Miraculous Flashback
(Marinette’s P.O.V)
That villain yesterday really had me exhausted. Now it’s Saturday morning. I wanted to go see Master Fu right after breakfast, but my parents needed help in the bakery this morning.
“Marinette!” From my coat pocket, Tikki poked her head out and spoke in a harsh whisper. “We should be going to Master Fu’s right now. We need to tell him about the Foretellers!”
“And we will,” I whispered back. “But I can’t bail on my parents right now. I promise once I’m done here, we’ll go see Master Fu.”
Before Tikki could retort, the bell at the front door rang. Tikki ducked back into my pocket while I put on my best smile. Two customers whom I’ve never seen before came in.
One was a tall girl that looked about seventeen. Her eyes and hair were brown, cut short, and she always wore a black jacket over a white T-shirt with blue jeans. The other girl looked about my age, albeit a little shorter than me. She had short, black hair and blue eyes, and wearing a pink frilly blouse and blue jeans. But what's strange is that she had a black eye patch over her left eye.
“Welcome to our bakery!” I greeted both of them. “I haven’t seen you two around before. Are you new in town?”
“Yup!” The smaller girl answered cheerfully. “My brothers, sister, and I just got into town yesterday.”
“Oh, how nice! My name’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
“I’m Kira, and this is my older sister Jenny.” Kira gestured to the girl behind her.
“Nice to meet you.” Jenny said cooly, “But Kira, let’s not forget we came here for breakfast for us and the boys.”
“Oh yeah! What would you suggest we get?” Kira asked me.
“Hm, well our croissants are one of the more popular pastries on our menu. Along with some coffee.” I suggested.
“That sounds great. We’ll take five of those, as well as five coffee’s.”
“One de-caf.” Jenny interrupted her sister, “Because of how someone gets around caffeine.” Her serious remark made Kira pout, as I let out a small chuckle.
“You two seem really close, I wish I had a sibling like you guys,” I said as I got their order. “So why are you all in Paris? Vacation?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Jenny spoke up. “I guess you could call it a business trip. We have a job to do here, but a little sightseeing here and there wouldn’t hurt.” She smirked.
“But I didn’t expect Paris to have their own superheroes!” Kira cheered. “What were their names again?”
“I think it was Pokadot and Black Cat, or something,” Jenny answered.
‘Pokadot!?’ “Their names are Ladybug and Cat Noire.” I corrected sheepishly.
“What about those other five?” Kira asked. “They looked so much cooler!”
My eyebrow twitched slightly. ‘Cooler!? They just showed up and are already getting popular!?’
“I don’t know who they are. They are new around here.” I answered. “Anyways, here’s your order!” I handed them their order.
Kira reached into her wallet and handed me some cash.
“Keep the change! Hope to see you again soon.” Kira said as both of them left abruptly.
Hm… what strange girls, but they were really friendly. I hope I can meet them again. I went to go and put the cash Kira gave me in the register, but in my hands wasn’t only the cash but also a letter. The letter didn’t have a return address and was sealed with a wax seal that looked like a fox.
Curiosity got the better of me and I opened it.
Hello Ladybug,
Yeah, that’s right, we know your secret identity. Don’t worry though, we won’t tell anyone. Not unless you and your partner meet us at the top of the Eiffel Tower tonight at midnight. We didn’t have a chance to properly introduce ourselves, and we have much to talk about.
May your heart be your guiding key.
T-t-they know who I am!? Wait, guiding key?
“Marinette!” Tikki whispered from my pocket. “That symbol on the seal, it’s the insignia of the Vulpus Union lead by one of the Foretellers.”
“What! But how did they know who I am!?”
“I don’t know, but this is much more serious then I thought. We need to inform Master Fu right away!”
“I know Tikki. We’ll head right over.” I said as I took off my apron. “Mom, Dad! My shift is over, I’m going out now!”
My mom yelled from the kitchen, “Okay, honey! Don’t be out too late!”
With that, I made my way towards Master Fu’s!
(Adrien’s P.O.V)
*Piano Playing in the background*
“Perfect as always Adrien.” Ms. Synthea, my piano teacher, complimented me.
“Thank you for your teachings.” I bowed my head slightly.
“Well, that’s all for this lesson. We’ll pick this back up next week.” She said as she left.
The moment she left my room, Natalie entered with a few sacks in her hands.
“Well done Adrien. Next on your schedule is fencing lessons. You have a bit of time to rest before then, so I brought you your weakly fan letters. I thought you’d want to sift through them.” She said while setting three sackfuls of fan letters.
Natalie left my room, and I slump in my seat.
“Why bother, it’s all the same anyways.” I sighed.
“What if someone sent some tasty camembert?” Plagg suddenly appeared.
I chuckled, “I seriously doubt my fans would send me camembert through the mail.”
“Well if there’s cheese involved, I’m not taking any chances!” My kwami said as he dove in the sacks and started rummaging through the letters.
While he was doing that, I started to think back to the Akuma attack yesterday. More specifically, to the five Foretellers who helped Ladybug and me.
“Hey Plagg, do you know anything about those Foretellers from yesterday? Are they Miraculous holders too?” I asked.
“Them? Oh no, they are a much bigger deal than that. They are the first Keyblade Masters from when the worlds were still one.”
I looked at him confused. “Keyblade? Worlds were one? What does that all mean?”
He pops out of the sack with a pondering look. “I’m not to fine on the details since it’s been centuries since I’ve even thought about them. We’d have to either talk to them directly or ask Master Fu about it.”
I sighed, “Well, that can’t be today, I have a full schedule.”
Plagg shrugged, “We’ll probably run into them sooner or later for an Akuma attack.” With that, he dove back into the sack to look for more cheese.
While he did that, random letters flew everywhere making a huge mess.
“Plagg, can you not make it look like a hurricane came through the window?” I asked sarcastically while picking up some letters. Although, one stood out to me out of every other letter. One white envelope with a wax snake seal laid with the other letters. I picked it up to find that it was blank. Strange, usually it would have a return address or a name, but its blank.
I guess Plagg's cat curiosity rubbed off on me. I opened the letter and start reading it.
Sup, Cat Noir.
Or should we say, Adrien Agrest? That’s right, we know who you are. Your secrets safe with us, but we do request you and the lady meet us at the top of the Eiffel Tower at midnight tonight. It is of the utmost importance.
May your heart be your guiding key.
What!? They know I’m Cat Noire? May your heart be your guiding key? It must be those Foretellers. But how did they know who I was?
Guess I’ll figure out how tonight. I’m sure they contacted the lady the same way.
(3rd person P.O.V)
Just outside of Adrien’s room, the three leaders of the Anguis, Leopardis, and Unicornis unions were observing the scene from a rooftop.
“Nice work with the letter, Dan.” Lan complimented his brother.
Dan smirked, “Well the Anguis Union does specialize in covert and stealth. Delivering that letter without either of them noticing was child's play.”
“Uuuuhhhhhhh!” The both of them turned to see their leopard brother lying down, groaning. “Where the hell are the girls with breakfast!? I’m starving.” Alex complained.
“Could you be any louder?” Dan asks sarcastically. “They might notice us.”
“Hm. What I wouldn’t give for one of Pinkie’s muffins right now.”
(Eiffel Tower)
It was the stroke of Midnight, the city of love was illuminated by the dime lights of the street.
Ladybug could be seen swinging across Paris with her yo-yo until she reached her destination, the top of the Eiffel Tower.
“Alright, I’m here. They should be here any minute now.” Ladybug said to herself.
“M’lady!” Suddenly, Cat Noire leaped from the edge of the tower and landed next to his partner. “Lovely night isn’t it? If you wanted to go on a nightly patrol you should have called. I would have brought a picnic.”
“Not the time kitty.” She sighed. “I’m guessing since you’re here, you got a message from our new ‘heroes’ in town.”
Cat Noire nodded. “Yup, but where are they. You’d think since they invited us, they’d be here first to greet us.”
“Sorry, we haven’t hosted many parties.” Ira’s voice echoed.
The five Foretellers suddenly dropped from the sky and surrounded the duo. Although, instead of their armor they were wearing their respective robes.
“Hello, heroes.” Invi greeted.
Cat Noire smirked. “Looks like you guys went shopping. You should have told us that this was a formal event, I feel underdressed.”
Ladybug swatted at Cat’s head. “Focus Cat.” She chided.
Gula snorted. “Well, we know who wears the pants in this relationship.”
“We’re not in a relationship!” Ladybug yelled embarrassed. “Can we just get down to business?”
“Geez, she’s just as stiff is you, Ira.” Aced joked as everyone, bar Ladybug, started laughing.
Ira sighed, “As the leader, it’s hard to keep them in line.”
“Don’t I know it.” Ladybug sighed as well.
“Well now that we got that out of the way, I suppose introductions are in order,” Ira suggested.
Ladybug nodded, “At least someone around here has their head on straight. I’m Ladybug, and this is my partner Cat Noire. We’re the resident heroes in Paris.”
“I am Ira of the Unicornis Union.”
“I am Aced of the Ursus Union.”
“I’m Gula of the Leopardus Union.”
“Invi of the Anguis Union.”
“And I’m Ava of the Vulpus Union.”
Ira nodded, “And as we said yesterday, we’re-”
“The Foretellers.” Ira was interrupted by a sudden elderly voice. An elderly Chinese man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt stepped out of the shadows. “The first keyblade masters trained by the Master of Masters, and leaders of the five Keyblade Unions.”
“Who are you?” Aced asked nonchalantly.
“My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I am Master Fu, keeper of the Miraculous.” He introduced himself.
Invi stepped up, “So someone in this world knows of our predecessors. The question is, how?”
“Then allow me to explain.” Master Fu turned towards the French heroes. “This concerns you two as well, so listen closely. This will be quite a story.”
“At the dawn of our Universe, there was nothing. Then the big bang gave birth to beings we now know is the Kwami. Each Kwami is formed whenever a new abstract idea or emotion comes into existence in the universe, such as creation, love, beauty, etc.”
“What does this have to do with the Keyblade?” Aced asked impatiently.
“I’m getting there.” Master Fu answeres. “The Kwami all used to travel around the universe together, but they were unable to interact with other living beings. Although, thousands of years ago when they visited Earth, that problem was solved. During their first visit to Earth, they encountered a woman that somehow had the ability to see him. This woman was named Skuld, and she was a survivor of the keyblade war.”
The Foretellers gave the Miraculous Guardian a look of surprise. While the French heroes looked at him in confusion.
“What’s the Keyblade War?” Cat Noire asked.
“I’ll take this one.” Ira interrupted. “This may be hard to believe, but there are other worlds out there. We can prove it cause we aren’t from this world you call home.” The duo looked at him shocked but continued to listen. “But long ago, all the worlds used to be one. All interconnected with each other, with the heart of it being a world called Daybreak Town.”
“That is where the Master of our Predecessors trained them and had them gather skilled Keyblade Wielders, many from different worlds, and all had to keep that fact secret,” Ava added.
“It was very prosperous back then, but then one day The Master of Masters vanished.” Aced continued. “After the Master and one of their other comrades Luxu disappeared it was up to the five of them to keep the peace. But before the Master left, he left our predecessors with what was called the Book of Destiny. Which told of what is to come in the future.”
Gula stepped up this time, “It told of future where the light expires and darkness would cover the world. Knowing that they obviously tried to stop it. But then the seeds of discord started to sprout.”
Ladybug looked confused, “Darkness would cover the world? What happened to them if they all banded together to try and fight it?”
“They discovered evidence that would lead to a traitor,” Invi answered. “They found evidence that someone had fallen to darkness, but without any proof of who, they began to suspect each other. One thing leads to another until it reached the point where their union members got involved. Those seeds grew into something more chaotic, the Keyblade War. That day, thousands of Keybearers died, and the world became covered in darkness, just like the Book of Destiny foretold. The worlds eventually broke apart, leaving nothing but a wasteland of a once prosperous city.”
“But hope was not lost.” Ava continued. “The original Master Ava gathered a hand-selected few of Keybearers from different unions into a group called the Dandelions. Where after the War, they scattered to the winds to make sure the light didn’t fully expire.”
The Paris duo took a while to ingest all the information, while Master Fu just stayed silent.
“Well now that you know our story, why not continue yours. Do you know the name of the survivor that ended up in this world?” Gula asked.
“Her name was Skuld.” Master Fu answered.
Ava’s eyes widened under her mask. “One of my Dandelions,” she muttered to herself.
“From the stories told by the monastery I’ve heard, she had come to this world after the Keyblade War. Although, not before she fought herself. While escaping with the other Dandelions, they encountered various Keybearers wanting to stop them. She held them off most of them for the others to escape, but in doing so she was severely injured when escaping herself. She arrived in battle worn and keyblade shattered until she was discovered by monks. She was nursed back to health and taken under the monk's wing. Not too long after that, came along the Kwamis. They came to Earth as one of their stops throughout the Galaxy, but then they ran into Master Skuld. For some reason, only she was able to see them. Possibly due to the magic of being a Keybearer. After hearing their story and desire to interact with other lifeforms, Skuld herself crafted the Miraculous using the shattered remains of her Keyblade. They allowed the Kwamis to inhabit the Miraculous and interact with other life, and also bestowed the wearers of said miraculous with great power. From then on the monastery of monks was known as The Order of the Guardians, with their first master being none other than Master Skuld herself. With this power, they took it upon themselves to distribute the Miraculous jewels to worthy people so they could benefit all of mankind and protect the world from danger.” Master Fu finished.
The occupants of the tower top were silent to process this information. Ava had a solemn, but also proud, look on her face. She was sad to hear the condition of her student when she came to this world, but proud because she did exactly when the dandelions were meant to do. Spread light to all worlds.
“Well, we now know where our stories connect.” Gula broke the silence.
“But even with all this information, why are the five of you in this world?” Ladybug asked.
“Well, until we arrived here yesterday, we didn’t know,” Invi added. “Until we saw you both fighting the Unversed. With that evidence, I have a sneaking suspicion that one of our old foes is in this world.”
“Crow,” Ira concluded. “Although we don’t know his motives for his being here yet. So looks like you’re stuck with us for a while. With that in mind,” He reached for his mask and took it off, making the rest of his robes disappear leaving him in his civilian clothes. “I think a level of trust is in order.”
The other Foretellers followed his lead and removed their masks as well, which surprised the hero duo.
“W-what are you doing!?” Ladybug studdered.
“Yeah! You aren’t supposed to reveal your secret identity to anyone. That’s ‘Super Heroing 101!’” Cat Noire stated.
Gula, now Alex, chuckled, “Well since we aren’t from this world, there really isn’t any consequence to us revealing our identities.”
Ladybug then saw Kira and Jenny in place of the Ursus and Vulpus masters. ‘Those are the girls from this morning!’ She thought to herself.
“You know us as the Foretellers, but as civilians are Lan, Kira, Dan, Alex, and Jenny Foreteller. We’re all siblings. Now, isn’t it your turn to reveal yourselves?”
“We can’t do that.” Ladybug stated. “We can’t allow anyone to know our true identities. Not even each other.”
Dan tilted his head in confusion. “I get that not letting civilians know about your identities, but you don't even know each other?” The hero duo nodded. “... That’s foolish.”
This statement irked the heroes a bit.
“What do you mean foolish?” Cat Noire asked.
“I ain’t the smartest of this bunch, but even I think it's stupid,” Jenny added. “If you knew each other's real selves it would be a lot easier to get into contact with each other when a villain strikes. Also gaining a good amount of trust than just colleagues.”
“It’s for both of our sakes. Knowing each other's identities could be dangerous.” Ladybug countered.
“For who? It’s not like you’re screaming your names to the whole city.” Alex started sarcastically. “If you really trust each other with your lives, then you should trust each other with your lives outside of being heroes.”
Kira saw that Cat Noire had a thoughtful look on his face. ‘It seems like we aren’t the only ones who think so.’ She thought.
“Enough guys.” Lan interrupted. “It’s their identities, it’s their choice. We should respect their choices. Now that everything is done with, it’s getting late so we should get going.” Lan waved his hand and opened a door to light behind him. He turned to the Miraculous duo and bowed his head. “I hope we can work together in the future.” Was all he said before walking through the Door.
One by one the other Foretellers followed his lead, the last one to pass through was Kira. But before she walked through she turned back towards the hero duo.
“Just one more thing.” Kira focused on Cat Noire. “I can sense great love in you Cat Noire. It’s so strong and pure. I’ll leave you both with this. May your heart be your guiding key.” With that, she left.
“Well, they were an interesting bunch.”
In Hawk Moth’s secret sanctum, Hawk Moth and Crow could be seen along with a multitude of Unversed.
An Akuma flew through the air until it landed on a Scraper Unversed. The Moment the Akuma landed on the Scraper it was covered in dark energy. The energy faded of the body of the scraper before it dissipated, but the only thing that changed about the Unversed except now it had a strange butterfly symbol on its chest.
“Such pure and unbridled negative energy, how intoxicating.” Hawk Moth smirked evilly.
“And that’s just one, just wait until tomorrow Hawk Moth. We’ll turn Hero Day into the Miraculous Duo’s retirement party.” Crow offered, luring in Hawk Moth with tempting words he believed wholeheartedly.
“And with them gone...I can take the Miraculous...and make things right again…” Hawk Moth stated.
"You get what you want, and I get what I want. Simple as that." Crow purred as more and more Unversed were infused with Akuma's.
"Think they will listen?" Kira asked as she and her siblings all sat atop a rooftop.
“If they're smart then yes.” Alex said honestly.
"So, what will we do for the moment?" Lan asked. "So far no Unversed and no Need for a proper patrol."
“We’re literally in Paris, we have nothing to do specifically...what do you think Lan?” Dan asked simply. “Come on, let’s go sightseeing, that isn’t a patrol.”
"Maybe we can try some restaurants?" Jenny offered.
“Actually have a real, and delicious meal in Paris, France.” Alex nodded.
“Real glad our world hopping let us go to Paris of all places.” Dan chuckled, finding the fact this is literally the most ‘normal’ area they’ve been to was kind of funny in hindsight.
"Alright alright." Lan said with a laugh. "Let's go grab some lunch then head on off… wait, does this world take our currency?"
"Well, maybe we can trade with Munny? It is gold after all and seems any world that doesn't use Munny at least values gold." Jenny said.
“Couldn’t we turn our Munny into normal currency with our Assistants?” Alex pointed out.
"Huh… that… didn't occured to me." Lan said.
"Guess we forgot we have them on most of the time." Kura said with a shrug.
"We really should ask about all they can do someday." Jenny suggested.
“I guess none of you played Fallout.” Alex started. “But...yeah, we’re gonna need an explanation, cause I have no idea how complicated this thing is.”
"Well, let's see… how does this work again?" Lan said aloud, showing the almost tattoo like symbol of the Assistant on his arm and taping a finger on it. Within his vision he looked around at many… options, ranging from practical to entertainment and various other things that went over his head. "Uh… okay, so where would currency exchange be?"
“There should be a search bar.” Dan started as he also looked through his assistant. “Also...I don’t remember these being tattoo’s.”
"Well, knowing what Cript can do, maybe it's some update?" Jenny suggested.
After some trial and error they managed to trade Munny for Euro's and the group went off, Kira taking photos, Alex flirting and getting appropriately slapped, Jenny helped Kira with photos, Dan was reading a map and Lan was reading through a tourist book. "This is probably the most normal thing we've done." Lan said to himself.
“And to be honest, it’s a good thing.” Dan nodded. “Sometimes we just need some normalcy after all the shit we’ve been through.”
"True, even so it almost feels… I dunno. Bizzare I guess?" Lan offered.
“Sounds about right.” Alex said as he rubbed his cheek from getting slapped again. “Going back to something normal does feel weird when we’ve been doing quite a lot of strange things.”
"Yeah… almost feels like we don't belong in that kind of life huh?" KIra said, gaining everyone's thoughts as she spoke those words.
"Yeah… It feels… Alien…" Jenny sighed.
“We’re vampire ponies disguised as humans.” Dan pointed out.
“I think we left normalcy at the front door a long time ago.” Alex shrugged.
"Fair." Jenny shrugged.
Within his room, door locked Adrien sat contemplating the Foreteller's Words. He would have to have a word with Master Fu soon, but their words struck him with ideas he thought about, but never acted upon before.
How simple would it be, if it was just the two of them who knew?
"Something on your mind?" Plagg asked, eating his usual stinky cheese.
“What the Foretellers told me…” Adrien sighed out.
"Wanna be a bit more specific? They said a lot of stuff." Plagg stated as bluntly and uninterested as ever.
“The things that...honestly made me feel called out.” Adrien sighed out. “They told me so many things I’ve thought about, but never acted upon...and I doubt Master Fu will enjoy all of this…”
Plagg ate his cheese for a while. He knew some of this but not not all and while he mostly followed the rules Master Fu and his predecessors followed, he knew the choice was always up to the wielder of his Miraculous. "Well, I can't tell you how to live your life, or even how to wield the Cat Miraculous power, what I can say is that the choice is yours. Are you gonna follow an ancient set of rules and tradition or forge your own path?"
“Well, what do you have to say on this my cheese loving feline friend?” Adrian asked. “You’ve been doing this a whole lot more than me, do you know anything before I take a dangerous step forward?”
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. This is a choice for you to make Adrian. But whatever you pick, I'll be with you."
“If only Ladybug was here…” Adrian groaned. “At least I could have some help trying to figure this out…”
"I can't believe they just showed us their faces like that!?" Marinette yelped in her room.
Tikki, mostly was listening. Her own thoughts wandered to the Foretellers. So many questions and a great worry weighted upon her mind. What does the near future hold with the Foretellers return?
“I think we should be more concerned about why their here rather than their disguise Marinette.” Tikki started worriedly.
"Hmm… what do you know about them Tikki? Master Fu said some stuff and I only really got some of it. Just who and what are they?"
“It can mean something either good or bad that’s for sure.” Tikki stated. “They are...very old masters, I don’t know who those five are under the masks...but I do know they are really the Foretellers.”
"Do you know what the Foretellers are, or a Keyblade for that matter?"
“Barely on the former, a bit on the latter.” Tikki said. “Keyblades are very powerful artifacts of Light, being’s shaped by a god of balance to help keep Darkness from gathering too much power. The Foretellers, while I don’t know much, is that they were five keyblade masters that helped train thousands of other keybladers...and then something terrible happened…”
"That… Keyblade War?" Marinette asked.
“I don’t know the details of it...and I’d rather not fully.” She said. “Cause from what Master Fu and some predecessors of mine said...it shattered existence and gave birth to billions of worlds, each a star in the sky from where we are.” She said honestly.
"Really? So, are they dangerous then? The Foretellers I mean?"
“What did you think of them Marinette?” Tikki asked.
"I dunno… they're so… young. One of them is younger than I am and the others are around my age … Honestly it's confusing. I guess as long as they help dealing with these strange monsters then I guess they are okay."
“Then I’ll trust your judgement.” Tikki said softly. “Going to talk to Master Fu about what’s going on here?”
"Yeah, I need answers and while I don't doubt these Foretellers would tell me, I wanna hear it from Master Fu first." Marinette said with a nodd.
"How is it we always find this Ice Cream?" Kira asked as she and her siblings all enjoyed the taste of Sea Salt Ice cream atop the Eiffel Tower as the sun began setting.
“No matter the world, you’ll always find good ice cream.” Dan chuckled.
“And also, let’s not question it.” Alex said. “I’d rather not have some secret organization stealing my ice cream because one of us pointed out something weird.”
"Heh, in any case, I'm amazed at how calm it is here. Just this morning there were monsters running around and now it's like it never happened." Jenny said.
“Yeah...I mean, we shouldn’t be surprised considering how our home can rebound after monster attacks.” Alex pointed out.
"Yeah but I honestly thought that was unique to our world." Jenny said.
"Speaking of, how have your unions all been holding up?" Kira asked. "I know we're being more cooperative than the prior Foretellers but still."
“Things are going well thankfully.” Alex said honestly.
“Same on my end.” Dan nodded.
"Same for me." Lan said.
"... There were a few… incidents…" Jenny sighed.
"Incidents?" Kira asked.
"Manifested Darkness. Nothing too wild, just some awakened darkness affinities and some surprise abilities."
“Surprise abilities?” Dan inquired.
"Cript's realm stuff. Some of which were actually pretty cool. Flash for instance now has a Total Recoil ability. Basically any heavy attacks he makes he nullifies any and all negative recoil the attack can inflict upon himself."
"That's… pretty useful." Lan said.
“Extraordinarily useful if he usually swings big.” Dan pointed out.
"Most of the time. He actually has a unique glass tank set up. His defense is kinda… bad but his attack and speed are really good." Jenny said.
"So, when's the date?" Kira asked.
Jenny blushed. "N- none of your business!"
"So there is a date then?" Dan added with a grin.
“So is Kira gonna have to drag you over to a salon to get you all prettied up for the date?” Alex asked.
Jenny punched Alex's arm, earning a Yelp of pain from the pervert as the group laughed.
"You all suck…" Jenny growled.
“Love you to Jenny.” Dan said as he got his laughter under control.
“You didn’t have to hit so hard…” Alex pouted as he rubbed his arm.
"Always with the temper Jenny." The group turned and looked up, seeing a familiar face. Crow sat atop a higher set of frame of the tower, enjoying his own ice cream as he looked down at the Foretellers.
“Crow!” Dan called out in shock.
“What are you doing here?” Alex asked carefully.
"Oh you know, spreading darkness and chaos here and there. Hawkmoth has been oh so useful in that. His little akumas take to the Unversed like bees to a flower. And in the end, why stray from the good old fashioned goals of helping people succumb to their darkness."
“You know we’ll stop you right?” Dan asked bluntly.
"Yes well don't all heroes have that complex. So sure and confident in your abilities." Crow spoke, tossing his ice cream aside and off the tower as he jumped to the standing area with the Foretellers. "And even so, so so much can still go wrong."
"Nice bad guy quote, made it up yourself?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"Better than your pick up lines." That, earned a hesitant chuckle from Alex's siblings. "Still, it's so easy to conquer when you divide and play at the weaknesses."
“And yet somehow you're still too cowardly to do anything against us directly.” Dan pointed out.
Crow closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Perhaps. Then again, at least I still keep tabs on the people of interest. Better than you all ever did." He smirked, earning an uneasy look from the Foretellers. "When was the last time any of you stopped by Daybreak? It was your responsibility after all, a past life ago. Yet you, like me, washed your hands of it onto another. Honestly in both your lives Foretellers that's the best decision you ever made and that's counting what happened too."
"W… what happened?" Lan asked, keeping his temper in check despite his worry.
"Did something happen to Daybreak Empire?" Kira asked.
Crow kept his smirk. "Poof." Was all he said. "Was quite the lightshow too."
“Impossible, if anything would have happened then we would have been informed.” Dan stated bluntly, knowing the Daybreak scouts would have informed them personally or at least sent a message to their scouts.
“And secondly, it’s also impossible for Daybreak to just up and get destroyed when not only the Crystal Heart was protecting it, but everyone there was guarding it as well.” Alex stated.
"Yes, well, armies clash and it's not too hard to… trick the system." Crow said, snapping his fingers. To the disgust of the Foretellers, an amalgamation with the features of a Dusk Nobody and a Soldier Heartless appeared before them. It danced and twitched with metallic screeches. "Like them? These little hybrids are enough Heartless to steal a heart, but enough Nobody to have tricked that Rock. They come in all shapes and sizes."
"N-no way…" Kira muttered.
"You… That's Core's work." Lan said.
"My master, yes, but given as he is… gone… I can at least be thankful his surviving Reflections are useful in the factories." Crow sighed.
“And who killed him?” Alex asked. “Cause we remember him turning into a Nobody but...for you to say he’s gone is weird.”
"Hard to believe but that annoying DTD walking Nobody wannabe did him in. What was his name, starts with an H… eh, doesn't matter given he died too. That left his student Spoiled and I all his work and research. Spoiled is mad but useful… for now." Crow sighed, quickly regaining his smirk. "At least the Daybreak Empire invasion went all according to plan."
“That’s...impossible…” Dan muttered.
"Don't believe me? Try the mirror when you get home then, see if it even works."
Jenny roared, summoning her Keyblade and running in for a slash against Crow. He dodged, side stepping and tripping her. "If there's one thing I've been learning and learned from Core, it's to know when to fight, and when to let others do it for you." With surprising speed Crow jumped high up and over the towers edge. Racing to see, the Foretellers couldn't find their former friend, but saw as many, many DTD's opened up all around Paris, Unversed infused with Akumas ran all along the streets pouring out of the dark portals like water.
"Shit!" Lan yelled as he and the others all adorned their masks.
"Get everyone to safety!" Kira yelped as they jumped into action.
“How the hell did he get all this set up so fast!?” Dan yelled in shock, trying to contact their union’s to get some back up to this massive shit show.
“Doesn’t matter right now, we need to work fast!” Alex stated as he bolted down to the city streets to fend off the Darkness.
Several DTL's opened up, Dan calling forth their Union members and many rushed through armored and began hacking away as the Akumatized Unversed.
In the chaos of the battles Ladybug and Cat Noir appeared rapidly. "What's going on?!" Ladybug cried out.
"More of these freaky monsters, and a whole lot of Keyblade people here fighting them!" Cat replied. "Darn, guess we best crash this party."
"This is insane, even for Hawkmoth."
“That would be thanks to his...benefactor…” Dan sighed out.
Looking, the two heroes saw the Foretellers arriving. "Benefactor?" Ladybug asked. "Who in their right mind would help a mad man like Hawkmoth?!
"Define right mind." Lan said, hacking at a Bruiser. "You two help deal with the Akuma's as they fly out, we'll help deal with their hosts."
“If you see other people in armor, that’s from my Union, there here to help.” Dan brought up.
"Wow, so this is what it feels like to have backup." Cat whistled. "Well, shall we Milady?"
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Get to biting and scratching Kitty." Ladybug said as she and Cat rushed off.
"Did anyone else notice how oblivious their trope is?" Kira asked.
"What trope?" Lan said.
Several palms hit foreheads.
“Damn it dude…” Alex groaned.
“You can’t be serious…” Dan shook his head.
"As dense as a brick." Jenny sighed.
As the others rushed off, Lam was left thinking. "... What just happened?" He questioned, dodging a Scrapper and slaying it with a single swing.
Alex rushed through hords of Unversed, saving several people and helping them Inside before rushing around and keeping the others at bay.
As he rushed around, dodging flurries of attacks he dodged something new on instinct. Turning around-
Alex froze, seeing the being before them was part human, part Unversed, wielded a Pixie Petal Keyblade. Her green skin and particle flowing green hair were patchwork stitched with pieces of Scrapper Unversed on a quarter of her skull, left arm and a chunk of her mid torso were all the purple of an Unversed Scrapper.
Her brown eye and one lifeless Unversed eye locked Onto Alex. "Hello, Master…" Her warped voice growled.
"Wallflower Blush…" Alex breathed. The last time he saw her… was when the Clone Josh Ventral slaughtered many of the students… “God...what happened to you?” Alex asked sadly.
"Several bullets to my body." She said, the Unversed around us rapidly swarmed around us, forming a wall of sorts around the two. "My remains were… stitched together, and my heart and soul shoved back inside." She raised her Keyblade, slamming it back down, dark purple vines rushed from the ground where she struck and rapidly tried to cover and wrap around Alex.
Alex sighed out shakily. "I'm sorry Wallflower…" Alex started, lightning sparking from his keyblade as he used his natural affinity for lightning and speed take hold and tore the purple vines apart. !"
"Spare me!" Wallflower shouted, her Keyblade glowing dark as it's colors altered to a black and purple palette, black for the vine-like part and purple for the flowers. "You promised me strength and power to overcome all, and I died!" She rushed in, faster than Alex expected as the two clashed blades, several strikes each Alex backed away from. Every strike with her corrupted Keyblade released small bursts of poisonous fog that hung in the air for a while before fading. "You were the one person who actually noticed me, and you killed me!"
“There hasn’t been a day gone by where I haven’t blamed myself for not protecting you…” Alex sighed out, parrying the next swipe from Wallflower and pushing her away with an aero spell. “And yet here you are, standing right before me...almost like a sick joke Crow wanted to make...or maybe something else.”
"And yet when he promised me power… he kept it." Wallflower growled, rushing in and clashing with Alex. Her movements were fast, and wild. He was fast and-
"Agh!"
Predictable.
Alex held onto his leg, darkness irradiated from the wound as his body grew weaker until he was barely able to keep upright. "Fun fact about poisonous plants, their effects can vary depending on quantity. That little love tap won't kill you but it will have you nodding off pretty soon."
Alex fumbled, trying to grab a potion or antidote, fumbling as his finger knuckles began to lock up and he dropped it. Wallflower walked up to her former master, a gentle shove sent Alex to the ground on his back.
“Oh...wait.” Alex started as he started to get back up. “I forgot something important about myself. So thank you for reminding me.” He said as he swung at the surprised unversed hybrid.
The impact sent Wallflower to the ground, quickly she got back up however. "How… no one can recover so fast from that poison."
“You were a part of my union, take a guess as to why.” Alex stated simply. “Also because I’m a vampire.” He said as he flashed his pearly white’s, which indeed showed vampire fangs...but Wallflower also noticed two bumps in Alex’s hood.
She rapidly cast gust, the wind knocking his hood back as his ears popped up. "..." She then hit the ground laughing. "God you look stupid!" She laughed.
The sound of Alex stabbing Wallflower in the leg was both palpable and comedic.
To his surprise, Wallflower ripped her own leg off, jumping back some as Alex watched her limb regrow. "Well, guess I'm not the only one who got upgraded then. At least mine look cool." She smirked.
“Eh.” Alex said as he raised his hand and shook it a little in a ‘kinda’ sorta way.
"Hm." Wallflower smirked, crossing her arms. "Fun fact about plants. Most can regrow from a single branch."
Alex was confused for a moment, then looked down as Wallflower's leg regrew a new body, the newly formed double used their free leg and kicked Alex off, pulling his Keyblade out of her leg and off to the side. "Ten bucks says he fantasized about this." The second Wallflower said.
"Suckers bet." The first replied.
“And here I thought you hated me.” Alex teased. “Not even finishing our first date and already wanting a three way.” He shook his head with a chuckle as he readied himself. “Always the quiet ones.”
"Once upon a time… that might have been an option." Both said.
Before Alex could react, his brain processed that, and earned him a duel slash across his torso before more dark vines wrapped around him. "Love to stay and chat more, but the boss only needed us to keep you lot distracted." Off in the distance, a massive eruption of darkness went off into the sky.
"Jobs complete." The second said, taking the first's hand and the two ran into an opening DTD.
Alex huffed, both concerned about the spire of darkness, his siblings, and the fact he could have had a three way with Wallflower and Pinkie...
“Wait...why didn’t I hypnotise...DAMN IT!” Alex shouted in a massive missed opportunity to have at least probably gotten her on their side if she wasn’t immune to hypnosis...or at least figured out why she’s truly pissed. “Seriously...whole ‘I wanted power’ crap is a weak ass excuse for someone like her…” He muttered as he tried breaking out of the vines.
Dan hacked away at the Unversed. He found it strange that so many of them, while boosted in power by the Akumas, were also so basic. The strongest ones here had to be Bruisers and not even as many as the Scrappers or Floods.
“Something’s not right here…” Dan muttered, swaying backwards from an Akuma’s swing and cutting it in half. “If Crow really wanted to cause bad shit to happen then he would have brought it big hitters, not cannon fodder…”
"Expected that from you." That Voice! Dan thought, looking around for the owner. Last time he saw them, the Josh Ventral Clone put several bullets through them. He looked up, and his eyes widened.
“No...what the hell are you doing here!?!” Dan asked in absolute shock.
"Miss me Master Dan? Been a while hasn't it?" The floating figure of Zephyr Breeze was above him. Odd metallic small wing like objects we're sticking out his side and he looked down at Dan, grinning.
Zephyr was an interesting person. He was one of the oldest people in all of the unions and while he was, in words, a terrible person, he surprised everyone with his ability to Excel at information gathering. Made him a perfect spy. "Been a while. Last time I saw you the sweet grip of death was closing my eyes. You look well."
“What did they do to you?” Dan asked carefully.
"Oh you know, after my corpse was dragged into the realm of darkness, they pumped my body with darkness, negative energy and shoved an Unversed into every cell of my body after they got my heart and soul out of the afterworlds. Fun fact, all heart's go to Skala, but souls… they don't all go to heaven. Wasn't fun being in hell. Wasn't surprised I ended up there but really could have done without the eternal fire and constant impalement on every sharp object you can think of."
“So your first thought is to work for the people that turned you into an even worse person than you were before?” Dan asked.
"Well, I do get paid." In the distance, a lady screamed and Zephyr caught her purse as it flew at him. "I can use my skills to the fullest and, I got none of my old bullshit back home. No debt, no bills, no taxes."
“You had so much going for you before you died, you could have changed your life around…” Dan shook his head. “But why am I not surprised…”
"Heh, you sound like my sister." He laughed, still lazily floating above Dan. "Did she party at the funeral?"
“Unlike you, she still gave a shit about you.” Dan stated simply. “Even after all the mooching bullshit you’ve done to your parents and her...they were all their, crying over the loss of their son and older brother, someone that was finally starting to change his life around for the better.” He stated simply.
"Heh, now I know you're lying." Zephyr said, snapping his fingers as many rapidly spinning orbs appeared around Dan, closing in and right before impact Dan put up a reflect spell. "She may act kind, sweet and loving… but my sis has no love for me." More of the orbs appeared, around Dan and some floated around, targeting from afar.
“And here I thought you were actually good at your job.” Dan said as the Reflect spell activated, sending the orbs flying into the other orbs and ping ponging around him. “Cause if you can’t even see a basic truth in front of you, then I might have given you too much credit.” He said as he bolted towards Zephyr, moving through all the moving orb’s swiftly like a snake as he swung his keyblade at the lazy bastard.
As Dan was about to make the impact, He blinked, Zephyr was suddenly gone as Dan slashed air. Dan looked around, finding the floating bastard some distance in the air. "Sup?" He asked.
“There’s no way you can be that fast.” Dan started.
"Then try and get me." He said, pulling out a printed target and taping it to his shirt.
Dan stared carefully at him and all the orbs that stopped pinballing around. “Fine…” He said as he raised his keyblade. “Magic Missile.” He said as he fired the simple spell, a dozen arcane bolts rushed at Zephyr swiftly.
Another blink, and Zephyr was gone again, the magic missiles hitting into the empty space. "Not even close." Dan looked up, seeing Zephyr ten feet away, twenty feet in the air behind him.
“You forgot how Magic Missile worked.” Dan said as the missiles turned around and went straight towards Zephyr again.
"You know, I never quite understood how you and Dash became an item?" Blink. Gone. "I mean, how can you keep up with her? No way you have her endurance." Blink. Gone. Missed.
Dan payed close attention to each spot Zephyr teleported to, all the missiles still homing straight onto Zephyr. “Hold on…” Dan muttered, his mind going through any of the Unversed that could even teleport...which were none. “Oh please don’t tell me…” He muttered as he tried cutting through one of the orbs, hoping his growing hunch was wrong.
The orb exploded, knocking Dan back. Blink. Zephyr was still there but Dan hit something else, another orb and the second explosion slammed him against the floor. "Still here." Zephyr said, yawning.
“Fucking...Chrono Twister…” Dan growled as he got up, the magic missiles still going after Zephyr. “So what? Your gimmick is to stop time where these orbs are?”
"Always were the smart one." Blink. Gone. "Limited area of use but useful all the same."
“Thanks for the confirmation.” Dan said as he raised his keyblade. “Magnera!” He shouted as the strong magnet spell activated and started grabbing all the orbs in the area, along with Zephyr.
Blink. Gone.
"What?" Dan questioned, the gathered orbs exploding over him but he took no damage.
"Can still teleport." Zephyr said, floating a distance away but not was upright rather than laid on their back. "You forgot about that trick huh?"
The magic missiles finally hit the bastard upside the head as he was gloating about his teleporting.
Zephyr crashed into the ground, Dan rushing over and keeping their Keyblade to his back. "Ouch. Not cool man." Zephyr groaned.
“Even if you're still a prick...we can still save you, get you turned back to normal and back with your family.” Dan stated to Zephyr. “You can be a better man...not continue down the same path that you’ve been going down for years…” Dan said.
Zephyr chuckled. "You wanna talk about Family? Alright then." Zephyr whistled, a DTD opened behind Dan as he turned and readied his Keyblade… and backed away.
Emerging from the portal was a grotesque, Frankenstein's monster of human body parts arranged together into the form of a leopard. It was held together by metallic plates, heavy bolds and darkness. "See, not all the ones dragged into the darkness had enough… parts to make a whole body. So why waste spare parts?"
Dan took another step back, some bits of faces upon the creatures body he could recognize, more lost from his own union. "I call em Scrap Cats." Dan turned to look at Zephyr, who was smiling a twisted grin of joy. "Sick em."
The beast roared, tackling Dan across the floor and away from Zephyr.
“God damn it..” Dan growled, his keyblade starting to vibrate lightly as the sound of a rattlesnake’s tail was echoing out. “I’m sorry my student…” Dan muttered as he tried slashing at the abomination with a high frequency keyblade slash.
From the wound he made on the abomination splashed out bit blood but several more ungodly creations, resembling snakes but made from spines or arms with single eyeballs on the 'head' and teeth made of metal that bit into Dan as they jumped him, one even managing to wrap itself around his neck and squeeze tight, it's one green eye staring right into his own eyes.
“Cause why not!” Dan snapped as he managed to get the snake monster off by stabbing it and throwing it away.
One that creature was off his neck the larger one tackled him again, this time digging claws into his legs before Dan could kick it off.
Zephyr teleported next to the creature, letting the 'snakes' slither up his arms as they treated him as their master. "This job is almost too easy." He laughed.
"The fuck is your job?" Dan asked. "Cause this is too much and too little for a simple town."
"Only what I Excel at." The ground shook, Dan turning and saw a giant pillar of darkness shooting up into the sky. "Distraction."
Dan turned back at Zephyr, watching as him and his abominations entered a DTD and closed before he could get them.
"Damn it…" Dan growled as he dashed towards the giant pillar.
Jenny was pissed. She easily sliced the Unversed before her, but they hit much harder than normal and we're heavily outnumbered. Even with calling for help from her union there was still so many. She was having such a good day too.
As Jenny hacked a Scrapper back into negative energy, the ground under her shook a little. Looking around, Jenny spotted a figure clad in black and gold armor. Their figure was large, taller and bulkier than herself and their face was covered by a bolted metallic face mask.
"Hey teach!" The energy and volume of that yell held no malice, no anger yet knocked Jenny on her rear from the sheet force and shock alone. She recognized that voice. She saw multiple high caliber bullets turn her former muscular union member into red and white chunks.
"B-Bulk Biceps?!" Jenny yelped.
"Heck yeah!" He confirmed, flexing his bizarre body. "Like the look! I'm all tanky like a… a… like a metal thing!"
"Like a tank?" Jenny asked, trying to help her transformed student.
"Yeah! That!" Before Jenny could question further, Bulk Biceps punched his master square in the stomach. The impact sent her flying through hoards of Unversed and crashing into a building wall that, while held, cracked inwards several inches.
Jenny was always tough. She could take a hit. Becoming an undead vampire pony hybrid child of Cript had only reinforced that fact. Bulk Biceps just gave her a dose of true pain, reinforced by the spat of blood she coughed up as she stood back up, body healing the damage the best her not fully developed vampiric body could manage.
“God damn…” Jenny muttered as she got out of the hole in the building.. “That really hurt.”
"You know before you showed up at Canterlot High, I was the strongest person in the whole school." Bulk said, walking up to Jenny. "I could take hits and give them like nothing! Then you showed up, and I remember you gave me a hard hit. I felt it. For once, I felt someone's punch! And it hurt! And it was awesome!"
“So why are you working for these assholes if you were fine before?” Jenny asked.
If Jenny could see his face, he'd have looked confused if his head tilt meant anything. "Just following your words teach. 'No matter how strong you are now, you can always become stronger'. I felt that. I worked well passed my limits to one day be your equal in combat." He rubbed his head, Jenny taking note of this and saw the aura around him changed, his normal body language now seemed… weighted. "Then I died." Bulk spoke, his voice seemed more… stern, than before. "It hurt… so much…"
“Believe me big guy...it hurt all of us…” Jenny said, preparing her keyblade for when he’d strike.
"I woke up in agony, in this body. Then, Crow told me how best to both fight the pain, and get stronger." His darkness aura flared up, showing itself visibly as it irradiated off his skin. "I'll turn my pain, my anger into strength… just like you." His voice was devolved into a growl, in a flash came his Keyblade, Olympia, it's colors purple and black over the gold and white it was.
“We don’t have to do this Bulk…” Jenny started, preparing herself up for what’s to come. “You can stand down...going this far isn’t worth it.” She told him, not entirely wanting to fight Bulk after she failed to save him.
"I don't have to… you do." He said, slashing down. Jenny dodged, the slash uplifting soil and sending Jenny into the air and hitting the ground a few feet away. "You're the strongest of the Foretellers. I've always been curious, how strong are you when not holding back?"
“If you want…” Jenny growled as she got up, Ursus starting to glow as she grabbed it with both hands as it transformed into twin bear claw gauntlets. “You want to know that bad? Then I’ll show you that bad.” She growled as she brought an and threw an uppercut through the air, a massive blast of wind managing to knock Bulk back a few feet from the force. “I say this again Bulk, stand down...please…”
"Sorry, but you aren't my Master anymore."
Bulk Biceps swung. Jenny threw two fists. The impact knocked dozens of nearby Unversed away and destroyed them. The ground under them cracked, sparks flew between the clashing weapons.
Jenny screamed, her bones cracking under the pressure of the impact until the bent and twisted, sending Bulk's Keyblade slashing Jenny's torso open as she collapsed. Bulk disbanded his Keyblade, Jenny's body began regenerating. To her surprise, she saw him toss a vial of blood next to her. "Your breed of Vampire heals better after eating virgin blood right? That should get you back on your feet in a few minutes." He said as he turned and began walking around.
“Bulk...wait!” Jenny called out as she took the vile and drank from it, healing faster. “Bulk...please, being strong is one thing...why are you taking it this far?” Jenny asked sadly. “Why are you working for Crow? He’s the one that got you killed and turned you into an Unversed...why?” She asked, trying to figure out why her number one student would do something like this.
"I made him a promise. Same as you did once. 'I've got your back'." Jenny froze… her own words to Crow, so long ago. "Unlike you, I can keep my promises." He opened a DTD, walking into it. "I'm strong enough to." He said as the portal closed.
Jenny stared at where the portal used to be, the bear foreteller starting to grind her teeth in pure rage. “Yeah! CAUSE THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE YOU FUCKING PRICK!” Jenny roared in anger. “No no! Just join the fucker that got you killed and turned you into an abomination! HOLY FUCK!” She roared as she shoved her hands into the ground, right below a couple hundred unversed and literally table flipped a circle of ground and squished all the unversed in anger.
After that quick little outburst, Jenny took a shuddering deep breath as she tried not to start crying, not because of the egregious amount of physical pain she’s in...but the emotional pain of someone betraying her and using her own words against her...again. “I’m doing my best damn it…” She said sadly.
As she stood up, her body now recovered fully, she nearly fell back over as an explosion of darkness, shot up into the sky like a pillar.
Kira was many things. Kind. Sweet. Adorable and Adorkable according to those that knew her. Above all else, she was a Keyblade master. While she wasn't too terribly strong physically, she more than made up for it with speed and agility paired with an aptitude for spellcasting.
“Flame Lance!” Kira shouted as she swung her keyblade down, a lance made of pure condensed flame stabbing into the ground and knocking up several dozen Unversed, before it coalesced and exploded into a fireball that killed all of them. “Why did Crow have to ruin a perfectly good day?” Kira huffed.
As Kira worked her magic, literally, at dispelling the Unversed, the sounds of… something. It was flapping, she didn't recall seeing any flying Unversed. Looking around Kira spotted, flying up above her was a boy, brown hair, large brown eyes and an all white shirt with blue jeans. Protruding from his back were four almost bat like wings and another smaller set sprouted from the back of his head. "Sup Kira." Featherweight said.
Kira froze. Of all the dead that day, Featherweight had been from her union, one of the younger ones and while not strong, he was evasive and smart. She saw it all lost when a bullet blasted through his chest.
“F-f-featherewight?” Kira asked, tears forming in her eyes but hidden by her mask. “Wh-what...I...what happened to you?”
"Died. Then woke up like this " He shrugged. "Was strange at first but I got used to it."
“I’m...I’m so sorry…” Kira said sadly. “But...the wing’s look nice though.”
He shrugged. "Yeah. They can do a lot too." He said, landing in front of Kira. "Time works weird in the realm of darkness. How long have I been dead?"
“Three to four months…” Kira said sadly. “We...we looked everywhere for you and the other’s bodies that were taken...I’m so sorry Featherweight…”
"Don't be." He shook his head.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Kira asked carefully.
"Because, look at me." Featherweight said, a smile crossing his lips as he motioned his arms across his body. "I can fly, I controle wind like the fucking avatar, I got confidence and strength I never imagined having before! I got laid!"
Kira blushed a bit at that small bit of information.
"Do you know why I joined your Union Kira? I wanted to be a hero, like in all my games and comics and shows, because I wanted a purpose other than the nerd the jocks bully into doing their homework and the pretty popular kids paid to do the same. Dying did suck but when I came back the time I spent training and learning about my new powers and abilities made me realize… I'm having fun, I'm having fun being the bad guy!" Featherweight laughed, Kira's face going pale at his words.
“Featherweight please, don’t be a bad guy!” Kira said quickly. “Even if it might be fun at the moment, it does nothing for you in the long run...you’ll only become the people you hated before you had powers.” Kira said carefully. “While I’m happy your feeling good about your...new body, and other things, I can’t condone you becoming a bad guy because reasons...please Feather, you don’t have to do this.”
"Oh but I want to!" He spun, turning to look Kira dead in the eyes. "For you! This life of mine, while my revival was all Crow and his associates, I owe all to you." He said, making Kira step back. "You see, over time I began to realize something about your Union, you, your predecessor and the Dandelions as a whole. You're all cowards."
“I mean, that’s just objectively wrong but what the hell are you on about?” Kira asked carefully, now wondering what screw came loose in Feather’s head.
"You founded the Dandelions for the sole purpose of running away from the Keyblade War. On top of that rather than stop and THINK that your traitor was someone higher on the pecking order, you went right to accusing one another, blindly believing the words of a master not even around, but STAGED the whole war just to create a self fulfilling prophecy out of his own paranoia! In short, the Ava you were and the Kira you are now, ain't so different. Both so trusting, innocent and foolish. But I can change that!" He said, taking flight, a whirlwind blasted Kira but did no damage as Featherweight summoned his Keyblade, Gull Wing, it's colors not much different save the wing is now the same brown as his hair. "I will be the bad guy who turns you into a true fighter, a true hero!"
“Featherweight please, you don’t have to do this!” Kira snapped at him. “I don’t want to fight my friend...fighting isn’t always the answer, there can be another way!”
Featherweight flew there, wings flapping as he seemed to be thinking Kira's words over. A small bit of hope formed in her heart. "If you won't fight friends, then I guess we aren't friends." His words were blunt, no ease to them.
The shock of Featherweight's words would have been enough to knock Kira over alone, even still, he fired off a Volley of razor sharp wind blades at Kira, sending the Foreteller skidding across the ground and into a twister he formed behind her, the wind rapidly flung Kira back at Featherweight and in a swift downswing slammed her into the floor, then he dropped, the echo of sickening pops filled the air as the surprising weight if the skinny boy cracked Kira's spine. Not fatal, but slower to repair on her own healing factor.
Kira grabbed Featherweight’s leg and stabbed her keyblade into his other. “Absolute!” She shouted, Featherweight feeling a sudden rush of cold as spears of ice suddenly shot down towards him.
The ice spears impaired the boy. Kinda looked up, watching as he began to laugh with all those spears through his body. "That's the spirit!" He yelled, grabbing two, one in each hand and pulling them out, then sending them through Kira's arms, pinning her down as he stepped off her, pulling the rest out and tossed them aside. "You might just become a hero yet." A DTD opened behind him. He quickly tossed Kira a bottle of blood. "Virgin blood to help you heal. Til next time Hero." With that, Featherweight entered the DTD and it closed quickly after.
Kira took the bottle carefully and drank it, getting the ice out of her and feeling her entire body heal a lot faster than it normally would...but even after she was healed fully, she couldn’t help but curl up into a ball and start to cry. “Why Feather...why…” She sobbed to herself, wondering why her once dear friend would do this to her...or just at all in general. “Nothing makes any sense…”
As Kira tried to collect herself, a rumble shook her back upright. Looking, she spotted a pillar of darkness shooting out high into the sky
Lan is the Leader. Lan has always been confident in his choices and actions. Crow's words… did he make the right call? Is Daybreak truly gone? So much history, so much culture… just, gone?
Did he choose right, leaving it to Zeke?
“I...I have to trust they kept it safe...there’s no way in hell they would have let Daybreak fall that easily…” Lan shook his head, trying to keep his mind on the current terrible task at hand instead of letting it wander to his doubts and worries.
As Lan hacks away at more Unversed. His instincts scream as he spins, blocking a strike as his eyes meet a form that nearly made him scream. Her name was Gilda. She was a lot like Crow, rough background, gang affiliation, and hot tempered paired with a short fuse.
She died, a bullet shot through her neck.
Her body looked fine, completely human even, save the insignia of the Unversed embedded upon the skin of her neck. "Sup Lan? Wanna spar?" She asked, a rapid soon kick from her sent Lan skidding some feet away. She still wore that white tank top and brown short shorts from that day.
“G-Gilda...wh-what are you doing here?” Lan asked in absolute shock.
"Oh you know, doing what Info best. Vandalism, burglary… just, general chaos." She waved her arms out all around us, to all the Unversed around us. "It's what I do best."
“That’s not true...and it’s never been true.” Lan shook his head. “You’re better than this.”
"Yeah, and for a while I believed that… honestly, you really had me going." She laughed, swinging her Keyblade, Fenrir, it's blade once faded chrome now was chipped and cracked and glowed a white hot as if fresh out of a forge. "Crow said you told him the same load of bull time and time again. That's when I realized." Gilda took a step forward, and Lan took a step back. "I was just some replacement for the friend you let down, a pet project to ease your own consciousness."
“That’s a lie!” Lan snapped. “You weren’t some replacement for Crow, you weren’t some pet project, and whatever Crow told you is pure dog shit.”
"Heh, such anger. You sure I didn't strike a nerve? Here's the deal. All Crow told me was his side of the story, visuals and all, got a freaky castle that can show it all as it happened. That's cold, leaving him to rot in there like that. And after such a heartfelt reunion." She clicked her tongue. "Guess it's like they say, talk is cheap."
“It’s not cheap.” Lan stated bluntly. “I made the decision after Crow…” Lan shook his head. “If you know his side, then you know full well we felt betrayed about what he did...and now you're here just to repeat Crow’s mistakes?” Lan shook his head. “Again, you’re better than this Gilda.”
"Tsk. See, you called Crow your family, your brother?" Gilda asked, taking another step as Lan took another one back. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't family always look out for each other, bonds beyond blood and all that? So, where were those bonds when he needed you? Even the Ventrals, blood soaked and criminal, are a better family than you were to him."
Lan stared at Gilda...and just shook his head. “Yet again...bringing up how he feels ‘betrayed’ by us...by my decision to leave him in juvie because he fucked up…” Lan shook his head. “Crow made his decision, didn’t even want to look back the first time I told him he wouldn’t be apart of the family if his gang of street thugs was more important than the family he had that cared about him…” Lan took a step forward, surprising Gilda a little bit. “I gave him chance after chance...him ending in Juvie should have forced him to learn that he messed up, and he needs to fix the broken trust he had with me and everyone else.” Lan stated as he gripped Unicornus tighter. “I still regret how I left Crow, the decision I made...but at some point, you have to cut ties with people who would sooner fuck over those they care about for personal gain…” Lan grit his teeth. “Right now, we know that Crow is only his dark half, and we can save him, bring back our brother...and we can bring you back from this insanity before it’s too late Gilda. Please...just trust me...I’ve seen you better than this.” Lan said as he motioned around. “So are you going to be better than this? Or are you going to make the same mistakes again?”
Gilda clicked her tongue again, grinning as she looked at Lan. "Is it a mistake if you never regretted them?" She asked, a flash and she and Lan clashed blades, the heat off Gilda's Keyblade left burns and soot on Lan's weapon, and the air began to grow hot and muggy, making breathing harder.
Lan being a vampire, he didn’t fully need to give a shit about breathing. “This isn’t you Gilda. I know it isn’t...what did they do to you?”
"Rebirthed me." She said, clashing into a statement of crossed blades. "Some of the others and I can remember dying… some of us even remember the afterlife. I remember Skala… and I remember hell. All hearts return to Kingdom Hearts, to Skala, but not every soul gets heaven. You're supposed to be some kind of demonic hell vamp? Then burn in hell for a while and we can compare war stories!" She stepped forwards, the heat of her Keyblade sparking off and began melting any and all nearby metal. The ground below the two even began to grow hot and was on the verge of turning into magma.
“The fact you think this is a good idea…” Lan growled as he started to push back against Gilda. “Your flames mean nothing to me...why are you doing this Gilda? What caused you to think this?”
"Two things. One… I know I ain't a good person. Hell I'm not even a decent person. I can appreciate your attempts, it's… nice, really, but you'd be wasting time on me. I enjoy this. The chaos, the looting, the fighting. I live for this." She grinned. "And second… I'd be a shitty girlfriend if I fought against him wouldn't I?"
“Oh god damn it…” Lan groaned.
"Hey! Don't diss my man!" She barked, kicking Lan in the gut and away.
“It’s more like...he can easily get a girlfriend, but I have no idea where to even begin with my girlfriends…” Lan coughed a little.
"Well, it was unexpected honestly but despite the difference in height he makes up for it in… stamina~"
“Wait...your not talking about Crow?” Lan asked.
"Crow? No! He's my boss! That's unprofessional. I'm with Featherweight!"
Lan dropped his jaw. He was almost half Gilda's size! And he was pretty sure younger than her by three years at least.
“Uh...huh…” Lan started. “Well...huh…”
"Is there a problem?" Gilda growled.
“I mean...besides the slight age difference…” Lan started. “Nothing much...lucky guy I suppose.”
"Firstly, damn right. Second, time is… weird, in the realm of darkness and makes zero sense. The area we were in time was… faster, I think? We've been dead for four months or so in the realm of light, but there it's been six years for us." Lan's eyes widened. Six years… No wonder she, and likely the others, don't care about what they are, they've learned to live as… this. Lan thought. "Meaning we're both adults despite the size difference but honestly we both enjoy that. And third," as a DTD opened behind Gilda, a tremor shook the ground, and in the distance a giant pillar of darkness shot off into the sky. "Thanks for being too dense to realize a distraction when ya encountered one." She smiled, jumping back into the DTD.
Lan tried to rush after, but it closed before he could stop Gilda escaping.
“Damn it!” Lan shouted as he rushed off to the massive pillar of Darkness.
Ladybug and Cat were outnumbered. Never before had so many monsters swarmed Paris.
Well, that was a lie, but never before had so many appeared that all needed to be eliminated individually.
Cat's Pole Staff and Cataclysm abilities worked well in the fighting, and Ladybug managed to use her agility and Yo-yo to surprising effectiveness.
"Will this ever end?" Ladybug thought aloud, even with the Foretellers helping and their comrades, or Unions, their time as heroes was limited, and physical exhaustion was quickly wearing her body down.
“No idea, but we need to keep pushing.” Cat Noir said as he spun his staff around and slammed it into another unversed, panting from his own exhaustion as well. “Paris will fall if we don’t continue...I just have no idea where Hawk Moth got all these Akuma, cause if he normally had this many we wouldn’t be in good shape at all.”
"Yeah… actually, wait…" Ladybug said, quickly destroying a Flood Unversed. Then, she saw it, or rather, what was missing. "Cat! These monsters look like they have Akumas, but they don't release them!"
“That’s really weird.” He frowned. “Then what the hell are these things?”
"A display of power." The two heroes turned, seeing a teen around their age, dressed in all black, even his hair was pitch black. "Sorry to say, but I need to purge some light from your world to make a point, and obtain a goal."
"You're… who do you think you are?!" Ladybug yelled.
"Names Crow." Crow said with a bow.
“Your the bad guy the Foretellers told us about.” Cat Noir said carefully.
"Guilty as charged, but hay, enough about me." Crow said, snapping his fingers as a DTD opened up. "Let's talk about Hawkmoth." Crow said, emerging from the portal was a man with a silver face mask and purple suit. Hawkmoth. He walked… oddly. His head was down and shoulders hung almost lifelessly. "Ta da!"
"That's… what… what's wrong with him?" Ladybug asked, feeling uneasy as Hawkmoths stature.
“What did you do to him?” Cat Noir growled.
"Oh I'm only giving him what he wants." Crow said, raising Hawkmoths face. His eyes were hollow and vacant. "Normally, my Unversed when destroyed, their negativity just flows right back into me. But these, infused with Akumas, their negativity flowed right back… into him." Crow said, giving Hawkmoths face a pat. "The power is probably overloading his brain right now, but in a few moments he won't have to worry about it. He won't be human after that."
“How do we stop this?” Cat Noir asked, because even if Hawkmoth was a royal pain in both of their asses, this was something even he wouldn’t want on his worst enemy. Which, ironically, was Hawkmoth.
"Oh, that's simple, you don't." Crow chimed, his grin sending Ice down the two heroes backs. "But I'll make you both a deal. If you can tell me who Hawkmoth is Under the mask, I'll let him go, and take all that negativity and leave him here as an easy win for you two."
“And how can we trust you given you started...literally everything that’s been going on?” Cat Noir asked carefully.
"I'm shocked you'd think me anything below my word." Crow said, his tone in mock hurt before chuckling. "You get three hints. First, he is someone you both know." The look of shock across Ladybug and Cat Noir's face nearly made Crow laugh, but he continued. "He's someone respected, and he's hurting inside, but never shows it."
Ladybug and Cat exchanged a glance at one another. Those 'hints' were cryptic, or specific. "Someone we know?" Ladybug muttered aloud.
“There’s...only one man that fits the bill in my thoughts.” Cat Noir started. “But...but that’s impossible...why would he do any of this?” Noir asked, Ladybug seeing her fellow partner in crime fighting starting to shake, tears filling his eyes.
"Cat? Who do you think it is? Is it… someone important to you?"
He didn't answer, looking only at Hawkmoth. Through the eyes were hollow, getting a good, detailed look at his body type, his facial features the mask covered but still outlined… he could see it so clearly…
To Ladybug's surprise, Cat shifted out of his Miraculous form. Who she saw made her tremble. "Adrien…" She whispered, watching her fellow hero, classmate, and crush run up to Hawkmoths.
“Dad!” Adrien called out and hugged Hawkmoth, shocking the shit out of Ladybug even more. “Dad...why...why are you Hawkmoth? Why are you doing this!?”
Ladybug had no words, any attempts were caught in her throat.
Crow laughed. "And we have a winner!" He said, snapping his fingers as Hawkmoth' outfit shifted away, and standing there in Adrian's arms was his father, Gabriel. "Such a sad story really, pained and hurt at the loss of his wife he spent no small fortune in looking for the possibility, the hope to revive her. All he needed was the power of creation, and destruction."
Ladybug fell to her knees, her own Miraculous timing out as Mariette struggled to process the harsh truth before her.
"But I keep my promises." Crow said, taking the pulsating white broach resembling a moth, or even a butterfly, off him. Gabriel screams as darkness surges out of him and blasts Adrien into Mariette, the two watching in horror as a pillar of darkness surrounds and devours Gabriel.
The Foretellers all quickly arrive shortly after, the Pillar fading, leaving an unconscious Gabriel on the ground, and Crow, standing with the Miraculous in his hands, it's color now a dark bluish purple. "Well then, I got what I wanted." He said, placing the Miraculous into his pocket.
Adrian stared at Crow. “What...you're not taking that with you!” Adrian started, trying to turn his miraculous back on to try and stop Crow from taking Hawkmoth’s Miraculous.
"We got this!" Lan yelled, he and his siblings all rapidly circling Crow. He didn't even flinch.
"You're not getting away this time." Jenny said, practically growling.
"What you did to them, our friends…" Kira said.
“It’s unforgivable.” Dan stated.
“And we’re going to make you pay.” Alex growled, electricity sparking off of him.
Crow sighed. Before, he would get angry, before, he would get sloppy… "Don't you five get tired of being wrong?" Crow said simply. "I gave them a simple choice, and they accepted. I didn't force them into this, they volunteered."
"That's a lie!" Lan yelled.
Crow rolled their eyes. "Yes, because that's all I do right? Lie, cheat, steal and make bad choices? I've grown tired of playing kids games with you guys. There's shit hitting the fan you five are so blissfully unaware of that it's laughable."
“That’s what you did to start this whole ‘betrayal circlejerk’ you’ve started, and you’ve still been doing it ever since you split in half.” Dan pointed out.
“And to be honest...Wallflower blaming me for her death when it was your groups fault is a pretty blatant lie to me.” Alex brought up as well.
“Who’s dating Featherweight?” Kira asked, shocking everyone but Lan. “I just want to know who’s at least making him happy.”
"Gilda." Lan said, earning a collected 'What!?' from the others, except for Lan.
“Lucky bastard…” Alex muttered.
Crow gave another sigh, turning to look at Lan. "Do you remember that day? The day you visited me in Juvenile Detention? I was trying to ask you to contact my old boss, remember?"
“You know, the crime boss, the one that landed you in jail, and you were actively asking me to contact the man to break you out of jail?”
"I landed there because I got caught." Crow stated simply. From one of his pockets he pulled out a blue card. He tossed it at Lan, who caught it. "See the consequences of your actions… bro." Crow said, the ground beneath him erupting in a DTD that he fell into quickly. Before any of the five could act it had already closed.
“Damn it!” Lan snapped angrily. “No! It doesn’t matter that he actively told me to break him and his thug ‘friends’ out with their boss, but now he thinks I’m the bad guy!?” Lan shouted in pure anger, just so sick and tired of Crow trying to play the victim to his own fuck ups.
“We’ll look at the card later…” Dan started, taking a shuddering breath.
“He...he called you bro…” Alex told Lan carefully, finding the fact that Crow still even bothered to think Lan was a bro was pretty big.
Kira disbanded her Keyblade, hugging herself. Jenny sighed, walking over and comforting her little sister.
Lan took a deep breath, he did call him bro… but the word sounded so hollow, as if it held no meaning. He shook his head. "Let's clear out the remaining Unversed, then we can… figure out the rest."
With their unions in tow the remaining Unversed were wiped out rapidly. The damage to Paris was thankfully Minimal, mostly just property damage really. Save for Adrien's father, who still hasn't woken up yet. His heart seemed to be thankfully unaffected. It would just take time is all.
Lan sat atop the Eiffel Tower, staring at the memory card before him. His siblings all around him. "You should watch what's on it." Kira said.
"It's probably just his typical bullshit." Jenny huffed.
“Before we look at this…” Lan started. “I want all of you to know, that what I have said about when Crow was in Juvie was true, he tried to apologize for everything he did, but immediately wanted me to find his old boss and get him and his thug’s out of it.” Lan stated.
“We know that Lan.” Dan nodded.
“So whatever the hell Crow’s side is, it’s gonna have to be pretty serious for us to question his victim complex at this point.” Alex brought up.
Nodding, Lan sighed, tapping into the memories within the card.
The world seemed to fade away in a swarm of light as it was replaced with the familiar scene of their old home town, the local park. Jenny was pushing Kira on the swings, Alex was trying to flirt with a jogger, Dan was playing Chess with an older man and Lan sat next to Crow on the bench. The Foretellers remembered this day. It was the day before Crow was arrested.
"You're playing with fire around those assholes." Lan said.
"I know I know. And I'm sorry I haven't been around you guys as much. They work you to the bone to earn some trust." Crow huffed. "Still, they aren't as bad as the news says. They act and talk like… people." Crow said.
"Heh. Sure, and Zeke Ventral isn't the Anti Christ."
Lan winced. He forgot he said those things. Knowing Zeke for who he was now…
"Never met the guy so I wouldn't know." Crow shrugged, earning a chuckle from Lan. "Look, I promise I'll keep my head firm and not get into anything too…"
"Illegal?" Lan finished.
"Heh, yeah that." Crow chuckled. With a heavy sigh he stood up. "I gotta go, but I promise tomorrow, lunch on me!"
"It better or Jenny is gonna be sour with you."
"She gets sour when she's called Tomboy." Crow shrugged.
Crow then ran off. Lan raised a hand as if to call out to the memory, but it was just that, memories.
Crow ran for some time til he reached the open drain pipes near the edge of town. Years ago a factory used them for illegal dumping. Crow walked into and down them until he arrived at presumably the inside of the factory, where many criminals, clearly Ventrals, all sat around.
"Boss?" Crow called.
"Here." Replied a slightly older voice. David Ventral was an explosives genius, and it terrified everyone. The fact he was juggling grenades didn't help. "Glad you're here. Got a job, and this one will deliver you the payoff you asked for."
"F-for real?" Crow asked.
David nodded, catching all the grenades and putting them back inside a nearby box filled with them. "Yup. Got it all right here." He said, picking up a large, rather packed orange document envelope. "Six sets of perfectly legal fake birth certificates, SSN's and one hacked credit card guaranteed to fool any and all electronic transactions. Except online ones." David said.
Lan's blood ran cold. They always talked about running away, starting a life with new identities, but it was always just the talk and dreams of children.
"You said it would take me a year of work to earn it though?" Crow said.
"Normally yes but you talk a lot about those friends of yours, they're your family and I can respect that. So I'm putting you on a job set for tomorrow. You and some of the others are gonna rob that jewelry store in your downtown mall. It's a simple in and out thing really. Baby brother already hacked the police alarms and security cameras. All you gotta do is keep your mask and gloves on and grab what you can while the others keep the bystanders at bay and eventual cops from taking action."
Crow gulped. "W-wow… that's a step… or ten above the usual deliveries you have me do."
"I know, but I am throwing you a bone here. Now, in the event you do get caught and usually one of us does, just get someone to send me a message and I can get you out of whatever crap hole they toss you in. Majority of the Juvie’s and prisons we have pull in so no one will bat an eye. One job, and your family is set for life."
Crow looked at the folder on the table. He had what he and the Foretellers all wanted for so long right in his grasp. Crow took a deep breath. "For my family, anything."
The memory ended.
They all sat there. Processing this information… Crow was getting them their dream, to run away and be a family, together…
Lan hurled, his stomach clenching as the news hit him the hardest.
“Why...why didn’t he tell me…” Lan muttered.
“He...he did all that...for us?” Alex muttered, completely poleaxed by this information.
“He would stoop so low as to join Ventrals...just for us?” Dan asked, wracking his brain as to why in the name of hell he would do that.
“It...it can’t be…” Kira started, her entire body shaking as she tried not to burst into tears once again.
“Impossible…” Jenny muttered.
Tears began to fall from every member of the group. Crow tried to tell Lan that day… and he wouldn't hear it. He told his siblings what he believed and turned them against their brother. Crow became a monster, and it was all. There. Fault.
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star wars
you copied your previous chapter onto this one.
Huxley rest in peace
The first part of this chapter is also the prior chapter. Just so you know.
Also I don't care what Crow's reason was... You just don't get involved with that kinda thing in the first place. You get involved in a criminal organization and they will have you doing stuff that you wouldn't have done before guaranteed. $10 says that it was set up in the first place in a way so that Crow was the one who would be caught. It's called being the fall guy. You can tell because he's literally told that one of them is usually caught each time.
If something is really worth the effort to get at any cost then it's worth the effort to get it on the up and up. If you try to take shortcuts for something that truly matters, you shouldn't be surprised if you end up getting cut.