//------------------------------// // New day // Story: Foretellers // by Fear Ripper //------------------------------// The following week had been hard on the Foretellers. Each took to the realization that, Crow joined the crime family for them, and had even managed to obtain their dream, a chance to run away… only to be turned away when he needed them most. Their mansion house sat quiet. None of the siblings felt right. Arguments broke out sometimes. A key moment in their lives was brought back at ten times the force of the day it happened. Did they wash their hands of Crow to quickly? Why didn’t Lan stay and listen to Crow? Why didn’t Crow tell them why he joined the Ventrals’? Jenny shouted in rage as she slammed her healed fist into another punching bag, splitting it in half and sending both pieces flying into a wall. “Motherfucker!” She shouted in rage, mostly pissed at herself and just so exhausted with everything. “Why...why did all this have to happen?” Dan sat in the library, reading tomb after tomb. He was always logical, and believed deeply in that learning everything you can prevents failure and misjudgment… He grunted, clenching the corners of the book until eventually he threw it violently against the furthest wall. The wall took the hit but the book split open as pages fell scattered along the floor. “Why didn’t I look into this…” He muttered. He devoted so much time to learning so much, even things many would consider trivial… why didn’t he do the same for his own brother? Alex sat in his room alone. Usually the room was decorated with posters of various girls ranging from B to D, and some Pinkie Pie made just for him. They were all gone now. The usual perverts private chamber was now blank and empty. Alex tried not to, but he remembered Crow’s various misadventures with him through adult book stores and building a ‘Gentelmens’ library. After his arrest… Alex just tossed it all away… as if all that time, effort and fun… meant nothing… ”Why didn’t I notice?” Kira was in the garden in the backyard. She wasn’t that young when Crow was arrested, young enough that her family tried to soften the blow for her… but she was old enough to understand. She and Crow would often spend time in silly endeavors. Crow would pretend to be a nasty dragon after the Princess, and Kira, playing this Princess, would use her magic to fight the dragon off. No matter how silly Crow always played his part. With a sigh, she looked at the flowers, remembering the last time she and Crow played, flowers just like these yellow daisies surrounded them. He could be mean, harsh and scary, but he was always kind to her. “Why didn’t I care…?” Lan sat in the main room. A million thoughts raced through his mind, but one answer kept coming back. He failed. He was the unofficial head of their family, and he took it upon himself to keep them all safe. Why did he so rapidly give up on Crow, the oldest next to Kira of their family. He tried going through the portal to Daybreak, finding it broken. A DTL and he arrived in debris filled space… Daybreak was gone. “Why didn’t I help…?” Lan started. “And why...why the fuck is Daybreak gone!?!” Too many questions… too much anger, and no means to solve any of them. Blinded by rage and confusion, Lan soon sent a direct message to Zeke. Soon Zeke arrived. For a moment, Lan wondered if he called the wrong person. This woman appeared… His eyes widened. Despite the female form, the aura Zeke gave off was there. “Don’t ask…” Zeke replied. “Been some crazy shit lately.” “Yeah, there’s most definitely been some ‘crazy shit’ going on.” Lan growled. “So mind explaining this to me asshole!?” He motioned to the entirety of the vast open space that used to be Daybreak. Zeke was taken back by the anger, but shook it off. “We got invaded. Crow, Spoiled and their army of abominations just showed up everywhere.” “And you didn’t call for help why?” Lan asked bluntly. “Also...why are you a chick?” “Long story short… I died. Technically still am.” Zeke said, their form changing. Suddenly, Lan found himself staring at the Anthro form of Trixie. “Remember when my heart got split? When fighting Core? Well while my two halves were possessed and the other going insane, my soul ended up elsewhere and after finally escaping that place, ended up sharing a body with my world’s Trixie, who surprisingly has a balanced heart so add my soul to replace her missing one and… I’m this now.” “Uh...huh.” Lan started, not even knowing where to begin with all of that. “So...back to the main question, why didn’t you or...anyone here call for help?” “Well at the time I was dealing with this and hunting down my Nobody, yes I have one and he’s an asshole. As for why no one else did, we didn’t have time. More heartless than I even knew could be on a world appeared in a manner of seconds, and being these weird Abominations… the mass panic and combat. Lifeboat protocol was activated.” “Well…” Lan started, before seeing a wisp of Nothingness float by the wreckage. “At least Ben decided to help out...why’d he show up and we couldn’t?” Lan inquired bitterly. “He was here at the time. Crow and Spoiled used the perfect tools. These things don’t respond to Ben or I, only listening to them somehow. We evacuated everyone before the world would begin falling into the realm of darkness. Charlie didn’t want all this ending up in their hands… so he blew it all up.” “Why didn’t either Ben or Charlie call us damn it!” Lan shouted. “What, did you think we couldn’t do anything? That we’ve just been putzing around not doing jack shit!?” “I wasn’t even here when it blew up, imagine how I feel!?” Zeke shouted back. “This was the better outcome. Better to save the people and blow up the planet then let all that information and resources fall into the realm of darkness.” “Great, just fucking great…” Lan rubbed his temples angrily. “Another god damn headache I don’t need right now…” “Look, I’m sorry you weren’t called, or informed apparently. As is Daybreak’s government system is barely holding together given they also stole Mors during the invasion as well, and he was second in line when I’m gone.” “They did what!?!” Lan shouted incredulously. “Well, my Nobody stole him. No idea why though. I know he is targeting people with Balanced hearts, but I don’t know why or to what end.” “Oh my fucking god…” Lan muttered. “Can’t even look away for five seconds without something fucking up…” “As bad as it was, there were no Civilian casualties. That’s all that matters to me, and Mors can handle himself. He was a former X-blade wielder.” “While...that’s all well and good.” Lan admitted. “Just…” Lan was still at a loss for words due to how furious he was at a lot of things. "What's going on?" Dan asked as he and the rest of the Foretellers entered the room. "And… why is there a Trixie here?" Kira asked. "And why do they feel like Zeke?" Jenny asked. "Rockin tits." Alex added, though with none of his usual enthusiasm behind it. Zeke sighed, giving the Foretellers a summary on the events that transpired both in his case and regarding Daybreak. "The fuck!?" Jenny shouted at the story. "Why didn't you call any of us?" Alex asked bluntly. “Like I told Lan, I wasn’t even there when it happened and oh yeah, I’m kinda between dead and alive at the moment.” Zeke replied. “Dealing with Kexez has been a headache enough, figuring out how to help Drezke is another issue now that Lake is dead.” "So why didn't Ben call us?" Kira asked worriedly. "Actually...has Ben even been to our world?" Jenny asked, that realization just hitting her and hitting the rest of them as well. “Regardless of what happened, I’m sorry you weren’t informed sooner. I know Daybreak Town was important to you, but I wouldn’t have changed anything even if I was there at the time. Saving lives means more to me than saving buildings.” Zeke stated. "But...how'd they get past the barrier? The Crystal Heart should have done something right?" Lan asked nervously, thinking that, even if they were wearing Nobodies as suits, the heartless would still at least be weakened by the Heart. Zeke frowned. “Normally. I know it usually makes Crow weaker, but Spoiled was a Nobody so she was largely unaffected… still, with how well planned it was… there’s only one person who could have planned it for them.” "Oh that massive cloaked asshole!" Jenny shouted. "Master of Masters is the guy who made the stupid thing…" Alex started. "But...why?" “My guess? Still wants that goal of his fulfilled.” Zeke said, summoning the X-blade. “He wants this destroyed. “Cause of course he’d still want to destroy that thing…” Lan grumbled. “So...what now?” Alex asked. “Daybreak’s destroyed...where is everyone?” “Relocating. Most ran were evacuated rapidly to allied worlds and once families are all reunited and living space is fixed up, teams will try and see what survived the planet’s explosion. From there… life goes on as usual. With the hope I track down Kexez and figure out how to help Drezke…” “We can help out.” Jenny said, wanting to do something positive and not feel like absolute garbage for a change. “Hm… Maybe. Have you had any run-ins with Crow recently?” The Foretellers were quiet for a moment, all looking down as Zeke saw a range of emotions from sadness, to regret, to frustration to absolute rage. “Yes...we did…” Lan answered carefully. “What… happened?” “A...lot…” Lan started. “Yeah, a lot is a complete understatement.” Jenny rolled her eyes, getting a bit snarky with her anger. “What did he do?” Zeke asked. “He...he…” Kira wanted to say it, but fresh tears started to fall. “He showed us the truth.” Jenny growled. “He showed us his side of the story…” Dan said carefully. “And...he told us why he worked with your family...and how your family would have saved him to be with us again…” Dan said in as much of a cold and calculating tone as he could without breaking down like Kira was. “It was a massive shit show…” Alex sighed out. “And we’re all to blame for it…” Lan said. “All because...none of us bothered to help him…” Zeke raised an eyebrow, Kira then handed them the Memory Card. “Oh… God damn it bro…” Zeke huffed. “You know that Ventral?” Lan asked carefully. “He’s my older brother. These days he works for Ben. Actually most of my family after Core died more or less fucked off and just live wherever these days.” “Really?” Lan asked bluntly. “After...everything they’ve done?” “Well, not all of them. Oldest brother I threw him into the Void. Grandpa I killed… and Ben killed my aunt… Eclipse killed my cousin… The only reason they even worked with Core was because Earth was apparently dying. All the riots the day we all ended up here never really stopped. So they jumped ship with the only person with a floating boat. Now that Core is gone they’re gonna settle down where people don’t know them or where their skills can be useful. So the few I kept tabs on are all living on worlds going through some shit also.” Zeke shrugged. “Guess it’s the closest to peace any of them feel comfortable with.” “Jeez…” Alex frowned. “Well, not my Grandpa and oldest brother. They just were in it for the chaos.” Zeke admitted. “And they deserve whatever you did to them.” Jenny stated bluntly. “Maybe… doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.” He sighed. “So, what exactly did Crow do?” The foretellers recapped the events back in City of Lights, and once finished Zeke thought the information over. “He’s gotten stronger. And now he’s experimenting with his Unversed as well. It’s a step up from what he did with Sunset Shimmer…” Zeke thought aloud. “I just love how nonchalant you are about this sudden turn of events.” Jenny frowned, still stupidly pissed about her own failures. “Never had the luxury to panic back on earth. This Miraculous, it effectively gives people SuperPowers based on their desires right?” “Yes, and it’s themed after the spirit of the Miraculous as well.” Lan answered. “And apparently they’re also shards of Keyblades...however the hell you break Keyblades I have no idea.” “Various ways.” Zeke stated. “Pour too much power into it, clashing with another, more powerful wielder or weapon, the Self Destruct Spell. Hmm… My guess is that he’s going to use this to help build up his own army. Make them stronger and expand numbers…” “He already did with his little band of misfits…” Jenny growled. “I’m still happy for Featherweight and GIlda.” Kira said, wiping away some of her tears as she managed to get ahold of herself. “Even if they betrayed us like this…” “From what you told me about what he said, he’s preparing for something else… What’s worse is that he’s evolving… growing…” “You know something don’t you?” Dan asked carefully. “Please, tell us? Anything we can do to…” Dan gulped. “Anything we can do to save Crow before it’s too late?” “It was too late the moment we abandoned him in that jail cell!” Alex snapped at Dan. “We might be able to save Crow from whatever darkness he has that’s causing all of this...but it would be a miracle if he could forgive us after what we’ve done…” “If you can’t get his light half, then it will.” Zeke said, gaining the Foretellers attention. “If his dark and light halves are separated, like mine, then they can’t maintain a balance with one another while split. His heart was balanced, when he was whole, but split they can’t balance one another out. This change in both power and attitude tells it all. Crow’s dark half is evolving. If you can’t find and help strengthen his light half, then the two can never be reunited, they’ll both become two separate entities and the Crow you all knew… will be gone.” “We’ve been looking for months…” Lan started. “We have little to go off of, considering we found him once when we all had that adventure in one of Core’s bases...but then after that...it’s like his light half just vanished, gone without a trace.” Zeke thought that over. “Before and after his death we’ve found a lot of Core’s bases. Raided a shit ton. Given Core was training and teaching Crow directly… he must have shown him places that can easily hide light. Aside from Crow himself, maybe Luxu would know…” “And we’d have to find him in Ben’s world...wherever the hell that is…” Dan frowned, remembering that Luxu was living in Ben’s world with his girlfriend Time Belle. “Well...Ben’s a part of Cript’s Family right?” Kira questioned. “We can find his world with our Assistant’s...hopefully.” “They recently moved that whole planet into the realm of Nothingness so… maybe not.” Zeke informed. “Seriously?” Kira asked. “It happened when he became the new King of Nothingness. Wasn’t an intentional move from what he told me.” “Excuse me what?” Lan asked quickly in confusion. “How the hell did he become the King of Nothingness so quickly? I thought he said he needed to master all of his weapons, and he said he was just learning Fair Game.” Lan said, which surprised Zeke with how the Foretellers and Ben had absolutely no contact after their grand adventure. “He did master the rest. Then after some training and such, challenged the old king. After killing him in combat received the crown.” “You’d think we’d have noticed a literal reality shaking event…” Alex started with a frown. “Like...seriously, how did we not notice that?” “School work and trying to run a world traveling organization fighting against Darkness itself is a nightmare and a half.” Dan sighed out. “Sounds like you’ve been pretty stretched thin…” “We have our unions…” Lan said. “We’ve...we’ve been doing all we can…” “You’re still kids, you shouldn’t even be going through this crap.” “We’re still kids!?” Alex shouted incredulously. “Motherfucker we’ve gone through more bullshit than you can even imagine!” Jenny shouted in anger. “I lost an eye, asshole!” Kira pointed to her eyepatch. “I have been working myself to the goddamn bone everyday to make sure we’re on top of everything!” Dan shouted. “And I’ve been running myself ragged everyday, damn near killing myself half the time to make sure my family is safe and saving Crow!” Lan shouted in anger. “What do you have to say about yourself here? Mister ‘Look at me! I’m the Chosen One!’.” Lan said in mock tone of Zeke. “Considering I’m borrowing/sharing a hermaphrodite's body… been better.” “And that’s another thing I need to get off my chest.” Lan started. “I was apart of the Council of Worlds for fuck’s sake, in what dimension of logic was it that literally no one bothered to contact me!?!” Lan shouted, letting that previous bit of anger rush back. “Not even any of the survivor’s contacted me yet! Was this just some ‘spur of the moment’ bullshit or something?” “Yeah, like did you just remember we exist?” Jenny shouted. “Or did you think we weren’t up for it cause we’re kids?” Zeke looked down, frowning. “I won’t lie… I told Sid and Mors to keep you all in the loop, regular updates, but… more spread out than normal…” “We’re supposed to be a team...right?” Kira asked sadly. “You’re also a bunch of teenagers with what should have been happy lives ahead of you. I grew up with a shoot to kill order on me, it was bad enough you already had to deal with most of the crap involving Core and Crow. I didn’t want you all waking up every morning wondering if today was the day you were going to die.” “We wouldn’t have to if we worked together dumbass!” Dan countered. “We’re in this together.” Alex said. “And you...you think we’d just turn our backs on everything to have normal lives!? We’re literally the reincarnations of the original Foretellers!” Alex told Zeke. “How the fuck were we going to have a ‘normal life’ with that revelation, let alone a bunch of ‘teenagers’ getting super powers from their favorite video game?” “Figured you’d enjoy normalcy, and if that’s true then you should have been happy. Your master betrayed you, you were all fooled into a multiversal war that almost led to the genocide of Keyblade Culture, and across all the dimensions fought, slaughtered not just each other but your union members. Can you honestly tell me you want to get thrown back into that kind of danger, especially given your old master is still running around making Xehanort look like a piss ant?” “It would be too fucking late at this point, cause we’re in way too deep.” Lan stated bluntly. “Normalcy has never been our forte, and the fact you think we’d enjoy it is shocking to say the least.” “Didn’t you all want to be just a family with one another, be together and not have to deal with all the bullshit life threw at you?” “That was to help cope with a fuck ton of things.” Lan shook his head. “But now we have the power to help people, the power to make our Dreams come true, and bring back our family…” “Well, what have you been doing to achieve it?” “Doing this!” Jenny shouted as she summoned her keyblade as she tried to swing Ursus at Zeke. Right as the blade was going to swing into Zeke’s side, it suddenly stopped. Jenny nearly fell sideways as her grip on the weapon faltered and it floated there, mere inches from Zeke’s side. “... I didn’t do that.” Zeke stated. “Bullshit!” Alex said as he summoned his keyblade and swung at Zeke as well. The same result, Alex though didn’t quite catch himself on the fall however. His blade was inches from Zeke’s neck. “Oh crap not this again!” Zeke said as he looked between the two floating Keyblades. “If attacks don’t work…” Dan and Kira both summoned their keyblades. “Than Magic will!” Dan said as the two tried to combine their magic’s to fire a powerful spell at Zeke. Right as the spell was to go off, it suddenly stopped. The two siblings were surprised as suddenly the weapons floated out of their grips.  “Fucking hell I forgot Keyblades do this around me.” Zeke groaned. “They won’t attack me.” Lan summoned his Keyblade and looked at it. "Why...why are you doing this?" He asked his unicorn Keyblade. The five keyblades all seemed to vibrate for a time before glowing with a white aura. Suddenly, over Zeke's chest formed the glowing blue form of a Heart. Kingdom Hearts. "They… won't hurt me because I'm the closest thing to their maker they have…" Zeke sighed out. "As far as they're concerned… I am…" Zeke stopped, a look of shock over their face. "That's what Kexez wants…" “What? Kexez want’s you to stop hiding or something?” Lan asked. "... He wants me to either become or absorb Kingdom Hearts… Balanced Hearts can evolve into mini variations of it… but I'm a Cript… I would have been built for this…" “You would have what?” Dan asked. “Hold on...you were made?” "Yeah. It's why Cript and I look identical. Apparently we are manufactured warriors for some sick and twisted higher entity." “That’s just perfect…” Lan sighed out. “Great...now there’s even more shit we have to deal with outside our current problems…” "I can deal with this shit, you all focus on Crow," Zeke started as he pushed the two nearby keyblades away from them. "I need to figure out who else might be on Kexez's list." “So...what now?” Kira asked carefully. “Are you...just gonna forget about us again?” "... I can't be in two places at once. You want to prove you aren't kids, then grow up." “So you’re going to do exactly what I expected.” Lan frowned. “Just fuck off to god knows where, leaving us alone again with no way to contact you reliably, and tell us that we need to grow up when we’ve been through more shit than we should be…” Lan shook his head. "Well at least you have the choice for some normalcy unlike me. Don't give that up trying to make up for mistakes in a life that was stolen from you." “Says the guy that can’t take his own advice when he was literally handed it.” Lan rolled his eyes. “And yes, yes you did have normalcy handed to you, don’t you dare try and deny it.” "I, jokingly, asked for this." Zeke started, summoning the X-blade. "When I got it, I discovered, by accident, multiverse travel. Then, made my home on a world that needed a hero. I could have left it. Moved literally anywhere else and left it to it's fate, but I stayed, why? I don't even fucking know. Maybe a chance for normalcy was handed to me, but I wanted to be a hero, to prove everyone who wanted me dead, without an actual reason aside from my fucking eyes! That I. Am. Not. A. Monster!" In a sudden rush, the Foretellers found themselves at the blade end of their own weapons pressed firmly against their necks. To their backs, Starlight Keyblades pressed their tips firmly against their backs. “Then what makes you so fucking special that you get to call the shots on what people can do with their lives?” Lan countered. “You’re telling us to grow up, but it looks like you need to grow up more than us.” Jenny growled. “We made our peace when we got these powers, we knew exactly what we wanted to do the first time we saw those Unversed.” Dan stated. “We weren’t going to just stand there and let innocent people get hurt, we had the power to help the innocent, be heroes.” Kira explained. “And then you strut in, and suddenly tell us we need to ‘live normal lives’? And then tell us to ‘grow up’? What kind of hypocritical bullshit is that?” Alex growled. “So either you make up your mind on what you magically want us to do you self righteous hypocrite, or stop acting like a monster and threatening to kill the five of us.” Lan growled. Zeke took a step back, noticing the Keyblades around the Foretellers. The Foretellers Keyblades immediately fell to the floor as the Starlights vanished. The look of realization and horror on Zeke's face as he stepped back was enough for the Foretellers to quell their anger. They watched as Zeke crouched down, muttering something in a low tone of voice while clenching their head. "Are… are you okay?" Kira asked nervously, never seeing Zeke this mentally harmed by using his powers before. She moved closer to Zeke, slowly. Soon she could hear what he was muttering. "I'm not a monster." Over and over again. "Well…" Kira started. "You're… not a monster…" she said, her anger quelled enough that she just wanted to help a friend going through something terrible. As she got closer, Zeke paused long enough to speak something else. "Keep away." Kira ignored it, rather coming closer until she placed a hand upon their knee. Zeke. Snapped. "I said STAY AWAY!" Zeke yelled. Kira and the other Foretellers suddenly felt as if something clicked. Something within each of them what began to control their actions. Like a computer running a program it never ran before, The Foretellers all suddenly found themselves unable to control their own bodies, instead like a order sent right to their cores and bypassing free will entirely, each one bagan backing up as far from Zeke as possible until each one was unwillingly pressing themselves against the furthest wall. It was in this moment they realized, this power, it was something Zeke knew about and likely feared themselves. With just a word, he could enslave and control entire planets, and then some. The Foretellers had a newfound fear of Zeke, such a power was a terrible thing. It was the power of Kingdom Hearts. "I… I'm sorry…" Zeke finally spoke, loud enough for them all to hear as a DTL opened around him and swept them away. Once it closed, the Foretellers had control over their bodies again, but the fear and adrenaline from such an experience kept them all on edge. "What….what the fuck…" Jenny panted. “Is...is that what…” Alex gulped, not believing what he just felt. "He… could do that… whenever…" Dan started, falling to his rear as his legs have gave way under the recent experience. "That's….what…" Kira tried to find the proper words, but was speechless at the display of power. Even if it was accidental. The Foretellers all sat against the wall for a time. "Done moping yet?" The group looked up, surprised to see their Mother Alushy standing before them. “Not...not in the mood mom…” Jenny said carefully. “We...have a lot of shit to think about…” Alex sighed out. "Noticed. What are you going to do about it?" “I...I don’t know…” Dan said carefully. “All of this…” Kira struggled to find words, trying her best not to break down again as more of her world crumbled around her. “The fuck are we supposed to do!?!” Kira wailed. “Everything we’ve done, everything we thought was correct was wrong! We’re the bad guys and have just been fucking up ever since...since we…” Kira cried, unable to finish as thing’s just hurt so much. "Congratulations, you're monsters." Alushy said with no malice more care for their emotions. She then picked each member up by their ears, causing some pain in the process, and lifting each one to their feet. "But, it fits given what you are all physical and with me being your mother." “Ow…” Alex grumbled, rubbing his ear. “Also...really? Not exactly helping our current...collective mental breakdowns…” "Wanna stand alongside Zeke, Ben and the others can't let something like a mental breakdown keep you from standing." She informed. "Besides, I thought you all wanted to help people?" “We do…” Jenny answered. “It’s what we told Zeke when we threw that ‘normalcy’ bullshit at us.” Alex said. “But…” Dan sighed out. “It’s a little hard when we’re having an existential crisis, especially after we felt Zeke’s true power…” "Then get some of your own!" She yelled at them, raising an arm and then traced a clawed finger down it. Her blood trailed down from the wound before it suddenly stopped mid air and began floating. "You have some of the brightest Light based Keyblades in existence, with the bodies of one of the darkest races of Monster to exist combined with pure human hearts. Are you going to stand there and tell me you can't do jack shit will all that potential?" “Well...there’s at least...one problem there…” Lan said carefully. “Cause...we kinda sorta…” “We attacked Zeke cause he was being a prick.” Jenny said. “Then they stopped us from attacking him...then Zeke nearly slit our throats and stabbed us with our own keyblades and Starlights…” "Oh? So because he was trying to parent you he's a prick?" Alushy asked. “He wasn’t trying to ‘parent’ us.” Jenny started. “He acted like everything we’ve been through didn’t mean shit!” “We could have helped protect Daybreak, we could have been able to do something, but everyone forgot about us, and then the moment everything has been going to shit for us, now was the time to tell us ‘oh yeah, the Foretellers exist’.” Lan explained. “And then...he practically told us that what we have been doing with our current lives means nothing! That we should have just had ‘normal lives’, and then the ‘grow up’ bit…” Lan growled. “The fact that we went through all this garbage, and then just learned that everything’s been going to hell around us and we had absolutely no idea about…” “We now know Zeke is in another’s body, and we now know that others are looking for a new world…” Dan said. “But...literally no one decided to inform us of all this...and we’re the one’s being scolded because of it?” Dan asked. “We’re the ones to get yelled at because we’re having an existential crisis and didn’t know a single thing that was going on?” “No no no, we’re going through enough difficult shit as is, let’s get scolded because of shit we had absolutely no fucking idea happened.” Alex growled. “Cause why the fuck should we have a nice, relaxing talk as a family to try and fix ourselves when someone we thought was our friend and our own mother basically telling us ‘how fucking dare you feel like garbage’.” “Why…” Kira said, the youngest of the group and the sweetest and most innocent out of them taking it the absolute hardest. “Why…” She asked, not having anything to follow up but Alushy has heard this question from some of her children before when they were lost as hell. "Well, why didn't you check in on them?" Alushy asked simply. "Why didn't you just accept the failure and learn from it? You never get anywhere without failing, and terribly at that. So you get up, and either shrug it off or carry the weight with you until it crushes you. All you can do after it's said and done is to choose how to react. And you all reacted like children." “We were legitimately busy.” Dan answered the first question. “We don’t have a information network and messengers like Zeke did.” Alushy simply raised her wrist and tapped the Assistant on it. "You did have better." “Zeke didn’t have on as far as we know, and two we still barely know how the stupid thing works.” Alex brought up. “Seriously, even after having it for a while we still barely got through a lot of it, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around the skill trees.” "He didn't but he does have email. And as for not figuring it out, you could have asked me, or Cript, the one who invented them, how to use it." “And we thought you were too busy.” Lan answered. “Both of you, cause of many thing’s that are now suddenly happening with everyone else.” With a snap of her fingers, the Foretellers nearly jumped as now there was five of their mother. "We are multidimensional, omnipresent cosmic beings with as close to unlimited power as someone can come to without being like your father. We can actually be everywhere at once. No matter the workload we can't physically be too busy for anything. How else do you think Cript keeps up with so many wives, kids and projects while also saving planets and galaxies?" All five asked in unison. They each snapped their fingers again, and went back to a single Alushy. "I mean...how were we supposed to know that before?" Dan asked. "You never mentioned anything about all the clones...you barely mentioned anything…" "We became this...you gave us a small explanation on our new race and assistants...and then you left us to figure it out ourselves." Lan told her. "Because I thought you were all smart enough to not need me to baby you. Plus I am an alternative version of Abridged Alucard, did you expect me to actually stick around without a viable reason?" The Foretellers just stared at her. "Well what are we supposed to say?" Lan asked. "You literally just told us we still don't have a mother." Lan shook his head. "Or at least a mother that doesn't care enough to check up on her kids until it's convenient for her." Jenny growled. "Or unless we're doing something perfectly." Dan growled. "Probably more focused on all our other unknown family that we've never met." Alex rolled his eyes. "Did you ever ask to meet them?" Alushy replied. "Did you ask me, or Cript to stay, to be your parents? To be a family? Lan, what's harder for you, living without a mother or living with one when you've never had the experience beforehand? Jenny, if I was always checking up on you, it would become inconvenient for you when it comes to running your Unions. After all, can you look me in the eyes and tell me you would drop what you were doing for a talk and coffee?" Lan and Jenny looked away. "Dan, if I only cared about perfection, I would be overbearing, constantly in your life, and basically organized your every waking and sleeping moment. Alex, yes, there is a lot of family you haven't met. But I know as my kids grow up, they'll need me less and less and it lets me focus on those that do, the ones too young to be left alone. Besides, if I was always focused on you I'd be asking for grandkids from you and Pinkie." Dan looked down, and Alex, while red also looked down. "Well, why didn't you offer?" Kira asked. Alushy kneeled down to Kira. "Sweetie, you've been in the foster system, right? Had nice families try and integrate you, make you do all kinds of 'bonding' activities… but despite the effort, you still felt out of place?" Kira looked down now. "If I was to have you meet everyone, Cript and I stay and parent you all off the bat, you'd all be happy, yes, but you aren't used to that. I can't be the one to make the first step. Cript Invited you into our home, our family, and I was made your mother through magic and blood, but to accept us as a family, you all have to reach out first. After all, while Love can be freely given, Trust has to be earned from both sides." "We at least expected...something…" Lan started. "Anything...just to know that we weren't by ourselves again…" "How about a dinner?" Alushy offered, standing up. "I can tell you've been neglecting your Vampiric needs. If you weren't half human and a quarter Equin, you'd be starving right now." "Dinner…" Lan started. "Dinner would be nice…" Kira admitted. "Good. You all get cleaned up while I start cooking." Alushy said with a smile. With a nod all the Foretellers went upstairs, changing into cleaner clothes and washing out the red from their eyes before finally walking down stairs and waiting in the living room for their dinner. "... She's not wrong, you know…" Dan spoke up. "We don't know how to be a real family, one with parents anyway…" “She also had a point that it’s both ways, and neither of us did anything.” Alex said. “She literally told us that, unless it was for a ‘viable reason’, she wasn’t going to do shit.” Jenny frowned, having put air quotes around viable reasons. “She even asked us if we expected her to do anything.” "Well, what would you have wanted her to do?" Kira asked. "I've dreamed about the day I could have a mom… and yet I never asked to see or visit her… I was scared… I don't even remember my birth mother…" "What's your excuse for not asking the, Jenny? Think she'd be a disappointment and whip out a beer bottle?" Dan huffed. “And what’s your excuse? Think she was going to get pissed you had a smudge on your jacket or something?” Jenny countered. “Guys, this isn't helping.” Alex tried to intervene. “We’re trying not to argue…” "There's blame on both sides… it's as simple as that. Dan, Alex… Jenny… you had families, but hated them. Perfectionist parents… absent parents… abusive parents… you three forget that Cript and Alushy aren't them… but were afraid to find something to remind you three of them. Kira and I are… so used to not having parents that… finally having them, we ignored them…" Lan said. Jenny, Alex and Dan all looked down, shame and regrets filling their hearts. "Alushy… Mom, is right…  "We can't be Perfectionist, expecting never to fail." Lan looked over at Dan. He then shifted to Jenny. "We can't brute force our way through our issues." He rested his gaze on Alex now. "Or be upset that they aren't around when we don't reach out…" Lan then looked over at Kira, the youngest Foretellers taking her older brother's hand. "Or expect to build bridges with people when we don't put forth effort of our own." He then looked at his assistant. "We've had the means to do all that from the get go… and used ignorance as an excuse. Maybe they could have reached out to us, but they wanted us to have time… to adjust and process… which is time we spent doing basically everything and anything else…" “This is still bullshit…” Jenny muttered bitterly, hating everything so much and just wanting all this pain to go away. "... What would you like to do with them?" Dan asked, looking over at Jenny. "Spending time with… Mom and Dad… what would you want to do together with them?" “Go for a walk that doesn’t involve any abusive shit towards me for starters.” Jenny answered. Dan nodded. "I'd… like to just sit, and watch TV with them, just… come home, ignore homework and watch TV. No two hours of homework followed by three hours of study then right to bed… just… be lazy, eat some junk food and forget about academics…" "I'd go fishing." Alex said, surprising his siblings. "My parents owned three luxury boats and only ever used them for social parties. I'd look out at other boats in the distance, seeing families fishing and just relaxing with each other… and I'd get so envious." "Tea party." Kira said with a chuckle. "Not original, but to have someone willing to go through with it would… be enough…" "... Play board games. I was little, Kira even more so when our parents died… but I remember we used to play board games all the time. Sorry, Monopoly, Connect Four." Lan said. “Well...at least we have a start…” Jenny said honestly. "Yeah… I just hope we can actually make the first step." "Dinner!" Alushy's voice called out. "Guess we're about to find out." Dan said. The Foretellers soon arrived in the dinning hall. Five seats each with covered dishes and large cups empty. Each took a seat as Alushy did. "Now, this dish is to help your Vampiric side, but before we begin, it's time you all learn just what species of Vampire I am, and therefore you are." “There’s multiple types of full blooded vampires?” Alex inquired. "Yes. Some are world specific, some are the result of evolution, magic of the creation of some gods and other higher beings. Mine is a bit mixed. My Vampire species is known as Almawt Alakil. In English, it means Dead Eater. For you, the language sounds like Arabic, back in my Homeworld it was ancient Minitorin. I take it you all know my human vampire counterpart right?" “That depends, do you mean the actual anime or the Abridged Series?” Jenny asked curiously. "Bit a both. Story is generally the same. Back then I was a normal mare, but Equestria and Minos were at war, and we were losing. One day, they came into our village… and killed just about everyone. Mostly the stallions, infants, and the elderly, leaving just the young mares and such to be shipped back to Minos as slaves." “Sweet jesus…” Alex muttered in horror. "They… did that?" Dan asked. Nodding, Alushy continued. "It was bad, but what awaited us was worse. We envied the dead. Most were sent into brothels, others were forced into harems or servitude. I was purchased by a duke to be his servant and Fleshlight as he needed. For sixteen long years I was forced to serve his family and service their perverted desires from him to his wife to his son's. I was beaten and broken only to be healed just enough to move and went right back at it. I got pregnant twenty seven times and each time they terminated it, not with medicine, but through abuse and bruises. The furthest I ever got along with them was three months and each time I pushed out the aborted fetus they didn't even let me bury or cremate them. I was forced to throw them away in the trash…" “I don’t think I’m hungry anymore…” Kira muttered, not entirely wanting to eat after hearing all this traumatic events. "What changed?" Lan asked. "I did." Alushy stated. "It was like any other pregnancy termination. I was… cleaning up the blood, when the noble's wife came in. They had bought a newer, younger slave mare… and said I wasn't needed anymore. I was ready to welcome death. To let it all end… and they were about to grant me that desire. I waited for her to swing the sword, but it never came. Time seemed to slow as suddenly, the blood still on the floor, mine and my unborn child's blood began to move. As if with a mind of its own, it spelled out a single word. Drink. I heard voices, so many crying for revenge, for death and for death to claim every minotaur in the world… but one voice spoke louder than the others. 'Drink the blood and become beyond mortal, beyond the creatures and monsters of the night. Embrace, my chaos'."  "... Chaos? Discord?" Dan asked. Alushy nodded. "Discord back then was young, lacking body but had all the power, just no form. He isn't like the one you all know, on my world, Gods had no bodies, just power with minds. He offered me his power, to share my body in exchange." “Share your body?” Jenny asked. "Like I said, on my world Gods had no bodies. Celestia, Luna, Discord, and many others were just power and minds made from the memories of their past… hosts. So I was his next chosen meat suit. I had nothing left to lose, so I accepted, and drank the blood off the floor right as the sword came down. The minds and memories of one million, two hundred and sixty three thousand, four hundred and eighteen prior hosts to Discord flooded my mind. But despite how many there were, my anger, pain and sorrow flooded all of them. For once the mind of Discord came together and in perfect Harmony, and declared death on all within Minos. My body morphed and changed, and became the perfect Alpha predator. In one night I did what Equestria was failing to do for nearly fifty years. Obliterated Minos. I didn't just eat their flesh, I ate their very souls and relished in their agony as the sea of memories and minds that made up Discord, made up Me, absorbed and drowned them." “Damn.” Was all Alex could say at that. "When it was over, a sense of… sadness washed over me. My slavers were all dead, their race practically extinct, their kingdom and culture reduced to rubble and ashes. I finally had time to mourn all the people I lost, all the children I never got to know… I walked myself into a cave, far to the Frozen North… and I slept. I slept for almost two thousand years. In that time the prior minds and memories of Discord and my own blended together, and the memories, minds and souls of the slaughtered Minos Kingdom merged as well. When I finally awoke, I wasn't quite Discord, I wasn't the mare I used to be. I wasn't even the monster that slaughtered Minos. I was something new, a god of death and chaos with a body all my own. Aluke was the name of the noble who bought me, and Fluttershy was the name my body was given… so I mixed the two together, and walking out of that cave, I came out Alushy, a Goddess of flesh, blood and chaos… and I woke up hungry." “Well…” Alex started. “It’s a better name than just being your name spelled backwards.” He said nervously, not sure what to say about this massive backstory she told them. "What… did you do after?" Jenny asked. "What I do best. Kill." She admitted. "When I walked out of my cave, there was an empire there that wasn't there before. And I was hungry. At first, I only killed those who deserved it. The Tyrant Sombra was my first meal in two thousand years, an Umbrum, what they lack in flesh or blood make up with magic. While the Empire celebrated their mad kings death, I moved down the list. Devouring his loyalists, murderers, rapists, so on and so forth… once no more… vile types were alive in the Empire I left, moving to a lovely buffet called Clurge Town where everyone was vile and varied in species… and flavor." "You… ate the world free of evil, didn't you?" Lan asked. "Even Celestia and Luna feared me. The monster who eats evil down to the sinners soul. Made a good bedtime story for the kids, cause it was true after all." “And...did something bad happen because of that?” Alex asked carefully. "For a while, no… until Luna became Nightmare Moon." "You… ate her too?" Dan asked Alushy nodded. "It surprised me, I honestly didn't think I could, but she went down fighting. It didn't take Celestia long to crave Revenge… and so, down she went as well. From those two I gained a lot. Knowledge, magic, power over and from the Sun and Moon itself. Other gods soon tried in many ways, shapes and forms to kill me but in the end, I was the last god left on Equis. All that power, soon feeding on flesh and blood became more of a pass time. My body didn't need to eat anymore. Using all that power, I set the world in order. Sun and moon moved along the world by themselves, and I left the mortals to their own devices, only dealing with the occasional hero wannabe or killing off mad monarchs and tyrants as they showed up. It became… boring." “I mean...when you're literally unstoppable it would get pretty boring.” Jenny said honestly. "For another couple thousand years or so I watched as the various races built empires, watched them crumble and rebuild. Soon they were traveling to the moon and stars. Shortly after they began colonizing, Terra forming and mining the moon… Cript showed up." "He just… showed up?" Lan asked. Alushy nodded, smiling. "It had been so long since I sensed another god. Thought I had gone crazy at first… but there he was, exploring my world with an almost childlike wonderment. He noticed me instantly, and we began talking." “Well...at least something positive happened.” Jenny said honestly. “What did you two talk about?” Alex inquired. "We talked about things. Magic, abilities, our past. Out of curiosity we ended up having a duel. According to Cript, he never lost a fight before and I haven't either so, we fought." "And you lost?" Lan asked. "Knocked out on the first punch." Alushy laughed. " I honestly didn't know what to expect. Usually I… ate the loser so waking up some hours later was a bit unexpected. For me anyway. I thought I was the most powerful being in the universe, and after I woke up and Cript explained to me about the Multiverse, Admins and all that… I wasn't even ranked in the top ten million. Still, he hung around and after a while… started to feel things for him. Shortly after realizing this I met Lyra. She offered me a place in The Family. I won't lie, memories of my time as the Nobles slave did resurface, but I remembered the difference between then and now. One, it was being offered, and two, I did like Cript… a lot. So, I accepted. Many dates, marriage and children later, you all came into my life." “Well...that’s nice.” Jenny said honestly. "So… how's this relate to dinner?" Alex asked. "Well, after joining the Family I learned about why our race of Vampire is more closely taken to Virgins blood. At least for me. See, normally back home a Virgin was to be the new host to a god. Discord however, did not need this requirement. Hence why I was his to be his host. However after Devouring Celestia, Luna/Nightmare Moon and all those other gods, the requirement they needed mutated into a preference. So, drinking virgin blood and eating virgin flesh became something that boosted the power of the vampires I created. Since all the vampires I made/birthed were based off how my own powers work, minuses the godly powers." "So… what are we eating?" Lan asked. Smiling, Alushy snapped her fingers, the dinner tray lids vanishing, revealing six plates of seemingly beating hearts. "Flesh Fruit." “Flesh Fruit?” Alex asked, lightly poking the fruit as he really wasn’t sure if it was a fruit or someone’s actual beating heart. "Yes. A special kind of fruit grown in Purgatory and Hell dimensions. It's a real human heart grown like an apple, ripe with blood and flesh. It's practically like eating the heart of a living person." "Uh...huh…" Alex started carefully. “Well…” Jenny said, grabbing the thing. “I’m pissed enough to eat a human heart, why not.” Jenny shrugged as she took an appropriately sized bite out of the thing. Her eyes widened as the flesh-like substance and red bloody liquid splashed her tongue. As if something primal took over, she bit into it again and again, staining her chin and shirt crimson. Hesitantly, the other Foretellers soon began tasting, and with the same primal hunger devoured their plates until empty. "Heh, guess Laundry day came early…" Alushy said with a chuckle at the stained clothing of her children. The Foretellers had never felt so filled before. It was as if something long absent in their diets had been finally filled and their mouths seemed to crave the flavors. They could not describe the flavor, only describing it as nectar. "That was… oddly delicious." Kira admitted. "I feel… better than I've ever felt in years." Dan admitted. “Damn, that was good.” Jenny said honestly. “Who knew flesh and blood would taste that good…” Alex admitted. "Huh…" Was all Lan could say. Alushy simply smiled. "So, now comes the real question. What next?" Alushy asked the Foretellers. "You mean… family wise?" Lan asked. She nodded. "Will you prefer for me to live here, elsewhere, do you want Cript here? What do you wish for our family, now that it seems you all want to experience life as a whole family." “Well…” Alex started, trying to think of how to say it. "... Just, loving parents…" Kira said. Jenny sighed. "Parents who are there for us… and don't… hurt us…" "Pay attention to us…" Alex added. "And who doesn't force us into whatever for some elite school…" Dan finished. "Hmm… I see. Well, if that's what you wish, your father and I can move in easily enough, though keep in mind Cript is… eccentric. Plus many of your older and younger siblings will pop in from time to time, both from me and your other mothers, who will also pop in from time to time. Might get crowded, especially around the Holidays." Alushy stated  “We don’t care.” Lan shook his head. “Honestly, we really wanted to throw a Holiday party with Ben, Zeke, Eclipse, and ___.” Lan started, before blinking in confusion as to why the last name he said just...didn’t. “Uh...that’s weird, I coulda sworn I said it correctly…” "Oh, you did. What he did when killing Core, was a special move that self destructed his own existence. Soul, name and all. History too. While you remember him, his name will be blank on your tongue and even the events you all took part in will be fuzzy." “But...we remember we...went to one of Core’s bases right?” Lan asked worriedly. “Yeah, he was also...also there when Ben and Zeke had that giant monster fight right?” Dan asked worriedly. “I still told you a Twilight Thorn could beat a Darkside.” Alex said smugly. "See, you remember the basics, the general but nothing of the specifics he was a part of. It's usually an attack ment for a God to use as a last resort, but most don't unless it's a dire battle." Alushy explained. "So, I guess I should call Cript and tell him the news." “Huh…” Lan frowned. “Well...Yeah, might as well call in Cript.” "New phone who this?" The Foretellers all rapidly yelped and jumped as Cript appeared suddenly at the other side of the table, chuckling. "That never gets old." "Did you just appear or have you just been hiding and waiting?!" Lan asked. "Yes." Cript nodded. “That didn’t answer his question.” Dan said quickly. "It's the answer I'm giving." He chuckled. "So, full time parents for you all. Hm, won't lie that would make you some of the oldest kids to come into the family through adoption. Save for Kira, Tiara was around that age when she arrived. Anyway, so what's first thing first?" “Well...we were just eating and...honestly we haven’t decided on what family thing to do yet...cause we’re still trying to process...a lot of things…” Lan explained carefully. "Well, how about room renovation? I can easily fix them up into your dream rooms." “Really?” Jenny asked. “You can do that?” "First thing to know about me is that there is little I can't do." "What can't you do?" Kira asked. "Ride a skateboard." “What?” Alex asked. “Just...why a skateboard?” "I don't fucking know…" Cript said, looking almost haunted at the thought. "I swear Vincent did that just to fuck with me…" "Who?" Lan asked. "My maker, father, psychopath of the highest order and I do not mean those red eyed blood bastards. Anyway, wanna digest that for a bit or wanna get to room remodeling?" “Room remodeling sounds fun.” Kira said honestly. "Alright then, well, get up and follow me." Cript said as the Foretellers followed him. In a short walk upstairs they arrived at Jenny's door. "Alright then, Jenny, mind opening the door so I can see what your room is like?" “Alright.” Jenny nodded, walking up and opening the door for Cript. The room was fairly simple. Various weights, a treadmill and some dirty clothes around the floor. "Hmm. Sports person I take it. Rather messy. Hidden dresses and makeup in the closet. Hmm… I have an idea." Cript said, closing the door. "Those were supposed to be secret…" Jenny grumbled. Kira gasped at the revelation. "You have dresses and makeup?" She asked quickly, her eyes glittering with joy and possibilities. As Jenny promptly blushed and began to grumble at her siblings teasings, Cript promptly placed a hand on her bedroom door. The outlines of the frame glowed white for a second before it went back to normal. "Done." Cript said. "What did you change?" Jenny asked carefully as she opened the door again "Everything." He said, opening the door and walking in. When Jenny saw her room… it was completely different. The simple bedroom was now easily the size of a gymnasium. Various professional grade exercises equipment were spaced out evenly all around. In the center of all of this was a large boxing ring with a bed hanging above it by cable wires. "I based it a bit off of Spike's room, but mostly just the bed." He said, leading the slack jawed Foretellers to a second door, upon opening it they were met by a a futuristic multipurpose field. "And this spot can be a football field, track field, basketball court, soccer field, swimming pool ranging from your basic public pool to Olympian size, Tennis, Dojo, basically if it's a sport this place can become the required field/area." "Wow…" Jenny said breathlessly, in shock and awe at the sudden change. "And your private runway closet and makeup area is hidden behind the juice bar." Cript whispered to Jenny. "Fully stocked with the best brands." "Perfect." Jenny said. "And now on to your armory!" "Jenny has an armory?" Lan asked. "You're all getting one." Cript stated. "I have an armory?"“Excuse me what?” Alex asked in surprise. “But...what would we do with an armory when we…” Alex trailed off. “Uh...nevermind we need an armory…” Alex started, still thinking they didn’t have their keyblades after that experience. Cript walked them back into the main room and over to a metallic armored door. Pulling open the handle revealed a well lit room with seemingly nothing in it. “Well...I suppose that makes sense.” Lan started. “We haven’t really collected weapons…” Kira agreed. Cript walked inside it, holding out a hand. "Shotgun, twelve gauge. Automatic." He said, suddenly blue lights appeared within his grip that seemed to be printing the weapon he asked for. Within a minute, the automatic shotgun was in his hand. He then tossed it to Jenny who caught it. "No better armory than a fabrication room." “Wow…” Alex said in awe. “Our...own fabricator room for weapons?” Jenny asked. "Anything and everything within the known multiverse." Cript said with a nod. “Well then…” Lan started. “That’s...a lot more than we really need…” "In my experience it's go overkill or get killed. And on that note, try not to fabricate nukes, the initial… radiation part of the fabrication leaks like crazy for a few seconds." He said as he lead the group out. "... We can make nukes?" Dan asked. "Best not to." Lan stated as the siblings agreed. “So…” Jenny started. “Adamantium Bear Gauntlets.” Jenny said to the fabricator. She held up her hands and soon the same blue lines began printing the gauntlets around her hands. Once they were done, Jenny smiled wide. “Oh yeah, this is great.” Jenny said, giving a hard right straight into the air, feeling the gauntlet was fit perfectly for her and was strong enough to keep up with her brawn. "If those break I recommend upgrading to Monofilament, Dark Monofilament or one of the other eight hundred and fifty million metals." Cript said. "Onto the next room!" “Wait, hold up.” Jenny started. “There’s materials stronger than Adamantium? I thought it was supposed to be the best combination of Vibranium and Steel they could make.” "It's good but not the strongest. Also Vibranium and Adamantium are two different metals. Vibranium being lighter, tougher and with the unique trait to absorb and release kinetic energy. Adamantium is dense, heavier and requires a much higher melting point." “Adamantium is also virtually indestructible though, where even the hardest hitter’s in Marvel can’t break it.” Dan pointed out. "But Vibraniums quality in a strength test against Adamantium showed that within enough hits will cut Adamantium given Vibranium blades can separate the molecules of most materials. Can't get a cleaner cut than that." "That's fair." Dan conceded. "So, who's up next?" Cript asked as they went back into the hallway. "Me, I guess." Dan said. Opening the doors they were met with many books and notebooks atop a large desk. A simple bed in the corner and nothing much else. "Not much for material items are you?" Cript asked. "Just what I need." Dan said simply. "Books and notes are what I need." "He's a Bookworm." Alex teased. "Hm. I think I can work with that." Cript said, closing the door. The flashing light outline along the door followed and ended. Opening the door again. The room was even larger than Jenny's. Bookshelves lined every inch of the walls from floor to hundreds of floors up. Smaller, but still towering shelves lined the middle part of the room. To the right was Dan's bed and desk, with a smaller shelf system holding the contents that were on his desk prior and his bed largely unchanged. To the left was what appeared to be a laboratory of sorts, machines and equipment none of the Foretellers recognized filling the space. "Behold, your own personal archives!" Cript yelled, his voice echoing throughout the massive bedroom library. "Uh… I don't think even Dan can read all these books?" Alex stated. “I accept that challenge!” Dan declared in absolute joy. "What… are these books about?" Lan asked. "Little bit of everything and everything. All the knowledge from this world, All the knowledge on Equestrian magic, beginners tombs to various other types of magic, and some other stuff I figured would be helpful ranging from books on various languages, cultures, histories, ECT." “This is the best.” Dan said in pure excitement. "Rainbow is gonna tease the hell out of you for this." Alex laughed. "So, which room is next?" Cript asked. “Mine!” Kira said in excitement, wondering what new things she’ll get. “Can we see my room next?” "To Kira's room!" Cript declared as they all headed off. Opening the door, they were met with what most would expect from a young girl. Pink, stuffed animals, various toys and dolls, as well as a bookshelf of manga. "Neat." “Yep.” Kira smiled. “And I’ve been steadily building my manga collection whenever I can, especially now that we can go to Miraculous world I can buy all the stuff that came out after 2012.” "Got it!" Cript said, closing the door and performing his magic. When he opened the door again it was… peaceful. Inside wasn't like Jenny or Dan's room. They walked into what looked like a Meadow of wildflowers next to a large lake and forest. Next to the doorway was a lovely three story cottage. "What do you think? The entire 'outside' area is basically your own planet which I synced the weather to your worlds, but it will only rain when you either aren't in the room or are inside the cottage." Cript said. Kira was absolutely floored by this, as the youngest of the group walked in carefully, tears brimming in her eyes as she lightly shook. “This...is my room?” She asked breathlessly. "You haven't even seen the Inside of the cottage yet." Cript said, taking her hand and walking her into the cottage. The main room was a livingroom, a TV and couch set up with a wall of snack foods and fruits. On the other wall was various movies and games all organized neatly. "Main room/media room. Loaded with snack foods, movies, games and, check this." Cript walked over to a shelf with movies, tapping the left side of it as the DVD boxes began moving left, revealing many more movies as it kept going. "Neat huh?" Kira hug tackled Cript. “It’s everything I could have ever dreamed of!” She squealed in pure joy. "But wait, there's more!" He said, opening the nearby door. It was similar to Dan's room. But rather than texts with information, they were all Manga, Graphic novels and comic books. "There's manga here that hasn't even been released yet. Comic books from timelines and planets you've never seen, and all that good stuff." All the Foretellers covered their ears quickly as Kira let out an ear piercing squeal, jumping up and down adorably like she was literally visited by Santa Clause and handed her own personal Heaven to her. "And yet there is still more!" Cript said, leading Kira and the rest upstairs to the second floor where it was all a single room. Tables and boxes of toys and stuffed animals ranging from various Lego sets to dolls and toy sets of all kinds. "Enough legos to build a whole city and toys to make Toys R Us jealous." “Catch me, I’m going to faint.” Kira said in an overdramatic fashion that was honestly just cute as she had so much good shit thrown her way. "And lastly, the bedroom!" Cript said, carrying the youngest Foreteller upstairs to the third and final floor. Upon opening the door, there seemed to be no bed, just a floor with various sheets, blankets and pillows. He tossed her onto the floor and she bounced as she hit the floor, which was actually a massive mattress built into the floor. "Big bed, nice and cozy, plenty of bounce space." “YAY!” Kira giggled in absolute glee as she bounced happily. "Shit… you're spoiling her cause she's the youngest aren't you?" Lan asked. "Yes I am." Cript said with a nod. “And you sure this won’t do anything...bad to her because of said spoiling?” Alex asked carefully, knowing his family’s riches did kind of make his sibling’s a bit spoiled. "Won't happen. Cause she's got you, and me, and Alushy to keep her grounded." Cript sighed as Kira continued to bounce happily. "So, that leaves Lan and Alex. I can already tell what Alex will want." “I mean...I tore down my room in a brief bit of...depression.” Alex sighed out. "Then come along." Cript said, heading out as the Foretellers stayed behind to play with Kira, save for Lan who followed Alex and Cript. They arrived at Alex's room. Cript didn't even open the door before using his magic. He then stepped aside. "Your room, young Gentleman. Lan you… don't want to see what's in there." “And...why is that?” Lan asked carefully. Alex opened the door, looking inside before closing it. A huge grin on his face. "I can not wait for Pinkie to come over!" He nearly yelled as he ran in and closed the door, locking it. "Let's just say it's an Adult Stores Wet Dream and leave it at that." Cript said, chuckling as he and Lan walked over to the last door. Lan's room. “Well...now onto my room.” Lan said, taking a deep breath as he wondered what he’d get being the oldest of the group. "What matters most to you, Lan?" Cript asked. “My family.” Lan said honestly. “Cause...it’s one of the few things I have that matters to me...but even then…” Lan looked down bitterly, still hating himself the most because of Crow. "Hm. There is nothing worth fighting for more than Love and Family. I and my siblings are cursed and blessed with it. Zeke and I are more alike than I'd like to admit. Both can't seem to die no matter what, both can't stop growing more and more powerful." “Except Zeke’s kind of a dick…” Lan frowned, still upset with that conversation "He's afraid." Cript said. "Like him I grew up knowing I was not a normal human. My masters were almost two hundred years old, and studies that took them years to master, I completed and mastered in days. Zeke grew up more physically strong and superior than even Olympic athletes, and he learned that before he was even ten. We had no choice in what we were and we can't stop growing our power even when we want to. The difference is, Zeke is trying to run from it and I accepted it, putting it to use in ways I never imagined before." “Really?” Lan inquired. "Yes. For… creatures like him and I, the power to protect others comes all too easily but while some are weird like me, others use it for more selfish Gaines, and the ones like Zeke run and hide from it and hope it disappears. But, for people like you, your siblings, the power comes less easily, even becoming my blood helps only slightly. But, it can still be obtained with hard work and proper teachings." “Well...at least that’s still true.” Lan sighed out. Nodding, Cript placed a hand to the door. The lights glowed and died out after a few moments. Cript opened the door and Lan stepped inside. He was… in Daybreak… Town. He walked passed the research of the Master of master's, to the window and looked down at the world beyond. "Perfect replica, down to the texts, secret chambers, just no… Crystal Empire." “This...how?” Lan asked in shock. "Like I said. There is little I can't do." Cript said, walking up and next to Lan. "Recovering this was the easy part." “Of course it was…” Lan sighed out. “So...I have an entire world as my bedroom?” "You have your past as your bedroom." Cript said. "This place isn't just a perfect replica of Daybreak Town." He tapped Lan on the chest. "It's memories. Memories from a life you know you lived but don't remember. You know how that life ended, but little on how it began or what happened during it. This place will help you and them to remember it." “Well...we’re missing two people with this.” Lan pointed out. “And the last living Luxu is off in Ben’s world...and Master of Masters is being a bitch.” "Heh. Pecator and Zeke are alike in many ways too, but in the end their running and fighting will just land the two in the same place." “Who the hell is Pecator?” Lan asked in confusion. "Oh, right. That's the Master of Master's true name. Like how your names mean various sins, his name translates to Sinner." “Ironic really.” Lan rolled his eyes. “Wonder what his actual plan was? Cause he’s scared of the X-Blade sure...I understand that fully, but we only got that movie, and the phone game was nowhere near finished.” "You're thinking a bit small there." Cript said, taking a seat and with a snap of his fingers, a chess board appeared between him and Lan. "Think of it this way, Pecator sees the future through the eye of his Keyblade. He wrote down what he saw in his book, which he gave to your past selves. Now, what do you think terrified him enough that he didn't write down?" “The world was lost to darkness somehow?” Lan asked. “Cause he was the original keyblader, the one fighting against the darkness the longest right?” "Maybe. Then again, put Zeke into the Equation." Cript said, moving a piece on the board. "Targeting him specifically. And now, he shares a body with someone who's heart works just like his. When it comes to my siblings there is rarely ever a coincidence." “Cause he was made to do this shit.” Lan grumbled. "Makes you wonder, why? How does this affect Pecator? How does this affect Trixie?" He asked, moving another piece. “Are you saying...Pecator has a balanced heart?” Lan asked, moving a piece of his own. "Doesn't sound possible, right? Neither does Trixie for that matter. Fact is, some people may not look or act like it, but a balanced heart just means inner peace. Even those conflicted can have them simply be chance. Or, they were built too." Cript said, moving another piece. "How many pieces make up the X-blade?" “Twenty.” Lan said. “Seven of Light, and Thirteen Darkness.” Cript nodded. "Even with balanced hearts it seems some people lean towards certain affinities. Pecator to darkness. Trixie to Light. Zeke, light. Seems almost like pieces." “You can’t be serious…” Lan said as his eyes widened in realization. "Just twenty alone even powerful won't be enough. But, twenty plus all their matching reflections. Well, together they'd meet the requirements of an Admin." “Of a what?” Lan asked carefully. "Admins. Think of us as what Gods and Eldritch beings pray too. Older and more powerful than this or any timeline or dimension. People talk about the foundation of the smallest units of life. We built, designed and crafted all of them. Even concepts like Thought, Dreams and Truth. Long ago majority of these admins died in a war. The ones alive now are old timers who survived it, or you young bloods, like me." “Damn.” Lan said in surprise. “I...I didn’t know that was a thing…” "Majority of my siblings, myself included are built to become Admins faster than any being could ever do. I'm willing to bet the others were built to do the same, a truth Pecator learned through his eye and is trying to fight." “Well he’s going to fail...again.” Lan said simply. “Seriously, it would have made more sense if he was trying to collect the embodiments of darkness into the previous Foretellers than trying to stop this shit…” Lan said, not knowing how he just called out the final plot twist in Union Cross. "Maybe, but then again he had a fair plan. The pieces can't work or hold together without the proper casing. Zeke's body would easily and rapidly be able to house and adapt to all that power. Zeke will run, Pecator will fight… but it's pointless in the end." "Cause of Kexez…" Lan started, remembering Zeke said something about his Nobody being a bitch. "Yup. But enough about Zeke's unwanted Adminhood. Do you want to join the ranks?" "Join the ranks?" Lan asked. "How so?" "There are several ways to become an admin. Be born to two admins, inherit another's, or steal it." Cript said. "In this case, an old timer is willing to pass her Adminhood along to another." "What's the Admin?" Lan asked curiously. "And...can they spread it to five people?" "Dreams, and easily." Cript stated. "Training you all up to the power requirements will be long and difficult though. More often than not, you'll wish for death." He moved a piece, and Lan sighed as it was checkmate. “Damn it…" Lan muttered. "But...why would the training be that terrible?" "Power comes at a price. I figured Alushy's story would have been evidence enough." He said, waving his hand over the chess board as the pieces and the board itself vanished. "That story was...definitely something." Lan said nervously, still feeling bad for his mother. "I'll let you talk it over with your siblings. You can let me know when you all feel ready for it." Cript said as he stood up and began to leave. "Alushy's and my room will be in the room at the end of the hall." And with that he left Lan in the room. Lan took a deep breath, taking in everything that had just happened today. "Good lord...this is our life now huh?"  He looked out at the world that was now his room. He got up and looked around for a bit until he found his bed and collapsed. He was going to need a good, long nap.