Howdy Folks, I'm back

(I do not own West of Dead, I do not own Re:Zero)

"The first shot misfires. Burned powder blasts from the barrel, turning my head into a candle. I don't hear the second shot…I hear only laughter. And the dark rolls in." - William Mason, West of Dead

Exit, Pursued by Overlapping Destinies

Subaru didn't know what to expect. After all the building tension and fear of the upcoming meeting with a witch, maybe he thought that it would be a little more grandiose in scale. Like a big room that belonged in a palace and a throne. A menacing figure of an evil woman sitting on it with the abilities to throw death his way at a simple glance.

Instead, he found himself in a very underwhelming room with a tall and frankly unhealthy looking skinny woman with bronze skin sitting cross legged. Blue energy surrounded her. She had a bandana on her face, covering her features. And an antler headdress. The rags that covered her did their job, but if he was being honest it didn't look like they were covering up much of anything.

He mentally berated himself for a moment at thinking those kinds of thoughts immediately after meeting her.

"Well…" Her voice was actually quite soothing, it had an echoing quality to it too. Like they were in a church alone and she was softly speaking to him. And she looked at him like she expected something from him. Subaru jerked his head around looking for any sign of Mason. He couldn't see him in the room with him. Uh oh.

"Hang on, I had someone with me. Red poncho, flaming skull, have you seen him?" He asked, trying to be nonchalant. A nervous smile graced his face. He was a little tense and it must have shown in his tone. Because she tilted her head, shifting her shoulder length thin black hair. And then she raised an eyebrow. Her eyes were pretty.

Then she laughed. And she did it in a way that made it feel like Subaru was lesser in some way. He frowned, a little upset. But nonetheless, not as unsteady as a moment ago.

She calmed down after a moment and finally answered his question.

"He'll be here in a moment…probably." She shrugged, not super concerned about him.

"Probably?!"

"It usually only takes one person, I've never seen two people go in at once. But he'll likely be here in a moment." She must have meant the portals. He couldn't help but think that seemed more like a design flaw than anything else.

True to her word, not even a few nervous minutes later, a blue light split the walls in the room and out fell Mason onto his hands and knees with a groan.

He quickly rose, and cracked his neck eerily.

"Damn, that felt strange."

"There you are." The woman spoke. Mason glanced in Subarus direction for a moment.

"Was I gone long?"

"No, I basically just got here too. But there was a bit of a delay." Subaru answered.

Mason hemmed. Then turned to the woman of the hour.

"We need to talk."

There was something strange going on. That much was certain to Bauer. Unfamiliar energies swirling as if in a toilet bowl in the perdurable blackness of Purgatory. He cast the energies back where they came with a simple swipe of his hand, but they returned not long after with even more urgency to them. So, the question remained: Who could have possibly found the power to attempt invading the very realm of the dead?

This was simply too much of a perceived insult to him.

He flew up, his avatar a beacon of dread in the void. Feeling around in a mystical sense, as if looking for something under the couch, he made an educated guess at where the next 'breach' would be. Once the vortex of purple made itself known and grew in size steadily, he peeked through.

In all honesty, he was underwhelmed. A witch. One of unremarkable prowess. Were he still a mere mortal she would be quite fearsome. The realm of the living would not stand a chance, she was simply too potent.

Mortality, as it is now, is foreign to him. The death of him would only come with the very soul of the cosmos being ground to fibrous dust. And suffice to say, this woman didn't even have a trillionth of that power. Besides, this is Purgatory. There's nowhere else the soul can go if one were to be killed again.

He entertained the thought for a moment, going to another world…

There are caveats. Frustrating ones.

He closed the portal once more. He wasn't much of a 'God', despite his power. Abstractions have even more trouble…metastasizing themselves in different worlds. Unless there are strong spiritual tethers and some kind of thaumaturgic way he could stay in a form that could be used to exercise his will.

But the world this witch comes from is rich in vitality.

Damn it all. If only he could go there himself. It sounds like it would be quite the worthy goal. It wasn't something he really thought that much about. But now that he did, Matthias couldn't in all honesty say he would enjoy trying to take over a never ending realm. But one that was finite…he could actually reach full control of. He may not be able to reach Heaven nor Earth but going to another world…A few rudimentary ideas began latching to his consciousness like a fly to the ointment.

He could stand to sew a little chaos, get the minds of people writhing at the injustice of it all. But he couldn't do it himself. Luckily, he has a few helpers. He just needs to wait for the witch to open another rift into her world.

Patience is a virtue after all…

"Hey, you ok?" Subaru waved a hand in front of Mason.

His jaw was unhinged slightly, and he closed it once he found himself back to reality.

"Sorry, I was…miles away." Were he not already dead, Mason would have thought he sounded sleepy. Subaru frowned and crossed his arms almost uncomfortably as the room was filled with a mysterious silence.

"I'm sure you've felt how strange things have been lately, Mason." The Witch-Woman's stick thin arms, longer than they ought to be, directed themselves into the energy that surrounded her as she sat contemplatively. Her meditative way of sitting, legs crossed and muscles relaxed, helped ease any feelings of discomfort that Mason could feel radiating from Subaru.

"Felt. Right. But I ain't just feelin' things that are wrong."

"Then you saw her?"

"Her? The hell are you-?"

"He has. I feel her magic from here." She pointed in a lackadaisical way at the boy. Like she was too lazy to fully outstretch her arm in his direction.

Mason turned to Subaru as his eyes went wide.

"Can you feel it from me?" She shrugged.

"I guess. It doesn't really cling to you that much, Mason."

"I only ask because I reckon our souls are linked in some way."

"Yes."

The Plainwalker opened his jaw in an attempt to say something but hesitated.

"I can't sever it." Mason pulled at his poncho a little.

"Why not?" The Witch-Woman cupped her chin.

"It's like…" She squinted over her bandanna. "Think of it as a tapestry. If it were as easy as-" She materialized a twig in her hands and snapped it. "-then I wouldn't have a problem. But as it is now, I would need to pull apart strings so intricately interwoven without cutting them that it would take…a long time. Time you don't have…" Another silence, and Mason's back stiffened.

"...Mason, child, The Man in Black has returned."

Eternity is timeless. This is a truth, both ageless and of yore, that is more or less a permanent fixture in Purgatory. When time becomes infinite, probability becomes certainty. Despite this, a secret hope shattered in Mason. A hope that he wouldn't be alive, or should he say, cognizant enough to see this day.

"…What?" His hands trembled. His emotions flared in different directions. Disbelief, terror, rage, hatred…he wanted revenge. Again and again. Subaru reeled for a moment. Clenching his eyes shut a few times.

"Mason…" The Witch-Woman looked at him with tenderness. She too, knew of his plight. She saw a good portion of his memories pertaining to Bauer after all. He twitched his head as she spoke, the white hot flame dancing just a bit more than usual.

"Don't tell me you're expecting me to do nothin' about this…"

"Woah woah! Can someone fill me in…?" Subaru asked.

"Not now. I have to find him."

"You brought me here!" Subaru growled out. Advancing on Mason with mounting frustration at being left on the sidelines for too long. "You are not leaving me in the dark because of some fucking guy in black or whatever! She said we were connected. And that it was done by the one who cursed me. We need to stay here and untangle ourselves."

"I ain't IGNORING THIS!" Mason huffed and It sounded like bellows on a forge. Subaru didn't seem to care.

"She can help me! Help us! And you want to go running off after someone who could kill you, and by extension me?!" Mason's answer to his question was to pick the boy up by his collar. High enough that his feet dangled. Subaru's expression changed, but his eyes held the same conviction as his words.

"Do you have any idea what that bastard did to me?!"

"No-grk-but that doesn't mean you get to just…run off on some payback mission!" Mason let him go and he barely flinched as he landed on his feet.

The Plainwalker faced away, not daring to show his nonexistent face to Subaru. An unpleasant feeling swirling in his chest.

"He is right, Mason." The Witch-Woman said. Her tone brooking no argument. "But even though I can untangle your strings, I will not…"

"What?" Subaru asked. "It's…what are you talking about…?"

"I won't untangle you, because I respect fate enough not to meddle with things concerning mortal realms. And because if I do…the world you both found yourselves in may suffer."

Subaru, for his part, tried to argue. Of course, it only came out as a jumbled mess of protesting sounds and some words he only part way enunciated. So outraged was he, that he couldn't even finish one argumentative thought before jumping to the next.

Mason turned back to her, playing her words in his head a few more times and trying to reign in another wave of rage surging through his torso. His limbs twitched, wanting to move, wanting to leave, to confront The Preacher once more in another one of their battles.

Yet he forced himself to stay put.

As the words rewound themselves one last time, her meaning hit him like Wendigo's claws.

"You mean to tell me the one who cursed him and tethered us did it for a reason? That she's tryin' to…fulfill some sorta destiny?" Mason was skeptical. A bit gobsmacked at the strangeness. Despite the lingering anger and agitation, he reminded himself that he didn't really believe in providence. He remembers how religious his wife was (despite having trouble even remembering her face), and in turn so was he, but…well, sometimes your convictions get rearranged and revaluated.

Dying does that.

"I can't speak for her. But she knows who you are. Both of you. That much is clear. And it seems she needs you back in her world." The Witch-Woman said.

"She needs us in that world…is that right? Well I got responsibilities. I can't just roam a new world. I have to protect Purgatory, 'specially now that HE'S back!"

Subarus eyes flitted back and forth. "If she…wants us back. Why? What's the reason?"

She looked at the boy, her gaze lingering on him for a moment, before turning back to The Plainwalker.

"He doesn't want Purgatory anymore. You can't feel it…?" She closed her eyes. "He sensed her too, she is trying to come here. To get to you both. Don't you see? She needs you." Her peepers opened and pierced into Subaru. "And now that The Man in Black is coming to her world…" She looked back at Mason. "She will need you too."

A minute of silence passed.

"Oh no…"

"What?! What does that mean?! What will happen if he gets there?!" Subaru asked.

"I…I ain't sure. But…it probably involves killing a lot of people."

"Oh god…" He could tell Subaru was feeling sick. Wave's of his instability crashed into Mason. Anxiety, horror and hopelessness. Barely facing off against that assassin and now they have to contend with fighting something he isn't even entirely sure it's possible to even defeat.

The bright side is, if he could have passed into the world of the living, he would have done so already. So, something must be holding him back…

And if The Witch-Woman says severing their connection could take time…then by the time they get done, Injustice would have crushed that whole place under his heel. Maybe even finding a way to tether himself there like he did with Purgatory. A deranged notion, really. One only his madness could conjure.

Was Mason a good man? He wasn't sure. He tried to be a good law-man. But the law doesn't always work. When he was a kid, he could remember how much of a fire he had in his heart. To punish the guilty, to vindicate the innocent. Justice.

Time dilutes all though, it seems. He still fights for justice, still wants to stick to his guns, but at what cost? Probably the boy. He'll need to fight. He may not want to…but he had to. He turned to Subaru, the young man it appears he'll be stuck to…for now.

"Boy, listen." Peeking his tired face out from his hands, Subaru turned to him.

"We have to get back." He frowned at him.

"B-But…I just…"

"Listen to me…" He grabbed the boy by his shoulders. "You need to get your shit together, son." He swallowed. A shaky hiss escaped him before he brushed off his non-consensual soul linked partner's hands.

"I know she said she wouldn't sever our link, but I…" He trembled for a moment. "I don't want to die again. Not for this shit. Not for…otherworldly beings and curses and dead people."

"I know you don't. But there's more than just you to worry about…"

His lips were a thin line. His eyes, angular and intimidating, softened a bit. "Lia…that's what Puck called her."

"Yes, anyone over there? They ain't gonna survive. I ain't makin' a mountain of a molehill here. I don't care how powerful they are, they ain't gonna be able to fight back against this."

Subaru exhaled. "So what are we going to do?"

"You still got your iron?" He pulled out the six-shooter from the waistband of his track pants.

"Ok…It's a good start but…we need more firepower." The question on his face was stunted when they both turned to The Witch-Woman.

"I'm not one to lend…" She spoke.

"I've always been one to pay you back, Witch. Figure you'd trust my credit by now." Mason stepped forward. Almost nose to nose with the woman. She remained fearless in the face of his scorching skull-fire.

"Depends on how much you ask of me…I'm more costly than that popinjay asking for iron. I want sin!" Mason gave as much as he could, reaching a hand out that she took. And with it, the sin of the outlaw they had run into earlier. Subaru watched curiously.

When the transaction was complete, a small sphere of luminous blue energy coalesced unstably in her oversized palm. Like an incongruous symbiosis between fire and slime.

It danced for a moment before imploding smoothly. It's inharmonious magics outlining into a hauntingly familiar shape.

A tin star.

"…did you just get scammed?" Subaru asked with a deadpan. Mason shook his head. Reaching a hand out and taking the star, pinning it on his poncho.

"No. We got a bargain, partner."

Her other hand began to glow much the same way, but what materialized was much less subtle with its uses.

A knife made out of ice, ornate enough to be considered a ceremonial dagger. A wide blade at the base that tapered into a thin stiletto, but no more likely to be broken than its base if the flow of magic was any indication. It was encrusted with frost along its entire length.

Mason reached out and wrapped his hand around the hilt, the weapon was so cold he could feel it through his gloves. Almost thoughtlessly he hovered it close to his fiery skull and was surprised to see it still kept its bone-chilling temperature. Not even a drop of frost melted from it.

He slipped it into his empty knife sheath near his belt. Finding it slid in like a glove.

"That's the last in accordance with our transaction."

"We could use more…"

"Then talk to that popinjay." She held up her hand dismissively. "...and good luck, Mason." With that and another wave of her hand, blue energy cloaked them both again.

Subaru's head was roiling, and understandably so. He could tell his focus was slipping but still remained bleary willfully. Clutching loosely onto the revolver, he sighed, following the walking night light through the snow.

Snowflakes clumped together and fell in small but fat bundles around the size of the pads of his fingers. Purgatory, as Mason explained it to him, was always changing. But he seems to think that it attuned to figures of power that dwelled in the realm.

When he asked him what that meant, he simply shrugged and said it accommodated him and more often than not, presented him with familiar surroundings when he wasn't taking burdens from lost souls. Whatever that meant.

"Who is this guy?"

"Who?"

"The Man in Black. The one we need to stop…what'd he do to you? Uh, if it's not too personal."

He seemed to groan tiredly. Subaru wondered, if he closed his eyes could he picture the idle rumbles of a motorcycle in his ear? Yes. Yes he could.

"It's a long story, too long to tell without a drink in my hand."

"Stop being vague. I think I deserve to be in the know. This involves me just as much as it does you, remember?" He remembered a flash. Blood. The body of the silver-haired half elf who saved him lying lifelessly on the floor of the loot house. He reached his hand for hers and made a promise. Never before had he so desperately wanted to keep one.

"He's a murderer, boy. He done hurt a lot of folks back in the day, including me." Subaru felt his face contort, feeling the anger and drive that looped from Mason to him.

"How do we stop him…? I'm assuming if it was as easy as shooting him…well…"

"It's not. He…" Mason sighed. Almost deflated, really. "We ain't gonna be able to off him. Not in the traditional sense. He did some kind of ritual. I can't remember the exact details but it turned him into something horrible."

"Turned him into what?! This whole talking in riddles thing isn't as cool as you think!"

"I. Don't. Know." Mason said. Every word is a puncture of frustration in Subarus gut. He knows. He definitely knows. But he isn't telling him. It was hard to know what it was like for him. An old world, so many years gone, and spent in…well, it might as well just be hell. Even if it was pretty.

Subaru looked out to a rolling landscape of dark mountains, too dark to see clearly. Fake. That was the first word that entered his mind. A fraudulent vista. Somehow, it felt more claustrophobic than the crypts. Out of place and certainly eye-catching would be the lanterns still hanging from the darkness above sporadically by black chains. Like they were hooked to the sky itself.

It wasn't the sky.

Moths still circled them even in the cold and the snow.

As the both of them advanced in deeper snow, around them the mountain seemed to part before them. Not literally, but Subaru would look away one second, and then look back the next and almost think to himself that the path before them was carved just for them. A passageway through the mountain, like they were in the depths of a once roaring river now dried and desolate, nothing left but snow and gray rock made grayer by the fact that even if this was a place where the dead roam, nobody spry enough to retain their will would be down in this depressing place.

At a few points he had to squeeze through the rocks with Mason. Scrapes against his skin were cold and he hissed, Mason looking back at him briefly every so often to check if he was ok.

It infuriated him. How useless could he be? Standing by and watching as people died for him, especially when he was supposed to be saving them, he had RBD, apparently a curse by a witch, but it…helped? Despite being awful. He's still not as overpowered as he would have liked to be, as anyone would have liked to be. But he has to work with what he has…

He'll happily rely on Mason, but that doesn't mean he wants to be impotent in the face of danger. He gripped the gun in his hand tightly, his red frostbitten fingers wiggling like worms for a moment.

Mason stopped. So did he. A moment passed as he titled his head and then turned down a path with Subaru following not far behind.

As lights sparkled down the stone path, Subaru realized these lights weren't from the lanterns. Well, they were, but they had a different…warmth to them. A different hue, maybe. Orange. Like a warm flame should be. His shoes clomped far lighter than Mason's dusty boots.

The snow blocked from falling far above by the stone melding back together. He supposed, technically, they would be in a cave at this point. The light ahead of them casted shadows, like the long one that came from a scraggly looking man in a tophat and an overly opulent suit. He had these oval thick lens glasses that magnified his eyes.

The eyes seemed to track Mason with a Scroogelike gaze. Then his hand reached for the long rolled up canvas on the side of his wagon. Wagon? When did that appear? Did Subaru just not notice it? Sure enough, it sat, the real lanterns hanging off of it. Old, and looking like it was about to disintegrate into dust.

The trader's hand pulled down on the canvas, and gravity unrolled it.

Weapons. So many. Most of them are unfamiliar. But then again, Subaru wasn't a gun guy. They tapered off in quantity at the bottom of the canvas, replaced by smaller, more novelty looking items. Shiny looking trinkets, gunbelts, dusters, hats, flasks.

A lot, but not nearly as many of them as there were guns…

"I need a rifle."

The trader smiled. And gestured to the unrolled canvas. A makeshift wall of presentable firearms. As Mason perused so too did Subaru, sticking more to the bottom of the canvas and eyeing his apparel and trinkets.

Mason lugged off an odd looking rifle. Cradling the butt in his shoulder and looking down the sights. Then the trader spoke.

"The Evans repeating rifle. .44 caliber. Lever-action. Holds twenty eight rounds in a rotary helical magazine…"

Mason racked the lever a few times as if to get a feel for it.

"Now, obviously, it's not a powerhouse. .44 Evans short and long is comparable to small arms cartridges. So, sure. You ain't gonna be taking down stone golems with this thing. But that ain't the main selling point neither. It's the round capacity, you won't have to worry about reloading for a while. Speaking of…" He points out the trapdoor at the butt of the rifle and Mason seemed to understand once he flipped it open.

"Mmmm, I'm gonna need a bandolier, unless the rounds magically reload themselves?" The trader shook his head.

"No. but..magically restocking themselves on this-" He held up a bandolier. "-That won't be a problem." He tossed it to Mason. The dead man strapped the shoulder-belt on himself. The loops in his belt are already shiny with cartridges for the Evans he still has in his hand.

"How much?"

"Ohhh, lets see, perhaps five hundred iron nuggets?"

"No." Mason said, demonstrating his tremendously inspiring bartering skills.

"Uhh, Mason? Can we uhh…" Subaru jerked his head to the side and Mason sighed. They both walked a bit aways from the grinning trader.

"What?" He asked impatiently

"How much…what was it?"

"Iron."

"How much iron do you have?" Mason turned his skull slightly to the trader just a ways off, then turned back to Subaru.

"Just over three hundred." Subaru almost facepalmed. No point in getting upset, they needed this stuff anyway…speaking of.

Subaru glanced at the bottom of the canvas once more, scrutinizing a gun belt that would have fit him.

"Why don't you let me handle this?"

"S'cuse me?"

"I'm serious!" Mason sighed.

"If you mess this up…he'll refuse to sell." Subaru gulped and Mason crossed his arms. He didn't consider himself much of a negotiator. But desperate times and all of that.

He nodded, then smiled. And decided to just…go with the flow.

He walked back over to the trader. Then cleared his throat.

"My name is Subaru Natsuki! And I would like to humbly ask for a discount!" He pointed skyward, still not the sky, and struck the same pose as he did when he had first met the Plainwalker.

…

The trader burst out laughing as Mason stared down at Subaru in what he would approximate is disappointment. Well, he thinks it's disappointment, it's kinda hard to tell what with his face not really being there and just having a flaming black skull on his head.

Ah but, yeah, that feeling that rammed into him like a clumsy toddler was definitely dismay from Mason. The trader was still lost in riotous laughter, as if he had not heard something even close to a joke in many years and was finally given an excuse to laugh. Kind've upsetting that he considers him a joke, but alright.

"Oh I-HAHAHA! Ok ok, alright boy…" He reached under his glasses to wipe away the tears. "I'll tell you what, since I had quite a haul today I'll lower the price considerably. Why don't we say…hmm…two hundred and seventy for all of it."

Subaru leaped in quickly. "Throw in that gun belt for thirty more, and you got a deal!" The trader laughed an ugly laugh and reached down, then tossed the gunbelt into Subarus arms, which he caught clumsily.

Mason slapped his back and he stumbled for a bit. "Good job." He tossed over a small pouch that clinked metallically over to the trader. He caught it easily, a small pleasant smile still stretched on his face.

Subaru slipped the gunbelt on and slipped his revolver in the holster as they both walked away, the glimmer of brass and lead from the cartridges on his new belt caused a feeling to rise in him that he hadn't felt in quite a while. He was being helpful.

As Mason peaked the hill with Subaru, the snowfall seemed to intensify into a storm. Concentrated and potent. His sense screams at him. Telling him that something is happening.

He sometimes wishes it could just whisper the answers into his thick skull instead of just pointing him somewhere with vague impressions…

It was, of course, happening. Whatever it was. And it was obvious.

A flurry of monsters at the foot of the snowy hill. Rifleman marching, husks of their former (alive) selves. A few wendigos, zombies, mages, golems, small swarms of winged creatures. A whole kit and kaboodle. Not an army, but certainly a large platoon…and The Preacher himself, his avatar of dread, hovering above not far from his congregation.

"And there's the guest of honor…" a dark raspy voice spoke. Mason went rigid as Bauer turned to them both, seeming to know exactly where they were the moment they set eyes on him. On it.

"What the fuck…?" Subaru muttered to his side.

It was a monstrous sight really. Like the opposite of a Seraphim, no wings to cover their eyes at the horror they are beholden to. An infernal black creature, almost looking like a cross between a bird and some long extinct prehistoric specimen. With the preacher's golden head, bursting into green flame and an ornate serrated halo. A reverent dark cloth and gold trim. A golden girdle on his hellish avatar and hands and feet that resembled the wendigos more than anything else.

It might not have been that bad if he weren't the height of a decent sized building.

But alas, this was injustice. In its full glory.

Mason imagined he would have something to say at this point. But he was at a loss. Dumbstruck at the worst possible moment.

The monsters below seemed to shift in their direction as the storm intensified and Subaru drew his own gun at the ready.

"Marshal…who's your friend? Another one to lynch from a tree?" That, however, broke him out of his stupor almost immediately and he raised his rifle and shot him a few times.

The blizzard seemed to get even stronger as black and purple energies swirled above them. His flame danced in the wind.

Nothing really happened. A few of the bullets bounced off his face, an arrogant smile still plastered on him. Still as cocky as the king of diamonds.

Realizing this was a futile effort he began to try and shoot his platoon of freaks. Injustice waved green fire in the path of his bullets and the lead melted midair before it could even hit their target, falling into the snow as little more than bits of slag.

This whole thing…he was waiting for them. It was a trap. He needs us for something.

"We need to go! Move! move!" He pushed Subaru along as they retreated. Injustice landed and sauntered at them with a pace befitting someone who knew they had already won.

"Do you have any idea how horrible it was, Mr. Mason? To know you were…sleeping…and still not being able to do anything about it?" Injustice's tone grew darker and darker as he reached up into the tar black sky, grabbing hold of the purple energies.

Hands seemed to explode from them in droves, each of them coming for both Subaru and Mason himself as they traipsed away as quickly as they could in the deepening snow.

What was Mason thinking? He messed up again. Taking on another foe he was too weak to handle. Far too angry to think straight this time rather than just overconfidence. Of course this was a trap!

Before he could decide whether or not this would spell out both of their doom. Bauer made the decision for them.

He seemed to rip the energies in half, flaring green unholy flames in his claws at the concentration of power. Then tossing it like a clump into the snow. And now, swirling there, was a portal. Clear as day.

Injustice dipped his finger into the portal as if testing the waters and withdrew it quickly with an angry and pained expression. A faint sizzling and hissing sound emitting from his claw.

By this point Mason stopped retreating and stood in shock at the turn of events. Then he began sprinting back once he saw Injustice beginning to herd his monsters into the portal. One by one. They all jumped in.

Into the world both he and Subaru had just come from.

Mason ran as fast as he could, Subaru scrambling not far behind with the same look of horror on his face that the marshal would have had.

Suddenly he felt weightless. He looked at Bauer as he picked him up, pinching his gargantuan fingers on the smallest bit of his poncho as he could. Like he was a disgusting insect to Bauer.

He probably was, judging by the notorious murderer's expression.

"What the hell are you doin, you evil bastard?! That ain't our world!"

"Oh yes, I know, it sounds a lot more fun taking over another world than Purgatory, don't it?"

Mason struggled. A bullet bounced off of Injustice's golden face and he could see it morph into distaste as he shifted his gaze downwards to the source.

At that moment, Mason slipped out his new knife and cut the fabric to separate himself from the grip of Bauer. He could feel a thin layer of frost coat the small area he cut as fell to the snow and quickly rolled, grabbing hold of Subaru and throwing both of them into the portal.

The boy yelped at the sudden action, gun still in his hand as they both became weightless for a moment. Then he hit solid ground with a phantasmal grunt, rolling a bit as a lurching feeling hit him.

Mason's vision became a blinding white as the sound of demonic chuckling became silent soon after the bubbling sound of a closing portal.

hope everyone had a holly jolly Christmas, and I hope everyone has an even more fun New Years!

anyways, update to this should be in a few weeks, give or take. probably on a saturday or sunday. Leave a review, if you feel inclined.