Gabriel and Logan sat awkwardly across from the Dream Keeper's apparent dimensional counterpart, the wolf slowly munching on a salted soft pretzel as he stared at the two. They three of them were currently at Chez Alcatraz, a little food establishment on Fisherman's Wharf. Gabriel and Logan were sharing a flatbread pizza, the two unsure of where to start with the conversation.

"So… you're Gabriel's counterpart in this dimension," Logan said.

"Seems like it," the wolf shrugged. "From what I've studied, interacting with your dimensional counterpart makes your inner magic kind of… fuzzy, like a static shock only you can feel. That's why our brains got all wonky the first time we got close to each other."

"I'm going to assume that you don't go by Gabriel, seeing as you haven't responded to that name," Gabriel said.

The wolf nodded. "The name's Azrael. I guess in either dimension, our parents like to give us angel names."

"Huh, the Angel of Death…" Gabriel mused. "I guess that's fitting, considering what your chosen form is."

"Ah, you must mean how my form is based on that of Death," Azrael explained. "And don't mean it metaphorically, or rhetorically, or theoretically, or any other fancy way. I mean Death. Straight up." He chuckled. "Sorry, I had to say the line."

"This version of you seems pretty morbid, though still a bit of a nerd," Logan whispered to his friend.

"I am pretty chill, despite my chosen occupation," Azrael said, leaning against the bar casually.

"And what would that be?" Gabriel asked.

"I fancy myself a psychopomp, or a ferryman of souls for those that don't know," Azrael stated. "You can consider me an understudy of Death in a way, though I don't hold a candle to the Grim Reaper himself. I focus more on those that have already passed on or had near-death experiences themselves." He grinned, showing off his fangs. "Call me the scariest therapy dog ever, if you will."

"Well, Gabriel is the Dream Keeper, which is like a… well, it's kind of hard to explain, actually," Logan said, scratching his head. "Basically, he helps out anyone in need and usually does it though music."

"You should go hang out with the Trolls sometime then," Azrael said.

"No thank you," Gabriel shook his head. "If I'm going to hang out with any Universal music production crew, it's going to be the Moon Theater Troupe."

"Nice people, even if one of them is… infuriatingly annoying to me," Azrael said, a growl coming to his voice. "So, you're a hero of the people then? I guess our lives can go in different directions then."

"I dunno, I'm still not convinced that you're actually related to Death, even if you share a passing resemblance," Logan said with suspicion.

"Perhaps I should show you one of my powers, then?" Azrael suggested. The wolf stood up from the bar and walked over to the water, reaching into his hoodie and pulling out what looked like a gold coin. Giving it a flip, the coin fell into the water, causing a small splash before a burst of light. Ominous music started coming from nowhere, with a dorsal fin rising out of the water before a great white shark suddenly jumped out of the water!

Logan promptly screamed, comically jumping into Gabriel's arms as the shark came inches away from biting them. Azrael just laughed, causally bopping the shark on the nose and batting it back into the water. "Calm down, Bruce. They're friendlies… for now," the wolf said.

"That is not Bruce! He's on a no-friend-eating diet!" Logan shouted.

"A different Bruce, Logan. Bruce is also the name of the shark in JAWS," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes.

"Wait, really? I thought its name was Jaws?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "Also, since when were you a Universal guy too?"

"I don't only watch Disney movies, that's just one of my hyper-fixations," Gabriel clarified. "It's just that being the Dream Keeper has made me more focused on knowing all I can about Disney to do my job better. I'm sure the same is true for Azrael as well."

"True," the wolf nodded. "And as you can see, my apprenticeship under Death allows me to call on the souls of the dead to aid me with this enchanted gold coin. A payment to the ferryman to borrow their souls for a short while." He waved his hand and made the coin reappear, Bruce disappearing in a shadowy mist.

"So I'm a necromancer of sorts in this universe instead of using Fantasia," Gabriel said.

"Now I want to know what I'm like in this world!" Logan said excitedly. "I mean, the Dream Defenders of this dimension have to be just as cool as us! What's your team like, Azrael?"

The wolf scratched the back of his head. "I'm more of a lone wolf, actually. Being tied to Death tends to make people wary of my presence, as you saw with the lemurs back in Madagascar. Although with the people I've met in the Epic Universe during my jobs, I'm sure I could tell you about what your friends are like in this universe."

"Well, the main Dream Defenders team is me, Logan, Rachel, Adam, Silver, and Toren," Gabriel explained. "Logan here is a warrior at heart, specifically when it comes to wrestling and sometimes video games. Rachel is a sword mage with a strong sense of justice, Adam is a technology wiz and an adventurer, Silver is all about royalty and being fancy, while Toren is a prankster and eternal kid at heart." The raven pulled out his phone and showed a photo of the team together.

Azrael looked at the picture before humming. "Yes, I believe I've seen some of these people before, but your descriptions of them are different from how I know them. "Rachel" is Julie, and her whole thing is she's obsessed with the classic Universal Monsters. She's sort of a monster tamer, and that comes in handy whenever Halloween Horror Nights rolls around."

"Huh, I wonder how that event works here in this world compared to the real one?" Gabriel wondered.

"It's a pain in my tail, that's for sure. I'm just lucky that I can scare most of those monsters myself," Azrael growled. "As for "Adam", I know him as Osborn, but we just call him Oz. You say he's a tech guy, but I know him as a fierce Auror over in the Wizarding World."

"Woah, Adam is a wizard here? That's crazy to think about," Logan shook his head.

"The one you call "Silver" is actually a woman here named Goldie. She's still a high-class kind of person, and you'll find her working to organize events around the park," Azrael stated.

"I was expecting at least one of our friends to be genderbent," Gabriel mused.

"As for "Toren"… That name doesn't ring a bell, but it sounds similar to Terra Soren, the Spirit of April Fool's Day," Azrael explained. "He works with the Guardians- the team of holiday spirits that defend children, like the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fair- and when not on duty is usually hanging around Suess Landing. He doesn't remember his past all that well, though, considering he was revived from the dead by the Man in the Moon."

"I guess Toren has a dark past regardless of dimension," Logan sighed.

"Yes, it is sad… and something I can related to…" Azrael said, looking somber. "But as for you Logan… honestly, I haven't met anyone that matches you yet."

"Aw…" Logan sighed, looking down.

"As neat as it is to meet you, Azrael, Logan and I do need to get back to the Magical World," Gabriel said. "Do you know of a way we could get back?"

The wolf tapped his chin. "Well, the best place to look would be to find a connection between our two universes and use that as a "jump point" to break the barriers between dimensions. I would say our best options would be either Springfield or Superhero Island."

"Yeah, I'm going to veto going to Springfield," Gabriel said. "No offense, but I'd trust the Minions more to get us home than any of the Simpsons characters."

"I don't blame you there," Azrael laughed. "Then to Superhero Island we go. I'm sure my universe's Doctor Strange will be willing to give you a portal home. In fact, we should be able to teleport there right now. I just need to make a call…" The wolf put two fingers to his lips before giving off a whistle. Azrael waited, keeping his ears up before his face fell in confusion. "Odd. He usually comes when I call him…"

All of a sudden, across the street came an explosion, with five figures jumping out of a building and landing in poses. They were a tigress, monkey, viper, crane, and mantis respectively, each of them wearing Kung Fu outfits. Logan gasped as a big grin came to his face.

"No way, it's the Furious Five!" the young man said, going into full fanboy mode. "I can't believe I'm seeing them in person!"

"I'm more curious as to why they just jumped out of an explosion," Azrael said, summoning his Khopesh. "Master Tigress, who is disturbing the peace?"

"We're not sure," the master of tiger style replied. "We were enjoying some tea when we were jumped by an assailant."

"Looks like he's not done yet," Monkey said, watching as a figure came out of the smoke.

Azrael stared at the newcomer, only for his eyes to widen in horror. "No…" he whispered, seeing the figure reveal himself to be Death. The seven-foot-tall wolf dragged his twin sickles on the ground, his usual cloak discarded as his body was instead wrapped in glowing green chains. "Master!" Azrael shouted, only to be stopped from advancing as Death raised his weapons against him.

"Stay… back…" Death warned, his voice sounding like it took effort to get out a single world. "I'm not… the one… doing this…"

"Uh, it looks like you're the one attacking us, dude," Mantis pointed out.

"No, I think it's the chains that are compelling him," Gabriel said, summoning his dragon claws as Logan drew his own sword.

"Are we really about to fight Death himself? You know that never goes well for anyone, right?" Logan said.

"We don't need to fight him, just release him from those accursed chains," Azrael pointed out.

"And good luck with that, Mini-Death," a voice taunted. On the roof above them appeared three figures: in the middle was a bull with long hair and carrying two chain swords, to his right was a bald man with snake-like eyes and no nose, while to his left was a pale man with slicked back hair dressed in stereotypical vampire garb.

"Oh, mordet me," Azrael cursed.

"Is that Kai, Voldemort, and Count Dracula!?" Logan exclaimed.

"Looks like it," Gabriel nodded. "Hey wait, how can Dracula be out in the middle of the day?"

"Oh that? I gave my buddy here an ancient talisman I stole off some ancient mummy dude," Kai explained. "With it, he can walk freely in the day no problem. And besides, if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have Death himself under our control."

"Indeed, it was a group effort," Voldemort nodded. "With Dracula's power of compelling those in his thrall, my Curciatus curse, and Kai's Chi draining ability, we were able to forge those chains that bind him now, making Death our personal servant."

"After all, why should we fear Death when he is ours to command?" Dracula mused. "Now all we have to do is make sure that no one else stands in the way of our conquest."

"Like we'll let that happen!" Azrael shouted, pointing his Khopesh at the villains. "Master, I will free you from their control, I promise."

"You must… defeat them… to free me…" Death said.

"And that's enough from you," Kai said, holding up his hand. Death fell to his knees in pain, his red eyes turning a pure green as he growled. "There we go, that's a good doggy. Now then, take care of these heroes for me. I know it's messed up to make you kill the one that's like a son to you but… eh."

As Death charged forward, it was Tigress that blocked his attempted strike, the Kung Fu master using a double-handed palm strike that burst with a golden energy. "Good thing we've kept up on our Chi training while Po is off on his own adventure," Tigress said. "Azrael, take your friends and retreat for now. We can hold off Death for the time being."

"We can?" Crane questioned, before sighing and coating his own wings in Chi. "Why do we always have to be on backup duty?"

"Gratias, Furious Five," Azrael nodded. "But just in case you need some backup…" He tossed his coin in the air, summoning a new spirit that took the form of a snow leopard wearing purple Kung Fu pants. "Tai Lung, help the Furious Five."

Tai Lung just gave a nod, taking a stance before rushing forward to side-tackle Death. With the distraction in place, Azrael led Gabriel and Logan to a safe place to regroup.

[***]

"Woah, I did not expect to see the Furious Five team up with Tai Lung outside of fan fiction," Logan said. The three were currently holed up in the New Moon Theater, with Buster Moon happily giving the boys sanctuary for the time being.

"When you can call on souls of the departed, you tend to make friends with those on either side of the morality scale," Azrael explained. "For most villains you have to prove your worth to them, and in Tai Lung's case, I had to beat him to a standstill in combat."

Gabriel gave a whistle. "Wow, that's an impressive feat. Makes we what to take up some more physical training when I get back home now. But I have to ask: if you can call on spirits of the dead, shouldn't you be able to pacify those three villains?"

"Like I said, villains are more volatile in nature," Azrael said. "As I'm sure is the case in your world as well, fictional characters don't stay dead in this world like they do in the movies. In fact, Kai is a rival of sorts to myself, considering we share a similar ability to call on others to aid them us in battle."

"But you just summon them to your side, while Kai forces others to act as his slaves," Logan pointed out. "Still, we have to fight those three villains to free Death, right? It's not going to be easy, is it?"

"No it is not," Gabriel said. "Voldemort is a powerful dark wizard, Dracula is a vampire that is currently immune to sunlight thanks to that amulet, and Kai is the third most powerful Kung Fu warrior ever. And considering that neither of us have our usual powerset, I'd say we have our work cut out for us."

"What powers do you still have?" Azrael asked.

"Well, I can use my dragon powers, so there's a combat option," Gabriel noted. "I also have Harmony, but I need an outside source of music to use it, and my headphones aren't going to cut it like they usually do. It has to be a source from this world for it to work."

"Weirdly enough, I can still use my Anubis powers here," Logan noted, holding out his sword.

"Ah, that would be because Anubis exists in this universe as well," Azrael explained. "Though do be careful using his power, Logan, or else you may suffer the same fate as the Scorpion King."

"Yeah, the Anubis in The Mummy movies isn't as friendly as the one we know," Gabriel nodded.

"I guess I am more like The Rock now more than ever," Logan mused. "So then, which villain are we going after first?"

"You should totally go after that Voldemort guy first," said a voice with a Jersey accent. The boys turned to see another wolf standing off to the side, casually drinking from a soda cup. "Oh, sorry for interrupting you! Carry on with your planning and stuff."

"Porsha Crystal…" Azrael sighed. "Why did I know you'd show up today?"

"Aw, didn't Azzy not come to see me?" Porsha said, going over and giving him a hug, much to Azrael's annoyance.

"I'm guessing you two have some history?" Gabriel asked.

"Oh yeah, Azzy here has been by the theater plenty of times," Porsha said casually. "He's usually helping Mr. Moon with his Past Dramatic Stress Disorganization."

"His Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Azrael corrected. "Remember how I said I help people deal with near-death experiences? Mr. Moon is one of those people, and ever since I started helping him, Porsha has been following me around like a lost puppy."

"Because you're so cool!" Porsha said with a smile. "You've got that strong, mysterious silent type vibe, like a bad boy in those old gang movies, but underneath, you're a softie!"

"And you're just a rich girl with a talent for singing that likes putting her nose in other people's business," Azrael said with a growl.

Gabriel leaned over to Logan. "Do you sense any weird tension between these two?" he whispered.

"Yeah, kind of," Logan nodded. "I get the feeling there's more to the story than we know."

"If we can get back on topic!" Azrael said out loud. "As much as I hate to admit it, Porsha is correct in the fact that we should take on Voldemort first. I would rather we focus on getting you two home, but I fear that with Death under Kai's control it would too dangerous and risk both of our universe if we don't free my master first. When you two are ready, we can make our way to the Wizarding World to track down Voldemort."

"Oh, can I come?" Porsha asked. "I've totally been meaning to go to Diagonally to do some shopping. I want to dress like a real wizard for Halloween this year and get my costume picked out early."

"Porsha, this is a matter of is going into battle against a dark wizard, not a casual day out," Azrael sighed.

Gabriel held up a hand. "Actually, there is a way Porsha could help us. Since I need music in order to use Harmony, and Porsha is a talented singer with a good ear for music, she can help me use my powers better. I'll even take responsibility for her safety if that makes you feel better about it, Azrael."

The wolf looked at the raven, then over to Porsha with her eager grin, before giving a big sigh. "Fine! But only because I trust you as my res simillima, corvus. We'll leave at the top of the hour to Diagon Alley, so get ready."

"Oh, this will be fun!" Porsha cheered, getting another groan out of Azrael.

"It'll be nice getting to hang out with you as well, Porsha," Gabriel nodded. "I'm a big fan of your character, actually. I especially loved your over of "Could Have Been Me" in the movie."

"Glad to know I have fans, even in other universes," Porsha giggled. "Do you guys have Sky-Fi where you're from?"

"You mean Sci-Fi?" Logan corrected. "We don't just have Sci-Fi. We're next-door neighbors to Star Wars itself. Gabriel is even best friends with a Jedi!"
"Get out of here, I love Star Wars!" Porsha said. "I especially loved those new movies. If you guys ever come back here, you have to get me an autograph from Rey Skywalker! She's my fave!"

Gabriel looked over to see Logan's eye twitch. "Logan, I know your feelings on the sequel trilogy are… complicated, but don't say anything mean, okay? We don't want a repeat of your prequel trilogy rant."

"It's… fine! Totally fine!" Logan said, gritting his teeth in a false smile. "Everyone has their own favorite part of Star Wars, right? I like my nuanced storytelling and deep lore, and some people just light flashing colors and explosions. It's… fine…"

"And people wonder why I prefer to work alone…" Azrael sighed, feeling like this was about to be a long adventure.

Azrael's Latin Translations:

Mordet me = screw me…

Gratias= thank you

Res simillima= My reflection

Corvus= raven

Author's Note

And thus, the Epic Universe story arc truly kicks off! Azrael is a character I've been working on ever since I saw Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, as the character of Death instantly became an all-time favorite antagonist for me (I say "antagonist" rather than villain because the way I see it, Jack Horner is the true villain of the movie while Death acts more like a force of nature/ test for Puss to overcome and complete his personal journey of apricating life). In fact, Azrael is the reason I'm doing this special story arc in the first place! We'll get more into his backstory for later, but for now I hope you enjoy this alternate universe version of Gabriel as a spirit summoning apprentice to Death himself!

As for the other Dream Defender counterparts, while they won't be showing up in this story (as I want to focus on the Epic Universe as a whole and having all these other characters would bloat the story too much) I did want to give you an idea of what they were like. Both Rachel and Toren's creators pitched in for what their characters would be like, while I wanted to made Adam's counterpart the opposite of himself (magic instead of tech), and Silver's counterpart is genderbent since that's a classic alternate universe trope.

The villains are also no joke either. Kai from "Kung Fu Panda 3", Voldemort from Harry Potter, and Count Dracula of the Universal Monsters would be bad on their own, but they've teamed up to control Death with their dark arts! I chose these three villains to be our main antagonists since all three of them have tried to cheat/overcome death in the past (Kai escaped the Spirit Realm, Voldemort made horcruxes to cheat death, and Dracula is a vampire, an immortal monster). Also these three villains represent different eras of Universal: Dracula is classic Universal, Kai is an animated villain, and Voldemort is a "third party" villain since the Harry Potter movies are made by WB.

Gabriel and Logan won't have their usual powers this time around, instead having to use their secondary abilities to fight. Logan will rely on his Anubis blade and strength, though he'll be calling on the version seen in the Brendan Fraser "The Mummy" movies (Fun Fact: "The Mummy Returns" was the film debut of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson!) Gabriel will use his dragon energy powers as well as Harmony, though he'll have to be partnered up with Porsha from "Sing 2" to use his music powers to their full extent. If you're wondering why I chose Porsha for this role, that's because she's my favorite Illumination character (I've even written a few "Sing" one-shots based around her!) and I have some ideas in regard to her and Azrael having a past history together.

Next Time: Our heroes go to face the Dark Lord in the Wizarding World!