EPISODE XX: RETURN

 The four of us were barely able to scrounge enough money to stay alive for that week. By the time we met Miriam at the bar, we were starving.

“I'll get you food,” Miriam, who was now dressed in a black dress and a huge hat. “Once you've eaten, we'll talk payment.”

The four of us received our food within a few minutes, and we ate it even faster.

“I know about you,” Miriam said once we were done with our food. “I know you aren't from this world. In fact, I realized that I have been the one keeping you here before I hired you. Now, I am willing to let you go back to your world.”

“How did you keep us here?” I asked, suddenly getting extremely pissed off.

“I, too, have a power,” she replied. “Mine is to stop anybody else's from working.”

“You bitch,” Kirina said.

“Don't worry,” Miriam replied. “I've already stopped using it. You're free to go.”

I stood up and opened a portal. This time, it worked.

“See?” she said. “I told you.”

“Come on,” I said. “Let's go.”

The four of us climbed through the portal, and found ourselves in, surprise surprise, New Chicago. However, it was full of people.

“Holy shit,” Lilith said. “It actually worked.”

With the Gregmoir gone, the world had reverted to before the disaster.

“I think Chaos is still here,” I said. “We should find him.”

“Can we go see my parents first?” Ophelia asked.

“Of course,” I said.

The four of us headed towards New York.

* * *

We all stole Skybikes in order to get to New York faster. As soon as Ophelia had seen her parents, the four of us were going to find Chaos.

However, the reunion didn't go as planned.

* * *

Ophelia knocked on the door as we waited on the sidewalk. After a couple of minutes, a woman answered the door. The spoke for a few minutes, and Ophelia walked back to us, looking dazed.

“Was it not her?” I asked.

“No,” Ophelia replied. “It was her.”

“Then what's wrong?” Kirina asked.

“She didn't remember me,” Ophelia replied.

* * *

The four of us flew back to New Chicago. We sold our Skybikes once we were back, and with that money, we bought an apartment, along with some food.

After we were settled in, I went out to catch up on what had happened since we left.

I bought a newspaper and walked back to the apartment.

“What's it say?” Lilith said as I sat down.

We looked at the front page and froze, all at the same time.

On the front page, there was a picture of the President, with the headline, “President Rentradt gives amazing speech.”

The President was Louise Rentradt.

Us disappearing had changed more than people's memories.

“We have to find Chaos,” Lilith said. “He'll be able to explain what happened.”

“Maybe,” I said.

We had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.

To Be Continued

May 2...