"Huh," Leanne said with calm surprise. "Look at that."

Rio looked at Leanne's face, so close and young and beautiful, before following her eyes to the door.

"How do you suppose he got in?" Leanne asked.

Resting on the doorknob, no bigger than a dime, a butterfly fanned its wings.

A blue butterfly.

Milton's butterfly.

"I have to go," Rio announced, standing and moving towards the door. "I am needed."

Leanne sputtered. "What? Wait! No way! You said bad guys were out there, in our apartment right now."

Rio faced Leanne. The butterfly fluttered into view and, as Rio raised a hand, it came to rest on her outstretched index finger. Bumbles sat up and took notice, letting out a sniff.

Leanne teetered on hysterics. "You can't leave me here all alone!"

"Bumbles will protect you," Rio said, her eyes never leaving the insect.

"He's just a big dumb dog! A silly mutt!"

Rio shot Leanne down with a laser-guided stare. "He is not a mutt! He is Milton's dog. The butterfly is a sign. He wants me to go."

Leanne composed herself. "And what does this 'he-guy' say about me?"

Rio became understanding. "Watch," she said.

With a commanding nod from her, the butterfly took flight. It flew past Leanne's face, taking a random path towards Bumbles, where it rested on the dog's muzzle. Rio walked a straighter path, and stood near Leanne.

"You stay here with Bumbles, and I promise you'll be safe. I am needed. I'll be back."

"Peeps, I love you and I trust you, but you have to give me more. Tell me what's going on, and I won't be afraid. But you have to tell me now."

Rio sighed. While struggling to keep up the biggest walls she'd ever made, she opened to let Leanne in.

"I see things, Nushi. More than that, I do them. The Universe is plastic; malleable. It bends. Others who are stronger can twist it up and mold it, making something else."

Leanne sniffled and pinched her nose to keep fear-filled tears from falling. She did her best to not look confused or, worse yet, look at her girlfriend like she was bananas. Rio lightly shook her head, while Bumbles let out a sneeze. The butterfly again took flight, landing briefly on Carolus before perching atop Bumbles' head.

Rio crouched to be at eye level with the dog. "Blue butterflies are a sign," she said. The insect flew away, to again perch on the doorknob. "Milton wants me to go, probably to help Hank."

"Milton?" Leanne asked. "He's a bug? Okay, now I really don't understand."

"Hai. He is, in a way. He makes things happen and they become real. Anyone can plink a piano, you see, but some can make the music come out. The keys make noise no matter who plays, but some people compose symphonies."

She set her gaze on her lover. "Dots make the music come out. When one of them gets PEP tested, we dance to the music they play."

"And then… are you a Dot?"

Rio sighed again, knowing she must confess further. "No, Nushi. Not really. Some like me have known how Reality works long before the PEP. Many use this knowledge for the wrong reason, waging war against those who are good."

Leanne blinked. "Like Aika," she guessed.

Rio nodded. "Hai. And me. And Milton, too. We are good guys, and we are losing. We may have already lost. Bad guys take over the world."

"And Hank? He's a good guy, like you?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Rio smiled, expressing happiness over pleasant thoughts about Hank. "No. He is not like me. He's a true Genius. He knows nothing—well, almost nothing—yet can do so much. Stronger than Milton, stronger than me, probably stronger than Aika. He just doesn't know it."

"He walked out the door into a riot. He must know something we don't."

"Hai. He is also brave."

Rio hung her head in shame, thinking the worst had befallen her Savior. Leanne took note of Rio's sadness and stood up to draw near. She ran her hands down Rio's arms until their fingers meshed, squeezing hard to make Rio look up.

"You are brave too," Leanne said.

"I am kokko chicken."

Leanne clucked like a mother hen. "You are not. Now I know why you work so hard, doing everything Milton asks. My God! You're fighting a war!"

"We are losing. We may have lost."

"Not with Hank, you haven't."

"I fear he may be dead."

Leanne inhaled deeply, as a stubborn tear fell from her eye. "Well, fear is not the same as knowing. Until someone says different, our Hank is just fine. He knows how to end this war, and I think you do too. So if our Hank needs your help, then take your butterfly and go out there and fight!"

Rio smiled wryly. "I'm pretty sure the bug stays here. It's just a butterfly."

The butterfly flew past their sight before disappearing into the dark. Leanne crouched before the animals and roughed up Aika's cat, who purred and rolled around, to get her tummy rubbed.

"Well, what about these two?" she asked. "I bet they'd love to kick some bad guy butt!"

Rio joined Leanne and crouched by her side to play with the pets. She held Bumbles head in her hands, mussing with his face.

"Will you kick bad guy butt with me?" she cooed at the dog.

Rio froze as a presence entered her body, controlling her thoughts and mind. Her eyes closed as a tempest blew, swirling memories like leaves. She saw herself in her quarters at Milton's, messing with the Realities of bad guys while sitting on a cushion in front of a bowl of snuffed out bidis. The wind blew again and she was in Milton's galley, preparing turkey gyros for dinner. Again it blew, and she stood beside him in his white conference lunchroom, wearing a short skirt and long jacket, a clipboard and pen under one arm.

"Would you take Bumbles into the next room, please?" Milton asked. "I'd like to have a word with our guest."

Rio saw herself bend low, the panels of her jacket shifting as she scooped up a cartoon dog. With a mighty squirm, it broke free and scrambled into Milton, merging to become one.

Its face was a hair's breadth from hers. "Boo!" Bumbles said in jest, using Milton's voice.

Rio babbled incoherently. "De na? Dame! Can it be?" She giggled, then laughed, then guffawed. "Īdesu! Yes it is!"

She squeezed Bumbles by the neck and cheered, bowling herself over backwards. The dog clambered up on top of her, having no other choice. All the while she clung to the dog, laughing and crying at the same time, spilling tears of sadness and of joy.

Dumbfounded, Leanne merely stared, fearing Rio might wake the dead. Rio offered no explanation as she tossed off Bumbles and swung around, snatching Carolus away from Leanne. Laying flat on her back with the cat on her chest, Rio held its head in both hands, snuggling its face to her neck, soft and warm and crazy.

"Show me!" she squealed to the cat. "Show me what I want to see! What I need to see!"

Carolus purred like a freight train as the two of them rolled around. The room plowed through space at breakneck speed as if it were the whole of the Universe. Alternating blue and white, specks of light appeared in the heavens, first looking like stars, then like the eyes of woodland creatures staring out from the dark.

"Aika! Aika! Aika!" they cried.

Thousands of them. Countless millions. Multitudes scampering and running amok, having the time of their lives. They frolicked under the watchful eye of their one true goddess. Carolus clung to Rio for dear life, like an amulet slung around her neck, until a well placed claw in her left breast brought her nearer to her senses.

"Nyah!" Carolus scolded, sounding much like Aika.

Rio kissed the cat, then spat out white fur. "Wa kanpeki!" she cried. "This is real!"

Leanne couldn't hold her tongue. "What the hell, Peeps? Have you gone nuts?"

"Hai!" Rio said. "I have!" She tossed Carolus aside and tackled Leanne, straddling her and laying on her chest, much like she had forced the cat and dog to do with her.

"Stop it!" Leanne said, almost giggling, as Rio pecked at her face with her lips. Rio obliged and sat up straight, still straddling Leanne and holding her down by her shoulders.

"They live!" Rio cheered. "They don't die!" Fear and concern shone in Leanne's eyes, so Rio calmed down and explained further. "Remember how I said Others can bend Reality? People who are stronger than I?"

"Okay," Leanne said warily.

"Milton and Aika are strong! They cheat Death! They bend it so that even when killed, they can still live on!"

Leanne got Rio off her chest and sat side by side with her on the floor. She aimlessly scratched Bumbles on the head, as Carolus sat a safe distance away.

Leanne thought for a moment about joining the cat. "I think I liked it better when I didn't know what you were talking about."

"Hai," Rio said. "I did too. But if they cheat Death, so can we."

Leanne glanced at the door. "And you're going to go and prove it."

Rio calmed down a bit further. "Yes, my love. I am. Milton calls, you see. He speaks, and like Hank, I will go. I have to do something to stop this war. I don't know what, but I'll try."

Leanne huffed, sounding much like Anna. "All this mind bending plastic Reality stuff is getting on my nerves. I think I'll feel safer in here without you, for the moment at least, pretending none of this happened."

Rio agreed, bowing to Leanne in honor, even though they both sat on the floor. "Hai. I will go and you stay. When I return, it will be as before."

Leanne stood up and brushed herself off. Rio rose as well, but kept her eyes on the floor. Leanne looked over Rio's head, huffing at the door.

"Off you go, little wan chan," Leanne ordered. "Save the world for me."

"Gaou!" Rio roared cute and sassy, stealing a kiss before leaving.