Chapter 4: Alter

When Sun opened her eyes again, she had a faint feeling of deja vu. This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that she didn't know where she was. The last thing she remembered was lying down in the spare bedroom in the Inspector's house, and now she was...she had no idea where she was.

The space around her seemed endlessly black, but there were floating orbs around her, some drifting around at fast paces, others remaining static. They continuously changed colors, some constantly shifting shades of red and blue, while others were ranging across the entire spectrum. She attempted to reach out to one, but it drifted away from her too quickly. Sun tried again with other orbs, but they all floated away when she was about to make contact.

"You shouldn't touch those."

Sun quickly turned around, searching for the origin of the voice. She was getting pretty sick and tired of not knowing anything and having to identify people solely based on their voices. Not finding the culprit behind her she frantically scanned all around her, still finding no one.

"Hey, Sun, I'm down here."

She looked down. The surface of her feet seemed to be standing on some sort of reflective surface. Echoed black laid out before her, showing her the bottoms of the orbs she had chased as well as her own reflection. To her surprise, her reflection waved at her.

"Do you mind pulling me up so we can talk face-to-face. I've never been a big fan of being looked down on."

Hesitantly, Sun reached down to the reflective surface. Her palm hit the cool surface, but instead of stopping, her hand pushed through the membrane of the mirror, feeling her reflection's hand grab hold of hers. Hoisting her arm up, her reflection came through the membrane, leaving an empty darkness in its place.

"Thanks."

The other girl shook herself off, plucking off bits of goo and throwing them on the ground, where they were absorbed back into the mirror.

"Who are you?" Sun asked. She was convinced she was having a strange dream. At least that meant she was still in bed at Roger's place--just one less thing to worry about.

"I go by many names, but you named me Alter a long time ago. Pretty unoriginal name considering who I am." The other girl said, picking out the last bits of the mirrored surface from her hair.

"And who are you?"

"I'm you, but not. All the memories you had stored up in your noggin are mine now. And before you ask, I'm not giving them to you. You made a choice to give them to me and you're going to have to live with it. In short, I'm your alter ego, hence the incredibly creative name, Alter, that you gave me."

"I don't remember ever choosing to give you my memories! And I never named you either. You're not me, so give me back my memories!"

"Wow, feisty one this time. Sometimes you can be so boring. At least this time I can tell it's going to be a bit more exciting."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'in the world.' More like, next to it. Next to a bunch of worlds to be exact. I'm honestly surprised you haven't asked where you are, normally that's the first question you ask." She outstretched her arms and all the orbs near her flowed towards her, nuzzling her neck and orbiting around her. "Welcome to the Void. Welcome home."

Sun was flabbergasted. Home? Here? No way.

"Just tell me who I am." Sun pleaded.

"And miss all the cool adventures we're going to have? Hell no! Even though this is home for us, you hardly stay here for very long. You have to find your home away from home to figure out who you really are. And even if I told you where that was, you wouldn't believe me anyway. Not yet."

"Try me."

Sun stared directly into Alter's eyes. She was surprised to see that Alter had pitch black eyes, versus her blue ones.

"Why are your eyes different if you're supposed to be my copy?"

Alter gave her a mischievous smile.

"I said I'm you, not a copy of you. Plus, sometimes we'll look different even though we're the same person. Oops, seems like our time is up. I'll come see you when you get to know yourself better."

Sun wanted to keep asking her own questions since Alter kept brushing her off, but before she could open her mouth, she felt herself falling. The dark but beautiful world dissolved around her, turning into the interior of the guest bedroom in Roger's apartment. She sat up, half-convinced she was still dreaming. A sudden feeling of claustrophobia hit her and she knew she would explode if she didn't get some fresh air.

She didn't know what time it was, but light was still seeping from under Roger's room. Sneaking by on her tiptoes, she crept into the living room. Figuring the door would be noticeably loud and alert Roger to her sneaking out, she opted for the living room window that lead out onto the fire escape. To her luck, the window didn't make any noise and she slinked out no problem. In the clear, she rushed up the steps of the escape to the roof of the apartment building.

If not for the stark white hair, Sun would have completely missed the person decked in black standing on the far side of the roof. They exuded an a predatory air and seemed to blend in perfectly with their dark surroundings. The figure's arm raised in her direction, palm facing her, and she felt herself fly towards them, catching and holding her up by her collar. Sun was stunned by the action that she couldn't react at all. The figure's head whipped to face her. Bright red eyes bored into her blue ones.

"Memorize this face very carefully because it's the last time I show you." The figure demanded.

Fear coursed through her veins while she did as the person said. The bright red eyes, the short white hair sticking out in all directions, she wasn't going to be forgetting anytime soon. She made a mental note that this person was most definitely female judging by the stature, facial structure, and voice. After what seemed like an eternity to Sun, the figure dropped her. Sun landed on her butt and let out a cry of pain. She watched as the figure stepped back and pulled on a black mask that covered their bright head of hair, revealing only their vivid eyes.

"Learn to fight so other people don't do it for you." A mechanical voice spoke this time and Sun wondered how they could change their voice like that. And why did she need to learn to fight? She wasn't planning on going into any battles in the near future. The figure stepped off the building and plunged to the ground. Sun cried out, but when she went to the ledge she saw no body lying crumpled on the ground below.

Sun decided that she had had her fill of fresh air and snuck back into Roger's apartment. She crawled into bed, trying to wrap her brain around the two new faces she had met today. Alter had all the answers to her questions but refused to give them to her, and she hoped never to see Red again. Her first sleep in that world was restless and plagued with thoughts of mysterious beings with red eyes hunting her through the darkness.