Echoworld

Why not?" Rolling her eyes, Wren continued her way up the stairs, angrily taking her keys out of the front pocket of her loose black pants. She jammed it into the lock, turned it and slammed into the living room area.

Once inside, she threw her keys onto a table and sat down on her small couch. "Well? Are you coming or are you just going to stand there?"

Shaun stepped in, closing the door behind him. He took a seat on the same couch, as far from her as possible. He scrubbed his hand through his hair and looked at her with piercing blue eyes. The sunset shone through a window and landed on his hair, giving the impression of a tiger's fur. "I need you to listen to me. This is important."

She merely gave him a cold look and a cynical nod.

"My name is Shaun Matthew Ballou, and in many ways I'm very similar to the Shaun you know. But in more ways, I'm different."

"Right. This is all an intricate joke, I take it?"

"Listen! You need to understand this. Wait, hold on. What's your name?"

"Wren."

Shaun nearly fell off the couch from shock. "Wren?"

"Yes, Wren. It's a fairly uncommon name. Do you know another?" she said shortly.

"Wr-wren Azrael Black?"

Wren's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know my name?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. This is the world, the universe that you're used to. But there are universes parallel to this one. And you exist in every one of them."

Wren nodded. "I see. You're one of those Trekkies, aren't you? Well, that certainly was a nice story. Still don't know how you know my name, but get out."

Shaun moved closer on the couch. "You don't understand," he persisted. "These parallel universes are directly connected to your life...and death."

"My death? Are you threatening me?"

"If I was, I wouldn't tell you," he reasoned. "But no. Not exactly."

"Not exactly?" she repeated, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

"I'm on vacation," he explained hurriedly. "Listen to me. In the real universe, you're a powerful sorceress bent on destroying everything until everyone submits to you."

"The real universe? And why isn't this universe the 'real' universe? I'm as 'real' as you. This knife is 'real' enough to kill you if you don't leave." Her voice dripped with threatening sarcasm. She pointedly began unsheathing her knife as she stood up.

Shaun stood up with her. He crossed his arms, and, with a half-grin on his face, said, "Yeah. But you wouldn't want to do that. Kill me and you kill my echo - your bartender."

Wren just looked at him. "You're kidding me."

Shaun shrugged. "Sorry."

Wren slowly replaced her knife in its sheath and sat again on the couch. "I understand. In order for your world to be free from oppression, you have to kill me, either directly or indirectly." She shifted her weight so that one of her legs was crossed beneath her as she glared up at him. "What did you mean when you said you were on vacation?"

He glanced at her, suddenly weary, as he took his seat. "I'm an inter-universal traveler and assassin. I am hired to kill echoes, in order to maintain the peace in the Alpha universe - my universe. I'm taking a break. It' s sort of illegal for me to travel to other universes when I'm not on a mission, but..." He shrugged nonchalantly. He too shifted and ended up mirroring Wren.

Wren watched him silently for a few minutes, trying to absorb this absurd tale. "Okay. Assuming that everything you say is true, and that's really stretching it, and you found out I was the 'echo' of this witch, then why didn' t you kill me then?"

Shaun blushed and grinned. "Fair enough.