Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Things for the Sharp Gang didn’t get easy at all once Tarsa escaped and stole Sciferimov’s power. Tayrun Jaanavar had gotten close to defeating her thanks to his recent summon, Gojirolith, but she managed to escape and was now free to cause chaos across the Multiverse.

Tayrun had been wounded pretty badly in the fight as well, making the group much more thankful that they had a resident healer on the team in the form of Jake Tagen, thanks to the green gem that had lodged into his hand. This wasn’t the first time he had healed someone gravely injured either. As grim as it was, he was used to seeing some pretty bad injuries when the Sharp Gang got caught off guard… or “if they didn’t have strong enough plot armor”, as Benny Sharp puts it… whatever that meant.

But now with Tarsa free to do as she pleased, the number of attacks was causing problems for the group. Every time they stopped one attack, it was like 5 more sprung up out of nowhere. It was bad enough to where Torreli, who was actually one of the Seven Archons known as Fantorrel, even called off her bet with Tayrun until Tarsa was defeated for good… which… didn’t seem like it’d be for a long while.

Right now, the group was gathered in the Sharp Tank back in A-016, specifically in the main meeting area while Tayrun was still resting in his room. Even though Jake had managed to heal his wounds, he was still in quite a bit of pain and was going to be out of the fight for a good while. They were thankful Tarsa at least seemed to be avoiding coming straight here for the time being, but they were still no closer to taking her down.

Kayla enters the room, having just come back from checking on Tayrun.  “Tarsa’s attacks have been going non-stop.” she says. “They’re way more chaotic than the Archons’ attacks.”

Sterling nods, uncharacteristically serious. “She’s honestly much more terrifying with an Archon’s power than the Archons themselves.” Astra, despite being rather serious herself, still managed to give an eye roll while slumped over in her chair. “I can’t say I’m surprised. This is my mother we’re talking about.”

Dresden clenched his charred fists, the memories of his own past with Tarsa running through his mind. “I cannot say that I’m… surprised… That fiend is a selfish wretch who will burn everything and everyone in each dimension to the ground if we do not find a way to stop her and strip her of the Archon’s power. Especially before she gets her hand on another Archon and drains their power next.”

Alexis was trying her best to see if The Reaper Runes floating around her head would offer any advice on how to get stronger faster, but all they said was something about her not being ready for that kind of power. To be fair, she had improved quite a lot with her Reaper abilities, but certainly not enough to take on Tarsa by herself.

Just then, Astra felt someone appear in their dimension, specifically right outside the Sharp Tank. It left her confused. Their whole group was here, so who could this have been?

“I don’t mean to put this conversation on pause, but it seems we have a visitor.” Astra says, standing to her feet and stretching out her back.

That put the whole group on high alert. Had Tarsa really come to this dimension to attack them? Or was it one of the other Archons coming after Torreli?

A voice was heard through the speaker system, coming from outside. Benny had installed a sort of intercom into the Sharp Tank, so in case someone came by and needed to speak with them, they could buzz in and catch someone’s attention.

“Hello? Is this the Sharp Gang’s base?”

The voice sounded as though it came from a man that none of them recognized… except for three people.

Sterling approached the main computer and pulled up the video feed showing the outside of the Sharp Tank. Standing at the door was a man who looked to be in his late 20s, with slicked back brown hair, a green left eye and an eyepatch over his other, scars across his body and face, a loose blue t-shirt and baggy gray jeans under a few pieces of silver and gold body and leg armor that, just by looking at them, he could tell were made by a Kuznet, and a golden hilt of a sword attached to his hip… oddly enough, without a blade.

“Uh… does anyone know a one-eyed guy with some bits of armor and a bladeless weapon?” Sterling asks as he glances at the group. Most of them shake their heads, but Vasilia instantly rises to her feet in a mix of surprise and excitement.

“I know him! Let him in, he is trustworthy man!” she exclaims, causing everyone to look at her.

“What, this some secret new boyfriend of yours, Vasilia?” Champagne asks, having heard from Benny that she and Heath had broken up a while back.

“No, no, is an old client of mine from a few years back!” Vasilia answers as Sterling presses the button to open the door. A few moments later, the man entered the room, allowing everyone to get a good look at him.

Harold suddenly seemed to light up with glee as he walked up to the man. “Well I’ll be! Ain’t you that angel boy from one of Miss Ludum’s games a few years back?!”

Instantly, Harold was hit with a hard punch across the face that sent him crashing into the floor.

That pretty much answered the question.

“Friend Michael! So good to see you!” Vasilia approaches the man with open arms. His scarred face turns to Vasilia and gives a smile as Vasilia continues. “I see you are still wearing the armor I crafted, yes?”

“It’s from one of, if not THE best armor crafter in the Multiverse. I’d be a fool to not wear it.” he says as he and Vasilia share a hug.

“Of course it is! Only a fool would doubt a Kuznet original!” Vasilia proudly states, before facing the group. “Everyone, this is Michael Celeste. He is an old friend from another dimension.”

“Dimension J-316, to be exact.” Michael clarifies with a smile. That instantly caught the attention of Alexis, as it sounded… oddly familiar.

“J-316?” she echoes. “As in… John 3:16, from the Bible?” Michael nods, confirming her statement. “The very same.”

“Then how did you meet Vasilia?” Benny asked with a raised eyebrow. Michael and Vasilia both shared a chuckle. “That’s a long story, but first I should explain why I’m here.”

As Michael began, Ana glanced over at Jake, only to be surprised to see he looked… pretty angry.

Actually... VERY angry.

It was rare for him to get angry, even when he snapped at her in Backcells, that was more out of annoyance than actual anger. Hell, when Dresden arrived at the Sharp Tank after killing all of the Overseers, he wasn’t even this angry back then.

She followed his gaze and saw that… he seemed to be glaring at Michael. Does Jake know something the group doesn’t? Why would he be angry at this guy?

She’d ask him about it later, but right now, she began listening to why Michael had shown up here.

“J-316 is home to angelic warriors that are tasked with protecting the Multiverse. To put it bluntly, it’s like Heaven that you hear in other universes’ versions of the Bible.” Michael says. “Angels are born and trained to protect those in need.”

“Someone must’ve skipped out on training a lot.” Jake thought to himself, his glare not faltering.

“When we reach the age of 20, we’re sent on a trial mission to see if we’re truly ready to be warriors.”

Benny then spoke up. “So let me guess, you went on a trial, passed it, then became a Multiverse Angel Hero guy? And at some point, you met Vasilia and asked for some armor from her?”

Michael seemed admittedly surprised Benny was able to guess a lot of what happened, but gave a smile and nodded. “That’s pretty much what happened.” His smile faltered a bit. “Though… I didn’t meet Vasilia until 3 or 4 years ago, after… well, something bad happened. I-Id rather not talk about it.” he says, dodging the reasoning.

Ana looked over at Jake and saw his fists were beginning to clench. This honestly worried her. She likely would’ve expected this from someone like Kate or Heath, maybe even Dresden or Alexis. But… not from Jake.

“Jake, is everything okay?” Ana thought to herself, honestly starting to get worried.

“When the Archons were released, we knew we had to get every angel ready to fight, ready for a possible war. So our Overseer sent us to scout the Multiverse and slay any demon that came from an Archon. While we don’t have the same powers as The Reaper to kill the Archons directly, we at least are able to handle their armies. Of course, it came as a surprise to us to find out one was eventually slain, so they sent me to search for you guys and help you out, especially now that another of the Archons was slain and had their power taken by that vial Sinner, Tarsa.”

“So long story short, you’re here to help us against Tarsa?” Heath says, prompting Michael to respond with a nod. That makes the big man grin. “Well then, seems pretty trustworthy to me.”

“Now, before you suddenly act out, we should probably let you know something…” Alexis says, glancing back at the Archon temporarily in their group. “We are currently allied with an Archon, but it’s only a temporary alliance till Tarsa is defeated. She also needs to be protected to ensure Tarsa doesn’t steal her power as well.”

Michael certainly didn’t expect, nor was he fond of having an Archon in the group, but he did understand the reasoning, so he nodded.

“That’s fair enough.” he says. “An enemy of my enemy's situation.”

“Not to sound like Sterling, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up becomin’ a full time ally.” Benny quips, to which Sterling gave a light chuckle. “Even I’m not very optimistic about that happening, Benny.”

“Hm, you never know, Sterling.” Astra says with a shrug, giving a slight smirk towards Torreli, who looks away as blushes a bit, with her demon bird, Hunter, perched on her shoulder.

“Question.” Champagne speaks up. “Given your reaction to seein’ Harold, which I’m sure is VERY justified, but did you by chance meet Eloise-?”

A golden burst of aura suddenly emitted from Michael’s body, shaking the Sharp Tank for a bit as he briefly looked angry, but calmed himself and stopped the shaking. “Don’t. Say. Her name.” he says bluntly and angrily.

“Yeah, that checks out.” Champagne says, not surprised by Michael’s anger towards Eloise Ludum. The group has had their own fair share of annoying interactions with her. Whether it was the Goopy Games that Tayrun, Heath and Benny were kidnapped for, or the recent news of her making a rival school for The Trismegistus Academy for Heroic Enlightenment, the school in Dimension H-333 that Jake, Ana and Naseko were attending.

“Well, either way, welcome to the team.” Alexis says, holding her hand out to Michael, who promptly shakes it. As the group introduces themselves, no one seems to notice Jake walking out of the meeting area and going back to his room.

He enters the room and slams the door behind him, then slumping against the door with his hands against his head like he had a headache.

“Why is he suddenly back?” Jake asked himself as he looked around his room. It was just a standard room with a bed, a desk, some books on dragons that Tayrun had given him, his armor pads he got from Backcells, and… a picture of his family on his desk. Him, his mother, his father, and his brother, Mason.

He walked up to the picture and stared at it, recognizing that it was one of the last pictures his family ever took… before the… “accident”, as most people believe. Only Jake knew what really happened to his family, and he had refused to talk about it with anyone, not even Ana, Kate or Sterling. He didn’t want to relieve those memories… but it soon started up anyway.

Jake sat down on the edge of his bed as he tried to stop his spiraling mind, which was replaying the last moments he had with his family almost 4 years ago. He could remember every gruesome detail vividly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9E2jshhEiE

The feeling of fear as the massive beast made its presence known with a mighty roar…

… the screams of agony and tearing of his father’s flesh…

… the horrifically warm feeling of his father’s blood splattering across his face…

… the horrified scream of his mother as she perished next…

… the last words of his brother as Mason pushed him into a cave to hide, then running off as booming footsteps followed behind…

… the creature roaring in agony as something arrived on the scene to fight it…

… the horrific sight of a blood splattered forest, with his family brutally dismembered all over…

… and that damn wannabe angel freeloader who showed up too late, trying to talk to Jake and make sure he was okay.

It all rose to the front of Jake’s mind, causing him to tighten the grip he had on his head.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT, STO-!”

Jake was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the door to his room knocking. He sat up, only now realizing there were tears running down his face.

“Y-Yeah?” he said, quickly wiping his tears and trying to hide the fact that he was upset. The door opened a bit and Ana poked her head inside.

“Jake… are you alright?” she asked, honestly more worried than earlier. She and the rest of the group had realized that Jake had left the room when they got around to introducing the kids, and Ana had come to check on him.

He gave a fake smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, Ana… Just… needed a minute to myself.”

“You’re such a bad liar, brother.”

Jake hardly even reacted to that voice, while Ana didn’t hear it at all. “Well… okay.” Ana said, honestly seeming a bit unsure. “It’s just you seemed a little stand-offish earlier.”

Jake hadn’t realized Ana saw his reaction to seeing Michael, so he was honestly a bit worried now. But again, he played it off and gave a light chuckle. “Yeah, sorry… Just… got a lot on my mind right now. Y’know, the whole Tarsa incident and having to heal Tayrun?”

“Jeez, at least TRY to make it convincing, Jake.”

That seemed to ease Ana a bit, but she could still tell something was bothering Jake. She decided for now to just leave him be. “Well, alright then. I’ll tell the others you just need a moment.”

Jake nods as Ana leaves and closes the door. Jake hated having to lie to her, but… he just wasn’t ready to put his burden on anyone else. Especially not Ana.

“And you never will be, you fool.”

Jake finally turned to the voice, looking hardly surprised to see him. The figure… was his brother, Mason.

But not the Mason that had pushed him into the cave for Jake’s safety, even if he had the same features and wore the same outfit as that day.

This Mason was much paler and messy, with rips and blood stains on his clothes and cuts across his body, as if he had just died a few days ago and come back to life as some type of zombie. His eyes were bloodshot red, and he was leaning against the wall with his near mangled arms crossed and a smile on his face. Not the fun kind of smile Jake frequently saw on Sterling’s face, but a cruel and evil looking smile that would fit perfectly on Tarsa’s face.

“What do you want now?” Jake said bluntly, his expression looking annoyed.

Mason, or rather this fake Mason, gave a sarcastic shrug. “Oh, I just figured I’d check in on you after seeing the goody two shoes angel was back.” he said in mocking concern before letting out a chuckle.

Jake just stood up and approached his desk, opening a drawer that none of the Sharp Gang knew about and pulling out a bottle of antipsychotic medication.

Mason scoffed at his brother. “You seriously still think those stupid things are helping?” he sneered as Jake opened the bottle and took out a single pill.

“Helps enough to deal with you.” Jake snaps back as he takes the pill, as if they had this same song and dance before… which was actually true.

Call it survivor’s guilt, a severe case of PTSD, or a cruel combination of the two, but this ghost of Mason would frequently appear to Jake in times of great stress or discomfort, especially when it came to his family. The lady who ran the foster home he spent three years in recommended he see a psychiatrist or therapist. He did so and seemed okay, but every now and then, Mason would appear again. No one else was able to see him, so Jake just assumed he was having hallucinations. His therapist then prescribed him the medication to help with these hallucinations, and things seemed to go back to normal.

But remembering the past and seeing Michael seemed to make Mason return with a vengeance. And the encounter with Mind Leech in Backcells certainly didn’t help either.

“Y’know what? Go ahead and keep taking them. You can try and suppress me all you want, but no matter what, you’ll always be a useless mistake. A useless mistake that couldn’t even save his family!”

Jake snapped his head angrily at Mason… but he was gone. Jake was alone in his room again.

He took a moment to breathe, then noticing his eyes were again welling up with tears. He wiped them away and, after putting the pills back in the drawer and approaching his door, Jake tried to keep his composure.

He’d need it if Michael was going to be joining the Sharp Gang.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for the group to have a new mission, another attack from Tarsa. This time in Dimension D-165, a dimension where the dinosaurs were never wiped out by the asteroid, and stayed the dominant species of the planet. These dinosaurs eventually gained enhanced intelligence and the ability to speak.

The group going on this mission consisted of Michael, Vasilia, Heath, Mara, Kate, Jake and Ana. This mission was going to serve more as a trial for Michael, see just what he can do. The powerhouses came along for backup, while Jake was brought along for healing in case it was needed. Ana had asked to come along, claiming that she wanted to put some training that she did with her fellow classmate at TAHE, Emilia Blonksky, to use just in case.

But in actuality, she wanted to keep an eye on Jake, given how he’d been acting lately since Michael showed up.

They arrived in Dimension D-165 on the main planet, which was like Earth in so many other universes, but Pangaea never split into the seven continents. They instantly saw dinosaurs of all types running and trampling over each other, as if they were running away from something. They look ahead to see a towering T-Rex is infected with the same tech-like virus that Tarsa used on plenty of her beasts. She had definitely been here, but it seems she had left to let the carnage play out.

A Spinosaurus suddenly ran up to the group, catching its breath. They saw something on this dinosaur’s tail… Overseer runes. This was Razor, the Overseer of Dimension D-165. He was one of the few Overseers that had an Overseer bond with Dresden, but didn’t jump into Backcells to be blown up like the other thousands of Overseers, evidenced by the scar across his face.

“You part of the Sharp Gang?!” Razor asks in a panicked growl, to which the group nods. “Good! Someone just showed up here and reawakened Tremor!”

His tail points to the infected T-Rex, which was letting out glitching roars. They saw his flesh was torn and rotting in some places. A few other dinosaurs of various kinds had large chunks of flesh bitten out by the infected dino, and shifting metal began overtaking their body and making their bodies rise in contorted and gruesome fashions, almost like Bio-Mechs.

“I don’t know what that thing controlling him is, but just get it off him and kill him and his infected for good!” Razor roars. “He caused enough trouble when he was alive, we don’t need anymore!”

With that, Razor runs off to herd the rest of his kind to safety. “Alright, new guy.” Kate says with her arms crossed. “You wanted to prove what you got? Here’s your chance.”

Michael nods as he reaches up to his face and removes his eyepatch, revealing not a missing eye, but a diamond blue eye with a dark blue cross in place of its pupil. The cross flashes as he stares at the infected T-Rex for a moment, seeing exactly what this virus was.

It was one that Tarsa had created to spread through the dinosaurs of D-165 like a zombie virus. She was smart to pick a tyrannosaurus as the first infected, because that beast was attacking anything in sight. The virus killed the dinosaurs it infected instantly, then reawakened them as mindless drones, losing their intelligence.

“I won’t mess around.” Michael says with a determined glade. “First time for everything.” Jake mutters quietly.

“You say something, Jake?” Kate says, making Jake briefly freeze a bit. “N-No, nothing…” he stutters a bit. Kate stared at Jake for a moment, then looked back to Michael.

Michael’s body began to glow white as he grabbed the hilt on his hip and pulled it off. The hilt crackled with golden lightning as a massive glowing blade extended out from it. The blade was about as long as Kate’s sword, but twice the width. His outfit changed to a white and gold suit of armor that covered most of his body and his head. Two large glowing white angel wings extended out of Michael’s back as three spinning golden runes, all lined with glowing blue eyes, formed around his chest and head.

He truly looked like an Angelic Knight.

“That sinner will regret the day she was BORN!” Michael shouts as he blitzes to the infected dinosaurs.

The infected T-Rex roared and sent its infected minions to attack the armored angel. An infected ankylosaurus swung its metal tail at Michael as it took the form of a wrecking ball, but the angel flew above the creature, flying straight for the leader.

Suddenly, his leg was bitten and he was pulled to the ground by an infected velociraptor. The creature screeched in agony as the armor seemed to violently shock it with golden lightning.

Michael smirks under his helmet. “Foolish choice!” he says as he flips back to his feet and drives the giant glowing blade into the velociraptor’s skull, before slashing it to pieces that instantly crumble to golden dust.

Turns out the full suit of armor and sword had an enchantment placed into them that repelled demons by violently shocking them with divine lightning. So each slash of Michael’s sword did pretty impressive damage.

Michael turned in time to see an infected triceratops with its horns extending into blades, charging straight for him. The two rings spinning around Michael’s body then moved to his arms, and he hurled the two runes at the charging beast. The runes clamp around its legs and trip it, sending it crashing and dragging along the ground. Michael drove his sword into its head, then slashed it and the metal virus to pieces that faded to gold dust.

The ankylosaurus goes for another swing on Michael, but he slides under the wrecking ball and kicks the beast in the stomach, launching it into the air. Michael then flies up and, seeing the creature’s underside is less armored than its back, drives his sword into its chest as it falls to the ground. Michael gives the body a large shock of golden lightning that crumbles it to golden dust.

The members of the Sharp Tank that came with watched from afar, most of them rather impressed with how Michael was handling these infected dinosaurs.

“He’s pretty good.” Kate admitted with her arms crossed. “I can see why he would be a help to our team.”

“No kidding!” Heath said with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he could take down a Kaiju in my world!”

“Perhaps you could bring him next time you return to your dimension, Heath.” Vasilia says as the big man looks at her. “He is not one to turn down helping someone. Plus, he enjoys a challenge.”

“Sounds like your kind of man, Vasilia.” Heath said, knowing that she likes men with confidence. It was part of what drew them to each other, after all.

“Believe me, I had considered asking him out at one point.” Vasilia admits, before her smile drops a bit. “Though, at the time I met him, he seemed more, uh… disheartened. Like he was dealing with guilt and letting it ruin said confidence. I did not ask what it was at the time, as it was not my place. But I’m glad to see he is much more confident in himself.”

“Well, he’s doing pretty well, I gotta say.” Mara says, admittedly mesmerized by Michael’s fighting. The style seemed much similar to the one Clayton Costas uses, but much more elegant and divine… plus… Mara had to admit, Michael did look good while in action.

Jake let out a low scoff that seemed to go unheard by the group over the chaos… but Ana and Kate both seemed to hear it. Both girls glanced at each other, seeming to think the same thing.

“Something’s wrong with Jake.”

Michael continued to fight his heart out as more infected dinosaurs, slaying each one and destroying the virus. Soon it was only the infected Tyrannosaurus left, who was clearly furious to see his minions destroyed. It roars as a green ball of energy forms in its mouth, then firing a massive blast at the angel. Michael’s wings fold in front of him and a golden barrier forms, blocking the blast.

Through the rushing of energy, however, something catches Michael’s ear. He glances towards his right and notices… a family of Pterodactyls, a mother and her three kids. She had her right wing pinned and broken under a large rock as her kids were crying and doing all they could to try and free their mother.

Michael seemed frozen where he stood for a moment, before quickly composing himself and flying through the infected dinosaur’s blast and punching him across the jaw, sending him crashing across the landscape.

Taking this chance while his opponent is down, Michael dashes to the Pterodactyl family and lifts the massive rock off of the mother’s wing.

“Heath! Vasilia!” Michael shouts back to the group as the mother pulls her wing out. “Get this family to safety!”

Heath and Vasilia nod and rush in. Heath picks the injured mother up, while Vasilia scoops up the kids and the two rush back to the others.

“Jake, you know what to do!” Heath says as he sets the mother down.

Jake nods, repressing his rage towards Michael enough to focus on the task at hand. He activates his powers and begins rubbing the mother’s broken wing with his hands.

While Jake worked to heal the Pterodactyl mother’s wing, Michael did a quick scan of the area to ensure there were no other injured dinosaurs around. There weren’t, so that just left him and the T-Rex.

Picking itself up, the beast roars as it charges at Michael again, its teeth and claws stronger from the metal virus. Michael’s eyes flash gold as he pulls back his sword. In a streak of gold, he charges at the dinosaur and slashes the blade vertically through its head as the muscles and flesh split in half. The metal virus starts trying to pull its head back together, but Michael slashes against and again faster than the virus can heal.

Soon, the dinosaur was in pieces and unable to heal anymore, and the pieces faded to golden dust.

Tarsa’s attack on this universe was stopped.

Michael closed his eyes and lifted his head towards the sky, speaking quietly. “Heavenly Father, please let these souls find peace now that their suffering has ended…” His armor vanishes as his attire returns to normal, before he turns to the group and goes back to them. Jake had almost finished healing the mother Pterodactyl.

“Impressive as always, Michael!” Vasilia says, clapping her hands as Michael approaches.

“Stopping the threat and making time to save a family?” Kate says with an impressed smirk. “Nice work.”

“Thanks, guys.” Michael says with a smile.

Jake didn’t say anything, just focused on finishing up healing the mother Pterodactyl.

“Hard to focus, Jake?”

Jake ignored Mason’s voice, as the ghost was standing to Jake’s left and leaning down with his arms behind his back and a smirk on his face.

“Can’t say I blame you, since goody two shoes angel here is impressing your friends more than you ever did.”

Jake finished healing the mother, trying to ignore his brother’s words. The mother moves her wing freely and without pain, while her kids were happy to see their mother was okay.

“Thank you so much, young man.” the mother says with a soft smile across her face.

Jake gave a small smile in response. “No problem, ma’am…” With that, the Pterodactyl family flies off.

“Could’ve been better, honestly.” Mason shrugged sarcastically.

“You shut up.” Jake thinks to himself as Mason just smirks, before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke.

“Well, we better head back.” Kate says as she stretches out a bit, having gotten a bit stiff from not getting any combat in. They activate their MJWWs (Multiverse Jumping Wrist Watch) and warp back to A-016, where everyone else was waiting.

“So, I’m guessing Angel Boy did well?” Benny says with a grin, to which Vasilia nods. “Was rather easy work for him. I expected no less.”

“Nice work, Michael.” Sterling says, about as chipper as he always is, as Heath then speaks up. “How’s Tayrun doing?”

“Well, he’s moving better than before.” Sterling says. “He’s still in a bit of pain, but a lot less than earlier. Kayla’s telling him it’s best he doesn’t overwork and chance hurting himself.”

“Can’t say I blame her. I’d tell you the same thing, dork.” Kate says, prompting Sterling to blush a bit. Kate also found herself blushing a bit upon realizing what she said.

Ana looks over to where Jake was standing, only to see him walking off in the direction of his room. She goes after him and manages to catch up to him.

“Jake, hey!” Ana says, making the boy stop a bit. He turns to the sea-like girl and flashes a smile. “Oh, hey, Ana.” he says, trying to remain calm. “Sorry you didn’t get any action in the mission.”

“Ah, that’s okay…” Ana says, hoping to keep this conversation as long as possible. “There’s always next time.”

“True.” Jake says with a light chuckle, then turning to walk off, clearly hoping to just get a moment to himself.

Ana frowns a bit and walks up next to her friend. “Jake, are you sure everything’s okay?” she asks, her concern making itself known again.

Jake seemed to flinch for a second, before giving a smile again. “Y-Yeah, really.”

But Ana could see that smile was fake, raising her concern even more. “Jake, if something’s bothering you, you can tell me.” she says, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Jake tries his best to conceal his blush as he gently pushes Ana’s hand from his shoulder. “I know, I know… but I’m fine.”

He walks off quickly to avoid any further questions. Ana stares for a moment, her expression somber. Kate then enters the room, seeing Ana.

“Well?” she asks, to which Ana then turns and faces her fellow Backcells prisoner. “Something’s definitely bothering him, Kate…”

Kate frowns, leaning against the wall. “I’ve never seen Jake like this. He’s normally not one to be this closed off. That was my thing before.”

“I started noticing it when Michael showed up.” Ana says. “It was like he was… glaring at him.” This made Kate look surprised. “Really? Why would he be mad at Michael?”

“I don’t know…” Ana says as she shakes her head. “He won’t talk about it out loud.”

“Well, we gotta find out soon.” Kate says, looking serious. “Before something happens that leads to Jake going too far.”

Kate knows a thing or two about going too far because of anger, so she’d hate to see that happen to Jake.

Jake enters his room and lays back on his bed, trying to think about anything else. Not easy to do with a walking hallucination of your dead brother laying right next to you.

“Lying to Ana again, Jake? Jeez, and I thought Mr. Overseer Genocide was the worst of this annoying group.” Mason says with his arms behind his head and his right leg crossed over the other.

“He’s certainly better than you at least.” Jake snaps back without even turning his head.

“At least I didn’t let my family die.” Mason says, switching targets back to his brother.

“And what did you expect me to do at the time?” Jake glances at his brother. “I was 10, I didn’t have my powers yet, and that beast was like 100 times my size. That’s like asking a toddler to fight a professional boxer.”

“Always making excuses. I’d bring up how you did nothing but run and hide, but that’s a moot point.” Mason says with an eye roll. “Even with your powers, you’re still useless.”

“Oh really?” Jake says as he sits up. “And how many people did you heal broken bones for , let alone save them from being close to death?”

“I could do a thousand times better than you ever will.” Mason scoffs.

“Assuming you even got accepted into TAHE, which I doubt a faker like you could ever do.” Jake glares.

“Says the failure who would’ve be better off being blown up in Backcells!”

“Shut up.”

“Or gotten torn to pieces by those Symbiotes!”

”Shut up!”

“Or perhaps I should’ve saved everyone the trouble and let Gigantapodox kill you like it did the rest of us!”

“SHUT UP!!!”

Jake leaps over the bed and swings a fist surrounded in his green energy, aimed right for Mason’s face. The dead Tagen brother just smirks and vanishes again as Jake’s punch then strikes the wall. The force shakes the room and causes the picture frame on the desk to tumble off, hitting the ground with a loud crash as the glass shatters.

Jake stood there panting furiously, tears running down his face again. He goes to his desk and pulls the drawer open forcefully, but he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the door swing open, causing him to quickly shut the drawer.

“Jake! Everything okay in here?!” Sterling says as he and Kate enter. They had been on their way to the plunge room, when they heard Jake’s shout and the shattering of glass.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Jake mumbles quietly to himself, then tries to calm down as he speaks up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Just had an accident.” He picks up the broken frame and tosses it onto his desk.

“Jake, what the hell’s going on?” Kate asks, clearly concerned. “Ana says you’ve been acting weird all day. And I’ve started to see it too.”

“I said I’m fine, Kate.” Jake says rather bluntly. Not buying it, Sterling walks up to Jake and places a hand on his shoulder. “Jake, if something’s bothering you, you can tell us.” he says in an assuring tone.

Jake hangs his head and sighs out a bit, before telling… some… of the truth. “I’m sorry. It’s just… some bad memories coming up… the accident…” Jake says as he wipes his tears. “They just started flooding back… I just needed a moment alone…”

Sterling gives Jake a sympathetic look and softly pats his shoulder. “I understand it’s hard, Jake. But trust me, we’re here to help. When and if you wanna talk, we’re here.”

Jake gave a slight smile. “Thanks, Sterling…” he says as the older man then ruffles his hair a bit.

“Here, don’t worry about the glass.” Sterling says. “I got it. Don’t wanna risk you cutting yourself.” Jake chuckled. “You know I can heal myself too, right?”

“My point still stands.” Sterling says, his inner dad coming out. “I know you can, but I’m still not gonna let you risk cut yourself.”

“But fighting demons is okay?” Jake quips back. “Touché, kid.” Sterling chuckled as Kate gave a slight smirk and shook her head.

With that, Sterling leaves the room to get a broom and dustpan to clean up the glass, leaving just Jake and Kate. “I swear, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Sterling was your actual father.” Kate chuckles out, to which Jake laughs a bit.

“Then wouldn’t that make you my mother?” he teases, prompting Kate’s face to go red at the implication.

“… Shut up, kid.” she grumbles out as she then walks out of the room, prompting Jake to laugh more. Of course, that didn’t last long as Jake found he wasn’t the only one laughing. He stopped as he heard Mason’s cruel laughter behind him.

“Laugh the pain away as much as you want, Jake. It’ll never stay gone.” Mason vanishes again, leaving Jake in total silence.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Some time passed since Michael’s first mission, and he was adjusting quite well to this new team. There were still a few minor hiccups, namely in regards to some of the members with much more… “sinful pasts”, but Michael could see there was good in a majority of the group.

It’s like Benny had said; you’re the average of the people you hang around with. And with people like Sterling, Kayla, Heath, and Alexis on the team, it was clear why some former enemies had begun to see the light and changed their ways.

Of course, people like Tarsa and Elloise Ludum were FAR from redeemable. Not even Sterling had any hope of them ever turning over a new leaf, and that guy saw the good in Dresden when no one else did.

Tayrun was fully healed and moving around again, with he and Torreli having their monster battle a few weeks later. It ultimately came down to Tayrun’s Summon, Gojiralith, and Torreli’s surprise final beast, the Unkillable Dragon that Tayrun was sure he, Kayla and Dresden had slayed some time ago.

Of course, it isn’t called the “Unkillable Dragon” for nothing.

The fight between the two beasts was insanely close, but Torreli ultimately gave up and allowed Tayrun to, much to his shock, have the Unkillable Dragon as a Summon. The beast said that Tayrun was ONLY to summon him if they were to face an Archon, wanting to improve its own evolution against the powerful demons.

Despite Torreli losing the fight, Tayrun still gave her the Overseer abilities, as he truly felt he could trust her to protect this world.

Meanwhile, Ana kept a close eye on Jake, especially after hearing from Kate what Jake had said about the memories of the accident that took his parents and brother. She had heard about it briefly when they were in Backcells, but hadn’t realized the effects were worse than she thought.

It didn’t answer why he seemed angry at Michael, but it at least provided somewhat of an answer as to why Jake was acting differently.

Regardless, Ana was still keeping an eye on Jake, especially when they went to TAHE. She went directly to the headmistress herself and voiced her concerns about Jake’s mental well-being because of the painful memories, hoping Evangeline could help Jake in some way.

Evangeline is grateful for Ana telling her about Jake’s possible issues, and she says she will keep an eye on Jake. Should these issues worsen in any way, it’s likely Jake could end up hurting himself or someone else without realizing.

Back with the rest of the group, Mara suddenly gets a notification on her MJWW from her home dimension. She answers it. “Hello?”

“Mara! How’s my favorite demon-hunting demon badass?!”

Mara couldn’t help but smile at the firm but warming voice of Tamika Wiggins. “Hey, Commander Wigg-”

“Girl, you can just call me Tamika!” the woman interrupts. “Only that old man bitch has to call me ‘Commander Wiggins’!”

Mara chuckles at the clear insult to Clayton Costus. “Right, sorry… So, is everything okay, Tamika?”

“Well, it was, till some more demon attacks started showing up.” Tamika says. “I know you focus more on your multiverse adventures, especially with those Archon punks out and about, but you mind coming by and helping us out?”

The old Mara would have likely said no if it meant talking to Clayton again, but she’s long since overcome that fear, and frankly, she doesn’t know what she was ever thinking in dating that prick.

As she was about to agree, an idea suddenly came to mind as she noticed Michael nearby, hitting the punching back in the training room. “Give me a moment, Tamika.”

Mara enters the training room just as Michael throws one last punch that blows a hole into the punching bag, causing the stuffing inside to spill out onto the floor. “Crap, should’ve held back with that last punch.” Michael sheepishly says as he scratches the back of his head.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Mara says, catching the angel’s attention. “We usually end up replacing that thing once a week anyway for that exact reason. Heath and Kate alone are responsible for more than half of those being destroyed.”

“Heh, I kinda figured.” Michael says with a chuckle, before picking up a towel and wiping the sweat from his forehead. “So, what’s up, Mara?”

It was at this moment Mara realized that Michael didn’t have armor and shirt on, replacing it with a plain white tank top. So she had quite the view of Michael’s muscles, and her face started to turn a shade of red.

But she quickly shook the thoughts off and composed herself. “W-Well, I just got a call from a friend back in my d-dimension saying that they need my help… and, um… I was wondering if you… wanted to c-come with me?”

Michael gave a smile. “Sure, I’d be happy to.” he says, seeming oblivious to Mara’s blushing. “Just give me a second to get ready.”

“O-Okay!” Mara says as Michael then walks past her. The demon girl can’t help watching him leave, her blush starting to return.

“Damn, you got the hots for someone, Mara?!”

Mara’s face then went entirely red as she looked at her MJWW, realizing the call with Tamika was still ongoing… so Tamika definitely heard all of that.

“Wh-What?! N-No, I don’t!” Mara denies, but Tamika wasn’t buying it in the slightest. “Girl, you were stuttering worse than a damn school girl!” Tamika jokes, making Mara go even more red.

“Tamika, stoooooooop…” Mara whined as she rubbed her temple.

Seems this mission was going to be more of a headache than she expected now that Tamika knows about her crush on Michael that had been growing.

It was currently lunch time at TAHE, and most of the students were enjoying the food prepared by the staff, chatting amongst their friends and classmates. That’s where we currently find the Maverick Class students… except for one.

“Zenith, you feeling alright with the news?” Darwin asks. “Y’know, about… Ludum being back?”

Zenith had his own troubled past with Elloise Ludum, having been forced to compete in one of her games in the past. He never forgot the torment he suffered through and how haunting that game was, so his classmates knew that even talking about Ludum was a sore subject for him.

Zenith calmed himself as best he could. “Honestly… not a minute goes by where I don’t want to rip her head off and put it on a spike.” he answers as his fists clench. “She deserves to suffer for all the torment she’s put innocent people through.”

“We understand, Zenith.” Kiko says as she gently pats her classmate’s back, helping calm him down a bit more. “We’ll be there to help for whatever you need.”

“Damn right! Especially if it means bashing her head in!” Emilia says with a confident grin, cracking her knuckles as she gets excited about the idea of fighting Elloise Ludum and breaking her bones.

Zenith can’t help but give a slight smile at how much his classmates care about him, as well as Emilia’s confidence.

Ana, however, seemed distracted. She noticed that Jake wasn’t sitting with them, scanning the surrounding area for her missing classmate. The rest of the class notice Ana looking around. “Everything okay, Ana?” Naseko bluntly asks.

“Guys, where’s Jake?” Ana asks as she looks at her classmates.

The rest of the Maverick Class look around their table, only to notice Jake’s absence. “Wasn’t he just here?” Darwin asked, confused to see Jake not with them.

“Maybe he’s sitting at another table.” Kiko says, only for Naseko to shake her head at the idea. “Jake always sits with us, so the idea of him sitting at another table is highly unlikely.”

“Then… where is he?” Ana asks, her previous worries about Jake getting more intense.

Jake was currently sitting under a tree away from the cafeteria, a book in front of him. He read the contents in his head while picking at the lunch tray next to him.

The book was actually about Jake’s own home dimension, and contained exactly what he was looking for; information about the gem in his hand.

“The Gems of the Angelic are a set of seven gems created by the Archangels of D-667, some of the first creations of the Overseer Avara, commonly known as Fear Herself.” Jake thought to himself as he took a bite of his apple.

“They were created after the war between the Archangels, when some became Demons like their ‘mother’. The Archangels created these Gems to empower select humans, and help them detect nearby Demons. However, Fear Herself created a counter in the form of a Gem of her own, called the Demonitrix, while also banishing some beings who found the Gems of the Angelic to another dimension.” Jake continued, then wiping his mouth. “So that really was why Ana and I were sent to Backcells… I wonder if the rest made it out of Backcells before Dresden nuked it…”

Jake skipped ahead a few pages to where information about the green Gem was. “Here we go.” Jake mutters to himself, before starting to read any more about the Gem he doesn’t know about.

“The green Gem possesses healing capabilities, as well as granting its wielder the power to fly and create green plasma-like liquid and constructions, which also possess the healing properties.” Jake reads, before noticing some new information. “The plasma-like energy can also be empowered to become explosive.”

That definitely caught Jake by surprise. This book was essentially saying his power could make explosions?!

“Okay, attention fully grabbed.” Jake says, completely forgetting about his lunch and picking up the book to read more.

“If the user concentrates their energy and imbues it with the Gem’s power, they are capable of creating energy blasts that can be molded into different attacks. The hardest part is first accessing this ability, but once that hurdle is overcome, using it becomes second nature, depending on the wielder.”

“Oooh, ain’t that interesting? Too bad you ain’t capable of doing anything right with that gem.” the voice of Mason rings through Jake’s head.

He sets the book down, before looking at the gem in his hand. The sunlight reflects off of it and gives it a shine, before Jake then holds his hands out in front of him and begins to focus as best he can.

“Seriously? You’re really gonna try this lame ass crap that may as well be straight out of that dumb anime you watched with Sterling?” Mason scoffs. “This book ain’t gonna help you at all, Jake. It’s just as pathetic as you. ”

Jake stared into his hands, doing everything he can to calm his mind. Ignoring the ghost of his brother, the painful memories, and even the re-encounters with Michael, Jake was determined to get this ability to work.

Suddenly… a faint glow started to emit from Jake’s palms, as a small green ball of light appeared and hovered between his hands… but it flickered away in an instant.

“No…” Jake mutters with wide eyes, frantically trying to get it back. “No, no, no…! Come back…!” Jake tried more and more to reignite the light… but nothing worked.

“Hm. My point exactly. Anyway, I’ve got some other chumps to torment, so I’ll leave you to wallow in this failure.” Mason smirked, before disappearing and leaving the disheartened boy to himself.

Jake kept trying desperately to reignite the light, but it wasn’t working. Jake groaned as he gripped the sides of his head, slumping against the base of the tree. He then put his hands over his mouth and screamed into his palms, muffling himself to not draw attention. Tears spilled down his face as he just let his hands drop to his sides.

“Damn it all…” Jake just muttered in defeat.

Back with Mara and Michael, the duo arrived at the main headquarters of the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters. It had been some time since Mara came back here, but it was just as she remembered. The mansion-like building was tall and looked as if it were built in the older times.

“So, this is the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters base?” Michael asks, staring up at the building. Mara nods at his question.

“Sure is.” she says. “It may not look like much on the outside, but inside is much different.”

Mara then opens the large metal door, revealing the inside to be more polished than the outside. The main room was full of Coalition members, either chatting with each other or talking about recent demon attacks.

Mara and Michael walk in as the door closes behind them, and it didn’t take long for the two to draw the eyes of Coalition members. The last time Mara had come to this place, she had been seeking their help to stop Fear from creating the Archon Demons… which, as we know, ultimately failed.

But Mara wasn’t the same scared girl she was when she first got her curse. So she wasn’t going to let any negative words about her bring her down… especially considering a familiar head of white hair was quick to notice the two.

Clayton Costus’ scowl didn’t leave his face. It may as well have been his permanent facial expression given how much he wears it. He stands up and storms over to Mara and Michael, stopping his ex-girlfriend where she stands.

“And just what the hell do you think you’re doing back here?” Clayton scowled, but Mara just crossed her arms and gave Clayton a deadpan look.

“How about you mind your own business, Costus?” Mara snaps at him. “We’re here to see Tamika, so step aside before I put a Clayton shaped hole in the wall.”

Clayton’s scowl got more aggressive as he stepped closer to Mara, clearly not liking her attitude. “You honestly think you can just walk back in here, with some stranger no less, and expect to-?”

BAM!

Clayton suddenly gasped in agony as Michael’s fist slammed into his stomach, a very satisfying crack echoing throughout the room. Clayton staggered back, holding his stomach in utter pain as he glared up at Michael, who was looking at him with disdain.

“And here I thought Mara was exaggerating about how much of a scumbag you were, but yeesh.” Michael spat at Clayton. “How a piece of trash like you managed to score someone as awesome as Mara back then, I may never understand.”

Mara’s face started heating up again upon hearing Michael compliment her like that. Clayton glared at Michael and reached for his sword… only to notice it was not there. Looking back to Michael, he sees the angel was holding the holy sword and inspecting it. In that quick moment of Michael punching Clayton, the angel had also taken his sword without Clayton even noticing until it was too late.

“Hm, impressive weapon, I have to admit.” Michael says. “Clearly given to you by a divine being, but judging by the type of person you are, you likely claimed this sword was a family heirloom and gave no mention of the divine being. Your arrogance and pride make you crave attention and praise, so you presented yourself as better than you actually are. Perhaps this is what drew Mara to you back before her curse, but clearly getting cursed was one of the best things to happen to her since it got her away from you.”

Michael throws the sword past Clayton as it stabs into the wall behind him, and seconds later, blood starts to seep from a cut on Clayton’s face made by that sword. Clayton was left frozen where he stood as the whole Coalition stared in shock.

“Crazy to think demons could have more humanity than you.” Michael scowls, before laughter catches Mara’s attention.

“Now I’m really glad I didn’t interrupt that shit!” Tamika says through her laughter as she walks down the stairs, with two people at her side.

Mara immediately recognized one of them as Jax, a former friend of hers from before she had been cursed by Fear. He had never insulted or belittled her like Clayton did, but he had never stood up for her. That definitely put a strain on their bond, but perhaps that would get a chance to be mended on this mission.

But the other person, Mara didn’t seem to recognize. It was a girl about the same age as her, with orange-blonde hair and green eyes, with a pair of throwing knives. Mara didn’t know why, but she felt a strange… connection… with this other girl.

She didn’t have too long to think about it, however, as she was suddenly swept into a hug and lifted off the ground by Tamika, who had calmed down from her laughing fit.

“Good to see ya, Mar!” Tamika says. “Glad you could make it to help out!” Mara chuckles as Tamika then sets her down.

“You’re welcome, Tamika.” Mara says, then glances at Jax. Jax gave a slightly awkward wave as he greeted her. “Hey… Mara…”

“Hi, Jax.” Mara said bluntly but politely. It was definitely still a bit awkward between them, but it was better than nothing. Mara’s gaze then shifted over to the other girl, who honestly looked a bit unsure if she should say anything.

“So, are you gonna introduce us to your friend or what?” Tamika says, grabbing Mara’s attention again. “W-Well, I was going to ask you the same about her.” Mara answers, gesturing to the girl.

“Oh, that’s right. You ain’t been here for a while, so you don’t know about Final Girl.” Tamika says, before going over to the girl and slinging an arm around her shoulder. “This here is Vivianne Sobreya, one of the best Demon Hunters to join this rag-tag group.”

“H-Hi…” Vivianne finally says with a slightly awkward wave. “J-Just call me Viv.”

It then suddenly clicked for Mara what was so off about this girl… but she didn’t bring it up out loud. She simply smiled as she approached Viv and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Viv.”

“N-Nice to meet you too, Mara.” Viv says. “I’ve… heard quite a lot about you.”

Mara smiled, before stepping back to introduce the partner she brought along. “This is Michael Celeste, one of the newest members of our team. He’s… well, from a full dimension of angels.”

To back up Mara’s statement, Michael reveals his glowing white angel wings from his back. “Well, ain’t that somethin’!” Tamika says, slightly impressed. She didn’t say this out loud, but she also found it funny that a girl with a demon curse was attracted to an angel. “Opposites really do attract.”

Tamika walks over to Michael as he retracts his wings. “Nice to meet ya, Michael.” Tamika says, giving the angel a firm handshake. “Hopefully you’re more useful than the angels of our dimension.”

“Pretty sure I just need to be more useful than Gramps on the floor.” Michael jokes at Clayton’s expense, causing Tamika to laugh again.

“Yep, we gonna get along just fine!” Tamika says as she playfully slaps Michael on the back.

“So, Tamika…” Mara speaks up, causing the commander to look at her. “... what exactly is this mission for?”

Tamika composes herself and clears her throat, becoming more serious. “Right. Well, you know about the Demon General… Thanatocrux?”

The moment the name left her mouth, the entire room fell silent as a wave of fear washed over most of the members. Even Mara felt a chill up her spine. Michael however, due to not being from this dimension, is left confused.

“Thanatocrux?” he asks, wondering who that is. Tamika and Mara turn to face him, and the former begins to explain.

“Thanatocrux is a Demon General that represents the Fear of Death, and one of the strongest that the Demon Queen has ever created.” Tamika says. “That bastard is second only to the Queen, but with her being unseen since making the Archons, he’s pretty much the biggest threat. And he doesn’t even attack directly. He sends his minions out to do his dirty work for him.”

Michael felt his fists starting to clench at the idea of this demon. Mara’s eyes widened a bit as she looked at Tamika.

“Wait, Tamika… we aren’t going after him, are we?” Mara asks, honestly worried. She knew that many Coalition members had died on many attempts to kill the Demon General of Death. Even with her and Michael, this mission would certainly be suicide.

But Mara was relieved to see Tamika shake her head. “I may be headstrong, but I ain’t stupid, girl.” she says. “We’re going after one of his minions that’s been popping around all over recently.”

She approaches one of the main computers and taps a few keys, as the screens then pull up some captured footage of demon attacks, all made by one demon.

It was small by most demon standards, but they knew from experience that the size of a demon doesn’t change how vicious and powerful they can be. The demon looked to be no taller than a teenager with a male humanoid appearance, their face mostly concealed by a hood. But they were able to clearly see his glowing red eyes and his wide demonic grin with razor sharp teeth. His skin was a chalky gray like all other demons, but his arms looked to be a shifting mass of flesh and bone that took on the appearance of claws and spikes, with his feet also made of that shifting mass.

“Necrosson…?” Mara spoke the name in surprise, to which Tamika nodded.

“Little bastard doesn’t take the same approach as most demons.” Tamika spat. “Just shows up and kills for the thrill of it. He wouldn’t be much of a threat, but it seems like he’s gotten stronger since he first showed up four years back.”

She pulls up another recent demon attack from Necrosson, this time against a small team of Coalition members. One gets behind the demon and goes for a stab, but that’s when Necrosson seeps into a black sludge-like substance in the ground, rising up behind the member and stabbing them through the back, killing them instantly.

Mara’s eyes widened, recognizing that ability. It was typically used by Nyctos of the Shadows, but she knew Necrosson never had such an ability.

“Wait, he’s…” Mara spoke in shock. “... he’s never been able to do that.”

“No, he hasn’t.” Jax says, his grip on his bat tightening. “At least until he was spotted fighting and actually killing Nyctos of the Shadows.”

The screen changes again to show Necrosson tearing through the slimy black body of Nyctos, as the demon of Shadows was helpless to fight back. It didn’t take Mara long to realize what this meant.

“He’s hunting demons and gaining their abilities to make himself stronger.” she whispers, to which Tamika nods.

“We don’t know what Necrosson plans to do with these abilities, but we gotta blast his brains out before he gets too fucking strong.” Tamika scowls, not even bothering to stop her sailor mouth. She then turns to her group with a commanding look. “Gear up. We leave in 20 minutes.”

She then looks to Clayton, who had finally picked himself up from Michael’s punch. “And if you slow us down, Gramps, don’t expect me to save your sorry ass.” she spat in his direction as she then walked off to get ready.

Michael, however, stared at the screen of the showing Necrosson. Something about this demon… it just seemed off, more than any other demon.

It was something about his appearance. Despite the chalky skin, demonic arms, and the evil nature, Michael felt as though… he’s seen this demon before…

...back when it may have been human.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

The group was now on the sleek black Coalition jet, flying to the last known location of Necrosson. That location was listed as being in Argentina, but Mara knew the exact area was concerning.

Because that area was where Gigantipodox typically hunts its prey. If Necrosson got his claws on the dinosaur demon and killed it, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how much stronger he would get.

They had to get there first and slay Necrosson before he could achieve that, and if they killed Gigantipodox too, then win-win.

Tamika was flying the jet as always, while everyone sat in the cabin. Clayton sat close to the front, thankfully facing away from the others. Not like they would talk to him unless needed, and he was definitely bitter to see Mara again, as well as how he got humiliated by Michael earlier.

Michael himself was sitting near the back with his eyes closed, doing some form of mediation. His Angelic Runes had appeared and were calmly spinning around him, the eyes lining them all closed as well.

Jax was sitting next to Mara, and although it was a bit awkward for them, they did catch up. Mara ended up telling Jax about some of the other adventures she’s had with the group. Jax was glad to see Mara was now genuinely happy.

He had always hated himself for never standing up for Mara in the early days of her curse. He and their late friend Avery were the closest to Mara when she had joined the Coalition as a researcher, but after she had been cursed and Clayton spouted rumors about the negatives of that curse, they stopped hanging out with Mara.

Something Jax and Avery regretted every day, especially after Mara ended up leaving the Coalition and joining a new group. They had wished things could go back to a simpler time, but they knew they couldn’t change the past, and that was more apparent when Avery died to Cryoarot.

But Avery’s death at least made Jax’s desire to hunt demons stronger, and the bat he wields once belonged to her was very effective against demons. Weapons that have a strong value and meaning to their wielder can work about as well as a holy weapon.

As Mara and Jax talked, her gaze shifted to Viv, who was sitting close to the window and just staring out of it as she calmly twirled her two throwing knives.

Luckily for Mara, Jax soon left the room to use the bathroom. Mara fully turned to face Viv, and used an ability that she never thought she would have to use, mostly since she never had the chance to use it.

“Viv, can you hear me?”

Viv’s eyes widen a bit as she looks at Mara, having thought she spoke out loud. But that thought was put to rest when Mara then ‘spoke’ again.

“So that’s a yes.” Mara telepathically says to Viv. Viv looked surprised to see that Mara wasn’t actually speaking out loud, and she soon got an answer as to why. “Never thought I’d get a chance to use the Demon Link.”

A chill ran up Viv’s spine as her eyes widened even more, sweat starting to drip down her face. As she wipes her head, Viv thinks back. “Y… You could tell…?”

“It didn’t take long.” Mara thought. “I mean, I also have a demon form, so it’s easy to tell if someone else does.”

Viv gave herself a mental facepalm. “Should’ve known…” Viv thought to herself. Of course the girl with a demon curse would recognize her as Hemynapoda.

“You’ve hidden your demon form from everyone else, I’m guessing?” Mara asked in thought, and Viv gave a nod to answer.

“I heard stories about how you were treated because of your demon curse, and that’s why I haven’t told anyone about my demon form.” Viv thought, looking down at her feet. “The things I did as Hemynapoda…”

Mara may not be able to look fully into Viv’s mind, but she can tell that whatever she’s referring to was truly horrific.

“And how do you know that?” Mara asks in thought. “I can tell keeping this secret is weighing heavily on you, Viv. It’s not healthy.”

“I know that, it’s just…” Viv thought. “I… I don’t think even Commander Wiggins would forgive me for what I did… I could’ve stopped it, but… I-I was too scared to take back control at the time…”

Mara could tell this was a sensitive subject for Viv, but keeping this secret wasn’t going to do her any good.

“Look… I can’t guarantee how everyone will react… and let’s be real, Clayton’s a piece of work who won’t take it well at all, but he’s not worth it.” Mara thought, which Viv had to stop a laugh from upon hearing. “But Tamika is very understanding, so she’ll be able to recognize that you want to redeem yourself for your past actions. I understand you may think you aren’t worthy of redemption, but you are. The guilt you’re feeling over your actions as Hemynapoda are proof enough of this.”

Viv didn’t respond, but she did give a slight smile at Mara’s words of encouragement. Jax soon came back to the room and took his seat again. Mara glanced at Viv again.

“Trust me, Viv… It’s better to be honest with everyone.” With that, Mara ends the Demon Link.

Jake walked back into the library of TAHE, planning to return the book he borrowed during lunch. As he walks along the shelves to find where the book had been, he accidentally bumps into someone and stumbles back a bit.

“S-Sorry about that.” he quickly mutters.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, sweetie.” the sweet and caring voice of a woman says, prompting Jake to look up and see who it was.

The woman was tall and looked to be in her late 60s, with an upbeat demeanor that gave her the energy of a youth. Her hair, which was in the process of turning from pale blonde to gray, was cut to just above her neck, her eyes were a soft brown color, and her cheeks gave off a dusty-pink tint. Her outfit looked straight out of the Victorian era, with a pale white blouse, a maroon skirt reaching to her ankles, pale gray heels with stockings, and a pale pink sun-hat decorated with white daisies and red roses, as well as two large pink feathers.

Jake immediately recognized her as TAHE’s librarian, Rosaline Kritzer, but everyone just called her “Rosie”. She was one of the sweetest women across the Multiverse, and she loved helping others. She had been hired by Evangeline about 20 years back, and she was absolutely loved by the kids. Some would even call her “Auntie Rosie”, and she embraced this title with open arms.

“Well, hello, Jake.”  Rosie says with a warm smile. Even in his sour mood, he couldn’t help but smile upon seeing her.

“Hi, Miss Rosaline…” Jake says, only for the older woman to respond. “Oh, don’t call me ‘Miss’. Makes me feel older than I already am.”

Jake can’t help giving a slight chuckle. “C’mon, you don’t look a day over 21.” Jake says, prompting Rosie to giggle. She was never one that was insecure about her age, but hearing comments like that still warm her heart.

As the older woman’s giggles stopped, she then noticed just how puffy Jake’s eyes looked. “Jake, have you been crying?” she asks in concern, causing Jake to tense up.

“Crap!” Jake thought to himself, wishing he had just come by later. He wiped his face a bit. “Y-Yeah, b-but it’s nothing serious…” he says, not wanting to stick around a moment sooner.

But Rosie clearly wasn’t buying it, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. “Sweetie, talk to Auntie Rosie.” she says in a sympathetic tone. Jake tries to move away, no longer facing her as more tears threaten to spill.

“I said I’m fine…!” Jake says, his voice quaking a bit. Rosie’s heart starts to shatter the moment she hears the hurt in Jake’s voice. She gently grabs Jake by the shoulders and turns him around so he’s facing her again.

“Jake…” she says in a calming voice as she looks at the trembling boy. At that moment, it didn’t take long for the floodgates to open. Jake collapsed to his knees and just started sobbing uncontrollably, even gripping at his chest where his heart is.

Rosie wasted no time in hugging the boy, softly resting his head against her shoulder as she gently rubbed his back. She didn’t know what was bothering him just yet, but just off of this alone, she could tell it was something truly horrible.

“Shhh…” she quietly whispers to Jake. “It’s okay… Auntie Rosie’s got you…”

In that moment, Rosie makes quick use of an ability that not many people know she has. It’s something that she only uses with the Headmistress of TAHE, and she needed to alert her of this immediately.

That ability was short ranged telepathy, something she could only do when mentally linked to a person, and could only link with one person at a time.

“Evangeline, can you please tell the staff that Jake Tagen’s excused from the rest of his classes today? The poor kid’s having a breakdown, and I don’t think he’ll be able to focus.” Rosie thinks.

“Of course, Rosaline. One of his classmates warned me of how Jake has been acting differently, so part of me was worried if and when this could happen. If anyone can help him, I know it’s you.” Evangeline thinks back.

Rosie then helps Jake back up to his feet and gently walks him over to a nearby set of cushioned chairs, before sitting him down in one. She then pulls another over and sits directly in front of him, then quietly calms Jake down as she wipes his tears.

“Jake… I want you to tell me what’s really bothering you.” Rosie says, determined to help him. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but keeping it a secret is only going to make you feel worse and worse. So you’re not leaving until you tell me everything.”

At this point… Jake didn’t even care anymore. He genuinely wanted to tell someone, and if that someone had to be Rosie, then so be it. It’s probably best that she found him.

“Okay…” Jake sniffles as he wipes his tears. “I’ll tell you everything…”

“Heads up, everyone!” Tamika’s voice rings out through the intercom. “We’re landing in 5!”

Michael opened his eyes as his Angelic Runes vanished. Jax grabbed his metal bat, while Viv sheathed her throwing knives. Clayton just scoffed and grumbled out a quiet “About time.” as he grabbed his sword.

Mara stood up, giving Viv a glance and nod that said “You got this.” Viv smiled as she stood up. Soon, the jet lands on the outskirts of the forest of Argentina, and the group steps off.

“Alright, everyone.” Tamika announces. “We need to find Gigantipodox fast. We find that big ass lizard, we may find Necrosson nearby. Necrosson’s extremely unpredictable, and he could have more demonic powers than just Nyctos’ shadow stuff.”

Michael removes his eyepatch and looks into the forest, then closing his left eye. His vision zooms through the trees looking for either Gigantipodox or Necrosson. After a few moments, he finds the lumbering dinosaur demon about 50 miles in.

“Gigantipodox is 50 miles in that direction.” Michael says, pointing in that direction as his vision returns to normal. “No sign of Necrosson though.”

“Good enough.” Tamika says, cocking her shotgun. “Then we have a shot to take out this giant bastard before Necrosson gets him.”

Michael summons two of his Runes and hurls one across the forest in the direction of Gigantipodox, much to the group’s confusion. A few moments later, he then tosses the second Rune right in front of them. It stands on its side and expands out, as the eyes then move to the inside and glow a bright blue. The light combines and forms a portal, showing the inside of the forest.

“This will save us time. Once on the other side, we should be about 3 miles away instead.” Michael says.

“Damn, that’s actually pretty impressive.” Jax says in surprise. Clayton just scoffs and walks in first, as everyone else then follows behind.

The mulch and sticks on the ground crunch under their feet as Michael then retracts the Rune they stepped out of. It would take a few moments for the last Rune to catch up, so the group starts moving in.

“So how’s that ability work, Mike?” Tamika asks. “You just throw one of those Rings to damn near Narnia and can use another as a portal?”

“Well, it only works in places I’ve been before, as well as being limited to the dimension I’m in.” Michael says. “I can’t just throw one of the Runes all the way to the Arctic, or just open a portal between dimensions like an Overseer.”

“Wait, so… you’ve been here before?” Jax asks in surprise. Michael’s fists start to clench a bit, but he calms himself down. “About 4 years back… truth is, I went after Gigantipodox once before.” Michael admits, which catches the group by surprise.

“You… what?” Mara asks, baffled by this revelation. “But how? Before, people from another dimension with superpowers were banished to Dimension S-316. The only way superpowered beings could enter was if their presence was masked so the Overseer couldn’t sense it.”

“That’s exactly what our Overseer did when she sent most of us to help out here.” Michael answers, as that second Rune finally catches up to the group and returns to him. “She masked our presence enough to be similar, but weaker than the Archangels of this dimension to avoid suspicion.”

Before Michael could continue, a loud roar hit their eardrums and caught their attention. And from the sounds of the roar…

“Gigantipodox is approaching, full speed!” Clayton shouts as he draws his sword out.

Barreling through the trees, footsteps shaking the ground underneath, Gigantipodox burst onto the scenes with a mighty demonic roar that shook the air around the Demon hunters. Michael and Mara wasted no time in transforming, while Tamika cocked her shotgun, and Jax and Viv readied their weapons.

Clayton ran at the charging demon and took a swing with his holy sword, but the demon’s tail was much faster, swatting Clayton to the side and knocking the sword from his hand. The creature suddenly recoiled as a shot from Tamika struck it in the leg, causing it to stagger. The beast lunges the maw on its tail towards the group, causing them to scatter as the tail’s teeth then stab into the ground.

Michael leaps at the demon and slashes his sword across the demon’s tail, cutting it clean off and leaving it down a mouth. The creature roared in pain and fury, but Mara slammed her demonic fists into the creature’s head, sending it crashing back along the forest floor.

Viv ran in with her throwing knives drawn back, and as she throws one at Gigantipodox’s eye, her hand subtly shifts into her demon form as an orange stinger is fired out alongside the throwing knife, essentially guiding it to stab into Gigantipodox’s eye. The creature roars in more agony as it thrashes from the stinger and the throwing knife, as well as the poison coming from the former.

Viv’s hand shifted back to normal as Tamika ran past her. “Good shot, Final Girl!” Tamika calls to her as she then shoots the demon in the left kneecap, fully blowing off the creature’s foot as it screeches in more pain.

It staggers to stay upright on one foot, but Jax runs in and slams his bat into the creature’s other kneecap, making it collapse to its stomach. To keep it more restrained, Michael hurls two of his Runes at it to restrict it tightly.

Michael then flies up into the air as he draws his sword back, the glow of the sword getting brighter. “Be purged, you spawn of Sin!” he shouts, before blitzing down to Gigantipodox in a streak of gold and driving the sword deep into the creature’s skull.

The large demon lets out a final roar of agony, before its head hits the ground in a lifeless heap, its body slowly dissipating into black dust. Michael stands tall as his Runes retract back to his body, his sword no longer glowing. Viv’s throwing knife that had been lodged into the beast’s eye fell to the forest floor.

Despite the success in slaying a demon of this size… something still felt off to the group.

“Am I the only one that felt that was WAY too easy?” Jax asks aloud, to which everyone looks at him.

“Of course it was too easy!” Clayton snarled, despite having not done anything but get his ass handed to him. “We were here for Necrosson, not just Gigantipodox!” Tamika shuts him up by bonking him on the head with the butt of her shotgun.

“As much as I hate agreeing with Gramps here, he’s right.” Tamika says. “We’re supposed to have found Necrosson nearby, but we only found Gigantipodox.”

“Something’s off…” Mara says, looking around with her glowing purple eyes. She was trying to locate Necrosson’s presence, but found nothing. “I’m not sensing Necrosson anywhere here… I’m starting to think he may have left before we arrived.”

“Without slaying Gigantipodox?” Viv asked in confusion as she picked her throwing knife back up. “Why would he leave without killing Gigantipodox to make himself stronger?”

"Now that I think about it..." Jax thinks for a second. "Why would he have gone after Gigantipodox specifically? There's plenty of other demons that are stronger than Gigantipodox was, some of which would have made Necrosson even stronger than if he killed this one."

A foul smell suddenly hit Mara’s nostrils, one she was unfortunately all too familiar with. Mara turned the direction of the smell and followed it, prompting everyone to go after her.

When Mara arrived at the source of the smell, what she saw was more horrific than ANY encounter with a demon she ever had. Not even her first encounter with Fear Herself, the constant insults and abuse she endured from Clayton, or even the creation of the Archons make her stomach drop like this.

The others arrived to see what had made Mara so shaken, but upon seeing it themselves, even Tamika and Clayton felt sick to their stomachs, Jax was horrified beyond belief, Viv felt herself starting to throw up, and Michael was frozen where he stood.

What they found was a ruined campsite with a mutilated family, their bodies torn to pieces with their blood splattered all over the grounds and stones of the forest. There were no survivors, and the group could clearly see this was NOT the work of Gigantipodox. Not only did these bodies look like they were killed hours ago, but they were all gathered in the same area, not spread about like many of Gigantipodox’s prior kills.

One of the tents had been ripped and was hanging from two trees by the branches, and there was a message written on the cloth with the blood of the bodies. That message made Mara and Michael freeze in shock even more, because of who it was directed at.

YOU’RE NEXT, JAKE

Necrosson never intended to kill Gigantipodox... he only used the demon to lure everyone out here to find this message and pass it along…

.

.

.

.

... a message to tell Jake his days might be numbered.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

The Maverick Class had just finished up their classes for the day, despite how hard it was for them to focus.

When their teachers had gotten the message from the headmistress that Jake would not be joining their classes for the rest of the day, it genuinely concerned them. Even the usually stoic Naseko was concerned to hear Jake would be missing classes.

They all knew that as much as Jake talked about not needing this school in the beginning, he’s actually enjoying this school and the classes he’s in. So the fact that he’s missing them is a red flag that something is seriously wrong with Jake.

Right now, the group was walking back to their cabins, specifically towards Jake’s. They had been told Rosie had brought him back to his cabin some time later, as he apparently passed out after his breakdown. Ana was in front, because out of the entire class, she had been the most worried about Jake.

She knew that something had been bothering Jake, even if he didn’t speak about it out loud, and now after hearing that Jake apparently had some kind of breakdown in the library, she had enough.

Like how Kate did to Sterling… she was going to find out what the hell was going on, even if she had to force it out of Jake.

The class was honestly surprised that Ana was stepping up like this, as she was often very indecisive outside of battle. Sure, she had gotten better at quickly making choices thanks to Benny and Champagne, but there were still moments where her indecisiveness got the best of her. Something she was looking to fix at TAHE.

But it was clear that when it came to Jake, Ana wasn't hesitating in the slightest. She approached the door of the cabin and knocked on it.

“Jake?” she calls out, hoping he’s awake by now. “Jake, are you up?”

There was no response, so she knocked again. “Jake, please open up.” she calls out louder. Again, no response. Kiko tries to look in the window, but the blackout curtains are pulled down, blocking her from seeing if Jake was inside.

Darwin steps up and lightly pushes Ana out of the way, before grabbing the handle and trying to open the door… but the keyword is trying, because the door’s locked.

“The hell? It’s locked.” Darwin says, pulling at the door. He then pounds on the door louder than Ana did. The group was starting to get worried. “Jake, come on! Open the damn door, man!”

No response once again, so Emilia decided enough was enough. She pushed her two classmates aside as her right arm transformed into that of her Freak Form, before punching the door clean off its hinges and breaking it down.

Her arm turning back to normal, she storms into Jake’s cabin as her classmates follow… but all of them froze in shock and horror at what they saw.

Jake’s bed looked to be a mess, the covers thrown off so haphazardly. The super suit he had gotten was just thrown on the floor, while his Backcells clothes were nowhere to be seen. He usually kept those in the small closet of his cabin, since he more often wore his super suit during classes.

But most concerning… Jake was nowhere to be seen.

When she and Michael returned from the mission, Mara wasted no time gathering the entire Sharp Gang back at base, with the only ones not present being the kids since they were still at school. They explained everything about the hunt for Necrosson they went on, and how it seems like Necrosson may have lured them to pass a message along.

Mara then reveals she had snapped a picture of the message Necrosson had left and currently had it displayed on the Sharp Tank’s large computer screen.

Suffice to say, the group was concerned to know that a demon seemed to be hunting down Jake, especially one this powerful.

“Why would a demon be hunting Jake specifically?” Kayla asks, trying to understand what Necrosson could have against Jake. Charlie then spoke up in his typical rapid pace.

“YeahbecauselasttimeIcheckedJakedoesn’tseemlikethetypethatwouldcatchtheeyeofademon.UnlessNecrossonisawareJakehasoneoftheGemsoftheAngelicandishuntingdownthewieldersofthoseGemssotheycanbedestroyed.Butifthat’sthecasethenwhyisthemessageonlydirectedatJakeandnottowardsAnasinceshehasonetoo?ItjustseemsmorelikeNecrossonishuntingJakeforsomeotherreasonthatwedon’tknowaboutatthemoment.”

Translation: Yeah, because last time I checked, Jake doesn’t seem like the type that would catch the eye of a demon. Unless Necrosson is aware Jake has one of the Gems of the Angelic and is hunting down the wielders of those Gems so they can be destroyed. But if that’s the case, then why is the message only directed at Jake and not towards Ana since she has one too? It just seems more like Necrosson is hunting Jake for some other reason that we don’t know about at the moment.

“Charlie is right.” Tayrun says. “Necrosson cannot be simply hunting down those with the Gems of the Angelic, or else the message would be directed at Ana too, as well as any others who possess the Gems, if there are any.”

“As far as I’m aware, Jake and Ana are the only ones who have these Gems.” Mara says, knowing that no other users of the other Gems have been discovered. “And even then, Jake and Ana haven’t been back to D-667 in a while. The last time they were there, at least that I’m aware of, was when we tried to stop the Archons from being created.”

“Seems like this Necrosson guy’s got some sort of vendetta against Jake.” Torreli says. “Like he wants him dead.”

“But what could that reason be?” Heath asks, arms crossed. “It’s not like Jake could have done anything to warrant the wrath of a demon.”

“Pretty sure those demons don’t normally need a reason besides their target’s specific fear.” Kate says, before looking at Mara. “Mar, tell us everything you know about Necrosson. It might give us an idea of what’s going on.”

Mara nods, before she starts telling the group everything about Necrosson that she knows. How he was created by the strongest Demon General in existence, Thanatocrux, who represented the Fear of Death. Thanatocrux had gotten so strong because the fear he craved was present in everyone, some more than others. He was second only to Fear Herself… at least until she lost her Overseer powers. Necrosson had been created about 4 years back, and quickly rose to become one of the most dangerous demons ever made by Thanatocrux, let alone in general. What makes him so dangerous is his adaptability, as well as his ability to take the powers of other demons he slays. Mara knows that Necrosson slayed Nyctos of the Shadows, but isn’t sure if there are any others he may have slain and gained the abilities of. No one knows his true story, whether he was once a human or if he had just been created on a whim. Either way, he was near the top of the list of demons to slay for the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters.

That gave the group a good idea of who they’re going against, but it didn’t answer why he was hunting Jake specifically. Suddenly…

“GUYS!”

Everyone looked surprised to see Ana running inside in a panic, her classmates not too far behind. Benny stands up and rushes to Ana, grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to calm her down as she pants in a panic.

“Hey, hey!” Benny says, uncharacteristically serious as he tries to calm Ana down. “Ana, what’s goin’ on?!”

“It’s Jake! He’s gone!” Ana exclaims as she tries to catch her breath. That raised the group’s worries ten-fold. A powerful demon is hunting Jake, and now they find out Jake is missing!

“What do you mean Jake’s gone?!” Alexis asks. Zenith, who was just as worried but more level-headed than Ana at the moment, spoke up.

“He ended up having some kind of breakdown earlier and was brought back to his cabin to rest, but when we went to check on him after classes, the door was locked and the windows were covered! Emilia broke the door down, and we saw his cabin was a mess and he was just gone!”

This was a serious problem for the group, especially now that they know Jake is being hunted. Benny didn’t waste any time working with his MJWW to see if he can track where Jake is, while Champagne took his place in trying to console Ana.

“We told the teachers and they said they were going to look for him as well, but we couldn’t just sit by and do nothing!” Darwin says. He and Jake had a strong friendship, and he wasn’t going to let his best (human) friend get hurt or killed.

“Damn it!” Kate slams her fist against the wall in a fury. “Those bad memories he mentioned a while back must’ve resurfaced again! How the hell did we not see it sooner?!”

“Kate, calm down!” Kayla says. “Getting angry at ourselves isn’t going to find Jake!” Benny’s MJWW displays where in the Multiverse Jake is: Dimension D-667. He zooms in to find Jake’s exact location… but nothing shows up.

“Crap!” Benny says, worried. “He’s somewhere in D-667, but I can’t get the exact location! He must’ve shut the tracker off when he arrived in the dimension!”

“Can’t you find the last location of the watch before he shut it off?!” Heath asks, but Benny shakes his head. “I'm trying, but it’s not working!”

Sterling doesn’t waste a second in stepping up. “Guys, we need to head to D-667 now! Split up into groups so we can cover more ground and find him faster!” he says. “The second you find Jake, alert everyone to your location and don’t let him out of your sight! If you need to, just grab Jake and teleport back here!”

Everyone nods, not wasting a second to teleport themselves to D-667. The only ones staying behind were Zashchitnik, Skinner and Archibald. Once arriving, everyone splits off into groups and goes off looking for Jake.

Tayrun and Heath flew off on Tayrun’s dragon mount, Wellerman.

Kayla was bolting with Charlie shifted into rollerblades, as Vasilia ran alongside her in her Were-Jaguar form for greater speed.

Alexis flew off with her Reaper abilities, with Dresden and his Silvally, Val, not far behind.

Benny and Champagne suited up into two of the former’s mech suits and split up, with Harold grabbing onto Benny’s legs and being dragged along.

Sterling flew off with his fire abilities, as Kate clung to his back, not giving a damn about the heat coming off from the flames. She’s dealt with worse, and that wasn’t even one of her worries at the moment, obviously.

Michael and Mara followed Sterling and Kate, both transformed to catch up.

Astra entered her draconic form as Torreli climbed onto her back while sending her demonic bird, Hunter, to fly ahead and scout the area.

As for the Maverick Class, they stuck together and wasted no time rushing off to look for the missing boy.

None of them knew exactly where Jake was, but that wasn’t going to stop any of them from looking for him. They all had the same thought, some being stronger than others.

“Please be okay, Jake!”

If there’s one thing a demon never expected to feel, it was the very fear it had been trying to imbue into its victims.

But that was the case with Hermophilous, the demon who craves people afraid of blood. The demon was naturally leaking blood, but it had become more excessive and unintentionally when someone had arrived and began to pummel the beast.

The demon limped and staggered as it tried to flee the scene, its wounds making this a more difficult task… as well as the charging boy rushing up to it from behind.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Jake exclaims in a rage as he then tackles the demon and slams it into the ground.

Jake turns the demon so it’s on his back and repeatedly slams his fists into Hermophilous’ face, opening more wounds as the blood the demon had collected splattered across the grounds of the forest.

The demon tried to fight back, but Jake then grabbed it by the neck with one hand and slammed his other fist into its face more and more, ignoring the burning pain his hand felt from the demon’s stone-like skin tearing his own knuckles.

With one final punch surrounded in the green energy of his Gem, Jake smashes the demon’s head to paste and kills it, its body going limp as it fades to ash, leaving only the blood behind. “That’s… three…” Jake says as he catches his breath on his knees, panting from exhaustion with blood splattered across him as well.

Jake activated his powers again to heal himself a bit. Since first getting his powers, Jake has improved how much he can handle using without exhausting himself.

“Killing Triparog, Claustraniac, AND Hermophilous in just a few hours? Heh, guess you’re only slightly less useless than I thought.”

Jake silently rose to his feet without turning to face Mason, who was walking around Jake with his typical cruel smirk. Even the demon in Mason’s skin had to admit he was slightly impressed to see Jake killed three demons by himself in just a short amount of time.

“Just a shame this couldn’t have shown itself earlier.” Mason said as his smirk widened. “Could’ve saved yourself a lot of troub-”

BAM!

The demon skids back about 20 feet as Jake slammed his fist into its face. But all this does is cause the demon’s smirk to widen into a sharp toothed grin.

“Oh, so you want to play?!” Mason says as his grin widens more and actually tears through the flesh of his face. His body violently twitches and spasms as the skin is torn from his body.

Jake takes his fighting stance with a glare as Mason’s arms burst open into a mass of flesh and blades that take on the form of much longer arms with long claws on the hands. Standing before Jake, with the skin of Mason torn from its body… was Necrosson.

“THEN LET’S PLAY, ‘LITTLE BROTHER’!”

To Be Continued...!!

Chapter Text

Kate had never felt more worried in her life. Not even the time she was in Backcells had her worried to this extent.

“Where the hell could he have gone?!” Kate thought as she ran alongside Sterling, with Michael flying above them as Mara leapt from tree branch to tree branch in her demon form.

“Why would Jake run off like this?!” Sterling says through his running. “I understand that some negative memories likely came up, but enough to do this?!”

Sterling himself knew that running away from your problems instead of allowing others to help you with them was not healthy. Kate had helped him see that, and now it seemed they needed to get that lesson into Jake.

Mara suddenly heard her MJWW ringing, and saw it was Tamika again. She answers it. “Tamika, now is probably not the best time!” she says, still worried for Jake.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure it is!” Tamika says over the MJWW. “Necrosson’s been spotted on the radar, and he’s fighting against someone with a Gem of the Angelic!”

That made Mara stop in her place in shock. She thought the Coalition had never been able to track the Gems of the Angelic, but it turns out they could? Perhaps they hadn’t had the chance to find them because the users would risk being sent to Backcells.

But the only users of the Gems of the Angelic she knew were…

“Tamika, send me the location NOW!” Mara shouts quickly. “We’re looking for the kid with the Gem!”

Hearing that it was a kid wielding the Gem of the Angelic and currently fighting Necrosson, Tamika didn’t waste a second to send the location to Mara’s MJWW.

She’s got a soft spot for kids.

Mara then sent the location to the rest of the Sharp Gang as she then made a group call for everyone to listen to. “Guys! The location I just sent you is where Jake is! Hurry over there now, because he’s fighting Necrosson as we speak!”

The split-up groups wasted no time in rushing over to the location Mara sent. Ana and her classmates realized that they’re currently the closest to the location.

“Jake’s near us!” Ana says to her classmates, pointing in the direction of the location they received. “That way! We gotta hurry!”

Darwin pulls out one of the bones he carries and summons his Therizinosaurus, which he named Voorhees. He climbs onto the dinosaur’s back as Kiko and Naseko join him. Zenith summons his construct wings, while Emilia enters her Freak Form and picks Ana up. The class wastes no time in rushing off to save their classmate.

A cut up and blood soaked Jake skids back after blocking a kick from his demonic brother. Necrosson leapt at Jake and swung his claws for the boy’s head, but Jake ducked underneath it and socked Necrosson in the stomach. The demon coughed up some black blood, before grinning in malice as Jake lunged at him and swung some kicks at him, each one getting blocked by Necrosson’s arms.

Necrosson sinks into a puddle of shadows, then leaps out behind Jake to sneak attack him, but Jake quickly turns around and kicks the demon in the face. Necrosson’s jaw ends up dislocated as he’s sent crashing back.

Jake surrounds his fist in green energy, then leaps at the demon to punch him… but a tendril extends out of the demon’s shoulder, a blade forming on the tip as it drives into Jake’s shoulder. Jake screams out in pain as Necrosson picks himself up, his jaw popping back into place.

“Aww, you thought you were actually hurting me?” Necrosson asks in a mocking tone as he chuckles. “Just as pathetic as EVER!”

Necrosson hurls Jake across the ground, sending him crashing down as the mulch and rocks on the ground cut and scrape his skin, also tearing through his shirt. Jake then crashes against a tree trunk, coughing up some blood from how hard he got hit.

He weakly looks up, only to quickly roll out of the way from Necrosson’s claws stretching out and trying to grab him. The claws embed into the tree trunk, tearing through the bark. Jake holds his shoulder wound as he heavily pants, trying to heal it as quickly as he can.

Necrosson’s arm retracts as the demon slowly walks up to Jake, lifting him up and punching him in the stomach, then slashing him across the chest. Jake screams louder as the demon’s claws tear through the flesh of his chest and stomach, easily cutting through the armor pads as blood spills from his wounds.

The demon then grabs Jake by the hair and slams his head against a large rock, cracking it and Jake’s skull open. It’s hard to say if it’s a good or bad thing that Jake’s not dead yet. Sure, it’s good he’s not dead… but with how much pain he’s in, that kind of weighs out the good.

Through his haze, Jake swings a punch at Necrosson, but the demon’s arm morphs around Jake’s arm, before tightening around it… then…

CRACK!

Jake snapped out of his haze as he screamed in pure agony, feeling his left shoulder pop clean out of its socket. The demon releases Jake and throws him down, making him land on his now limp arm for more pain.

Jake had tears of utter agony in his eyes as he tried to crawl away, but Necrosson wasn’t going to let that happen… as he then lifted his foot and stomped on Jake’s right ankle, shattering it as he screamed in even more pain.

Necrosson had a sickening grin on his face, as he raised an arm up and the flesh and blades began to shift into a full on scythe. It was clear he was either about to torture Jake or kill him… and knowing the type of demon Necrosson is…

... it’s likely going to be the former.

“Look on the bright side, ‘little brother’.” Necrosson says in total sarcasm. “When I’m done torturing you, I might put you out of your misery so you’ll finally reunite with dear old Mommy and Daddy!”

Necrosson then swung his arm down… only to notice something off. The demon blinked in surprise, seeing that his hand had been cut off faster than he could see. “What in the-?”

BAM!

Necrosson was sent flying away as Zenith punched him across the face with full force, then Voorhees’ claws slashed the demon as he’s then sent crashing into the same rock Jake’s head was slammed into.

Jake weakly looked up, blinded by the returning haze of that hit to the head, but could still make out the silhouettes of his classmates, especially the blue-skinned girl rushing right up to him. His ears were ringing, preventing him from hearing what they were saying, before he went limp and fell unconscious.

“Jake! Jake!” Ana exclaimed as she kneeled down and frantically checked his pulse, thankfully finding he was still alive. Ana quickly activated her MJWW and tried to call the Sharp Gang, but…

… the rubble of where Necrosson crashed explodes off of the demon, who was now back on his feet and brushing off the hits he just took from Zenith and Voorhees.

“Ah, the Maverick Class.” Necrosson says through his grin, his hand then regrowing in seconds. Darwin and Voorhees, Emilia, Zenith, Kiko, and Naseko surrounded the demon. “Was wondering when you chumps would show up.”

“Just what the hell do you want with Jake?!” Kiko shouted as she stood ready to fight, but this just made the demon laugh.

“What I do is none of your business, rabbit.” Necrosson says with a cruel chuckle. But the Maverick Class wasn’t going to let the demon keep this up.

Emilia runs in and swings her fists at the demon to try and punch him, but the demon hits her with a punch to the jaw that snaps her head back. She shakes the hit off and goes for another hit, but Necrosson not only diverts her punch away, he also hits her with a sharp elbow to the stomach that makes her hunch over. The demon then kicks her across the face and sends her crashing down, a crater forming where she lands.

Zenith and Kiko took advantage of his distraction from Emilia and attacked on both sides, but the demon reacted quickly and dodged or countered each attack they threw his way. Naseko, drawing out her own clubbed weapon, joins the fray and smashes the weapon into the demon’s head, disorienting him as Voorhees then swats him away with his tail.

Emilia, who got up quickly from the hits she took despite the broken rib, catches Necrosson in a bear hug as she then suplexes the demon into the ground. She then grabs him by the leg and lifts him up, before slamming him back first onto her knee as a sickening snap sound is heard.

She then throws the demon across the floor of the forest, and Zenith doesn’t waste a second in flying after the demon, driving a construct sword into the demon’s stomach as he roars in agony.

As the Maverick Class held Necrosson off, Ana took this chance to call the Sharp Gang and alert them of Jake’s condition, and how she was going to rush him back to the Sharp Tank immediately.

She lifts Jake up, slinging his arm over her shoulder and trying to help him stand, then teleports them back to A-016. Once back home, she picks Jake up with both arms and runs through the door to the only three members that didn’t go with.

But she knew that one member had just what Jake needed to heal.

“Skinner!” Ana shouts, catching the former villain’s attention. “Scythe needs to lend a Symbiote to Jake!” Skinner looks at the horribly injured Jake, as his symbiote, Scythe, then comes out of the villain’s arm. Scythe releases a spawn of his own, one that thankfully won’t turn Jake into a mindless killer, and latches it onto the boy.

Ana quickly sets Jake onto the nearest couch as the green and blue Symbiote quickly overtakes Jake’s body, covering him entirely. The Symbiote activates Jake’s powers, having grown able to withstand them since the last encounter, and uses it to help quicken the healing process.

“Even with a Symbiote’s remarkable healing combined with Jacob’s own powers, it will be quite some time before he is fully restored.” Scythe says, his head sticking out of Skinner’s shoulder. “But this should keep him stable and prevent him from perishing.”

A sickening snap sound was heard as the Symbiote popped Jake’s arm back into its socket. Ana stares at her unconscious Symbiote covered friend, and she knows that her classmates still need her help.

She’s about to run back to return to D-667… but a thought crosses her mind.

“... Scythe, there’s one more thing I need.”

Back at the battle, Necrosson had managed to get a footing on the battle in the short amount of time that Ana teleported Jake back to A-016… and it was all downhill for the Maverick Class from there. The demon ate every attack they had to offer, before dishing out his own and doing much more damage.

Parts of Naseko’s armor were shattered and cracked, the pieces scattered across the floor as Naseko was cut and torn on multiple parts of her body.

Darwin may not have been injured gravely, but Voorhees wasn’t so lucky. The dinosaur had a broken leg and its claws shattered, cuts and tears in its skin all over. Darwin was left with no choice but to de-summon Voorhees so he doesn’t perish.

Kiko was struggling to stand with a broken leg, as the demon had found her kicks did the most damage out of all of her attacks, so he broke one of her legs to keep her out of the battle.

Zenith was left cut and torn, with some of Necrosson’s blades broken off and stabbed into his shoulder and thigh.

Emilia was not only suffering the broken rib mentioned earlier, but also a broken arm and a cut across her face that left her temporarily blinded in one eye.

The demon was reveling in seeing his little brother’s classmates left beaten and battered, knowing this would likely break Jake even more.

As the demon then lunged for Naseko to rip her throat out… a blue and purple streak tackled into the demon as a set of razor sharp teeth bit into his shoulder, ripping the flesh out and sending him crashing down.

Necrosson picked himself back up and lunged for the figure… but they then slammed their foot into the ground, and under the dirt and mulch, their leg extends out and then pops back out right in front of Necrosson as he’s kicked in the face hard enough to sent crashing back.

Necrosson stands back up as the figure does as well, and Necrosson can recognize exactly who it is, despite the Symbiote covering her.

“I knew one of you was missing.” Necrosson snarls.

Ana glares at Necrosson as her Symbiote shifts around her body.

Before leaving A-016, Ana had asked Scythe to give her a Symbiote too, this one being much more able to control and not turn her into a mindless monster attacking everything in sight. She knew she would need it if she was going to stand a chance against Necrosson…

... and even then, it still might not be enough.

“Requiem, what are our chances of winning this?” Ana asks under the Symbiote.

In response, Requiem answers quietly. “He’s got stuff I’ve never seen before, so being honest… practically zero.”

Ana sighs under the Symbiote. “Then let’s prove that wrong.” Requiem grins in response.

To Be Continued...!!

Chapter Text

Ana hopes Requiem’s help would allow them to buy enough time for the rest of the Sharp Gang to arrive and get her classmates to safety, but now she has to focus on the fight at hand.

Necrosson leaned back, before letting out a deafening roar from his mouth that was clearly intended to exploit the normal weakness of a Symbiote. However, Requiem then sunk into the ground, swam towards Necrosson at high speeds, then leapt up behind the demon and grabbed him by the head, lifting him up and smashing him face first into the ground.

Bladed tendrils burst from Necrosson’s shoulders and lunge for Requiem, but she activates Ana’s Gem of the Angelic and turns them both intangible as they jump back.

Necrosson flips back up to his feet as Requiem turns tangible again, and the demon charges at them as his arm shifts into one large blade. Requiem quickly shifts Ana’s arm into a shield and blocks each of the demon’s strikes.

As Necrosson slashes one more time, Requiem turns intangible again as the blade goes right through them. Requiem then jumps back and turns tangible, extending Ana’s legs as she drop-kicks Necrosson back.

The demon snarls as he lunges his arm at the two. But Requiem catches the demon’s arm and gives it a harsh tug, pulling him close. That’s when a sudden jolt of lightning from Necrosson’s body makes the Symbiote recoil in pain, her bond with Ana briefly separating as they fall to the ground.

Turns out the young demon got Astraumer too.

Necrosson takes this chance and makes the same scythe-like blade he attempted on Jake earlier, swinging it down on the fallen fighter. Luckily, Requiem’s bond with Ana quickly reformed as she rolled them out of the way, with the blade stabbing into the ground just inches from hitting them.

“Holy crap!” Ana screamed in a slight panic, as Requiem responded. “Told you!” Necrosson goes to slash them again, but they sink into the ground. “Not this time!” Necrosson snarls.

The demon slams his hands into the ground as his bladed tendrils extend out and spread like the roots from a tree. Requiem can’t risk staying underground too long, since the amount of time she and Ana can be intangible depends on how long Ana can hold her breath.

She’s been improving it, but even with a Symbiote’s help, it’s not something she can do forever. So to avoid turning tangible and suffocating in the dirt or getting impaled, Requiem jumps back up to the surface.

But the second they turn tangible, Necrosson extends his arm and impales them in the stomach as they both scream out in pain, getting violently electrocuted. Necrosson then pulls them close and starts to tear the Symbiote from Ana’s body… until a golden construct sword stabs into his shoulder, making him release Ana and Requiem.

He glares back, seeing Zenith on his feet after throwing the weapon. He turns and launches a stream of red flames in his direction. Regaining her bond with Ana and quickly healing the girl's stomach wound, Requiem fires a tendril that grabs Necrosson’s head and snaps it to the right, just barely grazing Zenith as the searing heat makes the Symbiote writhe in pain.

The red hot flames ignite everything they hit, as they burn and spread very fast. Requiem quickly lets go and kicks the demon into the flames.

But Necrosson picked himself up like nothing happened, and began to walk out of the fire, his silhouette standing out in the flames as his eyes blaze red. More blades began to emerge from his arms and even his head.

It certainly wasn’t hard for the approaching Sharp Gang members to find the location of the battle, seeing a raging forest fire… which made Tayrun all the more glad he had Wellerman currently summoned.

The dragon launches a massive stream of water from its maw, quickly putting out most of the fires, then flings one of its rider’s off its back towards the demon.

The mist and smoke was obstructing the demon’s view… but Heath had a clear sight of Necrosson.

“HURRICANE… HAMMER!!!”

Necrosson quickly turned around, but was too late to avoid a heavy punch to the face that sent him crashing through a LOT of fallen trees, the shockwave also dispersing the smoke and extinguishing any remaining flames.

Necrosson skidded to a stop, only to get pounced on by a familiar were-jaguar as she bit into his neck. The demon kicked Vasilia off of him and let out a burst of demonic energy that leveled the area, knocking down the burnt trees and kicking up ash and dirt as he stood up.

The Sharp Gang members land by the fallen Maverick Class students. “Everyone okay?!” Alexis asks, to which Kiko sits up as best she can.

“We’ve certainly had better days, but… we’re okay… mostly…” she answers, rubbing her broken leg.

“Where’s Jake?!” Kate asks, not noticing the boy they were looking for. That’s when Requiem lands by the group, her mouth opening wide as the Symbiote’s head retracts from Ana, exposing her face.

“I took him back home so he could be healed by a Symbiote.” Ana says. “I would’ve stayed with him, but my other classmates needed help.”

The group was relieved to know Jake was okay and safe, but they still had the issue of Necrosson to deal with. The demon calmly walked towards the Sharp Gang, as they all stood ready to fight. Requiem recovers Ana’s face as the Symbiote growls at the demon.

Necrosson gives a sarcastic clap and laugh to the group. “Well done finding me, ‘Sharp Gang’.” he says, then looking deadpan. “Your name seriously needs some work.”

That kinda ticked off one person in particular. “Ey, watch what you say about that name, or I’ll blast that mouth clean off!” Benny shouts as his mech suit’s right arm shifts into a cannon.

Necrosson ignores Benny’s words as his eyes shift towards one certain member of the team, one in a familiar set of white and gold armor. The demon’s grin widens… as he casually catches the bio-mechanical fist that was aimed for his head.

“You didn’t really think a sneak attack would work, did you, Mika-?” Suddenly, Charlie shifts off of Kayla’s body and restricts himself around Necrosson, which catches the demon off guard. “The hell?!”

Mara blitzes to Necrosson and smacks him across the face with her clubbed tail, as Sterling’s hand shifts into a liquid metal blade and slashes at the demon’s leg. Necrosson goes to breathe another stream of fire from his mouth, but Charlie wraps around the demon’s mouth and forces it shut, causing the flames to burn the inside of the demon’s head.

Requiem leaps out of the ground and kicks the demon in the stomach, making it stagger back, then grabs him by the hood and throws him into the air. Alexis drops down and slams a stone-covered fist into the demon’s face, sending him crashing down to the floor.

Astra breathes a cloud of smoke from her draconic mouth as Charlie then jumps off of the demon. Necrosson’s vision is clouded again as he furiously looks around for the Sharp Gang through the smoke.

Suddenly, he was shot in the back by a fireball. He turns and swings in the direction the shot came from, but hits nothing. A large boulder smashes into his head, making him stagger forward. Vasilia leaps through the smoke and onto Necrosson’s back, driving her claws into the demon’s flesh and ripping through it. Necrosson quickly grabs Vasilia, driving his claws into her shoulder, and throws her out of the smoke.

Vasilia skids across the ground, hardly fazed by the wound in her shoulder. “Vasilia, stand down! You’re bleeding!” Tayrun exclaims, but Vasilia stands up with a scoff and glare in Necrosson's direction. “I do not have time to bleed, Tayrun.”

She runs back in as Heath and Mara attack Necrosson on both sides, and she then pounces on Necrosson’s front, before driving her claws into the demon’s eyes and gouging them out as he screeches in agony, letting out a burst of energy that sends Vasilia, Heath and Mara crashing back.

That’s when Champagne, still in the mech suit Benny gave him, blitzes to Necrosson as the mech opens around his prosthetic arm. As the demon’s eyes heal and he regains his focus, he sees Champagne’s prosthetic arm right in his face, shifted into a cannon. And before he could even react…

“OPEN WIDE, PRICK!”

A shot hits Necrosson’s face dead on, as the force from the explosion makes Champagne skid back while also dispersing the cloud of smoke Astra created. This allowed everyone to see that half of Necrosson’s face had been vaporized by the blast, but he seemed to be violently twitching as he gripped at the top of what’s left of his head as it began to heal.

But that’s when he started acting… bizarre… like he was fighting something no one else could see.

“Y-You little brat!!” Necrosson shouts at nobody in particular. “What are you… doing…?! How did you…?! GAH!!!”

The group stared in confusion, as Torreli then uses her Overseer abilities to look into what’s happening with Necrosson. Because of her Archon abilities, this allows her to look into the genetic makeup of creatures in ANY dimension, not just the ones in T-905.

But when Torreli looks, her stomach drops in horror at what she sees.

Michael sees the opportunity in Necrosson’s distraction, and lunges at the demon to kill him. Necrosson notices the angel approaching and quickly ducks under his sword, then teleporting in a burst of smoke to get some distance.

“Tch… you all got lucky…” Necrosson snarls. “I’ve got another problem to deal with right now… so you can live for now …”

Benny reveals a minigun on his forearm. “Oh no you don’t!” he shouts as he opens fire, but the demon vanishes as he seeps into a shadowy substance, which then bubbles and evaporates as Necrosson disappears.

Mara quickly looks around for the demon’s presence, but can’t sense him at all. “He got away!” she snarls, before turning back to her human form.

“He’s a slippery demon, that’s for sure.” Kayla scoffs as Charlie reattaches to her.

Astra shifts back into her more human form as the Sharp Gang goes and helps the Maverick Class up, getting a good look at their injuries. Some were injured more than others, and with Jake still being healed himself and Scythe likely not being able to create enough Symbiotes to heal them all, the group will have to heal them the old fashioned way for now.

But Torreli was still processing just what she had seen in Necrosson, something that shouldn’t have been there… or rather, shouldn’t have been in the situation it was in…

It was clear to her that Necrosson was once a human… and his human soul had re-entered the vessel after it became a demon… but the soul was blocked off from regaining control of its body.

Necrosson had somehow blocked the soul off from ever regaining control, while making it unable to leave its former body or even speak. All it could do was sit back and be forced to watch what the demon did.

But at the very end, after getting half of his head blasted off by Champagne, it seemed like Necrosson was struggling with something in his head and talking to someone that no one else could see.

Could… the soul finally be fighting back?

She had to shake the thought for now. Right now, there was healing to do.

Jake opened his eyes slowly, only to find himself in a barren empty room. He sits up, finding the walls were pure white… or at least, the edge of wherever he was at seemed to be. It looked as though this room was an endless white void.

The only surface seemed to be the floor, which had about an inch of water over it. It reminded Jake of the area around the Nexus Point of TAHE’s dimension, but it didn’t seem like he was there.

If he was, then he would have been let out of this place… and likely also scolded by the teachers and Volignus for his recklessness.

That’s when it suddenly dawned on Jake. He looked down and noticed that his injuries… were gone. There wasn’t a single scratch on him, and not even his clothes looked to be damaged.

But what shocked Jake the most was the fact that his Gem of the Angelic was NOT in his hand.

He frantically looked around for the Gem, only to find it hovering in the air with a faint glow around it. Jake was confused, because he had never seen the Gem do this. “What the…?” Jake muttered as he slowly stood up, his voice giving off a slight echo from the empty void.

Suddenly, the Gem begins to emit a bright light that forces Jake to cover his eyes. When the light finally dies down, Jake lowers his arm and looks at the Gem… or at least, where it was.

In its place, standing before Jake now, was a tall humanoid ram with tan brown fur, green human eyes, golden horns that framed his face, and pale green angel wings sticking out of his back. He was about as tall and broad as Heath, wearing a white and gold chest plate with a red diamond in the center with the Aries Zodiac symbol in the center, dark gray trousers, and had scars lining most of his body, even across his face.

“Wha… Wh-Who are you…?” Jake asks, shocked to see this random figure just appear out of nowhere, possibly from his Gem. “A-And where am I?”

“I am Ariesto.” the ram-like man answers. “I am an Archangel of Dimension D-667… or at least, I was. Currently, we are in your mindscape."

The Archangel’s gaze falls to Jake, making the boy feel smaller than he already is compared to the towering man. But Ariesto’s gaze was not out of malice, rather it was out of seriousness.

“We need to talk, Jake Tagen.”

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

The Sharp Gang arrived back at their base in A-016 with the Maverick students. Sterling contacted Headmistress Evangeline and assured her and the staff that they found Jake, but that the rest of the Maverick Class, except for Ana, had also been badly hurt. The staff was relieved to hear that Jake was found, but obviously concerned to hear their students were injured.

Michael taps his MJWW and opens a portal to his home dimension of J-316. “I’ll get as many healers as I can from my dimension to come here.” he says, as Alexis nods.

“Good. With Jake out of commission for the moment, we’ll need all the healers we can get.” Alexis says, before Michael enters the portal.

“Guys… my hand feels pretty numb…” Heath says, holding his right arm because of the numbness his hand is feeling.

“Probably from that Hurricane Hammer you hit Necrosson with, big man.” Benny says.

“Necrosson must’ve hardened his skin to withstand the punch and do more damage to Heath than himself.” Mara says as she and Alexis were helping Zenith get seated, since the blade in his leg was making it hard to walk on his own.

After he finishes speaking with Evangeline, Sterling then turns to his team with a serious look. It was rare to see him like this, but given the situation, it was more than warranted.

“Kate, help me with Kiko. We need to fix her leg until the healers arrive. Astra and Torreli, patch up Darwin and Naseko. Mara, you and Alexis take Zenith. Tayrun and Kayla, you guys get Emilia. Benny and Champagne, take Vasilia. Dresden, take Heath.”

Everyone nods, going to help their assigned person. Before going to help Kate with Kiko, Sterling’s gaze shifts over to Jake, who now had the Symbiote retracted from him by Scythe. His body was healed, but he wasn’t waking up yet.

Ana, with Requiem sticking out of her shoulder, approaches the unconscious Jake. “Skinner, help me move Jake to his room.” she says to the former villain in a rather serious tone.

Skinner doesn’t react for a second, before walking over and picking up the unconscious Jake. Ana leads Skinner down the hall, and Sterling can’t help giving a slight smile. “Good job, Ana.”

Ana and Skinner enter Jake’s room. The large man sets the boy on his bed, as Scythe’s face comes out of his shoulder. “The boy’s healing has been completed, but he still shows no sign of awakening yet.”

Ana nods in response. “Thanks… I’ll stay and keep an eye on Jake.” she says. The Symbiote seeps back into Skinner’s shoulder, before the former villain exits Jake’s room.

“You really care for this boy, Ana.” Requiem says, as Ana just nods. “I’ll leave you to take care of him.” With that, Requiem splits off of Ana’s body and slithers out of the room to re-merge with Scythe.

Ana goes over to the desk in Jake’s room to grab the chair, but then something else catches her eye. It was the picture frame that showed Jake with his parents and his brother, the one that had fallen and broken a while ago, now replaced with a new frame.

Ana picks up the picture frame and looks at it. It shows the family on a vacation in what looks like Brazil, about 6 years before the present day, meaning Jake was about 8 at the time this picture was taken. She sees Jake had the biggest smile on his face, and his whole family was decked out for Carnival.

Ana couldn’t help smiling at how happy Jake looked with his family, but that smile faded as she looked back to the unconscious Jake. It was clear to her that losing his family has taken more of a toll on Jake than she expected.

She’s at least glad Jake had a better relationship with his family than she had with her mother… if she could even call that woman a mother.

She goes to set the photo down, only to notice the drawer of the desk slightly open… and a certain orange bottle caught her eye. She hates that she has to snoop, but she opens the drawer… and her stomach drops as she sees the antipsychotic medication Jake had hidden.

Ana covers her mouth in horror as she picks the bottle up. But as she does, she notices something off with the label.

The label looked… hand-written, like it was written out and taped over the bottle. And she recognized the hand-writing as belonging to Jake. She tears at the label and rips it off, revealing the true label underneath.

What she saw on the actual label made tears well in her eyes as she realized Jake suffered so much worse than she thought.

“Oh dear God, Jake…!”

Back with the others…

Champagne was patching Vasilia’s shoulder wound up with little to no issue, which admittedly surprised her and Benny. “You are surprisingly good at this, Champagne. No offense.” Vasilia comments.

“Yeah, well when you work with a bunch of stupid mugs that get injuries like this from dinosaurs, you tend to get a grasp of this kinda thing.” Champagne says, not losing focus.

“Wait, that really happened?” Benny says, as Champagne then gives him a deadpan look. After a few seconds, Benny chuckles. “Right, right. DinoCross Park was dangerous as hell.”

“Didn’t help that the chumps didn’t have any medical professionals on stand-by.” Champagne says as he keeps tending to Vasilia’s wound. “They may as well have said ‘if there’s a break out and someone gets hurt, tough luck’.”

“Again, I have to question your reason for staying at this place for so long.” Vasilia says, to which Champagne just sighs.

“Honestly, part of me is kinda glad I worked there.” Champagne says. “I did enjoy my work when the higher-ups had their heads on straight and just butted out of my business. And some of the dinosaurs I made, I’m pretty proud of.”

“See, that’s good.” Benny says. “Despite the crappy situation you ended up in, you made the best of it. And look what happened later on. You met the Sci-5, then you met the best armor makers in the Multiverse, and now you’re living a happier life.”

Champagne just scoffed as he then gave a light smirk. “It’s a weird one, sure… but honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

“Not even for an infinite supply of Paninis?” Vasilia says with a smirk.

“I could get that myself and not trade anything, Vasilia.” Champagne says with his own smirk. “You clowns ain’t losin’ me any time soon.”

Charlie shifted into a pair of x-ray visors over Kayla’s eyes, as she looked to see just how much damage Emilia really suffered from. Of course, in typical Emilia fashion, she was trying to brush it off like nothing happened.

“Will you both relax? I’m fine.” Emilia says, sporting a confident grin… or at least, trying to.

“Oh really?” Kayla says as Charlie shifts off of her face and she crosses her arms. “Then open your left eye.”

Emilia had been cut across the face, specifically over her left eye, and it left her temporarily blinded and unable to open that eye. To try and prove she didn’t need help, she tried to open her eye… but immediately stopped as she shouted in pain, putting a hand over her eye.

“Mmhmm, that’s what I thought.” Kayla says with a nod as she and Tayrun continue working. Emilia grumbles in slight annoyance as Tayrun puts a patch over her eye and bandages it up.

“You will have to wear this for a few days at best, assuming how well the healers Michael brings can work.” Tayrun says, as Emilia just gives a slight nod.

“Emilia, I know you want to seem tough as nails and can walk this off, but there’s nothing wrong with asking for help.” Kayla says, only for Emilia to give a light scoff.

“Tell that to Jake.” she grumbles, which catches their attention, so she continues. “Ana’s said he’s been acting weird for weeks now. I didn’t believe her at first, but now I’ve started seeing it. I mean, he didn’t sit with us at lunch like he always does, had a full on breakdown in the middle of the school day, and then he ran off to his home dimension and nearly got himself killed! Seriously! I may crave a challenge in battle, but even I wouldn’t do something that stupid, let alone by myself!”

That made Kayla and Tayrun’s shock rise to the roof. They only found out about Jake’s mental breakdown just before they went to look for him, but they didn’t notice how different Jake had been acting lately. Could that be what had driven him to go to D-667, leading to Necrosson attacking him?

Dresden was looking over Heath’s right hand with a scanner, seeing what could be the cause of the numbness. After a few seconds, he sees it’s a result of nerve damage.

“It seems that striking the demon with a punch that hard has damaged the nerves in your hand.” Dresden says. “Until Mr. Celeste returns with more healers, it would be best for you to put your hand in a splint and not use it.”

“Sounds fair enough…” Heath says, admittedly a bit surprised this is the first time something like this had EVER happened. With how many Kaijus he fights and the many powerful punches he’s thrown, it’s a miracle that the nerves in his hand didn’t get damaged sooner.

Dresden looks around the medical supplies, soon finding a large enough splint for the big man’s hand. He carefully puts it on Heath’s hand, then checks to see if there are any other injuries he suffered.

“Hm… aside from your hand and some minor scratches, you seem to be in good health, Heath.” Dresden says, which relieves the big man.

“Thanks for helping me out, Dresden. I really appreciate it.” Heath says with his usual smile.

Admittedly, Heath thanking him like that caught Dresden off guard, but the stone-skinned man gave a slight smile. “You’re welcome.”

“Ow, ow, ow, OW!”

Zenith was wincing in pain and trying to hold still as Mara worked to remove the blade from his shoulder. “Are you SURE you don’t want to start on some pain meds?” she asks, still confused by his decision to not go on painkillers.

“If we… do that… I might black out for a week…” Zenith says through gritted teeth. “That demon got me… with a hard hit to the head… I may have a concussion or a bleeding brain…”

“DON’T say that.” Alexis snaps rather sternly, her glowing eyes as the Reaper flaring up for a second and making the boy flinch.

“S-Sorry…” he mutters as Alexis calms down. She then grabs the blade in Zenith’s leg with one hand, then a patch with her other.

In a quick second, she rips the blade out and presses the patch on the wound. Zenith covers his mouth as quickly as he can, letting out a muffled scream of agony. Alexis gives him a moment, as the boy then lets go and breathes out.

“If it makes you feel better, we gave your head a scan and saw no signs of a concussion or bleeding brain.” Alexis says, which slightly relieves Zenith.

“That so…?” he asks, as Alexis nods in response. “Well… is it too late… to change my mind… about the painkillers…?”

Alexis turns to Mara. “I got it.” the demon cursed girl says as she walks off to get some painkillers for Zenith. She ends up going to Sterling and Kate, seeing they have a bottle of painkillers themselves… but she winces as she hears…

SNAP!

She looks ahead, seeing Kiko, who had been given painkillers herself, had her leg snapped back into place. Kate had been the one to do it, having had to do it to herself more than a few times in Backcells.

And she had to do it without painkillers, which is a testament to how tough as nails Kate is.

Sterling goes to get a splint for Kiko’s leg, then notices Mara. “Oh, hey, Mara.” he says, causing Kate to glance over her shoulder. “You need something?”

“Yeah, do you have any extra painkillers?” Mara says, as Kate then picks up the bottle and tosses it to her.

“Here, we’re pretty much done with Kiko, so go ahead and take them.” she says. “Hopefully the healers Michael brings can properly heal her, since this is really all we could do.”

“Sometimes there are limits to what we can do, but that doesn’t take away the fact that we tried.” Sterling says. “Worst case scenario, Skinner’s Symbiote might be able to help like he did with Jake.”

That’s when a portal opens up, catching everyone’s attention. Michael returns to the Sharp Tank, accompanied by another person; a beautiful woman with dark skin with pale silver hair reaching down to her legs, silver eyes, six wings coming from her back that were rather small compared to Michael’s two, and wearing a pale blue angelic dress.

“Guys, I brought one of the best healers in my dimension.” Michael says, gesturing to the woman. “This is my sister.”

She gave a bright smile as she waved to the group. “Hi! I'm Emily, though you can call me Em!” she says as she introduces herself. “Emmy, E, whatever you want, I go by whatever.”

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” Astra says in amusement, causing Emily to giggle.

“Yeah, that’s actually her nickname back home.” Michael says, as Emily then walks to the center of the room. She raises her hands as a glowing golden ring of energy appears around her and spins as she closes her eyes.

A golden rune similar to Michael’s runes appears above her head like a halo, spinning at the same pace of the energy ring. Suddenly, Emily swings her hands to the side in a grand gesture, and the energy ring quickly expands into a shockwave that ripples across the room.

The shockwave hits everyone, but instead of knocking them back, it causes their bodies to glow a bright golden color. Everyone was startled, until they noticed that their injuries were being restored.

Emilia watched as her arm snapped back into place, while also feeling her rib reconnect to the rest of her skeleton, and her face no longer suffered the cut that was forcing her eye shut. Zenith and Vasilia’s wounds were sealed shut, not even a single scar left behind in their places. Darwin and Naseko watched as the small cuts they endured were fading to nothing. Kiko’s leg bursts out of the splint as the painkillers are now no longer in effect, as she moves her formerly broken leg with no sign of discomfort, and the same happens with Heath’s hand.

Suffice to say, the whole group was amazed at how quickly Michael’s sister had healed everyone. “I… okay, I’ve seen a lot of insane stuff, but THAT was a whole other level.” Benny comments, honestly a bit flabbergasted at what he just saw.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding, Michael.” Mara says with wide eyes, and Michael just chuckles. “I told ya.”

Emily opens her eyes, only to suddenly start feeling a bit woozy. She stumbles back as Kayla and Tayrun catch her, then help her sit down on the couch.

“... Buuuut the downside is that she can’t use big amounts of healing magic like that as often as she wants.” Michael says. “She gets exhausted after using just one of those pretty quickly.”

“Oh, so it’s not something she can just spam over and over.” Champagne says, to which Michael nods.

“That, and it doesn’t work on stuff like lobotomies, amnesia, stuff like that.” Michael says. “So it wouldn’t help Skinner, I’m afraid.”

“That’s okay. He seems more content with his symbiotic alien friend.” Vasilia says. “Plus, young Jacob’s powers are proving to be effective in restoring his mind further. I imagine it will only get better for him going forward.”

“Speaking of which, is Jake still unconscious?” Heath asks, remembering that Ana and Skinner had brought Jake to his room when they arrived in order to make more room for everyone else.

Before anyone could comment, they heard footsteps approaching from the direction of Jake’s room. Everyone looks and sees Ana walking into the room, expecting her to have some good news about Jake’s condition.

But then they see the tears running down her face.

“Ana?” Sterling doesn’t waste a second in approaching the girl and putting his hands on her shoulders. Ana had her head down, not sure if she could bring herself to look at him.

“Ana, what’s wrong?” Sterling asks in concern. “Is Jake okay?”

Ana chokes out a sob as she finally looks up at Sterling, handing him something.

“No… he’s not… I-I found those in his room…”

Sterling looks at what he was given, and his stomach drops when he sees the bottle of pills.

A bottle that had been prescribed to Jake.

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A bottle of antidepressant pills.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

The entire Sharp Tank was dead silent as they were staring at the bottle of antidepressants that Ana found in Jake’s room. No one knew how to react to this sudden revelation. Sterling was doing his best to console Ana, who was still in tears over this discovery.

“I… I don’t even know what to say…” Champagne mutters, a hand up to his head.

He’s certainly no therapist, but he could tell when something is bothering someone… so he’s trying to process why the hell he never noticed anything about Jake.

Sure, they haven’t interacted much, but still! He should’ve been able to tell when something was wrong! Everyone should have!

Dresden picks up the bottle and reads the label. He freezes in shock for a second, but manages to compose himself. “It seems these types of pills were prescribed to Jake about 4 years ago...” he says, which shocks everyone even more.

“Four years ago?!” Kayla exclaims. “You mean he’s been taking these things since he was 10?!”

Kate grits her teeth and punches the wall, her knuckles nearly breaking upon impact. “How the hell did I not notice this sooner?! He’s probably been suffering about as bad as I was! Maybe worse!”

“Dear God, Jake! Antidepressants?! Just what the hell happened?!” the Maverick Class students thought, even more concerned for their friend.

“We need to find out what the hell happened.” Heath says in a firm and serious tone. “I know it’s a breach of Jake’s privacy, but we can’t help him without knowing what’s caused him to take these!”

“But Jake doesn’t talk about it.” Vasilia says. “Even if he were to, we cannot speak to him at the moment because of his recovery.”

Benny was quiet, until his eyes seemed to light up a bit as he got an idea. “I might have one way to figure it out.” he says, far more serious than he normally is.

Benny transports himself out of the Sharp Tank to his home dimension, and a few moments later, he returns to the same spot, holding some type of helmet in his hand. The helmet was sleek and silver, with wires sticking out of the back.

“What is that?” Astra asks, as Benny holds it up. “This here is something I made to project a person’s thoughts or memories onto a screen. I often used it on my clients when they had an idea for a mech suit that they didn’t know how to explain in words.”

“Wait, you just had that thing lying around your shop the entire time?” Champagne asks, admittedly surprised to know this device even exists.

“Yeah, but I never used it unless the client gave permission. Even when I was more of a scumbag, I still had a respect for privacy.” Benny says, then turning his attention toward Jake’s room.

“I know the kid’s probably not gonna like this, but… I think this might be our best shot at figuring out what’s really going on… Both for the pills and… probably also why he’s bein’ hunted by the demon…”

The group all looked at each other, unsure of what to say. They didn’t like having to invade Jake’s privacy and memories… but… Jake wouldn’t tell them even when he was awake.

They want to help him… so that’s what they’re going to do… no matter what.

“Wait, so you’re one of the beings who made these Gems that Ana and I found?”

Back in his mindscape, Jake had been listening to Ariesto’s explanations about who and what he was, the Overseer who created him, his history with his siblings, and the creation of the Gems of the Angelic.

“Indeed.” the Archangel nods in response to Jake’s question. “We remaining Archangels created these Gems to help benefit humanity against Arava’s demons. Your gem was created by me, and the gem that your romantic interest holds was created by my sister, Aquaria.”

Jake got flustered at the Archangel referring to Ana as his “romantic interest”. He wasn’t even sure if Ana liked him that same way.

“Of course, despite contributing to these Gems… I personally never felt right about their creation.” Ariesto says, which catches Jake by surprise. “It just felt as though we were pushing the responsibility of fighting demons to humans, and I could not stand such an action. That is why no one ever found this gem while I was alive… at least, until a few years later, when you stumbled across it.”

Jake remembers that day all too well. “Yeah… then it basically changed my life.”

“But clearly not enough.” the Archangel says with a sigh, causing Jake to look up at him. “Despite this new life you live, surrounded by people who care and are willing to help you, you still allow your baggage to tear at your flesh.”

Jake scowled as he crossed his arms. “What, you expect me to just forget it all happened? Act like I didn’t lose my birth family?!”

“I never said you had to forget them.” Ariesto says calmly. “But you holding onto these repressed feelings without talking to anyone is not going to help you.”

“And how do you expect me to deal with it when that free-loading angel is staying here despite what he failed to do?!” Jake shouts. “That bastard was just off dilly dallying with whatever the hell was more important than saving my family! He had no trouble fighting that demon when he did show up, so why did he not show up sooner?! WHY DID MY FAMILY HAVE TO DIE BEFORE HE SHOWED UP?!”

Jake’s shouting echoed across the blank empty room and left the two in silence, before Ariesto sighed as he closed his eyes.

“Jake… I think it’s time you were shown the other side of yours and Michael’s story…”

The Archangel waves his hand, and the room suddenly changes before Jake’s eyes to show what looks like the closest thing to Heaven. The grounds looked to be made of clouds, the skies were golden, the city was bright and busy, and there were many angel-like beings flying around.

Jake looks around in surprise. “Where are we?” Jake asks Ariesto, as the Archangel answers. “This is Dimension J-316, the home dimension of Michael. But this specifically… is the day of your family’s demise.”

He points down, as Jake then sees a slightly younger Michael, with much less scars on his face and body than present day. Alongside him was Ariesto, who didn’t look much different from present day. They both seemed to be preparing to go to battle.

Jake was surprised to see Ariesto in this dimension, as he turns to look at the present day Archangel. “You knew him?” he asks, to which Ariesto nods.

“I had come to J-316 years after creating the Gem of the Angelic. This dimension became a second home to me when I learned of their similar desires of protecting the innocent.” Ariesto says. “I would lead the warrior angels to D-667, masking their appearance from Arava, and we would hunt as many demons as we could. Often it would be just Michael and I, as we were brothers in all but blood. This day was going to be no different… at least, that’s what I had assumed.”

Jake then notices a female angel walking up to the two. “Who is that?” Jake asks as the woman makes it to Ariesto and Michael. The present day Ariesto somberly lowers his head.

“That is Emily… she is Michael’s sister, and… my beloved wife.” he answers. “She is this dimension’s greatest healer.”

“Be safe, you two.” Emily says as she hugs Michael. “I know you two are strong, but I still worry.”

“We’ll be fine, sis.” Michael says with a warm smile. Ariesto walks up to Emily and warmly embraces her.

“We will be fine, my love.” Ariesto says, planting a kiss on her forehead. Emily smiles, before flying up a bit and kissing him on the lips. The kiss splits after a few moments.

“Go kick some ass, boys.” she says with a smile. Ariesto and Michael nod at her, before going off to join the other angels.

“... That was the last time I ever saw Emily…” the present Ariesto says somberly, as his gaze shifts down to Emily… who was resting a hand on her stomach. Jake catches on to what this meant as his eyes widened.

“She was… y’know… ?” Jake asks, but can’t bring himself to complete the question. Ariesto just gives a somber nod.

Back in the real world, Jake was moved from his bedroom to the main room, placed on the couch with the helmet placed onto his head. Benny plugs the wires from the back of the helmet into the Sharp Tank’s main computer, then presses a button on the front of the helmet. The helmet activates with a green glow, as Benny then pulls out a small remote that goes along with it.

Everyone was seated around the main room, facing the screen as it turned to static. Ana sat right to Jake, her hand resting on Jake's hand, specifically the one that has the Gem.

If Jake were to wake up now, she wanted to be there to calm him down immediately.

That’s when Astra felt some people entering this dimension, and she pulled up a smaller screen to see who was approaching the Sharp Tank.

Standing outside and waiting to be let in were the mentors of the Maverick Class (Yaro Mwagni/Volignus, Kalia Basu/Energy Forger, Parvil Markoplus/Tiny Atomo, and Gatli/Copperhead), as well as three of the teachers; Rosaline Kritzer, Testos Strone Goggins, and Evangeline Trismegistus herself.

Astra didn’t waste a second to let them in, and the Maverick Class was surprised to see them entering. “Miss Trismegistus?” Ana says, still not moving from Jake’s side. “What are you guys doing here?”

“You didn’t really expect us to not come and check on our students, did you?!” Professor Goggins says as he crosses his arms firmly. “Especially after getting as beaten as you did?!”

As tough as their combat teacher was, the Maverick Class knew that Professor Goggins cared deeply for his students and only wanted the best for them. Hell, when he found out what happened to them, he was half tempted to go to D-667, find Necrosson, and beat the demon to death himself.

Luckily Evangeline had calmed him down and stopped him from doing that, because even with how tough Testos Strone Goggins is, he definitely would have struggled against a demon like that.

That’s when Gatli takes notice of the helmet on the unconscious Jake. “What is that device on Jake’s head?” she asks, pointing it out as the new guests notice it as well.

“Oh, that…” Darwin says, scratching the back of his head. “Well, Mr. Sharp says the helmet allows people to see the memories of whoever wears it, and… we were gonna look into Jake’s memories to see… well…”

That’s when he hands Evangeline the bottle of antidepressants that Ana found in Jake’s room. The headmistress looked at the bottle with a calm expression, but everyone could tell that she seemed worried to know one of her students was taking medication for depression.

“We know, it’s a major invasion of privacy.” Zenith says. “But Jake’s our friend, and we want to help him. And we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s wro-”

“Are you kidding?! We’d be disappointed if you DIDN’T do this!” the bold voice of their combat teacher spoke up loudly, which admittedly caught the students by surprise.

Evangeline clears her throat as she looks back to the Maverick Class. “What Professor Goggins is trying to say is that, while this could certainly be seen as an invasion of privacy, your intentions are not malicious in any way. Sometimes in order to do the right thing, something wrong has to be done to do it.”

Throughout this entire conversation, Rosie had been completely quiet as she stared at the unconscious Jake. At the moment, she was the only one, besides Jake himself, who knew the full story about what really led Jake to taking those pills.

“I should’ve done more to help him… I should’ve stayed by his side and stopped him from going after that demon…” Rosie thinks to herself as her gaze lowers a bit. “I’m so sorry, Jake…”

Benny fiddles with the remote for a moment as the screen then turns on, and it shows a timeline of Jake’s life at this exact moment, starting from the day he was born and ending on today. Green and red marks of various sizes start to appear across various points of the timeline.

“What’s this?” Sterling asks as everyone now has their eyes on the screen, and Benny answers. “It’s basically a timeline of Jake’s life up to this point. The green marks represent the good moments in his life, and the red represent the bad. The larger the point is, the more of an impact it had on him.”

Benny scrolls through the timeline until he’s about 4 years before the present day… and he sees the large red point on a specific day. It was the largest red point on the entire timeline.

“Oh boy… this must’ve been what caused him to start taking those pills...” Benny says, honestly worried for what it could be.

“What concerns me even more is how many red points are appearing after this much larger one…” Dresden says, pointing out how there are more red points past the large one, going all the way to the present day.

“Jesus…” Kate whispers to herself in concern, and everyone else was practically in the same boat.

Mara looked over at Michael, only to notice that he had his gaze lowered, as if he was doing everything he could to not look at the screen. It looked as though… he knew what to expect.

That’s when she remembered him saying he had gone to Dimension D-667 about 4 years back to hunt Gigantipodox… and if Jake’s trauma and struggle began at that same time… could they be related?

Benny selects the large red mark and chooses to display it. The screen turns on to show Jake’s perspective of what looks like a hotel room, and he seemed to be packing some hiking gear into a backpack.

“Jake, you almost ready?” a woman’s voice from off the screen calls out to Jake, and the perspective turns to the direction of the voice.

“Almost, Mom!” Jake calls out to the voice, revealing it to be Jake’s mother. He turns back to his backpack and finishes packing, before putting it on and walking over to the mirror of the room and looking into it.

This allowed the group to see Jake didn’t look all that different from his present day self, but with a few obvious details. His hair was slightly messy and not gelled up like usual, his body had less muscle than it does today, likely since Jake didn’t have his training at TAHE or with the Sharp Gang at this time, and obviously there was no Gem of the Angelic in his hand.

Jake reaches for his hair as if he’s about to try and fix or style it, but then he stops himself and just rolls his eyes. “Mason’s just gonna mess it up later anyways, so why bother?” he mutters in slight amusement.

He then walks away and peeks into the bathroom, where his mother was applying some eyeliner. She was a woman with beauty that, to be honest, rivaled Vasilia’s own. She had long dark brown hair, emerald green eyes the same shade as Jake’s (clearly he had gotten her eye color), and a rather toned physique. Not Heath levels of muscular, but more in line with Kate. She was dressed in hiking gear as well, and she finished putting her eyeliner on.

“Ready, Mom?” Jake asks, as she turns to face him with a warm smile as she answers. “Let’s go meet your brother and father in the lobby for breakfast.”

The group could tell Jake was rolling his eyes again. “I hope Mason didn’t eat all the pancakes.” he says, before they walk out of the room and go down to the lobby, where they get breakfast from the hotel’s service, then join two other people.

One was a man who looked to be the same age as Jake’s mother, with an equally impressive build, lighter brown hair, and blue eyes. The other was a boy who looked to be Jake’s present day age, with his mother’s hair color and father’s eye color. Both were also dressed for the hiking trip and had backpacks.

“Morning, champ.” the older man says to Jake as he and his mother sit with the two. The other boy, who had a mouth full of food, reaches over and ruffles Jake’s hair.

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t style my hair anymore. Thanks a lot, Mason.” Jake says in amused annoyance, as the older boy then swallows his bite.

“It’s a morning routine, Jake.” Mason says with a playful smirk, before Jake gave his arm a light jab and responded back. “More like an hourly routine.” The two boys chuckled.

“Huh… this doesn’t seem that bad so far.” Zenith says, admittedly confused to see a wholesome moment like this associated with a major bad moment in Jake’s life.

“You say that now...” Volignus says, shaking his head a bit. “My guess is that the moment in question happens later in the day, and thus the entire day was ruined for Jake.” Tayrun says, just throwing out a theory.

Little did he know just how right he would end up being.

Back in Jake’s mind, the boy felt a slight sting in his head as he winced a bit, which caught Ariesto’s attention.

“It seems your friends are learning of your past.” the Archangel says, which makes Jake look surprised and honestly a bit worried.

“Jake… they deserve to know.” Ariesto says, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder to comfort him. “There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, even when you think you don’t need it. You may just end up being shown that you do need it, you just didn’t realize it.”

Jake let Ariesto’s words sink in as he stared at his hands. Ever since that fateful day, he felt that asking others for help was a coward’s thing to do. He thought it better to do things on his own…

… but looking back through his times with the Sharp Gang and the Maverick Class, whenever they helped him (regardless of whether he asked for it or not), he always found that it felt… better.

Jake shook his thoughts for now as he noticed the area around them changing to what looked like a canyon, seeing the past Ariesto and Michael fighting an army of demons that looked to be like walking dead corpses. Michael fought with his sword, while Ariesto fought with a pair of gauntlets that had horns just like his own emerging from the knuckles.

“Where are we now?” Jake asks the Archangel, who closes his eyes with a sigh. “The Grand Canyon. The minions we are facing belong to Thanatocrux.”

“Thanatocrux…?” Jake repeats the name in his thoughts, feeling as though it sounds familiar.

Jake’s gaze turns to the battle below, seeing Michael and the past Ariesto destroying each demon in their path. As Michael cuts one in half, the eyes on the Rune above his head seem to widen, which Michael noticed.

His eyes then glowed as he looked through the eyes of the Rune, which then allowed him to see the Argentinian forest that Jake and his family were in… as Gigantipodox made its appearance.

Michael’s eyes return to normal as he turns to Ariesto. “Ariesto!” he calls out. “I need to head to Argentina now!”

“Then go!” he says as he punches through a demon’s head. “I will be fine!” Michael nods and flares his wings, before flying off in a streak of gold.

As Michael flew past the present day Ariesto and Jake, even passing right through them because they were not physically here, the present day Ariesto just lets out a quiet sigh.

Jake didn’t take long to put the pieces together as he looked at Ariesto in shock and concern.

“This… this is when you died… isn’t it…?”

Ariesto said nothing, just bracing himself to relive his final living moments.

Back in the real world, everyone watched as the memory of the hike Jake took with his family… quickly became a nightmare as Gigantipodox made its appearance with a mighty roar that shook the forest and nearly deafened the Tagen family.

The group was shocked to see the demon, but then that shock turned to horror as the mouth on the demon’s tail clamped down on the leg of Jake’s father and raised him up. The demon then bit its larger head down on his body, and with a violent pull…

… the man was ripped in half, his blood spilling onto his wife and children like a crimson rain, soaking them in red.

“Jesus!!!” Astra exclaimed, covering her mouth in horror as her eyes were bulged out of their sockets.

“Oh my God!!” Kiko says, having to try the absolute hardest to not throw up right there and then. She had never seen anything so gruesome in her life.

“Bloody hell!!” Champagne exclaims in shock, with Benny and Vasilia sharing his expression.

Ana instinctively felt her grip on the unconscious Jake’s hand tightening, horrified by both the disturbing sight, as well as the fact that Jake essentially had a front row seat to it.

No one had expected how brutal the death of Jake’s father would be, not even Mara, who had read up on this exact strategy of Gigantipodox. Even Kate had never seen anything that brutal in Backcells.

And unfortunately, that was just the beginning.

The group continued watching as Jake, Mason, and their mother ran for their lives, as the thundering footsteps of the demon shook the ground. It was chasing them down at a slow and lumbering pace to instill more fear into them.

Jake’s mother went out of his view as Mason kept pulling Jake by the arm, and the two boys received a push from their mother that kept them running. They assumed she was right behind them…

… until a few moments later, when the screams of agony from Jake’s mother rang out behind them, making everyone realize what happened.

“She gave her life to try and save her kids…” Heath says, still frozen where he stood. Part of him was at least glad Jake didn’t actually see her death… but hearing her scream like that wasn’t any better.

“A caring mother will do anything for her children…” Evangeline says somberly, knowing that a mother’s love for their child is a powerful thing.

Now it was just Jake and Mason, both running their hearts out despite the intense pain they were feeling in their legs. It felt as though they had been running for hours from this demon, and it was likely going to catch up.

“Jake, this way!” Mason says, pulling his little brother in a direction. They run around the trees until they come across a cave that the demon definitely won’t be able to fit in. He pushes Jake inside, as the boy falls and ends up scraping himself on the ground.

But Jake ignores the pain and sits up, looking at Mason. “What if that beast finds us?!” Jake says, clearly afraid. Mason looks back and hears the beast’s lumbering footsteps getting closer and closer.

“... He won’t find you, Jake.” Mason says, then looking back at his brother.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they realized just what Mason meant by that. Ana used her free hand to cover her mouth in horror, trying to muffle her sobs, while still holding Jake’s hand tight in her other hand.

“Wh-What do you mea-?” Jake asks, until the realization struck and his confusion turned to horror.

In order to ensure Jake survived… Mason was going to sacrifice himself and get Gigantipodox away from his little brother.

“M-Mason, no!!” he exclaims as he grabs onto his older brother’s arm. “You can’t!!! Please!!!!”

Mason pulled his little brother into a final embrace, holding him close and doing all he can to comfort him. “Jake… I know I was a major pain in the ass to you more often than not, but that’s only because you’re my brother.” Mason says. “You’re the best little brother I could have ever asked for… and I’m sorry I won’t get the chance to see what you grow up to be… but I just know it’s going to be incredible.”

Tears were forming in Jake’s eyes as his vision started blurring a bit. Jake held onto his brother tightly, not wanting him to go. “Mason, please!!! Don’t do this!!!”

But Mason wasn’t going to change his mind, and to ensure that his brother survived and didn’t stop him… Mason struck his brother on the back of the head. Not hard enough to hurt him too bad, but enough to knock him unconscious for at least an hour.

Jake’s body went limp as he nearly fell, but Mason caught him and laid him on the floor of the cave. Jake’s eyes were slowly starting to close as he looked up at Mason. As they closed, the last thing he heard Mason say was…

“I love you, little bro…”

Jake then went unconscious as the memory ended, leaving everyone in silence.

There was a mix of shock, horror and sorrow washing over the entire group as they sat in silence, trying to process what they just watched. Everyone knew that Jake had lost his family about 4 years back, but now they knew just how it happened.

The Sharp Gang had been told a while back that Jake’s family had died in a car accident, but now they saw it was just a cover story. Likely because no one would believe him if he said that a dinosaur demon ripped his family to pieces.

“... I… I never would have expected that…” Harold says, genuinely horrified. Harold’s done his fair share of horrific things, but never anything that graphic and depressing.

Hell, that made Eloise Ludum’s previously held games look like a walk in the park!

Tears spilled down Ana’s face as she slowly turned to the unconscious Jake, her mind racing with thoughts. Her indecisiveness was causing her mind to spin with how to react to all of this.

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“How did I not notice sooner… ?!”

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“His pain is worse than I thought…!”

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“What can we do to help…?!”

Back in Jake’s mindscape, the boy was watching the past Ariesto tear and punch through the demons as if they were tissue paper.

“Yeesh… you seemed pretty good at this.” Jake had to comment, rather impressed. Ariesto gave a slight smile of pride at being praised for his combat skills… but that smile quickly faded as he remembered what was coming next for him.

As the last demon fell to Ariesto’s fists, a chill suddenly ran up the Archangel’s spine. Both in the past and the present. Jake felt it too, and his body started trembling.

“Wh-What was that…?!” Jake asks through his shaking. Ariesto lowers his gaze as his fists clenched tightly, before saying one name.

“Thanatocrux…”

The past Ariesto turns around, only to be struck across the face by an arm that was practically bone thin, breaking itself upon impact with the Archangel's snout and sending him flying.

Ariesto snarled as he picked himself up, seeing the cloaked figure’s arm painfully snapping back into place like nothing happened. The demon’s appearance was concealed by a tattered and torn black hooded cloak, but it was still clear that their body looked like that of a rotting corpse given life again, with glowing red eyes that pierced the air around them.

“So the General makes his presence known…” Ariesto says, wiping the blood from his mouth. He punches his gauntlets together and charges at the demon, throwing a barrage of golden punches that seem to hit the demon…

… but then he stops when he realizes the demon’s cloak was now empty, slowly falling to the ground. He had vanished before the Archangel’s eyes and left the cloak behind as a distraction.

“What the hell…?” Ariesto mutters in surprise, before his eyes suddenly widen and he spins around… just in time to sock the demon in the face and cause its body to spin 180 degrees at the waist with a sickening snapping sound.

Thanatocrux was completely ignorant to the injury, as his body spun back around to fix itself, and the Archangel realized what he was planning.

Ariesto quickly put his arms up to defend himself… but he wasn’t quick enough to stop the demon’s arm from piercing his armor… then his chest and out of his back.

Jake had to hold himself back from throwing up right there and then, not even wanting to know how that would work in his mind. The present day Ariesto, who was most certainly confirmed to be dead, just closed his eyes somberly.

Thanatocrux grinned with his yellow teeth as the Archangel coughed up golden blood onto the demon’s face. As if adding salt to the wound, the demon’s rotting tongue then licked the blood off of its face, enjoying the taste.

He then ripped his arm from Ariesto’s chest and left the Archangel to stagger and choke as he then collapsed. The demon walked over to his cloak and put it back on, before looking back at the slowly dying Archangel with a cruel grin.

“Nothing personal… just can’t have you ruining my plans enough already…” Thanatocrux growled in a sickening tone of glee that made Jake feel sick. “Enjoy your slow demise…”

The demon was about to vanish… but felt his ankle get grabbed. He looks down and sees Ariesto clinging to life and glaring at the Demon General.

“Oh…? Still alive…?” Thanatocrux says with a twisted grin of his rotten teeth. “Go ahead… use the last of your power for whatever worthless idea you have…”

Ariesto coughed up blood… but still managed to grin as he spoke two words that actually terrified the demon.

“She’s… coming…” The last thing Ariesto ever thought before his passing was…

“Emily… Michael… my child… I’m… I’m sorry…”

The Archangel then goes limp as his body crackles and splits into golden sparks, blown by the wind fading away. The Demon General was left shaken as the scene then returns to the empty white room with the water covered floor, leaving just Jake and the spirit of Ariesto.

Jake was left stunned at seeing the death of Ariesto. His mind was racing with so many thoughts because of it.

“What did you mean by that…?” Jake asks, looking at the Archangel and seeing his closed eyes.

“J-316’s Overseer and I made a deal that should I ever manage to keep Thanatocrux from going back into hiding for long enough, she would seal him within a pocket dimension.” Ariesto says. “Essentially forcing him into an eternal limbo, frozen as time passes quickly for him. In the time since his imprisonment, centuries should be passing for him. She appears to have been successful… however, she was still too late to stop him from creating Necrosson.”

Jake was left surprised by this, but then he thought back to an earlier moment in the memory. One that made a knot form in his stomach.

“Ariesto…?” he asks, catching the Archangel’s attention. “How long did it take Michael to fly from here to Argentina…?”

“That flight is about 2 to 4 hours, even at his fastest speed.” he answers. “And at the moment he left… Gigantipodox made itself visible to your family and killed your father.”

Jake’s eyes started to widen at this. If that truly was around the same time that his family was encountering Gigantipodox… then even if Michael had gone to go save them earlier than he did, even flying at his fastest speed…

“... He would have still been late…” he finishes his thoughts out loud, frozen by this revelation.

Ariesto nods, before adding onto Jake’s thoughts. “And if he had left any later…” Jake’s entire body began to tremble as he finished the sentence for the Archangel.

“... He would have been too late to even save me…” Ariesto nods again as Jake then collapses to his knees. The boy gripped at his chest as tears spilled down his face.

He had been hating a man just because his best wasn’t deemed enough.

He had been hating him for doing all he could.

He had been hating Michael… for nothing.

“Wh-What have I done…?” Jake chokes out through his sobs. “H-He only tr-tried his best… and I-I-I… I’ve been b-blaming him fo-” Ariesto kneels before Jake and embraces the boy, letting him cry out.

This moment marked a major turning point in everyone’s lives… and only time would tell how they recover from this.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Jake just sat there on his knees as the tears kept spilling, falling from his face and landing in the water causing small ripples. Ariesto sat before him, sitting in silence until the boy felt ready to talk.

“... How can I fix this…?” Jake quietly asks as he wipes his tears.

“Simple. By allowing the people around you to help you.” Ariesto says “Like I told you before, holding onto these repressed feelings without talking to anyone is not going to help you. There is nothing wrong with asking for help from others.”

Jake said nothing as he looked at the floor, seeing his reflection. The Archangel continues. “Jake, when you told Miss Kritzer everything earlier today, tell me… did it feel good to finally tell the truth?”

Jake thinks back to earlier that day, remembering how he had basically unloaded the full story to Rosie. He had been so caught up in blowing off some steam and maybe finally going after Necrosson…

… he didn’t realize until now that actually telling her about his past, finally letting someone else know the truth… it actually felt good.

“... It did…” Jake says quietly.

“Then imagine how much better it will feel to let your friends help you.” Ariesto says.

“... Will the pain ever go away…?” Jake asks. Ariesto places a hand on Jake’s shoulder, making the boy look up.

“No, but in time, I learned there was something even more powerful than the pain of loss.” Ariesto says. “And that is the love felt for each other. That’s what you need to hold on to, Jake. Your family might be gone, but your love will always remain.”

Jake looks down again. “This whole mess is my fault... I've been so blinded by rage and loss, I thought… I…"

“No one is blaming you for that, Jake.” Ariesto says. “It’s natural to feel these emotions in a situation like this, but it’s dangerous to let those emotions control you.”

Jake sat silently, before feeling another slight sting in his head. He could tell the group was watching another memory of his.

“I… I think I better wake up…” Jake says, rubbing his head. Ariesto nods as his own body starts to glow. “H-Hey, Ariesto…?”

The Archangel looks at Jake, who musters a slight smile to his face. “Thanks… I… I really needed that… Will I… ever see you again…?”

Ariesto smiles as his body keeps glowing. “You will, Jake. Whenever you need me.”

In a flash of green light, the Archangel vanished as the Gem returned. Jake stood up and stared at the Gem of the Angelic, before grabbing it.

“It’s time… time for a change…”

Back in the real world, the group had finished watching the memory of Jake’s encounter with Michael after the angel had fought off Gigantipodox.

They had heard Jake get absolutely furious with Michael, shouting and screaming at him for not arriving in time to save his family, before running off and leaving the angel in silence.

All eyes instantly fell to Michael, who had his head resting against his hands and his elbows to his knees. He had expected this memory to have been next, and hearing it again was hard for the angel.

“Michael, you…” Sterling starts to say, but Michael cuts him off.

“Yeah… I did…” the angel quietly answers, confirming to everyone that he indeed tried to save Jake’s family… but had failed. Even though his hands were concealing his face, everyone could see the tears running down his face. Clearly this failure had a strong impact on Michael.

“Michael, is… is this the situation you were upset about when we first met?” Vasilia asked, only for Michael to quickly stand up.

“OF COURSE IT IS!” he shouts, startling everyone as more tears run down his face. “AND IT STILL HAUNTS ME TO THIS DAY!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY NIGHTS I’VE LAID AWAKE HATING MYSELF FOR FAILING TO SAVE THAT FAMILY?!”

Michael’s fists were clenched tightly as he continued, not giving anyone the chance to speak. “HOW MANY TIMES I BEGGED OUR OVERSEER TO FIND A WAY TO REVIVE THEM SO THAT KID DIDN’T HAVE TO SUFFER THE WAY HE DID?! AND HOW MANY TIMES I WAS BROKEN TO LEARN IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, EVEN FOR SOMEONE AS POWERFUL AS HER?!”

Dresden and Astra knew that J-316’s Overseer was one of the strongest beings they’ve ever encountered, possibly among the top 3 strongest people in the Multiverse… so knowing that even she couldn’t revive them honestly hurt to hear.

“IT DIDN’T HELP THAT I LOST THE CLOSEST THING I HAD TO A BROTHER ON THAT MISSION TOO! MY SISTER LOST HER HUSBAND, THE FATHER OF HER CHILDREN, BECAUSE OF ME!!!”

Tears started to form in Emily’s eyes as she lowered her gaze, knowing just how much this hurt Michael. She never blamed Michael for Ariesto’s death… but clearly HE had blamed himself for that situation.

“I DON’T BLAME JAKE FOR HATING ME, BECAUSE…! Because I…! I-I…” Michael chokes on his words, unable to finish his sentence.

Silence washed over the entire Sharp Tank, no one daring to utter a word… until the screen showing Jake’s memories suddenly shut off. Everyone looked to the source, finding Jake was now awake and had removed the helmet from his head.

And based on his expression, they could tell three things right away.

Jake knew that he was probably in a lot of trouble for running away from TAHE and nearly getting himself and his classmates killed…

… he had a LOT of questions to answer from his friends regarding quite a lot of stuff that was now in the open…

… and he heard every word Michael just said.

Emily drags her brother out of the Sharp Tank, because they need a private moment to talk while also allowing the others to talk with Jake.

“Em, what… what is this about…?” Michael asks, having wiped his tears… but he wasn’t prepared for his sister to slap him across the face. “Ow! What the hell, Emily?! What was that for?!”

“Because you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened!” Emily snapped back at her brother.

“And how do you expect me not to blame myself, Emily?!” Michael shouts at her. “I failed to save that family AND Ariesto was killed because I wasn’t there for him when Thanatocrux struck!”

“Michael, you need to stop thinking you could have done both at the same time!” Emily says, but Michael cuts her off.

“I never said I could!” he says as tears begin to well in his eyes again. “But the fact that I failed both of them infuriates me to no end! Jake lost his family, and you lost your husband! How the hell do you not hate me as much as Jake does?!”

“BECAUSE I KNEW THAT ARIESTO WAS LIKELY TO DIE!” Emily shouted with tears in her eyes as well.

Michael froze where he stood, as Emily's words seemed to slap him just like she did. The Seraphim pants a bit, swallowing the lump in her throat, as she speaks up.

“With how many times you two went back to D-667 to hunt demons, part of me was afraid that I would lose one of you, or both…” Emily says somberly. “It hurt to see you two leave, but I knew there was nothing I could have done to change your minds… I know you two had chosen to become knights for the sake of protecting others, so it would have been selfish of me to stop you two…”

Emily wipes the tears from her eyes as they keep spilling. “Every time you two went off to hunt demons, I had to mentally prepare myself for either one or neither of you to come back… so the day you came back without Ariesto… I already knew what had happened…”

Michael remembered clearly just how devastated Emily was at the loss of Ariesto. Everyone in J-316 had been, but Emily seemed to take his death the hardest.

Emily lowered her gaze. “It hurt to know that he had been killed… but part of me had expected it, y’know…? You don’t just run into battle without the risk of getting killed yourself…”

“... That’s true…” Michael quietly says, knowing that becoming a knight for J-316 has its fair share of risks. Many previous knights that hadn’t realized this immediately found that out the hard way and either lost their lives in the process or gave up entirely.

“But I know that Ariesto would not have wanted us to keep sulking in despair at his death.” Emily says, fully wiping her tears. “As hard as it was, I knew I had to move on. For my sake, and… and my children’s sakes. I know they may never get the chance to properly meet their father… but that’s why I spend every night telling them stories about the type of person he was. To ensure his memory never dies.”

Emily looks back up at her brother with a firm look, but a soft smile. “He would have wanted the same for you too, Michael. I never blamed you for Ariesto’s death… so it’s time you stop blaming yourself.”

Michael didn’t speak for a moment, before he lowered his gaze. “I just… I wish I could’ve done more…” Emily gently takes her brother’s hand and holds it between her own.

“Michael, sometimes all we can do is our best, even if it’s not enough.” she says. “You may not have been able to save Jake’s family or Ariesto… but because you tried , you were at least able to ensure Jake survived. No one likes failing, but what matters is how you respond to that failure. How you better yourself because of it.”

Michael stood in silence as he let her words wash over him. For so long he had been letting this failure to save the Tagens and Ariesto haunt him, blaming himself for his own failure… but Emily was right.

Failure is just a part of life, whether we like it or not. It helps us improve and become the best version of ourselves.

Michael gave a slight smile as he looked at Emily again. “Thanks, Em…” he says, pulling his little sister in a hug. Emily smiled warmly and hugged her brother back, even wrapping her wings around him.

“Anytime, Mikey…”

While the Celeste siblings had their talk, Jake was sitting before Sterling, Kate, Alexis, and Evangeline, with Ana still at his side. The blue-skinned girl was not leaving his side anytime soon.

“Jake… why did you never tell us any of this?” Alexis asks the boy, wanting to know why Jake had never told them about what he was going through. Jake lowered his gaze a bit, before sighing a bit and answering honestly.

“Because… part of me thought that it would be better if… if I kept my problems to myself…” Jake says. “Try and deal with them alone, so I… I guess I built these walls around me to survive and… make sure no one ever figured out what I was going through…”

Alexis and Kate’s gazes turned to Sterling, knowing that what Jake essentially did was just like what Sterling previously did whenever he got upset, as they saw when Dresden killed off the Overseers despite Sterling still seeing good in him at the time.

“It worked for a time, but… now I know that… it’s not healthy…” Jake says, gripping his pant legs a bit. “I realized that by doing this, I was only making my situation worse and pushing away people that only wanted to help me…”

Ana softly rested her hand on Jake’s hand with the Gem in it, causing Jake’s grip to lessen.

“You felt it was easier to do all of this than just be honest…” Kate says, to which Jake nods. Kate’s head lowered a bit. “Jake really is just like me… That’s what I did after getting saved from Backcells, until this group broke my walls down and helped me, even when I didn’t ask for it.”

“I know I’m probably in trouble for what I did, and honestly… I’m not going to fight it.” Jake says, believing he was going to be punished for his reckless actions.

Evangeline calmly sighs, before gently putting a hand on Jake’s head. “No, Jake. You will not be punished for this.” she says.

Jake was surprised to hear this, as he looked up at the Headmistress. “Punishing someone with a struggling mental state is never the right call.”

“She’s right.” Sterling chimes in. “That’s why we’re going to do all we can to help you, no matter what. Dresden’s currently looking for a therapist for you, and Benny’s altering your MMJW, making it so you cannot turn the tracker off like you did earlier.”

Jake just nodded upon hearing this. He knew that they would likely find him a therapist and put some restrictions on his MMJW.

“I’m sorry, everyone…” Jake quietly says. “I didn’t want you all to suffer because of me…” Everyone’s expressions softened, and Ana full on hugged Jake, which the boy reciprocated.

This journey Jake’s taking to heal would likely be a difficult one… but now he knows that it’s not one he has to take alone.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

“So, you’re looking for a therapist for a traumatized kid that nearly got himself and his friends killed?”

Dresden let out a slight sigh at the God of War’s simple explanation for Jake’s situation, but nodded. “Yes, I was hoping you would know someone from M-308 that could potentially help him.” Dresden says, knowing that Ares has no shortage of godly friends willing to help others.

The Greek God of War sighs a bit and crosses his arms. “Well, I wish I could say that’s true, but no one from my dimension’s exactly good at the whole therapy thing.” he says as he shakes his head.

Dresden lets out a sigh. “Well, I appreciate the honesty, Ar-” But Ares then stops Dresden as he holds a hand up. “But! I do know someone from Dimension A-719 who could definitely help.”

This catches Dresden’s attention. “Is that so?” he asks, curious as to who Ares could be referring to. “I have not been to that dimension in my lifetime as an Overseer. Would you mind informing me about it?”

“I’ll tell ya what I know before I talk about the guy who could help the kid out.” Ares says, sitting across from Dresden and offering a plate of spinach puffs. “Feel free to interrupt if needed.”

It was rare to see Ares without some type of food, especially spinach puffs. Dresden took one and listened intently as Ares began.

“A-719’s a dimension that’s not as far advanced as most other universes, but it’s not one to be scoffed at.” Ares says. “Most of the folks there have a sort of elemental power known as ‘Bending’, where they can control one for four different elements; water, earth, fire, and air. But there are also some other elements that can be controlled too, like metal and lightning. While not as impressive as the powers of Gods in my world, they’re pretty cool nonetheless.”

“I see. And does this dimension have an Overseer?” Dresden asks, as Ares nods. “It does, and they can use all the elements no problem. But the way the Overseer mantle works is a little different. I don’t know the full story of how this happened, but apparently the first Overseer this dimension ever had somehow found a way to ensure that he would be reincarnated into a new body and life if he were to die, thus making that reincarnation the next Overseer.”

That certainly piqued Dresden’s interest. He didn’t even know that was possible, but maybe it was exclusive to that dimension.

“Some centuries passed, and the new Overseer, either the 97th or 98th one, ended up being this little monk kid. But the thing is, he wasn’t too thrilled about being the Overseer, since it was a big responsibility and it caused other kids to look at him differently.” Ares continued. “So he ended up running away and sealed himself in ice for about 100 years. Of course… it was actually a good thing he did.”

“And why is that?” Dresden asks.

“Because see, the four elements were split into four different kingdoms and nations, since they weren’t exactly getting along. And when the Overseer before this kid died, it was actually because of the prior leader of the Fire guys.” Ares says. “And they wanted to ensure the Overseer could never be a threat to them, they wiped out everyone who could use the air element… except for the kid, since he was frozen underwater.”

“I see. So they likely assumed they killed the Overseer in the attack.” Dresden says, to which Ares nods.

“So the Fire guys started taking over, since there was no one to stop them. Until 100 years later, basically this year, two siblings from the Water Tribe found the kid in the iceberg and freed him, since the girl had the water element.” Ares says. “The kid finally decided to help out with the war, but the problem was he only had access to the air element and needed to train with the other 3. Can’t just take on a whole military with only some wind.”

“So, I imagine he was successful in finding the teachers he needed?” Dresden asked.

“Sure was. He got the water element mastered thanks to his girlfriend, while he got the earth element thanks to this girl who, frankly, really impressed me.” Ares says, remembering that specific person for a moment. “She could control the earth better than most others despite being blind, and she was the first to figure out how to control metal.”

“That is certainly impressive for someone to achieve, let alone with such a handicap.” Dresden says, also as impressed as Ares was.

“But the fire element was provin’ to be harder for the kid to learn, since most of the fire element users were… well, huntin’ him down.” Ares says. “The new Fire king figured out the Overseer was back, and wanted to finish the job. And one who was provin’ to be a real pain for that group was the Fire king’s own son.”

“See, the Fire king’s son got banished because he spoke out against a high ranking general when he wasn’t supposed to, and had to fight his father as a punishment. The kid refused and got a pretty nasty burn across one of his eyes.” Ares continues. “Then he was banished and told he could only return if he killed or captured the Overseer. But he wasn’t alone, as the kid’s uncle ended up coming along.”

“So the boy’s uncle proved to be more of a father than the boy’s own father?” Dresden asks, to which Ares nods again.

“Pretty much. Helped the prince realize that he was on the wrong side of the war, so he ended up helping the Overseer master the fire element, then they were able to stop the Fire king and the war.” Ares says. “That kid with the scar is the new Fire king, while the Overseer is helping to better his world with the help of his friends. But, they're not the people who could help your little healer. It’s actually the uncle I mentioned.”

“Is that so?” Dresden asks, to which Ares gains a wide grin. “Absolutely. I ended up traveling to that world and meeting with the guy. He’s a rather old man, but not one to underestimate. Not only is he a skilled user of fire, but he’s incredibly wise too. And he’s got no shortage of experience helping angsty teenagers with their problems, so I think he could help the kid out a lot.”

“Hm, I may have to meet with this man to see for myself.” Dresden says. “While I do trust your word, Ares, this matter is rather serious and someone to help Jake cannot be chosen just by words alone.”

“Oh no, I understand.” Ares says, leaning back a bit. “This guy’s not licensed, but trust me, I think he’s got what it takes to help him. And honestly… I think he could even help out with the RAS Foundation. We can go and see him tomorrow if you’re free.”

“You’re certain he will be willing to help both Jake and this Foundation?” Dresden asks, to which Ares chuckles.

“He was willing to help a man who nearly mugged him. He’ll definitely help us out.”

Things slowly started to return to normal in the Sharp Gang, but with noticeable changes, that being how much everyone kept an eye on Jake.

Jake wasn’t sure if the group fully trusted him after this, but he didn’t blame them if they didn’t. Part of him didn’t even trust himself, which is why he made sure to always stick around either one of the Sharp Gang members or his classmates.

Not like that was an issue, since Ana herself was not leaving Jake’s side very often. Obviously she didn’t follow him everywhere, but she did stick by his side more often than anyone else.

Jake’s crush on Ana was certainly flaring up because of how close she was getting, but honestly… he wasn’t even focused on that for the moment.

Right now, the two Gem of the Angelic wielders are sitting around a fire at TAHE, something they did a lot. Whether it was when they were listening to Tiny Atomo’s stories of M-308’s history or just to relax, it felt good to just sit by the fire after a long day.

Their classmates had been sitting with them, but they each decided to call it a night sometime earlier, leaving just Jake and Ana alone as they lay on the grass.

Silence washes over them, except for the crackling of the fire, as they stare up at the starry night sky. Jake finds himself glancing at Ana for a moment, before he looks back up at the sky and slowly starts to sit up. He had been stopping himself from asking this for too long.

“Ana… do you… do you hate me…?”

That question caught Ana completely off-guard, prompting her to sit up and look at Jake.

“What? Jake, no. I don’t hate you.” she says, still shocked to have been asked that.

But she could tell just by looking at his face, Jake wasn’t fully convinced. “Jake, where is this coming from?” she asks.

The boy hugs his legs closer to his body, tears starting to form in his eyes. “Because of how much I’ve hurt everyone…” he says, prompting Ana’s eyes to widen.

“What?”

“Ana, since we’ve met, I’ve done nothing but hurt you and the others!” Jake says, raising his voice a bit. “When we first met in Backcells, I got angry at you just because you were worried about Kate! You had every right to be, but I got angry at you because of it! Hell, I don’t even remember if I actually apologized for that!”

Ana tried to speak up, but Jake kept going. “Then on the Dragon Hunt with the guys, I kept trying to prove myself as a man, and that nearly got Sterling killed! We were lucky Heath and Tayrun were there, but still!” Jake grips at his hair with a frustrated groan. “He’s the closest thing I have to a father now, and I nearly got him killed because of how stupid I was!”

Ana was surprised to hear that Jake genuinely considered Sterling a father-like figure. It made sense, given the kind of person Sterling is, but actually hearing it be admitted was what surprised her. She again tries to speak up, but Jake keeps going without showing any sign of stopping.

“And now this! I nearly got you, our classmates, and everyone else killed by Necrosson because I was too afraid to tell people about what I was going through! I thought keeping it secret would keep the people I cared about safe, but all I did was make things worse!” Tears were running down Jake’s face.

“Jake-”

“My brother got turned into a demon, and now he’s hunting me down to kill me and anyone else who gets in his way!”

“Jake, listen-”

“Who in their right mind would NOT hate me for getting everyone in this mess?!”

“JAKE!”

Ana’s shout made Jake recoil in surprise, as the blue-skinned girl decided to shut him up so she could talk now.

“Jake, listen to me. And don’t interrupt me.” she says, holding a finger up to his face for a moment. “Firstly, I have never hated you for the way you snapped at me in Backcells. It was a stressful time for both of us, given what we were going through. I already long forgave you for that.”

“Second, that incident with the Dragon Hunt would have likely gone even worse if you weren’t there to heal Sterling.” Ana continues. “From the sounds of it, Sterling would have likely found himself getting injured in some other way. He’s stubborn like that, so what happened there is not your fault.”

“And lastly, regarding this whole mess with Necrosson, no one is blaming you for that either.” Ana says. “It can be difficult to deal with a traumatic past, even more so to try and move on from that. You remember how long it took Kate to finally adjust from not being in Backcells anymore?”

Jake wiped his tears and thought back to Kate’s own struggles with moving on from not being in Backcells prison anymore, and how she had to constantly remind herself about it. He nodded in response to Ana’s question, and she continued.

“What you both went through was horrific and unforgettable, so you felt it was easier to keep all of that struggling and pain locked away than actually talk to someone about it.” Ana says. “But for Kate, she eventually started unlocking herself because of people like Sterling helping break those locks.”

“She’s still got some of her old self in her, but her edge has been dulled and she’s proven herself to be a very loving and caring person, even slowly starting to make a better bond with the man who locked her up in the first place.”

Jake had to admit she was right. Kate had improved a lot since being rescued from Backcells thanks to this group, to the point that talking about Backcells or being around Dresden… it didn’t really bother her that much anymore.

“But she never would have gotten to that point without the help of the people who really care about her, and the same applies to you.” she says, putting a finger to his chest. “You haven’t been letting us help you because you felt you didn’t need it, but you need it just as much as Kate did.”

Jake’s gaze lowers for a moment, but Ana rests her hand on the side of his face and makes him look up at her.

“Jake… it’s not selfish to ask for help.” Ana says, before giving him a warm smile. “It’s just part of being human.”

Jake stares at Ana, his crush on her certainly getting a lot stronger from this. He then closes his eyes and softly puts his hand on top of Ana’s, cracking a smile through his tears.

“Th-Thanks, Ana…” he says, using his other hand to wipe his tears. “I really… really needed that…”

Ana’s smile widens more, before she leans in and hugs Jake. The boy returns the gesture, as the fire before them continues to crackle. The two stay like this for a few moments, before pulling back.

“Ana, um… if it’s not any trouble… uh…?” Jake’s face started to look a bit red, honestly not sure if he could bring himself to ask this.

“What is it, Jake?” Ana asks, in a tone that assures him she’s listening.

“Well…” Jake’s face went as red as a Kuznet’s hair. “... w-would you mind… sleeping in… in my cabin… with me?”

Ana had been prepared for Jake to ask anything, but she certainly didn’t expect THAT. Her eyes widened as her face went a deeper shade of blue.

“I-It’s just… I-I don’t exactly feel comfortable… b-being alone at night… A-And I never said anything… because… y’know…” Jake continues, his face still crimson in color as he sees Ana’s reaction. “I-If you don’t feel comfortable doing it, I-I underst-”

“N-No, no, it’s fine!” Ana says, cutting Jake off. “I-I just didn’t… didn’t expect you to… y’know, ask me th-that… I-I’d be happy to, i-if it’ll h-help you…” 

Jake’s face somehow manages to get even redder from Ana’s answer. The two then awkwardly stand up, neither saying a word for a moment. Ana then clears her throat as she points in the direction of her cabin.

“Uh, I just… just need a minute to… y’know.” she awkwardly says, to which Jake quickly nods. “Y-Yeah, no, g-go ahead!” he says. “T-Take your time!”

The two walk to their cabins, each to prepare for bed. Once out of each other’s sights in each other’s cabins… they both cover their mouths and let out muffled screams, both looking sort of panicked by this situation.

“I didn’t think she’d actually agree to it!!!”

“I didn’t think he would actually ask me that!!!”

They both had a feeling this would be an awkward night.

Back in the Sharp Tank, Sterling sat at the main computer in exhaustion. Like Dresden, he had also been looking for a therapist for Jake, but with less success than the magma-crusted man.

Kate walks over to Sterling and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Sterling, you need to come to bed.” Kate says, trying to calm her boyfriend down.

“I can’t, Kate.” Sterling says, putting his own hand on top of hers. “Jake’s situation is one I can’t ignore, so I can’t rest until I find someone who can really help him.”

“Well you’re not gonna be able to do that when you’re barely able to stay awake.” Kate says, a bit more stern in her tone. She turns off the computer screen, then pulls Sterling up to his feet. “Bed. NOW.”

Sterling sighed, knowing there was no changing Kate’s mind about this. But before the two could leave the room, Dresden enters.

“Sterling, Kaitlyn, a word?” he says, asking for a moment to speak. The couple look at each other, then approach Dresden as Sterling speaks. “What is it, Dresden?”

“Ares knows of someone who could potentially be a help to Jake’s mental well being.” Dresden says, which makes their eyes widen. “I will be joining him tomorrow to meet this man and see for myself, so I figured you two would want to come along and meet him as well.”

“Wait, really?” Kate says, surprised to hear that someone had been potentially found for Jake, as Dresden nods.

“While I do trust Ares’ word, I felt it would be better to meet this person myself and see if he truly is one that can help.” Dresden says. “And seeing how much you care for Jake as if he were your own son, I assume you would want to meet him as well.”

Sterling rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes as a smile formed on his face. “Y-Yeah, that’s perfect! We’d be happy to come!”

Dresden gives a satisfactory nod. “Good. I will let Ares know that you two will be accompanying us.” With that, Dresden then takes his leave as Sterling lets out a sigh of relief.

“Phew… if all goes well, we might be able to help Jake faster than we think.” Sterling says as he glances at his girlfriend, only to notice her face was about the same shade of pink as her hair. “Kate? Something wrong?”

“... Did… Did Dresden just allude to us being… parents to Jake?”

Sterling looked confused for a moment, until he thought back what Dresden had said and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh… wow, I-I didn’t even catch that.” he says, scratching the back of his head, as silence washed over the two.

Jake sat in his cabin, wearing just a black tank top and green pajama pants as he sat on his bed, resting his head on his hands. His mind was racing with thoughts from how he invited Ana to his cabin for the night.

“God, what was I thinking?! Asking her to sleep in my cabin with me?! Why the hell did I ask her that?! Idiot!! I probably sounded like some desperate pervert to her!! I wouldn’t be surprised if she just locks the door of her cabin and never speaks to me ag-!”

KNOCK KNOCK

Jake’s thoughts were cut short as he heard the knocking on the door, followed by a voice on the outside. “J-Jake, it’s me…”

Jake’s heart raced more as he stood up and walked to the door, opening it to see Ana dressed in a pink t-shirt and blue striped pajama pants. “S-Sorry if I m-made you wait…” Ana says as she rubs her arm a bit.

“N-No, it’s okay.” Jake says, waving his hands a bit as he lets Ana in. “Dad always told me to never comment on how long girls take to get ready… He said he found that out the hard way.”

Ana enters the cabin, looking around it. It didn’t look much different from hers, but definitely seemed more akin to a boy’s room. It was nice to see the room wasn’t a mess anymore since the incident.

“S-Sorry if it’s not really presentable…” Jake nervously says. “When I asked you, part of me… um… part of me didn’t th-think you’d actually agree…”

“It’s fine… my cabin’s a bit of a mess too.” Ana says with a slight chuckle.

“I-If you want, I can sleep on the floor while you take the be-” Jake starts to say, but Ana cuts him off.

“Uh-uh, no!” she says quickly, but calms down as her blush returns a bit. “I-I don’t mind… sh-sharing the bed…”

Jake’s face went red for the twentieth time that night. Sharing a bed with his crush was NOT what he expected, despite having invited Ana to be with him. “Uh… o-okay then…”

In their heads, both of them were thinking the same thing.

“Is this seriously happening?! Am I seriously about to sleep in the same bed as my crush?!”

Jake swallows the lump in his throat as he walks over to the bed. “Uh… d-does it matter… which side you’re on…?” he asks, not sure what else to say.

“N-No, either side is fine.” Ana answers, slowly approaching the bed and taking the right side. Jake pulls the blanket back as Ana sits on the bed… but then she notices something sticking out from under the right pillow.

“Jake, what’s this?” Ana says, pointing to the mysterious item. Jake looks at what she’s pointing at, and upon realizing what it is, he gives a soft smile and gestures for her to take it out.

She does so, finding it to be a folded piece of paper. She unfolds it and is surprised to see the paper is actually a photo.

It showed the Maverick Class and their mentors. Jake and Ana were right in the front with big smiles on their faces. Darwin had his arm resting on Jake’s shoulder and a smirk on his face. Emilia was behind Ana as she was flexing a bicep with a grin on her face. Zenith was off to the side with a neutral expression. Naseko was standing next to Ana and throwing up a simple peace sign with no emotion. Kiko was bouncing behind her classmates with excitement, the biggest smile on her face. Volignus and Galti were on the back right of the photo, the latter simply having her arms crossed as the former had his hand as a rock-n-roll sign. On the back left of the photo was Kalia and Tiny Atomo, with the former giving a simple smile as the latter did the same gesture as Emilia.

“Is this… the photo we took on our first day?” Ana says as Jake sits on the bed.

“Yeah.” Jake says, taking the photo from Ana and looking at it. “Headmistress Evangeline said she made copies of the photo in case anyone wanted to hold onto them. I keep it here so that it’s the last thing I see before I fall asleep.”

Ana looks surprised to hear this, but then she thinks of a possible reason as to why Jake does this. “Jake… have you been… dealing with nightmares because of… what happened?”

Jake lowers his gaze and slightly nods his head. “Yeah…” he says. “Having this photo nearby, it… it helps…”

Ana gave Jake a sorrowful look, before scooting closer to him and pulling him into a hug, softly stroking his hair. Jake rests his face against Ana’s arm, feeling a sense of relaxation wash over him. The hug soon splits as Jake then lays down, resting his head on the pillow.

“Jake?” Ana catches his attention as he glances at her. “I know that everyone’s looking for a therapist for you, but… part of me knows you… might not be exactly comfortable doing it… on your own at least. So… if you really need me there with you, I’ll be there. I promise.”

Jake softly smiles at this. “That… that’d help a lot, Ana… thank you.” Ana returns the smile, laying her head on the other pillow, and soon the two let sleep consume them.

.

.

.

.

A few hours into the night, Ana feels the bed shift a bit as it stirs her awake for a moment. She opens an eye to see if Jake’s done anything.

But then both eyes open as she sees Jake seems to be in the midst of a nightmare, sweat dripping down his face as his body slightly shakes, light whimpers escaping his lips.

“Jake?” Ana whispers in concern, gently shaking his shoulder to try and wake him up. It doesn’t work, so she tries again. “Jake?!” Still no luck.

“Crap… if I don’t do something now, something bad could happen!” Ana frantically thinks of what she could do, before one thought comes to mind. She briefly blushes at the idea, but shakes it off.

She wraps her arms around Jake and pulls him closer to her, resting the boy’s face against her shoulder and holding him close, softly embracing him in an attempt to calm him down.

“Please work, please work, PLEASE WORK!” Ana thinks as her face was now a darker blue once again. Slowly, Jake’s body stops shaking and his whimpering also comes to a stop. His breathing slows to a much calmer pace as Jake settles into this embrace without even realizing.

Ana’s blush lessens as a sense of relief washes over her, and she lets out a quiet sigh. “Thank God…” she whispers quietly. Ana looks down at the sleeping Jake’s face, and she can’t help but smile at seeing how much calmer Jake looks now.

“Goodnight, Jake…” she quietly whispers as she rests her chin on top of his head and closes her eyes.

To Be Continued...

A/N: My head canon is that Ana's blushing is a dark blue instead of red.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Dresden brings Sterling and Kate to the RAS Foundation, where the Greek God of War was waiting for them… while munching on an egg salad panini that Champagne made him.

Ares notices them entering and swallows his bite. “Morning, Professor.” he says. “These the two that are coming with us?”

“Yes, they are.” Dresden says as he nods, then gestures to them. “They are essentially acting as Jake’s guardians, given his situation. This is Sterling Engeal and Kaitlyn Blakeour.”

Sterling walks up and shakes the larger man’s hand. “Good to meet you, Ares.” he says, as the God of War shakes his hand in return.

“Nice to meet you, Ares.” Kate says with a simple nod. She had heard about Ares from her best friend, Mara, when she and the other Powerhouses of the team worked with him to go after some Demon Generals made by Kaijagrex.

“So, you’re certain this guy can genuinely help Jake?” Kate asks Ares, to which the God nods. “Oh, absolutely. Guy’s a natural with this kinda stuff.”

Ares then grabs the three of them, before using his power to teleport to Dimension A-719. They appear at the Nexus Point of this dimension, which looks to be a city… well, actually… it’s more of a small country than a mere city. While not as advanced as dimensions like Kayla’s or Heath’s, this dimension looked more advanced than T-905… excluding the life on another planet in T-905.

“Welcome to Ba Sing Se, the Nexus Point of this dimension.” Ares says. The group looks around and notices how calm the city is.

“This place seems pretty peaceful.” Sterling comments, and Ares answers. “Oh, they are. They were pretty closed off from the rest of the world during the war. Until it came knocking on their door, but things got better pretty quickly thanks to the Overseer and his friends.”

“So where’s this guy supposed to be?” Kate asks.

“Follow me.” Ares says, walking ahead of them. “He shouldn’t be too far from here since he’s working at the local tea shop. And by the way, forgot to mention this before, but this guy’s tea? Some of the best in the Multiverse. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff.”

The group keeps walking until they reach a rather large building on a higher up platform, with green walls and a golden roof, with a fountain in front.

“Here we are.” Ares says, walking up the steps to the building. His three guests follow as they enter the building, finding a small number of people sitting at some of the tables, chatting and enjoying their drinks. It was fairly early in the morning, so that was why the place wasn’t very busy right now.

A woman wearing a green robe-like dress and glasses walks up to them with a smile on her face. “Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon.” she says with a smile that rivaled Sterling’s own. “How may I help you?”

“Excuse me, little lady, but is the owner in?” Ares asks. “We need to talk with him, and it’s pretty important.”

“Of course. Let me go and get him.” the woman says, before walking off towards the back of the store and calling out to someone there. “Sir, some people are here to see you!”

Moments later, an older man walks out. He was much shorter and rotund, with pale gray hair coming from the back of his head and revealing a bald head, a beard of the same color, green robes that looked to be similar to those worn in China in other dimensions, and the man’s demeanor had a positive aura that made the three new guests feel at ease.

Upon noticing the tall and broad God of War, the older man smiles. “Ares, so nice to see you again.” he says as walks over to them, then shakes hands with Ares.

“‘The Dragon of the West’ himself. Good to see you again, Iroh” Ares says with a grin, then looking at his three guests. “Guys, this here is Iroh, the man I was mentioning to you. Iroh, these are some recent friends I’ve made. Dresden Oakland, Sterling Engeal and Kaitlyn Blakeour.”

Iroh keeps his warm smile as he waves to the group. “A pleasure to meet you. Is there something I can help you with?” he says.

“Well, yes.” Kate says. “We… okay, this… this may take some time to explain the full story on why we’re here.”

“Well, we have all the time in the world.” Iroh says as he waves his hand for the group to follow. “Come, have a seat.” He brings the group to one of the tables, and they each sit down. “Before we begin, why don’t I get you all something to drink?”

“Four Jasmine green teas if you can.” Ares says, ordering for the group, to which Iroh chuckles and then heads to the back of the building again. Ares then looks at the others. “Like I said, some of the best tea in the Multiverse. And you’re gonna see I was right.”

Moments later, Iroh returns to the table with 5 cups of hot tea, having made one for himself as well. Setting them each down before the group, Iroh then takes his own seat at the table.

Ares gestures for everyone to go ahead and try the tea, so they each pick up their cups and take a sip. While Dresden and Kate’s faces hardly seemed to change, they definitely enjoyed the tea.

In typical Sterling fashion, his eyes seemed to light up at how delicious the tea was. “I… wow, Ares. You weren’t kidding!” he says, to which the larger man laughs.

“I told ya!” Ares says, before taking his own drink of his tea.

“I’m glad to hear you enjoy it.” Iroh says, to which Dresden gives a slight smile. “It’s certainly more than I expected.”

“... Gonna be honest… I might need some more.” Kate says. She’s normally not one to drink tea, instead preferring coffee. So for her to say this is wild.

But she then sets her cup down. “Now… as for why we’re here…”

Back at TAHE, Jake slowly awoke, unsure of what time it was. Last night was one of the best nights of sleep he’s ever had.

He reaches for his MJWW on the nightstand and picks it up, checking the time and seeing it’s a few minutes after 9 AM. Luckily it was Sunday, the free day for TAHE students.

“Mmph… Sunday…” Jake mutters as he sets his MJWW down and is prepared to sleep for an extra few minutes, a very relatable decision.

But a smell suddenly hits his nostrils and wakes him up more. He sits up a bit and sniffs the air, finding the smell rather enticing. A sound was also hitting his eardrums; the sound of a sizzling pan.

He realizes it’s coming from the mini kitchen of his cabin, and he looks over to see the source. Ana stood in the kitchen, fully dressed in her typical clothing, and she was cooking. Just from the smell alone, Jake could tell there was eggs, bacon, sausage, even some hash browns.

“Ana?” Jake calls out to her, catching her attention as she looks over and sees Jake has awoken.

“Oh! Morning, Jake!” Ana says with a bright smile that makes Jake’s heart skip a beat. The boy climbs out of bed and walks over, looking at all the food that Ana had prepared.

“Ana, did… did you make all of this yourself?” Jake asks, admittedly a little bewildered since he’s never seen Ana cook before.

“Well, I had a feeling the cafeteria would be especially busy today, so I figured I’d just cook for us here.” Ana answers.

Jake knew she wasn’t lying about how busy the cafeteria got in the morning, especially on the free day for students. He’s seen it plenty of times, and was always impressed by how the school still managed to get everyone fed.

“Ana, you didn’t have to do all this.” Jake says rather modestly, but Ana still smiles as she answers. “I know I didn’t, but I wanted to.”

Jake knew then and there that he was not changing Ana’s mind about this, so he just sighs with a shake of his head and a light chuckle.

“Well… alright then.” Jake says, before going to his dresser and pulling out some clothes for the day. He then points to the bathroom. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower.”

“Hurry up before the food gets cold.” Ana quips, prompting Jake to laugh as he goes into the bathroom, leaving the blue-skinned girl to finish cooking.

Setting the last pieces of bacon on the plate, Ana then turns off the stove and places the small morning feast on the table, then works on cleaning up the cooking equipment.

Doing this brought some old memories up, ones she hadn’t thought about in a long time.

.

.

.

.

“Daddy!” 4-year old Ana exclaimed eagerly as she ran over to the kitchen, where her father, a tall and lean man with slick black hair and peach skin, was cooking.

Since she didn’t have her Gem of the Angelic at this point, Ana’s skin was more of a tan in color and her hair was a bright red color, likely a trait from her mother. But those adorable blue remained the same as her present day self.

The man looked down from the stove and saw his little girl bouncing with excitement at his feet. He just smiled and nodded his head towards the pantry, and that got the little girl even more excited as she ran over to the pantry, pulled out a stepping ladder and brought it over to her father’s side.

She climbed up to be more at eye-level with the counter-top, keeping her hands away from the stove to avoid getting burnt. She then hands her father a wooden spoon, and he takes it, then patting his daughter on the head as she lets out an adorable giggle.

Turns out this was a daily routine for Ana and her father, where the little girl would always join her father in the kitchen whenever he was cooking. Whether it was simply watching him or actually helping him out, it was something they both enjoyed a lot.

So when Ana’s father passed away when the girl was only 10 years old, leaving her to be under the “care” of a mother who hardly showed even the slightest affection or attention to the girl, Ana had quickly learned to cook for herself. She took what she learned from her father and improved from there.

Since her mother was often not home at all and hardly paid attention to Ana, the girl would often be left alone to her own devices. She was lucky that her mother at least “cared” enough to buy food so she could genuinely cook and not starve.

But either way, Ana was effectively raising herself for the last 3 years.

.

.

.

.

Ana was suddenly snapped out of it when she heard the shower turning off from the other room. She forgot that Jake always took quick showers, which barely lasted more than two minutes.

When she first asked him about it, he said that it was because his mother taught him to never waste water… and he definitely didn’t want to be on the bad side of his mother. Even if she was long dead and gone, that message is still drilled into his head.

Jake soon exited the bathroom, wearing the clothes he had brought in as he was drying off his hair.

“I forgot you take short showers, Jake.” Ana says as she takes a seat, as Jake then finishes drying off his hair and answers. “Never waste water.”

Jake then takes his seat at the table on the opposite side of Ana. They each take some of the food and put it on their plates, and Jake takes the first bite.

The minute he does so, his eyes suddenly widen in shock. Ana notices the reaction and looks a bit worried. “I-Is it not good…?” she asks, bracing for the worst.

Jake swallows the bite, goes quiet for a few seconds, then looks at Ana with the same shock in his face. “Ana… this is delicious!!”

Ana’s worry quickly turns to surprise. “Wh-What?”

“This is some of the best food I’ve ever tasted!” Jake exclaims. “How have you not told anyone about this?!”

“I-It’s good? Y-You really think so?” Ana says, admittedly still surprised by Jake’s reaction.

“‘Good’?! It’s amazing!! You could give the cooks here at TAHE a run for their money if you really wanted to!!” Jake says, before digging in more.

Ana felt a sense of pride as her face turned a deeper shade of blue. She had been the only one to ever eat her own cooking until now, so part of her had just assumed it only tasted good to her and it would not be the same for anyone else.

But hearing her crush says that it was some of the best he’s ever had? Her heart definitely skipped a beat at that.

A smile formed on her face as she began to dig into her own plate of food. “I never really had someone eat the food I made besides myself, so part of me was worried you would hate it.” Ana says in between bites.

Jake, meanwhile, was already half done with his plate. “I’d be crazy to hate something this delicious.” he says, before taking another bite.

Ana smiles more. “So, Jake… did you sleep alright last night?” she asks. Jake stops for a moment, before swallowing the bite he just took.

“Well… at one point I did start having a nightmare…” he admits. “It was like I was back reliving that demon attack that killed my family… but, when it got to the point where my mother died, it just… it suddenly stopped. The nightmare just… it just started to stop and… and I felt warm, and relaxed.”

That’s when Jake’s eyes widened, looking at Ana. “Did… did you have something to do with that, Ana?”

Ana faintly blushes, but nods. “I woke up sometime last night and saw you looked like you were in the midst of a nightmare, so… well… I pulled you closer and hugged you to try and calm you down.”

Jake went a bit red upon hearing this, but he smiled at Ana. “Well… it worked… Thank you, Ana.” he says, as Ana’s smile widens.

The two continue eating their breakfast and talking, as their bond gets stronger than it’s ever been.

And little did they know it was only going to get stronger from here.

Back in A-719, Iroh had been listening intently as to why the group was here for him. He couldn’t help but sympathize with Jake’s struggles, and it was clear that the group was desperate to get him some help… hence meeting with him.

“So… that’s pretty much our situation now.” Sterling says. “Ares recommended you to Dresden, and we felt it best to come and meet you ourselves. No offense, but we didn’t want to run the risk of you potentially not being right to help Jake.”

Iroh took no offense to this comment, instead just softly smiling as he nodded. “I understand, Sterling. Seeing something first hand is better than simply being told about it.”

The older man puts a hand to his chin, softly stroking his beard as he thinks. “Young Jake’s struggles certainly sound difficult for the boy. It can be difficult to move on from the loss of a family member, let alone your entire family.”

“So… will you help him?” Kate asks, bracing herself for whatever answer Iroh will give. The man lowers his hand and smiles at the group.

“I would be no better than my brother if I said no, ignoring someone in need. I would be happy to help the boy out.” Iroh says, which made Kate release the breath she didn’t know she was holding, while Sterling’s face lit up with excitement.

“That-That’s so great to hear!” Sterling says, before reaching over and shaking the older man’s hand. “Thank you so much, sir!”

Iroh smiles, happy to see Sterling’s excitement. “Now, I’ll need to meet the boy at some point. Since you said he’s in school for 6 days of the week, I can meet with him on his free days if that is possible.”

“That should work.” Kate says, knowing the TAHE students get a day off to relax and either see their family or hang out with friends. Hell, today was that free day. “But would it be alright if we brought him to meet you a few days earlier? We can pull him out for that day.”

“Of course. Any day works best, so just stop by whenever you can.” Iroh says, before standing up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to work.”

With that, Iroh leaves the table to get back to business, leaving the four of them.

“Well, this certainly worked out for the best.” Dresden says, then looking to Ares. “Thank you for recommending Iroh to us, Ares.”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Ares says. “And was I right about the tea?”

Sterling chuckled as Kate gave a light smirk and answered. “Yeah, you were, big guy.”

Back in D-667, specifically in Argentina, Necrosson was sitting in a cave as he stewed in annoyance. His body was fully recovered from his fight with the Sharp Gang, but he was still furious.

Since that fight where he nearly got to kill Jake, the demon had tried many times to haunt the boy again, but each time he had been prevented.

So today, he had had enough, intending to put a stop to these interruptions.

Inside Necrosson’s mindscape, the demon stormed through the dark fleshy corridors towards a rusted crimson door. Despite the rust on the door, he ripped it open as easily as tearing through cardboard.

He storms into the room and glares up at the figure hanging from the fleshy chains and blades that made up the walls and floor. The figure looked to be a teenage boy about Zenith’s age, with messy dark brown hair, blue eyes, and cuts across his face and body dripping with blood. The boy was clad in just a pair of red camouflage pants that had a fair share of tears and rips, as the rest of his outfit seemed to have been destroyed.

“You really know how to piss me off, boy.” Necrosson snarls at the boy, who just glares back. Necrosson growls as the flesh of the floor shifts into stairs that bring him to the boy’s eye level. “Perhaps I should kill you where you are no-”

The boy then spits in the demon’s face, which makes Necrosson snarl as he slams a fist into the wall, causing the wall to tighten around the boy and sink him deeper. Blades stab into the boy’s back and shoulders, as he grits his teeth and stops himself from screaming.

He wasn’t going to give Necrosson the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

“Consider yourself lucky that I’m keeping you alive just long enough to witness your brother’s demise.” Necrosson growls as he then violently grabs the boy by the face, his blades close to driving into the boy’s face. “But if you keep this shit up, I will tear the skin from your flesh and kill everyone you ever loved. Your brother, your friends…”

He then gets a sickening grin. “Maybe even your little girlfri-”

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Necrosson staggered back as the boy had ripped his arms and head free from the flesh walls, grabbed the demon by the head, and slammed his forehead into the demon’s face, tearing through some of the skin of his own forehead as blood trickled down his face.

The attack was cut short as the walls restrained his arms again, this time even tighter and driving more blades into his body. But he was still on an adrenaline high, ignoring the pain because of his rage.

“You lay one hand on any of them, ESPECIALLY Jake or Roxanne, I’ll fucking kill you myself!” the boy shouts and thrashes as the flesh wall tightens around him more.

Necrosson just scoffs, brushing off the attack and even licking some of the boy’s blood that had splattered on his face. He turns and walks down the flesh stairs as they sink back into the ground.

“Good luck with that, Mason.” he sarcastically comments as he then leaves the room, knowing that the boy has no chance of escaping and regaining control of his body...

.

.

.

.

… Or at least… he thinks he doesn’t.

“Jake, whatever you did to weaken Necrosson’s restraint on my soul… I hope you can do it again…” Mason thought to himself.

To Be Continued...!

Chapter Text

The day finally came for Jake to have his therapy session with Iroh. Sterling and Kate would be taking him to Dimension A-719, and like she had promised, Ana would be coming along too. Jake mentally prepared himself as best he could, but now that the day finally came, it was like the realization hit even harder than when he first got told.

But what kept him from panicking and backing out were three things he remembered.

The first was that he would not be alone throughout all of this, because Sterling, Kate, and especially Ana, would be with him in the event that something goes wrong.

The second was his conversation with Ariesto, where the Archangel reminded Jake that holding his feelings in and rejecting the help from the people around him was only going to make his situation worse.

And the last… was the feeling he felt when he had told everyone what had happened. Now that he truly had time to think about it, telling them had actually felt nice.

He hadn’t wanted to put his burden on the people he cared about, but now he was seeing that those people were willingly taking part of his burden and helping him carry it.

It felt as though a gigantic weight was on his back that had only been getting heavier the longer he kept quiet. But when he finally did tell everyone… it felt as though that weight wasn’t fully lifted, but rather that those people were holding it along with him.

Jake finishes mentally preparing himself, then meets up with Sterling, Kate and Ana. “Okay… I’m ready.” Jake says.

Sterling and Kate both nod at him. Ana gently slips her hand into Jake’s own hand, giving it a firm squeeze as if she was giving him mental reassurance.

And he sees the smile on her face, further reminding him that he wasn’t alone. He couldn’t help but smile back.

Sterling activates his MJWW and teleports the four of them to A-719, ending up in Ba Sing Se once again. They make their way to the Jasmine Dragon and go inside, finding the place wasn’t fairly busy. Clearly Iroh had altered the shop’s schedule a bit to accommodate for these meetings with Jake.

They enter the tea shop, where the older man is finishing up helping a customer. He then takes notice of the four of them and smiles.

“Hey, Iroh.” Sterling greets with his usual smile, then gestures to Jake. “This is the kid, Jake Tagen.”

Jake swallows the lump in his throat, still a little nervous despite the man’s gentle demeanor. He walks over and holds a hand out for Iroh. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

Iroh smiles and shakes the boy’s hand. “A pleasure to meet you too, Jake. Come.” Iroh gestures for them to follow him, and he leads them into a separate room of the shop. It has green walls lined with gold details, a few windows, and some decorative art that gives a calming sense. In the center of the room is a set of two couches facing each other, a small table in between them, and some fresh tea sat on the table.

Jake speaks up a bit. “M-Mr. Iroh, if it’s not any trouble… I-I brought my friend Ana with because-”

“You feel much safer when you are with her, correct?” Iroh answers, which admittedly surprises Jake.

“Uh… y-yeah, how did you…?” Jake asks, a bit bewildered. Iroh smiles as he takes a seat on one of the couches. “It was quite easy to tell, and I noticed you felt more relaxed when she took your hand.”

The kids both blush, just now realizing they had been holding hands as they were brought back here.

Jake then takes a seat on the couch across from Iroh, with Ana sitting to his right as Sterling and Kate stand off to the sides, but still close enough to listen in.

“Now, Mr. Engeal and Ms. Blakeour have informed me of your situation, but…” Iroh says as he pours the tea into some cups, then allows everyone to take one. “... I want to hear it now from you , Jake.”

Jake looks down at the tea in his hands, seeing the reflection of his face in the liquid. He calms his nerves with a gentle sigh, before telling Iroh everything .

It was all essentially the same as what Sterling and Kate had told Iroh to help him understand, but there were more details that had been left out that Jake brought up this time around.

This includes how Jake and Mason once had a group of very close friends back in D-667, close enough to be considered family. They each had their own unique quirk or personality that was hard to ignore, but the group didn’t care.

They were an odd group, not to the same extent of the Sharp Gang’s oddness, but they were still very close… until the demon attack, that is.

The group had been devastated at the loss of Mason, and they wanted to help Jake… but in his stew of refusing people’s help to avoid pushing his burden onto them, Jake left the group entirely and hasn’t looked back. He doesn’t know if the group stayed together or not after he had left them.

He regretted doing it back then, and now he regrets it even more as of lately now that he truly sees how much the people around him can truly help better him.

He also talked more about the feeling of hatred he had for Michael prior to his talk with Ariesto. It was… a lot more complicated than he had previously admitted.

It was like part of him did hate and blame Michael for what happened, but part of him didn’t . It was confusing, and that confusion just added onto the anger he felt.

He doesn’t leave out even the slightest detail, and they could see he was on the verge of tears from reliving this. Iroh listened intently, not interrupting the boy once. When Jake finally finished, he wiped his tears.

“So… that’s… that’s basically everything…” he says to the older man, finishing his life story.

“Hm… You sound a lot like my nephew used to be.” Iroh says, as Jake looks up at him. “My nephew Zuko was always thinking he needed to do things on his own without anyone's support, much like you were before. But like he learned himself, you realized there is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you.”

Jake nods at the old man’s words, and Iroh continues. “It can be difficult to deal with the loss of a loved one, especially in a way such as that.” Iroh’s face drops for a second, but he composes himself with a quiet sigh. “I speak from experience.”

Jake looks a bit surprised. “You… lost someone too?” he asks, trying to do so as politely as he could without sounding insensitive.

“Yes.” Iroh somberly says, looking to one of the walls. They follow his gaze and see hanging on the wall is an ink painting of a young man who looked to be the same age as Sterling.

“My son, Lu Ten, was such a bright light in this world; in life and in his loss, he taught me much.” Iroh says. “His passing shaped me into the man I am today.”

Jake stared at the painting in surprise, before looking at the old man again. “How… how did you move on?” he asks.

Iroh calmly sighs and looks back at Jake. “It’s never easy to move on from something like this, and at times it can feel like I haven’t made even the slightest progress. But I remind myself every day that even though Lu Ten is gone, I still have a family that loves and cares for me. Such as my nephew, Zuko.”

“Do you ever… blame yourself for… for what happened to your son?” Jake asks.

Iroh calmly sighs. “Part of me does, yes. But I’ve come to accept that as painful as this loss was, I cannot blame myself for it. My son gave his life for our nation, and… I know I would have done the same.”

Iroh takes a sip of his tea, before setting it down. “And I can tell that while part of you blames this Michael fella for what happened… another part of you blames yourself.” he says.

Sterling, Kate and Ana look at Jake, noticing his gaze lowering as Iroh continues. “Perhaps that is where the confusion of your anger comes from. One side of you blames yourself for the loss of your family, but another side refuses to accept this and looks for someone else to blame. These two sides are conflicting with each other, causing your confusion over how you feel towards what happened.”

Jake’s eyes widened a bit as he processed this. Despite how he often responded to Necrosson’s claims that what happened to his family was Jake’s own fault… he never really felt that was true. Like some part of him was telling him that the demon was right.

But with those denials he always insisted on, this could have been a result of him blaming Michael for what happened.

“No matter who it ends up being, part of you will always try to find someone to blame for your own misfortunes.” Iroh says. “But unless you have definitive proof of someone being responsible, then blaming anyone, especially yourself, is not a healthy mindset. So really think about it, Jake… between you and Michael, who is really responsible for what happened?”

“... Neither of us…” Jake answers, to which Iroh nods. “I was just a scared kid who was trying to survive, and Michael was someone who did his best to help out… even if… if it didn’t entirely work out…”

Iroh smiles softly. “Indeed. Everything may not have worked out, but you two still achieved your goals. Michael did his best to help someone in need, which helped you achieve your goal of surviving the demon.”

Jake wiped his face, realizing that there were more tears forming in his eyes. Part of him hated that he never did this sooner.

Talking to someone about this, having someone to offer advice, especially someone who went through the same type of pain as him…

… it helped so much more than he expected… and this was just the first day.

Necrosson was getting more and more furious with the soul of Mason. That damn brat just would not stop being a pest! No matter how much Necrosson tortured the boy, he just wouldn’t stop pissing him off!

Clearly he’s been doing something to keep himself from going insane, but the demon can’t tell what it is.

“You’re really pissing me off, brat!” Necrosson roars at Mason. “I have half a mind to rip your soul to shreds right now!”

But Mason just spits in the demon’s face with a sly smirk. “You ain’t got the guts. You’re petty enough to wait till you get a chance to kill Jake before destroying me, because you want to break my spirit first. But that shit ain’t gonna happen, asshole. Because I know DAMN WELL that my little brother will kick your ass next time!”

Necrosson snarled and drove his claws into Mason’s shoulder, as the boy grimaced and winced, but still kept his confident grin, not giving the demon the pleasure of hearing him scream. That just pissed the demon off more as he ripped his claws free and stormed out, then leaving his mindscape to return to the real world and blow off some steam.

When Mason sees Necrosson is gone and no longer focused on him, Mason lets out a breath of relief and closes his eyes. Then, he begins to do the one other thing that keeps him sane in this situation.

One of those things was reminding himself that his little brother was still alive, and he knew that Jake would find a way to defeat the demon for good and possibly save Mason too. He already had a chance to regain control after Jake and Necrosson’s prior fight.

But another thing… was a little something known as Quantum Jumping.

Quantum Jumping is the practice of entering a meditative state and then projecting your mind into that of an alternate universe version of yourself to learn their habits and bring them back into your own reality.

When Mason had first been trapped within his own transformed body by Necrosson’s power, he had unintentionally Quantum Jumped into a variant of himself that was going through some very intense military training to become a NAVY Seal just like his father, which was different from the main Mason’s father, who just stuck with being a police officer.

But in seeing the habits of that version of himself, it pushed the main Mason to get mentally stronger to handle the intensity of what it takes to truly become a NAVY Seal… which made Necrosson’s torture look like child’s play.

This was how Mason had stayed sane for the last 4 years despite being trapped. While his soul wasn’t able to leave the demon’s body, his consciousness was at least able to transfer into another variant of himself to live out a life free from the demon’s control.

And… he often found himself in realities where he and variants of Jake were still together, their brotherly bond as strong as ever.

Mason opened his eyes and found himself in a version of himself he’s been familiar with for a good while now. “Miles Tanner, nice.” Mason thinks, remembering the name of this variant of himself. “Jack should be out training with his Biunite.”

Miles walks through the living room and sees this version of his little brother, Jack Tanner, was training in the backyard with a girl who looked to be the same age as him, with tan skin and bright pink hair. Training with the two were some small creatures that reached to the waists of the kids in height.

One of them looked to be a black and green hybrid of a dragon and a shark that was emitting a green energy from the fin on its back and its front legs. The other looked to be a type of eel with blue skin, fins, and wings, and it was turning intangible to dodge the shark-dragon’s energy.

Jack and the girl prepare to strike each other, but that’s when their fists hit the palms of Miles’ hands, which seemed to be covered in a second layer of muscle that was more like armor and rippled across his arms from the strikes.

“Miles, what are you doing?” Jack says as he and the girl leap back. “I was just about to beat Amy!”

“You wish!” the girl, revealed to be named Amy, says with a sly smirk.

“Well… I figured you two could use more of a challenge.” Miles says as he cracks his knuckles, his arms getting surrounded in a second layer of muscle just like his hands. He then points to the two kids and their Biunites. “You two, Furarkous, and Elevisa… against me.”

Jack and Amy look at each other, and without having to say a word, they both smirk and agree to the challenge… as their Biunites then fuse with them.

Furarkous, the shark-dragon, gives Jack a set of wings and a shark fin from his back, and his hands are surrounded in green energy. Elevisa, the eel, gives Amy blue scaly skin, fins on her arms and legs, and a long eel tail from her tailbone.

Miles smirks, seeing the two agreeing to the 2-v-1... or rather the 4-v-1 if you count the Biunites. He cracks his neck and takes a fighting stance, and the two follow suit.

He was glad to see his brother thriving in this universe too.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

It’s been a few days since the first meeting with Iroh, and Jake would end up going to see him every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday after school to talk with him. Ana would always go with him, either just the two of them or with Sterling and/or Kate, and she could see Jake coming more and more out of the shell he had buried himself in.

Two weeks had passed, and everyone had already started seeing an improvement in Jake after these meetings. He was much less brash and more willing to open up, whether to the Sharp Gang or his classmates and teachers.

Jake still had a few problems to overcome, but it wasn’t something he would face alone.

Back at the Sharp Tank, Mara, Sterling, Kate, and Alexis were watching Michael and Heath spar in the training room, as they’ve been fighting for the last 10 minutes without their powers.

Michael ducked under a left hook from Heath and jabbed two fingers into a pressure point on Heath’s stomach, making him hunch over. Michael then grabbed the big man by the arm and flung him over his head, making the Kaiju Slayer hit back first on the mat with a heavy thud, ending the match.

In typical Heath fashion, the big man just sat up with a laugh. “Man!” he exclaims as Michael offers him a hand. Heath gets helped up to his feet. “I can see why you’re one of the best in your Dimension!”

“Thanks, Heath.” Michael says. “But I’m noticing some flaws in your fighting style. You always go for these large over-exaggerated punches, and that not only wastes time and energy, but it leaves you open to attacks.”

Heath scratches the back of his head, a little sheepish. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to work on that, but never really had the time with the frequent Archon or Tarsa attacks.”

“I know someone who might be able to help.” Michael says. “There’s a high-ranking Angel in my dimension that specializes in the kind of training you’re looking for. Some of our angels that focus more on your kind of fighting style go to him to deal with this exact weakness.”

This actually came as a surprise to Heath. “Wait, really? And he’s… not against training anyone who isn’t an Angel?” Michael just chuckles. “J-316 is open to anyone with a pure soul, regardless of who or what they are.”

This got Mara wondering… would she be allowed in despite her curse? But as if reading her mind, Michael then spoke up again. “Even those with some sort of demonic curse are welcome.”

A brief sense of relief washed over Mara, and Kate happened to notice Mara’s face turning a faint shade of red.

“… Oh, I’m definitely teasing Mara about this later.” Kate thinks to herself with a sly smirk. Seems part of Astra’s rubbing off on Kate.

“I may have to take you up on that offer, Mike!” Heath says with his usual grin. “I’m also curious to see what your Dimension’s like!”

Just then, Mara’s MJWW starts to ring, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looks and sees Tamika calling again. Seems there was another mission she was calling for Mara’s help.

Mara steps out of the room and answers the MJWW. “Hello, Tamika?”

“Hey, Mar-Mar!” Tamika says with her usual tone. “Ya mind coming by? We’ve got a new recruit, and I know you don’t work here full time anymore, but maybe you’d like to come and see her?”

“Is she really that good?” Mara asks, genuinely curious. It takes a lot for someone to join the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters, even just to be a researcher like Mara was before her curse.

“Girl may be young, but she’s already surpassed Costus in skill. Even knocked him on his ass without breakin’ a sweat!” Tamika says.

Now that certainly caught Mara’s attention. As much of a bastard as Clayton can be, she had to admit he was still a pretty good fighter. So for him to have been taken down without this new girl even breaking a sweat was crazy to hear!

“… Okay, I definitely may need to come by and meet whoever this is.” Mara says.

“Bring your friends too!” Tamika says, before a sly grin forms on her face. “And your angel boyfriend too!”

Mara’s face turns beet red as she quickly covers the watch, hanging up on Tamika. She was hoping that no one in the other room heard that, especially Kate or Michael.

“Tamika’s never gonna let me hear the end of this…” Mara thinks to herself.

At TAHE, it was currently one of the free learning days of the school. Jake found himself back in the library, reading the same book about the Gems of the Angelic from before. He was reading more intently, and wasn’t in any hurry to learn the new abilities that could come from these Gems.

Though one that did certainly catch his eye this time around was something that all of the Gems had. It was a form of telepathy that the Gem wielders could have with each other.

“The users of the Gems of the Angelic are capable of using a form of telepathy to communicate with each other.” Jake read to himself. “If the user concentrates enough, this ability will be as easy as speaking out loud. This ability is limited to only being in the same universe as another wielder of the Gems of the Angelic.”

“Okay, so I can’t communicate with another Gem user if they’re in a different universe than me.” Jake mutters to himself. “Not that I know of any other ones besides Ana.”

“Reading that book again, Jake?” the sweet voice of Rosaline Kritzer catches his attention, prompting him to look up from the book and see her.

“Yeah.” Jake says, gesturing to it. “Figured I’d give it another try now that my head’s a little more clear.”

“You’re definitely looking better, sweetie.” Rosie says, her soft smile remaining on her face. “Meeting with that Iroh fella seems to be doing wonders.”

“Well, that and having my friends and teachers around.” Jake says. “I don’t know what I was thinking not asking for help sooner…”

“Everyone makes mistakes, kiddo.” Rosie says, softly ruffling his hair. “It’s just part of life, but the most we can do is better ourselves from it.”

Jake could have sworn he heard Ariesto in the back of his mind cheering Rosie. “Preach it, Rosaline! Preach!” Turns out Ariesto was able to see and hear everything through Jake’s eyes and ears, and only Jake could hear the Archangel’s voice.

Jake can’t help but smile as Rosie softly kisses the top of his head. She then gestures to the book he has. “You go ahead and keep that book, Jake. You and your girlfriend could use it more than me.”

Jake’s face instantly goes beet red as his eyes nearly bulge out. “A-Ana’s not my girlfriend!” he sputters.

Rosie’s smile turns into a teasing smirk. “Oh, so you do like Ana?”

Jake slapped his palm to his forehead as his face went more red, because now he realized that Rosie never mentioned anything about who the “girlfriend” was, and Jake had just revealed his crush.

“... I walked right into that one…” Jake grumbles as Rosie walks off, giggling. “Yes, yes you did.” Ariesto comments.

“Oh shut it, Ariesto… I bet the same thing happened regarding you and Emily.” Jake quips back.

“… Touché.”

Jake closes the book and stands up, then walking out of the library. As he walked towards another class, something suddenly bumps into his leg.

He looks down and notices a little girl that seemed no older than 3 or 4 was responsible for bumping into him, and she seemed to have fallen back onto her rear as a result. She had dark skin and curly dark brown hair reaching to her shoulders, a slightly dirty and pale pink dress and ballet shoes, and surprisingly, small golden horns sticking out of her head and small angel wings sticking out of her back.

“Ow…” the girl said, rubbing her head. Jake turns to fully face the little girl, then kneeling down to her height.

“Are you okay?” he asks, as the little girl then looks up at him with bright green eyes. “Uh-huh.” she says as she stands up and dusts her dress off. “I’m looking for my class.”

Jake realizes this little girl must have gotten separated from her classmates or teacher, and had been running around trying to find them… until she had bumped into Jake. The boy can tell by her age that she must be part of the Cherub Class.

This was the class for the very youngest students, ranging from ages 3 to 6. They weren’t trained and taught in the same way as the older students, obviously, and were essentially in daycare.

“Well, I can help you look for them.” Jake says, softly smiling. The little girl’s eyes seem to light up as she smiles.

“Okay!” she says, as Jake then offers his hand to her. She grabs his finger with her tiny hand, before the two walk off. Jake knew the general area of where the Cherub Class is usually held, so he figured one of the teachers would be there.

The little girl’s attention was then drawn to the gem in Jake’s hand. “Mister, what’s that on your hand?” she asks, pointing to it with her other hand.

“Oh, that?” Jake says, deciding to entertain the child’s curiosity. “It’s what gives me my powers to heal people and fly.”

The little girl’s eyes sparkled as she gasped. “You can fly and heal people like my Mommy?!” she excitedly asks, which piques Jake’s attention. The little girl then looks behind Jake and seems confused. “But where are your wings?”

Jake chuckled, knowing she must think he has wings like she does. “I don’t have any. I can fly without wings.” he says, not to brag, but just to be honest.

“That’s so cool!” the little girl says with a bright smile. Jake can’t help but smile at how excited the girl is… and strangely, part of her excitement reminded him of…himself. Back before the demon attack, Jake had been just like this little girl; very energetic and excitable.

It was like he was seeing his past self brought to the present day in a new form.

“What’s your name, mister?” she asks, realizing she never asked Jake his name.

“I’m Jake Tagen.” he says. “What’s yours?” The little girl then smiles brightly, before introducing herself.

“My name’s Aurora Celeste!”

Jake’s eyes widened upon hearing that last name, and then it suddenly hit him. The angel wings? The small golden horns? Her age?

Of course! How did he not realize it sooner?! This was Ariesto and Emily’s child!

Jake repressed his surprise and smiled. “That’s a very pretty name.” he says, which makes Aurora’s smile widen even more.

As the two walk and chat, Jake learns that Aurora has a twin brother named Gabriel, and that he’s part of the Cherub Class too. They both want to become knights of J-316 just like their uncle and grandfather. In Aurora’s own words, she said:

“Mommy said that Daddy always brought hope when he fought, so Gabriel and I want to do the same when we get big!”

Jake can’t help but smile at the little girl’s heroic side as he thinks in his head. “They want to fight to bring hope… just like you, Ariesto.”

Inside Jake’s head, the Archangel had tears running down his face and a proud smile on his face. He feels awful for missing the lives of his two children, but he’s at least glad to know they’re not only doing well, but also aspiring to be just like him.

“Jake… I-I know this might be too much to ask-”

“No need, Ariesto. I know… I know.” Jake thinks with a smile, knowing exactly what he was going to say. Jake then looks down to Aurora.

“Well Aurora… if your Daddy was here now, I know that he would be very proud of you and your brother.” Jake says, causing Aurora to look up at him. “It takes a lot to become a hero, but he would have complete faith that you two will go far.”

Aurora brightly smiles, before she wraps herself around Jake’s leg and hugs him. Jake softly smiles, knowing that this hug brought more tears of joy to Ariesto.

“Aurora!”

Jake then glanced up and noticed two staff members rushing over to them, recognizing them as the teachers of the Cherub Class. One was a rather short stressed out woman wearing a red and blue outfit that looked straight out of a circus, the other was a much taller woman with one eye covered, curly red hair, and a very motherly presence.

In the arms of the taller woman was a little boy with similar features to Aurora, but with much shorter hair and wearing a white t-shirt and blue jean shorts. Jake knows this must be Aurora’s twin brother, Gabriel.

Both women felt relief upon seeing the little girl, who then lets go of Jake’s leg and then runs to her teachers. The shorter woman picks her up and lets out a breath of relief.

“Oh, thank God…” she mutters, feeling some of the stress vanish. “We’ve been looking all over for you after you flew off.”

Jake thinks that Aurora must have tested out her flying and ended up flying away from the Cherub Class, and had no way of finding the way back until she came across Jake. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.

The two teachers, Penny Free and Agatha McCarthy, who were better known as Pomni and Ragatha by the students, had been looking all over for her, while leaving the other kids in the care of another teacher while they did so.

Jake explains to the two teachers where he found Aurora, and how she didn’t seem to be in any pain despite the apparent crash landing she might have suffered.

Ragatha lightly chuckles. “Well, we appreciate you helping us find her, Jake.” she says, grateful that he was able to find her when he did.

“Happy to help, Miss Ragatha.” he says, then looking to Aurora, who was still in Pomni’s arms. “You behave for your teachers, little rascal.”

Aurora giggles as Jake pats the top of her head. “Okay, Mr. Jake!” she says. With that, the two teachers walk off with Aurora to bring her back to her class.

“I’ll keep an eye on those two… I promise, Ariesto.”

Inside Jake’s head, the Archangel wipes his tears with a smile. “I know you will, kid… It’s just… it’s good to know they’re doing okay.”

Mara appeared outside the Coalition building, with Michael, Alexis, Sterling and Kate coming along. She had told them about this new recruit of the Coalition, and they decided to meet her too.

Heath would’ve come along too, but he got called back to his dimension because of a Kaiju attack that the Slayers were struggling with. Michael had offered to go with Heath, but the big man said he would be fine, and would call him and Mara in if things got dire.

The group walks into the Coalition building, and are instantly met with Tamika Wiggins. “Hey, good to see y’all!” she greets, before sweeping Mara into a hug and even lifting her.

Mara chuckles as Tamika then lets her go. “Good to see you, Wiggins.” Kate says, having not seen her properly since they had first met.

“Girl, just call me Tamika.” the commander says, giving Kate a firm handshake. She then turns to face the two leaders of the Sharp Gang. “Now, I don’t think I’ve properly met you two.”

“Oh, these are essentially our group’s leaders.” Mara says, dusting herself off a bit from Tamika’s hug. “This is Alexis Jones and Sterling Engeal.”

“Good to officially meet you, Commander Wiggins.” Sterling says with his usual smile, shaking Tamika’s hand.

“Not tryin’ to sound like a broken record, but y’all can just call me Tamika.” she says, shaking Alexis’ hand, then turning to Michael. “Good to see ya too, Michael.”

“You too, Tamika.” he says with a smile. Tamika then brings the group inside. “So who’s this new recruit you were mentioning?” Mara asks, to which Tamika grins.

“She may be a small lil’ thing, but she packs a hella punch.” Tamika says. “Name’s Roxanne Takeda, but we call her Roxy. Girl’s a natural with a blade, enough to make some of our best in the Coalition look like beginners!”

Tamika leads them to the nearby training room where Roxanne was located. The room was lined with training dummies and weapons hanging on the walls, and in the center of the room was an American-Japanese girl who looked no older than 16 with bright red hair tied into a braid and diamond blue eyes.

She wore a black, silver and red bodysuit under a pink vest with red lining and dark red shoulder pads, a red skirt and knee pads, and red and black boots. Fashioned on a belt around her waist was the crimson hilt of a katana she was currently wielding to cut through the projectiles flying at her.

The projectiles were bean bags that fired from various holes in the wall, in order to test the person’s reflexes in case a demon attacked with projectiles from any direction. While these bean bags aren’t lethal, they do hurt if they end up hitting, especially depending on how high the setting is.

Mara was surprised to see how effortlessly this girl was dodging and cutting the bean bags. She looked at the control panel of this room and saw it was on the highest setting, meaning the bean bags were firing out very fast.

Not even the Ultra Instinct Hunter himself, Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, had ever had the setting this high.

Roxanne slices the last bean bag as the contents spill onto the floor. With the training session finished, she spins the blade in her hand for a moment, then sheathing it.

The sound of Tamika’s clapping catches Roxanne’s attention, making her look at the door. “Mighty impressive, Roxy.” she says, walking in.

“Thank you, Commander Wiggins.” Roxanne says, turning to face her and giving a bow out of respect. Mara’s eyes seemed to widen for a second, getting the same feeling from when she met Vivianne.

“Everyone, this is Roxanne Takeda.” Tamika says, patting the girl on the back. “She’s rising the ranks as fast as I did, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up becoming second in command.”

“A pleasure to meet you all.” Roxanne says with a warm smile.

“Nice to meet you too.” Alexis says, shaking the girl’s hand. “Those were some pretty impressive skills we saw. Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

“From my family. I come from a long line of kunoichi, dating back to the days before the Coalition.” Roxanne says.

“It definitely shows.” Sterling says, rather impressed as he points to her weapon. “You’re pretty good with that sword.”

“Oh, this.” Roxanne says, unclipping the sheath from her belt and holding the weapon up. She had a somber smile on her face. “This weapon was actually the last gift I ever received from my boyfriend before he died…”

“Oh…” Sterling says, slightly wincing. “Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to open old wounds.” But Roxanne waves his worries away. “No, no, it’s okay.” she says.

“That must make the blade pretty effective against demons, huh?” Kate asks, to which Roxanne nods.

“It does. I am forever grateful to Mason for gifting me this blade.” Roxanne says.

That name made the five Sharp Gang members’ eyes nearly bulge out, with Kate and Sterling looking at each other in shock. Roxanne and Tamika notice everyone’s shock.

“What’s got y’all shocked?” Tamika asks, confused by their reactions. Sterling looks back to Roxanne, speaking up. “Roxanne, when you say Mason… do you mean Mason Tagen?”

Roxanne’s eyes widened upon hearing him say the full name of her late love. “You… you knew him?” she asks in surprise, to which Alexis then answers.

“Well, no, we didn’t. We actually… know his brother, Jake.”

Roxanne’s eyes widened even more as her surprise turned to full on shock. After a few seconds, she blitzes to Alexis at alarming speeds and grabs the Reaper by the shoulders, which surprises the group more as she starts asking rapid fire questions.

“You know Jake?! Is he okay?! Where is he?! What happened to him?! Is he hurt?! Has he been eating well?!”

Kate snaps the girl out of it by grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit. “Hey, hey, easy! Breathe!”

Roxanne tries to calm down, but still seems a bit frantic. Kate then explains. “Jake’s okay. He’s under our care, and is currently in school… though, not in this universe. And although it’s a slow process… he’s getting the help he needs.”

Roxanne slows her breathing, trying to stop herself from tearing up. “S-Sorry…” she says in a surprisingly shaky tone.

Earlier Roxanne seemed like a cold and calculated killer in combat, but now she was frantic and worried? But she soon explained why.

“My friends and I barely heard from Jake in the last few years after the incident…” Roxanne says. “When he got put into foster care, we tried to reach out to him, but he rarely answered…”

The group looked sympathetic to know that Roxanne and her friends had tried reaching out and helping Jake, to no avail. “She must be part of the group of friends that Jake mentioned the first time he met with Iroh.” Sterling thinks to himself.

“Though, I guess I don’t have much room to talk… I was honestly even worse after Mason was killed…” Roxanne says, recalling her own reaction to the grave news. “If it wasn’t for Phileveloss, I don’t want to know what could have happened…”

That name caught Mara by surprise. “P-Phileveloss…? As in the demon who hunted those afraid of love?” she says, before deciding to speak about what she noticed earlier. “Is that why-?”

Roxanne slightly smiles, cutting her off. “I knew you of all people would realize it, Mara.” she says.

Knowing what’s coming next, Tamika adverts her gaze. “If any y’all got a weak stomach, look away now.”

Roxanne’s right arm suddenly twitches and contorts, growing in size and muscle as a large growth forms in her shoulder and blooms into a large red rose. A dark red vine covered in thorns wraps around the arm as the skin becomes a pale gray color, and her hand shifts into a three-fingered hand with glowing red claws on each end.

“I was turned into a demon by Phileveloss a few years ago.” Roxanne says. “Not out of her having a desire for me to do her bidding… but because she didn’t want to see a life end by heartbreak. Not anymore.”

“Turns out the rumors of Phileveloss actually turning a new leaf because of that Brett guy’s words to her are actually true.” Tamika says, still looking away. “I don’t exactly trust her, but I’m willing to take Roxy’s word on it for now.”

Roxanne’s arm then twists and contorts back into its human look, allowing Tamika to look back to her. “That transformation always looks so damn painful, Roxy. I don’t know how you or Mara do it.” she says.

“The first few times were a bit painful, but you get used to it the more you use it.” Mara says, to which Roxanne nods. “Frequent use allows us to become numb to any pain in the transformation.”

Tamika just shakes her head. “I’ll take your word on it, I guess.” she says, then turning to leave the room. “I better go check on Gramps. His ass is still in bed after New Girl kicked the hell out of him.”

With that, Tamika leaves the room, leaving Roxanne with the Sharp Gang members. The red-haired girl turns to them. “Listen… would… would it be any trouble if I could see Jake myself?” she asks. “I just want to see him in person to confirm he’s okay. While I do trust your word, I’d feel better if I could see him myself.”

“No, no, we understand.” Sterling says with a smile. “Kate and I said the same thing when an ally of ours recommended a therapist for Jake.”

Roxanne smiled in relief, hearing that she would be able to see Jake, but also because Jake was getting the help he needed.

“We’ll take you to see him once he’s done with school for the day.” Alexis says. “Though we’ll have to let him know in advance so he isn’t too surprised.”

“That’s fine.” Roxanne says, only for Michael’s MJWW to start ringing. He looks and sees it’s Heath calling. He answers, and a holographic view of Heath appears. “What’s up, big man?” he says.

“Hey Mike, you and Mara mind coming by? The Kaiju’s putting up more of a fight than I expected.” Heath says.

Michael and Mara look at each other and nod, then look back to Heath. “We’ll be there soon.” Michael says. The big man thanks them, before the two rush out of the room.

Once they’re gone, Kate looks at Sterling and Alexis. “You think those two are gonna become a thing?” she says, pointing to the demon and angel that just left.

“Oh, easily.” Sterling says, to which Alexis nods. “Definitely.” That’s when Tamika, who somehow overheard them from the other room, shouts to them.

“I WAS THE FIRST ONE TO START THINKIN’ THAT!”

Later on, back at TAHE, Jake had just finished up the last of his classes he needed for the free learning day, just in time to see Ana. “Oh, hey Ana.” he says, waving her over.

“Hi, Jake.” she says with a soft smile as she approaches. “Are you feeling okay?”

Jake knew that Ana had developed a habit of asking if he was okay whenever they were apart for most of the day, and he knew it was validated after what happened a while back.

Jake softly smiled. “I am, Ana.” he answers honestly. “Really, I am. I’m done hiding if I’m hurt or upset.”

Ana’s smile widens upon hearing that, and she gives Jake a hug. Jake, going a bit red, returns the hug with his one free hand, since the other was holding the book on the Gems. When the hug splits, the two start walking towards their cabins. Ana notices the book in Jake’s hand and looks closer at it. “What book is that?” she asks.

“It’s on the Gems of the Angelic.” Jake says, holding the book up. “It explains more of the possibilities we have with our Gems, including how to improve our powers.”

“Really?” Ana asks in surprise, to which Jake nods. “Yeah. It even revealed some abilities I didn’t know were possible for the Gems, like how the users can communicate with each other via telepathy through the Gems.”

Jake opens the book to the pages talking about the telepathy that Gem users have, and Ana peeks over Jake’s shoulder to read it as well. “Wow, that could be super useful!” Ana says in surprise, not expecting she and Jake could have that kind of ability.

“There’s a lot more that these Gems have to offer.” Jake says, before closing the book. “Miss Rosie said we can keep it, since we’re probably the only ones who will need it.”

“It’ll definitely help.” Ana says with a smile. “Did anything else happen today?”

“Actually, yeah. One of the Cherub Class students accidentally flew off and got lost, so I brought her back to the class.” Jake says, which definitely catches Ana’s attention. “Precious little thing, she was. Name was Aurora Celeste.”

“Aurora Celeste?” Ana repeats the name, before her eyes widen. “Oh! You mean Emily’s daughter?”

Jake nods. He remembers that Michael’s sister, Emily, has a habit of talking about her kids a lot, so it doesn’t surprise him that Ana had heard about them.

Just then, Jake’s MJWW starts ringing, and he notices it’s Benny calling. He answers, as a hologram of Benny then appears. “Hey Benny, what is it?” he asks.

“Hey kid, you’re done with classes for the day, right?” the mech maker asks, to which Jake nods. “Sweet! You mind comin’ to the Sharp Tank? Alexis, Kate, and Sterling got someone that apparently wants to see you. Someone from your home dimension or somethin’.”

This confuses Jake for a moment, before he shrugs. “Uh… sure, okay.” he says. “I’ll be there shortly.”

He hangs up his MJWW. “Someone wants to see you?” Ana asks. “Any idea who it is?” Jake just shakes his head, before activating the teleportation of his MJWW. “Only one way to find out.”

Jake and Ana teleport back to A-016 outside the Sharp Tank, then walk inside. About half of the odd group was gathered in the main room, doing their own thing. Champagne, who was sitting at the counter and drinking some coffee, notices the two entering. “Hey, you two.” he says, greeting them and catching everyone’s attention.

“Hey, Dr. McGregor.” Jake says, giving him a slight wave. They haven’t exactly interacted much, but Jake was still friendly to the ex-dinosaur geneticist. He then turns to Sterling. “So… Benny told me there was someone here to see me?”

“Jake!!”

The boy’s eyes practically bulged out of their sockets upon hearing that voice, one he hadn’t heard in 3 or 4 years. He looked to the center of the room and saw a familiar red-head rushing to him, and it wasn’t Vasilia or Naseko.

“R-Roxanne?!” Jake exclaims, only to get bear hugged by the older girl faster than he could react. “It really is you! Thank God!” Roxanne exclaims, her hug tightening more and more by the second.

Ana watches the interaction in confusion, wondering just who this seemingly random girl hugging Jake is. But then a possible idea comes to mind.

In the brief times Jake talked about his old group of friends in his sessions with Iroh, he mentioned a few names of the people in this group, including one being Roxanne. He mentioned that Roxanne was a fierce but friendly girl and was actually Mason’s girlfriend before his passing.

So seeing this girl who looked the same age that Mason would have been today, as well as hearing her name and her reaction to seeing Jake again, seemed to confirm to Ana who this was.

“Jake, you have no idea how much we’ve missed you!!” Roxanne says to Jake.

The boy stood there in surprise. While no one else seemed to notice, he heard a slight break in her voice, as if she was holding back from crying. Adding this onto the regret he felt for leaving behind his friend group after his family’s death, Jake really felt bad.

He softly returned the hug to Roxanne. “I… I’m sorry, Roxy…” he whispers, knowing he had quite a lot of questions to answer from his late brother’s girlfriend.

And he was going to answer all of them, that’s for sure.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

“Ow! Hey!”

Jake held his ear in slight annoyance, because Roxanne had given it a harsh tug after their hug split. “What the hell?! That hurt!”

“That’s the point.” Roxanne says with a stern look. The rest of the group stared at the interaction in confusion. This girl went from bear hugging Jake to pulling on his ear like an angry mom or older sister.

Roxanne’s stern look fades as she calms down, and the pain in Jake’s ear vanishes rather quickly. “Guess I deserved that after being out of contact for this long…”

“Rae asked me to do that when I told the group I’d be seeing you again.” Roxanne says, to which Jake gives a light chuckle. “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

“If you don’t mind me interrupting…” Benny interrupts, catching Jake and Roxanne’s attention. “... you mind introducing us to this girl, kid?”

“Right, sorry.” Jake says, facing the group. “Guys, this is Roxanne Takeda. She’s one of the friends I had before the incident, and she’s Mason’s girlfriend. Roxanne, this is… well, this is the Sharp Gang.”

Roxanne looks at Jake, clearly a bit confused by the name, and Jake just shrugs and points to Benny. “He came up with the name, and we just rolled with it after he kept insisting on it. Pretty much like how Zack kept calling himself our group’s leader, so we just gave up on correcting him.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Roxanne says, shrugging. “And I assume that most of the people here are all from different dimensions or universes?”

“Pretty much.” Jake says, before looking at everyone. “Guys, is… is it alright if Roxanne and I have a moment to talk?”

“Say no more, Jake.” Sterling says, to which everyone else nods and leaves the room. Ana seemed a bit hesitant to do so, but Jake gave her a soft smile. “I’ll be fine, Ana. I promise.” he says.

Ana’s worries start to diminish as she returns the smile to Jake, before giving him a quick hug and then leaving the room with everyone else.

“The others will definitely tease Jake about this when they find out.” Roxanne thinks to herself, clearly recognizing the bond between Jake and Ana just off that interaction alone.

Jake and Roxanne then sit across from each other on the couches of the main room, and he seems hesitant to say something.

He swallows his nerves and follows through with asking anyways. “Is… is the group still… together?”

Roxanne softly smiles, giving a nod in response. “They are.” she says. “They’ve stayed strong despite everything that’s happened, and not really much has changed… aside from a certain someone finally getting lost.”

“Nicole?” Jake asks, to which Roxanne nods. Jake lets out a relieved sigh.

If there was one person from his old friend group he did NOT miss, that was Nicole Wilford. She was spoiled, bratty, vain, arrogant, and frankly… she’s one girl that Jake never had a crush on. Nicole often verbally expressed to the group how much she hated hanging out with them, but would still hang out with them like she didn’t say a damn thing.

Oddly enough, the only person she seemed to be nice to was Jake, but Jake didn’t care. She was rude to his friends, so he didn’t care how nicely she treated him.

To put it bluntly, he hated her guts. And still does.

Roxanne softly places a hand on Jake’s shoulder, having a strong feeling about what he was going to ask next. “And no, none of them hate you for the way you were acting after the incident.” she says. “It was a rough moment for all of us, especially you and I.”

Jake let out a quiet sigh of relief upon hearing that. Roxanne was never one to lie, especially about situations like this. Her family was pretty much all about being honest and noble, not keeping secrets. That’s why she had shown and told Tamika about her demon form immediately when she applied for the Coalition.

“So… they all miss me?” Jake asks, to which Roxanne nods again. Jake’s gaze lowers as he lets out a light chuckle. “Jeez… I still feel like an idiot for leaving you guys when you only wanted to help me…”

“You’re not the only one who did so, Jake.” Roxanne says, which catches the boy by surprise. Her gaze lowers as she looks down to her right hand, seeing the small pulses of red demonic energy rippling across her arms. “I became a recluse after Mason’s passing, hardly eating, sleeping, or paying attention. It got to the point that… I… I would have died for good if it wasn’t for Phileveloss.”

Her right arm transforms into her demon form once again, which surprises Jake, but also horrifies him upon realizing that Roxanne’s life almost ended because of her depression.

And it made him think back to his last encounter with Necrosson. The demon was moments from actually killing him, and likely could have done so immediately if it wasn’t for him wanting to torment Jake. He was lucky that his classmates arrived when they did, and that Ana had gotten him out of there quickly.

If they hadn’t… there’s a chance he would have died before he could have ever made the changes he needed to better himself. In a way… he almost suffered the same fate as Roxanne, if not worse, since there was no chance of him getting revived as a demon like Roxanne did.

“Losing my life and being revived was the wake up call I needed to snap out of it.” Roxanne says. “To finally stop dwelling on the past and push forward.”

“Guess it took us both getting close to death to finally snap out of it…” Jake says, before explaining his last fight with Necrosson, followed by his eye-opening conversation with Ariesto, leading to him being seen by Iroh and truly starting to better himself.

Roxanne smiles as her arm shifts back to normal. “Jake… I’m not trying to force you to do so if you don’t feel ready… but… do you think you’ll be able to reunite with our group again?” she asks. “It just doesn’t feel the same without you. But if you don’t feel ready, I won’t force it.”

Jake takes a moment to consider the idea. He wasn’t against it, but… was he really ready to face his old group of friends after this long?

Seeing Roxanne again was certainly nice, even though it was unexpected. But part of him still worried that the others would be angry with him, even if Roxanne was telling him otherwise.

Then he remembered something Iroh told him, something which played more into helping Jake than he realized.

“There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you. While it is always great to believe in oneself, a little help from others can be a great blessing.”

Now that Jake was allowing people to help him get through his struggles, it was like he was opening the doors to his true self… and one of those doors could only be opened if he allowed his old friends to help him like they’ve wanted to for so long.

Jake softly smiles, before looking up at the red-haired girl. “I think I am… but… can you guys give me another week? Y’know, to mentally prepare myself?”

Roxanne’s smile widens, before she puts a hand on top of his head and ruffles his hair. Jake lets out a slightly annoyed groan, remembering where she got this habit from. “I hate that Mason gave you guys this same habit…”

“Get used to it again, Jake.” Roxy says with a sly grin, before the two chuckle.

That’s when something slides across the floor and bumps into Jake’s foot. He looks and sees a small box with a note in Benny’s handwriting.

“Go ahead and give this MJWW to her, kid.”

He picks up the box and hands it to Roxanne. “Here.” he says as she opens it. “It’s called a… ugh, a MJWW.” “A what?” Roxanne says, slightly amused by the name.

“It’s a Multiverse Jumping Wristwatch. It’ll allow you to teleport here whenever you want, and also communicate with me or the other members of this group if needed.” Jake says. “So I guess… welcome to the Sharp Gang.”

Roxanne puts the MJWW on her left wrist. “Eh, I prefer our group’s name more. Has a better ring to it.” she says, fastening the device to her wrist.

“Like I said, I didn’t choose the name.” Jake shrugs. Jake shows her how to use the teleportation and helps her find Dimension D-667. Before she leaves, Roxanne looks at Jake with a soft smile.

“It was good to see you again, Jake.” she says, giving him a gentle hug. “Take care, will ya?”

Jake smiles and hugs back, before they split and Roxanne vanishes in a flash of light.

“I hope it goes well…” Jake thinks to himself, to which Ariesto responds. “It will, Jake. I’m sure of it.”

Mason awoke in the subconscious of a different variant of himself. Necrosson had been getting more annoyed with him, and Mason was glad. It meant there was a chance of him getting sloppy and screwing up the next time he tried to go after Jake, meaning it could get easier and easier to eventually regain control.

Mason saw he was walking next to a guy who looked to be in his early 20s, the same age as himself in this reality. He has a well toned physique, messy blue hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing what looked like mud-splattered military training attire, so Mason knew this was Kyo Adachi. Mason looked down and saw he was wearing the same sort of attire, equally mud-splattered.

“Nice! I’ve been dying to end up being Minato Tanaki again!” Mason thinks to himself, having been in this subconscious before. “Today was the tryouts for the Suberaith Squadrons, and Kyo and I got brought to these interrogation rooms to test our mental strength in stressful situations.”

He looks ahead to the man walking ahead of them, which was a taller man with a mohawk. “This Hekima Aka guy is actually a captain of a Squadron, and isn’t actually a jerk. Damn good actor, gotta admit. Honestly thought I was gonna hate his guts.”

After letting the two shower and change into a new set of clothes to get the mud off of them, the guy with the mohawk, Captain Hekima Aka, leads Minato and Kyo into a hangar full of other recruits being fitted for their Suberaith Gauntlets. He was also explaining his role in the try-outs, essentially being a plant to set an example of how not to act, to see if anybody loses their cool during tryouts so they can weed out bad recruits.

Being brought into the interrogation rooms under the guise of having done something wrong during the try-out was to further test their psychological strength, which they both passed with ease. So while the rest were still partaking in the try-out, Minato and Kyo pretty much already finished.

Hekima brings them both to a platform marked “#16” and says he’ll be back with some Suberaith Gauntlets for them. Once he walks off, Minato gives Kyo a playful elbow to the side.

“Think we gotta worry about Chip?” he asks. A few seconds of silence follows, before they burst into chuckles.

“I’d be worried if he didn’t make it.” Kyo jokes. “But like he says, we’re either doing this together, or not at all.”

“Damn right.” Minato says as they share a fist bump. Minato then looks around, before whispering in a quieter tone. “So… you think either of those fateful handshakes are here?”

Kyo went quiet upon hearing the question. A few days before the try-outs, Kyo had told Minato and their other best friend, Chipansaal “Chip” Akalee, about a fateful day that would be coming in a few months.

A while back, a much angrier and bitter Kyo had a near-death experience and wake-up call from his Spirit Guide, Yorik, that motivated him to make a change to himself. But on top of that, Yorik had also told Kyo that 333 days from then, he would shake hands with both the love of his life and his arch-rival on the same day.

This had caused Kyo to make the changes that ultimately led him to meeting Chip and Minato at the gym, and the three quickly became a trio of friends, each determined to make it into the Suberiath Squadrons.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Kyo whispers back to Minato. “I mean I wouldn’t be against having you and/or Chip as my rival, but for the love of my life… part of me is hoping it ends up being Toshiko.”

Kyo had been caught in the crossfire of the first attacks from the alien invaders dubbed the Kyuserax by the media, since they were believed to have been made by an alien race known as the Kyusidians, though they have repeatedly claimed innocence.

Kyo had actually been saved by the inventor of the Suberaith tech and daughter of the General of the Suberaith Squadrons; a fierce and rather beautiful young woman named Toshiko Yamada. This happened before his encounter with Yorik, but Kyo felt rather certain that she would be the love of his life.

“Then again, you can’t just walk up to someone and say ‘Hey, I think you’re the love of my life that I was told I would meet on a certain day.’” Kyo says. “Just makes me sound weird and creepy.”

Minato elbows Kyo in the side and points towards something. Kyo looks, only for his heart to start pounding faster upon seeing Toshiko herself, walking in and leading two other recruits.

Kyo quickly tried to calm himself as she got closer, but with each step she took to get closer to them, it was like his heartbeat got faster and faster.

Minato glanced at the two people Toshiko was leading, and spotted a familiar head of red-hair. He smiled upon seeing that his girlfriend, Ryuko Takeda (this universe’s variant of Roxanne), had made it.

Ryuko briefly locks eyes with Minato, giving him a soft smile as she walks past them. That smile made Minato’s heart start beating faster, though not to the same extent as Kyo’s upon seeing Toshiko.

The other person looked to be a young woman of the same age with short purple hair. Minato recognized her as the parkour girl that had swept through the try-out with relative ease, which had also helped Kyo and Minato get an idea of how to pass the soldiers at the end.

Hekima soon returned with two Suberaith Gauntlets, one right-handed and one left-handed, seeming slightly amused. Turns out he was also holding a tablet connected to the wristbands they were wearing, which could measure their heartbeats, brain waves, and emotional states.

Meaning he saw how fast their hearts were beating upon seeing Toshiko and Ryuko respectively.

“Jeez, you two. Your heart rates are going crazy, especially you, Adachi.” Hekima says, chuckling a bit. “You two really that excited about putting the tech on?”

“Yep, yep! That’s-that’s what it is!” Kyo quickly says, not wanting his crush on Toshiko to become more public knowledge, especially since she was within earshot of them. Ryuko stepped up onto the platform next to theirs, along with the purple haired girl.

“Alright, we’ll start with Tanaki, so it’ll give Adachi some time to slow his heart rate.” Hekima says, handing one of the gauntlets to Minato. “Let’s see what you got.”

Minato composed himself, while Kyo focused on his tactical breathing to slow his heart rate. Minato then slipped his left hand into the gauntlet, which promptly tightened around his forearm.

Minato could feel like the gauntlet was latching onto his forearm muscles, hitting some pressure points. A pulse of purple light rippled across his body, before the blade began to form in a hexagonal pattern of purple light. It grew to the length of Minato’s arm, before solidifying.

Minato stared at the blade in awe, feeling the immense strength the gauntlet was giving him, while indeed feeling his emotions amplified. He let out a laugh of excitement, and Hekima looked at the tablet showing how much energy the gauntlet was at.

“90 percent.” Hekima says, surprised and impressed to see just how much Minato was able to use. “Look at that, you beat Squad Captain Yamada Toshiko’s power!”

Minato couldn’t see it fully, but he was pretty sure Toshiko’s head seemed to turn and look at him. Hekima did say that pretty loudly.

Hekima then turns his attention to Kyo, who was able to calm his heart rate enough to be ready. “Alright, Adachi. Your turn.”

Kyo slipped the gauntlet onto his hand, and the same thing happened to him. His gauntlet sprouted a blue blade that soon reached the same size as Minato’s… but then it got larger. Minato and Kyo both stared in surprise at how much larger Kyo’s blade had become, but then they overheard Hekima talking into an earpiece.

And based on the smile he had, it was clear this was actually a good thing.

“General Ritsu, I’ve got some incredible news. Private Adachi Kyo has maxed out his gauntlet on Platform 16.” He paused for a moment, listening to what the general was saying. She likely didn’t believe him at first, but he continued. “No, really. Maxed out, it’s at 100 percent.”

He then turns to Kyo, who was looking surprised. “Sit tight, Private. I’m going to get you another Gauntlet.” he says.

Minato could see Kyo’s eyes widening more, and he himself was excited for his friend. “Another Gauntlet?” he says to the Captain. “He’s gonna get to wield two Suberaith Gauntlets?!”

Before Hekima could say anything or walk off, Toshiko practically speed-walks over to their platform and grabs the tablet from him, her eyes wider than Kyo’s. She definitely heard Hekima this time.

Kyo almost felt his heart rate increasing again, worried Toshiko would see this on the tablet, but Hekima took the tablet back from her. “Hey, these two are my recruits, Toshi.” he says in a playful manner.

“For now.” she says, matter-of-factly. “If they make it through training, I’m stealing them. Especially Adachi.”

That made Kyo’s heart rate speed up more, but he managed to calm himself as Toshiko walked back to her platform with Ryuko and the other girl. Hekima ran off, leaving the two friends with their Suberaith Gauntlets. But moments later, a much older woman approaches their platform, prompting them to stand tall and at attention, because this was General Ritsu Yamada.

Her attention was focused mostly on Kyo, but she did also seem impressed by how much power Minato’s gauntlet was able to use. She asked Kyo something about if he did any physical activities prior to the training he did to turn his life around, and Kyo mentions how he had taken dance classes when he was younger. He had stopped some time after his dad died, but restarted them during this journey to better himself and also improve his balance.

She then turns her attention to Minato, and asks him something similar, but she seemed more focused on his mental fortitude than his physical ability. Minato was physically strong and skilled, yes, but he had been one of the most level-headed people in the entire course, hence him going through the same interrogation trial as Kyo.

“Prior to deciding to join the Suberaith Squadron, I had wanted to become a NAVY Seal like our late father. My brother and I spent most of our lives training and putting ourselves through the trials of a NAVY Seal to one day join them, but when the first Kyuserax attack happened and the Suberaith Squadron announced their recruitment try-outs, we both decided to join. Though, he was unable to because he’s not old enough. He has three years until he’ll be able to try-out.”

General Ritsu nodded, seeming impressed by both answers. “The average recruit is able to power the blades between 60 and 75 percent. Before Private Tanaki’s arrival, Squad Captain Yamada Toshiko had the highest power at 88.8 percent, though there is still much we do not know about how the Gauntlets fully work.”

She seemed to give an odd look to Toshiko for a moment, before looking back to the boys, specifically Kyo. “But we have never had anyone max out a Gauntlet until now.” she says, just in time for Hekima to return with a left-handed Gauntlet.

“Let’s see how far over 100 you can go, Private Adachi.” Hekima says. Kyo slips on the other gauntlet, and it does the same thing as the first one.

As this new blue blade grew in size, the first one shrunk a bit. Soon enough, they were both the same size. Everyone had expected the left blade to be much smaller, but it seems both blades leveled out to become even in size.

“This is crazy. Both blades are leveled out at 77.7 percent!” Hekima says, as Kyo laughed in excitement. Minato was left amazed, seeing that his friend was technically at 155.4 percent compared to his 90 percent.

He didn’t envy Kyo, no. But if he was truly going to be Kyo’s rival, he was damn sure going to step his game up. To push both himself and Kyo to be the best versions of themselves.

And the next four months would certainly be grueling and intense, more than the try-outs were, but Minato was determined to keep going with Kyo, Chip, and now Ryuko at his side.

They either did this together, or not at all.

The week went by very slow for Jake, likely a result of how nervous he was feeling about seeing his old friends. He brought this up to Iroh the next time they met, and Iroh told him it was normal for his mind and nerves to make it seem like the days go by either slower or faster.

Iroh told him that the best he could do was take this time to prepare, regardless of how slow or fast the days seemed to go. Jake took this advice to heart and indeed prepared himself, still a bit nervous, but also excited.

Soon enough, the day came. Roxanne sends Jake a message through the MJWW, giving him the location she’s at right now. Jake takes a moment to see what that location is, and his eyes widen for a moment.

Sterling and Kate, who were about to hit the ice baths, happen to walk by and notice Jake’s reaction. “Jake?” Sterling says, catching the boy’s attention. “You alright?”

Jake nods. “Yeah, I’m okay.” he says, looking back at his MJWW. “It’s just… this location Roxanne sent me where the group’s meeting today… it’s where we always hung out in the past.”

He displays a holographic map of the location, which shows a rather large building that looked to be a mall. “When we were younger, we always met up here on the weekends or holidays, because this place never closed.” Jake says.

“Damn, so basically a kid’s dream?” Kate says, to which Jake nods. She gently puts a hand to his shoulder. “You sure you’re gonna be alright, Jake?”

Jake gives a soft smile. “Yeah. I’m nervous, but… also a bit excited, I guess.” he says. Sterling smiles, before giving Jake a light hug. “Be safe, Jake. If you need anything-”

“I know. I’ll let you know.” Jake says, which makes Sterling and Kate smile. They were glad to know that Jake was trusting people more.

With that, Jake then teleports in a blink of light. Astra happens to walk by just as he vanishes, and she gives a sly smirk to Sterling and Kate. “Jeez, just adopt him already, would ya?” she quips.

Sterling and Kate’s faces both go red from embarrassment. “ASTRA!” they shout at her as she walks away, chuckling to herself.

Jake appears in Dimension D-667, about a block away from the location Roxanne sent him. Even if he hasn’t been to this area in years, part of him remembered it like the back of his hand. He walks towards the large mall, his mind racing with memories of the good times he had with this group.

Trying and struggling to play basketball with Zack, having not worked out to the same level as him.

Helping Jack come up with new verses for his raps, as well as giving him the idea for his rapper name “Volt”.

Watching Andy mess around with technology and other equipment that thankfully didn’t blow up in his face.

Seeing Cindy bust a move and put even experienced dancers to shame despite her own handicap.

Acting as a mannequin for any outfits Jessica wanted to test out on her friends, and always being impressed by her sense of fashion.

Seeing Rae always drag Scott along with her to ensure he didn’t spend all his time inside, and Scott never once resisting.

Those were just to name a few, but each one brought a smile to Jake’s face upon reliving them. He had spent so much time ignoring his past and trying to move on, he had neglected the good memories that had come from it.

It was time to change that.

He soon arrived at the large mall and entered the sliding automatic doors. He takes a moment to look around the large building, seeing that it had gone through some slight renovations, but was still relatively the same as it was back then.

It was a three-story building with shops on each level, escalators and elevators that connected the 3 floors, metal railings across the balconies with glass panes underneath, and a glass roof that poured light into the building.

Jake had a strong feeling of where the group was at this time, and as if confirming his thoughts, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. The voice of a cheerful older girl he remembered all too well.

“Jake!!!”

Jake turns his attention to the direction of the voice, seeing someone rushing over. It was a young woman who looked about 19 years old, with light blue hair and eyes, a slightly plump figure, a lavender colored dress with a belt that has a white flower on the buckle, dark purple boots, and gold bracelets along her forearms.

A smile formed on Jake’s face, before the girl reached him and swept him into a hug that actually lifted him off the ground. She was bear hugging him like there was no tomorrow, and honestly… he missed this.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!” the girl excitedly says, swinging Jake side to side in her hug. “I almost didn’t believe it when Roxy said you were coming to see us, but it’s true!! You’re really here!!”

Jake smiled and returned the hug as best he can, since he was still being a bit crushed by the hug. “Hey, Helen… I missed you too.”

The girl, Helen Summers, drops Jake and gives him a chance to breathe, before grabbing him by the arm and suddenly pulling him over to where she just ran from. Jake just chuckled as he followed behind Helen, who soon led him to the nearby food court. A large table sat in the center, with a group of people Jake could immediately recognize, especially upon seeing Roxanne among them.

Zack and Jack Harmon, a pair of 17-year old twin brothers. They both have tanned skin, brown eyes, dark black hair, and rather toned physiques. But besides that, they still look very different from each other.

Zack’s hair is in a mohawk and was shaved on both sides. His muscles are a bit larger than his brother’s, likely a result of his athletic activities and workout routines. He wears an orange jersey with yellow details, black gym shorts with orange trims, orange sweatbands on his wrists, white socks rolled up to different heights, and orange shoes that matched his shirt.

Jack’s hair is shaved on the left side, while the rest of it is brushed to the right. He wears a skin-tight dark teal tank top, dark gray baggy jeans held up by a teal belt, a gold chain around his neck, teal sneakers with yellow soles, and a teal eyepatch with a gold lightning bolt over his right eye. But Jake knew the eyepatch wasn’t covering a lost eye, it was simply for aesthetic purposes. Really leaning into his nickname, “Volt”.

Andy Raine is rather lean at 15-years old, with gelled up brown hair and green eyes. He wears a black turtleneck shirt with light blue digital details lining the arms, a blue collared vest, gray jeans with two brown belts, and blue boots. His hands are replaced with silver prosthetics lined with light blue glowing details, both looking about as impressive as Benny’s tech… but don’t tell Benny I said that.

Cindy is a bit slim at 16-years old, but still packs a bit of muscle. Her wavy blonde hair reaches to lower back, and her eyes are covered by green glasses that had a screen in place of lens, showing a green wavelength that moved with the beat around her. She wears a backwards green baseball cap, a black tank top ripped to expose her midriff underneath a loose green vest, blue bell-bottom jeans with a white belt, green slip-free sneakers, and many gold rings on her fingers.

Tony Warden is TALL, even for a 19-year old. While not as broad and muscular as Heath, Jake was pretty sure Tony is about the same height as him. His black hair is combed forwards, and he wears a pale gray button-up shirt under a red sweater, dark gray jeans, and red boots. Though, Jake notices two things different; Tony’s eyes, which were previously blue, seemed to have changed to red. He also seems to be hiding something about his left hand. Jake makes sure to keep this in the back of his mind… not yet realizing he’d get the answer as to why pretty quickly.

16-year old Jessica Lane is rocking her style as usual, not that Jake expected anything else. She has dark skin, blonde hair tied into Harley Quinn-like pigtails, and green eyes underneath a pair of light blue sunglasses. She wears a light blue v-neck blouse, blue skirt, and brown belt underneath a brown trench coat lined with light brown “fur” on the inside, and blue boots.

Mia Raven, the 18-year old party animal, only had some minor changes from when Jake last saw her. She has dark skin, dark brown hair straightened out, brown eyes, and piercings on her ears, nose, and even her tongue. She’s wearing a purple shirt with a long sleeve on the right side and no sleeve on the left, dark gray jeans with many rips up and down her legs, and purple sneakers.

Rae Burke, the second youngest of the group at 13-years old, has slightly tanned skin, dark brown hair in a ponytail, green eyes, and silver piercings lining her ears. She wears a yellow tank top with an angry skull on the front, underneath being a black fishnet shirt, blue jean shorts with a black belt, black fingerless gloves, black stockings with some rips in various spots, and yellow boots with black laces and some extra elevation to her height.

Scott Ludwig, the youngest of the group at 12-years old, is more invested in his book at the moment… like always. He has fair skin, combed blonde hair, and green eyes. He wears a white button-up shirt under a black vest, brown khakis, black dress shoes, and a dark brown back slung over his shoulder, likely containing more books in case he gets bored of the one he’s reading.

The oldest of the group, 20-year old Gwen Serene, has fair skin, long pale blonde hair, brown eyes, and sits in a teal cushioned wheelchair with black trimmed wheels, likely a new one since the last time Jake saw her. She wears a pale blue sweater, a pink skirt reaching to her calves, gray boots with pink trims and laces, and white pearl earrings.

Rae notices Helen quickly returning to the table, and her eyes widen upon seeing who she was dragging behind her. “... Holy crap, it’s true.” she says, catching the attention of the group. She points towards Helen, prompting them to look and also see Jake.

“The little dude's really back?!” Mia says, quickly rising from her seat as her eyes nearly bulged out.

“That’s really Jake?!” Zack says, still surprised to see he’s back. “Y’all better not be jokin’ with me!” Cindy says, not being able to see for herself.

To answer Cindy’s statement, Jake then speaks up. “That depends, C-Say. Did you dance in the last few minutes?”

Upon hearing Jake’s voice and being called her nickname this group gave her, Cindy’s face lit up with excitement, before she slams her hand on the table, vaults over it and lands on the other side, then hugs Jake about as tightly as Helen did.

It didn’t take long for him to end up in an entire group hug from the group, which was definitely bone-crushing… but Jake didn’t care. He was just glad to know Roxanne was right about the group not hating him despite everything.

Hell, he genuinely didn’t expect a group hug this tight.

“It’s good to see you guys too.” Jake says, smiling through some of the pain of how tight the hug was… though it did start getting a bit worse. “Uh, guys… hugging… a little… too hard.”

They let Jake go, before Jack drags Jake to one of the chairs and sits him down. “Alright, little dude, spill the beans. Say where you been, y’know what I mean?” Jack says, speaking in rhymes like he always does.

Zack lifts one of Jake’s arms up, noticing how much muscle Jake had. While not to the same extent as Zack himself, it was still pretty noticeable. “Damn, little man’s been trainin’! I was half expecting you to still be a stick figure, not gonna lie.” he says in a slightly teasing tone.

Jessica was inspecting Jake’s outfit. “And what’s with this flashy outfit? Little man’s dressed like a superhero!” she says.

Jake had decided to wear his TAHE super suit just for the heck of it, but also in the unlikely event that he needed to do some hero work during this reunion. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared, hence why Roxanne also had her katana nearby.

“Guys, calm down and let him explain.” Gwen speaks up, knowing that Jake will be doing a lot of talking about what he’s been up to. “And don’t interrupt him, okay?”

They back off and take their seats at the table, as Jake then glances at Roxanne. She nods at him, and he gives a smile. He then faces the entire group, before telling them everything that happened after they had last met.

How he had been brought into a foster home that, frankly, was pretty crappy at taking care of kids.

How Jake was also being haunted by a demon known as Necrosson, which was created from the remains of Mason, and as far as Jake knew, wanted to torture him for some unknown reason besides pure enjoyment.

How he found the green Gem that was now lodged into his hand, and how it got him sent to a prison in another dimension.

How Jake learned he actually had superpowers because of this Gem, including creating green energy, healing himself and others, and flying.

How he had to fight through actual supervillains to escape, along with Ana, who also had a Gem, and that they actually managed to escape back to this dimension… only to be sent right back to the prison by the former Overseer of this dimension.

How they then met Sterling Engeal and were able to escape again, this time to another dimension so they wouldn’t be sent right to the prison again… which was later destroyed by the warden.

How Jake was now part of a team of multiversal heroes from various universes, including a world of dragons, a world of superheroes and supervillains, and more.

How Jake was also going to a superhero school with other aspiring young heroes, and they were soon going to be at odds with another school run by a rather cruel Overseer.

And how Jake had recently been going to therapy to deal with the trauma of that past incident, having not previously done so because he hadn’t wanted to push his burden onto the people he cared about… which included his friends that he had left behind.

Jake now knew that it wasn’t right of him to do that, since they were all certainly hurt from losing Mason like he was… but he could tell by looking at them that they stuck together through the hardship, and that allowed them to stay strong and keep moving forward, much easier than Jake did.

When Jake finished explaining everything, the group was left speechless to hear all of this. They knew Jake wasn’t one to lie to them, but it was still unbelievable to hear that Jake had gone through all of that.

Then again, they had a human turned demon as part of their group in the form of Roxanne, so it’s not exactly that drastic… though, that’s likely because they’re group was still relatively normal by comparison to the Sharp Gang.

I mean, you don’t see this group having a talking gopher with a ray gun, an intelligent squirrel that can pilot a mech armor, a guy who fights Kaijus at least three times a week, and a woman with a sentient mass of shifting metal attached to her body.

“That is… wow, that’s a lot to take in, Jake.” Scott says, breaking the silence. “Part of me wondered if the multiverse was truly real, but hearing that it is real is just surprising.”

“Believe me, it came as a shock to me too.” Jake says, remembering how shocked he was to know about the multiverse when he first heard about it. Jake lowers his gaze a bit and is about to apologize again… only to get slapped across the back of the head by Rae. “Ow! Damn it, Rae!”

“Enough of that apology crap, Jake.” Rae scowls. Not out of anger, but more in a firm tone that was very similar to Kate or Professor Goggins. “We aren’t mad at you for how you acted after Mason’s death. It was a difficult time for all of us, some more than others.”

She gestures to Roxanne, who blinks as her eyes turn entirely red as they are when she’s in her demon form, before she blinks again and changes her eyes back to normal.

“We’d be pissed at you if you weren’t upset about Mason’s death.” Rae continues, before her expression softens a bit. “It did hurt when we stopped seeing you, but we understood that you likely needed time alone to process what happened.”

“Also didn’t help that we didn’t know what foster home you ended up in.” Gwen says. “But we’re glad to see you’re still alive and well, as well as getting the help you need.”

“And you’re training to become a superhero?” Zack says. “Dude, that’s freaking awesome! Now this group has three superpowered people!”

That caught Jake’s attention. “Three?” he asks. He only knew of himself and Roxanne as being the superpowered ones of this crew, so who was the third one?

The group all turns to Tony. “Tony, go ahead and show him!” Helen says with a giddy smile.

Tony gives a light sigh, before putting his left hand on the table and pulling back the sleeve to reveal the back of his hand. Jake’s jaw practically hit the table upon seeing that, embedded in the back of Tony’s left hand… was the red Gem of the Angelic.

“Y-You have a Gem too, Tony?!” Jake exclaims, but still trying to keep his voice down a bit. The tall boy nods.

“Got lodged in my hand a few months back.” Tony says. “I didn’t really bother to have it removed, mostly since it’s better for this thing to not end up in the wrong hands.”

Jake definitely understood the reason for Tony holding onto it. Better a gentle giant like him to have the Gem instead of someone cruel and heartless, willing to use the power to hurt others. He essentially did the same thing when escaping Backcells with Ana, as they couldn’t risk the Gems ending up in the wrong hands.

“His powers are just as crazy as yours, little dude.” Mia says. “He can teleport, turn his skin into some crimson armor like it’s Armament Haki, and shoot lasers from his eyes like Superman!”

“But there’s some limits to each of these powers.” Tony says, speaking up. “I can only teleport to places I’ve been before, so don’t expect me to vanish to the top of the Eiffel Tower or another dimension anytime soon. My crimson armor is tough, but it has its limits of how much damage it can take. While I don’t know that exact limit, and it’s likely to change with enough training, it’s not something I can use for long periods of time. And that’s ignoring the strain it puts on my body if used for extended periods of time.”

“And the heat vision?” Jake asks, to which Tony answers. “That one doesn’t really have a weakness, besides being bright as hell.”

“Well, duh.” Jack says. “You basically got the sun in your eye. I'm shocked you ain’t yet gone blind.”

“You’re really pushing it with these ‘rhymes’, Jack.” Andy says in a slightly deadpan tone.

“Ay, lay off me, Andy.” Jack says. “I’m a freestyle rapper, ya see?”

“Only proving my point more.” Andy says, rolling his eyes as Jack gives him a glare.

“Both of you, enough.” Gwen says, her face briefly morphing into a scowl that makes Jack and Andy tense. Gwen may be handicapped, but that doesn’t stop her from being the mom of the group and stopping conflicts from arising.

"Calm down, honey." Helen says, planting a kiss on Gwen's cheek. This calmed Gwen down, while also confirming to Jake that Gwen and Helen were a couple. "Somehow I'm not surprised. About time, to be honest."

Jake can’t help but smile, genuinely glad to be reunited with his old friends. It was almost like he had never left, and he knew they had a lot of lost time to make up for.

And honestly, he was excited.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Kate and Dresden are currently sitting at the dining room table, each enjoying their own meals, as Dresden’s Silvally, Val, is laying on the floor next to his owner. Kate is also talking about how the meetings with Iroh seem to be helping Jake even more than they expected, to which Dresden expresses he’s glad to hear that.

Just then, Mara walks into the dining room without saying a word, but still catching their attention. Mara sits down next to Kate, closes her eyes… then slams her head against the table. Thankfully she shifted her forehead into that of her demon form, but this action still confused Dresden and Kate, even making Val lift his head.

“Everything good, Mar?” Kate asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, it’s not.” Mara grumbles, her face still against the table surface. She slightly lifts her head a bit, her chin resting on the table. “It’s about Michael.”

“I imagine that, specifically, it’s regarding your romantic interest in Mr. Celeste?” Dresden asks, to which Mara’s face goes beet red. Even Dresden knew?!

“Ugh, great!” Mara groans. “Who else knows that I like Michael?! Go on, tell me!”

Kate and Dresden both look at each other, not sure which of them is going to tell Mara that practically everyone knows she likes Michael. Mara is quick to catch onto the silence. “... You’re kidding me. EVERYONE knows?!” Mara says, going more red.

“I mean, it ain’t exactly hard to see.” Kate shrugs. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael already knows himself.”

Mara groans louder and slams her head against the table much harder, putting a noticeable dent into it. At the same time, Kayla enters the room and notices the situation. Charlie was detached from her for the moment, as they had just returned from a mission tracking down a rogue Bio-Mech, and Charlie needed the rest.

“Why’s Mara slamming her head into the table? Did I miss something?” Kayla asks, looking to Kate for an answer. 

“She’s freaking out because of her crush on Michael.” Kate answers rather bluntly.

“From the looks of it, she’s doing a lot more than freaking out.” Kayla says, looking back to Mara, whose face is still buried in the table. Kayla takes a seat at the table.

“What am I going to do…?” Mara asks, lifting her head from the table. “These feelings just keep getting stronger, and I can barely focus when I go on missions with him… Even this latest one, it was so hard to focus… And then… it happened…”

“What happened?” Kate asks, as Mara’s face turns a deeper shade of red.

.

.

.

.

Earlier today, Michael and the Powerhouses of the Sharp Gang were tracking down some of the Demon Generals from Romillacect in another dimension. They were causing chaos by converting heartbroken people into mindless demons, and the Powerhouses were in the midst of battling these Demon Generals and their minions.

As powerful as these Demon Generals were, they couldn’t match up to the Powerhouses… at least until one of them managed to hit a distracted Mara with a strong hit that knocked her out of her demon form and sent her flying.

“Mara!” Michael shouts, before driving his sword straight through the chest of the Demon General he was fighting (instantly killing them in a burst of golden lightning) and flying after Mara in a streak of golden light.

He quickly caught up to Mara and managed to stop her from hitting the ground, wrapping his wings around her to cushion her fall. While he got a bit scraped up himself, Mara thankfully didn’t.

Mara, who had been knocked into a daze as a result of that powerful hit, managed to shake herself awake with a groan. “Mara, you okay?!” Michael asks as his helmet vanishes from his head, showing his clearly concerned face.

“Ugh… I’m fine… that guy hits harder than I expected…” Mara says, not yet noticing how they had landed… until she does notice, and her face goes a full beet red.

Michael was laying on his back, with Mara laying on top of him. The angel’s arms and wings were wrapped around her, like a sort of divine cocoon to protect her. “O-Oh my gosh!” Mara says, quickly getting to her feet and stumbling both to stay standing and speak. “I-I didn’t…! Uh, I…! U-Um…! I-I am so sorry!”

Michael picks himself up. “Mara, it’s fine.” he says, before softly smiling at her. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

With that, Michael flies off to rejoin the battle, while Mara’s face goes even more red.

.

.

.

.

“I haven’t been able to look at him the same way since…” Mara says. “Every time I do look at him, it’s like my heart rate just accelerates, I completely stumble over my words, and I just get so embarrassed…”

“Awww, the little Nightmare Hunter really is in love.” Kayla gushes playfully, making Mara go much more red.

“So, you gonna tell Michael about this?” Kate asks with a smirk.

“Oh yeah, because THAT’S going to go well!” Mara sarcastically comments. “What would I do? Just walk up to Michael and say ‘Hey, I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I’ve started developing romantic feelings that have only gotten stronger as we’ve spent time together. I was wondering if you felt the same way.’”

“... Something along those lines would likely suffice, Coșmara. Though, it would likely need some changes, as well as a less sarcastic tone.” Dresden says.

“Honestly, Dresden’s right.” Kayla says. “Just go up to Michael, tell him all of that, and there’s a good chance he feels the same way.”

“R-Right now?!” Mara stammers. She had only said that out loud in a sarcastic way to express her frustration at these feelings, but… was that really what she had to do?

“You don’t have to do it right now, Mara.” Kayla says. “But if you prolong telling him for too long, it’ll just come back to haunt you later.”

“If I may throw a suggestion, it would probably be best if you speak with Mr. Celeste’s sister.” Dresden says, as the Nightmare Hunter turns to him. “She could perhaps provide some insight into how you could approach this.”

“You… really think Emily would be willing to help?” Mara asks. The three of them stare at Mara, not saying a word. It then dawns on her, and she facepalms herself.

“... Right, it’s Emily. Of course she’d be willing to help.” Mara says.

Back in D-667, Jake is still hanging out with his friends at the mall. It’s just like the old days, where they spent all their time here just having loads of fun.

And no, money’s not an issue for this group. Andy comes from a rather wealthy family, as a result of their technological expertise. This allows the Raine family to fund their research and experiments, while also allowing Andy to pay for outings with his friends.

The group always tells Andy that he doesn’t need to pay for all of them, but Andy Raine is a very stubborn young man. So regardless of how much he’s told he doesn’t need to, he will keep doing so.

Right now, Jessica is helping Jake pick out some new clothes, and like the fashionista she is, she manages to find the perfect outfits for Jake.

“You haven’t lost your touch, Jessica.” Jake says, looking at himself in the mirror. He’s now wearing a green t-shirt, black jeans, and green sneakers with black laces under a dark gray overcoat. His Hero suit is folded up to the side, and many other outfits he tried on were folded up as well.

“Did you ever doubt I would?” Jessica says with a proud smirk.

After changing back into his Hero suit and paying for the clothes, Jake and Jessica exit the clothing store… only to notice their group was standing off and arguing with some other teens.

Jake looks closer and recognizes the group of 4 that was standing off with his friends. The group consisted of three boys, ranging from 15 to 17 years old, and one 14-year old girl that made Jake’s anger rise.

The three boys were Trent, Lance, and Wyatt, while the girl was Nicole Wilford. Jake had never bothered to learn the last names of the three boys, because when he was younger, these guys would always pick on and bully him and other kids just for their own amusement.

Trent was the largest of the three boys, essentially the boss, while Lance and Wyatt were just his lackeys that stuck around because they looked up to Trent. And it seems they hadn’t changed in the last 4 years, aside from Nicole seemingly joining them.

And it turns out that this argument had caused a crowd to start forming around them, as if wondering just what the hell was going on. Some even had their phones recording this, thinking a fight was going to break out.

As Trent was spouting his usual nonsense and insulting the group, Lance looks past them and spots Jake. “Boss!” Lance says, tapping Trent on the shoulder to get his attention. “Ain’t that the little Tagen punk who disappeared a few years back?”

Trent and his group look to where Lance is pointing, spotting Jake looking at them with disdain. Nicole’s eyes widened in surprise, clearly not expecting to see Jake return after being gone for about 4 years.

A smirk formed on Trent’s face. “Well, well, it is that kid.” Trent says as he starts walking towards Jake.

Zack and Andy start to walk towards Trent to block him from getting to Jake, but the boy holds his hand up and gestures for them to stay back.

Trent soon stops right before Jake, looking down at him with a typical cruel smirk that befits a bully like him. “Gonna be honest, kid. I missed getting a chance to beat on you. And now that your precious big brother’s out of the picture for good, I ain’t missing this chance now.”

Jake’s friends feel their rage starting to boil as Trent was clearly mocking their dead friend. Roxanne even briefly reaches for her blade, tempted to attack Trent for saying that. But Jake gives them a look that tells them to stand down, and that he can handle this.

Trent cracks his knuckles, before reeling his fist back and taking a swing right for Jake’s face… but his wrist suddenly gets grabbed by Jake’s hand before the punch can connect.

This surprises everyone, not just Trent and his group. The crowd around them lets out a collective gasp. Trent suddenly feels Jake’s grip on his wrist tightening, more than he expected, making the taller boy wince and tremble as he’s nearly brought to his knees.

Jake clenches his other hand into a fist and reels it back. He was ready to sock Trent in the face and get years worth of payback with this single punch. His friends and the crowd stare in shock, some murmuring and whispering in surprise.

“Is he about to do it?”

“Come on, kid! Sock him in the jaw!”

“Knock his lights out!”

Jake hears everything the crowd is saying as his glare towards Trent intensifies, his fist clenching tighter with each second.

.

.

.

.

But then…

“... No.” Jake drops his fist. “You’re not even worth it.”

That silences the entire crowd as Jake lets go of Trent’s wrist and pushes him back. Trent, once Jake’s bully, is left stunned by those words. “Huh?”

“It’s ridiculous. Could you at least try being original for a change?” Jake says, crossing his arms. “Saying you’re gonna beat me up and cracking your knuckles to try and intimidate me? Your same bullying routine since the first grade?”

The crowd began to murmur in surprise, seeing Jake not only standing up to his bully, but also talking down to him. He had a perfect chance to sock a bully in the face, but he was instead hitting with something more personal.

Inside Jake’s mind, Ariesto is grinning proudly at how his chosen warrior is handling the situation. “Atta boy, Jake.”

“Compared to everything I’ve seen in the last year alone, I don’t know why I was ever scared of you.” Jake says. “Take a good look at everyone around you, Trent. We’ve all grown up, some a lot more than others. Hell, I’ve met toddlers that are a thousand times more mature than you will ever be.

Jake walks closer to Trent. Despite being much taller than him, Trent actually feels a slight sting of fear from the way Jake is staring at him.

“You and your lackeys are still the same spineless cowards who feel the need to pick on people you deem smaller than you just so you can feel important.” Jake says. “It’s just sad and pathetic, Trent, and I honestly don’t even pity you.”

Jake’s words strike Trent harder than any punch ever could, making the older boy collapse to his knees in shock. Jake pays him no mind, walking past his former bully and the stunned lackeys.

He suddenly feels his arm get grabbed, and he instinctively glares over his shoulder. “If you know what’s good for you, get your god damn hand off of me, Nicole.” he snarls.

Nicole couldn’t find it in her to even speak upon seeing Jake’s glare. For a moment, it looked as though his eyes were glowing, and this caused her to release her grip on Jake’s arm.

With that, Jake leaves with his squad, walking through the crowd… but seconds later, that crowd starts cheering for him. It admittedly surprises Jake, but also fills him with a slight sense of pride.

It wasn’t anything that would get to his head, but it certainly helps boost his confidence even more.

“Dude!” Zack says, slinging his arm over Jake’s shoulder. “That was awesome! You just shut that punk up without even trying!”

“For real!” Mia says. “I was half expecting you to actually sock him in the face!”

“Part of me wanted to, believe me.” Jake says. “But something in me told me that punching him wouldn’t have felt as satisfying as telling him off. And I’m glad I listened.”

“I’m glad you made the mature decision, Jake.” Gwen says. “Sinking to his level would not have done you any good. And it really shows just how much your meetings with Iroh have been helping you mature.”

“YES! Preach it, Gwen!” Ariesto shouts in Jake’s head, which causes the boy to chuckle a bit.

“Ariesto definitely agrees with you, Gwen.” he says, having also told them about the Archangel’s spirit as part of his Gem.

As his squad walks away, Jake doesn’t see Nicole staring at him. She was shocked to see Jake was not only back, but much more confident and in well-spirits.

But what surprised her the most was how he reacted to her. He looked more than willing to snap on her a lot worse than he did at Trent. She couldn’t understand why he would hate her. She was nothing but kind to him before he disappeared!

Regardless, she’s determined to “correct this” in any way, as she then walks off to make a call.

But little does the delusional and spoiled girl know… the next time she and Jake meet, he’s going to make the words he destroyed Trent with sound like compliments.

Back at TAHE, Ana is in Jake’s cabin. Today had been a free day for the Maverick Class, given the progress they had made. This was also going to be playing into a trip they would take in a few weeks.

Ana is in Jake’s cabin because she was getting an early start on dinner for her and Jake. Ever since Jake had expressed how much he loves her cooking, it’s become a routine for her to come over and cook dinner for them once or twice a week.

Jake also tries to help out, not wanting Ana to feel obligated to cook for him all the time. While Ana has expressed she doesn’t mind it, this led to her agreeing to teach Jake how to cook. It’s a slow process, but Jake’s learning pretty well from Ana.

The meal Ana is cooking is a homemade chicken parmesan that has a bit of a healthy twist to it, but still tastes just as good as the original.

“You must really love this boy to be cooking like this for him.”

Ana goes a deeper shade of blue upon hearing that voice, and she snaps at it in slight annoyance. “Seriously, Aquaraya?!” The voice laughs at Ana’s response.

As it turns out, Jake isn’t the only one who’s gotten in contact with the creator of his Gem of the Angelic. After doing some reading of the book Jake got on the Gems, and with a little help from Requiem, Ana was able to get in contact with the creator of her Gem.

She was a tall woman with an Amazonian build, fair skin, blue eyes, and long blue hair that seemed to have the texture of water. Her wings were pale blue, and like her siblings, she wore white and gold armor. Ana had managed to reach out to the spirit of Aquaraya, and the Archangel has started training her to better harness her abilities, expressing that there’s far more she can do.

Though, she also has a habit of playfully teasing Ana about her crush on Jake, much to the girl’s frustration.

Ana sighs as she resumes cooking. “Ah, come on. You know I’m just messing with you.” Aquaraya says.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t find it annoying.” Ana responds, still focused on the food.

“Look, in all seriousness, you need to tell him how you feel one day.” Aquaraya says. “If you don’t, it’s gonna haunt you for the rest of your days.”

Ana sighs. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Aquaraya was right. She did have to tell Jake one day, but the thought of doing so just made her about as nervous as Mara gets around Michael.

“Believe me, sister. I know what it’s like to miss your chance to tell the people you love something important.” Aquaraya says, which catches Ana by surprise.

“You do?” Ana says.

“To my older brother, Capri.” Aquaria says with a sigh. “After the whole war between our siblings, I cut him out of my life because of how demanding and controlling he was about the way we helped people. But after a few hundred years, I started to miss him, but I couldn’t bring myself to see him… And well, here I am now. Dead, unable to see him and my other siblings, and trapped within you. No offense.”

Ana felt bad for Aquaraya, hearing just how much she had missed being with her siblings, but not having the chance to see them again.

“So I suggest you tell Jake how you feel sooner than later.” Aquaraya says, before going quiet and letting the girl focus on her cooking.

Ana stays silent, letting the thoughts wash over as she keeps cooking. Aquaria was right. She had to tell Jake how much she really liked him… but how could she?

Every time she considers doing so, the thought of it makes her flustered and unable to get the words out. She shakes the thoughts off for now. She would find a way to do so soon, even if it meant going to other people for help.

Not like she had any shortage of that.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Jake returns to the Sharp Gang after spending so much time catching up with his old group, and right now, he’s telling most of the group how everything went, and how his friends are still accepting of him and are amazed to know that he’s going to a superhero school.

It’s almost like Jake had never left the group, and they never once blamed him for the way he acted in regards to his family’s death.

He also brings up the encounter with Jake’s former bullies and how he handled the situation, and he enjoys seeing the look of pride everyone’s faces upon hearing Jake had resisted the urge to use unnecessary violence, despite what Trent had done and said to him in the past.

But the group is certainly surprised to know that one of Jake’s friends in the group has a Gem of the Angelic, specifically the red one. They know they’ll likely have to ask Mara or Tamika about this.

“Sounds like you’re really getting better, Jake.” Alexis says with a proud smirk, and everyone agrees.

“Thanks, Alexis.” Jake says. “But to be honest… part of me still feels like an idiot for not getting this help sooner…”

“It’s par for the course, kid.” Kate says, shrugging her shoulders. “Believe me, I’ve had a few moments of thinking that way too when I started accepting this dork’s help.”

She playfully points her thumb at Sterling, who had pretty much been her Number 1 helper after she escaped Backcells. Even well before they started dating.

“But every time I did have these thoughts, I remembered that it’s better I got help when I did instead of not at all.” Kate continues. “Admittedly… I don’t think I would’ve liked the version of myself I became if I never accepted the help in the first place.”

“I concur with Kaitlyn’s statement, as I often find myself with similar thoughts.” Dresden says, while resting his hand on Val’s head, who was lying next to him. “When I do, I remember that the version of myself that stayed trapped in the mud is not someone I want to be.”

Jake nods in response to their statements, before standing up. “Thanks, guys. I better head back to TAHE. Let my classmates know I’m back.”

He starts to walk to the door, when Benny calls him. “Hey kid, wait.” he says, causing Jake to turn and look. Benny walks up while holding Jake’s goggles, which look to be more sleek and advanced.

“I finished those upgrades on your goggles you asked for.” Benny says, prompting Jake’s eyes to widen as he inspects them. “Already?! Nice!” Jake says, inspecting the tech.

“Upgrades?” Kayla asks. “What do you mean?”

“Kid asked me to implement a whole bunch of features into his goggles. Scanners, x-ray vision, night vision, infrared, all that kinda stuff.” Benny says. “Said that since his powers are based around healing, he wanted an easier way to identify an injury that he couldn’t directly, like a concussion or broken bone that ain’t too visible.”

“Wait, really?! That’s genius!” Sterling says, surprised and impressed as he looks at Jake. “Smart thinking, kid!”

“Thanks, Da- Sterling.” Jake says, stopping himself for a moment, before putting the goggles on.

Jake turns them on, as the lens then goes over his eyes. The lens displays a targeting system that identifies Benny’s name and what dimension he’s from. He taps the button on the left side of the goggles a few times, changing through the different modes and finding they all work perfectly.

He then taps the button on the right side, and this turns off the goggles, retracting the lens and even compacting the goggles so they don’t cover his eyes.

“These work like a charm! Thanks, Benny!” Jake says, sharing a fist bump with the mech-maker, before running out to head back to TAHE.

But what Jake doesn’t know is that the Sharp Gang had caught the slip-up he almost made when he thanked Sterling. Everyone looks among each other.

“I’m not the only one who noticed how he almost called Sterling ‘Dad’, am I?” Benny asks, to which everyone comments they had all caught it to.

“Like I said, just make it official already, you two.” Astra, who is slumped over the couch, says while gesturing to Kate and Sterling. Kate gives her a stern glare, silently telling the Overseer to shut up.

Mara sets her MJWW to Dimension J-316, but is hesitant to teleport there. But she knows that she has to if she wants to see Emily, so she fights through her nerves and presses the button.

In a flash of light, she disappears from the Sharp Tank and appears on a ground that, frankly, looks softer than a cloud. The skies around her are a warm golden color and puffy white clouds decorating it.

But strangely, despite how sunny it looks, she was cast in a massive shadow… until she looks up and sees exactly WHY she’s cast in a shadow.

Standing before her, separating her from a large golden door, was a towering figure. Well… “towering” is putting it mildly. The figure stands at a staggering 3,000 FEET TALL, decorated in golden armor that covers its entire body of muscles. It has 6 large wings sticking out of various spots on its back, with a smaller set of wings sticking out of the back of its head. Surrounding its head, chest, biceps, and calves are golden halo Runes similar to the ones that all Angels in J-316 have, but the eyes lining them are all closed, as if the figure is asleep. In its hands, stabbed into a soft ground, is a massive sword that burns with flames that could even be hotter than the sun.

Mara feels a chill go up her spine upon seeing the massive golden knight, as it’s clearly some sort of guardian for this dimension. It could explain why this dimension has remained safe from attacks by the Archons, since this figure even makes the 70 foot tall Kaijagrex look like an ant.

Of course, if Mara is going to see Emily, she needs to get past this knight. So she tries a more peaceful, but potentially risky idea.

“E-Excuse me!” she shouts up to the golden armored knight. The knight slowly looks down at the small woman, and Mara’s nerves definitely start to rise at this. But she composes herself and shouts again. “I-I’m here to see Emily Celeste!”

One of the rings around the knight’s head stops spinning, with one eye pointing in Mara’s direction. Suddenly, Mara nearly gets blinded by a golden light as the eye on the ring opens, prompting her to cover her eyes with her arm.

The light shines on Mara for another 10 seconds, before the eye shuts and the light vanishes. Mara takes a second for her vision to readjust, until she hears the booming voice of the 3,000 foot tall figure.

“Coșmara Noroi of Dimension D-667.”

That’s when the knight slowly begins to lift its sword from out of the ground… not to attack Mara, but rather, to let her through.

“You may enter.”

Mara stares at the colossal knight for another moment, before looking at the blade slowly emerging from the ground and revealing the door behind it. The ground where the blade was just embedded melds together, as if it hadn’t been damaged at all.

Mara cautiously walks forward, underneath the giant knight’s legs and to the door. She enters the door, and before she even closes the door, she hears the knight’s sword stabbing back into the ground, causing a light tremor.

“... I pity whoever ends up on that knight’s bad side…” Mara mumbles, before closing the door. She looks forward and finds herself in what seems to be a waiting room of sorts.

The walls and floors are sleek, a pale blue color with gold seems. There are golden chairs with white cushions lining the walls, and a large semi-circle desk in the center. There’s a computer, a clipboard, a printer, and various other office equipment on the desk. There is also a gold plated namepad that was engraved with “St. Peter”.

Sitting in the office chair and typing away at the computer is a man who looks to be in his older years, but still full of life. He has fair skin, snow white hair that connects to a bushy beard, and diamond blue eyes. He wears a dark blue suit lined with golden armor pads, and has golden wings sticking out of his back and a halo Rune above his head.

The man notices Mara entering and warmly smiles. “Hello there.” he says as Mara walks up to the desk. “Uh… hi…” Mara says. “I’m… here to see Emily Celeste?”

“Give me a minute.” St. Peter says as he types on the computer and pulls up the information about Mara the computer was given by the knight outside. “Let’s see. Coșmara Noroi of Dimension D-667, 26 years old, wielder of the Nightmare Hunter curse made by the former Overseer of D-667, and member of the Multiversal team of heroes known as the ‘Sharp Gang’.”

“You… aren’t at all put off by my curse?” Mara says. “And it’s… not something that will keep me from entering?”

“You got past the Guardian of the Gate, didn’t you?” St. Peter says, pointing in the direction Mara just came from and referring to the colossal knight outside. Mara nods, and St. Peter continues. 

“Then you have nothing to worry about. We don’t judge people on whatever curse or abilities they have, but their morality.” St. Peter says. “If someone with a pure heart like you enters, they’re embraced with open arms. People who fall into a morally grey category are cautiously allowed in, with a close eye kept on them for the first few moments.”

“And… what if someone with a heart like… Elloise Ludum were to enter?” Mara asks.

“If someone with bad intentions were to enter this dimension and be faced with the Guardian of the Gate, they would either be forced back to their original dimension, or in even rarer cases where they resist the Guardian’s command, they are burned to ashes on the spot by the Guardian’s blade.” St. Peter says.

Mara is surprised to hear this, and it further explains why this dimension truly hasn’t faced any major threats. Any that try to attack this dimension are either forced to return home, or get scorched to ashes in a quick death.

“Quite a defense system.” Mara admits.

“Indeed. Now, Emily will be here shortly, so go ahead and have a seat if you like.” St. Peter responds, gesturing to one of the seats along the wall.

Mara walks over and sits down on one of the chairs… and the moment she does, any stress she was feeling, whether she realized or not, instantly vanishes from her body.

Her worries about the upcoming talk with Emily, regarding Mara’s feelings for Michael, seem to completely disappear. As if just sitting in this chair alone calmed her nerves.

“Whoa…” Mara says, feeling more relaxed than she ever had. “What are these things made of?”

“Specialized enchanted cushions that are designed to help relax any who sit in them.” St. Peter says. “They relieve you of your stress and any other negative feelings you may be feeling before you enter Eden.”

As if predicting Mara’s next question, St. Peter continues. “And yes, we’re well aware of the similarities our universe has to others when regarding the book known as the Holy Bible. Many of our kind have gone to other universes and even found alternate versions of themselves.” he says.

“So… you’re aware of the Akashic Records?” Mara asks, to which St. Peter nods. “Rumor has it our Overseer was one of the first to visit them.”

Before Mara can ask more, the doors swing open, revealing the smiling Emily. “Mara! Hi!”

Mara stands up from the chair (though part of her does want to sit right back down) and approaches Emily. “Hi, Em.” she says, only to get swept into a hug by the Seraphim. Mara lets out a light chuckle. “Almost forgot how much of a hugger you are.”

Emily lets Mara go, allowing the girl to breathe. “So, what brings you here?” Emily asks. “St. Peter told me you were coming to see me?”

Mara nods, remembering her reason for coming here. “Yeah, I… I need to talk to you about something. Something rather… private.”

Emily understands and takes Mara’s hand. “Fine with me! Come on!” With that, Emily suddenly pulls Mara through the doors of the office, and takes her into Eden… which leaves Mara speechless upon seeing it.

The skies are bright, sunny and golden, shining over the landscape, which is decorated with tall buildings that look far more advanced than anything Mara has seen in other dimensions. Outside of the city are luscious greens that look as healthy as can be, with various types of fruit trees, bushes, and more. There are many floating islands above the city, housing more buildings and houses for people to live in. People of various appearances, genders, and ages, all having wings of various numbers and sizes emitting from their backs, are walking or flying around.

“This… is Eden?” Mara says, amazed by the sights. Emily smiles brightly and nods as she responds. “Sure is!”

Emily leads Mara through the city, allowing Mara to get a good look at the civilization of this dimension. Everyone around Mara looks happy and content, feeling a sense of peace. Some angel kids even fly by Mara and Emily, giggling and chasing each other as they do.

“This… this place seems so peaceful.” Mara comments. “If it wasn’t for seeing Michael in action or seeing the Guardian of the Gate, I would never suspect this dimension to have such powerful people.”

“Most people wanting to threaten this dimension fall prey to that belief.” Emily says. “But even in the slim chance they DO manage to get past the Guardian of the Gate, their troubles still aren’t over. Especially with my dad leading the knights. He can certainly be a little arrogant… okay, a LOT, actually… but he’s still not one to be underestimated. Your ‘friend’ Harold found that out the hard way, hence him being banished from ever returning to J-316.”

Somehow, Mara isn’t surprised to know that Harold got himself banished from this dimension. “If I may ask… what exactly did Harold do? I imagine it can’t just be because Michael had been forced to compete in one of Ludum’s games.” she asks.

Emily takes a deep breath and sighs, before looking at Mara. “Let’s just say that if you meet my mother… you’ll see what that bastard did.”

“... Noted.” Mara says, before another thought comes to mind. “Hey, Em? Everyone refers to this place as Eden… but is it part of Earth in this dimension?”

Emily shakes her head. “Actually, no. Earth in this dimension is a separate planet known as Genesis. It’s essentially a sanctuary planet for people of different universes, in the event that they don’t feel safe in their own universe. Think of it like a non-prison safe haven version of Backcells.”

“Wow, they REALLY lean into helping people if they’re willing to make an entire planet for people outside of their universe to live here in peace.” Mara thinks, impressed.

Emily leads Mara to a much taller building, with gold support beams and windows lining the entire building, with a large observation deck on the top. It was like a more advanced, much taller version of the Seattle Space Needle.

“This is the Seraphim Council Tower.” Emily says. “It’s essentially where the council meets regarding important matters, such as improving our own universe or plans to help other universes.”

“Are they all in right now?” Mara asks, kind of hoping they aren’t. This conversation is certainly rather personal for her, and she hopes it’ll just be between her and Em.

“They are, but don’t worry. We’ll just talk in my office, not the main meeting room.” Emily says, before leading Mara to the front doors.

There is an intercom system panel next to the door. Emily takes her thumb and puts it on the lower button of the intercom, as it then scans her fingerprint. A microphone then comes out of the wall, and Emily leans down to it.

“Councilwoman Emily Celeste, plus 1 guest.” she says. The system recognizes Emily’s voice, as well as her words, and the light at the top of the panel blinks green.

As Emily removes her thumb and steps back, the doors slide open and reveal the inside of the building. Emily gestures for Mara to follow her inside, and the two walk through a lobby with sleek floors and walls, with an elevator in the back.

They enter the elevator, which was golden on the inside, but thankfully not enough to be blinding or hideous on the eyes. Mara looks at the buttons on the elevator wall and sees instead of being labelled with numbers, they’re labelled with names and their occupation.

They include names like “Councilwoman Sophia” , “Councilman Arthur” , “General Adam” , and “Sir Michael” . At the very top of the set of buttons are two buttons, one labelled “Main Council Meeting Room” , the other labelled “GRACE” .

Emily presses the button labelled “Councilwoman Emily” , obviously for her own office. The doors close as the elevator then starts to rise, and within a few seconds, they arrive at one of the higher floors of the building.

Emily leads Mara along the hall to the one door at the end of the floor, and she then opens that door to reveal her office.

Though, at first glance, it certainly couldn’t be called a genuine office.

The room was much wider than Mara expected it to be, with tables along the walls holding various types of snacks, drinks, and other stuff. In the center of the room are a few large bean bag chairs, and the walls are also lined with drawings that, from the looks of them, were drawn by Emily’s children, Aurora and Gabriel. There’s also a framed photo that shows the wedding day of Emily and her late husband, Ariesto. The window on the back wall is wide and allows for the light outside to shine in, giving a nice view of the city below, while pale blue curtains hang on the sides of the window in the event Emily wants to shut them.

“... Gotta be honest, I should’ve somewhat expected your office to look like this.” Mara says, looking around the room.

“Yeah, we get free reign to decorate it however we wish.” Emily says, before gesturing for Mara to take a seat. Mara sits down on one of the bean bag chairs, and Emily sits in the one across from her.

“So, you’re here to talk to me about your feelings for Michael?” Emily says.

“... Y’know what, I’m not even surprised you figured it out.” Mara sheepishly admits, a faint blush returning to her face. “But… yeah. Believe it or not, it was actually Dresden who suggested I come to you in regards to talking about this, since you know Michael more than anyone in our group. Which is fair, given that you’re his sister.”

“Well, you came to the right person, Mar-Mar.” Emily says, smiling as usual. “Now, gimme the details. When did you first notice these feelings starting to form?”

Mara takes a deep breath, before she begins. “Well… it started off small after he had joined our team. He joined us on a few missions, and I was amazed to see both how skilled he is, but also how he doesn’t hesitate to rush into danger to save those in need.”

“That sounds like Michael.” Emily says with a nod.

“These feelings got stronger the more missions we went on, then came the… incident when I saw him training.” Mara says as her face turns a deeper shade of red. “I-I know I’ve seen him in action beforehand, but just… seeing him training like that…”

“Caused you to see just how attractive he really is?” Emily says, much to Mara’s embarrassment. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m obviously not attracted to Michael for obvious reasons, but even I have to admit he’s quite a looker. I’m surprised Vasilia or Astra haven’t made moves on him at some point.”

At the mention of that, Mara’s demon side briefly flares as her teeth grow into fangs and her eyes turn purple. But she quickly calms herself and returns to normal, with Emily noticing this.

“Wow, didn’t take Mara for the jealous and protective type.” Emily thinks to herself, before she continues. “Anyway, continue.”

Mara clears her throat. “Sorry… a-anyway, I did what I could to repress my feelings as much as I could… both because I needed to focus when we were on missions, but also because I didn’t want to chance making things awkward between us…”

Emily shakes her head. “Suppressing your feelings is never a good idea, Mar-Mar.” she says. “They’ll just get stronger and harder to suppress, making it harder for you to focus.”

“I found that out the hard way…” Mara says, turning more red as she tells Emily about the last mission she and Michael went on, and what Michael had done for her.

“After that, that’s when I spoke to Kate, Kayla and Dresden about this, and he suggested I come to you for advice…” Mara finishes, before looking to Emily to see how the Seraphim will respond.

Emily, still smiling, looks Mara straight in the eyes as she gives the best advice she can give in the situation. Short, simple, and straight to the point.

“Just tell him.”

If Mara’s face was red before, it certainly became crimson upon hearing that. “Wh-What?!”

“Mara, just tell him exactly how you feel.” Emily says. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“H-He could say no, and that will just make things even more awkward between us!” Mara says, but Emily just chuckles and shakes her head.

“Mar, breathe.” she says, and Mara does what she can to calm herself by breathing slowly. Emily continues. “I can assure you that in the slim chance Michael says no, things will NOT be awkward between you two afterwards. I mean, look at Heath and Vasilia. They dated for a while, but it didn't work out, so they broke up. But they’re still close friends.”

Mara remembers back to how Heath and Vasilia act despite no longer being a couple. Em was right. Despite no longer dating, they went back to being friends pretty quickly, and both have expressed many times that they’re fine, and that things are still good between them.

“The same would happen with you and Michael if he said no, and that’s a BIG if.” Emily says.

That’s when it suddenly dawns on Mara what Emily’s saying. She’s talking as if the chances of Michael saying no to Mara’s confession are slim to none, even though the demon girl has never verbally expressed her own feelings to anyone until now.

But how would she know for sure that Michael would say no? … Unless…

“... Wait…” Mara says, catching Emily’s attention. Mara looks Emily directly in the eyes, unsure if she can directly bring herself to ask it… but she powers through it.

“... does Michael… like me?”

A wide smile forms on Emily’s face, and that enough is an answer that makes Mara’s face go even more red.

Jake enters his cabin, and is immediately hit with the smell of food. He shakes his head with a chuckle, before looking to the kitchen and seeing Ana finishing up making dinner. “Somehow, I’m not surprised you picked today to cook, Ana.” Jake says, catching the girl’s attention. She smiles warmly upon seeing Jake entering, and she hugs him as he approaches her.

The hug splits after a few seconds (much to both of their disappointment), as Jake then looks in the pan to see the finished chicken parmesan. “Jeez, you’re like a jack of all trades when it comes to cooking food, Ana.”

Ana giggles in response. “I guess I am.” she says, turning off the stove and then setting up the table for them to eat. “So, how was hanging out with your old friends?”

Jake’s smile widens, before he starts telling Ana everything that happened during the hang out, even mentioning the encounter he had with some of his old bullies and the way he stood up to them without getting too physical. That’s when Jake notices the smile Ana has on her own face. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Ana says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy until now. I’m glad to know that you’re doing so much better, and… I know your family would be proud to know this too if they were here now.”

Jake’s expression softens as he smiles, before he pulls Ana into another hug. This surprises the girl and makes her go a few shades of deep blue. “To be honest… I… I don’t think I would have gotten this far without you by my side, Ana.” Jake says. “Knowing that you’re here, despite my screw-ups… it helps. More than I can even express in words. Thank you.”

Ana’s face forms into a smile as she returns the hug to Jake. In that moment, their heartbeats become in sync, and the feeling of holding each other close surrounds the two in a sense of warmth that makes them feel at ease.

The two pull back a bit, a wave of silence washing over them as their faces are flushed. Ana softly adjusts a lock of her hair behind her ear, just out of nervousness. Jake meanwhile, can feel his heart start to race even more.

It doesn’t help that Ariesto and Aquaraya are in their heads screaming at them. “JUST KISS ALREADY, YOU AWKWARD LITTLE GOOFBALLS!”

All that really did was make their faces get more flushed. “Um… Ana, I…” Jake hesitates, unsure if he can find the words. “Uh… ugh, how can I put this…?”

Ana seems to catch onto what Jake might be trying to say… and in that moment, the normally indecisive girl… makes the quickest choice she’s ever made.

She raises herself up to be a bit more at Jake’s height, before closing her eyes and pressing her lips against Jake’s own. Jake’s entire body goes a shade of red that even a Kuznet’s hair has never gone before.

But it only takes a few seconds for him to settle into it, embracing Ana once again as their heartbeats mellow out, but stay in sync.

They stay like that for a good 20 seconds, before separating as their foreheads gently press together. The two look at each other, their faces still flushed, but both having smiles.

“That… was probably the fastest choice I’ve ever made…” Ana says with a slight giggle.

“I’m glad you did… I genuinely couldn’t think of what to say without sounding awkward.” Jake sheepishly admits, which causes Ana’s giggling to increase to laughter, and Jake soon follows suit.

“So… I guess this… makes us a couple, right?” Ana says, to which Jake smiles and pulls Ana closer, planting a kiss on her forehead. That’s enough of an answer, and it makes Ana’s smile widen.

“ABOUT DAMN TIME!” the two Archangels in their heads practically shout, but the two lovebirds just tune them out.

They have each other by their sides, ready to take on the world… no, the Multiverse, if they have to.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Kate arrives at the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters and walks in. She hadn’t called in advance, but figured she could talk to Tamika about how another wielder of the Gem of the Angelic had been found.

She walks through the building, giving Clayton a casual backhand across the face that sends him crashing into a table as she does so, till she reaches Tamika’s office. She knocks on the door.

“Hey, Tamika? You in there?” Kate asks. She hears footsteps approaching, before the door opens and reveals Tamika.

Tamika grins upon seeing Kate. “Hey, it’s the pink hair badass.” Tamika says as she lets Kate in. “What brings ya here, Kate?”

“Tamika, you remember the kid with the Gem of the Angelic I told you about?” Kate asks as she sits on one of the chairs. “The green one, specifically?”

“How could I not?” Tamika says, sitting on her desk. “From what ya told me, kid put up one hell of a fight against Necrosson. Even if that demon bastard was just toying with him.”

“Well, he just recently came in contact with someone who found another Gem.” Kate says, which makes Tamika’s eyes widen.

“He what?!” Tamika exclaims, to which Kate goes into detail about everything Jake had mentioned regarding Tony and his Gem’s abilities. Of course, she doesn’t know the full extent, so the only real way Tamika could learn more is by either asking Jake or finding Tony.

“Holy shit.” Tamika admits. “And you’re positive that this Tony guy ain’t some scumbag like the old man?”

Kate snickers at the clear insult to Clayton. “Nah, he’s nothing like the dumbass I punched when I got here. Kid said that this guy’s pretty much a gentle giant who will only get involved if he has to protect his friends, and I trust Jake’s word on that.”

“Well, either way, we now got confirmation about 4 Gems and who they’re being wielded by!” Tamika says with a grin. “Might need to meet with this Tony guy to see if he’s the real deal, but it’s still a damn good sign!”

But this catches Kate by surprise. As far as she or Mara knew, the Coalition only had knowledge of three Gems prior to now, but they lost track of one of them years ago. “Wait, you managed to find the Purple Gem again?” Kate asks, but Tamika shakes her head.

“Nope. We found the Pink one.” Tamika says, before going to a filing cabinet and pulling out a folder on the Gems of the Angelic. She flips through the seven sheets, each detailing basic information about the Gem and its wielder, or being marked as “UNKNOWN” in cases where the wielder or Gem haven’t been found.

She finds the page on the Pink Gem and hands it to Kate, allowing the woman to look at it. “Found this Gem a few weeks ago, and frankly, the gal who has it is probably the sweetest, most optimistic person I ever met.” Tamika says. “Might even give your man a run for his money.”

Kate reads the file and sees the powers of this Gem include three specific powers.

Calming Touch allows the user to do… essentially what it says on the tin; calm anyone with a simple touch. It doesn’t surprise Kate to know that this user ended up becoming a therapist as a result of having this Gem.

Psychokinesis allows the user to levitate items, and can even use it on themselves for a form of flight. However, the heavier the item, the more stress it puts on the wielder’s body and wears them down. As such, it’s best they stick to items that are below their weight, like books, pillows, or stuff like that. With the right training, they can certainly lift heavier items with enough effort.

And finally, Cloning allows the user to make an infinite number of clones of themselves, each one able to use the same powers as the original, but at a cost. See, if the user were to make 4 clones, then the user’s power would be split amongst themselves and the clones, essentially putting each of them at 20% of the user’s original strength. The clones are also easily identifiable, having less detailed hair and entirely pink eyes.

It’s certainly an interesting variety of powers, but all rather useful when used right. Then Kate looks at the name of the wielder… and in that moment, her heart almost stops as her eyes widen. Her entire body tenses up as her jaw falls open.

Tamika notices Kate’s reaction and looks concerned. “H-Hey, Kate? You alright, girl?” she asks, but gets no response. She snaps her fingers in front of Kate’s face, but no response yet.

Kate then snaps out of it, before suddenly standing up. “I-I have to go!” she exclaims, before dropping the sheet and sprinting from the room. Tamika is left confused by this action.

What could have gotten Kate, one of the toughest ladies in the Multiverse, so shocked and tensed up?

Tamika picks up the paper Kate had dropped and looks it over, before re-reading the name of  the wielder herself. Her own eyes widen as her jaw drops, now seeing just why Kate had reacted the way she did.

“... Oh my fucking god…” is all Tamika can say as the name burns into her mind. The name of the wielder…

… is Rose Blakeour.

Jake and Ana are now sitting down and sharing their first meal as a couple, while also discussing what will likely come from their relationship being made public knowledge.

“So… are we going to tell everyone immediately?” Ana asks, as Jake then swallows the bite he just took and considers for a second.

“... I mean, I’m not against it, since I’m not exactly going to be hiding anything anymore.” Jake says. “But if you want to keep things quiet for a while, then I won’t fight against it if that’s what you want.”

“Maybe… we wait a few days before we admit it.” Ana says, to which Jake nods. “... Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if people find out before then.”

“Heh, I wouldn’t be either.” Jake responds with a slight chuckle. “Especially Kiko. She’s probably the most observant out of any of us, and she’s got more enhanced hearing because of her rabbit ears. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had been unintentionally listening in on us.”

“I would be worried, but Kiko definitely seems like the type you can trust to keep a secret.” Ana says before she takes another bite.

Sure enough, despite being inside her own cabin (which is about 3 cabins away from Jake’s), Kiko indeed heard everything, and is thankfully keeping it a secret… after excitedly jumping around her room and squealing to herself like a fangirl that just met their idol for about 10 minutes.

Ana finishes her bite, before her expression suddenly darkens, which Jake notices. “Ana? You okay?” Jake asks in concern, knowing that Ana normally doesn’t get this kind of look.

“I’m fine, it’s just…” Ana says as her grip on her fork suddenly tightens. “... Ludum will be here in a few weeks.”

Jake’s stomach nearly churns at the thought. With everything going on, he almost completely forgot about how Elloise Ludum would be coming to this school with some of her students to have a few quick fights before the planned tournament between the two schools.

“... I almost forgot about that.” Jake admits, before letting a scoff escape his lips. “I don’t like how that wretch is just getting allowed to enter this place freely. So what if she says she’ll ‘play by our school’s rules’? Her word doesn’t mean a damn thing.”

“I don’t like it either.” Ana admits, calming down as best she can. “And I know Zenith isn’t fond of it either, given his own rough history with Ludum.”

No one knew much about Zenith’s past, but what is more widely known is how he had once been forced to compete in Ludum’s arena. He had won, but that doesn’t mean anything with the stakes as they are in Ludum’s old games. He was lucky the TAHE scouts had found him when they did, and that this school is helping him, both with his trauma and allowing him to make genuine friends.

Jake calms down too, letting out a sigh. “Well… I say that if she wants her students to have a challenge…”

He takes Ana’s hand and gives it a firm squeeze, causing her to look at him and see the confident smirk on his face.

“... then we give it to them.” Ana stares for a moment, before she responds with her own smile and squeezes Jake’s hand in return.

“Right.”

Dimension Z-009 may seem like a universe devoid of life, and for the most part, it is. However, in the ruins of this universe, there is the Ludum Academy for Fearsome Fighters (or LAFF for short).

This school is the exact opposite of TAHE in so many ways. From the conditions of the dorms, to the ‘kindness’ of the staff, and especially in how the students are being trained. While TAHE does push its students to get stronger, especially in Professor Strone Goggins’ class…

… the LAFF isn’t afraid to send its students to their possible deaths by having them torn to shreds in the Ludul-Lands, a barren landscape home to terrifying creatures known as Laughing Luduls.

15-year old Alsaya Laghmani, a girl with superhuman speed, is lying in her room, regretting every second of agreeing to come to this hellish school. If she had known what she was getting herself into, she’d have rejected the offer a thousand times over.

But she was so tunnel visioned on finding out who had killed her older sister, a kind-hearted Overseer named Delilah, that Alsaya failed to see the red flags until it was too late, making her unable to leave this god forsaken school.

She knows that the Headmistress, Elloise Ludum, may not actually help her find her sister’s killer. All she’s doing is putting this girl through hell every day.

“Hey, you done sulking for the day?”

Alsaya jolts up on her bed out of instinct, fearing one of the teachers or other students is here to kill her when she is off guard. But that fear vanishes upon seeing the person who entered.

The girl is a staggering 7 feet tall with dark skin, purple hair that fades into red, black markings across her face and body, and bandages wrapped around her arms and legs with thick black smoke seeping through the small openings. Alsaya is relieved to see the person in her room is one of the only few good people at this school. “Don’t give me a heart attack, Luna.” she says.

The girl known as Luna rolls her eyes and walks up to Alsaya, putting a hand to her head. “Relax, will ya?” she says in a playfully sarcastic tone. “If I wanted you dead, you’d have died the moment we met.”

Alsaya playfully smacks the taller girl’s hand off her head, as Luna then puts a hand on her own hip. “Look, we just gotta wait a few more weeks until Ludum takes us to that other school she’s always spouting about.” Luna says. “Once we’re there, we just don’t come back to this dump.”

“You make it sound like that’ll be easy…” Alsaya says, admittedly nervous about the idea of betraying Ludum. Sure, she hates Ludum, but she also fears what the psychotic woman will do in response.

I mean, when she was first told Alsaya wanted to leave this school, she made the poor girl spend HOURS in the Ludul-Lands to teach her a lesson. So who knows what she could do in response to this?

Luna flicks Alsaya’s forehead, making the girl look at her. “Quit that negative thinking. You’re gonna screw yourself up more.” Luna says, before she turns and walks off. “See ya around, Alsaya.”

In a swirl of black smoke, Luna vanishes from Alsaya’s room, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts. She just has to hope this plan to leave the school really will work.

Because if not… she may be faced with a fate worse than death.

Kate stands before a rather simple looking building with her heart pounding like a jack-hammer, but not from the run she took all the way here. Her heart is pounding this fast because of her nerves. Never once had she been this nervous until now.

The building she stands before is, again, relatively simple looking, with gray cement walls, tinted glass windows lined with pink decorations, and large pink letters above the door that reads “Help From A Rose”.

Kate wants nothing more than to open the door and embrace the person she’s looking for, but her nerves are holding her back as her mind is racing with thoughts.

“Does she even remember me? Will she actually be happy to see me? Is it too late to turn back now?”

But Kate stops herself when another thought comes to mind.

“If I don’t do this now… would I ever get another chance?”

Kate has a perfect chance to see her little sister after 20 years, now knowing that she’s not only alive, but has a stable job and life.

With so many demons running around this dimension, especially recently, it’s only a matter of time until one gets to Rose. And Kate will NOT let that happen. She was taken from her family once already.

She is NOT going to turn down this one chance she has at seeing the only possible birth family member she has left.

Composing herself, Kate opens the door and steps inside, finding herself inside a waiting room that seems to immediately calm any remaining nerves she may have. The walls are a warm orange color, the floors are lined with dark gray carpets, the chairs have red cushions on them, and the front desk looks so inviting.

Then a voice calls out from the back of the building, where a hall of offices are set.

“Sorry, I’m afraid we’re closed for the night!”

Despite the voice sounding more mature and older than when they were kids, Kate recognizes that voice immediately. She almost finds herself tearing up, but manages to hold them back… until she sees the figure entering the room.

The woman looks to be about a year younger than Kate and nowhere near as muscular, but still looks able to defend herself. Her hair is the same color as Kate’s, but is much shorter and is shaved on the left side of her head. Her eyes, once teal blue in color, are now the same color pink as the Gem lodged in her left thigh. She wears a pink sleeveless turtle-neck shirt, a black leather skirt, black thigh-high heeled boots, and her ears are lined with silver piercings. Floating behind her in a pink glow is her purse, as well as a set of keys.

The woman then looks at Kate, and the moment she does, her eyes widen as the glow around her purse and keys vanishes, causing them to fall to the floor. A silence washes over the two women as they stare at each other.

“... K-Kate?” the woman says, her voice starting to quake. “I-Is that… you…?”

“... Rose…” Kate mutters the woman’s name as her own voice shakes. She starts walking towards her sister… when…

“KATE!!!”

Rose screams in excitement as she gives her older sister the biggest bear hug she can muster, tears of joy streaming down her face as she doesn’t show any sign of letting her sister go.

“It’s you!! It’s you, it’s you, it’s really you! I missed you so much!!” Rose exclaims as Kate is left frozen where she stands. Even after 20 years, Rose instantly recognized her. Like something immediately told her that this was her sister, and she knew it to be true.

Tears run down Kate’s face as her mouth quivers into a smile, before she chokes out a sob and hugs her little sister back.

“I-I missed you too, Rose… I missed you too.”

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

At TAHE, it was originally supposed to be the free-learning day, where students could go to any class they wanted to in order to brush up on a lesson from earlier in the day.

But classes were cancelled today, as Evangeline is going to hold an important meeting that all the staff are required to be present for. It has to do with Ludum’s eventual arrival to the school, and the precautions that will be taken when that happens. Even Dresden will be in attendance, given the RAS Foundation’s partnership with TAHE.

Just because Ludum said she will play by the school’s rules when she’s here doesn’t mean they should be trusting her word. Ludum’s a very unpredictable woman, so she could be planning to stir up chaos at the school for her own enjoyment.

There had just been one problem with the staff being required for this meeting; Professors Pomni and Ragatha, the teachers of the Cherub Class, couldn’t leave their students alone. If left unchecked, the students could get into serious trouble, especially regarding some of their abilities.

But thankfully, it didn’t take long for the problem to solve itself.

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Yesterday, Pomni and Ragatha were discussing what to do in regards to someone looking after the kids of the Cherub Class. With all of the staff being required to attend the meeting with the Headmistress, none of them would be able to attend to the kids.

“Ragatha, we can’t just leave the kids by themselves.” Pomni said, her stress levels rising. “We have to find someone to look after them!”

Ragatha softly took her wife’s hands, trying to relieve the stress that Pomni was feeling. “Pomni, breathe… Just breathe. We’ll find someone, I’m sure.”

Pomni calmed down a bit, but was still clearly stressed out. “How? It’s not like someone will just walk up willing to look after them.” Just then…

“Big Brother Jake!”

The two teachers looked over and saw Aurora Celeste excitedly darting towards the approaching figure, which was actually Jake. She leapt up, her wings making her glide her for a second, before Jake caught her while slightly chuckling.

“Hey, little rascal.” Jake said, lifting her up a bit. “You’ve been behaving, right? No more crashes?”

Aurora excitedly nodded her head as she then hugged Jake, making him chuckle more. The other kids ran over excitedly to greet Jake too.

Turns out that ever since finding Aurora when she had crashed near him, Jake would sometimes use his free time to visit the Cherub Class and check on her and the other kids. Over time, the kids of this class gave him the title of “Big Brother Jake”.

Pomni and Ragatha stared in surprise, then looking at each other. “I… take back what I said...” Pomni said.

The two stood up and approached Jake. “Excuse me, Jake?” Ragatha said to catch Jake’s attention. Jake looked at the two teachers. “Yes?”

“I’m sure you’re aware that Headmistress Trismegistus cancelled classes tomorrow because of an important meeting that the staff needs to attend?” Ragatha asked, to which Jake nodded. He remembered Volignus and the other upper year students mentioning that.

“W-Well, that includes us too, but we… can’t exactly leave the kids alone…” Pomni says. “So… we were wondering-”

“If I wouldn’t mind looking after the class tomorrow while you two are in the meeting?” Jake said, finishing Pomni’s question.

The two teachers seemed surprised Jake had figured it out, and he answered. “It was pretty easy to figure out that’s what you were gonna ask me, and I’d be happy to look after them.”

To no one’s surprise, that got the kids more excited than they already were. A wave of relief washed over the two teachers, glad to know they could trust Jake to look after the kids.

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Today, Jake is spending his day looking after the Cherub Class like he promised. The teachers provided him with the typical schedule for the class, a stack of books or toys that could play with, and a list of the students’ names.

Not that he really needs the list. Frequent visits to the Cherub Class allowed Jake to remember the names and abilities of all 9 students.

Aurora and Gabriel Celeste, twin angel hybrids from J-316, both 3 years old. They are able to fly, use light healing magic, and shoot golden energy blasts from their body. They’re the children of Emily Celeste and her late husband, the Archangel Ariesto. With Ariesto’s spirit in Jake’s mind, he had naturally developed a habit of checking in on these two, which led him to start these visits to the Cherub Class and meeting the other kids.

Talia Felina is the oldest of the class. She is a humanoid cat girl at 6 years old with black fur, green eyes, claws that allow her to scale trees, and a mostly gray outfit that looks a bit roughed up from frequent messes she got into. She’s from Dimension A-810, a dimension inhabited by humanoid animals. Kalia had been brought to this school by her parents, who had actually been TAHE students in the past, and they wanted their daughter to learn the same way they did, but with her own twist. She aspires to be like a hero in her world who’s a humanoid panther woman that people refer to as the “Panther Queen”.

Tina Carden is a shy 4 year old girl from Dimension Y-114 with fair skin, blue eyes, and long red hair made from yarn. She wears clothes that are unable to be affected by her powers, which allow her to fire strands of yarn from her hands to reach things at a high or far distance. She can also control any yarn around her, forming weapons from them or wrapping it around others, even being able to control her yarn hair like a third arm. To no one’s surprise, Kalia essentially claimed Tina as her best friend for this ability.

“Gamble” is an orphaned 5 year old boy who doesn’t remember his home dimension or even his home life and original name, aside from his abilities. He has tanned skin, messy black hair, red eyes, and the ability to form playing cards in his hands that can be used as throwing projectiles, or even merge together into weapons and shields. However, he cannot make more than 52 cards at a time, the standard amount in a deck of cards. He loves playing card games, with Jake sometimes playing Go Fish with him when they get a chance. The staff are doing whatever they can to help “Gamble” regain his memories and learn where he came from.

Mikey Storm is a 3 year old boy with pale blue skin, white hair with blonde streaks, and blue eyes, from Dimension M-616, the same dimension as Emilia. He’s the son of two superheroes from a well-known super family that certainly had more members than the name would have you believe: the Fantastic 4. Mikey is specifically the son of Johnny Storm and Caitlin Snow-Storm, AKA Human Torch and Frost, and he naturally developed abilities very similar to them. Mikey could create blue flames from his body, but unlike natural fire, these flames were frigid cold and capable of freezing people solid by draining their body heat. Mikey can be a bit of a trickster and joker like his father, but he still means well and doesn’t want to hurt anyone… at least, those who don’t deserve it.

Valkyssar is a 4-year old alien hybrid, born from a Tetramand and an Anodite. While she does appear very similar to other Tetramands her age, parts of her red skin shift into a dark purple and the ends of her hair glow a bright pink, much like an Anodite. She comes from Dimension C-284, a dimension that Jake remembered hearing Vasilia mention once whenever she talked about a guy named “Bustar Terminax”, who she seemed to be into, but he didn’t feel the same way. Valkyssar strives to be a powerful warrior like her Tetramand mother, while also mastering the abilities she gained from her Anodite mother.

Terry “Tinker” Cogsworth is a 5-year old prodigy from Dimension R-320, which is like the Wild West meets Cyberpunk. Tinker has messy blonde hair, amber colored eyes, and a prosthetic right hand, having lost his previous hand in an accident some time before being brought to TAHE. His new hand was created by Gatli, and he intends to upgrade it when he’s older. Even without any powers, Tinker has proven to have a natural skill with making technology and devices.

Molly Matterson is a 3-year old from Dimension S-781, with pale skin, dark green hair, and green eyes. She possesses the ability to project her spirit from her body, essentially acting as a ghost. Her spirit form allows her to phase through walls, turn invisible, and fire ghostly attacks, but her original body is left motionless as a result. Any damage her body takes, even just a light kick, will cause her spirit to be pulled back in.

At this moment, Jake is playing a game of Go Fish with Gamble, Molly and Mikey, while the other kids are either playing with each other or watching them. But then…

“B-Big Brother Jake!!!”

Jake’s head whips towards the nearest tree, and poor Tina is clinging onto a branch that’s pretty high up. She had accidentally used her yarn hair to pull her onto the branch, and she’s too scared to get down. Talia is at the base of the tree, trying to scale it with her claws to save her friend, but she keeps sliding back down before she can even make it half way.

Jake drops his cards and rushes over, about to fly up and get Tina, but Talia holds her paw out to stop him. “No! I can do it!” she says, before she tries once again to scale the tree with her claws.

But the tree bark is too smooth for her claws to latch onto, as she slides back down. Jake flies up to Tina, who’s clinging onto the branch for dear life.

“Tina, hey.” Jake softly says, making her look. He gently picks her up, and she instinctively clings onto him, shaking. “It’s alright. I got you.”

He lowers back down to the ground, as Tina’s shaking begins to slow. “It’s okay, Tina. You’re safe now.” he says. “Just… be more careful with your hair. Okay?”

“O-Okay…” Tina says quietly, before Jake sets her down. He looks over to Talia, but notices the upset look on her face as she sits against the tree. He walks over and sits down next to her. “Talia, what’s wrong?” he asks. Talia curls into a ball and looks away.

“I just wanted to prove I could do it myself…” she says. “Panther Queen doesn’t need help, and I want to be like her… So when someone needs my help, I want to be able to do it myself! Like she would… or even like you!”

Jake can quickly catch onto what Talia means. She has a desire to prove that she can do things on her own and not rely on other people for help… much like how Jake previously was.

Jake quietly sighs and removes his goggles. “... That’s not how I am anymore, Talia.”

Talia looks up at Jake, and he continues. “When I didn’t ask people for help, I will admit it was because I wanted to do things myself. But… that’s not a healthy mindset. When I did ask for help, I realized that other people helping made things easier.”

“But… isn’t… isn’t that… cowardly?” Talia asks, to which Jake shakes his head. “No, it’s not. Asking for help is one of the bravest things a person can do, regardless of what the reason is. What is cowardly is avoiding asking for help. It’s okay to want to do things yourself, but when it’s something that you know you can’t do alone, then not asking for help shows that you’re too afraid to truly do what you need to do.”

Talia’s eyes widen, slightly scared of what that could mean. “I-I don’t want to be like that!”

“I’m not saying you are.” Jake calmly says. “You just need to understand that true strength and bravery comes from putting your trust in others, because it shows them that they can put that same trust in you when they need it.”

Jake then pulls out a small phone-like device. “Plus, I did a little research on your idol ‘Panther Queen’.”

He pulls up a video and shows it to Talia. The video shows a humanoid panther woman with an Amazonian build and black fur, the Panther Queen, in an interview with a humanoid stork news reporter. Behind her was an apprehended humanoid rhino, likely a villain she had just taken down, and keeping him restrained was a humanoid tiger man.

“Miss Panther Queen, you’re usually seen not working with other heroes. What made you change your mind today?” the reporter asks, to which Panther Queen gives a confident smirk.

“Truth is, I always work with other heroes.” Panther Queen admits. “Not just when I need it, but because I often want to. People are at their strongest when they aren’t afraid to ask for help.”

She looks back to the humanoid tiger and walks over to help restrain the humanoid rhino, and the video ends. Talia is left staring in shock, learning that this entire time, her hero always worked with others… and saying it shows a sign of strength, not weakness.

“See?” Jake says, putting the phone away. “Asking for help isn't a weakness.”

A smile begins to form on Talia’s face. Just then, Aurora runs up. “Big Brother Jake! Can you read to us please?!” As if Jake needed any more convincing, Aurora uses her secret weapon: the puppy dog eyes.

Jake chuckles as he stands up. “Alright, alright. You all go pick out some books and I’ll read them.” he says, which gets the little angel and the other kids excited.

As Aurora runs off, Jake looks to Talia, who’s getting to her feet. Moments later, she hugs Jake’s leg. “Thank you… Big Brother Jake.” Jake smiles and softly scratches behind Talia’s ear, which causes her to let out some light adorable purrs.

Kate may as well have lost track of time. Rose had sat her down and allowed Kate to essentially tell her everything that had happened after she had disappeared.

How she was sent to Backcells Prison in another universe, and forced to fight for her life over the span of 20 years, making her hardened and tough, but also distrusting.

How she and a few others were then saved by a man from an entirely different universe, and how that same man, Sterling Engeal, has been helping Kate overcome much of the issues she had from being imprisoned.

How she’s now part of a team of heroes from across the Multiverse, working to take down threats to the Multiverse.

How she’s now in a loving relationship with Sterling, having been attracted to his optimistic nature and… admittedly, how much of a dork he can be at times.

How she’s even on somewhat better terms with the very man who had imprisoned her, who is working to redeem himself while also helping others seek that same redemption.

And how she only just today learned that her sister was not only alive, but doing well with her life. Kate looks at her sister, and sees Rose has the biggest smile on her face. Rose then speaks up.

“It sounds like you’ve had a difficult life… but I’m so glad you’re doing better, Kate.” Rose says. “Surrounding yourself with people that are willing to help you find your way through the dark is the best thing you can do.”

Kate gives a soft smirk. “That’s true, but I know that I have to be the one that steps out of that darkness myself.” Rose’s smile widens, and it honestly reminds Kate of the smile she often sees on Sterling.

“So… what’s happened to you over the years? Because from the looks of it…” Kate’s gaze moves to the Gem lodged in her sister’s thigh. “… it’s gotta be a bit interesting.”

“You have no idea.” Rose says, still wearing her smile, as she then goes into detail about what happened in her life after Kate had disappeared.

“As much as losing you hurt me, I did all I could to keep pushing forward because I know that’s what you would have done. I pushed through school and soon got into college to become a therapist.” Rose says, gesturing to the building they’re in. “And not to brag… but it looks like I succeeded.”

Kate smiles. “I remember when we were kids and you always wanted to do whatever you could to help people. You being a therapist doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Rose lets out a slight giggle, as Kate then looks at the Gem again. “So, I’m guessing you found this thing recently?” she asks… only for Rose to shake her head no.

“Actually, I’ve had this for 4 years now.” Rose answers, which Kate is immediately skeptical of. She knows her sister wouldn’t lie to her, but there’s no way she could have had the Gem for 4 years without being sent to Backcells… right?

“... That… doesn’t make a lot of sense, Rose.” Kate says. “Two of the members of the Sharp Gang, Jake and Ana, have similar Gems to you. Not even a day after they found them, they were sent to Backcells Prison by the Overseer of this universe. So how the hell could you have had this Gem for 4 years and NOT be sent to Backcells?”

Rose leans back in her seat, rocking her head back and forth lightly. “Probably because of the talk I had with that Overseer a day after I found the Gem.” she says rather casually. Now Kate’s more confused than ever. Rose… talked with Fear Herself?

“... Explain. Now.”

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Rose was standing in her college dorm, looking at herself in the mirror, specifically the newly acquired Gem now lodged in her thigh. She noticed that she felt stronger and faster than normal, like this Gem had boosted her physical attributes.

She also noticed how her teal blue eyes seem to be in the slow process of changing into the same pink color as the Gem.

“You humans really can’t stop finding those things…”

Rose turned around and saw what looked like a young girl sitting in the air, just floating. Her hair was purple and looked made of some floating sludge, her skin was dark gray, she wore an outfit that looked to be Polynesian in origin, and there were glowing lights on her arm.

The girl shook her head as she started messing with the lights on her arm. “I don’t know how you managed to find that thing, but you can blame it for what’s about to happen next. I seriously need to have a chat with those angels about these damn Ge-”

Before the girl could finish tapping the Runes on her arm, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, which surprised her and made her look at Rose, who was looking at the girl with… concern. Rose’s grip on her shoulder wasn’t firm, it was gentle… and strangely… comforting.

“Are… you okay?” Rose asked, which just left Fear Herself startled more than anything. This woman not only wasn’t afraid of her… but she was asking if she was okay?

“I… wh-what are you…?” Fear Herself slightly stammered out, not sure what else to do. Rose continued.

“You just… look like you need someone to talk to. Talking with someone about any problems you are dealing with could help a lot more than you think. Even if you don’t think you need it, it could help so much.”

Fear just stared at Rose, utterly baffled, before looking down at the Runes on her arm. She considered sending Rose to Backcells Prison, but after seeing her showing genuine concern for Fear Herself… the Overseer didn’t know if she could do it.

“... I… I think I… actually DO want to talk about it…”

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“She ended up telling me not just about her role as the Demon Queen and about the Multiverse, but also her rather rough upbringing when she first became an Overseer.” Rose says. “How she gave her village and the world, especially her mother, everything she could with her abilities… but it had never been deemed enough, leading her down the path she’s on now. She felt that by giving the people something to fear, it would help them become more appreciative of what they had and not become as greedy as her village.”

Kate just stares in shock. Her sister not only had a full on talk with Fear Herself and didn’t get sent to Backcells, but she was able to learn about Fear Herself’s past before becoming an Overseer.

If anything… this seemed to prove that, like with Dresden, there could potentially be some good in Fear Herself. But there’s no way that could happen… right?

“Anyway, after she explained most of her own past, I talked about some of my own past and what I wanted to do with my life, helping people overcome their problems and fears, and even mentioning how I did all this despite still being hurt from losing you.” Rose says. “When I mentioned that, I noticed she seemed to tense up, and now I know that it’s because… well, she knew what happened to you.”

“So… she really let you stay in this universe…” Kate says, her mind still reeling from all of this. Rose nods.

“She also seemed to know that the powers I got from this Gem would be the most useful for my goal.” Rose says, before smiling and looking around at her office. “And she was right.”

After a few moments, Kate shakes her head with a chuckle. “Sitting down and talking with someone who could have been considered evil, and managing to find some good in that person… Sounds just like my dork of a boyfriend.”

Rose smiles widely. “Speaking of which… can I meet the group of people you mentioned? The Sharp Gang? I want to personally thank them for not only saving you, but helping you when I couldn’t.”

Kate looks at her sister with a soft smirk, before standing up. “I don’t see why not. I got a feeling they’re gonna enjoy you.”

Rose’s smile widens as she leaps to her feet, before Kate activates her MJWW. She motions for Rose to grab onto her, and the younger Blakeour sister grabs her older sister’s shoulder.

In a blink of light, they both vanish from this dimension and go to Dimension A-016, appearing outside the Sharp Tank. They walk inside, making their way to the main room, where most of the team is gathered and relaxing, since the missions are relatively slow today.

Sterling is the first to notice Kate enter, and as Kate expects, he walks over to embrace her. She meets him halfway, while also giving him a kiss.

“I’m guessing the meeting with Tamika went well?” Sterling says, wearing his smile. Kate responds with her own smile. “More than you think, Sterling.” She gets everyone’s attention, before walking up next to her sister and slinging an arm over her shoulder. “Guys… meet my little sister, Rose.”

Rose gives a big smile as she waves to everyone, whose jaws may as well have fallen to the floor all at once. They had known that Kate had a sister from the few times she talked about her family before being sent to Backcells, but they never expected to actually meet a member of her family.

“It’s very nice to meet you all.” Rose says, still wearing her smile.

The group begins introducing themselves, giving Rose a slight rundown of who they are and such. As that happens, Kate looks around and notices besides the kids, the only ones not here are Dresden, Michael, Heath and Mara.

She knows Mara’s likely still with Emily in J-316, Dresden’s in a meeting at TAHE, and she assumes the other two are likely hunting some Kaijus in Heath’s world or Titans in another world. Michael and Heath often go Kaiju Hunting together when the time comes.

But as if her thoughts summoned them, Heath and Michael return to the Sharp Tank… and the former doesn’t look happy at all. It’s rare to see Heath angry, so something must’ve happened.

“Heath? Is everything okay?” Vasilia asks, surprised to see the Kaiju Slayer so furious. Everyone else shares the same reaction.

“I’m fine, Vasilia.” Heath says through gritted teeth. “You remember that guy Red I mentioned a while back? The one making his own Kaijus that sounded similar to beasts or demons from Tayrun and Mara’s worlds?”

Everyone nods, remembering that scenario led to them having their big group talk to essentially learn everything they needed to know (at the time at least).

“Well, that psychotic bastard’s getting a lot more frustrating with his Kaijus.” Heath snarls.

“From the sounds of it, he’s even threatening to turn himself into a Kaiju.” Michael says. “And the way he’s just casually saying that has us worried he can genuinely do that without any risks to himself… or rather, if there are risks, he just doesn’t care.”

“What makes this even worse is the fact that now this has made us consider whether or not the Kaijus he already made were once humans!” Heath shouts, his fists clenching tightly as lightning crackles around them. “Meaning that bastard’s probably kidnapping humans and turning them into these mindless monsters! I swear, when I get my hands on that damn monster, I’m gonna bash his face in with my strongest-!”

Suddenly, a wave of pink light washes over Heath’s body, and the rage he’s feeling vanishes and gets replaced with surprise. He looks down and notices Rose’s hand resting on his bicep, with her hand emitting the glow that just washed over his body.

“Sorry for using my powers on you like this.” Rose says with a comforting smile, then pulling back her hand. “But while your rage at this guy creating Kaijus is certainly justified, you shouldn’t allow that rage to consume or control you.”

Heath is surprised by how quickly he had gotten calmed down. While he did still feel anger towards Red, it wasn’t to the point where it was controlling him.

“Th… Thanks, that… that actually helped a lot… uh…” Heath says, not knowing this woman’s name.

Rose smiles and introduces herself, holding a hand out. “I’m Rose Blakeour.” Heath looks more surprised, glancing at Kate for a moment. Kate just nods, answering the burning question Heath had and confirming that Rose is her sister.

His surprise vanishes as he gives his usual grin, taking Rose’s hand and shaking it. “Nice to meet you, Rose. Name’s Heath ‘Hurricane’ Reynolds.”

Rose giggles. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Hurricane. If you don’t mind me calling you that.”

“I don’t mind at all.” Heath says, still sporting his grin. He then slaps a hand on Michael’s back. “Oh, and this is Michael Celeste, one of my new Kaiju hunting buddies.”

“Nice to meet you.” Michael says, shaking Rose’s hand. Kate, meanwhile, had seen the instant connection between Rose and Heath, and a thought crossed her mind.

“... Why do I get the feeling that Rose and Heath are gonna become a thing?”

Hours have passed since the free day at TAHE started. Ana is walking around the grounds of the school, looking for Jake. She knew that Jake was going to be taking over for Professors Pomni and Ragatha in looking after the Cherub Class while they’re in the staff meeting, but she can’t seem to find him.

“Where is he?” Ana thinks to herself, knowing that Jake is at least still on the school grounds, or else they would have noticed Jake had left the school

She arrives at the area  where the Cherub Class usually meet, and spread out in a circle is a set of mats that the students often use for naptime. But strangely… none of the students are on those mats.

She gets closer, until she hears some light snoring near the large tree by the area, prompting her to look and see the source. And when she does see it… her heart briefly stops from the overload of cuteness.

Jake is leaning against the tree, quietly asleep with the goggles and vest of his costume off. Talia and Tina are asleep at his right side, with Talia curled into a ball and having her tail around Tina protectively. Valkyssar is laying with her head resting on Jake’s leg, and Mikey is leaning against her, using her upper shoulder as a pillow. Tinker and Gabriel are asleep on Jake’s left side, and Molly is resting against Jake’s left arm. Gamble is resting slightly further away from the others, and is using Jake’s vest as a blanket. Lastly is little Aurora, who is asleep on Jake’s lap with her head resting on his stomach, her wings are wrapping around herself like a cocoon, while Jake’s free arm is instinctively around her, making her feel more relaxed.

Turns out while the Cherub Class was supposed to be having nap time, Jake had decided to doze off himself… but the Cherub Class decided instead of using their sleeping mats, they would sleep next to Jake.

Ana covers her mouth to stop herself from squealing too loud. She doesn’t want to wake any of them up. “OH. MY. GOD! THIS IS TOO PRECIOUS!” she mentally screams at herself.

“SNAP A PICTURE THEN, WILL YA?!” Aquaraya screams back, gushing over this as much as Ana is.

Just then, the other Mavericks approach Ana, having also gone to look for Jake with no success. “Any luck, Ana?” Zenith asks, only for Ana to shush him and point to what’s in front of her. The other Mavericks look and see the sleeping Jake and Cherub Class.

“... Th-This is way too adorable for me.” Kiko quietly mutters, clutching her chest as if her heart were going to explode from the cuteness.

Ana fiddles with her MJWW until she finds the photo option, and she then uses it to take a picture of Jake and the Cherub Class. Ana can’t help but smile widely at how far Jake has come.

“Jake, I’m so proud of you…”

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

A loud crash echoes through the landscape of Z-009’s Ludul-Lands, as Luna Phoenix smashes her smokey black fist through the smiling face of a Laughing Ludul. She had been at this for 3 hours, and her time in the Ludul-Lands is now wrapped up.

While most students at this school dread being sent into the Ludul-Lands, given how ruthless those creatures can be… Luna doesn’t really care. The creatures aren’t that much of a threat to her, and don’t seem that different from the people from her home dimension of P-824.

Luna walks back to the main campus of the LAFF, then casually leaps over the wall separating the school from the Ludul-Lands. The headmistress, Elloise Ludum, claps proudly for Luna.

“Excellent work, Miss Phoenix!” she frivolously exclaims as she approaches Luna, whose face scrunches a bit from being hit by the smell of Ludum’s hairspray and perfume. Ludum continues. “In just a short amount of time, you’ve even surpassed Waru and Alsaya. And they’re supposed to be my top students.”

Luna holds back her anger at the Headmistress insulting one of her friends.

“KILL HER ALREADY…” a demonic voice shouts in Luna’s head that no one else hears. “Believe me, I want to.” Luna thinks back with a scowl.

“Tsk, tsk, Alsaya.” Ludum says, turning her attention to Alsaya Laghmani. The speedster girl stands at attention… not out of respect, but out of fear. “You’re supposed to be one of my best! We were going to show you off at that… silly little Trismegistus Academy in a few days. Was it a mistake for me to choose you as one of our representatives, hm?”

Alsaya’s body tenses, and Luna notices. “Saya, don’t say or do anything stupid…” she thinks in concern. Luna may not care for most of the people at this school that may as well have been made in the depths of Hell… but Alsaya is the biggest exception.

“No, Headmistress.” Alsaya says, masking her fears of not being able to escape this place. “I know I can do better than Luna. I want to show those soft weaklings what a fearsome fighter of this school can do.”

Alsaya knows that she likely wouldn’t ever reach the same level of power as Luna. The only person who seems to have a chance at overpowering her, besides Ludum herself, is Waru. But the only thing that stops him is the fact that he can’t use all three of his power orbs at once, not to mention his seeming lack of motivation.

Doesn't help that Waru already sees himself as the strongest student in this school, so he feels no need to put in the effort to get too much stronger. But Alsaya knew better. She knows that Luna's much stronger than Waru even WITHOUT going full power.

Though, there is one other student. One who had arrived recently to Ludum’s school and quickly proved to be good enough to become a representative in the event at TAHE. Alsaya doesn’t know anything about this new guy, other than his ability to generate red and black flesh with sharp claws, as well as firing purple blasts of energy from his body. People in the school only ever referred to him as “Cross”.

Outside of that… he may as well be a walking mystery… especially since he claims the only reason he wanted to join this school and the tournament at TAHE is because there’s one student at the rival school he wants to kill more than anyone else.

“Well, Miss Phoenix’s performance may suggest otherwise.” Ludum says, walking closer to Alsaya and leaning down to be at eye level with her. “So what will you do to prove your worth compared to her and Cross?”

Alsaya hates that she has to resort to this, but… if it’ll prove to Ludum that she’s worthy enough to “represent” the school, then she doesn’t have much else she can do.

“... Put me outside the walls… for 3 hours, like Luna.” All of the students mutter anxiously, while Luna’s dark eyes widen. “3 hours?! Saya, you barely survived 2!!”

Ludum’s smile widens. “Make it… 5 hours, and if you return with no major injuries, I will make you our lead representative.”

Luna holds herself back from unleashing her full beast form then and there, her teeth grinding angrily. “WILL YOU FUCKING KILL HER ALREADY?!” the voice shouts into her head again. Luna is half tempted to listen… but she knows that Ludum needs to be left alive to ensure she and Alsaya can escape.

“Okay… 5 hours.” Alsaya agrees, much to Ludum’s delight. She leads the girl to a platform with a control panel decorated with colorful buttons. As the platform raises her and Ludum up, Alsaya looks back at her class, specifically at Luna.

Luna’s face shows visible concern and worry for Alsaya… but she manages to mask it by giving a confident look that says “Good luck.”

“I seriously hope TAHE’s a better school than this hellhole…” Luna thinks to herself. While she had liked this school at first because of her nature, becoming friends with Alsaya made her see just how dark this school really is.

She remembers back to her and Alsaya overhearing two instances where some staff from TAHE had come to the school. One was a bald black man with enhancements on his knees, who had very loudly expressed no interest in joining Ludum’s school, and they were able to tell this was the combat teacher of TAHE.

The other was apparently the headmistress herself, who tried a more calm and civilized way of talking Ludum off this path… but with no success, instead leading to the upcoming competition between some of the LAFF’s students against the Maverick Class of TAHE.

Luna and Alsaya made the plan to become “representatives” of this school for the competition, so when they get brought to TAHE… they just don’t come back to the LAFF.

Maybe then they’ll find out about Alsaya’s killer without the risk of Alsaya herself being killed at the school… if she manages to at least survive the 5 hours.

Soon enough, Alsaya gets dropped into the Ludul-Lands… as the 5 hours of hell begin.

Jake can now certainly understand why Mason seemed to have gotten a thousand times happier when he and Roxanne became a couple. Because he felt like he was on Cloud 9 any time he was around Ana now that they were a thing.

The two didn’t outright flaunt their relationship, keeping rather secret about it in public. Of course, they know that it wouldn’t take long for the secret to get out to their classmates. They already suspect that Kiko is aware of them becoming a couple, and she thankfully is proving to be trustworthy with the secret.

Right now, the two are sitting under a tree and enjoying their lunch, as well as each other’s company. From a distance, a passing student would likely just see their interaction as just two friends talking and chatting.

But up close, you could practically feel the connection between them is way stronger than a friendship.

Jake’s currently opening up to Ana in regards to his rather embarrassing old habit about how he seemed to get a crush on a new girl every day, even admitting he once had a crush on Vasilia. Though, Ana’s not exactly surprised that Jake had a crush on Vasilia at one point.

She’s pretty confident a few members of the Sharp Gang have had brief crushes on either her or Heath at some point. After all, they’re both tall, confident, and gorgeous.

Jake continues on, seeming to have realized where this habit had come from. He says…

“I guess… the reason I was always getting a crush on every girl I met is because I… I honestly had a pretty strong desire to… actually have a girlfriend.” he awkwardly admits.

“Why’s that?” Ana asks, softly resting her hand on top of Jake’s.

“Well… because part of me figured getting a girlfriend would… be like getting part of my family back.” Jake says. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. The Sharp Gang and the Mavericks are pretty close to being a family for me, but… I always figured a romantic relationship was a stronger connection than just friendship.”

He leans back against the tree, looking up through the branches and leaves to the sunny sky. “Before my brother died, I always went to him whenever I had something to talk about that I didn’t want any of my friends to know about. Whether it was something embarrassing, personal, or… even when I was just having a rough day, I always knew he was there to help me through it.”

He looks back down. “I guess… I figured having a girlfriend would be like that, but stronger. Someone I felt confident in putting my trust into no matter what.”

He softly smiles as he looks at Ana. “And… that’s how I finally realized that I wanted to be with you. I’ve always felt that I could put my trust in you the most when I didn’t feel comfortable talking to anyone else about something. You’ve always stood by my side, even at my worst moments, and I’ve always felt safe with you, Ana.”

Ana gives Jake a warm smile, her face heating up a bit. She moves closer and leans her head against Jake’s shoulder, causing his own face to heat up a bit.

He realizes that Ana’s head is rather close to his heart… meaning she can definitely feel it pounding, which only causes it to pound even more. A quiet noise emits from Ana’s throat, and Jake can tell she’s trying to conceal her laugh at his heartbeat.

“I know, I know!” Jake says with a groan, but still smiling. “I’m trying to calm it down!” Ana laughs as she looks up at Jake. “It’s fine! I just didn’t think you’d be this nervous!”

“Well it’s not every day that a gorgeous superpowered girl willingly leans up against me!” Jake says, only to then go more red as he realizes what he said. “... Smooth, Jake. Real smooth…” he mentally scolds himself.

Ana lifts a hand and places it onto Jake’s chest, right over his heart. “Does this help?” she asks in a playfully sweet and soft tone. It does the exact opposite and makes his heart rate increase.

“Obviously not! That’s just making it worse!” Jake says through an awkward laugh.

Ana giggles, before pulling away from Jake a bit. “Alright, alright. Sorry.” she says, but then Jake says. “Oh, uh… I wasn’t exactly… asking you to stop…”

Excitement flashes in Ana’s eyes, before she leans back against Jake and puts her hand over his heart again. It’s still beating as fast as before, but Jake then puts an arm around Ana and leans his head against hers.

Slowly, his heart rate slows as he feels a sense of relaxation unlike any before, and he can feel Ana is just as relaxed.

At this moment, neither of them care if the secret gets out. They’re just happy to be in each other’s embrace.

Still leaning against Jake, Ana says. “If you don’t mind, Jake… I… may have told Kalia about… us being a thing. I… needed some advice regarding being in a relationship and… well, I felt I could trust her to keep it a secret.”

She glances up, only to see Jake doesn’t look at all bothered by this. “It’s fine, Ana. I did the same thing with Volignus.” he admits through a light chuckle.

“You did?” Ana asks, and Jake gently nods. “Yep… and funny enough, he seemed very eager to help me.”

.

.

.

.

About two days after Jake and Ana became a couple, Jake had approached Volignus and asked him to speak in private. The older student agreed, and the two went to a more secluded area of TAHE where no other students or staff were nearby.

Jake confided in him about his new relationship with Ana… but also about how nervous he was, since he didn’t want to risk ruining it because he didn’t know what he was doing.

This was the first romantic relationship he’s ever had, and he felt embarrassed going to anyone else to talk about. His friends back in D-667 would certainly help, but they would likely also tease him because of it, and that’s not what he needed right now. While he does plan on telling them one day, it just won’t be for a while.

As he kept talking, Jake noticed that Volignus seemed to be repressing some kind of reaction, but didn’t know what it was.

When he finished, Volignus looked around to truly make sure no one was nearby to see or hear them. Seeing no one, he turns back to Jake, surprisingly serious. “So Jake… it is advice regarding girls and romance you are looking for my help in, yes?”

Jake nodded… and suddenly Volignus’ serious face shifted into an excited grin, raising his fist and clenching it as fire bursts around it.

“Long have I waited for this day, Jacob!!” he loudly exclaims, pointing at the now surprised Maverick student. “You could not have come to a better person for this even if you tried! I had dealt with similar struggles when I was your age, and I was the most insecure person you would have ever met when it came to romance! Counselor Hay and many others helped to build my confidence to where it is now, and now I can do the very same to help you with anything you will need to learn on this matter!”

Jake was floored by how excited Volignus was. He hadn’t realized he was this eager to help one of his mentees in regards to romance. It made him wonder if he planned to do the same for Darwin one day, not that Jake knew if Darwin had any interest in dating someone.

“O… kay, wow. I… didn’t expect you to be this excited, but… thanks.” Jake said, his surprise slowly turning into gratitude. “Just… promise me you won’t go around telling everyone that Ana and I are a thing. We aren’t… exactly ready for that to be public knowledge yet, and only a small amount of people know.”

“You are very welcome, Jacob! And I shall keep your secret for as long as you and Ana desire!” Volignus said, still enthusiastic. “Now then, go on and tell me everything you need my help in!”

.

.

.

.

“I ended up telling him about a lot of things I was afraid of regarding us being a couple… even some fears I may still have.” Jake says. “But he gave me advice for pretty much everything. He even told me about some of his own experiences with romance.”

“Like how he tried to ask Kalia out, but she said no? And how they’re still friends despite that?” Ana says. Jake nods, his head still resting against hers.

“I was honestly surprised by how well he took the rejection, but he said that he and Kalia talked about what they really wanted, and that cleared everything up.” Jake says.

“And… I guess that helped me realize what held me back from confessing to you earlier was… because I was afraid it would have ruined our friendship if you didn’t feel the same way.” Jake admits.

Ana sheepishly chuckles. “I guess we both had that same fear… That’s what stopped me from confessing earlier too, until Aquaria helped me out.” “And you’re welcome!” Aquaraya shouts in Ana’s head.

Jake just softly smiles. “I can tell we’ve still got a lot to go through regarding this new relationship.” he says, before putting his free hand on top of Ana’s, which is still resting on his chest.

“But if we face them together… I think- no… I know we’ll be okay.” he says, as Ana’s smile widens.

“Yeah… together.”

Hours after being dropped into Ludul-Lands, Alsaya is sprinting for her life to get back to the school, now having less than one minute left. She can see the drawbridge lowering, but knows that just because it’s open, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get back in.

She can see the headmistress in the entrance, grinning madly at her. The students are watching as well, some looking worried, others looking eager to possibly see Alsaya get killed. She can just barely see Luna, whose body is twitching, likely because the taller girl is trying to hold back the urge to just bolt out and save her.

Luna had tried doing that with another student sometime before when they had gotten sent out to the Ludul-Lands… but Ludum had stopped her… and that poor student didn’t make it.

Alsaya picks up her speed and runs faster, hearing the horrid laughter approaching. Her vision is getting blurry and she can barely see in front of her, but she pushes through. Her legs feel like they want to buckle beneath her or just snap off… and they nearly do so when Alsaya trips on a rock, twisting her ankle and crashing to the rocky floor.

“No!!!” Luna panics, the urge to disobey Ludum getting stronger from seeing this. Even the usually apathetic Waru feels himself getting worried for Alsaya.

Despite her ankle, Alsaya picks herself up and keeps running… making it through the drawbridge and the doorway to the school, as the Laughing Luduls stop their pursuit and let out guttural laughs and shrieks of disappointment.

Alsaya collapses to the ground, fighting the urge to throw up as her body slows down. Elloise walks up to Alsaya and puts a proud hand on her shoulder. “Well done, Alsaya!” she says, still wearing her grin. “Get that ankle looked at and be ready for the next few days, because we’ll be showing you off at the school for softies soon enough!”

She then stands up and faces her students. “Class is dismissed!” she exclaims, before walking off and leaving the students to their own devices.

Luna rushes over to Alsaya, just in time for the girl to vomit onto the floor. Ludum’s hairspray and perfume definitely didn’t help how nauseous she felt. “Easy, Saya…” she says, patting the girl on the back.

Luna looks down at Alsaya’s ankle. While it does look twisted, it thankfully isn’t bad enough to where she’ll be down for long. Especially given Luna’s own abilities.

She helps Alsaya up to her feet and starts walking her back to her room… not seeing the leering red eyes of Cross’ glare.

.

.

.

.

Minutes later, the two girls are back in Alsaya’s room. Luna sets her on the bed. “This is gonna hurt like hell, Alsaya.” she says.

“This school is worse than hell…” Alsaya says, before grabbing a nearby towel and biting down on it. Luna takes a deep breath, before gently breathing out a cloud of black smoke that covers Alsaya’s twisted ankle.

Although the smoke doesn’t allow Alsaya to see it, she can feel the bones of her ankle snapping back into place painfully. Her screams are muffled by the towel she’s biting down on, because like Luna warned, it hurt like hell.

After a painful few minutes, the smoke moves and shows Alsaya’s ankle is now fully healed, aside from being sore. Luna breathes the smoke back into her body.

“There… it may be a little sore for a bit, but you should be fine.” Luna says, shaking her head as Alsaya throws the towel down. “Honestly, 5 hours in the Ludul-Lands, Alsaya? You’re crazy.”

Alsaya just lowers her gaze, and Luna’s expression drops a bit as she sits next to her. “I just… I want to leave this place so bad…” Alsaya says, her voice trembling. “If I hadn’t been so tunnel visioned on finding Delilah’s killer, then I… I…”

Luna cuts Alsaya off by pulling her into a hug, as the younger girl’s body trembles. Luna feels an immense amount of pain in her heart from seeing Alsaya like this. She’s come to see the speedster girl as a sort of sister.

Now, Luna’s not trying to replace Delilah as Alsaya’s sister. She knows just how close the two were before Delilah had been called away and killed by someone, like apparently lots of other Overseers were at the same time.

“I promise, Saya… even if it gets me killed… I’m GOING to get you outta here.”

Mara returns to the Sharp Tank, looking as confident as she can. Her talk with Emily, as well as spending a few hours exploring J-316 on her own and meeting the people, had helped so much more than she expected… and she’s determined to confess now.

Of course, when she arrived at the base, she didn’t expect to see Michael sitting on the couch as an older woman stands before him and scolds him, while also seeming to be healing him from a previous fight.

The woman looks to be in her 50s and is rather tall, with dark skin, long curly dark brown hair reaching down to her ankles, and green eyes that, despite her angry expression, seem to make Mara feel a sense of warmth just looking at them, even from a distance. She wears a long multi-colored dress that reaches to her feet, while exposing her arms… or rather, her arm. Her right arm is missing up to the elbow with bandages wrapped around the stump, and in its place seems to be a replacement hand made from glowing blue energy that floats freely. Sticking out the left side of her back is a single wing that confirms to Mara that this woman is from J-316.

“Honestly… fighting a variant of the Norse God of Thunder by yourself is bad enough, but tapping into THAT power? You know how risky it is for our kind to use that power, Michael!” the older woman scolds. “Do NOT let this happen again. Understand?”

“I won’t, Mom…” Michael says sheepishly, while Mara’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. “That’s his mom?!” Mara exclaims in her head, her nerves returning full force.

The older woman’s anger fades as she softly sighs, then leans down and gives her son a kiss on the forehead.

“You know I can’t help but worry about you and your father, Michael.” his mother says, and he softly smiles in response. “Yeah, I know… Sorry we give you a hard time.”

“Please, my life would be infinitely worse without you, your father, and your sister.” the woman says with a smile, until she notices Mara at the door. “Oh, it seems one of your friends is here.”

Michael whips around and sees Mara, who sheepishly waves to the two. “Oh! Hey, Mara.” Michael says as he gets to his feet. “When’d you get here? … And… how much of that did you see?” Mara notices that there seemed to be a sense of worry in his voice when asking that last question, but isn’t sure why.

“I only caught the tail end of that…” Mara says sheepishly as she walks closer, then looking at the one-armed woman. “Long enough to learn this woman is… your mother.”

The woman smiles and walks up to Mara. “Mara, correct?” she asks, and Mara nods. “My name is Eve. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Mara instinctively holds her hand out for a handshake, but Eve surprises her by pulling the shorter girl into a hug. The moment she feels the embrace, Mara feels all of the resurfacing nerves melting away.

It felt as if Mara was being hugged by her own mother.

“... Oh my god, this explains so much about Emily.” Mara thinks to herself, feeling a sense of relaxation she didn’t know was possible until now.

“My son’s told me so much about you.” Eve says, still hugging the demon girl. “I didn’t expect you to be more adorable than he was making you out to be.”

Mara’s face turns beet red in response, and Michael’s face follows suit. “MOM!” he exclaims, rather embarrassed. Eve chuckles and lets go of Mara, with the girl having to hold herself back from hugging her again.

Through her embarrassed face, Mara notices Eve’s missing right arm, as well as how she has only one wing. She remembers what Emily said about Harold being banned from J-316 because of something he did to Eve.

“Jeez… banning Harold from their dimension seems too light of a punishment for this.” she thinks, quickly able to piece together what may have happened.

If her theory is correct… then Eve’s missing hand and wing is Harold’s fault.

“Well, I’ll leave you two be.” Eve says, walking to the door. “I expect to meet the rest of this group as soon as possible, okay?” “Sure thing, Mom.” Michael says, before Eve takes her leave.

Mara stares at the door for a moment, then looks at Michael. “I… can definitely see who Emily takes after. Not to sound weird, but… when she hugged me, I felt-”

“More relaxed than any other moment in your life?” Michael finishes her sentence, and Mara nods. He chuckles in response. “Yeah, that’s how Mom is. She’s the kind of woman that everyone wants as a Mom, so don’t be surprised if she starts treating this whole team like her children.”

“I don’t think I will be surprised after that.” Mara says, before taking a seat on the couch. “So… what exactly did you do to get scolded by her? Something about fighting a God of Thunder?”

Michael chuckles sheepishly, sitting down next to Mara as he then explains how he went on a mission in Dimension D-334 to stop that variant of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor. This version of the Asgardian Prince is a battle-hungry man who just wants to fight, and had multiple fights with an Amazon warrior woman and daughter of Zeus, commonly called Wonder Woman. Thor sought out more power, but Michael had arrived to fight off the power-hungry God.

The fight wasn’t as easy as Michael expected… and he ended up resorting to using a boost in power that… he frankly isn’t proud of. Mara knows immediately what this means.

“You… used your Fallen State…” she whispers, to which Michael nods.

Fallen State is when a J-316 Angel gives into their rage and wrath, as their wings start to turn black and their eyes change red. While it boosts their powers and abilities… it risks corrupting them. Extended or frequent uses of this form fully corrupts them, their hearts no longer pure enough to even be allowed into J-316.

There have been many instances of an Angel from J-316 falling to this fate, and it’s widely made apparent that Angels are to NEVER use this power unless absolutely necessary, and even then, only for short instances that are no more than a few seconds.

But Michael had used it for a few minutes to fight against the God of Thunder.

“... Michael, show me your wings.” Mara says firmly. Michael just nods, before allowing his wings to reveal themselves.

Mara inspects his wings closely, looking closely for any sign of corruption. She knows that it starts small, but frequent use of that Fallen State will worsen the spread.

Looking closely at the wings, she finds that a few of the feathers have small amounts of gray forming on them, but thankfully not enough to spread. Within a few days, assuming Michael doesn’t use the Fallen State again, these spots should heal and change back to white.

Mara lets out a relieved sigh, but before she can even react, Michael’s left wing suddenly escapes her grasp and wraps around her, pulling her closer to Michael as she’s left startled.

“S-Sorry…” he sheepishly says. “My… wings tend to have a mind of their own when they aren’t in combat or are retracted…”

Mara, her whole body a deep shade of red, feels a slight sense of relaxation starting to take over. She didn’t realize until now just how soft Michael’s wings really are.

“Is, uh…” Mara stammers out. “Is there any… reason… your wing did this? N-Not that I’m… complaining…”

She glances up at Michael, noticing his face turning a slight shade of red. He takes a deep breath.

“It’s…” he sighs out. “Okay, the reason my Mom was here besides scolding me for using the Fallen State… is because… she… she was helping me with… how I could t-tell you about… my… my feelings for you…”

Mara’s body goes from beet red to a deep shade of crimson, her eyes widening once again. Emily had implied it was true, but hearing it from Michael himself… it leaves Mara almost speechless.

“... Your… f-feelings for me…?” Mara stammers out, as Michael nods in response.

“Yeah… the truth is, Mara… over the last few months, I… I’ve been falling in love with you.” Michael says, rather sheepishly. “I just… never said anything because… I didn’t think you’d feel the same way.”

Mara stares in shock. This whole time, Michael had feelings for her… but he never said anything for the same reason she never said anything. Because he feared Mara didn’t feel the same way, just like how she feared Michael didn’t feel the same way.

“... I guess we’re both rather oblivious…” Mara says, her nerves vanishing as a soft smile forms on her lips. Michael looks at her, his face morphing into surprise. Before Michael can say or do anything, Mara takes a page out of Kate’s book. Instead of using words to express her feelings… she acts on them, as she then kisses Michael on the lips.

The angel’s eyes go wide and his face turns redder than ever before. His wings then wrap more around Mara, as if urging Michael on what to do. Seconds later, he returns the kiss, holding Mara close as he does.

In that moment, the two feel like everything around them vanishes, leaving the two alone in each other’s embrace. Their hearts, both having been pounding from before, slow their pace and settle, becoming in sync.

Moments later, the two split from each other and are left in silence, their faces still red. Mara softly smiles, and Michael follows suit.

“Not gonna lie, I… I didn’t expect that from you.” Michael says, knowing Mara isn’t always as straightforward as someone like Kate or Vasilia.

Mara nervously giggles, looking away from Michael as she tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. “I… guess I was just having a hard time finding the words… so I just… just decided to act…”

Michael’s smile widens as his wing then pulls Mara closer to him, causing her face to go crimson. “... So, um…” Mara stammers out, a nervous grin on her face. “I guess this… makes us… a thing…? Boyfriend and girlfriend…?”

Michael plants a kiss on Mara’s forehead, and there may as well be steam emitting from the Nightmare Hunter’s ears. “Yeah… I’d like that.” Michael says with a smile.

Still red in the face, Mara’s head slowly rests against Michael’s chest. Mara hesitantly lifts her hand and wraps it around Michael’s body, hover-handing for a second, before gently resting her arm down. Michael doesn’t stop her at all.

In just those few moments, Mara feels so much safer in the arms of someone she loves than ever before. Not even the early days of dating Clayton, before getting cursed by Fear Herself, ever made Mara feel this way.

Feeling the warmth of his embrace and how soft his wings are, Mara’s nerves begin to diminish as a sense of relaxation hits her. And as Michael rests his own head against Mara’s, her nerves are now entirely gone, simply feeling the comfort from this hug.

“This… truly feels like Heaven…” Mara thinks to herself.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

It doesn’t take long for the rest of the Sharp Gang to learn that Michael and Mara are now a thing. It was easy for them to see that the two had become a couple, and while they certainly still had some adjusting to do in regards to this new romance, they were still eager to go through it together.

“So… how long did you guys really know?” Mara asks, knowing that everyone seemed to have picked up on her and Michael’s growing feelings before they did.

“A while now.” Champagne says, and Vasilia adds on. “Was pretty easy to tell, even at a distance.”

“Yeah, you two were not discreet about it at all. I’m surprised it took ya this long to actually realize it yourselves.” Benny says, and Mara gets more flustered. Michael just shakes his head and puts an arm around Mara, calming her down.

Astra has a teasing smirk on her face, but before she could say anything, she senses two people appearing in the dimension. “Huh. Jake and Ana just showed up.”

This catches everyone by surprise, as they assumed the two would be spending more time with their classmates after school. Moments later, the two kids walk into the building.

“Hey, guys.” Jake says rather quietly, but still loud enough to be heard. “Jake, is everything okay?” Sterling asks.

Jake hesitates for a moment, until he feels Ana giving his hand a gentle but firm squeeze. He glances at her, seeing her giving him a reassuring smile. This helps his nerves a bit, before he looks back to the Sharp Gang.

“Can I… speak with Michael? Alone?”

The whole team goes quiet upon hearing this request. Michael could feel his body tensing up for a moment. Michael and Jake had hardly interacted since the angel had joined the team, and things were definitely still a little tense even after the truth of their past had gotten out.

But Michael then calms himself down, taking a deep breath before responding. “Yeah… okay, Jake.”

The Sharp Gang all whip their heads towards Michael in surprise, especially Mara. But… they all knew that this conversation had to happen at some point.

And if Jake felt ready enough to ask for this chance now… then it must really be the right time.

The rest of the Sharp Gang all leave the room and allow the two to speak in private. Before she leaves the room, Mara gives Michael a concerned look, but he reassures her that he’ll be fine. Still a little concerned, Mara trusts his word and leaves the room, as Michael and Jake then sit on the couches of the main room, across from each other.

The room is filled with a deafening silence, save for the gentle hum of the lights and machines around them. Michael didn’t know what to say or how to start, unable to bring himself to look at Jake. But the kid then speaks up.

“I… I wanted to say… I’m sorry…”

Michael whips his head to Jake in surprise, seeing Jake has his head down as if staring at his feet. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Michael.

“W… What?” Michael says, unsure if he heard him right. Jake continues.

“That day, when I lost my family to the demon… it was wrong of me to snap at you the way I did. Even if it was just a result of me still hit with the grief and pain of losing them… it wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you just because you were ‘too late’... You didn’t have any future knowledge of what was going to happen, and you were just trying to do your best to help someone in need when you noticed the problem.”

Michael stares at Jake in surprise. Part of him had expected Jake to lash out at him again, screaming and shouting about how his family’s death was Michael’s fault.

“K-Kid, how are you not… hating me?” Michael asks, to which Jake responds.

“For a while, I did… but Iroh helped me see that the hatred I felt wasn’t worth hanging onto. You were only one man trying to do his best to help someone in need…” Jake says, before looking up at him. “... and even if it… didn’t exactly work out the way either of us hoped… you still did that by ensuring I survived.”

Jake keeps going. “Losing my family was definitely… hard… especially over the next 3 years. But that eventually led me down the path I’m on now. Finding my Gem, getting sent to Backcells, meeting Ana, joining the Sharp Gang, then joining TAHE.”

He gives a slight smile. “I’m… really different from who I was before, and… I’ve got myself to a point where I’m genuinely happy. Michael… you don’t need to feel guilty for what happened that day. As hard as it was for both of us, the most we can do is move forward and better ourselves because of it.”

Michael’s gaze lowers to his feet as tears almost well in his eyes. “I just… part of me still hates that… that I wasn’t able to save the rest of your family.”

Jake nods. “I can understand that, especially given… well, what else happened that day. But like I said… we move forward and better ourselves. And from the looks of it… I think we both did a good job doing that. The Sharp Gang is basically a family, and they’ve helped both of us become better versions of ourselves.”

Michael wipes his tears from his eyes, as if he can feel the weighted burden of his guilt starting to lift. Jake then stands up and steps closer to Michael, holding his hand out to the angel.

“So… if it’s alright with you… I’d like a chance for us to start over.” Jake says. “To make a bond that isn’t started on any hatred or muddy past. Just… a solid start.”

Michael stares at Jake for a moment, before smiling and wiping the last of his tears away, then grabbing the boy’s hand and shaking it.

“A solid start… I like that.”

Over the next few days, Michael and Jake would indeed make more of an effort to work together in situations. Any chance Jake got to help Michael out on a mission that wasn’t too dangerous for him, he would take it. The missions weren’t anything too dangerous or noteworthy, but they did develop a great sense of teamwork and skill that hadn’t been present before.

Michael would even start showing Jake some combat moves that Ariesto had shown him before his passing, and even show him the pair of gauntlets Ariesto wore in combat.

Michael had held onto them to remember his brother-in-law after his passing, never actually wearing them himself… not that they would even fit, given Ariesto’s hands had been much larger than Michael’s.

Michael had been curious if the gauntlets would work for Jake, even if they were a bit large for the boy… but to their surprise, when Jake slipped the gauntlets onto his hands, they shrunk down to be more at his size and fit firmly around his hands and forearms. The right one even opened up to reveal Jake’s Gem on the back of his hand.

The two were stunned by this, realizing that the gauntlets must recognize Jake as wielding Ariesto’s Gem, thus deeming him worthy to wear them. When they went on a mission to stop a villain in another dimension, with Jake wearing the gauntlets, Jake could certainly feel a boost in strength while wearing them.

Not only was he able to lift a car to rescue a trapped civilian, but when he rushed at the villain to knock him away from another civilian… Jake’s punch sent the villain flying across the city and knocked him out cold. It wasn’t as powerful as a punch from Heath, but it was WAY stronger than any punch Jake ever threw before.

Suffice to say, Michael allowed Jake to keep the gauntlets. He knew the kid would get more use from them than he would, and in a way, it would still keep Ariesto’s memory alive.

Jake would definitely hold onto the gauntlets, but he would only wear them in moments where he needed a boost in strength. If he knew for a certain he would be fine using just his own powers, then he wouldn’t use them.

In a strange way, the two essentially became like brothers to each other. They obviously don’t intend on replacing the actual brother or brother figure the other had, but it was still clear enough that the two were much closer than they had been for the last four years.

It was almost like there was never any hatred between them.

Right now, the two are sitting on top of a New York building in a random dimension after having helped a team of superheroes take down a rampaging villain. They’re eating some fast food and laughing as they recount some of the earlier events in the fight.

“Did you see his face when he saw you swat his strongest attack away?!” Jake says through his laughter, then making a mocking shocked face as Michael laughs more. “He definitely knew he was screwed after that!”

“Nah, I think he realized he was screwed when you nearly knocked the wind out of him!” Michael says through his laughter. “Did you hear the wheeze he let out when you socked him in the gut?! He sounded like a balloon leaking air!”

“Right?!” Jake laughs. “He’s lucky I didn’t aim a little lower!” “That would’ve been diabolical!” Michael says. The two laugh for another few moments, before they relax and sigh.

“Gonna be honest, Michael…” Jake says, making the angel look at him. “Working alongside you like this… It’s been pretty fun.” Michael smiles. “Yeah, I think so too.” he says, then looking at him. “So, you and Ana are a thing, huh?”

Jake nearly chokes on his drink, admittedly startled by the question. He coughs a bit, before looking at Michael. “You… knew?!”

Michael shrugs a bit. “Wasn’t hard to see. I won’t tell anyone else if you and Ana aren’t ready to tell them, even if they may have already figured it out themselves.”

Jake calms down a bit and softly smiles. “Thanks… and yeah, Ana and I are together. It’s… been amazing.” he says. “We were admittedly pretty nervous about actually committing to a relationship, since neither of us have been in one before… but it’s so much better than we thought it would be.”

Michael smiles in response. “Good to hear.” he says, then looking across the city. “Truth be told, I haven’t had much relationship experience myself.”

Jake looks at Michael as the angel continues. “The only real advice I ever got was from seeing how strong my parents’ relationship was, as well as Emily and Ariesto. Part of me wanted a partner I could love as much as they love each other… and I guess I didn’t know whether or not I’d find the right person.”

“Well… I think Mara might be that person.” Jake says, smiling. “I can’t speak on behalf of her, but she definitely seems like the type to trust in a relationship. From what I know, her last boyfriend was-”

“A major prick with an ego that makes Tarsa seem humble.” Michael says.

“... I was just gonna say ‘a big jerk’, but that works too.” Jake shrugs. “Just being there for her and accepting her for who she is… that’s already way more you’ve done for her than he ever did. I got a feeling you and Mara are gonna go far.”

Michael smiles and playfully punches Jake’s shoulder. “Thanks, kid. And I know you and Ana are gonna do the same.”

Michael then stands up and stretches his back out, revealing his wings. “Race around New York before we head back?” Jake smirks and stands up. “Alright. On the count of 3.”

They both crouch down as Michael waits for a countdown. But then… “THREE!” Jake shouts as he flies off the roof in a streak of green light.

“Hey!” Michael shouts, flying after him as the two laugh. “Cheap trick, kid!”

“Try and keep up, slowpoke!” Jake shouts back jokingly. Michael grins and picks up the pace. The weight of his guilt was gone, and in its place is a sense of pride and happiness, as well as a strong bond formed.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

A day went by since Jake and Michael had begun working together. Jake is back at TAHE, and his classmates can definitely see the major change that he’s gone through. They had already seen him change greatly after the whole incident with Necrosson, thus leading to him having his meetings with Iroh.

But now… they could see that Jake truly was a transformed person from who he was before. He wasn’t hiding his true self behind a mask anymore, and that in turn allowed him to get stronger both physically and mentally.

It was as if making this new bond with Michael was one of the final pieces to help Jake get to where he is now.

Right now, the Mavericks are relaxing by the firepit outside their cabins. It had been a normal day, and they were taking the time to hang out and chat as a group.

Jake and Ana still hadn’t made their relationship public to their classmates, but the two certainly suspect that everyone’s aware of it in some way.

Just then, the Headmistress approaches, which catches their attention. “Excuse me, Jake.” she says, causing the Mavericks to all look at him. They knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, so what could Miss Trismegistus want?

“Y-Yes, Miss Trismegistus?” Jake asks, a little unsure. Evangeline’s gentle smile and tone thankfully keeps him at ease. “Come with me.”

She motions for Jake to follow her, and Jake gets to his feet and walks after the headmistress, but not before giving Ana and his classmates a reassuring look.

Jake walks alongside Evangeline. “Is… everything okay, Miss Trismegistus?” he asks curiously. “This isn’t about…” he takes a quick glance around, before speaking in a quieter tone. “... Elloise Ludum arriving in a few days, right?”

Evangeline shakes her head. “There is no need to fret, Jake. This is not in regards to her eventual arrival.” she says calmly. “While you were off on your missions with Mr. Celeste, an ally of yours from the Sharp Gang came to me to discuss something I think you will greatly enjoy.”

This catches Jake by surprise. Who from the Sharp Gang had come to TAHE, and what did they discuss? Was it something his classmates knew about? No, they couldn’t have. They seemed just as confused as he was when Evangeline asked him to follow her.

He knew that Sterling often came by the school to check on him and Ana, and Dresden would also come by because of TAHE’s alliance with the RAS Foundation.

But the way Evangeline spoke, it was like she was implying it was someone who rarely came by the school. She was essentially leaving Jake wondering who it could be, like he’s supposed to guess.

Was it Heath? Unless it was to help with training, Jake couldn’t see Heath coming by very often. Not to mention he was either dealing with Kaijus back in his world, or spending time with that woman who’s apparently Kate’s sister, Rose.

Kayla? Not very likely, since he remembers her having another Bio-Mech to chase after with Kate.

Vasilia? Nah, Miss Trismegistus would likely have asked for Naseko to come with, not him. And knowing her, Vasilia’s either off with Benny and Champagne, or trying to seduce that Bustar Terminax guy she’s always talking about.

Harold? … Yeah, that’s a HELL NO.

Who could it be then?

They both arrive outside the Nexus Pyramid at TAHE, and Evangeline uses her magic to open up the wall to allow for whoever is inside to enter the school.

But before the wall is finished opening, a large black horse-sized figure with large wings practically sprints right up to Jake and pounces on the boy, knocking him onto his back. Jake exclaims in shock and surprise, but that quickly shifts into excitement as the large dragon starts licking him like a dog that hadn’t seen their owner for hours.

“Ah! H-Hey, hey! Toothless, hey! Hey, bud!” Jake says through his laughter, and the dragon then excitedly runs circles around Jake as he sits up.

The dragon, named Toothless, then nudges Jake and nearly knocks him over again, but Jake laughs and wraps his arms around the dragon’s neck, nuzzling against his scales as Toothless lets out adorable warbling noises.

Jake then notices a shark fin sticking out of the ground and approaching him and Toothless, and seconds later, a smaller figure leaps out of the ground and lands before Jake, revealing what looks to be a small Great White Shark with legs and a pink bandana tied around its neck, and its tail fin is wagging excitedly.

“Jeff!” Jake says, as the shark lets out some adorable growls and runs around Jake like an excited dog, then jumping into the boy’s lap and nuzzling him. Jake laughs and scratches under Jeff’s chin, causing the creature to let out an adorable “Mrrrr”.

This gave Jake an idea of who Evangeline had met with, as he looks and sees Tayrun Jaanavar walking out of the Nexus Pyramid.

“When I mentioned I would be bringing them to see you, Jake, they certainly got very excited.” Tayrun says, while Jake gets to his feet, still holding Jeff as Toothless nuzzles up to Jake’s side.

“I-I definitely did not expect this, and I can definitely see why Miss Trismegistus said I would enjoy it.” Jake says, but he was certainly curious as to why Tayrun brought them here. Luckily, he and Evangeline were willing to explain.

“When Mr. Jaanavar came to speak with me, he had told me about the strong bond you had made with these two creatures of his world.” Evangeline says, gesturing to the creatures with Jake. “It certainly explained why you would often go to Dimension T-905 during your free time, whenever you weren’t spending time with your classmates or meeting with Iroh.”

“... Yeah, I should’ve expected you would know about that.” Jake says. Of course the Headmistress would have noticed him making these frequent trips to T-905, something that he figured not even his classmates knew about. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Tayrun had actually told her about this sooner.

“Evangeline had suggested that I bring Toothless and Jeff here so they can spend more time with you, as well as possibly make friends with your classmates.” Tayrun said. “I thought it was a good idea, not just as a kind gesture to you… but also for their safety.”

Jake feels his stomach drop at that last part. “What do you mean?” he asks, uneasy. Tayrun then answers. “Vasilia had mentioned that some dragon hunters came to her shop to get armor so they, in their exact words, ‘could slay the last Furious Nightmare and an annoying Landshark Drake’.”

Jake instinctively holds tighter onto Jeff and Toothless, his protective nature kicking in as his eyes even briefly flicker to a glowing green. The same glowing green that had flickered when he snapped at Nicole and his old bullies.

Those hunters planned to kill Toothless and Jeff?! For what?! Just the hell of it?!

“Vasilia thankfully sent them away under the false promise of crafting them armor and weapons to do so, then she had told me what the hunters intended to do.” Tayrun continues. “That is when I came to meet with Miss Trismegistus to possibly bring Toothless and Jeff here. Not just for you, but to ensure they stay safe.”

Jake’s nerves slowly diminish, especially as Toothless softly brushes his cheek against Jake’s arm, while Jeff lets out some more adorable growls.

“Well… thanks, Tayrun.” Jake says with a grateful smile. “This… really means a lot to me, and… thanks for keeping an eye on them while I was gone.”

Tayrun smiles warmly. “You are welcome, Jake.” he says. “Though, I hope you remember that these two are your responsibility. Especially now that they’re here at TAHE.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jake says, before using his free hand to scratch behind Toothless’ ear. The large black dragon lets out relaxed warbling noises, clearly enjoying the scratching. “But I know I can keep them in line.”

“I certainly do not doubt that, Jake.” Evangeline says. “And from what Mr. Jaanavar has told me, Toothless and Jeff are very peaceful creatures who only get aggressive if directly threatened or if you are in direct danger.”

“That’s definitely true.” Jake admits, thinking back to the last time he had been in direct danger while out with Toothless and Jeff.

When an Explosive Cannon Claw had entered the territory Toothless and Jeff commonly made their home, it had attacked with its typical explosive abilities, and Jake had gotten indirectly hit and injured pretty badly by the blast.

It thankfully wasn’t anything Jake couldn’t heal, but suffice to say, Toothless and Jeff showed a much more fierce side as they tore the other dragon to pieces. After doing so, they stayed by Jake for hours as he healed himself.

“But knowing how peaceful this school is, they’re gonna be fine.” Jake says, putting on a smile. “I promise.”

Evangeline smiles, then tells Jake and his two draconic allies they’re free to go. Jake thanks Tayrun again, before setting Jeff down and leading dragon and drake along the path to TAHE.

“Toothless, Jeff, you two need to behave here.” Jake says to the two creatures, knowing they’re able to understand him. “No one here wants to hurt or hunt you, and if you see me fighting against some golden figures or other students, it’s just training so I can get stronger. You don’t need to attack them.”

Toothless lets out a low growl, while Jeff lets out a noise that’s like a mix of a growl and a purr. Jake assumes that means they understand, but he still intends to keep an eye on them.

That’s when a sort of “sixth sense” goes off in Jake’s head as he quickly turns ahead and catches Aurora, who had been flying at him to surprise him.

“Aurora, what did I tell you about flying at people without warning them?” he says in a playfully stern tone, to which the little angel giggles sheepishly.

“Sorry, Big Brother Ja-” she says, but then stops as she sees Toothless and Jeff. Her expression turns into surprise and amazement as she lets out a gasp.

Jake notices the rest of the Cherub Class had been rushing over, but had stopped upon seeing the two dragons. Talia and Valkyssar instinctively get defensive, thinking they need to protect their classmates.

Jake gives the class a gentle smile and motions for them to come closer, and they hesitantly do so. “Guys, it’s okay. They’re not gonna hurt you.” he says calmly.

Toothless sits on the ground, curiously looking at the small figures. Jeff is a lot more eager, his tail fin wagging, but he stays back to avoid scaring them.

“Aurora, hold your hand out like this.” Jake says, gently taking Aurora’s arm and holding it up so her palm is before Toothless. Her nerves take over as she buries her face in Jake’s chest, but still holds her hand out for the dragon.

Toothless stares at the small angel his friend is holding, before closing his eyes and gently moving his head forward so it rests against Aurora’s hand.

The moment that happens, Aurora peeks out from Jake’s chest, and her nerves fade away as her fear turns back to amazement.

“See?” Jake says, then gesturing for the rest of the Cherub Class to come closer again. They did so much more eagerly after seeing Toothless greet Aurora like this. “Nothing to be afraid of.”

The kids all eagerly surround the two dragons. Jeff rolls over and lays on his back, allowing Gamble, Tina and Molly to rub his belly, which causes him to let out adorable growls of enjoyment. Toothless flops down and allows the other kids to scratch various parts of his body, with Jake showing them where he enjoys it the most. Toothless lets out relaxed warbling sounds, clearly loving the attention.

Jake just smiles, seeing Toothless and Jeff getting along well with the Cherub Class.

Tayrun returns to Dimension T-905 and goes to Vasilia’s shop. She had just finished telling Benny and Champagne about more of her armors, when she notices Tayrun enter.

“Ah, Tayrun!” Vasilia says with a smile. “I imagine your visit to TAHE was successful, yes?”

Tayrun nods. “It was. And as you suspected, Jake was very happy to see them again.”

This gets Benny and Champagne. “What were you doing at the Trismegistus Academy, Tayrun? And what did it have to do with Jake?” Champagne asks.

“Well, I was bringing his two draconic friends to the school so they could not only spend more time with him, but also be safe from hunters that were seeking to hunt them.” Tayrun answers.

Benny and Champagne’s jaws may as well hit the table. “Wait, wait, wait! Jake has two pet dragons and we’re only NOW hearing about it?!” Benny says. Tayrun glances at Vasilia, who shrugs.

“I did not feel it necessary to reveal Jacob’s secret if he did not want it to be known.” Vasilia says. “But I imagine it will soon spread to the rest of our group, given the two dragons are now at the school with the rest.”

She then turns to Benny. “I would not necessarily call them ‘pets’, Benjamin. They are more along the lines of close friends and sort of… emotional support animals, if that makes sense.”

Champagne seems to realize something. “Oi, is that why I would sometimes see Jake arrive in this universe whenever we had Panini Friday here in your shop?” Champagne says. “I always thought that was just him hanging out with your cousin, Naseko.”

“I had assumed so as well, given I had started seeing Jacob’s frequent visits to this world sometime after he had met Naseko, after joining Tayrun, Sterling, and Heath on the Dragon Hunt.” Vasilia says. “But when I had asked her myself, she had claimed that he was not coming to see her as often as he visited this dimension. While the two did sometimes hang out before going to school, it was not as often as Jake hangs out with Ana.”

“So how’d ya find out about his dragons?” Benny asks, to which Tayrun then explains.

.

.

.

.

About a week after the Dragon Hunt, Tayrun was in Vasilia’s shop getting his Lank-limbed Ender armor repaired, when there was a knock. They both looked and saw Jake standing at the doorway. His outfit had the armor pads removed, and his goggles were gone too.

“Ah, Jacob!” Vasilia said as the kid walked in, giving them both a wave. “What brings you here?”

“Hey, Vasilia, Tayrun.” Jake said, before looking at the beast chronicler. “Tayrun, could I borrow your Bestiaries for a moment? There’s… a dragon that I came across a few days ago, and I want to see if there’s any information on it.”

“Of course.” Tayrun said, handing the two books to Jake, who took them. “Thanks.”

Jake then sat down and flipped through the pages of Tayrun’s Bestiary, looking intently for a certain creature. But it didn’t show up in the book, so he then moved onto the one gotten from Ulitus.

Tayrun and Vasilia both looked at each other, rather curious. What dragon could Jake have been looking for?

“Found it!”

They looked back and saw Jake with a wide smile on his face. Tayrun walked over and took a look at the specific creature Jake had stopped on… and he immediately felt skeptical.

“A… Furious Nightmare?” Tayrun said, which caught Vasilia by surprise. “Jake, you saw a genuine Furious Nightmare?” Jake nodded.

“Jacob, those dragons have been extinct for centuries.” Vasilia said. “Are you certain you saw this creature?”

Jake closed the Bestiary and stood up. “If you don’t believe me… then just follow me.” he said, before walking out of Vasilia’s shop. Vasilia and Tayrun looked at each other again, before following behind.

Jake led the two of them through a forest that was near the last stop of the Dragon Hunt, and they ended up in a small valley with a pond in the center.

And any skepticism they had about Jake’s claim immediately vanished as they saw the large black dragon, which came bounding over to Jake and nearly knocked him over as it brushed its head against him.

“Easy, bud! Easy!” Jake said, chuckling a bit as he scratched the dragon’s chin. “I told you I’d be back, Toothless!”

“By the Titan of Death…” Tayrun muttered in shock, and Vasilia was floored. “A real live Furious Nightmare…”

The dragon, Toothless, noticed Tayrun and Vasilia. He got rather defensive, especially after seeing Tayrun’s rapier and Vasilia’s knife that they had on their belts. Toothless glared at the two and let out a defensive growl.

Thankfully Jake got in front of Toothless and started to try and calm him down. “H-Hey, hey! Toothless, it’s fine! They’re not gonna hurt you!”

Tayrun and Vasilia saw where Toothless was glaring, and they each slowly pulled their weapons out. Toothless snarled again, but the two then tossed their weapons back so they’re out of reach, which catches the dragon by surprise.

“It is alright… uh, Toothless.” Vasilia said, holding her hands up to assure the dragon she and Tayrun don’t mean any harm. “Like Jacob said, we are not going to hurt you.”

The large dragon calmed down and snorted from his nose. He clearly understood them, but part of him still doesn’t entirely trust them, so the two keep their distance.

Out of the corner of her eye, Vasilia then noticed something poking out of the ground and moving towards them. It looked like a small shark fin, and there were muffled growls emitting from it.

Jake then noticed it too and shook his head, before calling out to the underground creature. “Jeff!”

The shark fin stopped as the growling ceased, and seconds later, the young Landshark Drake leapt out of the ground and excitedly ran over to Jake. He knelt down as Jeff stopped before him, and he scratched the shark’s back, causing the small creature to let out an adorable growl of enjoyment.

Tayrun and Vasilia’s baffled expressions remained, especially after they saw the pink bandana around the creature’s neck. “A Landshark Drake?” Vasilia said, glancing over to Tayrun. “They are not normally in this area, correct?”

Tayrun shook his head. “Not exactly… Those creatures normally tend to wander wherever they want and have been spotted in various parts of the world… but not at this age and size.”

Jeff laid on his back as Jake scratched his belly, making the creature purr like some kind of cat. Toothless came over and nuzzled Jake, clearly a little jealous of the attention his “brother” was getting.

Jake rolled his eyes and used his other hand to scratch behind Toothless’ ears. “I swear, you are so spoiled, Toothless.” Jake muttered in amusement.

“Regardless, the fact that Jake was able to befriend both of these creatures is… fascinating.” Tayrun said, still amazed to see a live Furious Nightmare after having assumed the species had long been extinct.

.

.

.

.

Champagne holds himself back from rolling his eyes, knowing that the creatures Tayrun and Vasilia mentioned sounded similar and were even directly named the exact same as two fictional characters from his universe.

By this point, he’s long accepted that stuff from his universe appears as other stuff in other universes. Doesn’t make it any less irritating, but it isn’t anywhere near as bad as it was when he first met Benny and was told about his Mech Armors that sounded like FNAF Animatronics.

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive for the kid to have done. Befriendin’ two dragons in a short amount of time certainly ain’t easy from what ya told me, Tayrun.” Benny said. “Any idea how the kid pulled it off?”

“From what Jake had said, he had spent a few hours observing Toothless in the valley. Toothless was clearly aware of Jake being there, but Jake kept his distance… until Jeff had come along and seemed to have been injured by something else, as the creature’s leg was bleeding.” Tayrun answers. “Jake then went to the Landshark Drake and used his abilities to heal him, and seeing this seemed to show Toothless that Jake could be trusted.”

“He likely assumed that Jacob was intending to hunt him with how much he was watching him.” Vasilia says. “But seeing him heal the smaller creature seemed to have put that fear to rest.”

“Perhaps in some way Jake figured that helping these two creatures would… I suppose, help him redeem himself after the Dragon Hunt.” Tayrun says, which surprises Benny and Champagne.

“Redeem himself?” Champagne says. “I know the Dragon Hunt didn’t go as you guys planned, but did Jake really blame himself for that?”

Tayrun gives a slightly somber nod. “As a matter of fact, he did. I believe I lost count of how many times he apologized to myself, Sterling and Heath over the few days after that hunt, regardless of us always saying that we forgave him.”

“Jeez…” Benny says, feeling bad for Jake. “I didn’t realize Jake had been beatin’ himself up for that… No wonder it took him so long to fully heal from the loss of his family...”

“Well, let’s just be glad that he is better now.” Champagne says. “Meetin’ Iroh and having the whole team and his classmates backin’ him up has definitely helped.”

Vasilia nods. “Indeed. I have noticed that he is much happier since meeting Iroh, but he also seems the most happy when he is with Ana.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re a couple already.” Champagne says, and Tayrun has to agree. “The connection that Jake and Ana have has certainly gotten stronger as of lately, so I would not be surprised either. Ana did spend the most time helping Jake through his recovery.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Benny says with a nod.

If the Mavericks had been given an hour to guess what Jake would be showing them, they would have still gotten it wrong. Because they certainly did not expect to see Toothless and Jeff.

“So guys… this is Toothless and Jeff.” Jake says with a slight nervous grim, gesturing to his two draconic friends.

“… This explains your trips to my dimension.” Naseko plainly says.

“No surprise she noticed.” Jake thinks, then notices Ana cautiously approaching the two creatures.

Toothless looks at Ana skeptically, but Jeff excitedly bounds over to her, his tail fin wagging like a dog, as he even runs around in a circle.

Jeff then lays on his back before Ana’s feet, clearly asking for belly rubs. Ana’s eyes seem to sparkle as she kneels down to Jeff and scratches his belly, making him let out adorable growls of enjoyment.

Toothless glances at Jake, as if asking for confirmation that Ana can be trusted. “Toothless, she’s okay. That’s Ana. You remember I told you about her?”

Toothless’ eyes widen as his skeptical look vanishes, remembering that Jake would sometimes talk about Ana when he hung out with the two dragons.

“So wait… you’ve had two dragons this entire time?” Emilia asks, but Darwin then adds. “More like a dragon and a Drake.”

“We won’t have to worry about them getting hostile, will we?” Kiko says, admittedly a little nervous.

Jake just shakes his head. “No, you won’t. They’re very friendly, as you can see with Jeff. Toothless can just be a little defensive around new people, but he doesn’t mean any harm.”

That seems to put his classmates at ease as they slowly approach. Toothless looks among the Maverick Class and curiously sniffs them. Ana, finished with giving Jeff belly rubs, looks at Toothless.

The large black dragon approaches Ana slowly, which makes her a little nervous. The dragon stares at her with his big green eyes, before sitting down before her with an adorable stare.

“Uh… hi… Toothless.” Ana says, a little nervous. The dragon then seems to smile, before leaning closer to Ana and giving her a lick on the cheek, her nerves diminishing and being replaced with surprise.

Jake chuckles at what Toothless did. “See, he likes you.” he says, as Ana slowly smiles and approaches Toothless with a little more confidence.

She reaches up and scratches under Toothless’ chin, and the dragon lets out an adorable relaxed warble.

“… I definitely didn’t think Jake would have a dragon and a shark with legs, but… I guess there’s been weirder pets.” Zenith says with a shrug.

Roxanne Takeda is currently in the training room of the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters, once again using her blade to slice through the projectiles shooting out of the wall.

As the last bean bag is sliced in half, Roxanne stops the training and sheathes her sword. She closes her eyes and takes a relaxed breath. Then…

“You don’t need to hide, Vivianne.”

Roxanne opens her eyes and turns to the entrance of the training room, where Vivianne Sobreya is shyly watching. Upon hearing the Demon Link, Vivianne winces a bit, but then walks into the room.

“I… should’ve known you could tell.” Vivianne quietly mutters as she walks closer to Roxanne.

“I guess you haven’t told anyone because of how Mara was treated?” Roxanne asks, and Vivianne gives a half-nod.

“That’s… only half of the reason…” Vivianne says, tears starting to well in her eyes as the terrified screams ring through her head.

Roxanne puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Vivianne, whatever you did as your other form when you first entered it was not your fa-”

“YES IT WAS!”

Viv’s shout echoes across the room as tears spill down her face. “If I hadn’t been such a coward, then no one at that camp would have died!! Their blood is on my hands, and if Commander Wiggins learns what I did, she would execute me herself!! The only reason I joined the Coalition was to try and atone for what I did, but I know that no matter how many demons I help them slay… it… it won’t change anything…”

Her voice trembles as she collapses to her knees, her body shaking. “How many lives an… and families did I ruin because… I couldn’t take control sooner…? If… If I hadn’t been… such a pathetic corward… those kids would still be alive…”

Roxanne’s expression softens as she removes her blade from her hilt and sets it down, before kneeling down in front of Vivianne and wrapping the sobbing woman into a gentle hug. They stay like that for a good few minutes, as Viv’s sobs get quieter and quieter.

“Viv… I know just how much this has been weighing on you…” Roxanne says. “But getting tortured by Entomantis as you did, then not having the will to go through more of that to regain control… that does not make you a bad person. It just makes you human.”

She wipes Vivianne’s tears. “Torture can break even the hardest of hearts. But the path you’re on now, helping the Coalition and hunting demons… that is the best you can do, and that’s all any of us can ask of you.”

Roxanne gently rests her hand on Viv’s shoulder. “I guarantee that Tamika will not kill you for what happened, knowing the kind of person you are.”

Viv’s gaze lowers to the floor, as a surprising memory comes to mind.

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Tamika, Vivianne, and Paul stared in shock at Roxanne as she had finished transforming.

Her skin had turned a pale gray color as her clothes melded into her body. Her chest changed into what looked like a red heart with pink smoke emitting from where her neck meets her shoulders, concealing the lower half of her face. Her braided hair grew out more and more as the end of it shifted into a claw. Her eyes turned completely red, and to finish the transformation, her right arm suddenly twitched and contorted, growing in size and muscle as a large growth formed in her shoulder and bloomed into a large red rose. A dark red vine covered in thorns wrapped around the arm, and her hand shifted into a three-fingered hand with glowing red claws on each end.

Tamika instinctively reached for her gun, but had to stop herself… upon seeing the demonic figure of Lovelinoichi, which many members of the Coalition referred to as “the Love Ninja Demon”.

Tamika knew that even if she did grab her shotgun, Lovelinoichi would be too fast for her to hit with a clean shot. Not to mention… she’s one of the few demons that actually did far more good than bad.

Hell, Tamika doubted there was ever a report of Lovelinoichi ever ONCE doing anything to hurt innocent people.

“O… kay, I think I need a second to process this…” Tamika said, still baffled and… admittedly disturbed by the transformation she had witnessed. It looked rather painful to Roxanne, but Roxanne had transformed with little issue or pain.

Roxanne shifted back into her human form, the transformation again looking disturbing and making Tamika gag as Paul and Viv winced. Roxanne could only speak in Japanese as Lovelinoichi, and she figured no one else in the room could speak or understand the language.

“Oh, ugh! That looks brutal, New Girl!” Paul said, to which Roxanne just shrugged. “I’ve handled worse.” she said rather bluntly.

Roxanne went on to explain just what had happened that led her to getting her demonic form. 3 to 4 years back, she had fallen into a depression after her boyfriend, Mason Tagen, was killed on vacation along with his parents, while his little brother Jake had been put into the foster system.

Roxanne’s depression had spiraled more and more with each passing day, until the point where… she couldn’t live with it anymore… and she attempted to take her life.

She was successful in that matter, thinking she would meet Mason in the afterlife… but then she awoke moments later, sitting before the demon known… as Phileveloss. This demon had once been notorious for hunting those with a strong fear of love…

… but that had all changed when she attempted to haunt a man named Brett, who was afraid of love because he wanted to avoid hurting others.

The demon had disguised herself as a woman named Valerie and ended up dating him… and this played into her eventual torture of him, making him face all the people he’d hurt through his fear.

But Brett not only managed to fight through his fears… he said something that left the demon speechless.

“Valerie, I’m sorry that this hurts, but I’m leaving and I hope you find happiness somewhere else.”

Those words lingered in Phileveloss’ mind ever since, as she went on to feel sorrow and guilt for what she did… and that shifted her goal.

Instead of feeding on the fear of people afraid of love by forcing them to face their fears… she would instead help them overcome their fears in less violent ways than a demon normally would.

But that night, she had caught the smell of Roxanne’s sorrow over the loss of her love… and had arrived a second too late to stop her from taking her life. Determined, Phileveloss channeled her power into creating the demon that would become Lovelinoichi… and she managed to bring Roxanne’s soul back into her body.

The demon then went on to help Roxanne see that ending her life is not what Mason would have wanted. He would have wanted her to keep thriving and living a happy life, not stew in grief and sorrow. While mourning Mason was justified, it didn’t mean it needed to lead to her end as well.

As such, Roxanne vowed to never let her sorrow overtake her again, and used her new abilities to do good and help those in need… hence eventually joining the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters.

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The memory stops playing in Viv’s mind as she notices Roxanne leaving the room, her blade reattached to her belt.

“How… how do you keep moving forward despite… what happened?” Viv asks, making Roxanne stop. Viv rises to her feet. “Losing someone the way you did, then going through that accident and becoming Lovelinoichi… It can’t just be Phileveloss that encouraged you. How do you do it?”

“Because of a saying in my family; 諦めるより痛みが少ないので、私たちは痛みを乗り越えます.” Roxanne says as she walks to the door.

The orange haired girl looks confused, not understanding the language. Roxanne stops at the door and looks back at her, saying the same thing in English.

“We push through the pain… because it hurts less than giving up.”

With that, she walks out of the room, leaving Viv alone with the message ringing in her head.

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

As the day of Ludum’s arrival gets closer and closer, the Mavericks are getting as much training in as they can. Knowing students of Ludum’s, they’ll probably want to start some conflicts just for shits and giggles.

They need to be as ready as possible for whatever Ludum and her students have planned.

They’re currently taking their free time to train as a group or with some staff. Ana and Naseko are off with Evangeline, as the training they’re seeking right now is more than just physical.

Kiko is helping Darwin get his own combat skills better than before, as Jake had pointed out to Darwin that there may be a time where he will need to defend himself and won’t have his prehistoric creatures to help him out.

This also helps Kiko out, as she’s trying to get herself stronger, more specifically the strength of her arms. While she has superhuman strength because of her Moon Rabbit physiology, her leg strength is much stronger than her arm strength, which foes like Necrosson could exploit.

Emilia is trying to push how much of her Freak Form she can use without giving into the desire to destroy which tries to overtake her the more she uses it. This desire had led her to briefly be a villain back in her own universe, until coming to TAHE to better herself and her control.

The only reason she had enough control in the fight with Necrosson is because her rage with what the demon did to her friend overtook her desire to destroy… or rather, shifted that desire against the demon.

As Jake is doing his own training, with Toothless flying around and shooting small bursts of blue fire that Jake either dodges or blocks with his own energy, he happens to look down and notice Zenith looking more frustrated than normal. He’s taking that frustration out by creating construct swords and just swinging them as if he were in a fight.

But his movements are sloppy and fueled by rage, something that could get him killed in combat. Jake stops Toothless, then descends back to the ground near Zenith.

“Zenith? You alright?” Jake asks, but the half-Celestial responds bluntly and angrily. “I’m fine!”

Jake knows immediately that’s not true. Zenith turns around and swings his sword, but Jake, with his hand surrounded in green energy, catches the blade in his hand.

“That’s a lie, Zenith.” Jake says. “Take it from me, but when people often say they’re fine, they’re far from it.”

Zenith scoffs and makes his blades vanish as he turns and stomps away, then summons his wings and flies off.

“What’s with him?” Emilia asks, her forearms shifting back into her human form after seeing Zenith fly off. Darwin and Kiko even stop their training as Toothless lands back by Jake.

“He’s been acting more hostile as of lately…” Kiko says, concerned for Zenith. He may be older than her, but she’s come to see Zenith as a sort of younger brother.

“Should we tell Miss Trismegistus or Counselor Hay?” Darwin asks, knowing one of them would likely be able to help Zenith out. But Jake is able to figure out a possible reason why Zenith’s much angrier than normal.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Jake says, raising off the ground a bit. “If my theory’s right, then the staff might not be the people Zenith will want to talk to right now.”

Jake flies off in the same direction of Zenith, flying over the school grounds. He soon makes it outside the Mavericks’ cabins, where the fire pit is located, and finds his classmate angrily pacing around.

Jake descends to the ground again. “Zenith… this is about Ludum, isn’t it?” he asks.

Zenith whips his head around to Jake, still furious. “Of course it’s about her!” he shouts, as Jake hardly even flinches. “I don’t care how wise and all-knowing Trismegistus claims she is! Allowing a witch like Ludum to come to this school is a terrible idea!”

“I don’t like it anymore than you do, Zenith.” Jake says, knowing just how sick in the head Ludum is. “But Miss Trismegistus is only doing this to ensure that she gets taken down eventually, including her school.”

“Yeah, well what does ‘eventually’ even mean when that wretch gets to just walk free after all she’s done?!” Zenith shouts. “All the lives she’s ruined with those damn games she hosts, now with her stupid school?! I shouldn’t have to be around her after what she did to me!”

Jake thinks back to a lesson about processing emotions, and how rage stemmed from fear, confusion and insecurity. He definitely related to that more after his meetings with Iroh.

“Are you… afraid of Elloise Ludum?” Jake asks, and Zenith answers. “OBVIOUSLY! Everyone should be! The Sharp Gang has fought her a number of times, so you of all people should know the horrible things she can make good people do to each other!”

His rage flickers into sorrow as he turns away from Jake. Jake steps closer to his classmate.

“Zenith, if you did something bad in Ludum’s arena, none of us would judge you for it.” Jake says. “You were forced into it, and I know a lot of people who have done worse.” Many names came to mind. Dresden, Harold, Fear Herself, even Benny.

Zenith says nothing for a few moments, before walking over to a nearby tree and sitting against it. “I don’t… like talking about it…”

Jake sits down a few feet in front of him. “I won’t force you to… but… it might help if you do.”

Jake knows he’s nowhere near as qualified to do this as someone like Iroh or Counselor Hay… but he’s willing to listen. Zenith’s gaze lowers, before he finally finds the strength to start into it.

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Zenith awoke slowly to the sound of roars and cheers. As he tried to stand up, he suddenly found his arms and legs chained to the floor. A feeling of fear and dread took over as he tried to use his powers, but they seemed to be repressed by whatever these chains were made of.

He looked up and saw he was in some kind of colosseum, with people on floating platforms above. They were the source of the cheers and roars. Zenith couldn’t say for sure, but they all seemed to have some strange lights on some parts of their bodies. A hologram of Elloise Ludum’s face suddenly appeared, making him jump.

“Overseers from across the Multiverse!” Elloise exclaimed in her typically loud voice. “Are you all ready for another of my shows?!”

The people on the platforms cheered and roared louder, while Zenith felt his fear rising.

“Well, I, Elloise Ludum, have a good one for you today!” Elloise said as the audience calmed a bit. “I’ve ‘gathered’ many people with various hard light manifestation abilities from across the Multiverse, and boy, do they have a challenge today!”

A horrid cackling noise suddenly emitted from the stadium, making Zenith jump again. He looked up and saw, flying in the air, were tall and slender creatures with wings and wide grins.

“What you all have just been shown are the earliest versions of creatures I refer to as… the Laughing Luduls!” Elloise said. “These were made specifically for this show, but don’t be surprised if more show up in future shows! But now, for the champions below, listen closely… You have two different ways to win this challenge and be sent home.”

Zenith didn’t want to hear anymore of this wretch’s voice, but knew he needed to know how to get out of here.

“You can do the more ‘morally right’ thing and take out 5 of my Laughing Luduls. Sounds easy enough, but I assure you… my Luduls are nothing to underestimate. Not to mention how limited of a number there are.” she said, before her eerie grin widened more. “The second and much more entertaining choice… is to kill two of your fellow contestants.”

Zenith’s stomach dropped. He didn’t think he could bring himself to kill another human being. It was one thing to kill an animal for food like he did while living in the wild… but killing two humans just for the entertainment of this mad-woman?!

“Good luck, my little champions!” she said as her face vanished, and the chains around Zenith’s limbs vanished, as they did with the other 30 or more contestants.

Zenith immediately summoned his wings and flew straight up, trying to fly out of the colosseum… but he collided into an invisible force that sent him crashing back to the floor. Ludum’s voice rang out again.

“Oh, I knew I was forgetting a rule! But flying out of the colosseum is fortunately not possible!”

Zenith grumbled under his breath. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. “Alright then…” he said, picking himself up off the ground. “I’ll just go for the flying freaks…”

Sure enough, a Laughing Ludul was charging right for him. Zenith created a sword in his hand and swung at the creature… but with shocking speed it avoided the strike and struck Zenith, sending him crashing to the floor again. It lunged to tear into him, but he dodged aside and swung the sword for the Ludul’s neck, but it ducked aside.

Zenith spent 15 minutes trying to fight this creature, receiving more damage than he was giving… until someone suddenly got the creature into a Full Nelson.

“Do it!” an older woman shouts to Zenith. Overcoming his shock, Zenith drove a sword into the Ludul’s neck. It let out a gurgling cackle before it fell to the ground, dropping dead. Zenith panted, then got a look at the woman who helped him. She was older, likely in her 40s, with blue hair and blue armor constructs on her forearms and feet.

“Are you okay?” she asked Zenith, and he nodded. “Yeah… thanks…”

The woman seemed to notice how young Zenith was, and she looked horrified. “Oh God… you’re just a kid…” she muttered. Zenith just nodded again, before the woman looked serious. She grabbed his shoulder, which to Zenith, felt both firm and gentle at the same time.

“Kid, I’m going to help get you out of here.” she said, which caught Zenith by surprise. “I’m going to make sure no matter what, you get out of this hellhole stadium.”

A grateful expression washed over Zenith’s face. “Th-Thank you, Miss… uh…”

“Clarissa.” the woman said with a warm smile. “And you are…?” Zenith shook her hand. “Zenith...”

The two worked together to hunt the Laughing Luduls, but it was still far from easy. It also didn’t help that after seeing some of the Luduls killing other contestants, the rest started getting desperate. Soon, they were not just fighting off the Laughing Luduls, but other contestants.

Zenith and Clarissa had each other’s back throughout the whole chaos, even when Clarissa got cut across the leg pretty badly while protecting Zenith. Luckily she was able to use her constructs to fly and stay off her bad leg, but it was still so painful.

Soon enough, Zenith had killed 4 of the Luduls, while Clarissa had killed 3. Many of the other contestants had either taken each other out or had killed enough Luduls to be sent home.

But Zenith and Clarissa were both shocked to see… there was only one Laughing Ludul left for them to kill.

If Zenith killed the last one, he would be sent home… but Clarissa would be trapped. And if Clarissa killed the last one, they’d BOTH be trapped.

But that’s when Ludum’s hologram appeared again.

“Well, well, it seems our last two contestants are at a standstill.” Ludum said with a mocking pout, but that soon faded back into her manic grin. “But luckily, I planned ahead for this.”

The crowd cheered more and more, begging to know what Ludum’s new rule was. Zenith and Clarissa went tense.

“If either of these last two champions takes the other out, they will be sent home and declared a winner.”

Zenith was horrified, but he did his best to ignore the rule… until he looked at Clarissa. Her expression was a mix of heartbreak, sorrow… and focus.

Clarissa’s words then solidified that their alliance was over.

“I’m sorry… but I’ll do whatever I have to see my husband and children again…”

Before Zenith could protest, Clarissa started attacking him. He fought back, trying to avoid hurting her. He managed to kick her away and go for the last monster… but she wasn’t going to let him get away.

She sprinted past Zenith and got to the Laughing Ludul, killing it and putting her kill count up to 4.

She then attacked Zenith again as he tried to get away or fight back. She kept apologizing as she tried to hit Zenith, but this just got Zenith angrier and angrier. Remembering the bad cut she got on her leg, Zenith made a sword and went for a cut… only to instead cut her entire leg off.

The roars and cheers of the crowd full of Overseers drowned out Clarissa’s screams of agony as she collapsed to the ground… but Zenith’s rage was far from subsided.

Before Clarissa could do anything… a sword was driven through her chest as her screams were silenced. She just stared up in shock, horror, and sorrow as she saw Zenith glaring furiously at her, still holding the blade.

But Zenith’s glare then faded as his anger finally subsided, with horror taking its place, realizing what he had just done. Clarissa’s body fell back to the floor as Zenith shakingly let go of the construct sword, which dematerialized.

Tears spilled from Clarissa’s eyes as blood poured from her wounds, and she quietly whispered something… before her body went limp and the light left her eyes.

Zenith was left trembling and shaking, just staring at Clarissa’s body. He didn’t even hear Ludum’s announcement of his ‘victory’ or the cheers of the Overseers. All he heard… were Clarissa’s last words.

“I’m… so… sorry…”

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Tears stream down Zenith’s face as he tucks his knees to his chest, his body still shaking from recalling that horrific day.

“I don’t know who she was or where she was from, but somewhere in the Multiverse, some poor family is never getting their wife, mom, daughter and sister back because of what Ludum made me do!” Zenith says, his voice shaking. “I ruined an entire family all for her own sick enjoyment and her stupid show! Every time she gets mentioned, let alone I have to see her horrible grinning face, I just end up remembering what I did because of her! Clarissa was an innocent woman just trying to survive and get back to her family, and… and I… I killed her…”

Zenith buries his face in his knees and sobs quietly, as Jake just looks at his classmate with sorrow and sympathy.

He didn’t know if there was anything he could say to Zenith to help him. So instead, he moves to be right next to Zenith, then puts an arm around his broken classmate.

The two sit under the tree for a few minutes as Zenith continues to quietly sob. Jake wants to say something, anything to help him. He thinks of any comforting or sympathetic words to say, but they would all just come across as things he wants to say to sound impressive and inspiring, not something that would actually help Zenith.

But after a few minutes, Zenith’s body slowly stops shaking as his sobbing quiets down. He lifts his head a bit and wipes his tears.

“Thanks, man…” he says, clearing his throat a bit to regain his voice. “I guess I… I did kinda need that…”

“No problem…” Jake says, patting Zenith on the back. “You’re my friend, and we gotta have each other’s backs… You guys did the same for me.”

Zenith gives a light chuckle, wiping some more of his tears away. “You really think we were gonna let that demon kill you?” he says, and Jake gives a small smirk. “Nah.”

Jake pulls his arm away from Zenith. “It… definitely makes more sense as to why you hate Ludum so much, and why you’re so mad about her being allowed to come here.”

Zenith nods in response. “Yeah…” he says, before standing back up. “Sorry about… almost attacking you earlier.”

Jake stands back as well. “Ah, don’t worry about it.” he says, then playfully smacking Zenith’s shoulder with a smirk. “You don’t hit that hard anyway.”

Zenith smirks and punches Jake in the arm. “Still hit harder than you.” he jokes back as the two start walking back to the others. Jake punches Zenith’s arm in return, and the two just laugh.

Even if he isn’t some wise or inspiring person like Iroh or Counselor Hay… Zenith feels better knowing he’s got a friend like Jake looking out for him, as well as the rest of the Mavericks.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Mara looks at herself in the mirror of her room in the Sharp Tank, her nerves hitting her full force. While not as nervous as when she was struggling to confess to Michael, she still has every reason to be nervous… considering today is going to be her and Michael’s first official date.

She looks at the outfit she had put on for this occasion. It certainly isn’t anything too fancy, being just a purple tank top, blue jeans, and purple elevated flats. But Mara’s mind is racing with a lot of thoughts and fears.

“Did I underdress? Do I have time to change? The longer I put this off, the less time I have to change! But what if I then overdress?! I’d stick out like a sore thumb, even without my Nightmare Hunter form!”

She then notices, in the reflection, there’s a figure in the doorway to her room. She turns and sees a familiar head of pink hair… just not the one she had expected.

“O-Oh, Rose.” Mara says, her nerves still present. “H-How long were… were you standing there?”

“Long enough to tell that you’re nervous about your first date.” Rose says, walking in. Mara’s nerves just keep rising as she turns back to the mirror.

“I-I just… I-I think I need a different outfit!” Mara exclaims as she’s about to rush to her closet, only for a clone to Rose to run into her path and block her. The real Rose walks up and uses her calming touch on Mara.

While not as effective as on regular humans because of her curse, Mara does calm down significantly. Her nerves slowly lessen, but not completely vanishing.

“Mara, it’s perfectly fine to be nervous about your first date.” Rose says as her clone vanishes into pink mist. “From what I know, you haven’t been on a legit date for a good while now. Your last ex was… well, not romantic in the slightest.”

Mara nods a bit. “Yeah, that’s true… Clayton never really took me out on dates, but I hadn’t been confident enough to point that out and actually ask him for that… Not that he ever would have.”

“Well, Michael definitely isn’t like that from what I’ve seen.” Rose says. “Trust me, it’s going to be fine. You don’t need to change your outfit, you look amazing. Just go and be yourself.”

Mara is clearly still nervous, but she gives Rose as confident of a nod as she can muster.

“Alright… thanks, Rose.” she says with a slight smile. She then walks out of her room, only to nearly bump into someone. “S-Sorry, Heath!”

“It’s alright, Mara.” the Kaiju Slayer says with a chuckle, before Mara rushes off. Rose walks to the doorway and watches Mara leave, as Heath leans up against the wall next to her.

“She nervous about her date?” he asks, and Rose nods. “I’ve seen a lot of people nervous about their first date, but she takes the cake.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” Heath chuckles. “I was definitely nervous on many of my first dates, including my one with Vasilia.”

Rose looks at Heath with surprise. “Really? You?” Heath shakes his head with a smile. “I know. Crazy to think a guy who fights Kaijus every day would be nervous about something like that.”

Rose just chuckles. “Guess it’s just part of being human.” Heath nods as he looks at her. “I’m guessing you were nervous about your first date too?”

Rose suddenly gains a rather embarrassed look, nervously smiling. “Eh… would you believe me if I said I’ve never been in a relationship? Let alone on a date?”

Heath looks at Rose as if she had just tried to convince him that her world was just a place where hot dogs fell from the sky.

“You’re joking.” Heath tries to call her bluff, but she’s telling the truth. He’s flabbergasted. “How?! You seem like such a catch!”

Rose just lightly chuckles as she looks down. “I don’t know…”

Heath stares at Rose for a moment, his mind racing a bit. “… Well, what if I fixed that?”

Rose’s head whips up towards Heath in surprise, her face gaining a slight pink tint. “C-Come again?”

“What if I took you out on a date?” Heath asks.

“I-I… H-Heath, you… um… you don’t… have to do tha-” she stammers, but Heath cuts her off. “I know, but I want to.”

Rose’s face goes more pink, to the point that it nearly matches her hair and eyes. “W-Well…”

A slight smile forms on her face. “I, um… I may take you up on that offer…”

The unfortunate day soon arrives, as the Mavericks brace themselves for Elloise Ludum’s arrival.

Jake had spent the last few days keeping a closer eye on Zenith. After learning about what really happened in his past in one of Ludum’s games, Jake knew that Zenith was rightfully pissed at Ludum being allowed to come to this school.

Thankfully, Zenith seemed to have calmed quite a bit since telling everything to Jake. He focused more on his training, not letting his anger get the best of him.

All 1,241 TAHE students are brought to the half colosseum of the school that looks down to the stone slab stage, where the Headmistress is standing and greeting students and staff.

As Jake walks in with his two draconic friends, he tells Toothless and Jeff to go and stay by the Cherub Class. Knowing Ludum, her students are likely going to try and stir up chaos, and a dragon and shark (even one of a small size) will at least scare them off from attacking the Cherub Class. The two dragons go over to the younger students and sit with them, as Jeff jumps into Gabriel’s lap and Toothless lays next to Aurora.

As Jake sits with his class near the front with their upper-year mentors sitting behind them, his mind is racing. Ana, sitting to Jake’s left, notices. Her Gem glows with a small light, as Jake then hears Ana’s voice in his head.

“Jake? Are you okay?”

A few days back, Jake and Ana had unlocked the Gem Telepathy they read about in the book about the Gems of the Angelic, and they are now able to use it to mentally speak to each other. It does make Jake wonder if Tony and Rose can use this ability too, since they have Gems too, but that’s not his focus right now.

Jake looks at her as his own Gem slightly glows, showing the telepathic connection between the two Gems is active.

“Yeah, it’s just… I can’t help thinking of ways we could stop Ludum ourselves.” Jake thinks, which surprises Ana. “I know Miss Trismegistus told us not to get directly involved with stopping Ludum and that she, the staff, and the Sharp Gang would handle it… but she can’t really expect us to sit back and do nothing to try and help. Especially Zenith, given his rough history with her.”

They both glance at Zenith, who’s sitting to Ana’s left. While he does look calmer than before, they can practically taste the anger he’s feeling at what’s about to come. Tiny Atomo puts a hand on Zenith’s shoulder, trying to reassure him, and this does calm him slightly.

While Ana only knows the rough details of Zenith’s time in Ludum’s game, Jake knows the full story and has not told anyone because Zenith asked him not to… at least for the time being.

Ana looks back to Jake. “I can understand wanting to help, Jake… but we both know how dangerous Ludum is. Even with the entire Maverick Class working together, we wouldn’t last long against her. Even outside of her dimension, she’s still powerful and EXTREMELY unpredictable.”

Jake knows Ana’s right… but it’s difficult to ignore the urge to stop Ludum. Ana gently takes Jake’s hand and holds it.

“But… if it makes you feel better, I’ve been wondering the same thing.” Ana thinks, which surprises Jake. She gives him a smile. “I’ve many times wondered how we could take that wretch down for good… even after Miss Trismegistus told us not to get involved.”

“… Where’d this come from?” Jake thinks, looking at her with playful skepticism. “You’re not normally one to go against the rules, Ana.”

Ana’s smile changes into a cheeky smirk. “Aquaraya told me that part of being in a relationship is that there’s still a lot you can learn about your partner.” she thinks, giving him a playful wink and sticking her tongue out. “It’s par for the course, so start expecting the unexpected from me, Jake.”

Jake gains a faint blush and smiles, until Zenith gets their attention. “Are you two done with your mental flirting?” he whispers, which startles them.

“… We should’ve known Zenith would catch on.” Jake thinks, and Ana just nods as the telepathic connection ends, their gems no longer glowing.

Evangeline then begins the assembly for the students, telling them about a school wanting to compete with TAHE, and how she and the staff want the students to feel safe while also facing challenges and getting stronger.

Jake subtly glances around for any sign of where Elloise Ludum would come from. He knows that, despite how much he wants to, he can’t just run on stage and attack Ludum himself. He hopes Zenith is at least calmed down enough to not try that himself… not that Jake would blame him for doing so.

“While we will not be forcing anyone to participate in the upcoming events, a set of games and competitions are being planned by our staff…” Evangeline says, bracing for the reaction from her students. “… in collaboration with the Ludum Academy for Fearsome Fighters in Dimension Z-009.”

A cloud of pink and green smoke suddenly bursts on the stage, and Jake immediately grits his teeth… as the smoke clears and reveals Elloise Ludum, standing with her arms spread wide and her grin even more so.

Jake may not be sitting next to Toothless, but he just knows the dragon let out a defensive growl upon seeing Ludum. Most of the crowd mutters in surprise, with some scattered applause, but Ludum speaks as if she had just heard thunderous cheers of excitement.

“Thank you! Thank you all!” she says in her typical grand show-woman persona. “It is a pleasure to be here, and might I say with the impressive students I’ve found and trained compared to… frankly, you adorable little lot of students I see here today…”

Her gaze turns towards the Mavericks, her grin widening upon seeing Jake, Ana and Zenith specifically. “… I do believe this is going to be quite some fun.”

Jake and Ana’s gazes narrow into glares, and Zenith grits his teeth. “You say that now, wretch.” Ludum continues.

“But don’t just take my word for how fierce the LAFF students are. Please give a warm welcome to the Ludum Academy’s finest.”

Out from the building behind the stage, seven students walk out. Each of them look much grittier and punk-ish compared to the TAHE students. Out in front is a girl with her hair in pigtails, gray markings around her eyes, and a gray and green punk-ish outfit.

At an earlier point in his life, Jake likely would have been drawn to how attractive she is. But to Jake in the present day, this girl couldn't hold a candle to Ana even if she tried. Her also being allied with Ludum is just an extra nail in the coffin, not that it needed one.

The seven students stand on stage, as Jake takes a quick moment to see the line-up.

There’s a girl with flaky skin and a bladed tail like some type of Xenomorph, a boy with parts of his body shifted into purple slime, a guy who wears red and black and looking like he doesn’t really give a crap to be here, a tall girl with bandaged arms that have black smoke seeping through them, and the previously mentioned girl with pigtails. The sixth student doesn’t seem to be anything extraordinary compared to the others.

But then Jake sees the last student, and a familiar chill runs up his spine. This time not out of fear… but anger. Jake’s teeth grit as his fist clenches tightly, seeing the masked student with glowing red eyes and a hood over his head.

“Alsaya Laghmani is our current star pupil.” Ludum continues, gesturing to the girl with the pigtails. “Alsaya, if you please, show these softies what a fearsome fighter like you can do.”

The girl, apparently named Alsaya, taps each foot on the ground twice as her body starts to vibrate, before she starts showing off her superhuman speed. She’s remarkably fast, but the Mavericks have a strong feeling that the girl could move faster.

The next girl, Luna, shows off her own abilities as the bandages of her hand rip open and reveal a smoky black shape underneath. The smoke shifts into large clawed hands, then into various types of blades. She even breathes a cloud of smoke into the air like a dragon breathing fire, then inhales it back into her mouth like it’s nothing.

The other students show off their abilities as well, but Jake doesn’t pay much attention to any of them… until the masked student, Cross, steps up for his turn.

This student has Jake’s full attention.

In a gruesome display, his right arm expands into a familiar mess of red flesh with silver blades emerging from his fingertips and forearm. He lifts his hand as a small sphere of purple forms in the palm, and he then raises that hand into the air.

Cross catches Jake’s glare and looks at him with his red eyes. And while Jake can’t see the student’s full face, he knows that under that mask… is a wide grin of razor sharp teeth.

“Just what the hell are you up to now, Necrosson?”

The purple sphere of light fires into the air, and when it gets about 100 feet into the air, ‘Cross’ clenches his fist… before a vibrant purple explosion lights up the sky and releases a shockwave that nearly blows everyone back.

It was essentially a scare tactic to try and show the TAHE students just how outmatched they truly are compared to ‘Cross’... even if they had gotten stronger since the last time they fought him.

“Oi! Watch it, will ya?! Nearly knocked all of us over, mate!” the slimy boy, apparently named Sammy, shouts as ‘Cross’. But the masked student turns to Sammy, his red eyes glaring into his soul. It’s like staring into the face of death, and the slime ball shrinks in on himself.

‘Cross’ then glances back in the direction of Jake, and the Maverick can just tell by looking at him that under that mask, the demon’s grin is wider. As his arm morphs back to normal, ‘Cross’ turns and walks back to where he had been standing before.

Kiko, who’s sitting on Zenith’s left, glances over and sees Jake glaring at ‘Cross’. She had noticed the alarming similarities to a familiar foe, and she can tell by looking at her classmate… Jake had seen it too.

Evangeline goes on to explain that in 3 months, the first event will be held. It will be a combat tournament, where seven students from each school will fight against each other.

The Mavericks all look at each other, all thinking the exact same thing. They’re going to train like hell to ensure that they are the seven to fight against Ludum’s students.

As the assembly then ends and the students start to disperse from their seats, Jake’s eye happens to catch a green blur moving at superhuman speeds, as well as a wisp of dark smoke following behind.

“What the hell?” Jake thinks to himself, recognizing that it’s likely two of Ludum’s students, Alsaya and Luna. Jake activates the Gem Telepathy to get Ana’s attention.

“Ana.” he thinks. She clearly hears him, as she activates the ability too. “What is it?”

“I think I just saw two of Ludum’s students run off from the colosseum.” he thinks, which clearly surprises Ana. “It looks like they’re heading to the outskirts of the school. I’m going to go investigate.”

“Not without me.” she thinks back, firm in her tone. Jake knows there’s no arguing with Ana, so he just nods.

They end communication and make it through the crowd of students. Once out of sight, Ana jumps onto Jake’s back, and the two fly off in the direction Jake had seen them go. They make it to the outskirts of the school, which is where a lot of the school’s food is grown.

“Are they planning some kind of sabotage of our food?” Ana asks, confused as to why they would run out this way. Then again, those two girls couldn’t have known about their food supply being here… right?

They descend to just a few feet above the ground and look around for any sign of those girls… until a quiet voice calls up to them from behind.

“Hey! You two are students here, right?!”

They both look back and see the two LAFF students, Alsaya and Luna. Jake lights up his hands in his green energy, clearly defensive. While his projectiles aren’t that strong at the moment, these two don’t know that.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Jake says with a glare. “If Ludum sent you to mess with us, you’re NOT gonna get away wi-!”

“Is this school a hellhole or not?”

Jake and Ana are clearly surprised by the blunt question from Luna. Jake descends to the ground as Ana climbs off his back. “What?” she asks, as Luna rolls her eyes.

“It’s a yes or no question. Is this school a hellhole or not?” she repeats. Alsaya smacks Luna’s arm and gives her a stern look. “Luna, be nice!”

Despite not liking Luna’s tone towards Ana, Jake answers. “No, it’s not. It’s nothing like whatever the hell Ludum’s ‘school’ is like.”

Upon hearing that, Alsaya nearly collapses to her knees in relief, which surprises Jake and Ana more. Alsaya then looks up at them both, her expression a mix of relief and fear.

“You’ve gotta help us.”

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

Jake and Ana know they shouldn’t be so surprised to learn that some of Ludum’s own students hate her and want to get away from her, but it’s still crazy to hear. Especially from two of Ludum’s “top students”.

Turns out Alsaya had only joined the school because it sounded so much better than it actually is, now hating the school after having been nearly killed multiple times… even one more time just a few days ago.

While Luna doesn’t seem in any hurry to get out of Ludum’s school, she’s clearly got a level of disdain for the Headmistress, hence her trying to help Alsaya get out of there.

“So… are you two gonna help us or not?” Luna asks the two TAHE students, earning her another slap on the arm from Alsaya.

Jake and Ana both look at each other, as Alsaya and Luna then notice their Gems slightly glowing. Neither of them say a word, but it seems they come to some kind of agreement. Their Gems stop glowing as they look back at the two LAFF students.

“Okay… we understand that you two really want to get away from Ludum, and we don’t blame you for that at all.” Jake says. “But knowing how insane Ludum really is, and given one of your other classmates that we recognized… it might be dangerous to allow you two to just rebel against her outright. So… what if, in secret, you two work with us to help take down Ludum?”

Alsaya and Luna are clearly confused by this offer. They do like the idea of taking Ludum down… but would that mean going back to her hellish school? “How… would we do that?” Alsaya asks, anxiously glancing around to make sure Ludum isn’t nearby.

“Honestly, we aren’t sure at the moment. But having someone on the inside is likely going to be a huge help.” Jake says. “Look, if you two really need to get out of there, then we should just get you out. Trust me, Ana and I know what it’s like to think you’ve escaped a horrible prison only to end up right back inside.”

Ana can clearly see the confusion on the two girls’ faces, so she speaks up. “That’s a long story. But if we just get Headmistress Trismegistus to keep you away from Ludum now, Ludum will likely cut ties with the school, and that means we’ll lose our chance to take her down. She’s been an elusive foe for a team we’re part of, not to mention they’re busy with other matters at the moment. So if this is the only chance to take Ludum down that we’re gonna get… we might have to take it, especially if it means getting the other kids out of there.”

Of course, given a certain other “student” that Ludum has, chances are the connection with TAHE would stay strong even if Alsaya and Luna left now. But they can’t risk that.

“You two probably aren’t the only ones who want to escape, right?” Jake asks. Neither of the two girls had heard any other LAFF students outright say that they wanted to escape, but it had to be true. They couldn’t be the only two students who want to get out of there, right?

Jake steps closer, unstrapping his MJWW from his wrist. “If you don’t want to go back, you don’t have to. It wouldn’t be fair of us to ask you that, but… if you are willing to go back and be our eyes and ears on the inside… here.”

He hands the watch to Alsaya. “This is a Multiverse Jumping Wristwatch. It’s a piece of tech that a team of superheroes we’re part of can use to jump around the Multiverse and communicate with each other. You can use it to contact Ana, since she has one too. And even though Ludum’s dimension is locked, you can still use it to get out.”

This surprises the two girls. “Wait, seriously?!” Luna asks.

Ana nods, before she speaks again. “But you can only use it to get out once, because Ludum will notice that someone was transported out of her universe and figure out it was you two. Going back would be too dangerous.”

Jake nods. “Also, if Ludum sees you with it, she might recognize it. The team of heroes I mentioned has gone up against her many times, so she could definitely notice how familiar it looks.”

Alsaya looks at the watch in her hand, her mind racing with thoughts. What if Jake and Ana were lying to her? Were they actually willing to help?

She glances at Luna, hoping to get some kind of look from her that helps her decide… only to instead see Luna glancing back with her teeth clenched. “Saya, you might wanna make a quick choice...” Luna growls. Alsaya looks confused for a second, until a familiar foul stench assaults her nostrils.

Ludum’s approaching, likely looking for the two girls. Alsaya shoves the watch into her boot, clearly choosing to trust Jake and Ana’s word.

“Alright, we’re in! But brace yourselves and play along!” Alsaya quickly says. Jake and Ana briefly look confused, until Alsaya sprints at Ana and throws a punch at her. Ana quickly turns intangible, causing Alsaya to run right through her.

In order to not make Ludum suspicious of them, the four of them have to stage a fight.

Luna tackles Jake and slams him into the ground. She goes to swing for a punch, but Jake grabs the collar of her hoodie, pulls her down and headbutts her. She stumbles as Jake then gets his feet against Luna’s stomach and kicks her off of him, then flipping up to his feet. The bandages around Luna’s right hand snap off as her smokey black hand grows into a large claw. She lunges at Jake and goes to swipe at his head, but he ducks under her as he surrounds his fist in green energy and slams it into Luna’s chest.

Even though the punch wasn’t much stronger than a normal attack, especially given that Jake is holding back, Luna lets out a scream of pain that borders on a roar as she’s sent crashing backwards.

Jake is admittedly surprised. His regular punches, even with the energy around it, don’t hit as hard when he’s got the gauntlets on. Were his powers effective against whatever gave Luna her powers?

Meanwhile, Alsaya is sprinting around Ana, trying to disorient and blind the girl by kicking up a cloud of dust. She then turns and sprints at her, but Ana then ducks down and runs her hand along the ground. As she swings that hand up in Alsaya’s direction, a sudden stream of water bursts forth and hits Alsaya, sending her back and now soaking wet.

Alsaya jumps back to her feet as Ana waves her hands in a gentle movement, and the stream of water then splits off into two and forms two rings that spin around her as she stands at the ready, waiting for Alsaya to attack.

The training Ana had been doing with TAHE’s Headmistress was to get more of a grasp on her ability to control water, as she had seen Miss Trismegistus use the ability to some degree. While her use of it was different from what Ana could do with Aquaraya's power, Evangeline still proved to be a good teacher for Ana.

While Ana currently isn’t able to create water from her hands like the Archangel did, she could at least control already existing water, and had taken some of the moisture from the ground to give herself some water to use.

Alsaya sprints forward again, but before she could react, a large dark figure pounces on her and knocks her to the ground. She tries to get up, but the weight pins her down. She looks up and is frozen in fear at the large black dragon, pinning her down and growling furiously at her.

Even if Jake and Ana know this is an act, Toothless doesn’t. He only sees the two girls fighting his friends as threats, and he makes that quite clear as he roars furiously in Alsaya’s face.

“Crap! Toothless might tear her apart!” Jake thinks, while holding back a strike from Luna. He jabs a punch into her stomach and is about to stop his dragon, when…

“That is quite enough!”

The gentle yet powerful voice of Evangeline echoes across the field and makes the fighting stop as they look and see her, Elloise Ludum, the LAFF students, and the Maverick Class have arrived on the scene. Kiko has Jeff in her arms, and the little landshark is growling as well from having seen some of the fight.

Luna retracts her claw as the bandages magically wrap around her hand once again, and Ana allows the rings of water surrounding her to fall back into the ground. Toothless, however, stays on top of Alsaya, his pupils narrowed into slits as he keeps growling.

“Toothless.” Jake firmly says, catching the dragon’s attention. Jake doesn’t say anything else, but Toothless clearly understands what he needs to do. Letting out a begrudging growl and snort, Toothless gets off of Alsaya and allows her to stand up, still glaring daggers at her.

“Thank god Ludum’s scent is bad enough to be smelt from a distance…” Luna thinks to herself, holding her chest in slight but genuine pain. She hadn’t expected Jake to hit that hard… and from the looks of it, he didn’t expect it either.

Evangeline approaches the situation and looks at Jake and Ana, as the former was healing some of the slight damage he took from Luna’s claws. They both nod at her, assuring her they’re okay. She then turns to Alsaya and Luna.

“Miss Laghmani, Miss Phoenix, I understand that combat and aggression are encouraged at your academy…” she says, briefly giving a side-eye glance to Ludum before continuing. “... but when you are on TAHE school grounds, we ask that you only engage in such behaviors at the designated times.”

The two girls don’t show it, but they’re clearly surprised that’s all the TAHE Headmistress had to say. She’s clearly a much more forgiving teacher than Ludum.

Elloise walks over to the two girls. “Yes, girls. I love your enthusiasm, but remember… these softies aren’t quite as eager to throw punches as you two. They would rather sit around and chit-chat around a campfire. What say we head back to a real super school, hm?”

Alsaya looks back at Jake and Ana, and her expression shifts into a glare… but the two TAHE students know that it’s just an act.

“Fine. I guess we’ll have to wait to show these weaklings what real strength is.” she says, lying through her teeth.

But Alsaya knew that with Ana’s ability to control water like that, plus Jake actually doing some surprising damage to Luna… there’s a good chance they might have a harder time with them if they really fought.

And that’s not including the dragon that’s still glaring daggers at her.

Elloise releases some purple translucent rings from her arms, which then float together and open a portal back to Dimension Z-009. Alsaya considers running for one last time… but the thought of Ludum’s school and life crumbling around gives her the strength to walk back to the LAFF.

As the other students leave, Cross stops at the entrance of the portal and turns back to Jake. His leering red eyes stare at him, and Jake glares back, knowing for sure that the demon is grinning under that mask.

“You won’t get away with this, demon…” Jake mentally snarls… but to his surprise, he gets a response. As Cross turns and steps into the portal, Jake can faintly hear Mason’s voice saying…

“You can do this, Jake.”

The portal closes as Jake is left confused. He couldn’t have just been hearing things, right? That sounded like Mason, not the false imposter that Necrosson was pretending to be to screw with Jake’s head for years… rather, it sounded like the real Mason.

But… there’s no way Mason could still be in there… right?

Jake is snapped out of his thoughts as Evangeline then speaks up to him and Ana. “Jake, Ana, was I correct in assuming you two did not start that physical confrontation?”

Jake nods and speaks up. “We saw those two running off in this direction and thought they were going to try and sabotage the school in some way. We followed them, but they spotted us and attacked.”

He wasn’t technically lying as he said that. Rather, he was just… leaving out some details. He and Ana had assumed the two girls were going to sabotage the school when they ran off, and Alsaya and Luna did start the ‘fight’.

Evangeline calmly sighs. “As is to be expected from students of a school like Ludum’s…” she says. “I know you are a healer, Jake, but if you or Ana need any healing yourselves, please see Professor Dispenza and coherence healings can be led on you.”

“We’re fine, Miss Trismegistus.” Ana says as Jake finishes healing the minor injuries he got.

Jeff jumps down from Kiko’s arms and runs up to Jake and Ana, letting out some concerned noises. Ana picks up the little guy and softly scratches behind his head, assuring him that she and Jake are okay.

Evangeline then walks off to allow the rest of the Mavericks to check in on Jake and Ana. “Jake, Ana, what the heck was that about?” Darwin asks as they approach.

Jake glances past the group, seeing Evangeline walking away, before she vanishes in a blink of light, having teleported back to her office. “Perfect.” Jake looks back to his class, much more serious.

“Guys, meet Ana and I at our cabins. We need to talk.”

Back at the LAFF, Ludum and her seven students return to the gothic and grim castle-like structure of the school. As much as Alsaya and Luna hate this place… the idea of it crumbling to pieces helps them push through being here.

“Well done, students.” Ludum says, retracting the purple rings so they’re now back on her arms. “I know we showed them what this academy is all about. Especially you two.”

She gestures to Alsaya and Luna. “I could have easily foreseen Luna striking out on her own, but not you, Alsaya. Unexpected, but very welcoming indeed. Did that Jake boy and Ana girl give you two any trouble?”

Alsaya shakes her head. “We wanted to scope out their training sites, but they got in our way. We would’ve been fine if that stupid dragon hadn’t shown up and gotten the jump on me.”

She didn’t outwardly express it, but Toothless genuinely scared her at that moment. She almost thought she was going to be sent to the afterlife and maybe see her sister again. Thankfully the ‘fight’ got interrupted, and Jake had told the dragon to let her go.

Of course, that also made her realize… “That dragon is his pet?!”

Luna responds with a snarl. “That little bastard in green got a lucky shot on me. I’m gonna tear his head from his shoulders in the tournament.”

Luna normally is fine with dishing out threats and even following up on them if given the chance, but that one left a foul taste in her mouth, even if it was just a lie to throw Ludum off. Though, she’s definitely curious as to how Jake had managed to do some genuine damage to her, even if they were holding back.

Elloise then gives the seven representative students the rest of the day off, telling them that they’re going to have to work extra hard tomorrow. Alsaya’s gaze falls onto another of her classmates, that being Waru Umarek.

Waru’s kind of a loner type who seems to care so little about anything, always having a laid back demeanor. Next to Luna, he’s really the only person Alsaya trusts at this school… so maybe that, paired with the fact that he’s one of the strongest of this school thanks to his abilities, he might be a good pitch for this plan.

Waru’s on his way to the dorm rooms and Alsaya is about to follow, when the flaky skinned face of Vinda De Mar gets in front of her.

“You and Luna will do anything to kiss up to Ludum. Huh, Lame-mani?” she sneers, but Alsaya doesn’t pay her any mind. She goes to march past Vinda, when the girl’s tail swings at her.

Luna’s bandaged hand snatches the tail off course from hitting Alsaya, and the taller girl casually chucks Vinda across the floor. “Piss off, you discount Xenomorph. We got more important matters than whatever you want.” she spits, which just makes Vinda even more annoyed.

As she picks herself up, she’s about to summon one of her Fiends, which are skeletal figures that aid her in combat. But before she can create the first one, Luna’s eyes darken and lock with Vinda’s. Suddenly, Vinda’s body convulses and twitches for a few seconds, before she falls to the floor, practically unconscious.

“Was the Sin Stare really necessary?” Alsaya whispers to Luna, who shrugs casually. “Hey, she effed around and found out. That’s on her, not me.”

Luna’s “Sin Stare” allows her to stare into her victim’s eyes and make them feel the pain of their most recent sin or foul act, regardless of any regret they have. It’s essentially a nerfed version of Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare from Marvel Comics… as if the original hasn’t been nerfed enough already.

The two girls head into the western tower of the school where their dorms are located. The school has two of these towers on opposite ends of the school, each about 25 stories tall with a spiral stone staircase in the middle, and each floor has 20 rooms. Alsaya’s dorm is on the 16th floor, Luna’s is all the way at the 24th, and Waru’s is on the 13th.

As Alsaya trails behind Waru, trying to get his attention, Luna happens to notice another figure walking up the stairs and heading to the same floor as Waru. Luna recognizes her as one of the newest students of this school. A tall dark-skinned girl with braided black hair, a purple combat attire, and a pretty sick looking star blade in her hand.

This girl is named Katas, and from what Luna had seen in class, she could tell the only reason Katas hadn’t cracked the top 7 to represent the school was because of how new she was.

Katas is rather quiet and mysterious, never speaking very loudly to anyone… but yesterday, after class, Luna had heard Katas openly make a threat to kill one of the teachers one day. The teacher didn’t seem to care or take it seriously, but that moment stuck in Luna’s mind.

Could this Katas girl be someone to get in on the plan?

“Saya, you try convincing Mr. Edgelord here.” she says, throwing a slight jab at Waru. “I’m gonna go talk to the new girl for a moment.”

Despite wishing to have Luna with her to help convince Waru more, Alsaya just nods. Plus, given Waru’s one finger response to Luna’s insult to him, it reminds her that… they aren’t exactly on “civil” terms with each other. Frankly she’s a bit surprised neither of them have actually killed each other yet.

Luna splits off from Alsaya and speedwalks to Katas as the girl is reaching her dorm. “Hey, Katas.” Luna calls, catching the girl’s attention. “You got a minute?”

“No, I don’t.” Katas says with a quiet but firm tone, with an accent that sounded a bit British, or maybe Scottish. Luna couldn’t tell, but that isn’t her focus now.

“Look, come on.” Luna says as Katas starts punching the combination to her door into the keypad. “Just answer this question. Do you hate this school?”

Punching the last number in, Katas glances at Luna while she opens the door. “Of course I do.” she responds. “Anyone who likes this school is foolish or psychotic.”

She starts to enter the room, until Luna says in a much quieter tone. “So you’d be content with helping Alsaya and I take it, the staff, and Ludum herself down, right?”

Katas stops in her tracks, surprised by the question. She looks at Luna and gestures for her to enter, and she does. Katas’ room is fairly standard and doesn’t seem all that decorated, so Luna figures Katas just doesn’t care enough to decorate the room.

After making sure other students aren’t listening, Luna explains to Katas the plan that she and Alsaya are making with the TAHE kids, and how they intend on taking down Elloise Ludum and this entire school. They don’t have much in the way of a plan right now, but they’re just looking to get strength in numbers with students who hate Ludum and want to leave this school, but are too afraid to say anything.

As she listens, a wide and menacing grin spreads across Katas’ face. “Wonderful… I had planned to tear Elloise Ludum’s head off myself to cement my legacy in my family lineage. But, I suppose having you and any other allies alongside me could be quite helpful.”

“Wait, you’re in? Just like that?” Luna asks, surprised by how quickly Katas agreed. Katas nods. “Ludum is a scourge on this Multiverse, and I intend to correct this. Bring Alsaya here.”

Luna peeks out of Katas’ room just in time to see Alsaya emerging from Waru’s room, looking both annoyed and somewhat relieved. Alsaya spots Luna and gives a thumbs up, indicating that Waru’s on board for the plan.

Luna gestures for Alsaya to come over, so the girl does so and enters Katas’ room, with the door closing behind her. “Katas here is on board with the plan.” Luna says, which makes Alsaya’s eyes widen.

“Seriously?! She is?!” Alsaya says, as Katas approaches her, now holding some purple stone dial. “We can discuss this more as we train. Place your hands on this.”

The two girls look at the device skeptically, but if Katas really is on board with the plan… then like they did with Jake and Ana, they’re going to have to trust her.

They each place a hand on the dial, and suddenly, as purple and white smoke bursts from the dial and envelopes them, they suddenly transport to another location.

This location seems to be a grassy field surrounded by trees and mountains… but then a thunderous roar echoes across the landscape, as Alsaya and Luna whip their heads around to see a mighty stone and metal beast flapping its wings above them.

Katas pulls her star blade from her back and puts the dial in her pocket. “If anyone comes to my room, we’ll be able to hear it. But anything we say within this place will be for our ears only.” she says, her grin widening as she readies to face the beast.

“We can talk freely here… so long as you two can also survive the Chimera Capital.”

Alsaya isn’t entirely in the mood to fight against some large chimera beast, but at least they’re not the Laughing Luduls. And it’s not like she’s beat from any training, so she can at least hold her own well at the moment.

Luna stares up at the large beast, and also catches the sound of two more approaching. A wide grin of her own spreads across her face, with her teeth sharpening into fangs as black smoke seeps through the gaps in her fangs.

“Okay, now this might be some training I can get behind.”

The Mavericks are all gathered in Jake’s cabin as he and Ana finish explaining what really happened with Alsaya and Luna, and how they’re working to make a plan to take Elloise Ludum down in secret.

The rest of the class is admittedly surprised. They could likely have expected this from Jake, but… Ana? She’s usually one who gets the most nervous about what the teachers at TAHE think and breaking rules… yet she’s helping make this plan with zero hesitation. In her own words…

“I don’t like doing this behind the teachers’ backs, but when we first came to this school, Miss Trismegistus said that she and the other teachers aren’t here to tell us what to think, but how to think for ourselves. She said that she and the other teachers may have a lot of stuff to teach us, but even they don’t know everything. That we need to learn how to look at a situation and handle it the way we think is right.”

Those words seem to light a fire in the Mavericks, while also getting Jake’s heart racing. “You picked a good one, Little Warrior.” Ariesto says in Jake’s mind. “Don’t I know it.” Jake mentally responds.

Zenith steps up. “I’m definitely in. If it means taking that witch down, I’m on board for whatever plan we’ll get.” he says. Jake and Ana honestly expected Zenith to be the first to agree, given his own rough history with Ludum.

Darwin and Emilia are next to agree, both excited by the idea and eager to take down Ludum. Kiko is a little uneasy, but she trusts her class will have each other’s backs throughout this whole ordeal, so she’s on board. Naseko doesn’t give a visual reaction to the plan, but she agrees to join all the same. She’s a bit indifferent, but she’s willing to support her class and help take down a wretch like Ludum. Toothless and Jeff are on board as well.

Just then, Ana’s MJWW starts to ring, catching everyone’s attention. She picks it up, thinking it’s Alsaya or Luna… but she’s then confused to see it’s not them.

“It’s… Mr. Sharp.” she says, confusing her classmates. “Benny? What does he want?” Naseko asks.

Ana answers the MJWW, and a hologram display appears above the screen. On that display is Benny, with Vasilia sitting at his left. “Hi, Mr. Sharp. How are you doing?” she asks.

“I’m doin’ fine, Fenze. Thanks for askin’.” Benny says with a typical Sharp grin, but it slightly falters in confusion. “But, uh, you got any clue why Jake’s watch is showin’ he’s in Elloise Ludum’s dimension? He didn’t go off tryin’ to fight her himself or get captured, did he? We were about to chow down on some Paninis, but if The Kid got himself in trouble, we could get a team together and go get him.”

It then clicks in Jake’s mind as he slaps a palm to his face. Of course Benny would notice that Jake’s MJWW is in Ludum’s dimension, especially since Jake still isn’t allowed to turn the tracker of the device off after that little incident a while back.

Benny thankfully isn’t one who likes following rules, so it might be okay to tell him about this and make sure he doesn’t say anything. Jake walks over to Ana’s side so he can face Benny.

“Uh, hey, Benny.” Jake says. “I’m fine, really… I just… gave my watch to a student of Ludum’s school so they could escape if they need to… but… also so we could make a plan to take Ludum and the school down from the inside. And… we’re, uh… kinda doing it without the teacher’s knowing."

Benny’s grin widens and his face lights up with excitement. “Oh, ho, ho! I like the sound of that, kid!” he says, and Vasilia nods as well, but doesn’t say anything because her mouth is full with a bite of a Panini.

“You guys need anything to help? I could send some mech armors over if ya need em.” Benny asks, but Jake shakes his head. “We’re fine for now, but we can let you know if we need anything like that. Could you… not tell Sterling or the others? We kinda want to do this ourselves.”

Vasilia, swallowing her bite, looks at the screen and nods. “Of course. I shall not say a word to anyone about this. Kuznet’s honor.” she says.

Benny looks past the screen, likely looking at someone out of view. “You hear that, Champ? Harry-Boy? We don’t know nothin’ about nothin’!” Jake and Ana’s stomachs drop. It was easy for them to assume that Champagne was with Benny and Vasilia, but that isn’t what got them worried.

“W-Wait, Benny… Harold the Herald is there?!” Ana asks. “He heard everything?!” “Right here, kiddos!” Harold says, coming into view on the screen next to Benny.

Jake grits his teeth, glaring at Harold as his eyes start to glow, not that he notices. “Harold, I swear, if you blab one word about this to Ludum…!”

“Whoa there, no need to get all glowy-eyed on me, bucko! I ain’t workin’ for Ludum no more, Scout’s honor!” Harold says. “I understand y’all keep thinkin’ I am, but I’ve changed, I promise! Ludum replaced me a good while ago anyway, and I gave up on her comin’ back for me ages ago. I got no hard feelin’s for her, but also no allegiance with her no more either. I’m even willin’ to give y’all some intel to help ya out.”

Jake is clearly not convinced in the slightest. Benny speaks up. “Don’t worry, kid. We’ll keep an eye on ol’ Harry-Boy, make sure he don’t go tellin’ anyone about this. Just let us know if you need anything, and we’ll keep our mouths zipped about your little mission.”

“Just be careful, will ya?” Champagne says from off-screen. “You all know just how dangerous that psycho clown can be.”

Jake calms down a bit. “We will, Dr. McGregor. Thanks.” The call then ends, as Jake then flops onto his bed, letting out a frustrated groan.

“Will we have to worry about this Harold guy ratting out the plan to Ludum?” Emilia asks. Ana sets her MJWW down.

“As… bizarre as Mr. Sharp can be, he still cares about us. So if he says he’ll keep an eye on Harold, then we can trust him on that.” Ana says. “Plus, Vasilia and Dr. McGregor are there too, so they know to keep an eye on him too.”

Jake sits up. “We better get to class before the teachers start wondering about us. We’ll discuss this plan more later.” The Mavericks all nod and start to walk out of Jake’s cabin.

As Jake walks through the door, something weird comes to mind. Something he ignored at the moment, but it just now hits him.

“What did Harold mean by ‘glowy-eyed’?”

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Mara appears in Dimension D-667 and arrives at the address she and Michael had agreed to meet at. After about a 5 minute walk, she arrives and finds Michael standing on the sidewalk outside of a restaurant.

Michael seems to have discarded the Kuznet armor pieces he normally wears, now wearing just the blue button-up shirt, dark gray jeans, and white boots, but now with a pale gray jacket as well. Surprisingly, he wasn’t even bothering to cover his right eye, the one with the cross mark that all knights of J-316 have.

Hell, ever since he started going on his missions with Jake, he’s been seen wearing the golden eyepatch less and less. Maybe that has something to do with it, but that’s probably just speculation.

Michael sees Mara approaching and smiles at her, and she smiles as well, her face heating up a bit. She’s also glad she clearly didn’t overdress compared to Michael. But she also notices he seems to have something behind his back.

Michael walks up and meets her halfway. “H-Hey, Michael.” Mara says with a smile. “Sorry if I… y’know, made you wait.”

Michael shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. I haven’t been waiting long.” he says, before he then pulls out what he had been hiding behind his back. Mara’s purple eyes light up as she’s presented with a bouquet of fully grown Lilacs, her favorite type of flower.

“O-Oh my gosh!” Mara exclaims in flustered excitement, taking the bouquet and holding it. “How did you…?!”

Michael chuckles. “I might’ve asked around the team and heard one of them say those were your favorite flowers.” Mara has a good idea of who it might’ve been, as she hasn’t exactly told everyone that.

“Benny?”

“Benny.”

In the early days of Mara being part of the Sharp Gang, back when she was more nervous and still unsure of the team, the only person she really spoke to was Benny. Good ol’ Benny Sharp was sort of a father or uncle figure to Mara, and he helped get her out of her shell and see that this group was far more accepting than the Coalition was in the past. He essentially knows more about Mara than anyone realizes.

Mara smiles warmly, as she walks closer to Michael, raises herself on her toes, and kisses Michael on the cheek. The angel’s face turns a shade of red as he smiles at Mara, before offering his hand to her. She happily takes it, before the two walk into the restaurant.

The hostess confirms their reservation, which Michael had set up a few days ago, and she brings them to a table near the middle of the restaurant.

Michael pulls out a chair for Mara, allowing her to sit first. The gesture makes Mara blush as she takes her seat, with Michael sitting across from her as the hostess sets some menus on the table and then walks off to get their waiter.

Mara sets the bouquet on the table, softly smiling at Michael, who responds with his own smile. Moments later, a waiter comes by and welcomes them to the restaurant, then asking them what they’d like to drink. They both stick with just water, as the waiter then walks off to get their drinks and give them some time to look over the menus.

“Jeez, I don’t know what to get.” Mara says, skimming through the options on the menu. “Everything sounds so good.”

“I know, right? Part of me’s tempted to just order one of everything.” Michael says, which makes Mara giggle.

“I think that’d be a bit much.” Mara says through her giggles. “I doubt even my other form could burn off the calories of all that food fast enough.”

Michael shrugs, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Well, maybe we’ll just come back here for our next date and try another dish.” Mara’s face flushes again, clearly surprised by Michael’s claim of there being a second date. Then again… she’s not against that.

A smile forms on her face. “I’d like that.”

Classes went by slowly for the Mavericks, likely because in the back of their minds, they were more focused on meeting after classes to discuss their plan.

With the classes done for the day and the Mavericks having gotten some food, they return to their cabins. They have about 2 hours before Zenith and Kiko’s upper-year mentor, Parvul Markopoulos AKA Tiny Atomo, would gather them all for the next chapter of the story about the legendary Heroes from his world, Mythal and Ortis Fanimo.

As most of them chat, Ana goes into her cabin and checks her MJWW… and notices a recorded message had been sent from Jake’s MJWW, likely from Alsaya or Luna. Ana activates her Gem telepathy and calls out to Jake, telling him to get everyone into her cabin. He does so as they all gather inside Ana’s cabin.

Kiko stays close to the door in the event that someone outside approaches the cabins, so she can alert everyone in case they need to stop what they’re doing. Her hearing will let her listen to the message despite how far she is.

“Play it, Ana.” Jake says. She nods in response, before pressing the play button on the message. Alsaya’s voice plays on the watch.

“Uh… hey, Ana, Jake. It’s Alsaya. Luna and I managed to get two other classmates on board with the plan.”

That got the Mavericks excited, knowing that Alsaya and Luna aren’t the only ones who want to escape.

“The first is my ‘friend’ Waru. He’s the guy in red and black you guys saw on stage. He’s… well, kind of a loner idiot, and can be annoying at times… but he’s thankfully willing to help. And he’s one of the strongest in this school, so that’s an extra bonus.”

The Mavericks remember back to seeing Waru when he showed off his abilities. He could spawn these three orbs of light and call them into his body for specific abilities.

The red one granted him superhuman strength and durability, the yellow granted him superhuman speed and flight, and the white one allowed him to project energy beams from his hand. The only real downside to his powers seemed to be that he couldn’t use all three at once.

Having someone as powerful as him could be a great help, especially if he somehow manages to find a way to use all three power orbs at once.

“The other is a new girl named Katas, and she’s actually pretty impressive. She fights with some kind of star blade, can teleport in bursts of white smoke, and… well, she’s a little blood thirsty, so she’s more eager to kill Ludum than anyone else.”

This catches the Mavericks by surprise, especially Emilia. A blood thirsty nature, paired with teleporting through white smoke… sounded a lot like a certain legendary hero they’re being told about by Tiny Atomo.

“Could she be a descendant of Mythal?” Emilia thinks to herself.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone else in the school Luna and I can trust, but… we’ll keep looking. If this plan really is going to work, we… we might need all the help we can get…”

The message then ends, leaving the group in silence. Ana then fiddles with the MJWW. “Should I call her back?” she asks. “See if she’s able to talk right now?”

Jake nods. “If she doesn’t answer, then just leave a message. We need to at least let her know we got her message.”

Zenith glances over at Kiko, who gives a nod saying that they’re in the clear. Ana nods and taps the button to call Alsaya. The MJWW rings for a few seconds, before the hologram screen activates and shows a full color image of Alsaya, who looks relieved to be getting a call back from them.

Strangely, she seems to be slightly beaten up and has bits of dried mud on her skin and outfit. Ludum certainly couldn’t have put her and the others through more training already, right?

“Hi, Alsaya. This isn’t a bad time, is it?” Ana asks, but Alsaya shakes her head. “No, it’s not… I’m… guessing you guys got my message? About Waru and Katas?”

Jake comes to the other side of the screen and sits next to Ana. “Yeah, we did. We just finished listening to it.” Jake says. “So far, that’s 11 people on board for the plan. 13 including Toothless and Jeff.”

Alsaya looks surprised. “Y-You guys got your whole class on board?!” she asks, clearly surprised. Ana turns the watch to face the rest of the Mavericks, who all wave to her, before Ana turns the watch again so the screen is back facing her and Jake.

“Don’t worry about trying to get more people on board, Alsaya.” Jake says. “Having too many will probably pose a risk of getting the plan accidentally leaked to Ludum. Besides, if Waru and Katas really are as powerful as you say, then they’re likely the best options we have.”

Alsaya nods. “Right… but I’m at least going to spend some time looking for other potential allies. Some of them probably don’t vocally express wanting to leave this school because they don’t want to get sent to the Ludul-Lands and face off with the Laughing Luduls.”

Jake glances over and sees Zenith grimace at the mention of those creatures. Of course Ludum would use those creatures to punish students or “train” them.

“Well, just be careful, Alsaya.” Ana says. “We don’t want you to risk your life more than you already are. Remember, you can use the watch to leave that universe if you absolutely want to.”

Alsaya nods. “I know… but what you said is right. This is the best chance we have to take out Ludum, and we can’t waste it if she’s as elusive as you claim. I’ll keep the teleportation in mind if I absolutely need to get us out of here.”

Jake and Ana nod in response to Alsaya’s claim. They spend the next few moments going over what they do know about Ludum and her school, as well as the staff.

One of the biggest threats to the students, besides Ludum herself, is the combat teacher for the school. He’s a broad and powerful man named Kesar Kekuat. Not much is known about his powers, but they seemed to be similar to yet less limited than Waru’s.

Dealing with him will likely be a struggle, and it’s got the Mavericks to wonder… should they get their own Resilience Combat teacher on board for the plan?

From what they can gather, Professor Goggins hates Ludum as much as anyone else, and despite not having any powers, he’s one of the toughest men in the Multiverse. He might be on board for the plan, even if the Mavericks are supposed to not be involved in handling Ludum.

Alsaya also explains a little more about Katas and what she has. It’s some strange portable pocket dimension that can teleport people inside, and thankfully it doesn’t seem to alert Ludum, as the pocket dimension becomes part of whichever dimension it’s in when activated.

With the settings active, the pocket dimension can summon a Chimera for that person to fight and train against. This explains to the Mavericks why Alsaya looks slightly beat up and covered in mud, because she, Luna and Katas had been fighting against some Chimeras as they talked about the plan.

Regardless, knowing what they know now, the Mavericks feel more than determined to take Elloise Ludum down. But for Jake…

… this might be the one and only chance he gets to put an end to Necrosson. And if he’s going to do that, he’s going to do it right.

Not fighting as a broken and bitter child dealing with the pain of loss, trying to be a lone wolf… but as a determined and stead-fast hero that won’t stop no matter what, with his friends at his side.

Michael and Mara may as well have lost track of time. After getting their food, they spent what felt like hours just talking and chatting as they ate, learning more about each other’s histories before getting to where they are now.

Mara learned just how close brothers Michael and Ariesto really were, and their teamwork had been unmatched. They were some of the best Angelic Knights of J-316, and frequently led missions here to hunt demons without being detected by Fear Herself… at least until the day Ariesto had been killed.

Michael had held a deep hatred for himself for not being there to help his brother, as well as failing to save the Tagens, and it took him a good while for him to forgive himself. But through the recent talk with Emily, spending more time with the Sharp Gang, and having a solid start with Jake that resulted in the two becoming like brothers themselves… Michael’s self-hatred was no more.

It warmed Mara’s heart to see Michael so much happier than when they first met. It was as if, now that his hatred of himself was no longer constricting himself, Michael could truly be the best version of himself that he could be.

Michael learned that Mara was very close with her mother, who was a retired member of the Predator Coalition of Demon Hunters, which explains why Mara had been so invested in joining them before. Mara had been too afraid to see her mother after being cursed by Fear Herself, thinking her mother would disown her or even try to kill her…

… but that fear was put to rest the day she finally worked up the courage to go and see her, even before she had finished the curse, so she was about 90 percent into her Nightmare Hunter form at the time.

Even still, Mara’s mother had assured Mara that, demon or not, it doesn’t change the fact that Mara is her daughter. She knows the kind of person Mara is and how she just wants to do good for the world, making the best of a bad situation. It genuinely helped Mara to hear that… but she also couldn’t help but kick herself for not coming to see her sooner.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about Mara’s father. She was far from close with him, as he’d walked out on her and her mother when Mara was just 6 years old. That had left Mara with a deep rooted fear of abandonment for a few years, but being around her mother had helped diminish that fear over time.

Then when it seemed like the Coalition had turned their backs on and abandoned Mara, reigniting that fear again, she had Benny there to back her up and help her get through it. Being around the Sharp Gang for as long as she has now… that fear never showed up again, and Michael assured her that it never would. In his own words…

“If people are willing to turn against you and never look back, then they aren’t worth holding onto. They made their choice, and what happens afterwards is not your problem. But in cases like Jax, where they seek to make things right because they know they were wrong, then it’s up to you if you truly want to give them a chance.”

Those words replay in Mara’s mind, and she gave Michael a grateful smile. She had already decided that Jax deserved a chance to make things right… but her father and Clayton? They already blew those chances.

After they finished eating, they had a playful fight over who would pay for the meal. Mara insisted, but Michael said that he would let Mara pay for the next one, solidifying that there would be a second date.

Mara agreed to this deal… but she didn’t realize that Michael had his fingers crossed behind his back. There would certainly be a second date, but Mara wouldn’t pay for it.

They soon leave the restaurant, with Mara again taking the bouquet of lilacs. The two walk through the streets, continuing their chat with each other… until something catches their ears. It’s small, almost quiet… but it can still be heard by the lovebirds.

“Did you hear that?” Mara asks, to which Michael nods as they look to the source. It seems to be coming from a nearby alley way.

Michael uses his angelic vision to look down the alley, in the event that a demon could be lurking there intending to lure someone in for a quick snack. But he finds no demon, instead finding something more heartbreaking.

Huddled together in a torn and tattered box, looking weak and malnourished, are three small kittens, no bigger than Mara's hand. One has black fur, one has orange fur and is blind in its left eye, and the last has gray fur. All three kittens were letting out tiny, quiet meows, likely a result of being extremely hungry.

Mara covers her mouth, horrified to see the three abandoned kittens in this condition. She’s about to say something to Michael… but he was clearly thinking the same thing. Michael takes off his jacket and gently picks up the three kittens, wrapping them up in the jacket to keep them warm. He looks at Mara, his gaze serious and clearly concerned.

“We need to get them to a vet. Now.”

Mara nods immediately, as the two then rush to get the kittens to a vet, hopefully before it’s too late.

To Be Continued...