This is inspired by this post.
Billy was having a rough day. Scratch that. A rough couple of months. Recently, he’s been… losing himself? He doesn’t know how to put it into words. It’s just that more he’s Marvel, the more he forgets about being Billy. In all honesty, it’s scaring him. What’s even worse is that, no matter what others think, he isn’t in control anymore, and Billy knows it. One moment, he’ll just be Billy Batson and then the next he’ll be Marvel with no recollection of even saying the word. Billy truly wished he hadn’t noticed the gaps in his memory getting bigger.
Speaking of memory gaps, Billy had a pretty big one to fill considering all he did was go to bed, and was then greeted with the misfortune of waking up on a random beach with the lower half of his body slightly wet from the tide. All he knows is that he’s not near Fawcett, let alone Iowa, because last he checked, it was a landlocked state. So, he got up, and decided to go find out where he was.
Billy: *wandering around while shaking any sand off himself, eventually spotting a flag* “Oh! I’m in… I still have no idea.”
Glasses Lady: *approaches him* “Por que você não está na escola?” (Translation: Why aren’t you in school?)
Billy: *frog blinks* “Huh?”
Billy was… pretty sure that was Spanish. So he’s probably still on earth. Maybe. After a little bit of back-and-forth, the Glasses Lady finally realized he couldn’t understand what Billy was only half sure was Spanish. In the end, she just started taking him around to find somebody who could speak English.
Glasses Lady: “¿Você fala inglês? Acho que este é o filho de um turista.” (Translation: Do you speak English? I think this is a tourist's son.)
Old Granny: “Não. Pobre garoto.” *leans down to pinch his cheek* (Translation: “No. Poor boy.)
Billy: *confused as to why this random old lady is pinching his cheek*
Eventually, after a while, they did find somebody who could speak English.
Billy: “Do you know where I am, miss?”
College Student: “You’re in Brazil.”
Billy: “Brazil??” *sounds super concerned* “Isn’t that in South America? I think?”
College Student: “It is. How did you even get here? Are you on vacation?”
Billy: “No? I just woke up here.” *wondering how he’s gonna explain this to Rosa*
College Student: “What?” *also now concerned because she thinks this child might’ve been a victim of trafficking*
Billy: “Uhm… you have like a map that you can show me?”
College Student: “I don’t think a map will help you, bud.”
Billy: *shrugs* “Theres always the chance it could, miss.”
College Student: “I guess?” *pulls up google maps*
Billy: *zooms out so he can just see the countries* “Oh okay. So not that far away.”
College Student: “You’re plenty far away what are you talking about? Also, why’re you sandy?” *wipes off some sand her phone*
Billy: *ignores both questions* “Do you know which way is north?”
College Student: “Uh… it should be that way.” *points in the direction*
Billy: “Oh thank you!” * is about to runoff, but looks back at the Glasses Lady* “And gracias?” *looks to the College Student* “That how you say it right?”
College Student: “No, that’s Spanish.” *shakes head* “It’s supposed to be obrigado.” (Translation: Thank you.)
Billy: “Oh, obrigado!” *definitely butchered the pronunciation and runs off to he north*
College Student: “Wait, come back!”
As soon as Billy was out of sight, he shazamed and flew in the direction she pointed in. Now, the boy wouldn’t admit this, but he actually flew slower than normal. He didn’t wanna think about the future confrontation with Rosa, not to mention his other family members. Was he prolonging the inevitable? Yes. Did he feel guilty? Also, yes. Did that mean he was gonna speed up though? …No.
Billy was just passing over Mexico when his JL comm started going off like crazy.
Marvel: *answers his comm*
Batman: “Marvel. Watchtower. Now.”
Marvel: “Huh? Why did I do something wrong?”
Batman: “You went AWOL for three weeks, and then the first sign we find that you’re alive is a video of you partying at a Mardi Gras parade in Brazil. I really wonder what you did wrong.”
Billy was straight speechless for a solid minute. Three weeks? Three weeks? The memory gap was way bigger than he thought.
Marvel: *trying to find words* “I- I’m gonna be honest I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He honestly felt like crying. Genuine, ugly, crying. Because now he knows it’s gotten to a point where he can’t shrug this off anymore. He could do one day. He could do two days. He’s even gone a week before. But three weeks? That’s nearly a month and he doesn’t remember anything. Billy was now being forced to acknowledged how big of a problem this was.
By now, he had stopped, still floating in mid air.
Batman: “Is that you confirming you were too intoxicated to reach out to us or-”
Marvel: “Mr. Batman Sir, I really can’t talk right now.” *can feel himself starting to hyperventilate* “I’ll come by later. I promise.”
Batman: “No, not later. Immediately. We all want a word with you.”
Marvel: *grimaces* “I’m sorry. I just really can’t right now. I’m really sorry.” *hangs up*
Billy just started hyperventilating after that. His chest felt tight, his world felt like it was one the brink of crashing down. He needed to go see the wizard. He needed help. The wizard could definitely help. So, he went to the rock.
Wizard: *sounds solemn* “I’m sorry, Billy.”
That was literally all the old man told him before he started talking about how the gods were starting to exert more of their influence on him. And he basically had no say, say in some of the things he would start to do from now on. Just when Billy’s life couldn’t get harder. Please, Gods, give him a break.