Harker found his clone sleeping peacefully on his own bed.
He was splayed out with arms wide and his feet over each other, his head bowing down. On top of his head was a crown of paper flowers he made using the assorted colored tissues from the bathroom. Resembling a very familiar iconography of a very famous man.
Harker nudged him. "Wake up."
The replica woke up while rubbing his eyes. When he saw his progenitor, he smiled wide. "Oh, good morning Mr. Me. How are you today?"
"What happened with you and Joan last night? What did you tell her?" Harker was gripping his shoulders tightly, his cells reaching out to the cells of this man for them to merge again.
But the smile on Harker 2.0's face never left. He only let himself be consumed again by Harker the original, and said before he was 'disappears':
"I only said what you wanted to say, did what you wanted to do. I am you after all."
Harker had absorbed him, and the crown of paper flowers fell onto the bed. These flowers were yellow roses. Harker remembered vaguely that these flowers meant something in the Victorian era, but he couldn't remember what exactly. He can look into it later as it's clearly a message from his replica.
He scanned the memories of the replica, and their dialogue went like this:
Harker 2.0: ""Joan, I…. How are you?"
Joan: "Still awake, surprisingly. I should have added in the note that you meet me before midnight. I'm a pretty old woman after all."
So far, so good. The replica did act just as Harker would in this situation, even showing awkwardness and apprehension in a joking manner. They talked about the ascension, and it turned out that Joan also felt a few changes in her physique from sharing some of his qi. And as for the matter about Mina and his feelings:
Harker 2.0: "I want to be with you, Joan. Even if it's wrong, even if I'm not allowed to. I want you."
Joan seemed to be hesitant as she replied: "You want me, but you also want your girlfriend too, right? And you can see how much she dislikes me, Harker. Even if I'm fine with this kind of arrangement, I knew damn well that she will never be."
Harker 2.0 answered: "I'll take care of it. But I don't want to lie to myself anymore, Joan."
However, instead of responding, Joan just pushed him away. "You should go. I didn't expect things to turn out this way…. We'll talk more tomorrow. I just wanted to check up on you."
That was all. Harker wasn't expecting the encounter to just end that quickly. His clone just left Joan's room with a remorseful face and went to his to go to sleep.
Harker doesn't know why he felt underwhelmed. It was like something was missing, but then again, it made sense for Joan to respond the way she did from the clone's words.
He was much more expressive than Harker could ever be, able to find the right things to say while he remained tongue-tied. Harker knew the real reason why he was tongue-tied was not because he couldn't think of anything to say, but because there's so many possible responses swimming in his head and he couldn't choose between any of them.
Because he didn't want to trouble people, he had a small and almost unnoticeable problem of not speaking up at times. It was rare and not obvious to most people he encountered in this life, but it's always there.
That doubt on the back of his head. The anxiety.
"Guess I could take a page from your book, twinnie." He mumbled as he left the room.
They were going to London via private jet and make preparations upon landing. They need to be careful since Victoria also had her own people that can match the amount of Roland's, and she was more familiar with the area than all of them, even Joan.
After all, it's been a long time since Joan came back to England. In one of her talks with Harker during their travel, she admitted that she could never return there as she was scared it would stir up more memories of a certain someone.
And so, they resolved to have fewer men in the area, and the four would travel more independently to not gain attention.
They'd infiltrate The Clink Prison Museum as part of the tour group under disguises and aliases. Then, they'd try to locate where exactly their headquarters were. Most of them already guess it must be somewhere underground.
"The Clink Prison had been an interest of mine when I first read it as a kid. It's very rich in history, since it existed since the 12th century, after all." Roland told them.
Mina's eyes widened. "That is a very long time indeed."
"Mina, you're likely just as old or even older than this prison." Roland chuckled. "You said that you were born when the Silk Road was still active after all, and only Chinese people knew how to manufacture silk."
"I used to think that the Silk Road was literally made of silk when I was younger." Alejandro admitted.
Harker found himself zoning out in the conversation at the private jet. He kept on looking back at Joan on the back, who was staying quiet and playing music on her walkman.
Mina followed his gaze, and snorted. "I'm having the strangest deja vu right now."
Roland rolled his eyes. "Oh you'd have to remind me of that. That wasn't one of my best moments."
Harker smiled softly as he remembered how much these two bickered and took jabs at each other when they first met. "It worked out in the end, right? I mean, you two are still going for each other's throats every now and then, but it really felt more like siblings having a fight than real enemies."
"Thanks, we're proud of our status as frenemies." Roland said, putting an arm over Mina's shoulder.
She did the same, grinning. "Still don't like you comparing us to siblings though. We're distant cousins, remember?"
Harke nodded. "Yeah, but you two are actually more alike than you think."
Roland and Mina were both people that have a very gentle demeanor, but were far from meek. They were in fact rather competitive and headstrong. Both were powerful, Roland in his wit and wealth and Mina in her strength and speed. They prefer to be in control and pave their own path than follow anyone.
Meanwhile, Joan…..
Joan was a lot like Harker, he now realized. She does her best, just like he also does, for the sake of the people they care about. But they were not as proactive or confident. They often have their doubts, and their families and background still weighs on them very strongly.
Roland looked at him, then at Joan, and sighed. "You should go talk to her already. A bridge won't build itself for you and her."
Mina frowned, but when Roland gave her a look, she made no obligations. He added: "Mina and I have to talk about something anyway. Run along."
Harker didn't really get a vocal permission, but since she's not stopping him either, he finally went to Joan's side of the plane.
Roland turned to Mina. "He's not acting unusual. That's even more strange."
Mina blinked. "Unusual in what way?"
He turned to her, and asked: "What time did he go into your room? What did you do there? I need all the details, I can't help but have a feeling that something's wrong."
After all, Roland also received a tissue paper flower by his doorstep when he woke up. But it wasn't a yellow rose. It was a very intricately made yellow tansy, which in Victorian times meant…
A declaration of war.
Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com