---

---

---

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.”

As the group dispersed and the heavy weight of serious revelations along with it, Danni bounced up and down on his toes. “Okay, okay, okay, okay! So t'at was a lot and I need a break from all t'e crazy stuff goin’ on sooooo…” Danni slung his arm around Ben and dragged him closer. “You're stuck ‘an'in’ out wit’ me! We got lots ta cover: a tour, karaoke, dinner, exploring your dorm room, touring my dorm room - its t'e best one btw - and we're burnin’ day light. ‘ave ya ever fed a dragon? Ya can feed Amelie tonight too! She can get real messy though so ya might wanna wear somet'in’ easy ta clean. The mess is such a pain ta clear out. Oh, ya know I can introduce ya ta t'e fam too! Obvi, Dee's a tiny, eeny, weeny bit busy soooo ya can meet my sib and my cuz! Riiiillie, Miiiillie we're gunna ‘an'out while t'e others do big spooky t'in's!” Danni shouted unnecessarily, waving wildly and swaying side to side as Amelie squaked excitedly and wiggled around in her carrier.

“Rillie, Millie, t'is is Bennie Boi! T'is is t'e guy I ran inta at t'e market durin’ break and low key kidnapped! Bennie, Rillie is my siblin’ and suuuuper good at crafty t'in's so if ya ever need somet'in’ like t'at, t'is is t'e sib ta go to.” Danni introduced them and then turned Ben to Millie. “And Mill-illi-illi-pede- waaaaaait, t'at's a buggy name! Oh you two were totes meant ta be friends! Ben's all ‘bout bugs so like, it's fate or somet'in’ t'at y'all are gunna be besties!! So cool! Millie is my cousin buuut she's like, sups famous and we ‘aven't seen ‘er since like… idk, before Rillie so I'm sups excited but ‘ave next ta not'in’ ta tell ya ‘bout ‘er! I get ta low key meet ‘er again too!”

Danni paused, checked the angle of the sun, counted how many people where in the group on his fingers, and nodded resolutely. “Okay, t’oughts. Karaoke, tour, food? Or we wanna do somet'in’ else? You wanna see somet'in’ else? Wait, Bennie are you a Karaoke kid? I feel like ya got t'at kinda sin'in’ t'at's good for like alt music but instead of bein’ read hard and depressin’, it sounds kinda sweet and innocent even if it's super terrible stuff.”

Ben hadn’t fed a dragon before, he hadn’t done a lot of things, and Danni didn’t give him much of a chance to respond. He shook his head to the question, and waved shyly at both Rillie and Millie. Ben doesn’t listen to pop music so he doesn’t recognize Millie.

“Do you like bugs?” he asked Millie? He was unsure if just calling the nearest insect to him would be a good idea, or if it would be better to leave well enough alone. “Uh, I haven’t ever done formal karaoke, but I sing along with songs and stuff? Does that count?” Ben wasn’t sure if his singing voice matched what Danni was describing at all. He felt a bit weird about being separated from Chase, but if he wanted to integrate into Danni’s friend group it might help to try to stand on his own. At least he had Danni. He didn’t know if he could handle the group of more than two at a time without Danni there too.

“Rillie and Millie is def going to get a little confusing,” April giggled. “Please call me April!” They hesitated for a moment. Dorian had specifically asked them not to. But… all the bad things had already happened and this wasn’t anything bad, this was something good - and Dorian had just wanted to avoid pulling attention from Percy’s birthday and Percy definitely didn’t want that attention from the way he acted. “Um, I’m using they/them pronouns now, btw!” The question about bugs seemed to be directed at their cousin, but Danni had mentioned before that Ben really struggled when it came to making friends, so they thought they’d try to help out and engage with him a little bit more. “I love dragonflies - the ones that skim along the top of the water are so pretty and it’s supposed to be good luck if they land on you… Absolutely no spiders though. I almost flooded the dorm room last year when I woke up and one was on the head of my bed, you would’ve thought I was being murdered!”

Millicent let the overload that was Danni give some introductions to one of the few she hadn’t gotten to know super well yet. Which was saying something since it seemed like she had gotten a crash course in meeting the others. ”Agreed, though Millie is the logical nickname. So Millie or Millicent, whichever is your preference.” She gave a warm smile to Ben as he proceeded to ask her a question that…well she had never considered. She fought off the gut instinct to recoil when talking about bugs, but it wasn’t like she hated bugs. She just preferred to be 10 feet away from them at all times.

”Oh goodness, well….I guess if I had to pick a favorite, I do like butterflies. They are so pretty. Also bees are fairly chill and they help the planet and whatnot. I’m guessing you’re big into buggies?”

Per Danni’s suggestions as to what to do, she considered them in equal measure and definitely didn’t have a preference. ”I mean you know I am going to say karaoke, but I don’t think that’s fair. I’m up for whatever, provided the drama is turned down to a minimum. I’ve hit my quota for the day.”

“Oh my God, YAAAAAAS! We need a chill, sups fun, problem-free hangout sesh!” Danni agreed with Millie wholeheartedly. Though, he felt a little left out of the favorite bug question so he giggled and bopped Ben on the nose. “And t'is buggie boi is my favorite bug! Now, let's get going! Since we don't ‘ave stron’ feelin's on what we wanna do, we should start wit’ a tour! I gotta show y'all t'e Tree. Y'all are chill wit’ ghosties, yeah?” Danni asked, snatching up Ben's hand and leading the group away from the Drama Zone.

“T'e ‘aunted tree is like t'e best spot ‘ere, tbh. Peeps say t'ere's t'is little kid's ghost ‘auntin’ t'e t'in’. Some peeps t'inks its a student t'at got got ‘ere, some peeps t'ink its t'is t'e ghost of a cat t'at takes t'e form of a little girl, and some peeps t'ink, like me, t'at it isn't a dead person, bit someone actually transformed into a tree and got stuck like t'at!”

“I’m not a bug,” he sighed. He didn’t know how many times he had to explain that. Just because he had powers to talk with insects. “And don’t worry April. I don’t like spiders either. They technically aren’t even insects. They are actually arachnids. So if they show up that wasn’t my doing. I can’t talk with them at all.”
A tour would be nice. Ben didn’t really know the campus that well. Though the way things were looking they were likely going to play hooky within the first week of school. His uncle would be pissed. Danni had been talking up this tree for days.

“A tour would be nice,” he agreed, letting himself be swept up into Danni’s enthusiasm despite being just so tired from the day's events.

“Maybe next Halloween we break out the ouijia board around the tree?” April never knew which theory about it they believed the most - Margaret Carter wasn’t that old of a school, but the tree was massive and old. Anyone could have died around it. But no matter what, it couldn’t be as scary as Nimue’s haunted house. “Is there particular stuff you guys wanna see? I’m guessing you already saw through Stark Hall - or Stank Hall as people call it once it gets warm, soooo many people need to wear more deodorant than they really do - but that’s where the dorms, dining hall, and laundry are. Millie, I’m guessing you wanna see the performing arts center? Ben, hmm, are bugs your main thing or are there other stuff you’re into, too? Some of the science labs are pretty sick, if that’s your thing?” The tree wouldn’t take too long for them to look at. It might have some bugs that Ben would like to look at, though.

Millie felt a little insulted her bug picks weren’t acknowledged, but she figured her’s weren’t the most exciting picks. A tour would be good considering she hadn’t gotten one yet. ”A tour would be fantastic. I am down for whatever. I signed up for some performing stuff so I imagine I’ll get to know the performance center inside and out soon enough, so if we want to hit the other sights first, I am game. This tree sounds interesting, though. I’m not normally a fan of the spooky stuff, but what’s a little haunting amongst friends?”

“‘aunted tree, ‘aunted tree, ‘aunted tree!” Danni chanted excitedly, rushing along once he was given the go ahead. He'd been talking about this tree to Ben all break and now he actually got to show him! Danni get a firm grip on Ben's hand, weaving through other students of the festival, until it thinned out as they left the main space of the events and the noise slowly dimmed behind them.

In one of the courtyards between the school and dorms, a 40ft wych elm grew in the center to offer shade and shadow to the several benches around it when its leaves were in, but it had shed them for the season. Lights hung from the bare branches, small little things that would glitter and glimmer like fireflies when they were on, and a comfortable grassy space was permitted to grow around it. Danni bounced up to the edge of the grass and made a grand sweeping motion with his arm.

“Weeeelcome ta t'e ‘aunted tree! Its a nice little space, as long as ya like t'e specter o’ deat’ studyin’ along witcha!”

Ben let himself get pulled along after Danni. He was already getting used to being dragged about by him and he didn’t mind. As they walked Ben asked Millie, “What type of butterfly do you like? There are a lot of different types. I think my favorite of the butterflies is the Yellow Swallowtail. But California has a really neat migration for the Monarchs that I want to check out sometime.”

When they got to the tree he looked around. Ben wasn’t sure he was super fond of the idea of studying with a ghost, let alone a specter of death, but he wasn’t sure if that was real or just Danni being enthusiastic about a rumor. It was hard to tell. He reached out mentally and felt around for insects in the area. Unfortunately, Ben knew that butterflies were unlikely to be around. They were very out of season. That meant he couldn’t call any over for Millie to see. But maybe there was something else cool nearby.

Ben did sense a lot of insects in the area. Most he wasn’t surprised by. Happily there was a Darner. Since April liked dragonflies he reached out and called the dragonfly to him. Regretfully it was larger than the dragon! Almost as big as Ben himself.

“What the bloody hell!?” Ben yelled! “I’ve never seen a dragonfly that big.” It was a little unclear if his yelling was fear or excitement... probably both.

The darner was absolutely huge, magnifying the tiniest of features to be plainly visible, from the segmented nature of its body, the variations in texture and coloration reminding April of bamboo, to the intricate webbing of its wings, like something woven together by a master, and the wisps of white fuzz around its head, no different than dandelions scattered in the wind. The body was easily four feet in length, the arms and legs a foot each, and the head the size of a cat. It took a moment for April to even register it as a dragonfly, as their first instinct was to exclaim…

“It’s a fucking Pokémon!” April squealed. “A yanma, right? That’s so cool! How’d you get one? Both my brothers have pets and I’m kinda jealous tbh, so I’ve been thinking on trying to get one, calling it emotional support or something. What’s their name? Can Amelie play with them? Are you gonna bring them to Otherworld? What’s it eat when it’s that big? What do tiny dragonflies eat anyway? Besides water? Do you have, like, kibble for it?”

Millie had considered Ben’s question, mainly because she didn’t know that many species of butterflies. She just thought they looked cute. ”I don’t really know the name, but the one that is black and that pretty blue color? I haven’t seen that many back home, but I would love to visit the zoo or something that has like a butterfly house in it.”

As they approached the tree, Millie gazed at it curiously. What made it haunted again? Was it a spirit inhabiting it? Or did it just attract the ghosts? ”What’s the history behind it? Does the school have a dark, secret history?” It stood to reason, anyway. They were in America after all.

Without prompting, a huge dragonfly flew out and surprised Ben, but not April. She startled a bit, but knew dragonflies were not dangerous or bothersome, really. ”That thing is huge! Though I guess we are at a superhero school, so this shouldn’t surprise me. Sweet Pokemon reference also, April. Favorite starter type? And know I will judge the answer.”

“OMG I KNEW IT WAS ‘AUNTED! IT WANTS TA EAT US! I DON'T WANNA…” Danni panicked for a moment, Amelie wiggling out of his arms and up on his shoulders, wings flaring out at the arrival of a huge bug. Amelie puffed smoke out of her mouth and Danni darted behind Ben. When it didn't seem to do much more and the others didn't react, Danni peered at it closer.

“Oh, I guess it's just ‘ere for Benni. Is t'is a friend o’ yours? Or is it like a pet? ‘ow did ya get it ‘ere wit'out anyone knowin’?” Danni gasped as he realized what this was. “Omg, is t'is t'e ghostie of t'e tree? I didn't t'ink they became a dragonfly, but I guess they couldn't be a tree, t'at's silly! But legend ‘as it t'at t'is is t'e last tree of t'e forest t'at used ta be ‘ere and t'at when they tried ta cut t'is one down, t'e people cuttin’ it got cursed and t'eir machines got all torn up on t'eir own and t'e people workin’ ot just vanished, only t'e sounds of a cryin’ little girl were left behind for t'e police ta find.” Danni reached out to pet the dragonfly carefully.

“Did ya eat all t'e people tryin’ ta chop down your tree?” Danni asked, looking at Ben. “Wait, t'is doesn't wanna eat us does it?”

"Monarch probably.” Ben said half paying attention as he looked over the dragonfly. “It is a Fawn Darner. I called it here. I didn’t mean for it to be a giant one. I just wanted to show April... There aren’t any butterflies. I mean there are moths nearby, but that isn’t the same. Dragonflies don’t eat... people. But they are carnivorous and eat other bugs a lot, so maybe a giant one eats people?”

Ben focused on the dragonfly, and asked it, “Are you a spirit of the tree or some mutant dragonfly?” Ben was quiet for a moment as it listened to the dragonflies feelings of how trapped it had felt before, how freedom had felt, and that it had come when he called, but that it was hungry. “Uh, well it is hungry right now. But I don’t think it’ll eat a person.” Ben sent out another summon for other insects that he knew that dragonflies liked for it to eat. He felt a bit bad about that, but that was the cycle of life.

“Is it basic of me if I say my favorite starter type is—” April did a double take, their jaw dropping at Ben’s explanation. The dragonfly hadn’t seemed too scary a moment ago, but now they were imagining a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, a bloodthirst urging it on as it devoured other gigantic dragonflies. “It’s a cannibal???? My favorite bug is a cannibal????” Danni was right, this had to be the spirit of the tree! It was the only rational explanation for how a giant… “ohmygoditsamutantcannibal!” It had an X gene just like them. Would it only eat bugs? Or did it only eat mutants? “Ask it if it wants to eat mutants,” they squeaked.

”Well, cycle of life. Animals eat other animals, though I never heard of a dragonfly liking people, especially mutants. Granted, never saw one as big as that, but I doubt it’s dangerous. Plus, Benny boy here will help, surely. He’s the bug whisperer, which is a better job for him than me because I would pretty much say stand 15 feet away from me at all times. Look but no touch.”

Danni froze where he was going to pet the dragonfly. “Wha-? No touchy? It wants ta eat mutants?” Danni swallowed hard, Amelie staring unblinking at the dragonfly still all puffed up. He laughed awkwardly and inched very, very slowly away from the giant dragonfly. A cloud of other insects wove its way toward the group and the dragonfly's wings barely paused as it launched itself at the cloud, mandibles snatching them out of the air viciously.

“Oooookay, well, t'is is a great example o’ why t'is is t'e ‘aunted speed ‘cause t'is kinda stuff ‘happens!”

“It went for the other bugs first. I don’t think it’ll eat people, mutants or not. It only knows other insects. Hmmm. I was thinking I’d send it back to wherever it came from.” Ben watched as the dragonfly ate the other insects he had summoned. “Besides, Millie is right. I’ll make sure it doesn’t eat you all, don't worry. Dragonflies don’t normally eat people. If it were a giant mosquito I’d be more worried. I think it should be safe.” Ben hedged his bets, with ‘I think’, but dragonflies were pretty chill. “What should we do with it?”

Hearing that the giant bug wouldn’t eat mutants was reassuring. But April had absolutely no idea what to do with a giant bug. They shrugged their shoulders and raised their hands up. “Idk tbh,” they refocused their gaze on the tree, though. They tilted their head, a little confused as they saw something they didn’t remember being there before. It must have started growing over winter break. “Does it like mushrooms?”

Millicent actively avoided watching the dragonfly munch down on its meal of other bugs. Even if she understood that this was how the animal kingdom worked, it didn’t mean she needed to bear witness to it. Leave that for the nature documentaries narrated by Morgan Freeman. ”I say we let it do its thing and maybe go elsewhere? I wanted hauntings and while I am sure this will all come back to me in a nightmare, I’d rather not have to continue watching nature take its course.”

Danni waved good bye to the bug before turning to start at the mushrooms, poking one cautiously. “I didn't even know t'is tree grew mushrooms. I've never seen them ‘ere!” Danni tilted his thoughtfully. “Oh,okay. We can go see somet'in’ else, I guess. Maybe we could see t'e cafeteria or t'e trainin’ rooms or t'e theater or t'e… Actually, Benni Boi do ya want ta see somet'in’ specific or do ya want ta let Rillie pick t'e next place?”

Ben watched the dragonfly eat. He let go of the tenuous tether that had brought it to him. “Hmm, I don't think dragonflies eat mushrooms,” he told April. “I wouldn't even know what to look at so Millie or April can choose.”

April gave the mushrooms another look. They were odd, growing on the tree in a ring. They’d never seen mushrooms coming off of trees before, usually finding them littered on the ground - but fungi were weird, and given that a giant dragonfly had just buzzed around, they weren’t going to let this be the thing they saw today that drove them nuts. “Did you all know that mushrooms have, like, a giant hive mind? They’re ancient as fuck and we’re just little blips in existence for them - like elves or something. But more horror flavored. Kinda like Appa’s tentacles, no one really knows where mushrooms come from.”

Millie and Ben had already seen the field where the festival was being held, and they’d gone through Stark Hall, too. “What if we take them through the gym, and then go grab some hot cocoa at the coffee shop nearby?” April suggested to Danni. “It’s so fucking good there, way better than what they serve in the cafeteria,” they added for Millie and Ben’s benefit.

The gym wasn’t too far from the Haunted Tree - Margaret Carter was a relatively small campus, the buildings arranged with the main field in the dead center. The Steve Rogers Gymnasium was directly across the field from Stark Hall, easily the same size if not bigger than the residential building. Nestled behind the building were tennis courts, a baseball field, a soccer pitch - everything needed for the pursuit of outdoor sports. And despite being the carnival, it was fairly busy, students coming in and out, dressed in yoga pants and sweats, carrying gallon jugs of water as they took their post workout selfies.

“So this is the gym - named after Steve Rogers, obvi. First floor is pretty basic, standard stuff - like we’ve got spots for weights and cardio, there’s a pool which… we are not going to go see right now! But um, Danni can show you later. The climbing wall is pretty fun, you can learn how to belay and all, I’ve been wanting to get into that. There’s rooms for practicing dance and fighting - oh, and the room you both will probably need to go to!” April guided them down a maze of hallways, before they reached one with a variety of rooms marked Training Room A, Training Room B, and so on. “This is where coaches have us training for the contest, you’ll have to do that in the fall. But it’s also where your combat 101 classes will meet, which idk who is running them, as the person running them last time turned out to be a robot instead of a cat, which, mega yikes. But these rooms are intense, apparently they’re rated to hold a nuclear blast, which idk how you test for that but… Go crazy in there! Summon more pokemon!”

They then pointed to the nearest staircase. “Aaaaand now we go upstairs,” they prompted, leading the group on up. “There’s locker rooms up here, some in the basement too. Communal showers and stuff - oh, I forgot to mention there’s a sauna downstairs by the pool. But! Up here is where there’s an indoor track, there’s a roller skating rink, aaaand if you look to your left, you see that door with all the intense padlocks and keep out signs on it? That’s where we keep stuff for the Framework - it’s this, like, virtual reality software we can use for training, so no one can get hurt… except Arcade tried to murder us in there last fall soooo…. Yeah! Aaany questions? Anything you super wanna see in here? Most of our group spends a lot of time in here, except for Percy - he’s a soft boi.”

Millicent had 1,000 questions starting with tentacles switching into a robot slash cat and ending with Matrix murder? Still, she followed along. She was unsure she’d use the gym outside of combat classes. And she wondered if she would learn much outside of what her uncles and aunts taught her. Real world experience versus a classroom. ”Okay, cool. Loving the vibes. Except for the whole murder thing? I know that was brought up briefly, but I have tons of questions, but totes understand if that’s like a trauma thing.” Goddess knows she still has flashbacks to her own attack.

”Is the combat classes where we learn to use our powers? I haven’t used mine since…well, for a bit now. I could probably brush up on it.”

Danni nodded absently, eyes sparkling with wonder as he stared at the roller skating rink. “Oh, yeah. They'll putcha t'rough t'e ringer, tbh. Possion-Pas put us t'rough a course day 1 wit’ a real bomb at t'e end and t'en even once we all got t'ere, still set it off even t'ough we were takin’ its arms off, ya know?” Danni explained distractedly as he watched people skate. “And nah, totes all good. Ask away! Lotta peeps got spicy ‘bout it , maaaybes don't talk ta like, Leah or Beanie or some o’ t'e other's. They got real on t'eir ‘eads ‘bout it, but like, t'e Kingston-Gray's were chill!” Danni stared vibrating, gripping onto Millie with a white knuckles grip.

“We gotta do a skate night. I like, totes forgot t'is was even a t'in’. I might not ice skate tons ‘cause fire and ice are a spicy mix, but get me on a pair o’ does babies and we're cookin’ wit’ gas!” Danni grinned. “But yeah, t'e combies will teach ya. Ya should come watch one of Rillie and me's spars. It gets real intense, ya know?”

Ben’s eyes lit up at the idea of the rock wall. He liked climbing. He hadn’t done a lot of rock climbing but Parkour skills had to overlap some. Ben had heard a bit about the Arcade situation from Danni. He didn’t quite understand completely what had happened, but he knew enough to keep away from that touchy subject.

“I like climbing. I do Parkour, skateboarding, and I’ve done a bit of ice skating. Not enough to be any good at it, but I can keep my feet under me... mostly.” Ben hadn’t had a lot of a chance to use his powers either, well, his combat power.

“Nimue didn’t throw a bomb at us - but she did make us fight the Questing Beast,” April recalled. “Huuuge fan of swords. But I guess that is gonna pay off with Sugar Cube’s vision! Whoever you get as a coach, be prepared for them to throw some gnarly shit at you… Especially things you aren’t prepared for. I think they’ll keep Excelsior together for next year, but maybe you two could be on a team together if you’re lucky!”

April grinned, seeing that Ben was coaxing his way out of his cocoon. “Yeah? You should def hang with Leah some time. She’s one with the rocks like a fucking Jedi. Just mind her hair. It’ll flay you alive. Used to give me a bit of a scrape when we’d kiss.”

Millicent almost wondered what the hell went on in this school if there were literal bombs and questing beasts, but she figured that the school would now best, right? Prepare them for the real world. A villain isn’t going to hold back because you weren’t trained in how to dispose a bomb. ”All right, looking forward to it.” Millicent was a bit concerned about the whole Arcade thing though.

And Millicent didn’t let it slide that April mentioned kissing Leah previously. If anything, it felt like drama that she had already suggested they forget before their eventual foray into the Otherworld. ”Guess we’ll have to get some team practice in Benny boy. Learn how to use our powers together. And Chase and Marlena also.”

“Oooooo, yeah, and Leah can just make ya a new course if ya get bored or too used ta it, ya know? Just a wham bam thank you ma'am!” Danni bounced along eagerly, heading back towards the stairs to continue the tour. “And if t'e framework gets back up anytime soon, t'en you can do some real cool team up practice! So when you're t'inkin’ of stuff, don't limit what ya wanna try ta just this place. You can toss customize the world ya set up in if ya wanna try so real crazy stuff. Different planets, bottom o’ t'e ocean, tots new places, t'ough we used ta ask ‘Cadie for t'at so maaaaybe avoid t'at. But if ya wanna get good, aim for t'e wildest stuff ya can imagine and find your limit!” Danni recommended eagerly.

“Oooh, and combo moves! Def t'ink o’ combos. Dee and I got one, Rillie and I got one, gotta figure out ‘ow ta get a triple move down for next year's Contest, and t'en I wanna try wit’ Leah too. ‘ad an idea over break so I was gunna use t'is semester ta work on it ya know?” Danni paused for a moment and frowned. “‘ow long do ya t'ink we're gunna be tryin’ ta save Poisson-Pas? Do ya t'ink its just gunna be like… a day? Or like, a real long time? Like a few weeks? A year?”

Ben nodded, nervous at the idea of training with any of the group from Excelsior. Millie was a bit more approachable. She didn’t downright terrify him like those he had seen in the contest. “Sure,” he told Millie softly. He could do this. He could.

His eyes widened at the mention of trying to save a professor he had never met... or he supposed Percy's future self. How long would it take? Were they just going to ditch school? His heart sounded at the thought. Not the idea of being truant itself. He had done that plenty of times. It was the knowledge that the last time he had ditched school his parents had died. His whole life had been thrown into turmoil. He shoved the thoughts away, and just shrugged.

“From the vision it looks like we have some intense things to deal with.” They'd have to get to that final battle. “I don't think it'll be a day trip. But I don't know how long it'll actually take... and I don't know if it is real but doesn’t time run differently? Like Rip Van Wrinkle or whatever his name is.” They could be there for an hour and a hundred years pass or the opposite, trapped for a hundred years to come back and it's been an hour like the Narnia kids coming back through the wardrobe.

“Hmm, I mean we know where we’re going, and we have so many teleporters around with Percy and Chase, probs less than a day, tbh?” April shrugged. “I’m gonna bring my meds with me just in case, but we should def be back before classes and all start. We got auto A’s last time and I wanna get at least B’s this semester, so skipping school is not the move to make… and I think the ‘rents would kill us, ‘specially Danni, for skipping. Dori’s got the annoying ability to sleep through an exam and still somehow ace it, so.” They went down the stairs with the rest of the group and back out the gym entrance, reemerging into the frosty winter air. “Is Van Wrinkle a British superhero or something?” they asked Ben, confused.

”I mean, does anyone know how that place works? Could be the opposite where one day there is like 5 months here. We could go and come back within an hour and a whole year has passed with our pictures on milk cartons or whatever. Might be best to inform the parents and caregivers where we’ll be going? I know my aunts and uncles will be very worried, but otherwise I think chill about it? Especially if I am amongst the team that kicked ass during the contest.”

“Millie, no. You cannot tell t'e ‘rents nada. Not'in’ at all. I ‘ah ta kick and scream and cry and everyt'in’ in between just ta be allowed ta go ‘ere. I am not gunna give Pops anyt'in’ else ta use against ne on t'at. So mums t'e word til we show up, ‘avin’ saved Possion-Pas, draggin’ t'eir MU days friend along as a distraction.” Danni quickly jumped in, waving his arms around wildly. He shivered a little as they reimerged into the chilly air and blew warm air into his hands, letting it ignite and drift off towards the others. He made four balls of fire that bounced around them, casting warmth in a comfortable ring.

“Ooookay, gym is done so let's go get some ‘ot coa- Ouch! Amelie! ‘ey! Stoooop! T'at's a- touchy! T'at's my eye!” Danni stuttered and flailed as Amelie suddenly darted out of her harness and used his nose and eye as climbing points, chasing eagerly after the little balls of fire. Danni shifted her, sticking his tongue out at the playful bites and growls she gave him, and sighed in relief as her sharp little claws weren't digging into his face anymore. “Ooooookay, round 2! Tryin’ t'at again! So ‘ot chocolate from our fav coffee place? Its just outside t'e school so we can get away from t'e craziness a but! It's called Secret IdentiTea and it's super cute! Nice chairs, weird music, an espresso machine t'at looks like its actually from like an industrial factory. T'e whole vibe ya know? But they make a meaaaaaaan cup o’ chocolate and they ‘ave all sorts o’ toppings, even those real big ones t'at are all t'e rage.” Danni slipped his hand back into Ben's and slid his arm into Millie's before leading them out through the crowded school gate and down the road, where city life sprung up immediately. It was barely a block and indeed Secret IdentiTea, a domino mask and a steaming cup of tea their logo, stood in cool, dark tones.

The door mingled as it opened, the aroma of espresso, teas, and sugar racing out to meet them. Laid back, underground music played through tinny speakers, and a few people sat in the mismatched chairs shoved into corners and awkwardly around tables with laptops, board games and the periodic notebook as a monocled, twisty mustache barrista glanced up, offered them a nod, and turned back to the hissing machine. The board above him, done in chalk and big bold lettering, detail a variety of items, including a full topping bar for any drink that claimed a quarter of the menu.

“Tada!!! ‘ere it is! Great place ta kick it after gettin’ dragged up and down t'e sparrin’ ring by a ghost!”

“Uh... no? I think he was just some guy. It’s a story. Not real... I don’t think. Something about him going to sleep for 100 years I think,” Ben explained to April. Danni telling Millie that they couldn’t tell the “‘rents” where they were going made Ben more nervous. Matt would be pissed. Maybe it would be okay for him? Since Matt didn’t know Danni’s ‘rents.

“Do they do tea?” Ben was pretty sure he was going to get hot chocolate. There was no way this place would have tea that fit his standards. If they did though, that’d be awesome. He looked over the menu trying to see the options for tea.

“Oh!!! You mean Captain America!!!” April giggled. It must have been hard to keep track of the names of another country’s superheroes - April knew they couldn’t name who the current Captain Britain was, after all. “It’s Steve Rogers, btw - like the gym we were just in.” They hadn’t ordered the tea at IdentiTea much before, but it was part of what the shop was known for. “I haven’t tried it, I tend to get a cortado when I get here, it’s sooo fucking good. The hot chocolate is super super good, probably the best in all of Los Angeles, if not the planet - like even better than what Appa makes on Christmas Eve.” They beamed, waving excitedly over at the barista. “Dan-Thé!!!! How’s it going, man???” They bounded on over and threw their arms around the monocled man, giving him a hug. “Dan-Thé is probs the best barista here - and tells the most incredible stories. I’ve pretended to study here for hooours.”

Millicent didn’t like the idea of not letting her aunts and uncles know where she would be going. It wasn’t like she didn’t break the rules or rebel, but she was new to the school. She didn’t have a contest win under her belt. Even if they managed to save Nemo and come back, would everyone be so forgiving? Not to mention the fact the team had apparently been held captive and killed in some video game. Danni meant well and she knew that a caregiver could be too safe, but there was a bond of trust there.

She bit her tongue though as she followed the others to the coffee place. It looked like a popular place and given how close it was to the school Millicent figured she would be here often. A hot chocolate sounded awesome at this point. ”Hot chocolate sounds delish.”

“Why, ain't it my favorite waterbender?” Dan-Thé laughed, scooping April up in a brief hug and then sent them back around the counter. “And friends, I reckon. Now don'tcha'll follow this one's example - behind the counter is employees only.” He pulled the milk off the steam wand, gave it a quick wipe down, and poured the flat white, pitcher coming up over his head as he kept the stream steady. He passed it across to a waiting woman, hair up in a clip as messy as can be and glasses slightly askew with a bit of tape on one leg, and turned back to them.

“Okay, so one cortado for this one and Grandma's hot chocolate with all the fixin's for Danni Bannani.” Dan-Thé was already pulling cups out and Danni nodded eagerly. “I think I heard another hot chocolate from little miss Pop here. Welcome ta my shop, by the way! You want it the same way as Danni, with all the fixin's and made from the small batch or you want something a little more modern?”

Dan-Thé closed one eye as he peered through his monocle at Ben. “And did I hear tea? I can getcha a little of anything really, but I'm thinking you want ta stick with the tried and true. English Breakfast, two sugars, a splash of cream?”

Danni leaned over to Millie. “Def get it Grandma's way wit’ all t'e fixin's. It's basically a meal at t'at point.”

Ben's eyes lit up with happiness as Dan-Thé suggest exactly how he liked his tea. “Yes please,” he said a little shyly but with obvious excitement and relief in his voice.

April laughed, letting themself be chased back around the counter. It was honestly something of a miracle that Dan-Thé didn’t mind their presence too much. They were getting better at not spontaneously bursting pipes around them, but they definitely had had to text Pa before to ask for some magical assistance at the cafe. “Yeah, this is Millie, our cousin - and then our new friend, Ben! He’s proper British and all, and I think desperate for a cup of tea he hasn’t had to make himself.”

Millicent felt like the person in front of her was the embodiment of a warm embrace. She would definitely be spending a lot of time here. ”I’ll get it Grandma’s way then. May as well go all out. It is very nice to meet you. You’ll be seeing me around a lot. Guaranteed.”

Dan-Thé laughed at the responses and plucked a glass jar of loose leaf tea, labelled English Breakfast, off the shelf and a glass tea pot. “Well, Ben. As a way of saying welcome, I’ll do a pot on the house, how about that? Enjoy more than just a cup and you keep coming back while you’re here with us anytime you just need a fix.” He filled an electric kettle and set it to heat, while he pulled out a small glass, a bottle of sprinkling water, and two huge, oversized white mugs.

“I can’t offer you a whole pot of Grandma’s way, but I’ll make sure yours is on us too. I take it you’re attending school? I know a few people curious why one of their favorite artists vanished inta thin air.” Dan-Thé chatted as he continued to pull things out from under the counter - a black and wood serving tray, two glass tea cups, a glass sugar container only large enough to fit about ten sugar cubes, and a clear cream cup into which Dan-Thé poured a comfortable amount of crea. “Grandma’s way takes a touch longer than the rest, fair warnin’. We use Boyacán cocoa and melt it to order. Takes ‘bout ten minutes in the back, but has lovely notes of roasted almonds and honey, and we fold a touch more sugar inta it to take the darkness in it out all the way. Y’all wanna go sit and we can bring it out in a moment, or ya want me ta start that cortado already, waterbender?”

“Woooooooow, not given’ it ta us on t’e ‘ouse too?” Danni sniffled and draped himself dramatically over the counter, tears welling up a little. “Us, your favorite customers. US, your most loyal customers. Us, who brin’ new people ta t’is place.”

“Mhm, spot on.” Dan-Thé laughed at the wounded sound Danni made. “Let’s not talk about all the extras I’ve given you over the years, hm?”

“But t’at was t’en and t’is is noooooow.” He sighed when the barista made no move to change anything. “Fiiiiine, I suppose I’ll just suffer.”

In the corner, one of the tables went silent as they started at the group. Hushed whispers broke out as they leaned into each other, fingers flying furious across phone screens and one angling their camera not so subtly towards them.

Ben could have cried tears of joy. He didn't care about having to pay or not. He was very excited, as April pointed out, to have a cup of tea he didn't have to make that was perfect. He had already forgotten the conversation about Rip Van Wrinkle or Captain America.

“I'll definitely come back. Danni is my friend so I'm sure I'll be here again with him. And my boyfriend will want to join too. Thank you very much.”

Ben noticed how the noise level in the cafe shifted. He looked around confused trying to figure it out.

“Could I get the cortado now and then get a cocoa when the others - wait, hold on,” April held up a finger, interrupting themself. “Benjamin Button, we’re friends too,” they protested. “Why’d you just say Danni? Everyone is gonna want to bring you here with us, we come here all the time.” They stared at him like he was some particularly confusing problem, like he had sprouted a second head and a tail all at once without an explanation. The silence that had rapidly occurred in the shop was lost on them. “Are we not friends?” April asked, almost sounding hurt.

”Ha, disappear. It’s funny because I left and went to school and that’s one of my powers!” Granted, Millie didn’t know if the joke was intended or not, but still. ”And the drinks that are being paid for can be my treat. As a way of saying thank you for the tour.” She noted the small, rising tension of Ben and his comment. Millie didn’t feel any ill intention. After all she had just met and gotten to know Ben a bit. ”Well hold on. I don’t think Benny boy meant anything bad. After all, I just got to know him and while I like him, I would also hesitate to use the word friend. Acquaintance, maybe and I fully intend on hanging out with him more and moving into a friendship, but that takes some time. As cool as everyone is, people get to judge for themselves on who is a friend or not. I think we use that word too loosely sometimes.” Millie knew from experience how people assumed that with her being nice that meant she was a friend, especially fans who got too parasocial. ”We got a good group here. Let’s not cause unnecessary problems when we already had a day full of them.”

“Yeeeeees. Danni threw his arm around Millie. “Exactly! I totes agree we deeef don't need more drama, which is why we're all friends! So let's go chill at our table while Dan-Thé finishes off the drinks! We can play some games, we can gossip about people, I can show you my totally awesome and not at all dangerous juggling skills. It only has a little fire and is definately not aaaaall fire but-”

“No fire in the coffee shop, Danni.”

Danni stuck his tongue out and skipped over to a table that had a map of the world printed on it, a scotch mark on one corner, and clearly had a few of the legs replaced. Danni slumped into a chair and patted the table for everyone to follow. “Okay, soooooo wit’ t'is bein’ two outta four first time here, at school t'at is, ‘ave ya started t'inkin’ ‘bout your spring break plans yet? Are we doin’ ‘an'outs, you just chillin’ wit’ your folks?”

Ben was startled by April’s response. They had literally just met a few hours ago. Yeah, he knew about them, and they probably knew a fair amount about him because of Danni... but they didn’t really know each other. Ben shouldn’t be surprised that someone related to Danni would be that quick to make friends considering how Ben’s friendship with Danni had started, but he was. His experience prior to coming to America had been one group of friends made while they still wore diapers and he had never looked back. He didn’t know where the line of acquaintance and friend was. Millie at least seemed to understand. They had just met. How could you call someone you had known less than a full day a friend?

“But I don’t know everyone. I know Danni. I just met you a few hours ago. I’m not saying we won’t be friends. Like Millie said. It isn’t that I don’t want to be friends with you. But what makes someone a friend? I don’t know, not really. All of my friends before were my friends because we all lived in the same apartment complex. Are we friends because Danni and I are friends? Or are we friends because we share interests?” Ben shrugs. He didn’t want to go into how his first impression of April wasn’t actually a good one. They had trapped him in a room of ice that Danni had to get him out of. The whole thing had been very upsetting and only a few hours ago. It hadn’t been intentional to hurt Ben and he knew that, but it didn’t change that it had scared him. He was scared of April. He was scared of basically all of Danni’s friends. They were good fighters and he wasn’t. If he was honest with himself, which he wasn’t very good about, he was friends with Danni because Danni made any other option impossible.

Danni’s questions pulled Ben from going farther down that thought process. He definitely hadn’t thought about Spring Break. That was a million years away. “Uh, I don’t know Matt will probably want some time with me. But I’m sure he’ll be happy to have you come over again. I don’t know if he would allow everyone to come over though. He will probably let me go to your place without much issue... after he meets your folks.” Matt liked knowing the parents of his friends. He had made that clear with Chase.

April frowned. Causing unnecessary problems? It was important to them to be friends with their siblings’ friends. That didn’t seem unnecessary at all. In fact, a lot of the drama from the previous semester had boiled down to lines and divisions in their group - Sabine had been best friends with Danni but hated Dorian and ignored April, and had April been friends with her too, the entire failed polycule mess could have been avoided. Andy had been friends with - well, people who weren’t in the group anymore - but hadn’t been on good terms with Danni. And Percy had only been friends with Dorian but nasty with everyone else. Vicky had been stressed about the idea that she couldn’t hang out with Danni at the same time as April. Maybe things were different for Millie, but there wasn’t anything unnecessary about affirming friendships at all to April. But if Ben didn’t want to be friends, April wasn’t going to push it.

“No prob!!” They took a seat down next to their brother.

They still didn’t seem to understand, but she wanted to avoid drama, so avoid drama she did. She followed Danni and sat down across from him and April. ”I hadn’t thought about it. This is my first time away from home so I am not ready to go back so soon. Plus I got music to write.”

The energy surround the concept of friends was lost on Danni as he batted at Millie. “Noooooo! You're gunna ‘an'out wit’ t'e fam! You can't do work and school and train and come see t'e fam! T'at's soooo much! It sounds exhaaaaausting.” Danni whined. “What I'm t'inkin’, and I've been t'inkin’ real ‘and on t'is since I saw t'at picture on t'at billboard out t'ere when we were comin’ ‘ere so ya know its seriously awesome, is a ‘uuuuge luau wit’ like a ‘uuuge bonfire and like, we can invote t'e whole group, right? But. But. ‘ow do ya keep everyone entertained? Course we're gunna bot'er t'e ‘rents and get a big ol’ pool and maybe like some skatin’ stuff for Sauna Boi and Bennie Boi. And obvi gotta ‘ave like a real big bonfire so we can do s'mores and like, fire dancin’, but t'ere's a murder. And it's like a villian creeped in and got a person and t'ey're impastanin’ someone so we gotta figure it out and catch ‘em! And idk, whoever figures it out first gets a big prize, like a super hug or somet'in’, idk. Cuddles wit’ one person of t'eir choice, t'at sounds fun. But yeah, I t'ink murder mystery luau party!”

Ben wasn’t sure if his point had gotten across. He didn’t think people could be instant friends. That you had to work at it. Maybe it was because he had never had anyone but his group growing up. When he had first met Chase even he hadn’t wanted to be friends with him, but Chase sort of kept showing up. They kept hanging out. He’d be friends with April eventually, sure, but calling each other friends immediately... he didn’t quite understand. He smiled and sat down, letting the conversation switch gears again. It was hard to stay on one topic with Danni.

His eyes went wide at the mention of a murder. Danni was planning on killing someone!? But then Ben caught on. A murder mystery game. That made more sense. He relaxed a little. It seemed like an extreme way to keep everyone entertained. It could be fun. Impastanin? Ben guessed Danni meant impersonating.

“How long is Spring Break? Can we spend some time at home with family and do this?”

“Umm, it’s about a week - but your uncle lives really close by, right? So you shouldn’t have any issues. And transit isn’t really a worry because of your boyf - and if it was, Percy can hop you around, or Pa can - or Dori if you wanna push your luck and see how his aim is with the sling ring that day.” Distance wasn’t much of a factor - it was more a time thing. “Do you have any, like, pop star friends you’d wanna bring? Oh! Danni remind me when Dan-Thé comes over to give him the big update!! Also, obsessed with this idea, we need to have a Traitors watch party for ideas, and I want to be guaranteed cuddles with you even if I don’t win, by the by, bc you know I can’t sleep well by myself anymore. It was the woooorst when I was on my grippy sock vacation. No cuddles for a millennia.”

April then gasped and practically screamed. “WAIT! You need to take Sauna Boi to the sauna!!!” They shook Danni by the shoulder wildly, disturbing poor Amelie.

”I still have to work Danni. I have concerts upcoming that people have bought tickets long in advance for. So I need to make some new songs. Shouldn’t take up too much time. And you know I am always down for a party. And a murder mystery luau? Sounds right up my alley!”

Millicent considered April’s request. ”I am sure I can put some feelers out and see who wants to come. It’s a fairly busy time of year, but with the promise of good food and a stage, some would drop what they have going on and join. I can def ask!”

Dan-Thé busted over as Amélie started screeching at the aggressive jostling, Danni clinging onto April for dear life. “Save that excitement for the drinks; jostle these old tables too much and you might end up wearing them!” He placed the tray down, setting the teapot, cup, sugar, and cream in front of Ben, one cup already poured. He placed the cortado, a little wave in the foam, and a glass of sparkling water in front of April. Danni and Millie both received hulking mugs of hot chocolate, topped with a layer of melted marshmallows, house made whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, caramel drizzle, rainbow sprinkles, half a brownie, and a whole chocolate chip cookie cut in half and placed on the rim like a garnish. “Tea for Ben, cortado and water for April, and two Hot Chocolate Grandma's Way.”

Danni screeched excitedly; Amélie matched the energy in a much more confused way. “OMG YAAAAAAAAAS!” Danni bounced in his chair as everything was set in place, the previous conversation nearly forgotten. He snatched a cookie garnish off the rim and used it as a scoop for marshmallow goodness, batting Amélie away from it as she tried to lean down and snatched it up.

“OMG! YAAAAAAAAAAS RILLIE!” He said around a mouthful of cookie. He had no qualms talking with his mouthful. Danni pointed at Ben. “Your boyo owes me sauna time. Gotta drag ‘im in kickin’ and screamin’.” Danni shoved the other cookie in his mouth, offering a scoop of marshmallows to Amélie.

“Gotta talk ta Pa ‘bout ‘ow big ‘e can make t'e ‘ouse but yeah, brin’ any o’ your friends! Any friends o’ yours are friends of mine!” Danni lifted the cup to his mouth, a thumb hold back the brownie, and took a long, scalding sip. He moaned as the thick chocolate hit his tongue and he did a happy little wiggle in his seat.

Ben was excited when the drinks were brought over. He smiled and said, “Thank you.” He sipped tea. It was perfect. He melted a little bit into his chair. Generally he didn’t mind making his own tea. There was a certain ritualistic aspect to making tea that made him feel better. But it wasn’t often he got a cup this good. Matt tried, but he was more of a coffee convert. Chase was learning, and getting good at it. “This is perfect,” he quietly told Dan-Thé before he left.

The reminder of the sauna time Ben nodded. “Chase knows. I promise.... But that is a just the two of you thing. Not sure I want to go into one of those.” He shuddered a bit at the idea. Ben considered if he wanted to say that all of his friends were Danni’s friends, or Danni himself. He liked Marlena, but was she a friend? Danni had claimed friendship with Chase already. “I don’t really even know anyone else here, except Chase obviously, and Marlena. I don’t know if you know her, but she’s cool. Met her at the skate park. But we’ve only hung out that once.”

“Well, the only way to change that is while hanging out with people and asking them questions about themselves,” April offered with a shrug, taking a sip of their cortado. The bitterness of the coffee cut right through the milk and they let out a content sigh. They tended to favor sweet drinks, but every now and then, they craved the unaltered taste of good espresso. They did turn slightly pink as Ben mentioned Marlena and April decided to side step that particular minefield for now. “And we’ll have tons of time to get to know each other more in Otherworld.”

Millicent watched as her hot chocolate, if it could be called that since it seemed like an oppressive dessert than a comfort drink, was put in front of her. ”Dan-Thé, from one artist to another, you are a visionary. Truly, this is the best drink I have ever laid eyes on, let alone consumed. Brava!” She was excited to dig in, but how did one approach this? Did they eat the cookie or brownie first? Would eating them make the hot chocolate go room temperature too quickly?

She felt herself spiral a bit, but it was fine. ”I think we got a good group with everyone. I don’t know everyone too well apart from you all and some I talked to already like Marlena, but if you guys are cool with the others, then they are cool with me. And like April said, we got a whole ass adventure coming up. That tends to form bonds.”