A/N: Summer vacation has ironically caused my writing to slow down a little, but this story's muse burns brightly. In today's chapter, the plot escalates greatly. Enjoy, my readers!

Chapter 3: An old side of you

January 10, 2028

Woods residence, Juniper's bedroom

8:00 a.m.

The door to the bedroom practically flew open, admitting defense attorney Athena Cykes inside. The redhead rushed to the bed, looking worriedly at her best friend sleeping in it. In the hour it took for Athena to arrive here, Juniper had yet to budge.

"What's going on with Junie, Mrs. Woods?" Athena asked.

Virginia Woods sighed, unable to meet the young woman's eyes. "It is a long story, Athena. Do you remember the time you and my granddaughter had a sleepover at the Space Center for an entire weekend?"

"Junie and I have had plenty of sleepovers at each other's houses when we were little. I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific," Athena said, playing with her earring.

"I believe you and Juniper were seven at the time," Virginia continued. "After returning to this house, I was found bedridden much like Juniper is now."

"Wait, I think I remember now!" Athena exclaimed. "You were taken to the hospital, and the doctors couldn't find what was wrong with you. But you just woke up out of nowhere the next day. Is what happened to you what's happening to Juniper?"

"I'm afraid so. It all started with a legend I once told Juniper as a bedtime story," Virginia said, her voice cracking. "At the time, I thought it was just some silly fairy tale. I never thought it would result in this…"

January 12, 2028

Alternate Woods Residence

11:00 a.m.

Thankfully, the day after Juniper talked to Professor Courte was Saturday, which meant she had it off from Themis Legal Academy. So it was this day that the Judge student planned to bridge the gap between Hugh and Robin.

"What?! Have you gone completely crazy, Juniper?" Myriam said upon hearing this from her. "Just because Judges are supposed to mediate arguments doesn't mean you have to go after every hopeless case, sss sss sss."

"Is it really so bad between them?" Juniper asked.

"You should know the answer to that better than anyone!" Myriam exclaimed, irritated. "You're the one that threw poor Hugh under the bus, kahk kahk."

"Please don't remind me," Juniper said, distressed. "I want to do everything in my power to make up for what I did."

"Well, one thing's for sure- this I've gotta see," Myriam said, getting that familiar predatory aura she did whenever she caught wind of a scoop.

It said everything about Juniper's situation that this was the most reassuring sight she'd seen these past few days.

Regardless, the plan was in motion- calling Hugh to let him know that the Judge student would be going to his house, then calling Robin to invite him to go on a walk. Contacting Robin to begin with ended up being a tiring experience, as the prosecutor student clearly wasn't used to people just calling him out of nowhere and had a hostile attitude as a result. In the end, Robin met Juniper in the city (near Hugh's place, but Robin didn't know that) and the two of them walked together.

"Geez, I don't get you, Juniper," Robin said suddenly. "Just when I think you're going to leave me alone, you pop up out of nowhere. Why are you doing this?"

Ironically, the one person whose motives Juniper still didn't understand were her own- or rather, that of her alternate self. But that was one of the reasons why Juniper was still in this world- to better understand how and why this other Juniper did what she did.

"I thought I made that clear after last October," Juniper said quietly, suspecting this was how she would get more information out of the prosecutor student.

"Oh, believe me, I still remember that day," Robin said. "I was taking care of some business in the student council room when I heard a knock on the room…"

Ocotober 15, 2027

Alternate Themis Legal Academy, Student Council room

2:30 p.m.

The student council president wasn't expecting any visitors, so he was quite surprised to hear knocking at the door. Opening the door revealed the last person Robin expected to be there- Juniper Woods.

Robin wasn't sure what to make of the judge student's expression- she seemed to be incredibly conflicted. As much as Robin normally disagreed with the Juniper, he was curious as to why she was here.

"When you decided to run against me… for the position of student council president, you said it was because you believed you could help this school better than I could," Juniper said, not looking at Robin.

"It was nothing personal. We both wanted the position and only one of us could have it," Robin said. The other students picked the hotheaded prosecutor student over the soft spoken judge student, though by a slim margin. "But why are you bringing that up now?"

"Because… *cough cough* I need help…. *cough cough* and I don't know who else to turn to *cough cough cough*"

Juniper clutched at her chest, her words failing her. Meanwhile, Robin wasn't entirely sure how to react. Never had he ever seen her this vulnerable. Honestly, Robin thought Juniper would never want to speak to him again after the election, and for the most part she didn't.

In the end, however, this was the main reason Robin decided to walk the path of the prosecutor. Not simply to follow in the footsteps of his prosecutor father. Rather, Robin was studying to be a prosecutor to strike down criminals that caused suffering such as this.

"Why don't you tell me what the problem is," Robin finally said. "And then I'll do everything in my power to solve it! That's my creed as the student council president!"

"I'm… I'm actually relieved to hear that from you, President Newman," Juniper said. "I wasn't expecting an answer like that from you."

Robin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Just how exactly did Juniper see Robin to make such a statement?

"Well, yesterday I went to go visit a friend of mine at his house," Juniper began. "But he was on the phone when I got there."

If Robin wasn't mistaken, that would be one of her two best friends, Hugh O'Conner. The very first day attending Themis Legal Academy, Robin had seen Hugh and Juniper among the other new students and considered approaching them- but he decided instead to talk to fellow prosecutor students to learn more about the course, and he never really tried again since.

"I didn't mean to *cough cough* but I listened in on the conversation," Juniper continued. "Hugh was talking to his parents- and he mentioned bribe money!"

"N-No way!" Robin exclaimed. At the beginning of the month the prosecutor student had been asked by Professor Courte to investigate his fellow students, due to the disquieting rumors of bribery. To think that they were true…. Robin quickly explained this to Juniper.

"Wait, are you saying… that Hugh… *cough cough*" Juniper's distressed mood grew steadily worse.

"Ah, I didn't mean to upset you!" Robin said quickly. "It's too soon to say! But at the same time, I can't dismiss the possibility of Mr. O' Conner being at least related."

What could Robin do in a situation like this, though? As much as Robin wanted to get to the bottom of this, he was just a student. What's more, what little Robin heard of Hugh painted him as a natural genius, but that could be all be a lie. Maybe Robin's father was right all along, and all defense attorneys were-

"Wait, my dad!" Robin suddenly shouted, startling Juniper in the process. "As you might of heard, my father is a renowned prosecutor. He specializes in white collar crimes, so if anyone can sniff out bribes it's him! I'll talk to him when I go home today. But it would help if you wrote down a statement of what you heard, Juniper."

"Um, okay then…" Juniper jotted down her statement on a piece of paper, then gave it to Robin. After that Robin went back to his work, expecting the judge student to leave.

And Juniper did start to leave the student council room. Just as she opened the door, however, Juniper turned towards Robin, smiling for the first time.

"Thank you for helping me, Robin," Juniper said. "I feel like… I understand you a lot better now."

"Sure, whatever." Robin said, lowering his head. He would not allow himself to think for a second that they could be friends. Such thoughts could only end badly…

January 12, 2028

11:30 a.m.

In her mind, Juniper could see her "alternate self" perfectly clear, could feel what she must have felt. After all, this had all happened before. Her alternate self found herself backed in a corner, just like before- except this time she wasn't the student council president, so the alternate Juniper could turn to Student Council President Robin Newman, and throw all her problems at his feet.

On one hand, this conversation gave Juniper further insight on the various alternate versions of the people she knew. Now more than ever Juniper could see the close friend she knew inside the alternate Robin. On the other hand, Myriam's words from earlier about "throwing Hugh under the bus¨ rang very true. Which left to Juniper the task of cleaning up this mess that her alternate self had left behind.

Thinking about it…. Where was her alternate self at the moment? In theory, if Juniper was inhabiting the body of her other self, was the Juniper of this world currently in her home world?

All the more reason to take care of business here as soon as possible- they were almost at Hugh's house, and if Juniper knew anything about the alternate Robin, it would take some convincing to get him to meet with Hugh.

"So where exactly have you been leading me, anyways?" Robin asked.

"We're going to Hugh's place. I want you two to have a good talk," Juniper said softly.

Just as predicted, Robin's expression immediately became angry. "No! No no no no no nnnNNNNNOOOO!" Robin shouted. "There is no way I'm going to talk to him!"

Despite how angry Robin was, Juniper didn't falter. Mentally telling herself she was fine, Juniper pinned Robin with her best "student council president" glare. After a couple moments, Robin actually backed off.

"When I asked you for help with Hugh, it was because I decided to trust you," Juniper said, quietly but with great conviction. Right now, Juniper felt like she was in perfect sync with her alternate self. "But right now, you're showing me it was wrong to to do so."

"...! But, even if I wanted to talk to Hugh, he'd probably throw me out before I could say anything," Robin said, his face burning with shame.

So did that mean there were still details left unknown about what went down in this alternate world? No, right now that didn't matter. Juniper had to remain firm in her conviction.

"I will make sure Hugh doesn't say anything out of line," Juniper said. "You and Hugh have more in common than you realize, you know. I just want to…. Clear the air between all of us about what happened last year."

"What could I have in common with some defense attorney student," Robin muttered under his breath. "Okay, FINE! I'll give this meeting a chance."

This was it, then. After several days of wandering around lost in this world, Juniper felt like she'd could finally make a real difference.

A/N: The many unexpected ways in which this alternate world are different continue to fascinate me, so I hope its the same for my readers. Next chapter... I'll keep it a surprise. See you next time! Please review.