Foretellers: Continuation

Chapters

Alex's Training
Kira's Nightmare: Part 1
Kira's Nightmare: Part 2
Kiara's Nightmare Part 3
Kira's Heart
Dan's Training

Alex's Training

It was the next day, the The four other Foretellers were all waiting, wondering who’d be next to head off with training. “I can’t believe Jenny finally asked Flash on a date.” Kira said.

“I know, it’s fantastic.” Dan said honestly.

“Ya’ll can still go fuck yourselves…” Alex grumbled, drinking another cup of blood coffee. “Don’t care if the meal was good…I could barely sleep from all that screaming still stuck in my head…”

“Heh, sorry. But at some point we all will probably get roped into cooking crazy meals.” Lan stated.

“Alright kids.” Cript said, walking into the room. “The next one for training is going to be… Alex, for helping cook dinner last night.”

“Sick.” Alex said. “So, who am I going to train with besides Mom?”

“Scootaloo. She’ll be training all of you in strength and such. Your mother will be training you all on your vampire abilities.” Cript informed.

“Cool. So… what’s for dinner?” Dan asked with a nervous gulp.

“Eighth dimensional pot pies. So, who wants to help me hunt down the ingredients in the eighth dimension?”

“Not it!” Kira yelled.

“Not it!” Lan yelled.

“Of course…” Dan sighed.

“Alright then, Alex, head on outside, Scootaloo is waiting for you outside the front door. Dan, let’s go.” Cript said, snapping his fingers as a portal that looked to hold colors impossible to perceive and was either folding in on itself or imploding constantly opened next to him.

“Get the smartest man here to go to a place that can’t be understood…goodie…” Dan grumbled.

“Have fun~.” Alex teased as he waved and walked outside to meet Scootaloo.

Alex met up with Scootaloo by the pillars outside the house. “Morning.” She waved.

“Morning.” Alex nodded. “How you doing today?”

“Good. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Alex nodded.

With a nod, Scootaloo snapped her fingers. Alex soon found himself on… He blinked, several times. This looked like… a Sonic video game.

“Uh…why are we in Green Hill Zone?” Alex asked curiously.

“Your main thing is speed, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is.” Alex nodded. “Speed is indeed my game.”

“Then we need to test that. Let’s see how fast you can go.” Scootaloo said, a small robot floating above the two displaying a red light. “And get you faster.” The light turned yellow. “Otherwise, you’ll not be much help in a fight.” The light turned green.

Alex immediately ran as fast as his legs could take him, even though he wished he had Leopardus to increase his speed by an asston, he didn’t need that bastard, he was faster than whatever it could make him, and he’ll prove it!

He ran down the hill, making it to the first loop… and fell rolling backwards down it. Alex looked up, seeing Schootaloo there. Before he could talk, she popped a Flesh Fruit into his mouth. “Again.” She said.

“I should be faster than that…” Alex grumbled around the fruit in his mouth, eating it quickly as he got back up and started running again.

Alex made it back to halfway up the loop, and fell back down it again. Scootaloo popping another Flesh Fruit in his mouth. “Again.” She repeated.

Alex growled, eating the fruit again and running faster than before, furious that he’s somehow not fast enough to do a simple loopdeloop.

Alex attempted the loop again. And again. And again. And again. Soon the sun began setting and Alex still never made it much further than just shy passed the loop’s halfway mark.

He crawled himself back to the top of the hill, this time taking the flesh fruit from Scootaloo and biting it himself before he dropped onto the grass.

“What…the…fuck…” Alex panted. “Why can’t I do it?”

"Guess your Keyblade helped you out more than you thought." Scootaloo said taking a seat next to him.

“Maybe…” Alex grumbled. “I…I know I’m faster than this…so what the hell is going on?”

"Are you putting magic into your legs?"

“Uh…no?” Alex said. “Am…am I supposed to normally? I know there’s buffs…”

"Heh. You're Keyblade did way more for you than you knew. Not surprising." Scootaloo said, pulling Alex back up to his feet. "I'm guessing that, like Jenny, you don't know the origin of your Keyblade either."

“I can only assume from what you're saying.” Alex said honestly. “So did Leopardus form from thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me?” He asked, quoting Bohemian Rhapsody cause he could.

"He was forged using some of the Admin of Speed's Speed Force." Scootaloo said, holding up a book titled 'Keyblade History for Dummies.'

“First off…why is there a book like that and two…forged using the Speed Force…”

"Yeah." Scootaloo said. "and this book is from the house Library. Anyways, your Keyblade was forged when the old Admin of Hearts wanted to utilize more abnormal and force of nature type materials into a Keyblade reform. He managed to get the Admin of Speed to give them enough Speed Force to craft a Keyblade from it. Creating Leopardus."

“So…Leopardus has been making me stupidly fast?” Alex asked.

"He's helped. Like all Keyblades, they work with their wielders, giving them power in amounts they can handle until you're able to handle the full unfiltered amount."

“Of course…” Alex grumbled. “Well this sucks…”

"Relax. You're still fast, you just have to work for it now."

“Gonna need a lot of work if I’m gonna be as fast as I was before…”

"You'll get even faster." Scootaloo said. "Now get running!"

“Fine.” Alex said, as he started to run swiftly down the track again.

The night turned to day, and Alex was still at the hill loop. Finally, after noon the next day, he made it up and around the first loop.

“HA! FINALLY GOT IT!” Alex cheered happily.

"Good job." Scootaloo said, putting another Flesh Fruit into Alex's mouth.

Alex ate the fruit quickly. “Ah, the sweet feeling of success.”

"That only leaves the rest of the track. Plus enemies."

Alex frowned. “Thank you for…pointing that out…”

"Hey, progress is progress."

“It is indeed progress.” Alex nodded. “Well…let’s get on with this.”

And so, Alex continued. Restarting if they fell off or slipped from any part.

By the time they finally beat Green Hills, over four months passed for the Foreteller, but he was reassured by Scootaloo that time back home would not be that long.

"Alright, you're definitely faster now. Before you were just about thirteen miles per hour. Now you're forty six miles per hour."

Alex nodded, catching his breath as he definitely felt his legs were more powerful than before.

“That’s good so far…” Alex commented, lightly stretching a bit to help his legs not be so sore.

"And that's so far just raw speed. No magical augmentation or enhancement." Scootaloo added.

“So…next is me actually using magic to increase my speed?” I inquired.

"Not just yet. Let's see how fast your raw speed can go. Then we can move onto magic, and, if you'd like, getting your own Speed Force."

“I thought I’d have gotten the Speed Force just by being fast enough?” Alex inquired. “I don’t know much about how that whole thing works, but kinda thought if I wasn’t in some horrific scientific accident, it would have just been ‘I’m fast enough’.”

"It depends really, but getting Speed Force is usually a byproduct of surviving extreme electric currents or something like that. But given your natural immunity to lightning thanks to your Foretellers stuff and such I'd have to inject it into you directly." Scootaloo explained. "But for now, let's focus on where your raw speed caps before we make you a Speedster."

“Alright.” Alex nodded, getting ready to start running again.

Time passed and Alex Truly began to notice the difference in his speed over time. He even began making a path along the grass within the stage. He memorized the path well enough to run it with his eyes closed.

Eventually though, he began to feel his speed reaching a limit, and lastly on a two year mark, he felt he hadn't gotten any faster in some time.

"Hm, looks like you're raw physical speed caps out at around 480 miles per hour." Scootaloo informed as Alex ate another few Flesh Fruits. He had eaten nothing but these vampiric products since his training began, and long since grew numb to the taste.

“Can’t I get something else?” Alex asked. “Cause seriously…I’m starting to get numb to the taste.”

Scootaloo shrugged, snapping her fingers as a raw T-bone steak appeared in his hand. "Given you haven't gained any speed over that I'm guessing now is the time to work on your magic. I will be throwing in a twist however."

Alex ate the T-Bone steak, bone and all cause apparently Vampire biting strength was just that good. “God that tastes so good…” Alex groaned happily. “So…what’s the catch?”

"I'll be throwing in enemies to kill and objects to run through in order to get to the end." Scootaloo said.

“Fair enough.” Alex nodded. “So, how do I do this magical enhancement stuff?”

"Alright so first you need to focus. You're used to your Keyblade acting as a conduit for your magic, but this time you need to use your own body to conduct the magic to do as you will. In this case, focus it on your legs, feel it flow through your veins and every muscle fiber and bone in them."

“Alright…” Alex nodded, putting his hands on both his legs, focusing on the feeling of his magic, of the lightning he’s used so many times, into every fiber of his lower half.

It took more effort than Alex expected, but eventually he managed to get his magic flowing, feeling it pulsate through his legs.

"Good, now use that same focus into your arms and torso." Scootaloo said.

Alex nodded, trying to get his magic evenly distributed along his body. He managed the task but was unable to hold it for long as he felt his magic run out before he was able to use it.

“Ugh, I’m not as magically gifted as Dan or Kira…” Alex grumbled, trying to do it again.

"Neither was Jenny when she started and now she surpasses them magic wise." Scootaloo informed.

“Really?” Alex aksed in surprise. “That’s a shocker, both of those two were pretty solidly in the lead for magic…”

"That's the whole point of this training. To push you all to be better. Now here," Scootaloo brought up an ether, handing it to Alex. "Drink this and do it again. We won't stop til you can focus your magic all along your body is second nature and you can hold it practically indefinitely."

“Alright.” Alex nodded, grabbing and downing the Ether real quick, trying to get into magical shape this time as best he could. “So, might as well ask, how long have I been doing this? Cause it’s been about a full day from what the sun says.”

"Two years and sixteen days."

“Fucking what!?!” Alex shouted in surprise.

"What? You thought this kind of progress happens in a day?"

“I didn’t expect years to be passing! And unless this is some weird Hyperbolic Time Chamber nonsense, I’ve missed two years back home!” Alex said in a minor panic.

"It is some weird Hyperbolic Time Chamber nonsense. Did you pay attention to what I was telling you when we started this training?"

“I did, and you mentioned nothing about that.” Alex pointed out.

"I did. Maybe all those hits you took to the head trying to make that loop made you forget."

“Wait, I think you did now, but that was…I don’t know, technically a year and eight months ago.” Alex answered. “

"Eh. Well in any case get back to it."

“Fine fine…” Alex said, getting back to working on his magic to amplify his legs.

More time passed, roughly another year before Alex had a proper hold and control over using magic through his body. But he was able to hold and flow that magic without interruption. He even managed to use spells through his limbs. Mainly Thunder and other electricity based ones.

"And with magic your top speed caps at about 940 miles per hour." Scootaloo informed.

“So how am I not literally peeling off my own skin from the air resistance and friction?” Alex inquired.

"You aren't a normal human or pony or even vampire for that matter and this training also built up your friction resistance and wind resistance. That wasn't obvious?"

“I was more busy trying to run and get faster.” Alex said honestly.

"Well now that you're almost as fast as a jet engine and you can cast spells while keeping that mana boosted speed going it's time for your Speed Force." Scootaloo said, holding up a vial of gold colored electricity that self sustained itself inside the glass vial.

“So I just need to drink lightning?” Alex inquired, gently taking the vial.

"Drink, no." Scootaloo said, making Alex point the corked end of the vial at himself. "Get zapped by it. Yes."

“Uh…right…” Alex said carefully. “Well…this is gonna suck…” Alex muttered, thinking this is gonna be incredibly painful as he uncorked the vial towards himself.

The lightning shot out and hit Alex like a bullet. Knocking him down and leaving a small scorch mark on his neck where it entered. It didn't hurt as bad as he expected, but it hurt nonetheless.

He began to get up, noticing his arms and legs seemed to vibrate sporadically. It was a way different feeling from his raw or magic speed.

“Oh-ho-kay…that feels…really weird.” Alex said, trying to calm down his vibrating body.

"Relax, this is normal and good. Your body is just adjusting to the speed force and the two are working to modify your body to best hold it. Normally this process would put you in a coma for a while but you aren't normal and your body is already built for speed so this should just take a few hours at most."

“Alright…” Alex said, feeling his entire body relax around the newfound speed. “This still feels a bit trippy.”

"Well, Speed Force is a force of nature. It's not magic or physical. It's just pure speed energy." Scootaloo said. It was a short two hours before Alex's body adjusted to the speed force energy and he was ready to try it out.

“Alright, time to go for a simple run.” Alex said, taking a small runner’s stance and running with his new speed force.

Alex barely felt effort into his running, and yet the world around him was moving by so fast that, as he ran time seemed to slow down. He quickly discovered though that breaks were a lot more tricky with Speed Force than with magic or raw speed.

His first stop crashed him into a small hillside.

“I’m okay!” Alex groaned out in pain.

The next few months Scootaloo taught Alex how to use his Speed Force. Vibrating through walls, vibrating faster than light to appear Invisible, running up buildings, on water, phasing multiple objects, throwing lightning and catching it.

"Alright, so speed wise you're officially done." Scootaloo said. "But, while fighting with your speed is good, you must learn to fight with weapons as well. And while moving that fast."

“Well…I at least have some experience with that.” I said honestly.

"Yes but using a sword the length of what you're used too will be too difficult to properly swing, as moving at such high speeds and velocity and the wind resistance will work against you. So you will need shorter weapons." Scootaloo said, snapping her fingers as a trunk appeared next to her.

“So knives, daggers, and fist weapons or something?” Alex inquired.

"Basically." Scootaloo said, opening the trunk and pulling out a small, five inch dagger. A set of smaller, four inch knives and a set of thin gauntlets that seemed to have claw based use in mind. "Here. This dagger is Vibranium, it will easily deal with your speed and even help you weaponize it. These knives are very similar to King's Foudre, but they don't let you make clones of yourself. Lastly, these gauntlets are built to absorb your excess Speed Force while you run, storing them up to use in charged melee attacks or for a rapid set of ranged attacks."

“Cool.” Alex nodded, putting on the gauntlets and taking the knife and dagger.

"Now then, try out the Gauntlets. First charge them up. You can tell how much they're storing based on the gems near the bottom palm. The brighter they glow, the more they're charged.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Alex said, seeing the gem’s starting to glow brighter and brother as it absorbed more and more of his speed force. “And I can just…activate it and punch someone really hard with it?”

"It's intention based magic. It won't release the energy unless you want them to."

“Neat.” Alex nodded. “Is there a limit to how much it can store?”

"Forty thousand watts."

“That’s a lotta watts.” Alex said in surprise.

"Well, speed force is unlimited energy so you'll fill them up in no time."

“Fair enough.” Alex nodded. “But…gonna need to relearn how to fight, cause I’m used to a sword, not knives and daggers…”

"Relax. That is why time here works differently. So you can train and master them and go back a better, stronger Alex."

“Yeah.” Alex nodded, but thought back to his fight with Wallflower and what the other’s had to deal with. “Hopefully it’ll be enough.”

And so, Alex continued his training. Killing various enemies Scootaloo spawned in for him to deal with. Running well passed Green Hills and across the Sonic based world.

In the uncounted time he spent fighting and training, Alex had a better mastery with his three new weapons than he did with his Keyblade, to his surprise.

"Alright, one final test." Scootaloo said, she and Alex were at the start of Green Hills stage one again.

“Alright, what’s the catch?”

"You will be fighting that." Scootaloo said, pointing at the distant blur of darkness rushing along the various roads and such. "That, is a Hunter Shadow Creature, Runner Class. They're glass cannons being they can move and dodge and hit hard but they can't take a lot of damage themselves. I'd say if you land one or two good hits and you'll kill it."

“So I have to catch up to the thing and hit it once or twice…should be simple enough.”

"It sounds like that but this thing is as fast as you and is an expert in dodging."

“Fantastic…” Alex grumbled. “Well, best be off to stab that thing then.”

"Good luck."

With a nod, Alex was off. He had to admit, this thing was fast.

Alex managed to make out that it was extremely thin, but also extremely lethal. It's arms, legs and torso built with blades piercing out along the limbs and despite the frail frame it dodged, turned corners and jumped long distances just as well as Alex did. It was even fast enough to dodge various lightning attacks.

“Seriously, the fuck is this thing?” Alex grumbled, wondering how in god’s name this thing was able to move around that easily.

Each time Alex got close to it to attack it readily dodged and evaded. He needed a plan, and he thought of one. A poor one but it was better than. Nothing.

Alex let his magic flow into his legs, adding to the Speed Force and giving him enough extra speed to tackle the creature. The two tumbled and before it could get up Alex jabbed his gauntlet claws into it's back, easily piercing it's skin.

It gave several pained whales before collapsing dead under him and evaporating into a silver mist.

Scootaloo appeared next to him, clapping her hands. "And with that your Speed and new melee weapons training is complete."

“Didn’t know I could mix the both of them…also the fuck was that thing? How was it already that strong?”

"I told you. A Hunter Shadow. Runner Class. They're a new type of monster Shadow Creatures Dad's been making."

“Why am I not surprised something that strong right out the gate would be one of Dad’s creations…” Alex shook his head.

"They are still in beta testing so, it's not like they're out and about yet." Scootaloo said with a shrug. "So, got a bit before Mama Alushy is ready. Wanna talk or something?"

“Sure.” Alex shrugged. “Anything you want to talk about?”

"Nothin much. I did ask Jenny how she met Crow. How did you meet him?"

“Oh fuck…” Alex sighed, thinking about Crow and how much that hurt. “That…really hurts right now…” The normally horny teen sighed out. “I met Lan, Crow and Kira all at the same time, with Kira having tackled me, crying about not jumping off a cliff…” Alex sighed out. “Crow made me realize that, even though my family life of ‘rich parents abandoning their child’ sucked total ass…that I could have a new family with them.”

"Hm. So, they met you at your lowest?"

“It was after I finished my first fencing match with my butler Benson…” Alex sighed. “He said I was good at fencing, and tried to calm me down…but I couldn’t take feeling abandoned and alone by literally everyone in my life…” Alex shook his head. “Then…well my Mastery Exam helped me sort out a lot of things…”

"Hm, that actually explains a lot about you thinking about it." Scootaloo said, pondering that information.

“Thankfully, I got to talk to mom and dad after I passed my exam…I don’t know if they’re still alive or they passed but…well it helped me know they still cared, even if I wasn’t…fully supported until Lan and everyone else came in…”

"Huh. Well, that sadness aside, how long have you and Pinkie been a thing?"

“Since…pretty much day one we got here.” Alex said honestly. “We just immediately hit it off…she’s my wonderful energetic cotton candy girl.”

"And she a pervert like you?"

“Like you would not believe.” Alex chuckled.

"Hm. Weird. If you're both perverts I'm amazed Lan is the one with a harem and not you."

“I would have also had a harem…or at least, maybe a second girlfriend…” Alex sighed. “I just…feel terrible about Wallflower…”

"Did you know her well back before?"

“She was…one of the shy people I noticed…” Alex sighed. “She was an introvert, but she was…pretty much as beautiful as the flowers she tended to…I promised to keep her safe…to make her strong, to give her some modicum of hope…and yet she immediately threw it all away when I couldn’t save her, and Crow gave her false promises of power and brought her back to life in some sick unversed amalgamation…”

"Do you think Crow lied to her or any of them?" Scootaloo asked, making Alex look up and over at her. "He might just be the dark half of the Crow you knew, but he's growing. Changing. His motives are developing too. In short, he moved past you guys to achieve something else. If revenge was just his game, he wouldn't have gone so far as to fully revive those people to the best of his abilities."

“No…Crow sounds about that petty to be honest.” Alex said honestly. “Plus…all I can say about ‘he lied’...all they said was ‘he promised power, and he delivered’...but what I see isn’t ‘power’, all I see is just some abominations just to taunt us, to show us we’re just terrible people when we’re trying our best for fucking highschoolers!” Alex snapped bitterly. “Like, I’m fucking sorry that we couldn’t do literally fucking everything when we’re some combination of fourteen to sixteen years old, having to juggle social lives, school work, and saving worlds with our own school’s of Keybladers!”

"Hm. So, you don't believe he is capable of moving past you all then?"

“I don’t fucking know, maybe?” Alex said. “Currently we’re still trying to get over the fact that we just abandoned him because we didn’t know that…he would literally work with the Ventral’s for his family…we didn’t know that everything we did just hurt him to no end…” Alex took a deep breath. “And considering what we just saw? How he personally grabbed people we couldn’t save, to make them Unversed amalgamations, just so they could blame us for not saving them against those Ventral Clones? I’d say yes, he would be petty enough to fuck with us in any way he damn well pleases…because we didn’t help him when he needed it the most…”

"Hmm. Now, let me ask you. Do you think they were the only ones he revived? And, if not, then what makes you think they didn't willingly go with him when you all met up in Paris world?"

“We already blame ourselves for not saving their lives, for not being better, now you’re saying that they themselves wanted to become monsters just because we weren’t mystically better?”

Scootaloo sighed, giving Alex a hard thump to his head. "You aren't listening. Or thinking… Look, I've been studying Crow, and those others for a bit. Watching them act and travel through the lanes and worlds. It's nothing much but what I have seen is interesting."

“Well…what do you know about them?” Alex asked, rubbing the bruise on his head.

"Simply put. They're living. DTD opens in some world, they trade items with Moogles for Munny or Rem, then they buy supplies. Food mostly. Occasionally Crow will be out and about by himself, looking around a world, maybe getting something to eat. Frankly, he's acting like a person. Not a monster, and the others are too. Seen them laugh, cry, get excited. Despite their bodies, they're still people."

“Cause that’s exactly what I fucking need at the moment…” Alex grumbled.

"Look, I'm not saying you didn't do enough, or that you could have done better. You all gave it your all, yes people… passed, but it happens. Nothing you can do after the fact. All you can do now is work to get stronger so you can protect people better next time. And you are. Your speed and such here is proof of that. Sure, they may hate you, you can't please everyone. Just don't let their words judge your self worth. They died, but they're also back. Maybe they aren't human anymore, but they don't seem to mind, and from what I've seen, are living their own lives. Isn't that better than them being dead?"

“I mean…it would if I didn’t have to end it with my own hands…” Alex answered carefully. “Cause they will keep hunting us down…even if they’re happy, or just ‘normal people’...it’s not gonna end well for anyone at this point…”

"Yeesh. When did I start talking to Ben some many depressing years ago?" Scootaloo sighed. "Just remember, it is their life now. Will you be able to take that second chance away?"

Before Alex could respond he found himself back at the front yard. The sun indicated it was just a bit passed noon.

"I see you got stronger." Alex turned, seeing Alushy at the door. "Did you go fast?" She asked with a smirk.

“I sonic speeded myself into depression, yes.” Alex nodded.

"Oh, well luckily for you I'll help you eat the pain away." Alushy said.

She walked over to Alex, when Suddenly the door burst open, Dan holding onto the frame for dear life. "Help! It's trying to Fuck me!"

“Woo! Go get em tiger.” Alex cheered.

"You bitch!" Dan replied.

Suddenly, a long negative colored tentacle wrapped itself around Dan's leg. "Bring that ass back here!" Yelled a feminine, yet distorted voice.

"Ahhhhh!" Dan yelled as he was pulled back insides the door closing as he flew back into the same portal from earlier.

"Huh. Eighth dimension succubus. Gotta add that to my kill list." Alushy said, pulling out a leather bound book and writing down her next prey.

“Right then.” Alex said. “But about eating the pain away?”

"Right, well to develop your vampiric powers properly you'll need to eat the flesh, blood and souls of various Creatures. Starting with animals, then demons/monsters, and lastly, humans or equivalent sentient beings."

“Neat.” Alex said. “Cause I need all the food I can after what Scoot’s told me.”

"Oh good. Now, what world to take you too? Preferably somewhere different than where I took Jenny…"

“Where did you take Jenny?” Alex inquired.

"A world full of monsters and demons and murder but everything was basically in victorian times." Alushy said.

“Jeez, no need to be that savage to England.” Alex joked.

"Hmmm… ah, I got it! The world is basically in the middle of an Armageddon anyway so this will be fun!"

“Goodie.” Alex said. “Where the hell are we going?”

"A world I used to go hunting in some time ago. It has this weird cycle where some heroes from other dimensions are summoned to save it from death by monster fodder."

Alex took in the scenery around them. It was a quant, medieval-like world with knights, monsters, demons and evil doers. And of course, lots of wild game all around.

“Well, this looks rather quant.” I said honestly.

"It is a rather simple world. Save the semi recurring monster invasions and such." Alushy said with a shrug. "Alright then Alex. Before we begin, Jenny got her guns, so now you will get yours!"

“Would Gun’s even work with my kind of speed?” Alex inquired. “Cause I’m already running faster than a bullet to be honest…is there guns made for speedsters?’

"Yes." Alushy nodded, snapping her fingers as two guns appeared in her grip. One pistol, one rifle. They both looked fairly identical, some form of more futuristic firearms, both sporting largely black colors with a shade of grey glass covering the magazine area. "The Speedsters firearm of choice. Rail Guns. Powered by your own Speed Force and completely magic adaptable. Flow a magic spell and the rail it shoots becomes infused with the spell in question. Because it's powered by your speed force, the projectile moves as fast or even faster than you."

“That sounds pretty cool.” Alex nodded. “You know, I also thought of something…I’m probably going to need a Rapier…now that I remember Benson told me I had a pretty weird talent with them…”

"Hm, I suppose. It is a fast attack weapon and speed is your thing. Maybe someone here has something worth… acquiring." Alushy said as she looked around.

“That would be great.” Alex nodded, looking around the place carefully. “Hmm…place feels a tad…empty now that I look around for a fancy setting…”

"This is a countryside, which for right now is perfect for you. I'll be watching your progress like I did Jenny, so going off that you need to eat 100 animals."

“100 animals? That…should be easy enough.” Alex said, sniffing the air for any animals around the place.

"You definitely seem more open to this than Jenny was at first."

“It’s something to do…” Alex said. “I need my mind off…literally everything right now.”

Alushy nodded.

Alex sniffed deeply the air, catching the scent of a familiar prey. Rabbits. Fluttershy, Dan's, brought her pet Angel over enough that it was something each of them recognized. It was simple, but a start.

“Alright…time for rabbit season.” Alex said as he loaded his M14 Garand shaped Railgun Rifle.

To his surprise, the gun immediately molded out a scope. "That's an automatic feature, just turn it off… which you don't know how or your Assistant stuff either so you?"

“No…but I’m gonna need a scope for longer shots.” Alex answers. “Also…uh…I think I only shot a rifle once…so mind helping me here?” He said sheepishly. “I know how to load it and stuff but…how to fire…”

"Oh sweet sweet baby… you won't need a scope." Alushy started. The next few hours she spent teaching Alex about his guns. How they shot a small, needle like projectile made from a special magic metals blended with highly magnetic metals. How the difference between the rifle and the handgun were the size of the projectiles, only a few millimeters in length and a single millimeter in diameter.

“This is…a lot more complicated than I first thought…” Alex said carefully.

"A lot of first time gun owners say that." Alushy said with a smirk. "Just remember, both these guns are capable of extreme damage despite their projectile size and it all depends on how much you 'charge' them."

“Yeah…” Alex nodded. “It would be either the gun they’re made of…to a giant cannon and I’m concerned about that.”

"More or less yeah." Alushy said, picking up the hand rail gun. "They have many variations of charge levels, but the ones you should be concerned with are the Fully Charged, Max Charge, Over Charge, and Force Charged.

“And…how strong are each charges?” Alex inquired.

"Well, Fully Charged for the rail hand gun is the equivalent to a .44 caliber round. Max Charge, a .45. OverCharged is like a .50 handgun round, and Force Charged is like a 20 gauge shell. For the rifle, Charged is .308. Max Charge is a 45-70. Overcharge is a fifty caliber rifle round, and Force Charge is the equivalent to an anti tank rifle round."

“Damn.” Alex said in surprise. “This is a pretty strong gun.”

"Yes. The handgun holds five hundred rounds. The rifle holds nine hundred."

“Awesome.” Alex nodded. “But I might need to keep this in reserve…cause as far as I know, nothing here can withstand a bullet.”

"Not until we start hunting the monsters and such." Alushy said with a nod.

They finished up their lesson with all the Assistant was capable of. Storage, maps, teleportation, everything.

“Alright, now it’s rabbit season.” Alex nodded, ready to stretch his legs in this new world and hunt some animals.

Once the weapons were put away, Alex took another sniff, locating his prey yet again and rushing off. Catching the small rabbit easily, and without hesitation, biting into its neck. Quick and painless. Alex had to admit, fresh was quite different from Flesh Fruit. Richer, more savory.

In no time at all Alex finished the critter off, spitting out a few hairs off his tongue.

Lesser Soul of: Rabbit, absorbed.

Soul Bank Unlocked.

Vampirism Rank 2 Unlocked

New Ability Acquired: Hair intuition. Detect enemies of danger to yourself immediately.

“Neat.” Alex muttered. “Alright, one down, ninety nine more to go.”

"With your speed it will probably be quick."

“That’s if i don’t accidentally get caught up in anything.” Alex shrugged.

With a stretch and determination, Alex took another sniff of the air. Catching the scent of wild boars, deer, bears, turkeys, and all kinds of animals.

With his speed they didn't feel or see a thing, eaten before they could register as Alex quickly was reaching the set amount Alushy stated.

Various animals soon were devoured. And after a short two hours, Alex had finished off his hundredth prey.

Alushy checked him over, making sure they all rested comfortably inside him.

Alex himself was more amazed that his body didn't show signs of his gluttony.

"So…why aren't I affected by that buffet of wild animals?" Alex inquired.

"Our stomachs are more like pocket dimensions rather than the usual ones you're thinking of." Alushy informed.

"Fair enough." Alex nodded. "So, what's next?"

"Well it seems like you are holding the souls and blood in well. So, now is onto monsters and such. Souls with intelligence but not sentience."

"Cool. Now where would these monsters be?" Alex wondered.

"Hmm. If I were to guess, lurking about thick forests and caves."

"Cool, time to find either of those places." Alex nodded, ready to run around and find the es.place.

"You'll probably need a hundred of those too." Alushy mentioned. "Also, how are you feeling?"

“I feel fine…is there a problem?” Alex asked nervously. “Did all that blood do something weird to me that I don’t know about?”

"No, I'm just checking is all. Like I told Jenny, with my other kids who were born half vampire they had a slower adjustment to getting to this part. You, and Jenny so far, show none of their drawbacks to being half bloods."

“That’s…weird.” Alex frowned. ‘What kind of drawbacks should we be having?”

"Well, a hundred animals for your siblings normally leaves them feeling a bit nauseous, and there is resistance from the consumed souls attempting to escape. But with Jenny, and now you, there's none."

“That’s…really weird.” Alex frowned. “You don’t think there’s…gonna be any side effects when we’re not paying attention…right?”

"No, if they're not showing resistance or escape attempts now then it means they're fully bound to you."

“I still don’t like how…easy it is from what you're saying.” Alex frowned.

"Don't you worry about it now Alex. For now, focus on hunting those big nasty monsters."

“Alright.” Alex nodded, bolting in a random direction in hopes of finding either a decently sized cave or a dense forest.

It took longer than Alex would have hoped, but he eventually found his hundred monsters over the course of a few days. He was actually rather surprised by the variety of monsters. Dragons, Cerberus, giant insects, trolls, ogres, cyclops, a kraken even. He especially enjoyed that one's taste.

Eventually, Alex met back up with his mother… who seemed to be finishing off a snack or meal if the arm she was biting into was any indication. Just, the arm was visible. No other body… or bodies, aside from some gear were around.

"Oh, you finished?" Alushy asked, the savagely torn and mawed on arm limply moving in her grip as she moved.

“Yes…and uh…who are you munching on?” Alex asked nervously.

"Don't know really. Called himself Sword Hero and said a bunch of the usual crap cause I'm a Vampire, demon or whatever and tried to attack. Normally would-be attackers like that I'd knock out but once I got a sniff of him, well, I needed to make a meal out of him for disgracing the title of hero." She informed.

“Well uh…” Alex started. “That’s not good…also, I didn’t actually ask, what world are we i-” Alex was cut off as he suddenly grabbed onto a sword that flew at him. “Uh…why?”

Alushy shrugged. "It's magic. Similar to what I've seen Cript mess with recently but it's like a Keyblade and a smartphone had a baby for a blunt statement. Minus the useful Key stuff."

“So…again, what world are we in again? Cause ever since we figured out more on our Assistant’s I’ve been going on a manga and anime binge with Kira.”

"Hmm… can't really remember the name to be honest." Alushy shrugged, biting into the late heroes arm again.

Alex then noticed that amongst the bloody and fallen gear was a bow and a spear. Both with the same odd gemstone as the sword.

“Um…” Alex started, walking over to the bow and spear. “These look…weirdly familiar…” Alex frowned, trying to pick up the spear to test a growing thought.

The spear and bow did not react to him. The Sword however did, and his thought was soon confirmed. He may not know the name of the world but he knew the name of the Anime. Rising of the Shield Hero. And his mom just ate the sword, spear and bow heroes.

“So uh…there’s a lot of problems that are going to be starting mom.” Alex said nervously. “You just ate three of the ‘heroes’ that were supposed to help protect this world from it’s monster problem…”

Alushy blew a raspberry in response. "Some heroes. The spear guy was a total pervert. And not in the nice way like you." Alex did not know whether or not to be offended. "He reeked of stolen virginities. The bow guy smelled of innocent blood and the sword guy too. Reeked of murder and selfish intent. See, smell." Alushy said, holding the remaining bit of the arm, now down to just the hand and three inches of arm, up to Alex.

“And…you want me to eat the rest of his arm?” Alex asked carefully.

"What? No, smell it."

Confused, Alex slowly leaned in, smelling the remains of the limb.

He smelled blood. Raw flesh… he suddenly felt something hit his nose. A new scent unlike anything he'd ever smelled with his enhanced sense before. It smelled of… vial cruelty, almost seeing the former 'hero' decapitate men, women and even children in his path. He backed up, shocked by what he smelled.

“Jesus that’s vial!” Alex snapped.

"That is the true power of our sense of smell Alex. We can smell the good and evil within a person, and tell their actions. Good and bad. Whichever permeates strongest is the kind of person they are. What you smelled was the scent of evil."

“Yeah…alright fuck that guy…” Alex said, looking at his new sword worriedly. “Well…this is rather concerning…”

"Looks like it's yours now. What are you going to do about the other ones?" Alushy asked, motioning to the two other weapons as she finished off the arm. "I bet Cript could make them work for ya."

“I mean…might as well.” Alex said honestly. “I can probably give one of these to the others…Kira would probably have a blast with the bow…” Alex hummed. “And well…glad to have a sword back to be honest.”

Alushy nodded. "We are Iuicicium Vampires after all. Killing scum like those three is what we do. Judgement is in our name after all."

“Neat.” Alex nodded. “So uh…about making sure this world doesn’t go ot shit because they lost several heroes and they’re weapons are being repurposed for me and my family?”

"Oh that's an easy fix… in fact, tell me a bit about this world would you? I think I might have an idea as who your Human prey will be."

“Alright, so this is Rising of the Shield Hero, four heroes are summoned to this world to help save this land from the Monster Waves, but there’s this church known as the Church of the Three Heroes, which basically set in motion a whole lotta horseshit against the Shield Hero and glorified the Sword, Bow and Spear heroes in every way shape and form.” Alex said. “To the point that the Pope was going to copy the three sacred weapons and take over the world cause…reasons.”

"I see. And pray tell, who were this Shield Hero's greatest adversaries aside from this pope?"

“The King and Eldest Princess, cause the King and Eldest Princess were also in on the Pope’s Coup and had the Eldest Princess frame the Shield Hero for rape, steal all his shit, and then have him be seen as the massive villain while they were trying to murder the young princess and rightful heir to the throne all while the Queen, the actual ruler, was away on important political buisness.” Alex explained in depth. “So…that kinda led towards the entire Kingdom being his greatest adversary besides the Heroes themselves because everyone believed some dumpster fire whore and her dumbass father.”

"Hmm.. I see. Well then, looks like I already know who your Prey is going to be. But first, I wanna meet this Shield Hero figure. For him to endure all this and still be a good person. He sounds quite… ideal."

“Not sure where he is at the moment…and I don’t know when this is.” Alex said carefully.

"Well, only one way to know for sure. We can have him come to us." Alushy said, helping Alex pocket the remaining loot from the Heroes. Once it was all put away, she took a deep sniff. "That way." She said, pointing. "I smell three, rather distinct evils in that direction. Among a population that large, it's a kingdom alright."

“That’s most likely the King, Princess Bitch, and the Pope.” Alex said honestly. “You want me to devour those three?”

"Yes. And once you do, I'm sure this Shield Hero will come to investigate." Alushy said. "But just to be sure, let's make a spectacle of things while we're there."

“I’m pretty sure seeing someone brand new wielding the Sword the former Sword hero was supposed to wield murdering the Pope and royal’s would be a whole lotta spectacle to say the least.”

"Oh my precious baby boy." Alushy cooed, pulling Alex into a hug. "Allow mamma to show you how to really show off some power. Presentation is half the battle."

Alex had to admit. His mother did put on quite a show.

It was like watching a biblical Armageddon in action. Monsters, demons and gods alike Alushy had devoured over her lifetime, marched upon the castle in bodies forged from blood. All the while, no one innocent was slain. Corrupt guards were killed and joined the ranks, criminals were captured to meet the same fate, and… oddly the local slave merchant did not meet such a fate.

Alushy actually purchased his whole stock and sent them home.

In no time at all the Pope, King and Eldest Princess we're bound and gagged in the throne room. Alushy sat atop the throne with Alex at her side.

"Not bad for just an hour's work." Alushy commented.

“I can tell.” Alex said honestly, bringing up his sword and lightly twirling it in front of the three without a single care.

Alex took a sniff of each of them. The smell of their crimes and sins was pungent.

High Priest Biscas, there was a fair amount of blood there. Manipulation, treachery and assassinations. All in the name of power for himself.

Princess Malty, while no blood actually tainted her, her lies and hatred ran deep, fermenting into a twisted egotistical lust for power, fame, recognition, and pride that let her effortless trick, betray and lie her way to this conspiracy.

Lastly, King Aultcray. There was much there. Betrayal of his own wife and true love. A long lived, fermented hatred, lots of lies, forced human sacrifices and manipulation. All to get revenge on the Shield Hero, and one who didn't even cause him his tragedy.

“All of you make me sick.” Alex hissed. “I am a Vampire, yet I can smell your crimes, your lust for power, your sin’s that make Monster’s look like Saints in comparison…” Alex growled, looking over the three in contempt. “But while I can do this whole speech to rub salt in the wounds…” Alex said as he stabbed the Pope in the stomach with the very Holy Weapon he touted to gain power. “But I’m just gonna let my actions speak louder.” He growled, raising his body up by the sword and lifted the pope up above Alex, the blood magically rushing past the sword like a fountain as he drank it all up, not missing a single drop in front of the two, who were now watching in absolute horror.

After literally drinking the Pope dry, he threw the shriveled corpse into a wall and cracked the wall and landed in a dry heap. “Next up, the King who would betray his own wife for his own personal gain and to fuck over an innocent man.” Alex growled, walking over as the King screamed through his gag, trying to get away from the monster, only for Alex to rush over and like a beast starving, literally started to rip and tear into the King and devour his body and soul, the old king screaming in pain until he devoured his heart, silencing the damned king forever more as he absorbed the King’s rotten blood.

“And now…” Alex said, looking over at the crying princess, walking over to her and undoing her gag. “Onto you.”

“P-p-please…” Malty whimpered. “D-d-d-don’t…I…I’ll do anything…” She cried, pleading for her life at the monster in front of her.

“Oh really?” Alex asked, giving her a disarmingly seductive grin as he kneeled down. “Then please, don’t scream too much.” He said kindly, before lashing out and biting into her neck, sucking her dry as she let out a silent scream, feeling her life drain from her in a way that was extremely confusing to her senses as she was wracked with both pain and somehow pleasure as he consumed her in such a simple, primal vampiric way.

When the deed was done and her corpse was but a husk of skin and bone, Alex began processing.

Unlike with the animals and monsters, drinking their blood and devouring their flesh made him feel stronger, more… alive.

And, he saw their memories. From their earliest moments, to their deaths at his hand. Their emotions, ideals and desires he knew and felt.

As he stood there, looking over his own carnage, it finally settled in. He Truly was no longer a human. Not in any sense he could draw a claim to.

“I…” Alex said, fully processing this as he started to feel sick. “I…I don’t like this feeling…” He said. “What…what did I do?” He wondered to himself, not feeling sick from the soul’s of those damned people…but sick from what monstrous act’s he just did…

Alushy walked up to Alex, pulling her son into a comforting embrace. "There there. Jenny had a similar reaction…"

“I…” Alex teared up. “What have I become mom?” Alex cried, hugging Alushy tightly as he tried truly processing his actions.

"You've become just like me, and just like Jenny. We… are Monsters, Alex. But that doesn't make us evil."

“Certainly doesn’t feel like it with how I…bruttally murdered two of them…”

"Sometimes brutality is needed. The people we will be up against won't hesitate to be just as brutal towards you and your siblings Alex."

“Honestly…out of everyone left…I’m scared for Kira…” Alex said sadly. “She’s…she’s going to take this the hardest.”

"Probably." Alushy said with a nod, giving her sona kiss on the forehead before looking him in the eyes. "That's why she'll be last. So you all can help her through it. Like I know Jenny will help you, and you two will help the next."

Retuning home, Alex found Dan sitting on the bed. His clothes sliced, burned and torn while he had a far off look in his eyes.

“Sup.” Alex said. “You uh…doing alright?”

Dan didn't respond. He seemed to not be aware of anything.

"Eighth dimension does that when you aren't accustomed to it." Cript said, looking Dan over. "Plus those Eighth dimensional succubus demons didn't help. He'll be fine in a few more hours. The Eighth dimension just needs to finish getting out of his system."

“Right…” Alex said. “But I need…to take a long shower…” Alex sighed.

"That's fair. Oh, and Pinkie's here, probably in your room now so, go wrap that up before dinner in an hour.

“I’m…going to be needing some heavy cuddles after this…” Alex sighed, heading off to the bathroom to get washed up after all of that nonsense.

Alex quickly showered, heading to his bedroom without changing and still in his robes.

Once inside he took his room into view. His siblings all more than likely believe his room to be a perverts paradise. The truth is, Alex's room was fairly simple.

It mainly consisted of a recreation of a hotel, Alex and his birth family went to many, many years ago when he was little. It was the last time they were really together as a family.

Okay, not that simple, but also not a perverts paradise.

Once in he made it to the presidential suite, his main bedroom and looked upon Pinkie Pie. She was already dressed for their usual session. Adorned in loose fitting PJ's and surrounded by huge pillows.

"Hi Alex- Alex?" She asked, noticing his expression.

Alex walked over, crawling in bed and just cuddling up to Pinkie. “Hi…”

Pinkie sighed, smiling softly as she pulled Alex in close. "Something told me to keep my underwear on today. So… bad?"

“Very bad…” Alex admitted. “Pinkie?”

"Yeah?"

“If…if I became a monster…” Alex started. “Would…would you still love me?”

"Alex…" Pinkie said, holding Alex's face in her hands as she looked at him. "I love you for who you are. Not what you are. That won't ever change."

“But…I…did some messed up thing’s to people…” Alex said sadly. “What…what if I….” Alex trailed off, fearing what he might admit.

"Alex." Pinkie said, an oddly firm tone in voice that seemed almost out of place for the usually bubbly teen. "If you did messed up things to others then I trust you did it because they deserved it… after… the attack on the school, my world view exploded. The dangers and risks all became so real and… despite everything, you kept me grounded. And I'll be here to keep you grounded."

“T-thanks Pinkie.” Alex said softly. “This…this is honestly what I needed after…well, waterfalling a corrupt pope like a 2-Liter, cannibalizing a corrupt King and…just vampire drinking his bitch of a daughter…” Alex said nervously.

"Huh. So, is it true people taste like pork then?"

“Well…kinda.” Alex shrugged.

"Huh." Pinkie hummed. The two rested in one anothers embrace, Alex feeling better, knowing that Pinkie still cared for him, despite what he has done and what he is likely to do. "Too bad you aren't in the mood though. I had a surprise all set up for ya too."

“Well, what’s the surprise?” Alex asked. “Cause I’m feeling a whole lot better right now.”

Pinkie smiled, whistling as suddenly three pairs of arms came out of the pillows and grabbed Alex.

The teen was startled until the arms owners emerged from the pillows. Limestone Pie, Marble Pie, and Maud Pie. Pinkie's three sisters. All dressed in similar, loose fitting PJ's.

"My sister's really enjoyed listening to me… talk about our sex life. And they figured since your brother has a Harem~" Pinkie said, giving her lover a wink. "Folks were oddly okay with this too. Just as long as we finish school they're okay with us all dating and… more with you~"

“You know exactly how to cheer me up Pinkie.” Alex said with a giant smile.

Kira's Nightmare: Part 1

"Alright, Lan, today is your turn the help with dinner." Cript said.

"I'm still concerned you might throw me against some eldritch abominations…" Lan frowned. "Kira might have been a fluke cause you want to coddle and spoil her."

"I mean…it's my turn so…" Kira said slowly.

"Oh relax Lan, it's not an Eldritch being or alternate dimensional monster we're hunting." Cript said as he opened a portal. On the other side was a large jungle forest.

"So…hunting normal animals?" Lan inquired.

"Close." He said, a giant wolf-rabbit-boar rushing into view on the other side of the portal. It was easily the size of a two story building, as fast as a speeding muscle car and was strong enough to slam and splinter one of the large trees into falling over before it began running away. "We're hunting that."

"Oh…that's…a thing." Lan blinked. "That's not gonna be fun…"

As Cript dragged Lan through the portal, Kira was picked up by Scootaloo.

Kira found herself in, oddly enough, a School.

"Uh…why am I here?" Kira inquired. "Thought I would be…somewhere else."

"Yes, well unfortunately given your situation and Lan's… I won't actually be your trainer for this." Scootaloo said.

"Why not?"

"Well, despite being adopted into the family, when the curse hit and you two gained the genetics of Cript and Alushy… you two came out VERY much like them both." Scootaloo said. "I don't know all the details but apparently the curse favored you two more than Jenny, Dan and Alex. This just means you two are more…. Naturally powerful."

"I'm…not sure how or why that would happen." Kira frowned. "So…what am I supposed to do for training?"

"Well, that's up for him to decide." Scootaloo said. She motioned behind the desk behind Kira.

Turning, Kira spotted a man. Thin, Latino with combed back jelled hair dressed in mostly black and grey. "Sup?" He said with a nod as he stood up and walked to the front.

"Hi there." Kira said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you sir."

"Kira, this is Lord. He was Cript's teacher." Scootaloo explained.

"That's really cool." Kira said with a growing smile, getting a bit excited to learn from dad's teacher.

"Right." Lord said, a wave of his hand and Scootaloo left. "Alright, so first thing first, put this on." Lord said, tossing Kira a thin metal bracelet.

"Alright." She said, grabbing the bracelet and putting it on. "What's the bracelet for?"

"It will block and lock your powers and magic. You also can't remove it once it's on." He said.

The click of the bracelet was practically deafening to Kira. "Uh…why?" She asked worriedly.

"To be blunt I am not the kind of teacher you ever want to have. My lessons are harsh, traumatizing, physically and mentally demanding and above all they get results. This lesson is to help you be rid of something you honestly would lose over time but Fuck it you met the criteria to have me as a teacher so I'd kiss your childhood innocence goodbye."

"I'd like to go home now…" Kira said worriedly.

"Too bad." Lord shrugged. "Cause I'm not gonna coddle and spoil you. Now, while this bracelet is on you are basically no different than how you were on earth. Now I've recreated your old world, but rather than that whole twenty twelve thing happening I set a different Armageddon in motion."

“And uh…what kind of Armageddon are we going with?” Kira asked, already knowing she’s not going to enjoy this.

"Well I started off with some Classics. Zombies. Demons. Mutants. Then I said Fuck it and mixed them together and threw in some other shit just to ensure the downfall time was logical so also expect some, well, to be blunt, bullshit." He shrugged. "You will have a copy version of your family, Lan, Dan, Alex and Jenny, but they, as far as they are concerned, this is their world and reality and you are their Kira. So try not to say shit to blow that. Or die. Die and I have you start over from day one. Your goal is pretty straightforward. Survive ten years. How, don't care. Die and you reset your timer and go back to day one of when you arrive. And yes, you will remember the pain of death."

Kira blinked, trying to find words as she sputtered lightly, comically wagging her arms around trying to find words. “The fuck!?!”

"Hey, this is just my first lesson. Trust me, it gets way worse." Lord said with a laugh. Then, he snapped his fingers.

Kira woke up with a jolt. She was still in the classroom but it was…

Blood stained the walls and floor. Chunks of… meat sat rotting in a corner nearby, the stench making Kira gag. She looked herself over, her bracelet still there. Her clothes looked dirty but normal. She noticed she had a backpack on and felt it had some weight.

”Alright…so everything’s going straight to hell…I have no powers…and I already hate Lord…” Kira thought to herself in quick succession.

Kira got up, quickly moving away from the decaying meat and taking her backpack off and checking it's contents.

She looked it over, a few fond memories as it was the same backpack she wore to school both on earth and in the place she called home. Opening it, she found a bottle of water, a few granola bars, the book 'Holes' and a roll of Toilet Paper.

“Alright…good items…” Kira muttered, pulling out her water bottle and taking a quick swig of it, closing it back up and putting it away. “Now…where are the others?”

Kira examined the room, seeing it wasn't like the classrooms she had. It was a different high school than what her siblings attended at the time. Slowly she opened the door, and regretted it.

Kira was hit by the even more pungent stench of spoiled meat that came from the hallway. She covered her mouth and upon getting out the door, froze.

Corpses of teens and teachers alike lined the walls. Either as stains on them or in piles on the floor. Many were mangled and twisted into unnatural ways that broke and ground their bones and flesh. Hollow eyes of the dead, for those that still had eyes in their sockets, gazing out around in all directions. One, staring Kira right Into her own eyes.

She screamed.

"Kira!" From the next door classroom burst Alex. Kira seeing her older, pervert brother dressed in a hoodie and jeans that had magazines taped around his arms, legs and torso in makeshift armor. He had a wood bat that had seen use based on the dry blood, dents and scratches on it. He ran up to her. "What happened?" He asked her.

“Just…uh…” She pointed at the specific one staring at her. “Just…surprised me was all…”

He sighed. "I know it's hard seeing them but… try and not look at them… even if the smell makes that hard." Alex said with a sigh. "Come on, I found a few good things." He said, taking Kira by the hand and leading her to the next room.

It was here Kira saw her first zombie. Or at least, its corpse. It's head smashed in, likely by Alex as he walked her around it and to the teachers desk. On top of it was a duffle bag that was fairly empty. Alex reached into the teachers desk and pulled out some candy bars and an energy drink. "Not much but I figure you'd want this." He said, handing her an older iPod. "Got a charge and some decent songs."

“Thanks.” Kira nodded, thankful that there was at least some music that could help her deal with…all this.

Once the desk was looted Alex sling the duffle bag back one and took Kira's hand. The hallway still gave Kira a horrible feeling. The next classroom cemented it. As if melted, flesh and bone were stuck against the walls and part of the ceiling here. Alex saw this and pulled her along to another.

This room looked fairly normal. No blood but plenty of tossed desks and a few backpacks. "You check the backpacks, I'll check the desks." Alex said.

“Alright.” Kira nodded, moving towards one of the backpacks and starting to dig through it. ”Ten years of this…does Lord even understand what could go wrong?”

The first backpack had nothing of value. The third had a sketchbook she decided to keep. The third had a soda can she put into her bag. The last bag Kira checked had a flashlight. Checking and the batteries, it still worked.

"While I'm here I need answers…" Kira thought to herself. “So…how long have we been at this school?” Kira asked Alex. “Sorry for asking a weird question just…days seem to blend together in this nightmare.”

"Tell me about it." Alex sighed. "But this school has been on the checklist since day one. Jenny swears the sports equipment is better weapons than none at all. Has a point but eh." He shrugged. "We've been parked out front for a few hours. Once this place is picked clean we're heading back to my place."

Kira nodded. "Makes sense, Alex's house was massive. Plenty of space, gated, it would be safest." She thought.

"Can't believe it's been two months." She heard Alex add.

“Only two months?” She asked. “Still feels like years…”

"Yeah. Of course the apocalypse has to hit while I'm still a virgin." Alex huffed.

Kira chuckled. "At least Alex is still Alex…"

"Raagh!" Kira jumped, seeing her first actual zombie. An arm was missing and it's lips looked like it ate them off itself. It roared from the doorway and charged in.

Alex rushed in front of Kira and slammed the bat against the undead's head. It fell to the ground and tried to spin around but Alex slammed the bat onto it's head again. A deep cracking sound filled the room as Alex slammed the bat a third time on its head, reducing the skull and brain within to fragments and a slurry of brain and blood.

"Fucking Sprinters…" He huffed.

“The fuck was that doing here?” Kira asked worriedly.

"Probably heard us." Alex said. He walked over to his duffle bag, pulled out a notebook with the word 'Enemies' written on the front as he opened it and marked a tally on the page. "And that's nine Sprinters for me." He said.

“What’s the score so far?” Kira asked, trying to take a peak at the score, which the scene was a tad cute of the smaller girl on her tiptoes trying to see what her brother had written down in stark contrast to the death and decay around the room.

Alex handed Kira the book

Opening it, Kira saw the first page had Alex, Lan, Jenny, Dan and her names all written in pen at the top going down. The very top of the page read, 'Total Kill Count'. Alex had thirteen. Dan had six. Jenny had twenty four. Lan had sixteen. Kira frowned as she saw her name has zero kills.

Looking down she saw a name under hers that shocked her. Crow. Kill Count of two.

“Crow…” Kira thought to herself sadly. “Well…yeah I see these numbers are correct.”

"Yeah. Crow thinks keeping a scoreboard will help our morale. Not too wrong." Alex shrugged. "Which reminds me we need to check pharmacies. Crow needs more pain meds." Alex added.

“What’s wrong with Crow?” Kira blurted out in worry.

"... You feeling okay Kira?" Alex asked. "I know it's been stressful but you forgot what happened to him?"

“I’m…still trying to process things…” Kira shook her head sadly. “So many thing’s keep going on it’s…hard to keep track and…it only hurts more when I keep wishing everything could just go back to normal…”

Alex sighed. "Fair. Well, you were really out of it in those early days. Well, about three days after shit hit the fan Lan and Jenny went to the Juvenile center Crow was at. Place was, according to them, flooded with some weird… mutants. They were eating people and… well, they got Crow out but not before those fucks made a meal of his legs." Alex said with a sigh. "He's clear from infection, a bath in all that fancy booze my parents kept and a gut wrenching cauterizing later he won't be bleeding out but he won't walk and has pain all the time."

“O-oh…” She muttered in horror. “I…oh god…”

Alex just nodded. "Yeah. Zombies. Mutants. Monsters. Fucking aliens… world went to shit and it's going out in a bang." Alex huffed.

Kira was silent as they looted the rest of the classrooms. A few more zombies appeared, but Alex dealt with them. Soon Alex arrived at the Cafeteria where he and Kira saw Jenny.

Jenny wore some football gear, helmet included, and had a machete in hand. "Hey. Any luck?" Jenny asked.

"This and that. Not too much." Alex shrugged.

“Alex killed a Sprinter.” Kira brought up.

"Nice." Jenny said.

"Eh. So, any luck on your end?" Alex asked.

"More bats, some sports gear and such. Food wise the cafeteria here didn't have much. Milk and meat went bad. But chips and some drinks and juice were fine. Loaded those in the car already."

"So, guess we just need to stop by a pharmacy." Alex said.

“That would be good.” Kira nodded.

Jenny pulled out a map from her backpack and put it on the table. Various building had been marked as House, Offices, ECT. "Looks like the closest one is only a few miles from here. Or we can try and hit the hospital."

"Isn't the hospital infested with the Swarm?" Alex asked.

“This is so annoying that I can’t ask basic questions…” Kira mentally groaned. “Well, maybe we could go there when the Swarm is…less active?” Kira brought up, not knowing if this ‘Swarm’ ever is inactive for a time.

"They do hunt at night so the majority will be gone if we go then." Jenny nodded. "Still, I'd rather have real armor and weapons."

"We… could ask Crow where that Ventral base he worked at was?" Alex asked.

"You know he and Lan hate bringing up the times before." Jenny said.

"Well it's that or he'll be in way more pain in a few days." Alex argued. "Besides, odds of one of them being there are slim."

"I'll ask but I won't force him to tell."

“I’ll come with…maybe I can help him tell us." Kira brought up.

"Maybe." Alex shrugged.

With that I followed the three to the car. Apparently it was a truck and once in we did stop by the pharmacy. It was still standing and aside the crashed fire truck, looked to have stuff still inside.

"Looks almost too easy." Jenny said.

"Think it's a trap?" Alex asked.

"Dunno. Some of those monsters are crafty…"

"Well, only way we can figure it out is if we go in. They won't expect our expecting." Kira said honestly.

We got out of the truck and carefully made our way to the pharmacy. It was a CVS. One Kira remembered Alex would buy them all kinds of junk food at on weekends.

Once they were inside the trio saw… something. It looked like a dog but also partly human. Thin, inhumanly thin and it has two antlers out of it's boney skull. It was sleeping on a pile of clothes and trash. "Shit it's a SkinWalker." Alex whisper yelled as he and Jenny backed out, pulling Kira with them.

"Are there multiples of them?" Kira whispered worriedly.

Slowly, Jenny leaned back and examined the place. "Looks like just one." She said. "Shit we can't fight that."

"What's special about it? Is it an adult or a mutant version?"

"We don't know. All we do know is that it can knock a tank aside, avoids fire and most bullets just piss it off."

"Oh…" She muttered, doubting she could just sneak over and slit it's throat like Dan could back home. "That's…that's not good at all…" She whispered worriedly.

"Looks like we will need those weapons then…" Alex said. "Zombies are one thing. Those fucks in the street. We'll be fucked."

The group quickly returned to the truck and went home.

Kira had never actually been inside or really seen Alex's house before. It was gigantic.

"I see you three are back." Lan said as he walked up to them all. "Any luck with anything?"

"SkinWalker was guarding the pharmacy. Other than that, more bats and sports equipment." Jenny said.

"Yay. Sports…" Lan huffed.

"Better than nothing." Kira shrugged.

With that Kira began walking around the mansion. It wasn't long until she found Dan… and, Crow. Crow was laying on the fanciest bed, but he looked horrible. He gritted his teeth and held back pain as the stumps that were his legs twitched or moved slightly. The movements made him want to scream but he held it in.

Dan gave him two pills and a bottle of water. He rapidly took the pills and drank the water. Nearby, a wheelchair sat with a bag sling over the back.

Crow had always been strong. Even his dark half she fought was so strong and full of determination… this… this Crow… looked lifeless.

"Hey Crow…" Kira said softly, feeling so sad and upset that this happened to him.

"Heh. Hey little sister." Crow said. The second his lifeless, hopeless eyes met her own Kira felt so guilty over… ever being mad at him. He winced.

"Don't move much." Dan said. "It's still gonna take a few more months before your… stumps, fully heal."

"Tell my bladder that when I need to take a piss."

"If you'd let me install that Catheter-"

"I'd rather be mutant chow again…" Crow huffed.

“Well you either get the Catheter, or we have to drag you to the bathroom, or you wear a diaper.” Kira pointed out.

"Oh that's a low blow." Crow laughed a little before wincing. "Fucking hell how does laughing make them hurt?"

"Most likely it's just your nerves still shot to hell from the trame. Plus the… procedure wasn't exactly medical grade." Dan pointed out.

"Fuck trauma…"

Dan left and Kira jumped onto the bed next to Crow.

“I’m sorry…” Kira said to Crow sadly, knowing she couldn’t really explain herself to Crow but…feeling like her actually saying it to him would help her in someways.

Crow pat her on the head. It was a gesture he had done for Kira for as long as she could remember. "Hey. It's not your fault." He said with a sigh. "Damn apocalypse. Mayans were off a year but hey, at least we're still together."

"A year off? That means it's 2013." Kira mentally noted.

“I still…should have done something.” Kira said. “I could have said something…done something sooner…”

"Hey. You're not the one who got me thrown in there. I was. I'm just lucky Lan and Jenny saved me when they did. Honestly, I thought I was going to die without seeing you all again."

“I know…” Kira sighed. “I just…still feel like part’s of this are my fault…like I should have done more to help all of you instead of…just be me…”

"Hey now, you're the reason most of us get up in the morning these days." Crow said, still affectionately parting Kira on her head. "You're the heart of this group Kira. Don't ever forget that."

“It’s also because I cook you breakfast.” Kira giggled warmly.

"Yes. No one can microwave a hot pocket like you." Crow said, laughing but wincing as he did. "Ouch. Heh, worth it…"

Kira rolled her eyes as she gently held onto Crow’s hand. “Thing’s will get better Crow, I promise.”

"Maybe. If those aliens flying around crash and they have a few cans of leg grow medicine let me know." He said, laughing and wincing again.

That night, Kira slept in Crow's room. It felt nice to have him with them again. For the first time in a long time… she felt like her family was whole again.

The next month, Kira got more accustomed to the odd new post apocalyptic earth. For starters, Zombies had several groups. Walker. Sprinter. Special and Litch.

Walker and Sprinter being, as the name implied, slow, basic zombies and faster, quick zombies.

Special are infected or undead with a unique Ability. Like being able to hop like a grasshopper with proportional skill and grace. Swallow people whole and digest them as such. Scream at a high pitch that disorients people and calls other infected. And many more.

The Lich can take any corpse and make it one of the listed above and take a lot to take down.

Then of course there is the monsters like the SkinWalker, Wendigo, Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, dragons… ECT.

Also the aliens, portals to other worlds that open to drop a random new monster or random debris wherever and several what look to be gods fighting in the sky above.

Kira knew this earth was beyond fucked.

And she had to survive it for ten years as a normal human.

Each passing day only fueled a hatred of Lord in her.

“Seriously! This is some grade A horseshit! And Lord think’s I can do this for ten fucking years?” She mentally screamed in anger.

"Hey Kira." Lan said as he walked up to her. "Jenny, Alex and I are heading to that Ventral Hideout."

It was a week after arriving here that Jenny got Crow to let them know where the hideout was. And longer for Lan to finally go. Crow needed more medicine and was almost entirely out.

“Can I come with or do I have to stay here?” Kira asked.

"You'll be staying here." He said.

“Alright.” Kira nodded. “Then stay safe alright?” Kira asked, moving over and giving Lan a hug.

"We'll try and be back before sunset. Just keep an eye on Crow. Dan will be working on the solar panels. Power's still on but not sure how much longer that will be." He said as he hugged Kira back.

Once they left, Kira went back to Crow. She found him doing what he usually did. Playing Birth By Sleep on Alex's PSP.

“Are ya winning big bro?” Kira asked with a smile.

Crow chuckled. "Already beat all three on critical. Now I'm just grinding for all the abilities and max level."

“That’s good.” Kira nodded. “Have you faced the super boss’s yet?”

"No. Can't even beat the third form of that Arena Boss." He sighed.

As she sat there watching Crow play… she realized… she could ask for answers. Answers that might help with… the other Crow.

“So…mind if I ask you some questions?” Kira inquired.

"Sure." He replied.

“So…mind if I ask…why did you work with Ventrals?” Kira asked nervously.

Crow sighed, pausing his game and turning his head to look Kira in the eyes. "I did it for us." He said plainly. "I… overheard the Orphanage head… Lan and I were gonna be shipped to some Catholic boarding school for boys in Georgia… you were gonna be sent to a random foster family in New York… course, that timeframe passed so either they changed their minds or it was delayed."

“O-oh…” She muttered. “I…didn’t know we were going to…be separated like that.”

"I didn't want you to freak out. I mean… you and Lan, you're blood. I couldn't bare it to tell you, so… I did what I thought was right. The… thing I did that got me arrested, that was the last thing I was supposed to do before I got our ticket away. Fake birth certificates. Hacked credit card. A fake ID and driver's license for Jenny. We… would have been free. Could have gone anywhere." Crow sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

“But…why didn’t you tell us? At least tell Lan…he would have understood…” Kira said sadly. “All of us would…we’re family.”

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He smiled. "A Christmas gift from me to you all. Could have packed our shit, rented a car, and drove off. Heh. It would have been great."

Kira… didn't know how to respond…

“O-oh…” Kira blinked. “That’s…wow…”

"Well, it might not have happened how I wanted but hey, Apocalypse is a pretty good close second means of sticking together."

“Yeah…” Kira said. “An apocalypse is…a good close second…” She said, hating how technically this exact event happened but went horribly wrong for all of them.

"So, anything else you wanted to know?"

“Were…the Ventral’s at least nice?” Kira asked. “Cause…well, they’re Ventrals…why would they help orphan’s like us?”

"Well, I only really met two. They're… well, my boss was okay. A little crazy I won't lie, but for every bank he blew up, some illegal shit from other people got blown up to. Then the other one… Zeke, the new Red Eyed one. He was… quiet. I got the sense he didn't care for it but I also got the sense I didn't want to make them mad…"

“If only you knew.” Kira mentally chuckled. “Well…it’s good to know that there’s at least…some good people in that band of crazy people.”

"Yeah. Sucks what happened to them though. Lot of people were hoping they'd actually save us."

“Really?” Kira inquired.

"Well shit, you know the crazy crap they did. People figured if anyone could kill these monsters it would be the Ventrals. Sadly most either died, became mutants or monsters, one was abducted by the aliens I think and after that, well, no one knows what happened to the rest." He shrugged. "Probably died or are monsters for real now."

Kira frowned. She knew Eclipse and Zeke were strong, but pre-kingdom hearts powers them, she wasn't so sure.

"Well…that sucks." Kira frowned. "But we can still make this work."

"Think Alex has his ds around here somewhere. Maybe you can play one of those?"

“Yeah, he should have something.” Kira nodded. “I’ll be back to find it.”

Kira rushed off, hoping to find the handheld somewhere nearby. She searched the various rooms, mostly finding nothing much.

She came across a Library where she saw a large painting hung on the wall. Kira had never met Alex's family, his parents or sisters, but she saw above their images. They looked like him, the relation was clearly visible, however they all looked distant. Cold and indifferent to one another. A family murel portraying a family together not by love but by high social obligation and business.

It gave Kira chills to look at.

“Ugh…no wonder why Alex bailed…” Kira muttered bitterly. “I wouldn’t want to be here if…it was this cold…”

She left the room and kept looking, finding Dan in what looked to be a makeshift workshop of sorts. Piles of various scrap and junk items littered around as he worked on something.

“Hey Dan.” Kira said. “How goes the work?”

"Hey Kira." He said, focusing on what was on his desk. "I figure we should probably not rely too heavily on the guns and such, mainly because as time passes things like guns, oil, bullets and such will become harder to find, so I'm working on a few homemade weapons."

“Yeah, can’t really rely on stuff that’ll end sooner or later.” Kira nodded. “So what are ya making?”

"Well, these." He said, holding up a tin can that's got some tape and in marker has the word "Boom" on it. "Homemade grenades."

“You sure those are safe?” Kira asked nervously, now worried that her brother might accidentally blow himself up with these homemade grenades.

"Yes. Well, as safe as homemade explosives can be. They're mostly filled with either fireworks or lighter fluid and random scrap for the shrapnel but so long as the pin stays in they won't just go off." Dan said, motioning to the pin, that seems to be a paperclip bent into the shape of one, sticking out the top. "I'm hoping to eventually make Nitroglycerin so we can make TNT and some real heavy duty explosives. Be a nasty surprise for some of those big monsters."

“Well, as long as what your making won’t accidentally blow up in your face.” Kira said carefully.

"I know how to be safe. Chemistry, engineering and planning are all things I know well. Plus my math checks out and I always triple check."

“Always good to triple check your work.” Kira nodded with a smile.

"That aside I did finish your weapon." He said, making Kira smile as he handed her the item. It once various tubes, all thin and made of metal. The hand grip, stock and such looked all to have once been parts of cut up furniture. The main things that caught Kira's eyes about it however was the small butane gas canister screwed In and held by a metal holster on the side, and the pilot switch at the front.

Dan, had made Kira a flamethrower.

“Oh~ me likey.” Kira practically purred as she held the flamethrower.

"Yeah. I figured most weapons would be too physically demanding or big for you so, flamethrower was the easiest to make. I am trying to make a compound crossbow, basically something that's easy for you to hold, reload and use like a normal crossbow but smaller and still hits as hard. So far… not so easy."

“I can imagine.” Kira said, still holding her flamethrower like a brand new puppy. “But thanks Dan, this means a lot.”

"Just be careful with it. The butane is set to max heat. The can at that output will last only twenty minutes but will definitely burn anything in front of you. I wanted to go with propane but the tanks are a little heavy for you. Even as a backpack. Plus if it got shot well… Kira rocket…"

“I’d rather not become an impromptu astronaut thank you very much.” Kira said nervously.

"Well, remember to be careful with it. It should be compatible with any portable butane tank "

“Cool.” Kira smiled. “And with this, I can deal with the more…flammable monster’s out and about.”

"Just remember that there are a lot of things that can catch fire." Dan said. "Don't want to accidentally burn a building down when you use it."

“Yeah, burning down buildings would be a bad thing.” Kira nodded.

With that Kira took her new weapon and was off. She put her new weapon in the room that had become hers. It used to belong to one of Alex's sisters.

She kept looking around and found nothing of interest. The DS eluded her and it made her annoyed.

With a grunt she opened the next door only to find a large office, everything was elegantly crafted from floor to desks and bookshelves, filing cabinets, safest and so forth.

As she searched the desk she noticed the computer was on, the screen coming to life seemingly by itself suddenly.

“Hmm…that’s…weird…” She frowned, hopping onto the chair and seeing what the computer had to offer.

Before she could touch anything the screen popped up a black window where lines of code ran through almost automatically until finally she noticed the camera light was on. The speakers gave some light static until,

"Hello? Can you hear me?" The voice spoke through the static.

“Hello?” Kira asked carefully. “I can hear you, it’s just staticy.” She said, not sure if she had to type it but considering what’s going on she might as well just speak out loud.

"Good. The virus did its job. Are there others or are you all alone?" The voice asked.

“Before I ask, are you friendly or an enemy?” Kira asked carefully. “I just want to be careful here considering…well, everything’s gone to hell.”

"I'm friendly. Been using my talents to hack into anything with a camera I can to find people still alive. And keep them that way to the best of my abilities."

“Alright…” Kira said carefully. “There’s two other people where I am at, while three others went out to gather supplies.” She answered carefully. “How many are with you?”

"Right now it's just me. Part of why I'm looking for people is that I'm trying to change that." He said, the screen showing a new Window. This one showed the blueprints of a bunker. "This is where I am right now. Some super rich pretentious and religious assholes built this to ride out issues be they political, economic or apocalyptic. Lucky for us they didn't get to get in and lock the doors. I did however. This place has everything. Media archives, Satellite Internet which is what I'm using right now, a huge garden and even farms of fish, chicken, cows, goats, pigs. Water from a well that's purified, everything. I lucked out when I came across this place."

Kira’s jaw dropped. “Wow…that’s…that’s really good.” She said. “Where is that place?”

"Religious nuts called it New Eden. I call it The Hole. Your group is more than welcome to come but therein lies the issues. The Hole is in central Canada. And according to this you are in Texas."

Kira frowned. A trip like that would take them very far and through possibly most or all of the chaos Lord put into this world.

“That…would be quite a road trip, and one of us is…not really up for leg work if you know what I mean.”

"Sadly… what if I can find you guys some armored transport? There was a fuck ton of military movement in the early days. Odds are one of these bases or someplace near you has something armored."

“Hopefully.” Kira sighed. “Hopefully when the rest get home I’ll be able to get you to talk to them.”

"That would be best. Oh, and what's your name?"

“My name's Kira, what’s your name?" Kira asked.

"Call me Coder. It's what I always went by back in the day online."

“Fair enough.” Kira nodded.

"I'll leave the program running so whenever your friends get back you can all talk it over with me. Hopefully by then I'll have found you some transportation."

“Hopefully.” Kira nodded. “Well, glad to know that thing’s are…starting to look up.”

It had been another month and Kira's family was preparing to move.

Coder got them that armored truck. It had a satellite radio so he could keep in contact with them, a fair amount of space for them and cargo, and was able to travel very far on a full tank.

The Ventral Hideout proved a boon. Guns and ammo, a few explosives, body armor and even medicine.

Unfortunately with this boon of supplies came more issues. Mainly, the various monsters and their activity began to rise. Zombies were traveling in packs, demons started appearing, and, unexpectedly, looters showed up. Kira did not like the way they looked at her and Jenny but they left them alone for now.

“Hopefully we can get out of here before things get worse…” Kira shuddered, not liking the looter’s more than the demon’s or zombies.

"We just need a few more things and we can head out." Lan said. "Water mainly."

"Another run? We can try the Super Walmart?" Jenny offered.

"It's a demon nest. Those things take a lot of bullets to put down." Alex reminded.

“Is there any other place close enough to get water?” Kira inquired.

"Maybe one of the semi's on the highway?" Dan offered.

“True.” Kira nodded. “Any shops that aren’t…’guarded’?”

"... The… orphanage might still have stuff." Dan said, making my eyes go wide.

“I…mean…that is possible…” Kira said worriedly, not liking where this line of thought is going.

"You sure you want to go back there?" Dan asked.

"Only ones aside from me who know that place are Kira and Crow, and Crow isn't gonna be able to help so… yeah." Lan said with a sigh.

"I'll come with." Alex said. "Someone is gon a need to snap you out of whatever PTSD you might fall into."

"Thanks." Kira smiled, hoping this won't end poorly.

The ride to the orphanage was quite. Driving up to it, the place almost looked untouched.

Almost.

It was thick with heavy overgrowth. Far more than should be possible for the few months it has been.

"Keep your flamer ready Kira." Alex said. "Think whatever did this is plant monster magic bullshit."

"At least we brought the right tools then." Lan said, griping his machete tight.

The trio walked into the building, the long halls covered in vines, flowers, and moss.

Looking around brought mostly bad memories to Lan and Kira. They hated this place. Especially the mean caretaker, Ms. Portland. Kids made their own meals, cleaned up everything and she didn't care if you were out past curfew, or if you came back at all. Any time a kid cried she'd slap them to make them stop.

Kira silently hoped she'd find her corpse or zombie here. She wanted to burn them with her new flamer.

"I hope that means caretaker is dead…" Kira grumbled. "Or a zombie, I want to burn her…"

"Heh. Apocalypse got a bloodlust in ya Kira?" Alex said with a chuckle.

"Cafeteria is this way." Lan said, cutting through some hanging Vines. "With luck stuff should still be there. She usually kept jugs of water there for cooking."

"Why didn't she just use the tap?"

"Said the flavor was bad. Something about old pipes but she never bothered seeing about changing them."

"Yeah, she was cheap as hell." Kira frowned.

Once in they made it to the cafeteria where…

Kira and Lan Froze. Before them in the cafeteria sat all the other orphans. Of all ages seated at the table. Their skin decayed as plants vines their way in and around and out of their bodies. Bowls of long since rotten something before each of them. Each child's corpse was grasping at their throats, as if chaoking.

"I don't like where this is going…" Kira said worriedly, readying her flamer worriedly.

"Me neither…" Lan said, practically growling as he rushed passed the bodies and kicked the kitchen door open. There, he saw the body of the caretaker, hanging from the ceiling by a noose. "Coward…" Lan growled.

"Hey." Alex said, putting a hand on Lan's back. "Nothing we can do now. Let's just find the water and get out of here.

“Only reason why I’m not burning her corpse is because it might set the rest of the building on fire.” She huffed.

"Well, whatever happened here… we can burn it all down when we leave." Lan said. He walked over to the nearby pantry, opening it revealed nine five gallon jugs. Five of which had water, four did not. "Bingo."

“Awesome.” Kira smiled. “Twenty five gallons of water is amazing.”

"We can keep and use the empty ones for when or if we refill." Lan added.

"Or Crow can use them as a bathroom." Alex added.

"Gross but also an option." Lan shrugged.

“Yeah…that’s a very gross option.” Kira agreed.

The trio began moving the water to the car. Kira and Lan placing the empty jugs into the car. "Wait, where's Alex?" Lan asked, looking around.

“Uh…he should have been here with us…” Kira said worriedly, looking around quickly. “Oh no…” She muttered, fearing that those Vines were a lot more alive than what they first saw.

The two ran inside, screaming Alex's name. They arrived back at the cafeteria, Alex hanged from the ceiling, clenching his neck as a vine wrapped tight around it. He looked down at Lan and Kira, tears in his eyes.

Krack.

It was a deep, loud noise that deafened the room. Alex's limbs all went limp, the vine still hanging him there like a noose.

Kira’s eyes went wide, tears falling from her face. “Lan…get to the car…” Kira muttered, raising her Flamer and ready to torch this entire goddamn building in grief stricken rage.

"Like hell I'm leaving you!" He yelled, picking her up and rushing with her out of the building. Hanging Vines slowly, tauntingly moving looking for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Kira was slowly losing her sense of the world, seeing Alex having been killed and there being not a single goddamn thing she could do about it.

She barely registered the footsteps. The noise became static.

Suddenly, Lan dropped her. A vine around his leg wrapping around and upwards. Kira got up only to have another Vine rapidly wrap itself around her own neck.

"Kira!" Lan yelled, trying to hack the vines off of him only to have them wrap more and more around him.

Kira felt the pressure around her neck immediately. The lack of air causing her body to panic, the pain, the pressure-

Crack.

Kira woke up with a coughing fit. She clenched her neck to push the vines off only to feel none. The phantom pains and memories making the memory forever imprinted on her brain. She looked around and blinked… she was… back at the school?

She stood up rapidly, remembering what Lord said. She does, the timer resets her to day one…

Wasting no time she rushed out of the classroom and into the next, where Alex was dumping a backpack's contents onto the floor. "Damn it. Nothing agai- what the? Kira?" He asked, seeing her clinging to his torso like a live vest. "Are you okay?"

“I…I thought…” Kira cried. “I…heard a Sprinter and…was scared…” She cried.

"Ah. Good thing you came here." He said, patting his little sister. "Those shits scare me sometimes too." Alex said. "I know it's scary being on scavenging duty, but remember, you're the one who wanted to tag along. Did you find anything?"

“I…did…” Kira sniffed. “But…the Sprinter should be here soon, I heard it closeby.”

As if on cue the noise of the Sprinter's feet on the tile ground was heard incoming. "Just wait here." He said, rushing over and standing next to the doorway. The second the Sprinter entered Alex swung, the impact knocking the Sprinter on it's back and wasting no time, Alex swung down, slamming on the Sprinter's head and finishing the zombie. "Ah gross. I got it's brain goo on my shoes…"

Kira couldn’t help but giggle a bit, knowing she won’t get over the fact that she literally saw Alex died but hearing him again was…so good.

She frowned. That memory so fresh in her mind still… it sent chills and fear down her spine and through her heart. She did not want to remember… but to save Alex and prevent him, and the others from.meeting the same fate… she'd remember. As many details as possible and if she needed to… she'd die. Over and over again to keep them alive.

Lord said he didn't care how she survived, and she wasn't going to try and survive without them.

End Part 1

Kira's Nightmare: Part 2

Kira had experienced her first reset. The memory of dying haunted her dreams and left her sleepless. Still, she pushed on. The memories of losing two of her brothers hurt far more than those of her own death.

For the most part, she let things play out as before, save one difference. Avoiding the Orphanage.

"So… where to hit next?" Jenny hummed as she looked over the map.

Everything was as it was last time, down to needing water. When the orphanage was brought up, Kira shot it down quickly.

"Maybe we should start looting houses?" Alex offered.

“That would be a good idea.” Kira nodded, trying to think of any good houses that might have a decent amount of water.

"We usually steer clear of houses because people might be in them or something worse." Damn reminded.

"Yeah but it's still gotta be safer than other places." Alex countered.

“It’s better than nothing.” Kira said honestly. “How many houses are nearby that we can loot?”

"Well, two miles from here should be the Garicettes. I know their family worked in banking but not much else." Alex said with a shrug. "House should be abandoned. People like them probably evacuated to some private island or something."

“So they would probably have some water stockpiled.” Kira brought up.

"Probably? They did have a fancy house so it makes sense a fancy well stocked kitchen would still be there."

“Plus they might have a lot of other things there we can take.” Kira brought up.

"Maybe."

"You know the layout Alex?" Lan asked.

"Well, last time I was there was two years ago but it's roughly the same size as my house so, kinda."

"Alright. You and Kira can run in and out. Here." Lan said, handing Alex a semi auto rifle and me a handgun. "Just in case."

“Thank you.” Kira nodded, never actually having held a gun before…and even with all the fighting she did, the many times she was in a life or death situation…it felt heavy to her. “Weird…it’s not all that heavy so why?” Kira thought to herself worriedly, making sure the safety was on so she didn’t do something silly.

She and Alex jumped into a spare car and rode quickly to the next house. The front gate was left wide open. The house itself was in fairly good condition. A broken window, lawn a less, but nothing to worry about. Yet.

"Well, here we are." Alex said, turning their car off as he and Kira got out.

“Well, so far thing’s look okay.” Kira said, holding her gun at the ready.

"Some blood." Alex said, rifle pointed down to a dried blood stain. "Probably zombies."

“Hopefully it wasn’t looters, only we’re allowed to loot.”

Alex chuckled. "Everyone is just trying to survive Kira. Looting is something we're all having to do now."

“I know…” I sighed. “Just…wish this didn’t happen…”

"Well, statistically one had to happen eventually. We just rolled a nat one and got all of them at once."

“And whatever higher power is out there can suck my ass.” Kira frowned, knowing exactly who this ‘higher power’ was and not liking him more by the day.

"Yeesh. When did you start swearing like that?"

Kira sighed. “Sorry…I suppose I’m just stressed is all…” She yawned, the young girl knowing she’s not entirely being subtle about how little sleep she’s been getting but not entirely caring.

"Looks like you haven't slept right in a week." Alex said as he and Kira entered the home. Furniture was overturned and some dry blood on the walls and in the carpet, but so far no threats. "Nightmares?"

“Sadly…” She sighed. “But I’m good, trust me.”

"Kira, you once didn't sleep because you had a nightmare about Elmo was trying to eat you." Kira blushed. "Lan told me that story. Cute but you're not convincing me this one is nothing."

“Lan promised not to tell~.” Kira whined, pouting hard at that.

Alex chuckled, kneeling down and looking at Kira. "I know I'm not the most… respectable big brother, but you know you can talk to me or any of us about nightmares and such right? Just because it's the apocalypse doesn't change that." Alex said. "If you tell me your nightmares, I'll tell mine."

Kira looked at Alex. Surprised that he was even having nightmares.

“You…have nightmares?” Kira asked worriedly.

Alex nodded. "Long before this all happened. So, tell me yours, I tell you mine?"

“Well…” Kira sighed. “It’s…any of us dying…like the orphanage…I had a bad nightmare…it felt so real and…and I watched creeper vines…break your neck…” Kira teared up, remembering that horrid experience and hating it.

Alex hugged Kira, letting her cry until she collected herself. "My first nightmares were about my parents. Mainly… something they told me once when I was about your age." Alex said, taking a deep breath. "They said I had one duty to my family. And that was to marry a pre selected bride. Someone they picked before I was even born from among their… elitist friends."

“That sounds awful.” Kira frowned.

Alex nodded. "My whole life they had planned out. Once I graduate I was gonna be shipped off to some expensive college where I was to graduate with a masters in business then right after that, I was to marry whoever they picked. I still don't know who she was, or is, and from there I was to work with my dad, day in and day out at the company offices. I hated that I had no choice in my own future. The idea I was being forced to grow up to be just like my dad was… terrifying."

“I can imagine given how…cold he looked in those paintings.” Kira said honestly.

"Be glad you never met him in person." Alex added. "These days, I just worry about keeping us all safe and together. Once we reach this place we can hopefully ride out what's left of this chaos."

“Yeah, hopefully thing’s can get better.” Kira nodded in agreement.

With that, Alex got up as he and Kira searched the house.

Kira found it similar to Alex's. Save differences like layout, photos, and the zombies in every other room.

She found shooting them oddly satisfying.

They eventually found the kitchen, looking around and finding the pantry where twenty six packs of one gallon bottles of water sat alongside various boxed and canned goods.

"Shit this stuff will keep us stocked food and water wise for a while." Alex said with a grin.

“This will help us with our trip as well.” Kira said with a growing grin herself.

"Can't believe this was right next door the whole time." Alex said, slinging his rifle over his back. He then stopped. "Hey Kira… you think the hallways are big enough for the car to drive through?"

“Hmm…maybe? If not we can make it fit.”

"Sounds like fun."

The two ran back out, grabbing the car and driving into the house and down the halls. It was a near perfect fit. Running over and through some furniture, doors and one wall to reach the kitchen again. Once they were the two began loading the goods.

"Eragh!"

"I got the zombies. You load the last of the stuff." Alex said, raising his rifle and shooting at the zombies then began walking in through the halls and hole in the wall.

“Alright.” Kira said, quickly getting the rest of the goods in the car as fast as she could.

Kira quickly grabbed the remaining box of goods and shoved it into the car. Rapidly she pulled out her handgun and shot off at the zombies with Alex.

The last zombie fell and taking the chance the two got into the car, and shared a laugh. "That. Was. Insane." Alex said with a chuckle.

“Yes, yes it was.” Kira chuckled as well. “But at least we’re safe.”

"And it was kinda cool. Felt like when we first all played Left 4 Dead." Alex added as he started the car.

“Yeah, I remember that.” Kira smiled. “And we got out perfectly fine.”

The two drove back to Alex's house, loading the new supplies into the armored truck and tomorrow morning they were all on the road.

The armored truck was large, bulky and admittedly slow, but it had room for makeshift beds and all their food, water and weapons.

Jenny sat at the wheel, Lan in the passenger with a rifle.

Dan sat next to Crow. Crow was set up in a makeshift hammock to reduce pain from bumps in the road.

Alex sat next to the only window in the back looking out where they passed, and Kira sat reading a book. A cell phone in her hand, and her family's link to Coder. Their mystery tech helper and eye in the sky.

She had a few suspicions as to who he was but only one made sense.

“I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it was Zeke that was behind this.” Kira thought to herself, just lightly twiddling her thumbs as they drove cross country.

"How long do you think it will take us to reach Canada?" Crow asked.

"With stops for fuel, hopefully only a few months." Dan replied. "This thing is slow but thankfully it's got a tank ment for long trips."

"So we hope there aren't any extra obstacles in the way." Crow said with a sigh.

“Yeah, but’s nice going on a road trip like this.” Kira said, trying to keep some spirits up. “Even if it’s…not very friendly outside, we’re all taking a family road trip.”

"Post apocalyptic road trip does sound oddly charming." Alex said with a laugh.

“Yeah, helps make things simpler than…what’s really going on.” Kira said, smiling at hearing Alex’s laughter.

"When will we expect a call from Coder?" Dan asked.

“No idea.” Kira shrugged. “But they probably know we’re on our way.”

The ride was silent after that. Many hours passing by in silence save the roar of the engine, and the wind outside.

At some point Crow fell asleep, Kira taking Dan's place and sitting next to Crow. She knew he had nightmares too. Some recent, but she remembered back at the orphanage, he had them a lot there too.

“I just hope this will all work out…ten years of this…the hell…” Kira thought to herself bitterly.

Another few hours began to pass until the truck came to a stop. "Alright, road stop!" Jenny called out.

Getting up with a stretch, Kira made her way to the door, opening it and seeing they were at an odd ramp gas station. Cars and semi trucks all over the place with varying degrees of damage.

"See if the pumps work. Diesel fuel only, siphon if we have to and loot anything useful." Lan stated as he, Jenny, Kira and Alex all began looking through the cars.

Kira followed with Jenny, who spotted a twelve gauge shotgun, into the station to see about starting the pumps.

"Hope they have some stuff leftover." Jenny said.

“I’m sure they do, couldn’t be completely empty after all this time.” Kira brought up. “I just hope the pumps still work.”

"Yeah. App the cars and semis here make me worried."

The two entered the gas station. Dust and the stench of rot filled the place as In the middle of the floor lay a headless corpse.

“Well…that’s…pleasant…” Kira coughed.

"Here." Jenny said, rapidly putting a disposable mask onto Kira's face. "With all the crap going on the last thing we need is getting sick from rotting corpses."

Kira grabbed the mask and put it on quickly. “Yeah, we really don’t need to get sick.”

Jenny did the same and the two began to loot. There was candies, warm sodas, warm beers, melted ice, some chip bags, and a lot of cigarettes and chew tobacco.

Jenny ignored it all, walking behind the counter and looking around. "Crap. Looks like the pumps are controlled from the register but there's no power."

“Crap…” Kira grumbled. “Uh…what if we get Dan to try and hotwire something to try and get power going?”

"Maybe but I don't know if we have time. Hey, can you call Coder on your phone?"

“Uh…I should.” Kira hummed, pulling out her phone and seeing if she could get into contact with their mystery savior.

I opened contacts and selected the only one available. After a bit of warped ringing the other end picked up. "Need something?" Coder asked.

“One, glad to know you’re still here, and two, the gas station we’re at is out of power and we were planning on getting a refill, think you can help us out?” Kira inquired, not sure if their magic Coder friend can help get the power back to a completely different store but hope was still there.

"One moment…. Okay, the whole area you're in is a power dead zone. Looks like the local substation is, er, was, on fire for a while. Can't reroute power to you but from the satellite camera I can see there's a gas tanker right near you. If it isn't full of fuel it will have keys to the gas tanks you can use to open it up and use the trucks built in pump to pull the gas out of there."

“Awesome.” Kira smiled. “How close is it from the station?”

"Just up the road a bit. Maybe half a mile. You should be able to see it from there."

“Cool, thank you.” Kira nodded. “Anything worrying near it that you can see?”

"Not nearby. Just try not to head east from here."

“What’s the trouble in the east?” I inquired.

"Hell."

“Good to know.” Kira nodded. “No going east.”

"The road north so far is good, but once you enter Oklahoma you're gonna need to take some back roads. All the main roads are crawling with giant bugs."

“Good to know.” I nodded. “Thank you, your information is invaluable.”

"Stay safe and stay alive." He said, ending the call.

Jenny and Kira wasted no time in finding the oil tanker. It was still good on oil inside the tank, and Jenny drove it up next to the truck and began filling it up.

"Should we try and take this with us? Fuel wouldn't be a problem for a while." Jenny stated.

"You're the only one of us that can drive. Plus if something hits it or someone shoots it, too risky." Lan said. "Maybe we can find some gas canisters to store some in at least."

“There should be some around here.” Kira mentioned. “Would be weird if a gas station didn’t have some gas canisters.”

The group looked around, finding a few and canisters but only one had a lid still.

"Well, what can we use for makeshift lids?" Lan frowned.

"Any high density plastics or synthetic rubbers." Dan informed. "Worst case scenario we just keep it taped shut. It's temporary but effective."

"Better than nothing I guess." Kira said, trying to think If she noticed anything that could be of good use to keep it sealed..

Eventually the group used some cheap bags as makeshift lids with tape, then left.

Kira didn't know when she fell asleep, but she woke up to the sound of the engine running, and the wind outside as they drove.

"Huh? What did I miss?" Kira asked groggily, yawning loudly from her impromptu nap.

"Nothing much." Crow said from his hammock bed.

"How…far are we?" Kira asked, cutely rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"We crossed into Oklahoma a while ago and at Coders suggestion have been keeping to back roads." Alex said as he rubbed his eyes, also waking up.

"Alright…cool." Kira nodded. "As long as we're safe…"

"Did see one of those bugs he mentioned. Yikes."

"Yeah…I'm surprised I got sleep after seeing that thing." Kira shuddered.

The bug in question was an ant. Easily the size of a large can and was biting through street lights.

Still, the group drove, taking backwoods and avoiding the giant insects. After all, if ants were the size of cars then how big would the bigger insects be?

"Should we make a rest stop?" Dan asked, waking up.

"Probably. There are a few stops along these roads. Best use them."

"Yeah, best everyone is well rested." Kira said nestly.honestly.

"Just hope we don't run into any bugs." Alex sighed.

“Yeah, we really don’t need to run into bugs.” Kira nodded.

The armored truck soon came to a stop. The small road stop had no cars, just a small gas station that looked to be intact.

Jenny walked towards it, shotgun drawn and entered. After a few moments she emerged. "It's clear. Power is on too, small solar generator in the back probably has been keeping the place running."

"Useful." Lan said.

“Very useful.” Kira agreed. “Sure it’s small but the solar generator and gas station should help a lot.”

"We can camp here for a few days, stretch our legs-"

"Those who have them!" Crow called out from the back.

"Right… then hit the road. Gives us all time to practice with our firearms too."

“Yeah, it’ll be fun.” Kira said with a warm smile, glad to be hearing a plan for something simple for once.

"Alright. Jenny, let's get the grill set up and see about opening that propane tank cage. Alex, you and Kira set up a target practice range. Use been cans and bottles. Dan, see about getting Crow in a wheelchair so he can be out of the truck for a while." Lan instructed.

The group got to work. A makeshift camp around the truck as potatoes and slices of span cooked on a grill.

"Hey… you think those bugs are edible?" Crow asked.

"I mean… most likely. Why?" Dan asked.

"Think they taste like crab? You know, having exoskeletons and such?"

“Uh…I don’t know.” Kira said. “I mean, there’s the universal ‘it tastes like chicken’ argument but who knows.”

"Are you saying you think we should eat them?" Lan asked.

"Bugs are supposed to be high protein and all that right?" Crow offered.

"Well, yeah. A single roach has more protein than a prime steak." Dan added. "I guess it would be best to try it… gonna be a while before we reach Canada so… should get used to eating stuff not from cans…"

“Yeah, we‘ll all have to figure out how to forage and hunt.” Kira said honestly.

"What brought this up Crow?" Jenny asked.

"There's a giant ant over there." He pointed.

The group all looked, seeing a car sized ant standing and investigating the road.

“Well…I don’t need sleep…” Kira commented nervously.

"So… ant meat anyone?" Jenny asked, picking up her shotgun.

“Sure.” Kira nodded. “Just be careful of any splash zones.”

With a nod, Jenny got up and readied her shotgun.

"Should be entering Kansas soon." Lan called from the front.

The road through Oklahoma was fairly uneventful. Several large big encounters but nothing too dangerous for the group.

Coder informed them that Kansas seemed to be, for lack of a better word, on fire.

Upon arriving at the state border the group learned why. The whole state was full of small, some barely bigger than a car, volcanos spewing or bubbling with magma.

"Holy crap…" Jenny said.

"That's… new…" Dan said.

"Oh…well…I'm trying to think of a 'we're not in Kansas anymore'...but I'm blanking." Kira frowned.

"I was gonna say that Yellowstone grew some serious acne." Alex said.

"I just wanna know if we can even get through that?" Lan spoke up. "I know this thing can tank a few hits from, well tanks but magma resistance is not typically on a military vehicle."

“Well…the only thing I can say is, at least Yellowstone didn’t blow.” Kira said honestly. “And…yeah I don’t know, cause Lava is really hot and would probably melt our car before we could do anything.”

"Best call Coder and see what's up." Jenny said.

With a nod, Kira brought out the phone and dialed. "Coder here. You all reach Kansas already?"

“We’re not sure, cause it looks like a Lava World.” Kira pointed out.

"Yeah that's Kansas now. Whatever isn't melted and under magma is still pretty damn hot. Few things that are living there are not pleasant from what I have seen. I took the liberty of looking for alternative roads and I only found one, but it's only marginally better."

"It can't be worse than what's in front of us." Alex huffed.

"Well, if you drive back and west some you'll reach Colorado but the whole place has been settled by various aliens and from what I can see they are all at war with one another and the path cuts concerningly close to three alien settlements."

"Meaning we might be driving through a war zone…" Dan sighed.

“Maybe they won’t bother us if we just drive by?” I asked

"From what I've seen only two of the alien species seem to actively hunt and capture or kill humans. One are your typical little green men in silver suits. The others look more like cyborg terminators. I did see one group of them actually helping humans, and, I shit you not, they look like eight to ten foot tall buff ferrets that, and had the satellite not caught it, I wouldn't believe it, seem to control electricity."

The group was silent for a while.

"So the only ones we can trust are the Furries…" Alex summarized.

"Pretty much yeah."

“I want a ten foot tall buff ferret…” Kira said meekly, poking both fingertips together in embarrassment and a blush as she said that out loud.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." Lan said. "So, by any chance are these ferret like aliens one of those settlements?"

"Yes. Once you enter Colorado and drive north on the main highway you'll have to drive close to the Green guys territory but thirty miles north is the ferrets area and hopefully they can help you out once you're in their territory."

“Cool.” Kira said with a smile. “At least there’s some new race that wants to help us.”

"If we're heading there we best make sure we're ready. Jenny, you and Alex mount the big gun back into the roof and keep ready. Dan, you and I will get the explosives ready and if need be, use them." Lan started as everyone got to their jobs.

“What about me?” Kira inquired.

"You go make sure Crow is alright, alright?"

“Alright…” Kira said, knowing keeping Crow safe and okay was important but wanting to do more than be a glorified babysitter.

She walked over to Crow's hammock, sitting next to him and sulking. "Lan put you on the bench again?" Crow asked, flipping through a comic book.

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I mean, I know taking care of you is very important…but come on, I know I can do more…he might also be nervous about what I said earlier…”

"Heh. He's just worried in general. You should have seen him when he and Jenny found me. I'd never seen him so terrified, or pissed. It actually scared me a bit, and I'd already had my legs cut off and turned into oven roast."

“Yeah…you got all of us worried Crow.” Kira nodded.

"Well, at least they were cutting me up… more than a few of those other guys either were cooked whole, eaten alive or… deep fried whole…" Crow shuddered. "Hence why I'm not eating pork ever again."

“Yeah, I can imagine how horrible that would be.” Kira nodded.

"Well, enough about my trauma. So, what's the situation?"

“So, all of Kansas is quite literally a Lava World from Super Mario…and we need to take a slightly better route that involves getting way too close to a war between three alien factions.” Kira said. “Either the little green men in space suits, Terminators…or the only friendly we can hope for, which are eight to ten feet tall buff ferret people.”

"Huh… and just when I thought this apocalypse couldn't get any weirder." Crow said dumbly.

“I mean…would it get weirder if I said I wanted one of those ferrets?” Kira asked, wanting to see Crow’s reaction after Lan went ‘Nope, I’m not hearing shit’.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised to find out you're a furry." Crow said, making Kira blush. "So's Alex given his saved pictures folder."

"I heard that!" Alex called from a small hatch above where he and Jenny were putting a huge gun back on a mount.

Crow laughed. "Just try and wait til you're older before doing anything alright squirt." Crow added as he ruffled Kira's hair.

“Okay okay.” Kira giggled. “But I’m still going to at least try for the boyfriend.”

“Kira please.” Lan whined as if some part of his soul was dying at hearing her wanting to date.

"Man, woman, ten foot tall ferret, so long as they treat you right I won't care." Crow said with a shrug. "Just watch out for Lan. He'll probably try and scare them off."

“Considering how done he sounds, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Kira giggled, hearing the sounds of an older brother’s soul leaving him that made the entire car erupt in laughter.

Once the preparations were made the group drove off. Jenny was keeping at a fast but steady speed.

Once they entered Colorado they saw it. The nearby town had been converted into a huge city of metal and glowing blue lights with space ships flying all around.

It was beautiful, in a cold and mechanical way.

“Wow…” Kira said in awe.

"That is impressive." Lan said.

"It's a shame they're gonna use that to try and kill us." Dan huffed.

"Right." Lan said. "Dan, Alex, you two on explosives. I'll man the big gun on top and Kira, strap Crow into that hammock. We don't want him falling out of it."

“On it.” Kira nodded, getting Crow strapped in before things get really bumpy.

"I have become a cocoon. I shall emerge with wings." Crow said light heartedly.

“At least then you won’t need legs.” Kira pointed out.

For a few minutes there was no noise aside the vehicles engine. Then something sounding like a small explosion hit near, and the sounds of Lan shooting the big gun and Dan and Alex shooting off some grenades.

Everything got loud.

Then still.

Kira began to wake up, her vision hazy and her mouth dry as sand. She couldn't remember what happened but felt sore all along her body.

“Ugh…what…what happened?” Kira groaned in pain, trying to get her bearings and figure out where she is.

The first thing Kira noticed was she was halfway in what felt like water. Her eyes finally adjusting showed she was in some pod, laid on her back.

Moving her body she felt off. Her arms and legs felt longer. Looking down she also noticed she grew on her chest as well.

Forcing herself not to panic she managed to kick the top of the pod off. Cool air sent a chill across her skin but she pushed it open and sat up.

As she expected, she was bigger. Longer limbs, she looked down in the dark red liquid she was in, seeing her reflection… she was older.

She noticed all her limbs from hands, feet, torso all had large scars. Some looked from slicing, others looked as if something had been stabbed into her all across her body.

“What…what the hell…” Kira coughed, not remembering a single thing that happened and…and…

Panic started to set in as Kira looked around frantically for the others. “Lan? Jenny? Crow? Anyone!?” Kira called out, not caring that she was probably captured by bad alien’s as she struggled against whatever bonds she had.

She discovered she had none. She got up out of the pod, looking around and seeing she was all alone in whatever room she was in.

She looked around, hoping to find clothes or something.

Before she could properly search something, a door, slid open and what walked in surprised Kira.

It was one of the ferret aliens. As buff and fluffy as she imagined. The face and body was human in shape but they had more than enough of the ferret features to identify. "Oh you're awake!" They said. Kira forgetting her shot just enough to cover up what she could with her arms before just walking around behind the pod.

“U-uh…h-hi there mister fluff hunk…” Kira said, before she went even more beat red as she realized what she just said even though they were buck ass naked.

"Uh, hang on." The ferret man leaned back out the door. "She's awake! Fetch some clothes and Captain Crow!" He leaned back in. "Uh, you'll get some answers soon enough, Miss Kira."

“Abs…wait,” Kira shook her head, trying not to drool over how hot the Ferret was. “Did you say ‘Captain Crow’?”

"Yes. Captain Crow. He's the reason we finally were able to… help you." The ferret being informed.

Some clothes, plain white ones were delivered and Kira quickly put them on.

"There's my little sister." Kira looked to the door and did a double take. It was Crow. She knew that immediately, but he was also very different. He was standing, taller and more muscles than she ever expected him to have.

“Holy crap…” Kira blinked. “Crow…man, I must still be dizzy from waking up, but look at you…”

"I know, but look at you… my god…" He said, walking up to her and hugging her. "I'm… I'm sorry I couldn't rescue you sooner…"

“What…what happened?” Kira asked, hugging Crow back. “I…the last thing I remember was everyone else starting to fight and…and everything went dark when thing’s got too loud…”

Crow sighed, taking Kira's hand. "It's been four years since then Kira…"

Kira blanched immediately as she heard that. “Wh-what? H-how? What happened?” Kira asked, tearing up as she already feared the worst.

"That day, we were attacked by a different alien species. Not the little green ones we were expecting, Progolites, they're called, we were attacked by the cyborg ones. Giations. Giation and human biology are actually very alike, but they have a philosophy of machine over flesh. See, their people value technology and strength over everything else. They attacked and tried to kidnap us all. Well, they did. All but me. Being crippled they dropped me from their ship almost thirty feet in the air.

"I broke an arm and almost all my ribs but I crawled. Not sure how long until the Electronians found me. Patched me up and began making me some replacement legs " Crow said, pulling his pants legs up, showing his mechanical limbs.

“Fancy.” Kira said. “But…have you saved the others? Am I truly okay?” Kira asked, lightly bunching up her shirt to try and hide her more pronounced figure after four years.

"So far you're the only one we've been able to catch. See, the Giations augmented you with their technology, but being an extremely racist species, like the Progolites, used you and the others as soldier drones. Capturing you was hard, and having all those augments removed was almost a month long surgery."

“What…what augments?” Kira asked, fearing that she lost…so much more on herself than just four years.

"External weaponry, synthetic organs we actually couldn't remove, namely stomach, liver, kidneys and heart. Lots of bones too were… replaced to beat attach the external armor." Crow motioned to the large scars like… having been stabbed. They lined up all along her arms, legs and several ribs. "And this." He gently put a finger to the back of her head. The light touch made Kira wince as if being hit there. "That is where they shoved what was controlling you, keeping your brain asleep while a machine piloted your body for the last four years."

“Oh…” Kira said sadly. “This…this is awful…”

"The others are in the same boat. Each one is rather far. Closest is Alex in New York. Or what's left of it. Jenny was last seen in Brazil. Dan is in the UK. Lan is all the way in Russia, but making his way south to China."

“I…hate how everything’s going wrong so fast…” Kira shook her head.

"Well, from your perspective it has yeah. Bright side at least, humanity hasn't been completely wiped yet. Got a good three million fighting here and another six million safe and sound living on the Electronians Homeworld."

Kira took a deep breath, trying to focus again. “So…Electronians…beings with Electricity powers…and their big sexy ferrets?”

"Yes, yes and yes. And surprisingly, or maybe not, fully compatible with humans. Got a few thousand hybrids back on their Homeworld."

“That’s…very good to know.” Kira said. “Also wow, got legs and decided to just have a lot of kids?”

"What? No, no, no, not me. Other horny furry lovers." Crow said.

“That’s fair.” Kira said honestly. “So…we’re off to save the others?”

"Soon. Right now you've been more or less asleep for the last four years of your life." Crow stated.

"Four years…" Kira thought. "Four years less I need to survive. But also means more time I need to save them…"

“Yeah…I’m gonna need to do a lot of thing’s to catch up with all the time I missed…”

Kiara's Nightmare Part 3

Physical Therapy was a pain but I managed it since it was more a precaution to get me used to moving my own body again, given I was asleep while a soulless machine moved it for me.

Food felt weird to swallow but apparently all those augments I used to have made eating unnecessary.

Once I was given an okay by doctors I was given some armor and was now following Crow. "Our first target will be Alex. He's still in New York state and satellites show he is still in New York city, apparently he's collecting Lithium."

“Lithium?” I inquired. “Why would he be collecting that?”

"It's a key component in their conversion process. Therefore highly valuable." Crow informed. "Batteries are all he's been rummaging through the city for. Remotes, cell phones, cars, anything that's a battery with lithium he takes. I imagine for them it's a gold mine. Hopefully we can capture him easily if we lure him in with said lithium."

“Is it wrong that one of my first thoughts on this was ‘draw a Triple A battery with Triple D tits, that’ll draw him out real quick’?”

Crow snorted. "As much as I love that idea, Alex and the rest are in the same boat as you, an AI run computer chip is controlling their bodies while their brains are asleep."

“Yeah, that’s the sad part.” I sighed. “So, how are we going to do this?” I asked, knowing getting there and basically putting up a box with a stick with ‘lithium here’ has a lot of steps to it.

"To make it worse the AI's all communicate with each other once a day, so they won't fall for the same tricks and traps the last one will."

"Only once a day?" I asked, confused as to how they cant be caught off guard a second time if they only talk once per day, cause there would be a lot of time in-between each talk to stop it.

"Given how spread out they are, their signals all first get sent to the AI supercomputer at base, then gets processed and counter data is added and returned to them. While theoretically we could try and get them all in one day, even the fastest Electronian ship takes ten hours to circle the planet. Add to that the time it takes to actually catch one of them, we'd be lucky to get two. We could try and capture them all at once but we had a hell of a time capturing you, trying to divide and conquer will prove basically impossible."

"What if we jam the signal before they can communicate with them?" I inquired. "If we cut off their connection to the main AI, they should act more like headless chickens right?"

"The signals they use aren't like normal satellite and radio waves. They're more like… light rays. Harder to jam and near impossible to block."

I frowned. “That seems…very difficult to stop…hmm…” I hummed, trying to think of a way to make this easier and not a royal pain in our asses. “Thing’s just need to keep getting harder don’t they?”

"Wouldn't be the end of the world were it easy."

“I know…” I sighed. “Alright, off to save Alex.” I said, knowing we can plan while heading off to where he is.

We got loaded into a ship and we're off.

I frowned… this is gonna be bad. I could… reset it. No, that would be the easy way out and just put me and everyone back at square one. I need to push through, otherwise I'll just end up getting nothing done…

We arrived at new york- oh my God…

It was… beautiful…

All around grass and trees grew, out the ground, buildings and cars. It was like nature took it back centuries ago…

How?

“How the hell did New York become…like this?” I asked in shock.

“Fae.” Crow said as we walked through the roads. “They showed up, killed everyone, set the animals free, then grew this all in a day, then vanished.”

“Weird that they didn’t bother to stay…” I hummed. “Unless they can go between their realm and our realm at will.”

“Don’t know, but they made one thing clear, they don’t like humans.” Crow said, motioning to the various skeletons with vines, branches and moss growing over, through and on them. “Alex should be around here. Keep an eye out, electronic shops are a good bet.”

“That’s fair.” I nodded, though all this reminded me of my first death…I shuddered, that was not a pleasant time.

We walked around for a good half hour before we spotted a pile of cell phone batteries and packs of lithium double and triple A’s. Okay, found his pile, now where is-

“Down!” Crow yelled, pushing me aside as a ball of blue light passed where I was standing and the ground it hit melted into magma.

We looked up, seeing Alex…

His whole body was covered in chrome, reflective metal that looked like insect chitin, the only parts of his skin I could see were his fingers, his nose and mouth. Everywhere else was covered in metal, metallic tubes, weapons and pulsating blue lights.

“No…” I muttered in horror at seeing Alex just…so gone physically. “How do we capture him?”

“When we got you we basically just cornered and knocked you out with a powerful EMP blast. By now he’s probably got countermeasures to run if he’s outnumbered. So,” Crow picked up a rifle, shooting at Alex who dodged with the ease and reflexes only a machine could do. “We gotta sneak him into the range of the EMP.”

“And hopefully he’s not magically immune to an EMP.” I frowned. “But…I have an idea, and it’s going to be really dumb…”

“Then don’t risk it.” Crow said as he dragged me behind cover. “Capturing you cost us ten lives, we can’t take risks.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Don’t die.” Crow said, shooting from our cover and making Alex move.

“Hopefully…” I muttered, starting to sneak around towards where Alex was slowly. “I surrender!” I called out to Alex, hiding the EMP behind my back in a way that it didn’t look suspicious, though both the robot Alex and Crow looked at me like I’ve gone completely crazy. “I have seen the error of my ways,” I said, slowly walking towards Alex. “I realize now, that you weren’t trying to destroy mankind, but to show them the true path, the path that showed us that the Flesh is weak, and the Machine is strong,” I said carefully, and even though robo-Alex looked very skeptical, they thankfully weren’t making any sudden moves towards me. “I am willing to go back and…get my parts put back in…” I said, getting so painstakingly close. “Come on, just a few more steps…” I thought to myself, hating how close I need to be to set this stupid thing off on Alex.

Thankfully I got close enough, and right as they were about to reach for me, I shot them in the stomach with my EMP gun. “I’m sorry Alex…but this is for your own good.”

We got Alex bound and ready to transport.

Once we were back at base Alex was sent immediately into the same surgery I went through to get free.

I sat in my room feeling… concerned. Well, one down, three more to go…

“I…shot Alex…and now he’s in a life or death situation with his surgery…” I muttered fearfully.

I huffed,... This is just… I need a distraction…

“Let’s see…what can I do around here?” I wondered, getting off my bed and heading off to find…literally anything to do.

I walked around, looking for something to do… now where is… Hmm… Come on there has to be something…

I huffed, sitting at a bench. I’ve walked around this whole damn base and didn’t find anything interesting. Ugh… Where’s Crow when you need him?

“Ugh…I’m so bored…” I groaned, hoping my cry of boredom and totally not me trying to ignore some mental issues would be heard by someone.

It wasn’t. Shit.

I still don’t know what this has to do with training in regards to Lord sending me here? I mean what even is the-

I jumped to my feet, seeing something crash through a tower, and sending it in flames… that’s where… Alex is in surgery!

“No!” I snapped, running off towards the surgery room in a panic and hoping everything was okay.

I got to the floor and backpedaled a bit… Corpses. Some were burned or crushed, others looked… ripped. What?

Regaining composure I moved forward, I saw the surgery room was… engulfed in flames… no… not again. Not again Alex!

I saw a silhouette in the flames.

“Hello?” I called out worriedly. “Who’s there?”

I didn’t get a response, but the silhouette was walking towards me.

When they emerged from the fire I took a step back… Zeke?

They wore some kind of all white and gold robe, and their eyes… The whites were red, and the iris and pupil were like a cat’s, slit and all black.

What…. Happened to him?

“Z-Zeke? Wh-what happened to you?”

They didn’t respond, just reached up a hand at me-

I felt a pain. A sharpness stabbing through me… I looked down to see a red blade from Zeke’s hand run through my chest… and heart. The blade liquified and returned to them as I hit the ground. I’m… No… Shit I can’t…

I felt Zeke put a foot to my head, and as things began to grow dark… press.

I gasped, waking back up… in the classroom… What the… Fuck… Fucking hell, fuck, shit, fuck damn it! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?!?

I grabbed a chair, walked over to the bastard zombie that thought it could sneak up on me and Alex again, and I proceeded to bash it’s brain’s in in a fit of rage. “I HATE ALL OF YOU!” I screamed in rage.

I didn’t care that I was small again, or that I felt like a limp noodle when it was done…

I fell to my butt on the ground and huffed… What… What was that with Zeke? It was like… he was possessed?

“I…was…was that a Psychopath?” I thought to myself in fear, remembering those weird cat like eyes…only on that horribly hurt Ava…

What… happened to you Zeke? Has… has that monster always been inside you or… is that why you… hate fighting?

“There’s…there’s just too much going on…” I muttered in fear.

How the hell am I going to do this? I technically got a cheat that time and still died… come on, think, this has to be a test of will power or something. I can't give up… but how do I stay alive and keep my family alive too?

“Well…I know things from the future…so I can use that to my advantage…” I thought to myself. “Maybe…I can get the Electronian’s to get to us instead of having to travel? I mean, their ship’s are stupidly fast, and our informant can most likely get into contact with them…” I thought to myself, trying to think of a plan to get everyone to safety. “I’ll also have to warn them about Zeke…this sucks…but hey, at least I can share the wonders of fluffy buff electric ferret people with my family…I miss Pipsqueak…” I thought to myself bitterly, missing my boyfriend but…also really wanting to date an Electronian…I’m very lonely.

It's not a perfect plan but it's better than nothing. Just need to evacuate the planet… hopefully also avoiding other lethal things.

It's a better chance than not.

“Alright…I got a plan…and hopefully, it’ll work out in some capacity…” I sighed.

[Space]

Kira's Heart

Okay, how do I contact the Electronians? There has to be something…

I sat in my room back here at Alex's mansion thinking how to get this over.

“Well…I could ask my hacker friend…” I muttered. “Then…maybe he could help make it a three way call?” I hummed, trying to think of how to do this.

Ten years… ten years without dying or losing anyone…

It was ten years I had to stay alive… but like hell I'm letting the others all die…

“Ugh…this sucks…” I muttered, hopping off my bed and heading to the computer room to see if I can contact him.

The computer in question didn't seem to have been hacked by Coder yet…great… huh. This is Alex's dad's office… I know he had a lot of money… but what did he ever do anyway?

“Well…lets figure some of that out…” I hummed, starting to look through his computer.

I typed away, looking through files finding this computer was pretty empty. Come on, there has to have been something…

“Jeez, it can’t be this empty…” I frowned, trying to find any weird hidden files or even weird links that were saved on his browser cause who knows.

I ended up finding little, and what was there was password protected.

With a huff I figured I'd wait til Coder hacked the PC so I could talk to them.

"Wish I knew more about computers…" I sighed, crossing my arms as I tried to think about how to do this.

While I waited for Coder, I checked the desk again. Past few times I saw little of it all or ignored it. Aside from the usual, pens, papers and such I wasn't finding mu-

The computer suddenly began to glitch out. Great, Coder must be hacking it now.

"Okay, cool…hopefully he can help me here with the Electronics…"

After a minute or so the text box that always appears appeared.

'Hello?' The word came up as the lights from the monitor built in camera began flashing.

"Hi there." I said to Coder. "Who are you?" I asked, feigning ignorance at this meeting.

I went through the usual song and dance, used to it by now and eventually managed to get Coder to hack the password protected files.

They were mostly contracts for pharmaceuticals and food production plants. So that's what Alex's dad does. Or did.

I managed to lead Coder into telling me about the aliens and asked if he was able to contact the Electronians.

'Probably, just gonna take some time.' Coser replied.

"Alright,thank you." I nodded. "Oh, uh…has there been anything about Ventrals as of late?"

'Nothing I've seen.'

"Right…" I said carefully. "Alright, thank you, but how long do you think it'll take to get into contact with the Electronics?"

'Few days to a week.'

"Works for me." I nodded. "Hopefully they'll be friendly enough to help us out here."

With that done I went back to check on the others.

I found Jenny cleaning a shotgun in her room.

"Hey Jenny." I said. "How you doing?"

"Hey Kira." Jenny said, looking up at me. "I'm fine. Just keeping this thing clean and working."

"That's good." I nodded. "So, I got in contact with someone."

"Who? Also how?"

"His nickname is Coder, and he contacted me through Alex's dad's computer."

"Oh, so he's a hacker. I guess that's a useful skill to have for finding people."

"Yep, and he said he'll get in contact with people willing to help us." I said happily.

"Thank god."

"Yep, and from what he said, he'll get in contact in around a week."

"That's good at least."

The week went by uneventfully, and then the ship came, we packed and were quickly evacuated to off planet to Electron.

I then found myself back in that classroom with Lord. He gave a sarcastic clap. "Congratulations, you unlocked the boring ending." He said.

"Boody fucking hoo." I growled. "So what now?"

"Now, well you didn't learn what you were supposed to do now," Lord snapped his fingers, my power restricting bracelet coming off suddenly. "Now it's time for a more blunt approach."

"And what the fuck was I supposed to learn? How to live without powers? How shit can go wrong with one simple decision? The fuck you want?"

"To accept loss." Lord said. "You first lost Alex, and rather than run when told, you let the vines grab you while lost in rage and sadness. When you saved him the second time, you saw what happened to Zeke. You didn't run. You didn't leave them behind."

"Why in god's name would I abandon my family?"

"To learn pain. To know ache and agony. To be forced to rebuild yourself after you're broken. You want to save people, well power doesn't come without a cost and you are pathetically broke in the currency of misery."

"What sort of demented torture porn are you watching?" I asked incredulously.

"Really? Torture Porn? That's what you came up with?"

"Than a bad guy’s origin story, what do you want?” I asked. “Seriously, how insanely lucky do you need to be that whatever ‘training’ you have in mind not bite you in the ass?”

"When it tries I bitch slap them back to reality." Lord shrugged.

“So stupidly lucky it never came back to bite you.” I said, slowly growing more spiteful against this asshole that seems to not understand things. “Power of Friendship and Love asshole, that’s where the real power is, not pain and suffering, that’s how we got Nexus.”

"Yeah, cause Crow is really feeling the love from you all. He felt it so much he basically dropped you all to found his own kingdom in the realm of darkness."

“So who gives a shit? Just double down on bad decisions and expect this double negative to magically turn into a positive.” I rolled my eyes.

"What? You think he did that to spite you all or something? Please. He is moving on. In short, he's done with you and your family. He's been making his own path for a while now."

“Thank you, it’s not like I had that revelation thrown at me a week or two ago, it’s not like I’m still suffering from that fact, but no, as I said again, double down on bad decisions, I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end.”

"So what, you don't think he can be anything other than a screw up?"

“Stop shoving words in my mouth asshole!” I snapped. “My point was that ‘pain and suffering to gain power’ is a bad idea, but then you mention Crow and I said why not double down on bad decisions?” I asked, getting more and more aggravated by this bastard.

"I could also mention your past lives, the lives it cost trusting your so called master over one another, and oh yeah, the fact you blame Heart for losing Daybreak Empire when you weren't even there to defend it when it was In need. I could go on but then we'd be here all day."

“I’m not in the mood for any of this.” I frowned, so outrageously done with this asshole. “Also, who’s Heart?”

"Oh, right, you also weren't there for that. I mean Zeke, they go by Heart now cause time travel nonsense and time breaking it's a whole mess." Lord shrugged.

“Wha?” I asked, now outrageously confused. “The fuck happened while we were busy with our own lives!?”

"Oh, the usual. Trauma, rage, bullfuckary and prep work for the war to end all wars that will determine if everyone in all of existence gets to live or die all because an old as Fuck entity was board and decided to see if we could manage."

I blinked. “Wha?”

"Would you like me to repeat that slower or should I not bother since clearly you aren't processing cataclysmic reality ending threats well?"

“How has no one killed you yet?” I asked, snapping back from the fact that reality is ending with his snarky bullshit.

"Oh people have tried but even the ones who made me into this couldn't kill me so… if I'm stuck here then it's everyone else's problem. Just be glad I'm on your side and not the other guys cause then you'd really be fucked."

I rubbed my temples. “Whatever…this is getting us nowhere, and your ‘blunt’ approach isn’t going to help at all…”

"I haven't started my blunt approach yet you've just been arguing with me."

“I was expecting you to be a bitch and just throw me into your ‘blunt’ approach mid argument.” I pointed out.

"Well, if you insist but my blunt approach isn't what you're thinking." Lord said, snapping his fingers.

I suddenly found myself in an empty buffet restaurant. Food piled high among the service tables… and across from me, was Crow.

"Seriously…" Crow huffed, rubbing his eyes. "First Dan now this…"

“Oh Lord can suck my whole ass…” I groaned. “Hi Crow…how’s it going?”

"...Did you just swear? I guess hell froze over." He sighed. "I was planning expansion for the kingdom. Found a good mining spot but now I'm here in… this…" Crow looked around. "Holy…"

I decided to look around before I started to rant about the crap I’ve been put through just before this, wondering what Crow was on about.

Crow actually stood up, looking around and just looking at the whole building. "It… can't be…" He said, rushing over to a corner book in the back. I got up, walking over there and saw an old booth table and chairs drawn on in pen, marker, crayon and even a bit of paint. "How…?"

“What is this place?” I inquired.

"This… was the booth I used to sit in all the time…" Crow said, sliding into it and placing his hands on the table gently. "This… was my parents restaurant…"

I was surprised. I knew… nothing, nothing about Crow's life before the orphanage.

“This…is the first time I’m hearing about this…” I said, gently sliding on the opposite side. “I never asked cause I didn’t want to bring up any bad memories…but…what was your life before the orphanage?”

"... I don't remember much. I don't even remember my parents voices… their faces… I was three when they… but, I remember this place. I was here all the time. Sitting here just making a mess of the booth and my folks would check in on me, bring me a drink or some food fresh from the kitchen… I remember… Dad worked in the kitchen, him and some others, and mom worked the register but also did the office stuff…"

“Oh…well…I can see the mess part…” I said, just imagining a tiny Crow playing with crayons and paint on this specific booth and mentally found it adorable. “But…I can imagine your parents made some great food.”

"It was great." Crow said, smiling. "They did a healthy mix. American Southern, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese. They'd rotate menus out weekly. Kept customers coming and they were always interviewing and testing out new chiefs and recipes…" Crow sighed, taking a deep breath. "Their success… caught the anger of rival businesses… One day, some men ran in, rifles in hand and… shot up the place. Only my parents were killed."

“That’s…that’s horrible.” I said in horror.

Crow nodded, taking another deep breath. "I was put in the system immediately. One day, while I was being moved to another foster home I ended up being neighbor to some Ventrals, they were squatting in the empty house and one day I snuck food over to them. Figured they were hungry. Foster folks didn't like that but the Ventrals asked if I wanted anything in return. I just said 'my parents.'." Crow said. "Two weeks later a letter came for me. No return address or anything just said 'They can rest now'. Some years later I learned five well known hit men were slaughtered four days after I helped those Ventrals out. That's why I always liked and idolized them… they avenged my parents deaths… for a kid who just gave them some bread and cheap bologna." Crow chuckled.

“I…guess that’s why…” I sighed, remembering Crow did work for Ventrals and now seeing why he would work with them more even if it was to help us. “Dumb question…but why didn’t they adopt you or something? Seems like they cared more about you than us…”

"Would you?" Crow asked me. "A kid, traumatized, barely clinging to the memories of their parents. Would you bring them into a world of danger like that?"

“I did say it was a dumb question, but no…I wouldn’t do that.” I shook my head.

Crow exhaled. "I have missed you, you know." Crow said. "It's why I never told you all when I was working for them and why. I knew you'd talk me out of it…"

“Now would that be before or after you told us the truth?” I asked. “Cause before? Probably yes…after? No…you were risking so much just so we could be a family…”

"Even if I did tell you all the truth, we both know Lan wouldn't have it…. After all, the Ventrals are the reason you two went to the Orphanage after all. You might have been too young to remember… but Lan remembered it all…"

“And Lan would have trusted me, I was…too innocent back then…I did argue with Lan back then a few times about it…it felt more like he was abandoning you, and the Ventrals were just some giant excuse everyone made constantly…but no…I’m little Kira…who cares what I had to say or why I cried for days about it…”

"Hey now," Crow said, ruffling Kiara's hair. Something she hasn't felt him do in… a long time. "Don't go hating your brother now. He might be a bit arrogant and an ass at times but he's still your family."

“I mean…yeah, he can be a bit arrogant and an ass.” She nodded. “He tries…but sometimes he needs to know when to stop…” I gently grabbed his hand still on my head. “I missed you Crow…I missed you so much…” I teared up, feeling my heart ache and crack at just how much I’ve missed my older brother and how…how I might never see him again.

"Hey, suck up the water works pipsqueak." Crow said, ruffling my hair into a mess before pulling his hand away. "No offense but someone has to be the backbone of your family, and frankly you're the only one there who can handle that job." He chuckled. "Besides, like I told Dan, if you guys want a part of me with you, should probably go find my escaped Light Half."

“I’d rather have the Whole you…that’s what our adventure started as anyways…” I sighed. “But…mind if I rant a little about how unfair a ‘training session’ I had was?” I asked. “Cause it does involve you and everyone else…”

"I suppose. Not sure how long we're stuck here. Before we do though, let's grab some of the food."

“Yes please, cause it involves me dying twice and getting the ‘boring ending’ from what my ‘teacher’ said.”

I quickly grabbed a few plates with Crow and we returned to the booth where I proceeded to eat and vent about Lord and his bullshit teaching methods.

It was honestly the happiest I've been in a long time.

Eventually I finished my stories and my ranting and venting about that whole shit show.

"Yeesh. Some really weird Twilight Zone stuff he put you through." Crow said.

“Yes, and he claims that me saving everyone is the ‘boring’ ending, I did what I wanted, which was saving my family and getting your legs fixed…and I still didn’t get an Electronian boyfriend…” I pouted. “I’m sorry, but giant ferret people are so adorable…”

"Huh….never took you for a furry. Figured that was more Alex's thing."

“I mean, yes.” I admitted. “You in that world also questioned me about being into them but…I mean, come on, anthro ferrets, they looked adorable and…yeah.” I said sheepishly.

"I imagine Lan is gonna have a heart attack the day you do have a boyfriend." Crow laughed. "Wish I could see it."

“I mean…you always can…” I said softly. “You’re…You’re still Crow…you’re still my big brother, I don’t care if you’re his Dark half or if I have to give Featherweight a piece of my mind…” I grumbled.

"Thanks but… I have people that need me back in the realm of Darkness. Everyone always thinks it's some inhospitable place but that's not all there is to it. It feels like the bigger the kingdom gets the more… at ease, the realm feels."

“I don’t know, I’ve been there a few times…not friendly.” I said carefully. “Especially the first time when we tried to invade one of Core’s bases to find your light half…oh god I feel old just saying that.”

Crow chuckled. "I guess you have to be Darkness affiliated or like me or the half-Darks to get it."

“Half-Darks? That…doesn’t sound right, like, not saying that they don’t exist just…well…” I trailed off, not entirely sure how to say it.

"It was that or constantly say half heartless/half unversed. It was less of a mouthful and they picked it, not me."

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” I shook my head. “But Dan’s gonna kill Zephyr ya know that? Like…wow, was he actually the biggest dickbag imaginable.”

"Oh trust me… I know. Much as I hate the scuzzball, at least I take solace in the fact his new girlfriend has him on a leash so tight he can't so much as breathe without her knowing how long each breath was."

“I don’t think that’ll stop Dan and how absolutely livid he is with him.” I said nervously. “But good to know he’s got more of a handler than a girlfriend.”

"More like an owner." Crow said. "She's bat shit crazy but hey, he got what he deserved."

“I feel like Dan would have a wonderful time with the lady if it means making that bastard suffer.” I frowned, cause ever since I heard what Zephyr actually did…oh boy was I pissed.

"Doubt Dan would be into a Centaur lady with the head of a Neoshadow and a vore fetish."

I nearly choked on my food.

“Uh…okay that’s…that’s something…” I pounding my chest and coughing a bit. “I mean…Dan is finally opening up with Dash that’s for sure…”

"And now you know how she keeps Zephyr on a tight leash and miserable. Every night for the guy is a wonder if he gets let out in the morning or becomes breakfast."

“Right, good to know…” I said weakly. “Ugh…okay…now to hopefully get that out of my mind…”

"Good luck." Crow sighed. "I do mean it though. You guys should look for my light half, the idiot ran off in the realm of darkness and I have no idea where they went."

“We have been.” I frowned. “We’ve been searching for the both of you for a long time, but we also have our Union’s and School work and whatever love lives we have…we’re trying our best…” I said sadly.

"Don't search for me, search for the other one. I found my place. He needs a home now, not me."

“And that only hurts more…” I said weakly, as the entire point of this adventure just felt like it was pointless now…that we’re never getting our Crow back, only some…version of him…”I’m sorry we failed you Crow…”

"... You know, were it anyone else, I wouldn't want to hear it. But… heh, damn it Kira, you're just too cute to stay mad at." Crow laughed. "Don't be all that sad. You and the others just need to find where you belong, do what you feel you were meant to do."

“I wanted to save you damn it!” I snapped, tearing up finally. “We wanted to save you! To right wrongs and be a family again! But no…even in that stupid world that Lord made…we had you, whole, alive…I…I was so happy to see you whole…even if you were losing both legs, it meant that we didn’t lose you truly…but no…” I slumped down in my seat. “Just…I want my family whole again…not fractured still…not one of my family split in half and going ‘well, at least you have a part of me’...but that’s never going to happen…” I shook my head weakly. “All because I just sat around and didn’t do anything…”

Crow sighed, taking a deep breath before moving and sitting next to Kira. "We can't change the past, and I'm too far to be reunited with my light half. We're both individual people… but that doesn't mean we both aren't still the same Crow you remember. I mean, sure L is a bit of a timid pushover but we have all the same memories. We are both still Crow… just not how we used to be."

“I…I know…” I sniffled. “But…I mean, Time exploded so technically…” I tried to joke, but Crow gave me a look of absolute confusion at that. “So apparently, while we were all busy with our lives…uh…Existence is at stake in a massive war?”

"Oh yeah, I heard about that from the Connection Empire." Crow said. "That would be what you're all part of, run by Cript and all them."

“What?” I asked in confusion now. “Seriously, how far behind are we?” I asked incredulously. “When the hell did this ‘Connection Empire’ happen?”

"Oh that's been a thing but that's besides the point." Crow shrugged. "Point is, even if time is as you said, exploded, that just means any Crow from the past, belongs to the past versions of you guys. In a way it's not the Crow you want… just, promise me something alright?"

“What’s the promise?”

"When you find L, my light half, make sure the others all take care of him right, alright?"

"Alright…I'll make sure he's taken care of…" I said, leaning over and hugging him. "I miss you big bro…"

"When this is all said and done with l, visit me in the realm of darkness. I plan on opening the kingdom up to some tourism once everything settles down."

"Hopefully it all settles down…" I sighed

"It will. It will probably just take a long time."

Dan's Training

"Alright, since Dan helped with cooking yesterday, his training starts today." Cript said as the Foretellers all sat in the living room the next morning. They all noticed Alex was in a much better mood, but didn't ask, the smell gave away the reason.

“Thank you, no sixth dimensional succubi to taunt me now!” Dan cheered.

Dan jumped at the sound of static, only to see Jenny smirking with a small radio in hand not tuned into a station.

"Jenny, that's not nice. Your first time with a fourth dimensional succubus is always the toughest." Alushy said. Jenny turned off the radio and put it away.

"So, today Kira will be helping me cook." Cript announced.

“Is it because Lan is going last?” Kira asked, though gulping in fear at what nonsense she’ll have to deal with.

"Yes. Now come on, we're making pizza."

She gave Cript an inquisitorial look. “What kind of pizza?” She asked, trying not to sound accusing that he might throw her into some eldritch hell as well just to make pizza.

"I'm partial to mushroom but we'll be making a bunch so if you have a preference." Cript shrugged.

“There’s…no catch to this?” She asked. “Like…no jumping into some dangerous pocket dimension world or having to hunt down giant monsters?”

"Not unless you count the supermarket for some ingredients dangerous." Cript said.

“Oh come on!” Dan and Alex shouted in pain.

"Come on now Dan. Scootaloo is waiting." Alushy said.

Dan looked around and found himself in, oddly, a library. Not that he was complaining, but he was definitely confused.

“Alright…” Dan started. “I expected a bit of physical training not…immediately hitting the books.”

"We're starting with your strengths." Dan jumped and turned, seeing Scootaloo was behind him.

“Please don’t do that…dad does it enough.” Dan sighed.

"So, in case you were wondering, this is The Library. Well, a copy. It's a whole planet sized library that houses every book every sentient species across the multiverse has ever written. Science, magic. Nonsense."

Dan’s eyes widened as he heard that. “I’m home…”

"For now." Scootaloo said as she walked around Alex. "Your first assignment is to read and memorize every single book to memory. Word for word, down to punctuation and context."

“Uh…every single book as in…?” Dan asked, kind of concerned she’s meaning he has to read an entire planet sized library of literally everything and to memorize it.

"Every. Single. Book." She confirmed with a nod.

“And…I can take as long as I want?” Dan asked.

"Yup."

Dan took a deep breath. “Alright…this is going to take an eternity and a half…best get started…” The snake sighed, grabbing a random book from the closest shelf and sitting down to read.

Dan's sense of time was long since was lost. He didn't count the days nor tried, but he read and read, at first at a normal pace, then faster, faster. Soon Dan could flip the pages of a book and know all they told. It took a long time but soon be did begin to memorize them. Sciences once beyond his understanding we're second nature. An entire Lexicons worth of knowledge sat in his head and many tales from creations far reaches were safely archived within his memory. Biology of every plant, animal, species and dimension variation are Imprinted into his brain.

Eventually, Dan finally closed the final book he had yet to read from The Library.

"Took you long enough." Dan jumped, seeing Scootaloo behind him again.

“Alright…” Dan said, bringing up a mug of coffee that one of the librarian’s were oh so thankful to give him as he gently sipped it. “Oh that’s still so good…how long?”

"Forty nine hundred million years."

Dan spat out his coffee.

“Fucking what!?” Dan asked in horror.

"Oh relax it's barely been two hours for you back time. Time fuckery is almost a specialty of mine at this point." Scootaloo said with a shrug.

“Still…” Dan said. “So…why don’t I feel or look older? Cause even if timey wimey nonsense happened…or is it because I’m a Vampire?”

"Bingo. You are a vampire, well, half anyway. You are capable of controlling your physically represented age at will."

"Huh, thought that, because I was half vampire, I had limits to all that." Dan pointed out.

"That's not how your type of halfbreed works. Anyway. Pop Quiz time." Scootaloo said, handing Dan a large stack of paper.

"Ugh…" Dan grumbled, sitting down and grabbing a pencil and casually writing down the answers, though grunting a bit at how…slow he was writing.

Dan filled out every question. When he finished Scootaloo took the huge quiz and graded it. She smirked as she finished. "Good. Not a single question wrong. Congratulations Dan, your Brain is officially a super computer."

“Fantastic…just need to work on my actions cause I felt…slow.” Dan frowned.

"Now onto practical application." Scootaloo said, snapping her fingers.

Dan suddenly found himself in a laboratory of sorts. All kinds of ingredients raw and refund as well as tools and equipment.

"Well, this looks like fun." Dan said, looking through everything quickly.

"Your goal here is a simple one." Scootaloo said. "You are going to create blank DNA."

"Uh…huh." Dan said, looking through all the ingredients. "That…well, that should be impossible but I literally read a book on how to do it."

"Exactly. Now, a recap. Blank DNA does not appear in nature but is instead manufactured. Most people would know it as Programmable Biological Material. However there are certain beings and Abilities that can create it. Can you tell me why that is?"

“Well, technically God’s of Life have the kind of ‘Blank DNA’ to be able to breed or bring to life anything and everything they want, comes with the territory of ‘Life’, and abilities…well there are plenty of ‘creation’ type abilities that, if needing to create certain living creatures, the old saying goes of ‘you can’t make something out of nothing’, so they would need to use Blank DNA to actually ‘create’ the baseline…then there’s the Bioengineers and all that nonsense that can range from okay to completely deplorable, adding in Blank DNA to living being’s and just changing that Blank DNA to fit whatever they want to add to their subject.” Dan explained.

"Yes. The main reason it does not form naturally in nature is because programed DNA and Blank DNA can not co-exist in the same body. The Programed DNA will imprint into the blank ones. Your job is to create a cell structure that can house and successfully create both Programed DNA and Blank DNA. It also needs to be able to program the Blank DNA into what it needs either through an external source or internal rapid evolution."

“Oh…so you basically want me to make Doomsday from DC?” Dan inquired. “Or…maybe 682 if you want to be extra niche.”

"No. Neither of those are prime examples of what we're looking for. 682 is cursed, and Doomsday isn't even close to what we need. No, the cell you need to make needs to be able to survive and thrive like no other cells have before. Something that can add, subtract and change itself on a dime, and keep stable in one change while holding the data of the others like a recessive gene."

"Alright." Dan nodded, cracking his knuckles as he immediately went to work. “Just…might need to worry about if it becomes sapient…and thinks it’s better than everyone…”

And so, Dan got to work.

The process of keeping the Programed and blank DNA's apart was perhaps the most tedious thing he has ever done but it was finally achieved thanks to several new sections he had to build for the cell. Many samples died, unable to support themselves let alone cell division but eventually he managed a single successful prototype that was exactly as needed. It held both the sets of genetics, would swap dominant and recessive genes out at will, program new DNA strands by taking from the Blank DNA strands and could complete cell division with ease.

"Not bad." Dan looked up, surprised to see Cript there.

“Thank you, this was, without a doubt, the most tedious horseshit I have ever had to do.” Dan frowned.

"Sounds about right." Cript said, examining the cells in the dish. "Hmm, an internal membrane to keep them from touching and contaminating the blank DNA strands and several new 'organs' to allow access and pull them in for programming. Clever."

“Yes, it only took me forever and a half to get it right…” Dan rubbed his eyes in annoyance. “Ugh, seriously, one minor slip up, a membrane just a micrometer too thin and the entire thing implodes on itself…”

"Well, playing god isn't easy. Especially the hard way of doing things." Cript said as he gave the dish back to Dan. "Congratulations Dan, you just invented a living Cell the Admin of Genetics couldn't create."

“Fucking what!?” Dan asked in absolute shock. “How and why?”

"Blank DNA was a thorn in his side for eons and he usually went to Evolution by mutations of existing DNA over time. He disliked the quick nature Blank DNA could be programmed and modified and stitched into existing genetics. So he rarely used it."

“And I can see why.” Dan sighed.

"You did good Dan. I'm proud of you."

“Thanks dad…it’s what I do.” Dan shrugged, finding this tedious task just another thing that he had to complete to perfection.

"Now onto combat training." Scootaloo said, appearing behind Dan and grabbing him by the arms.

Dan was an intellectual. He did not, or rather, rarely work out. Even when fighting he went for swings and attacks that took minimum effort to deal the most damage.

Even after dating Rainbow Dash he didn't really train or exercise.

"It's literally two five pound weights…" Scootaloo said, looking at Dan as he was already tired after twenty lifts with two one handed five pound weights.

“Shush you.” Dan huffed. “I don’t exercise, I am an intellectual, I do all my work in my head and with magic so bite me.” He growled.

Dan yelped as Scootaloo bit him on the arm.

“I didn’t mean literally!” Dan shouted angrily, trying to get her off of him.

"Oh relax." Scootaloo said as she let go of his arm. "I didn't bite that hard. Besides, your main weakness is your physical strength. So you need to now focus on your physical strength and resistance."

“Well sorry to disappoint you, but that’s probably never going to happen.” Dan said, which honestly hurt him on a more deeper level that he had to disappoint his new family so suddenly.

Scootaloo whacked him on the back of his head. "New rule. From now on, shut that brain off while exercising. No thinking, just doing the motions."

Dan sighed. “Fine, fine…” He said, Scootaloo seeing the poor teen already deflating at that and…well, going through the motions like she asked.

After two hours, Dan was on the ground. Arms too sore to move as he laid on the mat. Scootaloo sat next to him. "So, why the perfectionists?"

“Cause that’s what my old family wanted, it’s what my new family needed, and it’s what I need to do right now after everything.” Dan answered as simply as he breathed.

"Who said we needed perfection?" Scootaloo asked.

“Cause any flaws in what you're doing will get those closest to you hurt, the smallest mistake gets you scolded and makes all your achievements mean nothing, and I’ve personally experienced what my mistakes have cost me.” Dan explained simply.

"Mistakes can also be fun." Scootaloo said.

“Only for those that can make mistakes…” Dan muttered bitterly. “That are allowed…”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Man, your parents from your old family really traumatized you."

“Nah, really?” Dan asked sarcastically. “Why do you think I’m here and not back with those assholes?”

"Armageddon and a merciful God?"

Dan rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, that all did indeed happen.” Dan sighed.

To Dan's surprise, Scootaloo laid next to him, a closeness he only felt when with Rainbow Dash. "You really need to take a mental health day."

“When the fate of the world is always teetering towards destruction because some assholes believe it’s cosher to just mindlessly slaughter everything or, and get this, when you believe one of your closest allies becomes evil because…reasons?” Dan asked. “Yeah, reasons, I do not understand a single one of their arguments besides ‘we angy, your not perfect, go fuck yourselves’.” Dan said angrily.

"Oh you mean Crow's group?"

“Yes!” Dan tried to fling his arms up but couldn’t because they were still sore. “Literally all of them blame us for not saving them against that Psychopath version of Ava, yeah, I get it, we were literally outmatched, but then…all the other arguments I heard were just…what? Why? Bulk wanted to be stronger than Jenny? Okay you didn’t need to be an asshole about it like right now. Featherweight? I’m sorry but how does becoming a villain that wants all life to end actually help in your demented sense of what heroism should be? Gilda? Well that’s just Lan’s fault for being denser than a brick wall and her just being a complete bitch…though again, happy her and Featherweight got together, they probably look adorable.” Dan shrugged. “Wallflower? Oh that’s clearly both their faults, Alex for not paying attention and Wallflower for…fuck, not being her namesake and being a wallflower? And Zephyr, oh don’t even fucking get me started on that lazy prick!” Dan shouted. “He was the best student I had, he was doing fantastic, I even thought he could surpass me in some areas and I would have been cool with it…but fucking nooo, I make a mistake, one fatal mistake, and all his hard work, all that effort, he just throw’s away to be a fucking ChronoTwister and double down on both his laziness and shity personality!” Dan ranted, panting heavily as he finally got that whole thing out.

Scootaloo let Dan breath again after that for a while before speaking. "Feel better after venting?"

“No…” Dan shook his head. “Because one mistake made them all go from our most trusted allies, and good friends, into our enemies because…literally out of pettiness…and it infuriates me to absolutely no end that all of this…all of this…” Dan tried to reign in his emotions, tried to stay mentally strong, trying to do literally anything not to let the one emotion out that he’s been blocking for the longest time. “All this because we didn’t believe Crow…all he did was feed into their petty bullshit, making them believe we never gave a shit, and twisting what was good about them into mere shadow’s of their former selves…” He said, Scootaloo literally seeing him shudder as he kept his emotions bottled up…his true emotions.

"And you can't let that go?"

"No…" Dan shook his head, desperately trying to ignore the truth and the pain in his heart.

"Why? Were you and Zephyr close?"

"He was my best student, he was so close…I didn't want my students to be perfect, but Zephyr was so close….all that hard work, all that effort, all the blood sweat and tears that were spent with him that I helped him through…he was the closest friend I had…but to see him…to see him die…to see him throw all of that away just because I wasn't perfect, to double down on all the negatives I tried to help him push past…" Dan explained.

"You were the only one to believe in him." Scootaloo stated.

"I mean, Fluttershy also believed in him, and the times when she thanked me for helping her brother be who she believed he could be…" Dan trailed off. "It just…hurts to see her now…that I failed both her and Zephyr…"

"One failure doesn't invalidate all your success."

“But one failure did.” Dan stated. “And that’s what Zephyr is now…one mistake that invalidated all that success…and what’s to say that one failure…” Dan trailed off, stopping himself as he took a shaky breath, trying to hold down his emotions again. ”Just…this one…this one failure…”

"Do your other students see it that way?"

“I…haven’t really talked to them besides getting some status reports on Ladybug’s world getting rebuilt and on some other spy business…after that…” Dan sighed. “They already noticed, and thankfully they're giving me space…”

"Yeah. You are a person. They know people can only do so much."

“But…I’m their leader, I should be able to…” Dan frowned, still trying to reign in his growing emotions the more he talked. “I shouldn’t have let this happen…if only they just blamed us for their death’s…told us we were too weak then maybe this would all be so much easier…” He muttered, Scoot’s seeing a very bad train of thought brewing in Dan’s mind, one that would lead to a destructive spiral for his own physical and psychological health.

"You ever think they don't blame you?" Scootaloo asked.

“Who?” Dan asked. “My students? Well, I doubt they do because they wouldn’t be my students if they did…” Dan pointed out. “Family couldn’t cause…well, we’re all in this together, no use blaming each other…”

"I mean Zephyr, Gilda, Featherweight, Bulk, do you think they blame you? Think real hard on it. Did Zephyr directly tell you he blamed you for him dying?"

“Zephyr was too busy distracting me and using an amalgamation of my dead student’s to keep me busy, Gilda…yes, she kinda did blame Lan for believing she was a ‘Crow 2.0’...with how Kira explained it, yes he does blame her for the sole purpose of ‘being a coward’ when he’s the one that immediately grabbed at the chance of ‘having fun’ with being a bad guy,” Dan rolled his eyes. “Bulk…probably not? I mean, he originally took that slice of humble pie quite well…but considering now…” Dan frowned. “So…kinda sorta yes? They do blame all of us in their own way.”

"And you're gonna let that determine your value and success?"

“Oh no, if it was just them blaming us for their death’s, that would be easy to get past.” Dan said almost instantly. “We would have been able to get past it and…at least, maybe bring them back, save them from the control of Crow and all that darkness…but as I said before, they’re blaming us for petty, spiteful reasons that…that just makes it worse for some reason…”

"And what makes you think Crow is controlling them?"

“Considering he’s our version of Vanitas…I wonder why.” Dan rolled his eyes. “Crow, at least his evil self, would be fueling their negative emotions, especially when he fuzed them with Unversed, having each of them under a leash that he would be ‘oh no, this totally isn’t something that will bite everyone in the ass later’, and giving them this sense of freedom either to spite us cause he would, or when we have a ‘final battle’, it’ll really dig a knife into us that when we’re trying to save them from the darkness, he’ll just send them into a blind uncontrollable rage that we’ll have to…put them down like rabid animals.” Dan said, immediately assuming the worst considering he has read not only worse things happening, but also…this exact situation in many other versions from all the books he read.

"Dan." Scootaloo said with authority as he looked over at her. "Tell me. What happens to a split heart, specifically one that's balanced, when it's split into two entities for so long?"

Dan quickly scoured his memory. Of the many texts he read few talked on Hearts and their nature but the ones that did were informative. A split, balanced heart in two individual forms will eventually rebuild their missing halves, just as a pure form of whatever half they are. This however also changes them as pure hearts of light and darkness are rare and their new wholeness will be a slightly altered form of the original whole heart.

“Well…the split hearts would slowly grow their opposite halves, but would be altered in minor ways that would make them different from the original, so if the light half would grow their darkness, they would be a lot more kind without a lot of negatives…while the dark half would just be a lot more spiteful but not overtly evil I suppose.”

"And let me ask you this. If Crow's light half holds all the love and care he has for you, and his dark half held the hatred and betrayal, upon the initial split this defined them. However, now that Dark and Light Crow are regrowing those missing halves, Dark Crow replaced what where love and care for you with an indifference, but for Light Crow, where Hatred and anger once rested now most likely only exists worry and regret. Dark Crow is moving on with his growth while Light Crow is more than likely becoming more and more concerned for you all. And full of self loathing."

“Please…just…just stop…” Dan said, managing to get up as he tried to get back to his very meager lifting, hoping to ignore how now outrageously brilliant mind telling him the one thing he really doesn’t want to admit, cause the negatives are…are too much.

"Dan." Scootaloo said again, pulling him back down to the matted floor. "It might already be too late to Save Crow's two halves. Once they each form complete hearts, only a willful reunion will fuse them. Dark Crow will not willingly refuse. And he, nor will his new family want your help."

“No…” Dan shook his head, desperate for something, anything to make actual sense now. “No, that…please, just stop…” The poor brainiac pleaded weakly, the cold logic at war with his faithful heart.

"The only thing you can do, is to find his light half." Scootaloo said, Dan looking over at her. "His light half is fundamentally linked to you all as it's foundation. The Crow you knew might not be able to come back but at least you can save a part of him. The part that always cared for and loved you all as family."

“How many times do I have to ask you to stop!” Dan shouted, the snake getting up even as the ground itself was starting to freeze over from his magic starting to react to his worsening emotions and thoughts. “Please, just stop…” Dan said, shaking as he tried to keep his emotions in, keep himself from breaking down.

“Dan…” Scootaloo sighed out. “Sorry…but you failed.” The pegasus told Dan bluntly. “You failed to save your friends,” She stared at the teen slowly starting to hyperventilate. “You failed to save Crow,” She stated, the poor teen’s eyes tearing up as the words crashed into him. “And you failed to be a good brother.” She said, finally seeing the final cracked wall of his psyche break as he fell to his knees.

“N-no…no I…I didn’t…” Dan clutched at his head, desperate to stop it all from getting to him. “No…I didn’t fail…cause…cause if I failed…then…then…” Dan tried to find some simple answer to ignore the pain, to stop the cascade of rage, regret, pain, and sorrow…of all his past failures slamming down into him in one tidal wave of emotions and memories. “Then why am I even here?” He asked, barely a whisper as the damn finally broke, the too smart for his own good perfectionist finally sobbing in grief and regret.

Scootaloo kneeled down, holding Dan tight as years of emotions, from well before his new life after 2012 til now all flooded out. A weight Dan had carried his whole life finally lifting as tears long since held back flowed without restraint.

When the sobbing finally slowed to a stop, Scootaloo spoke again. "Why are you here? To be loved. To be yourself. To persevere. To learn from failure and work to succeed the next time. And, most importantly, you're here to live. To find who and what makes you happy, and cherish and protect it."

“But…I failed…” Dan sniffled. “Everything…we can’t save Crow…not like how we’ve desperately tried to…we can’t save our friend’s cause they're all…”

"Then you do what you do best Dan." Scootaloo said taking Dan's head in her hands and looking into his eyes. "You learn to avoid the same mistake the next time."

“No…those were mistakes…these are failures…two completely different things that…when you're like me, question literally everything about yourself, and why you're even doing this when you’ve failed so many other times in a very painful emotional domino effect…”

"Then you open up to your family, let them in to ease the burden. They're all feeling just as bad Dan. Carrying this weight alone will crush you, but carrying it with your family, the people who know your pain just as well and who you trust more than anything."

“I mean…my pain is a lot deeper than just ‘we fucked up’...but alright…” Dan sighed, trying to get some semblance of control back. “I’ll…I’ll try…”

"Good. Now, while you're laying on the mat. Thirty curl ups."

Dan’s groan could be heard for miles. “Fine…” He muttered, starting to do some curl ups.

Dan focused many hours, days, weeks, ECT into some basic exercise routines. All his newly released emotions helped fuel his motivation and soon the routines became more competitive and intense.

At some point Dan actually looked himself over… he had to admit, he looked like he came right out of one of Rainbow Dash's sports posters. His muscles were firm but not oversized, and his torso held a six pack he never imagined himself with. He also beat Dash's track record. Something he'll keep to himself for now.

"Alright, you're finally in shape." Scootaloo said.

“I…didn’t expect this…and or looking this good at being fit.” He said honestly,.

"Definitely gonna make Rainbow drop her jaw." Scootaloo chuckled. "Now, in terms of weapons you usually fought with magic, right?"

“Usually, but I also like to use a sword for the special snake style of sword play I’ve been trying to master.” He shrugged. “Favorite is the Rattle Strike, basically turning my weapon into a High Frequency Blade with the sounds of a Rattlesnake to…well, stay on brand as Alex would say.”

"I see. In that case I think I know the best options." Scootaloo said, first pulling a book from thin air. "This is a Lexicon similar to what King uses. Not only does it house every magic spell in the multiverse it also grants a boost to magic regeneration, magic reserves and cuts magic spell cost by half."

“Who’s King?” Dan asked, gently taking the Lexicon. “Though…I probably should know due to process of elimination it should be ___.” Dan started…then blinked. “Oh come on, what the hell.” Dan groaned. “What happened?”

"He had to trade his name for some special immortality. You can still say the name Ben, but not to call him that. Hence their new name, King."

“Right then.” Dan nodded. “So, got myself a really good magic book.” He said with a smile, opening it and sifting through the pages.

"Up next, this special sword." Scootaloo said, pulling out a wavy short sword from this air. She swung it, pressing a button as suddenly the metal took on a rope, or whip like ability and even grew while retaining it's sharpness. With another press of the button the blade returned back to normal.

“Now that’s cool.” Dan said with a smile. “Though…gonna need to learn how to use a whip…that’s not gonna be fun.”

"And lastly. This." Scootaloo pulled up a ring. It was shaped into the image of a blue snake. "This ring can effectively make you the perfect spy. It can make you invisible, intangible, create a near perfect illusion as camouflage and alter your voice to match the camouflage."

“Wow…” Dan blinked in honest surprise, taking the ring and putting it on. “This…seems like a little overkill…”

"You are supposed to be the spy, right? Better overkill than under kill."

“And I am going to abuse this maliciously.” Dan said with a grin.

"Now, let's get to practice with them." Scootaloo said, snapping her fingers and suddenly the two were now in… a city?

"Uh, what kinda city are we in?" Dan inquired, looking around at the architecture to know where they are.

"This is one of the Playgrounds. Replica planets. Has all the buildings, landmarks and geography of the original, minus intelligent life and animals."

“Right then.” Dan nodded. “So why are we here? Gonna do some weird Spider-Man meets Indiana Jones nonsense?” He inquired.

"This is where you'll be training on your sneak, your sword, spells, Infiltration, espionage, and assassination."

“Alright.” He nodded. “What’s my first objective?”

"With them." Scootaloo pointed up with a thumb.

Dan looked up, and to his surprise, spotted Nightwing, Robin, Cat Woman, and Batman.

“Oh I’m not going to like this am I?” Dan gulped in fear,

“Bingo.” Nightwing chuckled.

"In case you're wondering, we're not part of your family. We just work as teachers and in exchange Cript makes our gear in mass production." Batman said.

"Yeah. Enough batarangs and utility belt gadgets to last a whole Arkham Breakout." Robin said with a smirk.

“Yeah…that makes sense.” Dan nodded. “So…this is going to be a nightmare and a half…so where do we begin?”

"Gymnastics." Robin, Nightwing and Cat Woman all said simultaneously.

“Well…it’s a good thing I’m flexible…” Dan muttered, thankful that his snake training made him rather flexible.

And so, over the next several years, Dan was able to keep track this time, the Bat family trained the Foreteller in the arts of sneaking, agility, and combat. Cat Woman was his teacher in infiltration, espionage, and assassination. NightWing taught Dan gymnastics, aerial acrobatics, and martial arts. Robin taught Dan all about how to utilize gadgets, the environment, and size difference between yourself and larger enemies to your own advantage.

Lastly, Batman continually pushed Dan's mental faculties. Helping him deduct from clues, formulate plans, back up plans, backup back up plans and so forth as well as thinking and keeping ten steps ahead of an appointment. And, should all plans go out the window, how to improvise on the spot.

It was grueling, agonizing hard work both mentally and physically, but Dan had to admit. He felt like a real superhero for once. Letting his inner fan and nerd out and enjoy being taught by the Bat Family.

Finally, after three long years, Dan had completed every test, bested each Bat Family member in their specified fields, and felt really good about himself.

“That…feel’s great.” Dan said with a smile.

"Somehow I knew they would be better at teaching you than me." Scootaloo said as she walked up to Dan.

“What were you going to do if they weren’t here?” Dan asked nervously.

"Call one of the others. Multiverse, multiverse of Multiverse. Odds of all of them being busy at once is really low."

“Fair enough.” Dan admitted. “So, what’s next?”

"Next, Alushy will take over. So, back to your house with you then." Scootaloo said.

Dan then found himself back home. Seeing it again after being gone for so long yet no real time had passed here was an interesting feeling. He sighed in relief. He sat outside and waited.

“This has been…one hell of a training session...” Dan grumbled, rubbing his temples as he still mentally felt like complete garbage.

"Ah, good you're back." Dan looked up and immediately fell over. Alushy was in a very thin, tight fitted two piece bikini as she walked onto the front porch. "So how was training?"

“Still…trying to process things.” Dan sighed. “Like having to pick up a freshly fallen domino set of my failures making me wonder why I’m even bothering anymore when I’m trying not to believe all my hard work means literally fuck nothing…and why are you in a that bikini?” Dan asked, now just realizing she was in a very skimpy and lewd two piece.

"We have a pool now and I was enjoying the water." She said simply with a smile. She then pulled Dan in for a hug. The skin to skin contact with his basically nude mother made him blush brightly. "And don't feel discouraged, everything will get better."

“I doubt it…” Dan said. “Existential crises don’t just disappear after one mental breakdown…” He shook his head. “Especially with how…pointless it is to try and save our friends…and save Crow…” He muttered, hating everything that he’s saying but, at this point, he felt like they had to put them down for all this shit.

"So? My life seemed pointless at one time. Now look at me." Alushy said, letting Dan go as she took a step back and snapped her fingers, now adorned in her usual attire. "I'm a badass dark goddess of chaos and blood vampire mamma."

Dan sighed, mentally pushing away that whole conversation as he shook his head. “Alright, so what are we going to do now?”

"I'm going to be teaching you about your vampire side. Which mainly consists of you killing and eating a bunch of evil people."

“That’s…not gonna help my mental state but sure, let’s go with that.” Dan nodded. “Let’s go…murder.”

With a nod, Alushy opened a portal that the two stepped into.

The city Dan found himself in reminded him heavily of Gotham. Dark, the stench of grime and crime was thick in the air, and police sirens went off in the distance.

"Welcome to Petrosis." Alushy said as she waved a hand around. "One of the most corrupt cities in the multiverse. They got gang violence, corruption in politics and police, drugs, super villains, and terrorist both home grown and exotic."

“This place fucking reeks, and I don’t know if it’s because of the garbage or…something else…” Dan said, his face scrunched up in disgust as he waved his hand over his sensitive nose.

"Probably a mix of lots of things." Alushy said. "Now, I know you spent time in The Library, so, tell me, what does our specific breed of vampire specialize in when we eat people?"

“We literally absorb our victim’s souls through their blood, absorbing their memories, bodies, and abilities that we later use as slaves.” Dan started. “We can also smell the sin’s of who we’re hunting, able to determine how terrible they are based on intent as well as the kind of crime…which…might explain why this place smells worse than Alex’s room after Pinkie leaves.” Dan shuddered. “Seriously…do those two not know what Febreeze is?”

Alushy chuckled. "In any case, normally I'd start you kids off with animals, but in your case, you'll be starting off with monsters and the like."

“So who am I hunting first?” Dan inquired. “And is there any other vigilante out there that I should know about or is this world just filled with assholes?”

"Sadly it's all bad people and their victims. You are going to use your newly Acquired skills and training to purge the city of these monsters one bad guy at a time. Starting with the runaway illegal genetic experiments some of these big pharma companies never bothered to deal with when they escaped."

“Fair enough.” Dan nodded. ‘This is going to be…oh so fun.” Dan sighed. “So just hunt down the genetic experiment…that should be simple enough.”

With that Dan was off. He could smell the evil in the air. It was like a miasma that dug into the air, ground and buildings. Corruption in its truest form.

As he ran across rooftops he stopped suddenly. Something… familiar caught his nose. He couldn't place it but it gave him a sense of dread. It simultaneously wreaked of evil yet also lacked major sins. From scent alone and his knowledge from The Library he could distinguish the different smells of the sins. Petty theft, transporting less than lethal items, one armed robbery…

The information set off bells in Dan's head but he couldn't connect them…

Then he saw him.

Dan stood on a rooftop across the street from a ground level cafe. Sitting there and drinking an iced coffee… was Crow.

“Im…impossible…” Dan muttered in horror, not caring if he was about to blow his cover…he…he dropped down and carefully walked towards him. “Crow?”

Crow looked over at Dan. A look of surprise hit his face before quickly being replaced by annoyance. "Fuck." He sighed. "What are you doing here?"

“Better question is, the fuck are you doing here?” Dan asked.

"Having an iced coffee?" Crow questioned with a raised brow, shaking the drink in his hand. "This world is so close to the realm of darkness it's basically my next door neighbor."

Dan rubbed his temples. “Ah, yes, cause apparently the realm of darkness doesn’t have any Starbucks where you're at.”

"Sadly." Crow shrugged as he took a sip of his drink. "And what about you? What brings you to this neck of the multiverse?"

“I’m here to…basically purge the entire planet in a tidal wave of retribution, blood, and a lot of pent up rage against you and your pettiness brigade.”

"Huh. Didn't take you all for the righteous furry type. Then again your vampire half is literally called the Judgement Vampires. Not just blood but souls, memories and ECT you eat. Surprised you're all acting on that."

“We’ve been suppressing our Vampire abilities for as long as we’ve had them.” Dan answered. “We’re finally learning about what we need to do to get stronger.” Dan shrugged. “So…I have a simple question…have you regrown your light half yet?” Dan asked Crow carefully.

Crow was quiet, drinking his beverage before speaking. "I wouldn't call it a light half exactly. It's still all darkness filling in the missing chunk. But if you want a number the Doc says it's about eighty percent done."

Dan took a deep breath. “And…there’s no way you’ll ever…choose to become one after this?” He asked. “Even if we all want you back and…basically plead for your forgiveness after what you showed us?”

"I told you all already. I moved on. Can't speak for my light half though. Poor bastard is obsessed with you all and seeking redemption. It's sad really."

“It’s not.” Dan said simply. “And honestly, we should be the one’s seeking redemption from you and your light half…seriously? Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

"Would you have listened?" Crow asked simply. "I tried to tell Lan when he visited me. And he hung up the phone and left the second I mentioned my boss. None of you visited after that, and until Core showed up and freed me from my other half I hadn't seen or spoken to you all till the reunion at your new home. Course back then I was basically nothing but my rage and hatred so I didn't even bother to tell you all my side of the story."

“Yes, yes, Lan screwed the pooch, we know.” Dan rolled his eyes. “But yes, yes we would have, if you just said something sooner…not literally in juvie where the first thing you say sounds like your boss is more important than us…which, again, it was just a lot of miscommunication based on Lan being denser than a brick, and you just…not saying the right thing at that moment.” Dan admitted.

"...Would it have mattered? Didn't have much time anyway." Crow said, taking another sip of his coffee. "They were going to move us."

“Yes, it would have.” Dan stated bluntly. “It would have mattered immensely, cause not only would you still be with us, as our brother…we would have understood why you chose to do something like that, we would have supported you, we wouldn’t have…we wouldn’t have let Core take you…” Dan sighed.

"Didn't you hear me dip shit! They were going to move us!" Crow yelled, making Dan take a step back. "I overheard the orphanage people talking about it. Lan and I were already too old for adoption, they were going to ship us off to some Catholic run orphanage and school in Georgia and Kira was gonna be shipped to a foster home in New York! Right after new years! Believe me, had I known we'd all end up in some other world and shit, I wouldn't have done anything but I didn't know, none of us did! I won't lie and say I don't have blame in this but I did what I did to keep us together and I'd do it all again."

“Then why didn’t you say anything!” Dan shouted at Crow, causing him to flinch at that sudden outburst. “Holy hell, if you just said we were basically being flung all across the US, you’d beat your now edgefield ass we would have at least done something to stay together, cause fuck being seperated like that.” Dan stated bluntly. “Like, jesus dude, we all rag on Lan for being denser than a brick and not asking for help, but this was literally the one time, the one time...”

"Like what?! What could we have done? If I said anything the whole group would have gone insane. You of all people should talk, or did you forget how many times you asked to stay at my little hide away to get away from your parents? How many personal items you kept there because they wouldn't approve of it? Or Jenny when she had to get away from her dad's bullcrap? Or Alex when he was sick of all his family's high society shit? What could we have done back then wise guy? A bunch of underage, unemployed and sick of our own lives kids could have done?"

Dan tried to think, a comeback or argument… but nothing came. He knew, very well, all too well that back then… they were all utterly powerless.

“We would have had each other." Dan said finally. "We would have been a family, been together…it didn't matter what the world threw at us, as long as we had each other…remember?" Dan asked.

"Yeah… until that was taken from us too. Face it Dan. We all screwed up back then, and I'm moving on. You want someone to feel like you'll be whole, go find my light half, wherever that idiot ran off to."

“We’ve been hunting for him for a while now, and of course he immediately ran…” Dan sighed. “And…honestly? No…you didn’t move on, cause hey, Gilda bitched to Lan about being a ‘replacement Crow’, why not get a replacement for us?” Dan asked.

"... Guess I still miss having a family." Crow said flatly. "And like you all, I'm making one. People are social. It's why I saved them."

“Ah, yes, ‘saved them’, that’s totally what happened.” Dan rolled his eyes. “And no, you have no argument to literally any of this after you personally lead a group to try and kill us, kidnap our students corpses, and then did terrible experiments on them.” Dan frowned. “But no, you ‘saved’ them, by fueling their negative emotions to hell and back…and making our closest friends that we trusted turn into Unversed Hybrids and fueled their negative traits to the point it’s now just pure spite that’s fueling them.” Dan frowned. “But please, try and argue how raising corpses and ‘making a new family’ is so much better…when we’ve been trying to find you, trying to save you…and bring you home…”

Crow said nothing as he took another drink of his coffee, and finally finishing the last of the beverage. "If you think that's how the process works you couldn't be more wrong. Yes it uses darkness to reanimate the bodies but so does Necromancy and it's not inherently evil or bad when used properly. First you repair the body. Darkness being used to replace and repair missing or damaged tissue. Next is pulling the soul from the afterlife and the heart out of Kingdom Hearts. Not easy but possible since the body is alive again. After that'l it's just putting the two back in and letting them acclimate to the changes in the body. While the body is made from darkness it does not actually effect them simply because it's not darkness native to their hearts. It's native to the realm of darkness. Core made it almost like a form of biogel for heartless but works just as well on people and corpses."

“Wow, that’s very informative if I didn’t already know how to do that in eighty trillion different ways.” Dan admitted. “And boy howdy does Core sound like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

"If that was the case then you'd know the process doesn't fuel any negative traits in them. They're no different than before they died mentally."

“So about the part where you literally fused them with Negative Emotions made manifest?” Dan deadpanned. “That’s the part you seem to forget here, Unversed aren’t just that…they are literally Negative Emotions given physical form, and hey would you look at that, all of them are hybrid’s with the Unversed.”

"They asked for that." Crow said simply. "Yes I manifested their negative emotions into physical mutations but that was it. It's not like I'm linked to them."

“So…to prove my point…you said they agreed to this procedure…” Dan took a deep breath. “You said they agreed to have negative emotions mutate them…and then it fuels their negative traits to god knows how much after the fact.”

"Yeesh, when did you get this bitchy?" Crow asked as he picked his ear.

“It happens when I’m talking to an idiot that thinks they know better, especially after having an existential crisis to the point I was wondering why I’m still even alive due to all my failures in life.”

Crow rolled his eyes. "Then get over them. Or don't, go find my light half and leave me the hell alone."

Dan sighed. “That’s not going to happen, cause your still Crow…we still want to save you and make thing’s right…but one more question…do they blame us for their deaths? Or…is it just their negative emotions making them all sound…like that?”

"... You of all people know how bottled up emotions can erupt in ugly ways." Crow said. "For them, it had already been years since they died and came back. When I asked if they wanted to come along it brought up old memories they suppressed for all that time. Call it pettiness or call it trauma, they're alive and living well back in the realm of darkness. Not that you'll take my word on it but… I know Wallflower does blame Alex. The others either don't care or are just trying to get on with their new lives."

“Listen, Wallflower’s whole bit, that’s just both of them not saying anything.” Dan rolled his eyes. “I mean come on, does no one write love letters anymore in highschool? Hell, just give him a flower and he’ll come running for the hill’s…though he really should have noticed as well.” Dan shook his head.

"To be fair I think Alex dodged a bullet, no pun intended, with that. A new resident to our growing city and Wallflower have been dating for a while and we'll, let's just say not even Alex is that perverted…"

“No…no he is.” Dan said. “Cause he found Multiversal Pornhub and boy howdy is Pinkie and her sisters excited…”

Crow simply pulled out a phone and showed Dan a picture. Den then threw up. "That was when we installed heavy magic soundproofing and made them close all blinds on their house."

“That’s not perverted, that’s just disgusting.” Dan coughed.

"Told you."

“Ugh…but again, no…I’m sure Alex is more perverted…I think dad once said ‘don’t look up Rune’...I don’t know why, but I’m sure Alex did anyway.” Dan shook his head.

Crow flipped some images and showed Dan. Who immediately got a nose bleed then also looked away as one of the images has his mother in them, Alushy. "You do know your family makes and sells like, a Fuck ton of porn right? All kinds too. Apparently it makes up a whole ten percent of your kingdom's income."

“One…no idea what Kingdom your talking about, we’re still out of the loop for…a lot of things, two…porn of my mother not withstanding…also uh…who’s the giant sexy anthro wolf lady uh…doing all that?” He asked, not knowing how or why they got on the topic of porn in general but…he’s now down this rabbit hole.

"King. You knew them as that white coat wearing Nobody user. Yes, it is them. Yes, they also make a lot of porn. How are you all so out of the loop?"

"We've been busy, not having much time to go off world after Daybreak literally exploded and…well, nobody visited us…" Dan sighed.

"Yeesh. The fact I know more aboutyour own family, kingdom and their now so little fetishes is actually depressing. Granted that last part is because Wallflower literally owns the city's only porn and adult store for… all that. Anyway, I'll be off before you see what happened to Eclipse and Heart, er, Zeke."

"We…kinda know about him, cause of the whole…Daybreak exploded thing." Dan said.

"Ah, so you know about their whole giant wolf Naga thing and also being King and Eclipsa, Eclipse, kid cause King screwed an alternative future version of themselves?"

Dan was still and silent.

"I'm…I'm just gonna…" Dan started as he got up. "Yeah…but can you tell your new group something?" Dan asked.

"Doubt they'll want to hear it when I say it's from you but go ahead."

"We're sorry…but You wanted this." Dan said simply, but somehow to Crow, he honestly felt a chill run up his spine when Dan said that vague statement. "If they understand or want to care…at this point, who gives a shit….but whatever happens to them…they asked for it."

"Sure. Don't know what you're expecting, but given you all you think everything I'm building is bad."

"Oh, was the charity for cancer done before or after you slaughtered a quarter of a planet?" Dan asked pointedly.

"And like what you're about to do here is any better?" Crow asked, making Dan look away. "Believe me or not, but my motives are not based on revenge. Not anymore." Crow snapped his fingers, opening a DTD behind him. "I just want a home of my own now." And with that, he walked into it, the DTD closing behind him.

Dan sighed, rubbing his temples bitterly. "Why can't shit be simple anymore?" He grumbled. "Be done with this, beat Crow and his 'family' in ways that would make them regret their choices, showing them that their choices have intrinsically dangerous consequences…but no…way to try and make me feel even more like shit universe."

Dan ran, letting his mind blank as he followed his nose. Quickly he found the first bunch of mutated monsters… and got angry. So much anger… and two targets to throw it at.

Dan immediately cast a stasis spell on one of them, the spell so strong that they were practically frozen in time as the mutant witnessed the other get tackled to the ground in an instant, a monster biting into it's flesh and turning it into a prune rapidly.

Dan rapidly hunted down every mutant monster in the city. Leaving not even a corpse behind. When he couldn't find more, he moved into people.

His first victim, the stench reaked of human trafficking and murder. It was all a blur of wrath and anger as each sinner was slain and eaten. When Dan was finally done, only a few thousand people remained in the city, most children, victims or travelers who were passing through.

"That was impressive." Alushy said as she walked up to Dan, who was caked in blood of countless. "You're a natural berzerker."

"This fucking sucks mom…" Dan groaned. "And not just because I saw porn of you…"

"Oh, you saw the videos? Now don't feel bad about that, but, I'm guessing you still don't feel better huh?"

"No!" Dan shouted. "Why in fucks sake would I be okay! Yet again Crow acts like he's on some moral high ground and acting like 'i'm totally not doing pure evil things', and acts like half of everything that's going on isn't his fault!" He snapped. "Because he acts like that…because I care too fucking much…"

Alushy sighed, taking her son into a tight hug. "I know it's not easy, but remember, he is only half of the Crow you remember. And, with his condition he's becoming more and more an independent entity. I know it hurts, but that isn't all the Crow you remember. It's half."

"But he acts like me doing all of this is pointless, like how dare I try to stop that bastard from hurting more people….that our friends wanted to be literally their worst selves by choice…"

"If they chose to be that way then you don't have a right to force them to be different. All you can do in the end is, maybe one day talk to them and set boundaries. Or, if worst comes to worst, just let them go. Cause if you don't like who they choose to be, then maybe the version of them you knew was never really the real them.*

"Maybe…" Dan muttered. "But…probably didn't help that I gave a vague threat to them…" Dan said nervously.

"People make mistakes Dan. And that's okay. We learn from them, and grow."

"Hopefully…" Dan sighed out. "Everything hurts…" He sniffled, feeling tears brimming again.

"It's okay, it's okay, mamma's here." Alushy said as she pat Dan on the back, rubbed his head and held him close.

Dan's birth mother was strict, and not affectionate. He hugged Alushy back, feeling like a little kid again but finally feeling accepted, imperfections and all.

Back home, Dan took a good long shower. His clothes were basically ruined but thankfully he knew magic to undo all the damages.

He entered his room, a personal library and laboratory all in one. In a chair by his bed sat a board looking Rainbow Dash, eyes reading over a Daring Doo book she'd already read several times before.

"Hey Dash." Dan said to his girlfriend.

"Oh, hey Daaaaaaaaamn…" Rainbow said, looking up and seeing Dan.

It was at this moment Dan reminded all he had on were his tank top and boxers.

"Uh…yeah, sorry." Dan blushed a bit. "Forgot how I was…dressed…"

"What the heck happened?!" Rainbow asked as she bred up, circling Dan in shock at how much he changed. She then poked his arms chest and legs. "Woah. And just when I was all used to your old squishy body."

"A…lot happened…" Dan sighed out. "A lot of painful things happened…."

"You… wanna talk about it?" Rainbow asked. Dan knew neither he nor Rainbow were very good at talking about deeper emotional issues. The fact she offered surprised him a little.

"Yeah…" Dan said. "I would…so you ever felt like the entire world comes crashing down on you in waves of past failures?"

"Oddly, kinda." Dash nodded. She and Dan took a seat on the bed.

"Really?" Dan asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, my one thing my parents want from me is to get Into a good college. Now, they don't have the best jobs in the world so their savings for my college fund are minimum. I was hoping to get in on a scholarship. We both know Academics is out of the question, so sports was the best option. I spent every season on pretty much every team hoping to impress some scouters when the end of senior year comes along."

"And…it hasn't worked out so far?" Dan asked nervously.

"Basically." Rainbow sighed. "Before the break some scouters were here. I put all my effort into the sports and I didn't get a single one to talk to me."

"Yeah…yeah that would do it." Dan said sadly. "Don't know why they wouldn't talk to you, you're amazing."

"Me neither, but I didn't let it bum me out too much. My parents said they wanted me to get Into a good college. They never said when I had to." Rainbow said with a smirk. "I can work to earn the money for a decent school. Heck the Unversed help since they usually drop pure gold."

"There you go." Dan smiled. "But for me? Well…my birth parents wanted nothing but perfection from me, to be the smartest and greatest kid around, no distractions…so you can see where this is going immediately."

"I'd have run away as soon as possible." Rainbow said.

“Which I did.” Dan nodded. “Found my family and thing’s went about like I told you before…but why I had an existential crisis was because I had to face the fact that I failed Zephyr…I failed Crow, and I failed my students…and boy would you not believe how all my other past mistakes and failures were magnified by a million that…well…”

"Dan, you can toss Zephyr off your list of failures. He's not worth worrying over." Rainbow huffed.

“He was, when he was actually being better than the sack of shit he once was…” Dan shook his head. “I believed in him, that he could be better, that he was getting better…Fluttershy was so excited to her brother finally being…well, being at this point.” Dan shook his head.

"Dan." Rainbow cut him off. "You didn't know Zephyr before the Unions and all that. I can tell you personally that he has always been a lazy, arrogant, and self obsessed sleazeball. Was Fluttershy happy he seemed to be doing better, yes, but what we found out after… dashed that happiness away." Rainbow said, taking a deep breath. "Dan, after Zephyr died, some people came to Fluttershy saying he owed them Keyblades. He was SELLING that inheritance oath thing to randoes who'd pay him. You didn't fail him Dan. He failed you."

“Does anyone else feel like they’re gonna die all of a sudden?” Zephyr asked, an honest shudder of fear running through him.

“Dude, shut up and quit hogging the bowl.” Some rando weed junkie grumbled.

“Oh the moment I fucking find him…” Dan growled in absolute ungodly rage. “There is nothing in this multiverse of bullshit that will save him from the pain I have in store for him.”

"Save a little bit of him for me will ya? I owe him for a year of stalking, three stolen bras and several times I found him in the girls locker room." Rainbow added.

“I think I will be able to redefine what pain means when I get my hands on that rat bastard.” Dan growled.

"See? You were upset over someone who was so not worth your effort." Rainbow said, pulling Dan back down onto the bed. "Feel better that you never let him down cause he was always a creep?"

“Yeah…that honestly helps me feel incredible.” Dan nodded. “Still sucks that Crow acted like he has some moral high ground in all this bullshit.”

"You can worry about that later. For now, I wanna see if these new muscles of yours are just for show or come with perks~"

Dan, feeling a lot more bold and confident after their talk and…literally all the pain he had to deal with today, reached around and grabbed Dash’s rump. “Oh trust me, one thing I got was a lot of stamina.” Dan said with a cheeky grin.