Key of Dreams

by Jebest4781

Through a chance encounter whilst sleeping within his Somebody's heart, Roxas met an entity who'll change his existence more than he realized. Rated M for language, violence, etc. Pairings hidden at current time. KHxDC Comics Cowritten by free man writer. Please leave reviews.

8. Loose Ends

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Radio/TV

"Headset/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 8: Loose Ends

There was much to be desired in Star City, formerly known as Starling City.

Despite being a thriving metropolis, the Californian city was rife with poverty, crime and corruption. This was sadly covered up with all of its glamors for decades. And if you peel away the facade, you can practically see the figurative line separating the privileged from the desperate.

Many wish for the city to be unified. Those within the rich who genuinely fight hard many days of the week to make a better tomorrow. The poor who work hard to not be roped in with the bad lowlifes. In the end, these people dream of peace.

Unfortunately, there are those who prevent this unification.

Crime lords, politicians, most rich folk. These individuals would practically lose much of their power, wealth and influence if unification were to occur.

There was at least a fortunate factor to consider in this city: their protectors.

For the past decade, perhaps a bit more if you want to be technical, Star City has been helped by their vigilantes turned official heroes. The Emerald Archer, Green Arrow. His protege, sidekick Speedy. The Siren in Black, Black Canary.

There are several others to consider, but they were more part-time or retired. But the three aforementioned individuals were most well known with Green Arrow and Canary being members of the illustrious Justice League.

For years, they were a light in the city's darkness. Those who many seek help from.

Yet they could not be everywhere. They sadly can't save everyone.

This night, many of the rich partied without a care in the world. They were practically living the dream of being rich enough to not work an honest day of their lives and deal with typical problems the less fortunate come across every day.

Over in the Glades, the one burrow of the city where many poor unfortunate souls take residence, there was a child huddled underneath a makeshift blanket composed of newspaper and cardboard with a trash bag as his pillow.

This child was Juan and he sleeps restlessly. He was practically shivering and sought his dreams to relieve him of his current plight. He tried getting into a homeless shelter for the night with some food in his belly, but he got into the line too late and had to wait for tomorrow for a better slot.

He dreams of kickball and having his own room after god knows how long. He dreams of a mother who died too young and a father he never met. He dreams of a better life until reality shakes him awake.

"Kid. You okay there?"

Juan stirred awake before giving out a little fit of fright when seeing the person hovering over him. He thought of the man at first as one of the typical drug dealers or gangbangers. But in truth, he was merely old and homely.

"Hey, uh, what's up?"

"You need a place to stay for the night?"

Juan shifted awkwardly in his spot in the alleyway. "I-I'm okay here."

"You sure? I've got a spare bed for you. Even some food, too."

"Yeah?"

"Whaddaya say, boy?" Juan was hesitant seeing the offered hand. His stomach growled, making him hunch over slightly. The hunger took hold of his judgment, making him reach towards the hand.

And with the next three words…

"Right, let's go."

Juan would not dream anymore tonight.

In truth, he wouldn't dream ever again.

"What are little boys made of again?" The man asked himself aloud. "Oh yes- snakes and snails and puppy-dog tails." He laughed a little, thinking the reference from the Powerpuff Girls may have been appropriate or not. "Though this lad doesn't have that Chemical-X, he is filled with kool-aid-red blood. I guess it wouldn't fit with the given rhyme very well, would it?"

The reason why this was said was him looking down onto a stone slab table with Juan strapped down with his limbs and neck slashed open. There were divots into the rocky surface, leading up to the head of the table at a slight angle. It all leads up to an attachment holding up a goblet, collecting the lifeblood.

Nearly reaching the brim, the figure slid off the goblet from the table and brought it to his lips. He chugged most of its contents with a satisfied smirk, savoring the flavor.

The boy wasn't awake when the man killed him. It would've spoiled the blood, like one slaughtering a lamb. If you surprise the animal with a knife, the meat would get a displeasing taste, but if you leave them uninformed, the flavor is far better.

Once emptying the goblet, the man acquired himself some more from the source. Instead of partaking in this all for himself, he turned elsewhere in the darkened space.

"I saved you some, big guy."

The figure eyed a glass container, slipped into the stone floor with a magical seal surrounding it. It looked like a glass bottle with a large funnel on the top, situated in the narrow opening. Inside, one could see a furry figure with bright yellow eyes. The man poured the goblet's contents into the funnel, seeing the blood run through.

"I know you don't like it, but you better drink up Fuzzy." Said the man, seeing the blood run through with "Fuzzy" forced to partake of its given meal. "I can't go shopping for another few days, so that's as good as you're gonna get for a little while." Setting the goblet aside, the man ascended a nearby flight of stairs. "Not much longer now 'til it's just like old times. Me and you, against the world... a boy and his dog."

Within the glass prison, "Fuzzy" looked onward with scornful eyes as they ate the given meal.

It wasn't great, but what choice did it have for all this time?

As the man left, "Fuzzy" looked towards the stone slab with a look of misery. It would soon dream of a life it hasn't had in what felt like eons. A life of a boy who was loved and presently lost to the outside world.

*AAOOOOOOOOO~~~*

-Elsewhere-

Somewhere, out beyond the furthest reaches of experience and understanding, there is a place that is not a place.

From the Waking World, in which humanity or any mortal entity out there insists on calling the real world, never come to grips with their dreams having no effect upon the plane of existence.

Mortals going on about their work, their loves, their wars, as if their waking lives are all that matters. With how such experiences of the day would affect the next in continuous courses.

The choices one makes ripple very often, clashing with other ripples. What they don't realize at times, their subconscious is often affected by their slumbers. For what they dream may direct these ripples, one way or another.

But there's another life that awaits them once they close their eyes. Drifting away from one realm and entering another.

You have been there many times, though your memories of it fade as soon as you try to hold them in your mind. It is called The Dreaming and it's ruled by Dream of the Endless; a place where everyone spends a third of their entire lifetime.

Even Worlds can be subjected to sleep, only seeking to awaken to resume the natural course of their very existence.

For when the Waking World leaves you wanting and weary, sleep brings you here to find freedom and adventure or entrapment and torture. To face your fears and fantasies in Dreams and Nightmares that its ruler creates and must control, lest they consume and destroy you.

This is the purpose and function of Morpheus, or at least it was until he was summoned and captured by cultists.

For nearly a century, the Dreaming has been deteriorating without its very personification present. In turn, the Waking World was damaged in more ways than one with Dreams and Nightmares running riot, affecting countless others for all that time. Without their lord and master reigning in their actions, so many sought to do things they could only dream of enacting without Morpheus' disapproval.

But no more.

For now, it's healing, being repaired. And many Dreams and Nightmares are slowly coming back with the Dream King's return. Yet not all will return to their own freedom so soon, or not at all.

But that is a situation for another time.

Presently we see the current state of the Realm of Sleep.

In the vast, sandy planes, it may seem to go on forever. For beyond the infinite dust, infinite sand, infinite dark and light and shifting zones; the way to the center of this dream-like desert was an extremely slow spiral.

It wasn't always like this, for there was much life in the Dreaming before Morpheus' imprisonment. In due time, it'll be far more than just an endless desert, returning to its natural state with some obvious changes and additions.

Upon passing the Gates of Horn and Ivory, you will see the very heart and center of the Dreaming.

It is known by a litany of names by countless civilizations throughout the universe. But the most commonly known ones are as such: The Ghost Castle and The Palace of Dreams. Aptly named, for it is Moprheus' seat of power.

It's no longer the ruin the structure used to be once Morpheus was freed from captivity. Now it was by far the largest castle one could ever see in their entire life. Elegant towers with various walls studded with jewels in what wasn't acres, but square miles. The style was like countless styles of architecture meshed together and it wouldn't have been possible at all to perfectly blend them. Yet here it is in all its marvelous glory with every type of stone and metal one could think of and more with ones they never knew before; only things one could ever dream of.

*RING* *RING* *RING* *RING* *RING*

The sound of an alarm clock flared to life within a bedroom. The hand of its lone resident reached out and fiddled around the nightstand before turning off the device.

This wasn't a dream. This wasn't some person, but in fact a Nobody. That which stems from the nothingness that all would fall into eventually.

Stirring awake, blue eyes fluttered open with their owner letting loose a yawn.

'Another dreamless sleep.' Thought Roxas. 'Not that I mind, of course.'

He wondered if he was able to dream within the Dreaming. A curious irony or contradiction. To dream within the realm of dreams themselves.

Reaching back to the nightstand, he picked up his cell phone and checked for any messages from Zatanna and M'gann.

One may wonder how such a thing may be possible, having messages and calls reach from the Waking World to the Dreaming. You can thank Morpheus for that one, using some power to modify Roxas' cell phone into essentially a Dream Phone. It was a means for the Keybearer to quickly contact others in the Dreaming as he wasn't a natural resident.

Checking through the messages, he saw no updates on his text conversation with either of his friends. Last he read was Zatanna counting down the days of her no longer being grounded while still jealous of M'gann for not getting punished. The reason being the spellcaster's father -Giovani Zatara- overreacting or whatever.

'Still don't get how one gets punished for merely helping others.' Roxas thought to himself. 'Actually, the particular concept of it goes over my head now that I think about it.'

He had Sora's memories, including ones before he went on his first adventure to save the Worlds. The islander never was punished by his mother as Sora was a good boy… as far as he could recollect.

As for Roxas, such a thing never really happened to him when he was in the Organization. He was too valuable for the higher-ups to do such a thing. Though the closest he considers them dishing out punishments to him and perhaps Xion was giving him the hard missions to accomplish.

Rising from the bed, Roxas ran his hand through his bed hair a few times before rubbing his eyes. Turning to the side, he drew the curtain before unlocking the window latch and pushing it open. This resulted in his face meeting with a fresh breeze as it cycled through his room.

Gazing through the window, Roxas smiled slightly, exhaling a sigh. "It's turning out better by the day."

Turning back into his room, he inspected the spartan layout.

Not much could be seen of his living space outside of the standard furniture and amenities. Eventually, it'll be decorated to his liking, once he figures something out to at least give this some relative life to it. At least his closet was full of the clothing he purchased when he spent time with Zatanna and M'gann.

Aside from this factor, his residence in Dream's palace was the decent size of a studio apartment.

Exiting the bedroom, he came into the small living room with some simple couches and coffee table sets. There was even a standard entertainment system present such as a TV set and a stereo system. Though for these things to actually perform their functions, he'll need to go out shopping for some movies and albums; among other things.

Connected right next to it was a kitchen with a small dining table. He only had a small, limited supply of foodstuff which he didn't have provided from the large lounge area, dining hall and kitchens down below for large feats and services for guests and palace workers. All the greater Nobody had at this time were a few necessities for late-night snacks or early-morning meals.

From the far end of the living space was a hallway that led to this apartment's storage room and washroom.

Unfortunately, there weren't any laundry appliances installed in this place, due to there being a massive laundry center located elsewhere in the palace. Thus he'll have to drop off his laundry basket over there once every week or two as the servants stationed there would have it all cleaned and ready by the end of the day.

Two things stood out in the living arrangements.

The first was a glass cabinet off to the side, which was locked. A lone object hung from one of the many hooks. Taking a closer look, one could see the Amulet of Protection was stored inside.

He could consider it a trophy case, showing the hallmarks of his time since meeting Morpheus, but it can be so later on. For now, it was merely a storage place for artifacts he collected and deemed too risky to have out and about.

Lastly were the piles of books pertaining to a litany of subjects: science, ideology, theology, philosophy, myths and folklore, the Complete Shakespear, true histories of the world, the Complete Lemegeton, the Angelarium, the Divine Comedy, magical theories, etc. All of them checked out from the palace library upon Lucien and Morpheus' insistence.

Quite the amount of reading material, but the pair did state they'll be essential for Roxas' new position for the Dreaming and his pre-existing one as a Keybearer.

From what Lucien and Morpheus pointed out, knowledge is the most potent power in the universe. The right piece of information, and the proper use of it, could turn the tide of any conflict one may come across, while the lack or misuse of it does the opposite effect. There was a lot to take in, and Roxas knew he'd only scratch a tiny sliver of everything he needed to know what he has here in his present residence.

Roxas idly wondered if they could save him the trouble by just plugging all of this information into his head; kinda like what DiZ/Ansem the Wise did to him with all this knowledge in convincing him he was merely an ordinary highschooler whilst finishing Sora's awakening. He didn't like the possible idea of using it, given his past experience with people messing around with his head.

He did at least ask if this was possible, to which they responded it could be done here in the Dreaming. They -however- argued it would serve no real purpose.

In order for Roxas to properly obtain all this knowledge, he had to learn by reading, studying and practicing. Essentially, he had to do this all the hard way.

A way which Roxas would be fine going through.

He made himself a simple breakfast consisting of a bowl of cereal, jellied toast and a glass of mango juice. As he ate, he resumed reading through a rather thick book he left off last night, depicting the many events of the complete and accurate events leading to, during and following the Trojan War; a means for him to eventually understand this situation with Circe.

Eventually showering and getting dressed, Roxas made his way out of his residence and down to the lower levels. And he briefly passed a particular room, which he doubled back and looked inside.

The great hall -more like the throne room- of the Dream King was huge and vaulted. It could be the very size of the ballroom of Beast's Castle, or perhaps a bit larger depending on Morpheus' present mood. It was gothic in architecture. The trio of arched windows set behind the throne was elongated with beautiful stained glass set within. And the ceiling was ever expansive as it was filled with countless stars with their constellations throughout the cosmos.

Speaking of the throne, it lay at the very center of the chamber, set on high and suspended from a winding flight of steps. The very chair is one piece, carved out of black marble.

The piece of furniture reminded him slightly of the one assigned to him by the Organization in the Room Where Nothing Gathers. An additional fun fact about the throne was that it safeguarded the Dreaming's Keyhole; one which Roxas sealed up once Dream reformed the palace.

Presently, Morpheus was seated upon it with piles of books set all around him. The Endless was looking through each and everyone, silently drinking in the contents.

Roxas saw the Dream King was busy, so he left without disturbing him.

The Shaper has been deep into his work since the quest came to an end. To Roxas' knowledge, he had already gone through all of the appointments he couldn't fulfill previously to ones he freshly made. With nothing else, all other focus has been done on repairs and catching up with everything he's missed for nearly a century.

Making up for all that lost time will take up nearly all of Dream's attention. Who knows when he'd fully make himself available to just about anything. Could be weeks or months or perhaps longer.

All Roxas can do now was be patient for when Morpheus will be free for anything.

Departing from the palace, Roxas made it to the stables as the sun was rising from the horizon and saw a litany of animals there.

"Morning guys." He greeted the inhabitants. "Hope you all had a pleasant sleep."

*RAAAAAARH*

*SKREEEEE*

*WROOOOO*

*BRWAAAAAA*

In any typical stables, there would be all sorts of ridden animals such as horses or the occasional oxen. But the occupants here weren't ones seen in the Waking World.

And Roxas knew of them upon his first time here, for he knew what they were through Sora's memories.

Dream Eater Spirits.

They were a myriad and bizarre group of animals. Some were chimera-like creatures while others were oddly designed with unusual color pallets. A number of creatures were based on fictional entities from the mortals' perspective to even ones that are extinct. For they all can only exist in dreams.

It was through Morpheus did he learn more about these entities.

Yes, Dream Eaters represent both pleasant dreams and horrid nightmares. But it wasn't just this factor, but they're byproducts of sleeping minds; more so when one is lost to darkness with their Hearts becoming Heartless and their bodies becoming Nobodies.

It made Roxas wonder if Sora has a Dream Eater directly connected to him somewhere here in the Dreaming.

Going off to the side, Roxas went to retrieve a cart and began filling it up with a number of meals for the varying entities residing here as he was tasked with feeding them today. He could hear the creatures restlessly shift about in their pens, awaiting their meals.

"Don't worry. You'll get your breakfast soon enough." He called out to them all.

In part of his new duties, he'd be taking care of these entities alongside the stable workers. This meant feeding, grooming, playing, and training. One could see this was demeaning work, but not to Roxas.

This played a factor in something he was gifted by Morpheus.

You see, entities of the Dreaming can't appear in the Waking World -due to restrictions- unless they have something there to summon them and give them a physical form. Dreams have difficulty staying there for long, but Nightmares -however- seemed to thrive and survive far longer than their "lighter" counterparts.

A means of making it happen is a charm presently in Roxas' possession with their sigil embedded onto its surface.

The affection and treatment he gives strengthens them through the developing bonds. This would be present and shown with them assisting their summoner when out in combat.

Though there was something more to the connection, one which Morpheus and Lucien left ambiguous for some reason. It left Roxas rather curious, but he will find the realization at a later date.

With his task at the stables done for the day, Roxas left and headed towards a destination in mind.

Making it to the palace courtyard, he looked onward to see a mighty bridge held by massive stone hands positioned above a massive lake. Gazing back to the main, central entrance he saw three mighty guardians; a wyvern, a griffin and a pegasus.

"Good morning." He called out to the guardians.

"A pleasant morning to you, young one." Spoke the wyvern, who was situated above the archway.

"Where are you off to this day?" Asked the griffin, who lay on top of an enlarged pedestal on the left.

"As far as I know, one or two places." Responded Roxas. "Playing it by ear afterward."

"Then safe travels until your return." Said the pegasus as he and his fellow guardians saw the Nobody off.

Leaving the palace grounds, Roxas made his way up toward the nearest mountain. He saved time by gliding once jumping off of the highest point of the bridge. He might've gotten there far quicker with a Dark Corridor, but he wanted to further see the sights.

Minutes passed on by before reaching the foot of the mountain. More took place as he hiked up the trail leading to his destination of an enlarged cave.

Entering the space, he saw someone there and gave a small smile.

"Hello, Eve."

The person turned over, revealing her features in the light.

She was an attractive ravenette of indeterminate age with flawless dark olive skin and silver eyes. In a blink of an eye, she shifted from a maiden to a middle-aged woman with gray streaks in her locks with a number of wrinkles on her face. Moments later, her appearance was now of an old woman with her hair fully grayed out with more wrinkles on her flesh. Despite her age-changing form, she wore simple clothing consisting of a shirt and shorts whilst barefooted. The last time he was here, she wore white robes.

Her purpose here in the Dreaming was being a caretaker; both of Morpheus' ravens throughout the eras among other roles.

"Good morning, young man." Eve greeted him.

Sounds of fluttering wings were heard as Matthew flew to the mouth of the cave and landed on a nearby tree branch.

"Hiya kid." He cawed out.

"Morning Matthew." Roxas greeted the former human. "You ready?"

"I am."

The raven woman looked at the two curiously. "Where are you two going?"

"His former home."

"I wanted possibly one last look before moving on." Said Matthew, explaining the reason. "Properly, I mean."

Silver eyes blinked before nodding in understanding. "Ah, I see. A number of ravens throughout my care often sought closure so the rest of their existence in this realm will be less problematic. Just didn't expect it to be this soon in your case."

"I kept coming in and out of my sleep after I got into my car accident before I died and wound up here. There were just some things I wanted to resolve while I had the chance before it was too late."

"No worries." Eve gazed upon Roxas. "Be sure to return him in one piece and hopefully in a timely manner. He -like you- has his duties which may be called upon at a moment's notice."

The Keybearer gave her a knowing look as Matthew soon left the tree and perched on his shoulder.

His main occupation in the Dreaming was primarily on-call.

An example of one task is to hunt down any rogue Nightmares if he comes across them by chance or is sent out accordingly. But this will not happen until he gets some more training under Morpheus' guidance. On others, well it just depends on what the Dream King and Lucien have in store for him.

Saying his brief goodbye, Roxas waved his hand towards a spot some feet away from him. A corridor made of sand appeared one which allows the denizens of this realm to safely traverse from both here and in the Waking World. Once it was stabilized, both Roxas and Matthew entered it before it collapsed.

-The Waking World-

Exiting through the Corridor, Roxas saw Matthew fly around slightly. The dream raven then perched on the blonde Nobody's shoulder as he spoke.

"Welcome to Marais, Louisiana." The Raven cawed with a fond tone.

Looking onward, Roxas saw he was standing some feet away from one of the bridges leading in and out of the local town. At the edge of it, there was a cross with a reef of flowers placed upon it.

Walking through Marais, the Keybearer could see this place was rather quaint from what he could tell so far with some rural ecstatic. There was the typical library, a town hall, a hospital, some schools and everything else for the standard norm.

"What can you tell me about this place?" Roxas asked the former human.

From what he knew of the raven, he was named Matthew John Cable; or just Matt for short. He was the lieutenant of the local law enforcement who resided here in his mortal life.

"What's there to say?" Responded Matthew. "Not much really happens at this place as far as I know. But I knew there has been some messed up shit underneath the glamour for some years now."

"Like what?"

"The occasional murder and some occult stuff at this one dining place to name a few." The raven gave the blonde Nobody a look. "That last portion I thought was somewhat hooky, but Lucien and a few others cleared up the stuff some time ago for confirmation."

Roxas hummed when digesting some of this bit of information.

"Things were subtly bad for years, but it got worse over the past eight-ish months." The dream entity soon voiced the reason. "It began with Sunderland Corporation dumping this accelerant mutagen chemical or whatever into the nearby swamp. It wasn't visible at first with it all done underneath everyone's noses, but some months back it became noticeable."

"How much did it affect the town?"

"Quite a bit in a number of ways. For one, the swamp helped provide the town with a fixed income. Don't ask me exactly how much, but to sum it up it was a lot. And with the swamp connected to practically everything, it would affect the residents with health issues if something came up. It was so bad it caused a growing pandemic, which brought in the CDC."

"You said something about an accelerant chemical. What was it for?"

"Progressing production with vegetation in the surrounding areas, which in turn affects the wildlife. Initially, it worked from what I and a few others dug up in secured test sites. But the creator of it -Dr. Jason Woodrue- and his commissioner -Avery Sunderland- didn't know that putting the stuff in the swamp would cause a crapload of shit."

"Any reason why?"

"Something about the swamp being a supernatural hotspot and would cause a messed up cocktail as a result."

"Tell me this company is shut down, at least."

"As far as I know, somewhat. Rather messy with how it turned out. Don't know beyond that as I died the day Earth went to shit. Though from what I can see, Marais is recovering but the scars are still here after all of the craziness that happened."

A nod was given once hearing this bit of information. Though he swore he could tell there was more to what Matthew said. He made out a sense of regret amongst something else.

'Was coming here to seek closure all that he wanted or was there something more?' Was the Nobody's thought. 'I'll find out sooner or later. I won't pry.'

The rest of the walk was relatively silent to their initial destination. Matthew did speak up every so often, commenting a little about some places they passed on by. A means for him to reflect on his mortal life.

Eventually, they came to where Matthew wanted to be at most of all.

The plot of land was of relative space, but it seemed larger to both agents of the Dreaming. With the grave markers stretching far and wide in a sense, much could be felt here.

The reason why they were here was simple, Matthew wanted to see his grave.

What he didn't expect was seeing he was buried alongside his mother, Sheriff Lucilia Cable.

Their placement in the local cemetery was quite nice. There were some flowers placed here. Some looked dying while others were relatively fresh.

Presently, Matthew was perched on his grave marker, looking down and imagining his mortal body lying in the coffin placed six feet under. His gaze shifted to where his mother was buried, soon seeing the death date on the marker being the same as his own.

Roxas could tell there were a number of emotions in the dream entity's eyes.

"People say it's strange to be at your own funeral, let alone seeing your own resting place. Never thought I'd be one of them." Matthew remarked, tone difficult to ascertain his mood. "Ever think about it?"

Roxas found this to be such an odd question. "I wouldn't know. Never been to one before."

"You'll experience going to a funeral at some point. You could feel this weight when you're present, being lighter or nothing at all. Hard to tell from person to person."

The former human exhaled a sigh. "Being at a funeral, you may grieve and mourn whilst celebrating their life before saying goodbye and moving on with your life." Matthew soon let out a snort. "For me, right now, it's rather complicated. Me mourning the life I once had before moving onto the one I have right now. I was prepared for that when wanting to come here. What I didn't expect was knowing my mother died as well on the same day I became this." He said, gesturing to himself.

Roxas was silent for some moments before voicing a question. "Were you expecting to talk to your mother or at least see her one last time?"

Matthew nodded. "We had a fight, before my car accident. She did all this stuff just to protect me and I didn't want her doing that from the start. I was just so angry I drove off and… didn't pay attention or something. Just lost focus when I crashed and blacked out." The raven was rather downcasted. "One of the times I woke up in my hospital room, hooked up on life support, I can't recall exactly what I said but I must've hurt her badly."

"And you were regretful because of it." Roxas surmised.

A nod was received. "Don't know if it was merely because of Dee's actions or all-natural with issues that were bubbling up over the years. Either way, I still have regrets. With me the way I am now, I thought I may have been given a second chance to tell her I'm sorry and that I still love her; despite her faults." Matthew soon slumped. "Now I'm just robbed of the opportunity. Anything I might say now may be hollow."

Roxas stood in silence for some moments. His gaze grew distant, remembering a particular moment in his existence.

"I can understand that, but you should know, I did hold my friend dying in my arms." Roxas said, recalling Xion practically disintegrating and disbursing into crystalized wisps in the twilight. That moment stayed in his head almost every single day.

Matthew shook his head. "That's a different thing, kid."

"I know. Just thought I should share it. I wanted to say more to her while she could still hear me, but…"

"I get it."

"...We can ask around and see how she died." Said Roxas, referring to Matthew's mother, before seeing the raven give him a look. "And by 'we' I mean me."

Matthew gave out a caw-like bark of a laugh. "I can work with that."

Roxas soon felt his stomach rumble a little.

"Well, I'm hungry. Know any good places to eat at?"

"Remember the diner I told you about earlier?" Matt asked him, getting a "so-so" gesture in response. "We can go there. I'll show you the way."

"Don't know if there's gonna be any food that you can actually have in your present state."

"Eh, I can snack on some eggs, nuts and berries." The raven began flapping his wings to take flight. "Don't know about dead rodents yet."

Roxas chuckled as he soon followed his avian companion to their next destination.

Delroy's Roadhouse was a popular hangout spot for all ages. Much of their business was done for lunches and dinners, especially the latter at the end of the work day as the locals wanted to unwind.

There were two means of typically getting over to the diner: by foot and tire or by boat. The former was obvious, but the latter was due to the establishment being built alongside the river.

The pair got to the diner just as it opened up, so their food may be ready rather quickly.

"Hello there, sir." Spoke the hostess. "How many for your party?"

"Just me."

"And would you like to eat inside or outside?"

"Outside's fine, ma'am."

Roxas soon followed the hostess and was given a nice little table with a view of the river.

"Never seen you before around these parts." The Hostess commented.

"I'm just passing through." He said to her, "Heard this place was good, so I wanted to try it out."

The hostess smiled a little, handing him the menu. "Then take your time in looking through our menu."

"Will do…" Roxas left the statement hanging, waiting for her name.

"Liz, you may call me Liz. Holler when you're ready to order."

"Okay, Liz."

As the hostess left Roxas alone, the flapping of wings greeted him. Their owner soon landed on the table before hopping closer to the blonde Nobody.

Matthew moaned whimsically. "What I wouldn't give to get some of that right now."

"What? Some of the food?"

"Well, yeah. Liz and her father -Delroy- make some good stuff. No, what I was focused on were those."

Roxas somewhat focused towards where the raven was practically pointing with his beak: the bar.

"Don't know if you can handle your alcohol as you are now."

"You think." Matthew said sarcastically.

"Maybe I can-"

"Kid, you ain't twenty-one. You can't legally buy any alcohol."

Blue eyes blinked. "You mean I can't buy any of it for nearly twenty years?"

The Raven stared at the boy. "...I'm gonna ignore that."

"If I can't get any for you here, maybe you can get some back in the Dreaming. Some drinks that may be suitable for you to take."

Matthew was silent for a few moments before releasing a small 'huh'. "I'll see if that's possible. After all, anything can be possible over there."

Roxas shook his head a little with a smile. He began asking the raven what sounded good and what he could perhaps hand over so Matthew can at least get something.

As this went on, he began asking who the hostess was given she was familiar to Matthew.

Liz Tremayne is the daughter of the diner's owner. She works part-time here and is a part-time reporter for the Marais Echo Weekly. Call it cliche -in Matthew's opinion- but she's well-liked by just about everyone in town. After all, she practically sees all of the town's populace walk in through the diner's door nearly every day of the week. On another factor, Matthew was good friends with her growing up and still was till his dying day.

"With you here, why don't you try and-"

"I doubt the reunion will be well received, Roxas."

"Why not?"

The bird scoffed, feathers ruffling slightly. "I can think of a good number of reasons. Overall, I bet she'd have a hard time handling the fact I'm back from death."

"Wouldn't she be happy to see you again?" The Nobody asked in confusion.

"No clue. But I don't want to test my luck. Not now at least."

Roxas nodded slightly, wanting to respect Matthew's wishes.

After browsing through the menu, with Matthew's recommendations, Roxas was ready to order. For himself, he was going to have a jambalaya. As for Matthew, Roxas will get him an order of crawfish boil, which he will need the Keybearer's assistance to get through the shells so he may dine into the meat.

Matthew took off just when Roxas called Liz over to place his order. He landed on the balcony above, awaiting to come back down for the food to arrive.

"You look well in your new life, Matthew."

The bird stiffened when hearing the voice. Turning over, he saw an old woman of African descent drinking from a cup of iced tea. She appeared blind but seemed like she could somehow see him.

He knew her, and she made him nervous.

*Caw*

The blind woman smiled a little.

This time, the coming *Caw* was a bit weaker. He could practically sweat a little in response when seeing her smile grow a bit more.

"You don't have to fool me, Lieutenant Cable." She said calmly.

"...Was this from your magical foresight or something?" Matt said, opting to give up on the charade.

The blind woman shook her head, tapping beneath her ear. "No. I heard your voice down below. That and I can see your spirit, stunted into the form you take now."

Matthew gave out an exasperated sigh. If he could properly facepalm, he'd be doing so by now.

"You should really be attentive to your surroundings as you are now."

"I'll be sure to commit that to memory."

"See that you do." She took another sip of her drink. "You appear well since your passing."

Matthew flapped his wings a little. "As you can see, I changed since everything went to Hell."

"Physically, yes. Personality, not so much."

The raven rolled his eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Having a nice drink and lunch."

Matt puffed his chest out, eyes narrowing slightly, hopping to the chair adjacent to her. "Don't bullshit me. You always pop up at the oddest of times at your own convenience or choice."

"Not by my choice, Matthew. I go where the Fates decide and where I'm needed." She soon drank more of her tea. "And I was telling the truth in my earlier response."

"Uh-huh." Was the bland response.

Matthew soon took off and flew down below.

The blind woman drank the rest of her iced tea. Rising from her seat, she took hold of her cane and went to the lower level of the restaurant.

Sitting patiently, Roxas was checking out a few things on his phone when he noticed Matthew landing on the table.

"Had a good flight?"

"Didn't go far and wish it could've been better." Matt grumped out.

"How so?"

"Saw a familiar face."

"Oh~ Who?"

"One which unsettles me." The Raven admitted, idly tapping his foot on the table.

Roxas gave him a perplexed look, making him wonder who-

"He's referring to me, young man." Said a voice from behind, making blond tense up.

Shifting in his seat, he looked over to see a blind woman walking over, using her cane to help her slightly along the way.

Obviously, he was a bit dumbfounded and a bit alarmed given this came out of nowhere.

"She knows who I am, kid." Matt plainly said, though he appeared unamused in her being here.

Roxas was a bit worried and didn't know how to work with this right away.

"Be at ease, child. I mean you, nor Matthew, any harm." The blind woman said, gesturing her other hand in a placating manner.

"If you say so." No. XIII warily said, eyeing the woman with a hint of trepidation. Something was off about her, he just didn't know why.

Even though she claimed to not hold any ill intentions, Roxas would be on guard in case of anything.

"May I sit?" She politely asked.

He thought for a moment, before clearing his throat slightly. "You may."

She reached out and searched for the available seat at the table. Took some moments before finding the chair, pulling it back slightly before seating herself down.

"I'm Nimue Inwudu, though everyone else calls me Madame Xanadu." The blind woman introduced herself. "And who might you be, child?"

"I'm Roxas and I'm somewhat of a friend of Matthew."

"Co-workers, actually." Corrected the raven.

"Pleasure." Xanadu said simply. "And how long have you two known each other?"

"Since the day I died." Matt stated.

Xanadu hummed at this little tidbit, reclining into her seat.

"And where did you meet?"

"New York." Roxas answered this time. "Can't say it was a good first encounter, given what was happening at the time."

"I'd imagine."

"Don't mind me asking this, but how did you know Matthew as he is now?"

"I have a unique affinity to the supernatural, young man. It's not the first time I encountered a creature such as him, though I was surprised he became a living Dream."

Hearing this, Roxas assumed Xanadu was a spellcaster or something else in the particular field. After all, despite her being blind, the Nobody could sense she was clearly looking at him and through him as if she was thoroughly analyzing him.

"I can imagine you have many questions about me, Roxas." She said with a small smile. "Yet I figure Matthew has several he seeks answers for before you do."

The Nobody glanced over to his animal companion, who shifted awkwardly in his placement on the table.

"How'd she die?" The Raven quietly asked.

Xanadu knew who Matthew was referring to. "Died during the chaos as the world became unbalanced. But to be more specific, she was stabbed by Avery."

"Avery Sunderland?" Roxas asked for clarification.

"The very same."

The raven was bewildered, confused with how this was possible. "Wasn't he supposed to be incarcerated?"

"He weasled and bribed himself out, no doubt. Someone in the hospital staff spotted him exiting your mother's car before going into his own and took off."

Matthew flared in anger, wanting justice for his mother's murder. "Where is he now?"

"Dead. Car accident during the whole mess." She said calmly. "From what I heard, he was t-boned which resulted in his car ending up going into the river which had him drown as a result."

Roxas looked over, seeing Matthew practically bristling in anger with what Avery did to his mother. The dream entity didn't say anything but may have shown some satisfaction in knowing Lucilia's murderer was brought to justice, in a manner.

Through Matthew's period of silence, Xanadu focused again on the Keybearer.

"You are… interesting, Roxas." Xanadu inclined forward, leaning upon her walking cane. "Fascinating, actually. I see Light, Darkness, Nothingness within you. Oddly balanced with all this power you possess."

He shifted about uncomfortably now. It was strange to feel a blind person "staring" so intently at him as she was right now.

"What are you?" She quietly asked. "I've never met anyone like you."

The Nobody was unsure how to answer that. Normally, he'd have some level of restraint but if needed, he'd tell most people who and what he is. But with Xanadu…

"I'm just a Nobody." Was the honest answer.

He saw her raise an eyebrow at that. "Just a Nobody?"

"Just that, yeah." He affirmed.

"Really?" She said, clearly not buying it. "You seem more than just a demeaning label or someone not important."

"I wouldn't say that." Roxas murmured. "Just… that's what I am."

"And what exactly is a Nobody supposed to be?" Xanadu inquired.

"Huh?"

"It's clear to me that it's not a label but something else in regard to you." She surmised, rubbing her chin. "Not only this, but I can see you'll have an interesting future in store for you."

"Is this from your tarot cards or just your personal opinion?" Came Matthew's query.

Xanadu only smiled, being the vague answer.

"You're a shakeup, that's for sure." The blind lady confidently said. "Perhaps a necessary shakeup. A small ripple that'll form into a tidal wave of change. All starting with you."

Roxas merely shrugged in response, not knowing how to respond to that.

Matthew could feel Xanadu's gaze shift onto him now. "Lucilia would be happy you are serving a better calling."

"Who knows if that's accurate." He said dismissively.

"Maybe. But I like to think so."

Shortly after Xanadu left the table, Liz arrived with the food Roxas ordered.

Despite not getting any information about this "Nobody", she'll use other means to learn on her newly desired queries.

True to Matthew's word, the jambalaya was delicious. He even had a few pieces of the crawfish when getting them ready for his companion to partake.

Once finishing his meal, Roxas left Liz a nice tip with the rest of food as leftovers in a "doggie bag" for later on.

"Where are we off to now?"

It took a while navigating through the dense forestation and slightly boggy areas, having the pair get a little lost but they were now at the heart of the local swamp.

It was rather tranquil, in a manner. And there was this odd sensation in the air from what Roxas took notice of.

There was a nice house built over the swamp's water. Some signs of damage were present, despite the repairs taken to restore it. Though there were a lot of plants running along its surface with the occasional exotic flowers being spotted.

"Who is it we're seeing here?"

"Just a pair of friends. Actually, it's more like a friend and an acquaintance."

Roxas blinked when regarding the bit of correction Matthew made there.

Getting into the home was relatively easy, given it was unlocked for some reason. That portion was a tad concerning, wondering if the residents weren't worried about their personal safety.

Inside on the main floor -once ascending the flight of stairs- was what appeared as a small laboratory. There were all sorts of equipment present which Roxas had no idea what they generally were for. What he did recognize were some beakers, tubes, flasks, microscopes, burners and containment units. Aside from them, everything else seemed to fly over his head. There was a kitchen not far away with a coffee maker on the counter and a tea kettle on the stove. If he were to explore further, Roxas would find a standard bedroom, bathroom and other necessities of a living environment.

"Anyone in here?" Matthew called out.

"Guess no one's home." Roxas commented. "We can come back later and-"

"Who goes there?"

Roxas and Matthew looked around, searching for where the voice came from.

From a house plant, an entity grew out and emerged before placing its feet on the floor.

He had to be seven- no, eight feet tall. All muscular and intimidating. He was composed of all sorts of vines, leaves, moss, wood and other flora. The area surrounding his nose and mouth area was triangular in shape. What seemed to stand out the most were the bright red eyes.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Questioned the plant-like entity.

"Uh… hi. I'm Roxas." He shifted his blue eyes from the entity and looked towards the stairwell. "You need better locks, or actually lock your home."

The plant-like entity merely glared before giving out a warning. "Leave or I'll make you leave."

Before Roxas was able to make a response, the bird of the group spoke up. "Hello, Holland."

The identified "Holland" blinked before focusing on the raven perched on Roxas' shoulder. He recognized the voice. "Matthew? You're alive?"

"In the flesh, so to speak. You can say I'm like you now."

Red eyes narrowed. "You most certainly are not like me."

"We basically are." Matthew hopped off Roxas' shoulder and landed on the counter. "We both died and got a new lease on life in a peculiar way. You as a giant plant, me as a dream raven."

The large entity's head cocked over slightly in curiosity. "A dream raven?"

"It's a little hard to explain." Said Roxas.

Matthew gave out a snort. "A little? More like a lot."

The now-identified Holland merely gave them a look in the end, with many questions on his mind.

"I should probably make the proper introductions." Matthew extended one wing towards the blonde in the room. "Holland, this is Roxas, my new co-worker in the Dreaming." The raven brought down his wing before lifting the other towards the plant entity. "Roxas, this big green bloke here is Dr. Alec Holland. Though he calls himself Swamp Thing, for some reason."

"Don't refer to me as that, Matthew."

"Sorry, but it sounded appropriate after that British guy said it when he was last here."

"Big green bloke." Roxas muttered before making a small sense of recollection. "You're the one John spoke of, aren't you?"

Red eyes narrowed slightly, a feeling of recognition with what Roxas said. "Constantine."

Roxas nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, him. I take it you two… don't have a good relationship."

The resounding growl came before Holland spoke. "He enrages me."

"Yeah, I should've figured on that." Roxas exhaled a sigh, recalling some bits Zatanna informed him of the Magical Con-man. "What did he do?"

"Should you tell the kid or should I?" Asked Matthew, though the glare he received was all the answer he was gonna get. "Right. As far as I know, there's actually a lot that Brit did to piss Alec off." The raven pondered a little and listed a few from the top of his head. "Let's see. There was destroying an acre of trees to expose a demon's hiding spot when he was last here. Burning some exotic, endangered plants for a spell to combat said demon. If I remember correctly, John and Abby having a small fling-"

Holland snapped an interruption. "I thought I told you to not mention that again."

Matt winced at the volume of the voice. "Geez, sorry. I was telling Roxas. You don't need to bite my head off."

"Do I want to know?" The blond tentatively asked.

Matthew eyed the blonde before shifting to Alec relatively briefly. "You probably don't right now. Maybe never if there are any plants around."

Roxas only cocked his brow in response. That is a little extreme.

"Say, where's Abby?" Asked the raven.

"Not here."

Matt rolled his eyes… or head in slight annoyance. "I can see that. But where exactly? I just wanna see her. Not talk to her, mind you."

Holland was silent for some moments before giving the desired response. "Out of town. Back at the CDC for another case. Don't know when she'll return."

"Got it."

A discussion soon took place with Roxas asking who this Swamp Thing was and vice versa towards him and Matthew.

Situated himself on one of the chairs, Roxas explained several details on what he -a Nobody- was to the scientist, which seemed to fascinate him; mind-boggling even. The means of science and magic were different from what Alec could try to understand of how a "shell" could be animated. Then again, when thinking about how he became what he is, the former botanist could find similarities between his present state with the young teenager before him.

As for Matthew's case, it was a tad complicated with both him and Roxas trying to explain what a living Dream exactly was. Suffice it to say, it was perhaps far easier than learning what a Nobody was.

Before long, Roxas was able to learn more about Alec. At first, it went on with the man's scientific field as a biochemist and a botanist. He moved here months ago just when the swamp was going through its changes -courtesy of Sunderland Corp- and sought to uncover the details through his research. Though it was through this he nearly made a breakthrough when the CDC got involved when he went through his accident and became the being he is today.

"I'm sorry you went through all that, Alec. It must've been a struggle to work through."

Holland waved it off slightly. "It was, trying to recollect my memories and handling my present situation. I've come to terms with it in the end. Now the Green comforts me, guides me."

"The Green?" Roxas questioned. "What are you talking about?"

It was from there did the Keybearer -and by extension Matthew- get a deeper breakdown of Holland's affiliation with the Green and the conflicts he's a part of.

Turns out that Nature throughout the universe has different color groups to represent its elemental, metaphysical forces: the Red for regular animals, the Blue/Clear for aquatic life, the Green for plants, the Black or rather the Rot, the Gray for fungal life, the White for air, the Melt for the earth, the Metal for well metal and technology, and so on. And each group had their own ruling council called Parliaments.

Originally, they were set in place by the Divided in maintaining a balance. Yet for years they've been in a civil war with differing sides sending out their Avatars and Champions to do the fighting for them. But things could consider getting worse, for the Rot has been becoming a dangerous group in recent generations; due to one of their own seeking to prove his side reigned supreme above all others.

It was rather informative for Roxas with Matthew getting a number of things cleared up as he only knew a few facts ever since he knew Holland as the Swamp Thing.

"This is quite something." Roxas muttered aloud. "I'm already learning much in my present roles. Just never expected to know of this already."

"As a former man of science, I can agree this is an aspect of the universe I was never prepared for." Holland admitted. "A secret having been presented to me as I came into my new lease on life. One which gave me so many answers, yet left me so many questions."

Matthew nodded at Alec's words. "Goes to show we oddly have to open our eyes through trauma to see more truths than lies."

Roxas' gaze was distant, recalling what trauma he personally experienced throughout his time in Organization XIII and the last leg of Mopheus' quest; even moments through Sora's memories.

"Though there is one question which still eludes me."

Roxas' focus came back to Holland as the former scientist said this. "And what's that?"

Holland's shoulders sagged whilst taking on a forlorn expression. "Why was I chosen? Why me of all people?" Seeing their curious expressions, he explained. "I was -in life- a scientist. I would've expected a guru or a sage to be a more fitting choice, given they're more connected to nature and free-spirited among other factors far more than myself."

The Raven hopped a bit closer. "Have you asked your new bosses?"

The former human looked at the bird solemnly. "I did, Matthew, but they couldn't give me a straight answer. They were too privy about it."

"I somewhat wonder the same thing on my end." Matthew admitted before explaining. "There are bound to be countless people out there who've died in their sleep. Lucien told me those who do take up residency in the Dreaming more often than naught. One of those gets the lucky chance in being a new Raven sometime after the last one dies or retires… somehow. I just don't know how I got that role. I don't know how I qualify. I'm not a poet, a writer, a philosopher or any of those artsy types my predecessors were. I… I was merely a man of the law, an investigator; not an artistic bone in my body. And Morpheus didn't have a hand in choosing me."

Leaning back, Roxas pondered on such thoughts and related them in some way.

To his present knowledge, Sora wasn't originally chosen by the Keyblade when Destiny Islands began to fall to darkness. It already chose Riku as its wielder beforehand, but things changed when the silver-haired teen sided with darkness; thus the Keyblade went down the list and went to Sora. May have been due to the factor of Sora harboring the Heart of Kairi -a Princess of Heart- within himself or something more, given the brunette islander went through a Deep Dive beforehand.

It was only, later on, did things change with Riku obtaining his own Keyblade -after several trials and tribulations- did he assist Sora and the others take down Organization XIII. And Kairi acquired her own around the same time.

Who knows for sure on the full specifics of the reasons.

There was also the factor of how he and Morpheus met. The Dream King would have entered someone else's dream to recover after his imprisonment, yet he stumbled into his or rather Sora's heart where he resided until then.

These thoughts and more started to plague his mind, which he soon shoved aside for the time being.

"I wish I could help give you clear answers. Maybe the Dreaming and Green saw something in you two respectively before you died." Said Roxas, soon looking towards the former scientist before eventually towards the former officer. "I mean, Alec, you were a botanist who cared for nature. And Matthew, there could be more about the Dreaming than we and the others realize. Maybe something else. All I can guess, there are other forces and mysteries out there which may have made things happen by letting you have a second life. It's there, but you probably can't see it just yet." The Nobody soon gave a shrug. "Wish I knew, but I'm only guessing."

Not much was said after this, eventually prompting them to change topics. And the trio talked for a while, discussing a number of things. Before long, Roxas and Matthew felt they were beginning to overstay their welcome.

"We should head out now." Said Matthew. "Don't know if you have things to do, Alec, but-"

"It's quite alright." Interrupted the Green's Avatar. "It is good you've come during the daylight hours."

Roxas was curious when hearing this. "How so?"

"This swamp isn't safe at night anymore."

"He's referring to the fact this place is haunted. More so after what Sutherland Corp did here." Matthew filled Roxas in. He soon looked back at Alec. "I thought the Brit took care of the issue when he was last here."

"The demonic issue, yes. But after their departure, other malevolent forces have surfaced."

This raised some concerns from the Keybearer. "Do you need help?"

Holland raised a placating hand. "I can handle it myself."

"Are you sure? What about the rest of the town?"

"With the help of Constantine and Xanadu, the swamp has been warded." The Representative of the Green assured. "No one is able to cross through easily unless permitted. At night, I take care of the issues in my own way."

Roxas nodded in understanding. "If you need it, I can come by and help."

The green goliath gave the boy a hard gaze, searching for any signs of deception, finding none as he slowly nodded. "...I'll keep that in mind."

Rising from his seat, Roxas stretched slightly before smiling slightly at the Green Champion.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Alec."

Swamp Thing said nothing, only giving a courteous nod as he saw Roxas descend the stairwell with Matthew flapping slightly before perching on the boy's shoulder.

Departing from the residence, the pair from the Dreaming were making their way through the swamp to an unspecified destination.

"We can head back to the Palace now, Roxas."

"Right. Though I wanna check something out."

Matthew cocked his head to the side in a questioning manner, wondering where Roxas sought to head to now.

Though the answer was received sometime after walking for a while.

"You really wanna come here? Why?"

"Liz asked me to come here, just so the owner can get some business for the day." Was the reply. "Besides, it got me curious."

The raven rolled his eyes. "Of course it did."

Standing some dozen feet away -with Matthew perched on the boy's shoulder- Roxas looked onward and saw an establishment with a neon sign labeled "Blue Devil Video Store". Upon walking closer to the nearest window display, the blonde Nobody could see they sold all sorts of movies. From what Roxas could recall Liz telling him earlier, this place occasionally drew in others from out of town, given the fact the business was run by a former movie star turned superhero.

"I'll fly around for a while. You do your thing and I'll wait for ya to come out."

Roxas nodded before seeing Matthew take off into the air.

The bell chimed as he entered. Looking down by his feet was a small grouping of handbaskets, no doubt for customers to take for multiple orders. Grabbing one, he moved further in and inspected the place.

There was a lot of merchandise categorized by genre from various films on various bookshelves and racks to some entertainment equipment present situated against the far-off wall. Along the walls were framed posters of films throughout the decades. Some of them appeared by the cash register, having a similar theme of the one actor -Dan Cassidy- being part of the film projects.

He thought he'd see the owner or at least an employee present, but they must be in the back for something. Until then, he'll keep on looking.

Now the intention with why Roxas was here was due to M'gann and Zatanna's insistence. Not because of this establishment of its notoriety, but in general it sold movies.

His two friends texted him a list yesterday of movies and bands to watch and listen to respectively when possible. Some were of their personal preferences, others were just suggestions on what may catch his fancy. He took their word for it, wanting to check them out on some available time when he's not busy.

Problem was, the list was lengthy.

He can resolve this easily by purchasing the movies and albums. He has the money. He would just have to search and purchase them when possible, or just see Zatanna and M'gann when possible to see and listen to them.

Presently, the basket Roxas was carrying was quickly filling up. He lost track of which ones he gathered from the list and was just going after ones that seemed to catch his fancy.

"Hello there." A voice said to him suddenly. "May I help you today?"

Turning over, Roxas saw a rather tall individual who could nearly reach Holland's height and physical structure. Would've been considered more if one counted the man's dull yellow horns. He was blue-skinned, sharp-eared and yellow-eyed with short white hair which ran down the sides of his head of trimmed mutton chops. And he presently wore a simple outfit of black shirt, plaid overshirt, loose Levi jeans and combat boots.

The individual in question was perhaps recognizable from what Roxas heard prior to coming here: Dan Cassidy, otherwise known as Blue Devil.

"No, I'm probably good so far. Thanks for asking."

Dan nodded before seeing the large assortment of movies in the teen's basket. "Quite the amount you have there, kid."

"My friends gave me a large list of movies and shows to check out."

The Blue Devil snorted, taking a moment to himself to see how many he could count from the basket. "No kidding. Just asking this now, but do you still plan on shopping for more or would you like to check out now?"

Roxas blinked, looking down at the basket briefly before eyeing the Blue Devil. "I still plan on getting some more." He held up the basket towards the store owner. "Though would you mind ringing these up for me now?"

"That I can." Said Dan, taking the movies off of Roxas' hands. "Don't mind me asking this, but can you afford all of these and more?"

No. XIII nodded. "I have the money."

The former actor shook his head a little. "If you say so. Apologies in advance but don't come crying to me if you break your wallet."

Seeing the Blue Devil go to the register and ring up the movies and show sets, Roxas shook his head a little with a smile. 'I doubt I can.' He thought to himself.

Getting himself another basket, Roxas went back around to acquire more movies.

Things seemed to take a complete halt on his browsing when his blue eyes caught onto something in particular.

'Snow White… and the Seven Dwarfs?'

Withdrawing the movie from the racking, Roxas took a better look at the cover art and nearly dropped the movie in the process.

His blue eyes considerably widened when seeing the individuals present there. It was Snow White standing in front of a large mirror with a pair of women situated above and below it; one beautiful while the other was a crone. On the sides were a number of men with a man on a white stallion on the left with the seven dwarfs on the right.

The depiction seen on Snow White was hauntingly eerily.

In his mind's eye, Roxas saw her and the other Princesses of Heart at Hollow Bastion on Sora's first adventure.

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Yet it went beyond that memory as he began seeing another that Sora never experienced at all, let alone himself.

His surroundings shifted from the video store to a dark forest before seeing himself(?) walk past him.

The other him(?) wore clothing vaguely similar to the attire he wore in the digitized Twilight Town. It consisted of a short-sleeved jacket with the right half being white while the other was black. The inlay of the jacket was red and pleated and underneath said article of clothing was a gray vest with several white, angular patterns on it held together by a single button. And there was a third layer underneath them in the form of a plain, high-necked black short-sleeved shirt.

He also wore a pair of pants in gray, black and white colors that seemed closed up halfway down his legs. Around his left wrist was a black and white checkered wristband. A pair of crisscrossing straps were seen across his chest with a silver ornate emblem stylized like a heart with an odd cross sticking out from the bottom. And his unique footwear was cut off around the ankles as they were colored in shades of gray and black with hints of red.

To finish off the teen's attire were the odd pieces of armor situated on him. From the odd-looking pauldron situated on his left shoulder, a piece located on his midsection underneath his vest and some on his footwear. Said armor pieces had parts composed of dull green and blue metal.

Regardless, Roxas knew and felt this wasn't him. Yet he wondered who this doppelganger was.

The other him soon came to who he recognized as Snow White, one of the Princesses of Heart. She was quivering and crying in utter fright from what the Nobody noticed.

"What's wrong?" Asked the doppleganger.

"These horrible trees- they tried to grab me."

The other him crouched down slightly, slowly extending out his hand towards Snow White. Her bloodshot eyes soon took notice of it, turning towards the young man beside her.

"Ah, it's okay. You were probably just seeing things. It happens to all of us when we're afraid."

Hearing his voice, Snow slowly took the offered hand. He helped her up whilst giving her a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thank you. I feel quite better now." The Princess of Heart said, whipping away her tear-stained cheeks. "I'm sure I'll get along, somehow."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

As the memory ended, Roxas saw his senses returned to the store he was presently in. His breaths seemed labored to a small degree.

'What… what was that?' He thought to himself.

Still looking at the movie, he narrowed his blue eyes before putting it in the basket.

A small drive took over him, a desire to seek answers.

And with it, something began surfacing.

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Roxas' surroundings shifted once more upon seeing a pair of movie covers, the first being for Cinderella.

This time, he appeared to be in a rather simple bedroom, illuminated by candlelight and starlight from the open window. Not to mention everything seemed to be greatly scaled, due to him being the size of a mouse.

Looking from the windowsill, he saw Cinderella -who wore simple clothing- leaning against it, who bore a forlorn expression. Curious, he looked towards her general line of sight and saw a palace in the distance, illuminating the night.

"Oh, well… What's a royal ball?" Said Cinderella, before taking a seat from the nearby chair. She held a sense of melancholy and yearning, from what the Nobody could notice. "After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull and boring… and completely… completely wonderful."

"Cinderella."

Looking over, both he and Cinderella saw a cabinet open up with a litany of birds and mice coming out in the process. Amongst them was Roxas' doppelganger, who was oddly the size of a small animal like the others.

From the cabinet appeared a soft pink and white dress, which was stylized rather nicely with a few bows and wraps placed at several key areas.

Cinderella gasped, holding her hands up to her mouth. "Is that my dress?"

"Yes. It's a present from us." The doppelganger said, with many of the mice and birds chirping and nodding in agreement. "Now you have a dress for the ball."

Happiness overwhelmed Cinderella, practically rushing over and giving all of the animals the brightest smile she could muster.

"Why, it's… it's such a surprise…"

The other blonde smiled, looking up towards the Princess of Heart. "Now hurry up, Cinderella. You don't want to miss out on your dream."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Everything shifted once more as Roxas found himself normal-sized and in a rather spacious room. It was heavily lavished, filled with all sorts of stylized furniture, tapestries, silks, etc.

When his eyes roamed around the space, he saw his doppelganger hanging over a bed and inspecting something. Walking up to the other blonde, Roxas saw the sleeping form of Princess Aurora.

"Stop, you get away from her!"

Whirling around, both blondes saw the Three Good Fairies pointing their wands at them… well, actually towards Roxas' doppelganger.

"Wha- Oh, I'm sorry." The other blonde apologized as he stepped away from the lavish bed, scratching the back of his head in an awkward manner. "It's just, I've never seen anyone so beautiful."

Flora, the red fairy, flew towards them slightly. "Who are you?" She asked, all but demanding.

"I'm Ventus. But you can call me Ven."

Roxas tilted his head to the side when hearing his doppelganger's name.

"Oh… You don't seem bad, dear." Said Fauna, the green fairy. "I'm certain you have a pure heart, just like our precious Aurora."

The newly identified Ventus looked back to the sleeping Princess of Heart. "Can you tell me why she's sleeping?"

Flora was the one to give a simple explanation. "Long ago, Maleficent cursed her. Now she's stolen her heart."

Ventus crossed his arms, pondering for a moment. "Hm… Well then, why don't I go get it back for her?"

"That's impossible, dear." Said Merryweather, the blue fairy. "Maleficent's home is at the Forbidden Mountain. It's not safe."

"I'm not afraid. We can't just leave Aurora like this. I can help. You gotta believe me. C'mon, let's go get her heart!"

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Everything in Roxas' perspective returned to normal, no longer seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Blue eyes focused on the movies in his hand, more specifically the second one with the film cover being Sleeping Beauty.

A frown marred his face. Making him ponder on many questions freshly forming in his mind.

Going around the one section of the store, Roxas began pulling off movies from the racking before adding them to the basket alongside the others: Lilo & Stitch, Hercules, Peter Pan, Fantasia, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Nightmare Before Christmas, Mulan, Tron, the Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean and so many more. And they all had the same commonality as all of these were produced and released under a company under the name Disney.

Seeing these film covers, memories of himself, Sora and this Ventus person swiftly flashed through his eyes at an alarming rate. It was honestly frightening, making him wonder how all this was possible of these events being here in the first place in film form. Not to mention these memories that weren't his and Sora's being in his head.

He needed answers and he'll want them when possible.

Practically grabbing everything he can, he made his way to the cashier to make his rather big purchase.

Dan didn't question any further about the unusual amount, along with the particular new additions. An extremely large purchase such as this gave him quite the income for the time being.

The former film star turned part-time superhero laughed a little at the comically large amount of bags the kid carried. Though he was surprised a little at how well he held himself, despite the awkward way it was done.

Dan at least gave the kid the courtesy of opening up the store entrance for him and saw him off.

If he were to pay better attention a little while longer, he would've noticed the blonde teen conjure up a Dream Corridor where he and a raven enter before it disappears into nothingness.

-Hours Later, The Dreaming-

Within the Palace of Dreams, there is a library with Lucien as its caretaker. Said library can be considered vast and wondrous.

In that library is every book and work never written or completed. All your books are there. The ones you half-imagined in the shower one morning before school or work. Ones which you've paid homage to, out of your love and respect for certain media. And ones that continually record your life until your death.

Many of the books are not even written in words. They are written in notions and intentions. Raw feelings in the direction of the story that have not taken any final shape. There are even sections dedicated to written works inspired by dreams and nightmares.

The lost Library of Alexandria, the House of Wisdom and other libraries on Earth harshly pales in comparison. The data archives of Oa, New Genesis and Apokolips don't come close.

There is no other library like this out there in the ever-expanding cosmos. The majesty and size outrank anything beyond comprehension.

What may come within leagues of Dream's library belongs to Dantalion of Ars Goetia, keeper of the Forbidden Library of Bibliotheca.

If one wasn't careful and knowledgeable on how to navigate Morpheus' ever-expansive library, they'd be lost for who knows how long. At least it'll be far easier than getting lost in the Garden of Destiny.

This was what Roxas had to deal with whenever he entered this section of the palace. It'll take a while for the greater Nobody to memorize slivers of the library's layout.

He heard a pair of voices, both were familiar to him. This made Roxas know he was close to the one he was here to see.

Rounding a corner, the Keybearer saw Lucien sitting at a desk while conversing with the palace custodian.

"-and Morpheus has approved the construction of the town the others petitioned."

"Any particular place where? You know how the boss is with particular locations."

"Across the lake, away from the bridge."

"Eh~ Not gonna be too much of a hassle then. Just gonna need to rearrange a few areas on the plans."

The librarian nodded in understanding. He was about to converse further before noticing Roxas' presence.

"Good day, Roxas."

"Hi, Lucien." The blonde then regarded the custodian. "Hello, Mervyn."

"Hey." Came the simple greeting.

This was Mervyn Pumpkinhead, or Merv for short. He wore large overalls, a bowtie, a white button-up shirt, boots and construction gloves. In the central pocket of his overalls were a few cigars and a pack of cigarettes poking out.

The wise-cracking custodian is in charge of construction, maintenance and demolition work in not just the palace, but other places around the Dreaming; though he does need the desired orders to go through his assigned tasks.

In Roxas' opinion, the walking scarecrow has a jaded, depressed personality. He "huffs and puffs" about his assignments, which Morpheus could easily do on his own with a wave or snap of his fingers. Merv means well and is loyal to the Dreaming, but shows it in his own particular way.

"Better get this done now than later." Mervyn soon took off, rolled up blueprints in hand. "Later."

The custodian soon left, leaving the Librarian and Keybearer alone.

"Had a good day so far?" Asked Lucien.

"I have. Thanks for asking." The Nobody took note of the Librarian's features. "Are you alright?"

There were signs of exhaustion in Lucien's eyes. There was a scent wafting in the air, a mixture of lavender and camomile. The unique smell originated from the pot of tea with a near-empty cup placed not far away from the workstation.

"Barely. There's a lot for me to work with and organize after all this time."

"I bet."

Lucien took a brief glance over to the young man. "Have you come over to pick up some books? Obviously not returning, since I see none with you now."

Roxas shook his head 'no'. "I'm here for answers."

"For what questions?"

"Earlier today, I went with Matthew to his hometown as he wanted someone to be with him for support." Began the Keybearer. "It was towards the end of the visit when I came to a video store and… found a number of peculiar movies."

"Peculiar movies?"

"Many of them depicted the very Worlds my Somebody and I have visited."

"Ah, yes, I was wondering when this discussion may come around."

Roxas did a small double-take, looking at Lucien in slight astonishment. "You… you knew?"

The librarian pushed his glasses up. "Not exactly, but I knew many Keybearers have visited many locations people on the Waking World consider fictional."

This certainly intrigued the Keybearer, leaning forward. "What do you mean by that?"

"As you know, Roxas, there are multiple Worlds. But what you may not realize is that there are multiple, parallel dimensions; an infinite amount to be precise. A good chunk of them are labeled as "Earths" by a number of residents in the Waking World."

"Is there a reason why?"

"There is, but it'll be a discussion for another time. It'll be quite a lecture, I assure you." Lucien's voice conveyed no amount of mirth at the topic. "But what I can tell you now is each "Earth" -or rather Universe- occupies the same location in space but vibrates at a different speed and frequency. In some cases, which may relate with the Worlds you and your Somebody have visited, they're separated by unique magical barriers."

Roxas scratched the side of his head, recalling a similar discussion from Sora's memories during his first adventure. "Okay. But why are you bringing this up? This doesn't explain why movies depicting events of Worlds Sora and I had been to in the past."

"One may say it's a coincidence." Lucien airily said. "One believes it's due to original creativity through research, hard work and dedication. Using one's life or others as reference or basing them on some events. The list goes on. But for others, the creators of these "stories" and properties held a subconscious link to those other Worlds. What they thought was merely imagination was a psychic memory of the real events."

"But I watched a few of the movies before coming here in search of answers." Roxas revealed. "None of them showed Sora, me or the others. How is that possible?"

"Creative liberties. A means of "snipping" out "unnecessary" elements to better fit the stories they were obligated to and wish to be told." Lucien gave Roxas a look. "I can perhaps understand your plight. You believe the events told weren't as they actually were. I would know as I felt that way when I first began as the palace librarian and some moments afterward. It's frustrating, but it's how things are in the Waking World I'm afraid."

"Then would the actual events be recorded here?" The blue-eyed Nobody asked, pointing down as a generalization of the library.

"Why wouldn't they be?" The Librarian said rhetorically. "Now, are there any other questions?"

"...There was something else relating to these movies."

"And what would that be?"

"It was when these films caught my attention. Something happened to me that was hard to describe. It was as if I was recalling memories that weren't my own, but I felt connected to them. It's like how I can recall Sora's memories and experiences, yet this was different. The memories I was seeing weren't from someone I know at all; only that they looked and sounded like me. Like a doppelganger, but… it's hard to describe. He even interacted with some of these people. Oh, and his name was Ventus."

Lucien emanated a hum as he pondered. "I see. An unusually rare name. Could be easy to track down. And what you described is interesting."

"Then you'll figure this out?" Roxas asked, a hopeful tilt in his voice.

The Librarian nodded. "I can. But in exchange, I have a request for you to help me with."

"An assignment?" Roxas figured this would be the case. It was only a matter of time.

"Yes."

"And what would that be?"

"I need you to find me a particular book in the Waking World."

Roxas cocked his head a little. "And what would that be?"

"The Magdalene Grimoire." Lucien soon gave a brief explanation of what it was. "It holds a collection of spells, rituals and other archaic information. One such spell was used by Burgess' cult to summon and imprison Morpheus."

That got a reaction out of Roxas.

This prompted Lucien to withdraw a pair of books on his desk labeled "Memoirs of Roderick Burgess" and "The Life of Ethel Cripps Dee" respectively.

"Once the library was repaired far enough, I began searching for the grimoire through what clues I could find. Beginning with Morpheus' captor before his death, I learned the grimoire came into his possession in hopes of entrapping Death. About a decade afterward, Morpheus' tools were stolen along with a good chunk of their fortune and other artifacts from Burgess' cult; the Magdalene Grimoire was one of them." Lucien soon continued. "While Ethel Cripps was on the run, once learning she was pregnant with Roderick's son -John Dee- she began selling off and trading one artifact after another."

"That probably explains how Constantine eventually got Morpheus' sand while the helm wound up in Hell."

"Exactly."

A feeling soon formed and surfaced within the Nobody. "And I assume the Magdalene Grimoire was the same, right?"

"Unfortunately."

"Don't you know who Ethel sold the grimoire to?"

"I sadly don't. The buyer was anonymous. It makes things harder for me to track down in this library."

Roxas gave a brief nod. "Then why are you asking for my help? Couldn't you go to the Waking World and find it right away?"

"There are rules about Dreams and Nightmares entering the Waking World. Even then, there are instruments to help entities such as I or those Dream Eaters be stable in the other realm for a time before our eventual return."

Roxas momentarily brought his hand towards the summon charm in his possession.

"And Matthew is bound to such rules?"

"And other ravens." The librarian clarified. "Often used as scouts, messengers, guides, so on and so forth."

"What of you?"

"For me, I am only empowered to leave the Dreaming to collect misplaced books from this library. Other than that, there are circumstances that allow me to ignore my given tasks."

A hum emanates from Roxas' throat, processing this new bit of information.

"Then why can't you get this grimoire yourself?"

"I could if it was a part of this library, to begin with. Reason why I ask you to acquire it for me. Not only so another incident of Morpheus being imprisoned never occurs ever again, but to protect many in the Waking Realm. There are things within its pages that are quite dangerous."

Roxas nodded once more before asking where he needed to begin his search.

-Buffalo, New York-

It wasn't long before Roxas appeared at the residence of the late Ethel Cripss Dee.

The loft was rather large with many things decorating the sprawled-out space within its two floors. Large and unique paintings were sprawled along the walls. Artifacts of all kinds were shown on certain shelves and cases. Various scrolls and books were neatly placed in certain areas. A quant fireplace was set up on the far end. A large bar was present, showing off the various bottles of liquor on the shelves. Even a particular fridge nearby is reserved to preserve many expensive bottles of wine. A sign of showing off the owner's wealth she amassed over the decades.

It may have been so if it weren't for the means of how secure entering the home was.

Security measures were placed at the front door, on both sides. Security cameras were stationed outside of the door and at the building's entrance.

One may say the late Ethel Crispss Dee was precocious and paranoid, but the woman had her reasons. Her being extremely wealthy through her broker deals and thefts over the years was one factor. Another was her fear of who she crossed in the process.

Ever since she robbed her former lover, Roderick Burgess, she was careful with her identity. She occasionally looked over her shoulder in case someone from his cult was to track her down and seek back what she had stolen.

Roxas found it rather easy to get into the home through what security codes Lucien gave him, along with him using his Keyblade for extra measure.

With him now here, he began his task.

While going through the residence, Roxas could feel strange when being near a number of these items.

As much as he'd like to fully observe them, he had to focus on why he was here. And there was the issue with him being on a time crunch.

Any time wasted could be detrimental. And the Keybearer didn't know when the building's owner would finally come in and secure the property of their late tenant here for several reasons. One was for the eventual inheritance of Ethel's grandchild and a great-grandchild. Another was for whoever Ethel made deals with. Lastly could be with the individual mayhaps be greedy and selling everything here. Who knows for sure?

Whatever the case was, Roxas didn't want to be here longer than he should.

It took some minutes for him to find what he was looking for to get onto the next leg of his assignment. May have been longer if he didn't know of its whereabouts from Lucien.

Going through the safe tucked behind a bookshelf on the second floor, Roxas found the ledger. It held every contact Ethel conducted business with over the years, no matter how minuscule it was. A means of recording who to come back to later on or keeping track of what items she sold off in the past.

Minutes passed before finding the entry he was looking for. Roxas soon pulled out his phone and made a call as he made his way to Ethel's computer system on the bottom floor.

Meanwhile, back in Dream's Palace.

Lucien was walking through the vast library, inspecting a number of shelves when he felt something vibrate in his pocket.

Withdrawing his Dream Phone, he saw Roxas was calling him.

"Roxas, how goes the search?"

"There's a lot here in Ethel's place, Lucien. Some stuff I think belongs in a museum and if I'm sensing them right, some artifacts I need a second opinion on."

A "hum" emanated from Lucien's throat, more or less knowing what Roxas was referring to. "I see. I may need your assistance in bringing them over here. Regardless, have you found who owns the Grimoire?"

"Yeah, found Ethel's ledger. Like you said, there's a lot of names of clients and contacts of those who she worked with in the past." Lucien could barely hear a series of tapes on the other end, indicating the Keybearer has the call on speaker. "Okay. Getting through all this and pulling up on this program on Ethel's computer, I believe I found a name."

"Good, Roxas. Tell me, who holds the Grimoire?"

"Says here it's one Stanley Dover whose address is located in… Star City."

"Good. Head over post haste. I'll find this Stanley Dover in the archives and inform you with what to perhaps expect."

Saying his piece, Lucien ended the phone call. He thus made his way to a random direction with the name in mind.

With his task progressing further, he can locate the proper name now in the library.

The right hand of Morpheus is a curator of impossible volumes. It is his pride to keep every book that was ever and never written. Every unspoken sonnet, every unfinished opus. Even those titles martyred by retcon are here- erased but unforgotten.

He knows them all. Every spine, every line. Knows with his eyes closed and with a simple touch of his hand any book, tablet, or scroll of what they are before reading their contents.

So finding the particular book -the written life of Stanley Dover- wouldn't be much of a challenge.

The only issue Lucien would have is narrowing down which Stanley Dover he is to investigate.

You see, there are many people in existence who share the same name. It's only when cracking the metaphorical cover will you know the differences between their lives and experiences.

Once finding the targeted book, Lucien cracked open the cover before swiftly flipping through the pages. Through the literal speed reading, the librarian saw the man's life and frowned in the process; more so when he reached the end indicating the present events at this very moment.

"Dear, oh dear." He muttered before texting Roxas a dire warning.

-Star City, California-

There was nothing but darkness in his present senses. Everything wasn't clear to him as he was slowly waking up.

"Huhn...? Wh... What happened?..." Were his groggy first words.

When he was slowly coming to, he was swiftly recalling everything in order to know how he wound up in his current predicament.

He was Roy Harper, otherwise known as Speedy; the sidekick to Green Arrow.

He recalled he was out on patrol. You know, the usual for a costumed hero these days. He'd be dealing with whatever crooks and lowlifes there were praying on the weak, the helpless. He didn't come across some supervillain who broke out of jail or was around town today.

For Roy, it would've been an easy time.

Earlier he was dealing with some crooks on a robbery. He fired a cable arrow at the assailant's car for the chase and was basically surfing on the streets with a trash can lid. A turn on the street ended up going extremely sharp, causing Roy to fly and collide against something before blacking out.

Speedy expected to be on a medical bed back in the Arrow Cave, or rather the Quiver as Dinah calls it. If not there, then one of the safehouses Oliver set up for him and the others.

Instead, he found himself in this dark, clammy area with himself strapped onto what appeared as a stone table.

"Ah~ You're awake, finally." Said an aged voice, making Roy turn to see an older man in a robe.

"Who the hell are you, old man?" Speedy then looked around the darkened space. "Where am I?"

"My name is Stanley Dover. You're in my basement, my boy." Stanley stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The lenses of the domino mask narrowed. The eyes underneath wandered around more and more, trying to figure out what to do in getting himself out of his current predicament.

He did locate his bow and quiver. It was located on the other side of the room next to something covered by some cloth or tarp. All he could make out from underneath that was some dark figure entrapped in something.

"What the hell is that?"

The old man appeared to chide himself, lightly nudging the side of his head.

"Yes, I forgot to introduce him." Stanley went to the cloth and pulled it. It's covering soon revealed a glass prison with something inside. "This here is my monster."

Eyes widened when Speedy got a better look at who was entrapped. "A monster? That's just a kid!"

It was a kid, a very malnourished one at that.

"H… Help me… muh… mister…" The kid barely made out, hand raised toward the archer.

The kid wore what was akin to a poorly made outfit resembling Chewbacca from Star Wars. Yet it was more malicious in nature from what Speedy could tell, given some areas of the fur were caked and matted in blood. A grizzly creature in nature with beady yellow eyes on the headpiece with what's akin to poorly made claws. The kid even wore a poor excuse of a loincloth with untold stains across his exposed flesh.

Roy whirled his head over to his captor and snarled. "What in God's name did you do?"

"In God's name?" Dover shook his head dismissively. "Nothing like that, Speedy. I'm doing this all in the name of the Beast!"

Harper grit his teeth, lightly jolting against the restraints holding him down. "I don't know what you're playing at, Stanley. But what is going on here? And why is that kid-"

"You want answers, huh? I guess I would too if I was in your shoes. Which is where I plan on being very shortly, by the way."

That bit ended up confusing the red and yellow archer a bit more than before.

"But I'll humor you, Speedy. If for no other reason than it's a story I don't get to share very often. And sometimes, a guy needs to get stuff off his chest, you know?"

With that, Stanley soon began monologuing about his life, more or less. One which Speedy sought to exploit.

'Great. I got a chatty bad guy here.' Was his thought, whilst trying to dislocate his thumbs whilst figuring out on his leg confinements. 'If he can blabber long enough, I can get out of this.'

Who would've thought he'd have the sad opportunity of dealing with a villain who'd actually do an explanation monologue?

"Believe it or not, at one point in my life, I was a church-going man. Satanism was just seeping into the suburbs in the late 50s and my wife and I were turned onto it by our neighbors. While my wife was into the all-night orgies, I was captivated by the promise of life eternal- not the hereafter, as most religions promised. But in the here and now. And when I wasn't keeping up the facade of a normal, cheerful, suburban existence I was studying all the material about my newfound faith I could get my hands on. And while it was all just a phase for my wife- an excuse for her to sow her wild oats, for me it was much more. Before long, I learned they were idiots without faith."

Stanley let out an exasperated sigh. "I should've seen it coming then when I learned my wife and I were expecting a baby. Upon learning what I might do to our child, she left me in the night."

"I would too if I were her." Speedy was almost feral at this point. "You were probably going to sacrifice it."

The captor didn't voice an objection as he actually would've done it. "After that, I abandoned my suburban life and traveled the world, seeking all I can of the true secrets of the dark arts. I spent the better part of the '60s hanging out with London's occult society. They were mostly an erudite bunch of academics -lacking any real vision or passion for the faith- who held boring gatherings at which they waxed aloofly about the Dark Arts. The leader, the son of the great Roderick Burgess, was much like my ex-wife as he was more into pleasure and sleeping around than following his father's footsteps. But through some cajoling, I coaxed some particular information out of the man."

Stanley was pacing around the basement as he continued. "I heard a rumor beforehand of Roderick Burgess having entrapped Death near the end of WWI. That turned out to be false as he entrapped Dream of the Endless instead. I thought it was all malarky until I saw it all for myself."

He can still remember it all perfectly. Stanley sneaking into the basement of Wych Cross and seeing the cosmic entity entrapped within the glass prison. He would've inspected it far more in detail if he wasn't chased off of the property.

"I would've sought the instrument of how they captured him in the first place, until learning it was stolen in the 1920s. Thus I went back to America and searched again for what may give me the key to immortality."

"By what? Entrapping something powerful and fueling you or something."

Speedy had no clue who this Dream of the Endless was, but the idea of entrapping and perhaps enslaving Death didn't sit right with him at all.

"In a manner, yes." Confirmed the captor. "Of course, I found it rather lucky I heard of a broker in New York who sold all sorts of artifacts. And through her, I finally acquired the Magdalene Grimoire, which helped provide me with enough wealth to set myself up in style once I moved here in Star City. But like Burgess, I couldn't entrap Death. But I could entrap another."

"Being what?"

"The Beast with No Name." Stanley could see Speedy's confusion, making him explain a bit more. "A rare demon in Hell's hierarchy but was banished from many of its Circles and territories due to its timidity and kindness. Because of this, it has been denied identity due to its un-demonly demeanor."

Speedy let out a snort. Stanley simply gave the hero an unamused look.

"You may scoff at such a demon, but it can be bullied; owned, even. A being of ultimate power that could be bent to the will of the one who captured it. Thus it became my new quarry. The power I could squeeze from this Beast with No Name would not only give me life eternal, but the actual might of the infernal realms to boot. I could be a human god!"

Once more Stanley sighed, but a bit more dramatically. "Unfortunately I had to put such a hunt on hold once something from my younger years came knocking on my front door."

"Being what?"

"My daughter. She returned to me. She told me her mother died years ago when she was an infant and raised by her relatives. It was years later did she track me down, due to her wanting to know why her mother left me before she was born. The opportunity to get back at my ex-wife was fortuitous, allowing me to paint myself as a victim, making up something about her running off with a door-to-door salesman-"

"Instead of her leaving you due to you wanting to sacrifice your own daughter."

"Oh yes. Though I find myself surprised she never knew sooner, let alone at all. Regardless, I got back the family denied to me, especially when my daughter later married and I became a grandfather; and later a great grandfather. This became my surface life. Yet for years, I became a babysitter to my own kin. Like it or not, I'd find myself with a little company for my summoning sessions for some of those years. The parameter of the spells would lull my infant kin to sleep like nursery rhymes. In retrospect, I found it cute."

'I clearly wouldn't.' Thought Roy.

"But imagine my frustration then: years of attempts to summon a demon -any demon- was met with silence. What I didn't know was that my efforts to cast a binding spell over the Beast without No Name from the nether regions weren't being ignored. They were being transferred onto someone else."

Roy turned his head away from Stanley and went towards the entrapped child. Realization soon hit him like a ton of bricks.

"No…" He whispered, seeing the made smirk Dover now had.

"Yes. I wouldn't learn of this, until months ago when I learned my great-grandson had an apparent imaginary friend. I thought it was merely childish antics, until seeing the Beast with No Name with my own eyes in his closet. And I tell ya, that monster saw something in me, it was like it saw how I spent decades vying to summon and master it. And the moment I looked away for the briefest of moments, it bolted."

Speedy let loose a snort. "I can imagine. You scared it."

The masked young adult wasn't much for religion, but with the crazy world he lives in, he somewhat has an open mind in accepting much of the supernatural. Thus the concept of demons was more or less acceptable in reality.

So when hearing the idea of this "Beast with No Name" and why it was considered the black sheep of his kind, Roy can understand why it would flee from his captor.

"You would find out how hard I wanted to kill my great-grandson, but I needed him. So I abducted him after he got out of school and brought him here." Stanley walked over to where he kept his descendant. "I'd built the glass cage years prior, fashioning it after the one I'd seen in Burgess' basement back in Wych Cross."

"And what was your plan with kidnapping him?"

"The idea was simple. I'd thought the defilement and mockery of the boy would draw the kindly beast out to protect him. I played the brokenhearted grandparent, never fretting that they'd be smart enough for the police and my kin to open the basement door. And for months I waited. As time passed, I got more desperate to draw the beast out. I starved my grandson Stanley, feeding him only the blood of the children and other homeless I sacrificed in front of him -all in a vain effort to coax the boy's one-time protector out of hiding. But humiliation, torture, defilement, desecration, murder and all manner of unholy acts performed and before my great grandson was not enough to bring back the Beast."

Roy glared more at the man than before.

'That explains why there has been an unusual amount of missing person cases over the months. No one noteworthy, but the homeless and those from the Glades.'

"The Beast is out there somewhere. He won't be in Hell, I've made sure of that; spending years binding him to this plane with the incantations in my grimoire. Sooner or later, I'll find him. And you'll help me do it."

"I can see now that you are outright insane."

"Nope. Just eager to start my new life... as you."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"See, there are all manner of ways to transfer a soul into other living beasts because they're practically soulless. But transfering a soul to another human? That's impossible. Unless there are certain conditions; one of which having a human is soulless. I'm getting on in years, but if I had more years to work with then I'll capture my quarry. And what better opportunity than with someone with connections with the Justice League, especially with a young, spry, soulless body like yours… or rather mine soon enough."

"You're out of your goddamn mind you think that idea would work."

Him having no soul? What a joke. Even if he wasn't religious, Roy would have a hard time wrapping his mind around that particular detail this old occultist was spouting.

"I'd rather test that theory."

Before Stanley could act and begin whatever ritual he had in mind, something happened.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

"What was that?"

Speedy soon bore a smirk. "Sounds like the calvary."

*BOOM*

Exploding wood sprayed in several directions, coming from the entrance of Stanley's basement.

From the light peering into the darkened space below, Stanley, his bottled-up grandson and Speedy could see a hooded figure standing there.

"You? How did you breach the blood wards!?" Dover demanded, glaring at the newcomer, unable to see his hidden face.

Unless this hooded boy was of any blood relation to Speedy -his future vessel- or himself, no one could pass through the barrier.

"I have my methods." Said Roxas, not wanting to disclose the unique function of the Keyblade.

Reaching into his robes, Stanley pulled out a gun and began firing upon the intruder.

Swiftly, the hooded Nobody summoned a hexagonal, magical barrier to defend himself from the volley of tiny projectiles.

Roxas glanced over to the entrapped individuals before focusing more on the one behind all this.

"Stanley Dover, release them and hand over the Magdalene Grimoire. This is your only warning."

The robbed man widened his eyes when hearing this before letting out an audible growl.

Speaking something in the demonic tongue, Stanley lifted up the goblet full of blood and brought it down onto the stone table.

*KRRSH*

Its broken contents went everywhere and spread in an unusual manner. From the blood and goblet remains, a portal swiftly formed. From it, a litany of demons began running out. Stanley, being the one to summon them, gave out a command.

"Take his life and win your freedom, boys! But touch the boy in the glass bottle and the one on the table, and it's back to the Pit with you!"

The demons nodded in compliance -or did their own respective form of compliance- and began charging toward the Keybearer.

"Huh, didn't expect to see their kind again very soon."

Focusing on the charging demons, the greater Nobody's perspective came towards a crawl as he saw each one; recalling what they were from the demonic bestiary he studied up on.

There were a number of them that were like a patchwork of cloth, metal and flesh meshed together in a horrendous fashion. Some bore large claws while others wielded pieces of metal to count as bladed weapons. On how they were like, they truly lived up to the moniker of what Scarecrows are supposed to be.

Next were these blacked cloaked entities floating about. They either wielded scythes or large scissors with various broken edges for more harm for any being struck by them. There were even some which were on the ground. Regardless, they shared a bit more commonality as they bore cracked porcelain masks whilst trying to look like a stereotypical grim reaper with their malnourished, exposed limbs. These were the Death Scythes and Death Scissors.

These fleshy-looking monkey-like demons walked on all fours with their tails being a large fifth arm with a giant hand. Weirdly enough, these were called Nobody demons.

A number of insectoid-like demons were next. They looked like a crossbreed of spiders and praying mantis' in a humanoid fashion with blades present at the end of their limbs. These were the Arachnids.

Reptilian-like dog demons were present with their indigo-hued hide and soft underbellies. Their red eyes were piercing just like how sharp their talons, claws and spines were. And the tail ends of these Assault demons resembled mace heads.

Lastly, there were these quasi-lizard-dinosaur-like demons wielding a shield on the right arm and heavy sharp claws on the left. These demons were known as Blades.

Still focusing on them all, Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion into his hands and went to work.

In an instant, he swiftly crossed the expansive basement in a trail of light, courtesy of Flowmotion. He collided against the nearest demon, bashing it and the surrounding ones. Upon landing back on the ground, Roxas went through a number of Strike attacks which launched the demons away from him. An instant later, he fired off a series of Blizzards at them, freezing them in place before cleaving right through them.

Seeing that things have literally gone south, Roy went into action.

Once Stanley got in close, no doubt attempting to begin this supposed soul transfer ritual, Speedy slipped his hands out of their bonds. Before the old man could react, his head was harshly struck by a punch, causing him to stumble back and nearly fall to the ground. Once relocating his thumbs, Speedy swiftly made work of the restraints on his legs.

Roy didn't know who this kid was, but he was good from what he could tell. Something akin to both a young swordsman to some sort of spellcaster. Somewhat reminded him of Kaldur, the Aqualad.

The archer expected the calvary to be Oliver, Dinah or someone else he knew. At the very least, he appreciates the kid's presence; more than ever with these demons here.

Free from his confinement, Roy ran over to his bow and quiver. Slipping them back onto his person, he was ready to assist his hooded savior.

But first…

"Time to take care of an old cranky warlock."

Withdrawing a trick arrow from his quiver, he knocked, pulled and aimed at his captor who sought to flee from the basement. Once shooting the arrow, he saw it come toward his target. The unique arrowhead exploded, having something expand from its unique confinement.

The trick arrow soon struck Stanley at the back of the head, just when he neared the halfway point of the stairs. He soon tumbled back and rolled to the basement floor, groaning in pain and perhaps drifting into a state of unconsciousness. Moments prior, the trick arrow clattered on the ground nearby, revealing-

"Glove arrow, you never cease to fail me." Speedy smugly said.

With his captor incapacitated, Roy turned to the captured kid in the glass bottle and gave him a look of reassurance that he'll help save him. Young Stanley nodded before seeing the hero going in to assist the hooded teen.

"Heads up!"

Hearing the warning, Roxas looked over slightly seeing Speedy aim several arrows his way. Flipping over, he essentially avoided the incoming headshots at the demons he was once at.

"Thanks." Roxas said with an appreciative gesture.

"Thank me after they're all gone."

The Keybearer nodded as he went in to assist the archer.

Rushing over, Roxas' Keyblades appeared to blur. White and black streaks filled the air as they went through the demons left and right. The attacks were swift and precise with how rapid they all were.

A cluster of Assaults soon fell, courtesy of Speedy's exploding arrows. Some other ones had their heads impaled by standard arrows, which were soon retrieved by the archer before firing them again at any other demon near him and his present ally.

For instance, several Nobody and Arachne demons crawled up the walls, intending to leap or fire upon the entity of Nothingness for some surprise attacks. Their attempts were thwarted as Speedy shot them down. Some sought to get back up to resume the fight, yet Roxas zoomed in, grasped the enlarged tail arm of the Nobody demons and flung them about before roasting them alive with his fire-based spells. It was even far worse for the Arachne as they were a tad more combustible.

Despite the demons having the clear order to not harm Speedy, it may not matter in the end as they'll soon ignore their summoner and just kill them outright.

The bestial Blades darted about, surging towards the hooded Nobody in order to slaughter him. With them so packed together in this basement, Roxas quickly casts Watera, soaking them before unleashing a Thunder Barrage. The series of lightning strikes was able to zap them all to hell and back, collapsing to the floor relatively lifeless.

Seeing the Death Scythes coming, the Keybearer was rather unimpressed.

"Sorry to tell you, but Marluxia is a more intimidating scythe wielder than either of you by a long mile." Roxas taunted with a twirl of Oblivion with Oathkeeper following soon after.

Leaping into the air, his weapons clashed with theirs.

With a cross slash with both Keyblades, the scythes were knocked back, leaving the demons open for attack. Roxas quickly dispatched several Death Scythes, the others close by recovering from their stunned state to fight back.

The Nobody became a blur, spinning his Keyblades around constantly to smack aside any scythe that came too close and disorienting their owners.

For more insult to injury, he threw one of his Keyblades into one demon before prying out a scythe from their owner. He thus began mimicking some moves he recalled Marluxia used in the past with him imitating an airborne double buzzsaw. He was able to clear through several demons as a result before throwing the scythe at some far-off demon before recalling his wayward Keyblade back into his hand to resume his previous form of assault.

As this went on, Speedy was firing at several Riot demons, either ensnaring them with net and adhesive trick arrows. Yet such entrapments won't work for long, either through brute force or getting assistance from the Death Scissors.

The archer was always on a backfoot as the demons proved to be resilient and they were now dead set on killing him; summoner's orders be damned. Being a marksman, the young hero could tell.

It's all in the eyes.

And claws.

And they clearly want to kill him, gut him and maim him.

That sort of thing.

"Uh-oh." Roy blandly remarked, seeing that he was now vastly outnumbered and surrounded.

Seeing Speedy in trouble, Roxas made his way through the demonic horde. Getting relatively close, he thrusted his Keyblades into the air and cast Magnega. The silvery ball appeared above him, greatly attracting and pulling nearly all of the demons present right to it. They were being entrapped in its orbit as Roxas was now airborne and spun around like a tornado to strike just about every demon in his wake.

Out of arrows, all Speedy could do now was swiftly adjust his recurve bow into a bo-staff to begin assaulting the demons as best as possible. He was thankful it was composed of durable carbon fiber cause right now it'll be going through quite the amount of abuse.

He ducked and weaved through some demons now trying to claw or bite at him. In response, he had to bash them as strongly as he could. Though he did hiss in pain when a Riot swiped at his side.

'Really wish I had more than just my bow on me right now.' He thought to himself. 'A baton or even some knives would be greatly appreciated.'

Swinging his bo-staff, the archer did his best to fend off the demons. Some strikes weren't as effective against a Blade demon that got too close for comfort, courtesy of their shield. Though he lept over it and had to strike on their exposed back before whirling his weapon as hard as he could against their head to hopefully kill it by snapping its neck or knocking it out.

Landing beside Speedy, Roxas assisted in finishing off the one demon before he saw his bleeding side. Casting Cura upon him, he was able to heal him as best as possible. The archer noticed this and gave him an appreciated nod before having to fight back to back with every demon coming at them from all sides.

As the battle raged on, the Hell portal old man Stanley conjured was still open. More and more demons seemed to flood out.

Neither hero knew when this onslaught would end. As much as they'd want to flee, they couldn't. They couldn't risk the hellish horde getting out and attacking the people beyond this home. All they could do was fight on as long as possible until help may arrive in some form of fashion.

In Roy's case, he hoped Oliver or anyone else in the League would pop up. For Roxas, he was about to summon the Dream Eaters when-

*SSSKKKRREEEE*

A peculiar, loud sound went off out of nowhere inside of this basement.

*PAF*

It wasn't just that, but an unusual blinding light appeared from the darkness.

In mere moments, everything came to an abrupt stop in an unusual manner.

As the light went down, Roxas and Speedy saw their present surroundings.

"What happened?"

All of the demons that were here were suddenly gone. The only ones which remained were dead.

"No clue, Speedy."

"Stanley Dover Senior opened a doorway to Hell. I simply closed it."

Roxas and Speedy whirled around, noticing they weren't alone in this darkened space.

"Who the hell are you?"

To Roy Harper, this creature looked a lot like a Wookie on steroids. It was more hulkish in comparison as it towered over him and Roxas by several feet. Its shaggy hair was maroonish-red in color with a pair of tusks coming out and curved downward from the sides of its upper jaw.

"I'm Stanley's monster."

Roy briefly looked over the knocked-out man lying on the floor before glancing over to the child entrapped in the glass bottle. He could see some similarities with the outfit the child was forced to wear with the monster before him. Realization soon came to him like lightning.

"You're the Beast with No Name."

"Not anymore."

A question formed in Roy's head, one which was swiftly answered with what he soon heard next.

"Spot!"

The child within the glass bottle cried out in joy seeing the hulking monster. Said entity smiled happily in turn.

"Hey, Stanley. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. It's just that your great granddad... well, he's..."

"A bad man?"

"To say the least." Spot approached the glass bottle and brought his hand into the opening. Stanley grasped it and was pulled out soon after. Once out, the demon carefully hugged the child, who began crying. "But it's alright now. I'm here." He said reassuringly.

"Can I go home now?" The young Stanley sniffled out. "I miss my parents."

"Of course. Anything you want."

Even though this was a rather touching scene, Roxas voiced a bit of concern. "Should we let him handle-?"

"I think he's fine." Speedy interrupted the Nobody. "He means no harm."

The archer couldn't fault the hooded teen, given he doesn't know the significance of this peculiar demon.

Breaking the hug, Spot looked at the child and softly spoke. "Now go upstairs, Stanley. We'll be along shortly."

Stanley nodded in compliance and made his way upstairs, once maneuvering away and around from both the dead demons and his horrible and unconscious great-grandfather. He no doubt wants to use the restroom properly and use it in several ways to raiding the kitchen for some actual food after all this time.

"There a reason why we're not taking him out of this hellhole right now?" Came Speedy's question.

The large demon turned to the side, his soft expression hardening in mere moments. "There's some business I need to attend to that I don't want Stanley seeing."

Spot marched towards Stanley senior, still lying on the ground. He was starting to wake up, soon feeling an aching feeling at the back of his head.

"Ohhhh... my head..." He groaned before he was yanked off of the floor and dangling by his leg. Whatever confusion he bore was soon replaced with shock and surprise upon seeing who held him up. "YOU!"

"Yes... me." Growled Spot, practically bringing the elder Stanley close to his face. "You've been seeking me for some time, haven't you, you old warlock? You stopped at nothing to trap and enslave me. What you did to your great grandson... the horrors you made him watch. Well, I'll not let you ruin him, old man. I'll wipe the atrocities you subjected him to from his memory. Stanley may not be the same after this ordeal, but he'll be far better in the end. But what to do with you? You dreamed of mastering me, didn't you? Of inhabiting me- as you intended to inhabit Mister Harper over there."

When hearing his name being spoken by Spot, Roy flinched.

Spot soon moved old Stanley away from him. He pondered for some moments on what to do with him. Before long, an idea came to mind, one which was expressed with his calm expression becoming cruel.

"You wanna get inside me? Fine."

Opening his toothy maw, Spot began to shift his jaw as it seemed to expand.

Stanley soon realized what the implications were, causing him to flail and scream in terror.

"No! PLEASE! DEAR GOD! NOOOOO!"

*KKKRNCH*

*CHOMP*

*KRUNCH*

There was a series of sickening sounds as Spot was eating and swallowing Stanley senior whole. The occultist was no longer seen, yet still heard to some degree once the toothy maw was closed up. The mere sight disturbed Roxas and Roy, especially when seeing the blood and saliva dripping from Spot's maw.

"Should we… do something here?" Asked Roxas.

"Like what? Offer him salt and pepper?" Retorted Speedy.

Before long, Spot licked the blood from his lips before wiping away anything else around his mouth with his furry arm. After some moments, he let out a blech which echoed slightly in the basement.

Coughing into his hand, Spot turned to the young heroes.

"I trust that was okay with you two?"

"I… wouldn't really know." Was the Keybearer's response.

Speedy pondered for a brief moment before shrugging slightly. "Hey, he was a child killer. I'd say the punishment fits the crime."

"Not yet. But it will be where he's going." The answer was pretty obvious for the pair. "Thank you for saving young Stanley. He's a good boy."

"No problem." Said the archer.

"I'd appreciate you not mentioning to him that I ate his wicked grandpa."

"Done and done."/"No issues here." Were the quick, respective responses.

The kind demon approached the two heroes. His presence was still menacing to them, yet this was disregarded when he held out his hand to the pair.

Didn't take long for them to know he wanted to shake their hands in appreciation. They immediately did so, one after the other.

"Thank you."

Walking away from the heroes, Spot brought his clawed hand up and had it tense like he was grasping onto something invisible.

*SSSKKKRREEEE*

With a motion, he brought his hand down, resulting in a hellish blue tear appearing in the darkened space.

'So that's how he closed the hell portal.' Was Roxas' thought upon seeing this.

About to enter his portal, he turned over and addressed some issues which came to mind.

"Mister Harper, when you take Stanley back to his family, you may inform them the truth of what happened... to a degree."

"Don't have to tell me twice. The things his gramps did in this basement-"

"Were evil, yes. They have the right to know the truth. Which is why I also recommend you get the Justice League to take care of this issue further: to ensure that no evil happens from here or this city again. If you catch my drift?"

The archer gave a brief nod. "I believe I do."

As this conversation went on, Roxas went over to what appeared to be an altar with an ancient book placed there. He knew what it was, having him grasp onto it and bringing it close to the chest for some mild safekeeping.

"As for you, young Keybearer," Roxas turned over when hearing Spot address him, "what will you do with the Magdalene Grimoire?"

"Taking it back to the Dreaming."

Spot nodded in acceptance. "I see no better place to safeguard that grimoire than there in the mortal plane."

"You're not wrong about that one, Spot."

"Everybody needs a hero, Mister Harper. Stanley's mine. I'm Stanley's. And you? You are Star City's. And you, Keybearer, you're the hero of the Dreaming."

Saying his piece, Spot finally went through the hellish blue tear before closing it up.

"Where'd you think he went?"

"Who knows."

"Listen, thanks for the help."

"No problem."

Roxas soon walked away from the archer, but was halted soon after.

"Hey, don't go around and reveal my identity. I'll hunt you down if you do."

Speedy was trying to intimidate the hooded teen, but it was unnecessary.

"I won't."

With a wave of his hand, Roxas conjured a Dark Corridor and stepped through it. It disbursed soon after, leaving Speedy all alone now in the basement.

Quite a number of questions came to mind after he silently berated himself for not attempting to have the hooded teen stick around.

Who was he? Why was he actually here in the first place? Clearly, the dark-clothed kid wasn't intentionally here to save him and young Stanley.

There was also the apparent grimoire he didn't notice beforehand. Was that his actual target or something else entirely?

Also Hero of the Dreaming? Keybearer?

All of these and more would plague his mind while ascending the stairs to not only check on young Stanley but to get in contact with Oliver -who would soon inform the Justice League- about what just happened.

It was then did Speedy oddly thought of one thing in particular.

'Why did that hooded kid sound a lot like Robin?'

-End Chapter-

The day was… somber.

One might assume that it'd be a great day with how sunny and brisk it was, yet it was not so.

In a graveyard, an assembly of countless individuals were brought together. The day was shining with the skies ever so clear on this autumn day, yet it didn't raise the mood present in the vicinity.

Individuals from all walks of life stood around, packing up the cemetery with their heads hung low if they were close to the grave. Others looked on as best they could in their placements.

Tears were flowing from many, others were dried from crying enough. Others couldn't really emote feelings all that well. But each and every person dropped a rose or a flower atop the casket and surrounding plot.

Countless were here in attendance. All of them were affected by the man to who they were here to pay their respects.

It was sudden and without warning. But devastating all the same.

Throughout the assembly were a great number of costumed heroes and villains. Spies and assassins, gods and celestials, geniuses and soldiers, strange and familiar. There were even those from the past and in the future, even beyond said future. The list goes on and on.

Close friends were closest to the grave alongside the man's husband, sister and brother. These folks were hit the most.

They all stood for what seemed like an eternity, but no one wished to leave quite yet.

In their eyes, it was too soon.

Yet Death was inevitable, no matter how hard one tries to run from her.

Eventually, the funeral was coming to an end with everyone in attendance heading to their homes to finish their grieving processes. It may be some days, perhaps longer.

The last to stand before the marker was a trio of individuals.

The first was the Joker. His typical haunting, sadistic eyes lost their gleam and glow and were more calm and dead this time around. He wasn't smiling, only frowning. On the day he heard of the man's passing, the clown cried as his heart -if he actually had one- broke.

"It'll be hard without you around."

Next was Mark Hamill. He worked alongside the man for years, became good friends with him. They had great chemistry together, going back and forth on each other to make their works better.

"It'll never be the same without you here."

Lastly, it was Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as Batman. There was much he wanted to say to him, but it was truly hard to put into words. All he could was say something simple and heartfelt.

"Goodbye, old friend."

As the trio left, who gave their final farewell to the dearly departed, neither of them knew some other people were still there.

They may have been noticed, but they were invisible to the world around them.

The first was an attractive, pale gothic woman in her mid-late twenties with hair as black as the night's sky which reached to her shoulders with some bangs coming across her face. She wore a set of black clothing which consisted of skinny jeans with a studded belt and a tank top. She also wore a leather jacket and boots with a silver ankh on a chain around her neck. The last distinguishing feature about her was a tattoo-like marking similar to the Eye of Horus around her right eye.

We all know of her, even if it's not right away. We first meet her upon our birth and we meet her again upon our passing. We fear coming onto her realm, yet the fear is sadly unnecessary.

Beside her was a thin man with combed, yet slightly shaggy brown hair.

"Thanks for letting me see this."

"No problem, Kevin. It's the least I could do for you."

"Still strange to attend my own funeral."

"You wouldn't be the first to share such an opinion."

Kevin smiled somberly. "I've lived a good life. Felt rewarding with all I've done."

She nodded, soon speaking to back his claim. "You helped inspire all of these people. You've enriched them. Giving them all one hell of an emotional rollercoaster with your performances. They were lucky to have listened to you bring life to the character in such a great way."

Kevin was a little bashful. "You're just saying that…"

"No, I'm being honest. They love you for it, not just because of your role. Even with you gone, you'll still live on in their memories and their hearts."

The actor gave a small chuckle with a matching smile. He looked onward, seemingly seeing all of the people he changed and moved throughout his life; both ones he physically met to ones he didn't. He gave a silent, heartfelt goodbye to them all.

Before long, Kevin Conroy walked alongside Death of the Endless as she took him to the great beyond.

AN:

Somewhat been a while since uploading this. Been relatively stuck on occasion trying to work through this. Cramming several bits of content here from some bits of DC media and comics to make a relatively decent, cohesive narrative on what I had in mind. Sorry if it seemed a tad much.

Also notice for people who are not in the know… A beloved actor and legend passed away recently on November, 10 2022 due to intestinal cancer. A man who struggled to find good, stable work prior to obtaining his most iconic role back in the 1990's. Never knew about this until reading his entry in the DC Pride Month 2022 comic, telling his life story up to becoming the Batman. He used many of these issues to help put life into voicing his well known character.

We all have our favorite moments about this man, whether they are through his work or how he contributed to the local masses. Personal quotes of his which would be moving to any out there. For me, it was the story of when he volunteered at soup kitchens in New York after 9/11. People soon recognized he was there and were ecstatic that "Batman" was there to help them in their time of need. You could arguably say his fanbase grew more that day, even if he didn't intend for that to happen. He was doing it because it was the right thing to do.

We will miss you Kevin Conroy. You were the Batman many have grown up with and drew in more later in years. You are the Dark Knight many mentally hear in their head whenever reading any Batman comics or fanfiction. There are clearly great live action Batmen, but when it comes to how many of us were introduced, his is the only voice that matched the timeless imagery.

From BulletstormX, Jebest4781 and Free Man Writer, you'll live onwards in our memories. Rest well, Kevin Conroy.

As for another passing of an influential man in our lives, James David Frank of the Power Rangers series has passed away as well.

It's really hard to realize another person from our childhood is gone from this world. I'm 31 years old and I grew up seeing him as several Power Rangers from his original Green to White to Red (twice) to Black. He came back several times throughout the series for legacy reunions and occasional team ups. He was a villain for a time as the Green Ranger and became one again when becoming Lord Drakkon. To me and so many who were and still fans of the series, Tommy Oliver was the greatest Power Ranger.

Wish there could be a good memorial piece I could come up with for James David Frank, but nothing can do proper justice other than this.

Rest in Power, dear Ranger. You too will be missed.

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!

R&R