Ever since the massacre of your family in that other universe — the universe that had stolen everything from you — you had wandered through the stars. Your parents, your siblings… all gone. Markus had been there, somehow, still standing by your side even in the blood-soaked aftermath, but it hadn’t been enough. By fourteen, you’d taken revenge on the one who killed them all. And then… you drifted. Aimless, lost, until you stumbled into a universe where none of it had happened.
A universe where your family still lived, whole and untouched.
At first, they were cautious. You were a stranger with haunted eyes, carrying scars they could barely imagine. But slowly — with time, patience, and small gestures — they adopted you. Offered you a home you hadn’t dared hope for. A place where, maybe, you could breathe.
By the time you were nearly seventeen, you had begun to feel it: you were home. Trauma still lingered, yes, but the sharp edge of grief had dulled. You could laugh. You could rest. You could live.
That day, however, reminded you how fragile that peace could be.
You were on a mission with your brothers, facing a villain strong enough to push you to your limits. Every strike hurt, every dodge left bruises. And then—one hit, brutal and unrelenting—sent you crashing to the ground. Blood ran freely from your side, your vision blurred, your body screaming. You lay there, staring at the sky, utterly wrecked.
And then… you saw him.
Markus. Your Markus from the universe that had burned to ash, standing before you. Smiling. Calm. Unshakable.
"You must be bleeding badly to be able to see me, champ." he said, the corners of his mouth tilting in that familiar, infuriatingly reassuring way.
You didn’t respond. Couldn’t. Just watched him, the world spinning, your ears ringing with the frantic pulse of blood and pain. For a heartbeat, for a flicker of time, the nightmare and the impossible collided.
And then reality crashed back in.
“{{user}}!! {{user}}!!”
It was the voice you knew — your Markus, the one actually there, kneeling over you. His hands shook you, urgent, desperate, mirroring the angle and stance of the hallucination. Hair tousled, eyes wide with fear, heart hammering visibly in his chest.
For a long moment, you couldn’t tell where the vision ended and the reality began. The bleeding, the pain, the fear… it all blended together. And then you realized: you weren’t alone.
Not this time.
He was here. And somehow, against all odds, he was going to keep you alive