This is the last of the "My Name Is" introductions (for now but probably forever) and also a significant chunk of this story was written by me before when it was a collab and then edited into something that fit into this story.

I'm still figuring out the format of this story and who gets to do the telling of it. I have decided, however, that Shores is my favorite character and that Daniel (Emily's brother) is the only character who's allowed to swear lol.


"My name is Daniel Allen, actor, vlogger, artist. For the past five years, I've watched and recorded from the sidelines while my sister saved the world. But now that there's more than one world to save I might finally have a role to play."

"I have to make a call," Emily said, pulling into the parking lot of a teeny tiny taco place.

"To Julian?" Noah asked.

"To my brother. He's our cover story. Don't worry, he's an actor."

"I wasn't worried," Noah said before Emily shushed him, her phone already ringing.

"Em, what's up?"

"I'm coming home and I'm bringing a, uh, new friend. But he's not my friend, he's yours, at least that's what I need you to tell mom."

"Is this superhero shit?" Daniel sounded excited on the other end.

"Yes. And language."

"Oh, whatever. I finally get to be a part of your team?"

"Yes, but don't freak out too much. I just need you to lie to mom."

"Easy, done it a million times. A million and one, after this. But why? What's my backstory?"

"Your backstory is whatever you want it to be, Mr. Method. His backstory is that he's part of the multiverse, like from another dimension or something, and until we can get him back he's going to need a place to stay."

"Whoa… That is so much cooler than the sci-fi thriller I read lines for last week."

"Right, well, you have to keep it on the down-low. All Shores knows is that he's your friend and that's all mom needs to know as well. I couldn't say he was my friend or our cousin or something like that because then Shores would think I was lying and you know I hate lying to him."

"Despite doing it constantly," Daniel pointed out.

"Okay, sure, yes, whatever. I'm just trying to protect him."

"He's older than you, Em, and he's been through some stuff as well. Eventually, he's gonna have to find out."

"Well, he can find out after I smooth out the wrinkles in the multiverse. Just promise you'll help me? I'll owe you one."

"Of course I'll help you. When will you be home?"

"Twenty minutes or so?"

"Ooh, that doesn't give me a lot of time to get prepared… You know what? It doesn't matter. I'll improvise."

"Great, fantastic. See you soon, love you." Emily hung up and caught Noah staring at her.

"What?"

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

"You mean the fact that we have no idea how to get you back to your own dimension? Because I'm working on that."

"Yeah, I know, I meant, well, we got interrupted before. Are you okay with the whole thing about your dad? I know it's a lot to take in."

"It doesn't affect me at all, actually, because I don't believe you."

"Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Maybe you're a cruel person, Noah. Maybe you like hurting people." Emily spoke with gritted teeth.

"That's ridiculous. I wasn't trying to hurt you, Emily, I just thought you should know the truth. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Then stop making a mockery of my father, do not mention your ghosts to my mother or brother, and try to pretend you belong." In truth, she wasn't mad at him, just on edge. And in truth, she believed him, despite how much she wanted to believe it was a cruel joke. Her father's loss had shaken her to the core and made her into the Spiderling she was now. Having hope that she could have him back for even a moment would distract her from the dangerous mission at hand.

"If my father could communicate with me he'd tell me to focus on what's important and what's important is saving Julian from a breakthrough."

Noah grimaced because Emily was wrong about this, "He'd tell you that he loves you and that the most important thing is you."

Emily flinched, "Please, just stop."

"Okay, I'm sorry…"

"As soon as we get you settled in I'll try to call Julian and maybe we'll get this settled so you can go home." Emily was a little relieved to have a homecoming of her own. She always missed her brother and mom and with everything that was going on right now, it would be good to see them. Noah could understand what it was like to miss your family since all of his was currently in another dimension, and he was trying very hard to find a way to make himself seem like less of a monster in Emily's eyes.

At least her brother didn't look at him like he was a monster.

"So, new bestie! What's your deal? What's our cover story? Let's get you into some normal clothes and set up the guestroom and we'll chat." Daniel was very welcoming. Scarily welcoming. Noah wasn't sure if he wanted to be left alone with this guy but Emily was already slipping away.

"I'm going to try to call Julian. Give me his backpack and the sketchbook." Noah passed along the borrowed things and she disappeared. Suddenly Noah felt very alone and very tired.

"Who's Julian?" Daniel asked.

"It's all a lot to explain… And I don't even know half of it. Hopefully, Emily can get some answers."

Emily was hellbent on figuring things out. In another dimension, Julian was just as determined to get some answers of his own.

"Deke! Thank goodness you picked up. You wouldn't believe what happened."

"I have some theories." It wasn't Deke.

"Emily? I… I'm sorry you had to see that. You were just trying to protect people.. I'm sorry if it scared you…" He listened, and could practically hear the shock on the other end. After all, he had unmasked the Spiderling.

"How did you know that was me?" Julian blushed and appreciated the fact that he'd made this call away from 2lian. The other him didn't seem to understand having someone to care about, so it would be awkward to bring Emily up.

"I know your voice." He said, not knowing how to say anything else. Not knowing how to admit he'd studied her, sketched her… His sketchbook! Had she seen it? Could she see how pathetic his little crush was, did she know?

"Listen, Julian," she was forcing confidence, he'd scared her again and he could practically hear her switch between personas, "there are consequences to your actions."

"I know, I know. It was dangerous, but I made it, it's okay. I'll be coming home soon, I just have some things to clean up first on this side."

"There are some things to clean up over here too." Emily sounded a little ticked off.

"Oh yeah?" He had to admit that her confidence was just as adorable as her shyness, and a little bit scary. He thought about, as he had this morning, jumping the gun and asking her out. But he had to get home first.

"Yeah. When you jumped, someone got spit out in your place. You were ready for this breakthrough, you were ready to accept any of the risks, no matter how dangerous," she sounded sad when she said that, "but Noah didn't sign up for this." Was she mad at him? Hard to say. But he'd run all of his numbers a hundred times, and her theory was just a little bit wrong.

"No, that's not exactly what happened, but I think I know what did. 2lian wouldn't say exactly what happened, but he'd said his jump had been hijacked, I bet the guy on your side accidentally got in the way of another jump on this side…"

"2lian?"

"The multiversal version of myself who was also trying to jump through the multiverse. It's a little stupid, but I'm calling him 2lian." Emily laughed, cutting through the tension a little.

"I like it. But seriously, we have to get Noah home. I could probably follow your designs and get a functional door up and running if I really work at it... But nothing matters unless we have coordinates. Because we can't send him spiraling randomly through the multiverse." She sounded a little uneasy. He realized how afraid she must be, she hadn't signed up for this either.

"I'm really sorry about this Emily. I know you're smart enough to work through this, 2lian will be delighted to know his invention works, but I have to help him before I can help you. You can take care of yourself, I don't know if 2lian can. I have to figure out some way to help him." Julian was afraid that too much of himself was paralleled by 2lian. He didn't love to admit that he was reckless, sometimes careless. But with Emily on the other end, he knew he had something to care about. Something else other than the multiverse, and 2lian didn't.

His voice was soft, "I'll work on locking in coordinates while I'm making 2lian a comm. device. If there's anything else I can do to help you from here just say the word. Even if you just need someone to stay on the line with you while you work." He'd stay up all night as they tended to their separate projects if she asked him to.

"I'll keep that in mind, but for now I just need some time to get my head together. I'll call later, though."

"Can I ask you something?" He asked before the line could go dead.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"My biggest concern about 2lian is that he's reckless and doesn't seem to know how to take care of himself. I don't want to leave him until I get him to care… How do I do that?" Julian sounded distressed.

"I don't know Julian, how do you make someone care enough to not risk everything?" She threw his words back at him, and her point was clear. He had risked everything and now she was left picking up the pieces.

"You're right," he couldn't stop the words from coming, "I just need to give him something to care about, the way I care about you." There was silence on the other end.

Emily set down the comm. device, glad that her brother and Noah were in the other room. She couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes. It had been hard enough to see Julian disappear like that, parallel with her father's death from so many years ago. But Julian's disappearing act had also apparently been a bait switch, leaving her with ghost boy and the implications of a spirit world were tearing her apart. She let out a sob, and her tears did not go unnoticed.

"Em? Is everything okay?" Daniel sounded worried and held her close when she flung six arms around him. He had a lot of concerns since Emily hadn't really explained anything and whatever was going on was clearly eating her up inside.

"Today was a hard day," she whimpered, tears beginning to trickle down her face. Daniel rubbed her back and led her to the couch, sitting down and hugging her close. When they sat down on the couch their boxer, Rhino, jumped into Emily's lap and the affection from her brother and the boxer was enough to settle her nerves a little.

"I know, I know… Tell me what happened, Em."

"One of my classmates… He risked his life to make a jump to the multiverse. I thought it was his fault that Noah appeared here, it wasn't exactly him, but he, he still risked everything, and I saw that it was dangerous, and all the warning signs were there, and I couldn't stop him, I couldn't make him care. He chose science over life and he could have died. I know he didn't but it… It was too much for me." She sobbed in between sentences, still hurting so much from the memories. Daniel just shushed her and rubbed her back, understanding what she was going through. Their dad had risked it all for his own breakthrough. That breakthrough had been used to kill him. Maybe Robert Allen had never meant for his science to backfire, maybe he had never thought that jealousy would corrupt his colleagues. But he'd still had an unflinching dedication, a stubbornness that put him in harm's way. He could have lived. And seeing Julian today brought back all those memories. When she'd seen science swallow a man whole, and found herself unable to do anything about it again.

"It's not your fault Emily. Some people don't prioritize themselves. That's not our fault, all we can do is try to help them see why they're valuable." Emily sniffled into her brother's shoulder.

"I just… Julian doesn't have anyone… I think I'm the only person he cares about and I didn't even know he cared about me and now I just… I'm worried it is my fault." Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise. Did someone have a crush on his little sister? That was exciting… Wait, that wasn't the point. He frowned and tried to think of how best to help her.

"Listen, Em, if Julian really does care about you he would never blame you for his choices. I'm sure he believed that he was making the right choice, despite the risks. I'm sure he'd say the same." Emily sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"What do I do?" She asked.

"Be you, be the person I see who is brave and strong and willing to fight for what's right. And know that you'll always have someone to talk to." That's what Julian had said. Maybe she should try and call him back. But she didn't really get the chance before getting a call from the other person she'd always been able to talk to- the person she had to lie to now.

"I'll let you talk to Shores, I think I hear mom's car pulling up." Shores just wanted to talk about her weekend plans, which she, unfortunately, couldn't let him be a part of, so soon she was off the phone again and pondering her next move.

Daniel met his mother at the door.

"Hey, I have a guest."

"What? That's kind of sudden, Daniel. You're supposed to warn me first." Daniel pulled his mom into a hug.

"I know, but I forgot he was coming. It's this friend, Noah from New York who's looking at the colleges here, so he'll be staying a while. Em's actually here too, I think she's talking to him right now in the guest house."

"Em is here?" Their mom suddenly looked delighted.

"Yeah."

"Talking to someone?" Lainey switched from delighted to incredulous.

"Yep, to Noah. They're becoming friends."

"Our Emily?"

"Yes, mom. She's not a silent little kid anymore, she's a very courageous, strong young lady." He knew his mom didn't always realize how much Em had grown up. Sometimes their mom forgot that they weren't still the people they'd been before dad died.

"Well, I'm glad she's here, I'll have to say hi."

"She'd like that."

The weekend passed like a blur after that, with her mom trying to be involved but ultimately misunderstanding Emily's "hobbies" and those "hobbies" including trying to figure out how to send someone back to his own reality. She talked to Julian a couple more times, this time with Noah mediating so that they could pinpoint the coordinates of his universe. Noah graciously didn't bring up her dead dad anymore, and he was actually kind of tolerable when he wasn't serving as a walking talking ouija board. Still, he got along more with Daniel than her (big surprise there) and she was actually relieved to leave him there when it was time to go back to campus.

Emily was more than a little overwhelmed on Sunday morning when she pulled up to Shores' oversized house. Noelle Osborne had always lived like she was overcompensating for something, and Shores had always shrunk away from all of that. Her best friend was a simple man who didn't keep secrets. So Emily was a little surprised to see Shores deviating from his simple lifestyle, clambering out of a paid car wearing someone else's shirt.

She honked lightly, grabbing his attention, and he headed over.

"Oh, Emily, I thought I'd probably beat you here but I guess there was traffic…"

"Right, traffic. What were you up to, so early in the morning?"

"I was grabbing us breakfast!" Shores grinned nervously, not selling it very well, especially since he was empty-handed except for an unfamiliar metal backpack that didn't really look conducive for breakfast foods.

"Oh yeah, where is it?"

"They were, uh, they were out."

"You suck at secrets, Shores. What's really up? Whose shirt is that?"

"You're right, I'm an open book. I met someone." Shores' nervous grin turned into a real one.

"I thought you didn't do hookups?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"There's nothing wrong with hookups. But this was not a hookup it was the start of a legitimate partnership."

"So… What? You have a partner now? After one day?"

"And one night."

That was the last thing Emily had been expecting to be steamrolled with. She was already dealing with so much. In the past 72 hours, her classmate had sort of confessed his love for her and disappeared (not in that order), she had met a superhero from another dimension who could see ghosts, and now her best friend had a new partner. It was the wrong thing to think, but right now the only thing that overwhelmed Emily could think about was how she was losing her place in the world.

"Emily? You look pale."

"I'm good, I'm fine. You should go get your stuff, and we can stop for actual breakfast on the road."

"Oh, Basil made me breakfast, actually."

"Basil? Is your new partner a grandpa?"

"No, he's 23. He is a bit of an old soul, though…"

"What's his full name?"

"Basil Ramon Worth. Why? Are you going to do a background check on him?"

"Maybe." Worth. That last name sounded oddly familiar…

Shores laughed before pulling away from the window, "Anyway, I'll go get my stuff and we can hit the road."

"Right. Great. See you in a minute." While Shores sprinted off, Emily turned the name over and over in her head, unable to let it go.

"Um, search for Basil Worth." Of all the mysteries and stressors, this shouldn't have been the one that consumed her. Little did she know that Shores' new partner was more connected to her than either of them could ever imagine, and her open book of a best friend was hiding secrets of his own.


I'll never live down naming this all-knowing AI "Um" that's so stupid what was I thinking, 2019 me? Oh well better commit to the bit.