Dead Guys: Nonsuch World

[transemacabre]

Marvel Comics fanfic, PG.



It was the fifth Sunday in February, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Nate Summers was walking home, school books under one arm, humming to himself. His philosophy class had let out early, so he had a few hours to kill. Sitting down beneath the bowers of a tree in his front yard, newly leafy with the arrival of spring, he selected a book at random from his satchel and thumbed through it.

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

He flipped the book over to look at the cover, but for some reason the words kept melting into one another, making the title and author impossible to decipher. Rubbing his eyes, Nate closed the book and returned it to his satchel. Maybe he needed to lay down for a while. Yeah, a quick nap.

The house was warm and cozy, only a few rooms, more a cottage, really. Nate slammed the door behind him, but it slid shut with nary a whisper. He stared at it a moment before deciding he really needed a nap. "I'm home," he called out, and his roommate Gene shuffled in from the kitchen, two glasses in hand. He was wearing a shirt with a star symbol on it that looked familiar for some reason.

Gene handed him one glass. "You're home early," he said. "Here, try this, I made some green tea. Your mom called."

"Class let out early," Nate explained, trying a sip. Yum, creamy coffee. "My mom? Maddie? I'll call her back soon. Hey, the weirdest thing keeps happenin', I tried to read a book outside but the words didn't make any sense, like in a dream." He sat down on the couch, rubbing his temples. He felt like he was forgetting something but he wasn't sure what.

"You don't say?" Gene only sounded vaguely aware of what he was saying. The phone rang, and Gene snatched it up. "Hello? Oh, hi Jean. Yeah, he's here." He looked up from the receiver and said, "It's your mom again."

Nate finished his last gulp of soda and reached for the phone. "Hey Emma. Sorry, sorry, I know you want me to call you mom. I'm doing well. Getting good grades. It's odd though, just a coupla minutes ago I tried reading a book and I couldn't. Yeah, maybe eye strain. I'm going to go lay down now. Talk to you later." Hanging up the phone, he looked down at his empty glass and the last droplets of green tea. For some reason this seemed significant but he couldn't remember why. Damn, he was more tired than he knew. He pulled out the book from his satchel and tossed it to Gene. "Tell me if that makes any sense to you," he said, standing up shakily and heading for his bedroom.

Gene opened the book and read aloud. "Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past. James Joyce, Ulysses. I studied this last semester. Nate, are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine, I..." Nate trailed off as he reached the top of the stairs and found himself staring at a long hallway, five bedrooms on each side. "Wait a minute," he muttered. "The house is smaller than this. Just a few rooms. A cottage."

"What's going on?" Gene asked, peering up at him from the bottom of the staircase. Nate turned around slowly, stared at Gene's star symbol t-shirt, then pulled off his own shirt. Underneath was a giant black 'X' tattoo. "Nate?" Gene said, arching one eyebrow. "Are you sick or something? Usually you go into your room before you get naked, ya know."

"No, this is all wrong," Nate said, and his eyes grew wide. "My name isn't Nate Summers, it's Nate Grey."

"Huh?" Gene sounded perplexed. "You're not making any sense."

"No, it's you who's not making any sense!" Nate yelled back, and his eye flashed with a strange, internal light. Gene instinctively took a step back. "This is all wrong," he went on. "This house, the book -- Alice in Wonderland into Ulysses? And the phone call from my mother. Maddie, Jean, Emma. Even the drink you fixed me turned from tea to coffee to soda back to tea."

Gene was silent for a moment, his eyes wide and shining. "Don't do this," he said. "You're going to ruin it all! My name is Gene, and you're Nate Summers, and we're just two regular guys. College students. That's it. Don't ruin this."

"I'm not Nate Summers, I'm Nate Grey."

"Don't do this!"

"And you're Genis-Vell."

The walls began melting around him, colors pouring down and oozing beneath his feet like a Dali painting. This house was bleeding reality. "You RUINED it!" Genis was screaming, no longer Gene, but a Kree warrior named Genis-Vell. He was supposed to be dead. They were both supposed to be dead. "It was so perfect, and you ruined it for everyone!"

"What'd you think you were doin', anyway?" Nate said, floating now, his power remembered. "This isn't real, Genis. It never was. You can't just play with the fabric of reality. You do that, you're no better than that demon uncle of yours, or Magneto's crazy daughter, or any other of those punks who thought they were gods. That what you wanna be? A mad god?"

"I WAS A GOD." Genis was glowing now, terror made flesh. "I was the destroyer and the creator. I remade the universe. Lesser gods bowed to me. It was all going to be so perfect before you RUINED it."

"You're not a god," Nate said calmly. "Neither of us ever were."

In a moment, they were standing in a dilapidated warehouse, rats scuttling underfoot. "There, it's back to the way it was," Genis said, turning his back on him, shoulders hunched. "Happy now?"

"No," Nate said. "I dunno if I'll ever be happy. But it sure won't happen in some fantasy world." Genis was sitting atop a pile of cardboard boxes in a corner. He was curled in on himself, every line in his body suffused with loneliness, utterly lost. Nate hesitated, then walked over and sat down beside him. Genis glared at him but made no move to get away. "I'm not mad at you," Nate said finally. "I know you were justing tryin' to find us somewhere to belong."

"It was so perfect, if you hadn't destroyed it."

"Genis, you could barely hold it together as it was. It would never have lasted."

Genis looked up, his eyes rubbed red. "I'm not supposed to be here," he said. "Neither of us are. We're supposed to be dead. Why aren't we dead?"

Nate scratched the top of his head. "Well, here's what I think happened, from the beginning..."