Fischbach spoke first. "Have you guys managed to figure out who did it?"
Dark and Blank nodded simultaneously, but Blank was the one who spoke first. "Dark and I have been collaborating on this and it was found that Annus and Unus together with the Host."
Ethan looked shocked. "Unus was in on this? But none of you were active when the little Mark showed up! How could he have been part of it?"
Dark gave him a dark look. "It might have been less noticeable for you, as you are not in regular correspondence with your Egos, but as it is with Mark, e'en though we aren't always seen, we are always doing something."
Ethan was sheepish, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense." He rubbed the back of his neck.
Fischbach leaned forward in his chair, and looked at his lookalike. "So they worked together on this? How?"
"Yes, that's what he said. I, myself, am not entirely sure how it was done, as your energy and ours is only vaguely connected. Mayhaps we Egos are of a different plane of existence and can access it equally? We don't yet know. What we do know, however, is that neither of us had the ability to contact either of you for the time leading up to his arrival and that Unus, Annus, and the Host were the ones leaching our power to make it happen."
They all seemed to munch on that for a moment. Fischbach spoke again, this time to the both of them. "Could we speak to them?"
Another simultaneous nod, Blank was again the one to speak, "Later, Eef." Before Mark could so much as blink, the two of them were gone. Only a moment later Fischbach and Ethan were back to closing their eyes in concentration.
In Blanks spot another figure was appearing. He looked exactly like Ethan in every regard except for his black painted nails and solid black suit. Where Dark once sat now sat a man in a tan trench coat with bandages across his eyes (Was that blood?), he had a blond streak in his hair. On the seat next to the man was yet another person in a suit. This one had a white suit like Dark did, but was solid white, rather than blacks, whites, and greys. He also had white painted nails and looked much more alive and colorful than Dark had. None of them seemed to affect their surroundings like Dark had, but Fischbach's still seemed to be slightly fuzzier than Ethan's.
The seemingly blind one started muttering something the moment he appeared, although it was whispered so lowly that Mark would've had to strain to hear him. Mark asked, "So I'm 80% certain that that one's the Host, but which ones were Unus and Annus again?"
Ethan's suited man raised his hand, "I'm Unus, and that is Annus."
"How come you're less blurry than Mark's?"
Annus said, "That's because Mark has so many more of us than Ethan does. We all use the same energy, so we don't spend as much on it for physical specters like Ethan's does. However, because of how many that Mark has, if put all together then we have much more than Ethan does. Ethan has more to spare for the little things."
"Interesting." And it really was. Mark would honestly love to learn more about it all, but that could come later.
"So would you all care to explain why you all decided to bring him here with neither mine nor Dark's permission?" Mark asked the two of them.
Unus and Annus glanced uncertainly at each other. Annus said, "I don't know if we can. Or, at least, we can only tell him." Annus gestured to Mark.
"What?" Fischbach seemed to be torn asunder, "Why can't we know?"
"Yeah, how come only I can know?" Mark would really appreciate being kept in the loop and having people that he could talk to about things.
The black and white Egos seemed to carry out a silent conversation before Unus relented. "We've seen the future."
Everyone had a collective blink. "You've what?" Ethan demanded. "Since when was that a thing that you could do?"
"Yeah, that sounds like much more of a Host thing." Fischbach and Ethan shared in their astonishment.
"Well, it is. A Host thing, I mean. But we've always been able to see when things end, and we saw quite the ending."
"An ending?" Fischbach looked ashen faced at Amy, Ethan, then Mark. "What kind of ending?"
Annus looked regretful. "I'm afraid that we can't tell you."
"And what does that have to do with Mark?" Fischbach gestured over his shoulder at Mark.
"Absolutely everything. We can't tell you when, or where, or how, but it was of utmost importance that he learn all of this now, rather than later."
"And how does the Host come into it?" The Host hadn't moved an inch from when he first appeared, but he was still muttering under his breath. "Why was he necessary in this?"
Unus leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, fingers steepled together. "All that we could do was see the end, but the Host could see the motions between the beginning and the end. He most certainly hasn't told us everything, but we knew enough that we needed to get Mark here; he needed to learn what he could about Egos as soon as was feasible, timeline wise."
Ethan asked, "How come only Mark was sent to the future if this ending has to do with the both of us?"
Annus gave him a sardonic smile, "Well, Mark gets his Egos much sooner than you do, he has more contacts than you do, which he will need, but the main reason is that we only had enough power between the two of us to bring one person to and from here."
Ethan nodded in understanding, but Mark was still confused about something, "Wait, but if these are all things that I need to do and remember, then how come Mark doesn't remember any of it? Wouldn't he be able to stop this end, or whatever if he could remember it?"
The duo glanced at each other again and Annus answered. "No. Because we can't tell our Mark about it, because we saw it happening and he didn't know that it would happen, so we can't have him be informed about it. We can tell you though, because you aren't the same Mark as the one now. You aren't from this world, but another. Your future is not yet written."
"So I am from an alternate reality then, and not just the past?" This was all kinda mind blowing, if he were being honest.
Fischbach's eyes boggled, "Do you have any idea what this means in the realm of science?! This confirms and denies so many theories!"
The death duo seemed unimpressed, but surprisingly, it was Amy who spoke up. "I don't think that that is the primary issue here, Mark."
Fischbach waved his arms wildly, "Yeah, but- but," He sputtered, "Alright then…"
"They all took a moment to compose themselves after the revelation of such a scientific impossibility, all the while the Host's voice became steadily louder and easier to hear. All in the room turned to face the Host, inquiringly, and the elder Mark motioned for the Host to proceed and say his bit." The Host took in a breath.
"After the Host has finished speaking and all have said what they wish to the younger Mark will be sent back to his own time in his own world. He will forget everything about his stay here and wake as though nothing had changed so as to make all of the same imperative decisions as he did in this world. In time, however, he shall remember his visit and make use of mental instructions that he shall find when he needs it. When the time comes for him to play his part he shall know what to do and how to do it.
"The elder Mark asked of the Host-"
"So I am to take it that you were the one orchestrating this whole affair?"
"The Host confirmed his assumption and paused yet again as Annus leaned forward and asked-"
"And you're sure that you can't tell us exactly what you've seen will happen?"
"The Host again answered in confirmation, everyone in the room having adequate knowledge of the function of paradoxes and knowing not to mess with fate. A somber note filled the room as…."
The Host's voice dropped back down to a whisper and was hardly audible.
Mark silently gulped, "So I guess this is goodbye?"
Amy stood and they all moved to copy her, everyone but the Egos, that is. "Goodbye for now, not forever."
Mark smiled, "Well, I sure hope not, it was lovely getting to know you."
"Oh, come over here," Mark stepped forward and they hugged. Mark couldn't wait to get an Amy of his own, and he was willing to wait for it.
Fischbach cleared his throat and Mark turned to him. "Well, I guess that I'll see you in ten years, your time."
Mark groaned at Fischbach's good natured smile, "Don't remind me. There's so much to do, and I won't even remember what it is that I have to do."
They clasped hands in a firm handshake. "At least you'll have the intuition to do it. But I wouldn't be the person I am now without having not known what was going to happen, so it's all for the best."
The Host had stopped talking.
"I suppose so."
Ethan stepped forward, and shook hands with Mark, "It was great meeting you, It's so strange seeing you younger than me."
Mark laughed, "I guess it would be for you, wouldn't it?" He stepped back from the table, smiling fondly at them all. He couldn't wait to have all this for himself, and not just as an observer. "And I'll see you guys later too?"
Unus and Annus nodded, Annus smiled up at him. "The time will come for all of us, but yours won't be for some time."
He snorted, "I'll take that as a compliment."
No one really knew what to say. Well, it's not as though these kinds of things happened every day. Fischbach said, "Just know that you can do it. Whenever you set your mind to something you can do it, and I know that you can. You've got this."
It was snowing outside. Mark opened his eyes and sat up from his bed, stretching. He had the strangest dream last night, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. Shame.
The monitor blipped, just like it all those weeks ago. "Sir! We've got it!"