---

---

Victoria raised an eyebrow. ”Choking’s fine, huh? And here I was about to say that you should throttle down lest I’ll be the one to throttle you. That would have been a waste of time.” Nevermind that she could also accidentally snap his neck if she pushed a bit too much.

Landing on the not-paths they traversed before, she took in Barty’s exposition. ”Teleportation magic, hm? I expected something else to be honest. This place looks almost… orderly.” she noted, the Pathways reminding her a bit of the white void of a room she occupied at the Kingston-Grey house.

Barty raised an eyebrow in kind. ”And who's to say Teleportation isn't orderly? Yes there can be mishaps as with any bit of magic, but that only comes to the untrained and arrogant. Those who actually care to learn the craft will find they have much more success than others. New avenues of magic within reach where others falter.” He spoke, not quite a lecture but with a fondness of his years within this subject. It was probably the most emotional he's shown since meeting Vicky.

”I kind of expected the realm used for teleportation to be closer to the warp. You know, judging by what I have seen of magic, which, admittedly, isn’t all that much. Compared to the academy’s halls or even the house I’m staying at, this place feels almost… empty?” she struggled, “I mean no offense, it’s just hard to find the right words for it, this is all new to me.” She idly swiped her hand through the space around them. ”You won’t find me disagreeing with the opinion that any discipline should be trained well before being practiced. Which is all the more infuriating, considering the magic teacher at MCI right now is a person who seems to have the ‘sink or swim, bitch’ mindset. Lady Nimue if you heard of that one.” she carefully said. Not a question, but hopefully beckoning enough for Barty to share his opinion on the teacher-possibly-Sinister-clone on his own, like he commented on Agatha before.

So, there were hero's out there using the name of the famed Lady of the Lake. It wasn't unheard of, people loved to compare themselves to gods fallen or new. So why wouldn't someone meant to teach magic take on the moniker of a famed mage from Arthurian Legends? ”Just how old do you think I am? Or is it that you believe me to know about the legends of Lady Nimue? As if any who have the capacity to read and comprehend can't simply search for her stories amongst the many legends spread throughout time. As for taking offense to how you view ‘this place’ I don't. I didn't create this space, nor it's Pathways. Though I've had my fair share of exploration within them to be able to navigate them with ease. Otherwise you may actually be lost here.” Barty mused before stopping for a moment and looking back at Victoria. ”For a person so magically adverse, why do you wish to study magic? Or is Margaret Carter such a cesspool of learning they cannot find ways to place you within spaces of academia that actually benefit you and your growth?”

”I was hoping you had info on whoever is the current iteration, rather than the original legend. I’ve heard that she may actually be a clone of Mr. Sinister. I don’t know whether the source was not just pulling a classmate’s leg, though.” she shrugged, then thought about his next question. Why did she want to learn about magic? ”Well, the most immediate need came from the fact that certain kinds of magic are rather extremely lethal to me, as I told you previously. I wanted to learn to defend myself against it, at the very least. I know a classmate of mine has a shield spell that worked. I’ve been trying to do at least that on my own, but I didn’t manage to make much progress. Other than that? Is it wrong to just want to know? I’ll have ample time to study anything I set my mind to, unless something violently ends my existence.”

A Sinister clone? Was that jackass still in production? Barty sighed at the possible accusation that not only was there the possibility that someone else was using the Lady's name, but that that someone was actually some form of clone created by Sinister. He should stick to writing under his pen names instead of this. ”So your want to learn derives from the wish to survive. Know the enemy, in this case magic, in order to stay alive and fend it off. It's primal, but admirable I suppose. If I knew more about what plagued you I may actually be of help. But you've made it clear you wish for me to know as little as needed. So I won't pry.”

”I am wary of trying to source any more help from you in particular, considering the price for your services is so vague, yes.” Victoria smiled bitterly. It was a crying shame, considering what she saw in the last half an hour alone. But Macleod was not someone she would trust with much of anything easily ever, considering how said half an hour came to pass. Telling him how he could kill her in detail? Absolutely out of the question. ”I suppose that given what you said you were through, I can understand why trust or - fortune forbid - kindness would not be in your repertoire, but it kind of breeds more animosity against you. Just my unsolicited take on it.” she folded her arms on her chest. She could perhaps extend some sort of olive branch? But would it not end up with digging herself into a deeper grave? Besides, this was likely the last time they talked, other than when Barty came to collect upon their contract, whenever that would be. It just didn’t seem worth trying.

”Kindness is earned from me. As is trust. But I do not go seeking it, the world itself has scorned me enough times to give up on that endeavor. Should someone wish to do so that is on them, but I will not go looking for it in kind. I'm sure if anyone, you might understand. But mother didn't raise a fool. Would that she could see me now…who knows what she might think of what I have become.” Barty mused before finally continuing to walk into the darkness leading the way once more. ”Oh, and if you ask of it, I technically could speed this all up with the equivalent amount of effort I would had I not, well with a scosche more effort but négligeable amount really. Since you seem to have not…completely…been bad company.”

Victoria shot Barty a suspicious glare. Why do so many people I associate with speak french? she thought, trying to calculate the odds of it. Well, considering what the quarter they were located in was called, perhaps it should not be as unexpected. Still, that didn’t help much in this situation. ”I’ve learned to be careful with words and especially deals when you are concerned. I have no clue how much you would actually consider negligible. So no, unless you speak clearly, I’m not going to be opting in for any upgrades to this sightseeing tour you’re putting on.”

Barty couldn't help but chuckle at her warriness. ”Meaning it wouldn't tack on any more than say sales tax on an item. But if you wish for me to be more transparent or plain about it then…in order to expedite this process I would need to use an item of my own creation. I would then of course need to make another later on as it has been used up, but it's such an easy task and one I do regularly anyways it doesn't truly affect me much. Like asking me to grab you a coffee while I'm already at the shop for myself.” He said matter-of-factly.

If this is a trap, I will hurt you. Vicky thought, sighing. ”Fine then, I suppose.”

”Fair warning, this won't exactly be pleasant for you, but the fact that you float makes it all the easier.” Barty fished out a handful of small totems, each a wooden carving with a long lost language engraved into them. If Victoria cared to count, he held five of them within his palm. The totems were no more than two inches in length and each engraving pulsed with magic like embers in a coal. ”Are you ready?”

”...That was a rhetorical question, right?” she deadpanned, ”Since you’re as forthcoming as ever, how would I know whether I’m ready when I know not what’s about to happen?” she rolled her eyes, internally bracing for whatever may be inbound, happy she at least already had her generators online.

Barty simply grinned in response. Of course it was rhetorical, he hardly ever cared if someone was actually ready. It took away from the thrill in their eyes at the moment of shock. Ideally, he would've saved these for the lounge later, but he figured that maybe at least four should do it. Eyeing Vicky up and down once more as he pocketed the fifth Totem and held the others in the palms of his hands, two in one and one in the other as the fourth was held between his index fingers and thumbs. Barty snapped the totem in half, right under his nose as specks of magic floated into the air like sparks and then up his nose as he inhaled it. He repeated the process three more times until all four totems were spent and tossed aside like trash.

Barty didn't speak, focused as the immense amount of magic was now coursing through his body. A glow could be seen around his hand as he extended it outward to where a door might be and grabbed hold. But this time when he opened it, he did so with force. A ripple of doorways spanned like a hall of mirrors, different locations each weirder than the last, not all within this plane, with an interspersing of the black void they stood in, between each layer. ”Have fun. I'll see you later Victoria.” He said as he grabbed her arm and flung her with extreme ease, enough force to send Vicky spearing through each and every door in a matter of seconds. Whole worlds flashing by like slides on an old projector that only flickered it's lights. And before Vicky would know it, she was outside of Strange Academy, a lush green hedge behind her with a locked gateway keeping those who didn't attend out, and before her rapidly approaching, was a marching band blaring instruments that threatened to run her over should she not move.

She managed to stifle the ‘Eep!’ that threatened to escape her throat as she was flung through one hell of a tourism ad. Her sensors were taking in all the sights, but something happened that, frankly, did not come up since the hardware testing days in the first month she was even alive.


For the first time in years, Victoria took in more information flow than she could retain, forcing her to delete what she already saw to keep the new stuff coming in.

And then she was out. Landing on her feet with a slight stumble, she looked around just in time to see the oncoming band. Too late to get out of the way, she had to weave and ebb around the band members, having a couple of near misses but emerging on the other side unscathed, with the song still being played on all instruments, on pace and in tune.

Finally, she was able to step aside and analyze what she could remember. From what she could gather, she could only keep about the last third of the places she passed through. To her dismay, none of it seemed to show her anything that seemed like it could be very useful in the future. Still... Who else could say they've been to that many places?


She frowned. This was a problem with how her holographic memory normally worked. There was one downside to it: One could not erase data to save space. Sort of like carving information into a stone tablet, only far denser. Normally. She straightened out her tie as she thought about a solution, having gotten ruffled during the band encounter. "We'll see about that."


That taken care of, she fished out her phone and texted Vis.



Quickly Victoria would receive a message back stating.
“VICTORIA? I HAVE CHECKED MY RECORDS AND I HAVE MADE AN ERROR. DO YOUR GUARDIANS KNOW YOU ARE HERE? I WILL NEED TO INFORM THEM PER MY PROTOCOLS IF THEY DO NOT KNOW. PLEASE ADVISE.”

I need an actual adult… Not. Victoria sighed, her fingers tapping on the screen.


It would appear she would have to hunt Agatha down another day, preferrably outside the Academy's halls.

---

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While she waited for a pickup, Victoria browsed through the flashes of the worlds she had just been yeeted through in more detail. Some of them were barren, some mundane, but a good few of them had left her kind of wanting to go back and see more of them.

A project for later to be sure, but she did order a delivery of some sculpting supplies, intending to capture some of what she has seen. Maybe she'd send MacLeod a piece - Annoying as the whole ordeal was, the spectacle was such that she found herself wanting to thank him for it, to her extreme annoyance.

---

If that was annoying, the reunification with the rest of her classmates left her gobsmacked. The explanation for why their number was halved was like a rain from clear sky. "...Huh? Can't I leave you guys for a second? First I go to C.A.G.E. and before my ride even pulls off of the campus there is a fire alarm at the dorms, and now I leave for a bit and half of you disappear into the shadow realm! How did so many even...? The odds agaist that are... Huh?!" her mouth was actually left hanging open. She refused to believe she was this group's good luck charm, though empirical evidence kind of leaned towards it.

Some of the departures actually pissed her off. Taking drugs to induce superpowers is bad, is it? So should we strike Steve Rodgers from the records as an embarrassment?! To say nothing of her personal nemesis - while Victoria didn't pry into details and would hardly cry over her absence, she couldn't imagine how Andy must have felt.

To top this day off, they were going to do an actual seance, trying to summon the ghost of their departed(?) teacher. Victoria almost abstained, having had enough witchcraft in her life for one day, but as things were going, three other of her classmates would be swallowed by vengeful spirits or something if she bailed.

There was a dinner happening before then, but with the large memory write depleting her reserves, she needed a different kind of sustenance. Instead she spent the time in her white void, recharging off of the light that seemed fine tuned to her solar recharge system.

When the time was up, perhaps in a fit of overcompensation after today's events, she attached all five of her MFGs to her skin and went to join the others, arriving just in time to hear something about ghost hawaii. That culinary abomination exists in the afterlife? Guy must be in the bad place.

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“Honey, can you not- Nope, okay. We did this.” James muttered and pushed back his chair as his adorable, common sense allergic husband once again failed to consider gravity a problem. Predictably, a solid thwak as Casper met the ground and James could only hope he didn't break anything this time. He knelt next to his husband, fretting as he coaxed Casper to sit up slowly. It didn't matter how often or how few consequences there were, there was always the chance this was the time. “Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you sitting. Need to make sure you didn't break anything before I take care of you.” James urged Casper into a sitting position. He flashed Ben a grateful smile as he spoke to Casper quietly. It sounded worse than it was, barely a bruise starting to form, and it took no time at all for the familiar beat of Casper's heart to soothe away the pain.

“Princess, Pops'll take care of it no problem! ‘aven't found not'in’ ‘e can't ‘eal!” Danni assured her, but turned a pout on Ben quickly. “Wait, does t'at mean we ‘ave ta pick ‘tween milkshakes and Poisson-Pas, Appa? T'at's not faaaaaair! I want bot’!!! Wait, Papa can we ‘ave milkshakes in t'e seance too? I t'ink Poisson-Pas is ‘avin’ a milkshake in ghost-’awaii and it'd be wierd not ta ‘ave milkshakes in ‘is ‘onor.”

Dorians eyes lit up as the time drew closer to a summoning. They'd finally get to talk to Poisson-Pas and figure out what really happened. If…they could even talk to him. He had his doubts, based on the vision's hed seen in the Astral Plane. It was too early, too soon for his mentor to die. They were supposed to still have some time. So what changed? He pushed the thoughts aside and focused on the current plan of attack. Acquiring milkshakes for the Seance. ”Pleeeeease? 🎶 We like milkshakes as every child should! We promise to be good.🎶” He sang towards his parents in an attempt to suade them.

Max looked over at Ben, then towards Danni and Dorian. ”After. No milkshakes or other food inside the Seance room. So, the sooner you get your seance finished the sooner you can have milkshakes. But…you all will need some appropriate attire for the situation at hand. So…” Max snapped his fingers and magic began to swirl amongst them all, save for Ben and Max who weren't going to be attending the Seance itself. Everyone's clothing changed into 80's inspired sleepover wear. Because what better time to contact the dead than in a sleepover?

As Leah and Sabine moved to return to the waiting room, their feet would lose purchase as the ground beneath them suddenly vanished. For Sabine, it would be like simply missing a step - the sudden lurch forward, followed up by a fall, just without a landing. But for Leah, a being of earth and rock, the loss of connection to the planet, to anything beyond the mercy of gravity might feel all the more sinister.

And then without warning, just as the fall had begun, it ended - as shimmering orange ropes wrapped around the girls, grabbing them by the torso, and they were yanked sideways, leaving the strange nothingness and crashing through a crystalline illusion. The pair would find themselves on the floor of an arcane, musty study - a sanctum for the mystic arts, one with no doors, and a gigantic circular window. Its master stood before them, his hair more gray than any other color in his age, as his eyebrow twitched with curiosity.

“Welcome to office hours. I understand you have need of my services,” Doctor Strange greeted.

If it weren’t for the fact that they had just been suspended in the air, and safely deposited back on the ground, Leah might have had several expletives and unpleasant words ready to go.

Her head swerved around this way and that, taking in everything and subconsciously making sure they hadn’t just been teleported into a torture chamber or, god forbid, fucking Arizona. But no, they were in front of the greatest wizard on the planet.

”…What?” Holy shit, falling like that felt awful.

Sabine felt in freefall for a moment before she was whisked back along with Leah. Soon her feet were on solid ground again and she stood in front of the Sorcerer Supreme himself. She looked around, glanced at Leah who, much like herself, was valid in her reactions.

”Oh…umm…hello,” she said awkwardly. She wasn’t expecting to have to interact with him right away, nor be flung through portals to come into his ‘office’.

”I suppose we do. Leah, want to start us off?”

”Uh- Yeah. I guess…” There were actually several things a wizard could be a huge help for, right about now. But… Priorities.

”I guess Vision already told you this, but there’s this stupidly dangerous supervillain around. He’s my dad, and he might be using magic… I met him earlier and he just vanished right before I could knock his teeth down his throat.”

Doctor Strange grimaced for a moment, before with a twirl of his hands a perfectly poured cup of tea appeared, and he took a lingering sip. “Ah. Yes. I must confess, I find the Vision’s texting style to be… less than palatable.” His eyes wandered around the room, before narrowing ever so slightly with interest as his gaze settled on Leah. “I thought we’d all agreed that ChatGPT was a bad idea.”

“At any rate, I keep a watchlist of individuals who might be a threat to this world - enchanted, of course,” he mused, before letting go of the cup and the tea immediately vanished, as he moved across the study to a wall filled with ancient tomes. “What is your father’s name?”

”Depends on what kind of mood he’s in. Alain Pavon, Blackbird, Imperator- He’s got a bunch of those that he’s known for… I stopped using my old name after I tried to kill him, a few years ago.”

At this point, keeping that small tidbit of information secret didn’t seem to matter that much.

”So depending on if he’s in your enchanted book, which I have to assume he is because you’re…well you, what’s going to happen? Are we going to business as usual? Gonna be honest, this whole thing has thrown me a bit and it’s not even my father.”

“Blackbird? I suppose I’ve heard worse,” Strange muttered. “Bound to run out of names eventually. Let’s see, Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackbird…” He took a well-loved book from the shelf, the cover practically in tatters, held together with tape and twine. The pages seemed to come to life before him, the book flinging itself open, before suddenly stopping. He studied the page carefully. Read it once, then once again. And then he turned back around to face the girls. “We? We aren’t doing anything. You’re children,” he reminded them. “Children without a shred of magical training.”

”I don’t get the impression you’ve been trained to shoot someone from really far away, or break someone in half with your bare fists,” Leah commented. ”Does that mean you’re doing nothing either?”

Sabine stepped closer to Leah. While Sabine agreed, for the most part, it was probably not the best idea to piss off the Sorcerer Supreme. ”Ok, let’s take a step back. With all due respect, Doctor Strange, Leah has a lot more experience with this man, training or not. And I am not about to sit around while some crazed maniac threatens everyone. I mean… Sabine was about to bring up Arcade, but was that a good example of what she could do? It was dangerous, yes, but Arcade didn’t hold a candle to Leah’s father.

”I’d like to help in some capacity, at least.

”I’m irritable right now, sorry.” It had been a long damn day.

The book snapped shut. Another time, he would have shunted Leah’s soul out of her body, just to make a point. He would have taken them to Kamar-Taj, where they trained not just in magic, but in physical combat. He would have impressed upon them how little they knew, how little they understood.

“Do you want to know a secret, Ms. Jordan?” he inquired. “You reek of magic - of enchantment. But not your father’s work. No. I’m afraid this is little more than a prank. If I had to guess, someone wants you off your game in the contest tomorrow. Probably one of my students.”

She stared at him for a moment.

”Is that what… This all is?” She waved a hand around to indicate the rocky skin she had grown after the incident in the gym. ”A prank? This happened after someone got hurt and I helped them, what am I missing here?”

”If this is all a prank,” though Sabine very much doubted it because who in their right mind would go to this great length over a contest, even one as important as this, ”then are you able to figure out who?” Surely the Sorcerer Supreme could. Unless this was just some way for him to get the two of them off his back.

He really didn’t know them if that was his goal.

“Oh, no, that’s quite real,” Strange assured her. “You’re a giantess - a bit far from home, but that isn’t uncommon these days. Earth is lousy with Asgardians and giants these days. As for who it is - all magic comes with a price, and if paying this price will bring you peace… and keep you from working the robot into a stress-driven malfunction… and remove you from my office… I will oblige.”

From his sleeve, he produced a small, smooth stone - and with a whispered word of power, it began to float, glowing a soft orange. “Take this. Follow it, and you will find your culprit.”

Leah took the stone, staring down at it curiously. ”…You’re telling me that wasn’t him. That no one’s in fu- That no one’s in danger.” She turned and fixed a really pissed off look on Sabine. The kind of look that conveyed things words couldn’t. ”I’m gonna kick someone’s ass for a field goal for this.”

Then she turned back and looked at the wizard. ”I’m- If I knew this was a prank, I would’ve just kept quiet about it. Sorry for making this your problem, seriously. And… Thanks. For whatever this thing is.”

Sabine bit her tongue. The fact this was all an elaborate “prank” to get into Leah’s head, possibly even her own, was ridiculous. However, as much as she wanted to get into the person’s brain and destroy it from within, this was Leah’s decision. She would back her up. They would also have to speak to April to calm her down if she saw any of the messages.

”Agreed. Thank you for that. Suppose we should get back and figure some things out.”

“Yes, I suppose you should,” Strange agreed, before the ground fell away beneath them once more, and they would land back safely at the school.

Leah nearly stumbled and fell flat on her face that time. That felt so damn disorienting.

She looked around. ”...Okay. So. We follow this magic stone. Find a wizard, fucking disembowel them, and then- I dunno. Worry about ourselves for the rest of the day after?”

Sabine grounded herself as quickly as she could. Something with Strange set her off a bit. Maybe he truly was just busy and had little time for antics but surely he could understand their worry. ”Do you want to do it now? If there is no danger, we have time. Or find out who it is and destroy them in the competition. Up to you either way, I have your back.”

”I’d rather fix this before whoever did it decides to fuck someone else over. What if April gets tricked into seeing her awful parents?” She asked. ”Or what if Vision has something he needs to tell us, and we think that’s another trick?”

”I said I have your back Leah. Whatever you decide, since it was your head they messed with.” The underlying message is clear: whatever you decide to do to them, I will assist.

”Yeah. Let’s go.”

---

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Sabine had faced many things before. She stood on a stage and demonstrated her abilities. She charged forward in combat situations, in practice, and everyday life. She stood up to her father and stepmother on more than one occasion.

So it defied all logic that she stood outside of the Kingston-Gray home, wringing her hands, afraid to set a foot over the threshold. She knew Danni would have her back, and Dorian to an extent. April would give her a wide berth, she was sure, which would not do her favors given April's closeness to the Kingston-Grays. She wouldn't be surprised if they had already heard horrible things about her.

And yet, she followed the others inside. Sabine's guard was up despite her trying to bring her shoulders down, put a smile on, and pretend she wasn't freaking out internally. "Thank you for inviting me into your lovely home," she had told the Kingston-Grays at the first opportunity. Sabine couldn't help herself, eyeing the fathers of two of her closest friends. The one dressed more provacatively, Casper, seemed to never stand near her. She didn't think much of it at first after following them around a bit before their meal, but as the day went on she noticed it more and more. She was tempted to test the theory and stride towards him, but didn't wnat to appear like she was going to strike him.

One of the other ones, James, was almost the opposite, keeping a close eye on her. She never seemed to leave his sight. He wasn't staring at her, per se, but he definitely made sure she was in his eyeline at all times.

The worst part: she had no one to talk about this with. Not yet, at least. Danni and Dorian were happy to be home and she didn't want to rain on their parades by expressing concern over how she was being treated, even mildly. April was not in a speaking mood with her, she was sure. Leah would maybe understand, but given recent events she wanted to have Leah relax a bit. Andy was a new friend and wouldn't understand the ins and outs just yet. Percy and Victoria were out also.

Despite being surrounded by people, she was very much alone.

At Capser's direction to get ready for the seance, Sabine stood up just as Casper fell. April voiced her concern and Sabine was about to run over before Ben highlighted that he was okay. Sabine stood off to the side, waiting for the others to lead. She didn't want to appear like she was going to scope things out on her own. She looked over to Dorian and Danni, hoping one of them would take pity on her and be near her.

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Leah didn't like thinking about dead people. She knew that, objectively speaking, there was a lot worse people could do than just talk to the dead and ask them questions. They could be raised up as a zombie, enslaved or just used to haunt someone. But if they could talk to Nemo, who Leah still had a hard time believing as actually gone, then they could theoretically find her mom somewhere in whatever afterlife she went to. And she didn't want to even spare a thought for something like that. So when they got to the house- Seriously, how many dads did Dorian fucking have?- She planned to make that clear enough. She'd be staying out of the communion from beyond the grave, or whatever they called it.

Besides, she had some... awkward messages to send out.



Vision was probably having the robotic equivalent of a stroke right now, reading that. Leah wondered if he'd brick her phone for making such a fuss over something that wasn't even real.

Then she sent another message.



Did April even check the chat they had anymore? Did she delete it from her contacts, and leave Leah screaming into the void earlier? She wasn't sure, but Leah had a bad feeling she had scared the shit out of her friend over smoke and mirrors, when she was already having a pretty bad day. Yikes.

Leah stared down at her phone, thinking. There was only one other person who really had to even know about the whole thing, and Leah didn't know if she did. If she didn't say something, it might be worse after. Leah didn't even care that much, but it'd save her a headache.



Then she quickly put her phone away and made a mental note not to look at it for at least another hour. Waking through the door, she stayed next to Sabine, who wasted no time being chatty. She didn't have much to say about them inviting people into their home. Leah quietly wondered what they'd say about her. If they'd even acknowledge her, which she wouldn't say no to them objecting to.

If they were anything like their kids, they'd exhaust her people battery quickly.

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Dinner had been good. Andy had been tempted to bring up wanting to talk with Max and James, but she had decided against it. She could do that later. Privately. As much as she had opened up to the others in the group, this was a tender spot. She would have to talk about leaving. And some curse. And that Zari had left her. Abandoned her seventeen years into the future. So she was quiet through dinner.

Andy was also unsurprised by Casper's antics, only flinching a little when he fell, as if she thought she could catch him, but gave up halfway through the motion. They were doing a Seance? Why? Who were they trying to contact?

And then it clicked. Diana had said something had happened to Ser Nemo. Danni must have had a nickname for him. He had died. Their teacher had died. She blinked. Why had no one told her? Had they only found out while she was at Magneto's...at home? But no one had told her after. It seemed like Diana had been about to tell her when Zari had ended things. It was a good thing she was already sitting. Andy didn't like ghosts, hadn't liked them for a long time before meeting Casper, but had stopped being afraid of them after everything that happened on Genosha. That didn't change the fact that she wasn't excited about the prospect of joining a seance. She knew if anyone could succeed, it would be Casper. What would she say to him? Thank you for giving her more time for her tests. That was dumb. Andy kept her emotions in check. It felt like the first time in months she had been able to keep herself from crying. Maybe she had too much to cry about again. It'd be torrential later. Or she was all cried out.

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"Aww, thaaaanks baaaaabe," Casper cooed, before pressing a quick kiss to his husband's cheek. James was always there to catch him, always ready to put him back together. He loved that feeling of connection, of warmth, as his husband instructed his body on how to put itself back together. If he could permanently tie his being to him, he would. Even now, he felt like the luckiest man in the world whenever James walked into a room. "Wait there's gonna be milkshakes?!" Casper gasped, flailing his limbs outward and nearly sliding out of his seat. "I want a milkshake Ben!!! C'mon!!!"

Percy was momentarily distracted from his unease with James by his astonishment with Casper. It became abundantly clear to him which parent Danni took after. He was loud, careless, and vibrant - not even phased at all by his fall, as if the concept of pain or injury was foreign to him. And maybe it was - maybe it was to all of the Kingston-Grays, as James could take it away before the memory could even form. When was the last time Dorian had been sick? Was his immune system more robust because of James' powers - or was it actually weaker, unable to develop the defenses it needed if there was always someone else on hand to fight off the disease?

"That's so cool!" April's eyes were wide, completely in awe. A fall like that could have been nasty - definitely could have needed stitches - but it wasn't a huge deal here. Dorian's and Danni's family was completely magical. The way that they used their powers to ensure that everyone's needs were met... It was inspiring. It was nothing like the home that April came from - nothing like her family of origin. She'd thought a lot about what she could do to help the ocean with her powers, once she was strong enough. But she'd never thought much about what else she could use it for. And looking at the family, and everything they could... She found herself wondering if there was something more.

Her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket, and glanced at the screen, instinctively tensing. There was a text from her mother. She ignored it. Or at least, she tried to. But there were other texts beneath it - ones from hours ago - and she gasped, reading them in reverse order. Her heart was beating thunderously fast now. She re-read the texts over and over again, guilt filling her up and practically suffocating her. How had she missed these? Leah... Leah thought her dad had been here, thought he'd been trying to kill everyone, and April was just seeing these now. Hours later. Leah must have hated her. And Sabine... April swallowed again, reading the texts one last time. Sabine hadn't said a word. She was never going to talk to April again, certainly not after this.



The happy bubble had fully burst. With trembling hands, April texted back a reply - even though Leah was in the same room as her. She didn't know what else to do.



Oblivious to the text-related drama unfolding in front of him, Ben instead focused on the absolutely horrifying song that came out of his son's mouth - and the various pleas for milkshakes. He'd already intended that they'd be ready for the kids after the seance, so he didn't have any issue with Max's ruling. However... "Dorian, just for that, no milkshake for you - as punishment for making your poor appa's ears bleed," Ben said, shaking his head. He wasn't serious.

Led by Casper, those who were interested in participating in the seance were led out of the kitchen and through the house to the descriptively-named seance room. The predominate feature was a large circular table, covered with a white cloth and a crystal ball in the dead center. Candles illuminated as they entered the space, some of them suspended from the ceiling in a grand candelabra, others strategically placed around the room. Most of the furniture was covered in white sheets, and the storm visible through the window did not match the weather of the French Quarter - it must have been enchanted.

"Okay, kids, here's how it's going to work - everyone is going to take a seat, you can join hands or not join hands, it doesn't actually suuuuper matter... Like I'm gonna level with you, since Maxie Max isn't here and can't complain, this is 99% for him. He loves this shit. Boy is a theater kid and we love him for it. I could summon a ghost at a lemonade stand and it would work just as well. But the atmosphere is important for the vibes aaaand for whatever reason, people looove a spooky vibe," Casper chattered, as he took a seat at the table - and hooked his leg around the chair next to him, ensuring his husband would sit there. He wouldn't do this without James.

"So what's the name of this guy we're bringing back? Oh and quick ghost etiquette - they're usually cranky and mean, just like Ben. If you do anything to piss the ghost off, seance is over. I'm also not going to just summon the ghost of every person you can think of, so if you want to talk to your grandma... sucks to suck, I guess?" he shrugged a bit. "So yeah, what's his name again - Ser Goldfish?"

"Ser Nemo," Percy answered, as a chill went down his spine. The meaning of the name suddenly clicked for him. It was the same alias that Odysseus had used. He took his seat at the table, sitting as far from James as he could. He didn't like that. The thought made him feel strange - like his skin was buzzing and alive. At least after this, he'd never have to see the old man again.

April took a seat next to Danni, hoping Dorian would sit on either side of them. Her face was a bit pale in the candlelight, as she leaned forward with anticipation. She'd never seen a ghost before. And if her parents knew she was currently at the Kingston-Gray house during a seance, they'd probably disown her. But she didn't care. Fuck them. She wanted to talk to Nemo - she wanted to make sure that he was okay, that he was happy, that he was safe - she wanted to both tell him thank you and sorry - and a small part of her wanted to tell him to go to hell for having made that call, for not leaving her alone that night. "Will we be able to see him? Or... or is he going to go inside you, like Dori does?"

Casper snorted. "I don't think my husband would love it if he did that," he teased gently, grinning at James. His eyes then glowed a soft shade of blue, the same strange energy emanating from his fingertips. A breeze kicked up in the room, threatening to blow out the candles. "He's a little possessive. But gotcha! One old man with a goldfish name coming up in three... two... one?"

The color faded away.

The energy dissipated.

The seance room was still, quiet, void of ghostly visitors.

Sheer panic colored Casper's face. "Uh uh babes? Um I'm not - you know - I promise - when would I have? Unless - in my sleep? Do I sleep walk? Babes?"

Percy tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly. What was Danni's father talking about?

"Is... is something supposed to be happening?"

---

Meanwhile, Leah had elected to remain behind during the seance, staying downstairs with Max and Ben Gray. In addition to the texts from April, she would receive the following messages:







"Leah? Would you help me with the milkshakes?" Ben asked, stepping from the dining room and into the kitchen, a tentacle shooting out from his stomach to wrap around the freezer door, and pull it open. "Do you know what flavors everyone likes? We've got birthday cake, vanilla, mint chip, chocolate, strawberry, pistachio... If none of those are right, Max, babe, would you mind? We need to get the pie slice for James anyways," he then peered into a cabinet near the fridge, "I think we have plenty of toppings for Casper."

---

---

---

When everyone went upstairs it looked like it was literally just her at first. Then two of the adults stayed too. Leah didn’t know which ones were whose dad. There were four of them, she often found it hard to imagine she had two girlfriends back when that was still a thing. How the hell did Dorian or Danni keep up with-

Oh. Oh no. One of them was interacting with her.

”What? Oh, yeah, su-_{Whatthehellisthat.”} Ben’s weird thing startled her. Some kind of mutant thing, or maybe he was a wizard? She didn’t know.

Fuck, now she had to manage a conversation. How did he know her name? One of his kids probably told them, but what? What did they tell him? She’s a real frigid bitch old man don’t even try- Did he read her mind like Sabine? Was he about to launch into some talk about something? Was that actually her dad in disguise? Was he about to say something about her hair? Ask about why she looked like a damn monster? Or about April? Sabine? What if he bumped into her and got his arm sawn off by her hair and couldn’t magically grow it? What if-

Leah mentally blanked for a moment and then realized she was still standing there when he asked about something. She awkwardly shuffled towards where he was walking and thought for a moment.

”Sabine’s- She likes dark chocolate. Peanut butter too, either one. Both if she’s feeling special. Andy’s a caffeine addict, she’d probably just spoke whatever she gets…” Her hands had stuck themselves into her pockets absentmindedly. ”April… Blue bubblegum, I don’t even know how she can stomach it but she swears it’s actually different from the pink kind that she really doesn’t like at all. And she likes these gummy shark things, whatever they are.”

She didn’t know of Vicky was coming, or if Vicky even actually ate things that weren’t just heat or lightning… Or if she would be mad if Leah mentioned that. So she didn’t, and just stood there awkwardly. She wasn’t about to go digging through cabinets to look for things unless he specifically said so.

Maybe she shouldn’t gone upstairs, actually.

---

---

Danni giggled as Appa threatened Dee for what really was a terrible song, but then he was following in his Papa's footsteps and scrambling wildly out of his chair. The whole thing rocked back as Danni darted from the table and the chair hit the dining room floor hard. With practiced ease, James caught his son by his shirt collar just at the doorway and reeled Danni back in.

“Plates in the sink and chair pushed in. Just ‘cause you got friends over doesn't mean you can act like an animal, kiddo.” James gave Danni a gentle nudge back towards the table.

“Oops! I just wanna see Poisson-Pas again, t'at's all!” Danni laughed, skipping back to pick up his chair and start clearing the table.

Dorian phased out from the back of his chair, standing up as he used his telekinesis to bring his dirty dishes over towards the sink. He pushed his chair in, sticking his tongue out at Danni with a bit of a laugh before tapping urging the rest of his friends to follow suit. ”C'mooooon. Let's go talk to Poisson-Pas! T'is seance is gonna be awesome!”

Danni stuck his tongue back out at Dee as he dropped his plates hurriedly in the sink, just glad that the Seance and friends meant they weren't going to have to help with dishes. He grabbed Sabine and April's hands, urging them to follow him as Casper led them to the Seance room.

“Pa likes ‘is stuff all fancy and spooky. Pops and Appa probs ‘ad ta scrub every corner of t'is place clean over t'e past few days ‘cause t'at also means spider webs on t’e ceilin’ and little dust balls in t'e corners and t'ey kinda sorta tolerate it normally, but won't let it all stay ‘round wit’ guests.” Danni explained quietly to Beanie and April as he settled them into the seats next to him.

“How shocking, I don't want a crazy dead person wearing my husband's skin, oh no.” James drawled sarcastically with a fond roll of his eyes at Casper's teasing and settled into the chair pushed out for him. James frowned for a moment and shifted it a little closer to his husband, relaxing once he could settle his arm along the back of Casper's chair. James did take a moment to look at the collection of kids in front of him, lingering on Dorian's boyfriend and Danni's ease with Ms. Bassard. He'd done his research, a few sleepless nights and interesting phone calls once he'd gotten names, but it was always better to handle things in person.

Dorian began to look around the room, wondering where the spirit of Poisson-Pas could be. Usually they'd appear right before Casper, but nothing. ”Yeah. Usually t'ey appear for all of us to see and speak to. But…I don't see ‘im. Maybe ‘e's in the Astral? Stuck ‘alfway ‘ere? I could go check.” Again, the thought of what he'd seen ran across his mind. The dates, the graves, the devastation. The fact that Nemo shouldn't be dead yet…

“Dorian, you are absolutely not permitted to plane hop right now.” James shot both Dorian and Danni firm looks, even as Danni snapped his mouth shut and just gave his Pops an innocent look. Once he was certain he wouldn't have to sic Max on his wayward son, James gave Casper his full attention and spoke with him softly. “Hey, hey I just fixed you up. I would have put a stop to this if I found anything. It's been a decade since anything happened. Something else is going in here; it's not you.”

“Papa, are you okay? You've always been able ta call t'e ghosties. Or does Poisson-Pas just not wanna talk wit’ us? Oh, maybe ‘e's takin’ a nap in ghost ‘awaii. ‘E was real old and grey AF. Probs a lotta stress. Maybe ‘e just needs ta sleep a bit, get used ta t'e whole bein’ dead t'in’, and t'en we can talk wit’ ‘im!” Danni muttered.

---

---

---

”Leah, be a dear and grab the peanut butter from the cabinet over there, the dark chocolate should be in the same one if I remember correctly. I see Andy hasn't broken that vice yet, so I'll get started on a Moka Pot to make the flavour for her milkshake. As for Blue Bubblegum…” Max began to mutter to himself as he made his way around the kitchen, snagging the beans and grinding them down to a powder. Stepping away from the mortar and pestle for a moment as magic continued to grind it down before placing them into the pot. Meanwhile he had begun to light the stove and get the water ready for it all. ”You didn't tell us your favorite flavour however, we aren't telepaths so sharing them outloud would make this a bit easier for me.”

---

---

---

Sabine enjoyed the family dynamic at play here. The Kingston-Gray's truly felt like a family that supported and loved one another despite anything else. She tried picturing her own family sitting down, being cute with each other, and nothing stuck. Not even when her mother was alive were there memories liek this. But even then those memories were faded gray. Sabine remembered her mother's face every day, or as often as she could, worried that one day it would be some faceless entity inhabiting her thoughts. And then what? She would be stuck with a father who wanted nothing to do with her and a stepmother who wanted even less than that.

Sabine refocused as she felt her phone vibrate. She took it out to see April spamming responses. Part of her wanted to leave it there or let Leah respond (it was her father after all), but something prompted her to speak up. Maybe this could help bridge the gap between the two of them.



Sabine left it there to allow Leah the chance to invite April along if she wanted. Sabine glanced over to April, but her attention was back to the fathers who were getting ready for the seance. And milkshakes apparently.

Sabine stood up with the others and felt a warmth take hold of her as Danni laced his fingers within hers and pulled her along. Despite her continued nervousness being in the home, she felt the spark of hope, even a little bit. Danni would ensure she's fine. Sabine spared a look over to Leah, who appeared to be staying behind to help with milkshake preparation. She figured Leah wouldn't be up for a seance, but part of her hoped Leah would start interacting more with everyone else, even a bit. Especially now that there was a looming threat that tried to hurt her.

In the room, she sat next to Danni and watched everyone else join them. She had never been a part of something like this before. She knew spirits exhisted, ghosts and whatnot, but she didn't know if speaking to one was ever a good thing. Wasn't there that idea that spirits had unfinished business they needed to complete before passing on? Maybe talking to them did help?

As Casper explained what would happen, Sabine tensed up a bit. She tried to relax her shoulders but with everything going on she was feeling all sorts of off. Ser Nemo's death was almost the catalyst to it, though she knew there were many things that were impacting her. She took a deep breath, sure to not be too obvious in her worry, as Casper finished and prepared to seek out Ser Nemo.

A breeze filled the room as things around them shifted. Not to much obvious, but the energy, the vibes, were moved. There were no ghosts though. Sabine wasn't sure if this was part of it, but as she dared to look around at the others she caut Casper's worried look. It probably wasn't a good thing that the ghost whisperer looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

He was staring at James though. What was happening? Sabine really focused on him and felt he was...concerned? Looking at James it was almost as if he was saying 'I didn't do this. I didn't break this.'. but what? Did something happen? Did Casper do something against James?

The others around started to get concerned now too. April speaking up and Danni pointing out the obvious, that Casper never had trouble before. Sabine felt the pressure in her chest again. "No...not now. I can do something. I can help. I have to."

Despite it being one of the worst things she could do, Sabine focused on Casper. Really focused on him and, in a blink, entered his mind.

And everything went dark.

---

Sabine opened her eyes as she laid on the ground. It took her a second to realize the ground didn't feel like it was some nice floor in someone's lovely home, but rather something dingy and dank. Sabine's vision was blurred a bit, but she sat up and it returned in focus. She shook her head a bit and looked around. She wans't in Kansas anymore. Or perhaps she was since she was in some alleyway. Last she checked she didn't develop teleportation powers so she had to be inside Casper's mind. In a memory. She wanted to see what he was so freaked out about, so perhaps this would enlighten her more. She stood up and spun around to get a better sense.

As she did her peripheral vision picked up on something. It wasn't out of the ordinary that an alleyway in some random place in the world would have debris around but something about it was wrong. So she focused on it and it became clearer as she neared. Curves forming, shapes taking hold, and a familiar face, albeit younger, finally took hold.

Casper. On the ground.

But it wasn't Casper in the state she knew him in. This was a Casper that was...wrong. Something about this struck her as wrong. She got nearer. "Casper? Wake up." She tried shaking him but felt no physical form. She tried again for the hell of it, that ember of fear forming in the pit of her stomach. "Casper? Please wake up now. Show me what has you so scared. I can help I promise!"

She looked over his body. He appeared still. Unnaturally still. Like his body had given up a fight. She focused more and saw marks along his skin. Sabine knew what those were, granted it was from other media and the silly programs school always tried to shove down their throats.

Casper had used drugs. And by the looks of it, he had overdosed.

Sabine stood up, nearly falling back. This wasn't right. This wasn't what she was supposed to see. No this was private, something Casper had experienced and, more than likely, kept close to his chest with people he trusted, which was surely not her. So Sabine took a minute and shot out of this memory.

Or....

Rather.....

She tried.

Sabine looked around at the same foggy edges of the memory. The same alleyway. The same scene. Casper.

No, she had to leave. So she popped out.

Again...nothing.

Just silence and a hazy memory to keep her comfort.

Sabine felt the well of the fire in her gut grow more. She had never had this happen before. No she couldn't be here. She needed to go. She HAD to get out! She tried again. And again. And again, each attempt more in vain than the last. She felt the pressure again, felt her own mind shift, felt her hand grab her wrist.

She was stuck. She was alone. And no one out there would know.

---

Sabine remained seated, appearing like she was just looking at Casper. But to those who knew, Sabine's eyes were white. Soon, after a bit of time, Sabine's body moved a bit, like she was attempting to stand up, pushing herself forward a touch. Her hands were still holding on to the others unless they let go, but she wouldn't know. Isntead her body slipped a bit more. And then a bit more.

Until her body lurched forward, falling to the ground in front of her. Unmoving.

---

---

The activity in the kitchen mostly went in one sensor and out the memory dump, Victoria wanting to get on with this. That was, until her Armani vanished and was replaced by Aunt Tessie's pajamas without her consent. This left the android visibly cranky, her face twisting into a frown. "Just so we're clear, I'll want that back. Sooner rather than later."

It didn't help that she still felt like the eleventh wheel in this group. The feeling of the walls bending over her and some force wanting to push her outside and away didn't vanish. If anything, it only gained momentum the longer she stayed. Looking around, it seemed like everyone else found a place to fit in here, while she jsut wanted to disappear into the background. Like she was intruding on someone's family moments uninvited, despite the contrary.

Her own 'family' was considerably smaller, their affairs relatively tame by comparison. And even half of those, Victoria considered a waste of time, socializing for socialization's sake. Now that she saw more of how their home worked though, it explained a lot about Dorian and Danni, from their lack of knowledge about the value of things to others. Sweet fortune, we really all are just the products of our parentage, aren't we?

It was finally time to do what they came here to do, and Victoria fired up her sensors with anticipation. Granted, from what she could gather, this affair was related to mutant powers rather than magic, so her new barely tamed magic sight would not be of much use, but she wanted the data regardless - if only to see if she could detect something out of the afterlife as well. One never knew when an ability might come in useful. She was focusing on the readings so much she barely even protested when someone reached for her hands.

Or, she would have, had something apparently not gone not as expected. It looked like their selected medium was a dud. Either that, or... "Occam's razor. What if he's not dead? That seems like the simplest explanation for why he couldn't be summoned, no? This happening right before the contest has Nimue written all over it." Not that she personally cared for Nemo all that much, having interacted only briefly with the man.

What she did care for, at least on some level for everyone present regardless of her opinion of them, was the wellbeing of her classmates. This close after the Arcade garbage, they didn't deserve to have any more games played on them. Being angry at that could wait though until she had more evidence to her suspicions. What could not wait was Sabine faceplanting onto the table. Victoria quickly rerouted her sensors to check the woman's vitals, the seance forgotten as she freed her hands and got up, jogging over to... be of whatever assistance needed. Right. Unconsciousness. Check responsiveness first. She reached out to pinch a bit of skin, freezing just before she did. Right. Psion. Be careful with touch. She thought, before pinching Sabine's arm through the fabric of her PJs. "Mr. Bassard? Can you hear me?"

As soon as she said it though, she was pulled somewhere else. Out in the world, her body seemed to lock up where she stood. And wherever she went, she found Sabine looking over Casper, who seemed a bit under the weather. "Well, this is not what I had in mind when I went to check your vitals." she called out, announcing her presence, "Are you allright, ms. Bassard? You spaced out and seemed to have fallen unconscious... Out there."

---

---

---

Casper stared at his husband for a bit, before nodding quickly. It didn’t stop the sense of fear and panic that was pervading his body. ”Okay, cool, cool, cool. It’s not me. It’s not happening. I love this. This is so so fun and oh fuck oh fuck JAMES A KID JUST FAINTED WHAT THE FUCK!!!” he screeched, all the color draining from his face. He wasn’t always the most serious of people, but when it came to kids, he tried his best. Especially ones that they had agreed to be legally responsible for for a few nights. He stood up quickly, banging his knee against the table but he didn’t care. ”Is she allergic to ghosts???” His heart was pounding, and the blue light started to curl around his hands again, his eyes beginning to change color, and the faint outline of four spectres began to materialize.

James was halfway around the table as Casper shot to his feet. He'd planned to do exactly what the little van Dyne did but watching her freeze had him reassessing. “Babes, there weren't any ghosts so-” James turned, pausing as he reassured his husband. Well, there weren't any ghosts originally but Casper's panic was clearly inviting some to play, and the unwelcome ones usually came with… ill intent. James briefly tapped the medallion tucked under his shirt and turned to the kids. “Anyone with relevant information about Ms. Bassard's condition, please stay behind. Everyone else needs to follow Danni and Dorian back to the living room.”

James focused back on his husband, offering a smile and cupping Casper's cheek. “Hey, babes. She didn't have any issues with ghosts ‘cause there weren't any. You didn't do anything wrong. You're safe, she's going to be fine. Take a deep breath and focus on me, okay?”

Casper did his best to breathe, but his breaths were short and rapid. It was probably for the best that he wasn’t aware of the presence of three teenagers (including his son) trapped inside his head. But it did mean that this situation would only continue to worsen. ”I’m trying, I’m trying, I’m trying,” he stammered.

Casper wasn’t the only one who had screamed as Sabine dropped - April did, too. Were things between them bad at the moment? Yes. But April didn’t hate her. Not really. She was upset and hurt, and neither of those feelings negated the fact that it was terrifying to watch someone she knew slump over into a dead faint without any warning. She was too stunned to move for a moment, her face stricken with fear, before she shoved her chair back with a scrape, intending to go check for a pulse - only for Vicky to beat her to it. She did hate Vicky, yet at this moment, she didn’t care about that - not if the psychopathic robot could make sure that Sabine was okay.

Even more reassuring than Vicky, however, was the fact that Dorian’s and Danni’s dad, James, was on it. He could heal anything. If there was something wrong with Sabine, he could fix it. Only… Only he didn’t touch Sabine. He didn’t seem to start healing her at all. The panic only increased. Was this something he couldn’t heal? Why wasn’t he healing her? ”Is she going to be okay, Mr. Kingston? Can you help her? Please please please help her, I know she can be kinda mean sometimes but she doesn’t mean it - she doesn’t know she’s being bitchy - or maybe she does but she still deserves to be healed,” April begged. She didn’t want to leave the room until she knew that Sabine was going to be okay - even with all of the chaos happening.

She was so worried about Sabine that she didn’t even notice the two others who had stopped moving - Danni and Vicky. She was still holding Danni’s hand, now gripping tightly out of sheer panic at everything that was happening. April hadn’t even begun to emotionally process what Vicky had suggested - that Ser Nemo was actually alive. Instead, she was terrified that her ex-girlfriend was about to die, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Percy, of course, knew that this wasn’t simply just a fainting spell. He had been training on the same team as Sabine for most of the semester, and had consented to her using her powers on him a few times in training. He knew her tells. He knew that when her eyes went ghastly white it meant that she had used her power. On who? It was hard to say. It was hard to focus, with the adrenaline spiking and the screams all around - as well as what looked to be actual ghosts, pushing their way through from the other side.

”Mr. Kingston, she was using her psionic ability before she went down,” Percy informed James, trying to keep his voice steady - but even he couldn’t hide the way it shook slightly. Sabine was a friend. He’d never seen this happen to her before when she used her powers. He was no expert in telepathy, but dread pooled in his stomach - especially as Dorian had mentioned his family’s concerns about psychics… A tiny part of him was glad, though - glad that someone else would have James’ eye, that perhaps Dorian’s father would fixate on a different child, and forget about everything from earlier that day, forget about the alcohol he had doubtlessly detected in Percy’s system.

"Wh-wh-what?" Casper squeaked. "On who?!"

---

Ben paused for a moment, noticing the way Leah froze up a bit - and then he almost kicked himself, realizing it was because of him. He was so used to just letting his hair loose, so to speak, in his own home, he’d forgotten how shocking the tentacles could be to those who had never seen them before. And he was far from the only visible mutant living in the sanctuary they’d created here in the French Quarter. ”It’s not contagious,” he deadpanned, the tentacle reemerging to give Leah a small wave. She was just a kid. He didn’t take offense to her being startled. If she had questions, he’d answer them - but otherwise, he was just going to leave it at that.

His husband set Leah to work, tasking her with a bunch of different portions of preparation, as Ben’s tentacles set to work gathering the other supplies they’d need - pulling out the blender, the glasses, the toppings, and of course, reusable red and white striped straws. However, as Max pointed out that Leah hadn’t offered up her own favorite flavor, a slight smirk found its way onto his face. He leaned in conspiratorily towards Leah, careful to keep a respectful distance, and dropping his voice to a whisper. ”If you say your favorite flavor is vanilla, I’ll give you $100 cash.” He kept money on him for trips that saw him leave the French Quarter - and for giving out bribes when needed.

---

---

---

A normal teenager would have considered the subject of her favorite milkshake flavor something ordinary. Something astronomically mundane. It was a fact of someone that had absolutely zero weight or meaning beyond personal taste, it impacted the world in no actionable way, it was barely worth a passing thought. In the average conversation where such a microscopic question came up, the neurons of the brain would scarcely even acknowledge it. A functional teenager’s base reflexes came through and the question would be answered, and not a soul on this Earth would care.

And Leah Jordan was many things. Brash, brave, loyal… But a functional teenager was not one of those things.

One of these guys had asked her about what she wanted. The other one was joking about it. And the gears in Leah’s head came to a grinding, screeching halt. She did as Max asked and started looking for stuff, grabbing what he asked for instead of answering the question at first. How did she answer that?

Leah didn’t actually know what a milkshake tasted like. She didn’t even know if they were actually milk shaken up with stuff in it like the world’s weirdest soup, or if it was something else entirely. She used the search for peanut butter and chocolate as an excuse to not say anything.

Would it be bad to say she just didn’t want anything? Would they get mad and think she thought poorly of their food? Would Sabine? Leah could imagine they were staring a hole in the back of her head right this second. Just glaring at her, about to say,

“Well? There’s a hundred of you, hurry up.”

What was she going to tell Sabine? That she didn’t want to bother the nice wizards who had already done way more by inviting them here? What if they pushed? Fuck, what if they just gave her one anyway?!

Leah was mentally kicking herself trying to answer an impossibly boring question. All she had to say was ”I’m good. Thanks.” But she was having hard time getting the words out.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Coming her felt like a bad idea suddenly. Her head was racing faster and faster and she couldn’t quite put a word on why. Everything was fine just ten minutes ago, despite how not fine the day had generally been. But now she was fretting over milkshakes. She really wanted to just walk out the front door when no one was looking, find a patch of dirt and stamp the ground andflyoffonaboulderandnotbehereandnotbehereandnot-

”I’m- I don’t really eat that kind of thing. Never had one. Here-“ She grabbed the stuff out of the cabinet and slid it down a counter, without turning around.

Leah was not having a good day.

---

---

---

---

Andy's outfit included gloves. So she had held hands with Victoria and Sabine. She wouldn't have been willing to otherwise. For their sake. She had yet to touch Victoria or Sabine (without her power suppressed in Victoria's case), and did not want this moment to be when she found out if she could consume Victoria or not.

She was a bit nervous about the seance itself. The old fear that she had once had about ghosts still gave this a little thrill. However, when nothing happened she found she was a little disappointed. What it meant when it failed was unclear. It was possible Ser Nemo wasn't dead. She had no clue how any of them had learned that he was. Or what had happened. Visiting her adoptive father seemed to have left her out of some important information loop.

What happened with Sabine made things very bad. Andy, obviously, knew Sabine's ability. She hadn't ever really seen it in use though. But according to Percy she had just used her power right before passing out. Andy chewed her lip, let go of Sabine and took a couple of steps back. She didn't know what was going on, not really. But she trusted that James could help.

"Should I get Max?" With Victoria going still too...well, she had a fear that his help with magic might be needed. She didn't wait for a response, just went for the door, opened it, and yelled. "MAX!" They could explain when he got there. Between Max and James a solution had to be possible. Right?

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It was a bit strange to him, when Leah seemed a little taken aback by Ben's tentacles. She herself seemed to have Non-Earth origins based off of her Aura. Her appearance, if Max had to hazard a guess, would mean she had some sort of giantess origins, a kinship to Loki of Asgard, though not entirely the same. So what caused this divide? He didn't have long to question these thoughts as his husband began a campaign in an attempt to coerce Leah into the clutches of Evil. Rolling his eyes at Ben before stopping mid step when Leah mentioned she'd never had a milkshake before. Max wasn't one to question another person's parenting skills, but what kind of monster doesn't give their child a single milkshake? Even his parents, as vile as they were, allowed him the treat. ”Never…had a milkshake? Well Ms. Jordan, you're about to experience a crash course on flavours."

Max snapped his fingers, a classic glass milkshake cup appearing next to Leah, the signature red and white straw already in it as whipped cream surrounded the straw, a cherry plopped atop it. Inside the translucent glass, a rainbow of colors, from red to purple, gradiated down as a mass of flavours now nestled within it. Every possible flavour of Milkshake was packed inside, between each layer a pallet cleanser so no two flavours would ever mix together. ”That right there, is my ‘Max-a-Millian Milkshake.’ Every flavour imaginable in a singular glass. We'll find your favourite flavour yet.” It was then that he noticed a faint yellow glow beneath his shirt. Pulling on the leather thong around his neck to reveal a medallion hidden beneath his shirt. His eyes fixated ahead, past the walls of the household where he knew James and the others resided. ”Ben-” Andy's scream cut through the house. ”Take care of Ms. Jordan, do not allow her to follow behind me.”

Max left the kitchen as quickly as possible without running. Hopefully Leah wouldn't be too panicked about his sudden disappearance. When he entered the room, he saw ghosts threatening to flicker in from Casper's powers, panic clearly in his eyes as James tried to soothe him. Three students lay motionless on the floor, one of which was Danni. He took a step towards them, ready to check and see what had happened. Had Casper somehow hurt them? Did ghosts possess them? He looked towards Andy as he made his way past. ”Thank you for calling me Andy. You did the right thing.” As Max began to approach the passed out children, his own son stepped in his way, arms out wide in an attempt to stop him.

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”Perce said Sabine's powers went off before t’ey all passed out. Vicky didn't pass out until she touched Sabine. Pa…can you ‘elp em?.” Dorian stood there, impeding his father's path as if a child trying to stop his parents from seeing a mess he'd made. His arms dropped back down to his sides now that his message had been delivered. He didn't know exactly what was going on, or how Percy knew exactly. But he trusted his boyfriend. Max rustled the top of his head, and through the hair that now covered Dorian's eyes, he could see a proud smile on his father's face.

”Thanks for the heads up. Dorian, Andy, Mr. Novikov, Ms. Flynn if you're unaware of how best to help, may I ask you two to join Leah in the kitchen? I'm sure she could use some friends right now.” Max reached out into the air, an old antique necklace that looked similar to Strange's Eye of Agamotto, appeared delicately within his hands. He placed it on, opening the apparatus as his eyes began to scan the room. A soft pink color emanated from those affected into a singular tether connecting them towards Casper's mind. A singular ‘Hm.’ Escaping him. ”It appears in all the excitement, Ms. Bassard's powers had triggered and entangled those who were in physical contact with her. Detangling it will be tricky, the best and safest route would be for the children to find their own way out. It will lead to the least amount of complications that way. That or calling in a High Level telepath to help but that is a last resort. Emma Frost's services do not come cheap, and I don't mean money.”

”I could try? If I possess her and use her abilities I can try to break the mental links to save them.” Dorian chimed in as he stopped midway to the door leading out. There wasn't much else he could do unless their minds were trapped within the Astral Plane. At least there he could try to find them and lead them back out somehow. But if that was a solution then his father would've already suggested it. That or he may call him back in later to help.

Max shot his son with a leveled look. ”No possessions without consent. You know this. This isn't that dire enough of a situation to break that ruling. So, hurry on out. All of you.”

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The scene Sabine found herself in was grim.

A younger Casper Kingston, dressed haphazardly in ill fitting clothes that were clearly not his own, was slumped against the brick wall of the alleyway. Various paraphernalia were strewn about, all of them his, none of them good. She didn’t need to know what his vice of choice had been on that day. It didn’t really matter what it was. It was killing him all the same. His breath was slow and feeble, his lips grey and his skin almost bluish, and while his eyes were open, there was no recognition behind them - no soul gazing out of those pinpoint pupils. The faintest word fell from his lips. Just ”Ben.”

At least Sabine was not alone, as the memory continued to play out, the light becoming dimmer and dimmer, the edges of it hazier and blurrier. Somehow, Vicky and Danni were there too. Somehow, the three of them would get to see this man die together.

The abrupt change from whimsical to… this was jarring to say the least. Everything was happening fast and Danni, a little overwhelmed with how quickly things were escalating, screamed, wrapping himself around the nearest person like a snake. Beanie was a familiar touch and he greedily basked in the touch as his head moved on a swivel. “Wooow, t'is is… not t'e best place, ‘uh? ‘ow'd we get ‘ere? Did we go in t'e mainframe again? No, definately nit at scho- Beanie, did you change your ‘air product? Ngl lie, I'm lovin’ it.” Danni, distractedly patted Sabine with a nod of approval as he noticed Vicky.

“Vicky! You're ‘ere too! 10/10 would recomm- wait a minute. Not 10/10, we gotta talk. You're bein’ kinda mean recently so we def gotta talk bit t'en we'll be good and t'en t'is'll be 10/10.” Danni gave her a thumbs up before frowning at the body in the alleyway. “Wow, t'at kinds looks like my papa if ‘e wasn't an old man. Yeesh, t'at make up was certainly a… choice. Wait, is it almost ‘Halloween ‘ere? Maybe ‘e is bein’ a zombie!”

Victoria's sole focus was interrupted as Danni made his presence known. That was... not ideal, but there was nothing she could do but roll with it. The android - or what part of her was represented here - took in the surroundings. Now that she analyzed them more closely, some things were starting to connect. This happened after she approached a psion. Mr. Kingston was also present here. And said Mr. Kingston looked younger than the man she saw just seconds ago. That probably meant-

Her thoughts were scattered by Danni's rambling. She raised her finger in a shushing gesture, without so much as making eye contact. "Really? Ms. Bassard's slumped unconscious in your seance room, with you being here I hazard a guess that so are you, who knows what's happening to my chassis with all this, but some beef you have with me is what is preventing you from having the perfect experience? We can talk about that later!" she whisper-shouted. These people needed to get their priorities straight, yesterday.

She walked over to get a better look at Mr. Kingston, before giving Sabine an inquisitive look. "From what I see, I'm guessing we're in Mr. Kingston's memory?” She sought confirmation from the expert, before she busied herself with how to change that.

Sabine had been trying to hold things together when she heard voices. Before she could face whoever it was that had joined the scene, she felt herself enveloped by something. She looked and saw Danni holding on to her. Sabine, at first, felt warmed by his embrace, a familiar figure would make things better and, since the two could feel each other, he was clearly not part of the memory.

Then her attention wandered back to Casper on the ground. Danni was now about to witness a very low moment in his father’s history and that was something no child should ever bear witness to.

Another voice broke out and Sabine then saw someone she definitely did not expect: Victoria. Sabine had to think back but she remembered that, when her powers were in their infancy, she needed to physically touch a person to access their memories. After practicing and growing, she was able to not need to anymore, though touch could still help. She was holding Danni’s hand during the seance as well as Andy’s, but only Danni had gotten in. Victoria must have touched her also. ”Great, Danni is bad enough but now her also?” Sabine quickly shook off the thought. She was afraid of being trapped here alone ,but now she at least had help.

The problem was that she now had to explain to Danni what he was seeing.

”Yes, we are in Casper’s memory from a while back, it looks like. I tried to leave when I saw this, but couldn’t. Danni,” she spared Victoria a glance and gave her a look that read ‘get ready for this’. ”You know what my powers are. You and Vicky got pulled in to your father’s memory along with me. What we are seeing is a memory your father has from his past. It is not Halloween, he is not a zombie. He is experiencing an overdose from injecting himself with drugs. I am telling you this because I need you to come to terms with it and hold in whatever emotions you want to unleash until we get safely out of here. Can you promise me you’ll do that?” Sabine still held Danni, unsure if he was going to be able to hold himself together. She would do what she could, but she needed logical minds at the moment, not emotional ones.

Danni opened his mouth to object - Beanie made him sound like he was emotional or something. Maybe she was right but he could be reasonable and mature when necessary, thank you very much - but instead he peered intently at the passed out form of his Papa. He knew Papa took drugs back in the day. Hell, Danni knew if it was a drug, Papa probably had a story about how he got his hands on it, nearly got killed for it, and then one going on and on and on and on about whatever tripped out hallucination he experienced. Casper, slumped over and surrounded by the litter of his broken life, was less of a shock to Danni and more of a sad affirmation. Pops couldn't always be there to act as a filter; Danni and Dee's put enough together to know Papa probably should have been dead five times over. If anything…

The darkness at the edge of the memory continued to creep inwards, as the details faded away - as the sky became a monotonous grey, the rubbish piled up against the dumpsters on the opposing wall vanished, even the sounds faded, as the entire world became impossibly small - became just a man, alone, whispering a name that even he could no longer understand. Until that too was gone, and there was nothing - just a void where a soul had been.

But the memory did not end.

Suddenly, color returned in a rush, with sound soon to follow. They were no longer in an alleyway - instead, Casper stood at the precipice of what looked like a retro diner, a single waitress leaning against the counter, as a few regulars chatted idly among themselves.

“H-hello…?” Casper croaked out, disoriented and confused. “Has anyone seen my shoes?” he added.

The waitress glanced up, sighing in seemingly fond annoyance. “Take a seat. I’ll get your usual.”

“It just makes me ‘appier ta know ‘e made it t'rough all t'is ta be my Papa.” Danni murmured half to himself, half to the others. “I mean, Papa ain't t'e best secret keeper and wit’ Dee's abilities, it was waaaaay easier ta sneak ‘round. We got enough puzzle pieces ta know t'is wasn't Papa's first time round t'e Merry Go Round, t'is memory. Deat’ really ain't t'at scary ta us, ya know? So I promise, no fire or water works ‘ere!” Danni reassured Beanie, content to stay wrapped around her. “And friendship is always important, Vicks! No matter what's ‘appenin’ so brin’ up stuff ta talk ‘bout is always important! I wanna stay your friend so I wantcha ta know I wanna talk ‘bout somet'in’ t'at's bot'erin’ me, like Beanie did a while ago!”

Sabine confirmed what Victoria thought, and added the current predicament on top: She couldn't leave despite trying. At least, that is what Tori assumed - she didn't think Sabine would consider this scene as captivating as to want to remain. That did not bode all that well for the rest of them, if the person versed in this was trapped here.

Then, Sabine gave her the look. And for some reason, Victoria understood what it meant. Perfectly. That was... a weird occurrence. Usually, Victoria was more on the side of misunderstanding people even if they spoke. Maybe it was because of the situation they found themselves in? She felt no such understanding with Danni though. The android filed that as something she could check up on later though.

Looking back at the Memory of Mr. Kingston, she shrugged a little. "Whatever your old man went through to get there, I'm glad he's in a better place now." she offered, "Sad as it may be though, we can't do much about it. We aren't back in time, just in a memory. And those we probably shouldn't mess with."

She looked around as the memory changed, but as witnessing any number of memories would not likely bring them to the solution to their current problem of being stuck witnessing them, she stopped paying attention to them. Danni's explanation of why he was bringing up whatever it was he wanted to bring up left Vicky unsatisfied, but she chalked it up to Danni being Danni, or perhaps just humans being humans. "Well, since the one of us skilled in traversing others' mind is currently unable to get us out of here, we may just have time a plenty to talk about anything. Before that though-" she looked at Sabine, "-Can we be of any assistance at all? Not that I wish to pry into your personal matters, but perhaps if you could explain to us in a bit more detail how your powers work, the two of us might be able to come up with something you might have not considered. Otherwise, I'm afraid you're our only hope."

Even as she said it though, her mind was already trying to come up with a solution based on what she knew of Sabine's powers and what she assumed might hold true. If they couldn't get out, they had to send a message somehow. The only medium they had access to was Mr. Kingston's memory. So... Could they plant a simple memory to his mind? 'Oh yeah, the kids are stuck in my mind!'? Wouldn't that be nice, alongside of perhaps inceptionizing an idea to throw them into a car and drive them to C.A.G.E., so the power dampeners there could force Sabine to turn off and free them.

Sabine held Danni, unsure, but if he was willing to hold it together then so be it. She didn’t know if Danni knew his father’s history, but apparently he did, which made things easier. Especially as they shifted to a new memory in a diner.

”As best as I can describe it, I am able to enter people’s minds and view and alter their memories. This has impacts to their presenting persona, like what happened with Arcade as I shifted a memory to make him realize the horrible things he was doing and want to change. I can make people forget things like how to swim or implant new memories, altering what they may be able to do. I can’t physically interact with things inside a memory, like how I couldn’t grab Casper when I first got here. If I can maybe implant a new memory into Casper, one where it shows us being stuck here, he may be able to let everyone outside know what happened and then they can work on getting us out.” Sabine had to admit, having others with her to bounce ideas off of was helpful.

Danni spoke of his father in such kind words it nearly sent Sabine into a tizzy. Again the love shown from this family made her feel equal measures of sadness, anger, and joy. It was a kaleidoscope of emotions. ”Unless you all have better ideas, of course, but that is the gist of it. I can also use telepathy, though, again, I cannot physically touch anything so that won’t do us much good.”

Oblivious to their conversation, Casper took a seat at the counter - he was somewhat used to odd changes in environment, in scenery. His life at this point in time was fragmented, events that happened out of order without any real connections. He let himself slump in his seat, propping his head up on a napkin dispenser. “Why’m’I so cold?” he mumbled, drawing his coat in closer around himself.

The waitress placed a plate of waffles in front of him with an emotionless stare. “Because you’re dead.”

“Fuck! Really? Shit. Where’s Ben then? Fuckkkk I had a rave I wanted to go to later. God fucking damn it!” he whined.

“Sucks to suck,” the waitress replied with a shrug.

“‘Cadie didn't just wanna be better? We ‘ad ta mess wit’ ‘is ‘ead for ‘im ta wanna be better? Aw, t'at's kinda a bummer. Like, good job Beanie but…” Danni pouted. “I t'ought somet'in’ someone said got t'rough t'at ‘im. Dang.” Danni watched his Papa whine (somethings never change) and the implications of everything hit him all at once. He scrambled away from Sabine, one hand in his hair and the other fiddling with his locket, and paced in the diner.

“Oh no. Ooooh no. We're in Papa's memories. In ‘is ‘ead. Not outside, not in t'e astral, in ‘is ‘ead. Oh, t'is is bad Beanie. We ‘ave ta- ta- ta find somewhere safe after t'is. But, ‘e'll find ‘er so I can stay wit’ ‘er ‘cause ‘e'll find me.” Danni panicked. “I like Beanie t'ough. Is t'at enough? No, Beanie used mind stuff on Papa's ‘ead. And def not wit’ consent ‘cause Papa wouldn't consent and Pops wouldn't eit'er and Pa and Appa would shut it down in a ‘eartbeat too. So t'at means ‘e'll t'ink Beanie is a t'reat. No, Beanie is a kid. ‘e won't ‘urt a kid. But t'ey wanna put a new memory in and like, I trust Beanie. I'm chill wit’ Beanie in my ‘ead anytime but t'ey def don't like Beanie so t'at means…” Danni whirled around to face Sabine and Vicky.

“We absolutely can't put a memory in Papa's ‘ead.”

"I thought you had something to do with Ed's quick change for the better. It's refreshing to see that someone with a gift is not stingy in using it for a change. The world could use a few more people like you." Victoria smiled at Sabine. She felt a sting in her mind remembering that. She was ready to end Edward there and then, despite saying that she considered that a last resort. And then Sabine went and did the job better than her, serving Tori a portion of humble pie.

Back to the issue at hand though, Danni made an argument for why the suggested plan of action shouldn't be taken. "Okay, let's call that plan F then... I was going to suggest planting an idea to throw us through a portal into C.A.G.E. so the power dampeners there turn Ms. Bassard's powers off, but even then I give it a 50:50 chance of just trapping us here forever. Any other ideas on how to get out of here then?"

She thought a bit more. "What's holding us in here? What's different than any other time you did this?" she asked Sabine, "If I assume you aren't in any sort of mental distress or anything that might throw your powers out of control, then it has to do something with Mr. Kingston... Were you having a bad day?" she asked, just to be sure.

Oh Vicky, if you only knew.

Sabine let Danni go off on whatever tangent he needed to. She still did not fully trust him to not lose it, but if he said he would try then she knew he would give it his best. Danni’s words hit Sabine hard though. She knew she broke a semblance of trust and she would be facing some harsh truths.

No, she helped Arcade. The man was about to kill them all. She may have shifted things around, but it was his choice…right? She saw his past, how broken it was, could even see why he went the route he did, but she helped him. And she tried to help Casper and look where that got her.

She wanted to challenge Danni. What option did they have? It wasn’t like she was going to alter his personality. But…could she promise that? ”All right, plan F it is then. It’s not like I was going to alter anything or change who he is.” She felt her defenses get up and knew better. Danni wasn’t accusing her, not really. He was concerned about his dad.

Then Vicky’s prompting made her pause. Vicky was proud of her? Lost respect in one person and gained it in another. Well if nothing else she would have a lot to talk about in therapy.

”I mean, without trauma dumping…yeah today wasn’t great. Found out someone targeted Leah to mess with her head by pretending to be her father, I’m on the outs with April, and entered a home with a slew of people who definitely don’t trust me, no offense Danni and recent events aside, so I was feeling all sorts of stress. Hell, I nearly had three different panic attacks the whole time I was here. So when I saw Capser in distress I just….acted.”

The waitress had continued to chat idly with Casper, serving him his favorite waffles. None of the other patrons in the diner were doing anything of note, all content to enjoy their food while the teenagers panicked, desperate to come up with a plan that would reduce the odds of harm coming to Sabine.

She then turned, and stared at Sabine directly, as all movement in the diner stopped. The syrup he had been pouring onto his waffles was perfectly suspended in air between the bottle and the plate. It was as if the world had been frozen.

“Is that what Casper would have wanted you to do?” She inquired, a flash of a skull appearing on Her face, before She turned away, and the activity in the diner resumed.

“Oof, tbh I was super shocked ya came ta t'e ‘ouse at all. Its awesome ya came but considerin’ ‘ow anti… mental powers t'e ‘rents are, I figured ya would ‘an’ out wit’ t'e ot'ers…” Danni frowned as he turned that over in his head. “Well, guess its just ya and Leah t'ere now wit’ all t'e crazy ‘appenin’. FYI, workin’ plan once we're outta ‘ere is full water works, claimin’ ‘ow upsettin’ spaghetti at all t'e changes ya are, and get t'e ‘rents all frettin' over your lack o’ control, my tears, and t'e imminent t’reat of burnin’ down t'e ‘ouse again. Great priority changer, bury t'is whole mess in the depths of t'eir great big ‘earts, ya know. Just roll wit’ me, act a little shell shocked, and let Pa and Appa squirrel you two away before Pops ‘as a chance ta catch up wit’ t'e situation.”

“But, like she said,” Danni thumped over to where the spooky lady waitress was still talking with Casper. “If ya do it now on purpose, knowing Papa would be real upset, I don't t'ink I could pull it off.” Danni paused, brow burrowing. “When my fire is outta control, I always gotta like, focus on somet'in I really, really like ta get it back ya know? Like, I get spooked, door catches fire, I get double spooked but I gotta focus on like… the ‘rents or like you and Vicky and Dee and Peincess and all t'e fun stuff we've done ta calm down and keep it from causin’ any big problems! Obvi, not t'at great at it but maybe if ya focus on like if, t'e milkshakes or… or… or Leah, bit not t'e whole Daddy stuff but like uh… uh… a date! Or idk what else but I'm tryin’!” Danni paused again, slowly turning just his head to stare at the waitress as the gears whirred in his head.

"...oh." Well, that could explain a bunch of things. She shoved the fact that Leah didn't call on her with this issue aside, that was neither here nor now. "Well... The way I see it: Either something is preventing us from leaving - Be it Mr. Kingston or some external influence - Or you're not in control enough to leave. So, we may want to tackle both ends. I have no clue how to address the first part, but if you think it'd put you at ease? Trauma dump away." she offered.

She was no dr. Whitehall, but she could listen to another person's troubles. And keep herself from vocalizing her judgments. Probably. "And if you're concerned about the consequences of this... I came armed. I can have a hole blown in the wall and us two flying out of reach in... I give it 2.31 seconds, barring any serious magic reinforcing the walls."

Then, something... Unexpected... Happened. No, something that should not have been possible. "Uh... How did a memory just talk directly to you?"

Sabine had never had a memory actually speak to her and, quite frankly, she never wanted it again. ”The fuck?” She barely registered the others talking to her, but she focused on them. They were all she had in here. ”Okay, okay, no power use if I can help it.” She appreciated Danni wanting to stand up for her and use his mega-useful waterworks to do so, but she also felt….icky. ”Look, I’ll own up to what I did as a mistake and if that means I’m kicked out then that’s what will happen. I should have known better but I panicked. All I seem to do lately is panic.”

If they wanted a trauma dump, they would get one.

”All right, so I get panic attacks. A lot. It started when I was younger, after losing my mom. I also…self-harmed. Whenever I would get a panic attack, I would hurt myself because at least I could control that. Eventually, the panic attacks subsided and would only come occasionally. Then I had an eating disorder, which started them back up again. There were also many incidents after my powers manifested. People didn’t trust me. Those who knew assumed I was altering people’s memories to get what I wanted, and those who didn’t realize just assumed I was doing something wrong. My father never trusted me, and my stepmother was the devil on his shoulder, forcing me to move and come to this country. Avenger’s Academy was one good thing that happened, but even then, I was faced with scrutiny because no one ever outright trusts the mentally powered people, so I decided to live up to the threat they put on me. Fast forward to more recent events, and my relationship with April disintegrated, and I can’t help but feel at fault for forcing her into it when I should have known better. Now Leah is facing off with thoughts of her father, and I am trying my fucking best to hold it all in for everyone else. I feel like I am cracking, so when I saw someone in trouble,I jumped in to help to prove that I am not someone that can’t be trusted, and in the end I destroyed that trust anyway because I am fucking terrible person.”

Dr. Whitehall would be proud.

Casper yawned loudly.

He arched his back and stretched out his arms, a bit of whipped cream from his meal stuck on his nose. “So if I’m dead… now what? What am I supposed to do? Is this heaven? Is heaven eating waffles all day? And why isn’t Ben here? Is he too much of an asshole to go to heaven? Or hmm actually, y’know this place kinda reminds me of this diner I crashed at after a party - have you ever thought about rebranding? Maybe ghost Hawaii? Make it tropical and shit? Crank up the heat a few notches so I don’t freeze off my nipples?”

The waitress ignored him too.

Danni's eye watered up and he threw himself at Sabine, the strange incident behind them. “No, Beanie! You're not a bad terrible person! And ya don't ‘ave ta ‘old yourself taget'er; we're friends, let us ‘elp! Just tell us everyt'in’ is all funky and we can ‘ave a night and you can let is all out, we can watch movies and make terrible dinner decisions, and t'e whole shebang! Well, ya know could ‘ave and now we'll probs ‘ave ta put t'at on ‘old or maybe at t'e ‘otel, we could do t'at!” Danni wrapped himself tight around her, deciding that they were far too far apart. “Let us be ya frieeeeeend. I ‘ave a breakdown like once a week. We're real good at ‘elpin’ wit’ t'em!”

Victoria absorbed what Sabine confided in them. It looked like the real person was a lot different from the one presented on the socials. That in itself wasn't surprising, but the degree of it surprised the android.

"I'm with Danni." she said after a few ticks of deliberation. "From what I heard, you're a reliable person above anything else, to the point it takes a toll on you. Ed is slash was a horrible person. Leah's dad is a 'fucking terrible' person."

"You had a fucking terrible day, and at the end you just... Made a mistake, that is all. Mistake you realize and own, one made out of good, if perhaps a little self centered intent. That's not terrible, that's normal. People make mistakes. Not just superpowered ones. This is just like if someone read somebody else's mail. Heck, robots make mistakes. A robot made a lot of mistakes recently. I don't believe this is anything so big in the grand scheme of things to beat yourself over it this much." she delivered the most analytical pep talk ever.

"As for holding it together for everyone else... You're surrounded by a group of people that was ready to defend, and give a second chance to a guy who, in an alternate timeline, killed them and as a consequence got that entire timeline erased. I think it is safe to say there are more than a few who'd be willing to help with anything you need." she gave Sabine a brief reassuring smile.

Sabine felt another welling of emotion inside her chest. It was different this time around. Rather than the heat of pressure it felt…cool. Like a cascading waterfall. She willed herself not to completely lose it as she petted Danni on the head. Even Victoria, whom she had rarely regarded as anything more than just a body that was there that Leah enjoyed talking to, offered comfort.

She willed herself not to completely lose it. ”All right, thank you. Now, enough of the therapy session, we still need to find a way out of here without planting or changing Casper’s memories. And hope that the others outside are finding a way as well. Should we look around, see if there’s another part of a memory that we can interact with?”

Sabine looked and felt a surge of energy, of power. It felt new, but also something she recognized. Maybe….She faced Danni and Victoria and nodded. ”Let me try something.” She closed her eyes and, with the power in her, tried to leave Casper’s memories.

And it worked.

The next time the kids opened their eyes, they were back in the Kingston-Gray house, back in the seance room, slumped over at the table. And at the very same moment as they came back to consciousness, Casper collapsed in a dead feint, blood trickling from his nose.

As she came to, Victoria huffed a sigh of relief, both at being back in her shell, and that the safeguards worked and Ultron wasn’t able to take over in her mind’s absence. Quietly shuffling her feet, she positioned herself between Sabine and the Kingston-Grays - Just in case anyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and refused to listen to reason. Or was too immune to waterworks.

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April was immediately reassured when the wizard arrived - and simultaneously horrified. In all of the chaos, she’d been holding onto Danni’s hand, and he had been eerily silent. And as she turned her head to look specifically at him, as she was supposed to follow him downstairs, April screamed. Danni was unconscious too. How long had he been slumped over for?! How had she not noticed immediately?! Had this just happened?! ”Danni!!!” she screeched. ”Danni’s not moving!!!” Her hands were shaking - whether from the medication or everything happening, it was hard to tell - as April tried to feel for a pulse. The grown-ups’ instructions to go downstairs had completely slipped from her mind, as the fear gripped her. He was alive, at least - she could tell that much. But something had happened to him, too, and she just wanted him to wake up already.

Percy was alarmed, of course, but not paralyzed in the same manner. He loved structure and rules - provided that they were ones that he agreed with and found value in. Allowing the Kingston-Grays to help here made sense. They were experienced with these things. He was not. And removing himself from the same room that James was currently in would only make Percy feel better. He hadn’t intended to do it, but as he went to take a step to leave the room, the air shimmered and Percy vanished, reappearing on the staircase landing. Even his body didn’t want to be anywhere near James evidently.

The ghostly energy surrounding Casper had dissipated too, but his nerves were still shot - and only doubly so by the news that his son was also unconscious. It was already bad enough for a child to be having trouble, but for that to be spreading to Danni? His precious baby boy? His little bundle of joy? The cutest little stinker to ever live? His protege in all things fashion? One of the loves of his life? One of the only people he would consider giving up waffles for? It was unthinkable. ”Max do something!!” Casper pleaded, immediately rushing over towards his son. ”C’mon baby boy, can you hear me? It’s your papa! Danniiiiiiiiii c’mon!”

Max noticed something strange. Something he was glad no one else would be able to witness. The psionic energy that tethered Sabine to Casper began to glow brighter, but unstable. It rippled and wavered before growing incredibly taut. The connection snapped, and at the same moment Casper went limp as blood trickled from his nose. Luckily James was already here, he could help to heal whatever damage was done by an improper disconnect from a psychic link. This, was exactly why Telepaths were so dangerous. Why his son carried a ceremonial sword that kept them from entering his mind. Schools carried way too many emotions within them, Max knew it better than most how that could affect one's powers. And an emotional telepath was a walking bomb. Without a second thought, Max grabbed hold of Sabine and they both vanished. A small black orb like a dying star left in their wake that quickly disappeared, leaving the spot freezing cold.

April screamed again, horrified as Max just… grabbed Sabine and they vanished? And another one of the adults dropped? And she still hadn’t seen Danni wake up? If Danni didn’t wake up this instance, she was going to cry. She was probably going to cry even if he did wake up. She knew that Dorian’s family didn’t like telepaths. What was he doing with Sabine?? Was he going to hurt her?? He wouldn’t hurt her, right?? ”Dorian,” April held back a sob. ”What the fuck is happening???”

James blinked as a new level of chaos erupted. Several people screaming, Max performing some sort of magical, and he just nodded to himself. Just another normal night at the Kingston-Grey house. He wasn't certain why he thought having Danni and Dorian's friends over would change that, but here they were: Casper passing out for a second time tonight, a screaming teenager, and Max whirling someone off into who knows where. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he'd snatched the person that made him the most uncomfortable in the building and James was absolutely raking someone over the coals about this, but the simmering rage was firmly tamped down and he focused on the people here and now. He hand carding through his husband's hair was enough to heal the nose bleed and soothe away the pain that must have been in his head. He carefully look Danni's hand where is lay after Max whisked Sabine away and sighed in relief as everything felt alright.

“Danni will be fine. He may be a little groggy but no injuries.” James reassured April, squeezing Danni's hand as he came to. “I'm just going to check in with him and then you can have him back in a bit, okay?”

---

Downstairs, the scene had shifted into something that Ben was unfortunately a bit more familiar with - a crisis. He’d spent his childhood as a professional superhero, his afterlife as the emotional support ghost to a drug addict, and then his adulthood working as a social worker here in New Orleans. Leah’s behavior had already been ticking off some alarm bells, although he’d hoped she was just shy. His family was loud. It could be too much for some people. But other things she said, including some things left unspoken, that broke his heart a bit. It was clear to him that her life was difficult and challenging, and from what he could guess, the two of them may have had certain elements in common in their backgrounds.

”Everything is going to be okay,” Ben said calmly, after his husband had rushed upstairs. He didn’t know what the situation was, but there were very few things that they couldn’t fix in this household. And he didn’t want to add to Leah’s distress. ”Let’s keep making milkshakes - can you work on the one for Andy?” he prompted. He figured giving her a task might help - giving her something to do, so she wasn’t focused on what was happening upstairs, or worrying too much about what she had to do down here.

”My family can be loud sometimes. If you want to, we can talk - but we don’t have to,” he then offered.

A second later, the air at the staircase landing shimmered, and one of Ben’s charges appeared - his son’s boyfriend. They still needed to have a talk with Percy and Dorian. The school had notified them about the entanglement. That… was not something Ben was thrilled about. But he was glad to see that Percy seemed alright. ”Percy, why don’t you help Leah and I out with the milkshakes while things calm down upstairs? You can make Dorian’s, if you’d like,” he offered, his tone somewhat firmer than it had been with Leah.

Percy blinked. Was now really the time to be making milkshakes? ”Sabine’s powers triggered, I don’t think now is the time to–”

Ben cut him off with a stern look.

”Fine,” Percy huffed.

”Good.”

In his head, Ben swore.

That was the telepathic kid, wasn’t it?

Fuck.

---

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Andy didn't want to leave; she was worried. But she knew that between Max and James, they'd take care of it. She thought about that as she left the room. A year ago, she would have been annoyed at being treated like a child. She would have tried to fix it by herself. Now she was just thankful to have someone there who could hope to fix it. She was grateful to be allowed to be a child. Part of her wanted to go next door and curl up in her room. The room was built for her. Instead, she continued down the stairs toward the kitchen, where Ben and Leah were, and presumably Percy had gone.

"Oh, sorry, excuse me, Percy," Andy said as she almost bumped into him on the landing. In the kitchen, Ben was busy making milkshakes. That would be nice to have once she knew everything was going to be okay. She didn't feel like having one until all the stuff was resolved. But it was nice to look forward to.

---

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---

One thing after another in the damn house was making Leah like the idea of being here less and less. They seemed nice, which wasn't actually helping as much as one might thinking. That made her feel uncomfortable because they didn't know who she was. Leah was willing to believe they were just nice people, but they were acting that way towards a stranger. They didn't know her, but they seemed content to open up and treat her like they were long-time friends. That felt wrong, sickening, on a level she wasn't in a good headspace to articulate. It felt like they were hiding something suspicious.

What hadn't occurred to her, and was yet to click in her head, was that people were just like this sometimes.

When people shouted and started coming back downstairs, and when Max went back upstairs, Leah could not help but stare at the strange glass he'd left. Every possible milkshake in one glass? She'd never had one. She slowly reached for it, holding it and wondering what kind of weird magic it took to pull this off. For a moment, the bubbling anxiety was staved off by curiosity...

Her eyes widened. Each individual sip was something completely different, sure enough. Dark chocolate, vanilla (Sorry, Ben), pecan... That one was awful, actually. One stood out though. It was like biting into a really, really sweet and sugary fruit. It was strong, too.

Strawberry cheesecake.

She didn't hate it. It was nice.

And then the anxiety came right back when Ben had said something to her. How things would be fine, how Leah could talk to him about... Something? She didn't know, but her brain was jumping to conclusions. If Sabine's powers were going off, she'd be able to fix that herself- She wasn't nearly as volatile as everyone thought she was and Leah knew that well enough to trust her- But what if that wasn't what he was talking about?

Leah stood up straighter, becoming painfully aware of what expression her face did or didn't have. If it was obvious enough that a total stranger could read her that way, she seriously needed to get her shit together.

"I'm fine," She lied. "Sabine knows what she's doing. Whatever it is."

Right?

Then Leah turned around slowly before anyone could call her out on pretending to not be extremely anxious. She methodically started grabbing things as previous instructed, and sat things down. She glanced at Percy and Andy, who were slightly familiar and more familiar. She didn't know how to talk to these wizards, but at least Andy was easy to get along with. The little axe-murder twink though? She wasn't really sure about that. But at least he wouldn't pretend he didn't like her if she bugged him... Maybe.

"Hey. I told them you'd want something with caffeine in it, Andy. Don't know what you wanted, Percy."

---

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Things happened too fast even for Tori. Before she could so much as grab his arm, Mr. Gray has - Teleported, she guessed? - himself and Sabine smeg knew where. Well, she couldn't be in three directions at once, and Max was already within reach of Sabine when she came back form the trip down Casper's memory lane. Clearly, that was the parent Danni didn't inherit his penchant for talking about feelings and offenses from.

The android pouted, before clearing her throat. She looked at the adults remaining in the area inquisitively. "Okay. If It is not too much of a bother and I could kindly bend your ear for a moment, could you answer these for me? One: Where did Mr. Gray take Ms. Bassard and why? Two: When does he intend to bring her back? Three: Will I have to go on a rampage when he does? I'd really rather avoid getting unnecessarily riled up, because boy, I have had a day. I have been trapped in a magical school, I've had to make a deal with a rather annoying wizard, I was tossed through too many realms for my memory to count, half of my class got expelled or left the school, I was trapped in another person's memories, and I could use some good news." she reahced up and massaged her temples. Did her blasted mimicry software have to mimic headaches? First the bags under my eyes and now this. And the good news could start with when I'll get my suit back so I can get out of this clown getup! she thought, wondering how unladylike it would seem to switch her skin to combat configuration and just tear these rags off.

She looked around, her gaze resting on Danni, still out cold, but pronounced by James to be on his way to being OK. She supposed that would have to do for good news for now.