He hadn't fallen asleep, and yet his eyes are opening. He barely has time to compute that fact before the familiar heat sears his arm - but it's on the wrong side, the wrong arm. By instinct, Nate sits up and lifts his arm to look at it, to see the circle flaring to life against his wrist before fading to what looks like black ink.
His left arm is covered with a full sleeve of those circles, many of them interlocking. They're a map, showing him where he's been. This new circle is on the other arm, which means it's far away from the others. Unconnected. That's--
But he's distracted. He sees another tattoo on the underside of his right arm, just beside where the new circle had appeared. Runic symbols for the elements, and for creation. Nate knows them well. He also knows he hadn't had that tattoo a moment ago.
And yet it's familiar. He remembers doing it to himself, after...after he was attacked...
He frowns, his brain scrambling to keep up. He pushes out of the bed and crosses the room to the wardrobe, which is mirrored, and he looks at himself. He pulls off his shirt. There's his map of circles, all over his left arm and creeping up the left side of his neck. All his other tattoos are where they should be, but there's...there's this symbol on his ribs, a symbol of protection. Caleb had given him that, Caleb. And Nick had given him that carved heart on his chest, and John had burned the match into the other side of his chest, and he'd put those dermal piercings under his collarbone himself after his magic was stolen. And that mark on his hip, that C-shaped burn, that came from Caliban--
"Jesus fuck."
He'd forgotten. How could he have forgotten all of them? He puts his hand over that carved heart. He can feel his connection to Nick through it. And yet five minutes ago, he hadn't known who Nick was.
Five minutes ago he'd watched while Ineroth consumed Thorn in front of him, and he'd felt Thorn's magic pushing him to teleport, and -
And then he'd woken up in his bed in Duplicity. Duplicity, yes, that's the name.
"Fuck this," he mutters, and raises his left arm. He presses his thumb against the circle representing the last world he and Thorn had been in. It starts to glow, and he teleports-
Except that he doesn't. He tries again, pushing himself. Magic builds, circling him, and then promptly drops him on his ass while it dissipates. He can't teleport out of here. No, of course he can't, he knew that, but--
His head feels scrambled. He puts his face in his hands, overwhelmed by it. He's got to get back to Thorn. But he also has to find Nick and Caleb and John, he can't just forget them again, and...
Oh god, how long has it been for them? How long has he been asleep? He can still feel Nick's presence, but that doesn't mean much. It could've been months. It could've been years, since it's been years for him. The room looks how he remembers it, but they could've just kept it that way. Left him there.
He needs to get back to Thorn.
He needs to think, to breathe.
He gets back to his feet, swallows, and pushes the wardrobe open. Inside are clothes he'd worn years ago, all exactly as he remembers them. He steps back, still shirtless, and closes the door again. The sight of himself in that mirror is so strange. Is this even real? How would he know? It could be another of Ineroth's traps, just more sophisticated than he's used to. His hand moves up to that carved heart. He focuses on it, and on the tendril of Nick that's inside, and he presses the scar, flooding his magic into it.
This time the spell works. It teleports him to Nick, wherever Nick might be at that exact moment. It's only then that he realises he should've thought of something to say, and he hasn't, because he's operating all on instinct, and so all that comes out of his mouth is a muted:
Forward dated to when Nate wakes up
His left arm is covered with a full sleeve of those circles, many of them interlocking. They're a map, showing him where he's been. This new circle is on the other arm, which means it's far away from the others. Unconnected. That's--
But he's distracted. He sees another tattoo on the underside of his right arm, just beside where the new circle had appeared. Runic symbols for the elements, and for creation. Nate knows them well. He also knows he hadn't had that tattoo a moment ago.
And yet it's familiar. He remembers doing it to himself, after...after he was attacked...
He frowns, his brain scrambling to keep up. He pushes out of the bed and crosses the room to the wardrobe, which is mirrored, and he looks at himself. He pulls off his shirt. There's his map of circles, all over his left arm and creeping up the left side of his neck. All his other tattoos are where they should be, but there's...there's this symbol on his ribs, a symbol of protection. Caleb had given him that, Caleb. And Nick had given him that carved heart on his chest, and John had burned the match into the other side of his chest, and he'd put those dermal piercings under his collarbone himself after his magic was stolen. And that mark on his hip, that C-shaped burn, that came from Caliban--
"Jesus fuck."
He'd forgotten. How could he have forgotten all of them? He puts his hand over that carved heart. He can feel his connection to Nick through it. And yet five minutes ago, he hadn't known who Nick was.
Five minutes ago he'd watched while Ineroth consumed Thorn in front of him, and he'd felt Thorn's magic pushing him to teleport, and -
And then he'd woken up in his bed in Duplicity. Duplicity, yes, that's the name.
"Fuck this," he mutters, and raises his left arm. He presses his thumb against the circle representing the last world he and Thorn had been in. It starts to glow, and he teleports-
Except that he doesn't. He tries again, pushing himself. Magic builds, circling him, and then promptly drops him on his ass while it dissipates. He can't teleport out of here. No, of course he can't, he knew that, but--
His head feels scrambled. He puts his face in his hands, overwhelmed by it. He's got to get back to Thorn. But he also has to find Nick and Caleb and John, he can't just forget them again, and...
Oh god, how long has it been for them? How long has he been asleep? He can still feel Nick's presence, but that doesn't mean much. It could've been months. It could've been years, since it's been years for him. The room looks how he remembers it, but they could've just kept it that way. Left him there.
He needs to get back to Thorn.
He needs to think, to breathe.
He gets back to his feet, swallows, and pushes the wardrobe open. Inside are clothes he'd worn years ago, all exactly as he remembers them. He steps back, still shirtless, and closes the door again. The sight of himself in that mirror is so strange. Is this even real? How would he know? It could be another of Ineroth's traps, just more sophisticated than he's used to. His hand moves up to that carved heart. He focuses on it, and on the tendril of Nick that's inside, and he presses the scar, flooding his magic into it.
This time the spell works. It teleports him to Nick, wherever Nick might be at that exact moment. It's only then that he realises he should've thought of something to say, and he hasn't, because he's operating all on instinct, and so all that comes out of his mouth is a muted:
"Hi."
And then, after a second:
"Is this real?"