whole truth, but she had to give them something. The whole truth was for Aphmau to tell. “Aphmau is safe and will return soon.”

“Where. Is. She?” Katelyn took a step towards Lucinda, definitely trying to intimidate her.

Lucinda looked at Katelyn, then at the group as a whole. “Aphmau came to me shortly after you three moved into Phoenix Drop. She had needed me to help her with something incredibly important that needed my magic capabilities.”

“Need your magic capabilities? What does that mean?” Laurance asked. What would Aphmau possibly have needed that would require magic?

“She had found a portal while she was in Tu’la that had broken and she needed my help to fix it and restore it so she could travel back to the dimension the portal led to.” Lucinda explained, praying to Irene that the rest of them didn’t think she was insane.

The room was eerily quiet for longer than Lucinda wanted, with the four just staring at her blankly.

“Is… Lucinda~Sama saying that Aphmau~Senpai is currently in a different dimension?” Kawaii~Chan asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes. She traveled into the other dimension moments before you four arrived.”

“Is that safe? What if she’s hurt? You let her go by herself when it could be dangerous?” Garroth was always protective of Aphmau in high school and that protectiveness was rising to the surface again.

“Aphmau assured me that it was completely safe in the other dimension. I would’ve never let her go by herself if I didn’t have faith in her and if I had any doubt she wasn’t telling me the truth.”

“Wait. Does that mean she had been in the other dimension before? You said the portal was broken when she found it?” Laurance said. He was hesitant to trust anything Lucinda was saying when he was already finding holes in her story.
“Yes. She had entered the portal before it was broken. However, when the portal was broken and she reentered this dimension, she wanted to have the portal fixed so she could go back. We brought the portal here and had been working together on it for months until today when I was finally able to fix and reopen the portal.”

“Ok yeah yeah magic portal bullshit whatever, you said the portal was here? Where is it?’ Katelyn glanced around. She didn’t know much about magic but knew a portal wouldn’t be tiny.

“... It’s in my basement.”

“You put a magical portal that you had no idea if you would be able to fix for what was on the other side in your basement?” Laurance asked. He knew Lucinda was ballsy but that sounded insane to him.

She was about to answer but was cut off by Garroth standing up and heading towards the basement door. “Garroth it’s locked please don’t break down my door.” She sighed gently.

“I’m going through that portal.” Garroth had a very matter-of-fact tone, already making up his mind. “I’m going to find her.”

“I’m going with him. There’s no way Aphmau can just run off to another dimension without telling me. Us. Without telling us.” She followed Garroth towards the basement door.

“Katelyn and Garroth are right. She could be in danger and we need to go after her.” He stood to his feet.

Kawaii~Chan stood up quickly, mainly so she wasn’t the only one still sitting. “If Katelyn~Sama is going to help Aphmau~Senpai, Kawaii~Chan is going too!”

“I am sure Aphmau is not in danger. When she left, she said she would return soon,” Lucinda said as she moved to stand in front of the basement door. “When she is finished with her business in the other dimension, I’m sure she’ll return.” Lucinda was trying to remain calm, but also knew Katelyn would remove her forcibly if deemed necessary.

“Lucinda. Move right now or I swear to Irene,” Katelyn sneered, stepping closer to Lucinda. She didn’t need to continue that threat because they both knew what that meant.

Lucinda and Katelyn stood like that for a long moment, the tension in the room rising with every passing second. Katelyn's fiery spirit and Lucinda's calm demeanor at a crossroad with neither of them wanting to back down. “Katelyn. I understand you are worried. I know you’re all worried.” Lucinda started to address the group as a whole. “But please, I need you to trust me and I need you to respect Aphmau's wishes. I don’t know what’s on the other side of that portal. If you guys go in with little knowledge of the dimension on the other side, you’re going to get lost.”

“Lucinda~Sama may have a point,” Kawaii~Chan said quietly. “Getting lost in another dimension doesn’t sound fun.”

When Katelyn didn’t seem to budge, Laurance made his way over to the two girls. Katelyn's brute force method didn’t seem to be working, so it was time to try out a different approach. One that utilized one of Laurence's strongest aspects; his charm. “Lucinda, aren’t you at all curious what’s on the other side of that portal? I mean, you were talented enough and wise enough to open a mystic portal all by yourself in only a few short months. That’s so impressive and I think you deserve to be able to see what exists on the other side.” Laurance gave Lucinda a smile once he finished, leaning in ever so slightly.

Garroth immediately picked up on what Laurance was doing. It always felt like Laurance and Garroth had this psychic link and when one came up with a plan, the other one immediately knew with no words having to be spoken. He moved to stand next to Laurance. “You must be the first witch in generations to successfully open a new portal to another realm. If any of us should go through the portal to explore and research what’s on the other side, it should be you. You deserve to be able to fully appreciate the hard work you put into opening the portal.”

Lucinda pondered what the two men were saying for a moment. She had been suppressing her curiosity for months about the other dimension since Aphmau always seemed very hesitant to share details. The answers were always vague and broad which Lucinda had moved past at the time since all she wanted was to help her friend. “Of course I’m curious,” Lucinda said, taking a deep breath. “Portals are incredibly rare and I haven’t heard of another portal being open in hundreds of years but-”

Laurance cut her off. “Lucinda. You are such a talented witch so it only makes sense that you were able to open this portal all on your own. We should all go in, find Aphmau, and then use the opportunity to explore the wonders that exist in the other dimension.”

Lucinda thought for a moment, feeling the four all staring at her. She knew this was wrong but her curiosity was getting the better of her. “Alright,” She took a deep breath as she turned and started unlocking her basement door. “We can go to find Aphmau and explore. If you four are all coming, you will have to stay close to me the whole time. No wandering off.” Once Lucinda got the door open, she disappeared down the dark stairwell.

The four hesitated for a moment until Lucinda was seemingly out of earshot. “Good work,” she said gently after she felt her anger start to fizzle out. With that, she headed down the stairs with Kawaii~Chan following almost directly behind her. This left Garroth and Laurance alone upstairs.

“That was smart Laurance,” Garroth chuckled, nudging him gently.

“Don’t sell yourself too short, Garroth. That was a team effort and I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without you” Laurance gave Garroth a sweet yet slightly cocky smile. With that, the two hurried down the stairs.
Once all five were in Lucinda's basement, they all just stared at the portal for a long moment. They each took in the beauty of the swirling lights for a long moment before Kawaii~Chan spoke up. “It’s so pretty.”

“You know it’s just now setting in just how real and crazy all this is,’ Laurance said.

“Is there a way to find Aphmau~Senpai once we get in there?” Kawaii~Chan looked at Lucinda. “Is there a spell you could use to track her down?”

“I should be able to use a finding spell once we get on the other side. All we need to figure out now is who goes in first?” Lucinda glanced around at the group. “If you guys don’t trust it I’ll-”

“I’ll do it.” Katelyn said quickly, moving towards the portal until she was directly in front of it. “If Aphmau could go through the portal easily, then so can I.” With that, Katelyn took a deep breath and disappeared through the portal. The other four waited, each instinctively holding their breath until they saw Katelyn's head peek back through the portal. “It’s safe. Now come on, we need to find Aphmau,” she said before disappearing once again. With that, Lucinda and Kawaii~Chan both headed through the portal.

Garroth and Laurance hesitated behind for going in, both nervous but not wanting to let the other know. “Are we really going into another dimension to find Aphmau?” Garroth asked.

“Yep. Y’know this isn’t the stupidest thing we’ve done together.” Laurance let out a chuckle as he walked forward and held his hand out for Garroth. He knew Garroth was probably freaking out and wouldn’t want to go through by himself. “And if we both go in at the same time, we can die together like men!” He was joking of course, trying to lighten the mood.

He blinked, glancing at his hand for a moment before hesitantly taking it and letting out a nervous chuckle. “Right. Let’s go.” He squeezed Laurence's hand as they both disappeared through the portal together.

Chapter Text

Being poked and prodded was something Aphmau hated but something she was unfortunately used to. Modzilla had made her a test dummy on more than one occasion and the results were often less than stellar. Now, she was laid down on an examination table hooked up to a few of Polly’s machines. The three scientists had insisted that her vitals be checked and have a few scans done after her interdimensional travel and to test her for any traces of void burns. She wanted to refuse, but she knew it was necessary so she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to get sick or hurt so soon after being reunited with Tommy. She looked over at the boy, who was sitting on the other side of the room in front of his desk. He was quietly analyzing the results of her blood work, keeping his gaze away from Aphmau. Sure she was only gone for a relatively short period of time, but she felt the barrier Tommy had put up with her. She moved to sit up slightly so she could see him better. “Tommy-” Aphmau started to say before she was quickly cut off.

“Not now. I’m trying to make sure all these results are in order,” He snapped, not looking up. He was tapping his foot nervously as he worked. He needed to make sure everything was perfect. Make sure nothing was wrong with Aphmau.

Aphmau let out a soft chuckle before going quiet, letting Tommy work. She knew that tone, remembering Modzilla yelling at her with that same tone of voice. Even as Tommy grew without the presence of Modzilla, it was still apparent just how similar the two were. She would never say that aloud though, knowing that Tommy still felt insecure about those kinds of comparisons. Why wouldn’t he be? Tommy was born from Modzilla's DNA at seven years old to be an exact clone, both by brains and by looks. Tommy was incredibly gifted, smarter than every other child his age in the dimension, but Aphmau knew he still felt inadequate when compared to his creator. Tommy was just a little boy then, and even though it had been years since Modzilla left, it still hurt Tommy. She couldn’t imagine how it felt for him to lose another parental figure for those several months.

After about ten minutes of silence from both parties, Tommy stood up. He ran his fingers through his hair before looking over at Aphmau. “Alright, I’ve finished analyzing the results. Everything looks clear and you’re all healthy.” Tommy’s gaze softened as he approached Aphmau, sitting on the edge of the exam table. “Sorry for snapping at you earlier. Spending so much time around Polly has started bringing out some bad habits,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Aphmau said quickly, moving to sit up more. “I’m just so glad to be back and to be here with you again. I never stopped thinking about you.” She was about to keep rambling but Tommy held up his hand to signal for her to stop.

“You know I don’t blame you for any of this, right Aphmau? Even when you left and I didn’t know what happened, I never blamed you.” He looked down at the ground for the second. “Sure I was worried and angry, but I knew deep down you would never have left me of your own free will.”

“You already have gone through so much and especially after everything with-”

“Look, I’m over what happened with d- Modzilla. Sure he abandoned me at a young age but that doesn’t mean I’m going to respond negatively with any and all feelings of abandonment and inadequacy.” Tommy's voice was calm, but he was fidgeting with his pen ever so slightly.

“I still want you to know just how sorry I am and I will never stop trying to make it up to you,” she said as she sat up fully and reached out to take Tommy's pen from him gently. “Now that you know I’m alright, how about you get these devices off me and we just talk. I want to hear all about your experiments you’ve been working on with Polly and Laila.”

Tommy's eyes lit up as he started unhooking Aphmau from the machinery. “Well we’ve started trying to create an elixir that can…” He suddenly stopped himself from his ramble. “No. I don’t want to talk about what I’ve been doing. I want to know about you.” He finished unhooking her from the machines and sat back down at the foot of the examination table again. “I want to know about your other dimension. I want to know who you used to be and who you are now. I’m old enough to know the full truth.”

Aphmau took a deep breath. “Right,” she said, nervousness creeping into her voice. She knew Tommy was right, but that didn’t make her any less nervous. “You deserve to know the truth. You can ask me anything and I’ll answer it.”

Tommy thought for a moment. “Where did you grow up?” He started with an easy question, wanting to ease into this since he knew this was going to be a lot to process.

“I grew up in a smaller town called Phoenix Drop. It’s where I moved back to after being forced back to my home dimension. It is a really nice place and I do love it there. In my home dimension, humans are not the only species. Werewolves, Meif’was, witches, and elves are not just storybook creatures or things you create through science but are naturally born.”

“What? Really? Like- there’s no science behind it?”

“In my home dimension science is very behind what it is here. It’s extremely advanced for people in my dimension but it’s nothing like what science can do here. When I first came here, I was shocked with just how far science had come and just how easy it was to do things that could never be done in Phoenix Drop.”

“So what do you have instead of science?” Tommy scooted closer, hanging on Aphmau’s every word.

“We have magic. I’m not the most knowledgeable on magic but it can do some extraordinary things. It was how I was able to get back here since I worked with a witch to reconstruct the portal in order to come back here.”
“Wow,” Tommy said, not really knowing how to process that. Magic? Was it real to her in her dimension? He didn’t want to think about that too much yet so he switched gears. “Do you have parents? Siblings? Friends?” Tommy was starting to ask some more personal questions.

“I have a mom,” she said as she started to dive into her interpersonal connections. “When I graduated high school, she decided to travel the world so she left around the same time I did. I would sneak back into my home dimension every little bit in order to text her and keep her updated. She’s the only one who knows about all of this. I’ve sent her so many photos of you and I’ve sworn her to secrecy so she hasn’t told a soul. Which is surprising because my mom is usually such a gossip,” she said with a soft chuckle during that last sentence.

“Did you ever know your dad?” Tommy asked. He was definitely projecting a little bit with that question.

Aphmau hesitated for a moment, knowing the answer instantly but not really knowing how to respond. “No. I never knew my father. He left my mom when she was pregnant with me and I learned at a young age not to ask too much about him since it always made her upset. I also still really don’t want to know that much about him. He never came back so he doesn’t deserve to know who I am or all the things I’ve done.” She sighed gently, looking back at Tommy. “I never want to abandon you just like my father abandoned me. I refuse to be like him. That’s why I worked so hard to get back to you.”

“So both our dads left us then,” he joked before quickly realizing he probably shouldn’t have said that. “Sorry.”

She laughed softly, finding that really funny for a brief moment. “It’s alright. I love using humor to cope with it all.” She moved to stand up, stretching. “I guess you’re right. Modzilla was a very good friend of mine but I will never agree with his choice to leave you behind. If he ever comes back I’ll make sure to give him the old 1 2-” She did a fake punching motion, chuckling to herself.

“Uh huh- Good friend.” Tommy teased. Tommy had always been able to pick up the bit of chemistry that was shared between Modzilla and Aphmau, even when he was young and thought emotions were scary and strange. “I was seven, mom, I wasn’t stupid.” Tommy did want to call Aphmau mom all the time, but there was always a little hesitancy. She was his mother at this point but sometimes it just felt weird which is why he switched between using mom and using her first name.

Aphmau looked at Tommy, rolling her eyes. “Tommy, I never had any feelings for Dr. Mozilla. We were friends but that was it. He was in love with alternate Polly and I-” she sighed. “I had my own stuff to work out. Hiding a big part of who I was for so long got in the way of any of that.”

Tommy stared at her, watching the slight movements of her face as she spoke. He was never the best with emotions and reading other people, but he also believed that Aphmau was full of it. “Sure. You keep telling yourself that.”
“Alright alright we’re not going to talk about this anymore,” she said, trying to change the topic. “What else do you want to know?”

“Did you have friends before moving here? Did you keep up with them like you kept up with your mom while you were here?”

“Of course I have friends. I didn't keep up with them though once I came here. I couldn’t risk telling more than just my mom about this. They all just think I went to college overseas and lost touch. The only person I told was Lucinda and that was only after I needed her help to reconstruct the portal.”

Tommy nodded. “That makes sense. Too many loose ends can definitely cause problems if handled improperly.” Tommy was very logically driven, so it wasn't surprising that he was calling other people ‘loose ends’.
She nodded, letting herself take a deep breath. The thoughts of what she did to her friends were slowly starting to creep into her mind. The lying, the deceiving, and leaving so suddenly without even saying goodbye. She tried to shove those thoughts away but they kept coming back. She had to do what she did, she kept telling herself, because if she didn’t it would have been harder to get back to Tommy. “They’re really great people. I just wanted to make sure I could get back to you as fast as possible so I didn’t give them the full story.”

Tommy suddenly had a thought, not even close to relating to anything Aphmau just said. His mind often thought of things at random and then he would change the topic without really asking the other person in the conversation. “I know this is super off topic, but I have all your old stuff that you left in this dimension. Your armor, your wings, everything. I kept most of your everyday objects here for when you came back.” He had kept the stuff close to him everyday because he knew she would want the stuff when she returned. He also liked keeping the stuff near him for sentimental reasons, though he would never admit that. He hated being seen as sentimental.

“Oh my Irene my wings-” A bright smile appeared on her face. She forgot all about her ability to fly that she had in this dimension due to a scientific pair of wings Modzilla had created. Those wings were one of her favorite of Modzilla's inventions and the power of flight was something she didn’t realize how much she missed until it was brought up. “Do they still work? I haven’t flown in so long I almost forget how it feels like.”

Tommy chuckled. “They should. I know Laila played around with them and they seemed to work fine when she was in the air. She had a lot of fun even though it stressed Polly out. Even though Polly's relationship with Modzilla improved closer to when he left, she still is hesitant to trust anything he ever built.”

“Well now that I’ve been cleared and you know I’m alright, how about we get out of this lab and take the wings for a spin?” She moved her way towards the door, already kind of making the decision for the both of them. She had spent so much time in a lab over the past several years that she always got antsy spending too long in any laboratory.

Tommy grabbed his lab coat and put it back on, soon hurrying downstairs with Aphmau. “Polly! Where is all of Aphmau’s stuff?”

“Why should I know? I probably threw it out because it was taking up so much space in the lab and I needed room to work,” Polly said, not even looking up from her work. She was being dramatic, being fictitious about throwing out the stuff solely so she was not pulled away from what she was working on.

“... LAILA!” Tommy yelled suddenly. “WHERE DID YOU PUT APHMAU’S STUFF?”

Laila peeked in from the other room, giggling softly as she heard Tommy yell. “I stored all her belongings in the cabinet under the Bunsen burners.”

“Thank you Laila,” Aphmau said, moving over to the cabinet and opening the doors, looking at all her stuff. “It’s all here!” She started rifling through her things, soon pulling out the helmet and her wings. She stood back up, placing the diamond helmet on her head and holding the wings to her back. She shivered as she felt the wings connect into her nervous system and start to beat quickly. “Oh I forgot how weird these feel for the first few minutes.”
“Are you ok?” Tommy hurried over and touched the wings gently, making sure they were moving normally with no hint of irregularity. He was definitely still feeling worried for Aphmau’s safety so he wanted to make sure absolutely nothing was wrong with her.

“Tommy,” She turned around and looked down at him, cupping his face gently. “I’m ok. I promise. Now come on, let’s go fly!” She hurried outside with him and before heading down the stairs of the lab, she jumped up and took off into the sky, her wings causing her to soar high into the clouds. She let out a cheer as she felt the wind flow through her hair and all the worries seemingly flow out of her. Flying was always a good stress release and she felt so good at that moment. She soared back down and scooped Tommy up from the porch, flying as she held him by his arms.

Tommy panicked slightly but was laughing at the same time. “Mom if you drop me I swear-” He joked, swinging his legs gently as they flew above the town. They had done this many times before so he knew he was in no real danger.

“Oh please- just because I’m rusty at flying doesn’t mean I’m going to drop you,” She said. After a few minutes of them flying around, she had set him back down on the steps of the lab, staying in the air in front of him. “I missed this. Nothing could mess up this moment-”

“... Aphmau?” A voice suddenly said from behind her.

Aphmau froze, instantly recognizing the voice behind her. Shit. Something came and messed up this moment.