Silence hit harder than any explosion.
Danny stared at the boy in front of him.
Same height.
Same face.
Same voice.
But—
Not the same.
"…Say something," Danny said.
The other Danny frowned.
"…I was about to say the same thing."
Abby stepped forward instantly, placing herself slightly in front of Danny.
"Don't move."
The other Danny raised his hands slightly.
"Relax. I'm not here to fight."
Ren let out a quiet laugh.
"…That's exactly what someone here to fight would say."
The crack behind the other Danny pulsed again.
Still open.
Still unstable.
Danny's eyes flickered toward it.
"…Where did you come from?"
The other Danny hesitated.
Then—
"…A world where everything went wrong."
Silence.
That answer—
Hit too close.
Abby's voice dropped.
"…Define 'wrong.'"
The other Danny looked at her.
Then back at Danny.
"…You lost."
Danny froze.
"…Lost to what?"
A pause.
"…To them."
The air shifted slightly.
That word—
Carried weight.
Ren's expression darkened.
"…The system?"
The other Danny nodded.
"Not just the system."
A pause.
"…What controls it."
Silence.
Danny clenched his fists.
"…There's something above it?"
The other Danny let out a short, bitter laugh.
"You really are at the beginning."
That line—
Was annoying.
Very annoying.
"…Then explain it properly," Danny snapped.
The other Danny's expression hardened slightly.
"…We fought."
A pause.
"…We resisted."
Another pause.
"…And in the end—"
His voice lowered.
"…everything got erased anyway."
Silence.
Abby's chest tightened.
Ren didn't react.
But his eyes—
Said enough.
Danny shook his head.
"…No."
A step forward.
"…I stopped it."
The other Danny looked at him.
Calm.
"…No."
A pause.
"You delayed it."
Those words—
Cut deeper than anything else so far.
Danny's breathing slowed.
"…You don't know that."
The other Danny stepped forward.
"I do."
Their eyes locked.
"Because I've been where you are."
A pause.
"…And I said the exact same thing."
Silence.
Abby looked between them.
"…This is bad…"
Ren nodded slightly.
"…Yeah."
A pause.
"This is really bad."
The crack pulsed again.
Stronger.
More figures moved behind it now.
Shadows.
Shapes.
Waiting.
Danny noticed.
"…We don't have time for this."
The other Danny glanced back.
Then forward again.
"…No."
A pause.
"We don't."
Abby stepped forward.
"Then talk faster."
The other Danny exhaled.
"…The moment you broke the Correction Unit—"
A pause.
"…you destabilized the boundary between outcomes."
Danny frowned.
"…Outcomes…?"
"Different results."
A step closer.
"Different versions of reality."
He gestured to the crack.
"…Different you's."
Silence.
Danny looked at him again.
"…So you're just one of many."
The other Danny nodded.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"…And most of them didn't make it this far."
That—
Was not comforting.
Ren crossed his arms.
"…Let me guess."
A pause.
"And now they're all leaking into this world."
The other Danny looked at him.
"…Exactly."
Abby's eyes narrowed.
"Why now?"
A pause.
"…Because this is the first time…"
He looked directly at Danny.
"…someone actually broke the cycle."
Silence.
Danny's chest tightened.
"…So this is because of me…"
The other Danny didn't soften it.
"Yeah."
Another flicker.
Stronger.
This time—
Two more cracks formed.
One to the left.
One behind them.
"…Okay," Ren muttered.
"…That's escalating fast."
From one crack—
A figure stepped out.
Taller.
Older.
Not Danny.
Something else.
From the second—
Another version of Danny.
But different.
Colder.
More serious.
His eyes—
Empty.
Abby's breath caught.
"…There's more…"
The original Danny clenched his fists.
"…So what's the plan?"
The other Danny looked at him.
"…Survive."
A pause.
"…Until they all arrive."
Danny frowned.
"…And then?"
The other Danny's expression darkened.
"…Then we find out which one of us…"
A pause.
"…is the real mistake."
Silence.
The cracks expanded.
More figures moving.
More realities bleeding in.
And somewhere—
Far beyond all of it—
Something watched again.
Because now—
It didn't need to correct one anomaly.
It had an entire field of them.
And this time—
It wouldn't hold back.
To Be Continued.