"Hey! Wake up! You're missing it!" I heard someone yell.

This not only seemed to wake me up, but it also made me aware of my surroundings. I was lying on something soft and comfy. Like a bed. My bed. Did I just dream what happened? Slowly, I opened my eyes. Before me stood a girl, of roughly the same age as me.

"Come on, sleepyhead." the girl said, "Everyone's already here."

I saw her, but I couldn't believe it: "Jess?"

She smiled: "What, were you expecting someone else?"

I got up slowly: "Well, I wasn't expe..."

I didn't finish my sentence, as I noticed I was still wearing my clothes. The same clothes I was wearing when the world... when it incinerated? But if it incinerated, why is my apartment still here? For that matter, why was Jess here? Did I dream everything from the day Jess was killed to the day the world ended? This didn't make sense.

"What the matter?" Jess asked, though jokingly, "Cat got your tongue?"

"If I knew the answer, I'll let you know." was all I said.

I knew that Jess wouldn't understand, but for some reason she didn't show it: "Come on, everyone's already here."

"Who's everybody?" I asked.

She giggled, but said nothing. Instead, she left my room, thinking I'd follow her. And she thought right. Nothing about this situation made any sense. So I got out of my bed and left my apartment.

What I saw then made even less sense. The hallway I usually end up in when I exit my apartment was visibly old and barely maintained. Here, the hallway was new, improved, and seemed to belong to a five-star hotel rather than some apartment building. I saw Jess entering an elevator, which was something else which my actual apartment-building didn't have. It was like my apartment had somehow moved into another building. Once I was in the elevator, she pressed the button for the lobby.

I wanted to ask her: "Er... Jess, wha..."

She shushed me: "Come on, can't you at least pretend you want to be there?"

She didn't say this as though she was angry. In fact, she seemed happier than I had ever seen her.

After a while, the elevator doors opened, and I was at what looked like a reception.

"Hey!" they all called out. Or at least some variation of that word, depending on the individual speaker.

I was then greeted and shook hands with everyone of them individually. Among them were several people I had met during my travel around the world. There was that werewolf I met in Germany (he had to remind me his name was Daninsky). There were that Nerd and that Critic, who were suddenly the best of friends, like there never was a fight between them. Potter was there, as well as those two wizards I encountered in Arkham. There was that guy from T.E.C., Ana Free, someone who claimed to be Jason (though without his hockey mask I couldn't be sure), the Zyurangers, Daizyujin (in human size), my co-workers from SGS, and... someone I didn't expect to see at all. Melinda was there as well. She didn't just come to shake hands though, she came to embrace and kiss me. It was in that moment that I forgot the situation and decided to join in on the fun.

And what fun we had. Not only was there food and drinks, but a so-called open mic, where Ana Free was singing songs, Jess was performing stand-up (yes, that surprised me too), and the Nerd and the Critic (along with two others) performed what they called a hoedown. When that hoedown was sung, I turned to look at Melinda, whose hand I was holding the whole time. But as I looked at her, I couldn't help but notice our hands clasped together, and remember the first time that happened: when we escaped that crashing plane. I immediately let go, as too many thoughts started to cross my mind.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

I couldn't lie to her if I wanted to, so I said: "I... I need to room to breath."

I left the lobby as fast as I could. Strangely, the first door I opened lead me back to my apartment room.

"Doesn't make sense, does it?" I was startled when I heard that voice.

I turned to look, and in the middle of my room stood an old man, completely bald, wearing a business suit, arms crossed.

"Who are you?" he was the first man I met that time that I didn't know.

"You may not have seen me before, but you have heard of me." he answered, "My name is Charles Xavier."

That name sounded familiar indeed: "Xavier... from the Xavier foundation? I once applied for a scholarship from you... Wait, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Aren't you?" Xavier asked in return.

For a moment I thought he had a good point, but I recovered quickly: "No, you died decades before..."

I couldn't finish my sentence, so Xavier did it for me: "Before that flare killed you all?"

That was exactly what I wanted to say, but I wasn't entirely sure about the truth of that anymore. So I merely nodded.

"Do you remember what happened in April this year?" Xavier asked.

"Of course I do." I answered, "Cthulhu awoke and attacked the planet."

"And how did you stop him?" Xavier questioned.

"By throwing him into the su..." it was then that it hit me, "Wait, are you saying that... that Cthulhu is responsible for that flare?"

Xavier nodded: "You have merely destroyed his body, but you couldn't destroy his mind. That's why he was still strong enough to develop a flare that not could only incinerate you, but also attract something towards the Earth."

"And would that something be?" I asked.

"Where do you think you are?" Xavier asked in return, to which I shook my head as I didn't know, so he explained: "There was a ribbon in space, that was about to pass our solar system. With the flare, he could attract the flare closer to Earth, and it would take everyone off the planet, saving them from being burned.

"Wait!" I didn't understand, "So Cthulhu saved us? Why?"

"Is it not obvious?" Xavier questioned, "He caused a disaster which everyone will remember, and now they wake up somewhere which they'll perceive as paradise."

"So they'll than Cthulhu for saving them..." I realized, "Not knowing he brought it onto them in the first place?"

"Yes." Xavier replied, "Of course he'll have to make sure they don't remember he attacked the planet once before, but if he can do this much, there is no limit to what he can do."

"We'd better warn others!" I said.

"We can't." Xavier told me, "By the time we've warned them, Cthulhu will already have convinced too many people."

"Is there nothing else we can do?" I wondered.

"There is one thing." Xavier said, "If you go back some time before Cthulhu awakens, you might be able to prevent him from being awakened."

"Go back?" he couldn't be serious I thought, "How?"