Another Fate | Rebirth | BxB [Hiatus]

4: Fragile Patient

Lenix places Imogen inside a small bedroom in the cottage with Unai following closely.

[I'll leave him to you for now Unai. I want to check out this house and have a look around the area. I'll return after I make sure we are safe here.] 

Not long after he left, Imogen wakes up in an unfamiliar place for the second time in the same day. Imogen is wrapped in the blanket from Lenix. Unai is curled around him protectively.

"What happened after I passed out? Wasn't there a man? I think he was all stars and lightening? I can't clearly remember but he was imposing. How did we get here? Where even are we?" 

Imogen felt almost as confused as he had when he woke up after dying. At least this time he had Unai to answer his questions and he had a lot of them. He kept firing them out, not waiting for answers. "How are we back in time, Unai, do you know?"

Unai gets a chance to answer when Imogen takes a breath. [That man is Lenix. I made a deal with him to come here with me. We are in an abandoned cottage at the edge of the slums. I brought us back in time to give you a second chance and so I could get help from my home world.] Unai was looking up at Imogen, resting his head on Imogen's lap.

"What kind of deal?" Imogen narrows his eyes, suspicious of the unknown starman and worried for Unai.

[I gave him the code for this world so he could be the first Arriver here. He'll also be studying how I was able to send this world back in time.] He licks Imogen's hand to reassure him.

"Code? Arriver? Unai what does any of that mean? How could you bring us so far back in time?" 

[There are many worlds Imogen. There is a type of magic called Arrive magic. It allows those who can use it to travel amongst these worlds as long as they have the correct code for a world. I'll explain more about how I brought us back when I've figured it out more myself. It just seemed to happen by instinct. I wanted so desperately to save you.] He whines and snuggles his head against Imogen as if he's asking for pats. 

"Thank you for saving me Unai," Imogen pets Unai's head gently. "I thought I would never see you again. I was really afraid." The two sat there for a while, taking comfort in each others presence after nearly losing everything. 

Eventually, Imogen started feeling curious about some of the other things Unai had mentioned. "What kind of magic is Arrive magic, I've never heard of such a thing."

[Yes, you wouldn't know it. Your world is behind most others in magic research and understanding.] Unai turns his head so that Imogen is scratching behind his ear.

Imogen never learned magic before so it's too confusing. Instead, he moves on to a topic that is more important to him. "Unai what happened before I died? Could that have been an unknown magic controlling them?" 

He was very attached to his friends and hated the thought of them choosing to betray him. If someone forced them somehow he wouldn't feel so broken.