The only good thing Clarice could think of that might come from her stupid, scary, 24-hour coma was the possibility that it would juggle John’s memory, considering he had seen her unresponsive before. When she’d woken up and seen him act like his fake normal self, all hope was lost. Thankfully the little group of ‘awakened’ ones seemed unanimous in wanting to tell the truth to someone else they trusted - even if they weren’t agreed, Clarice would have done it anyway, but it was good to have support.
It was around late afternoon when she sat up on the couch, already annoyed at the worry around her. It made sense to them, but Clarice knew this was likely not remotely physical, but almost certainly supernatural instead and there was nothing rest could do about the whims of whatever this was.
Eyeing John over the back of the couch, Clarice drew a deep breath, released it, and flexed her hands in preparation.
“Hey J-” She sighed, biting her tongue. “Aiden? Come sit down. I need to talk to you.”
Aiden’s worried face made another appearance as his girlfriend called him over. She’d been in that strange 24-hour coma and he’s been terrified she wasn’t going to wake up. Cerise was one of the most important people in his life and that thought that he could lose her had scared him shitless. It was possible he’d spent the time since she’d woken up hovering quite a bit and he was pretty sure she was about to yell at him for that, but it was hard to help it.
Coming around to sit next to her, he nodded. “I know I’m probably being annoying right now,” he offered, “but I’d like to point out that you’d be just as worried if our roles were reversed right now.”
This was weird and horrible. Clarice stared at John as he spoke, completely unaware that his helicopter boyfriend behavior wasn’t the problem at all. All day he had looked so worried, so scared, and he had been so gentle that it had been difficult for Clarice not to let herself live the lie. Only, what kind of a person would she be if she let it carry on? If a petty part of her wanted to do this then turn around and tell him “we’re even” when (and if) he finally woke up, it was a part she refused to listen to. This wasn’t remotely the same thing and it needed to end.
“Uh, yeah I know. That’s not what this is about.” Clarice blinked slowly and pressed her lips together. “What I’m gonna tell you is gonna sound completely insane. It’s going to sound like I need to be committed immediately, but I assure you, they tested my brain function not even twenty-four hours ago and I’m fine. I’m not crazy or senile. Okay? You need to remember that. And you have to trust me.”
She looked him in the eyes, her own wide as hell for how scared she was. “This - this city, our jobs, our names, our families - it’s not real. I mean, no, it is real, but it’s not the truth. I’ve never lived in Colorado, I don’t have any sisters, and we’re not… Our names aren’t Aiden and Cerise. You’re John, I’m Clarice, we’re mutants. And we were in a place called Atlantis, like a pocket universe kind of thing, and something big got screwed that threw us into some idyllic ski-town normal life. But there’s nothing normal about us, or our lives, or Atlantis. Does this ring any bells? Any at all?”
Aiden’s worried frown only deepened as she told him what was on her mind. What she was describing sounded like something out of a sci fi movie or something. Mutants? Living another life? Nothing she was saying made any sense and he started to worry that maybe the doctors had missed something when checking her out.
Shaking his head at her question, he wondered how pissed she’d get if he suggested that maybe he should take her back to the clinic. “I think I’d know if I was a mutant, baby,” he said instead. “You’ve been watching too much SyFy.”
What Clarice got as a response was pretty much what she had been expecting, and whereas normally she would have huffed and puffed and gone ballistic, she only sighed. Leaning her head against the back portion of the couch, she looked up at John. This was the stupidest sort of irony, where she loves to hear him use those pet names on her but also hated it.
“Yeah… At least have the balls to suggest I’m insane, no one who watches too much Syfy comes up with this shit without an underlying condition, okay? And I’m fine, doctors have said so. We’re all fine.” She raised a brow. “...All the several people who fell into comas roughly at the same time. Which… Doesn’t that sound weird to you? Haven’t you noticed a plethora of strange stuff happening lately? Lightning striking several people, people being picked up by the wind - dude, even the weather balloon kid was a hoax this does not happen! But it happens in Atlantis. So can you trust me for a second? You wouldn’t know shit because I didn’t know either.”
No, the group coma hadn’t made sense and neither had some of the other crazy stuff happening lately, but leaping to none of this was real and them being mutants wasn’t a natural conclusion in his mind. How she’d made that leap, he couldn’t even fathom. He did trust her, but what she was saying sounded completely freaking crazy!
“If we’re mutants, how come I don’t have any powers?” he asked her. It seemed like a logical question. He’d never seen any sign that Cerise had any kind of powers, either.
Clarice covered her face with her hands, sighing deeply and heavily. This wasn’t going to go anywhere, she wanted to yell or leave, and that wasn’t going to help matters either.
“Because no one does. That’s the point there’s this… group we’re fighting. COS. They’re probably behind this, they got us trapped somewhere jacked into the Matrix and out here magic doesn’t work, powers don’t work, and God only knows how come only a few of us woke up.” She dropped her arms. “Look. I’m not the only one who’s awake, there’s a bunch of us, other people you know. Or think you know. Anyway, we’re probably meeting tomorrow and when we do, will you come with me? Please?”
Aiden kind of looked at her like he still thought she was crazy, mostly because he kind of did, but she seemed so sure of what he was saying and he wondered what it could really hurt to do what she was asking him to do.
“Okay,” he said after a moment. “Yeah, I’ll go with you.”
Clarice leaned back, tired, and sighed in relief. She no longer cared that this alternative version of John thought she was crazy and that he wasn’t believing one word that came out of her mouth. He’d agreed and that was all she could ask for at the moment. “Oh, thank God. Okay. Thank you. I’d rather not have to do this without you. Whatever this is.”