#plot end

[cyberneticlagomorph]

I'm ending and retconning "down the rabbit hole again"

Thanks to all who participated and read my posts

[corvidave]

==> Welcome Home

The hallway beyond is empty and quiet, each bedroom door firmly shut as you limp past. 

Your entire body is a bruise, and Sebastian definitely broke something of yours when he hit you. 

Figures.

Just keep walking.

Past Rosamund's room, past Roxy's, and DJ's, and Hal's.

Past yours. 

Past Fanta's.

To your father's office. 

The door is wide open, and Dad is sitting at his desk, illuminated only by the light of his computer screen. 

It glints off his shades, and even though you can't see his eyes you know he's not looking at you when he speaks,

"Welcome home."

You toss Sebastian's head onto the desk with a crash.

Your father doesn't react, taking a slow sip from a coffee mug full of orange soda as he types away in the silence between the two of you. 

Leave, just--

You turn around and waltz out of the room, fists balled at your side so tightly that you're shaking.

You catch sight of Roxy 2 quickly shutting her bedroom door as you make your way to your own room. The chip reader in the door beeps as you approach and you hear the mechanism unlock.

The room beyond is...

Nearly beyond description. 

Torn apart, asunder, your belongings strewn across the floor. Your vinyl, collection shattered. 

Your favorite sword lay in pieces across your ruined bed.

The fight in you dies immediately.

You fall to your knees in the wreckage and slide off your pack, removing the sleepy kitten and shooing it away when it complains. 

There's… nothing left.

You sift through the shit on the floor and try to find something clean to wear, something that isn't pastel and girly. Did Dad take your boy clothes while you were away?

You find something, a pile of something. Clothes, brand new, and shoved far beneath the bed. They still have the tags on them.

Black band t-shirts, jeans, hoodies, ...a binder. 

A Tupperware container of pumpkin cookies.

A single MCR record without its protective sleeve. 

Treasures hidden away, safe until you could come back and find them. If you ever came back at all.

In the farthest possible corner of the space beneath your bed is a cardboard box, inside that box is a very large egg, a pair of shades, and something you thought you'd never see again. 

A robot crow you'd left unfinished the day you made your escape. DJ probably finished it for you.

Your thoughts are hazy, liquid that comes pouring out of your eyes as you finally break down. 

Huh… guess you can cry like a human after all.

Everything goes into your bag, haphazardly shoved in until there's no more room and nothing else to take.

You care barely see, barely breathe through the sobs in your chest. Just put one foot in front of the other and GO.

Just go.

Back to the bus station. 

Back to your house in the woods.

And sleep. 

<==

First

[sav-and-squips-shenanigans]

Changes

Well friends. It pains me to have to write this, but I am going to be ending these plots where they are. I am trying to whittle down my projects as much as possible to avoid being overwhelmed and I have unfortunately lost my drive for the plot I have on this blog and on @ask-the-refugee-squips. There's also the fact that I don't consider these characters to be in the Be More Chill world anymore, so it's not as fun writing them in that setting. I have been meaning to write these characters into my own setting and have been working slowly on creating a comic/manga with them called ARC. 

So here's what I think I'm going to do.  I’m going to archive these blogs and start over on a new one. I’m also going to remove the FAULTLINE blogs because that project has been scrapped until further notice and I don’t want to clog up my blog count. The archived blogs will still be open for questions and fun little MA’s and such, but there will be no major plot on either of them anymore. The new blog will obviously be open for questions and will contain new characters as well as the ones you guys know from here! Some of the plots from here will also be repurposed for the new blog because they will still fit with a few changes, and because I would hate to have the stories go to waste.

This is mostly being done for my own mental health, which hasn’t been good at all admittedly, but it’s also so I can start really thinking about my own work and the setting that I want to bring to life.

I will update with the new blog once it has been created.

Thank you all for understanding, and thank all of you for the support you have shown these blogs over the past couple of years. It has been an absolute blast creating these characters and the stories they take part in, and I can’t wait to share more of them with all of you!

See you soon!

- Bella

[corvidave]

🔴 LIVE!

Should he be recording this?

No.

Is he doing it anyway, if only to legitimize his experiences and cement the fact that he's not crazy to nobody in particular?

Ye.

The camera is on, live streaming this time.

The House is understandably dark, the backup generator is off and it's like half past 9 at night.

The crows are agitated as Crowkid leaves his bedroom, Table Turner in hand.

Somewhere in the House, there is scratching.

Scuttling.

Something hard clacking on the bare floors.

Heels?

Hooves?

It's hard to tell.

The phone's flashlight sends bright white light spilling across the walls and floor of the House like milk.

The silence is heavy, and smothering. Eerie and slick, like ropes of monster drool falling onto a protag's shoulder from somewhere out of frame.

The stairs creak under Crowkid's feet as he goes down them, the sound nearly deafening in the dusty emptiness.

The front door is wide open, hinges squeaking painfully.

Crowkid closes the door with his bat and turns around to go back upstairs.

And there, ghostly in the glow of his flashlight is a figure standing on goat's legs, ears back and sharp teeth bared in a hideous snarl.

We know this face well, it's the one Crowkid's been restoring for upwards of a week now.

Fear burns bright in mismatched red and blue eyes, electricity arcing between dual horns like a taser come to life.

The creature lunges, and Crowkid swings Table Turner hard but somehow misses the creature wholesale.

Swearing, LOUDLY, Crowkid bolts for the kitchen.

The figure's hooves thundering behind him.

He reaches the back door but finds it stuck, frame swollen from all the recent humidity.

He turns, and the thing is in the kitchen with him, hissing like a snake, fangs dripping what's probably venom.

It hits the floor and BURNS THROUGH IT like acid.

"You DARE try and strike ME? I am the Doomspeaker, Lisping God of--" they break off, sniffing at the air before scuttling forward and grabbing a jar off the counter.

The Doomspeaker sniffs the jar like an excited dog, forked tail wagging wildly, "YOOOO dude is this honey? Can I have this?"

Silence.

Crowkid clears his throat, "Uh... yeah?"

"Sweet!" Lisps Doomspeaker and they unscrew the jar, lapping the honey out like a dog with a jar of peanut butter.

"...Well I sure did ruin a pair of underoos for nothing." Crowkid mumbles shakily as Doomspeaker greedily enjoys the honey.

The video stops shortly after.

[cyberneticlagomorph]

Looking Glass

With all five seals broken, the wards have nothing left to power them and finally end their assault on you. The Cheshire cat stands at your side, purring softly, soothingly. It chases away the emptiness of the chamber's sudden silence, and for that you are grateful. The two of you take the solemn walk down the last tunnel in the dismantled prison-lock, the Vorpal sword dragging in the dust as you walk. You feel sick holding it now, if you could you'd drop it and leave it here forever, but you need it to shatter the looking glass.

The last chamber of the prison-lock is guarded by nothing, inside wisps of blue-green fairy-fire wash the place in light brighter than what you're used to, on the floor is the looking glass. A monstrous, round pool of glass edged in obsidain and gold, the rim alone comes up to your chest and its a wonder how it got down here at all. Cheshire hangs back, wide eyes wary, it's not smiling now. Its hard to tell if Cheshire has a mouth at all when it isn't grinning, but you try not to think about that too often. A small set of stairs has been carved into the looking glass's frame, you tremble as you ascend them, the mirror's surface shivers and you see it isn't a solid surface but a pool of liquid. The watch on your chest ticks, you hold your breath and step into the looking glass.

You open your eyes to see a sea of silver lit by slanted beams of watery white light that cast reflective shadows on everything, looking up is like being in the bottom of a pool, looking down makes your stomach drop to your paws. Beneath you the world is shattered, a spiraling spiderweb of glowing white cracks connecting a multitude of shards, within is shard is some version of you living their lives as if everything were normal. You sink to the bottom of the looking glass and watch the shards spiral around you, a thousand lives flash before your eyes and leave you dizzy. The watch on your chest ticks in the silence of space-time and only just anchors you to this timeline. The whirlwind of picture-shards begins to slow and you can easily view the goings on in each one.

A half feral faerie child with hair like spun gold chases goblins through the underbrush on all fours, grinning with teeth too sharp.

Ab amoral scientist, more metal than man, preps an unwilling subject for vivisection. You see here sharp teeth snap at the bars of her cage, her mismatched red and blue eyes shine with malice.

A Witch stands on an ancient bridge, a Sage's blade protruding from her chest.

A young enby stands in their bedroom, outside meteors fall and the city goes up in flames, a game waits to be played.

Each timeline not your own threatens to suck you in but your watch refuses to let them, it keeps you steady with it's tick-tock-ticking like a reliable mechanical heartbeat. It reminds you of Jeanne, it reminds you of Kermes, you will not let them down. You filter through the shards, combing through them at a rapid pace, none of these are what you need.

A cartoonist sits at his desk sketching storyboards for a new project, mechinary hisses and clanks rhythmically, musically in the background. He doesn't notice the ink bleeding from the walls until its too late.

The Warren in flames, tunnels blocked with dead bodies and rubble. The roof caves in and the shard goes dark, crumbling into dust.

Close... You dig faster, clawing through time shards so fast you don't notice when they cut your scrabbling fingers. And then you spot it, nestled in the dust of a dozen dead timelines.

You stand in your library, thumbing through old books you bought from a friend. A slip of paper falls from between the pages, a skeleton calls for you before you can notice and pick it up, you leave the library to see what they want.

You grab the shard as hard as you can, the watch on your chest ticks and seems to know what you want. The shard pulls you in, you don't fight it and end up in the library your alternate self just vacated. You snatch up the scrap of paper, the recipe for the potion that started all this mess months ago. You shove it in your mouth and eat it, it tastes terrible but you don't care. The shard is still in your hand, the watch snaps you back into the looking glass, you watch the cracks in time slowly start to seal themselves.

You swim to the surface of the glass and climb out, the looking glass shivers and shows you the fruits of your labor. You put your watch away and are met with the blissful silence of your own thoughts. You draw the Vorpal sword, the looking glass shivers as if it knows what's coming next. You plunge the blade into the glass and expect it to go right through like you had, instead the looking glass shatters. Ugly glowing cracks spread from your blade to encompass the whole of the glass, and with a sound like a grateful sigh, the looking glass crumbles into dust.

You're breathing heavily without noticing, body trembling with relief, laughter flows from your throat and sounds equal parts elated and deranged. You did it. You did it! Its all over, you can go home now. You can go home. Cheshire gives you the key without you having to ask for it, you summon the door to your pocket dimension and use the key on it, the door swings open to a hall in the Warren. You give a strangled sob. Home.

You take a step inside and expect it to dissolve like the other illusion- worlds you've fought in, but it doesn't. You're home. You're really home.you fall to your knees and cry with joy.

[mxstball]

[PLOT END] [Parental Bond]

Celadon City, Kanto

Jörmungandr was in his room on his computer. Despite finishing his tea and having a small breakfast, parts of him was still sore from the battle with his daughter. In fact, said battle was the primary thing on his mind... well, that and seeing Meredith's Mega Evolution once again. To think that Meredith was right in everything -- from the preparation that they needed to perform to the venue to have that fight in -- it was phenomenal. Sure, Heidi won the battle, but everyone walked away from that battlefield as a winner. Heidi passed with flying colors, but Meredith still found new ways to impress him. Jörmungandr hoped that they thought of the same about him.

As Jörmungandr was finishing typing, he felt a dark shadow appear in his study room. It was enough to make the dragon look up, but also to expect one person in particular.

"...Melony."

Melony appeared... along with Meredith. While Meredith had her suitcase, Melony had some pancakes in her hand. "Hiiii, George! For you!" The ghost placed the plate of pancakes on his desk. "Heidi made it!"

"Oh! Some pancakes. Please, send her my regard--wait--" Jörmungandr turned to Meredith. "...as in Heidi isn't here?"

"She's still at her home, probably making another batch of pancakes for herself and for Tor."

"Then how are you here, Meredith? Have you finally figured out how to sustain your own life?"

"Yup! It turns out that Mega Evolution was the key to unlocking my full form!"

"Fascinating...." Jörmungandr took a moment to ponder. To think that the flow of Mega Evolution energy could render her complete was... surprising to say the least. "Well, Melony, please send Heidi my regards. Considering Meredith's suitcase, it appears that she made up her mind on where to go next."

"Uh-huh! Bye bye~" And POOF! Melony is gone to snuggle with Heidi (assuming Nergal doesn't get there first).

.........

"I'll go unpack in the bedroom. Care to join me when you're done eating?"

"...Have you eaten any?"

"...no, but--"

"...then we eat together." Jörmungandr got up, walked around his desk to her, and kissed her lips. "I'll get some utensils for us to use."

"...The only utensil that I want to use is for bedroom use only, sir."

"...Well, there's nothing stopping you from having your way with it after we finish these pancakes. My meeting for this Friday was postponed, so I have time."

Meredith chuckled. "Alright, alright. But let's take our time to savor the pancakes, okay? I want to cherish our daughter's cooking just a little more~"

"Mmm." Jörmungandr walked out of the room to go to the kitchen. It's a good thing that he always prepared himself as if Meredith could show at any moment.

The two will be quite busy with each other's company for the next week or two.

[mxstball]

[Plot End] [Past Dealings] Check In: Tor

Knock knock!

Tor was in her room brushing her hair when someone knocked on her door. Now that it's been a few days, Tor finally found the time to tend to herself in between caring for Lati and spending time with Sapphire and Daiyu, and she decided to spend that time changing up her appearance. Nonetheless, she paused and turned around to try to sense who was at the door.

"...Miss Lacey?" Tor turned back to the mirror. "You can come in! Door's open."

Tor's door was opened and The True Arceus walked through it. "Heyyy, Tor. Hope you don't mind me visiting."

Tor shook her head, but kept her eyes focused on her task. "I don't mind. Are you doing one of those 'checkpoints' on me?"

Arceus nodded. "I don't know why, but the moment I came back to this world, I had the feeling that I needed to check in on you."

"That's fine." Tor nodded. Now that she was finished, Tor turned and looked at Arceus. "Okay! We can start! Though uh… is it okay if we can just keep the place as my room? I feel comfy here."

"Oh! Yeah. That's fine. Let me just lock the door, then." Arceus snapped her fingers and the door locked. She then sat at Tor's desk. "You look really nice by the way."

"Thanks!" Tor giggled. "I know it's not much different, but I wanted to make a little change!"

"Well, I like it! It suits you."

Tor walked over to her bed and sat down. Even though she's had one of these "checkpoints" before, it was always nice to have another one to talk to a version of her big sister. Tor hummed a little bit as she tried to collect her thoughts. Was it okay to talk to this version of Heidi about what she went through earlier? Would Heidi find out through osmosis and not when Tor was comfortable? Maybe that's why the Arceus wanted to check-in on Tor so soon after their last checkpoint -- maybe she sensed Hyde already.

"Hey, uh… Miss Lacey?"

"Yes, Tor?"

"Is… it okay if I can tell you something? Can you… promise not to tell The Great Ninja…?"

"Who, Heidi?"

Tor nodded.

"Well, if it's important enough, then unless it concerns your immediate safety, then I promise that I won't. Still, something tells me that this'll be something that you're thinking of bringing up to her yourself?"

Tor nodded again. "Just… not now. I… don't want to get her upset."

Arceus tilted her head. Now that she thinks about it, there was something with Tor's energy and aura that felt… very different.  "Okay. Well, tell away. What's on your mind, Tor?" 

Tor sat back some more and started swinging her feet. She was starting to get a little anxious now that it was time to talk about what had transpired, but just then, she felt a wave of comfort wash over her, as if it was giving her the permission structure to speak. Could that have been Hyde…?

"I… went back to my home world while Heidi was away."

"Oh… You did?"

Tor sheepishly nodded. "Big Sis Lauren helped me get there. I… I wanted to find my brother… or, at least his Soul Dew."

"Oh, right. He sacrificed himself to save you, right?"

"Yeah. We… were running away from Nyx when he held her back to give me more time to run away. He gave me a lot of time to run from her, but she eventually killed him and went after me…"

"But then you got away from her because of Lillie and Tsukuyomi and them, right?"

Tor nodded. "I wouldn't have been able to get away if it wasn't for him… but I still wanted to go to find him and bring him home." Tor placed her hands in front of her chest. Just then, a small light emanated from her hands for a few moments. Then, she showed the source of the light to Arceus. It was a Soul Dew! "...so, he's home now… with me."

"!!!" Arceus reached over and took the Soul Dew. Tor allowed her. Arceus gave the item a closer look. It was almost like every other Soul Dew, but she could sense that it was slightly modified in some way. "So, this is Hyde?"

"Uh-huh." Tor nodded.

Arceus looked up at Tor. Without the Soul Dew, while she could sense that Tor seemed more confident, Tor didn't feel all that different from when they met the last time. Perhaps the strange feeling came from this Soul Dew, instead.

"...Nergal hid it in Alola, but she also apparently added some powers to him like Mega Evolution. I can Mega Evolve with him by my side!"

"Oh! That's interesting!"

Arceus gave the Soul Dew back to Tor. Tor grabbed the Soul Dew and pressed it against her chest. The light showed once again, and, when it dissipated, the Soul Dew was gone. Tor seemed giddy and happy for herself as another wave of elation washed over her as well.

"I missed him so much. I'm happy that we can be together again."

"I'm happy for you, too, Tor." Arceus nodded.

"Yeah."

Arceus got up and sat next to Tor, but they sat together in silence looking out into the distance. Even though they didn't say anything to each other, Arcues could feel Tor's newfound emotions of satisfaction, determination, and wonder all at once. At the same time, though, she could also sense a more bittersweet feeling from the little dragon. Maybe she was still thinking of what to say from here, or of how to say it. Maybe she just was happy enough to 

"Miss Lacey?"

"Huh? What's up, Tor?"

"You said that you're like The Great Ninja but from another world, right?"

Arceus nodded. "I am, yeah."

"And you said that you've seen other versions of other people?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Have you seen other version of me? Have they been like me, too?"

"Well, sort of." Arceus took some time to think. "There's potentially an infinite number of other versions of you, and of different species, to. I've met other variants of you throughout my journey. Some have gone through some of what you have. Others not so much."

"Oh. Okay." Tor nodded. "How… do I compare to them?"

Arceus gave it some thought. It wasn't exactly a question that she was expecting. "Well, I don't… really compare people to all of their counterparts, really. If I were to say anything, I think that you're… at least still on the right path."

"Thank you." Tor nodded and looked at her guest. "...Also, I got in a fight with Nergal."

"Really? What happened?"

"Nergal, she…." She shook her head. "She hurt Lauren really badly in a fight while I was talking to Hyde. So I had to fight Nergal to defend my big sister."

"Nergal attacked Lauren? Do you know why?" The True Arceus could probably infer the situation, but that wasn't for Tor to know.

"I--I don't know. I thought it was just to finally try to kill us but--" Tor shook her head. "--but I don't know or understand anymore."

"Why is that? Was there something that she said to you?"

Tor summoned the Soul Dew again and looked at it. "She… she said that she was the one that changed Hyde to have Mega Evolution and Ultra Energy, and that she did it to help me…. She's the one that placed my brother's Soul Dew in the Altar of the Sunne and buried him. She… she said that she wanted to test my bond with him to see if I really wanted him back--"

"Do you believe that she did all of that?"

"I…" Tor was silent. There was still doubt of everything that Nergal said in the encounter, from Nergal claiming that she was testing Tor to the information itself. Then again, it was also Nergal that led her to Hyde's Soul Dew in the first place. Could she really do everything that she said that she could? "I… I don't know. Deep inside, I can feel that she's telling the truth, but… but I-- I don't want to trust her. I'm… I'm too scared to."

Arceus scooted herself over and gave Tor a little hug. "I understand. Nergal was partly responsible for the destruction of your world, and she attacked you and Hyde when Nyx came after you, right?"

Tor nodded, but then paused, especially as a wash of doubt covered her. It was almost as if Hyde conflicted with one of the statements…. "Yeah… but… I don't know. There was something that I felt when it comes to Hyde and me--"

"What is that?" 

"I'm… I'm not sure… but I felt from her… some sort of guilt, I think? I was too angry to ask about it, but…." Tor shook her head. "It made me think… maybe there's something that I'm missing--" Tor continued looking at the Soul Dew. "...I can't trust her because of what she did, but I-- I'm just feeling like there's something that I'm missing, and I don't know why--"

"Maybe it's Hyde's influence." Arceus nodded. "Maybe the feelings from his point of view are influencing your feelings. If so, that's totally okay."

Tor recalled the Soul Dew back into her body and looked at Arceus -- well, not directly at her, but to the side of her. Tor was still a little nervous and shaken. "I… I think so."

"Well, maybe it's not something that you'll have the answers for now, but that's okay. Spend some time thinking about it. Maybe talk to your family. If you need to check, you can always ask her to see if you can get any additional information from her."

"I guess." Tor nodded and leaned into Arceus. "Anyway, Nergal and I fought after she attacked Lauren… and I beat her! I was prepared for some things, but I think the Mega Evolution changed some things in me that I need to train to understand."

"Oh! Wow, that's… that's a big deal! You must have gotten really strong from that Mega Evolution!"

"Yeah!" Tor chuckled. "I… I thought that she was going easy on me, but she was so surprised during the fight that I realized that she wasn't. It's so crazy…."

"I know, especially since you said that you wanted to be strong like Heidi during wartime, right?"

"Uh-huh! I wanted to be strong, like how The Great Ninja was strong back then. I know she's a lot stronger now so I have a long way to go to match how she is now, but even if I can be strong enough to hold my own, it makes me so happy!"

"Hehe. Aww. That's what I find cute about you, you know? Always finding a positive in your journey, even if you think you have a ways to go." Arceus giggled and turned the small hug into a larger one.

Tor returned the hug. "Thank you, Miss Lacey."

The two let go relatively quickly, enough for Arceus to have a follow-up question. "So, now that you've gotten this strong with your brother, what do you plan to do with that power?"

"I…." Tor had given this some thought, but never has she put this into words just yet. Considering everything, now was as good of a time as any to start. "I… want to get even stronger. I want to push myself to be better-- not just for myself, but for my ultimate goal. I… I want to protect my family. This world has been so nice to me and even the creatures that aren't from my home have treated me like I was always a part of the family. I… I wanna return the favor and do whatever I can to defend them, just like The Great Ninja does. Even if I can't do everything like her, maybe I could help whenever she's busy with a bigger threat, or maybe I can keep the world peaceful when it's too much for her. Maybe, one day, I can go back to my home or to other worlds and find survivors to take in, just like the Great Ninja did with us and with Daiyu and Sapphire! I just want to help as much as I can."

"Hehe. So you wanna keep the ideals of this world as well?"

"Yeah!" Tor sounded giddy. "I think the ideals are great, and I wanna uphold them! Not only that, but I wanna help other worlds adopt the ideals if they want to, too! Maybe we could make new friends that way!"

"Maybe you can." Arceus rubbed Tor's head. "If you're willing to keep at your pace, then maybe others can follow your lead, too."

[mxstball]

[CREATOR CLASH] [PLOT END] Finale

Heidi found a proper place to bury her All-Mother. There was a plot of land not too far off from the Clocktower. It seemed to have been undisturbed despite everything around it. Heidi started digging into it to give it some distance under the ground.

It... was finally over. She was... able to defeat Friede and keep her friends and family safe. Yet, sorrow plagued her heart. She missed her All-Mother already. Heidi wished that she could go back in time... spend more time with her.... She wished that Friede had changed her mind and wished to live with everyone... that her heart had never closed or that she never was traumatized.

Heidi wanted to protect her All-Mother, too... along with everyone else.

Heidi flew down and placed Friede's Legend Plate in the hole and re-filled it. She then took Friede's greatsword and stabbed it into the ground as some sort of tombstone.

"...Rest well, mom."

Heidi started to walk away--

--but stopped for a moment.

Heidi summoned Izanami's Legend Plate as well. She thought of the Arceus that gave her the opportunity to make the choices that she had... the enigmatic yet loving creator that wished nothing but the best for her, her family, and her world. She deserved to be given a proper burial as well.

Besides, just as she said, she's not an Arceus. As such, she had no use for this anymore.

Heidi found another plot nearby and made a hole. She placed Izanami's Legend Plate inside and then re-filled the hole. Heidi summoned a standard sword and plunged it down at the head of the hole.

"...You too, Nami. I promise that I'll do whatever it takes to keep our home safe."

Heidi turned around and walked away. She pulled out her Portal Gun and shot in front of her, stepping through it and into the Hall of Origin.

It was from this moment that Elysium became the Land Without a Creator -- for, while Heidi will fill that role for now, she will never truly identify herself as Arceus...

...and perhaps the world would be better without one, anyway.