THE MOMENT
"Gentlemen, good luck. Not that you'll need it," the Guard Captain finished the briefing and the team cheered. They stood and filed out of the room and toward the Temporal Departure Hall with a ruckus. Major Vodalev moved a little slower than everyone else. This was a first-of-its-kind mission and it was a lot to take in. He knew what he was getting into and he was confident in his training and his country; but, the reality of it seemed overwhelming for a moment. He was the last one out of the room, even after the Guard Captain; and, as he passed the threshold, he blinked. The world changed.
"Hello, Andrei," it was too much to take in at once. He didn't know what happened, and he wasn't sure if it did. The soldier closed his eyes for an extended moment and opened them again to be sure. She was still there. She was the only one there; the rest of the team was no longer ahead of him, even the narrow white hall he expected was gone. He was outdoors now with a dark purple sky behind the woman. On any other day, if she was anyone else, he would have been more interested in the sky and his new surroundings. The woman had dark blue hair pulled up into a tight bun on her head and she was the spitting image of Andrei.
"...Anya...?" he whispered her name afraid to scare her off. His twin sister died years ago; but, there she stood, looking older as if she'd aged right along with him. The only difference from the last time he saw her was the hair color; but, she always liked blue. If anything, it only made him more ready to believe she'd returned from the dead.
"No, I'm sorry, I'm not your sister," the woman shook her head. "My name is Agatha Waters, I am a version of you from an alternate universe."
"That's... impossible...," Andrei answered as he finally took her eyes off of her to assess his new location. Even as he protested it, the fact was he was no longer at the ChronoCommissariat. The pair of strangers stood alone in a vast field of golden-amber wheat. And, even before the change, he was intending to alter time; he wasn't sure anything was impossible anymore.
"It's quite simple to prove. You'll see it for yourself as a matter of course if you help me," she said.
"Help you? Where have you brought me?" he asked.
"Nowhere," Agatha smiled. "You didn't go anywhere, in fact, I was sure to keep you here while things changed around you. I'm asking you to join me, and other versions of...," she gestured at Andrei and herself. "...Us. I'm working on something of a Unique project," she grinned.
"What if I refuse?" Andrei asked. He took a step back to show he was willing to walk away. Agatha shrugged.
"Then you refuse. The thing won't work if I force you, so I can't. And it's not like there's a shortage of alternate versions. There are infinite Earths in the multiverse," she said. "Buuuuuut, you won't go unrewarded. I'm not your sister, but I can help you meet her. And, if you don't come with me, you'll probably be in for some culture shock if you stick around here. I pulled you out of the time stream, so you didn't get adjusted like everyone else," she spread her arms to indicate the field around them.
"You did this...?" he asked.
"Yes, although I'm not alone," she nodded. "My team represents America. Not the United States from this Earth; however, freedom has the same colors on every Earth."
"How...?" Andrei asked. He hadn't decided what he was asking until the words came out. "Did you know about our mission?"
"It's a funny coincidence," Agatha smiled. "Your mission worked out perfectly; your team accomplished what they set out to do before I came to this Earth. I was looking for you," she pointed at him for effect. "And after some digging around I found out what you guys did. So, I called my team in and we undid it; time travel is fun that way," she said. "We also gave freedom to the whole world at the point you tried to interfere. Since 1774, this entire Earth has been part of the United Earths of America. In 2156, there's no one to even consider changing it back. They wouldn't want to, now that multiverse travel is ubiquitous."
Andrei took another look around the field, mostly to take his eyes off of her. He couldn't think clearly when all he could see was his sister. He had a lot of questions; but, he realized that he didn't need all of them answered. The past he'd known was gone; but, he was ready for that even before the mission. They were changing the timeline and he was prepared for things to be different. It wasn't what he planned; but, things were most definitely different."
"Is Anya alive?" he asked Agatha. She shook her head.
"Not exactly," she answered. "Because of the changes, she was never born. Technically, you weren't either; but you're the whole reason I'm here," she shrugged. "I can help you track down a version of her on an alternate Earth that's very similar to the Anya you remember. Or quite different, you can meet a whole spectrum of them."
"But, none of them would be Anya....," Andrei said.
"On the other hand, ALL of them would be Anya," Agatha smiled. "Your memories of your sister are limited to your time together and the sides of herself that she shared. I could introduce you to facets of her personality that really reflect who she is down in her soul. You could get to know the true Anya. You don't have a life here, if that helps," Agatha added. It would have swayed him if he hadn't already decided.
"Yes," he nodded and stepped closer to her with an outstretched hand. "My name is Andrei Vodolev," he said.
"Yeah, I did research," she smirked but accepted the handshake just the same. "I'm Agatha Waters, it's nice to meet me."