THE MOMENT
"It's worse than I thought," the unexpected comment startled Steve into dropping the card-sized pane of glass he was inspecting. It hit the corner of the table on its way to the peeling tile floor; but, it remained in one piece. He whirled around to find a tall pale woman in a black dress with bone-white horns curling out of her head. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Who are you? What have you done to Greg? I can't sense him?" She asked. Despite his initial surprise, Steve recognized that she seemed genuinely concerned for him.
"I'm sorry," Steve shook his head. "He passed away," Steve shrugged and gestured at the dilapidated one-story house around them. "He left everything to me for some reason." The woman glanced at Steve up and down.
"My name is Ballisea, what's yours?" she asked.
"Steve," he replied. Ballisea nodded.
"Well, Steve, it's worse than I thought. Not only did she add new Uniques; she added NEW Uniques. There is already a Calavera that didn't exist before, and there are likely to be more....," she sighed. "What do you suggest?" she asked. Steve gave a deliberate look around the mess to remind her that he was the only one there.
"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about...," he shrugged. Ballisea rolled her eyes.
"Neither did Greg; but, that never stopped him from trying to help. Your Earth would be a better place if there were more like him. He didn't care about the details, he just wanted to help."
"My Earth...?" Steve asked. Greg often talked about alternate Earths as if they were real. He even claimed to visit them regularly. Whenever anyone asked why he was still on that Earth his reply was always, 'This is where my friends are'. Ballisea nodded.
"There are infinite alternate universes," she said. Steve never treated Greg particularly bad; but, now he was starting to wish he treated him better. He did not know who the woman was, or what was going on. He decided the only thing he could do was try to live up to Greg's example. Ballisea came to Greg with a problem that he had no idea about. So, Steve wasn't in any worse position to help.
"I still don't get it, but it sounds like something changed," he said. "So.. is there anything you can do to change it back?"Ballisea looked down on the short man for several moments; then, she gave a faint nod.
"I suppose this has gotten out of hand," she said. A tall black portal opened next to her and a fair-skinned young man in a black suit walked out. He wore a white shirt and orange tie beneath his black coat and a pair of round, orange spectacles sat on his nose.
"Yes?" he ignored Steve and asked Ballisea.
"I'm bored now; reset it," she replied. He nodded but his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Did Blueberry find his successor?" he asked. Ballisea shook her head.
"No. He had plenty of time; maybe next time he'll decide faster," she replied. The young man gave her a curt bow.
"I'll inform the Chrome Court," he said. Ballisea shook her head.
"Reset the loop. NOW," she said. He nodded with a sigh.
"As you wish," he replied. Steve blinked. When he opened his eyes, Ballisea and the young man were still standing in front of him in Greg's house.
"What are you waiting for?" Ballisea asked. Steve saw the man close his eyes, then he blinked again. And again. Steve blinked six times in a row and each time confused him more; he wasn't controlling his eyelids. Then the young man shook his head and looked up into Ballisea's eyes.
"I can't," he said. Ballisea narrowed her eyes at him for a moment; then, they opened wide when she understood the situation.
"Find out what else changed," Ballisea said. "If she crashed that loop there's no telling what else has been affected,"
"On it," the young man nodded and exited through another black portal. Ballisea looked at Steve and nodded.
"Thank you," she said. "You didn't help with the problem I had; but you opened my eyes to a larger situation. You're considerably more help than Greg ever was." Steve tilted his head at her.
"I thought you came to Greg for help all the time," he said. Ballisea shook her head.
"I did visit often; but, not for help. I found his insanity entertaining. It helped me think."
"But, you said the world would be better if everyone were more like him...," Steve asked with a fair amount of confusion. Ballisea nodded.
"He was insane and dumber than a bucket of sand; but, he did always try to be helpful. Greg was a good man; the universe is lesser without him."