[Semi-Important Note]

So, this is my first multi-part chapter. By multi-part I mean that the writing for the chapter was far too long for my liking, so I split it. I just wanted to tell you just in case some of you were confused.

Signed,

Cookie

A Fate Stricken Encounter: Part One

Lowee, a land of snowy wonders and a goddess that needs to take a chill pill. That's what Johnny told me before we got on a train that was headed in that direction. A continent that's constantly snowy, sounds fun. I can fully utilize my ice powers in here, which will make my life way easier. Since it's supposed to be a long ride 'till we get there, I had taken the liberty to catch up on sleep.

My head bangs up against the seat in front of me, jerking me awake. I info sponge out of fright and sheer habit, and learn that we're almost to our station. I also learned that most of the people of Lowee seem to have a fetish for flat chested girls, these are my kind of people.

Johnny taps my shoulder, snapping me out of my half sleep trance. "What do you want?" He points out the window.

"Take a look at that." I look out to see colorful buildings surrounded by lights that perfectly reflect the colors. The night sky made the sight that much more wonder inducing. The sight disappeared behind a forest, well that was short lived. I turn back around and settle back into my seat, playing that moment over and over in my mind. She was there, I couldn't miss her from a mile away. Vert had beaten us here, she might warn Blanc about me. I turn to Johnny who seemed to be contemplating something, I think he saw it too.

"You know Vert, was there, right?" He looks over at me in surprise, did he forget who I am?

"Yeah, this could complicate things. Why does she hate you so much?" I deadpan.

"Well for one, I killed her best businessman. It might also be because of my crown." He nods.

"The crown of the shadow king is usually a sign of destruction, so I guess her violent reaction towards you shouldn't have been surprising." While he isn't wrong, I still don't get why she has such an unbearably strong hatred for me.

"It's not Vert." That's coming from the Negaverse, who could possibly know I'm there? I spirit jump to the Negaverse and come face to face with a goddess, never thought this would happen.

"Who might you be, pretty lady?" I put on a flirtatious front, just to try and make her think that I'm just some hopeless nerd. When I take another look at her, I realize my mistake.

"The name's White Heart, and I'd like to know what you want with me." White Heart, the only goddess that continually knows about my existence throughout the different dimensions I go through. She seems rather calm, despite what Johnny says.

"Call me Frost, I'm here to take out Shane. He's been causing problems for your people and I've been called in to take care of it." I've met her many times before, different name sometimes, but the same personality. She's calm at first, but the moment she get's pissed, destruction is imminent. So my words need to be said with caution, because this could go very wrong very quickly.

"I know who you are, prince." I flinch and begin to back away from her, I feel like this is going to go south real quick. "Well, I guess you'd be called king now." I stop. The fact that she knows I'm the prince and hasn't killed me is a good sign.

"So, what do you want, White Heart?" I relax my stance, not getting too relaxed to let them appear. If those guys appear, it could ruin the whole act I'm going for.

"Just to see if you were a threat or not, I really don't feel like fighting." Same situation as last time, same unwillingness to fight. Every single incarnation of this girl has acted similar, but will the relationship between us be the same? She seems way more laid back than the other ones, maybe that's because she's acting on her own will right now. Either way, Blanc isn't going to be a problem.

Not with White Heart here.

We say our goodbyes and go our separate ways, her doing whatever and me going back to the Oververse. Once I'm there, Johnny is looking out the window, seemingly lost in thought.

"Oh, you're back." He puts his attention to me, "How'd your talk with White Heart go?" I raise an eyebrow.

"How'd you know that?" He smiles and hold up the drone that doc was communicating with me from.

"We figured out a way for us to look into the Negaverse." He beamed, he must feel proud of himself.

"If you saw, then you should know how it went." That was a lot more blankly stated than I wanted it to be, it came off a bit harsh too. Maybe the memories flooding back to me caused more pain than I thought, I'll have to look into that. Johnny is taken aback by my small outburst, but quickly settles down.

"This is our stop." Johnny stands up and stretches as the train comes to a stop, the doors flinging open. We exit the train and enter the station, there's not many people here.

"It's quite empty for a train station." I look at a clock, the reasoning for the emptiness answering itself. "Then again, who's up at three in the morning." Then a thought hit me, "We were on that train for thirteen hours?!" We got on that train at noon, I guess time does fly when you're talking to a beautiful godde-. I freeze in my tracks.

"Again?" I whispered to myself, not quiet enough though.

"What?" Johnny turns to me, "Hey you alright?"

I shake the feeling off and continue walking. "Yeah, I'm okay." I'm everything but okay, but we need to catch some Zs before we head out tomorrow. I check the clock again, I should probably say later today.

Out of the station now, we make our way to a hotel opposite of the basilicom. The place looks nice from the outside, but I've been fooled before. We step in and my doubts are completely erased, the main floor looks like a mansion living room.

"Good evening, gentlemen." A lady in a suit bows to us from behind a counter, Johnny approaches her.

"Good even-morning miss, my partner and I would like to book five nights here." While the two of them converse the price and other boring stuff, I take it upon myself to read one of many books that are laying around here. I pick up a book called The Shadow King's Return (Book 1): A Long History Lesson, by Markus Repia, Quite convenient. I begin to read the book, despite that I'm living proof that this theory is true.

"The shadow king was a monster before his eventual fall, but what if he could return. This book series will give you a lesson about his birth, his rise to power, how he ruled, how he fell, and how he could return in a good way. While I may seem insane for even mentioning the shadow king in a good light, there's a good reason for it. So follow me as I write down my many theories and evaluate the likelihood of them happening." This Markus guy does seem insane, but he only has good intentions it seems. "Let's start at the beginning. The shadow king, known by his family as Barris Segium, was born in the heart of Planeptune under the parenting of Dave and Winter Segium. His parents, according to various audio logs I've managed to scavenge from the Gamindustry Graveyard, raised him to be kind and respectable to others. While the mother doesn't admit it, Dave states in his 627th log that Barris doesn't get along with anyone he interacts with. This could clue us in on his brutal nature towards other caster kings, it also gives us a clue as to why it took him so long to become married and have a kid." That makes sense, but I want to know if they have anything about me in here. I put down the book and pick up another one titled, The Shadow King's Return (Book 4): Theories on his Return, perfect. I open the book and begin to read.

"Now we finally get into the theories on the return of the shadow king, I hope you're just as excited as I am. Let's jump right into the fray. The first and most likely theory I've came up with is that his only son will take over his position and show kindness to everyone. The shadow king's wife has stated in her last log that 'This conflict is no longer winnable, I'm taking my son and getting out of here.' As we hear chaos in the background, she continues her log. 'Now that we're in the clear, I need to give myself a new name and a new look. I'll raise him in a stable home and he'll be better than Barris, hopefully.' The log cuts off there, but we get a glimpse of what happened before the goddesses attacked. There was obvious tension between Barris and his wife, Melody, and as we all know; a house divided cannot stand. The king's fall wasn't a stroke of luck, but an eventual happening that was expected from anybody that worked under him." Melody? That's mom's name, but how? I shut the book and think over what i just read.

"This is my home, I'm from here. Mom lied to me, but now I realize it was with good reason." I set the book down and sit back, rubbing my temples in thought. I knew this beforehand, but this changes my view on the situation. Fate is something that I had accepted just to not get lectured my mom, but now that I have my own experiences and this theory book to go by, it doesn't seem all that farfetched. I stand up and stretch, what's taking Johnny so long? I look back to see Johnny and the woman laughing, glad they're having a good time. I walk up to them, putting on a blank expression.

"Are we ready or not?" I let the annoyance seep through just enough to get my point across, Johnny flinches a bit and turns to the woman.

"We'll have to continue this conversation some other time, see ya." She waves goodbye at us while giggling to herself.

"Quite the lady's man I see." He gives a cocky smile, why the hell did I say that?

"Well I'll have you know that I'm an expert when it comes to the ladies." He beats his chest twice and smiles. "AndbyexpertImeanIhavenocluewhatI'mdoing." He whispers to himself, I caught a bit of what he said.

"What?" He waves me off, I guess I wasn't supposed to hear that. Either way, I'm far too tired to care about menial things like that.

When we get to the room, I collapse on the bed closest to the window (and the air conditioner) and fall asleep without changing my clothes.

My senses kick into overdrive as I hop out of bed, fully rested and ready to take on the day, only to realize that it's eight in the morning and Johnny isn't going to get up until about ten. Changing my clothes, I head out into the city to look for something to do while I wait for Johnny. Figuring that I could get some combat practice on some enemies, I head out into the forest.

I've been walking for half an hour and only saw one monster, that's probably because I've been following this trail of destruction. I begin to hear sounds of combat and pick up my pace, skidding to a stop when a huge drop came up. I look down and see five beast with anti-energy flowing through them converging on a petite...brunette. Oh boy. If this is another Blume, or at least who Blume is based off of, I know exactly how this goes. I drop down in front of the beast, I think there called Horsebirds, and hold my arms wide. They all charge at me, clearly not knowing what I am. I pull out a dagger and chuck it at one Horsebird, the monster falling over and bursting into pixels. I jump over one and grab its neck, launching it into a different Horsebird. While those two are busey untangling themselves, I charge at the other two. They had decided to refocus on The girl, I refuse to call her Blume, I know that's not going to be her name. I tackle one and drive my remaining dagger through its eye, the monster bursting into pixels. The other one almost got to her, but I managed to intervene before It could strike at her by cutting it in half. I pick up my dagger that I threw at the first Horsebird and walk in front of the brunette, sheathing my blades.

"It's quite dangerous to be out here by yourself you know." I hold out my hand and help her up, she's refusing to look at me. She mumbled something about being 'saved by a human' and begins to walk off. "You're welcome, by the way!" I yell to her while she continues to walk.

I was right, I knew exactly how this would go. I check my watch to see how much time I had before I had to get back. "Eleven-thirty?!" I rush back up the drop, Johnny's going to kill me.

When I got to the room, Johnny was there, and he didn't seem happy. "Where were you?" Johnny is not happy, not at all. The info spongeing only told me that I wasn't going to like what he says or does. He can't kill me, but he can hurt me pretty badly.

"I went out to do some training while I waited for you to get up, did I worry you that much?" 'cause if so, I'm flattered.

"Yes! You are an essential piece to this puzzle, and I need you to be there for me." That was a lot kinder than I'll ever give him credit for. I understand that he needs me to stay alive, but does he forget that almost nothing can kill me. I head over to my bed and pick up my backpack.

"We can worry about my adventures later, we have a goddess to attend to." Johnny nods and we head out into the snowy paradise, one thought racing through my mind.

"I never info sponged about the goddess, I'm going to go into this blind."

~Fate's Not Done Yet~

Ayy you got through the story, congrats. I just wanted to thank my new followers and all that stuff (not gonna name them for consistency's sake) and say how awesome you are. Also to that one guy, I'M NOT KILLING OFF VERT!

Leave one of those review things as always and have a good rest of your day/evening/night, LATER