André woke up but didn't get out of bed. He still felt a bit dazed by the excessive white color in the room. Still lying down, he tried to put his thoughts in order. Even though the hallucinations he suffered in the Other World no longer existed, nightmares about the war were still recurrent. And on this day they were worse, for he was going to meet his old acquaintances again.
He changed clothes, but instead of the white outfit he had worn since waking up in this world, he put on a black outfit he had previously ordered from Felipe: a T-shirt, a jacket, jeans, and biker boots. After all, the first impression after so long was important. Then he went to the place Felipe had indicated to him.
André found Felipe in a very large hall on the ground floor of the building where the base of the World Intelligence and Security Division was located. It was up to them to wait for the so-called "heroes" who would arrive; it was like a day off for Felipe. Lídia was taking care of the bureaucratic part and Valmir was in charge of the security system. It was an environment André hadn't been to yet; there were many people coming and going all the time, some just standing as if waiting for someone.
"Excuse me," Felipe said. "Would you mind waiting while I go find my family?"
"Of course not," André replied.
Seeing that amount of people in constant motion, André felt uncomfortable; he decided to walk in search of a place with fewer people. Crossing the hall, he arrived at a more reserved area where only a few people were sitting in armchairs arranged in two lines back-to-back. André went around and sat on the side facing the wall. There was only one person sitting there, and that bothered him less.
When he thought he was in a more relaxed environment, André felt as if someone was staring at him. Looking to the side, he saw it was the person sitting next to him: a woman, appearing to be between 40 and 50 years old. She had a familiar face and smiled sweetly as if she had known him for a long time, but André didn't recognize her.
"You are André, right?" she said.
"I know..." he said.
She couldn't help laughing a little, and continued staring at him fixedly.
"How do you know me, ma'am?" André was already very uncomfortable with her.
"My daughter talks a lot about you..." she said. "She even showed me a photo of you."
"Aaaah..."
André wasn't very interested in chatting.
"She told me she was coming today, and I cancelled everything I had to do; it's been months without hugging her..." The woman wouldn't stop talking.
André didn't speak much, just agreed.
A few minutes had passed since André sat down to listen to the lady's monologue, and a murmur took over the opposite side of the hall, near the entrance.
"Look!" shouted the lady, standing up. "It's one of your friends."
André knew he wasn't a friend; he didn't have many friends. Even Felipe couldn't be considered a friend. Even so, the curiosity to know who had arrived was stronger. Upon getting up and gazing toward the murmur, he saw an easily recognizable figure: 1.90m tall, dark-skinned, long straight black hair tied in a ponytail. He wore pants full of pockets and an open shirt showing his defined abdomen and muscular chest.
It was Kawã, a heartthrob in the other world, and it seemed here he continued to be the same. André saw people of similar appearance, except for the muscles, running toward him, hugging him; it was his family.
"How beautiful!" exclaimed the lady next to André. "I can hardly wait to meet my little daughter..."
"Who is your daughter?" André, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up.
"It's Elizabeth!" replied the lady. "I wanted to honor the queen... Ha-ha-ha! But she was so tiny, such a little zita, that the nickname stuck easily, Zita."
André finally understood. She really had many features similar to her daughter; except for some age marks and hair color, they would be identical. Besides, Zita was the only person who had a photo of André. But he was too disinterested to pay attention to something like that.
A few more minutes had passed, maybe some tens of minutes. Zita's mother continued talking; André's ears were already hurting. That was when the second commotion occurred toward the entrance, however, this time it was much bigger. People shouted from inside, others from outside wanted to enter, many applauded and whistled, and dozens of photographers gathered around a group of people.
"Now it has to be her!.." exclaimed the lady.
As long as it's no one who wants to kill me, that's good enough... André thought.
Gradually the security guards pushed the people back, giving freedom to the three visitors who were already accompanied by Felipe. André tried to recognize who they were.
The first was a tall young man, blond, blue eyes, thin, and unlike Kawã, not muscular, but he had very attractive facial features. He wore a uniform similar to the military ones, but all blue, with a striped red and white flag on the arm.
Leonardo... André thought. This one has already tried to kill me...
The second was a young man too, white, black hair, green eyes, and a bright smile, a little shorter than Leonardo, wearing a similar uniform.
Lucas... André thought again. Almost killed me twice...
The third was a girl with flowing red hair, the same height as Lucas, also wearing the same uniform as the previous two.
"ZITA!" shouted the girl's mother as she ran toward her.
André felt relieved; it was good to meet someone who never tried to kill him, at least not intentionally.
Immediately each of them was surrounded by their respective relatives who hugged them and asked various questions; there were even some giving gifts. It was a moving scene for anyone watching... Except for André! He remained standing, motionless, serious; in fact, he showed no feeling whatsoever, totally indifferent to what was happening.
Lucas was the first to manage to free himself from the siege of relatives. He looked directly at André, and immediately his expression altered; the smile of happiness at reuniting with family was replaced by a serious face, as if he disliked something. Then Léo made the same expression.
Both dropped their luggage and slowly walked side by side toward André. Silence hovered and the tension was such that all happiness seemed to have dissipated, and a scene of violence might happen at any moment.
The two stopped a few meters from André, still side by side.
"André..." Léo broke the agonizing silence. "So you really found a way to cross the worlds..."
"I don't know how you did it," said Lucas. "But this is not your place!"
At the same instant the two made a move to advance toward André, but before they took the first step, someone was faster, passing between the two and throwing herself at André, falling to the ground and immobilizing him.
It was Elizabeth, or Zita, as she preferred to be called.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU REALLY DID IT!" shouted the red-haired girl, while tears flowed down. "I thought you had stayed trapped in that place forever..."
"Yes..." André replied. "I thought so too..."