Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nova woke up to the sound of an alarm clock, eyes fluttering as his hand slams down as the clock shuts itself up. He got up, ate breakfast, got himself ready, and headed out to his job.

The motions were monotonous because there was no need to put much thought into them. Though he likes to present himself to the best of his ability, even if his job is a blue-collar one. Even if he may end up getting caked in rubble dust or slightly singed, he found the job quite enjoyable.

Who wouldn’t want to have a job where you could blow things up?

Nova’s a demolitionist, so he just blows things up. That’s as simple as it gets, if one ignores the complexity of the job. In reality, it’s a process that requires one to be level-headed and thoughtful in planning. Explosives are a powerful and relentless force. Humanity is, or attempts to be, calm and collected. Though sometimes, Nova did hope that one day he could just chuck or fire as many explosives at one of his demolition sites and just watch the explosions go off, or listen to them.

But that was a little uncalled for, and so, he simply drove off to work.

Killer Queen played on the radio as traffic was slow. Thankfully, the next site was closer to his home, as he remembered the sounds of work in the faint distance. He parked nearby and donned his hard hat and bright highlight vest and strode in like he owned the place, the evacuated building providing plenty of shade.

“Hey! Nova! Good to see you pretty boy!” one of the workers greeted coyly. It was a little inside joke that Nova is the most handsome of the group. This was proven by some ladies who had one day decided to flirt with him while he was working. Nova obliged, but he put his work above first.

“Ay ay, shush you.” he replied. 

“Wanna hear something interesting?” 

“What would that be?”

“Well, the overnight team was on a roll so all we gotta do is clear the way and pull the trigger.”

Nova suddenly found the remote detonator being handed to him. It was almost like a surprise gift from his fellow workers. 

“What? For me?”

“Well, you were always eyeing the detonator. So, just once, you get to push the button.”

“I uh…” Nova hid his excitement with a sigh. “Thanks guys.”

Everyone proceeded to get to work as they set up traffic cones, barriers, and signs to redirect the traffic away from the building. Once that was done, the workers simply evacuated themselves, taking high ground upon the top of a nearby building.

“Alright Nova, on your mark.”

Nova looked down to the detonator, his finger slipping onto the button before he could even think about it. Seconds passed as the solid ripple and the sound of concussive force shred through the air, and the rumble of a collapsing foundation could be heard. Workers whoop and holler and cheer as the building fell, and billows of rubble and dust bloom from the fall.

And Nova felt a smile crawl on his face. He just accomplished one of the many things he wanted to do…

. . .

. . .

But it seems…there's something else.

"Hey…guys? Do you see that?" Nova pointed to some kind of color emerging from the clouds of dust.

"Isn't it…rising out of the ground?"

"Out of all that rubble?"

"No…I think it's… through the rubble?"

There was no sound outside of the remnant tumbling rubble. It rose from the smoke, high into the air and above the buildings and city skylines. Its winged shape and crystalline rectangular prismatic shape with sleek blackness and iridescent shine was almost hypnotizing.

"What…is that?"

"NOVA!!!!"

"Huh?!"

Nova looked to see that every worker was suddenly hugging the corners of the space, all away from him. Looking at himself, Nova realizes that the same shimmering iridescence now surrounds him, shaping into little stars. Nova didn't have enough time to let out a single sound before he found the world warping around him.

Nova felt like he was thrust into the winds of a hurricane, tumbling through stars, lights, time, space, and anything he could think of before feeling his body coming to a powerful stop as he crashed through some kind of concrete wall.

"Gnugh!"

The wall he sank into is a brutal cushion, peeling himself away and fighting through the pain.

"Brewster!"

Brewster? Who is Brewster? That's not him. His vision is blurry too, he can't see anything right…

"Who - nghh, what are you talking about??"

"Just my luck…he hit his head too hard."

Two shapes seem to dance before him, along with an object lying in a corner. Nova rubbed his eyes and blinked to find himself in an abandoned building with a monster of black stone and glowing green energy chasing a man with a bow in his hands. Despite the monster having spears for hands, the man jumped off the walls like springboards as arrows of light flash and fire into the body of the monster. But it didn't seem enough, and the monster is catching up.

"Brewster, listen to me! You need to hit the Miramon just once! Got it?!"

"Uh…yeah!"

Nova still didn't know why he was being called Brewster, but the situation didn't call time for questioning. He stumbled, his body felt weird, but he pushed through it, picking up the gun with teeth as it growled with energetic ferocity. However, as the man and the monster continued to chase each other across the room, Nova's eyes could barely keep up.

"I-I can't aim! It's too fast!"

"Gods, this is worse…" the man grit his teeth. "Alright, I'll keep him still, just aim and shoot!"

The man slowed his movements, and the Miramon took the opportunity to try and impale him with its spear hands. But the man dodged right at the last second out of the way, giving Nova a line of sight. Aiming the strange gun, he pulls the trigger…

Only to be knocked off his feet with the sheer knockback.

"Ah!"

Still, the bullet hit with explosive force as it left a massive crater in the Miramon. But it was still alive, and Nova felt something about it was different, like it was crippled in more ways than one.

"Good. Just what I need."

Nova looked to see the man cock back the string of the bow slowly. The arrow of light that manifested simmered with power, almost like a firework. However, 8 other arrows manifest around the man as he lets them loose, all ripping through its body and sending it straight through a wall. Everything went quiet, which then the man sighs in relief.

"Whew, okay. That took way too much effort, but…we did it."

Nova couldn't help but ask, "What…was that thing?" 

The man raised a brow at him. "That…was a Miramon. We took a commission from Graywater to eliminate it because it was too close to town."

"I've never seen a monster like that…"

"Jeez, you really hit your head hard, huh?" The man knelt down to get to his level, which Nova now realized he's smaller than he remembered being. "What's my name then?"

"Uh…" it felt like the man's name was at the tip of his tongue, but he had no clue what it was. "I…don't know."

"Okay. This is bad. We need to get you to a doctor."

"...I hate doctors."

"Well, you at least have that," the man proceeded to walk to the building's exit. "Come. We should check in before we get you to the doctor's. You're not bleeding anywhere at least."

"I'm not…?"

. . . 

. . .

"I'M A DOG?!?!?!"

"Oh boy…"

Nova exchanged names to the man's surprise. His name is Lu Yi, and Lu Yi looked surprised when he heard his name.

"Nova? Well, I guess you hit your head that bad. You became a different person."

"I'm not…whatever."

Nova, however, huffed and puffed as he carried the weird gun with him, much to Lu Yi's concern.

"You know, you can put that away." 

"But we don't have bags or a suitcase."

"Use your Esper powers to do it."

"...I'm a what?"

"Okay, well, that will take a bit of explaining. But you should be able to do it on your own. The Brewster I knew did it plenty of times, so that feeling should still be with you."

…Now that he thought about it, he does feel something. He felt it earlier when he fired the gun too, like some kind of force inside him releasing into the gun as it turned into a bullet. And the same force was what made the gun as well. Giving it a bit of effort, Nova tried to do something. Maybe…bring that force back inside him.

And suddenly, the gun flashed out of existence.

"What?! How did I do that??"

"That was your Esper powers, Nova." Said Lu Yi. "I'm one too."

"You mean…the arrows?"

"Yup. That and everything else. Espers tend to have a better constitution than most people."

"That explains the wall jumping…"

"We're here."

Graywater itself looked a bit old and dilapidated, but it was still full of people and their style. The building in front of them, however, was a bit more polished yet sterile.

Graywater Bounty League

“What’s a bounty league?”

“Right. Um, the Brewster I know of is a bounty hunter. Though…I guess you’re not that.”

“...I’m a bounty hunter…?” Nova looked at his new paws. They are still ogling to look at.

“Just stay close, okay? I’ll deal with the paperwork. Though you may have to sign for credentials.”

“Um…what does Brewster’s signature look like?”

“Right. It looks something like this.”

Lu Yi pulled out a phone from his pocket, though it didn’t look like any kind of brand that Nova knew. Still, he showed him a photo of Brewster’s signature. It…looks bad.

“I don’t know how I can replicate something like that.”

“As long as it looks like it, I don’t think they’d mind.”

Thus, the two stepped into the building. If Nova wasn’t informed of the place being for bounty hunters, he’d assume he had stumbled into some small office space. A woman with pale gray skin and lush green hair. Nova has never seen such a palette before, but he shut himself up before he could say anything.

“Name?” Her voice is clinical.

“Lu Yi and Brewster.”

“Huh…Brewster’s a bit quiet today.”

“He…hasn’t been himself lately.”

“Let me guess, too few beers drank?”

Lu Yi laughed with some strain to it. “I guess you could say that. He just got injured on the job is all.”

“Well, that would make him louder,” said the woman. “It’s nice that he’s quiet for once.”

Nova tried not to take offense to that. He only looked away to think of something else. Like his paws, he’s still getting used to his new body, so he looked at that and rubbed them. They’re surprisingly soft. The conversation passed by him before he heard his name being called. At least, the name of the person he’s supposed to be.

“Brewster?”

“. . .”

“Brewster!”

“Uh! Yeah?”

“You gotta sign.”

“Oh right…”

Moment of truth. Nova had to be picked up by Lu Yi (much to his own embarrassment) as he signed the paper. For the most part, he tried to make it neat out of reflex. Though it’s then and there he realized that the signature was supposed to look bad on purpose. His face went red as he realized his mistake.

“W-Wait, I need to-”

But the desk clerk let out a cute little laugh. “Oh my, I didn’t know Brewster could have such good handwriting when he isn’t smelling like draft beer. I’m impressed.”

“Huh…?”

“I’ll add this into the database. Payment will be given shortly.”

“Thank you.”

Lu Yi proceeded to leave, prompting Nova to do the same. Both sighed in relief in things going as smooth as they did.

“This Brewster guy doesn’t sound so good.” And yet it felt even worse because Nova is supposed to be him . 

“Well, he’s infamous in more ways than one.” Lu Yi said with a lighter attitude. “Wanna eat anything? I’ll pay for it, so don’t worry.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want anything fancy. Just fast food maybe.”

“Alright, let’s go. There should be a McYonald’s on the main road.”

“Don’t you mean McDonald’s ?”

“What? It’s always been called that.”

“...Just take me there.”

The walk to the fast food franchise was uneventful, but Nova could see that the people around him seemed to veer away from him like the same sides of a magnet. It was convenient in the way that nobody got in their way. But Nova felt the loneliness creep in from their own actions. Though that didn’t matter, as they are in front of the fast food franchise.

The McYonald’s is just McDonald’s with a Y instead of an M. Even the arch was replaced with a golden Y. But that was where the differences ended, as rationalized by Nova’s thoughts. Lu Yi ordered stuff for him, though Nova also asked for a cookie. Such a request got a raised brow out of Lu Yi, but he did as asked. Once their orders were made, they sat at a corner and ate. Surprisingly, yet also unsurprisingly, the taste of the food and the drink was exactly the same.

“Um, Nova, why did you order the cookie?”

“I like cookies. Especially chocolate chip cookies. And…with how things are right now, I really need some comfort food.”

“Right. It’s just, I didn’t think you’d be so different.”

“...I didn’t either.”

That was something they seemed to agree on. Nova took a bite out of the chocolate chip cookie and sighed as his worries melted away for a while. 

“So…what do you remember?”

“Well, I was working with my guys at the demolition site and I was given the button to detonate the explosives. And then…a giant thing came through the ground and I found myself as…this,” Nova’s cheeks also flushed with embarrassment. “I need to get pants…”

“Huh…it sounds like you were transported,” Lu Yi noted. “Though…that's a really elaborate sort of amnesia.”

“I’m not amnesic!” 

Nova said that a little too loud, realizing some were starting to look at them. He shrunk a little and lowered his voice. “I was brought here, and I don’t know why. I wanna go home.”

Lu Yi looked sympathetic, but he also looked just as confused. “Alright. But tomorrow, we go to a doctor. It’s getting late anyway.”

“Wait. Where do I live?”

Lu Yi took a deep breath. “...Right…um…you seemed well off before you came here. So…this is gonna be a shocker…”

. . .

. . .

“I’m…homeless???”

Lu Yi had shown where he, specifically Brewster, lived. It was one of the abandoned buildings, albeit completely roofless. Instead, there’s a tarp held above with some rope and a still-standing pillar. A dirty mattress and various draft beers lay messily everywhere, along with what seems to be empty plastic bags of beef jerky.

“I’m…sorry, that you have to deal with this,” Lu Yi apologized for something that wasn’t his. “Brewster was infamous in many ways.”

Though that was the second time he heard such a statement, Nova felt like it was now more of an excuse. An excuse for something that he never did. Rather, something for Brewster. So, in a way, Lu Yi must’ve been apologizing to him like a friend would for having visitors whilst their room was still dirty.

This…it’s…it’s horrible. This Brewster is a horrible person. And he’s him, in his body, it didn’t matter. That’s what they see. He’s Brewster, to them.

Nova felt the fur on his cheeks dampen as tears streamed down. There were barely any sounds, save for hiccups that managed to escape. He tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming down like rainfall. And he didn’t know what he did to deserve it, it’s just fate deciding to screw him over specifically.

. . .

. . .

“Hey um…Nova?”

“Y-Yeah?” Nova managed to make the tears stop, though some snot still came from his dog nose.

“Look. I…I will admit this is a weird day for me. First, I found you back at a dump, drunk off your behind because you were kicked out of a bar for the umpteenth time this week. You blew up some property because the people working there made you upset. And now, you hit your head and now turn into someone entirely different, background and everything.”

Nova only responded with silence because it sounded like Lu Yi was getting something off his chest. And though none of the things were his fault, the body he inhabits and the person who once had it did.

“This is a terrible day for me.” was the only thing he could say.

“Yes, I know. You, Nova, you sound like a decent guy from what you showed to me. But…you’re still Brewster on the outside. And I can’t say for sure if you’re just some split personality that came to be because Brewster hit the concrete wall headfirst. But…you’re not Brewster, not in there at least.”

Lu Yi poked his forehead, almost causing Nova to stumble to his bum. 

“So, just for tonight…or at least until we can get this fixed, I want you to stick with me.”

“Wh-What…?”

“You can come to my house. I got a couch for you to sleep on.”

Nova sniffled, and smiled wearily. “Thanks…”

Lu Yi’s apartment was what Nova expected of any apartment, if only a bit fancier. Though it’s a single individual apartment model, there is indeed only a single bed meant for Lu Yi. Though Nova didn’t want to encroach any further, believing that his newly small stature would not take much space on said bed.

Nova took a shower with mildly hot water, and Lu Yi gave him a separate towel. Nova could see why, because by the time he finished drying himself, it was covered in his gray and white fur with some strands of blues and magentas due to his mohawk. 

Time came, to which Nova found himself still awake, looking out to the window. The full moon shone brightly, which seemed to be the same size and look back at his real home. He only sighed as he could only think of one thing as he muttered to himself before going to sleep.

“I’ll get back home somehow…”

Chapter Text

Nova’s eyes fluttered open, there was no alarm to wake him up. The setting, the apartment, it was the same as yesterday. Though for one final layer of confirmation, he looks to see that his hand is still a paw.

“Still Brewster…” he muttered, almost sounding defeated. 

He’s still stuck as this terrible person, and everything that happened yesterday was no dream. It was real, all of it was real. And now, he felt like he should do something to get out as soon as possible. But how?

. . .

. . .

No…he’s not gonna be like that. He’s gotta think positive! Just like he was taught to do. Well…what good things happened? First, there was the fact that he did get to push the detonator, that’s good. And…well, how many got to say they’ve been to another world? Another universe? Well, they’re the same anyway. He might be the first one here, and he even got to eat his first meal in another world too. That’s good.

Though he also learned that Brewster is infamous for a few things. He’s kind of a bum, and pretty destructive. Those are things that he now has to tackle because Brewster isn’t there anymore. So…should he do the opposite?

Maybe not right now. That’d be a bit jarring. But more importantly, he doesn’t feel too well. He doesn’t feel all that rested despite yesterday, and the slow throbs of a headache are pounding inside him. Not only that, but he feels hot. He took a look under his orange jacket to see that his fur is damp with sweat. 

It’s a feeling that he hadn’t felt in a long time…

“Oh, morning Nova.”

From where he lay, Nova could see that Lu Yi has now woken up. 

“Oh, morning Lu Yi.”

“We’re gonna go to the doctor’s for your MRI scan.”

Right…the doctor’s. Well, that was going to happen regardless. Lu Yi did say it was just to see if Brewster simply conjured him because of the head impact from their bounty hunt yesterday. Some part of him did wonder if that was true…but that couldn’t be. He got here through that…thing.

The thing that had risen from the earth. It sent him to this world somehow, inhabiting an Esper as a result.

“Let’s get this over with…”

The walk was uneventful, and the people had once again moved to avoid him. In merely a minute, Nova found himself standing before another foundation. A rod of sorts is the symbol with a winged snake curling around and over it, completely made of bronze. And beside the symbol lay the building’s title.

Bronze Serpent Medical Center

“Uh…just asking, but are you also paying for this?” Nova turned to Lu Yi.

He didn’t look particularly pleased at the notion, but he did nod. “Yeah, much of your bounty’s share was spent on repairing the damages Brewster made prior. If you had to pay for it, that’d be robbery. Thankfully for me, being part of the Bounty League gets me a discount.”

“D-Don’t I also need medical records?”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re, well…Brewster, is a regular here. They have everything they need.”

Nova gulped as they entered, seeing various humans and Espers waiting at the front desk. While the humans are as…human as they could be, the Espers are something else. So many different shapes and forms, it is a wonder how they function in their day-to-day lives.

…Then again, he is a dog. A homeless dog to be precise. 

Some of them looked at him with little smiles, like seeing old friends. Though the familiarity is superficial, he could tell. They probably only smiled because they’ve seen Brewster here so many times.

“Name?” asked the clerk.

“Lu Yi, I’m here to sign in for Brewster.”

“Brewster? What did he do this time?” the unsurprised tone stung him.

“I mean…it’s small, but…it’s more complicated than that.”

Silence passed, and Nova could feel the clerk looking at him despite looking elsewhere. He didn’t say anything, he just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

“...Alright…”

The clerk gave Lu Yi the papers and urged Nova to sit next to him, which he did. Nova closed his eyes as he leaned into himself, trying to stay quiet as the headache from earlier turned into a painful thrum like an ice pick against his skull. 

“Ugh…” he croaked.

“You alright?”

“I…I haven’t felt like this since…” Nova held back a bit of bile that climbed up his throat before it receded.

“Ah, crap, withdrawal.” Lu Yi didn’t sound all that surprised. Then again, Nova suspected this happened a lot with Brewster. “There’s a water cooler, go drink from that. I need to complete this.”

Nova didn’t respond at that point and dragged himself with heavy footsteps to the water cooler. He took a cup, got cold water, and drank…

And drank…

And drank…

Some people were now looking at him, he could see them from the corners of his eyes. But he didn’t care, he just wanted the feeling to go away. Though, he did wish the cups were bigger. By the time his belly felt almost full, the feeling had waned somewhat. The pounding in his head lessened, and he felt cooler, and his paws shook less. Lu Yi had submitted the papers by then, so all they had to do…is wait.

“So, um…” Nova wanted to ask a few things to pass the time. “How was Brewster at the doctor’s?”

“Oh, this is one of the few places where Brewster is sober.”

“H-How? I still feel a bit sick.” Nova swallowed a sudden income of vomit.

“You’ll see why.”

Minutes pass by as patients waiting at the front desk are called in by nurses. Eventually though, one did come in and look towards them. 

“Brewster?”

“That’s us.”

Both Espers followed the nurse before taking a vacant empty bed. Brewster used stairs to get onto the bed, sitting on the side. Nova wondered how long he’d have to wait, but something had caught his attention before he could even complete such a thought. A snake with scales like bronze, but with the upper shape of a human and the head of a cobra, slithered along the open walkway. The snake wears a doctor’s uniform, stethoscope included. From the side of his face, Nova could see iridescent eyes looking here and there. And as the snake passes by them, his eyes widen to see the doctor has six pairs of wings folded behind him. 

“Is…is that…?”

“That’s Doctor Nate Sahten,” Lu Yi informed. “Esper of Nehushtan.”

The surprise soon gave way to a new one. Nova realized that the headache, the sweatiness, and shakiness, all the symptoms of withdrawal are gone. “I feel…better?”

“An ability of his. He can alleviate poisons from people if they so much as look at him.”

As good as that sounded, Nova realized Lu Yi said "alleviated", not cured. It's likely he'll experience withdrawal after enough time.

“Now who do we have here?”

Despite Dr. Nate’s voice being rather gentle with an elderly Arabic accent, Nova suddenly felt smaller than he ever did the moment the doctor loomed over him. He practically sank in the bed as the iridescent eyes of the serpent looked into him, right at him, Nova.

“Ah, Brewster,” he chuckled. “What brings you back here?”

“He hit his head.” Lu Yi said summarily. “And…something happened.”

“He hit his head?” Nate’s voice piqued with interest. “What exactly happened after that?”

His eyes looked to see Lu Yi nodding, implying it was okay to reveal the truth. Nova took a deep breath and made himself bare.

“I’m…not Brewster. Even though I look like him, I’m not. My name is Nova, and…I was brought here for some reason.”

The snake did not say a word as he slowly nodded. “I see, one moment. I shall get your medical records and we will do a comparison, okay?”

“Okay…”

Nate left for a few minutes before returning with a glass holopad. Thus began the questions, which Nova answered honestly.

“What is the date of your birth?”

“May 21st, 2001.”

“And your age?”

“Twenty-one.”

“What allergies do you have?”

“I think…I’m allergic to pollen and cashews.”

“Any deformations?”

“Does…being a dog count?”

Nate raised a brow at Nova, and Nova realized what he just said. He put his paws up in defense. 

“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean it like-”

“No, it’s alright,” Nate stopped Nova’s apology. “Admittedly, your behavior is equivalent to a person who has recently become an Esper.”

“Oh…”

Nate moved on to the next topic. “When was the last time you were admitted to a medical center?”

“I think it was 3 years ago, I…got injured on the job when a rubble slab fell on my shoulder.”

“Do you remember when you were here for an injury in regards to…” he scrolled through the document. “Self-inflicted blast injury?”

“I…you mean I blew myself up?” Nova knows about such an injury due to his work in his real home.

“Forty percent of your admissions are…related to this kind of injury,” started the doctor.  “Thirty percent relate to injuries regarding instances of crush syndrome, and various other instances of…having a building fall on top of them. Ten percent is miscellaneous.”

. . .

How is Brewster still alive after all of that? And after hearing his history, the injury he got yesterday definitely felt small in comparison.

“I…I would have died if those things happened to me. And well, I would’ve been fired from my job as a demolitionist.”

“Thankfully, Esper constitution has allowed people to survive beyond what normal humans would.” Nate nodded. “Still, when was your last admission here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Last month,” said Nate. “Which is…a record, actually. It was-”

“Blast injury?”

“Yeah.”

The prediction got a little laugh out of everyone, even from Nova himself. He might as well make fun of Brewster a little since he’s in his body.

“Right. It does seem you exhibit traits of dissociative amnesia, with fugue. That is…there is no record about you having such incidents of amnesia before, so I am questioning the validity of your claim. Though we should get you an MRI scan.”

The snake left and urged him to follow, which Nova did. Deeper into the medical center he went as it seems the center has the technology found in hospitals, if only on a smaller scale. Nova had to take off his clothes and wear scrubs before he placed himself on the bed platform of the scanner. Slowly he was inserted, and the machine spun and let out noises.

It’s a good thing that he was given earplugs, because even with them on, it was ear grating. Nova had to restrain himself from punching the panic button until it was all over.

Forever soon came to a close as Nova found himself being pulled out, hopping off the platform and taking out the earplugs. He shook his head as if to remove the sound from his dog ears like how a dog would shake the water off their fur.

“So um…what are the results?”

“Well, we need to give this a week to process for accurate results,” said Nate. “But from what I can tell, the injury you did get was minor at best in terms of Espers and your past medical records. There was no brain damage that could trigger amnesiac disorders.”

“Ah…”

“Well, that’s all I can say for now. Let’s schedule an appointment next week to talk about it.”

With the appointment set, there were now 6 days to wade through. Nova could only groan in realization that he had to wait 6 days as a result, and the day already felt pretty slow. Still, it’s a pretty nice day out in Graywater, and neither of them seem to want to go home today

“I really should get a job…” Nova wondered aloud. “I mean, I’m not cut out for bounty hunter work. Brewster is.”

“Well, you did pull the trigger, I’d say you’re a clean enough shot.” Lu Yi added.

“Well, that was a stuck target. I couldn’t shoot the…the monster thing. Mira…”

“Miramon.”

“Yeah, Miramon. I couldn’t shoot that while it was moving.”

“Well…Brewster usually would shoot regardless if I was there or not. Sometimes he did hit me, if only by accident.”

“The bullets are bombs, I doubt it’d matter if he actually hit the Mira Monster as long as he was close enough.”

“Miramon.”

“Darn it.”

“Besides,” Lu Yi continued. “I…don’t think you’d get a job outside of bounty hunting.”

“Why?”

“Brewster was kicked out of a lot of stores for blowing their stuff up. I doubt they’d hire you at that point.”

It seems Brewster’s decisions are really making him stick to the narrow path. Nova could only sigh, his options are pretty low already. “Well, I don’t know what to do now. I don’t have the skills Brewster has, even if he might be as destructive as you say he is.”

“I don’t think he’s that particularly skilled. He just…what’s the word for it,” Lu Yi put a finger on his chin. “I guess he was just stubborn. The guy just didn’t know when to quit.”

“Yeah well…I’m legally not allowed to own a gun. And yet…” Nova smiled, almost laughing. “I have the biggest gun as an Esper dog guy.”

Lu Yi chuckled at the thought. “Well, I guess you could put it that way.”

And at the same time, an idea popped into his head. 

“Think you can help me with cleaning something after?”

“Sure. What would it be?”

Nova returned to the homeless encampment that Brewster used to live in. Wanting to tidy up the place (and to practice his aim), Nova took all the empty draft beer bottles and set them in various places across the abandoned building. He made sure not to set them too close to the homeless encampment because it's technically his. And as much as he disliked it, he didn't want to destroy his only home in this world. Even if it is some crappy bum's place.

"Ready?" Called Lu Yi.

"Yeah!" 

Nova felt a little bit of excitement and determination flare inside him as he felt that force course through him, manifesting his weapon. However…

"Oh God!"

Nova freaked out a little at seeing the gun growl and move its jaw, dropping the gun entirely. The impact of the drop accidentally forced the trigger to pull, causing a projectile to sail to Lu Yi.

"Oh Gods!"

Lu Yi veered out of the way as the bullet sailed off into the distance, an echo of an explosion could be heard.

"Careful, Nova! You could hurt someone with that!" But seeing no one was hurt, he sighs. “More importantly, why did you freak out??”

"Because it growled at me!"

The gun growled in response, snapping its teeth to no one in particular. It sounded like a cross between a car engine and a chainsaw.

"See?!"

"Well, you handled it just fine yesterday."

"I was under pressure!"

"Okay! Okay, it's alright." Lu Yi de-escalated the moment. "Don't worry about it. It's your gun, that's it."

"It's a gun with teeth…"

"I've seen weirder stuff from other Espers. They're…not alive per say. They're just extensions of you."

Nova looked to the gun on the floor, which had gone silent at that point. His eyes kept focus as he approached slowly, picking it up and heaving it over his shoulder.

"An extension of me…"

The gun didn’t growl this time. In fact, it seemed to purr instead. As much as a gun would anyway.

"Good, now just aim and shoot at the bottles."

Nova wielded the massive gun and fired away, feeling that power inside well up and surge through him and into the gun. And though he could comprehend such a thing happening properly…he still had to deal with the knock back.The gun itself wasn’t that heavy…that or he may just be that strong. Regardless, his backside would snap back with each blast as his feet dug into the dirt to handle the recoil.

However, despite that effort, he didn’t hit that many bottles. He growled in frustration due to the lack of aim. Many of the bolts of energy either missed completely or just barely skimmed the glass skin of the bottles. The ones that did hit made him feel uncomfortable because when they did hit, they broke through the bottle and hit whatever was on the other side, leaving craters after an initial explosion. 

Some of the bottles were placed in front of walls. He felt if he missed too much, he might accidentally collapse the abandoned building entirely from the accumulated damage. 

“I uh…we should have done this elsewhere…” Nova expressed his regret.

“I agree with you on that…” Lu Yi pressed his hand into the various craters he left behind. “There is a pawn and gun shop in the outskirts, though…Brewster also got banned for causing too much damage and harassment. I…didn’t mention it because it wouldn’t be worth the time.”

Nova could only sigh at such a thought. The one place he could’ve done it properly was also restricted from him. And with the combined frustration of missing his shots and concern for collapsing the building for mere practice, he let out a roar of anger.

“AAAGH!!! I WISH THIS GUN WAS SMALLER SO I COULD AIM BETTER!!!”

Throw!

Clunk!

. . .

. . .

“Nova.”

“What?”

“Look…”

Nova looked back to where he threw the gun, his eyes widening. The gun wasn’t the same shape; it wasn’t bigger than him, it had become smaller. Where the gun originally was, something akin to a revolver lay there on the ground. It still had the same design that the original gun had, but it’s clearly designed like a more proper firearm.

“What…”

He slowly approached the revolver. It growled and purred at him, as if waiting for him to pick it up. He did, of course, but he looked with a sense of wonder…and familiarity.

“I’ve…well, I’ve never really seen this happen before.” Lu Yi admits. “I’ve never really seen an Esper weapon… evolve. ”

“I don’t think it evolved…it changed to something I wanted.” Nova inspected the revolver. He even aimed it, seeing that it had an iron sight. 

“Maybe it’s because you’re not truly Brewster…” Lu Yi suspected. “That might explain the change.”

“I guess…”

Nova aimed carefully at the remaining bottles, firing upon each one. Each projectile was smaller, most definitely, but the knockback remained the same. The same amount of power is being poured in, however, it was just channeled in a more condensed form. Thankfully, the smaller size meant the knockback is easier to handle; Nova now didn’t require as much effort to control it.

And when hitting the wall, it impacted just like a bullet. If only with a little more impact. More like a high velocity round. And with the gun having changed, the remaining bottles were destroyed with efficient accuracy.

“Huh, nice shooting.” Lu Yi patted him on the head.

“Ehehe.” Nova’s little laugh showed him how pleased he was of the change, though it was more out of satisfaction. Destroying those bottles felt like exercising a ghost.

However, that was not the only thing that he did. 

Even with paws, it seemed the revolver was designed for such a grip. And with that, the learned knowledge within himself translated rather smoothly. Nova suddenly began spinning his gun to and fro, his paw-finger in the trigger guard as he fancied himself at such a sight.

"Ocelots are proud creatures. They prefer to hunt alone."

“What-”

Nova didn't hear that and continued twirling the gun like no tomorrow, spinning it here and there and everywhere, even tossing it in the air and catching it before continuing the spin. Once he had enough fun, he decided to holster it. Except he forgot that he had no holster. It simply dropped to the ground.

"Oops." Nova picked up the revolver and brought back in his power, dissolving the revolver.

"How did you do that???" Lu Yi gawked.

"Oh, well, my dad taught me that. He's a bit of a gun nut. Gave me a few lessons on using revolvers. But I never really did anything out of the firing range."

"Huh…" Lu Yi couldn't add more to the conversation, simply moving to the next topic. "Well, we should start with another bounty soon. Follow me.”

Chapter Text

As the two entered into the Graywater Bounty League building, they registered and walked past the front desk, going through a door, leading to the hub. It wasn't anything special, more like a gathering hall as bounty hunters alike discuss with one another on various things at tables. On one side of a wall lies a big glass slab with holographic bounties sliding across the wall every few seconds or so.

Nova could only look in bewilderment at everything around him. This is his first time seeing the hub, though he guessed a familiar setting for Brewster. He got the feeling that all sorts of rough and tumble people were here getting jobs done by their faceless contractors.

Though…he also felt a great deal of the hunter's faces looking at him. He instinctively shuffled closer to Lu Yi at the looks given to him.

"Lu Yi? How many people did Brewster piss off here?"

"...Just about everyone."  Lu Yi's answer was slow like giving a child a vaccine.

"Oh God…" the eyes felt heavy on his little shoulders.

"We go in, get a bounty, and go out." Lu Yi simplified. "Stay close to me-"

"HELP!!! LU YI!!! HELP!!!"

Lu Yi turned to see that Nova was being dragged off by a minotaur Esper by the tail. His face is both in pain and in surprise. 

"Ow! Stop pulling so hard!"

"You're worried about me pulling your tail? Well, maybe you don't need it!"

"NOO!!!" 

Nova pulled out his revolver, aiming at the minotaur. The minotaur, and the group he's with, could only laugh.

"What's with the weapon change?!" The minotaur taunted. "Don't tell me you lost your bang for your buck, Brewster the Blaster ."

"Guys! Let's stop this, okay-"

Lu Yi is suddenly pulled back by two people, a youthful man and what only seemed to be his elder, maybe even his father. The man had a satchel, while the son had a pair of wings. Lu Yi notices that the younger one has a pair of wings…though they look artificial. 

"Who said you could intervene?" The minotaur growled. "This is between me and him."

"D-Don't make me hurt you!" Nova tried to sound threatening, but there's a quiver in his voice. 

"Aww, you sound scared!" The minotaur mused. "I don't remember you sounding this meek. And…you don't smell like alcohol either."

The minotaur proceeded to laugh, and several others in the room did the same, snarkily chuckling. "Is this what the real Brewster is like under all that draft beer?!" He said aloud for all that could hear. "A weak and scared little dog, who needs one of our reputable hunters around him at all times just to not get banned?!"

"Enough."

A single quiet voice cut through the heckling. All had gone quiet, save for the footsteps of someone approaching the minotaur. It is a man with light olive skin, hidden under a trenchcoat, gloves, boots, all black with a single red beret with golden outlines, and the symbol of the Bounty League upon it. A single detail that Nova noticed is a shiny, silver spear with etchings of bronze and gold on his back.

"I advise you to stop this at once. You, Matthias Aster, are in the same position as Brewster, even if under different circumstances."

The minotaur looked angry that he was stopped, but he slowly let Nova go. And as he was let go, Brewster dissolved his revolver, rubbing his tail. Not only that, the two people who held Lu Yi back reluctantly let him go as well.

The man approached the bull, completely uninterested in his size and stature. Despite the complete difference in composition, it is the minotaur that expressed some kind of regret. Not only that,Nova could feel the tone in the man with the spear being like he was about to crush an ant under his thumb, even if it wasn’t directed at him.

“Don’t give me a reason to report misconduct about you, Matthias. Do you understand?”

“...Yes.”

The man turned and left without another word as the others slowly returned to their conversation, including the father, son, and the minotaur. Nova could only sigh in relief as they're finally left alone. As he looked up, Lu Yi’s hand was stretched before him. He took it, standing up again and heading back to the bounty board.

“Well…besides that. Let’s see…”

Lu Yi’s fingers scrolled through the list of bounties, soon landing on one.

“This one. It’s simple. We just have to retrieve some smuggled cargo that’s been discovered. There’s likely gonna be a few people we have to take down, but it’s simple enough. It’s even said one of the cargo just has gold in it, and we can get some of it as compensation.”

“I…I don’t have to kill anyone, do I?” Nova asked worriedly.

“Only if they deserve it,” Lu Yi reassured.

“Okay…” Nova sighed in relief.

Accepting the bounty, the two left to go out and drive off to the location nearest to the objective. The drive was mostly uneventful as various songs played on the radio.

“Huh…the songs here aren’t that different from my home.” Nova commented.

“Really? Just asking, but which ones do you like?”

“ OMD, Italobrothers, Caramell, and others too.”

“Huh…Brewster was more of a Powerwolf, Andrew W.K., and Tool kind of guy.”

“And you?”

“Things from the cinema. I like the hero stuff, so I downloaded their album OSTs.”

“You sound a bit like a comic book hero nerd.” Nova chuckled.

“Oh, I very much am.” Lu Yi smiled. “I’ve yet to show you my comic book collection though.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to know. Your world’s comic heroes might be different from the ones from my home.”

Lu Yi parked the car off to the side of the road, the two Espers exiting the vehicle and looking around.

“So…where is it exactly?”

“The bounty mentioned that it was in an underground bunker.”

Nova looked around, more frantically this time. “How are we gonna find it? The entrance could be anywhere…”

“We don’t have to look everywhere. We just need to do a bit of Wave Sense.”

“Wave…Sense?”

Lu Yi blinked before rubbing the back of his head. “Right, it’s a bit of terminology that only Espers in training would learn. Wave Sense is just an Esper’s ability to sense divine waves. All Espers have them. If there are Espers guarding the case, then all we have to do is sense the Espers.”

“But…how do I do that?”

“Well, so far you’ve done well in using your Esper powers. You probably felt it, so all you have to do is extend that feeling outward. Though Brewster rarely ever did that himself.”

“Right…” Though Nova still looked very lost on the matter.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to.” Lu Yi reassured him. “You’ll eventually get it with enough experience and time.”

Thus, Lu Yi took the lead with Nova in tow. And with the recent information in his mind, Nova can only wonder what exactly such a form of perception felt like as he watched Lu Yi simply…walk in a particular direction. Eventually though, Lu Yi stopped, and Nova can see why. An open vault door with a ladder to a floor could be seen. Nova found himself as the last one to enter, materializing his revolver.

“It’s…kind of dark in here.” Nova noted quietly, remarking on the dim lights.

“They probably don’t want people just finding the cargo the moment they stumble in.” Lu Yi guessed. “Stay close and don’t go too far.”

“Okay…”

With the dim lights, every little flicker made Nova see slight movements in the shadows, sometimes prompting him to bring up his revolver. However, something soon came up. Despite Lu Yi’s guidance and skill in Wave Sense, it didn’t seem like they were getting any closer. They even had to backtrack at some points when meeting dead ends.

“This place is like a labyrinth…” said Nova.

“Yeah…” Lu Yi agreed. “Honestly, Brewster would’ve just blown up the walls-”

. . .

. . .

. . .

“Nova?”

“Yes?”

“You should blow up the walls.”

“What?!” Nova freaked out a little. “Won’t they know we’re coming then?!”

“Yes, but unlike us, they need to know where to go. All we have to do is bust down every wall in front of us.”

Nova blinked, realizing the plan. “Right, just tell me where to aim.”

Reverting the revolver back into a blaster, Nova waited for Yu Li’s command, which he pointed at a wall.

“There.”

Nova pulled the trigger, a flash of orange lit up the whole room like a flashbang before the inevitable explosion.

Boom!

The whole room shook, but the sound of tumbling rubble showed that the wall had been destroyed. And from there, Nova kept blasting in whichever direction Lu Yi commanded, passing through them each time. However…

“There.”

Boom!

“Hey hey hey! What the hell?!”

Nova winced to find a flashlight shining right into his face. But looking beyond that, surprise had hit him. It’s the minotaur and the father from earlier. 

“You!” the minotaur sounded angry.

“You?!” Nova replied, only with confusion.

“What are you doing here?” asked Lu Yi.

“You know how bounties work, Lu Yi.” said the father. “It’s available to everyone until it’s confirmed to be completed. We heard of the gold in the cargo, that’s why we came here.”

“Where’s the kid?”

“Above the bunker, keeping an eye out for us in the sky. We can’t expect whoever will come for the cargo to not come while we’re down here.”

“Right…” Lu Yi huffed. “Look, since we’re all here, we might as well do it together.”

“No!” said the minotaur. “You think I wanna team up with this guy?!”

“Hey!” Nova protested.

“What?! It’s not like I have to actually know you! Everyone practically talks about how you mess up the missions with your reckless bull!” accused Matthias. “I’ve heard plenty of stories where every person who ever teamed up with you had to suffer so many unnecessary consequences, how would this be any different?!”

“Matthias, enough,” said the father. “We’re wasting time. Brewster, you should keep blowing up the walls until we get to the cargo.”

“I…right…where do I shoot?”

“That wall, over there.” Lu Yi said first.

“Okay-”

Nova’s legs suddenly stopped working, his head felt like it was swimming in water. He faintly hears his gun clattering off to the side as he falls to his knees. Soon enough though, his weapon completely disappears.

“Nova!”

“Nova?” the father raised a brow. 

Lu Yi didn’t answer the question and picked up Brewster. “You alright?”

“I feel-” Nova puked his stomach’s contents all over the floor, falling to his side.

“Oh no…” Lu Yi dragged Nova away from his own vomit, but kept him on the floor. Nova tried to stand up, but his body kept shaking, prompting him to collapse. It was hot too, his fur dampening in sweat once more.

“What’s happened?” asked the father.

“Withdrawal.”

“When did he quit?”

“Technically speaking? Yesterday.”

“Damn, cold turkey? Why?”

“...Call it a change of heart.”

“Frickin’ useless.” Matthias huffed.

“You guys got anything? Light beer can work too, we just need to relieve the symptoms.”

“Well…we were gonna save this until the job’s done. But…”

From the father’s satchel came out a can of beer. Lu Yi’s brow raised.

“Just one? For all you three?”

“I got more, but we only need one for one person.”

Despite the conversation happening, Nova barely heard any of it. Everything was swimming, unable to focus on any single thing for long. However, his eyes found a can being put before him.

“Drink up. We need you right now.”

“. . .”

Nova’s paw initially reached for the can. However, it pressed against the floor as he pushed himself away from the can.

“Never…again…” he muttered meekly.

No one said anything after hearing such words. However, Matthias took the neglected beer can and drank its contents before crushing it and tossing it aside. 

“Welp, he’s not gonna help us. We need to keep going.”

“Matthias,” started the father. “Carry him.”

“What?! Dean, why me?! We could just leave him here and get the job done!”

“I’m not gonna leave him behind!” Lu Yi exclaimed.

“We’re not leaving him,” said Dean. “And you will be the least impeded by carrying him too.”

Matthias looked like he was going to let loose steam from his ears from how red he looked, but he acquiesced.

“Can’t believe I have to babysit the drunkard…”

Nova only groaned as he felt himself being picked up. The noise of footsteps echo loudly in his ears, along with the voices.

“You know, Matthias, you’re kind of an ass.” said Lu Yi.

“It’s not like we asked you to be here.” the minotaur retorted.

“More importantly,” added Dean. “I doubt Brewster’s the type of person to do such a small job as this. The payment here’s not the usual amount he aims for.”

“He’s just a bit out of his element is all. That’s why he’s doing a small bounty.” Lu Yi tries to cover.

“You also called him Nova…I’ve never heard such a name or title from him by the other hunters.”

“That must have been a word slip. It happens sometimes.” Lu Yi changed the topic. “Besides, I don’t really know why Matthias is harping so much over Brewster.”

“Hey! I said my piece at the hub!” exclaimed Matthias. “He’s just bad to be around with.”

“Yeah…but what did John say about a misconduct report?” 

“. . .”

“. . .”

“Matthias is…on community service, so to speak.” Dean started. “He’s to serve the Graywater Bounty League for several years, and he’d be removed from his sentence.”

“Sentence?”

“Look, Brewster just reminds me of some guys I really dislike, okay?” said Matthias, though his voice is softer than before. “Those kinds of people that act like whatever they do could have no consequences to them.”

Nova wanted to say something, but his muzzle was heavy. Instead, he felt himself being placed back on the floor and against a wall.

“There they are.” Matthias almost sounded pleased.

“Remember Matthias, deal with them nonlethally.” reminded Dean.

“Right, sorry.” Matthias shook his head.

And as for Nova, he simply sat there, tormented by the withdrawal. He couldn’t see straight, but he was looking in their general direction. The sounds of bodies colliding, powers being flung here and there…and a chainsaw? If he squinted hard enough, he could see Dean wielding a chainsaw. The mere sight of it caused some guards of the smuggled cargo to hesitate, prompting Matthias to knock them out with a clean punch. Lu Yi, being a skilled archer, weaved to and fro as he fired his light arrows at guards, sending them flying from their power. And not long after did it end, the whole labyrinth going quiet as Nova sees Dean, Matthias, and Lu Yi all stand before several chests worth of cargo.

“Which one do you think the gold is?” wondered the minotaur.

“Just a second.” Dean took out his glass phone. “Ico Any sign of them coming?”

“None so far, it’s just you guys for miles.” said Ico , apparently flying in the air. “Wait…is that Lu Yi? You teamed up with them?”

“If only by accident,” Dean adds. “Get the truck ready, we’re gonna extract them.”

Click!

The three froze at the sound of a gun’s mechanism cocking behind them. 

“Hands up.”

All three put their hands up slowly. The footsteps got closer.

“You really got all of them, I’m impressed. But you shouldn’t have put your guard down. Hell, if you just surveyed the area, you would have found me. But it’s a good thing you didn’t, isn’t it? Lucky you.”

The garbled sounds of a voice on an intercom hit Nova’s ears, which the remaining cargo guard took up and started talking. The opportunity came to mind, albeit slowly, as he manifested his revolver in a more quiet fashion. But even then, his line of sight was warped by the withdrawal, and his reaction time slowed to a trudge. 

But he fought through it, and he kept telling himself just one thing.

“Just pull the trigger…”

“Pull the trigger…”

“Pull…the…….trigger………”

Bang!

Ping!

Nova missed. He missed by a mile and hit the wall. The guard turned around to see just in time as Nova’s hand went limp as he dropped the revolver.

“You scared me for a minute,” the guard sighed. “Now-”

The guard didn’t even have time to finish the sentence as the minotaur roared, tackling the guard’s back and smashing him against the wall. Not a second later did the guard crumple to the floor.

Everyone sighed in relief, though Nova can see Matthias looking down at him.

“Sorry for….reminding you of someone you hate…” he managed to blurt out.

The bull’s eyes softened up a little at Nova’s reply, but he soon scoffed and walked away.

“Alright, so which chest has the gold?”

Dean opened a box, only to sigh. “This one’s full of wine. High quality wine…but not gold.”

“Hand me one.” said Lu Yi.

“What? Why?”

“Just give it to me.”

Dean, after a second of consideration, handed the archer a bottle of wine. Lu Yi uncorked it and slowly headed towards Nova. He sits next to him, placing the bottle before his paw. But just like before, Nova pulls his paw away.

“I’m…I’m not gonna do it again…”

“Brewster,” despite the name change, Nova knows he’s talking about him. His mind held enough energy to know he’s indirectly speaking to him on a different topic. “I know you’ve been trying hard to quit, but this is unhealthy .”

“I’ve stared at the end of…a bottle one too many times…” Nova’s voice is slow and low on energy.

“I know, you tend to do that a lot,” said Lu Yi. “And I know that you believe that drinking now will repeat it all over again. But…your body is not ready to quit on alcohol just yet.”

Small streams of tears flow down his face. “I…I swore off. I-I don't…wanna be like him anymore…”

Lu Yi doesn’t know what Nova meant by that, but admittedly…it sounded similar enough to what Brewster had gone through. Or…at least what his past is like.

“I know. Not wanting to repeat past mistakes is a good thing. But it won’t do anyone good if you keep this up,” Lu Yi leaned in towards Nova’s ear. “You want to go home, right? You can’t go home if you die from withdrawal.”

“. . .”

Even though Nova’s face is slack, the slight twinges of pain gave Lu Yi the impression that what’s going on in Nova’s mind is painful. And though those momentary expressions of pain showed itself…he grabbed the bottle. Lu Yi brought his own hand to help him lift it up and to his mouth, drinking it. By the time it was pulled away, a fourth of the bottle’s contents was now gone. Life started to return to Nova’s posture, though he also looked ashamed.

“You just have to take less and less as time goes on, Brewster.” said Lu Yi. “Though it sounds like you’ve dealt with quitting before.”

“...It was hell…”

“But was it worth fighting for?”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“Yeah….it was…”

“Then…let’s call this round two.”

Chapter Text

Nova’s senses returned to him properly as he found himself in the front passenger seat of Lu Yi’s car. He’s driving, and Nova’s hazy memories pieced the story together for him in a shaky sort of manner. The feeling of glass can be felt on his paw as he looks to see the wine bottle from earlier, along with the taste of it in his mouth. His muzzle scrunched and a sour pit formed at the bottom of his throat.

“Oh, you’re up.” said Lu Yi, glancing at him while keeping his attention on the road. “How are you feeling?”

“...A bit slow. I…I drank the wine…”

“I know, but you needed it.” Lu Yi reminded him. “Brewster didn’t quit drinking until you came around.”

Nova groaned. “I can’t believe I have to do it all over again.”

“Baby steps, Nova. Just take baby steps.”

“I know, I did a similar thing in my home. Though…I feel it’s gonna be harder.”

“Come on, don’t focus on that.” Lu Yi’s tone became more chipper. “Here, check your bank account?”

“I have a bank account?”

“Yeah, well…Brewster does. He just uses debit cards though. He was at least smart enough not to use credit, or else he would’ve blown himself into debt.”

Nova pulled out his glass phone (technically Brewster’s), which several cracks spun around the edges like webs. Besides that, he looked and found the closest equivalent to a bank app, Bank of Grandis , and accessed…well, Brewster's bank account.

However…

Nova realized that he has zero idea of the economics of another world. 

However, he did see that the most recent exchange of gold is from the Bounty League. Around 25,000 in total. That gave a total of 50,000.

"Is twenty-five thousand a lot?"

"Well, we weren't the only ones part of that hunt, so it had to be split even further."

"Oh, right."

Nova had more money than that in his bank account from where he came from. But seeing the money, he did have a few thoughts. 

"Lu Yi? Can we go shopping?"

"Why?"

"Well…I wanna change things up a little with how I look. I don’t wanna be wearing the same kind of clothes every day."

"Hmm…alright, let's go to Gyrate. They have some good clothing brands there, and I wanna get some clothes myself."

Unlike Graywater's rather sparse and muted structure, Gyrate is almost bright, vibrant, and dense. Nova couldn't help but look out the window like a child at an amusement park. The colors, the art, the city expressed it better than any city back in his world.

However…something in the sky caught his attention.

“What’s that?” Nova pointed to the giant floating stone in the sky with a glowing omega within it.

“Oh, that? It’s a Miracle.”

“A Miracle?”

“Let’s just say…they have a lot of history. Lots of people had died when they had come around, and they’re responsible for Miramon existing. But…they’re also the reason why Espers exist.”

“Oh…I didn’t know it would be complicated like that…” Nova felt bad for asking.

“Hey, there’s no shame in curiosity, especially since you’re not from here.” Lu Yi reassured him. “Look, we should focus on the Miracle later and focus on the shopping”

Lu Yi parked his car as they exited to what Nova could only guess being the mall square with how many digital billboards sparkled with their advertisements before his eyes. It almost reminds him of Times Square in New York. Through the revolving doors, the two walk into a mall and straight into a clothing outlet.

Charlotte’s Tapestries & Clothing Brands

“Let’s see…”

With Lu Yi having split off to find their own stuff, Nova was now alone as he searched through the various clothing articles. Admittedly, he had accidentally walked into the wrong size aisle before realizing that he was no longer his previous size. He’s smaller now, so he had to go to the other aisle for the smaller sizes.

And the first thing he grabbed? Pants. Orange pants to be exact, as to fit with Brewster’s orange jacket. Now he no longer had to feel uncomfortable having no pants at all. He also grabbed a few shirts, and a new jacket. It was more of an orange hoodie than anything, not as puffy yet just as loose. Having gotten everything he needed, he-

“Oh my! Is that a puppy?”

“What?”

Nova turned to see three women looking down at him, a brunette, blond, and black haired woman. Their faces are all alight with affectionate excitement at him.

“Oh, wait. You’re an Esper, right? I’m so sorry…” said the woman with black hair.

“No, it’s alright. You just surprised me.” said Nova.

“No, wait, maybe we shouldn’t,” said the blond one. “I heard someone tried to pet him, and he didn’t like it.”

“No, it’s okay. But…I’m sorry that I did that.” Nova realized that he’s technically apologizing for Brewster. “I guess I…didn’t want to admit I liked being petted?”

“Well, you’re not gonna bite me or anything, right?” asked the brunette. 

I won't, promise.”

“Then…can I pet you?”

“Sure, just…don’t make it awkward, okay?”

“Okay…”

The blond woman slowly extended her hand…and gently petted him on the head, squishing his mohawk. And as quiet as he got, Nova internally admitted that being petted felt… really good.

"He's so soft!"

"Wait! Let me try!"

"Give me a bit of room!"

Two other hands soon joined in, and Nova suddenly found his head being petted, his cheeks being pinched, and his chin being scratched. Nova felt like he was in heaven, not even realizing that he had been pushed to the floor and now his belly is being rubbed. His leg moved on its own without even thinking about it. And between all of that she could hear the voices of the women all indulged in their excitement.

He also heard a few clicks of a digital camera, but that thought slipped away into the oblivion of bliss.

"Ahem."

The petting stopped, the bliss stopped, and Nova slowly opened his eyes to see a woman with fair skin and a spider body for her lower half on the ceiling, looking down at them. 

“Girls, as much as you are loyal customers of mine, I do hope you don’t harass my new ones.”

“Oh, sorry Miss Charlotte,” said the Brunette.

With that, the three women left to an aisle, leaving the spider Esper to crawl down the walls of the outlet and extend a hand to him. Nova took it, letting him stand and dust off whatever stuck to him from the floor.

“Are you alright? You looked like you were drowning back there.” 

“Well, I’ve never been petted before. It felt quite nice.” Nova smiled sheepishly. “Who are you? I’ve never been here before, admittedly.”

“I’m Miss Charlotte, just someone using their skills as a spinster to make a brand from the ground up. Every design here has been personally weaved and constructed.”

Nova looked down to the orange hoodie he just chose, feeling how soft it is in his paws. “It’s really good quality.”

“I’m glad to have met your standard,” Charlotte smiled. “By the way, I think…I have heard you somewhere?”

“...I’ve gotten a taste of my own reputation, admittedly.”

“Oh! Well, it seems that I don’t have to explain too much then,” started Charlotte. “I’ve heard of you, Brewster. And I will admit, you’re not as bad as the gossip about you has entailed.”

“I’ve…had a change of heart recently. I’m trying to fix those things.” Nova scowled at himself, because he’s fixing someone else’s mistakes. But there was nothing he could do about it. Though a harrowing thought became fixated in his mind. “Am…Am I banned here? I’m sorry if I intruded…”

“No, no…” Charlotte bit her lip. “But I will admit I considered it. You just sounded like a bad customer. I’m happy that I was proven wrong.”

“Um…I’m thankful that you didn’t ban me.” Nova straightened out the clothes he picked. “Well, I got everything I need, so I should get going.”

“Be sure to say where it comes from! Helps with brand recognition.”

“Oh, sure.”

“And if anyone asks if it looks like some other style from another brand, just say the design is handmade by me.”

“...Why is that?”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“I’ve gotten into lawsuits over similar looking styles.”

Nova and Lu Yi met back together at a cafe nearby as it was time for lunch. And as they sat down, their food came to them. Not long after did they scarf down the food altogether. 

“Lu Yi? I don’t wanna ruin lunch but…I wanna know more about the Miracles.”

“Oh, well, you can just Noogle them.”

“N…Noogle?”

Lu Yi blinked. “What’s your home’s version of Noogle?”

“ Google .”

“Close enough.”

Nova took out Brewster’s phone and used the world’s version of Google, which is indeed called… Noogle . It even functioned the same as well, prompting him to search for Miracle . Images of floating structures varying from an inverse pyramid, a symbol of infinity, a cuboidal structure, and a split oblong structure, all presented themselves to him. It took a few seconds, but his mouth slowly started to drop as unfamiliar but official news outlets talked about various headlines.

Incoming Resonance Suddenly Ceased; Miracologists Left Confused

“Huh…there’s articles about the Miracles and…Resonance?”

“Oh, right. To make it simple, Resonance is what the Miracles do. When the Miracles do that, then new Espers and Miramon are made.” Lu Yi then pulled out his glass phone, scrolling through something. “Though, now that you mention it, there was something interesting I caught in our hunt from yesterday.”

Turning the phone towards him, Nova looked to see that Lu Yi had a picture of…papers?

“What am I looking at here?”

“There was a suitcase within one of the chests. It’s a data graph for Miracle activity.”

The paper itself is a graph paper with labeled x and y coordinates. The x-coordinate was about the passage of time in minutes, with the end of the graph being at 60, whilst the y-coordinate measured Waves . With both combined the graph was shaped to a bell curve that suddenly cut off right at its apex on the 30 minute mark.

“From the data, it looked like there was going to be a massive Resonance that hadn’t been seen in a long time. The Union was preparing for the tidal wave…but it disappeared,” said Lu Yi. “Social media outlets are just publicly scratching their heads on what just happened.”

Nova looked to the internet and searched upon the Miracles once more, going through images and pictures given to him by the search engine. All the images, all the angles, and the memory came flooding back. Back before he was transported to here, the other side.

‘That giant thing that came from the ground…that was a Miracle?’

The realization hit him like a truck full of bricks.

“Oh God…”

“What?” Lu Yi looked concerned. “What is it?”

  “There…There was a Miracle that appeared and sent me here…” Nova’s paws shook in horror. “If…and…”

The jumble of information and the horrible implication choked the words out of him, causing him to whimper. Several heard it as they glanced over to Nova, but Lu Yi’s eyes widened at what Nova was talking about, taking his paw.

“We have to go to the Union.”

The two rushed out of the cafe as Lu Yi drove off in a hurry. Nova hurriedly took the wine bottle from earlier and chugged down the rest of its contents. Part of it was because of an incoming withdrawal. But that wasn’t all of it. The harrowing implication that all of his friends could be dead terrified him, and he didn’t want to feel that pain again.

The depressant effect of the wine kicked in, and while his mind hadn’t slowed down just yet, a sense of regret in his heart deepened even further. He was beginning to repeat his mistakes.

“We’re here.”

“Wait…” 

Nova’s sudden pause nearly caused Lu Yi to trip. 

“How…How are we gonna prove it to them?”

Lu Yi blinked, only to realize what Nova meant by that. “Well…there must be some way we can prove it to them. I mean…you’re not really Brewster, that must count for something.”

“Hi there!” said a voice in a rather cheery tone.

Nova looked up to see a woman wearing a plastic transparent sweater, a simple white a purple dress underneath, necklaces with a cross on it, and…rather weird but cool headphones. Nova could only tilt his head, but it seems that Lu Yi recognizes her.

“Discboom?”

“Hey Lu Yi, long time no see,” Discboom smiled. Though her attention was to someone else, crouching down to meet Nova eye to eye. “And you must be Brewster, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“I…uh…” the wine was starting to kick in, his speech slurred a little. “Sssorry if I’m kind of…drunk. There’s…I thought…I don’t wanna think about it…”

“It’s alright,” said Discboom. “And to answer your question…but it’s best to not talk here. Let’s head to the bar, shall we?”

With the wine now taking its full effect, Nova had to try his best to keep his paw wrapped around Lu Yi’s hand as they walked behind Discboom. His steps stumbled, or sometimes he lost control of them. But he always got up and kept moving forward. Various people come and go, along with Espers as well. Some give him a weird look, probably due to his drunken stupor, but that mattered little at that point. With a quick elevator trip, Nova found himself being placed on a couch with a glass of light beer given to him by Discboom. The bar’s music played gently, and the only people that seemed to be here was a woman with the lower half of a pale snake, and a man with dark skin and pink hair, standing out at the bar porch with a shot glass in hand.

“Oh…thank you,” Nova accepted the glass, though he kept it on the table. “Can you tell…can you tell me why you’ve come for me.”

“Well, it’d be hard to explain to someone like you, who has never been in the Union,” started Discboom. “But I’ll try and make it simple.”

Discboom pulled out a vinyl disc of sorts. It…well, it didn’t look like anything in particular. However, Nova squinted to focus, finding a face upon the disc, belonging to an Esper.

“This is…?”

“A Soul Disc,” explained Discboom. “All Espers have one. But a few hours of research showed that you weren’t really Brewster.”

“I…uh…” Nova didn’t really know what to say. He’s never heard of such a thing before. He turned to Lu Yi and asked. “Did you know about this?”

“During my time at the Union, I learned about it actually.” Lu Yi confirmed. “Despite Discboom’s power in relation to Soul Discs, it’s…kind of like that detail that you don’t really think about because it’s never in your face.”

“Wh-What power?”

“I practice healing, Brewster,” said Discboom. “I use my power as an Esper to heal the stability of Espers. “However, there’s a reason why I’ve taken interest in you.”

“What would that be?”

Discboom pulled another vinyl record, one that is completely blank. “This was Brewster’s Soul Disc. However, it seemed to have gone blank. In most cases, a blank record would mean that the Esper has perished in some way. However, your activity as a bounty hunter has raised our suspicions.”

Nova’s alertness spiked through the alcoholic daze as he realized that the Union is on to them. He glanced at Lu Yi, who looked just as panicked as he was. Nova’s question came out in a timid yet careful voice.

“I-I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“Far from it,” said Discboom. “We’re just here to ask some questions. You…whoever you are, might be important to some new research.”

Well…seeing as there was no consequence…

“My name’s Nova. I…somehow ended up in the body of Brewster, so I had to act in his place for the past few days. I don’t know how I got here…but I want to go home.”

“I see…” Discboom sighed in a sort of relief. “So you really are the new Anomaly. We had to confirm it for ourselves.”

Nova wondered what Discboom meant when she said “we”, but a glance at the snake woman and the man at the balcony porch made him realize that they’re on it too. Though for the time being, they must be listening.

“I’m guessing you’ve taken interest in him because of everything that’s happening right now.” said Lu Yi.

“We can only presume so. Nova arriving just as the Resonance disappeared is no coincidence.”

A new voice joined in, gentle and kind. Nova could see that the snake woman from earlier had now come to join in on the conversation, slithering towards them and eventually just holding herself nearby. 

She introduced herself. “Feng Nuxi, Esper Union Logistics Division Chief.” 

Nova tried to match up, emphasis on tried. “Nova…demolitionist.”

“It is nice to meet you, Nova, but there are other things of more importance for the time being.” said Feng Nuxi. “While the sudden vanish of an incoming Resonance is public, your arrival is something that’s only being discussed here, in this bar.”

“Wait…what about the doctor at Bronze Serpent Medical Care?” asked Nova. “I…I had to take an MRI.”

“We’ve also taken care of that, contacted Mr. Sahten and requested to keep the information under wraps.” The man at the bar balcony porch drank the contents in the shot glass, but otherwise stayed where he was. “Officially speaking, you’re completely healthy. As healthy as Brewster would be at his current state.”

“O-Oh…”

“Besides that,” said Discboom. “Currently, you are the only one who seems to have…crossed over.”

“And Brewster? I mean, his relationships with people aren’t all that great. I got to experience that firsthand…but…I don’t really want anything bad happening to him.”

“Well, he technically disappeared when you arrived,” Lu Yi contributed. “Brewster’s body didn’t sustain any real damage. So…I guess he swapped with you?”

“He swapped with-” Nova stopped himself and took a deep breath. “I mean…I just hope that he doesn’t mess up my life when I come back.”

“We can only hope…” Lu Yi sympathized.

“Can you tell us how you crossed over to our world?” asked Feng Nuxi.

It was Nova’s turn to laugh, though it was more of a huff. A huff of self-depreciated humor. “Well, I didn’t ask to come here. I just…I did…the Miracle that appeared in my world put me in Brewster.”

The room went quiet, yet Nova continued. “I…read what the Miracles did here. And if one appeared in my world…then…”

The man from the balcony had come around, interrupting Nova’s moment of grief by cutting to the point. “If we are to find this Miracle as soon as possible, then you might just be the key to doing so.”

Nova looked to see it was the man with pink hair, his eyebrows shaved like thunderbolts. He mostly wore baggy attire with his jacket and pants, but Nova could see the shimmer of various war medals on the side.

“Gaius, Training Division Chief of the Esper Union.”

“Um…Nova…” Nova couldn’t say much, intimidated by the man.

“I’m going to cut to the chase, Nova,” said Gaius. “The Union would like to study you, at least for a time. You may be Brewster in the physical sense, but your presence can provide key details that may help us with tracking down that Miracle you mentioned.”

“That, and your unique case may help with De-Esperification,” added Feng Nuxi. 

“De-Esperification?” 

“I’ll answer your question with another question,” said Gaius. “Did you choose to come here? Or did the Miracle that came to your world put you here?”

Gaius’ hard gaze ensured that Nova answered honestly. Even then, the question already hit him personally, so there was no reason to hide his feelings on the matter. “I was put here in this world for…I don’t know the reason. Maybe there isn’t one. But…I didn’t have a choice.”

“And many who became Espers didn’t have that choice either,” Feng Nuxi said sympathetically. “The thing about Esperification is that it comes suddenly, and no one could ever truly ever prepare for when that moment comes. In a sense…suddenly becoming an Esper is like suddenly gaining a chronic condition.”

“I…wait,” Nova relented. “Well, I know that my time being Brewster has been brief so far…but, I guess this isn’t…that bad? Calling becoming an Esper a chronic condition sounds a little harsh.”

“Such cases always vary from person to person,” nodded the snake woman. “And there are indeed cases where becoming an Esper improved their lives. But even then, people who just became Espers would suddenly have to deal with whole new bodies and changes in their own personality. If you were to one day become Brewster from your former self, would you have accepted?”

“. . .”

Nova thought quite hard on the matter. He had to exclude who Brewster is and focus on what Brewster is. And well, he is a dog with a pretty cool gun, that he’ll admit. But when Feng Nuxi mentioned about the changes in personality, he thought about his own past. He did think on the bright side, perhaps he could have gotten better.  Though those optimistic thoughts were fleeting compared to something he focused on the most.

‘What if I got worse?’

‘If I became like Brewster, both mentally and physically…then…I could have faced…’

‘. . .’

‘But…I could also end up like him too. I can’t do that. I don’t want that.’

“. . .I wouldn’t.”

“I can tell the decision must have been hard,” Feng Nuxi noted. “You…wished that you had Brewster’s kind of power, didn’t you?”

“I mean…sometimes,” Nova admitted sheepishly. “Look, I’m okay with you studying me. As long as it brings me one step closer to going home…”

“Very well, we’ll be seeing you tomorrow in a designated research facility in the building. We’ll send an escort when the time comes.”

With Gaius effectively ending the conversation, both Gaius and Feng Nuxi take their leave, whilst Discboom went to the bar table. With how things had ended, it wasn’t long before Lu Yi and Nova left as well, albeit quietly. Driving back to Graywater, it was mostly silent, save for a bit of dialogue.

“...I hope that the people I left behind will be alright…”

“Well…how we’re they?”

“They’re good people. I…I don’t want to think about the Miracle or the Miramon that would come from them.”

“I know…it’s a horrible thing. But…I wouldn’t lose hope.” Lu Yi encouraged.

“Why? I read some of the articles. I don’t think any weapons from my world could even hope to scratch a Miramon…” Nova moped.

“Yes, that is true. But that means that your world is eventually gonna get its own Esper Seven.”

“Esper…Seven?”

“Yeah. We actually met them just recently. Can you guess who?”

Nova thought about it for a moment…though the best he could think about was, “The guy with the medals?”

“And Feng Nuxi too.”

“Wait, she’s one too?”

“Heh, yeah. Most people don’t really realize that unless she directly mentions it,” Lu Yi chuckled. “But what I’m getting to is..If a Miracle comes to your world, there will eventually be Espers too. And, if things played out the same as our world, they will become a key role in uniting the world against the threat of the Miracles.”

“You don’t know that…”

“I don’t. I just have faith that it will happen.” 

“...Faith…”

Nova’s feelings broiled in him, conflicted on whether he should believe in such a thing or not. Faith can help a lot of things…but he did have a particularly bad time with it. But with how his situation is, unable to observe his world, the only thing he can really do is have faith…

. . .

It made his heart heavy with doubt, though the spark of hope was still there. 

Chapter Text

The next day came, in which Nova tried on his new clothes. The rather loose hoodie, the dark undershirt, and pants all felt comfortable and snug on his body. It felt…very much like him, even if he’s still using Brewster’s body. He’ll wear such clothes from now on. On the other hand, there’s the withdrawal, forcing Nova to chug down water first, and half a pint of beer right after. It still pressed against his mind like hell, but at least it wasn’t hard…if only slightly. Lu Yi prepared breakfast, to which Nova started to stuff his face with sausage and egg like he’d been starved.

“Gods, Nova! What’s gotten into you?” Lu Yi was quite surprised.

“The withdrawal!” Nova said with his mouth full, nearly choking as he gulped down everything all at once. “It sucks, man!”

“Alright, alright, my bad.”

Lu Yi’s supple table manners compared to Nova’s mouth wolfing down his meal were like night and day, though Nova had left the table and paced around the living room nervously. Though out of no reason in particular than to calm his nerves, he manifested his revolver and started twirling it in an aggressive fashion.

“Nova?”

“Yeah?” the irritation in his voice became present. 

“No weapons in the apartment, please.”

Nova’s gun twirling slowly stopped as his ears folded, looking quite embarrassed. “Oh…sorry…”

“It’s fine, it’s just an apartment policy for Espers.” though Lu Yi’s eyes narrowed a little. “And it’s a good thing I informed the apartment manager of you being here, cause that would’ve caused some problems later down the line.”

“No…I’m thankful, really,” said Nova. “I’ll try and find my own apartment soon. I just…I don’t know how high the prices are here in Graywater…”

“Well, there’s a few cheap hotels nearby,” Lu Yi noted. “The one we’re in is one of the higher ones. Being a bounty hunter does help pay the bills and then some. But…you don’t have to go right now, the manager did say you could stay as long as you pay your share of the bill.”

“Right…”

The little conversation had at least staved off the symptoms, though Nova also had a question in mind in regards to yesterday. “Lu Yi?”

“Yeah?”

“You…mentioned that you were part of the Union at one point. What was that like?”

Lu Yi took a deep breath, though from it came a nearly nostalgic sigh. “Well, if you think about it, the Union is like a superhero base.”

“Huh…I can see what you mean.” Nova thought about his own powers and abilities, seeing that he too could classify as a superhero if he wanted to. “What made you become a bounty hunter instead?”

“Well…it was more of a disagreement with how the Union operates,” Lu Yi started. “Though I like to call it as following my sense of justice.”

Nova realized that things were going to get complicated, so he made his question simple. “Can…you give me an example?”

“Let’s see…there was one time where I caught a criminal that had fled to another city, right? Did some pretty horrible things. When I caught him, some ops chiefs knowledgeable in the laws from where the criminal came from said that they’d had to be returned to their home city to be on trial. That was simple enough…until I looked into the guy himself.”

“...Who was he?”

“Just the heir of a corporation with enough power to bail him out regardless of charges,” Lu Yi grimaced. “I was mad when I learned that the guy was bailed, but that same company was also supplying the Union. I know that putting him in jail would’ve probably hurt their ties, but I just…hated how he got away scot-free.”

“Oh…”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“That’s why I became a bounty hunter and brought him to justice! In my first month too!”

“Oh! Shoot! How’d you do it?”

“In that month, the public constantly pressed for the heir’s just desserts and me arresting them caused enough sway in court to put him in prison without bail.”

“Oh man, no wonder that minotaur guy mentioned being a reputable hunter.”

“Yup! I won’t deny that the Union does good things, but it feels nice when justice is unimpeded.”

“I can agree with that.”

The two shared a laugh, though Lu Yi got up and stretched. “Well, we should get going. Don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Right…”

And though Nova remembered agreeing to be tested on. He hoped it wouldn’t be anything too unsettling…

Union escorts greeted them by the headquarters entrance, directing them to the inner workings of the base. Just like yesterday, various people and Esper walk by, though Nova sighed in relief as he knew that his efforts prior didn’t make him look like a bumbling drunk that happened to enter the facility. Regardless, it wouldn’t be long before the rather colorful yet sleek design of the headquarters soon turned sterile white. Nova and Lu Yi found themselves being led to a massive cylindrical room where Feng Nuxi had come before them, along with several scientists.

Nova felt like he was being watched, however. He could only suspect it must be from the scientists who are studying him. 

“You’ve arrived.” Feng Nuxi’s gentleness emerged from what was supposed to be a clinical tone. “Are you ready for the tests?”

“Um, before we start,” asked Nova. “What part of me is being studied?”

“We have no real need to study your physicality,” Nova realized Feng Nuxi spoke to him as if he’s speaking to Brewster, though still at him. “We already have medical profiles regarding you. Rather, we are interested in learning how your…changes in regards to your abilities, and your Waves.”

“Oh, well…should I demonstrate now?”

“Not until the equipment has been set up and the simulation starts.”

The minutes passed by as the scientists around him pulled equipment from the outside ranging from blast shielding to other devices for measurement. Others approached him and strapped a device on his shoulder, equipped with a smaller vinyl record.

“Uh…what’s this?” Nova didn’t touch it out of worry that he might break it.”

“It’s a device to record your power fluctuations.” explained Feng Nuxi. “But all you need to focus on right now is facing your simulated opponent.”

As if on cue, a girl with blue hair tied into two long ponytails with lime green ends presses buttons and flips a switch on a panel. All of a sudden the room seemed to flicker and twitch before expanding into a massive hallway with a ceiling that was now unbelievably high. As much awe as it slapped him in the face, Nova shook his head to realize that he was in a simulation…or augmented reality. Either way, it seemed the same regardless.

Three mannequin-like figures digitize right before him, which Nova felt like he knew what he was about to get into. Thus, came a question.

“Is-Is this gonna hurt-”

And one of the mannequins slugs him across the face.

“OH! OH GOD! HELP!!!”

Nova ran around the room, more or less in circles as the mannequins chased after him. It was quite comical, actually. Lu Yi could see that others had to stifle their laughs. Still, technically being his Esper coach, Lu Yi shouted from the proverbial benches.

“Bring out your gun, Brewster!”

“Um! Right!”

Nova manifested his revolver and took aim. One shot, two shots, a whole revolver’s clip of projectiles were shot at the mannequin figures and yet most of them either missed or only hit in non-vital areas, allowing them to keep their pursuit going.

“Damn it!”

“I thought you were good at revolvers!”

“I said I fired them at a firing range! I never used them outside that!”

“Well…just aim at the torso! Most police officers are trained to do that!”

Despite the good advice, Nova’s running around was starting to exhaust him. Unlike him, the mannequins were simulated and thus did not experience fatigue. He grit his teeth as the desperation started to become anger.

“Damn it! I didn’t think it would be like this! If I just…if I could just-!”

“If I could just pull the trigger…”

“If I could just pull the trigger, then all of this would end! I gotta aim right, aim at the torso and-”

“Pull the trigger…!”

“Pull the trigger!”

“Pull the trigger!!”

“Pull the trigger!!!”

“PULL THE TRIGGER!!!”

“PULL THE TRIGGER!!!”

“RRRRRRHHHH!!!!”

The growl came from his throat, almost sounding like an actual wolf snarl. He stopped running, standing his ground, aimed the gun, and fired straight through the head of the first mannequin. The figure crumpled to the floor, completely headless before disappearing. The other two continued their assault. “Nova” fired at the torso of one figure, the force causing it to stumble back as the other took a swing. But “Nova” brought out his revolver, the jaw barrel bit into the arm of the mannequin before he pulled the trigger, blowing the arm right off before Nova letting loose and rabid volley until the torso became nothing more but bits of digital remains. The third final mannequin soon fell all the same as “Nova” took a final headshot, removing its head as it dropped to the floor and disappeared.

No one said a word as “Nova” stood there and panted with a mix of anger and exhaustion in his voice.

“...Brewster?”

Lu Yi poked his head out of the blast shield cover after the whole demonstration Nova had shown. And rather than seeing Nova’s face, he found the eye of the gun barrel staring down at him before his face slowly turned. Nova looked angry, almost driven by a sudden murderous lust. And in his eyes was not a someone, but a something . A wild and maddening something had taken control.

But Lu Yi did not stand down. “Brewster? It’s me...”

“Nova” was still panting, his eyes scanning for threats. But they didn’t find anything. Lu Yi slowly stepped beyond the blast shielding despite the silent protest of others.

“It’s me…Lu Yi…”

“Nova” blinked slowly in realization as the weapon dissolved. The looking of something then became someone as Nova looked around. The simulation had ended, everyone slowly looked at the measurements but stood well within the cover of the shielding. Everyone save for Feng Nuxi and Lu Yi, both with concerned faces. Feng Nuxi especially, the gentle face masked a sense of harrowing realization.

As for Nova, his face was like a terrified kid who just realized he did something very… very bad.

“...What…happened to me…?”

Nova, Lu Yi, Feng Nuxi, and Gaius took residence in a recently evacuated office room where a projector was rolled in. The press of a button and the flick of a switch turned off the lights and turned on the projector, displaying data onto an empty wall.

“It appears that Nova…has now come into conflict with Brewster’s Esper Entity,” said Feng Nuxi. “Several instruments had caught an abnormal influx of Waves from Nova just before it happened.”

“Wait…I thought Esper Entities fuse with their host when they become an Esper,” Lu Yi noted. “Why is this different? Wouldn't that mean Brewster…well…took it with him to Nova’s home world?”

“Divine Waves are a constant with the Miracles’ existence, the same could be said for an Esper Entity,” Feng Nuxi emphasized. “In a sense, Brewster was simply an iteration that fused properly with it. The Union has actually recorded Waves that indicated Esper Entities are more like a concept that uses Waves as an extension of itself. It was also observed in Espers that have entities of lesser beings, with multiple iterations of the same if not similar Espers having been documented.”

“Right…I think now I see why it’s happening to him…”

“Yes…Nova is…outside of the norm. Rather being transformed into an Esper, he’s been put into one without any exposure to divine waves prior. There have been cases similar to his where the effects of Esper transformation had traumatizing effects on the mind and body. But for Nova? I can only assume it’s more in the case where he’s…fighting for Brewster’s body.”

Nova’s mostly catatonic behavior shifted slightly to ask a question. “What…What’s going to happen to me…?”

“Well…the closest case that we have had that could be similar to your situation is actually…one of the Esper Seven, Embla.”

Photos of Embla both prior and after her transformation flashed onto the projector. Nova reacted with a flinch. She looked terrifying.

“She was a gentle soul of sorts, though it’s said that her Esper transformation had inflicted her with an incomplete merge with her Esper Entity. While she was a hero, each use of her abilities meant that her own ego would be erased, and then replaced with one of an apathetic killing machine. Symptoms included gaps in memory, and a sort of switch in personality for brief periods of time.”

His blood ran cold, realizing that his future right now is not far different than hers, this Embla. He sighed a deep painful sigh, curling into himself. “I’m…gonna forget everything…and I’ll become a killer…”

“Despite the similarities, your case, while new, isn’t a complete repeat of Embla’s,” Gaius said with clinical honesty. “Embla’s transformation had caused these effects. However, it seems that you and the Esper Entity are trying to occupy the same space.”

“But why now..?”

“It could be the use of Brewster’s powers that likely caused the Esper Entity to…well, we can’t confirm if it was always with you or had come from the outside.” Feng Nuxi theorized. “What we do know is that using those powers means that you risk being overtaken by the Esper Entity, even overridden.”

Nova clung to a positive thought. “So…as long as I don’t use Brewster’s powers, or my version of it…I’ll be fine?”

“We can’t say for sure. Though, you might just have to moderate your usage of your powers from now on.” Feng Nuxi advised.

“I’ll look over at him, like I always do,” Lu Yi smiled, a little sign of weariness wrinkling his face. “Despite being different, looks like you’re still Brewster when it comes to causing problems.”

“Ugh…” Nova scoffed, but at least the notion made him smirk a little. A little less weight to carry.

There wasn’t much reason to stay in the Union headquarters once the examination was over. Nova and Lu Yi left and were walking across the sidewalks of Gyrate to clear their minds.

"So…I can't bounty hunt…or else I'll lose control…" Nova murmured.

"Well, I mean…Brewster does that anyway during his bounty hunts." Lu Yi reminded. "Though the losing control part due to an Esper Entity is…new…"

Silence lasted for a few brief moments before Nova continued.

"I didn't ask to be like him," he looked at his paw. There was a new feeling now, like an itch. "But…I can see why now."

"How's that?"

"I mean…I felt like I blacked out, though it was more like I was watching everything happen. Like a person watching a movie in a theater. Pulling the trigger felt good every time."

"He was the kind of person that would blow up his own past. Hell, he technically did." Lu Yi added. "He's no one else but Brewster now."

"Blowing up my own past…" Nova murmured. "It must have felt good to be untethered."

"You aren't?"

Nova paused for a moment, before the statement passed his lips. "Remember when I said my father was a gun nut?"

"Yeah?"

"...He's more than that. Conspiracy theory kind of guy.”

“Gods, really…? Those kinds of guys were a pain when the Miracles came around.”

“Yeah well…mine happened in 2012, we thought it was going to be the end of the world…”

“The Aztec Calendar?”

“Heh. Yeah…”

“We had that kind of paranoia too…though, it’s when Espers officially came to be.”

“Back then?”

“Yeah, it caused…quite a ruckus. Some hailed the Esper Seven as the return of the old gods or something. But they kept insisting they were just people. It was hard to believe that. I mean, Gaius could control lightning with his will alone. How was that not godlike?”

“I can see why…” Nova huffed, though he shook his head. “Look, can we talk about something else? That time wasn’t the best years for me.”

“Sure,” Lu Yi gave a bit of a thought before speaking again. “So…maybe you can’t use your powers yet without the chance of losing control, but I guess you can train yourself to not lose control. That…or…you could try and make peace with your Esper Entity.”

“You’ve done that before?”

“I mean…no. Like they said, Esper Entities and their chosen humans tend to fuse upon transforming. What you need to do is…probably find a way to fuse yourself with your Esper Entity.”

“Well, how would I know what my Esper Entity is?”

“Espers who transform also get the information on what their Entity is. Though I guess for you, it would take a while for it to introduce itself to you. Though, by all means, you just started talking to yours.”

“Right…” Nova was grateful for the fact that Lu Yi was confident in the situation. Though he figured that they’re both in the dark. But it made him feel good in knowing there could be a way out of the mess he got himself into by simply being in their world. Though for now. “I’m…gonna need a bit of alone time to process everything. Where should we meet up?”

“Back at where we parked. I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Got it.”

The two headed their separate ways as Nova basked in his current situation. With a bit of Lu Yi’s encouragement…things don’t seem all that bad at least. Sure, it was scary…but it was something that could be controlled. As long as he used his powers in moderation, he wouldn’t lose control like earlier. Though, as he walked, he saw someone familiar pass by him. And though he didn’t do anything to instigate a conversation, he suddenly found himself in the same girl with the long blue and green braids.

“Oh, hey there!” her voice is rather cheery and sweet. “Remember me?”

“Yeah…” Nova nodded. “You’re the girl I saw at my test. I’m sorry if I scared you back there, I didn’t mean anyone harm…”

“It’s alright,” said the girl. “I understand what you mean. It must have been scary when you lost control.”

“Mhmm…”

“Hey, just letting you know that there are other Espers that have suffered cases like yours.”

“I…thought mine was unique…”

“Ah…yeah, my bad.” the girl giggled. “I’m Uday, by the way. And you must be…?”

“Nov…Brewster…” Nova almost slipped up. He’s still Brewster after all.

“Nice to meet you Brewster,” she extended her hand. He shook it. “I know I probably shouldn’t say this, since you might be asked to come back to the facility for further research. But there is something that could relieve your symptoms.”

“There is?”

“Yes, a friend of mine took some medicine since he tended to go berserk ever since he became an Esper.” said Uday, though she looked off to the side. “I’ll admit, this isn't an over-the -counter kind of stuff. But…I do have the means to get you some. If only once.”

Nova shrinked back. That felt a bit shady. “I shouldn’t…”

“I know, we shouldn’t…but I couldn’t help it when I saw your face back there. I saw that face too on my friend. It was…the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen.”

The suspicion started to ebb away, his mind listening to that friend Uday kept mentioning.

“It really is the worst thing…to lose control of yourself…”

“. . .”

Nova relented against his own judgment. “I…alright. But just one. I’ll use it when…absolutely necessary.”

“Alright…follow me.”

Uday led the way as Nova followed, down the sidewalk. From there, she took a sharp turn to a dark alleyway. Despite the girl’s appearance, Nova was not stupid enough to fall for that kind of trap.

“You know…I’ve kind of changed my mind- AH!!!”

Nova suddenly felt a tidal wave of water suddenly sweep him off his feet, sending him barreling him into the alleyway. His whole vision was spinning from his body tumbling via the wave pushing him around.

“Djoser! Now!”

Wet and soaked, Nova felt the binds of some kind of net blanketing his body. He kicked and struggled and his mouth attempted to scream, only to find it covered. He tried to manifest his weapon, but all that came was orange sparks of flickering power. A cargo truck parks at the other end of the alleyway as Nova was soon blinded by darkness as his captors jump into the truck, the shift in gravity indicating that the truck was now driving away.

“Operation team, confirm target has been obtained.” a voice called to them from a slot , likely the driver.

“Extraction team, target confirmed,” said Uday. “The Anomaly is now in our hands.”

Nova couldn’t struggle any further in whatever strong arms this Djoser had. He found himself getting sleepy, his breath turning shallow as the world around him started to fade.

“You’ll be our key to the future…whatever you are…”

Chapter Text

Nova’s eyes fluttered open, rubbing his eyes to find himself in a strange place. It was dark, save for the dim glow green cylindrical lights in the blurry distance. His faint reflection could be seen, along with that same greenish light pouring from under him.

“What…?”

He quickly realized he was contained in some kind of glass tube, pressing his paws against the thick glass as he tried to make out what was beyond it. He saw a figure, a familiar figure. Two braids of blue and green.

"Uday…?"

"Oh, hey Brewster." She said, though her tone made it clear she wasn't going to be that friendly with him. "You're up?"

"Uh huh…what am I doing here?"

"Well, since you're here in our custody, I can tell a bit," Uday began. "Your bounty messed up with our plans to get some information."

A memory sparked. "You mean…those papers Lu Yi found?"

"Fortunately, we did have a backup plan. Sending it across the internet was risky, but it was sufficient enough."

"Um, sorry but…who do you mean we?"

“That would be me.”

A woman wearing a straightjacket of sorts and golden egyptian-styled embroidery approaches the glass cage. Though her eyes were obscured by a purple visor, he could feel some kind of visceral interest bore at him. Nova took a step back, as far as the glass container could let him. He had a bad feeling around her. Not only that…his heart rate spiked, breath quickened, and a very bad feeling clawed at his stomach.

“You sure he’s the one?” the woman turned to Uday.

“He’s definitely the Anomaly. He’s physically the same, though I saw it myself. His weapon is different from our records. That’s…never happened before…”

“Interesting~,” the woman in the straightjacket mused. “You’ve changed, Brewster. Then again, I’ve been told you’re not exactly him…but I’ll call you Brewster anyway, you’re still him after all~, at least physically.”

“I…” Nova could only choke that word out. The feeling of an unexplained fear had him at a chokehold. “Wh…Who are you?”

“Aww, you don’t remember me?” the woman mused, pretending to be hurt. “I’m Kara, Brewster. You and I have been associates for quite some time. Don’t you remember that~? All the good times we had?”

Nova didn’t answer. He didn’t want to answer. It felt like if he did, something terrible would happen. He shrunk down as much as he could, as if to hide. But she stared at him the entire time, a sort of inescapable feeling closed in on him.

“Well, I guess we’d need a complete reintroduction then, or perhaps a…walk down memory lane,” said Kara, venom bled through her chuckles.  “Oh…that would be lovely~.”

The next words came out of his mouth, quivering. It was an act of self-preservation, an admittance of truth under the hopes that it was all a misunderstanding.

“I-I’m not who you think I am…”

“Oh Brewster, it’s not a matter of who you are. You’ve already made up your mind last time when we were around.” said Kara. “It ended with quite a bang, if I recall. But even with all that fire and brimstone, that doesn’t sever the ties you have with me.”

“What…?”

“I’ll admit, we’ve yet to see if there were any long-term effects of the creation of artificial Espers. I guess you can call this a checkup, if you want~.”

Nova didn’t answer. Kara sighed and turned to Uday. “Get him ready. I want to get results before Anesidora can get his hands on him.”

“Yes ma’am.” 

"Oh gods…"

Lu Yi groaned, rubbing his face as he stood next to a Union ops chief while they filed out a report. A crowd surrounds the entrance to an alleyway that had been soaked with a great deal of water, squared away by police tape.

“And this happened because…you left him?” asked the ops chief.

“We just parted ways, he said he needed some time to himself.” Lu Yi emphasized that part. “I just didn’t think he’d be captured right after.”

“Okay…” the ops chief took notes. “I’ll personally send this to the Union Board of Investigations. We’ll find Brewster soon.”

“No, it's alright. I have something else in mind that can help.” 

The ops chief glanced at Lu Yi but otherwise dropped it and left, leaving Lu Yi to stay with the other curious bystanders who only talked of rumors and false conversations. And as he stared at the scene, Lu Yi picked up his phone and dialed a certain number.

"Larkspur Detective Agency, how may we help you?" The monotone voice of a clerk came through.

"I've got a case that needs solving. And I'm willing to pay a lot to get it done as soon as possible…"

Nova cooperated as much as he could. He knew he had no relation to these people, but he also knew that Brewster had some kind of association towards them. However…it was the feelings stirring in him that told Nova that whatever it was, Brewster was not in any sort of good condition. The entire time they put wires and measuring apparatuses on him, he saw himself turn into something more like an ICU patient that was barely clinging to life in his small body. 

And as he looked, two emotions prevailed: Stress, and emptiness.

He didn't know where the emptiness came from, and Nova felt like the stress may just be coming from himself. But there was that feeling that something was lost here. Something…important.

Brewster lost something important here…wherever he is, at the hands of these people. The numbers and measurements of various machines flash all around him as Kara paced here and there to record notes. 

"My my, it seems you haven't changed one bit Brewster~," Kara mused. "I'd say you've gotten a bit worse. Has your alcohol dependency increased?"

"I'm trying to quit..." Nova said meekly, though Kara kept going like he never said anything.

"Heart rate, stress levels, well that is to be expected. You aren't yourself, Brewster," Kara started. "But these Waves…"

She stood before a similar instrument Nova had seen when he was back at the Union. The numbers and graphs made no sense to him, but Kara seemed to scribble her notes even faster than before.

"I had to make sure that what happened to Embla was similar enough to you. But this? I'd say it's completely different!"

"How's it different…?"

Kara seemed to acknowledge Nova this time. "Well, I had to look into Embla's medical records for preparation prior to your arrival. Your condition is very similar to hers, though she's more far gone than you are."

Nova didn't like the sound of that…

"Though ever since that False Resonance, as the news is now calling it, I've been wondering how your condition would be different from hers. And then it got me thinking..."

Kara turned towards Nova, causing him to sink into the hospital bed. She leaned in, and Nova could feel her eyes darting around behind her visor, as if expecting the answer to explode from some part of him beneath his skin.

"What would happen to a completely normal human when they're put into the body of an Esper? Am I correct?? Is that what you are??"

“Y…Yes…" Nova had to admit the answer in fear of the fanaticism.

Toxic chuckles poured from her lips. “Well, looks like this will be interesting. I have to see you in action for more research purposes.”

“I…I shouldn’t…they said I’d lose control…”

“Oh, that’s alright…”

Nova felt relieved at first, thinking he would be let go. But then her hair…which curled like the tail of a scorpion, held some kind of device at the end of the stinger. It looked like a shoulder pad of sorts with vials of liquid sloshing in cylindrical vats the size of sample tubes.

“You won’t have to do a thing once this is administered~.”

There were times when Brewster would rabble rather loudly during car rides–he especially remembers the longer ones. Nova gave a change of pace where he’d talk occasionally and wasn’t as vulgar as Brewster. But now…the ride without them was…deafening. Even with the music he played, he seemed to expect some kind of interruption, anticipating it even. But it never came–he would have to look to the passenger’s seat just to remind himself that he’s alone for the time being–and the novelty of silence had quickly weaned off.

Even though he knew that the Union was going to investigate, he didn’t trust their adherence to policies to tell him of their progress, their evidence, and other things. Rather, he had to go somewhere else, somewhere far from both Gyrate and Graywater. He’s heard of the Larkspur Detective Agency and their proficiency with cases of many kinds. And he’d rather be part of the investigation than just waiting in the sidelines.

And as Lu Yi went further and further to the fringes of Grandis, he felt the cold before seeing the snow. It was a good thing that he brought a thick jacket, because he knew it was going to get colder. As he drove further and further, the land of muted color spectrums slowly and steadily became a blanket of white. And as he wiped the accumulating snow off his windshield with the wipers, he saw it.

Raine’s Wall

A massive towering wall that went on for miles, protecting Utgard from waves of Miramon ever since the Starlight Miracle had come to be. Just a mile or two from the wall was a  dual drawbridge system, where one could properly enter Utgard across its ice-ridden lakes. The drawbridge was up, and a man at a cramped terminal greeted him.

"ID?"

Lu Yi gave his ID to the man, who inspected it and returned to his terminal. He spaced out, and not long after, the drawbridge was lowered, along with the second one.

"You're good to go."

His credentials were given back, and he thus drove across the lake. He turned his head to occasionally glance at the ice and Norse inspired seafarer craft, eternally stuck in the frozen waters. And before he knew it, he found himself in Utgard. The dullness of Graywater was present in the form of a light winter all around. The building style was different, likely due to being designed for acclimation towards the winter climate. Lots of brands he recognized, along with brands he didn't.

However, he saw the one establishment that he was looking for.

Larkspur Detective Agency

Lu Yi donned his thick sweater and braced the cold. The chill bit him as he stepped out of his car and locked it. It wasn't long of a trek, just across the street. But it was better than going in the cold in a T-shirt. He stepped through the door as an alarm bell rang, meeting the clerk.

"Welcome to the Larkspur Detective Agency, how may we help you? Do you have a case you need to solve?"

"Ah, right, sorry. I was on the phone earlier and just decided to come here instead." Said Lu Yi, chuckling at his own befuddlement. "Is it okay with me to join the investigation?"

" It can certainly help shorten our time investigating."

Lu Yi looked down to see a short cat man looking at him. And Lu Yi knew who the cat man was, the very owner of the agency, Tevor.

However…that was not what came out of his mouth. It was a bit embarrassing.

"You're kind of like Brewster, but shorter."

Tevor's brow raise was the meanest raise he's ever seen. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it was only the height," Lu Yi apologized. "My friend, Brewster, was captured by some people. I need you to help me find him."

"Brewster? Brewster the Blaster, you mean?His reputation precedes him."

Lu Yi coughed a bit, mainly just to remember that Nova is still Brewster. He doesn't know if talking about Nova will help in this case.

"Yeah him. He's a bit of a handful, I…still care about the guy though."

"Very well…let's get this investigation going. Follow me to the back, I'll need some pointers."

Nova was happy that he was at least not treated like a slave. He was given a thick sweater to ride the cold and the light snowfall. Uday and Djoser, the bull guy, are there as well. Uday seems to be tagging along, and Djoser is the one that’s making sure he doesn’t escape. However…

"Do I really need this collar?"

It was a bit heavy and made of metal, matted with leather. However, a single empty slot was seen, placed where the jugular would be located. 

"Oh, it is very necessary for what l want from you." Kara’s sweater was just a bigger version of her straight jacket. At least, design-wise. “You see, Brewster, we recognize all the parts of what it takes for an Esper to transform. That’s how we made you, after all.”

“M-Made?”

“Oh yes Brewster , your body was made into an Esper through artificial means. Of course, we did have to take measurements of your progress to make sure that you were going to turn into a proper Esper. Tissue and blood samples were constantly taken for testing. And though the Union did not have proper instruments at the time, secondhand accounts and the first ever artificial Esper trials did confirm the presence of an Esper Entity merging with their human host is needed to trigger a full transformation.”

“Th-The Union did that?”

“No one is spotless Brewster. But it’s thanks to you returning that I can finally continue some tests that had to be postponed since your…early leave~.”

“Wh-”

Nova couldn’t answer as he felt Djoser’s hands suddenly keeping him in place as he set an ampule in the slot of his collar. He winced as he felt a quick jab at his neck from an unseen needle as he felt the contents of whatever was in that ampule being pushed into his system.

“Agh…what was that?”

“A little something to help speed up the process~.” Kara mused. “We’re almost there, so you’ll have time to let that course through your system before your trial run begins.”

Lu Yi stepped into a room with Tevor, a room with a long table and a row of chairs with cabinets on the walls, and cork boards with photos, newspaper clippings, both pinned together by tacks and connected between one another through strings. Though there is also a particular velvety looking sofa, something that would usually be seen in a typical therapist’s workspace. Tevor proceeded to sit on one side of the table, whilst Lu Yi took the other.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the news so I read that Esper Union Weekly had sent out a missing person’s section regarding Brewster.” As Tevor said this, he pulls out a cut piece of a newspaper article, showing the photo of Brewster used and his details. “The crime scene alone entailed that whoever captured him was an Esper. Not only that, eyewitness accounts said that he was following a person and having a conversation with them. Though the details of that are unknown as of now. Is there anything you know that can help in this case?”

“Well…”

Lu Yi wondered whether to tell about the whole False Resonance situation, but he felt that was unnecessary. However…if he lied, or even omitted the truth, then he might go to prison for that. Even then…the Union didn’t make him sign any nondisclosure agreement either. However, that information wasn’t relative for now, so he stuck with more general details.

“Well, for one, I can confirm that there are many people that would want to kidnap Brewster.”

“How many?”

“Well…some people just want to haul him somewhere no one can see to beat him up for being a jerkass to them.”

“Sounds like Brewster made a lot of enemies.”

“Yeah, he’s just like that,” Lu Yi confirmed. “Of course, I try to keep him out of trouble but that doesn’t stop him. Besides that…there is one time where it got pretty serious.”

“Serious how?”

“Well…it had to deal with the Shadow Decree ,” Lu Yi began. It was a rather open secret for those in both the Union and other certain jobs that the Shadow Decree exists, a faction that had split off from the Union to pursue supposed enlightenment of Esperhood and bring a new era of evolution. “Brewster is apparently an artificial Esper, made by them in one of their experiments. He escaped twice, I was there when it happened the second time. When we broke out, he blew up whatever records he had of himself.”

“I see…” Tevor said as he wrote the information on some sticky notes. “An assumption can be made that the Shadow Decree may have captured him a third time to regain their lost data.”

“I’ve thought so too. But there’s also…the False Resonance.”

“What does Brewster have to do with the False Resonance?”

“It’ll take some time, but it all started when…”

It took some time, but the group had gotten to…wherever they were. Nova couldn't really tell. Wherever they had come from, it was pretty isolated.  Snow and ice for miles, all in freezing cold. Though, Nova could see that they're at some edge of a frozen wasteland that went on for miles. Some weird structures stuck out of the ice, he could figure it was Nordic.

"Um…what are we doing here?" Asked Nova. 

"See that up there?"

Kara's scorpion ponytail pointed to something in the sky. Nova realized it was a Miracle, with a strange symbol on it, a bit different to the one in Gyrate. A rune of sorts…

"A Miracle?"

"Yes, the Starlight Miracle," Kara said with amusement. "Utgard is in a special position, you see. Caught before two Miracles. It's only through Raine's Wall that Utgard remained intact."

Something glows around the Miracle. Nova's eyes widened as he saw colors and shapes form, and stone moving to the mirage of…almost like a rainbow.

"What is that…?" Nova could not hide his childlike wonder.

"That's…how Miramon are formed," Uday said as she broke her silence, though she also seemed curious. Nova can only think about the colors before him. “Divine waves permeate all things. Those that don’t find a person eventually become Miramon.”

“Whoa…” Nova’s awe turned into a wince of pain, a headache suddenly came to him for a brief moment as he put his paw on his head. “Ow…”

“Every once in a while, these Miramon attack Utgard,” Kara continued. “In a sense, you’re doing a bit of community service to prevent an incoming Miramon attack, and I get some new data in exchange~.”

Nova felt nervous as he watched the Miramon form from the Waves, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what might come next. “Um…I’m not gonna have to fight all of them, do I?”

“Of course!” Kara’s smile was wider than ever as she pulled out her own glass slate phone. “Don’t worry though, we’ll make sure you come back in one piece.”

He gulped, there was no real way to run from his situation. They’re all watching him…even then, he’s pretty sure he can’t run very far without them catching up. Lacking in confidence, he drew out his revolver and slowly approached the Miramon. He didn’t realize they came in different sizes and shapes, some of them looked like coral from the ocean, others looked like flowers. The biggest ones are the monsterss, the very same ones that he remembered facing against when he first came to this world.

Still…the group of Miramon is pretty small, he can take care of it. Hopefully…

Nova slowly approached the Miramon, but it seemed like they noticed him first. The flowers turned their heads towards him and made a surprisingly freakish noise at him as he reeled back. 

“What the-?!”

He didn’t even finish his sentence before the flowers flung something at him, a projectile. Nova scuttled back and focused once more, aiming his revolver and firing at the glowing plants. Holes appeared as his powered bullets ran straight through them, though he noticed that the purple plants seemed to take more hits than the others before going down. Heck, the green ones seemed to barely take any effort for him to eliminate.

“Are the purple ones stronger or something?!” he called out to his captors, hoping for advice.

“No, that’s just your inherent Wave Type,” Uday answered. “They’re color coded, you’ll figure it out!”

“I don’t think–OOF!!!”

Nova was hit in the stomach and sent flying into a pile of snow. He picked himself up and realized the monsters Miramon were now after him, each one of the three colors. His intuition was fed with new information, his revolver aiming at the green monster and rapidly pulling his trigger finger and handling the recoil as much as he could. The green Miramon fell into a hole-riddled mess just as the other two were upon him. He scrambled out of the way, running as fast as his little paws could take him as he gained distance again and fired upon the orange one until it too crumpled to the floor. 

The last one, the purple Miramon, its head flashed a menacing color before sending a blast of Wave energy at him. Nova didn’t have enough time to react as it exploded in his face, sending him severely meters away once more. He coughed, his insides hurt, his body hurt a lot…but he could still move. He felt something drip from his mouth as he wiped it without a second thought with the sleeve of his thick sweater…only to find that it’s blood.

He didn’t have the time to comprehend it as the purple Miramon was suddenly upon him. The creature roared as he was tackled to the ground, laying on his back and the revolver flying out of his hand. Its lance-like arms moved down to impale him, but Nova rolled out of the way and resummoned his revolver before firing at the sides of the violet beast. Each bullet left an impact, a crater the size of a human’s fist. And yet the Miramon still stood as it came after him once more. Nova ran, turned back, and fired some more shots at the Miramon before tripping as a result of running and aiming behind him. He tried to pick himself up, but the shadow of the creature was already upon him. In that moment, he felt some part of him accept his fate…until…

Something like the sound of water surrounding him.

And he felt a sharp force pinch at him, at his back. That must’ve been the lanced tip of the Miramon’s arms, but he was protected by…something.

“Uday!” Nova could hear Kara’s hissing. “You’re interfering with the results!”

“He won’t give any results if he’s dead.” Uday stated. “I’m just keeping him alive.”

Nova didn’t really comprehend that, instead, he got back to his feet and started unloading bullet after bullet into the Miramon with his powers. The adrenaline rush from his near-death experience gave him a sudden acute awareness, moving in and away from the Miramon’s range as his trigger finger kept pulling the trigger of his revolver. The Miramon was a deformed mess, its face and body riddled with craters and yet it still stood, giving chase. Nova cursed and grit his teeth, simply wanting the thing to be dead and gone.

“I nearly got killed by this thing. Why won’t it go down?!”

“More…”

“Damn it!!!”

Nova switched back to his weapon’s default form and poured power into the next shot.  A ball of pure Wave power suddenly burst from the gun’s jaws and straight at the Miramon’s chest, lighting the area up with a cacophonous explosion. When the flames died, a huge hole was in the Miramon’s chest as it finally succumbed to its wounds.

“Guh…” Nova panted, leaning on his own gun to support himself.

However….

“GAHH!!!”

A migraine struck him like thunder, holding his head with a hard grip. Dancing lights and colors could be seen as he forced himself to look. More Miramon were forming, all around him. He glanced up to the Miracle as it gave no answer, and yet, Nova already knew it was the culprit. He cursed at his situation, at his realization that these members of the Shadow Decree had just thrown him at a suicide mission for test results. He cursed and cursed and cursed.

“Shit shit shit!! Why is this happening to me?!”

“More…!”

“I didn’t ask for this!! They’re making me do this impossible bullcrap!! I can’t take on all of them!! Unless…”

“More!!”

“Unless I have…!”

“More firepower!!”

“More firepower!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!”

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!”

“Holy…” Uday looked to Djoser. “Are you seeing this?”

“His weapon is…changing…?” Djoser’s comment held just as much confusion. “Again??”

“Ahahaha~!” Kara let out a burst of laughing amusement, as she seemed preoccupied with her fingers rapidly typing out words for her notes. “So this is evolution!”

What was happening to Nova could only be described as such. Nova himself felt his control sink, becoming once more a passenger within himself as both mind and body became occupied with...the thing inside him. The powers within him fluctuated, changing and morphing into something new. His gun growled and snarled, its jaws unhinging as he could see the barrel change and morph as more barrels emerged adjacent to it, forming a circular pattern. Deep within, Nova realized that his gun had evolved into something like a gatling rifle of sorts as the entity inside him heaved the weapon, just in time for the Miramon to all form and come charging at him. “Nova” aimed the new weapon, and pulled the trigger .

GGGGGRRRRRRRATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!

A spray of orange streaks of power zipped across the wasteland and straight through the Miramon. Nova could feel the constant pushback the weapon was generating, and yet somehow the thing controlling him had such a greater amount of control than he had, tanking the recoil like nothing. Rows upon rows of Miramon fall flat onto the floor, dissolving; and through all of that, Nova could feel something like a high from seeing all that destruction by his own hands. The stronger ones kept going in spite of the holes that were riddled through them as “Nova” growled with emotions between frustration and excitement swirling within him.

“More firepower!!”

“More…firepower…?”

“More firepower!!!”

“More…firepower…!”

“More firepower!!!”

“More firepower!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!!”

“MORE FIREPOWER!!!!”

Nova’s awareness of himself petered for a moment, but he started to figure out what was happening. Whatever the entity wanted, it seemed they both needed to have some kind of agreement. However, he didn’t have much time to let that idea sink in as power fluctuated once more. He could feel his face turn into a wild unhinged smile as his gun’s barrel began melding back together into four big cylinders. The gun had evolved once more, and yet at the same time, Nova felt that his own awareness petered off again for a longer period.

In that moment…he wasn’t really himself per say. It’s more like…he was ceasing to be for the briefest of moments. He didn’t know what to do, but he was scared, terrified. And all of a sudden, the space that he seemed to occupy within himself felt like a prison, a box he was shoved into. He wanted to scream, bang his nonexistent hands against the box, but Nova was constantly in a whirlwind of emotions. Pleasure, adrenaline, his finger on the trigger, it all combined to create a sense of a persistent high that made his efforts to break through sluggish and meek.

“Stop…stop…..stop…” he pleaded to the thing controlling him.

But there wasn’t any response, not in the midst of everything that was happening. Nova only watched as the entity within him sidestepped a blow from the Miramon with ferocious speed, aiming the gun point blank at its side before pulling the trigger. A wave of dopamine coursed through his system as he witnessed the entire torso disappear and what remains dropping to the floor. Two more came in attempt to surround him, but “Nova” jumped and thrust his gun at the Miramon’s head. He landed on its shoulders just as the jaws clamp around the head, suddenly acting like a remote as the Miramon swung wildly at random. The other Miramon was forced to contend with its controlled ally, but the ferocity and wildness overpowered it as the oether’s lancing arms sink through the other Miramon, dissolving then and there. With the other eliminated, “Nova” simply pulled the trigger, its head exploding before the barrels as he jumped off and let out a long sigh. 

The entire winter wasteland was silent once more, and “Nova” looked to his captors with disdain.

"You…you're all-"

The entity didn't finish his sentence as he felt a sting hit his shoulder. He tore it off to reveal a dart from a dart gun…which Djoser had.

"...Fuck…"

And the last thing he remembered was everything just going black.

Lu Yi looked at Tevor as Tevor looked at him with a hard poker face. Soon, his little muzzle let out a slight exhale as the poker face broke.

"You know how insane you sound, right?"

"I speak the truth." Lu Yi swore.

"Yeah…that's the thing," Tevor cleared his throat. "By your body language, you indeed believe in what you are saying."

"I…well, I don't have any way to really prove it to you."

"I am an Esper detective, Lu Yi. I have solved cases that are much weirder than yours," Tevor began. "I want to make sure that what I am getting into is not some weirdly elaborate hoax that wastes my time. I mean…how can one Esper, Brewster especially, be related to the False Resonance?"

"You really think Brewster's the kind of guy to be this smart enough to make a rise like this?"

"No," Tevor seemed amused at the notion. "Even if he weren't drunk half the time, he couldn't in his wildest dreams make something like this."

"Then you understand?"

Tevor's silence pressed his lips before he spoke. "Give me one reason. You did say that the Union was on the case as well, so give me one reason why I should intervene."

Lu Yi thought back to his own experiences with the Union, and how they dealt with things. It was true that they had the greater good of mankind in mind. Though…it was sometimes hard to see it that way. They had people backing them, and that meant there were policies, laws, and regulations that they had to follow. Lu Yi disliked that concept, all the means to enact justice being held back by corporate tape.

“Word will eventually come out about Nova’s nature,” Lu Yi started. “The Union knows, the Shadow Decree might know as well at this point. Nova is proof of things that we have only seen in fiction. And he’s already breaking a lot of rules by simply…existing in our world.”

He took a deep breath, so as to not get too emotional. “Brewster’s already been through a lot before Nova came around. I don’t know where he is, or what he’s doing. But the way I see it is…if things go the way they do, their lives might end up being worse for each other. When they switch back, and if they can switch back, Brewster may end up wrecking Nova’s life in his world, and…Nova will have turned Brewster into a lab rat again in ours. It was always in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think it would happen. But with the Union’s attention on him and the False Resonance being possibly connected, I’m having my doubts. I need your help to keep him out of the hands of anyone that might want him for…whatever reason.”

Tevor’s silence filled the room, looking down at nothing in particular. He took a deep breath and sighed. “You made your case sound more insane than before.”

“I know, I-”

“I’m doing it. For triple pay if this ends up being right.”

Tevor extended a hand, and Lu Yi only stared at it. But he only smiled and shook it.

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

“Guh…”

Nova felt groggy, his head swimming with a mix between drug-induced exhaustion and slumber. It felt like he was just waking up from a hangover as his head throbbed in a dull yet painful manner. Though he felt something. It seemed he was on some kind of mattress, if only a bit thin. When his vision focused back in the same room where he was being measured, the hospital-like setting surrounded him like he simply woke up from some kind of surgery.

But he knew that it wasn’t the case. He remembered everything clearly, the feeling of a high as he destroyed each Miramon, wild and passionate emotions, and the memory of being shot by a dart.

He didn’t know what to feel. Angry? He can’t really tell, those feelings are the same feelings from the entity inside him. Sad? Well..his situation really does suck…but he could at least see the bright side. He’s indeed in one piece, though he’s going through one heck of a relapse.

Speaking of relapse, he feels the urge to drink some kind of wine or alcohol. Well…seeing that he’s back at the Shadow Decree base, he might as well ask for a cup.

“Hello?”

Nova pushed open the door with his paw, and the other side of the door lead to something else. He could only gawk as he saw something big and fleshy staring at him. Covered in dirty matted fur, similar cream and gray color that his body has, but the eye…

The eye is a vibrant fiery orange, staring right at him as its pupils shrink at the sight of him.

“What…?”

“You.”

The voice was deep, shaking the entire room so much that he nearly stumbled.

“You are a cancer.”

“I’m…?” Nova gritted his teeth right after rebounding from the confusion. “No! You’re the cancer! I will die if I let you take over!”

“No.” the thing said so matter-of-factly. “You are the cancer.”

“I’m not a cancer!”

“Then why do you inhabit a body that is not your own?”

Nova went silent and looked at himself. The thing in front of him is right, he is inhabiting a body that wasn’t even his. He’s the puppeteer, living in the puppet. But he shook his head.

“I didn’t ask to be here…”

“Does cancer ever ask to exist?”

Nova’s fists balled up. “There’s Miracles here. One came to my world and brought me here and stuffed me in this body. If anything, it’s your world’s fault! You brought your shit to my world, and now look where I am!”

The thing laughed…if it could be called that. The room shook as cracks began to form across the hospital room, little more than a gingerbread house.

“Even in this world, they have only scratched the surface. You know nothing, cancer. I will take back what is mine.”

The whole room exploded as Nova was sent flying into the darkness. Nova screamed and flailed, flying through the nothingness. Though as he stabilized himself, he could see something bounding towards him. A massive wolven beast with the same piercing orange eyes that stared at him beyond the door.

And now that beast lunged at him, its void of a maw opening to swallow him whole.

Nova panicked and manifest his revolver and pulled the trigger as fast as he could. But the beast was simply too big to make a scratch. Swallowed by a darkness that felt alive, encompassing, and consuming, Nova simply screamed into the darkness and kept his finger pulling the trigger out of desperation.

“LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOOOOOOOUUUUUTTTT!!!”

“Brewster! Brewster!!”

“LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT…! Let me…”

He slowly opened his eyes, he’s in the bed of the clinical holding room again from…whatever that was. Someone was holding him down, finding that it was Uday and Djoser. His revolver is in his hand, and he apparently let out some shots as there were holes in the ceiling.

“What…?” Nova felt delirious, looking around in confusion. “What happened..? I…”

“It’s okay. You’re alright,” said Uday in a rather soothing voice. 

“You’ve experienced a hallucination,” said Djoser. “And then we heard gunshots. We had to come over to restrain you.”

“I-I’m sorry…” Nova sank into himself.

A moment of silence passed before Uday sighed. “It’s alright, just try and relax. Another researcher has come around and wants to study with you.”

“Not Kara?”

“Not Kara.” Uday confirmed, and she sounded just as relieved as Nova was.

“Then…who?”

“That would be me.”

Someone stepped into the hospital room, a mix of orange and green and cream came to him. It was a dog man? Like him? Like Brewster? His mane was something to behold, it held swirls in itself like he’s never seen. Some even had tints of orange in them, like a mystical flame. The dog man in front of him wore a deep green jacket with an undershirt of black and orange, depicting some kind of draconic creature he couldn’t fully see. He also wore some kind of pants with black and golden highlights at the end, and wore shoes that somehow reminded him of something seen in east asian cultures despite it’s rather sleek modern design.

More importantly though, the eyes that met his own held hope. A kindling that seemed to have been alive, yet weary, for a very long time.

“Oh…hello.” Nova politely waved at the dog man. “You’re like me. You’re…a dog.”

The coldness that most of the Esper’s he’s met at this Shadow Decree did not seem to exist with him. Nova, already, felt warm as the man chuckled. “I’m no dog, I’m a dragon.”

“A furred dragon…that’s not so strange…” Nova muttered.

“Please, give us some alone time.”

At the dragon’s word, both Uday and Djoser take leave with Nova now alone with the dragon as he takes a chair.

“So, you must be Brewster,” said the dragon. “Though…Kara and Uday have told me that you aren’t him, that must be quite confusing.”

“Yeah…I didn’t mean to be like this. I just…it’s hard to explain.”

“It’s alright,” the dragon said understandingly. “Let’s start with the basics. What name do you refer yourself as?”

“Nova. And who are you?”

“My name is Fu Shi. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nova.”

Fu Shi extended his hand, to which Nova shook. He continued the conversation. “I’ve been made aware that your time here has been quite a handful. I don’t want that kind of time between us.” 

“You’re…not gonna put wires on me? Or inject stuff and make me go…”

The memories were strong and vivid, the mere thought of them made his head swim. Gravity seemed to tilt before suddenly going still, finding Fu Shi’s arm on his shoulder. Apparently, he nearly fell off the bed from the memory alone.

“Unfortunately, my experiment does include bringing this…new side of you, to the forefront. My area of research is in cases such as yours. Your data will provide valuable insight.”

"I don't…I don't want to do that…"

Nova felt himself shake in fear. But Fu Shi pressed regardless. "I know. But your circumstances can help people like you."

"Not…not exactly like me," Nova emphasized, if only to relent just a bit of his fate. "I just…want to go home."

"But you are here. And since you're here…all I'm asking is that you can do some good while you're with us."

"Like…for Embla?" Asked Nova. "I only heard of her from the Union, but. You're saying that my condition can help people like her?"

Fu Shi's voice trembled, if only for a moment. "Even if it doesn't. It will at least point us in the right direction."

Nova considered. It was a lot, in all honesty. There was a risk, a great risk , should he do this. But then again…he's got no choice. They can't harm him, he's too important to kill. But since he's here…maybe there is something he can do. However…

"Promise me that I won't…fade away. When the thing inside me takes control I…sometimes cease to be."

"The same thing has happened to other patients. I'll do everything I can. And then you can go home."

Nova slowly nodded. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath into a leap of faith.

"Then…you have my full support."

Scheduled Miramon Wave Absent

Despite computer simulations and Wave measurements of the Starlight Miracle indicating the scheduled incoming wave of Miramon towards Utgard, the sudden abrupt absence has left many Miracologists and ready soldiers scratching their heads. Furthermore…

“An absent wave of Miramon…” Lu Yi repeated the newspaper. “This has never happened before, has there?”

“There have been cases where Wave measuring instruments have reported false alarms. That and along with human error,” said Tevor, who was also looking at a newspaper. “But this really is the first case where an accurate measurement of an incoming Miramon wave should have happened, yet didn’t. It’s only speculation, but I suppose it has something to do with your Nova.”

“Yeah but…even Brewster didn’t have the kind of firepower to take down that many Miramon.” Lu Yi pointed out. 

“Right…” Tevor closed his newspaper and looked directly at Lu Yi. “When you were with Brewster while captured, did the Shadow Decree do anything?”

“Uh…well, we weren’t around enough to get through with anything like that,” he said. “But since Brewster is an artificial Esper, it’d probably have to do something with that.”

“Empowering Espers is not out of possibility…” Tevor murmured. “Wasn’t there an Esper that was empowered before?”

“Sieg? Yeah, he was also there with Brewster when they came back to break me out.”

“That could be the case then. They empowered Brewster, enough to take on hordes of Miramon. Question is where would they hide them.”

“You…wouldn’t know where they would hide Brewster, right?”

“I can get some info on my end. Just pull a few strings. And you?”

“Well…I think I can contact someone. However…we’ll have to see if what you find is true.”

Having been calmed and also accepting of Fu Shi’s proposal to experiment on him on the premises that he can help others, Nova felt rather okay with his situation. Fu Shi seems to be a nice guy compared to the few people he’s seen of this Shadow Decree organization, even granting him permission to wander around a bit (but not too far) within the base.

“Can I get chocolate milk? And some beer too?”

Nova had asked that of Fu Shi, to which the dragon replied with a considerate statement. Other than that, Nova didn’t want to push his luck on such politeness. Still…he did get a tracking bangle on his wrist, just in case.

He went around, just observing the ongoings of the people. There was surprisingly little attention given to him, and Nova could only think that perhaps what he’s doing right now is a bit of a normal thing that happens here. However, he never said it like that. His dog ears picked up idle conversations on people, especially those who looked a little more…combat ready, in a sense. When walking through a massive hall with slowly winding turbine fans, he heard a conversation between the bull Djoser…and some ruffian looking wolf man wearing a dark vest, arm bracers, boots, and some very cool looking shades.

“You’re shitting me, right?!” exclaimed the wolf. “What the hell’s Kara cookin’ with Brewster!? You expect me to believe that a stump like him had that kind of firepower?!”

“It’s not Brewster, Freddy,” Djoser reminded. “It’s someone inhabiting Brewster's body.”

“Like a Goa’uld or something like that?”

“More like The Exorcist . Someone’s possessed Brewster, or Nova. That’s what he goes by now.”

“I heard it was first thought to be some split personality…”

“That’s not the case anymore. Anesidora’s on an expedition to a newly found ruin ever since the False Resonance happened, said that some instruments there had gone off. The reading’s should have indicated that a new Miracle was going to happen…though on-site camera feed didn’t show anything.”

“Bah, that’s a bit too complicated for me,” Freddy grumbled. “What’s it got to do with Brewster…or Nova, whatever.”

“From what I’ve seen. His weapon changed to something like a revolver. That’s never happened with any Esper before. Even then, it was capable of changing into…modes, so to speak.”

“Really? Well…who better to ask than the man himself? ”

Nova felt small the moment Freddy’s face turned to him. Djoser did as well, though his face was more of a cold indifference compared to Freddy’s malicious intrigue.

“Don’t rough him up, he’s supposed to be up for the next experiment by Fu Shi,” said Djoser, who seemed ready to leave. “I gotta help out some of our guys with other tasks, so…play nice.”

The bull disappeared down the hall, to some unseen door. Nova didn’t have time to wonder where he went before he realized the giant muscular wolf was upon him. With one swipe, he grabbed Nova by the hand like one would hold a fish by the tail.

“Well well well,” Freddy’s toothy smile greeted him. “You must’ve heard all that, right? I also heard you changed from that annoying little chihuahua to an obedient little puppy dog.”

Nova didn’t care about the insult. “You’re hurting me! Please, I’ll show it to you, just let go of me!”

Freddy looked more annoyed than anything. “Guess that’s true then. You used to cause so many entertaining events while you were your old self. Now look at you…….whatever, show me.”

“But…you didn’t let me-AH!!!”

The massive paw around his own squeezed, pain shot through his wrist.

“I’ll let you go when you show me .”

Nova didn’t think, he just did. He manifested the revolver and handed it to the big wolf. Freddy let him go soon after, to which Nova landed on his bum and winced, but otherwise fine. Freddy inspected his weapon, which looked almost small in such big hands.

“Interesting,” said Freddy as he aimed the gun coyly. “Does this have the same firepower like before?”

“I guess…? I wanted the gun to have a smaller area of effect and…it just turned into that.”

“Concentrated force. Just like a regular revolver…”

Freddy tossed the revolver back to him, to which Nova caught. However, with his eyes and mind focused on catching, he didn’t see the incoming fist.

“Guh!”

“Bahaha!” The wolf howled with laughter. “The old you had more skill, even while drunk! You’re pathetic!”

“Freddy, enough.”

Fu Shi appeared in a swirl of mist, his hand outstretched to Nova, which he takes as he coughs from the gut punch. Freddy’s smile from before disappeared as his face became more of a scowl.

“It was only a brushing touch. You can’t blame me for him being so weak…”

That particular statement hurt, and anger started to simmer. His trigger finger itched…but he suppressed it as the revolver disappeared.

“Come Nova,” Fu Shi referred to Nova. “The tests are now ready.”

Just like the bridge that would lead to the heart of Utgard’s downtown area, the bounty hunter and the detective crossed another bridge that led to a golden city in the distance. Lu Yi had to admit it wasn’t easy to just ignore the dazzling scenery. Even in the cold winter’s noon the lights of the golden city northward shine bright.

“So…what are we looking for?” Lu Yi asked as he looked out the window, the golden city slowly zooming in as they crossed the bridge.

“Not what, who,” Tevor said as he drove. “My time as a detective has led to many strings I can pull, this is one of them.”

Side-parking the car, Tevor exited the vehicle as Lu Yi followed suit. What he saw was an immense building that imposed a sense of purpose and centricity, like the beating heart of Utgard. It didn’t take much brain power to realize that he was standing before a municipality building, though clearly government funded.

Utgard Urban Planning Institute

“I suggest you start contacting whoever you need.” said Tevor as he opened the door. 

With how massive the public lounge for the whole building was, Lu Yi wasn’t picky on where he sat. He took the nearest vacant seat and pulled out his phone, and dialed a frequent number.

. . .

. . .

“Graywater Bounty League, how may we be of service?”

“I’m calling to set up a bounty.”

“Please state an intended description of the bounty.”

“I need an Esper with navigational skills. Especially ones that may deal with mazes.”

“Very well, when do you want this bounty to be completed?”

“As soon as possible.”

“How much are you willing to pay for this bounty?”

“Fifty-thousand gold.”

“And your name?”

“Lu Yi.”

“...May I ask why you are setting up a bounty?”

“I just need help finding-”

“Brewster?”

Lu Yi sighed, humored a bit. In all fairness, this was something that happened before, multiple times. “You could say that?”

“Did you check the dumpster? Or any of the bars he hasn’t been banned from yet?”

“No, it’s…more serious than that.”

“I see…”

. . .

“All right, the bounty has been set. Thank you for taking up the service of the Graywater Bounty League.”

Nova walked with Fu Shi as he led him back to the lab. The room was full of a gloomy green ambience as testing equipment and measuring instruments were all around. Though the main highlight was the…well…Nova could only think of them as vat tanks. The glass cylinders were responsible for the ominous green glow, some casting translucent shadows as various people lay in them, dormant and suspended in water, oxygen masks strapped to their faces. 

Some of them look like they’re in the process of transformation, which Nova had to ask, “Is…becoming an Esper quick?”

“What you’re seeing in the incubation pods are simply…half awakened Espers, as we have called them,” said Fu Shi. “Their physicality is showing expressions of becoming an Esper, though they’ve yet to actually awaken. Natural instances of transformation are rather explosive, and quick.”

“So…he reached that point then.”

“Yes, the Waves in his body eventually reached critical saturation, and the Esper Entity soon inhabited his body. And then they fused, forming the body you inhabit now.”

“Oh…” 

Nova could only wonder what Brewster must have gone through while here. Though there was only a sense of unease and emptiness ever since he had come here. Fu Shi relieved that to some extent, but still…it never fully went away.

“Here.”

Fu Shi stopped and gestured to a particular vat tank. Unlike the others, there were large cables leading to the inside of the empty tank, all of it plugged into a device that Nova could only see as a giant battery tied to a chair with straps. Nova also saw that they weren’t the only ones in the laboratory. Uday was there, along with Freddy. Nova felt nervous about the wolf man being there, he punched him in the gut after all.

“Why is he here?”

“For safety reasons,” said Fu Shi. “Djoser is running some tasks, so he can’t be here at the moment.”

Even with Djoser’s cold attitude towards him, he would’ve preferred it over Freddy. The wolf has already made a first impression.

“And Uday?”

“She volunteered to be your handler, even during the initial mission infiltrating the Union to extract you. So she’ll be present with you throughout your time here.”

“Oh...”

“Sit in the chair.” ordered Fu Shi.

Nova did so, despite his reservations. The dragon set up the straps himself. His arms, legs, and forehead were bound to the steel chair. His heart began to race as he felt like he was going to be tortured, the situation just felt like that’s what was going to happen to him.

“Uh…is this going to hurt?” he asked nervously.

“You may feel a burning sensation, though prior trials have confirmed it was simply a result of first-time use,” Fu Shi answered. “Though later exposure to the device has been said to feel good in some way.”

“Exposure…?”

“Uday.”

His questions were left unanswered as his eyes glanced at Uday, whose fingers started typing across a wheeled terminal. With a simple command entered, the device hummed to life behind him as Nova could hear…music? And he could see something in the corner of his eye, some kind of…audio equalizer

“What…what is that sound?”

“Saturated waves of any type have been confirmed to have their own form of song ,” Nova’s ears could barely hear the sound of Fu Shi’s voice. “That is what you’re hearing. And what you may see behind your head is a visualization of that saturation.”

And not long after, Nova started feeling the burning sensation. It started like pinpricks, grains of sand hitting his back. But those grains of sand started to sink further and further into his skin, soon to his flesh, and right through his core and to the other side of his body.

It was like he was on fire, the kind of fire that passed right through him and yet burned every single cell of his body to ash, only to revert time and thus continue the burning once more.

“AAAAAAHHH!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs, thrashing and kicking against his binds. He screamed until his throat was hoarse and covered in saliva, he thrashed until his muscles ached and refused to obey the instinct to avoid danger. And in a few mere minutes, all he could really do was sit there and burn. 

By all accounts, he didn’t seem to be in any actual harm. His body was completely fine though the skin under the binds may have chaffed due to his struggle.

“Nova’s brainwave mapping is receding, as expected.” 

Uday had said that, though Nova could hear none of it. He was…fading…as himself faded away, so did the pain, the effects of initial exposure having now come to an end. And indeed…it did feel good, like he was under a thick blanket that’s just been through the dryer. The faintest blip of consciousness remained, just as something, or someone, began to surface.

“Wave measurements rising, Esper Entity is now taking front.”

“Nova” was panting, covered in sweat, but alive. He looked around as Fu Shi slowly removed the straps binding him down. He hopped from the chair with surprising vigor, looking at himself. A brief spell of curiosity came over his eyes before disappointment came through.

“I have no idea why I wanted to be a chihuahua…”

“What is your name-”

Fu Shi barely had the time to answer before summoning his glaive. The reason why is that “Nova” summoned his weapon, Brewster’s weapon, and began firing upon him. Fu Shi’s elegant swings deflected the incoming bullets as they exploded on the walls or nearby equipment, shaking the entire room. 

“I’M GARMR YOU ASSHOLE!!! YOU’LL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE WITH YOUR DEATH!!!”

Uday and Freddy soon joined in on the fight. The wolf man rushed right at Garmr, though the mouth of the barrel aimed straight at his face. However, Uday’s powers soon took hold as a bubble formed and dissipated around the wolf just as Garmr pulled the trigger. The air exploded, but did not so much as touch the fur on Freddy’s arms. However, instead, the air and light distorted around the wolf as it absorbed the blow, but the sheer force sent the wolf through a wall. The shield that Uday provided, however, was all but spent on protecting Freddy from a single bullet.

“The hell?!” Freddy exclaimed as he went right back into the fight.. “How’s he stronger now?!”

“It must be because Garmr is the one in control!” Uday yelled over the dog man’s gunfire.

“FENRIR!!!” Garmr looked at Freddy with malice. 

“GARMR!!!”

Bonk!

Just before the fight began to escalate, Fu Shi had used his own powers to disappear and reappear behind Garmr. And with the flat end of his glaive, he bonks the dog man before he drops to the floor, unconscious.

Only Freddy was the one panting since he exerted more physical effort than others. However, he scolded, but not to Garmr.

“Damn…he really threw me back with one blow…I gotta train harder then…” Freddy growled.

“Well, it still looks like Brewster,” said Uday, looking down at the unconscious dog. “I just…I don’t know, I thought that bringing around the Esper Entity would have done something a bit more dramatic.

“Is trashing this room not dramatic?” Freddy pointed out. “He woke up and chose violence.”

“Regardless of that…” Fu Shi seemed to smile. A smile that was worn, but one that felt deserved. Because something was finally within reach. “It seems the concept of repairing the broken states of unfortunate Espers is now possible.”

“So…looks like you finally have a solution for her.” murmured Uday.

And though Fu Shi’s usual regal-like composure faltered, he caught himself. He put his hand on his face, taking a deep breath and wiping away a few stray tears. 

“Yes…I finally do.”

Chapter Text

An ocean.

A deep, dark, ocean. A swirl of black, dark blue, purple, green, and orange. He was sinking…sinking…sinking. And yet, he could see vague figures, animals, creatures, swimming. Swimming upward. But where?

He couldn't move his face, nor his eyes. But he can see. He can see where they're all swimming. A vague surface of the ocean he's sinking in. A light, a beacon in the darkness.

Shouldn't…shouldn't he try to swim upward too? 

Yet the water…if it can be called that, feels so peaceful. He could probably close his eyes and sleep here, if only for a little while.

"But…I have somewhere to go…something to do…"

"But you can rest, cancer."

"Huh…?"

The dark ocean became warm and a vibrant orange. A translucent wolf of the color surrounded him, as if sleeping.

"You're…you're Garmr."

"I am, cancer."

"Stop calling me that…" the name hurts. It otherized him so.

"Am I not wrong for which that you are? You, who came to our world of your lack of volition. You steal the body of the one I have chosen, like a cancer that hijacks a body and uses it to its own ends."

"Like I said, I didn't ask to be here!"

"No one has asked, cancer. I still intend to take back what is mine."

"Shut up! If you want me out of here, then help me go home!"

The spectral beast sighed. "Oh cancer. If it was that simple, I would have done it already."

"No! NO!" Nova stamped his paw on the metaphorical ground. " If there's a way here, then there's a way back!"

"We would be looking for a path that may not even exist. You are the first of your kind to cross the Oceans."

"Oceans…?"

It did not take long for Nova to pick up what Garmr meant by that. They are, after all, in an ocean of sorts.

"It is hard to stay upon the surface, even for those born in water. That is why we take those who can bear the change we bring to them." The beast's face loomed closer. "I would not have chosen you if you were from this world."

"Thanks for the encouragement…but I still gotta go home. I have a life to live there."

Garmr's chuckle shook the water around them. "What life? As I see it…all you did was run away."

"What's wrong with running away?"

"Only cowards run away, and you already know what you think of yourself."

". . ."

“Hmph. You will eventually relinquish control over this body in due time.”

“No…I will go back home. Just you watch.”

“If you say so, cancer. I, on the other hand, have people to meet.”

That was the conversation he and Garmr had while they were knocked out. When consciousness returned, Nova realized he still wasn’t in control and Garmr was still at the forefront of control. He could feel the cold plastic coverings of the wires and measuring instruments touching his skin again as he looked around to find himself contained in the same medical ward from before. However, he wasn’t alone. Uday, Fu Shi, and Kara are there as well; It is Kara though that is mostly in their face. Garmr looked down and scolded. He was cuffed, but he could tell they were keeping his powers from manifesting.

“That’s a heavy grade Wave cufflinks, you won't be using your powers anytime soon.” said Uday. “Trust me, we’ve used it on our more powerful shadow guards and they couldn’t use their powers no matter the divine wave output.”

Garmr growled, an actual wolven growl, but he otherwise didn’t respond to the information.

“My my my~,” Kara mused. “I thought your experiment would have been different, Fu Shi. By all means, you just want the same results as mine."

"The end result isn't through him," Fu Shi answered matter-of-factly. "However, he is the first step. His unique situation already proves that humans and Esper Entities can still exist as completely separate beings than us, who are successfully merged."

"My study already did that."

"Your study was an observation of a naturally occurring phenomenon of Espers conditioned with incomplete mergers. You may have done everything to make it happen, but mine was a controlled scenario. Meaning, we can make it happen without the excess use of abilities, or the flow of divine waves from Miracles."

"So you wanted me to come to the forefront," Garmr butted into the conversation. "I'll be sure to stay once I get rid of the cancer for good."

"Cancer?" Uday now became part of the conversation. "You say it like it's a name."

"By cancer, I mean Nova."

"He's not a cancer."

"Oh, but he is. A foreigner to this world."

"He is a person."

"Who is your test subject. I know the Shadow Decree. I've seen it."

"...Seen?" It is both Fu Shi and Kara that said the statement.

"Oh, I wouldn’t want to spoil it,” Garmr mused at Kara’s sour face in denial of an answer. “You’ll have to see it to believe it.”

Fu Shi sighed. “Besides this, my successful forced extraction of you from within Nova has helped me greatly. That means the device can work and bring out not only potential, but likely the opposite as well.”

“I thought the Shadow Decree’s motto was to bring a new kind of era. What are you doing, acting like the Union?” 

“I like to think I haven’t changed,” Fu Shi had a worn warm smile. “After all, there’s a reason why I’m here.”

“He’s talking about Embla,” Kara almost sounded amused. “Though from how you named Freddy, it sounds like you know her as-”

“Ymir,” Garmr nodded. “I know. She was also there during Brewster becoming an Esper.”

“Ah, so no need for introductions then~”

“You,” Garmr referred to Fu Shi. “You mentioned you were going to give me something. I want it.”

“Right. Here.”

From his coat pockets, the dragon presented the chocolate milk and the beer that Nova had requested prior to the experiment. Garmr, however, took only the beer and chugged it down in one sitting.

“...Save it for later, I might drink it.” Garmr dismissed the chocolate milk. 

“Interesting,” Fu Shi retracted. “It seems that some bit of Nova’s being is still present.”

“You could say that,” said Garmr. “It’s a bit of both. His tastes kind of made me like it…a little bit.”

“Very well,” Fu Shi nodded. “ Garmr, you’re allowed to roam free for the time being. I’ll be doing some observational studies for the time. Pretend I’m not even there.”

“I do mind, you know,” Garmr growled. “If I didn’t have these cuffs I’d shoot you in the face.”

Fu Shi didn’t respond to such a threat, instead, walked out of the room, along with Kara who had taken all the measurements and notes she needed. This left Uday, which Garmr sighed in a bit of realization.”

“Right…you’re my handler.”

“Yes…and I don’t want you calling Nova a cancer. ”

“I see no reason why I shouldn’t. You don’t get any benefit nor deficit from me doing so.”

“Well…”

Uday pulled out something, it looked like some kind of remote. She pressed something, and Garmr’s ears twitched as he heard something unlock. He looked down to find that the Wave cufflinks had been deactivated. Though Garmr saw his opportunity…Uday saw the outcome a mile away and reactivated it, getting a grumble out of the possessed dog.

“If you want the cuffs off, you have to respect the person you’re sharing your body with.”

“Fine…I’ll at least do that. Can you take the cuffs off of me now?”

“No. You just got them on, and I don’t see you really committing to that behavior yet.”

Garmr grit his teeth, his rage fuming on the matter. A faint beeping noise could be heard, but Uday seemed to ignore it.

“Come, let’s get you some fresh air after that experiment.” 

Garmr ripped off any instruments of measurement that remained on him as he trudged out of the medical room. And though he simply wandered off, Uday waited until he was out of earshot before turning to look at the remote given to her. She was nervous.

The remote linked to the cuffs…alarmed her of the cuffs reaching their absorption limit.

She hopes nothing will come to that. Otherwise, Garmr would know he could escape. Though there is one thing that could stop this situation, even if it tampers with experiment results.

Uday could try and bring Nova back to the forefront.

Lu Yi and Tevor had gone back to the detective agency building once the sphinx got the information he needed, and confirmed with him that he set up a bounty for Brewster.

“Wouldn’t that mean any bounty hunter could get the job?” Tevor suspected.

“Yeah…but there’s a little group of Espers that I know of that are really good at navigating maze-like areas.”

“I see, then that’s good,” Tevor rolled out the blueprints to reveal a grid-like map of some kind of underground system. “What we’re looking at here is a pre-Miracle blueprint of a nuclear shelter system. Though as you can see, it’s a maze…a big maze.”

“How big are we talking about?”

“From what the intel had told me, enough to go around one of the mountains of Utgard.”

“Right…that’s very simple then.”

“I wouldn’t pass that judgment too quickly.”

As it turns out, Tevor had multiple blueprints, each one with their own little variations. 

“There are actually multiple underground nuclear shelter systems. It’s likely that we’d have to search through each one of them if we’re to find Nova. And given Utgard’s climate…it’s a matter of endurance. Getting through the snow once would be one thing…doing it multiple times is a whole other beast.”

Lu Yi went silent, realizing how vast the whole expedition would end up being. That and the climate. Sure, his bounty hunts have led him to many kinds of places, tracking down many people from all walks of life. Though it was safe to say that what he’s doing now was something a bit out of his element. 

He felt tense, but he shook that tension away and steeled himself for what would come. “We’ll just have to grit our teeth and go through each one.”

“Right. I’ll be sure to come with you,” said Tevor. “I may not look like it, but I do have some skills that can help me in a fight.”

“Really? You're a detective, how are you gonna fight with your spyglass.”

“Well, you know how you can burn ants to a crisp with the sun’s light and a magnifying glass?”

The spyglass he always carried with him suddenly expanded to several times Tevor’s size. Suddenly, his paw glowed, and Lu Yi realized the kind of power Tevor has. Though there was also a bit more to it.

“Huh. You’re a Shimmer Esper?”

Everyone knew that Shimmer Espers were a bit of a cut above the rest. Such a notion that the cat was one gave Lu Yi a bit of an assurance that they’ll make it through.

“Combined with my skills as a detective, I’d say my power’s gotten quite potent.” Tevor said as his power faded. “So, when do we go?”

“As soon as the others come here.”

Despite the ability to roam freely, Garmr still felt chained. He didn’t like that, he wanted his chains gone. But for now…he’ll have to play along, maybe even restrain himself too. Not only that, but he has his caretaker Uday who’s watching over him like some kind of mother goose, even now. She’ll likely intervene with anything he does.

He hated this control.

Still, it felt nice to have his paws on the move as he went here and there in the Shadow Decree base. Long hallways and sparse rooms are what greeted him with their dark gray uniformity. Though amidst one of those hallways, he found someone familiar.

“You…”

It was Freddy, who turned around and took a look at him through a peek out of his shades. 

“Well well well, if it ain’t the goddamn dog that blew me through the wall,” the wolf sneered. “I still manhandled you first though, so I guess we’re even.”

“That was Nova you manhandled,” Garmr responded with equal smugness. “You barely had a taste of me and it sent you flying.”

“Oh yeah?!”

Garmr, having forgotten about his cufflinks, didn't manifest his weapon. This left him surprised and also vulnerable as Freddy picked him up by the neck. Garmr could only scramble and write in Freddy's grip as he's choked of his air.

"Ghhkkk!"

"Hahaha!" Freddy howled. "Are you serious? Maybe I should just beat you to your senses!"

Freddy raised his fist as Garmr braced for impact-

"Hey!"

Freddy looked to Uday, her face was serious.

Almost like a brat who was spoiled of his fun, the wolf dropped the dog. However, he did not do it gently as Garmr felt him being practically thrown to the floor due to his small size.

“Guh!”

“You’re lucky, you goddamn mutt.” Freddy sighed as he found himself having to leave.

“Garmr…”

The dog Esper could see that Uday was heading to him, looking over him. He hated it…

“I didn’t ask for your help!” he pushed Uday away to the best of his ability before picking himself back up. 

“I’m your caretaker, Garmr,” she sighed. “Regardless if you ask, I have to make sure you’re alright.”

He growled…but otherwise tolerated the answer. They wandered around the base for a bit as Garmr looked at Espers training, fighting one another. If Uday was looking at him, he didn’t care. His face was riddled with a scowl, for the training session was rather pathetic in accordance to him.

“...This wouldn’t slide back then…”

“Back then?”

The dog groaned. “In my time, when I was as real as your patron was.”

“I…see…but mythology has many interpretations…” Uday pointed out.

Garmr answered with, “In some ways, all of them are true. But still, just like back then, the realms we inhabited were just as real as the gods.”

“What was your realm?”

“Hel.”

“Hell…?”

“No, Hel. H-e-l. But…there’s also someone I know named Hel. She resided in the underworld and took in every person who didn’t get to Valhalla.”

“Was she like you?”

“No…she wasn’t like me,” he sneered, though in a dull sort of nostalgic way. “When you know your destiny…you tend to care less about what you can do, but what you do with the time you have.”

“And that meant…”

“She was indifferent to the people she had to take in to her realm,” Garmr smiled, if only a bit. “But she was kind to me, as kind as you could be in a place that was a pain to be in. Other than Nidhogg…life was alright...”

“Did she become part of an Esper?”

“Last time I checked, she was on the Surface…so she must be out there.”

“I see…” Uday’s face brightened a little at the information, but her brows soon furrowed. “What did you mean by destiny? And…Ocean?”

Garmr rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story, can we do something else?”

“Right, well, do you want to blow up some Miramon again?”

“With pleasure…”

“They should be here…any minute now…”

Not wanting to simply stay out in the cold to wait for the bounty hunters to come alone, Lu Yi and Tevor had decided to wait in the nearby cafes, StarBear . Lu Yi chuckled to himself as he wondered what kind of weird brand naming he would have said when he found out about their universal discrepancies.

“What’s so funny?” asked Tevor with a brow raise. 

“It’s nothing,” Lu Yi sighed as he looked at his phone. “They should be here about…now.”

Just outside the cafe, a rather rustic white minivan had parked. Lu Yi stood up while Tevor followed along after finishing his drink. As they stood before the minivan, three familiar figures had come out wearing thick sweaters for the cold.

“Yeesh, there’s no way I’d get used to this,” said Matthias as he tightened up his sweater once more. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll do this as fast as possible,” said Dean. “After all, it’s just finding a drunk dog all over again.”

“Yeah but…this is directly dealing with the Shadow Decree,” Ico pointed out. “We’ve never done that yet. Can we really handle this?”

“If the price is right, then yes…”

Dean looked to Lu Yi and Tevor. It was Lu Yi who greeted them.

“It’s good to see you guys again,” Lu Yi turned to Matthias. “How’s the work, by the way?”

“Same old, same old,” Matthias said indifferently. “I saw the bounty description. You’re really paying that much to save his ass?”

“Yes, I am,” Lu Yi stood firm. “You know how it is…Brewster is infamous in many ways.”

“Look, I’m gonna be real with you…” Matthias put his big hand on Lu Yi’s smaller shoulder. “I have zero idea what you see in him. You’re his little chaperone, bailing him out of trouble and dealing with his bull day after day. He has to take the full brunt of his consequences at some point.”

“Yes, I agree, but…” Lu Yi couldn’t say the real reason as there are only a handful of people that know about Nova’s existence. Even then, it’s inevitable that the Shadow Decree now knows as well. “I see it sometimes. His capacity to be a good person.”

“Well…some people did mention he tried to help…emphasis on tried.” Ico muttered. “Like always, he ended up bringing more harm than good.”

“Yeah, because he was a drunken mess,” Matthias added. “I remember that.”

“And he’s trying to fix himself,” said Lu Yi. “You saw it, all of you did.”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

The silence from all three gave Lu Yi the understanding that they knew what he was talking about. Back at the underground bunker where Nova had managed to save their behinds by creating a distraction despite his withdrawal.

“I see,” Dean nodded slowly. “I can at least understand why you’ve stuck with him for so long. You enjoy his company despite what it brings…but you see the good in him.”

“He’s a broken little mess, that’s for sure,” Lu Yi smiled just a little. “But he still needs someone to help him out until he has the strength to keep him from sinking back.”

At that moment, he was talking both about Nova and Brewster. And it is also in that moment that in a way…he could see that they’re almost like yin and yang, in a sense. One needs what the other has.

Matthias snorted, though he held no amusement. “Whatever man…it’s your money that you’re giving away.”

“Right…let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

Brewster…had no idea what the hell was going on…

It all happened in that moment when he was launched into a wall by that Miramon he was dealing with, being shot through gods knows what and ending up here in a completely different body, place, and culture. He remembered being stared at by a group of demolitionists that he never met, asking him questions he didn’t give a damn about. He thought about blasting them away, if only to get them off his back…

But then he realized he couldn’t manifest his weapon. It was like he’s been de-Espered , and he didn’t know what to do with it.

And then some guys in black suits came in and put him under house arrest. They interrogated him. And though he cooperated, the answers he gave seemed to make completely no sense to them. Not that he cared, he wanted to know where he was. The men in the suits said California , but Brewster only gave a weird face and said,

“The hell is that? That sounds like nothing I’ve heard of in Grandis .”

The men in the suits took the answer with caution, and interrogated him further. Brewster threatened to blast them, saying that he’s dealt with people like them before…until he remembered that he isn’t exactly an Esper anymore.  He was at their mercy…and he hated it.

Regardless, his answers seemed to make little sense to them, but he guessed that’s what they were going for. They were trying to figure him out as he talked. But they eventually left, saying that they’d return in due time. He wouldn’t have to deal with his salary for a while, seeing that the men in the suits are willing to pay for his expenses due to being a “person of interest”.

He’s always been a #1 person on someone’s hit list, that he was more familiar with. But it was the first time it happened in another world . It was…weird. Still, he was eventually allowed to leave the home that he never had, though his conversations would be monitored. 

As it turns out, this world was different from his, which he didn’t catch on until recently. Miracles are things that are completely new to them, and it seems that he’s the only one being “affected” right now. A government censorship campaign was specifically made to keep him off the conversation of the globe, keeping everyone’s attention on the Miracle. 

And the friends of the person he’s inhabiting are worried for him. They’ve been given incentive and NDA’s to make sure they don’t tell about Brewster’s situation to anyone else outside of adjacent witnesses until the government could get their things in order in light of…well… the Winged Miracle .

Brewster called it that, but many on the internet are calling it the Black Stone . Mainly because…it’s a giant black stone. However, Brewster called it the Winged Miracle because the way it was shaped made it look like an unfinished sculpture of an angel. It was vaguely humanoid in the barest sense and yet its “wings” seemed the most complete. 

That was everything that happened up to that point. For the most part, Brewster had to lay low and “pretend” to be the Nova guy. Except…

This Nova guy is so fucking meek!

All his friends at work were at least in on the whole situation so they can help him with fitting in. And that meant a whole lot of doing things he (Nova) wouldn't do. 

As it turns out, despite being a demolitionist, Nova was only ever tasked at setting up the explosives, and other general works. And the fact that they wouldn’t handle him with the detonator says a lot of things. One of the guys at his work admitted that this whole thing started because Nova was the one with the detonator at the time, though they don’t think that was the actual reason for the Black Stone coming to existence. But the others already figured that Brewster was a bit too trigger happy, so they couldn’t give it to him regardless.

All of that leads to today, where Brewster ended up in a bar…again. At least they got decent beer in this world…even though they don’t have draft beer.

“Nova, it’s been the fifth time this week you went to the bar…”

There was something else different about Nova’s life than his, and that was orientation. Brewster’s had his attempts with other girls that ended up being interested in him. But he could never stay with them for long. Lu Yi said he really ought to clean up his act if he really wants someone to stay with him.

But Nova? He managed to score someone, a guy to be exact. The other contacts implied that he’s been with others as well, but it seems that he finally found the one . His name is Timothy, and his nickname is Tim. Timothy…took it hard, for the most part. He had to admit it was hard to stand there and watch as Nova’s apparent boyfriend was confused and lost in the realization that the person that he loves isn’t even him.

And if it’s anything worth…at least Nova has that.

Even so…he’s not Nova.

“So what? I’m not even supposed to be here…” Brewster huffed and took another chug of beer.

“Even so, you got appearances to keep up.”

Brewster hated that more than anything. He’s already told his coworkers that he was a bounty hunter in another world, and that gave him plenty of stories to talk about during break. It also told them of his partner, Lu Yi, who many pointed out that the guy often saved his neck from dangerous situations. Brewster did not apologize for his shenanigans and continued on to the next story.

Though as of now, there was nothing exciting about Nova’s life whatsoever.

The job sucked in comparison to his bounty hunting. Sure, it was a safe job that didn’t put his life at risk every time he went outside. But it was so boring! Brewster wondered how the original host of the body he’s inhabiting even lived a life worth living. It’s not spontaneous, it’s monotonous , and it’s giving him a headache.

“I can’t deal with this shit..”

Brewster was nowhere near drunk enough to his liking, but Tim’s reminder of the life he has to masquerade around soured the mood. In any other situation, he would’ve just drunk more and argued with Tim even further. 

…But Lu Yi’s not here to bail him out. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, the coworkers were right. He depends on his partner in crime to help him out with those things. He doesn’t have that kind of self-restraint to know when to let things go or when to let things be.

He….wished he had that.

“Nova!” Tim had run out of the bar just to catch up with him. “Let me drive you home, alright?”

“I can get there mmmysself!” Brewster said between his slurs. 

“Do you know where our address is?”

Brewster pondered…he had the memory in mind, but actually thinking about it was like trying to dig through sand. It just kept slipping out of his hands. Brewster scoffed at the notion, but Tim already read him like a book.

“Come on.”

Tim led him to his car as they drove off. The city lights raced past them as the ride itself was mostly silent, save for the radio bleating songs and reels of things he’s never heard of.

“You don’t need to look after me, you knnnow,” Brewster groaned. “I can handle myself.”

“In your world, then yeah,” Tim sighed. “But not here. You’re Nova, and you’re just as normal as any of us.”

“Yeah well…I can’t take much more of this,” said Brewster. “I can’t believe I’ve gotta live the life of a nobody.”

“Yeah, I know. Brewster the Blaster, famous Bounty Hunter in Graywater.”

“Infamous is a better word. I'm is infamous in many ways.” Brewster almost chuckled. That last sentence was something that he picked up from not only Lu Yi, but from the others at the Bounty League that knew about him. It was a curse in a sense, and he couldn’t care less about it.

“Well-”

The sound of Nova’s phone ringing caught both of their attention. Brewster brought up Nova's phone. Unlike the other contacts that he’s seen through (thanks to Nova’s lock screen passcode being very simple), it was a named contact. And it had a picture associated with it.

Grandpa .

“Don’t answer it.”

It was a heavy statement, one that told him he should really listen . But since when did he ever do that? It’s not even his life that he’s living. So he answered.

“What?” Brewster dropped the act.

“Nova? It’s me…you’re doing alright?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Look, Nova,” Nova’s grandpa started. “I know you’ve been ignoring my calls and you’ve been pretending like I’ve never existed for…well, God knows how long. But have you seen the news? Was I not right?”

Brewster squinted at the notion of his words. “Meaning?”

“The end is coming, Nova. I knew it, all along. The end of the world as we know it. ”

. . .

Brewster may have not really cared all that much for history, but his experiences had hinted him at things. He’s done bounties for people with extensive knowledge of the history of his world, so he’s picked up some of it.

“So you know about the Mir…the Black Stone?”

“It’s international news, Nova! It’s everywhere, there’s no news article never talking about it at this point!”

That part is true. Ever since the Winged Miracle came to be, it was everywhere. Though the difference between his world and this one is that, only now, did the Miracles rise from the Earth.

“Right, but what’s your reason for calling me?”

“You know why,” said Nova’s grandpa. “I have been preparing for this moment since 2012. You need to come back to me, so we can be safe from the incoming apocalypse!”

Brewster wanted to say some kind of comeback statement, he really wanted to. However…he had to consider his situation, for once. If there’s a Miracle here, then Miramon will most likely come around as well. And he’s not an Esper. He’ll have no means of defending himself. Not only that…there doesn’t seem to be any sort of appearance of Espers in this world either. He doesn’t count…and he could only guess that Nova would’ve counted if he stayed in his world.

He hated it…

“You got five days. If the damn apocalypse doesn’t happen, I’m leavin’. For good this time.”

Brewster hung up the call right then and there.

“Brewster…you shouldn’t do this..”

“I’m not Nova.”

“And Nova has been spending his years trying to keep himself away from his grandpa. I don’t think you understand what that means to him.”

“Did you hear me? I’m. Not. Nova.”

“And when you switch back with him, what do you think will happen?”

Brewster sneered. “It’s just five days. I doubt he’d be back in that time.”

Nova…is somewhere…

He can’t really tell where he is. It wasn’t the ocean like last time, the deep dark ocean. Now it’s…a room. A dark room with no ceiling. There was a dim light from above. It looked like…a star? A star that was so, so far away.

Though there was also another light in the room. A television of sorts. As the room took shape, the TV was the first thing to appear in full shape and color and texture. With everything else in an incomplete state, Nova saw nothing else to do but to look at what was happening on the screen. 

At first there was nothing but static, not since he met Garmr in…wherever he is. But it was some time after, the static suddenly flashed away as analog vibrations and crackles of digital grains scratch across the screen. It was…he was seeing…

He was seeing through Brewster’s eyes .

That must mean he's inside some kind of mind cage. But how can he get out? Well, the obvious answer was through the lack of a ceiling. Aside from the TV, everything else is just some kind of black stone-like construct, all glued to the floor or any of the walls. But first, with interest, he stepped forward to the TV and watched what was happening…

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Garmr was having the fun of his life, his head swam with a headache from how much adrenaline and dopamine was flooding his systems. But he was loving it, relishing it!  With how there were two Miracles located near Utgard, there was always a surplus of Miramon either wandering around or coordinating to attack Raine’s wall. Sometimes the Shadow Decree have to clear the Miramon nearby, but not enough to cause any suspicions. They don’t want anyone to catch on that someone or some group was in the shadows.

Like Garmr would give a shit about that! Because for the first time ever was he a godly divinity now made fully flesh, all thanks to the little loophole that was Nova! No contract needed! None of that splitting between humanity and divinity bullshit, all him! ALL HIM!!

“COME ON! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT HERE!!!”

Garmr practically taunted the Miramon in front of him to give its best shot. It fruitlessly swung its piercing arms at him before meeting a barrel pointed at its head. The subsequent shotgun blast of his altered weapon blew its head into a divine mist.

“DEADASS! TRY HARDER, I'M RIGHT HERE!”

Another wave of Miramon soon charged in on him, but the small dog countered by sprinting towards them with weapon in tow. He proceeded to pull the trigger as billows of fire burst from the gun's maw right as he jumped on it, riding it like a surfboard. Garmr proceeded to crash right in the middle, shattering the entire wave with an earth-shaking explosion. Right after did the insane pyromaniac dog strut out of the ruins of his work, laughing to himself.

“Hey! Uday! How's my work?!”

Garmr’s ears were ringing from the explosions that he placed himself in, that was why he was practically shouting. However, Uday didn’t seem to say anything, and instead looked nervous and was more or less staring absently.

“Hey!”

“Uh? Oh, you did really well.”

The dog’s obvious brows squinted; there was a false bravado in that statement. But he didn’t mind…too much.

“You should pay attention then! You know how much I did?!”

“I know, I know. But it was hard to see when everything was exploding.” Uday’s chuckle was more genuine, which got Garmr to smile.

“Damn I'm good. I wanna do more, can we do more?”

“There's a set limit to how many we can take down. Too many and people will suspect something.”

“Like what?”

“We're well aware that Utgard still has records of the bunker. We can't make them suspect that someone is living there.”

“Tsk…” Garmr didn't like that answer. That meant he had a cap on how many he can destroy. “Now what?”

“Now…”

Uday approached him and put on his cuffs to which Garmr groaned. He was allowed to have the cuffs off for the whole clearing Miramon thing. Hell, he had a whole opportunity to just outright kill her and escape.

But he didn't…that was unlike him. He had the power here, and yet he kept playing along. It must've been the cancer, Nova. Once he gets rid of that foreign body, he can finally live life freely. 

“Let's go back in. I guess you're hungry?”

That statement gave him a bit of amusement. “Better than anything I've eaten in Helheim.”

“...What did you eat?”

“What? You think I just let those souls go when they tried to escape?”

“What??? That's gross. Never say that again.”

And Garmr cackled all the while.

Snowmobiles tread atop the blankets of snow. Lu Yi was the driver whilst Tevor sat comfortably in his lap due to being smaller. Matthias and Dean also had their separate snowmobiles as both had to separate rent for each other. And up in the sky was Ico, who sailed over them like a vulture.

“How much further until we get there?!” Lu Yi had to shout over the snowmobile’s engine roaring.

“Just a few more minutes!” Tevor shouted back. “We need to park close by and tread the rest of the way because they might spot us!”

Amidst the snow, the spruce trees, and the sound of the engines roaring, Tevor would eventually call for them to stop. The sphinx instructed Lu Yi to park.

"How far is it?" Dean asked the sphinx once they gathered together.

"Just thirty minutes to the nearest mountain. From there it's just a matter of finding the entrance." Said Tevor. "And if Brewster isn't in there, then at least we can rest up until we get to the next one."

"Gods, Brewster better not be in the farthest one." Matthias groaned.

"More likely to be in the closest, or at least in the middlemost," Tevor deduced. "If they really are that far out they risk diminishing returns of maintenance. The trips would simply be too long to justify it."

"Or Brewster matters that much to them..."

"Matthias," Lu Yi’s voice was so stern it made the bull freeze and stand straight. "Shut up and let's go."

Practically asserting himself as leader, his drive burned bright and spurned the others to follow.

The Esper Union, despite it's intolerable slowness in bureaucracy, did manage to get it's hands on Nova’s case in regards to him being missing. But even in the Union, Brewster’s reputation affected who accepted the case.

Technically speaking, it had been filtered and put on the bounty task board for a while now, but no one wanted to deal with Brewster and his shenanigans.

All...except for one. He tapped on the holographic display as the data was transferred to his PDA. 

His cold stare, hair of white, skin so pale. Everett had finished making a batch of desserts before taking such a bounty. His mission was always to bring Espers to justice, especially ones with malicious intentions. But with the case of Brewster being taken by the Shadow Decree (thanks to some information that was added by intel research), it had a bit more importance.

After all, Ophelia was in the Shadow Decree, and the bounty was a good excuse to try and get to her...and bring her to justice.

He left without so much as a word, leaving his freshly baked goods just outside the oven.