A dreamless sleep awaited Natalie once she entered the mirror. And after all she had to endure the previous few days, she wanted nothing else. Short, easy, noninvasive, that was all she needed to be satisfied.

Here she was, finally, in the other timeline. The original timeline.

The real timeline.

Natalie had spent a good amount of time just staring up at the ceiling from her bed when she first woke up. Her bedroom looked exactly as she remembered it from her dreams. Men’s clothes replaced the women’s in her opened closet, and she could see that her bed was smaller, only meant to accommodate a single person. It didn’t feel as comfortable as the bed in her own timeline, especially without someone beside her, but she tried her best to ignore that.

Of course, after a while, it became impossible to look past the elephant in the room.

She was now Nathan, a man. As she was sitting up in her bed, looking down at herself, that fact became extremely apparent.

Natalie wasn’t exactly shocked seeing her body like this, even though she probably should’ve been. She’d seen Nathan’s body before in memories and dreams, as well as in her reflection right before entering the mirror, but she’d never seen it while she was currently in it. So this should’ve been a shock.

And yet it wasn’t. Somehow it was like she already knew what being Nathan felt like, before having to experience it.

She really hated this whole two lives thing. She hoped someone would kill Astian in magic prison.

Speaking of Astian, where was he? He couldn’t possibly still be in this reality.

Natalie went to her phone, quickly typing “Astian Dover” into the search bar and found an almost identical news story to the one she read in the other reality as the top result. Robbery, lost, unable to find, the whole shebang. It was all the same even down to the text.

They must’ve gotten rid of him in this reality too. That, of course, means he wouldn’t be here in this apartment, with his job.

And his salary.

Nathan was unemployed.

A wave of panic shot through Natalie as she felt her heartbeat increase.

How could she forget Nathan didn’t have a job? That was such a huge part of the dreams! And she just forgot? Shit, she was going to have to find a new job. And if she didn’t, she’d be evicted, she’d become homeless, she’d have to sleep on the ground, and then she’d die! This was a horrible idea, what the hell was she thinking!?

Natalie looked at Nathan’s face in the large bedroom mirror and forced herself to take deep breaths and calm down. No, she didn’t regret anything. This was where she was supposed to be. This was her real life, she had to try and rationalize the situation.

They knew about her decision to come back here. Hell, they were the ones who let her do it. Surely they wouldn’t just bring her back here without giving her a way to live comfortably.

She stood from the bed and checked around her bedroom, quickly becoming acquainted with how bland it was. She’d known that from the dreams, sure, but walking around the room in person remained a rude awakening for her. There wasn’t a single poster of something Nathan might have liked, there weren’t any photos of himself or his family on his phone or anywhere else, and his desktop background was literally a black screen. He simply never decorated anything.

To Natalie, that was just bizarre. If this was the kind of person Nathan was, that was a little depressing. In spite of the difference in gender and subsequent life experiences, a part of Natalie thought that she and Nathan were at their core, the same. They were literally the same person after all. She was sure Nathan liked all the same stuff she did. She guessed that was a pretty naive assumption.

Nathan’s clothes shared the same blandness as the room. That part probably wasn’t unique to Nathan though. Most men didn’t really care about fashion, and Nathan seemed squarely in that camp. He didn’t even have that many clothes, not nearly as much as Natalie did anyway. He literally only had like, four shirts, and that was including a sweatshirt. He was a true minimalist if there ever was one.

Then again, since Natalie had no free will of her own and everything about her was created by Astian, she probably couldn’t say much about Nathan not bothering to personalize anything. Her having more clothes than him was probably just Astian thinking “woman equals more clothes”. Really, “Natalie” was hardly even a person.

Natalie harshly pulled the drawer out of its slide and let it drop to the floor, hitting her foot.

“FUCK!” She shouted.

Instantly she heard her deep growl and put her hands to her chest. She groaned then fell back down onto the bed. She didn’t have the energy for this, everything sucked. Why did she choose to come to this reality again?

No, she wasn’t going down that route, especially not on the first day. She had to keep herself together. And remind herself, it didn’t matter what she thought, what mattered was the truth. Nathan was real, she was not. She needed to stop moping around and get back to finding… whatever the hell it was she was supposed to be finding.

Natalie sat up in her bed and tried to think of anywhere in her room she hadn’t looked. She’d torn through all the drawers and there wasn’t anything else in the closet. Did they really not give her anything to help her out? They couldn’t have expected her to find a job on her own so quickly, right? There had to be something here.

At that point Natalie realized she hadn’t thought to open the left door of the closet.

Slowly, she got herself out of bed and went to the closet, opening the left door and coming upon only a small handful of shirts. At least she didn’t have to share this space with anyone else like she had to in the other timeline. This clothes rack was much less cluttered.

Natalie looked down and sure enough, she saw something. A large wooden chest that she knew wasn’t present in her dreams. She breathed a sigh of relief. This had to be it.

She opened the chest and gasped at all the stacks of money inside.

“No way.”

She was about to reach down and grab it but a piece of paper taped inside the chest caught her eye. She tore it off and saw it was a letter addressed to her.

“To Natalie/Nathan Parker,

We have been informed of your decision to go back to Nathan’s timeline. We have granted you that choice and as such we will work to make your transition as comfortable and easy as possible. As you are aware, Nathan did not have a job in this apartment. He was completely dependent on Astian. Since Astian has been removed from your current reality, we have given you enough money to comfortably live by yourself for three months before you can secure a new job. All the money needed for groceries, rent, bills, gas, etc. is included in this chest, in cash form. Please use it responsibly.

We have also included a 4-liter bottle of a potion we think you might find helpful. It is impossible to completely stop your memories from resurfacing, however it is possible to slow it down, and I think you’ll find that helpful in your transition. Drinking this potion will do just that. Make sure you spread out your use of it. It is currently under a magic spell keeping it fresh at room temperature. However, once it is out of the chest the magic will wear off and the bottle will need to be put in a refrigerator.

We will do anything in our power to support you. Until we meet again.

- The Guardians”

Well at least Natalie had a name for them now.

She placed the note back into the chest, leaning down to examine the many stacks of cash awaiting her. She didn’t know if it was just her seeing a ton of physical cash in person, but it looked like they might have overestimated how much money she needed. She wasn’t about to count the amount, but it was a hunch. Not that she was complaining, of course.

She looked to the top left corner of the chest and saw the potion bottle the note was talking about. It was about as heavy as a gallon jug of milk when she took it out, and the liquid inside had the same consistency as milk when it moved. The liquid itself had a deep maroon color, enough to be distinct from both blood and most cherry drinks. Hopefully it’d taste like cherry too.

If this potion was any indication, then these guys were really going out of their way to help her. Maybe she shouldn’t be so rude to them.

Remembering the part about the magic fading away, Natalie went to the refrigerator to store the potion. She wasn’t sure how long the potion would be good for, but he assumed it’d be good for at least a few months. Probably more, considering this was a magic potion. It had to last longer than anything on Earth.

Nathan opened the fridge door and placed the potion inside. As he did so, he was immediately met with an excessive amount of alcoholic beverages, which he really needed right now. He went to pull out a bottle of red wine and…

No.

Nathan dropped the bottle, the glass shattering all over the floor, as he got lightheaded.

No, not… not this again.

He fell to the ground, grasping his head tightly. Against his will, he could recall things he never wanted to know. Breasts, menstruation, becoming penetrated with…

He was horrified by it all, and as much as he didn’t want to think about it, he couldn’t stop himself.

Then suddenly, her entire thought process switched. In an instant, she didn’t understand what the big deal was, or why she was so upset.

Just like that, Nathan was gone.

Natalie’s hands fell to her sides.

She looked at the broken glass on the floor. A fallen teardrop joined the red wine surrounding it.

She should clean it up.

***

Natalie reached up for the remote, grabbing it without having to strain her arm.

Being taller certainly came with its privileges.

Little things like this served as a steadfast reminder to Natalie that she was in a man’s body. And as she sat on the couch with her legs together, she was reminded again of her predicament when her crotch felt just a little uncomfortable.

She now knew why men spread their legs.

She groaned as she looked through the streaming services to find anything to watch, trying her best not to be distracted by her big hands. She wanted a break, she’d spent the last few hours going through the whole apartment to see how much had changed when she went through the mirror.

She shouldn’t have been surprised to see it was so much.

Sara was right, this was right when Nathan’s timeline left off. When that was, she wasn’t quite sure, but she could see from the calendar that she had gone back at least a few weeks.

It was a trippy experience. Natalie had looked through a bunch of photos and documentation which confirmed her suspicions. There was absolutely no trace of her ever existing. In here, Nathan was the one who grew up with her family, graduated high school, got his license, got a job and whatnot. He was the one who was living with Astian. In so many ways, they were the same.

But so very different.

Natalie went through Nathan’s phone, the same one she had, and looked to see who was in his texts. She could see his, or rather their parents there, as well as their sister, but no one else aside from Astian. He didn’t have any friends listed.

Natalie couldn’t help but wonder, what were things like before he moved into this apartment? Was he really just by himself all the time? Not a single person to talk to?

She didn’t want to judge Nathan too harshly, but he was a real mess.

It didn’t help that Nathan wasn’t exactly in the best shape. He couldn’t really be called fat, but he definitely had a bit of a belly, and just by moving around in his body Natalie could tell he wasn’t nearly as fit as she had been.

It wasn’t like Nathan was ugly or anything, no. In fact, really examining his face, Natalie thought he was a completely fine looking man. He could probably look good if he actually took the time to present himself well. As is, he just kind of looked like a slob.

The only thing Nathan had going for him over Natalie was that he was a real person. Which, to be fair, was a huge thing that should basically cancel everything out.

Natalie threw an empty cup at the wall as she selected and opened Netflix.

***

Natalie shivered when she felt the water hit her skin. She tried to not look down at herself, something she failed at very quickly.

At least she couldn't say she wasn't familiar with this body.

Natalie groaned as she slathered herself in soap, racing through her shower as quickly as possible. With her now short hair, that was pretty easy to do. It also took a lot less time for her to clean her chest when it was flat.

Within only a few minutes, she turned off the shower water, put on a clean pair of sleeping clothes much unlike the pajamas she wore in her timeline, and threw herself onto her bed.

And for nearly an hour, she tossed and turned restlessly, unable to sleep a wink.

Natalie laid there eyes wide open, not even close to tired.

What was she waiting for?

She turned her head to the side and stared at the mirror.

Who was she waiting for?

She pulled the covers up close to her.

At some point, long after she had stopped keeping track of the time, she was finally able to get herself to sleep, and when that happened, she saw that same man standing, staring at the window again.

He looked more transparent this time.