Part 11: Reunion

Instantly she was flooded with joy. For the first time in a long time, her troubles were forgotten. They ran and threw their arms around each other in a sweet embrace.

“Is it you?’ she pleaded. “Is it really you?”

“Yes, yes it’s me!” Doug replied. They both laughed and held on to one another, elated at this reunion that stirred too many emotions for them to communicate.

Suddenly she jumped back in dismay. Doug was bigger than she remembered. He looked older. “No- no, it’s a dream! A horrible spell by D’Spayre! Doug’s dead! I don’t believe this, it’s not true!” she protested.

“I know what you’re thinking Rahne. I can explain. You’re safe from D’Spayre here. That stepping disc is protected. I know I look different to you, but it is me. Can’t you tell? I know you think I’m dead…I guess in a way I might be. Let me tell you all about it. But first, are you hungry?”

She was thrilled to hear someone express concern for her well being, and the fact that it was Doug who showed this kindness made the reunion even more special to her. She saw that he was crying as hard as she was.

Doug led her to another room where she had much needed food and drink. Doug’s quaint little place was tinged with the corrupt nature of Limbo, just like everywhere else, but it was a refreshing change of scenery, and although Rahne was tentative and confused, she felt herself relaxing a bit as Doug began telling her his story.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this! I missed you so bad…and I can tell you’re kinda freaked out by me right now. In your timeline, I died on the Ani-Mator’s island, right?”

She nodded quietly, wanting only to hear his voice. It was somewhat deeper than when she heard it last, but it was unmistakably his.

“Well,” he continued, “in my timeline things happened differently. I was watching the fight from behind the rocks. You were fighting the Smilefaces. Illyana was pushing them into stepping discs. While everyone was looking away, I saw you come up through one of the discs before it closed! As soon as I saw you, I knew that you had come from Limbo, in my future. You crept over to where I was and told me of my imminent doom. I was really creeped out with the two of you there—one of you in battle and the other telling me you were trapped in Limbo, but trying to rescue me.”

She understood. When she had poked her head up through the midair stepping disc to see her past, it created an alternate of her, and an alternate timeline wherein she rescued Doug.

“You knew you couldn’t stay, or there’d be two of you running around. Besides, you wanted to get back to your normal timeline. You looked so afraid- just like you did a while ago. I couldn’t bear to let you return to Limbo alone, especially since you took such a risk to save my life. So I came back with you, and I’ve been here ever since. It all happened about three years ago for me.”

“Why didn’t we just get Illyana to take me back to my normal timeline? Couldn’t she do that?”

“She tried and tried, but couldn’t get the time right. She started to lose control of Limbo around that time, remember? The best she could do is send us to the place and time where you came for me. So we had to take it from there and start looking for the way back. I would have died anyway, so I stayed with you. It was a tough decision to leave behind everyone and everything else, but…well, you came back for me, so I had to do the same for you.”

His face betrayed the look of true love, and Rahne was captivated by his eyes. She was more content sitting there across from him than she had been in months.

“Rahne,” he said, “do you remember how it was? Before we went to the Ani-Mator’s island? We were…well…we had something…special. I didn’t think of you as just a friend anymore.”

“Aye…nor I of you, Doug…” She was smitten. She could scarcely take her eyes off him to turn away and blush. Father, if I’m dreaming, let me never wake!

They smiled together. Rahne’s heart was pounding. She felt like she might pass out. Doug broke the silence by continuing his story.

“Anyway, we only told Illyana and ‘the other you’, so it wouldn’t be too hard on you when I left. You know what I mean.”

Rahne wasn’t sure if she did or not. She wanted with all her heart to believe that she could see Doug, and talk to him, and be with him now. But this was all so surreal. Then it hit her.

“Wait—Doug…if you and I came back to Limbo together, and this was three years ago for you…then where am I? I mean, ‘the other me’?”

He looked worried when she asked him. He had the expression of one who fears to speak the truth.

“I know this is all hard for you, Rahney. But try to take this easy. We both almost went nuts trying to figure things like this out.

“We searched for over a year for a stepping disc that would take us back to your timeline. When your inoculation wore off, you were stuck in transitional form, and went a little nuts…I was scared of you sometimes, but what could I do? Sometimes you would chase after demons, just because you wanted to fight. Also, you kept talking about Alex Summers for some reason—like you were really infatuated with him. We never figured it out, even after you got better. Got any idea what that’s about?”

Of course, she didn’t. She would not find out for months that the Genoshans had psychically bonded her to Alex. I have found myself thinking about him from time to time since I left Genosha, but I’m sure that’s just because I have unfinished business there. That’s my Dougie—still jealous, as always!

"We went all over Limbo, trying every possible disc, but we never found the right one. We found some that led to the right place, but never one to the right time. Also, we kept our eyes open for Wolverine, but never found him. We were on the run almost constantly. Limbo was never safe for anyone, and we would occasionally run into alternates of ourselves. That can be a dangerous and scary experience, and it is always confusing and unpleasant.”

Rahne was confused, but she did not find this meeting to be unpleasant in the least. He looked and sounded older than the Doug she remembered, but it was definitely him. His gentle manner and kind voice washed away her recent troubles in a flood of joy. This reunion was to her a dream come true.

I love him. Lord, I do. I love him, love him, love him!

“We nearly starved,” he continued, “and were almost killed by Limbo demons several times. I don’t know why D’Spayre never caught us. Anyway, we finally gave up. We had pretty much become citizens of Limbo, and decided to make the best of it. The day we decided to quit looking, we encountered Margali Szardos. She’s Nightcrawler’s mother, and in her timeline, she rules Limbo- just like Illyana did. She healed you of what the Genoshans did, and you could return to human form.”

“So she sent ‘the other me’ back to earth?”

“No, Rahne…we didn’t want to go back anymore. We’d been through so much together, you know. The world as we remembered it was often as cruel and hateful as Limbo can be, anyway. Plus we knew that if we went home, we’d be separated forever.

“Margali married us, Rahne. You were my wife, and we stayed here in this secret place. We were very happy, for a year and a half.”

Rahne’s jaw dropped. She did not see this coming. She was intoxicated with seeing Doug again, but she could scarcely take in all the twisting events that had reunited the two of them. Not to mention she was now faced with the thought of marriage, which had always been something Rahne only thought of as an event for her distant future, if at all.

Even in Limbo, there are awkward pauses between sweethearts. She felt herself turn red at the thought that Doug had…well, you know.

“Married? You an’ me—um, her?”

“Yes. Margali was against it at first. She wanted to send us back to our respective timelines, if she could. The nature of Limbo is confusing enough without two more permanent residents. But she understood what we needed. She, and Limbo, could give us something we would otherwise never have. So she let us stay on one condition: that we never, ever enter another stepping disc- for any reason.”

They sat quietly, afraid to speak more of it. They gradually, meekly looked into each other’s eyes and remained there, locked in the moment. Slowly, but together, they reached out and held hands, never breaking the sweet view they shared. They adored each other, and without saying a word, they both knew the feeling was mutual.

“Ye still haven’t told me what happened. Am I going to see myself walk in the room here?”

“No. Rahne…you…she…my wife died. My Rahne is dead.”

The thought of dying in Limbo lessened the enchantment of any other prospects she had been thinking about. Rahne was covered in goosebumps.

“How? A demon? Starvation?”

“No. It was another Limbo alternate…it was you. I don’t know the history of that one, but the demons say that she went crazy from being trapped here, and ate demons to survive. Limbo corrupted her completely. I’m sorry Rahne, I know this hurts…she is evil, powerful, and totally insane. She is feared throughout Limbo. The demons call her the Nightfeeder.”

“So that’s what was chasing me,” she said, too disturbed by the memory to think of the implications of what Doug had just said. “I barely escaped! She is so…big!”

“You were lucky to survive,” he said, and touched her face with his hand. This sent chills up and down her spine. She had never been touched like that…and she liked it very much.

“She can’t come through this stepping disc,” he said. “Margali placed it here as a safeguard. Only you and I can pass through it, and it’s the only one we’re allowed to use. The Nightfeeder is an alternate of you, but she is so demonic that she can’t pass through it. Plus it’s a hidden disc. We were out gathering food one day—yes, there are safe places here to get it—and the Nightfeeder sprang upon us. I managed to escape, but it was too late for you—I mean her.”

“This is so confusing,” groaned Rahne.

“Yes, it is. Well, that’s how it all happened for me. I’ve stayed here ever since, hoping and praying that you would come back somehow.”

Again, there was an awkward silence. She had been in Limbo for only one day, but he had been there for three years. None of those three years were any of her memories. She could see in his face that he had grieved sorely, and was speaking of all this with much difficulty.

“Rahne, I know this is a lot of pressure on you, but I can’t help it,” he said, choking back tears. “I love you. I love you so much. You were always the sweetest, most adorable girl to me. I have missed you so badly…the hope of getting you back was the only thing that kept me from losing my mind sometimes. I have never regretted coming back to Limbo with you, even for an instant. I would do it all over again. Will you stay with me?”

Rahne Sinclair was bombarded with feelings of every kind. She missed home, missed her mother, and she wanted to wake up and find that the past few weeks had only been a crazy dream. At the same time, she was consumed with gladness over seeing him again, and drunk on the feeling of being loved and accepted by someone. She loved him, and she believed he loved her. She had found more happiness in this small corner of Limbo than she had ever found on earth.

“Yes,” she said.