Steampunk. That was all he could think of. The air was smoky but felt cleaner than before; the moon was large and close to them, the sky bright with tiny stars. Thomas diverted his gaze down and stared below him. They were standing in a junkyard that was hoisted high on a hill and there was a city spread out below them. It had an orange hue to it and it seemed almost warm and clean, despite billowing steam being pumped into the streets.

"Lo, are you seeing this?" Thomas stammered.

"Yeah, I am, Thomas..." Logan breathed. He took a step forwards, pulling down the face-mask to his neck, under his scarf, and he stared, stunned, at the city. Logan suddenly fumbled for the brick phone discarding the hammer, as he typed furiously.

Thomas frowned. "Wh-What are you doing? What even is that?"

"It's something I've been working on for three years," replied Logan. "It's basically the best phone in the world."

Thomas looked unamused. "It's a brick with a screen."

"No, it isn't!"

"Logan, it's a brick with a screen."

The older huffed and the brick pinged. "This, Thomas, is a phone that lets me text someone from an alternate universe. After my fifteenth birthday, when I was hanging out with my friends, we discussed the possibilities of other worlds. I claimed that all we'd need to do is find a frequency to reach others."

"Did you?" Sniffed Thomas, following this slightly. Cartoons are surprisingly educational, sometimes.

Logan smirked down at the phone and typed away. "Yep. I hanged out in a lot of junkyards until I found a small satellite. I took it back home, messed with it and- I can't really explain it. I just... I just found this frequency somewhere and I had to find out a way to test it. I built a phone from the satellite and put it in a hollowed-out brick and tried the frequency. I sent a simple 'hi' though the frequency and I met... Well, we haven't told each other our names."

Thomas frowned. "What? Wait, you've had this phone for three years, you're texting someone from another reality and you don't know their name?"

"Well, we both thought it might've been someone from our reality and, y'know, predators online are everywhere. He calls me 'Logos,' and I call him 'Pathos'."

The younger blinked slowly at his brother. "Do you think this is Pathos's' reality?"

Logan smiled slightly, continuing to text. "I hope..."

Thomas nodded thoughtfully, then frowned. "What can your brick-with-a-screen do?"

"Thomas, it's not a- nevermind. It can text but it can't really receive calls. We've tried, but it creates the most annoying static noise," Logan answered. He pocketed the phone and Thomas saw the grin on his face. "Pathos says that where we are sounds like his reality."

The younger didn't share his brother's' excitement. At least, he was more cautious. Yes, they were in another reality and it was epic. Yes, they weren't dead. Yes, they still had a way out. Yes, they were together. But what about the things they couldn't answer? What about the problems they could encounter? What sort of alternate dimension is this? Sure, they hadn't been shot on sight yet. Sure, they could breathe. Sure, Logan's' weird, alternate dimension text buddy said this might by his reality but was that enough? What did Logan really know about Pathos? Not his name, for sure.

Logan turned to the portal and bit his lip, pulling a small, metal key from a lock. The portal fizzed and closed. "There, now no one can get to this reality or our reality without the key," Logan said firmly, giving Thomas a small smile. "Grab that sheet, we'll throw it over this."

Thomas obeyed immediately and the brothers covered the portal from view.

Logan began to clamber down the junk and Thomas hesitated before following. Did they really know what they were getting into? Would they ever return home? Would they ever see their parents again? Would they get killed? What if only one of them got killed and the other would have to go home and explain they went to another reality and their brother got killed? They'd instantly be a murder suspect! His anxieties bubbled in his chest but the spluttered out when Logan put a hand on his shoulder.

Thomas stared up into his older brother's' face, looking at the exciting beam and the eyes that sparkled with adrenaline. If Logan was okay, he'd be okay, decided Thomas. He smiled back at him and the two began to look for a way out of the junkyard.

~('3')~

The city was better when you walked the streets. Every window reminded Thomas of Olivander's' in Harry Potter. The streets were studded with stone and the roads were cobbled. Everything flickered with fiery orange and the two brothers were stunned by someone walking along with a robotic eye. It was epic.

Sometimes, rarely, an old-looking car would chug across the deserted roads or they'd see a carriage drawn by robotic horses. Streetlamps emitting an orange light littered across the sidewalk and suddenly Logan froze with a frown.

"Uh, Lo?" Asked Thomas as he watched his brother hunker down to the ground.

Logan reached out and tapped a small grate that poured out hazy steam. "Curious," Mumbled Logan. He reached for his hammer and tilted it, so the claw of the hammer wedged itself quietly between the grate's' bars.

"Logan, I don't think we should be doing this-!" Thomas tried,

"Don't make me give you another speech about taking risks, Thomas."

Thomas swallowed but shut up. He glanced up and down the empty streets and padded over to his brother, watching carefully. Logan pryed gently, using the claw of the hammer as a lever, trying to snap off the grate. He paused and left the hammer wedged into the grate, moving over to the upper corner of the grate, trying to slot his short nails into the screw. Thomas had seen one of Logan's' friends, Alice, do this. She had long, hard, clean natural nails that could unscrew pretty much anything without breaking and it was creepy. Thomas wondered if he'd ever see her again. Alice was nice. Alice was also a human lockpick because of the number of bobby pins she kept on her. Honestly, the FBI should hire her for spy missions. Thomas tried not to smile at memories and focused on his brother when Logan quietly cursed, a tear running deep into his nail.

"Thomas, in my bag. I will need a band-aid in hopes not to rip my fingernail further," Logan ordered and his little brother hastily obeyed, handing him a plaster. Logan peeled off the backing and wrapped it carefully around his finger. He instantly went back to using the hammer as a lever.

Then a sudden pounding of footsteps was heard and they were surrounded. "Get away from the oxygen pump!" Snapped a pompous voice.

Logan sighed, obviously irritated, and he snapped the hammer away, picking up his bag.

Thomas hesitated. "O-Oxygen pump?"

"Yes, boy, don't pretend you-" The man and his men all frowned at the same time, lowering what looked like tasers. "What are you wearing?" He asked.

Suddenly, Thomas realised the juxtaposition between their outfits. The men, police officers, he assumed, were all wearing formal whites and greys. They had large, grey, billowing coats and all of them had a futuristic monocle that had a small switch sticking out. The switch was whirring around, probably focusing in on the boys. It was all so classically steampunk, Thomas had to refrain a laugh. Meanwhile, he and Logan looked as though they were Christian bishops visiting a mosque. Logan looked especially odd.

"Well," Thomas began, prepared to get Logan out of this. "My brother is wearing-"

"No, not him! You! What are you wearing?"

Thomas frowned, looking down at himself. "A... Steven Universe shirt?"

The police officers looked at each other carefully. "Steven Universe?" The leading man asked carefully.

"Yeah, it's a TV show, it's so good! It's all about self-love and relationships and the LGBT-"

"Thomas," Logan sighed at the perplexed faces of the police. "Alternate reality, remember?"

The younger blushed at his mistake. "Oops!"

"Alternate reality-? TV-? I-! Okay," Snapped the leading officer, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're gonna have to take you to Prime Morria. Follow us."

The other police officers began to herd the two boys from the grate, pushing them along the streets. Then they saw it.

This has become a published book, with the first two chapters in place already! It's on my profile, check it out UwU