Author's idiotisms: By the way, just wanted to drop in this quick PSA before we get into the "side" of the story that actually features people with the last name Claire: only the first five chapters of Bright yet Dark are canon to this. So, in terms of actual plot that characters in-universe understand, Kate and co. have set off to discover a new planet to settle, but that planet doesn't end up being Alternia. What is it, then? You'll find out soon enough.
"Well, that looks familiar," Kate said, looking at her control panel, as her spaceship, now largely made of asteroid material, approached a planetary system quite possibly immeasurably far away. Not even light-years could potentially convey the absolute sheer distance that the plucky girl and her three cohorts covered in just a few hours of subjective time.
In fact, they were so far away removed from what they once called home that, looking at the planetary system map automatically generated by the spaceship, Kate thought there must have been an error somewhere in the coding. The various planets, four of them significantly larger than others and four other significantly larger than everything else in the system other than the first four, bore striking resemblances to the Solar System that the four space travelers once knew and loved.
Once Diana saw what was going on, though, she just clapped her hands. "Welp, that confirms it. Flashlight Girl traveled so much that we all just looped back around to the Earth."
"So, which pale blue dot is home now?" Robert also mockingly responded.
"The one we left, obviously. Sorry, but I am simply not buying the fact that this is Earth." As Kate directed the spaceship to fly towards the Earth equivalent, she also made another set of preparations.
Back on her own Earth, she had also dropped four Walkie-Talkies into the spaceship, so that she and her friends could communicate on an alien planet without the need for there to be a radio tower compatible with human electronic devices. Now, she opened the compartment where they were stored and pulled one out. She then turned it on, just to see if it was still working according to the laws of physics wherever she was present now.
She also took this as a moment to glance at her watch. Its development code had come from the same website as the code for the spaceship, and was meant to function as a display for whatever calendar the planet she was on used. Indeed, the watch looked to be off, and a quick turn of the dial on it revealed the last legitimate date the watch had encountered: 2041-04-13 11:11:11.
As she did that, though, the spaceship approached the oddly familiar blue planet and gave the four children a better view of it. Indeed, it looked just like their own Earth, but Kate, being the astute one, noticed a few details about it. She thus pointed out: "If this is indeed our Earth, where are the large equatorial tornadoes?"
"Because global warming is a hoax, duh," the fourth traveler answered her. "What you should be asking is: what's that beam going out of North America?"
"Beam." Kate blankly repeated as she gave this planet that, in her mind, still wasn't the Earth, another look. Indeed, there was a thin, yellowish beam connecting a location on North America to another location somewhere in the deep universe. To her, it just affirmed the suspicions that this wasn't her home, but it also piqued her curiosity. "Well, in that case, we already have a landing spot picked for us. Just be sure to not land on the beam itself, as it more likely than not is being emitted by something. A few dozen meters away, I guess."
"What's a meter?" Diana asked.
However, she knew that neither Kate nor the spaceship itself would answer the question. In fact, it appeared as if the spaceship understood Kate's statement as a command, as she didn't even need to do anything to pilot it anymore. Even though, by now, the beam was gone, the spaceship directed itself through the Earth-esque planet's atmosphere, proceeded to calculate that its atmosphere matched that of the Earth of its origin, and swiftly landed in a backyard of a mansion nearby a moderate-sized town, serving as a perfect addition to the tree house standing next to the mansion. There was also a fire in the backyard, but it was smoldering, and even if it wasn't, a spray that emerged from the top of the spaceship was quick to douse it.
Just as it landed, though, the team heard something like a squish, as if there was something soft that the ship had just landed on.
"Great. Absolutely great. If this planet is anything like Earth, which the scenery strongly suggests, I am going to be charged for murder." Kate said under her breath, then proceeded normally, as she calmed down and opened the door to her spaceship. "Alright, here we are. As I am the undoubted leader of the team, of course I will be going first, while you, I guess, will revel in shock that you were separated from all your Tumblr followers and not want to step out at all, as I did bring every electronic file I owned along, so there should be plenty of entertainment from Earth to enjoy."
"This is Earth." Diana reminded her once again.
"Our Earth." Kate corrected herself, then attached the Walkie-Talkie by its hook to the top of her skirt and proceeded to step out.
However, the fact that she had been essentially corrected by who she considered to be an inferior race did not leave her. In fact, as she was thinking about it, she forgot to focus on putting her legs on the rungs of the ladder, and soon enough, she found herself in freefall, which was quickly followed by her body hitting the soil of the planet which she still refused to call "Earth".
"Hey, Flashlight Girl!" Robert shouted down below, as soon as he had noticed Kate's mistake. "Guess you forgot how to walk on your own planet, huh?" He then turned to his other two new friends and said "Now, where is this entertainment that she mentioned?" as he closed the door to the spaceship.
Feeling glad that she wasn't going to listen to her cohorts, at least for a while, Kate got back up. The Walkie-Talkie had fallen off of her body and gotten on a different part of the soil, but nevertheless, with the lighting provided by the spaceship (as the sun had already set), she was able to find it and picked it up. She then looked at each of the spaceship's legs, and noticed that one of them was indeed above a formerly living thing.
The formerly living thing, though, looked nothing like an animal from her Earth. It was almost entirely black, had no eyes that Kate could discern, and the insides of its mouth looked green.
"Well, good news is that I am not going to be charged for murder. Bad news is, somehow I don't think this planet has humans around, even if it has Earth's continents and housing style. Got to give a heads-up." Kate proceeded to rotate the dial on the Walkie-Talkie to find whichever channel it and its copies were set to, judging by whether or not it produced recognizable sounds that weren't static.
And indeed, Kate did come across something. It was a human voice, so that was great news in and of its own, and it also was in English, so that was twice as good. Unfortunately, though, Kate did not recognize the voice itself or what it was trying to say. She put the Walkie-Talkie to her ear to hear it better, and what she heard next puzzled her greatly.
"Joey, please pick up. I am so worried for you. For myself, too. Alien spaceship approached and now I might be dead soon. Over." The voice said.
Who is Joey? was Kate's first question. The second one, and the one she actually posed to the device and the person using it, could be answered better: "Who are you?"
"Joey, it's me. Jude Harley. Do you not recognize me? Over."
"Hold on." At this moment, though, something clicked inside Kate's head. She raced to the ladder she had just fallen off of, swiftly climbed up it, opened the door and confronted the other travelers again.
"Alright, confess immediately: which one of you idiots is named Jude Harley and never told me about it?" Kate said sternly.
However, her tone of speech, as well as her casual "idiots" remark, did not do anything to put her friends off. Diana just answered: "Not me?"
"Me neither." Robert followed.
"So... none of us, I guess?" The fourth traveler finished.
"That reminds me." Kate brushed her free hand across her face as she visibly calmed down. "We actually haven't been introduced to each other properly, have we? Let's do that now. I'll start. I'm Kate Parker, or severedSovereign."
"Yeah, whatever, Flashlight Girl." Robert was, like, just not getting it. "Robert Canterbury, knightlySoldier."
Being called "Flashlight Girl" once again reminded Kate of something, though. Since the sun had already set on this Earth equivalent, she would absolutely need her flashlight to explore it. She thus fully climbed in, picked up her flashlight and stepped back out, so that it would look like she had just opened the door.
"Diana Seville, kitchenKeymaker." Diana followed Robert, as Kate was doing her own thing.
"And I'm Martin Irving, or sustainedKeeper." The fourth person had finally revealed himself as Martin.
"Thank you." Kate sighed in relief, before continuing: "So, that still leaves two major questions. Who is Jude Harley, and who is Joey?"
"Well, you did land on Earth," Martin began, "so probably it has some humans around. That's your answer right there!"
"Now that you mention it, these names do sound familiar. Where was your entertainment again?" Robert asked.
Kate didn't even bother waiting for a reply from Diana, though, as she closed the door to the spaceship and stepped down again, this time focusing on each of her steps intently, so she wouldn't stupidly fall off again.
Once she was on ground level, she decided to listen to the voice on the Walkie-Talkie again.
"Still holding on. Over." The voice, which had identified itself as Jude and which Kate had just confirmed was none of her friends, said.
"Alright, you can stop now. I'm ready to talk to you again." Kate did her best to both interrogate Jude and hopefully make friends with him.
"Joey, please explain. Alien spaceship landed, yet is not attacking. Requesting possible explanation. Over."
"What spaceship?" Kate once again looked at the spaceship that was the size of a small house, and if interpreted as one, would be a quirky house with legs holding its foundation above ground, and answered: "You mean my spaceship?"
"Cannot be. Over. Joey, I will need full clarification as to your situation. Over."
"Why do you- Who is this Joey you keep mentioning?" Kate had a lot of questions on her mind, but now that the identity of the speaker had been at least partially revealed, the identity of Joey was probably the biggest one remaining.
"Um. Over. That would be you. Joey Claire? Over."
"What? No, Jude. I am actually Kate Parker." Wasn't "Joey" a male name? Kate thought, wondering why anyone would mistake her for this Joey person.
"Cannot be. Over. Can see you right there, next to alien spaceship. While this is concerned: your current location unsafe. Too close to alien spaceship. Go back to attic immediately. Over."
"I mean, I do realize that technically, I am an alien with respect to you... No, wait, this is all wrong. Please hang on."
"You're an alien? I thought you were Joey Claire. My sister? Over."
"How can you still insist-" While being referred to as "Joey Claire" repeatedly was infuriating enough for Kate, whatever "over" meant was possibly even worse. "And why do you keep saying "over" when you finish talking?"
"Just observing proper protocol, Joey. Over."
Proper protocol.
Apparently, Walkie-Talkies had a proper protocol.
If this was a thing that they actually did, in whatever version of Earth she was currently in, Kate was not one bit aware of it. If anything, unlike the watch and the spaceship, her Walkie-Talkies were just cheap trash you could find in an online store and have delivered through a hatch in the roof of your 2040s house like it was Christmas.
For a while, Kate stood there, silently, wondering if she should just go to the "attic" place and shut Jude up.
What Kate and Jude did not anticipate, though, was Robert picking up one of the other Walkie-Talkies from the spaceship, tuning in to their conversation and dropping in. "Uh, Flashlight Girl? How could you possibly not know who Joey Claire is?"
Kate did pick up on the fact that this voice was familiar to her, though. "Um, Robert? I'm sorry, but I am not familiar with literally everything Tumblr is familiar with. This is not to mention that this is a private matter between me and Jude and-"
Now, Jude interrupted her. He did not realize, at first, that he was talking to someone other than the Joey-sounding girl, and that there was just some interference and not someone else using the same channel to chat. "Please elaborate on codename "Flashlight Girl". Over."
At this point, Kate had decided to just wait it out until Robert and Jude sorted their business out. "She has that stupid flashlight around. I think that's it."
"Indeed, sounds like my sister. Yet, I feel that codename is not sufficiently secure. Over."
"Alright, how about we make a deal, Judey dude? Right over here, it says that there's this game and its main character, Joey Claire, also has a flashlight around at all times. It also mentions you, but whatever. My point is, you have an absolutely great idea. Who we used to call Kate Parker now officially has the codename Joey Claire. Understood?"
"That is just her name. Even less secure. Over."
"Whatever. Just dropped in my own two or three thoughts. Peace out, you two." Robert dropped what he thought was just a fancy Tumblr call.
While a modern citizen might be puzzled by that, for Robert, it made perfect sense. In 2032, Tumblr implemented a video chat feature, and Robert was a regular user of it. That did not matter to him, though, as he was out of the conversation.
"For the last time, I am not Joey Claire." As Robert tuned out, Kate decided to tune in, once again. "Look, my friend said it right there. I'm just another girl with a flashlight. Literally nothing to possibly compare. And we do not need codenames."
"Yes, we do, Joey. Also, if you're not Joey, elaborate on identical appearance? Over."
"Wait, what?" Kate decided to give herself a better look, and inadvertently, turned around, giving Jude, who was apparently observing her from somewhere (Kate highly suspected the tree house), a better look of herself.
To Kate, this seemed like an ordinary look, almost too clean for any era before her own. Dark, slightly messy hair, white tee, gray coat, black skirt, some leg warmers and some shoes.
To Jude, though... "Wait. Missing green star. Wardrobe mishap? Over."
"I'm sorry. Green star?" The only thing that was green in Kate's life was the occasional plant that she might see far away from her own home, and also, the text she had hit Enter on while chatting on Pesterchum.
"Joey, this cannot be. How can you not remember? Over."
"Remember what?" If this was an exam in which one's ability to successfully be whoever Joey Claire was was tested, Kate was failing it miserably.
"Your mother painted mural in your room during your youth. It featured a green star, so you liked motif and lately, you and babysitter got it printed on a shirt. Where is that shirt? Over."
"I'm sorry, Jude, but literally none of this is registering for me. Maybe it's because I did come from an alien planet named Earth and..." Kate trailed off.
"Joey. This is Earth. The town of Hauntswitch. Over."
Alright, so this planet's residents did refer to it as Earth. Well, that's fantastic, Kate thought. Now I have two Earths to keep track of.
"Yeah, but you see, I am not from Hauntswitch. Or at least, I don't think I am. I mean, I haven't even heard of it, so, yeah. Make your own conclusions."
"The only possible conclusion is that alien spaceship overwrote your memories and personality. Despite that, Joey, I know the real you is still there somewhere. Over."
"And knowing that I might act differently from the real Joey, you still confide all of the secrets between you two to me."
"Joey, please." There was a brief silence, and then: "Over."
"You know what? Alright, fine. Let's just play your game. So, according to you, my real name is Joey Claire, and somehow, I have forgotten everything I used to know. What could possibly be the first hints towards rediscovering my actual life?"
"Various details in mansion. Beware of serpents and other types of creatures. Unfortunately, experience shows flashlight unequipped to fight creatures. Over."
Kate laughed a bit. "The purpose of a flashlight is to have whatever you point it at light up. Not to kill it. If I seriously tried fighting anyone with a flashlight, what was I even thinking?"
"Joey. You stated repeatedly that you do not use guns. I think this is key to your character and should not be forgotten. Over."
"I'm sorry, what? Do not use guns?" Kate laughed a bit again, then suddenly got serious and a bit irritated. "If that is the case, then the Joey Claire girl absolutely needs to have some sense knocked into her. Let's just face the facts: if I was stuck on a version of Earth with dangerous black monsters, I would simply know to equip myself with something better at combat to defend myself with than a flashlight."
"Do not berate yourself, Joey. Serpents only attacked today. You could not have anticipated anything. Over."
While Kate was trying to process what Jude just said, another voice chimed in. It was not that of Jude or Robert; instead, Kate recognized it as Diana. "Kate, that was racist."
At this point, Kate was pretty much flustered. "It is literally not the time for this, Diana. Sure, maybe it is a huge crime to say "black" to you, but in that case, I regret that I must inform you that we're not playing by the rules of Tumblr here. We're not in 2041 anymore, Diana, and that means you can take your "racist" remark and put it literally anywhere else."
What Kate did not expect with her outburst, though, was for Jude to get completely lost. "Twenty... forty... one." He slowly said into his Walkie-Talkie, followed by an awkward pause and then: "Uh... over."
"Wait a minute." Only now, Kate realized to look at the watch that she had brought. When she saw the digits, it turned out that indeed, since this was an Earth, the date looked fairly human, but at the same time literally not what anyone (except perhaps Jude, who was native to this Earth) was expecting at this point: 1994-11-11 18:12:16.
As the digits fully registered in Kate's mind, the expression on her face changed from angered to shocked, and she began hyperventilating. This cannot be. Everything I've loved... everything I've personally known...
"Minute is up, Joey. You must speak up. Over."
"No. I can't. I simply..." With her flashlight in one hand and the Walkie-Talkie in the other, Kate was nervously scanning the entire neighborhood, realizing that she couldn't really go anywhere. Not her spaceship, which had only come to shape a few days ago and therefore wasn't quite "home" to her. Not the mansion, which Jude insisted was her home, but which...
"Joey." Observing Kate's movements and knowing that something was wrong with her, Jude tried speaking reassuringly. "It's going to be okay. At one point, you're going to remember everything, and I will have a sister again. You just have to work with me. Alright? Over."
"...Alright." Kate had at least partially calmed down from the shock of realizing that she was 46 years and some months in the past. "The least I can do is try." She thus pointed her flashlight at the mansion to try and find an entry point, which was quite easy to do, as these "serpents" had already broken some of the windows to the mansion.
"That's the spirit. Over."
"Though, I'll probably want to do it alone. So, what's the protocol for "end of conversation"?" Kate asked.
"It's "over and out", Joey. Over."
"In that case, see you sometime, Jude. Over and out."
"Same to you, Joey. And before I go: thanks for playing along. Over and out."
Without any further delay, Kate affixed the Walkie-Talkie to her skirt again and, flashlight still pointing in front of herself, stepped through the broken window into the mansion.
Author's idiotisms: If this ends up on Archive of Our Own someday, it absolutely needs a tag saying that Kate Parker and Joey Claire are two different characters.