The Tale of Three

Chapter 33

Visions of a better time

"Soooo...is it much to your liking? What do you think?"

"It's, uh, good. Little salty, but good."

"Salty? Really? I haven't had salt for fifteen years."

"..."

"..."

"Well...if there's anything else I can do to make you comfortable, just ask. You deserve a break after literally dying out there. It's the least I can offer you."

"T-thanks."

He gave her a nod. A reassuring smile. And then walked away from Meteora, leaving her by herself in her own corner of the room like he trusted her with his life.

Three hours.

It had been three hours since Meteora had been brought back to the hut of this "Ery" and then brought back to life. And now, he was being more friendly than Meteora thought humanly or mewmanly possible. After she had calmed down and agreed to not blast in the face with a spell (which she still couldn't summon, something he was thankfully ignorant of) he had literally offered her a bowl of soup and insisted the he go without eating for the night, despite the fact that he clearly couldn't afford to go hungry. His food supplies were even lower than theirs was at the moment. Which was certainly saying something.

Although him playing nice definitely gave her an opportunity to think about her next move. The Voice's warning about Seth's prison being only a few hours walk from here as well as the fact that he was to escape rather soon still lingered in the back of her mind, but she wasn't too worried about it. It was the past after all. What had happened happened.

But it's not like that was the mindset she had at first.

She absolutely hated the fact that the Voice has convinced her to not mess with the prison or try to stop the jailbreak. She had gone on with another silent rant about how this could be the key to saving everyone, until the Voice reminded her yet again that changing this past would only create an alternate timeline, and when she traveled back to her future nothing would have changed. Meteora still wanted to do it though, try and create a timeline where it's version of her, her sister, and Jenkins didn't have to go through fifteen years of hell.

Unfortunately, the Voice had told her it was too risky, and she agreed after an awful lot of convincing. And it had made some good points. What would she even tell them anyways? That she was from the future? Granted, she had lots of evidence. She knew things about Jenkins that surely only past him knew at the moment, so it wouldn't be hard to convince him. Showing them magic would also get their attention, and the past version of her mother would certainly recognize her own daughter, even all grown up. And in the unlikely event that she didn't, they could just do one of those blood test things that Jenkins had mentioned to them.

It was the least she could do. Just like this was the least Ery said he could do for her. Try and make things right in one timeline. Hers would still be a hellscape, but at least she would know what there was somewhere out there in the multiverse where everyone was happy.

But she couldn't do that. It would take too long, and she had people to get back to, a war to win, and enemies to defeat.

She swore under her breath. Multiple times. Fortune had certainly turned against her this time, as per usual.

Although the Voice certainly didn't agree with this. According to it, she should be thanking the level five being (despite the fact that Lythol had imprisoned it) that she hadn't stayed dead and that Ery has found her. Even though it was gone at the current moment (again). Apparently it was "investigating" why the time-travel spell hadn't killed her or what they had traveled to this time in a moment of anger. And the time she was in time was an odd one. Roughly five months before the apocalypse, give or take a few. This wasn't what she had hoped for. A little further back maybe, and it would have been nice to have been dropped somewhere else than in the literal middle of nowhere.

And not freezing to death would have been a plus too.

But she had chosen to ignore the Voice's foolish suggestion to get out while she still could. Ery had food and water and shelter. While she was still weary of him, especially considering how overly friendly he was to her, she was beginning to warm up. But she remembered to always keep him in her sights. Odds were that she wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight, if fate decided that this was where she was staying.

She bit the side of her lip and slurped down the rest of the soup, which slightly bitter with a salty aftertaste. Meteora didn't know what was in it, some kind of weird fruit perhaps, but she would eat anything if it kept her from going hungry. She would have asked for some water as well, but she was so nervous that she figured her mouth would go dry a minute or so after drinking it anyways.

As for right now though, she just had to pass time until her magic returned so she wouldn't be completely defenseless. If Ery was a true Septarian like she suspected, then there was no way she could take him in a one-on-one fight without magic. Even if she returned to full strength. She had fought Septarians before, and it was an experience she did not wish to recount. She still had a scar on her ankle from when one of the scaly bastards had slashed her with its claws.

"Are you done with that?" A voice from above her said. Meteora jumped as she saw Ery looming over her, offering his hand out to take the bowl. She had been so consumed in her own thoughts that she hadn't even seen or heard him approach.

'So much for keeping an eye on him…' She thought, berating herself for not paying closer attention. 'If he wanted too, he could have killed me right then and there.'

"Um, yeah." Meteora said, handing the bowl over to him. "It was actually really good. Thank You."

Ery shrugged. "No problem. I can do without food for a night. You definitely need it more than me after all."

"You already said that." Meteora pointed out, faking an amused smile. "Several times in fact."

"That's because it's true." Ery said, before getting a sad look on his face. "Listen, I get it if you don't trust me. I mean, just look at me! I'm a lizard! We have a pretty bad reputation, no matter where you go. Mewmans hate us more than any other monsters, humans distrust no matter how hard we try to convince them we want to help, and even the other monsters don't seem particularly fond of keeping us around. Maybe if they just got to know us, they would see we're not all bad."

Ery sighed, and Meteora could see a tried look in his eyes. Did he truly want to help? Everything he had done up to point showed signs that this was the truth, although it could certainly all be faked. Although it wasn't because he was a lizard. She was afraid of what he was because of how easily he could overpower her, not because of anything else. She wasn't about to let herself sink down to the level of someone like Mina, who always seemed to come up in Jenkins stories. That was a person she just couldn't be.

"I understand." Meteora said, deciding to come up with a lie on the spot. "Back in Jenoraclipsa, some people were chased out by others because of how they looked. That even to some of my closest friends."

Ery scowled. "Disgusting." He said. "You certainly made the right choice in leaving that place and coming here. Shame that you don't remember how though…"

"Well, I still don't know if I left on purpose or if I was exiled because I was trying to help my friends." Meteora replied. "Because helping people that are set to be kicked out of the community is grounds for being kicked out yourself."

"I can't believe what I am hearing." Ery growled. "If I find this place, I promise I will drag whoever made those laws into the streets and bite their head off."

"Um, thanks." Meteora said, her eyes darting to the side. "Little excessive, but I guess they do deserve it."

"Of course they do." Ery said. "Those disgusting bigoted lawmakers deserve nothing but punishment. And I will deliver only the harshest ones upon them." He sighed and looked around before stretching his arms and legs. "It's almost night time." He said. "Are you going to stay here, or will you take your chances out there?"

He pointed to the large and imposing door that stood to her right, which answered with a loud gust of cold wind from outside that seemed to shake the entire hut. Almost like nature itself had sensed that doing so would make a mildly dramatic moment.

Meteora knew she had no choice. The temperature had no doubt dropped even further now that it was dark, so she wouldn't last five seconds out there before turning into a block of ice.

"...I'll stay here." She finally said. "I don't think I'll make it out there."

"Good, because I wouldn't have let you leave anyways." Ery said. "Going outside at night is suicide. Temperatures drop well below zero, and you can even feel it in here. Good thing the lumber that made up this place is the wood from that tree, or else this place wouldn't last a single day."

"That tree? What are you talking about?" Meteora asked.

Ery paused and then bit the inside of his lip, almost like he regretted saying that. Meteora could see that whatever the "tree" was, he wasn't going to tell her about it.

"That's not important." He said, just like Meteora suspected he would. "But if you're staying for the night, then do you want a blanket or something? I have a spare or two."

"I'd love one, thanks." Meteora said, getting up off the ground. "But, uh…" She hesitated, not looking forward to asking the question she had in mind.

"Is there a problem?"

"Do...you have a bathroom?" Meteora asked sheepishly. "I kind of need to use it."

Ery pointed to a door on the far side of the hut that looked like it was made of driftwood. "It's in there." He said. "Try not to make a mess though, I don't have any cleaning materials."

Meteora didn't respond to this and simply nodded before speed-walking towards the door, opening it, and then closing it behind her. Ery kept his eye on the door for a few moments before turning away and going to grab a blanket from his supply closet.

'What to do...what to do…' He thought, before letting out an internal scoff. 'Jenoraclipsa. What a stupid name. Does she really think she has me fooled with that? And all that talk about bigotry being wrong...I almost couldn't bring myself to say it. That is what shaped this world, shaped all worlds, and it will shape the future. The future that my kind deserves.'

Ery's thoughts then shifted from the future of the glorious Septarians and instead dwelled on Meteora's magic usage, mostly on whether she actually had it or not. While he still had his doubts, he had no reason to believe that she was telling the truth about it. There was no evidence other than her own outlandish claims, and he knew that most of what she told him already was a lie. So it made sense that her magic was just that. A lie.

But he still had to take his chances. If she actually had magic and he decided to just attack her out of nowhere, then that would be it. A quick death by instant vaporization would be his best hope at that point, unless, of course, she wasn't very skilled in it. But he still had to be careful. In his experience, the most powerful magic users tended to be the ones that looked weakest. The ones that attempted to hide their true power, making themselves appear as nothing more than small fry. Could this Mariposa be the same way?

'Feh, don't even call her that.' He thought to himself. 'That's definitely not her real name. The hesitation before she told it to me was because she was thinking one up, not because she didn't trust me enough to spit it out. If she wants to keep her name secret, then there has to be a reason. Perhaps she's some kind of ...teenage celebrity?" The idea briefly intrigued Ery, but he shook it off in a second. 'No, that can't be it. She's not that type of person. Her eyes were ones that had seen just as many horrors as I had. Whoever she is, she's seen the worst of the world. Perhaps I can use this to my advantage."

Ery put his hand on his chin as he thought up a plan. 'Okay. Here's what I'll do.' He thought, pacing around. 'She'll stay here for the night and I'll give her some breakfast in the morning, all while keeping up the friendly attitude. After that, I'll ask her to show me some magic, under the pretense that I haven't seen magic that much and it would be cool to see. Nothing much, just a simple spell. If she says no, then that's proof that she's been lying about having magic. I'll strangle her to death right then and there and store her body out in the snow to preserve it. But not before maybe eating one of her arms or legs for my own breakfast. Been a while since I had any real meat after all. And sure, if this is what happens, I'll have wasted my resurrection potions in the process. But hey, at least it'll have been entertaining."

He looked in the direction of the bathroom.

'But if she does have magic…then after that breakfast I'll take her out hunting for moose. See if I can get her to use a spell against one. This way I can discern just how skilled she is. If she can use an attack spell against one of those things, then she will be extremely useful. If she can't…same as before. I kill her, eat an arm or something, ect, ect.'

He turned away from the bathroom and grabbed a blanket from his closet before setting it on the floor, making it look as appealing as possible.

'One last thing to consider. If she has magic...and she has attack spells…and she can actually do some serious damage with them…then this could be what I'm looking for. After all this time, this might be how it happens.'

He grinned and started biting his claws, the excitement growing to be too much.

'This is how my master gets broken out of prison.'

He giggled to himself. Then chuckled. Then he paused before letting out a full-on laugh, sounding like some kind of cliche supervillain. He did this for a moment before forcing himself to loudly cough, knowing Meteora was in the next room over.

'Careful. Careful.' He thought, calming himself. 'Don't get ahead of yourself. The girl might have magic, but it's either going to take a lot of convincing or one hell of a trick to get her to attack the prison. And even then, she would have to blow it open in one shot. Someone like that would take so much magic that she might die from the effort. Although I suppose that would still be a win. Seth escapes, and I won't have to kill the little freak myself.'

He took one last glance at the bathroom and grinned widely, a single thought echoing throughout his mind.

Ery's bathroom...a few minutes earlier…

Speed-walking to the bathroom, Meteora threw its door open and closed it behind her, taking care not to slam it. Finally alone, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. It was a fairly typical bathroom. There was a toilet, a sink, and a mirror stacked to the wall. It was fairly clean, considering their location. But it was still rather archaic. The toilet was akin to one might see at a roadside porta-potty, while the sink was some kind of hand-pump thing that Meteora failed to recognize.

She didn't care however. It's not like she had really come in here to use the bathroom anyways. She just needed a moment to think. Think about her next move, somewhere where Ery couldn't see her.

She gripped the side of the sink and took a moment to examine herself in the mirror. It had actually been quite a while since she last saw herself. All the windows and mirrors in Echo creek were shattered to pieces, so it's not like they had gotten a chance there. Almost every other reflective surface they found in the wastes was equally destroyed. Except for one of course. That one...but it had so long ago that Meteora almost couldn't remember it. And she realized that she had changed quite a bit. She could see the damage her ear had sustained now, the pointy part missing and replaced by a simple layer of skin, just like Jenkins told her it would. It didn't look the same. It made her feel hollow.

As for her hair, it was an uncombed, raggy mess. It was full of dandruff and other things that didn't require identification, likely just dust or dirt particles that had gotten stuck in there back out in the wastes. She didn't mind it really though. After only being bathed maybe once or twice in the last decade in the half, her, Jenkins, and Mariposa had all gotten used to the "too long without a shower smell." They were numb to it now. And so was everyone else really. Nobody pointed it out, and nobody cared. It was basically an unspoken rule of the apocalypse.

But her face…

It was hardly the same. The last time she had seen that face, it had been so much different. It was much more innocent and also one that occasionally wished to be a lone-wolf, too see if she could survive by herself. But now it wasn't like that at all. It was the exact opposite. Now she was determined, followed orders, and knew that she was nothing without anyone else backing her up. She needed the people who had brought her to this point. It had just taken her too long to see it.

'I really have changed.' She thought. 'But when did this start? Back at the cliff when I got my butterfly form? In the Underworld when I blew up the tank? When Janna attacked us back at her base? Or even farther back, when Jenkins told us about how the world ended, right after I had killed that lizard. And it hasn't even been that long since then…'

The second this thought finished echoing throughout her mind, the person she saw in the mirror almost seemed to melt away. Meteora almost gasped in shock as she saw herself literally fade out of existence, her colors dulling to a prosaic grey and the features on her face becoming blank and unmoving. For a second she half-expected someone to come bursting through the mirror, but it didn't happen. It kept shifting, and eventually it formed into something solid and recognizable.

Herself.

Meteora tilted her head, momentarily confused as to why her reflection had vanished only to reappear a few seconds later for no apparent reason. But as she leaned in and took a closer look, the differences began to present themselves. The person in the mirror looked almost exactly like her...but there were a few things off it. Both her ears were pointy again, the set of clothes she was wearing was much too big, and she looked so much…much…

Younger.

The word rang in Meteora's mind as she finally realized that she was staring at none other than a younger version of herself. The same one she had seen the last time she looked in a mirror. Yes. There was no doubt about it now. Now that it was once again presented to her, she didn't even have time to comprehend why she was seeing this before all the memories of that event came flying back at her.

And it was quite an event. How long ago had it been? Seven years? Eight years? Maybe even nine? The three of them had found an old delipidated bathroom in the middle of nowhere, seemingly for hikers to use. A wreak sure, but mostly untouched by the bombs. They had gone inside, Meteora and her sister in awe at all the things that were still intact, while Jenkins warned them to not touch anything due to the ungodly amount of filth and disease that had accumulated over the years.

Then they found the mirror.

Or, at least, what was left of it.

It was in a sorry state, with cracks visible all across the surface, making it look like someone had taken a hammer to it. Not to mention the fact that there wasn't much left of the portion that still remained on the broken, burned wall it was attached to. But there was enough left hanging there that they could see themselves clearly. Mariposa was the first to notice, freezing in place as she saw herself for the first time in perhaps her whole life. She held her breath as someone she didn't recognize looked back at her, and took a moment to realize that it was herself. She reached her hand out towards the object before quickly pulling it back, almost like touching it would give her an electric shock.

Jenkins had been the second to notice, walking over and explaining what the object was after seeing Mariposa's slightly terrified expression. She had calmed down after that, and tried to convince Jenkins to take a piece of the mirror with her. He said no of course, fully aware that if he let her she would spend every free second she had staring into it. And probably cut herself in the process.

Then Meteora came over and took a glance. Her reaction was similar to her sisters, confused/terrified while also frozen in place. But unlike Mariposa, she actually moved her hand forward and touched its surface. She could still remember how it felt. Cold, slick, and dirty. One of the oddest sensations she had felt up to that point. Jenkins told her that he was going back outside with Mari, but she didn't even respond. She kept staring, fascinated with her own reflection.

It was so different. She finally realized just how different she looked from her father and sister, and finally understood what Jenkins meant when he said that she was a different species from them.

It made her get a cold, sick feeling in her stomach, and she couldn't bear it for even a second.

So once Jenkins had left, she reared her hand back and smashed her fist into the mirror, shattering it instantly and causing tiny pieces of glass to pierce her knuckles and fall to the floor. Jenkins had come rushing back in no less than three seconds later, ready to defend Meteora from an unseen enemy. But the only thing he found was her standing there, pulling mirror shards out of her hands and staring blankly at the blood that seeped out of the wounds they made.

"Why did you do that?" He asked, wiping his hand across his scalp and breathing a sigh of relief that they weren't under attack.

Meteora looked at him, her eyes full of long-lost innocence. The words she was about to say would haunt Jenkins for weeks afterwards, and Meteora would come to remember it as one of her worst mishaps.

"I don't like how that person looked." She said.

She could easily recall Jenkin's panicked expression. The little girl he had spent a good chunk of his life raising had gotten the first real look at herself, and she hated it. The idea terrified him, and he knew he had to do everything he could to make sure that she didn't try and...change it later on without her knowing what she was doing.

"Why?" He asked her, taking a step forward and putting his hand on her shoulder. "What didn't you like?"

Meteora paused. "They didn't look like you." She squeaked. "Or Mari. They looked...wrong. All wrong." Her eyes darted to the floor as she wrapped her arms around herself, clearly upset. "Bad. Bad like those monsters you protect us from and that we have too-"

"Meteora." He said, kneeling down and grabbing both her shoulders. They were now at the same eye level. "Those monsters...they're not bad. They only make bad choices. There is nothing wrong with the way they look. That didn't cause them to become bad like that."

He then took a deep breath, and Meteora thought he was struggling not to cry.

"And there is… absolutely nothing wrong with the way you look either." He said, his voice full of more emotion than she had seen him put out in years. "You're more unique than anyone else on this planet. So don't ever say that you hate your natural appearance. Because it is so, so important. It makes you one of a kind."

"But what if I don't want to be like that?" She asked, her shoulders scrunching up. "What if I want to be like you guys…"

Jenkins winced. "Do you…?" He asked, afraid to say the wrong thing.

Meteora buried her face in her hands. "I don't know. I...just want to be normal. Is this why? Is this why all those people we've met have called me a freak when they saw me? Even some of the bad monsters did. Am...am I a freak? Is that what I just saw in that mirror?"

Little Meteora was on the verge of tears, and Jenkins started shaking as he began losing control of the situation. He hadn't prepared for this at all. Which was ironic. He had prepared them for so much out here. For almost every situation he could think of. They knew how to survive. They knew how to scrounge for food and water. They knew how to hide, to sneak into places, and most importantly, how to kill. He had prepared them for it all.

But even after all that, one thing had slipped his mind, one little thing that he couldn't remember.

They were still just children.

And he had only taken care of them the best way he could.

And the best way he could meant that there was usually no time to know what they looked like. Every window and mirror they found was shattered. Other reflective surfaces were nigh-impossible to come by. And the water they had access to was a crappy mirror. It wouldn't really be what they looked like. It would just show them all distorted and...wrong.

But apparently Meteora thought she was wrong anyways.

"No." He said sternly. "You're not a freak. You're not a monster either. What did I tell you, that time you asked me what you were?"

Meteora snuffed and wiped her eyes before answering. "You told me that I was something different. Something special that was a gift to the world for even having existed in the first place."

Jenkins nodded his head. "And why did I tell you that? What did I just say?"

Meteora struggled to remember, even if it was just a second ago. "Because-because you also said that I was one of a kind."

"Yes. Yes!" Jenkins exclaimed, shaking her slightly. "Because you are one of a kind. More important than you can imagine."

"More important than Mari?"

"Most definitely, although you shouldn't undermine your sister like that."

"Sorry." She said, a smile now back on her face. "More-more important than you?"

Jenkins paused and bit his lip. "...Yes." He said after a moment of hesitation. "Yes, more important than me. And that is because...you could help unite the world. What remains of its people. A perfect example of unity between species."

Meteora giggled. "What's "unity" mean?" She asked.

Jenkins almost chuckled in response. So powerful. So deadly. Yet still so young. "It's you." He said, putting his hand on her hair and ruffling it gently, almost like a real parent would. "You're unity. Whenever someone asks you the meaning of the word, you just point at yourself."

"Really?" Meteora asked enthusiastically. "Then when we go back outside, I'm going to do that to Mari! I'm going to ask her if she knows what unity means, and then I'm going to do what you said!"

"And that...is a perfect start." Jenkins said.

Meteora nodded, and then leaned in and hugged him without warning.

"Thanks dad." She said, making Jenkins heart skip a beat out of shock. "I'll make sure to always appreciate the person I saw in that mirror from now on."

Jenkins paused and then hugged her back gently. "Good." He breathed. "Don't ever forget that. Because…because…"

"Because…?" Meteora asked expectantly.

"Nothing." Jenkins said, shuddering. "Just don't forget it. Don't...ever...forget it Meteora."

"Alright." Meteora said, unaware of the seriousness in his voice. She kept him in the hug for a few more seconds before grinning widely. "Hey...can you carry me back outside? My legs are kind of tired."

"Of course." Jenkins said, lifting her off the ground and into his arms. "Then we can fix your hand up, and you can do the "unity" thing on your sister."

"Can't wait." Meteora said, and Jenkins walked out of the building, Meteora happily slung slightly over his shoulders.

Dad.

That word would mean more than any other word she had said to him. And years later, it still did.

And the thing he hated doing most that day was telling her later on to not call him it again, because if she did, he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to correct her on who her true parents were.


"Meteora! Meteora! Where the hell are you?!"

"That's not going to work Jenkins. If she could hear us, don't you think she would have responded by now?"

"If she's not here, then where is she?!"

"..."

"Right. Sorry. Didn't mean to yell at you like that. It's just...Meteora's vanished, while she was in this stupid forest, which is the same forest that contains the portal to the Underworld at war, all while Janna is still trying to kill us. So please forgive me if I'm a little worried for her."

"I haven't forgotten about any of that stuff, trust me."

"Well, I wanna make sure that Meteora hasn't."

It had been too long.

Five hours to be exact. Five hours since that flash of golden light. Five hours since they left what remained of the Avarius residence. And five hours since Meteora had gone missing without a trace.

And while Mariposa was confident that she was fine, Jenkins on the other hand was freaking out.

"I seriously doubt she would have forgotten about something as important as that." Mariposa said, getting closer and closer to facepalming.

"Are you sure?" Jenkins asked, totally unconvinced. "With what just went down at that house, you really don't think that that portal might have slipped her mind? It almost slipped my mind. There's so much to remember, and so much to that I've already forgotten."

Mariposa frowned. While she thought Jenkins was being slightly hysterical, she had to admit that he made a good point. Five hours was an awfully long time in a place like this, especially if you were spending it by yourself.

'But she's not by herself.' She thought. 'She has that Voice. I'm pretty sure that whatever that thing just told her to run off somewhere to practice a new spell. Meteora told me that's basically all they do. Practice spells. Improve her magic. All that.'

Mariposa's personal opinion on this "Voice" was complicated, to say the least. Unsurprisingly, she didn't trust it. She had a hard time trusting people until she met them in person. Which obviously wasn't happening anytime soon with something that wasn't even tangible. And also might actually be impossible to communicate with. Jenkins had mentioned to her at some point that she would hate talking to people on the internet.

Whatever that meant…

But on the other hand, she couldn't ignore all the good it had done for them. First and foremost, it had taught Meteora magic, which had helped them with the battle at the Lucitors castle, (even if she hadn't been there to witness the end of it) escaping from Janna and her priest convoy, and finally killing those demons like child's play. Without the Voice, Meteora would have never learned magic and they would have almost certainly died in each of those scenarios.

And it had given them their final destinations and goal, courtesy of Meteora talking to her mother and learning their whereabouts. That was maybe the most useful thing of all. After all these years, they would finally be reunited. All of them except…

except…of course...

...her parents.

Mariposa clenched her fist as she remembered what Meteora had said back in the truck, about how her parents, Rafael and Angie, were still missing. And Mariposa knew that they were probably dead. Nobody survived in the wastes for long without the proper experience. And something told Mariposa that that was something her parents were lacking in.

So it was possible that they were gone for good. Just like all her hopes and dreams. The face she made when she first heard the news could be best compared to Katrina's when she told her about how the world above was in no real condition to be reinhabited on a greater scale.

So she made sure to turn away from them as soon as the words had left her sisters mouth. She didn't want them to see her make a face like that. It would have made them worry too much about her. And with Meteora and the Underworld war to take care of, Mari knew that they had enough things to worry about. She couldn't be helped at a time like this.

So she shoved it all deep down as far as she could and forgot about it. But it forced its way to the surface occasionally.

And it hurt everytime.

"Are you okay?" A sudden voice from behind her said, filled to the brim with concern. The tone was so strong that it snapped Mariposa out of her thoughts instantly and caused her to instinctively glance to her left, where Jenkins was standing there, looking at her like she had been shot.

"Yeah." She said unconvincingly, wondering why he was so worried. "I'm fine. Why? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, but you're crying." Jenkins said. "You are standing, and then you started tearing up for no reason."

Mariposa stared at him in confusion for a few seconds, before realizing that something was blurring her vision. She rubbed her eyes and found that Jenkins was right. She had been crying, and judging by the numerous small stains in the dirt believe her, it had been going on for quite awhile.

'Where the hell did that come from…' She thought. 'Did thinking about my parents like that really make me start doing that without even noticing? Is it affecting me that much inside?'

"Well?" Jenkins asked, sounding rather impatient now. "Are you okay, or is there something you want to talk about?"

"Huh? Oh, um…I have no idea what that was about." Mariposa said, fully aware knowing that her thoughts were something that could wait for later. "I think something got in my eye."

"Both of them?"

"Yeeesssss…?" Mariposa claimed, sounding like she was entirely unsure of the answer. She really needed to work on lying.

Jenkins, of course, instantly recognized that she wasn't telling the truth. And while he would have continued further in any normal situation, Meteora's disappearance took precedence. That and the fact that whatever made her weep like that was likely none of his business.

For now at least. Out here, everything became his business eventually.

"Alright fine." He said. "But now come help me look for Meteora again. I'm sure there's at least one or two spots that we missed. I'm heading over to the mayor's office to check there, and if you're not coming, then go back to the Avarius's. Don't want you to go missing as well."

"...I think I'll come with you." Mariposa said. There was no way she wanted to go back to that old creepy collapsable house already. And besides, considering the immortality that the Avarius's were cursed with, the odds were that they didn't have any food or water.

Speaking of which…

"Wait." She said, making Jenkins pause right before he took off. "Can we actually go back to the packs and get something to eat first? It's been a while, and I'm honestly starving."

Although Jenkins was reluctant to do so, the look in Mariposa's eye told him that she probably wouldn't take no for an answer. So it wouldn't end well no matter what way he tried to spin his reasoning behind it.

"Sure." He said. "But after that…"

"I get the idea. We'll find her." Mariposa groaned, and the two of them turned tail and walked back towards their mini-camp, just another random spot in the middle of the forest.


The flashback ended.

Meteora opened her eyes.

And now she was looking back at the second mirror, this one intact and still showing her younger, better self.

Her breathing grew faster.

Her throat went dry.

And then she finally started sobbing. She let it all out and fell to the floor for the third time, crying uncontrollably after her heartbreaking vision of a better time that had long since vanished. As each minor event came back to her, another tear left her eyes. The finding of the mirror. The way she hated how she looked. Jenkins going full parent-mode, grabbing her shoulders and calming her down as best he could. Her calling him "dad". And then later that day, when he requested that she never do it again. It made her sad. It almost made her cry. But she knew that he had to have a good reason for it.

So she never did it on purpose again.

And sometimes she regretted it. Sometimes she didn't. She had seen Jenkins in his full-on parent mode, taking care of them and comforting them to the best of his ability. Even though he had told them numerous times that he would make a terrible father if he had any children of his own, Meteora and Mari doubted that to the extreme. He could be a caring person. It was just that the world that surrounded them prevented him from doing so most of the time.

But most of those moments had been back then. Now that they had all grown older, Jenkins started doing it less and less as the two of them had matured and became typical teenagers. She remembered back at the Lucitor castle, when Jenkins had been forced to carry her unconscious body away from the two demons that threatened to kill them. She could still recall the irritation in her voice, telling Jenkins to put her down even though they were fleeing for their lives.

Maybe she just didn't want to be treated like a little kid anymore. Maybe she just didn't want to be reminded of her old, slightly-innocent self, the same little girl who had actually requested to be carried on numerous occasions, something that her fathe-that Jenkins had rarely said no to.

'He was different back then too.' She thought. 'He actually took care of us. Like really took care of us. Comforted us when we were scared of the dark like a bunch of children, helped us through any problems we had and never complained when we got something wrong, and refused to let us fight anybody, always telling us to stay back and to take care of each other in case he didn't make it.'

As this thought left Meteora's mind, she quickly curled into a ball, tightly wrapping her tail around her ankles while hugging her knees as close to her chest as she could. Tears still fell from eyes onto the floor below, although she didn't bother wiping them away. She didn't want to. Even if crying was a waste of water.

"But now he doesn't do that kind of stuff." She sobbed, unable to continue confining her feelings to mere thoughts. "He still takes care of us. Still protects us from danger. But he doesn't stop us from leaping in to help as much. He doesn't comfort us because there's hardly anything that scares us anymore. And...worst of all…he never acts like a real parent. He never hugs us anymore. He never does that hair ruffling thing he always did to us. And...he...he…"

Meteora couldn't go on. It was too hard. Even if she knew that him doing any of those things now would feel weird, she wondered if they could ever get that back. Although not it was a question of whether this was just in the moment, or if she had secretly wished for something like this all along.

"I just want my parents...or him to really act like one..." She whimpered. "I don't wanna have any more flashbacks, any more visions, any more..."

She stood up and looked at her younger self in the mirror.

"Any more of you!" She exclaimed. The childish reflection only responded by blinking at her, as if it didn't understand what she was saying.

"Why were you so lucky?!" She yelled at the thing. "Why did you get to enjoy all those moments, but still not know how important they were? Why didn't you know how much you would miss them later on?"

The reflection blinked again.

"RRRGH...say something." Meteora growled. "SAY SOMETHING!"

She reared her hand back and tightened it into a fist, preparing to shatter the figure before her into a million pieces, just like she did back then. She thrust her arm forward in rage, clenching her teeth so hard together that they almost cracked from the pressure.

But then she stopped. A single centimeter from the surface of the mirror, she stopped.

Because the thing before her finally had something to say.

"Look at you." It said, and she gasped instinctively, her arm freezing in place. And like it's appearance, the voice was one she hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Look at you." It repeated. "What are you doing?"

"I-I-I don't know...what you mean." Meteora answered, almost too shocked to speak as she let her arm fall back to her side. "What are you-"

"Why are you so full of anger and hatred?" The reflection asked. "Where did all this come from?"

Meteora didn't respond. She didn't know what to say. She had been begging for it to talk to her before, but now that it finally was, she wondered if this was what she wanted, or if it was what it wanted.

"What happened to you?" It asked, looking like it was ready to cry. The reflection raised it's hand to it's chest and clutched their shirt about where it's heart would be. "What happened to me?"

"..."

"Oh, look at this." The reflection sobbed. "Now you have nothing to say. But I'm going to keep asking. What happened to me Meteora? What happened to me me?"

"I...you…" Meteora stuttered, her voice stuck in her throat. She didn't even know what to say here, and for some reason, she was terrified. But reason fought its way to the surface. The odds were that this reflection wasn't even real. Nothing but an illusion or hallucination. 'Yes. That has to be it.' She thought desperately. 'I'm simply imagining or dreaming all this, nothing else.'

But what happened next sure felt real. Unfortunately, the reflection seemed to have read her mind, and in response it reached out of the mirror, grabbed her by the neck and yanked her forward, slamming her against its cold surface. Someone, it didn't break despite the insane force being thrown against it. Meteora tried to struggle and get out of it's grip, but whatever this thing was wasn't about to let her escape anytime soon. She felt like she was being choked by a person with skin made out of metal. It was nigh impossible to fight back.

But it's not like she could just surrender to this thing. She wasn't about to give in to this younger and fake version of herself. Even if it felt like it could snap her neck at any time it pleased.

"Let me go!" She tried to yell, although it came out as nothing more than a whimper. The reflection responded by tightening its grip, and Meteora could feel her windpipe getting dangerously close to being crushed entirely. She had to say the right thing next, or it might be the end of her. "Look." She said. "I don't know what I did to you. Whatever it is, I'm sorry and-"

"You turned me into you!" The reflection screeched. "You turned me into the person whose life I have in my hands! This...thing that I shouldn't have become!"

"What are you talking about? I was complaining about Jenkins a second ago! Why am I bad?" Meteora asked. "I-you-we have magic now! We can do so much more now than back then! We can save everyone! We have to save this planet, and everyone on it! Killing me will only stop that from ever happening! Don't you understand that?"

"What I understand is that if you continue on your current path, then there won't be a planet to save. You are unknowing veering towards your own downfall, and when that happens, and when it takes control, there's going to be nothing left."

"It?" Meteora said, wondering what his younger self was going on about. "Who is it?"

"You seriously don't know? You can't even figure it out yourself?!" The reflection screeched. "That's it. If you don't know who I'm talking about already, then you don't deserve to know! You just deserve to be put down like the ignorant, worthless piece of trash you are!"

The reflection's fingers clenched up, and Meteora quickly lost her much-needed ability to breath. As her face turned blue and her vision went dark, she used up all her strength to choke out, "You know, I already d-died once. If you w-were going to kill me anyways, you should let have me stay dead back then!"

As she said this, her vision faded away entirely. Her chest felt like it was going to explode from her lungs gasping for air, and just like the first time, an odd dreamlike sensation quickly came over her, something she now knew to be death arriving to claim her soul. She shut her eyes and felt her head drop, quickly understanding the cruel truth that it was over for her. Again.

And a single pitiful thought rang through her mind, begging for help from people who were clueless of the peril she was in.

'Can't...failed…them…Jen...Mari...mom…...help…...m-'

Before she could finish this however, colors and spots danced in front of her newly-regained vision, and she gasped out as sweet oxygen found its way past her throat and put life back in her body. She started breathing so fast that it almost sounded like someone hyperventilating, and then she felt the fingers around her neck let go of her.

She groaned and fell to the floor, confused as to why the reflection had spared her just as much she was grateful to still be alive. She almost couldn't believe her accursed luck. Something told her that if she had died again, then whatever Ery had used to bring her back the first time wouldn't work again.

"Get up." A faint voice called out, which she recognized instantly. "Get up now."

"Give...me...a minute." Meteora begged, wheezing and kneeling on all fours.

"Fine. One minute." The reflection said. "But after that, I'm grabbing you again and forcing you up myself."

Meteora didn't complain. One minute was all she needed. She threw her back up and kneeled on the cold floor, rubbing her neck and feeling the hand prints that the reflection had left on it. It hurt just to touch them. She hoped that her vocal cords hadn't been permanently damaged from all that choking. A disfigured voice was the last thing she needed right now, and then she would have to explain it to Ery, who likely wouldn't elieve that the mirror had attacked her.

"One minute is up." The reflection said. "Now-"

"Yeah yeah…" Meteora moaned, knowing that she had to get up or else the reflection would probably try to kill her again. She used the sink as leverage and got to her feet, struggling all the way. Once she had finally made it up, she glared intensely at the reflection, now more angry for what it had done to her then scared.

"What...did you do that for?" She asked, refusing to back down any longer.

"Do you mean almost killing you or sparing you?"

"B-both."

It glowered at her briefly and then spoke, it's voice as cold as ice. "I only spared you because what you said was true. If I wanted you to die, I should have just let it happen back then. Killing you again wouldn't serve any purpose. And maybe a small part of believe that I was acting rashly."

"You think?" Meteora growled. "That all happened way too fast. You went from sad to angry in a second, and then-"

"I don't care. Now, as for nearly killing you, I did it because I was angry." The reflection said, stating the obvious. "For what you said. For what you did. For what you're going to do."

"Then what am I going to do?"

"You're going to join the wrong side." The reflection replied, narrowing its eyes at her. "You're going to give in to power. And you're going to hurt the people around you."

"What? I would never hurt Mari or Jenkins!" Meteora claimed. "What makes you think-"

"Shut up and listen or I'll choke the life out of you again!" The reflection hissed, and Meteora instantly shut her mouth. She still didn't understand why this thing had almost killed her, and she was starting to feel that it was never going to give her a clear answer.

"Now, this is what I'm going to tell you." It said. "Remember it. Soon enough you'll have to make a choice. Whether to give in to the strength within you that lies dormant or to go back to what you lost just a day ago. If you don't make the right choice, then the future you wished for in this timeline will never come to pass."

This only confused Meteora further. Was this thing talking about her wish to make sure Seth didn't escape the prison? Therefore making this world better than her own?

"Why-" She started, before being cut off.

"Goodbye." The reflection said, turning away from her and starting to walk away.

"Hey. Hey!" Meteora yelled. "Hold on. You're telling me that you came here, stared at me blankly for like a half hour, started crying and asking me questions, nearly killed me, gave me some cryptic warnings, and now you're just going to leave?!"

"Yes." The reflection. "And it is not your place to ask me why I do things the way I do. It is what I do to everyone."

Meteora's eyes widened. "You-you're not my reflection brought to life, are you?" She asked, making an assumption rather quickly. "Or some past version of myself. You're something else all together, right? You've just been f-faking it when you asked me what happened to us."

The reflection didn't say anything to this. It simply sighed, walked away, and vanished. The mirror faded to black and then faded back to normal, and once again she was looking at her plain, old self.

"...What the hell just happened?" She asked herself. "Who...why…" She groaned. It didn't matter. Well, it did, but not right now. She already had enough on her plate. The full buffet, just like she had mentioned to the Voice earlier.

So it was time to cut away a portion.

It was time for her to figure out what to do with Ery.

End chapter 33

A/N: So quite a bit happened. We got a look at a younger version of Meteora and parent-Jenkins, Ery is evil and scheming stuff for Seth, and Meteora's reflection just tried to murder her. Two deaths in one day. She really can't catch a break. Don't worry though. No more fake deaths for her. That ship has sailed away with this chapter.

Although I personally feel that the first half of this chapter is stronger than the second.

And the reflection thing is what she assumed, not a reflection, and not her in anyway. Something else entirely. I will likely come back to that thing, but not for a while. Some setting the stage for stuff in the future, if you will.

I will admit that that thing is a little psychotic and quick to the trigger. It's more of "break everything and ask questions later" kind of being. It's also a total hypocrite.

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