Snake Eyes was a patient teacher. He never once expressed disgust or anger with Scarlett when she screwed something up, and he provided unceasing encouragement and reassurance. The longer Scarlett stayed in this alternate world, the more at home she felt. She and Snake Eyes spent most of their free time together. The more they talked with each other, the more Scarlett's sign language skills improved, and the better she felt she knew him.

Scarlett never realized how much she would learn about Snake Eyes, in the time she spent learning sign language. The experience was awkward at first, but they soon settled into a familiar pattern. Snake Eyes would say something to Scarlett in sign language, something any normal conversation would have entailed. Scarlett would respond in her usual way, but if she did not understand, Snake Eyes would write it down for her. He would periodically repeat certain words and expressions in sign language to help Scarlett commit everything to memory.

"Talk to me about anything," Scarlett said.

"Like what?" Snake Eyes wrote.

"Tell me more about yourself. Tell me everything there is to know about you."

So Snake Eyes would tell her about something new every day. He spoke to her in sign language at great length about his family, particularly his twin sister. He told his favorite stories from his childhood. He told stories of the most memorable missions he and Scarlett had participated on together.

Scarlett, in turn, shared with Snake Eyes many stories of her family, her life, her dreams, and her experience in G.I. Joe. When Scarlett was with Snake Eyes, she often was able to forget her predicament. It felt natural to be with him. She felt herself beginning to settle into this new relationship with him. It was a relationship filled with warmth and understanding.

One day Snake Eyes explained to Scarlett his reasons for loving her.

"Scarlett, I love you because you are compassionate, caring, and above all, kind. When I was lonely, you reached out to me and rescued me from loneliness. You became my family when I had none. When the others shrank from the sight of my face, you embraced me, not out of pity or guilt, but out of love."

* * *

Word of Scarlett's otherworldly tale spread through the ranks of G.I. Joe, and soon everyone knew of her peculiar plight. There were many people who did not believe her, who thought she suffered from a strange delusion. They said Scarlett had "lost the edge." But a few did believe her in spite of themselves, and this camp included Stalker, Breaker, Ace, Rock 'N Roll, Jinx, and Snake Eyes. They believed her out of their respect for her and ultimately out of the truth of their friendship for her. Scarlett could not prove the truth of her story, but her friends implicitly trusted her all the same. Days turned into weeks, weeks became months, until so much time had elapsed since the incident, that everyone accepted Scarlett without reservation. She had managed to assimilate herself into this different G.I. Joe team, and she found that she enjoyed her new life as much, possibly even more, than her former one.

However, Scarlett longed to return to her old friends and the home she had known all her life. Enlisting Breaker's assistance, she monitored the North American skies carefully. Every day, she checked in with Breaker, who manned the communication consoles in the Joe headquarters. Nothing happened without his knowing. If any kind of weird space-time warp appeared in the skies, he would notice, and he would tell Scarlett right away.

Scarlett rested one hand on Breaker's shoulder as she leaned over to peer at the computer monitors as usual. Breaker, seated, popped in another wad of bubble gum as he turned his head toward Scarlett.

"Nothing unusual, Scarlett."

"The same, huh?" Scarlett said with a sigh. They had been performing this ritual nearly every day for the last six months.

"What makes you think this is the way for you to get home?"

"Because," Scarlett explained, "it's the only thing I know. All I know is that I flew through a weird electromagnetic distortion, some bizarre thing, and if I could somehow fly back through it, maybe I'll be home again."

"You know, Scarlett," Breaker said seriously, "I've never gotten over how weird it is for me to hear you talk like that. When I see you, I see Scarlett, I don't see an imposter or a stranger. I don't see someone else."

"Why are you humoring me, then?"

"Well," Breaker said, flashing a debonair smile, "I figure, what the hell. I like you, Scarlett. You're not yourself, but hell, I don't mind seeing your sweet self here every day. It beats doing actual work."

Scarlett laughed and squeezed his shoulder.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she headed out the door.

She was off-duty and planned to spend another day with Snake Eyes, who was also off. As she made her way to Snake Eyes' quarters, Scarlett spotted Steeler alone in the Joe motor pool.

"Hi, Steeler!" Scarlett gave a friendly wave.

Steeler looked up from his tank engine repair work. For several weeks, Steeler had looked terrible. He was generally sullen, morose, and biting. It was so bad that he had gotten into a fistfight with Clutch and had consequently spent a night in the brig.

"Hey," he muttered back.

Scarlett, concerned, walked toward Steeler and put a hand on his shoulder. He continued to sit still, holding a wrench in one hand and a soda in the other.

"Steeler, what's wrong?"

"Oh, what do you want?"

"I can tell something's happened. You haven't been yourself. You want to talk about it?"

Steeler grimaced for a few moments, and then he let it all out.

"It's all the fault of that bitch, the Baroness. When we were fighting a battle with Cobra last month, I had her cornered with my Mauler in her HISS tank. Clutch was there to back me up. So she climbs out of her tank with her hands up and says she surrenders, please don't hurt me!

"I'm thinking, damn she's hot!!! I tell her, don't do anything funny, gorgeous. The Baroness starts walking toward me with her hands behind her head, swaying her hips. Man has she got nice hips. But since I'm trying to maintain at least some tiny shred of professionalism, I jump out of the Mauler with my M16 and yell at her, don't fucking move or I'll fucking blow you away!

"She keeps coming, swaying those hips, projecting her chest outward. It's like she's practically inviting me to reach out and grope at her. She says, Steeler, I think you are one cute guy. Don't you think we could talk it over someplace private, work things out? I'm sure we could negotiate something mutually… pleasurable, she says. My jaw is dropping. I'm thinking, holy shit, I think Scarlett was on to something! I'm going to score! And Clutch, he's staring, too. And she's just standing a few feet from me, and before I know it, she lets loose this mean roundhouse kick that knocks my rifle out. Then she fucking kicks me in the nuts!

"So long, the Baroness says as she escapes, it could have been beautiful, Steeler. I'm lying on the ground holding my wounded balls and Clutch, what is he doing in all of this? Is he doing anything to stop the Baroness from getting away? No. He's doubled over, laughing at me. Son of a bitch! I'm possibly sterilized and he's fucking laughing at me! I don't care what you say about your parallel worlds, Scarlett. That fucking Baroness, I want to fucking kill her! That bitch is fucking dead meat!"

"Wow," Scarlett said, at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry for being so vulgar and shit, Scarlett, but I'm really pissed. But more than that, I'm humiliated. It's just so unbearably demeaning."

Steeler covered his face with his hands.

"Steeler, I'm your friend. Just know that I think you're a good guy. If you want to talk with me about anything, anything at all, just say so. I'm here for you. We can have a drink sometime. Sound okay?"

Steeler looked up at her and smiled for the first time in weeks.

"Thanks, Scarlett. That's awfully kind of you. We'll have a few drinks, sure."

* * *

Together, Scarlett and Snake Eyes walked hand in hand along the shores of Staten Island, in the still of night. The night sky was clear and filled with stars. Only the stars and the moon lit the ground beneath their feet.

"Snake Eyes, do you believe in destiny?"

Snake Eyes, not wearing his customary mask, looked at her for a moment.

"I thought I did. But when you tell me about alternate worlds, I am not so sure," he signed.

"Why?"

"Because if your story is true, then everything that has happened in this world is a result of random chance. This world is different from the one you know only as a result of a toss of the dice."

"Don't you think our coming together was meant to be?"

"Possibly," Snake Eyes signed.

"How about this," Scarlett said, moving closer to Snake Eyes as they sat on the beach, "maybe there are an infinite number of parallel worlds out there. In some of these worlds, you and I are together, but in others, such as mine, we are not very close. Maybe, in my world, Snake Eyes and I are meant to be together, but we've gone against our destiny. We've drifted away from the pattern of what was meant to be. Maybe extraordinary events must happen in order for our intended fates to be realized."

"The Snake Eyes from your world," Snake Eyes asked, "what is he like?"

Scarlett smiled as she gazed at the dark waters and listened to the soothing rhythm of the waves lazily coming in and receding.

"He's loyal, courageous, and kind. Very much like you," Scarlett said, looking into his eyes.

"The Snake Eyes I knew saved my life once, in a way I'll always remember. Saved all of our lives. He sacrificed himself, trapped himself inside a barrier containing deadly gases, in order to save us."

Scarlett could easily visualize the way he had pressed his hand to the glass shield, and the way she had pressed her own hand to the shield from the other side, reluctantly saying good-bye, wondering if this was the last time she would ever see him. She remembered her happiness at later seeing him alive and well. They had embraced.

"He did it for me," she said wonderingly.

"Snake Eyes, I'm glad I'm here with you," Scarlett said earnestly.

"Me too," Snake Eyes signed.

"I believe that I was meant to come here. I was meant to come here to learn from you and be changed by you."

"You've gotten very good at understanding me," Snake Eyes signed, smiling.

"I had a good teacher," Scarlett said softly.

Their eyes met. Each person could feel the emotion radiating from the other. Scarlett felt the butterflies in her stomach, realizing what would soon happen, as their faces slowly moved toward each other. As their lips touched for the first time, they put their arms around each other, drawing each other nearer as the kiss grew in passion and feeling.

"I love you," Scarlett whispered tenderly with an inner conviction she had never known before.

For a long time, neither of them said a word as they lay on the sand, side by side, gazing at the stars above.

* * *

After Scarlett's profession of love for Snake Eyes, they shared a spiritual closeness and intimacy that she had never before experienced. For days after the night on the beach, Scarlett lived in a euphoric state. She felt as if she could walk on water. No one among G.I. Joe had thought it possible for Scarlett to show any more cheerfulness and sweetness in her disposition than she already did, but everyone was proved pleasantly wrong.

The doors in Scarlett's heart were thrown open. All her life, she was a prisoner, and now she tasted the sweet joys of freedom. In Scarlett's mind, the love she had found between herself and Snake Eyes was a divine revelation, one that she desired to share with everyone in her life who she cared for, the way a preacher wishes to share the gospel with all of humanity. She sought out teammates who she felt she might have slighted in the least possible way and begged for their forgiveness. She sought out her friends and showered them with her love, as Snake Eyes showered her with his love.

It was impossible for anyone in G.I. Joe to fail to notice the amazing change in Scarlett; she was a wellspring of good feelings and happiness. Scarlett treated Steeler, Clutch, Ace, and Breaker to a round of drinks at the local bar. Roadblock was amused to find Scarlett pop in unexpectedly one evening during preparations for dinner, asking if she could help in any way. Rock 'N Roll and Wild Bill were profoundly touched when Scarlett showed up at their quarters, bearing small gifts and expressing with genuine feeling, all the ways that she cared for and appreciated them. Remembering how Duke had remarked that they never spent any time together, Scarlett took him out for a cup of coffee.

"This is a surprise, Scarlett. Would you mind telling me what made you decide to ask me out to coffee? I mean, we hardly ever hang out."

"I'm sorry, I've been neglecting you, Duke. I've neglected our friendship, and I want to show you that our friendship is important to me."

Touched, Duke smiled as they sat in the café, enjoying their drink together.

"Man," Stalker remarked with wonder to Snake Eyes one day while they were working out together in the gymnasium, "have you got the touch or what? What did you ever do to make Scarlett so incredibly happy? What's your secret?"

Snake Eyes could only smile in contentment.

Some mornings, Scarlett would find Snake Eyes as he emerged from his quarters, embrace him tenderly, and tell him that she loved him. It was her way of wishing him a good and happy day.

"I love you," Snake Eyes signed to her. "Every day that I am with you, I find new reasons to love you…"

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Scarlett and Snake Eyes had kissed on the beach. The morning sun roused Scarlett from her sleep, and she smiled. Her outpouring of displays of love for her teammates had subsided a bit (no one could humanly sustain that feeling forever), but her sweetness and good feelings still remained, ever capable of triggering an occasional demonstration of love when she was moved to do so. If she was to be stranded here in the alternate world, she could accept her fate. She felt content with her life. She was at peace.

The phone rang, and Scarlett frowned a little. It was still early in the morning. Who could be calling her?

"It's Breaker," said the voice on the other end. "I'm in the communications room. You better come up here right away."

The day Scarlett had alternately hoped for and dreaded had finally arrived. Feeling a bit of trepidation, Scarlett hurriedly got dressed and made her way to the communications control room as quickly as she could.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Scarlett said as she drew up alongside Breaker, who remained seated at his console.

Breaker was manning the control room alone. It was not even yet 7:00 AM.

"No," Breaker said. "At least, I haven't told anyone, that is. You were the first person I called."

There, on one of the display monitors, Scarlett saw a bizarre distortion over the American midwest, in the same location as before. Some kind of electromagnetic distortion was the best that Scarlett and Breaker could see from the data that came up from the satellite images.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Breaker said.

"How long do you think it will stay there?" Scarlett asked, her mind racing, trying to come up with plausible scenarios.

"Unknown," Breaker answered.

"I need a Sky Striker," Scarlett said. "I need to take a jet and go back out there."

"That's a negative, Scarlett," a voice said from behind them.

Scarlett and Breaker both turned to see General Hawk walking into the room.

"I just got a call from the Pentagon. The FAA has declared the area 'restricted air space.' Absolutely no one, civilian or military, is to go anywhere within a 100 mile radius of the anomaly until further notice."

"But General Hawk—" Scarlett protested.

"I know what you're thinking, Scarlett. I've heard your story. I can't believe you've still got this crazy notion that you'll fly a Sky Striker through it so you can go home to your own alternate world."

Scarlett flushed, saying nothing.

"It's a fantasy, Scarlett."

"But haven't you even considered it remotely possible that I could be right?"

"Even so, I can't allow you to risk your life for the sake of your hunch. You don't know what will happen if you fly through. No one knows."

"We're wasting precious time, please—" Scarlett pleaded.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this," Hawk said grimly as Alpine and Bazooka appeared behind him.

"You're confined to your quarters, under guard, until I say otherwise. Understand it's for your own sake."

Breaker stared slack-jawed as he watched Alpine and Bazooka reluctantly take hold of a struggling Scarlett. Scarlett, after crying out for Breaker's help, squirmed a bit within the grip of Alpine and Bazooka, but she perceived the situation was hopeless. Scarlett hung her head as her two teammates quietly led her away.

To be concluded in Chapter Four…