"....Wish they had schools like this back home."

A lone figure headed down an empty hallway, fingers trailing along the wall as she went. She was exploring a new place, a place she had the address of tucked away in her phone for some reason. Or, she thought it was her phone. Even though she and the older woman who sorta looked like her if you squinted just right shared a name, she still wasn't entirely convinced. After waking up in that bar, from what she assumed was a blackout, she had set about figuring out where she was and how she had gotten here. 

She was at a dead end so far with few leads. 

The school, which was basically a mansion from what she could tell, was full of other mutant kids from what she had seen. When she had shown up, she certainly hadn't expected that. 

How had she gotten in the school in the first place, you ask? It was a long story that she didn't feel like getting back into, but part of her sundress was singed a little and she had never before encountered a school with literal pitfalls before... so there was that. 

Her curiosity was peaked, but since she had decided to avoid checking in at the gate, she tried to avoid anyone who looked like they were in charge for the most part. A few kids had run past; she got the feeling classes were currently on-going- and she had maybe slightly gotten lost after walking for a bit. How the hell was she supposed to get back outside? Climb back down out the window? No thank you, not again. She was sure she had flashed her unmentionables at the very least at a few students in passing before she had been able to heft herself through the windowsill. 

"No sense asking you guys." She muttered, speaking to the little trail of spiders who had been following her the whole day. "Can't even follow directions properly. What good are you?"

Stopping by a random door she gripped the handle and flung it open to see if it was a way out. Inside, the startled person she had interrupted in the middle of getting dressed reacted as you would expect and she slammed the door shut again with a quick "Oops! Sorry!" and hurried along on her way down the hall. 

None of the other doors she had tried led anywhere different, either. Just bedrooms and closets! Argh!

The good thing about having your own apartment was that you got to lounge around half-naked whenever you felt like it.
The bad thing about your apartment being adjacent to a school was that people kept opening the door without knocking anyway.

Gawain was just out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist and searching from some clean clothes to wear (laundry day) when the door flung open without warning.

"Hey!"

>> "Oops! Sorry!"

"What happened to knoc..." Gawain started, waving his boxer shorts in one hand in frustration... and then paused.

"... Megan?..."

It had been a kid. It had totally been a kid, and Megan had not been a kid for quite a while now. Was he imagining things? But even if it was a kid that looked eerily familiar by accident, it was still a kid that Gawain did not remember meeting. Opening random doors around the Mansion.

The mirrorwalker hastily put on underpants and pants, and hurried out into the hallway, shrugging into a t-shirt as he went along.

"Um, hello?"

Aw, @#%$ the last one she'd barged in on was coming after her.

Megan might have looked back for a split second before putting a little more pep in her step. She certainly wasn't gonna stop for some kid.

Though, on second glance, it might not have been a kid. This one had a beard. Unless there was a beard manipulating student going to the school she seriously doubted he was a student. Refusing to stop walking, she spotted a different door coming up and prayed to all the gods and devils that it was unlocked. "Sorry again! Wrong door, this ones mine!" She peppered in some of her best fake cheer bull@#&* and waved her hand like she was shooing the guy away.

Someone blessed her, because when she turned the doorknob it was unlocked. She wasted no time in slamming the thing shut again and locking it, before turning to scope out her escape room. It looked unused, or at the very least cleaner than some of the others. There were holes in the walls though like something had been punted into them repeatedly, and smelled ever so slightly like old socks.

Bless her little black heart though, there was a window! She scurried on over to struggle the window open, thinking she'd the seen the last of the dude following her, and that she'd have an easy escape back outside.

Gawain had spent enough time in the school to know when a kid was up to no good. Seeing someone who reminded him of Megan only added to the ambient sense of someone being up to no good, honestly. She glanced back and then sped up, obviously looking for a way out. But why?

>>"Sorry again! Wrong door, this ones mine!"

Narrator: It most definitely was not hers.

The door was shut and bolted in Gawain's face.
Kids these days.

"Seriously?" the mirrorwalked groaned, now totally convinced that something was up. General Mansion population already knew that doors were useless. Backing down the hallway he found one of the mirrors, and a few moments later showed up in the reflecting surface of the window, giving the girl a glare.

Holy sh*t she looked just like Megan.

"This can go two ways, kid." pause "... actually, more than two, but you get the idea. Geez. Are you related to a Megan by any chance?"

There was a muffled 'Yes, seriously!' from within the room.

Megan turned back from the door with a smirk on her face, thinking she had just showed that due what-for, when she came face to face with his reflection staring back at her with a grumpy as sh*t look on his from the window.

"Holysh*t!"

She stared at him mutely for a moment while she considered her options, while he laid into her with a warning. She jumped slightly when he dropped her name, brows furrowing at the 'are you related' bit. She WAS Megan, unless it was a different Megan than she was used to.

Still, even if her curiosity was peaked, she didn't like people telling her what to do.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's most annoying of them all? Here's a hint... It's you!" Leaning forward, she pecked the window with a chase kiss and an exaggerated 'MMMWAHH' before moving to pop it open and make her escape.

>>"Holysh*t!"

Okay, judging from her reaction this kid was not aware of who Gawain was, or what his powers were. And yet... she was, like, eerily familiar.
Also, 100% a brat.

>>"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's most annoying of them all? Here's a hint... It's you!"

"Oh no you don..."

She popped the window open, still panning on getting away. Gawain swore under his breath; it was not his first time dealing with a pissy runaway kind trying to sneak out, but it didn't mean it any less annoying. Shifting into the surface of the vanity mirror on the nearby table, he reached out of the reflection, grabbed the back of her shirt, and then merged both of them back into the mirrorworld.

"Okay, now. Let's talk."

She was giggling under her breath because she thought she had really showed him whatfor, Megan was not at all prepared for someone physically snagging her by her collar and yanking her back in.

"What th-"

Except, instead of being reeled back in and landing in her but in the bedroom, she was... somewhere new?

More than a little startled and maybe just a teensey bit frightened. It also didn't help that the newly discovered connection she had to her spiders was suddenly cut off.

The sudden silence in her head was almost as terrifying as having been caught and... kidnapped? Did this count?

"Where.. what-?" She finally looked toward window face and frowned. "....Well, what do you wanna talk about I guess?"

Megan frowned, trying once more to kick on that thing her eyes did every now and then that let her see what her spiders were seeing.

It didn't work. She still couldn't figure out how to get it to work on command.

"And who's this other Megan you mentioned?" Maybe it was the one she seemed to have the ID of, among other worldly possessions.

Gawain did not usually just yank people into mirrors without consent, not unless they were bad guys. But this non-Megan brat was being a pain in the ass, and she was also trying to climb out a window, so in a way, this was for her own safety. Parental figures had to make questionable decisions sometimes.

>>"What th- Where.. what-?"

"We are in the mirrorworld. I'll take you out once you stop trying to ghost me."

She looked confused now, and holy shit, up close she looked, even behaved even more like Megan. But she didn't recognize him, and the mirrorwalking was new to her. She was too old to be Megan's daughter, surely?...

>>"....Well, what do you wanna talk about I guess? And who's this other Megan you mentioned?"

"Megan Rova. Spider mutant... she used to be my roommate here. Are you related? Is that why you're here at the Mansion?"

Her pretty blue eyes nearly popped out of her damn head.

The teen gaped at the man for a moment after he imparted, well.. pretty much what she has been looking for, directly on her.

"No way. I-.... me?" She turned and walked in a full circle, and then advanced on him.

"That is my name." She started, looking very much like she wanted to poke him in the chest with a perfectly polished finger, and yet hesitant to. "We were-? She looked him up and down and her lip curled in an oh so typical fashion.

"They just throw girls and boys together here? Sounds like hanky-panky to me." She tapped her chin a few times while her gaze bounced around, thinking.

"SO i'm a spider mutant...? Ew. Guess that explains a few things though."

She all but ignored his last question, deeming it not important at the moment. All too soon she was trying to invade the mirror walkers personal space again with an expression that wanted answers.

"What was I like? Older I mean. I looked like a total bitch. Was I?"

Megan rounded on Gawain, looking like she changed her mind about starting a fight.

>>"No way. I-.... me? That is my name."

...
Nothing could ever just be easy, could it.

>>"We were-? They just throw girls and boys together here? Sounds like hanky-panky to me."

"Wha...? No!" Gawain held up his hands "That's not..."

He'd never even hit on Megan, not really. They were friends, kinda, but not in that way. Not that Baby Megan seemed to be interested in letting him finish a sentence.

>>"SO i'm a spider mutant...? Ew. Guess that explains a few things though."

It explained nothing really. So, she was... a younger Megan? How was that even possible? How did she not know what her powers were?...

Oh please dear lord don't let this be another alternate universe thing.

>>"What was I like? Older I mean. I looked like a total bitch. Was I?"

"Okay, alright, time out, lady" Gawain made the time out sign with his hands, trying to keep her out of his face "So you... are Megan? Like, a younger Megan? Before you... before you lived here? How...? What happened? Are you from another universe or something?"

Her lips snapped shut at the time out signal and she immediately feel quiet, watching him and waiting. He belted out a few questions back at her and a pinched uncomfortable expression settled on her face.

"I...er... don't know?" She reached into one of the pockets of her pretty yellow sundress and pulled out the old black leather wallet she had found on her person a while back. Flipping it open she wriggled out the old drivers license, which she was pretty sure was fake, and flipped it around to show him. "I have this, which I woke up with. The address leads to some old beaten down apartment with a giant dead bug inside. It was real gross." Thinking about it made her skin crawl.

"The last thing that I remember before I woke up here in this city was going out with some friends to a dance, and being on the drive home. Everything else is... fuzzy?" She straight up laughed at the idea of an alternate dimension. Things like that weren't real, after all.

"The ID does kinda look like me a little, but the face is off slightly. Like, if it is me I had some serious work done at some point.. and why would I do that? I'm @#$%ing gorgeous already." Snootily, she flipped her perfectly straight, dark hair back over one shoulder.

"I came here because I found the address in the phone that was on me and none of the numbers seemed to go anywhere, and I really need to figure out why I seem to have been blasted into the future."

...Okay, so saying all that out loud possibly made it a little easier to believe in alternate universes.

She scratched at the side of the bridge of her nose, where her skin was still a little red from her previous bar fight a few days earlier.

"... Sorry for running from you, but I kinda snuck in to snoop around and I really didn't want to get caught trespassing and have to deal with cops."

>>"I...er... don't know? I have this, which I woke up with. The address leads to some old beaten down apartment with a giant dead bug inside. It was real gross."

The licence checked out. The apartment with the dead bug... sounded like Megan? If the bug was dead, she might not have been home for a whole. Or it was a power thing. Gawain had never been up to speed on the details. But if Megan woke up with Old Megan's wallet, then... she was probably the same Megan?

God help me.

>>"The last thing that I remember before I woke up here in this city was going out with some friends to a dance, and being on the drive home. Everything else is... fuzzy? The ID does kinda look like me a little, but the face is off slightly. Like, if it is me I had some serious work done at some point.. and why would I do that? I'm @#$%ing gorgeous already."

"Yeah that... I can't argue with that." Gawain knew about the work done, but only vaguely. That had been around the time he lost touch with Megan for a few years. It was weird, seeing her younger and sassier version in front of him, wondering what exactly happened.

>>"I came here because I found the address in the phone that was on me and none of the numbers seemed to go anywhere, and I really need to figure out why I seem to have been blasted into the future... Sorry for running from you, but I kinda snuck in to snoop around and I really didn't want to get caught trespassing and have to deal with cops."

Gawain sighed, taking Young Megan by the arm and stepping out of the mirror with her. They did not need the mirrorworld to make this conversation any weirder.

"The cops don't come here. This is X-men territory." he smirked, plopping down onto one of the beds in the room "And you... Megan used to be a resident here. It's a school for mutants. My name is Gawain, by the way. We... used to be about the same age? But then she moved out and we lost touch for a while. I remember her when she... was like you. Sooo..." he sighed, running a hand through his hair "... you think this is a time travel thing?"

Moving through mirrors was... weird. She wasn't entirely sure she liked it, but maybe that was just the situation talking.

It seemed that this Gawain guy knew her, the older her, quite a bit. Once they were outside the glass again and she had adjusted to the startling sensation of things chatting away in her head, she plopped herself down on one of the beds as well.

"I dunno, but it's a real @#$% show, that's for sure."

She crossed her arms and a leg as she thought it over, trying to get the puzzle pieces to fit. So far hammering them together wasn't working.

"So, when I woke up I was in this nasty bar, and there was like a huge fight going on. Some other girl was there too and we beat a retreat together. She was just as confused as me about where she was and how she had gotten there."

She'd had been pissed that was for sure. "If there were two of us out there with similar situations, do you think it could still be traveling through time? Or... were we dragged here for some reason? Where did older me go?"

She thought about it for a second more."I did wake up in clothes that were definitely not mine, and too big for me..."

>>"I dunno, but it's a real @#$% show, that's for sure."

"Oh yeah. For sure."

If it was some kind of a time travel thing, the best Mirror could hope for that Megan was the only one. They had already had a rip in space between dimensions, he was not sure he could handle a rip in time next.

>>"So, when I woke up I was in this nasty bar, and there was like a huge fight going on. Some other girl was there too and we beat a retreat together. She was just as confused as me about where she was and how she had gotten there."

"Another girl?... Did you catch her name?"

Hopefully it was no one Gawain knew. Or maybe it was. Either way, if they had also been shrunk, they probably needed help just like Megan did.

>>"If there were two of us out there with similar situations, do you think it could still be traveling through time? Or... were we dragged here for some reason? Where did older me go?... I did wake up in clothes that were definitely not mine, and too big for me..."

"It sounds like you replaced older you" Gawain mused, shaking his head "But I'm not an expert on this. Hell, a year ago there was a portal to another dimension, right in the middle of the city. I met another version of myself. Honestly, when you live in this place, you just kinda roll with the punches and hope for the best... But if there's more than one of you, then it might be... dunno, some thing that effects people. Maybe another mutant."

"Lenna." She wasn't worried about outing the other girl right at the moment, on the off chance that it could help the situation.

The idea that another mutant had done it sounded plausible. She had considered it herself after talking with Lenna. It didn't make it any easier to accept, though.

Megan flopped back on the bed she had sat on with a groan, throwing an arm over her eyes dramatically. "But i'm not from here. I'm from backwater Oregon. I had a life and friends and a fiance..." Sure, she had been having second thoughts about the wedding, but there had still been plenty of time to think it over! "... and I wasn't a mutant, either. This is all so... new, and strange. I just wanna go home."

But she couldn't, because home was in the past and might not even exist anymore.

"I don't even know where the older version of me lived because she didn't seem to want to update her ID card for some reason, and her stupid phone--" Cutting herself off, she jolted back up on the bed with wide eyes.

"If you were friends with her... maybe you could make some sense of her phone? There were names and numbers in there but most of them were disconnected. A few addresses that didn't lead anywhere livable..."

She fished the blacked cased phone out of her pocket and unlocked it with her thumb, scrolling back through the contacts quickly. "Now that I think about it, I think there was a name in here that sounded like yours."

Ah, there it was. She shuffled off her bed to bring the phone to him. The contact page that greeted him stated 'Magawainya' With a picture of a girl scout as an icon.