Is this really Lincoln before The Great Terror? Before he became a founder who put the ghouls back underground? Is this the signet warrior who led many glorious battles that were victorious? I almost couldn't believe it but then I remembered. Everyone must start somewhere, after all, I started with not knowing the parts of a blade, and now I use it to kill bots like a butter knife. 

Thinking about it, my Lincoln would want me to rise from my timorous and have a bit of a self-image if the roles were reversed. Something I ultimately agree with.

"No need for that" I gesture to him, making him raise his head from my waist. "Just all in good fun in the end, right?"

He chuckles awkwardly for a brief moment, then says

"Right. Oh dear, how rude of me. My name is Lincoln Folium."

"Joseph Arrowson is the name." I go for his hand and after a bit of hesitation, he shakes it firmly, even if it lingers with sweat.

"Well, nice to meet you, Joseph Arrowson. Allow me to also be happy to introduce my partner in crime over there, Eddy Williams the Third." He then points to Eddy who's still shivering in his uniform. I wave to him and let it pass. "Then I can see you already met a few of my sisters."

In a way, his words hit close to home to the point I could feel my throat filling with sweat. I never thought I would ever hear his voice again. His final words felt heavier than the still healing burn wounds on my back. I know that he's referring to the three I've met today, but my heart is dead set on two. 

My Lincoln and Lisa have mentioned very little of these three, maybe in passing but never mention their names. Besides that, they might as well not exist, in the end, I can't blame either of them. As for Lana, she's mentioned her brother and sisters before, but I always thought she was referring to just Lisa and maybe one more. I don't know if I was ready to see Lana again after realizing all of this. Theirs, or mine. 

However, I shove those feelings in a locker inside my brain, choosing to deal with what's in front of me.

"You know, you haven't explained why the hell you're here." Lavender barks, while slivering a pencil between her fingers."

"I guess it's a total mystery oooo... Launa's silents show that even she can't charm the eyes of a snake. Now the spotlight shines upon me once again. 

"Well...you see I'm here...for the... Then like a lightning bolt coming from a cloud, I remember the phrase my Lisa said to me. I still think it's ridiculous and it has no right to work, however, I have no better option. "The local county fair. I plan on winning the costume contest."

"Ooo, for the valley's annual county fair," Loran asks. Lincoln sighs which gives her the answer to that upbeat question.

"Alright, what the hell are you supposed to be then" Lavender rumbles.

"Well...I choose to be a futuristic soldier from an apocalyptic time, and I have a time machine as my prop that I'll use."

"You mean the prop that's making out with the dirt?" She snickers back. I smile and hiss out a yes through my teeth. At least now we can both be snakes.

I continued "You see my prop got damaged and I needed to stop and fix it fast. The heat out there can be troublesome if you catch my drift."

My words start filling gasoline into their eyes, I'm losing them.

"Ok, that's a nice story and all, though how did you end up on our couch?" Launa's words start to lag but don't make them any less scary. "Because we found you pretty much wiped out on there."

I feel beat. Lavender's eyes and body language are ready to tear me a new one. I consider running but with the machine, I can't get it to compress in time. My secret would be left for the news, mainly the Covenant if they're running amuck around here. If I let that happen, who knows what those scientists would do? I can't let them cause another Great Terror because of my mistake, even if I must fight for it. 

"I laid him there," Lincoln says, having everyone's eyes including mine gawking at him, waiting to hear what came next. "He was half-dead and extinguished from the sun while making his repairs. So, I offered to let him rest for a while on our couch. He was so out of it thanks to the heat, in fact, he probably doesn't remember the whole ordeal. Isn't it all starting to ring a bell, Joseph?"

"Yeah...I believe so. I should try and be more careful next time hehe."

"If that's the case, why did you both splash water on him?" Launa's questions were getting more prescient. I guess she has more than just jokes to spill. I thought Lincoln would be stumped, yet with saving my skin, he never ceases to surprise me.

"Like I said before he was to the point where he collapsed almost immediately upon our couch, I wanted to make sure he was still alive, and for the splash, I fought you could tell a gag when you see one?"

"Hmph, I would've done it better." She mummers to herself, letting her eyes fall right back into her bag. Lincoln then motions me towards the kitchen, saying to everyone that he's going to let me use the kitchen phone to call someone. 

At this point, all three of them believe his story, pretty much pretending that I don't exist. I knew something else was up as Eddy followed right behind me, then blocked the entries once we were in the kitchen. I know now, they're going to let me have it.

"Ok, Joseph...I don't know if you know this, but the costume contest has been set back till another four months from now. Then comes the deal breaker that we found you unconscious in that thing that both I and Eddy saw fly through the sky. Saying all of that, your story then starts to become futile."

His voice already feels like a whisper, yet my ears hear it as blaster fire. Damm it, Lisa. I trusted your phrase, and now my heart is kicking my ribs.

"Hmph, I'm surprised you didn't spill that can of beans to your sister and have the cops come shortly after."

"Well, it can be our little secret sport, as long as you tell us where you're really from."

His eyebrow raises while his eyes slap me across the face. The room in my mind begins closing in on itself. He has me at the mercy of his fingers and he knows it. If anything left in me thought Lincoln was bluffing, he nods over to his partner and crime who were ready to spill like a canary with his head peeking into the living room. I would never get home if I let him spill, or at least without spilling pints of blood first.

Still, even that option could have me lying on the streets like Buzzard was. Buzzard, Joltxs, and Cliff. What would they say if I ended up joining them thanks to a few bullet holes from some cops? For once, this isn't a time to fight, nor do I want it to be.

"Ok look I'm from...another reality, on a mission to...save my home.

Not a moment later both start glittering like a bunch of schoolgirls, only stopping from the pressure my fingers give upon their lips.

"Look I know you two are excited about this revelation but let's keep this under wraps from anyone else, and let me grab my machine, then I'll be out of your hair to complete my mission. Alright?"

"Nonsense," Lincoln says, muffling underneath my finger. I promptly remove them both once the saliva starts glazing them like a donut. "You could stay and do whatever you must in the backyard." He sees my mouth slowly opening so he makes sure to add "Besides, consider this my apology from earlier."

To think I shouldn't have been surprised. If Lincoln offers you something it would be a dishonor to refuse, even if this weren't the Lincoln who gained something so unspoken. Admittedly too, my mind is a bit curious to see where this goes next. I'll give him one thing; he has the same look as my Lincoln in his eyes as we shake on it. They both burn with the hunger for discovery and challenge. I should've known that was the case, yet I decided to play further along.

He and Eddy lead me through the sliding door into a stretch of green that toggles on the eyes, it has a beautiful maple tree leaking itself upon their neighbors' yard, all coming together surrounded by a picket white fence. Even the air smells of crisp gold. 

In my time before The Great Terror, many people never had a yard like this, more or less a house this clean. Now I'm standing right in the middle of what my valley could have been like. 

They continue around the front and we find out that the machine is as Lavender said it was. Half dead, kissing the dirt. To my surprise, the boys roll up their sleeves and try to drag it back towards the yard. 

Watching them you would think there's a pretty girl around. Reminds me of a time when I was such a disaster, all for a girl. She ended up stabbing my ribs with her fists when I did such a display. Somehow, they weren't only sharp, but her touch always seemed to be warmer than a fire. At least nothing had my heart melting faster.

For their own sake, I can't look at them any longer. My Lisa told me about a little design she implemented in her machine. At the press of a button, it would turn into a cube that sits in the palm of your hand. 

Back then I almost laughed at her statement, especially when she added that it would make a puffing noise as it did so. I'm not laughing now, at least what she said this time works. It takes almost 30 seconds, but it works.

The boys if they needed any more proof, become engrossed at the sight of the cube that was once an over 6ft machine, fell into the palm of my hand. Eddy then asks what would happen if a human were to be in there while it transformed. I had a similar question when I asked Lisa. I say the exact words to the boys. You'll be dead. 

They then both give each other thick-headed looks which make me want to facepalm myself. Realizing that I was most likely one button away from death. Afterward, they moan out the word cool and inside Lincoln's eyes, the flames become their brightest. 

So, that's what he wants. To see how things of this magnitude are audacious and thrive. Only if he knew that this is one of the only items that wasn't designed to kill its competition. 

To fill his hunger, for now, I lick and then toss the cube in the middle of his backyard, forming itself back into a capsule of hope that is the machine. I chuckle to myself since the puffing sound got me the second time around. I go for Lincoln's hand, thanking him more than his arm could take. Though now I know what his real conditions are, and it would be wise to not disappoint.

"No problem, sport. If you keep the blood levels at a minimum between you and my sisters, you'll be just fine. Especially if you're going to be here for a while, you'll be meeting more of them."

I remain frozen as he and Eddy walk back through the sliding door, to sit down at a table, only to look me down.

More.

That dreaded word feels sharper than any blade an acolyte could stab me with. Once I saw Lincoln's face for the first time my heart was already skipping beats. However, it wasn't just the word but the way he shot it from his mouth. It's like that moment back when he listened to me rant about my failure to protect my brothers. This time I couldn't tell if it was attentional. 

Did he already know that I knew some of them? Impossible, I thought to myself, yet I wouldn't be surprised if this Lincoln found a way. Or maybe it's the fact that he could be mentioning more than just Lana and Lisa? What figures of my time would I have to connect back to this? So many questions but little time to panic over them. 

I need to worry about the machine and how I'm going to make Lisa's devices. Looking at her machine with dirt falling from its two missiles. All I can think is,

'Where do I start?'