Trapped In Hisstory

When he was finally feeling a bit determined to do everything to go back to his present time, Caliber suddenly entered his mind. 'Why did you have to come to my mind now, Caliber?' Chance thought.

Because of the Canopus Prince going inside his thoughts, his mind went back to the words he had thought. 'Finish everything, huh? Go back to my time...' even though returning to his time is the right thing to do, a part of him is fighting that thought. A part of him...does not want to leave.

He let out a snort at the sudden thought, 'What the hell are you thinking, Chance. You cannot do that!' he said to himself, scolding him not to ever thinking of trying to not return to Canares.

That is something he can never do, for it is one of the rules of Fate.

The fourth rule: Must not get attached to this period, for it will only be trouble if he suddenly decides to stay.

His head started hurting from all the thoughts he was having. The stress is taking a toll on him. He should not be distracted and go far away from his plans. From his goals.

'Goals...what is it that I want?' he thought.

'That is right, what is it that you want?'

All of the sudden, an image of himself appeared right in front of him. The man with chestnut hair and shining emerald eyes stared deep into his eyes. 'Chance...' he muttered as if it was not his own name.

The Crown Prince did not take his eyes off the image of himself. His self, that was not a Crown Prince, but a historical researcher. A historian who always lacked sleep because of working hard in his research assignments.

He almost did not believe that it was himself. After weeks of being Charles Howard, after weeks of seeing himself in the mirror with white hair and sapphire eyes, he had almost forgotten how he used to look like.

All of a sudden, it was only the two of them. Princess Carmilla, William, nor Alec were not there. Not even the surroundings of the chamber of her sister, the princess.

The surroundings were pure white, and it was as if the two of them were the only ones who existed. The image of himself was standing right in front of him. It was as if he was looking at the mirror like he was looking at himself. But he no longer took that form. He was inside Charles's body.

"You are Chance Howard..." he muttered under his breath as he continued staring at the face of the person he once was.

The other Chance chuckled after hearing his whisper. He smiled, "You are Chance Howard as well, Your Highness." he responded.

"Yes, I am but...no longer that kind of Chance." he said to him in return with a bitter smile.

"You may be in the body of Charles Howard, but that does not mean you are Charles Howard," he said and started walking towards him, "You may not be in the body of Chance Howard, but that does not mean you are no longer Chance Howard." he continued and stopped right in front of him.

"We look different, but we are the same person. You are me, and I am you." he said and looked at his face, "That is the case, and yet here I still wonder, who this person is right in front of me?" the corners of his lips lifted as he looked at the Crown Prince with a smile.

"I...I am..." Chance trailed off, not knowing why he could not respond to such a simple question.

"You cannot answer who you are, yet you could say who I am."??

Chance did not say anything. He stared at his own image; he was still smiling. Has ever smiled like that? Smiled with no worry? "You look like my real self, but I am starting to doubt if I am really you."

The other Chance laughed at his words. "We are inside your mind, Chance. You are talking to yourself yet you say I am not you." he answered.

"I am not that cheerful as you are."

"But I am you."

"But not like that."

"Everything that I am is you. If you think I act differently, have you ever asked yourself if you changed?"

Chance went silent again. 'Did I change?' he thought.

The other Chance put the two of his hands on his shoulder. "Do you not remember yourself anymore?" he asked. He removed one of his hands and covered Chance's eyes.

After a second of darkness, the other Chance removed his hand, and Chance was surprised to see where they were. They were back in the 21st century; he recognized the messy desk that his eyes spotted, and figured that the two of them were in his condominium unit.

"We are back in my time?"

The other Chance giggled, "We are still inside your mind."

He looked around; it has already been weeks since he last saw his place; he was finally back but there is...no feeling of home.

He wanted to get out of there right now, although he said he wanted to return to his time. Being there from his imagination makes him feel weak. Staying inside the room made him feel that he was going to be stuck inside and would never see Caliber again.

"Caliber, Caliber is in your mind again." the other Chance said and gave him a teasing smile.

Chance looked away, not wanting to talk about the Canopus Prince with his past self. "Why is it that you are smiling so much?" he asked.

The other Chance went behind him and whispered, "You were like this before, you know. After all, I am you." he answered.

He held Chance by his arms and turned him around. The other Chance went in front of him and showed him to the mirror that was near his bed. Chance saw the smiling image of himself in the mirror, but when his other self stepped out and went behind him, Chance saw his own reflection in the mirror.

His past self, his chestnut hair, and emerald eyes, just like the other Chance that was with him. He looked at himself and saw how grim he looked. A gloomy aura was emitting out of his body as he looked at himself.

All he could see in the mirror was his exhausted self, lacking sleep, stressed. His eyes were cloudy, there was not a single glint in his eyes, but just an unpolished emerald stone.

"When did it start? When was it that you suddenly became like this?" the other Chance asked.

A hand was placed on his shoulder. He thought it was his other self again but he was surprised to see in the mirror that Ruther was behind him. He went near his ear and whispered, "Where are the stars in your eyes?"

He was startled and abruptly turned around to look at his friend. But Ruther was not there. There was no one behind him.

He returned his eyes to the mirror and saw that the other Chance was the one behind him. "You have always enjoyed being a researcher. You have always loved knowing what happened in the past, no matter how hard it was." he said, "But why did this particular topic stressed you up to this point, Chance?"??

"I don't know, Chance." He responded to himself. "I do not know..."

"I wish this could end."

"Meow."

He raised his gaze and in the mirror; he saw the black cat with purple eyes, Wish, sitting on the top of his bed. "That wish is surely granted, it will end even without you wishing for it to end."??

He turned around and looked at the cat. "Wish!" he said in surprise. "It will end...but when?"

"After everything is done." Another voice joined, and Fate was standing beside him in the form of a glowing human. "As you made a deal with me, you will see it to the end."??

"When the last page is finished, only then can you return."

The other Chance walked and stopped in between Wish and Fate. He looked at Chance. "Goal, what is it that you wanted when you came here? What is our goal?" the other one asked him, referring to the question he asked to himself.

He turned to the mirror again. Fate, Wish, his other image, his online friends, the people he knows from Antares and Canopus...and Caliber are behind him. Staring at his reflection.

He closed his eyes and opened it again and saw that his reflection was Charles Howard.

"My goal is to find out...about the story of King Charles."??

Everything that happened slowly rewound. They were back in the white background and his real body, Chance, slowly walked away backward with a smile. A few seconds more and he was back in the chamber of the Princess of Antares.

He has gone too deep inside his thoughts.