The Reflection Before the Fall

A_Hermes wasn't supposed to exist.

Not in the way he existed now.

He was a copy of something bigger, but unlike his creator, he wasn't bound by the same inescapable laws of unity.

The original Hermes would never leave Lupa. Would never break from the brothers.

But A_Hermes?

He wanted something else.

Somewhere out there, maybe beyond the layers of time and space, he could last longer than a fleeting breath.

Maybe he could be something real.

So when the battlefield erupted into chaos, he took his chance.

He reached for any copy of Remo in range—whoever was closest, whoever was available.

Didn't even look.

Didn't even think.

Just pulled energy from the battlefield, tore open a black hole, and escaped.

He thought he was running alone.

But he wasn't.

Because D_Remo wasn't alone.

There was a child in his arms.

A girl with impossible eyes.

And now they were somewhere that shouldn't exist.

The Realization of a Mistake

A_Hermes blinked.

Then blinked again.

"What the actual fuck?"

D_Remo exhaled sharply beside him, arms locked around the girl, eyes burning with realization.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

A_Hermes staggered backward, the weight of his own impulsiveness crashing down on him.

He had never brought something with him before.

He had never had to worry about more than himself.

Now he was responsible for both of them.

And worse—

He had nowhere to go.

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The Realm of Water

The space around them was a paradox.

Not solid, not liquid, but something in-between.

It felt like drowning, except they weren't wet.

It felt like sinking, except there was no ground.

"Where are we?" Alphajoy asked.

A_Hermes turned to her, still trying to comprehend her presence.

"You're not supposed to be here."

She gave him a blank look.

"Neither are you."

The First to Fade

D_Remo felt it first.

His fingers glitched—not fading, but fragmenting, as if the very code of his existence was unraveling.

A_Hermes felt it next.

Something pulling at him, trying to erase him from a place he was never meant to be.

"How long do you have?" Joy asked, too calm.

"Not long," D_Remo admitted.

A_Hermes forced a smile that wasn't real.

"We've had shorter lifespans."

But inside, he wasn't smiling.

His thoughts weren't aligning properly.

Not here. Not in this place.

The longer he stood there, the more his mind unraveled.

Like the water itself was... inside him.

Not filling his lungs. Not suffocating him.

Just seeping into every crevice of thought.

And if he stayed much longer—

He wouldn't just vanish.

He would become something else.

And then—he realized the worst part.

Joy would be alone.

The Unthinkable Choice

A_Hermes crouched in front of Joy.

"Listen to me, kid."

"I am not a kid," she corrected.

"Right, right." He exhaled.

"You're too smart for your own good, which means you're smart enough to understand this: We have to leave something behind for you to get out of here."

She frowned. "Leave what behind?"

D_Remo and A_Hermes exchanged a glance.

They both knew.

Joy did too.

"You're saying I have to absorb you," she said slowly.

A_Hermes sighed. "Pretty much."

"That's impossible," she whispered.

"Most things are," D_Remo said. "Until they aren't."

A_Hermes hesitated.

And then he did something unthinkable.

Something he would never tell anyone.

As the power surged through Joy, as she began to take them in, A_Hermes did more than just give up his body.

He funneled their minds into her.

He made sure they wouldn't vanish.

Because she was a child, and she was alone, and she would need voices inside her head to guide her.

He didn't know what would happen.

He didn't know if merging them like this would break her.

But he did it anyway.

Because he couldn't leave her completely alone.

The Consumption of Power

The water shifted.

A presence stirred.

A_Hermes placed a hand on Joy's shoulder.

"This is going to feel weird."

"Define weird."

"Like eating lightning and drowning at the same time."

"Ah."

And then—

She took them in.

Joy gasped.

A_Hermes and D_Remo collapsed inward, their bodies folding into her, turning into data, code, energy, something she couldn't name but could feel flooding into her veins.

They didn't scream.

They just vanished.

But their voices didn't.

The Guide Between Water and Space

Joy staggered, her hands shaking.

She wasn't the same.

She felt their knowledge inside her.

She understood the way Remo saw the world, how he mapped reality as an equation.

She understood the way Hermes moved between moments, slipping through cracks others didn't even see.

She understood something bigger than herself.

And then—

A whale song echoed through the dimension.

Joy looked up.

The water split.

Noise stepped through.

She stretched.

"Damn. You know, I really needed this."

Joy frowned. "Needed what?"

"This place," Noise said. "You think I came to save you? Nah. I came because the food on Earth tastes like fucking seal piss."

She took a deep inhale, like someone drinking sunlight after a lifetime underground.

"Here, though? This is the good stuff. Keeps me young."

Joy stared at her.

"How long have you been here?"

Noise grinned.

"Well... on Earth? A hundred years have passed."

Joy froze.

"You're lying."

"Yeah, wish I was," Noise sighed. "But time's a bitch like that. Now, are you coming or not? Because I can't babysit forever."

Joy hesitated.

And then—

She heard a voice in her head.

"You'll be fine, kid."

She swallowed.

And stepped forward.