Chapter 10

Pain of the Past.

Wilhaim slowly and silently made his way out of the room, giving the distressed teens their privacy.

"Sigh... Hope you work out your problems kid..." Wilhaim said quietly, looking at the closed door in front of him, he then began stretching till a small pop was heard from his back.

"Ughhhhh... mein rücken..." He depressedly groaned as he let out a tired sigh.

"And I hope to the gods that those girls learn to control their temper." He added grumpily as he began rubbing his back, just as Fredrik and Elizabeth walked up to him.

"Hey there Wil, how're the kids?" Elizabeth asked.

"Good? Could be better I guess." Wilhaim answered with a tired shrug.

"Still sore from being beaten up by a bunch of kids?" Fredrik asked, a grin on his face as he eyed the Wil's tired state.

"Uh... Yeah! And you would be too if a bunch of damn kids knocked you through a building!" Wilhaim retorted.

"Relax, I'm joking, but seriously though, are they alright? For a moment there they thought you killed the boy, I thought so too, honestly, and I'm pretty sure they're uh... protective of the boy and personally, I don't think Kelly can handle it if another person she's attached to, dies in front of her, she's lost enough already." Fredrik said, a pained expression on his face.

"...Yeah, well luckily the boy's one damn tenacious idiot." Wilhaim said with a sigh, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked, crossing her arms as she raised a brow.

"He's... Well he... Sigh... Look. The spell I accidentally undid on him was a numbing spell, you know, the one we use whenever we're sore from training, working, fighting what have you, but the thing is, it was wound over and over and over again all over his body, that's why I didn't recognize it until it was too late." Wilhaim said, a somber expression growing on his face.

"He... He was training to the point that his bones may very well have been shattered if he continued it, he wound that spell ten, twenty, hell maybe even thirty times around himself just to make sure he wouldn't pass out from the pain, and after that he had a hydra knock him through a building and somehow he's still alive, sure he had runic gear and all, but still..." Wilhaim trailed off, a frown on his face.

"Gods..." Fredrik said quietly, while Elizabeth had a shocked look upon hearing the revelation.

"I know right?" Wilhaim said.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's ok now, thanks to me that is, but I think he's still being chewed out in there" Wilhaim added, pointing a thumb behind him.

"I'm gonna go talk to him." Elizabeth said, walking up to the door, only to have Wilhaim grab her shoulder.

"Are you sure? I think it's best if they talk it out for a bit." Wilhaim said.

"Okay, maybe you're right... But I'm still gonna talk to him." Elizabeth said, quickly shrugging off Wil's hand and barging into the room.

"... Does she do that a lot?" Wilhaim asked, looking at Fredrik who currently had his face in the palm of his hand as he slowly shook his head, groaning as he did so.

Abruptly shoving the door open Elizabeth marched into the room to find the kids in a sprawled mess on the bed, seems like she startled them a little with her entrance.

"Oh... Sorry, did I interrupt?" She asked.

"No." Marco answered.

"Yes." Janna said, immediately after Marco answered, earning an annoyed glare from the boy.

"Heh, well you can continue it later, I'm going to need a moment with Marco, please." Elizabeth said, a small smile on her face as she said so.

"Umm... Okay." Star said reluctantly, looking back and forth from Marco to Elizabeth and back again before finally standing up and walking out of the room, followed by the other girls.

"Okay... And uh... What did you ne..." Marco began, but a slam from Elizabeth shut him up.

Holding his cheek with his hand, Marco looked up to her with disbelief and confusion in his eyes.

"Wha..." Marco began, but Elizabeth immediately hugged him, confusing him even further.

"Um... What?" He said.

"Sorry Marco. But you're an idiot. Also that was for worrying me and everyone else." Elizabeth said, pulling away from the hug.

"Sigh... Yeah, I deserved that." Marco said with a small sad smile.

"But really, you're an idiot. Why would you do that to yourself!?" Elizabeth asked, exasperated.

"Do wha-" Marco began, but a stern glare from Elizabeth forced his mouth shut.

"You know full well what I mean Marco." She said her death glare ever trained in the teen.

"Okay, look. I just wanted to be stronger okay? I need to be able to keep them safe, to protect them." Marco answered, crossing his arms as he did so.

"What? Aren't you plenty strong already? You managed to cut some of that hydra's heads off on your own remember? Hell, half the guild is still scared of you ever since The lecture. And I'm pretty sure I saw you all lightningy when we fought that overgrown lizard." Elizabeth said with a small laugh.

"Heh... Yeah, but I won't rely on something like that... I can't. These... powers that I can't understand, and the ones that I know all too well... It's too dangerous." Marco said, shaking his head.

"I just need to be better okay? I need to get stronger! For them..." Marco added, a somber expression on his face.

"Sigh... Don't sell yourself short, kid. If you're thinking like that, then trust me, you're plenty strong already. And those girls are a tough bunch themselves!" Elizabeth said, to which Marco simply sighed and kept quiet.

"Look kid. You gotta believe in them okay? And more importantly you gotta believe in yourself, and even if you don't believe in yourself, those girls do! And so do I. They know you'll do anything you can to protect them, but you gotta make sure you don't kill yourself doing stupid stuff like this!" Elizabeth said, haplessly gesturing at Marco.

"...You just gestured to all of me." Marco said, looking up at her with an amused smirk.

"That's because ALL of you is being stupid right now." Elizabeth said, mirroring the smirk on Marco's face.

"Yeah, fair enough, maybe I was being a little paranoid and... stupid, just a little though." Marco jokingly said, laughing softly at himself.

"I'm glad that we've established that. Now come on, let's go meet up with the oth..." Elizabeth began, but the door suddenly, and quite literally flew off its hinges and landed a couple of feet away from the doorframe, startling Marco into jumping off the bed and into a fighting position and making Elizabeth summon her spider familiar Marco saw earlier and an owl familiar he hasn't seen yet, both ready to lash out at the attacker.

Only to have Grog step through the doorframe, a wide and happy smile on his face.

"Marco!" He yelled, rushing over to crush him in a massive hug the Johansens would've been proud of.

"Grog... Air... Please... Guhhh" Marco struggled to say, but returning the hug nonetheless.

"Grog! What did we say about kicking down doors!?" Elizabeth said angrily, her hands on her hips as she glared at the goliath, her two familiars dissipating away.

"Oh... Uh... Sorry, I just wanted to see Marco again, I heard he was better." Grog said apologetically.

"Sigh... It's okay Grog, but this better be the last time you do this, okay?" Elizabeth said, her expression softening.

"Um... Grog, I know you like hugs and all, but could you let me go now?" Marco asked, still being suffocated in a hug.

"Oh right. Sorry." He said, letting Marco go.

"Oh and I almost forgot! There's a gonna be a surprise!" Grog said happily.

"Surprise? What surprise?" Marco asked.

"Well..." Grog began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A bathhouse?" Marco said inquisitively, looking up at the fairly simple looking building, of deeply dark blue colored wood, and despite its simple looking exterior it was a fairly sizeable building.

"Yes. A good bath always helps after a battle, and I'm pretty sure we could use one after fight we've been through." Percival said.

"Okay... But why didn't you guys just go here when I was out cold earlier?" Marco asked, and although he wasn't out for too long, it was already late afternoon, with the sun about to set in an hour or so, so he couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just go earlier.

"Hm... I dunno, never really came to mind until they told us you were finally awake." Percival answered, pointing his thumb towards Star and the girls who were chatting with Keyleth and Trinket, while Elizabeth and Fredrik were straying behind the group, seemingly discussing something.

"Fair enough, but where's Brann? He coming later or..." Marco drawled, fishing for an answer, only to get a casual shrug from Percival, turning to Grog with a raised brow, the goliath simply tapped his chin in thought before answering:

"Oh! He said he was going to be preparing something for later. I don't think he'll join us." Grog said after a while.

"Hmmm... Well let's go on then." Marco said, eager to soak his still sore body in the warmth of the bath.

"Of course!" Percival said, opening the double wooden doors with a flourish and holding it open for the girls.

And immediately upon entering the building, the thick and heavy smell of herbs and a tiniest hint of a medicinesq smell assaulted their senses.

Placed right on the sides of the hallway near the door were two lowlight plants, along the ceiling were various hanging pots that held even more plants and some flowers that seemed to contribute to the smell and oddly enough the combination of the simple interior design with the multitude plants and the herbal smell, gave the place a very relaxing atmosphere, and Marco could tell Star, Janna and Jackie thought so too, Kelly however seemed desensitized to the effect but still looked relaxed and a little eager, she must've been here before, Marco thought.

"Aahhhhhh... Finally, some much needed RnR." Fredrik said, taking in a deep breath before knocking on the countertop of the reception desk, and not a minute later a woman with black hair pulled up in a bun, wearing, oddly enough, a traditional chinese style dress, or at least it looked like one, Marco wasn't exactly sure.

"Hello, again. It's always a pleasure to see repeat customers, and... a few new faces." She greeted them, a soft smile on her face.

"Of course, this is the best bathhouse in this town." Percival said, leaning his elbow on the counter and flashing the woman a smile.

"No Percival, I still won't go out with you." She said calmly, with practiced ease and a small smile on her face.

"I can however set you all up with a bath." She added, ignoring Percival as he slumped off the counter depressedly.

"That would be wonderful." Fredrik answered, also ignoring Percival as Grog comforted the half elf.

"Okay, so same thing as always? Separated open air bath with refreshments right?" She asked.

"Yup!" Fredrik answered.

"Very well, changing rooms are to the left for you boys, and for the ladies, it's to the right." She said, gesturing to two hallways opposite each other.

"Thank you." Fredrik said, handing her a couple of gold coins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ahhhhhhhhh, this is the life." Percival said with a satisfied sigh as he sank deeper into the warm water.

The others were also enjoying the warmth of the water, but were less vocal about it and choose to enjoy it in solemn silence, they were all sitting along the edges, content expressions on all of their faces.

They were now fully enjoying the bath, which was essentially a swimming pool sized hole with stairs for sitting, going down into the water, and filled to the brim with warm, soothing herb infused water. It was strikingly similar to the hot springs of Japan, not that Marco's ever been there but he's seen some (rather embarrassing) pictures of his parents relaxing in the hot springs from the time his parents went to Japan on one of their unplanned vacations.

He smiled at the memory, his parents' antics were something he always found annoying, but it was what defined them and he loved them for it.

However his smile prompted Percival to grin at the teen.

"Oh? Thinking about something pleasant are we?" Percival asked, the undertone of his question going unnoticed.

"Yeah..." Marco answered with a satisfied sigh, sinking deeper into the bath, falling for the trap that the half elf placed.

"Yeah, I remember fantasizing about my friends too. Which one is your favorite?" Percival asked, a massive shit-eating grin on his face.

Which immediately caused Marco to turn into stuttering, blushing mess.

"That wasn't... I didn't... No, no, no, no! I was... I just... I was... Gahhh!" Marco said, his ability to form sentences hindered by his embarrassment.

"Relaaaaaax, it's natural to think about stuff like that. You're all of age aren't ya? So tell me who's your favorite?" Percival said, his teasing was unrelenting, even with Marco submerging half his face to hide his embarrassment, much to the amusement of Grog, Fredrik and Wilhaim.

"Or maaaaaaybe you don't have a favorite, they're all precious to you aren't they? Every. Single. Part of them. Is precious to you right?" He said, and the guys were now all openly chuckling at Marco.

And although what he said wasn't wrong, the way he said it meant that he meant something else, causing the teen to blush uncontrollably.

"Come on Marco, admit it. They're all lovely ladies, I'm sure there're like at least five different guys out there who'll gladly take them off your hands if you don't claim them." And as soon as he said that, the flushed and embarrassed expression on Marco's face gave way to one of deep-seated anger.

However by this time Percival had gotten too deep on his tirade of teasing Marco that he completely missed the fact that Wilhaim and Fredrik were gesturing for him to shut up.

He wasn't able to see that Marco had somehow appeared in front of him, punched him square in the face and had grabbed his throat. It was only then, when Marco had Percy's throat in a death grip that he realized what happened.

"Watch. Your. Words. Percival." Marco snarled out.

"Ghhh... Yea, sorry." He croaked out.

Releasing the half elf with a sigh, Marco looked down at his hands with a frown.

'Why the heck did I do that?' he thought to himself.

But he was quickly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard soft giggling coming form... Somewhere.

"Huh?" Marco said, looking around the bath, but he didn't find where the giggles came from... And then he looked up.

And there perched on the wall dividing the women's bath from the men's, was Keyleth, eyeing him up like a cat does a mouse, a small smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes.

Marco's immediate response was to scream.

His second response was to pick up the towel he accidentally dropped and rewrap it around himself.

"What the hell Keyleth!" He yelled.

"Oh don't mind me Marco, I'm just... Enjoying the show." She purred. She actually purred.

And then Marco died from embarrassment.

Well not really. He did faint though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't believe you did that Keyleth." Elizabeth said, reprimanding her friend with a shake of her head as they walked out of the bath.

"I can't believe I didn't think about that." Janna grumbled, her arms crossed in front of her and a pout in her lips.

"Oh come now, it was all in good fun." She said airily, a cheshire cat smile on her face.

"What part of that was fun!" Marco said, fuming.

"First there was that tomato impression you did, then you did that awesome punch, and theeeeeeeen~" She said, dragging the last word out while she slowly lowered her gaze to Marco's crotch, making the teen blush once again.

"Please stop." Marco said desperately, his face red as his hoodie and his hands trying to cover his body from Keyleth's gaze.

"Hmmmm nah." She said, the smile still on her face.

"Keyleth. Seriously. Stop." Fredrik deadpanned.

"Yeah. That's a little... Creepy." Grog said.

"Oh come on! Not like I can't make a move on him. He's legal now!" She said exasperatedly, making Marco blush and prompting the girls to glare at her.

"Hey!"

"What..."

"No!"

They all said at once, making everyone glance nervously at the teens, and making Keyleth giggle.

"Looks like I've got some competition." Keyleth said with a grin.

"Hey Mar-" Keyleth began, but as she turned to look at the teen she saw that he walked on ahead, his head low and his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Oh... Oh no... What happened?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the men with a questioning look, not at an angry look, just... One demanding an answer.

"It was my fault. I was teasing him and-" Percival began confessing, but a hand on his shoulder made him stop.

"No... This is something else." Grog said.

"Let him think. Comfort him later." Grog added, with a soft pointed look at the girls who were about to rush to Marco's side.

Now Grog wasn't the most intelligent man... Er, Goliath around, far from it. But he was people smart, he picked up on feelings better than most mind readers can read minds, and although he usually forgoes this ability and just offers ale as comfort most of the time, he cares for this crew, they were his family. And Marco became part of it not too long ago.

So with a heavy sigh, Fredrik looked at the girls and nodded his head, and softly said:

"it'll be alright, let's give him a moment."

And reluctantly, the girls nodded their heads and simply kept pace a little ways behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He snapped.

He never snaps. At least not often.

But his friend went too far. That he knew, and at least he didn't hurt him. Not really anyway, Percy was tough.

But that wasn't what got him down.

He remembered.

He remembered the lesson he taught the adventurers of the guild, they were being selfish, greedy, and stupid. Very. Very. Stupid.

They needed to learn. They needed to know what would happen if they ignored the people who were seeking help.

They needed to see. So he showed them. Brutality. Loss. Hopelessness. Despair. Pain. Such are the consequences of ignorance and pride, and sometimes, when fate just seemed especially cruel... those things... just... Happen, for no explicit reason.

The lesson was harsh, the... Things, they've seen would scar them and experienced adventurers they may be, what they saw would haunt them forever.

He should know.

It was his own memories that he showed them.

He lived through the hell that they merely glimpsed.

And, magical memory wipe or no, it still hurt.

Like a knife through his heart.

And out of nowhere a rift opened up in front of him, releasing magical energies and sparks as it opened up.

And just as fast as it opened, it swallowed Marco whole right before fizzing out of existence.

It took him.

Him and four girls.

The rest of them stared at the spot where the portal was. At a complete loss of words.

"What the shit!??" Grog supplied, summing up the group's thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marco found himself in an odd, but familiar dimension.

Said dimension had clocks strewn about everywhere, on the ground, floating in the rivers, and oddly enough melting on trees.

He'd been here with Star once, that was one heck of a day for him, especially since that day lasted 60 hours, and he'd also been here on his own for a few times, those times weren't as fun.

See, for some of Hekapoo's challenges she had told Marco to take over some of her work with Omnitraxsus Prime. It usually just involved investigating and then closing rifts in space-time, it was easy enough...

But sometimes, there are things that pass through said rifts in space-time, things that shouldn't be, things that don't belong in this plane of existence, things that shouldn't even exist.

Now usually Omni had someone else to take care of these problems for him, but at times that person was either busy or unavailable, if so, he'd phone Hekapoo and ask for help, (Rhombulus was too reckless), and Hekapoo in turn outsourced the problem to Marco.

With a heavy sigh Marco shook his head at the memories and walked on as if nothing happened, he knew he could just call out to Omni if he needed help, and there's also his dimensional scissors that he painstakingly suffered for.

But it was worth it, even if he can't remember most of it he knew he appreciated and treasured his time in Hekapoo's dimension, even the bad ones, now he had a pair of scissors that cut through the very fabric of reality as a toy, a song in his heart written by time, experience, and pain, and not to mention one hell of a great friend.

Hekapoo.

Now that name invokes so much from so many, fear, anger, annoyance, awe, excitement, respect.

And rightfully so, she's amazing, and that's an understatement.

She was a great, albeit annoying, friend and comrade to Marco, even if she was the one throwing him to the sharks Marco still respected her. Heck, he might even adore her.

And all of a sudden, the sound of a blaring horn from a speeding car that left flames marks where it's tires touched the ground, brought Marco out of his stupor, diving to the side Marco narrowly avoided being road kill.

Right. The time dimension was one dangerous and weirdly random place.

And just as Marco stood up he had to dodge out of the way of a woman in a yellow skin tight bodysuit that was running incredibly fast.

"Don't worry loves, the cavalry's here!" She shouted, right before vanishing from existence.

"Okay... That was weird." Marco said to himself as he walked on, trying not to think about the his past.

And as he walked, he saw some more odd things, for one he saw a skeleton with a chainsaw where its right hand should be, sprawled out in front of a cave, then there a robot singing about tacos (which were falling from the sky), then there was the blue... Phone booth? Sticking out of the ground randomly.

It was a nice walk despite the weird distractions, but they helped take his mind away from his thoughts, overall it helped him settle his nerves a great deal, the walk itself probably took half an hour, but knowing where he was, Marco knew better.

And with a soft sigh, Marco called out:

"Omni! I'm good now, thanks." Marco called out.

And then, Omni's huge form rose in front of Marco, smiling fondly at the human.

"Well, I'm glad you're alright. And apologies for the Rift." He said.

"No problem, I know you can't control those" Marco replied, waving off the concern.

"Heh, yeah. Well anyway, your friends are waiting for you here." He said, much to Marco's surprise.

"Don't worry they're somewhere safe." Omni added when Marco's face paled at his words.

And with a snap of Omni's finger, Marco found himself at the end of a long hallway that was filled with monitors that were once showing something before fizzing into static, then it play something that at first made Marco frown, then... He smiled.

"Heh... This memory huh?" He said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Star, Janna, Jackie and Kelly found themselves in a weird dimension.

Which was saying a lot given what they've already experienced.

There seemed to be clocks melting on the grounds, and clocks floating in the sky, and for some reason a bathtub was sticking halfway out of the ground a little ways to the side of them.

But before they could voice their thoughts, and questions as to where they were, a certain magical princess filled them in.

"This is Father Time's dimension!" Star exclaimed.

And with that Star explained.

"And yeah, after that time was fixed and Marco wasn't late for the quiz!" Star finished.

"Damn..." Janna said, compiling all their thoughts in one word.

"Yeah... Damn." Jackie agreed.

And Kelly simply giggled.

"Anyway, where's Marco?" Star said, looking around them in worry with her finger on her lips.

"I can answer that princess." A booming voice said.

And looking up the girls saw a giant skull with swords fashioned into makeshift horns atop it's head, floating in the void of space.

"Omni?" Star inquired.

"Yes, hello princess." Omni said cheerily.

"Sorry about this, but a rift opened up and pulled you in, I'll fix this though don't worry." Omni added.

"And who is this Star?" Jackie asked.

"Oh, he's Omni, he helped me with math once." Star said, further confusing her friends.

"Anyway, let me place you girls somewhere (relatively) safe for the time being, while I look for the boy." He said picking them up and chuckling at his little wordplay.

And just like that the world seemed to flip for a moment, and then Omni let them down, only this time they were in a completely different place, it was a hallway whose walls were absolutely filled with monitors that flickered with events from the past, present, and presumably the future.

As the girls looked up they saw a roof where Omni's giant hand once was.

"Ok, that was weird..." Jackie said, and just as she said that long cable with an eyeball attached to it descended from... Somewhere, and it looked at Star, as it did, the monitors all flickered onto a scene of little Star bouncing up and down as she clapped and giggled while a royal guard showed her how to snap a neck.

"Awwww... I was soooooooo cyyyyuute!" Star exclaimed.

"I wish I saw this the last time me and Marco were here." She added, however at the mention of Marco's name the eye snapped towards Janna and Jackie, this time the monitors showed Echo Creek park where little Janna and little Jackie were a sprawled mess on the grass giggling and laughing at each other, they both had helmets on and their skateboards were a little ways away from them.

And just then a small slightly squeaky voice called out to them.

And immediately little Janna and little Jackie's faces lit up, a faint blush on both their cheeks. Only for that happy expression to give way to confusion when a figure's shadow stalked up from behind them.

And then the monitors fizzled out, the eye having been shoved away by Jackie.

"S-sorry, bad memory..." Jackie said, looking down at the ground, all the while Janna was looking at Jackie with narrowed eyes and a small scowl.

However, at the mention of 'bad memory' the eye had snapped towards Kelly.

This time the monitors showed them something they felt they shouldn't have seen.

On the screen was a wooden caravan driven by four horses, and a band of five adventurers were making their way across a barren canyon, red and brown rock formations jutting out of the ground around them.

Three of the adventurers were covered in full plate armor, despite the heat, covering their entire appearance behind the metal, two of them were tall bordering around six feet, one of them was noticeably shorter and stockier, a dwarf.

The other two adventurers were more sensibly, albeit eccentrically, dressed.

They both wore some semblance of brown studded leather armor, one of them had a long fluffy red scarf wrapped around her neck, her dark colored hair which was considerably fluffier than the scarf was tied in a loose ponytail and reached her lower back. And the other one had scale mail on his shoulder and down his arm ending just above the elbow and leaving the lower parts of his arm exposed, protected only by leather bracers, his curly aquamarine hair was fluttering with the wind.

They were Kelly's parents.

And Kelly, the adorable little munchkin, was riding one of the horses, even being just six years old her large aquamarine hair was already long enough to cover her entirely.

She was laughing out loud, her voice, although soft was echoing around the canyon lifting the spirits of the adventuring band around her, especially her parents.

And then the caravan exploded, sending splinters flying everywhere as the flames roared in the caravan's remains, the coachman and who or whatever was inside the caravan didn't survive. The adventurers around it were knocked away, as was Kelly.

From where the caravan once stood was a cackling blue portal, spitting out arcs of arcane energy, and from it out floated some... Thing, looking like a huge ball of sickly green muscle, like some evil demented meatball, atop the being were seven long finger like stalks, and on these stalks were eyes, each glowing a different character color. But that wasn't all, in its front was another much bigger eye, and right bellow that was a massive maw filled with rows, upon rows of jagged teeth, spittle dripping down the side of its mouth as a malicious, evil sound emanated from its mouth. It was laughing.

They were facing a beholder.

Then, the screens fizzled out, then it showed a series of images, each more horrifying than the last.

Static.

They attacked, but none of their attacks hit, and those that did didn't do much.

Static.

The beholder had petrified one of the armored men, right before firing a swirling beam of black eldritch energy from one of its many eyes straight through the petrified man's chest, killing him instantly.

Static.

The other armored man was simply disintegrated into nothingness.

Static.

The dwarf was chewed up and spat back out. Dead.

Static.

Kelly's dad blocked a beam from one of its eyes as he shoved his wife out of the way, the beam cut through his sword and into his chest. Blasting straight through his heart. Killing him.

Static.

The entire place was decimated, like a bomb had gone off, in the center was Kelly's mother, her face a mask of despair and pure, unbridled rage. Red veins of power spread throughout her body, though only the ones on her face were visible, and on her back were two fiery wings billowing outwards.

Static.

The beholder was on deaths door, half its eye stalks were burned off, black blood was dripping from its open maw and the various wounds along its circular body.

And Kelly's mom lay in front of it.

Dead.

Static.

The beholder turned.

It's malicious grin growing ever larger as it approached a small shivering, whimpering figure.

"Hah...Hah...Haaaaaah...Haha...Hahaha.. . HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" it cackled, black blood and spittle spewing from its mouth.

"Child... Come forth. Accept your fate." It said. It's voice low and soft, almost merciful.

Then the feed cut to black.

Kelly was in tears.

The other were speechless.

Not a second passed and they were in a group hug.

"Kelly..."

"I don't know what to say but.."

"We're here for..."

They all said at once, their words jumbling into an incoherent mess of support and care for their friend, enticing a small, sad laugh from the bushy haired teen.

"Its alright guys... And, really, thank you but... Things got better." She said quietly.

And before she could explain the monitors started up again.

Continuing from the same scene they left off of.

Star was all ready to blast the eye into pieces, Kelly was hurt enough.

Only to find that it wasn't in sight. It was gone.

They wanted to pry Kelly away, but were instead surprised to see that she... She was smiling?

"Look... It going to get better." She said softly.

And they watched.

The beholder was floating closer to Kelly's small form now.

It's massive eye trained on the small shaking figure.

Then out of nowhere a sword flew out and sunk into its side, prompting it to turn around...

Only to have the sword explode at its side.

The girls watched on in awe as a tall cloaked figure, their features hidden behind a long black cloak and a red hood, dashed for the unholy entity.

Throwing a punch into its massive eye, which simply bounced off the sensitive membrane.

Then it punched again and it even kicked the thing. But the blows dealt practically no damage.

Having enough of this, the beholder began charging up arcane energy in its eye.

Then the cloaked figure gripped the massive eye with both hands, and with a mighty roar ripped out half of the massive eyeball, while simultaneously tossing the beholder away, saving him from being splashed by the black blood.

Not giving it a chance to recover, he took the massive greatsword from his back launched himself at it.

And with one swing he cleaved the aberration in half.

Ending the nightmare.

With that, he flicked the blood away from his sword, and produced a crystal orb from within his hooded cloak, and brought it near his face, then as if he was about to shatter it he brought it up above his head and... He stopped.

He turned around and saw little Kelly clinging onto his leg, tears streaming down her face, and fear etched unto her features.

The figure immediately stuffed the orb back into his cloak, and knelt in front of little Kelly, placing his hand on top of her head, gently ruffling her hair.

He said something to her, and she shook her head and looked at the bodies around them.

The figure froze, then he stood up, looked around and walked to one of the bodies, picked something up and walked to another one, knelt, and picked something up again, then he made his way back to Kelly.

He knelt in from of her and began saying something, but the monitors had no sound.

And before they could ask what he was saying, Kelly began speaking:

"I'm sorry, but your parents are gone. They won't be coming back..."

She paused.

Little Kelly began crying, then she was embraced by the figure, making the grown up Kelly watching this blush.

Then she started talking again.

"They may not be here anymore... And I may not have known them... But I know they would have wanted you to live on, to be strong, to be happy. To live."

"I know I can't do much for you, but I can give you these." Kelly said, giving voice to the hooded figure, while she clenched the necklace under her shirt.

"These are your parents' right? Heh... You have your father's hair, I just know he'd proud of you, you're being so strong right now." Kelly said.

Then in a much softer and quieter voice she said.

"But I'm not doing anything Mister..." She said, tears halted as she looked at the trinkets in her hand.

"But you are. You're surviving. You're living. You're doing your parents proud." Kelly said in her normal voice.

"Thank you... Uh..."

"My name's..."

"Ark?"

"Yeah... Ark, yeah, sure why not."

And with that the screen fizzled out.

Three pairs of eyes were looking at Kelly now, and before they could ask, she said.

"He saved me that day. Took me to the next town where my aunt was."

"And on the way there, he taught me so much. How to fight, how fish, how light a campfire, how to cook, told me stories, held me til I slept, protected me. I owe him my life... I owe him more than my life actually." She said.

"He's my hero." She added quietly to herself.

Then there monitors flashed to life again.

This time showing a slideshow of images of what Kelly just said and so much more.

Ark was carrying her on his back as he walked, him making her laugh again and again, teaching her stuff, combining her hair with his hand, patting her head, holding her hand while they walked, carrying her as they ran away from a massive bear...

Then the last thing shown was them on the outskirts of a town, little Kelly was excited but something was off about Ark...

He seemed woozy.

Almost as if he was physically drained.

Then, very abruptly he dropped to his knees and coughed up blood, startling Kelly, who tried to help him, but with an agonized scream he got dragged right into a portal and not long after, a horse deposited Kelly's aunt Elizabeth beside her.

And with that the monitors fizzled out.

"...That was the last I've seen of him." Kelly said, a tear running down her face.

"Wow... Kelly. That's just... Wow." Star said, completely at a lost for words.

"Yeah... That's a lot of baggage there." Janna added.

"Hey.. We're here for you okay? And so is Marco." Jackie said.

"Speaking of which wher..." Janna began.

Then they heard feet shuffling and on the far side of the hallway, it was Marco he was running his hand across the various screens, muttering to himself, and didn't seem to notice the girls staring at him.

And right before Star shouted at him, a few words he was mumbling reached Kelly's ears:

"What have you been up to since then gumdrop?" Marco said quietly, but to Kelly it was as if he screamed it at her, and then she frozen, eyes glued on the teen.

"Marco!" Star yelled, tackling him into a hug before he could even look at her.

"Hey Star." Marco said with a chuckle, a small smile on his face as Janna and Jackie helped him and Star up.

"Well, seems we're all here, how about we go back n... Kelly? What's wrong?" Marco asked, having just noticed Kelly staring at him.

"It's you..." Kelly said softly, and even as she said it, she doubted that it could be true, it was impossible!

Ark saved her when she was a kid, and Marco was the same age as her! It'd be impossible for Marco to be him.

Couldn't it?

"Is... Is it really you?" Kelly asked, looking at Marco as if it was the first time she saw him.

"Uh... Kelly? What are you talking about?" Marco asked.

"No... Not Kelly. You called me a other name." She said, much to Marco's confusion, the other girls simply looked on in silence.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about Kelly, are you okay?" Marco asked.

"No! I'm not Kelly to you!" Kelly yelled out suddenly, startling Marco.

"Whu... Kelly, what are y-" Marco began, but as soon as he said "Kelly" again, a tear fell down her face, then another, and another.

And right before another one could fall Marco rushed up to her and wrapped her in hug.

"Hey, hey, it's ok, tell me what's wrong okay?" Marco said softly, running his hand up and down Kelly's back.

"Please... Say it... I've waited so long to hear you say it again... Please, Ark, say it..." She sobbed into Marco's shoulder.

And as soon as she said that name Marco froze.

It can't be... That's impossible, but then again Marco's been through much weirded things.

Then he took a closer look at Kelly's hair, and tightened his hug ever so slightly, and ran his fingers through Kelly's hair like he did so long ago when he was older and when Kelly was younger.

"Gumdrop?" Marco said quietly.

And as he said that Kelly squeezed him tighter and let out a shaky laugh.

"Y-yeah, it's me Ark... It's me." She said, a wide smile plastered across her face.

"Wow... That's uh... Wow..." Marco began.

"I don't... I don't know what to say gumdrop." Marco said..

This was definitely one of the weirder things he's been through.

"I don't either... This is just so weird.. But it's you... It's always been you!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Yeah... I guess so. I'm... Yeah. But I gotta say... I'm proud of you Kelly." Marco said, surprising Kelly enough to make her let go and look at him.

"Huh?" She said.

"I said I'm proud of you gumdrop. You grew up to be an amazing girl and an awesome adventurer! You did your parents proud, I know I am." Marco said with a wide grin.

Kelly's only response was a subdued nod and a small smile as she tired to hide her blush.

"You okay gumdrop?" Marco asked.

"Ye...yeah, thanks Marco... For everything." She said quietly.

"... You're welcome gumdrop. Anyway let's get out of here, this place is weird..." Marco began.

"But not as weird as that dimension of cats with human faces!" Marco and Star both finished at the same time, with the later giggling cutely, making Janna and Jackie snap out of their stupor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell just happened!?" Grog demanded, staring at the place where the rift was.

After the Goliath's immediate confusion passed, it was very quickly replaced by anger and frustration.

Something had taken his comrades away, of course he wasn't happy.

"What in the hell was that!" He bellowed, glaring at the magic users, behind him.

Fredrik and Elizabeth exchanged a look while Wilhaim just shrugged.

"Ugh..." Fredrik began.

And out of nowhere a swirling blue portal opened up, from which Marco and the girls stepped out.

"Okay, so first things first, we gotta go fin-" Marco began, but he and the girls were immediately swept into another bone crushing from their Goliath friend.

"Gh... Nice to see you too Grog." Marco said when he was able to breathe again.

"What happened? Where'd you go?" Grog asked.

"Long story Grog." Marco said with a sigh, which confused the others there.

"Long story? You guys were gone for about a minute." Wilhaim said, his head titled to the side.

"A minute? We were gone for about thirty minutes." Jackie said.

"What? Weren't we gone for almost an hour?" Marco asked, his arms crossed.

"... Okay what?" Fredrik asked, confused.

"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff." Marco exasperatedly said with a tired sigh, he'd been through way too much time altering adventures to last a lifetime..

"Right... I think we all could use a drink right about now." Grog said, however an early piercing yell from Elizabeth made them all turn their heads.

It seems Elizabeth had singled out Kelly when they came out of the portal, and whatever they were talking about seemed to have distressed her.

" What... " Elizabeth sad.

"Like I said auntie, Marco is A..." Kelly began.

"No no, I've heard you the first time sweetie... But... WHAT!?" Elizabeth all but yelled.

"Uh... What's the matter dear?" Fredrik asked.

"Well get this... He... Is Ark." Elizabeth said, pointing towards Marco.

"...What?" Fredrik said, confusion and disbelief written on his face.

"Exactly what I said!" Elizabeth said, throwing her arms up.

"Marco dear boy... Is... Is this true?" Fredrik asked, looking at Marco with a confused look that was almost comical.

"Ugh... Yeah, saved gumdrop on one of my jobs for Omni when I was on the trial. I'm guessing it was a time Rift that I fixed then..." Marco said with a small frown, as he remembered the incident.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2 will be posted in a while, I accidentally deleted it and I have to start over again. I'll delete this when I finish and upload part 2and I... Have some things to say there. See you (hopefully) soon.

And as a note, I'll be preemptively changing the rating to M but the "M chapter" is still a ways off from being finished.