Night falls over Dave like a veil woven from silence and unanswered questions. He stands alone on the rooftop, thoughts swirling in his mind like a storm at sea. Around him, the echoes of the recent battle between Heinz and Axel still resonate in the air, as if the very walls are trying to remind him of his hesitation.
Dave—always the type to leap from one problem to the next—is beginning to feel the weight of this dimension pressing down on him: a reality so brutal, so disorienting, so saturated with a hatred he never expected to come from Axel.
What if he never finds a way back? What if he's trapped here forever?
He breathes in deeply and closes his eyes, trying to grasp at anything—any flicker of intuition—that might point him in the right direction. But all he finds inside himself is an abyss of doubt.
And then, a whisper breaks the stillness.
"Lost in thought again? Keep that up and the demons won't have to tear you apart. You'll unravel all on your own."
Dave opens his eyes and sees Heinz, materializing from the shadows with his usual calm, unreadable expression. Dave swallows the impulse to tell him he's earned his place in this world—that for some inexplicable reason, Heinz's presence is almost… comforting. Instead, he defaults to his signature sarcasm.
"Back to save me from myself, or just here to watch the slow-motion trainwreck?" he says with a half-smile, though his voice betrays the uncertainty still pulsing inside him.
Heinz watches him in silence for a moment, as if weighing his words carefully. When he speaks, there's a strange mix in his voice—patience… and something not far from pain.
"Dave, you've tried to escape this reality over and over again. And every time you do, you drift further from any real answers."
Heinz lowers his gaze. His fingers toy with the edge of his watch as his voice darkens.
"Maybe it's time to face the possibility that… there's no way back."
The idea hits Dave like a bucket of ice water—raw and merciless.
What would it mean to be trapped here?
What would it mean to accept that his Axel, his Axel, is no longer a part of his life?
Before he can speak, a thunderous noise rolls up from the depths of the city. The lights flicker, and the ground shudders beneath their feet. Both of them fall into stillness, alert. Dave knows, instinctively, that something is happening—this isn't just an earthquake. It's as if the dimension itself is beginning to splinter. As if some invisible balance is shattering.
"What the hell…?" Dave mutters, looking to Heinz with alarm.
Heinz frowns, eyes dark and calculating, analyzing the tremor with chilling composure.
"It's the sign we've been waiting for," he says, voice lower than usual. "The portal linking us to the other dimensions… it's opening. If I can stabilize it, even for a few seconds, this is the moment. It's now or never."
A surge of relief and terror washes over Dave. Could this really be it? The chance he's been waiting for? The way back to his own world—to his own Axel?
But when he looks at Heinz, he sees something in his eyes. A sadness. A quiet resignation that breaks something inside him.
"You don't have to do this, Heinz," Dave says. His voice is unfamiliar to his own ears—almost pleading.
As if part of him doesn't want to leave Heinz behind.
As if, somehow, this world… this Heinz… had started to mean something.
But Heinz only smiles. That same faint, bittersweet smile of someone who knows a truth the other hasn't yet grasped.
"Dave, it doesn't matter what I do. In the end, it will always be your choice. And if that choice means watching you walk away toward your world… I'll accept it.
But don't forget this…"
Heinz reaches for Dave's hand, his grip steady, warm.
"No matter where you go, you'll carry a part of this place with you. And that includes me."
Dave nods, speechless.
The truth is, Heinz is right.
Even if he won't admit it aloud, a part of him is beginning to anchor itself in this world.
Maybe it isn't love—not in the way he's used to understanding it—but something about Heinz reminds him that there are things here… things unique to this dimension…
Things he might never find again on the other side.