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nyx-aira · 4 years ago

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Magical Bitching

Summary: When a new magical threat arrives in NYC Dr.Strange and Wanda need some magical help but Loki and Agatha in one place can only mean one thing, chaos and the start of a beautiful friendship

A/N: You can't imagine how much fun I had while writing this :)

Tag list: @escapetodreamworld @midnight-lestrange @king-star @ynscrazylife @booklovinbi @mysticfalls01 @adorkwithaplan @nathaslosttheirshit @agathaharkness-simp @paulawand

To say that Strange was busy was an understatement. He was currently fighting and evil interdimensional being that somehow had managed to get to New York, interrupting his Sherlock Holmes marathon.

The thing could be described as a big glibbery blob that could fly through the air and spit fire, to say he imagined his afternoon a little bit different wasn't really a surprise. He wasn't alone thankfully, Wanda fighting alongside him. The young witch had recently moved into the Sanctum, training her powers under his and Wong's guidance. Even though they were both pretty strong the blob was becoming more and more of a challenge, splitting into mini blobs if you hit it with the same spell twice. It was very annoying. So he did something he swore he would only do if there was no other option. He called for Loki.

After their, let's call it a disagreement, they had sorted out some kind of truce, deciding the fabric of the universe was more important than their personal differences.

He and Wanda were just fighting a horde of mini blobs when they started turning purple, crumbling to the ground and fading into nothing. They turned around to see Agatha fling another dozen of the annoying blobs against a building, crushing them against the wall.

He looked at Wanda who was staring at the other witch in disbelief, shock the prominent emotion on her face, annoyance not far behind.

"Did you call her?"

The young witch asked, Sokovian accent present. Something he had noticed that happened when she was emotional or annoyed.

He was about to answer when they saw green sparks dancing around another small army of the annoying creatures, capturing them in a magic barrier and crushing until there was only interdimensional alien goo left.

"No I called him."

Strange answered with a sigh, pointing to a building to their far right where Loki just teleported, throwing a couple magical daggers at the slime monsters.

Wanda dropped her head into her hands, staring at him in disbelief.

"Great now we not only have to fight that stupid blob thing but also have to deal with grumpy and petty."

He lifted an eyebrow at the nicknames and shot her an amused look.

"Who is who? "

She just wanted to answer him when they saw another horde of blobs heading their way. Looking at each other they nodded, ready to attack.

Flying high in the air Wanda shot some energy blasts in their direction, giving Strange the opportunity to catch them and send them back into their dimension. She was about to round the corner when she saw something flying towards her, turning around she brought up a barrier to defend herself but the attack never came as Agatha landed not far from her, using another spell to open a portal the witch flung them in its general direction, the portal catching them and making them vanish. More blobs started to appear and Wanda realised that the situation was getting more and more out of control.

She was ready to attack the remaining creatures when she heard a roar, whipping her head around she stared at the new creature that just appeared on top of a nearby skyscraper. It kinda looked like a dragon with for two sets of wings and tentacles, spitting some kind of toxin and fading in and out of existence. Wanda groaned, their day wasn't bad enough already with the blob thing, a fancy dragon squid wasn't really some she needed today as well.

Agatha floated next to Wanda, bored expression on her face. It wasn't something she hadn't seen before. These kind of creatures were annoying, sure, but nothing she couldn't handle if she needed to.

Deciding that she did not need to get toxin stains on her new outfit today she turned to Wanda, already regretting what she was about to say.

"You and Strange handle our new guest, I'll handle these fuckers."

Shocked at her offer Wanda turned to her, raising an unbelieving eyebrow.

"You want to help us ?"

"Don't think too long about it or I might change my mind."

Groaning Wanda shot her one last glare before she flew away to help Strange.

Looking around Agatha decided that chasing after each of the annoying creatures was too much of a hassle. She looked around to find a good spot to catch as many of them without doing much work. Spotting a suitable tower in the distance she flew towards it, blasting a couple blobs out of her way as she arrived on the top.

The sight that greeted her was almost comical, there sat Loki, on a beach chair with sunglasses on his head sipping a colourful cocktail, every now and then flicking his hand to catch a blob that got too close to the tower, flinging it towards a portal he had opened not far away.

He lifted his shades as she approached him, snapping his fingers to let another chair appear, nodding his head towards it.

She laughed at the gesture, settling down in the surprisingly comfortable chair, conjuring up her own glasses to block out the sun.

"Never imagined to see you in New York again Trickster."

He only snorted at that, flinging another blob into the portal, a green 178 popping up over the interdimensional gateway.

"Never say never."

Agatha chuckled, flinging a couple creatures towards the portal as well, a purple 154 lighting up. She grinned, she wasn't that far behind.

"I don't understand why heroes always have to be so dramatic, its far more entertaining this way."

The god commented, refilling his drink and conjuring some pastries, grabbing some for himself before he passed the floating tray in her direction.

"Exactly, they are always so extra, always so much drama."

Agatha remarked, grabbing a strawberry cupcake, absently flinging a couple blobs into the portal.

"Strange look out!"

Wanda was panting, she had a cut across her cheek and her suit was burned in a couple places, the toxin and fire having gotten to her at one point.

Strange ducked a blast and ran towards her, shielding himself as he yelled something she couldn't understand over the noise of the battle.

The count over the portal just reached a tie when Agatha had finished her cupcake, tossing the wrapper aside she looked at the tray, deciding which one to try next.

"The lemon cake is divine, you should try it."

Loki supplied, taking a bite from his chocolate covered strawberry, adjusting his shades as they had slipped down his nose a bit.

She took a slice of the lemon cake and refilled the drink the god had offered her as the count had reached 1000, plopping some more ice cubes into the cocktail, it was a hot summer day after all.

Wanda jumped over some rubble, running for cover as she was chased down the ally by not less than 20 slimy creatures. Sometime in the last hour she had broken her wrist, the dull ache in her hand nothing compared to the burning feeling in her legs. She had ran more than ever in her life today. Yelling at Strange who was running besides her to keep going the slid behind some garbage cans.

Panting she looked at him. He was missing an eyebrow and his right sleeve, his boots melted to his trousers from a pretty hot fire ball from one of the creatures.

"The weather is quite nice today, don't you think? "

Agatha remarked, taking a sip of her cocktail, adding more ice as most of it had melted already. They had conjured a sun shade as it got hotter, the temperatures pushing 30⁰C

"A little bit to hot for my liking but it's definitely nice."

Loki answered, taking a bite out of his ice cream. He had change into a sleeveless tunic, pulling his hair into a messy bun, his boots having been replaced by flip flops. He flung his hand towards the portal, a green 735 popping up.

"Seems like im winning Ms. Harkness."

Agatha just laughed as she twisted her hand, sending some blobs into the portal, the purple 737 making her shoot the trickster god a triumphant smile.

"Don't get cocky dear."

Agatha had changed her outfit as well. Now spotting a purple flower dress, the fabric flowing around her knees, sandals instead of heeled boots. They had exchanged the pastries for ice cream at some point, Loki opting for mint and chocolate as Agatha chose blueberry and raspberry. They were just about to decide whether or not to order pizza when they heard a loud bang and smoke started to form a couple blocks in the distance.

Lifting his shades to have a better look on what's going on Loki shot a questioning look in her direction.

"You think they are alright? "

Waving him off Agatha took another bite from her ice cream, settling back in the chair.

"They'll be fine."

"Run"

That was the last thing Wanda heard before all hell broke lose, the building behind them catching fire and the toxin starting to react with it.

Strange grabbed her by the hand and they portaled out of the collapsing building.

Landing roughly on the concrete a couple streets over they groaned. Wanda by now having lost her right boot and part of her jacket. Strange didn't look much better, having lost a chunk of his hair to the fire and a broken ankle thanks to a fall from the third floor. It really wasn’t their day.

Loki and Agatha were just debating whether two servings of bread rolls were too much when an orange portal opened. They turned their heads away from the menu to look at the new arrival.

It was Wong, wearing beach shorts and a hawaii shirt, dragging his own beach chair through the portal.

"The Sanctum is safe, these idiots just don't know how to fight efficiently."

With these words he plopped down on his chair, accepting the menu Agatha offered him.

"Alright we can order two servings of bread rolls now but this won't work without a salad."

Loki commented, scrolling through the menu, debating whether he should order a caesar salad or the tuna one, both sounded delicious.

Having meanwhile conjured a fire pit and some blankets, as the sun was starting to set, they had dragged a table from the Sanctums dining room onto their rooftop. It was surprisingly easy to find a restaurant who delivered on top of a building if you offered to tip a little bit more.

"What do you think, red or white wine?"

Agatha asked as she held up two bottles. She had moved to the table already and had kicked her feet up on the table, watching the sunset as they waited for the food to arrive, distant bangs of fighting heard in the distance.

"I'll take the red wine."

Loki commented from where he was standing, arranging the fairy lights around the roof top. You needed a nice atmosphere to have a nice dinner party after all.

"I think the pizza arrived, I'll be right back."

With these words Wong opened a portal and stepped through it, leaving Agatha and Loki to their own devices. The god was painting his nails, nail polish floating in the air as he carefully applied the second coat of midnight black.

Meanwhile the witch had leaned back in her chair, wine glass in hand as she absently played with a ball of purple energy, illuminating the whole table in a purple glow.

"Today has been a great day, I really needed a day off."

She commented, taking a sip of her wine, taking her feet off the table as Wong appeared with their food, unpacking the pizza cartons and sorting through the food.

Wanda and Strange were done. They had finally managed to defeat the dragon squid thing, the blobs having disappeared a while ago. She had wrapped an arm around his shoulder as he had problems walking with his injured foot, her own wrist hurting like hell.

They were exhausted, smelling like dead dragon and smoke, covered in interdimensional goo and first degree burns.

"This has been a fucking nightmare. "

The sorcerer supreme commented. Wanda just nodding her head, too exhausted to say anything.

"I'd like to make a toast. "

Agatha groaned at Loki's statement, hitting her head on the table. They had had clearly to much alcohol, Loki bringing out some asgardian liquor, Wong bringing some alcohol from his home and she herself conjuring a bottle out of her ever-growing wine collection.

Loki was leaning against the table, having to hold onto it for support. Wong wasn't much better, feet kicked up on the table, glass in hand, refilling all of their glasses with what he call the best liquor you can get on earth.

She wanted to disagree but had to admit it was quite good. Getting up from her chair she raised her glass.

"And what are we making a toast on?"

Loki winked at her, raising his glass as he helped Wong up, the other man the most intoxicated of the trio.

"To this beautiful day and this beautiful friendship. "

"No no no, to magic and bitching about stupid people. "

Wong interrupted, talking about their animated discussion on who had to deal with the most shit.

The two men started arguing, on what they would speak their toast on. Groaning Agatha snapped her fingers, catching the attention of the two sorcerers, lifting her glass she spoke, a little bit more slurred than usual.

"To bitchcraft and the imbeciles we have to deal with on a daily basis. "

"To bitchcraft. "

They all echoed, raising their glasses.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Wanda asked Strange as they stepped out of the portal onto the rooftop, watching the trio speak a toast.

He just shook his head and pulled her back into the portal.

"I think we both got hit in the head one too many times. "

#wandavision #agatha harkness #agnes #loki #wanda maximoff #dr stephen strange #wong #agatha harkness & loki friendship #agatha harkness imagine #agnes imagine #magical bitching

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dp-marvel94 · 4 years ago

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Face to Face- Chapter 31

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First -> Last -> Next

Word Count: 3,730

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Fenton and Phantom couldn’t see through their tears, the water streaming down their faces obscuring their vision of the world around them. All shades of green, splashes of purple and drab brown rushed past as they flew. Their thoughts screamed with a haunting echo, coming back twice.

Mom….she wasn’t...she’s not sorry. She can’t...can’t accept Phantom. She doesn’t love me. But…. A sniffle broke through two throats, separated by dimensions yet somehow closer that ever. I can’t just pretend to be human for her. I can’t just be Fenton! Like the portal didn't... Like nothing happened...I can’t...I’m not the same!

Their bodies moved without conscious effort, the need to escape so large. Why did he do this? Why did he always run away?

Two voices that were one muttered. “This was….this was supposed to fix things. But...I messed it up!”

He kept running, kept flying. They didn’t know where they were going, just away. Away from all the things that kept hurting him.

Somewhere, far away voices were calling his name. “Danny!”

“Everything’s messed up! Why can’t anything ever go right for me?!” Hands gripped hair that was black. Or was is white? No, it was both but-

“Danny! What’s happening?” Someone called.

“Talking to Mom was supposed to fix things!” He cried.

“Danny! You’ve gotta look at us, man!”

A whine exited two throats. “But she’s never gonna accept me.”

“Danny! Fenton! Listen to us.” Fenton? Who was-

Hands appeared on their shoulders. No, on just one set of their shoulders but which-

“Fenton, you need to come back to us.”

Come back to… “Sam? Tucker?” He recognized the voices.

“Yeah. It’s us, dude.” “Come back to us.”

Come back? He needed to come back to- He blinked. And something snapped. Like a rubber band stretched too far, two components snapped back into place.

“Sam. Tucker.” Fenton frowned, clarity entering his vision. Or more like….his vision shifted away from what he’d been seeing before, from the swirling green clouds, floating purple doors, and hunks of rock in the Ghost Zone. His eyes widened. The Ghost Zone?! He was-

“Yeah man.” Tucker squeezed his shoulder. “Are you with us now?”

Numbly, Fenton nodded. “Yeah. I’m here.” His mouth felt dry.

“What happened?” Sam asked softly.

The boy swallowed. “I-”

Fenton! Something in him cried. Fear lashed out, threatening to pull him back inside himself. Where...where are you? Where am I? What’s happening?

“Phantom!” The human called, vision again starting to blur.

Hands gripped him more tightly. “Don’t you dare leave us again.”

“Sam. Tucker. No I’m…” He sucked in a breath. “Phantom. I’m still here. It’s-” Fenton felt pulled in two directions. He needed to be here, with his friends. He needed to tell them what was happening. But.... No, he needed to be with Phantom. He-

Cold crashed into him, stealing his breath. “Sam? Tucker?” Why did he sound surprised, like he was just now recognizing? Again, his...their lines blurred but in the wrong way.

“Focus!” Sam shook him. “Fenton! We need you to-”

“Why are you calling me Fenton?” Phantom asked through him...No Fenton asked...No…

Gasping, the human body pulling out of Sam’s grip. He leaned over, suddenly nauseous. “Why can’t I just be one person?!”

“Danny!” His friend grabbed his jumpsuit free arms again. “Whichever Danny you are, you need to tell us what’s happening.”

Another deep breath. Human eyes closed and the ghostly vision of the Zone opened up. Both heads shook. They needed to focus on Sam and Tucker but...being exposed in the Zone with their eyes closed would be bad. No, push the vision away, like it’s just an imagined day dream.

“My human body’s here in the real world with you and Tucker.”

Tucker and Sam frowned, but neither commented on the oddity at the beginning of the statement. Instead, the technogeek asked. “And the other you?”

“I’m….He’s….We’re….we’re in the ghost zone.”

“The ghost zone!” Sam exclaimed.

A nod. “Phantom tried to talk to Mom. It...uhh...it didn’t go well. So we ran off.”

Tucker blinked. “You ran off...to another dimension?”

“We panicked, okay! The portal...it was right there. And there was yelling and...I wasn’t thinking! Talking to Mom was supposed to help but... but now we’re lost somewhere in the freaking land of the dead!” The panic that their friends had managed to briefly calm flared, their breathing increasing into a pant. “I mean….we’d wanted to see the Ghost Zone, but not like this! And now Mom’s probably mad at us and I don’t know where I am!” Again, hands gripped black and white hair.

“Hey, it’s okay. Calm down.” Sam pleaded.

“Okay! Okay! I’m lost. I’m-”

“Danny.” Tucker interrupted. “Just take a breath, okay? See if you can figure out which direction you came from.”

“Yeah.” Sam agreed. “Try to go back the way you came. You couldn’t have flown that far.”

Another breath. “Yeah. Okay.” Both heads turned side to side, looking around. The human body stepped away from their friends, turning in a circle like someone looking for a recognizable landmark. “There? No…” He growled in annoyance. “Everything’s moving too fast.” They turned back towards Sam and Tucker, in the real world. Their breath puffed in front of them. Then blue and green eyes suddenly widened in panic as they flinched back. “Shit!”

Several things happened in quick succession. Their human vision blacked out as a rock the size of a minivan hurdled towards their ghost form. The ghost dodged, rapidly ascending. The human tried to copy the action, but being unable to fly, jumped up and then fell to the ground.

“Danny!” Sam and Tucker’s voices again came from far away, the sound traveling through their perception, along with the shock from hitting the ground.

But the feeling passed in a moment as more rocks flew towards them. They dodged and weaved, yelping as a small boulder clipped the edge of their tail. Where were these rocks coming from?!

Below, something growled. They looked down, eyes falling on a large, muscular figure with one eye in the center of its face. Another ghost! That must have been what set off their ghost sense. It roared, yelling something about staying away from its island. They didn’t need to be told twice.

Their ghostly form darted away in a blur, just thinking of escaping the attack. After no more than a minute, they slowed, eyes searching for a place to stop. There! A small, bare island, no more than a quarter of a football field. Near the center was a large boulder, leaning towards the side and forming a small sheltered space. They landed, praying it was empty. Whole body shaking with fear, they sunk to the ground, curling up inside the cave and pulling their lower half, which was still in the serpentine form of a ghostly tail to their chest. Their chest heaved with shaking breath as the tears renewed.

It wasn’t fair. They were lost and scared and tired. Some ghost just attacked them again and they were stranded on some random rock in the Ghost Zone. They shivered; everything around them was so cold but they were somehow too hot. Everything ached and they were starving because they were missing lunch and their knees hurt from when they fell. And...Wait-

A white haired head whipped up, nose wrinkling in confusion as the slight of their tail. They didn’t have knees right now, did they? But…..

Their stomach flopped with sudden nausea. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. Newly recognized sensations spark in their perception: the distant sound of Sam and Tucker’s voices, grass under a head, the throb of sore knees.

In the Zone, the ghost leaned forward, feeling sick. Something was wrong. It hurt. Everything hurt so much. Their skin was too tight; the core pulsed too slow and the heart beat too fast.

“Fenton? Phantom? Danny?” They asked, out into the now silent alien environment. Which one...which ones were they? Who were….who was he? He was...they were both or…. all three? Or something in the middle? Ghost or human? One person or two fragments? To his supreme distress, they couldn’t tell, mind overcome with confusion.

Danny, or someone who was almost Danny, pinched his eyes closed. This was...this wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He felt...he felt like a half reassembled puzzle, one that had been rapidly put together by randomly pushing the pieces together. Instead of the pieces interlocking and forming a complete picture, they were mismatched, the picture fuzzy, off, and disjointed. He...they hadn’t put themselves...himself back together correctly.

He sucked in a breath. He...they couldn’t do this, couldn’t be this right now. They...he needed Fenton and Phantom, needed to be Phantom and Fenton, but not at the same time. Not yet. They would...he would be back to himself soon but first….before the complete picture could be reformed, they needed to pull apart the mismatched puzzle pieces.

His humanity, the part of himself, themselves, that called himself Fenton pulled away. Tangled threads unraveled, the pain easing. Ghost and human separated, divided but still tethered together, even across dimensions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fenton slowly came back to awareness, his consciousness returning to his body. Voices buzzed above him.

“Should we get Jazz? Or call his parents?”

“We can’t do that, Tucker! Didn’t you hear? He had a fight with his Mom.”

“Well, we can’t just take him to the nurse, Sam!”

Sam? Tucker? They were fighting, but what about?

“I know that but-”

“You saw what happened! His eyes started glowing and he started muttering to himself and running away from us. We almost got him calm! Then he freaked out and passed out!”

Oh yeah, that. His eyes blinked open, squinting in the sunlight. He groaned.

That got Sam and Tucker’s attention. “Danny!” Both cried as they knelt down beside him.

“Are you back with us?” Sam asked, brow furrowed with concern.

Fenton nodded, sluggishly. “Yeah, I’m back.” His hands clenched and unclenched, grabbing fists full of grass. So he was on the ground. He glanced towards his feet, eyeing the grass stains on his jeans and his aching knees.

Tucker offered his hand. “Here, let me help you up.” The other boy accepted, half pulling, half pushing himself back into a sitting position. “So...which one are you?”

Blinking in confusion, Fenton turned his head to find his friends looking at him warily. After a moment, his mind caught up with the question. “I’m Fenton….just Fenton.” He frowned, rubbing his eyes. He pulled his hands away, eyeing the moisture on his fingers. Huh...so he had been crying.

“What was that?” Sam’s quiet question drew him out of his thoughts.

The human frowned, biting his lip. “I’m not… I’m not really sure.” He looked down at his hands. “It kinda felt like...we almost fused. But...it wasn’t right. We were confused and…” His voice quieted. “It hurt.”

The boy then glanced up, taking in his friends’ stricken looks. “Dude...are you okay?” Tucker asked, with wide, compassionate eyes.

Fenton shrugged. “Yeah...I think it was the whole two body thing but we’re sorted now.”

His friends traded concerned, skeptical looks and Sam’s eyebrow rose. The human Danny had no doubt; she wanted to press him right now for more explanation, to make sure he actually was okay. And the boy was grateful for her concern. In all honesty, he wasn’t okay. Between the horrible conversation with Mom, being lost in another dimension, and the confusing partial fusion, he was stressed and tired, to say the least. But they had bigger things to solve than his current emotional state.

Sam clearly recognized the same. “Okay.” She sighed, continuing with the conversation. “What was with you eating the dirt?”

The human boy looked down, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “I..uh...forgot that I can’t fly as a human.” His friends both blinked bewilderedly. Then Tucker laughed and Sam snorted. Fenton’s blush intensified. “We were trying to dodge. Some ghost threw this huge rock at us so ghost me flew up to miss it. This me tried to copy but...” He motioned down his body. “This body can’t fly.”

With that, his friends’ more jovial expressions turned more serious. “I guess that makes sense.” Tucker finally said.

Then Sam nodded. “And Phantom, your ghost half? Where is he?”

Fenton’s frown deepened, his shoulders hanching as he pulled his knees to his chest. “Still in the Zone. We found an island to hang tight on. He should be safe... for now.”

There was a long pause as his friends looked at each other, a silent, worried conversation passing between them. Then Sam’s eyes focused back on Fenton’s face. “Can we talk to Phantom?”

The human blinked. “Why?”

Tucker’s lip turned down in a deepening frown. “We need to figure out how to get the other you home. So...can you let us talk to him?”

“Oh.” Fenton looked down, biting his lip. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” His voice quieted. “I don’t wanna get lost again.”

Sam’s expressions softened. “Okay.” To the human boy’s surprise and relief, she conceded, like she just might understand.

“Can he hear us, at least?” Tucker offered tentatively. “You don’t have to respond, just listen.”

“I don’t know-” Fenton started, equally tentatively, before his reply was interrupted by words in his head.

Fenton? Phantom asked softly.

The human furrowed his brow, eyes losing focus. Yeah? I’m here.

I can hear Sam and Tucker. He said, slightly nervously. I’ve been watching this whole time.

Fenton blinked in confusion. “You have?”

“Danny!” “Not again!” Again, Sam and Tucker’s hands were on his shoulders, eyes wide with concern.

The human boy shook his head. “Sorry. I’m fine. I was just talking to Phantom. Apparently he can hear you. So just...talk to me.”

His friends traded somewhat confused, somewhat exacerbated looks before pressing on. “Okay.” Tucker took a breath. “You need to try and find the portal.”

Fenton started shaking his head but Sam continued. “Just to retrace your steps, okay? Go back the way you came.” She squeezed his arms. “You can do this. You can. I believe in you, Danny Phantom.”

In the back of his mind, Fenton could feel his ghost self’s appreciation of the statement. The corner of his lips turned up in a slight smile. Then his mouth moved of its own volition, his voice echoing. “It’s really nice to hear that Sam but-”

“Dude, your eyes are glowing again.” Tucker cut in, brow furrowing with worry.

They were? His brow furrowed in thought, focusing on the cool burning feeling in his eyes. “Ah that makes sense.” Again, the words came out without his input or rather… “It’s me, Phantom.” With a slight push from his ghost, Fenton held up his hands. “It’s okay, guys. Fenton’s just letting me use his mouth.”

Sam raised a brow. “Because apparently you can do that?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “But anyway...I’m really happy you believe in me guys but...I have no idea where I am. We weren’t really paying attention after we...uh….ran off. And then that ghost was chucking rocks at us and we got turned around flying away.”

“There’s gotta be landmarks or something. Can you just figure out the direction you came from at least?” Tucker asked.

Under Phantom’s direction, Fenton shook his head. “Maybe?” He pursed his lips. “I really don’t want to just go flying off in one direction and just end up farther from the portal.”

The technogeek sighed. “Maybe we should get your parents? They might have some way to help you.”

In the Ghost Zone, Phantom sat, considering the idea. Fenton could distantly feel the ghost thinking, his own thoughts likely following the same pattern. As much as he didn’t want to get his parents’ help, that might be the best option. They could have Phantom sit tight where he was and get Mom and Dad’s assistance to find him. The human Danny then flinched, feeling his ghost self’s anxiety at the thought. Wait….feeling?

The idea hit him like a brick wall. “You don’t have to find the portal. You can find me.” The human Danny said, feeling the glow of his eyes dim. Across their connection, Fenton felt Phantom’s confusion. “Phantom, we’re still connected. There’s like...a line. A tether between us.” He motioned vaguely with his hands.

Understanding dawned as blue eyes again flashed green. “I can follow it back to you!” In the human world, Fenton’s voice echoed, his mouth stretching up into a smile. “That just might work.”

“It will.” The human reassured, mentally poking at the link. He could almost see it in his mind’s eyes, a metaphysical cord connecting the two parts of his mind. A cord he’d felt drawing him and his ghost self together, somehow pulling taut as the two moved closer, more in sync.

“Yeah. I’ll see you really soon.” Phantom replied.

Fenton grinned, his arms wrapping themselves around his chest. He looked down at himself. “Phantom? Are you trying to hug me?”

A blush rose on his face. “Yes.” His arms fell to his sides. “It’s weird talking to you like this.”

“You’re telling me.” The human said, slightly teasingly. “But seriously...you’ve got this.”

“Tucker and I agree.” Sam cut in. Her gaze, level with Fenton’s eyes, drew the boys’ attention. “You’ve got this.” She playfully punched Fenton’s arm. “Hurry up and get back to the land of the living.”

“Yeah man. I wanna see your ghostly self, in person.” The technogeek leaned forward to hug the boy in front of him. “Be careful, Danny.”

Fenton and Phantom both agreed to return the hug. “I will.” The ghost replied. “Thanks for calming me down guys...and just being here. I don’t know where we’d be if you guys hadn’t been with Fenton.”

“Of course.” Sam reassured. “We’re your friends, no matter what weird stuff you’re doing.”

For once, Fenton, nor his ghost half, shied away from word. They were weird. This situation was weird but they had friends who could roll with the punches.

“I’ll see you guys soon.” Phantom finally said, as Fenton pulled out of the hug. “I’ll let you guys go back to your lunch; I know Fenton’s hungry.”

As soon as he said that, the human’s stomach growled. An echoing laugh exited Fenton’s mouth, followed by chuckles from Sam and Tucker. The human shook his head, at his friends’ and his other self’s reactions.

His laughter stopped after a moment as Phantom’s directed his arm to wave. “Bye guys.”

With that, the ghostly light blinked out of his eyes, signaling Phantom’s retreat. Fenton also felt it, the ghost gently closing a mental door and leaving the human solidly alone in his body.

“Fenton?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. Phantom went off to try and find his way back.”

“Man.” Tucker shook his head. “So that’s what your internal dialogue sounds like.”

“Kinda.” The human boy shrugged. “Sorry, that was….it’s never been that...involved, me and Phantom interacting when we’re physically apart…. Being split’s done weird things to my mind.”

His friends of course looked at him with concern at the statement, but there was understanding and acceptance too. “I guess that would make sense.” Sam said.

“Like Sam and I said before, we’re here if you ever want to talk about any of that.” Tucker offered.

Fenton’s lip turned slightly up at the statement, bolstered by the promise of his friends’ support. “Maybe later. Right now I want some food.”

The technogeek laughed. “All right man.” He standed from his kneeling position before offering Fenton a hand up. “Let’s eat.”

The human boy accepted the help, wincing slightly at his bruised knees; he’d need to look at them later but it didn’t feel like they were hurt badly. Sam also stood and the three walked back to the secluded picnic table where they’d been eating lunch before Phantom’s argument with their mother drew him away. So it had turned out that eating outside, away from their classmates and teachers had been beneficial. And speaking of his mom….

His heart did clinch painfully at the memory of her words. He passively wondered; what was she doing right now? What was her reaction to what he said, to him running off? Everything had happened so fast and...briefly, a look of shock had flashed on her face, something that might even have been guilt. He hoped it was but...he could’t worry about that right now. His most important concern was getting his other half back from the ghost zone. After, they could deal with the situation together, like they should have from the beginning.

“Danny.” Sam said his name, capturing the boys’ attention. “Aren’t you going to eat? We’ve only got five minutes left.”

Fenton frowned. “Yeah. Right.” He stuffed a bit of his sandwich in his mouth. He’d worry about that later. For now, he’d eat his lunch, go to study hall, and hope- no trust- he’d trust that Phantom would get back safely.

Note: So this chapter was a little shorter what's typical for me. I ended up splitting it off from the next scene because that was over 6000 words alone and I thought the whole thing would be too long. But the good news is, that means the next chapter is done. I just have to find time to edit it with my beta. And I'm working on what will be chapter 33 now.

This also means this story won't be on hiatus as long. I'm planning on writing at least one story for the Phic Phight and a longer story Inviobang. I may do something for DannyMay was well? I really want to write another part for "It was an Accident, I swear" and the last story in my "Life and Death is all Perspective" series. But IDK. That depends on how fast I finish the other stuff and/or how much self control I have. Well al have to see what happens. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment as always and thank you so much for reading!

#Danny Phantom #Face To Face #Ghost Catcher #double danny #split danny #My fic

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theres-an-impulstor-among-us · 4 years ago

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It's that time once again when Diabolical plays in my head on loop.

Can I please get fic where Hels gets back on hermitcraft server? Causing some shenanigans and general trouble?

This was so much fun to write, thank you!! It also ended up being WAY more angsty than I expected but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it anyway, my friend :) Slight CW: minor descriptions of injuries

...

Welsknight had been avoiding his nether portal as much as possible since he saw his doppelganger disappear through it. Something about the formerly harmless particles and whooshing noise when he walked past it now just about gave him an anxiety attack every time he walked past it. Once, when Jevin popped out of it to say hello just hours after Helsknight had left, Wels had reacted so violently that Jevin was STILL wary around him all these months later.

Nobody used his portal anymore. He made sure of that.

One sunny day, he finally worked up the courage to go to the shopping district, something he hadn’t dared to do in weeks in case something happened. He went straight past his own portal and flew all the way to Etho’s; there was no way he was going to use the portal his evil clone went through to go back to the hell dimension from which he had come.

The shopping district had changed a lot in the weeks Wels had been avoiding it. He couldn’t help staring around at the myriad of new shops that had sprung up. It almost seemed like an entirely new place.

As Wels entered the barge, he found another Hermit already inside, browsing the chest full of golden carrots.

“Hi, Joe,” said Wels politely, unable to hide a smile at the sight of his old friend.

Joe turned and gave him a wave. “Howdy, Wels. Haven’t seen you around here for a few weeks.”

“Yeah, it’s been… a while. Just been busy, that’s all.” Wels awkward;y indicated the chest. “You, uh… buying stuff?”

“Nah, I’m not dealing with diamonds this season. I thought Grian might be open to some kind of trading system using stuff other than diamonds but he hasn’t responded to my message yet, so in the meantime, I’m-.” He broke off with a frown. “Okay, I think I might have forgotten to actually send the message.”

Wels chuckled. “You’re busy too, huh? You only start forgetting stuff when you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

Joe matched his chuckle. “I’ve got quite a few projects going at the moment, yes. You wanna come over to my base sometime and I’ll show you what I’m working on?”

“That sounds nice, Joe, thanks.”

At that moment, the sound of a firework going off nearby caused both of them to look up. A second later, a figure glided through the door and landed neatly on the ground, his elytra closing as he took a few steps further into the room. “Hey, Wels,” Etho said, giving a friendly wave. “Man, you really got here fast.”

Wels frowned at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I just saw you over by Shade-E-E’s a minute ago. You said hello to me and everything.”

“That…” Wels’s heart skipped a beat. “That wasn’t me.”

Etho frowned back. “Well, then… Someone must’ve stolen a spare set of armour or something, cuz it looked exactly like you.”

“Oh…” Blinking very fast, Wels let out a nervous breath. “Oh, boy… Please don’t tell me he’s back…”

Etho and Joe exchanged a confused look. “Who?” asked Joe.

Wels considered either making something up or dismissing his comment, but looking at the concerned faces of two of his best friends on the server, he decided to tell the truth. “The evil clone of myself that Beef and I accidentally created who ran off into the nether after I beat him in a rap battle when he tried to destroy the server.”

Etho stared at him with wide eyes.

“I thought it might be something like that,” said Joe, nodding.

“How can you possibly have been expecting that?” Wels said in disbelief.

Joe shrugged. “I’ve heard weirder.”

“Well… anyway. His name is Helsknight and he’s from a nether-like dimension called Hels, apparently. I thought I’d driven him back to where he came from but I should’ve known he wouldn’t stay away for long.”

“To be frank, beating him in a rap battle isn’t quite as definitive as beating him in PVP,” said Joe.

Wels scowled. “The last time I tried PVP, you dropped an anvil on my head from a great height.”

“Oh yeah.” Joe snickered. “I did.”

“Leaving that aside,” said Etho, “it seems there’s an evil clone of you loose on the server, so we should probably deal with that. Helsknight, you said his name is?”

Wels nodded. “He looks exactly like me except his eyes are red, his armour is slightly greyer than mine, and his hair is a darker shade of blond.”

“Ohh, I noticed the darker armour,” said Etho. “I just thought it was the shade from my shop. I guess we’d better go find him, huh?”

“Yeah, I need to find him before he causes any more chaos. You guys should probably warn the other Hermits so they-.”

“No, we’re coming with you to find him,” Etho interrupted.

“It’ll be quicker if the three of us look together,” Joe added. “Plus, I’ve never met an evil clone before, so it would be rather thrilling to do so.”

Wels frowned at his friends. “Are you sure? He’s really dangerous. I don’t know exactly what he’s capable of, but he’s from a hellfire dimension, so...”

“As sure as the day is long,” replied Joe, patting his friend on the shoulder. “You need our help and we aren’t gonna abandon you.”

As Etho nodded, Wels gave a small smile. “Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it.”

“No worries. So where should we look first?” asked Etho.

“Well…” Wels thought for a moment. “He’s probably trying to cause some shenanigans on the server. If we check certain prominent places on the server, we’ll probably find him trying to lure me out somehow.”

“I’ll check the rest of the shopping district, then,” said Joe. “He might still be here.”

“I’ll have a look round the nether hub and the Upside Down,” Etho added. “You said he’s from a nether-like dimension so he might gravitate there. What about you, Wels?”

“I’m going to Bdubs’s castle,” said Wels. “It’s the most medieval build on the server, so if he isn’t there now, he’ll end up there eventually.”

“Okay, but be careful, Wels,” Etho said softly. “Don’t do anything reckless.”

“I won’t.”

With that, the group split up.

Wels flew straight over to Bdubs’s base. As he got closer, he couldn’t help marvelling at the sheer size and grandeur of the cliff and the castle sitting atop it. It was one of the grandest bases on the servers, so Wels felt sure he would find his clone here.

He landed atop the cliff and started looking around. As he explored further, he spotted the person he was looking for standing at the entrance to Bdubs’s castle.

“If you’re looking for your little friend Bdoubleo, he’s in the nether,” crowed Helsknight. “I watched him go through his portal.”

Wels glared up at his doppelganger. “You know I’m not looking for Bdubs.”

“Are you here to rap battle with me again, then?” Helsknight grinned. “I warn you: I’ve been practising.”

Shaking his head, Wels drew his sword. “No, Hels. I’m going to do what I should have done in the first place.”

Helsknight sighed and drew his own sword. “So boring. Come on, then.”

His doppelganger’s relaxed, indifferent manner sent a bolt of anger straight into Wels. Letting out a yell, he charged to attack.

Their battle lasted at least ten minutes, though to Wels, it felt like hours. He poured all his energy into his swings, attacking his evil clone with all the rage and fear that had threatened to consume him since Helsknight had disappeared into the nether all those months ago. He was done letting his negative emotions control his life.

Finally, Wels managed to knock Helsknight’s sword out of his hand and kick him to the ground, aiming his own sword at his evil clone’s neck.

Helsknight simply grinned evilly up at him. “You gonna kill me, Welsy? I wouldn’t do it if I were you; we Hels Hermits only get stronger when we die. If you kill me, I’ll come back with a vengeance. We have a special lava fountain in Hels that can-.”

“Oh, shut up,” snapped Wels suddenly. “I’m not going to kill you, but not because of any stupid threats you make. I don’t care what you have in Hels. I’m not going to kill you, because I’m merciful. But if you ever come back here again, I won’t be so forgiving. Do you understand?”

Helsknight simply stared back at him. “You’ve got some great friends here, Welsy. Better hold onto them in case something… happens.”

Wels narrowed his eyes. “You stay away from them. I swear to god, if you-.”

He hadn’t realised that he had lowered his hand slightly until Helsknight moved, fast as lightning, and kicked the sword out of his hand. Before he could react, Helsknight jumped up and grabbed him by the throat. He took two steps forward and threw Wels over the edge of the cliff.

The fall seemed to take only a split second, but the cliff was tall enough that Wels’s left leg broke immediately upon impacting the ground. He lay still in shock, too numb to cry, despite the searing pain in his leg, which was folded painfully underneath his body.

Helsknight appeared above him and effortlessly picked him up off the ground, again by the throat. He grinned, his face less than a foot from Wels’s.

“You know what else we have in Hels?” Helsknight taunted. “Fire. Lots of fire.”

He lifted his free hand, which was now engulfed in burning hot flames. Wels weakly struggled in his grip, trying to lean as far away from his counterpart as possible, as Helsknight slowly moved the fire closer to his face, taunting him with the fact that he couldn’t escape it.

The flames started to burn his face. He held his breath, trying not to let his pain show, trying not to give Helsknight the satisfaction.

But finally, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He let out a cry at the burning agony across the side of his face.

Helsknight barked a laugh and retracted his hand, as if all he’d been after was a reaction from Wels. “Maybe you should stick with the rap battles next time.”

With that, he dropped Wels on the ground and walked away.

Wels lay where he fell, unable to move through the burning pain in his face and leg. His chest moved quickly up and down as he struggled for oxygen, still winded from the battle.

“Wels!” yelled a familiar voice from somewhere behind him.

Seconds later, Joe appeared on his right and Etho on his left, their worried faces peering down at him.

“Is he okay?” Joe gasped.

“H-His face…!” Etho gently touched Wels’s burnt cheek. Wels could feel his friend’s cool fingers trembling. “Wels, can you hear me?”

Wels couldn’t speak, couldn’t reassure his friends that he would be okay. His leg would heal. His face, he wasn’t sure yet. The only thing he knew wouldn’t heal was the crushing feeling of failure, of knowing that because of said failure, an evil clone of himself was still running around the server, potentially hurting people he cared about. The pain in his leg and face served as an agonising reminder that he wasn’t strong enough to stop his doppelganger.

How was he supposed to protect other people when he couldn’t even protect himself?

#hermitcraft #welsknight #helsknight #joehills #etho #long post #angsty writing #Vaunna writes

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whittakerjodie · 4 years ago

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The Mask (13th Doctor X Reader X 8th Doctor)

Requested: by me because I’m in love with these dorks

Summary: It’s your turn to choose the adventure and, without another idea, you choose a masquerade ball. When you find yourself separated from the Doctor, you run into a mysterious and charismatic man who goes by the same name as your traveling partner...

A/N: I am so so sorry that I haven’t written in forever! I am in my first semester at college doing 16 credit hours and for great chunk of the semester I’ve also been working full time. I’m not, now, so I have a little bit more time, but I’m trying to finish this semester out strong. I hope that you enjoy this fic!

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: None that I can think of, it’s a ‘jealousy’ type fic if that is something you want to avoid!

“Good?” You whispered. The Doctor nodded, letting her hands fall from the sides of your face. The mask, which you had picked out from the TARDIS’ infinite dressing room, now rested neatly against your face, adding a bit of flair to the rest of your elaborate outfit. It was your turn to pick out where and when you went in the space-time machine. Having run out of ideas, your mind flashed back to the most recent movie you’d seen and in the end you proposed attending a masquerade ball. Purely for the aesthetics, you told yourself, although there was certainly some unconscious desires at play-

“How’s mine?” Your favorite time lord asked, having finished slipping on her mask. You gasped; clearly she’d had it for a long time. This was made evident by the gold intricately placed in complex circles against a black frame, the texture of which was dulled and beginning to fray from use and age. It fit nicely with her old fashioned suit, which was fashioned out of the same dark material, fitting her body awkwardly. Clearly she’d borrowed it from a past self. Her eyes, visible under the mask, seemed to have aged centuries from the second the mask had come into contact with her face to match it.

“It looks great” You said, certifying the outfits status. The Doctor grinned and held out a hand for you. You accepted it, enjoying the way her fingers curled around yours, transferring her warmth through your body. Her excitement, too, must’ve passed through your skin-level bond, because you could feel your heart racing as she led you out the doors towards the ball.

Within an instant, you were transported from the TARDIS’ interior dimension into a world filled with glitter and gold. It came in second place compared to the air of the room itself, which was occupied by the vibrations of the most glorious music you’d ever heard. People were everywhere, occupying every inch of the dance floor and beyond, blurring into a sea of movement. The Doctor squeezed your hand, and you threw yourself into the waves.

After about a half hour, you were about done with the dancing mess. At least for a time. Your clothes were beginning to stick to your body, your body's natural cooling function turning into a frustrating adhesive. Not to mention your feet were starting to ache, begging you to take it easy for a time. The Doctor, being an immortal ball of energy, was still enthusiastically throwing herself around the dance floor, forgoing any rhythm that she might’ve been recommended to meet. You flashed her a smile before turning to the snack table, fancying a drink. Reaching for the punch bowl, your movements were interrupted by the startling cough that started next to you.

You took a step back, concerned building for the man who was leaned against the wall, doubled over.

“Are you alright?” you asked, trying to remember everything you knew about preventing choking. Just as your hands moved towards the man, however, he straightened up with ease, all tension gone from his face. The only sign that anything was amiss were his eyebrows, which started to furrow.

“There was alcohol in my drink.” He said, as if offended. You chuckled. “Laying off, Hm?” Still, you avoided the punch bowl that he was glancing warily at and stepped in front of the next one.

“Don’t drink from that one either,” He recommended.

“... Why not?” You asked, confused and slightly irritated. “Not enough sugar. No fun.” You laughed. “Not enough sugar? What kind of a picker eater- drinker, I should say, are you?”

“I’m not picky,” The man whined. His eyes drifted from yours to the accessory surrounding them. “Where did you get that mask?”

From the softness of his words you instinctively raised your hand, fingertips brushing against the piece. “A… friend got it for me. Do you like it?”

“It looks familiar” He said, with a curious gaze.

“Does that mean you like it?” You whispered again. With his face so close, inspecting your mask, you needn’t speak too loudly. Face heating up, you cleared your throat. “Where’s yours?”

“My what?”

“Your mask. It is a masquerade ball” He paused and blinked, as if just remembering where he was. Then his face lit up, his body jumping quickly as his hands flew to his pockets. The mask he produced from them seemed to be of a standard shape and size; it was the design that caught you off guard. Golden circles covered the black frame, which was neither dulled or frayed but a healthy, vibrant shade. It was the same mask that the Doctor wore in the next room.

“Do you like it?” He asked coyly. Before he could cover up his features with the mask, you put a hand on his wrist, eyes scanning over his face. There wasn’t a lot of similarity, but you knew that regeneration was a lottery. Having met up with the Doctor’s 10th incarnation far too many times to count, you were well acquainted with the Doctor and their species’ habit for changing their face. He glanced over to your hand on his wrist and swiftly removed your iron grip. In an even quicker moment, he pulled your mask from where it rested and replaced it with his own.

Before you could process the change, your stolen mask was on his face.

“There! Since you liked mine so much. Now it’s yours.”

You tried to speak, but could only manage a sputter for several seconds until the shock released its hand from your vocal cords and you gasped: “Doctor?”

That threw him off guard. He slipped the mask upwards so it rested against his curls, eyes narrowing. “How do you know that name?” He murmured.

“So you are the Doctor.” You said incredulously. “I’ve no idea which one but-”

“How do you know that I’m the Doctor?” He replied, tone turning sour with seriousness. Then he backed off a little. “Have we met before? You must understand, I have a habit of, well, forgetting myself. And everything else.”

“I travel with you!” You clarified, starting to get excited at the prospect of meeting a new (or, to put it chronologically, old, depending on where he was in the Doctor's life) incarnation of the Doctor. Realizing that your words might’ve been a mistake, you covered your mouth with a small squeak. From behind your hand, you worriedly asked: “Was I not supposed to tell you that?”

The new Doctor laughed. “I’m sure it’s no trouble. Luckily for you, I also happen to have the habit of running into my past and future selves, friends included!” The joy lacing his words put you at ease and you lowered your hand from it’s muzzle position only to have it captured by him immediately.

“Come,” He said, tugging you along as more people began to arrive at the snack table. “I want to meet you, properly!”

When the new Doctor mentioned that he wanted to meet you properly, you had no idea that dancing was his intention. But, soon enough, you found yourself ensconced in the commotion once again. Completely oblivious to the organized dance that was sweeping through the room, The new Doctor raised your entwined hands in the formation of a waltz, his other hand resting in a respectful position on the middle of your back. It’s warmth, so similar to your own Doctors, seeped through the fabric and created goosebumps along your arms.

“So, which one are you?” You asked, voice rising above the violins and cellos.

“Incarnations, you mean? I’m currently in my 8th body. I assume you travel with my 9th?”

“13th, actually,”

The 8th Doctor paused, looking confused for a moment. His lapse in movement caused him to bump into another partygoer, which jostled him back into the dance. “Ah, wearing a bit thin, then…”

“How do you mean?” You asked, concerned at his comment.

“Not to worry,” He said with an enormous smile. “How about you? Where are you from?”

“Earth”

“When?”

“2020”

The 8th Doctor cringed. “I really must come up with better questions”

“I’ve got one,” Said a new but familiar voice. The Doctor, your Doctor, stood only a fraction of an inch away, hands on her hips. ‘8′ gave her a once over, then looked at you and acknowledged the recognition in your eyes.

“Ah, you must be my future self!” He said excitedly. “Wonderful”

“Yes, it is,” your Doctor said hurriedly. “We really should get going, shouldn’t we Y/N?”

“But we’re dancing,” you protested.

“Yes, they want to dance,” the other Doctor reinforced. “Surely there’s no… problem?” You frowned at the inclination in his voice, and so did your Doctor.

“Then they can dance. With me?” your Doctor asked. It sounded authoritative, but the lift of her tone at the end left a hint of worry behind.

“Well, sure-” Before you could finish your sentence, your hand left the 8th Doctors and landed on the shoulder of your Doctor, who began to spin you around the room and away from her past self.

“Where’d your mask go?” She asked, hands gripping your waist tightly.

“He swapped ours,” You replied, trying to keep your voice steady as your Doctor dipped you. The world stopped in that moment, the Doctor’s eyes moving over the gold design. You imagined it would be necessary to breathe soon, but you didn’t want to disrupt the air between the two of you. To keep you steady, the Doctor's hands moved to your upper back, making you shudder.

“Well, jokes on him,” She whispered, as if proving herself in some momentous feat. “Now we match”

When you were raised back into a standing position you found yourself wobbling a bit, still dizzy from the seconds you’d spent near horizontal, only able to focus on your Doctor's voice and presence. Thankfully, there was another presence there to keep you steady.

“You don’t mind if I borrow them for a moment, surely?” the Doctors 8th incarnation asked, arm slipping around your waist.

“I don’t mind,” You squeaked. As you were turned away, you got the feeling that your Doctor did mind. The song ended and another one began, sweeping you off your feet. Or perhaps that was the 8th Doctor himself, who was moving the two of you throughout the room; an impressive feat given your close proximity to the other occupants- and each other.

“I do mind, actually,” your Doctor said grumpily a few moments later, easily and swifting transitioning you from his arms back to hers. Her old incarnation looked stunned for a moment before you lost sight of him. Everything was beginning to blur together, and soon it was hard to tell whose arms you were actually in at any given moment.

“Getting a little bit territorial in your old age, are you?” The 8th Doctor snipped over your shoulder. You resisted the urge to add fuel to the fire growing between them, trying to keep your mind on the music and the dance. However, your mind was distracted and your feet refused to move as they should.

“Old age? You mean more mature, wise-”

“No, I mean territorial” Your Doctor shook her head, trying to guide the two of you away from her past self, only to find that the way was blocked by too many people.

“Or maybe I just remember your plate being a little full” She challenged. “How’s Grace? Charley? Fi-”

“Okay, enough!” You yelped, not exactly anxious to hear all the names involved in the Doctor’s romantic history. Slightly out of breath, and incredibly dizzy, you glanced around for an uninhabited corner of the room that you could take advantage of. You didn’t find one, but you did see, out of the corner of your eye, a man dumping something into the punch bowl that you had been standing at previously.

“See?” You heaved, trying to catch your breath and end their ego contest. “Weird, suspicious stuff. Adventure, right? Go fetch!”

Both of them looked at you with wide eyes. Luckily, you didn’t have to suppress laughter, as your lack of air intake was doing that for you well enough. They looked at each other next.

“This isn’t over,” your Doctor grumbled, as she started moving towards the suspicious activity. As the back of her and the other doctors' suits entered your vision, you thanked the Universe for a break. It wasn’t too welcoming, and you found that each Doctor took one of your hands into theirs and began to lead you along.

__________________________________

It was another 3 hours of challenging quips and hand holding before you finally managed to get the break you so desperately craved, leaning against the TARDIS’ exterior as the two Doctors spoke of the past, the future and the present. It was nice to see them finally getting along. The adventure had brought the two of them together quite nicely, reminding them that they were one and the same despite the bodies and years separating them. Their conversation wrapped up smoothly, with smiles. Then, it was your turn to say goodbye.

“I can’t hang on to the mask, I don’t think” You said sadly, slipping his mask from your face. “I think that if I did, it wouldn’t be in the wardrobe for my Doctor to find. It could conjure up another one, though… maybe?”

“Your Doctor,” The 8th Doctor murmured with a smile. “I like that sentiment.”

Your cheeks grew warmer as you placed the mask into his palm, gently closing his fingers around it. He had taken your mask off of his face, but didn’t hand it over.

“You don’t mind if I keep this one, do you? I’ll put in a good word with the TARDIS to bring it back to you.”

Not entirely grasping the time travel and not bothering to, you nodded, knowing that somehow it would all work out. You glanced over his shoulder to see your Doctor, watching the two of you not with a look of apprehension, but with comforted observation. The 8th Doctor matched your gaze, chuckling to himself. “I suppose I best return to my own travels and time. But, Y/N, make no mistake. I’m very much looking forward to our future.” At the end of his sentence, with his words still echoing through the air, he raised your entwined hands and pressed a delicate kiss to the back of yours, with a squeeze as a promise for another time- One that was steps away.

Clutching your hand to your chest, you watched him disappear into his TARDIS, which began to dematerialize moments later. There was a small ache, but it was soon remedied by your Doctor approaching, with a distant look in her eyes. Clearly, the memories and experiences of another lifetime were beginning to resurface.

“Do I get one from you, too?” You asked to cheer her up. She raised a brow and you held out your other hand, the one untouched. Your Doctor slowly bowed her head to place her lips against it, humming softly. After she was done, she turned it over to place another kiss on the inside of your wrist, against the place where your heart beat in a rapid succession.

“Still trying to one-up him?” You whispered, voice slightly wavering. Your Doctor smiled, unlocking the TARDIS.

“Something tells me I don’t need to. Our future, remember?” Your future, together. Seeing the universe, together. You followed her into the time machine, heart full and eager for more.

#8th doctor x reader #13th doctor x reader #13th doctor imagine #8th doctor imagine #doctor who imagine #the doctor x reader

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crusherthedoctor · 4 years ago

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Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars - Chapter 6-7 Interlude

Complications

“Say Tails, didn't you upgrade the Tornado before we arrived in Viridonia?”

“...Oh yeah. I did, didn't I? Thanks for reminding me.”

Tails shuffled his hand from behind his back, and quickly pulled out a small device, to which everyone displayed varying levels of raised eyebrows in response to how exactly he managed to do that. With a simple press of a button, he patiently turned his attention to the sky, which still had not a single cloud to its visage.

Confused by this, Sonic slowly looked all around the arid landscape. “What are we waiting for? We gotta go get it, right? No point standing around if it's not-... ...oh, there it is.” The moment he looked back ahead, there was a look of wonder on his face, as the famous plane was right where it previously wasn’t mere seconds ago, floating in the air triumphantly. Its engines were roaring with life.

“That was... almost as fast as me. Almost.”

“That's awesome!” Amy cried out happily. She had an equally amazed Cream and Cheese tucked under her arms to prevent her friends’ small frames from being blown away by the sheer force generated by the Tornado.

“Not bad, indeed,” Rouge added, after using her own gift of flight to examine the plane from above. “Seems like quite a breakthrough, little guy.”

“Yep!” Tails beamed, his tails gliding up and down in sync with his visible excitement. “With a push of a button, I can summon it to wherever we are! So if we need it in short notice, it'll be no trouble at all.”

Sonic ruffled his young friend's head once again, grinning all the while. “That's my bro! No way this WON'T come in handy!” He paused, as he put a finger to his chin. “Could have been handy beforehand too, come to think of it...”

“Absolutely impeccable work, Tails,” Lutrudis applauded. “At least some of our greatest geniuses aren't foul in spirit.” She was evidently unperturbed by the force causing her ponytail to fly in her face more than once. She brushed it aside every time, and her smile didn’t falter.

“But will it have enough room for all of us? Though I suppose Miss Rouge will be unbothered...” She turned her head up at the flying bat, before her ponytail flew in her face yet again.

“Well, there's four seats now, so technically we'd be just one short. But...” The fox motioned towards the wing. “That hasn't stopped Sonic before... even when there are seats available.”

“True,” Sonic confirmed, with another trademark smirk. “Now let's get out of here, I'm sweating like an Eggman who's about to be foiled.”

“...Me too,” Lutrudis agreed as she fluttered a hand to fan herself, unable to come up with a clever comparison of her own. Amy was likewise quick to nod in agreement.

---

After returning to the castle, and after a couple of showers the moment they returned, Lutrudis directed the gang to the kitchen. But not before two members of the group were finally given their gifts, after Lutrudis made sure to clean those as well...

“~It’s so beautiful!~” Amy’s line of sight was hyper focused on her new silver necklace, its emerald jewel matching the girl’s eyes perfectly. Cream was likewise enticed by her own necklace, and its garnet jewel was a similar match for the bunny’s own eyes. The two of them couldn’t have been any more over the moon with their gifts, with Amy practically dancing in giddy ecstasy. “I can’t get over how it looks!”

“Thank you so much for this, Trudy!” Cream shimmered brightly.

“But wouldn’t they have cost a lot?” Amy wondered. “I wouldn’t want you to burn a hole in your wallet for our sake...”

“It’s cool,” Lutrudis waved a hand, her tail swishing happily in response to seeing her fellow companions’ joy. “I couldn’t resist seeing the looks on your faces. And honestly, the price was nothing compared to the real difficulty of washing away the stench of oil,” she joked.

Although the visitors (except Rouge) should have been long used to the shifts between the rooms in the castle by this point, they still found themselves caught off guard by the kitchen’s unique appearance. Far from the reds of the halls, the blues of the bathroom, or the whites of the greenhouse, the kitchen’s primary colours were brown and black, and yet it was not drab in the slightest. With its warm shades, and combined with the wooden floor and the brick walls, it almost gave the impression of a country aesthetic, even though no such aesthetic was truly present in any obvious form.

They remained impressed with how the castle was able to maintain an overarching sense of comfort and beauty, despite each room being different in its own way, sometimes vastly so. Rouge also couldn’t help but wonder to herself if any of those pretty crystals were nearby... for reasons, of course. But alas, they had more important things to attend to. Namely, Rouge’s reports about them.

“So then,” Sonic started. “What did you find out about them?”

“Well if you spare me just a little minute... ah, here they are.” Rouge pulled out a small handful of documents from behind her back, and casually tossed them onto the biggest table in the kitchen. “There you have them. Knock yourself out.”

“Are we... allowed to read these documents?” Lutrudis questioned, after showing hesitance to do so. “Since it is G.U.N. work and all, they might get ever so slightly incensed that you’re sharing such documents with little old us...”

Rouge placed her hands on her hips, unfazed as ever. “They don’t have to know. It’ll be our little secret.” A smirk planted itself on her lips. “Besides, since Sonic is the one who actually saves the world from all the things that threaten it, it’s more useful in your hands anyway, let’s be honest.”

Lutrudis looked at Sonic, who himself turned to Tails, who then turned to Amy, who likewise turned to Cream, and she looked at Cheese, to which he looked back at Lutrudis.

“Chao...?” Cheese asked.

After a pause, they all shrugged, unanimously finding no reason to debate with the bat. And with that, they got right down to business. Predictably, Sonic was quick to skim through them, and at first, he seemed somewhat unimpressed with what he was reading.

“These... aren’t telling me anything we don’t already know,” he complained. “Different abilities depending on the colour, grey crystals are less effective than colored ones, stronger reactions when more of the same colour are used together... We know all this...”

“Keep reading,” Rouge commanded firmly. “There’s bound to be something.”

“Fine, will do...”

“Actually Sonic... I don’t remember THIS part,” Amy noted, as she quickly brought the file she was reading over to Sonic. “It says here that with the right amount of Chao and crystals present, they can directly open the way to the Ethereal Zone...?”

“Really?” Tails asked. “I... guess that’s not a conclusion without merit, but for all of Eggman’s antics, I thought it’d be more complicated than that?”

“It is, in a sense,” Rouge answered. She walked over to a nearby chair to lean against. “The Chao and crystals can open the way, yes, but you need a lot of them to do it. A lot of them. And not just a lot of them, but in the case of crystals, a lot of every individual type.”

“So more crystals than I have, then?” Lutrudis pondered, with a stroke of her hair. “But... they aren’t finite, they can respawn. Does it not count if it’s a... erm, replacement crystal?”

“Since they’re no less effective, logic would dictate that they would count. But doing it that way would likely take forever, especially if you’re as impatient as Dr. Eggman. Not to mention he’s already hunting after the Chao as well anyway. So he’s probably just finding crystals anywhere and everywhere he can for the sake of it being faster.”

“How many exactly?” Sonic asked. For all his comments at Eggman’s expense, he knew the doctor having access to so many of them would be no joke.

“More than any of us have seen so far. You’d practically need a mountain of them.”

“Sheesh... But where would Eggman be able to find such an amount? We’ve seen multiple spots with plenty of them, like the cave under here, but not to the level of what you’re describing...”

“Hold up,” Tails said, as he pointed to a particular section of the file he was reading. “There are people who live in the Ethereal Zone...? Or lived, past tense?”

Sonic’s ears stood up. “Okay, fair play, I DEFINITELY don’t recall that part. How did you find that out? Have you been there or something?” he asked half-sarcastically.

“Do you really think all those fancy murals and paintings around here are just a coincidence?” Rouge pointed out, in a playful tone with a wagging finger.

“Murals? Paintings? What are you...” He stopped, as he slowly recalled a number of recent occurrences. “You mean... like the ones in the desert town...”

“Or those carvings in Zephyr Mountain...” Tails recalled.

“And the ones by the meadows...” Lutrudis added. “Every one of them includes people in their visuals...”

“And those aren’t the only ones,” Rouge confirmed. “The Ethereal Zone may be little more than a myth to most people on this island, but the legends have always had an influence in their lives and culture.”

“And their buildings, considering some of them are prone to glowing,” Sonic dryly quipped. “You’d think that would be enough to confirm it’s real.”

“So is that gross monster who works for Eggman one of the people... or things... that live in there?” Amy asked, understandably puzzled to say the least. “It wouldn’t be involved in Eggman’s schemes for nothing, right?”

“Oh, so we DO have another Chaos on our hands?” Sonic continued, hands on hips. “These beats are sounding more and more like Chaos to me... minus the whole mystery world dimension thingymajig part, I guess. Right down to involving the Chao...” As if on cue, his attention was focused on a lone playful Chao swinging from his arm, which he soon tried to prevent from falling off.

“At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wraith was a mutated Chao too,” he added, still focused on the thankfully unmutated Chao.

“I doubt that, but this is where it gets weird...”

“As opposed to everything else about this, which is perfectly normal...?”

Rouge rolled her eyes as she continued. “If it was someone or something that belonged inside the Ethereal Zone... then what’s it doing out of the Zone, if Eggman still hasn’t unlocked it for himself? Did it get out by itself, and if so, how did it do it? And furthermore, if this one managed to get out, how come we’ve seen no others like it?”

She sighed to herself, with a clenched fist. “Not even the A.R.K. reports were this complicated. At least with that one, the biggest hurdle was going to space.”

Everyone went silent. Though Rouge’s documents were definitely giving them more to work with, there were still some unsolved mysteries even now, and as far as they knew, Eggman was still in no rush to clue them in on the rest of the details. As they all quietly thought about where to go from here, Cream was the one who broke the silence.

“You’re really good at finding out things, Miss Rouge,” the rabbit said cheerfully, despite not fully understanding the documents to the same extent as her older friends. Rouge seemed to be caught off guard by the sudden compliment, but even she couldn’t help but smile at Cream’s innocence.

---

Since they still hadn’t decided on what their next course of action would be, everyone took the time to split up for a short while. Rouge offered to search around Lime Shores to see if she could uncover new info, and Amy demanded to go with her, possibly out of wariness as to whether the jewel hunter slash government agent was up to anything shady. Rouge didn’t even bother arguing with it, knowing full well that Amy’s stubbornness was comparable to that of the Blue Blur himself... or the Black Blur that she was even more familiar with. Must be a hedgehog thing.

Cream wasn’t sure if leaving Amy and Rouge to themselves was a good idea or not, considering she had some vague awareness of their past history with each other. But she decided to stick with Lutrudis despite that, confident that her older sister figure and the bat lady would be able to set any potential disagreements aside for now. The rest of the Chao were following them, as Lutrudis promised to take the diminutive creatures to somewhere special. As they were walking through the castle hallway however, with the rabbit holding the horse’s hand, something seemed to be troubling her...

“Trudy?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I confess to something?”

“Confess?” Lutrudis couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle. “As if you would ever need to confess to anything. But sure, you can tell me whatever you’re comfortable with telling.”

“I’m worried about what Dr. Eggman might do next...”

“Eggman?” The horse stopped in her tracks, and she made sure to kneel down to Cream’s height, albeit slowly so as to not put too much strain on her legs. “What’s he done to get you all concerned?”

“Well... all that stuff that happened in the desert. Those monsters that came to life...” Cream tugged on her left ear, looking to the side with minor anxiousness. “And the big ship that created the big hurricane...” She shuddered at the memory, holding tightly onto Cheese.

“Chao...!” Cheese muttered, slightly dismayed at temporarily being unable to breathe.

“Dr. Eggman does a lot of bad things, and I wish he would stop. But he’s doing really scary things now... What will happen next? And what does he want to do with all these Chao?” She was quick to turn her gaze to Lutrudis’ eyes, having once again seeked out the resemblance to that of her own mother’s.

Lutrudis glanced around at all the Chao floating above them. They exchanged various looks of concern, yet she simply smiled at every one of them, as if to ease their individual tensions. She turned that sympathetic smile to Cream, and gently stroked her cheek. “But we know what he’ll do next, sweetie... He’ll be ranting incoherently and screaming filthy words after we strike a blow to his overstuffed ego.” She followed it up with a wink, as Cream giggled at her comment. “Nothing Eggman has done has stopped you or your friends before, and that won’t change now.”

“I guess you’re right, heh,” Cream admitted, with a nervous smile. “I know it’s silly to be afraid, but...”

“Hey, don’t say that, there’s nothing silly about it at all.” She put both of her hands on the rabbit’s shoulders. “There’s no shame in feeling afraid, it happens to all of us. And heck, after everything you’ve been through, I’d dare say you’re brave where it truly counts.”

“Really?”

“Chao?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“...No, you wouldn’t,” Cream’s smile grew less nervous, as she nuzzled up against the horse’s chest to hug her. Lutrudis, still evidently not used to receiving them, took a moment or two to react, but slowly wrapped her arms around the bunny in turn, and rubbed the little one’s back. Her tail started swishing again.

“In fact... how about we do a little something to commemorate your previous, brave adventures?”

“Huh?” Cream gave her an inquisitive look. “What do you mean?”

“Well you see, you wouldn’t believe it coming from these hands, but I know a thing or two about knitting...”

---

“I’m still not used to Eggman being this hush hush...” Tails muttered, as he and Sonic took the time to have a calming walk outside. Though they were now accustomed to hanging around the castle, the size of its walls still amazed them greatly, and if they hadn’t been discussing Eggman affairs, the tranquility of the forest would have lowered their guards completely.

“Me neither,” Sonic agreed, as he took a swig of his fresh can of Chaos Cola. If he wasn’t already aware that Trudy was hospitable, he was very grateful for the contents in her fridge. “The doc would usually be the FIRST to tell us about his plan.”

“He even sent us a letter one time.”

“Well, that wasn’t actually him, but...” He brushed the correction aside, figuring it wasn’t important, since it’s still something he’d probably do. He made sure to cherish the therapuetic sunshine that was seeping through the greenery. “He’s never been shy about what he’s up to. Even when he’s tried to be more secretive, he could never resist giving it all away. But this time... even with his hints, we have incomplete info... Like that Wraith! We know it’s evil, works for Eggman, may or may not hail from the Ethereal Zone... MIGHT be another mutated Chao...?”

“He said all the stuff he’s been doing lately is connected,” Tails remembered, as he rubbed his chin intently. He took a moment to admire the pristine condition of the lake nearby. “But... how? So much of it feels so disconnected. He wants more Chao and crystals, that part’s easy to understand, but how does all the rest factor into it? And why has he made the Wraith part of it?”

“I bet he’s laughing it up right now,” Sonic grumbled out of irritation, with the frown to match. “Probably thinks we’re dummies for not knowing every last oh so brilliant detail of his convoluted spider web.”

“But we will get to the bottom of it, right?” Tails suggested with a hint of hope. “Don’t forget, we’re not on our own here. We don’t know where the Chaotix ended up, but we’ve still got detectives on our side. AND Rouge is a G.U.N. agent!”

“One of the only competent ones...” Sonic murmured to himself.

Tails was about to counter the hedgehog’s dismissive statement, but he stopped himself, with his body language indicating he actually agreed deep down, if reluctantly. “G.U.N. or no G.U.N, Rouge is still really smart, isn’t she? And... I know she’s been kinda sneaky a couple of times in the past, but I think we can trust her now.”

“Yeah, cause neither of us are Knuckles. We don’t guard a Master Emerald, so we have nothing to worry about.” Sonic chuckled out loud. “Just hope she and Amy stay out of each other’s hair for long enough, after what happened with Emerl...”

“Huh? Did something happen between them?”

“Eh, it was ages ago, maybe they made up since then.” He followed it up with another chuckle. “Maybe they were fighting over me,” he joked.

“.........”

Tails promptly went quiet, as if he were reminded of something from the back of his mind at that exact moment. He glanced smoothly in Sonic’s direction, attempting to maintain a relaxed disposition. Sonic didn’t seem to notice anything suspicious.

The silence continued. It seemed there was no reason for the peace to be interrupted, certainly not with the gorgeous view they were still fortunate to witness as they carried on walking together. But the moment Sonic took another sip of his Chaos Cola, the younger of the two decided to ask just one tiny, innocent question...

“So do you have a thing for Trudy?”

He almost felt guilty for causing Sonic to nearly choke on his drink, but not enough to hide the growing smirk on his face upon witnessing his friend’s abrupt change in behaviour. After taking a few seconds to cease the resulting coughing fit, and compose himself, Sonic calmly turned to Tails, an admirably constructed demeanour that was nonetheless betrayed instantly by his spines shooting up in defiance.

“Sorry, what?”

“I mean, y’know, I was just thinking that... maybe... from what I’ve observed... you might just be... possibly developing... a teensy weensy little... thiiiiiing...” The fox shuffled his eyebrows, complete with vague hand motions. “Foooorrrrrr...” He proceeded to subtly mimic a galloping horse.

Sonic blinked, and stayed silent for a couple of seconds, though it sure didn’t feel like just a couple of seconds. After an uneasy pause, another small chuckle eventually emerged from his mouth, and this time it was followed by a brief period of mocking laughter. Most people wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but Tails knew his buddy well, and he could spot the fakeness of his laugh from a mile away.

“Me? Seriously?” Sonic shook his head to dismiss the claim, though if one examined closer, it seemed to be more for his own sake than that of his friend. “You really think I’d be that kind of guy?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it...”

“Yeah, I know there isn’t, but... c’mon, it’s me we’re talking about! Can you imagine me in a situation like that? It’d be a laugh riot, wouldn’t it? Just wouldn’t work out.”

“Why not?”

“Too stuck in my ways, aren’t I?” Sonic shrugged casually, before he glanced at the inviting scenery once more. The desert may have looked nicer than most of its kind, but the fresh air was greatly preferable to him. He gazed at the leaves flowing freely through the calm breeze, and although he brought no attention to it, it was clear that he found it a convenient metaphor for the current subject.

“Settling down just isn’t me,” he continued. “And it never will be. I’d never give up my life, even in my old age.”

“Do you need to settle down, though?” Tails mused out loud. “No one ever said there’s only one way for these things to work out.”

The hedgehog almost seemed to ponder his friend’s words for a fleeting moment, and slowly appeared to be lost in thought. But, as if sensing he was lured into a false sense of security, he quickly shook his head again, freeing himself of the apparent curse that Tails had placed upon him... So he thought.

“Well anyway, the point is, that’s not what’s going on. You know I get chummy with people pretty quickly, even when they tried to kill me before the fact! And sure, Trudy may be cute, but-”

“~Oh, you think so?~”

Sonic’s eyes froze, and the barely concealed grin directed at him was not helping one bit.

“COMPLIMENTING A FRIEND ISN’T A CRIME!” He cried out defensively, and closed his eyes tightly. After taking a moment to breathe, he calmed himself down, and raised a pointed finger.

“...Nothing’s happening. Nothing’s happening. Just getting on with another friend is all.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all, yes.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Absolutely sure?”

“...Are you... wanting something to happen?”

“No no,” Tails raised his hands, though his grin hadn’t quite fully disappeared. “I believe you,” he claimed, in a tone that implied a complete and utter lack of authenticity to that claim. “Just wanted to know what was happening.”

“Well, nothing’s happening,” Sonic reaffirmed bluntly, though a smirk was beginning to form on his own face as well. Even he had to admit the banter was entertaining, and considering who Tails had lived with for most of his life, it’s not like this mischievous side of him developed from nowhere. “So there you have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth.”

Tails immediately burst out laughing, only refraining from laughing harder in order to not attract attention from anyone who could be hearing. Sonic’s initial confusion very quickly switched to annoyance with himself, as he smacked his forehead upon realising his choice of speech. He pointed another finger to prevent any further commentary, to which Tails simply raised his hands again, and mimicked the act of zipping his mouth.

His amusement still refused to actually vanish.

---

Back to Chapter 6...

#Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars #Crusher's Fanfiction #Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

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siremasterlawrence · 4 years ago

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This is collaborative effort between @storyofkink and I.

I use to be a regular, ordinary and boring cop for Gotham PD. I witness something extraordinary on duty one day that swept me away, I am given this wonderful gift of in comprehensible power that I will myself to master, and now I can create a world I desire. However, there is one man in my way some other villain with powers that may or may not rival mine.

My name is Calvin Adam’s also known as a Purple Wave the newest criminal in good ole Gotham City, and I thought it should be known I followed Dick Grayson back here for a case. “You should have been more aware of your surroundings Mr. Grayson, but don’t worry the door is locked we are secure enough.” Dick jolts up watching the locks click to the side, the windows shutter down quickly. He stands up from bending on to the sink backing up to the beginning of stall behind him.The lights above begins to blink coming in and out covering my face to hide in the darkness of the shade.

“Poor you not even sure who you are anymore afraid to be the man you were. Unwillingly to allow yourself to still be Robin, instead you choose to be this new character Nightwing. Oh brother! Mwahahahahahahahaha such a foolish act trying to differentiate yourself from the Bat.” I confidently saying shoving him in to the wall giving me enough access to slam my fist in his face. “Give in to me Mr. Dick Grayson you will feel so much better when you are bowing to me, give in to your body needs to submit instead of fighting.” I say.

“Nightwing my newly minted loyal slave get on your knees, and explain to me your plan to destroy Cadamus for the Batman’s attention.” I demand. A painting begins to be drawn for me with Nightwing standing tall above the Cadamus building backflip crashing in to the window. The glass came down breaking across the floor he dashes through the top floor. He opens the main pipe line dropping a gas bomb in to the pipe line system, and watches every floor blow up. He presses his mask as the input feed clears the view he hops to the other side.

A young man stares out frozen in a tube lost his eyes green with evil unable to move. Nightwing logs on to the lap top system downloading all of Cadamus logs then typing in a code the young man is free. The tube lifts up as he falls to the ground soon he rises giving us that evil glare. “Relax, we freed you to serve our Master Lawrence see.” Nightwing says to him turning a switch as Conner Els mind is hijacked. Superboy is realized floating off the ground he flew us through ceiling till we break through the roof.

He uses his heat rays to blow up Cadamus and their he is Clark Kent in his annoyingly befuddling nerdy way. He tilts his glasses spotting us as we fly away he chases after us all according to his plans. We land on top of a abandon building Clark lands in a It of a attitude, and I smile watching my two slow bois launch an attack. While they keep him busy I close my eyes letting the area be consume with mg purple haze. I smile enjoying the frantic expression on Superman’s face, Night holds on to his right under arm, and Superboy on his left.

I rush at him punching him in the guy as he keels over, I sending him flying with a upper cute to his chin, and he free falling fats dragging on the ground. “Pathetic Clark just like these two fools you will fail erasing your will, and I can see it in your eyes fading away. Be my champion my Superman.” I finally speak again. Clark feet give in dropping to his knees he can’t help be mine. “Good boi, so much better right to be my slave feel the freedom of true slavery.” Clark accepts my last words before his descent.

Bruce Wayne exits his elevator at Wayne Enterprises heading to his limo he is shock to see Dick Grayson blocking him from his door. Bruce is weary to see Dick smiling at him in complete reversal of personality of who he really is. Dick opens the limo door so the two can enter and are transporting them to another dimension. Bruce freaks out but before he can react Dick dawn his Nightwing costume. The three slaves prep launching in the air they form a triangle force of power, and they go at it fighting head on three against one.

The Bat costume flows in the air taunting Bruce, his anger soars high above them in a fit, and the two of them go at it trying to reach it. Bruce reaches it quite the sexy silver daddy in that outfit I can’t my eyes hero worshipping him, and I knew soon enough he will belong to me i always. “Bruce you will never win this war against the criminals of Gotham City a evil power house. Serve me Bruce Wayne, be only mine my love, and give in to the darkness within you. Yeah that’s right.” My voice is raising as he burns his free will away.

The end.

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0yakal · 4 years ago

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Fictober Day 1: no, come back!

Maddox crouched low behind the bushes, his red beard snagging stray thorns. He brought a hand out to smooth it out. Eyes peering up the edge, he watched the device he had set down. It was metal sphere, swirls and circles etched on the surface of the hollow ball. It gave a soft click, only trained ears able to hear. The top gave off a small puff of steam before opening and peeling out like an orange. It gave off a glimmer, a rainbow sheen. The device, one a good friend of Maddox’s had made, was infused with magic and compressed sound, both having the ability to draw fairies. Maddox had always been a good fairy broker, but this device got him to the top of his game.

Maddox checked his surroundings. In a normal instance, he wouldn’t have been too close, but for what he was pining for, it required quick access. The fairy he was after, they called her Cynth, was one of a kind and shot around like pollen, hard to be caught.

The thick jungle and humid air seemed to permanently cake everything it touched in sweat. Coarse vines draped over thick, knotted trees. Maddox shifted his feet and wiped an arm over his forehead. He didn’t see anything yet, even after the hour he had been standing there. Maddox sighed. Some thought what Maddox did was wrong, but what they didn’t know was that a lot of the time he relocated fairies. The one’s not in preserves, the one’s not safe, were what he searched out for. The ones he bought, he made sure to find good homes with good people. He was paid for it, but how else was he supposed to live?

With the fox-like reflects he had acquired with the job, he shifted from the leaves. Stealth was of the utmost importance. The device was ten feet away from where he stood. He scanned the area, making sure he hadn’t missed anything or was disturbing anything either. A few fairies had flocked to the globe, Maddox grabbed the jar at his side, slipping fingers behind is large belt. The rudimentary jar was another thing is buddy had invented. It connected to bubbles in extra dimension spaces, large enough for fairies, but not complicated enough magic to create a full bond between the two-realms. He screwed the lid off and the sickly sweet smell rolled off in layers. The nearby fairies we're affected by the aroma. They gave graceful arcs and twirls as they lazily made their way to the jar. It was like watching a carnival, each elegant lady full of vivid colors. They wafted into the jar and disappeared.

Once the lot of them were inside, he fastened the cap on and hung it on his belt once more.

Maddox bent down to the device and tapped the tops of the four edges that had split open to create the flower-like structure. They retracted and it became safe to pick up once more. He continued his walk as he searched for the next spot he thought would work best. Dodging tree branches that loomed over him and shaded the sky, stepping over roots and poisonous plants, Maddox found his spot.

At first appearance, it seemed no different than the remainder of the jungle. If one dug more, they could notice small, key factors: the increased hum of more fairies, the greener environment, and well-placed plants that thrived like no other could.

He bent low placing it on the ground. Before the ball left his fingers, he heard a sound. A sound he didn’t recognize. The sound had once been described to him. And it hadn’t been good at all.

Maddox stayed as still as he could be. It was good he was already hunched over. Less of a target.

The leaves rustled behind him. Chattering birds added a soundtrack to the tense air, increasing Maddox’s pumping heart. He shouldn’t have been scared, Dougan wouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help it.

Before his eyes, a twinkle danced. It was the fairy he had spent ten months trying to find. Maddox was torn between the opportunity of catching her, and being eaten by the thing behind him.

Involuntarily, his hand twitched, almost as if to touch his equipment. Cynth realized he wasn’t part of the scenery. Her hummingbird wings ruffled and increased to a steady flutter the same speed as aircraft fliers, and she zoomed off. Maddox’s arm extended more.

”no, come back!” he exclaimed.

The mighty roar behind him caused him to spun around and gawk, caution forgotten. The beast had armored shells running down its back. It’s thick torso, green in color, rivaled the pillars of his childhood home. Its quills bristled with anger, straining them against its hard hull.

The large thing, Maddox couldn’t remember the name (not that he wanted to anyhow), stared down at him with the fury of a fog giant.

His hands fumbled around his belt. It almost seemed as if he had forgotten the use of his hands. Or his feet. The thinking jumped Maddox into action. He emptied a pocket full of dull green powder and brought it to his face. He blew on it and it soared into the beast’s eyes. Maddox waited for the magic to happen.

The powder barely affected the monster. The thing flared its nostrils and crept forward.

Maddox stumbled behind and tripped on an uncovered root. He was sent to the forest floor. His belt caught on a low hanging branch and was ripped off him, the momentum swinging it high into the air. It crashed to the ground, flinging his supplies every which way. Several hit the varmint. Sparks flew off and gallons of smoke churned in the air curling around it. Maddox backed up.

When the fumes died down, the shelled porcupine was deep asleep and looked like it had its make-up done by a toddler.

Maddox settled for another spot.

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #Fablehaven fanfiction #0yakal writes #Maddox Fisk #Fictober

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imagines-oneshots-galore · 5 years ago

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Talk Later?

A/N: WELCOME BACK. I got another request here, this one is with a Henderson!Reader. Again, I took some liberties with the request. I think it still fits, but it just made more sense in terms of timelines and such. Either way I hope y’all like it!

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Fandom: Stranger Things (specifically Stranger Things 3)

Word Count: 1,813

Summary/ Request: Can you do a Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader imagine where they meet up at the Starcourt before the battle and worry/asses each other’s injuries (her’s from the Mind Flayer and Steve’s from the Russians) and while they’re meant to be preparing, Steve decides it’s the time to finally confess his feelings?

Warnings: Some violence, sad times, light sexy times.

Ao3

Masterlist

(I don’t think that that is what he is saying in the gif, but meh, who cares.

This was it.

You, and all your friends, were gonna die.

Billy was speeding towards you, his camaro’s engine was thrumming with power, and compared to the thunks and groans your car was making, you would be lucky if Jonathon’s car would even start.

Nancy was firing shot after shot at Billy, but no matter how good of an aim she had, he didn’t seem to be slowing down. Tears clouded your vision, and you could hear the kids screams, but you could only think of your loved ones.

“I love you Dust Bunny” you said through the walkie as you braced yourself against the back of the car. You were scared to leave your brother behind, but you had no doubt that Steve would love and take care of Dustin in your place. You just prayed that he would live to see the next day, even if you didn’t.

But instead of an impact, your head snapped up as you heard the scream of metal hitting metal and the squealing of tires.

“Griswold family, do you copy?!” Dustin yelled over the walkie, “Y/N please! Tell me you’re okay!” you could hear the tears in his voice, so you fought through the shock to reply.

“We’re all good Scoop Troop, a little shaken up, but we’re good” You said as you let out a breath, and looked over to Steve who sat in the driver’s seat of the TodFather. He was your knight in shining armor. Well, more like your knight in a sailor costume.

However, your relief was short lived as you felt the ground shake, so forcefully you felt it from within the back of the car, and heard the terrifying roar of the Mindflayer as it crawled atop the destroyed Starcourt Mall.

Thankfully, right then, Jonathon was able to get the car started, and Nancy called for Steve and Robin to jump in. Steve climbed into the back with you, and Robin managed to squeeze in with Lucas and Will. You let out a squeak as Steve grabbed you when Jonathon peeled out of the parking lot, bringing you into his lap and drowning you in a hug. You clung to him like a lifeline, breathing him in. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, you had thought about him too, when you saw Billy cruising towards you. You thanked every god there was that he was okay, well, relatively okay.

“Oh my god Steve! What happened to your face?” You said as you sat back and got a good look at him. You lightly swiped your thumb under his swollen eye, before trailing it to his cheek, a frown crossing your face. He couldn’t help but close his eyes at your soft touch, leaning into the hand that was now holding his face. He felt like he finally had a second to breath, now that you were safe in his arms. Your hands stroking his face reminded him that he did in fact have to open his eyes, and reply to you.

“Ah, just some Russians, don’t worry about it. This is like, the third time in the last two years my face has looked like this,” He laughed, shaking his head and wrapping around his arm around your waist a little tighter as Jonathon took a sharp turn. You gasped as his fingers hit a spot on your side, and your hand flew down to cover his.

“You okay Y/N/N?” Steve asked frantically, moving you off his lap and onto the seat, his own body switching to the floor where he put his hands on your face and arm, looking for any visible injuries. You shuddered as your hand grazed the spot again, and you felt a small amount of liquid slip through your fingers.

“Oh my god! You’re bleeding!” Steve shrieked, causing Jonathon to swerve and Nancy to send a glare to the back. You had to stop yourself from laughing as he tried to (unsuccessfully) rip off a piece of his shirt, “need to stop the bleeding…” being mumbled under his breath. “Steve, I’m fine, it’s just a graze from some glass,” You said as you took his hands in yours, making him stop trying to rip apart his uniform. Just then, a sound came over the walkie again, one you never thought you’d actually here.

“Dusty Buns do you copy?”

“I copy Suzie-Poo, it sounds much better now, thanks” You looked back up to Steve and you both came to the realization at the same time.

“Suzie”

You couldn’t help but shake your head at the craziness of it all. There you were, sitting in the back of Jonathon’s car, hearing your brother talk to his girlfriend about Planck’s constant, so that Hopper and Joyce could get into the secret Russian base underneath the mall, to shut down a machine that linked your world to an alternate dimension. Oh and not to mention the fact that there was a giant ass monster running after you.

Speaking of the Mindflayer, he decided to make his presence known once again, by unleashing yet another ear shattering roar into the air.

Before you really thought about it, you threw yourself back into Steve’s lap, hiding your face in his neck, as his arms instinctively wrapped around you. You realized a beat later what you had done, and immediately tried to move back.

“S-Sorry…” You said as you pulled away slightly, not getting too far due to the arms that were still wrapped firmly around your waist.

“S’okay,” Steve whispered, but you could tell his attention was elsewhere. Instead, as you felt your heart start thundering in your chest, you realized that he was staring at your lips. His eyes flicked back up to meet your gaze, and the next thing you knew he had crashed his lips to yours. The kiss was frantic, as if you both couldn’t get enough. Maybe it was because you both knew that it could be the last time you ever got the chance to do it, or maybe it was the thrill of finally acting upon unsaid feelings. Maybe it was a combination of both, but neither of you were complaining.

Steve’s hands were everywhere, pulling you closer onto his lap and trailing them down your back as you gripped onto his amazing hair. Stars danced behind your eyelids as you finally got to kiss the boy you had been crushing on since middle school. It was horrible timing, but who were you to question fate?

While you and Steve were off in your own bubble of teenage hormones, Robin and Will were sat upfront, both amused and horrified by not only your makeout session, but with Dustin and Suzie singing “The Never Ending Story” over the walkie.

“What on EARTH is happening right now?! There is a monster chasing us while Steve and Y/N are making out in the back and Dustin is doing karaoke!” Lucas shouted as he looked at the remainder of the group. Robin and WIll shrugged, prepared to let it go in favor of focusing on getting away from the MindFlayer. But then Robin heard Steve groan and she did NOT want to hear what other sounds the two of you could make if she let you continue.

“Steve! Y/N!” Robin said as she threw a can at Steve’s head. You broke apart immediately, with Steve glaring at Robin as he rubbed the back of his head.

“We’ll talk later?” You asked through a laugh, even though Robin had ruined a moment, you had to admit that she had good aim.

“Yeah, yeah sounds good!” Steve said as he cleared his throat, trying to discreetly shift under you without you noticing...

“Oh my god! Steve’s got a boner!” Lucas shouted, laughing maniacally as Steve turned a bright shade of red.

“C’mon man! Not cool!” Steve looked back to you, trying to gauge your reaction, but your gaze was locked onto the back window.

“Hey guys!” You said nervously, getting the attention of the entire car. “It’s turning around”

“What?” Nancy asked from the front.

“It’s turning around,”

“Maybe we wore it out?” Lucas suggested.

“I don’t think so, hold on!”

Jonathon said as whipped the car around, flying back towards Starcourt Mall

~~~~

In the end, the battle had been won, but the victory didn’t come without a price.

Max had left without her step brother, and although he had been a dick to everyone, including you, you knew of what went on behind closed doors. You also knew that he had been possessed, like Will had been, his actions weren’t of his own free will.

He was a kid that had been taken advantage of, and was a victim like everyone else. In the end he had sacrificed himself to Save El, a girl he had just met, because she showed him two minutes of kindness.

You believed that Billy Hargrove deserved better than the fate that was handed to him.

And El, poor El, lost the only parental figure she had. Hopper’s death was felt by all of you, and it was going to take a long time for the party to heal from those wounds. He too, had given his life for the world, and there wasn’t even ash left to remember him by.

It was a grueling few months that followed. You’d attended both Billy’s and Hopper’s funerals, and helped the Byers, including El, move out of Hawkins. The only thing that got you through those tough times, was your boyfriend Steve. He had held your hand and wrapped his arms around you through the night when you were plagued by nightmares. He meant the world to you, and you thanked the stars every day that he had come into your life.

“Hey Steve?” You asked as you laid upon his chest, his steady heartbeat thumping under your ear.

He hummed in reply, his eyes closed and relaxed, fingers softly carding through your hair.

“I just wanted to say that I love you” He opened his eyes then, and you nearly melted when you saw the pure adoration shining in them.

“I love you too Y/N, more than you know,” He said as he leaned down, pulling you closer to his body and kissing you like your life depended on it. The fire still burned as bright as it had that night, if not more so, and before you knew it, Steve had laid himself on top of you, seemingly now shirtless. You felt his mouth start to trail from your lips, to your jaw, to the curve of your…

The door burst open, and to your horror, Dustin strolled in without a care in the world. You tried to throw Steve off as fast as possible, but the damage was done.

“OH GOD, MY EYES!”

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #Steve harrington x Henderson!reader #stranger things #Stranger things 3 #henderson!reader #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #will byers #jonathon byers #billy hargrove #nancy wheeler #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x you

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yourdeepestfathoms · 5 years ago

Text

Goodbye To A World

It’s been three days and a bone-deep ache is still infecting every inch of Joan’s body. She wasn’t sure what was causing it or what was going on, but she didn’t expect to get an answer. Certainly not from a bird.

The crow has been visiting Joan’s window for about a week now. It pecked on the glass late one night, but wasn’t there when Joan turned her head to look. No, it was now inside her room.

Joan leapt backwards against the headboard when she saw the crow perched on her keyboard. Her mouth was open in shock, but no words came out.

“I apologize,” Said the bird, “I did not mean to startle you.”

Joan audibly sputter and then stammered on her words. The bird tilted its head at her.

“My, are you shivering.”

“How are you-?! You- a bird-?!” Joan choked.

“Calm yourself.” Said the bird, “I am not a threat.”

“How are you talking?”

“How are you here in modern day?”

Joan shut her mouth. The bird chuckled.

“This world is a strange one. I’m sure a talking animal is nowhere near as strange as resurrection of a lady in waiting from five hundred years ago.”

“I...I guess.” Joan blinked.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” The bird flapped over, “I am Fate, watcher of shades and guider of souls.”

“Joan Meutas...keyboardist and music director.”

Fate laughs.

“What are you, uhh, doing here?”

Even with its beak and animal features, Joan swears she saw Fate frown. A crest of feathers ruffled around their head and then they sighed.

“I am a being that guides souls to Death,” They began to explain, “I watch over them until departure and then take them to Judgement.” They look up and Joan seems confused, “Now you, the other three, and the queens are interesting cases. You’re not...human. Not really. The existence of you ten disrupts the balance of the universe. It’s...difficult to manage at times. And, because of that, things need to be done.”

Joan still has her eyebrows furrowed, not understanding.

“Regeneration. That’s what we- the Ministry- dub what you ten may go through. It’s a disappearance for a short amount of time and then you return, usually with a new form. This process, the short absence, gives us time to balance out order.”

“Okay...” Joan said slowly, “So that’s happening to me?”

Fate frowned again, but it doesn’t stay for long.

“I hope.”

—————

After the ache came the shivering. Joan was naturally cold all the time, but now she always felt like she was freezing, no matter how many layers she put on. It earns her worried looks from Fate, who has stuck around her since their first meeting that night.

It was just the regeneration process, though. Apparently. That’s what Fate said. Joan didn’t know for sure, as she wasn’t an otherworldly being that balances out the universe.

There was another one of those. A brilliant golden owl that Joan sees around at least one of the queens. It’s silent and doesn’t interact with her, just watches from afar.

“That’s Destiny,” Fate had informed, “They prefer the queens because, you know, they’re so ‘special’ and ‘important.’”

Joan laughed a little from where she’s seated in front of her keyboard, preparing for the next show. Fate is hopping along the rims, as crows do, invisible to everyone that wasn’t her.

“The queens are important,” She said.

“Indeed,” Fate nodded. They craned their head around and stared at the owl who was watching from one of the wings. “Are you going to come over here or not?”

Destiny tipped their beak up, miffed, then flew up the stairs of doom, disappearing from sight.

“I bet they’re great at parties.”

—

It was during the show that Joan was struck by a sharp flare of pain and then nauseating dizziness. She had to squeeze her eyes shut, fumbling to continue playing whatever song they were on. This went on for the rest of the performance and when it was time to get offstage, Joan was tottering to the side and...

“Woah there,”

Joan pried open her eyelids and stared up at Jane, who had caught her before she hit the group.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

“Jane,” Joan mumbled, the name slurring across her lips, “Hey...” She giggled a little, clearly delirious from her several dizzy spells.

Jane smiled fondly down at the girl, helping her stead up normally. Joan still leans against her, nuzzling her face into the queen’s soft chest.

“You’re warm...” Joan murmured.

“And you’re very cold,” Jane said, worry slipping into her voice. “Are you feeling okay, honey?”

“Juuust fine,” Joan replied, “Can you just hold me for a little longer? You’re really, really warm Lady Jane...”

Jane obliged and held Joan for a few more minutes. It was Joan who eventually pulled away because she noticed Destiny perched a few feet away on a speaker. Joan lets Jane know she’s okay and the queen walks off.

“Hello,” Joan smiled slightly at the owl.

“Oh you poor soul.”

Destiny’s voice was quite the contrast to Fate’s. It had a slight accent to it and the words were dripping with molten honey when spoken.

“So weak and frail. How are you not sobbing in fear right now?” Asked the owl.

Joan blinked, looking confused.

“What?”

“Destiny.” Fate flew over, landing beside its sister-being.

“Did you not tell her?” Destiny snapped their head around to look at the crow.

“I-”

“You didn’t.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Destiny and Fate look at Joan, then back at each other. Fate is shaking their head, but Destiny doesn’t listen to whatever they’re silently pleading about.

“You’re dying, Joan.”

———

The fear was intense. Extreme. Unnerving.

Will they remember her? Did they even care? Should she tell them?

Looking at Bessie and Maria and Maggie at dinner, Joan wonders if she’ll ever see them again.

—————

“Hey, can I talk to you?”

Destiny looks cautious, but they fly over.

“What do you need?” They asked.

“I just want to talk. Might be the last time. Don’t know when I’ll disappear.”

Joan’s eyes are blank. They’ve been that way since yesterday, when she was fully informed on what was going on with her.

“What’s going to happen to everyone? After I’m gone, I mean.”

Destiny frowned deeply at that. It’s like they were upset that Joan was speaking of her upcoming death.

“Life will go on. They will recover.”

Joan nods and looks to the ground.

“Listen-” Destiny sighs. “I’m sorry. None of us in the Ministry wanted it to come to this, but-”

“I get it.” Joan cut them off, “I do, really. You need balance. It would be selfish of me to resist and risk ripping the balance between space and time in two.”

Destiny is quiet for a moment, pursing their beak into a tight line.

“The least I can do is give you a request. Is there anything you’d like me to do for you?”

Joan feels her throat tighten and she braces herself for one last difficult conversation.

“Take care of everyone. Please.”

Destiny nods.

“Of course.” Said the owl, “I will make sure your wish comes true.”

They start to leave, then stopped.

“Be brave. This isn’t goodbye.”

—————

Two days later, Joan stays up watching the sunrise and wonders if this was the last time she’ll ever see it. Why are things the most beautiful when they’re about to be taken away?

“Is it time?” She asked.

“Almost.” Fate answered.

Joan hugged Bessie the moment she saw her. The bassist seemed to be surprised, but hugged back tightly.

“And what’s this for?” She asked, smiling brightly.

“Nothing,” Joan shrugged and then grinned back, “Just thank you. For everything. I love you so much, mama.”

Joan calling Bessie her mother nearly sent Bessie into the fifth dimension and she embraced the girl again, this time pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I love you, too, my little dea.”

Joan giggled at the nickname and then flung herself at Maria when she saw her coming downstairs. She actually leapt up onto the drummer, clinging on with all her limbs like a koala and they both burst into fits of laughter.

“Someone is full of energy!” Maria chortled, bouncing Joan in her arms. “Morning, Joey.”

“Morning, ‘Ria,” Joan replied, burying her nose into the older woman’s soft locks. “Love you.”

“I love you too, Jo.”

“Maggie!”

Joan shot out of Maria’s arms and scooped Maggie up into her own, stunning the youngest. She was still for a moment before giggling.

“Oh, Maggie! My little sister! I love you so much!” Joan gushed, nuzzling her cheek up against the guitarist’s, who has yet to stop laughing. “I love you all so much!”

It was true. Joan never realized that she didn’t say it enough, hardly ever because she was too shy or too afraid that they’ll get rid of her. But she’s finally realized how much they mean to her and how much she means to them.

Too bad it was at a time like this.

Before they get to the show, Joan convinces the other three to go to the park. There, they spend an hour and a half just running around in the snow and having a good time. They had an epic snowball fight- Maggie and Bessie vs. Maria and Joan. Of course, Bessie obliterated them, but it was just so enjoyable to play like that. Bessie even snorted at one point, which causes the other three to howl and nearly collapse.

“Jane!”

When they finally went to the theater to get ready, Joan immediately catapulted herself at Jane. The queen is surprised at first, then smiles and takes Joan into her arms.

“Hello, sweetheart,” She said in her wonderful voice, “Happy today, aren’t we?”

“Definitely!” Joan chirped, nuzzling up close to Jane like a kitten, “It’s a good day, mum. I can feel it. This performance is gonna be great!”

Jane chuckled and rubbed Joan’s back. They stayed together before Joan eventually pulled away to get ready and also see the other queens.

That performance was by far Joan’s best. She was so full of life and energy, even jumping out of her stool at one point and playing on her feet. She danced to every song, even occasionally joining in on the singing. She got many bright smiles from the queens, who couldn’t take their eyes off of her.

However, all good things must come to an end eventually.

A golden orb flitted around Joan. She almost messed up because she tried to follow where it was going, but it dissolved into the air. A few more appear, seemingly from around her feet, and her body suddenly gets very heavy.

When Joan looks down at her hands, they’re tinted blue, as if she has frostbite.

Her time with everyone...ends now.

Icicles are growing through her stomach. Her ankle is on fire. Her chest is constricted. She can’t breathe.

The situation hits Joan hard. She was about to die.

She didn’t want to die.

Joan cried through the rest of the show. From I Don’t Need Your Love to the MegaSix, the tears did not stop falling. She wept and sobbed until she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore. The freezing cold and excruciating agony infecting her entire body only gets worse.

The MegaSix ends. Joan stumbles out of her chair while Cleve did giving a goodbye speech. Everyone stares when the keyboard clatters to the ground and Joan staggers on center stage.

“Joan?” Jane called out worriedly.

“Sweetheart?” Bessie tried quietly, “What’s wrong?”

“I love you,” Joan whispered. Several orbs twirl around her, “I love you all so much.” She pauses and swallowed painfully, “I think...it’s time for me to say goodbye.”

A chorus of “Huh?!” and “Goodbye?!” sounded all around her as everyone, even the audience, who probably thought this was a special scene added in, were shocked.

“Joan, what the hell are you talking about?” Aragon asked.

“We aren’t human,” Joan said, “Not really. Our existence disrupts the balance of the universe, so sometimes we have to go through a regeneration process.” Another pause, “But that isn’t the case with me. I am excess. Me being here is causing strain on the order of the world. But because I am so unnecessary, I can be removed and the balance can be restored.”

It almost sounded like something scripted, but the looks of shock and horror on the other’s faces were too real to be just really good acting. The audience murmured in confusion.

“I’m going to disappear.” Joan said.

Shocked gasps. Startled glances. Stunned expressions.

“But...I’ll never forget any of you. Even if I didn’t know you in my past life. I’ll remember all of you.”

“Stop it, Joan!” Cleves growled, but her shimmering eyes betrays her masked anger, “Stop! Are you even hearing yourself? This is insane!”

Joan looked at her and smiled weakly. More orbs glow around her.

“I know,” She laughed dryly, “I didn’t want to believe it, either, but...it’s happening. My body feels so heavy. Everything hurts. It hurts so badly.” She choked for a moment, the sobs overtaking her for a few seconds, “But it’ll be over soon. I’ll be gone.”

She splays her hands open and looks down at them. They’re a deep shade of indigo, now. Her lips are tinged blue.

“But I’ll never forget. Even when I’m gone. I’ll never forget...”

A wave of fatigue washes over her and suddenly she’s so tired...

Fate appears. Their ebony feathers are glistening under the stage lights. Destiny watches from nearby.

“Are you ready?” The crow asks.

Joan nodded and turned away from her family and friends, trudging up the very edge of the stage. She doesn’t acknowledge the audience- they do not matter.

“Thank you, Maria.” Joan began to speak again, using the last of her energy on these final words, “For being my friend. You were so much more than that, though. You were my big sister. You were always there for me. You always cared. I love you so much.”

She looks to Maggie next.

“Maggie...god, I’m gonna miss your ferret face,” She choked out a laugh, “Take care of yourself, okay? I know things feel like shit sometimes, but it’ll get better. I promise.”

Then, the queens.

“You are all amazing. I’m so glad I got to meet all of you and be apart of this.”

Finally, Jane and Bessie.

“I’m gonna miss you a lot...both of you. Jane, I’ve always seen you like a mother. Bessie, you took me under your wing like I was your own. I felt safe. Loved. With both of you. I love you, mama.”

Tears are falling, now, but not just by Joan. Almost everyone onstage are crying.

“Joan,” Fate reminds softly.

“Goodbye.” Joan said. Her body began to glow. Numbness spreads throughout every nerve. “I had a lot of fun. Getting to have a dream... Getting to play music... Getting to know all of you... Getting to live. I’ll never forget it.”

The light grows brighter. It’s almost enveloping Joan completely. She can barely see, but that might just be the overflowing tears obscuring her vision.

“Goodbye.” One last time, so softly. “It’s okay if you forget me. I’m not worth remembering. But...thank you for giving me something that was worth living for.” Joan tips her head up and smiled weakly, “For five more seconds,” She mused in a watery voice, “we’re ten.”

A blinding flash of golden light bursts through the theater. Many have to shield their eyes, but then they uncover their faces, Joan is gone. Only a pale yellow flower covered in frost is left in her absence.

#:)#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #joan on the keys #bessie on the bass #maria on the drums #maggie on the guitar #catherine of aragon #anne boleyn #jane seymour #anna of cleves #katherine howard #catherine parr

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kaiyeti · 5 years ago

Note

There's a lot of AUs out there so what happens when there's a quirk that accidentally bridged one and brought something that is the total opposite of one were Tsuyu and Izuku are in. So basically they are starring face to face of there villain selfs. How would they handle this? How would there friends react to this? How would Japan respond to this?

Mina: No.

Bakugo: Fucking.

Kirishima: Way.

*Three of class 1-A said as every stared in shock at the Tsuyu and Izuku staring is shock and confusion at themselves. Only they weren’t themselves, They were different slightly older versions of them, Izuku wearing a suit like attire with fingerless gloves and hair still mess but slicked back with one arm around the waist of Tsuyu only her skin and black with neon colors of a poison dart frog wearing and similar outfit but a skirt and leggings and hair shorter with two thin pony tails in the back hugging Izuku.*

Izuku: Who?... How?... What is going on? Izuku questions nervously.*

Tsuyu: You two are... Us? Kero.

VIzuku: It seems so though from a dimension where we took... Different paths. *Villain Izuku speak Glancing over at the rest of class 1-A, glaring at Bakugo.* Very Different paths.

Izuku: B-B-But How!? How are you here!? What happened!? How did you get here!? Was it someone with a dimension hopping quirk? Maybe a mad scientist how’s machine causing a tear in space time and reality? Was it Hatsume of your dimension? Oh no what if it was OUR Hatsume!? *Izuku rambling going into a muttering rant causing The other Tsuyu to giggle as the other Izuku groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.*

VTsuyu: Gerogero. It’s so cute seeing you rumble again.

VIzuku: Siiigh its down right shameful. I can’t believe this me still does that. So nerdy.

Bakugo: That’s because you are a nerdy fucking Deku! *Bakugo cursed, taking a step forwards with his hand raised to attack.* Now you are going to tell just what the fuck are you doing here?! One of you is ba-*BOOM! WHOOSH! CRACK!*

VIzuku: *Everyone turned their heads quietly as Bakugo flew past them into, literally, a wall.* Only One person gets to call me nerdy, Asshole.*The look of terror covers everyone’s faces as the villain version spoke while they looked upon the giant spiked mace-like tendril crushing Bakugo before it retracts, morphing back into VIzukus hand which he placed back of Vtsuyu’s hip. But not before giving her but a pat.* And that is my wife Here.

Mineta: OH COME ON! IZUKU GETS THE SEXY FROG WOMAN IN TWO DIMESIONS AND IS MARRIED TO HER AND GETS TO HAVE HAVE S-GAUH! GUAH!GUUAHUAAH! *Mineta screams withtears before the villain Tsuyu slams him with her tongue which causes his skimm to turn purple and swallow as he starts chocking to death.*

VTsuyu: What me and my husband do in our private time is private and not for scum like you to fantacy about. Pervert.

Izuku: KACCHAN! MINETA! *Izuku shouted before turning to himself as Green light covered his body.* WHat did you do!? How did you-

Vizuku: Oh Please. That asshole has had that coming for the years of hell and abuse he put me through. I am honestly surprised You haven’t done the same since you too new have a quirk. And Judging from the power you are giving off am guess you somehow got our uncle’s quirk.

Izuku: *Everyone then looked at Izuku with great confusion as a nervous expression grew on his face.* I-I have no idea what you are talking about? I am just a late boomer with my Quirk and- Wait... Uncle’s quirk?

Vtsuyu: Hmm. I see. Izu hon. I don’t this you knows about your father’s secret nor does his friend on how you were born quirkless. Gero.

Class 1-A: What?

Vizuku: Hmm I think you are right. After all if He, or I, Me? WHatever. If this Izuku got One for All quirk from, I can only Assume All Might, correct? *The villiant teen asked watching Izuku’s face grow with more dread as his friend repeat.*

Class 1-A: What!?

VIzuku: I’ll take that as a yes. If You revived One for All, not knowing that its our uncle’s quirk there I assume that something must have happen to dad for him not to give you his quirk and inform you that he is All for One.

Class 1-A/Izuku: ... WHAAAAAAAT!?!

Vtsuyu: *As Everyone everyone is processing the information VIzuku told them, Vtsuyu looks only at herself noticing a slightly pink shade to her cheeks.* I am guess he told you about his quirk already?

Tsuyu: I sorta figured it out the first time I saw it but wasn’t confirmed until our third date. Kero.

Vtsuyu: Gero. Lucky. My Izu was forced tow show me when the Yakuza attacked us on our forth date.

Tsuyu: He probably did it to protect you.

VTsuyu: That and he was terrified that I would break up with him. He even cried.

Tsuyu: KeroKero. My Izuku did too. *This caught Izuku and VIzuku’s attention.

V/Izuku: Tsu!

VTsuyu: Did your Izuku cry waterfalls when you said yes to a forth date?

Izuku: Tsuyu! Please don’t! *izuku begged his girlfriend.*

Tsuyu: He did. Did yours do the same when asking to *Tsuyu Blushes a bit* Marry. Kero.

Vizuku: Don’t you dare answer that. *Vizuku growled.*

Vtsuyu: Actually we Asked him and yes he floated our parent’s house. Gero Gero. When he calmed down he apologized and fixed all the damn his tear float did. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Next to his happy smile. Toya had to burn some of his stuff so get him to stop before we got to do our business with the league.

Tsuyu: Really? You asked him?

Vtsuyu: Yep. *Vtsuyu laying her husband’s side and walking over to Tsuyu, leaning her to a table in the commons room.* We were dating for five years at that point and Izu never popped the question because he was worried for my safety.

Tsuyu: That sounds like our Izuku. Kero. Speaking of which, Seeing him give you that pat. Does your Izuku have a thing for your behind too? Because My Izu always grope mine when we get heated as he kiss.

Vtsuyu: Just wait until you are out of school. Gero.~

Izuku/Vizuku: Please stop. *the both whimpered in embarrassment as a gray skined man walked in.*

Kai: Hey has anyone seen by anychange seen doubles of themselves? I accidently left one of my tears to another realm open and I think someone or thing may have come through. *He asked as everyone points to the Tsuyus and Izukus.*

#midotsuyu #midotsu #dekukero #tsuyu asui #izuku midoriya #midoriya x asui #tsuyu x izuku #izuku x asui #tsuyu x deku #froppy x izuku #froppy x deku #tsuyu x midoriya #my hero academia #mha #bnha #boku no hero academia #froppy #deku

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ask-de-writer · 5 years ago

Text

DARING DO and the ADVENTURE of the X'IBIAN VASE! : MLP Fan Fiction : Part 1 of 21

Return to theMaster Story Index

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DARING DO and the

ADVENTURE of the X'IBIAN VASE!

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck) @ask-de-writer

And

Carmen Pondiego @askcarmenpondiego

Cover Art by

Doctor Dimension

52630 words

Writing begun 08/26/15

//////////////

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Daring Do was sitting at the bar of the Adventurer’s Guild, sipping her coconut milk and pineapple juice. She was still steaming about the Royal Museum’s Acquisition Committee trying to put her last find, the Golden Necklace of Pharow Underrock, through “the routine process.”

The routine process gave them the possession of the neckalce for over a year before she could see any return on the difficult, expensive, and dangerous expedition to obtain the priceless artifact.

Her recovery of it from Count Umber had involved a physical altercation. The memory made her sweet drink taste sour.

Glancing into the back bar mirror, she casually placed a hoof on her pith helmet. A business suited pony approached her, proffering a card. Instead of taking the card, Daring Do swiftly lifted her pith helmet. A knife, aimed at the suited pony stood quivering in her hat, sunk deep into the cork.

She pulled the knife out and flipped it casually back. The thump of it striking hilt first was followed by the collapse of the silken robed pony who had thrown it.

She turned toward the shaken business suited pony who had just paled three shades of yellow green lighter. Brightly, she said, “Well, that was a few moments of rollicking fun! What do you have for me?”

With a shaking hoof, he proffered a card. “Please call us at your earliest convenience. If you wish, I can take you to the appointment."

Daring Do raised an eyebrow. “Appointment? You would make an appointment without asking me? A bit arrogant, aren’t you? I have some personal business to take care of first. I will call later, after it is done.” She turned her back and pointedly resumed her drink.

It tasted better, for some reason.

She sat at the bar until she was sure that he was gone, sipping her drink, the case with the Golden Necklace of Pharow Underrock safely in her saddlebag. Daring Do hated what she had to do next.

She and her mother, Carmen Pondiego, master thief and head of V.I.L.E., did not see eye to eye on ANYTHING. However, her mom’s advice was the best that she was going to find. Daring Do steeled herself and pulled out her magic net mirror. She tapped the code that she could not forget and hated.

The glass shimmered before a dark, redheaded figure with a gleaming grin answered the call. “City Morgue, you kill ‘em, we chill ‘em. Oooh! Look who is finally dropping a line.”

Answering in a gritty voice, Daring Do spoke low. “Uncle M, I’m trying to get a hold of-” “Yeah yeah, I know. Don’t go ruffling your feathers. Hey Red! Yer kid is on the line!”

Daring rolled her eyes as the view shakily changed to the beaming visage of a khaki colored unicorn mare dressed in red, her pale green eyes throwing a piercing glance at Daring Do. “Adora!! I am so glad you called! How was your trip? I hope you haven’t come across too much trouble. You know I will send some agents to help you if you ever need it.”

Daring Do rubbed her brow, “Mother, you know I hate that name, and no I don’t need your lawless agents. I… I just need some advice.”

A soft chuckle arose, “Of course, Daring dear. Now what seems to be the trouble?” Carmen lifted her brows as she calmly smiled, and the young pegasus held back a scoff. The thief seemed too friendly and eager to help, but why?

“Listen, its not trouble, I just want your -honest- opinion.”

Carmen pouted playfully, “My dear, you wound me, I have always been truthful to you.”

Sourly, Daring Do replied, “I do know that, Mother. That is the only reason that I am calling you now.

“The expedition went well. I even got the legendary Golden Necklace of Pharow Underrock. The assorted traps didn’t even cause much damage to the Pyramid of Keychops.

“The Royal University would not and will not underwrite the expedition but they want me to DONATE the necklace. They even threatened my tenure in the Chair of Antiquities to get it for free. The Royal Museum was almost worse.”

The face of Carmen in the mirror nearly lost it with hilarity. “The Royal Museum!? It takes over a year to sell them a glass bead! Then they will try to push you into letting it go for less than half of your price!”

Resisting a twitch in her eye, Daring Do cleared her throat, “Listen, Ma, what… Would you LEGALLY do if you didn’t get paid for a job that you did over a year ago?”

The thief took a moment to think. “Do you really want to go through the whole legal mess of suing said offender? Of course it would make it easier if you actually had a written contract.

“Heavens knows you don’t use the office here that I gave you and you bounce around from location to location so often without a home base so I don’t have any idea where you would keep such a document anyway…”

Daring’s grip on the mirror tightened. “Mother… I DO have an office. It is in the Royal University! I am the Chair of Antiquities!”

“Right. Well, I would collect whatever you agreed on selling and take it elsewhere.. Are you needing my help with that?”

Daring Do’s grip on the mirror tightened even more. “Mother … Mother. I have already taken it back! I also know that V.I.L.E. makes a ton of money on the, um, resale of assorted goods.”

Dryly, Carmen pointed out, “In spite of our REPUTATION, we have NEVER been caught doing or been convicted of ANY CRIME.” Her face twisted to a cheerfully sideways smile as she added, “Give me a few moments to check our inventory of PERFECTLY LEGAL buyers.”

Instead of “hold music” the recorded image of her uncle Marehem's blue furred, orange maned visage appeared giving the commercial message, “Allstable Insurance, You are in good hooves with Allstable! Please feel free to inquire about our customized policies and truly reasonable rates!”

Daring Do’s teeth grinding together would have been sweet music to any dentist!

Carmen’s cheerful face came back to the mirror in time to save it from being tossed across the room!

One eyebrow raised in amusement, she poked, “Adora, my sweet. I COULD move the necklace for you. V.I.L.E. does have to be paid for their efforts, of course. How does 20 percent sound? I am only offering such a good rate because you are family, no matter that SOMEPONY managed totally destroy all records of her connection to her MOTHER.”

Carmen grinned as Daring Do’s teeth ground together again. Regaining her control, she asked her mother, “Oh, another thing. Do you know anything about the ROT law offices? They offered a card, I think they want me to find something for them.”

Silence came over the mirror.

“Mom?”

Carmen sighed, “Daring, if being an outlaw taught me anything, its presentation. If you are shady, you pick a shady name for intimidation, for greater intimidation one would use a completely harmless and cheerful name, though that is rare.

“I don’t know much of them but if their name means anything, I would use extreme caution if dealing with them. It could be a bluff or it could simply be an acronym, it could mean that they are rotten to the bone. Are you sure you don’t want me to send someone…?”

“I AM FINE BY MYSELF, MOTHER. Thank you.”

“Alright, Adora, dear. If you are in the area, we’re having lasagna at 7:00,” Carmen shrugged, blowing a motherly kiss.

“I’ll be sure to miss it..” Daring Do groaned, turning off the mirror. She rubbed her forehead, fingers running through her monotone mane.

Daring Do was just getting ready to leave when the unconscious pony in the silken robes started to stir. He fumbled for and recovered his knife.

Setting eyes on her he got up, made a formal Far Eastern bow and said, “Miss Do, if I may be permitted to say so, that was most ill done. That pony and a few others with him are treacherous liars and wish to steal a priceless thing to which they have no right.”

Daring Do returned quietly, “It was very bad form of you to try murdering him here, in this club. The alley or even the street outside would have been better.

“As for his character, I already know that much of him and his associates. What more can you tell me?”

Haughtily he dodged her question. “You knew of his evil ways and still chose to listen to him? Perhaps I have misjudged you.”

She made a formal Far Eastern bow to him and replied in perfect X'ibian with an ancient proverb. “The failure to listen is the greatest cause of Ignorance.”

The pony’s eyes flew wide and his face fell. “I have erred greatly by my precipitous action. Be sure to listen with wisdom.”

He took his leave, robes making a slight swishing sound against the carpet of the Club floor.

Daring Do followed him out but he was nowhere to be seen. Consulting the card, she trotted up the street.

The building itself was not even hard to locate. It had a flagpole hanging over the street with a flag of pale off green with gray letters outlined in brownish red. “The Legal Team of ROT, for all of your legal needs!” was flapping in the breeze.

She entered, thinking ironically of the old joke, “pony walked down the street and turned into a drug store. After five sales, he bought what he wanted and changed back into a pony!”

She walked up to the receptionist and proffered the card. The receptionist looked down her nose at Daring Do and pronounced, “You are late for your appointment. You will have to wait for at least an hour.”

Daring Do gave her a return snooty stare and retorted, “No, I do not. THEY made the appointment without consulting me. I informed them that they would have to wait until my business was done.

“I am only marginally interested in whatever they want me for. You may inform them that they can call me at their earliest convenience to set a mutually agreeable appointment.” She tipped her pith helmet and turned to leave.

Frantically, the receptionist called after her, “Miss Do! Please take the elevator with the bronze doors! The Partners will see you immediately!”

“That is better, Horstense!” Daring Do entered the elevator, which had an earth pony operator. She serenely pulled a large, double edged knife and began to carefully trim her left hoof. Conversationally, she mentioned, “If this car gets stuck between floors, you get stuck too. Not seriously, of course. You will become qualified for a higher paid job, though. Castrato in the Fallen Pony Choir.” He paled at the thought. The elevator ride was uneventful.

She stepped out into a foyer with big glass doors at the far end. They had black and gilt letters proclaiming, ROT, the firm for all Legal Work.” Beyond the doors was an office with three desks placed in a U shape with a single hard chair at the focus of the U. The desks were not occupied, so Daring Do checked to see if the doors were unlocked.

They were. With a grin, Daring Do entered and quickly leaped across the desk at the center. She first lifted the comfortable, padded swivel chair out and replaced it with the hard chair. Checking the desk itself, she found a large flagon of expensive pomegranate juice and a snifter. There was only one door that they could enter from. She took their waste baskets and put them where the door swinging in would just miss them. Checking the other desks yielded an assortment of documents, a number of them were maps with X'ibian characters instead of Equestrian words.

She settled herself comfortably, far back, near the doors, away from the focus of the desks. She leaned back, smiling, and poured a healthy shot. While studying the maps, she started sipping.

Looking closely at two of the documents caused her to pull out her Magic Net mirror and make several urgent calls.

NEXT ==>

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#DARING DO AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE X'IBIAN VASE #part 1 of 21 #MLP Fan Fiction #Written by De Writer and Carmen Pondiego

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rainsonata · 5 years ago

Text

Doppelgänger 9/15

Chapter 09: Consolidation

Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; none Rating: T Word Count: 7,821

Summary: It was like looking into a mirror. What happens when one’s reflection talks back and throws uncomfortable questions? El Search Party struggles to find entrance into the Demon Realm, but Dominator has a plan.

Alternative Title: Dominator fucked up and now everyone meets their alternative selves

AO3 Link / FF.NET Link

— [Chapter 01] [Chapter 02] [Chapter 03] [Chapter 04] [Chapter 05] [Chapter 06] [Chapter 07] [Chapter 08] [Chapter 09] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] —

----------------------------

Class Notes:

Canon Path: Knight Emperor, Aether Sage, Daybreaker, Rage Hearts, Code: Esencia, Comet Crusader, Apsara, Empire Sword, Doom Bringer, Ishtar and Chevalier (Innocent), Bluhen

Alternative Path: Rune Slayer, Oz Sorcerer, Anemos, Furious Blade, Code: Ultimate, Fatal Phantom, Devi, Flame Lord, Dominator, Timoria and Abysser (Catastrophe), Richter

-----------------------------

Daybreaker

A pair of eyes followed her, carefully making notes of her movements with an analytical intent not unlike that of a soldier. Daybreaker saw him do the same with her companions. Rune Master scratched the back of his neck and laughed when caught, but his smile failed to reach his eyes. He was doing what humans did when anxious or uncertain about their future. It was the kind of behavior Daybreaker saw when humans realized that they had no control over their current situation. Rune was trying to understand who they were, these strangers that shared his friends’ faces, yet didn’t know him.

Empire left with the others with the premise of approaching a cavern after Bluhen and Bringer detected Knight’s El resonance. It made sense to send one of their stronger team members in case they had to fight off demons or powerful enemies that were after the Dark El. There was a possibility demons like Ran were out to get their revenge on the team.

“They haven’t returned,” Rune said. “I don’t sense them.”

The rune user sat at the base of one of the many mountains decorating the terrain. Rune sat with his legs crossed and traced his finger over the sand. It was hard to believe he was Knight from his demeanor. He could be pouncing on Rage with trivial questions for one moment, but then lose all emotion and ask if they knew where the Dark El was.

Daybreaker wanted to believe his interest in the Dark El was for the same reason as Knight’s.

“What’s your plan?” Rune said, “You promised to help if they didn’t come back.”

“Only if they’re in trouble,” Rage replied.

“Are they?” Rune tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear.

He sat up and stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles. Weaponless, Rune had nowhere to go except where his kidnappers were willing to trek. His mannerisms reminded Daybreaker of the boy she first met near Ruben Village. Rune was brash and said what was on his mind with no plan in mind, although the latter was questionable. There was a familiar hint of mischievousness in Rune, sometimes snorting to a joke no one knew about except for himself.

Rage tapped his finger over his communicator, his lips forming into a tight line when there was no response. He breathed in unison with the Nasod arm, alive and independent from its owners’ thoughts.

“What’s wrong, Raven?” Daybreaker saw the man frown.

“Elesis isn’t answering.”

“What does that mean?” Aether asked. “Did something happen to them?”

“I’m trying to call them,” Daybreaker tapped on her device and waited for the familiar voices of her friends. “Where are you going?”

Rune sat up.

“How can you sit here and act like nothing’s wrong?” Rune glared.

“You don’t know what they’re going up against,” Rage went after him.

“Which is exactly why you should go save them!” He pulled his arm away from the older man, “Doesn’t it bother you that they asked you to sit and wait?”

Daybreaker had her gloved hand out, mere inches away from Rune’s face. She grabbed hold of the collar of his jacket and pulled on it, forcing Rune to lower his head so they were at the same level. He was just a child yet he was so eager to throw his life away for strangers he hardly knew. There was fear in Rune’s features.

“So you’re going to throw a tantrum like a child?” Daybreaker asked.

“Rena?” Aether gasped. “What are you doing to him?”

“I don’t think I’m asking much when I tell you to remain here.” Daybreaker kept her voice even, “I understand why you’re upset and that you are here against your will. I know that makes us look bad, but I think it’s going to be worse if something was to happen to you because of us. We promised Elesis we would keep you safe.”

Daybreaker couldn’t allow it in her subconscious to allow him to walk off like that. They have already lost Knight. If the other El Search Party learned that Rune had gone missing over another heroic act, she wasn’t sure if it was something she could ever forgive herself for. She didn’t know Rune well, but she couldn’t stand the idea of seeing a young human getting hurt. Not after losing Knight.

Rune cracked a smile, tears streaming down his cheeks. She loosened her grip when his eyes flickered cyan for a brief moment. Daybreaker bit her lips. The other Elsword was influenced by the El too. That’s why he was receptive to other people’s El resonance. It must be painful for Rune to be aware of people’s state of mind or power, a blessing and a curse. Rune could have sensed something most of them couldn’t. No wonder he was eager to charge into another battle. He was Elsword, after all.

“Heh, you really are Rena.” Rune laughed without humor, “She would have said something like that.”

Knight’s doppelgänger rolled his shoulders and pulled his jacket back to show off his bare stomach. His attire was more reminiscent of civilians from Bethma than from his hometown. Rune had his hand behind his back, twitching in need of having a weapon by his side at all times. It was strange how similar he was to Knight without realizing it.

Aether flicked the rune user by forehead with her fingers before crossing her arms, “Where were you planning to go anyway? We don’t even know where they are!”

“That hurts!” Rune whined.

“Rena, are you there?” Crusader’s voice broke out in static, “This is Chung. The cavern is collapsing. I’m with another person. We can breathe, but there’s a monster outside. Be careful, it’s dangerous! It can-”

His voice was cut off before his message could pass through. Daybreaker’s throat went dry and searched to see if any coordinations have been sent to her. Without them, they would have to find their teammates by relying on their senses.

“I heard Chung’s voice,” Rage remained composed. He sensed her anxiety and was already coming up with a plan for their next mission. “I’m guessing this is the signal?”

“I think that warrants more than that,” Aether said dryly.

The sky bloomed into deep violet. Lines cracked against the vibrant heavens, outer shells of crystals framed and hollowed out from the insides to form an assortment of portals. Black spheres tore the surrounding space apart. A deafening sound crashed in Daybreaker’s eardrums when they exploded in the sky.

The cacophony produced by the powerful force strengthened as Daybreaker led them closer to the source, at the entrance of Shadow Vein, a cavern filled with giant crystals. Towering mountains came into view when they arrived at the base of where the cavern opening was supposed to be. Slabs of rocks and boulders blocked the entrance, leaving little room for even the smallest child to fit through one of the bigger holes. Rune slammed his bare hands against the boulders.

“Are you in there?” Rune pulled his arm out in search of his sister, “Elesis!”

“Elsword!” Empire cried and reached for him with an arm smeared in blood. “Is that you? We’re inside Shadow Vein!”

“We’ll find a way to get you out, I promise!” He choked into a quiet sob.

Green light shone as Daybreaker strung her bow and focused her energy on the pointed end of her arrows. She shot two arrows to a shadowed figure that appeared from her peripheral vision, followed by a backflip and fired several more towards the sky. Daybreaker gasped when the sky disrupted and the very fabric of time and dimension was torn apart. Her arrows disappeared into the small holes created by the tears and flew back towards her. Daybreaker launched herself into a backflip and cartwheeled away with her bow tucked behind her back.

Fire, ice, and electricity were dispersed by Aether, followed by explosions from impact as she fired a circle of elements to the enemy. Smoke filled the air and the elemental mage’s voice was heard amongst the chaos.

The shadowed figure dissolved into space, taking the shape of a tall figure with white hair reaching down its back. A magenta-colored crystal latched onto their chest and glowed a sickly coloration to their skin, a shade lighter than her’s. Their jawline was met by a slender neck covered in black material unknown to Elrians. Drones levitated around the stranger with a mind of their own, acting as a shield and deflecting dark energy from the monster they were fighting.

“That monster has Elsword!” Aether pointed to the shapeless crystal monster. The Dark Agate pinched Knight between its fingers, lifting him and screaming when Aether summoned icicles to pierce through its hardened skin. The icicles broke off and shattered into dust.

Rage leveraged his blade between his Nasod arm and pressed his weight against the monster’s legs. Sharp lines cracked into its exterior and dark liquid leaked out, emitting a foul smell that reeked of rotting flesh and metal. The end of Rage’s Nasod arm drilled further into the monster’s skin, twisting and forming dents into it. The Dark Agate groaned and charged against the base of the mountain. Stone walls rumbled and cascaded over the land, sending pebbles raining down over Rage and Knight.

“It seems like your friends came for you,” the stranger chuckled overhead. They maintained distance as they lowered themself to reveal the face of a man. Scars stretched over the lower half of his face and grinned. “I’ll be nice and deliver their princess~”

“I’m not a princess-”

Knight stopped fighting from the monster’s hold and froze. His body outlined in blue and faded. His cries echoed the valley and shook the mountains’ foundations surrounding them. Knight reappeared next to the stranger. Nowhere to stand, Knight panicked and waved his limbs in panic. He was hundreds of feet above the ground and had nowhere to break his fall.

Daybreaker leaped into the air and strung several arrows between her fingers with dexterity. Her arrows fought against gravity and flew across. Three arrows ran through the seams of the back of Knight’s collar, pinning him and sending his body slammed against the walls of a cliff. She ran over to check his status, but a purple blur beat her to it.

“Elsword!”

Aether waved her staff and teleported in succession to the base of the cliff. Her arms were stretched out and stood on her tiptoes in reach for Knight. It would have been touching to see Aether finally be honest about her feelings for the younger boy, but the stranger’s appearance led to more questions for Daybreaker. What did he do to escape from the hold of a powerful demon?

“Aisha, help me!” Knight clung to the wall, pushing his legs up in search for something to stand on with no avail.

“I’m trying!” Aether growled, “You’re lucky Rena is here to stop you from breaking your neck!”

Daybreaker rubbed her forehead with a sigh. She couldn’t believe her arrows were strong enough to stick to the walls. Being in Demon Realm must have done something to strengthen her tolerance against the demonic energy and help her rebuild her strength as she would have in Elrios.

“So cute,” the enigmatic man giggled. He rested his elbow against one of his drones and lifted one leg up.

“Where are you going?” Knight looked at the man.

“I already saved you twice,” he yawned. “I think you can handle this one by yourself.”

The man opened a portal and exited from the scene with a Cheshire grin being the last thing they saw. The portal was sealed shut from behind and the sky went back to being a melancholy blue dipped in tones of red and orange. Who was he?

“If you keep moving, you’re going to fall!” Aether chastised.

“How am I supposed to get down?” Knight asked. “There is nothing to-, ah!”

The arrows holding Knight snapped and the boy slid down. Daybreaker winced as he dropped from several meters high. They scrambled to run to where Knight fell with their arms out. Rage slowed down his run into a fast walk and had his arms ready to catch the younger member of the El Search Party. Daybreaker readied herself by placing her weight into the back of her legs, but her train of thought interrupted by the sound of Knight shouting and Aether screaming. Knight had crash-landed his body onto Aether by full force.

“Elsword, you’re too heavy!” Aether complained. “Get off, you’re crushing me!”

“My back hurts!” Knight whined. “Where did Paradox go? We need to go after him!”

“Not in your condition,” Rage said. He brought Knight’s arm around his shoulder to help him stand up. “You can tell us more about that man when we bring you back to safety.”

“What about Rune?” Knight asked. “What happened to him?”

Red flames shot into the air and brought Daybreaker’s attention back to the cavern’s entrance. Empire and Rune were still there. Horror rose from the back of her throat and she went back to find them.

Magic ran through Rune’s veins. Flames flew between his fingers as the rune user idly juggled fireballs between his palms and fired them like bullets. He was adept in fire magic that could have challenged Aether’s abilities. Most mages needed a physical object to channel their magic into, yet Rune was able to summon fire without burning himself.

Sparks flared inside Rune’s hands, emitting heat and uncontrolled flames to match the anger playing across his features. Hand over his hip, Rune ignored their calls. Rune’s hands formed into fight fists and gritted his teeth. He snapped when the Dark Agate expelled crystal shards from its body. Rune incinerated them with his flames, moving his limbs with fluidity and dodging its attacks before firing back. He landed his attack directly into the monster’s chest and watched it tumble over with a low groan.

“Heh, is that all?” Rune grinned. “That was nothing!”

Their footsteps alerted him of their presence.

“I solved one of your problems!” Rune saw Knight being helped by Rage and his smile faltered, “and you found your guy... ”

“You’re okay!” Knight lit up.

“Heh, you too?” Rune scratched the back of his neck. “Looks like it’s hard to kill you too.”

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Knight was relieved. “I was worried about you.”

Rune hid his face from view, “You’re just like what they told me. You’re making me look bad.”

“Huh?” Knight was confused.

“Forget it,” Rune shook his head. “I’m just rambling.”

The sound of rocks and stones rumbling made Rune look up to see the Dark Agate bringing its body back up. Horror came into realization as he searched for the last bit of mana to summon his flames. Rune didn’t hear them shouting his name and didn’t move.

Its clawed arm overhauled to reach for Rune when the sound of gunshots pierced through the thick air. A rain of bullets broke through the monster’s skin and left holes inside its body before it could move. The last bullet hit the Dark Agate between the opening of its “mouth” and the monster collapsed on its own weight.

Daybreaker searched for the source of the bullets and stopped to see a pair of ice-blue eyes peering from behind a boulder. Their white armor shared the same sheen as the shells found off the coast of Hamel. A young man stepped out from the shadows when Rune waved and beamed to the newcomer.

“Chung?” Rune choked when he was pulled into a tight embrace by Crusader’s counterpart.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” he whispered.

----------------------------

Fatal Phantom

Phantom didn’t let go, feeling his shoulders shake when he hugged around the rune user’s smaller figure. Several day cycles had passed since he had last seen Rune, but his body was struggling to adjust to the new sleep cycle in Demon Realm. His muscles continued to tense and idly played with the trigger with his thumb even as Rune gently rubbed his knuckles over the marksman’s back.

He noticed their audience and obscured his lower face with his scarf. Phantom counted three heads and frowned. There were supposed to be more of them. What happened to the people Oz reported over his last contact with the dark mage? She said they were fighting against Add, Ain, and Chung. He searched for a face identical to his when he felt a warm pair of hands run up his body.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” He felt Rune’s lips lift from the corner of his mouth, pressing them at the nape of his neck.

“What are you doing trying to fight by yourself?” Phantom hissed and pushed himself away, ignoring Rune’s hurt expression.

“I had it under control.” Rune wasn’t as concerned and stretched his arms out. In a quieter voice, the redhead tilted his head back and chuckled. “And I wasn’t alone, I had you.”

Phantom enjoyed being around Rune (he could hear Anemos giggling if he ever admitted that), but he could never wrap his mind around how the late Sieghart could say embarrassing things without getting flustered. It was like standing next to a sun, if said sun was a blinding red and set itself on fire intermittently. He huffed and feigned a cough to hide his embarrassment.

“Rune?”

He turned to see a face identical to Rune’s peer from the side. How similar they were, yet there was a distinct contrast in how Knight presented himself. Hair brushed to the side in a neat short cut, Knight was covered in blood and sweat. Dried blood covered his sides and cracked when he moved. He leaned against Rage’s shoulder before pushing himself and stumbling over to Rune and Phantom with a pained expression. Knight straightened his back and pulled out a sword covered in red runes to offer it to his counterpart with an awkward smile.

Good grief, did all Elswords smile through their pain?

“I wanted to return this to its owner,” Knight brought his hands into his pockets. “I think you’ll make better use of it than I did.”

Aether looked at Knight with an alarmed expression. “What were you doing with Rune’s sword?”

“One of your friends has Elsword’s weapon,” Rage explained when Phantom gave him a look of confusion. “He had blue hair and didn't talk much.”

“Ain?” Rune ran his hand through his hairline, “You saw him?”

“I think Paradox is involved in this,” Knight said. “He uses portals to toy with people. That’s why he has your sword. He must have done the same with mine.”

Who was Paradox? Phantom was already lost in the conversation in who was being referred to when everyone had a counterpart. He wasn’t even going to try and guess which one of his teammates went by the name of Paradox in another dimension.

It was clear that Paradox had left Knight shaken. His skin was paler than Rune’s and sadness reflected in his expression when he addressed them with unnecessary formality. Knight had a stockier build than Rune, but without his sword, he was defenseless and had nothing to occupy his hands with. He kept his hands in his pockets or folded them over his thighs, tinkering with his fingers when he spoke.

“What did Paradox want?” Daybreaker asked. Motherly concern took over and the elf woman rested her palm against Knight’s forehead. “Did he hurt you?”

“I’m not sure,” Knight admitted and shook his head. “He kept me close and made me watch you guys fight each other. I think he’s lonely.”

“What kind of person does that?” Aether puffed her cheeks, “he brought that monster and left us to clean up his mess!”

“We should at least find him and learn what his intentions are,” Rage said. “Elsword said he could control portals. If we can get him to talk, maybe we can help them return home?”

Phantom felt their eyes fall on him and Rune as if they had just been noticed. It was an uncomfortable feeling being scrutinized by the people they were supposed to be fighting hours ago. Rune probably wouldn’t appreciate it either if they were to break out into another fight. He squeezed Rune’s hand when he saw the latter breath out a heavy sigh.

He saw it in his partner’s eyes. Rune was blaming himself again, playing the martyr and carrying the burden with miserable pride. It was pitiful at first sight, but it was getting on his nerves and Phantom has had enough of it. Rune shouldn’t be the first to jump ship and take the blame for things that were out of his control. The rune user wasn’t the only one from a different dimension.

“We’re not leaving until we find the others,” Phantom said. “One of our friends said they were stuck inside Shadow Vein with one of yours.”

“You mean Chung?” Daybreaker asked, “He said he was with your Aisha.”

“Who probably isn’t as skilled as me,” Aether smirked.

“You haven’t even met her yet,” Knight deadpanned.

“What? Have you?” Aether scoffed. “Because last time I checked, you were kept hostage by a man wearing a trash bag!”

What a strange group, Phantom thought. They were lively and bickered among themselves, not unlike his teammates when they weren’t busy chasing after demons because of strange circumstances that liked to fall on them. When was the last time their party had the chance to sit down and chatter without being rushed to their next destination?

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble,” Rune blurted out. He looked at Knight with guilt. “Your sister is trapped inside the cave because of us, I’m sorry. I-”

“What are you apologizing for?” Aether stared at Rune. “Don’t blame yourself for something you have no control over.”

“No one is angry at you,” Daybreaker agreed “What matters is that you and Elsword are safe. There’s no reason to fight anymore.”

Phantom was apprehensive in meeting the people that took away his friend, yet they were treating Rune as one of their own, comforting and reassuring him, easing the pain away with kind words of encouragement. No matter how different they were from his friends, their actions were genuine and held no grudge against them. After months of traveling in Elysion, it was strange to meet people again. The other El Search Party didn’t hold the mysticism the El Masters and priestesses had. They were adventurers like them that knew how to hold their ground against powerful enemies.

Was Phantom blind in worrying about Rune when the fire user was in good company with capable adventurers? He wasn’t ready to fully trust them, but Phantom saw that they wouldn’t harm Rune. He gathered that the opposing party, at least in regards to Aether and Daybreaker, were the more honest adventurers from how open and relaxed they were in discussing plans in their presence. Phantom had enough encounters with deceitful clients to recognize the signs of ones he could not trust.

“Did you come here alone?” Rune asked Phantom with worried concern. He gripped his hand around Phantom’s; they were warm and sweaty.

“No,” Phantom said. “Aisha contacted us and Eve detected you.”

Rune lit up at the mention of their team members.

Ultimate gave him affirmation about Rune’s location in the logical optimism she often had (“Based on reading analysis, there is an 80.88% chance he is in this region.”). Phantom didn’t ask where the numbers were from. It was rare for her to make mistakes, even rarer for Ultimate if it involved their friend. Rune wasn’t hard to find, anyway because he liked to make his presence known. His flames flared like a beacon for Phantom to find the rune user.

“Where are they?” Aether asked.

“Yo!”

Five figures came into view past the blocks of shattered boulders crumbled over the closed cavern. Ultimate’s winged form was visible, shaped by the dark curves thrown by the smaller sun casting over the Nasod Queen. Draped over her shoulder was Abysser drooling with his eyes shut and wrapping his arms around Ultimate’s mechanical wings. Timoria exchanged a look of defeat to Phantom and shrugged in exasperation. A spark of annoyance was apparent in the brisk walk Ultimate took; Moby and Remy followed their owner and hovered to prevent Abysser’s head from bumping into things.

Walking behind Ultimate was a gray-haired man in a sleeveless top covered by a heavy furred coat. Phantom recognized him as the opposing El Search Party’s Ain. Featureless and free of the El’s influence, Bluhen kept his head low, deprived of emotions. The cowlick forming from his hairline dropped and his eyes wandered from the present.

Leading the strange assortment of misfits was a woman in black leather that covered most of her body. Everything about her reminded Phantom of the flames she and Rune manipulated - her eyes, hair, and the tattoos engraved into her skin. The tattered jacket over Flame’s shoulders crackled in unison to the footsteps made by her heeled boots. The body dragged over her shoulders was a man in black and purple. His face was hidden, but there was little guess to who that was supposed to be.

“Is that Add?” Rage gawked at the display of an unconscious teammate.

“I said yo!” Flame waved her arm. As she neared, she lowered her shoulders and unloaded the heavyweight with a toothy grin. “When a person says hi, you’re supposed to say hi back!”

“You’re not sis,” Knight looked away with disappointment.

“Ouch,” Flame winced and rubbed her back. “Sorry~”

“Don’t be rude!” Aether hissed but gave the older woman an apologetic look. “Don’t be mad, he’s injured and went through a lot.”

“Nah, it’s just a little strange to know I have two brothers.” Her eyes moved over to Rune with a wide grin, “but this one is still my favorite!”

“Elesis?” Rune’s eyes widened, “Ow, that’s my rib. Your hugs are too much.”

Rune cried in receiving a bear hug from the sister he looked up to, rubbing the tears streaming down his face in laughter. Flame let go after getting playfully punched by her brother. His joy sparked a bright light and for a moment, Phantom forgot they were stuck in the middle of a place where they shouldn’t exist. Seeing him smile made the search for the idiotic redhead damn worth it, although that thought was soon cut short.

“Ain? Are you okay?” Daybreaker rushed to Bluhen to check on the priest and placed a gloved hand over his shoulder. “Did you go into a full fight?”

“I’m just tired,” Bluhen gave a weak smile. “Good thing Mr. Guardian stopped the fight. I would have lost in a fight against two.”

“Is that what happened?” Knight asked. “What about Add?”

“This guy wasted all his energy healing himself,” Timoria pointed to Bluhen. She pulled her cap down to hide her eyes, “Ciel is down because he got too close.”

Ultimate placed Abysser on the ground and had his head resting against a makeshift pillow. Bringer was arranged in a similar manner as they set up a temporary healing station to heal wounds after the disastrous fights. Both had white hair and didn’t stir when moved by the people carrying them, snoring softly next to one another.

“What’s wrong?” Phantom asked. He saw Rune placing his hands over the blocked cavern, his tattoos glowing in anticipation with desperation in his expression. Arms reached out for the other side with guilt, Rune leaned his body forward with a bitter smile.

“His sister is trapped inside,” Rune nodded towards Knight talking to one of his teammates with a saddened expression and shaking his head. “So are a few others, including our friends.”

“Let me talk to her. Go help the others.” He heard Rune sigh but left to talk to their conscious teammates. Phantom placed his hand over the slab of stone, searching for an opening where he could get his voice across. “Elesis, are you there?”

Weak laughter came from the other side, a young woman’s voice was heard.

“Are you Chung?”

“I’m the other one. Call me Phantom.” Phantom said, “Who’s with you?”

“Devi,” she answered. “There are two more inside. This entrance is blocked, but Chu-, a friend of ours said he felt a breeze coming from somewhere else.”

Empire was talking about his counterpart, Phantom heard her hesitance in referring to the other one. The sheer size of the cavern covered more ground than some of the mountains surrounding Hamel. It was not uncommon for caves of that size to have multiple entrances and exits. His alternative could be using that information to look for a new exit.

“Locate them and search for another way out,” Phantom said. “We will be looking for them too.”

“Thank you,” Empire breathed. “I’m sorry about the trouble we have caused.”

“You did it because he’s important to you,” Phantom closed his eyes. “I will talk to both of our teams and let you know if we find something.”

Phantom turned to meet with a pair of red eyes looking at him with curiosity. It was like looking into a cracked mirror. The shape of his eyes and face were Rune’s but his posture had more in common with Hamel soldiers than that of a village boy. Knight was well endowed in plated armor designed for offense, chained and overlapping with one another to strengthen his defense for front row battles. He gave Phantom an impressed smile and approached the assassin with no fear.

“Thank you for doing the right thing,” Knight was grateful.

“I only did it because someone asked me to,” Phantom said. He moved away and kept his distance, but Knight came in closer.

“You care about Rune a lot,” Knight leaned in to inspect Phantom with interest. “Is that why?”

He would be damned if he was expecting Knight to be any less perceptive than Rune. How much of the conversation between him and Rune did Knight overhear? Phantom wasn’t going to open about his life story to someone he had just met, even if that person looked like someone he knew!

“You should stay back and heal,” Phantom turned his head away to hide the pink in his cheeks. Did none of the Elswords know personal space? And in public! “There’s medicine if you need some.”

Please read the room, he silently begged Knight to leave. They have already found Rune. Now they needed to regroup and find a way to leave this dimension so they could do their tasks properly. There were things they needed to do if they wanted to make progress without any further delay than the inconveniences caused by every other person they have met.

Knight didn’t leave.

“That’s okay, Ain can heal us!”

Fucking hell.

----------------------------

Empire Sword

Underneath the dull lighting of the illuminating crystals, Empire could make out Devi’s small figure. Limbs tangled and sprawled out, her eyes were closed shut. Her face was pale and had a sickly hue. She had scars formed over one another in layers, some of them blossoming into patterns nearly identical to the ones Empire had before she met Bluhen.

Empire dragged Devi over to the flat surface, further into the cave and away from the dangerous rocks and boulders that nearly crushed them. They would be dead if it wasn’t for Devi’s quick thinking, Empire thought with a bitter smile. The red knight had technically won the fight against the late Haan, but it was a bittersweet victory for her. Once again, she was separated from Elsword because of the strange circumstances around them.

She produced a bandage roll from her bag and threw the rest of the contents back in. Empire held up a flashlight over to Devi to inspect the woman for injuries. She unrolled the bandage and wrapped it around Devi’s exposed ankle, tightening and rolling it into a knot and tucking it in.

They needed to find an exit out of this place. Crusader was somewhere inside Shadow Vein with the opposite team’s Aisha. Phantom said he and the others would search for an exit too, but she was uncertain how much she could trust him. He sounded stern when he made his promise, keeping his voice low as if afraid of being heard. There was no timidness in his tone, but a harsh one that spoke of urgency.

The red knight couldn’t understand why there was another El Search Party. What did they want from them and how did they cross paths with them? Could this be another result of Knight’s brief connection with the El in Elrianode? Her lips quivered at the thought of her brother’s action bringing about their current situation. Tempering with the El was risky and made them easy targets.

Empire tucked a strand of hair behind Devi’s ear but paused to the serene smile that graced upon the woman’s face. Legs crossed and arms hugging her spear, she was defenseless in sleep, free of pain and ambitions. She laid in silence as Empire lifted her head to stare into the depths of the cavern. Her eyes strained to look into the dark abyss and landed over to Devi’s face again, unable to look away.

Why did Devi save her?

She had foolishly fallen into Paradox’s provocation that would have cost her life if Devi wasn’t there to break her fall. The demon they fought was still out there and they were trapped inside because of her impulsive decision. What kind of leader was she? Empire gripped her claymore and hissed from the pain digging into her shoulder blades.

They were alive, but the air here tasted like dirt and copper, a combination she was unfortunately familiar with. The interior entrance of the cavern had a low ceiling that forced Empire to crouch her body and look down.

The red knight had Devi’s legs bent and lowered her body. Empire pulled Devi by the wrists until she was standing, bringing Devi’s arms over her shoulders and lifted herself up to carry the unconscious woman. The additional weight had Empire steady herself in a slow march into the darkness.

The crystals enclaved a narrow pathway for Empire to follow, careful to walk around the tight twists and turns leading downward. Light cracked between Empire’s fingers and the jagged lines etched into the boulders that were effectively blocking the way they came in. Water drops pelted her face as she looked up to find crystals forming from the ceiling, their radiance growing and fading in strength. There was an earthy damp smell as Empire strained her muscles to shove the rocks and pebbles out of the way. She rubbed her head with the back of her palm and hissed in pain. Blood trickled down from her bottom lip as the red-haired woman gasped for air.

Her body and mind had adjusted to the heavy demonic pressure that was the hallmark of Demon Realm, a red haze of aura that no longer clouded her mind. Demonic energy maintained the realm’s stability, but something changed when Paradox appeared. Portals were not foreign concepts to her, but she never saw so many open until she saw Paradox fight Knight. The number of portals that began opening in various spots made her uneasy. They reminded her too much of Glave taunting the El Search Party into visiting various dimensions for his own amusement.

A shadow swooped down and spread its wings. Empire screamed when it let out high pitched squeaks and turned around, only to bump into her again. She almost dropped Devi. Her back was turned when she saw a human-shaped figure lurking from the darkness. Empire darted past the shadow to see the cavern tunnels widening again.

A pointed hat covered in zippers came into view, followed by a young woman appearing under the lighting and dressed in an outfit that was just as eccentric. Oz Sorcerer caught Empire by the arm and reeled her in with her staff, stopping her from running headfirst into the wall. She flashed a smile to Empire and tipped her hat off with serene eyes.

“Sorry about that,” Oz apologized. “Angkor thought you were a demon.”

“Angkor?” Empire gawked at the ball flapping its wings beside the dark mage. That thing was the demon Rune mentioned earlier? But it was so round and fat. “It’s real?”

“As real as I am.” Oz looked at Devi sleeping over Empire’s shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, “what happened to her?”

“She passed out because of the earthquake,” Empire explained. “We’re trapped inside and need to find a different exit.”

“Of course we do,” the woman sighed. “There’s no easy way out because that would be too simple.”

Empire burst out in laughter, tilting her head back and catching her breath in short gasps before settling with a lopsided smile. At least Empire could be assured that Oz was going to be as sarcastic as her counterpart. She chuckled when Oz looked at her in confusion, if not weary by the red knight’s presence. Empire realized the source of Oz’s nervousness when the heavy hitter of the other team was found unconscious by her hands.

“Ugh, you’re so loud.”

Devi lifted her head. Arms wrapped around Empire’s neck, she fluttered her eyes open and hung her head over the red head’s shoulder. She pressed her weight down and twisted her body to find her head reaching the cavern ceiling. Her muscles twitched as Devi wiggled her limbs, discomfort in being held down by the enemy and unable to move. Tufts of hair stuck up in different directions in a messy array. Sharp fingernails clawed into Empire’s shoulders.

“I’m having a conversation with your teammate,” Empire said without feeling sorry. She wasn’t going to let Devi’s words bother her. There were bigger things to worry about.

“Good to see you didn’t lose your head,” Devi caught Empire’s gaze with pursed lips.

“We’re done fighting,” was all Empire could muster to say without making herself into a fool.

“I know that,” Devi said with boredom and yawned.

Once again, Empire found herself at a loss for words. Her head was spinning when she was met by Devi’s tactless comments. Blunt words jabbing from the sides without the refined restraints Apsara had in more fragile conversations.

“Is Chung with you?” Empire turned to ask Oz. She searched for white armor in the midst of the dim cavern.

“Here I am,” a blonde head poked into the hallway. Crusader dragged his destroyer over in a conspicuous manner that was almost comical if not for the serious expression on his face. He looked at her and Devi with a puzzled expression, “You’re here too?”

“Unfortunately,” Empire rubbed the back of her head. “We’re looking for another exit to meet up with the other team. Did you find anything?”

“No,” Crusader shook his head.

Dry blood plastered over his armor, red paint streaming over seashell white armor. A closer inspection, Empire saw the cracks indented into his armor, blooming into miniature craters and embedded with dirt and grime. Sweat glimmered over his face and left the impression of a man who had found his calling in war. Crusader held his head high as a trained soldier should have. He would have been the ideal soldier for the Velder Army. Out of breath, but fearless and eager to partake in the next challenge that awaited him.

“I didn’t think the leader would get herself trapped down here,” Oz rested her elbow on Angkor. The giant bat squeaked and struggled to stay afloat with weight pressing down on its head.

“I’m not the leader,” Empire protested.

“You’re the one who ordered your team to fight,” Oz drawled. “I think that’s enough to earn the leader title.”

“You’re the one who forced us to fight!” Empire turned her head to glare at Devi, who covered her mouth and giggled. “Don’t you have any shame? How is this justice?”

“Justice?” Devi stopped laughing to narrow her eyes, “‘Justice’ is only in those who are the strongest. You can’t defend your beliefs if you can’t even defend yourself.”

“What happened to you?” Empire blinked in bewilderment, gaping at the woman who shared Aspara’s face. Cold and distant, unfaltering and unapologetic about the impact her words had on others. How could she be Ara?

“You don’t have to continue holding me like a maiden,” Devi said. “That won’t be necessary.”

Devi leaned her body inward, lifting her legs up and removing them from Empire’s hold. One hand over Empire’s shoulders, she pulled one of her legs out in an attempt to find footing over the cave’s sides. Her foot slipped over the rough surface and she lost her slipper. Devi fumbled over and her body swayed, falling back and losing her grip on her rescuer. Empire gasped for air and paused. A loud crash cracked the ground followed by Devi’s shrieks.

Empire stared dumbfounded at the sight of Devi on the floor. Face planted into the floor, Devi had her limbs sprawled out and struggled to lift herself. The dark-haired woman held up her head, strands of hair fell over her face as she stumbled and fell down again. Orange pupils glowered in anger.

She’s definitely Ara, Empire offered a hand to pull her onto her feet.

“Who else would I be?” Devi placed one hand over her hip.

Did I say that out loud? Empired tucked her head in to hide the blush creeping up her face. “Sorry...”

“Why are you apologizing?” Devi put on her slipper, “you should be saying that to your team.”

“That can be done when we find an exit,” Oz tapped her foot impatiently. “Angkor found an exit closest to us.”

“Which I said that might be worth looking into,” Crusader said. “These caves are similar to the ones near Hamel and must have several exits and entrances for there to be a constant draft in the tunnels.”

Devi looked at the blond with new interest, “I suppose that makes you useful for something.”

“Some of these tunnels were dug by demons, so it won’t be an easy walk,” Oz warned her.

“They would be fools to get in the way,” Devi grinned.

“How could I forget?” Oz rolled her eyes.

“Why are you encouraging her?” Empire asked.

Oz shrugged, “Is that a problem if it helps us escape?”

“No,” Empire sighed.

Deeper into the tunnels they went, lit up by the crystals grounded at their feet and above their heads. An uneventful trek into the darkness, a rare silence in an alien land uninterrupted by their heavy solemn footsteps. Demons dotted the so-called abandoned path. Beady eyes lurked from the shadows before disappearing from sight and reappearing again behind a crystal.

“They’re not attacking,” Crusader saw a small group of demons disperse away from their path.

“With an earthquake that size, they must have lost many of their members today. Fighting us would be a bad idea.” Oz added, “Of course, my guess is as good as yours.”

“You made a contract with a demon,” Crusader said.

“Doesn’t mean I speak demon,” the dark mage scoffed. “That’s Angkor’s job.”

“Why would you do that?” Crusader asked.

“Why would it matter?” Oz said, “I chose a path I thought was the best option.”

Her words struck a memory inside Empire. Knight said something similar after waking up to being rescued by his friends… from the El. The red knight understood his reasoning, but she couldn’t let go of the unnerving feelings igniting from her core. It wasn’t right for a brother to sacrifice himself in the place of an older sibling, but Knight argued that it was the best option. For all of them.

Empire unsuccessfully searched for lament in the purple-haired woman’s features. Demon or not, those were eyes of a person set in their decision with no regrets. Was Empire wrong to believe that their alternative selves were prisons of their decisions as much as she was to hers? She was proud to be the captain of the red knights, but her duty as an older sister led her to leave her soldiers. Was it the right decision to believe in her men and place her presence elsewhere?

“Miss Elesis?” Crusader’s voice emerged from the silence, “You’ve been quiet.”

“It’s nothing,” Empire shook her head. “I’m just thinking.”

“It must be something important,” Crusader said. “You look tired.”

If it wasn’t for their situation, she would have bumped her knuckles on his shoulder plate and teased him about his serious expression.

“We finally have Elsword back and now we’re lost,” Empire let out a soft laugh.

“I don’t think that’s very funny,” Crusader frowned.

“It turns out he didn’t need help to save himself,” Empire sighed. “He can fight his own battles, yet I can’t stop worrying about him.”

“It hurts because he will always put others first,” Devi said with sadness. “Even if you tell him not to.”

Empire nodded. She didn’t know Knight was having an internal battle with himself until it was too late. He wouldn’t let her know because he knew she would try to stop him. If it wasn’t for the rest of the team, Knight would still be…

“United by the same idiot,” Oz sighed. “I think all of you have spent enough time giving him grief over that. I think it’s stopping all of you from moving on.”

Crusader looked at Oz with wonder and smiled.

“You’re right,” Crusader said softly. “He needs us as much as we need him. We need to move quickly so he won’t worry about us.”

“To think a kid has this kind of power over people,” Devi mused.

“People trust him,” Empire said.

She trusted Knight because he was her brother, but he proved that he was more than that. Knight was a capable adventurer and a reliable friend, always ready to lend a hand even to strangers he had just met. Some called him naive, but maybe that was what made him disciplined. He lived by a code to always give people his trust, which has earned him friends and sometimes enemies. It was a type of mentality that was unworldly inside the battlefield.

Sunlight shone at the end of the tunnel. The smell of fresh pine woke up Empire’s senses and lifted the heavyweight off her shoulders. Standing at the exit of the caverns was a familiar face with red-hair and matching eyes.

“Hey, sis!”

Elsword?

Empire rushed over to the voice but stopped when she saw the long bangs framing his face.

“Elesis?” Rune repeated her name.

“You’re not Elsword,” Empire heard herself say.

Her head spun as she realized what she said. Empire extended her hand to apologize, but Rune had disappeared. The others’ voices flooded around her.

----------------------------

Author Notes: It’s been 80 years. I am writing this as many parts of the country are going into self-quarantine for COVID-19. I will continue to slowly upload new chapters as I am still required to attend to work and classes online. Thank you for everyone’s patience and wonderful comments.

#elsword #eltag #Elsword fanfiction #my fanfiction #my writing #Elboy (Elsword)#Aisha (Elsword)#Rena (Elsword)#Raven (Elsword)#Eve (Elsword)#Chung (Elsword)#Ara (Elsword)#Elesis (Elsword)#Add (Elsword)#Lu (Elsword)#Ciel (Elsword)#Ain (Elsword)#doppelganger

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elk-and-thearchivist · 5 years ago

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Chiaroscuro, Chapter 3: Reconnaissance

It’s been a while but we’re still at it! Here’s the third chapter of my RP with @grumpyoldsnake / @justashadetalkative ! For this chapter art, @grumpyoldsnake did the sketch/composition and character lines/flats, while I did the background, shading, and effects. I also did the two other pieces in here.

The streamlined, edited version is on AO3 here.

Elk, Wiki, Linast, and Phosa finally see what they’re up against.

Words: 5385 Characters: Elk and Wiki (mine), Linast and Phosa ( @justashadetalkative ) Indented is me, regular is @justashadetalkative Dashes are POV shifts.

As per usual, Elk guided them expertly through the caverns and back into Greenpath. Hardly a husk noticed them as they went by, even with Phosa's dim glow.

Phosa. An interesting entity, as well - very different in mannerism from her sibling. Perhaps not surprising, given the polarity of their compositions.

And what interesting compositions indeed! Light and darkness. Yet not quite the pale light of soul, or the brilliance of the Old Light. And Linast's darkness was not the same void as they.

Ah, their mind has wandered once more. Already, they approach the area of the rifts.

"We're almost there," Elk called quietly.

“All right,” Phosa replied quietly, staying close behind them. She dimmed still further as the sounds of activity began to reach the group from the cavern ahead, her expression going grim.

Soon they’d drawn close enough to see a stark yellow light shining through the foliage ahead. Carefully, Phosa pushed forward to join the pair and slowly shifted a frond of greenery just far enough to give them a view of the rift area.

The rifts were larger now. One had expanded down to the ground, forming a doorway large enough to fit several people side by side; the others remained as slightly smaller tears in space. They opened into some hazy place that was too brightly lit to focus on; what little could be seen was surreal, seeming to pull and twist without actually moving.

The rift beings seemed to be hunting. Slain husks and Greenpath creatures had been piled haphazardly nearby, orange fluid leaking out across the floor. As the group watched, a group of three rift beings much like the one that had pursued Elk and Linast at the beginning of all this dragged in yet another bug to add to the pile, then departed again. A singular rift being in intricate robes circled slowly around the pile, tracing out glowing sigils in an ever widening arc. Other rift beings roamed the cavern, some apparently on guard, others setting up a sort of camp and talking cheerfully amongst themselves as they carried supplies through the central rift.

Phosa’s expression was tight as she let the greenery fall back into place. “...that is... a pretty big mess,” she whispered. “Shit.”

Wiki's stability within Elk quivered as they observed the the scene, motes and tendrils flicking out. Elk was suddenly anxious as well, taking a few steps back.

Wiki flicked out a tendril, laying it on Phosa's shoulder and giving a questioning prod for entry into her mind. They sensed her surprise, but quick assent. Forgive my intrusion. I don't wish to be overheard.

They could feel both their own and Elk's uneasiness bleeding into the bridge, but they supposed it couldn't be helped. It looks like they're killing and gathering the husks. Yet... I can't help but feel uneasy. I somehow doubt they'll stop at the ones already half-dead. Not to mention, those sigils... What are they for...?

Elk's mental presence echoed their sentiment. It was a much softer presence than theirs - very accommodating towards other entities in their mind. I don't think that they're any good news for Hallownest. Or- this dimension, maybe, if their intent is... larger scale......

I think you’re right, Phosa agreed. On all fronts. I don’t know what the sigils are but... considering corpses seem to be a primary component, I doubt it’s anything good.

Her thoughts flickered rapidly as she compared these beings to similar prior experiences. She seemed to be doing her best to call Wiki’s attention to the relevant ones.

This wasn’t the first time otherworldly beings had interrupted teleportation to and from the Spire, though it wasn’t common, either. ‘Vector wyrms’ seemed to be the most common culprit; they were simple creatures that fed off of the energy of teleportation spells, destabilizing the spell in the process. Hostile individuals had managed it a time or two, but they had usually been specifically searching for the Spire.

And there had once been a realm breach vaguely similar to these rifts in space, though it had been on a much larger scale. The edges of the Spire’s dimension had spilled into some vast, hungering darkness, lit by occasional sparks of lightning. Only Dalgiroth’s intervention and a lot of panicked work on the part of the spellcasters in the Spire had managed to pull them back from that particular incident. At least these rifts seem... stable...? Phosa didn’t seem reassured.

Wiki's thoughts churned as they observed Phosa's. They weren't reassured either.

There are way too many of them for us to confront... I doubt trying to fight them directly would turn out well. Elk gave a mental shudder.

If we could... seal the rifts, somehow. We could cut them off from their base of operations, before they establish themselves here… Rapid thoughts flickered across their mind - old magic, runes, seals, dreams, weavers-

Ah. There is another kingdom by the depths of Hallownest. Deepnest, the land of the Weavers. They are, or were, perhaps, rumored to weave intricate spells. Perhaps we could attempt to learn their magic to seal the rifts.

It's worth a shot. Phosa went distant and unfocused for a moment, her body wavering as she felt through the cavern. It wasn't quite sight, but she seemed to be able to get a general idea of the creature's locations and movements.

...If it worked, we could be sure they wouldn't get reinforcements, and we'd have enough time to be careful about it. If we could pick them off like that, I do think Linast and I could take the ones that are already here, she decided, refocusing. Especially once we're at full strength again.

Phosa looked at them with a serious expression. How long of a journey is it?

Their mind flashed with scenery, flying through various areas - a mental map coalescing in their mind. What would be the best way?

In moments, they traced a path in their mental map. Yes, the best option is most likely... They guided their mental image in a rapid journey, passing through Fog Canyon, the Queen's Station, the Fungal Wastes, before bringing them to a chasm of darkness. Deepnest.

It shall be a bit of a journey. Fog Canyon is dangerous, but not in the usual sense. We can guide you through safely - we are very familiar with it. It's where we met. Elk gave a nod at that.

Deepnest... it is a realm of darkness, we suppose. And not for the faint of heart. Images of parasitized husks and bugs tunneling dirtcarvers flickered across their mind. The Weavers' Den is said to be deep within the kingdom. We'll have to do a bit of exploring.

Phosa leaned forward as if to listen closer, not that it would make much difference. That does seem like quite a ways, she agreed. And those are... certainly some interesting creatures, there in Deepnest. But it seems you know the way pretty well.

She sat back again, smiling weakly. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see where you two met. And Linast is always up for some exploration. I’m sure we’ll manage to find something.

That is indeed the hope. Wiki retreated from the mental bridge, and Elk quietly stepped away from the scene of the rifts, looking around a bit before spotting the path to Fog Canyon. They waved a hand at Phosa, indicating that she follow.

Phosa obediently rose to follow them, picking her way carefully through the foliage. She seemed on higher alert than she had been before observing the rifts, her attention focused as much on their surroundings and on checking for pursuit from behind them as it was focused on following Wiki and Elk.

Soon, the air around them seemed to shift - thicker, almost fluid, and charged with an electrical energy. The bubbles particular to the Canyon began to populate their surroundings, soon giving way to the more hazardous ones, as well.

They paused a moment, warning Phosa: "Don't touch any of the bubbles with nuclei. They'll explode. Same for the larger jellyfish, though you have a chance to avoid them." They peered down the path. "Follow us closely - no harm will come to you here if you know how to avoid everything."

Wiki and Elk were both focused on plotting their pathway through the canyon, so neither were the first to notice, when a group of the creatures emerged from the undergrowth.

Phosa eyed the bubbles warily. “Noted. No touching,” she echoed, picking her way past the ones they’d pointed out to her. She looked up again once she was past them, though, returning to keeping a careful watch on their surroundings, and when the creatures stepped out she froze immediately.

Her warning hand on Elk’s shoulder might have served as warning or might have largely been a distraction, but their situation became clear enough as the quadrupedal creatures at the head of the hunting party spotted them and let out excited cries.

“Shit. Run, I’ll be right behind you—“ Phosa hissed, taking a half step in front of the pair. A blinding wave of light flew forward along the path and collided with the quadrupedal creatures as they started to rush forward. It threw them back to collapse in a heap atop the bipedal creatures behind them, clearing the way to the canyon—for a few moments, at least.

"Ah, Void-" they extended a number of tendrils from Elk and they rapidly scaled the walls of the canyon. Wiki frequently cast their awareness back to make sure Phosa followed - they chose a path relatively easy to navigate, but that meant the creatures were quick gaining on them.

Elk- we need-

A faster path, I know-

One of the creatures came close enough to leap at Phosa - they wrapped a tendril around her and pulled her out of the way, just in time to escape the explosion caused by the creature impacting a nucleated bubble. It let out a pained cry as Elk pulled them away from the blast zone. But the rest of the creatures were undeterred, perhaps more careful now that they were aware of the hazards.

They set Phosa down, but kept the tendril in contact as they continued their escape. Phosa, we're going to change our destination a bit. There's a passage we know by heart, and we might be able to shake them by taking it. It's a slight detour, but-

Phosa had kept up fairly well, right on their heels and nearly mirroring their exact steps at times, though every once in a while they'd leap for a ledge she clearly hadn't expected them to and she'd fall behind for a few moments as she readjusted.

She stumbled a step as they set her down and then caught her rhythm again. She reached up to grip their tendril with one hand, making sure that the contact didn't get interrupted.

Getting there at all sounds good to me, however many detours it takes, she replied. I tried to burn those things when they first showed up but it hardly did anything, shaking them's probably our best shot.

Elk cursed in their joined minds - so they were resilient and relentless. Despite the situation, Wiki felt a bit of amusement Elk's choice of words - giving a mental nudge equivalent to saying language- but the moment washed away quickly as they noticed the creatures gaining on them once more.

We'll do our best. Actually, we might be able to… Letting Elk take care of the navigation, Wiki considered their options. They sent Phosa an image of a cluster of Ooma - a large group typically lingered near where they were going. The Ooma are normally passive, but if their outer body is damaged, the volatile core will immediately fly towards the attacker. They will unleash a powerful explosion on impact.

Elk continued the thought: We might be able to do a little... misdirection. With enough of them, I doubt even these things will be unfazed? Though obviously it'll be pretty dangerous, we're handling explosives after all-

Phosa can do it. It seemed that Linast had woken again. Though with the current pace they were keeping and the explosion earlier, it wasn't surprising. It's a good idea. I can take our core, or you two can carry us, and she can drop back to where the rift people are and attack the Ooma from their direction.

Phosa assented, her mind quickly flicking through the necessary maneuver. She didn't seem concerned about the possibility of getting caught in the blast herself. They yelped at the explosion earlier. The light and heat might not do much but I'm betting the concussive force will. Solid folk tend to squish.

Wiki gave a mental equivalent of a snort. You have a point. Linast, good to see that you're awake. Your plan sounds very efficient. Though…

Will you two be alright? So long as your core is fine? Wiki could feel the concern emanating from Elk. Mirrored in their own self, though perhaps not as intensely.

Yes, and will you need a moment to form and split off? We'd probably be fine distracting them a moment if so.

We’ll be safe from the Ooma, yes.

The light from the explosions might be painful for me, if I’m in line of sight of them, Linast added. But that’s all. It doesn’t actually do me any harm, it’s just—tiring. The concept of ‘tired’ had a heavier mental weight to it than the word itself might suggest.

Guess we’ll find out for the rest. We don’t know what the creatures can do at close range. But they’d have to have some pretty specific abilities to be able to hurt me, and I don’t plan to linger.

Are you sure you could distract them safely? Linast seemed distinctly concerned at the risk, trying to think through alternative options. We won’t need long, I can teleport our core now that we’re healed, but it’ll take me a second to get my feet under me.

Wiki sent them a mental map of the area - there was an open area a little further, where the Ooma swarmed - and just beyond that stood the immense facility of the Archives.

We'll be alright. Good luck. They retracted their tendril. "We'll lead them off!"

“Meet you on the other side!” Phosa returned. Their core unspooled in ribbons of red and then into nothing at all, and moments later Phosa disappeared as well, flickering out of view like she’d never been there to begin with.

As Linast reclaimed their core, Phosa released her concentration on her form and turned her awareness outwards. The creatures were closer behind than she liked, but hopefully she was about to fix that.

Phosa located the Ooma that Wiki had described, glowing cores of orange at their centers making them stand out readily in her awareness. She should be able to target quite a few of them at once, especially since the creatures were even easier for her to feel than the Ooma nuclei.

Phosa lined up the shots, tracing a mental trajectory between each creature and a few Ooma each, then hesitated. She’d lost track of Elk and Wiki in the shuffle, antithetical as their bodies were to her magic. Were they out of the bloom yet? She refocused, looking for the small splotch of void that would mark Elk in her awareness.

It took a moment to pinpoint them - they weren't nearly as far as she'd expect, their emptiness still in the midst of the swarm of lights.

Their splotch expanded and contracted as they extended tendrils to vault themselves over and around the terrain, until it suddenly faltered and stopped.

That was most definitely not out of the bloom. Phosa didn't want to lose track of her sense of the creatures and Ooma, and she didn't want to distract Elk and Wiki at a bad time. But she focused in to take a look at what was going on, hoping to see what had gone wrong.

One of the creatures had managed to nick Elk's leg, causing them to trip. But they were still only for a moment, as tendrils suddenly burst from their body - a blur of motion followed by a yelp from the offending creature.

Elk was hunched over, the tendrils having pulled them back a bit. One tendril hung in the air, wielding some kind of weapon, stained with a liquid light.

The creature that was struck got up, a shallow gash on its face leaking the same fluid. It joined the rest of its pack, crouched a distance away from them - coiled energy about to strike.

Elk suddenly snapped their gaze to Phosa. The tendrils jerkily gestured to the Ooma, as if telling her, Do it now, now-

Phosa hesitated for an instant, the small sphere of light she’d formed to take a look at the situation flickering with stress. They had at least a bit of distance between themselves and the creatures, but it really wasn’t as much distance as she’d hoped. And they were still in the Ooma field. Would it set off a chain reaction, would they have time to get out—?

But Phosa was used to following instructions in combat situations, and Elk and Wiki were far more familiar with the Ooma than she was. An instant was all it took for her to shove her hesitance aside and refocus her attention, turning back to the creatures.

One, two—three. And more than enough Ooma for each. She lashed out from each creature’s position simultaneously, sending out narrow lances of heat and light that were about as close to laser focus as she could manage at such short notice.

As soon as the lances made contact, the soft outer layer of the Ooma burst. The cores were suspended in the air for just a moment, a moment of calm - before they descended upon the creatures.

Elk and Wiki just managed to leap out of the initial blast, ducking behind an outcropping. But as the creatures were caught in the blast, the explosion of heat and light reverberating through the air, they lashed out. The pops of Oomas' outer layers seemed loud in the gap between the first explosion - and the ones thereafter. It seemed as if a chain of at least ten of them were set off, brightness overshadowing the light of anything in the midst of the explosions.

When they finally stopped, the creatures were scattered on the canyon floor, weakly trying to get up. Elk and Wiki were out of Phosa's direct line of sight, but-

A trail of darkness was forming from a ways off from the scene, dripping from an amorphous spot of emptiness as it slowly moved further down the path.

Phosa had tried to keep track of Elk and Wiki through all of the explosions, in the hopes of intercepting the worst of the blasts if she could. But the light of the explosions was so much stronger in her awareness, and the pair blended into their surroundings—indistinguishable from flying debris and the dark interior of the cavern’s floor.

She cursed heartily as she spied the creatures still alive, forming in an amorphous shape and giving them a hard, merciless shove back to the ground. She honestly wasn’t paying much attention as she did so, though, casting about the cavern in search of her allies. She couldn’t burn the creatures, and she’d never been as good as Linast at physical force or cutting edges, and—there.

That was probably Elk, or Wiki, or both; it certainly wasn’t Linast. Stars they seemed in bad shape, though.

Phosa hurriedly formed near them, glancing over their wounds with a wince. At least they were upright. Sort of. “Hey,” she muttered, hovering uncertainly, her hands raised to offer support but not sure if it’d be welcome. “Hey, shit. I’m sorry, that got way more hectic than I expected, lost track of you for a few. Can I touch you? We need to get out of here—they’re not quite dead...”

They twitched, gooey tendrils flicking out. "Phosa...?" came out in a distorted warble. They shifted their head to look at her. "We'll... be alright once Elk wakes up and is able to focus. They're unconscious, they took the worst of it."

They curled their tendrils. "We were close, but- nnh. We got a direct hit from one at the very end. And Elk's shell has never- been very strong."

They glanced back to where the creatures were. "Sorry, we- panicked for a moment back there. Sorry. We thought we could make it." They looked back up to her. "We can't move that well right now... If you could give us a hand, that would... be appreciated. You can touch us, but it may be better for you to avoid our unstable Void. The cloak... should be fine."

“Yeah, that’s—I probably shouldn’t try touching that stuff right now,” Phosa agreed, looking them over. They seemed to be bleeding Void, and floating motes rose from their body as well. But if the cloak worked as a barrier, she could probably manage this; it was close enough to full length.

Phosa sent a wary glance back towards the creatures, which were still struggling to stand, then crouched down. She carefully tugged their cloak forward, wrapping it more securely about them. “I’m just going to pick you up, okay?”

They nodded as she wrapped the cloak around them, the texture under the cloak almost fluid, before it met enough resistance for it to seem solid.

They twitched suddenly, lifting their head a bit. "W... wait. Would it... be possible to capture one of the creatures? We might be able to find out something... now's... a good chance. They're weakened-"

“So are we,” Phosa returned, a bit more sharply than she’d meant to. She finished with the cloak, gently scooped them up, and held them close to her chest as she turned to check on the creatures’ progress.

She watched as a quadrupedal creature nudged at the bipedal one—which hadn’t yet managed to regain its feet—and let out a slow, conflicted hiss.

The problem was that Wiki was right. If the things were this resilient, this may well be their best chance at capturing one safely. Especially if they were going to keep running into them like this, unprepared and far from full strength.

“...I’m not taking you back in there,” Phosa said, slowly. Then, her conviction growing, she added, “And I’m not leaving you here undefended while I try to subdue three of them at once to make it safe enough to approach. We’ll meet back up with Linast. Then I’ll come back on my own and see if I can capture one.”

"...Nnh." They seemed wrought with tension, before they slumped as it drained from them. "I'm in no position to argue."

"We'll be safe in the Archives. We can rest there.... we know all the places to hide...." They slightly turned their head in the direction of her face. "Just... be careful..."

Phosa relaxed a bit as the tension drained from them, and readjusted her grip to keep them from slipping. “I always am,” she said. “Which is why we’re not staying here when Elk’s unconscious and you hardly seem much better off.”

Phosa set off at as smooth a run as she could manage, keeping a sharp eye out for any remnant Ooma or nucleated bubbles. She didn’t want to aggravate their injuries, but she was also intent on getting them out of the way as quickly as possible. She would need to get back before the creatures recovered much further.

It wasn't long until they emerged from a passageway into a large cavern. Ooma floated aimlessly around the expansive space, hovering around a sprawling complex of bronze metal and glass windows that glowed with the same green as the acid lake it was built upon.

Wiki was silent and motionless until they had arrived; as soon as they came into sight of the building, they shifted their gaze to it. "We can go in through the main entrance. No one really alive... stays here." They shifted again, looking around. "Is Linast here already...?"

Phosa frowned a bit, finding their specification of 'really alive' a bit ominous. She set her reservations aside and nodded as they asked after Linast, though, and glanced around for him herself. "Yeah, I can feel us--there he is."

Linast finished his teleportation in from whatever recessed corner of the passageway he’d found, and fell in beside her as she started towards the Archive's entrance. He stared at Elk and Wiki, looking a bit horrified. "Phosa, what--?"

"We fucked up," Phosa interrupted. She caught a cold blankness settling into his expression, and when he began to turn back the way they'd come she reached out with a formless limb to tug him back towards her by the core. His form flickered unsteadily against her light even as he pushed her away with a petulant hiss. "We fucked up, Linast. Don't even think about it. We can't afford more mistakes right now and you have been active way too long."

Linast subsided reluctantly, his attention drifting back towards Wiki. He started to reach towards them, then seemed to have second thoughts and tucked his hand back in against his chest. "Are you two okay..?" he asked, hesitant. "I mean--stable, or... is there anything we can do to help?"

They'd curled into themselves at Phosa's words, as if contrite. "We'll be... fine. Once Elk wakes up. They- they have an ability to heal themself using soul - we still have a lot we absorbed in the spring. I'm just... holding us together until then. Just need to rest for a bit..."

They turned Elk's head to Linast. "Active too long...? Are you alright-hnm." They flinched as more void dripped from the crack in their shell. "Let's- we should get inside- then we can all rest. I can show you where to go."

"Best to get out of sight," Phosa agreed quietly, shifting her hand away from the fresh drip of void before it could make contact. As she approached the entrance to the Archive, she exchanged a brief glance with Linast. He looked painfully worried, and she couldn't quite disagree with him.

Wiki said they'd be fine, and she'd gathered that they weren't exactly your typical biological beings. But they were... oozing quite a lot, and she was used to head wounds and unconsciousness being direly serious, in most physical creatures. 'Holding us together' was equally concerning. It was hard to reconcile all of that with 'fine,' or with a certainty that Elk would wake.

Nothing for it right now, though. As during all the rest of this nonsense, she'd just have to trust them. She nodded Linast towards the door, and he slipped through. He returned a moment later to gesture her in, apparently deeming it safe. She entered and took a look at their new surroundings. "Alright. Where are we heading?"

They took a second to respond - "Down the hallway, second left. There's a hidden door in the room there, you can take the steps to reach the second floor atrium. There are windows to the outside, so we'll be able to see if anything's coming..."

They shifted. "Oh, and... don't worry Uoma, the smaller jellies. They just... linger. Even if they hardly remember why they're here..."

“Okay,” Linast said. He set off ahead down the path they had indicated, continuing the practice of walking ahead of her and keeping an eye out for potential threats. It wasn’t their normal procedure, but then Phosa wasn’t normally the one carrying something vulnerable.

He’d already been looking wan and faintly shaky around the edges outside of the Archive. Phosa frowned as that was replaced with an entirely different sort of shakiness, her sibling twitching at every fresh flash from a nearby Uoma. She couldn’t see his expression from behind, but she could see that their core had disappeared beneath shadows much deeper than Linast would normally bother with even when he wasn’t overtired.

“Are the Uoma safe to touch?” she asked Wiki, as she paused outside the first room they’d described while Linast checked it. “Or are they explosive or aggressive, too?”

They hummed. "I wouldn't recommend touching them, as they can give an electrical discharge. The young ones," they gestured to the small green jellies wiggling about, "are harmless, however. And luckily, they are not explosive. At the slightest damage, they will perish."

"They, with the Ooma... helped keep the Archives running, back then..." They fell silent.

"Yeah, I can... see that." Nice to know they were easy to dispatch and harmless if unbothered, at least. Phosa might... try to shuffle them to other parts of the Archives, if there were any in the atrium. She doubted Linast would agree to rest with them anywhere nearby, and she didn't particularly relish the prospect, herself.

Phosa frowned as Wiki trailed off, and gently thumbed their shoulder beneath their cloak. "Hey. You still with us?" Normally she wouldn't keep bothering them, but... 'holding us together'. She wasn't sure it was entirely safe for Wiki to drift off, right now.

"Mmm..." That was some response, at least. "Still awake. Just... concentrating on.. mm. Might go under for a bit after Elk wakes up... They're... starting to come around. Won't be long, now..."

"Alright. I'm glad to hear it." Phosa looked up as Linast returned and gestured her into the room.

"I found the door," he said, pointing it out to her with a shaky gesture as she entered. "It was closed sso it's—mostly empty up there, at least. "

Phosa started up the stairs, listening as Linast closed the hidden door behind them and started up after her. "I'm going to head back and see if I can safely capture one of the injured creatures," she told him, as they entered the atrium and she began to look around for a good spot to set Elk and Wiki down. "Hopefully they haven't gotten too far. I want you to stay here with them, Wiki says Elk's starting to come around."

The atrium was a large circular room, an array of windows on either side, purple glow of the canyons filtering in. The room had a number of lamps filled with, presumably, acid - emitting a soft, diffuse glow - in between the windows, hanging from the walls. A long bench followed the wall, in addition to the circular ones surrounding an insignia that looked a lot like Wiki's likeness in the middle of the room. A winding staircase went up the side of the room to another platform, which was connected to other platforms by stairways crossing the room. A few of the smaller Uoma milled about aimlessly.

"... This was used as a research area, in the past... They'd call out to each other across the room. The stairs were mostly for the benefit of the bugs that couldn't float."

"There used to be more ways to access it, but they began sealing entrances when the Infection began. The researchers wanted to focus on their work. Or perhaps it was in fear of those already infected..." Wiki sighed, and waved a tendril in the direction of the central benches. "We can sit here."

“I’m going to need one of you to explain this Infection business to me at some point.” Phosa finished looking around and moved into the room to lay Elk’s unconscious form down on one of the benches Wiki had indicated.

She straightened up again afterwards and took a moment to look and feel around the room one last time, checking the entrances, making sure there weren’t any of the adult Uoma hidden in back corners. She knew Linast had already checked, but...

“It’s fine,” Linast muttered, patting her shoulder as he brushed past her to sit next to Elk and Wiki. “Go—get one of the rift folk before we lose track of them, and make sure none of the others were around to follow us. I’ll get your attention if s-ssomething goes wrong.”

“...Okay. I’ll try to be quick.” Without giving herself any more time to hesitate, Phosa let her body fade and turned her attention to finding the creatures they’d left behind.

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sonicspsychos · 4 years ago

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Busting out (Trek drabble)

Mun note: I’ve written many meeting accounts between Billie and Trek, some on Billie’s blog, some over at @rangerdrabbles. Here’s another, hopefully going with the current bio I have of him!

He’d been trying to dig and force his way out of that blasted rock for-how long? It wasn’t as if you could keep track of time being buried under moon rock. The longer he dug and blasted-he’d been weakened severely-the angrier he got.

And one day, he felt another presence. Faint, at first, but he knew what it was.

Ranger.

He was too weak to latch onto it from where he was, so he simply paused, and waited.

Fool.

He could be patient when he needed to be-far more patient than his other psycho counterparts. Finally, the ranger who was digging him out was close enough for him to bust through the rest of the rock on his own. Rocks flew into the air and disintegrated in a burst of green flame, and there was a howl of rage.

He’d reverted from monster form back to psycho form somehow in his struggle, and he turned to look at who had been stupid enough to let him out.

It was a blue ranger, and a little one at that. They studied each other for a split second. Beneath his helmet, Trek grinned. Even in his weakened state, this would be all too easy.

He dove into the little ranger’s mind, intending to latch himself on and use her for his own purposes. When he did, he got a flurry of images-the intelligent little human ignored and brushed aside for her interests, often misunderstood, and awkward. Typical.

Oh, how simple this will be, he thought. He dove deeper, and saw other things; bullied incidents-trivial ones, but all too real to the little human. He actually found himself laughing at the memory of the little ranger using itching powder in the football team’s jock straps.

Deeper still and he could sense anger, sadness, and-something else? A view of the world that wasn’t black and white, but shades of gray. He saw the little ranger facing off against a then-evil green ranger, and standing up in her weakened state, using all her strength to block a blast with her trident after the foolish red ranger challenged him again.

Her mind was an open book. Just a little tweak and-

-and then memories of his own flooded into his head. He’d forgotten much of what had happened before he’d gone to the moon, though he remembered he’d killed his own team in cold blood for Dark Spector.

What he was glimpsing now were his own memories of feeling on the outside looking in, the outsider, the sixth wheel, and his own feelings of anger, jealousy, and inadequacy that had driven him over the edge. He could easily bring the little human to the same point and yet-

Something stopped him. Perhaps it was a realization that they had a lot in common, even though they were two different sides of the same coin. He told himself it was easier if she served his purpose willingly, but who was he kidding? There was more to it than that.

He withdrew from her mind as quickly as he’d entered, grabbed her with a clawed hand, and with one last ounce of strength, teleported them away to a pocket dimension.

And then he passed out.

#trek #psycho green #psycho rangers

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that-is-where-they-wait · 5 years ago

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That is Where They Wait Ch 13: This is Why Jay’s Not Group Leader

previous / next all chapters AO3 FFN [HAHA 13th CHAPTER ON HALLOWEEN, I’m a GENIUS. jk I’m just dead, sorry everyone, happy Halloween. hugs and kisses to the 5 (five) people that still give a damn about this fic] res·pite | /ˈrespət,rēˈspīt/ | noun | 1. a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.

The shadows created by his tiny flame cut stark figures on the walls, the floor, and both their faces. They were far too sharp to be natural, too unsettling to be ignored. Kai was getting sick of the agitation thrumming under his skin.

This room they'd found was nice and all, especially considering the door had a lock, but they couldn't stand around and wait for safety forever. The longer they stayed put, the longer they risked getting well and truly lost. And seeing how Karlof had been lost when Kai'd found him cornered by the spirit, that was definitely a risk.

Kai twisted the knob and pulled.

The door stayed put.

Frowning, he tried again. And again, tugging more harshly. Still nothing.

They'd just gotten themselves locked inside the room. Did it lock from the outside or something?!

Frustrated when persistently pulling at the door did nothing, Kai yelled and punched it as hard as he could. A moment later, hissing and rubbing his knuckles, he realized that was a mistake.

"Let Karlof try," the other man said, buckling up to attack and slamming the door with all the force he had. Both of his gauntlets hit the wood with an impressive, booming 'thud', but the door held. Kai squinted — were there even any cracks on the thing?

"Uhh … do it again," he suggested hurriedly. "Maybe if you keep at it, it'll start to crack."

And Karlof did take a few more spirited swings at the door standing in their way. No good; somehow the door was still in one piece. Not even anything other than hairline cracked. (Just how did a stinking door manage to be stronger in the face of Karlof's punches than him, anyway? Ouch, his ego.)

"Doesn't make sense! How is door not broken already?" Karlof asked, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Great question! Wish I knew." Petulantly, he threw his leg back and kicked. Unsurprisingly, it did nothing, and he was left glowering at the door as his toe throbbed briefly. The last bit of the flame in his hand winked out as he lost his focus, and he had to generate a new one. (Blast their weakened powers.)

Okay, so this was an exasperating turn of events. But hey, they could find another way out. Kai's free hand flew to his chin as he thought about it. Maybe they didn't have to break the door …

"Hey, Karlof. Maybe if you use your metal powers to rip off the hinges. You think we could get the door off that way?"

Karlof just stared at him for a second.

"Karlof don't particularly care."

Hold on, what.

"Walked all day just to get to stupid mansion, then ran around forever just to get away from ugly monster. All Karlof want right now is some rest."

"Tell me you're joking," Kai hissed. "We can rest once we get back to where we were! Unless you wanna be wandering around lost."

"Breaking down door takes energy. Karlof don't have energy right now. Plus, if we can't go out, monster can't come in," Karlof pointed out.

He had a point. Kai remembered what the others had said about the magic surrounding everything. It leeched their energy, didn't it? Karlof looked pretty wiped. He was loathe to stay away from the others any longer than necessary, and he hated how everything about this place felt, but it'd be just mean to deny the guy a chance to rest. He liked to think he wasn't that much of a jerk.

Karlof grimaced after a moment. "Also … maybe pulled leg muscle while running. Don't know for sure."

"Oh, and of course you save that for last," Kai groaned. "Okay, fine. We'll stay in here a while. You're just lucky the door's locked."

"What I wouldn't give for a working camera right now, to capture the look on your face." Cole shook his head and chuckled.

No one had counted on the passage from the clock workshop taking them right back to the room they were staying in — least of all Jay and Skylor, who had their first taste of the passages from a bewildered posse of ninja stumbling out of the wall. They'd both jumped nearly clear to the ceiling; poor Skylor had actually almost fallen off of the bed she was sitting on trying to scramble to her feet.

"Ohh, shut up! The wall just opened up out of nowhere and spit you out; what was I supposed to think?! You would've have been just as startled!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, zaptrap."

"It was pretty funny," Lloyd said, smile muted but genuine.

"Helpful," Jay huffed. "You wouldn't happen to have found them, would you?"

Cole shook his head and gestured at the empty space to his left. "What do you think?"

Jay sighed, expression dropping. "Thought so. … You guys mind explaining why the walls just spit you out?"

"Please," Skylor added. "If you're going to give me a heart attack, at least tell me why."

Lloyd turned to really see her, and noticed that she was fiddling with what looked to be the pieces of her crossbow. Then he did a double-take. Before he could say anything, Zane spoke up.

"Apologies for startling you, and hello, Skylor. It's good to see that you're — oh my."

"Yeah, I know." Skylor grinned ruefully, eyes obscured by…

"Those are Kai's shades," Lloyd blurted out. "How come …?"

"Ask Jay," she shrugged. "He had the idea of giving them to me in the first place."

"Hey, I couldn't dim the lamp or fireplace anymore or they'd go out, and I know Kai's always carrying a pair of sunglasses with him, so …yeah."

"They really do help, though," Skylor said. "It's easier to fix this thing" — she frowned at her broken weapon of choice — "when I can keep my eyes open."

"Good to hear it," Zane said, ever the one to keep tabs. "But hopefully you won't be needing it too soon." Skylor frowned, but didn't respond.

It was hard to figure out how he felt about this. On the one hand, heh. Of course Kai kept sunglasses on him at all times.

On the other hand, the fact that they were Kai's only pulled worse at something in Lloyd's chest. If they didn't find him fast, Skylor using his sunglasses was gonna feel more like a sick joke than anything …

He expelled the thought quickly.

Kai would be okay. He had to be.

Cole went around haphazardly patting different objects in the room until he knocked back a glass lantern on the mantelpiece shutting the passage entrance, meriting a few snickers at how silly he looked. Then he started telling Jay and Skylor how they'd discovered the passage system, but gratefully let Zane explain the uglier details. Lloyd jumped in to describe their surroundings in the open hallways and several rooms that had been explored as well, including some of the more eccentric details. Skylor, having evidently taken on the role of unofficial scribe out of sheer boredom with her current situation, reached for a notepad and started scribbling away, asking questions ever so often.

"You know what I think is going on here?" Jay said, after a beat. "We crossed dimensions walking through the forest and now we're in a horror video game. That's what happened."

"Jay."

"Listen, I'm right," Jay declared, with far more confidence than he had any right to have. "Think about it. Everything's too quirky. Too conveniently inconvenient."

"Jay, I swear to Lloyd's grandfather I will hurt you." The effect of Cole's words were mostly nullified by the fact that he was shaking his head in his hands. (And for the record, it was still weird when people swore on his grandfather.)

"Explain," Skylor said, openly giggling at the absurdity, and Zane looked as confused as he did amused.

Ahh, good ol' Zane.

Still, the fact that Jay was joking around when there were people missing rubbed him the wrong way.

"I'm serious! We just so happen to be stuck in here because the doors won't open, and they can't be busted down, and the windows are barred! Have you ever heard a more video-game thing in your life?"

"Splendid situational analysis skills right there, Jay," Cole responded drily. "A+. What do you propose we do to solve this?"

But then again … Cole had been tensed up and radiating apprehension, the entire time they were searching, to the point where it had started to make Lloyd nervous, too. He looked like he was beginning to lighten up again, as he poked at Jay's ridiculousness.

"Whoa, hey, I didn't ask for leader talk! Just saying. Not to mention, that ugly ghost clown respawns when you kill it. That's some next-level malarkey right there."

"D-don't call it that," Skylor gasped in between laughs. Evidently the pain meds had kicked in.

"And why not, huh? Are you trying to tell me it��doesn't look like a clown and the Overlord had a really ugly baby?"

"Goodness," Zane remarked.

"Jay, do you ever think before you open your mouth?" Cole groaned, exasperated chuckles slipping out despite his best efforts. "Ever?"

"It's a personal point of pride to improv anything and everything I say," Jay said matter-of-factly. "Come on, you know this."

"This is why you're not group leader."

And since when was Lloyd the one to growl at any sign of fun when things were rough? He'd seen the way Jay's face had dropped when Cole announced that Kai and Karlof were still missing, and according to Zane he'd fought it before. If he was goofing off, it wasn't for lack of understanding the gravity — it was in spite of it.

So he'd bite. He'd pick back up the pieces of the child left over from when he'd been too small for the green gi, and play along. When they went back out to search, it'd be easier to keep his morale up if he let loose a little now.

They needed this.

"You know, Jay does have a point," he chimed in now. When everyone's attention turned to him, he grinned and clarified, "About the video game thing. Also the things in here are so … weird, they might as well be props. Like the clocks! What would anyone do with that many clocks?"

"And it does seem odd that there would be so many weapons on display …" Zane murmured under his breath.

"Yeah, exactly!"

Jay beamed. "Finally, someone sees it my way! I would bet my hand that this is all because of that dumb discount survivor Kai got at the shady store across from Doomsday Comix. I knew there was something weird about it. You should never trust a shady discount game."

"Hey, Kai got that game for you, because he was sick of you bellyaching about the Temple being haunted!" Cole replied. "Think an awful lot of me, doncha? Won't even take the former ghost's word that there's no ghosts in there."

"Uh, like I'd take your word for anything! Why don't you take this?" Jay threw a pillow at Cole's shoulder, much to their shock. They held their breath and waited for their reaction … and Cole worked his jaw for a second, then promptly picked up the pillow and nailed Jay in the face with it.

"Whoa, hey!" Lloyd cried. They paused and looked at him again.

"... We don't have nearly enough pillows for this."

Jay only blinked for a split second before grinning, balling up his blanket and whacking Cole with that instead.

Skylor doubled over laughing.

Absolute mayhem ruled for all of five minutes. Zane had been unwittingly dragged into the pillow/blanket fight that had evolved, and Lloyd figured if everyone else bar the one person who couldn't was doing it, he was definitely throwing himself into the ring. It only lasted up to Cole and Zane ganging up on him and wrapping him into a blanket burrito until he was screaming uncle. Even if she couldn't participate, Skylor was absolutely living for the chaos; she was practically munching on popcorn, tossing stray bedding into the fray (from a safe distance) for the rest of them to pounce on.

When they eventually settled down and sobered up, the air settling down on their shoulders again wasn't as oppressive. The soft afterglow lingering after they'd laughed some of their stress out made everyone feel a little more like they would be okay in the end, like they could go out and search again and they'd find everything they needed to — Kai, Karlof, and a way to escape this awful place and put it behind them for good.

But for right now …

"So. What's next?" Cole fluffed a pillow and set it back on the bed he'd grabbed it from.

"We should go back out and keep looking," Lloyd stated, grabbing a blanket off the floor and pointedly folding it in an apologetic-looking Zane's direction. Cole snorted — Zane might've felt a liiiiittle guilty about teaming up on Lloyd and accidentally knocking Jay down with a pillow, but he'd enjoyed every bit of that fight, and Lloyd knew it and he knew they both knew it.

"So soon?" Skylor asked. "You were gone for a while. Maybe you should take a break or something first …"

"Yeah!" Jay agreed, putting away his own blanket. "You were walking in secret passages and stuff! Aren't you tired? I know I'd be."

"If we do go out again, we should switch out who remains here with Skylor to prevent that," Zane said.

"Not 'if'," Lloyd said. "It's dangerous out there, and didn't you say Kai was injured? Karlof doesn't have any idea what he's up against if he bumps into it, either. Not to mention, we haven't even seen a trace of Shade around longer we wait, the worse our chances of finding them are. I say we keep looking a little longer."

Cole grimaced. He understood Lloyd's impatience, of course. He was worried, they all were, and nothing about their current situation looked good. And every second they spent trapped put him painfully in mind of another haunted building that had preyed on their fears and ended in nothing but trouble …

But the green ninja's insistence on searching until they found their missing was beginning to look near-obsessive. And while he hadn't said a word about being tired, his group had been on the move almost constantly since before they'd even arrived at the mansion. He'd fought for his life once already, and the building's magic was persistently weakening them. He had to be tired. Cole knew he was.

For the kid's sake, Cole hoped again that they were alright. If they weren't …

He shut the train of thought down before it could set itself off. He could do without losing his composure like that again, particularly now that he wasn't as isolated.

"Ech. I was actually thinking we have lunch or something first. It's been a while since any of us ate."

"Lunch …?"

Ohhh First Spinjitzu Master he could not be serious.

"Yes, Lloyd," he said dryly, "sometimes human beings need to eat food. You know, to survive and stuff."

"I know that!" Lloyd exclaimed. "But how do you know that it's lunch time, specifically?"

Cole paused to consider it. Usually, his appetite was the subject of a fair few jokes, but here he was using it as a surprisingly reliable indicator of when they should eat, sharpened with fatigue as it was. Because he was absolutely basing this off of his appetite.

A crinkle broke the quiet. Heads turned to see nothing else but Jay, teeth already sunk into a granola bar and blinking up at them.

"What?"

Cole sighed, rummaging through his backpack and frowning when it took a minute to find him anything worth eating. He unwrapped a sandwich as he said his next words.

"First trail mix at unholy hours of the morning, now this. If you're going to keep snacking precisely when it's not time to eat, you can't turn around and wonder why you're never hungry. I mean, not to suggest there's ever a bad time to eat, but you know what I mean."

"But I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal!" Jay protested. "Any more than this and … I dunno. Don't feel up to it. And aren't you a fine one to talk?"

"But he has a point," Zane said, concerned. "Your appetite is usually larger than this. Does your stomach still hurt?"

"Nah," Jay said dismissively, though he polished off the bar and didn't make a move to eat anything else. "I'm just not that hungry. Besides, I'll just save it for later."

Cole opened his mouth to tell him to eat at least a little more, anyway, but the last thing he'd said made him think.

Because when he considered it …

"We're starting to run low on food, aren't we?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess we are," Lloyd said, surrendering to the fact that they were eating now and pulling out some food. He didn't immediately eat it, though. "And we can't go get more, can we?"

"I have extra food in my bag," Zane offered, looking a little meek. "... The truth is, I kept storing food and snacks in it for missions and never remembered to take them out. It might not be all that much, but perhaps it could help us last a little longer."

"Hoarder."

"Hey, it's saving our hides now, isn't it?" Lloyd elbowed Jay. "Be nice."

"But I'm afraid it won't last us forever …"

"Right. We gotta think long-run," Cole said. "We have backup food, but there's …" He took a moment to count. "Five of us. Seven including the missing two. And none of us are running on full strength. This stuff's gonna go fast. If Zane's stash runs out, we've got no way to get more from outside, plus there's no way anything in here would be edible."

"Blegh." Jay made a face. "Can you imagine what it'd be like? The mold probably has mold growing on it. No thank you."

"Thank you, Jay, you're really doing wonders for my appetite." Skylor groaned.

"You're very welcome."

"Keep it to yourself," Cole said. "Just because you're not hungry doesn't mean you have to make sure everyone else isn't."

Jay harrumphed at him but didn't say anything else.

"We need to ration, don't we?" Lloyd said.

"I don't like that," Jay said. "That implies we're staying here."

"... Not that I like the idea," Cole hated it, in fact. "But again, we might have to start thinking long-term. Hopefully, Kai and Karlof aren't far, but who knows how long it'll actually take to find them. And that's not even taking into account how we'll find a way to escape …"

"Okay, you've made your point," Jay moaned. Cole followed his gaze to Lloyd, who was eating his honey sandwich with dark eyes, and sighed, feeling another twinge of worry.

"Well, this doesn't bode well for me," Skylor commented. "I didn't think we'd get holed up this long."

"Is this about food? How much do you have?" Zane asked.

"Mm? Only about enough for a day and a half, plus snacks. And that's being generous," she admitted sheepishly. "I've only got a little more left."

"It's alright," Cole replied. "None of us were really expecting it. You can just … mooch off of Zane?"

"Well, geez." Skylor raised an eyebrow. It was pretty funny, paired with the sunglasses. "When you put it that way."

"Don't worry," Zane reassured her. "Feel free to take what you need."

"Pft. Alright," Skylor said at last. "Thanks."

"Glad we got that set straight, but what're we gonna do about water?" Lloyd brought up. "My bottle's nearly empty."

"He has a point," Zane said. "Having food is essential, but we cannot afford to dehydrate, either."

"Man, Nya'd be nice to have around for that," Cole sighed. "... But it's probably a good thing she's not here."

"It's been well over a day and we still haven't contacted her."

"Maybe longer, even," Jay sighed glumly. His eyes flickered with worry for a second. "You … don't think she'd come looking for us, do you?"

"Don't sound so hopeful, Jay," Cole warned him. "There's no way it'd end well if she did."

"It was bad enough when I ran into it," Lloyd added. "If it stumbled into her before we did …"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Jay whimpered. "Forget I said anything."

"But do we need a water master for that?" Skylor cut in. "We could try to melt ice and make do that way."

"PIXAL has the same idea. But that would be most efficiently done with a controlled heat source such as Kai's fire, and Kai isn't with us right now," Zane said. Lloyd's face darkened.

"I know, but once we find him. Because we are going to," she said pointedly.

"I suppose I could just set some ice near the fireplace and let it melt, even though it would still be slow," Zane said. "Until we find Kai, of course."

"Right," Lloyd answered before Cole or Jay could say anything. "We will." But the room felt tenser again, more quietly charged than it had before.

How much longer they could keep that conviction up remained to be seen.

#that is where they wait #tiwtw #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago fanfic #ninjago cole #cole brookstone #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago karlof #ninjago skylor #skylor chen

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