Chapter Text
…Please listen to me. You’re my only chance to change this.
"DURING OUR BATTLE, I SENSED THE SEED OF CONQUEST WITHIN YOUR HEART."
There’s something coming, something that’s supposed to be impossible to change.
“YOU SHOULD’VE HEEDED HELIA’S WARNING.”
But I was an impossibility. We’re an impossibility.
A familiar city set aflame, a massive clock tower transformed into an impossible siege machine that towers over the destruction.
I gave everything to create this possibility. To create a chance.
A man made of pressed together layers of parchment, held together by quills and red threads. The threads stretch out to an impossible amount of people, like puppets on strings.
We can change it. We have to. We can make a world where they get to be happy.
A dark tunnel, covered in glowing red eyes. Long, spider-like hands reach out from within.
You’re me, after all. A me that got to be from a world like that.
A writhing mass of blood, barely holding the shape of a tree. A horrifying yellow eye forms upon it like a gnarled knot.
So promise me.
Two hounds. One with a coat made of furious flame that burns as intensely as the sun, the other with one as smooth as silk and moonlight. They howl into a distorted sky.
Promise me that you’ll do what I couldn’t.
A shining knight in a suit of armor made of greenish otherworldly metals that are hard to look at. Without words, it screams of pride and arrogance.
That you’ll use this chance to change their — our — seemingly set-in-stone fate.
A crying clown, surrounded by infernal engines. A circus spreads, but her grief never abates.
You’re the only one that can do it and I know you can.
A humanoid in a red coat, with a reflective glass triangle for a head. Someone’s face reflects in it before it shatters into pieces.
Right, Frankie?
Frankie’s deep brown eyes shot open. A sunny blue sky with nary a cloud greeted her from underneath the many pink petals of a cherry blossom. She pushed herself up off the grassy ground and found herself in a forest of just as many more cherry blossoms and an old church resting in the distance atop a plateau as she sat up, cherry petals falling off of her school uniform. Grogginess and confusion overwhelmed her as she looked all around her and tried to get her bearings.
“...This isn’t my bedroom,” Frankie murmured aloud as she tried to make sense of what was going on. “Where… am I?”
THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER - LONDON, ENGLAND - EARLY SPRING 2010
Morning light poured in through the flat’s bedroom windows and stirred Cass from their slumber as it danced upon their face. They sat up with a groan, still feeling groggy and sore from slumber. They glanced next to them; Kayleigh wasn’t there so she must have already gotten up. Cass felt the cold air on their skin and desperately wanted to crawl back under the covers, back to the comforting warmth of sleep. Kayleigh had told them the heating in her flat was a little slow in the morning, which was something they had to deal with throughout the entire winter. They had hoped since it was starting to be spring now, it’d be a little less cold, but no, London was still friggin’ cold. Cass thought it was supposed to be temperate in the UK. Maybe a weird alternate Earth difference?
Cass sighed, got out of bed and relied on the warmth of their flannel pajama pants to keep them from freezing. Their t-shirt wouldn’t do much, but it did have a really cool geometric triangle on it which had more geometric shapes in it. Though Cass also had a hard time looking at triangles now without thinking about him , but that was more of a them problem. Couldn’t really avoid triangles your entire life because they reminded you of the monstrous interdimensional conqueror with one for a head who nearly killed you, all your friends, and the entire multiverse, now could you?
As they exited the bedroom, Barkley was immediately upon them and barked away excitedly in morning greetings. Cass knelt down and patted the fluffy pomeranian.
“Morning, Barkley,” yawned Cass. “You never seem to be out of energy, do you?”
The dog wagged his tail and panted as it cuddled up to them. A lethargic cat in the meanwhile stalked up from out of sight and rubbed against Cass’s legs, purring all the while. Cass reached down and stroked the cat’s head as well, which it eagerly accepted.
“Hey Junior,” they said. “I know that you’re the one that actually takes after me with how lazy you are in the morning.”
The cat’s actual name was Li’l Cass: something Kayleigh had named it while her and (big) Cass had been separated for over three years. It was very funny to make fun of her for naming a cat after them, though Cass hadn’t wanted to force her to change the cat’s name. Frankie had been the one to start calling it Junior, like it was Cass’s firstborn or something though. They had adopted the nickname as well, making Kayleigh even more flustered. Which was both always really funny and really cute, so Cass was happy.
Cass pushed up off the ground and away from the loving small animals as they continued through the flat and towards the kitchen. They could smell the brewing pot of coffee in the distance, which they were in desperate need of. They immediately saw Kayleigh in there, working on getting said pot ready. She had her jumper over her pajamas, and had started growing out her red hair long again in the past six months since they had gotten back together. Cass walked up behind them, wrapped their arms around her and nuzzled her neck.
“Morning, my love,” Cass whispered.
“Good morning, Cass,” Kayleigh responded in kind as she reached a hand back and embraced their head against her own.
Cass lingered for a moment before pulling away and leaning against the counter next to her as she continued getting the coffee ready. Cass tried not to look too obvious about the utter bliss they felt every day getting to be with Kayleigh like this, but it was extremely hard to hide sometimes. If Cass had told their pre-New Wirral self that they’d be living on an alternate Earth in 2010s London with their beautiful Irish rockstar girlfriend living this perfect domestic life… Well, the alternate Earth in 2010 part would probably be the most believable part of all of that. Kayleigh glanced at them and smiled back at them as Cass stared at her with the most obvious smile upon their own face.
“You were properly conked out this morning,” Kayleigh said. “You’re usually up before me.”
Cass shrugged. “More tired than usual, I suppose.”
“...You’re not too nervous, yeah?” Kayleigh asked as she looked at Cass with the tiniest look of concern. “Tonight’s finally the night.”
“Don’t worry, Kay. I can handle it.”
“If you end up feeling uncomfortable or anxious, you know you can tell me, right? I don’t want you to end up having a panic attack. I wouldn’t hold it against you or anything and we can always put it off till later and—”
“Kayleigh . You know I endlessly appreciate you being mindful of how much anxiety I have over social situations,” Cass reassured her. “But I’m going to have to meet your dad at some point and we’ve already made the plans for it all tonight. It’d be rude to cancel on him now.”
She took a deep breath before letting out a nice long sigh. “I may still be a wee bit nervous about it myself. What with how this isn’t just me introducing you to him but also… You know.”
“Us trying to explain the whole New Wirral thing to him?” Cass finished. “I mean, you were right that we should tell him. I get it: one person telling that story makes them sound insane. Now, two people: well that’s twice as many people sounding insane, but it also might just be a hint more believable.
“I also imagine how utterly in love you’re with me after it seems like you’ve only known me for a few months still must seem rather strange to him. Though I mean, I am irresistible, so it should make sense.”
Kayleigh playfully punched Cass in the shoulder at that remark. They feigned the impact of the punch as they rolled their shoulder back with it and let out a joking groan of pain. The two of them chuckled together.
“Coffee’s ready,” Kayleigh said as she glanced at the boiling pot. “Same as usual?”
“Of course, you know me,” Cass joked. “Pitch black and dark as my soul.”
“So, plenty of sugar and cream then?”
“Yes.”
The two would soon be seated around the kitchen table as they both got their daily needed dose of caffeine. It was quiet, but it was nice to just be like that sometimes; sitting together in silence but with each other, just comfortable in the knowledge that they were together. As Cass placed their mug down after a sip, Kayleigh placed a hand on their forearm to get their attention.
“You aren’t doing any volunteer work today or anything, right?”
Cass hid a little twinge of regret at that; Kayleigh was making enough to support the two of them living together but it made Cass feel guilty to not be able to help out as well. They didn’t exist on this Earth until just a few months ago, so that made paying job prospects incredibly hard to find without worrying about some kind of shadowy world government organization potentially descending upon them, which wasn’t even going into the mess of a person they were prior to New Wirral. Cass didn’t like just sitting around doing nothing though, so they had turned to doing volunteer work helping out those in need around London; something that fortunately they didn’t get turned away from because those organizations were always desperately in need of extra hands. It was something definitely inspired by their time on New Wirral helping people out and also maybe a little bit by Eugene telling them about his world and their potential future. Cass would be loath to admit to him that he had been a positive influence on them if they ever did see Eugune again.
Kayleigh had repeatedly told them it was fine and that she didn’t mind at all, but it still made Cass feel a little bad.
“No, I wanted to just take the day, make sure I got the New Wirral story straight in my head that we’ll be telling your dad tonight,” Cass responded. “Still figuring out how to explain I was ‘fusing’ with his daughter to him.”
Kayleigh giggled lightly to herself at that before continuing. “I was wondering… Would you wanna come with me today? We’ve been getting close to finishing recording on our first proper album and I’m sure Meredith wouldn’t mind if you were in the studio with us… And it’d be nice to have you there for the day.”
She turned her gaze away and looked as sheepish as ever. Ugh, why did she have to be so cute and hard to say no to? Cass: the eternal sucker to their extremely cute girlfriend. It would be nice to spend the day together though; she had been pretty busy most days recently with the album business. Hopefully the others wouldn’t mind.
“Of course, I’d love to,” Cass answered. “I mean, I’d be a fool to refuse a behind-the-scenes look behind the production of the great Cassette Beasts first proper album, now wouldn’t I?”
Kayleigh jabbed her pointer finger against them. “You’re going to endlessly make fun of me for that name, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely,” Cass smirked before they took another sip of coffee.
Frankie absentmindedly dug her spoon around the bowl of oatmeal, the mushy substance of oats, milk, and maple brown sugar all starting to blend together. Meredith stared at the girl in cat print pajamas from across the dinner table as they had breakfast; she looked as if she was out of it today again and had been for most of the week. Frankie had been staying with her since Cass and her had shown up in London and after the months, and Meredith had gotten why Cass had grown to like the girl. She might have been a big dork and made the same terrible yet-to-exist references Cass did that wouldn’t be around for another 10+ years, but she was also just a hard worker, kind, and caring: a good girl.
It reminded her of herself when she was that age: hyper-specific interests, socially awkward, disconnected, and lonely. It wasn’t made easier by the fact Meredith also just completely cut herself off from people and refused to let anyone else in, not even her own parents, continually tricking herself that she would get better in the next stage of her life. What was Frankie’s relationship like with her own parents? Did she miss them? From everything Cass had told Meredith about her, it sounded like she was extremely excited about the fact she ended up in New Wirral, and also following them in their multiversal road trip to get back to Kayleigh. Maybe she should just ask Cass to talk to her; they were obviously close after all and maybe they’d be able to snap her out of this funk.
But Meredith was also technically her ‘guardian’ now after all; something that hadn’t taken a small number of favors with some old friends of hers and tBo also get Frankie into a school in London. They had ended up sticking with the story that Frankie was a younger cousin that Meredith had ended up with custody of. She felt like if she was Frankie’s guardian, she should be able to deal with this, right? To be responsible for her. It’s not like she ever planned to have kids herself, and now she was suddenly caring deeply for this ridiculous teenager who had ended up in her life.
Of course, Frankie being a teenager would probably mean she’d clam up if Meredith tried to be direct about how she had noticed how moody and out of it the girl had been. She had to deal with this with finesse. Try to get her to naturally open up about whatever was on her mind.
“Frankie,” she spoke up. “Wanna cut class today? Spend the day with me?”
Frankie perked up like a cat who had just seen a bird outside the window. “Wait, really?”
“Really. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt for you to miss one day.”
“You’re doing more recording with Kayleigh and her band today, right?” Frankie asked, obviously trying to hide her excitement. “I mean, I guess that could be fun.”
“Just make sure to eat the rest of your breakfast and shower,” Meredith said. “And don’t scarf it down like you usually do when you rush.”
Frankie stopped in the middle of getting ready to do just that as her and Meredith stared at each other from across the table. She slowly put the bowl down and took a nice, slow, controlled bite as they kept eye contact.
“See ya later, Barkley,” Cass said as they patted the dog. “Keep an eye on Junior.”
The dog enthusiastically barked at them and skipped back into the flat as Cass stood up and left with Kayleigh. Now clad in a thick red hoodie, blue scarf, and white wool gloves, they hoped that the London cold wouldn’t overwhelm them and leave them frozen in the streets. Well, it probably would, but fortunately they had the loving warmth of their wonderful girlfriend, so that would probably do most of the heavy lifting.
Kayleigh was in a long, fluffy white coat with big black buttons and woolen gloves. She took a moment to adjust the dark green beret atop her head but reached back instinctually with her free hand as she felt Cass's reach out for hers. Their fingers entwined as they squeezed each other's gloved hands.
"... I'm glad you started to wear a beret again," Cass remarked. "I always thought it looked really cute on you."
"Heather endlessly makes fun of me for it," Kayleigh responded. "But I always really liked it in New Wirral."
She murmured, trying to hide her flushed face behind her black scarf. "It may also help that I know you think I'm cute in it,"
The two walked hand-in-hand out of the flat and through the streets of London. The air was still bitterly cold, especially with it being nothing but clear blue skies with nary a cloud, but Cass was too focused on the absolute bliss they were feeling again. This must be what heaven felt like. Walking hand-in-hand with their perfect girlfriend, with the warmth of each other's hands in the other's… Cass felt disgustingly happy, to the point others looking at them would probably feel sick from the sheer display of PDA that was emanating off of the two of them.
BING BONG BING BONG
Cass froze, all their muscles tensing up as adrenaline spiked through them. Their fight and flight instincts all fired up at once. The distant chime of Big Ben echoed in the cold sky and in Cass's head. It began to chime with hits of the bell for each hour, each ring sounding like a resounding deep thud, like the beat of a drum and —
"Cass? Are you alright?"
They snapped out of it as they felt Kayleigh tug on their arm. Cass looked at her, her face sporting a look of befuddled concern. They struggled with the words before they got them out.
"Did… did Big Ben sound off to you at all?" Cass managed to stammer out.
Kayleigh cocked an eyebrow. "Not really. Was there something off about it to you?"
"It's… it's probably nothing," Cass dismissed it. "I'm probably just more tired than I thought I was. Let's keep going, yeah?"
Kayleigh nodded and Cass squeezed her hand as the two of them pushed onward. They tried to let that previous feeling of bliss take back over, but what had just happened lingered like a shadow over Cass.
What the hell was that?
"Kayleigh!"
An ecstatic Frankie assaulted Kayleigh with a hug as she stepped into the building. She was taken aback for a second because she hadn't expected it, but Kayleigh quickly returned the hug. Their very first meeting hadn't been the best, but Kayleigh had grown to care about her a lot once Cass had properly introduced them. After all, she and Cass wouldn't've been reunited in the first place if Frankie hadn't been by their side, so she had plenty to thank her for. As far as Kayleigh was concerned, she was practically family to her and Cass.
"Hey Frankie," Kayleigh greeted. "It's been a little bit, huh?"
Cass shimmied in through the door after her and teasingly glared at Frankie. "Hey, what do you think you're doing, cuddling up to my girlfriend?"
"Kayleigh's hugs are sooo soft and warm though~" Frankie practically purred. "You can't hog that all to yourself, master."
The two stuck their tongues out at each other as Frankie pulled away from Kayleigh. Meredith walked up with a smirk and leaned against Cass's shoulder.
"I wasn't expecting both of you," she said. "What are you doing here, Cass?"
"Kayleigh invited me, I hope that's okay," Cass answered. "I'll try to stay out of the way, but if I can help in any way, I'll be at your service… Though unfortunately sound and music are very much not my forte so I'm not sure how much help I can actually be."
"I'm sure I can make use of you, Cass," Meredith teased. "Kayleigh, the rest of the girls are getting ready in the booth if you wanna join them. Should be another long day."
Kayleigh nodded and ran off ahead while giving them a little wave. Cass looked back at Frankie.
"Shouldn't you be in school right now?"
"Meredith said I could come along today," Frankie huffed in response. "Besides, it's not like you're my nonbi or something."
"...Nonbi?"
"You know, like short for nonbinary parent."
"I mean, I would've accepted mom or dad for the joke," Cass shrugged. "But I'll give you points for the inclusivity."
The two of them snickered at each other, Frankie doing her ever characteristic almost cat-like laugh. Meredith smiled to herself: it was nice seeing how fast her mood improved whenever Cass and Kayleigh were around. Moody and lonely didn't look good on Frankie.
"Can't believe you're pulling this poor child out of school, Meredith," Cass teased. "She'll barely stand a chance in the outside world with a proper education already."
"Hey, don't you go giving me parenting lessons now," Meredith shot back playfully. "I wasn't the one teaching her how to fight with the power of transforming into a weird cassette monster."
Cass tried to come up with a comeback but fell short. "Good point."
The three of them chatted away as they walked along to catch up with Kayleigh and the rest.
Cass's head spun.
"Kayleigh, think you can redo that chord progression?"
"Yeah, let's isolate that section a bit."
"Let me adjust the levels on that."
Cass would gladly listen to Kayleigh passionately talk about music and the inner workings of it and the recording process, but they barely absorbed any of that knowledge. Cass mostly fancied themselves a literature major with a few courses in general media studies. All this sound and music design stuff that Kayleigh, her friends, and Meredith were extremely knowledgeable about went over Cass's head.
"Cass."
Not to mention they were still thinking about what happened with Big Ben this morning. What the hell was with that? That had never happened before: it was just a big clock. That utter feeling of dread that had washed over Cass hearing its chime this morning… It was almost familiar in some way.
Meredith snapped her fingers in front of their face. "Cass, you there?"
They snapped out of it and looked at Meredith. "Yeah, sorry about that Meredith, was off in my own world. What's up?"
"We were planning to get lunch and I was hoping you could take care of the ordering so we could keep going," she said, "and then have you and Frankie go pick it up. We were thinking Chinese."
Cass nodded and looked at the window separating them from the soundproof recording area; Frankie was in there with the rest of the girls laughing away as she wrote down their orders in a notepad. Kayleigh glanced up and silently waved at Cass with a smile as they looked at each other.
Cass tapped at the microphone on the big mixer in front of Meredith. "Kaitlyn, you're still vegetarian, yeah?"
"Yeah, Cass!" Kaitlyn replied, her voice coming through the speaker. "Thanks for remembering!"
"Cass, I already told Frankie," Heather shouted. "Make sure you get the good orange chicken. You hear me!? The real orange sh—"
Cass clicked off the microphone and cut her off. They looked at Meredith.
"How much is she cursing at me right now?"
Meredith peeked past Cass and through the window. "Oh, a lot."
"It's been a while since it's just been the two of us."
Cass glanced at Frankie who was keeping pace next to them as they headed to the Chinese place. The bitter cold blew against both of them. God, when would it actually be Spring in England? Truly, a godforsaken country in this reality.
"Yeah, it has been hasn't it?" Cass replied. "Hell, Barkley was usually with us back when we were traveling together too. I can barely remember it ever being just us."
Had it really been almost half a year since that ended? It was a bit wild to think about. Frankie had loyally followed Cass on this ridiculous personal journey of theirs and hadn't raised a word of complaint about it being over or asking them to see if they could return her to New Wirral with the Mer-Line. Cass worried if they were being selfish.
"... I'm glad you've stuck around, Frankie," Cass murmured. "I never had a lot of good friends prior to when I washed up on New Wirral, and then I ended up having to say goodbye to a lot of them. I'd never have seen any of them again — including the literal love of my life — if it wasn't for you.
"I guess what I'm really saying is, even if you're somewhat of a precocious kid, I think you're one of the best friends I've had. I'd miss you a lot if you weren't around. So you know… Thanks for staying around in this new boring life of mine."
Cass glanced back at her again after letting out those thoughts only to see her tearing up and sniffling. She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve.
"Where'd all that come from, Cass?" Frankie whined. "That's a lot to pour on me when we're just walking to get some takeout! Do you think making girls cry is cool?"
"I was just thinking about it, that's all!" Cass retorted. "I mean like you just said, we haven't spent a lot of time together with just us for a while.
"I felt like with how lost in my own happiness I've been with getting reunited with Kayleigh, I've sorta left you by the wayside. So I just wanted to say how much you mean to me.
"I know how excited you were about New Wirral when you ended up there and the idea of being a transforming cassette monster hero, but you ended up giving that up to help me. I don't say thanks enough for that."
"I don't mind living a peaceful slice-of-life; some of my favorite fan-fics are coffee shop AUs y’know," Frankie responded. "And I completely get it: you and Kayleigh are sooo in love~ The both of you deserve to catch up on the time you’ve missed.
"If you wanna make it up to me, we should actually do things as a group, with Kayleigh and Meredith. Y'know, stuff like having supper together, or a board game night, or a bad movie night! You know, like family!"
"I'd definitely be up for a bad movie night," Cass answered. "Me and Meredith used to do that back on New Wirral actually. But we only ever had one movie."
"Blood Puncher?"
"Yeah, Blood Puncher! Did Meredith show you it?"
"Yeah, it rules. He punched all that guy's blood out!"
"He punched all that guy's blood out!" Cass enthusiastically repeated. "I love that awful, awful movie. Did Meredith tell you it was the only movie that existed on New Wirral for some reason? And that eventually we found out all the copies we found of it were versions from different universes? And they barely had any differences! We kept watching it over and over and cataloging what differences we could spot because we had no other movies. God, that was fun."
"Wait, every copy was from another universe? That sounds like something you'd see on one of those stupid conspiracy iceberg videos."
"I know, right?! I kept making references to that to annoy Meredith so in 10 years time she'll realize what I was talking about and think of me. Of course, I didn't think I'd be on the same Earth as her then, so I guess I'll have to watch out for her coming at me in a decade or so."
The two of them laughed at that; it was nice to at least have one person around who was as much a zoomer as they were and got it. Trying to explain how much the internet and world had changed over periods of 10 years was something Cass hadn't dared to attempt back on New Wirral with Kayleigh or Felix. It was the entire reason they hadn't talked about it with Eugene either; Cass couldn't imagine what the culture of the internet was like by his time after a revolution and trying to wrap their mind around it. Meanwhile, Meredith didn't know what the internet was back then and Viola didn't even know what a computer was.
Cass looked at Frankie, still mid-laugh, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a brief sideways embrace as they walked along. She rested her head against their shoulder in response. She really was like the little sister they had never had.
"Kaitlyn, your vegetarian option."
With the return of Frankie and Cass to the studio, they had moved to a break room off to the side and around a circular table. Cass dug through the paper bag, handing the top one over to Kaitlyn.
“Thank you, Cass,” she chirped.
“Heather,” Cass continued. “I was paying attention.”
She glared at them for a second before taking the styrofoam take-out box from their hands. “Thanks.”
“And of course, Carol,” Cass finished. “I feel like we could’ve gotten your order completely wrong and you wouldn’t have said anything, but we didn’t.”
Carol sheepishly laughed. “...Yeah probably. Thanks, Cass and Frankie.”
For everyone else, Cass was fairly confident in giving them their orders; Frankie had been there after all and they also just knew Kayleigh and Meredith extremely well. Cass still hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with Kayleigh’s friends yet so they were less… confident in that regard. Carol was still the only one who knew about New Wirral so far, and that was mostly by accident. They still had a hard time trying to explain the concept to Carol too. Kayleigh did want to tell them all eventually, but the subject of everything New Wirral and what it represented being real was extremely hard to breach. Not to mention, they still had to tell Kayleigh’s dad too, which was finally happening tonight.
So to Kaitlyn and Heather, Cass was still a bit of this weirdo who evidently Kayleigh was madly in love with who had shown up out of nowhere. The pair had clearly pieced together that they had connected pasts, and knew Carol and Meredith knew the whole deal, but they still didn’t know themselves. Not to mention they currently knew Frankie as being Meredith’s cousin and how close Cass was to her, so it was becoming a twisty tree of weird past family relationships and—
Honestly, maybe they should just tell them about New Wirral because the cover story was getting endlessly more complicated. But, Kayleigh’s dad first. Baby steps. Well, one really big baby step.
The group began lunch though, work and small talk taking over. It wasn’t like Cass hadn’t had moments of normalcy like this back on New Wirral, but it still felt weird even after half a year of being in London. No looming threats, greater universe-defying goals, or any such things: just living a normal life. Cass still had a hard time wrapping their head around that after everything they had gone through; from transforming using cassettes, to stopping reality-bending eldritch entities, to traveling the breadth of the multiverse to spite what fate would have declared a true case of star-crossed lovers; and now here they were having a perfectly normal lunch with their girlfriend, her friends, their little sister adjacent, and one of their best friends.
Cass glanced at Kayleigh to ground themselves. She looked back with her ever warm smile.
“Want a bite of mine, Cass?” she asked.
“...Yeah, sure,” Cass responded. “Why not?”
Kayleigh scooped up a bite of her meal and held it up to feed to Cass. They looked embarrassed for a second, having clearly not expected Kayleigh to feed it to them. They quickly took the bite as Kayleigh held it out for them though. A little giggle escaped her.
Heather retched. “Gods, take it down a notch, you two. The pair of you are way too lovey-dovey all the time. Makes me sick.”
“Aww, I think they’re sweet,” Carol cut in. “You sure you’re just not jealous, Heather?”
“Hell no,” Heather cursed. “If you ever see me like that, grab a gun and shoot me ‘tween the eyes.
“I’m still having a hard time believing you weren’t just moody and were lovesick all this time, Kay,” Heather said. “Hard getting used to you being so damn peppy now all the time”
Heather took a bite of her meal before slipping out one last sentence. “Suppose that makes sense if you’re shaggin’ on the reg now though.”
The loudest snort possible escaped Meredith as she barely stopped herself from spitting out the food she was currently chewing. Kayleigh turned as red as a tomato and looked as if she was about to shrink away into nothing. Frankie looked away awkwardly and pretended she hadn’t heard anything. Kaitlyn looked completely unfazed, being the one most used to Heather’s antics and kept eating in silence. Carol lightly slapped Heather on the shoulder.
“Heather!” Carol hissed. “Don’t be so crude!”
“What?” Heather shrugged. “It’s the truth. Right, Cass?”
Cass stopped staring into space and looked at Heather. “Hrm? What? Sorry, I think I blanked out for several seconds and forgot what was happening. What’s the question?”
“You and Kay are going at it like—”
Heather let out a brief screech of pain as Carol tugged on her ear to make her shut-up. The two started bickering at each other as Cass tried to avoid immediately defenestrating themself out the closest window from the embarrassment. If there was one thing they could say about Heather, it was that she was brutally honest and straightforward.
Cass pulled their winter gear back on and wrapped the scarf around tightly. They glanced through the window and outside; it might have been technically spring now, but it was still getting dark early in the evening. At least it was starting to wrap back around now and daylight hours were starting to come back.
Still way too damn cold though.
“...Yeah, we should mostly be in the finishing touches stages now,” Meredith trailed in. “I’ll have to review and make sure there’s nothing we need to re-record, but I think we should mostly be in the clear from having long days like this in the booth again. Then it’ll mostly be down to me working on the mastering and talking with marketing.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Absolutely always hate the stage of talking with marketing.”
Cass glanced over at Meredith and the rest of them talking about the day and the album process. Kayleigh stepped away and came over to Cass, now back in her own winter attire. As she wrapped her hand around their's, Meredith spoke up to catch their attention.
“Cass, Kay; me and the girls were thinking about going for supper together, you two wanna come along?”
“Unfortunately, we already have supper plans,” Kayleigh responded. “...Cass is finally meeting my da tonight, so we’ve got to get home and get ready for that.”
“Oh?” Meredith smirked. “Good luck, Cass.”
Cass let out a nervous sigh. “Thanks, Meredith. It has been… A long time coming.”
“Oh, don’t worry too much about it, Cass!” Carol exclaimed. “Every time I ever met Kayleigh’s dad, he was always so very kind and patient! I’m sure he’ll love you!”
“To be fair, Carol,” Cass replied, “you weren’t dating Kay. So, you know, he might come at me a bit differently.”
“Yeah, that’s true, I guess,” the sheepish Carol mumbled. “...But I’m sure it’ll be fine!”
Frankie walked over and gave a two-fingered salute to Cass. “Good luck, master! I have complete confidence in you to not make an utter fool of yourself!”
She snickered at them as Cass let out another sigh. They hadn’t been feeling nervous about it before, but it was definitely catching up to them now. Just had to take it in stride. Cass squeezed Kayleigh’s hand and felt her reassuring squeeze back; that definitely helped. Shortly after, the two groups went their separate ways and said their farewells as Cass and Kayleigh headed back to her flat.
The smell of a home-cooked meal. Barkley brushing at their legs as he hoped to try and get a scrap of anything that was accidentally dropped. Cass and Kayleigh laughing and smiling as they cooked (and made a mess) together in the flat’s small kitchen. Ugh. Cass felt that pure domestic bliss swelling in their heart again. Maybe Heather was right that they came on a bit too strong, but Cass really couldn’t help it. Kayleigh was the person they wanted to spend the rest of their life with and those feelings still hadn’t waned, not even a little. Weren’t romantic relationships supposed to calm down after a while? Because seeing Kayleigh just smile at them still made their heart beat too fast.
Cass was brought out of their reverie by a loud buzzer from the entryway as the two of them were finally finishing up. Kayleigh looked with excitement.
“Must be da,” she said. “I’m gonna go down and greet him. Can you finish setting the table, Cass?”
“Of course, of course,” Cass stammered. “See you both in a few minutes.”
Kay went over to the buzzer, exchanged some pleasantries with her father before saying she was coming down, and headed out the door. Cass got to preparing the table, the bliss slowly being eaten away by the sheer anxiety that was starting to build now that it was actually closer than ever. Just focus on setting the table, keep the brain on the task at hand.
Barkley barked supportively at their feet and Cass looked down at them. “Thanks, Barkley. Would be nice if someone else was as supportive as you are.”
Cass glanced into the sitting room at a certain cat who slept away on the couch without a care in the world. Oh, to be a cat with nary a worry in the world except how to best laze around for the day. Truly, that was the life. Imagining the simple life as a cat wasn’t a thought that long occupied Cass though, as they heard the flat’s door open with the approaching voices and footsteps.
Cass peaked around the corner and saw Kayleigh and her dad stepping back in, laughing and talking. Cass had seen pictures of him before; a man who was a little over halfway through middle age, balding red hair the same shades as Kayleigh’s, a bit soft and pudgy looking; he was practically a teddy bear from the looks of him, but for Cass right now? Utterly terrifying.
Kayleigh looked away from her dad and spied Cass poking their head over. “Cass!”
They almost instinctively tried to hide themself as Kayleigh called them over, but Cass fought against that desperate instinct as they forced themself out and walked toward the two with their back straight as plank and moving their limbs almost robotically. Kayleigh laughed a little as her dad looked on quizzically.
“Da, I’m glad to finally introduce you to my partner: Cass,” she said. “Which, I’m gonna go make sure there’s nothing they missed with dinner. Cass, help my da settle in, would you?”
Kayleigh gave Cass a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a wink as she strolled by before they could get a word in edgewise. Oh, she was slick. Well, time to force themself over this fear and talk to Kayleigh’s dad. Yep. Cass looked at him and he looked back. Just be as polite as possible, make a good impression.
“H-hello, Mister Kayleigh’s dad, sir!” Cass stammered out as they reached a hand forward. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”
Kayleigh’s dad reached out and firmly grasped Cass’s hand —maybe a little too firmly — as they responded. “Yes, it’s good to finally meet you, Cass. Like the cat, yes? Kayleigh’s talked about you a fair bit over the phone, but I’ve been stuck on that.”
“Yes, like the cat!” Cass blurted. “We, uh, usually call ‘em Junior to differentiate that.
“So, how was the trip over, sir?” they asked.
“Oh, boring drive to Dublin and boring flight over here,” he yawned. “Tiring trip. I’ve done it before but it’s been quite a while since I last did so. I had to come see my daughter after all… And of course, finally meet you.”
He glared at Cass, those eyes filled with judgment as they tried to get a read on their intentions with his daughter. Cass tried to not look too much obviously like they were quaking in their boots or be completely drenched in cold sweat. In their infinite wisdom, they just started spouting out what was on their mind out loud.
“I-I-I love your daughter very much and-” Cass stammered. “And I have not been in a serious enough relationship to this point to have ever met any of my past partner’s parents, so I am extremely nervous and terrified of making a bad impression and messing this up!”
Oh wait. They just said that out loud and not in their internal monologue. Cass slowly hid their face away in their hands and screamed. Masterful impressing of the father, right here. Very well done, Cass. They turned away and looked toward the kitchen.
“Kayleigh! ”
She poked her head around the corner and looked at Cass. “What is it, Cass?”
“How much do the flat’s windows open again?” Cass asked. “I need to throw myself out of one.”
Heather had recommended a food truck she was evidently a big purveyor of, which was not the kind of thing Meredith had in mind when they had talked about getting a bite together; she wasn’t a young woman anymore after all. Seeing the girls chattering and laughing away in front of her while enjoying something greasy and warm on a dark cold night definitely brought back some nostalgic memories of when she was still back in college though, or when she had gone to study abroad in Paris.
She then glanced at Frankie next to her, currently slurping a smoothie a brighter pink than her dyed hair.
“It’s still basically winter,” Meredith mused. “Think you would want something warmer.”
“But it tastes like pink!” Frankie answered. “And I love pink! I mean sure, it might be cold but it’s pink, Meredith.”
She rolled her eyes; Frankie really was like Cass. Always instantly lit up whenever they were around too. Of course, today had been no exception, and it wasn’t like Meredith hadn’t noticed before… And it wasn’t like she hadn’t struggled with her own complex feelings in regards to Cass and Kayleigh back when she was on New Wirral. She had her suspicions but she never wanted to directly ask her, but maybe today was the day she should. Make sure Frankie wasn’t bottling up a mess of emotions.
Meredith glanced ahead to make sure the girls wouldn’t hear her as she asked her. “Frankie, do you have… feelings for Cass?”
A jet of bright pink smoothie came blasting out of Frankie’s mouth as Meredith asked that. She gagged and looked at Meredith with disbelief.
“What!? No, never,” Frankie retched. “I could never see Cass in that way. God.”
Meredith shrugged. “...Sorry, just wanted to make sure. You just always seem really happy whenever they’re around, and I wanted to make sure that you struggling with that wasn’t the reason why you were so moody this morning.”
“That’s just because Cass is…” Frankie struggled to find the words. “They’re like family to me. I admire them a ton, Meredith. I wanna be like them; be as strong as they are, to be able to have a relationship eventually like they do with Kayleigh. Cass is like my…ideal of how I wanna be.
“And I like spending time with them and all you guys,” she continued. “I think you guys are all really cool. Especially you, Meredith.”
“Oi, you trying to get some brownie points, mate?” Meredith teased, roughing up her hair. “Because, maybe it’ll work a bit.”
Frankie laughed. “Nyeh heh heh~! Maybe a little bit… But I do really mean it.
“Really, thanks again for letting me stay with you all this time, Meredith,” she said. “I sorta feel like I haven’t really said it enough. I really appreciate it, along with getting to know you better.”
Meredith couldn’t help but feel soft for the kid; she was the textbook definition of a good kid, horrendous dorkiness aside. It had never been her intention to end up looking after her or caring about her so deeply, but even someone as hard as Meredith couldn’t help lowering her defenses a bit. She pat Frankie on the head.
“So, what was bothering you this morning then? It wasn’t something at school or you’re not actually lovelorn or something are you?”
“Oh god, no,” Frankie scoffed. “...Well, maybe a little bit; I have been thinking back on the one time someone fell for me a bit more recently, maybe because of seeing how happy Cass and Kayleigh are together all the time.”
“Someone fell for you?” Meredith teased. “Seems a bit of an absurd tale.”
“Hey, I’m a naturally charming heroine-type!” Frankie retorted. “...But it was unfortunately a boy who I considered a really good friend and… well, y’know.”
“Oh,” Meredith said. “It wasn’t something like he thought he could magically change your preference because of how ‘deep your friendship ran’ or something like that was it? Despise those types.”
“No no no, it wasn’t something like that,” Frankie stammered. “He just… didn’t realize and I sort of had to awkwardly tell him that I was into girls after he confessed and that I just really wanted us to stay friends… And then that ended up being the last time we spoke to each other. Oops!”
“Frankie.”
“Yeah, I know,” Frankie grimaced. “It was just really awkward and then I ended up leaving with Cass and—”
“Wait, this was in New Wirral?” Meredith cut in. “Oh gods. You two left things off like that then you went galavanting across the multiverse with Cass?”
“...Y-yes,” Frankie stuttered. “Look, I know it seems bad but—”
Meredith flicked her on the nose as Frankie let out a little yelp. She sighed. “No wonder you’re like this. You said he was a ‘really good friend’ yeah? And then the two of you never got the chance to actually talk about that confession and sort out those feelings; of course you’d be a mess.
“Cass never really explained how their whole multiversal-travel-thing worked,” she continued, “but is there any way you could go back to New Wirral? At least for a bit, so you can resolve it instead of letting it fester like you have been?”
“I… I couldn’t ask Cass to do that,” Frankie said. “Getting here was everything they were working toward and I can’t let them risk that because of the pair of us being stupid hormone-addled teenagers.”
“Don’t be a bloody daft sod; Cass clearly cares for you as much as you do for them: like family, and they wouldn’t want to see you like this…” Meredith said before letting out a tired sigh. “I may have made the same mistake once when I wasn’t much older then you and it took half of my twenties to sort through and come to peace with it because I didn’t just talk about it. So, don’t be like me, eh? Promise me.”
Frankie looked at her with those big pleading kitten-like eyes before letting out a resigned sigh of her own. “Okay, I promise.”
Meredith patted her on the head again. “Good girl. Don’t you feel better already having actually talked about it?”
“Well, I mean, sure,” Frankie slipped up, “but that actually wasn’t what I was thinking about this morn—”
“What do you mean that wasn’t it!?” Meredith shouted. “What was bothering you then!?”
“It’s… uh… complicated.”
“So, his name is Barkley? What sort of ridiculous name for a dog is that?”
Kayleigh’s dad laughed feverishly. Cass looked at him from across the table with an awkward grin. Thank god for the wine, it had definitely helped out the nerves.
“I mean, I didn’t name him that,” Cass explained. “That was already his name when I got him. And he likes it.”
Barkley pouted and paced around the dining table, clearly taking offense at his name being made fun of. Kayleigh reached down and petted the fluffy Pomeranian with a smile.
“I think it’s a lovely name, Barkley,” she cooed. “Don’t let my da get too much under your fur.”
The dog whined and cuddled up to her as Cass tried to not laugh too much at how much of a suck-up he had become. Ridiculously nervous start aside, supper had gone well. Kayleigh’s dad had enjoyed it, and the food was good. They were glad Kayleigh and them hadn’t mucked it up too much while cooking. Though of course, as Kayleigh sat back up and reached an arm up on the table and wrapped her hand around Cass’s next to her, it was clear the biggest, most nerve-racking, event of the night had come:
To try and tell Kayleigh’s dad about New Wirral.
Kayleigh cleared her throat. “Da, there’s something me and Cass have to tell you about.”
“What do you mean complicated?” Meredith bemoaned. “Out with it, Frankie!”
“I… I can’t really…” Frankie struggled with the words… Until she stopped speaking entirely.
The smoothie fell from her hands as her grasp on it went loose, what remained of it spilling its contents upon the sidewalk in a puddle of pink goo. Her eyes went wide with terror as she looked around wildly.
“Oh god. This is it. I can feel it. This is the night from my dream.”
Meredith, immediately confused, got ready to speak up but was cut off as she realized Heather, Kaitlyn, and Carol had hung back to catch up with them after noticing all the commotion.
“Oi, Frankie, you alright?” Heather asked before turning to look at Meredith. “Meredith, what’s happening?”
“I don’t bloody know,” Meredith snapped back as the concern overwhelmed her. “Frankie, what’s wrong!? What do you bleeding mean ‘this is the night’?”
Frankie grabbed her tightly, fingers curling around Meredith’s upper arm. “Meredith, we need to run and get Cass and Kayleigh. Now. There’s—”
Kayleigh’s dad looked across the table at the pair, his disbelief and befuddlement extremely clear. He placed his wine glass down and sat completely silent as the story finished. Cass looked at him expectantly, and then back to Kayleigh who was sporting the same look as them: unease and uncertainty on how this was all going over.
“Is this a joke or something?” Kayleigh’s dad asked. “You were stuck on an— how did you put it —‘island between worlds’ for three years and then came back as if no time passed. And that’s where you and Cass met?”
He rubbed his temples. “Honestly when you said there was something you had to tell me and you were acting as you were, Kayleigh, I figured you were just going to tell me you were pregnant or something, not tell me this fantastical story.”
Air gushed out of Kayleigh’s mouth as if she had just had all the wind knocked out of her at once. “Oh god, no… I mean. It’s not like… I wouldn’t mind considering that future with Cass eventually, but I mean…”
Cass’s face immediately flushed as those words slipped out of Kayleigh. Did she just admit she wanted to have kids with them? It seems Kayleigh also realized then what she had just said as her face turned beet red and she glanced at Cass. She immediately covered her face with her hands, trying to desperately hide herself and her extremely embarrassed expression away.
She tried her best to regain her composure. “I know it’s hard to believe da, but it’s the truth. I never told you before because I knew how ridiculous it sounded, but now that Cass is here with me, I knew you had to know the whole story.”
“I mean, it’s just… You used cassettes to turn into monsters? Cass is from another Earth that’s in the future? You fused?” Kayleigh’s dad kept going over the talking points. “I’m still trying to grasp everything you two said, Kayleigh.”
As Kayleigh and her dad kept talking over everything and she tried to insist to her father that they were telling the truth, Cass got ready to try to explain their bit as well… Only for the color to drain from their face as a chill went up their spine. Tension filled their body. Their heart started pounding. It started getting hard to breathe. A familiar taste pervaded their mouth… Like static.
This… This wasn’t happening, was it? This familiar sense of anticipation, of pure unfiltered dread. The panic attack crept over Cass’s entire being; they remembered why that dread from this morning felt so familiar. But… It couldn’t be. How? They weren’t on New Wirral; they were on a regular Earth. This kind of thing couldn’t happen in the normal world could it? But they remembered what Aleph said, what he had used to be and what he used to do. No no no no no—
Cass pushed up and away from the dining table, their chair screeching as they pushed it away. Barkley’s ears perked up and his fur stood on end. He started growling and looked toward the window as Cass did as well. They tried to catch their breath, as hard as it was, to try and calm down. They looked around them; Kayleigh looked concerned and her dad looked very confused.
“Cass? Are you all right?” Kayleigh asked, as she sprung to her feet to comfort them. “What’s wrong? Are you having a panic attack?”
Cass took a deep breath. They had to say something. They had to say it. The words finally escaped their mouth:
“Kayleigh, there’s an Archangel in London.”
Confusion went over her face at first, which then immediately washed away as the realization of what Cass had said dawned on her. Her eyes went wide and her mouth pursed as fear took over.
“Wait, wha—”
BING BONG BING BONG
The chime sounded in Meredith’s head. It was debilitating. She tried to cover her ears to make it stop but it was in her head. All of her senses fired up: the air felt like static, her mouth tasted of metal, her vision went haywire. This sensation, this feeling, even after 20 years she remembered it: these were all the very same things she felt when she had encountered Archangels. What the bloody hell was happening?
Frankie looked to be in similar straits to her; suffering but getting through it. The girls were doubled over and on the ground in pain though, along with most other people walking the streets, besides those who were just passing out completely. A car zoomed by before veering off the street and into a fire hydrant where its front crumpled and water gushed free. Similar sounds of traffic accidents surrounded them: they had to get off the damn street now.
“Frankie, help me move the girls out of here!” Meredith ordered, as she knelt down to pull Carol and Heather up.
Frankie wordlessly agreed as she knelt down and tried to support Kaitlyn and push her along. Meredith supported Heather and Carol and tried to move them all into a nearby restaurant; at least there’d be a wall between them and any cars with passed out drivers inside. Carol whimpered as she struggled to force herself to walk along with Meredith.
“M-Meredith, what’s… happening?” Carol weeped. “Why does everything hurt so much?”
Meredith didn’t know what to say. How were you supposed to explain what a bleeding Archangel was to someone? She’d have to worry about that later, she had to get them to safety. They had to reach Cass and Kayleigh.
BING BONG BING BONG
Cass and Kayleigh nearly both crumpled over as Big Ben’s familiar chime, now corrupted and pervasive, blasted within their heads. Barkley growled and whined at the same time. Kayleigh’s dad crashed against the table and nearly fell out of his chair and onto the floor. Kayleigh panicked and rushed to her dad’s side as she tried to support him.
“Da!” she cried out. “Please tell me you’re okay!”
Her dad grabbed her shoulders, almost pulling her down with him as the pain trembled through him. “K-Kayleigh, what… What in the world is happening?”
She had no idea what to say; they had passed over the topic of Archangels when telling him about everything because that was even harder to explain than just New Wirral. Now one was right here. How? How could this be happening? The fear almost completely paralyzed her, her body feeling like it was going to just give up there. She thought they were done with this after everything on New Wirral.
Kayleigh only barely glanced over in time to see Cass throwing their red hoodie on and rushing out the door, Barkley running after them. It looked like they were heading toward the roof. Kayleigh slipped away from her dad, trying to make sure he was in a safe spot.
“I’ll be right back, da!” she said. “Be careful and just sit down, okay?”
She quickly ran off, grabbing her jumper and pulling it on as she ran after Cass and Barkley.
BING BONG BING BONG
Big Ben chimed, its cry reaching over all of London and then some. The bells were rung for the hour like the beat of a war drum. The clock began to transform, reality bending around it; giant treads erupted from its base, leagues of heavy weaponry began to pop into existence all over its body, and each of the four clock faces had an otherworldly eye grow like a mutated tumor in their centers. The clock tower grew unnaturally in size as if bursting apart at the seams of its foundations, towering over what it used to be. The night sky began to peel away around it and formed a hole in reality filled with burning clock faces that ticked rapidly forward.
The four eyes stared at its surroundings and looked over London: the target of its destruction. But first, one eye focused on what was immediately below it: the Palace of Westminster.
AH, THE PALACE OF AN ALREADY OUTDATED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT STILL YET DESPERATELY CLINGS ON.
IT IS TIME TO MOVE FORWARD.
The eye that glared at the palace began to glow with white hot fury until a beam of the same color erupted out and cut a straight line through the building. It seemed as if nothing had happened for the briefest of moments… Until a series of rapid explosions lit upon where it had cut, tearing a line through the Houses of Parliament. Weaponry erupted from the Archangel’s sides and began to rain down fire on the rest of it; rockets, explosive bullets, cannonballs; all of it was pure destruction. It moved forward, its massive tank-like treads crushing any wall in its way like it was cardboard.
As it pushed into the center already, several gateways opened up around its faces. It let out another battle cry.
BOLTS OF TIME!
A legion of giant ballista bolts resembling clock hands erupted from the openings, attached to massive chains that connected back to the destructive clocktower. They pierced through the building and into the ground, sticking firmly in place. Then a bubble of pure static formed around each bolt and time began to move forward within them — rapidly. Anything near those hands quickly began to age, going through the process of death and decay ungodly fast. The Palace of Westminster began to crumble into dust and ash all around this terrifying god of time and destruction. As the bolts were pulled back with the chains and back through the gateways, the dark god reveled, its chime sounding again like a sickening laugh as its four eyes lit up white hot again and the head swirled in a complete circle, tracing explosions all around it as it salted the very earth.