A.n. before we start, I'd just like to apologize. I really couldn't resist. With everything going how it was, this was the perfect place to end , I've noticed that this story is being read by people not in Canada or the States! So a shoutout to all the readers in Mexico, U.K., Germany,France,Belgium, Austria, Venezuela, Sweden, Australia,Finland, Chile,Guatemala, Argentina,Philippines,Puerto Rico,Italy, Spain,Switzerland, Jamaica, Ireland, Netherlands,Brazil, And Denmark. You are all wonderful, as are my Us and fellow Canadian readers. Have a happy 2018 you guys!

Darkness

"We'll start immediately on her treatments. The heart can't reject a second time, can it?"

"Morton, why do they keep rejecting? Why am I in so much pain? Why won't the heart take?"

"Because you're not HUMAN, Raven."

Raven

"RAVEN!"

Her eyes opened and blind panic set in. She couldn't see anything. Reaching up to her eyes, Raven felt a stiff white bandage covering both eyes.

Voices around her were starting to become clearer.

"Is it really her, Daisy?"
That voice was so familiar.

"Hell yeah, they had her hanging by CHAINS."

"Why are her wings all metal?"

With a start, she recognized the voice. She began reaching out every which way.

"Peach? If you're a fucking clone this isn't funny." Her voice was rasping hard. Why wasn't her voice working?

"Can you kindly stop talking to yourself?" A rather harsh voice came from above her.

Her lips curled into a scowl.

"You."

"You should have known better," The voice snapped, "You snuck into this city. Do you have a death wish?"

"You of all people should know that answer, Morton. So what, he wants me at a hundred percent before he beats information out of me? ANSWER ME YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD."

A large hand gripped her shoulder. She could feel the claws digging into her arm.

"Hold your tongue or you may lose it. You're in no position now to be making demands, little blackbird."

"Don't call me that." She sat up and realized, for the first time, that she was on a hospital cot. She rolled off the cot and onto the ground. She hissed as her collarbone gave a nasty throb of pain. A stab of fear went through her and, for a moment, she couldn't breathe. What else had they broken? Where was Blue Tourmaline?

"Am I allowed to see my sisters? If I'm staying imprisoned, I should be allowed that, right?" She managed to rasp out.

"Yes. Bloodstone did mention something about that. Because you handed yourself over so willingly, he's going to allow you to see them."

"Is Mario going to-"

"That isn't Mario, little Blackbird. Hold still while I cut off the bandages."

A strong antiseptic smell hit her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose. As she shut her eyes tightly, she could hear him cutting away at the bandages.

"Open."

As Raven opened her good eye, she could see a very irritated Morton Sr.

"You know that you're to be executed, yes?" He was busy fixing a patch over her eye. The one they ruined.

Raven turned her head away from him, relishing the groan of irritation.

"Being quiet won't help, Blackbird."

Raven was silently observing the room. They had to be underground now, for there were no windows. And Morton usually had windows in his labs.

An ache went through her as she thought of her children. Junior, who she was uncertain of. Was he dead? She didn't know. Arya, who would grow up without a mother. She wondered if she would be as bitter about it as she herself was.

Why had Alexina not saved her? Had the entire thing simply been a ruse? Already, her other injuries were making themselves known. Her collarbone felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Her nose was broken, but that was nothing new.

"You've been allowed a half hour with your sisters before Bloodstone interrogates you. It is to make up for your...Unnecessary mutilation."

"Give me a new eye."

"Already done. Not the same color though."

"...Why would you do that already?"

"...Because I prefer my test subjects in one piece."

Without warning, she was roughly thrown over Morton's shoulder.

"FUCK." She swore as he jarred her fractured collarbone. For a moment, the world around her went black.

When she woke, they were passing by rows of cells. A foul stench was in the air, along with the smell of burning flesh.

He stopped at the last one.

"How sweet. He put you two in the same cell." Morton sneered."I have a present for you."

"A present?"

Raven flinched. Even after all these years, she'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Peach?"

"What did you do to her?" The air around them was becoming hot.

"Peach...mfine..Morton...put me down GENTLY."

Morton placed her down in the now open cell.

"Oh my god,her eye." Peach croaked out. She must be on the side I can't see out of,Raven reasoned.

"Peach, come over to my other side. Is that really you?"

Peach came into view. Peach's hair, normally long and beautiful, had been cut short. It was almost as short as Raven's. Her sapphire blue eyes were dull.

Tears slid from Raven's good eye.

"Is it really-?"

"Yes. Ask me any kind of question."

"What kind of tea do you drink after a date?"

"Earl grey."

"What was your very first pet and it's name?"

"Golden retriever named Bruno. And he kept chasing Toadsworth around and biting him."

Raven winced as she threw both arms around her older sister.

Then the floodgates opened, and Raven was sobbing.

"I fucked up. I fucked up so bad, Peach." She sobbed.

Another pair of arms held her from behind. Raven could only assume it was Daisy.

Peach stroked her hair gently, just like she had done when they were children.

"Shh Shh. It's alright. Everything will be alright, Rae." She soothed,"How did you mess up?"

"I couldn't protect anyone. Junior's probably dead...dad..Bowser...Oh gods I couldn't even protect Lina or Arya."

"Shh shh..Bowser is probably keeping them both safe. Who is Arya, Rae?"

"My daughter...I love her so much..I don't want her to grow up without a mom."

"Half hours up." A jasper soldier snapped from the door,"Move it, Commander Toadstool."

As she got to her feet, a new voice cut in.

"Yes. Move-a your ass."

Raven saw Peach flinch and looked over, her one eye narrowing.

Mario stood there, arms folded.

"You're not the real one." Raven spat.

Mario sneered.

"No shit." He snapped at her, "Move quicker."

Raven stood in the doorway.

"You've been hurting her. The Peach clone said so."

"Strong spirits must be broken. Hope must not remain."

Raven chuckled at that.

"You remind me of my ex from Sarasaland. Do you know what he did? He slept with my sister. With Daisy..I suppose that was one of your clones. Do you know what happened to him?"

The clone rolled his eyes.

"No. What?"

Raven closed her eyes. She sent a silent apology to Tyrion, to whom she'd sworn never to use this again. She had to remember how to do this.

And then, she remembered. It was like riding a bicycle. One never really forgot.

"This."

And with that, a torrent of flame spewed from her mouth, setting the clone on fire. She could feel her insides burning as though she'd drunk a large quantity of boiling hot coffee.

The clone began to shriek a high pitched scream as he moved backwards, perhaps to try and escape his death. The Jasper soldier jumped aside quickly.

"Commander Toadstool." The Jasper hissed.

Raven took a very deep breath, letting her fire go out. She could feel a migraine coming on.

"I'll go with you now. Sorry about that."

The Jasper grabbed her arm and began to walk her away from the cell.

Just before they left the dungeon, she caught a glimpse of the very first cell.

A skeleton was pinned to the wall with hooks and chains.

A skeleton wearing a red hat.

-
The second she was thrown into the throne room, her heart leapt into her throat.

Was that the crystal sword?

" Ah Ah Ah." A cold voice spoke,"Look with your eyes, not with your hands."

Raven flinched as a man stepped from behind the throne. The man was taller than any she had seen before by almost a foot. He was made of a dark blackish Red gem.

"King Bloodstone." Her voice was curt.

"Commander Toadstool."

A screen was floating in front of him. To her horror, she realized it was playing footage of her burning Mario.

"I was just watching your little escapade down below. All that anger. All that rage. It's almost a shame that you must die."

"I am not the one dying here. And we both know it."

Bloodstone's eyes gleamed. "Are you willing to bet on that?"

"You're damn fucking right I am."

-
Ariyana swore loudly as Morton began to stitch up her face. Her face was covered in blood now, a horrific injury covering her entire face.

"Shut up Ariyana," Morton snarled, "You're going to make me misstitch."

"I want him DEAD." Ariyana retorted. "He disfigured me!"

Morton rolled his eyes and continued to stitch. He could never understand how women could be so vain and obsessed by how they look.

"I'm going to kill him." Ariyana cut through his thoughts.

"Ariyana, will you calm the hell down?" Morton's voice softened only a fraction. "You look fine."

Ariyana looked up at Morton in silence.

"They killed my creations. Morton, they killed X-25. The others, I didn't care about so much. They were cowards. But I cared about X-25 more than anything."

"That's the one we coprojected, yes?" When Ariyana nodded, he hummed lightly.

"I liked that one. Like an obedient little puppy." Morton finished off the stitching, before beginning to wrap bandages around her face.

"Hold still, or I might accidentally cover your airholes."

Ariyana's breathing shallowed and her eyes were wide as saucers.

Morton rolled his eyes at this. He would have to find x-25 and give it a proper funeral for Ariyana's sake.

"What's the status of the Hyrule Bastards?" Ariyana inquired.

"As I understand, they fled. Or at the very least, they're no longer our problem."

"I want them found." Ariyana spoke, not to him, but to the crystal woman casually perched on a table nearby." Find them, Sapphire. Bring them to be so I can kill them."

Sapphire hopped off the table rather fluidly. She wore a tight fitting top and loose pants. Her hair was a lighter color blue and curled around her shoulders.

"On it, love." Sapphire saluted the both of them, before clasping her arms behind her back.

"Sapphire. Go for the Triforce of Courage." Morton instructed. "He doesn't have a proper weapon. He is vulnerable, and if we can get one part of the Triforce, we may be able to take the others down easier."

"Can do. Should I rough them up before I bring them in?"

"Break Ganondorf's arms. He disfigured me." Ariyana insisted. Blood was spotting the bandages now.

"I know. I dragged your happy ass back here. Morton, better give her some stronger painkillers, she's starting to forget things."

"Go on then." Morton shooed her away.

Sapphire leaped up to the open window in the crumbling fortress they were currently in. She posed with one leg dangling down.

"With pleasure."

And then she was gone.

The sand outside was painted with blood. Crater sized holes littered the area and pieces of horse and wood were everywhere. The smell of death and decay filled the air.

Pokey kicked aside a large piece of wood angrily.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" His voice was distorted, as if two voices were coming out instead of one.

"What happened, Pokester?" Sapphire taunted, twirling around him. "You lose something?"

Pokey turned sharply towards her. His jaw was clenched tightly and he was running his hands through his greasy hair.

"They fucking VANISHED." The voice was more whiny and petulant. Definitely more Pokey than anything.

"Bloodstone is going to be angry with you." Sapphire teased.

The switch was almost immediate. His back snapped up straight like an arrow. His limbs were bent at an odd angle.

"DO NOT MOCK ME." The voice was now distorted beyond belief. Sapphire winced at the voice. It almost made her miss the teen stalking towards her.

As he reached out, power crackling from his hands, Sapphire drove her knee between his legs.

Several Starman materialized out of nowhere, moving closer around the two. Sapphire felt as though they were trapping her in a circle with no chance of escape.

"Bad move, little Crystal Dancer." Pokey's voice was still distorted. No chance of the actual Pokey coming back anytime soon.

"Pokey." Sapphire looked a bit nervous now. "Calm down. I was joking earlier. Making light of know, how I usually do."

" Wrong name." He snarled.

Sapphire rubbed at her arm. That was what she thought. Pokey was a bit of a Wildcard to her.

On one had, he was normal if not a bit creepy and slimy. He could hold a semi decent conversation, and was quite the talker. This version of him however..the straightened spine made him taller by a few inches. His eyes had turned bright yellow and slitted. His mouth was twisted into a snarl.

As the Starman closed in, Sapphire stared Pokey down.

"Apologies. Can you let me pass? I need to find them too."

The teen stared him down and, for a moment, Sapphire felt nauseous. Like a hole was being drilled into her skull. Then, his eyes went blank and the Starman stepped aside almost immediately.

"Go on Crystal Dancer. Flee."

And Sapphire fled, never stopping to notice Pokey's rapid distorting face.