"Wow… Beth sure is… fast…" Double D gasped out, the group all tired from running to Fire Mountain. "Didn't know… the girl… had it in her… to run… all this way…"
"And this is why I'm lucky to have wings," Toren said. "Hey Gabriel, I've never gotten the chance to ask before, but home come you don't fly despite being a bird? I mean, you have actual wings instead of hands like Donald Duck."
"Well, it's more just the look I went with when I came here to the Magical World," Gabriel explained, flapping his arms. "Despite my arms being more wing-like in design, I can't fly with them because my bones are as dense as a human."
"Same here," Double D added. "While we can't fly, the extra bone density does make it so they don't break as easily as an actual bird's if we get hurt."
"Yeah, that would be inconvenient," Aline nodded. She wiped some sweat off her forehead. "Jeez, I know that we don't have to worry about burning up inside Fire Mountain, but it's still hot. I hope we find Beth soon."
"Or she might find us," Mittens said.
"Then let us search for your friend!" Ben said, pulling out his sword. "Tally ho!"
The team went inside Fire Mountain, following a path that must have been made by the Atlanteans that lived there. Belos held up his staff to create a sphere of light for them to see by. Aline frowned, pulling out her own light glyph and making her own sphere to guide the way.
"So, you have glyphs as well," Belos noted.
"Yeah, and I was taught by the best glyph user ever, the Good Witch Luz!" Aline said. "She was given all of her glyphs by the Titan himself!"
"Ah, that's what happened to me as well," Belos said. "It's amazing what you can find if you study nature close enough. And did you say that Luz taught you to use glyphs?"
"Yeah, she did," Aline boasted.
"Funny, that child couldn't use a glyph if she tried in my world," Belos chuckled, making Aline gasp in shock.
"WHAT!? But Luz is the main character, so she has to learn magic!" Aline exclaimed.
"Just because Luz is the main character in The Owl House proper, doesn't mean she is the world Belos comes from," Gabriel pointed out. "You know, now I have to wonder what other characters are different in the worlds your partners come from."
"Well, as you know, in my world all of Bolt's adventures are 100% real," Mittens said. "I was actually created by Dr. Calico to be his rival."
"So you're the Shadow to his Sonic," Toren noted. "What about you, Joy?"
"Well, the Riley in my world definitely had a better time getting used to San Francisco," Joy said. She pulled out a Memory Orb from her bag and showed it to the gang. "Although I have to agree with Anger that putting broccoli on pizza is a mistake."
Everyone else made a gagging noise in agreement. "Yeah, that's just nasty and a waste of pizza!" Double D exclaimed. "So Ben, you said you were on a team with Mickey in your world of Fantasia?"
"Indeed, the mouse was the wizard, and I the captain of the Alligator Dancers," Ben said. "We battled the forces of Chernabog, with our ultimate goal to find the Spring Sprite."
"Huh, so Fantasia 2000 is mixed in there as well," Gabriel said. He stopped as the group came to an archway with Atlantean runes on it. He hummed a tune and let his magic flow into the runes, making them glow and reveal a hidden portal. "Beth has music magic, so I bet she went through here. Let's go, team!"
[***]
"Do you even know where you're going?" Gadget asked as Beth continued to activate runes around the volcano with her song.
"I mean, as long as I can make the runes glow, then we'll find the mirror shard in no time," Beth shrugged. "Besides, the Fractured we've faced haven't been that difficult at all."
"Yeah, but I have to keep zapping them for you and stop you from running into the traps you set off," Gadget pointed out. "There's only so much a mouse can do."
"But you're so cool, Gadget, and a great hero to boot! That's what I want to be: a hero!" Beth said with confidence.
"Well Beth, there's a difference between being a hero and jumping head-first into danger," Gadget said, pulling out a car jack and setting it up to hold the ceiling trap above from crushing them. "And you are constantly doing the latter here."
"What? But a hero must always risk their lives for others!" Beth stated. "That's what Mom taught me!"
"I would think your mother would also want you to stay safe," Gadget sighed.
The two came to a room near the top of the volcano, where purple lightning struck down on the mirror shard. Beth gave a smug look to Gadget, before going over and picking it up. "See, problem solved, and without any-"
She was cut off when a fist connected with the back of her head, forcing Beth to the ground as a hand took the shard from her. "Thank you for that," Bill Cipher said. "I mean, if all the shards are going to be this easy to get, then we don't even have to bother with you people!"
"Wait a minute- Brian!?" Beth shouted in shock.
It was at that moment that the other heroes arrived as well. "Beth, there you are!" Gabriel called out. "You shouldn't have run off like that! And who's that with you?"
"Looks like the big bad to me," Toren said.
"Did you say his name was Brian?" Aline said.
Brian looked at Beth with a frown. "So you came to stop me? Typical. Well, I have other matters to attend to. See you later, sister."
"SISTER!?" the others shouted out.
"Brian, wait!" Beth said, grabbing his hand. "I know that things haven't been great between us, but you don't have to go full supervillain on me! You know what Mom always says-"
"I don't care what our mother thinks!" Brian shouted, his hand turning into a shadow and pinning Beth to the floor. The mirror shard in his hand glowed with dark magic as he held it up. "She was always pushing us to be better, pushing you to be the best! But I never got the praise, only you! But now, I can change the script with the Stellar Mirror and become a hero, a better one that you, Miss "I-Can-Handle-This-By-Myself!" Have fun saving the world when your actions get you trapped in a volcano!"
"That seemed oddly specific," Beth pointed out.
Brian looked unamused, with the Collector taking over as he grinned manically. "Then let's make it clear to you. The game today is: The Floor Is Lava!" With a pulse of magic, the ground beneath the team broke apart, dropping them into the volcano. Gabriel quickly used his magic to catch everyone, while Bill Cipher took over to make their body float.
"Okay, it's clear that this guy isn't messing around," Double D said.
"Hey Brian- if that is your real name- why don't you fight us!" Toren taunted.
"Please, I have no time to deal with two human girls, two corvids, and a winged feline," Night rolled its eyes. They held up the mirror shard, pulsing it with dark magic. "Here's something to keep you all distracted. I see you have champions by your side, so have one of mine to play with!"
Out of the shard came a Fractured, but this one was in a form that the team recognized. "ADAM!?" the Dream Students exclaimed. Indeed, it was a version of Adam, but this version of him seemed to be completely robotic, with none of the humanity intact.
"I'll see you when I'm the hero of the story, Beth," Brian said as he opened a portal to leave to another part of the Wasteland. "I hope you live to see it."
"Brian!" Beth called out, before turning to Fractured Adam. "Okay, so I guess we have to deal with this guy first? Oh boy… Gadget, you're a tech person, why don't you give us something. Gadget?"
"Nonono, not him, anyone but him!" Gadget said, panic in her eyes.
"I think Gadget isn't going to help here," Belos said, teleporting the mouse over to him. "For now, we must battle."
"I agree. While it may look like Adam, it's just a Fractured copy made by whoever that bad guy was," Gabriel said. He set the team down as they got to the bottom of the volcano, rocks scattered about in the lava. "I think we can use the rocks to get across the area, but be careful not to fall in! I don't have any healing magic for that kind of burn."
Beth rejoined the others, taking Gadget and putting her in her pocket before nodding. The team split up, hopping across rocks (or flying in Toren's case) as they went to surround Fractured Adam. The robotic copy held up his hand, the palm forming into a repulsor glove as he started firing lasers at them! Gabriel and Belos put up shields, while Aline used ice glyphs to create more paths across the lava. Joy pulled out a sad memory, using its power to create a water ball and cool some lava herself.
"Woah! I didn't know you could use emotions like that!" Toren said.
"Well, each type of memory has a different power, one of the powers a sad memory has is tears, which are water," Joy explained.
"Huh, I bet I can do that too with my powers," Toren said. He channeled the power of sadness himself, his scarf glowing blue as he was suddenly shielded by a water bubble. "Huh, a zone of sadness. Neat!"
"Watch out for lightning if you're going to use that!" Gabriel called, deflecting a blast from Adam. "He still has lightning powers!"
"And Tron powers too," Aline said, putting up an ice pillar to block an incoming disc attack.
"it's like he has all the technology powers you can imagine!" Double D said. He did a somersault jump off Ben's shoulders, going over Adam and delivering a kick to his face. Unfortunately, all that did was make Dee's foot hurt like the Dickens. "Ow, ow, ow! Note to self, don't kick a robot in the face without shoes on!"
"Or just don't kick them at all," Mittens snarked.
"Children, please focus," Belos said.
"Hey gramps, in cat years we're probably closer in age than you think!" Mittens shot back.
"Everyone, it's clear we aren't getting anywhere at the moment," Gabriel shouted to get their attention. He grabbed Beth and went over to one of the caverns. "Let's split up and get this Fractured out of the main cavern!"
The Dream Students did as they were told, ducking into the tunnels as Fractured Adam made his way towards the direction Beth ran. Gabriel kept his magic on high alert, checking for traps while Beth was still focused on Gadget. "Come on, Gadget, you're the most tech-savvy person we have at the moment," Beth said. "We need some of the future knowledge to help out and be heroes!"
"I'm sorry, Beth, but that thing is something even I can't help with," Gadget said, shaking her head.
"It sounded like you knew this version of Adam," Gabriel pointed out. "Is he from your world?"
"That robot may look like Adam, but he's only a copy that I helped to create," Gadget explained. "You see, my world is set in the far future, and there was a full-on reboot of the Rescue Rangers set in the future- that's why I have more advanced gizmos than the regular Gadget. I know versions of all the Dream Defenders as well, but most of you are… gone."
"Woah, so there's a new Dream Keeper then?" Gabriel asked.
"Actually, you ended up becoming one with Fantasia itself, kinda like a Force Ghost to guide the next generation," Gadget replied. "But you see, while us fictional characters don't age, just changing as we get reworked or rebooted or forgotten to the Wasteland, guests like you guys still age, and get old, and eventually pass on. That's what happened to Adam, and Melanie was heartbroken when his soul moved on to the afterlife instead of becoming a ghost like her."
Gadget pulled out her Rescue Rangers communicator and showed off one of her blueprints. "Me and some of the other tech geniuses decided to make a robotic copy of Adam, so even if we couldn't bring the real one back, Melanie could still have a version of him around. We even got permission to use his original cyborg parts for the robot. But when we activated it… Well, you guys have seen Age of Ultron, so you can guess what happened."
"The fact that the robot had all of Adam's memories but not his heart drove him insane," Gabriel finished. "And he stands as your biggest regret."
Gadget nodded sadly. "Yes, and while we did manage to deactivate the robot, it taught me that trying to bring back someone you lost isn't the right way to go about things. But seeing that thing here, it made me scared as all the bad memories came back."
"What, but you're Gadget Hackwrench, a true hero! And heroes never get scared!" Beth said.
"And where did you learn that?" Gabriel questioned. "Being scared isn't a bad thing, it just means that we're human. And being a hero doesn't mean we don't get scared; in fact, heroes are normally the ones that get scared the most. Do you think that firefighters don't feel scared whenever they have to enter a burning building? No, being a true hero is standing up against your fears and pushing through for the sake of others."
"Well put," Belos nodded.
"But I do that all the time, too," Beth said.
"Yes, but you also decided it was a great idea to run into an active volcano filled with death traps because it was the "heroic" thing to do," Belos said pointedly. "That's not true bravery, that's called being bravely stupid. You don't think about yourself, only the payoff, the glory, and that's very selfish. Trust me, I know what being selfish for the "right" reasons is like."
Beth stared down at her feet. 'Mom always said to look out for trouble, to always run towards danger. But now, my friends are saying that I was being reckless, and thinking back… they might be right. I mean, how many times have I hurt myself for minor things, and all the times just to get a pat on the back and a "good job kid" from the person I helped?'
"I think she has a lot to think about now," Gabriel said. "For now, let's get rid of that Fractured Adam so we can get out of here."
"You know, those traps could help us out," Gadget said. "The Adam robot isn't indestructible, just very resilient. If we can apply enough force, we should be able to force it into shutdown mode."
"Then let's get to setting off some traps- on purpose this time," Gabriel nodded. "Beth, do you think you can help with that?"
The girl snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, setting off traps? I'm good at that!"
"Then let's go," Belos said. "Let me handle distracting that robot, you two get in position."
Gabriel and Beth ran down the tunnels, using their music magic to activate runes along the walls. Once they got to the cavern with the falling ceiling, Gabriel let out a whistle that called Belos over to them. Fractured Adam soon came their way as well, his arms morphed into various weapons as his eyes glowed red. Once he was locked onto the heroes, Beth let out a shout of "Now, Gadget!" with the mouse recalling the car jack she had set up earlier.
The ceiling fell down on the Fractured, though he didn't seem as physically damaged as they hoped. Gabriel and Beth then let their magic hit the other runes in the room, calling on spike traps, blow darts, pillars of fire, and just about every kind of trap you can imagine. Just as the robot started to spark, a comically large boulder came rolling out from behind them, which the heroes jumped out of the way of as the rock squashed the Fractured like a bug. In an explosion of dark magic, the Adam robot was no more in this dimension.
"We did it!" Beth cheered, giving a high-five to Gadget.
"Is that Adam copy gone?" Toren asked, coming into the room with the others.
"He is, but that guy from before still got away with the mirror shard," Gabriel sighed. "I guess all we can do now is head back to Mean Street to figure out the location of the next one."
"Um, I'd like to say something as well," Beth said. "I'm sorry for running off. I just wanted to be the hero, like always, but if you guys weren't there, I would have found out what it's like to take a lava bath. I'm always running into situations without thinking because I thought that's what it meant to be a hero, to not show fear at anything. But now that I know that it's my brother we're facing, I am scared, and I was trying to hide that fact too."
"Hey, it's fine, girl," Double D said.
"Yeah, just remember that we're a team, and we can rely on each other," Aline smiled. "Although you do owe us an explanation of what the deal with you and your brother is!"
"Yeah, I do," Beth giggled. "But how about we do that when we're not in a volcano?"
Author's Note
So our heroes now know who they're facing! We'll be getting more of the backstory between Beth and her brother next chapter, so stay tuned for that!
Also, it looks like Brian can use the mirror shards to create more powerful Fractured versions of the other Dream Defenders! I want each of the dark Dream Defenders to be the "bad timeline" version of them, and for Adam that would be him losing his humanity and becoming a soulless machine. The one good thing that came of it, though, is Gadget showing Beth that heroes aren't stupidly brave to face danger, but brave despite their fears.
Next Time: Beth tells the story of her brother, and the team find the location of the next shard!
