Some of you may have noticed the beginning of this chapter looks familiar, that's because there was a slight mixup last week. I fixed it right after, but if you recognize this section go back and read the end of last chapter to see what you missed.
February 14th 2011 The OZ 8:00 PM EDT
The papay, it turned out, were NOT all dead. They were however, apparently herbivores when they could manage, which was bullshit, because we absolutely could have grown them a tree. DGs magic seemed to have some connection to the OZ because when they surrounded us and I got ready to throw down it brought the tree she was leaning up against to life, creating a bunch of weird fruit that looked like red pears.
We made it through the field with no problems before eventually stopping to camp around sunset. I sat down with the girls next to the fire and stretched out. I turned to Dreamer as everyone else settled in to sleep after a hard day trekking along. "So, you went to earth and met Superboy huh?" I grinned at her. "Did you think he was dreamy?" I was pretty sure he was banging miss green jeans on the team so I wasn't really worried she was interested, but I like bad puns.
She rolled her eyes. "No. He was a bit sullen. Not my type." She gave me a sly smile. "I prefer my men with a sense of humor. Though I suppose you make up for that in other ways." Zee gave made a loud wince of sympathetic pain at her burn and I grinned at seeing her so loosened up. "To be honest with you, I think Earth was my favorite place that I've visited in my travels, however."
That was surprising, she'd been across the whole universe I was pretty sure. In and out of the Sphere of Gods. "That's high praise from someone as well traveled as you are. What made such a strong impression on you." Dreamer looked away, her cheeks lighting up in a blush as she murmured something unintelligible under her breath. I frowned. "Wait, what? I didn't catch that."
Her eyes snapped up to mine in a defiant glare. "I said I love Mango Bubble Tea!" Zee and I just gaped at her as she hid her face in my chest. She giggled slightly. "It's just so good. I know that's a strange answer but I had mango milk tea with boba and it was so delicious. I've never tasted anything like that. I drank it every day I was on earth. I even smuggled some of the powder back with me when I returned to New Genesis."
I had to clamp down hard not to burst out laughing, but I managed. Still, I had to say what I was thinking. "That's adorable." She glared at me, cheeks still flushed. Embarrassed Dreamer was cute Dreamer. I held up my hands in self defense. "Hey you don't have to be the wise zen figure all the time with us. We like to see your cute side too. Come on, spill, you were on earth for a while before you found Superboy and the Sphere right? What else did you do that was fun? There had to be some things you liked."
She pouted and looked away, and Zee rolled over onto my chest to get closer to her so we could both listen when she finally spoke up. "I enjoyed water slides." Zee squealed at the dark blush on Dreamers face and we urged her to keep going. She huffed but continued. "I liked tacos, and ice cream, and walking in the park. Not the parks themselves mind you, those were usually lackluster, but all the people gathered together in safety. The children playing by themselves or together as their families watch, acting as little ambassadors from their various factions."
Her smile was bright and animated as she talked, seeming to gather momentum as we let her gush about her experience on our home. "And I enjoy amusement parks. The idea of a place whose sole purpose is to bring joy is mesmerizing to me. So many unique and inventive ideas all to make people happy. Also video game arcades, for the same reason, everything inside seems dedicated to joy and laughter." Her eyes narrowed and her frown morphed into a scowl. "Except the game with the claw and the box. I believe that to be an instrument of evil."
I cracked up at that. "Yeah, pretty much everyone on Earth came to that same conclusion years ago." I snuggled up to her, Zee rolling over off me so she was sprawled halfway across each of us. "Sounds like you did some fun stuff. We have other things we can still show you though. Like the fair, which is kind of like an amusement park, but it moves, and the food is way better. Or worse depending on your point of view." I looked up at Zee. "What do you think baby? What do you want to show Dreamer?"
Zee had been a shut in most of her life, but she'd spent time exploring and trying to live her life as best she could , and she'd seen some cool magic shit too. She bit her lip in thought. "I think I'd want to show her the clock tower, and the island. Places that were just for us. Plus the movie theater. I love going to the movies." She closed her eyes happily. "The smell of the popcorn, the way audience comes together during the movie like one big blob of over the top emotion. It's just so...special."
Zee and I had gone to the movies together a few times, and she always loved it there. I think being off in our own little world like that made her happy. Dreamer noticed her soft smile and gave us both one of her own. "That does sound very nice. I would love to see more of your world with you both. It is certainly unique in many ways among the places I've been before, and I would relish a chance to visit again." Her tone as she said that was almost...shy. And I realized that we'd never talked about Dreamer coming back with us.
A discussion we would definitely be having, but later, because the whole mood was spoiled by DG jerking awake on the other side of the fire with a loud yell. Some of us slept through the noise, but Zee, Dreamer and I got up to go check on the girl. I knelt down next to her, but she didn't seem to see me, her big blue eyes staring off into the middle distance as she clearly relived a memory or a dream. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey you ok?"
She jumped, as if she hadn't known I was there, but then swallowed and nodded quickly. "Yeah...I. I had a nightmare. About Azkedelia. She told me when she had me captive that we were friends when we were little. I assumed it was just some of her mind game nonsense to try to get me to give her the emerald, but now I'm not so sure." She sounded uncertain, like she was struggling to avoid believing something that she already knew was true.
"Maybe your Dream was trying to tell you something." Cut in Todo. He seemed eager to get her to explore her memories and the things related to them, so I wasn't surprised he was looking for deeper meaning. Then again, DG was a magical princess from a fairy tale kingdom so maybe special princess answer dreams came with the package. In terms of the destiny lottery she might have even beaten me out, and I was the bastard son of a Gotham mob boss with the power to warp reality.
DG stood up, starting to pace as she talked. Artemis was looking at her in concern as she and Wally joined us by the fire. I saw Zee lean over to fill her in as DG started talking. "In the dream, I was scared, and my mother was rocking me on a swing. In a special place." She closed her eyes, clearly trying to remember something but having trouble grasping it. Her face scrunched in frustration. "A beautiful place. By a lake."
Cain cut in cautiously. "Well...there's about a hundred lakes just south of here." She looked at him helplessly and he smiled gently back. "You know which lake." She shook her head in denial. "Yes, you do. You just need to focus DG. You were there before, as a little girl. Just give it a try." She closed her eyes again, brow furrowing in concentration as she did her best to dig even deeper.
She gritted her teeth in annoyance. "It was...magical. I see a shimmering lake, I'm skipping stones. There's a big house next to the water and a gazebo on one side where my mother would sit with me. My sister and I are catching minnows in the shallows, but we have to stop because it's time for dinner." She shook her head sharply. "No! None of this is helping. It could be anywhere!"
Artemis walked over and put a hand on DG's shoulder. After the revelation of her magic the two of them had started spending time together, especially when Zee was off with Dreamer and I. She gave the girl a reassuring squeeze. "Hey. They're your memories, which means they're helping YOU. We can find the house or whatever when we get to lake country, but until then just focus on remembering whatever you can, relevant or not. Rediscovering your past is more important than getting some info."
She smirked at me. "Besides, worst case we just send Morgan out to fly around and look, clone army style." I winced because that actually WAS a valid search tactic, but it was also a stupidly expensive one. I might need hundreds of clones depending on how big this lake country area was, and I absolutely didn't have the points to burn. I was at sixty two hundred, sure, but I was also saving up to curb stomp Azkedelia again if she showed her face. If I tapped myself out doing an air search I might not have the juice to hand with the wicked witch if she came knocking.
Luckily that wasn't necessary. Wally raised a hand. "Not really an issue. I can run a search almost as fast." He gave me a subtle nod to show he he knew I needed to save my strength and I sighed in relief. Then the redhead did something I didn't expect. He turned to Raw. "Hey big guy, think you could pull your mirror vision trick again? If you can show us what DG is remembering it'll give me a place to start on my search. Even if it's changed seeing how it looked in the recent past will give me an idea of the layout at least."
Raw nodded excitedly. "Yes! Raw help DG! Show image to the red one to lead the way." I gave Wally a respectful nod. That was a damn good thought. I wouldn't have even considered it. I'd probably have asked her to try to draw it or something. Raw turned to our wayward princess. "DG allow Raw access? Share her memories with friends? Very personal thing to ask, but Raw believes it will help us find the answers DG seeks." He gave her a reassuring smile, and she returned it, eyes soft as she looked at the big furry teddy bear.
She held out a hand. "Sure Raw. I'm happy to have your help. I know with you on the case we can find out where the lake house is in no time." Raw took her hand and led her to a small creek nearby. Apparently any reflective surface was fine for his ability. He knelt down, still touching her hand, and touched his to the surface of the water. He was gentle, being careful not to cause many ripples, and he waited for the water to settle before he focused. Then, before our eyes, the water blurred, and DG's memories began to play for us again.
Much like me, Morgan didn't realize this took place on valentines, though it was on theme anyway. The arc is coming to a close in the advance chapters and then it's back to Gotham, expect BIG changes when they get home, and I hope you guys are enjoying this arc as much as I am. /malcolmtent has the advance chapters.
February 15th 2011 The OZ 10:00 AM EDT
We went to sleep after Raw did his thing, making sure to get some rest in preparation for the next day. With the images from her memories Wally set off in a search pattern. Even with his new speed it was going to take him some time to cover the huge amount of space, and that was assuming it even looked similar enough to find. Because of that we headed south the slow way while we waited for him to report back. We mostly walked in silence, the groups similar to how they had been. Dreamer and Zee with me, and Artemis with DG, Glitch, Raw and Cain. Vykin, Serifan, and Bear kept to themselves. I suspected they were trying to give Dreamer space in case she went with us when we left.
It was the light of day and we'd been walking for a while however, when DG froze. She stared down at the ground, then reached down and picked up a rotten fruit. "Apples." We all looked at her in confusion, and Todo asked what she was talking about. She answered in the distracted tone she always used when lost in her memories. "Something Azkedelia said. That we would explore the woods as girls. Gather apples." She swallowed hard. "I remember being here. We were exploring and a bear attacked us. We held hands and our magic scared it off. She protected me."
Her face twisted with pain as she whispered to herself. "Azkedelia, what happened to you?" She shook off the memory but withdrew into herself for the rest of the walk. Artemis tried to get her to open up, and Glitch tried his usual sunny optimism, but she'd shut down. Something about that memory was hitting her hard, and her aura was twisted with pain and confusion in a way that broke my heart.
That pain abated somewhat when it was overwhelmed by awe as we came to a giant ass canyon. Cain had mentioned this when we first got DG back, after he talked about the papay. The 'Crack in the OZ' which, while kind of melodramatic was a pretty accurate description. Cain whistled at the drop before glancing over across the gap to a series of wooden platforms covered in soldiers. "Longcoats everywhere. We're not getting past them in broad daylight." He turned to me. "Don't suppose you could take care of the problem kid?"
I shrugged. "I mean...I could. They would probably all die though. I could think of a dozen ways to get rid of them in minutes but they're all fatal. Blast the supports out on those platforms, throw a spike grenade, that kind of thing. If you're asking me to make all of us invisible and simultaneously carry us across than I'm going to go ahead and say no. It's...possible. But it would take so much of my power that I'd be a sitting duck on the other side, and I'm the only one here who can beat back Queenie when she pokes her weirdly coiffed head out."
Todo spoke up. "The eclipse is almost upon us, we don't have any time to waste." He was looking around nervously, as if we would be attacked at any second. Todo had been getting more and more squirrely the longer we had been traveling. I was ninety percent sure he was a spy of some kind, but he was also actively helping DG with her memories and his aura showed he genuinely cared about her and felt guilty about what he was doing. Honestly I gave the old dog even odds of switching sides before turning on us.
Cain however, refused to be rushed. "If he says it won't work we find another way. Quick and dead might be ok with you dog man, but I'll take slow and breathing every time. Which means if the kid can't brute force us across we might need some help." He scanned the forest before he found something odd and his eyes widened. "You all see that cabin?" His eyes were glued to the small wood building as if he'd seen a lifeline.
Glitch shrugged. "Sure, but it's probably full of longcoats. They're all over the place here." He worried his lip eyes scanning every which way. He was clearly trying to come up with a way to cross. I felt for Glitch, I really did. Knowing you were a world class genius but having access to literally none of that intelligence sounded like a fate worse than death to me. I had no idea how the flighty man stayed so positive all the time.
Cain grinned at us. "Nope. Look at the smoke." He pointed to the cabin and I noted that weirdly the smoke was blue, which seemed like a whole bunch of effort for little to no payoff, which meant it was probably some sort of signal. I remembered Cain mentioning he was part of the resistance against Azkedelia, which was why Zero had attacked him and his family.
He gestured us ahead and we all made our way down to the cabin together, the older man practically bouncing from all the spring in his step. That spring was somewhat dampened when we approached and an older man in a cloak cocked a gun at us. "State your business." There was another cocking of a gun and a woman stepped out from behind the other side of the place, also leveling a long barreled gun at us.
Cain raised both hands. "We mean no harm. We're travelers of the realm, seeking a warm meal and a cold cup of hearty grog." That was a really fucking weird thing to say, so I was guessing either it was some kind of code of Cain had just had the most unfortunately timed stroke in history. The man's eyes narrowed, but he didn't shoot my friend for being a gibbering lunatic so the whole code thing was pretty much confirmed.
It wasn't going to be effective though from what I could see. "Food is scarce this time of year, and the grog has long since been sized." Which was either a countersign telling Cain to fuck off or the longcoats had been rampaging through the woods stealing random people's beer. Which admittedly sounded like something those assholes would do, but I felt like this place was remote enough that beer jacking them would be more trouble than it was worth.
Cain just nodded as if that was fine. "Then we will leave you in peace." He pinned the gun wielding man with a meaningful gaze. "May your hearth, be warm." I was starting to see how Cain had gotten caught contacting the resistance. The code phrases were a bit obvious, but they could theoretically fly, but the intense emphasis and secretive glances were pretty much top of the list of things you shouldn't do as a spy.
The gun wielding guy apparently went to the same shitty amateur tradecraft school that Cain had though because he gace a meaningful nod and said. "And your smoke be blue. Come in, quickly." He turned and opened the door, fleeing into the house. His wife, or sister, or whatever the woman with the other gun was, followed him in with her head on a swivel as she ushered us inside.
We followed them in and the man smiled. "I'm Ralph, this is my wife Lorraine." He gestured to the woman, who had pointedly not lowered her big ass gun. I was kind of getting sick of people pointing weapons at me, but since she was a mundane human I decided to let the other handle it. Unless she tried to shoot me. In which case I was going to kick her ass a little. Ralph gave her a disappointed look. "They're friends, Lorraine."
She just shook her head. "No such thing anymore." She gestured to Cain. "Put your gun on the table." I blinked. I'd...forgotten Cain was armed. His six shooter was pretty old school compared to the laser blasters the longcoats were packing, not that guns in general were really much of a threat to me. I gave him a nod and he withdrew the weapon and set it down. Not like it cost us anything to make them feel at ease.
Cain smiled to put them at ease. "No problem." He withdrew his pistol and set it down slowly. "We just need shelter until it's safe to cross." Ralph gestured for us to take seats as best we could. There wasn't really room for everyone to sit down though. Hell there was barely room to stand. Glitch, DG, Raw, me, Zee, Dreamer, Bear, Vykin, Serifan, Artemis, and Cain made for a tight squeeze.
Ralph smiled ruefully and shook his head. "it's never safe to cross. But the cover of night will help at least." There was a loud thump from a wall across from us and Lorraine snapped at the wooden structure, rapping it with her gun to push whoever was back there to stay hidden. Ralph put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Let us show some trust." He looked to the wall. "It's alright children, you can come out now."
A pair of kids stepped out, one small boy and a girl around twelve. Zee, who was shockingly good with kids for someone who was never around them when she was one, waved cheerfully. The boy hid behind his sister, who waved back. Glitch cleared his throat. "Am I the only one that's hungry?" Literally every one of us turned to glare at him because these people were obviously insanely poor and could barely feed themselves and there was eleven of us. Even if Wally wasn't here which really cut down on the food intake.
Ralph smiled tensely. "Of course. We can eat. Children why don't you help your mother." Lorraine stood in the kids way and Ralph frowned. "Lorraine, please." The woman just glared back. He heaved a tired sigh before turning to us with a sad smile. "Please excuse my wife. We've lived in fear for too long." I didn't blame her though, especially not considering they had so little to share.
I raised a hand. "Actually how about I provide the food. It only seems fair since you're being so kind as to host us. I have enough for everyone and don't mind sharing." He seemed a bit confused as to how that would work, but nodded curiously. I stepped over to the table and started taking cooked dishes out of my spatial ring. Best part of a spatial ring by far was the stasis effect. Hot food stayed hot, cold food stayed cold, and none of it ever touched. Everything in the ring was perfectly preserved as it was right after it was made.
I took out a huge roast turkey, some mashed potatoes, a foil dish full of asparagus, and then looking at all the people a second turkey. I had plenty of prepackaged food stored away, but I kept the homemade stuff for just in case people needed a pick me up. These people pretty clearly did. The eyes of every person in the cabin went wide and the kids looked excited I smiled at the hosts, and even Lorraine defrosted a bit, giving me a grudging nod of thanks.
As the kids bolted to sit at the table and everyone else moved around to try to force themselves into some semblance of comfortable seating I had to smile. I hadn't had a dinner like this since that night at my place when we introduced Wally to Artemis's mom. It was a nice change, having so many people around. As we sat down and Lorraine started passing out plates I briefly wondered if we should save some for Wally, but then I just shrugged it off. I had more for him in my ring if he was hungry. Well, more of the dinner stuff. I somehow doubted my ice cream stash would survive the night.
February 15th 2011 The OZ 8:00 PM EDT
It was a bit crowded at dinner, but that made the homey atmosphere even stronger. We enjoyed the food for a while, just making pleasant conversation, but in the end things came back to business. Ralph asked Cain about news from the resistance and Cain told him he'd been hoping to hear that from him. Before that could go further though, DG cut in abruptly. "Do you know anything about a machine that Azkedelia is building?" Since her recent bout of memories of the two of them she'd been obsessed with trying to figure out what was wrong with her sister.
I was...torn. I knew something was going on with the girl, and I wanted to tell DG, but I was worried if she decided Azkedelia was a victim here she might get in the way during a fight and get herself or one of us killed. I had no plans to kill Azkedelia, but DG wouldn't necessarily know that, and I wanted to minimize her reason to interfere. The machine seemed like a good place to focus, so I turned to Ralph along with the others to hear his reply. "Only rumors." The man admitted. "Something about some mine in the mountains."
Glitch answered absently. "Mauritanium." We all glanced over to him. He frowned, clearly puzzled as to how he'd known that and annoyed things kept popping into his head. "Big M little t, number two one six on the OZyian periodic table." His face cleared, a dopey smile painting across it. "Ah, school days, now that you mention it I remember a lovely lass named Rhiona-"
DG cut him off. "Mauritanium, what does it do?" She was just as intense as she had been with Ralph. Personally I was pretty interested in there being a separate periodic table in the OZ but I could empathize with her priorities at the moment.
Glitch looked...unsettled. "Aside from its unusual strength Mauritanium is known for its ability to conduct magical energy. She can use it to focus and channel the energy from the Emerald when she finds it."
DG swallowed hard. "So...it's a weapon?" I had been pretty positive of that from the moment I heard about the thing, but it hurt to see my friend lose all hope of her sister still being in there somewhere.
Glitch surprised us all by casually dismissing that idea. "No, it's a sun seeder." Then he froze. That had been one of those things that he said out loud without knowing it consciously and I watched his...lack of brain, try to comb through things he didn't really remember to find the answers to questions he didnt even know to ask. "Which is...I don't know. But it sounds cool." Then his face fell again. "No. Wait. i invented it. But I...can't remember what it was used for."
I raised a hand in a mockery of a kid in a classroom. "Am I the only one who thinks Azkedelia building a giant machine that can channel presumably absurd amounts of magic energy to do ANYTHING to the sun or suns is terrifying? Because as redundant as I find two of them I'm pretty sure theres nothing you could do to them from a distance that would benefit the OZ. Like I put the suns firmly in the do not touch category."
DG nodded. "Morgan's right. We need to know what it does. I'm sorry Glitch, we need to find out what you know. If your memory can't connect without your brain we need something a little less brain oriented." She turned to the large furry man sitting quietly off to the side with Bear. The two of them had taken to spending time together, I guess feeling kinship for someone else big and hairy. "Raw, can you do you find out what that machine is?"
We borrowed a mirror and Raw reached into Glitches past. The mirror showed us a fraught memory of Glitch running and afraid, and then rewound to him running and afraid again, but with his brain still intact. He was pleading with the Queen to stop Azkedelia, bringing news that their most loyal general had defected, but she basically told him straight up she wasn't strong enough anymore since she gave up her magic to save DG. She said Azkedelia was too strong because the darkness had taken root.
He told her Azkedelia tried to steal the sun seeder plans but he destroyed them, and asked her to protect his brain from invasion, but she told him she didn't have the power anymore. Azkedelia strode in with a bunch of her goons and informed them both that the Queen was going into retirement. She sent Glitch off to the Alchemists to have his brain ripped out so she could get her plans. The next bit was Glitch begging them not to cut his brain out, terrified and strapped to a table.
Glitch jumped, breaking the connection. "Oh my! The name's Glitch, have..." He trailed off, his mind seeming to jump start. He gave DG a serious look, apparently completely unaware of what had just happened. "Hey, are you ok?" I winced internally. I could see the guilt and shame in DG's aura for forcing her friend to go through that, even if he didn't remember it. She felt horrible. "What? Was my machine so bad?" DG just leaned forward and hugged the flighty man. Seeing her there, heartbroken, I came to a decision.
I cleared my throat. "The darkness the Queen talked about. The stuff in Azkedelia. It wasn't figurative." Everyone looked at me. DG seemed confused. "I don't know what it IS exactly. But it's...something? Maybe her magic turned toxic from her being such an asshole? Maybe she's possessed. But SOMETHING in her is not right. I didn't want to bring it up when I wasn't sure of it, but 'taking root' implies it wasn't always there. I think something was done to her."
As I expected DG's eyes lit up with joy and hope. I winced internally. I didn't know what was done to Azkedelia, didn't know if I could stop it. I'd gone through my phone after our fight looking for something to purify her, but purification spam was rare and the stuff that showed up was all weird esoteric shit that cost alot, like the Holy Grail, or actual tears from a Phoenix. All really useful but also functionally worthless to use without some time for me to stock up.
There was a knock on the door, and everyone jumped. The guns came up but I raised a hand, shifting into the intangible and invisible spectrum and stepping through the door to look outside. The looks of shock and awe on the face of everyone involved were priceless, but luckily the weapons weren't necessary. "It's Wally. Stand down folks, he's with us." I looked to the girls. "How did he know where to find us anyway?"
Artemis raised a hand. "That was me. I had Zee give him her sending stone so we could keep in touch." She blushed slightly. "He found some bad stuff the last two times. I know Cain took him aside and asked him to look for his family while he was gone, and I fed him a bit of information he gave me after talking to Ralph too. I just wanted to make sure he had someone with him." I nodded at that. It wasn't my business anyway. The sending stones were for team use, and
Wally was on the team for as long as we were stuck out here. After that...well we would have to see where we stood.
We got the ok from the hosts and let the redhead in. He stumbled through the door, exhausted. "Thanks. I managed to avoid their surveillance net, but it wasn't easy." His eyes focused on the empty dishes and he let out a petulant whine. "Awww man. You guys ate without me? I'm starving." I rolled my eyes and pulled out huge tub of potato salad from my ring, passing it to the human vaccum that my best friend was dating. He grinned at me. "Thanks. Anyway, I found the hedge maze at the edge of the vision, it's not too far from here."
His eyes turned sad as he turned to Cain. "I...also found the white tree you mentioned man. I'm sorry. The house there was old and broken down. There was an iron suit like yours...and a grave for Adora. No sign of your boy." Cain's eyes went wide and he dropped to his knees, the light going out of him almost. It was...hard to see. Despite the fact that he hadn't brought it up hearing his family was still alive had put a fire back in the older man. He'd been livelier, more cheerful. Seeing that go out again was...rough.
I'd bonded with the old man, and I walked over and knelt down to pull him into a hug. "I'm so sorry Wyatt. I am so, unbelievably sorry. Wally, Zee, Dreamer, Artemis, Glitch, DG , and Raw, all closed in and joined the hug. This was...horrible. To have hope so close and then it ripped away, I couldn't imagine a worse torment. Even the original pain of watching that loop must have paled in comparison. We stayed like that for a bit. Just everyone holding onto the older man who had become something of a backbone for our group. Finally he gave a shuddering breath and pushed to his feet.
He turned to Wally. "I owe you for this one red. Even if the news was bad, I wouldn't have it without you. After this is over... I'll go and visit. But if you need anything, I'm there." Wally nodded back. Cain, no , Wyatt, might be darker and more vengeful than what he was used to, and the morality of killing Zero was more suited to the OZ than back home, but the old man was the closest thing to a hero we'd met in these parts. He had a heart that beat for justice, even if it was a harsher kind than Wally was used to, and I could see in the redheads aura that he respected it.
I was pretty sure this trip had changed Wally. Seeing other worlds, darker worlds, had shown him a side of being a hero that was bleaker than he had known existed. The OZ needed people like Wyatt Cain. It had it's own heroes, and maybe things weren't so black and white after all. How this would effect what he did once we got back was anyone's guess, but I was pretty sure it WOULD have an effect.
The former Tin Man turned to DG. "Now. Tell us about this hedge maze you spotted. It showed up in the images Raw showed us of DG's memories?" He was clearly trying to refocus, and we all let him. He deserved to deflect if that's what he needed. Still, we would be here for him as best we could. Wyatt had been a strong ally and a good friend to us since we'd gotten here. Something about the OZ just made time feel...nebulous. It had only been a few days since we arrived but I feel like I'd know Wyatt for years. Dream world bullshit I was guessing.
Wally nodded to us. "Yeah, and I managed to track the patrols enough that I can get us past them, so we can head there immediately." He hadn't opened the potato salad yet and I gestured for him to do so. He nodded in gratitude and popped the lid, wolfing down the whole tub in a time span that, frankly speaking, probably would have disgusted me if I hadn't fought literal bio abominations made by elder gods fairly recently. Once he finished he nodded that he was ready, and we said goodbye to our hosts, then we headed back out on our journey.
February 16th 2011 The OZ 10:00 AM EDT
We made it past the longcoats easily enough. Took us a while because we had to walk serpentine to slip past their ranks, but we didn't run into any trouble. Once we got to the maze DG took off at a sprint, but the rest of us kept up easily. She stopped in the middle of a dead forest, sitting down on a swing hanging from a blackened tree. Without looking up, she began to swing back and forth.
Glitch stepped up behind her, looking over her shoulder. "You were right about the magical waters DG, that's what Fenaqua means in the ancient's language. Not sure the translation applies anymore though. It was one of the first places Azkedelia scorched when she came to power." His eyes roved over the burned out husk of what had once been a beautiful forest, a sad gleam in his normally cheerful eyes. For a moment, he seemed to be his old self again, the one we saw in the vision, his heart breaking as he took in what was left of a place he'd loved.
DG's voice was rough with emotion as she stared at the husk of the forest. "This place used to be paradise." Left unspoken was the hurt and confusion she was feeling. Her sister had done this, and she still didn't know why. Seeing those memories of them being friends when they were younger had opened a scar in DG that I don't think she even realized was there. She wanted her family. Wanted her sister back. I just wished I knew how to help.
DG's head snapped up in confusion. She came to her feet. "Do you hear that?" We didn't, but she hadn't really been asking anyway, she was lost in the memories, her feet carrying her off into the forest. We tried to follow but Todo insisted we let her do things on her own. Of course I didn't actually do that. I let the dog shifter look away and then replaced myself with a clone while I trailed behind her invisibly.
She climbed through the trees and rocks almost on autopilot, humming a song to herself as she went deeper and deeper into the woods. After a few minutes we came to a cave that...just kind of reeked of evil. There was rot and corruption baked into the stones there, but it seemed old. I was pretty sure the thing that had been in here was gone, and based on the familiarity of the aura I was also pretty sure I knew where it had ended up. Inside a twelve year old girl who it brainwashed into killing her own sister.
Staring up at the design above the cave mouth I was also pretty sure that DG was figuring that out herself. Her face was twisted in confusion and fear, and I doubted she was going to enjoy this particular memory. I resumed my visibility and stepped up next to her. I put a hand on her shoulder for support as she stepped into the cave. I was pretty sure she was living the memory in real time, because the fear in her aura was getting stronger by the second as we stepped in deeper.
I saw the change in her aura when she learned the truth, and the wail of sorrow that came out of her mouth as she fell to her knees and started crying broke my heart. I knelt down and patted her back as she wept, sobbing onto the dirt floor of the cave. She looked up at me with tear stained cheeks. "It was my fault. All of it. I was the one who wanted to come in here to explore, Az wanted to go home, she was afraid, but she loved me so she came in anyway. When we found that...thing, in the crevice, she grabbed my hand, she said we would be safe if we were together."
Her sobs redoubled, her voice choking with grief as she forced the rest of it out. "We would have been fine, but I got scared by the witch. I pulled away and ran. I just left her there, and when I looked back it had her. She looked so scared there, just a little girl being held by that monster as it forced itself in through her mouth." She stared up at me in abject horror. "Every single terrible thing that's happened. The fall of the OZ, my death, my mother losing her powers. It was me. It was all because of me."
She dissolved back into sobs, falling against me, and the others stepped into the cave. They had clearly decided not to listen to the dog shifter and had come looking just a bit after we left. DG was just sobbing an apology into my chest over and over. To me, to her mother, to her sister, to Cain. I winced, patting her hair as she wailed. "DG you were a little girl. You got attacked by an ancient witch. From what you said there wasn't a lock or a door or anything, you just wandered down here."
She looked up at me. "Being attacked is not your fault. Not being able to stop an ancient monster as a small girl was not your fault, and coming down here is not your fault. It lured you down here didn't it? Let me guess, it called for help? Made itself sound like it was in trouble? Primordial evil being able to trick small children is not a shock. The idiots who locked this thing up apparently didn't see fit to bother with bars. If your ancient super trap for unspeakable evil isn't child proof, you probably fucked up."
DG snorted, giggling wetly. "That's not..." She hiccuped. "I hadn't thought of it that way." She frowned and shook her head. "I can't accept it though. Not totally. You have...a slight point. I just can't completely dismiss my responsibility for this though. I made a mistake. If I had stuck it out we would have been ok. My running was the reason Az got taken by that thing. So I have to be the one to help get her free." She bit her lip, looking up at me with worry. "But...I don't know if I can. Not alone. Will you still help? Even knowing it's all my fault?"
I smacked her upside the back of the head as I got to my feet, pulling her up with me. "Idiot. I literally just told you that it isn't your fault, so obviously I'm not going to just abandon you halfway through this mess. Plus we still have to find your mom if we want to get home. Might as well save your sister while we're at it. I don't usually do the hero thing but since this is a fairy tale world I think I can make an exception. At least, as long as the others are still cool with it? What do you say guys? We still doing this?"
I didn't need to ask. I knew them, and I could see their auras anyway, but as much as I didn't need to hear it, DG did. So I asked them if they were with us, and not a single one of them disappointed. Dreamer and Zee were the first to volunteer to help again, and I couldn't have been more proud. Wally and Artemis were next, only beating Cain by a few seconds, and Glitch by a few more. Raw nodded seriously, with Bear just snorting in derision we would even ask, and even Vykin and Serifan were clearly onboard. Todo nodded distractedly, but I could see he was already in, he just had convince himself.
I turned to the teary eyed princess, gesturing to the group. "See. They're all in. So you're stuck with us for this whole thing. Good luck getting a word in edgewise with all these back seat drivers." I lowered my voice in a fake whisper. "Especially Artemis, she'd always so bossy." That drew a yelp of annoyance as my best friend tried unsuccessfully to brain me with a rock. My reflexes made dodging simple and I stuck out my tongue petulantly.
She rolled her eyes turning to DG. "Are you sure you want his help? Might be a better idea to just wing it. He can be useful in a fight but it's not worth all the lip." DG giggled again, obviously coming out of her shame spiral. Artemis walked up to the girl and gave her a hug. "I know what it's like to lose your sister to the dark. The difference is mine jumped in on her own, yours was pulled down. We'll save her Deej. You guys will be a family again and you'll go and get your mom together. That's a promise."
I nodded seriously. Worst case I would restrain Azkedelia until we could purify her. The others chuckled along, and then caught us up on what we'd missed then they stayed behind. Artemis had capped one of the flying monkeys with a lightning bolt from her bow, and they all decided moving would be prudent. It seemed like Queenie might be on out trail sooner than expected, especially given the whole tattoo connection those "mobats" had with her. I was betting she could at least track them, if not feel their deaths.
We headed out again. We still had to get to the lake palace. The maze had been the clue to get us here, but DG was the one who knew the way from that point. Wally had just found something from her memories to use as a touchstone. Granted Fenaqua was still close, so we didn't have far to go. When we got there we found a message from her mother to go to "the realm" and look for a man named Ahamo. With our next lead we resumed our journey. We walked for a while before we heard a sound off to one side and everyone stopped. I counted our party and realized we were missing two. A mystery that ceased to be a mystery when we stumbled on Cain pointing a gun at Todo.
Ah, so the little dog man hadn't had the change of heart I figured he had. Cain was glaring at him as DG asked in a panic what the older man was doing. He spat to one side. "This garbage was leaving breadcrumbs for Azkedelia. He's been a spy the whole damn time!" His eyes were alight with rage, and I couldn't say I blamed him.
DG looked heartbroken. "Todo? But...you were family? All my memories of when I was a girl have you in them. You taught us magic and showed us how to use our powers. You even took care of us when mom had to go to court? Why would you do this?"
The old shifter looked like someone had stabbed him in he heart. "I still AM family DG, I care more about you than anyone else in the whole wide world. But...for the last FIFTEEN years, I've been locked up in a dark hole. When Azkedelia came to me, she offered me my freedom if I tracked you. I went along with it at first, but I stopped dropping the coins I used to leave a trail a while back. I never wanted to betray you. But I figured if I said yes I could stall her while I taught you magic. I wanted to tell you, but I knew you were already wary about trusting me."
Cain looked murderous, and he cocked his gun, clearly ready to kill the old man. DG put a hand on his shoulder. "No. We're all looking for second chances, Todo too." She looked to me. "Is he telling the truth? Did he do this for me?" I glanced over his aura and then nodded. She swallowed hard. "He can stay." The old man looked overjoyed, but the expression fell when she gave him a cold look. "But if you meant what you said then you can guide us in a way that you won't be able to do any more damage. If you want to stay with us you'll have to travel in your dog form."
The old shifter nodded sadly. "I swear DG. It was the only thing I could think of. I knew she would jump us mid journey if she didn't have someone reporting in. I just left those coins to buy time. But if this is what I need to do to earn your trust again I'll do it. I'll take you to Ahamo, I know what he looks like. I promise DG. I'm on your side." And with that, he shifted into a dog. He walked up the girl who stared at him numbly for a minute then held out her arms, and then he jumped up. Once again we resumed our endless walking. If I had to pick one good thing about the OZ. At least it was decent cardio.
February 25th 2011 The OZ 8:00 PM EDT
The Realm was FAR. It took us days of walking to get there. I'd gotten used to everything in the OZ being crowded together. Most of our trips had taken a day or so of walking, but this place was a fucking trek. On the upside it gave us time to decompress. Dreamer and Zee and I got closer, spending nights talking as well as the occasional tantric top up for me, and I was looking at a solid twenty five thousand points in the bank right now. DG was feeling better, with Artemis making it her mission in life to cheer the girl up while Wally kept an eye on Cain, who had been much quieter since learning his wife had died.
The cornerpups had been growing slowly as we went, since I was feeding them bits of void energy when I could, and they were all around the size Patches had been before, while Patches himself was now around the size of a small pitbull. He'd been heartbroken he couldn't be easily carried anymore, but the girls still loved on him and cuddled him whenever possible so he got over it pretty quickly. I'd been working on researching my second spell, the Hollow Armor spell, which would make an empty suit of armor from the void to tank blows for me, but it was slow going.
Of course, that was assuming we were actually there because I saw...nothing. We were standing in a field of tall grass. Todo had been leading us, and when we got to the field he started barking and running around, but I didn't see anything there. Suddenly, Glitch spoke up. "Over there!" We all gathered at the spot he was pointing to and found...a trap door. Glitch looked surprised as we opened it to reveal a ladder and a hole going down. "Well that's something you don't see every day."
We climbed down the ladder and into The Realm. DG's message from her mother had told us to look for her father Ahamo, and apparently he wasn't exactly a shiny upstanding type because according to Cain The Realm was where the unwanted ended up. Criminals, outlaws, just generally my kind of people. The place was big, but we lucked into finding an...information center? A pretty blonde with olive skin and skimpy clothes told us where we could find someone who might know Ahamo for a good chunk of Cain's money.
So that was how we found ourselves in some seedy underground bar, meeting a gaunt blonde main with long hair and a shady cast to his features. DG as usual, took the lead. "We were told you could help us find Ahamo." I gave it even odds this WAS Ahamo and the seeker thing was just a paper identity he used to funnel people into meetings without giving himself away, but this was DG's quest and her dad besides so I just shut up and let her work.
He looked at her critically. "Show me your hand." She did, holding up her palm, and I smirked when I saw it was empty. He rolled his eyes. "The other one." She did. He saw the symbol and smiled but before he had a chance to speak again there was a yell to initiate a surprise attack, the blonde woman from before and two other men came charging into the room. The Seeker, which was what the guy was calling himself looked enraged. "This wasn't the deal!" But someone threw a smoke bomb and the world turned to chaos.
I shot. Everything. Not hard, and not enough to actually kill them, especially not the guy I was pretty sure was DG's dad, but the smoke did nothing to hide them from my aura vision and a few well placed bolts of ectoplasm had them on the ground moaning. The smoke cleared and everyone just looked around. I rolled my eyes. "I'm guessing those idiots work for Azkedelia. They were probably expecting backup, but Queenie isn't stupid enough to send me more longcoats to pulp." I walked over to the man in yellow who had yelled and kicked him. "Hey."
He groaned and I rolled my eyes. "Sit up and answer me or I'll give you something to moan about." He pushed himself up and I glared at him. "You work for Azkedelia?" He glared up at me, so I kicked him in the mouth. "Sorry. Wrong inflection. That wasn't a question. You DO work for Azkedelia, even if not directly. So, why did you try to grab my friend? Keep in mind the clarity and expansiveness of your answer can and will effect how many teeth you still have when you're done with this conversation."
I was annoyed. This shit was non stop here. Azkedelia's bullshit was causing trouble for me even after scaring her off, and I was done with it. I wouldn't kill him, because I was trying to lean into my better nature, but kicking his ass a little was well within the realm of comfort for me. He spat out some blood and glared some more, but he spoke up. "We were going to turn them over for the bounty. Azkedelia has a troop of longcoats waiting outside The Realm." Which made sense, because she wasn't going to send them into a confined space with me.
Weirdly I was less annoyed at them just being mercenaries. I could understand doing this for the almighty dollar. I WAS a thief after all. Didn't mean I was going to let them just get away with it, but I wasn't as murderously angry anymore. I looked to 'The Seeker'. "You. Ahamo." He blinked. "Yes, I figured out your clever ruse, mostly because it wasn't actually either of those things. Tie them up and give us whatever we need to find the Grey Gale so we can leave. I don't feel like playing your nonsense games anymore."
He just gaped at me, as did DG. Artemis looked pretty calm about it and the others were mostly surprised with the exception of Zee, who had been with us long enough to know how these things worked. He turned to DG. "I...DG I never meant for this to happen. I wouldn't have let them take you, and I didn't arrange this. Your..." He glared at me. "Friend. Is right. I am indeed the one your mother calls Ahamo. And as he said, I can give you the means to reach the Grey Gale."
I turned away from the man on the ground, and I saw in Ahamo's eyes as he headed for him that he probably wasn't going to just tie the guy up once he got him out of sight. The guy saw the same thing because he froze in panic, before yelling. "Wait!" I stopped, curious what he could offer at this point. "We were playing both sides. We wanted the bounty but we sold the info on the longcoats to the resistance. Their leader, Jeb, is planning to ambush them."
Cain, who was near enough to hear, froze. Within seconds he was at the man's side, grabbing him. "What did you just say?" The man repeated his statement with a stutter. Cain was beside himself. "Jeb. Tell me what he looks like. Tell me how old he is." I blinked. Shit, that was right. Jeb was Cain's sons name. Wally found his wife's grave but no trace of his kid. I was hesitant to believe in that level of coincidence, but given that I was traveling with a magical princess I couldn't dismiss anything. The man stuttered out a description and Cain dropped him, looking awed. He turned to me. "He's...he's talking about my boy."
I exhaled. This was...complicated, but we couldn't stop here. The machine needed to be used during the eclipse, and based on the message DG's mother left it's effects would be devastating. Locking both suns behind the moon to create a reign of permanent darkness for the witch to play in. Because of course that was what she was doing. At the same time we couldn't just force Cain to leave behind this chance. Surprisingly, it was Vykin who spoke up. "We will take him to see his son and safeguard him on his journey."
Dreamer looked surprised, but Vykin just smiled, gesturing to Serifan and Bear. "The three of us haven't been necessary on this journey at all. Your lover has your safety and the safety of the others well in hand. We all know how much Sir Cain's son means to him. This will be our chance to go off and have our own adventure while you have yours. He needs us far more than any of you do."
Glitch raised a hand. "Raw and I will go with too. He needs us to keep him grounded." He turned to DG tearfully. "You don't need us on this last leg princess. You have the ghostie over there to keep you safe. Find the emerald, save your sister, and we'll get Cain's boy and bring him to meet up with you for the eclipse and we'll come with a whole army to back you up just in case."
DG's eyes glistened. She stared for a minute then bolted across the room to hug Cain and Glitch. She pulled back with a glare at Vykin. "You keep an eye on them ok? Make sure they stay safe. I don't know how tough you guys are but if Morgan trusts you to have his back you must be pretty impressive." I smirked as the princess talked down to literal gods, proud of how far that scared farm girl had come since we all landed here. She turned to Todo. "Go with them, keep them safe, and when it's done, consider yourself forgiven."
The dog yipped happily and bolted over to hop up into Glitch's arms. I walked up to Cain, pulling the older man into a hug. "Don't sweat the princess,Wally, the girls and I will keep her out of trouble. Be careful on your trip, and make sure to use Bear as a human shield if necessary. He's tough, he can take it." Vykin and Serifan chuckled as bear yelped in faux outrage. I stepped back. "You all better go. Who knows if you'll miss the ambush or something." With a few last farewells the group tromped out to go find Cain's son.
Personally the idea that they would be bringing backup from the resistance didn't mean much to me, but I tried to remind myself not to get a big head. I couldn't do everything, even if it was getting increasingly easy to forge that. Being on New Genesis had skewed my perception of what my abilities could do, and now back among mostly normal humans I had to adjust my mindset. I wondered how different things would be when I finally got home, how weak everyone else would be in comparison. Well...almost everyone. I was betting Superman could still whoop my ass.
I turned to our remaining group. Artemis, Wally, Dreamer, Zee, and DG. Well, and Patches. The cornerpups were with us because I was the only one who could control the little beasties. I took a deep breath and turned to Ahamo. "Alright old man, we're going with DG on her little spiritual journey. So what's going to get us there?" I noticed with glee that he seemed wary of me after my quick take down of the others. He looked like he wanted to argue but in the end he just help up a finger and walked out of the room.
He came back about twenty minutes later carrying what looked like a cross between a weathervane and a compass. He passed it to DG who held it up, looking at it in confusion. The old man grinned motioning for us to follow him. He took us down a long tunnel and up a ladder that led out into a wide open space. He vanished into the treeline for a bit and after a few minutes a shadow fell over us. When I looked up I had to groan. Of COURSE we were going to be getting to the secret treasure by hot air balloon.
Alright folks, we're officially one chapter from the arc ending. They arrived back on Earth as of the end of the current advance chapter, which will be the next chapter for you guys. pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent