"Every choice that we make creates countless other possibilities. A What-if to infinity." — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

•••

"Kagome-chan! Wake up!"

White noise overlaps whoever is calling her. It's strange and painful, the grating noise in her ears and mind. It rises in a crescendo-like static that would have her writhing in agony had it been not for numbness lapping at her consciousness. The volume increases until snapping to a high keening noise that brings her to the living world. The world she sees when her eyes open is brightly lit, floating dots roaming lazily into the light. She's deaf, unfeeling and unmoving. A face hovers in front of her, feminine and familiar, a cheerful smile on thin lips that move but make no sound.

She blinks, trying to shake away the silence and remember where exactly she is. Looking around, she recognizes a classroom, empty of its students if not for her and the strangely familiar girl leaning over her sleeping form. Slowly, she uses one hand to swap at the small drop of drool falling from her mouth, sitting properly and blinking at the clean blackboard. What she assumes is her own schoolbag is on her desk, a small wet spot telling her she had been using it as a pillow. She notices the room is already clean, obviously after class hours with the sun so high up in the sky. Rain falls softly outside. There's a broom resting on the desk in front of hers, cleaning utensils at its feet. Everything feels…new. Distorted.

Something doesn't feel right.

"We're gonna be late, Kagome-chan!" Snapping her gaze back to the girl, she frowns. Something in the back of her mind is nagging and wary. Despite this feeling, she nods, body moving on its own to gather her things. She grabs the school bag, throwing it over one shoulder at the same time she reaches back to grab something long and heavy that snaps her back into her senses. A bow is kept into the worn bag, well loved and heavy in her hand. It's a familiar weight at the same time that it isn't.

It's not the weapon she is used to. Why would she keep such a vital and powerful artifact into a measly weak bag? Where it's harder to draw and fight? Why would she bring it to school?

Staggering to a halt, Kagome remembers who she is. She remembers a Jewel and an illusion and a seduction. InuYasha's desperate calls and the loneliness of the void, the Shikon Jewel's urgings for her to make a wish.

("Make your wish.")

Looking at the girl in front of her, Kagome recognizes her as Yuka, outspoken and witty Yuka who is carrying a similar bag. Could it be a glitch in the illusion? The Jewel's version of an alternative fate where they practiced archery together?

"Yuka-chan," her friend blinks, still smiling as bright as when she had been awakened. "What do you mean…?"

"Eeh?" She tilts her head, unaware of the rising panic Kagome feels as she answers her. "Archery training, of course! It's our last year before college! We can't lose the Regionals for those rats from Kyoto again!" Kagome never practiced archery in school, but, more importantly, she definitely isn't in her last year of high school. "You need to stop sleeping in after cleaning days, Kagome!"

She ignores her, waiting for the sudden shift. Like last time, when she finally remembered InuYasha and the illusion dissipated. But, now, she's not taken to the real well's shrine. No dark void replaces the brightly lit classroom around her. Yuka remains waiting, face shifting into a worried frown Kagome usually saw back when she tried to convince her to leave InuYasha.

The world keeps turning, and the illusion doesn't end.

What are you playing at, Shikon?

A beat passes. Kagome's heart is pounding in her chest, so loud it sounds like thunder. The need to break through it, to draw her bow and pierce a sacred arrow through this terrible dream is too strong. Her head is aching, thoughts fluttering as distant sounds —is someone shooting something? a gun? what is happening? what is this heat this power this place what is happening — penetrate through her panic.

The answer is there, in her mind, and she utters "Disappear…" while shaking terribly. But Yuka remains in front of her, worry changing into confusion. It makes her want to explode. As if her skin is expanding and pulling at the seams. This is not Yuka. This is not real. It's the Jewel. "I wish that you disappear."

"EEEH?! KAGOME!" The girl stomps her foot down, features twisting into anger and confusion and hurt. It makes Kagome flinch away from her, wide eyes and mouth agape. "What's gotten into you today?!" She crosses her arms, hurt clear in her eyes. Kagome opens her mouth to apologize but then, this is not Yuka and it's not real. "You've been weird for a while now!"

The illusion doesn't dissipate.

There's no Jewel, there's no void. Distantly, she hears a voice, a flash of blue takes her from this moment into another. She sees a tired face, long dark hair, green clothes and gold, unnaturally blue eyes that shine in fright. Soon, there's another pair, and another, and another. Four of them — who are you what are you why why why — stare at her. The vision is soon replaced by Yuka's deeply concerned face asking what is going on with her.

It — painpainpain — leaves her breathless, and she falls to the floor. Distantly, she notes that Yuka is screaming. She's soon deaf to her though, as the same sensation keeps repeating, taking her to this moment into another. There are darkness and light, stars and pain as her mind keeps tearing itself apart. She's disconnected from reality, unbound from it even as she exists. It's painful. She wants it to stop. She wishes it to stop. Kagome feels like she's expanding, like's she's missing pieces and falling apart trying to grab them back.

MAKE IT STOP! I WISH THIS WOULD STOP!

Hands grab her, lifting her. She's losing sight of reality, Yuka is not there anymore, only strange faces. Darkness welcomes her into a painless lull, and yet the Jewel doesn't welcome her with its taunting disembodied voice. There's no InuYasha calling for her.

She feels terribly alone.

•••

The infirmary she wakes up in is bleached of colors, sterile and empty like Kagome herself at that moment. Her mother — is this truly mama — is by her side, worried. She doesn't listen to the nurse or to her own mother's comforting words as she helps her out of the bed and out the school. Yuka is there by the gate, and Kagome looks at her, not knowing what to say or what to do. She settles onto nothing, passing by silently with only a nod of acknowledgment.

Mama stays behind to talk with Yuka, not noticing when Kagome passes her. There's a twitch of something in her heart when Mama's reproaching voice calls her back before hastily moving to accompany her. She asks what's wrong and Kagome almost says "you". But she can't find the courage to do it. The illusion is too…real. Everything is too real, and the Jewel remains silent despite her many wishes — go away take away the pain make it go away disappear — and pleadings.

They walk in silence, and her mind hurts and hurts and hurts.

•••

The illusion of her mama leads her to a car that is different. More sleek, smaller. Inside it, there's a panel with no buttons, and Kagome stares as Mama fiddles with it, touching the screen as if the buttons are there. The device lights up and unfamiliar music fills up the heavy silence that sits over them. Kagome gulps down the bile rising up her throat, pushing her hands between her thighs in an effort to hide their shaking.

When they come into a busier street, Kagome sees a different but familiar world. Tokyo is a welcoming sight, but the twists of this strange illusion are glaring and unsettling. Buildings rise higher, and there's advertising to things she had never seen before. TV's that are as flat as a needle is shown proudly in one small panel to their left, on a bus stop ad. What appears to be phones, and products and people she had never seen are glaring back at her. There's not one of the celebrities' faces of her time.

People dress a tad differently. Cars are sleeker, faster.

Kagome wonders if this is the future. Did the Jewel send her into the future? An illusion of the future? A reincarnation? Where, like Kikyo, she would meet InuYasha again, just not the way she wanted?

("What should I wish for?"

"To see InuYasha. Be true to yourself.")

There's agony at the thought of it. The sole idea that she perpetuated the suffering of centuries caused by the Jewel by wishing for something so selfish. The answer for the right wish is obvious now, clear as the untouched waters from high up in the mountains. Kagome remembers the Jewel, its taunting voice beckoning her to wish for the security of InuYasha's arms around her. She remembers despair and hoping so desperately for him, the desire to have him near so overwhelming it brought her to tears.

She does not remember acting on that desire. There's no clear memory of any wish, of InuYasha reaching her or any further illusions.

Looking at the woman sharing the same face of her mama, sitting beside her with a silent frown on her brow, Kagome prays she's in an illusion. She prays with all of her might and faith that this is the Shikon Jewel's deception. It's unbearable to think that Kagome, at any point, would dare to wish for something she knows would only bring pain and disaster. But didn't she wish for the pain to stop just a few minutes back? Didn't she fall in a pit of despair so deep that she found herself wishing something simple, and yet so selfish?

Why didn't it work at her first wish? How many times had she wished for the Shikon to disappear by now? How many times had she wished for the pain to stop? There's no energy spike, no spiritual residue or power surge in her senses answering to her calls. She can't feel the Jewel, can't sense any lies around her.

But there's an itch in her mind. She remembers the Jewel, remembers her resolve. Something happened. If this is real, if she's not inside an illusion, then she wished for something in that void that sent her here.

What did she do?

•••

The hospital the woman takes her to has the very same scent and feel to the infirmary at the school. Kagome lets Mama answer their questions and lets them make their tests, watching silently and answering their questions as curtly as possible. By the end of it, she's sitting on a cold chair by the wall. Mama is worried, and while waiting for her in the corridor, Kagome sees her whispering furiously to the doctor.

She shifts her gaze to the ground, an irrational desire to apologize to this woman who shares her mother's face. This illusion? This woman? She doesn't even look older than what Kagome remembers.

From the corner of her eye, she sees white hair and, for a moment, her heart is light and free. His name is on the tip of her tongue when she notices that it's not white, just very fair blonde. Right in front of her eyes. One trembling hand goes up, grabs a lock of thick, full, wavy hair bound by a high ponytail she had felt brushing the middle of her back, and brings it forward. Her hair isn't its usual lustrous black, it is blond.

"Kagome," she lets it go with a flinch, blinking back tears and gulping down a scream as she turns back to Mama. "The doctor says we should come back for some scams if you back out again, but he gave you something for…" Her dark eye moves blearily to her shaking hands. "…for the shaking. And the pain." The trembly smile she gives only makes make Kagome bite on her lower lip, tears welling up in her eyes as she turns away and crosses her arms. Her fingernails dig in her skin as she hugs herself.

The shaking doesn't stop, the pain in her head remains when she is brought somewhere else again, her vision shifting to accommodate another place and time that isn't clear enough. Another pair of eyes turns unnatural blue as her head pulses.

A hand on her shoulder brings her back and Kagome blinks away the vision to focus on her mother. Mama looks on the verge of tears and Kagome tries to smile at her, reassure her somehow that everything was fine.

It didn't look like it works.

•••

There's no way to describe how she feels as her mother doesn't go anywhere near their shrine. They arrive at a modern, high-rising, apartment building. It looks expansive. It looks spacious. It's nothing familiar. It's nothing like what she is used to.

This isn't home.

It's only when they are finally in front of a modern, big door with electric lock, when her mom is taking out a freaking card to swipe on the lock, that she feels the cold. Her limbs feel like lead when the door opens to reveal an enormous apartment with floor to ceiling windows with view to the Tokyo skyline. Her little brother is sitting on a gigantic fluffy rug by a giant and thin TV that looks like something right out of a movie. It's modern and sleek and western and everything Kagome never lived with before.

This isn't home.

"Ah! You're back!" Souta —are you truly him are you my brother— smiles, pausing the loud game he is playing to run to Mama and her, pulling them into a hug with arms that barely could hold them both. Mama laughs, almost relieved, and brings them both close. Kagome is afraid to touch this boy who should be her brother. He looks the same, same hair, same eyes. But he looks thinner, ganglier, taller. He lets go of them, looking back into the apartment. Is that a freaking dining table or a meeting room? It's too big. There's a wall with a window behind it, dividing the room from what may be the kitchen.

It's then that Kagome notices Souta's clothes. Western styled, like those rich boys from the films. He's using shoes inside!

"Papa! Kagome and Mama are home!"

A blond man comes from behind the wall dividing the kitchen. Blond haired, blue eyed, full of freckles and a small smile on his lips as he goes to the table, putting a pot on it as mom moves to put a kiss on his cheek. He smiles at her, responding with a short but sweet kiss to her lips before moving his striking, mesmerizing eyes to Kagome.

"Ah, mi juvel," She's frozen to her spot. Wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights, like cornered prey ready to strike. There's a ticking clock inside her head, ticking away to time, ready to explode. "I was so worried when your mom texted me," His hair is wavy, falling just on top of his shoulder. Its color is the exact same one as the one on her head. "Tell me what happened, juvel."

"I'm putting your things in your room, sweetie," Mama goes down a wide corridor, opening a wide door as the man who Souta calls Papa asks for his help on bringing the food to the table. The man brushes Souta's hair behind his ear, soft and calm and everything warm and loving in his eyes as he sends the boy to the kitchen.

Alone with him, Kagome suffocates. There are vague images and sounds of another man, darker haired, Asian. Simple and Japanese where this man standing in this reality — this is not real this is not real this can't be real — is clearly not. He has freckles, his skin is far too pale. He has a worried frown on his bushy brows, full mouth still pulling at the corners into that soft smile even as he stares at her frozen form.

"What is it, liten edelstein?" He walked up to her, and the closer he got the real it seemed. "What happened at school that got you sick? You were fine this morn-" He suddenly is too close, hand moving to her shoulder and she bolts away from him. She runs inside this awful, terrible, apartment. Mama is leaving the room she assumed is hers, and Kagome goes inside and slams the door closed. She twists the lock and falls to the floor. They are screaming for her, calling her name and asking what happened and asking if she was fine and it's too much.

Where's InuYasha?

"Kagome! Kagome, what's wrong?" The man is right behind the door. She can hear Souta asking what happened, Mama shushing him and walking away. "Kagome, fortell meg hva som er galt." She can't understand him. She can't. She doesn't know what he is saying and…tears fall down. A sob comes up and escapes her throat as if it's going to tear her insides out. A thud from behind the door, and she knows he is listening to her. He is probably on the floor, face glued to the door and wide eyes searching, roaming the piece of wood between them like it would answer all his doubts.

Silly man, she thinks. As if this door could ever give him any clue to what is happening.

Another sob escapes, followed by a terrifying wail. She clamps her hands over her mouth, trying in vain to muffle the horrible sounds she's making. She slams her head on the door, fingers clawing up to her eyes, covering her face as she cries. Should she tear her eyes out, could she stop this illusion? Could she stop this farce?

"Vær så snill, ikke gjør dette for meg, Kagome-chan." There's a note of despair in his deep voice. In this stranger's voice, Kagome finds more worry and love than what she remembers from her Papa. "La meg fikse det," he knocks, quick and firm. "La meg fikse dette for deg!"

"I wish you'd disappear," and she doesn't know who she says this to.

Is it to this strange man? To the Jewel? To this illusion?

The only selfless wish that could destroy that horrible Jewel tastes awfully selfish on her tongue now.

This isn't home.

•••

Hours pass, but the man remains on the other side of the door. The night is painful, with flashes of blue light mingling with reality and blue eyes peering at her from the shadows inside the bedroom. The room has the same floor to ceiling length windows facing out toward the city. The view is amazing, one of the most wondrous things she has ever beheld in her time — but this is not my time this not my home — is the sun rising over the city. She can hear the man snoring, sitting just behind her against the door. Maybe they are mirroring each other's positions.

It's pink, the bedroom. With tasteful decoration and colors, modern to a fault with what looks like custom-made furnishing. There's a flat screen on the wall facing an enormous bed and a small sitting area, a sleek computer on a desk facing the panoramic view the windows give. There are fluffy carpets over marble flooring that is heated. There are photos lining up every wall around her. On some shelves to the side, dozens of different cameras sit. She can recognize a few from her time, others are clearly toys and other so big and so sleek and modern.

Kagome doesn't look at the photos. She's scared of whatever they display.

The rain stops at some point, and her head is throbbing painfully. The medicine bag is on the large, big enough to fit a family in, bed. After hours sitting against the door, moving from her position feels like tearing her muscles apart. She crawls to the bed, getting the pain pills from a bottle, swallowing two dry.

Some tears escape her eyes, but by now she doesn't —isn't capable— of feeling much. The ceiling is high above her, white and unreachable. She remains there, head thrown back and resting on the soft bedding, legs spread in front of her sheltered by the shadows. There's AC vents on the ceiling, in-built lights and star stickers that glow softly in the dark. She closes her eyes, falling into a short sleep.

•••

She wakes up with knocking on her bedroom door. The glare of the sun reflects on a mirror directly into her eyes and Kagome flinches.

One of her hands covers her eyes as she hisses in pain, falling to her side on the carpet. She curls into a ball, one hand covering her face and the other gripping the base of her messy ponytail. It's almost as if its fair color burns her palm because as soon she touches the soft strands there's an awareness of its change.

Behind the door, her mama's soft calling brings her from haunting daydreams. "Kagome, please, I don't know what is happening but please, take your medicine, ok?" A pause, where Kagome can almost see the pain in her soft features. "Please, sweetie. Please."

Should she answer? Tell her to go away? Would it matter, in this terrible lie she is stuck in? This woman is not her mother in truth, just the same as that man isn't her father and that boy and this house, the school she was in…

None of this is real, none of this is hers…Why should she even bother? In the end, she would end up in the same void, fighting the same demons, straining her ears for InuYasha's call. The blinding glow of the Jewel as the only light and company, illuminating her features as she floats in infinite darkness, beckoning her into its own dimension. An eternity of war would be better than this, Kagome thinks, bitter and angry with the falsehood it persisted to show her.

I get it now. You want me! A sigh, calm, unlike the storm that brews inside of her. Reality seems to tremble as she opens her eyes to look around the empty room, giving hope that somehow it is going to dissipate. It doesn't happen. Instead, another vision interferes with her senses. A man dressed in green sits alone, there's a scepter in his hands. His gaze is lost, glowing blue and green, mixing. There's a terror in his eyes, and they are fixed ahead, staring into the distance. Kagome looks back, she sees a sea of people in a dark room. It's foggy, she can barely distinguish what is happening around her.

But there's a glint of blue, a tendril of energy that leads her to a huge machine hooked up to…something. Kagome reaches out, but a flash of green snags her away from there to somewhere else.

She sees a man standing before her, old and grey. He stands proudly, challenging while the crowd around him kneels. He won't bend, he won't bow. Something charges at him, power, something hers yet not, and Kagome is sure he will perish. As the charging bolt reaches him, a star interferes and—

Green light moves her forward, and she sees too much, too fast.

She sees conflict, feels herself infiltrating minds, connecting and riling the tension between them to a peak. Suddenly, her mind connects to another point, another energy peak, where blue eyes watch with empty fascination and shackled duty.

The vision disappears with a snap that leaves her breathless. She hadn't even noticed herself falling forward on the floor, the fluffy carpet tickling her face. Kagome blinks away nausea, fists her hands on the soft texture and coughs. She's laid on the floor, face into the rug, arms thrown ahead of her and legs bent weirdly. It's like she's crawling towards something. Moving her face, she directs her eyes ahead and meets her reflection on the mirror on the other side of the room. She must not have noticed it the previous night. Now, with the sun high in the sky and the sky half clear of clouds, sunlight illuminates every feature of the room she could've missed in the dark of the night or the dimness of the sunrise.

The girl who looks up in the mirror is pale. Her features are strange, eyes big and clear, even with the clear Japanese influence. She has freckles too, brown dots, big and small, splattered across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Her face is strange, refined and foreign.

The fair strands she remembers purposely ignoring yesterday are a mess. It's a head full of hair that is gold-spun, not quite the silver of InuYasha or Sesshoumaru because there's a hint of yellow that makes it human. It's as wavy and as full as her own real hair, finer, but there's her fringe covering her forehead and the slight wave at its tips.

It's her eyes that surprise her.

They're blue, but not dark. There's no earthly brown that promises security and reality and her sense of self. They're bright and big, a full spectrum of cold colors in them that Kagome had only ever seen on foreign actors' ads or movies. It's not hers. This girl, crawling on the expensive carpet, is not her.

She looks like a hafu. A half-Japanese girl that idol companies would love to have. She's not Kagome, not really, from the tips of her blonde eyelashes to the modern apartment this family of hers seem to live in, she's not Kagome.

Earth keeps moving, the sun keeps shining, people move on and she's not Kagome Higurashi.

•••

They try to make her leave the room.

The woman screams at her in anger, frustration. She cries in pain and worry. The man pleads for her to open the door. The boys ask her what's wrong and why she is doing this.

There's something crawling beneath her skin that tastes dangerous. It's beyond what she felt for Kikyou, that ugly jealously that had threatened to eat her whole. Her energy, her powers, they rise with each breath she takes until it's simmering in a thin layer over her skin. She glows pink with purity, and the stranger in the mirror looks ethereal and dangerous.

The rug beneath her has long disappeared, burned away by the energy she emits. It's something new; she had never burnt something other than youkai with the pure intensity of her powers. Kagome is not sure if she had ever reached its limits before. Hunger eats at her, thirst claws at her throat, her head feels like it's being splitting over. There's a hammer in her mind, swung down to nail at the crown of her head every minute that passes. Like it's trying to fixate her into the ground, into this falsehood of a life.

She's stubborn though, she won't let it sink her into this.

Her power burns in her skin and maybe scorches the white marble floor beneath her bum. There comes a moment at twilight, when her reflection is half hidden in orange light and shadows, where she pours all that power into her hands. They glow hot white, something fierce and destructive with an intensity that could…That could maybe make it all disappear. Kagome lays one hand on her heart, feels its beat and the rise and fall of her chest. Another palm presses firmly on the mirror, covering half of the stranger's face.

She wills her power out and inwards, she wills it to cleanse her and the world around. Disappear. This is not her world and she does not belong. She knows of its deceit. The white-hot spreads over the mirror in pink glowing cracks, just as it also seeps into her veins. The energy flows through her, white going pink as it spreads from her heart to the tip of her toenails. The pattern of her veins and arteries glows brightly under her skin, in synch with the energy that spreads like cracks over the mirror.

Just as her spiritual energy flows down to the ground, it explodes. She's sent back, falling to the floor on her back.

The ceiling is high above her and the last beams of sunlight go out as her eyes close.

•••

There's a cube. It's blue and glowing brightly. Her hands itch to touch it, to have it close. One of the blue eyes stands with it, reverent of the thing as he inserts it into a big machine. It slots into place and floats, spinning around lazily while cackling with energy.

Kagome steps closer, entranced by it. There's a calling in the space between them, a connection that runs deep. It speaks to her in a language that needs no words, no sounds, no gestures. It knows her. It is part of her.

"Who are you?" The blue eyes ask her. He sounds distant, foggy like they are separated by a barrier. She looks at him, seeing an old man with blue eyes. He is shackled by a familiar power. Something in him tastes the same as when she first woke up. Like there's static in his mind, keeping him away, disconnected from reality. "Are you the Tesseract?" He smiles dementedly. His mind is not his at this moment.

She does not understand, "Tesseract?" but before any questions can be answered, the world fogs up around them. He can't see her, she realizes, as he looks around with those detached, delusional eyes, and turns back to the machine. Green light twists her vision, fogging up her sense of time and suddenly she is standing in front of the man in green. He has a scepter in his hands, a compartment in it glows blue as he thrusts it through her chest.

Kagome feels no pain, and she isn't sure if he can see her. His eyes are a mix of blue and green, and she feels his connection to the scepter. It's like poison. Kagome recognizes it for the parasite it is. The blue eyes are connected to this scepter, manipulated and shackled to its power and current holder.

She feels as he fails to use it, but she is sucked into another moment and suddenly—

There's a portal over her.

She's on the top of a building, overlooking a strange city from a balcony. Kagome can feel the beam of energy behind her like it's a part of her. She sees it in her mind's eyes, every little bit of power shooting up and tearing space apart, opening a door to the unknown and letting it rain down on Earth.

There's chaos around her. From the hole in the sky, demons fall. Soulless beings come down from the skies above, their screams echo throughout the city and bodies filled with foreign energy. Giant worms of metal fly down over and through them — humanity, us, life —, destroying buildings and bringing death and destruction. She stands on the balcony, watching over it all before directing her gaze to the scepter at her feet.

The power source glints prettily, hauntingly. In her eyes, its color changes from the sickening blue to a bright yellow. Her mind settles, grounds itself to her body as she kneels down, fingers brushing over it.

She looks up, looking right at the old man staring down from the ceiling floor. The beam shoots up in the sky behind him, and he shouldn't be able to see her, but there's still poison in his old mind. He's not himself yet, and Kagome isn't sure if he will ever be.

A flash of green and then—

A red-haired woman holds the scepter, ready to pierce the energy barrier surrounding the cube. They want to close the portal, it comes to her. She feels nothing but thrill as they come close together. Her hands reach, wanting, longing — they are mine and i am theirs — for their joining. They are familiar, but her mind can't quite grasp why. It's all foggy in here.

Sacrifice, they sing to her. And Kagome looks up and up and up, watching as they all do. Her eyes see what they — humanity, them, life — cannot. The tendrils of energy that binds them all, the glint of one brave soul that shoots up into the pit of the heavens, open wide above them, spilling its secrets of war onto a society that isn't mature enough.

Kagome sees the dead looking on in horror and confusion, sees the one soul fall down to them. There are tendrils of power that comes from that hole in the sky, and when they are cut short, all those soulless beings fall down. Kagome feels each and every one of them go down hard, empty of energy. The soul falls, and the woman closes the gate.

Kagome awakes.

•••

Sunlight wakes her up again. It pours down on her like warm water, reflected by the mirror over her face. She's thrown on the floor against the bed, back aching but head blessedly calm. The hammer does not fall on her head again, the ticking clock has stopped.

The mirror remains intact in front of her.

Kagome blinks, stupefied by its state. It's whole, not one crack or burst. Not one bit out of its place. Spiritual energy doesn't affect objects, it's her tentative answer. The mirror has no need of being purified, so why should it be destroyed?

But if it's whole, then it's real. If it's real, then where is she?

Silence echoes. It reverberates in every corner of the room, going back at her like a blow. It suffocates and overwhelms. She tries to reach for something, anything, but she is alone and desperate. There's a promise in the silence of the early morning. If it's good or bad, she doesn't know.

Kagome sits up, gaze down and defeated. Her shoulders feel heavy, there's a scream stuck in the back of her throat. Like a tight ball of air and blood and rage that demands to be spat out of her. Her energy boils, her mind widens. She gets back on her feet, knees jerking down and hands shaking before she gets a hold of herself. She steps towards the windows, eyes glued to the city horizon.

So high up, she feels like she's actually floating above the city. It's a strangely fantastical feeling, having so little that stops her from falling down. Could she break this glass and fall down into reality? With death, would the jewel finally release her from this nightmare?

The screen of what she thinks is the computer — it's too sleek, there's only the thin screen, keyboard, and mouse. where's the bulkiness? when is this? what is this?— lights up. Kagome approaches it warily, sitting on the leather office chair and leaning towards the lit screen. There's a notification of a new e-mail on it. She clicks on the 'Gome-Gome' icon with a small round photo of this body's family making silly faces.

It opens up to a desktop with a photo of her and not-Souta. He has the same feature as hers, freckles and light skin. But with dark brown hair and eyes more narrow than hers. He's more familiar. They are standing in some place, some forest. The mountains? They are bundled up completely, obviously cold, but grinning wildly.

It brings another kind of nervous lump in her throat. Kagome had never gone out of Japan, but this picture…it looks awfully like a vacation to somewhere cold and full of wildlife. Wildlife that Kagome can tell isn't from her home. She decides to ignore the photo, clicking on the icon with a mail stamp and the white on red notification signaling '6'.

The top e-mail is from Eri. She exists here too. Kagome clicks on it with trepidation and is somewhat relieved to see only homework attached to it with a 'get well soon' message. She closes it, struggling for a bit to send a quick 'thank you' back. She sees the dates on the previous messages. The dates go 'today', 'yesterday' and…

03/02/2012.

The date taunts her. It says 'look, this is all for you'. It's the Jewel saying look around you, isn't the good? Wish for it. A father, a luxurious life, a modern life. You look too far in the past, you must move forward.

("Make your wish.")

A moment passes where she's frozen, numb, but she gets another message. It's from Eri again, and the subject is only '!'. It snaps her out of the rising panic, and she uses the moment to distract herself.

There's a photo from what looks like some kind of website. It shows a warning, 'no classes or club activities today due to the newest discoveries and possible following attacks'. On the top right corner, Kagome sees that it's Saturday, early in the morning.

Eri also sent a link. Kagome can tell because it's blue, and when she hovers over it the little arrow changes, unlike previous words. She blinks, clinking on it. It opens something that takes less than a second to load. YouTube. It's a video of a Japanese news channel.

"It has been confirmed by the United States of America that the attack on New York City was, indeed, done by extraterrestrial beings—" Kagome's breath hitches. Her guts feel heavy, about to spill out as the image changes to a city she remembers well from her dreams. The beam shots up in the sky, the army soon following it to rain war upon their world. The voice of the news' reporter drones out and Kagome stares at the various footages displayed. The heroes, the Avengers, the aliens, the gods…

It all feels like a terrible joke.

"Disappear," she wishes again.

The world keeps turning, the sun keeps shining, birds sing and there's a knock on the bedroom door.

Kagome realizes she might not be in the Jewel's illusion.

•••

Lao Tzu, a philosopher from Ancient China that her grandpa had loved to rave about, once said to not resist the natural changes brought by life. Let reality be reality, flow with it, Kagome, it's what her gramps said. To deny it would only bring sorrow. Then, Kagome struggled with change, with the abrupt shift in her beliefs brought by the Jewel and the well and InuYasha. It soon became real for her, material and simple despite its improbability.

She cherished the life she had been given, and now, it had been taken from her. What would gramps say to this, she wonders? Would he tell her to investigate, to fight for what she lost, or just flow with what she was given? It's a change so essential and complete, Kagome wonders if it'd be best described as a complete replacement of her world and self.

Is this body hers? Did she snatch it from another young girl somewhere in the world, in time? Did Kagome Higurashi exist a few decades prior to this point, or centuries past? Or not at all? Is the Jewel dormant, waiting inside of this body? Did the Jewel exist? What brought her here to this point? Why? Why here, what is important about this body, this moment, this reality, that Kagome ended up here?

What triggered this?

("Make your wish.")

Kagome remembers InuYasha's call in the void, telling her to wait for him.

Did she wait for him? If he found her, what then? If not, what did the Jewel do to her? Did it succeed in seducing her to continue its existence? Did she wish for something? For its destruction? For InuYasha? For her peace?

What happened?

Kagome spends a long time by the computer, ignoring hunger and thirst and pain that persisted for the three days she woke up here. She seeks history first, types Shikon jewel and finds nothing. She searches for the legends she remembers listening to for her whole life and she finds nothing. There is no Midoriko legend, no Jewel legend.

In history, there's no trace of the legends she knows so well.

From the year she had left to the moment she is now, there are more development and information than centuries of the past she remembers. Knowledge is at the tip of her fingers, a few keys and clicks away. Somehow, she is connected to the superheroes, the ones called Avengers. It's easy enough to find out they are a mix of geniuses, humans and supernatural beings that tell her that, even here, the world is not so plain as she once believed.

After another interview where she watches as angry politicians demand payment for the repercussions of the destruction brought by the Avengers, Kagome moves away from the computer. She's numb. It's not even past noon, and already she knows this…this is beyond anything she has ever experienced. Going five hundred years in the past is nothing compared to the feeling of dislocation she feels now. She's not in her own skin, with her own family. She needs to bear a world that is unfamiliar and empty of anything she had ever known, disconnected from anything that is truly hers.

Even then, she could find comfort with the Sacred tree, the foundations of the well and what would one day become her home. Here, from what she has seen, there's no comfort other than wishful thinking. Just looking around her brings loneliness and a sense of terrible, deep, loss.

The photos on the walls tell a story of a life well lived. Baby photos are displayed proudly, of hers and Souta. There are moments frozen from summer to winter and back again, with friends, family, strangers and distant lands. There are photos from monuments she knows — Paris, New York, Hong Kong, and many others — and in almost all of them, there she stands. This stranger with her name. She looks like her and yet not, different and the same.

But she's not her.

Did I die? The thought comes silently, creeping up on her without notice. It's detached, no dread or fear comes with it. It leaves her blank, void. Could she be just another reincarnation, just another that shares the soul, and now the name?

I am Kagome Higurashi, she repeats to herself. Maybe if she says it enough times, she'd believe it just as she once did.

There's another knock on the door, Souta's — he's not him he's not him — tiny voice calling for her. She doesn't answer, and he goes away.

•••

It's nighttime again, and there's light coming from beneath the door. She sits on the floor, in the dark, watching as a shadow moves back and forth in front of it. It finally stops on the other side, a knock following it.

Another vision interrupts reality, mingling with the darkness of the room. The two gods, Thor and Loki, stand beside each other. Kagome is between them, closest to the cube from her dreams. A beam shots up from the sky, and she travels with them for a few moments before the connection drops and the vision fades.

Somehow, she thinks she's a bit more empty than before.

Reality stands on its own again, and Kagome focuses on it, ignoring the itch in her head.

"There's dinner, Kagome," It's Mama's voice. She sounds tired. "It's been days," The way she says it sounds desperate like she can barely believe it. "You must eat, Kagome, and drink something." There's a moment where she stops, waiting for her to say anything. Usually, that'd be her cue to leave, this time, there's a warning. "If you don't leave tonight…I'm calling the hospital, someone, anyone," Kagome doesn't react, watching quietly. "The world has turned onto its head, but I won't let you waste away on your own."

Then, she leaves.

You're not my mother.

•••

She leaves the room late in the night.

Her vision mixes with reality. She can see the scepter, can hear voices. She can barely listen to what they have to say while stumbling out in the hallway. There's also the glow of the big TV on the living room, the form of the man laying on the sofa and the quiet sound of rain outside. Both reality and vision mingle, messing with her senses and mind. She can barely process what she is seeing on the big screen, deciding to ignore it as its light makes her eyes sting. She goes to the dinner table instead, where a plate is left with a pot.

She sits, listening to the buzz from the TV, the snoring man, and the voices in her head. The pot has cold soba and she eats everything, cleaning the pot clean. Finishing it, she gets the pot to the kitchen, freezing when the light turns on automatically. It's a clean, huge space with high-tech appliances. It's nothing like the cozy, traditional dwelling from her memories.

Kagome walks into the big kitchen and starts cleaning the pot and plate. From the window that gives way to the dining table and living room, she can see the TV. The man wakes up, getting up on his feet and stretching. He turns and catches her eyes, a relieved smile quickly falling when her immediate response is to look down at the dishes.

The TV goes out and Kagome tries to focus harder on the voices and the last bit of dirty dishes. It's futile, five seconds later the man is leaning against the kitchen's archway. She closes the tab, put the dish to dry and turns to face him. The faint image of two men occupy the space between them, they linger in front of her, walking around her. It's a juxtaposition that hurts, distracts her enough that she doesn't listen when the man talks to her.

"—gome?" Blinking, she realizes her focus had wandered. Her eyes move to the man's striking blue eyes, so similar to her new ones. He has a frown on his forehead, arms crossed in front of him and his body relaxed in a way she knows isn't quite honest with how he truly feels. There are threads around him, like the strings of destiny, but blue. It's some sort of energy, something that is familiar but Kagome can't quite place. "What happened?"

For a moment, she stands there in silence. She has no idea how to answer him, doesn't understand how he could possibly help her. Why should she care for his worries? Why should she answer his questions? This man means nothing to her, is nothing to her…But is he truly? Kagome is lying to herself, is clearly trying to emulate InuYasha's own brash dismissive attitude. She's not blind to this man's affection and love for this body and it makes her completely useless because she would never attack someone who so genuinely only wanted to help.

This body is this man's daughter's, and he is clearly a caring and devoted father. It's in the pictures, in the home they shared and the way he simply cared so much. She's the intruder here, she's the one that doesn't belong, ruining this man's life and family because she simply can't put herself to pretend to be someone she isn't.

She wishes she could be like InuYasha, to snap at these people and blame them for what is happening to her. To growl and fight and hold a grudge close to her heart, but already she's deflating, tears in her eyes as she shakes her head at this stranger. The man's arms fall, his worried frown intensifying as he extends one hand towards her.

Her flinch might as well have been a sword to his gut, from the way his whole being drops. He licks his lips, lost and desperate to help — i'm not her i'm not her i'm not her — or at least understand.

"I dreamt it," escapes from her mouth before she can hold herself. He doesn't speak, doesn't move, might as well not breathe with the way he gives her all of his attention. "The attack on New York, the aliens, I've been seeing it since that man, that god—" It's not quite the truth, but it's something. It's not only the attack, but it's also the fact that this isn't real, and somehow she's here in another body with strangers who share familiar faces surrounding her and it all leads to these gods and heroes of the future. "Something," no words leave her for a minute and she shrugs her arms, eyes scrunching close as she digs her fingers into her hair. "Something is changed, I don't know— I'm so lost!"

"Oh, min kjære," he steps towards her, and Kagome can see he doesn't really believe her. "It's just your dreams acting up again, like when you were little, remember?" She snaps her eyes towards him, head tilting slightly and gaping at him. "You'd always been fascinated by the tales of our ancestors and spent hours obsessing over it, and dreaming every night about them."

"Ancestors?" Hope blooms, for an answer, for a way that could lead her home.

"One of your favorite stories has always been about our legends, Kagome," her confusion must be apparent because he launches an explanation that leaves her head spinning. "Mine, our family's most valuable legacy has always been to be the keepers of the legend of Odin's most valuable treasures," his hand rests heavily on her shoulder. Like a burden. "Viking warriors, the first to ever settle on my homeland, answering to Odin's call to protect his prize, which he gifted us with as a boom to show the path back to Valhalla." He slouches down, lifting her chin so their eyes meet. "That gift would one day lead us into glory and eternal life," he caressed her, the pad of his finger smoothing over the dark circle under her eye. "You always dreamt you'd be the one to go back and find the treasure, my love. Don't you remember?" He smiles, reassuring when she shakes her head in a trance. "With Thor being real, I'm sure it left you a bit..unsettled."

He pats her head, kind smile incapable of hiding the worry in his eyes.

"We'll head to a doctor tomorrow, ok? Everything is gonna be alright. Papa is going to help you."

•••

She goes back to her room, sits on the chair in front of the computer and types Higurashi shrine.

Kagome cries for a good hour when a result pops up with directions to it on the Shizuoka prefecture, too far away from where it belongs, but still there.

•••

Kagome doesn't wait for them to wake up.

She takes her school bag, gets clothes, food and as much money as she can find — which turns out to be much more than she has ever hoped to find in her possession — and stuffs it all in. She grabs pants, a simple shirt, tennis, and a hoodie, throw them on and ties her fair hair back. The apartment is silent and cold when she closes the door behind her.

Kagome takes the elevator at 4 AM. The doorman is distracted, she walks past him with her hood up and her mouth shut. A bus is just arriving at the third stop she encounters and she takes it until its terminal. By then, the sun is high on the sky and she's far away from them. She passes by a small beauty shop on the train station, and there are wigs and hair dies advertised on its window.

When she enters her train to Higurashi shrine, her exotic blonde hair is black.

•••

A/N: Happy New Year, Teriana! It is I, your Secret Santa, hohoho!

This short series is not the one-shot it should be because I'm way too extra and things spiraled way too out of control. x-x It's 11 chapters long. Written in its entirety, I have three chapters while everything else is planned or have scenes ready to be added! The updates will be in two weeks time, every Friday? I dunno how to describe it in English. Every two weeks on Friday? I think that's it.

I'm not sure if you will enjoy this, tbh. I'm literally being very risky with this story and gifting it to you. But I'm making this for me too! It's been quite fun. Hope you appreciate it, and if not, I'm so sorry for blowing this out of proportion. T_T (Not really tho because this is really very fun to write.)

Your wish list gave me a heart attack because I literally wasn't into any of these fandoms anymore lol. Yet, as I brainstormed, I settled with the Marvel ones because it gave me plenty of characters I am actually pretty interested to play with. It spiraled a bit out of control, as I said.

This was your original prompt: [Marvel Comics: Eddie Brock/Venom, Peter Parker/Spiderman, Miles Morales/Spiderman, T'Challa/Black Panther, Dr. Stephen Strange, Thanos (possibly dark), Wade Wilson (Deadpool)]. But I simplified it to characters connected by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which ended up leaving these possible options for pairings: [Marvel Comics: [Peter Parker/Spiderman, T'Challa/Black Panther, Dr. Stephen Strange, Thanos (possibly dark)].

Now, you need to guess which one will be the true pairing. lolololol

This is a GENORMUS project. The plot took three-two days to create, and I make adaptations to this day. I want to thank MCU's wikia page for its detailed descriptions and timeline, to YouTube for giving me edits and music, to Garos Studios, and Netflix. May your deal with Disney and Marvel survive into eternity.

~Mari