AN:

This SI is coming from a future version of my In my Time of Trouble Fanfic here on SB. There's no requirement to read it though as basically his power-set is: was an orc wizard and cleric of Ilneval and this fic won't go into that life much beyond powers a such. His basically reincarnated into Earth-16 as a 'shard' of the originals soul by his deity. He remembers his Earth-Prime life and then life as an orc but doesn't know about Young Justice per se. Rather than having it start in Gotham or the traditional stomping grounds for an SI I went for where I live as a reincarnation and will rather rapidly move forward to 2010 and Young Justice after a few intro chapters. Feedbacks welcome (well reasonable criticism). Anyway here we go.

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[07th July 2007]

[Rail-car travelling Waterford-Dublin-Belfast line]

It had been strange really to confirm it with my own eyes I found as the sunlight fields and buildings trundled by alongside the tracks. Intellectually I'd expected, known, that I...well alternative me? we?...wouldn't have existed here because the timelines of various universes didn't overlap...and the fact I'd checked phone books when memories had first returned all those years ago and come up blank. But it had been eerie...walking those streets and it being somewhat as I'd remembered...but then totally different at the same time with the places and the people. Still the whole thing had been a learning experience I suppose, and had ended that nagging urge to see had, did, my...past aspect?...exist here or was it truly reincarnation or such. I'd been putting it off and off for years but to see the differences on memories of all those year ago...

'Or all those years that technically would be to come, since it's only 2007 still' I hummed to myself quietly as rested on my elbow propped up against the window of the railcar. That had been confusing as all hell as memories of human-me and then orc-me had returned alongside my access to that life's arcane powers and the human ones before that knowledge of reality. That had freaked me the feck out at first, even more so as the world seemed some bizarre mashup of what I knew of DC reality. Most of all four years ago when those bloody aliens had invaded and the Justice League had formed...it was just...

...not how I remember it being when my soul-shard had been placed into this world. What I remembered were White Martians ,or something similar invading, with a fleet after getting the world to disarm all the nukes and having to be fought off by the Justice League. Instead the Appelliaxians had invaded in the form of these weird golem-things. Yes there was a Justice League, but still no watchtower evidently, nor did there seem to be any Teen Titans as best I'd heard and Aquaman was a founder member here for some reason. I snorted softly to myself at the memory; that had led to few near panic attacks at the realisation that my knowledge of the place was horribly screwed up or that my memories were very faulty after all these decades. True the spell-work should have given me perfect recall but if it been screwed up with the shard transfer then I probably wouldn't realise it now would I? Deities made mistakes I'd learned in my orcish life whatever they might say otherwise or to their worshippers.

[Ping] [Ladies and Gentlemen we are now approaching Heuston Station. CIE wishes to thank you for your custom and wish you a pleasant evening]

I glanced up at the announcement and then back out the window as the announcement repeated as gaeilge in that same quasi-robotic voice...

[A dhaoine uaisle muid ag druidim anois Stáisiún Heuston. Is mian CIE a ghabháil leat as do saincheaptha agus is mian leat a tráthnóna taitneamhach]

I was pretty sure they should be Iarnrod Eireann by now but evidently CIE had stayed together on this Earth for whatever reason. Still the announcement still sounded exactly the same as my past one's memories told me for whatever reason. Whatever the reason for that it'd still be a few minutes till we pulled into the station and I wasn't going to start pulling down my bags till then as the middle-aged woman sitting next to me didn't seem intent on moving yet either.

Truth be told it was another odd little thing about this Earth; teenagers seemed to get alot more leeway than I remember in that past life. Certainly I wouldn't have been gallivanting around the sunny south-east on my own at age thirteen by me Mam and Dad. I'll admit I probably get 'special treatment' due to the whole magic-user thing and going up to a job in Dublin but it seems to be across the board in society; superhero sidekicks being a prime example. I'd always wondered at that, sending kids into harm's way, as even orc-me had been expected to have some training and mass before being thrown against powerful and dangerous lunatics; or worked for them in some cases in my opinion. Not hard when you considered even Ireland had somehow thrown up guys like that daft eejit Jack-O-Lantern. Off in Biayla he was now evidently. At least my second run in the education system had new things to be learned what with these differences between what I remember and what seemed to actually exist here.

Something alongside the whole 'alien invasion' thing that had focused me into doing everything I could to both rebuild my Faerunian arcane powers and gain whatever powers and knowledge I could here. This place was a much a death world as the last from what my memories told of potential alien invaders or super black ring zombies attacking. Still I was grateful my 'God' had chucked my shard into somewhere I sorta knew than somewhere like Gotham or Metropolis alongside the dangerous lunatics. At least the whole magic thing had been a great way to earn money at an early age without giving too much of the game away so to speak. Well once I persuaded Mam to stop the priest throwing Holy Water on me when I was seven and then healing the family. I shook my head as I stood up with the other passengers. Had passed it off as God's gift and things got somewhat better even if I almost never went to mass...I just never mentioned what God had originally provided said powers...

Heuston too was a bit different than I'd remembered, less tech somehow while the older architecture seemed more prominent...touristy even?...as I walked down the line a bag over my back and under held in my right hand. God bless all those helpful little spells and wards I'd sewn into my clothing. They'd been annoying as hell to do (even just the learning to sew and enchant them) but they certainly made life easier with strength and stamina alongside stopping a bullet and other nasty things like that. That and actually doing physical training again had gotten me far more fit and martial than previous human me...even if I was still only a scrawny teenager with some very basic martial arts training. Not much use in this world above the street level but it was a start I think on the whole long term not-dying quickly thing. As I came out of the line and into the main atrium with the snack stands and shops a familiar face came into view amidst the crowd.

"Seanie, good to see ya lad, no troubles travelling here I hope?" Tadhg greeted with a handshake and a grin on his business suit clad figure. It was odd being Sean here, Sean O'Neill. Really couldn't they have gone for a less stereotypical name? I'm sure if it'd been in England I'd have ended up John Smith!

A grin and firm handshake in return to my second cousin, once removed then restored because...reasons never explained or interesting to me. I didn't really mind, it could be a bit prone to going overboard at times he wasn't a bad fella and we got on fairly well "Ah was grand Tadhg, glad to be here though as banjacked with all the travellin' let me tell ya. Could do with getting a sandwich though before we go though if you don't mind? No bloody snack car on the train this time"

"Nah, shoot away, we've loads of time and truth be told only just got here meself"

I rolled my eyes as I stepped into the queue "Forgot about me did you? Oh and want anything?"

"Nah, I arrived just in time like I always do, and no worries I ate afore I came an..." he holds up a paper coffee cup "...already sorted for me doze of caffeine as ye can see"

"Fair nuff. So what's the plan of action for the day then?" I queried stepping up and getting a packaged BLT sandwich and my own coffee. Paid in punts too at that, seemed the EU and Euro never took the turn it did on Earth-Prime as I like to think of it.

"Ah well Ard Fheis ain't till tomorrow, so no real hurry on us but TJ will meet us at Mulligans later so I hope you brought some of those 'tonic cures' of yours. Should get him a few votes amongst the membership between buying drinks and then curing the hangovers the next day if nothing else and if gets promoted up the ranks...well...if we do him a good turn he'll do us one. Like having you meet Paudi and Minister after the youth committee meeting tomorrow and they might be able to get you that grant on your scheme of yours once you do a demonstration or two with yer hocus-pocus and the business plan of yours"

"Shounds gwoohd mwhe. Ann ahii dooo have sum" I grunted back biting into the sandwich. Really being a superhero wasn't exactly something I could do, well now anyway, yeah I'd powerful magic but it still largely having to relearn it and build up my capacity to cast while hiding my true powers.

World was littered with would be superheroes corpses I'd found during my research so I figured best to develop myself as best I could within the environment, and help where I could. That and I wanted money and I'd already reached the limits of what parlour tricks and occasional 'faith healing' could get me. In the end being send here was to acquire leaning for myself and my deity, all one in the same urge to expand my powers. Powers other than what I'd taken over from a past life; growth meant learning and learning meant getting access to various things like an engineering education for one, and magical learning second. Some political support and working for the government would go a long way towards helping with that. One thing that hadn't change was the nature of Irish politics even if all the people were different to my previous reality. Plus this island wasn't too bad compared to several other areas in the world (like Gotham) so there wasn't as much demand for masked vigilantes running around punching people.

"Don't be talkin' with yer mouth full, but its lookin' good all in all. TJ's knows ye well and fully behind ya..."

I wiped the crumbs away and snorted with amusement "TJ's behind nobody but TJ Taghg and you know it. He likes me because I helped him get into the Senate and he thinks he'll get the nomination for a Dail run with a little more of said 'help' on the cheap" that man was a jumped up county councillor with no idea beyond the county I left unsaid. TJ couldn't care less if the world was invaded by aliens as long as they stayed away from his area and the pot holes got fixed when he promised people. He was also crooked as a rams horn but as me Mam said 'He maybe a crook but he's our crook' so local government in action. As I learned as orc-me – work with what you got rather than what you hoped you get. So first now I had to get a job through them and get access to more knowledge and resources to protect myself, my family and my home...

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