Chapter 22: Multitude

A/N: ... I probably couldn't count on two hands how many times so far I've had to say this, but this took a lot longer than expected. There's two main reasons for this. 1: One of my favourite games updated. 2: I had to wait for... something. I'll explain more at the end of the chapter.

I'm going to try to get the next chapter out in a week, instead of 2. No guarantees, but it should come out quite a bit earlier either way.

We decided to take a bit of a breather after the Multiverse went insane. Nothing quite exhausts you like imminent, complete and utter doom.

As we sat and got our bearings, I heard Hailey ask a question:

"How'd you know that boy, anyway?"

I shrugged.

"I wouldn't say I quite 'know' him. I've spoken to him once, and that's it. I didn't even know his name until today, and I'm not even quite sure how I know it, cause he never told me," I explained, "Given what madness just happened, though, I'll have to try to find him and talk to him again. Explaining needs to be done."

She nodded in agreement.

"Do you think Moustache Girl heard the other person's message?" She asked again.

"I think every Moustache Girl heard their message," I replied, "And I'm willing to bet that a lot of them, including ours, are very, very, confused. Also, this whole fiasco didn't go unnoticed by the denizens of the planet, so I probably have a lot of explaining to do as well."

I sighed.

"I was hoping to keep this dimension stuff a secret," I grumbled, "Or at least break it to them slowly, so that they could adjust to it."

"Why?" She inquired.

"Well, I have the power to manipulate the very fabric of the Multiverse. You think they'll look at me the same way when I tell them what I'm capable of?" I scoffed.

"Did I ever treat you differently after you told me?" She asked.

"No, but you're a special case, because you have crazy powers too," I countered, "Stopping time at will? That's an extremely powerful ability. And we were also already really close."

"... But a lot of them already saw us both in action. Remember when we fought Moustache Girl and you got those cool darkness powers?" She suggested, "And besides, you don't need to say every detail. You can dummy it down a bit so that it doesn't intimidate them!"

I put my hand to my chin in thought.

"Well, you have a point," I admitted, "I think this is quite a bit crazier than the Shadow Badge thing, but at this point... ah, forget it, I'm just being anxious, as usual. Let's go."

She giggled, got up, and ran into the kitchen.

I sighed, then got up and followed.

Just couldn't catch a break...

Once we got down to Mafia Town, I first checked around to see if anyone was panicking.

Well...

Nobody was panicking, but everyone did seem quite shaken.

Dammit, I'd probably have to explain this to the whole fricking planet!

I groaned at the thought. As if we weren't idolized enough already.

"Maybe I should go run around and tell people that there's nothing to worry about?" Hailey asked.

"Sure. I'll start looking for Cooking Cat and Moustache Girl, then," I agreed.

Hailey nodded, and began walking.

"Guess I'll check their home. They probably won't be there, but it's a start..." I muttered under my breath, then began walking as well.

I made my way to their house, but along the way, in the marketplace, I was stopped by a weird sound. One that sounded strangely familiar to another that I'd heard many times.

I turned around to see a certain boy with a tie hop out of a green, star-shaped portal. He looked around, but somehow didn't notice me.

"Alright, where is this? Mafia Town?" He asked himself.

He continued to look around, then seemed to adopt a nostalgic look.

"Huh... this is the area back home where it all began for us," He said thoughtfully, "If that Mafia member hadn't somehow teleported up to our ship, we'd have never experienced everything here..."

"You doing okay there?" I called.

He whipped around to face me, clearly tense, then relaxed. "Oh its you... er..."

Oh right, he still didn't know my name.

"Oh, uh, name's Markus," I greeted, "Glad we could finally get that straight."

"Markus, huh?" He said, intrigued, "Well, hello! You can call me Tie."

So that was his name!

"I had a feeling," I replied, "Have to say, wasn't quite expecting to run into you so soon, especially not in my world. What are you doing here? Did you get lost or something?"

He shook his head.

"Uh... not really. I'm making a few stops on my way home," He explained."

"I see," I responded with a nod, "You got a bit of time?"

He shrugged.

"That's the whole reason why I'm here, I guess," He answered.

I looked around for somewhere to sit, noticing a bench nearby that we both sat down at. I noticed Mafia members walking by, and they didn't seem quite as shaken. Hailey must've been doing a good job.

Oh right... I needed to talk to him about what caused that in the first place.

"Me and Hailey... we saw you... uh... y'know..." I muttered, scratching my head.

"Who?" He asked, clearly confused.

I mentally facepalmed. Of course he wouldn't know! What was I thinking?

"Oh, right... she's the Hat Kid from here," I explained sheepishly, "Anyway, we saw you fighting. A massive hole opened up in the galaxy and we watched you battle."

His eyes widened.

"Really? That's embarrassing..." He muttered.

I scratched my head again.

"So... yeah, thanks for stopping space itself from... exploding, or whatever," I said awkwardly.

"...No problem," He replied.

"But, about that, I've got to ask you a couple things," I stated, looking right at him, "Hailey and Moustache, they're gonna ask a LOT of questions. Think you can help me out?"

He looked me for half a second, then stared out into the horizon.

"Me and Hat... we had to stop Moustache from rewriting time," He began.

I nodded slowly.

"That sounds familiar," I muttered.

"During the battle, Moustache broke all the Time Pieces, and we were thrown into a gap between time," He explained.

Once again, I knew that all too well.

"Then, our attacks caused a rip to open up in space, which we fell into."

What?!

I looked at him to make sure he wasn't pulling a prank or anything. He looked dead serious.

"Wow..." I revered, "That's... kinda crazy that your attacks could cause that much damage."

He scratched his head and looked down.

"Yeah... sorry," He replied quietly.

"So, about that other... thing you were fighting?" I asked, immediately feeling bad for calling the person a thing.

"Their name was Voice," He stated, "In my dimension, a lot of people tried to mess around with time, and they were erased from it entirely. All of them gave off a last cry before they vanished, and all those cries came together and became Voice."

Tie looked at me, probably scanning for any sort of reaction. The story was interesting, I wanted to hear more.

He looked away and began talking again.

"Voice was born to somehow revive them, but that was impossible since they were entirely erased from time. Voice knew that. Yet they still tried everything they could think of anyway, because..."

He closed his eyes.

So... he was born solely to fight a battle he knew he couldn't win...

"They were the one we heard, the one who called out to Moustache, right?" I asked.

Tie nodded.

"I don't know the whole story, but Voice and Moustache were partners. I think they relied on eachother, and they helped eachother become better people. Maybe at the beginning Voice was just sticking to Moustache because they knew they would rewrite time, but I think they became genuine allies. I reckon... Voice wanted a friend, and Moustache needed one."

I put a hand to my chin.

"That's a pretty sad story..." I muttered, "... I'm glad I have some answers for the girls now, though. Thanks, Tie."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Her name is really Hailey?" He asked suspiciously.

I didn't like that tone at all.

"Hey, I gave it to her, and she likes it, " I grumbled, "It seemed fitting."

His look of skepticism deepened.

"Why did you give her a name?"

Oh. I totally didn't think of that. Now I'd have to tell him. Given how he reacted to her name, he was probably not going to like this.

"Uhmmm... well... y'see..." I stammered, scratching my head fervently, "It's... because I adopted her."

He nodded, then a look of realization, and thus, shock, bloomed on his face.

"WHAT?!"

... Just as I expected.

"You...?!"

I nodded, scratching my head even more.

"Yeah... around here, she's my daughter," I explained uncomfortably.

Heh... even right then, I wouldn't ever get tired of being able to say I had a daughter.

I noticed that he was staring at me in confusion, with a few other emotions in there as well. I didn't like it at all, and stared back.

"What's with the look?" I growled.

He looked away and shook his head.

"I just... can't picture that," He mumbled, "How in space did that happen?"

... Fair enough. I was pretty young to be a father.

"Long story. It happened pretty recently," I explained, "I'm... kinda new to this."

He smirked.

"Heh. Good luck, she's a handful."

I couldn't hold back a snort.

"TRUST me, I know," I chuckled, "If I had a pon for every time she's driven me up the wall, I'd have enough to buy Dead Bird Studio."

He immediately broke into laughter.

"What about you? I'm guessing your Hat Kid drives you insane too, then?" I asked.

He stopped and sighed.

"That's an understatement. I don't know how Hat survived without me." He replied with a shake of his head, "I did all the cooking, cleaning, feeding Roombi…"

I smirked, hearing the tone of his voice.

"Sounds to me like you just liked helping her," I observed.

Tie glared at me, but I just gave him a smile that said "We're both in there."

He looked away and sighed. "Yeah, probably."

I chuckled at how fast he admitted it.

"You're a good kid, Tie," I assured him.

"Thanks, but don't call me a kid," He retorted.

I shrugged. "Sorry, force of habit. But you kinda are one, though," I said, then looked at him, "But hey, it's okay to admit you're worried, or that you don't know what to do. People will help you."

He blinked rapidly.

"Voice said that I'm the kind of person that people would want to help," He explained, "It took getting hit with their strongest attack for me to understand what they meant."

I nodded. "I believe it. Even if your family is small, gone, or distant, you can have a lot of friends behind you instead."

He smiled.

"Well, I think 'Hailey' is happy she's got you for family. She needs it," He replied, then adopted a smug grin. "Plus, I can call you 'Hailey's old man'."

"Oh GOD no," I chuckled, then stopped as I began to think about something. "I think Moustache will be happy to know that she had at least one friend supporting her. Even if they never really cared about our dimension's version."

"Actually..." Tie interjected, "A friend of mine told me Voice went dimension hopping before our final battle. They knew a lot about other dimensions. Maybe...they were checking in on all the other Moustaches they could. Making sure they were doing alright."

I began to nod again. It checked out, given that their final words were for all Moustaches out there.

"I reckon Moustache will like that," I thought aloud, "Although I guess they never stopped here, 'cause I think a friend of mine would've noticed and told me."

He nodded.

As if on cue, I heard that strange noise again, and turned to see another green, star-shaped portal appear.

"Ah, that's my ride."

Tie hopped over the bench and walked over to the portal, then turned back to face me.

"Hope I gave you the answers you needed," He said.

I nodded. "You're a big help, always."

He took a few more steps toward the portal, then stopped again.

"You, Hailey, and Moustache will do fine, Markus," He assured me.

"So will you, Tie," I responded.

He waved, and then jumped through the portal, which sealed shut behind him.

I stood up and stretched.

Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting to do that day, but I sure was glad it happened. Now I had some concrete answers for the girls.

"Guess I should go find Hailey now, it's been a little while," I thought to myself.

With that thought, I ran off to go find her. Surely it couldn't be that hard, in a small town like this.

It didn't take too long to find her, poking around near the cannon up to the Mafia headquarters.

"Oh, hi! Did you find them?" She asked.

"I got a bit sidetracked," I admitted, "I figured that, given how much time had passed, it'd be better to grab you first."

"Okay," She said with a nod, "Are we going to their house, then?"

"Mhm," I said.

"I hope they're there," She muttered, "Let's go see!"

With that, she ran off, and I quickly followed.

We made our way to where they lived, and with a sigh, I knocked on the door.

...

No response.

I knock again.

Still nothing.

"Anyone home?" I shout through the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and a worried Cooking Cat greeted us.

"It's been quiet... is it over?" She asked.

"Uh... yeah," I said.

She let out a sigh of relief and motioned for us to come in.

"I'm sure Marilyn will be glad to see you," She said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Marilyn?" I asked.

Cooking Cat gasped.

"Oh! I didn't tell you..." She said, "The little girl with the moustache that I took in? Well, she has a name."

"And her name is Marilyn?" Hailey asked.

"Yep! She told me her name a few days ago," Cooking Cat exclaimed.

"Huh," I said, "That's kinda funny... I mean, not in the comical way."

"Why's that, dear?" Cooking Cat asked.

"Well..." I said, "I think it's better I tell you when you're both here."

"I'll go grab her," She said, "She was pretty scared."

She walked away, and about a minute later, came back out with her paw on the back of a slightly unnerved Mou-Marilyn.

She smiled at seeing us.

"Wow... I sure am glad to see you two," She said, clearly relieved, "I really thought that this was the end of the world. Did you see what happened? A giant rip in the sky! Everything started shaking!"

"Did you hear anyone talk not too long ago?" I asked.

They both nodded.

"Yeah... I would've been really confused if I wasn't panicking," Marilyn said, "But now that everything is fine... what was that even about? I'd never heard that dude in my life, yet it sounded weirdly familiar? Especially since it was directed to... me? And what does 'If even one of you can hear me' mean? I'm me! There's no other me out there!"

I chuckled.

"Let's sit down," I said, "I have a lot of explaining to do."

They were both confused, but agreed and sat down at the couch.

I sighed.

"Where do I even begin...?" I muttered, "Well. I'll start with the basics. You know how we live in one universe, right? Where everything we know exists and how everything works under the same rules?"

They both nodded.

"Well... what I'm about to tell you will probably surprise you," I said, "This isn't the only universe."

Cooking Cat said "Oh, dear..." while Marilyn shouted "What?!"

"Yeah... and, well... a lot of universes are nearly identical to eachother. Parallel universes, they're called. They're basically the same, the same places, the same people, the same stories, but each universe has one major difference that changes these people, places, and stories in a big way. Different backstories, new people that don't exist in any other universe, new scenarios, things like that," I explained, "And this universe happens to be a part of one of those parallels. There's at least three other universes like this one."

"So... there's four versions of me?" Marilyn asked.

"There's at least four versions of everyone, or nearly everyone, on this planet," I said, "I don't know what else the other universes have in common with this one, maybe the whole universe is nearly identical, maybe it's just this planet, I don't know."

"What about you?" Cooking Cat asked.

I sighed.

"Well... I'm not from this universe," I said, "I was brought here with no memory of my old home. I'm basically a wild card to this universe. Now, if the universe I come from is part of a parallel as well, then maybe there's another version of me out there? But until proven otherwise, I'm gonna say no."

"So... the person must've known a version of me from another universe, right?" Marilyn asked.

"Exactly," I answered, "Their name was Voice. In their universe, you were their only friend. And vice versa. They supported you 'till the very end."

Marilyn reeled.

"So... there was someone cheering me on the whole way..." She whispered, "But... I did some really bad things. Were they... a bad guy?"

I tilted my head.

"I think they did some horrible things, too, but judging from what I heard, I'd put 'em in the same boat as past you. A good person misguided into doing bad things," I explained, "But they didn't support you cause of what you did. They saw you as a friend."

She was silent.

"Dear... if I might ask... how exactly do you know all this?" Cooking Cat asked, and rightfully so.

I sighed.

"It's a long story," I said, "I said earlier that I'm not from this universe. I was brought here (although against my will) by a person who I now call a teacher and a friend. He knows how the Multiverse works like no one else, and has the ability to manipulate it. He can travel between universes at will, and he watches over them all."

"And you learned this from him?" Marilyn asked, "Is he like a superhero?"

I scratched my head.

"Most people I know who know of his existence treat him as a supervillain. I don't really get it, as he's helped me more times than I can bother to mention, and he's a pretty cool person, but it's a bit peculiar. He also acts quite weird, he loves speaking in riddles and just generally being mysterious," I explained, "My current guess is that he used to do some really nasty things in the past and changed for the better. And he did teach me the multiverse stuff, but the information about Voice from another person like myself, living in another parallel."

"Huh... uh, not to be rude, but, if that friend of yours can watch over every universe or whatever, then why did he single you out? I mean, with how many people he's probably seen..." She said uncomfortably, "And it just seems weird and really rude to take a random person and throw them into another universe."

"I used to wonder that myself. He said that he'd watched over me my whole life. Saw something special in me, or whatever. Infinite potential, blah blah blah," I said, "He thought bringing me here when he did would help me realize that potential."

"What kind of potential?" Cooking Cat asked, "You've already done amazing feats, is that what he meant? Becoming a better person?"

I chuckled.

"Aha, nope," I said, "He has far bigger goals than to care about stuff like that. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that was part of it, but not the main goal. Y'know?"

A mischievous grin came to my face, as I thought of the looks that'd appear on their faces with what I was about to do.

"How 'bout I show you what he meant?" I asked.

"... That's not creepy at all," Marilyn scoffed.

"Sorry, I'm just imagining the looks on your faces," I said.

"As long as it's not dangerous..." Cooking Cat said.

I grinned, then closed my eyes and focused onto a small point in front of me. I folded the fabric of reality on that point, and when I was done, I opened my eyes to see a small portal in front of me. Grinning at my success, I then opened it wider so we could see what was on the other side.

Nothing but ocean and blue skies.

After a few seconds, I sealed the portal then struck a small pose, like a magician after doing his greatest trick.

I also didn't feel tired at all, probably cause it was a smaller portal and I didn't leave it open for long. But hey, progress was progress.

And, as I thought, they were both stunned.

I sighed, already having a slight idea what they'd ask next.

"Before you ask, yes, that was a dimensional portal. Yes, if I make it big enough, it's possible to travel through it to another universe," I said, "No, I can't travel to whatever universe I please whenever I please, I'm still learning, and as of right now making a portal suitable for travel is tiring. And lastly, no, I can't bring any of you to a parallel universe, because something tells me that the Multiverse would NOT like it. Maybe a completely different universe would work? But not a parallel universe of this."

"That's still-" Marilyn said, "Dude, you're awesome!"

I shrugged.

"It's not as amazing as you think it is. There's many others out there with the same, or similar, abilities, and... for me at least... it's not super useful. I don't really have a need to go to other universes, I only do it for practice," I said.

"But that's still... you could go ANYWHERE!" She shouted.

I smiled.

"I'm right where I want to be," I declined, "Now, there'll be one time for my ability to shine, coming sometime soon-ish, where I'll use it in full force for an actual purpose. But for now? All I'm doing is practicing and living my life."

"Is it related to that big tear in the sky that appeared?" Cooking Cat asked.

I scratched my head.

"Eh... kinda?" I said, "That's a good example, actually. Two very powerful dimensional masters were fighting for the sake of their universe's timeline, or something like that. I think they knew how to actually use their dimension powers for more than just dimension travel, and that's what caused that: their powers clashing tore a hole in the fabric of the Multiverse."

I then shrugged.

"That's all speculation from what I saw, heard, and sensed, though. Until I talk to the one kid, I won't know for sure," I muttered.

"So you gotta fight a super bad guy threatening the Multiverse?" Marilyn asked.

I laughed.

"I sure hope not," I said, "I'm merely an apprentice. If I have to duel someone with such an affinity with the dimensions as them, I'm going to get crushed like an ant. If anything, I'll be working with the other dimension travelers for a common goal."

"Which is?" She asked.

"Don't ask. It's both a really long story and not something you need to know," I warned.

They were both silent.

"This is... a lot to take in, dear," Cooking Cat stammered.

I sighed.

"I know it is," I said, "I was hoping I could maybe break it to you slowly, or maybe just leave you all blissfully ignorant, but this whole scenario kinda threw that idea out the window."

"Well, good luck with all that," Marilyn muttered, "Oh and, by the way, I'm gonna make you show me some neat tricks once you've got that mastered!"

I chuckled.

"I guess I don't have a choice then," I muttered, "Hope you can wait long enough."

"Waiting is, um, not her finest skill," Cooking Cat chuckled.

Marilyn looked at Cooking Cat, clearly about to defend herself, but then just shrugged.

"Well, nothing I can say about that," She admitted.

We all laughed.

Suddenly, as if a light bulb were switched on, I remembered the whole reason we were gonna come here in the first place, and facepalmed accordingly. How could I have forgotten the most important bit of news?

"Bah, I got completely distracted," I grumbled, "There's another bit of news we came to share."

"You came to let us know that the little dear got better, right?" Cooking Cat said, pinching Hailey's cheek and causing her to giggle.

"Well, that's part of it," I said with a smile, "I'll just get straight to the point: I adopted her. And she has a name now."

They were both shocked yet again.

"He's your dad now?!" Marilyn asked Hailey in shock.

To which she nodded with an 'mhm'.

"My name is Hailey!" She said proudly.

"Wow! That's a beautiful name, dear," Cooking Cat complimented.

I grinned in pride after that one.

"So we both shared our names in the same week! It's like we share the same head!" Marilyn laughed.

Hailey giggled as well, deciding not to share the fact that it was I who named her instead of her sharing her name with me.

We kept talking, and eventually the girls decided to go run and play around in Mafia Town with eachother.

"Someone should probably go keep an eye on those two," Cooking Cat said, "One uncontrollable little girl is already enough, but two of them together? They might cause some... ah... problems for some people."

"Oh yeah, definitely," I said, "I'll go watch and make sure they don't drop a barrel on someone or whatever."

I got up and walked to the door, but Cooking Cat stopped me by grabbing on my sleeve.

"You know, you'll be a great father," She said, "And if you need cooking lessons, or a babysitter, or anything, really, I'm your gal. Understand, dear?"

I nodded.

"Thanks, Cooking Cat," I said.

She waved and winked in response.

I then walked out the door and looked around.

"So they've already disappeared. Why am I not surprised?" I chuckled, "Whatever. I found her once in this town today, I can do it again."

Thus began the search through Mafia Town to find the two girls.

This day just seemed to be getting more bizarre by the second.

A/N: Lots and lots of questioning and answering in this chapter. Well, nothing I can really do about that, hopefully it wasn't boring to read.

Anyway, about that thing I had to wait for? Yeah, it was relating to OPfan37's story. I didn't want to write the interaction between Tie and Markus first, as I felt I'd write Tie out of character, so instead we did some stuff with DocX so we could make a script we're both happy with. It was pretty cool!

Review time:

Phantaum *on ch21*: ... Yeah... Suuure... let's just go with that... Ha ha ha...

Phantaum *on ch3 (re-reading, are we?)*: I'm not quite sure what you're referencing, sooo *shrug*. I'm guessing it has to do with intense vehicular stunts? I don't think that would fit, but I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I can find a way to make it work. But I hope I can, cause then I can do some meme shenanigans!

Thanks for the reviews.

Next chapter... I'll be frank: I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Don't worry, I'll figure it out, but unfortunately I can't give you any ideas what to expect.