Chapter Text
Jane and Kali are trying to stay as far from Murray as possible to escape his insufferable comments while staying close enough to see when he needs their help. They decide to sit on the ground to strengthen their mind connection, when they hear a strange, rhythmic clanking coming from the trees.
“Can you hear that?”
“Should we check it out?”
“It might be nothing, but we better make sure of that”
“Can you hide us?”
“It’s complicated when I don’t know from what, but I’ll try”
They slowly approach the trees, following the sound. A few meters into the woods, they find the source of the noise.
“Mike?!”
Kali lifts the hiding vision as Jane runs toward the strange, crouching figure that looks like Mike. Why is he wearing an armor?
“Lady Jane, my beloved sister, what are you doing here? Where are we? What happened to your clothes? My cape is all marred but it shall be enough to cover your legs.” He unties a muddy, ragged cape from his shoulder and goes down on one knee to tie it to her waist.
“Mike, what- What are you doing? Why are you covered in metal?”
“You’re not Mike.”
“Kali? You look different from the last time I saw you. I assume I must do too. I am Michael.”
“Michael? Nobody calls you that, what’s going on?”
“Who are you?!”
“Who else would I be but Michael?”
“You were supposed to be working in the basement, why are you out here? Why are you wearing that?”
“In the basement? I have been following traces of magic to find William, you knew of this. I have been following this trace for a night and a day now.”
“Magic?”
Kali approaches Michael and grabs his shoulder. Before he can react, she jumps into his mind, looking for answers.
What she sees is something she did not expect at all. Knights, magic, trolls, dragons and the most surprising thing of all, medieval-looking versions of herself and everyone in the group. Will and Jane as some sort of wizards, Lucas kind of wearing a Robin Hood costume, why is everyone in Ren faire costumes? She goes further back into his memories. It all seems real, even the monsters.
“You’re not from here.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not Mike. Or at least, not our Mike.”
“Kali, what did you see?”
“The dragons, the trolls, the magic, was it all real? Are those your memories?”
Jane is looking more and more confused. “Trolls?”
“Yes, you saw into my memories. No need, you were there for some of them. Or so I thought, but I’m beginning to wonder…”
“Jane, I think he doesn’t belong to this world.”
“What?!”
“Are you hungry? Come inside and you can tell us all.”
Kali squints as she grabs this strange version of Mike by the arm and walks him to the WSQK building. Jane follows behind, even more baffled than before.
They head to the basement since they know most of the others are there. As soon as they enter the reactions are immediate.
“Mike what the hell are you wearing?!”
“Okay Mike the Brave, this is really not the time for roleplay.”
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
The room instantly freezes when they hear Mike and realize what’s going on. Or at least realize that there are two Mikes.
“Wha- What’s going on?”
“Whoa, is this right? Am I seeing two Wheelers?”
Mike slowly starts walking to his doppelganger, who looks quite tense and is now grabbing the hilt of is sword, just in case.
He touches the paladin’s cheek with his pointer finger.
“Jesus! Kali, is this one of your illusions? What the hell?”
“Illusion? I am no illusion, who are you, and why do you wear my face?”
“Your face?”
Before Mike can say anything else, Kali starts explaing.
“We just found him outside, he says he was following magic traces. I scanned his memories and I saw some really strange things.”
“I mean, how strange can they be? We’re about to go fight some inter-dimensional creatures.”
“I… I think he’s from an alternate reality.”
“What?! Like, from the Upside Down?”
“No. What I saw looked… medieval.”
“What is medieval?” Jane’s confusion is clearer than ever.
“From like, a long time ago. That doesn’t matter, why does he look like me?”
“It’s from a period of history long before cars and modern stuff, but after Ancient Greece, I’ll show you a book about it later” Dustin whispers to Jane so they don’t move on without her getting some kind of answer.
“I believe, since you clearly look younger, you are the one who resembles me, or should I say the one who stole my likeness?”
“I didn’t steal anything you weirdo!”
“Or it might not be that you are younger in age, it might just be how gaunt and lanky you are.”
“What the hell did you just call me, asshole?!”
“Son of a bitch, this is getting out of control!”
The situation gets even more chaotic, Paladin Michael’s hand sits firmly on the hilt of his sword as he gets close and sizes up Mike, who stands straighter than he ever has in his life when he notices his doppelganger is taller than him.
Among all the noise, they hear someone yelling at the top of the stairs.
“Guys! What is going on?”
Will, Max and Vickie stand at the top of the stairs looking puzzled. Will walks a few steps down when the knight who looks like Mike runs to meet him up there.
“William! You’re safe! I have found you at last!”
Before anyone can process what’s happening, he grabs Will by the waist, dips him and kisses him with an intensity that makes Dustin let out a nervous laugh, Robin whistle, Max let out a little scream and Mike drop his jaw to the floor.
Will doesn’t even have time to process what’s happening, the only thing he knows is that Mike is kissing him. He closes his eyes and melts into the kiss, one hand on a cold and hard shoulder, the other on the back of Mike’s neck. His mind reacts a couple seconds later, going “wait, what?!”, the fear and the shock freezing him in place.
The paladin notices the chance in behavior and immediately lifts him back up, removing his lips from Will’s to scan his face.
“William, is something wrong?”
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, GET OFF HIM!” Mike runs up the stairs before Will can react and turns the paladin around by the shoulders. “Are you crazy? Don’t touch him!” He puts a hand on Michael’s breastplate and pushes him, making him stumble. He flaps his arms and grabs Will’s hand to avoid losing his balance, which makes Will turn redder that he already was. Mike on the other hand, gets redder in the face for different reasons. Michael lets go of Will to push Mike back and hold him against the wall, one hand open over his chest.
“If you ever touch me in that manner again, I shall not be so patient, you have been nothing but aggressive towards me and as far as I’m concerned, you’re the impostor.”
“I could say the same to you, you fucking weirdo! Touch Will again and I won’t be so patient either!”
“What are you going to do? Do you think you could beat me?” he laughs.
Will finally reacts. He puts his hands between both Mikes and pushes gently to create some distance between them.
“Can anyone tell me what’s going on? Who are you?”
“William, do you not remember me?”
“Should I? I mean, you look like Mike, but Mike’s right here, so, who are you?”
The knight gets quiet for a second, inspecting Will’s face with a gaze so penetrating it makes him blush again. After a few seconds, he utters quietly:
“You’re not my William, are you?”
“I’m afraid I’m no one’s William, you might be confusing me with somebody else.”
The paladin instantly drops to his knees, grabbing one of Will’s hands and putting it against his own forehead. “I must apologize for the hastiness of my affections, you see, I have been following what I thought were traces of William’s magic and they led me here to you, so you must excuse my forwardness, for when I saw you, I thought I had finally reached my destination, my destiny, my William. I lost track of him a night and a day ago, I know not of his whereabouts and he knows not of mine.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that, I’m not the William you’re looking for but perhaps we can help you find him? Right guys?”
“He makes a pass at you and you want to help him? A sorcerer and a saint. You don’t owe him shit, we don’t have to help him!”
“No but we might have to.” Dustin speaks up from the bottom of the stairs. “We don’t know how dangerous it is for us that he’s here.”
“So now you’re putting us in danger, thank you.” Mike says, crossing his arms.
Michael stands up slowly, looking around the room apologetically. “I did not mean to put anyone at risk, I swear I shall do my best to protect your group from harm for as long as I’m here, since I represent a threat to your safety.”
“Can you guys come back down here, I feel like there are so many things we need to talk about.”
“Actually, can you guys come upstairs instead? I haven’t exactly mastered going down the stairs on a wheelchair.”
“Oh shit, sorry Max, you’re right.”
They start walking up and Michael offers his arm for Will to hold. He loops their arms by the elbows and Mike immediately pushes past them, grabs Will’s hand and pulls him up, making him almost run up the stairs.
Behind them, Steve and Robin just soak in the absurdity of the situation.
“There are enough Wheelers as is, what are we gonna do with one more?”
“Will is gonna have his hands full with them.” She gives Steve a look and they both snicker.
Michael gets closer to Max and offers to push her chair.
“Maxine, I see you have been recently unwell, may I ask how you are feeling? Our Maxine suffered magic injuries in battle and even though there were times when we thought we lost her, she made a full recovery, I shall pray for yours as well.”
“That’s so nice of you Michael, I like this version of you, our Mike has never been this thoughtful.”
“Screw you Max, I am thoughtful”
“Are you?”
Michael sets Max’s chair next to the sofa and leads Will to sit down in the middle of it with a small “after you” gesture, and waits until Will is fully settled to sit next to him. Mike, who’s already sitting on Will’s other side, puts his elbow on Will’s leg to lean over and speak directly to Michael.
“So? Explain. Who are you, what are you doing here and why are you disrespecting Will like that?”
“Disrespecting him or disrespecting your bond? For the first one, I have already apologized.” He grabs Will’s hands and puts them in between his. “Once again, my sincere apologies for letting my tempestuous affections blind me. I should have seen that you were not my William.” He turns to Mike, without letting Will’s hands go. “As for the other part, unless you have something to say that contradicts our fair love here, he said himself that he is not your William, he’s no one’s William.”
“Well, yeah, he’s not my Will, he’s his own person, but you still didn’t ask him before you- you got so indecent and basically assaulted him!”
“Mike, calm down, that’s not what it was, it was an honest mistake, it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?! Will, that was your first kiss, wasn’t it?”
“We don’t need to discuss that here.”
“You cannot be okay with your first kiss being a mistake!”
“Mike, I’m begging you, please stop!”
“It was wrong Will!”
“MIKE!”
“Who is being disrespectful now? Did you not hear William? I can’t believe this version of our fairest darling has to put up with you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?!”
“Guys, stop! Stop… whatever this is, we don’t have time for it.” Steve stands up and gestures at them to stop facing each other and sit back on the couch. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Michael.”
“Of course it is. Michael, could you explain to us where you’re from? How did you end up here?”
Michael unties a small velvet pouch from his waist and pours the contents into his hands. He starts arranging tiny glass and wood figurines on the table.
“No way, this Wheeler is a nerd too?!”
“Shut up Max. Please go ahead.” says Steve, barely suppressing a smile.
Mike gives Max the finger while Steve waits for Michael to set his little scenario with his toys.
He bends forward to arrange his figurines. Will looks at them carefully and sees that there’s one that resembles Will the Wise. There are two figurines wearing purple robes, Michael sets them together, with the figurine that resembles him slightly in front of them.
“Part of the population of our realm was under attack, we have traveled together to provide help to a town that could not defend itself. As it is always my job and the vow I swore, I was protecting our cleric, my beloved William, and our sister, the dereworthy Lady Jane, as they used their magic. In the midst of battle, we got separated and I’ve got thrown far away from everyone. What I assume is that perhaps I fell into a portal of some sort, because I was immediately alone in a forest that looked different from the one I was in before. It was all dark, grimy and cold. As part of William’s protections for the group, he has gifted us these crystals that react to his magic. Mine was glowing dimly when I got up in that eerie forest, and I decided to follow the traces of magic in hopes of finding my friends. It first led me through a repugnant, viscous gate, but at least the eldritch eeriness of the other place was behind me. I walked for a few hours until, at dawn, I reached some sort of hostile camp full of soldiers and carriages carrying arms. I hid to observe, but then I noticed the traces of magic were dissipating, so I continued following them until, late morning, I found you and you found me.”
They all looked at each other, seemingly understanding the same thing.
“So, you’ve been following Will’s traces of magic, not your William’s?”
“See, you are a sorcerer Will! A real sorcerer with real magic!” Mike pulls Will into a hug that cuts short when their brains register everything they just heard.
“Yes, I assume it was your Will’s magic that led me here, and it is my understanding that this very same magic might have connected our realms.”
“So other dimensions are getting interconnected? Does the Upside Down lead to other realities?”
“You know, that might not be a crazy theory at all.” says Robin, frantically. “Think about it, Vecna is trying to bring our reality and The Abyss together, how crazy would it be to think that other realities are being pulled into this as well, even if it’s only by accident?”
“The Theory of Multiple Universes!” Dustin looks around with a face that clearly says am I right guys? but falls off when he notices some confused faces. “Have you not heard of the Theory of Multiple Universes? Oh my God! Obviously Steve has never heard of it, but you guys?!”
“Careful, Henderson”
“Have you heard of it then?”
“No, but I’m not a nerd, I actually have a life.”
“My point precisely. Anyway, this theory says that it’s possible that multiple realities exist simultaneously, but in different planes, with no connection between them, but where things are different because you made different choices that led to different results, therefore making your life different than the one you’re living here. There must be a reality where our D&D characters are the real us.”
“And our campaigns are their battles.”
“Yeah, sounds rough. Although, it’s nice to know the cool versions of ourselves are still friends in another dimension.”
“You called me your sister, are you my brother in your reality?” Jane asks.
“In my world, my William and our dearest Jane are the powerful children of the lady Joyce, one of Mother's ladies in waiting, welcomed into our home after her husband's betrayal. They are a formidable pair of magic-wielding twins, so you, Jane, are my sister by marriage. Are you not siblings in this realm?”
“Yes, I mean, not exactly like that, but yes?” Will answers nervously. “Wait, what do you mean marriage?!”
As a response, he bows, takes Will’s hand and kisses it while looking up into his eyes, making Will blush furiously.
“OOOOOKAAAAYYY, LET’S FOCUS ON THE PROBLEM HERE!” Mike immediately steps between Will and the paladin, who straightens his upper body, but hisses and holds his left side while he lets out a deep breath.
“Forgive me, a minor injury, I have stayed bent down for longer than I should have.”
“Are you hurt? We have bandages and a few first aid kits to clean your wound.”
“Do not worry my dove, I am fairly certain ‘tis but a bruise and no wound tears my flesh, I must admit I have not examined it myself, but we can tend to it after the end of this assemblage.” He holds one of Will’s hands in between his as reassurance, and Mike looks about to explode.
“Can we finish this quick so we can send him back to whatever cow dung-smelling hole he came from?” He realizes he’s coming off as jealous (and why would he be jealous? It’s not like- there’s no reason to be jealous, right?), so he adds “It freaks me out to have a medieval evil twin.”
Dustin is the first to talk.
“Well, we now know the Upside Down is a bridge to at least one other dimension, it wouldn’t be crazy to think it connects to other dimensions as well, I mean, it totally makes sense. From the notes, it seems like the lab wasn’t aware of this, but I need to check that notebook again at least 10 times to understand more than half of it. But we know that how you got here, we just need to find the gate that leads to your dimension and get you back through there.”
“Easy peasy.” says Lucas, sarcastically.
“I mean, could’ve been worse, at least we know enough to understand what happened and come up with a viable solution.”
“Viable?!”
“Yeah, I said viable, not easy.”
“True, my bad.”
“Well, that settles it, let’s take him to a gate so he can go into the Upside Down and leave us alone.”
“Mike, he’s injured and he doesn’t know anything about the Upside Down, we can’t just drop him there and wish him good luck.”
“We could tho.”
Will tilts his head and gives Mike an are you serious right now? kind of look, to which Mike shrugs. “I was just joking.”
“Do you remember anything about the place where you first landed? Any buildings, any signs? This place is an almost exact copy of this dimension, so we’d know where it is.”
“There were no buildings on my immediate surroundings, but I could see a few brick buildings, a cottage with a strange roof, and what I think was a church in the distance.”
“Hmm, I have a few places in mind, I think we’re gonna have to take you around to see if you recognize any of them.”
“Do you really want to parade Ren Faire here around town?
“The armor is not part of him, he can take it off, duh. You can take it off, right?”
“Not by myself, but yes, it can be removed.”
“See? So we’ll just dress him up in something normal and make sure no one sees you both at the same time. I think Nancy said something about getting a gun hidden in your house later tonight?”
“Yeah, later so we’re sure no police will be there. I can drive us, get my gun, some food if there’s any left that didn’t get blown up, and you can get some clothes so you don’t look suspicious when we drive you around to see these places.”
“Well, that settles it, we’ve got a side-quest in our hands.” Lucas seems almost excited about it, but it takes their mind off Vecna for a bit, so it is a bit of a welcomed distraction.
“If by side-quest you mean repairing a tear in the space-time continuum, sure.”
“Ugh Dustin, do you have to be such a nerd about it? Especially when I can’t run away to not hear it.” Max rolls her eyes, but she laughs and gives Dustin a genuine smile.
“Okay, let’s get things ready, what do we need?”
“I would hate to impose,” Michael interrupts “but would you have any rations to spare? I have gone too long without sustenance and I am starting to feel unwell.”
“Oh my God, yes! I’m so sorry, you said you’ve been walking for an entire day and we didn’t even offer you water or anything!”
This seems to be what puts an end to the tactical meeting, so everyone just slowly falls back into what they were doing before, some of them take this as a chance to rest a bit, others start preparing for this side-quest, but for Mike, this is both a chance to observe this strange man more closely, and also an icky situation he needs to be constantly vigilant of, he can’t leave Will alone with this stranger, who knows what kind of man he actually is, who knows what else he would do to Will, he already kissed him and he can’t seem to stop touching him, how dare he? Mike can’t trust him, even though Will doesn’t seem to mind? Why is he not bothered about it? Not only does he not look outraged as he should be, he looks… comfortable, almost? That can’t be right.
Will leads the paladin into the small kitchen area, with Mike walking closely behind them. Lucas was about to follow them, but Max grabs his sleeve and shakes her head. They both laugh and watch from a distance.
“I’m sorry we don’t have any real food,”says Will, while grabbing a box with snacks. “we didn’t exactly plan to be holed up here. This food is probably very weird for you, we don’t want you to get sick, let me see… Popcorn! Popcorn is normal, right? I mean, it’s literally corn, so it should be fine, I guess.” he grabs a bag of microwaveable popcorn and walks towards the door. “To make them we need the microwave in the other room-”
“We’ll wait for you here, don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.” says Mike, leaning on the counter with a leery smile. Michael just nods and Will head out.
“Alright, before he comes back, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I do not know what you are referring to.”
“Don’t play games with me. Kissing him, putting your hands all over him, talking about marriage, two men can’t get married, that’s not even possible!”
“It is in my realm. I am sincerely sorry to hear that is not a possibility here in this kingdom. Perhaps with time things will change.”
“Don’t change the subject, what are your intentions?”
“With Will?”
“In general, but yeah, why do you touch him so much? Why did you kiss him?”
“Due to your insistence on the matter, I have to ask, because if that’s the case I must apologize to you as well: are you certain that was William’s first kiss?”
Mike feels a little embarrassed to discuss it, but he really brought this on himself. “I mean, we haven’t really talked about it, but he would’ve said something if it had happened already, right? He would have told me, I’m his best friend. We- wait, you’ve sure been kind of a piece of shit to me all day, but, apologize to me? For what?”
“For taking the honour and the opportunity from you, of course.”
Mike’s eyes go so wide he fears they might pop out of his head.
“From me?! The opportunity of what?!”
“I fear I already know the answer, but I have to ask, are you and William not together yet?”
“Yet? No, we’re friends, we’re best friends, he’s my best friend!”
“What is your plan to move beyond that?”
“Beyond that?! I- I mean-” Mike feels his face start to burn, why is he feeling so defensive about this?
“I have noticed your touches and the way you look at him, but I assure you, you will need to do more than that if you want him to notice. William won’t do anything unless you make him feel certain of your affections.”
“Will knows I love him. As a friend, I mean!” Mike’s sure his face is burning red now. The paladin looks at him and smiles, but says nothing. He puts his hand on Mike’s shoulder before walking away.
“I can show you how to be a truepenny warrior worthy of William’s affections. I shall be here for when you need me.”
“I don’t-”
Michael gives him another silent smile before Will walks back with a bag full of popcorn and a glass of chocolate milk.
“Sorry we don’t have any regular milk, but it’s the only drink I could think of that wouldn’t be too weird for your stomach.”
“Thank you my sweet leof, this shall do just fine.”
They go quiet as Michael starts eating, but Mike’s mind is going a hundred miles per hour. What is he talking about? And why would I need his help?! His help?! What does he know about Will? This is a different Will from the one he knows, even if he’s married to the other one. Married? Is he lying about that? He keeps talking about “affections”, I already have Will’s “affections”, we’re best friends, he knows he’s my best friend, I already apologized for being an asshole to him a couple years ago. Did Will say anything to him? I could be a better friend to him, I should be a better friend to him, because why is he talking so much to Robin? What is he telling her that he’s not telling me? He should be telling me, am I making him feel uncomfortable? Am I weirding him out? I am trustworthy, am I not? Jesus, why am I overthinking this? That fucker really is trying to mess with my head.
“Mike, are you alright? You look like you’re about to puke.”
“What? No, I’m just trying to decide what to eat, I’m sick of eating junk food.”
“Could you bring me a first aid kit? We need to check Michael’s injury.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll get you one.” he says, looking into Will’s eyes but barely registering the words.
“Now Mike, I need it.”
“Oh yeah, sorry.”
He leaves the room and heads to the basement, where Dustin, Steve and Robin are preparing some stuff and talking about the absurdity of this new situation. Lucas notices Mike leaving the kitchen and follows him downstairs.
“Hey Mike!” Robin greets him with an annoyingly big smile. “How does it feel to have a hot version of you walking around all gallant?”
“It sucks, thanks for asking.” He gives Robin his most biting, sardonic smile. “I just need a first aid kit, Will is gonna ‘tend to his wound’” he says in an annoying tone, making air quotes, but before he can say anything else, Lucas bolts past him.
“I’ll get it, I’ll take it back upstairs, don’t worry.” He runs upstairs before Mike can do anything about it.
When he gets to the kitchen, Michael is tucking a strand of hair behind Will’s ear while Will holds a gauntlet he clearly just removed.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just dropping the first aid kit here.” He places it on the table and leaves.