Arno's first thought on getting safely to the new universe was—well, that wasn't so hard. His next thought, hot on the heels of the first and with far more urgency, was oh shit. He froze, staring at the man in front of him and trying to figure out the appropriate response to meeting himself.

There was no doubt at all that this was the Arno from this world—he was wearing the same face that had looked back out of the mirror at Arno every day of his life (well, every day until today, but that was a whole separate issue). His was just a little older, that was all.

"Who are you?" the other Arno asked, and Arno felt his breath catch. What was he supposed to say? 'I'm you from another world, I just don't look all that much like you anymore because earlier today I had to take this potion to save my best friend from being magically lobotomized by his pissed off ex-girlfriend?' Sure. Arno had lived it and he still knew it sounded crazy.

"I'm…" Suddenly, Arno was grateful for the strangeness of his own voice. "It doesn't matter who I am. But I need to see Shay Cormac." Because he had no idea what to do or how to save Hope, but Shay would know. Even if he was different from Arno's Shay. Even if he wouldn't know Arno, or… he would, but he'd know the Arno that belonged to this world…

Arno's head started to hurt, and he stopped trying to think about it. Alternate universes weren't his thing. He just needed to pretend they were long enough to help Shay's girlfriend and go home. (And… then what? If Desmond had listened to Arno, bad Hope would be taken care of by now, and there wouldn't be anything to stop things from… going back to normal? What did that even mean, for people like them?)

"You can't," the other Arno said. He still looked decidedly suspicious.

"You do know who he is, don't you?" Arno asked.

"Sure. He's my boss, I saw him ten minutes ago."

"So you know where he is!"

"Yea, but—"

"Then what's the matter?" Arno demanded.

"He's a little busy just now," the other Arno said. "With the execution."

"Hope's?" Arno asked, and he only waited long enough for the answering nod before swearing, with what must have seemed like inappropriate enthusiasm. He'd thought there was more time left before the execution, but maybe time didn't move consistently between universes (that would at least explain why this Arno was several years older). Or maybe Arno had just been wrong—he'd had a lot to take in during the last few hours, after all. "She's being executed now?"

"Well—" Other Arno paused to check his watch. "In about fifteen minutes, as soon as all the legal formalities are taken care of."

"We have to save her," Arno said. His visions had spazzed a little when he first dropped into this world, but now they were beginning to settle, and that would have to be good enough. He looked around—they were on a street in some city he didn't recognize. But the visions were pointing him onward with the same relentless certainty as they had back home, and so Arno turned and hurried in the appropriate direction.

"Why?" other Arno called. He cursed quietly and hurried after. "Slow down!"

"Get in shape!" Arno shouted back. Then—"Hope's innocent. At least, this version is, the evil one's in a different universe and I don't know if we can bring her back here, but this one needs to not be executed." He stopped at the corner just before crossing a street, and spun around to glare. "Alright?"

"How did you even know about that other worlds thing?" other Arno demanded, when he caught up.

"I'm from that world," Arno said.

"Really?"

"I swear on… I don't know, whatever you people swear on here. Just help me."

And the other Arno nodded and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on," he said. "There's not a lot of time left."

-/-

Shay only found out where Arno had gone when Aveline called him about it.

"You sent him into another world?" Shay demanded, when she had explained everything.

"He wanted to—"

"It's dangerous," Shay protested. "Unless you've been testing this behind my back."

"No," she said, without even a hint of apology. "Just researching it."

"Aveline!"

"Shay!" She sighed heavily. "Listen, it's a good thing we did, if Arno was telling the truth about saving Hope."

"I need to be there," Shay said. "With him."

"Are you up for that?" Aveline asked doubtfully. "I heard something about you being psychic now."

"Well, yes," he admitted. "But I know I can do this. And I have to, so that's pretty much that." Besides. The visions weren't too bad, as long as he kept his eyes closed.

"Fine," Aveline said. "If you can get out here, I'll help you get to that other world. And, you know. Back. When you're done."

"I'll be there," Shay promised, and hung up.

The problem, of course, was that he had no idea how to get across town when he kept seeing things that weren't there, or at least weren't there yet. Driving was out of the question, and walking simply wasn't fast enough. He was only just starting to worry when the doorbell rang.

Shay's vision spazzed and blurred for a second, before settling into a vision of Ezio on the other side. And he didn't know why the other man was there, but from the illogical feeling of relief that came with the vision, Shay felt safe in assuming Ezio must be there to help. He didn't hear Charles anywhere around, so Shay went to answer the door himself.

And sure enough, there was Ezio on the other side, broad smile almost bisecting his face. "Shay!" he said, and caught Shay up in an enthusiastic hug. "I had a vision that you were one of us now, and I thought I must be losing it."

"Ezio—"

"But no! Here you are, blue eyed and everything."

"How did you even know I was me?" Shay asked. "I feel like I haven't done anything since that potion but try to convince people who I am." And worry about Hope. And Arno.

"Well. Psychic."

"Of course," Shay grumbled. "Can't wait until I start seeing actually useful things instead of random crap." Then he remembered the feeling of relief that had come with the vision of Ezio's arrival, and frowned. "Speaking of which, you wouldn't be here to help me, would you?"

"Well, I came because I had to hear why you were suddenly psychic and different looking and also not getting lobotomized, but if you need help I'd be glad to give it."

Shay nodded enthusiastically. "Yes," he said. "I need a ride to work."

"Work?" Ezio repeated. "Now?"

"So the people there can help me get into another universe and save—" There wasn't enough time to explain Hope. "Someone important."

"Oh, well. In that case."

And Ezio didn't hesitate for so much as a second before grabbing Shay by the arm and tugging him toward his car. They didn't talk much on the way out, apart from the very beginning. Then maybe he noticed the way Shay was rubbing at his temples and wincing.

"You alright?" he asked

"I feel like I'm being attacked by all these visions," Shay admitted. "It's just one right after another, all the time. Is that normal, or—"

"Considering you're the only person in history to become psychic later in life, I wouldn't say there's any normal to compare you to."

"Great," Shay muttered. "Perfect, yes. Exactly what I wanted to hear just now."

"Well I wasn't going to lie to you," Ezio said. "Listen, just… close your eyes, alright?"

"I feel like an idiot," Shay grumbled, as he did what he was told. "And I'm going to need them open at some point."

"I know," Ezio said. "But there's no reason to force yourself to see all these visions at once if you don't need to, and it's not like you're the one driving."

Shay nodded, and the rest of the trip went by in darkness, and silence. When they finally arrived, Shay thanked Ezio and nearly ran out of the car and into the building. Then upward, toward his team, toward whatever way they had found to access other worlds, toward Arno and Hope and the place he needed to be just now.

-/-

Arno followed his other self into a stone building that practically screamed unhappiness and death. Or maybe that was just how it seemed to his supernaturally heightened senses. "This is where they do the executions?"

"Yes," the other Arno agreed. "In the basement."

"Then that's where I'm going," Arno said firmly.

"Listen, kid." He bit his lip, and to Arno, the expression spelled out his mood as clearly as if the older man had simply said it aloud. You're nuts and I can't let you go running off to do something stupid. It was so eerie to see his own expressions mirrored on another person's face, and Arno wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the feeling.

"I'm not a kid," he said, before his other self could gear up for the lecture he seemed to be readying himself for. "I know what I'm doing, and I know how to take care of myself!"

"I thought you wanted to be taken to Shay," the other Arno protested, a bit feebly in the face of the conviction he had unexpectedly being confronted with.

"And he'll be with Hope, won't he?" Arno asked. "In the basement?"

"Well, yes. But what are you going to do when you get there? And how are you going to get there? There are cops down there, you know! This is the execution of a really infamous criminal, the media are trying to get in, members of the public are trying to get in, family of the victims are trying to get in—you won't manage it!"

"I will!"

"How?"

Arno sighed and pointed to a nearby door. "That door leads to a set of stairs that go down to the basement. It's not secured, because there's three locked doors between that part of the basement and the execution room, or whatever it's called. The first one opens with a keycard, and one of the security guards left his in the bathroom yesterday. The second one has a code—it's 35218. The third one…" he looked back at the door, frowning at his visions. "That one's going to be a little harder to get past. But I'll manage it."

"And you know all this because..?"

"Because I'm psychic," Arno said, and took off running for the door to the stairs before his other self could answer. And that exit would have been really cool, he thought (bitterly), it would have gone over really well, if only he hadn't tripped halfway to the door and fallen flat on his face.

Well. That happened.

He got up with as much dignity as he could possibly muster, felt his face to make sure nothing was broken or bleeding, and walked the rest of the far more slowly. No one moved to stop him, possibly just because they were too surprised to move. Arno ignored them all, hurrying toward the stairs (and Shay, and Hope).

The stairs were simple enough to get down, and the first two doors opened easily, exactly as Arno had foreseen him. Then came the third door. Arno checked it out for a second, making sure he'd seen things right. He made a face. Yep. Still as bad as it had looked from upstairs. Arno slid into place against the wall, a foot or so away from the door, and tried to steady his erratic breathing.

No more than two minutes passed before a guard opened the door from the other side. He was talking loudly into a walkie talkie, and Arno waited until the conversation was over before lunging out of the shadows. He hit the guard, hard, and the man went down with a bump on his head before he'd had time to say so much as a single word. Arno stuck his foot between the door and its frame to keep it from closing, then felt for the guard's pulse. Strong and steady. Good. He opened the door the rest of the way and stepped through, into the execution room.

-/-

Shay found himself suddenly in a cold, white room half filled with people, and for a second he does nothing but try to process things. This was not a room he had ever been to before, but he knew in an instant that this was the right place.

The room is arranged in a kind of circle, amphitheater style, around a metal table with a woman strapped to it. Shay knew her, recognized her at once, but didn't want to. Because that was his Hope, lying there, and this was the room where she was to be killed.

"No," Shay hissed, and the man at his side jumps a little and turns to look at him. Shay realized it was himself, and feels far calmer about this realization than he should. It didn't even matter, not compared to everything else.

"Who—"

People were turning to look at the two Shays now, and Shay didn't think it could possibly be much longer before someone figured out which of them wasn't supposed to be there, and then he would be kicked out, and then…

Shay bolted, running as fast as he could toward Hope. People were shouting, and Shay could hear what sounded like guards calling after him to come back or else, but there was nothing in the world that could stop him just now. He slid to a stop at Hope's side, and took hold of her hand. "Hope," he said. "Hope, it's me."

"Shay?" They must have given her something already—anesthesia, tranquilizers, something, because she smiled up at Hope with an almost dreamy expression on her face. "You came."

"Yes."

"To watch me die?"

"No! God no, Hope. To rescue you."

A hand grabbed Shay on the shoulder, and started pulling him away—it occurred to him, suddenly, that maybe he shouldn't have come here without some kind of a plan. He didn't know what to do, his entire mind had gone blank, and then he heard the sound of a fist connecting with the side of someone's face. Shay turned around, still holding Hope's hand, and there was Arno, fighting his way through the crowds of guards to get to Shay and Hope. He got there in the end, and planted himself firmly in front of the other two.

"I told you to stay at home," Arno said, glancing back at Shay.

"I don't listen well."

"Nope!"

There were more people coming, and Arno could fight (well, even), but there were at least a dozen men with guns heading toward them, and Shay highly doubted Arno would be able to do anything about them. "What do we do now?"

"Can she move?" Arno asked, gesturing behind him at Hope. Shay glanced down and shook his head.

"Not right now," he said. "I don't think so."

"Okay." Arno turned back to them (a brave gesture under the circumstances, with well armed men converging on them). "Then I guess it's all up to your team to pull us back home."

"Don't you have any way to signal them?" Altair asked desperately.

"How do you signal someone in another world?" Arno asked.

"So they might not get us out in time?" Shay demanded.

"Didn't they explain all this to you when they sent you?"

"I wasn't listening!"

The men were no more than a dozen steps away from the trio that now huddled together against the metal table, and to make matters worse, Shay's visions were starting to react to his fear, a hundred slices of the future bursting into existence around him. None particularly relevant at the moment, which Shay was grateful for. He wasn't sure what he would do if he'd seen them killing Hope. Or Arno. Or him.

"Arno…" he whispered, and Arno must have realized what was going on because he just took Shay's hand and squeezed, echoing the advice Ezio had given Shay earlier.

"Close your eyes," he whispered. "Don't look." And he said it again and again, like a mantra, until Shay gave in and closed his eyes. "Don't look, don't look, don't look…"

And then a sharp intake of breath, and Arno laughed in what sounded like relief. "Alright," he said, hugging Shay abruptly. "Now you can look."

He opened one eye first, and then the other. The cold, bare room was gone, replaced by the familiar surroundings of the lab in the mage's tower where he worked. And Arno was there, of course and so was Hope. "Oh," Shay whispered. "Thank God."

Hope was on the floor, collapsed without the table to hold her up. Shay crouched down next to her, cradling her in his arms. "Please be alright," he begged. "Hope, please…"

She opened her eyes, gaze still looking fuzzy from whatever they'd drugged her with. It sharpened a bit when she saw Shay. And she smiled. It had been so long since he'd seen that smile…

"Shay," she said. "Are we home?"

"We're home," he promised. "And Hope, there's someone I want you to meet." He reached up, tugging on Arno until he crouched down as well. "Hope, this is Arno. Arno, Hope. And you two…" his throat was closing up, so that it was almost impossible to get any words out. Shay fought through it, because he wanted to say this. "You two are the most important people in the world to me. I'm so… so glad you finally got to meet."

-/-

Getting really close to the end now, people. :)