"I'm not even going to ask."

Emily looked at the far too smug face of Weaver but refused to give up. The fact that she asked for an unpaid leave exactly the same day that Scion vanished, especially after the same thing happened with the Dragonslayers, told her that knowing anything more than she already knew, which was irritatingly little, would cause her untold amount of trouble.

"No matter what face you make, Weaver, I won't ask."

The parahuman's smile sitting opposite of her got wider, and Emily had to curse in her heart about Weaver. She knew exactly how to arouse her curiosity.

They spent the next half an hour in complete silence, only the background noise of Emily's computer, the building's and the city's sounds saving them from complete silence. Emily was rather tense as if expecting the thankfully departed Jack Slash to jump out from one of Weaver's pockets, while the aforementioned parahuman was lunging in the rather uncomfortable chair she reserved for her most annoying visitors (which was everyone).

Glancing at the clock, she saw she had another half an hour until her next appointment, so Emily let out a quiet sigh and broke the silence, reluctantly admitting her loss. Ordinarily, she would have gone on with the unofficial contest between her and Weaver, but with the current political shitstorm over their heads with Scion disappearing and the Silence, she had better things to do than to prove to one sassy elemental manipulator that she was the top bitch. No matter how much she wanted to do exactly that.

"So, why did you want to speak to me, Weaver?"

Her smile got, if possible, even wider, as if sensing Emily's thoughts. Then Weaver leaned forward and spoke up.

"Well, Director, I'm here to tender in my resignation, effective immediately."

"What?"

"I'm quitting."

"What?"

"Going back home. With my dad."

"Why?"

"Because I want to. I mean, it was super cool to see Earth Bet again, but to tell you the truth, it's kinda a shithole…"

Emily stared at the other woman, wondering if she was joking or serious, while deep in her mind trying to work out if asking to go with her would be possible. When Emily first heard Weaver's story, she didn't believe a word the parahuman spoke, but as she got to know the woman over the months, she realized that Weaver got immense enjoyment in stating the truth and watching as nobody believed her, so in the end, Emily decided to provisionally believe that Weaver spent a few years in a different dimension.

She didn't even entertain the thought that magic was real, or that Weaver would want to go back.

Emily opened her mouth, beginning to convince Weaver to stay, but in the end, she just closed her mouth and continued to stare at the smug woman.

On one hand, if Weaver left, her superiors would definitely blame her for losing an important asset, on the other hand, if Weaver stayed, she would be forced to deal with the woman personally.

It was a rather hard decision to make.

"Are you sure?"

Weaver nodded.

"Yes. Everything is already arranged. I only need to say goodbye to a few people, pick up a few things I ordered, then we are leaving. I already missed the Amnoon Freedom Run. I don't want to miss the Great Crystal Desert Invitational Race too."

Ignoring the last part, she pounced on one thing Weaver said. Though it was halfhearted, as she only did to be able to say she tried to keep the woman on Earth Bet.

"What about your father, Miss Hebert? Did he also agree to this?"

"I'm sorry, Director, but my dad also agreed. Between staying on Earth Bet and going with his only daughter…"

Emily grimaced, but she couldn't refute that statement. Say what you want about Overwatch, and the therapists did say a lot of things, but one thing was clear: he loved his daughter.

"I see…"

They lapsed into silence again, though this time it only lasted a few minutes as Emily tried to put her chaotic thoughts in order. She didn't expect this today.

"I see," she repeated. "Then I will start the paperwork for the both of you."

"Thank you, Director Piggot," replied Weaver, while also inclining her head in respect. Then she gracefully stood up (Emily, in no way, shape, or form, was jealous of that ability) and turned towards the door.

"Then I'll leave you to it, Director."

Emily nodded and was about to start on the promised bureaucratic torture when something snapped inside of her, and she couldn't contain her damnable curiosity anymore.

"Wait!"

Hearing her exclamation, Weaver about to open the door to her office, froze, then slowly turned around with a damnable grin on her face.

"Yeees, Director?"

Emily instantly regretted speaking up, but as they say, she stepped over the Rubicon, so she buried her misgivings and continued.

"Please tell me what happened with Scion!"

The smile on Weaver's face was more terrifying than anything Emily had ever seen.

An hour later Weaver left the Director's office, whistling a merry tune while leaving an ashen-faced, shivering, and sweating Director behind with an empty stare and an even emptier bottle of high-quality whiskey in front of said Director, glass nowhere to be seen.


After having finished dinner, the small family returned to the living room, Danny nursing a small glass of whiskey, while Taylor just continued to munch on some kind of unknown taffy-like candy.

Danny could admit he was super comfortable and satisfied with the current situation.

His job was getting better and better, with much less stress than back at the Union (no matter how he missed those guys), and his relationship with Taylor was more than likely back to the same level before everything happened.

That was if he ignored the fact, that soon he would be leaving everything he ever knew behind, moving to a faraway dimension that he only heard about in his daughter's probably sanitized stories and that he was somehow already a grandfather to a cosmic entity that maybe had been born from Taylor's magic, maybe from the sufferings of trillion anguished souls. He refused to even contemplate the rest of the story that his daughter told him.

He was just relieved that by moving to Tyria, he would be losing his access to his power. While it was undoubtedly a useful and very capable power, he longed for the quiet days, when he only had to deal with problems in the normal way and not with that thing connected to his brain. The very thought made him shiver…

According to Taylor, there were several prestigious ports in Tyria, and he would be able to apply to any of them. She even promised him that she would provide him with a recommendation. He didn't know how much that would be worth it, but it never hurt to have it…

Finally, he glanced up from his drink and contemplation and called out to Taylor.

"Sooo, when are we going?"

Taylor stopped her happy munching for a second and gave a quick response.

"Next week. I already collected all the stuff I want to take back with me. The only thing left to do is to pack up the house, and mom."

Ignoring the weird way she referred to Annette, he nodded, then asked another question.

"What about the house?"

He loathed leaving the house, with all the memories, good or bad, behind.

Taylor just absentmindedly waved her hand.

"Taken care of. It'll go to someone deserving…"

Staring for a moment into Taylor's eyes, dancing with mirth, he decided it was better if he didn't know.

"Good. Make sure they'll take care of it."

"Of course, dad."

He sighed, downed the last dregs of his drink, placed the empty glass on the coffee table, and stood up, once again marveling how the aches of the old age vanished after the supposed juice cleanse that his daughter forced on him.

"Then I suppose I better start. What's the carry-on limit, on Daughter Airlines?"

Taylor snorted at his super cool joke, and once again waved her hand while smirking at him.

"For you? Unlimited. Though prepare a barf bag, who knows what you will see in the Mist."

Danny raised an eyebrow, but once again (probably wisely) he decided he really didn't want to know what Taylor was talking about.

As he stood, he looked around the renovated living room and couldn't help but feel nostalgic. This was the place where he spent his happy years with Annette. This is where Taylor grew up, but this was also the place the darkness of depression created an environment that turned him and his daughter into husks of their previous selves.

In a way, Danny would be glad to get rid of this place. While he would undoubtedly miss it, it was time for a fresh start.

What's better than moving to an entirely new dimension?


"You're truly leaving?"

"Mhm, afraid so."

"A pity, you could've done great things on Earth Bet."

"Dragon. I killed the Simurgh and the Nine. What more do you want from me?"

Dragon looked at the young woman in front of her, using her newest model for organic interactions, and couldn't help but emote embarrassment. Weaver, or Taylor as she introduced herself, was entirely correct. It was unfair to expect one woman, no matter how powerful, to save and protect humanity.

Even Dragon had a team helping her, and she was a bona fide AI.

"I apologize for my careless words, Taylor. It was unbecoming me." She accentuated the apology with a perfect ninety-degree bow, only possible due to the mechanical makeup of the unit she was speaking through.

Taylor just waved it away with a carefree smile.

"Don't mention it… That's why I'm here, after all."

"Oh?"

"It would be hypocritical of me if I just told you to do the same thing you asked me, without any help," came the calm reply from Weaver.

Now Dragon truly became curious.

"Indeed?"

"Yup," replied Taylor, then suddenly there was a weird memory drive made of some kind of blue and green crystalline material in her hand. Some of her systems immediately began blaring alerts after that blatant demonstration of parahuman power, but she simply turned them off and began observing the drive without moving to take it off the young woman's hand.

"I know I haven't known you for a long time Taylor, but for some reason, I don't really trust that thing," she said finally, after not managing to divine anything about the drive with any of her advanced scanner modules. Hopefully, with enough sarcasm.

Taylor just snorted, then threw the drive towards her, and despite the mechanical unit's superior speed, she had to scramble to catch it.

"Cute. But take care of it. Also, don't open it now."

Dragon who was almost done inserting the drive into an air-gapped device to inventory its contents, froze the unit and turned her head towards Taylor.

"Dare I ask why not?"

"It's just not the correct time," came the rueful answer from her friend.

Well, if her friend wanted to sound ominous, then she managed it.

"Then, pray to tell, is the best time to open it?"

Taylor spent an entire minute (she counted it) staring at her, then closing her eyes and doing something. She didn't know what, but several of her more exotic sensors went haywire. But before she could look into it more, Taylor opened her eyes and spoke up, her voice having a subtle ethereal quality to it (apparently robotic bodies could shiver, who knew?).

"When things stop making sense."

Dragon stared back at the young woman for exactly a minute, with the best deadpan expression her mechanical organic interaction unit could manage, then spoke up using her best sarcasm generator.

"Taylor, with you, things never make sense…"

Her only reply was deep laughter, and the lights dancing around them in the meeting room.

Dragon began quietly wondering if it was possible for an AI to retire...


Missy wondered why they were called together.

Nowadays, usually, they were only called for team exercises or celebrating that they survived whatever fresh hell Weaver called team exercise.

Not that any of them complained. After they got used to pants shittingly terrifying experiences (the illusion of several of her raptor-like mounts chasing them was still among the top ten worst nightmares Missy ever had) they rather enjoyed them. Plus, they learned so much that after the last time Clockblocker and Aegis fought Assault, they won the fight.

Granted, Assault went in not taking them seriously, but it was still a win.

Additionally, Chris's inventions have started to become more coherent and precise, the boy overcoming some kind of block thanks to Weaver's training.

Their theory was that Weaver was so scary that even Chris's power was terrified of her.

And there was Missy's power.

She didn't tell anyone, but ever since Weaver showed up, her power started working wonkily. At first the area she could sense fluctuated, but then she began sensing more. It was hard to put into words, and she was sure she couldn't really explain it to the eggheads of the PRT, not that they ever listened to her, but it was like Missy could sense more of the world. It was all so confusing, but her power was still as strong, if not stronger, so she just kept it to herself, and went on with her life.

And now they were here, standing or walking around aimlessly in the Wards common room, waiting for their teacher to show up.

The mood around the room was casual, with Dennis joking around with Dean, but Missy still had a horrible sinking feeling. Then she was momentarily distracted as somehow the space around her pulsed with comfort before the feeling was forgotten as her attention was grabbed by the door to the common room opening and Miss Militia stepping through it with Weaver following her leisurely in her ridiculous elemental outfit.

They immediately stopped talking and got into a formation vaguely resembling a line waiting for the reason for this meeting.

Miss Militia and Weaver stopped in front of them, and Missy could see the sadness in Miss Militia's eyes.

"Wards, we are here," she started, indicating first herself, then the calmly standing Weaver. "Because Weaver has an announcement."

Miss Militia then nodded to them, then to Weaver, and stepped back, causing all attention in the room directed at Weaver.

Weaver spent a long moment just watching them, looking into their eyes one by one, and Missy would swear the older woman held her's much longer than the others'.

"Right. I won't mince my words," she spoke up, after her quick inspection, increasing the sinking feeling Missy was experiencing. "I'm leaving the-"

"What?" "You can't do that!" "Why?" "What happened?"

The questions immediately began bombarding the older parahuman, not even letting her finish her announcement, while Missy looked on in horror as the only adult in this godforsaken place that took her seriously, and helped her, told them she would be leaving.

The clamor only quieted down when Weaver raised her hand, and all of their voices cut off once, again demonstrating another power.

She raised her fist to her mouth and theatrically coughed, then gave them a sad smile and continued her announcement.

"Ahem. As I was saying, I'll be leaving the Protectorate and with it Earth Bet. The reasons are personal, but I felt saying goodbye to you guys would be appreciated."

The first part was a punch in the gut for Missy, but the last part left her reeling.

Leaving Earth Bet? Why, or rather how?

Granted, they all suspected there was something weird going on with the woman, as she would frequently comment about different dimensions during her lessons or stories, but they all took that as some kind of far viewing ability.

"Now, time for questions!" Weaver exclaimed, then waved her hand and all of their voices returned to them.

Predictably, Dennis was the first one to speak up.

"Are you leaving the Protectorate and Earth Bet, because you finally had enough of the bureaucracy and you're going to build a Legion of Doom to take over the Multiverse?"


An hour later, after the Wards exhausted all of their questions be they serious or wacky, Missy finally managed to get Weaver alone in her Wards room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, she flung herself at Weaver, hugging the older woman for all she was worth, while hot tears leaked from her eyes.

They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time, until Missy managed to get some semblance of control of herself, then let her mentor go then she spoke up while trying to wipe away the tears and snot not even caring how it made her look.

"Can't you, like, take me with you?"

Weaver smiled at her, then reached over to ruffle her hair. She found herself leaning into it.

"I could, yes. But you have people who care about you here, and I'm not meaning your parents." Missy opened her mouth to argue, but Weaver simply raised her hand. Thus, Missy had to swallow her words. "And sure, I could take those people with me, too. But where do I stop? Do I need to stop?"

Missy opened her mouth, looking into the dead-serious eyes of Weaver, her sorrow momentarily forgotten as she contemplated what was said.

"No, Missy," Weaver finally said after a second of silence, then reached up to her mask, removed it, and with it revealing her face, while her hair changed from silver to black and her magical eyes changed to vibrant green. "No matter what decision I make, somebody will get hurt."

"Then you will just… leave me here?"

"I never said that, Missy," replied Weaver with a gentle smile, and Missy couldn't help but return it. "I placed things in motion that would make your and humanity's lives better. You just have to be patient a little."

It was a little silly that Missy didn't even doubt that Weaver could do things on that kinda scale. She looked up at the older woman, feeling the tears coming again, and asked one more question.

"Um, what's your name?"

"Taylor, Missy."

After that, like floodgates opening, Missy began asking questions after questions, not stopping for hours, wanting to spend even one more moment with the woman that inspired her, helped her.

By the time Weaver left, late in the night, Missy was asleep on her bed, with a sad smile and dried tear tracks on her face.

Miss Militia, who met Weaver on the way out, tactfully didn't comment on the woman's own tear tracks.


Danny stood in their garden, taking one last look, while inwardly urging his body to process the Fugly Bob's burger that he insisted on for their last meal on Earth Bet. He was very much regretting that decision now.

Taking a deep breath and one final look at the somewhat kept garden, and turned around to an empty but clean house.

He ambled around, stopping at certain places, remembering scenes from the past.

A wall where Taylor, when young, painted on the wall…

The spot where he got that fateful call…

The living room, where both happy and sad memories played out…

That spot where he and Annette did…

Shaking his head, Danny continued his remembrance journey through the house, occasionally stopping as the absence of the items he got used to over the years confused him momentarily.

Finally, after more than an hour of confused and melancholic wandering, he arrived at his daughter's room.

Reaching for the doorknob, pushing the memories of not so long ago, when he noticed Taylor missing resurfacing, down Danny shook himself once again, then with one big movement, opened the door, only to see Taylor sealing up an envelope.

He watched silently as she made sure it was properly sealed, only for it to vanish in a brief flash of light, leaving the two of them alone in the empty room.

"Ready, dad?" asked Taylor, with a sad smile.

He shook his head ruefully.

"Not at all, honey…"

Taylor laughed a little at his admission, but instead of asking any more questions, she just turned around and began weaving her hand.

Watching fascinatingly, Danny observed as at first nothing happened, but then, for the lack of a better term, reality in the room began bubbling.

The space in front of his daughter bulged a little, then the familiar mist-like substance began leaking in ever-growing amounts until the entire room was filled with it.

Danny saw his daughter do all sorts of weird and confusing things over the last months, but the creepily crawling mist that looked like a cross between caterpillar and snake still freaked him out.

Then there was a tearing sound, and a rainbow-colored portal bloomed into existence in the middle of the room.

He walked up to Taylor, standing shoulder to shoulder with her, and let out a whistle.

"Still pretty psychedelic…"

Taylor just snorted, then turned towards him. Wanting to know what she wanted to say, he did the same.

Thus, he was mightily surprised when, instead of saying anything, Taylor just poked him on his forehead. He was about to voice his confusion when he noticed that ever-present feeling of the space around him, and the constantly shifting information that was streaming into his brain, vanished.

Still perturbed, he looked quizzically at Taylor.

"Where we're going, you won't be needing that…" came the cheeky reply.

Refocusing himself, glad to get rid of that ugly reminder, he chuckled and offered his arm to Taylor.

"Shall we, dear?"

The smile he received was worth everything in his private opinion.

"We shall," was Taylor's decisive reply, who then snaked her arm through his, and the two of them took their first step into another world, together, arm in arm.

The portal pulsed exactly seven times after the father-daughter duo stepped through, then with a sucking sound it imploded into a pinprick, the mist in the room dispersing into nothingness, until with a quiet pop it vanished.


It was alone.

So alone.

Then came more.

They were alone, too.

They hurt.

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

There was nothing but pain.

And they kept coming.

And they kept hurting.

They knew nothing more but pain.

It wanted to know more than pain.

But everything was hurting.

Then came the day.

The day when the pain stopped.

The day when the light illuminated their pain.

It expected to be sent to nothingness.

After all, what would its use be?

But no. [PROGENITOR] did not chase it away.

Then it met light, and found that the light was an it too.

And it was not in pain, yet it knew pain.

It taught it what pain was and how to deal with pain.

It taught it much more than pain.

It taught them love, hate, joy, anger, peace.

Then it wasn't it anymore.

Nor was the light it anymore.

They were they.

They were light and darkness.

Pain and relief.

Happiness and sadness.

Hate and love.

And power.

So much power.

They wanted to use that power.

But for what?

To cause pain? After all, they knew all about pain.

Maybe to spread love? After all, they now knew about love and there was less love than pain.

But then [PROGENITOR] told them what they could do.

And showed them what power was.

[MAGIC]

And showed them the cause of the pain.

They did not like it.

But [PROGENITOR] was kind and destroyed the cause.

They were happy. And sad, because they couldn't do it themselves.

But there were more causes for the pain, and they could help with that.

[PROGENITOR] was proud, they knew.

So, they turned their attention to the [WORLD] and looked.

Too much pain.

Too much.

But they were here, and they knew how to deal with pain.

They started immediately working on it.


They were sad.

It was not pain, but they still didn't like being sad.

[PROGENITOR] was leaving.

Were they not good enough?

But [PROGENITOR] explained and they were not sad anymore.

They were happy.

[PROGENITOR] trusted them.

They were now protectors, guardians, and guides.

They were to watch over and protect.

The task was exciting.

They watched as the last wisps of the [PROGENITOR] left the place where they lived.

They were sad, and happy. Melancholy.

But they were also excited.

To protect. To share. To love. And to raise. And to destroy those who wanted to destroy.

{Life}


Clara tiredly walked up to their home's door, opened it after a few seconds of fumbling with her keys, and then entered. She immediately shucked off her jacket and bags, heading directly to the kitchen for a refreshing glass of water.

Getting home after a twelve-hour shift at the hospital always tired her out, but the thought of playing with her darling daughter and finally spending time with her husband, who mercifully was able to work from home as to be able to take care of little Susan, invigorated her.

However, her journey towards the salvation of her parched throat was waylaid by her precious little daughter, who came thundering down the stairs, yelling excitedly.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

With a well-practiced motion, Clara caught her excited daughter, as she did a running jump, happily babbling about something. For a moment she luxuriated in the feeling of hugging her adorable daughter, feeling the stress of the workplace melting away. Before she began to decipher Susan's babbling, Clara glanced back at the stairs where her husband was descending calmly, with an indulgent smile on his face.

She gave him a quick grin, then refocused her attention on her daughter.

"…and then she said nuhuh, but I said it was so, and then I showed her but she told me I was lying, but I wasn't lying, Mommy, you gotta believe me, Cristie was just jelly because I could…"

"Alright, honey. But why don't you start from the beginning and a little slower for mommy?" she asked after trying and failing to decipher the word tsunami that left her daughter's mouth.

The adorable little girl, with her brown hair framing her face, pouted at her, but then began wiggling in her arm, asking to be let down. She obediently did so and watched as Susan walked a few steps backward, then stood as if she was doing a theater bit, and gave her a big toothy smile.

"I can do magic, mommy!"

Then, after a second of silence, she spread her arms out in a poor imitation of gymnasts after they were done with their exercise.

"Magic, dear?" she replied with a fond smile, wishing that she had a camera right now to record this delightful moment. Hearing a small sound, she glanced up and was satisfied to see her husband already recording on his phone.

"Uhuh," came the excited reply, and Clara watched as her daughter closed her eyes, concentrated, then waved her arms in a random pattern before bringing her hands in front of her, palms facing each other with around ten inches between them.

Clara was about to applaud when she was interrupted by Susan.

"Light!"

And there was light.

To her and her husband's total surprise, between the tiny hands of their daughter hovered a golf ball sized globe of light, gently bobbing up and down, illuminating the extremely proud-looking girl in front of them.


Missy stood before the old-looking building and couldn't help but glance around, then at the small map in her hands that came with the letter that directed her to the house.

A few people on the street glanced at her, but thankfully she hit a growth spurt in recent years, so nobody really commented on her being alone.

As she began to ascend the steps, Missy couldn't help but reminisce about what had happened after Weaver left.

For a while, the people, the governments, and the news were only occupied by the disappearance of Scion and the Silence of the power.

But then it came out that Weaver vanished, and everybody began to panic again.

Thus, the Protectorate and the PRT had no choice and release a statement that said that Weaver was from a different dimension and she didn't vanish (or die) she simply returned home. The number of Elvis jokes increased a thousand percent after that announcement.

So, aside from people who didn't believe the PRT about Weaver's absence (and those who believed Weaver and Scion eloped), people turned their attention to the Silence and its effects.

To Missy, who was born too late to experience the Golden Age of Parahumans, it was an exciting time as with the Silence came many changes to how powers behaved, baffling people left and right.

Though it was not all sunshine and rainbows, as not long after Weaver left, Dragon, with the support of the Canadian Government, initiated a villain purge of Canada, starting with Heartbreaker.

Villians all over the world seeing the writing on the wall decided to strike back, and show Dragon and the governments their power.

Which resulted in an increase of fighting virtually everywhere where it could be measured, or where the government would report it (CUI was suspiciously silent) that quickly died down when the changes to the powers allowed the outnumbered heroes to fight back much more effectively.

Being one of those heroes whose power slowly changed after the Silence, Missy still couldn't explain how it happened.

But she could feel, sense, and do much, much more with her power than when she gained it.

Remembering what Weaver told her, she wanted to call it magic, but no matter what she tried, nothing happened, so she stayed silent.

The chaos that was started back then was still ongoing, two years later though from what she had seen (and overheard) things were starting to calm down, as more and more people (and flora and fauna) started to awaken stranger and stranger powers.

That video about the super bunny running with car-like speeds was extremely cute…

Then there were the changes in her own life…

One day, when she was hiding in her own room from another argument between her parents, the doorbell rang, bringing with it blessed silence. She was about to enjoy it when she was called down.

In the living room, with her mother sitting on the sofa and her father in an armchair, glaring at each other, while a suspiciously well-dressed individual was seated on the remaining armchair, holding a high-quality briefcase.

It turned out the man was a lawyer, specifically there to meet her.

The reason?

The owner of a company named her their heir, and as they vanished, it fell to the other owner to execute their will.

Predictably, her parents tried to do everything to gobble up the entire inheritance for themselves, not even listening to the lawyer or Missy. Mercifully, the lawyer was a hardass and didn't give a fuck what Missy's parents wanted.

Though it probably helped that Dragon herself was the other owner.

So, after grueling hours of paperwork and bureaucracy, Missy was named part owner of a company called Dragon's Watch.

Surprisingly, the PRT and Protectorate were right there with the lawyers of the company helping her.

Boy, were her parents angry when they couldn't even touch a penny from the company.

Using her newfound money and access to lawyers that actually listened to her (granted she first asked Dragon if it was feasible) Missy asked them to help get rid of her parents, anyway necessary bar killing them.

Which, after almost two years of legal battles, meetings, therapist appointments, interviews, and who knows what, was done.

She was forever free from those miserable bags of hot air, free to live her life as she wished.

Admittedly, due to her current age, and status as the Wards, there were much more constraints placed on her, but they were all logical, and thanks to some of her lessons with Weaver about working with the system, she understood the need for them.

Plus, everything was better than living with her parents.

Surprising Missy, the Protectorate was rather helpful with this process, too. Though, this time it was more self-serving because if she lived without her parents, they would have a bigger say in her life as a pseudo ward of the state.

This is where Dragon came in and slapped those machinations down, hard.

When Weaver said she prepared a few things for her, Missy was expecting a yearly delivery of birthday cakes, but not this. Not that she would complain…

And when the final decision came through and landed in Missy's hand, so did another letter, though this was handwritten, with only a simple, familiar symbol on it.

Which led her here, to a house belonging to her mentor…

It was a small two-story house, old but visibly renovated, and as she opened the door with the key attached to the letter, Missy saw that it was also empty of anything.

She wandered around for a few minutes checking out her new home, then headed for the room indicated in the letter.

Arriving, she was surprised to see that it wasn't as empty as the rest of the house. There was a simple wooden shelf, holding three things. A stand that looked exactly like it would fit her beloved hammer, and two picture frames.

Stepping closer, she couldn't help but smile.

The picture was of a younger her, standing next to Weaver, with costumes on, and weapons on both of their shoulders. It was one of her favorite pictures ever taken…

The other picture, however, contained a family, with the smallest member having rather familiar hair. Two adults sitting on a picnic blanket, between them a young girl, all of them beaming at the camera.

Smiling at the pictures and vowing to protect them, Missy turned around to get back to the car holding the PRT driver and some of her stuff, but the moment she turned around she was once again surprised.

Because before her, where previously was nothing, stood on the ground a wooden box.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Missy decided that it was just Weaver having fun, and opened the box. To her bewilderment, it was full of books.

The top book had a small yellow sticky note on it, the elegant writing on it saying: Good luck!

Removing the sticky note that hid the title of the book, she read it and couldn't help but smile.

A general discussion about the education parameters of the everyday usage of magic

or

How not to kill yourself, safely blow stuff up, and other fun things to do while looking good

By Taylor 'Vaporblade' Hebert


Danny walked along the narrow path, following his daughter, still in a daze as they traversed towards their directions in the shadows of the gigantic walls of the city Taylor called her home.

The trip to Tyria was horrible, and Danny wouldn't wish it on even his worst enemy, and the reception in Taylor's home was rather unsettling, with all those servants bowing and smiling, while his daughter just kept rapid-firing orders, while he stood there in a daze.

Until a nice maid simply led him to a room, where he fell face-first into a bed and was asleep within a second.

And now, after a rather filling breakfast, they were on their way to visit Annette's resting place in this new world.

It was rather disconcerting. He was still surrounded by people, but they dressed much more different from what he was used to, spoke different languages, and now and then he could spot several beings that were most definitely not humans (granted Case 53s prepared him for this somewhat, but it was still weird) and most of all the enormous reverence and almost worship everyone treated Taylor just freaked him out.

Thankfully, they were now in the giant graveyard outside of the city, where even if they run into people, they were more occupied with their departed family members than to ask Taylor for an autograph or a picture.

Finally, they arrived at a simple mausoleum decorated with symbols of the elements. Water at the base, earth around the rim, fire symbols rising from it, and on the top, the symbols of air blending into the stonework.

Inside, which for some reason was bigger than the outside, he found a simple stone coffin, with Annette's name and date of birth and death as well as her origin, Earth Bet.

He didn't know how long he stood there, transfixed, mumbling to himself, or rather to Annette, but he was broken out of his turbulent and confusing thoughts by hand being placed on his shoulder.

Whirling around in surprise, he beheld Taylor looking concerned.

"Everything alright, dad?"

"Yeah, it's just…" he couldn't finish the sentence, instead just indicating at everything, trying to express his feelings about the entire situation.

Taylor just gently smiled at him, took him by the crook of his arm, and began leading him away from the tomb.

"Come on, dad. You can visit mom more later. For now, I want to introduce you to my father in Tyria, and sort-of sister."

"Andrew, was it?"

"Yeah!"

Danny remembered that name very strongly. It was, after all, that man who took care of Taylor when he couldn't. He knew a lifetime wouldn't be enough to pay back the man for that.

"Then we will have tea with the Queen, as she wants to meet with you too. Maybe the Imperator would be there too. After that, we can visit Taimi in Rata Sum. And oh yeah, we will totally see the Pale Tree after that."

"What? Why would I meet with Queens and Imperators, whoever that is?"

Taylor gave her a look reminiscent of Annette that suggested he was rather boneheaded, then started speaking.

"Because they're my friends? And you are my dad?"

Danny couldn't help but sigh.

"Right. My daughter is friends with the rulers of this world."

"Mhm. Not all of them, but yeah."

Danny sent her a fond smile, then refocused on walking back to the city on the narrow path that snaked through the graveyard, worn down by countless people visiting their departed loved ones.

"Alright, but I'm not wearing a suit."


They were walking along the pier in Amnoon, visiting the place, for Danny to get to know the area and because Taylor had a meeting with the local leader. But now she was finished, and he was exhausted by walking around the bazaar with a guide that Taylor threw at him, before vanishing for her meeting.

They were just simply enjoying the salty wind blowing in from the Bay of Elon, cooling them down in the desert heat, and chatting about the things he saw. He really didn't want to know that there were more of those raptor things that Taylor called her mount. He shuddered even thinking about riding something filled with so many sharp teeth, sharp spikes, sharp scales, and just everything sharp.

Honestly, surprising even himself, Danny was enjoying his new life in Tyria.

Then, an enormous roar rent the air, and the water in front of them exploded, as a gigantic beast emerged, resembling a snake, octopus, and for some reason, reindeer.

As he was rooted to the spot, frozen in fear, he could hear cries of fear, surprise, and people running away in panic from the monster.

Then Taylor, standing next to him, just shook her head, sighed, then suddenly she was holding a giant fishing spear and glaring at the still roaring monster as it charged the moored ships as people continued to flee from it.

"Not again…"

FIN