"Sir!" a startled voice calls through the omnipotent darkness. "Is something wrong?" now it sounds terrified.

The other voice, the one you're sure to know somehow answers coldly "You dare to fool me with those hilarious test results? Do you think I earned that Doctor title in a lottery?"

"No, Sir, no. Of course not. We made the tests as always and I assure you these results are correct."

A snort is heard. "Step back, I'll do the tests myself!" Devices beeping and other unfamiliar noises, as well as angry mumbling, but you can't understand any words, and then deafening silence again.

Sudden quick steps return, the strange sounds repeat and the muttering gets louder.

"That can't be, are these devices broken?" the oddly familiar voice again. If you only could remember where you heard it before...

"Sir, these devices are premium quality, the newest that our company has developed lately. These are the actual results from the core of 'Unicorn'."

"The energy is too low" the second voice mumbles again, "This shouldn't be possible... except..." Then some frantic rustling of clothes and hurried steps before they come to a halt with a screeching sound.

"Was there something unusual that happened in that park where you gathered the subject?"

"Yes, sir. Two days before there was an immense rise in unknown meta-flux energy. But it caused no harm to the surroundings, so it was nothing of interest to us." the first voice responds confused.

"Don't do anything until I'm back, I need to check on something." quick steps recede, and darkness swaps over isekai!reader, twin!MC, fluff, hurt, angst, romance - we have it all, spoilers for myths and story you again.

You barely hear the first scientist calling after the one leaving "Dr. Carter! What does this portend?"

You jolt up, screaming the name you last heard in your strange dream, only to collide with your forehead to something hard.

"Ouch!" two voices call out in unison, yours and Rafayel's.

You blink a few times to adjust your sight only to see him sitting beside you and doing the same motion as you: rubbing your forehead that aches in a dull pain.

"Do you need to attack me that harshly?" the artist whines and more dramatic antics leave his now pouted lips as he's done with soothing the pain caused by the clash of your heads. "Is this how you show your gratitude to your caretaker?"

Confused you look at him. What is he even talking about? In one moment you're trapped in that weird nightmare and the next second you bump your head with the Lemurian. What was he about to do that you knocked into each other at your sudden jolt?

"Why were you even this close to me? I was sleeping, Rafayel." eyeing him suspiciously.

He sits upright, retorting your gaze with some worry in his sunset eyes which are darker now in the night, looking more purple than blue.

"I was aware of this, silly girl." he teases back a little. "But you were tossing around, sighing, and distressed about your dream, so I tried to wake you up before the wound would open up from all the throwing around."

Rafayel sighs dramatically, raising his hands to emphasize his words "Then you jolted up like the mummies in those horror movies and gave me quite a noogie." And with a grin full of mischief "I know you're quite stubborn, but it seems your head is far thicker than I expected."

You squint at him and bump his shoulder the nearest to you with your fist. "You!" only to groan in pain at that. But at least, you have some of your usual strength back.

Along the movement, another ache shoots through you, one that quenches your heart in pain. He did not talk about you, he spoke of her, your twin, the woman at his side.

„You mean her - she's stubborn. Not me, Rafayel. You met me only two days ago."

And with gritting your teeth you stab your heart with the proverbial knife. You aren't even sure, why you feel the need to hurt yourself like this. Maybe as a reminder that you are the copycat here, that you are the mistake that doesn't belong at his side, and you don't even know what hurts more - the knowledge of being a replacement or that you aren't in her place, to begin with.

Suddenly your vision is filled with purple hair, eyes like the setting sun over a blue ocean, and plush pink lips drawn into a soft smile.

"Yes, I met you two days ago, cutie. But you always have been stubborn, regardless of timeline, universe, or life. It's one of the things about you that never changes and that I adore with every string of my heart that belongs to you. Our souls are intertwined - we made a promise everlasting. Even if you forget it every time, I do not."

Rafayel's gaze flicks to your lips for a second, his sunset eyes filled with a sudden longing as he says that with such a soft tone and equal genuineness. If you didn't already sit, your knees would give up beneath you.

Your heart bumps heavily in your chest, and butterflies threaten to let you throw up. Heat rushes up your face, and you hurry to focus elsewhere. How could he say something so casually and then look at you like he wants to kiss you?

Two fingers are placed under your chin, turning your face gently back towards him. „Now let me take a look at your wound, yeah? It started bleeding."

A few minutes later the bandage is changed, this time without Rafayel setting your whole being under fire.

"Indulge me, princess. What were you dreaming about that you nearly broke up the stitches." he finishes the renewed dressing with another cute bow at your unharmed side in front of you.

"I'm not sure." you frown, not without blushing lightly from the new nickname. "I didn't see anything and I couldn't move. I just heard voices, they sounded like scientists, and I was their test subject. And the last thing I heard was a name. Dr. Carter. I know this name and his voice felt familiar but only when somebody calls after him with the name sort it out."

Rafayel locks eyes with you, frowning now himself. "Quite the peculiar dreams you have there, cutie. Who is this Dr. Carter? Someone from your world?" he steps back to make a last check on his finished attempt to re-bandage the injury.

"That is the strange thing, Rafayel. Dr. Carter is working for Xander Sciences, a company in this world. They experiment with Protocores and something with implementation into people's bodies as far as I remember from the game's sources."

The Lemurian now taps his index finger against his lip, apparently deep in thought. "And you felt restrained and couldn't see anything?"

You only nod, worried about what goes on in his mind. "What are you thinking?"

But instead of answering your question, Rafayel picks you up in his arms and makes a beeline out of the bedroom.

"Hey, what are you doing?" you call out, irritated about his behavior.

"Bring you to the living room, cutie." an aloof answer, if it is the most normal thing to do.

"It's the middle of the night!" you protest further.

His two-toned eyes flick to you before he focuses on walking with you to the other room, a smug smile tugs at his lips. "You won't sleep anyway after this nightmare, yeah? So we'll make the best of it."

Shortly after, you are placed onto the big orange sofa gently, supported by some of the blue-patterned cushions.

"Tell me exactly what you dreamt of, would you?"

You recall everything from the last two dreams, every feeling, every spoken word, and Rafayels mimic turns more and more serious with the longer you describe the happenings. You finish, and his gaze is dark and infused with an underlying intense fire. All the time you talked he stared into the void, listening intently. Now his burning eyes are back on you and the heart in your chest starts beating nervously. Rafayel looks like he wants to murder someone, the red in his eyes more prominent, giving them a dangerous lethal look.

"This wasn't just a dream, cutie. It seems you two have a mental connection. She's been captured somewhere, and I'm going to find out where this is"

Your breath hitches. Could this be true? You were in her mind, her body even?

"But how? And why are you so sure of it?" you ask him curiously.

A little smile tugs at the corner of his lips and his gaze gets softer again, the blue fighting its way back into his astonishing eyes.

"The resonance, princess. You were able to take over her wound as a result of both your evols resonating. And I guess since you shared the same frequency since then, you get some feedback from her senses." his head dips a little to the side and his shoulder twitch upwards "or something like that. I'm no evol scientist, you know?"

Now it's your turn to stare into the void and sort out the new information and impressions.

"So, we have to assume she's somewhere at Xander Sciences?" you finally conclude, and Rafayel adds "Or at a research facility of Ever, since they took over Xander a while ago."

You sigh and he grabs his phone, starting to type away swiftly.

"Rafayel? What are you doing?" your confused expression gets you a cheeky smile from the purple-haired man.

"Activating some contacts and my new teammates. Since we have a hint, it's time to minimize our search radius. Ever is a powerful company with facilities and institutions all over Linkon City, you know?"

A memory plops out of your mind "Can't you just... sense her location with your fishy sense?" you straightforwardly ask him and the half-irritated and half-amused gaze you get from Rafayel is worth being captured with a camera.

"What do you mean with 'fishy sense'?"

"Well... this thing you do - how was your wording once - to sense your follower?" you lock his gaze, curious if this is also one of his skills here since not everything seems to be exactly like in the game.

Rafayel laughs out shortly before flicking your forehead with a cheesy smile "Where do you get such ideas? I'm not a wandering echolocation device!"

"But-" you start only to be interrupted by him "Shush! I wasn't done!"

And now you're the one pouting, shoving your bottom lip out so that it flaps over. A thing you unwittingly do in such situations and Rafayel gives you a little grin and a short gaze to your lips before his eyes are back to yours.

"I can sense my beloved, but it doesn't work like you think. It's not that exact, silly girl. And your presence makes it even more difficult. So we need to rely on 'ordinary' methods, yeah?"

Sighing you accept that there isn't an easy solution for this and your gaze wanders to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind you, admiring the night sky with a full moon and countless stars. One is even twinkling in a crimson-red hue before it suddenly vanishes with a faint flapping noise.

"Huh?" What was that?