WE'RE BACK AND STRAIGHT INTO PAIN
So originally this was gonna be two chapters, but now its one. Which means...
"Trust Shattered Part 1: Impact" is next :)
All I can say is... buckle up this gonna get painful. Especially for CrossxShadow fans
Also! In case you're just following this story, I've started another one called "Commander, Meet the Cat" which details my first run in with Cody! That story will be posted on alternating Fridays with this one!
Why the numerous postings? Well, recently I made a (Shadow Hyder) and we hit a goal of 40$ a month so I'm posting every week now! All patrons ($1+) get to see content early! There's also cool goodies for the higher tiers! $20 (two slots left) get a personal flash fic from me every month!
With all THAT out of the way... ladies, gents, and eldritch beings, welcome back to Over the River and Through the Woods! 3
CW: Language, nightmare/gorey imagery, angsty premonition. Very angsty. Zed's an asshole
I wasn't... really sure what I should expect when I touched the thing.
A shock? Blackout? Blinding blaze of light?
Certainly not a resonating chime and the flicker of a deep indigo symbol above the sphere before silence reigned once more.
"That it?" Wrecker said, scratching his head. "Thought it'd be more..." He gestured vaguely. "Spectacular."
"You just wanted an explosion," Crosshair said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey! Explosions are cool," Wrecker defended, poking Crosshair with every word and earning himself a slapped hand.
"Do not jinx it," Hunter growled, clearly relieved nothing major happened.
I, for one, was confused. "That's... Nova's symbol, right?" I asked, glancing at Max.
He nodded. "Correct. Deity of knowledge, remember?"
"Why is their symbol here and not yours?"
"This is one of their sacred sites."
Surprise rippled through me, but before I could respond to the Ancient, the symbol fell and passed through my hand before streaks of white light raced up my arm.
"Shadow!" Hunter yelped, lunging for my hand to yank it away.
My arm, however, wouldn't budge no matter how hard the sergeant pulled.
Even when Wrecker tried to help him, my palm remained on the orb.
"Hey, guys! Not that this tug-o-war with my arm isn't appreciated, but you're yankin' a bit hard and pullin' my fur!" I protested before Wrecker could grab my torso and pull.
Hunter looked up at me. "But what about you?" he asked, brown eyes wide with worry as he gripped my arm tightly.
"It's not painful," I assured him as the tendrils of light arced over my chest and up my neck before spreading across my face towards my eyes. "I'm alright."
The commando didn't look too convinced, especially as the light grew stronger.
"Ack, though my eyes hurt." Closing them to spare myself a headache, the sharp snap of electricity combined with gasps and the smell of ozone forced them open again.
I could scarcely believe what I was seeing.
No.
Fuckin'.
Way.
"Shadow," Tech began, voice soft from amazement as all the Batchers' jaws dropped at the spectacle. "Are these...?"
I swallowed and nodded, glancing around the room. "These... these are from my stories."
All across the walls and overhead shimmered indigo auroras filled with scenes from my various works.
The Caroline from Fateful Tides.
Ace and Renegade's cabin from Secrets of the Night.
The Icy Hawk company's base from Master of Puppets.
Fort F.E.A.R. from the book of the same name.
Paw Print Island sewers from No Man Left Behind.
Aetheria from multiple tales.
And so many others, from planned novels and silly one-shots to rendered art and rushed sketches. All flickering through the auroras like some fantastical trailer for a movie.
Then it switched.
Characters.
Laughing. Crying. Yelling. Fighting. Exploring. Bonding.
Scarlett, Thatcher, Skipper, Ace, Renegade, Kent, Silver, Ray, Alex, Freddy, Finbar, Alphia, Horet, Angie, Valarie, and so many, many more. Phasing in and out like that old Disney prelude that came before DVDs.
I even swore that I could hear the distant echo of the Transformation soundtrack from Brother Bear as I looked around the room in speechless awe.
Creatures came next, like some preview for that Planet Earth documentary series.
Dragons. Kelusines. Shadolves. Equystines. Marinexs. Polar Prowlers. Tacrumels, Alphians, Rageryans, Ancients, Star Swimmers, Great Greys, Conductors, Depth Demons, and even more.
Oh my.
Then, finally, planets and other celestial bodies.
Ragerya. Omega V. Avon Prime. Rasta II. Feron. Aval. Nezfor. Naeco. Esidi. Iznar.
There.
The one I was looking for.
The reason we came all the way here, risking life and limb.
"Kelusia."
My voice sounded unnatural and beyond that of any mortal being as it echoed around the room.
The auroras shimmered before cascading to the floor, the plasma flowing like water around us before racing upwards to form a massive singular image above Max. Hazy at first, the blue-green marble of Kelusia soon came into focus.
"That's the planet we gotta go to?" Wrecker asked as Tech jogged over and began to record the scene. Hunter took steps away to get a better look at the planet as well.
"Aye," I said, watching Kelusia slowly rotate as clouds swirled across its surface.
"How do we get there?" Crosshair asked, eyeing the light across my skin with unease.
I frowned. "Hmm... lemme try something."
The sniper reached out. "Wait-"
"Kelusia coordinates."
The aurora display fizzled again, but this time the plasma blasted the boys back and formed a circle around me.
"Shadow!" Hunter yelled, trying to reach through the barrier only to get zapped.
"Hunter!" Concerned for the sergeant as he fell to his knees from the shock, I managed to jerk my hand free of the orb on instinct and tried to step out.
Light still rippling across my skin, I bounced off the plasma wall as markings blazed to life beneath my feet like some enchanted circular rune.
"Do something!" Hunter yelled to Max, staring at me worriedly.
"They'll be fine." He grinned at me. "Ready for the fun part?"
My ears flattened. "Fun part-?" My feet leaving the ground stopped me mid sentence. "Max?"
"You'll be fine!"
"I'm McFreakin' floatin' here!"
A toothy grin. "Don't panic!"
"This ain't Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! I'll beat your noodly ass!" I spat, jabbing a finger in his direction.
"Get her down!" Hunter yelled.
"I'm not doin' this," Max said.
Wrecker tried to break through and reach me, only to get zapped as well.
"Y'all stay back!" I yelled. "You'll get hurt!"
"What about you?!" Crosshair practically screamed at me. "Why do you always have to sacrifice yourself when you never let us do the same?!" His voice broke. "Why can't you let us in?!"
The pain in his words and all across his face hit me like a bolt to the chest, knocking the wind from my lungs. His breakdown when I'd taken the bolt for him flashed through my mind.
The pain.
The horror.
The... the blame.
He was going to blame himself again.
Because of me.
What have I done?!
"Cross-"
A crack of thunder and everything went black.
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
"Shadow!"
Their guide's name erupted from them all at once as Shadow jerked and passed out.
Drawing his knife, Hunter leveled it at the name Ancient and snarled, "What did you do to her?"
A look of mild annoyance greeted him. "Did you not just hear me? I said I'm not doing this. They will be fine."
"You call unconscious fine?" Crosshair all but screamed, eyes wild.
Even Hunter was amazed at the venom in his voice.
The sniper had gradually been losing his cool ever since the minecart separation, and Hunter could only imagine the repercussions that would arise from that.
"Do something," Crosshair swore. "Or I'll make you!"
Markings flickered across the Ancient's body. "Careful, Corporal," Max warned, eyes flashing. "You're already going to have an action to regret before the end of the day, don't add an angry Ancient on top of that."
An action to regret before the end of the day?
Chills spread through Hunter's body, raising the hair on the back of his neck.
What did he mean by that?
Trevor's warning echoed in his ears, churning his stomach.
"Never tell her she's a burden. Because I promise. It will come back to bite you."
"Break someone's heart, don't be surprised when they try to break your neck."
No... no it couldn't manifest so soon, could it?
It couldn't!
"Get. Her. Down," Crosshair snarled again, snapping his rifle into place before aiming at the Ancient.
Then again... Crosshair was definitely on the edge...
"I'm. Not. Doing. This," Max retorted, teeth baring slightly.
"Then do somethin'," Wrecker growled, looking ready to attack Max from the other side.
"Focus on your guide instead of me."
As Max said that, the light wreathing around Shadow disappeared and the Alphian slowly floated back to the ground.
Rushing forward to catch her in his arms, Wrecker curled around her the best he could with her in the larger form. "Squeak? Squeaky!"
"They'll be fine. They just need to rest," Max said, markings fading away as Crosshair turned away from him.
"If she's not, I will hunt you down," Crosshair swore over his shoulder, fury still ablaze in his eyes.
"They will wake up in a minute. You'll see for yourself. Oh, and sniper." Max's eyes glowed brighter. "Watch your words. They may be the death of you." A menacing pause. "Or worse."
With that, he was gone.
Kneeling next to Wrecker as the demolition cradled Shadow in his arms, Hunter brushed longer strands of mane from her forehead. Or... their? Max kept calling Shadow 'they'. He'd ask which Shadow preferred when she/they woke back up.
"She's breathin', right?" Crosshair said, standing by them with worry and anger written all over his face.
"Yeah. Heart's strong too," Hunter said, cupping Shadow's cheek.
Why hadn't they woken up yet?
Wrecker looked up at Hunter. "Why'd the Ancient call Squeaky they?"
"Maybe they're fluid, or trans, and prefer 'they' but don't mind 'she'. It just hasn't come up yet so they didn't mention it," Hunter said, eyes still on their face.
"Karabast," Tech grumbled. "Recording's corrupted."
"That's what you're worried about right now, Four Eyes?" Crosshair hissed.
"Shadow's vitals are steady, and if they have survived everything else so far I doubt this will be the thing to put them down."
"They're unconscious."
"If the deity of health was not concerned, then I am not either," Tech said simply.
That was a good point but...
C'mon, Shadow. You've survived worse than this. Wake up...
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Of all the places to wake up in...
I really wished it wasn't this place.
The Convergence. The middle layer of Aetheria and the place where the moral and astral plane met.
A land between the realms.
Water rippled high overhead, casting dancing light rays across the sandy ground here at the edge of the central island. More water lapped at my feet, the crystal clear lake extending out to the sheer, towering cliffs surrounding the entire area.
Looking up behind me, over the palms and pines beyond them in the center of the island, I could just make out the dark volcanic rock of the Reach as it stretched up from the realm of nightmares below my feet through the pond in the center of the island. Above that, the immense, skyscraper sized roots of the Sanctuary Oak spiraled down from the sky, water filled with the light of stars and nebulas cascading down but evaporating into mist before reaching the ground.
"Really know how to craft a magic settin', don't you?"
Jerking around into a fighting stance, tail bristling, my jaw dropped. "Zed?"
The Depth Demon towering above me laughed as the adder's head on their tail grinned. "Smart! 'Tis me!" they said with an unnatural and distorted echo, bowing dramatically as the horned canine skull serving as their face warped into a twisted grin. "It live up to the image in your head?"
"More or less," I said, uneasily eyeing the thick tar leaking from their empty eye sockets.
"Don't look at me like that, you designed me," Zedanack retorted, standing once again to their full height.
"Yeah but... hellfire," I said, taking a step back to truly appreciate the scale of this nine foot nightmare monster.
Tall and muscular, yet horribly malnourished with skin stretching tightly over muscle and bone with a mane of smoke, fire, ash, and shadow wrapping around its neck and shoulders. Black tendrils of pure darkness sprouted from his back, waving as if caught in some invisible wind, and long sharp claws blacker than the darkest night protruded from their thin fingers and toes. That curved sickle claw on their inner toe looked particularly sharp. Slits between their ribs glowed with the strength of a blacksmith's forge, the same fiery orange glow setting the eyes of the adder's head and mouth ablaze.
"Everythin' here?" they purred, spreading their arms with the horrible sound of bones and ligaments cracking as they slowly turned around.
My ears flattened as the reek of rotting flesh choked me. "Smell certainly is," I said, covering my nose.
"Well someone made me a literal nightmare manifestation, so excuse me for the stench."
"Am I gonna meet any of my characters who aren't chaotic neutral smartasses?" I groaned, rolling my eyes.
"Says the one who made us this way," Zedanack retorted.
"Cut to the chase, Zed. Why are you out here botherin' me?" I groaned, tail tip twitching.
"You tell me. Why do I usually show up?"
"You enjoy sowing chaos and terror?"
"Hmm. Close!"
My tail fell still. "Nightmares..."
"Ding ding, dear creator," Zedanack purred, red sparking in those empty eye sockets.
I took a step back, chills racing down my spine. "Zed... I will turn you into a damn poodle for a story if you dare try anythin'!"
"I won't be doing anythin', dearest creator." Red light filled their eyes, shining menacingly in the darkness. "But you will learn how it feels on the wrong side of a character development nightmare. It's time to see just how much you want to stay with these boys." A twisted smile. "Toodles!"
The ground disappearing from beneath my feet, I plunged down in a freefall descent to oppressive, silent darkness.
If only it stayed silent.
As I fell, distorted and fractured screams echoed around me.
"Why did you say that?!"
Hunter.
"Because I fucked up!"
Crosshair.
"Haven't you hurt her enough?!"
Wrecker.
"This is all your fault!"
Tech.
"How could you be so stupid?!"
Me.
Scenes.
Horrible, gut wrenching scenes.
Running through a forest, tears blurring the trees.
Screaming at Hunter.
Snapping at Wrecker.
Hissing at Tech.
Snarling at Crosshair.
Crying myself to sleep.
What... what could have fractured our relationship so horribly? What could have provoked those screams, so full of emotion and blame and agony?
A voice returned, cutting through the darkness, but the words...
No.
It couldn't be real.
It couldn't!
But there was no denying the owner of that raspy voice.
"Aw, what's wrong, sweetheart?"
"Did you really think I loved you?"
"You'll never be anything more than a means to an end."
"If you actually believed I cared about someone as useless and forgettable as you."
"Then you're even stupider than I thought."
Running again.
Terror.
Panic.
Horror.
Betrayal.
Pursuing footsteps.
Mocking laughter.
Cruel taunts.
Harsh insults.
Pain.
Red drops raining down from the sky.
Streaks flashing across the darkness, forming an all too familiar skull.
Burning.
Choking.
Agony.
Torture.
Screams.
Tears.
And still, above it all...
Betrayal.
I slammed into the ground and my eyes shot open.
Worriedly clustered around as Wrecker held me in his arms, the Batchers stared down at me. I looked wildly around, barely registering that I'd somehow changed back into Beta form while I was out.
Max was gone, as was the light. It was just us now.
"Shadow?" Hunter asked uneasily, brow furrowed and voice slightly shaky. "You alright?"
No. What the hell was that nightmare preview? Why was Crosshair so... mean? Why was there betrayal? Why was there blood? Why did y'alls symbol flash in the darkness as if it was slashed by a knife?
"I'm fine," was all I said.
All I could say with that premonition so close.
So fresh.
So painfully raw.
What did Crosshair do?
"You were thrashin'," Wrecker said, holding me closer. "See somethin'?"
How? How could I tell them? How could I share what horrors I'd seen during that abyssal freefall?
"Met another character of mine," I said, slowly sitting up with Wrecker's help.
"Good or...?"
"Chaotic neutral jackass," I muttered, mind still racing a million miles an hour.
What happened?
Or would this be another instance where I regretted asking that question?
Hunter nudged my shoulder. "Something's wrong. I know that look. You had another nightmare, didn't you? While you were out."
I held his gaze, tail twitching as I fought the urge to glance at Crosshair. I didn't know exactly what was coming, but I had a pretty good idea it had to do with the sniper.
That alone was enough to scare me.
What did you say?
"Nothing's happened," I told Hunter, shaking my head.
What harsh words slipped from you this time. Crosshair?
"Yet," he added, frowning. "You did have a nightmare."
"Squeak?" Wrecker asked, voice soft. "He right?"
I focused on my hands. "I... I don't want to talk about it," I admitted, barely reaching a whisper.
What horrors await me tonight...?
"We can help-"
"Zed has been a jackass before," I said with a firm shake of my head as I crawled out of Wrecker's lap. "It's... it's probably nothing."
I desperately hope it's nothing...
Shaking myself off and retrieving my pack, I found Crosshair blocking my path.
The sniper said nothing, holding my gaze. There was pain there. Disappointment. Frustration... Then, shaking his head, he slipped on his helmet and walked away.
Nausea gripped my stomach as I watched his back, that scream echoing in my ears.
"Because I fucked up!"
That voice was his, without a doubt.
But the words that followed...
"Did you really think I loved you?"
"You'll never be anything more than a means to an end."
It was him, I knew that raspy tone anywhere, and yet...
It couldn't be him. The malice... the contempt... the...
The hate...
Even before we'd grown friendly with each other, even before we respected each other, his words never carried such vindictive, spiteful venom.
Nightmare? Could be.
But I wasn't exactly known for going chill with those, and from Zed's words...
My stomach churned as my heart threatened to crawl up my throat, along with the rest of breakfast. I was honestly so glad I hadn't eaten lunch. Because if I had...
I felt sure it would be making a surprise reappearance.
"Go find a way out," Hunter ordered Wrecker and Tech, coming to my side. "I need to talk with Shadow alone."
I shook my head. "No, Sarge. We need to get out of here. We don't know how long it will take to get back to the shelter and I don't feel like tangoin' with tinnies in the dark."
He looked me over. "Ice-"
I walked past him, ears flat and head down. "Let's go."
I just hope I already had the nightmare Zed was talking about.
However...
Knowing my luck...
The worst was yet to come.
In case you were wondering about Crosshair's "it doesnt always have to be you" line... yes I've been rewatching She-Ra lately.
Also, hoped you liked the worldbuilding dump XD
Special Thanks to Patrons Jesse and Lil for their support! 3