Chapter 19

As Anders emerged through the other side of the portal he collided into Alistair's back. The man stood in the middle of the path as he stared up at the sky. Anders looked up as a huge object that looked like an enormous bird flew across the sky with a loud roar.

"Do you think that's a car?" Anders asked.

"Huh…" Alistair said as he looked at Anders and then at the big moving object that was headed for them. He heard the sound of a loud horn just as Alistair pushed him out of the way and then leapt to the side of the road.

Alistair sat up and huffed, "No, but I think that was," as he pointed at the vehicle that had just rolled past them.

"How do you know?" Anders said.

"Alex said that cars were like wagons, but without the horses. That thing was similar to a wagon…kind of. Although Alex said they don't typically try to kill you. I guess that one was the exception," Alistair replied as he pulled out the map that Alex had made.

"Then what the hell was that thing in the sky?" Anders asked.

"Maker only knows," Alistair said as he looked at the street sign, then at the map and back at the street sign. "Ummm, I think we have a problem."

"Don't tell me we're lost!" Anders sighed.

"No, we're not lost, per say. It's just that this street isn't anywhere on the map."

"Great, trust Morrigan to screw up the exit's coordinates," Anders grumbled.

"Hey, hating Morrigan is MY thing; get your own arch-nemesis," Alistair retorted.

"Well, look what we have here, boys!" came a booming voice from behind the two.

"Great, now what?" Alistair said as he turned around to face the man who'd just interrupted him.

Standing just a few feet away from the Fereldians were group of six strangely clad and greasy-haired men that, by the way they were dressed, the two travelers could tell they were obviously ruffians of some sort.

"Looks like we got ourselves a couple of lost medieval nerd wannabes here, Boss," laughed a tall, slender man with a trail of spiky blue hair right down his bald head.

"Yeah," chuckled a fat pug-faced thug with missing teeth behind him. "You wants we should 'elp them out?"

Anders turned towards Alistair, grimacing. "It seems that no matter which universe you're in there is always bound to be a few lowlifes."

Alistair nodded, as he watched as the leader pulled a strange metallic object out of his back pocket.

That seems familiar as he thought back to a conversation that he had with Alex and Zev.

"So you mean to tell me that this man sought to kill your friend just because he liked the pleasure of other men?" Zev asked, only slightly surprised.

Alex nodded. "Unfortunately there are a lot of narrow-minded people where I come from, people who simply can't and won't accept anything or anyone different."

"And you said this man shot him, with a…gun, was it?" Alistair inquired.

"Yeah, stupid bigot couldn't handle Matt being gay so he said he was gonna 'take out the fag-boy trash' or something else along those idiotic lines. Good thing for Matt my brother James showed up when he did and taught that creep a lesson about how idiot homophobes weren't welcomed in our neighborhood, particularly ones toting guns."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is a gun?" Zev asked.

Alex explained to them about how a gun was metal object that could either fit in your hand or be almost as large as a man and how it shot small metal arrow-tip-shaped ball things called bullets. She said that not only could they shoot dozen of rounds, one after the other in a matter of seconds, but that once a person shot a gun the bullet was so fast that it could hit you even before you blinked.

"Of course depending on distance from the shooter, what type of gun they use, and how good they are at shooting, you could end up with either a minor flesh would or a hole in you the size of your fist. Snipers are the best at this; they can shoot the wings off a fly in midair from hundreds of feet away. So if you ever see a little red dot of light on you you'd better run and hide, because that means the sniper is aiming at you."

Zevran smirked as he expressed how impressed he was with the idea of such a weapon and how the Crows would love to get a hold of something such as that. Alistair on the other hand shivered at the thought of such a chilling device that could kill so easily.

So as he looked down the barrel of the weapon he knew they were in trouble if they didn't quickly think something.

"Anders that metal weapon can kill us in the blink of an eye," Alistair whispered. "At the same time Alex warned us against killing people in this world; they frown on that here. So can you cast a mass paralysis spell so that we can get away without seriously hurting anyone?"

The words had barely left Alistair's lips when the thugs began to move towards them. Anders quickly cast the spell and everyone in the entire group except for the leader frozen in place. The gang leader's movements were slowed down, but he was still able to advance towards them. However, the man was impaired enough to allow Alistair to rush forward and throw a left hook that connected with the side of the hoodlum's face which knocked him back; Alistair followed up the punch with right upper cut to the man's chin that caused the thug to crumble to the ground.

"Wow that was impressive. I didn't realize that Alex had the time to tutor you outside the bedroom too," Anders chortled.

"Oh, shut up," Alistair said as the two men quickly made their way down the street and out of sight of the recovering thugs.

As they walked Alistair took in his surroundings. They were in a neighborhood that had small bungalow and cottage style homes that lined the paved street – not dirt or cobblestone streets, but paved roads. It also seemed that every house had a car parked in front of it. The other thing that struck him was the noise. There was noise from the cars that passed by and from their horns blowing, noise from ringing that come from inside of the different houses and there was also loud voices and music that was blared from several different homes that they walked by.

Several blocks later they saw an elderly woman struggling down the sidewalk as she tried to carry several bags at one time. Alistair walked over to the woman, "Can I help you with those bags?"

The woman looked both of them up and down and must have deemed them trustworthy, "That would be wonderful young man. I don't have far to go, but my old arms aren't what they use to be."

Anders and Alistair took the bags from the woman's arms and followed her down the street for two blocks until they came to tiny bungalow house. They followed her up the porch and set her bags down next to her.

She smiled warmly at them, "Thank you so much. It's not often now-a-days that young men such as you are so helpful."

"You're welcome. I am glad we could help you," Alistair replied.

"And such manners always in the last place you expect them. I don't recognize either one of you. Are you new to the neighborhood?" The woman asked.

"Yes, we are here visiting a friend. We were trying to find her street when we saw you," Anders responded.

"Well, what street are you looking for?" The woman inquired.

Alistair quickly pulled out his map, "We are looking for Cordova Court."

"Oh, you are almost there. You are on Navarre Court. If you go two blocks that way," she pointed down the road, "Cordova will be on your left," the woman replied.

"Thank you so much," Alistair said.

"Enjoy your visit," the woman replied.

Alistair and Anders made their way to Alex's apartment and found the key exactly where she said it would be. Once inside Anders immediately opened his backpack and pulled Sir Pounc-a-lot out of his bag and placed him on the floor. The cat stretched looked around the room and meowed. "Good little fuzzy-wuzzy! This is going to be your new home for now! Do you like it? Awww…look, he's rubbing against the chair, how adorable is that!"

He turned towards Alistair, who shook his head humorously, "That has to be the most well traveled cat in history – two universes and the Fade."

"I couldn't leave my little Pouncy back there all by himself," Anders said with a slight pout. His mood quickly changed as he spots the refrigerator in the other room and ran straight for it.

"Big white box with two doors, this has to be an ice box! I'm starved," he said enthusiastically. However his smile quickly faded once he opened the fridge to realize that it was mostly empty. There looked like there were a couple bottles of water and some cans that said Coke-a-cola on it. He closed the first door and opened the second which looked like some type of freezer. He found it hard to believe that there wasn't some type of magic at work here. "These modern ice boxes are amazing," he muttered as he spotted a box that said Popsicle on it. "Ooooh, I found Popsicles. Do you want one?" Anders asked.

Alistair smiled as he recalled Alex's song and her explanation of the frozen concoction; he felt the pain shoot through his heart at the thought of her alone in a hospital room. Hold on, Love. We are coming. "Sure," he replied.

"What flavor? They come in cherry, orange or grape," Anders responded.

"Cherry," Alistair said.

Anders handed him the frozen treat and both men sat down on the sofa. After a few minutes of enjoying frozen delight Anders said, "I don't know what a Ho Ho is, but there is no way it can be better than this. This is heaven on a stick."

Alistair nodded in agreement as he studied the thin rectangular objected mounted to the wall. He pointed at it, "That must be what Alex called a TV." Alistair said, as he looked at the device in awe.

"I don't see what's so special about it. It looks like a big black box. Not a very attractive piece of artwork if you ask me," Anders retorted.

Alistair picked up a long black object off of the coffee table, "Wait, this thing has some buttons on it. Channel…volume…ah! Power!"

Alistair watched as a pretty blond appeared on the screen.

"Honey, we need to talk about the invitations. Now, do you want to be 'William the Bloody' or just 'Spike,' because either way it's gonna look majorly weird," she cooed.

A tall thin man with blond spiky hair replied, "Whereas the name 'Buffy' gives it that touch of classic elegance."

"What's wrong with 'Buffy'?" The blond asked.

"Ah, such a good question," an older man with glasses responded.

"Wow! That's amazing," Anders exclaimed. "Try another button!"

Click.

"Holy sh*t! They killed Kenny! Those Bastards!"

Click.

Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat
It's not your fault

Click.

"Blast! Damn you!"

Click.

"Save the cheerleader. Save the World!"

As the mage continued his experimentation with the TV, adjusting the volume and switching between different programs, Alistair decided to explore the rest of the apartment. He walked down a hallway that lead to two bedrooms. The first room was nicely decorated in brown, tan and gold. It had a masculine quality to it. He opened the closet and there were men's clothes hanging in it. This must be the spare room that Alex's brother occasionally stayed in. He found a pair of blue pants that had the name Levi written on the back pocket. He pulled them off of the hanger and tried them on. They fit perfectly. Then he tried on a black button down shirt and pair of black casual looking shoes. Everything fit and was extremely comfortable.

"Hey, there's this thing on here with a man in white who has blue hair and some strange mask on the side of his face that looks like a mabari's jaw, and he fighting this orange-haired guy who has a huge sword and is wearing black!" Alistair could hear as his friend yelled from the other room.

Alistair made his way into the next room. This was obviously Alex's room. It had a feminine feel to it. It was warmly decorated in red, brown and tan with dark wood furniture. Alistair walked into the room and looked around. He made his way over to a dresser that had framed pictures on it. He was amazed at the clarity and quality of these pictures. How did the artist paint them so clearly?

In one of the pictures Alex was in a crimson gown with a cap that had a tassel on the side. Also in the picture was a distinguished gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a strikingly attractive woman with long black hair; these had to be her parents. She looked so happy and her parents were beaming at her with pride. He sat the picture down, picked up the next framed photo and his mouth nearly hit the ground.

Alex was on a beach with a man that looked so much like her it had to be her brother James. The two of them were holding onto a long board that was in between them. What Alistair found so shocking was that Alex was dressed in nothing, but her small clothes – very pretty, colorful small clothes, but small clothes none the less. And from what he could gather from the other people in the background that everyone was wearing their small clothes. What kind of beach was this?

A low admiring whistle came from behind him. Anders snatched the picture out of his hands, "My imagination didn't do Alex justices. Andraste's arse, look at the toned muscles on her stomach and those long shapely legs. By the Maker, Alistair it's a miracle you ever left your bedroom at all. I don't think I could have ever torn myself away from such a delicious…"

Alistair pulled the picture out of his hand, "That's enough. Stop ogling my fiancée."

Anders laughed, "You can't blame a man for staring when what she is wearing leaves very little to the imagination; although I my mind's eye will have fun filling in the blanks tonight."

Alistair gave him a disgusted look. "It's not just her. Look at everyone behind her – they are all dressed like that. It must be proper beach attire here," Alistair said defensively.

"If they all look like her then we need to find this beach immediately," Anders responded.

"Not until we see Alex tonight," Alistair said. He looked at the modern clock that Alex had told him about and continued, "It's seven o'clock. We need to wait until twelve o'clock to make our way to the hospital."

Anders nodded. "I was coming in here to tell you I found some cans of soup in the closet. Can you believe that they store food in cans?" Anders shook his head in disbelief as he continued, "Anyways, I figured out how their stove works. It's astounding – you turn a knob and fire comes out on top. No matches, no need for a fire spell, you just turn a knob. It's no wonder they don't need magic in this world. So I prepared dinner for us," Anders said.

"That sounds great. I'm starving; even traveling to a different world the taint hasn't slowed down my appetite at all," Alistair replied.

"But have you noticed how quiet it is?" Anders asked.

Alistair nodded, "You grow so use to your blood always humming from other wardens or darkspawn that when those things aren't anywhere near you it's amazing how silent the world is even in a world that is very loud. I can still hear you, but it is so faint compared to our world."

"I know. It's nice," Anders said as he handed Alistair his bowl of soup. "I also figured out how to work the box that Alex called a DVD player. I put a movie called Gladiator on. It's about an ancient warrior that seeks revenge."

Alistair nodded as he ate his soup, watched the movie and marveled at the wonders this new world had brought.