Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same

They had gotten a letter in the mail about a month or so ago, stating in grave, authoritative tones that informed them that this was every bit as serious as anything else that had to do with the International Otherworld Combat and Research Organization (IOCRO). In fact, noticing that it was written by them in particular was what alerted them that this might be a bit more serious than what they would have hoped.

To George and Samantha “Sam” Wiedemann, the remaining survivors of the Wiedemann family, knowing that their long-lost brother might still be alive was a promise they had to trust.

When the portals first appeared, many innocent lives were lost. Simply seeing that swirling pool of energy was enough to draw people into it. People wandered inside, and in most cases, they were lost forever, replaced by dangerous monsters and inhuman creatures the world had never seen. Angelita and Paul Wiedemann had both been victims of such an occurrence. They went into a portal, and out came three car-sized blue alligators.

A terrible trade-off, really. And during all these years, the two siblings, George and Sam, were left alone. Their extended family helped with a lot of basic needs such as the body-less funeral and learning about how to make it work.

But after a few years, they were expected to make do with as little help as possible. They had a pair of grandparents, and uncle and an aunt, but none of these could spend their entire days, their entire lives, caring for two kids. So, they made do. George resorted to working as much as he possibly could alongside finishing his college degree while Sam focused entirely on school. The stress wasn’t exempted from her either, though.

She turned to less mature means of dealing with the event. Namely hallucinogens. LSD, shrooms, and, in the end… The greatest hallucinogen known in both worlds.

Messiah’s Egg.

Back when she took it, people didn’t know it awakened people into becoming Fighters. All they knew was that it left the taker with three days of glorious hallucinations varying in strength and subject. That is, unless you didn’t have any hallucinations at all. That is, unless a little black fungus sprouted on your palm a week after you ate it.

Which she did. And all of a sudden she had another way of earning money for her and her brother.

All of a sudden, her future was no longer in management and leadership, but in being a Fighter. It was a hard shift, she had to give up the drugs and the friendships she had formed because of them, all in order to educate herself into a police officer with main focus in In-Portal Monster Subjugation. She had been 14 when the portals came, and now she was 24, a fresh recruit in the local station. As of yet, she was only allowed to enter the weakest of portals, but she was happy with that.

In such a way, when she first found the letter in the medium-sized apartment she still shared with her big brother (now 32, then 22), she didn’t think anything of it. Or, rather, she imagined it might have been a promotion.

Sure, she knew getting promotions in the mail wasn’t exactly the usual way of getting them, but she’d only gotten one so far and George wasn’t home yet. So, when she pulled her blue eyes from the IOCRO logo and let them wander off to the bright-red ‘URGENT’ notice, she knew something was off. As the unclever hot-head she was, her first instinct was not to call her more intelligently minded brother, but to tear the letter open, her chest beating quicker and quicker with every word she read of the letter.

To the Wiedemann Household,

Kreig Wiedemann has been located. He is alive and currently being kept in custody. The matter of his identity is not in question. Furthermore, he wishes to meet you. Please give this letter to Sergeant Jones Krupke to confirm that you wish to meet him.

If you should choose to meet him, there are precautions you must follow in order to avoid an incident. These are as follow:

Do not doubt his identity. Although his identity has been confirmed through all manners known, you may feel uncomfortable believing that he is the same person who went missing ten years ago. If you were to verbally doubt this and question it to his face, an incident may occur and we therefore ask that you refrain from doing so.

Always remain at a distance of five feet from the glass window.

Do not agitate Kreig Wiedemann. Be it through verbal provocation or physical aggression, should any of the members of the Wiedemann household present any threat to the mental well-being of Kreig Wiedemann, the entire household (barr Kreig Wiedemann) will be removed from the site without question. Were this to happen, please abstain from asking for help from Kreig Wiedemann, as this may cause an incident.

Avoid causing Kreig Wiedemann immense grief. As his mental state remains under question, any cause of grave emotional distress will be removed from the provinces.

Finally, every detail of this occurrence is extremely secretive, and should any member of the Wiedemann household decide to disclose the information they will be privy to, they will be arrested for Treason. The information includes the location and existence of Kreig Wiedemann.

Further details can be discussed during the visit.

If you wish not to meet Kreig Wiedemann, burn this letter and dispose of it in a suitable manner so as to avoid its existence.

Warm regards,

//The International Otherworld Combat and Research Organization (IOCRO)

-Suffice it to say, although Sam did possess the rationale to wait until her brother George came home before doing anything rash(er), she did so extremely reluctantly, spending the entire hour before his arrival by pacing the apartment, reading the letter over and over again and closely studying every detail of it to make sure that everything was correct. Truly, it was real.

Not fake.

Her brother was alive. Not George, not some unborn unknown twin, Kreig. Kreig was alive and well and-, and something here was really, really strange. If they had found Kreig as they said they had, shouldn’t he be down at the station right now? Even more alarming, why was IOCRO involved?...

Until George was home, she wasn’t able to voice these worries. Once he opened the door, her worries simply poured out.

“Dudeeeee I got this letter and it was about Kreig but it was also from the otherworld organization and I just-, you won’t believe it, really, it’s written like some sort of super important letter, I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so formal? Except for that formal essay Mrs Clarke showed the class after she was done pointing out how everything I wrote was just horrible, but this is something completely different, this is just-,”

George placed his hands on her shoulders firmly, his dark eyes nailing her in place. “What in the world are you on about?” George was a very serious man by occupation, education and fixation.

Their eyes were locked for a moment, and in a moment of seldom-seen calculation, Sam chose not to speak on and on about what she’d seen and read, but instead to point at the letter, still sitting on the table, propped up by a basket of half-brown bananas they never ate. George understood not only the motion but also that if she was shutting up for once, it must be truly shocking.

He paced over to the table, grabbed the letter, and read it from start to end. Examined the sigils as Sam had done before, and placed the letter back on the table. “-Tomorrow, you will give this letter to the man indicated in the letter. You know who it is, don’t you?”

“I mean-, yeah, I do, but shouldn’t we discuss this? This feels really odd, why would Kreig be involved with all those people? Can’t we just meet him? We should-,”

“Sam. Do you really think we can deny this?” George asked, turning to face her fully. She seemed uncertain. He was not.

“...Yeah. Okay. I’ll give him the letter in the morning,” she said, for once allowing his authority as eldest to dictate their decisions. With a face full of conflict and uncertainty, she closed the distance to the table and retrieved the letter, placing it back in the envelope. “I guess, if there’s anything to say… I’m happy Kreig is alive. I think. Say, any chance mum and da-,”

“No, we shouldn’t hope like that. And even with Kreig… The wording of that letter isn’t giving me any hope, Sam. Something’s wrong,” George said, once more interrupting her as he only did while stressed.

Sam pouted. “Hmpf. You’re always the negative one. Can’t you cheer up even a little, you soggy fuck?”

George gave a soft, hesitant laugh. “Heh, no, that’s… weren’t you the one considering not to return it at all?”

“Sheesh! I was just playing Devil’s advantage!”

“Advocate.”

“Huh?”

“It’s Devil’s-, you know what? Forget it. Let’s get dinner started.”