#Not that i could see anyway the worlds tallest man appeared out of nowhere while i was solitairing & stood right infront of me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ellana-ravenwood · 5 years

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“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore...” 1/3 - Batfam x Reader (Marvel crossover)

A while ago, my computer got wrecked and I couldn’t afford to buy a new one. People suggested I open a “GoFundMe” and all and I ended up doing it. A lot of peeps came to my rescue, and I was able to buy a new computer...This story is for one of the people that helped. Thanks very much, Anna, for your 35 euros. It’s a huge amount (at least to me) and it really made my life better and helped achieve the goal of a new laptop. I hope you will like this story :

PART 2 My masterlist blog : @ella-ravenwood-archives

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“Klarion, NO !!”

“Klarion yes ! Hahahaha”

“You have no idea what it will do, you-”

Too late.

But of course, as if someone like Klarion would wait and listen to the Batman trying to reason with him.

Nope, double nope. He wanted to do it, and he didn’t care much about the consequences right now, as he was too excited ! Maybe he’ll regret it later, but that was his future self’s problem !

Klarion’s laugh is the last thing you hear, as a bright light encircles you all.

Your mother instinct kicking in, you grab your nearest kid, who happens to be Jason.

Frankly, as he’s the tallest out of all your children and is even a bit taller than his father, you can’t actually do much to protect him really. But when this specific instinct kicked in, you didn’t think about the technicalities of things, and just acted, grabbing his arm and yanking him to you. Holding him tightly, feeling like this was very important.

Damian wasn’t far either, and you were reaching for him when your world turned upside down. Your last sight was of your youngest boy trying to get to you…

A heavy dread fell on you, as you felt yourself being flung all around, clinging to Jason so you wouldn’t lose him too. Because as you saw Damian’s image fade into the light, it felt like this. Like you just lost all your kids but Jason. And lost Bruce too, while being thrown…wherever.

************

Klarion stole “Michael’s sword”.

The actual Archangel Michael.

It belonged, as of late, to Zauriel, a fellow Justice League member. But Klarion stole it, and ran away with it. And in a cruel twist of fate, he was last sighted in Gotham City and it was bestowed to your family to find him and bring the sword back. Zauriel was on his way when you caught up with the “Witch Boy”.

You found him below the city. In an old abandoned subway station, long out of use because weird things always happened in it. The city closed it down decades ago, putting all the problems it had on a disfunction in the electric system...But you knew the truth.

John Constantine took a look a while back, and said it was a place to keep an eye on as it had all the specificities to have gates open, whatever that meant really. He didn’t actually give more details...Typical Constantine.

Obviously, Klarion didn’t choose this place randomly.

Of course he didn’t.

Michael’s sword. A weapon capable of “tearing through realities” (according to Zauriel).

A place known to be favorable to “gate opening”.

Klarion.

Nothing was random. Duh.

************

And here you were, feeling like you’d been falling for ages. Just falling and falling, or were you standing still ?

All your senses were confused, and you couldn’t figure out wether your head was up or down. When the light finally died down, and you opened your eyes, you were…exactly in the same place ?

Still in that old abandoned subway station.

Except it was just you and Jason now.

The rest of your family was nowhere to be seen.

You let go of your son, who was looking very green.

Jason has always been car sick, so that weird trip across the light, not knowing wether you were up or down, must have been a nightmare for his weak stomach.

You almost smile at the thought of what people would think if they knew the ruthless Red Hood couldn’t handle an hour car trip without getting really nauseous (and oh my God you still remember the “Dineyworld’s tea cups debacle” for his 9th birthday).

Yes, you almost smile at the thought.

But you don’t.

Because right now, your biggest worry wasn’t the fact that your kid might throw up (though you took a few steps away from him, worst case scenario, you’d comfort him after), instead, it was...where were your other children ? Where’d they go ? And Bruce ? Were they ok ?

You could only hope that just like you, they just ended up...elsewhere. But were safe. Because except for Jason feeling nauseous, he didn’t seem to have anything wrong with him. And you were definitely fine.

At least, the thought of this was comforting. There was no reasons that you and Jason came out of “this” (whatever “this” was) unharmed, and the rest of your family would get hurt...Right ?

And that dread that took over you as the blinding light appeared came back full force. When you started to be tossed around in that “light” (or were you just standing still and everything moved around you ?), that feeling that you might lose your family forever wouldn’t leave you.

Zauriel used Michael’s Sword to change dimension, and you assumed this was what just happened, right ?

What if you all ended up in different universes ? How would you ever get back to each others ?! Oh God did that mean that Damian was on his own ?! But he was so young !! And Tim too !

Oh who were you kidding ?

The fact that even Dick, who was a grown man, or Bruce, who clearly could handle himself, were alone stressed you the hell out too.

Because who knew where they’d end up ?! What if they were in a hostile world ?! You were starting to hyperventilate a little bit at the mere thought of not seeing them ever again, when you felt a comforting warm hand on your shoulder.

“Are you ok, mom ?”

This brought you back to your senses in a matter of seconds.

Every time one of your kids would try to reassure you, this motherly instinct that was always inside you would kick in. Because in your head, you were supposed to comfort them in tough times. Reassure them when they were scared.

Be there at their worst moments, ready to pick them up.

You smile at him, and take a good look around. And that’s when you start to see the slight differences between Gotham’s station and this one.

The architecture is almost same, but the colors aren’t. And there, in the corner, instead of the “Gotham City” you’re used to see, it reads “New York City”. Mm. Which NYC though ?

It seems like you’re in a similar world, at least the subway looked the same. But what would you find once you’d get out ?

You turn to Jason, who looked more worried about you than the situation he was currently in, and with a smile, you say :

“Well my boy, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore...”

************

One quick look around, and Bruce knew he wasn’t in Gotham anymore.

He knew his city by heart, and though some of the architecture was similar, he was sure he wasn’t home no more. He actually was pretty certain to be in New York City.

When the light died down, and he opened his eyes, he was in an alleyway that could’ve been one in Gotham but wasn’t.

And his family was gone.

So Bruce entered his “dark mode”, as you’d call it. Where he shuts out all of his emotions and focuses on whatever the problem he’s faced with is.

It was his “defensive mode”, the one he would enter to not lose his mind. Because right now, if he was thinking for too long about the fact that you all most likely were scattered in different dimensions...he would lose it.

The chances of ever finding all of you were extremely low, even if he managed to find Klarion and Michael’s sword. There were billions and billions of different dimensions, and Bruce was already calculating the probabilities of ever finding his kids and wife again...It would most likely take him a lifetime to even just find one...

So Bruce didn’t think about that, and instead focused on his surroundings.

He was pretty sure he was in New York City. And that he was in a World similar to his original one. It wouldn’t quite make sense for Klarion to use the sword just to move through space. He could always just use magic...Mmm...This was arising another question.

Why did Klarion need the sword anyway ?

He already had the ability to travel through dimensions by opening gates. He never struggled to do it, so why would he need Michael’s sword ? Bruce was trying to think of every possible reasons, but he couldn’t quite find any.

Mainly because even if he was trying to shut down his emotions, he couldn’t help but think about what happened to you and his children. If you were harmed in any way, he had absolutely no way of knowing. Which was driving him crazy.

And what if you’ll never see each others again ? Bruce didn’t think he could survive living in a world without any of you...No. No he couldn’t think about that, or he’d crumble ! Ok. First things first.

He installed trackers in your costumes a long time ago (he was pretty sure that, except maybe for Tim, none of you knew that fact). There was a slim chance you’d all end up in the same world, but there was still a chance. Even if it was just one of you, it was better than none.

Bruce Wayne was never really a hopeful man. Life taught him that hoping for good things to happen never ended well...But right now, as he activated the trackers, he hoped to every gods he knew that you did indeed beat all statistics and ended up in the same World.

The familiar “beep” of the trackers resonated in his earpiece. One. Two. Three. Four. And five. And...

************

Damian opened his eyes after the bright light disappeared and...He was standing on the roof of a building, all alone.

“Ummi ?”

Was the first thing to come out of his mouth.

The last thing he remembered, was trying to hold onto you. But the light “grabbed” him and threw him all around...and here he was.

At the top of this building.

All alone.

Was he still in Gotham ? Most likely not. His father’s briefing of the situation said that Michael’s sword had the ability to “transport” people into different dimensions. Was it it ? Was he in a different dimension ?

It looked similar enough to his. He bend down to look at the streets below. Cars, people dressed like they were dressed in Gotham, dogs on leash (of course Damian would notice the dogs).

Yellow cabs. Mm. So he was in NYC huh ?

He twisted his neck to try to see more of what was happening down there. Maybe there were some things that weren’t quite like back home. Or maybe there would be a confirmation that he was still in his own World, but just not in Gotham anymore ?

Damian was wishing with all his might that the sword malfunctioned and send Klarion to another dimension, but only send him and his family through space, and teleported them in other places of their own world. Because if you were all scattered through multiple dimensions, how would you ever find each others ?

Even if Damian felt in his heart that nothing could stop you or his dad to find him...realistically it would still be very difficult right ? If not impossible ?

He’d like to think that nothing was impossible for you, when you entered “full on mom mode”, but this was quite the situation. He hunched over the side of the building even further, thinking that maybe he could-

“You shouldn’t bend down that much at such a high height, buddy. If you fall, you’ll be as flat as a pizza.”

Damian turned around in one move, taking a fighting stance, ready for whatever.

In front of him was a guy, raising his hands into the air to show he meant no harm, and wearing a red and blue costume from head to toes, with...was that a spider drawn on his chest ?

************

Dick couldn’t breathe, and he couldn’t understand why.

The blinding light wasn’t enveloping him anymore, but he still couldn’t figure out where he was, or wether the world was up or down. He flailed his arms around, trying to get his balance back, but all his senses were disoriented.

Everything was so cold as well, the world around him was so damn blurry and Dick just couldn’t find an exit to it all.

He felt like he was slowly loosing consciousness when...

Someone grabbed his arm, and then he felt a similar sensation than when he was in the light, but not quite the same thing.

And all of a sudden, he could breathe again, and the world was slightly warmer.

“Mein Gott, what would make a man want to jump into the Hudson river by such a weather, I wonder !”

River ? Oh. It would make sense. Now that Dick could breathe again, and he slowly started to regain his senses, it did feel like he was in water. But after whatever that light travel was, he was just too confused to understand what was going on.

He slowly opened his eyes, and was faced with the most eclectic group of people he ever saw.

“Ya alright bub ?”

One of them asked. Dick rubbed the dirty water completely out of his eyes and finally took a good look at them, sitting up on the cemented dock they dragged him on (he assumed they were the one that got him out of the water somehow?)

The man who talked was short and stocky, very hairy too. Definitely not conventionally handsome, and yet he had an aura about him that made Dick think he must be quite a man !

Next to him, was the most beautiful woman Dick ever saw. Tall, dark skinned, incredible white hair... She looked worried about him, and if Dick had regained all his senses by then, he would have most certainly said the cheesiest pick-up line that ever existed ! Wow !

Finally, right next to her, was a...fuzzy blue man ? He had a bright friendly smile and...a tail ? Um, ok ? I mean, Dick saw weirder in his vigilante career but somehow, those three made him feel like he was actually in a dream.

However as his brain slowly started to function normally again, he just as slowly came to the conclusion that...Ah of course. Michael’s sword. Other dimensions. Mm. Where the Hell did Klarion send him, exactly ?

And were was the rest of his family ?!

************

Tim knew immediately he wasn’t in his original world.

Mainly because he was immediately faced with a tall blond guy threatening him with a hammer (????) and a massive green...man (?????) in purple shorts.

The light barely disappeared, and his eyes were just adapting to the surrounding daylight, that he heard a thunderous (haha) voice yelling :

“WHERE IS MY BROTHER ?!”

And bam, he was held upside down by the huge green man. Strangely, his hand around his ankle was rather delicate, given the size of him...Tim had no doubts that that dude could crush him if he wanted to. But for now, it seemed like holding him upside down was enough.

Tim was known to be one of the most quick witted of your family, and that was for a reason. Even as he just came out of a very confusing event, where all his senses were attacked, his brain was working a hundred miles per hours.

This was definitely not his World, his family was gone, and those two guys were definitely meta-humans (if they were humans). They were most likely some of this dimension’s heroes. Tim came to this conclusion thanks to their costume, and the fact they didn’t immediately kill him. Then again, maybe they were just waiting to question him about that “brother”, and were actually villains.

A quick look around and it seemed like this world was somewhat similar to his, as he saw cars passing by a bit further. Him and the two dudes where in a park, and given how big it looked, even as he saw everything upside down, Tim guessed it must be Central Park.

After all, this particular place was easily recognizable.

Connections were quickly made in his brain, and only a few seconds passed as he came to all those conclusions.

Ignoring the voice in his head whispering to him that his family was probably lost in other dimensions too, and that it would be statistically impossible to ever find them again if it truly was the case, he focused on his current situation.

“Where is my brother little man ? We know he’s been in contact with you for the past few months, now tell us where he went ?!”

Brother ? In contact with him for months ? Once again, Tim’s quick thinking definitely came in handy to him.

“I think you have the wrong person, and that we have the same end goal !”

“Is this a trick ? We won’t fall into it, if you’re working with my brother you cannot be trusted !”

“Wait let me finish ! My name is Red Robin and I’m pretty sure I’m not actually from here. I come from a place called Gotham City, and I was, along with my...sidekicks, following a guy called Klarion who stole a sword that allows people to travel through dimensions. I think he’s the guy you’re after.”

The blond man seemed to think about what Tim just said, looking at him deep in the eyes, as if trying to see if he was lying or not. It seemed like what he saw in Tim’s eyes satisfied him enough as he gestured to his friend (?) and the green dude put Tim back on the ground (once again, being surprisingly delicate for his size and stature).

“Alright, I looked into your soul and decided you were a trustworthy man. Well. Trustworthy boy, really. After all our radar indicated multiple places where gates to other dimension opened, so it means that not just my brother’s friend came in. I am called Thor Odinson, from Asgard. And this is my good partner Hulk.”

Thor ? As in…God of Thunder Thor ? Well, the hammer suddenly made sense.

“Hulk happy no smash little man. Hulk not like hurting little men.”

“Um. I’m…also happy you didn’t … « smash » me.”

Tim said a bit awkwardly, and the green giant smiled widely at him. It was kind of cute. But also terrifying. Tim turned towards Thor and asked :

“Thor ? So your brother is…Loki ?”

Thor looked surprised, and, raising his eyebrows and becoming suspicious again, asked :

“You know him ?”

“Well, not really. I just know my North mythology. Which I guess isn’t mythology in this World…Mm, interesting.”

“Do you always talk to yourself like that boy ?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Sorry about that. So. Loki. Is he the God of Mischief here too ?”

“Yes he is ! How do you-”

“Sorry to cut you off mister Thor, but I think I might know what is going on right now...”

************

“Well, I guess our only option is to go up ?”

You tell Jason, looking at the stairs that seem to be the only exit out of this place. Your son is about to reply when...he just start to stares at you, eyes wide. You barely have the time to ask what is going on that he jumps on you and tackles you to the floor, protecting you with his entire body.

And then...

Then nothing happens.

“What the hell Jace ?!”

You say, pushing him off of you though he seems reluctant to move.

What got into your son ? He’s looking around like a crazy person now, until his eyes focus on a specific spot and he gets one of the batarang he stole from his father out and shoots.

“OUTCH, MOTHERFUC-”

There’s a soft sound of someone falling on the concrete, and you can’t help but be very confused about what the hell just happened. Who the hell just yelled and...what ?!

Jason bolts on his feet and runs towards the source of the sound. He disappears in the shadow for a few seconds, before dragging a man out of it.

Your son looks absolutely pissed, even though he’s the one that shot that...who was that dude ?

He was wearing a red and black costume and could very well have been a super from your World. But you’ve definitely never seen him before. He had the batarang stuck in his shoulder. In his hand he had...a laser pointer ?

And all of a sudden, connections were made in your head. Jason throwing you on the floor and covering you with his body, then getting angry, the stranger with a batarang in his shoulder, the laser pointer...You crease your eyebrow and turn to your son, hitting him on the chest.

“Don’t you ever do that again !”

“Outch, sorry mom but I thought he was going to shoot you ! What was he doing pointing a laser at you for no reasons like that anyway ?!”

“What ? No that’s not the problem, that guy’s definitely fishy. I’m mad about you protecting me by jumping in front of me like that ! What were you thinking ? If something happened to you I don’t know what...AAAAH !”

You hit him once more and turn around, trying to hold back the tears that came to your eyes and choking on your own voice. Damn it. They always did that. Your kids and Bruce. They always goddamn jumped in front of a bullet or some stupid shit like that ! Not realizing you’d rather die than live without one of them.

You already had to live through the death of almost all your sons. You couldn’t handle this kind of thing anymore. So whenever they’d do such a thing, you’d get all choke up and angry at them. How dare they...how dare they ?!

Jason was rubbing his neck awkwardly, not knowing what to do as you turned your back to him and was sniffling loudly...man, you could be so sensitive sometimes. Though he guessed the fact that he was basically ready to sacrifice himself for you was reason enough to shake you up.

He was about to reach for you when the stranger who was playing with that damn laser pointer started to move again. Without thinking about it Jason reached for him and immobilized him on the floor, saying :

“Not so fast buddy. You’re gonna tell me who you are and what you want with us ?!”

“Wow wow wow, if you want me to explain stop blocking my airways like that “buddy”. Sorry for the bad joke ok ? I haven’t been a superhero for long, I don’t know all the specificities about the job ok ? But you know what, don’t joke around with laser pointer, dully noted.”

“Jason, let him go. You’re knee is most definitely stopping him from breathing. It’s quite something he managed to say such a long sentence really...”

Reluctantly, Jason let go of the man, but kept a careful eye on him. If that guy was trying ANYTHING, especially towards his mom, he was dead. And Jay didn’t care that he promised not to kill anymore, if one of his family member was in danger, he wouldn’t hesitate !

“Pfewwww. Thank you lady, you...Oh. Wow. You’re beautiful. Do you want to ma-”

Rolling your eyes, you catch your son’s arm before he shoots yet another batarang, and make a head gesture to the stranger so he’d continue talking.

“Ok sorry, it’s your mom, I get it, you don’t like hearing about how hot she is. You’re defending your daddy’s honor...if um, there is a daddy ?”

“There is one yes. And he’s extremely jealous, and some would say violent.”

You roll your eyes again. Though Jason isn’t wrong, if Bruce was here, you’re pretty sure another batarang would have been thrown. The dude with the laser pointer continue :

“Ok ok sorry. I’ll stop now. My name’s Deadpool, I’m a hero in training and was send by the Avengers to fetch you two.”

Silence. Deadpool ? Avengers ? ...hero in training ? But “Deadpool” takes your silence as you not believing him so he adds :

“Ok ok, heroes aren’t suppose to lie either I heard. So what if I wasn’t really send by the Avengers ? And what if I’m not really in training but more like stalking them to see how they’re doing things ? Is there really a difference ? They were coming to get you anyway. I just reached you first.”

A few more seconds of silence, and as your brain is trying to work everything out, “Deadpool” starts to hum an elevator music. Jason is the first one to break the silence :

“You said “they” were coming to get us ? How do you know where we were ?”

“Ah ok so, and I know that totally not because I hacked into their surveillance system and am spying on it, but I heard them talk about dimension gates opening kind of everywhere in New York, and having to check it out. So I got one of the location, that happened to be the one that was the least specific because, I guess since you’re underground their surveillance system wasn’t as performant...like I’m pretty sure there’s lead in those walls so...maybe it’s like a certain hero wearing his underwear above his pants, can’t see through it ?”

“Did you just refer to Superman ?”

“Who ? I have no idea what you’re talking about. But in any case they’re looking above ground. I think they don’t know this old abandoned subway station exist. But I do. And here I am, finding you before them.”

“Ok um...”

“Deadpool.”

“Right, Deadpool. You keep referring to “them”, who are they ?”

“The Avengers !”

“Ok...”

“The Justice League of this universe.”

“Did you just-”

“No. I didn’t.”

“You’re-”

“I’m not. Hey now come on, Cap and Iron man are just up there, I bet they’d love to meet y’all. And maybe I’d get back on their good side if I’m the one bringing you to them.”

You exchange a look with your son, and you know you’re both thinking the same thing. There is NO WAY you’re going to follow that mad man. But then he says :

“By the way they’re not the only team that was sent all around NYC to find you and the others that arrived at the same time than you. I’m assuming you know them ? If you want to see those other guys again, you should follow me.”

Once again, you exchange a look with your son, except that this time, it’s full of hope. Could it be ? Or is he lying ? He doesn’t really have any reason to lie, after all, but what if ? Was this a false hope and you were about to get your heart crushed when you’ll realize he’s not talking about the rest of your family ? What if it’s a trap ?

You have no knowledge of this world after all, those Avengers could very well be super-villains or whatever.

But as you look at the man, and though you can’t really see his face with his mask...your guts are telling you he’s saying the truth.

And so, making sure Jason was on board, you nod and follow him out of the abandoned subway station. Still being ready to fight, just in case.

************

The trackers are on, and Bruce’s heart starts to beat like crazy.

They all turned on, and you were all very close from each others ! By some miracle, you all ended up in the same universe ! Or did Klarion plan this ?

Ah but for now, Bruce couldn’t think about that, because you were all here. In this World. Not scattered across the multiverse. He was going to see you all again. He was going to see you all again !

For some reasons, you were all converging towards the same place. Bruce’s eyes narrowed. Were you ok ? Oh if you were harmed, he was ready to let hell break lose on whoever did anything to you !

Now, his heart was beating to the rythm of his stress.

What if you were all hurt ? What if you had been less lucky than him and fell on ill intentioned people ? Kidnapped ? What if you ended up in a part of town that was hostile ? After all, he knew nothing of this world, except for the fact it was somewhat similar to his own...but to what extent ?

Bruce’s mind was racing, raging, he was-

“Seems like he or she is already gone.”

“Ah come on Clint, we didn’t even look.”

“Well nobody is here. And honestly I don’t really fancy looking for “someone” we don’t even know in the entire city. You can though, I’ll look at you while eating pizza. There’s a great restaurant just around the corner from here and-”

Bruce, hidden in the shadows, was listening intently to the two strangers who arrived.

One was wearing a black and purple costume, and had a bow strapped to his back. The other one was a woman, wearing all black, crazy beautiful red hear surrounding her face.

They were clearly looking for him, and as Bruce wondered why their wrist watches started to beep.

There was a small silence, as they seemed to listen to something, and then the man the woman called “Hawkeye” turned to her and said :

“Ah, well I guess we won’t have to search for anyone now huh ?”

“I wonder why Spider-Man is calling us back. He said it was important to thoroughly check any discrepensies the system was showing, and now...”

“Ah well you know what they say, Stark is a genius. People rarely understand geniuses. People like us. Normal, totally normal people.”

The woman scoffs and shakes her head, before saying :

“Ah well, I guess there’s some news. Come on smart ass, let’s go see what is up. They said they caught some of them, I’m curious as to what actually happened...”

Some of them ?

Bruce’s blood froze and boiled at the same time.

Were they talking about his family ? Looking at the trackers on his 3D map, Bruce calculated the direction the two strangers were taking and...it seemed everyone was converging to the same spot.

Without hesitating, Bruce started to follow them.

***********

“I’m not here to hurt you. What are you doing up here all alone ? ”

Damian didn’t lose his fighting stance, and eyed the man with the spider costume suspiciously.

“Who are you ?”

“Ok ok calm down little dude. I’m really not here to fight ok ? Unless you’re here to fight. Are you ?”

“Depends, do you want to fight ?”

“Not particularly. Especially not with a kid.”

“I’m not just a regular kid !”

“Yes, the mask and cape makes that much clear. Are you a super ? I’m one too, I’m one of the good guys !”

“That’s exactly what a villain would say !”

“Ah, you got me there...um...Listen, I’m really not here to fight ok ?”

“Who are you ?”

“Spider-Man.”

“Spider-man ?”

“Spider-man.”

“...You have spider superpowers ?”

“Pretty much. Anything a spider does, I can do too.”

“Spiders can do a lot of things...”

“I can do a lot of things. And even more.”

Damian detected no animosity in that “Spider-man”, and slowly disengaged his fighting stance.

“I’m Robin.”

“Ok. Ok cool. Like the bird ?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Can you do what birds do ?”

“...Not really. Metaphorically, I guess.”

“Oh. Ok. So um, Robin, what are you doing here ?”

“I’m not sure. We were after a...bad guy, and then I ended up here.”

“We ?”

“My parents and brothers.”

“Ok ok. And where are they now ?”

Damian didn’t know why, but faced with that Spider guy, he felt all his emotions about the possible loss of his family surge all at once. Maybe it was because, even though he was fully masked, Spider-Man was reminded him of his older brothers ?

There was a sort of brotherly aura surrounding that guy.

And so Damian’s shoulder flopped down, and letting his sadness catch to him, he said, voice breaking at the end :

“I don’t know...”

Damian could feel the tears slowly rising to his eyes. It was so strange.

But that Spider-Man made him want to show his true feelings ? Again, must be because he reminded him of his older brothers. But it was also the fact that Damian knew now that he wasn’t in his own world, and that there was a high chance he would never see his parents and siblings ever again.

And all that emotions ? Well until then he kind of kept it in check, but faced with Spider-man’s gentle voice, Damian kind of cracked. It didn’t happen to him often, that he felt like the kid he actually was. But here, in this other world, all alone...Well, he just wanted his Ummi.

And she wasn’t there. And it was scary, and lonely, and what if he was going to never see any of his family member again ?! But Damian still stayed strong. He did not cry. Though he really wanted to.

“Um ok, ok. Where did you see them last ?”

“Before the light.”

“The light ?”

And without quite knowing why, Damian started to say everything that had happened so far to that total stranger. But there was just something about Spider-Man, that made the boy instantly trust him.

Maybe it was his gentle voice, or the fact he wasn’t rushing him. Maybe it was how he first talked to him, or how calm he seemed. Or maybe it was how clearly Damian could see that he was indeed one of the good guy, and had a kind heart ? Your youngest son didn’t even talk to Spider-Man for more than a few seconds, but he felt it in his guts.

He was definitely one of the good ones. Maybe one of the best ones.

Damian wasn’t quite sure why, but he just trusted him.

“Ok so that would explain a lot. I’m um, from a team of superheroes ? We’re called the Avengers.”

“What are you avenging ?”

“What are we avengi...um...nothing in particular. It’s just our name.”

“Oh.”

“...Anyway. We have a defense system against invasion from other dimensions okay ? And it went haywire not long ago. Multiple gates got opened.”

“Multiple ? How many ?”

“I don’t know, a few. I just received a call from mister Stark, and he gave me your location.”

“How did you know I wasn’t a bad guy ?”

“You’re just a kid.”

“The guy who send us here is also technically just a kid.”

“Yeah well...My spidersense didn’t went on when I approached you so...”

“Spidersense ?”

“Like a sixth sense that warns me whenever a threat is about to happen ?”

“Sounds useful. And made up. Spidersense ?”

But as he thought about it further, Damian actually realized it didn’t sound that ridiculous in the end. After all, his father also had the bad tendency to put “bat” in front of every words too...

“Well it’s not made up. And it usually helps me knowing wether people have good intentions or not. And you ? You weren’t hostile. Just scared.”

Well, that much was true...Damian really was scared. Scared to never see his family again.

“Listen, come with me and we’ll try to clear things up ok ? Try to find your parents and brothers, ok ?”

Yes. Yes there was definitely something in Spider-Man that reminded him of his older siblings. He had Dick’s way of talking, and Tim’s talent to find exactly the right words. But also Jason’s stupidity. Geez. “Spidersense” ?!

But all of that made Damian want to trust him. Ah, it’s not like he had much other options anyway...

************

“Wow, this is so cool ! I mean, I flew on someone’s back once, but this is so much-aaaaaaaaah- cooler !”

Damian was holding onto Spider-man’s back who was flinging from building to building thanks to his webs. They were going so fast, and Spider-man was so in control of their fall and all ! It was awesome !

“Haha right ? Ah look, that’s the Avengers’ tower !”

“Oh geez, can you be more obvious ?”

Damian couldn’t see it, but under his mask, Spider-Man blushed a bit. It’s true that the place wasn’t particularly discreet, what with the gigantic neon lighted “A” on the side of the building...

************

At first, he thought they were going to think he was crazy. But then the short hairy man said “he ain’t lying” and they just kind of rolled with it (later, Dick would learn that that said guy had the ability to “smell” when people lied).

Plus they apparently heard weirder in their lives. Which didn’t really surprise your son much, they definitely looked like they went through many adventures.

After Dick explained what had happened to him, and his theory as to how he actually ended up in the goddamn Hudson river, they started to do some explaning themselves in return.

Dick had to admit, this was all a lot of informations for him to take in, right after almost drowning. But he was aware all of this was important. He was stranded in an unknown world, the more he knew the better it was. Even more so since he was learning valuable informations.

Like the fact that “Storm”, “Nightcrawler” and “Wolverine” (the name of the people who saved him) were where he appeared after the defense system from a team called the “Avengers” received warnings that tears in the reality were opening kind of everywhere in NYC.

A guy named...Tony Stank ? Or something like that ? Dick received so many infos that he didn’t catch everyone and everything’s names.

In any case, that guy settled a security system all around the World that would instantly detect any otherworldly threats after their dimension was attacked by aliens years ago (man could Dick relate...), and that’s what warned them about the tears in reality.

They told him there had been seven gates opened, and Dick’s hope went high all of a sudden. Seven ? Including him ? His mom, dad, Jason, Tim, Damian and Klarion. Plus him. Seven. Please, oh please Gods make it so that it really was his family members, and not other errors because of whatever Klarion did with the sword.

But for now, Dick climbed into a car with his saviors, hoping they’ll be able to help out find the rest of his family (if it really was them in the other gates). Thanks to “Wolverine” they trusted him, and were now bringing him to...

“So, we’re going to the...Avengers’ tower ?”

“Exactly mein Freund. It’s quite the place. Not as interesting as the Xavier Institute, but still quite the place. Wolverine here was giving us a private visit of the building. We’re not Avengers you see ? We’re X-Men, but Wolverine here is both.”

“The...Xavier Institute ? X-men ?”

“Our school for mutants. And our team of mutants.”

“Mutants ?”

“Yes, mutants. People with special abilities.”

“Superpowers ?”

“Here we go.”

The woman called “Storm” (a codename, certainly. Dick himself told them he was called “Nightwing”, just in case) rolled her eyes and said :

“Nightcrawler, relax on all the informations. The poor boy is going to be completely lost. We already told him a lot.”

Dick gave her a thanksful look. He already started to like a lot those three people, but he was having an information overdose and couldn’t follow much anymore. And so, for the rest of the way, he started to talk to them about his original world. It was more relaxing to do so, really...

************

“So you think that Klarion, is the one that communicated with my brother ?”

“I’m almost 100% sure yes, their personality seems to really fit each others.”

“On a scale from an angry raccoon to Ragnarök, how dangerous the both of them could be together ?”

“Well I’m not too familiar with the Loki of this World, but if he’s anything like in the mythology stories from mine ? Then we’re very close from total Mayhem indeed.”

“So, Ragnarök.”

“Yes, Ragnarök.”

Tim said dramatically, as Thor’s eyebrows almost joined each others in the middle of his brow from the force with which he creased it.

“That’s not good.”

“You don’t say.”

“No, I do say it.”

“It’s an expression...”

“An expression of what ?”

“...Nevermind. So, where are we going ?”

Tim was sitting on Thor’s back as he was...swirling his hammer around so that he could fly ? And Hulk was following them closely, jumping from building to building.

“The Avengers’ tower. Where my friends are. They’ll find a solution for sure, they’re very smart. Like you.”

“How do you know I’m smart ?”

“Well little man, you kept your cool as Hulk was holding you upside down, and managed to form theories as to what is happening in matter of seconds. Even an idiot like me can get that you’re very smart.”

“Thank you. I don’t think you’re an idiot.”

“Oh believe me, when it comes to hitting things ? I’m great. But I often let my emotions overwhelm me and tend to just jump into a situation without forming a plan first.”

“Well, at least you seem very self-aware of your flaws ?”

“Not even ! I’m only repeating what Bruce told me.”

“Bruce ?”

“Yes, the green guy down there. Sometimes he’s Hulk, sometimes he’s Bruce.”

“Ah, kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ?”

“Exactly like that ! Well when he’s Dr. Jekyll, he’s very smart too. And a great therapist.”

“He’s a therapist ?”

“No, he’s a scientist.”

“Oh. Ok...”

There was a short silence, before Tim started again :

“I still don’t think you’re an idiot. If you truly launched yourself in a situation without thinking, then you would have crush me with your hammer, right ?”

Thor’s face brightened, and he turned to him :

“Ah, you’re right !”

“I think you’re too harsh on yourself. Don’t listen to what Bruce says, Bruces have the tendency to think they know everything but they can definitely be wrong.”

“You know a Bruce too ?”

“Yes, my dad.”

“Is he like my Bruce ?”

“He’s also somewhat of a scientist. And he says things like your Bruce seems to say a lot too.”

Tim smiled at Thor, who smiled back. For some reasons, your son felt like he could trust that Thor guy. He seemed a bit too naive for his own good, for sure, but he also seemed very kind. And no matter what he thought of himself, Tim knew he wasn’t as stupid as he said he was.

He probably just had some confidence issues (even though he was technically a damn god !), and if he was hanging around geniuses he...Oh god. Tim stopped his thinking, as he realized he was starting to sound like his father !

But he didn’t have time to be freaked out by that thought, as Thor said :

“Well, we’re here ! The Avengers’ tower !”.

************

“Ah, seems like we’re the first here. You can sit down and-”

“DAMIAN !”

Spider-man jumped to the ceiling in surprise, and turned to the source of the sound. It was a woman, with a costume kind of similar to the boy he took with him to the tower. And with her, was a guy he never saw with a red helmet, and...Deadpool ?!

The boy stood up from the seat he just took, and ran as fast as he could towards the woman. And from the way she grabbed him and held him tight against her heart, Spidey guessed it must have been his mom.

For some reason, the fact that this little one found his mom back made Peter incredibly giddy. He didn’t know that kid since very long, only a handful of hours (time for them to cross New York thanks to his webs), but he already felt oddly protective over him. As if he was his little brother or something.

“Oh my God, are you ok ?”

“Yes yes I’m fine, are you ?”

The woman was now checking every inch of Robin’s body, looking for bruises and such, inspecting his face with attention. Satisfied that he seemed unharmed, she went back to hugging him, kind of suffocating the poor kid a bit.

“I was so scared I’d never see you again...”

Damian held you back with force, clearly sharing your fears. But everything was alright now. Well, not quite everything as most of the family was still missing. But at least, he wasn’t alone anymore. He had his Ummi back. And you always found ways to soothe and reassure him. No matter what the situation was.

Jason approached his mom and little brother, and ruffled Damian’s hair. His heart skipped a beat as Damian let go of his mom to hug his older brother. The boy’s head barely reached above his belt (Jason really was the tallest one), but he hugged him back.

Of course. Damian truly was afraid he had lost his family for good, so he didn’t care to keep up appearances and act as if this all thing didn’t touch him. He was glad to have one of his big brother back, he was gonna show it.

Distracted by that heartfelt reunion, Spider-Man didn’t notice Deadpool slowly moving towards him. It’s only when the man whispered in his ear :

“Hey Spidey...”

That once again, he jumped to the ceiling, sticking up there with ease...And then he came back down, his mask creased in “anger”.

“What are you doing here Wade ?!”

“Ah well you see, I found those two at one of the tears location. I found them BEFORE Cap and Iron Man. But when I wanted to go introduce them to Cap and Stark, they started to shoot at me ! At us ! So we narrowly escaped and I took them here.”

“Of course they shot at you Wade, after what you did last time we saw you ! And how the hell do you know about the tears ? And how did you get into the building ?!”

“Ok. What did I do last time ? Don’t remember a thing. Also for professional secret reasons I can’t answer your two other questions. What if you use my informations to infiltrate the Avengers ?”

“...I AM an Avenger ! And you’re not !”

“Are you sure it’s not the other way around ?”

“No I-”

“Um, excuse me, but could you two fight another time ? We have bigger problems in front of us.”

Spidey turned around, to be faced with Thor and Hulk. And a third person he never saw before, but again, his costume was similar to Robin.

“Tim !” Damian saw him first, and rushed to him. And oh Tim knew that his little brother must really have been through quite an ordeal, if he was calling him by his first name AND hugging him like that.

Well, getting thrown into a different dimension and separated from your family was quite traumatic really. So traumatic in fact, that Tim didn’t quite register immediately that by some miracle, he just found half of his family back !

After a few more hugs, and you not wanting to let go your two youngest son...

“Ah, it’s a cute tupperware reunion ?”

A voice with a heavy German accent said from the entrance. Jason, who was the closest from there, got tackled first...by Dick.

The voice was Nightcrawler’s, and he just had arrived with his friends and Dickie. And your oldest son definitely didn’t hide how relieved he was to be reunited with his little siblings and his mom.

Only one person was missing now, but there was no reasons to think he got transported into another universe than this one. And hope wouldn’t leave you, as you thought of your husband, hoping a team of those “Avengers” reached him too...

Ah. They reached him alright.

Right after you gave a huge kiss on your oldest son’s cheek to welcome him back, two new people entered...dragging your Bruce tied up behind them.

What the hell ?

Ah but of course, maybe he fell on people that were a bit more...heated than those on whom you fell (well, you admit that that Deadpool guy was quite something really) and got into a fight ?

You couldn’t possibly see him lose though. What happened ? What power did those two persons hold to manage to catch your husband like that ?

Oh but as your eyes met his, you suddenly realized his angle and before you could warn him that they weren’t hostile, he already entered in action.

He got rid of the metal ropes tying him up. And as the archer and that redhead woman who brought him in just stared in amazement, he tied them up with some of his batropes, and they both fell heavy on the floor. He then managed to jump in between you and your kids, and the rest of those “Avengers” people.

“I don’t know who you are, but know that I rigged the entire building with enough explosives to do a lot of damage, and help us escape. So let us go without any fight, and nobody will get hurt.”

Oh man. Oh geez. It’s in those moments, that you remember how much of a badass your husband could be. You’re pretty sure there was heart in your eyes, as you just stared at him in all his glory, standing protectively in front of his family, and daring a bunch of clearly powerful superheroes to do something...

Meanwhile, the archer and the redhead untangled themselves from the batropes (proof that they were exceptional beings too) and got into a fighting stance, while the rest of them stayed completely flabbergasted as to what was happening.

“Father wait ! They’re not bad...I think.”

“Yes just a second dad. You’re not one to jump to conclusion usually, what got into you ?”

Bruce turned to Damian and Tim, who just talked, and, his face as stoic as ever, he said :

“Well once I noticed we were all going in the same direction, I made myself known to them...And they attacked me without any warning. Which made my deductions as wether they were friendly or not very easy.”

“Wait a second dude, what did you expect us to do ?! You jumped out of the shadows, dressed like a goddamn nightmare. Of course our first instinct was to fight !”

The archer said, bow still in hand.

That’s the moment Captain America and Iron man decided to chose to come in. And who is the first person they saw ? Deadpool, who somehow managed to sneak to the “Bat” side for some reasons.

And then they saw Clint and Natasha in a fighting stance, and a guy dressed like a bat just as ready to throw hands. Of course, their first reaction was to-

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP !!”

The loud scream took everyone by surprise, and they all put their hands to their ears...damn that was a strong voice.

The Hulk was the one that did it. He settled himself in the middle of Bruce and the others, and just...pushed them. A tiny little push.

They all fell flat on their ass. And you couldn’t help but laugh at the vision of your stunned husband falling over like a child.

“You listen to little man. He knows.”

The green juggernaut added, and he pointed to...Tim ? Oh. Oh no. Your poor baby. He had a serious case of stage fright. And there, as so many people stared at him...

But it seemed like the vision of his father and clearly powerful people falling as if they were mere keel in a bowling game had a sort of soothing effect on him. You know, like imagining your audience in ridiculous clothes or something ?

Plus seeing how surprised his father was was quite something, therefor, a smile on his face, he said :

“Yes. If you could please let me explain everything and hold the fighting for a little bit ? It’d be very appreciated. Thank you very much, Hulk.”

“Welcome.”

The giant said, waving his hand as if it was nothing.

************

You were so proud. So proud of your little boy (who wasn’t so little anymore). He had figured out what even his father didn’t think about (though he had a theory close to the one his son had, and obviously lacked some crucial details...like the fact that Thor’s brother, Loki, was involved).

“So that Klarion guy is planning on teaming up with Loki ?”

Clint asked, still eyeing your husband suspiciously.

“It certainly seems like it, yes.”

“Wait a minute, Thor, I thought Loki was in locked down on Asgard ?”

Thor suddenly became very red, and avoided the man who was called “Tony Stark”’s eyes.

“Um yes. Well. I guess he um..”

“Fooled you again ?”

“Yes.”

The entire Avengers team present, plus that “Nightcrawler” fella, and “Storm” lady, rolled their eyes. Clearly, it wasn’t the first time Loki did something like that.

“So, we have to find them then...”

“Klarion was probably the one that appeared at Brooklyn Bridge. Vision and Scarlet Witch are the one that went over there, but they still didn’t find a thing.”

Captain America said. Bruce answered :

“They won’t find him. Unfortunately, Klarion is a very resourceful kid. And I think I know what he wants to do with that sword now...”

“What ?”

“Well, you see, Klarion doesn’t need an artifact to travel from universe to universe. He can open gates thanks to magic. But he can only cross them alone. Well, his cat somehow is able to follow as well..but the point is, he couldn’t travel with someone else. Now with the sword ? He could just use his own powers, and his partner could use said sword. I actually think he brought us here as a test...And it clearly worked.”

“Wait, you mean that once Klarion and my brother find each others, they’ll have the ability to...travel through universes ?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s really not good...You were right little man, Ragnarök level.”

There was a heavy silence as the news sunk in in everyone’s mind. Every persons present had witnessed really weird and dangerous things, in their lives, and they all came to know exactly when a situation was dire.

And this one ? Two kings of Mayhem reunited and able to go from one universe to another ? Definitely a very dire situation...

“Well, we need to find that kid !”

Thor exclaimed, but you shook your head, being faster than your husband to answer :

“It’s not that easy. Klarion has certain...powers, to hide himself. None of our technology will work, and unless you guys know someone who has the power to know where everyone in the world is...It’s really not going to be easy. I guess we have to start from the Brooklyn Bridge and try to find clues and-”

“Wait. Sorry to interrupt you Darling, but I think I have an idea.”

Bruce turned to whoever dared to call you “darling”, and glared at him. It was that short hairy guy that brought Dick back. And though you were thankful he apparently helped save your son...how dare he call you “darling” ?! And hey, HEY ! Why were you blushing ?! You never blushed when people flirted with you, you always brushed them of nonchalantly, or sometimes somewhat flirted back when Bruce pissed you off...But you never blushed !

“Someone who can find anyone in the World you say ? I think I know just the one.”

Everyone was turned towards Wolverine (who seemed completely oblivious to Bruce’s glare, but definitely noticed you blushing as he winked at you...Bruce saw red, and it’s only thanks to all his sons getting a hold of him that Logan wasn’t suddenly attacked by a very angry man “twice” his size and could finish his sentence) :

“We have to go to the Xavier Institute. And we have to talk to its headmaster. We have to go see Charles Xavier.”

To be continued...YOU CAN FIND PART 2 HERE : clickclickclick

__________________________________________________

And here, the first part of this fic. This is basically the INTRODUCTION to this new series so it’ll most likely be the weakest chapter..it’s to settle everything ya know ? So that’s why some characters might be more quiet blahblahblah...I’m basically planning of splitting them into teams and..Well you’ll see ! This was just a small introduction to get the Batfam in the Marvel World !

I originally wanted to write just a funny one shot ya know ? But um, as usual I ended up being completely lost in my own head and wrote a plot much more complicated than I originally planned...I’m still gonna try and write some funny moments and all. I basically just will have more time to write about more characters haha. Ya wanna know something funny ? I jumped in this without knowing exactly how many parts there would be. So 1/??????, I have a feeling this will be my longest series so far, I just want the Batfam to meet so many of my fav characters...So I hope you’ll like following the Batfam traveling across the Marvel World (oh I really want to write them in the Savage Land and in Wakanda...) in pursuit of Klarion and Loki !

Aaaaah...So much for saying I’d never write series ever again huh.

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jahaanofmenaphos · 4 years

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Art by the awesome @tommieglenn!

Of Gods and Men Summary:

When the gods returned to Gielinor, their minds were only on one thing: the Stone of Jas, a powerful elder artefact in the hands of Sliske, a devious Mahjarrat who stole it for his own ends and entertainment. He claims to want to incite another god wars, but are his ulterior motives more sinister than that? And can the World Guardian, Jahaan, escape from under Sliske’s shadow?

Read the full work here:

ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

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TUMBLR CHAPTER INDEX

QUEST 09: OUR SPIRITS, KINDRED

QUEST SUMMARY:

When Ariane is kidnapped and the signs point to Sliske, Jahaan is forced to confront the Mahjarrat once again. But this time, things take a turn for the twisted, and Jahaan uncovers the truth behind Sliske’s obsession with him. Can Jahaan survive Sliske’s games? After all, broken bones heal faster than a broken mind…

CHAPTER 6: THE FALLEN HERO

Getting Jahaan to a healer wasn’t as simple as it sounded, especially once the group clocked on that they were in the middle of nowhere.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, a panting Mary Rancour’s shoulders sagged. “Where… where are we?”

Below them, the ground was charred and ashen, coarse and tainted. The same black clouded the skies above them, perpetual darkness seeping as far as the eye could see. The trees around them had died years ago, their clawing branches creating eerie shadows, lifeless and haunted. There was a biting chill in the air, and the ever-present feeling of a thousand eyes staring them down…

Gulping, Idria was the first to utter its name, “It’s the Wilderness.”

The Wilderness was a large and dangerous wasteland which made up nearly the entirety of north-eastern Gielinor - with the exception of the Daemonheim peninsula - situated directly north of the kingdoms of Asgarnia and Misthalin. This area was formerly known as Forinthry. It was a lush and green land at the time Gielinor was discovered by Guthix. But during the God Wars, Forinthry’s glory came to an end.

When facing off against the alliance of Saradomin, Armadyl and Bandos, a desperate Zamorak siphoned energy from the Stone of Jas to destroy them. While he didn’t succeed in killing the other deities, he caused a massive explosion that swept across the entire continent, turning it into the cursed wasteland that is known today as the Wilderness.

Such horrifying destruction caused the Anima Mundi - the life force of the world - to cry out in agony, which awoke Guthix from his long slumber. Soon, the Edicts of Guthix were put in place, and the gods were banished from Gielinor. The wars ended, but the damage was done; many races like the aviansies, icyenes, ourgs, and wyrms were almost wiped out of existence, and all of Gielinor suffered from the effects of the wars.

But not one kingdom suffered as heavily as Forinthry.

Today, many ruins of mighty cities still remain in these lands, barely recognisable as the great settlements they once were. All that was left were piles of bricks, and around them were the spirits of the creatures who died during the God Wars, too restless to pass onto the afterlife.

Suddenly, Ariane’s ears pricked up. “Do you hear that?”

Rising to a defensive posture, Mary Rancour confirmed, “Voices.”

Silhouettes soon appeared over the horizon, a group of people walking in their direction, featureless in the distance.

Looking around the barren wasteland for anything that could be used as a weapon, Idria asked, “Do you think they’re bandits?”

“Probably,” Ariane confirmed, biting the inside of her cheek. “Looks like a lot of them. We’ll be outnumbered.”

“We could run?” Idria suggested.

Sniffing a dark laugh, Mary Rancour countered, “Where to? Lumbering Jahaan around, they’ll be on us in no time. No, we stand our ground. If we’re lucky, they’ll rob us and be on their way.”

“We have nothing worth robbing!” Ariane snapped, “I did not escape Sliske’s hellhole just to be murdered by some rouges.”

Idria, instead of joining in on the bickering, was fixated upon the incoming group, her squinting, curious eyes trying to focus upon their leader. Slowly, she began to walk in their direction.

“Where are you going?” Mary Rancour hissed, but Idria shushed her. The Guardian of Armadyl’s heart was going a mile a minute. Soon, she quickened her pace, daring to call out, “Razbawn? Razbawn!”

The silhouettes stopped moving briefly, their mumbled chatter floating towards Idria. Soon the tallest figure called back, “Idria? Is that you?”

Thanking Armadyl for her blessed luck, she cried back, “Get over here! We need help!”

As she ran back to Jahaan and the others, Razbawn’s group quickly emerged into view, hurrying after her. There were about a dozen of them, armed and kitted up for battle.

“What are you doing out here, Idria?” Razbawn demanded, looking shiftily around him. “These are dangerous parts!”

Razbawn was an Armadylean archon, the fierce leader of an Armadylean warband. Warbands were a basic raid and defend occurrence that took place in the Wilderness, with each warband fighting to overtake and protect storage camps guarded by the followers of the different Gods. These camps are founded to gain an advantage for the followers of a particular God. Partaking in Wilderness Warbands was something Armadyl reluctantly turned a blind eye to. These bandits were going to take advantage of the Wilderness anyway, but at least they were doing it in his name. At the same time, they helped to show the might of Armadyl’s warriors when faced up against the armies of other gods.

Razbawn wore no armour on his torso, boldly (and recklessly) relying on his bulky shoulder and wrist guards to hopefully absorb any incoming attack. He also didn’t wear much on his bottom half either, relying on a rugged looking plateskirt to protect him. Around his neck, Razbawn donned a dream-catcher-esque necklace with the Armadylean wings in the centre. He had a headdress shaped like an eagle’s skull, decedent golden feathers protruding from the back, and boots that had steel tips, shaped to resemble talons.

Behind him was a group of Armadylean myrmidons, fighters donned in similar attire, only with full robes underneath their armour to cover their skin. Most were melee fighters, but Idria spotted a couple of archers among their ranks, all wielding the illustrious Armadyl crossbow.

“We have no time to explain,” Idria stepped out from in front of Jahaan, motioning down out the barely conscious man and saying, “Our friend needs a healer. Can you teleport us to civilisation?”

Immediately, Razbawn knelt down by Jahaan’s side, quickly checking him over without shifting the man in any painful direction. “No signs of bleeding. He looks concussed. What happened to him?”

“Long story. No time,” Mary Rancour hurried them along. “Please, can you help us?”

Shaking his head, Razbawn woefully declared, “You can’t teleport here, we’re too deep into the Wilderness.”

Collectively, their hearts sunk. There was a curse placed upon the Wilderness. It prevented any of its occupants from teleporting if they ventured too deep into its depths. Thus, anyone forced into a combat situation could not escape. No-one really knows the origin of this curse, but its another one of the many reasons for the unprepared to avoid the Wilderness at all costs.

One of the archers stepped forward and removed an amulet from around his neck. The ruby in the centre was dull and lifeless. Handing it to Idria, he stated, “This will teleport you to Armadyl’s nest. We’ll escort you south until the amulet regains energy. Right, Razbawn?”

Nodding, Razbawn added, “It won’t be too long of a journey - we’re by the Forgotten Cemetery. It’s about a mile or two south for the teleport block to fade. Don’t worry, your friend will be fine. Braddan, pick him up.”

A burly looking gentleman proceeded to lift Jahaan into his arms with all the exertion of carrying groceries. Jahaan barely stirred. He was in a groggy state of semi-awakeness throughout the entire half an hour walk. During which, fortunately, there was very little incident. A few skeletons made eyes at their party, but the archers made short work of them. At one point, in the distance to the west, voices could be heard and figures started emerging into view, but thankfully they re-directed themselves in a different direction. Ariane could only spot three of them; they must have been put off due to being woefully outnumbered.

After walking for long enough, Idria felt her palm start to tingle as the amulet was brought back to life. Calling for everyone to halt, she turned to the warband and said, “We’re here. I can’t thank you enough, Razbawn. Everyone. Good luck on the raid.”

Braddan passed Jahaan back over to Mary Rancour, who needed Ariane’s help to catch him and take half the weight. Her previous adrenaline rush where she carried him throughout Sliske’s cave had long since worn off, replaced instead with the relentless aching of her tired limbs.

Nodding to the Guardian, Razbawn replied, “I hope your friend recovers soon. Go with Armadyl, all of you.”

As soon as the teleport spell sent them to the nest, Mary Rancour and Ariane collapsed to the ground, losing their footing as they tried and failed to balance themselves and Jahaan upon landing.

Idria, managing to stay upright, didn’t waste any time before calling out, “Medic! We need a medic over here!”

Upon their clumsy arrival, numerous heads were turned, and soon a group of avianse had crowded round to assist them. One of them, recognising Idria, asked, “Guardian, what happened here?”

Turning to the falcon-headed female, Idria hurriedly replied, “No time, Talak. Where’s your healer? We need to get this man to the medical bay, right now.”

Talak gasped. “This is the World Guardian!”

By now, the avianse had helped Ariane and Mary Rancour to their feet. Two others held Jahaan upright, basically carrying his dead weight as the young man didn’t have any strength in his legs.

“I’ll introduce you later,” Idria blew her fringe from in front of her eyes. “Right now, medical bay.”

There were many medical bays in the fortress, but unfortunately, the closest one also happened to be the smallest. It was more of an observation and recuperation facility, with only a dozen beds, half of them currently occupied by resting avianse awaiting to be discharged by Gaw’kara.

Gaw’kara resembled a heron, tall and slender, with sharp eyes that pierced into their target. His thin feathers were neatly trimmed, orderly and pristine. He was the chief healer at this particular station, having practiced modern medicine since his time on Abbinah. He was never a fighter; his talents lied outside the battlefield, treating the wounded. Thus, he was fortunate enough to not be in Forinthry when the majority of his kind were wiped out of existence. He was back at one of the fortresses, attending to his patients.

He never thought himself fortunate, though.

As soon as he heard the bustle coming from outside, he rested his clipboard down on the bedside table next to the sleeping patient he was attending, awaiting the commotion patiently.

He wasn’t expecting half the flock, alongside four humans, to come barrelling into his domain.

Locking onto the condition Jahaan was in, he motioned towards the nearest free bed and hurried over to his side, summoning his assistant with a click of his fingers.

“Set him down here,” Gaw’kara’s voice was a lot warmer and smoother than was expected, a lot more soothing than his somewhat intimidating physique.

The avianse laid him down on the thin mattress, trying to be as careful as possible. Jahaan stirred slightly with a slurred groan.

Addressing the gaggle crowding around Jahaan’s bedside, Gaw’kara asserted, “Not all of you can stay. There isn’t enough-”

“I’ll stay,” Ariane affirmed, resolutely. Seeing the determined look in her eyes, Idria and Mary Rancour didn’t even try and talk her out of it.

As the rest of the humans and avianse dispersed out of the medical bay, Gaw’kara urged, “What happened to him? Tell me exactly.”

Rubbing the side of her aching temples, Ariane forced herself to repeat the preceding events, the memories more painful as the thumping in her head. “He… he was beaten. A lot. Thrown into a wall, punched in the ribs and face… he’s been in and out of consciousness. I think he’s got a bad concussion.”

Propping up Jahaan slightly with another pillow, he tilted the man’s chin upwards, but garnered no response.

“Get the guam,” Gaw’kara ordered to the avianse assisting him, who handed over a pestle and mortar with the ground leaf inside of it. After adding a couple of droplets of a violet liquid, Gaw’kara dipped a small cloth into it and held it to Jahaan’s nose. After a few seconds, the young man awoke with a start, throwing himself forwards and doubling over in the process. Moving so suddenly proved far too painful; Jahaan fell back down onto the bed with a high-pitched wail.

Gently, but firmly, Gaw’kara held him there. “It’s Jahaan, isn’t it? The World Guardian? Calm down. You’re going to be fine.”

Wide-eyed and panicked, Jahaan fought against Gaw’kara’s hold, but he had no strength to do so. “G-Get off me, dragonkin!” he hissed, his blurred vision making a terrible mistake.

Quickly, Ariane hurried into view. “Jahaan, it’s me, Ariane. He’s not a dragonkin, he’s an avianse. He’s here to help you. Relax, okay?”

Despite his rapid breathing, Jahaan started to calm himself. “A-Ariane? How did you get away from Sliske? Where are we? Where’s Ozan?”

That last question hit a bolt straight to the centre of Ariane’s chest. Stepping backwards, she simply replied, “This is Gaw’kara. Just listen to him and do what he says. Can you do that?”

Nodding meekly, Jahaan found himself overcome with tiredness, all his meagre energy being exerted in that last jolt. Seeing him slipping back under, Gaw’kara nudged him back into alertness, saying, “Jahaan, I need you to stay awake for a little longer while we have a talk, then you can rest. Is that okay with you?”

Jahaan mumbled something inaudible, so Gaw’kara pressed, “Jahaan? I’m going to need you to speak more clearly.”

Gaw’kara had an awfully reassuring tone. It was so comforting and smooth you could forgive just how patronising he was being. It was the healer’s way, of course. It worked in relaxing people more often than it annoyed them, and Jahaan was not one to complain right now.

“Right, yeah, okay,” Jahaan replied, taking a deep, strained breath to try and keep himself lucid and focused. His words were slurred from the gaps in his teeth, drool escaping onto his stained shirt below.

Satisfied, Gaw’kara started his examination. It didn’t take much for him to feel the bulging lump forming on the back of Jahaan’s head. From his drowsy and confused state, coupled with the way the injury was inflicted, a concussion was undoubtable. Gaw’kara proceeded to ask a few questions, simple ones that Ariane could fact check, or ones that were common knowledge. Knowing he was treating the World Guardian didn’t change a thing - Jahaan was just another injured soul who needed to heal. Treating humans wasn’t that different from treating avianse, when it came right down to it, and Gaw’kara had treated enough of both in his time.

Motioning Ariane to one side, Gaw’kara whispered, “He’s definitely concussed. How severely is something we’ll need to monitor, to avoid any complications. After I’ve finished assessing him, we’ll need to keep waking him up periodically, asking him some questions, and check him over. This is done to make sure he doesn’t have any serious damage, like a bleed on the brain. Sometimes these things have a delayed onset, and we can’t risk him slipping into a coma without us being aware.”

The terms ‘coma’ and ‘bleed on the brain’ brought Ariane’s heart to her throat. She’d had her disagreements with the man - severe ones, perhaps - but she’d never wish this upon him. Not after all he did to try and save Ozan...

Suddenly, she was taken out of her thoughts by Gaw’kara’s voice in her ear. Blinking twice, she focused back on the avianse and said, “Sorry, come again?”

“I said, I’m going to check his ribs over next,” Gaw’kara repeated. He already had a little knife in hand to slice through the fabric of Jahaan’s shirt. “Are you okay? Ariane, isn’t it? Sorry, pleasantries were a little rushed earlier.”

Exhaling a light laugh, Ariane rubbed around her eyes. “Sorry, I’m just tired. Yes, it’s Ariane.”

“Would you like to go and rest with your group? I can-”

“No,” Ariane firmly cut in, softening her tone when she continued, “No… no I need to stay. I’m fine. Please, continue.”

Deciding to leave the matter for now, Gaw’kara used the small blade to delicately cut through Jahaan’s shirt, exposing the battered flesh underneath.

The sight made Ariane want to wretch. Jahaan’s chest was a contorted mess of coloured blotches. Blues melted into greens with yellow epicentres; dark purples gave way to black imprints. If she looked closely enough - not that she wanted to - Ariane swore she could still see knuckle marks.

Wincing, Gaw’kara lightly placed a hand on Jahaan’s chest. “Jahaan, this is going to hurt a bit. Can you tell me where the pain is worst?”

“Uh-huh,” Jahaan groggily replied, only half registering what was being said as the avianse ran his hands across his chest. There was no immediate pain to speak of, nothing more than the pounding ache he’d almost grown accustomed to. But that was until Gaw’kara pressed down on his left side of his false ribs.

The cry that followed made Ariane feel sick.

Quickly removing his hand, Gaw’kara turned to Ariane and said. “There’s undoubtedly multiple breaks here. Fortunately, he hasn’t broken any of his true ribs - the upper ribs, such as the ones that protect his heart. Despite the serious damage, I’ve thankfully not detected anything indicating that he’s injured his lungs. They should heal within six to eight weeks.”

Gently, with the help of his assistant, Gaw’kara pulled Jahaan slightly more upright, having the assistant hold him there while he carried out an inspection of his back. There was bruising, but it wasn’t anything like what he’d seen on the young man’s chest. Running his taloned hand carefully across Jahaan’s back, Gaw’kara stopped at his collarbone, noticing something amiss. From being thrown back into a wall, a shoulder or collarbone injury was the most likely, and from how it felt to the touch, Gaw’kara deduced that Jahaan’s collarbone was almost certainly broken.

“He’ll need a sling to assist in his collarbone’s healing,” Gaw’kara announced to Ariane. “It’s broken. It won’t take more than two months to fix itself, mind. That is - and I reiterate - he rests it. No sword-wielding in the interim.”

Ariane just about managed a half smile. “I’ll make sure he’s sensible. Thank you.”

The rest of Gaw’kara’s inspection didn’t take too long - he wanted to let Jahaan rest soon, but already scheduled with his assistant when the man should be re-awoken for evaluation. When Ariane pointed out the potential injury to his wrist, Gaw’kara told her it would be fine as long as it was splinted. The bone was broken, severely, but just like everything else, time is a great healer. They just had to rely on Jahaan not getting into any scuffles anytime soon.

Once they left the medical bay, Gaw’kara repeated the short form of the diagnosis to the other women. Noticing the burns on their hands, he ushered them into another medical bay to get treated, not wanting anyone disturbing the World Guardian and his other patients.

To Ariane, he said, “Once you’ve rested, I would like to hear how all this has come about, Ariane. As would Armadyl, I’m sure. No doubt he’s been alerted to how he is now housing the World Guardian.”

“Thank you, Gaw’kara,” Ariane replied, feeling her eyes starting to close but desperately forcing them open. She planned to nap beside Jahaan’s bed until he was next evaluated, knowing she’d have to give into the tiredness of her body at some point soon, or she’d just drop. “We all can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us today.”

Smiling warmly, Gaw’kara replied, “Community and compassion are pillars of our faith. Now, go and rest, young one. Jahaan will be fine.”

DISCLAIMER:

As Of Gods and Men is a reimagining, retelling and reworking of the Sixth Age, a LOT of dialogue/characters/plotlines/etc. are pulled right from the game itself, and this belongs to Jagex.

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#kindred spirits #i feel like there could have been a lot more drama in this chapter #but writer's block was already kicking me square in the dick #so :/

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velvetchen · 7 years

Text

Dynamic | pt. iv

[ back to masterlist ]

Scenario: Superhero AU Pairing: Chen/Reader Word Count: 4485 Rating: T (warning for language)

Summary: You’re the leading superhero of the city, and you’ve fought Dynamo for years. It’s the way it should be - good vs. evil, hero vs. villain. But what happens when a bigger evil threatens everything?

<< previous part x first part x next part >>

You’re all clustered around the command center of the NSN, called in for an emergency briefing after your showdown with the giant robot. The thing had somehow cut off all the NSN’s communications, so they hadn’t been able to give you any intel until you were already finished with the fight.

But the minute you’d all got back down to the ground after checking out its head, it had completely vanished without a trace.

“We’re calling him the Dragon,” the Director says. “Since he hasn’t announced himself to the public yet.”

“He? You’re sure it's a he?” Whirlwind asks, his face twisted skeptically.

“Yes,” the Director says, pulling up a grainy image of a black-clad figure leaving a building. “That’s him. We’ve been hearing reports of a very talented hero around town, long before today. We only just managed to figure he and the Dragon are one and the same.”

“Well, what's his power?” you ask impatiently.

“Metallokinesis. One of the strongest we’ve seen in decades.” He paused for effect. “He’s stronger than you three combined.”

You swallow. Dynamo had been right. This city needed everything it had to fight this new threat off.

The Director pulls up another image, this one of a face half cast in shadow. It's blurry too, like someone zoomed in from far away to take it. “This photo was taken by assets of the Villains Association,” he says. You can’t make out much other than a hooked nose and heavy eyebrows.

“This is all the information we have?” Seism asks, looking thoughtful.

“As of now, yes. Our spies are working round the clock. We’ve even got hackers tracking bank accounts, camera feeds, everything within a hundred mile radius. He’s got to have got the materials for that thing from somewhere.” The Director pulls up a hologram of the giant Dragon and rotates it with a flick of his wrist. “From your fight yesterday, we gathered that hitting the face didn’t disable it at all. It’s not electronic, it’s being controlled by him. He must have been somewhere nearby, hiding out and watching.”

That thought was scarier than it sounded - this Dragon guy had been watching you the whole time from afar, and nobody had known.

The Director continues. “We’ve decided on a mission to break in and look for possible hideout spots. Rush, you’ll be leading.”

You’re not surprised they pick you - you knew your way out of a fight, and if you needed to get out of there, they wouldn’t need to send backup. “When?”

“The minute we get intel, you’re up.” You nod.

“But what if he attacks again in the meantime?” Seism asks, and the rest of you chorus an agreement.

“We don’t think he will. Since he hasn’t announced himself - or what side he’s on - we guessed he’s just trying to spread rampant terror. He won’t attack until this hype dies down. Then, when everyone thinks they’re safe again, he’ll strike. So,” finishes the Director, “we have a good window in which to do our reconnaissance.”

As the discussion continues, you turn to your own thoughts, which are loud inside your head. That afternoon’s events. Dynamo, catching you from falling to your death. Dynamo, suddenly serious. There’s no one I’d rather work with than you. This wasn’t your relationship. Sure, you flirted all the time, but that was when he was trying to destroy something and you were trying to thwart him. When you think about Dynamo, it’s without fondness. He’s just there, that’s it. Your antithesis. The bad to your good. The yin to your yang.

This new development confuses you more than anything else.

“Rush?” You snap your attention back to the discussion. “Patrol tonight, don’t forget.”

You groan internally. “Yes, sir.”

When you finally leave the headquarters, it’s night. Nearly time for your patrol to start. You don’t even bother changing out of your suit, strolling into the nearest fast-food joint and ordering the greasiest, most unhealthy thing on the menu, with a large soda on top of that. The sugar and caffeine would hopefully kickstart you enough to stay awake for a few hours, at least. Then you could get a coffee and that would last you the rest of the way.

Tomorrow was a Monday, and you didn’t have any morning classes, so you’d be able to sleep in comfortably. Thank God for small mercies.

Everyone in the store stares at you point blank as you sit down with your tray, unwrap your burrito, and bite off a very unladylike portion. You ignore them. Your head pounds with the aftereffects of using your ability under pressure, and your feet are sore as hell from the three-inch heels on your boots.

Oh, only women knew the pain of looking good while you kicked ass. Something you and Glamour Girl had bonded over plenty of times.

You finish eating and walk back out, soda in hand, sipping casually as you pull out your phone to text Jennie.

You: hey babe im not coming home 2night Jen: oh yeah? are u with brunch boy Jen: cause if u are, GO GIRL You: nope but i have another date w him on tuesday. ahhh You: im at another friend’s place. studying for that test in gov u know Jen: got it got it You: have breakfast ready for me pls i’m pulling an all nighter Jen: sure babe Jen: love u Jen: ace that test ok You: love u too

You sigh and tuck your phone away. It was going to be a long night.

You almost drag yourself down the street at 5 am the next day. You’re sure you must look like death, even with the mask on. You’d been hoping it would be a quiet night, but you just stopped four muggings, a drug overdose, a date gone awry, and a man from pulling a gun on his family. Then you’d been called in for an emergency and hurried to the scene - all the way across town from where you were - only to have a kid ask you to get his cat out of a tree.

Still, you have one more stop before you get home. You make your way to the end of the street, where the warehouse looms, dingy and small. You swear it’s much bigger on the inside. When you push the loose window in the front wall open, the dark interior stares back at you. Empty.

You’re almost disappointed he’s not here.

You get a notepad and pen out of your backpack - both of them predictably fuschia, obviously you - and scrawl out a note quickly.

Meet me at the Spire, midnight. We’re discussing battle tactics.

♡ Rush

Pausing, you squint at your writing. Then you scratch out the heart, a habit from the hundreds of autographs you’ve signed.

You take advantage of the emptiness of the warehouse to quickly strip out of your costume and into your clothes from yesterday, one of your nicer blouses and a pleated skirt. Then you trudge out, look from side to side to make sure no one’s watching, then start the walk home.

The Spire isn’t it’s official name, but that’s what it’s called in the super world - the tallest building in the city, one hundred fifty floors, a perfect vantage point to watch the downtown area. And a place where no one would question your presence.

You wait, legs dangling off the edge precariously, chin in the cradle of your hands as you watch the cars a thousand feet below zip past like ants. As much as you care for them, as much as you love them - the people of this city are just as insignificant to you as they look from this height. All of them, spread out below you - yet you know nothing. There’s this huge barrier between you and everyone else. Because you’re a super. Because you’re idolized, you’re put on a pedestal. They probably forget you’re a person under that mask, a person with a real life who goes to school and works and goes out with friends and does all the other normal people things they do.

With the exception of being super, of course.

Sighing, you shift your gaze from the ground to the sky. It’s cloudy, overcast, and you can feel your hair frizzing up. Maybe it was a bad idea to pick the tallest building around for miles as your meeting place.

“Hey.” You don’t turn around as Dynamo appears, floating down to sit next to you. Thankfully, he keeps his distance, staying a good foot away from you. Any further and you wouldn’t be able to hear each other over the lashing of the wind. “What’d you want to discuss?”

You finally move to face him, pulling your legs up onto the roof and sitting with your elbows over your knees. “We know a little more about the Dragon now. He’s-”

“I know,” Dynamo cuts you off. “Metallokinesis. Super ultra powerful. A recluse, showed up out of nowhere. That’s what they briefed me at the V.A.” He sighs. “Depressing, huh? And I thought I was the most powerful super in the city.”

“Second only to me,” you cut in, grinning. “But seriously, they didn’t tell you anything else? No secret villain-only info?”

“Nope,” he says. “Half of the villains want to side with him, anyway. They’re suck-ups. So it’s a need-to-know basis. We’re mostly just supposed to stay out of the way.”

“You don’t plan on doing that, do you?” You watch him carefully.

He doesn’t waver. “I teamed up with you for a reason, partner.”

For once, you wish you could see his face. Then you push the thought away, shocked. It was better you kept your lives secret. Even within the heroes, none of you revealed your identity - not even to the NSN. It always got too messy.

You don’t reply to his statement. “They want me to raid his possible hideouts.” He opens his mouth to continue but you keep going. “No intel yet. Apparently he was remotely controlling that thing.”

“I figured as much. Metallokinesis, right? It’s got range.”

“Yeah, so they want me to find him out.” You swallow. “I want you with me.”

His response is instant. “Okay. I’m with you.”

“Not just this one,” you say. “All my missions. We’re a team now, we have to fight together. I’ll talk to my superiors.”

“I...okay.” Now he looks taken aback.

You stand up, brushing off your suit, bracing yourself against the wind. You reach your hand out to help him up. “Please don’t shock me this time.”

He takes it, and the tingles of electricity that shoot up your arm are warm and pleasant, like laughter. When he stands to face you, you notice that he’s actually not that much taller than you. Nor is he particularly bulky or intimidating. He actually has a lean, average physique, fit from the years of supervillain-y activities. Huh. Perception really changed things.

“When do you want to meet next?”

You look away, thinking. “Not tomorrow. Besides, I don’t yet have any info from the NSN,” you say. “We could do a little spying of our own, if you want.”

“Wednesday?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” You move toward the edge of the roof. “Bye, Dynamo.”

Just as you’re about to go, he calls after you. “Rush?”

“Yeah?”

“You can actually call me Chen. If you want.”

Your lips quirk into a small smile - at the same time your heart rate picks up. “That isn’t your real name, is it?”

He laughs. “No. But it’s the name I picked for myself when I first decided I wanted to be a supervillain. I like it better than Dynamo.”

Your smile widens. “It suits you. See you on Wednesday, Chen.” Then with a running start, you dive off the edge of the roof, plummeting down, the wind on your face like a thousand tons of force. With a loud whoop, you fall faster and faster, until you’re almost all the way down and then suddenly you blink - and you’re safely on the ground.

Sometimes, having an ability was seriously great.

Paragon was a borderline indie bar/club/thing that you’d gone to often, but not often enough to be familiar with. Today it’s packed. For a Tuesday, that’s pretty incredible. The tables are all crowded, the floor in between filled with people talking to each other and dancing in the music that plays lightly over the speakers. The stage, however, is still empty.

You pull out your phone.

You: im so anxious. there’s so many people here Jen: on a tuesday??? wowwww You: yeah i wonder if they’re all here for him though You: because if they are??? You: i literally will not be able to handle it Jen: ;) You: jennnnnnn come on

When she doesn’t reply, you sigh and put your phone away. Just in time, too. The whole crowd goes strangely quiet as a light flicks on stage, and then a figure is walking out and standing at the single mic. He takes a minute to fix it up, tapping and mouthing something to someone backstage, who finally gives a thumbs-up.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?” he says. A cheer goes up and you’re surprised when you even hear a couple I-love-yous screamed out. “I’m Jongdae and I’ll be your entertainment. Have a wonderful evening.”

Music starts up immediately, a strong electronic and jazz sort of fusion that has everyone drawn in by the energy. And then he starts singing and holy shit, you’ve never heard anything like it before. His is the most lively voice, warm in timbre and perfect in pitch. You know enough about music to tell his vocal technique is near perfect.

It’s obvious why the crowd’s so huge. He’s something else.

You spend the whole one hour show with your mouth slightly open, as he goes from song to song and shows off his amazing repertoire. From ballads to 80’s pop hits to electronic, he can pretty much sing anything. Near the end of the show you realize you’ve somehow made it to the front of the crowd. Here the press of people cheering and dancing is more than ever, and you just stand there, entranced.

It’s more than disappointing when he finishes up for the night and thanks everyone, waving enthusiastically as he disappears backstage. From there the people start to disperse, but there’s still a lot of people in the building for a Tuesday.

You decide to go looking for him.

Winding through the crowd, you skirt along the far wall and towards the door you saw him go through earlier. “Excuse me,” you mutter, nearly crashing into someone with a tray of drinks. Finally you make it, and even though the door is closed, you hold your breath and knock, thrice.

When no one opens up, you figure they must not hear you above the blaring music and knock again, harder this time.

The door swings open to reveal a scary-looking bouncer. You’re thrown off for a minute, but regain your confidence. “Uh, I’m Y/N,” you nearly yell. “Jongdae invited me.”

The bouncer guy eyes you up and down, then closes the door. You hear someone - Jongdae? - yell loudly from inside, then the door opens again and you’re ushered in quickly.

“Y/N,” Jongdae says, arms outstretched from his perch on a retro orange sofa. “You made it! I didn’t think you would.”

You shift on your feet, suddenly awkward. “Well, I did promise.”

He chuckles and pats the seat next to him. “Sit down. Want a drink?” You look at the table next to him, with a half empty bottle of wine, and realize he’s probably had a few drinks already. Unsure, you sit next to him on the sofa and take the glass he hands you.

“So, how’d you like it?” he wiggles his brows. The polite, simple Jongdae from your previous meetings seems to be gone; tipsy from alcohol and the high of his performance, he’s a lot more bold. A sheen of sweat still shines on his forehead, and his eyes spark as he looks at you.

“I loved it,” you try not to gush, but he must see it. “It was - incredible. You’re incredible.” Despite yourself, you blush.

“Thanks,” he says, a self-satisfied grin on his face as he leans back. “It means a lot more coming from you.” He winks. Your cheeks grow even hotter.

“Are you flirting with me?”

He takes a sip of his drink. “Only if you want me to be.”

You smirk back, feeling a little shot of confidence, your alter ego, come seeping in. “Well, in that case-” you reach out and put your hand on his arm “-please continue.”

He raises his eyebrow, obviously pleasantly surprised by your change in personality, but the drink is starting to hit your nerves and you only feel your adrenaline go up. “And what if I skip the flirting and go straight to propositioning you?”

“Try and see.”

His voice is close to your ear, breath warm on your skin. “How about we don’t go for dinner and you come over instead.”

“I don't know, don't you think it's a little soon for that?” Are you just imagining it, or are his lips on your neck? Blushing again, you feel your confidence waver for a minute. But then he’s really kissing you, and you're the one pulling him up from the sofa and towards the door.

He’s laughing as you drag him along. “Demanding, aren't we?” He still comes with you though, stepping out of the back of the building into a small alley.

“Which way?” you ask, looking left and right.

He just grins and pulls you down the alley, stopping in front of a monstrous-looking motorbike with yellow lightning bolt accents.

“Wow, I didn't peg you for a motorbike guy,” you say, a little anxious, but you take the helmet he gives you nevertheless. You climb on behind him, grasping around him loosely as the engine comes to life, and then fear overtakes your uncertainty and you’re clinging on to him for dear life, burying your face in his jacketed shoulder. He smells like standard men’s shower gel and vanilla and slightly like sweat - a scent that’s both comforting and exciting. Eventually, you gain the courage to watch your surroundings as you pass the downtown area and into an area with numerous apartment buildings.

“Wait, I thought you-”

“That’s my brother's place,” he cuts in. “I have my own.” You're both relieved and newly anxious that there won't be anyone else at his place.

Not that you were going to do anything. It would just complicate things. You’d had one-night-stands before - and they were one night stands because you snuck away right after. Usually your partner was too drunk to remember you and probably passed you off as a dream or someone else.

But it was different now, because you liked Jongdae. You knew him. Even with your limited time together, you could feel the beginnings of a bad crush, and even though you were willing to see where it went, the thought of a relationship still scared the crap out of you.

You had second thoughts suddenly. How would you explain it if you needed to leave this time? What if he asked too many questions, or rummaged in your bag, or you got too drunk and spilled your biggest secret? You almost grip his shoulders and ask him to turn around - just as you pull up in front of a fancy looking apartment building.

He parks. There’s no turning back now. “This is the place?”

“This is the place.” He hops off and then holds out his hand for you to take. As always, there are those familiar tingles dancing up and down your skin. You pull back your hand quickly, hoping it didn't look like you were being rude. Thankfully he doesn't seem to think so, and puts his hands in his pockets, humming a song from earlier that night as you begin to walk.

The door unlocks smoothly. He switches on the lights and you look around. Jongdae’s apartment is less personal than you expected it to be. It's also a lot more expensive than you expected it to be - everything is clean and modern, with decorative touches that have the hand of a professional and not a twenty-something guy who sings at bars. There are pictures of him and his family, but strategically arranged across the wall. His fridge has touristy-looking magnets that hold up printed out recipes and some scrawled notes.

He locks the door behind you. “I haven’t been spending much time here, so don't be surprised if you see dust or a stray sock or something,” he says, scratching the back of his head. Like he's nervous. You find it oddly cute. “Um, make yourself at home. I’ll see if I have anything to eat.”

You wander into his living room, which is more of the same. There are a few more photos of people who must be his parents and brother, a signed photo of him singing at another club, skin turned blue by the lights. You pick it up and look at it - study the electricity in his eyes and how alive he seems. So this is who he is.

“Is ramen okay?” he calls from the kitchen.

“I don't mind,” you call back as you put the photo back. There are some knickknacks: several small cat plushies, a jar full of coins and a handwritten note from someone named Kim Minseok, whom you guessed was Jongdae’s brother.

Jongdae enters the kitchen, two cups of ramen in both hands and a wine bottle tucked under his arm. He sets them down on the coffee table and doubles back for a couple of glasses. “Ramen and wine,” he says. “I know, I'm the epitome of hospitality.”

You giggle and take your share. “Thanks.” It's the instant stuff, but you're hungry and it tastes good.

Your teasing mood from earlier is gone, worn away by the ride here and the calm aura of his apartment. Right now, you just want to talk, lulled by the wine and the comfortable silence in between you as you eat.

You fumble for a place to start, going for an easy opening. “So, besides singing and eating brunch, what do you like to do?”

“Well, considering you just summed up my life in two activities, I’d say not much else,” he grins. “But Y/N, I barely know about you. What do you like to do?”

Usually you have a basic answer about your job ready to go, but this time you feel like you should be honest. Well, as honest as you can. “I’m actually a bit of a thrill-seeker,” you say tentatively. “I trained in mixed martial arts for a long time, actually. I like heights and horror movies and I have three tattoos.”

Jongdae actually looks impressed. “I would not have guessed that about you. I’m kind of proud I managed to scare you with my motorbike.”

“Surprisingly I've never been on one before,” you say. “But I really liked it. I’d love to go again.”

“Anything else you haven't done?” His eyebrows rose. “I’m not asking for the sake of future dates.”

“I’ve never been skydiving, for all my love of heights. You?”

“I’ve never actually sung in front of my parents. I think about that a lot.”

“Oh?” you finish up your noodles. “Why not?”

“Well, we're not really on good terms,” he says, looking down at his bowl. “I moved out early, because they didn’t approve of me trying to drop out of school. I started singing when I was sixteen, a few months after I moved in with my brother. So yeah. I haven't talked to them since then.”

“That’s kind of sad,” you say quietly. Your free hand inches across the space between you. “Why did you want to drop out of school, though?”

He shrugs. “I thought I had better things to do. Turns out they were just big dreams. I went back to school and graduated a year late.”

“What kind of things?” Against your will, your fingers have twined with his.

He smiles softly. “That’s a story for another time,” he says. “If you stick around long enough.”

“I plan on it.”

His grin widens. “Can I kiss you?”

“You already did.”

“Yes, but I didn't ask first that time.”

The corners of your mouth turn up. “Okay.”

He leans forward, excruciatingly slow. You close your eyes and swallow. It's not your second kiss, not even your twentieth, but it feels intimate and vulnerable in a completely different way. You actually care what he thinks, what he sees when he looks at you.

His lips touch yours, and you forget about the liabilities.

You wake, unsteady, in a room that's not your own. The covers are kicked off halfway and the other side of the bed is cold. You catch your reflection in the mirror across from you. You look exhausted, and there are a couple of wine-purple marks on your neck. Panic hits, sudden and familiar.

Shit. Did I -

You tiptoe out of the room cautiously. Jongdae is awake; you can hear him humming as he shuffles around the kitchen. Wary, you keep moving forward until he sees you and his face lights up.

“Good morning, Y/N. I wasn’t expecting you to wake up anytime soon. You sleep like the dead.”

“Good morning,” you return, uncertainly. “Jongdae, did we, you know…I don't remember.”

“Don't worry, nothing happened,” he says, grabbing eggs out of the fridge. “Do you like them scrambled or fried?”

“Fried, please,” you say, leaning hesitantly on the counter.

“Right. We were talking and you fell asleep on me a couple times. You looked pretty tired, so I carried you to the bed.” He looks up at you, a reassuring smile on his face. “So yeah, nothing happened.”

Relief spills through you, evident on your face. “Good,” you say, and then quickly rectify, “I mean - I was drunk-”

“No offense taken,” he laughs. You’re quiet as he cracks the eggs into a pan, working a little clumsily, but singing absently as he does so. You close your eyes and listen to the honeyed sound of his voice, a song you’ve never heard before but one that still feels familiar nevertheless.

With a pang, you realize that you could get used to this.

And that terrifies you.

All of a sudden you want to get out of here. You clam up again, looking for an opening to leave - but he’s turning to you with a plate in either hand and the most blinding smile on his face, and you can’t help but stay a little longer.

a/n this is p long compared to what i usually write i’m actually surprised ? also is anyone else swooning over jongdae bc i am wow falling for your own character why dont you get an actual life mer

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vacantgestures · 5 years

Text

Ascendant Recollection :CH 02:

Franchise: Kingdom Hearts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Love Interest: Riku

Rating: Teen

After the destruction of the Destiny Islands, Yukari finds herself dumped into a new world. Now she finds herself with not just a key, bigger list of responsibilities than she’d asked for.

Kingdom Hearts: Ascendant Recollection

Chapter 02

A World Beyond The Sea

If you're ever to take anything away from my story, just know that, getting inhaled by an enormous island eating storm is absolutely not fun.

Something else that isn't fun? Waking up on a cold slab of concrete. My head pulsed with intense pain. In fact it was probably from that three that hit me on the way up. I blinked a couple of times, before I realized that my vision might as well have been permanently blurred.

As I lay in an unfamiliar place, trying to recall the last few hours of the evening, I sighed, a bit frustrated as I stared up at the night sky. Spotted with stars, It was nothing in comparison to the spray of twinkling lights that blanketed the night back on Density Islands.

My home...

Thinking back, what had happened to it? What had caused that storm? I remember the dream that showed Riku conversing with that figure in the secret place. He'd made some sort of deal and it somehow unleashed... that dark... stuff and I woke up to a storm. But, had that really been a dream? And what did happened to Riku? And Kairi and Sora for that matter? I'd met up with Sora when things got crazy but, my other two close friends had been nowhere in sight. I supposed it was time to get a move on.

Sitting up I gazed about my surroundings. I sat in the middle of some sort of enormous court yard. Brick walled buildings surrounded me on all sides with twinkling, light decorations flickering gently in the dark. Street lights lit up the world around me with banners draped upon them reading, District 3.

Carefully, I stood up. Stumbling on my feet, I struggled to make it to the closest wall for support. Had I managed to get some sort of concussion? I blinked back the dizziness and blurred vision as I trudged up the set of stairs that led out of the court yard. At the top, I found a small compartment of houses that led down a pathway towards a pair of large wooden doors.

Pushing past them, I was met with a darkened alleyway, lined on either sides with town homes. Lit windows kept the darkness away as I made my way out of the narrow passage and into a greater plaza that, had me surrounded by shops, hotels, and big bright neon signs that did little to help my head ache. I gazed up at giant clocktower that hung above my head, reading just a few minutes past ten.

So far, I was vastly amazed. Everything here was just so... big. Back home, the tallest things we had were the humongous mountains on the mainland that sat lazing against the big puffy clouds that passed by on the horizon every day. Even the trees on the mainland had nothing on the size of the buildings, only growing so high-- often rivaling the size of some of our biggest homes, which were still not as big the shops and hotels around me.

On my way towards yet another set of doors, I found myself being slammed into. The world went completely sideways as I was forced to catch my balance while, a blubbering man, frantically held onto me for dear life.

"H-help me! Please!" The guy sobbed aloud, gripping my shoulders tightly. "They! They're coming this way!"

The man, attempted to hide behind me but, instead dragged me down to the ground with him. I shook him off, and turned to find a group of the little creatures come running in our direction.

For a second. Panic set in.

I remembered that I had only defeated them before in my dreams. I'd been in possession of that weapon-- The Keyblade. But now I was defenseless. How was I supposed to protect both this guy and myself?

I turned back to the man that had been freaking out at my feet as if I was supposed to be able to protect him. But I wasn't really much help either. With one more look at the oncoming enemies, I turned run. "Let's get out of here!" I shouted to the stranger.

It took him a moment to scramble to his feet. Yet, somehow he managed to trip and fall, crashing right into me once more. I hit the ground hard and everything began to multiply. Pushing myself up, I let go an agitated sigh as I turned to look for the guy. He was there, on the ground, cowering. Now with the creatures hovering over him, he sat there paralyzed with fear, sobbing uncontrollably.

"What are you doing?" I called out to him, trying to blink the stars out of my eyes. "Get out of here! Run!"

Sadly, even in my attempts to snap him out of his moment of terror, he would not budge. Instead, he stayed there as the creatures went in for the attack, and proceeded to claw out the poor man's heart. I watched as the creatures danced in delight at the retrieval of the prize before the man's body was consumed, only to be replaced by another little black creature.

Feeling a bit frantic, I found myself nearly frozen to my spot. My body suddenly felt like lead. It had to be from the prospect of death now becoming a harsh reality. I managed to stammer out of few words as the creatures lurched toward me. I felt my heart dive into my stomach, and shut my eyes waiting for the worst.

"Yukari!" I heard a voice call out.

Somehow melting away the fear, the familiar voice shook the terror away. My eyes shot towards the sound of the voice, and watched as the new comer had entered the scene.

"Sora!" I exclaimed delighted to see he was safe.

And it appeared that he was more than that, as he ran towards the monsters, brandishing what looked to be the same weapon I'd received. Although his held a different appearance, sporting a yellow boxed hand guard that connected to a long silvery shaft. The little prongs at the end, opened up into a true key look, that housed the emblem of a crown.

Sora wasted no time in dispatching the group of little black shadows. And much like in the dream each and every one of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Once he'd taken care of the things, he approached me, as I was still sitting a bit stunned on the ground.

"You alright?" He asked, extending a hand for me to taken.

I took it, using his weight to support my unsteady balance whilst simultaneously glancing around to ensure no more of those things would be likely to jump us. "Yeah." I answered. "Thanks... You really saved me from.. whatever those thing were."

"Heartless."

"What?"

"They're called Heartless." Sora repeated.

I looked at Sora suspiciously. "How do you..."

"After I woke up here, I ran into a bunch of them myself." He explained. "A guy named Cid, saved me. He told me I might be able to find you, Riku, and Kairi here as well. So, I went out looking. But so far, I've only found you and of course… more Heartless."

I gazed down at the Keyblade in his hands. I wasn't sure if I should press the issue, or not. But given the circumstances maybe it could wait. "So, are you saying, Kairi and Riku, were there when... it happened?" I asked.

Sora nodded quietly. A distracted look in his eyes offered more than his words. "...Yeah. I saw them." Was really all he intended to say.

"Did... something bad, happen?" I asked.

But Sora ignored my question, bringing up a new subject. "I've got to get you to safety. Wouldn't want to get jumped before we're prepared. Maybe Cid can help us out with that."

I watched as he pushed open the doors to "District One," as implied by the sign hanging above. I wondered what had happened that I had missed. Sora's hiding the possibility of bad news didn't sit right with me, but it was better to let him figure things out before forcing him to talk.

Following close behind, I glanced around at how much brighter this district was compared to the last two. More buildings, more shops and more lights. It was distinctively homier than the last, but lacked... people. I had to wonder where everyone was. I suppose the threat of those... Heartless, was quite serious, this night.

"So, do you know where this... place we're in, is?" I decided to ask, sparking up another conversation. "I mean, it seems like we finally got off the Island."

"I was told this place is called Traverse Town." Sora responded, stopping near the guard rail that sat before a plaza spotted with lights.

I gazed around at three enormous doors that seemed to serve as entry ways to other possible areas around the town. "But we didn't even have to use the raft." I recalled. From the dreams I'd been having I guess I wasn't too surprised about that. "I highly doubted it would have worked anyways."

I caught Sora look at me from the corner of my eye, but I refused to meet his gaze.

"All of this is crazy..." I went on. "Storms and monsters... what's even going on? Things were so... dull before. Everything's just happening all at once and…"

My words began to trails away as I went to look at Sora. But my gaze found the face of a newcomer who stood just a few feet away from us. Sora noticed and turned to investigate where my attention had landed.

The man standing before us had shaggy, long dark brown hair that went past his shoulders. His facial features seemed soft, rugged and unfriendly all at the same time, as he held it together with a scar that ran the length of his face, between his nose. Adorned with black jeans and a tucked in t shirt beneath his matching jacket, I wanted very much to say something to this guy about his many belts that hung around his waist.

"They know you're here." The guy mumbled. It wasn’t until that moment of him speaking that I realized his weapon. It looked like a mix of a gun and-- Okay, get this. His weapon with a flippin' sword stuffed into a gun.

I suppose I couldn't offer too many jokes. Sora was running around with an novelty sized key.

"And they'll keep coming, so long as you wield the Keyblade." The man continued.

I raised a brow. I didn't have my weapon out and on display. "But--"

"Stand back, little girl. This is between me and your friend here."

Offended, I frowned, muttering a quieted, "Rude..." under my breath.

Sora himself, already had a sort of sour look on his face as he gazed over his silvery Keyblade. Sending, testy glances at the guy, I worried about the decision he was about to make. "There's no way you gonna get this." He sneered. To which, he hastily got into a stance, indicating he was ready to fight off another nuisance if he had to. I also figured it was partly to seem intimidating.

"If that's really how you wanna do this," The man scoffed, readying his gun blade... thing. "Then let's go, kid."

"Now Sora..." I said, trying to allow him a chance to think rationally. "Think about this for a--"

“Aaaagh!!”

Sora leapt at the guy, screaming his battle cry. The man, didn't even let him get much of a chance as he shot a burning hot, ball of fire in his direction. Sora narrowly rolled out of the way, and the ball of fire, continued to come careening right at me.

I launched myself out of danger, cursing Sora's rash decision. I made it to safety in time to watch him jump the guard rail that hung over the plaza, only to be immediately chased into the open area by the man.

I watched on feverishly, as they fought, Sora almost always just missing a deadly blow. He was taking more hits that he was dishing out. It didn't take long for his movements to become sluggish and clumsy.

"Behind you!" I cried out.

Sora had stopped moving for just a second to catch his breath. But it was clear, at that moment, the man was simply toying with. Another burst of fire shot towards Sora who looked up when he'd heard my voice. Just barely, he scrambled out of harm’s way, only to be met with the man's blade that nearly sliced through his neck.

Sora blocked in time, going on to throw up the man's guard. Gripping his Key with two hands, he prepared himself to run the guy through it seemed. His face was beaded with sweat and worn with exhaustion. Sora was at his limit. This wasn't just some brawl on the beach like we had been used to. The was the cruel reality of the outside world. And in the last few hours of being here, Sora most likely had more time to experience that than myself.

The man spun, effortlessly, out the way as he kicked Sora in the back. Sora stumbled on his feet, trying to keep his balanced, but the man had the upper hand. He wasn't worn out like Sora had been. With the butt of his sword, he slammed the hunk of metal right into Sora's temple and almost immediately, Sora dropped his weapon.

"Sora!" I shouted, leaping over the guard rail, bounding over towards him.

I watched as his body collapsed, hitting the ground harder than what sounded safe.

Conveniently enough for me, the fact that I decided to start running like a psycho, caused the dizziness to resurface. Dropping to my knees, I crouched over Sora's body and latched onto his shoulders. Gently I tried to shake him awake but he was out cold. His head rolled around on his shoulders as a small groan sounded from his lips.

With a bit of a sigh of relief, I let my mind rest easy knowing that he was alright.

"Step aside little girl." The voice of the man throttled in my ears.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched as he came closer to the two of us. I was seeing double at this point but I fought through the wave of nausea that came with it.

"I'm not moving." I said, squeezing Sora's shoulders tightly.

The man, let go a sigh, as she threw his weapon onto his shoulder. "I don't have time for you. Make this easy and move out of the way."

For a split second I thought back to the dream I'd had just earlier that evening. The Keyblade that formed in my hand when I needed it most. That voice that spoke to me saying I had some power within me, that was beginning to awaken. For a moment, I did hesitate. This was all so new. Things were just happening so fast. But I wasn't about to let to creep have Sora without a fight.

Shakily, I got to my feet. I tried to control myself as the dizziness attempted to prevent me from steeling my nerves. Cautiously, I held out my hand in hopes to summon the Keyblade as I did before. I didn't know if there was a specific way to do it. Yet all the same I found myself concentrating on thoughts of protecting Sora, getting back to Riku and Kairi and just staying alive.

And somehow that worked.

Within seconds the Keyblade materialized in my possession, weighing heavily down on my right arm as I gripped it after it had appeared. I swung it once, twistingly before aiming it at the man before me, who'd then stopped to, gaze at my Keyblade.

"Another one?" The man said, as though he couldn’t believe his bothersome luck.

"Just tell me what you want." I demanded. But at the same time, I wavered. The spinning world around me forced me to shut my eyes. Clamping a hand against my head, I garnered a sympathetic response from the Stanger.

"Kid-- Hey, you alright? Hey!"

But it had been too late.

The world had turned upside down all at once as I felt myself tumbling towards the ground. The sound my blade clanging loudly as it made contact, left a horrible ringing in my ears. When I hit the stone tiling, the world didn't stop spinning. It was like everything continued on as I felt myself passing through what seemed to be memories all around me. They mixed and blurred together. The cacophony of voices swirling around my head didn't help the dizziness, but I could just barely hear the sound of faint hissing, coming out over it all.

"Get up." A voice tore through dream.

My eyes opened abruptly. Glancing around I found myself in a whole different location. The room around me was bathed in sea of deep emerald greens. The ceiling, the floor-- all of it looking somewhat lavish or fancy, in design. I noticed that I was been lying comfortably in a bed that was not my own. I easily discounted that this whole crazy night might have been a dream, when I noticed Sora snoozing in an arm chair at the foot of the bed. His head hung on his neck, while drool began to slide down the corner of his mouth.

"Oh good." The voice from before spook. "You're awake. How's your head?? Looks like you got yourself a concussion somehow."

I wasn't sure how I hadn’t seen her before but, a girl stood at the bedside. She seemed pretty young, sporting short, dark brown hair and eyes. She wore a cropped tank top with belt straps and khaki colored shorts. Fish nets sat on her arms beneath big orange gloves that matched her ankle boots which housed long, thigh high socks.

As loud as her outfit was, I was surprised I hadn't noticed her when I opened my eyes.

"Uh... It's fine." I said, almost forgetting that she'd asked a question. I lifted my hand to my head, and felt some bandages wrapped around the circumference of my noggin. I suppose it was as bad as I thought.

"Squall didn't even touch you, so I guess he got a little worried when you just passed out on the spot. We couldn't figure out how you got banged up without him even laying a finger on you."

"Uh... well, that might have actually be the tree that hit me on my way here." I confessed sheepishly.

"The what?"

"The name's Leon." The man with the scar promptly corrected the girl, not allowing me a chance to respond. He had also seemingly appeared in the room. His edgy brooding look was almost difficult to notice.

Well when you get hit hard enough...

Ignoring the man, the girl shrugged and moved to Sora. "Hey, wake up, ya lazy bum!" The girl shouted, kicking at the arm chair.

The impressive jolt, woke Sora from his slumber. Upon sleepily opening his eyes, his gaze met with the girl, who'd been kneeling over him. "Gimmie... a break... Kairi..."

"Kairi?" The girl, inquired annoyed. "The name's Yuffie! Wake up, Nerd!!"

Again she shoved the chair and Sora jolted awake. Shouting expletives.

"Yeah... I think you might had hit this one too hard." The girl said rolling her eyes.

Sora's attention immediately landed on the man, calling himself Leon and stood from his seat, ready to fight once again. "You!! You're the one that attacked me out of nowhere! What's your problem?"

"While I am inclined agree that arguing on that notion would seem appropriate at any other time," I said, drawing Sora's attention to me. "I think, it wasn't without reason."

Sora quickly looked me over before he realized the bandage on my head.

"Did he beat you up too?" He asked, concerned.

"Tree." Was all I said before he nodded understandingly.

"You alright?" He attempted to confirm.

"Wait, seriously.... How on earth did you get into a fight with a tree?" The girl, now known as Yuffie, asked.

"Enough." The man's voice cut through each of our words as we all averted out attention toward him. "We've got more pressing matters at hand. And it's got to do with the two of you, both wielding the Keyblade."

"Both?" Sora asked, his eyes catching mine.

"I can summon one too." I shrugged.

"Wait... then why didn't you tell me?"

"It doesn’t matter." The guy said. "Both of you seem to be the chosen wielders of the blade. Initially the plan was to get it from you so we could conceal you hearts from the Heartless. I didn't think you'd come on your own of course, but I was willing to do what I needed to get you to come along."

"Even if that meant beating up a kid?" I noted. "Sounds like the mindset of bully to me."

"Regardless." Yuffie sighed heavily. "You guys were running around completely oblivious to how dangerous of a threat you posed for yourselves. The Heartless can seek you out via the Keyblade."

"Meaning, we don't have lot of time, before they make their presence known." Leon went on. "This place is infested. They're crawling around everywhere. It's crazy to even think that the keyblade chose you two—Kids, of all people."

"Rude..." I interjected.

"Why don't you start making sense" Said demanded. His tone held plenty of frustration in it. "Maybe explain what’s really going on around here."

"Well, okay." Yuffie said, taking a deep. From that, I could tell she was about to give us a very condensed version of a story we might well need the full details to. "We're pressing for time so... here goes. So you know that, there are worlds outside of your own. But the thing is, they've been a super-secret up until this point. And that's all thanks to the Heartless who've been shaking thing up. They're kind of making a grand mess of things."

"The Heartless." I said. I was pretty sure Sora said it to me before, but.. "Those are the creatures that keep chasing us around. But what are they really?"

"Those without hearts." Leon confirmed. "The Darkness in peoples' hearts is what attracts them. See that you don't fall prey, for there is Darkness within every heart."

"We've learned that a man named Ansem was studying those creatures a while backs." Yuffie continued. "He recorded all he knew about them in a compiled report-- like their behavior and stuff. Sadly we don't know a whole lot about those nasty buggers, but we do know that we could probably learn more about them form the reports."

"Well maybe... you could show it to us, if it’s not too much trouble?" I suggested.

“That’s… the thing." Yuffie frowned. "We can't."

"Because...?" Sora chimed in.

"Because." Yuffie emphasized. "We don't have 'em all. We've got like a few pages with us, but the rest of them are all scattered about the place-- maybe even across the worlds. Getting them back is a real pain."

"So for now... you’re saying the only real defense we have against the Heartless that we currently can be sure of is the Keyblade." I supplied.

"Exactly!" Yuffie nodded, slapping a fist into her palm and pointing at me as a big grinned danced onto her face.

"The Heartless, tend to greatly fear the Keyblade." Leon spoke out. "Even as this is the case, they'll continue to seek you out."

"Well... neither of us asked for this." Sora said. "Is there no way to return it or--"

"Obviously not?" Yuffie answered matter o' factly. "Who are you going to give it back to? The Keyblade chooses it's master, and it looks like you two are the new lucky owners! It's yours for good."

"Okay, hold on." I said. This was all coming at me pretty fast. In a matter of just a few hours so much has happened. Now, I'm being force fed a ton of info-- and the ‘too long didn't read’ version at that. "Can we back track for a second? You're saying that we didn't know about other worlds until now because those Heartless are taking over, right? So then what about us? What happened to our island?? Last we saw of it, it was being pulled apart. Sora, you said, you were looking for Kairi and Riku. Where are they?"

Leon and Yuffie stood there with pursed lips and I listed off my many questions.

"Just because we've got Keyblades, that automatically makes us official monster slayers? Not even any trainers? At least have us be better informed before we get thrown back into it. I hardly know how to use this... Keyblade thing."

"The fact that you're sitting here, right now, possibly means that you're world is gone." Leon finally said. "Mayhaps, it's been consumed by the Darkness whenever the Heartless came. I'm sorry to break it to you, and I don't know how to say it any easier, but you probably won't be seeing you friends, family or world any time soon."

"Leon--" Yuffie's voice was soft.

"No." But Leon's was firm. "This is the reality of their situation. There is no sugar coating it."

I pressed my lips tightly together. I found myself looking at that really, nice rug as I tried to find some composure. I hated that my gut feelings tended to turned out right. But I wouldn't allow myself to believe that earlier today, really was the last day that I would see the ocean.

I looked up at the two strangers, as they both stared at me expectantly. I could read their expressions perfectly. They were sympathetic, but they really were counting on both of us being on board. I looked over at Sora. He looked pretty deep in thought too. But This Leon dude was right. We didn't really have a whole lot of options anyways. We were now, two fifteen year old kids without a home and nothing to our name except our new, very priceless looking weapons.

I let go a sigh, attempting to get my decision out, before a loud explosion sounded right within the room. That awful ringing caused my brain to vibrate around in my skull as the world started to double around me. Leon readied his weapon, barking orders around the room.

"Yuffie, get a move on! You two are with me. Let's go!" He shouted, as he tore through the mini horde of creatures that entered the room.

I hastily, but carefully got out of bed, which had still managed to be a mistake. Sora who had already summoned Key was nearly out the hole int he wall when he noticed.

"Yukari, can you manage?" He asked.

Hesitantly, I summoned my Key. Somehow it felt more heavy than I was used too. I suppose a toy wooden sword was nothing compared to this.

"I'm good." I said, shaking the stars out of my eyes. I had to be at least 90% right now. Any less meant... turning into one of those Heartless which, was not an option.

Sora nodded, leading the way out of what I realized was the room of a hotel. We had then, found ourselves in a fancy looking back alley lined with hotel balconies. Leaping over the side we were met with tons of creatures that spotted the length of the alley. Following the man's lead, the two of us hacked and slashed our ways through the enemy horde with surprising ease. I had initially thought, they would have been tougher to deal with, but the little creatures exploded upon impact of the Keyblade, making contact with their black bodies.

"Where did he go?" Sora shouted, when we'd entered the Second District through a side door of the alley.

The Heartless quickly closed in behind us, right as we slammed the door. Even still, more lay ahead. The court yard was swarming with the things dancing about, and chasing after people who, let's be honest, should have known better to stay inside.

"Who cares, let's just keep moving!" I cried out moving ahead of Sora.

I dashed through another creature that had been chewing on some guys leg. Free of his assailant he clumsily scrambled to his feet and thanked me frantically.

"Get out of here." I told him. "Make sure you tell everyone else to find safety."

The guy nodded running off as we continued to free others in need of help. But there was no real point. With one defeated, more spawned in its place. It was as if there was no end to these guys.

"Let's get out of here." Sora shouted to me, ducking into the alley that led to the last district.

I followed behind. Once through the door, we were immediately met with the sounds of screaming.

"Save meee!!" A panicked voice, cried out, resonating around the walls of the district three courtyard.

"Fight, Goofy!!" A familiar voice screeched, angrily at the first.

For second I could have sworn, I'd heard that voice somewhere before. As we ran into the square I looked all about myself but saw… nothing. That was until we looked up and noticed the two.. animal people fighting for their lives on the tiny space of a balcony above our heads.

A single Heartless had them pinned down, but there was nothing we could do to help them.

"I'm trying!" One of them shouted. This one looked like a sort of black bloodhound, but with the characteristics of a human. He charged towards the Heartless, a bigger one than I'd seen up until now, in attempts to knock it down. But the thing effortlessly swatted the dog out of its, way, sending the dog flying over the side of the balcony.

Sora and I inched forwards with anticipation, as we watched.

"Thunder!" The other voice belonging to a white duck... man?! who went barreling after the Heartless.

Instantly I recognized him from the dream, which would then prove, the dream wasn't exactly that.

"Maybe we should get up there and help them?" I suggested, glancing over at Sora who's eyes were strained on the pair. His features had been knotted into something of painful anticipation, like he couldn’t bear to watch, but he didn't want to look away.

"Ah... I don't think we'll need to be doing that." He said, carefully stepping back. "Seems like they're coming to us."

"Wah--?"

"aaaaauUAAAHAAAHHHHH!!!"

The sound of screaming, closing in, caught my attention as I realized, with great displeasure, that the two were now rocketing right in our direction.

Sora and I both moved to escape their trajectory, but found it to be a fruitless effort, as the bodies of the two newcomers collided with ours, sending us all right into the cool pavement.

I can say with unwavering confidence, from the bottom of the pile of bodies, this was not a wonderful place to be.

"Keys!!" The two shouted in unison upon, I assume, the sight of both of our weapons that had been flung across the court yard.

But their revelation was short lived as an incredible rumbling, shook the ground beneath us. This was then promptly followed by, walls spring up around the yard, and blocking off all of the exits, preventing escape.

"What happening?" Sora asked aloud, to no one in particular.

His question was quickly answered when a barrage of armored parts came crashing down out of the night sky. All around us, the pieces fell-- an armored helmet, clawed gauntlets, boots and a torso. The enormous clang of metal rattled my insides an shook my vision. It was great wakeup call but it did little to help my head ache.

At first the pieces stayed in their places, unmoving. The silence of the night managed to come back, as the ringing subsided.

"Uhh..." Sora's voice permeated the quiet. "So, who are you guys, again?"

"Ah!" The dog, who was comfortably on top of our pile, grinned wide. "The names, Goofy, and this here is Donald!"

"Are you freaking kidding me right now??" I asked, irritated, from the bottom of the heap.

At the sound of my voice, the ground began to shake. The parts of armor began to rattle as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground, and began hovering before encircling us at dangerous speed.

"I don't want to sound too urgent." Agitation, was quite prevalent in my voice. "But may this is the best time to get, off??"

It was in that moment that the boys scrambled to their feet. Sora and I made a grab for our weapons before the four of us huddled together, back to back as the parts, violently encircling us, closed in. The wind from the vortex it was creating, throwing my hair every which way. I clenched the my Keyblade tightly in my hand, hoping this wasn’t the night of my death.

"Thundaga!!" The duck man, shouted.

For a second, the world around us darkened before the temperature rose, significantly. From the sky, an impressively sized vein of lightning, came down and struck the armor, without managing to hit us. This threw the monster out of its attack. sending it flying across the length of the court yard. Seemingly dazed, buy only momentarily, the thing twitched and flinched as it stumbled and floated its way to its feet until all of the parts were in their respective places to form a sort of "body."

"Let's beat him together!" The dog shouted, charging towards the thing with nothing but a shield.

"Attaaack!!" The duck screeched, flailing his magic staff around, while blast what appeared to be magic spells.

Sora and I exchanged brief glances of blatant awe struck before following the two into battle. I gripped my blade tightly running into danger. My eyes made contact with the torso, section of the thing and noticed a sort of heart design of red and black, with a X mark running through it. Interestingly enough I realized some of the different, little heartless I'd seen, had those on them as well-- the little buggers with the knight helmets seemed like underlings to this guy?

I narrowly missed the swiping of both the clawed hands as I threw myself to the ground. Rolling back to my feet, I continued to barrel towards the thing. Of course, this was all while it was coming right at me.

"Hey!!" I shouted towards the duck. "Can you hit it again!! With that lightning?"

The duck, having caught my attention furrowed his brow. "I'll need some time!"

I nodded before I turned to find Sora had paired up with the dog to take down the feet. They were making great progress until they got kicked back and sent flying. I watched with bated breath as the armored boots both came careening in my direction. Skidding to a stop, I hoped to get out of the way in time before they rammed into me.

Unfortunately for me, I took the blow, being thrown back even closer to the massive armor. Stumbling to my feet, I narrowly avoided being crushed to death. I rolled desperately for my life, slashing at the armor as I did so. Aggressively, I threw my blade through one of the boots and it exploded in a grand fit of dark smoke. Sadly, I wouldn't have time to avoid the other foot that had come rocketing right towards me.

But it seemed I wouldn’t have to, as the dog, who called himself Goofy leapt in front of me with his shield braced for impact. Impressively the foot imploded before the dog threw his shield at an on-coming claw.

"Move it!" He shouted, ducking for cover himself.

He didn't need to tell me twice.

I dove to the ground right as my head would have been taken off. The wind the claw picked up threw my hair across my face, and into my eyes. I watched as is made preparations for a round trip.

"Get up!" Sora shouted, as he yanked me up by the shoulder.

I hadn't even notice that Goofy had already been back on his feet, with his shield in hand.

"Get ready!!" I heard the duck shouting from across the court yard. He'd come charging our way, with his staff risen over head. "Back me up, Goofy! You two, be ready to finish him off!"

"Right!" Sora and I exclaimed.

"THUNDAGAAAA!!" The duck shouted, once more.

Again, the atmosphere around us dipped before a vein of lightning, larger and more expansive ripped through the air. It targeted only the enormous body of floating parts, ripping the claws to pieces and severely damaging the body and head. Both of the remaining pieces clattered loudly to the ground. Goofy flung his shield at the helmet, while Sora and I rushed in after to deliver the finishing blow.

Together, we tore through the twitching torso piece with our blades. The thing shuddered violently before exploding into bits of shrapnel and Darkness that clouded the air.

The boys cheered at the sight of the creature’s demise, while I watched as a shimmering pink, heart floated up into the sky before vanishing into the stars.

"So, you guys were looking for us?" Sora inquired.

He and I, along with a Leon, Yuffie, the animal duo and a new girl, stood in the middle of the first district. Surrounded by lights, and other dwellers of this world.

The new girl, who had introduced herself to me as Aerith, wore a kind smile. She'd been dressed in a light pink button down dress and heavy brown boots. Silver bangles covered her wrist. Her long, light brown hair was tucked into a braid. At that moment, she had been checking my head wound whilst casting what seemed to be multiple, very light doses of healing magic at it. I wasn't going to insist she stopped, because it was definitely getting rid of whatever concussion I had.

"These two had apparently been sent out to find you, at the request of their king." Leon clarified. "I supposes its only remarkable that there is two of you, but nonetheless, you seem to be prime suspects."

"Request of your king?" I echoed, thinking back to the letter, the duck man had been reading. I wondered if it was pertinent that I shared the fact that I could see things like that through dreams-- events of people and places and what not. But, I don't know how useful it would be. They'd probably just find that creepy and invasive.

"You should come with us, on our vessel!" The dog appointed. "We'll be traveling around the multiverse, taking down Heartless together like we just did."

"We couldn't do it properly without a few Keyblade wielders." The duck egged on.

"But, what about our friends?" Sora looked to me, with a hopeless expression on his face. "We still haven't found them and we don't even know if they're ok."

I bit my lip as I stared him. I kindly thanked Aerith, and moved closer to Sora placing a hand on his shoulder. "You said, you looked everywhere in this town." Maybe... they aren't here? Maybe they ended up, somewhere else."

"She could be right." Leon stated. "This isn't the only world out here, beyond yours. If you go with these guys, you’re bound to find them."

Sora's frown failed to dissipate even at that bit of confirmation.

"But, you won't be coming with us, looking like that." The duck insisted.

"What's wrong with the way we look?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Your faces--"

"E-excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips. If he was trying to say we had to look like animal hybrids to get into their crew, they had another thing coming.

"The frowns, you too have." He clarified. "Our ship runs on smiles. If you guys come with us looking like that, we'll exploded before we make it off world."

I couldn’t tell if this was an exaggeration or not.

"You guys need to be happy!" The dog agreed. "We'll help you find your friends along the way-- no problem. We'll all be in this together."

For a moment, Sora face’s was knotted only with concern. I felt like it had been partially my fault for calling out the fact that our island couldn't have possible survived what happened to it. Even still, he'd been really weird about not telling whatever he omitted when I asked about Kairi and Riku.

I looked back at the duo and forced a grin, for Sora's and Riku and Kairi’s sake. I wanted to find them and ensure their safety more than anything. But, if all the worlds were being taken over by the Heartless, then a reunion would be short lived. "I'll take up, you guys' offer if a smile's all you need."

Sora looked up at me, curiously.

"We're gonna find them." I told him. "Together-- and with their help."

"And we'll still be helping you guys out too!" Yuffie exclaimed.

I looked over everyone. All genuine, warm smiles across their faces as each of them nodded. Our situation may have seemed hopeless but we definitely weren't alone.

"Yeah." Sora finally agreed. A big toothy grin, grew across his lips. “We’ll go with you guys."

The duck nodded, satisfied, as he held out his hand. "Donald Duck." He introduced himself.

"The name's Goofy." Declared the dog, slapping his hand onto Donald’s.

They looked to us expectantly waiting to join them.

"Yukari." I said, placing my hand in next.

"And I'm Sora."

After our little huddle we said our goodbyes. The crew each lent us an impressive lump sum of potion's which would help us out with small ailments along our journey. They gave us a bit of money to start, bid us a safe trip, insisted we come back if we found anything useful or needed anything, and sent us off on our way.

This of course, transitioned into getting to see the vessel that Goofy mentioned prior.

On the outside, it looked like a little toy made of blocks for giants. On the inside, would be the homiest, space ship I'd ever had the pleasure to grace my presence with. A quick tour around the ship allowed me the chance to learn that it included, four dormitory rooms. A small men's and women's shower, a kitchen that housed enough room to fit that max number of occupants, a lounge room that Donald corrected as the briefing room, as well as a cockpit where'd we be spending the majority of the flights, prepping for world visits.

"Welcome to our ship!" Goofy announced.

"Get some rest if you need it." Donald suggested. "Who knows when we'll come up, on our next world. Best be prepared for bigger encounters."

"And don't even think about touching this and that like you own the place!" Went a very angry, very squeaky, and very tiny voice.

Our quartet, looked down to find the smallest, cutest, little chipmunks I'd ever seen. Both of them skittered around our feet, as they attempt to hold our attention due to their size.

"All day I slave away at getting this vessel spotless and ship-shape! So don't try and trash the place, first chance ya get." One of them spat.

I knelt over and picked them up in the palms of my hand. Both of them were dressed in little, yellow aprons. A pocket emblazoned with a cog sat in full view. One of them had droopy eyes and big red nose, and double buck, gapped teeth, while the other eyed me suspiciously, sniffing at my gloves with its little black nose.

"These two are Chip and Dale." Donald informed, as he headed away from our growing party. "They're the ones responsible for the maintenance of the gummi ship."

"Howdy! I'm Dale!" The red nosed one greeted with a soft smile.

"And you two, take off your shoes when you go into that cockpit!" The one I presumed to be chip, hollered, before they boys leapt out of my hands and scurried off. But not before Chip could get in his final, nag. "I won't have ya dirtying it up!"

"Just make sure to refuel and get some rest." Goofy reminded. "You can join us in the cockpit when you’re ready"

Sora and I nodded as Goofy left us alone near the entrance of the ship. I looked to Sora, who'd been gazing around in complete awe. I had to say this place was amazing, but at the same time, I felt like the rest, Donald and Goofy mentioned, seemed like a welcoming treat after everything we'd endured tonight.

"I guess, I'll go check out the rooms." I said. "Wanna come with or--"

"Sure." Sora nodded.

Together we wandered around until we found the dorms. The first one I found, I decided to claim, plopping myself right into the bed. It wasn't super comfy, but it was still a place to lie my head when things calmed down, I suppose.

The room itself was pretty sweet too. An expansive wall made completely of sealed, air tight glass that showed the stars and things of space that zoomed by. Everything was simplistic. A small locker like closet a desk and chair, and a bed.

I looked up to find, Sora had been gazing out at the view of space. His face on the verge of drooping.

"Sora?" I called him away from his thoughts.

He looked at me, with a changed expression that masked whatever he was feeling. I suppose I wouldn't try to bring up what had been really been bothering him. Didn't want to explode the ship just yet.

"If you get scared, you can sleep in my room." I teased.

Sora grinned a bit, as he joined me at the bed side. Rolling his eyes he sat down. "You think they're okay?" He asked, in a quiet voice.

For a moment, I wasn't sure what I should have said, but I had no way of knowing the truth. "I do." I said, smiling softly at him.

"But the Island is--"

"Who cares about that right now." I stopped him. "What matters is that you and I are together. We're safe. And as long as we stick together, and work with Donald and Goofy, we'll find the others."

"Do you really believe that?" He asked.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to hope."

For a second, Sora’s face went dark. I could see in his eyes that something had been bothering him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He stayed quiet a moment longer before deciding to respond. "I... I mean, back before we got to Traverse Town... I met him in the storm-- on the Island before you came." He twisted his mouth a bit, before continuing. I guess he was still trying to make sense of what he was about to say. "Riku said... He wasn't afraid of the darkness." Sora continued. "Do you think he meant, THE Darkness? The one that has to do with the Heartless?"

I frowned at this revelation. But what could I say? I hadn't been there when it happened, I couldn't even be sure of the context. I shook my head, trying to put it out of both of our thoughts.

"I don't think we should worry about that yet." I supplied, for both of our peace of mind. "We'll ask Riku what he meant when we find him."

Sora nodded quietly. "Yeah..." He agreed. "When we find him-- Him and Kairi. And then maybe they'll join us."

"Quite an idea! It wouldn't hurt grow the group." A voice chirped, startling both Sora and I.

Looking down at the floor, we found a smartly dressed cricket standing proudly at our feet. In a tail coat an top hat, a wide grin spread across his tiny face as he did a gentleman’s bow. "How do you do?"

"Ooookay, I guess privacy is out the window." I said under mind breath, staring wide eyed at the little bug.

"Whoa.." Sora awed. "You're so small. What are you doing here?"

"Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He introduced. "I couldn't help but over hear your discussion. You say you've lost your world, eh? Well the same thing's happened to mine. So I've taken up residence with the crew and have been sent out to record the goings on for the journey ahead at the request of the King."

"Ahh.." I tried not to be rude and inquire why he'd been eaves dropping. "Sorry to hear about your world. Glad you made it out okay."

"But of course!" The cricket supplied, jumping onto Sora's knee from the floor.

"I’m, Sora and this is Yukari." Sora greeted. "Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you'll be pretty busy with all that writing."

"Oh, of course! Feel free to suggest anything I might miss."

"Yeah, sure." Sora turned to me, as he got to his feet. The cricket, Jiminy leapt on to his shoulder as if to hitch a ride. "I'm gonna head to the cockpit with the others. You comin'?"

"Uhh... I think I'll catch a quick nap." I said, eyeing Jiminy. "Wake me up when we're ready for landing."

Sora nodded before he headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once alone, I sighed, lying back in the bed. I found myself gazing out at the stars that flew by. Sora's words about Riku hadn't left me. Closing my eyes I hoped that maybe it wasn't something that was cause for concern, but the dreams would ultimately correct that notion.

I was taken to a scene where a communion of conveniently shadowed figures stood around a sort of magical table that projected an image of... Sora Donald Goofy and I, back when we'd pledged our party-ship in Traverse Town. Now feeling very watched, I floated closer, attempting to grasp the going's on.

Within the dark room, low lit by green flames, I gathered that there had been about six shapes, conversing with each other.

"The little brats, took down that Heartless!" One of the voices raged. "Who would've thought?"

"Such is the power of the Keyblade." Went another voice. "Their powers aren't their own."

"Why not just turn them into a Heartless and be done with them." A woman's voice happily chimed in. "Solve to problem, quick and easy."

"Those brats' friends, are the king's lackey's. Swoogle me eyes! Their all bilge rats by the looks of them." Spoke another.

"You're know prize, yourself." Went yet another.

"Shut up!!"

"Enough!" A final voice boomed from the shadows. Her voice was the only one to be matched with a face, as she stepped into the little light that danced about the room.

Looking into her yellow eyes, her blacked pupils gazed evilly at the image of our party on the table. Draped in high collared robes of black and violet, her green skin and horned cowl, complimented the cunning expression that waltzed onto her black stained lips. "The Keyblade has already chosen these two. But will it be they who conquers the Darkness, or perhaps will it swallow them? Either way, we shall watch them closely, as they could pose to be useful. Especially the girl."

Her grin grew wider, and in that moment, it looked as though she had made direct eye contact with my ghostly form, sat across the room. But, before I could take much stalk in the idea, I was thrown into another scene.

Dizzying colors of blue, spun around my vision until I found myself in the strangest, place I'd ever seen. Blue cliffs, rose up around me, ushering heaps of rising... water falls defying gravity in every means possible. Water shot towards the heavens as if this place existed in reverse. What was more, was the chunks of rock, floating through the air. Completely awe struck, I almost hadn't noticed a figure of blue and yellowed, curled up atop one of them.

Urgently I found myself reaching out to them. My heart raced at the sight of their waking face, a mess of confusion and fear.

"Riku!!" I shouted.

But of course he couldn't hear me. All the same, he sat forth, gazing about himself as if looking for the source of the voice.

"Where... where am I?" He asked, the silence.

I tried again to call out for him, but was met with no sign of him being able to hear me. My heart, lurched into my gut when I felt myself being pulled away from the scene. The world around me began to darken, and Riku’s image began to blur.

"W-wait! I'm not ready yet!" I cried out to no one. But that didn’t matter. The darkness around me quickly took over. Tendrils of black, smoke and ooze, shot out from the darkness. A hissing sounded in my ears, flooding my body with immediate terror. The pitch black face with yellow eyes and red mangled teeth appeared from within the darkness.　

"Sleeeeeep!!" the thing hissed, coming at me with alarming speed.

I screamed, trying to fight the thing and get away, but realized, I had woken up, back in my dorm upon the ship. Breathing heavily, I checked myself before realizing my face was drenched with tears.　

To Be Continued

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