Reflected Detour
The voice filtered through the long lines of mirrors and hallways that had been Gus’ domain for so long that he thought it was a trick. How could it be, that someone could call out to him when he had been alone with only his reflections and an endless maze with no way out?
For many heartbeats, many moments, Gus stayed silent. And the world around him was equally still. It was his imagination then, he thought, resigned to this solitary world. He turned away from it, and then it came again.
“Gus!”
It echoed through the world of lights and glass, a mix of exasperation and worry so tangled up in it that Gus almost broke into a run through the walls of his prison. He could hear fear underneath the familiar voice, and Gus’ heart hammered in his chest at the thought of Jon - his best friend, his dearest companion - stumbling through the looking glass towards him, as stuck as he was.
He came to a stop in front of glass, Jon still on the correct side of it, relief lined with sorrow under his veins. Jon’s breath caught, his eyes widening with disbelief, joy, and some horror. Gus thought he should have felt the same.
Instead, terror was growing.
“It’s you,” his friend murmured, bringing a hand up to reach out towards him, towards the mirror that lay between them.
Immediately, Gus took a step back, snapping a sharp, “No!” Jon froze, emotions flickering so fast across his fast Gus could not read them. It settled into a hurt so deep that Gus wanted to step back towards him. He could not though, not until Jon understood - “Don’t touch the mirror,” he said, his tone softer but still laced with the panic he could not hold back. “I don’t know what’ll happen to you if you do.”
Jon’s pain faded into a different sort that Gus mirrored. It was understanding and empathy and despair and a hopelessness that Gus still felt after the days or months or years he had been on this side of the plane. “You’re stuck there.” It was not a question, and so Gus did not reply.
They stood on two sides of a glass that should not exist, a distorted reflection that Gus had not imagined to see, not after his determination to get back home had turned into helplessness when he realised he could not. Jon’s hand still hovered in the air before the mirror. Gus raised his own hand and leaned forward to place it directly opposite of Jon’s. The mirror was cool beneath his palm. On the other side, Jon’s fingers twitched as if he wanted to reach out and pull Gus through.
Not for the first time, Gus wished he could go back the same way he came through.
They stood silently, Gus drinking in the sight of a face other than his own as if he were starved for it. Who knew when he would see another soul again? Who knew if this was a miracle or a trick of light, or a desperate longing conjured up by his fractured soul?
As if sensing his thoughts, Jon spoke up, voice steady and firm. “It might take a while, but we’ll get you home.” Gus blinked, wanting to believe in his friend’s words but it was difficult. A seemingly innocent experiment had stuck him in this fun house of mirrors and left a doppelganger of sorts to wreak havoc in his place, and all his attempts to go back had failed. Maybe some of that reflected on his face, because Jon continued, “We always work best when we’re together.”
Gus could not help the reluctant smile that crossed his lips. “You admitting you can’t do everything alone?”
“I’m admitting I never wanted to,” Jon responded easily. “And that refraction of yours doesn’t work nearly as hard as you do with your experiments.” The disgruntlement was obvious, though Jon’s tone remained soft and fond. Gus huffed out a laugh and closed his eyes.
He wanted. Oh, how much he wanted to hope. But hope was dangerous. It would hurt more if nothing worked again, and this time he would not be the only one whose heart would break. “Jon…” He trailed off, unable to give voice to his fears.
As always, Jon read him easily. “I’m not leaving you alone, Gus.” No matter how far and how long it had been, Jon still knew him. Had known what had come through the mirror was not Gus, had known and looked and believed in the odd enough to come looking for him.
This time he did not stop the hope that stirred in his heart when he opened his eyes and met Jon’s steady gaze. He swallowed back the fear and the doubt and the worry and nodded. “Together,” he murmured.
Together, they would get Gus home.
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