All you need is a littel push
Hero Generation
PJ woke up to the sound of a heavy storm.
He knew what that meant Nightmare would be a pain today.
“Great,”
He muttered.
He pushed himself out of bed and walked down the corridor. His father wasn’t home. He had left days ago. Horror had claimed that Error was on a mission and told PJ to behave and not worry. They still acted like PJ wasn’t aware of what it meant for his father to be on a mission.
Often PJ wished his dad would come back and stay. He hated taking the injections alone. wanting his dad to hold his hand. But knew it would only bring his dad more trouble if he complained. So, for his dad’s sake, and his own, he kept his mouth shut and held onto Dust’s hand instead.
Confusion painted PJ’s face when he saw the injection of the day already in Killer’s hand. It looked different today, but that was surely just his “wild” imagination.
When Killer was done, he spoke in a warm and caring tone:
“If you feel weird today, don’t wait to tell us. We bumped up your dosage.”
Not so wild after all.
Like he would do that.
He left, already feeling dizzy and sick but that wasn’t new, so he didn’t complain. He forced himself not to throw up over a vase, kept himself from drawing on Nightmare’s portrait, and prayed he could keep his mouth shut and obey, like his Pa had asked him to.
During magic practice, Nightmare was stricter than usual. Maybe he wanted to test how the new dosage would affect PJ’s magic. Maybe it was pure spite. PJ had long stopped asking himself why Nightmare did what he did.
He pushed PJ further and further. The Kid tried not to get angry, but Nightmare was asking for it, trying to push him over the edge.
In an explosive scream, both Nightmare and Crescent were hit by an outburst of PJ’s magic a ray of colors blinding and unpleasant. Strange spots appeared on PJ’s face freckles, as Dust called them. Killer once explained to him that strong magic could change one’s outwards appearance, like it did with his own tears.
He feld unwell
To PJ’s surprise, Nightmare seemed satisfied. But the air around them still grew thick. He felt it. And from the look Crescent gave him, he felt it too. Both children noticed that Crescent’s father’s mood had been ice-cold the past few days.
Nightmare looked at PJ gently. That look always made him uneasy. Then Nightmare started again, with that gentle, pushy tone. He asked PJ to open a portal like so many times before. But this time, to the Omega Timeline, one of the few places Nightmare had no access to.
He started to hear a ringing in his head like a warnig.
PJ didn’t know how or if he even could.Nightmare told him he believed in him. PJ almost believed him.
Almost forgot how Nightmare pushed him more and more each day. How he treated his dad so poorly because he “owed” it to him, for the protection of his son, for his own safety. PJ knew his father did everything for him. And he hated it.
His head started to spin.
PJ opened his eyes and tried to lift the magic, forming it in his hands, playing with it like it was just some toy. It followed, like always.
Crescent spoke up and it fell to the ground. Nightmare instantly scolded Crescent to be quiet.
Confusion washed over PJ. Why did his friend speak up? Why now? Why step up against his father?But his eyes… his eyes told PJ something was wrong.
They begged him to stop.
While Nightmare’s eyes were his personal cheer squad.
His best friend... no his only friend who never disobeyed rebeled now he would have laughed if he could
But I can’t.
My head is clouded.
I just act.
Like I was told.
I tryed to give Nightmare waht he wanted.
The key to make everything his.
The key that would turn him King of everything and me and my dear friend the princes of the mutivers.
I was so dizzy.
All this magic... it costs too much energy. So at first, I thought I was about to fall by myself but no.
As I turned around, Crescent gave me a push. But there was no menace in his eyes. Only sorrow. Who knew he had it in him to do such a thing? For the first time, PJ really saw a young prince in his friend.
And as it swollowed me the Portal was not the only thing that closed.
(sketch of the push)
