In Which Justina Misses Home but Home Aims Better

Justina kept traveling with Skipper anywhere the Metaverse took them. They had many variations on a conversation where Skipper would ask, "Where do you want to go?"

And Justina would answer "I think I'll just stay here with you."

"Please pick something!"

"I can't! Skipper. I keep getting you hurt. I can't be that selfish anymore."

"Pleeeeease!?"

"After what happened on Pegasus Station?"

"You need adventures and I need stories!"

"Skipper…"

"Oh look, we've arrived somewhere! How odd. Now go, go!"

Xanaria traveled with them sometimes. After one metaverse she'd ask to go home to Lupe. So more often than not it was just Skipper and Justina.

One day Justina was teaching Skipper to play Crazy Eights when they dropped their cards on the moss and sat bolt upright. A second later a ripple shook the ground and set the vines swinging.

"What was that?" Justina asked, setting aside her own cards.

"I… I think your metaverse just unlocked. It's affecting everything!"

"Oh." Justina wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't even sure how to feel.

"Do you want to go back?!" Skipper was jumping up and down in excitement. "You could see what happened! You could tell me what happened!"

Justina bit her lip, torn. I do want to know what's going on and I miss Alice and mom but- "I'm sorry Skipper. Maybe someday. But it could be dangerous."

"Why would it be dangerous?"

"I don't know. But every time I've dragged you about on my whims you've gotten hurt."

"Not quite every time."

"Almost every time."

"Please? I want to know why it made such big ripples everywhere!"

"Someday, okay? When things have time to settle down. All we know right now is that something big just happened and I don't want to drag you into the middle of it."

"Someday? You promise?"

"I promise. Someday I will go back and ask."

"Okay."

As it turned out Justina was able to put off "Someday" for several years of Skipper's internal time.

Justina woke up because Skipper was tugging on her hair. She had let it grow out and had to shove it out of her eyes with one hand.

"What is it, Skipper?"

"We're here! You're home!"

"I know I'm home, Skipper. We weren't gone that long." They had just dropped Xanaria back home after an adventure on a world that was all sky, cloud cities, and bird people. That was a fun one…

"No, I mean we're at your home. Your Metaverse!"

"What, no!" She sat up so quickly Skipper had to catch the bedpost with a tail to keep from tumbling off. "We talked about this. It's too dangerous!"

"We did talk about this and you promised you would go back someday. Well it's someday!"

"Skipper-"

"We're already here and I'm not leaving until you go home and tell me what's happened!"

Justina sighed, "I need coffee."

"Already brewed!"

Within an hour Justina had been shunted out the door. Around her neck hung her glowing stone in a net of black string. They'd figured out that if she took it with her Skipper had a limited awareness through it. She was wearing an ankle length blue and silver skirt and her increasingly battered green jacket, which had become something of a good luck charm for her.

She stepped out from between the two halves of a cracked boulder into a familiar little stone garden about twenty minutes walk from her childhood home. The boulder itself was a glacial erratic and the rest of the garden had been built up around it. The four car parking lot was empty. The gate, as always, was unlocked. The donation box had been repainted but that was all Justina could see that had changed. She began walking.

Despite her concerns she felt her heart rising as she walked the familiar narrow shoulder on the cracked asphalt back road that made her footsteps tap out home, home, home.

As she walked up to her parents house she was struck by how familiar it looked, despite the new paint job and the vegetable garden where her mother's perfect front lawn used to be. Same wrap around porch. Same shutters, although green now instead of blue. She hesitated a long moment before knocking on the door.

When she heard Alice's voice calling "Be right there!" Justina felt tears rise in her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she missed her little sister.

"Hi." Was all she managed to say when Alice opened the door.

Alice grabbed her into a hug and dragged her into the house.

"My God Tina, where have you been? I was sure you were dead! You were gone for so long and through everything and I thought… but now you are here! And oh my god you look amazing! How have you been?"

Justina was grinning "I missed you too, Alice."

"Do you want some tea? Coffee? Something to eat? I was just making Andy a sandwich. I can make you one too. Oh my God! You need to meet Andy! Justina, I have a son, you're an Aunt!"

"I would love some coffee, I would love something to eat, I would love to meet my nephew, but mostly I just want to see you. Catch me up?"

"Oh God, Tina! Where do I even start? Come on."

Alice towed her along to the kitchen where she started a pot of coffee and slapped together a second sandwich. Justina watched her with a faint smile as Alice told her about Andy and how he was doing in high school. Alice looked older than she should have and Andy hadn't been born yet when Justina had gone. Justina cursed the time difference even as she basked in Alice's words. The house was warm and Justina took off her jacket and folded it over one arm. Alice broke off mid sentence.

"My God, what happened to your arm?"

"What?" Justina looked down at the ragged stripes of scar running around the top of her right arm. "Oh. A few years ago I scared someone dangerous. It wasn't on purpose but he lashed out. Honestly I got out of it lightly compared to my friend…"

"Ouch."

"It healed okay."

Silence fell as Justina bit into her sandwich. Tears welled up in her eyes, she remembered I like dill salt on my turkey.

"This is delicious Alice, thank you."

"Where have you been, Justina?" Alice's voice went quiet and a touch sad.

"That's… complicated and I'm not sure you would believe me."

"You could have sent a letter. An email. A text. Something to let me know that you were alive."

"I really physically couldn't. And… I was hiding from a dangerous group of people. I didn't want any more attention brought to you. Or to Mom."

"Moms gone, Tina. Dad too."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"I- Please don't take this wrong Alice, but I was afraid you would be mad at me if I came back."

"Oh, I was. For years. I was so angry. But then the invasion happened. Kinda forced everyone to readjust their priorities, you know?"

"The… The invasion?"

Alice's brow furrowed. "When metaverse 742 tried to take us over? Everyone lost someone. I lost Christian and Eleise; my husband and Andy's baby sister. That was when I finally accepted that you were dead. Or I thought… I thought if you hadn't been dead by then you would be after."

"You know about the Metaverse?"

"Everyone does. It was kinda hard to miss when everything went down. Where have you been?"

"I was running from the Program. I tried to find Tom-Thomas and they threatened me but I kept looking. Remember when Mom almost got arrested? That was them. They also froze all my assets and sent a team to kill me. I had to run. I never really stopped running. Couldn't find him out there either."

"Oh, Tom is doing good! He's like a big time diplomat, you know. He's on the council. You aren't likely to find him, though."

"He is? Why not?"

"He spends most of his time in other Metaverses, being all Ambassadorial. I try to keep tabs on him. He's not exactly family but besides my son he was the closest thing I had left."

"You've talked to him?"

"Well, no, not really. We never got along when you were together I didn't think it would seem- I didn't want to be that ex-relative that comes out of the woodwork being all smarmy now that he's become a big time VIP. But I paid attention. I dunno…"

"And he's… he's alive? Like really alive?"

"Of course he is, why wouldn't he be?"

"There was a woman in a metaverse I visited who told me he was dead, but not entirely. It was cryptic and honestly rather scary. I went on a big wild goose chase. It was a whole thing. I eventually realized the Metaverse was too big for me to track him down but I always wondered."

Alice's face shut down. "'A metaverse you visited?' Wait. Tina, are you a Pilot?"

"Oh, no! No no. I mean, I am an avatar but… No, I went out there in person when I was running from the Program."

"I… I see." Alice looked at her hands expressionless. "Hey, could you take Andy his sandwich? He has your old room."

"Yeah, of course." Justina didn't understand the change in tone but was happy to help. She moved her jacket to her other arm and took the plate. As she walked up the stairs she relished the peace of a space that whispered safety directly to her nervous system.

She knocked on the door that had been hers her entire childhood. When there was no answer, she opened the door. Andy was sitting on a beanbag chair with a pair of headphones on driving a car around a video game city. Justina guessed his age to be in the mid double digits. Justina crossed into his line of sight and held out the sandwich. He did a double take and paused the game.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked.

"I'm Justina, your mom is my little sister."

"Huh." He said but reached out to take the sandwich plate. "Thanks."

There was an awkward silence. Justina opened her mouth to say something more but he put the headphones back on in a hurry. She took the hint and left smiling. I'll win him over eventually. Surprise aunt can't be easy to process.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard Alice's voice talking urgently in an undertone.

"-Avatar… Yes I'm sure… She's upstairs with my son right now. Come quickly."

Justina gasped, one hand on the doorframe. Alice looked up and met her eyes, freezing. She was on the phone. "Tina. Look, it's for your own good-"

Justina ran. She bolted back up the stairs pulling on her jacket as she went. She burst back through the door to her old room startling Andy who had stopped his game and was eating his sandwich.

"If you want to use this escape route yourself, pop the window back in behind me." She said as she ran past him to the window. She hit the spot on its frame that popped it right out. "Watch and learn, kid." She said and grinned at the stunned boy.

Setting the window aside, she ducked right out onto the roof. Her foot slipped a bit as she crossed to the back corner, Jesus I swear this roof was more stable when I was young!

She slid from the low corner of the roof to the porch railing and hopped from there to the ground. None of the downs stairs windows showed this particular corner of the house. A fact I will never regret taking frequent advantage of again!

Three more paces brought her to a now overgrown current bush. Then crouching low, the current bush blocking the view as she got farther from the house, she scrambled out to the relative safety of the trees.

She heard shouting behind her. But she knew the way through this forest. Trying to stay unheard and unseen turned a twenty minute walk by the road into almost forty frustrating minutes of keeping trees or garden between her and peoples houses.

Justina was breathing hard and couldn't seem to get enough air. She had no idea who Alice had called, or why, but she'd had to run from enough metaverses over the years that she wasn't going to stick around to find out. Justina's heart hurt but she couldn't let herself focus on that.

I just need to get home to Skipper. I can deal with all of this then.

She whispered into the stone around her neck, "I need you to open the door. I'm running. But please be careful." She could never tell how much would come through to Skipper. It depended on how well they had managed to line up with the metaverse they opened the door too.

She was almost there. She could see the stone garden's gate across the street when she heard the roar of a car far exceeding the speed limit. She hid behind a tree waiting for them to pass but instead it screeched to a halt, tires skidding on cracked asphalt.

A bolt of adrenaline shot through her and she broke cover, bolting across the road. A blond man was hurling himself from the passenger side door. He shouted something she couldn't hear as she ran past.

Justina was halfway through the parking lot when a hand caught the back of her jacket. "Halt, avatar! You are in violation of- hey!"

Justina barely stumbled as she shrugged out of the jacket and kept running. She vaulted the gate, left hand holding her skirt out of the way. She landed well but her moment of triumph was short-lived. The man behind her got the gate open before she was clear and shoved the heavy wood into her back. She fell hard, gravel scraping up her knees and the wrist tangled in her skirt twisting with a nasty twang. She rolled away as best she could, scrambling toward the split boulder in the center of the garden. A gun shot rang out sending chunks of gravel flying. She threw herself away from it and cracked her cheek bone on a decorative pillar of carved granite.

"We have you surrounded! Surrender now or the next shot won't be a warning!"

But Justina had made it to the boulder and with a whispered, "Please be ready, Skipper." She hauled herself through the crack and rolled onto soft green moss.

"Close it! Close it!"

Skipper did. And Justina lay trembling and breathing hard as she stared at the ceiling.

"What happened!" Skipper helped her sit up.

"I'm afraid I lost my jacket."

"Are you okay?"

"Skinned knees, bruised face, broken heart. I'll heal."

"Did I do a wrong thing? Making you go home?"

"You're my home Skipper. You have been for a long time."

"Really?"

"Of course!"

"But did I do bad?"

"No. I think it must be better to know. But, Skipper?"

"Yeah?"

"Never again."

"Okay!"