Somewhat Old Friends

It shouldn't be possible. How...How the fuck is this even happening? I asked myself this question a hundred million times in the span of about two seconds. The implausibility of my current situation couldn't be resolved through normal comprehension, that much I was sure about. But that went without saying.

The world was still slowed to a crawl. A family of four was stuck in the middle of the crosswalk for five minutes now, but I didn't take my eyes of the Monk of Eden, standing a cars length away from me.

"Uhh, Dude. You've been staring for several minutes. You good?" Muzashi asked, or I did, or my old self asked.

"I-I'm good." I replied.

"Great. While I have you, why don't we take a seat, we got a lot to talk about."

There's not much I can do here. I really have no clue how to handle a situation like this. I was talking to me, a different me like we were old friends. What else could I do besides follow him to the wooden bench he was waiting at. I was about to take my first step until I realized I was still holding Juliet in my arms.

After setting her down in her car I hesitantly walked over to the bench and sat down next to Muzashi, who was simply watching the scene before him. He had the look of someone deeply at peace, watching all the lights from the street lamps to the stars above. There was something up with him. The way he looked at everything, looking deep into every crack in the road, the crow feathers glistened ever so slightly in the moonlight. Just taking in this singular moment frozen in time.

"So," Muzashi began, "What have you been up to since we went our separate ways?"

That phrase was all I needed to jump start my memory.

Parted...ways...

"You were the copy I made when I left the senate building." I said stunned. Muzashi looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Yes.." he replied. "I guess you didn't really define what the ability can do so you basically cloned yourself. Anyway, thats not important right now. You haven't answered my question. I mean I can see whatever you got into it was pretty exciting."

"Yeah. It has been."

So I went on to tell him everything. From the McDonald's to tonight, for some reason it felt wrong to ignore the smallest detail. I wasn't afraid to go into the raunchy and lewd parts of my interactions with Jules. I went on like that for about twenty minutes, all the while he was smiling at me like how a grandparent looks at you as you tell them how your day went. It was so strange yet so familiar.

"Wow. You've been busy." He said, patting me on the back.

"Yeah, I know. I really don't know how I can explain how we got so connected. Maybe its our perverseness, or maybe our nerdy nature. Maybe both. But just from the moments we shared we went from fuck buddies to real lovers. Trying this whole time to get pregnant. I really can't explain it."

"How about Love?"

"Yeah I guess that'd be the right answer. What about you? What have you been doing."

Muzashi paused for a significant amount of time. The look on his face spoke volumes, he was looking through all the time that has passed, not just since we went our separate ways but everything.

"Peaceful. Everything was pretty much perfect. Ever since we returned to Eden Sky, the military have been keeping their noses out of our business. But that's not to say we didn't become friends. Lacey, Ash, Fukushima, Shizu, Onimusha, Hino. One time we all partied for an entire day. I helped Lacey unravel her relationship with the Douche so the awkwardness didn't come up when they looked at each other.

"God it seemed so long ago." Muzashi looked at me. "We were at the lowest point of our lives, when that asshole told us to pack our things and leave I thought we'd reached the end of the journey. All the years we spent making and telling stories we believed it would end right there in that office. But it didn't." He looked at his hand and examined every wrinkle of skin, "Then we decided to do one more drawing. Of a big sexy lady that loved to fuck. Hahaha. Then she appeared. The Hunter of The Sun. And that began everything."

"Yeah, it did." I was starting to get a little worried. The way he kept saying 'Was' and in this context.

"The way we created a floating island, a castle that never could have existed. Filled with all kinds of sexy women. It was all paradise..............But it wasn't real."

I could only stare in silence. And what stunned me the most was that it was me saying this, another version of me. He continued.

"We could create whole new worlds with histories as long and vibrant as we can imagine, but we can't escape the simple fact that its not real. I suppose you can say I had a brush with harsh reality. Especially...My reality. However long I have left."

"What?"

Muzashi grabbed his sleeve and pulled it up all the way to his shoulder to reveal cracked black skin that was slowly crumbling away onto the bench. "It started happening a few days after we returned to Eden Sky. And...not just to me. But all of Eden Sky."

"W-what the hell happened."

"Nothing...from what I can tell. For some reason, everything on the island and everyone started to crumble until their was nothing but dust."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone. From the servants to our sexy protectors. They crumbled a few days ago. I was able to make some nonsense to Lacey and the others that our transference was incomplete and we were returning to our world. It was hard to say goodbye. Especially for her. The Island will be gone by tomorrow. But I do have a theory why this all happened." He put his crumbling arm on my shoulder. "You buddy. Because you found made something different. Something better than any number of stories and drawings. Something Real." Muzashi looked to the car and to Juliet who was sleeping peacefully inside. "You found her. With Juliet, you have something that grounds you to the here and now and from what you've told me you've barely used your powers to create anything besides a few life perks and somethings to spice up the romance. So long story short. You don't really need Eden Sky. And by extension, you don't need me."

I didn't know what to say. This whole thing. Looking at a clone of myself that felt everything that I felt, shared memories of my life. And he was dying. "Don't look at me like that" Muzashi said. Only then did I realize my eyes were watering. "Sorry." I said.

"You have nothing to feel sorry about. Maybe calling myself a clone isn't the best example. I'm...more like a memory. Fading. From a time all you wanted to do was escape the harsh truth. I'd be lying if I said we would have survived without these powers. You wouldn't have survived that punk harassing Juliet the night you met. And all kinds of other situations. But I think, this time, we can stop worrying about the journey and focus on the destination. We never believed that much in fate, but it did lead both of us here to this moment. My advice to you, don't worry about me, but don't forget me either. Hah, even on my last few moments I can't help but stay in character."

Muzashi stood up from the bench and let his sleeve fall back down his diseased arm. And started walking down the street before turning back to me. "I don't know if memories have an afterlife, maybe there's nothing. But I want you to remember that no matter what, I'll be happy your living your own life. But like I said. Don't forget me. Don't forget you can create impossible things. But don't get lost in it. Because the thing about reality is....It's real."

He that he started walking off. For over ten steps did his pace not falter but after that he began stumbling, parts of him were falling off and turning to dust. Even his robe were slowly fading away until his final fumbling step and he plummeted to the ground but not before fading away entirely. It was then that time resumed. The crows returned to their flying, the family of four walked across the street and all the cars and sounds of the street echoed all around.

I smiled. I walked back to Juliet's car and got in the drivers seat. I'd planned on quietly teleporting us and the car back to her apartment, but I felt like going for a long drive.

....................................................................................................................

I fell asleep on her bed with Juliet right beside me. But when I woke up Saturday morning, I was all alone. At least in this room, as I heard a commotion coming from the bathroom. Then from the bathroom I heard a familiar robotic voice announce, "POWER ON. BLUETOOTH CONNECTED."

The speaker then blasted louder than I've ever heard before, but I wasn't bothered. Especially by the song it was playing. "Take It Off" by Kesha. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGFTHZGlU0Y)

I got up from bed and walked into the bathroom to see Juliet's blue hair waving back and forth as she danced all around the room in her bra and underwear. When the beat dropped, so did she as she dropped low and started twerking her ass off. She then spun around and stopped suddenly when she saw me and sprinted to me and jumped into my arms squealing and cheering like she made the winning goal in a soccer game as the timer reached zero.

I didn't have to guess why she was so happy. I just had to glimpse the pregnancy test in her hand. "I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say....we did it?"

Juliet only cheered in response and I cheered with her, holding her tight and spinning her around. We stayed in that elated state for some time until the next song came on. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7p4bzqLvCw)

"We did it, Daddy. We really did it. We're gonna have a baby!"

"Yes, Mommy. We will."

The kiss we shared next said more than all the cheering and dancing we could possibly muster. All the happiness and excitement we had was felt as our lips met.

"So real."