Loud footsteps echoed through the hall where Hazel slept. Her eyes stayed closed, though she was wide awake. Two voices bickered loudly, something she couldn't hear before. Hazel blinked. There was a gap in the wall where it should have solidified.

"You couldn't have chosen any other Double Origin?" Nedoza hissed.

"As if there's any others!" Dymo retorted.

"This isn't about Eleres, is it?"

"I- of course it's about her! You must understand, Miss Tridfai, that this is a serious matter," Dymo said, calming himself.

"Sir..."

"She'll be safe here until the time comes for Eleres' death to be avenged. Got it?"

"Of- of course, sir," Nedoza said in a hushed voice.

The two moved closer to the cell. Hazel's heart raced. From her right, another pair of footsteps came running.

"Doctor Terinaz, there's been a mistake!" a high female voice said, completely out of breath.

"What is it now, Mahyutani?"

The girl hesitated.

"The replica that we left," she began, "there's an inaccuracy. The eyes, they're brown."

Dymo scoffed.

"You think that's going to make a difference? Humans are far too stupid to notice through their pathetic grieving."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry for interrupting you, sir," Mahyutani said nervously before dashing away.

The remaining pair waited until the footsteps completely stopped.

"This is for Eleres."

"Wasn't the detaching soul enough? You could have done this another way!"

"Maybe I could have, but I actually knew where the girl lived. The Algol Files are a handy little place, really. Her father, on the other hand, he could be anywhere in the damn Multiverse by now. And when we finally find him, well, I've got a very special plan for that girl."

"And what's that?"

Dymo laughed a terrible laugh. A shiver of discomfort slithered down Hazel's spine.

"She's a born weapon, I'll train her. She'll be the one to take his life, or she can die with him. The choice is hers."

Hazel turned over in bed, plugging her ears and letting hot tears drip down her face. Four words repeated themselves over and over in her panicked brain.

I'm going to die.

All she heard after that was Dymo's farewell, "Her death will not go unpunished, Nedoza! You remember that!"

Nedoza sighed as Dymo's footsteps faded to nothing. Hazel froze. The silence was unbearable. Did she notice the gap? Was it even big enough to slip through? And would the cuffs prevent it?

"Hazel?" Nedoza whispered.

Hazel froze in place, taking in a quick gasp.

"I'm here," Hazel replied.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course."

Nedoza shimmied sideways through the gap in the wall, brushing it closed behind her as she stepped through.

"Now nobody can hear us. How are you? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Nedoza asked, checking over Hazel's arms and face.

"No, I'm fine, just a little scared is all."

Hazel couldn't believe her own mouth as she spoke. She would never admit to being scared.

"I don't even know who he's talking about, with my father and all that," she continued.

Sighing, Nedoza put a hand on her shoulder and let her silky black hair brush against the girl's face.

"You're going to be safe," she said, wrapping her arms around Hazel like a parent, "and I know just how we'll do it."

Nedoza motioned to Hazel's bed, asking if she could sit, to which Hazel of course accepted.

"Ever since his sister died, he's been different. He's not the Dymo I knew when I first met him. Nobody can leave this station without someone else, and anyone who tries to leave or ask for another to help will be immediately reported. There's so much fear under his rule that even if someone asked, I'd decline in case they were trying to frame me," Nedoza explained with another sigh.

"What was he like before?" Hazel wondered.

She couldn't begin to imagine the man she'd known for the past two weeks being anything but a frightening menace. The thought of him being something else, something more human, seemed almost unnatural.

"He used to be one of the kindest people I'd ever known. We could come and go as we liked. Dymo was really talkative, especially when it came to gushing about that sister of his and how sweet she was, but honestly, she'd completely lost it. Totally delusional. When she died, it was as if the love he gave her turned into hatred for the world, and especially Daniel Eternas, your biological father," Nedoza said, "and now he's the one who's lost it."

"Well, why this Daniel guy?"

Nedoza shrugged.

"He doesn't really talk much about it anymore, but from what I gathered, he killed her. I don't know anything else."

"And what's a replica?"

That's what she needed to know most. The mysterious "replica", something about brown eyes, something about herself.

"It's what we leave behind if something's taken. It's a perfect model with once-working organs, accurate genes, stuff like that. It's to stop a search from taking place. Non-altered humans aren't the most intelligent, but with enough evidence even they might start questioning other worlds," Nedoza said without emotion, "and I'm ashamed to say they're my own design."

"So, that replica the other girl was talking about, was it of me?"

Nedoza nodded solemnly.

"They think I'm dead, don't they?"

~~~

Hazel and Nedoza stood up, the young girl wearing the other's black coat. The two casually left the cell, trying their best to act as naturally as possible. Hazel stood close behind Nedoza to obscure her face, but the cuffs still remained under her skin. It'd take surgery to remove them, though for the time being, the coat covered them well enough.

They made their way down a maze of halls and doorways, some pushing open with no problem and others requiring Nedoza's handprint, though none else had the strange keyhole like on the first door into the building.

"Hey, Oza!" a rough male voice called cheerfully.

Nedoza pushed Hazel behind her.

"Hi..."

"Don't let Dymo catch you wandering around too, or he'll think we're a thing!"

"Ew, no."

The man chuckled and waved goodbye, much to Nedoza's relief.

"What's up with that guy?" Hazel whispered when the coast was clear.

"No idea. Let's keep going."

Hazel watched as her new acquaintance led the way through the maze of doors until they finally reached one that was much different.

"Here it is," Nedoza said breathlessly.

It was the same height as the others, but finished with a red chrome that shone with all the colors of the rainbow when light hit. There was no keyhole, though it was clearly locked. Instead, four footprints were carved into the ground with matching handprints on the door.

That's why she couldn't leave, Hazel thought.

She didn't even need to ask to understand what she had to do. Carefully the stepped into the carvings, which sunk into the ground with her weight. She did the same with her hands. To her right, Nedoza mirrored.

As soon as both were perfectly in place, Two different snakes of light slithered across the carvings on the metal door. Of course, Nedoza's was golden, and Hazel's was her bright blue. They watched the glimmering markings come to life intently. She was free at last.

Dramatically, the twin doors slid apart with a loud thud, much different from the inward swing of all the rest, revealing a hallway in the same fashion as the one leading from the unloading bay. Its painfully white walls burned Hazel's eyes, but she didn't mind. Nedoza hesitated before running down it, Hazel tagging not far behind. Every step echoed off the walls until the place sounded like a game of Olympic table tennis.

"We need to move, now!" Nedoza shouted behind her.

At the end of the hall was a single red ship shaped a lot if someone were to cross a sports car and a space shuttle. Its tires were thick with deep grooves along their circumference in a simple zig-zag pattern, and its paint chipped and scuffed. Nedoza dashed to the side door, practically stabbing the vehicle with her finger and slapping it repeatedly out of pure desperation.

When it finally opened, Nedoza pulled Hazel inside faster than she could even think.

"What's going on?" Hazel asked, clueless.

She turned around as Nedoza threw herself in the pilot's seat and turned on the engines. Running towards them at full speed were Dymo and Esyatani Terinaz, their faces red with rage.

"Hold on!" Nedoza shouted.

The ship rolled into the airlock as the side door still hadn't closed. Hazel grabbed the handle and slammed it shut as Nedoza fiddled with holographic controls. The couple that pursued them didn't dare to enter the airlock with them, though. They knew full well that anyone in the airlock was facing instant death.

"You'll regret this, Tridfai! I'll find you, just you wait!"

Hazel's heart pounded with tension and euphoria at once. Though she'd only been off Earth for a little more than two weeks, she'd already become convinced that she'd never return home.

"Where are we going?" Hazel asked.

"To my family, before anything else," Nedoza said, still searching through the hologram menus, "your Universe requires a permit to be able to breach the barrier, and that's something we don't have."

Hazel frowned, though anywhere was better than being cooped up in a tiny room for the rest of her life.

"You'll tell me more about this place, right? If I'm going to have to be here for longer than expected," she asked.

"What place?"

"The whole thing. The Multiverse. Why there are permits to enter my world, why you're an alien but look like me, everything," Hazel said, tapping her fingers as she listed them off.

"I don't think my people will let you not know all that," Nedoza grumbled.