Chapter Text
Dark. Wet. Cold.
That’s all you could feel at the moment, which made sense at first. It was pouring rain as you drove home from work after a double shift. Autumn was creeping up on you slowly but surely, warm days with near-bitterly cold nights. However, you couldn’t hear the rain on the pavement, or the music coming through your car speakers. Cracking your eyes open, you couldn’t see the trees outside your sunroof, or the interior of your car, or anything, really. It was all just…black.
Then there was a door.
It looked like your apartment door, but something was…wrong. It was off in the distance, but the closer you got, the more you thought to run the other way. It looked exactly like the door that led into your studio apartment, painted plain white with an old, tarnished door knob. Still, it didn’t feel right. Like it wasn’t actually your apartment door. Something within you whispered that this wasn’t your door. That it wasn’t meant for you.
So why couldn’t you stop yourself from opening it?
Your hand brushed the knob, the knicks and scratches on it from years of use felt…different. In the worst way. You shouldn’t go through this door. Every part of you is screaming to turn away and never think about this door again. Yet, the familiarity of the place you call ‘home’ was oh-so welcoming. Especially after rolling your car into a ditch, late on a stormy night. All you wanted right now was a warm mug of tea, and the comforting embrace of your warm, dry bed, illuminated by candlelight.
So you took a step through the door.
You groaned and sat up, your entire body was sore and stiff. You cracked your eyes open to take in your surroundings to find yourself…in your room. That was…odd. You couldn’t have made it home last night. You were hit by a truck driving home from work. Even if you survived the crash, your car had flipped several times and dropped into a ditch. There was no way you could’ve made it home even if you wanted to. Was it all just a weird fever dream? Did you dream about an entire day of work and getting into a horrific car crash on the way home?
Brushing off the crash and ‘previous day’ of work as a dream, you glanced around your apartment, but paused as your eyes scanned the walls. This was your apartment, but something was off. You recognized the couch and kitchen and general layout, but it…didn’t feel like your apartment?
A shifting at your hip drew your attention downward and you quickly realized two things. First, you were completely naked. Second, there was a humanoid grey rabbit in your bed…who was also naked. Knowing for a fact you lived alone, and that giant anthropomorphic rabbits didn’t exist, you screamed and scrambled off the bed, falling to the floor and pulling the blanket with you to cover yourself. Your scream caused the rabbit-thing in your bed to shoot up into a sitting position, fur standing on end and ears perked up at the prospect of danger. He had also snatched one of your pillows and shoved it in his lap to provide some semblance of decency.
His head turned on a swivel in a panic, but he eventually calmed when there was no obvious threat. He turned to you and spoke in a smooth, australian-esque accent, “Wha’ happened? Why ya screamin’?”
“I’m screaming because there’s a stranger in my bed!” if it weren’t for the shock of having a naked humanoid in your bed, you probably would have noticed that your voice didn’t feel like yours either. It was definitely yours, it sounded the same as it always did, it just didn’t feel like it was yours.
The rabbit-man knit his brows together, “How don’t ya rememba me? Megan said ya didn’ have much ta drink.”
You stared at him as if he had two heads, though considering half-human half-rabbit creatures weren’t a thing, you wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly sprouted a second head, “Who the hell is Megan?”
His confusion quickly turned to concern, “Ya friend. The chick tha’ drove us home last night.”
“I don’t have a friend named Megan…” you mumbled to yourself, trying to make some kind of sense of this. While you were thinking, the bunny man tentatively got closer to you and held out a hand to rest on your shoulder. The moment you noticed, you recoiled, glaring at him, “Don’t touch me! Get out!”
You were confused and groggy from just waking up and definitely did not want some stranger touching you while you were both naked. He opened his mouth to protest but you just yelled at him to get the hell out of your apartment. He finally seemed to get the message, quickly fumbling to find his clothes, dress himself, and leave. Once he was finally gone, you let out a shaky breath and stood, shuffling over to your bathroom. A shower might do you some good. Maybe you just got hit really hard by the truck and you’ve been in a coma and waking up from it gave you hallucinations…
No. That didn’t make sense. The bunny man said your non-existent friend drove you home from…somewhere last night, and people in comas don’t normally leave the hospital until they wake up, right? And even if they did, that didn’t explain the bunny-man or how you could have met him or ended up naked in your bed with him. Regardless, you shook off the thoughts and closed and locked the door behind you before letting the blanket fall to the floor.
You promptly froze upon seeing the figure that greeted you in the mirror.
It was you, one hundred percent. Well, your haircut was a bit off, but the color was the same. Your face was smudged with makeup but all your features were exactly as they should be, even your body figure and skin tone were just as they were meant to be. But, just like everything else today, it was…off. Like when a kid loses their favorite stuffed animal and their parents try replacing it but even though it looks the exact same, the kid knows it’s not their lost toy. This body, this apartment and everything in it, held an odd familiarity, but part of you was screaming that it was not yours. Grinding your teeth and shaking your head to chase away the thoughts, you let the blanket fall from your shoulders. You didn’t have time to stand around and think about why everything felt weird today. You clearly just had an odd dream and it was messing with your head. Or maybe this was the dream. That would explain the bunny-man.
Shaking your head once more so you don’t get stuck in another thought spiral, you walk over to the shower and turn the water on. You didn’t remember buying your shampoo and bodywash in those scents, but that’s a problem for another time. Right now, you need to get ready for work. You wash your hair, wash your body, dry off, and then go to your closest to pick out clothes for the day. However, when you open the closet, you pause.
These aren't your clothes.
You never owned dresses this skimpy, or so many pairs of sweatpants. Your wardrobe had largely been comfy pants and graphic t-shirts for years now. Your dresser had the wrong clothes, too. You didn’t have any lacy underwear or bras, and definitely no shorts this short. The more you tried to figure out why all your clothes were different, the more you began to spiral. Stopping yourself before you had a mental break, you just picked the best thing you could find for work. You had a simple job, an office runner at a large company in the city. They were pretty lax on what clothes you were allowed to wear, especially if you didn’t deal with any clients.
It took a bit of searching, but you eventually found an outfit suitable for work and the cooling autumn weather. A long-sleeved, black bodysuit was pulled from the closet and a bo-ho style maxi skirt was pulled from the dresser. You managed to find a bra, some underwear, and a pair of socks that would work as well. The selection of shoes was a lot larger than you remember, and you can’t recall owning such an impressive array of high heels, but the black boots you spotted would work much better for walking around all day.
Finally dressed, you moved to the kitchen to make something to eat and enjoy some tea before heading out for the day. Your fridge was more cluttered than you remembered, particularly with to-go containers, but you managed to find some eggs and…bread? Who puts bread in the fridge? Were you sleepwalking last night? Brushing that thought off, you grabbed both packages and set them on the counter to rifle through the cabinets for a frying pan and oil. Once both items were acquired, you set out to make some crispy fried eggs on toast. You couldn’t find butter or salt…or pepper, but you managed to make it work. There was only one tea bag left, which was odd considering you swore you just bought a new box.
Regardless, you made your tea, picked up your plate of food, and set them on the coffee table. Leaving them there for a moment, you approached the window on the other side of your apartment. You got lucky with one that didn’t face a brick wall and liked to open it to let some fresh air inside while you ate breakfast before work. Pulling back the curtains, you unlocked the window and pushed it open, sticking your head out a bit to glance at the humans passing by on the sidewalk below.
You promptly pulled your head back inside and snapped the window shut as your eyes landed on what were definitely not humans.
You took a moment to compose yourself before hesitantly opening the window and sticking your head back out to gaze at the… creatures walking below you. There looked to be a floating half-horse half-fish man, a coiled rope that bounced as it walked, and a chicken-snowflake…thing. Looking across the street to the people walking over there, you saw many more creatures strolling through the city streets. Humans were still present, but you no longer cared about them, entirely focused on the other creatures among them.
A gust of cold wind blew past you, causing a rustling to sound behind you. Turning around, you noticed an array of papers on the coffee table that you hadn’t noticed before in your rush to get ready. Taking slow steps to reach the table, you eased yourself down on the couch and picked up the closest piece of paper. It was white and had take-out crumbs on it. Brushing those off, you began to read the paper. It appeared to be a termination notice from your job, claiming they were firing you for being late too many times and shredding important documents. You gaped at the paper. You had never done anything like that! If anything, you were five minutes early every day and had to return important papers to your boss when he accidentally put them in the shred pile.
Gazing back at the pile of papers, you picked up the next one to catch your eye. This one was bright orange with a curled piece of blue masking tape attached to the top. An eviction notice for missed rent. Your heart beat wildly in your chest. You had never missed a payment! You had a direct deposit set up to always pay your rent on time and any time it malfunctioned your landlord was kind enough to let you know so you could deposit the money to her directly. The next paper you picked up was a rent bill. The next was a warning that your electricity would be shut off if you didn’t pay your bill in the next thirty days, the next was for your car payment. You didn’t even have a car payment! You bought your car second-hand for a couple thousand dollars and only had to pay insurance. The next paper was informing you that you hadn’t paid your car insurance in two months. The rest of the papers ran along the same lines, some dating back months. Some were from people trying to reach you about paying them back for money you never even remembered borrowing.
Your breathing stuttered as your grip on the papers tightened so much you could hear them creak beneath your white knuckles. None of this made sense. You hadn’t even been awake an hour and already nothing was adding up. Last thing you remember being normal was getting into a car crash on the way home. From the moment you woke up after that to now, nothing has been normal. Your apartment and body feel wrong, you woke up with a weird bunny-man in your bed, your shower products weren’t the right scent, your clothes were completely replaced, your fridge was filled with to-go containers but you rarely ever ate-out, unrecognizable creatures were outside, and you had unpaid bills upon unpaid bills. What the hell was going on? Were you having a fever dream? Are you in a coma? Did you walk into the wrong apartment and the tennant just-so-happens to have all the same furniture as you? No, that’s too great of a coincidence to make sense. There has to be a better explanation.
Quickly standing, you searched for your phone. Surely there's something you can google that could help you figure out what the hell is going on. However, when you unlocked your phone and opened up chrome, you stopped short at the article currently open in the browser. The title read ‘Despite the Efforts of Local Law Enforcement, Anti-Monster Protests Continue to Invade the Streets of Ebbot City’. You blinked down at the title for a moment before tentatively opening up a new tab and typing into the search bar ‘what are anti-monster protests?’. Link after link, the entire page was filled with articles about the protests. No longer having to worry about work, you opened up an article and began reading. It took about 30 minutes of clicking through links and articles to figure out what monsters were.
Beings locked under Mount Ebbot thousands of years ago. According to the article, they had broken free from the mountain a little over five years ago and have been integrating into society since, but many humans are still heavily against monsters living among them, so much so that even five years later there are still people protesting against them. WIth the newfound reality that Earth was now populated by an entirely different sentient species next to humans, your panic slowly began to seep back in. In a poor attempt to chase it off, you began doing research on monsters. Looking for any major differences from humans that you should know about. The main two things you found that seemed to be important were that monsters were made of magic, which was apparently a real thing now, and that SOULs weren’t just a spiritual belief, but a real part of every creature.
In your attempt to calm your panic, you seemed to only make it worse.
As a last resort to at least answer some of your questions, all of which being some version of ‘what the hell is going on!?’, you opened up a new tab on your phone and began googling anything you could think of that could help you figure out what happened to you. All your efforts came up fruitless. Google even gave you a pop-up about calling a mental health line. Groaning in frustration, you began pacing your apartment, desperately trying to think of anything at all that could help you. You paced for who-knows-how-long, growing increasingly frustrated when all you could think about was your high-school freshman-year chemistry and physics teacher. After coming back to him for the umpteenth time, you plopped down on the couch and indulged your thoughts. Who knows, maybe it was the distraction you needed.
He was an…interesting man. He never told anyone, not even other staff, his full last name, insisting he go by Mr.T. He taught you the regular things you’d expect to learn in an integrated chemistry and physics class, but he also taught you things like the chemical formula for C4. He also loved to tell stories from his life ranging from teaching his kid how to ride a bike to the time he drank gasoline. He described it as ‘tasting like nothing, but feeling like hot sauce’. He wasn’t your favorite teacher in the world, but you did like his classes a lot because he would often go on long rants about things not even relating to the lesson and it gave you time to finish homework for other classes that you hadn’t completed the night before.
You never really listened to his rants, but there were a few knowledgeable ones you could never forget. Like his rant about how dolphins are the psychopaths of the ocean, how koalas are an overall dumb animal, the obscurities of gender, the chemical composition of french toast, multiverse theory and how humans could potentially traverse the multiverse one day, ice cream flavors and what a person's favorite can say about them, the risks and benefits of drinking glow stick liquid-
Your thought process halted for a moment as an utterly insane thought came to you. A thought so insane that you almost did consider calling that mental health line. You didn’t remember much about Mr.T’s multiverse rant, but maybe Google could help fill in the gaps for you. As you googled questions about multiverse theory, you couldn’t help but think about how insane it would be if you actually had traveled across the multiverse and into a different world. If you actually did, then you’d have to hide it with every fibre of your being. If you started going around telling people you were actually from a different universe then you were sure to get locked up somewhere and get written off as a crazy person.
As you scrolled through articles and read a ton of explanations about multiverse theory, you grew a bit annoyed at there being nothing to genuinely help you. All the sources you thought could help you were either locked behind a paywall or turned out to just explain the multiverse theory instead of telling you possible ways a person could, theoretically, travel through the universe. By this point, you had partially accepted that you were in a different universe and were now looking for a potential way to get back home.
A simple slip of your finger helped you more than you thought.
You meant to type in a new question in the search bar, but accidentally pressed the ‘shopping’ tab. You were about to go back to the search bar when a listing caught your eye. It was a dark blue book with what appeared to be a stick figure walking through a bright blue portal into a bright orange one. The top of the cover, in white text, read ‘Your Guide to Traversing the Multiverse.’ The bottom read ‘By Jest Tarrington’.
It was a crazy idea. It didn’t look professional like all the other books and listings on the page, but something in you screamed— demanded that you needed that book. It looked like a gag gift or an unserious story about a bumbling idiot getting stuck in a different world, but it somehow felt like it was the key to figuring out what your next steps should be. With HOPE building in your chest, you clicked on the listing to buy the book…only for it to be sold out online. When you searched elsewhere for it, you couldn’t find any other listing. It was just the one, and of course it was sold out. With your last bit of HOPE, you googled libraries near you. There were quite a few since it was such a big city. You went through each website, searching for the book. You had nearly lost all HOPE when, miraculously, the last library had the book.
Your heart beat fast as you rushed to get ready, grabbing a plain purse and searching for a wallet, phone, and keys. The only thing you couldn’t find were the car keys, only looking for all of two minutes before remembering the car payment warning and assumed it got repossessed. Quickly scarfing down your now cold breakfast, you ruffled around the dresser for a scarf and gloves before racing out the door and to the elevator. The air was crisp and cold, but not too bad for a walk. You pulled up your GPS in the elevator, and now plugged in the address before making your way through the busy sidewalks, trying not to get too startled by all the odd creatures you saw. The entire way to the library, you had an aching feeling someone was watching you, but you merely brushed that off as being anxious about being in a completely different world.
Arriving at the library, you were a bit surprised to find it was a tiny little library hidden away between two larger buildings in what you initially assumed was a run-down cafe of some sort. Most smaller libraries didn’t have obscure books like the one you were searching for, but it was fitting for a reason you couldn’t place. Once you finally realized that this was, in fact, the correct place, you happily walked in. There wasn’t anyone at the front desk right now, so you skipped past that and began walking through the isles of books in search of what you were hoping to be your saving grace. You found a few books you thought would be a bit more useful, but your brain told you to leave those be.
When your eyes finally landed on that dark blue cover, your stomach did flips as if it were a long-lost lover. It might as well be with how you practically ran to it and snatched it from the shelf. It was a simple paperback book and looked almost entirely new, which didn’t help settle the skeptic in you. It was only when you opened the book to a random page and tried to read a passage that sounded just a bit too accurate that you finally concluded this was the right choice. From the sounds of just the one passage in the middle of the book, you figured you would have to read the entire thing to have even a hope of finding a way home. You didn’t feel like sitting in the library for a few hours to read, so you headed back up to the front desk, hoping a librarian was there to help you.
Much to your debatably-lucky luck, someone was there. She appeared to be an anthropomorphic lamb, big round glasses sat atop her snout and a huge bun of fluffy black wool was situated on the back of her head. She looked surprised when you approached, then a bit suspicious when you asked to check out the book. Ignoring that, you informed her that you didn’t have a library card. She narrowed her eyes at you, but turned to her computer and asked for your email. You gave it to her and she made a library card for you, leaving for a moment to print the actual card. When she returned, she wordlessly scanned the book you got and handed it back to you with a receipt telling you the date you would have to return the book. She watched you leave silently.
That was…an odd interaction, but at least you had your book now! You didn’t like the thought of going back to your apartment and having to face the eviction notice and lack of a car and all the other bills piled up on the coffee table, so you quickly searched for a cafe in your GPS and smiled when you found a quaint little place with good ratings that wouldn’t be super busy this time of day. Making your way there, the feeling of being watched increased tenfold and you gradually began to notice a variety of monsters…glaring at you? Why would people be glaring at you? There was a rough-looking yellow lizard with a scar over one of her eyes, then a black and white dog smoking a dog treat, you even got stuck at a crosswalk with a monster made of orange fire that silently glared daggers at you the entire time you waited to cross the road.
Finally entering the cafe felt like a massive relief to you. Surely all those people glaring at you was just you being paranoid. You’ve gone through a lot so far today, and it felt like your adventure was just beginning. All you needed to focus on right now was sitting down and reading whatever this book had to offer. The line for ordering wasn’t long, which was nice. However, you never expected the person manning the register to be a sentient skeleton . You didn’t necessarily have anything against skeletons, but considering they weren’t exactly supposed to be sentient, it did freak you out a bit. He seemed nice enough, smiling and greeting each customer enthusiastically before taking their order. When it was finally your turn to order, you stepped up to the register, only for the skeleton to freeze in his spot. He looked almost terrified before briskly walking into the back. You were confused and glanced behind you to see if something was there, but it was just another customer. Maybe he forgot about a batch of pastries in the oven or something?
A moment later, a different skeleton came up to the register. He was much shorter than the other one, a bit taller than you still, and wore a bright blue bandana around his neck. He was blank faced and nearly growled out, “What Do You Want?”
You tensed, but quickly gave your order, a drink and a pastry, and ignored his sour attitude. He rung up your order and you paid before standing to the side to wait for it. He greeted the next customer with a bright smile as the lights in his eyes turned to blue stars. Your chest tightened with hurt as he continued to greet the rest of the customers and take their orders happily. Why did it seem like all these monsters hated you? You didn’t take much time to dwell on it as the barista brought your order over and set it on the counter for you. You thanked them and they gave you an awkward smile before turning back to complete the other orders.
The cafe wasn’t terribly busy, but there weren’t many open tables for you to choose from. Luckily, you managed to find one in the corner by a large window that faced the sidewalk. Plenty of natural light to read and away from where most of the other patrons were. You settled into the seat, taking a sip of your drink and humming happily at the taste. You basked in the taste for a moment before opening up your book and beginning to read. The first chapter mainly introduced the multiverse; what it was, how humans discovered it, how much it can vary from any current world, etc. You only got about a quarter the way through the second chapter, which described how the Multiverse Theory was discovered, when someone approached your table.
Glancing up, you were surprised to see the skeleton that had taken your order. His eyelights were back to light blue circles and his smile was nowhere to be found. You opened your mouth to ask if he needed anything, but he beat you to it, “What The Hell Are You Doing?”
The aggressive lit to his tone, and the question in general, confused you, “Um…reading and enjoying a treat?”
His sockets narrowed at you as he brought a hand up to rest on the table, “That’s Not What I Mean And You Know It. Why Did You Come Here?”
Your confusion only grew and you tried to calm your anxiety while you explained, “I, um, I just wanted to read at a cafe and this one was close and had good ratings.”
He scoffed and leered at you, “Bullshit. You Came Here On Purpose, Didn’t You?” you had a feeling that wasn’t an actual question, “You Came Here Because You Knew Papyrus Would Be Working Today, Didn’t You?”
You didn’t know who he was talking about, but had an aching feeling it had something to do with the other skeleton that had fled when you tried to order the first time. You closed your book, about to ask what he was talking about when he snapped at you, “Don’t You Dare Try Spewing Some Bullshit Excuse Like You Always Do! It Would Have Been One Thing If You Got Your Order And Left, But You Just Had To Sit Down And Take Your Sweet Time.”
Before he had a chance to continue, you interjected, “Look, I don’t know where any of this is coming from. I just came here because-”
“I Don’t Care,” he interrupted, leaning over you and glaring daggers through your SOUL, “I Don’t Want To See You Here Again. Get. Out.”
“I-” you tried one more time to explain yourself.
He wasn’t having it, “Get Out!”
You scrambled to grab your book and practically ran out the door, abandoning your uneaten pastry and mostly-full cup. You speed-walked down the sidewalk and around the corner until the cafe was out-of-sight. With a heavy sigh, you slumped against the nearest building, the brick wall poking at your back, but that was the least of your worries. You needed to read this book and figure out what to do, but you didn’t have the energy right now to go searching for another cafe. With a tired heave, you pushed off the wall and plugged your address into your GPS. The path it gave you went back past the cafe, but you didn’t care to try and find a way around it. You wouldn’t be going in, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
As you walked past the cafe, you wished you had chosen a different path. You didn’t look over to see him, but you could feel the sickening glare the skeleton was aiming your way through the large windows in front of the cafe. It seemed to linger even after you walked past the building, clinging to your spine and only disappearing then you practically slammed your apartment door behind you. A wave of relief washed over you as the sensation finally ceased. Your feet dragged against the carpet as you trudged over to your couch, falling down onto it tiredly.
However, as much as you wanted to sleep, you knew you had to read the book. You only had two weeks to read it, and while it wasn’t a very large book, it would probably take the entirety of those two weeks to even remotely understand it. With yet another sigh, you pushed yourself up into a sitting position and slipped off your boots and scarf to get comfy. Settling back into the couch, you cracked open the book and began reading. It was a feat trying to understand most of what the book was explaining, especially the complicated mathematical equations, but you did your best. Eventually, you made it to a chapter that really piqued your interest.
‘Multiversal Travel : The Different Types And How To Spot Them’
You perked up a bit, really focusing on this chapter. It explained different theoretical ways for humans to travel to a different universe. Most were about possibly making a machine to make it possible, but there was one section that described a phenomenon called ‘isekai’. Essentially, it was when a person from one universe was suddenly transported to another one through mysterious, unexplainable ways. The next two paragraphs described how a person can tell if they’ve been isekaied to another universe. The first one explained how to tell when your body follows you to the world, the second paragraph, though…
‘However, on occasion, the body will not follow the mind to a new world. In a case like this, the mind switches bodies with the most similar entity to its original body. Essentially, another version of yourself. If this has happened to you, it will feel as though something is ‘off’ about your body or general environment. Familiarly unfamiliar, in a sense.’
You stopped reading, blinking down at the page in thought. You thought back to how you felt this morning, how your body and apartment and everything just felt kind of… off. It was all yours, you recognized it all, but it also didn’t feel like it was truly yours. No wonder it hadn’t felt like yours. It wasn’t even yours to start with. Your mind knew this wasn’t your body or apartment from the beginning, you had just been ignoring it this whole time. However, now that you were forced to face it, things slowly started falling into place. Megan was probably this version of you’s friend, and that grey rabbit was probably some guy ‘you’ had met at the bar last night, your maybe even her boyfriend. The body wash and shampoo were probably her favorite scents. She probably adored take-out and loved to party and laze around the house.
Your thoughts began drifting into all the odd things that happened to you after leaving the house. The librarian inspecting you warily. The monsters glaring at you as you walked through the streets. The skeleton freezing up and fleeing upon seeing you. The other skeleton approaching you and kicking you out of the cafe. They all were weary or mad at you. Well, ‘you’. Why, though? In your universe you didn’t have many friends, but that was just because you were always so busy with work. You always did your best to be kind, helping people when they needed it and volunteering often. You mainly kept to yourself and didn’t go out much unless it was for brunch or to treat yourself after a rough week. The thought of a different version of your being hated and borderline ridiculed by others…it didn’t sit well with you. You didn’t want to believe she had done bad things, things bad enough to get her kicked out of a cafe for reading peacefully in the corner, or getting glared at for just walking down the street. But all the evidence was there, it just left you with one question.
What the fuck did you do?