I look around the streets surrounding us, hoping for a clue or something. "Uhh, Alex?" I ask.

He pulls away slightly and looks up at me. "Yeah?"

"How exactly do we leave this reality? Ya know, set everything back to normal?" I look down at him.

He looks around a little bit. "I'm not sure.. But I know where we can go to figure it out." He says.

"Then lead the way." I say, stepping to the side to give him some space to show us where we're headed.

He nods and starts down the sidewalk and soon we reach the door of one of the millions of apartments in New York City. He goes to open the door and pauses, looking back at me. "Uh, don't judge the mess. I wasn't exactly... As happy as I seemed."

He opens the door and welcomes me into his tiny, messy apartment. I look around. He really had been going through it, I can't believe I didn't see this sooner. I mean, I know this is an alternate reality or whatever, but clearly the stress is real.

"Okay, so I think I have an idea on how to go back to our original reality, but you have to trust me."

I look up at Alex. "Of course I trust you, what do we have to do?"

He pulls out a binder and starts flipping through pages until he finds the right one. "I think we have to find the box, and tear it apart. But first, we have to wish to erase the previous wish. If we do this, it will destroy the entire music box, and we won't be able to use it again."

"Alex, why do you have a whole binder dedicated to this?" I ask, raising an eyebrow slightly.

He sighs gently. "I guess in this reality, I was lonely enough to become obsessed with this stupid idea, too." He frowns and closes the binder. "But uh, luckily we should be able to use it to end this."

I stand and walk towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "And we will end this. We can do this, Alex." I say.

He looks up at me and smiles gently. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go fix my mistake."

We gather everything we might need and head out, the mission now clearer than ever before. We walked in an awkward silence, something that had never happened to us before.

It was like we were complete strangers. I couldn't have that.

"So... I'm intrigued by these gadgets you've made. How long have you been working on them?" I ask, shoving my hands in my pockets as we walk.

He continues to look ahead of him, biting his lip gently. "Oh, um.. a while now, I guess. I don't know, this doesn't seem too important right now.."

"Right, but I mean.. you've clearly put a lot of work into this. What inspired you to create them?"

"Look, John, we don't have to do this." He says.

I tilt my head in confusion. "Do what?" I ask.

He hesitates but before he can respond, there's a blinding light in front of us. I grab Alex and pull him closer to me, shielding him from any danger.

The light left as quick as it came, leaving a confused person standing in front of us. He was in a soldier's uniform, but nothing like the ones we had today.

"I dare say, those colonies have outdone themselves this time." He gasps, looking around.

I look at Alex and he raises an eyebrow. "What the hell, where did you come from?"

The man looks at us and glares. "What is this? What are you two doing? We're in the middle of a war, are you boys not part of the revolution?"

"What revolution?"

"The American one! This shall teach that King to tax us again!" He shouts, drawing a sword from his belt. I jump slightly as he runs away, yelling some nonsense.

"Is it just me or did that guy look a lot like George Washington?" Alex asks, blinking a few times.

"I was thinking the same thing.." I bite my lip. "Any chance it's just a crazy New Yorker and not a president from over two hundred years ago?" I ask, staring with worry at the man in the blue coat.

"I think we better hurry to the box." He says.

I nod slightly before turning to Alex. "Okay, I can get us there fast, you just have to hold on tight." I instruct.

Before he can question it, I scoop him up in my arms and start to run as fast as I can. We get to the place Alex told me about in a couple minutes, and I set Alex down, still holding him to help him balance.

"I had no idea... you could go... that fast." Alex says, catching his breath as if he was the one running.

I chuckle nervously. "Yeah, that would kinda defeat the whole secret identity thing." I say, scratching the back of my neck.

He nods slightly as he catches his breath, standing up shortly after. "Okay, according to this binder, the box should be right in here." He says, looking up at the building in front of us.

It was a plain looking building, with no signage or clues as to what would normally be inside. Nevertheless, I was ready to go inside it. I look over and see Alex looking a bit worried, though. Like he didn't want to go in.

I grab his hand and he looks over at me. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Just... Nervous about going back to our reality, I guess.."

I offer a small smile and squeeze his hand. "You have nothing to be worried about. We're going to go back. Together. Everything's going to be just fine."

He looks down at our hands and sighs gently. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go destroy that box." He says.

We walk in and are immediately met with a harsh wind circulating in the room. The box was sitting wide open on a pedestal in the middle of the room with the gems surrounding on the floor, much like it was when Alex had set it up.

We struggle to push our way through the wind, Alex holding on to me for support. I look back at him. "I think I can get to it, I just need you to wait by the wall while I break it." I shout over the wind.

"Wait! You can't be the one to break it, it has to be me!" He replies, gripping onto his binder with his free arm.

I raise an eyebrow. "What? Why does it matter who breaks the box? As long as it's gone, everything will go back to normal, right?"

He bites his lip gently and then shakes his head. "No, for this to work it has to be the person who used it in the first place."

I study his face for a moment. I trust Alex with so much. But the last time I let him near the box, he started this whole mess. I'm not sure if he's in the right mindset to get near it again.

But maybe I really did get through to him this time. He would know more about the box than I would, so I should trust him this time, right?

"So? Can you get me to the box?" He asks. "I need your help."

I take a moment to study him a little longer, and then give a firm nod. "Yeah, I can help you."

I pull him closer to me, and then step behind him, placing my hands on his back.

"Okay, I'm going to give you a push, you have to run as fast as you can to the center. You'll be fine there, since the wind is circling around the box." I tell him. "Ready?"

"Ready." He confirms, preparing to run.

I give him a countdown and then give him a push, and he takes off through the strong wind. The push offsets my balance and I stumble backwards, falling to the ground. Looking up, I see the binder get knocked out of Alex's hand and carried through the current.

After doing a full circle, it lands next to me and opens up, flipping through the pages like crazy.

I see Alex get to the center and he grabs the box, pulling it off the pedestal. Once he does, the wind stops. I sigh a breath of relief and stand up, brushing myself off. I reach down to pick up the book. "Whew, that was kind of a crazy obstacle, but also a fairly easy one to-"

I stop talking as I see the page the wind had blown the binder to. I pick it up and read it. "Alex, what does this mean by 'possible memory loss?' You never said anything about that." I look up at him and see him holding the box with both hands, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"The legend states that whoever breaks the box will be forgotten by everyone in the reality they return to. It'll be like the subject never existed in the first place." He says, fidgeting with the box in his hands.

I stare at him with a somber look, trying to figure out why he was doing this. "It doesn't really have to be you who breaks the box, does it." I say. He doesn't respond, which answers the question for him. "Alex, give me that box, I'll do it."

He shakes his head. "No."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "What? What do you mean no? If you do this, no one will remember you-"

"If I do this no one will remember all the harm I caused as Cyclone. If I do this, you won't remember how I've hurt and disappointed you." He says, smiling sadly. "But you? You need to be remembered. You're a hero, John."

"I don't care about any of that. I can't forget you, Alex. Not again." I say, taking a step towards him. He steps back. "I won't lose you a third time."

"There's no option, John. If I'm remembered and not you, what do you think will happen?" He asks. "All of this, the box stuff, will just repeat again. Except you won't be there to stop me."

My breathing gets unstable as I process this information. He was right. It had to be him.

"Let me be the hero this time."

I hesitate, but nod. "Okay."

He nods and goes to break the box, but I interrupt.

"But on one condition." He looks up at me with confusion. "You have to come find me. I refuse to live my life without you, you have to promise you'll come find me." I tell him.

He smiles softly and nods again. "I promise, John."

I sigh and look at the box. "Okay. Then do it. Let's end this nightmare."

He turns and raises the box above his head, before smashing it down on the edge of the pedestal. The box cracks and pieces chip off, but it takes another hit to break it fully. The seven colors of the gems suddenly fill the room and I look at Alex, running to him and pulling him into a kiss before he is gone.

We break apart and I lean my forehead against his. "I love you, Alex. I can't wait to see you again."

"I love you, too, John. I'll see you soon."

1923 Words

Once again, so so so sorry for taking forever, but I wanted to end it right. I just had no idea how to do that until literally yesterday. I hope this was worth the wait, and the epilogue will be out tomorrow at noon to finish this off :)