Hey guys. I should've uploaded this last year on April 1st because it's Daniel's birthday, but didn't finish it in time. It's been almost two years since I last posted for this collection, but I did specify that this would be infrequent updating. So, if anybody is still here on this site, enjoy this little POV! :)

Also, happy birthday Daniel, and Happy April Fools to all XD

Twenty-Third Installment: Season 4 Episode 5: A Tale of Two Lives

Alternate Reality!Daniel figures out what the group is hiding and how it affects his current life in the Everglades.

Daniel's POV

Never in all my life could I have predicted this scenario.

I merely walk into the back room looking for Jax so we could all eat together, and instead, I found a candlelit dinner appearing out of thin air, while Jax yells "Surprise!"

Oh, I was surprised alright.

The brunette with the bun had her hands wrapped around my right arm, seemingly just as confused as I am, or maybe she was more amazed.

When Jax looked up at us, he seemed shocked, moving his hands from whatever position they were in to then flailing them through the air, throwing salad as well as something soft and mushy onto my face.

"Wait a second, how did you just do that?!" the girl asked him.

"Do what?" Jax countered nervously.

"Uh, hello? The flying," she took some of the food off my face with her finger and tasted it, "Salmon?"

I was completely perplexed. "How-what just happened?!"

By this time, The girl with the braided ponytail ran into the room, I believe her name was Andi, wearing a panicked look on her face, but it was replaced quickly with a seemingly nervous smile. Does she know what just happened?

"Guys," she began, slowly stepping towards us, "there is a simple explanation for all this."

She turned her head, seeing yet another girl walking past this crazy scene, and grabbed her. "Katie! Why don't you, uh, tell Daniel over here why there's a candlelit dinner that appeared out of nowhere."

Katie gave her an incredulous look, telling me that maybe she also was in on whatever had happened. What were they hiding?

"Oh, right! It was-"

"Definitely not magic!" another girl chimed in, hiding behind one of the wooden posts. I didn't even see her enter the room.

I looked from Andi to Katie, who then began to respond.

"A mind trick! See your photoreceptors were so busy collecting visual information that your cognitive energy caused you to see something that wasn't really there."

"What?" I asked, not fully understanding. I know a lot about science but that sounded like gibberish.

"Ooh, I love it when Katie speaks science." The girl with the bun said. Weird.

"Sometimes your brain sees stuff that isn't there." she clarified.

"Boom, there ya have it," Andi emphasized.

"Simple math," Jax added.

"Uh, science." Katie corrected him.

"And science."

I wasn't buying it. "No, no no, this is not right."

Confused, I turned to the only person in the room that seemed just as bewildered as I was. "Let's go," I said to her.

"Me?" she asked, clearly flustered. "I thought you'd never ask!"

As she's pushing me to the door, Andi yelps out "No wait, stop!"

The next thing I knew, Jax was making an obscene gesture with his hands, which caused a blue light to appear and head straight at me, leaving me tied up with rope.

I looked at the girl with the bun, bewildered, and she began screaming, and again Jax made a motion with his arms, and suddenly her screaming stopped. Her mouth was still open, so he must've just muted her.

But, how is that even possible?!

"Are you done yet?' he asked, and she nodded, clearly still terrified.

"Good." With another wave of his arms, her voice was back, meanwhile, I was still trying to free myself from the rope.

"This is the weirdest first date ever!"

"This isn't a date." I clarified.

"We should go get Diego," Katie told Andi. She quickly left with the other girl hiding behind one of the canopies.

"You need to untie me now!" I demanded as the girl with the bun tried looking for a way to free me.

"Sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to make you forget everything that just happened," Jax explained nonchalantly, before raising his hands again in the same motion.

What does that mean? Is he going to what, wipe or memories? That's not possible! Right?

But before he did, he was interrupted.

"What's going on in here-Jax?"

Jax waved in the direction of the voice, and I turned to see that it was Emma, with a puzzled expression as she took in her surroundings. Maybe she too doesn't know what's going on.

She then saw me and her eyes widened. "Daniel?!"

I flailed my arms, basically showing my annoyance at the situation.

"Are you okay?" she asked, walking towards me, while Katie, Diego, the blonde, and the other girl all hurried into the room shortly after her.

"Gigi?" Diego says to the girl I was with. Huh, so that's her name.

"I'm fine, I think." I stammer out to Emma.

"Emma? Can I talk to you in private please?" I heard Jax ask quietly. She quickly stood up and went in his direction.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I relayed what I saw to the rest of them.

"These were ropes, and they were flying fish-"

Andi kneeled before me, looking rather sympathetic. "I know dude, I know."

"But this can't be an optical illusion; there has to be a better explanation!" I stressed.

"You're totally right; there is," she agreed at first, but then followed with, "and if you can think of one, just let me know, cause I'll be over there," she said, pointing to the other side of the room while standing up and walking away.

I felt my chest deflate. Will anyone tell me what had just happened? It felt like I was going crazy.

Diego and his girlfriend seemed to begin bickering while the odd girl just gave me weird looks from time to time. Finally, they seem to leave with Gigi, who seemed way more enthused about the events that happened than I was.

Emma soon came over to try and undo the rope Jax bound me with, but it wasn't budging.

"Can you help?" she begged Jax. "I'd use my...' special gift,' but it hasn't exactly been firing on all cylinders lately."

"You know I'd do almost anything for you, but this, this is a no-go." He replied, standing his ground.

"Jax, I know Daniel! That same person is in here somewhere."

"You used to know Daniel." he clarified bitterly.

"She did?" I asked, bewildered because I know for a fact this is the first time I'd ever seen her.

"Yes," she assured me, but quickly changed her reply. "No! Sorry, I don't feel well."

I looked down again in disappointment. All these mixed answers I'm getting from them made me frustrated, but also tired. I just wished I stayed in the kitchen.

"Look, just give me a minute of alone time. I have an idea." she pleaded with Jax and Andi.

"Alone time, with gator boy? What is he tries to escape?" Jax mused.

"You know I'm sitting right here right?" I pointed out, making the aggravation clear in my voice.

"Okay, let's go." Andi agrees. "And if he tries anything, we'll be down the hall. Which in case if he does try anything, I have nunchucks and I'm not afraid to use them!" she threatened, which had me taken aback. I wasn't going to anyway.

As soon as they leave, I wasted no time getting Emma to help free me. "Quick, they're scissors in the cabinet."

"They're not gonna work; I have to try a spell," she told me.

"A spell?!" My eyes widened at her admission.

"I trust in Daniel and I have hope, now set him free remove this rope." I watched in horror as the pink light that came from her hand headed in my direction and broke off pieces of the rope. What the hell? How did she do that?!

"I need to be honest, it's no time to lie, now help me, please make this rope untie." and again another flash on her pink light undid some of the rope binding me.

I could no longer contain my fear, as I had no idea what was going on. "What-what are you?"

"I don't wanna freak you out," she says and she paces around. "Technically, this is the second time you're gonna hear this." she then stops in front of me and looks straight at me. "Daniel, I-I'm a witch."

I looked at her with my mouth agape and she began explaining exactly how we met.

"And then you tele...transported me to a pool?" I asked, trying to see if I heard her right.

"Well not on purpose, only because my powers are still growing."

I then heard fast footsteps approaching, and saw that it was just Jax. "Whoa! This isn't the toilet, is it? Might as well just, stay here then you know-"

"Bathroom's this way Don Juan," Andi called out, dragging Jax by his shirt out of the room.

I continued questioning Emma. "But you can't be a witch. Witches are old and fly, and are old. Not girls from Miami."

"Sometimes you find magic in the most unlikely places." I blinked at her. That sounded incredibly cliche.

"And you're saying, I knew you?"

"You still do, you know all of us," she said, motioning with her hands that Jax and Andi had come back into the room.

"Emma, what are you doing?' Andi asked, concern all over her face.

"The right thing," she stressed. "Daniel, we're your friends. We go to school together; Iridium High in Miami. You're on the swim team with these two-The Sharks. You're the captain."

I gave her a quizzical look, trying to process all the information she just threw at me.

"Emma, I'm still a little hazy about this whole universe shifting thing, but isn't what you're about to do, like really bad?" Andi asked.

"Like he could disappear forever bad?" Jax added, and that got my attention.

"Wait, what?!" If knowing this information could make me disappear, then why was she telling me this?! Maybe Jax should've wiped my memory after all.

"That's not going to happen! I won't let it," she promised and raised her hand to seemingly cast another spell. "Do it now there can be no stall, cut these ropes once and for all."

As soon as the ropes fell from around me I stood up in haste, ready to leave the room after all I just heard. I needed a breather as my anxiety was at an all-time high.

"No one's going to hurt you," she tried to reassure me, but I just made my way to the exit, where Andi and Jax blocked me from.

"It's okay," she told them, and they separated leaving a path for me to leave the room. I looked at all of their faces, Jax guarded, Andi worried, and Emma seemingly guilty, before exiting.

I briefly saw the rest of the group, including Gigi, who was again staring at me, and decided that I needed to be away from all of them. So I left the sanctuary and went out into the storm, hoping no one would follow me.

None of it made sense. It's possible I just look really similar to the guy they're mentioning. Could there really be another me from a different reality? And how do I know they'll find a way to keep me from disappearing if I go with them? They didn't seem to be lying anymore, but I only met them today.

If I would've known today would turn out like this, I probably never would have left my bed.

Review maybe? I feel like I'm losing my touch, but most of this was already written a year ago so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯