Chapter 10: Clockwork, one of the Cursed Wanderers...
Rebecca was dropped off in front of Vlad's ghost portal then a ghost with blue skin and a purple cloak dragged her through the portal. He took her to a territory of the ghost zone that looked like a clock tower.
He threw her onto the couch nearby then turned to a group of screens.
"Uh, what's going on?" she asked in slight fear.
"Why dear girl, this is your first part of your training, learning to change back to your 'human form'" Vlad said as Plasmius and sat down next to her on the couch.
Two red rings started at her middle then separated revealing her usual self. There was a difference though. She had fangs, a tail and pointed ears. Her tail was coiling around her leg. "There done, now do you have some painkillers or something?" she looked at her stomach then saw her tail, "Ok this is odd, did Rin or Yukio follow us?"
"No, that is your own tail. That one death allowed your true form to show, you also have horns that will be in full growth after your training is complete." The hooded ghost said calmly as he dug through his cloak.
The ghost floated over to the two and handed Rebecca a rod, "I believe you will find this useful. It's called 'Kira' and can help you with flame control, seeing as though you have trouble with it."
"E-eh?" Rebecca held the rod, it was as long as her forearm and heavy. "Who are you? And how is it supposed to help?"
"It focuses on your flame and calms it, then it allows you to take control. I am Clockwork, Father Time, Kronos and other such names for the controller of Time."
Rebecca smacked her forehead, "I should've known, what with the changing age every five minutes."
Clockwork smiled as Vlad smirked. "Kira is a twin bladed scythe, used by multiple people, some of which were Wanderers, it has quite the history. I, myself and Vladimir used it when we were first beginning. Though your mother was who made it famous among the Wandering Society. They had it sealed away for that very reason, but they agreed that you would be allowed to use it."
"During my time with it, all I had to do was have it on my person and I could easily control Oblivion." Vlad said to the girl, "Kept it in my boot so no one could take it." He chuckled.
"I used it to it's full extent then was cursed. I found that Oblivion had allowed me to control someone's Time, either speed it up or slow it down. The council found out and had me cursed to live as this. Similar occurrences happened to Shinigami-sama, though instead of Time it was Death." Clockwork said as a tray of tea floated to the three, "Tea?"
"Uh, no thank you."
"Earl grey please."
"Or would you like Dr Pepper?"
Rebecca jumped up as he held a can of Dr Pepper for the girl, "Thanks."
The three simultaneously sipped their respective drinks, "So is this it?" Rebecca asked.
"Pretty much, though we will have to make your friends think something bad happened when you finally return, you wouldn't mind would you?"
Rebecca smirked evilly, "Like false injuries? Or a kidnapping?"
The two smirked back to her, "Along those lines, we'll show you off as if you never got hurt, though it will only be a Vlad duplicate, then we'll have Skulker come in." Clockwork said as his finger traced the rim of his cup.
"Have Skulker harpoon it through the middle then 'Kidnapped'. Sounds fun, though I think we should just go with false injuries for now." She leaned back, "I still say Vlad is a crazed-up Frootloop, but not for reasons like this."
Vlad raised an eyebrow at this. "And for what reasons exactly?"
"I don't know, the whole chasing after a 14 year old kid's mom despite the fact if she found out you were half ghost, and the 'Wisconsin ghost' that possessed her husband and would probably rip you apart 'Molecule by Molecule'. Then there's the fact you also chase after that specific 14 year old kid wanting him to be your son and renounce his father while also trying to kill him and destroy everything he holds dear. And, might I add, the mere fact you chase after Danny seems more like you want in his pants at times, then you want him for a son. I mean you tried to make a PERFECT clone of him, why couldn't you just accept Dani? She was exactly like Danny in her interests and personality, sure the gender and age were off but that's just stupid to judge her like that. And then there's-"
"I get it! My actions are worthy of the title!" Vlad huffed as he took another sip of his tea.
"What ever happened to Dani anyway? She was one of the cool ones." Rebecca asked Clockwork.
Clockwork had found Vlad's reaction to Rebecca's rant quite funny and was stifling a laugh, he cleared his throat then addressed Rebecca, "Yes young Danielle has been traveling the world, as happy as can be." Clockwork said. "Is there anything in particular you would like to know? Be it Wandering or otherwise I will answer as truthfully as possible." Despite the fact he knows what happens in the future and past of almost every world, he doesn't however control it. He watches it's flow and decides what should've happened and changes it. He's gotten it wrong a few times, but that is normal, despite being one of the most powerful ghosts and Wanderers, he was a normal human at one point in Time.
Then, just as a plus, he can't read minds, even if he has the demonic telepathic ability that is used for communication, not mind reading.
"I want to know about my mom. What happened with her? Why was she cursed." Rebecca emptied the can and crushed it with her bare hands. She looked at the can in shock, "That... that has never happened before."
"... Your mother, when she first began, was apprenticed by Talbot and myself. She had very similar power issues to you. Difficulty in changing gender when performing Imitation, Oblivion is either too big or doesn't show at all. These were all symptoms she had. Once I gave her Kira though, they almost disappeared. She was very powerful, and we all knew it, though the Wandering society thought she was too much. She watched me become cursed because I had decided to tell my wife that I was a Wanderer. Both of us were cursed and represent Time, and Space. We knew of each other, we knew we were married, but everything else was a blur, we forgot who we were for a while, until your mother reminded us.
She was furious that the Society's Overseer had both of us cursed from me just simply telling her. She hadn't even gone on her first mission when she formed the Rebellion. She hadn't even completed her training, because I couldn't teach her, yet she managed to rally over half of the Wanderers and turn others, Vlad, Mephisto and Amaimon were some of those that were turned."
Rebecca looked to Vlad to see his eyes glazed in depression.
"What happened? Did they succeed, yet choose the wrong leader?" Rebecca asked intently.
"No, they failed. It was horrible, there were not many Wanderers to begin with, but with almost the entire army being cursed based on their power, it was a massacre with no deaths." Vlad answered, "Only those who hid away once the duels ended got away. There were very few of them, myself included."
Rebecca was silent, "... So the curses are based on your power?"
"Yes, some are left as tree nymphs or other monsters. There are some that get turned into 'Ancient Entities' like myself, though for your mother, they had to make hers the worse. She's watched her own children suffer from fates that were brought upon them. Her first son after being cursed, lived to 400 before dying at the hands of his most-beloved, in front of his five year old son."
"Was that Nura Rihan?"
Clockwork nodded. "Youhime, the first human wife of the Nura men. Wakana was the second."
"Yes then she had two children, a son and a daughter. Her son was the closest to her, while the girl was closer to her father. Evil little girl sold her own mother out to have her killed. She was a monster of a spoiled brat." Vlad continued.
"That was Zuko and Azula." Clockwork added, Rebecca nodded.
"We lost track of her after that. All communication was cut off when the Overseer found out we were watching her. Once she was reborn here yet again we were so glad to see that she hadn't broken." Vlad added with a hint of happiness.
Everything was in silence, it wasn't comfortable, but it was tolerable. Rebecca was being driven mad with the questions in her head. She wanted to fight for them, just like her mother tried, but she would think on it very carefully.
She took a deep breath then stared at the two men seriously, "I want to fight. I'll lead the New Resistance."
Vlad growled, "As if you could. It took years to gather up enough people to even think of standing a chance, and it took twice as many to have them cooperate. As if a mere child like yourself could even do such a feat."
Rebecca's tail flicked angrily and her eyes flashed red with black again, "I can, and I will. I'll do it secretly, I'll complete my training then travel around the worlds recruiting people as I please. I'll plan everything the way Shikamaru does, I'll be 200 steps ahead of my enemy. I'll even account for failure! I won't let you all just give up!"
Vlad stood in front of the girl, "We have never given up! We crave the freedom of not being under the Overseer since your mother came along!"
"Yes, but you never thought of it before?!"
"I was never a Wanderer before your mother!"
"Would it matter?! You say you haven't given up! Yet here you are generations after the Revolt, sitting here telling me, that my mother was brave enough to stand up, where you all haven't! And now that she's unable to take that place, you aren't going to at least try?! THAT IS COWARDLY!"
Vlad and Clockwork stared at the girl in silence as she tried to calm down enough to continue, "You have given up, you think that no one else like her would come along, so you threw the thought of freedom into the mud, I can tell that you haven't even thought of it since she was here. I'm willing to try, shouldn't you at least try?!" Rebecca had tears running down her face at that point. The mere thought of her mother being put in a fate worse then death, while these people merely watched, made her frustrated. She could expect it from Vlad, but not Clockwork or Mephisto.
"... I'm willing to follow you. Your mother called me a coward for just accepting my fate then proceeded to argue with Talbot over the same matter you and Vlad are." Clockwork smiled, "I'll even help, indirectly of course, I'm sure HE would like a new toy..." He floated away with a smirk.
Both me and Vlad looked at each other, "Do you know what he's talking about?" I shook my head.