Carlos woke. He opened his eyes.

He found himself lying in a hard lumpy bed beneath a dim light that hung from a rust-covered ceiling. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that his bed was just one of a row of many. His bed – no, the entire room – was swaying beneath him. Carlos tried to crane his neck to look around.

A beam of bright light suddenly shot into his right eye. A second later, it darted over to his left. "He's awake. His reactions are good." Diana's voice, calm and professional.

Excited, bounding footsteps clanged against the metal floor to Carlos' left. Their owner skidded to a halt leaning above Carlos. Long blonde hair tickled his cheek. "Good morning, Big Bro! I guess I get to look after you this time."

"Hey… Maria," Carlos said to his sister, his voice still achingly weak, "Good to… see you."

Maria opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off by a curt voice from somewhere behind her. "Please step back, Maria. You'll have time to talk to your brother later."

As Maria stepped back, Carlos levered himself up the backrest of the bed until he could look out across the rest of the wide chamber that was the room he'd woken in. It had been Akane who had interrupted Maria, and she stood a couple of metres away past the far left corner of the bed, Junpei alongside her. To Carlos' immediate right was Diana, wearing her nurse's uniform and testing the IV that had been inserted into Carlos' right arm. Finally, Sigma stood on the other side of room, half in shadow and with his arms folded solemnly – though he kept taking peeks at Diana's back when he thought she wasn't looking.

"Hey, everyone," Carlos said, "Where am I?"

Junpei stepped forward, shoving another bed aside to clear a path. "You're gonna have to answer our question first. Which one are you, Carlos? The one who was with us the entire time? Or the one who showed up at the end in the fire-truck?"

Carlos squinted his eyes quizzically. "'Which one?' What: did you manage to mix us up?"

"Please, Carlos, answer the question." Sigma's voice was filled with stern paternal authority, carrying across the room from where he stood without him having to raise his voice at all.

"Alright. I drove the fire-truck back to D-Com."

Junpei frowned.

"Junpei. That there's a coherent answer to that question is a miracle beyond our wildest hopes." Akane stepped forward, placing a hand on Junpei's arm before walking past him and all the way up to Carlos' bed. "Carlos, perhaps you can explain to us how everything happened from your perspective."

Carlos recounted how he had been prevented from transporting with Akane and Junpei to the new timeline, and how he'd realised that they would have both found themselves trapped in the bunker once they arrived. He then explained how he'd shifted to a third timeline where the transporter was still usable, jumping back ten months so that the transporter would be powered again by the time the Decision Game started.

"You still should have tried to stop Zero's plan," Junpei muttered under his breath.

"And once the Decision Game started, I came back to help both of you get out," Carlos concluded. He paused. "But… you were already out. That's what I don't get. How had you already escaped? And… how on Earth was there another me there?"

"Carlos," Akane said with an almost patronising weariness, "You went back in time ten months. You went back to before the game had even begun. All of its possibilities were still open, including this one, and you thus ended up in all the possible timelines that resulted from the game. Every single possible Decision Game had a Carlos waiting outside it. In another timeline, you did find Junpei and me trapped there, and saved us. But in this timeline, we were set free by Zero right at the very beginning. When you arrived, that is what you saw."

There was a long pause as Carlos processed that news. "So… that's where the other me came from. He was the one originally from this timeline."

"You could say that," Akane replied.

Maria leapt forward again. "Yay! I have two Big Bros now!" She wrapped her hands around Carlos' shoulders and hugged him tightly. "Isn't that great!"

Carlos stroked the back of his sister's hair. "That's right, Maria. We're together again. Both… All three of us." Placing his hand firmly against the mattress, he began to rise from the bed.

Diana's hand planted itself firmly against Carlos' right shoulder. With surprising strength, she forced Carlos to lie back down.

"Diana!" Carlos yelped with alarm, "What are you…?"

"I'm sorry, Carlos," Diana said, "I can't let you get up yet. Doctor's orders."

"But I'm fine!" Carlos exclaimed, "I'm better now! I'm as fit and healthy as I've ever been. I feel great!"

Diana closed her eyes, clearly holding back tears. She stammered as she spoke "Carlos… I never thought I'd have to tell anyone something as difficult as this. Please, ready yourself."

Carlos did so.

"Carlos… you've been effectively brain-dead. For nine months."

o-0-o

"What?" Carlos shivered. His right hand moved to cradle his head by pure reflex. "How can… What happened to me?"

"I don't know," Diana said sorrowfully, "I'm sorry, but I just don't know."

Akane's voice cut across the room. "For lack of a better way to describe it," she said, "this is Reverie Syndrome."

"I thought that all cleared up," Diana replied, tilting her head, "when we finished the game."

Maria nodded, then pointed an accusing finger at Akane. "Yeah! That's right! I'm awake, aren't I? That's because Reverie Syndrome's gone for good."

"In general, yes. But Carlos' case is more… specific." Akane looked at Diana and bowed her head. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I wanted to be absolutely sure about the details first."

"What Akane means by that," Junpei interrupted, "is that she gets a perverse pleasure from knowing things that other people don't, and wanted to drag that out as long as possible. Seriously, the first time we got a room to ourselves, she…"

"Shush, Junpei." Once Junpei was quiet, Akane turned back towards Carlos, Maria and Diana. "Where the original Reverie Syndrome was caused by the looming threat of the end of the world, and therefore affected many people to varying but lesser degrees, the problem we have here only affects Carlos and does so totally. Simply put, Carlos' Reverie Syndrome is caused by the fact that there are two of him in this world."

Sigma stepped forward across the room, out of the half-shadow he had stood in. "You know, I have been wondering about something. Every time we used the transporter, those people found themselves in a timeline where they were already dead. I thought it was just coincidence, but… there never are any coincidences with this, are there? It must have been a safety feature of the transporter itself, to prevent this from ever happening. Carlos seems to have found the only way to force it to break."

Akane nodded. "It's likely that sharing the Morphogenetic field with another version of yourself is dangerous to everyone. But when that person is a powerful esper – one who has recently undergone a Unison Event, at that – the results were catastrophic."

Carlos clenched his fists. That the abilities he had only just developed could harm him – nearly kill him – was sickening. He knew how to fight a fire. Fighting the Morphogenetic field couldn't possibly be done. "If that's what happened… How am I even awake right now?"

"You asked earlier where we are," Akane replied. She gestured around the plain white walls of the hospital bay, her arm swaying as the room continued to rock. "Welcome to the Gigantic. She's a sister-ship to the Titanic, and was used as a hospital ship by the British during World War One. We have her sailing in the Pacific Ocean, only a few hundred miles from the coast of Japan. The other version of you is in a facility with a replica of this room back in the Nevada desert."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Junpei said, "but when Hongou set up both the boat and that building, wasn't the entire point of it that esper abilities still worked over that distance?"

Akane blushed. "Well, um… yes." She pointed at Carlos. "It worked, didn't it?! At the very least, we got the two of them on different day-night cycles. And I'm sure that keeping them in identical conditions helped stabilise the fluctuations in Morphogenetic field. See? I was thinking about this."

"I've been flying back and forth since I woke up," Maria explained, "I wanted to be able to say 'Good Morning,' and 'Goodnight,' to both of you, just like you did."

There was a short pause. Then, Diana sighed. "If what you're telling us is true," Diana said, "then… We can't keep this up. We can't just keep Carlos here forever. He could relapse at any moment… or worse."

The room fell into silence. In that deafening silence, Carlos realised what had to be done.

"If the reason I'm sick is because there are two of me, then…" Carlos said unsteadily, "one of us has to die."

Both Diana and Maria gasped. Maria squeezed him tighter. "No! Big Bro! Carlos!"

Carlos patted her on the head; his hand gently guided her away. "It's okay, Maria." Then he raised his voice so that what he said next was announced to everyone. "If one of us has to die, then it should be me."

"The other Carlos volunteered as well," Akane said, "during his brief moment of lucidity."

Sigma clasped his hand and pursed his lips. "You know… they both agreed to this very quickly. Far too quickly." He paused for a few moments, frowning. "We should all get ourselves checked. There's still a chance that…"

"Goddamnit, Sigma!" Junpei interrupted, "Not everything is about Radical-6! Look, I get it. Your Nonary Game was all about the stuff, so I can understand why you'd get a little obsessed. But seriously, Carlos is just like that. A one-hundred-percent self-sacrificing hero."

"Thanks, Junpei." After nodding to Junpei, Carlos held out his hand to Maria. "Don't worry, Maria. It's not the end. When I'm gone, the other me will wake up. You'll still have your Big Bro." After gently caressing Maria's hand, Carlos let go and turned his head towards Diana. "Diana, can you take Maria away now, please? She shouldn't have to…"

"No!" Maria cried out. Tears crashed down her cheeks. "I won't leave you! I have to be brave like you are, so I have to stay!"

"Maria," Carlos interrupted sternly but gently, "I know you are brave. But you have to think about the other me as well. He won't know anything about this. You have to be able to look at his face – my face – without thinking about someone who's died. Can you do that, Maria? For me?"

Maria averted her eyes. "You're right, Big Bro. I should go." She turned, took one step away, then turned back. "I love you, Carlos."

"Thank you, Maria. It was good to see you awake again," Carlos replied.

When Maria had left the hospital room, it fell mournfully silent. Four pairs of grieving, conflicted eyes burned into Carlos. Eventually, he felt forced to speak.

"So… How are we going to do this?" Carlos asked.

After a couple of seconds, Akane drew a syringe filled with a clear white liquid from her pocket. "This is Soporil Beta. It's an anaesthetic. That way, you'll go without any pain."

"That makes sense," Carlos replied.

Akane passed the syringe to Diana. Diana carefully examined the liquid inside, then squirted a little out the end. Even when satisfied, she didn't use it immediately. Instead, she asked Carlos, "Is there anything you'd like to say, before…"

"Last words, huh? I hadn't thought of it like that." Carlos' forehead scrunched up as he considered. Eventually, he shook his head. "No. I think I'll leave that for the me who'll carry on living. Go ahead, Diana. I'm ready."

Diana nodded, then placed the tip of the needle against the IV. She took a deep breath, and then pierced the tube. With her hands steady only because of years of training, she placed her thumb on the plunger. "Goodbye, Carlos."

And then, at that moment, Sigma leapt forward. "Stop!"

o-0-o

Diana had frozen in place. She hadn't injected the Soporil. "S-Sigma?" she stammered.

"We can't do this!" Sigma shouted.

Akane sighed. "It's terrible, I know. But unless we do this, Carlos will never have a proper life. It's a tough decision, but one that has to be taken, just like the Nonary Game you had to run to get here."

"There's another way!" Sigma strode towards Diana. "Diana, please. If you trust me, take that thing out of there. Please."

Diana did so, instantly.

Akane's voice took on a curious lilt. "Explain, Sigma."

"You said that the cause of Carlos' illness was that there are two of him in this timeline," Sigma said.

Junpei snorted. "We've been over this, Sigma."

"Yes, but we didn't talk about the key point!" Sigma exclaimed, "The problem isn't anything to do with Carlos' body. The problem is Carlos' mind. Our only problem is that Carlos' mind is in this world."

"Sigma, what are you…?" Akane paused. She smiled. "Of course…"

Carlos wriggled in the bed. "Can someone explain to me what you're talking about?"

"We don't have to kill you," Sigma said, "All we have to do is shift your mind out of this world."

Carlos gasped, then groaned. "Would that even help? All that'd happen is that world's version of me would take my place, and then they'd be in the same situation I am. I couldn't do that to them."

"Yes. There are a lot of constraints here," Akane said, stroking her chin, "As Carlos says, we can't just switch him with another version of himself. We'd have to find a way to shift him into the body of an entirely different person, if that's even possible."

"It is," Sigma stated firmly.

"We'd have to ensure Carlos didn't exist in that world. The person who Carlos swaps with would have to be a powerful esper, or it wouldn't work. And then we'd need to be absolutely certain that person doesn't exist in this world either. Sigma… Can you be sure that this shift will fulfil all that at once? Because if you fail, you'll only make the problem far worse."

Sigma nodded confidently. "I'm certain. I know just the person it'll work with." He trailed off, mumbling, "Someone I haven't seen for a good long time."

"Spit it out, Sigma," Junpei said, "I don't want to die of old age before finding out what your crazy plan is."

Sigma stepped forward once more until he was right beside Diana at the edge of Carlos' bed. "Carlos, I believe I remember telling you, back when we first met in D-Com, that I was from the future. Forty-five years in the future. You didn't believe me then, of course, but after what we all experienced in the Decision Game I hope you'll believe me now."

Carlos nodded.

"During that time," Sigma continued, "I had a son. His name is Kyle. If there is one thing I regret, about jumping back in time and preventing the Radical-6 outbreak, it is that I had to leave Kyle behind to do it. At the time, there was no other way. But… if there was any chance I could see my son again…" Sigma fell silent, gazing pleadingly into Carlos' eyes.

"Of course!" Carlos' mouth burst into a broad smile. "I'd already agreed to die. Now I get to keep on going, and do some good at the same time."

"Are you sure?" Sigma asked nervously, "The future I'm talking about is the one where we failed to stop the outbreak. Civilisation has ended, there. I wouldn't say life there is meaningless, but it is rarely comfortable."

"Sigma, I'm a firefighter. Diving into dangerous places to save lives is my job. There's no way I'd ever refuse."

"Thank you, Carlos. Thank you so very much." Sigma's voice stayed quiet; his vocal chords couldn't believe, even as his conscious mind knew that Carlos had agreed.

"So how do we do this?" Carlos asked.

Sigma pondered. "I've never done anything like this before, but… I should be able to guide you there. Kyle is my son, so I should be able to use that bond to direct your mind into his body and bring Kyle safely back here." He placed one knee on the edge of the mattress and reached his hand out towards Carlos

Carlos took a deep breath. He steadied himself and concentrated, preparing for the biggest shift he would ever take. Finally, he took Sigma's hand. "Go ahead, Sigma. I'm ready."

"Goodbye, Carlos."

o-0-o

The mind in Carlos' body woke. He opened his eyes.

He found himself lying in a hard lumpy bed beneath a dim light that hung from a rust-covered ceiling. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that his bed was just one of a row of many. His bed – no, the entire room – was swaying beneath him.

Someone was standing in front of him and just to his right, half-leaning on the bed. A man. The mind in Carlos' body craned his neck up and was able to see the man's face for the first time.

The face was his own.

Suddenly the man's phone rang. He awkwardly drew it from his pocket and placed it against his ear. The call connected, and a voice started coming through the phone, loud enough to hear.

"Did you feel that?" The voice seemed very familiar, though he couldn't quite place where he had heard it before. Phi: was that her name? Phi continued speaking. "That ripple in the Morphogenetic field was massive. You have to have felt it! What could have caused…?" Phi cut off sharply. When she spoke again, she only had a single question. "Where is Kyle Klim, Sigma?"

Sigma. That name was familiar too. Impossible as it seemed, there could be no doubt about the identity of the man standing by the bed. "Father?" Kyle asked.

Sigma looked down at Kyle. He beamed proudly. A single tear rolled down his cheek. "He's here," Sigma answered into the phone, "Kyle's finally here."