Here's a quick chapter for you guys, just so you don't think I'm dead!
Warnings for : past character death, ectoplasmic blood, swords being used as weapons, revenge
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Chapter Twenty Nine
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"I figure since you continue to remain stubbornly stupid, I would at least bring you coffee. Which may or may not be poisoned. Some of the ingredients I used were a little iffy there at the end- I mean, Clockwork managed a cup okay. Sort of."
Getting no response, and hearing nothing but the quiet sound of a knife being flipped through the air, Randy sighed and took a seat next to his brother on top of Lookout's observatory. The younger was stubbornly facing the Shadow Clouds, knife absently twirling in his hand. "You may have died being older than me, but you're still an immature little brat, you know."
Setting the coffee cups down between them, Randy crossed his legs and propped his head up on his hand, staring where his brother was with an air of boredom. "I don't even know how you do this. Boring as hell. Have you just been sitting here and staring for this long-"
"He's been gone for over a day without telling anyone where he went. I believe that warrants my worry, brother." Randy gave a sigh, slipping into French as easily as the other.
"Then it probably has something to do with all that freaky Guardian business. Jesus, man, you two are codependent as fuck. Haven't you ever heard of a healthy relationship?" That got a snort out of his brother, who turned to him with an amused look.
"This coming from the one who wouldn't know a stable and healthy relationship if it smacked right into him."
"Truly, frérot, your words hurt me deeply. They cut straight into my soul." Grinning in success at the small smile he saw on Andrew's face, he threw an arm around him, tugging him in for a slight hug. "Don't worry so much. In case you haven't noticed, your mate is stubborn as death. That and he's as obsessed with you as you are with him. He'll be back in no time at all."
"...It worries me when you start making sense, Randy. It worries me greatly." Randy nodded, picking up one of the coffee cups.
"As it should. Now, drink my delicious coffee that may or may not kill you."
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"Jeez, how big is this place…" He had to have been wandering around the castle for an hour now, and he still couldn't track down where the song was coming from. Every time he tried to find a set of stairs, it would loop him back to rooms he had been through, and phasing was impossible with these walls. "A map. Why can't ancient castles from thousands of years ago ever have a map. Malls have maps. These places should have maps too."
Alright. He could freely admit he was starting to lose it. Entering the Shadow Clouds right after his funeral probably hadn't been his best idea now that he was thinking about it. Especially since it felt like something was watching him. "Right. You die. Find out the fate of worlds is up to you. Go to your funeral. And then go to face another death without telling anyone. Because that's just a great plan, isn't it?"
He was starting to see what his friends meant when they told him he had no common sense.
"Alvarro? What are you doing here?"
"Oh man...not again." The longer he was in the castle, the worse the visions were getting. Sight blurring in front of him, he gave a groan. It was going to be one of those visions, wasn't it… Joy.
"I haven't seen you for months…"
"I was doing some...research," Alvarro shrugged, smile on his face as he walked down the hall to the other, hands clasped behind his back. "It was certainly enlightening. Did you know spirits could use the powers of the fae?" Seeing the other go still, Alvarro's grin widened, eyes fading from a forest green to a sharp golden color. "I certainly didn't. It's interesting, what you can find when you look around… Shall I tell you what I learned, brother-"
"You are not my brother." Alvarro pouted at the harsh tone, letting out a sigh as he shook his head. "What have you done to him?!"
"I'm still me, just...wiser, I suppose you could say. I figured it out, you see… The only thing that's holding me back from what I need to do...is you. If you're gone, then I don't have to worry about anything else, now do I?" Hand dropping to the sword at his side, Alvarro gave a building smile. "Don't you want to play a game, brother?"
"He… He killed…" So the two had seen each other as brothers. Leaning himself against the wall of the grand hall he had found himself in, he shook his head again. "No...he wouldn't have killed Umbra- That would have been like me killing Jazz!" Even corrupted and twisted...he...couldn't have done that, right?
"A thousand ways to disable and kill...and I can't use a single one on you…" Umbra hissed at the sword that slid through his core. Even with having done his best to dodge the other...there hadn't been much he could do without using his weapon- And he couldn't. Not on him. "I deserve this…"
His sweet little brother who only wanted to do what was right...he was gone forever, now, and it was his fault. If he had seen the signs- Had acted faster! If he had managed to do something...and yet… Here he was with a sword through his core, and his body fading faster and faster. This was where Fate had led them, then.
"Um...bra…?" No… Please, no, not this. This was cruel. This was far too cruel. "Umbra… Wha- What's going on- W-Why- Sword, but- Umbra?!" To have Alvarro be not only forced to kill him...but then to realize what he had done. To make him bare witness to the death of the one he cared for above all others. "Your...your wings are gone… N- You can't- Umbra!"
"Ssh, little one. You're always so loud," Umbra chuckled, hand weakly settling on the other's shoulder. "It's...fine." It was a blatant lie, and they both knew it- If only he had more time. Time to find a way to save Alvarro, because this sanity he had now...there was no way it could last.
"I wanted to find out the truth...not this…" He knew truth came at a high cost- He knew that far better than most...but to see this. Alvarro, the Worldbreaker...he wasn't the ultimate enemy they had made him out to be. He was...like Dan. A twisted version of what he could have been, and what he was, corrupted beyond all attempts at redemption. He… "He was like me…"
"Everything will be fine, little brother…" He knew how fast spirits faded, and yet… It felt like he had far too little time to say what he needed. If he could just stay longer- Help, or find a way, or something. If he could only… "It...will all be fine." He had to help his brother!
"U-Umbra- What- I don't remember anything, but my sword...and...and I can't- Your wings are gone but you only said- You only said that would happen if you're dying- But you can't be. No. You're not dying- This- This is just some stupid test, right? Something to get me to act more responsible, or something. Yeah. It- It has to be!"
"I'm sorry...for everything." For not seeing things sooner, for letting Alvarro have his space when he needed to be talked to, for letting things ever get to this level… If he had been better, he could have seen the signs sooner. He could have caught the corruption before it took root, and saved Alvarro from what he was becoming. From what he had become… As it was...his Fate was sealed.
And it was the same damn story. Family turned against each other and forced to fight, and one forced to become a monster. It could have so easily been him, standing over Jazz's dying body and pleading for her to live. To come back because he needed her. Saying it had to be a joke, or a test, because how could something like that ever be real. It almost had been him, with Dan. The same story played over and over and it could still happen and-
"Um...bra…" Alvarro was alone in the hall, nothing beside him but a sword that was coated with a neon green substance that was slowly fading away. "Quit joking around, Umbra, this isn't funny!" His words rang out against the castle, which did nothing but echo his words back to him, a silence there that shouldn't have been. "I get it, I've been hiding my problems- How is this going to help, though?!"
Right now. Right now Umbra was going to show up, chuckle at his panic, and say he needed to work on keeping his emotions in tune with his logic. About how he was a Guardian, now, and he couldn't afford to panic if something like this were to ever really happen. He would show up, give him the lesson he was teaching him, and there would be whining and complaining, and everything would go back to the way it should be.
"It's not funny, anymore!" The silence rang louder, and the sickly sweet smell of ectoplasm only seemed to be growing stronger, cloying his senses and making him sick. "Please! Is this about the voices?! I'll stop listening to them, okay!? I'll fight back, and stop listening, and ignore the nightmares, just come back!" The screams echoed against smooth stone, filling the halls before dropping away to nothing.
"Brother...please come back…"
This time he could feel it. The overpowering emotions that Alvarro had felt. The same emotions Danny had felt time and time again- Because who had ever said being a hero was easy? Or good? It was crippling self doubt, and loathing, and a sense that nothing would ever be the same again. There was no escaping it.
It wasn't just where they had been siblings, either. Umbra had been everything to Alvarro, going by what he was feeling. The only one he trusted completely, and the only one he told his problems to. The only one who heard the worries, instead of the jokes, and who saw the tears, instead of the laughter. He was… "Like Andrew… Him killing Umbra...would have been like me killing Andrew…"
The realization sent him sliding to the floor, eyes wide as he shook. It was the same story, and it was happening all over again- That could be him, pleading for his mistakes to be fixed, and if the timeline hadn't been altered like it had… It really could have been Danny losing Andrew. Danny wanting that ghost side of him gone because without his mate what was the point. And then all that rage and loss of a lost mate...without any of the humanity to keep his powers in check…
"How ya been, Danny-boy?"
This wasn't right. It wasn't real. If Umbra was gone from his life...then it couldn't be real. Umbra was the only one to- If he was gone, then nothing was right. If he went...then why should he care? About anything?
"You can't...go… Without you…" Umbra was the first spirit he had met to take in interest in him, to believe in him, and help him. Sure they fought - quite often - but Alvarro knew deep down they loved each other. Umbra was his entire family, and the only reason he hadn't had a mental breakdown from the stress of being Guardian. Without him in his life...with him gone...what was the point?
A slow chuckle built, working into a chilling laugh that bounced along the walls, and throughout the castle. That was right, though, wasn't it? What was the point of trying to be good when he was so bad at it?! He was never the hero- Never the one that people looked up to, or wanted. So why should it even matter anymore?! He was never meant to be a Guardian- No…
"If they thought I was bad before...wAit unTiL thEy sEe mE noW!"
"You can't be here- There's no way you can be here!" Keep calm, keep calm, he had to keep calm. This had to be a trick, or an illusion- Something caused by the Shadow Clouds. Picking himself up, he took to the air, energy gathering in his hands.
"And yet, here I am." At the laugh that he had heard on repeat in his nightmares since he had first heard it, he shook his head and backed away, unprepared for the bright blast of energy that barreled into him. Thrown into the wall behind him, he just barely managed to catch himself, hood falling off his head as he looked up. "What's the matter, Danny-boy, didn't expect to run into me again? You had to have seen this coming…"
"Guess I don't do family reunions all that well." There was no way this ghost could be in front of him. Not when he was meant to be locked up inside a thermos a day's flight away. There was just- "Don't suppose you feel like sitting down and catching up?"
"Not something I have on the agenda, I'm afraid… I think I'd rather take my revenge and leave...I still have so much to do, after all." Throwing up a shield at the next blast, he grunted as the shield was easily shattered and he was thrown back, body crashing into the floor. "I still have a few humans I need to take care of…" Dan gave a bright grin, Danny shuddering at the spike of fear that shot through him.
"Unfortunately, I can't let you do that." And it was the same exact story and it was happening all over again and it was two beings facing against the monsters inside of them and one had lost and one had won but the battle had begun anew and he couldn't win again not when he was alone not when he was on his own not when he couldn't think not when he didn't know where his family was and he couldn't
"You still haven't pieced it together?" Screaming at the teleported hit that had him crashing into a wall, he groaned as he pushed himself up. For only being formed for a week or so, he was surprised he had as much energy as he did. If he were to fight this kind of fight now… "Come on, I know you aren't that much of an idiot… Aren't you wondering how I escaped?"
"Doesn't matter, when you're going back right where you came from!" There was no way Dan had escaped on his own, right? Not when Clockwork- Clockwork...there was no way- The clouded time streams...
"Pretty easy to defeat the Master of Time when he can't see, huh?" Grunting as he was slammed into the wall again, he gasped for breath around the hand that clutched his neck, keeping him pinned. "Think. If I made it all the way out here, why did no one bother to stop me, hm? You really think all those weaklings would just let me go without trying to stop me- Of course...they weren't very good at that."
No...if this putrid ghost had hurt his family. "Oh? Now there's some nice eyes… Pure red and full of rage… What's the matter, Danny-boy? Feeling angry?" Laughing at the blast of unrestrained energy that threw him back, Dan grinned widely. "Well now, look at this… This is going to be far more interesting, if you're already turning into me-"
"I will never be you." The words came out in a quiet hiss, Danny already tilting his head in consideration as energy gathered into his hands. Dan was strong...he would need to be destroyed. "You hurt them…" If what he was saying was true...then he had hurt his family. Had hurt Clockwork and Jazz and Randy and-
There was no more 'capturing'. No more of his 'heroic' need to save lives. No need for someone to be protected. No more heroes. No more villains. No more dragon slaying. No more need to be the knight in shining armor and save the day. No…
This was just good old-fashioned revenge.
