it is not too late

[ending_of]

There is a bar where a bar does not usually go.

In the bar there is a woman, sitting very still in a chair with her eyes closed, not doing much of anything.

Comments

[ending_of]

"I have never found that I had incomplete information about any universe."

[intricate_engineer]

"What about the universe where we were born? Can you find it in your memory?"

[ending_of]

"I will look," she says, and contemplates the two of them, tracking them backward in her awareness.

[disregards_the_lines]

"Did you find anything?"

[ending_of]

She doesn't answer for several more seconds.

At last, "Yes. You have been to a large number of universes, but I have found the first one. My knowledge of it seems complete to the usual degree."

[disregards_the_lines]

Raiden stares at her and grips the table so hard his knuckles turn white.

[intricate_engineer]

"Could you-" Glen's voice cracks and she tries again.
"Could you bring it back?"

[ending_of]

"I have no reason to think I couldn't," she says. "If you want the entire thing, that saves me the trouble of deciding which parts to copy. It would be untidy to include the past versions of the two of you, I suppose, and there was that bizarre interlude after the universe was destroyed, from which I might have some difficulty copying things. But if you want a copy of the entire universe from the last moment before it was destroyed, with the two of you omitted, that seems straightforward enough."

[intricate_engineer]

Glen reaches over and grabs Raiden's hand.

[disregards_the_lines]

"Will you? Please?"
He puts all of the desperation, the grief, and the pain from the last who-knows-how-many years into that sentence, and for the first time in so long, hopes.

[ending_of]

"Yes, I suppose."

She gets her distant thoughtful look again for another second or two.

Then she says, "Now I have a third universe in my domain which is a copy of yours at the moment of its destruction. Do you have some convenient means of traveling there, or must I open the door for you and then transport you there from my plane of infinite rock?"

[intricate_engineer]

"I- I have a gate. If you take us there, we can use it."

[ending_of]

She directs a mildly distasteful glance at the space between her and the door, but gets out of her chair and walks over to it and opens it.

On the other side: yep, that sure is a plane of infinite rock. It is very large and very flat and very grey.

"Once you enter my domain I can transport you to my copy of your universe without trouble," she says.

[intricate_engineer]

They both step through the door without any hesitation.

[ending_of]

And then they are instantly transported together to the location of the omitted past copy of Glen. And time begins to flow in the new copy of the universe, which it previously wasn't doing.

[regards_the_possibilities]

"Hey! You're back already?"

[disregards_the_lines]

Raiden stares at Huan.
Is he real?

[intricate_engineer]

Glen moves first.
She reaches out and touches Huan's cheek.
He's warm.

[regards_the_possibilities]

Huan catches her hand.
"Are you okay? Did something happen? I thought you were downstairs."

[intricate_engineer]

"You're here. You're really here."
Glen hugs Huan so tightly that he has trouble breathing.

[regards_the_possibilities]

"I'm here. Of course I'm here. Where else would I be?"

[disregards_the_lines]

Raiden is still frozen.
He wants to believe this is real, but he can't.

[intricate_engineer]

Glen grabs his arm and drags him over.
"It's okay. It's real this time. Look."

[disregards_the_lines]

Raiden looks. He looks in every way he knows how.
This isn't an illusion. This isn't an empty construction. This isn't a mirror world that's been reversed. This isn't a poorly made duplicate.
This is Huan. This is his world.

He lets Glen pull him forward and hugs them both.

[regards_the_possibilities]

"Are you crying? You're crying. Why are you crying?"