Lucy walks into frame and clears her throat, "Last chapter, we ended on the revelation that Stella had been granted some sort of glowing hand from their silly alien adventure. Now we start right after that ended. Do I get my chocolate now?"

Stella and Order

Stella sat timidly on the couch while Grim examined her indigo glowing hand, "Well, whatever it is, it isn't killing you, but that's all I can figure out."

"Great Grim, thanks for nothing." Lincoln remarked.

"Hey, I'm not an encyclopedia on everything paranormal! My expertise is on things from, connected to, or sent to Earth. This is something completely alien to me, literally!" Grim gestured to the glow.

Leni then walked in with a tray carrying glasses of iced lemonade and wearing a big smile, "I thought you all might be thirsty so-" Leni's smile flipped when she saw Stella's glowing hand, "OH EM GOSH STELLA! YOUR HAND IS ON FIRE!"

"Leni, wait!" Lincoln told her.

It was too late, Leni rushed up to Stella, grabbed her arm, and shoved her hand into one of the glasses.

"COLD! COLD! COLD!" Stella yelped.

Lincoln gently pulled Leni's hands off and put Stella's hand in a throw blanket, "Leni, her hand is not on fire! It's just uh...glowing for some reason!"

"Oh! Sorry, Stella!" Leni apologized.

"It's...it's okay, you were just trying to help, Leni." Stella told her, she warmed her hand with the blanket and Leni rubbed her chin.

"Hmm...maybe you should see a doctor about that?" Leni suggested.

Stella looked a bit nervous, "Uh...I rather...not? If my parents found out I got some weird glowing hand, they probably wouldn't let me hang out with Lincoln again."

"Why would they do that?" Lincoln asked.

"Well, they don't know that you're friends with the Grim Reaper and that crazy chaos woman. They'd probably flip if they found out I got some sort of weird glowing hand after hanging out with you, I can barely get them to let me go outside on my own."

"Crazy chaos...wait, Eris?" Lincoln asked.

Just then, the front door opened, "Hi, Lincoln! I'm back from another day of paying my debt to society!" Nice Eris proclaimed in a singsong voice.

Stella and Grim slapped palms on their foreheads, "Speak of the devil..." they both muttered.

Eris shut the door behind her as she walked in, she then noticed Stella, "Ooh, Lincoln! Did you bring a friend over? What's your name, sweetie?"

Stella frowned, "Please don't call me that, my name is Stella."

"Aw, that's a beautiful name swe- er, Stella!"

"Uh...don't you already know me?" Stella asked.

"Oh, Stella, remember when I told you Eris got split into two and one was in jail?" Lincoln asked, "That's the one who was in jail, the 'Nice' Eris. She's staying in Leni's room for now."

Leni smiled, "She's a fun roommate!"

Stella eyed Eris suspiciously, "So, not the one who's being creepy towards you?" she asked.

Eris grimmaced nervously, "Oh no...that's uh...that was my other half. I rather not make Lincoln uncomfortable."

Grim sulked, "But makin' Grim uncomfortable is A-OK, right?"

"Say Eris, would you know anything about this?" Lincoln asked as he pulled out Stella's glowing hand.

Eris leaned in and looked at the glow, "Ooh, now you don't see this everyday! Especially on a mortal."

"Wait, you've seen this before?" Grim asked.

"What is it?" Stella asked.

Eris tapped her chin, "Well, not this exactly, but it is giving off a power similar to that of my dad's, my uncles, my aunts, et cetera..."

"The power of the gods?" Grim asked.

"Sort of? It's more like the power of Order, but on a much smaller scale than what my family can do."

"Order?" Stella asked, looking at her glowing hand quizzically.

"What do you mean by that?" Lincoln asked.

Eris took out her bronze Apple of Discord, "Well, you know how I have the power to create Chaos?" she tossed the apple at Grim and it hit his robe which changed colors from black to multicolored tie-dye.

"AAAH! ME ROBE! IT'S GHASTLY!" Grim cried out.

Leni ooohed and took a few pictures of the robe, "No it isn't! It could be a good look for you, Grim! Tie-dye is coming back!" she told him.

"No pictures Leni! I rather not become the laughing stock of the world!"

Leni showed Grim her phone, "I already uploaded it to my fashion blog, my followers are loving it!"

Grim took the phone, "Wait, really? Woah! Thousands of likes already?"

"Why did you do that?" Stella asked Eris.

Eris shrugged, "Just a small example. Chaos is essentially the power to create change in the world, be it changing the color of Grim's robe or starting massive wars over the silliest of things, like a woman."

Grim snorted, "Oh, yeah. The only good thing that came from the Trojan War was the look on that punk Achilles face when I reaped his soul. Jerk thought he would never see me."

Stella was still puzzled, "So what does that got to do with my hand glowing?" she asked.

Eris cleared her throat, and gestured to the glow, "This glowing is reminiscent of the power of Order, which is Chaos's exact opposite. While Chaos creates and destroys, Order controls things like the flow of wind or water. It has it's perks, it makes many people comfortable, but being too comfortable can be a bad thing just as much as being too impulsive can be a bad thing."

Grim scoffed, "You would know."

Stella kept looking at her glowing hand, "I don't feel much control though? It's glowing on its own."

Eris shrugged, "Well, that's all I really know. Sorry Stella."

Lincoln rubbed his chin, "Maybe we need a more scientific approach? Let's go see Lisa!"

Lincoln and Stella headed upstairs. Grim followed after the two up the stairs but stopped midway and turned to Eris, "I think you've done enough for one day, haven't you?"

Eris sighed, "Grim, I know you're upset with me but can't you just drop it? If not for me then for Lincoln?"

"I'm only toleratin' you because he told me to. Remember that."

"It's hard to forget."

Leni followed after them, if only because it seemed like something everyone was doing.

Lana and Lola walked into the living room from the kitchen, "I know I could fix that sinkhole! Darn road commission!" Lana complained.

Lola patted her twin's back as she took a seat on the couch, "Forget about it, Lans, let's just watch some cartoons!"

Lola turned on the TV and was met with an advertisement, "Hey kids! Do you like amusement parks?" asked a deep, warm, yet disconcerting voice.

"Not really." Lola answered.

"I do!" Lana cheered.

"Well, you have a chance to win free tickets for the grand opening of the Dairyland extension: Dairyworld!"

"Ooh, free tickets!" said Lola.

"All you have to do is send a text to 6-1-6-I-N-E-R-G-A-L and tell us your name and address!"

Lana and Lola took out their smartphones and did so.

Parents really shouldn't allow their children to have those things.

...

Meanwhile, Lucy was in her room with her friend Haiku.

"So, there was a group of elite vampires and they didn't want you to join?" Haiku asked.

Lucy nodded, "That pretty much sums it up."

"They have no idea what they're missing, you would've made a great vampire."

"Thank you."

Haiku rubbed her chin, "I wonder why they wanted Lincoln...I mean, he can pull the look off but he can barely get into the spirit of being goth."

Lucy shrugged, "I couldn't tell you."

"He barely believed vampires existed until he met Dracula...a shame that legendary vampire turned out to be a disappointment."

Lucy sighed, "Never meet your heroes."

"Hmm...moving on from that, what was this weird dream you were telling me about?"

Lucy handed over her journal, "I wrote it all down."

Haiku opened up the journal and looked through the recent pages, "...so, another you showed you Tarot Cards and told you to gather them all?"

"Pretty much."

"And I wasn't one of them? There was one for you, your brother, and the Grim Reaper."

"I think I need to find out if you are or not."

"How would you do that?"

"This is her card." a voice in Lucy's head told her.

"Gasp." Lucy recognized it, it was of that other self from her dream that called herself "The Wraith" but why could Lucy hear her now?

"What is it, Lucy?" Haiku asked.

In Lucy's mind, she saw a card being flipped over. It was Haiku as The Hanged Man.

"I just got a vision. It showed me your card." Lucy told her.

"Which one was it?"

"The Hanged Man."

"Hmm, sacrifice, uncertainty, new perspectives, wisdom, apathy, avoidance, delay...yeah, checks out."

Lucy was a bit surprised, "You are...very accepting of this, Haiku."

Haiku nodded, "Considering all the things I've personally seen you do already, this is hardly anything new. Plus, all that sounds like me, they're why Bertrand made me president of the Junior Morticians Club in his absence."

"I see."

...

Across the hall in Lisa and Lily's room, Lincoln and Stella had just finished explaining the events of the previous chapter to Lisa and showing the child genius Stella's glowing hand.

Lily was acting a little uppity so Leni and Eris started playing with her while Grim just sulked in the corner.

"Hmm, well, my knowledge of space is limited, though it doesn't surprise me that aliens exist." Lisa remarked, she took out a handheld device and a blue laser ran up and down Stella's hand.

"What is that?" Stella asked.

"A remote scanner." Lisa punched in a code on the scanner and turned towards a computer monitor. "Kowalski, analysis."

The computer monitor ran an analysis and soon enough started printing out its findings.

"You named your computer Kowalski?" Stella asked.

Lisa scoffed, "What would you name it? Turing?"

"I was thinking more Pascal- that doesn't matter! What's it say?"

Lisa took the printout and looked it over, "Well, from what I gather, on your hand is a colony of unknown bacteria."

"Bacteria? I got space germs on me?"

Lisa shook her head, "It doesn't appear to be harming you in any way...in fact it seems to be providing you a service by eating away dead cells on your skin."

"Ooh, like my skin lotion!" Leni chimed in.

Stella rubbed her chin, "Huh, it's helping me? Why?"

Lisa cleared her throat, and brought out a projector that displayed some diagrams of bacteria, "There does exist bacteria known as probiotics which helps the human body rather than harm it like viral infections do. This unknown bacteria seems to be similar, though usually probiotics live inside the human body, not on the surface. This colony in particular appears to be forming a symbiosis with you, providing you with skin care in return for sustenance."

Lisa finished up her presentation, turning off the projector.

"Oh, that makes sense." Stella remarked.

Lincoln nodded, "Yep."

"Mhm." Grim agreed.

"Eyup." Lily squeaked.

Leni was a bit dumbstruck, static electricity sparked from her head.

"The rest of you understood all that?" Eris asked.

Lincoln put his hand on Stella's glowing hand, but the glow stayed on Stella. "Okay, so if it's just bacteria looking for food, why is it staying on Stella?" Lincoln asked.

Lisa tapped her chin, "Hmm, my hypothesis is that the colony may have imprinted on Stella and it has not matured enough to seek new habitats."

Leni snapped out of her daze and smiled, "So the bacteria thinks Stella is their mommy? I've been there!"

Lisa looked at the data again, "...it also looks like your hand was damaged recently?"

Stella shrugged, "I mean, it was dunked in icy cold lemonade."

Leni frowned and looked down in guilt, "Sorry."

Lisa shook her head, "The analysis says it was burned recently."

Grim took at look at Stella's hand, "But there isn't a mark like that on her! And I know me burns!"

Lisa rubbed her chin, "The bacteria may have sped up the healing process, so that's another benefit it is giving her."

Stella snapped her fingers, "Oh yeah! When I grabbed the crystal-thingy the bacteria was on, I got burned. Then I forgot about it in the moment because of all the crazy stuff, but on my walk back home I checked to see if it left a burn mark...that's when it started glowing!"

"I wonder why you didn't lead with that." Grim remarked.

"Give her a break Grim, she was processing a lot of stuff!" Lincoln told him.

Grim folded his arms, "Oh, so you cut her slack but not me?"

Lincoln gave him a straight face, "Yes."

"Hey." Lucy suddenly greeted at the door, jumpscaring everyone in the room, "What's with all the yelling?" she asked.

Haiku poked her head in, "Hello Mr. Reaper...who's the blonde lady?" she asked.

"The bane of my existence." Grim answered.

Eris sighed, "I am Eris, Goddess of Chaos and Discord. I'm also a friend of Lincoln and Leni."

"Huh, okay. Nice to meet you." Haiku told her.

"As for the yelling, well, we're trying to help Stella here." Lincoln explained.

Stella showed Lucy and Haiku her glowing hand.

Lucy approached, "Ooh...I feel some power from this."

"You do?" Stella asked.

"It's not surprising, Lucy has a deep connection with the paranormal." Haiku noted.

Lucy reached out for Stella's hand, but stopped, "Would you allow me to read your palm? I am well-versed in fortune telling."

Stella nodded, "Oh, for sure."

Stella held out her glowing hand and Lucy gently took hold of it and traced one of her fingers over Stella's palm lines.

"This is her card." The Wraith whispered in Lucy's ear.

In Lucy's mind, she saw a tarot card featuring Stella as The Star.

"Huh..." Lucy blinked a few times.

"Um, is that bad?" Stella asked, "I can read tea leaves myself, but that's about it."

Lucy suddenly remembered she was reading Stella's fortune but had let go of her hand, "Oh uh...no, but I think I'm going to need my crystal ball. That'll be in my room, follow me."

Stella followed Lucy out of the room and across the hall with Lincoln and Haiku following after them. Haiku shut and locked the door behind her.

There was then knocking on the door, "Hey! Why'd ya lock this, mon?" Grim asked from the other side.

"No offense, Mr. Reaper, but you and the Goddess of Chaos might cause too much of a disturbance." Haiku answered.

"Don't you lump me in with her!" Grim protested.

Haiku muttered a few words and made some hand signs at the door, and Grim's protests went silent.

"Uh, what was that?" Lincoln asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Haiku told him.

Lucy took out her crystal ball and set it on an endtable. She waved her hands around it and peered inside.

"So...what does your crystal ball say about my hand?" Stella asked.

Lucy was quiet for a moment, "...all I can see is that this is something good. A new gift the universe has given you for one reason or another."

"Anything else? Like what it does or how to get rid of it?"

Lucy tapped her chin, "Hmm... instead of getting rid of it, you should embrace it."

Stella grabbed her glowing hand, "Embrace my hand glowing for the rest of my life? I rather not!"

Lucy took a seat on the floor and crossed her legs, "New things don't necessarily have to be scary, Stella. I can tell you're wound up about it. Come sit down with me."

Lincoln took a seat next to Lucy, "Hey, meditation, maybe that can help." he offered a hand to Stella.

Stella took it and sat down herself, crossing her legs. She took Lucy's hand with her free non-glowing hand.

"I'll light some incense." Haiku stated as she did so.

"Close your eyes, take in a deep breath." said Lucy.

Stella did so, the scent of the burning agarwood having a calming effect.

"Slowly let it out."

Stella did so. It was a bit relaxing. "Are we going to astral project ourselves?" Stella asked.

"I don't think we're ready for that quite yet. Right now we are just establishing control over your new power." Lucy told her.

"Should I even be here for this?" Lincoln asked.

"Yes, you're here for emotional support. Stella clearly has faith in you given she came to you for help first."

"Oh yeah."

"So, what now?" Stella asked.

"Now, open your eyes." Lucy told her.

Stella opened them to see that the glow was gone, "Oh? Lucy, did you stop it?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, you did. All you needed to do was take your mind off it."

"Eh?"

"Wow, how did you notice without seeing it?" Lincoln asked.

"I didn't shut my eyes, Lincoln." Lucy told him.

"...huh, it's hard to tell with your bangs."

"Wait, hold on, all I had to do was not think about my hand?" Stella asked.

Lucy nodded, "Seems like your power was responding to your nerves tensing up. Clearing your mind and calming down shut it off."

"Oh...I should remember to do that next-"

Just then, the door to Lucy's room was broken open and fell off its hinges. Grim standing in the doorframe with a bronze battering ram.

"Woah! What the heck, Grim?" Lincoln asked.

"I yelled that if you kids didn't open the door, I'd break it down!" Grim told them.

"...I think that message may have gotten lost." Haiku remarked.

"Grim..." Lucy rose up from her spot.

Lincoln quickly pulled Stella out of the room, "Uh oh, we should get out of here."

Stella thought it better not to ask questions and followed Lincoln downstairs.

"Uh...now Lucy, I had your best interest in mind and-" Grim meekly assured.

"Grim! You're going to fix this, NOW!" Lucy yelled.

The sound of violence could be heard upstairs.

"Wow, I don't think I've heard her raise her voice before." Stella remarked.

Lincoln sighed, "Yeah, well, that's a given in this house. I'm just glad she was able to help you out, Stella."

"You all helped me figure this bizarre alien thing, honestly. I think I can take it from here, have a good night Lincoln." Stella waved as she left the house.

Lincoln turned around to see Grim's skull flying down the stairs, "Help me!"

Lincoln caught Grim's skull before he hit the floor, "Looks like you got too a-head of yourself, Grim." he snarked.

Grim was unamused, "I really loathe you right now."

...

Mr. Dusk here, sorry if this ending feels rushed and abrupt. I meant to get this out sooner but I've been burnt out and depressed for several weeks and just wanted this done. Especially since it's past the 2nd year anniversary for this crossover.

I wanted to thank my big brother Lavenian for all his support, and for his birthday gift of commissioning the artwork for the new cover art drawn by Bleedman. Be sure to support his fan fiction as well.

Thank you for reading.