Chapter Text
When Carlos found himself aware of his surroundings again, he realized that he was inside the lounge area- so then, the SHIFTing had worked! Aoi wouldn’t be there yet, but that worked to his advantage: he needed to talk to Junpei first.
“Hey, can I… can I talk to you quick?”
Junpei wasn’t near where he and Aoi had been standing, but it hardly took long for Carlos to catch up to him. He’d put a hand on Junpei’s shoulder in an attempt to get his attention, and Junpei nodded. This would be hard to do, but it was something that he needed to say.
“Look, about that AB games… I betrayed you first. I broke your trust, and I… I don’t blame you for what you did. I’m sorry.”
It was clear that wasn’t what Junpei had expected to hear from him- the other man looked awkward, and he started scratching the back of his head. He figured Junpei remembered both rounds of the AB game, and how things had ended up for Carlos in both versions.
“No, um… it’s alright. What I did really wasn’t much better… let’s just call it even, ok? Leave it at that.”
Carlos was about to say more, when it became quite evident that Aoi had finally made the jump as well.
“WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?!”
Carlos backed off when Aoi stormed over to Junpei, not wanting to interfere. Even if Junpei didn’t see it, Carlos could easily tell that they had something special together- they cared about each other, they just didn’t know how to express that. Hopefully, now would be the time that they could finally explain things. When he’d remembered, he’d remembered many other timelines too- Junpei had done anything for Aoi (even if that anything resulted in Carlos’s own death).
They spoke for a while, and Carlos tried his best not to eavesdrop (although, he didn’t do too well at that). He couldn’t hide a smile when he saw them hugging- they’d definitely cleared things up, then. They all spoke for a short while longer at the X-pass input device, but in the end, there was nothing that important to talk about- no, all that mattered was that they were going to get out. Junpei was quick to voice those thoughts, dismissing their previous conversation.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. We have the X-passes, we can get out. Let’s go now, guys.”
“Right. The first X-pass was SAVE.”
Carlos nodded and typed it in, but the screen gave an error.
“Wh-what? Aoi, are you sure?”
“Yeah, positive. Maybe try the other one- go with DOLL.”
Carlos tried that one as well, and again they got an error. Before any of them could say anything, an announcement played.
“X-passes are set… to their respective histories. X-passes from alternate timelines… are not applicable.”
“N-no…”
Carlos’s voice was weak, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Was everything… had everything been for nothing then? All the death, all the pain… in the end, it had just meant nothing? Junpei was voicing the exact same concerns. He was despairing, laughing like a maniac, but there was no joy behind it. Only a cold, crushing emptiness.
“So… it was all for nothing, then. The bomb, the guns… my body was turned into swiss cheese. And all of this- all of it was for nothing? ALL WE DID WAS DIE IN VAIN?!” The laughter stopped as he screamed out, and Junpei looked to the ground. “Only one person… just one more person needs to die.”
Carlos immediately turned to look at Junpei, shocked. No, he couldn’t be planning-
Before he could even react, Junpei had sprinted towards the door intending to get as far away as possible. That idiot! Had he not been paying attention at all? Carlos and Aoi shared a quick glance before running after him, but they froze when the door opened before Junpei even reached it. He was suddenly sent flying across the room, and when they looked to see what had caused it- it was a little kid, with a strange object on his head? No, with strength like that, there was no way it could be a kid. It had to be something else, maybe a robot? It seemed unlikely, given how lifelike its movements were… but it was too strong to be anything else.
It went after Aoi next, throwing him against a wall, and then it turned on Carlos. He couldn’t even react before he’d been punched- the strength was far beyond anything human, or even anything he’d ever heard of. It felt like he’d been hit by a truck, and he was sent flying, crashing hard into the X-door then falling to the ground in a helpless pile.
“D-dammit… he’s… so strong…”
Carlos couldn’t be sure, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d sustained internal bleeding after that hit. That really wasn’t good… even if they could deal with this kid, if he was bleeding internally, then Junpei and Aoi might not have to worry much about getting out after all.
The robot seemed to think nothing of them- well, judging by its previous words, he wondered if it could think independently. It walked slowly to Carlos, glowing ‘eyes’ set directly on him.
“This is… not good…”
He had to think. There had to be a way out, there had to be some other way- when memories that definitely did not belong to him pushed their way into his mind. It was of Q-team, in a room he’d never seen. There was the robot there, but he seemed… different. There was too little time for him to really analyse the memories, but it was definitely different. The kid had thrown Eric against a picture, which had revealed a door- but why? Why, and more importantly how, could he possibly remember that? He was certain it wasn’t from his own memories. So then, was that what Aoi had meant by pulling information from the morphogenetic fields? His brain had somehow managed to pull the memories of someone else from the field, because they would be important in some way… he had no idea how, but somehow, they’d be important.
Wait, what the hell was he doing?!
Carlos had been trying to calmly think through this, but now was not the time for thought. The robot had reared back again, and slammed his fist forwards- Carlos managed to dodge, but just barely. He wobbled away, continuing to think, but all he could focus on was the robot following him, with intent to kill.
Dammit… dammit, I don’t have enough time! I need time to think about this. I… I can SHIFT!
He certainly had danger, which only meant he needed to go to another timeline, one where he’d have time enough to work through this. Once he’d done so, then he’d definitely return- he’d return, and he’d save both Aoi and Junpei.
The first thing Carlos noticed when his eyes opened in the new timeline was an intense pain, coming from his left forearm. He immediately bent over in pain, grasping to see what was the problem- and when he reached, he realized that there was something missing.
That something being his left hand.
“aaaAAAAAAUGH!”
It hurt, but he forced himself to look around. The next thing he saw made his blood run cold- Aoi, dead on the ground. The memories from this timeline finally forced their way into his mind. The feeling of pain as the chainsaw tore through his flesh, the panic and animal instinct that’d moved his body, lodging the axe into Aoi’s throat, and the pure terror that overrode years of training. The one thing that Carlos didn’t understand, however, were Aoi’s dying words.
“M-Mira…. B-be careful… sh-she killed…”
Mira killed someone- it couldn’t possibly be Aoi, as Carlos was painfully aware that the other him had done that, but he doubted he meant the executed D-team. The only other person dead in this timeline was Junpei… but how could that be possible? There was no way to move between the wards, unless there was another trick to this place.
“ Shit… I can’t just keep thinking like this, I need to treat myself. Otherwise, I won’t last too long…”
He groaned in pain as he headed off to the infirmary, making sure to grab his bracelet before he did anything more. Never knew when it could come in handy, after all… As much as he didn’t like the thing, it was still important.
He was grateful to find that the infirmary was fully stocked with everything he could need. It was a bit hard taking care of things with only one arm, but he’d been a firefighter long enough to have had plenty of practice with injures, and the fact that there was some local anesthetic to numb the pain was helpful as well. He didn’t know how long it would last, but it was good enough for now…
“Well, time to think. Just… who was that kid? He couldn’t be human, which means…. What does it mean?”
What possible importance could a robot have, in this situation? Had it been the one to kill Junpei, perhaps? No, given Aoi’s dying words, that seemed unlikely.
“Well, I have two things to do, then.”
Writing a note for Q-team, and going to examine Junpei’s body. He didn’t really want to do the latter, which meant it was time to find Gab instead. He was grateful that the little dog was just waiting around for him- it made it easy to send off the note for Q-team. He paused for a while after sending the Gab-letter, knowing exactly what he had to do, but hardly prepared for it. If there was any hint to how he’d died, it would be on him, which meant he had no real choice. He'd have to examine the pieces of Junpei's corpse.
The trip to the pantry felt like an eternity, and Carlo held onto the axe with a tight grip. Perhaps it was bad luck to hold onto it, but it was the closest he had to anything for self-defence. There was the chainsaw… but considering the pain his arm was in, he hardly felt like using that.
The room was just as it had been left the last time, with the door cut into shreds. Well, maybe ‘last time’ wasn’t really the right phrase, Carlos supposed, but it was hardly like could think of a better descriptor. He didn’t feel like playing semantics right now anyways- there were too many things to think of, that were too important. If he could solve how Junpei died here, then there was a chance that he could figure out how to move between wards. And if he could do that, then it was possible they could run to ward D, talk to Phi, and figure out how to escape together. And even if not, they could probably get away from their attacker long enough to think of a way out.
The door to the freezer was open, but Carlos didn’t enter. He had no desire to see Junpei’s head again, once had been enough for him (even if it hadn’t been him). He instead started examining the other body parts- he felt wrong touching them, but he had no choice- all he could do was apologize to Junpei for this, and for not being able to save him.
Eventually, all there was left to examine was the torso. He hated doing so, but he moved the clothes around and clear as day, carved into Junpei’s skin on his chest, was ‘M I R A’. It made no sense, but it proved one thing: Mira had killed Junpei.
“Then, there has to be a way to move between wards. A secret Mira knows, that I don’t…”
Carlos was walking back to the infirmary and talking aloud to himself, making sure to watch around every corner. His emergency treatment had worked, but the anesthetic was wearing off. As well, the timer was almost up. If whatever had attacked them had done so because of a ‘rule violation’ the first time, then he doubted they’d take too kindly to him walking around while he was supposed to be unconscious- therefore, the infirmary was the smartest place to wait, think, and plan.
The first time Carlos heard the X-pass announcement, he felt his blood run cold. Mira’s name was listed- of all the people to die, it had to be the one who’d killed Junpei, the one he had to question… why? There was no answer, obviously, but he wondered anyways. He didn’t leave, though- he was still trying to figure things out. If Mira was dead, then that likely meant it was either Junpei getting revenge after his own death, or the same kid that he’d seen in his vision- the one who was very similar to the mystery attacker. After all, it couldn’t be Q, and it definitely wouldn’t be Eric. So then who, and if it wasn’t Junpei… why?
That was the one thing he couldn’t figure out.
He spent the ninety minutes after that adding the mystery of Mira’s death onto the questions he needed to solve, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. He supposed it made sense- staying in one place was hardly going to get him anywhere- but he was still worried about going back to the lounge. He decided that the only safe thing to do would be to bring the axe and hope that he wouldn’t get killed- but more than anything, he was confused when he made it to the lounge. It looked the exact same in terms of structure, but the design of the walls, floors, and even the couches- everything was different.
“Where… where am I?”
He looked around, and his head turned when he heard more footsteps.
“Diana… Sigma? How’d you guys get here?”
No, that was a stupid question. He was the stranger here- so, could this possibly be ward D? He had no idea how, but it had to explain something… He wanted to say more, examine the situation further, when two things happened simultaneously. One, he noticed that the very kid he’d “seen” was with Diana and Sigma; and two, Sigma had started shouting at him.
“Don’t move! Drop it!”
“Huh?”
“Drop the axe!”
“Oh, uh… I think we’ve got a bit of a misunderstanding here…”
Carlos did as Sigma said, raising his hands- well, hand- in the air to show he meant no harm. Diana’s eyes only widened in shock as they focused on the stump that had once been his left hand, and he could see fear and worry battling on her face.
“Just shut up! We saw you kill Aoi, so don’t try to deny it!”
Sigma hadn’t stopped yelling, and he’d moved in front of Diana and the kid. Carlos could hardly blame him, considering the situation. He was currently covered in blood, and had been holding the axe that had killed Aoi. If he’d been in Sigma’s situation, he wouldn’t have trusted himself either.
“S-still… Carlos, your injury…”
“That was Aoi. Uh, it should be fine for now, though…”
“Aoi did that?”
“There was… well, I’m not entirely sure what happened. I didn’t exactly see it for myself…”
He’d been told that Sigma was a SHIFTer, but Carlos doubted he’d believe him if he told the truth right now. He didn’t really seem too willing to listen, considering the glare he was giving him…
“Never mind that, look over there! At the X-pass input device!”
The kid was pointing at the device, that was smoking- it looked like it had been shot. Carlos stared at it, as Sigma started yelling again.
“Did you do that with the axe?!”
“What? No, that’s impossible! How could you make bullet holes with an axe, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Then who did this?”
“I did.”
Eric spoke up before anyone could say anything further, a shotgun gripped tightly in his hands. Carlos wasn’t sure why, but he was terribly uncomfortable watching him- he didn’t seem stable. It was as if even the slightest breeze could set him off, and push him into killing all of them.
“It’s hazy, but I remember what happened before I was put to sleep. That’s how I knew… there was a shotgun in the pod room.”
“Eric, don’t be rash.”
Sigma had turned his back to Carlos for the first time since they’d seen each other, and was now trying to reason with Eric. He didn’t look like he terribly wanted to listen to reason, however.
“Rash?”
“I’m telling you, drop the gun.”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. I have to shoot the one who did it. I know it had to be one of you… who killed my Mira.”
Carlos looked aside, at the others there. Diana and Sigma were here, despite their X-passes having been read, and the kid looked too much like the robot that had attacked him in the other history for him to be trusted. Yet, despite that, it was still him that was the most suspicious one here- after all, they’d apparently watched him kill Aoi.
“Spit it out! I’ll spare the others, if you do.”
“H-h-hey, w-wait! Are you.. g-gonna…”
The kid’s voice was shaking as he spoke, and Carlos felt his suspicion dissolve. It wasn’t acting- the kid was genuinely terrified. Carlos wanted to smack himself for even having considered the possibility that he’d been a murderer. He couldn’t be much older than 10, (although the exact age was hard to guess with his face obscured by that dome), so this entire situation… it had to be horrifying. Carlos figured that the look-alike that had attacked them must’ve been a robotic replica, something designed to make them distrust the kid. It had to be. He’d heard of those newer prosthetic limbs that looked almost exactly like human skin, so that just had to be what the robot was made from.
“Do you know how you can be sure to win at horse racing? You bet on all the horses. If the killer doesn’t fess up… then I’ll just kill every last one of you!”
Eric, unaware of Carlos’s inner monologue, kept talking. His face was distorted by grief and insanity, and it was clear he wasn’t well.
“U-um… then, does that mean… you don’t believe me and Sigma?”
“You kidding? Your whole existence is suspicious! You guys must be some sort of ‘fake’ Diana and Sigma!”
“What? That’s absurd-“
“You’re the ones being absurd! Transport? Zooming through space-time? Hah- don’t make me laugh! If you’re gonna lie, come up with something better than that!”
“We’re not making it up!”
Sigma was trying and failing to reason with Eric, who’d pointed the gun at him the moment he’d first started to argue with him.
“Don’t lie! You’re the ones who killed Mira!”
“We didn’t!”
Diana’s voice was shaking, as though she was about to cry. Carlos could hardly blame her for it.
“Then who the hell was it?!”
“Ok, just calm down.”
“So, Carlos. Finally admitting it was you, huh?”
“No, it wasn’t me!”
The gun had been pointed at him the second he’d opened his mouth, and he knew he likely didn’t have much time to plead his case. If Eric was going to pin the blame on anyone, it’d definitely be him, after all.
“Don’t. Play. Dumb. I know you were the one who killed Aoi- and you probably killed Junpei too!”
“I- I did kill Aoi, but I didn’t kill Junpei. You can check his body if you don’t believe me- examine his torso.”
“You’re still a murderer though!”
“Yes, well- kind of? It was another me!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I doubt you’d believe me if I explained it…”
“Go ahead and try me.”
“Well… I SHIFTed. From another history.”
“What- did you just say SHIFT?”
“So then, he’s like us… does that mean you transported too, Carlos?”
He’d at least gotten Sigma and Diana’s attention with that explanation, then. Sigma still seemed unwilling to outright trust Carlos, but he looked at least a bit more open to listening now. He cut in before Carlos could explain anything, shaking his head.
“That’s not quite it. The two are fundamentally different- SHIFT only sends your mind through space-time, while transporting sends entire physical bodies.”
“CUT IT OUT! I am so sick of this shit! We all know that Carlos killed Aoi… so I’m telling you, the one who killed Junpei… and the one who killed Mira was…”
“No way! I had nothing to do with the two of them- and besides, how could I get to ward Q?”
He knew right away that telling Eric- who was already unstable enough- that Mira had killed Junpei (and it was therefore possible Junpei had somehow killed Mira in revenge, before bleeding out) would be about the last thing he’d want to hear right now, so it was much smarter to try pushing them in the other direction. As well, it was beneficial to Carlos. After all, if they could explain how he’d managed to get to ward D, then perhaps he could save Aoi and Junpei in the other timeline…
“But wait… aren’t we in ward D right now? And, we just walked right over, into another ward…”
“There has to be some kind of secret door!”
“No… no, I don’t think that’s it.” Diana was shaking her head, and started looking around at the walls. Eventually, she seemed to decide upon something, and looked to Eric. “Can you shoot the wall, please?”
“What?”
“Please, just do it. I promise that it’ll explain everything.”
“Guh… fine.”
Eric didn’t look too pleased, but he turned to look at the wall, and fired. The effect was almost immediate: the textures of the wall appeared to “glitch out”, then they all disappeared, leaving everything with just a plain grey cover.
“You’re kidding me…”
Carlos couldn’t stop staring. This was insane- how did Zero even make a technology like that? It had to be incredibly advanced, and he had no idea how it could possibly work. Diana didn’t seem too phased by it however, as she started speaking again.
“I knew it. It’s just like the healing room walls…”
“Healing room?”
“So then… we all really were in the same ward.”
Again, Carlos found himself utterly shocked. The same ward- was there only one ward?! That was both very good news and very bad news. If there was some method of escape from inside of the rooms of ward Q or ward D, then he could save Junpei and Aoi… but if there wasn’t, then he was stuck back where he’d started, with no way out.
“I think… I think this shelter never had wards in the first place. Does anyone have their map?”
Diana was looking at the group of them, And Carlos nodded. He’d put it in his pocked back at the vote, and it seemed like he’d kept it there in this timeline as well. He handed his over, and the kid handed Q team’s over, while Diana produced D team’s map.
“If we look at them all together… and just rotate the angles… yes!”
She was smiling and nodding to herself, having placed the maps onto the table.
“The lounges and decontamination rooms all line up, but look at the rooms and hallways. They overlay perfectly- there was only ever one ward!”
Everyone broke out into a chorus of muttering, all appearing to be as confused as Carlos was. It was the kid who eventually broke through the murmur, asking what Carlos assumed they’d all been thinking.
“So we were all together in one ward… but then, how did we never bump into one another?”
“That’s true… we should’ve seen each other during the vote at 13:30.”
Sigma’s point was a logical one, but Diana seemed to have a counter planned out for that as well.
“I think that was because of the bracelets. Oh, um… Carlos? Do you.. have yours?”
He smiled and nodded, pulling it from his pocket. He was suddenly quite glad he’d decided to pick it up, although it wasn’t stopping the awkward look Diana had whenever she saw his arm.
“So, what about my bracelet?”
“Could you check your current time?”
That was simple enough to do. Carlos hit the buttons on the side of the bracelet and read the time out to the group, 23:23.
Next was Eric and the kid, who’s bracelets showed 21:23. Finally was Diana and Sigma, who showed 19:23.
“It’s just like I thought…”
“So, which one is the right time?”
“That isn’t really what matters, Eric. The fact that the displayed time is different is what we should focus on. How about we use C team’s time as a base- that puts Q team at two hours behind, and D team at 4 hours behind. The bracelets have a built in time lag, which means Q team didn’t vote at 13:30, but…”
“At 15:30!”
The kid had spoken up- he seemed excited to be figuring everything out with the group. Diana gave him a gentle smile, and nodded in agreement.
“And then D team voted at 17:30…”
“So you’re saying the three teams were never awake at the same times?”
The kid looked from Sigma to Carlos and nodded to both of them, then took up the mantle of explanation.
“Yeah. When one team was awake, the other teams were sleeping inside of the pods! That’s why none of the teams ever saw each other.”
“That’s all I’ve figured out so far… but looking at these times, I’ve realized something else.”
“What’s that?”
There was a bit of worry in Sigma’s voice as he spoke, and when Diana answered it seemed perfectly justified.
“The sleeping drugs in the bracelets for Sigma and I are going to be injected soon…”
“And then you’ll forget all of this?”
“Not good. What can we do?”
Diana again seemed to have all the needed answers, and started leading the group of them further into the shelter. They arrived at a strange room, with a device that Carlos could only describe as ‘alien’ located inside of it- and after Sigma and Diana described it, that turned out to not be entirely wrong.
Carlos wasn’t entirely sure he believed that this was an alien machine and not just an elaborate ploy, but he also didn’t have reason to believe otherwise either. After all, Sigma and Diana were here, walking, despite having been executed in this history. If that wasn’t proof enough of the transporter’s validity, then Carlos didn’t know what was.
The announcement that came on to send D team to sleep was exactly on time, but they’d been prepared. They slipped some strange cards under the bracelets, and the needles broke- they were safe.
“Woohoo! It worked!”
The kid was celebrating, and Carlos couldn’t hide a smile. For him to still be able to smile (or at least, Carlos assumed he was smiling) was a good thing, after everything he must’ve seen and been put through this far.
“So, what is that?”
The question was a valid one, and Carlos could hardly blame Eric for asking it. Diana and Sigma both nodded, and it was Diana who once again began explaining.
“Apparently, it’s not of this world. Some sort of alien intelligence made them, just like the transporter. Well, not that you’d really believe me about that…”
Eric scoffed and looked away- it seemed as though he was starting to come around. He’d calmed down a lot since they’d started explaining, and Carlos had a feeling that they’d started managing to get through to him.
“Ok, so… I get the location and time parts. We were never really separate, and instead, we were all in the same wards. Time was the opposite- we were never awake at the same time, there was only ever one team active at any given point. But- But that just means all of your alibis are gone! Any one of you could’ve killed Mira or Junpei.”
“Which means… the killer is among us…”
“Exactly.”
Eric hadn’t raised the gun, but he was still holding onto it tightly.
“Which means… you two are the most suspicious! If you’re fakes, then the rules probably don’t apply to you- you could come and go as you please.”
“Eric, I already told you! We’re not fakes!”
“We transported to this timeline via that device over there.”
“Then go ahead and turn it on! Show me!”
“That’s…”
Diana’s face fell, and Sigma clenched his fists.
“Once it’s been used, it won’t work for another ten months. It takes that long to recharge its energy.”
“Wait- so if it’s never been used, then it’ll definitely work?”
Carlos was forming a plan. If he could get Aoi, Junpei and himself to this transporter, in the other timeline, then he could absolutely save them! All they’d need to do was make it to a timeline where they weren’t in danger.
“Hey, just what are you plotting? That doesn’t change the fact that you’re still among the suspects- well, there’s no question with you. We all saw you kill Aoi.”
“That wasn’t me. It was the other me, the one who was originally in this history.”
“Go ahead and spew more crap- I’ll shoot you for that.”
“I-it’s true! I swear it!” Okay, so maybe Eric still wasn’t entirely stable. He was definitely better, but not perfect. “Aoi and I found Junpei’s body in this history. His killer was unknown, but… if you check his corpse, he left a clue.”
Carlos still didn’t want to say it- telling Eric now would still be a bad idea, it’d be better for him to see for himself.
“Aoi… I think we had a misunderstanding. He made a mistake and cut my hand off, then in a panic, I reacted- my body had moved before I even knew what I was doing. It was an accident, I think.”
“So then… that’s how you lost your left hand?”
“I can show you the wound if you want more proof. Although, I’d rather not with him here…”
Even if the kid had presumably seen Aoi’s corpse, that didn’t mean Carlos wanted to go waving his stump of an arm in his face.
“So, then… all of it was just… by mistake? You attacked Aoi because you thought he was going to kill you?”
Carlos nodded. That didn’t make it any better, but at least Sigma had finally stopped looking at him like he was a serial killer or something.
“Hey… isn’t that enough, Eric? Could you please put down the gun for a second?”
It was honestly surreal to watch the kid’s actions- he was so dramatically different than the robot from the other history. He didn’t know why they would look so alike- what possible gain could Zero get from making a replica of him? Replica was the only answer that could explain things, yet it only raised more questions.
“Well then, why don’t you just show me this SHIFT thing you claim you can do.”
“Alright.”
Carlos had realized that it was probably insane, but it was the only way he could get back to the other history. If he had Eric kill him now, then he could save Aoi and Junpei… it would work!
“I’ve just got two conditions. First- Diana, Sigma. Can you show me how to work this thing? I think I’ll definitely need to use it in the other history.”
They nodded, and held up a handful of cards to the tall pillar.
“You have to put these in the correct order, like this. The nucleus will turn on, and then you can set your destination using this screen. Finally, you have to get into the input pods- you can transport many objects, but if you’re transporting a human, it can only be one per pod. Do you think you can remember everything?”
Carlos nodded, and smiled.
“Alright, sorry to make you wait, Eric. My second condition was… Sigma, can you take him out of the room?”
He pointed to the kid, and gave him a soft smile. Sigma didn't look happy with Carlos, but after a short sigh, he nodded and started to pull the kid out of the room. It was Diana who seemed to have the most problem with what he was doing, staring at him with horror.
"Carlos, you can't seriously be planning to..."
"It's ok, Diana. I promise I'll be fine."
She clearly wasn't convinced, but she didn't have any more time to argue him before Eric spoke up once more.
"Just what the hell are you planning, Carlos?"
“I have to go save Aoi and Junpei. I’m the only one who can save them now.”
“What- they’re already dead!”
“In this history, yeah. But in the other one, the one I came from- they’re still alive, and they need my help.”
“I told you, next time you talked crap, I’d shoot you!”
“Do it, then.”
“What?”
“Shoot me! I won’t die. Even if this body is destroyed, my mind-”
And he was gone, being propelled back through the morphogenetic fields where his body was waiting for him.