Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Nexus was a strange place compared to all the worlds in the magical dimension.
Upon first entry, one is amazed at how different it is.
For one thing, the ground wasn't exactly together as it normally would be. Pieces of it were spread out over the land and they floated.
If one looked below this strange ground, one would see that it as well as the surrounding sky was a dreary looking sort of grey and the clouds were always black.
If you did not go inside the buildings there, you would not know that those who had died and came back as ghosts had their own sub realm decorated to suit their tastes when they had died and how they changed since then.
The ghosts there all had a pearly grey glow around them, were semi-transparent and some of them even looked almost normal.
Then there were of course the others who had died violently and or suddenly...
In the middle of all this strangeness sat a large, black stone castle.
Inside this castle, floating aimlessly around was a tall, willowy female ghost with long black hair pulled into a Sailor Moon-esque style and wearing a simple silver circlet with black diamonds all around it. Her dark grey eyes surveyed them with an air of weariness.
She wore simple black robes, a dark grey waist belt and sliver hoop earrings. She had no legs, but instead a silvery mist where legs would be.
Her hands had long, slightly curved black fingernails and in the right one she held a black scythe with a silver blade.
Another ghost floated up to her.
"Queen Vasillisa, we have a new arrival…" He bowed to her.
She nodded and followed the ghost.
At the very gates of Nexus, Carl was floating. Ironically, he looked much healthier as a ghost than when he was alive. His hair was dark blonde and curly and his eyes were no longer maroon, but dark brown.
"Free of him at last!" He stretched. "But I just had to die, didn't I?" He muttered.
"Yes. It was your time." Vasillisa appeared suddenly in front of him, speaking in an eerie tone.
He shuddered.
"Let's see…" She swiped her scythe and a large, black leather-bound book appeared in the air, spinning around before she caught it with both hands. The scythe floated at her side.
"Carl Ambrose Riximos. Place of Birth: Lasiandra, Nadir, Date of Birth: 1st August, 1955, Date of Death…" Her long fingernail went down the book. Ah. 29th April, 2010. Cause of Death: Killing Curse cast by the Immortal Radcliffe…"
She smiled slightly. "He won't be Immortal for much longer…" She said.
Carl perked up at this. "Really?"
"Indeed, indeed. I have ways of monitoring an Immortal's life force and although I cannot destroy any of them, I can certainly see if their life force is weakening and his is at the level of a mere mortal now. I've been waiting for him to get here ever since he first turned to the dark side…" She rubbed her hands together and she smiled a sinister smile.
When the Keepers left Earth, they re-appeared inside an auditorium, which was decorated in Alma's national colours.
Its seats were arranged in a semi-circle around a raised platform and in front of the seats, there was a section resembling a jury box.
In the front of that, in the very centre of the room, they saw a large, uncomfortable-looking metal chair.
"You're going to need a change of attire." Alyssa said, looking back at the Keepers in their ordinary clothes.
She snapped her fingers and the Keepers were suddenly wearing black skirt suits with a vest in their signature colour beneath.
The other three Immortals changed their clothes to something more appropriate as well.
"This is where we come back to in about half an hour or so. But for now, let's give you a rundown on why you're here, shall we?" Alyssa said, leading them out.
She, Jamilah and Samuel led them down a long hallway and into a side room where they found Nasira and Hasim standing there wearing long, black robes with a navy blue, red, green, white and gold sash tied around the waist. Hasim was no longer wearing his hat, his hair was actually neat for a change and Nasira had rolled her hair up into a bun.
"What's going on?" Gwen asked.
"Have a seat." Nasira swiped her staff and chairs appeared for everyone.
"Long story short: Serafina was not exactly what we thought her to be." She said simply.
Lindsay gasped. "Does that mean… she's a traitor?"
Hasim sighed. "Not exactly, Lindsay, not exactly. She was the informant that let us know that Alejandro and Courtney were working for Radcliffe but…"
"They're not entirely satisfied with her trustworthiness, particularly her arrival style with an amputated Prince Ramon in tow…" Nasira.
"Amputated?" Lindsay began to look green.
"Trustworthy?" Heather raised an eyebrow.
"From what I've seen of her memories since she arrived, she is telling the truth when she says that she is on our side, but there may be repercussions for her otherwise…" Hasim said.
"I guess I can understand that…" Gwen nodded.
A man with a dark green ponytail and grey eyes peeked in, wearing the same robes as Nasira and Hasim did.
"Everyone, it's time…" He said, before ducking out.
They looked at one another before following.
As the Keepers took front seats in the room next to the Old Keepers, they saw the other Immortals going to sit in different places. Nasira, Hasim, President Tavares and the man that had called them up earlier were already seated in the jury-box style area with eight others wearing the same robes as they were.
Jamilah had gone to sit in another row with King Demetrius and Prime Minister Phillips. When she was there, she rummaged through a pocket and pulled out a disc. Tapping it twice, a projection of King Rohan appeared, sitting in a giant oyster-shaped throne, holding his bronze trident at his side.
Marcus sat with Queen Tiana and Prime Minister Morgan, Alyssa with President Hunter and Queen Adara and Sierra with some of their officials.
Samuel took a seat beside them.
"Haven't been to one of these inquiries in centuries…" he commented as the Keepers glanced over at him.
The room was soon quickly filled.
The room went completely silent as Alana was led in by two tall, muscular and overall imposing-looking men dressed in black robes over a white vest and black pants.
"Wait- does the general public know about Alana yet?" Gwen mused aloud.
"Nope." Samuel popped the 'P'. "We've managed to keep this under wraps so far. Hopefully it stays that way for a while…"
Izzy looked over at him. "This is just so weird…" She shook her head.
"You don't think I feel the same way?" Samuel raised an eyebrow.
The two men led her to the chair, where she sat with an unreadable expression.
"Alana Valeria Renaldi, you have a lot to answer to today, including the fact that you have lied to all of the magical governments for several years now. Keep in mind, that while you are not being tried for a criminal offence, you are still compelled to answer all questions truthfully under Almanian Law." The green-haired man said, standing up from his seat in the box and pacing in front of the raised platform.
"I am not being tried for a criminal offence, am I? One would never know it by my treatment prior to this inquiry…" Alana said flatly.
He ignored her. "Start from the beginning, please."
Alana rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "First of all, my name isn't Alana anymore. It was legally changed to Serafina Louisa Dagnall as soon as my father was able. As such I have never technically lied to any of you as to my identity. I was born in the Redon region of this very same planet same as Alana is recorded as being. My birthday is recorded the same as Alana's- 17th July, 1957. I attended all of the Saurian Inter-Planetary schools, attended Valmont University also here in Saurian where I got my law degree and eventually got involved in politics. Technically, I have never lied to any of you about my past so you cannot charge me for that."
He nodded. "Very well then. Continue."
"Ever since I was born, my mother kept a series of diaries that she wanted to give to me herself. Obviously she didn't live to do that." Serafina said bitterly. "These diaries contained lots of her thoughts on raising me and such, little habits I had, things like that. It however began to take a darker tone in the months preceding her death."
The room grew sombre at this.
"She began to write about working for Radcliffe, how he came to her office when no-one else was there and implied that he would hurt my father and I if she didn't help him. He didn't say it outright, but the threat was still there. If she put one toe out of line…" She made a slashing motion across her neck.
"I see. That's all from me." He sat.
Hasim stood up next. "Alana, or really Serafina then, as it is your legal name- when did you receive these diaries?"
"My father gave them to me about a week after my fifteenth birthday in 1972."
Hasim paced up and down. "What was your reaction to reading the contents of these diaries? What did it drive you to do?"
Serafina's eyes followed him as he paced.
"Naturally I was startled by their contents when I got to the darker parts. Then I began to get angry. Angry at Radcliffe for tearing apart my family at such a young age. Angry that he stopped me from getting to know my mother. I knew I had to do something to help take him down, so I began training in both magical and non-magical combat and improving my skills in multiple areas. Eventually my improvements caught Radcliffe's attention…"
"As he would. He observes fairly-well known people and if their skills appeal to him, he makes them an offer they can't refuse. He really needs to come up with new tactics…" Hasim commented.
"Indeed he does." Serafina agreed. "Some of the plans he's using now I can tell you he's done before. You would think he'd learn better. I would point out holes in them and he'd make even more holes…" She rolled her eyes.
"Thank you." Hasim took his seat and his wife stood up next.
"What happened when he first approached you?" Nasira asked.
"Well I was twenty-four when he first approached me. He gave me time to consider the offer. He will do that occasionally. He did that with the Martinez girl- Courtney."
Gwen twitched in her seat.
"I thought it over and I thought- what better way to take Radcliffe down from the inside? I-"
The building began to shake.
"What was that?" Heather stood up startled.
"Probably Radcliffe attacking. Totally predictable that he'd do it while we're all here…" Serafina shrugged.
Over with the Erendorians, Jamilah glanced at the disc with King Rohan's projection on it. Screams were heard behind him.
"What's going on?" She asked urgently.
"I don't know…" he floated up, holding his trident tightly.
Queen Vanessa was suddenly blasted across in front of him.
"Vanessa!" he swum over to her
Jamilah cut off the connection as a blast shook the building and several people were sent sprawling to the floor.
The two security guards released Serafina and escorted her out while everyone else evacuated the building.
As Marcus ran, he got a call.
"Okay, okay! We're on our way!" He hung up.
He grabbed Tiana's hand.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Caillin is under siege and Honker is leading it!" He said.
Lindsay across the room heard this.
"I'm going with you!" She called out, sprinting across the room.
"Lindsay, no!" Gwen called out.
"Let her go!" Vesta shouted. "They'll need all the help they can get!"
"I'll go with you, Lindsay!" Akari floated after her.
Jamilah walked briskly over to them.
"Aequor has been attacked. My connection with King Rohan broke off right as it begun there!"
The remaining Keepers looked at one another before Bridgette stepped forward.
"I'll go with Jamilah." She said. Marissa joined them.
"Izzy and Aideen, you can come with me. We're going to need all the help we can get on Wispera!" Alyssa exclaimed, grabbing them both and leading them off.
Gwen and Heather looked at one another.
A blast made impact near to them, knocking them off their feet as they heard loud cackling from a familiar voice.
"YOU!" The two stood up and transformed.
"Well, well, well. We meet again." Courtney said coldly.
"Come on! You're acting like a total nutjob because of Duncan, of all people?" Heather folded her arms and raised her eyebrows.
"Oh please. It's not even about that pathetic little lowlife anymore. It's all about power…" Courtney held up her hands and sent a blast at them, which Gwen deflected with a quick frontal shield before flying after her.
"Heather, come with me now! Earth is under attack as well!" Deanna thought, across the room.
Heather flew across, grabbing Deanna's hand as Hasim teleported the two of them out.
When the two of them arrived, it was to see the entire area of Hamilton, Ontario in chaos. People were running around screaming as random monsters and minions of Radcliffe fired spells and chased after them.
In the chaos, Heather found herself separated from Deanna.
"Don't worry about me! Take care of yourself!" Deanna called out.
Heather nodded to herself as she flew up to quickly assess the situation.
She was knocked out of the sky by a large mutated plant.
The Earth Keeper made a three point landing and skidded along the ground for a bit, glancing up to see Dan in front of her smirking.
"Well, hi there, Heather! I see you've decided to join the party!" Dan cackled.
She raised both her eyebrows sceptically, before flying back into the air and putting herself into a battle stance.
Dan smirked before animating two nearby trees, which turned into tree-monsters, not unlike those in scary movies.
One of them lunged for her, but she used her hair, growing it out super-long and wrapping it around the trunk and smacked the other tree away with that, before throwing it at Dan who dodged.
She raised her hands into the air. "Two can play at that, buddy!" 'The ground started to rumble and half a dozen golems emerged from it, cracking their fists.
Izzy and Aideen arrived on Wispera to see Venom leading an attack on the presidential building and several people fighting back.
The current Fire Keeper snuck up behind him and blasted him out of the air with a flaming dragon blast.
He got up and turned around to see Izzy hovering above him with flaming fists, hair and literal flames in her eyes.
"Ah, Lady Isabella has finally decided to put in an appearance. Glad you could come." He said calmly.
"What did I say about calling me Isabella?" Izzy's flames got even bigger.
Venom shrugged. "What? It's fun!"
The two began to circle one another.
"I do believe that this will be quite fun…" Venom smiled.
Izzy raised an eyebrow. "For me you mean! YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" She fired off blast after blast at him, which he kept dodging.
"Come back here, you cretin!" Izzy roared, eyes aflame and holding a flaming sword. She slashed it in a criss-cross motion, sending a flaming X at him which he swiped to deflect.
"Let's try that again, shall we?" He made the same motions that Izzy did, sending her back a few feet, but she quickly bounced back.
"This is going to really fun! AIE-YI-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Izzy did a backflip in the air and hovered behind Venom, sending him crashing along the ground before he could react, making a deep trench as he did.
Lindsay and Akari arrived on Spectra just in time to see Tiana and several other government officials going in several directions around the ciry, engaging every enemy they could.
The General of the Spectran army was walking up and down several ranks of heavily-armed, scary-looking soldiers, shouting orders at them in Spectran.
Tiana watched this from the balcony above with a grim expression, her sceptre fully extended and glowing.
Carlos appeared behind her and gave her a reassuring hug.
"It will be fine, Tia. The good guys always win!" Carlos assured her.
"Let's hope this applies in our case!" Tiana exclaimed.
Lindsay flew up to the balcony while Akari went off to talk to Marcus.
"Queen Tiana, how are things going so far?" She asked.
"So far, so good. We're holding them back. I-AHH!" Tiana was cut off by a tornado ripping apart the balcony and sending both her and her boyfriend flying.
Lindsay managed to catch them both before they hit the ground.
"Perhaps I spoke too soon…" Tiana rubbed her head groggily as she stood up.
The three of them watched as Honker descended from the sky, smiling at them.
Lindsay growled as she shoved the Spectran Queen and Carlos behind her, getting into a fighting stance as she did.
"Oh, isn't this absolutely cute?" Honker chuckled. "Look at you, all trying to defend the Spectran queen and her boyfriend. Too bad it won't be worth it after all…" As he said this, Tiana and Carlos snuck away.
"Bring it, Honker." She cracked her neck and beckoned him forward.
"Gladly." He made a trumpet appear beside him, which he twirled with a mischievous smirk on his face.
Bridgette flew over to the coast of the Aequori kingdom by herself, looking worried.
"What happened? Why is it so quiet? It's way too quiet for my liking…" She thought as she landed.
The quiet was soon broken by the water beginning to act up rising into a large dome.
She looked on in amazement as she saw Marina fighting Montage to the best of her ability using a simple bronze staff. Magalie crouched behind her terrified.
"You will leave my home at once!" She demanded.
"Oh please. You think that you have a chance against me?" Montage chuckled. He materialised a glowing buzzsaw and threw it at her.
Marina managed to block it, at the cost of it severing her staff in half.
"Oh crap…" Her eyes widened and Magalie's eyes widened.
"Goodbye, Aequori princesses!" He opened his mouth to laugh but was cut off by Bridgette sending a giant hailstone at him, knocking him over into the sea.
She sent out a water whip to draw Magalie and Marina out to the shore, where they flopped over beside her.
"What's going on here?" Bridgette asked urgently.
"M-Montage completely wrecked the kingdom!" Magalie wailed. "We got separated from mum and dad. We don't know what's happened to them!"
"We were simply out for a swim in the palace gardens and he just took us by surprise!" Marina exclaimed.
"He's certainly not getting away with it!" Bridgette growled.
A water whip with a large ice dome headed right for them.
Marina managed to wiggle out of the way and Bridgette flew away, but it encased Magalie, who began screaming in terror.
"Sister!" Marina reached out to her, but she was too far away and seeing as she was a mermaid and as such couldn't actually walk, she lay there watching in terror.
Bridgette aimed an icicle at least a metre long at him, where it went straight through his arm.
He looked at the wound casually as if were merely a needle pricking him and wrenched the icicle out.
Bridgette's eyes widened at this as gas began to seep from his wound.
He began laughing like a maniac.
"Try again, because that's certainly not going to work!" He cackled.
The Water Keeper narrowed her eyes at him.
Gwen and Courtney stood in a deserted area, circling one another, never taking their eyes off their opponent.
The Energy Keeper stared at the woman in front of her responsible. It was clear to her now that Courtney was no longer the same person she competed with for the past three seasons.
"It's just you and me now Gwenny." She said with an evil smirk. "I'm actually glad you're the last one standing. It gives me the pleasure of ending your life with my own two hands. It's time I do what I should've done months ago." Courtney cracked her knuckles.
Gwen, with a saddened look sighed deeply, "Courtney, out of all of the things that I have ever regretted, I regretted what I did to you by far the most. I had a moment of weakness and it ended up costing what could've been a great friendship. I never wanted any of this to happen nor to cause you any harm back then. However, that was before you sold your soul to Radcliffe and decided to hurt my friends. What you've done to try and hurt Bridgette, Izzy, Lindsay, and even Heather, is something that I just can't let you get away with."
"You gone too far this time Courtney, and it's about time I give your C.I.T. butt the ass-kicking that it so richly deserves!" The Energy Keeper yelled, flying straight toward her with everything she had.
"BRING IT ON, GOTH GIRL!" The Anti-Keeper shrieked.
Gwen materialized two Energy blades and began swiping at Courtney who blocked it with a black Energy shield.
Courtney chuckled. "Try again, Gwen."
"Okay!" Gwen raised her hands above her head and when she brought them down, hit the Anti-Keeper with a large solar blast so powerful, it sent her skidding along the ground.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Courtney shrieked angrily as she flew up slowly, a black aura surrounding her and her markings glowing brightly.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
"Why, I don't believe I will, Courtney..." Gwen said calmly.
Gwen's calm attitude only served to infuriate Courtney more.
"That's that you think!" Courtney circled a finger and an energy disc appeared in her hand which she threw at Gwen.
Gwen just moved her head and the disc missed, slicing through a nearby tree.
"Your aim is a bit off!" Gwen rushed at her opponent and before Courtney could react had grabbed her and swung her into a nearby building, creating a Courtney-shaped hole in the wall.
Courtney was practically fuming now, the black aura surrounding her again and markings glowing again, but this time her eyes had gone completely black.
Back on Earth, Heather had just lifted a large boulder above her head and thrown it at Dan, smashing him into the ground.
She was sure she had won for a moment, but he flew up suddenly out of the hole and sent the boulder right back at her.
Before she could react, the boulder had been smashed to pieces by a blast of magic.
They both looked around startled to see the source of the blast.
They saw LeShawna standing there, looking like a female version of Rambo, and holding a large bazooka which was responsible for the magic blast.
Behind her came the former Total Drama contestants and the Keeper Grandchildren.
"You did not theenk we would let you fight this alone, did you?" Amelie stood there, smirking.
"And will not matter if she did. I will destroy all of you!" Dan declared, sending metal spikes raining into the air.
They all dodged them narrowly, some more gracefully than others.
Heather was suddenly grabbed by thick vines and thrown some distance away. Dan made a huge boulder, stepped on it and zoomed towards her.
The others wanted to go and help her, but they were soon surrounded by other minions of Radcliffe's.
"Take care of these things and let Heather handle Dan! I know I damn well ain't letting Radcliffe destroy the world my brother was just born into!" Kimberly growled, getting into a battle stance.
"So, Earth Keeper. You seem to suck at relationships, don't you?" Dan said as the two circled one another.
Heather raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Dan?" She growled.
"Well, even after all this, you haven't made a single friend among the Keepers. Everyone seems to hate you, don't they?" Dan chuckled.
"No they don't!" Heather's hair began to float around as if to attack.
"Oh, yes. Despite having such a great responsibility to share with them, you couldn't even become close, like say for example Akari and Deanna eventually did…"
"I don't need to be friends with them!" Heather exclaimed.
"Of course not. But you also apparently don't need to be friends with Alejandro, do you? Pity. From what I've seen, you'd have made a good couple…" He taunted.
"WE WERE NEVR A COUPLE DAMMIT!" Heather shouted.
Dan had to dodge her hair as it shaped itself into hands and made as if to strangle him.
"Pity then. Seems that you're incapable of love then." Dan shrugged. "I guess you don't really need your heart then." He smirked a sadistic smile as he snapped his fingers and metallic claws, quite like Wolverine's emerged from them, except that they were much longer.
Deanna who was fairly far off, managed to sense her successor's thoughts as she saw this.
She rushed forward on a boulder to try and help Heather, but was blasted off the boulder by one of Radcliffe's minions…
Right into the path of Dan's claws that he was extending towards Heather.
Heather's eyes widened and she clapped her hands over her mouth, gasping in shock.
Deanna began to cough up blood as he twisted and turned his claws in her chest, ripping her heart out and throwing her body aside.
Many of the fighters did not notice this until someone let out a scream, pointing to the former Earth Keeper, who lay, eyes wide open on the ground, blood pouring out through the wounds in her chest created by Dan's claws.
While most people had poker-faces, Kimberly, Jane, Hiroshi and Hitoshi looked sick at the sight as Dan began to chuckle, amused at his cruel, sadistic act.
Heather was the first to fly over, followed by Amelie.
"Grand-mère me parler! Grand-mère!" Amelie cried out.
"Deanna? DEANNA!" Heather shook Deanna vigorously, but she did not wake.
Amelie began to cry. "Non, non, non, non, non…" She moaned.
Heather took one look at Deanna's body and saw Cameron running over to his cousin. He too began to shake his grandmother's body- but it was no use.
Deanna was dead.
She wasn't coming back…