Upon entering the rift, she was terribly surprised by what awaited her. She had expected to see the vast wall of the cave and the harsh glowing lines of the rift. Instead, she found herself in a field of sorts. A field with long green grass. The sky was a dark blue that bordered on purple, and the stars were out. There was a breeze of sorts that rippled the grass, and the clear wafting scent it brought with it smelt like it had only just stopped raining. Not too far in the distance, there was a small building, though it looked like no building Hermione had ever seen.
The brutal looking structure was made of dark grey concrete with strange twelve paned windows. On top of the building was a windmill that turned lazily with each gust of wind. There were bits of earth that had been precisely cut away by some unseen archeologist dotted around the perimeter. She could just barely see two figures in front of the building, one standing on the ground, the other floating high above them.
Puzzled, Hermione murmured, mostly to herself, "Where am I?"
"A memory," a high, sweet voice answered.
The young witch turned quickly to the left, where the owner of the voice fluttered happily midair. It was the girl in the red tunic with Dave's Aspect symbol on it. 'Aradia, her name is Aradia,' Hermione remembered quickly. Like Feferi, Aradia had far more hair than was useful. Unlike the Heiress, whose hair formed neat, voluminous ringlets, Aradia's was a bushy torrent of unruly curls from which a pair of powerful looking ram's horns jutted out. Her eyes were bright as she grinned widely, which made her look a bit mad.
"What do you mean, a memory?" Hermione asked, tearing her eyes away from the troll to take in the scenery.
"What you are seeing is a constructed reality made by the dreaming dead and given life by the Gods of the Furthest Ring. Normally they were limited - existing only within Paradox Space's specific purview. But these rifts have extended the dream bubbles, as we call them," the Maid of Time explained airily. "We've managed to confine them here for now, but it's terribly important that we close the rift soon... lest the memories of the dead overwhelm the reality of the living."
There were a thousand things she wanted to ask, but Hermione could think of no other question than the most obvious. "Whose memory is this?"
"Mine! This is my memory from the night I died for the first time," Aradia answered with ebullient frankness.
It was sadly not surprising that she had died more than once. She was a Time Player, after all. "Was... was this in the Game?" Hermione queried uncertainly. She'd seen some of the pictures Rose had peppered throughout the green book, pictures taken before, during, and after the Game. She knew that the game gave each player its own unique land, tailored specifically to their personal journey as players. But this place looked nothing like the pictures of those lands from the Game which were more fanciful and dreamlike. This place... This place looked more real-
"That was my hive on Alternia. This night happened a few sweeps before we even knew the Game existed at all," the troll replied, looking wistfully toward the two figures in the distance. "You can see me just there," she said, pointed at the small figure on the ground. "The one hovering in the air... he was my matesprit, or so I had hoped at the time."
"Matesprit?"
"Yes, someone I loved very much. Sollux... H-he was the one who killed me," Aradia stammered, sounding just a bit hollow as she said it. "It wasn't his fault, even though he blamed himself. He was mind-controlled into doing it by Vriska, who herself had been influenced by a malevolent puppet who served the Demon of Time, which set into a motion a terrible chain of revenge that nearly ended us. If it weren't for John and his Retcon powers, I suppose it would have. But none of that even matters, really. What does matter is that this is the first bubble we'll enter to hopefully close this rift."
And as she said all these things, something began to happen to the two figures though everything moved as if in slow motion. Hermione watched in horror as beams of light, one red and one blue, erupted from the figuring hovering in the air. The light slammed into the tiny figure on the ground, she and the building behind her were obliterated in an earth-shaking explosion. Hermione stumbled back, hand coming to her mouth as tears came unbidden and rolled down her cheek.
A hand touched her arm and she looked down into the now solemn face of Aradia Megido. "It's very sweet of you to cry for me, but ultimately unnecessary. I'm very much alive and have been for many sweeps. This moment had to happen in order for me to be here as I am now." As if sensing Hermione's questions, she continued, "The tale is long and convoluted, and sadly we haven't the time for it. But someday, perhaps, you'll learn of it. Though, please, when you read it, don't cry for me. As mortals, we think of death as such a sad thing, but from my experience that isn't the case at all. Someone wise once said that to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
"Who said that," Hermione whispered, reading something familiar in the syntax of the words.
Aradia's smile became beatific. "Albus Dumbledore."
"T-that's not funny. Albus Dumbledore is dead," she stated almost angrily, wanting to wipe that dreadful smile off the troll's face.
"Hmmm. Yes, he is," Aradia agreed, her smile never dimming. "But I've found that the dead have an awful lot to say if you're willing to listen. Your former Headmaster and I talked a great deal. He was one of the most interesting people I've met and quite funny too. We probably could have gone on forever if we'd been allowed to, but my time with him was cut short, which is why you're here."
"I don't understand."
"The dreams of the dead are infinitesimally connected to the memories of the living. Neither can be accessed unless there is a strong link between them. If we had never met John and his friends, we would never be able to walk through the dream bubbles of their dead and they could not visit ours. It is the same for those you've lost in your universe," she explained, watching idly as the scenery began to change slowly. "They walk through their own bubbles and though I've managed to touch them briefly, I haven't been able to spend enough time because there is no link, no connection from our dreams to yours that will allow me to bridge the distance."
"And that's why you need me," Hermione breathed, in a somewhat disappointed tone.
Aradia laughed, it was a light, bubbly sound. "Oh, I think you've misunderstood something," she sang, her wings flickering as she lifted up off the ground briefly in amusement. "If I was simply looking for a bridge, almost anyone in your world would do. But someone who has connections to the dead of this world isn't nearly good enough for what needs to be done. You see, while we are in the dream bubbles, we are also still inside the cave. There," she said, pointing into the distance, "is where the rift ought to be. But no matter how far we travel or what direction we go, we've come no closer. We can't even see it from here, though we should be able to."
She turned to Hermione then, motes of light floating gently from her fluttering wings. "All Seers in our universe, by their very nature, can see connections others cannot. This is why we need you, the Seer of Space. Only someone with your particular Class and Aspect will be able to find the correct path that will lead us to the rift. So, tell me, Miss Hermione Granger, what do you see?"
"I-" she began, gazing out at the landscape as if it might help her. They kept telling her she was a Seer, but even though she had acknowledged what she knew to be true, it didn't make her feel as if she had any special connection to the title. She was just Hermione Granger and perhaps there was a version of her who played the game, some different Hermione Granger who'd been built for this like they had. But she wasn't her. Aradia was still gazing at her expectantly.
With a deep sigh, she tried, however reluctantly, to see something, but there was nothing but this memory of a field long ago and the figures in the distance. The boy was holding the charred body of the girl in front of the still smoldering ruins of the building. He was weeping soundlessly. Far, far in the distance, she could see what looked like a city, a human city. It was on fire and there was what looked like an enormous meteor bearing down on it with terrifying slowness. She told Aradia all this and the Maid of Time frowned and shook her head.
"Instead of looking inward, you only see with your eyes," Aradia observed quietly.
"What else am I supposed to see with?!" Hermione snapped, feeling rather nettled "Am I supposed to see it with my heart, is that it?!"
"Don't be ridiculous. You're not a Heart Player. Your Aspect is Space," the Maid of Time replied coolly, with a roll of her eyes. Continuing on as if she hadn't been interrupted, "The reason I brought you to this memory was because of the sky that night. I remember the stars were so bright. There was something romantic about it... meeting someone I loved under starlight like that," she sighed dreamily, her eyes far away. "I want you to remember a night just like this. A night where the stars shined so brightly that it felt like you could almost touch them if you wanted."
At first, she didn't really feel anything, other than dull indignation. Her hand sought out the edge of the shawl; it felt warm and cold at the same time, thrumming under her fingertips as if calling her to action. Whatever power that was in the shawl sang, urging her to call it forward. Whatever she felt intellectually about her role didn't matter to Space. It knew her. It belonged to her as she belonged to it.
Sighing, she let her mind wander, thoughts flickering errantly about a thousand different subjects. And then for seemingly no reason at all, her mind cast itself away into memories of her third year. The year she'd met Dave and Roxy and had been given an inkling of what she had to do now. She remembered later that year and the night she spent in the Forbidden Forest. She remembered the long wait in the woods, her back to an enormous tree trunk that had at some point fallen and lay on the forest floor, quietly rotting.
The stars were bright enough that she could see them through the trees, silhouetted darkly against the night sky. Mars was out that night and it had been unusually bright. Time had ceased to matter in that moment as she looked up, eyes trained on the twinkling stars. For just a second or two, she felt so small and insignificant. As small and insignificant as she felt now in the face of this power that did and did not belong to her.
In remembering, she felt it, though she was hard pressed to describe what 'it' was. It was like she could feel lines converging around her; a thousand different paths were carefully picking their way across her consciousness, written in a trail of stars. Opening her eyes, she gasped. The Maid of Time's memory was now crisscrossed with several roads, glowing softly in the dark.
"Those weren't there before," Hermione said in a startled whisper.
"No, they weren't," Aradia confirmed, rather more cheerfully than necessary. "As a Seer of Space, you manifested these roads, each one leading to their own memory. Tell me, what memory did you use?"
"It was the night we rescued Harry's Godfather."
"Then this is the memory the dreaming dead need you to find," Aradia proclaimed with finality.
Hermione let out a little gasp, suddenly feeling panicked. "You're not coming?"
Aradia shook her head slowly. "I've been doing my duty by slowing the flow of time - constantly switching memories so that this dream bubble doesn't spread much beyond this cave. You saw the city, didn't you?" she asked, gesturing vaguely towards the burning city far, far in the distance.
"Well, yes," Hermione answered, thinking to herself that it was a bit hard NOT to notice. "That's someone else's memory, isn't it?"
"Yes. It's Dave's. His memory from when he first entered the game. Like me, he's making time stand as still as he can in his own way, holding it back the way his brother halted that meteor," she said, head tilting as the meteor in question was sliced neatly in twain by an unseen hand. "See, we all have important jobs to do. Dave and I are busy with ours. And it's your job to find the right path to the memory of the night you saved Harry's Godfather. First, you must find Jade and Kanaya. It shouldn't be too hard, though..." she trailed off with a shrug.
There was a part of her that wanted to walk towards the burning city, to see Dave's memory of that day herself. She mastered the urge. Looking to her right, she could see the scenery change once more and a path lit up beneath her feet. The sky had lightened and the grass had receded and changed to smooth, white marble. Somehow, she knew that this path was the correct one. It was brighter than the others, more insistent - a sharp tug in her mind telling her to go that way.
"You feel it, don't you?"
"Yes," she answered absently. She shook her head and then gazed at Aradia curiously. "Thank you, for everything."
Anyone else would have asked why she'd said that out of false modesty. Suffering no such pretentions, Aradia gave her a rather manic looking grin. "You're welcome but I should be thanking you, you know. I'm just doing my duty as the Emissary for the Dreaming Dead, but we've asked so much from you... some might think it too much. All the same, you could have said no and turned your back on us, but you didn't. So thank you, Miss Hermione Granger and good luck!"
Then Aradia gave her a bone-crushing hug and sent her on her way with a brilliant smile.
Hermione had never read 'The Wizard of OZ', though she'd seen the movie once when she was very little with her grandmother. As a six year old, the movie had held a mixture of fascination and terror. Like all children, she was delighted by Dorothy and all the friends she met along the way. A long secret dream of hers to this day was to wear a dress as lovely as Glinda's (a wish partly granted in her fourth year). And, of course, she had been terrified of the Wicked Witch. The movie had given her pause once she'd learned that she herself was a witch... though she never once had to think too hard over whether or not she was a good witch or a bad one.
From that point forward, she had never much thought about Dorothy. After all, she was a witch, not a silly little girl that had been deposited in an unfamiliar world with nothing but a dog and a pair of slippers. She hadn't much seen herself in Dorothy's shoes until now... she didn't really have a dog and she didn't have magic slippers, but she did have a shawl. The road she followed wasn't yellow or made of brick, but it was a road none-the-less. So, she supposed she was Dorothy now, rather than Glinda. Or maybe she was both.
As these thoughts filtered through her mind, she walked determinedly through a changing landscape. The grass had already given way to marble. Meanwhile, the sky lightened imperceptibly from dark purple to the bright clear sky of a summer afternoon. Walls slowly built themselves around her and the road turned subtly into stairs. It should have seemed quite strange and she should have felt upset about it, maybe even scared. But she didn't. The shawl cooled beneath her fingers as the certainty of Space told her this was the correct path.
So she climbed the stairs, for a very long time until a patch of light appeared in the ceiling above. The patch of the light was an exit or more correctly an entrance, Space told her this. And so she climbed, stopping briefly as she peered into the room the stairs had led her to.
The room like the stairs was made of white marble. Without decoration, it would have been dreadfully stale and sterile. But thankfully, whoever lived here had not been content to leave it empty of character. The floor was carefully covered with rugs, brilliantly colored and decorated with intricate but unfamiliar designs. There were pillows that were just as bright and cheery as the rugs piled around the room with seeming randomness. From the ceiling were draped long, filmy curtains of purple, red, and green through which the sun shone brightly. Above the mullioned windows were a profusion of orchids and other plants, hung from the ceiling or set neatly on the ledge.
Next to the stairs was a raised L-shaped dais. It looked like a workspace of sorts. Bolts of fabric of all colors were piled on one end. At the other end was an old-fashioned sewing machine, though unlike the ones Hermione had seen in various charity shops this one looked quite functional. Next to it was a child's lunchbox, except instead of bright cartoon characters there were gamboling cuttlefish of all colors on it. In the middle of the room pushed close to the wall was what looked like a very old wardrobe, except it had a strange panel on it that was constantly cycling different symbols on it in quick succession. To the far right was a huge bookcase that almost touched the sloped roof. It was filled to bursting with books, which were piled on the shelves haphazardly.
Her first instinct was to check the bookshelf, of course. Picking one up off an unsteady pile gingerly, she gazed at it for a moment before opening it. Her head cocked curiously, she realized quite quickly that she couldn't read the title or the contents. She' read somewhere that the books you'd see in dreams were unreadable, because your mind wasn't aware enough to conjure such specific imagery. So, it was either because this was a dream or the books were in a code or a language she couldn't understand.
Putting the book back, she looked to her right past the window near the bookcase. A strange kind of pod had been hung from the ceiling. At first, it reminded her of the wicker hammock chair her grandmother had in her old house before she'd died. Hermione had often sat in that chair and read when she was little. Upon closer inspection, she could tell it wasn't any kind of chair she'd ever seen. It was purple and inside it was a foul smelling green liquid.
"It's a recuperacoon," a precise voice intoned behind her.
Hermione turned slowly, smiling as she realized it was only Kanaya. "A recuperacoon?"
"Yes, like beds... the slime inside has soporific effects on trolls. They were quite comfortable, actually," she explained, walking over to where Hermione was as she wistfully regarded her room. "I do prefer the human way, though. It's nice to sleep next to the person you love and far less messy."
"This is your memory, then?"
"Mmhmm. This was my respiteblock, or room as you would call it, as it was on the day my lusus died," she said, unbothered when her clothes suddenly changed from her normal day wear to an elegant red dress.
She could not think of any words to say that weren't obvious or extremely stupid. Instead, she simply followed Kanaya to the window. Her dress had changed again, from the elegant red dress to a breezy green travel dress. The troll leaned out the window, her eyes misty. Hermione joined her, cautiously looking out into memory. There was a meticulously pruned garden beneath her tower. Colorful tarps of every color were lashed to the sides, providing shade for a creature taking shelter beneath them.
The creature wasn't exactly cute, to a human's eye, but Hermione could see the beauty in it, strange as it was. There was a gentleness in the creature's manner, a grace that was undeniable. It looked like an exceptionally large white moth though it had an almost human face. Its eyes were closed and it didn't move much. At a glance, she could tell that the creature was ill and that it wasn't long for this world.
Hermione felt a great longing to have seen the virgin mothergrub in her prime. It must have been magnificent in its youth. Besides, there was a feeling that it was something good and pure... the world would be worse off for its passing, she knew this without question. As if the creature had sensed her thoughts, it slowly gazed upward at them. The deep jade eyes of the dying lusus looked upon them benevolently, lovingly, before slowly closing forever. The wide translucent wings fluttered, once, twice, and then were still.
Kanaya didn't say anything when Hermione turned away, wiping furiously at her eyes. She was actually a bit relieved because moments later the grating sound of a chainsaw broke the silence. The Kanaya of this memory was liberating the matriorb in the most efficient way possible. As understanding as humans like Rose and Hermione were, there were some cultural differences that just could not be explained or understood.
Turning back to her human friend, Kanaya gently rubbed her shoulder. Without warning, she was subject to one of Hermione's infamous hugs. With a secret smile, Kanaya hugged her back, smoothing her hand over her back as she had done for Rose numerous times.
If there was one thing she was thankful for, it was how easily a human could be soothed. It took little more than a hug and a few gentle words and they were as contented as a purring meowbeast. In the end, there was no need for words. Hermione let her go with a wobbly smile, rubbing at her eyes a bit longer before she mastered herself. With a small inhalation, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the night she'd first thought of. A new path lit beneath her feet, one that she knew would lead her to Jade.
Unlike the previous time, nothing much changed. The floor remained the same stolid marble as before, though there was a corridor to the far left of the room that hadn't been there before. The corridor opened into a spacious greenhouse, plants of every description neatly set out on meticulously arranged tables.
On the other side of the greenhouse, Hermione could see several large pieces of equipment set up and the frantic memory version of Jade at thirteen moving between them. She was doing something with the machines, covertly glancing out the windows of the greenhouse with a look of pure terror on her face as she worked. One side of the greenhouse had a view of midnight blue sky, the stars were shining softly. On the other side, the one dream bubble Jade kept glancing at nervously, the sky was burning red. There were no stars sparkling through those windows - they were filled end to end by an enormous meteor as it hurtled towards the earth.
A number of things happened all at once, the machine she'd tinkered with began to work, a neon green tree snapped into existence with a loud bang. Simultaneously, a blindfold of the same color wrapped itself around Jade's eyes. There were the sounds of things crashing and breaking somewhere downstairs. Jade screamed in aggravation as she tugged at the blindfold.
"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" She bellowed, her hand slapping at the air and retrieving a gun.
With a frustrated growl, she began to attempt to hit the little dog piñata hanging idly from a tree limb. Outside, the light had turned from a hellish red to a sickly green. Something was happening out there, though Hermione was too transfixed on Jade's increasingly desperate attempts to hit the piñata to notice. The butt of the gun connected and there was a pulse that hurled Jade through the windows and out of the greenhouse. Hermione shrieked, immediately running towards the ruined greenhouse windows, watching as Jade fell. On instinct, she held out her wand, ready to say the spell she knew would stop Jade's descent. Kanaya touched her arm, shaking her head.
"It's only a memory."
Hermione lowered her wand, cursing her own stupidity. Before she could say anything or even begin to wonder where the real live Jade was, she was lifted off her feet by the real live Witch of Space, who had swept them into the sky.
"You're gonna miss the best part," Jade exclaimed as she flew them towards her counterpart, who was still falling.
The thirteen year old version of Jade was falling, falling, falling; her long hair whipping wildly in the wind, the blindfold still around her eyes. She raised her gun, though she could not see, and aimed - a grimace of determination on her face. With a roar, she shot, knowing it probably went wild but hoping otherwise. A burning corona of green flashed around her. Becquerel, her companion and prototyped dog-sprite, redirected the bullet and it hit true. The world went white and, in a flash, the tropical island they were on disappeared.
Dream Jade was still falling. The blindfold was gone now and her bright green eyes were round with wonder. It was snowing. She'd never seen snow in her life before, and even though she was still falling, perhaps to her death, she couldn't help but be awed by it. There was another flash of green and she was caught... no, fell onto a bed conjured by Becquerel.
"What memory is this?" Hermione asked breathlessly, holding Jade's hand in a death-grip.
"My entry into the game."
"Oh, lovely. Can we please be on the ground now," Hermione begged, closing her eyes.
Jade grinned and descended rapidly. The young Seer could not help herself, she screamed at the top of her lungs. They landed on the snow-covered ground with an appropriately muffled 'poff', making a sizeable crater where their flight terminated. Hermione's knees went weak and her legs collapsed underneath her. Kanaya remained standing, hand to her heart as she glowered at Jade. The Witch of Space was almost indecently happy, smiling toothily at them both.
"Was that really necessary?" Kanaya commented, her voice full of lilting disapproval.
"No, but it was fun," Jade giggled, sticking her tongue out playfully. "Are you okay?" Hermione nodded, holding out her hand to indicate she needed a second or two. "Sorry, I do get carried away."
After a bit, Hermione was able to stand up with the help of both Kanaya and Jade. She gazed around at their new surroundings. It looked very much like the original tropical paradise they'd just left. The flora wasn't all that different from what could be found on Jade's island, though it was a brighter green and covered completely in snow. Fliting through the dark green trees were bright purple hummingbirds. They were pollinating the fire red flowers that bloomed from the tangled vines draped over the verdant overgrowth. All the while, fat white snowflakes drifted gently from the sky.
"Beautiful," Hermione whispered, her mouth hanging open in awe.
"This was my planet," said Jade, a hint of melancholy in her voice, she had never really been able to properly explore it during the game, there'd been no time. "The Land of Frost and Frogs." Her gaze locked on two figures in the distance: A boy and a girl.
The girl got up off her bed, shuffling through the snow towards the boy. He was slouching lazily towards her with his hands shoved in his pockets, a boy with all the time in the world and nowhere else to be. He wore no coat to cover him, though he seemed unbothered it was impossible that he wasn't. It was terribly cold. Hermione began to shiver, her breath fanning out in front of her as she exhaled. As if sensing her discomfort, the shawl enlarged, draping itself over her more fully as it warmed. Hiding her nose in the soft knit fabric, she watched much younger, ganglier versions of Dave and Jade laboriously making their way up a hill towards the tower looming over them.
"So, where to next?" Jade asked chipperly as she turned to the young witch expectantly.
"Huh?" Was Hermione's oh so elegant response. And then she realized. "Oh, yes." Closing her eyes, she touched the shawl and concentrated. A new road appeared beneath her feet. With certainty, she declared, "We have to go that way."
Jade hummed, her eyes narrowing critically on the path. "I have an idea." She waited for an affirmative response from her fellow Space Players before continuing. "Well, while I like a good walk, it doesn't make sense to wander through the dreambubbles like this. It'll take forever to find the memory we need, so I was thinking maybe we could speed things up a bit."
Hermione for a moment thought about what Roxy had said about John and his windy powers. She thought about him zipping about in a car with some sort of chess person (whatever that was). There was no helping it, she laughed out loud at the thought and then had to explain herself
"Oh god, I forgot that he did that!" Jade chortled, dissolving into a fit of giggles. "I watched him through these dumb goggles I alchemized. He was flying around Skaia in a car with a little Carapacian chess-guy in the driver's seat, who was beeping the horn like mad. And the whole time I'm trying to have a semi-serious conversation with him. It was impossible," she gasped between breaths, wiping tears from her eyes. "Anyway, there's no way we're doing something that reckless. I was thinking more along the lines of using sweet Space powers."
Kanaya and Hermione glanced at each other and shrugged, looking to Jade for an explanation. "To continue our fun car motif, it'd be like a road trip, sort of. There's a navigator," she said, gesturing at Hermione. "And then there's the person driving the car." She gestured at herself.
"And what will I be doing?" asked Kanaya wryly, one delicate eyebrow arched.
Jade grinned. "Well, clearly you're in charge of the music and snacks!"
"Oh, dear. I'm afraid I don't have either of those things," she admitted in a tone that almost sounded serious.
The Witch of Space snorted in amusement. "In all seriousness though, we'll both be driving this metaphorical car. Between the two of us, we can amplify Hermione's power which should allow us to travel the necessary path in half the time! We'd be piggybacking memory on memory on memory until we got to the right one."
Hermione rubbed her lips together anxiously, glancing over at Kanaya. "What do you think?"
The Alternian looked at her companions in turn before looking past them both, her eyes unfocused. "While I think it's a sound plan, it is very risky." She turned her attention to Jade. "If she loses focus for even a moment..."
Jade absorbed what Kanaya was saying. Yes, there was no doubt her plan was very risky. If their Seer lost her focus for even a moment they could be thrown into a bunch of random bubbles. It wouldn't be that horrible, it would just mean that it would take more time to get back to where they were needed. She was no Seer, but Jade knew instinctively through Space that they were very close to their destination. It would be a bother to have to backtrack if the worst happened, but she was very sure it wouldn't.
Years before the game, she'd seen one of Skaia's clouds while dreaming on Prospit. There were lots of funny visions in those clouds, some she understood, some she did not. She remembered one cloud in particular that showed a girl with a halo of wild curls and dark eyes. The girl in the clouds wore the Godhood of a Seer in Space's colors, its insignia glowing boldly on the front of the tunic. She was on a battlefield. Just behind her, Jade could see explosions going off and the crumbling remains of buildings. It did not resemble the chessboard battlefield on Skaia at all. This was a real battlefield, one on Earth in some locale she didn't quite recognize. Jade could not see the girl's opponent; she could only see the girl herself as she fought.
This girl didn't look like any of her friends, who she had seen in the clouds and on a primitive version of video chat included on Pesterchum. Jade had thought at the time that perhaps she was one of the trolls that bothered her from time to time. Back then, she'd thought they were regular internet trolls who were mean-spirited just because they had nothing better to do than be rude to strangers. In her mind, they were still human and not literal aliens. So she thought that maybe the girl was one of them, though she couldn't bear to believe it was true.
The girl in the clouds was beautiful and strong. She fought bravely, with a weary kind of determination that Jade had admired. Even though she was smudged with dirt and her pretty Godtier uniform had been ripped and torn, she was magnificent, using her wand and her command over her own Aspect with easy grace. Mid-battle, she'd stopped and said something. The clouds didn't allow Jade to hear what she said; they never allowed her to hear conversations. So she could only wonder at the words that might have been spoken. Jade couldn't be sure, but it felt like she was giving someone an ultimatum - a choice. A sudden look of sadness came over her face just then, as if someone had chosen poorly.
Her dark eyes were intently focused as she slowly moved her hands in a wide, circular arc. It was like she was gathering something, though there was nothing there at all. She gathered whatever it was and held it at waist level, raising it up carefully with both hands. With a resigned grimace, she then slapped her hands through the nothing and made something. And then... then she directed what amounted to an explosion towards her unknown opponent. The cloud went white and there was no more, it moved on allowing the next cloud to take its place.
Jade had often thought about that cloud in the intervening years. Once she had realized that she was not a troll, she could only wonder who she had seen and if she'd ever meet her. When they had come here, Jade had no idea who they were going to meet, though she knew why. Once she had seen Roxy cradling the girl in her arms, then she knew... Hermione Granger had been the girl in the cloud.
It had taken her a few seconds to realize further what the vision had meant. She had seen Hermione in a Seer's tunic on a battlefield on this version of Earth. Jade knew through Rose that Hermione and her friends were in the middle of a war. Therefore, this logically meant that whatever they were here to do would be successful. Hermione would close the rift, and she would be left with something like Godtier powers to aide her once it was time for her to fight.
She could, of course, tell all this to Hermione.
When she had first woken up on Prospit and seen the visions in the clouds, she had immediately told the subject of those visions what she'd seen. It hadn't gone all that well. Dave had blocked and stopped talking to her for a full month. She'd learned from that early experience. Telling someone outright about what they were going to do only complicated things and often made people actively work against their best interests.
An idea was only useful if it came to the person naturally. Any other way made things pointlessly confusing. This was no different. Simply telling Hermione what she saw would only make her more nervous and scared, and perhaps lead to a less auspicious outcome. When she had worn her colorful reminders, she had always approached who needed to know what with delicacy. You had to know how much encouragement to give without giving too much away. So Jade nodded and gave them both a silly grin.
"Yes, there is some risk inherent to what we're doing. We'll be traveling through a lot of memories very quickly and I won't lie, it'll be difficult. But all of us have been put in impossible situations before and we have all risen to the occasion! This is no different. Between the three of us, I think we can do it!"
"I don't know," Hermione hedged, hands twisting in her shawl. "I'm not nearly as experienced with the way your magic works... I've managed so far, but what you're proposing might be beyond my skill. It sounds like it requires an advanced level of control that I simply don't have."
"That is true, but don't forget... I'll be right here alongside of you," Jade argued companionably. "I'm confident that you won't lose focus. As for control, Kanaya and I will be doing most of that. We just need you to light the path."
And then she held her hands out. Kanaya hesitated only slightly, grabbing her hand and exhaling slowly. Jade understood Kanaya's trepidation. She hadn't had a smooth journey during her game and had never really accepted her role as the Sylph of Space. Hermione's anxiety was equally understandable, having never played the game at all. She took much more time to consider the merit of the idea. But eventually, she placed her hand in Jade's and then took Kanaya's, smiling tremulously.
Being a fully realized Godtier, Jade took point. She allowed the fullness of her power to manifest. It crackled pleasantly against her skin before gradually spreading from her fingers to her companions. Hermione could feel it curling around her own fingertips, similar to what she'd felt before when calling upon Space. And yet it was also different - it was sharper, more alive than what she'd felt.
Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated on her memory. It came more quickly than before, a path lighted beneath their feet at rapid speed. And without warning, there was a tug and they were off, hurtling towards a gateway memory. Hermione opened her eyes with a small gasp.
They were still on LOFAF, though it was no longer covered in snow. The jungle was lush and alive. In the distance, she could see a huge obsidian spire that was surrounded by a low, greenish light. From every tree in the jungle, small purple birds fluttered, all making their way to the spire as if summoned. And then there was a burst of light, and the Space symbol arced over the spire as the birds swarmed around it. In a flash, the memory switched and they were on a strange checkered battlefield. Meteors of every size were pummeling it while two lone figures looked on.
They were sprites, if Hermione remembered correctly, the self-prototyped sprites of Dave and Jade.
An enormous meteor was headed in a direct collision course with them. The two sprites could do nothing; it was not within their power to avert their own death. All they could do was look at each other and prepare for their end. A Spirograph of energy swirled around Jadesprite, and in a heartbeat she became the Witch of Space. Without even looking, she held out her hand and shrunk the meteor until it could be held in the palm of her hand. She grinned at Davesprite brilliantly before hopping into the air, levitating a golden battleship which she quickly commandeered. With fierce determination, she flew away from Skaia and into the Medium to finally facilitate their escape.
With fluid flicks of her wrist, she gathered each planet and the battlefield, allowing them to circle around her like satellites. She flicked her hand again and John stumbled onto the deck, looking dreadfully confused while he held his very silly looking hammer. Jade quickly swept her hands out so that they made a little window.
This was the final piece of the plan that she didn't really know would happen even though she also kind did know it would. Her little hand window allowed her to summon an actual window or more correctly, a Fenestrated Plane. As she pulled her hands apart, the window was enlarged ever so slowly. On the cracked glass, her entire life flickered before her as if someone had pushed fast forward on some universal remote. The Fenestrated Plane soon eclipsed the battleship, attaining the height and width Jade knew was correct. She glanced back at her brother and grinned, and then with a lazy wave of her arm, she ushered the battleship forward. It crashed through the window and they left their session behind them.
It was hard to retain her focus, but Hermione concentrated, and the path remained unbroken as the memory switched again.
This time it was a dark staircase. The only light came from Kanaya's skin. She held her midsection as she descended, each step was agony. Her hands were covered in her own blood, leaving a messy Jade trail on the floor and the wall. The only thing keeping one foot in front of the other was the promise that her hands would be stained violet as soon as she found him. And soon enough, she did. He was standing there with Vriska and Gamzee in some kind of showdown, his stupid wand held out in front of him. Enraged, her feet began to move faster until she broke out in an all-out run as she glowed brighter than the sun.
Full pelt, she kicked Gamzee in the groin. Her strength as a Rainbow Drinker was far beyond a normal troll's. That one kick was enough to propel him out of his shoes and into the air, falling with a disconsolate honk over the edge of the railing. With a growl, she pivoted, her skirts whirling around her angrily as she turned her attention to the Thief of Light. Balling her fist, she punched Vriska as hard as she could. The Thief of Light twisted mid-air and was sent skidding to the floor, her glasses knocked off by the impact.
With a final, ominous pivot, she turned to Eridan, eyes narrowed coldly. She tore the wand she'd given him from his unresisting hand. Roaring at the sky, she snapped it in half, taking vicious pleasure in its destruction. And then in one fluid movement, she took out her chainsaw and cut him in half, violet blood gushing out from both halves of his body as they fell to the ground in separate gory heaps with a wet slap. Covered head to toe in the blood of her enemy, she felt a semblance of peace and satisfaction she hadn't felt since the game had started.
Thoroughly unsettled, she focused as quickly as she could. The path glowed brightly and the memory switched and she sunk even deeper.
Bloodied sword in hand, he'd just killed one of Derse's top agents to retrieve a bomb for Rose's suicide mission, which had now become his mission as well. A fun co-suicide with my ecto-sister! Not exactly what he thought he'd be doing when he woke up this morning, but there we are. So, here they were, flying towards oblivion with the biggest fucking bomb in the universe to blow themselves to shit. All in the name of destroying the Green Sun and hopefully stop Bec Noir.
They arrived in a large, dark room with two neat little platforms in it. One, bright red with Time's symbol on it, the other, bright saffron with Light's symbol - a pair of suicide slabs purpose built for self-destruction. Convenient. With all the chains and darkness, this room would make a dope-ass album cover. He took a picture of the room with his i-Phone. For a hot second, he thought about uploading it to his blog with some kind of smart-ass caption, but for the life of him he couldn't think of one.
Both of them landed on their slabs, standing there in complete silence as Rose deployed the Tumor. The shell casings fell off to reveal the bomb itself, in all its apparent horror. Frankly, it was fucking ridiculous to look at. The god dammed thing looked like some numb fuck saw any number of the shitty flicks John watched on the reg and just went HAM. There were two containers of fluid, one red and one blue, on either side of a weird magic eight ball looking thing with a timer that was inexorably counting down to zero.
"So this is it," he said dully, barely flinching when the little robot clambered off his shoulder, landing ungracefully on the slab.
"Yeah," Rose agreed in a quavering voice. She looked over at him, her eyes were huge. "Dave?"
He met her gaze, startled to find that there were tears gathering in her eyes. "What is it?"
"I wish I knew you were my brother earlier... like years ago. I wish... I wish we had more time," she whispered, her voice small. She was shaking visibly now, a single tear spilling down her cheek which she hastily wiped away. "I'm s-scared, Dave. I don't want to d-die."
"Same," he said, struggling to keep himself together. Rose was one of the hardest people he knew, aside from his brother. To see her like this, actually terrified out of her mind, it was fucked up. "But least we ain't alone, right? If I was gonna die with someone, I'm glad it was you," he joked, feeling like an asshole for being flippant.
Here she was being sincere, being real with him, and all he could summon was more of his same ironic bullshit. She didn't seem to feel the same way about it, mustering a watery smile as she held her hand out. They were too far away to hold hands properly, only their fingers touched but they did it. They made it happen. The clock ticked down from five seconds, to four, to three, to two. Rose took a trembling breath, her face contorting in fear as tears rolled down her cheeks. And then the penultimate tick - 0:01
"Dave..."
And then it exploded. He had enough time to raise a hand up in an act of pointless self-defense. His vision went green and then there was an end or he thought there was an end, but there wasn't. One minute he was in pain, surrounded by flames, and the next minute he was rising like a mother fucking phoenix out of the biggest god damned sun he ever did see. Looking down at himself, his purple Derse pajamas were gone and in its place was his Godtier outfit. Some kind of wild red knight looking bullshit with long sleeves and... Jesus Christ, was he wearing a cape?
"Fuck me with a fancy Santa," he mumbled to himself.
She focused. The memory switched. She could feel herself wavering. The sheer amount of effort it took to channel the full strength of a Godtier's worth of Space was draining. She was beyond exhausted and yet she held on.
It was the smell that hit her first. She had assumed it had been a backed-up toilet. Some of the girls in the castle had no concept of toilet paper conservation. But the deep growl that came along with the smell alarmed her. There was another sound that followed shortly thereafter... the sound of someone locking the bathroom door closed. They only did that well after everyone was in bed, one of the prefects had told her that. All the bathrooms outside their dormitories were always locked after curfew in an effort to curb late night snogging sessions. It certainly wasn't that late, was it? Perhaps they'd closed it due to the backup. If that was the case, she'd be stuck in here all night, with that horrid, putrid smell! Peeking out from her own stall and ready to call after whoever locked the door, she saw the troll and screamed.
It was a lonely, pitiful sound as it rebounded off the ceramic tiles. This seemed to enrage the troll. It roared, lifting its club and leveling three stalls with one swipe. Her eyes, wide and terrified, glanced at the door. Locked. Locked. Locked! She was stuck in here with this thing.
The troll slowly lifted its club. It was aiming for the stall she was in. Darting forward, she skidded over to hide beneath the sink as the troll swung down and destroyed her previous hiding spot. It staggered, turning with glacial slowness to look for its prey. There was a shout... a familiar voice. Telling her to move, but she couldn't, she was paralyzed in fear.
Harry had leapt on the troll's back, unintentionally sticking his wand up its nose, an action which had simultaneously infuriated and distracted the beast. It flailed ungracefully, knocking Harry from its back. And then Ron took a chance and used the very spell he hadn't been able to master in class to knock the troll out. As it lay prone on the floor, the three children cautiously stood up and gawped at it, almost unable to believe what had just happened. They were all alive. They were alive and they managed to somehow take out a troll. Harry and Ron immediately began to laugh, it was nervous and a bit on the hysterical side, but they were laughing none-the-less. Hermione couldn't help herself. She laughed as well.
Again the memory switched and she could feel herself losing concentration. Being plunged into something she remembered, an event so important to who she'd become, was dangerously distracting. It harkened back to a much more innocent time - a time which she half wished to go back to, before she'd taken on a darker destiny. Desperately, she retained her hold but it was getting difficult...She understood now what Kanaya had warned her about.
Her world had narrowed to a pinpoint. The Empress had Jane... she had her by the throat and was choking the life out of her. She could have screamed if she hadn't been paralyzed by the sight. All she could do was watch as that bitch choked her best fucking friend into unconsciousness, tossing her to the floor like so much garbage. Though she didn't take her eyes off the Condesce, she knew without question that her companions had risen with her - they rose as one with new determination, even though they were bruised and beaten. Even though there was such a slim chance of beating her and all her batfuck crazy powers.
It was John who struck back first and John who was repelled by a horrific blow to the face. She struck soon after, facing and losing to the same fist... skidding to the floor, dazed by the blow and forgotten. Rose was next to fall from a firm kick to the solar plexus delivered to her by the Condesce. The sound she'd made was horrible, a heavy guttural squeal followed by the hollow thud of her body hitting the ground. Pivoting, the Empress turned back to John, who had the temerity to get up. She kicked him when he was down, sending him reeling back in pain. In trying to help him, Kanaya was dealt a kick to her face. She made a small 'oof' sound as she hit the floor with a sick thud.
No matter what they did. They couldn't beat her. It was as if she'd predicted their every move.
And then... and then it happened. The Condesce had decided to stop playing around. With a flick of her fingers, she hoisted John, Rose, and Kanaya in the air. Owing to her affinity with the Void, the bitch didn't even remember she was still there. Sore and tired, she shakily stood. It was happening again. Again, she could only stand there and watch as the Condesce bit by bit destroyed everyone she loved.
It wouldn't end like this. She wouldn't let it end like this. Not again.
She was going to take back from that Witch everything she stole that should have been theirs. The promise of a better life for the trolls and humanity alike - she'd swipe its lack and make it a thing again. She'd make it so it'd never stop being a thing again.
With grim determination, she took out the sword she'd found on LOWAS. She took it out and plunged it into the Condesce's putrid heart. The Empress stumbled and looked down at the sword sticking out of her chest. With a wet gurgling sound, she stumbled again and then fell down dead. Shaking, the Rogue of Void stood there and gazed dispassionately at her fallen enemy, hands clenched and her lips thin. There was a tremendous whoop of joy coming from John as he punched the air. She looked up and gave him a wobbly smile. Her friends gazed back, smiles of triumph on their faces. It was over.
Bone tired and barely hanging on, she used the last of her dimming willpower to focus on a path... the path... the one that lead to the memory she needed. It was so close...
She sighed deeply, pressing her back into the damp bark of the felled tree they'd taken up as a hiding place. Harry had placed himself at the roots of the tree, which stuck out crazily and afforded him enough cover to remain hidden while allowing him a mostly unobstructed view of the lake. He had some barmy idea that his dad would rescue them. Of course, she didn't put it so bluntly when talking to him about it. That wouldn't do, especially since he was always so sensitive when contradicted when it came to things like this.
But the fact remained that no one, not even James Potter, could come back from the dead. The only kind of magic that could do something like that was hideously dark and was never intended to bring someone back whole and unmarred. There was no polite way to put that, really. So she held her tongue, as much as she could anyway. Another sigh escaped her as she turned her face skyward to look at the stars.
They'd been waiting here for hours. She was unimaginably bored. Using the sky itself to self-test astronomy had gotten dull ages ago. She'd never mention this fact to Ron or Harry because they'd take the mickey out of her about it, but she actually hated studying and thought it was every bit as boring as they did. Sure, learning new things was fun but studying was not, nor should it be. Studying was hard work. That's what made it worthwhile. But everyone needs a break from time to time, a lesson she'd learned from Roxy and Dave. So this time, instead of trying to find certain constellations or properly labeling stars, she just sat there and enjoyed the view for once.
How long she sat there just watching the stars as they twinkled so far above her, she didn't know. She inhaled softly, fingers playing with her shoelaces. It was summer now and the forest was awake and alive. Even with Dementors about, there was little that could dim the vast fecundity of this place. Absently, she crumbled a bit of desiccated bark between her fingers. She was actually enjoying herself a bit. It was quiet, nothing but the loamy smell of earth and the soft sounds of the forest.
And then abruptly that thought was cut off as if beheaded by a guillotine.
First came the creeping cold, blotting out the warmth of summer, then came the feeling of utter despair, and finally came shouting. A lot of shouting. A bit of bark hit her temple and she whipped her head in Harry's direction, scowling at him. That pillock had actually thrown a piece of bark at her.
"Hermione, this is it!" He said, evidently immune to her glare under the circumstances.
Sure enough, he was right. Crawling over to him, she glanced over his shoulder and watched Sirius fall, leaving Harry's past self alone and unprotected. He tried, god bless him, to cast his Patronus, but nothing but a wisp of smoke appeared. She felt like she was going to faint as the Dementors surrounded their past-selves' unconscious bodies. They weren't near to them, but still she felt the pervasive cold, the despair... the terrible sucking sounds as they closed in on their prey.
"This is horrible," she gasped, clutching his shoulder to steady herself - she was going to be sick.
"Don't worry," Harry whispered back, his voice hopeful. "My dad will come. He'll conjure his Patronus. You'll see."
But no help came. If the Dementors could be said to feel ecstasy, Hermione believed they might be feeling it now. One of them drifted over to Sirius, grabbing his pale face in one of its putrid hands. It lowered its hood as if preparing to kiss him.
"No one's coming," she breathed frantically. "Harry..."
"Don't worry," he stated stubbornly, his eyes glued to the spot. "He will come."
"Harry... Sirius, he's dying," pleaded Hermione, hoping in her heart he'd stop all this nonsense and act. "You're dying. Both of you. Harry, please, you have to..."
And just like that, some switch inside his brain flipped and he stood abruptly, bellowing, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A bright white stag burst from his wand, it cantered around them before rushing towards the Dementors, head lowered. It drove them off easily. Harry turned to her then, smile luminous.
"It was me the whole time, Hermione! I saw myself conjuring it and well... I was able to do it because I did it before," he explained, the stars glinting off his glasses.
"Brilliant, Harry!" She exclaimed breathlessly, hand on her heart.
A voice from just behind her echoed, "That it was."
Hermione whipped around, gaping at the figure whose voice she hadn't heard in years. Which couldn't be right, they had only just met... "Sirius?" Everything felt strange, as if she'd done all this before, except for this bit. This bit was new. "What... what's going on?"
"I would think you'd have gotten it without my help, to be honest," Sirius drawled, hands in his pockets as he gave her a speculative look. It was as if he expected something of her... or expected better of her.
"I don't understand... this isn't. You're over th-" She trailed off as she turned to look behind her. But there was nothing there. Harry was gone. Their past selves were gone. All there was left was the dark, silent forest.
"Oh, come on. I can't have flummoxed the brightest witch of our age!" Sirius laughed just then. That same bark-like laugh of his... how she'd missed it. She frowned, her gaze finding the forest floor as she thought. "Working it out, are you?"
"This... this is a memory," she began, looking up at him suddenly. "THE memory. The one I'm supposed to find! I did it!"
"That you did!" Sirius said, laughing again as he received a patented Hermione Granger hug. "As if anyone could ever doubt that you would."
Once she'd disentangled herself, she paused in sudden confusion. She turned around slowly but all she could see was endless forestland. "But... wait. Shouldn't we be able to see the rift? That was the whole point of this, but I don't see it. I found the memory... it should be here!"
"Ah, well, yes... this memory is nothing more a gateway, I'm afraid," replied Sirius. "To quote a muggle poet, you have miles to go before you sleep."
"I always hated Frost," snapped Hermione with an irritated eyeroll. "Dreadfully overrated in my opinion."
"But sadly correct in this instance," Sirius murmured, lips tipped into a smile.
Hermione's face screwed up in aggravation. Closing her eyes to try and find a semblance of calm, she let out a long, loud huff before kicking the ground angrily. "Well, bugger!"
"Did you just swear?" asked a voice with a distinct Kiwi accent. Hermione didn't dignify Jade with an answer, which was fine with the Witch of Space. She was happy to have finally gotten to their destination. "Oh, this place is quite lovely!" She started then, finally noticing the other person standing next to Hermione. "Oh, hullo!"
Before she could introduce herself, Kanaya walked serenely from seemingly nowhere. The last she remembered was the memory of the final battle and their victory. Her gaze found Hermione's and she smiled beatifically. Though she didn't say it out loud, that smile conveyed that she was glad to be wrong... glad that all her worry was for naught. Introductions were made and small talk was had.
Finally having enough waffling about, Hermione briskly interjected, "This is all quite lovely and all, but I was under the impression that finding this memory would allow us to get to the rift and seal it. Here we are in the correct memory but there's no rift!"
"Well, I suspect these lovely ladies have a good idea of why that is," Sirius said, shifting uncomfortably as he gestured towards Kanaya and Jade.
"What do you mean by that?" She affixed a glare on them that would have made lesser women quail in their boots. "I got it right, didn't I? Didn't I?!"
"Yes, you did," Kanaya answered softly, looking to Jade.
Jade grinned toothily. "Yup! You did great! Perfect, actually!"
"So why-"
"It's like Sirius said, this memory is merely a gateway," explained Jade chipperly. "It's also a bit of a test, you see. Just as in the Game, you aren't rewarded for doing nothing." The Witch of Space could see that the Seer was going a bit spare at this news.
"What haven't you told me?" she demanded, trying and failing to feel like she'd somehow been used.
"I've told you everything you needed to know," Jade said with firm directness. "As Dave might have mentioned, Time can be a finicky, even dangerous master. Space is equally dangerous for similar reasons."
"And I did tell you that Space never gives out information freely," Kanaya chimed in solemnly. "By its very nature, one must earn its knowledge... as you have already done. One last test is required, though it is less of a test and more of an interview, of sorts."
"An interview...?" Hermione asked, feeling confused and frustrated.
"With the Muse of Space," answered Jade in the most serious tone Hermione had ever heard from her. "All Space Players meet with her eventually in some form or the other. Our Muse of Space has asked for you particularly. It was her last wish."
"So, she's dead," stated Hermione more to herself than anyone else.
"Yes, and has been so for centuries," Jade acknowledged. "This will be her very final act before she dies a heroic death."
Hermione was visibly disturbed by this information. Taking notice, Sirius interrupted gently, "Time works differently here, Hermione. I've only been here a few years to you, but it's been so much longer from my perspective. For the dreaming dead, there is a point at which where oblivion is preferable to the continuation of one's consciousness. I know it's hard for the living to understand, but that's how it is..."
"I suppose you're right, but it doesn't make it any easier to hear," she sighed, fingers absently twisting her shawl in her hands. "Well, let's get this over with then."
Jade and Kanaya took her hands, to her surprise. They shared smiles between them before they all closed their eyes and concentrated. When they opened them, there was a new road, though rather than being the normal solid white line, this one was bright gold.
"I really am Dorothy, aren't I?" she mumbled with wistful smile.
"You've even got your own dog," joked Sirius, pointing to himself as he easily transformed into Snuffles and back again.
"More than one, actually," Jade chimed in, her little white dog ears swiveling as she cocked her head in a very dog-like fashion. She was utterly delighted by Sirius' hat trick as he was with her ears.
The two of them began discussing the nature of their power. His animagus abilities versus her self-prototyped dog-sprite which she'd merged with when she'd reached the God Tiers. Hermione thought their conversation was quite interesting. All the same, they did have to get going. She was just about to say something when Kanaya beat her to it.
"Your human pack bonding over your shared barkbeast traits is very amusing but I believe we have an important mission to accomplish," Kanaya pointed out crisply, speaking a bit louder than she normally did.
Both Jade and Sirius apologized, though neither them seemed all that abashed at their behavior at all. In fact, their smiles were far too conspiratorial for Hermione's tastes. She was suddenly very glad that Jade and Sirius hadn't met before now. It was easy to see that the two of them could get into more mischief than anyone might want to manage.
"Honestly," she huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Shall we?"
Jade nodded, though there was a clear reluctance there. She would be quite sorry to leave Sirius' company. His ability to change entirely into a dog was impressive and the process as he explained it, as quick and lacking in detail as it was, was fascinating. She wished they had more time to talk but they simply did not. So they set foot onto the glowing yellow road that was surely not made of brick and did not end at the Land of OZ. There was no wizard waiting for them, only a Muse.
"I'm afraid this is where I leave you," said Sirius with true regret. "Where you're going, I can't follow."
Hermione nodded mutely. She embraced him briefly, sadly. "Harry should have been here," she said quietly, looking down at her feet. "He misses you terribly, you know. You w-were so important to him. He... he should have had this chance to see you one l-last time."
"I know he misses me. That little red pixie you met at the beginning might have mentioned how the dead and the living are connected. We know when someone is thinking of us, Hermione. We always know and though the living might not realize it, we are always there with them so long as they remember us." Setting a gnarled hand on her shoulder, he smiled warmly. "Besides, don't sell yourself short. Only you would be able to accomplish the task set before you. Harry isn't the only one with a special destiny." At this declaration, Hermione looked up, tears in her eyes. "Look after him for me, will you?"
"Of course. Goodbye, Sirius," she intoned seriously, her hand reaching out to squeeze his.
Squeezing back, he let her hand go to ruffle her hair affectionately. "Goodbye, Hermione and good luck."
He stepped away from the road, watching her solemnly as she followed the winding golden path. She looked back only once. Sirius waved as a blanket of soft, white mist enveloped his form entirely. She waved back, not knowing if he could see her. Hermione swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks and squared her shoulders.
The road went ever forward.
There was no changing scenery, no memories of those long dead to explore. There was nothing but the endless black of the void and the lamp-like glow of the golden pathway twisting through the darkness. There was an almost reverent silence between the three young women as they followed this most unusual yellow brick road. Nothing but the clacking of their shoes on the pavement echoed back to them. It reminded Hermione vaguely of her time in the void between realities when traveling by Fenestrated Plane.
Just when she felt like they very well might be walking forever, there was a scintillating ripple of light ahead of them. As they got closer, she could see that it was a symbol of some sort. The very same symbol emblazoned on Jade's Godtier robes - the symbol for Space. That wasn't the strange part of it though; the symbol itself was made from the cracking remains of a dying universe. She knew this intuitively. In front of the massive arms of Space was an indistinct figure floating exactly in the middle of it.
They followed the road as it turned in a tight spiral and once they came to the end… and at that end was what looked like a smallish platform or slab, once again emblazoned with the symbol for Space. The figure hovering so far above them slowly drifted down to meet them, stopping just above the black stone slab. Like Jade, the figure wore Godtier robes and there was where the similarities ended.
In the book about Classes, there were illustrations accompanying each Class. If memory served, this was the outfit reserved for those who were Muses. The hood was up, even so Hermione could see the lower half of the Muse's monstrous visage. Pulling the hood back revealed its full horror - a solemn green skull with dull, lifeless eyes.
"So, you've finally come," she murmured hollowly, hands clasped behind her back.
She looked at Kanaya and Jade pointedly, and, as if it were some secret signal, they quietly walked away leaving the Seer and the Muse somewhat alone. Without a word, the Muse sat down on the slab, neatly crossing her legs and settling into lotus position. She gestured at Hermione to do the same.
When she was seated, the Muse began, "You are the Seer with no land and no denizen who has taken it upon herself to pursue her quest regardless. It was Echidna's last request that I seek you out, knowing she could not guide you properly and do her duty as your denizen. She asked me and I agreed to present The Choice to the Seer with no land. Ask your questions, Seer."
Swallowing nervously, she rubbed her lips together before asking her first question, "Where are we?"
"In the heart of a black hole that is tearing apart the last remnants of a dying universe. The very same universe the Witch of Space originated from," answered the Muse bluntly. "It is also the location of your Quest Slab Seer with no land."
"I.. I don't u-understand," stammered Hermione. "I've accepted the fact that HAD I played the game I would be the Seer and that I have some kind of affinity for Space as an Aspect. I'm under the impression only those that play the Game are worthy of making The Choice, whatever it is. But I haven't played the game and I haven't got a land, as you so eloquently put it."
"All those things are true, Seer. But it is also true that all of us in one way or another make such choices every day. Your Hero of Heart, who right now fights for his life, will soon face his own Choice. The Choice you just recently realized he would have to make - neither can live while the other survives was the wording, I believe. He must either kill or be killed. One can argue adamantly for either choice, but in the end it falls to him to decide his own fate, prophecy or no. It is no different for those who play the Game... you must accept the choice that best benefits the timeline in order to go forward. Sometimes doing so requires a necessary sacrifice. You face this Choice now. Are you ready, Seer?"
Hermione wanted to say no. She wanted to continue to deny any connection to any of this. Her life was already so complicated, this would seem to make it messier than it was before, and she could see no realistic way out. In truth, she knew that from the moment she'd met Dave in that corridor four years ago, her fate and been intertwined with theirs. There was no turning back. Closing her eyes painfully, she inhaled and nodded.
"Your Choice is the one given to all those who wish to reach the God Tiers. Die and Ascend. Live and never reach your full potential." She gave a wry smile at Hermione's astonished face. "If you chose to live, you may leave now with your friends. I will give you a means to close the rift, though it will be significantly more difficult than it would be should you chose to Ascend. Your timeline will go on as it was meant to, and you will be as you always have been." There was an ominous tinge to her voice as she said that. "If you chose to Ascend, you will attain your godhood at the expense of another version of yourself. You will take their potential..."
"Why in Merlin's name would I choose to Ascend then? Taking someone else's future... it's unthinkable!"
"Is it human custom to offer opinions without waiting for all the facts to be presented?" The Muse demanded. If she could feel pleased at the Seer's silence, she would have. "You assume, incorrectly, that you will be stealing the future from some other version of yourself. Most sessions end in failure, Miss Granger, simply because the players never reach their potential at all. Tell me, do you wish for me to waste such a boon or use it to our advantage?"
It was obvious that using it was the correct answer, so she nodded though she couldn't help but have questions. "While I agree with what you say in principle, how does my ascension benefit you, though?"
The Muse smiled unpleasantly. "No matter what choice you make, you will close the rift. Putting paid to my brother's monstrous quest to destroy creation entirely. Both Echidna and I felt it proper to reward you for such a service."
"Your... your brother? You mean to tell me that this antagonist my friends have been talking about this whole time is your brother?"
"Yes, the Lord of Time sometimes referred to the Demon of Time was my brother. He was the one who started all this, and I am the one who will end his reign of terror by trapping him in this dying universe. You will be the one to see to it that his attempts to escape his fate are ultimately futile."
Hermione paled at that. The implication was enormous. "Do... do they know?" she asked, subtly nodding towards where Jade and Kanaya stood, backs turned to give the Seer and the Muse privacy.
"They are aware the Demon is my brother and he is the root cause for these rifts but they do not know that they are part and parcel of his rather pathetic attempt to subvert his death and it is better for them that they don't."
"Why are you telling me then?"
"Because Skaia has chosen you and you alone for this final task," the Muse answered easily. "Of all the iterations of you that exist in this universe, Skaia picked this version of you to be its defender."
"Are you saying that I ought to choose to Ascend?"
"No, I do not offer you advice. You must weigh the pros and cons for yourself... as all those who have played the Game before you have done." She paused to let her words sink in before beginning again, "I can tell you that if you choose to Ascend, it will grant you power beyond your imagination but because you were not built to house such power, it may or may not shorten your life. If you chose not to Ascend, you will close the rift and will retain the longevity typical of your kind. But certain opportunities afforded to you should you chose to Ascend will be closed to you."
It was a lot to take in. Hermione gazed at the Muse closely, wetting her lips. "What kind of opportunities do you mean? And how much will it shorten my life?"
"I cannot say how long you will live; longer than most humans I suspect but not quite so long as most witches. This is only conjecture, of course. I assume that not being made by the Game will affect your body's willingness to house its power but I may be wrong. You may have the opposite problem... you may not be able to die through natural means at all. Only time will tell." Again, she stopped with a ghost of a smile. "As for the opportunity I speak of, you will have a chance to match your Hero of Heart when it comes to his 'saving people thing' were you to Ascend."
She glanced over at Jade, who turned to look at her as if she knew Hermione was seeking guidance from the only Godtier in the room she trusted; Jade smiled and nodded as if to say, 'you've got this'. Her hands trembled slightly as she turned back to the Muse of Space.
"To Ascend... what do I have to do?"
"You will sit here with me in your Quest Crypt on your slab and wait for death," said the Muse tonelessly, gesturing at the cracked whorls of Space. A sudden tremor shook the room and a piece of reality broke off and shattered like glass. "Have you made your Choice, Seer?"
"Yes, I have." The Seer of Space inhaled sharply. "I will Ascend."
The Muse nodded grimly and with a snap of her claws, summoned Jade and Kanaya. "The Seer has made The Choice. It would be best for you both to leave now."
Kanaya gazed sharply at Hermione, Jade tears forming in her eyes before spilling over onto her cheeks. "You're going to do it then." It was not a question. Hermione nodded and with a choked sob, Kanaya stepped forward to embrace her. Kissing each cheek, she beamed at the Seer. "You're very brave, Hermione Granger. Braver than I." Grabbing her hands, Kanaya squeezed them both once before stepping back to allow Jade time with the Seer.
Hermione was treated to a bone-crushing hug so vigorous that she was spun around by the force of it. Jade held her out at arm's length, a large smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She too gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek before bouncing back. "We'll see you on the other side."
And with a crackle of energy Jade and Kanaya were gone, leaving Hermione alone with the Muse while the universe crumbled behind them. She looked nervously at the Space symbol as more and more bits of reality began to collapse and fall, revealing a tumultuous white void behind.
The Muse clasped her hands behind her and without looking at the Seer said, "I have one last gift for you." In her claw she held a pair of pure white wands that looked wickedly sharp, like they had been plucked off the back of some deep-sea creature. "The Quills of Echidna, Mother of All Denizens. It was Echidna's wish that you have them as one of her many preconditions set forth when I made my Choice."
Hermione took the Quills. There was power in them. A lot of power. Holding them in her hands, she sat down on her Quest Slab and stared out into the cracked shell of a dying universe. She wanted to ask the Muse a thousand questions but found she had no voice.
Remembering Dave's memory of his own ascension, she found herself thinking about Rose's last words to her brother. She didn't want to die. Her hands shook and she tightened them around the Quills to stop them. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. It seemed to take ages. But soon reality broke apart as the black hole the Muse had created devoured and destroyed the fabric of reality, taking the universe with it. She didn't even have time to scream. There was rending pain so terrible there were no words for it. Then there was nothing at all.
Hope you all enjoyed this extra long chapter! Thank you for reading and reviewing this weird little story.