Lijia Mian, dressed in a dark grown, stepped forward from the shadows on the other side of the lab. She looked just as Goodwell -and Vell- had last seen her, seemingly untouched by time. Vell blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating and double-checked that Lijia was still there. She was. Or it seemed she was, at least.

“Is it really you?”

“Of course it is, Isaac,” Lijia said. There was a gentle, welcoming lilt to her voice -entirely at odds with how she had spoken to Vell on their one meeting. Oblivious to this difference, Goodwell stumbled in her direction.

“Where- What happened to you?”

“I was lost,” Lijia said, in that unnatural sing-song voice. “Finding my way back. Finding my way home. To you.”

Goodwell dropped his gun and took a few steps towards her, hands reaching out to touch her and confirm she was real.

“It’s been so long,” he mumbled.

“I know,” Lijia said. She stepped forward, and let his hands rest on her shoulders. “But we can finally be together again, my love.”

Vell’s eyes snapped open wide.

“Goodwell, get away from her!” He shouted. The principal was entirely deaf to his pleas. “Goodwell, she’s not real!”

There was something ever so slightly off about this “Lijia”, but saying she loved Goodwell confirmed that something was very, very wrong. Vell didn’t know much, but he knew for sure that the real Lijia Mian hated Isaac Goodwell’s guts. But not only did Goodwell refuse to believe it, he was blinded by nostalgia, overlooking all the small flaws that differentiated this Lijia from the real one.

“Don’t listen to him, Isaac,” “Lijia” said. She lifted her own pale arms and cupped his face gently in her hands. “You know it’s me. Just look into my eyes.”

“Goodwell, don’t!”

Too starstruck and blinded by misguided infatuation to care about Vell’s warnings, Isaac Goodwell bowed his head and looked, longingly, deeply, into the eyes of his long-lost “love”. A faint smile grew on his face, growing wider every second -until he finally looked close enough to see that one of Lijia’s eyes was slightly the wrong color.

Isaac Goodwell started to laugh -and laugh, and laugh. His body shook and trembled, and tears welled up in his eyes. With a smirk, Lijia Mian released her grip on his face, and Principal Goodwell collapsed to the ground, still laughing, convulsions rocking his body as he boomed with tortured laughter.

“Good to be done with that,” “Lijia” said. She stepped away from Goodwell’s prone, trembling body and brushed his filth off her hands. “Think I’ve shapeshifted more today than I have in eight thousand years.”

She turned, and the visage of Lijia Mian shifted out of existence. It was less that her appearance changed and more that everyone looking at her suddenly realized what she had looked like all along, as if her appearance was some optical illusion that had suddenly clicked into place.

The illusory woman stood tall, with skin as white as ivory and clothing as black as midnight. The clothes she wore were lopsided and strange, and her hair was undercut on one side and stretched into a long, black ponytail on the other. The odd asymmetry of her appearance made her appear to be two entirely different people depending on what angle you looked at her from. Confused and afraid, everyone who could step back took a step back. Vell, still strapped to a table, had to stand – or rather, lie- his ground as their mysterious savior sauntered his way.

“What are you?”

The asymmetrical stranger stepped up to the side of Vell’s table and looked down at him.

“Why don’t you look into my eyes and find out?”

Vell put a lot of effort into looking everywhere but her eyes. The stranger chuckled at him.

“Clever kid,” she said. She put an elbow on the table and leaned down closer to Vell. “You can call me Quenay. Like Q-N-A. Question-”

Quenay tapped herself on the chest, and then pointed to Vell.

“And answer.”

With a smile, Quenay reached into the table Vell was strapped to, her hand passing through the metal surface as if it was intangible. A second later, every single restraint holding Vell snapped open at once, tearing themselves to pieces as they were ripped apart with great force. Lee, Joan, and Harley ducked for cover as the metal shards burst outwards and embedded themselves in nearby walls. One of the flying shards struck Quenay in the face and bounced right off. She didn’t even blink.

“How’s that for a deus ex machina, huh? I’m a God, and I was literally in the machine!” Quenay chuckled.

Vell had been halfway through sitting up and getting off the table, but Quenay’s words froze him in place.

“What?”

“Come on, Vell, aren’t you supposed to be the problem solver?” Quenay said. “Put the pieces together.”

Vell rolled off the table and backed away from Quenay slowly. He eventually stumbled into Lee and Harley, who clung to him, partly out of relief to have him back, and partly out of fear of Quenay. Joan huddled in as well, clinging to Lee and Vell’s wrists.

“You -you’re what Lijia found,” Vell said. “You’re the reason she disappeared.”

“Well, when you get down to it, I think she’s the reason she disappeared. She’s the one who got the bright idea to try and take my power for herself,” Quenay said with a shrug. “She wanted to turn me into a battery, so I gave her a taste of her own medicine. Condensed her soul down into its component mana and shoved her in a few double-A’s. Left her in a basement somewhere around here, some guy found her and used her to power his Gameboy a few decades back.”

Quenay chuckled to herself and leaned on the experimentation table.

“And hey, letting some guy play Pokemon isn’t a half bad way to go,” Quenay said. “She was a bitch anyway.”

Vell managed to tear his eyes away from Quenay long enough to check on Goodwell. He was still on the floor, convulsing with some strange mix of laughter and sobs.

“What about him?”

“Oh, yeah, that one,” Quenay said. “Well, continuing my trend of divine irony, he wanted to relive the past, so I let him relive the past. Except he gets to live it from a different point of view. Lijia Mian’s. Specifically all Lijia’s thoughts and memories about how disgusting he is.”

Quenay looked down at Goodwell’s tormented form and nodded approvingly. Then she glanced back at Vell and the three women cowering behind him. She bared her teeth in their direction.

“I know meting out all this divine punishment probably makes me look harsh, but hey, I’m an old god. The oldest god, actually. Kind of comes with the territory. But you kids, you’ve got nothing to fear from me,” Quenay assured them. “You should know that, Vell.”

“Why would I?”

Somehow, the tilted smile on Quenay’s face answered that question without her saying a word. In spite of his terror, Vell’s jaw dropped, and a shiver went down his spine, ending just above his tailbone -right on top of the ten-lined rune on his back.

“You?”

Quenay’s broad smile got a little wider. In the blink of an eye, Quenay moved from one place to another, appearing in front of Vell. She poked one finger into his chest, just above his heart.

“Nice to see you again, Vell,” Quenay said. “Glad you’ve been doing well.”

“You? You brought him back?” Joan gasped. “Can you do it again? Heal someone else?”

Having apparently not learned her lesson yet, Joan stepped away from the pack, to stand alone in front of the unknown god. Quenay didn’t even glance in her direction, keeping her mismatched eyes locked on Vell.

“I’m not done with you yet, Vell Harlan,” she said. “But I am for today. We’ll talk more next time.”

“Wait, next time? When? What are-”

Ignoring all of his questions, Quenay flashed one last smile at Vell, and then vanished. Without an “entry” rune to assist her silent passage through the barrier, the movement of a divine entity shattered the magic force field violently, filling the room with sparks and sound as the renegade Goddess made her exit.

Aside from putting on a divine light show, the collapse of the barrier also dispelled Goodwell’s remaining protections on the underground chamber. The metal door to the laboratory slammed open, and four young men pushed their way through at once. Freddy fell to the floor under the tidal wave of Vell’s roommates, but got himself to his feet in a flash.

“Don’t worry, we’re here to-”

Freddy took a quick look around the room, to see the walls filled with metal shrapnel, Goodwell convulsing on the floor, and his friends standing packed in a corner, looking like they’d seen a ghost.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I think we’re late,” Freddy noted.

Professor Nguyen stepped through the open doorway as well. While the sudden entrance had caused all of Vell’s roommates to trip over their own feet, the professor remained steadily aloft as she took in the scene.

“Is this some manner of prank?” Nguyen asked.

Harley and Lee turned to Vell. They were starting to hope it was.

“No,” Vell said. “This is all...very real.”

Nguyen stepped further into the room and observed Goodwell twitching on the ground like a rabid dog.

“Is he alright?”

“No,” Vell said. “And on that note: neither am I!”

Harley and Lee clinging to Vell’s shoulders were the only thing that kept him from falling forward as he blacked out.

----------------------------------------

Vell woke up in a bed -a soft one, this time, and he wasn’t tied to it, which was a marked improvement from the last bed he’d woken up in. He breathed a deep sigh of relief and dared to open his eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t find a malevolent Goddess staring down at him. There wasn’t, which he marked as another win.

“Morning,” Luke said. Vell turned his head to see all three of his roommates sitting by the side of his bed.

“Hey guys,” Vell said. “Ugh. How long have I been out?”

“Ten years,” Cane said dramatically. Luke slapped him on the shoulder.

“Don’t fuck with him, man, it’s been a rough day,” Luke chided.

“It’s been like thirty minutes,” Renard said. Vell nodded. He’d never really been worried by Cane’s “ten years” joke, seeing as everyone was still wearing the same outfits. If anything, the joke was reassuring. It meant that things had turned out alright.

“What’d I miss?”

“Well, Freddy’s trying to help the staff make sense of Goodwell’s weird machinery, Harley’s making sure the authorities get all the info on Goodwell’s evil plan, Nguyen’s the acting principal, Joan’s getting expelled-”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I mean, even though she helped in the end, she still sort of helped Goodwell do something super illegal,” Luke said. “Not to mention she’s the one who sabotaged Goodwell’s stuff and made him have that weird brain meltdown whatever.”

“No, that’s not- Hold on. Where’s Joan? I need to find Joan,” Vell said. He hopped out of bed, wobbled for a second, and then turned to find the door. Renard pointed him in the right direction.

“You sure you want to be on your feet?” Cane said. “The doc said you were fine, but after what you’ve been through-”

“I’m fine,” Vell said. “I just need to, uh, find Joan.”

“Last I heard the security bots were helping her pack up and get out,” Renard said.

Vell stumbled out of the medical building and wobbled his way back to the dorm room. It was late in the day now, and they were almost entirely empty. The halls were completely barren except for two security robots standing guard at the door of Joan’s dorm. They didn’t bother Vell as he moved inside, to find Lee somberly helping Joan finish packing the last of her boxes.

“Joan, what’s going on?”

“Hey, Vell,” she said hoarsely. “You want to help me get moved out? For real this time?”

“No. I mean, yes, maybe later,” Vell said. Joan smiled at him. He’d never turn down a chance to be helpful, even now. “But what’s going on? Why are you getting expelled?”

“Because I helped Goodwell, obviously,” Joan said. Lee stepped aside, tucking herself into a corner as Joan and Vell continued their conversation. “I can’t really hide it.”

“But you helped us,” Vell said. “And you didn’t do anything to Goodwell.”

“Yeah, but what was I going to tell them?” Joan said. “A god dressed up as a Chinese lady from the seventies showed up, saved my dumb ass from getting shot, and fucked off after admitting she’d brought you back from the dead?”

“Well, not in so many words, but-”

For now, no one outside the three loopers and Joan had any idea what had really happened -and who had really appeared in the lab. Renard had suspicions, but he trusted the loopers to know that if they weren’t telling people the truth, it was probably for a good reason, so he kept those suspicions to himself. For now, the story the world knew was that Joan had sabotaged Goodwell’s project, causing a dangerous backlash to Goodwell himself.

“Lee didn’t like it either,” Joan said. Lee tried to sink deeper into her corner. “That’s why I didn’t tell her. Just, uh, sneaking in one more lie before I go away for good.”

“Joan…”

“They would’ve asked too many questions, Vell. Questions you guys didn’t have answers to,” Joan said. “But everybody already knew I was the bad guy. Nobody questioned that.”

Vell stepped up to Joan and put a hand on her shoulder. Joan reached up and put her hand on top of his.

“You’re...not a bad person,” Vell said. “People should know that.”

“You know, Vell, I’ve realized something. Even if I’m not a bad person, which I might, possibly, be...I sure am bad at being a person,” Joan said, forcing herself to laugh. “Even when I was doing everything I could think of to help you guys, I still nearly got us all killed. I just...I’ve…”

Joan paused for a moment and shrank from Vell’s touch.

“You’re right about my sister. She’s…dying. With me it was just the eyes that went wrong, but for her, it’s...it’s bad,” Joan said, not willing to linger on the details. Vell stayed deathly silent. “Everyone says there’s no way to help her. But they’re not even trying.”

In spite of the day’s event, bitterness and anger welled up in Joan’s voice, and she clenched her fist tight.

“So I’ve been trying. Trying everything. I told myself I had to do it all...and I guess I did,” Joan said. “Including some things I probably shouldn’t have done.”

The sidelong glance at Vell could not be ignored.

“I know what I did to you,” Joan said. “And I’m sorry. I was trying to save my sister, but that doesn’t excuse hurting you. Or anyone else. I was just too obsessed with what I thought I needed.”

Joan bit her tongue and hesitated. She really didn’t want to say the next thing she had to say.

“And now, what I need is in your hands. Or, on your back, I guess. And I have to be okay with that, because- even though you’re a little slow on the uptake sometime, and you lack confidence, and you’re a little too cautious- you are...you’re- you-”

Joan bit down hard and forced herself to say it.

“You’re smarter than me.”

Vell had an entirely underwhelming reaction to Joan’s herculean effort of overcoming her own ego. Lee appreciated it, though.

“I’ll...try my best,” Vell mumbled. Joan nodded in agreement. They had very different definitions of what the word ‘best’ meant, but they both wanted to do their own version of their best. In that brief moment of solidarity, Joan pushed her head forward for a second, as if to kiss him. Against his better judgment, Vell flinched. Joan paused, only momentarily, and then tilted her head to give Vell a quick peck on the cheek.

It was a second-long brush of her lips against his cheek, but in that brief second, Vell felt more passion, more intimacy, and a deeper connection than any of the dozens of kisses Joan had given him through their months-long relationship. Then it was over.

“I’ll be fine,” Joan insisted. “Most people don’t make it past their first year here anyway. Getting expelled from the EOC is more prestigious than having a degree from some places.”

“Right. You’ll, uh, you’re going to do great. I’m just, you know...uh...”

“I’ll miss you too,” Joan said, finishing Vell’s thought for him. She left it at that, in spite of all the other things she wanted to say. She forced herself to step away from Vell and sought out Lee, still looking stuck in her corner of the room. She had been unsure what else to do while Joan and Vell had their chat, and had just tired to disappear into the corner. It had not worked.

“Thanks for trusting me, Lee,” she said.

“Always. You’re my friend, after all,” Lee said.

“Of course.”

“And, Harley has asked me to pass along that she’s sorry for most of the things she said.”

“Did she really, or are you just saying that?”

“She did! In those exact words. So, you know…‘most’ of what she said.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.”

Joan looked at her packed boxes. She’d expected to do so much more here at the Einstein-Odinson college, but in retrospect, she had done enough. She could leave with a clear conscience, at least. Or a mostly clear conscience, as Harley might put it. That was better than Joan had expected, and probably better than she deserved.

“We’ll see each other again,” Joan said. She could hardly believe the next words that were about to come out of her mouth. “Let me know if you ever need help with...the God.”

“Oh right, we’re probably going to have to deal with that eventually,” Lee said.

“I really don’t want to think about that right now,” Vell moaned.

----------------------------------------

Thanks to the day’s events (and the criminal investigation that followed) Vell and company had ended up needing a ferry to themselves to get back to the mainland. They had taken full advantage to sprawl out, relax, and enjoy each others company on the long boat ride back to the California coast. But now the ride was over, and everyone was being pulled in a different direction.

“Thanks for everything, you guys,” Vell said. “For the rescue, and everything before that too.”

“Sorry we weren’t there a bit earlier,” Freddy said.

“You were very brave, bad timing or no,” Harley said. She gave Freddy a swift kiss on the cheek, which nearly caused him to black out, but he managed to stay on his feet. Freddy said goodbye and found his way to a cab to head home.

“Renard, we’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again,” Luke said. “Won’t be the same without you around.”

“You guys will do great,” Renard said. “And if you’re ever in Paris, come around to my parents restaurant, I’ll cook for you guys again any day.”

“Traveling all the way to Paris for a free meal seems...completely worth it, if it’s your cooking,” Cane said. “You’ll see me again.”

“For sure,” Renard said. “Good luck with...all that weird stuff.”

Renard walked off, sad to leave his friends behind, but also sort of glad to be free of the island and all it’s strangeness. He still didn’t know what to make of that shapeshifter who’d gotten involved out of nowhere, but luckily, Renard found it very easy to not think too hard about such things. Cane and Luke said their final goodbyes and wandered off in turn, leaving the looper’s alone.

“So. Lot to say here,” Vell said.

“We know, we know,” Harley said. “Love you, miss you, world won’t be the same without you in it, please just skip the sappy stuff. It’s a two month break, guys, I’ll be back to annoying you in no time.”

“Vell?”

“Yeah, Lee?”

“You are coming back, right?”

In spite of Harley’s joking, Lee looked worried -terrified, even. She wrung her hands together nervously, and looked at Vell like she was about to cry.

“Why would I not?”

“After everything you’ve been through, Vell, I mean, you’ve died hundreds of times, been torn through time and space, and been kidnapped -twice!” Lee said. “How can you want to come back to us- to the school?”

“Well, admittedly, sometimes it’s difficult to put up with,” Vell said. “But I just found out I’m a God’s...toy? Chosen one? Experiment? The point is, I don’t think my life is going to get any meaningfully less weird any time soon, time loops or no.”

Vell shrugged, and in a fluid motion, turned the shrug into a hug, grabbing Lee around the shoulders.

“Might as well face all that weirdness with my best friends.”

Lee bit back tears and returned the embrace, as Harley tried to force her way into it.

“Hey, make room you two,” she said. “Vell said ‘friends’, plural, this is clearly a group hug scenario.”

Vell and Lee relented, giving Harley room to squeeze them both far too tightly.

Overhead, a clock tower ticked away, counting down the time at the ferry station. Atop the tower, an asymmetrically dressed woman lounged, watching the hug from a distance with a warm smile on her face. Quenay stayed silent, watching the loving trio eventually drift apart and go their separate ways. She nearly went on her own way, until she saw a purple butterfly drifting on the wind around the clock tower. The butterfly settled down on an extended fingertip, and Quenay examined it carefully as it’s impossibly patterned iridescent wings shimmered in the waning sunlight.

“You too, huh?” She said as she examined the butterfly. “You get interested before or after I showed up?”

The butterfly twitched it’s wings, and offered no response.

“It was rhetorical anyway,” Quenay said, before turning her attention back to Vell. “Well well, mister Vell, you are quite the person of interest. You got two forces of the universe on your case.”

The butterfly took off, leaving Quenay behind. She carefully watched Vell Harlan as the enigmatic purple butterfly drifted towards him.

“Well, there’s an idea,” Quenay whispered to herself.

The mismatched eyes of the hidden Goddess slowly drifted to the rune she’d inscribed on Vell’s back, and a sly smile parted her face.

“Two is better than one.”