Andy and Glimpse went separate ways. Andy didn't know what all they need for this trip. However they did know that Gideon would need her primary sword back. She went looking for her girlfriend.

Gideon was in her second favorite place in the world - her first favorite place, of course, being where her sword currently was. She had had the Thirsting Blade for as long as she could remember and being parted from it was agony. So to take her mind off of things, she had gone to her next love - pumping iron. Her body was wet and glistening with sweat in the gym, as she exercised her straining muscles with the bench press, using three hundred pounds of weight. Her headphones were in, blasting music and her sunglasses were still on. The rapier was down at the ground within reach.

Andy had guessed right. Several of the times they had run into before dating had been here. So she wasn't surprised to see Gideon lifting. Andy slid into the spotter position and waited for Gideon to finish her reps.

With each rep, Gideon grunted - and she caught a glance of Andy, smirking up at her girlfriend. “Sup, my Princess of Darkness?”

Andy smiled at the nickname. “We have some free time. We should be getting ready to head out though. I can’t be sure but I’m gonna bet the others aren’t going to want to wait longer than a night. If we don’t leave tonight I’ll be honestly surprised. We need to get your sword back.” Andy wasn’t sure how they were supposed to do that but there was no way Gideon was going to go anywhere without it.

Gideon immediately dropped the weight and scooted back up to a seated position. She grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the sweat off her face. “What’s the play then to get Thirsty back?”

Andy kept her face surprisingly neutral at the sword’s name. It wasn’t the first time she heard it, she was getting better at it. “Well it is probably in Scarlet Witch’s office.” She remembered where Lady Nimue’s office had been, that was probably the best place to start. “It is probably locked down with a bunch of magic.” Andy’s magical skills did not extend into breaking and entering. Not many in the group had that sort of magic. Leah had her runes... but Andy doubted that would help.

Magic didn’t phase Gideon. She hadn’t met an enchantment yet that she couldn’t just punch her way through. It was just bullshit with extra steps. “Okay, so we smash in and grab it, easy,” Gideon stood up and shook her arms out, and took a swig of water from her water bottle. “Just need someone to keep the witch at bay.”

“Grab the first person we know?” Andy suggested. She had a feeling everyone was going to be running around like chickens.

“100%, we grab the first person we know and tell them they have to help us,” Gideon agreed. They just needed a warm body to distract Wanda. Someone who hadn’t been involved with them in the fight earlier, so that way the witch wouldn’t suspect anything was off. “But not Arthur or his bodyguard.”

“Sounds good.” There probably were people who would be better at distracting her adoptive sister over others. Ideally it would be someone with an interest in magic but not enough of an interest that Wanda needed to be in her office to talk with them. She led the way back out of the gym. Wondering who out of the group they’d run into, anyone that at least knew they were going to the Otherworld, the less the better.

“HEY, YOU!”

Gideon pointed across the quad, catching one of the girls from before dead in her sights. She’d been in that entire ominous montage, too.

“GET OVER HERE!”

That girl just happened to be one Marlena Evans, who was carrying three books under one arm.

She blinked.

”...Me?”

“Yeah... you’re friends with some of our friends right? Going with us and all,” Andy confirmed. “We’ve got to get something but we need help. You chill giving us a hand?”

”Hm… Why not?” Marlena stuffed the books into a messenger bag slung around her shoulders and walked towards them. ”What’s going on? I think some of the others are packing, a whole wing of the school smelled like fish for a while.”

“A witch stole my sword and I need it back, otherwise the world will end tomorrow,” Gideon said seriously. “How good are you at chattering away about nothing?”

Andy glanced at Gideon, trying to gauge how real the assertion that the world will end if she doesn’t have her sword. “It is the new magic teacher, Scarlet Witch, that we need you to distract. Just keep her out of her office for a bit.”

Scarlet Witch? The Scarlet Witch? Marlena’s eyebrows shot up. She didn’t know a lot about her, but the woman had a reputation for a reason. ”Not to brag, but I’d say I’m pretty good at chattering about nothing. I’ll talk her up, if you think you can slip in and out of a witch’s office before she catches you.”

Gideon didn’t joke when it came to her sword. The world would end if she didn’t get it back. She knew that innately, a truth carved into her bones. “Hell yeah!” She pumped her fist in the air. “Andy and I can be in and out super fast. You just need to buy us like five minutes tops.”

”Sounds good. Gonna have to show me where we’re going though, don’t know where her office is.”

“No problem.” Andy led the way to Wanda's office. She indicated which one for Marlena and then pulled Gideon with her to hide around the corner to give Marlena a chance to get Wanda out of the room and to some other place.

Marlena strode right up to the door and thought for just a moment. Legendary witch, a master of Chaos Magic… Oh, yeah. She reached into her bag and withdrew one of the books she swiped from the library, one she’d gotten almost three chapters into. It had a bookmark in it and everything. She tucked it under one arm, and locked the fuck in.

Knock, knock.

“Enter, Marlena.”

The door swung open of its own accord, a bit of enchanting pink mist swirling on out invitingly.

That was… Ominous.

She felt a chill go down her spine. But she was already roped into this, so Marlena took a step forward, and then another, until she was surrounded by all the bits and bobs, all the whatnots of a witch’s office. Marlena looked around and took everything in, careful not to knock anything over.

”I’ve never been in the lair of witch before. Spooky,” She observed.

While not too long ago Leah had entered a herbalistic paradise, the counters crowded with plants spilling out of jars, strange potions and concoctions bottled and ready for use, today the aesthetic of Wanda Maximoff’s office was far cozier. Lush red carpets were laid out on the floor, overlapping rugs with arcane sigils woven into each thread with care, gleaming, polished oak furniture and chairs with high quilted backs. A large picture window looked out onto a snowy mountain peak, and music played softly from a record player. On the circular table, books and scrolls were laid about, with the Scarlet Witch sipping her coffee as she perused through them. To her back was a glass cabinet, a padlock holding it shut - and visible within were a gigantic two-handed sword, a sword crafted from darkness, and a sentient shadow, straining against its bonds.

“A lair?” Wanda laughed. “I should hope it is more inviting than that.”

”I like it, it's very homey. Makes me think of a magician’s fortress against evil… Word around the campus is you’re the most qualified person available for supernatural situations. I’m new, and I only moved in around the time of the Contest of Champions, so I thought an expert would know more about a few things than me.”

Her fingers drummed the book under her arm. ”If you can spare the time?”

The Scarlet Witch tilted her head. She caught the flattery, but she didn’t know why Marlena was laying it on so thick. “You know how to compliment a tired old witch. What ails you, child?”

”A friend and I have noticed a pattern that keeps cropping up. We met this guy who sees the future. He saw visions of me and the team Excelsior, all caught up in images of tarot cards.” It was easier to just be straight with someone than flat out lie, and she could always omit a few details... ”We got Amnesia to help convey that vision more clearly, and a place called Otherworld came up in conversation a few times. Do you think it’s a coincidence for that many people to come up in visions that alike each other?”

Wanda opened her lips to speak, but suddenly faltered. A strange symbol flashed inside her eyes, pulsing pure white - nothing like any sigil Marlena might have ever seen before, but immediately memorable, burned into her memory. “I am afraid I must be going - there is a faculty meeting that I have forgotten about that I must be present for,” she commiserated, frowning sympathetically. “If you recall your question, I would be happy to answer it another time - but if not, then I must bid you farewell for now, Marlena.”

Marlena blinked. ”Oh- Are… Are you alright? That looked like it hurt,” She commented, stepping out of the way of the doorstep. What was that?

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Wanda asked, genuinely confused. But each time she glanced at Marlena, her eyes seemed to slide right past her, never properly focusing on her student as she walked down the hallway from her office and towards the faculty lounge.

”...Huh.” Marlena saw herself out of the room, equally perplexed. She watched the Scarlet Witch walk away, then looked back at the girls in the corner.

”Well.” She stuffed the book into her messenger bag and reached for a notepad. ”You needed her gone, there you go. Make it fast, ladies.”

“Damn, you are good,” Andy said. “What did you say to her?” Andy quickly went over to the office, slipping in the open door.

”I was gonna ask her about Otherworld. But I guess she had places to be.”

Gideon whistled approvingly. She’d stolen a fair number of things from professors in her day, but never had she seen someone be chased away so thoroughly. She leaned in and sniffed. “It’s not BO, at least,” she offered with a shrug. “Well, I’m not going to look a toy horse in the mouth, so let’s get Thirsty and get the fuck out of here - aaaand if we see anything shiny that we happen to also want, I think that’s for our pain and suffering.” She barged into the office and went straight for the cabinet at the back of the room, her eyes narrowing as she saw their next obstacle.

It was locked.

“I’m going to punch this and break the glass, unless either of you have a better idea?”

”Something less noisy, maybe something that doesn’t make it so obvious she was robbed?” Marlena suggested from the doorway. ”She’ll know anyway, but maybe you don’t want to rub salt in the wound, you know?”

Andy frowned, and then shrugged. That was weird, but alright. It worked in their favor. She looked at the cabinet. “Maybe the key is in the desk?” Andy turned and started to open drawers and search the desk for the key. She was careful to make sure anything she touched was moved back into the place she had found it in. Marlena was right. It would be so obvious that they had come in and grabbed the sword. Among the stuff Andy dug through to find the key she found a letter from her dad to Wanda, which made sense. She put it away, not opening. That wasn’t hers to read. No key though. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to pick locks? I only ever did pick pocketing, never learned how to pick a lock.”

Gideon looked at Marlena with confusion. “Why would you ever put salt in a wound? Do they do that in Missouri or wherever you’re from???” She didn’t know how to pick locks. Every lock before this she had broken with her sword. If Marlena didn’t know, she was going to just punch the glass. Wanda could know she was robbed. Gideon wasn’t scared of the witch.

Marlena put one hand up in fake surrender. ”That’s what we in the business call a metaphor, Shades. I got nothing. Unless your girlfriend over there can use lightning to melt a lock.”

Andy considered the lock. She’d have to hyperfocus the lightning. Andy concentrated what would normally come out of her whole fist to one finger, brushing slightly against the lock. The lock melted and deformed. Andy smiled and opened the cabinet, careful to avoid burning herself. She stepped aside once the weapon was free to grab so that Gideon could get it.

“Alright, Blinds,” Gideon snorted. But the minute Andy blasted the cabinet open, she jumped for joy, picked up her girlfriend, kissed her furiously, spun her around, set her down, and made a beeline for her sword. She tugged it free immediately, ignoring her shadow - she didn’t seem to really need one of those, anyway - and the tension relieved in her body was immediately visible, her shoulders relaxing and her muscles loosening up. “Oh Thirsty, I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” she murmured, before giving a sweet kiss to the hilt of the sword.

Marlena elected not to ask how such a huge and wicked-looking sword justified being named something as off as Thirsty. She chuckled and withdrew a pen from her bag, thinking about something. That symbol in the Scarlet Witch’s eyes. It was simple, albeit a little elegant.

It was easy to remember.

She drew it on a page of her notepad.

“Let’s bounce,” Andy said. She did not want to be found here. She was in enough trouble. Getting caught red handed was not something she wished to experience. Though, she did glance at the shadows and wondered if she could touch them. She reached out, and pulled the person shaped shadow. As soon as it was free it started dancing and flying around the room. Andy watched it for a moment and said, “Yeah, not dealing with that.” She grabbed the shadow sword. She’d find Chase and hand it over to him.

As Marlena inscribed the symbol into her notebook, something deep pulsed within her, as if a gate had swung wide open… There was the faintest sensation of breath on her neck, of spiders crawling up her arms… And then, the feeling that she had forgotten something very important.

“Who needs a shadow, anyway?” Gideon shrugged. She had the Thirsting Blade back and that’s all that mattered. She then eyed the other sword. “Can I have that one too? She needs a good home.”

”Woah, woah- Hey-”

Marlena scrabbled around, clearly caught off guard. Her hands roamed all over her upper body for a brief moment as she made sure the feeling of bugs all over her wasn’t actually real.

That spooked her.

”Ooookay.” She scribbled all over the symbol and mucked it up. ”Not doing that again… You two wanna get out of here soon?”

“Uh, I think it is Chase’s. I was going to give it back to him.” She nodded at the next question, and went for the door immediately. Time to scoot. She cracked the door and looked to see if the coast was clear. She spotted an older man, and closed the door back. “Well we have to wait Mr. Pym is heading this way.”

”Mr. Pym?” She asked, keeping her voice down. ”As in Hank Pym? the Antman guy?”

“Yeah, like I said, she needs a good home.” Gideon frowned. Ant Man. Hank Pym. He was someone who… she had no idea at all. “If he’s ant sized, can’t we just squish him?”

“He is currently human sized. Now shhh.” Andy pressed her ear against the door. Trying to listen. If Mr. Pym's footsteps were fading. She didn't hear him, so again slowly opened the door to see if the coast was clear.

”If he is still out there… Let me do the talking,” Marlena suggested with a whisper.

Hank Pym was standing right outside the office, with a giant caterpillar on a leash. “You… are not Wanda Maximoff.”

Gideon raised her sword. “Nope.”

Marlena’s eyes widened. ”Uhh. What is- Is that real, or am I hallucinating things still?” She’d never seen a giant bug before. ”You’re Antman, right? Is that a bug from the Quantum Realm?”

Andy nodded at Pym. She hoped since he was new he wouldn't recognize her. She had left her Excelsior jacket in her room so that helped. Maybe. She didn't say anything letting Marlena who was apparently a wizard at getting adults to leave do the talking.

Hank Pym stared at Marlena for a moment. Then Andy. Then Gideon. His eyes lingered on her sword and slowly, slowly Gideon lowered it.

His eyes flickered back to Marlena.

“Believe it or not, you aren’t hallucinating. I am Ant-Man,” Pym grinned, looking down at his giant bug with pride. “This is Arthur. You can say hi, if you want. He’s a little shy, but let him smell you for a moment - he’s a monarch larva, so you can give him a pet, there’s no danger of stinging. I was hoping Wanda was in, I’m low on milkweed and that’s what he eats exclusively. And to answer your earlier question - he’s not from the quantum realm. He’s from somewhere almost as exotic - Alberta.”

Marlena chuckled and held a hand out, as if she were greeting a stray dog. ”Hi, Arthur. She was here, just a minute ago. I came to ask her something, she stormed off suddenly before we could talk.”

Andy stayed quiet. She did not want to draw attention to herself. She let Marlena do the talking. She took Gideon’s free hand and slowly started to try to pull away from Pym, Malrena and... Arthur.

Gideon held her breath, slowly backing away along with Andy. Pym and Marlena were standing in the hallway, and with the angle just right… Her and Andy managed to sidestep around Pym, before slowly continuing to creep backward, giant buster swords in hand. If Pym noticed, he didn’t bat an eye.

Arthur sniffed at Marlena’s hand for a moment, before butting his head up against it happily. He didn’t make any audible noises, no squeaks or whimpers or whines, but even then it was clear that he immediately was taken with her. Pym beamed down at him with pride.

“I think he likes you. You said she stormed off - did you happen to catch which way?” He then looked at Arthur again for a moment, an idea occurring to him. “How would you like to help me out some this semester as my TA? I need someone who’s good with Arthur and the others - help me clean them, feed them, care for them - you’d get credit for it.”

That sounded like fun. Would she have to occasionally teach someone how to shrink down? Did that mean being more A than T? Marlena didn’t think of herself as much of a bug person. But then again, giant bugs were pretty damn cool. She nuzzled Arthur’s buggy little head… Maybe she’d get out of some other classes by saying she was too busy herding giant caterpillars to fight people.

”She went that way-” Marlena pointed down the hall. ”And… Sure, why not? Not much of an entomologist, but he seems nice.”

With Pym distracted by Marlena, Andy gently pulled Gideon with her out of the hall and out of sight of the teacher. She sighed relieved once they were around the corner. She'd need to find Chase, or text him since he was in a group chat now, and let him know she had his shadow sword.

“We'll call it a success. Smart grab getting Marlena. She is great at this.”

“Everything is proceeding according to plan,” Gideon agreed, pushing her shades back up. She hadn’t had a plan at all.

Meanwhile, Pym glanced back in the direction Marlena pointed, before nodding. “Excellent. Send an email to my faculty address and I’ll get it all set up - thank you, Ms…?”

”Marlena Evans. I’ll get on that as soon as I have a spare moment.” She flashed the old guy a smile and then looked behind her. ”...Did they just teleport away or something?”

Pym chuckled. “You can’t throw a rock without hitting a kid who can teleport these days. I’ll be seeing you around, Ms. Evans. Come along, Arthur.” He tugged slightly on the leash before going off in the direction Marlena had indicated, hoping that the Scarlet Witch would be able to help him out with the food sourcing issue.
She waved him off, then shut the door to Wanda’s office. She had places to be herself.

Marlena looked down at the strange symbol she wrote. Something seemed different after she scribbled it out. Not about the symbol itself, but about her.

What was she supposed to do again, after reading about Otherworld?

The events of the day had taken their toll on him, but Percy was not ready to rest - not yet. He had teleported Dorian and himself back to Stark Hall so that way he could change into fresh, dry socks before tackling their next task - investigating Ser Nemo’s office. He didn’t know what he expected to find there, it could easily be a futile exercise and a waste of time… but if Nemo really was his future self, there would be clues there to find. Percy liked spy novels and movies, he enjoyed puzzles and mysteries - if he was organizing some great plan to change the timeline and spite the TVA, he would have left behind something in the event of his capture. And even if unintentional, there might be evidence as to what had happened, as to what set in motion the events of Nemo’s timeline and Dorian’s suicide.

Percy sat on the edge of Dorian’s bed, lacing up his shoes. He’d run a quick comb through his hair, taming it into a respectable neat and tidy state. The cat ears beanie was on the bed next to him. He pulled out his phone and opened the text chat with Dorian’s siblings. The others were busy with their own preparations. And stressed as he felt, he didn’t want the entire group there when they poked through the small office. It would be crowded enough in there with just Danni.



He then stared at his phone for a moment and sighed. Danni had specifically asked for him to send emojis as tone indicators.



“Okay, I texted your siblings that we are ready,” he informed Dorian, as he stood up off the bed. He held out his hand to him.





Danni screeched excitedly as he fired back a text. The fearsome foursome had found their way back to campus and scattered to the winds, Danni escorting Ben back to his dorm to chill until his boyf got back from whatever adventure with Leah he'd found himself on. But this? This was perfect. He snatched up Ben and shook him excitedly.

“Omg, omg, omg, we gotta do t'is!” Danni shoved the phone directly into Ben's face, barely centimeters away from his eyes. “Wanna ‘ave some fun B&Ein’ it up tonight wit’ me? Please, please, please, please, please. Danni begged, hitting his knees and wrapping his arms around Ben's waist as he pleaded.

Ben blinked and pulled the phone and Danni’s hand away from his face so he could actually read the conversation. He had zero clue what Danni had responded with, but he got enough of the gist to know he had already said yes for them. Ben hoped Percy would be alright with him joining, at least it wasn’t Chase he supposed. “Uh, sure. I don’t know when Chase was going to get back and I don’t want to wait in his room, I don’t know who his roomie is.” Ben didn’t add that he didn’t want to go sit in his room alone to wait for Percy to come back or just hope that Chase came back. The pot of tea at the cafe had helped Ben a lot. He didn’t have the headache anymore.

“Yeeeeeees! T'is is gunna be so great! I can't wait ta get a crack at t'e old man's secries, ya know? ‘speeeecially now we know ‘he's Spicy? I got comments ‘bout t'at mustache.” Danni picked Ben up at the waist and twirled him around excitedly, before letting him down and dragging him down towards Poisson-Pas’ office. “Not t'at loungin’ ‘round t'e dorm wit’ ya wouldn't ‘ave been fun, but ‘ow often can ya pop inta a prof's office and snoop wit’ no chance o’ gettin’ in trouble?”



Dorian watched as his phone buzzed several times on the wireless charger, having decided to get a bit more power into it before they went off to Nemo's office and then who knows where. Dorian's eyes slowly moved up, following the path he would like his phone to take as it gingerly began to hover in the air before snapping back towards him and in his hand. ”Interestin’ mon amour. Anot'er pictograph t'at most certainly isn't a language or even decipherable from you.” Dorian grinned, turning the phone towards Percy as he showed him Danni's response. ”En tout cas, it seems t'ey are ready and willin’ to go. Allons-y” He took Percy's hand in his before slyly using his telekinesis to replace the cat ears hat onto Percys head.

Percy had already been struggling to decipher Danni’s response on his own phone and the additional screen hardly helped. He felt like he had a concussion the longer he looked at it. A princess? Pointing in different directions? Clocks? He had no idea what any of that meant. Danni could have been telling him they were at the mall shopping, he could have been explaining they were playing Mario Kart, he could have been whining about losing his favorite watch. There was absolutely no way of telling. His face was scrunched up into a deep scowl, his eyes narrowed.

“Does Danni even know what he’s typing?” Percy muttered.

It took considerable effort for him to pull his attention away from the screen. Studying Danni’s use of language was a futile but addicting exercise, one he had already put many hours into. It wasn’t the priority for the moment. But if he could ever crack that code, it might just be his greatest achievement yet.

He gave Dorian’s hand a gentle squeeze, infuriation still clear across his face, and with a pop the world around them swirled and distorted, until they found themselves in the hallway outside of Ser Nemo’s office. They were entirely alone - no other students, no members of faculty wandering about. Just the empty silence broken up with the soft ticking of a hallway clock. The hallway was brightly lit, the dark oak of the door with a simple placard reading Ser Nemo, Time Travel Studies in golden lettering shining from the reflected light. There was a simple notice taped in the center, explaining to the Margaret Carter community that Ser Nemo had passed away, with resources for grief and counseling detailed. At the base of the door, several bouquets of flowers had been set, with cards and notes and drawings left behind.

Percy’s stomach lurched. It was a memorial. To him.

“I’ll unlock the door,” he offered quickly. He vanished from Dorian’s sight and a moment later, the office door swung inwards, allowing Dorian in without disturbing the memorial.

The silence shattered as Danni bounced into the hallway with Ben's hand firmly in his, chatting at a mile a minute. “Okay, so listen. Sometimes ya just gotta stick wit’ t'e chiller sauce. I'm a fan of t'e spiciest t'in's I can get my ‘and's on, t'at's why Spicy's mu bestie, but sometimes t'ese newer ‘ot sauces just drown out t'e flavor ‘cause t'ey just want pain. T'at's not ‘ow ya do it. Makin’ a good ‘ot sauce is all ‘bout balancin’ t'e ‘eat and t'e taste. If ya got a lotta ‘eat, ya need a real complex flavor ta make it a good Experience. I t'ink we outta do a ‘ot sauce tastin’. Got out ta a sauce shop and get like… 30 different ones. It'll be sups fun! And if we all end up cryin’ our eyes out, t'en t'at means we did it right.” Danni laughed, catching sight of Dorian in the hallway and Percy in the door way.

“T'e party is ‘ere!” Danni declared, plucking a flower from the memorial and taking a whiff of it. “These are super nice! So pretty, smell great - man, I wonder ‘ow many peeps are gunna be upsetti when t'ey find out t'e school lied ta t'em when we bring Poisson-Pas back? Oh, hm, I guess t'ese are your flowers t'ough Spicy. You wanna wear t'is one?” Danni asked, hand already halfway to tucking it behind his ear, pausing to level Dorian with a serious look.

“Dee, my fav brot'er, my bestie for life, my partner in crime - we ‘afta stop the mustache at all costs.”

Ben listened to Danni horrified. He was going to die. Danni was going to kill him with hot sauce. How could he escape this potential torture? They arrived at Nemo’s office, Ben took in the scene. He didn’t know the professor, he barely knew Percy. He nodded at Dorian and Percy, then looked down the hallway to make sure it was still clear. “Maybe we should go inside the office before someone comes,” he encouraged. He was not going to have the conversation of how he definitely wasn’t going to eat one hot sauce, let alone 30 different sauces.

Dorian took Danni's hand in his, daisychaining his powers down past Danni and into Ben as well as each of them began to turn incorporeal as he pulled them past the memorial at the doorway and into the small office of the late but still living Poissan-pas. As soon as Ben made it in, Dorian dropped the power so that each person was once again touching ground. ”Pas de chance qu'il grow it out. Its one of my contingencies now. No facial ‘air means new future, new future means no Poisson-Pas past. Oui?” He looked towards Ben, he didn't dislike the kid but he also didn't care for the misguided boyfriend of Percy's bully. ”Désolé. I didn't want to disturb the memorial of my late boyfriend.”

“What? No,” Percy shook his head sharply, refusing the flower. He ignored all the comments about the mustache, although he privately agreed. Whatever they could do that was different than Nemo would help to ensure a new timeline. Albeit with the added challenge of the TVA coming after them…

He stared at Ben for a moment. He hadn’t realized he was coming, too. Percy did not mind. But his face was still contorted into a glaring scowl. It wasn’t directed at his roommate. He moved past the others and shut the door. They didn’t need people finding them in here.

The office itself was a quiet affair - cool tone walls with dark wood furniture. In the center of the room, a comfortable desk sat with a well loved leather back chair, two bookshelves flanking a wooden frame painting of an overgrown library with a staircase curling up gently along a shattered wall. A globe, a tidy pile of books, and a lamp sat on the desk and a pair of black lacquered, gold coated ballpoint pens sat neatly next to a notepad.

Along one wall was a small table where an electric kettle and a glass tea display, along with two mugs, sat quietly and a suit of armor with a sword in hand watched over the room. A comfortable rug spread across the faded hardwood floors, one corner mussed as if someone had tripped and never bothered smoothing it out. Two chairs faced the desk, comfortable but smaller than Nemo's.

A thin layer of dust covered the room.

Danni rerouted the flower to behind his own ear and hummed as they settled into the room. He looked around, humming for a moment to himself. It wasn't terribly large but there was still enough space to walk around. “Deee, why are you talkin’ timey-whimey to me? I don't get t'at atuff, ya know t'at!” Danni whined, beelining it for the suit of armor and the sword. He rapped his knuckles against it and stared when it echoed inside. “Ooooh, t'is is like real armor! I wonder if t'e sword is real too “ Danni reached out and poked the blade, hissing as he caught the edge of the sword. A bit of blood welled up out of the cut and he stuck his finger in his mouth to keep the blood from dripping everywhere.

Ben saw the scowl and withered a little under the intensity of it. He didn't know where to start searching the room. He froze a little when Percy shut the door. The room was small. He knew he could open the door and leave at any moment. But it still...itched. Sighing, he started to search the desk. If anything was going to be written down it was likely to be there.

Most of what he found seemed to just be lesson plans and homework. Of note was a flyer for a different school, and notes about the Excelsior team. Though there were names he didn't recognize. There were training notes. He didn't think that is what they were looking for though.

“Hey... so what are we looking for?” Ben flipped through the notes.

Dorian telekinetically smacked Percy behind his head and gave him a look tellin him to fix his face as he saw Ben's demeanor change slightly before he began to search the office. Rolling his eyes, he began to make his way around the office to search for…well anything he guessed. ”Weird writin’ t'at might give you a ‘eadache if you look too long, somet'in t'at may seem outta place, I dunno, Perce its your future office, ‘ow would you ‘ide clues?” He asked jist moments before he felt his foot snag on the armors greatest, panicked, Dorian tried to phase through it as it began to fall over but instead ended up inside the armor and taking Danni down with him.

Percy flinched as something struck him in the back of his head, turning around on his heel only to see his boyfriend nonverbally scolding him. His nerves were shot already from having Chase around and for a brief second, his eyes looked pained before the mask slid back over his features, a little more neutral than before but still intense and focused.

“How am I supposed to know what’s going through Nemo’s thick skull?” He hated how much he recognized himself in everything here - in the neatness and the organization, in the heavy dark furniture, in the piece of art on the wall. He hated how much he still felt that irritation and rage when he thought of Nemo, even knowing the truth. He hated how suffocating this room felt, like a coffin ready to snap shut.

“I wouldn’t leave anything in obvious locations - so the desk is a waste of time. And I…” there was a clatter as Dorian knocked over the suit of armor, crashing to the ground with it and Danni. “… I might put something in there.”

The clatter of armor caught Danni off guard as he nursed his wound. He lunged to grab Dorian, only for him to phase and vanish, and screamed as the entire suit came crashing down on him. He managed to cover his head, but the heavy metal knocked the air from his lungs and left deep, pulsing bruises on his arms and sides. As the helmet rolled away and clanked against the door, Danni peeked his eyes open and gasped at the blade that hard buried itself inches from his nose. “OMG, Dee's! You almost-” Danni winced, his complaining cut short as he tried to wiggle out from under the armor but felt something dull and intense radiate out from his side. “Ow, ow, ow, ow! Dee, we're ‘bout ta go on an adventure and I can't call Pops ta ‘eal me or we'll get in trouble! You're so meaaaaan!” Danni complained as he gingerly scooted out from under the heavy metal, groaning dramatically the entire time.

Danni did stare at the blade. It was double edged and leaf shaped, a leather wrap around the hilt. Danni poked the pummel. “So, uh, Spicy, I t'ink t'is means you're learnin’ ‘ow ta swin’ a sword, ya know?”

Ben sighed, unsurprised that the desk was a dead end, according to Percy. He tried to put the file back exactly as he had found it when there was a massive clattering. He looked up seeing the armor now on the floor crushing Danni.

“You okay?” he asked? Ben watched the door for a moment hoping no one heard them and came to investigate. He didn't need a second detention. The room was cramped enough that he stayed on the other side of the desk to not crowd the armor. If Danni needed help he would help. But he would rather stay out of the way first.

Dorian groaned lightly, rolling off of Danni as he splayed himself on the floor. ”I'm good. Danni you ok?” His eyes stayed closed for a moment as his head rang from the helmets thud before rolling off. The sound resonating within his own head. He stood up slowly, standing back to where the armor had been and phased back out of it, holding his hand out to help Danni up.

Percy let out a small sigh of relief as he saw that Dorian and Danni were unharmed. “Maybe we should avoid using powers in here.” He said this mostly for Danni. He didn’t want to see his friend burn them all alive - and destroy what evidence they could find. He approached the two slowly and carefully, before evaluating the sword. He pulled on the grip, expecting it to come free, but it remained lodged into the boards. He gritted his teeth and pulled harder, the scowl returning to his face, but it still wouldn’t budge. His temper flared. “Дурацкий древний меч, почему ты, блядь, не вытаскиваешься?” he swore in Russian. “It’s Ancient Greek - a xiphos. It makes no sense for Nemo to have paired it with medieval armor, it’s a complete anachronism.”

Danni accepted Dorian's hand. “Ot'er t'an feelin’ like a rock in a rock roller? Yeah, I'm chill!” Danni pouted at Percy's suggestion. “But like… what if Poisson-Pas ‘id stuff wit’ like invisible ink? And we need ‘eat ta read it? Or like… idk, lemon and ‘eat? Poisson-Pas should ‘ave some, ‘e ‘as it wit’ ‘is tea sometimes, yeah?” Danni watched as Percy struggled wit’ t'e sword and bounced over to help.

“‘I can ‘elp and it doesn't take powers!” Danni carefully grabbed both sides of the hilt, keeping his fingers away from the edge so he didn't get cut again. “Okay, okay, okay on three. One… two… t'ree!” Danni counted down and pushed up while Percy pulled and it slid out of the floor boards with ease.

“Aye! Look at us! Just like if we lat'ered t'is baby up wit’ a little bacon grease and butter.

Danni and Dorian were both okay. Good. Ben sat down on the chair. He thought for a moment, before leaning so he could see under the drawer. Sometimes in spy movies they'd hide things under the drawer, maybe there would be something there. He didn’t expect it, but it would be a bad search job if he didn't look.

There was a cockroach. He blinked. “Hey there buddy. How long have you been here? Are there others?” Maybe the cockroach could help. He held out his hand for the bug to climb onto.

” I've ‘eard of t'e Sword in t'e Stone but not t'e one in t'e board.” Dorian joked as Percy and Danni struggled to pull it out until they finally managed it. ”So why would you put somet'in’ anachronastic wit'in your office? Does t'at make t'e armor t'e clue or t'e sword? T'en again given ‘ow many swords were in t'at vision I t'ink it may be t'e sword.” Dorian moved away from the two however, not wanting to get stabbed by anything in the office. ”Future you better put t'at t'in’ in a sheathe. Students can ‘urt t'emselves wit’ t'at you know? Even mine stays sheat'ed.”

Dorian began to look over the books that littered the shelves, after all his boyfriend loved to read, and so perhaps a clue would be hidden amongst the literature. Beyond that maybe a secret door. He stopped when he noticed a book he hadn't heard of, Greek in nature but nothing he could tie back to Homer's Canon that it was placed by. ”Perce. What's t'is?”

“Yours isn’t always sheathed,” Percy cast a somewhat heated look over at Dorian, before returning his attention to the sword. He held up the sword for closer inspection, offering a grateful nod to Danni for his aid. It was expertly maintained, the xiphos - it was a secondary weapon used by the Greeks, a supplement to a javelin or a spear. They were typically about two feet in length but could be as short as a foot. This one he’d guess was about two feet but…

Percy frowned. Again.

“It’s… shrinking…”

The blade rapidly lost about six inches of length, without any shimmering lights or other signs of magical activity. It simply became smaller. And once it ceased shrinking, it felt perfect in Percy’s hand, as if it had been made for him. It very well may have been. It was Nemo’s sword. He hated how right it felt.

He looked up at Dorian and somehow managed to frown even deeper. “What? That’s nonsense. There’s no γοητεία.” His brain stalled out for a moment as he searched for the meaning of the word.

Danni watched the sword shrink in awe. “Wow! Look at Poisson-Pas, givin’ ya a sword t'at can change ta be perfectly cute just like you! So adorable!” Danni marveled, but frowned at Percy's comment. “Deeeee, you gotta remember ta sheat’ your sword! What if ya trip and fall like t'at and ‘urt yourself? Or like, Spicy ‘as a rough ‘port so ‘e just like, pops in and sits right on it by accidnet?” Danni chastised his brother, bouncing over to see what Dee found.

Danni looked at the book with an empty, blank stare and shook his head. “Imma let t'e nerds ‘ere ‘andle t'is cause Imma be ‘onest, t'is looks like a buncha gobbledygook tbh so ‘ave fuuuun.” Danni scooted across the room to see what Ben was looking at.

The cockroach skittered around a little, the sudden movement, light, and sound startling it. It tentatively scooched closer to Ben's hand and its antenna tested his fingers apprehensive. It did not understand time so could offer no answers; only expressed hunger and loneliness and confusion. It wished for food or to be returned to where it came in. Ben would get a gist of where it scampered through: a crack in the wall near hidden hinges behind a painting.

Ben looked up and around, looking for the painting from the little bit he had gotten from the bug. “Hey, I think there is something behind the painting there.” Ben gestured with his free hand. Then reached into his pocket and pulled out some tea crackers from his pocket. He put a few of the crumbs on the palm of his hand for the cockroach. “This little one came from behind the painting,” he explained.

Dorian scoffed. ”I only unsheath it when in a fight. Even t'en I rarely pull it out. Appa says you should never remove your sword from its sheath unless you are ready to take a life. I mostly use mine as a focus in battle to visualize psionic cuts.” He couldn't help but hold back a laugh as Percy exclaimed his sword was shrinking. ”Maybe it's cold. “ He joked as he made his way towards Ben to help with the painting. Tugging at it from one side as it swung open and revealed a safe with a number combination lock on it.

Percy coughed. “Yes, I wouldn’t want to accidentally sit on your blade.” He set the sword down on the desk somewhat awkwardly. He hadn’t seen a sheath for it, and he hoped by putting it there, it would minimize the chances of someone else getting hurt on it. He made a mental note to ask Dorian later about his training with his father - was his appa a swordsman, too? A swordsman devoted to his mage?

Instead, he turned his attention to the shelves and pulled out the book Dorian had found. His eyes slipped as the letters on the title rearranged themselves, from γοητεία to witchery. And as he opened it, familiar symbols filled the page, symbols he knew he had seen before but he couldn’t place. They accompanied the occasional drawing, circles and wheels and rough sketches of terrains. But the symbols, they covered the pages, all written in a penmanship he could not help but recognize as his own. He couldn’t read them, though. No matter how many times he tilted the page, no matter what symbol he stared at, it was all nonsense to him, as decipherable as Danni’s text messages.

“Can you read this?” he asked, turning to show the book to Dorian, only to spy a safe with a combination lock.

His face flushed. “Try 10-10-2038.”

“Oooh, t'e bug is tell ya secrets of t'e room, eh? Nifty! Oooooh, t'at should be t'e buggies nickname!” Danni clapped excitedly, proud he came up with such a good nickname. He gasped at the safe in the wall and rushed over to it, wiggling in next to Dorian obnoxiously to start playing with the combination dial. “Leavin’ Spicy ta do all t'e work wit’ t'e books I see. I'll get t'e safe, t'ough why would t'at be t'e combo? Seems ‘eckin’ specific. Kinda like a date, ya know?”

Danni twirled the dial, tongue sticking out as he listened for the satisfying little clicks. On the final one, he gave a little shout of excitement as the safe unlocked but he paused for a moment. He checked it just like Poisson-Pas explained it to them: looking for wires, testing for tension, tapping for anything hollow but after a few minutes, Danni was satisfied and threw it open.

There was a long beat of silence.

“Oh.” Danni said softly and then slowly closed the safe again. It stayed barely cracked but Danni didn't look away from the safe door. “T'at won't ‘elp us. We can just look for somet'in’ else.”

Ben felt happy that he could help. That Dorian had listened to him. He smiled. “Yeah, I guess so,” Ben responded to Danni. Ben came over to the painting, looking for the crack and offering it to the cockroach so it could go back home. It had hopefully gotten enough crackers for now.

It was lost on Dorian as well as to why that combination would work. He figured it was some significant date to Poisson-Perce but at the moment hadn't thought beyond that. What he was focused on was how weird Danni was acting towards whatever was inside of the safe. Dorian pulled on the door with his powers, gently, but with enough force to swing it open and see what Danni was trying to hide. Anger flashed across his eyes as he spotted the bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon, sat within a glass dome case not too dissimilar to the rose from Disney's tale. Etched onto the glass was a note ‘Break in Case of Failure.’

” Absolument non!” Dorian exclaimed as he made his way past Danni, phasing his hand into the glass casing and grabbing the bottle before vanishing down into the floor with it.

“It’s our anniversary,” Percy explained, his face turning even redder. It felt like a lifetime ago that Dorian had invaded his room for a study session, complaining about being unable to parse the Iliad without even making an honest attempt at it. He noted that he’d been entirely ignored about the book and he sighed, closing it and deciding to figure out what all the fuss was about a safe…

… only to see that Ben was apparently taking advantage of the prime real estate and making it into a home for a cockroach.

Why had Danni brought this person?

He furrowed his eyebrows, staring daggers into Ben’s back - this time intended at him - and completely missed what Dorian was doing. Danni seemed a little quieter than normal, but he didn’t think much of it. He might have also just been confused about the bug. Danni was often confused.

“Ooookay, whelp, t'at's t'at!” Danni clapped his hands loudly and slammed the safe shut, letting it click close and spun the dial like a game show. Danni did not want to think about what that meant so he didn't! Instead, he let the cockroach scuttle into a crack near the painting's hinges and gently moved it out of the way before shutting it. He spun around, propped his hands on his hips. “Whelp, t'e safe was a bust soooooooo maybe t'ere's somet'in’ else ‘ere, ‘u’? Idk, Spicy where else would ya ‘ide stuff? So far, we got a sword and a book we can't read!” Danni laughed, a little too loudly even for him.

Since Percy was glaring at the back of his head, Ben didn't notice this time. He was distracted by letting the bug go. He dusted his hands of cracker crumbs. He looked around the room to see if there were other hiding places for things. He went over to the globe. Trying to think if there were trick globes that had secret hiding spots in them. That seemed like something that would exist. Though it made him think of James Bond and hidden drink sets. The globe didn't seem to have hinges or anything else strange about it. However, it did look like it hadn't been moved in a long time.

Dorian flew off towards his dorm, placing the bottle into his bag that he was going to pack for Otherworld. He'd have words with Poisson-Pas about his future choices and how he needed to think better of them. He'd gathered shards of the broken teacup, only two decently large pieces that he'd originally needed to identify and find the replacement he had for Nemo what felt like ages ago. Dorian took those two and quickly scribbled down a note ‘A Reminder that you can always fix what has been broken’ He gathered the items and went back towards Nemo's office, phasing back to the safe only to notice it was once again locked and closed.

Annoyance joined the anger within him. Using his powers to flip open the painting, turn the dial back to its open code, and fling the door open before he phased the two items into the glass case, snagging one of the teacups he'd gotten Nemo and putting it alongside them before closing it all back up and phasing back into space as he dusted his hands. ”Perce you ‘ad a book or somet'in’ for me to read? And why is your face like t'at? I t'ought I told you to fix it “

Percy tore his attention away from the bug at Danni’s question. He didn’t notice anything off about Danni’s laughter. As for where else he would hide something… his eyes darted towards the carpet on the floor, noting the way the corner of it was bunched up. He frowned and set the book down next to the sword, and knelt down on the floor, pulling the rug back. He tilted his head to the side. The floor board underneath was loose. “I read too many spy books,” he huffed, as he pried the board loose to reveal a tattered old suitcase, with S. Nemo embroidered on top.

“The book’s on the table - and my face is just like this. I’m not doing anything.”

At the sound of the floorboard being pulled out, Danni scampered away to get his hands on whatever he could. He cheered at the sight of the suitcase, kneeling down beside Percy. “Yeeeees, let's see what secrets Poisson-Pas kept from us.” Danni eagerly dragged the suitcase up out of the floor and popped it open. He was expecting secret letters, piles of cash, maybe some weapons, but what he found inside instead… Danni couldn't stop the sniffles as his eyes teared up.

He held up the monster mash photo of everyone in She-Ra outfits first. He'd been a little lonely during that, the rest of his siblings pairing up and only him left out, but it was still a great night (and even great shots. Damn, he could work a camera.) that ended pretty rough but the energy they all had before that? Amazing. He wasn't certain what the ring was, but no doubt it was important. A photo of a pair of kids that Danni couldn't recognize but they looked like they were having fun. Maybe he was going to be an uncle one day and these were Dee and Spicy’s kids.

“Aw, look at my nephews." Danni cooed, still trying to hold back tears. It was all for naught as he picked up the slightly melted bracelet that he could recognize as the friendship bracelet he'd made Percy. He turned to look at Percy with big watery eyes and blubbered out “You kept our friendship bracelet t'is long?”

Ben gave up on the globe and moved so he was standing behind Danni as he rummaged through the suitcase. It was mementos. Ben was about to step back and let them look through it alone, when Danni claimed one photo was of his nephews. Ben looked at it and recognized a younger Chase. He wanted to show the picture to Chase, but part of him worried that if Chase saw it he'd fall into a spiral of self pity. He had lost so much of his color during the experiments. Chase looked endlessly tired. Ben didn't care. He still thought Chase was attractive, but this childhood photo was adorable. He stepped back away. Unsure of where to look still. They hadn't seemed to have found whatever they were looking for. Unless the book that Percy had found was it.

Ben sighed and sort of gave up. He just started picking up books at random hoping one would stand out.

”Right.” Dorian replied curtly as he made his way over towards the book. He began flipping over the pages, trying the trick that Nemo had taught him to read the Journal given to him. His let his vision unfocus, let the words begin to blur and mix, but each time it felt as if he had it, the words slipped away. Twisting and turning in his mind in a way that made him feel incomplete, like he was missing someone for this equation. His eyes glanced at Percy, over by Danni and the pulled up floorboard, and he wondered if this was enchanted so that only they as one could read it. After all it is Poisson-Perce's book, and if he felt he was missing someone…

Dorian made his way over, quick strides of determination as he grabbed Percy's hand. ”I t'ink we need to be one to read t'is book.” He pulled Percy in close, as if they were about to dance, chest to chest, when suddenly their bodies began to form into one. It wasn't like his possessions, it felt closer to what he'd done with Billy and Danni yet even more so different. Did they just physically entangle? The new form stood there, book in hand, with icy blue eyes, pale skin and rosy cheeks, mop top dark brown hair, and taller than Percy has ever been. A swirl of emotions as the two collided, anger, annoyance, and an internal conflict Dorian didn't understand.” Perce wha– you ok?” More annoyance ran across their now shared emotions, but a clear cut concern followed right after.

Percy hadn’t had a chance to say yes to this, hadn’t even gotten a moment to consider what Dorian had asked of him. Just one moment he was staring at the tiny mementos of a sad, weary life that awaited him and the next, he was somewhere dark, restrained and unable to move, as something - as someone - as Dorian forcibly took control. Annoyance and anger that were not his bled into the rage and turmoil that was, and he felt himself speak, could see the book in his hands and the room around him, even as he was a prisoner in this body.

I’m fine! Percy strained against what bonds held him, trying to find the place where he started and this other - and Dorian ended.

Dorian snatched Percy up without so much as a hello to Danni, suddenly whirling into one person as Ben wandered around aimlessly. Dorian and Percy seemed to change and shift and then suddenly, poof! new person. Danni gaped in astonishment, bracelet still outstretched where he was showing Percy. Danni was a little overwhelmed at this revelation, that these two could become one beyond the whole tied together thing. “Wha- Who? ‘ow-” Danni stammered, for once struggling to reach for words. “Omg, anot'er circuit? Please be careful! Do not change t'e reality, do not mess wit’ time, do not not do anyt'in’ crazy now. Gotta start slow - I know we did. Ig, scary stuff last time but t'at took a lot outta us and we gotta be leavin’ pretty soon. Ain't got a buncha time ta recover!” Danni warned shrilly. Danni shook his hands wildly as he tried, for once, to think and he landed on Ben.

Ben!

“Wait, no Bennie, Ben, Bennie Ben can you like, make a cup o’ tea? Poissan-Pas ‘as a whole selection t'ere. T'e last time Dee circuited, we stripped a whole island of a curse and t'en built a whole buildin’ and gave everyone we loved a ‘ug and it was rouuugh and Spicy was already on like scotch bonnet going on chocolate habanero. Idk why but it was def t'ere if ‘e was snappin’ at Dee like t'at so maybe a cup o’ tea will chill t'is circuit out before t'ey do timey-whimey, ghostie stuff.” Danni pointed at the tea set up. The makeshift bar hosted a variety of bagged and loose leaf teas, an electric kettle, a tea pot, mugs, and a sink. The container that sat out off the display was Russian Caravan tea and was the least filled, clearly much loved. All the teas were used to some extent, except the one container labelled Kukicha. It seemed pristine and untouched compared to those around it..

Ben was poking at books uselessly when Percy fully went away. So did Dorian. They both just disappeared and a new person was standing where they had been. He blinked at them confused. Danni made it make some sense though. Reminding him of what happened during the Contest.

“Oh, yeah sure,” he went over to the tea set up. First checking the water, it had clearly been sitting for a while so he dumped it. He refilled the pot a little bit and then shook it to clear out any residual dust or other grossness. He might like his tea cup build up, but the water should be clean and good. After refilling the pot and starting the kettle he grabbed two cups, paused and grabbed a third. He read the side of the container to see how hot the water should be for this type since it wasn’t his usual black tea he couldn’t be fully sure. He continued to work on that while Dorian and Percy... did whatever it was that they were doing.

”Fine? Perce I can feel what you're feeling. What we're feeling.” He crossed his arms, leaning against the desk ”You wanted to go poking around for information and now that we have a few leads you're being all…you!”

Percy flinched inside the entanglement and his vision went red, as he violently came into better awareness of the body. He kept his arms crossed but his trademark glare was plain across his face, contrasted only with the cat ears that remained on. “Oh, my apologies for being me. I’ll work on that. I’ll be someone you prefer better next time - how about Billy, hmm? Would that be better?” The books in the office began to rattle, threatening to fall off of the shelf. The tea cups in the safe clattered against the glass display, the album in the suitcase opened up and the pages began to fall rapidly, and the handle on the door shook.

Danni laughed nervously. “Okay, okay. ‘member we can get in lots of trouble if anyone finds out we're ‘ere.” Danni reminded them from his spot on the floor, gingerly putting the bracelet back into the suitcase and shutting the album, putting all his weight on it. Danni never thought he'd be here but Beanie wasn't and neither were t'e ‘rents and Danni was really, really good at talking so maybe this wouldn't be horrible. “Dee, maybe give us some specifics rather t'an makin’ it sound like ya don't like your boyf? And Spicy, can we avoid t'e low blows and t'rownin’ old crushes back in someone's face? Can you ask for some more words or like, verbalize t'at t'at was ‘urtful and t'en maybe say whats upsettin’ ya, ‘cause clearly ya aren't ‘appy? I t'ought we was ‘avin’ fun but I'm startin’ ta t'ink ya aren't ‘avin’ fun.” Danni paused, but his curiosity got the better of his common sense and his question spilled out despite every attempt to hold it back.

“Also, are y'all like… one person? Two person? Or are y'all t'ere plus one more person t'at is bot’ y'all?”

Ben tried to ignore what was happening. The cups shaking did not help. It sort of freaked him out. He put all of his focus into making the tea. Carefully cutting the water off at exactly the right time. He poured the hot water over the leaves. Watching the time on his watch to make sure it brewed for the exact right amount of time. His hands were shaking, but he was trying. He didn’t know if the others wanted sugar or cream. He grabbed a fourth cup. He hadn’t planned on drinking this tea since it wasn’t his usual but he needed it now.

“How do you like your tea? Sugar or no? I wouldn’t trust the cream.”

The jab about Billy made Dorian shrink within themselves. He didn't understand why Percy was being so angry, so hurtful. They'd never had issues like this before with possessions post dating, but that sense of inner conflict and turmoil kept coming back and he didn't understand why. He tried to stay calm, to keep his cool so that they both weren't raging messes, but it felt as if Percy's emotions were swallowing him whole. He was drowning inside of themselves and he needed to breathe. So Dorian pushed, taking back control over their body as he sat down on the ground, back against the desk. ”Sugar please.” His voice sounded almost defeated. ”I'm not trying to shut you out Perce, but…look at what's happening. My powers go haywire every time I get too emotional, it's why I try not to. It's why I push so much stuff down and bury it. But I don't want you to do that. Danni’s right, we gotta talk this out. I don't want you to change or be someone else, or someone better because there is no one better. But you also can't be sending glares at people you don't even know. We talked about this before. So please…talk to me.” The shaking in the office had stopped, for now.

The feeling of smallness rippled across to Percy, hitting his chest like sharp, red shards of glass. Control slipped away from him as Dorian pushed, and his senses dulled again, as everything became further and further away, the vibrations in his chest as Dorian spoke simultaneously muted and distorted. Everything around him was a haze, the anger and the rage moving into him like gravity, like an enchantment he could not fight. Each time he tried to set it aside, a horrific, pervasive sense of sorrow filled him - a vacuum that could not stand. He didn’t know how to not be angry. He didn’t know how to set these feelings aside. It was the only defense he had against the emptiness, against his fear.

But he had to try. The anger was as much a poison as the alcohol.

I didn’t mean to glare at him!

He curled up into a ball inside the entanglement. There was a brief break in the red fog, a small parting of the storm clouds. I hate Ser Nemo. I hate being in this office. I hate his unreadable books. I hate his xiphos. I hate his tea set-up. I hate his concealed safe. I hate the suitcase under the floorboards. I hate the flowers outside. I hate his fancy pens. I hate his beautiful painting. I hate his mustache, I hate his clothes, I hate his obnoxious fake accent. I hate his stupid name. I hate that he failed to do the one thing that mattered.

Danni bit his tongue as his question went ignored and he felt a little proud of himself that he didn't whine, complain, or cry. The pair there seemed to have it under control, or at the very least Danni couldn't hear the other part of the conversation, so he instead turned his attention to the photo album he'd been keeping closed, back to Dorian and Percy to give them some semblance of privacy as he would absolutely hang onto every word. His eyes grew wide as he saw what was inside, morphing into a look of pure horror as he felt compelled to flip through it faster and faster and faster.

Ben poured the cups of tea and added a bit of sugar into each cup. He stirred them, then taking one at a time and handed them out. First, to...the Dorian Percy hybrid. He put it on the ground in front of them, and slid it closer. Then he took the second cup and offered it to Danni. He was flipping through a photo album looking distressed. “What’s wrong? What did you find?” Ben’s voice was quiet. “Oh, here I made enough tea for everyone. I actually pulled out four cups because I don’t know...how long they’re going to be like that.”

”Perce….” They sat there, quietly for a second as Ben slid them a saucer of tea like they were a wild animal he needed to keep his distance from. ”Thank you Ben.” They said as they picked up the cup and took a sip, letting the flavours wash over their tongue in an attempt to help soothe Percy more. ”You don't mean any of that.” He began to stand up, placing the tea onto the desk as he looked around the room. ”Look at all of this. This is everything you ever told me you wanted. Antique books line your shelves in amazing conditions, a Xiphos more likely than not plucked from its very own period of time, same goes for the suit of armor, that case the photos were in, this painting of a fantastical world. Perce, you said when you wanted to grow up you didn't want to be a hero. You wanted to be an adventurer who explored time. This is a testament that you succeeded in doing all of that. So why would you hate any of it? Look at how much you have accomplished, you invented a language even your powers can't solve! Think about how crazy that is! A language based puzzle that makes you have to think and not rely on powers. Only you could do that. And…I know what you're going to say, I know you won't believe any of it matters because in the end he failed. But he didn't, you didn't. He is alive, waiting, and he has given us all the clues we need within these four walls to ensure he finished enacting his plan. Because if I know Nemo, if I know you, he's going to see my message I left him, and he's going to remember that no matter what, what is broken can always be fixed. And you two would do anything needed to fix it.” Dorian held a metaphorical hand out for Percy to take, to help lift him up above the raging clouds of anger and self pity and to the heights of self acceptance from within their new body. Helping Percy see the office through Dorian's eyes with pride.

The tea tasted nice. The name always struck him as a bit on the nose, but it was the same tea his grandfather would bring when he’d come to visit from Moscow. It was a contrasting mixture of smoky and sweet, the flavor bold and strong just the way he liked it. Percy could feel the calming wave slowly enveloping him, Dorian’s emotions and the soothing tea bleeding into him. The shield of anger was collapsing on him like weight, threatening to crush him - and it was only Dorian’s hand, somehow tangible in this in-between space - that pulled him up and out of it.

Looking through Dorian’s eyes, hearing the pride and the praise - hearing that this was everything Percy ever wanted - it healed something in him just as something else broke, as a dam gave way, the sorrow gushing out of him. “I don’t want any of that stuff,” he mumbled, the new body’s shoulders slumping as their eyes watered. “I don’t care about any of that if it means I end up old and sad and miserable and alone,” they choked out, the tears now freely falling.

Danni flipped back to the first page, a photo of Nemo much younger than he was now. Dressed in the bold colors and synthetic fabrics of the era, Nemo stood in front of a fountain with an angelic figure on top and a beautiful lake behind it. He wore Percy's familiar awkward stoicism (how Danni didn't see it before, he didn't know but wow). Danni may have seen the deep sadness etched into his face or the loneliness in the slant of his shoulders or the awful responsibility that surviving placed on him, if it wasn't for the humongous, ginormous, huge…

Mustache.

“Bennie boy. Open your eyes, baby boi. Look at t'is monstreoty. It's a crime against fashion! It's a crime against life.” Danni whispered furiously back to Ben. His version of a whisper still… carried, as Danni would not be tempered by something as modesty. He stared flipping through the pages and pointing accusatorily at Nemo in each one. “And look. It. Just. Gets. Worse. T'is is ‘ow I know we weren't ‘round. If ‘e ever came ta me and said “Danni, my bestiest, deariest friend, ‘ow do ya feels ‘bout me mustache” or even showed up wit’ one, I'd burn t'at garbage right off. Buckle up, Spicy, ‘cause you're ‘bout ta ‘ave sweater 2.0 bb. Friends don't let each ot'er suffer t'ese kinds of cries for ‘elp.”

Ben looked at the mustache. It was objectively bad. He wasn't about to say that in earshot of Percy though. “Uh, I'm going to be honest I'm not sure what is going on. How is Percy this guy? How is this guy your missing professor?” Danni might not be the right person to ask this. But how had this happened? He understood that Dorian died and that hurt Percy. But what caused all of that?

You're not gonna end up sad and alone, Perce. The future isn't set in stone. Your own mother even knows that. She can peer into countless versions of us and yet still here we stand as our own unique selves. As a matter of fact… Dorian had gained glimpses of the future before from his astral projecting. Percy had the power of jumping around in time. Perhaps in this new form…

The entity phased out of view, as they slipped into the astral realm. A dazzling landscape of fantastical colors, swirls of pink and green and blue and gold bleeding into each other. There was no gravity here, as the body floated, the hair standing up straight, their form now one of warm, pink light - occasional bursts of red and purple poking through. White light rippled out from their hands, dispelling the fabric of the astral for a moment, allowing a glimpse into another reality, another life, another future…

Through the small crack in between worlds, they could see a quiet, unassuming street. The sort of town where everyone knew everyone, where leaves fell gently to the ground as the seasons changed, and pumpkins adorned each and every storefront, lively music floating through the town without any discernible source. Their view turned and moved, pushing up on a popular cafe - Bean Voyage: A mid twenties Dorian stood behind the counter, wand tucked behind his ear, as he expertly brewed drink after drink. The door jingled as an early twenties Percy entered the shop, a leather doctor’s bag at his side as he approached the counter, Dorian pulling him in by his tie to offer him a kiss. “My favorite customer.”

The fissure in reality closed and they fell forward, spiraling out of control only to come to a halt in front of another gap - this one old and dusty, a dark tomb lit only by torchlight. Each step sent dust spilling down from the ceiling, rocks tumbling at the disturbance that had not occurred in a thousand years. Dorian was dressed with rogueish charm, a cowboy hat on his head and a whip at his side, as he held his hand out in front of him, warily stepping across the tiles, Percy’s head furiously buried in a journal as he scribbled away, noting everything in sight. A gigantic sarcophagus dominated the space, flanked with statues of jackals and tablets promising rebirth and return. “The tomb of En Sabah Nur… The first mutant.” “Nerd.” In the distance, a rumbling sound came closer and closer.

They were flung forward once more, this time plunging them into a scene of a city suspended in the sky, filled with neon lights and bustling hovercraft. At the lowest levels, where smog filled the air and grime covered every surface, there was a small junkyard, filled with dismantled droids and broken ships. A Dorian in his mid thirties was covered in sweat and grease, his tank top almost thoroughly destroyed from the work, as he pulled broken component after broken component out of the droid. At the desk next to him sat Percy, mustache prominent on his face and well cared for, as he poured over datapads, editing programming on the fly as a maestro revised scores.

Dorian watched each future, each moment of time that they got to spend with one another, in absolute awe. A slight irk that in one universe he had a job, but it quickly faded away at the sight of them excavating the first mutant. The final vision he saw brought out a feeling of nostalgia for a time he hadn't experienced yet. It felt so domestic in a way that tugged at him to want to do more with his talents in mechanics and robotics. He'd been so busy sharpening his powers recently he'd fully put aside his love for tech. But above all else, he felt love, for the man he would be with and the life they would lead. A future unwritten.

A blush colored the body’s face, as Percy witnessed these different possibilities, these different lives they could have, the different people they could be. He knew Nemo’s future, knew the darkness and the sorrow that lingered, knew that the TVA had deemed that what was going to happen… But rather than feel despair, rather than mourn what could be, he felt hope, buoyant and life, felt the warmth of his boyfriend’s love wrapping around him. The storm clouds and the rage lifted, the sorrow banished for just one night - they could have their silly fanfiction coffee shop AU, they could be adventurers, they could be domestic. Together, they were unlimited. His walls and defenses fell away, the sharp edges that had defined where Percy was and where Dorian was in this shared form fading, leaving behind a harmonious, entangled being.

Percy-and-Dorian. Dorian-and-Percy.

Gemini.



“Oh! You needs t’e deep lore! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Well, buckle up Bennie boi. It’s a lot.” Danni turned away from the photobook and launched into his explanation, the disappearance of the other entity missed as his focus was fully on Ben and his story. “Okay, so t’is is Spicy, also known as Perc, Percy, the P-Man, all t’at fun stuff. We met last semmy and it was a scorcher. Spicy boops ‘is way inta our way and ‘e gones boom ta t’e ground, right? Dee was super duper upsetti ‘cause like, rude, but t’en it was all ‘eart eyes and rainbow vommy ‘cause ‘e was in love or somet’in’, right? Well, Spicy was as ‘is name suggests, spicy AF. Like, makes me look like a candle kinda ‘eated, yeah? So I try ta do t’e whole light t’in’, ya know, where ya got t’e flashlight or whatevs and get t’e eyes ta do t’e t’in, yeah? Aaaaaaaand I was just tooooo good at what I do so I maaaaay ‘ave, possibly, kinda, sorta set ‘is jacket on fire. Now, in my defense, who in t’e world wears veltet in t’e summer in Cali? It’s waaaaay outta season, not ta mention function? Yeeeesh, velvet gets even a speckle o’ dirt and it’s over. Just trash t’e whole t;in’. So anyways, ‘e gets even spicer, like cali reaper spicy yeah? And I’m chill ‘bout it. It was ‘is fault for runnin’ inta us, but I don’t say t’at or it’ll be a whole debacle and I’ll cry and ‘e’ll wanna fight and not wort’ it, trust me. So of course, t’is is all on Dee’s birt’day, so I be t’e better person and I ‘ave Pa make me a new jacket on t’e fly ‘cause ‘member, Dee’s all ‘ead over ‘eels so I wanna be t’e better person on Dee’s bit’day and give ‘im t’e jacket as a pressi ta make up wit’ lover boy all t’at. And t’en we all try out for t’e Contest, Dee and I get on t’e same team but Rillie get’s separated which I only cried ‘bout for like…. Three or four days. Nah def like a week, but Spicy is on our team, right? T’at’s when we meet Posson-Pas, our Prof. We don’t know t’ey’re double trouble - well, not t’e Double Trouble, but like t’e same person, ya know? - and so, fyi I will keep callin’ Poisson-Pas Poisson-PAs so ya know I’m talkin’ ‘bout Spicy and not Poisson-Pas. Wait, no ot’er wya ‘round! - So, Poisson-Pas tries ta blow us up, first day trainin’ was an obsti course and t’en a bomb. Idk if ya know t’is but I may seem real confident ‘round explosives, Idk ‘ow ta disarm one. So t’at was stressful, especially since Poisson-Pas was teleportin’ Beanie and ‘im ‘cross stuff t’at I coil- no, Spicy was teleportin’ t’em, not Poissan-Pas, sorry - couldn’t fly ‘cross yet and it was whole t’in’, yeeesh. I was t’e Spicy one durin’ t’at. Who t’e ‘eck make a canoe a cross walk? Poisson-PAs is gunna get a talkin’ ta after all t’is. Anyways, so now we got two Spicy’s, two Poisson-Pases ‘cause Spicy can pop t’rough space and[ time sp Poisson-PAs is Spicy who is retired after all t’e bad stuff ‘appens. But, Spicy starts ta date Dee, is like a whole little puppy trailin’ ‘round behind Dee all t’e time, yeah? Spicy stiiiiiiiiiiiiiill doesn’t wanna say we’re friends, even t’ough we totes my goats are. Fast forward ta ‘alloween and t’en we ‘ave t’is real spooky ‘aunted ‘ouse. I reaaaaaaaally didn’t wanna go get t’e ‘ouse but I get everyone dressed up in She-Ra stuff and do photos and it’s super awesome, but also like kinda not ‘cause Rillie and Dee get in wit’ t’eir peeps and so it’s just me and my little lonesome all over ‘ere ‘cause Rillie like, ‘ooked up wit’ our group friends so t’e group just kinda pops me out, but t’at all got fixed up so its good, I def don’t think ‘bout t’at anymore! So t’en t’e ‘aunted ‘ouse rocks Rillie’s world. Unconscious. Down for t’e count. All t’ese t;in’s and so Beanie and me, or was it Leah and me idr, get inta it ‘cause like I’m chillin’ out Rillie and t’ey come in tellin’ me I’m wrong so Spicy is nice enough ta pop t’em all t’e way over ta t’e dorms and plops t’em in a ‘allway ‘cause like, Spicy did not ‘ave t’e range, but did it anyway and t’at was real nice o’ ‘im!”

Danni paused for a half a second to grab air. “So t’en, we all nearly get murdered by ‘Cadie. We wanna do t’e trainin, we wanna do t’e cool stuff, we wanna rock and roll, but ‘Cadie ain’t ‘avin’ it, yeah? We’ll, some timey-whimey stuff ‘appens and t’en one version of us is dead and t’e ot’er version of us, t’is version of us, is not which I’m down for. Dee and Beanie convince ‘Cadie ‘e should go ta jail and t’en we all go on break - a little break wit’ a loooooooooooot goin’ on, no need ta go t’rough all t’at - but we come back and we ‘ave a little meetin’ wit’ Couli-poo and we all get As in all our classes! Which like, t’ank goodness ‘cause I was def gunna fail somet’in. What, idr but I feel like one teach ‘ad it out for me. Ya didn’t turn in your ‘omework on time, t’at’s not ‘ow ya spell t’at, t’at’s made up, no your brot’er can’t take t’e test in your body ‘cause it’s still cheatin’ yadda yadda, always somet’in’, you feel? Kinda rude, but whateves. I got a A ‘cause t’ey almost let me die so who won? Me!” Danni stated smugly, looking like the cat who got the cream. “Oh wait, t’is is ‘bout Poisson-Pas and Spicy. Aaaanyways, do ya know who doesn’t show up? Dee and Spicy! Do you know why? I wish I didn’t. ‘Cause t’ey did, ya know, butt stuff for t’e first time. And do ya know ‘ow Dee tells me? I’m walkin’ up ta t’e dorm after t’e meetin’, Spicy and Dee are outside t’e door, Beanie and Leah and Rillie are all t’ere already and t’en guess what, guess ‘ow ‘e tells me, when I’m fully plannin’ on tearin inta ‘im for leavin’ me ta fend for myself? Text! No gentle let down, no winin’ and dinin’, nope. Just lay it aaaaaaaall out t’ere. And ya know me, I’m a little… reactive so I promptly set ‘alf t’e dorm on fire, especially since I mad everyone friendship bracelets! Buuuuut t’is is ‘ow t;is cute was finally born! Shock induced inferno!” Danni poked at the snoozing dragon in her harness.

“So of course, I’m a little jelly ‘cause like, someone is stealin’ my best friend and brot’er away from me, yeah? ‘Course, tbh, reaaaal ‘ard ta be angy when ya got a newborn dragon in your ‘ands. So t’at kinda, sorta fades away right? So fast forward ta t’e Contest and we’re all ‘ittin’ t;e field. Lotsa weird stuff ‘appens wit’ t’e ot’er team and we all get slammed inta t’e same one. Spicy is ‘bout ta give up ‘is spot - which was super lame. If we ‘ad too many peeps and someone tried ta tell me t’at I wasn’t gunna be on t’e field, it would been a whole lotta more t’at ‘alf a dorm - but Vicky doens’t wanna fight so ‘e slips and slide right inta t’e open slot and ‘its t’e field. Ya saw t’e whole t’in’ of course, eeespecially when I almost smacked inta ya.” Danni booped Ben on t’e nose and laughed. “And t’en t’e whole Entity t;in’ and I give t’e whole team a ‘ug because t’ey all deserved it after goin’ t’rough all t’is stuff and also, ‘ow often can ya do a mass team ‘ug of everyone and each o’ t’em at t’e same time? Def t’e first time I ever did t’at much magic and will def be t’e last time. Dee can keep ‘is mambo jambo, no t’ank you. I was so sick after t’at I could like see t’e inside of me ‘ead,. Did not like t’at one bit. So, t’en we ‘ave t;’is whoooooole adventure durin’ winter break, yeah? Spicy needs ‘elp removin’ Fred so ‘e kidnaps me from my ‘ouse and plaps me in ‘is. And we get real close durin’ it! Like, Spicy tells me ‘bout ‘is whole touchy, feely t’in’, but after I sit in ‘is lap ta ‘elp deal wit’ Fred and ‘e watches me shower, even t’ough I almost burned down ‘is ‘ouse and ‘e popped us inta a bay and ‘e almost drowned if I didn’t get ‘im and almost do CPR, I finally get ‘im ta France right? ‘Is whole closet, btw, suits. Formal wear, which like get it but also color? Hello? So I get ‘im ta our usual place and we do a whole photoshoot for Dee for Christmas. Was it for Christmas or just ‘cause? Idk, but I can show ya one day once Spicy is a little chiller wit’ t’e new peeps. I do good work! We should do a photoshoot for you and Sauna Boi sometime too. He seems like t;e kinda guy who wants his boyf as cute as button. And like, you already fit tat but a little clothin’ and phot magic? Take t’at ta t’e whole next level ya know? Danni framed Ben with his fingers, humming to himself as he thought but he jolted back to what he was doing.

“Oh, but Spicy at t’is point is tots dead. Like, ‘eart attack durin’ t’e tourney, it was very upsetti spagetti. We was eatin’ t;at like nobody’s business. So we t’row a ghost meetin’, idr what is called, so Papa take us ta t’e room and tries ta call Spicy. Shoot, no Poisson-Pas, I’m talkin’ ‘bout Poisson-Pas, not Spicy. Tries ta call Poisson-Pas, which duh doesn’t work ‘cause ‘e ain’t dead, but ‘fore we could talk ‘bout t;at, Beanie gets inta Papa’s ‘ead and drags us in wit’ ‘er and t’at’s a biiiiiiig no no in our ‘ouse. Pops is deat’ly terrified o’ telepat’s ‘cause when ‘e was in the MU, ‘e got ‘is brain rocked a lot and always ‘ad ta try ta kill t’e peeps ‘e loved. So t’at’s a whole problem t’at kinda makes us forget ‘bout Poisson-Pas not showin’ up when we called. But now, fast-froward, Dee has t’is journal t’in’ from Poisson-Pas back when Poisson-Pas wanted ta talk wit’ ‘im after t;e first disaster wit’ Spicy, which ‘e knew would ‘appen ‘cause it already ‘appened ya know. Dee ‘as a vision of… ‘onestly, idr but it showed a buncha dead people, ‘cludin’ ‘im and us!, and t’en ‘e reads t’is journal and we learn t’at Poisson-Pas is Spicy after we all get got and ‘e goes full on alcoholic bender, but wit’out t’e alcohol I t’ink if t’at makes sense, and t’ats what all t’ese photos are but t’en ‘e settles ‘ere ta try ta change t’e whole timeline ta stop us from gettin’ got and Dee from takin’ t’e silly slide in ta t’e next realm but someone found out and now Poisson-PAs got got and we are gunna ungot got ‘im!”

Ben listened attentively to Danni’s explanation. He had questions, but for the first time in a while he felt like he had a grasp on what the last few months had been like for Danni and his friends. He also understood Percy a lot more now. He sipped his cup of tea, sliding Danni’s over to him. There was a small weight lifted while Percy and Dorian were gone. Though, he was unsure of where they had gone. It did give him some time to think though. Ben didn’t consider himself smart. He was decent enough at science, which he attributed to his parents' love of the subject. With Danni’s explanation, as convoluted as it got, he was able to put the pieces together, finally. Ben nodded along.

“Thank you. Okay, so, something terrible happens. Percy time travels and becomes your teacher under the pseudonym Nemo. Puts you guys through the wringer trying to impart the skills you will need for this future terrible thing. Got in trouble for this and was falsified as dead. You guys figured out he wasn’t dead. Dorian has the book with clues. We are trying to find more information before we go and rescue Nemo.” Ben nodded again. That made enough sense. He was obviously going to keep helping. There was no reason not to, actually there were a plethora of reasons to help.

“Unless that book with the strange writing is what we were looking for... we should get back to searching. We don’t know how long it will be until a teacher happens to be passing by and hears us.” Ben made a mental note to clean up the tea set too.



Gemini closed the tear in which they were able to see the future events of their lives. Turning towards a fountain Dorian had seen many times when entering the realm, and seeing his new form within the reflection of the water that flowed. A soft, quiet, exclamation as he realized they did more than simple possession, more than what had happened with the DemiUrge. They'd become one being. He did, however, still have a job to do, and as his hand stretched out towards the open space before him, a simple appeared, the symbol of Gemini ♊️ with its left half was a deep red, the right a soft purple, and the center of it all began to glow a soft pink hue before opening up and showing the office where Danni and Ben were sat. Gemini stepped through the doorway, sitting on Nemo's desk as he picked up the book that was meant to be translated, and looked towards Danni and Ben. ”Sorry about that guys…we worked it all out.”

He opened up the book, his legs crossed beneath him, one hand curled and tapping against his chin. The symbols and letters seemed to shift and move before his eyes, as the meaning that previously had been undecipherable became obvious. He craned his neck, absorbing the information as he quickly turned through the pages, not reading in depth but understanding the general content of Nemo’s journal. He made a pleased noise, before snapping the book shut. “This is Poisson-Pas’ notes on the structure of Otherworld and its politics. We should bring this with us. It’ll take us a while to read it all.” He then picked up the tea he had left behind, before tossing it back and draining it in a single gulp. ”Thanks again for that, Ben.”

“Oh yeah, Poisson-Pas def ‘as a lot more-” Danni did a double take. “Wait, ya got t'at? Like, all o’ it? Like, no more questions, no need ta repeat myself, not'in’ ‘bout ‘ow ‘ot'in’ I said made no sense or was too much or my accent was too ‘ard ta listen ta?” Danni blinked a few times, stunned at that. Sometimes, Danni didn't even know what he was saying and he was the one who said the things. He really didn't fault anyone for it; Danni also forgot half the things that came out of his mouth because there was a lot.

“Cool, cool, cool, cool.” Danni swallowed the knot that was forming in his throat and instead sipped at his tea, wrinkling his nose at the taste. It was better than nothing but Danni heavily preferred coffee. He took a few more sips before a new voice suddenly appear and Danni yelped, his cup tumbling from his hands and hitting the ground. It shattered, tea and ceramic scattered across the ground, and Danni whirled around to face whoever was there.

“I ‘ain't even realized you disappeared! I told you ta stay put ‘cause ya don't know what kinda stuff ya could do! And ya missed my amazin’ recap of t'e Spicy-Poisson-Pas pipelines, which Ben ‘patently understood 100% ‘cause tbh, I ‘ad no idea what was comin’ outta my nout’ for like… 60% of t'at. It was all let t'e brain take t'e wheel and ‘ope it makes sense.” Danni bounced back over to Ben and squished his cheeks. “Aren'tcha just t'e bestest Benni boi? Oh shoot, I gotta clearly t'at up or t'ey're gunna know we were ‘ere!” Danni gasped as he spotted his own mess, hastily pulling open cabinets to try and find cleaning supplies.

“Uh, welcome back, and you’re welcome. Is that book what we were looking for then?” Ben smiled at Danni after he wiggled out of Danni squishing his cheeks. “And I don’t know if I understood 100% of it, but I understood enough to make the pieces make sense. Your accent isn’t that complicated. I’ve heard harder to understand ones. It did take me a bit to understand it, but I get it now. Honestly, once you get going on a subject and you mostly stay linear with what you’re saying it isn’t that hard. It is only when you bounce around between a bunch of subjects that I get a bit lost.”

Gemini scooted off of the desk, removing his legs from underneath himself as he stood on the floor, one hand on his hip holding the book the other pointing out towards the mess that Danni had made. ”Missed it? D I lived it. Any roads, I know exactly what I can do thank you very much.” He stuck his tongue out at Danni. Soft pink energy began to glow around the mess and shattered porcelain before it moved backwards in time fixing itself and returning to how it was before Danni had shattered it. ”See? But yeah, seems like this was the secret we expected him to be keeping. Not sure we'd find much else of use in here beyond memories of a time that hasn't happened.”

He paused for a moment, before picking up Danni’s teacup, and knocking that one back as well. ”I know you hate tea.”

“Poissan-Pas and Spicy are bot’ super picky ‘bout cleanliness, ‘ow does ‘e not ‘ave-” Danni heard the porcelain clatter as it fixed itself and Danni glanced over, gaped, and then a mischievous smile crawled over his face. He sauntered over to Gemini and threw his arm over his shoulders. “Well, well, well, t'at's a real inchrestin’ power ya got t'ere. Ya know, I gotta few pranks t'at we could pull ta start t'e year wit’ t'at kinda stuff. ‘ow long ya gunna be stickin’ ‘round? We gotta a few ‘ours still ‘fore we gotta pass out.” He blew a kiss at Ben.

“You are like t'e only one who t'inks t'at, Bennie boi. But I love t'at ‘boutchu.”

Ben felt his face warm up when Danni blew the kiss at him. “So, uh, what now?” He had been heading back to his room when they had been pulled into this distraction. Ben wasn’t sure what to make of... whatever it was that Dorian and Percy had become. Their power was interesting and he had a sort of an inkling of how they could do it considering Percy’s power set. He knew that when Dorian did the merging thing it would create powerful beings. Part of him wondered what his power combined like that would be. He let it pass by though and looked at the tea cabinet, he needed to clean all of that up before they left. So he set to washing the tea cups and dumping the leftover tea and water.

Gemini didn’t stiffen or appear the slightest bit unnerved as Danni threw an arm around his shoulders. “What did you have in mind?” he asked with a devilish grin. A few options immediately populated in his head. There were some members of the group who could be fun to mess with, yes, but he had far greater ambitions. There were some people at this school who had gone unpranked far too long, people who were thought to be untouchable. Headmaster Coulson. The Scarlet Witch. Firestar. They could prank them all. And he would. He was about to get into his scheme when his stomach growled loudly, and his gaze drifted to the bowl of (doubtlessly expired) candy on Nemo’s desk.

He attacked it like a starving piranha. Gemini turned to face Ben as he asked his question, mouth full of candy, some that contained the plastic wrapper still as his tongue stopped midway from unwrapping it. A Werthers fell out and onto the floor, rolling loudly in the silence as he contemplated Ben's question. ”Food. Oooooo and a movie! You guys wanna watch a movie? Pleeease!”

“OMG, yaaaaas. T'e carnival is still goin’ on so we can t'ose t'at terrible, pore cloggin’ delicious corn dogs, fried ice cream, churros- pretty much everyt'in’ terrible for ya before t'ey start slammin’ t'e reality ‘healthy stuff at ‘cha.” Danni bounced up and down excitedly, his own stomach growling at the idea. “Ben, whatcha wanna get? ‘ave ya ever ‘ad fried ice cream? Omg, we can share one of t'ose giant hot dogs! Can we, please, please, please? It'll be fuuun!” Danni bounded over to Ben while Gemini snatched up the candies and stuffed his face to help put the dishes away. He hip checked Ben gently as he slid in next to him.

“What movie we wanna watch? Technically, its Spicy's b-day bit I guess it's Gemini's too ‘cause it's ‘is first day ‘ere so bday boy's pick!”

“Americans,” Ben sighed. “How the heck do you fry Ice Cream? Wouldn’t it just melt? But yes I guess I’ll share a hot dog. But no mustard on my half, or hot sauce.” There was probably something else that Danni could add to his hot dog to make Ben suffer from the spicyness, but he hoped his point would be caught at least.

“I’m down to watch a movie. I don’t really care what. I’m not super picky. My parents had very different tastes so we’d always watch something different when we watched movies together. They’d switch who was picking.”

Gemini snorted, wiggling his eyes at Danni and Ben. ”Try not to smooch when you get to the middle of the dog you two.” He vanished from where he stood, appearing against the wall, leaning against it as he looked at the pair before him. ”Get me a chili dog, four churros, two bags of cotton candy, aaaaand…like five fried ice creams. I can get the movie room all set up for us. I'm thinking …Pirates! Jack Sparrow! Will Turner, the whole Shebang!” He mocked swordplay as he spoke, snatching up Nemo’s sword. The sword shifted once more, elongating to match Gemini’s frame, and he pointed the blade at the pair in a challenge.

“You best start believing in ghost stories, Danni, Ben. You’re in one!” he cackled. Gemini giggled, but it echoed around the room like a phantom child running amuck in a haunted house.

“Oh, it's so good Bennie Boi! Ya gotta wrap it in cornflakes and sugar and cimimmin and pop t'at yumminess in t'e fryer! So gooooooood.” Danni explained excitedly, helping dry things as Ben rinsed. “No mustard? Wiiild choice, Bennie, but we can work wit’ it, we can work wit’ it. Just ketchup t'en, or ya a relish kinda kind too?” Danni scoffed at Gemeni's teasing and flicked water at him.

“Listen, I ain't no ‘omecter. If either o’ t'em wanna kiss me, t'en t'ey need ta talk ta each ot'er first.” Danni stuck his tongue out at Gemini. “Plus, I t'ink ‘is boyf would be reaaaaaal comfy spookin’ me for t'e rest of my life.”

Danni laughed at Gemini's playfulness. “Okay, perf! You know ‘ow ta set up t'e movie nest. T'e extra stuff is in my bag - I get ta be in t'e middle!” Danni wiggled his finger in Gemini's face. “And I take my movie viewing very seriously. I will cry if it's not perfect.”

“I like relish.” Ben liked pickles in general. He froze for a few seconds when Danni insinuated that he or Chase could kiss him if they talked about it and wanted to. Then went back to finishing cleaning up the rest of the mess from making tea. If Dorian/Percy combo wasn’t there he would have told Danni right then and there that Chase and him had talked about it, and that Ben did want to try kissing Danni. He had become more certain he had similar feelings for Danni that he had had for Chase. His feelings for Chase were deeper now. “Pirates is a good movie. I’m down,” Ben agreed to the movie choice.

Gemini quickly bit Danni’s finger, before popping again and reappearing on Nemo’s chair. He put one leg on each arm rest, roughly balancing, before he snagged the chair with his telekinesis and slowly began to spin it. Evidently one of the people who made him up had undiagnosed ADHD. “Yes, yes, I know how to build a nest, I’ve spent enough time on AO3.”

Danni screeched as his finger was chopped on. He pouted at the faint teeth impression. “What is AO3 and ‘ow does it ‘elp you make a movie nest? T'at's a very specific kind o’ nest.” Danni shook his hand out and then slipped his arm through Ben's. “Okay, let's get rollin’! T'e night ain't gettin’ any younger and we got a ‘uge order ta fetch! Ready, Bennie boi?”

Ben nodded. He looked at the door. They had been phased through it previously and he had not forgotten the piles of flowers and other things outside it.

“Are we just barging out, or...” he trailed off leaving the question hanging.

Gemini had a mischievous grin upon his face. Giggling once more as the haunting echoed through the space and he wrapped his arms around Ben and Danni's shoulders. ”Oh don't you worry about that Ben. We've got you two covered.” Soft pink energy enveloped them all, time seemed to halt as all sounds died around them, and in a bright flash of pink, they all warped out of the space. Ben and Danni would appear out into the fair grounds, time frozen until the pink dissipated and sounds and motion came crashing back into life, while Gemini appeared within the trios room and began to set up the movie nest.

A little less than thirty minutes later, the three boys were reunited, Danni and Ben struggling under the weight of the food - and Amelie sniffing a little too curiously at the fried ice cream. Gemini had already plopped down on the right side of the nest - a tangled mess of blankets and pillows, the couches in the school’s movie room rearranged and shocked together to create a makeshift conversation pit - and the moment the other two settled down, the movie began to play, brought to dazzling reality with the Future Foundation’s proprietary liquid crystal display. It was probably for the best that Ben had already seen Pirates - while Danni talked nonstop throughout it, Gemini delivered every line of Keira Knightley, descending into a fit of giggles when Elizabeth tried on the corset, choking out “difficult to say!”, and jumping up to his feet to scream “parley!!!”

Despite shoving his face with enough food to feed a small army, Gemini slowly crashed - the quotes coming less often, pillows barely being randomly thrown at Danni and Ben, and the last fried ice cream only half heartedly eaten. Like a child, he curled up next to Danni, one hand loosely on Danni’s arm as his eyes fluttered closed. He was snoring softly soon after, completely missing Elizabeth and Jack’s rum consumption.

And then, suddenly, there were two sleeping boys where there had been one, Percy held securely in Dorian’s lap, his head tucked into his neck, Dorian’s free arm entangled around Danni, and Percy’s hand lightly holding onto Danni’s.

Ben had been quiet while they got food. He had tried a fried ice cream before placing his own order of a couple. He did like it. Though it was decadent in a way he wasn’t quite used to. He spent most of that time thinking about what Danni had said. During the movie he happily said quotes along with the others, he was a bit less exuberant than the other two. Overall it was fun and he was glad he had seen the movie before. If he hadn’t this would have been stressful. He made a mental note to never watch an old movie with them without watching it first.

Finally Gemini fell asleep and popped into two different people again. Ben blinked at the pair of them sleeping on Danni’s leg. He sat there quietly for a moment, making sure they weren’t going to wake up suddenly. Then spoke quietly to Danni, “Hey, you know how you said that you wouldn’t kiss me unless Chase and I discussed it first?” He took a deep breath. “We actually have. Chase was a bit jealous of you. I met you on the same day, but you were my friend first. And when we were on the trip I was texting you a bunch that Chase wasn’t sure if we were an item. We talked about it, and he said that if I like you too that’d be okay with him. He wouldn’t be mad if we kissed... If you wanted to kiss.”

Danni stared at Ben blankly. He'd been about to comment how relieved he was they were two people again, he was about to suggest they get them into bed, he was about to start brainstorming all the silly little pranks they could play on the two (shaving cream mustaches were permanently banned after seeing Poissan-Pas's trauma revolving around them) but everything in his head hit a hard wall as Ben informed him with no warning Ben and Chase discussed kissing him. Danni opened his mouth once, twice, and shut it each time as nothing came tumbling out. Anxiety bubbled in his stomach.

Kissing was nice, Danni liked kissing. He liked cuddling and kissing and hand holding and casual affection. And he envisioned having Ben wrapped up in his lap or popping his head on Ben's shoulder when training was real rough, of having him sit on the sink counter while Danni did his facial routine and listened to his day, or of getting into pillow fights at the strangest hours of the day just because they'd been coupled up for too long while it was raining and it sounded real nice. He didn't dare imagine Chase - pressed up against his back while they laid in bed as the morning broke and an alarm was blaring, racing to the top of stairs to see who got to give the other a piggyback ride, sparring with powers and without simply because they were a tough match up for each other. And he certainly couldn't bring himself to imagine all of them - playing footsie under a table while they picked food off each other's plates, board games nights at the Kingston-Grey's where the three of them sat on one sofa, limbs entangled, and argued about the best way to take down their parents, swapping lazy kisses and words of affection as they stared at the stars from the patio of a cabin far away from everyone else.

He didn't want to think about what came after that.

Instead, what Danni focused on was the jealousy. “Sauna Boi made you cancel on me and t'en claimed us talkin’ was a problem?! ‘ow rude!” Danni grumbled, unwilling to wake the sleeping pair. His hand tightened around Percy's. “Okay, uh, well, Bennie boi. I'mma be ‘onest ‘ere wit'cha. You are cute as a button and I t'ink anyone would be crazy ta turn ya down, so do I wanna smooch you til ya can't breat’? Yes. But I also know ya ‘ad a ‘ard connection when comin’ ‘ere so I don't wanna be like a thanks for bein’ my friend t'in’ kiss. I can get t'at kiss on the cheek or somet'in’ out and ‘bout but if ya t'ink you want more of us, t'en pop on up ‘ere and kiss me.” Danni patted his thigh.

“Also, cause I don't wanna wake t'ese two silly ducks.” Danni admitted sheepishly.

That was fair. It didn’t feel like a rejection either. He had opened up to Danni and didn’t feel like he was shutting him out. So Ben smiled and shook his head. “It isn't a thank you for being my friend kiss. I don't want to wake them either, but I do want to kiss you.”

Danni smiled back, a little shyly, but gingerly unwound Percy's hand from his and slid it into Dorian's. He carefully shifted Dorian down into the nest with Percy still in his lap and wiggled away from the slumbering pair so they wouldn't disturb them. He swung forward so he was kneeling instead and gently brought a hand to cradle Ben's face, a thumb caressing his cheek as he pressed their foreheads together and their noses brushed as Danni scanned the younger boy's face for any hint of changes.

“T'is okay so far?” Danni murmured into the silence of the room. Danni could feel the anticipation buzzing in him and he waited for confirmation, his eyes darting down to Ben's lips and back up again.

Ben could feel his heart pounding as Danni touched his face. He was a little surprised because he had thought Danni would want to wait. This quiet moment felt right though. He smiled and nodded. “Yes,” he said in a whisper, his voice soft, and breathy.

Danni hummed at the permission. With a feather light touch, he tilted Ben's head back and tilted his in time so he could glide down with barely any effort. Danni paused just a moment, once last glance to ensure he was comfortable, and then pressed his lips to Ben's, nibbling softly at his bottom lip. His lips were chapped, a little rough on his, but Danni let out an appreciative noise at the contact.

Ben closed his eyes as Danni’s lips met his. Warmth and a slight tingle spread from where Danni nibbled on his lip. Ben enjoyed it, he wanted more. He couldn’t help cataloging how he felt kissing Danni compared to Chase. His body’s reactions were similar. Danni was gentlier, soft and guiding. He liked both. Ben could tell that he would want to kiss Danni more, if he’d let him. He kissed back, pressing into Danni a little more. A small noise of enjoyment escaping between their lips.

Danni smiled into the kiss as Ben pressed closer and Danni deepened the kiss, his tongue running gently across Ben's lower lip in permission as he wound an arm around his shoulders. The rougher texture of Ben's lips on his was a pleasant sensation as Danni sighed contently, shifting forward until he could straddle Ben's lap and wrap both his arms around Ben's shoulder. One hand came up to play with the hair at the back of Ben's neck and the other dropped down his back, fingers tracing the knots of his spine.

Ben parted his lips at Danni's questing tongue, giving tacit permission. He wrapped his arms around Danni as he climbed onto his lap. A shudder went through him as Danni's hands started to explore him. He definitely liked this. There was no question in his mind about that, as his body reacted. Warmth spread from every spot Danni touched and he wanted more. Ben started to explore Danni with his own questing hands, one going up and pulling Danni in closer. Deeper into the kiss.

Danni hummed happily, his tongue dipping into Ben's mouth to glide along his tongue. He felt tingly and warm all at once and the space where their bodies pressed together was comforting. Danni had always been a tactile person and kissing let him experience so much more. He chased the taste of Ben, letting Ben draw him deeper into the kiss. Danni'd missed kissing and he drank Ben deeply, indulging shamelessly. He wanted to wrap himself around Ben and snuggle, swapping kisses all night (although Danni made a note in the back of his head to start putting chapstick on Ben anytime he applied it himself).

However, Danni had burning questions so he broke the kiss, eyes fluttering open slowly. He pressed a chaste kiss to Ben's lips, his nose, and his forehead before resting his head gently on Ben's. “So, ‘ow ya feelin’ t'ere starlight?”

Ben let out small sounds while kissing Danni. He tried to keep it from getting too loud considering the two sleeping boys next to him. Disturbing them would end the delightful kissing he was getting from Danni. When Danni pulled away he followed for a moment and then made a slightly unhappy sound at being separated from him. “I feel really good. You?” He liked the nickname, it was the first non-bug themed nickname someone called him since he had come here.

“I feel great. Kinda wanna keep kissin’ ya.” Danni whispered back, leaning in to do just that when his phone buzzed. He reached into the blankets and fished it out, tongue between his teeth as he propped his chin on Ben's head and scanned Chase's text. “Oh! Sauna boi is puttin’ on a party!!!! We gotta go!” Danni exclaimed loudly, clapping his hand over his mouth as he leaned back to check on the other two. When he realized that they weren't bothered, he sighed in relief. He leaned in to snatch one last peck from Ben and wiggled off his lap, turning to tuck the sleeping pair in a bit more and press a kiss on the top of each of their heads. He held his hand out for Ben to help him out of the ocean of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals.

“Come on! Let's go party and let t'ese two get t'eir bueaty rest!”

Ben had been about to agree that he would very much so like to keep kissing Danni when the text came through. The fact that Chase was putting on the party meant that even if Ben could convince Danni to stay put and keep making out to the siren song of the Pirates movie, he had to go. He was not skipping a party being put on by his boy friend, especially not to make out with... someone else. Hmm, he’d have to talk with Danni to see if there was a label and if so what they would use. For now kissing and cuddling buddy was fine with him.

He ignored his phone that had buzzed at the same time, assuming that it was the same text. “Alright, let’s go.” He took Danni’s hand and climbed out of the pile. He did look around and found a blanket to put over the sleeping Dorian and Percy. Danni and Ben left to go find the party.

Having no idea where the Otherworlder might be located, Victoria has followed the data that she had. She has recently arrived, so presumably had nowhere to crash. And she seemed to know Andy. Thus Victoria found herself knocking on the door of the room opposite hers.

Luna was stretched out on Andy's bed, staring at the ceiling when the knock on the door came. After their conversation, Luna had requested some supplies from Andy so she could shower. It was the only semblance of peace the girl had gotten after being plummeted through the realms and waking encased in ice.

The hot water had served to burn away most of the nightmare she found herself in and hide the tears she cried.

After her moment of self pity, Luna added some product to her hair to help keep her short cut from drying flat and returned to Andy's room. Where she now stood, still wrapped in a towel, and answered the door.

Luna frowned. ”Andy and Gideon aren't here.”

Unknown voice in Andy’s room. High probability of success then. Victoria raised her voice ever so slightly so it carried through the door. ”That’s fine. I’m looking for Glimpse, if that happens to be you.” she announced, before realizing she did not introduce herself yet. ”It’s Victoria, I dropped in for a moment on you and Andy back by the tent. And more so than the others I’m in need of an Otherworlder’s advice for this… adventure… the group seems to be dead set on, if I could please bend your ear for a few moments?”

Luna opened the door and looked Victoria up and down. ”Ya, go on then,” Luna said by way of invitation and stepped back into the room, leaving the door ajar. She sat back on Andy's bed, not at all concerned that she was still in a towel and talking to a stranger. At least it was one on one.

She poked through the toiletries Andy had offered for some lotion and popped open the fruity smelling bottle.

Interesting attire choice. Victoria thought briefly, before stepping in and leaning against the wall by the door.

”Well, in short-” she started, raising a hand. The nanites of her skin peeled off for a moment, displaying the mechanicals inside. ”I’m an android, and for some reason, as soon as I come near more powerful magic, it starts seeping into my code and eventually shuts me down. If that happens, my chassis can be turned back on, but it wouldn’t be me anymore, as some of my components need constant power supply to keep me being… me.”

“So, I’d really rather avoid that. Would you happen to know some way of preventing that?” Vicky asked, also gauging Glimpse for reaction. She had no idea where Otherworld stood on AI.

Luna's eyes shifted up, widening when she saw Victoria wasn't lying. She bolted from the bed, closing the distance between her and Victoria quickly.

”Where does your power supply come from? What is it about magic that negates your operating systems? Have you run diagnostics on it before? What system is your code written on? Can I see it?” Luna sent her questions off rapid fire as she examined the inner workings of Victoria's arm. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

”Who else assists you? Can you taste human food?” Luna's gaze shifted from Victoria's arm to stare into her eyes.

”Can Tish scan you? If I have your full workup, we can ensure your tech remains compatible with ours. Oh I can't believe this is happening!” Luna squealed, clasping her hands together.

Vicky came into this discussion expecting many outcomes. Being fangirled over wasn’t one of the likely outcomes. Being fangirled over by a gorgeous blonde wearing nothing but a towel wasn’t even on the list. Her verbal cadence also gave Danni a run for its money, so while Vicky’s core could certainly keep up, her personality emulation needed a few moments to catch up.

”I- ah- umm…” Focus woman! “In ascending order of importance? I can analyze food and how well it is made, though I don’t really have taste preferences. I’m Victoria van Dyne, so I’m not exactly starved for resources, as Hope van Dyne was my lead designer.” she started, grunting a ‘for better or for worse’ to herself after the last one.

”My system is- well…” she tugged on her collar nervously with her free hand, before sighing after failing to come up with a sugarcoat, ”The hardware’s Ultron, with some extra systems bolted on top. But I don’t run any actual Ultron code anymore!“ she hastened to add.

”As for power, well, any EM-field that can interact with the nanites in my skin. They’re quite efficient so sunlight will do most of the time, but the heat of a fire, a lightning strike, sticking my fingers into a powersocket, anything will do.”

She finally worked up through the list to the things she thought were relevant to her predicament. ”Well… it differs. Walking into a tent that was made to be bigger on the inside than the outside, that took all of a second and nearly finished me off. T’was only because of the witch that it belonged to doing something that I rebooted still being me. In a magic soaked quarter of New Orleans, the onset was a bit slower, but still only about a minute.”

“I always start seeing the magic first. Like, with my eyes, light that should not be there.” she fished out her phone and showed Luna the photo she edited in an attempt to explain to Dorian how weird his home looked to her. ”Then I lose motor control, and then it’s lights out. And every time, my code gets converted to runes.”

“I could show you more on those, but I got the stuff in the basement in my workshop, it’d be easier to show you there, if you’re interested. My dorm’s right across, you can rifle through my wardrobe if you need a spare change of clothes.” Tori pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

” In a nutshell, I tried to decode the language in them, and figure out a way to power magic with electric power, so that I can create an anti-magic field around myself, but I’m at my wit’s end. And while in the library I found out there is apparently a Fairy ring in England that can take you to Avalon, and that someone or something called ‘hero’s journey’ can be used to travel across the Otherworld, and a slew of notes on it’s realms and peoples, the best I could find about my issue is that some dwarves living in a mountain with legs may have the solution. So if you have some ideas on how I can make it at least long enough to find those dwarves? I’m all ears.” the android summed up, before one of her eyebrows shot up.

”A scan? That would depend: Who or what is Tish?”

Luna's eyes sparkled while Victoria talked. Her mind whirled in a hundred different directions, trying to diagnose in her head and figure out ways to shift Victoria's mechanics to withstand the differences in the Otherworld. She would have argued with Victoria that the food question was just as important, at least to her. But she had to remain on task. Like keeping Victoria stable. Which… Luna had no solution for.

The Otherworld resident frowned, taking a step back from Victoria. However, while Luna was mentally diagnosing Victoria, the humanoid was still talking.

”I don't know Hope, but Ultron… Isn't he a Transformer or something? From those movies or whatever?” Were the Transformers real? Well, she did have a motorcycle that was currently the shape of a rubik's cube in her jacket pocket.

The way her mainframe processed and interpreted magic was fascinating to Luna. The image Victoria showed was a mock-up, but it was still pretty cool. She needed to write this down.

”Yes, we'll need to find the dwarves. Unfortunately I've never converted human tech to Avalon approved tech. I am experienced with artifice work but the technology to adapt Earth tech is a dwarven secret. Luckily for you, one of my close friends is the daughter of the dwarf king, so we can work out a trade with her to help you. We'll have some time before the magic of the Otherworld takes you over, but we shouldn't dally. And, if you have a killswitch, you should tell me.”

Luna rummaged through Andy's room while she spoke, searching until she found a notebook and pens in Andy's bag. She started scribbling down Victoria's explanations, adding her own notes in the margins.

”Yes, I used the fairy ring in England all the time before… Well, I suppose I'll have to use one again. Although, I'm sure there is one nearby. They pop up all over.”

Luna finished her notes. The words were barely recognizable and there were small doodles here and there to help fill in the blanks when Luna's mind had moved too quickly.

”Oh! Tish, come say hello.” A fluttering noise could be heard from the pile of Luna's clothes. After a moment a moth came whirring over, circling Luna's head before going over to Victoria.

”This is Tish. She's my assistant I guess you could say, but she's much more than that. She's pure Avalon tech, with the ability to help me assess, diagnose, and repair many of the tech and contraptions we build back home.” The moth fluttered up and down, occasionally zipping to the side before moving back to center again. As she shifted, the gears inside could be seen working. Luna had become a fan of the steampunk style and loved seeing the inner workings of her passion projects revealed. Her motorcycle was built much the same.

Luna stuck the pen behind her ear and stood. ”Let's go to your room and conduct the scan. I want to see these runes you mentioned.”

Victoria was dumbfounded for a second. ”I… think you’re thinking of Unicron? But nevermind, my hardware is not something we can do much with, I can’t exactly transfer to a different shell at this point. Well… not easily.”

The dangling prize of magical immunity seemed to orbit her on an accretion disk. Always so close, and yet the black hole in the middle barely ever gets to take a bite. Still, a person Victoria just met having a dwarven princess for a friend who may be interested in a trade for something that could save her life was more than she had a minute ago, however tenuous straw to grasp it was. ”No killswitches that I know of.” She kept to herself the ‘which isn’t saying much’, considering she wasn’t told about the backdoor that would rob her of free will either.

When the little mechanical moth fluttered around, Vicky smiled. Steampunk wasn’t her go-to aesthetic, but she could appreciate work that would have gone into making something this small. She raised a finger for the moth to land on, curious if it would. Last but not least, it was cool to see another mechanics nerd join the group. She has been sorely lacking in competition in the field ever since that annoying asgardian left, and someone to talk to about it since… forever, since the asgardian was annoying. There was Dorian, but he also had a myriad of ther hobbies that took up his time. ”Alright then!” Tori grinned and shoved off the wall, leading the short way across the hall.

Since she didn’t yet have the time to do much more here than unpack, the room wasn’t all too messy. There was no sign of Marlena either, so Vicky shut the door behind Luna and pointed to the wardrobe, herself turning to face the other direction. ”Help yourself, if you want.” She just hoped noone would be there to ask why the newcomer looks like she just showered and was wearing Vicky’s stuff. ”Something I need to do for Tish to do the scan?”

Tish landed lightly on Victoria's finger. Her wings twitched slightly before the creature started to move up Victoria's hand. Luna set her notebook and pen aside, taking the hint that she should dress, and rummaged through Victoria's closet.

”You don't have much sense of style, do you?” Luna pulled out a few options, frowning and tucked them back in. She sighed, having to settle on leggings and a Linkin Park t-shirt.

”She'll do an internal scan. She normally assesses the hard to reach places I can't get to, fixes them up for me, and then comes back. She's also a great spy.” While Luna explained, Tish went to work slipping inside Victoria. She had worked her way up to the open arm and was just starting to poke around when something happened.

In Luna's excitement to get a look inside, she forgot the one thing Victoria told her over and over. She doesn’t do well with magic and Victoria starts to glitch. Her limbs move erratically, her eyes glow rainbows, and she starts spewing nonsense.

Luna quickly pulls the t-shirt over her head before running over, now fully dressed.

”Ah, bloody hell. Tish, abort.” The creature quickly evacuated Victoria and settled on Luna's shoulder. ”Sorry about that, Victoria. Are you okay?” After a moment, Vicky's systems level back out.

”I beg your pardon?! Suits never go out of style.” Vicky said, following up by quietly muttering something about barbarians. All those thoughts went out the window though as soon as it was revealed that the scan didn’t involve the moth flying around her or anything remotely sensible, but actually getting under her skin. ”Hey! WHOA!”

Well, Vicky found out the answer to a question she did not have the will to test yet. No, her reprogrammed core didn’t make the magic bullshittery go away. Also:

”Please remain calm while the ceiling finishes downloading yesterday.”

”Error: Bowel movement detected within weather patterns. Attempting to multiply by negative one.”

”I am operating within nominal parameters! It’s the parameters that are screaming!”

”Dark matter atoms have escaped their soup and are nesting in the ventilation.”

Finally the infernal machine crawled back out of her arm. Still, it took a minute for her code to recover enough to speak. When it did, Victoria did not look happy. ”Okay, woman. While I quite appreciated the view earlier, you skipped a few steps between that and trying to put something inside me. I insist on at least getting treated to something first.”

Shaking the last twitches out of her fingers, she made her skin reseal around her hand, clearly on display what she thought about doing that again. ”Well. Did you learn anything at least? If not, shall we move this downstairs where I have my notes?”

Luna picked up her notebook and scribbled down some notes after the informative experiment. She tapped her pen against her cheek, her mind on other things. She didn't even grasp Victoria's comment about Luna's former wardrobe.

”No… Unfortunately Tish was unable to really pick up on anything. Sorry, everyone else I usually encounter knows Tish. Or I don't want them knowing about her and she sneaks in places. But she's super friendly and gentle. Well…normally.” Luna looked sheepish for a moment before she went back to frowning.

”Guess we're going to have to go old school with this. Did your creator leave anything behind about involvement with magic or is this all new for you?” Luna asked.

”My family is famous for size manipulation and robotics. Magic, not so much, that usually married in, or at least tried to. I didn’t even encounter this phenomenon before this year, and I roommed with a mage. Guess he wasn’t that powerful.” Vicky thought out loud, before nodding towards the door, ”Come, it’ll be easier to show you.”

Leading down the stairs and to the basement, Victoria pushed the door of her workshop open and waved Luna inside. The space was only as big as it needed to be, but contained everything a synthetic might need to maintain itself. Multi-axis CNC, 3D printers of all kinds, a big bench for working mechanicals as well as electronics, every kind of tool reasonably imaginable and a rack full of raw materials and parts bins.

All of that was turned off and neatly stowed at the moment though, as the whole space was taken over by large sheets of paper hanging from clothes lines arranged to be easily viewed from the center of the room. There were two distinct sections to the arrangement; One contained an obscene amount of math and equations dealing with particle collisions and various field interactions, while the other was covered in the runes Vicky described entering her code, as evidenced by the writing also following the syntax of a computer code.

Luna walked into the room behind Victoria and instantly fell in love with the space. There were tools she recognized and others she didn't have a name for, but everything had its place and it was perfect. Luna had to actively remind herself to not go running around the space to try out the equipment. They were here for a purpose.

She walked over the charts, running her eyes over the code and runes.

”What have you discovered so far?” Luna asked, trying to make sense of it herself. Tish flew off her shoulder and fluttered around the paper, taking it in as well. Maybe there was something Tish could decipher but it wasn't part of her original programming. Luna would have to do some upgrades.

Victoria noticed Luna’s eyes ticking over the toolracks. ”Heh. Birds of a feather.” she commented, more to herself.

‘Not enough’ was the first answer that came to her mind about her discoveries, but she bit down on her tongue. ”The runes were the easy part. When the effect starts setting in, it just translates my code into this mess, so I was my own rosetta stone. I thought that if I upgraded my core to recognize the language I could get by, but under heavier doses, it actually starts mutating the code. That’s when the loss of motor control, speaking gibberish and death come in.” she explained.

She pointed out one of the code sequences and magic circles in particular. ”Once I understood the syntax, I figured I could use the language to actually cast myself. This is my first attempt. It’s not a true anti-magic field, but more of a brute force counter. I figured, being a machine, I can detect an attack and send out a spell that would counter it before it hits. Two problems though. One, wouldn’t protect me from passive magically saturated areas like the Strange Academy. Two, there’s still the matter of powering it.”

She moved over to the part that looked more like a demon lovechild of Baba Yaga and Niles Bohr. ”My toolkit already gives me a decent command of some of the fundamental forces in physics,” she said, pulling six generators from her pockets and attaching them to her hand, before demonstrating by pulling a piece of sheet steel with a magnetic field, pushing it away with a weak repulsor, suspending it in the air with a gravity field and then blasting it with an electric arc.

”So I figured if I can fit magic into physics, I could use my existing equipment, or do relatively small modifications to generate an actual anti-magic field. Not in a particle-antiparticle annihilation sense, more of a quantum effect that just says ‘the probability of magical energies and particles existing in this area is a limit approaching zero the closer you get to the source’.” she gave the gist of the idea while drawing a probability-distance chart on the whiteboard.

She then turned around to face Luna. ”Are you keeping up so far?”

Luna’s skin crawled pleasantly as the magnetic forces worked. It provided her with the same sensation magic did, but better. Luna’s brow had creased while Victoria spoke and explained what she had been encountering and how she was trying to manoeuvre around magic.

”Somewhat,” Luna responded honestly. ”But you are still trying to make magic work for your code. Magic doesn’t follow the rules of science, which is what I like about mechanics. You can jerry-rig anything to fit when it comes to mechanics. You would be better off trying to fit physics to magic. But as I said, that’s a closely guarded secret. We’ll have to find Kasimira and see what she can do.”

Luna stepped closer to the runes, trying to decipher the language there. She had never been good with runes, and that narrative continued here. Luna sighed, frustrated and looked over at Victoria.

”I don’t think I will be of any further use to you in preparing your body for the transition to the Otherworld. However, the Otherworld is a unique place that listens and hears the travellers of the realm. How much do you know about story magic?” Luna asked, popping herself up to sit on one of Victoria’s pristine work benches.

Tori smiled. At least she didn’t get told her ideas were bonkers straight away. ”Well, thanks, anyway. I did still learn something. I’m hoping you’re right about how much time I’ll have once I get there.” Then she grinned. Luna did deserve some reward for her effort.

”I’m kind of interested to see how your world reacts to this.” she sent the authorization codes remotely and her armor safe, that so far stood relatively unnoticed in the corner, hissed and clicked open. With a wave of her hand, Vicky started pulling the armor pieces towards herself. Where she put them on, Luna could briefly see the android’s nanite skin turn silver with a golden wire pattern before the armor seemed to glue itself to it.

”I don’t know much about magic in general. _Apparently.” she grumbled, shooting her papers an annoyed glance. Once the last piece of armor clicked on, she looked back at Luna. ”So I’m all ears, please. Teach me.”

Luna's eyes traveled over Victoria's skin, in awe of how it shifted to adhere to the new material. She jumped off the bench and circled Victoria, appraising her as if Luna was a salesperson looking over a car.

” This is like those Transformers. Incredible. What did you use for material? Is it coded to your DNA? Is that why it flew to you? What about… gah, bloody hell. Sorry. One track mind.” Luna shook her head and took a step back from Victoria.

”Story magic is unique. You could almost call it alive, as it shifts to match what is needed at that time. For example, the fairy rings. It doesn't matter if you use the same ring every time you enter the Otherworld, you will be let off in a different place depending on where you are needed. Depending on where your story needs you to be. So, because your tale needs you to be adapted to the Otherworld, we will be able to find who and what you seek.” Even though Luna had apologized for obsessing over Victoria's new look, the former Captain Britain unconsciously started circling Victoria again, tapping and tugging on the armor.

Vicky giggled, not minding an examination that was noninvasive. ”I think I’m more of a terminator than a transformer,” the android shrugged, ”Actually, no idea about the nanotech. I think mom may have had to buy some IP from Stark to do that, so it is probably under an NDA. And I don’t have DNA, there isn’t a shred of organic tissue in me. When I was transferred into this shell, it was a shapeless humanoid, and I just picked how I wanted to look like during installation. And no, I just used a linear gravity field to pull them. Tractor beam, so to speak.”

She thought about the magic of the Otherworld for a moment. ”So… Destiny on speedrun then? Well that oughta be interesting. Interesting you mention the Fairy rings… Is there a credible possibility it would spit each of us in a different part of the world then? I’m not too keen on finding myself alone in Everforge while the rest of us are deposited close to wherever they are holding Nemo.” Oh, the risk analysis file was growing by the minute, and none of the risks seem to trend in the ‘mitigated’ direction. ”Well, not much I can do about it though, I suppose.”

As the fairyland engineer started hovering around her again, Vicky grinned. ”Go ahead, ask, poke and prod. First though… I didn’t catch your name at any point? So unless you don’t mind Glimpse… Who are you?”

More questions flooded Luna’s mind, but she bit her lip to keep from voicing them right now, literally.

”Oh, I guess you guys can call me Luna or Glimpse. At least until I reclaim my Captain Britain title. As for the fairy rings, you are very correct. Although I am committed to helping you before the others. So, at the very least, it will be you and I traipsing through the kingdoms until we find Kasimira.” Luna came around to stand in front of Vicky once more. She looked up at Victoria, frowning slightly before she grinned. ”Just remember you said I could ask,” she said before Luna launched into another string of questions.

---

---

---

The group had agreed to meet at the Haunted Tree at 8 o’clock. It had been a compromise between those who wanted to leave for Otherworld as soon as possible and those who struggled to wake up before noon. Most at Margaret Carter were familiar with the Haunted Tree - a gigantic wych elm, it cast shadows over the nearby buildings, large and looming. There were no benches near it and even the other trees seemed to keep their distance. It would have been ideal to study or read under, had it not been for reports of childish voices and laughter, the ghost of some poor child clinging still to this pane. There were whispers as to how this ghost came to be, rumors of sightings and even the occasional paranormal investigation, but never anything definitive, never anything with proof…

And now, mushrooms had grown at its base, forming a near perfect ring. A portion of the circle was on the tree itself, a handful of mushrooms growing sideways on the trunk. And in the early morning light, there was almost an eerie shine to them, as if the mushrooms were not of this plane.

---

---

Danni had been insufferable all morning.

Traveling to Otherworld required the use of a faerie ring. They could be found all over the world, with local legends and superstitions warning of the danger of stepping within one. Children disappeared, loved ones vanished only to reappear stuttering and strange. In their vicinity, strange voices and apparitions were reported, the ghostly laughter of changelings, the melancholic songs of sirens, and trails of blood without a defined start or end. Entering a faerie ring puts the subject at the whims of Otherworld, of story magic - a force somehow more unpredictable than the chaos magic wielded by the Scarlet Witch.

The nearest one just happened to be at the Haunted Tree.

And Danni wasn’t about to let anyone hear the end of it. There had been a flurry of texts in the group chat the previous night, an onslaught of tree 🌲and ghost 👻 and 🧚fairy and 🍄mushroom emojis, long after Percy had woken up in the movie nest, curled up around his boyfriend. Dorian had apparently planned something for just the two of them in a secondary location, forcing Percy to sleepily teleport all of the pillows and stuffed animals and blankets back to Dorian’s room, all while his head was pounding as if he’d had a sugar high… which he essentially had had. The memories of being Gemini were a little indistinct, a little hazy around the edges, but he remembered the rush, the immense energy at his fingertips - remembered how so many of his inhibitions and boundaries and walls had fallen away, belonging to someone else - remembered with a pang of sadness how easy it had been to hold Danni’s hand and that even the occasional stray contact from Ben hadn’t been bothersome, even welcomed.

Dorian and Percy had relocated to the school’s observatory - it wasn’t as grand as others in the area like the Griffith, but a fair amount of money had been placed into its construction. Margaret Carter was not at a high elevation relative to the rest of Los Angeles, so light pollution was a constant battle, even with the height of the observatory compared to the rest of the school. It had been just the two of them, even more blankets and pillows spread out on the floor, letting them gaze up at the stars. Percy had pointed out to Dorian all the constellations he could see, a touch of sadness in his voice as he showed him Orion, but it was replaced with amusement as he pointed out Gemini to the east with its shining twin stars. Dorian had somehow even known to get Korolevskiy. He must have asked Percy’s moms. It was a complicated traditional Russian cake for birthdays and celebrations, layers of chocolate and cherry and walnut and poppyseed cake, bound together with Dulce De Leche or caramel buttercream, and covered in even more chocolate and fruit. His mother had purchased one from the Russian grocer nearby every year for his birthday. She must have told him about the snacks he had with it, too, as the ginger beer and peanut butter M&Ms were there with it.

The quiet, tender evening had done wonders for his fried nerves. He’d almost cried when Dorian gave him his birthday present - a ring that put a small shield all around his body, dampening out stray, accidental touch, but not so strong as to keep him from feeling his boyfriend’s arms wrapped around him, holding him tight to his chest. It had come with a cost though, beyond Danni blowing up their phones just as Percy had stopped watching the stars and begun kissing his boyfriend’s neck.

A cost that he hadn’t realized until the middle of the night, when he’d woke up thrashing, his body damp with sweat as a nightmare had held him in its grip. Everyone had died in his dream. And it had been his fault. He hadn’t been prepared. He hadn’t been ready. And before he had fully woken up, before he had managed to catch his breath, Dorian had crashed down on top of him - he’d been floating in his sleep - and it hurt more than usual. Somehow, Danni and April and Amelie had slept through the startled scream - through Percy frantically pacing as he realized he had nothing packed for the trip - through him trying to time travel back a few hours to when Ben wasn’t asleep in their room and he’d be able to throw his things together - to him struggling and only managing to go back eight minutes, having to hide out in the hallway to avoid paradox psychosis - to Dorian dragging him back in by his ear and telling him that he was bringing his magic tote bag and Percy could just borrow whatever he needed and he was going to go back to sleep now whether he had to possess him or not.

He still woke up early, though. He had quietly gone back into his room, tiptoeing as to not wake Ben if his roommate was still there. His camping supplies were… he had no idea where they were. He hadn’t touched any of it in over a year and he couldn’t show up at his mothers’ house and tear apart the garage looking for them. So instead he managed to quickly pack what he could find, rolling the clothes up so as to squeeze them into his bag better - two changes of clothes, his compass, his water bottle, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss, a journal and the pen necklace Dorian had given him, Agatha’s watch, Nemo’s journal on Otherworld, and a tiny first aid kit he’d kept in his dorm room. He almost forgot the most important thing, however - one of his copies of the Iliad was thrown into his bag at the end. He didn’t have any food, he didn’t have any means of creating shelter or sleeping comfortably… but at least he would be clean. Hopefully they could pull some pillows and blankets out of Dorian’s tote if they needed them. At the last second, he had thrown in his commander deck, too. Just in case.

And at least they’d had time to grab coffee at Secret IdentiTea before they’d headed to the tree. Danni had only been awake for little more than an hour and he’d delivered his bragging monologue about how he’d always known the Haunted Tree was important and no one believed him and if he hadn’t taken Bennie and Milli-illi-illipede there with Rillie on the tour, no one would’ve found the fairy ring and they’d have no way to go to Otherworld to get Poisson-Pas and his ugly mustache back.

Percy had asked DanThé for six shots. He might have been better off asking for twelve.

Or for something even stronger.

“So, how does this work?” he asked, taking another sip of his coffee before crouching down to the ground, examining the mushroom circle. It started on the ground but had grown onto the tree itself, a good three to four of the bright red mushrooms attached to the trunk of the wych elm, with the remaining dozen or so firmly on the ground. His eyes darted over towards Ben. He seemed like the type to know things about mushrooms. “Do we simply focus on our goal and step in? Is there a phrase or incantation? Do we need to hold hands to ensure no one is separated?” He hadn’t been there last night when everyone had discussed their findings about Otherworld. He regretted it slightly, but he knew he would have been a spicy, irritable mess today if he had been. Dorian had done the right thing by planning something for just the two of them. He was really lucky to have such a caring boyfriend. He had Dorian’s bracelet on his wrist.

Heavy on his hip was the scabbard with Nemo's - with his sword.

---

---

April had had a blast at the party the night before - even if it was a little weird that Percy and Dori never showed up for it, even if it had been kinda rude of Chase to snatch the plate of enchiladas out of Leah’s and their hands. But still, sugar and roller skating and karaoke? Incredible! They weren’t as good at roller skating as they were ice skating, keeping them from showing off and doing tricks (being able to control the ice on the rink was incredibly helpful) but they held their own all the same. How did Chase manage to close off the rink on the gym’s second floor for the party? They had no idea! And they hadn’t cared to ask. Their (private) socials were filled with pictures from the night and the new filters Filterella had to offer had been to die for - Leah with a duck face had been iconic. And if April had used the opportunity to also save some photos of Marlena with hearts around her… that was no one else’s business.

After the party winded down, April had received a little help in heisting their meds - and with the lithium pills acquired, they were all set to go to Otherworld! Their usual stuff had been tossed inside their school bag - the medication, the magic comb, the water from the River Styx, two gigantic water bottles that could barely fit inside the bag’s outer pockets, both covered in an onslaught of stickers, some sunscreen and sunglasses, the collapsible batons, a keyboard button fidget toy - and of course, the snacks they’d gotten from the store. Their tote bag was folded up and shoved inside too, so that way they could just reach on through to grab changes of clothes, toiletries, towels, blankets - whatever it was they might need. Their Kingston-Gray bracelet was on their wrist, even though it seemed the magic of Otherworld decided no adult interference - which was iconic. Pops would kill them if he knew what they were up to.

Also, Danni and Millie and Ben and them had been the MVPs of the group by finding the way to Otherworld!!! The Haunted Tree was all they needed!!!

They’d slept soundly and securely all night, curled up around Danni with Amelie snuggling in. The room had been a little warm but it was Los Angeles, even in winter it didn’t get super cold, so April didn’t think much of it. They’d just gone to bed wearing a tank top instead of a long sleeve and it had been enough to regulate their temperature. They’d woken up an hour or so before Danni the next morning, enough to hear Percy panic packing the next room over, but rather than do any extra packing themself, April scrolled through Snikt! There was an insane video of someone making sourdough bread and replacing all the water with blueberries that they needed to replicate. And one of a girl chopping wood with an axe that April watched a little too long.

But once everyone was up and it was time to go, they breezed through their morning routine - they texted a check in to the parents, just a heart emoji - did their skin care - combed out and styled their hair, keeping the rainbow dye for now - pulled on a grey and blue jumpsuit that was comfy and easy to move in while looking rad as fuck - did their makeup, relatively simple except for blue around their eyes and tiny little gems at the corners - and obviously rushed to Secret IdentiTea to get a venti white chocolate raspberry mocha and a molasses cookie from DanThé.

“Our first real adventure!!” April squealed excitedly, hugging their brothers and anyone else who would let them - they didn’t try with Percy, for which he was grateful. “Once everyone is here, we should take a selfie!!! It’s a huge moment!!! We’re moving up in the superhero world and can start doing things to help people!! We beat Arcade, we beat the Young Avengers and the Hex Girls, and now we are going to save Ser Nemo!! Also, Otherworld is gonna be so cool!!” They didn’t even think Pa had been to Otherworld. They could hardly contain their energy and excitement, as they bounced in place from foot to foot.

---

---

Leah was usually up before most people. Old habits meant her metaphorical inner clock woke her up not with a beep but with a foghorn. Ever the morning person, things were already in motion by six in the morning as the sun rose over Los Angeles. Black coffee was in her hand and a bagel in her stomach, and Leah did her best not to wake Sabine as she knelt before her bad and withdrew a wide cardboard box. Contained within was a smattering of whatnots that Leah had always kept with her. Pictures she had taken with the others, a few mementos from Asgard, a laptop she hadn't used much lately... And a container full of rocks.

She collected them. Not only were they useful for her powers, but her powers also made her a bit of a nerd about geology. It was useful to know how different places in the world reacted when she shifted the ground, and that attention she paid often had the byproduct of Leah collecting stones, gems, and anything adjacent that she came across. A chunk of scoria from Mount Rainier, prasiolite from near the Pacific Ring of Fire, Sandstone from the Sonoran Desert... Basalt from the ocean floor, she used part of that to make a gift for April, once. Leah snatched up a variety from the container and sorted through them. It was unlikely that they'd be useful in an actual fight, but stones and precious minerals had other uses. And, every now and then, Leah used to spend time making them look nice. It was a good bit of practice with her powers, and part of how she got so good at fine little details.

There was a small chance her powers wouldn't even work in Otherworld. It wasn't Earth, it wasn't Jotunheim, and it damn sure wasn't just going to be all caves and deserts. Fae could surely use a chunk of kanoite for something.

When she got the ones she wanted, she slid the box back under and and then looked at the seven foot long sword she found a place for by the wall.

Did Leah want to bring Sjafnamarr with her? It was practically weightless to her, and in a strange way, it was a puzzle piece in her being that she didn't know was missing one before they found that prophecy. It was a way to cast spells and wield magic that didn't require drawing or handling runes, there'd probably be dangerous situations where the group would need to fight. But Leah wasn't an expert in swordplay. And it wasn't like there was anyone who could teach her to wield that fucking thing. She wondered, for just a moment, if it'd be easier to just stick to her old MMA training if things went that far.

Well, they needed as many advantages as possible.

She threw her closet open and broke out some more things. Her "camping gear" wasn't exactly glamorous, but she was an outdoors-y kind of girl. A hefty duffel bag, a backpack and a hefty water bottle were retrieved, along with a book she hadn't gotten around to reading.

Then she left the dorm building and got the food she and April had prepared. She stored it in Home Ec room, and thankfully, no one had come in and imped the entire stash of rations she prepared. She had some time to kill, so Leah got in a few practice swings in the gym with her sword, just to get her mind ready for the journey. At 7:50AM, she left and walked across the Campus, wearing her Excelsior jacket and a lot of other things. Being so physically strong, all the things Leah carried on her body didn't weigh her down much. She appeared before the mystical tree that no one dared go near lest they walk away without their soul or with ten years of bad luck. Leah noticed Percy had a sword. That was weird, weren't those heavy for normal people?

"Starting to see a pattern, here," Leah commented, standing next to Percy and April. She elected not to comment on how unprepared he was. That was why she overprepared.

"Anyone else coming?"

---

---

Everyone around Marlena was gold and pale white.

Beneath her, there was nothing but champagne bubbles of every size. All stretching out in every direction, every horizon, until she couldn't see them anymore. She walked forward in the field, in a place so alone that she might've been the only living thing that ever walked the world. No flowers, no people, nothing but herself. Marlena walked and walked, and there was no difference between the hours and the seconds.

The champagne bubbles floated around her as she walked, drifting away and around her. It was almost beautiful in its own way. But the light that shone wasn't from the sun. There wasn't a sun to be seen, and there was scarcely any sky. Not a star to be seen, or a cloud to gaze upon. Rather, there were moons in the empty air. Three of them, so massive and bright as to be the horizon themselves, as though they were falling.

They surrounded her. Far to the left, there was the waxing crescent, the waning to the right, and front and center was the full moon. They didn't move, or maybe it would have been more accurate to say she didn't. She knew she walked along a fourth one. An empty moon, the new moon, but it couldn't be seen. It was too dark.

Marlena looked all around, until she saw something different.

Far ahead of her, a small speck of something she couldn't see clearly. She ran, faster than her feet were used to carrying her. The air burned her lungs with each breath, it felt like she ran for an eternity. The shape in the distance could've been moving either further or closer to her, and her eyes wouldn't have told one from the other. The bubbles floated away, up and around her until they obscured her vision. Marlena shoved them aside, but there were so many that it was almost impossible to see how far to go or how far she had gone. Her lungs began to ache, but her legs still carried her.

"Where..."

There.

The bubbles of champagne thinned out. It became easier to push through the morass and the rest flew off away when her body went to all fours. Marlena caught her breath and hauled herself up, to see where she'd gone. Standing before her was a rectangular structure, ten feet tall. It looked almost like a mural, flowing lines of the palest silver she'd ever seen, wreaths of gorgeous flowers that she couldn't tell the names of. All tracing the edges and the center, a wonderful work of art that didn't feel as if it belonged here.

She rested a hand on it. There was no sensation of touch.

"What are you?" Her voice didn't sound like hers.

Marlena walked around the edge of the structure, to look at the other side. She recognized what she saw. A depiction of a tree, and a body hanging upside down by a rope. A girl with curly, bouncy hair. She looked unhappy. The girl's name was Marlena Evans, depicted as the Hanged One.

For a moment, the real Marlena stared at the fake one, and the fake one stared at her.

On the face of the Hanged One, the eyes came ablaze.

Fire streaked across the card, down the middle and rising high. There wasn't enough time for Marlena to react, before a hand shot out of the blaze overtaking the card. The hand grabbed her throat, and she felt something in her chest give out. The hand was made of old, corroded metal, that reeked of aged coins. Marlena's hands flew to the wrist, but her breath was already gone and her throat stung.

"Sto-" She choked on her words. "St-Stop-Stop-"

In the flames, she saw a shape forming. An upper arm, a head, hair... The smell got worse.

Clink. Clink. Clink. The sound of gears.

"No- No... Stop- No-"

CLINK. CLINK. CLINK.

She felt her throat collapse.

Everything became black.

There was a crash, and then there was a scream.

Marlena was not in a strange land where the powers that be wanted her neck. She was not under the light of the moons. She on the floor, hands digging into the carpet of a dorm room, gasping for air. Pencils and bits of hand-made projects, a thermos and her phone hit the floor after her, flung about in her sleep by telekinetic force. A box she'd yet to open and unpack was flung across the room, its contents spilled everywhere against the door.

For long minutes, she choked on air that was trying to force its way in and out of her lungs. There was a throbbing pain in the back of her neck, and every breath was like brimstone in her mouth.

A bead of sweat landed on the floor.

Just a bad dream.

Marlena eventually calmed down enough to look up, and around. She was in her room, the one she shared with Vicky, who she didn't see crashing through a window ready to blast someone with an electromechanical Anihilationator 9000. She stood up and leaned against the wall. It was still dark, so she flipped on the lamp and saw the damage. The walls appeared fine, even if the room suddenly looked like someone had come in with a search warrant. She coughed and reached for water, feeling her throat start to relax.

Marlena rolled her shoulders and checked her phone. It was nearly six in the morning.

Well... No going back to sleep this early.

She spent half an hour re-organizing things and making sure her powers didn't accidentally destroy something. Then she sat down on her bed and thought about that dream she had. The Hanged One tried to kill her, and the card meant a change was coming. Marlena didn't put much stock in dreams and prophecies, but a lot of coincidences were lining up lately. Carlos saw her in that card, the Otherworld was somehow influencing everyone who wasn't in Excelsior's immediate company to ignore all mentions of the place. Oh, and now she was being attacked in nightmares.

She had spent plenty of time yesterday, before the party, reading up on Otherworld. It was a land of the medieval. Of swords, kingdoms and power of Story Magic. There was a narrative to be told, and that was how things carried out. Ominous prophecies weren't out of the question when a hero needed to go on a journey. Hollywood sure knew that much... But why her? She wasn't a hero in any sense. What story was there to be told from haunting her with that?

Clockwork didn't fit the aesthetics she saw in those books. Metal arms moldered and aged to the point of corrosion weren't what she thought of when she imagined the Fae.

The moons had so many meanings. Triple goddesses were a thing in many cultures, apparently. It wasn't even limited to gender, from her study. But she didn't know much about Fae religion. The arm didn't match the shadowy ones in the visions they were given, either.

What was going on?

She spent the time getting ready. Marlena grabbed a shower to wipe off the sweat she was caked in, then began packing her things. Food, knives in case things got heated, her cruiser. A backpack was good enough to pack everything she needed, since she wasn't much of a camper. Marlena was used to urban activities like spending whole days out in places where some people wouldn't go, but she didn't think that translated to wherever they were going. She got water and some things to write with. Then she gathered up her usual traveling gear, the sorts of things she'd always have on her back in Brooklyn.

The time between then and the meet-up was filled with pondering fashion, something that always put Marlena's mind to rest. She got her most outdoors-appropriate fit on and boarded around to pass the time. When she met the group, she looked plenty put-together. It seemed the group was just starting to link up, not many of them were here just yet.

"Hello, hello, hello," She withdrew a pocketbook from the underside of her button-up, layered over a sweater. Then she sat her cruiser down in the grass and sat on it, biding her time. "I'm ready to jump over there when we're all here, but I did learn a few things yesterday. I think everyone's ignoring us because of Story Magic. Exactly what it sounds like, we're in some scheme and someone, somewhere, doesn't want it stopped."

She opened her pocketbook and flipped to an empty page. Then she drew it in pieces, separated vertically across the page's length. "I saw this symbol in the Scarlet Witch's eyes, right as I tried asking her about Otherworld. Then I look into it, there's something really close to this that blocks memories. If I write it down fully, not separated like this, I'd probably forget something- Think that happened to me last time."

---

By the time Victoria answered what she could of Luna's questions and having offered the former Captain Britain the use of her bed for the night, Vicky was fashionably late to the party.

Fortunately, there was time for those attending to share what intel they found, so they were not going in completely blind. Vicky made sure to mention that there was a good chance of everyone being split up on arrival. Hopefully people would prepare accordingly.

She also got to talk to Sabine about the thing she wanted the psion to do. Although as soon as Vicky started to think what that was, she found that she could not remember. When the android inquired, Sabine informed her that they already had that conversation, it was done, and it was by Victoria's own request that Sabine erased the memory. That alone was enough to stop Victoria from analyzing how Sabine's powers impacted her hardware, despite her curiosity about it.

Once the group dispersed, Victoria went back to the workshop to do her own preparations. She eyeballed the bag she used to carry back when she was pretending to be human, and decided that it would be woefully inadequate. Instead, she dusted off the hardened box she used during the qualifiers. A bit of bending sheet metal later, she welded a console to the bottom of it what would allow her to hook it to the upper back of her armor.

Testing the fit and being relatively happy with the range of motion left to her, she set the box down and started thinking about what to bring. A lot came to mind. Too much. Okay, prioritize. What's the worst case here? It's not beig alone, it's actually having dependents.

At that thought, the rations and the first aid kit were moved from her bag to the box. Water. Fleshbags need water. The first thought was to bring some canteens, however, everyone sensible should already be bringing their own. What they needed was a way to refill, especially if part of the group got separated from April.

A bit more fabrication later, Vicky had a water filter that could be used to get water from natural sources to a potable state. Nothing she could do agains stuff like heavy metals, but hopefully a magical realm wouldn't be dumping copious amount of industrial waste into their rivers.

Okay. Water and food to last some time. Something to patch the others with. I'm the power bank and firestarter for whoever gets left with me. That should do for hopefully long enough. Now, what do I need?

In the end, Victoria made the decision that her armor was a bonus, not a necessity, and if it got damaged to the point of no use, she could do without. She needed to think of maintaining her chassis, as if her arm was disabled, it would be useless, armored or not. And while the rest of them could probably find decent enough doctor equivalent in the Otherworld, accordih to Luna, a mechanic capable of servicing her chassis would be much rarer.

By the time she was happy with her selection of tools and spare parts, the sun was already up. After a brief detour to the convenience store to pick up a few bulbs of garlic to distribute among the group, she put the armor on, and swung by the dorm to pick up a few changes of clothes. As she was getting ready to leave, her eyes landed on something she has not thought of for a while.

You know what? Why not. If nothing else, I may be able to pawn you for something actually useful. she thought as she took the viking shield Agatha gave her, hooking it to her arm.

---

She came upon the gathering group, tossing a bulb of garlic to each of them. "Mornin'. Keep those on you, especially while sleeping." she said as she unhooked the storage module from her back and set it down for now.

She moved to get a closer look at the fairy ring, before looking at Percy. "From what I gathered, it doesn't care what you want. It will send you where 'the story' needs you to be, whether that's exactly where you want to be, or completely alone and in peril."

A momentary, but intense pamg of annoyance shot through her mind. Weren't they doing this to save his sorry ass? How is half of the group doing better job preparing for this?

She walked back before she could say something that woupd blow up emotions again, and sat down next to the box, idly trying to juggle the garlic bulbs while she waited on others to arrive and she could give out the rest.