Abby and I sat in the inn, it seemed like a regular inn, we were drinking a beer. Haley had found her room and she had not come back yet. Lory had gone to take a shower. Abby looked at me, “You were a secret agent?”

“Yes, I completed many missions, top of the field. I still remember all of that training. It can help us immensely.”

Abby nodded, “And you saved Lory by going on a rampage, killing many people in some kind of action movie?”

I laughed, “That is the gist of it. We lived peacefully after that, but we lost friends. Good friends, and family.”

Abby put a hand on her chin, “And now you are keen on learning who you are, and understanding yourself?”

“Yes, that is the plan. No more killing, or doing bad things, I think, or hope.”

“What have you been up to, Abby?”

“Quite a lot, Funk and Alice really dislike each other. However, they are working together to build up Brickton. It is coming along quite well.”

“We fought off a horde of monsters, we searched for you, but the cosmos told me, we should wait for your return, and here you are. With one arm.”

“Yeah, that one got chopped off. The void must have healed me.”

Abby smiled, “I threw myself in a wood chipper.”

I almost chocked in my beer, “You did what?”

Abby nodded, “Awesome, right? Maybe I died on our journey, but I did not know that I died?”

I shrugged, “Perhaps with the tarbosaurus, the first one.”

Abby sighed, “Things have been pretty boring. Oh, there is something bad going on.”

I sighed, “of course there is. What is it, Abby?”

“There is some kind of black hole and claws come out of it. Not a black hole, but literally a hole that is black. It just appeared. We build a shack around it. Bella is investigating it, mostly on how to close it. She needs these materials for something.”

I got up, “That sounds exciting, Abby. I am going to sleep.”

She nodded, “It is good to have you back.”

I smiled, “It is good to be back, but, I miss my other life.” Then I walked away. When I got to the room, Lory had fallen asleep. When we get to Brickton, I want to see if I can get her a nightgown. Since I was tired as well, I joined her and pulled the blanket over us.

The next morning, we had all climbed in the wagon. Luckily, there was room for us. “Did you sleep well, Haley?”

“Not really.”

She climbed over to me and sat down on my lap. I hugged her, “What is wrong, Munchkin?”

“I miss Bob.” Abby looked at me, I have no clue what she was thinking. I rubbed my hand on Haley’s back. “We will find Bob, and then we will give him back his memories. You know he loved you.”

Haley let her head fall on my right shoulder. Lory took her hands. Haley sniffled, and I gave her a kiss on her head. Haley spoke up after a while, “Do you think he felt pain when he died?”

“I am sure he felt no pain, Munchkin. Just like Riley, Megan, and Valentine. We will cross paths with them. I need to believe that.” After that, silence fell in the wagon. We just felt the bumps of the road. I saw Abby stare at me, she saw a different man. That is because, I am not the same man as when I entered that alternate life.

After a few hours, the wagon door opened up after it stopped. When I looked outside, I saw Funk, and behind him Brickton. Funk looked at Abby, “What did I say about picking up strangers? Especially when they have one arm.”

Abby giggled, “Sorry, I had to pick them up.”

Haley looked up, she had fallen asleep in my arm. I smiled at Funk, “hey Funk, it has been a while.”

He blinked a couple of times, “Who is that in your arm? Found a new lady?” Abby tried cutting him off. Funk looked at her, “What are you trying to gesture?”

Lory looked at him, “She is saying to shut up.”

Funk smiled, “It is good to see you too, Lory. But seriously, who is that?” Haley slowly climbed out and tilted her head while looking at Funk.

I called out, “He is a friend of your mom and me.” Haley nodded and stretched her wings, then she showed her tail before stretching her hand out.

Funk slowly took it. “My name is Funk, my last name is not relevant.”

Haley smiled, “You can call me Haley Rockwell.”

Funk looked at me, past Haley, “Two things. Your aura is different, secondly, are you her dad?”

“Yes, that is right. We have a lot to talk about.” I slowly got out of the wagon and Lory followed me. I looked around, a few houses were standing upright. Then there is the shack, I felt drawn to it.

Lory put her hand on my shoulder, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, they did great work.”

Funk smiled at me, “It is good to have you back, Steve.”

I closed my eyes, with my understanding of energy, no matter how small, and my training as an agent. I felt ill content coming my way from the sky. Without hesitation, I grabbed my gun and fired in a second. Then I heard a thud and groaning. When I looked at who I had fired on, I saw Alice. I walked over, “I hit your right lung. You will be fine.”

I stretched my hand out, she grabbed it and I helped her up. Blood dripped to the ground. She grunted, “What was that for?”

“You know what that was for, Alice. Payback for almost killing me back in Brickton very long ago. What goes around, comes around.”

She spawned her red blade, “You asshole, we have been waiting for weeks for you to come back, and you shoot me?”

Haley walked over and looked at Alice’s wings. She bent forward, “You should have seen that coming from miles away.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I chuckled, and wanted to prove a point, without even saying something, I pulled my gun on Haley and fired. She immediately made a void wall and stopped the bullet. Alice grunted, “Are you done rubbing it in my face? Who even are you?”

Haley stretched her wings, then she showed her tail before stretching her hand. Alice looked at Lory, then at me, then at Haley. Alice did not take her hand and walked away. Haley looked at me, “Did I do something wrong, dad?”

“No, she is just, angry, and grumpy.”

Lory walked over, “Nice shot, darling.”

“Thanks, I thought it would be wise to put her in her place.”

Lory nodded, “Something is fishy with her, alright.”

Haley nodded, “She did not even introduce herself.”

Funk walked over, “Alright, I like the new Steve.”

Abby walked over, “Did you just shoot Alice? I mean, we all wanted to do it, but no one had the balls. Not even me, she would kill me over and over.”

“Funk?”

“Yes?”

“It is good to see you again after 48 years.”

Bella walked over, “I heard a gunshot and, oh my god, Steve!?”

Lory walked over to her, “Wait, what is your name again?”

Bella scratched her forehead, “I know it has been a few weeks but, that is mean.”

I sighed, “Everyone, it has been 48 years for us, and I remember your name, Bella. I remember things like yesterday.” Bella walked over and touched where my left arm used to be. I stared at her, “Yes, I am missing an arm, exciting, isn’t it? Now, let me examine that shack. Munchkin!?” Haley ran over to me and grabbed my hand. We made our way to the shack, letting Lory do some explaining to Funk and Bella, Paul had shown up as well.

Haley and I looked at the shack. Haley tilted her head, “Something dark is coming out of that, it reminds me of Abby.” We both looked back, then I nodded. Slowly I opened the door, and indeed some kind of small hole sat it in, it was purely black.

It is barely the size of my eye. Some kind of claw tried coming out of it. Haley looked at me, “Are you interested in going there?”

“Hell yeah.”

“What about you?”

“They got my interest.” We both looked at a gigantic building behind the shack, some kind of hangar.

Bella walked over, “Do you know what this is?”

I shook my head. Haley turned around and used her greeting for Bella. She gladly took her hand, before touching her tail, and then Haley started to growl. Bella quickly snapped back, “Sorry, your tail is interesting.”

Bella looked at me, “Sorry for that. I bet you want to know what is in that hangar?”

Haley nodded, “Just keep your dirty paws off my tail.”

Bella looked at me, “I meant nothing by it, it is just, her tail is pretty.”

I walked to Bella and grabbed her green hair, “You have weird hair.”

She shot back, “Stop touching my hair.” Haley giggled, then Bella realized what I did.

She sighed and looked at Haley, “Sorry, I should not have crossed that boundary.”

Haley nodded, “Apology accepted,” she looked at me, “Thanks dad.”

Bella shook her head, “I still cannot believe it. Follow me to the hangar.”

We followed her and she opened the gigantic door. We both saw some kind of ship. Bella smiled, “ta-da! This is an airship! Or it will be one, very soon.”

I crossed my arm, “Amazing, where does it go?”

“To an island in the sky, it is enormous, it might be bigger than what is left of this place. It is untouched by the void, and Lizardians rule it.”

Haley walked over and gave me a brush. While Bella continued explaining, I brushed Haley’s tail. Something I have been doing since she was a baby. Either me or Lory do it, until she finds a partner. I smiled as I thought back to Lory and I’s fifth wedding anniversary. Valentine sitting on the couch, having put her tail on Riley’s lap, he loved to brush her tail. Haley and Lory had given me their tail to brush. And Megan, she had to brush Bob and her little guinea pig. We were laughing, chatting, Lory gave me a very passionate extensive kiss after that, making everyone uncomfortable.

We all huddled together after watching a movie, in our homemade fortress of blankets. Then we told stories about our past, kid friendly, since Haley was only five back then. She fell asleep in my arms, as we talked about stories and our past. We all fell asleep that night in our fortress of blankets. Our fortress of love and friendship. When I woke up, Valentine had accidentally pushed her tail on my face, it made me sneeze and everyone shot up, awake.

The guinea pig squeaked and went totally bonkers while running out of its portable cage where it slept. Ending right in front of Riley’s face, before he woke up. He screamed, oh my god, the invasion of the guinea pigs is starting. When he saw Bob petting the guinea pig, Riley realized he was awake. Bob got hugged by Haley so hard, he squeaked like the guinea pig, it usually made the guinea pig squeak even louder, or when you had some food. Then Everyone went wild, oh yeah, I need to get Lory some pickles.

I heard fingers snapping in front of my face, “Hello, Steve? Are you in there?”

“Huh? Oh yes, sorry, I got carried away by some memories.”

Haley looked at me, “What were you thinking about?”

I smiled, “Do you remember the fortress of blankets?”

Haley beamed with happiness, “Yes, you sneezed so loud, you woke all of us! The guinea pig popcorned, it ran around squeaking like it was the end of the world. Ending right before Riley’s face!”

I laughed, “Yeah, it was amazing! Man, Valentine had one fluffy tail. Lory’s and yours too are much smoother.”

Bella cleared her throat, “Did you hear anything about what I said, about the airship, and the island in the sky, or the artifact?”

I shook my head, “Not really. You see, I was thinking back to my fifth wedding anniversary. We had such a great time back then.”

Haley hugged me, “I loved to make Bob squeak. I miss him.”

“I know, Munchkin, but he lives on in our memories, and in our hearts. And one day, we will find him.”