Alchemia and Jaine sat on the floor. After realizing it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep a jar of mercury on a precarious bed, they moved it aside, along with Kait’s sleeping body. However, Jaine wrote the runes as if Alchemia would sit on the bed, forcing her to stretch as far as possible to keep a hand in the jar and one on the runes. Jaine simply leaned against them.

“I think you really couldn’t have made this harder on my arms,” Alchemia said.

Jaine tilted his head to the side, “Sorry that I’m a self-trained, self-employed necromancer without much experience, your highness.”

“Are you legally able to handle that mercury?”

He showed Alchemia his license card, “Of course I can. Who do you think I am?”

“Someone who specializes in reviving the dead?”

“Whatever, man.”

Alchemia quickly changed the subject, “I think I’m about to be sent back. Is it all prepared for me?”

“All prepped up, buddy. But I’ll make a checklist. A: we have the runes, B: you are in extreme proximity to both the runes and the mercury, C: I’m touching the runes. That should be everything.”

“My somewhat negligible life is probably on the line, don’t forget that, please!”

“Oh, please, I got this. What could go wrong? It’s only doing something that’s unlikely to have ever been done in history, pfft.” she waved it away in a somewhat sarcastic manner. “Want to know how this works?”

“I’m not one for explanations.”

Taylor poked his head into the room, still dubious about the necromancer, then after sending them a look of ‘I’m too confused to even ask’, he closed the door.

Jaine shrugged, then looked back to Alchemia, “Essentially, right now, your soul is tithed to both your body and the quicksilver due to the trapping runes I placed. When your tithe to Hailey’s body is broken by the consciousness, your tithe to the liquid won’t be, and you’ll return there once your business is done. We can discuss your revival plan if you want. You could be a bird if you wanted to be.”

“As much as I’d love to continue this discussion, I think that I’m leaving now.”

“So you don’t act uncertain when stating sarcasm, interesting.”

“Oh please shu-” Hailey’s shell fell to the floor.

“Well, that’s my cue to clean up our mess.”

Hailey appeared in an alchemy lab alongside Kait. It was still a little bare, with cobblestone walls, double doors, and two desks with various cool-looking liquids and beakers and stuff atop them.

“Well, this isn’t what I expected.”

“What did you expect?” Kait wondered.

“Last time, her room was literally doors.”

“My tastes have changed, I believe.” Hailey’s clone sat in a chair on the other side of the room. Hailey thought she gave a more...independent vibe.

Hailey shook her head, finding the lab not...particularly interesting. “Whatever floats our boat.”

Kait pocketed her hands, then walked up to the table near the clone and stared at the nicknacks interest. For some reason, her clone seemed apprehensive towards her, even scooching her chair away a foot.

“So, I need to deal with your ridiculous sabotages again?” Hailey said, throwing all the gear she’d picked up along the way on the ground.

The fake Hailey bubbled the gear up. “I’d prefer if you didn’t view me so negatively.”

“Whatever.”

“I am, most likely, you.”

“So are you, or are you not me?!”

“I think you know.”

Hailey knew it was obvious what the thing meant, but she didn’t want to succumb to her dumb aversive statements. “Ok, how about I be serious with you, alright?!”

“I think that’s alright.”

“You aggravate me soooo much. It’s like you are everything I hate to see in people. You’re like Linne, on steroids. You back off when I press you, you hesitate to stick to a plan if it wasn’t proposed directly by you, and you’re always ready to sit back and watch others do things!”

“...”

“So, you have a retort?!”

Kait raised an eyebrow but didn’t intervene, seeing that Hailey was being...civil, to an acceptable degree.

“No, I think.”

“Y-wait, did you just say no?”

“I think so.”

Hailey shook her head, “Yeah, you won’t stop pissing me off. Just tell me how you’re me, again?”

“Those traits.” the clone said.

“...Those...traits?”

“If Linne has all of them, why are we friends with her?”

“W-well...” Hailey didn’t have a retort. She’d criticized her friend for it often, but she never...meant it. Or at least, she would quickly regret her words. “I guess that’s because she works well with me.”

“So you can’t get along with me, but you can with her?”

“Hmm.” For once in a long time, someone had said something of this nature that Hailey couldn’t personally disagree with. Perhaps that was because it came from ‘herself’, or maybe it was simply the growth she’d had over the last few days, but this time, she pondered it seriously.

Kait smiled wryly behind Hailey, seeing where the clone was going with its line of thought.

“I think I can, but...that doesn’t mean I don’t dislike you.”

“That’s fine, I think.”

Kait bounced a little, ready for the spiel about how the clone was actually a part of Hailey’s identity and not a representation of her real traits. Instead, representing what Hailey hated to see in herself and not what she despised in others. Unfortunately for her, both Haileys were uninterested in expositing or listening to that information, their shared nature to ‘do first, who cares about asking questions later’ getting in the way of Kait’s educational fun.

Hailey defiantly cracked her knuckles, then threw open the lab’s double doors. “Let’s get going.”

The clone nodded and escorted the bubbles to the void outside, setting them off to fly to the end. “I think we should set rules first.”

“Still don’t want to just send me to the top?”

“I think it’d be fun not to.”

Hailey spread her arms out dismissively, “Whatever you say. Tell me the rules.”

“One, I might change the rules midway.”

“No comment on that stupidity.”

“Two, have fun.”

“Ok, so you never meant to have rules in the first place.”

“I did...I think.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Kait said, confused what the Haileys were talking about.

The clone waved Kait closer, “Come join us, please! I think this is a platforming challenge.”

“Which one is which...” Kait whispered.

“Me. I’m real,” Hailey said.

Kait took her position outside and observed the void. “No tricks?” she asked, preoccupied.

“If you’re talking about which one of us is real, there’s pr-there are no tricks, but if you’re talking about the game, my ‘counterpart’ loves them.”

“And if I fall into the void, I’m not going to die, right?”

The clone shook her head, “I don’t think so. You should be teleported to the start.”

“I know that’s just how you talk, but I don’t like being told ‘you won’t die, I think’...not that I don’t have the magic to get out.”

Instantly, the two were teleported into mirrored routes, each with a few dozen platforms that led to a single swirling cloud of mist high in the sky.

Hailey’s counterpart hovered in the sky between the two. “On your marks, please...”

Kait raised an eyebrow, “Marks? What’s that supposed-”

“I think you should get set!”

Hailey rolled her eyes, “Even when you say that you can’t stop being uncertain?!”

“You should go now!”

Both participants took their time before even taking their first step, despite the game being presented as a race.

Hailey called her counterpart to her side. “Hey, you aren’t randomly going to do something like turn the floor to ice, are you?”

“I think that’s a great idea! That should do it...”

Kait leaped onto the first platform, only for it to turn to ice beneath her feet. Her mispredicted jump ended in her slipping off it and into the void. “W-whaaaaa!”

When she reappeared at the start, she shot Hailey’s counterpart a nasty glare.

“You really did that to her?” Hailey said disapprovingly.

“I think it was a little funny, though.”

Hailey averted her eyes, “...Don’t make me admit you’re right.”

After that, Hailey braced herself, then leaped onto the first platform. She wasn’t very sure-footed, however, so she slipped and fell into the void. Hailey shook off her dizziness quickly, however, and tried again, managing to leap onto the next platform before putting too little strength into her next jump, falling back into the void.

She felt, for a moment, like scolding her counterpart, but after seeing a bright smile on her face...

She stood up again and ran.

Again, she fell into the void, but...she’d made progress.

Hailey tried again, beginning to understand how the timing on each of the jumps worked.

She tried again, using her momentum to leap to and fro and skirt between each platform in swift, satisfying movements. However, she was distracted when she saw Kait doing far better than her and fell into the void.

Hailey stood up with a smile, then leaped onto the first platform once more.

The wind was nice, the perfect temperature.

She leaped to the left, slid across a platform, then took two steps to redirect her momentum to the right, jumping seven feet like she was on the moon. It felt...right. Like it was all made for her.

She leaped between four closely placed platforms in succession. The timing was fun to pull off for her, smooth and satisfying.

Then, she bounded eleven feet, soaring across the void...and for a moment, she was sure she didn’t have enough, but...was she lighter? She landed soundly on the platform, but she hadn’t thought far enough. As she approached the edge, she took a leap of faith in panic...and landed? She continued to leap between platforms, everything as intuitive as could be. It wasn’t exactly a challenge...but...she was having fun. A lot of fun, actually. She simply kept leaping between the platforms, happy.

Wow, that was new. When was the last time she had fun?

She looked to the side to see her counter...herself, with a genuine smile on her face.

Yeah, this was what she wanted. She wanted to be happy.

Kait watched from her broom as Hailey’s course grew more and more intricate. Her doppelganger had entirely ignored Kait once she’d finished the standard one, so she was free to spectate.

Hailey’s course has started standard but was quickly scrapped in place for one far more elaborate once she’d gotten into the flow. As Hailey skirted across the platforms, new ones were made wherever she felt like jumping. That eventually changed, though, as her course grew more outrageous with each addition. Her linear path began to curve wildly to the left and right, circled down and up, then introduced new gimmicks. Hailey raised her arms as she jumped into the void, only to grip a zipline and slide down it onto another platform. By that point, Kait had begun cheering from her broom, enthralled by their little acrobatics act. Hailey rolled onto a crescent ice ramp and somehow had enough inertia to complete a 270-degree flip with it, landing on a higher platform. Then gravity began to flip, sending her flying between platforms entirely vertical and horizontal. Her course ended with Hailey leaping from a vertical platform to one entirely upsidedown, then back onto the final, rocky platform.

Her counterpart clapped happily with many “I think that was awesome”s and “That was probably the coolest thing we’ve ever done!” and so forth, while the real Hailey laid on the ground, absolutely bushed. Not that her stamina was finite anyway. Tears fell down her happy face, but she didn’t seem to notice them.

Kait smiled contently and clipped her broom onto her back before laying on the ground beside Hailey.

The three laid/hover laid in silence for a minute.

“Umm...Hailey?” her counterpart asked. “Do...do you want to see me again?”

“Huh?” Hailey was perplexed by the statement. “I mean, you’re me, right? Aren’t I always ‘seeing’ you?”

“...It doesn’t work that way...not for me, I think.”

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying...” Hailey sat up, narrowing her eyes in concern.

“I’m...changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might represent you, but I’m probably not...supposed to be you. Or...I likely won’t be, after this.”

Hailey shook her head, only a little frazzled, “Hey, I only just met you a moment ago, don’t pull on my heartstrings!”

“Well...I think I’ve been sharing your memories.” Her ‘counterpart’ glanced at Kait, knowing she was smart enough to pick up the hints. “Once you leave, that should no longer be the case. Me and you will have nothing to do with each other.”

“I-I don’t understand a thing here, but you’re saying you live on past this?”

“W-wait, you already counted me out!?”

“Uhh, yeah.”

Her counterpart chuckled, “I think that’s Ironic.”

“Whatever you think, bud.” Hailey shrugged.

“So, if I could live past this, would you be interested in seeing me again sometime?”

“Well...” Hailey narrowed her eyes in confliction but gave a noncommital shrug, “I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

“I think that’s good enough. You can call me Alchemia from now on, ok?”

“Woah, I wish I got a name as badass as that.”

“Jaine actually picked it out for me, sort of.”

“How did we just talk about that guy? Are you consorting with that jerk necromancer?”

“I may have offered to be friends with him in exchange for his help.”

“Nevermind, there’s no way you could ever be me.”

The two laughed, savoring their last moments connected with good-natured fun.

“The Consciousness isn’t happy I’ve made you stand still, so whether we like it or not, my dimension will soon collapse. You all better get going.

Hailey nodded. “I-” she grumbled, then shook her head, “That was actually pretty fun, Alchemia.”

Alchemia smiled with teary eyes, “Thanks, please have a good bye.”

Hailey continued through the mist.

“So...what do you want to do, erase my memory?”

Kait shook her head, looking at the portal. “Don’t get me wrong, mk-err, Alchemia, that wasn’t just to protect me.”

Alchemia narrowed her eyes, “It wasn’t?”

“No, it was both for Hailey’s sake and my convenience. What Hailey saw...witchcraft went too far. That’s the result. I’m not one for dramatics, but all things considered, I don’t like what fate has in store for me.”

Alchemia tilted her head, the slightest bit curious.

Kait patted her thighs, still filled with energy. “You know that spirit, Kaetha?”

“Yeah?”

“It wants me to be the Successor.”

“WHAT!?”

“Yep.” Kait sighed, then digressed for the sake of time. “When you leave this place, you’ll be a wanted criminal in the Consciousness’s eyes. I may even be asked to deal with you.”

“...”

“If that happens, you can call me a sleeper agent.”

“Thanks...”

“No problem, sis. Just one more thing before we leave. Never tell anyone what I just told you. But just between you and me, the Consciousness won’t give a shamrock’s leaf about what we know until we spread forbidden information. My necklace, my purpose, your existence...don’t talk about it to anyone but those closest to you.” Kait leaned back with a sly smile. “I’m rooting for ya, whatever you are. Bye!” Kait stretched a little, then stepped through the portal.

Alchemia smiled as the dimension she’d been born in collapsed.

She’d done her job, and now, it was her time to live.