In a realm where all static It sat; it had no agenda, it was there to maintain the continuity. It registered something was different. Perhaps it was nothing; whatever it was had been nothing more than a passing sensation.
Then something larger happened; in fact, two things happened. Something from here went there, and something from there came here. It has to find out what had happened. On the way to see what from there had come here It passed what felt like a tear, a breach in its world.
There was a door between here and there that was only partially closed. This needed to be closed fully, but it needed to see what damage had been inflicted on here before it found a way of fully closing the door.
It arrived where the detective and his secretary where and that’s where It found the difference. Instead of the usually blonde woman who sat behind the desk, there was a woman with red hair. It watched her for a moment, and she was doing what the Blonde usually did. It turned round and saw what remained of the blonde woman who normally sat at the desk. It decided to make itself visible and speak to what it saw there.
“She can’t hear you. None of them can.” It said.
What gives?" The Echo of the Blonde woman asked
“You are an Echo. Nothing more.” It started to explain.
“What's the score on that 'echo'?" The Echo asked.
“The rest of you left, and you are all that is left.” It told The Echo
“What?” The Echo asked.
“It has been such a long time since I have had to act, so I will explain as best I can. Somehow, you were left behind when the incident happened.” It said.
“It’s Red’s fault it has to be,” The Echo said
“No, but she is the solution.” It went on.
“She can fix me?” The Echo asked
“In a way, she can. She seems to be as confused about this as you are. I probed her mind just now.” It tried to explain.
“In English, mac,” The Echo said, not quite following what It had said.
“They are as much in the dark about this as you are.” It said, finally tuning in to the required frequency.
“Ah. If that’s true, how can she help?” The Echo asked.
“By taking the place of what you have lost.” It started.
“How does that help me?” The Echo asked.
“With help from me, the two of you can become one, and you will be whole again.” It told The Echo.
“What happens to me?” The Echo asked.
“She needs to fit a hole in the plot. That hole is what you lost.” It tried to explain.
“Yeah, so ya said,” The Echo said, still not understanding.
“So when you join together, you will be exactly what you were before.” It said, trying not to sound exasperated.
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” The Echo said.
“I did.” It said in reply.
“So do it already,” The Echo said.
“It will take time, and I need to find out how this happened.” It said.
“What if I help?” The Echo asked.
“It would allow me time to do my other work.” It said.
“Only one problem, she can’t hear me, can she?” The Echo said
“Oh, I can fix that, but you will need to take it gently. A small push here and there to make her behave the way she must.” It told The Echo, knowing that restraint was not something that The Echo may understand.
“Gently, I can do Gently,” The Echo said.
“You must take it slowly, work up to speaking to her. You don’t her to be fighting you. It is so much harder if they fight you.” It explained.
“I get it softly, softly. How do I get her to hear me?” The Echo asked.
“Oh, that I have already made it so that she can hear you now.” It said.
“How?” The Echo asked
“I have given you a portion of my abilities as the balancer to allow you to do so. Now that you are dealing with this for me, I must go and find the breach before I have more issues to deal with.” It said before vanishing as It went to fully investigate what was happening. How had this come to pass? Once or twice, something from there had made it here, but it had been so long. It went to take a closer look at the door, hoping that things could not worsen before it had a chance to fix them. When It arrived at the door, It made sure that only the beings on the threshold would see anything wrong with any other being; it would look like nothing had changed. It knew this may require more than the others had, as something was keeping the door open ever so slightly. It would need to find a way of removing that impediment before closing the door and returning to help The Echo complete its task. It sat there and pondered its next step. This being, which had told The Echo that it was called The Balancer, it was as good as any other name, sat there carefully studying the door.
