A/N: Alright, guys, this is the moment of truth. If you have submitted an OC to me I would like to say thank you so much! It's people like you guys that help keep this story from going on a permanent hiatus. But, alas, after many hours of 'oh god, who do I pick?' with my sister, we have finally come to a decision. The winner is...
JadeDragon220's character Mallory Winchester!
She will have her debut in the next chapter, which will also have tons of Roy :) Yay!
Okay, you can read now. But don't forget to review!
You would think that in a magic dimension that holds snow, it would have a magical normal temperature. Nope. We've got real snow that's real cold, which is slightly problematic for me. I was the only one in our small group without an immunity to crazy low temperatures, and I think it's safe to say that my thin cardigan wasn't going to hold any body heat I possessed before.
So, in other words, I was freezing my ass off.
"I don't understand Wally," M'gann spoke after a while of us just walking in silence. Well, they walked, I kinda did a hunched over, shuffling motion that made me look like Quasimodo with the sniffles. "It's like he needs to believe the impossible can't happen."
"Wally uses his understanding of science to control of what he cannot comprehend," Aqualad explained. "Acknowledging the existence of magic would be to relinquish the last vestige of that control."
"What the...?" I heard a strange noise, and looked up at the top of one of the mountains, only to see a door open. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder..."
M'gann picked up Kaldur while Superboy grabbed me, and we quickly made our way to the door. I was so happy to finally be getting out of the cold, I was practically crying all over his chest. "Yes!" I shouted, hugging him as we traveled through the door. "Warmth! Solid ground! Oof!" We fell to the ground in a heap. Artemis ran over to us and helped me up.
"You're freezing," she muttered, touching my arm.
"You're telling me," I bit back while my teeth were still chattering
"Friends of yours?" I heard Nelson ask from somewhere.
"Friends of yours?" I turned to see Wally and Kent drop to the ground to avoid a blast from a strange pony-tailed guy with a way too low cut shirt, who was standing next to a boy I recognized all too well.
Another lightning blast directed at us made our group separate, and we watched as Kent walked up to a giant bell and hit it with his staff. The bell glowed, and for some strange reason, Mr. Nelson and Wally were able to walk through it. Klarion immediately levitated up and followed.
"We meet again," pony-tail guy beamed at me in a way that made me shiver. I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about, making me confused enough to not really notice him send another bolt of lighting at me before it was too late. "Ah, Athene, I expected more out of you."
"What?" I hissed, body still shuddering from the electricity while I struggled to stand. I wailed, making him skid back a couple feet before he regained his balance. "What did you just call me?"
Artemis fired her bow while Aqualad drew his water bearers and ran at him. We, without much thought, attacked all at once, but he fended us off easily. Using some sort of electric nets, he was able to trap Superboy, Aqualad, and I.
'Wally, we're in trouble,' Megan called, trying to fend him off as he trapped Artemis, too. Tell Kent we need Doctor Fate! She screamed and dropped to the ground alongside us.
Oh, we are so screwed.
Wally's eyes widened as he heard M'gann's plea for help inside of his head, while Klarion continued to bombard the forcefield placed around him and Nelson. Glowing red claws sunk into the forcefield, and it was only a matter of time before it collapsed altogether. He glanced down at Kent, who had collapsed and was slipping away minute by minute, before looking up at the helmet floating above them. "A test of faith..." he muttered to himself.
"Hey dumb kid!" Klarion called, ripping apart the forcefield. "You put that on you may never get it off!"
A blast of red magic flew toward him, and Wally slammed the helmet onto his head. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer on the roof of the tower, but in a dark room.
"Okay, okay, no problem." Panicking, he looked around for a way out. "I'm not here. I'm just delusional."
"You still don't believe?" Nelson laughed, stepping into the spotlight that shone on Wally. "Seriously, kid, how did you get so bullheaded in fifteen short years?"
"B-but you're...you're..."
"Yep," he cut him off breezily. "But don't feel bad. As soon as this little brouhaha is over, my spirit will ascend, and I'll be reunited with my beloved Inza."
"O-oh. Okay..." he paused. "Wait, does that mean that I'm –"
"Ah, you're alive," Kent reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But your soul no longer controls your body. See, we're inside the helmet. You put it on, and my soul got sucked in. Probably because I spent so many years serving its master."
"Master?"
"Nabu, the real Doctor Fate. One of them Lords of Order I told you about. He's the guy controlling your body now. Wanna watch?"
It truly was an out-of-body experience, watching Doctor Fate battle Klarion. The Lord of Chaos was getting angrier and angrier by the second, due to the ease of which Fate was able to hold him off with his shield that had the shape of an Ankh.
"Give it up Nabu!" Klarion yelled, hurling balls of red energy at the Lord of Order. "Order went out of style in the 20th century!"
"This battle is pointless!" the host of Wally's body said, his normal voice taking on the undertones of Nabu's far deeper one. "You sought to take the helmet before it gained a host, but you are too late."
"Shut it, you old fart!" Pillars of rock from the tower rose up and slammed into Doctor Fate on both sides. The bright gold image of the Ankh burned through, and the rock exploded, revealing a relatively unscathed Nabu.
"Brat," he growled, and conjured up a blast so powerful that it reduced Klarion to dust. It wasn't the end, however, for within seconds, the boy reassembled himself and attacked him from behind.
Wally screamed, dropping to his knees as he felt the same pain as Nabu. "What gives?" he asked, turning to look at Nelson.
"Well, it is your body," he replied cordially, as if commenting on the weather.
"Then let me control it. With Fate's power and my speed –"
"Sorry, kid. It doesn't work that way, but you can see why I haven't put on the helmet in 65 years."
Wally froze, a sudden, horrifying thought coming to him. "And if Fate loses this fight...?"
"You see Inza before I do."
Klarion conjured up a flaming dragon made of Red Magic, and it flew towards Fate, roaring. Nabu barely had time to dive, ducking to the ground as it flew over him. He formed a shield to berate against the animal's attack, and it dissolved once it made contact. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of turning his back on the warlock, and was blasted in the back, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The Lord of Chaos smirked at his fallen opponent, and made guns with his hands, shooting energy at him like they were bullets. Fate threw up another shield, but the attack was too strong, and it crumbled to pieces quickly. He flew away to avoid the fire Klarion breathed at him, trying to get close enough to attack, but was once again hit by a pillar of flames.
"You're out of practice, Nabu," Klarion grinned once he hit the ground, rolling. "And that pathetic host body? Zero affinity for the mystic arts." He raised his hands, calling upon a lightning storm to strike the fallen sorcerer. Nabu threw up his arms to form another forcefield, closing his eyes in concentration to keep it from breaking.
"Ooh, rainbow power," the witchboy remarked appreciatively at the lights sparking from the force of the lightning on the forcefield. The cat beside him meowed loudly, and he rolled his eyes. "I am paying attention, you stupid cat. In case you haven't noticed, I'm winning."
That was all that Nabu needed to hear, and the forcefield exploded around him, extinguishing the lightning and forming a ring of fire around himself. "It is difficult for a Lord of Order or Chaos to maintain a presence on the physical plane."
Klarion's face morphed into a far more demonic one as he called upon more energy and began to throw fire at him once more. Fate flew upwards and easily dodged each ball, taunting the boy as he did so, "I am bound to the helmet and use a human host." The fire stopped coming, and Fate threw another golden Ankh at the Lord of Chaos, only for it to be blocked by a wall of rock. "But that is not your way."
"Your babbling, Nabu!" Klarion shouted.
"Am I?" he taunted, and conjured a blast of golden energy, knowing his target wasn't paying attention. Klarion threw up a shield to protect himself, but he did not count on Fate knowing his weakness.
Teekl hissed as the blast of energy hit her, making her fly up and land on the ground with a dull thud. "Teekl!" Klarion cried out, before turning on Nabu. "I can't believe you would assault a defenseless pussycat!"
"We both know that creature is no cat, Witchboy," he replied, eyes narrowing. "And without your familiar, you have no anchor to this reality." Klarion's image flickered, and he froze a moment.
"Bully!" he called out once his physical form returned to normal. "Killjoy! Geezer!" He disappeared into a portal just as another beam was thrown towards the cat, and he reappeared right above it. Klarion quickly picked up Teekl, eying Nabu fearfully, before shouting, "We're out of here!" and disappearing with strands of glowing black light.
I could block out the pain from the electric nets, that wasn't the problem; I've dealt with enough high concentrations of electrical shocks to know the feeling well enough for me to be able to control it. The others, however, were in visible agony and I couldn't help them because of a stupid net. And the worst part was that Abra Kadabra was just standing there with that stupid smirk on his face, relishing the fact that he had us right under his thumb.
I swear, when I get out of here, I'll...what the heck?
A bright flash of light blinded me for a moment, and when I could finally see, the shocks of electricity were no longer there. I looked up, shaking hair out of my face, and saw Abra Kadabra standing before us in only his underwear and a gold necklace. Ew.
Superboy stood up, along with the rest of us, and walked right up to the so-called magician. "Show's over," he said, and punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out. It was over, thank god.
"Yeah!" Wally cheered. "That's how we kick it on the earthly plane!" He paused, waiting for the tugging sensation to pull him back out into the real world. "Uh, it's-it's over, right? So, why isn't Nabu taking off the helmet?"
"Because the Earth needs Doctor Fate," Nabu said, the helmet floating above them as a personification of himself. "I will not release this body."
"He can't do that! Can he do that?"
"He can, but shouldn't," Kent replied. "Nabu, this is not the right candidate. The kid's soul belongs to the world of science, not sorcery."
"True," Nabu agreed. "But I do not appreciate being permanently hidden away, useless, isolated for decades at a time. Chaos must not be allowed to reign!"
"That wont happen again. The boy will take the helmet and make sure you're put to good use."
"Yeah!" Wally agreed quickly. "I swear!"
"And in the meantime, I'll stick around, keep you company," he glanced down at Wally, who stared at him in shock.
"Wait, what happened to you ascending? And seeing Inza?"
"So you believe now, huh?" he grinned. "Don't sweat it, kid. I'll spend a few millenia here, then see Inza. That's the great thing about eternity, it's eternal."
"The bargain is acceptable," Nabu said, as he prepared to take the helmet off of Wally's body.
"Some free advice before you go," Nelson began, turning to Wally. "Find your own little spitfire – one who won't let you get away with nothing. For example, that –"
A bright white light blinded Wally, and he didn't get to hear the rest of his sentence before he found himself once again on the roof of the tower, helmet in hand. He walked over to Nelson and knelt down by his side, before gently enclosing the pocket watch in his open hand.
It was over.