The Tale of Three

Chapter 31

One final spell

"...No. Way."

"Yes way." The Voice said, coming up with the lamest response it could think of.

"T-time travel." Meteora said, her voice shaking. "Real, actual time travel, just like in those movie things that Jenkins once told us about?"

"It is far from being a "movie thing" Meteora." The Voice claimed. "Time travel is known throughout the entire multiverse. It is, as most things are, capable through magic. Although, just like in the movies, it is extremely difficult, dangerous, and uses insane amounts of energy to even attempt."

"And you didn't tell me about any of this before because…?"

"I was simply waiting for the proper moment. I felt like you had a lot on your plate already, so I didn't tell you earlier."

"Well...this wasn't the right moment." Meteora said. "You already told me about the monster-butterfly form earlier today, and then while I was still contemplating that, I came across the entire damn Avarius family living in the woods like a bunch of hermits, and now you come back and tell me that I have the ability to time travel. I don't just have a lot on my plate. You're giving me the entire damn buffet."

"I'm surprised you know what a buffet is…"

"Don't ask how. And of course that's the first thing that comes to your mind." Meteora said, clearly annoyed. "But you are telling the truth right? This isn't some cruel joke? I can actually time travel with my magic?"

"If everything goes to plan, then yes. You should be able to." The Voice said. "However…"

"Oh boy, here it comes." Meteora complained.

"Just like with everything else that's useful, it will take up a lot of energy. Even more energy than the communication spell. And it will use it up much, much faster."

"Yeah, I saw that one coming." Meteora said. "I mean, I'm basically forcing time and space to bend to my will here, so I kind of expected it to have consequences."

"Quite. But now, would you like to try it out?"

"W-would I like to what?"

"Try. It. Out. T-r-y." The Voice spelled out for her. "Do you want to attempt to use the traveling spell?"

"I...I mean…just give me a second." Meteora, before returning to the sanctuary that was her own thoughts. This was all going too fast. She hadn't been lying earlier about the buffet thing. It was really starting to overwhelm her. There was so much to do, so much to remember, and she was starting to break under the pressure. If she could just concentrate for a moment, then by some miracle she would be able to prevent herself from going insane.

'Okay.' She thought, taking several deep breaths to calm herself down. 'Okay. You can do this. Just calm down Meteora. Calm down. Just focus on what's going on right now, focus on-wait. If I can travel through time...then doesn't that make everything irrelevant? Can't I just change the past to my needs? Holy-I can prevent all of this! The entire damn apocalypse! The Voice said I was supposed to save the world! Maybe-maybe this is how! And then I can unite everybody in the past! All three species, brought together. And then I'm going to find Seth, tear his head off, and stick it on my bedroom wall. But not before finding Janna and figuring out what the hell turned her into a psychopath.' She grinned widely, not realizing that she was getting far ahead of herself.

"Voice." She said. "New plan. I know what I'm going to do."

"And that is…?"

"I'm going to travel to the past." Meteora said, preparing to deliver her plan step-by-step. "Before the apocalypse ever happened. I'm going to find Seth, and I'm going to use my magic to kill him. I'm going to stop Janna from turning evil. I'm going the entire apocalypse from ever happening, and then-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" The Voice hollered. "Calm down Meteora. Don't get so far ahead of yourself."

"But it's a good plan, and you haven't even heard the whole thing!" Meteora protested. "I can save everyone, just like you said I would!"

"Meteora...if you could save the world like that...don't you think I would have told you about this from the beginning? Don't you think I would have made this your number one goal?"

"..."

"The answer you're looking for is "yes." If you could do that, then we would have had this conversation a lot earlier. We would already be in the past, preventing all of it from happening."

"Then why aren't we?"

"Because of your lack of energy." The Voice said.

"What!" Meteora exclaimed. "Lack of energy?! Sure, I can be lazy from time to time, but not now! Not with something like this! I can-"

"That's not what I meant!" The Voice yelled. "What I meant is that you don't have enough magical energy in you to sustain the spell for that long. Like I said, it takes up much more magic than the communication spell. And the spell doesn't stop sapping your stamina away when you arrive at your destination. It keeps going. You would never be able to hold it long enough for you to save the world."

Meteora thought about this for a second, and then growled in frustration. "So happy…" She mumbled. "I was so damn happy. I really thought I could save the world like that. But of course it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing is ever easy in this...this...this shithole of a world!"

"I'm sorry." The Voice said, genuinely apologizing. "I understand. I was disappointed when I figured it out as well."

"Oh, I'm more than disappointed." Meteora said. "Or maybe it is just disappointment. I don't know. I don't even know what to say anymore." Meteora then flopped over, the ground viciously scratching her back and making several small cuts. But she didn't feel it. She didn't feel any of it.

"You know what I want right now? You know what I really want to happen?" She asked, a single tear forming at the edge of her vision. "I want me, Mariposa, and Jenkins to all go back home to our friends, and I want all of us to be happy. Mari can go back to her parents, and Jenkins can go back to his job, and maybe we'll visit him every once in a while."

"..."

"But there's more." Meteora continued, not hearing any response from the Voice. "I...I want to end this. All my problems, I want them to stop. To just get and leave. Drosid, Janna, Seth, all of them can go straight to hell for all I care. As long as they don't bother us anymore. As long as we don't have to worry about them anymore. As long as they don't try to hurt me, or anybody else ever again!"

"Meteora…"

"Not done yet." Meteora said, now crying uncontrollably. "And finally, more than anything, I want my parents. I want to be with them. I want to be happy with them. That talk with my mother wasn't enough. I'm still as starved of their affection as ever."

"But are you really?" The Voice asked, finally getting a word in.

"What do you mean?" Meteora asked. "Of course I am! I've only ever seen and talked it my mother once! For all fifteen years of my…...of this life! God, all the past lives I had make it annoying sometimes. But yeah. I really am. I still don't know them nearly as much as I do."

"That's not what's important."

"It's not?"

"No. What's important is that they still love you. Which they certainly do. They haven't forgotten about you. Not in a decade and a half, and they would probably still remember you even if a century went by. You say you're starved of their affection. But they heap it on with every ounce of their being. You don't just don't feel it directly. But will always love you. Even if you die. Even if they die. You have to understand that. They're always thinking of you, and you should be too, but not as a person you can't touch, but a person that's always with you, just in your heart."

"..."

"Meteora? Are you-"

"That...that was beautiful." Meteora said, a small tear running down her cheek, but this one more out of happiness than out of anger or sadness. "I had no idea you would know so much about that kind of stuff. About what it means to care for a person."

"I know something about everything."

"No kidding…" Meteora sniffled, still quietly crying. "You're right. As per usual. Just cause they're not here, that doesn't mean I should I give up any sort of hope. I...I should always be looking to the future for the positive things."

"And you finally get it." The Voice said. "You finally learned to worrying about everything all the time. I really thought your anxiety would get the better did you one of these days, and you would go insane and destroy the planet with a haphazard spell."

"I think I have an excuse for all the anxiety." Meteora said, wiping the rest of her tears away. "But if I do ever go insane like that, then Mari and Jenkins will know what to do. What they'll have to do."

"You're kidding, right?" The Voice asked. "What they'll have to do? They would never kill you Meteora. Hurt you, maybe, if it came to that, but they would never kill you like that."

"Even if I was about to kill them?"

"...Where are these thoughts coming from? What happened to that nice conversation about your parents we just had?

"Who knows." Meteora sighed. "Maybe those thoughts just popped into my head. Maybe because you mentioned it, or maybe because I'm feeling so tired that I want to go to sleep, and the extreme deprivation is having an effect on my well-being."

"It's not that. Trust me, I would know."

"Yeah. You know "something about everything,'' don't you? But I don't think it matters. Either way, I've said it and I can't take it back. Unless I use that time traveling spell."

"Speaking of which, can we go back to discussing that? We're wasting time."

"Ironic." Meteora said. "But if you insist. So, how does it work, and what do I do?"

"Finally back on track…" The Voice mumbled, its previous mood of trying to make Meteora happy long since vanished. "It's a very complicated spell, as one would expect. You need perfect concentration, we have to go to the mind realm to make it safer for the both of us, and there is a long and confusing chant that you need to say to make it work."

"Is that all?" Meteora asked, unimpressed. "That's not complicated. That's Tuesday."

"Did I also mention the fact that it takes even more than the communication spell, and can easily kill you?"

"You did, actually." Meteora said. "Several times. And I get it. So let me just charge something up, and we'll be at the mind realm. I want to try this as soon as possible."

"Charge up? Wait, do you mean that sleep spell? You know how I don't-"

"Too late!" Meteora yelled, and aimed her hand at her head. "Sleep spell!" She yelled, and a bright yellow

light shot out of her hand, hit her square in the forehead, and she slumped to the ground,

unconscious.

The mind realm…5 seconds later...

"I still don't get why you're so distrusting of that spell. You know how adept I am with magic now."

"Permanent coma. Brain damage. Accidentally paralyzation. Shall I continue?"

"...No."

A few moments earlier, Meteora had woken up in the mind realm. The same, boring, drab, darkness filled area that was the empty hole in the middle of her mind. Effectively nothing, until the Voice took control and filled it up with memories.

"But whatever. We're here." Meteora said. "Now what? I can do the concentration part, but what's this chant that you said I have to repeat? Praying it's in English…"

"Can you slow down for a second? Remember that time here is-"

"Infinite, yes, I know." Meteora said. "And why do you care? Isn't this about as doing this as soon as possible? Growing my powers as soon as possible?"

"Yes, but it's not about acting recklessly either. You're too excited at the moment. Too worked up. This spell is creeping into every corner of your brain, invading your thought process and grabbing every piece of your focus. You just learned about its existence less than a half hour ago, and yet you are already obsessed."

"Can you blame me though?" Meteora asked. "I don't think you realize the potential of what we could do with this. I know I won't be able to prevent the apocalypse because I don't have enough stamina or energy or whatever, but we can still do so much. Little things, sure, but together, they can change the course of history! And-hey! Why don't we just do that? Prevent the apocalypse by things bit by bit? It might take forever, but it would work!"

"No it wouldn't. That's not how that works."

"How so?"

"Allow me to explain. Again." The Voice said. "There's nothing you can do with that."

"Why not?" Meteora asked, her disappointment growing by the second.

"When you travel to the past, you're not traveling to this Earth's past. You're instead create an alternate timeline in which you went there. Change something back then, it won't show up in your future. It'll change that timelines future, but not your own."

"That sounds like it was stolen from something else." Meteora rebuffed. "Also, who came up with that rule? Someone who hates change?"

"No. It was probably that level five being I mentioned a while back..."

"Damn Lythol…"

"No, the other one."

"Damn "other one"." She scoffed, accepting the sad truth and practically giving up on the spot. "Let's just get on with it. Tell me the chant, and then what to do next."

"Very well. Sit down."

Meteora didn't disobey this for a moment, her earlier excitement slowly returning as she sat down on the ground, crossing her legs.

"Good, now, repeat after me. I wish to tear a hole in time…"

"I wish to tear a hole in time…" Meteora repeated, getting the feeling that this was going to rhyme.

"I promise to do no damage and commit no crime…"

"I promise to do no damage and commit no crime…"

"And now I wish to leave this world…"

"And now I wish to leave this world…"

"Only to return when time has curled."

"Only to return when time has curled."

The Voice didn't say anything after that, and Meteora braces herself. For a burst of energy, sudden exhaustion, a bright light, anything.

Nothing happened.

"Uh…" She said, greatly confused. "I don't feel that different. Was something supposed to have happened?"

"Yes, actually." The Voice said, sounding concerned. "You were supposed to be enveloped in a ball of golden light, and then you would have thought of your destination in time, and off you go to whenever."

"Well, it didn't work." Meteora said, stating the obvious. "What did I do wrong? Did you tell me the wrong chant, or do I just not have enough energy? I might still be suffering that drain I got from the communication spell…"

"That may be the case. But I sense that you have enough energy to do at least one short jump through time. It may only last a few seconds, but you should still be able to do it. As for the chant, no, that is completely correct."

"Only a few seconds? Well that's just great." Meteora whined. "But what else could it have been?"

"You just may not be concentrating hard enough."

"I don't think so. This has my full attention."

"Does it though?" The Voice asked, unconvinced.

"..."

"Well?"

"...Probably not." Meteora admitted. "Maybe there was one really small part of me that was thinking about other stuff. Like how crazy all this Avarius stuff is and about what you said earlier about my parents."

"That must have been it then." The Voice concluded. "We're going to try again. But this time, you can't be thinking about anything else. Not the Avarius's, but your parents, not Mariposa, Jenkins, Drosid, Janna, none of them. Push them all out of your mind. Make them as irrelevant as possible and-"

"Okay okay, I get it." Meteora interrupted, before closing her eyes. "Say it again, I already forgot what it was."

The Voice made a sighing sound and repeated the chant to Meteora, who spoke it in turn. Once finished, Meteora didn't feel anything at first, but then she felt something on the end of her fingertips, which soon traveled across her whole body. It felt like static electricity was shocking every part of her at the same time. It reminded her of the first time she went into her butterfly form, back on the cliff.

"I...think it's working." She said. "I can definitely feel something this time."

"Open your eyes."

Meteora obeyed and nearly let out a gasp at what she saw. Surrounding her was a giant golden bubble of magic, looking like ocean waves mixed with sand flowing all around her. It was constantly moving, every part of it somehow traveling in a different. It almost hurt to look at, and she let out a single word, awe filling every syllable of it.

"Neat."

"Yes, it is "neat." But just the beginning. Remember what I told you you would have to do next?"

"Visualize where I want to go." Meteora said. "Only for a few seconds? Okay, I should make it somewhere that's not filled with too many people, but at the same time, something that'll confirm I went to the past, and-wait." Meteora paused, her attention now focused on something else. "Can I travel to the future as well? You never said this was past-exclusive."

"You'd instantly die. Going to the future takes up much more energy than traveling to the past. Time stream bullshit and all that."

Meteora rolled her eyes. "Sounds like something I'd said. But past it is then. Although it's not like I would have know where I was going in the future. Now, how about...the Forest of Certain Death? If it's still a "forest" then that should confirm it. Besides, I doubt anybody will be there. The Avarius's are all locked up in their house at that time, and nobody's really going to want to enter it.

"Not a bad idea, but you're overlooking something. It's literally in the name Meteora. The second you take materialize in the forest, a giant plant could bite your head off. And you'll be so weak after performing the spell that you won't be able to stop it."

"...The middle of the desert?" She tried.

"You wouldn't be able to tell if you actually managed to travel back in time. You may have just teleported yourself to the other side of the planet."

'Wait, I can teleport?' Meteora thought. 'Why haven't they-oh forget it, questions for later.'

'My room? Baby me's room?'

"These are some very odd choices you're coming up with. And no. Imagine if your mother or father was in there. Imagine their shock if a teenage version of their daughter just suddenly came into existence for a few seconds and then vanished."

"That's a good point." Meteora said. "Agh! You know what? I don't care! You choose! I just want to go somewhere, anywhere!" She pounded her fist on the ground in anger, making the mind realm shake in response.

"Meteora, calm down. Don't do something you might-"

"I don't care!" She yelled. She suddenly felt like she had been filled with a newfound rage, a rage that wasn't her own. Out of control for no good reason, her voice raised itself to a screech. "Choose somewhere NOW!"

Before either of them could do or say anything, the ball of light around Meteora glowed every brighter at her command. It then collapsed in on itself, and Meteora let out a cry of shock as she and the ball vanished. She felt her body fade away to nothingness, the only thing now showing that she had ever been there being a few small golden sparks which hung in the air, and then they too disappeared a moment later.

Inside Brudo's house…a short while earlier…

Everyone watched at Meteora practically sprinted out of the room and through the hole that once held a door, all of them equally confused. But at the same time, Jenkins and Mariposa weren't that concerned, and didn't bother to follow her.

"Well…" Jenkins started, too invested in Dennis's story to care. "What was that you were saying about the spell?"

"That's complicated." Dennis said. "You see, I think one day my dad was contacted by some weird being that spoke to him in a dream."

"In a dream?" Jenkins asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Dennis said. "He didn't tell me much about it. In fact, he didn't tell me anything at all. I only know about this because sometimes when I spied in him, I overheard him grumbling about it."

"And what exactly was he grumbling about?" Meteora asked. "Other than that being."

"Nonsense." Dennis said. "Something about how he didn't regret making some deal, about how he was protecting all of us, about how he was doing the things he needed to, crap like that."

"Deal?" Jenkins asked, before grabbing Brudo by the hair and yanking him up. "What sort of deal did you make Brudo?"

Although Mariposa didn't care if Brudo got hurt or not, she knew that him accidentally killing Brudo out of anger would just set them back further. Moreover, she didn't want Jenkins to suddenly explode in rage and accident hurt himself or the numerous other people in the room."

"Jenkins...calm down." She said, pulling his arm off of Brudo. "Please don't something you might regret. If you kill him, we'll never know what else he has to say."

But instead of listening to her and letting go of Brudo, Jenkins did quite the opposite, grabbing Mariposa's arm and pulling it off his own. His grip on her arm was so tight that it actually hurt, and Mariposa winced from the pain. She could feel the tension in his fingers, as if he was about to burst from anger.

"Maybe." He whispered, before letting go of her. She could tell he was cureebly blind with rage. For whatever reason, Brudo's deal has sent him off the deep end. "But I can't relax. Not if Brudo did what I think he did. Don't interfere, for everyone's sake."

Mariposa gulped nervously and took a step away from him. Jenkins, seeing her slightly terrified expression, came to his senses and mouthed "sorry" to her before turning back to Brudo.

"Talk!" He yelled, pulling Brudo so close that they were an inch apart. "What deal did you make? And who did you make it with?"

"I...I…" Brudo stammered, currently fearing for his life.

"Speak before I beat the answer out of you." Jenkins hissed at him. Mariposa took another step away from him, as did Dennis and Lady Avarius. Jenkins looked ready to tear Brudo limb from limb, and one of them wanted to get caught in the middle of it.

'What the hell is happening?' Mariposa thought. 'Why did he get so mad all of a sudden? The second Brudo mentioned that deal, he just turned psycho. And the way he grabbed me...I'm pretty sure there's still a mark on my arm. That hurt. And I know he would never do that. He would never…'

Mariposa paused, not sure how she should think of him right now. One one hand, she knew he would never hurt her on purpose. Him grabbing her was just the result of him being so angry he couldn't control it. But on the other, she saw the look in his eyes. Nothing lived in those eyes at the moment. No compassion, no concern, no nothing. Just hate, and every single bit of it was directed towards Brudo.

'Just stay out of his way for now.' She thought. 'Don't interfere, just like he said. But...even if it was by accident, he better apologize later. He shouldn't have just-'

"TALK!" Jenkins roared, making Mariposa's thoughts skid to a one way stop. Dennis and Lady Avarius froze in place out of fear, while also looking ready to get as far away from Jenkins as possible.

"Okay! Okay! Don't kill me!" Brudo said desperately, finally having been broken. "I'll tell you everything!"

"You best." Jenkins said. "Because otherwise, you're going to have to live the rest of your life without that beak." Brudo's eyes went wide as the mental image of Jenkins ripping his beak out of his face came to mind. Any bit of stubbornness he previously had was all but gone, and everyone knew it.

"W-where do you want me to start?" He asked.

"Like. I. Said. Who did you make a deal with?!" Jenkins repeated.

"Just some person that I met in a dream!" Brudo said. "The first night after the merge had happened, I dreamt that they were there and talking to me. I didn't know what they looked like, I didn't or their name, the only thing I remember about them specifically is that their voice sounded familiar!"

"Familiar how?"

"Um...just familiar?" Brudo said, unsure of how to interpret the question. "Like I had heard their voice before. There's nothing else too it."

"I know that." Jenkins said. "But who did they remind you of?"

"I can't remember." Brudo said, before bracing himself for the punch to the face that was sure to follow. But instead, Jenkins seemed to believe this for some reason.

"Fine." He growled. "What did they tell you?"

"They-they told me that something was coming very soon, and that if I didn't do what they said, then everyone in my family, including myself, would all die."

"Isn't that convenient. Somebody told you about the apocalypse beforehand." Jenkins said. "Why didn't you tell anyone else?"

"Whoever it was told me not to. They told me that if I did, then they would kill me." Brudo claimed. "I believed them only because of the spell they put over the house."

"What does this spell do?" Jenkins asked. "Does it make you immortal or something? Because Dennis mentioned how you didn't need to eat."

"...That's actually it." Brudo said. "I don't know how, but we haven't needed to eat, drink, hell, maybe even breathe ever since I made that deal. We only sleep because we want too. Because we want to be reminded of who we used to be."

"I take it you don't age either." Jenkins assumed. "Every single person here looks exactly the damn same as they did fifteen years ago."

"Yeah…" Brudo said. "We don't age. It was interesting at first, then it got annoying. To know you would never grow another inch, that your hair would always remain the same, and that you would outlive everyone and everything. It...it hasn't been fun."

"Are you seriously complaining about being immortal?" Jenkins asked, surprised at Brudo's opinion on immortality. "I'd think a person like you would love being immortal. You get to outlive all the people you hate. Which is, to say, everyone."

"Actually, I can see where he's coming from." Dennis chimed in. He was obviously still reeling the effects of Jenkins outburst, but he somehow managed to dig up enough willpower to form coherent sentences.

"I know immortality may seem like something great, but after a while, it changes you." He continued. "Every day you look in the mirror looking exactly how you did the day before. You expect there to be at least some small change, but there isn't. After a while, you start to feel like a living statue, unchanging and frozen in time. I haven't enjoyed it. My mother hasn't enjoyed it. And my siblings haven't enjoyed it."

Jenkins took a moment to think about this and realized that Dennis was making a lot of sense. Even if he hadn't seen himself in what felt like years, he definitely felt himself change. Growing older by the day. Being immortal would get annoying after awhile. And to be put through that for all eternity? The only word he could have used to describe it was hellish. Both of them were practically speaking words of wisdom.

"That, and the knowledge that all our friends on the outside will die, and we won't unless we leave and someone kill us, or if...we kill ourselves." Dennis said, making one final point.

Jenkins nodded and turned back to Brudo. "Looks like you two finally agree on something." He said. "But, is that it then? You talked to some person in a dream, they made you immortal as long as you shut everyone in the house, and you did just that? Upon which, I'm guessing, whoever this was protected you from the blast and the radiation."

"..."

"Yeah, that's exactly it." Jenkins said, taking note of Brudo's stunned silence. "Well then…" He then let go of Brudo and let him fall to the floor, although he knew that they still weren't done.

"Any idea why?" Jenkins asked him. "Why would anyone want to help you guys survive?" He turned towards Dennis. "No offense."

"Uh, non taken." Dennis said.

Brudo groaned and got to his feet. "I don't know. I've told you all that you wanted to know, and everything else you figured out by yourself. This person was familiar, nothing more. They never told me why they were doing this. They told me the offer and the consequences if I said no, so I took it while I still could."

Mariposa, who had remained silent for the past few minutes, took a few steps forward, looked at Jenkins, and spoke up.

"Now what?" She asked. "Now that that's over with, is there any reason for us to stay here?"

Jenkins looked down at her in surprise, showing that the question she asked was definitely not one he was expecting. But he still did his best to give her an answer.

"I don't know." He said. "Dennis, anything else you can tell us?"

"I got nothing." Dennis said, shrugging. "You know the whole story now. Any information I could tell you would be useless or probably wrong."

"That doesn't matter." Jenkins said, pressing on. "Because as of right now, useless and wrong is all we've got left. I'd like to solve this little mystery. I want to know why your family was saved from Seth. If there's something about you guys that was special, then it might be bigger than you, or even I, can possibly imagine."

"Seth…" Dennis repeated, ignoring the last part of Jenkins dramatic claim. "Actually, I want to know something first. Why did Seth destroy the world? And how did he even manage to do that?"

"Why? I don't know why." Jenkins said. "What would I know about the inner workings of a madman? He probably just hated Mewmans, humans, and monsters. Mewmans because he always hated them, humans because it was revealed that Mewmans has evoked from them, and monsters because he saw them as traitors now after they became friends with the other two."

"But how…?"

"He stormed the E.D.F.'s base." Jenkins said. "With a clone army of himself. He took control, activated the nukes, and the rest is history. Now I don't know where he is or what he's planning next, but I do know that he has to still be alive. Out there. Somewhere. Doing more evil shit."

"What's your plan if you encounter him again?" Dennis asked.

Jenkins paused momentarily before answering. "...I would tear him apart." He said confidently. "As slowly as I can. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. Layer by layer. Until there's nothing left for him to regenerate. Then I'm going to burn those pieces, and throw the ashes into the deepest pit in the Underworld. And if possible, I will get in all on camera so I can watch it every day for the rest of my life."

"..."

"..."

"That's disturbing." Mariposa said. "But I can't really blame you. After what he did, I'd probably do the same thing. Except for the whole camera part of course. That's messed up."

"Agreed." Dennis said. "But like your kid said, what are you going to do right now? We have no more information to tell you, and I'm sure Brudo told you everything. There's not much left for you here."

"Her name is Mariposa. Try not to forget it." Jenkins said. "And...I guess we'll figure that when Meteora gets back. But in the meantime, do you have any food?"

"..."

"Right. Sorry." Jenkins said, letting himself flop into a nearby chair.

And everyone left it at that, waiting for Meteora to return from the forest

Somewhere cold that isn't the forest...

Freezing.

Every part of her was freezing.

Groaning, hurting, and feeling like she had been run over by a truck while golden spots danced in her vision, Meteora came to her senses and said the only thing that was on her mind.

"Ugh...ughhhh...what the hell happened?"

"Get up." The Voice said out of nowhere, now sounding like it was in full panic mode. "Get up quickly. Right. Now. Get up dammit!"

Meteora, still suffering from the effects of the spell, groggily pushed herself up at the Voice's command and looked around. Her knees and elbows were being pushed into something soft and cold, and she opened her eyes a millimeter at a time. After doing so, they went wider than ever before. All around her was an impossibly white landscape, covered in some odd material that looked completely alien to her. She jumped up and stumbled backwards in some attempt to get away from it, but it was futile. It was an endless cold blanket of white stretching over the horizon, and all she could do now was suffer through it. A huge amount of the white stuff was even falling from the sky like ash. It was surreal.

"W-what is this?" She said fearfully. "What am I standing in?"

"Wha-you mean the snow?" The Voice asked, dumbfounded. "You seriously don't know what-oh. Wait. Yeah, you've never seen snow before, have you? Sorry about that."

"This...this is snow?" Meteora asked, reaching down and taking a handful of it. She shifted it in her fingers and brought it closer to her face, inspecting it like an archeologist with an ancient relic.

"It is. Unfortunately, something has gone wrong. We are not where we should be."

"I...I've never seen it before. We were never in the right place. Hey! It's made out of these weird flakes. They're all different patterns..."

"What could have happened? Wait, you didn't have a destination in mind, did you? You took us to a random spot in time! Agh! What a waste."

"It molds and you can shape it…"

"Well, this is most unfortunate. But even more odd is your condition. We should have already left. Your heart should have given out from loss of energy by now. But for some reason, it hasn't."

"This is weird. I think Jenkins said that snow was frozen water, but he left it at that. Is snow and ice the same thing? I thought-"

"Can you please pay attention?!" The Voice shrieked. "There's more important things going on than the stupid snow!"

"Hey, let me have my moment! I've never seen it before!" Meteora yelled. She gripped the snow in her hand again. "I've never seen this before. Whatever happened, this may be the only chance I get."

The Voice paused for a moment. "...You're right. This is new to you. It is natural for you to be excited. But we can't focus on that right now. We should be focusing on what happened with the spell. Something is definitely wrong here."

Meteora paused and then looked down at the snow in her hand. Sighing, she let it drop to the ground and then brushed the rest of it off her arms and legs. She then stood there, shivering and still feeling like crap. After a few seconds of this, she decided that the snow wasn't so fun anymore. After the initial excitement had worn off, all it was now was annoying and cold.

"Not so fun anymore, eh?" The Voice asked, seeming to read her mind.

"No kidding." Meteora said. "I've never felt this cold before. Where even are we?"

"That's what I'd like to find out. Like I was saying, something went wrong with the spell. I believe it had to do with your outburst just before we traveled to the past."

"Oh...that." Meteora said, recalling how angry she had felt. She didn't even know why. It had just felt right in the moment. "But how? Don't I need to have perfect concentration? I'm pretty sure that being pissed and screaming doesn't count as perfect concentration."

"I don't know why it happened. I don't have any idea what's going on. Something went wrong. Very, very, very wrong. I don't know where or when we are. I don't know why you aren't dead yet from magical exhaustion. I don't know why the hell any of this is-"

"Calm down!" Meteora said desperately. "Please don't start freaking out. The last person I want to see that happen too is you. You're the one who always knows what to do after all…"

"Not true. You have made several decisions in situations where I have been helpless. Situations like that time Janna stuck is on that cliff. Situations like this one."

"You may have a point, but I'm also clueless here." Meteora said. She then looked around, but couldn't see ten feet in front of her. The constant snowstorm happening around them was just too heavy to see through.

"Should I try and cast the spell again?" She asked. "Maybe if I can do it right this time…"

"No. Definitely not." The Voice warned her. "Trying to again without knowing where we are in time could have disastrous consequences, both for ourselves and for this entire dimension. We should gather our bearings first. Find out where we are and what year it is."

"Okay." Meteora said. "Guess I should just start walking then…"

And so it went. Meteora picked a random direction and just headed that way, her arms wrapped around herself as she struggled to keep warm. But it wasn't working. She could feel herself getting colder by the minute as the environment around her took its toll on her body. If she didn't find someplace soon that wasn't a snowbank, then she would surely freeze to death. Unless, of course...

"H-hey." She said. "S-should I use a spell to t-try and warm myself u-up? It m-might help."

"You can't. You can risk using magic right now. Any kind of magic. You might be entirely drained of it, and if you try, you will die."

"I-I don't think I'd m-mind." Meteora said, her teeth chattering. "B-better dying like that then like t-this."

"I would prefer if you didn't die at all. So don't give up. Not yet." The Voice said. "You can't die like this, not after everything you've beaten. I won't let it happen."

"I-I don't think either of us have a c-choice." Meteora said, her pace slowing down as he legs started to feel heavier.

Soon enough, it looked like there was no hope. Every step she took made her feel weaker than the last, and the cold infiltrated every part of her. She could feel it in her chest, arms, legs, even in her brain. All of them feeling like they had been encased in ice. Eventually she wasn't even paying attention to what was in front of her, but was just walking without even thinking about it, like her legs were moving of their own accord.

'This sucks. So. Fucking. Much." She thought, her mind not plagued by the same stutter her voice currently had. "Why did I do that? Why did I lose control of my emotions? All this, just because I got a little angry! It's so unfair! Now I'm going to die and no one will ever know because no one will ever find me in...wherever this is!'

Grumbling, she trudged on, her feet sinking into the snow. It was getting thicker. The snow had risen by at least an inch since she had first arrived, and the blizzard wasn't showing any signs of giving up. She wondered how she hadn't collapsed yet. It had to have been her monster side keeping her warm. Or her Mewman side. Or maybe even what little magic remained in her. It didn't really matter which, as long as it kept her alive. That was all she thought.

But nothing lasts forever, especially when it's protecting you from danger. Meteora was learning this firsthand, and it was the hardest lesson she had ever learned.

And the last.

20 minutes later…

"Meteora? Meteora, can you hear me?"

"Y-y-yes."

"How are you...doing? Do you think you need a break? I wouldn't recommend one, but I really think you should rest and-

"No." She stammered, ignoring the Voice's foolish suggestion. "If I s-stop, I die. C-can't die. N-not yet. H-have to k-keep g-going. For J-Jenkins. For M-Mari. E-Everyone. I c-can't stop."

The Voice made a wincing sound at Meteora's words, which were starting to become more and more unclear. Soon she wouldn't be able to say anything at all. This was bad. She was going to die soon if she didn't find something. The next five minutes were all she had left, maybe even less. But even if they did find shelter, it may already be too late.

"O-okay." She said. "I-I'm going to t-try and use a s-spell. One to h-heat me u-up. D-don't care if I k-kill myself d-doing it. H-have too."

"At this point, I don't see any other option than hoping you come along something. And you should have enough energy by now to cast something low level like a heating spell. Go for it. Make it up."

"U-understood." Meteora stammered, surprised by the Voice's agreement towards this. But she wasn't complaining. She shakily raised her arm in the air and concentrated on making a spell out of nothing. It couldn't be that hard.

"H-heat spell!" She yelled, and a moment later, her hand heated up and she felt like she was standing next to a radiator at full blast. She almost smiled right then and there, but the moment soon died, as the heat faded and her hand returned to normal.

"W-what was that?" She asked. "I h-had the s-spell!"

"It-it must have been too strong a spell to maintain. Too much energy. That or the intense cold around us literally smothered it."

"I d-don't think t-that's how my s-spells work." Meteora said, but she was too close to argue further. The snow was still falling down in flurries, and was slowly coating the top of her head and shoulders in small piles of the stuff. It would almost be humorous if Meteora's situation didn't look so grim.

"I-it's funny." She said, losing hope. "N-never thought it w-would end like t-this. K-killed by something I o-only got the c-chance to s-see o-once. B-but at least it's p-pretty. At least...at least…"

She stopped where she was, and her body let her know that she couldn't go on. After the failed spell attempt, there was no more energy left in her. She fell to her knees and then let them sink into the snow, while she panted, completely out of breath. But she couldn't feel any of it anymore. Not the cold, not the exhaustion, nothing. She just knew it was done. She was finished.

"Meteora!" The Voice yelled. "Are you-"

"It's over." She said, doing her best to stop her stuttering. There was no point anymore. "I can't go on. I-I'm dead. Nothing can stop that anymore."

"No! Don't say that. That only becomes true when you give up, and-"

"And I did." Meteora said. "I can't feel my arms. Or my legs. I can't feel anything. I just want to rest. I want to go to sleep. And this snow looks so comfortable…"

"You're becoming delirious." The Voice said, something meant for both Meteora and itself. "Focus. Don't lose focus. Focus on what's important. Mariposa! Jenkins! Your mother! You have to get back to them! You have to!"

"I can't!" Meteora yelled, before losing her balance and falling over. Her face hit the ground and was buried under several feet of snow, making it slightly harder to breath. She lay there, barely moving a muscle.

"G-guess this is it." She whispered, accepting her fate. "It's been fun. You and me. Thanks for helping me along the way. Even if I treated you like shit s-sometimes, I really was grateful for everything you did."

"Meteora…"

"Don't." She said. She then used up all of her remaining strength to flip herself over, and now she was staring at the sky, snowflakes hitting her face and melting on impact.

"So beautiful…" She murmured, reaching up towards it. "The snow...is so beautiful. I n-never could have imagined it would look like this. Just an endless field of white. Endless…"

"Meteora, please get up." The Voice said, sounding like it was about to cry. "You can't give up! Not now! You can never give up. There's still so much you have to do, so much you have to do for the world."

"It won't happen." She said, closing her eyes. "Don't you see? There's nothing left I can do. But just promise me one thing. When I die, tell Mariposa and Jenkins what happened to me, if you can get back to the future. I'd appreciate it. I don't want them thinking I ran away. That I abandoned them."

"You can tell them that yourself." The Voice said. "Because I'm not. I can't promise it, because that's not what's going to happen! You can still do it! I can feel a little bit of energy left in you! You-"

"Stop." Meteora said. "Please stop. If you don't tell them, fine. But I don't care. I'm not going too. But thanks. Again, thank you. For showing me magic. For showing me everything. And thank you...for letting me see my mother before I went. It was nice. It...it…" Her words stopped suddenly, and the arm she had been reaching towards the sky fell, no longer held up by any kind of life.

"You can see your mother again. That conversation didn't have to be your only time." The Voice said, ignoring the fact that her own voice had been suddenly cut off. "But only if you try hard enough. Listen to me, please."

"..."

"...Meteora?"

"..."

"METEORA!"

No answer. Her heart had gone cold, and only the soul remained, inches away from death, able to be stolen at any time.

And the thief was due to arrive very soon.

End chapter 31

A/N: Is this it? Is it the end? For Meteora? For this fanfic?

Definitely not.

Although I personally felt this was a bit of a lame chapter.

But as always, thank you for reading and please PM me or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.