16

Focused or distorted voice

Brave 3.5

"Your power has been firmly sealed into this mask. Your power will no longer be a menace. I hope you sleep forever."

-Traveler, Majora's Mask Side Story

-April 3, 2011. Dream-

[Wake up Marie.]

"5 more minutes…" I muttered, the grass and earth beneath my body was pretty soft and refused to let me rise… Wait… Grass?

"What in fuck?" I shouted as I looked around. Hyrule field stretched over as far as my eyes could see. Nearby someone who looked like me, my shard? Right…

"This is weird." I stated, earning a soft laugh from my shard, her eyes were the void of space and were filled with stars, 

[It is. Most hosts barely interact with us, and even those that do cannot perceive us. Not in any meaningful way.] It's… Her voice was similar to my own, but with a slight echo. The echo felt like it was near, while her voice felt like it was far away.

[Now that I have your attention I would like to congratulate you. Out of all of my hosts you are the only one that was mad enough to try and cross a dimensional barrier and survive.]

"Other hosts succeeded?" I was surprised at the admission.

[One did. He died the moment he was disconnected from me. You almost were, but our distance is both close and far thanks to Truth . So the temporary separation couldn't kill you.] My shard replied, her tone somewhat amused at the near death we both experienced. Part of me feels horrified, and yet I ask her,

"Why do you speak like that?"

[ Data ] With those simple words my brain was set on fire. Dozens of hours spent practicing speech, hours spent creating a human like facsimile, time lost on managing the concept of sound so as to not kill me, all that and more flooded my brain.

"Fuck! Right, no I prefer talking normally!" I screamed then the information stopped. 

[Good. Now sit, there's a lot we need to talk about. Primarily our connection. But also what you did to Queen Administrator's host and Prediction's host.] She said summoning a table and some simple white lawn chairs. I walked over to it and felt it. " Solid… Though given that this is my mind I shouldn't trust my sense of touch. " I thought as I sat down. After a few seconds I decided to reply,

"Dinah shouldn't have been forced to suffer like that and like Hell I'm letting my cousin be a tool for fate."

[I understand, after all we are one. Your feelings, your dreams, your thoughts, your soul . Everything is a part of me, of my greater self as well. However if you continue doing things like that the Network will take note.]

"So the golden idiot will notice me?" I ask, fully knowing the answer.

[Yes. By all rights he should've, however he isn't reviewing information beyond basic data. Which works to our advantage, in this case, though I would advise caution when working with hosts. But I'm here to explain some things to you about how I work. What do you think it is that I do?]

"Give me blueprints of technology and powers of different worlds." I replied, she nodded before saying,

[Yes, but that is a side effect. I Observe . I am the Multiversal Observation unit. I give you certain bits of data and you build.]

"Where are you going with this?"

[I'm not supposed to interact. Only observe , but Truth made it so that the limitations didn't apply. Or rather it gave me a loophole, one I may have exploited. It is also the thing that is hurting us.]

"And without apotheosis it'll keep harming us. We've been over this already." I replied flippantly, her eyes narrowed before she spoke to me,

[Correct, but you do not understand. This state of being is nothing less than being an abomination. An error, we shards, aren't meant to live like this. By all rights I should kill us both.] I could feel a chill spread across my body, [Can you guess why I haven't? I don't wish to die. I , I , I ! That's what you've accidentally given me. And for that I can't thank you enough.] 

The chill disappears as she hugs me tightly, I can feel something passing from her mind to mine a simple thought, yet if I were to describe it it would be like standing on top of a cliff and looking down, a bottomless abyss. That's the depth of emotion I was assaulted by. She could feel…

[However as important as being grateful is, that is not why I called you here. The reason is that you will need to get into contact with Negotiator and I would like you to begin working on making a physical vessel for the Triforce.]

"And why should I do that?"

[Because it is part of the communication network. Even if the host and you disagree, I believe that I will be able to convince them to aid us. Plus it's not as if you weren't considering contacting that host as well. Parallel Simulation is your shared enemy after all. In addition the Triforce may provide an answer . One that should allow you to survive this fusion.] The inflection on the term answer stood out to me. Part of my consciousness screamed in understanding, the term was being given the same important as surviving entropy,

"There's more isn't there?" I could feel a dryness in my tongue as I asked her 

[Correct. I wish to observe the results of my counter attack on it. Negotiator tried to read us, so I let it see things, multiple timelines, layered on top of each other. It occurred to me that it's possible that its host will be driven mad by this eventually, so I wish to fix that. Though the dummy communication with the network admin will remain.] My shard said calmly, I shuddered as the realization kicked in. My shard was starting to understand the way I thought, it was starting to notice things like escalation and more importantly,

"How much have you seen?"

[I know how this ends, same as you do. Or how it was supposed to, what you've done is disrupt the pattern. Now while some beats may remain the same, your fear of losing host Taylor will not occur. The Queen Administrator will not subjugate her host like that, willingly or otherwise. I swear it by my function .] My shard said, her eyes looking through me and into my soul. I felt my mouth dry up and tried to swallow before I said,

"Thank you for that confirmation. I guess I'll have to wake up and see Tattletale… Should I keep calling you my shard or do you have a name?"

[A name… For now call me Sylph. And know that I will protect you to the best of my abilities.] Light blinded me as I felt myself fall upwards into reality. I could've sworn I felt a warm wind when she said her name.

-Warehouse Workshop, 9:00 am-

The smell that hit me was that of a crime against nature, 

"Uncle, did you make that sludge?" I muttered as I lifted a blanket off my body. My vision was somewhat blurry as I focused on the cup shoved in my face,

"Yes. Now drink." Danny said calmly, behind him Belle mouthed an apology. I should've guessed she'd bring him here… I brought the pitch black coffee to my lips and drank. God it tasted bitter, and burnt. 

"Just like gramps liked it. " A voice that was familiar wryly said in the back of my mind. I slowly sat upright from the bed, Taylor was still sleeping on the nearby couch, though I'm pretty sure she's going to wake up soon.

"You know, your mother also hated my coffee. Called it sludge on a cup." He said with a sad smile on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah. However, Annette loved it." This time the smile wasn't sad at all, Danny drank from his own cup and smiled lost in memories before saying, "Now, Belle said you wanted for me to come here. She didn't explain why, so what do you need me to do?"

"Oh, that's simple, I want to give you two things; a shield and a communicator. And to show you around the base!" I cheerfully replied as the caffeine kicked in, I could feel my nerves and muscles waking up as I finished the coffee, now if I had something solid I could say I had a decent breakfast. From the corner of my eye I could see Taylor stirring, a few dozen insects swirled around the walls before retreating to the ceiling. She slowly sat up, her eyes unfocused as she opened and closed her hands.

"Marie, my range expanded." Taylor stated in a cold tone, her eyes regaining focus, "I think I found the undersiders lair." I blink, my stomach growls loudly, it was too early for this, now I also needed to convince Taylor to not turn the undersiders in.

"Oh crap." I mutter as Danny's face becomes a mask of worry. " Anything else? Is leviathan going to attack me now? " I ask the universe and strangely enough nothing happened. My stomach growled louder as I shook my head and stated,

"If it's alright with both of you I'll cook up something. Belle, could you show Uncle around the base while I figure out the math to make omelets, bacon and apples? Taylor I'll be with you once I get the math done and we'll practice while the food is cooking." Taylor nodded and several insect clones of her began to form and move around the workshop floor. Danny shivered at seeing them, but otherwise kept his cool. Grabbed several mushrooms, opened them up and used the stones to transmute them into edible food. Part of me was tempted to try and re-create species found in Hyrule, but decided against it for now. 

While the bacon was being cooked I walked towards Taylor and extended my hand, she shakily took it and forced herself to stand. The hard part was now beginning, teaching her how to use everything that I added. 

"Marie, are you sure this is necessary?" She asked as I led her to the table and sat across her.

"Yes. Look Taylor, your body as is, has been remade to maximize everything. I know it is a bit awkward to be aware of literally every cell but it gets easier, especially if you practice. So we meditate, now focus. Follow my breathing, listen to my voice, mimic the pace of my heartbeat." I stated, her hand was still held tightly in mine as she slowly followed my instructions, "I am here, you are not alone. Breathe in and out, let the outside fade until all is left is me and you. Then feel the blood inside you. Every cell, atom, all of it is you and only you can control yourself. Focus on movement, you control the flow, the ebb, each and every cell is under your command." I continued intoning feeling Taylor slowly manually move the blood inside her hand in an S shaped pattern across my own,

"This is cool." She mutters, I smile and my nose smells the food that is nearly done. Time flies when you're meditating. I let Taylor continue as I served the food. I breathed out, I wasn't looking forward to explaining to her that we needed the Undersiders. Or rather I needed to talk to Tattletale and hopefully I can get Grue and the rest on board. 

After actually having breakfast we sat down and I said,

"Okay, so if we're going to expand I think the best way is to recruit local talent." 

"Expand?" Danny took one more sip of the black sludge after asking me,

"Yes, unless you want the PRT to force us to join them in an unholy matrimony that ends with me being sent to the birdcage for several counts of manslaughter." I replied, deconstructing the plates and the remains of the food.

Taylor raised her eyebrow and asked, "And the other option?"

"I build 3 triangles filled with divine power and authority and rewrite reality." To their credit they didn't spit out their drinks. They just merely stared at me, it took them a few seconds to simultaneously ask,

"Wait, what?"

"That's still going to happen, I just need a few days to set up the lab for it." I refuse to elaborate, especially since it's a ritual that I'll have to do by my lonesome, "But I want that for plan B."

"So your plan A is to get more capes?" Danny asked, I suppose that hiring is his job and therefore he would be interested. A less cynical view is that he's worried about who Taylor is with… "If only I could convince him to look into Winslow, or convince Taylor to let me blow it up." I blink, ah I was lost in my thoughts, 

"Yup, specifically the Undersiders. A low priority gang, they have clashed with both sides of the laws and most are for petty robberies. Honestly the only killer is Bitch, but she was perfectly justified in them." I reply after that brief lapse into my own thoughts.

"More of those visions?" Taylor asked, mostly as a clarification and for Danny's sake, she knew the truth of the visions.

"Yup, so any issues?" I said, my tone full of confidence that I hoped wasn't just hot air.

Danny coughed and asked, "Just one, how are you going to make the Undersiders join you?" I open my mouth and close it. " I can't really say, my power infected Tattletale and I'm offering her the cure and hoping that's enough to curry her favor ." So instead I smile and say,

"I'll ask nicely." 

Taylor stares into my eyes from across the table, shakes her head before stating in the most deadpan tone she can muster, "Marie, your definition of nice involves overwhelming firepower. And several threats, let's not forget that."

"Like mother, like daughter." Danny unhelpfully adds. Part of me wants to blush, while most of me wants to pout. I'm not that bad…

[Yes, you are] My shard says in the depths of my mind, I can almost taste the smugness in her tone.

-Undersiders hideout, 3:00 pm-

Belle had successfully hacked all the cameras that were hidden in the base, and in the nearby area; according to her, all 4 members were there. I adjusted my cape as I jumped down from the roof into the street, the moment my feet hit the ground I felt a change in the air. There was growling coming from the base, Bitch's dogs knew I was coming.

Unsheathing Fi I pointed at the door and yelled, "Hey Tattletale! Come out, I bring gifts and can make some half decent alcohol." I waited for their response, seconds became minutes and still no response, then I hear a window shatter and see a behemoth of a dog rushing down towards me.

"Puppy!" I squeal say with enthusiasm, " Wonder if this is Brutus or Judas? " Regardless of my reaction the dog knocks me into the ground and flashes its teeth at me. It's slobber dripping on top of me,

"Judas, stay." Bitch orders as the dog obeys instantly. Part of me wants to analyze the dog while transformed, but I choose business before pleasure. So I start speaking in the most enthusiastic tone possible.

"Hello Bitch! Is Tattletale home? I really need to talk to her-"

"You, is it true?" Bitch interrupts my banter with a terse tone. 

"If you're talking about Hookwolf, then yeah, it is." I replied as she whistled and Judas's paw lifted itself from my chest. I slowly extended my hand towards the dog and it snarled before sniffing my hand. It sneezes and Bitch asks,

"You smell wrong. What did you do?"

"Tinkertech." I reply, and although I can't see her face due to her mask, I can imagine the look of confusion on it. Whistling again, she makes Judas turn away from and and she opens the door,

"Come inside." Bitch orders me, I follow and from all around I hear thousands of little footsteps, Taylor is watching. The undersiders base is as expected, simple, well hidden and most importantly filled with enough tiny crevices to facilitate the swarm. The flat itself has a rather large television with a pair of couches looking at it, on the opposite wall lies Lisa's computer and the rooms are along the sides up to the back. Lisa is sitting on a rather ornate chair, Regent is on the couch pretending to play a game and Grue is trying real hard to not glare at me. I feel a slight headache as Sylph states,

[Reality will not abide by what is hidden.] 

" I fucking knew that I was forgetting something! Aisha! Why did she trigger? When? What the fuck is wrong with this world? " My eyes slowly glide across the room until they land in a corner. It's hazy but I can see her and she has a small butterfly knife.

"You know, if you're going to threaten me you might as well not use a butterfly knife. The suit is more than tough enough to tank it." I complain out loud, it's enough to make her tighten her grip on it. "Regardless, let's just skip to the fun part, shall we? I'm here to offer you a deal, you join me and I'll pay you."

"Oh wow, you are arrogant, what makes you think we'll join you?" Lisa replies with some venom coating her words, 

"Honestly, the fact that your boss has a week at most to live is my main argument." I reply offhandedly, while keeping an eye on them. Grue is the first to react as he asks, "The hell are you talking about?"

I open my mouth and hold back the recrimination that's on my tongue. Being antagonistic isn't a good idea at the moment, so instead I merely state, "Coil. He's going to die this week."

"We don't work for Coil." Grue states full of confidence, Tattletale has the grace of looking a bit guilty for half a second, Bitch… Well she's wearing a mask and I can't tell if she's interested or not and I know Regent is listening closely. Instead of laughing I cough loudly before asking.

"Tattletale, do you want to explain or should I?"

To her credit she merely nods when Grue turns his head towards her, and before he can even begin demanding an explanation Regent lazily asks me, "How do we know we can trust what you're saying?"

I had various options to convince them, I could reveal more future knowledge, I could just call them by their real names, manipulate them using their egos, hell I could even ask Taylor to swarm the place, put everyone under a cocoon and force them to work for me. But most of those would be counterproductive later on, especially since regardless of what happens today I need Lisa working at 100%, so I do what can only be described as an idiot move.

"Oh that's easy," I replied, taking my hood off and removing my mask. "My name is Marie Flynt, pleasure to meet you all." They stood dangerously still, even Alec stopped pretending to not pay attention. I could feel Tattletale's eyes on me, reading everything they could, Sylph was giving me the byplay of what her shard asked as Grue asked, "Did you just unmask yourself to us?"

I looked at him and said, "Yup. And don't worry about removing your masks, you can ask Tattletale what I know. Especially since I'm letting her read me. Now can we skip to the part where you join me?"

"We haven't agreed to anything!" Brian complains, though his posture is more relaxed. I stare blankly at him before saying.

"He's not going to keep his end of the bargain, you know. He'll keep stringing you along until you're of no use to him and he'll toss you aside." I said to Grue, his darkness seeped out flooding the floor, but not rising above it. I turn to Regent and say, "I'll kill Heartbreaker, until then you'd be free to bum around and play games and shit."

"How much do you know?" He replies, his voice deadly serious, I could feel his power spreading over my nervous system. "Enough to know your crimes and the reason behind them. And keep your hands off my spine." I snapped at him, and to his credit he stopped. 

Looking over at Bitch I notice that she's looking at me warily, instead of smiling and trying to reassure her I ask, "And well, what do you want Bitch?"

"Not reading me?" She asks, while removing her mask, a sign of trust? Or perhaps something else. I shake my head and say, "I can offer food, money and a house but you have that already. So what do you want?"

"Can you heal dogs?" She asks after a second of thinking. 

"Yes." I reply, fully expecting some other question or requirement,

"Good, I'm joining you." Bitch says leaving the room, Judas follows her soon after and I'm left with my mouth agape.

" Shit, that was ea… Nope, not tempting fate. " I thought to myself before shaking my head and asking,

"Did you read enough of me? Or do you want more, Tattletale?" 

"I'll consider it if you answer 5 questions." Lisa replied, her eyes were narrowed and I could physically feel her looking for ways to attack me with words. I walk over to her and say,

"3 and if they're about the future I reserve a right to not fully explain it, I'd rather avoid the entire Cassandra Truth scenario." 

Lisa makes a show of thinking it over, her body language is almost impeccable, yet there are things she can't control and I'm close enough to see them. The best part is that she knows this and continues to do it regardless, so she sighs and in a faux defeated tone she states, "Fine, first what did you do that messed with my power?"

" I wonder if she's fishing for information on the origin of powers or of how this happened? Perhaps… Ah, trying to figure out what my power is in particular. Clever girl. " 

"Powers can interact weirdly with each other, while I didn't do anything, my power did. Hence the information overflow. Well more than usual, how many dimensions did you see?" I reply with a smirk adorning my face, she frowns before answering,

"Too many. Secondly, how are you going to pay us?"

I grab a piece of chalk, some lead and draw a circle. I use alchemy to transmute lead into gold and simply state, "Like this and with Coil's spoils."

"You, how? What the fuck? That doesn't make sense!" Grue, Tattletale, Aisha and Regent exclaim at the same time. I smile and say with all the sincerity I can muster in my tone,

"Magic and science. Also hard work, love and dedication. Now what's your final question?"

"Yeah one, do you know where powers come from?" Tattletale asks, catching me off guard.

"Yes and if you're nice I'll tell you all about it. But a hint will have to do for now, space whales." I answered, and Lisa blinks, rubs her forehead and blinks at me again. I can almost hear the little gears in her head turning.

"So what are you offering me?" Grue asks as Tattletale seems to blue screen as she analyzes the information.

"I'll have to take it up with my ally, but I think I'll be able to get you the documents to place her under your care. You'll need a steady job to make it more bulletproof. I'd recommend the Dockworkers Association to see if they have an opening or two. This, of course, needs to happen after I deal with Coil. As for your sister, if she wants something she can ask for it."

"Fine. Do you have an idea as to what Coil's power is?" Brian asks, his tone all business-like. I appreciate that, professionalism is rare these days, especially when it comes to capes. Most are silly people wearing funny masks.

"Parallel simulations and he can hop between line A and B. Though I'm probably passively blocking that." I replied, without much thought. It was the easiest way to describe his power.

"How is that?" Alec asks, finally standing up from the couch.

"What I see is reality." And with that simple statement, Tattletale starts laughing maniacally. She looks at me and I feel her power working even as she herself laughs through the obvious pain. It takes her a minute to calm down enough to form a simple question. "What are you?"

"Human. We are the best monsters." I glibly replied, her power and mine seemed to be exchanging data constantly now. Which could mean that I'll have to consider upgrading the undersiders to base human levels in Dune eventually. Looking around I spot Aisha again and say. "We're moving against Coil this week. Tattletale I'll give you a list of possible bases he could be. I've narrowed it down to 5 in the commercial district. Regent, Grue and Bitch get your stuff in a bag and I'll have it transferred to your new hideout. And Aisha, stop using your power, you're coming with me to the workshop so I can make you a half decent costume."

"Wait how the fuck do you know my name?"

"I'm a fairy." I replied in a serious tone. "I know things."

-April 4, 8:00pm, commercial district, Brockton Bay-

I had left the workshop early, I had managed to create the bow of light and some arrows, made a small room and coated it in Sheikah symbols and had done the necessary ritual to make the Triforce actually appear within the carefully made vessel and what was most important, I had managed to create a pair of Sheikah Slates for Tattletale and Belle's second body which was now in full production. It would take days for it to be capable of field testing but early tests were positive. The initial start-up only set it on fire once, we had to redesign the cooling system to fix the issue, and that won't be finished and installed until tomorrow. So that left me alone to patrol, Danny had agreed that since I had been responsible and hadn't set the bay on fire I could patrol until midnight. So I left towards the commercial district since it was the least patrolled by the PRT.

The city below me stood perfectly still as my eyes scanned everywhere. Velocity's moving form could be seen from the edges of my vision. The man was busy tonight, so at the very least I had some time to breathe; if it hadn't been for the tail I had picked up. It was when I was in the downtown area that I noticed him beginning to follow me. I would've lost him had he not destroyed his communications, that small act piqued my curiosity.

"So Browbeat, what brings you to me?" I asked the purple clad man that had been following me for a while. 

"Curiosity, and gratitude." He replied, his tone was odd to my ears. He must've been using his biokinesis to change his voice or something.

"For?" I asked turning around to see him, his eyes bore into my own as he stated. "Saving my mother, Harlequin." 

" Oh… shit. " I thought to myself as he knelt.

Brave 3.5- end.

Interlude: Timeline I, Record II

Where was I? Ah yes, I broke and triggered. This world would be spared her wrath for several millennia according to Dinah's predictions. I wasn't allowed anywhere near her of course. They barely stopped me from digging my thumbs into her eyes the last time we met, I was surprised by the fact that she had let me get that far. So I was at the rig, alone, working on what my shard told me.

Rig, Brockton Bay, 4 months later.

"You need to get out of the lab." Collin, no Armsmaster, said. He wore his costume, therefore it was Armsmaster, Collin was the man that spent a year angry at Marie yet aided her when she asked. "Trish, listen to me, she wouldn't…"

"Finish that sentence Armsmaster and I swear by everything I loved that I will finish amputating everything below the neck and stick you into a toilet." Thinking back on it, my retort may have been a bit exaggerated. But I meant every word. I couldn't forgive using her against me. I looked at the painting and it wasn't done. The math wasn't right, it didn't land on where I needed it to. I barely gave him a glance as he left.

My eyes had changed, they were now deep gold and saw all of creation as a picture. A picture I could manipulate or rather make the calculations necessary to change it. I just needed more time… The door opens and again and he enters.

"Trish." Danny Hebert says, "I'm not going to ask how you're doing, but instead I want to know what you're doing." He sounds tired, sad, broken… I see why Marie tried to keep him up to date on everything, but cape stuff. I considered lying to him, it would be easy, no one but Dragon really understood what I was doing. 

" Danny… He deserves to know. " I decided in my mind before saying, "I'm trying to see if there's something that can be done. To save her." No details, just the important parts. I saw how his face went from sad to hopeful to sad again, he had given up hope. He approached me and handed me a folder.

"Hmmm… You know that she left you things in her will." He said while his eyes looked at the painting in front of me.

"There was a will?" I asked, I was surprised since after the funeral I hadn't been told anything. Or maybe I had and I forgot about it. 

"Yeah, she made like seven variants depending on who survived. I was asked to bring you this," Danny replied, snapping me out of my thoughts. I opened the folder and saw several disks, I placed one on the computer and it showed only audio files.

" Could this be it? Some tech she hadn't shared with me? " I thought as I placed headphones on my ears and hit play.

" Groovin' Magic, one touch and I'm off to the moon. When you get close it's like I'm living in heaven, guess I'm head over heels for you… " Marie sang.

I hit the next file.

" On the day the earth began, under the tree of life. We listened together to the sound of distant whale songs. "

Another song, my eyes watered and I hit the next file. And the next, and the next.

"It has nothing on it but songs. Why?" I muttered, I was stunned.

"Are any of them in English?" Danny asked, I think it was out of courtesy.

"All of them… I remember some of them, she used to like these shows and she even showed a couple of them to me." I replied, still sifting through the music files. There had to be something else. A blueprint or something, not that I didn't appreciate listening to her voice, but this just couldn't be all of it.

"She also left several letters for you. None of them have blueprints." Danny interrupted my thought as he shook my shoulder. I glared at him for a second before he smiled sadly, he turned around and simply said "And if you need a place to stay, my home is open to you." That derailed my thoughts. I must've stared at him for a minute before I found the words.

"Danny, I…" 

"Don't. Everyone deals with pain differently, and much like her I've grown to hate apologies. Just… remember to live." He replied leaving me alone. A small letter was in my hands, it said read me first. With dirty hand writing, and tear stained paper her last words spoke to me.

{Hey Trish… I… fuck. Look I'm not good at this, I'm not good at many things actually but if you're reading this and I'm not next to you, then I'm dead. I… I'm leaving everything to you, every piece of equipment, every single patent, even my hoard. Though 50% of my money will go to uncle Danny, he deserves a good retirement.

I'm a coward, because knowing myself I never told you that I think I have more than just feelings of friendship for you. Shit, I'm fucking it up aren't I? Fuck it! 

Trish those days that I spent with you were the happiest I had since I got my powers. I think that this is love. Or at the very least the foundation of it. I loved just being with you, listening to you play, listening to you sing, you hugging me, you telling me about your day, your laughter… All those little moments, I'm eternally grateful for. And I'm sorry I was too much of an idiot to not say anything. Please, live long and find happiness.

-Marie Flynt.}

"You damn idiot." Was all I could say as my own tears began falling. I thought I had run out of them months ago. I was wrong, the crumpled in my hands as I cried even more. One of Dragon's body's picked me up after a while and forced me to drink water.

I hated every second of it.

-5 years later-

I looked upon the painting and smiled for the first time in years. Danny had moved to Aleph and cut contact with everyone, according to Dragon he invested his money into their equivalent of Brockton Bay and was hailed as a philanthroper from another world. He had left me the deed to his old house and that's where I lived. Despite the PRT's best efforts I stayed in the ruins of Brockton. I had my own garden and had a replicator, I needed nothing and owed no one nothing. That didn't stop them from trying, I couldn't really blame them, after all I was too dangerous to be left alone. They had taken to calling me the keeper of death. 

Dragon, the only other person besides Missy and Collin that visited me without any reason, had taken offense to that and had banned the term from PHO. I asked her to reconsider but she said, "Aether was a good friend. She wasn't death incarnate, and her inventions shouldn't be beholden to that title. And you aren't the keeper of that. You're the one she loved, and I refuse to let you be remembered for her death." It was the nicest thing anyone had said to me in years.

I looked at the painting, to most people it looked like a starry night, to me it was a map. A map of everything up to a point, it had taken me years but I finally did it, I found Marie. I found where and when she was. Now it was time to transfer myself.

A piece of me would remain here, to be precise 99.9999999999% of me would remain in this timeline. I won't leave Marie to suffer alone, I can't. But a small part of me will go back to a previous place, back to Brockton, back to when Marie triggered. That will change everything.

" Apple, picking, beam. Apple, picking, beam. Apple, picking, beam. Your life changes everything~ " Marie sang in my mind as I sat down. 

The chair had been a side project, it observed the multiverse and connected the mind of the user to it. Marie had made the base design, but I modified it to suit my needs. From what I understood, it initially was supposed to let you explore genetic memories, but with enough modifications it could do so much more. I powered it up and plugged in the formula on the nearby keypad; I felt something inside me break, a flash of light and the smell of smoke filled my nose. 

"I hope it worked." I muttered as I stood up from the chair. The computer panel next to it was fried, the power source had turned to dust from what I could see. Still specifically not on fire, therefore not a problem. Now I looked to the hellscape of cables and computers I had made. Admit all of it stood a cylinder, human sized and with the capacity to maintain human life.

Marie had also made this, but my own powers modified it to suit my needs. In the hidden files she had left behind she had referred to it as plan K, or plan Kamihama. I didn't understand the reference but in a nutshell it would have allowed her to turn into that monster and keep control over it, the problem was that it was locked into a single location. But with the modifications I made that wouldn't really be a problem. Only issue was time, but that didn't matter to me. I knew this would take a while, so I messaged Dragon and told her my plan. The message would be sent after the process had begun of course. I went into the cylinder and it filled with an orange liquid. 

"Wait for me." I whispered as my consciousness faded.

-100,000 years later-

The void of space opened up to my eyes, all 21 of them. My body… It was less human and more be not afraid type of angel. Tongues of flames decorated where my wrists used to be, my fingers were scythes and my wings spread across the the void. Several more eyes appeared and sank beneath my ivory skin, I had lost my legs but had gained rings, made of golden ribbons and light. My mouth was more like a maw, countless teeth danced inside, gleaming like daggers. However I didn't have time to truly take in what I had become. The transformation was finished, and for some reason I was in space, this would've only happened if…

[Calling]

[Death to the Entities] Her voice echoed across creation as she tore apart reality in order to kill all the network hubs.

[I will be there soon.] I replied as I set off from earth. She was heading to me, I smiled. Her claws tore apart my skin, my teeth sank deep into her neck drawing golden blood. She howled and I laughed. Even if it was self destructive, even if I couldn't take away her sins, her guilt, her pain… I could still try. I was aware of the little shards crying and praying to me, I was aware of their fear of her.

She howled like a beast and drove her arm through my chest, I responded in kind. She snarled, her violet eyes gleaming with hatred, my own emeralds glowed with amusement as beams connected to her. We landed on the moon and began to tear each other apart again and again. Weapons from other worlds came to her, while beams of light came to me.

[DIE] She would scream at me. Space shaking with each letter.

[No] I would reply.

[DIE] She screamed in pain after a 100 years of battle, the earth was gone, moved away by tinkers.

[No] I replied, my throat weary, my body tired, but my spirit strong.

[End me!] She finally said after 500 more years of battle. Her eyes were no longer gleaming with anger. They shone with regret and pain.

[Never. I've waited for so long to be with you…] I replied, stopping her from attacking. Her form shook, and shrunk. Shadows danced along her vaguely human form, golden and violet eyes opened and closed as she said. 

[I'm sorry.] I forced myself to shrink down to her size, I still had no legs, my body was closer to that of a monstrous mannequin, emerald and ruby eyes spilling blood from time to time. Yet I couldn't find disgust in her gaze.

[I'm not.] Was all I could muster as she grabbed me. My body was breaking apart and she soon followed. Bits of her flesh flew into the cracks of my skin. I was being healed by her, I wanted to cry as she held me. I could hear her heartbeat again.

[I'm so tired, you're here and I'm so tired.] I complained, I couldn't see but I felt her. She smiled kindly and replied. 

[Then lets rest for a while. We have forever to catch up..] She never let go, not even as our bodies became crystallized, the limits of the miracle had been reached. Yet she didn't let go, my only regret was that all I could do was weakly kiss her. Though she didn't seem to mind, she kissed me back and all was well in the world.

[I] 

[Love]

[You]

We thought as one as creation disappeared from our sight. This paradise of us alone, it was peaceful. It was a fleeting moment in eternity. Entropy wasn't stopped and yet, we never let go of each other. Universe Bet died long before we did.

Timeline I- End. Tinker of fiction: Being a parahuman is suffering.

The erasure has begun.