Chapter Text
It couldn’t end like this. Not after so many close calls and near misses. But it was hard to argue in the face of hard facts and cold logic.
Hal punched the ground and snarled some sort of profanity that transcended language, being anger without the tedious, paltry limits of English. The windmill stood proud, ignoring his anger just as it had ignored his mechanical skills, not to mention the wind.
“…one of these days. I will defeat you, once and for-”
Hal’s declaration was interrupted by a resounding crash.
“-and for all,” the mechanic finished, turning back towards the garage.
Abruptly, he stopped.
Just as abruptly, he broke into a sprint.
The crash of metal on metal was hardly out of the ordinary at the Greene Machines Garage, Gas Station, and Mini Golf. But with that noise subsiding, Hal could hear other noises as well. Some sort of screeching that might have also included words.
More importantly, there was the static-laden sound of a Dimensional Rift.
Hal slammed through several doors until he made it to the garage, and stared at the chaos that had intruded on his own personal chaos. Cardboard boxes. Wood. Clear plastic hinges. Drywall. What looked like pet food and dishes and toys.
Also there was a massive rift that had connected his garage with some other universe. That had become a key feature of the room.
“What the fuck?? Hey, is anyone in there? Helloooo?!”
The light from the garage seemed to be shining through the rift, illuminating what looked like a store in mall. There didn’t seem to be any lights turned on in the store, and the natural light of the rift didn’t do much.
“Hey, if anyone can hear me, just stay calm! These rifts only last like a minute tops! Just don’t go near them-”
Slowly, the rift started to shrink, then rapidly contracted to a point and vanished completely.
“…well, that figures.”
Slowly Hal began to sort through the wreckage, stacking it up and fishing his tools out of the chaos… until he heart some sort of whining, grunting noise.
“…this also figures.”
Hal shook his head and continued to sort through the wreckage, shifting his focus towards the larger pieces of debris in case there was anyone buried underneath them. The noises continued, but Hal appeared to pay them no mind.
After a minute, the noises stopped, and a few moments after that, Hal heard the faucet turn on elsewhere in the building.
“There we go.”
The last bit of debris was stacked up, and Hal made his way through the rest of the building, triangulating to the sound of the faucet in the staff restroom. The room was empty, but the light was on and the sink had been left running.
“…alright then.” Hal turned off the tap and made his way through the rest of the building, systematically following noises until he got to a mini-fridge. Back lit by the small light inside, he could make out a small figure that looked somewhat skeletal in nature, making noises as they seemed to be jamming some sort of snack into their mouth.
“There you are-”
The figure spun around, and Hal noticed three things in succession.
First, it was definitely some sort of skeleton, although shorter than any he had ever seen. Either native to Ebott’s Wake, or visiting from another universe.
Second, it had some sort of Hannibal Lecter style mask strapped on, one that was now smeared with chocolate as it tried to jam a candy bar through the gaps into its mouth.
Third, it looked scared as hell, between the shaking and the tears coming out of its eye sockets.
“Well.” Hal shrugged. “This is awkward. Hey, just to double check, can you understand me?”
The short skeleton didn’t make any sort of indication that it did. Then again, it might have been too busy being scared witless to respond.
“Hmmm. Hold still for a minute. I might regret this in the future but that happens every damned day.” Hal held up his right hand, which started to glow with an orange light… along with the mechanic’s eyes. He snapped his fingers, and the strap holding the mask in place fell apart at one corner, clattering to the floor.
“That should make it easier to eat, drink, clean up, the whole nine yards.” The orange light faded away, and Hal pointed down the hallway. “I gotta go finish putting my tools back. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Like you were already doing… that sounded better in my head.”
Hal walked away, reaching into his pocket to pull out a smartphone.
“…come on, come on… pick up- hey Joe. Hey, I have a purely hypothetical question with no bearing on physical reality. You know that policy on establishing contact with universes that connect with the rifts? What are the hard limits on that again? …look, can you answer the question before we get into the details of whatever I have and have not done today?! …uh huh. All right. That’s what I needed to know. I ask because I think a rift opened in my garage while I was working on the windmill again, and based on what got dumped in here and what I saw before it closed, I think it was some sort of pet shop or animal shelter or something. Only I’m not a hundred percent sure that they were offering cats and dogs and bunny rabbits. Or if they were…”
Hal turned back down the hallway to see the short skeleton peering around the corner at him, then retreating back behind the corner.
“Maybe they weren’t the kind of cats and dogs and bunnies that we would consider legal to sell, or whatever it was they were doing… well, yeah. That’s why I called. Also, is there anyone at the lab who knows anything about crossing communication barriers with magic? …I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking… I know. If push comes to shove I can call Azzy or Chara, but I don’t want to bother them during exams, that’s all… okay. Thanks for the input. You have a spare key, so you can let yourself in to scan the garage for whatever it is you need to find. See you on Thursday. Bye.”
Hal ended the call and turned to see the skeleton peering at him from around the corner again.
“Well, my short skeletal guest… I have good news and bad news. The bad news is it doesn’t look like you get to go home. The good news, though, is that it looks like you don’t have to go home.”