---

---

---

Carlos preened at Danni’s attention. I’ll always love you, silly!! Cube bros for life!! He did hang back, however, as everyone was processing what he had shown them. No one had asked him any questions about it yet, but he wanted to give them a moment to think it over before he went off to hang out with some of his other friends. He wasn’t going to hang out again with his siblings at any rate. Even Carlos had to admit that Carlie sucked - and Carl wasn’t much better.

---

---

For a brief, fleeting moment, April understood how overstimulated people felt around their friends and them.

It was the first day of the semester, a fresh start after everything with Arcade and the Contest of Champions. They were supposed to just be kids today, to be worrying about whether or not Dorian’s boyfriend had the perfect birthday, but instead it had been nonstop. The Chase bubble had burst, leaving everyone drenched in what felt like decades old drama. Ser Nemo was confirmed to be alive, only not for long, as he was due to be executed in the fae realm. Glimpse was also revealed to be alive, hopefully for longer, and hopefully not due for execution. They were going to go rescue Nemo, there was a prophecy that just kept coming and coming despite April not managing to make any sense of it - were they going to turn into the moon?? Were they Princess Yue?? And then, there was the reveal that Nemo was Percy - and that Dorian was going to kill himself in a definitely very far off and distant future!

Had April not been so sensitive about the topic of suicide, they might have complained that Dorian was trying to steal their schtick.

So when they saw Percy collapsed on the ground, with Leah, Millie, Dorian - and Vicky whispering in Dorian’s ear - all around him, they winced in sympathy. It was a lot. Their friend group was a lot. It took a special type of person to be able to hang with Excelsior. Not everyone was cut out for it. In some ways, it reminded them of the nonstop chaos their dads described from their days of the Mutant Underground, only more focused on interpersonal drama rather than deadly robots and disease…

“I’m not charging straight in, btw!” April hanged back from joining the crowd around the fallen twink - the fallen diva. “I need to steal some of my meds from the nurse’s office, first. Then I can charge in and save Nemo and kick the TVA’s butts.”

Their face fell towards Vicky, and as the android searched for reassurance, their irritation faded away. They didn’t agree with Vicky’s take here - didn’t agree that society had to be made up of laws, that if Vicky landed behind bars it meant she deserved to be there, any of that. But the genuine hesitation, the pause there moved them. April nodded. _{“We’re gucci.”}

“Maybe we’re meant to ally with that witch?” they suggested, thinking towards the vision. They’d seen a lady dressed in white. Was that the equal power Vicky was talking about - someone who could oppose the TVA? How did you fight an organization that knew every move you were going to make? How did you fight time? Were there places outside of time they could go to - somewhere to fight on equal ground?

And then Sabine left, and their drama seemed to get only worse… Dorian was breaking down, promising Percy that he’d do better… April swallowed painfully. They remembered making a lot of similar promises when they were hospitalized - having to look their friends and family in the eye and tell them that they’d never try to kill themself again, that it was a mistake they wouldn’t repeat, that it was…

… That if Nemo had saved them, it was because he knew they were going to make the attempt…

… because Nemo had lived through a world where they had been successful - or at least, a world where they had swallowed the pills…

April felt sick to their stomach. Their face was pale. Water condensed around them in little, icy patches. Danni was screaming about how they needed water, that they needed to teach Dorian to not kill himself. “Can we… stop talking… about suicide?” they asked, their voice shaking and low, almost hoarse, teetering onto the edge of a panic attack.

---

---

Percy was not unconscious for very long.

Seconds after hitting the ground, he had already begun to stir - only to be psychically plunged into a prophetic dream. It was nothing like the prophecies in his favorite tales, no Oracle of Delphi breathing in ritualistic smoke to deliver a few cryptic lines. It was a vision in technicolor, a series of cutscenes that could not be skipped. The imagery was unfamiliar to him, but as a lover of literature, the importance of symbolism was not lost on him. He only wished that he had a better memory, that the images would not fade so he could study them again and again at his leisure…

… the images where he had seen himself - both in this life and in his next as Ser Nemo. Even knowing the truth, his stomach curdled at the thought of the old man. He hadn’t even managed to do his task properly. He’d been sloppy and he’d been caught. Had he even fulfilled his objective - had he saved Dorian’s life? Or should Percy be counting down the seconds, treating every moment with his boyfriend as if it might be his last? If he lost Dorian, sobriety be damned. He’d rather drink himself to death than spend a single moment without him. A drink now sounded good, too. There was so much going on around him and so much going on within him. Chase’s reappearance had been enough to test him, to reduce him to a sobbing, shaking mess. This? This was beyond anything he had conceived of - beyond anything he knew how to respond to.

So much so that he had barely noticed as the others crowded around him - as Leah fussed over him, as Dorian cried, as Danni screamed, as Millie asked if they needed to get help.

He didn’t know what to say.

He didn’t know what to do.

He had - he would - he will fail to save the one person who mattered most. He was no Crystal Exarch. He was no fabled adventure, no hero. He wasn’t even Odysseus, as Odysseus had returned to Penelope in the end.

Agatha was right. He was going to be alone and he would only have himself to blame.

He wasn’t enough for Dorian to live for.

The thought sank into him like a knife.

Did he love someone again who didn’t love him back?

Percy just shook his head.

“I will search Ser Nemo’s office,” he said quietly. He didn’t know who he was talking to. He felt numb to it all. “I will let you all know if I find anything relevant.”

---

---

---

How was it that Leah Jordan, professionally confirmed to be fucked up in many ways, famously inept at handling emotions beyond suppression, was one of the more composed people here? Her friend was on the ground half-unconscious, another friend was panicking, Sabine was walking away... Today was supposed to be nicer than this, tragedies and heroic responsibilities be damned. They weren't supposed to be hearing about how Dorian fucking Gray died by his own hand one day, they weren't supposed to have panic attacks. They were just supposed to just be fucking kids. Of all the people who could've seen that, one wouldn't have expected it to be her.

She slowly stood up when Percy woke himself. He didn't like being touched, so she didn't. Sabine needed alone time every now and then, everyone did. So she let her walk off.

Her face went blank, the most natural expression there was for it to make. And then she stepped over her sword, over Percy, and walked up to April. The cold didn't deter her, she knew exactly what it meant, so Leah put her arms out and wrapped them around the anxious little mutant. She held April close, even if she got flash-frozen and hit with waves like a drowned rat, it wasn't going to matter. There was nothing April could do to Leah with her powers that would prevent this kind of thing from happening.

"Listen to her, everybody. Stop talking about it."

Why did Danni find it so amusing?

"We put the thought of anyone dying out of our minds for now," Leah decided, on behalf of the whole damn group. "We worry about preparing to go to Otherworld, we make sure everyone's on board and ready. Then we get back together, open a portal or get someone else to do it for us. And we fix whatever Nemo's gotten himself into... Until then, everybody find something to do that isn't worrying." It solved nothing, as she knew from experience.

"Chase. Let's talk. Percy, you want any help with Nemo's office?"

---

---

Oh, so that wasn't Sabine's power. Cool... Right?

Marlena did not know these people. Ben, Chase and April were friends, but she had known them for a matter of weeks. The social butterfly in Marlena sought connection with other people, but that wasn't enough to know someone's whole life, their history, and the things they went through. Marlena wasn't even capable of speaking on the suffering of her own people, nevermind the mental health incidents April had experienced. She would have liked to help, but it was beyond her.

She took a step back when the group started doing damage control and making plans, the sudden frost made her skin prickle. Marlena saw Sabine storming off, and wasn't sure what to do. So she just stood there a minute and tried her damn best to keep her own vibe from being brought down by talks of suicide and whatever the fuck this old guy had gotten himself into. Exclesior was a whole situation, and it really did show off just how fucked the superhero thing was. Marlena gave it five minutes at best before someone started snapping pictures.

She waited, counted to ten, and just walked off. This was not something she could help with.

Hands in her pockets, she went on a lazy stroll, thinking. What did they have to do, before jumping into another dimension? She could grab her board, a small backpack for going places... Maybe take the trucks off her board and go aerial? Not that she had ever tried that.

Deep breath in and out, she picked up the pace to catch up with Sabine after a few minutes.

"Hey... What's going on?"

---

---

---

Luna eyed the shadows warily. She had a healthy aversion to shadow magic, but it seemed the boy was helping. Chase was growing on her. Luna smiled and nodded appreciatively before turning to look back at Andy, grinning.

”I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, stepping closer. Luna hadn’t kept in contact with the MU after she left. She knew they had gotten out, but where they were or what they were doing had remained a mystery to her. It had been better that way. But now it seemed like Luna was being given a second chance.

Luna opened her mouth to ask another question when a vision slammed into her mind. She clutched her head, stumbling back as flashes of the other teenagers entered her head. Each one, a representative of a tarot card. And the White Witch…Saturnyne.

It looked like Luna would have to share her cards with the others and give them a lesson on tarot. She looked around, odd that she was found outside a fortune-teller's tent at a carnival. Luna frowned. She hated coincidences. And being used as someone else’s pawn.

Andy spoke up, moving the conversation along. Luna would share her thoughts on the cards later.

”Yes…Interesting how things like that work, isn’t it… What about you? How old are you now? You’ve barely aged…Are you in touch with the others?” Luna looked back at the others. Didn’t Andy say, or did someone say, that James was a dad? Which kid was it again?

”As for me, have you heard or been taught anything of the Otherworld?”

---

---

---

Everyone was in various stages of freaking out. Some were handling it better than others, but collectively, things were getting wild. Millie figured it wasn't so much the vision that Sabine shared as it was the aftereffects and what it meant. Nemo was being held captive, alive thankfully. And Percy was Nemo? Did that make sense? Not really, but Millie had long since accepted this group making any semblance of sense.

Percy seemed fine, though. So no nurse was needed. They still had to get everyone else sorted. April wasn't feeling the vibes, Leah was trying to control, and Dorian was attaching himself to Percy as if the boy was about to float away.

"Okay, everyone needs to take a beat." She stood up and took a few deep breaths, an activity she learned from one of her vocal coaches. It was good for her vocal cords, but she knew it helped with panic. "That was a lot of information at once, and I, for one, need a minute to process it. So let's all just....take a minute. No words, just breathing."

She took a beat. This group needed a serious case of R&R stat. But that wasn't likely to happen in the next few minutes, so they did the best with what they could. "I know I am new to this group so take my words with a grain of salt, but you all work well together. You have each other's backs, unlike anything I have seen before. So you will get through this moment also. But you all also need to know when it's time to...take a minute."

"We'll prep, we'll plan, and we will find this dude in the Otherworld and we will come back heroes and celebrate. But until then, breathe."

She noted that Sabine had taken off and Marlena had followed. She wondered if her message was falling on the wrong minds.

---

---

---

Sabine felt herself shake as she walked, fearing she would fall as Percy did. Was that her fault? She gave them an option to back out, to not let her invade their mind. She knew...she knew...

The vision itself wasn't bothering her. It was clear each of them was a Tarot card and it meant something to them. Ser Nemo was alive. The shadow army presented a unique problem, considering Chase was not most of their favorite, but Sabine knew, deep down, Chase wasn't a bad guy. Or, more likely, he was trying to be better. And she knew what it was like to have people hate you for your past or for things outside of your control.

No, what rocked her and continued to do so was the woman. Her own mother. She was there. Which meant she knew Ser Nemo was there. She was alive. Sabine's dreams were starting to make sense. Were they dreams? Or visions?

She heard someone behind her and turned, expecting to see Leah or April or Danni. Instead, she saw Marlena. It was not accurate to say she was disappointed. She didn't dislike Marlena. She was cool. But Sabine had wanted someone else to be there. Why didn't Leah check on her? Or April or Danni or Dorian?

But someone had and Sabine felt some warmth within herself knowing someone noted her panic.

Did she lie? How often had she said she was fine when she wasn't? How often did she push down her own feelings so that others felt better? How many times had she pushed back her own wants for the betterment of the team? Would this be another instance of her putting on a smile when she really wanted to scream?

"It's.....my mom.."

No holding back now.

"The vision we saw. There was a woman who looked like me. To the others, it may have just been a coincidence. But I recognized her. That was my mother. She died when I was really young. Or so I was told. We were so close. When she passed, it was just my father and me, and he didn't know how to raise me other than throwing money at me and hoping it fixed everything. I think a part of him died with my mom. And now I come to find out she is not only alive, but she has been so the whole time and never reached out to me. And I know the cliche. Oh, she probably had a good reason; it was for my protection, it would have caused more trouble. And yet, she is there, wherever Ser Nemo is being held. And she has a part in it. Did she take him? Is she holding him captive? And all the while I have been living with the pain of her death still on me, and I find out she is alive. And I'm happy? Angry? Sad? Afraid? I can't pinpoint anything, and my mind is working overtime to make sense of it all. Because I have had dreams of her. Her with another man. Her in front of some regal-looking woman. And all of it is like a kaleidoscope in my mind, and I can't...I can't figure it out. And I am supposed to be the one to figure it out."

There was too much going on. "What if I can't?"

---

---

---

---

Ben didn’t even know where to start with all of this. Chase squeezed his shoulder and he leaned into him slightly. Thankful for his presence. He shifted slightly so he was between Chase and the others. He didn’t think he could actually protect Chase from the others if they all decided in that moment to attack him on suspicion. He was glad that Andy wasn’t near them though. That she was distracted and therefore wouldn’t be willing to throw hands again.

He was tired and stressed from the day. Danni collected his dragon off of Ben’s head, which was a bit of a relief. Ben was getting worried claws might scrape him up. He really hoped they weren’t going to the moon. The Inhumans there were xenophobic as hell. Ben didn’t think that was what was happening, but Danni seemed to think they were going to the moon.

“I don’t know how to ride a horse. I’ve never even been around a horse before. I don’t think that’s what the vision was,” he said softly. “Soup jello sounds wild,” Ben told Chase between Danni’s yelling and requesting water.

Leah took control of the situation, asking Chase to speak with her. Should he join? He didn’t want Chase to be alone with anyone in the group, but at least Chase could get out of a situation fast. “Do you want me to join you?” he asked Chase quietly? Marlena followed after Sabine. He didn’t know what to do. He was scared. Somehow he was also wrapped up in all of this? How? He had just started at the school. If they were going somewhere he should tell Matt, right? Ben didn’t even totally understand where or what was going on.

Ben had heard of the TVA but they were just some shadow organization. He didn’t even really think they were real. But everyone was talking about the TVA like they were an actual threat.

---

---

---

---

“I time traveled, with Zari. Do you remember her? We got here to her time and started going to school. Max, James, Casper and Ben, he was Casper’s ghost friend, are the parents of April, Danni and Dorian. They live next door to... Uh... oof we’ll get to that later. That’s a whole thing you missed. But they live next to me, where I live during school break. So yeah, but I think they are busy. Otherwise, I would call James. For your sake. I saw Sunshine and Val, Veil goes by Val now, recently. If, after all of this you stick around a bit, I’ll get you back in contact with them,” Andy explained, answering Glimpse’s questions as best as she could. There was a lot missing from that, they’d have to sit down for a much longer chat to explain everything. Seventeen years of missing time was not easy to condense into a few sentences.

“Now as for the Otherworld. One of my professors is Lady Nimue. She explained that the Otherworld is largely that it is a land driven by story logic, the home of the fae, and that it touches all realities and exists outside of all realities. I don’t know much about that stuff. I’ve been picking up some magic but all of that is way out of my wheelhouse. Sorry. Do you know if there is any way for us to travel there?” Andy supposed she hadn’t paid as much attention as she should have.

---

Victoria nodded slowly as the others spoke. She turned to Dorian and Percy first. "Well then, you better get translating and transcribing. I'll sooner knock you all out cold and hogtie you to a power supressor I steal from CAGE than watch you do something stupid. We go in prepared or not at all."

She followed Dorian's worried gaze over to the shafow clones. Why would he be worried about those? Granted, there was the vision, but even if one accepted future was set in stone, it was still a stretch to point fingers at... whatshisname? Maybe she ought to talk to the new guys soon. So far she only managed a little talk with Marlena and Millie.

Finally her systems parsed Danni's latest verbal salvo, and she sighed. "I hope whatever trip I am going on involves self discovery or potentially drugs, because that imagery in particular invoked a 'crossing the river styx' feelings. A) fuck that, B) if that is to happen, I'd rather not have any of you for company, and for a good long while."

She shook her head to lose that train of thought. "Back to more practical things: Wouldn't something like pemmican or ship's bisket last longer? Jellatinous cubes of broth sound exactly like the kind of thing you'd put as a growth medium in a petri dish." she said with a disgusted frown. Finding out molded cubes of soup in their provisions would probably spoil more than their day.

April then seemed to finally catch up with the program, and Vicky liked what she heard, nodding semi-approvingly. "Solid plan, but maybe we could phone Dr. Whitehall to give you a perscription for more, before we go around committing crimes? I mean you can tell her what's it really for, she's sworn not to tell anyone, right? Failing that, if you need a hand with the BnE, let me know."

She scratched her chin at their other suggestion. "Hm. Perhaps. Sure did look we were on the same side, though it didn't look like we were bashing heads of the TVA. Maybe it's a trade of some sort? We scratch her back, she scratches ours?" the android speculated.

Theeen Otherworld was mentioned. Victoria's posture went still. Otherworld was a Fae realm. And that meant... A sarcastic, mirthless chuckle was born somewhere near her feet and before it made its way out of her mouth, it picked up considerable strength. "Oh, of course it would be a magical realm, because why not? Fuck Victoria in particular seems to be all the rage with these adventures we go on. Apparently, the French Quarter wasn't enough, noooo!" she grumbled under her breath. "Well, I know where I'm going. To the bloody library to try and find a way how to not check out immediately as soon as I poke my nose in there!"

---

---

With rage coloured glasses, Dorian missed the fact that Chase was genuinely upset by this vision. Upset by the fact that he was once again being cast as the villain even when he was making strides to become a better person, to become someone who wasn’t his parents. All Dorian saw, was the person who bullied Percy and made him so distasteful of interactions, the person who commanded shadows as they watched a vision in which an army of them opposed Excelsior, a person whose card was as finicky as the person's relationships with the group. The Wheel was always turning, always changing, for better or for worse, and that was exactly what Chase would do. He would sell the whole team down the River Styx if it meant getting a single corn chip, and Dorian was sure of that. All of that had to be abandoned, as Danni decided to shake him violently while questioning something he hadn’t done yet. ”Danni I don’t know! It ‘asn’t ‘appened yet, and if I can avoid it, it won’t ‘appen ever!” Another chilling thought took its place however. If he did kill himself, why didn’t his parents just bring him back? They could, after all, unless they were too ashamed of what he’d done, unless they agreed with the punishment he’d chosen, or unless…they weren’t around either. Dorian’s mind went back to the vision in the Astral, to the desolate land that was before him with graves for all the people he loved in one place. Did his mistake somehow bring about the end of the world? Was Percy trying to avert two tragedies at once? Dorian narrowed his eyes at Danni as he continued to shake him. ”Eit’er of you squirt me and you’ll get coated in Ectoplasm.”

”If we’re meant to ally wit’ t’e Witch, t’en we need to figure out exactly who she is and what she wants and stands for. We may–- “ Dorians’ thoughts were cut off as April began to ask everyone to not speak about suicide. Right…in all the commotion he had forgotten that they even attempted it back then. His eyes were cast downwards as he looked to the ground, silent. Even Leah had known better and was trying to sway everyone off the topic and onto what was actually needed. Percy had begun to stir back awake and was suddenly interested in raiding Nemo’s office, his office? It was all way too weird and convoluted for Dorian to want to understand right now. Even Vicky seemed extremely worried about the pair of them, though mostly Dorian. ”I’ll try my best to get some of t’e more important details down, it’s… a lot to write down and we don’t ‘ave a lot of time, but I can brin it wit’ me incase we need more on t’e road. We can also figure out…t’at, later too. I just want to make sure our eyes are on everyt’in’ t’at ‘appens so we aren’t caught blindsided again. We can look into food and provisions, figure out a way to ‘elp you stay upright, and get back t’e people we lost, but first…Perce you and I need to ‘ave a chat I t’ink. T’ere’s…a lot to discuss.”

---

---

Chase felt as Ben leaned into the touch, a smile barely touching the corner of his lips as he felt what was beginning to become a familiar feeling. He looked over at the Giant. He wasn't sure what she wanted from him or what the topic of conversation would be, but whatever it was he supposed he could humor her. Though it didn’t escape his mind that she could simply be saying that while assigning herself to be on babysitting duty with who they likely viewed as their villain of the week. ”Well which is it gonna be? You helpin’ him break in or you want to chat with me? Unless Percival is ok with waiting on the whole Office thing. Either way –” He turned to look over at Danni and Ben. It was nice to know that he had at least two people in his corner pocket who were willing to vouch for him and defend him. Even if Ben did have the strength of a small Victorian child, it was still cute to watch him get so defensive over him. ”Nah you're good Bug Boi. Besides, you’re my liege and I your knight, it is I who must defend you and keep you safe. To that point.”

He gave Danni a pointed look before smiling and speaking. ”Keep him safe Danny Boi, not a hair on his head gets harmed you hear me? You are the Knight assigned to look over my liege while I am absent in diplomatic duties. And Benny, I'll be back in a bit. Just gotta clear my head and chat with the Jolly Green Giant over here.” Chase rustled Ben's hair before placing a kiss atop his head. He held his hand out for the Knights that had barred the path to come to him. They began marching in unison towards past him and Leah before they all merged into a singular dark and nebulous form, solidifying themselves into an ornate Gothic door before it opened, showing a yawning dark void on the other side. ”You coming Jolly Green? You pick the topics but I'm choosing the location. So let's move it before this doorway closes. I can't hold it forever.”

“Oye, oye, oye - keep t’at goo stuff ta yourself! I just ‘ad ta make sure somet’in’ wasn’t loose in t’at big ole brain o’ yours!” Danni laughed, letting Dorian go as Percy stirred. “Spicy you’re back! We love t’at, we love t’at! And yeeees, I’mma break inta t’at place too! I ‘ave soooo many questions, really ‘bout t’aat mustache tbh. Like, t’e most important one: why? And t’e second one: why so dry? And like, I can’t ask you ‘cause you ‘ave not made t’is poor decision yet so I gotta snoop. But pls get your boyf under control ‘cause like, he’s tots t’reatening ta slime people and t’at feels like a your wheel’ouse kinda t’in’!”

Danni agreed wholeheartedly with Leah as she demanded people not worry. “Well, t’at sounds like a whole job for me! I ain’t got enough up ‘ere ta worry for long!” Danni rapped his knuckles against his head, laughing as Amelie tried to snap at his fingers. He caught her face in his hands and gave her kisses all over her face, much to her protest. “And someone’s feelin’ a little bored anyways so activities will be good! Can’t ‘ave a spicy dragon, right? So, Rillie you’re comin’ wit’ meeeee.” He sang, snatching her by the arm and skipping away from the feels fest around Dorian and Percy. He paused at Vicky’s suggestions and peered at her for a very long moment, the wheels of his brain working harder than they had in a long time.

“Pemmianan? Are you makin’ up words? Or is t’at like a sups fancy version of Parmesan cheese? Oooh, I want cheese now too. T’at sounds real good! Oh! Dee, Rillie, we gotta see if we can get Pa ta make us a little fridge in t’e rooms so we can use t’e bags and just ‘ave whatever we want!” Danni gasped and threw his arms around Vicky excitedly, hugging her tightly. “OMG! You’re right! We don’t even ‘afta prep food! We can just like… put whateves we want in t’e bags and ‘ave a fridge at ‘ome and duuuuuh. Omg, see t’is is why Vicky’s so smart! We got t'is in t'e bag!! Hehe, get it bag? 'cause it's our bags?" Danni giggled before pressing a kiss to Vicky's cheek before letting her go. “I’d offer ta ‘elp ya in t’e library ‘cause ya ‘elped us so much, but uh… books and dragon and me aren’t book friendly so like, t’ink of somet’in’ else I can ‘elp ya wit’ and I will!” Danni bounced away excited that they had one less thing to think about and dragged April over to Millie.

“Okaaaay, we’re gunna add one Mill-illi-illie-pede to our group as well ‘cause t’is is your first time ‘ere so we can show ya every’in’! And one buggie boi owes me a ‘an’out ‘cause ‘e keeps dodgin’ me so we’ll snag ‘im…” Danni perked up at being addressed and nodded eagerly at Chase. “Weeeeeeeeell. T’ere’s kinda a danger of teeth marks or like… singed ‘air. Just kinda a general, overall part of ‘an’in’out wit’ me but he will be showered in affection and friendship and fun!” Danni snatched up Ben, spun him around, and dropped him with Millie and April.

---

---

---

Dryador.

The Kingdom of Seventy Seas, home of the merfolk, of sirens and selkies, of legendary serpents and fearsome snakes, was engulfed in flames under her command. The ocean boiled, the lakes ran dry, and naught was left in the wake of her army but ash and bone. Her soldiers were forged for this, any weaknesses cast aside in the pursuit of perfection, of conquest. It was challenge that made them strong, challenge that gave them the power to do what none had dared to dream was possible, challenge that drove them to tear a gaping wound in reality, a rift that they might cross into this nexus, this Otherworld.

Their foes were cowards, hidden away inside their floating fortress, at the center of the wheel - using their innocents, their civilians who knew nothing but peace and song as shields. Perhaps it would have stopped a lesser challenger. But it would not stop her. Shields were nothing more than obstacles to be broken. If the White Witch wished her people slaughtered as she did not lift a finger to help them, then Memoria was more than happy to oblige.

She had patience and time in spades.

And a hostage.

Memoria smiled softly, as she inclined her head downwards. Capturing Dryador’s ruler had been exquisite, the water spirit in chains at her feet a tantalizing pet. And while the arms she could supply were fabled and legendary, more than sufficient for whatever tricks the White Witch would attempt, it was the information she craved the most from her prize. The Lady of the Lake looked decadent like this, her hands bound behind her, iron chains connecting down to her feet, leaving painful, blistering welts across her skin. The more she struggled, the worse it became. The throne room was a bit damp for her liking, an underground cave with a large natural basin of water, brimming with mystical importance and potential.

Potential she would not dare to allow to go to waste.

Memoria rose from the barnacled throne, her boot landing squarely on Nimue’s back, as she approached the waters and knelt. The necessary components had already been gathered and bottled.

A dragon’s tongue.

A faerie’s tooth.

A serpent’s egg.

A newborn’s cry.

A lover’s goodbye.

“You are a great teacher, pet,” Memoria purred, as she loosened them into the pool one by one, each addition causing the water to froth and to foam. “I cannot wait for my students to meet yours.”

---

Leah blinked. What the fuck was this guy’s powers?

”Yeah. Sure.” She walked over to her sword, letting April go and was through the portal quickly. She was getting used to teleporting a lot lately.

Chase stepped in after her, closing the darkness behind them. Cold would cling to Leah, as if walking through a dark hallway that hadn't seen light or warmth in ages. When they exited, they were behind a partition staring at a selection of belts hung against a wall. A myriad of studs, double loops, and other designs all in black and silver with a Hot Topic tag sticking out from behind them. ”Malls are always a great place for me to clear my head, and Hot Topic always has a dark corridor for me to pop into.”

She almost remarked on how little she was surprised that this was the place the guy with the shadow powers pulled them to. ”Never been in one of these before.” She held her seven foot long sword close so she didn’t accidentally destroy something. ”How far are we from the school?”

Chase stared at the massive sword that Leah held. ”Wanna send that off to school? Not sure how well weapons are viewed at the mall, that and well…eh up to you.” He shrugged as he walked past her and towards a section that held Japanese candy and drinks. Picking up two bottles of melon flavored Ramune before going towards the wall of graphic T's and looking at them. ”No idea. Why?”

”Just wondering. Your power’s cool,” She shrugged, walking out behind him. ”Okay, mall… You hungry? I’m basically rich after the Contest.”

Chase placed the bottles down atop a stack of folded shirts. Snagging one off the top and unfolding it to look at the design. ”I don't know about cool, but I doubt you want to hear a sob story about it.” He tossed the shirt back over the two bottles as he began to make his way out of the shop. ”You offering to buy me something? I won't lie, I'm broke as dirt so can't expect me to pay.” As soon as he stepped out of the store he used the shadows from under the shorts he tossed to shift the two bottles into his pockets.

”Yeah, I’m offering.” _{As long as he didn’t get any ideas.} ”Where’s your favorite place to eat in here?”

”No idea. Never really had the money for food here. I just like to people watch. You ever do that?” Once they were far enough away, he pulled out a bottle of Ramune and offered it to Leah. ”Want one? They're good. I'm thinking Chinese, or a Smoothie. What about you?”

Leah accepted the bottle and cracked it open with her teeth. ”Hmm. Yeah, if the Chinese here is worth a damn. It usually isn’t in malls, but we’ll find out.” With zero hesitation she inhaled half of the bottle in one drink. ”Huh. These are pretty good. Never had these.”

”Jesus. Yeah, no shit.” Chase watched in half amusement, half horror as he peeled off the plastic wrapping from his lid and removed the plastic bit needed to press the glass marble into the drink. With one swift press, the drink made a popping sound as the carbonation hissed out. He took a sip before speaking again. ”The Chinese food here is never worth a damn. That's kinda the whole appeal.” He took another drink, this time longer as he debated asking again. ”I doubt you wanted to just shoot the breeze. Something on your mind you wanted to talk about? Or we waiting till I'm wined and dined before you decide to fuck me up?”

Leah gave him a look. ”...No. That’s actually the complete opposite of what this is about. I remember you saying something about how you and Percy used to get along pretty bad. And I saw Dorian looking at you like he wanted to take your head off.”

The second half of her drink was gone with the speed of a magician pulling a card trick, and she dropped the empty glass into a recycling bin as they walked. ”No one’s actually giving you trouble, are they?”

”You're joking right? Lightning McQueen suckered punched me and then Tall Goth and Pathetic kicked me in the stomach while I was down. All while I was just trying to find my way back to Danni. Then CodeName Twink wont stop glaring at me and Percival can barely stomach looking at me even when he's asking for my help. Only ones that seem to be decent and nice so far are you and Sabine and quite frankly I didn't expect you to be on the list, no offense.”

”I get that a lot.” She shrugged. ”Andy usually knows better than to go swinging on people for no reason, Gideon would swing at a ham sandwich if it looked at her the wrong way. Never seen Dorian stare at someone like that before… A lot of them are having a pretty shit day, I guess.” They did just learn that a guy who they thought was dead wasn’t. Not that Leah was ever fooled.

”Why did Andy jump you?”

”I was twirling my boyfriend around and she thought I was bullying him. Instead of asking any questions she simply decked me. _{Not like anyone actually cares.}” The last bit was murmured into his bottle as he took another long drink, chugging the contents before tossing it into the nearest bin. ”I know what it's like to have a shit day.”

”...Okay, that’s just stupid. Gideon’s a bad influence on her.” Leah was not amused. ”Just about everyone in Excelsior’s used to bad days, I figured they’d know better than to do that. Know what, next time they have a problem with you, drop them through a shadow and I’ll kick their ass about it.”

”It's fine. I've had worse done to me. Besides, Gideon lost their shadows because of it so who knows what that's gonna cause later on down the road. Never seen what happens when a shadow’s been removed for more than a day.” Chase’s hand instinctively went to his side by his ribs as he spoke. Feeling the phantom pains of not only Gideon's kicks, but every beating his father had done and hidden beneath his shirts.

”She lost her shadow? What does that even mean? What happened?”

”I ripped it off of her to even the fight out and some ComradeCaster came in and gave us all detention. In doing so she took away our “toys” mine just happened to be Gideon's shadow so who knows where that went. Wait, did you not notice that they're walking around with 0 shadow at the moment?” Chase held back a bit of a laugh.

”No, I usually don’t stare at the ground when I’m outside. What the hell’s a ComradeCaster?”

”I dunno man! Some Russian looking chick in all red that uses magic that's also red. Figured she's some sort of Communist with Magic aka Communist Caster. I don't know shit about heroes. Don't care about them either.”

The look on Leah’s face said more than enough to convey her frustration.

”...That was the Scarlet Witch. The only person at the school who can teach magic. Great. Good to know. Cool. Mara-motherfucking-villoso. Glad to know she’s like that.” She sighed.

”¿Como que?” Chase raised an eyebrow. Leah made it seem like this woman was some sort of a big deal. They were just at a school littered with magic, surely this Scarlet Witch wasn't that big of a deal. Right? ”Alls I know is she wants us to pick flowers and become besties atop a mountain. Mount…Wonkabar? Something like that.”

”Don’t really know what that is, but if it’s anything magic related it’s probably not gentle. She's a chaos wizard. The chaos wizard, the best one you’re ever going to find. She could snap her fingers and turn the whole damn school into a volcano if she wanted. The school’s always struggling to keep a magic teacher around, most of them go to the school full of people who study magic, shockingly.”

”Maybe the position’s cursed.” Chase shrugged as he rounded the corner finally on the opposite side of the mall. The Food Court before them with a wide display of choices and an Orange Julius in the dead center of the seating area. ”Well anyways, she didn't seem too bad, but we'll see how she feels during flower picking day. So what about you? What's got you put on babysitting duty?” Chase still didn't believe this was a friendly quid pro quo. Expecting a shoe to drop at any moment. Leah may likely notice a similarity to how she used to be, even when acting nonchalant, it was only ever hiding the anxiousness beneath about what might happen.

”The way people are acting lately, that’s what. I used to be pretty lonely too, I know how it feels to get along with pretty much no one.” Danni seemed to like Chase, which was a good impression. Dorian, though… Yeah, that was gonna be a conversation.

”You? With your sparkling personality? Hard to imagine.” His tone was deadpanned, but the joke was clearly there. Chase lined up into one of the many lines for the Chinese food. There were about three different locations, all with different names but the brand was all the same. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided otherwise as he'd wait until after she bought him food. May as well get a free meal out of all this. ”Mind if I get something small for Benny? He's got the pallet of a British Orphan and I'm trying to widen it.”

”Go ahead.” She had about $90,000 in the bank. It was no big deal. She stood behind him in line. The absurdity of seeing a six foot tall Giant with an even bigger sword just waiting in line at a mall for Chinese food was not lost on her. Of course, she was used to the stares by now, and it wasn’t like people could really take decent pictures of her.

She got some egg rolls.

”Sweet.” Chase had finally got up for his turn, getting a thing of Chow Mein, with Bourbon Chicken and Orange chicken as sides with a small drink. He'd get a smoothie from somewhere else later. He got a second of the same order for Ben minus the drink, adding on Leah's egg rolls before the Giantess paid. ”C'mon, there's an open table over there we can sit at. Figure we need something bigger for your uh…” Chase motioned towards Leah's sword with his lips. Casually bringing up a new topic as he made his way over. ”So you speak Spanish?”

”Yeah.” The comically large sword was placed against the back of her seat, hilt pointing upwards. ”First language, kind of. Raised with it. You?”

”No shit? Second for me, partially from school and partially from old men in the parks. Uh, like from games not anything weird or sexual…” Chase immediately looked down at his take out and opened up the Styrofoam container as he began to stab his chicken a few times. ”So you grew up in a…Mexican…household?” It was a stab in the dark, but given how many there were within California, it wasn't a bad one.

”More like a giant tower hidden inside a mesa, but pretty much.” She chomped on an egg roll. ”Over in the desert in Arizona.”

”Mmm. Love their tea. Big fan. Is that why you have such long hair? You're secretly a Disney Princess locked away in a tower and needed a way out? Wait. What was this tower even made of? Aren't you like, an Earthbender or some shit?” Chase spoke with his mouth full, taking a sip of his drink to help it all wash down.

”Hair’s this long because it’s the world’s strongest sandpaper. Hard to stab me or punch me from behind when it can tear up Vibranium.” She leaned an arm on the table. ”Where I’m from, I was raised by a supervillain, so yeah, I guess you could say I needed out. It was his super evil lair where he did nefarious shit. It’s gone now, though.”

”I don't know about super, but my old rents were definitely villains. Part of why Ben's so protective of me. I just joke about it now, I know they're out of the picture and I'm out of their abuse.” Chase shrugged as he loaded his fork with more food. ”So I kinda get where you're coming from. So…out of curiosity, comparing scars, what's the worst they did to you? Also, want a bite?” He tilted his container towards Leah to see if she'd want to share.

Leah stabbed a piece of chicken in the container with a chopstick and passed him an egg roll in return. ”Hmm… My dad loved experimenting on me. Fun fact about me, I used to look human, grew up believing I was just a mutant. Then it’s like a glass box breaking into pieces, now I look like this. He did that a lot, fucked up science and shit. Lots of broken bones too, did you know it’s technically possible to punch someone when your skull’s in three pieces?”

Chase felt a twist within his stomach as Leah mentioned she used to look human. A fear rising in him as a question began to form, all while recalling he had the same conversation with Ben not too long ago. ”My rents weren't that smart. They mostly broke my bones or beat me around, they sold me off to get experimented on though. Shit sucked and is why I look the way I do. I used to be human, look human, now…I can hardly look at a mirror.” He took in a deep breath. Did he dare ask her?

”You look pretty human to me.” Aside from the possum-esque dark circles under his eyes, anyway. ”When I say I used to look human, I mean you wouldn’t even recognize me. Brown skin, a bit shorter, eyes that aren’t glowing. I’m guessing you’re Inhuman? Mutate? Something like that?”

”Oh good so your brain is rocks too. No, Ben's inhuman, Percival is the mutant, I'm just a freak made in a lab. The amount of shit they shoved into me, into my veins, just trying to get me to react…I couldn't even tell you what finally worked only that it did.” Chase’s leg was beginning to shake from under the table, his eating had slowed down and he was torn between staring at his food or staring at Leah. He nervously bit at his nail before finally deciding to ask. ”Any chance I could see what you looked like before?”

”Mm…” She pulled her phone out and scrolled up through the camera roll. The only picture she had that she was in was from that Halloween dance that went terribly wrong. The one where she was in a Scorpia dress.

She slid it across the table. ”Mutates and mutants are different. You get turned into a Mutate when you’re struck by lightning and get superpowers or bit by a radioactive spider, stuff that changes you.”

Chase looked at the picture of Leah. His hand turned into a fist as he quickly stood up from his seat. A mixture of emotions roiling inside of him. ”Fuck this and fuck you. I'm going for a fucking walk.” He left the food there, but took his drink as he began to storm out into the mall proper.

”Hey, what-” Oh.

Oh. Yeah. He did call it comparing scars.

Yikes. Leah felt like an idiot suddenly.

”...Nice one, Jordan.” She sighed.

Chase hadn't gone very far. Moving over towards a section that had seating outside of a store as he began to place between the empty cushioned seats muttering to himself. ”Ofcourse this was a trap. Why the fuck else wouldnt it be? Why else bring a fucking sword into a mall? You're a fool of a lalafell O'Brian, you should've known better than to trust anyone.” Chase angrily tossed his drink inside a trashcan, the sound of the almost full cup exploding within the liner resonating in the empty tin. He felt like he needed a way to get his aggression out, he wanted to run, to leave, and it would be easier enough to abandon Leah, so why hadn't he?

Leah hadn’t stood up. She should’ve known better than to keep talking about that. She didn’t like it when people got pushy about her own experience with getting experimented on. Once again, she had demonstrated a complete and utter deficit in any ability to read a fucking room.

Running after him would’ve just made it worse. She knew that much, anyway.

Chase took in a deep breath. Sitting down onto one of the empty seats as he closed his eyes and pressed his palms against them. He held the breath for a while, when it finally felt like he was about to drown in it, he released. He looked back up and saw that Leah was still sitting there, at the table. Why wasn't she chasing after him? Or did she think so little of his abilities that she assumed she could take him on no matter if he ran. His jaw tensed before he finally stood up and made his way back towards her. He didn't dare to sit down, that'd give her an edge if she went to swing. ”Spill. Why did you really come? Why did you want to isolate me from the others so badly?”

”...I told you why, already.” She chose her words very carefully. ”And to be completely honest with you, you remind me of me about half a year ago. Nobody was friendly with me either, and I didn’t trust anyone. I still don’t trust a lot of people. Danni likes you, that’s good enough for me. I’m- Look, I’m pretty bad with people, so it’s fine if you’re mad. I get it.”

”Mad? I – that – I don't even know what I'm feeling but that doesn't even begin to describe it. That girl –” Chase pointed to where Leah's phone was, the picture of her when she was human. ” I stared at that face for who knows how long. His proudest achievement! The reason why he wanted to push for more, see what more he could do. The face of the girl who was the reason why I am the way I am now, why – I told myself that if I ever saw her again, I'd kill her myself to show that asshat what it meant to have something you love stripped away from you. And you're telling me you're not even here to drag me back into a lab?! Please, I'm not stupid.”

Leah blinked.

”...Chase. That’s me.”

”No shit!” Chase felt as if he was vibrating. But Leah looked genuinely confused. All this time, he assumed the girl in the photo was working with him in some capacity. Why wouldn't she? But if that girl was Leah, and she was this confused…”Sorry I…” Chase slumped down into the chair, all his energy having left him as he just stared. ”I killed every scientist in that building that experimented on me and the others. Everyone except for the one in charge. Figures, those slimy bastards ways get away. All that was left of that lab was the framed photo, the glass was cracked, not that it mattered, I kept the image just to make sure I never forgot her face. I figured…”

Leah shook her head. ”Stop. I know where that’s going, and that- No. You’re just being paranoid, and I know that’s what this is because I’ve been there. I’m no scientist. That’s not even my real face in that picture, that’s like some disguise I didn’t know I was wearing.”

She was going to give it a 50-50% chance he didn’t believe her. ”My dad did things like that to me too, always running tests on me and shit. I killed him too. Or I tried to, I don’t know if he’s even alive anymore. I’m not here to hurt you, and I can’t make you believe that.”

Chase took a shaky hand and placed it into his pocket, using his powers to being a photo he left back at home to him as he pulled it out. There were some puncture marks around it, as if he'd thrown daggers at it before. He placed the picture down on the table, it was a picture of Leah as she looked like when she was human. ”You're telling me that isn't you then? It was at his desk, his office. He was so damn proud of you. Of what you could do. And I – I hated you for it.”

Leah stared at the picture for a moment. Was it just some other curly-haired girl?

Then she looked up at him with a face that was far from comfortable. Her stomach turned over.

”...Did- Chase. Did he ever tell you what that girl’s name was?”

”Only once. Wasn't to me exactly, but I was always listening to shit I shouldn't be, searching for a way out. Her name was Mayra, she looked so much like that human you I just…I know your name’s Leah. I get it, but that didn't stop all the hatred from coming back. Didn't stop me from wanting to hurt you. I'm trying so hard to be better. For Ben, and for Danni…but fuck its so hard sometimes.”

She couldn’t believe what he was saying.

Leah just stared at him, and stared and stared and stared. Why did it surprise her so much?

Her fists balled up. She looked at the picture again. Her hair was shorter. It was the same texture. It was her.

”I don’t fucking believe it. Chase. When did you break out of that place? Tell me. How long ago was it?” There was a scared look in her eyes.

”Couldn't give you an exact date…hell I lost track of how long I was even in there. I'd say…months before your little Contest of Champions? Months I spent in rehab and working with a therapist about the things I'd experienced. The way I acted, and also…to hide me given I'd massacred so many. W-why do you ask?” Chase hadn't noticed the look until now. She ran from an evil super villain. Her father experimented on her. She wasn't here to claim him, she was running away just like he was. Except she said her father was dead.

”When-” She stopped herself and took a deep breath. ”When my dad shot my mom and killed her, and I tore the tower down, I ran away to California. I changed my name to Leah Jordan after that. You- That’s me. I-”

She felt sick.

”That fucking- He’s-” The floor rumbled just lightly enough that only she and Chase were able to feel it. ”He’s still fucking alive.”

”Oh. Fuck. Uh, shit. Fuck. I fucked up huh? Uh…yeah? Maybe? I don't know, maybe some other douche just really liked his work or…fuck. I'm sorry man I thought…fuck.” Chase's hand was in the air, halfway between himself and Leah as if he wanted to try and comfort her but he didn't know how. Like wanting to pet a stray cat that looked like it could attack at any moment.

”No. Don’t apologize.” She wanted to scream, ask how he killed everyone else but the one that mattered. ”You did what you had to, I did the same thing back then. I- Fuck. I told the Avengers about him and they never found him- Where the fuck were you?”

”Depending on the time…either in a tube, in therapy, or at home? I don't…I mean, sorry but the Avengers do fuck all. Call themselves heros but let kids get beat on at home.” Chase closed the container and pulled some shadows from beneath the table to wrap around the food before it vanished, appearing back into his dorm room on his bed. ”Maybe we should get some smoothies. Cold drink helps to bring you down and walking helps keep this place standing as you shake the floor when we're on the second floor.”

”Yeah. Yeah… Let’s- Yeah…” Leah stood up and grabbed her sword. ”Get what you want, I’ll pay for it.” She was going on autopilot to distract herself. If they were in a desert there would be an earthquake right now.

”Let’s go.”

Chase went over to the Orange Julius in the center of the court, ordering two of their signature drinks before Leah paid and he handed her one. ”I didn't mean to sour the mood…sorry.”

”It’s fine.” She accepted hers and took a slow sip from it. ”I spent a while thinking he was still alive anyway. I’m more tore up over the fact that I’m not the only one he- You know.” She put some money on the counter and ignored a guy who tried to take a picture of her sword, and walked out the door with Chase.

”Yeah…I know. Hey you ever go shopping at a mall? Back before all this, before I was sold and used for science, I used to come here all the time. It was a nice way to get away from it all, the abuse, the broken home, I'd sit here and people watch, listening to conversations about how families should behave. Sometimes I even put myself in them as if I wasn't part of a horrid household. But I never actually shipped here. Rents said I wasn't worth more than Goodwill. I didn't mind though, it was nice to find something I liked there. But new clothes? That was a luxury item.”

”I was homeless and broke for a while. Didn’t have money until after the Contest. Usually, I just flew off on a rock whenever there was nothing to do, or they kicked me out for a while. I did go on a big shopping trip around Christmas with Andy and Sabine, though.”

”Flying rocks? I can't tell if that's cool as hell or absolutely terrifying.” Chase gently bumped into Leah's arm, making sure to avoid any hair. ”Sorry I hated you…you actually seem kinda cool. Aaaand we have more in common than I'd care to admit.”

”Looks like we do. It’s fine, I’m used to it… Flying rocks are actually pretty unsafe, even for me.” Subject change, go! ”It’s a lot harder to control where the rock’s going when I’m on it, and if I hit something, I go flying. Being off the ground is pretty damn bad for me, believe it or not.”

”I'll mark it under terrifying then. I…try not to lose control of my powers. So I keep it safe, do what's needed and that's about it. Otherwise…well it's not safe for me or anyone around really. So, this prophecy shit. That usual for you lot? Or am I just extra special and joining in at a time you're facing a shadow army?”

”Well…” Leah took another contemplative sip. ”Apparently I’ve got a whole prophecy about me, somehow, somewhere. Aside from that? Not particularly. I think you just got really unlucky timing when you did that.”

”Promise I'm not trying to raid a glittering city of light or whatever. Unless they deserve it, then I'd have to run it by Ben.” Chase took another sip of his own Julius. ”Does this – nevermind that's stupid. And Yes Ben, I know there's no such thing as a stupid thought even if you can't hear me right now. This kid, wont let me beat myself up? It's like he doesn't get that I was abused and can take it from myself. Sorry, that was a bit of a dark joke.”

”I’ve heard worse.” She wasn’t going to elaborate. ”I don’t know Ben, who is he?”

”My boyfriend. Met him in the stands of the contest. He…struggles with making friends, and bathing, and well…a lot of things. He had some bad trauma, not mine to tell but…it fucked him up a bit. But he's just so sweet, and kind, he wouldn't hurt a bug. Like literally, he'd never hurt one and if he saw anyone hurt one he may blow a gasket. He's got this adorable British accent, a very low tolerance for spicy food, and just…” Chase swooned before taking another sip. ”He makes me want to be better.” He pulled out his phone and opened up the chat with him, Danni, and Ben. Showing off photos of Ben and their adventures over break, as well as seeing the new ones Danni had sent earlier with Amelie and Ben. ”He's an inhuman. A race of alien bug people from outer space. He has command over bugs and can even talk to them. When he sees one, its like he's in his own little world. The way he smiles, his giggles…shit sorry I didn't mean to go off like that.”

”Don’t worry about it, I asked for a reason. They’re not all bugs, actually. _{I think.} Sabine’s Inhuman too. I think they live on the moon, where they do the thing that unlocks their powers.”

”Pretty sure they're all bugs. That's why they go through terrigensis and live on the moon. Its like a metamorphosis to unlock powers. Wait…so we're both dating inhumans? Weird. Honestly might a well be – anyways, she's pretty cool. What's she like?”

”She’s great.” A smile formed on her face. ”She’s always pushing herself to act like a better person than the day before, always worrying about if she’s doing good enough. She’s hard on herself, but she’s actually one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I think people like her are the reason that telepaths are still around, or else they'd all be rounded up. I’d tear up the whole state of California if someone hurt her.”

Chase smiled, holding his cup at Leah for a cheers. ”I feel that. If anyone harmed a single hair on Ben's head, nothing would stop me from getting them back.” It was weird, all of it, yet somehow he felt as if he could actually trust or rely on Leah. He felt close, which he never expected from her least of all. ”Think you could help me wrangle Ben into the group? They're…a lot, and well…they haven't exactly shown their best side today.”

”I think I can, yeah. They’ll listen to me. I don’t usually have many nice things to say about people unless they’re in the group. So if their heads aren’t up their asses, they’ll get it. It’s just been a long damn day. It wasn’t supposed to be, but it was.”

”Explains why you were so level headed though. We've both had similar long days, so everything seems so…minor. I'm…glad I decided to let you come. You're not half bad Jordan.”

”You’re pretty okay, too.”

And then, with no regard for how absurd it looked, Leah bit down on the plastic lid of the smoothie, wrenched it off and stuck it between the fingers around the cup, straw still stuck between it. The smoothie she had barely consumed thus far was gone with all the speed of a black hole devouring an asteroid.

”By the Twelve. Do you just devour food? At least savour it a little.” Chase tried to seem appalled but there was laughter clearly in his voice. She was insane, but in a very good way. A part of him was glad he didn't have to kill her, another was even happier that they may kill the fucker together if he ever crossed their paths.

”I paid for the whole thing, I’m gonna drink the whole thing.”

The plastic cup went into a trash can.

For a moment, she wasn’t sure what else to talk about. Leah definitely didn’t want to get into the whole thing about how her dad was still alive, still experimenting on people in his spare time, and still fucking escaping certain doom. Another time, perhaps.

”...We’re going to go save Nemo, or try to. You coming when we do? I need to get stuff ready for that.”

”For better or worse I was in that stupid vision. I know better than to run from Fate. Usually the harder you avoid it, the more likely it is to happen. So I'll go, don't know who this Nemo fella is but if he needs savin then let's go ahead and save him. Should probably stop by a store though, see about stealing some Campbell's Condensed soup for the road.”

”I was thinking I’d cook something spiced to hell and back, but if Ben can’t handle it… Yeah, something that won’t kill him. And I’m gonna break open the rock collection, in case they don’t take human money over there. Nemo saved April’s life once, so that’s enough for me to try and find him.”

”Please, he couldn't handle a Sweet and Spicy Dorito! I'm working on it though, he will handle spice someday. Shit we'll need some tea bags…he drinks sooooo much of it.” Chase didn't wish to touch the subject of how the old man saved one of them, given their reaction to suicide he could figure it out.

”We’re bringing water either way. If we have the chance to sit around for a tea party, then sure. We know pretty much nothing about what’s in Otherworld, though. I don’t, I’m pretty sure the others don’t. Unless that Glimpse person does.”

”OK. We aren't actually calling it Otherworld right? Like fuck thats so lazy. Can we at least get a better name for this new place?”

”We call it Otherworld because that’s what they call it over there. We used to have some watery fuck of a teacher from there, who almost got a few people killed with a stupid magic house thing. So…”

Chase groaned. ”Thats so fucking lame. You'd think a Nyad would have better naming conventions. Least, I assume you mean a Nyad, what other watery fucks are there?”

”Fuck if I know. She’s been gone for a while, we might run into her. If we do, maybe the others will kick her ass for dumping them before the Contest. We had to merge teams because all three coaches checked out on us. Nemo faked his death, a fucking mutant cat thing tried to kill us in another timeline, and Nimue just vanished. We still won, but fuck them.”

Chase fully stopped. Drink halfway up the straw as he stared at Leah. There was no way. No fucking way. ”Did you say…Nimue? Was that by any chance…the watery fuck?”

Leah stopped too. ”Yeah. You know her?”

”Do I kno– Who doesnt?! The Lady of The Lake?! The Tales of Le Morte d'Arthur? Avalon the great city? Its fucking Camelot! The Knights make more sense now, but who's the big bad? It changes, interpretations vary, what time are we in? What version of Merlin do we get? Is Mordred friend or foe? There's so much to figure out but holy shit…”

”...What? Who the fuck’s Mordred?”

”A friend of the Druids and a former Knight of the Round Table. The one who betrays and slays The Once and Future King, all because of people attempting to avoid Fate. There's thoughts that had they let it play out Arthur would still be alive and well, but by attempting to reject Fate and stop the death of Arthur, they actually drove Mordred away and into the mindset needed to kill him. Keep up!”

”Ooookay. That’s what Otherworld is like? Good to know, I think. How does that actually help us, though? Are we gonna have to fight an army of Druids?”

”The Druids aren't the enemy, they never were. They only wish to live and be left alone, but some can't do that. It also depends on what tale we're in, each varies from the last, and why is this Old Man locked up in Avalon? Maybe the way to alter time was to steal the Holy Grail or…would this Nemo be against Necromancy or for it? Some legends believe that the Holy Sword of Arthur had the ability to heal all wounds, even death. Maybe he meant to steal the relic and use it to bring back his dead loved one.”

”He’s a time traveler, he could try again over and over until he went insane if he really wanted to. He wasn’t much of a wizard when he was around, he could just do that. He was a mutant, and apparently he’s Percy from the future.”

”If it wasnt for the fact that I grew up with Percival, I'd think they both were a version of Merlin. In some variations he starts off old and ages backwards as he meets Arthur, in others its the other way around, which Time Travel would certainly explain it, very Doctor Who, but I don’t think Percival is Merlin, which would be ironic given the ‘Hero Name’ I put down on the application was based off of Arthurian Legends and Mythology. A creature born of a human and a demon, certainly how I felt after all that happened, they say Merlin himself was a Cambion.”

”Hm. I did some magic and it turns out we already know enough to find Nemo. So when we get everyone together, we’ll figure it out that way and you can tell them what you know,” Leah suggested. ”Organize all that information and make sure everyone’s got enough of it. And you can tell them about Merlin and Mordred while you’re at it.”

”You got it sis, I’ll work on my dissertation of Arthurian Legends and its many variations throughout media and history. There will be a quiz at the end so you all better pay attention.” Chase half joked as he used Leah's large shadow to open up a portal back to the Academy.

---

Marlena’s face said enough.

Superheroes were anathema to her, she admitted as much whenever someone asked about her prospects as one herself. She was in a hero school, among people who came from outer space and from realms beyond the sphere of man. She openly flirted with someone who came from a family that could rewrite reality and raise the dead, and she was just a no-fame kid from Brooklyn. As much as Marlena wouldn’t trade her life away for another, it was like being a fish thrown into a desert. These problems weren’t familiar to her.

But Sabine’s was. At least in part.

”...My mom died a few years ago. Cancer.” She stuck her hands in her pockets. ”Some of the worst days of my life, she never saw who I am now. Our place was never the same after, in a few ways. My old man, he’s never been the same since. He got better, but you wouldn’t recognize him if you knew him when I was ten.”

Her dad was always doing his best, and Marlena was used to seeing him smile. It was a smile that never quite reached his ears, the way she could faintly remember it being once. ”I think if she turned up somewhere now, I’d be stumped for words, too.”

Sabine took for granted that she still had a parent alive. Unmotivated and unwilling, yes, but present. And her mom was alive, even if she turned out to be a villain or, at least, a villain in Sabine’s own story. ”I’m so sorry. Here I am wailing about my mom being alive when you lost yours. Part of me does think I should be happy, but a significant portion of me refuses to be anything but mad.”

Sabine left the last part unsaid: She was alive, did that mean she didn’t love me anymore?

”I don’t think anyone can tell themselves what to feel. Not really. You can handle it whatever way you want, but if you feel mad, it’s for a reason.” It couldn’t be that terrible if she was alive, that was a good thing. ”You’re angry because you grew up without her, and you don’t know why she stayed so far away. Could be a lot of reasons if she’s appearing in magical vision, but that doesn’t make it easier on you, does it?”

”No, if anything, that makes it harder. Because part of it is me wondering what would life had been had she been around? And then would I be here at this school? Would I have met everyone I have come to care for? And then a part of me feels guilty for thinking I would trade it away to have her back. But either way, she’s alive and is over in the Otherworld doing who knows what? Leah always talked about facing her father, but I had never considered I might have to confront my own mother. It…it’s a lot.”

”I’m sure it is.” Marlena nodded. There was a sympathetic smile on her face. ”What do you usually do when something’s a lot?”

Ha, wasn’t that a loaded question? Normally she fell into a spiral of self-doubt and shame, worked through it with some coping tools given by Dr. Whitehall, still felt bad, and then threw herself into fixing other people’s problems. ”Avoidance? That’s not healthy though. I am in therapy with Dr. Whitehall, not sure if you know her. She’s actually pretty cool and the school has her on staff to help. Other than that, I panic or throw myself into something to not have to think about it. It’s why I sort of took on the role of social media manager for the team. It allows me some semblance of control to an otherwise chaotic, uncontrollable team. I mean, you saw them, bastards can’t go one minute without some type of drama unfolding.”

“Bastards” was a pretty strong word. It sounded to her like Sabine needed a life. ”Gotta be stressful for them too, knowing people are always taking pictures of them. You don’t really get many chances to just let stuff go, do you? Let’s fix that. Your girl’s keeping April from freezing everyone and I overheard her trying to organize the rest of them, so forget about them for now. You have time.”

Did she though? The longer they waited the more time her mother had out there, doing who knew what. ”Please, I guarantee April will still freak out, Danni will follow, Dorian will try to hold it together, Vicky will make it worse without meaning to, Percy fainted and will likely do so again before the day is over, Andy already threw a punch, and I don’t know the other three that well but it stands to reason they will add to the stress. I want to switch it off, but I don’t know how.”

”Then how about we figure that out?” Marlena suggested. ”Your friends know how to sort themselves out, and you sound like you need at least a whole week to yourself. Can’t say I envy people doing that hero stuff… When I need to stop thinking about something, I make things. You ever try that?”

”What would I make? Does social media count? I make posts and stuff and use creative tools to change things, but I doubt that’s what you’re getting at.”

Marlena smirked, and then she pulled out her phone. She scrolled up through her photos and found a good enough picture, which she then walked over and showed to Sabine.

It was a picture of a small, hand-sized box that appeared to be made of velvet. Or maybe it was made of felt, the lighting was a little odd. The lid was popped off and on it saw a small, awkwardly stacked pile of bracelets, and a necklace. They were all somewhat different. One was made out of twine and had metal shapes hanging off of it, another one was solid leather with cabochon stones placed in it.

And there was a necklace that had a crescent moon splayed out, with multicolored beads strung between knots around a piece of cord. Marlena happened to be wearing that one right now, around her neck.

”I picked this up about a year ago, it’s fun. Then I started learning to make other stuff, like this shirt I’m wearing.” She plucked at the button-up around her shoulders. ”Great way to take your mind off things.”

It was, admittedly, a beautiful necklace. Something Sabine would buy. But to make it? ”I don’t know if creative things like that would help. I have a feeling I would try and get frustrated when I don’t do it. And yeah, I know it’s all about trying and re-trying to be good at something, but I don’t know if it would help. I think I may need something more…physical?”

”Like what?” Marlena assumed Sabine wasn’t coming onto her, for obvious reasons. ”Destroying something? Set stuff on fire?”

”I work out just fine and let’s maybe steer clear of arson for now. I don’t know….ice skating was fun so maybe a sport? Or….don’t you skateboard?”

”Yeah, it’s how I met Chase and Ben. Do you? I know there’s a skatepark not far from here.”

”Nope. Never tried. I know how to ice skate and I assume roller skating is similar, but never on a board.” Her mind was actually starting to come away from everyone and everything else. ”I could…try, I guess?”

Oh, hell yeah. ”I could show you a few things, definitely. And wouldn’t you know it, I brought two boards with me. One for just getting around, the other’s for speed. Anyone gonna miss us if we leave?”

”Honestly, the fact no one else came over makes me think no. And if they do, they can suck it up. Lead on.”

”Cool.”

Marlena led Sabine into the dorm halls first, where they went up to her room. Her side of the room was mostly boxes, notebooks and the very same box of shiny trinkets she had a picture of. There, she opened up a box and withdrew two boards. One was longer with thicker and wider wheels, the other shorter with smaller ones. Then she retrieved a small satchel and they were gone.

It only took about ten minutes to reach the park on foot. At this hour on a schoolday, it was barren and empty. No one else but Marlena and Sabine were here.

”Bigger wheels means your board moves slower, which is good for controlling it and just going places,” Marlena explained, carrying both of them by the trucks. ”Same goes for a bigger deck. Takes more to go fast, but you don’t want to go flying if you’re learning.”

Sabine understood all of those words separately, but she gave in to the expert. ”Slower is probably better at this stage. So, how does one board?”

”Like this.”

Marlena sat both of the boards down on the ground and stood atop the smaller one. It didn’t budge an inch. ”A lot of it comes down to balance. Keep your whole body above your legs, not to the side. When you shift your weight too far forward or back, the board might slip out from under you. Stand in the middle of it, between the wheels.”

She turned around while staying on the board, to face Sabine. ”The board and the wheels are made to flex, so you shift your feet forward and back to turn.”

Sabine watched with intensity as Marlena demonstrated. It wasn’t so dissimilar to ice skating when it came to balance. ”How do you turn then?” Sabine wasn’t totally new to skateboarding, she had seen some people do it so she knew going forward meant pushing off with your foot. But she also knew the ins and outs of it were more complex.

Marlena tilted her feet downwards and her whole body remained where it was. The board moved too, and the wheels twisted, not dissimilar to the way a car’s did. ”When you’re moving, that motion is enough. You push with your back foot, not your front.”

Sabine mentally took notes like a nerd. ”So, the board moves and you use your body to control it. Makes sense. Anything else to know?” Sabine fully expected to faceplant in her first attempt. ”Like, what to do when you inevitably fall?”

”Roll, tuck your head in, and check yourself over for scrapes. It happens. You’ll fall a lot, and get good at breaking falls pretty fast if you stick to it.” Marlena gave her a silly smile, like it was funny. ”Give it a try, I’ll catch you if you need.”

Sabine stared at the board briefly. Why was something so…small so scary? But she got on. Tentatively. She nearly fell off instantly, but she regained some balance. She held her arms out and tried to bring them down. She took a deep breath and used her back foot to push forward. Slowly to start. As soon as the board moved she felt her body want to fall back instinctively and she felt the board go forward while the rest of her started to fall back.

This was going to hurt.

Marlena stuck a hand out, and purple energy glowed under her skin. Suddenly, Sabine was neither on the board nor on the ground. She was floating, suspended by telekinetic force.

”Got you!”

Now normally, when you were floating in mid-air from seemingly nothing, a person would freak out. But this was a superhero school. It took a lot more to faze the people who went here. So when Sabine nearly fell and found herself floating, she took it in stride. This was nothing. Plus, she was happy she didn’t slam into the ground and hurt herself.

”Whoa, cool. Thanks! Okay, you can put me down. I think I know where I went wrong.”

Marlena let her drop harmlessly. ”Takes some practice. Try again, you got it.”

So Sabine did. She got back on the board, shook a bit, but regained some balance. She used her back foot again and pushed forward, remembering to hold her body center. She moved slow. She wasn’t winning any awards for speed, but she was moving forward and was not falling. In her book, that was a win.

”Fuck you Tony Hawk or any other skateboarder! I’m coming for your trophies!”

That got a laugh out of Marlena. She pushed off the ground, her board took off a lot quicker than the one Sabine was on. She carved lazy circles around her, wide enough she wasn’t going to smash into her but close enough they could still talk.

”On that board, you’ll need to push more to pick up speed, but that one’s better for just cruising around. Try turning, see how far you go.”

Sabine wanted to turn, she really, did, but part of her wanted to..you know…not do that for fear or flailing and falling. But she had to try. She moved her body to the right a bit, the movement of the board following her as she drifted slowly to the right. She felt herself stumble a bit and she caught herself before she was flung forward, stepping off the board. She felt frustrated immediately, but took a beat. She had never ridden before and she sort of just did it. ”Ok, need to practice that part more. Also ow.” Her ankle hurt a bit, but nothing significant.

Marlena swerved over and slid one foot on the ground to slow down. ”Yeah, that happens. Next time, try to bend your legs instead of going forward. It’ll feel clunky at first, but most of a person’s weight is usually in their legs. So when you tilt forward like you just did, that goes with the rest of you.”

To demonstrate, Marlena just… Rocked back and forth on her board. Her upper body didn’t move much, but her legs did, as if she were trying to stay upright on a ship being tossed around by a storm at sea.

”Make sense?

No, but a piece of wood or whatever on wheels moving with speed enough for people to do jumps and spins didn’t make sense either. But she would try.

Again, she stood on the board and pushed forward. Moving slowly, but faster than before. She then bent her knees and, following Marlena’s example, moved herself to the right again. This time, the board glided to the right and herself along with it. She pushed forward again and completed the turn as she moved forward.

”Did I do it? Ohmygod I think I did…” She stepped off the board and it moved forward a bit before stopping. ”That felt….amazing.”

Marlena beamed. She stepped off her board and swung it over her shoulder. ”Really does, doesn’t it? You can get good at it and a whole world’s gonna open up for you. Get a smaller board and you can go all out doing tricks and stuff, I use that one to get across Brooklyn and back, instead of taking a train or a car.”

Sabine put off going on her phone to look up skateboards. Another thing for another day. ”Yes, I can see it now. I really needed that. Thanks, Marlena.” Her mind wasn’t clear, wasn’t completely calm, but it was a lot better.

”You are very welcome… There’s a whole park around us right now. Don’t really know how they do stuff at the school, but now’s a perfect time to just ride around and get used to a board if you want. I’ll help you find one that suits you best if you want to keep at it after today.”

Sabine followed suit with practicing moving on the skateboard. She turned and glided along, falling a few times, but eventually she was able to sustain herself for a longer stretch of time. As much as she wanted to be able to do tricks, she knew if she tried she would wind up in the hospital and that wouldn’t do. She needed to be ready for their foray into the Otherworld.

To her mother.

Percy was quiet for a moment, as he studied his boyfriend’s face. He hadn’t moved from the ground yet, too overwhelmed with everything that had happened. His sponsor had told him he’d likely face increased challenges when he returned to school - but he doubted Harry had this in mind. He could play dumb, pretend he didn’t know what Dorian wanted to talk about, he could try to avoid the problem and insist on pursuing any leads they had on Nemo. They hadn’t even been together very long, just three months. And already, there was so much weight on their relationship, so much stress…

“Of course. Did you wish to speak on this plane? Is there somewhere I can bring us?”

He then paused briefly. “Perhaps somewhere where I can be the only one at risk of being slimed.”

”Is now really when you want to start workin' on tryin’ to get a sense of ‘umor mon amour? Let's just go somewhere more private. For now.”

Percy frowned, staring down his boyfriend. “I have a sense of humor,” he grumbled, before taking Dorian’s hand. The blue energy that enveloped them was uneven, sparks of static flying off, before the world seemed to twist and churn, and they stumbled back into existence underneath the bleachers, rather than on top of them as Percy intended. And as they had never changed out of the skates, his weak ankle twisted and he yelped, falling to the ground - yet again - with an unceremoniously thud. “...Right. Skates…”

Dorian phased out of his skates as soon as he felt the ground beneath their feet. Now standing in his socks, within the snow that littered under the seats. ”A dry one worthy of Nemo I'm sure.” He looked around their new surroundings, a strange pick for him but private nonetheless. It felt very…teen, which he supposed that they both were even if the problems they faced felt much larger than getting acne before a big dance. Was this how the Young Avengers felt?

Percy grimaced, as he untied the laces on his skates slowly and pulled them off his feet. The cold underneath his toes was bitter and unforgiving, his socks immediately becoming soaked as he stood up. He had to incline his head up to look Dorian in the eye. He’d expected to see anger and disappointment there, for him to have failed yet again. Every time they had needed to talk, it had been about something Percy had done - when he’d pulled out of the contest, when he’d confessed his alcoholism. But while there was sadness and hurt… it wasn’t directed at him.

“Dorian…” Percy reached out and took his hands gently. “What’s going on in your head?”

”I – Perce…I just found out I kill myself in t'e future and…and…I don't think it's t'at far away eit'er.” Tears welled up in Dorian's eyes as his mind shot forth images of the graves once more. This year, this would be their last year and it was all his fault somehow. ” ‘ow am I supposed to be a ‘ero if I can't even keep you all safe…”

“What do you mean it’s not far away?” Percy choked out. “Are you… are you thinking about killing yourself?” His head felt incredibly faint again and it took what willpower he had not to collapse. His poor boyfriend, his poor sweet boyfriend, suffering alone… Nemo - Percy - he had tried to prevent this, hadn’t he? But it must not have been enough, he must not have been enough. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He gripped Dorian’s hands tighter, as if that could keep him from disappearing, from fading away. “What do you mean, keep us all safe? You always protect me - you protect everyone, I don’t… I don’t understand.”

” I didn't quite realize at first, what I'd seen, it made no sense, didn't seem prophetic and…well it ‘appened while I was awake, at t'e start of school but…Perce I t’ink we all die by t'e end of t'is year. I ‘adn't told anyone and maybe my silence is why it comes to be, I ‘eld it in too long and now it's too late and if I cant stop it t'en why should I be t'e one to keep livin’ I don't deserve to, I don't deserve t'at. I think maybe t'at's why I…”

They all die by the end of the year.

The news hit Percy like a truck. Not only was Dorian’s fate to go by suicide, but everyone else was going to be dead, too. He’d be the only survivor, the only living soul in a friend group of ghosts. “Do you…” He shook his head. That wasn’t the right question - as much as he wanted to fix this, as every instinct of his was telling him to get organized, to make a plan. “But you…” He swallowed again. He needed to comfort him, even as he felt like he was going to fall apart. “I won’t let you,” he hugged him tightly. “Я не позволю тебе умереть, Дориан Грей. Ты понимаешь? Я отказываюсь.”

“If you die… I’ll follow you. I’ll follow you and bring you back. I’ll drag you back.”

Dorian held onto Percy tight, his eyes closing as he squeezed the small Russian mutant. ”If t'e world dies because of my inactions, I do not deserve to live. But t'at will be a problem for anot'er day, one in which we've already saved Poissan-pas and I can see just ‘ow much ‘e can tell me.”

“And what about me?” Percy asked, his voice shaking. Anger curdled up inside him, as much as he did his best to stopper it all. His grip tightened. “If the world dies, you would leave me all alone? I’m not enough to live for?”

”Perce…if t'e world died t'en t'at would…include…you? Wait…” Dorian thought back to the vision, the graves, the ruined world, Percy didn't have a grave. His eyes went wide. ”You didn't ‘ave a grave. You didn't ‘ave a grave! What if t'e TVA kidnapped you because of your power? T'at's why you didn't get one, ‘ow did i not see t'at before? Days of Future Past me may ‘ave been in too much grief to see t'at you weren't dead you were missin’! Now all I ‘ave to do is find you in t'e future non?”

Percy stopped for a moment, considering everything that Dorian had said. He hadn’t been thinking as much about the possibility of a new timeline, rather he was focusing on what they knew about Nemo and his Dorian. Although… he supposed that they didn’t know the circumstances behind how Nemo joined the TVA. “So you are proposing that everyone died, you are the only survivor, and that I am kidnapped - presumably tortured and molded into an assassin for the TVA?” It was horrible, but the idea was strangely comforting - that Dorian hadn’t chosen to leave him, that he had just been driven by grief. He couldn’t help but sniffle and tremble softly.

“But why would I come back here and become a coach? That doesn’t make any sense, and if you’ve had that vision, then I haven’t changed anything, I failed, I…”

”Except you didn't. You ‘aven't. What if t'is is what Poissan-pas was workin’ towards. ‘E can't directly change t'e past or we get a splinter and as we learned t'at splinter gets pruned. But if t'e information gets coded into someone some'ow in t'e past and knows what to look for, t'en future me can avoid what ‘e would normally do and find you. T'en we can reset t'e timeline while ‘avin’ up to date information on t'e TVAs doin's. It's simple time manipulation Perce.”

Percy frowned, lifting his head up from Dorian’s chest to look him directly in the eye. “You’re suggesting we go to war with an organization that has mastered time, that aggressively controls past, present, and future, and eradicates those who defy them. The same organization that is about to execute me.”

”And t'e same organization who managed to get a sentient AI to war against t'em. T'ey ‘ave to be able to measure time some'ow. Buggin’ t'ier code could mess wit’ it enough to fly under a radar for a while. Besides, no one should be able to dictate who lives and who dies like t'at. Its not right.”

“You’re insane,” Percy shook his head in disbelief, even as he was smiling. He had a death wish, no sense of self preservation. They were just children. They’d barely managed to defeat other kids and had almost been murdered by an incel with bad acne. What hope did they have against a shadowy organization beyond space and time? They should have been talking about how to run away, how to hide so that the TVA would never find them, how to grab every person they loved and cared about and bring them along. This wasn’t the time to be the hero.

Percy pressed a soft kiss to Dorian’s lips. “We’ll get killed doing this. But okay.”

”Did you miss t'e part where we die anyways? What do we ‘ave to lose now?”

“You. I don’t want to lose you.”

”Well t'en, it sounds as if we need to take em down. Ot'erwise t'ey take you and you'll lose me t'at way instead. If you don't t'ink Excelsior can ‘andle t'em t'en what good could I do alone?”

Percy tried to imagine the others fighting the TVA. He winced at the image. They’d managed to survive Arcade through luck - through the intervention of friends who were no longer with them. And at the Contest of Champions, almost everyone had given up in the final battle. Granted, the stakes then had been lower, it was just winning a contest, not life or death. But still, he could hardly imagine Danni and April focusing long enough, Sabine showing up properly equipped, Leah not having unexpected traumatic flashbacks, Gideon not just charging at the boss, leaving just Andy and Dorian locked in, ready to go…

“We need to train more then - and more seriously. Excelsior could barely hold our own against other children. I can’t really fight. Half of us don’t show up prepared. The other half can’t focus for longer than the length of a Snikt video.”

“And if they do take me…”

”If t'ey do take you, t’at'll be t'e last mistake t'ey ever make. T'e Kingston Grays don't back away from a fight so easily, t'ey've taken down gods, immortals, and worst of all bigots, so don't you worry. Knowin’ you're still alive out t'ere somewhere means I ‘ave somet'in’ to live for. Even if it takes a while before I find my way to t'em, you just gotta wait for me.”

Percy’s heart fluttered in his chest, the last bit of his anger and hurt soothed away. “You would live for me?”

”Dyin’ is easy Perce, livin’ is ‘arder. Of course I'd live for you mon cœur.”

He nodded, his gaze averting down as he blinked rapidly for a moment. “I had assumed that I wasn’t enough to live for… That without the others, you didn’t have enough to hold on for.”

”T'at's why you should never assume t'in's. Cuz it makes you look silly.” Dorian said as he lifted Percy's face by his chin to meet his eyes.

“If I look silly, it’s because of the hat your sister made,” Percy scoffed.

"I ‘appen to like t'at ‘at. If anyt'in’ I'm t'e one who suggested t'e design t'ey make…” Dorian grumbled. ”Besides, t'e ‘at stays on.”