Jennifer and Georgia left to find Hero and Sophia, promising to return tomorrow morning to discuss any plans to travel together as a group. The moment they were gone, Tessa let out a groan and collapsed against Greg. "I think I'm going to be sick." She moaned.

Greg blinked at her in surprise. "Was the meat undercooked?" He asked hesitantly.

"Not from the food!" She retorted. "From the stress! Do you realize how close we were to being pegged as villains again?!? When Victor and that naive-" Tessa cut off, her expression twisting. "-that innocent and caring individual started arguing, I almost had a heart attack! If the hero had agreed with her, if they decided we were evil… we'd have been done!"

Victor coughed. "Excuse me, but what are we talking about?" He interjected. "We're villains? There's a hero? What, are we characters in a video game?"

Tessa froze. "Ah, crap."

"Kinda." Greg shrugged. "Apparently, when you're special enough, Worlds follow story logic. And so far, it seems like this World has been trying to push me into the villain role, and what's his face from earlier seems to be the hero. At least, we think."

"The planet is doing this?" Casey asked, confused. "Is this a magic thing?"

"No, not planet world, universe World. Or maybe realm would be a better term?" Greg frowned for a moment, before shaking his head. "Narita can explain it better than I can, but essentially there's a Multiverse, and the Multiverse has Worlds which are based on and influenced by… the collective consciousness? Essentially? Ugh, people have thoughts and those thoughts go somewhere. Similar thoughts gather together and create Worlds, and apparently we're in one where thoughts related to stories congregate, and I get buttfucked by the narrative because I'm 'dangerous' and 'unstable'."

Victor and Casey just gave him blank looks for a moment, before turning to Tessa. "Is this true or did Greg lose a few more screws than we thought in the transmutation chamber?" Victor asked.

"As far as we can tell, it's true." Tessa sighed. "Narita is apparently something called an Immortal, someone who's connected with a World and can travel between them. She noticed Greg and warned him about the path he was taking, and we've been trying to change it ever since."

Victor threw up his hands. "Well why didn't you tell us?!? Man, I wouldn't have argued with that dumb bimbo if I'd known we needed to come off as the good guys!"

"Yeah, you would have." Greg snorted.

Victor paused. "Okay, yes, I still would have argued, but I would have been nicer about it."

"No, you wouldn't have." Casey rolled her eyes.

Victor sighed. "Yeah, no. She was a fucking idiot."

"No, she's a good person." Tessa groaned. "And we clearly aren't, and that's the problem. Even when we're trying to be good, we aren't trying to help people, we're just killing the people who cause problems!"

"That's a form of helping, isn't it?" Greg replied hesitantly.

Tessa sighed. "Yes, but- ugh, did you see those guys?!? How innocent they were? How naive? How self-righteous?!? Do you really think we can work together, when our very foundations are so different?!? Do you really think they can accept it when we do what we believe is necessary!?!"

"You have a point." Victor muttered. "Isn't it a common trope for the heroes to meet a group of people who seem good, but always take things too far? They convince the heroes to join up with them, that their methods are necessary, until something happens that makes the heroes realize the horror of what they've been doing and turn against them."

"Oh, oh, yeah! Well Intentioned Extremists!" Casey exclaimed, before flushing as everyone stared at her. "I mean, that's the trope… people who have good goals, but bad methods."

Greg frowned. "Do we have bad methods?"

Victor shrugged. "It depends on your perspective." He paused. "And probably on whatever the nature of this 'World' is. Normally I'd say that life isn't always pretty, and sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to fix a problem. But if this World is shifting things a certain way… I'm not sure. I guess the question is, how much say does the World actually have?"

"Apparently it can influence people, making them more or less likely to make certain choices, but beyond that I'm not sure." Greg frowned, before sighing. "Maybe I should talk to Narita…"

"Hold on." Casey interjected. "How do we even know what kind of story this is? You're talking in terms of hero and villain, but in stories, just because you're the hero, doesn't mean you're the protagonist. There are stories that follow the villain, you know."

Greg shook his head. "I considered that, but even so, I'd rather not be a villain. The idea of turning into some kind of monster, giving in to my darkest urges… it isn't a life I want to live."

Casey nodded. "Fair… but still, I think we need to focus on figuring out the nature of the World before we start jumping to conclusions. Is it a story where good and friendship conquers all? Or is it an Innocence Lost type of story where the hero starts out with idealistic views, but as he takes hit after hit, he becomes more and more jaded? And is it already decided, or is the World just pushing things to see what happens?"

"Based on the nature of the war between the Republic and the Technocracy, this World does seem more focused on presenting harsh realities, rather than good conquers all." Victor offered.

"Right!" Casey nodded along. "As far as we can tell, there's no clear good or evil here, which means we aren't looking at some kind of righteous crusade." She paused, considering everything she knew for a moment. "Earth showed how humanity devolved in a time of crisis, power becoming the deciding factor over anything else… Then the aliens came and showed that the universe is bigger than our petty squabbles… the Technocracy was set up as pure evil, but ultimately we learned they're just people doing their best to survive like anyone else…" She muttered to herself, frowning as she looked for answers. "The Republic was good, but they aren't perfect… This is definitely a World with a complex morality. The question is, is the focus on holding yourself to a higher standard despite what the people around you devolve to, or about adjusting to a reality where your standards no longer make sense?"

"Seeing as this reality fits our standards just fine, I think we need to focus on what we know about mister Hero." Victor commented.

"He seems… receptive." Greg muttered. "He started out completely against the idea that killing might be necessary, but he came around after some arguing."

"It's actually a good indication that he isn't automatically excited to work with us." Casey added. "Stories love to subvert initial impressions, so them seeing us as 'bad guys' initially will probably actually help. Unless we're subverting that subversion… ugh, this is the problem with stories! There's a trope for everything!"

"Maybe that's why Narita didn't talk about this stuff." Greg sighed. "The unfortunate reality is that our only recourse is to befriend the heroes, and by that I mean truly befriend them, not pretend to be something we aren't just to make them happy. That's like classic bad guy behavior anyway. Which means, we have to be ourselves, and ourselves honestly see killing as a reasonable solution to certain behaviors. If that creates problems, then this World was going to screw us over anyway."

"So we just give up?" Tessa retorted bitterly.

Greg wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "Of course not. But we don't pretend we have control over things we clearly don't. We are who we are. Pretending otherwise will just get us into trouble."

*

Greg laid in bed, Tessa curled up against him, thinking about everything. He was beginning to wonder whether thinking of the World as a story was actually a good idea. Even if it was based on one, the execution seemed… off. It didn't have the right structure. In particular, all his time on Earth seemed almost wasted, storywise. Sure he fought some ferals, tried to get people to recognize them as actual people, considered setting them up with their own safe zone, but then the aliens came and nothing he'd done mattered anymore. Well, the assholes he'd killed were still dead, so there was that, but otherwise, what had he accomplished? Nothing. Maybe it would have meant something if he hadn't been asleep for two damn years, actually had time to affect some sort of change, but he hadn't.

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Yet, even though he didn't have the time to truly get involved in what was going on on Earth, the World still kept throwing plot hooks at him. Hell, right before he got taken, he'd met with the council! That was just the start of something, and he hadn't even been able to do anything! If the World truly had some sort of grand plan for everything, that wouldn't have happened. The aliens would only have shown up at the end of an arc, after he'd somehow managed to either destroy or pacify all the factions in the city. Yet, it had happened, so obviously the World didn't have any sort of grand plan… it tried to push him in certain directions, but it seemed like it wasn't so much interested in specifics so much as simply making sure something happened.

That wasn't to say that he wasn't absolutely sure that if he allowed himself to go full villain, the World would find some way to screw him over. He just didn't think there was any sort of plan for it. If it was going to happen, it would be a random coincidence, like Hero randomly stumbling over his true core or somehow he'd end up in just the right position at just the right time for Hero to send all of him into that fucking void. Or maybe just most of him, remaining as a constant foe until Hero finally ascended and gained control of the Core, before imprisoning him for eternity. The dark shadow nipping at his heels, causing all his woes until he finally rose above everything.

However, as long as he avoided that… he didn't think the World really cared? It was just trying to push him to be something, and villain was simply the easiest course. If he didn't take that path, the World would push him towards something else. So the question became not what kind of World was this, but what kind of roles were available? There was the hero and the villain, obviously, but he couldn't exactly fight for the hero role and he definitely didn't want to be the villain, so what else was there? Sidekick? Unlikely. A sidekick needed to have some sort of devotion to the hero, and Greg honestly considered Hero to be kind of an idiot. Best friend? Eh? He didn't really feel that sort of connection with the dude. Love interest? Greg snorted. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Mentor/Advisor? Maybe if things played more into the harsh realities scenario… though Greg wouldn't exactly consider himself a font of wisdom.

Greg frowned as he realized the main sticking point in all this. All these roles revolved around the hero, and in order to fill them, he had to find some sort of value in him… and Greg just didn't. He didn't see any hidden potential, any deep connection, any admirable qualities… he just saw a dude, and a kind of stupid one at that. He couldn't see himself following the dude anywhere. Greg sighed. Were they just destined to fight? Was he stuck with being the bad guy? Because who fought the hero except- Greg's eyes suddenly widened. The rival! That was it! Whenever two exceptional people were on the same side, neither willing to submit to the other, they formed a rivalry! Greg grinned. And the only way to tell which one was the hero, and which one was the rival… was to see who won! Of course, they'd need something to compete over… but he just needed to show the World that it was an option, and he was sure it'd take care of the rest. That's what it did. Greg grinned happily, chuckling slightly as he snuggled closer to Tessa and finally went to sleep.

*

Greg's eyes blinked open in a daze as he felt someone touch his shoulder and grip… something, finding a strange, horned man leaning over him. "Can I help you?" He asked, almost instinctively, before freezing as he felt some sort of connection between him and the man. Or rather, between him and the man's other selves.

"Oh, you're awake." The man commented blandly, taking his hand off his shoulder and cutting off the connection. "Or did I wake you?" He paused for a moment, before shrugging. "Either way, it's nice to meet you. I'm Chris." He introduced himself, sticking out his hand.

"Greg." Greg replied in kind, taking his hand, feeling the strange connection form again as their hands clasped. "Do- do you have multiple selves?"

Chris nodded. "I do. Same as you. You feel the connection too, right? Strange, isn't it? Almost like a passage… but I have no idea how to travel it."

Greg blinked, frowning as he focused on the connection and found he was right. There seemed to be a way for him to use the connection to get to where Chris's other selves were, he just couldn't figure out how. "Huh."

"No luck for you either, huh?" Chris clicked his tongue. "Pity. Do we need all four?"

Greg frowned. "All fou- motherfucker!" Greg cursed, jumping to his feet as he caught sight of the creature to his left. What the fuck was that thing?!?

"I know, ugly." Chris waved a hand dismissively towards the creature. "I suggest we wake up them first." He added, pointing towards a strange half-man half-woman person seated to Greg's right.

"I- okay, hold on! What is this place?!? Why am I here?!? Why are you here!?!" Greg protested, shaking his head. Last time he checked, all his selves were asleep, either in the bunker or in bed with Tessa. How did one of them show up here?!?

"Ah, right, that." Chris nodded. "I have no idea. I only woke up a few minutes ago. One of my subordinates broke their connection to my world, which was very painful, and it woke me up in here, where I found you and the other two sleeping. Though, since I find it hard to believe I was randomly teleported here, the odds are we've all been asleep for quite some time… a very long time. Particularly since time in this place seems to pass so slowly that all my other selves appear to not be moving at all."

Greg's eyes widened as he quickly checked on his other selves to see if Chris was right, frowning as he realized they were all asleep, so he couldn't actually tell. Wait… one of him was having a dream. Completely frozen. "Shit!" Greg cursed.

"Yes, I'm not very happy about it either." Chris sighed. "I can't even take out a book."

Greg looked around, feeling a bit of panic welling up inside him. He was not going to get trapped again! "Have you tried the doors?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "No, I found myself trapped in a small room with only eight distinct features, and didn't think to check the four that were doors." His reply so deadpan Greg almost didn't recognize the sarcasm. "They're all locked. We could try breaking one down, but I have a feeling it's pointless."

"A feeling?" Greg asked incredulously. "Fuck that!" He stomped towards the black door, before charging into it with his shoulder. The door didn't even make a sound as Greg bounced off, skidding across the floor until he hit the back of the black throne with a groan.

"It was a good feeling." Chris shrugged with a small smirk.

Greg growled, turning into smo- he froze. Why hadn't he turned into smoke? He tried again. And again. "Shit! I can't use my ability!"

"Ah, neither can I." Chris nodded. "It's too bad. The ability to open a portal would be real handy at the moment, now wouldn't it?"

"That's your ability? Portals?" Greg asked as he stood up rubbing his shoulder and finding that it wasn't even sore.

"Sort of. I own a world, and part of that involves opening portals in and out of it." Chris explained.

Greg paused, narrowing his eyes at him. "You're an Immortal?"

Chris blinked. "I'm immortal, yes. Are you?"

"No. Though hopefully someday." Greg shook his head. "Do you know Narita?"

Chris frowned. "I feel like we aren't talking about the same thing. What does immortal mean in your language?" He paused. "Actually, are we even speaking the same language? I wouldn't put it past this place to automatically translate for us… I'm speaking Human."

"I'm speaking English…" Greg gave him a weird look. "You called your language Human? As opposed to what?"

"Elvish, Goblin, Kobold, whatever." Chris waved his hand dismissively. "Human is basically English, so we're probably speaking similar languages at least… Are you from Earth?"

"I'm from Earth, yes." Greg nodded.

"Huh… I didn't know any of you had abilities. Are you part of some sort of secret society?" Chris asked, cocking his head.

"What? No, I- ah, wait, you're from a different World, aren't you?!?" Greg suddenly exclaimed.

Chris nodded. "Yes, I'm from Azza."

"Huh? No, not- uppercase World, not lowercase. Like Immortal World." Greg explained. Of course he would be if he was an Immortal.

Chris frowned at him. "That's the world I'm connected to, but it isn't Azza. And it's just a part of my ability, so I wouldn't say I'm from there."

"What do you- okay, hold on!" Greg growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you mean when you say you're Immortal?"

"That I can't die?" Chris replied, raising an eyebrow. "I just get reborn in my world."

Greg frowned. "Is that just something you do, or is it because you're connected to a Core?"

Chris blinked. "What's a Core?"

Greg sighed. "Fucking hell. So you aren't an Immortal."

"I am very much immortal." Chris replied with a frown.

"Not that immortal! Immortal as in connected to a Core, not immortal as in can't die!" Greg retorted.

"Oh, a proper noun Immortal." Chris nodded in understanding. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Greg just glared at him for a moment, before shaking his head. "Fuck it. Just- how do we get out of here?"

"Well, obviously there's something to this connection we have." Chris replied thoughtfully. "Clearly the two of us can't do anything with it alone, so… we should wake up the other two, yes?"

"That… checks out, I suppose." Greg nodded, frowning slightly. "But what about that?" He asked, pointing at the creature.

"Well, I suggest we wake that up last." Chris replied. "At least then, if it's violent, it'll be three on one."

"Fair point." Greg agreed, turning to the woman-man. "So what, do we just shake them or something?" He asked as he approached.

"I just touched your shoulder." Chris shrugged.

Greg nodded, putting a hand on the woman-man's shoulder, feeling another connection form, though this one only had two other selves. He frowned when they didn't wake up, starting to shake them lightly, then a bit more insistently.

"Here, let me try." Chris came up, putting a hand on their other shoulder, starting to frown as well before giving them a small shake himself. "Huh."

"Did you do anything else?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No, I just- ah, wait, yes." Chris reached out to touch the connection between him and the woman-man, and suddenly their eyes popped open.