Author's POV
"You met who?"
Irene and Lucien asked in unision whereas Kael just had an expression of disbelief on his face but didn't say anything.
"Brigitte, the real one"
Nora replied sounding confused herself.
"Is that even possible? In our experience we have never encountered such incidents" Lucien added thinking deeply for once whereas Irene was looking towards Nora waiting for further explanation and answers.
"Have you encountered something like this before Kael?" It was Eugene this time asking Kael on a serious note in response to which Kael nodded slightly while having a sharp expression on his face "yes".
Everyone seemed flabbergasted at his declaration. " R-Really? You too?" Irene asked with a sharp tone while thinking deeply. "What could this mean?" Nora asked Kael hoping for an answer.
"We don't have time to think about what it means. What matters is what Brigitte said after meeting you" Kael turned towards her waiting for her to continue but Nora seemed to be in deep thought as if trying to remember all the details.
"I don't remember all the parts since some of them are blurry but from what I remember she was in the void with me in her actual form which is this body that I'm occupying but it was more like her soul since she looked a little transparent" Nora started her explanation and everyone stared at her intensely willing to hear more.
"She said something about me finally being here.... again and she was happy to have me back which is extremely weird because I have no memory of Brigitte remembering my existence in her body from last time I visited her" She explained leaving everyone stunned again.
"Hold on you have been to this timeline before? And that too when Brigitte was little?" Irene asked to clear her doubts and confirm if she was hearing the right words. "Yes" Nora replied in a normal tone like it wasn't a big deal but to others it was something new, something they'd never heard of. "Is that possible?" Lucien asked Kael while being astounded. Kael nodded in response "yes, I have experienced it too like I said" Kael added further and this would have been the nth time everyone was shocked today.
"This is a lot to take in but we do need to discuss this so let's get over the shock and talk about this rationally" It was Irene who stepped up again trying to remind everyone of the main topic here and everyone seemed to listen to her and direct their focus towards Kael and Nora again.
"So you are saying that Brigitte said she remembered you from the last time you visited this universe and she is also glad to have you back but according to her memories that you occupy while being in her body, she didn't know you ever existed in her body?" Irene added making a conclusion out of the things Nora said. "Yes exactly" Nora replied while looking back to her and Brigitte's conversation in the void.
"It's just simple then" Irene said while rubbing her chin "that was Briggitte's unconscious mind" Irene finished the sentence making Kael's eyes round in surprise not because she was wrong but because of how accurate she was.
"You mean subconscious mind? Lucien added thinking he was correcting Irene but before he could say anything further or Irene could clear it herself, Kael cut in between their conversation.
" No, Subconscious mind and unconscious mind are different aspects of the human consciousness, subconscious mind records things you don't notice but unconscious mind saves every bit of memory of your life since you're born. The ones you forget and the ones even your subconscious discards." Kael stopped to look at everyone's expression to figure out if they understood what he meant or not. "I think I get it" Lucien added while thinking and trying to process everything. "So that's why Brigitte knew Nora and was welcoming her back" Iris asked to confirm her doubts. "Yes" Nora added while smiling towards her.
"This kind of incident is extremely rare. Across the multiple timelines and universes that we go to, we often come close to almost dying while fighting a war or battle but it rarely happens that the person you're possesing shows up with their unconscious self/mind" Kael said further and Nora responded with a nod and understood what he meant by that. "But you said it happened with you too" Nora asked looking at him waiting for his side of story but he just said a simple "yes" And turned towards the counter again while thinking deeply. "What? No further explanation? Or the story? I told mine so I think I deserve to know more too" Nora demanded while putting her hands on her hips but he still didn't say anything and that seemed to piss Nora off even more. "Fine don't tell me. I don't know how you guys trust him and follow him around when he is so secretive and doesn't tell anything" Nora blurted out without thinking much of it but everyone seemed to have come to a halt and had a dark expression on their faces. No one said anything for a while. After a few more moments of silence Kael stood up without saying anything and left the bar.
Nora looked at everyone and saw the way Kael left. It didn't take long for her to realise that she made a mistake and crossed a line.
"Guys I'm so.... Sorry I don't know what came over me. I really didn't mean that. I totally understand that if you all are working together you must have sorted such things out long ago. I'm sorry for crossing a line. I didn't mean-" Suddenly Nora felt a hand on her shoulder and felt herself being sat down. It was Irene who made her sit down and looked at her with a sad expression as if remembering something. Nora looked at her for a while and confirmed that Irene wasn't mad at her so she could finally settle in her seat and was ready to hear what Irene had to say "He found me when I was extremely close to insanity" Irene started telling the story of how she and Kael met.
"There was a time when I started losing sanity while shifting so many timelines and universes and no matter what timeline I ended up in I immediately tried to kill myself even though I knew it was another person's body and that it didn't belong to me but I couldn't care at that point and just wanted to be free from the torment. I killed myself or more like the people I was possessing in 13 timelines one after another. Once I shifted to a timelime in Ancient China, I was in a different body of course and there was a war going on and the body I was possesing was of a doctor so I was sent there as a doctor for the soldiers but as soon as I woke up in that timeline, some of the men and workers there tried to sexually assault me so I cut their hands off with their own swords. Because of that I was to be punished and tortured. It really didn't bother me much since I was going try to kill myself in that timeline again anyway but that's when Kael found me. He had same appearance as he has now and he rescued me from the punishment. He took me somewhere quiet where no people were seen and my hands and legs were tied the whole time so I couldn't resist. I got suspicious and tried to attack him with the knife I hid and used to cut the ropes while he wasn't noticing. 'I won't let you have your way with me' I screamed and tried to attack him as soon as I got free but he dodged effortlessly and I kept attacking. It was after a while that he realised that I wouldn't stop fighting him so he knocked me out, attacking on my neck with his hands. I woke up after a long time and we were surrounded by two tents and I was covered with blankets while lying down whereas he was starting a fire. My first instinct was to fight again but I noticed that he had not tied my hands and legs and provided me a blanket too which someone with ill Intentions wouldn't do. Ibwas too tired to fight so I flatly asked him 'what do you want from me?' He looked at me for a few seconds and looked back at the fire he finally became successful in creating. 'I am a timeline shifter too' he simply said with no expression like he was saying the most normal thing ever. But for me it was like my whole world changed because I never knew there were others like me too. I didn't believe him at first and was very suspicious for a while but he explained everything to me that night and what his goal was. I had a pretty similar reaction to yours Nora but eventually I opened up to him and we started looking for more people like us across different timelines and he didn't tell me everything about himself or how he found me or how he knew how to spot a timeline shifter and a lot of other things. He still doesn't share everything with us but we all have slowly come to terms with that. We know if he doesn't tell us something it's because of a reason. And he might be secretive but he'd never let any harm come to us. He does everything he can to protect us so how can we not trust and follow him?"
Irene finsihed her story and Nora's expression was something between astonished and guilty. "Lord I'm an idiot I'm so sorry for saying that I-" Nora started blurting stuff out in guilt and regret until she was interrupted by Eugene "I think it's him you should be apologizing to. Sure we deserve an apology too but we understand since you're new whereas Kael is kind of person who wouldn't show when he's feeling down or is affected by someone's words. He just leaves and isolates himself so I think you should go talk to him first" Nora looked towards Eugene and by the time he was finished she was already half way rushing towards the door. "Thank you Eugene. I'll be back soon" She said and ran out the door to look for him.
"Gosh I hope that ends well"
Lucien added while looking towards the door Nora just left from.
"I hope so too"
Irene added while supporting her chin with her hand and looking towards the same door