"Mommy! Big sister! Why waste time going to the church when you can clearly see that this person you've been living with is an imposter?!" the double shouted, pointing accusingly straight at Asher.

The room went still. All eyes turned to Asher.

"Throw him out of this house!" the double barked, his face twisting with rage. "I will not be dragged to church like some prisoner when the truth is right here in front of you!"

Sharon looked down, a pang of nostalgia washing over her. Asher had never liked leaving home. Church, crowds, even school—it had always been a matter of duty, endured for the sake of dreams he barely believed in: becoming a hunter and chasing the girl he'd quietly loved. If someone told her this was her real brother… she wouldn't deny it?

"You're pale," Asher muttered, his tone steady, gaze unwavering. "I doubt there's enough blood pumping in those veins. What are you doing here? Were you sent with some ulterior motive?"

He couldn't let his guard down around this....thing! The fact that it knew the original body's memories was disturbing, but he knew the original had died long ago. Perhaps its soul had reincarnated in another world by now, maybe even back in his own past world. Whatever had possessed the Duke—a demon, a spirit, or some other malevolent force—it clearly had its own designs in bringing this clone here. Maybe it wanted to fracture his bonds with Sharon and Lorraine. He wouldn't allow that. Not under any circumstances.

Sharon glanced at him, a soft sigh escaping her lips. That firm, unyielding tone, the one he had honed after waking from the brink of death was still unmistakably her brother's. Still him. Urgh… her mind was spinning.

"Ulterior motives?" the double growled, frowning. "Why would I have motives against my own family? What I want… is my life back! My friends! Everything you stole from me! I want it all back! And you can crawl back to wherever you came from!"

Onalenna bit the inside of her lip, tasting blood. Her hands trembled in her lap, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. Two sons. Both claiming the same life. Both raising their voices. Tension thickened like a storm about to break.

Before the room could erupt, Derrick clapped his hands sharply. "Alright, fellas! That's enough from both of you!"

Both Ashers froze.

The double scoffed and sat, flipping open his comic with a defiant snap. Asher sank back into the couch, shoulders taut with suppressed emotion. Rose quietly took a seat beside him, silent and watchful.

"From what I understand," Derrick said, voice calm but cutting through the tension, "you're both saying the other is fake. You—" he pointed to the double, "Number One—you're saying Number Two stole your life. So tell me: where were you when he did?"

A fair question. All eyes followed the double. He flinched, fingers tightening around his comic before he finally looked down.

"I… I don't know," he muttered, voice barely audible, tinged with sorrow. "The last thing I remember was… I was sick. Bedridden. Couldn't eat. Couldn't even read my comics anymore. Just… endless footsteps. Mom's footsteps, coming and going, bringing strangers to my room, promising I'd get better…"

Onalenna's vision blurred. Those days… gods above, those days had nearly killed her. The smell of medicine, the desperation of prayers that went unanswered…

"And then," the double continued, "one day everything went black! I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. I couldn't feel my mother. I don't know what happened after that… but the next time I woke, I wasn't the me I used to be. I had changed."

"Changed?" Sharon echoed, frowning. "What do you—"

"You saw me last time, big sister!" the double cut her off. "When Mom went missing! I came worried sick, trying to make you let me into the house. But l was incomplete back then, and you didn't recognize me. You didn't ask for my help. You ran off with him instead!" he pointed at Asher.

Asher's eyes widened. He was incomplete? Last time Onalenna had gone missing… there had been scratching at the door.

"Were you the cat scratching at the door?" he asked sharply.

The double's face twisted. "Don't you dare call me a cat, imposter!"

"Answer the damn question!" Asher roared back, surging forward.

"What right do you think you have to question me?! After stealing my life?! After—" his voice turned into a snarl—"sleeping with my sister?!"

Sharon gasped, stumbling back as if struck. Derrick's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He slowly turned to Asher, his face a mix of shock and what the actual hell.

Asher's stomach dropped into a pit. His mind reeled. The double's fury wasn't just rage—it was grief, betrayal and hate twisted into something raw and terrifying.

You stole my life..

The words pounded in his skull like they were on repeat!

He's right… Asher thought bitterly, swallowing hard. I stole Asher's life. I'm just some middle-aged loser from Earth, dumped into his body. He has every right to hate me.

If he's facing the real Asher as his gut is telling him.

If the real Asher had survived, if his soul had endured somehow in some way and returned to reclaim everything… what right did he have to resist?

He clawed at his hair as the room warped around him, everything and everyone seeming to distort. All he could manage now was to keep muttering under his breath, unsteady like someone who's about to lose their mind.

"I… I didn't… it's not even my fault… I…"

"Huh? Speak up, man," Derrick said cautiously.

"I said...IT'S NOT MY—"

Knock-knock!

Anna's cheerful voice echoed, cutting him off mid-sentence as she stepped inside, a group of girls trailing behind her. They'd pressured Anna into coming, hoping she could persuade Asher to hand over the artificial penises they sold at his shop.

That was until their eyes landed on the two Ashers, horror and disbelief spreading on their expressions.

Anna's smile died. "Ash…" she whispered, her gaze darting between the two before settling on the one slumped on the couch, looking depressed. "Babe… what's going on?"

Asher's heart melted. Even now, she could tell. She recognized him. But… was he even himself anymore?

Meanwhile, the double stared at the girls, eyes wide. Lorraine stood among them, his Lorraine: radiant and beautiful as ever. His face flushed crimson. If he had a human heart, it would have thudded violently. Instead, a cold, unnatural pulse beat in its place.

Lorraine tilted her head. "Is this one of your new spells? Cloning? That's… that's a high-tier spell, Asher Reynolds. You never cease to amaze me—"

"NO!" the double screamed, the sound cracking. "No… I'm not his clone. I'm me! I'm the real one! Please… believe me…"

He sounded almost like he was begging for his life.

"What in the actual hell is happening?" Mirai muttered under her breath.

Natalie glanced at Derrick. "Well?"

Derrick threw up his hands. "Don't look at me! I've got nothing for this circus!"

The double slammed his comic onto the coffee table. "Enough! It's time you gave me back my life, imposter! Even if I have to take it by force!"

"Oi, oi!" Derrick said, stepping forward, hands raised. "Let's not resort to murder, alright?!"

"Then choose!" the double barked, pointing to the floor. "Left if you think I'm the real Asher! Right if you think the imposter is the real one!"

Gasps echoed through the room.

Onalenna collapsed to her knees, her breaths ragged, tears finally spilling.

Choose? Between them? Between her sons? What kind of cruel gods demanded this of a mother?

Tbc

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