Reversal Chapter 26: The Woman Who Murdered Time, a lilo & stitch fanfic

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REVERSAL

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."
— William Shakespeare, Henry V

26
THE WOMAN WHO MURDERED TIME

"This is…a lot to take in." Zechavya Archimedes Cadence Kendall insisted as he looked straight into the eyes of a fairly-dark-skinned and quiet-looking 30-something year old in a white robe with the light of a halo around his head, and a face as peaceful and beautifully gentle as a lamb in a pasture. "…I might need a few years, in fact."

"Would it help if you…had a drink?" The man asked politely, holding up a bottle of water.

"I don't drink, really."

"It's just water."

"I smell wine."

"Heh-heh. He's done it again." A long-bearded being in bright golden armor who was missing an eye chuckled, adjusting his high-horned helmet as he stood by his goldilocked son, one of many in a bright and colorful pantheon of gods and goddesses. In fact, it was quite possibly the greatest assembly of seemingly mythological figures that any of them had ever seen.

"This is…WOW." Coraline said as she looked up at the sharp-nosed but tender-faced woman in front of her. "You kinda remind me of my mom, has anyone ever told you that?" She asked the toga-wearing woman, who was passing out cookies to the assembled people of Kokaua Town.

"My young child, this woman is Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Home." A jackal-headed god with a very muscular frame and Egyptian attire told her, nibbling on one such cookie as he sat with Grey, who was pouring a cup of coffee for a familiar rainbow-scaled serpent that had joined them for the occasion and who was speaking to Walt the Water Snake about the little things. You know, animals beginning to develop larynxes and sentience, the complete and total structural collapse of reality…

"I'm like everyone's mother, dearie." Hestia said politely. "Cookie?"

"Put that cookie down!" He proclaimed. "We do not have the time. I'd enjoy making time, really, but this is a serious matter."

"Come on. Cookie." Hestia insisted, holding the plate up.

"…fine. ONE cookie." He sighed as he took a chocolate chip cookie. "Now…" He spoke through crumbs that sprayed everywhere. "Some of us have lived here in secret upon Earth for quite some time. Others stayed in…less socially acceptable places." He added, glancing over at a section to the far right in the town square, where Samael was speaking with some old friends.

"So, so the idiot takes the grenade, right?" Samael chuckled as Vassago leaned on his enormous sword, listening intently as a giant three-headed dog sat nearby, one paw adjusting a pair of tiny glasses on each head.

"Yes?" Cerberus inquired.

"And, and it explodes in his hands. So I say "Are you alright"? And he says…"

"This is the best part." Snizzi chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"And he says… "Fine! And you?"."

"As I was saying…the time has come for us to put aside whatever differences we may have had in how we do things. The time has come to handle things. Decisively." He went on.

"Why didn't you ever show up before?" Zack suddenly asked, all of the Pantheon turning to look right at him.

"So we, the people who pretty much picked up your race in one way or another every time you fell on your behind, the people who saved you from natural disasters and answered prayers and, occasionally, fended off demonic invasions…have to handle EVERY single bad thing that happens on the planet? You HONESTLY can't stand on your own two feet? You have to keep relying on us for everything?" The Lord of the Dreamtime inquired, sitting at a table with a very beautiful-looking New Zealander woman. "Yes. That is a FINE way to show how wonderful you humans are: crying to your mothers and your fathers and your nannies whenever you get a cut on your finger."

"HEY!" Zack yelled furiously.

"Thy lowly wrech who slithereth upon the plains of the great island liveth in a trailer pahk." Odin intoned as he folded his arms across his chest, his one working eye closing. "But he speaketh truth. We should not HAVE to be called upon in this day and age, a day and age when, for the most part, thou art capable of solving or rectifying nearly every terrible thing that befalleth thee! Even IF magic were remov-ed from thy world, the bounties thou hast reaped over the years hath greatly advanced thee."

"We can't hold your hand forever." Jesus agreed. "A good parent has to know when a child needs independence. We can offer support. Step in as a last resort, a VERY…last resort. But that is all. And this is one of those times when we have to step in for the good of everyone."

"You still don't believe they're who they say they are?" Page asked Zack, who turned away from the angelic-looking experiment 620.

"…y'know…I'd like to." Zack admitted. "…but right now, my faith doesn't feel important. If you can offer ANY assistance in getting our friends back and in fixing this…this TOTAL breakdown of the rules of reality…I'm happy to have you here."

"We ALL are." Lilo Pelekai said as she shook HIS hand. "Well and truly, with all our hearts."

"There's much work to be done. We shall separate our forces across the globe, for even now more portals to the Reversed Land are soon to open." Odin insisted.

"And unfortunately, because they're not natives of this reality, they're not subject to all of its laws. Otherwise we would have just sent some lightning onto that deer YOU fought." Anubis told Grey. "No, we have to resort to the…cruder methods. They that spawn from the corrupt shall face our wrath and be torn asunder!"

"This whole fight could rip reality apart. And it may end up doing that." Hestia admitted quietly. "…we're sorry that it's come to this. And that there isn't anything else we can do."

"There is…something else I have to say." He spoke up, all eyes upon him as absolute silence reigned. It was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. "I know that many of you have always tried to pride thyself on taking the moral high ground whenever possible. And there's been few times that you couldn't do that. But this is one of those times. I must insist, Major Arcana…that you and your friends not hold back an ounce. The only thing these…things…will succumb to isextreme force."

"We hope." Samael added quietly. "…we hope."

"Well, hope springs eternal, doesn't it?" Lilo asked with a smile.

…

… "My girl wants to party all the time! Party all the time! Party all the tiiiiime!" Manifest sang out as he wiped himself down in the shower, shaking his booty. Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish the song, because he was soon alerted to the phone ringing wildly. He frowned. Why was he getting a sense of…déjà vu?

He picked it up. "Y'ello? Talk to me."

"Manifest."

"Sari? Princess, baby, how are you doing? How's it going? Look, Daveigh and Ashton are having this baby shower for Patricia's children-"

"Wait, CHILDREN?"

"Yeah, evidently she's got twins!" Manifest said cheerily. "Erick and Esther are setting up the decorations. Mel wanted to come, but she came down with the flu or something. So do you think you come? It's tomorrow morning, 10:00."

"…I'd like to, sure. But…can we talk privately?" Sari asked quietly as she twirled the phone cord. "…tonight? At dinner?"

"…as in…a date? Like old times?" Manifest said, stiffening a bit as he began to stutter like a schoolboy. "I-th-that is, I'd…I…er…I…y-yes! Of course! I-I'll see you at…at six?"

"It's a date."

With that, Sari hung up, Manifest quickly putting the phone back on its hook as he tugged at his hair. "Oh crud, oh crud, oh CRUD, I've not got any cologne, my good cloak needs washing, my personal hygiene's mediocre at best without my vanilla body bath wash, WHY did I lose that?!" He moaned, slapping his forehead as he headed out the door and down the hallway.

Odd. There was a crack in the middle of the left-hand side. A very odd-looking, almost perpendicular crack. Could it be that-

If it was the Clipped fooling around with him, he'd deal with him. He had a full schedule this week. After all, he had that shower to go to, he had 500 human beings to test for corruption, he had to kill Esther and Regent…

But he could make time to put that…THING…in its place. Oh yes, he could make time.

BRIIING! BRIIIING!

"Two calls in as many minutes. I'm so popular." Manifest chuckled as he reached for the phone again. "Can't be Conan O'Brien, the Eastern Seaboard's all but-" He began to say as he put his ear to the receiver.

"We're comin' through, dude! Get away from the receiver, as in NOW!"

"Oh bloody-GAH!" Manifest quickly jumped back as Frequency, carrying Ember and Josef, landed on his carpet, Josef's body a chillingly limp, bloodied and bandaged mess as Ember put an icepack to his head, Frequency laying the young Romany on the couch. "What happened?" The white-haired Messiah inquired in surprise.

"What happened was that the Infection hit the Romany." Ember explained quietly. "…and it hit them hard. Josef's the only "normie" left."

"WHAT?!" Manifest's eyes widened. "He was supposed to leave them-"

"Who's "he"?" Ember said quietly, red and green eyes narrowing darkly, fiddling around with the watch she'd been carrying onto, passing it over and over in her paws.

"…I suppose you deserve to know the truth about my plan." Manifest admitted as he sat down in a nearby chair and held his head in his hands, feeling the hair slip between his fingers. "…I'm tired. I'm so tired. I put it off for so long…because I loved it. I loved…being appreciated. That's all people really want, isn't it? Being appreciated? But…but I'm tired, tired, tired…and I need to finish things."

He leaned back in the chair and pointed upward. "Do you know how the world came into being? Because I'll tell you when this one did. Nick used to say…nobody's born into the world hating it. Not even these people. But 6000 years ago, that's when this world was truly "born", because that's when it became the shadow, the leech hanging of the arm that is your world. And when I found that out, I had to admit…I thought this world was beyond saving. That it wasn't worth it."

"…I'm waiting for the "but"." Ember remarked as Frequency checked Josef's temperature, momentarily glimpsing inside of the watch.

"God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah. All Lot had to do was find just 10 innocent people. There weren't even that many. Including children. Including women. What does that say about the two cities? There weren't five good people in either of them to make up the necessary ten?" Manifest asked darkly. "So I wondered…are there even 500 good people in this world? 500 good people that prove this place isn't work NUKING OFF THE FACE OF THE UNIVERSE?!" he roared angrily, rising up as he pointed at the sky. "IS THIS PLACE EVEN WORTH SAVING?!"

"Dude, if you're half the guy you're trying to be, then you think it is." Frequency told him, waving a dismissive paw in the air.

Manifest's furious look became a gentle, peaceful smile. "Yes. Because I found that minimum and then some as I traveled this world. Look at Josef. Flawed kid. Really proud. A bit selfish, but…" He kneeled by the unconscious Romany and patted his shoulder. "He's done so much. He's really one of those people that you can't help but admire at the end of the day. And as I kept meeting people like him…people who didn't give in to the So-Called Infection no matter how many times others around them did, I realized…maybe this world was worth saving."

"So then what are you going to do?" Frequency wanted to know. "C'mon, spill."

"…I need all the Major Arcana dead for the plan to work. And…that means Lilo's counterpart is…" Manifest trailed off. "…but I can't do it…no. No, I can't." He insisted as he held his face in one hand. "The World? Of course. Regent? Yes. But…but not her. I keep seeing HER face every time I look at Esther and-I just can't kill her."

"…I could." Frequency said quietly, twirling the butterfly knife he always carried. "…and I guess I'm gonna hafta."

"You're a sick person." Manifest told him quietly. "And you KNOW that, don't you?"

"I've made a living out of being sick towards those more messed up in the head than I am, dude." Frequency said, shrugging. "It's my job to be that way so nobody else I care about has to be."

"You might not get the chance." Green's voice rang out as Daveigh and Ashton burst into the room, King by their side nursing a wounded Erick, who was clutching a terrible shoulder wound. "We've got an problem. All the other guests are gone from their rooms. And when we went to go check on Esther and her dad, guess who I found there? The…" She shuddered. "The THING that was impersonating my husband."

"If Junior's not here…where IS he?" Manifest asked quietly. "…and if Esther isn't with you, then…where is SHE?"

…

… "I'm sorry about this." Regent informed Esther, who was lying unconscious outside the building, in a patch of grass underneath a small apple tree. The black-armored being looked left and right, a hesitant look in his eyes. Was there anyone around?

…no. And that was what bothered him. Nobody on the streets. No birds chirping. No squirrels in the trees…he couldn't even see a single fly or gnat. It was as if the whole world around him had been stuck in a bottle and everything but he and the form were its only inhabitants.

It was time. He could never have what the true one had…and his father was long gone, but…but at least he could have one final comforting consolation prize. Carefully, Regent's body began to revert to the strange, liquidy substance that frequently leaked from his true appearance's eyes, the soothing wine pulling Esther deeper and deeper into a warm pool of euphoria. It wouldn't take long, it would take some time for her to recover, and by then he would have already worked his way in and assimilated the most vital components of her mind. Soon she'd think only his thoughts…feel only what he felt. Part of the collective being that made him who he was…

"M-must…g-get out…" Esther mumbled.

How naive. There was no way to escape, the Cracked thought to himself, suddenly sensing something rise from Esther, images, so plain and simple…that of her father, and that of-

…that of HIS father and…and of...

It was...him?

"I can't leave you here without…we've got a responsibility to share!" Esther von-Hayden-Muir refused, shaking her head as she stood in his laboratory, the good doctor holding the small puffball that was their child in his arms. "I can't be separated from you! We promised that we'll always be together! I won't leave you here, and not when we have a child-"

His father turned away from her. She could not his face, but Regent could, and he knew he was crying, sobbing. Regent already knew, no matter what Esther said, his father had made up his mind.

"Please. You have to go back home. Your father lost his beloved. He can't lose you too. And…and you're n-not really losing me." He insisted. "I…I'll always be with you, my beloved."

This... was love. True love. Was…was that what 620 had felt for the people Regent had killed? He knew it was. A love for everyone in the town, because some people had hearts so big they could welcome all into it…

"Every day that I spent with you was a wonderful one. And I couldn't have been happier to have loved you."

"I can't do it! Please, don't talk like this! I'll do anything! Just don't leave me!"

Just…don't leave me... Don't... leave...

"Her father. Couldn't I could keep them together, if I just absorbed them both? But... that... would be wrong..." Regent hesitated.

Right and wrong. There was enough of that still left in him. Leftover scraps that had turned into something more valuable than anything he'd ever had before, scraps he'd picked up the more time he'd spent around those people from that wonderful world.

He could never live that life they had. He couldn't live the right way.

He heard it come up behind him. He heard its whispering laugh.

No. He couldn't live the right way.

But he could die the way they would.

"He'd really do it." Blacky thought to himself, resting against a nearby alleyway, dark eyes intently gazing upon the Cracked thing. "…not bad. Not bad at all…"

"Have at you." Regent said, depositing Esther on the ground as he leapt through the air, fist held high, cape billowing out behind him, finally looking like a true member of the Pelekai ohana, and finally feeling a real sense of triumph, even as the wings enveloped him and he felt his body slowly slough away. A real sense of triumph.

Victory is counted sweetest by those who never truly taste it…

I am sorry, little egg. It said to him. I'll try and make this as painless as possible...It went on, Regent's consciousness barely lingering.

You're not really going to die… It added gently, a final tint of compassion as it began the process that was so ironic, seeping into him gently, like water into cloth. Regent's eyes slowly closed as he felt nothing but warmth and a growing connection as he melted into the World.

So much...so many emotions in this one, it thought to itself. Even the leftover scraps it had been gifted with had the faintest trace of the Truth, the right way to live. It was almost overwhelming. But he too had known pain, loss, love…

Accept this, little egg…the warm glow of love…

Esther slowly opened her eyes.

She saw ITS true form.

And she screamed.

…

… "Oskar, calm down." Junior insisted gently as he held the young lad's shoulder, the kid panting heavily as the cries of the Infected rang through the air. They'd hidden themselves in a closet inside the ship…and were still quite a ways away from shore. And, more importantly, Junior's molecular density, like his wife and his mother…was too damn great. He couldn't swim. And his father was a horrid swimmer too…

If they could get to a lifeboat, they had a chance. But he had to deal with Oscar, the bumps on the poor lad's back bulging a bit as Oskar began to mumble nursery rhymes, his eyes becoming glassy, his skin becoming hard like a doll.

"Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie…"

"Oskar. Focus. PLEASE." Junior told him, a genuine hint of fear filling his voice.

"Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get a poor dog a bone!"

"This isn't working. What's it going to take?" Junior thought out loud as he heard the Infected getting closer and closer to their closet. If he couldn't get Oskar quiet…

He COULD just knock him out with the revolver he had, but…but Junior didn't want to hurt anyone. Not ever again. Not even Regent. So how could-

"See saw, Marjorie Doll, Jackie shall have a new master!"

"Coraline." Junior said quickly, his eyes turning a shade of violet as he looked straight at Oskar, who slowly turned his head.

"…C-Cor…Cora…line?"

"Oskar. Tell me about her. Tell me everything." Junior spoke softly, as old feelings of familiar love began to well up in Oskar, amplified by Junior's empathic powers. It wasn't quite manipulation. It was more along the lines of amplifying what once was.

"…she was…" Oskar began to say, his skin beginning to lose the shiny quality it had been getting, returning to normal as his eyes became less glassy. "She was perfect. She was…so headstrong…so passionate…so authoritative…"

"She's a strong role model for you, eh?" Junior said gently as he patted Oskar's shoulder and continued speaking in a persuasive, faintly melodious tone. "Tell me more."

"…she has this smile." Oskar spoke softly as the bumps on his body began to retract bit by bit into his body. "This little, tiny, Mona Lisa smile that I always love to picture in my mind…"

"Picture that smile, Oskar." Junior insisted quietly. "Close your eyes and just visualize it…think hard…think hard about her."

Oskar slowly closed his eyes, a pleasant smile coming over his face as silence reigned inside of the closet, the Infected finally passing by them…and moving along, making Junior breath an inner sigh of relief. It had worked. He had been right. No matter what world he may have found himself upon…words would always have their power.

…

… "Esther, are you alright?" Heartwing asked gently as he caressed her cheek, looking deep into her eyes with clear concern. He'd brought her to the others inside of their temporary home as Manifest went to go pay a visit to Sari for their private dinner date.

Esther, however, wasn't talking. Her skin was pale, her eyes were tiny pinpricks, a visible miasma of pure terror had been left on her and she was shuddering with every single breath. She had been screaming for so long that they doubted there WAS any voice left in her.

"What did exactly did she SEE?" Erick wished to know as he shouldered his sword, thinking about cleaving whatever she'd laid eyes on into so many pieces you could have made a chop suey out of them.

"It SAW that…the thing I saw." Heartwing spoke up. "…I don't know how to…I'm not sure how I can talk about what it LOOKED like because…" For a moment a terrible feeling of pure fear tinted his tone as he quivered a bit. "…it was just-just…I…"

"That bad, huh?" Daveigh said comfortingly as she sat on the couch with Yuna in her arms, Ashton handing Heartwing a glass of milk, the draconic experiment 421 taking tiny sips as Ashton handed one to Esther.

"When it spread its wings, it…" Heartwing shuddered again. "I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks. And Blacky went AFTER it."

"He must be suicidal." Ashton groaned as Patty looked up at the clock, blinking a little, wondering where King was.

"No. Just…very vengeful. But what else can you expect from the Force of Fate?" Heartwing sighed quietly as Frequency continued to care for Josef, who was mumbling something under his breath…Ember walking outside of the room as she glanced down at her watch.

"Fifteen minutes." She murmured. "…fifteen minutes…"

"But I can track Blacky down." Heartwing told them all. "…we can find where that thing is hiding. In fact, I'm certain I know exactly where it is…"

Meanwhile, Sari was sitting with Manifest even now in a cozy little kitchenette, a Felix the Cat clock hanging off the walls and a red and green checkered cover sprayed across the large table they sat at. They were sitting in ordinary-looking wooden chairs, eating an ordinary-looking meal of spaghetti and meatballs, but what was NOT so ordinary was that Sari had brought in a bottle of sherry with a bright red bow on it, which she was even now pouring for Manifest into a long and tall glass.

"Normally, I don't drink." Manifest admitted. "After all, Nick didn't drink."

"To be fair, most alcohol made him vomit." The Princess chuckled as she passed the drink over to the white-haired nonhuman. "Come on. Drink up. To my last day on Earth!"

"Oh, Sari, what're you saying?" Manifest said, looking clearly disturbed by this sudden revelation.

"I don't need the Secret Service. But I do need to still see doctors every now and then. And…and I got the results of a test back. I…I definitely have breast cancer." Sari spoke softly, lowering her head, gripping the table cloth a bit tightly as she chewed her lip.

"…I'm-I'm so sorry." Manifest murmured.

"Please, drink up. I insist. To my last day on Earth." Sari informed him. "Eat! Drink! Be merry!"

"At least you look very nice. Dressed to kill, really." Manifest went on.

"Heh. Apt phrase." Sari said as Manifest swallowed down the sherry. "…mmpgh. Weird aftertaste!" He admitted, smacking his lips.

"I've packed all the things I've ever wanted to do into this day with my powers." The pink-haired girl informed him. "Evanescence and I have truly indulged all our most wonderful whims." She said, gesturing around the room at the things that lined the walls and poked up into the roof.

"I see." Manifest remarked.

"I've smoked Cuban Cigars. Bought wine made in the year of Haley's Comet. Bought tons and tons of useless, plastic stuff, all for the point of indulgence." Sari went on as she held up one such cigar, taking a deep puff. "All for my last day on Earth!...and yours." She added quietly, eyes narrowing.

"My-what?!"

"As I said, I packed all the things I've ever wanted to do into this day. There's one left…killing you."

"WHAT?! Why?!" Manifest's rainbow-colored eyes widened in horror. "What have I ever done to you?"

"What HAVEN'T you done to me?" Evanescence's voice growled out. "You've been a thorn in my side for eons. Or at least, the being you imitate was. And then, when we were trying to carve out something of a happy existence here, WHO should pop up…but YOU. A you that knows who we are and had the GALL to try and ask us out on…on a DATE. And…" She trailed off slightly. "…and who we…tried to love and…and…"

"You JUDAS." Sari finished. "You and I are history. But that's not the real reason why we're doing this. We've seen the future, Manifest! We know everything. Your plan ends with everything getting blown into oblivion. Well…" She steepled her fingers, leaning back and grinning coldly. "We won't let that happen. I'm a Chronokinetic, remember? I'll prevent the future from happening."

"Prevent the…you're insane." Manifest said quickly, chuckling. "Heh-heh-heh. That's funny."

"Laugh away. You ain't gonna laugh long!" Sari chuckled. "I'll trap time in this room and never let it out. I'll curve the track of time. We'll live November Fifth all over again! Instead of continuing into November Sixth it'll be November Fifth from now until DOOMSDAY!" She told him coldly.

"I'm leaving, Sari." Manifest spoke coldly, standing up…or rather, trying to.

"I'm sorry, you were saying something?" Sari inquired as she held her hands together, smiling cruelly as an eyebrow rose up slightly on her face. "Oh, right. You were leaving…try it if you CAN."

"I…I can't g-get out…get out of this chair!" He gasped out, twitching slightly.

"You shouldn't have drunk the sherry." Evanescence said calmly through Sari's mouth, giggling a little. "Your glass contained a slow poison. How dreadfully rude of me to treat a guest like so. Too bad. There's an antidote in that salt shaker. Think you can reach it?"

"C-C-can't…can't m-move…I…" He grunted out. "Y-you…I…"

"It shan't do you any good." She went on. "Now, now…just sit down. I wish I could say it will be a painless death, unfortunately, I was feeling very vengeful." She shrugged. "I probably need therapy, don't you think? Ah well. In a few minutes, it'll be midnight. That's when the spell shall begin. You'll visit me again…"

"No…NO…" Manifest gasped out.

"Drink the poison sherry again! Live again, die again! LIVE AGAIN, DIE AGAIN!"

…

…the sun also rises, as they say. It was November Sixth on Earth. The "right" Earth. The "normal" Earth. And for a brief few hours, everything WAS normal, as far as things went. People passed each other in the street, the clouds aimlessly drifted by through a blue sky as cars drove along long roads. Children sat in schools, listening to their morning lessons, adults spoke of matters of highest concern to the smaller, more personal things. People smiled, laughed, lived. It was normal. It was nice. It was right.

And then it all went wrong, as the sky seemed to split apart, and the things that spawned that which defied reality began to rise out from looking glasses. Pillars of mirror-esque substances rising into the air like javelins trying to spear the heavens, unholy, foul things slowly making their way out of the mirrors, making their way towards all things, be they animal, human or building. It did not matter. All that DID matter was that anything that was intelligent enough to get that these things were a threat was horrified at what they saw.

There was a saying. That it was horrifying for people to look into the mirror, and see what everyone already knew. But now the people of Earth were witnessing something much worse to look upon…for the things in the mirror were now here. They had wanted out. And they intended to take anything and everything…and then some.

A barely-describable panic settled over the people of Earth. Some of them began to run, tripping over curbs and trash cans, pushing open doors and leaping out of windows, ANYTHING to get away from these…THINGS that were emerging from the looking glasses that were appearing everywhere and anywhere, these THINGS that would not stop coming…

And then…

Salvation from above.

"FOR HONOR AND FOR GLORY!" Thor roared out as he and his fellow Norse gods descended from the cloudy skies above, filling the cities of Norway, Denmark and the Northern European countries, hammer meeting with pale and decayed flesh that was sloughing off and yet slowly growing back with every second. Some might have been horrified by the mouthless faces with eyeballs that dangled from their very sockets. Some might have run.

But they, like the Greek Gods who were descending onto the countries in the Mediterranean, were not.

"Coward! Thou art yellow with fear before the might of Zeus!" Zeus proclaimed as the muscular, bearded god held up a thunderbolt and launched it through the air, striking a large, hulking bear-like creature in the chest, right through its singular, bloodshot eye as Page's son launched a cauldron through the air, holy water flowing freely over a horde of similar fiends.

"No, that's just the color of their fur, sir." Jude informed Zeus as he nervously looked down at the locket around his neck, hoping that his wife was doing alright. Hera and Hercules had promised to look after them, but still…

A head went flying by and he turned to see Bellatrix waving cheerily at him with her brother David beating another bear-like beast to death with his guitar. She was doing FINE.

The Polynesian Islands had issues of their own. It wasn't that they were all yokels and stupid natives. The problem was that their government wasn't the best in terms of economic and militaristic power. Luckily, Niihau had offered up assistance.

"Never thought I'd have to do this." Senkoukura exclaimed as Makani concentrated, creating a large platform of air pressure for the inhabitants of Pilau to sit upon as the great white dragon strained his long, near-serpentine neck and opened his jaws wide, light convalescing around it.

"What is he doing?" One person asked a feminine experiment that was standing by an experiment with a diamond embedded in its chest.

"It's called the Light Shockwave." Orion explained, gesturing at the dragon as the enormous hordes of aquatic life gone horribly wrong swept through the waves towards them. "Also known as-"

"Ranpu Shougekiha!"

Light built up in Senkoukura's opened maw, swirling around to reach a center point, a large ball of teeming energy. The enormous dragon roared as a fantastically large of burning light shot out, twirling through the air like a ray of sunlight that was poking through a set of clouds, a ray of light ten thousand times more potent and deadly than anything the inhabitants of Pilau had seen before, a light beam struck the ocean and FRIED the oncoming beasts as mutated and foul-looking dolphins, cephalopods and shark were turned into smoking little greasy blotches that slowly settled to the top of the water like dead goldfishes.

"I hope you understand that my hatred of things like you is downright brobdingnagian." Anubis quietly told the struggling "human" that was in his grip, crushing it in his dark-skinned arms as a being that looked it was the unholy offspring of a goat and a wolf began smashing a…well, also another "Human" with a large, spiked mace. "Regardless, this isn't personal." Anubis went on as the thing's head completely turned around and it opened a toothless mouth to try and project a sonic screech…a screech it never got the chance to complete for its lungs were soon crushed along with the rest of its chest, the body dumped to the ground.

"We've got "Bunnicula" and the rebel with the cloven hooves pulling their weight in Central America, they've joined with Quetzalcoatl and the others." Lilo explained as she pointed at a map inside of the Oval Office, surrounded by the other members of the Major Arcana that were present. "Charles is leading the charge in France and with Zeri's firepower combined with Stitch and Angel helping, they should be alright, especially since Star Command's sent help as well."

"All of my precious Arrowhead division is at your command." A sickly-green draconic being insisted, thumping his black-clawed fist against his white-armored chest, bowing deeply before the president, who firmly nodded.

"And in our states?"

"We've got Native American deities up the WAZOO. Myself included." A talking Coyote informed him, standing by Samael, who was going over a checklist.

"Hmm. Wait, hold on. Chulainn. Where IS he? We're missing a few of my associates. I can't find Hel or Jourmungdr or Fenrir anywhere, a portion of the Scottish pantheon's missing…a few of the minor Greek demons are gone as well. They'd best not be hiding." Samael mumbled darkly. "Or there will be ME to pay."

"We've got a worse problem. New York." Nightwing insisted quietly, sadly. "My beloved's doing all she can, but…"

Indeed she was. Haley Long was fighting alongside her brother as they belched flame from their draconic forms, an enormous black dragon struggling to pin down a skeletal thing that mocked him with a face too much like his own as a Native American in tribal paint wearing a nice-looking leisure suit calmly grabbed the head of an foul-looking "human" that had been threatening a woman and her child the thing's head dissolving at the touch.

"Who…ARE you?" The woman asked as he brushed his long hair back.

"Niłchʼi." He said, adjusting the tie he had on. "With luck, you'll be seeing quite a lot more-"

"Look out!" The woman yelled as another one leapt down from a tree…an all-too familiar thing with near-sightless eyes…red hair…and intestines drooling out of a mouth that opened wider and wider over "The Wind's" face.

Luckily, it never got the chance. The child had grabbed a rock and launched it at the back of the thing's head, striking it hard. It let out a bellowing shriek, and "The Wind" grabbed ahold of the intestines still hanging out of its mouth, throwing it into the air as Haley grabbed it. For a fleeting moment genuine regret flickered over her face as the thing looked at her, ceasing it's shrieking and struggling.

"…Hal…ey?" It managed to get out before she opened her maw, flames building.

"Will this damn thing not be GONE?!" The Dark Dragon snarled as he raised a fist up and crushed the thing's skull, turning to see his daughter holding a charred skeleton.

"…it wasn't him." Haley kept repeating to herself. "…it wasn't him…"

"You saved my life, milady. Niłchʼi thanks you." The being said, taking her hand and kissing it.

…

…"My girl wants to party all the time! Party all the time! Party all the tiiiiime!" Manifest sang out as he wiped himself down in the shower, shaking his booty. Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish the song, because he was soon alerted to the phone ringing wildly. He frowned. Why was he getting a sense of…déjà vu?

He picked it up. "Y'ello? Talk to me."

"Manifest."

"Sari? Princess, baby, how are you doing? How's it going? Look, Daveigh and Ashton are having this baby shower for Patricia's children-"

"Wait, CHILDREN?"

"…I'd like to, sure. But…can we talk privately?" Sari asked quietly as she twirled the phone cord. "…tonight? At dinner?"

"…as in…a date? Like old times?" Manifest said, stiffening a bit as he began to stutter like a schoolboy. "I-th-that is, I'd…I…er…I…y-yes! Of course! I-I'll see you at…at six?"

"It's a date."

Odd. There was a VERY large crack in the middle of the left-hand side. A very odd-looking, almost perpendicular crack. He reached inside, pulling out a small note.

"Don't go to that date." He read out loud. "Sari will…try to poison you?"

Sometime earlier, a different scene was playing out. Ember calmly twirled her watch around in a circle over and over again as she listened intently at a door…listening to King speaking to his wife as she sat in her bed, looking left and right in the room she and King had been staying in.

"What's going on?" Patty asked, groaning a bit as she held her head. "The last thing I remember is…I was in the living room, Esther was...it was…what's going on?"

"Something's going on." King insisted to himself, frowning darkly as he rubbed his chin. "It seems like a dream, and yet…wait." His yellow/golden eyes widened in surprise, looking at the window. "Do you remember last morning? Just about this time we heard Manifest showering down the hall at around this-"

They tilted their heads, hearing the sounds of Manifest from the shower in his room only a few yards away. He was a VERY loud singer indeed.

"What's happened? What's happened to time?" Patty asked. "We seem to be living November 5th all over again! Oh GOD." She whispered in horror. "My God, people will go on living November 5th over and over again, nobody will ever know-wait." She blinked, sitting up. "King, why do we remember? Can we even bring a new day to a world that's trapped in another?!"

"Patricia, calm down." King insisted, taking her hand. "I think I know why. I've built up a natural immunity to many magics from my years of experience. And last night, when the change occurred, you were clinging tightly to me, you were in the aura of my will. That made you immune. If there's anyone else who's immune to time-related tricks and magic, then…" He sat up, narrowing his eyes at the doorway. "Sari. She's chronokinetic, isn't she? She could have caused this."

A knock on the door, and Ember's face poked inside. "Guys, can we talk to you?"

"What's going on?" King asked, frowning a bit.

"Josef's been hurt. Or at least, he WILL be. Frequency's about to bring him here. I'm here because you're the only one who can help, King." Ember informed him. "Patty, I'm sorry, I need you to help my baby, alright?"

Patricia stood up, nodding as she left the room with King, Ember shaking her hand with both paws. "I'll do what I can for Josef." She said, going down the hallway as Ember led King down the hallway.

"This way." Ember insisted. "The others won't notice us. We're out of the timestream, and as long as Patty is close enough to Frequency, she'll keep her resistance, okay?" The white-furred and orange-vested rabbit-esque being insisted. "She barely had any in the first place, I'm afraid…but if this goes wrong, she'll be able to remember and she won't be a part of the time loop WE'LL be stuck in."

"Time travel. So…confusing." King sighed quietly. "All wibbly-wobbly…"

"Hold onto your willpower." Ember insisted as she clutched the watch in one paw, clutching it tightly. "Focus. Keep holding onto me. Frequency and I have been living through this almost as often as Sari has. Stay focused…"

Meanwhile, back at Kokaua Town, things were hectic as well.

"May I say it?" Page nervously asked as he turned his head towards his personal hero, who calmly nodded as the angelic-looking experiment took up a fighting pose, facing down an enormous draconic monster that hissed coldly at him, it's tail lashing at the ground as it opened a hellish mouth and bellowed at him.

"And what do you think you can do? Who do you think you are?" The Hellmouth chuckled coldly.

"I KICK ASS FOR THE LORD!" Page exclaimed, leaping through the air and kicked the thing squarely between the eyes, once, twice, thrice, knocking it through the window of a diner. It groaned heavily, struggling to get up before Page's fists met with its face again and again and again, the Hellmouth becoming a punching bag for Page.

Grey was struggling to keep a psychotic "Hamsterviel" with a surgeon's mask made of flesh from tearing at Melanie Jones, who was trying to get a chainsaw working, whilst Gitte the Imp was tearing into an all-too familiar mockery of her master, a water snake biting into the false being's neck.

And the REAL Coraline was dealing with a worse sight…a being with pants made of patchwork flesh, a single eye poking out from a mass of hair, slowly dragging a pipe along the ground as it slunk towards her, leading a terrifying troop of similar fiends that had also armed themselves…beings that looked far too much like the people she passed on the street every day.

"How fascinatingly fascinating! A fight with myself! Talk about existential!" Dr. Hamsterviel exclaimed as he yanked "himself" off of Grey, who turned to see Melanie racing after a being that was holding it's own head up and racing towards her on tentacles that dissolved the ground around it.

"There's too many of them!" A yellow, cycloptic alien yelled out as he nervously gulped and brought the katana in his hands down onto a bulking, huge monstrosity with mouths upon its hands that mewled pitiably like a dying kitten until Pleakley struck it again. "Oh may Apollo forgive me, celestial light! Gracious and divine majesty…Lord of Fine Art and, eventually, Community Theater!"

"I think I saw him on the news breaking chairs over some of these thing's heads at a Greek diner. You can personally ask for forgiveness later." Coraline said calmly as she waved her arms in the air at the oncoming horde let by the Hellion. "Yoo-hoo! C'mon! Hup-ayah, hup-ayah!" She laughed, backing into a tool shed by her home as Pleakley watched with Coraline's mother, who tossed a tentacle off her shoulder before she looked at Pleakley.

"You've got red on you." She said, as he looked HER over. She was totally SOAKED in the stuff.

"That blood isn't yours, is it?" He asked nervously, stepping a little bit back.

"…not an ounce." She admitted. "Who SAYS women can't work power tools!"

"I know, right?"

They turned to see Coraline stepping out of the tool shed…holding up a push mower with very large blades held up high.

"I am your worst nightmare. An angry white American teenager with power tools." She growled, advancing towards the things as everyone else who was a "normal" inhabitant of Earth quickly ran for it.

The spray of blood was nearly fountain-like as Coraline kept moving forward, panting and heaving as she held the enormous mower high up, the blades cutting through flesh again and again, knocking body parts into tiny chunks, squelching, pulpy noises filling the air. Coraline grunted a few times as she kept walking forward, someone's head flying, having been SOMEHOW cut in half from the mouth up. It landed in a nearby trash can, Melanie quickly popping the lid on it as she watched her daughter go to town on another one of the horrid zombies, pushing the mower down on it from above, slashing it into tiny little pieces so small that not even TWEEZERS would have been able to pick said pieces up.

The blood was now beginning to cake the ground around her like a foamy froth as one HORRID looking thing advanced that looked almost like Gitte, albeit…with it's head now resting upon an elongated spinal cord that was jutting up from it's back as it walked on all fours. Coraline hesitated upon seeing this thing, she'd been seeing some SERIOUSLY screwed up stuff today, but this really took the cake!

Luckily, she didn't have to deal with it. Grey leapt upon the thing in an instant and ripped the thing's head clean off, swinging it around as he held the other end of the spinal cord before finally bringing it down onto the ground with a bellowing roar, Coraline gaping in surprise as he jumped on what was left of the thing and began to messily devour it, Daniel the Deer gaping at the sight, the animal's own antlers coated in blood, a "human" eyeball left upon one prong.

"ANY OBJECTIONS TO THIS KIND OF MEAT?!" Grey growled out, momentarily turning his head at them.

"…nope." Daniel said quickly.

"You're good." Coraline insisted, Grey slurping up an intestine like a spaghetti strand as Coraline turned, only to have a torn-in-half imitation of her friend Wybie's INTESTINES rope out and try to suck her in towards a gaping chest cavity. She struggled to get her footing, there was so much blood everywhere it was hard to find a single spot on the grass that was dry! Luckily though, Grey intervened, having finished with his "meal", and cut the intestines off with a quick slash of his claws, the guts falling to the ground in a pile, the thing's heart pulsing as it "looked" up at her, two lungs lying limp at its sides, almost faintly pleading for mercy as it unmistakably whined.

Unfortunately, Coraline just grinned, blood dripping down her forehead and onto her sweater as she revved the push-mower up and lowered it down towards the intestines.

"Well." Melanie said as she wiped her forehead, looking around the yard as she scratched her head, Pleakley pushing a "human's" head off his katana as he shuddered. "I hope the others are having as much luck as…as…"

She looked down in horror along with the others as they saw the unmistakable sign of the blood that the things had had spilled on the ground beginning to slowly pool together…with the beings rising anew from the large pool, all laughing horribly, reborn from horror and coated in foul red…

"Damn it, will you just not DIE?!" Grey screamed at them in horror and disgust.

…

…"Laugh away. You ain't gonna laugh long!" Sari chuckled, Ember looking into the watch as King waved a hand in front of Manifest's face, the white-haired being looking, but not seeing. "I'll trap time in this room and never let it out. I'll curve the track of time. We'll live November Fifth all over again! Instead of continuing into November Sixth it'll be November Fifth from now until DOOMSDAY!" She told him coldly.

"I'm leaving, Sari." Manifest spoke coldly, standing up…or rather, trying to.

"I'm sorry, you were saying something?" Sari inquired as she held her hands together, smiling cruelly as an eyebrow rose up slightly on her face. "Oh, right. You were leaving…try it if you CAN."

"I…I can't g-get out…get out of this chair!" He gasped out, twitching slightly.

"Yes you CAN!" King insisted. "I could tell the sherry was poisoned, Manifest! Even if you WOULD destroy the world I would not let you die so ignobly! Stand up, Manifest! Stand up!"

"C-C-can't…can't m-move…I…" He grunted out.

"Yes you can, Manifest! Come on." King growled out, gripping Manifest's arm. "Focus…attune to MY will…focus. FOCUS…"

"Y-you…I…who's…" Manifest mumbled, blinking a few times, slowly rising from the chair. "I…I'm free!" He gasped out, clutching his chest and panting heavily. "What's going-King?!" He gasped in surprise at the serpentine anthro. "What the…" He glanced over the table at Sari, who was frozen in time as Ember held up a watch in the air…a watch with a faint pink glow that was emanating around it.

"We did something that didn't happen last time, you did something you didn't do before." King told him.

"Get out of here. We'll deal with Sari." Ember said quietly, Manifest nodding and quickly leaving the room as Sari finally began speaking.

"It shan't do you any good." She started to say. "Now, now…just sit down. I wish I could say it will be a painless death, unfortunately, I was feeling very vengeful." She shrugged. "I probably need therapy, don't you think?"

"You've got no idea, sister." Ember growled, Sari quickly sitting up in her chair before she was suddenly frozen stiff. "My will! SUBMIT TO MY WILL…I. DOMINATES YOU." She growled, her watch hanging over Sari's head.

"Wh-what are you…" Sari began to murmur.

"You thought to condemn the world to an eternity of your own making." Ember growled. "You were trying to cast a time-spell over the world that would allow you to live a life of luxury! In your misguided, selfish foolishness you broke the laws of physics! Well…"

She slowly opened up the watch as the glow around the watch began to pulse and flicker as it became brighter and brighter, King gazing upon it in awe. It couldn't be…but it was. It was…a shard of Dream. Pure Dream. And not just any bit of that incredible power…

"You don't realize it." Ember spoke quietly. "But another you gave this watch to me. Gave this task to me. Even suggested this outfit. Did you think I was just wearing this for fun?" She chuckled a bit as the glow began to bathe over Sari. "Now you shall be punished. I'm putting an end to the time spell!"

"Y-You're…not…stupid as…you look…heh." Sari chuckled a bit as she struggled to move. "Neither you…nor your lover boy…"

"No, we're not." Ember said quietly. "That's why you picked me." She added with a small, Mona Lisa smile as the light engulfed Sari, who vanished before King's eyes, the snake blinking stupidly before Ember turned to look at him.

"Now listen." Ember spoke quietly, waving the watch before King. "We have seen how this could play out. And there's one way we can help you. Here's what you'll do. Look at the watch." She said as it slowly passed back and forth before his eyes. "Look carefully. Let my words reverberate within you…listen…listen…"

"…listen…" King repeated, entering a trance as his pupils began to dilate.

"Number…One…this is…number one. The others are to come. Number One. The others are to come. Come here…come here…"

"…Num…ber…"

"…Number Two…this is Number Two. Number Three. This is Number Three…"

"…number…four…this…is…"