by The Pighead
Fun fact! This story was originally in DocX because this site didn't want to accept it in the usual "Story" format. Then, it refused to accept any bold or italic and I had to discard it. And, because I'm an impulsive ass, it means I didn't copy-pasted the Author's Note and I will have to rewrite it.
Damnit.
Anyway, hello! After months of not writing any definitely canon thing, getting almost scammed out of my Discord account and receiving a lot of messages written with ChatGPT by people making me nebulous offers despite possibly not being what they say they are (to all those people, if you recognize yourself, I'm not responding to you, stop messaging me, I don't even believe you when you say you're artists), I have FINALLY released something! And something I wanted to write for a long time.
In February, at the beginning of the year, I wrote something called Rebirth of Friendship. This is its prequel.
For the rest, I'll see you at the (rewritten) Author's Note if you want to know more.
Enjoy the story!
Waking up inside a cramped space was everything but pleasant.
She certainly wasn't looking forward to that.
But again, right now, she wasn't looking forward to anything.
She was breathing quickly, her brain going at the light of speed, her thoughts assaulting her while she was starting to weakly move around her arms and legs, like she was slowly reminded that she had a physical body and was able to control it and should actually do it and get out of this unknown space because she was trapped, right now.
She let out a weak breath and tried to guess what her prison was. She touched it. Was it… wood? Yes, it seemed to be. At least, she felt it was that, it couldn't be anything else.
Something very cramped… and made of wood…
Her eyes opened wide.
It was a coffin. She was in a coffin, buried alive.
She started moving more frantically, trying to kick the lid with more force. She didn't know why was she here, she had no idea on who the hell did this or if that person was justified in doing so, she didn't know where was she buried but she knew for a damn fact that she didn't want to stay here, it wasn't her place, she needed to go out, she needed to find…
Wait, who does she need to find? Her gut was telling her that she had people to find but she had no idea on who could it be.
In fact, for that matter, do those people have houses? Does she have a home?
…actually, who was she?
Her brain screamed at her that it didn't matter. Or maybe it did, but it was actually a reason for her to get out because she wouldn't be able to know it if she was just staying here and running out of air.
She kept kicking at the lid, more forcefully, more desperately. There was no noises above, certainly no one who could hear her or help her so screaming for help was out of the picture.
Fear started to grow inside her. Or no, not exactly. It was more of a combination of all those different feelings one express when they're separated from others for way too long. Fear, sadness, despair, anxiety… she didn't know who could make her feel things like this, but they were surely important to her if she felt that way from the get-go.
She kicked again.
Her memories were trying to reconstitute themselves, despite being horribly blurred right now.
Again.
Even recognizing her own name was difficult. Come on, she surely wouldn't forget that…
Again.
She felt tired. She wanted to go home, if it was still here. She wanted to cry for a good, long time and go back to her bed and her plushies and her computer…
Again.
She had the impression that someone was encouraging her to free herself. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she had the feeling she was told not to give up.
Again.
But, on the other hand, why did she also felt that someone else was telling her that she deserved to be in that coffin and to stay here forever?
Again.
That was wrong. She wasn't meant to be here. She wasn't supposed to be dead. She didn't want to die. Maybe she could admit that life was difficult and full of pitfalls, but death was even worse than that and she hated thinking about it! She wanted to live, goddamnit!
And again.
The lid cracked after one final kick, giving her a new spark of hope. She moved like a doll in order to try to get it out of her way, only to be greeted by wet, cold dirt.
Damnit.
Just by the immediate feeling, she hated it. But she didn't wanted to let that dirt stopping her.
She had the feeling she survived worse things than that.
So, she started digging using her hands, her nails. It felt awful to touch. She was feeling like she was wrestling against it more than she was digging through it. Felt accurate.
She was closing her eyes to not have dirt on it while her hands were performing their task almost mechanically. She could see blurred faces, hear distant voices.
She didn't know who they were.
But it wasn't right. She should know. She had the feeling they were important, they probably still are! She needed to know…
She started to feel air on her face. Did it mean she was close? Yes, she was. She started moving faster, while the faces and the voices could still be seen and heard, those mystery people that, she was sure of it, were the ones telling her to keep going. Something warm came from them, something approachable, something that made her think they were people she could trust with her life (no matter how much she was fighting for it currently).
She just needed to dig a bit again, there was a light she could perceive, she was sure of it, even with her eyes closed, she could feel the air, the weather, the dirt would go away in a matter of seconds, she just needed to believe it and to believe she could do it and just like that, just like that…
Jade suddenly woke up.
The only noise that could be heard was the one of a clock on the wall.
She let out a sigh of relief. It was just a dream. She wasn't dead, she wasn't in a coffin, she was just sleeping in a very comfortable bed… that she didn't recognize… in a bedroom she also didn't recognize.
Actually, now that she noticed it, where did this headache came from?
She coughed a bit. Her breath smelled like alcohol.
She facepalmed herself when she realized it. She was hungover. Of course, she was.
Rubbing her temples, the young woman tried to remember what the fuck did she do last night. She definitely drank a lot, yes. Someone else clearly took her home, that was also easy to guess.
She closed her eyes again. She could vaguely remember the little bar in which she went, her laughing very loudly with (who she guessed was) the person who had this house, them running with reckless abandon… and now that she was thinking a bit more about it, she could definitely remember the kisses all over her body and the sounds she was making and how smooth everything felt.
She couldn't help but blushing. Great. She was a grown-ass adult and yet, she was still acting like a schoolgirl with a crush when she thought about the sex she had…
She stopped herself in her train of thought when she realized something.
She felt actually fine, aside the hangover. That was weird. She couldn't explain why but she felt she was used to silently being in pain every day.
She looked at her hand. Moved it a bit. It looked like 2D animation. That was weird, too. She touched the skin a bit. Smooth, again.
Something was very off. She definitely needed to see what she looked like. So, Jade removed the blankets and tried to get out of the bed… only to trip and fall headlong on the ground. OK, now, she was a bit in pain.
« Ffffffffuuuuck… »
Her voice sounded raspy. Slurring on words. Why did she felt it used to be easier with alcohol? Slowly, she got up and started walking out of the bedroom.
The house looked very simple. The walls, painted in blue, looked almost naked with how little decoration there was, except for some photos in frames showing people she didn't know about.
How long did it took before a hangover stopped? Because she didn't remember and trying to walk towards a bathroom while staggering was an absolute pain in the ass.
Ultimately, she managed to found it and to look at herself in the mirror.
The first thing she noticed was the multiple love-bites on her neck, shoulders and chest. Whoever she ended up in bed with was apparently pretty hungry, that night. Not that it was a problem, actually, Jade felt pretty flattered by that. It made her smile instantly.
She would have to cover that but it was more than nice.
Then, she looked at her face, trying to ignore how she felt like she was drawn on a computer program for animation. It was… a normal face. Actually, she would say that despite her eyebags and how shitfaced she felt, she actually looked quite good. Except, maybe, for how skinny she was. She didn't like it. She would have to definitely fix it because being only skin and bones wasn't about to help her, confidence-wise!
Though, the weirdest thing wasn't that. She looked again. Her eyes were weird. She knew for a fact that humans couldn't have purple irises nor black sclera, yet that was the color of hers. And it didn't felt like contact lenses she would have forgot to remove before sleeping at all, it felt like her usual eyes, just with a weird color.
Her hair were completely disheveled and messy, but weirdly enough, they also look like the mane of a lion. At least, that was the best comparison she could do. Even if the way her haircut was… it made her think of someone. Someone important. She forgot their name.
Also, why were they more black than usual? She was pretty sure they used to be more between brown and black but here, they were full-on raven. It was nice but, still, another little weird thing.
Jade got interrupted in her train of thought by her belly rumbling. Oh, yeah. Eating something. Right.
Walking out of the bathroom, she started going on the opposite sense. She stopped herself when she saw her underwear laying on the staircases. Another blush – tho, she didn't know if it was because she had the confirmation it was a wild night or because she suddenly became self-conscious about her nudity.
She put them on and started going down the stairs. She found her jeans there. She looked around her: the house in where she was didn't look too out of the ordinary. More blue walls, some furniture, a bunch of DVDs and pizza boxes and cups of ice cream scattered across the floor. There were some photos showing people that she didn't recognize – tho, the brown-haired one in a suit and the dark-skinned woman dressed in orange both looked nice, she wouldn't complain if the house belonged to one of them. She looked at the brown couch, which looked quite comfy, and found her tank-top there.
There was a table between it and the television. A bunch of color pencils were on a box and, just near it, there also was an open notebook with a drawing that could be seen. It represented a yellow triangle-like being with one eye and a black hat and tie. There were comments written in red around the drawing: « STINKIEST GUY EVER », « ASSHOLE », « SERIOUSLY, DID HIS DAD EVEN LOVED HIM? »… the most curious one being « YEAH, I GOT OUT BECAUSE OF YOUR SHIT, DOESN'T MEAN I WANTED IT TO END UP LIKE THAT ».
Jade raised an eyebrow. Not only this was very strange of anyone to say, but she was almost sure this being was familiar to her-oh, wait, she was stepping on her shirt, what the fuck was it doing here?
After she finally got dressed, she looked around again. Her shoes – and socks – were right in front of the door, the same place her and her guest's coats were hanged. Nice. Maybe she could go see if there was a bakery nearby and buying something for her guest to eat. Oh yes, that would be nice!
She put immediately on her shoes and went to open the door. The second she did it, to her surprise – she didn't know how she managed to not jump out of her skin – a part of the door's wood opened in two and her eye started being scanned. She didn't move because the device didn't look very menacing in the way it moved, but still, it added more questions about her host.
Ultimately, after the scanner did its thing, Jade was able to unlock and open the door, ready to go… and then, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a package in front of it. A simple beige one with nothing else, except for a paper note taped to the top.
She ripped it out of the package and looked at the message written.
« Open it and put it on your head. Don't ask how I know you're here, all I'll tell you is that it's not over for you, yet. You just need to remember. »
She raised an eyebrow. The last part of that sentence made her smile: did it contained something to stop the hangover? Would be nice.
She opened the package. There was a red, metallic tiara with a sign that, again, she couldn't really recognize (this was apparently the day in which her brain refused to cooperate). She took it in her hands.
A part of her brain was wondering, while observing it, if it was for her host. The note didn't really made a precision on who it was for so, for all she knows, it could be for them.
But on the other hand, do they have something they actually need to remember? Plus, if it was really for them, she was pretty sure they would have already opened and used it (or threw it in a trashcan).
Also, the fact that her memory was a complete blur since she got up and the ominous tone of that note… it made her curious. Really curious. She knew herself, when she was intrigued by someone, she always tried to look into it.
She put the tiara on.
And before she realized it, she stopped feeling like she was on Earth as everything flashed before her eyes.
She remembered the attack, the man with the pig mask and a hatchet. The hospital, how long her stay here took, how much it hurt and made her afraid, how much she pretended that she didn't remember anything – how ironic – about what happened.
She remembered Uatu appearing in her bedroom, how she was terrified at first. She remembered what he told her, that he saw her and some Internet friends of her working on writings who were unknowingly talking about things happening for real in other universes she had no knowledge of before, that he needed help to fight a threat that could destroy every living thing and that, should she accept, she would be granted powers beyond her wildest imagination.
She remembered the fear she felt… but also the excitement. After all, since she was little and since she first heard of the Multiverse in the comic-books she read, she wondered if it could possibly exist, just the idea of having worlds in which things happened differently from what she knew.
She remembered the exact moment she said «yes». And, for that matter, the exact moment in which she felt those immense powers coursing through her veins for the first time.
She remembered when she traveled for the first time to an alternate universe. When she looked at herself in a mirror, still hated the person she was seeing in front of her and, in one fingersnap, managed to take care of this problem for good. From there onwards, she only saw the person she truly was.
She remembered the early days. The first times she met some of those characters she was idolizing, in completely mundane circumstances. The first discussions, the first drinks, the first real laughs (in some cases, the first one-night stands). The first times she met the other Monks (at least, those who accepted to wield this power). The hours she spent talking to others about how she felt she was in the best position to make the changes she always wanted to bring.
She remembered the hours she spent aimlessly exploring the Multiverse and being blown away by absolutely everything she could see.
She remembered the day everything went wrong. The noises of the machines, the screams of everyone around her, the people running, the drivers of the machines barking orders… and suddenly, the wave of white and the pain, the burning pain, this exact pain that never wanted to go away afterwards.
She remembered her own screams and the blood she spilled, the first time she knew what revenge was. The first time she ever felt like a wounded beast protecting itself from predators.
She remembered the aftermath, the horror, the sadness, the deep feeling of uselessness she felt when she saw all those bodies around her.
She remembered what she did to make it stop. She succedeed, but not exactly in the way she wanted. The hole in her head, also, during some seconds.
She remembered the way her memories got mangled up after that, how she saw the memories of the version of her living in the layer above and started thinking it was their own.
She remembered when she decided to start her projects for good. When she went on to destroy the icebergs, when she saw an unconscious D.E.L.I.L.A.H. – that was her name! – floating on the water after being freed and retrieved her. She remembered when the robot woke up, their first discussions, when she used her powers to change her appearance and give her this more humanoid look and body – something that Deli' asked because of multiple reasons, notably wanting to see with real eyes – when she first showed her the infinite Earths. Her eyes were so full of joy and wonder, she could also remember that very well, now.
She remembered Earth-1754, the lab in which those experiments about golf took place, the challenges they had to complete, the Frog King and his defeat. She remembered the first employees they hired, the videos they started making, the scripts, the first Multiverse Jumpers she created with just her mind. She remembered how happy she felt when she saw the devices worked without any problem and what she told everyone about ordinary people being able to discover the same things she did.
She remembered the first schemes. The dead villains she resurrected and sent to multiple Earths so heroes would investigate – with her leaving them some clues – and try to stop them, just for the sake of telling a good story.
She remembered when those characters – no, those people – she once idolized discovered her, went to confront her. None of them were pleased with what she did, expressed their dislike of having their lives manipulated by someone that they never met and never heard of before. She acted like they weren't smart enough to understand her. She was wrong.
She remembered the first real fights. How she wanted them to stop thinking they were important, how she felt bothered by the others treating them as the end-all-be-all of the Multiverse despite her deserving this position way more than them! The Skrulls, the Monitor, Flagg, the Decepticons, Krueger, Harkness, the Daleks… if she looked at it in a reasonable way, they were people to never underestimate, even if they had a tendancy to fail in their goals. And yet, all she saw at the time was the fact that they got more attention than her.
She remembered when she got her memories back. It happened in a very brutal, very unpleasant way and most of said memories were already unpleasant so both at the same time… it was devastating. She remembered how the pain became more unbearable after that, the ways she tried to make it stop.
She remembered how her health started to seriously decline when this period of her life started. Every time she was trying to make her pain stop, it also meant she was trying to fuck over someone else without caring about them. Of course, she failed every time. She remembered when her employees discovered the extremes she was willing to go to and left before it crashed down. She remembered that it hurt, it really did – but, after all, she failed in what she promised them so was it really a surprise?
In fact, she remembered it wasn't just her mental health but her physical health who started deteriorating, at one point. She became really bad at taking care of herself – especially after the infinite Earths saw her true face – to the point that she wondered how did she managed to kept being an annoyance to everyone despite how shit she felt and looked at this point in time.
She remembered the lashing out. The screams. The looks that people were giving her, those who were concerned, those who were afraid, those who were angry. The very rare moments of happiness she still managed to have despite it all.
And there were so many different people with which it happened. She could see their faces, hear their voices, so clearly now. She knew all of them in every detail like they were old friends, despite it not being the case.
God… she could see the faces of her parents. Of her former friends and lovers. They looked like she had deeply disappointed them. But she had no idea what happened that made them look at her this way and this made the vision even more horrifying to her.
She remembered all the plans she devised. Whether it was to destroy something, take something over or straight-up kill people out of spite for any perceived grievance. No world was safe from that, she remembered all the Earths that she went to terrorize because of… because of what, exactly? A lot of them never attacked her first, was it because she was that bitter about everything?
She remembered a brief glimpse of her in a place she couldn't recognize after having burned all her cosmic powers and coming back to normal. And… was she dying? Those same people were holding her?
This vision was immediately confirmed when she saw herself waking up in her coffin and trying to get out of here. This was… exactly like in her dream. No, scratch that, it wasn't a dream. It was her reliving this same awful memory.
And finally, she remembered finding herself in an empty apartment, living here for the last several days and just having the most mundane of lives… until she went to this bar, met the woman this house belonged to and it led her to today.
She remembered that she was The Pighead. She came from Earth-1218, abandoned everyone she cared about in her homeworld to become a cosmic entity, went slowly off the deep end, alienated all the people who could have helped her, died and came back to life. And she doesn't know what she did that led her to this.
She would have laughed at the constant periods of amnesia she was having, if not for the fact that silent tears were already rolling on her face and she was trying to breathe. Paradoxically, thanks to this tiara, she was feeling calm, actually. Calmer than she had been in years. Almost everything was clear again. She could recall memories, happy memories, that she forgot for a long time. Her brain wasn't screaming at her anymore, she had the impression she could focus on something. She didn't felt like an enemy could show up and shoot her at any given moment.
She felt at the same time like she was a piece of crap and like the best health professionals and therapists made their best to make sure she was healed.
Actually, it was funny because she thought she was seeing some sort of blue flames emanating from the tiara. Was it why she was feeling that way?
« …finally up? »
Pighead suddenly snapped back to reality when she realized someone was talking. She turned her head… and was surprised (pleasantly) by who she saw in front of her: another woman who seemed close to her age, a bit shorter in height, shoulder-length and messy brown hair, very slightly tanned skin (that the Meddler (?) managed to see it was weird, she was bad at that, generally), heavy dark circles under her eyes, wearing a long labcoat and baggy camouflage pants and having the face of someone who saw a lot of bullshit through her life and was never happy about that.
Aside from a « Oh, damn, pretty woman here » (which applied to, well, almost every woman the former cosmic entity ever met) reaction, she didn't know what to respond. Like, was she supposed to say « Oh, yeah, I'm up and thanks to someone, I remembered I was a big pile of shit who probably ended up as a big danger for the Multiverse and I still have holes in my memory which make me unsure of if I crossed the line! »?
No way. But she still had to say something.
« …what time is it? »
This was the only answer she had in mind, but it would do.
« Almost 11 PM. I was about to look if you were still sleeping – I assume that my bed was that comfy, if you didn't want to get out of it. »
She said it with a small smile. Pighead couldn't help but smile, too, her internal distress calming down for an instant.
« …I guess it truly was, hehe… sorry, I'm a bit out of it. Just woke up. I promise, I'm usually more awaken during the day, you'll just have to wait a bit before seeing, uh, awaken me. »
The other woman raised an eyebrow, looking curious.
« Funny. Generally, when I hook up with someone, they already left by the time I wake up. Not all the time, but often. »
The ex-Meddler's answer was an expression of shock.
« Damn. That's lame. I prefer to stay at least for breakfast. It's always nice, y'know what I mean? »
None of the two said anything for some seconds. The only noises that were heard were the wind and some cars driving not too far away.
« Actually, I'm sorry, I think the alcohol made me dumber than usual, I totally forgot your name- »
« Reagan. Just call me Reagan. »
Nice name, she thought.
« I'm Jade. Actually, I was talking about breakfast but I was about to go see if there was a bakery nearby and buy something. I'll be back in, uh… at worst, in half an hour? I don't have a great sense of direction so… »
« That's alright, Reagan simply said. As long as there's no weird dude showing up here, take your time if you want. »
She didn't know why she felt that relieved (after all, she was planning on doing that, it wasn't like she was lying, it's just that her plans were a bit derailed) but she didn't need more to start walking out of the house after waving at her guest and looking at how her house looked like, just to be sure.
She walked. Then, after some seconds, she started fastening her pace. More and more at each second until eventually, she was flat-out running. There were some people but she didn't care if they would look at her or not. She needed to go somewhere where they wouldn't reach her.
The memories – and all their implications – were coming back like a flood. The meetings, the words, the sounds, the attacks… it was overwhelming her and she had no idea what to do, now. She didn't knew at what point in time she was, if there were people she could call… and even if she had an idea, right now, she was just too freaked out to actually try to do it.
She stopped herself, trying to catch her breath… and that's at this moment that she noticed something in the pockets of her jeans. She pulled it out and quickly saw, to her horror, that it was the pig mask.
That exact mask she stole for herself, long ago. She didn't know how she could still remember that original event or how the timeline changes didn't impact it, but it was still here.
That thing. That goddamn thing.
She gritted her teeth, looking at the mask while her face became angrier. She came back, just for the thing synonymous with her life being ruined to be here and taunt her? What did it think she was?
She turned her head around. There was a trashcan near her.
Before she really realized it, she threw the mask in it while letting out a scream of rage. That's the place it deserved and not anywhere else!
And then, the anger slowly started to fizzle out. Slowly, the sadness and the guilt replaced it… and that's when she finally started crying, the realization of what her life became hitting her hard. Now, she was back among the living… but why? Didn't she caused enough mayhem? Wasn't it enough?
She didn't know. She was lost and had no idea on what to do, now. She didn't have an idea on if there was anyone she could even call. She was alone and it was all her fault.
She felt something else in her pockets, suddenly (did she became even worse at noticing things than before? Was it an after-effect of resurrection?). She pulled this another something out and saw that it was her phone.
She was surprised. In the memories she could recall, she was sure that she lost it at one point.
But it was too much mysteries, right now, and the most important thing she needed to do was to call someone.
She looked at the contacts she had and saw that she still had the Council among them. If there were people who would be able to tell more about what happened, it would be them!
So, she called. And she waited, with every second and every «beep» adding to her growing stress. Which made the voice of Earth-1 Pighead a true relief to hear when he spoke.
« …this is… it's Prime. »
Her voice was trembling.
« I need assistance because I'm… I don't know where I am and I don't know in which point in time I am. I'm lost and I… I have chunks of my memories missing. I need people to retrieve me. I made mistakes and I need to know… what happened to the Multiverse. »
When the old man said that he would send a squad immediately, he hanged up the phone. Jade still thanked him internally for that.
Citadel of Pigheads
As much as she wanted to genuinely keep her head cool, it was a bit difficult for Prime to do so. The ones who came to escort her knew, the doc knew… they could see right through her face because she always was like an open book, easier to read and pick on than she thought.
In this case, it was even more apparent because how could you try to stay cool when there's the very likely possibility that your life just got flipped over its own head and wrecked itself while the weight of consequences could be felt inside you for the first time in a long time? It wasn't possible, plain and simple.
At least, I haven't devolved. God, I don't fucking need gender dysphoria to add itself on top of that…
Pighead was cut in her thoughts when she heard footsteps and the door of the doc's room opening. The Earth-135191 Pighead made a sign of his hand to tell her to come, which she did quickly.
« So, the doc said in his German accent while Prime sat down, me and die Council had to analyze all of your claims and talk extensively since such event vas unexpected. I have to apologize for the time it took. Ultimately, we managed to know more about vhat happened and, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, there's good news and bad news. »
She was certain he would say something like that. Her reaction was to sigh.
« Tell me, Doc. After all of this, I'm ready for everything. »
« Ja… so, the bad news is that whatever happened to you has left you mostly depowered und since forces that we suspect to be coming from the layer of reality above are preventing us to investigate, we have absolutely no idea of vhat caused it. And I doubt you will be able to retrieve them. »
«Not only that, but we looked at lots of possible futures and we found a lot of informations that seem to validate your claims about your own actions. Which, if we consider the original goal of us being here in the first place, is extremely disappointing.»
Pighead slumped further in her chair, looking forlorn.
« Great, I guess… the good news? »
« Well, for eins, the link you had with die Fourth Wall itself hasn't been severed, which means you are still able to retain your knowledge of the infinite Earths in general. I don't know vhy you didn't use it to realize that you vere in Earth-467, but I'll assume it was because of the initial shock… »
Prime blinked in surprise, ignoring the last part of his comment.
« Oh. That's… nice? Actually? »
« For zwei, and that's why the Council took a look, we managed to discover that a lot of resurrections – in the future, again – happened on several Earths. Resurrections that happened at a global pace und started since said unseen event. »
New blinks of surprise.
« What, really? »
« Ja. It's not complicated to put two and two together und assume the two are connected. »
« For drei, we have looked at die current actions of your present self – just to be safe – and, at this point in time, she just recently sent Jack English to Earth-1991. This means way before the disasters you claimed will happen, which can give us a chance to look into it and prevent everything from spiraling out of control. But yes, this is the good news. »
The author sighed, but this time, there was some satisfaction that could be felt on this one despite how tired she sounded.
« That's good… very good… »
The doc raised an eyebrow.
« You don't seem totally pleased about it. »
Pighead got back in a more dignified position.
« Because none of this should have happened at all, that's why. »
She slowly put her hands on her face.
« I fucked up, Doc. I absolutely fucked up. Big time. The Multiverse will hate my guts because of my temper tantrums, I failed in my original goals and, now, I can't even fix that because I lost most of my powers and I have to watch the past replay itself again, now that I'm trapped in it! I condemned myself to be remembered as a piece of shit, how the fuck can I even undo this? »
« Now, now, Prime- »
« Don't tell me that it's not true, I know it is. »
« I vasn't about to say that, because it is. You did really screw the pooch on this one. Totally. »
At least, he wasn't lying.
« But you talk about it like it's something inescapable vhen, eins, there's enough missing memories inside your brain which show that nothing proves it – because everything can happen during those chunks of time – zwei, with all the time travellers running around in the Multiverse, it's very easy to change the course of any event, und drei, I'm pretty sure that thinking like this is the best way to create a self-fulfilling prophecy and I'm also pretty sure you know about it, isn't it? »
Jade looked at her counterpart with widened eyes, trying to find an answer at that. Technically, he was right in saying that…
« There's no way I can change anything in that state. Like, have you seen me? »
As an answer, the doctor actually took a look at her while scratching his chin in thought. She wondered if it was him taking an exaggerated posture (because he already saw her more than once, from her point of view).
« Aside from your current emotional vulnerability – and you being underweight – I don't know what it is that prevents you from doing anything. In fact, hearing you talking about it made me think about the things I've heard from your mouth when the Citadel was first established. »
She raised an eyebrow when he mentioned that particular moment. I mean, she remembered that time and she was pretty sure she made a speech or something like that but it wasn't the memory she thought about the most.
That might actually be part of the problem, now that she was thinking about it.
« When you visited us, even after die first day, you noticed that you couldn't help yourself but talk as if you gaining powers suddenly made you able to change anythingand it felt like, in your eyes, it vas the only way for you to do so? »
Another raising of an eyebrow.
« There's… nothing weird in saying that. »
« Despite the fact that dozens and dozens of people vithout powers – even thousands of them – still managed to make changes? Including people like Herr Bruce Wayne, to name only one example? »
« Doc, Batman is… he's not just a man, he's a legend. He trained himself like no one, it compensates! »
« Vhat about Herr Queen? Or the Ponds? Frank West, from Earth-179? Terezi Pyrope? Researcher Talloran? Or Max Tennyson? Und they're only die names I'm thinking about right now, so… »
« Listen, Doc… »
The ex-Meddler, for one second, wanted to just interrupt the conversation because, no matter what he was saying, she wasn't a hero and certainly didn't have the right to pretend she was one. But she also remembered that, technically, he was saying that she was very much able to actually be the change she wanted to see if she was willing to put the effort.
A part of her wanted to say that she wasn't that convinced of that. The memories of the six, eight, ten times in which she expressed such beliefs to her employees and friends were a proof of the opposite that she remembered pretty quickly.
As well as the multiple times, before the whole mess started, in which she called herself «useless».
Yeah, no, she needed to get back to the main convo!
« …I get what you're trying to say and I appreciate it. Truly. But you saw what I did. The levels I've stooped down to. I'm not an heroine and I'm too powerless to stand up to her. I'm sorry, but I can't. And I shouldn't. I've caused too much mayhem. The only thing I can do is- »
« Do you remember the past? »
She raised her head to face « Mesa Pighead », surprised by the interruption and the question itself.
« What? »
« Do you remember the past? And, by this, I don't mean it literally. I mean: do you remember what it was like to be a human? What it felt like? »
Jade, in response, scratched her chin in thought. Actually, that was a good question. Sure, she had her memories back but when she reminded herself of them while waiting for the doctor to came back, it felt… distant? Like she still really wasn't there.
« Can't say I do. »
« And that's quite the problem. See, when the Citadel was established, we preferred not to bring up the issue since it was some months ago but now, it's necessary that I ask you: we can admit that, since you've first established contact with us and even during the pre-Snap times, when us Pigheads were mostly alone and unable to know about each other, you didn't took a lot of time to explain to us what our function was or to tell you we could help you? It's correct? »
His voice was pretty neutral but the reminder of that stung pretty heavily for her, now.
« It is. »
« But what I wonder is… were we the only people in that case? Is there other people unaware of what you did – or, in that case, what you will do? »
Pighead looked at the doctor for some very long seconds before responding.
« You weren't the only ones. »
The doctor nodded again.
« In that case, I think I can guess at least a reason of why things seem to have derailed as bad as they did for you was this. Among all your memories, past the point of you gaining your powers, there's very few things related to your past life, like you wanted to distance yourself as strongly as you can from it. You spent most of your time working on your projects, choosing people that you felt have potential and managing your business… but have you took time for yourself? Have you tried to go see a movie, to play a video game, to spend some time with a person you like, to call your parents and tell them how you're doing, to watch a stupid video on YouTube? »
« And by that same margin, when you met those ones you used to advance your plans… did you try to know them as people? Instead of just knowing them as big names, the way they are in your homeworld? »
At this question, Pighead wished she had an answer to that. A direct, clear answer that she could give with confidence.
She didn't. She only had the clear bits of memories and too much hesitation on her mind.
« I can't say I did any of this. »
«Well, at least, I think you have an idea on vhat you can do, right now.»
He looked at Jade again and, this time, smiled in a more reassuring way.
« Listen. I understand if you don't feel up to challenges like that just now. It takes time and it's not easy. So, vhat I'm saying is this: go outside. Try to talk to people again. Find some new hobbies. Maybe try to find a job. But ein day or another, you vill have to face die consequences of what you did. Just… know that when this day vill come, you can call for help. You're not alone and no one should have to face those challenges alone. Do you understand me? »
Pighead nodded.
« I think, she started, that I need my Handbook. And a Jumper. And to go back to the start. »
She wiped her eyes.
« Don't know what I will do with them, but I guess I'll find out. »
The ex-Meddler, to her surprise, got those two things. It took her a bunch of apologies directed to the – very displeased – Council members and a solemn promise to do better but she got them (also, the version of her Jumper she got was an experimental one some of the Pigheads created, who allowed its owner to travel through time in addition of the usual dimensional travels. She didn't mind being their guinea pig).
The first thing she did was to go back to Earth-467 and buying those damn groceries before coming back to Reagan's house. She came back to a point in time from five minutes after she initially left said house, so she could confirm that the time travel was working. She wasn't maybe the best at reading people and understanding how they felt but with the small smile the former CEO of Cognito Inc. had on her lips, she could tell she was happy Jade actually came back.
The first thing related to this « starting over » part she did, back in the empty apartment she used as a place to sleep in that same Earth and five days after she came back to the Citadel, was to look in her Handbook and update herself on all the worlds who were still up and what she could.
When she saw the presentation of Earth-91316 and a certain Hotel that was its main point, something suddenly clicked inside her. She didn't know why, she didn't know how but she felt in her gut that this place could be an interesting one if she wanted to start this new life…
Earth-91316, another point in time.
Time-based powers left you with a lot of possibilities. That, Jade ended up understanding it pretty well once she finally got the hang of it.
If she wanted to practice with her bunch of music instruments (tho, she was using more the electronic ones because when she was trying the electric guitar, there was a 50% chance of Alastor appearing in her room and complaining about rock'n'roll and how much he hated it), to play some video games, to do some gymnastics or to do English subtitles for the videos she was showing to everyone during the watching nights on Saturdays – when it was her turn to do so, anyway, because everyone at the Hotel was invited to do so – she just had to use her powers, slow time around her et voilà! She could do it the way she wanted and she wasn't late for anything, on top of that! Well, except when she was distracted, which could happen sometimes.
She wasn't doing any of this, right now. What she was doing was something way more important.
The Soldier was looking at her whiteboard. Not the front side in which all the IC stories had their names written – she ignored the voice in her head telling her that it needed an update – but the reverse side. This was where she was writing down all the questions she had. But not just personal questions, no. We were talking about big questions and mysteries related to the discoveries she was making.
She tried to interfere less with anything, because of her job and everything… but since she started figuring her priorities out, she took more time to casually travel between universes just to admire what they had to offer. Which inevitably led into a lot of situations when she felt she had to help.
If the Doctor was here, they would probably have a good laugh or tell her « See, now, you know what it is, to be me ». And they would be right.
But the point was that those mysteries were something she wrote to not forget and that, whether it was by her or by others, she really needed to talk about that to people she could trust.
What happened to the Earth-99 Batfamily?
She couldn't find a lot of photos of them – except some of Dick & Tim in patrol with Wayne when they were young – and that was one thing making this question pretty difficult to answer.
But, on the other side, she understood. Even if they were still alive, they surely wouldn't want to end up among his victims… but he was in the Phantom Zone since quite some time, thanks to Earth-1992 Batman, and there was nothing showing he was planning on breaking out. Plus, even if he was a Bruce Wayne, all of them had their limits. No matter what the ones above were saying.
And, if she was honest, she knew that the Multiverse would need anyone who could be able to help – and she really meant « anyone », no matter how ludicrous or unfit the people were – and having one more Grayson or a Gordon, at least, would never be too much.
What's up with the Conqueror's Cabal personal timelines?
There were photos of several members of that group, especially Frieza & Rassilon – easily the two most recognizable ones.
Apparently, Lightyear was on the case and was watching their moves but something still bothered her and that's how she had no idea of the individual points in time from which they were coming from. She did research more about them, of course, but it didn't really help.
Dominator? She was depowered at one point, which wasn't the case with her present self, that was simple. Thragg? He never experienced being resurrected in his own universe and Zoom doubted the Cabal would go this way. They surely would rather recruit him in a point before his death, it was simpler.
Rassilon? He had his Timothy Dalton form, so it was easy to guess that it was before he came to Earth with the Time Lords and before his tussle against the Tenth Doctor and the Saxon Master. But when it happened, he was still leading his people and devising his scheme to escape the Time War. And Pighead checked, she didn't saw any trace of Cyber-conversion – plus, y'know, not looking like the guy who played Claudius in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead – so it couldn't be this incarnation of Rassilon from the Dark Multiverse who became the leader of the Cybermen.
So, why was he here? Was it in his earlier days under this form? Was it during the first days of his resurrection in general– but it would also imply that he regenerated in doing so and she was sure it didn't work like that? Or did he find a way to escape his fate? That last part would be the most alarming because she knew what happened to him in the future and, in addition to him being a certified bastard like the others, she certainly doesn't want another evil Time Lord to fuck something up. The Master, the Rani & the Monk are already enough, thank you very much!
Frieza? He died and was resurrected two times. She was almost certain he didn't come from before his first death so either he skedaddled off to form the Cabal after Sorbet resurrected him – and if that was the case, Sorbet was a fucking idiot – or it happened after that tournament for which Goku asked him to be a part of.
Mother Brain? She could come from any point in her timeline, since she never was killed. At least, as far as the Soldier knew.
So, there was that. And even if Lightyear was looking into it, she also knew there were also other sectors of the wider Omniverse he was also watching over and she didn't felt like asking him to look exclusively at their Multiverse.
Plus, the world when I.M.P. and the Ninja Turtles teamed up against Shredder – and the one when Mark Grayson ended up in the Hotel after fighting this Levy guy – seemed pretty interesting. She should take a look into it, one day.
What is this thing in Earth-1898?
This was one of the oldest mysteries linked to that Multiverse – and another one who really refused to have its answer spelled out. What was known was only that Slappy was at its service and that it was killing Skrulls.
She heard rumors about something weird that was hidden in the South Atlantic but she wasn't sure at all if it was connected to that creature. And she couldn't really go to ask JB because she still had to reveal to the Monks what was going on with her. Sentinel knew but she made him promise to keep it secret for the time being.
Is there only one Black Flash? [ANSWERED]
Jade gulped while looking at that question.
Travelling across the infinite Earths and looking at all of creation and existence (at least, looking at everything she could look at) also allowed her to face a lot of her deep fears. Often, it also allowed her to manage to keep them under control, which she was proud of herself for.
But there would be always things that, no matter how many times she would meet them, would still scare the shit out of her.
The Black Flash was easily among them.
He was originally a personnification of death that the Speed Force created to make sure speedsters at the end of their lives would not be able to cheat Death (he was also connected to both Death of the Endless and the Black Racer, but this was less important). However, since the other Forces (Strength, Still, Sage & Forever) were recently freed and started to choose their own champions, something changed within the entity.
He became more aggressive. Adamant that those new Forces, for him, needed to die. And since she was a conduit of the Forever Force, that meant she also was on his shitlist.
And what was scarier than being pursued by an aspect of Death who was super-fast, really persistent, could appear at any moment when you were travelling and screamed at you to die? Learning that he had several alternate selves who could possibly be out of your blood, too.
The Earth Prime-0, Earth-2 and the Earth-167 ones were the most well-known but not the only ones. She knew that a version of Jesse Quick became her world's version of the creature. She had to escape from the one existing on Earth-1991 (who looked like a zombified copy of Sticks), she met one in Earth-1381 – the world where powers were named « Quirks » - who had mangled wings and wore a sort of knight armor, there was one in Earth-1993 and she didn't want to know if it had a face under its Ranger costume…
And every single one of them was frightening to her. Every time she had to hop through time when she was doing a mission, she was hoping that she would not run into any of them because there was no pattern to their appearances and the only way to get them off your ass was to go to a world when Death stopped existing.
How exactly was Gallifrey destroyed?
The Doctor was among the most important people in any corner so, if you were curious them and you happened to know they existed, you always ended up wanting to actually know more.
In this particular scenario, she knew that the planet was destroyed. She saw the wreckage, the ruins, the fire, clearly, it wasn't nothing, it happened.
What Zoom was questioning was the methods with which said destruction was done. Because she clearly didn't believe that the Spy Master simply decided to take weapons and shoot at everybody until there was nothing left. Especially if his victims didn't have time to regenerate. They were one of the villains the Soldier studied the longest after she learned of them and a plan that simple to get rid of the Time Lords just wasn't how they acted. They were the sort of villain to get ridiculously complex when they wanted to pull a scheme.
Not to mention how all the incarnations following the UNIT Master aren't known for doing the dirty work themselves. Their favourite tricks were manipulation, disguises, using their innate charisma to persuade a person to do something. And « Agent O » was very, very removed from the Time War so she couldn't even rationalize it like that.
So, it had to be something else. And this strange encounter she had in Earth-231163 while she was on her way to the house of the Noble family – to retrieve the plushies she commissionned to Rose – only convinced her more than something was still unrevealed…
Who is the source of the Absolute Universe?
Photos of Darkseid were pinned around the space in which this question was written down.
Recently, Pighead discovered another universe: Earth-512195. It only took her two seconds to realize that this was one of those Earths where something was really off with it and her investigations quickly confirmed it.
In this world, Batman was a construction worker. Superman was never raised by the Kents. Black Mask was the leader of a terrorist group. Wonder Woman was raised by Circe. The Joker was one of the richest men in the planet. Wally West was a teenager and the only Flash, with no Jay Garrick or Barry Allen around.
But what cemented her first impressions was when she went to the future of this Earth and saw the Legion of Super-Heroes being possessed by the Lord of Apokolips.
She fled before being seen but the discovery of this world was surely a surprising one, in a lot of ways. So, of course, she had to find more about what happened to this Earth. Not necessarily by visiting it, but by other means.
From what she knew, it was a world that became what it is after an iteration of Darkseid got killed and decided to transfer his essence somewhere else in order to create an universe in which the evil he represented would be on top, while the forces of good would be the underdogs, the outcasts, the ones being rejected.
What was unknown was who the particular iteration of Darkseid responsible for this was. In the original Multiversal Cluster DC – or DCU – it was simple: the New God didn't have any true alternate selves, just a lot of different aspects of himself who are spread across the Multiverse. But here, in their Multiverse, it was different: he had real alternate selves but all those Darkseids were still connected, similar to an hive mind. And despite the Earth-Prime 0 one suffering from this world having disappeared from the radars and another one – she was sure it was the Earth-51 one but she was always ready to be wrong – still scheming in the Phantom Zone, said hive mind was still going strong.
She had an idea on who the murdered Darkseid was – hence a picture of the baby one from Earth-991 that Barry Allen killed, creating a world of tomorrow in the process – but she couldn't be 100% sure. She just needed some help in order to make sure her intuition was the correct one.
Are there others like me?
When she wrote that question down, she wasn't questioning herself about metahumans in general, she knew they were legion.
No, what she was asking herself was: were there people in Earth-1218 – and exclusively here – who gained powers?
She didn't really took time to look at the changed history of her homeworld. What she knew was that at the very beginning of life, Earth-1218 had way tighter links to the rest of the Multiverse but something (another mystery she or the other Monks would have to look one day) bad enough led to the various cosmic entities having to disconnect this world from the Orrery of Worlds, to make its connections to it way, way looser.
It lasted until she and the other IC authors were entrusted by Uatu with their current mission and powers. By doing this, the Guardian ended up restoring the tight links Earth-1218 had to all the other worlds. Which ended up leading, down the line, to her homeworld being impacted by the consequences of the experiments led by Rick Prime and the Maker.
But it also led to the Earth being impacted by the Snap like the others, instead of the replacement they originally had, the COVID-19 pandemic. Which meant that there was a chance that people in her homeworld were hit by the magic energies and gained powers, like she did.
She knew there was already someone else. Unsurprisingly, it was a Clark Kent. Even if there wasn't a lot of informations available about him, there were newspaper articles who were talking of some of the good deeds of the newly-christened « Superboy ».
But now, it left the question: if this guy existed, did it meant other people developed powers like both of them? And where were they, if it was the case?
She already had a lot on her plate but she knew that if it was the case, there was a chance some of those people needed guidance and someone to help them and teach them how to use their new abilities.
Why do I have those eyes and this haircut?
That question was a more personal one for herself.
Around the space in which this question was written down, there were two pictures pinned. One of them represented Gamzee Makara in his civilian clothes. She couldn't help herself but smile. She rarely saw the Candy version out of his God Tier duds but despite his eccentricity, she never regretted hiring him at the time. He had a job, he believed in the initial promise she made (and betrayed) and he did his best. So, yes, she was glad she could meet him and work with him.
Still didn't explain why she had a similar haircut to him, now (and even when she tried to change it, no matter how, it never truly changed. And if it did, it always came back to its current state afterwards).
But the second picture made her feel the almost opposite. Not because it was one of a person she disliked, but rather because it was a person she knew very little about. As a person, that is.
Said person was a teenage robot girl wearing a sleeveless black hoodie, thigh-high purple & black socks, black boots and a grey beanie. Her facial expression was the one of a girl who clearly wasn't feeling alright in her own skin but this wasn't what catched the attention of Zoom in the first place.
It was her eyes. Purple and LED-like, with obviously no sclera. And, without a doubt, this was exactly the same eyes Pighead ended up with since her resurrection.
She was certain of it. She looked at the eyes of this girl, compared them to her own thousands of times in the mirror and there was no mistake possible on this one. The purple irises and the black sclera she had were replicating the robot's natural eyes and she had no idea why.
According to the Handbook and some research Jade did some time ago, her name was Uzi Doorman and she came from Earth-365, in its far future. A teenage outcast who ended up stumbling into something way bigger than herself, which led her to battle a weird eldritch abomination called the Absolute Solver, to put it very simply.
She knew Earth-365 and a bunch of people of interest who were inhabitants of it at various points in its history, including the Worker & Murder – Disassembly, sorry – Drones. She visited their planet, Copper-9, more than once (generally to do her jogging. Yes, she liked running in places like that, sue her) and she even managed to meet and have a casual conversation with one of those Drones, one Serial Designation N. And speaking of N, one of his alternate selves was also watching her during the Pink Crisis, he was among the people looking at this in the Satellite of Love!
So, yes, she learned a bunch about them. But the fact was that Pighead never met Uzi herself. When she talked to Prime N, it was at a point in time before he even met her! So, if she couldn't remember meeting her, why did she had her eyes? What was the connection here?
No matter what it was, her and Copper-9 had a link that was deeper than it seemed at first glance – exactly like she has with Earth-91316 – and this was a mystery that she would have to answer, one day, no matter how long it would take.
Finally, Jade looked at the question that was at the center of the whiteboard. Probably the most important that had to be answered.
In front of her, there were photos of several inhabitants of Earth-231163. Well, no, it wasn't accurate: most of those inhabitants were iterations of the Doctor. A photo of the Third, one of the Seventh, one of the Eighth, one of the Eleventh and one of the Thirteenth. Plus, she also pinned pictures of both Rip Hunter & Paibok.
All those Doctors were the ones who directly went to investigate what was the deal with the faction that shithead led. And those mysterious people who were aiding them… she thought of a lot of names between who it could be but none of her suggestions felt like the truth. The only thing she was sure of about this whole situation was also the source of that question she had.
What connects them all?
Earth-3826, another point in time
When she stepped into the portal and entered this world, she didn't went automatically to the location in which her appointment would take place. She told Deli' she had all the time in the world and it was true.
And when she wanted to be at her best for an important moment like this, walking around was the best thing to do!
So, she did. She went to a municipal park and just walked a bit while the sun was shining and she could hear the birds and other people doing their thing and having fun! She could think about the fact that everything was fine for her, that she was a successful entrepreneur and that she showed them all what she could do!
Except for the fact that trying to tell Sentinel about what he could do was slightly exhausting.
Except for the fact that she was close to slap him if he didn't stop being clueless about everything.
Except for the fact that she didn't look where she threw him.
The fact that, admittedly, she didn't care about where he landed. And, admittedly, that her assistant/friend (?) was right and none of this was necessary. Well, it was but only for her.
The fact that, with luck, he would land on a world he wouldn't recognize and it would take him a while before he gets out. And the fact that she didn't care that much if he got hurt or killed. In all cases, it would make one less person to possibly look at what she was doing.
The fact that the life she thought she led was a lie.
The fact that it came back to her in the worst possible way.
The fact that she wasn't in control as much as she thought she was because the one in control lived in the layer above. Always did.
The fact that the deep wounds, the pain she forgot… also came back and did so in full force, reminding her of what she never wanted to see again, who she never wanted to remember, the things that made her heart bitterly ache.
The fact that she didn't know what was the most enraging between what she remembered and what she didn't.
The fact that all those people, no matter what Earth they came from, made her envious. Because they didn't felt the pain she felt.
Because they didn't hate looking at their faces like she did. That was the reason why there was almost no mirrors in her headquarters.
The fact that despite her success, she was back at square one, in a situation she hated.
It was a radical problem. And to fix it, she had to think about radical solutions. Just so she could have peace.
When a kid asked her why she was frowning that heavily, she ignored him. She still thought that she would have to pull her best acting capabilities to turn the very angry scowl she was sporting into a convincing smile when she'll arrive for the appointment.
Bah, whatever. She knew how to lie.
Earth-1218, another point in time.
« Is it normal that those streets are that dirty?, Angel Dust asked. Like, OK, you don't like the cliches about your country but, at least, you'd think they would do better with the reputation they have! »
The Soldier turned at him and shrugged.
« I mean, you're exaggerating a bit, it's not like it's a complete junkyard! It's just that people who are supposed to clean up everything don't always do their job dutifully… and the people who live here don't always take care of that either. But you can walk here without stepping on dog shit, really! »
« You think that everything will be OK? It's the first time I'm visiting someone unannounced… »
At Charlie's question, Pighead reminded herself that yeah, she at least had to call her mom because, even if it was what she planned to do, that would also make for a better surprise, at her opinion!
Actually, what they were doing made her feel weird. Not because of regret, but more because 1) it was the first time she was bringing her co-workers/friends to her homeworld and 2) the fact that everyone put on very impersonal gray hoodies to conceal their identities (according to Jade, it's because they were pretty well-known and loved by a lot of people here and she didn't want them to be bothered by possible overbearing fans) made them look like they were a gang on their way to sell drugs together.
Which was hilarious considering that the addicts here were still keeping up their streak of going clean/reduce the doses, herself included!
But hey, it was the first Christmas she would spend with her family in a while! Plus, she always knew that if she was about to do this, the Hazbin Gang had to be here! After the second chance she was given and the help they gave her, it was the strict minimumto introduce them to her parents!
« Yeah, don't worry about that, she responded, I'll call them. Plus, we're very close from the house so… »
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, looked at her contact list and called her mother.
From the perspective of the others – Husk was the only one who could speak full sentences in French – when she started to talk through the phone, it was more a bunch of sounds coming out of her mouth. But, since she was smiling and laughing a bit, they all assumed that it was fine.
When she hanged up the phone and turned towards everyone else, the smile was still here.
« Everything's good. They were surprised but they're OK with that. Mom thought about ordering pizzas, she didn't knew what to do for dinner today. And yes, Tony, it will be ones without pineapple if it makes you happy, dude. Let's go! »
The group resumed their walk. It took them some seconds to arrive in front of the house's door. It was exactly the same as the last time she looked at it.
When she pressed the doorbell, the silent worries she had about how this meeting could go came back.
When the door opened, she took a deep breath.
When she saw her mother, harboring a pretty shocked face while seeing that yes, her daughter finally came back home and was alive and well, all Jade could respond with was a sheepish, slightly guilty smile.
« Salut, M'man. Désolée d'être partie comme ça, je le referai plus. En plus, j'ai des amis à te présenter. »
And when the two hugged each other, everyone – even the Sinners outside – felt relieved. Or proud. Or happy.
When everyone entered the house, there was definitely the impression that whatever was about to happen would lead to a great little Christmas Day. No matter how grand it would be.
And that's all! Since I'm not retyping the Author's Note entirely, I'll try to be concise (which I usually am not). Let's go.
- This one-shot and Rebirth of Friendship were originally conceived as one single installment titled I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (titled after a Bright Eyes album). I split it in two at the time because I really wanted to write the first meeting between Pighead and the Hazbin Gang. Also, if you combine the titles of the two one-shots, it makes a neat little shout-out to Fall of Starfleet, Rebirth of Friendship!
- Originally, I thought about two ideas for who Pighead slept with: either Vincent Brooks and the three Catherines or Rika/Chili from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. I settled down on Reagan because, even if I didn't watch Inside Job, I thought that taking a character I didn't knew about that well and having the Soldier meeting them would be a nice little experiment.
- Inside Job being on Earth-467 and the Order of Black Robes being worshippers of Bill Cipher were two things I saw on the WMG page and I wanted to make it canon. In fact, the latter thing is what provoked the destruction of Cognito Inc. as an organization after a very ugly conflict between the employees and the upper management (along with Weirdmageddon also causing a ruckus). None of the employees died (so, yeah, Brett & Gigi, who are in the pictures Jade sees, are still alive) but the management... wasn't that lucky.
- The tiara used to restore Pighead's memories comes from the Homestuck fancomic The Crow Strider AU : it's a modified CrockerCorp tiara (which, in the original comic, brainwashes its users) imbued with Life energy, which allowed Pighead to gain her memories back and to have her brain healed after the long time of mental turmoil she lived.
- Also, you probably wonder why there's still chunks of memories Pighead doesn't remember. Hint: you know what happens when a Time Lord meets their other selves?
- "Mesa Pighead" is a Medic from Team Fortress 2 before gaining the mask. Also, parts of the scene with him were, for months, the only parts of the one-shot written. Also, it was initially planned for the scene to be set in the point in the future the Soldier comes from before it was changed to be in the near-past. Thought it was better.
- The Earth-99 Batfamily is from Counterpart Conferences. If Weyer hasn't planned things about them already, I would like to write what happened to them, one day.
- The Conqueror's Cabal comes from Lightyears Ahead. There was no precision on which points in time its members respectively came from, so I thought it would be interesting to nod at it. Especially with Rassilon.
- Speaking of Rassilon, I'm also making a nod to his incarnation from the comic-book Supremacy of the Cybermen. A world based on this comic being part of the Dark Multiverse was another suggestion from the WMG page so here it is. Also, Donald Sumpter being in Rosencreutz... a movie I actually saw when I was younger! (but before I learned of DW)
- The thing in Earth-1898 is from An Adventure of a Multiversal Crisis.
- The Black Flashes becoming aggressive and seeing all conduits of Forces who are not the Speed Force as enemies who need to be disposed of was inspired by pages of Flash War in which the original incarnation attacked Hunter Zolomon (yes, again) for this reason - Hunter was also powered by all the Forces at once, at this time.
I was bummed to not see a lot of Black Flashes in the DC Database (and not have a lot of them across the DC Multiverse and the adaptations) but still, between the original one, the Earth-2 one and the Smallville one (which I've established as separate individuals, because I've seen that there was some confusion from the readers about it), there's still at least some representation. Also, the Jesse Quick who became the Black Flash comes from the Ame-Comi continuity.
- For the non-DC Black Flashes, I wanted to show that the creature was becoming kind of a constant in the IC Multiverse. The Power Rangers one, I don't have to say a lot. The Sonic-verse one looks like Sticks because I've read that badgers were the natural predators for hedgehogs. The My Hero Academia Black Flash, appearance-wise, is a composite of both Tensei Ida as Turbo Hero: Ingenium (the armor) and Hawks (the wings).
- The mention of Gallifrey being destroyed by the Master is here because I have, since a while, an idea on how they did that but who was also still true to the core traits of their character (notably, being the brains more than the muscles). Maybe I'll tell the tale, one day.
- The Absolute Universe is the new alternate world that DC Comics recently launched. I know some among my fellow authors have read it (I didn't. Yet) and I thought the concept was cool enough, so I decided to introduce it. At least, in case authors would be interested.
About Darkseid and his situation in the IC-verse (I wanted to do something different from the comics because of the things like one Darkseid being imprisoned in the Phantom Zone or Earth-Prime 0 still not being here), even if the DCAMU/Tomorrowverse Darkseid that was killed by Barry Allen after Apokolips War is, to me, the Darkseid whose energy powers the Absolute Universe, I only imply it in case someone has a good twist in mind.
- The mentions of Earth-1218's situation among the years are my attempt at creating a sort of statu quo that could be satisfying for everyone because I remember that we were not always in agreement about that.
Also, Superboy-Prime finally alluded to! I wanted to since Another Side of the Glimpses and this was the perfect occasion. Tho, I say it's Prime... but maybe it's the Clark Kent from Superman: Secret Identity. Or a composite of both. You decide!
- Gamzee Makara is from Homestuck and you saw him (and his Candy version) pretty often in Arc 1, while Uzi Doorman comes from the web series Murder Drones, by GLITCH Productions. There's a lot of things I want to do with the series by GLITCH in general, but I still haven't watched any of them because I delay all my attempts to do so because, uh, I'm a dumbass. But I really want to watch them because I envision the people from the GLITCH-verse as becoming very important to Pighead's life. Including how the Soldier got her current eyes and why they are similar to Uzi's eyes, of course.
- The Doctors who fought the Skrulls being connected by something comes from an instant of fridge brillance I had while thinking about this entire storyline. When I talked about it, Weyer responded that he didn't plan for it and that it was just a funny coincidence... but I was proud enough to try to put it in one of my writings.
- Originally, among the mysteries in the whiteboard, I also wanted to make mentions to the timeline of the Rani's regenerations, the possible existence of Krona in the IC-verse and the Crown of Thawnes, who was recently introduced in the current Flash comics. But I've decided against it because the story was already full of things (almost 25 Word pages).
- The segment in Earth-3826 happens just after Chapter 2 of The Sentinel Saga. I have ideas on where Pighead threw Sentinel and he allowed me to tell this story, so it's definitely one I'll write during 2025. Stay tuned for that!
- The end segment in Earth-1218 was the only one directly related to Christmas despite, again, not making a Christmas story. I thought it would be a nice last-minute addition (in fact, the last three segments are that because I really wanted to do something beefy. And to show Pighead at various points in time). It's not a long scene because well, even if I don't shy away from being a bit personal, I don't want to put too much details out there (private life and all) especially when I write about walking in my real-life hometown and hugging my real-life mom. It would make me feel a bit weird to do more or to write dialogues for them. But I also still felt that a scene like that would be nice to do!
Anyway, I've finally rewritten this Author's Note so I'm about to leave it at that.
Questions, reviews, comments... are appreciated, as long as you're not the type of people I mention in the intro (seriously, back the fuck off). 2024 has been, uh... a year for us in general. It has been a very good year for IC (seriously, the shitton of things we wrote, I'm not even sure we will even be able to top that) but a so-so year in general. But, to me, I can say that personally, it was a nice year, a year in which I could continue to discover things about myself, in which I could accomplish a lot of nice things (like graduating, for example)... and I really hope that despite everything, 2025 will be a better year for us as a species. After all, what else can we do? Doomerism, for sure, won't save us.
Have a Merry Christmas and (if I don't post anything else here before 2025) a happy New Year. Stay strong. Be kind. Trans rights. Black Lives Matter. Fascism won't win, as long as we're still here. And that's all I'll write.
Peace out, y'all.