ATTENTION, ATTENTION!

This is not a normal chapter! I posted three chapters at once because none of them belong to this story directly! These are the beginnings to the sequels I talked about like, in February, I think?

So, why do I post those? Because I am officially setting this fic under construction for the foreseeable future. I'll stop posting on this one for a while, until I get it to a state that I can comfortably reread it without pulling my hair out. It may take a bit. (It's mostly grammar bits.)

Which means, as a consolation, you get these first chapters. More or less proof that I won't abandon this fic, if purely so that I can start writing the sequels.

Spoilers should be relatively minimal. Like, it should be no surprise that there won't be any big character deaths or anything.

The first one, the DC one, I'd recommend you read first. It is the saddest though. The second one is a Naruto one. I wrote it before and totally separate from my other story (Of Seals, Traitors and the Pursuit of Safety) but the parallels are definitely there, and it was kind of fun to compare. Third one is Harry Potter. So, all pretty much classic fandoms. I am a basic bitch that way, lol.

If none of these are your thing, welp, sorry.

Chapter 1: Of New Beginnings in the World of Gods and Villains

Having your big happy ending wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The big bad was dead and the world went on. New challengers cropped up and got defeated. It seemed close at times, but it always worked out in the end.

When I got sick of the city, I bought myself that picturesque house in the middle of nowhere in Iceland. With portals my friends were just a call or a handwave away and even my new friendly neighbors got used to my surprise visits fast.

If I had to point to when it started going wrong… I couldn't tell you.

Maybe when my little adorable goddaughter asked me why I looked just like the 15-year-old photos of me? Maybe when I started noticing the wrinkles, first in Tony's and then in Pepper's and Domi's faces? Or when even the ever youthful Captain America retired any and all public duties to go into full retirement, not just retirement from fighting?

All around me, time went on. But I stayed the same.

It was fun at first. Tony made jokes about me having discovered the secret to eternal youth and not having the decency to share. It was less funny when his hands started to shake so much that he had to rely entirely on his robots to do the manual work for him.

Don't get me wrong, they all lived happy and long lives. Surprisingly so, considering what most of them did for a living.

Tony played the role of the mad scientist up until he couldn't anymore. He groomed Peter to take over for him. The two became practically like father and son. Tony never married or had actual children, but he had a large family all the same.

He was one of the first to die. He was old, very much so, especially when you thought about what his body had been put through over the years.

The next was, to my utter devastation, Domi. He too had gotten quite old. He had even seen his greatgrandchildren off to kindergarten still. Pepper was never the same after his death.

Even though we weren't that close, seeing Cap and Bucky age shook me hard. It took longer, thanks to their healing factors, but it happened all the same.

There were a couple of people who I thought would stay.

Logan, for one. I had never watched the last movie where he died, but I had hoped this wasn't the same world. I was in fact fairly certain that it wasn't. We had never found a mini version of him, but his health still started to decline long before anyone else. The metal on his bones had poisoned him until his healing factor couldn't keep up anymore.

Bruce was still alive, but I had no idea where. He was happy with Jane for a long time and stayed at her side as the scientist battled through a cancer diagnosis. It took a miracle, a lot of smart brains and a revamp of Extremis but she made it through. The first time. It took another 30 years, but the cancer came back and this time Jane's body wasn't young anymore.

After her death Bruce disappeared into the universe.

I wasn't totally alone. I had the children of Domi and Pepper, Peter and his family, even Strange's brats. Thor and his brother came by every now and then. I had tried to live with the Asgardians but it just wasn't a good fit.

It just didn't feel right.

I sighed as I looked up from the gravestone I had been staring at. My breath formed a cloud in the cold morning air.

The graveyard was beautiful in the morning light. The frost on the grass shimmered where the beams of sunlight broke through the fog and the clouds.

I took a last look at Pepper's grave and walked through the cemetery to clear my mind before leaving.

I was convinced that Pepper had only hold on as long as she did to not leave me alone. She knew that was how I would feel. She didn't want me to despair.

So, I wouldn't.

Well, easier said than done.

When I came to, I was confused. Then scared. Then weirded out.

I settled on a sense of bewildered déjà vu.

I was in space. Floating about in my suit.

I looked around which I immediately determined was a mistake. Because space. I fucking hate space.

I was a lot better at controlling my fear of it though. It only took me a minute to stop freaking out. With a sigh I resolved to find out what had happened to me.

"Ree, what the hell? What happened? Why am I in space?"

Ree couldn't tell me.

"Was it some kind of trick by Loki?", I asked, puzzled. It didn't quite seem to fit his style but I was fresh out of ideas.

Again, Ree didn't know. In fact, Ree couldn't connect to any known network. Anything in reach was foreign. Which was worrisome. Because I was looking at earth. Plain, simple earth.

"No Stark tech?"

Peter had vehemently declined to change the companies name when Tony had offered. I hadn't been able to decide what was funnier, Peter's outrage or Tony's bafflement.

Ree gave out another negative. I frowned.

I tried to open a portal out of habit, when nothing happened, I looked down to find my sling ring missing. I huffed. That was annoying. I had more at home, hell, I could make them myself, but it was inconvenient at the moment.

I sighed and resolved to make the long flight home. Ree started my flight playlist, and I flew at a moderate pace. I wasn't in a hurry.

I passed the moon when the other shoe dropped. I stopped mid-flight and stared, mouth agape.

The Watchtower. Fucking hell.

I had crossed multiverses. Again.

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. In the end I just sighed again. Say what you will, living for over a century makes you impervious to the bullshit that is life.

Sadly, any knowledge I had on DC was even more muddled than when I had landed in space the first time around. Still, some vague pictures of zombie apocalypses powered by Black Lantern rings flashed through my mind.

I sighed again. At least this time I knew magic already.

As I slowly began my journey towards the Watchtower I thought about retuning to my home. Reluctantly, I came to the decision to stay in this dimension. There wasn't a lot of happiness waiting for me there. I knew the families of my old friends would be alright.

This was a new start. And there would be most likely a few more beings with long life spans for me to befriend.

Also: Batman. `Nough said.

When I was in reach of the Tower to be visible, I connected Ree with the broadcasting system inside the Tower. I could have tried to just send a signal to be picked up, but if there was something that didn't mellow out over my lifetime it was my enjoyment of mischief.

"Hello, I would like to request to meet with some kind of representative to discuss my arrival on this planet. Would you like me to wait outside?" I asked politely.

Ree informed me of hectic activity inside, so I waited patiently, enjoying the confusion I was likely creating. I was just about to test out if sketching in space was a good idea when I saw my welcoming committee fly in my direction.

The years hadn't done much for my patience, so it had probably only been about 5 minutes.

I was mildly surprised when I recognized a Green Lantern and Superman as the ones tasked with questioning me. I mustered them unapologetically as they neared. Sue me, as if you wouldn't do the same when meeting Superman.

"Hello. I am the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. I'm sorry but you don't look like normal Lantern?" the man in green began. His suit wasn't as bad as the Ryan Reynolds version, but it made me glad that my Ring had allowed me to change the color.

Realizing that I had been staring again, I shook my head to get myself to concentrate.

"Hey! Well, I'm pretty sure I accidentally crossed into another universe again, so preconceptions probably won't help us anyway. For example, I haven't actually seen a Green Lantern before, which is fun. My name is Al by the way, Al Ravenstock," I said in a friendly tone with a big smile on my face and held my hand out to who I was fairly certain was Hal Jordan. I might have hated handshakes, but the opportunity to put them off their game was just too good.

Now, I wasn't all that knowledgeable in the Green Lantern lore. I had read a bunch of fanfics and a brief summary of what Green Lantern storylines existed. Which meant that I knew Hal Jordan, that there was a red head Green Lantern named Guy (Gardener? Garter?) who was a huge asshole, a black one named … Stewart? and another who actually had a white ring, whose name I couldn't remember at all.

Oh, and an old one who didn't actually count as a Corps member because his ring had nothing to do with the Guardians of Oa.

And then there was a bunch of stuff about the emotional spectrum. But that part was a bit sketchy because some interpretations in fanfics I've read contradicted themselves, mainly on what certain rings could do and what they couldn't do.

While Green Lantern shook my hand automatically as he ingested what I had just said, I continued as if I wasn't dropping important info on them.

"Of course, I am not a Green Lantern. I mean, I think I look more like a Blue Lantern, but I can't heal so I function pretty much like a Green one," I chirped and held out my hand to Superman. "And you are?"

"Superman," he replied with a friendly smile. "Would you mind telling us how you traveled across dimensions?"

I grimaced and put my hands on my hips to show some of my displeasure with the situation.

"Sadly, I can't. It just happens to me. I couldn't figure out why or how that happened the last time either," I explained to Superman as he nodded in interest. Green Lantern next to us was still mouthing "Blue Lantern".

"Would you mind if we take this inside?" I asked. "I'm actually not that comfortable in space like this. Gives me the creeps, you know?"

Thankfully, they let me inside the Tower. Without comments on how ironic it was that a space cop was afraid of space. I was half expecting to be taken to an interrogation cell by a paranoid Batman, but that didn't happen. Maybe he was out that day. Instead, they led me to some sort of cafeteria. Very thoughtful of them.

I wasn't hungry so I just pulled a cup of hot chocolate out of my magical storage. Luckily I had taken to storing everything important in an extra dimension because I was on the move so much that I always forgot where I had left my stuff. Portals don't help that much with searching when you are forgetful.

"You didn't store that with your ring," Hal remarked.

I stopped blowing on my cup and looked at him.

"You can store stuff with your ring? I had to learn magic for that!" I exclaimed. I gave Ree a disappointed look and pouted. Hal seemed smug about his rings capabilities while Superman frowned at the mention of magic.

"But mine doesn't need to charge," I said and stuck out my tongue at him. Maybe I had been getting a bit too childish with age.

Jordan was speechless and his eyebrows rose as he stared at me. At least I was pretty sure that was what was happening. It looked a bit weird with his domino mask.

"You don't have a Lantern?" he asked skeptically.

I nodded and hummed as I thought about the cover story I would be using. I didn't want to reveal too much, definitely not that they were the subjects of popular comic books. At the same time I did want to be able to explain my reactions to certain people and events. Claiming some kind of clairvoyance would come with too many problems as I couldn't be sure about the validity of my knowledge. Better to pretend that a version of comic book events had happened in the past of my old universes.

"Yeah, after the Green Lanterns went pretty much extinct there were only Rings that would seem pretty weird to me. I don't know a lot about the other ones that still existed, because they were mostly out there in space by time I came around and, you know, my whole adversity to space…" I said casually while gesturing with my hand at the window. I pretended that I couldn't see the alarm and concern in the superheroes across from me.

"What do you mean extinct?" Jordan asked forcibly calm as he lent forwards on the table.

"Well, that was mainly in my second universe, where I spent most of my time. In the first, there didn't seem to be any kind of enhanced or superpowered group around. Anyway, apparently before I landed there one Green Lantern went apeshit after his city got destroyed. He went and slaughtered the whole Corps and the Guardians. I'm sure there is more to that story but again – before my time. And that was just the start of the mess."

I wrinkled my nose as I remembered the convoluted summary I had read. My companions were as taut as a drawn bow. I took a sip of my cup.

"Do you know who that was?" asked Jordan.

I paused and pretended to muster him carefully.

"Before I do that, what is your name? There were only ever 4 Green Lanterns from Earth, 5 if you stretched the definition. You probably know him, Hal Jordan? He is supposed to be a pilot or something."

Like on command, both reared back. Superman's surprise was certainly lighter than Jordan's. The pilot looked like I had slapped him. Even through the mask I could see anger and disbelief overtake him. Still, he held an iron grasp on his emotions though he seemed to want to punch something.

"You are lying," his voice was near a growl as he clasped onto the table so tightly that his knuckles whitened.
I blinked at him with a befuddled look to fake surprise. After a moment of silence, I appeared to catch my bearings.

"Uhm, now that I think about it, that is you isn't it? Hal Jordan? Well, this is awkward. Uhm, on the flip side I was made to understand that you kind of redeemed yourself when you sacrificed yourself to avoid some kind of solar catastrophe?" I tried to console him.

"Are you sure that is what happened?" Superman asked, fully aware that Jordan was emotionally compromised.

"Yeah, it was well documented. It led to a whole bunch of other-colored Corps coming out of the bushes and a full-blown zombie apocalypse. It sounded crazy when I heard of it, at first I thought my new friends were joking!"

I shook my head as if I was remembering an event like that. I was aware that my explanation on the Green Lantern comics was more than a bit scuffed, but I was trying to spin some pretty unbelievable stuff into a plausible timeline while taking into account how much of it got retconned at some point. Not to mention that I only half remembered everything. Give a man a break here.

"But they weren't. I was glad that the whole zombie thing was over before I arrived. That was the work of the Black Ring, by the way. Turns dead people into zombies without a free will. Nasty stuff. Oh, and I think your rampage had something to do with some kind embodiment of fear? Don't ask me, I didn't get into that more."

Superman just looked at me, blinking slowly. Jordan didn't move either. Their brains were probably fried at the mention of zombies. Understandable.

Jordan shook off his stasis first.

"Other colored corps? Like the Yellow ring of fear?" Jordan asked weakly like he didn't really want my answer.

"Yeah! There is a whole spectrum, from stable to unstable. Green and Blue are the most stable and sane. Yellow, you know. Red is anger, those dudes are pretty insane. They have a hard time controlling themselves and they can't take their rings off or something, because I think their ring works as their heart, like they would just die?" I explained, not quite certain on how that had worked. Again, it had been some time.

"Uhm, and then there was Pink for love, I think? They seemed somewhat ok, but they weren't really stable either. Purple is compassion. Those were always in hiding. Hm, … Oh and Orange for avarice! I know they weren't that friendly but that is all I know."

"How does a Black ring fit into that?" asked Superman, slightly confused.

"Ah, yeah, it technically doesn't! Those were on the emotional spectrum. Other than that, there is also Black and White. Death and Life, basically," I elaborate like I actually knew what I was talking about.

"And how does your ring fit into this?", Jordan asked calmy now that he had gotten some of his composure back.

"It is more or less modeled after yours, just that it is magical artefact and as such doesn't require recharging through conventional methods. I am not entirely sure, but it basically draws on my connection to other universes to expand energy. The more energy I channel, the more exhausted I get."

Those were the theories I had discussed with the Ancient One at least. In the end we couldn't find a way to prove those definitively though.

"Anyway," I interrupted the flow of our conversation. "Which year is it? I assume it isn't 2116 anymore."

Superman's eyes widened. Apparently, he hadn't understood the implication of how much the clock had turned back for me.

"No, it is 2009," he stated.

"Huh," I said and lend backwards in my seat, staring off in thought.

I was honestly surprised. 2009, again.

"Good news, you seem to follow a different timeline. The Hal Jordan in my universe snapped back in the 80ties or 90ties. And they definitely didn't have a floating fortress in space for that matter. I think you dodged a bullet there," I said without much enthusiasm.

Jordan seemed to relax slightly at that. Superman studied my expression.

"You don't look that happy about it," the reporter asked an implicit question. He didn't sound judgmental though.

I gave him a small sad smile.

"Because I fear this world has more differences than that. None of the tech here is from SI, so I presume neither of you have ever heard of a Tony Stark? Or Ironman?" I asked quietly.

Both shook their heads, more questions in their eyes. I sighed. It was an entirely irrational part of my brain that had held some tiny hope for me to see my best friends again. I felt grief bloom up in my chest, a familiar pain twisting itself in my heart.

"A friend?" Superman asked gently.

"And one of the best men I knew. At least if you could ignore his insufferable self," I said with another wry smile. Because for all his faults, that was what he was for me.

Kent's eyes softened at my admission. Jordan cleared his throat in discomfort.

"I'm sorry but most of your friends should still be able to be born, right?" the pilot tried to console me.

"I wouldn't be so sure. And even if… " I sighed. "I buried them all once. I don't know if I could do that again."

Both of the superheroes looked disturbed at that.

"May I ask, did something happen?" Superman asked. His tone was still considerate, but it had some alarm in it.

I shook my head and gave them another smile that didn't reach my eyes to calm them.

"No, almost all died of old age. The problem was that I didn't."

Their eyebrows rose in tandem. I looked down at my hand holding the cup of now cool chocolate. The ring shimmered as if reacting to me thinking about it.

"I stopped ageing when I jumped Universes the first time and put on the ring."

"My condolences," Superman said somberly.

I shook off my dark mood to give him a more genuine smile.

"Thank you. Now, why don't you tell me a bit more of your world?"