Blizz

Testing well everything!

who in the good goddamn sweet summertime fuck has summoned me

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

Unlike most of her schoolmates, Lexi didn’t have to deal with stupid things like overbearing parents or being grounded in the aftermath of the warehouse party. She didn’t even have that much trauma, only really caring about her best friend slash drummer who was torn apart in front of her. That had been pretty rough to deal with after the drugs had worn off and she realised what happened was real.

But she wasn’t the kind of person to lie around feeling sad. There was shit to do. For a start, she didn’t have a drummer anymore… And just as importantly, she had fucking magic. In the couple of days since the party shit had just kept getting weirder, so concentrating on figuring that out had become a priority.

Which was why she was in a small clearing, well off the beaten path, in the woods. At first she’d planned to go to the abandoned steel mill, but it was a common hangout for her group of rule breaking friends- the ones that were still alive, at least. She couldn’t be bothered to go through the motions of explaining shit to them right now. It was just too bothersome. How would she explain all the dead animals she’d collected without looking like a psycho anyway?

There were five small bodies in front of her, in varying states of decay. They were all small- three rats and two birds. She hadn’t killed them herself, obviously, but she seemed to have a knack for just finding corpses now. Maybe it was the magic. What a bullshit power that’d be if that was all there was to it. At least the Purple side, from what she could tell, had given her violent telekinesis.

Death isn’t the end. For some it is the beginning. Based on the cryptic words her ancestors had left her, she clearly had access to some kind of Necromancy. The only question was how the fuck did she use it?

Whoosh.

Somewhere overhead, between the branches of the trees, a bird soared. It was fast, too. Faster than most birds around Cornell, and that was probably because it looked like something straight from a storybook. It was bright gold, with red streaks at the end of its feathers.

Lexi tilted her head back, squinting at the brightly coloured bird. Did they get birds that bright here? Probably not, but she wasn’t some fucking bird expert. Maybe it had escaped from the nearest, and ended up here after hours of flying. It wasn’t exactly the strangest thing she’d seen. At least it wasn’t an ugly budget werewolf.

After staring at it for a moment, she went back to the dead animals in front of her. She poked one, trying to drag up a little spark of magic. Nothing. Fuck her stupid ancestors for leaving with with no proper instructions. Assholes. She scowled, pulling out a cigarette, playing with her lighter as she took a long drag. Her gaze went back to the tree line to see if the disgustingly gold bird was still there. Not her style, but if it dropped dead she may as well use its corpse.

”What the hell are you looking for over here?”

From the brush behind Lexi, Tommy stepped out. He had been walking through the woods with his golden creatures, looking for things. As he appeared, another golden animal followed him. And then another.

One looked like a giant, fat marten with a body big enough for someone to hide inside of. The other was a coyote made of glassy twine, plodding along behind him.

He saw Lexi and squinted.

”Is it Summon Satan hour already?” He remarked, looking at the dead animals on the ground in front of her.

”Oh no, you caught me, Timmy.” Lexi intoned, tone dripping with sarcasm. As turned around to face him her smile dropped, replaced by a lazy smile. She quickly glanced over the new golden animals, though she didn’t acknowledge them as her narrowed gaze went back to Tommy. ”A demon’s the only way to deal with Tyler. Maybe he’ll stop being such an ass when he takes one up there.”

The flicked cigarette ass onto the ground, taking another drag. ”I’m pleasantly surprised you haven’t offed yourself yet. Did you find your calling traipsing through the woods with some new, lame pets?”

”Something like that.” The big chunky one trotted over to him, and the side of his body opened up like a window. It was hollow inside. Tommy reached in and pulled out a water bottle. ”Magic’s weird as shit. You ever seen someone make a bird out of blood?”

As if to illustrate his point, the golden bird flew down and landed on the carrier monster’s head.

Lexi raised an eyebrow, though her expression didn’t change much at either the display of magic or mention of it. She just mentally added him to the list of ‘losers with magic’. Lucky him, he was second on it, right after Tyler.

”Not a party trick I’ve bothered seeing before, no,” she sneered. Though it did give her an idea. Thankfully getting an idea from Tommy wasn’t the end of the world- while he was an outcast in the lamest way possible, he wasn’t one of the people she’d go out of her way to target. He wasn’t some up his own ass rule follower. This didn’t earn him any respect from Lexi, but it at least lessened her disdain from him.

”You got a knife?”

”Uh-” He patted his pockets to look for it, then checked the creature. He pulled a switchblade out of its internal storage and tossed it at her.

Lexi caught it smoothly, not bothering to thank him as she turned back to her dead animals. She flicked out the blade and calmly cut her right pinkie with it. It wasn’t exactly the best finger to get blood from, but she wasn’t going to ruin her bass playing for some unlikely to work magical experiment. With the switchblade having served its purpose, she unceremoniously tossed it back to Tommy.

She pressed her hand onto one of the dead rats, playing with her lighter in the other. Even with her warm blood pressed into its cold body, there were no signs of life. Blood’s useless, then. But as she gripped her lighter a little tighter, the body started to change subtly underneath her hand. The skin that had begun to peel off regrew, its little legs getting a little less floppy. It was still a corpse, just a fresher looking one.

”Shame, I’d hoped that’d be enough to summon Satan.”

”Seems that everyone who does magic needs something to do it with.” Tommy pulled out his deck of cards from his jacket. They started to glitter with golden smoke. ”I always have to pull monsters out of these, or make one with them. Tyler’s got that cheap football ring, Vicky uses her bat.”

”She has magic?” Lexi sneered, seeming to focus on Vicky’s magic rather than the whole object to do magic thing. She wasn’t exactly going to admit she hadn’t realised and thank him now, was she? It explained why nothing had been happening before, if her lighter was that object for her. Made sense. She’d been holding it the whole attack. ”Like she needed something to inflate her ego further.”

She looked at Tommy’s magically smoking deck of cards. Her lighter didn’t have any flashy effects, beyond its actually practical use of letting her smoke. And freshen up corpses, it seemed.

”Did your ancestors tell you that, or were they just as useless as mine?”

”They did not tell me shit. They told me magic’s real, which… You fucking think? Then they hurried off like something was gonna kill ‘em. No, I had to figure it out myself.”

The coyote scratched at the dirt.

”So, you’re a necromancer or something? You can’t just conjure up a ghost to go haunt someone?”

”Then I’d have to deal with some dead asshole chatting about how sad they are to be dead.” Lexi rolled her eyes. She turned her attention back to the fresh corpse, finding it more natural to channel her magic now that she’d figured out the secret- having her lighter in one hand. Now turned back to its state on the day it died, its legs started to twitch, and it suddenly flipped onto its front. It stood perfectly still and stared at Lexi, waiting for orders.

She didn’t actually know if she could conjure up a ghost, but it wasn’t all that appealing of an idea. Ghosts always talked in movies. Plus, it wasn’t like there were any dead people she wanted to see.

”Yeah, I’m a necromancer. I’m not just gathering corpses for fun.” She held out her hand and the undead rat crawled up it, before resting on her shoulder. ”What’re you, a flashy summoner?”

”Guess so. I made these things, been figuring out how that works. Came out here to grab tree limbs or rocks, whatever I can use to make more of them.” Tommy watched the rat move around. It probably stank.

”I bet if I get a piece of some monster like the one that tore up the party, I can make something weird. Like a werewolf or something, I dunno.”

”Oh right, I’m sure a monster like that’ll happily give you a limb to play with.” Lexi rolled her eyes. She’d forgotten quite how boring and unreactive Tommy was. Sure, he sometimes gave out good jabs in return to the shit she threw at him, but he was acting like she cared about what he was doing. She didn’t give a fuck about how he made his summons or what he was going to do. Didn’t affect her. She’d only be tolerating him cause it had been entertaining for a while, and useful.

”I bet you’d enjoy a freaky werewolf summon- if you don’t get ripped apart tryna harvest some monsters organs for it.”

”Yeah, maybe I’ll send it to rip Tyler’s face off. Or Vicky’s, after she almost fucking got me arrested because she thought the cops would do something.”

Tommy walked over to a tree and wrenched a branch off it. He needed things that were sturdy, like bits of metal or wood. Stuff he could work with. ”I mean, who expects cops to know anything about wizard shit?”

Lexi let out a short huff of air that was almost a laugh. She’d had plenty of run-ins with the town’s cops. They were absolutely itching to catch her doing something properly illegal, but she ran circles around them. They were horrendously incompetent.

”Like they know shit about anything. They only care about acting intimidating, but none of ‘em have the brains to back shit up.” At least he was talking about something interesting now. ”Vicky fits right in… But she’d snitch to a ghost if she thought she’d get something outta it. That bitch was probably tryna preserve her own skin. Not a surprise when she used her ex-boyfriend as a meat shield.”

Tommy stopped what he was doing and turned to give Lexi the most What the fuck? stare he could manage. ”She just let that werewolf thing kill him? What the fuck is wrong with people who play sports? I’m seeing a pattern, there… Jesus fuck. It’s the concussions, isn’t it? Swelling their damn brains so much there’s not enough air going in or some shit. Explains a few things.”

Lexi actually laughed this time. She didn’t know for a fact that Vicky had pushed her boyfriend in front of the monster, but she’d heard the rumours. It didn’t matter if it was true or not to her. ”Oh yeah, it’s the same for all those jocks. It’s easy to damage something already so fucking small.”

With a grin she crouched back down in front of her animal corpses, placing her hand on one of the birds this time. It was a bit bigger, so it took more work as her magic started to channel through it. ”Vicky’s always been a selfish bitch, but the brain damage is definitely why Tyler’s got grand delusionals of being some kind of fucking hero. He’ll probably be the next guy used as a meatshield by her… And he’ll deserve it.”

”Guess so.” He wrenched a relatively straight limb off of a tree and had his bird saw it in two with its feathers. They went into the carrier. ”Son of a bitch thought that thing was my fault. Appeared out of thin air, blaming me for what happened. You try doing that on a person when it happened?”

”What, the raising the dead shit? What fucking corpse would I have done it on? Everyone was torn apart.” Lexi rolled her eyes. She definitely hadn’t thought about it, because she was barely thinking at the time- what with being drunk and high. The telekinesis had come more naturally in the moment. ”I don’t have any use for a flesh puddle, much as it would’ve been fun to see people’s reactions to it.”

”Hm. Maybe it’d get bigger when you kill something. Stick a corpse in the puddle and move it around. Kill a bunch of birds, make it even bigger.” Tommy made some half-assed jazz hand gestures. ”Flesh tsunami.”

”Wow, psycho over here wants me to kill animals for a flesh monstrosity,” Lexi intoned. For once her sarcastic taunting didn’t seem to be jabbing at Tommy, but rather friendly ribbing going along with the conversation. Probably. ”Find me another fucked up corpse and I’ll make it.”

”How many fucked up corpses do you have? You got some way of keeping them from rotting too much?”

”Oh, a whole fridge full. I have preserving them down to an art.” Lexi intoned sarcastically. ”Fucking none, obviously. I didn’t go dragging dead bodies away after the party, I’m not a complete psycho.”

For a brief moment, Tommy considered calling her out on that. He didn’t. ”Yeah, well… Cornell’s covered in woods, maybe we go bag a few more birds and stitch ‘em together. Actually, you can probably find some weird animals now. Who the fuck knows what’s different after Cornell got fucking split open.”

He grabbed two more relatively straight branches off of trees, chopped them down with his golden summon, and stashed them. ”There are pieces of the town that are different, after that night. Like whole blocks got replaced with fakes. It’s worse when you drive out towards the highway, and I’m pretty sure some people are just pretending no one died.”

’Did I ask,’ was on the tip of Lexi's tongue, but for once she let it die there rather than voicing the snide thought. There was an eye roll, however. He was acting like she was some idiot who had been cowering inside instead of going through her normal routine of playing truant on the streets till well past the curfew she should have. She'd seen some of the strange shit. It just didn't really bother her.

”People are great at ignoring the shit they don't understand… Town's always been a bit fucking weird at night, though. It's just noticeably worse,” she shrugged nonchalantly. ”And don't go thinking that just cause I'm not ripping you a new one we're friends or some shit. There's no we traipsing around the forest looking for dead birds like a pair of psycho losers. Once you've collected all your wood, you can go on your merry loner way.”

”Yeah, yeah… Fuck you very much and so on and so forth,” Tommy remarked, throwing a middle finger over his shoulder at her without sounding offended, which he wasn’t. He grabbed a rock and shoved it into the summon.

”You.” He pointed at the bird. ”Get gone, do your thing. You-” Then the dog. ”Back to work, monsters and whatnot. Big guy, go small, we’re done here.”

The bird took to the air, the dog trotted off, and the mustelid thing just vanished.

Lexi rolled her eyes, giving him a snide smile. It was a shame he wasn’t easy to piss off like so many other teenagers… One of the reasons she didn’t bother targeting him. It was also a shame for every thing he said that Lexi agreed with, he went on to say some lame shit she didn’t care about.

”Try not to die,” she said, sounding more like a curse than a genuine wish. ”It’d be a shame, since you’re not completely lame. Oh- You don’t happen to play the drums, do you? I need a new expendable drummer.”

”Nope.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

Marlena’s face said enough.

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

But Sabine’s was. At least in part.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Cool.”

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

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

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

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

”Like this.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This was going to hurt.

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

”Got you!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Make sense?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To her mother.

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

---

Location: First Gate
Grimoire:
Skills:
Neverish Fit

---

---

He was pretty much out of commission for the time being, then. Okay, that was less than desirable, less hands on deck for if something went wrong. It did mean things would be less complicated if a disaster happened, though. Less metaphorical chickens running around. They could work with that, at the very least. The doorway into the Neverish stood wide open, and Rohan seemed to be the one most willing to actually set foot in there. That was ironic, he'd had his fair share of strange realms long ago. But, alas.

"Guess I'll go first." He walked forward and stood just in front of the First Gate.

He shut his eyes and gently thumped his staff against the ground.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk... Rohan listened for the rhythm of the fused heart, and felt it beating with the rotten one in his chest. Then, he and Root walked in.

And it was cold.

The portal swallowed them both whole, magic rolling over them with the thickness of ink. It latched on as tendrils, and frost collected on Rohan’s arms. Root’s talons dug into his master’s shirt, and their eyes were forced shut by the light on the other side.

It burned. It froze. It consumed.

For a brief moment, there was just darkness.

The Neverish was expansive in ways that language failed to depict. To him, it was everywhere and nowhere. It wasn’t the first time Rohan had been inside a place that defied the rules of conventional space, wherein the boundaries were fluid or a mere suggestion. The Forest of Ghosts was a place where the ground and sky were, at the very least, defined enough to know which way was up.

But here, there were passages spiraling off into Oblivion. The roiling magic he passed through weaving itself into something that certainly looked physical, but Rohan wouldn’t have tried his luck if he could.

He blinked, and the passages were dust.

How did the brothers build something in here?

Rohan reached up and grabbed Root.

”Hold on.”

The two plummeted into a black abyss underneath them. It was blacker than the darkest skies they’d ever seen.

Down.

Down.

And down.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Why did Andy jump you?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She got some egg rolls.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Hey, what-” Oh.

Oh. Yeah. He did call it comparing scars.

Yikes. Leah felt like an idiot suddenly.

”...Nice one, Jordan.” She sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leah blinked.

”...Chase. That’s me.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She couldn’t believe what he was saying.

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

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

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

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

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

She felt sick.

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

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

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

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

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

”Let’s go.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”You’re pretty okay, too.”

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

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

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

The plastic cup went into a trash can.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”...What? Who the fuck’s Mordred?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recollections: Where the Folds Meet

The sounds of hell letting loose seemed to be growing distant. Tommy used the flashlight of his phone to keep going forward, while the golden creature circled him overhead. The adrenaline in his body was at a midway point between “On” and “Dump,” where he felt like stopping meant not getting back up. His thoughts were held together by sticks and glue, the sticks being the knowledge those ghosts had imparted onto him, and the glue being his survival.

”Magic is real. Magic… Is real.” He whispered the words out loud, between the light thunks of his improvised walking stick.

”What the hell else is r-“

Thud.

Something crashed onto Tommy with the force of a braindead jock hitting a two hundred pound wall on legs. Before he had the chance to react, he was face-down in the dirt and feeling the complaint of his injuries. He felt blood soak into his jacket as he landed on his wounded hand. The adrenaline came back to full blast.

”What in the good goddamn fucking shit is-“ He rolled and nearly ran for his life again, expecting something dangerous. But it was just Tyler Fox, out of nowhere.

”Where the fuck did you come from?”

Tyler gritted his teeth as his hand quickly grabbed the collar of Tommy’s shirt. “Talk,” Tyler balked as his free hand balled into a fist, “did you somehow cause this?”

”Cause what? Get your damn hands off me, Fox,“ He growled. ”I don’t know what the fuck’s going on. How did-“

The golden bird screeched. Then Tommy saw it swooping down.

”Hey- Hey hey!” Tommy lunged forward around Tyler and grabbed the damn thing midair. His hand was barely big enough to grab it by the beak. ”Stop!”

Tyler was stunned. Did this bitch try to deflect from his line of questions by grabbing a bird? The nerve. He was the nerd who probably played Dungeons and Dragons. He was the asshole who was most likely to be a believer in Satan. Answering a simple question with a question was low-key a soy boy beta male maneuver, and that pissed Tyler off. Tyler grabbed a rock and flicked it past Tommy while still facing the opposite direction. Tyler swapped, instantly appearing back in front of Tommy. He grinned for a second as he found this magic shit fun. He took a step forward and pushed his arm towards Tommy’s chest. “You show up, a fucking monster appears, and you’re fucking running away. That’s suss as, bro.”

”I’m not your bro. You’re here too, and I know damn well no one’s inviting you either,” He remarked, pushing himself up and letting the magic bird go.

”Leave him alone, he didn’t cause whatever happened in there.”

It ruffled its scarlet feathers and perched on the ground. Tommy grabbed his stick and leaned against it. ”Did you follow me out here? Because whatever the hell’s going on, it wasn’t me. Why would that be me?”

“Everyone invited me, bro. I am the star fucking quarterback in a rustbelt town,” Tyler grinned. He was so impressive. “You don’t know how much those fucking plebs wanted me there. But now,” a dead nerd flashed across his mind, the one he had condemned to death, and he had forgotten his name already, “you got that monster trying to attack me, and you expect me to think you did not summon that giant wolf thing? Admit it, freak.”

”That bird thing just came out of me five minutes ago.” Tommy raised up a bloodied hand, and more of that golden smoke started to come off his fingers. ”I saw people that weren’t really there, they told me magic’s real, next thing I know, I made that.”

The weird bird fixed an odd stare at Tyler. Its eyes were just two red orbs against half-real feathers.

”And now people are getting murdered, and you wanna bitch at me about it?”

This was going nowhere fast. Tyler knew he needed to pivot the questions to ensure that he could still blame Tommy without it going overboard. “Yeah, people are getting murdered up there,” Tyler paused as he pointed back to the warehouse, “and because you ran, because all of you ran, we couldn’t stop it. You fucking coward.”

”Stop it? Stop it?! Do you even know what it is?!” He balked. ”I just watched people get cut in half, like they were paper, what is wrong with you?”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Mister Star Athlete wanted to fight whatever that was instead of going home. ”One minute, I’m talking to you, and then it’s like someone drugged me. Everything stopped, now I’m throwing magic around because that’s a thing, apparently.”

Good. Tyler’s lightning quick style of attack has finally caught Tommy off guard. Now, he just needs to lull him in up close with the rushing attack only to throw it deep to put him out of his misery. That’s what he’ll do. He’ll be the hero at last. All he has to do is… Tyler craned his head. There was something fantasy about that last sentence. One minute he was stuck in the crowd, and the next he was feeling drugged, and to escape the high he had to use magic, that was a thing apparently. Did everyone who had magic go through the same experience? Tyler knew he needed to learn and understand the rules of this game before he truly formulated a gameplan. You can’t expect to run an efficient offense if you’re drawing a penalty on every play after all. Thus, as he loosened his muscles, he decided to spare Tommy for this moment.

“I met an old Prussian soldier. Said he was my ancestor, and he taught me as much as he could. Did you have the same thing happen?” Tyler paused as he reached down and grabbed several loose stones.

”…Kind of. Some old guy, and there was this woman with a snake around her neck. They-“ Tommy inched down and grabbed his phone where it had been knocked over. He moved it and pointed the light straight up. ”They said magic was real, and something happened before they’d tell me.” He reached into his blood-soaked jacket. ”Their faces were blurred, then I heard something. Then they looked normal… They showed me where to go to get out of there, they didn’t give me much to go off.” He withdrew his deck of cards that the bird was made from, and then knelt down.

”I don’t get why, but they sounded like they were in a hurry.” Tommy sat the deck down with his phone and snapped the branch he’d been using to stay upright in half. Then into quarters. ”The old man said to reach for these, then- Then I’d just know. I made that bird from- From fucking magic, and blood,” He finished, pulling out another card; The Nine of Spades.

“Have you tested your magic much, yet?” Tyler paused as he began to toss a stone in his left hand up into the air and catch it once more.

”Got it five minutes ago, so no.” He held the branches over the card, and it started to glow gold. And then the branches began to glow as well, held in place above the ground by some force.

”Okay… And I just- I don’t know. Fill in the gaps, I think.” What was he going to make this time? Tommy looked around, thinking. He didn’t understand how this was supposed to work, if blood was a necessity every time, or-

He saw something in the distance that caught his eye. The moonlight caught on something metal between two trees. Tommy stood up and hobbled over, about thirty feet away. It was large and covered in rust, and it looked as if vines and roots were growing out of it.

Red paint that was probably older then Tommy’s dad. An abandoned truck. The moonlight pointed out the mirror.

Then, Tommy had an idea.

He grabbed the old, cracked mirror by the metal frame around it and hauled. This truck must’ve been drove by someone half a century ago, back before the warehouses were here. Back when people could afford nice things. He wrenched it free, and the rusted-out arm it was attached to gave away.

”Yeah. I got it now.” He plodded back over and chucked the mirror at the arrangement of floating sticks, it was subsumed into the gold energy, glowing all the same.

”So…” The mirror and the sticks looked vaguely like something with four legs, so Tommy held out and hand and pictured an animal in his head. Something on all fours, that could see as well as a mirror could. The pieces he gathered moved and swirled around each other.

Gold Lux weaved between the pieces and around them, filling out what would be flesh on anything else. He paid attention to the eyes the most, and then the body felt like an extension of that. Wavy patterns reminiscent of spades, made from interlocking strands of wood.

The creature glowed, settled on the ground. The Nine of Spaces glinted gold against the light from Tommy’ phone. He had created a canine, something like a coyote that sat upright and craned its head at Tyler. Its eyes were the purest white, opalescent with a yellow sheen.

It didn’t move a muscle.

”I made the bird to hurt things… This one, I think I want him to watch for things. A guard dog.”

Fascinating.

Tyler’s curiosity piqued at the display of magic before him. This fucking loser might prove to have some worth, creating a line for him to command the field behind. That would require him to be fucking worth the effort, and Tyler did not think that he had a single heroic or decent bone in his body. He would need to be tested, he would need to be taken through a baptism by fire, and if he emerged on the other side of two-a-days in one piece, he would earn the right to be a part of his team. Tyler leaned down and grabbed a twig, and tossed it above.

“I can swap objects with each other.” Tyler paused as he swapped the twig in the air with the stone he had tossed above his hand, catching the twig as it swapped before waiting a second for the stone to drop down a second later and catching it as well.

”Sounds useful.” Tommy flexed the fingers of his busted hand. ”Is that how-”

The dog thing opened its mouth and made some groaning noise. It turned its head to look at something past the trees.

”...What the fuck now?” He grabbed his phone and pointed the flashlight that way.

For a moment the light shined on a still forest, a hard shift from the calamity that was occurring just beyond the trees. Then as the conversation stilled the boys would be able to hear it: a strange, arrhythmic wail interspliced with the distant sounds of all hell breaking loose from the warehouse. Perhaps it was the siren of an emergency vehicle on the way to the warehouse, only instead of getting further away it was coming closer, growing louder, sounding less mechanical and more guttural, feral.

The illuminated leaves began to rustle and shake as the horrible noise began to fill the air around them, becoming oppressive, perhaps bloodcurdling, when suddenly erupting from the brush was a wide-eyed, bloodsoaked Vicky. Brambles stuck to her ruined outfit and a few twigs had nestled their way into her hair. A fresh scratch was on her cheek, hidden beneath the crimson mask, her face twisted in a look of horror that rapidly jumped to confusion as she threw up a hand to shield from the light before shifting to recognition and then finally settling on rage.

“What! The! Fuck! Tyler! You! Ab—”

Vicky jumped as a coyote growl cut her off. She didn’t even hesitate as she caught sight of the critter, balled up the heavy jacket in her hands, and chucked it at the animal as hard as she could. Her mind hadn’t fully registered what she had just done as she blitzed Tyler, seemingly unaware that Tommy was even present, throwing wild, windmill punches at the motherfucker who had the gall to completely ditch her in her time of need. Normally her strikes would have some oomph to them—her pre-football game ritual of trying to give Tyler a dead arm for “good luck” proof of that—but given her state of inebriation, her form was sloppy and flailing, like a toddler getting into a slapfight.

Still, the image was terrifying.

“You unbelievable piece of shit!” screeched Vicky through big, angry sobs. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

For a brief moment, Tommy was feeling secondhand embarrassment.

”...It’s just her.” He scoffed.

Tyler sighed as the punches landed. Is that what that weakling, dead ex boyfriend, had to deal with any time the devils favorite princess didn’t get her way? It’s not like it was his fault, he didn’t know what his magic even really did. In the end, he learned he can only swap one item with another at a time thanks to Vicky. The desperate girl should be grateful. Tyler’s head craned again. On the other hand, he had just given her the notice that he would get her home, protect her even, and at least make the rest of this horror-filled night at least safe. He knew that he must look like a colossal asshole, especially because he did not come back for her.

He needed to pivot the focus.

Or he needed to own up to his mistake.

He could take the easy road and blame Tommy for this. That would be easy, however, he was establishing a rapport with his eventual pawn and he couldn’t afford to throw them under the bus before an actual bus was coming to run him over. That left two more roads he could go down. Own up to his mistake, or pivot the focus? Tyler thought this over for two seconds, weathering the weak storm of punches, before turning his head back to Vicky with a somber look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Vicky,” he paused, still at the crossroads, “ever since I used my power to save you,” focus her attention on the good he did should make the relentless assault stop, “which inadvertently killed that nerd,” guilt trip her with the reminder that her life came at the cost of some weird dude, “I haven’t quite figured out the way it works. I wouldn’t have left you there on purpose.

The middle road. The combination of the two less desirable options to put Vicky back on the back foot. Perfection.

Tommy’s canine creature lowered its head and Vicky’s jacket hit the dirt.

”Did anything follow you out here?” Tommy asked. ”Giant werewolf, psychopath with an axe, another insufferable football player?”

Tyler’s play had seemed to work, as Vicky’s furious wet noodle assault came to a standstill. Then again, perhaps it was the realization that there was a whole other person there witnessing her have a total meltdown as Tommy spoke that truly made her stop, feeling a sudden wave of embarrassment. It was a good thing that she was covered in her boyfriend’s, ahem, ex-boyfriend’s blood as it hid the self-conscious flush of red on her cheeks. She picked a dead leaf out of her hair as she tucked a strand behind her ear, shuffling her feet awkwardly, not quite able to make eye contact with Tommy.

“Who would follow me?” said Vicky, still too upset to form a sentence with the words coming out all staccato. “There was this orange light, and then an explosion, only it wasn’t…I don’t know what it was. I saw the town, but it was wrong, stuck inside of this swirl and…the warehouse was collapsing and…”

Vicky’s eyes grew so wide that they almost matched Tommy’s watchdog as she started to draw in sharp, panicked breaths of air.

“I think everyone’s dead!” she shouted, covering her face as she erupted into tears.

”Not all of them, I think. A lot of them, though, yeah…” Tommy wasn’t really in a spot to process that in full. ”Some of them are fighting whatever’s in there. We can’t stay here, something might find us.”

Something like Regina George. Tyler's eyes shifted back to Vicky. Those crocodile tears did not fool him, not one bit. “I told them to run, and they still stayed and died,” Tyler shook his head from side to side, “we do need to get out of here. Get all the way away from this hell.”

A splash of blue peaked out from between frames of red as Vicky’s fingers parted and then closed once again as she shot a dirty look Tyler’s way. Was This Fucking Guy seriously jumping to victim blaming already? From behind her hands she let out a ragged, desperate choke that sounded something like an “uh huh”, the desire to get as far away from this nightmare being the only thing stopping Vicky from repeating “I told them to run” in a mocking voice. Wow, what a brilliant fucking idea that nobody had thought about doing. How many concussions did it take to come up with that one?

Still sniffling, Vicky pulled her head out of her hands and shivered. Where was Chef’s jacket? Wiping a very real tear from her eye (and noting how her contacts were killing her), her hand froze midswipe as her brain fully processed the canine seemingly constructed out of glassy twine. At least she tried to fully process whatever it was that she was looking at. Did it have some kind of weird disease? Was it fake? She had seen a robot dog before, a construct like this one, but its movement had been stuttery and poor, capable only of walking a few steps before doing a flip and falling over.

Her finger dropped from her cheek as she pointed at the…thingy…and let out a flat, monotone, “What.”

The jacket was right there next to it, but there was no way in hell she was approaching that thing as Vicky sniffed and let out yet another, more flabbergasted, “What?”

”I made that. Don’t worry about it right now…” Tommy reached down and grabbed the card the beast had come from. Without thinking, he pointed at it, and it disappeared. To Tommy's senses, it was inside the card, somehow.

Vicky’s jaw dropped.

”We should go. If my car didn’t get blown up yet, you two can just ride with me.”

And just as Tommy nearly finished saying that, Vicky screamed out over him, “WHAT!?”

”Sorry, I’m a little deaf in one ear, you wanna scream a little fucking louder in case that monster didn’t hear you?”

Vicky looked simultaneously appalled that Tommy had the nerve to talk to her like that and terrified that the monster might still be out there, hunting her.

“I’ve been through a lot, okay?” whined Vicky. “You don’t have to be so mean. It’s not my fault that I got dumped and all my friends are dead! Sheesh!” Vicky wrapped her arms around herself with a shiver and turned her back on the boys. “And I’m freezing! Where’s my jacket?”

If they thought she had simply overlooked the coat while freaking out at the disappearing dog, that illusion would soon be dispelled as Vicky held out a hand, making it all too clear that when she had asked, “Where’s my jacket?” what she really meant was, “Why haven’t one of you assholes picked up my jacket for me?”

Tommy buried his face in his hand and muttered something incoherent.

”For the love of fuck, here-” He grabbed the jacket off the ground and tossed at her with his non-bloody hand. ”Come on, car’s that way. You.” He pointed at the golden bird thing he’d made, which had landed in a tree.

It tilted its head at him.

”Don’t attack people. If there’s some fucking monster still around, kill it or something… Follow us.” He stuffed his deck away and started hobbling back through the woods towards the warehouse. The bird took flight.

“You could have just left it on the ground,” Tyler narrowed his eyes as he looked from Vicky to Tommy, “she would have picked it up eventually.” Tyler looked to the direction Tommy was heading, and realized his own truck was nearby. His pawn would lead the way. If there was any danger he would be the first to face it.

Vicky slipped her jacket on with a triumphant hmph, the victory short lived as she struggled to get her arm through the sleeve. With a nervous side eye to the weird bird thing and her left hand still trapped in the elbow of Chef’s oversized jacket she followed behind the two boys, sticking closer to Tyler. Perhaps it was because the mean kid who made animal friends in the woods made her nervous, or maybe it was a tactical decision, choosing the larger of two human shields just in case that monster had heard her scream.

“Dibs on sitting up front,” said Vicky. Sobriety still one terrible hangover away from even being a possibility, the adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins had now cooled enough for her to realize how much her body ached. She grabbed the back of Tyler’s shirt and slumped against him. “Tyler, my feet hurt. How much further is it?”

“For the love of,” Tyler whispered to himself as he leaned his head back and stared up at the stars. Was this his punishment? Would he need to be around that bitch every day, hearing that grating voice every day, and having her ask those asinine questions every day? He shifted his head towards Vicky. “We’re almost there, Vicky, hold it together, please.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. Was she doing that shit on purpose, or was she just coping? ”We go around, not through. Easier to hide in the bushes that way,” He decided. And whatever monster it was killing people could’ve been busy eating bodies, too distracted to-

Okay, that was a little fucked up.

The unlikely trio pressed on through the woods. Tommy led the way, his golden bird of prey circling overhead. Tyler and Vicky followed after him, the latter practically gluing herself to the former lest he try that teleporting away shit on her again. The going was thankfully not especially treacherous but painfully slow, partially due to their roundabout path but mostly thanks to Vicky. Twice she had tried to get Tyler to carry her. More accurately, she had asked him once to carry her, pouted when the answer was (ridiculously, she thought) no, and then a few minutes later had just tried to clamber up his back, assuming that once she was locked in with the piggyback Tyler would be forced to just go with it.

That ended up not being the case, and once it was made clear that either it was Vicky would walk out of the woods on her own two feet or she would get left in them the attempts stopped. It wasn’t too long after that when the trio hit the treeline, the ruined warehouse looming across the field, the silence that hung in the air around it bonechilling and unwelcome. Before the warehouse were cars parked in the grass, less than before the party got crashed, but still far too many remained, either left behind in a panic or serving as temporary tombstones. A few bodies shuffled around outside of the warehouse. Perhaps people. Perhaps not.

“I’m not going back out there. Go get your car, and then come pick us up,” whispered Vicky, although even her whisper wasn’t quiet. It sounded like she was right by Tommy’s ear, yet she was crouched behind Tyler.

Tommy withdrew a switchblade, flicked it open and crossed the distance. A not so hushed “He has a knife! Why does he have a knife?” echoed behind Tommy as he stayed low, and the golden bird stayed high. It circled the warehouse looking for a piece of action, but there didn’t seem to be anything especially dangerous.

He pulled his jacket off and used to wipe the blood from his arm, rolling it up and sticking it in the glovebox. A moment later, his car, much nicer than Tyler’s coal-belching debt machine, pulled around the corner. He motioned for them to hurry their asses up, while he moved the passenger seat for someone to climb in the back.

Vicky gave Tyler an uncertain look. She really didn’t know Tommy outside of seeing his face around school, but he was the kind of guy who brought a knife to a party. Like who the hell brought a knife to a party? Even for as drunk as she was she still had enough kinda functioning brain cells to be nervous about showing the knife guy where she lived.

The sound of sirens closing in on the warehouse sent a wave of relief through her that crashed violently against a cape of fear. As weirded out as she was by Tommy being a fricking knife guy (seriously, what the hell, why did he have to be a knife guy?), the thought of getting busted for underage drinking AGAIN was a lot scarier. Last time Officer “Don’t call me Officer Bobby, it’s Officer Ferguson” Bobby said that if he caught Vicky drinking one more time he wouldn’t let her off with a warning, even if she was Winston’s kid sister. She rushed over to Tommy’s car and popped open the passenger door.

However, instead of getting in, as she had not been joking about needing to ride shotgun, she turned and bellowed as emergency vehicles started to arrive at the warehouse, “TYLER! IT’S THE FUCKING COPS! GET IN!”

”Hurry!”

The golden bird disappeared mid-air as Tommy did the thing to make them vanish. He didn’t know how that worked. Not yet.

Tyler looked at Vicky, then to Tommy, and then to the approaching vehicles. His head turned towards Vicky, a wicked grin spreading across his face. He grabbed a rather large rock and chucked it in the opposite direction of the lights and sirens. He tossed up a peace sign towards Vicky and, when the stone slowed down after bouncing across the grass, swapped positions with it and disappeared into the night.

A second after he was out of view a squad car pulled up and shined their spotlight onto the car. A dumbfounded, horrified look was frozen on Vicky’s face, her mouth agape, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. Her bottom lip began quivering as the door of the cruiser opened up and outstepped a man in uniform. Stupidly she raised her hands up in a surrender, an admission to guilt before a question had even been asked. Half blinded by fear and with the other half seeing double, tears began running down Vicky’s bloody face as she started to panic. This was unfair. This was so unfair. She didn’t even want to be here. She hated parties.

“Off–Office–Officer Bobby,” whimpered Vicky.

She was dead, she was so dead, and the next time she saw Tyler he was dead too. Deader than dead. Dead like her relationship. Dead like her future. Her crying became broken, heaving sobs as she tried not to hyperventilate. In one last ditch effort to get out of trouble, one of her hands dropped so it could point a finger at Tommy.

“He–He–He has a kniiiiiife!!!”

Screeeeeeech.

Decades of dust, dirt, and flakes of glass from previous parties flew up into the air. The cop got his fancy uniform and face caked in so much dreck that Tommy severely doubted he’d even see Vicky standing there, let alone the color of his car or the plate on the back.

At least he tried.

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

---

Location: First Gate
Grimoire:
Skills:
Neverish Fit

---

---

His sword, check.

The Mask of Other Things, check.

Wallbiter, and a quiver full of arrows, check.

Mountain scepter, check.

Knife, Food for the road, water, note-taking implements, cord, lighter, multitool... All good.

Exploiting what sleepless time he still had before winter set in, Rohan got everything he considered ever peripherally useful for a trip into another realm overnight, spent the early hours of the morning double-checking everything and having some hedonistic work off caffeine before the day began. He made himself available on the small chance the magpie trio came back, but they never reported anything. The three possibilities to explain that, in his opinion were either they got killed, took his instructions too literally, or just got bored. He almost would have preferred them not coming back if they did so warped by his curse in a way he didn't expect. Or maybe they were just perched in the trees, posted up like sentries until they could spot something. Dealing with beasts was precarious for a man like him.

Regardless, they were birds and they could sort themselves out. Rohan grabbed his things and loaded up, artifacts on his person, and arrived at the First Gate. His staff made gentle thunks against the floor as he walked in with Root on his shoulder, both looking around. It seemed Franklin wasn't here, yet. Maybe he pulled an all-nighter.

"Just the six of us, I guess."

He listened patiently to Sariel recapping everything. Trace steps, take notes, stay together. A small part of him wasn't thrilled about going into another warped realm where things were dangerous, but nothing killed him yet. The strange heart they all created was locked away by now, where none of them could tamper with it. Or anyone else, for that matter. Even now, focusing on about it, it wasn't hard to feel his own power in there. In rhythm with the others, and their own magic. It was going to be risky. Precarious, even.

"If anyone does start wandering off, Root can find them. I've got my bow, so I can shoot something that's trying to hurt us, or break down some magic barriers. Stay near me if there's anything mind-altering, or poisonous, my staff cleanses that kind of thing."

He brought his mask too, just in case, but he wondered if it would just be overwhelmed by all the magic in there.

Root croaked.

"We're set."

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

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

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

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

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

Why did Danni find it so amusing?

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

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

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

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Chase’s wall of shadowy knights damn near made Leah jump out of her skin. That was useful, though, and honestly pretty damn cool. What else could he do?

”Of course we’re going to do something, Vicky. April almost died and would have if he didn’t stop it. I know you two can’t help but kill each other if you’re locked in a room together, but… We owe him that.” Leah didn’t know how it’d even work. He deserved a chance, though. And if they were going to hold him for trying to save another life, using time itself, then it suggested a few things She wasn’t that well-versed in time travel or the TVA, but what little she knew of magic meant she could extrapolate. Magic warped reality, the runes she studied were a kind of code that dictated the course reality went down. The old Eddas described Yggdrasil as having them carved into its bark by the Norns, the three old women that represented the past, present, and the future. Being a Witch, as she had learned after a brief lesson, meant there was a risk to that.

Something as simple as warming herself risked permanent burns, with the use of a single rune. What kind of damage could Ser Nemo get up to, with his powers and what he had access to?

”We can’t just rush in, though,” She gave her hot, manic ex a pointed look. ”Bad idea to just charge straight at this, and that’s coming from me. How much do we know about the TVA? Or why they do things the way they do? I want to know them better before we do anything drastic.”

When Sabine came running over with a floating cube she had been talking to back at the tubing area… There was a lot to react to. Sure enough, they came over with some clues that Leah had mentioned earlier. They had what they needed, they just had to arrange the pieces. So she let Sabine do her thing. Her powers were normal to Leah by now, she had let her in enough before.

The visions she saw of everyone were… A lot. Two of them stood out to her. The first was herself. Her slightly shorter, human self with her brown skin and visible scars. And the Leah of today, taller and gray from head to toe, eyes glowing gold. There were wings on their backs, and above them was an angel staring down. The vision reminded her of what she saw on Jotunheim, when she found Sjafnamarr at the bottom of a cave, surrounded by herself.

And then the second one was… A bear. It didn’t look quite like Kodiak, the fur didn’t look the same color she remembered. And wasn’t his werebeast form bigger?

When the visions were through, she didn’t know what to think. She looked back at Chase’s shadow soldiers, with a bit more scrutiny this time. She’d have to talk to him later.

”Alright. We’ve got shit to do. I’m going to get everyone some food packed for later, so make sure you let me know if there’s something you can’t- Where’s Percy?”

She looked over at where he was standing… And he was on the ground.

”Percy!” She immediately leapt to her feet and knelt over him.

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Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

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Marlena did, in fact, come along. She picked up the pace and followed them over, gears turning in her head. She wasn’t clued into this stuff the way Sabine and her friends were. What did this involve? Was it a coincidence, was Marlena just looking for an excuse to put off hero school? Probably! But who could blame her? Besides, classes weren’t starting today, were they? Nope! She propped her tube up somewhere and took the out from Ice Bitch’s general vicinity.

The first thing she noticed walking over was an army of knights made from shadows. Chase’s power was clearly better-trained than she imagined. Or maybe he just happened to be pretty damn good at summoning shadow minions to do his bidding. Go my minions! Sting them in the name of all that is Mobius!

”Afternoon, friends,” She greeted everyone sticking behind Sabine and Carlos while they started speeching the crowd. They were going to quickly catch everyone up, it seemed. So Marlena paid attention.

It felt weird.

Marlena had never been hit with psychic messages before, it was almost like dreaming from her point of view. Images flashing over her eyes and thoughts in place of everything else. She saw everyone, from April to herself, in positions not unlike what Carlos described. There she was, upside down hanging from a tree by her leg. There April was, holding masks in her hands. Swords everywhere, a pale woman, and all of them together before an army of dark things.

”Woah…”

When the images passed, she couldn’t help but feel disquieted.

”Oh… So, I don’t know what’s going on, but if I’m involved, then I’m in,” She told them, walking forward. ”I’m hoping I don’t have to fight any monsters, but I’ve never been one to back off from something new.”

Her eyes went wide when the twink went down, talking about someone named Ser Nemo.

”Sabine? That wasn’t your power, was it?” She asked, as the Boulder immediately tended to him.

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Lab IX
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

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"Whenever I look at your magic with this mask on," Rohan started, pulling it from his face with a wet snap. "It's like you're glowing gold. But something's different, I don't know what since I can barely tell, but it's like... Like seeing lights when your eyes are closed. You just know it's there." His mask wasn't perfect, and something could very well know it was able to spot things. Could something down there have latched onto Connie, maybe an immaterial creature or some sort of energy that she just walked through? This many people could theoretically take something down, and Frankie surely had things in his lab that were dangerous.

When they walked in, the beheaded corpse laid out on a slab didn't bug him nearly as much as it should have. He'd seen worse. At least there wasn't an eyeball growing out of the stump. "Can't do much here to figure out what happened to him. Is there something else you need me for, or do you want me to just sit still and wait? Root can probably get a message to the others if we can't get a phone working in here."