SerGate

(Work Title still in progress)

You were cast in an empty shell to die before your time. You, my beautiful guest, did the impossible. You devoured the sun (it tasted like pain). Your bloody victory didn't come without a price. You are left wounded by a god that no longer was. You did what you must to save those you held dear, but now exhaustion and apathy have settled. You are too tired to care, and the world is too bright for you. It was too bad you ate the god of dreams.

A slender bug drags itself forward.

It was tall and had a thin black body. A tattered brown collar hung around its neck, and a white porcelain face like a crescent moon. Two big horns curved inwards, decorated with two smaller ones.

Slowly, the bug drags itself forward. A rusted nail used as a walking stick is the only thing keeping it from eating the dirt. Its abyss eyes stare at nothing. Droplets of void leave behind a clear path to walk on.

Its whole body sagged in relief when a gentle pale glow emerged from the end of the tunnel it was going into. It would have run to it if its body could have handled it.

But its knee joint was too loose and couldn't hold its weight. Its carracas was cracked and trickling that deep blackness. Its porcelain face bore cracks, and its once regal horns had missing pieces.

Still, it limped forward.

I have done it. It mind chanted. I did it. I killed the light and devoured the sun.

But now was the beginning of the tricky part: how to stay alive after it all? How to survive to enjoy what you sacrificed everything that you were ready to die for?

I did it for them. A restless soul blessed with an empty shell. To rage in the afterlife and win. But now all that rage was gone, and the shell that could handle it was too injured to do it again.

It fells.

It had reached the spring, and it fell into the hot spring. It's water getting in the cracks and wounds. It sloshes around its head. All the spiracles along its side close upon contact with the healing water.

It slowly lifted itself, sitting in the spring. Sitting in a proper sitting position turned out to be a problem when its leg wouldn't bend to its own will. In the end, it didn't have the energy to deal with it and just set its chin on the corner of the spring.

Clank. It pulled the nail on the corner of the spring and used it as a lean on its large porcelain head.

Despite not actually being capable of dreaming, it slowly drifted off.

Nail as a pillow. Its body is hidden under the gentle pale water. The ragged collar floating around its neck.

Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

The day had begun normally. As normal, it could when the kingdom was on the brink of collapsing under the infection. The desperate plan to save it is ready to be launched.

The Pale place had another morning of preparation.

Couriers run in and out from the palace delivering news from the dreamers, economy, crime rates, maintenance, mining, hachlings, and death... of infection.

The retainers of the palace puttered around their charges. Guards patrolled in pairs. Their armor clicked with the nails resting on their sides. Butlers, cleaners, and gardeners fought to keep the palace pale and pristine.

Cooks cleaned the remains of breakfast and began to prepare lunch.

A statue was being built in the courtyard. A statue made of a tall bug with a porcelain head. It was the statue of Hollowknight, the PaleKing's Pure vessel. The one to save them all from the dreaded infection.

The knight in question was in training. One of the great knights, Ogrim, was exchanging nail blows with it. On one of the palace's windows, a glowing god, Pale King, surveyed over the training session. He had received the morning report on the progression of the infection.

It was bad. The infection had entered the Mantis village. Not that they would admit themselves. It was one of the couriers who spotted an infected border guard in their hunting grounds.

The infection had arrived in Hallownest, also. Last night, a bug in the tram had attacked another. He had been swithly slain by Hegemol in guarding duty.

The Hallownest guard had silenced all the witnesses to cease the panic, but it didn't change anything.

Paleking would need to call upon the dreamers to try and put an end to the infection. He hoped it could do it, that the vessel would hold.

All the lights went out.

Pale king's eyes widened when his light was snuffed, when Hallownest's lanterns went out, when his roots' glow was dimmed.

It was dark for a moment. Only a moment. No one managed to panic, no one managed to do anything about the dark. Not him, not anyone.

The light flicked back on, but not the same. The light was dim and had a warm tint, unlike his pale light.

The sparring in the yard had ceased. The bug and the vessel looked up. They looked at Paleking's window. Maybe expecting him to be the one who cast the spell that did this.

But it wasn't he who did it.

The ripple of soul that had conquered his kindom for a moment wasn't his.

His wings flared. A restless anger, possibly mistaken as fear, brewed inside him. This must have been another of her foils. An attempt to stop me before the sealing could take place.

He snapped his claws.

"Your majesty?" One of his retainers answered his call with a deep bow.

"Send messages for the dreamers. The sealing should be completed as quickly as possible. Call my great nights and Lurien. I want the reason for this blackout to be found."

"Yes, my king. Right away, your Paleness." The bug bows multiple times before scurrying off, leaving Paleking again alone in his study.

The pure vessel had received its call, and it was gliding towards the castle to join its king's side.

A scream.

A shriek from the abyss pierced the air.

It rattled the windows and broke them. It echoed in the halls, making bugs drop down and hold their head as it pressed upon their chitins. The palace shook and the light flickered.

The noise wormed in his head continued to ring there in a ballad of suffering. Of bloody victory. Palekings' claws dug into the ornamental windowsill.

Then silence.

It all ended, and the lights returned to normal. At least close to it.

"MY KING!" Isma barged in. "Hollow Knight has collapsed!"

Circus horses are amazing. Trained and beautiful. A greedy you desires to pet one. Not really expecting a ride of a lifetime. You end up in Hallownest. Ravaged by years of infection. You and the horse attempt to find a way out, even if you think this is all just a really long nightmare or the final stage of insanity.

You meet a strange man. He is small.

A demon arrives in the town along with his troupe. You won't let them take your little man.

Turns out a horse and a master of fire (a human) isn't a common sight in collapsing kindoms.

Be aware of the fate of a horse thief. Be aware of the curse that is cast on those who steal from Grim.

One day, I decided to go see the circus in town. The circus has come here every year since forever, and its arrival marks the beginning of the harvest-end festival and the start of the Halloween season.

It is a traditional practice in this town. We dress like in old times. Lik med-evial times. Maidens, knights, and all those things involved with it. Fantasy-wise, I mean.

The red parade would officiate the whole thing. Horse-drawn wagons would go through the town, delighting the tourists and locals alike.

A row of three horses marches by their feet, lifting high in a Spanish walk. Their riders play their instruments, filling the air with a beat that was akin to a heart's.

The horses were what I was looking forward to each year. Not the costumes, the act, nor the dances.

The circus horses were beautiful things. Dark grey body with black feet, face, and mane. They were built lightly and had brown, almost amber eyes that glowed in the red lanterns of the circus.

Of course, you often wouldn't see the full beauty of them, for they were draped like a knight's steeds and hidden under the red fabric. I follow them go. Today would be the year I would get to go to the circus.

No parents or duties to hold me back.

The final day of the festival was Sunday. It was the day when the circus would keep its shows.

And it was amazing. It was like a masquerade ball, and Red Bull had a child. Acrobats and tricks, the stunts and the dances. The horses and the music. I was gripping the safety rail the whole time; it felt like my heart was trying to break out of my chest for the whole time.

By halftime, my hands were shaking, and I was in desperate need of a calming cigarette. So I wandered into the darkness of the eve, and what do you know, I found a rope pen full of circus horses.

I couldn't resist.

I entered the pen. There are seven horses in the pen. One was tacked up. It looks me up and down. Its ears flicer. Before slowly bending its front leg and kneeling down.

The other horses watch with keen eyes that seem to glow in the dark. Waiting for me to make my choice.

It must have been a divine trap for foolish old me, who mounted the Horna horse. The moment I was comfortably seated on it, it rose back to its feet and bolted.

The other horses screamed. Their cackling neins escort me into my destiny and early demise.

It ran through the darkness, me too afraid to let go. It leaped over rocks, fences, and roads. The voices of the people faded, the lights dimmed, the wind whipped my hair, the drums of the circus were in my head, beating along my heart, and it leaped into the air.

Over a still lake hangs a blood red moon. It has drawn its image on the lake's surface.

The horse dives into it.

I woke up with a startle and sprang to my feet. Or tried to... My feet felt weird, and I collapsed immediately. I breathe hard. As Isuport me by the elbows, my forehead against the cold ground.

I breathe for a long time. Exploring my lungs and how they were not, in fact, filled with water.

I swear I did drown. The water of the lake was deep and cold. In my dress, there was no way I would ever have gotten out of it.

But here I was. Dry as a bone and very much alive.

Something nudged me on the side. I slowly roll on my back. Over me looms a horse-creature. I blink slowly and rub my eyes to make sure I am seeing things for real.

The horse blows a hot breath over me. It smells a little like jet fuel. I reach out slowly. My hands hesitatingly placed on its chub. It was hot to the touch. Like a porcelain teapot. Unnatural for a horse.

Not that it looked like one anymore.

Its marvar curved ears had solved to its head. Forever bend back like it was angry... Or in pain.

Its head was white. Its eyes smoldered. In the dark, drilled holes in the horse-like mask, there was something lit at the bottom of them. It was a miracle that the tack was still on it.

It blew again. Letting out a long sigh. Hot air blew over my face. Normal horses breathe through their nose. This one breathed through its mouth. A solid jawbone seemed to fit into the white mask. It has no tongue.

I tremble as it uses the bridle to pull me up.

The horse didn't seem to mind.

It was taller than I thought, too. Its legs are unnaturally long and split in two like the hooves of Unicron.

It was still draped on the red cloth. The saddle was in place. The reins are around the saddle horn. It got saddlebags... Those I hadn't noticed in the first time.

The horse snorted impatiently and stomped its front hoof demandly. I follow the moment. The horse was covered in shell-like a rolly polly along its back and missing its mane. It no longer had a tail.

It was actually scary. No ears, no tail, and black pits for eyes, no soft lips. It was impossible to tell the mood of it now. I reach to pet it along its neck.

What in the name of Lufthansa is this?!

I look at my hands in terror. My black leather gloves had sunk into my skin. I look down. The boots had come to my feet. And the masquerade mask... The masquerade mask had grown horns. I can feel them.

My hands tremble, and my heart is in my throat. A cripling terror conquers my mind and threatens to bring me to my knees.

The horse nuges me again. I lower my hands from my face. (Or what's left of it.)

Slowly, the horse kneels again. Offering me once again a ride.

I blink. This is insane. I must be insane.

"Heh."

"Hehehhehehehheheheheheeh."

"HAHHAHAHAHAHAHH!"

Nothing matters, I guess. I drowned in the lake, and now I am a half mind.

I haul myself onto the saddle. The horse rises, and I adjust the reins. Its short brheats press against my legs as its chest expands and contracts.

I loosen the reins by pushing my hands forward to the sides of its wither, I lean my upper body forward slightly, and move my weight to the stirrups to stay in sync with the horse.

It rears up.

Blews a fiery smoke, and its screams echo in the cave. The mist that previously closed in seems weaker. Weak enough for the horse to leap into.

Tak tak tak tak tak tak tak. We gallop into the mist.

SUMMARY

Aemond goes to claim Vhagar as his dragon. However, Vhagar isn't alone. Aemond sees Cannibal the Wild Dragon for the first time. Cannibal is bored and hungry. Aemond is in danger. Before ending in the Cannibal's stomach, he convinces the old dragon to tell him a tale. A tale that the dragon has been making for hundreds of years. One night isn't enough for the story to end.

Part 1

Aemond stumbled forward in the dark. The ground of Driftmark was uneven and rocky, and near impossible to stay on foot without the light. But Aemond didn't dare to light one or take a torch with him. He would be seen if he did so.

If he was seen, then the guards would drag him back inside and his queen mother would hear about it. Aemond would have to go at least one moon without lemon cake.

It was even more important that he wasn't seen by members of his house for what he was about to do would get the rage of his uncle upon him.

A loud grumble made Aemond stop on his track and his stomach to jump into his throat.

Vhagar was awake. He hadn't even reached her and now she was ready to spit fire upon him. But Aemond didn't run away. To die in his quest of dragon was far better than to live a day more in Kingslanding without one.

He took a deep breath and take a step after step forward. Forsing his limbs to move and head stay hight. He needed to be brave, he needed to stay focused. Claiming a dragon like Vhagar was his mission and if he didn't succeed he would still die.

Soon the rocks under his feet turned into fine sand. Vhagar was still grumbling her. The low vibrations settling in his bones and making his breathing hard.

The smell of dragon got stronger and stronger until it almost got overwhelming. Now Aemond could make up Vhagar's sileueth against the clouded sky.

He expected her to look at him. To measure with him with those old eyes. To nestle fire under her breath. Ready to end him for disrupting her sleep. But that didn't happen.

Vhagar was not looking at Aemond. She was looking at the hill that raised not too far away. Aemond followed her gaze a pit opening in his stomach. What if Rhaena had the same idea and Vhagar was greeting her instead of him?!

But to his relief and horror against the clouds lit by the moon was not sileueth of a girl.

A dark mass sat behind the dune. Despite the dune being most likely the largest in the beach of Driftmark it wasn't enough to hide it. Whatever it was crouched like a cat behind the dune.

Its jagged edges distorted its frame. Aemond couldn't believe what kind of stranger's creature could have crawled in to the beach.

But then Vhagar opened her mouth the fire making her head look like ornamental torch. And the light lit the creature behind the dune. Or at least its eyes.

Two giant greenish orbs floated in the mass. Like a frog the creature croaked. Almost sounding amused.

Vhagar snarled. Propping her giant body to her wings sending bit of sand over Aemond.

The mass huffed and lifted its head. The head which was supporter on a long neck. Aemond blinked. Whit a mane of spikes. Like a dragon.

Aemond stared at the dragon. No dragon which he knew of had green eyes. No dragon he knew to be alive was so dark and large as this one. Could be that the legendary dragon of his father Balerion had cheated stranger and came back? For him.

Heart fighting in his ribcage he switched his direction. He was walking towards the Balerion reborn. Vhagar's growls and hisses were soon left behind as he advanced.

As he got in the foot of the dune the black dread. Stepped back of the dune. his massive paws making audial thumbs as he walked away. Aemond could hear wingbeats. It was getting ready to fly away.

Aemond stumbled up the hill falling multiple time. "Rȳbagon, Balerion! Rȳbagon!" he ordered Balerion.

There footsteps stopped. Aemond stumbled to the dune top and bellowed "Rȳbagon! Obey me!"

The dragon laughed. It laughed! Croaking like toad it laughed. Aemond's eyes widened and he tried to run but the sand under his feet gave away and he slid down the dune. Sliding in the side of the strange dragon.

It twisted its head and laughed towering over him. It got a pike like head. Whit goat horns and small spikes decorating the top of its nose. It got donkey-like ears that were bent back along its goat horns. It had a body of a dog. It was walking in all four legs and it wings were like slapped into its back. Unnaturally.

It reminded Aemond of the pink dread, but just in monstructive form. If this was one of Lucerys' and Jacarys' pranks they had out done it this time.

It huge green eyes were on him and sparks of fire was rising from its giant maw. There was scars along it. Old scars like Vhagar did. But these were not scars of scorpions these were claw marks of other dragons.

This dragon had fought other dragons. It had devoured them. It was the kinkiller, The Cannibal.

SUMMARY

You are Gwen Stacy Earth-1610.

"In every other universe, Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man. And in every other universe, it doesn't end well." If one universe has two Gwens and the other has already gone through the unfortunate event of Spider-Man, does that automatically make the other Gwen have a great, safe life?

No.

A Gwen Stacy is a force of nature without a Spider-Man or with. This is a story of someone who simply cannot sit still. The universe knows this. As the cannon goes. Every Spider-Man variant has its very own Prowler and its very own Gwen Stacy. Spider-Verse has a funny way of working.

Chapter 1 Intro

Earth-1610 Gwen Stacy was not the first "Gwen Stacy" of her world; that honor went to her dead aunt, killed by the Green Goblin Gwen Senior Stacy.

My feet dragged after me as I was walked through the city. More precisely, the city's central graveyard. My feet dragged, and my heart was squeezed.

Soon, my mother halted, and her grip on my hand slackened. My hands fell to my side and started to fiddle with the sleeves of my jacket. The air was sticky. From the humidity or pollution. I didn't know.

I wanted to hide in my mother's skirt, but I was too big for that. I needed to be strong. I am strong. I squared my shoulders and stood tall, heels together and chin up.

I am strong.

But all the strength didn't matter when the grave had your name on it.

"Here rests a restless soul, Gwendelyn "Gwen" Stacy, loved daughter and kind sister."

I am Gwen Stacy. That grave could as well be mine. Just slap "Times two" On it and fini, you won't need to buy another headstone.

Hands landed on my shoulders, and I flinched.

From the corner of my eye, I saw my father. George Stacy. His eyes were downcast and dark. This might be the closest I'll ever see my father cry.

"She was a good one." He stated.

We watch as my mother replaces the wilted flowers with new ones, from roses to sunflowers. I would have liked that. I don't like roses, they are only beautiful with thorns, but sunflowers... That I would like.

We watched over the grave for a while. My father's grip tightened for a moment. I glance up at him, turning my whole head to look at him. He is looking in the distance.

I look too.

Between the towering buildings around the graveyard, I could make out a red and blue dot swinging away.

Spider-man.

My father didn't like Spider-Man. Something to do with Aunt Gwen's death. I knew she died in the hands of another villain. Which one? I had never been told. I was never told exactly how she died. But I didn't get why he had to be so angry with Spider-Man. You cannot be on time to save everyone...

I breathe in and focus. I needed to stay strong. If not for myself, then to my family.

We stood there for long, silent moments. To remember Gwen Stacy, who had died on the same day, just years apart.

"Let's go, Gwendolyn. We are going to be late for your practice." My mother finally decides we've had enough and drags me back to the car. She tosses the wilted flowers into the bin by the gate.

"See ya, Dad. Go catch some bad guys!" I wave at my father as our paths separate. Me and mother to the family car, and father to his police cruiser.

"I'll catch all of them for you!" George Stacy promised.

kkkkkkk

So, Gwen Junior Stacy was a restless child.

kkkkkkkk

My legs swung, and the landscape changed. The pressure was building up. Performance is a sport. And I am great at it. I enjoyed the pressure, I enjoyed releasing it.

Sitting in a car under the scrutiny of my mother was not a freedom I needed or wanted.

"Gewndolyn." Mother warns. Her grey eyes stared into my soul through the rear-view mirror.

My legs stop their swinging. I sit still and make eye contact with her.

We stop by red lights, and the car behind us honks. I grit my teeth. The light is red, there is nowhere to go! My mother scoffs, clearly thinking the same.

A group of other kids walked by. Punks of some sort by the looks of it. Leather west with duts and paint, ripped pants, combat boots, bold colors, and even bolder hairstyle. What would I give to dye my hair like that?

The closest to the car. The one carrying an electric guitar stops and looks at me. He gives me a crooked grin and a mock salute. A smile tugs the corners of my lips, but I keep my hands on my knees.

Mother was watching.

The lights turn green and the car moves again. The gang was left to go about their day. I breathe out and lean back into the car seat.

"Were they your friends? From the band?"

"No, mom. I don't know them. I just liked his guitar." I try to fix the situation before she getts wrong ideas.

"Gwendolyn isn't drumming enough? You go to ballet, already on top of that. When are you going to study? You've got grades to keep up. You won't be able to keep up with school if you continue to pursue hobbies like that. Soon enough, you aren't going to keep up with school work and miss future opportunities."

"Mom," I tried to stop the lecture. "I am not interested in playing anything but drums. I am focused on school. I have already applied for an internship. Everything is going great, and I promise to tell you if I start feeling overwhelmed."

It works. The lecture stops for a moment. But after a few beats, like usual, my mother has to have the final word.

"Gwendolyn, you should be more careful who you associate with; your father is up for a raise. If you get involved with people like that, what is going to happen to him?! You must think about your family!" Mother ranted on even though I had said I did not know them.

I inhale and focus on keeping my legs from swinging and me not looking too "disrespectful".

Before long, we arrive at the ballet studio. At that point, my mother had managed to give "constructive feedback" on pretty much every non-school activity I do.

I tried to not get angry or boil over. I like to think my mother is just an overthinker. My father often says that of her and that she also only means the best for me.

"We are here." I chim.

My mother cuts her rant and looks around in disbelief. Like she hadn't even been aware she had driven and parked us here.

She blinks. "It seems that we are here. Go now and work hard. I'll go buy you some new uniforms for school. I should be in time to pick you up."

"No need for that, mom." I wave her off as I scoot out of the car. My feet land softly on the pavement, and I snatch my training bag right after. "I can walk home just fine; it'sn't even a long walk."

Mother doesn't look reasured, but she doesn't deny me. "Fine, but be home before dark, love you, Gwendolyn."

"Love you too, Mom." I close the car door right after me.

I wave at the car before turning around and pretty much flying up the stairs. Like a storm, I descended to the locker rooms. I do not exchange pleasantries with other trainees nor pay them any attention. I had a fight scheduled with my newest pair of pointe shoes. The powder blue ones I had fought to have for at least a year.

Why my mother wanted everything to be pastel pink, I didn't know.

I was so excited!

kkkkkkkk

She had that drive for greatness. She gave her parent run for their money. Literally, ballet isn't cheap, and a drum set doesn't build itself. But they were happy. A happy family of three.

kkkkkkk

"Mademoiselle Tempête!" Madame Ross called out.

I still in my steps and blink at her.

"You are like a storm in my studio, Miss Stacy," Madame Ross scolds before she adds, "de nouveau."

"Apologies, Madame Ross." I try to ignore the side eyes other students give me.

"Don't apologize, Miss Stacy. Do better." Madame Ross steps closer and taps her cane on my thigh. "You have the strength, the drive, the stamina, but what lets you down is your lack of self-control and patience. What use is it for you to be able to leap across the studio if that's the only perfect thing you can do? No, this ends before it begins. We are going to focus on training adagio from now on."

Madame Ross nodded to herself before motioning me to return to my place by the barre.

And in typical Madame Ross matter, all the dirty laundry is going to be aired in one session. Her hawk eyes zeroed in on the girl next to me.

She gulps and makes brief eye contact with me. Mercy on her poor poor soul.

And like I expected, at the end of the practice, there was no ass that wasn't chewed. Some days I wonder why I do this at all.

I kick rocks as I march forward. One of the girls from the ballet walks along with me. I don't remember her name. She had been coming to the practice for at least a year, so I am too embarrassed to ask for it now.

"Weren't you in that band too?" The girl suddenly began to almost spook me out of my skin.

"Y-yeah!" I explain with a little too much force, and I try to mask it with excitement for the band. "We are the Mary Janes!"

The girl blinks, and my smile is way too forced.

"That sounds exhausting." The girl looks at me weirdly.

"Exhausting?" I am no longer smiling.

"You do ballet, you never miss a practice, you are in a band. I know for a fact you won't miss a single outing with them. You are studying at Vision Academy. Your grades are good. You never seem to sit still." The girl goes on and on.

I let her walk in front of me. A feeling settles in the bottom of my stomach.

"Not to be rude or anything, BUT HOW IN THE NAME OF HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT!"

The girl looks over her shoulder. She doesn't look that impressed. "We have Mathematics, science, and philosophy together at Visions."

"Oh." I was left to wonder why life was so difficult.

I watch as the street lights snap on one by one. The evening had snuck on me again. I breathe out in frustration and dig my phone from my bag. My father had insisted that I would be with someone or at least call someone when it was dark.

My call was picked up on the second ring.

"Watsup, Gwendy?" Betty Brant's chiper voice asked.

Or what I think she asked. The bass was making it hard to make out what was being said. "Hi, Bet, just out from another torture session, could use some company."

"Say no more, girl! Wanna hang out? You won't believe what kinda place I have found!"

"I think I already know what kind of place you have found." I teased, adjusting the strap of my bag. "Now gimme all the details."

I jog through the streets, ignoring the burning in my calves and toes. The deepening shadows don't matter anymore. My heart flutters, and the anticipation roars in my ears.

The road described by Betty took me over the metro tracks and into an abandoned subway stop. My sneakers grunch when I make a sudden stop and crouch down in an alley. I had seen something in the corner of my eye, and as one of the duties to my peers, I needed to check the threat.

Police or not?

I tug my hoodie over my head. My muscles tremble. Aking for good chase and thrill. Slowly, I peer out in the open. Half expecting a patrol car to roll by.

Something did roll by, but it wasn't a car.

A spray paint can rolled to my feet. I contacted the sole softly.

I blink. It left a red smudge on the contact spot. I frown and kick the offending can away. There went my white sneakers. The next pair shall be black.

Clang! The can hits a wall and pivots from it out of the alleyway.

A figure chases after it. A small figure. A figure of another kid.

I rose from my crouching position as it was clear there was no cop to be worried about.

The kid catches the can and turns to look at me. He fliched so hard he looked like a cartoon character. Even his hood fell down in the middle of his half-meter jump.

We stared at each other like two idiots.

He looks me up and down, and I look him up and down.

He had pretty brown doe-like eyes and an afro. The rest of his face was covered with a half-mask respirator. He had a grey and red hoodie on.

"Hey." He greets with an awkward wave of the spray paint can. A smile tugs my lips. He was a little bit shorter than me.

"Hey." I step out of the alley.

He steps a half step back before clearly consciously stopping himself from taking more steps. "So. What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. What are you doing here?"

"I- I-I am just hanging out. You know."

"And making something?" I press my curiosity, taking the better of me.

"Yeah. I am just tagging away, Y'know." The boy chucled awkwardly and glaced away.

I follow his gaze and see quite a sizable. Something? Being started on the brick wall of the building next to us.

"Gwen!" Glory Grant calls out from a distance.

I stop my teasing and focus on my friends. I clap him on the shoulder and push past him. "Then I'll leave you to it."

"GWENDY!" Betty Brant launches to hug me, but as she embraces me, she whispers into my ear. "Who was that? Don't tell me you have a secret sweet heart?"

I scoff and push her off me. "It was not like that, I don't even know him, Bet."

"Are you sure? Not even from school? Not even one class together." Betty was still in my business even if I was now trying to walk her off before she goes and bullies the boy.

"Knock it off, Betty. You are seeing things only because you want to see them. You should drop those K-dramas, they are making you see things." Glory helps me drag her off. "Besides taking into account how white our school is, wouldn't you think someone like him would stand out?"

"Please, I need drama in my life, YOU need drama in your life! The Jordan-boy would be perfect for that!" Betty complains as we drag her towards the sound of the bass.

"Jordan? I thought you didn't know him?" I glance at Glory, raising my eyebrow at her in silent question. "Is she high?"

"No, the shoes!" Betty straightens things out and reminds me of something.

"Dang. The boy murdered my shoes!"

What a time I would have while trying to explain the bright red spray paint smudge on the white sole of my cyan blue sneakers. "My mother is going to kill me!"

kkkkkkkkk

Two.

One day, they were a family of two. You know... things do happen.

kkkkkkk

What I intended to be a short spin to see what Betty and Glory were up to led me coming home way after dark. Like way after dark.

I was planning to go to my room via my window and shelter down for the night in hopes that whatever lecture I was going to get would be lessened by the morning.

But when I finally got to my home street, I could only spot one car. It was my father's squad car. A car he rarely took home, for we only had one parking spot reserved for us.

I swallow. That car always meant something. Something bad. Whether it was early mornings leading to a very long and dangerous day, or late nights when he would bring his work home and drive my mother up the wall.

The lights were on. They were on in the kitchen. And I also could see a light on in the window next to it. In my room.

I straighten my back with a loud crack and square my shoulders. I would have to go head-on.

My muscles tremble after a whole day of abuse, but I still leap up the stairs. I take a focusing breath before I dare to dig the keys from my pocket and open the door.

"I'm home," I announce gently to not spook my father, half expecting my mother to attack from behind the corner.

Instead, I am met with an exhausted greeting from my father. "Hey, Gwen, how was your practice?"

I set my shoes in the shoe rack. Setting them so that the red bloch wasn't visible. I pad to the kitchen knowing that my father's work station would be there and he is seated on the chair closest to the coffee machine, "for efficiency," he would say.

"Dad, is everything alright?" I set my bag on the chair closest to the fridge and get myself some juice.

"Yes, yes." He assures me. His calloused hands rub over his raccoon eyes. "The dang spider just keeps drowning me in paperwork."

"I can see that," I admit, and eye the mountain paperwork in front of him. I move my bag to the floor and sit down.

"Tell me about the practice." My father tries again to redirect the conversation.

I frown. My father's mustache is unkept, and he still had his uniform on. wringled, and I could swear in the dim kitchen light, there was at least one coffee stain on it. My father looks bad...

"The practice was good. My new shoes were good. Although it didn't save me from being chewed out by mademasoil Ross."

"The blue ones. Good, you had wanted them for so long." Father agreed absently. His eyes roved the paper in front of him without truly understanding it.

"Dad?" I steeled myself. "The practice ended hours ago. I should have been home before dark."

"Dark?" He flinched before looking outside.

Our reflection was drawn on the dark window. There was no natural light to be seen, and the building across had only one light on in the window. My father shook his head like an old dog.

"Where were you?" He asked with more alertness. A slight worry in his voice.

"Whit Bet and Glory. We are planning for a small gig in the near future." I didn't tell him the whole truth. I love my father, but I want to do something my father's cop mind cannot comprehend.

"They are good girls." He nods. "I trust you to be smart enough not to get in trouble."

I give him a small smile. "Thanks, Dad."

"But next time, please send me a message before you go anywhere. There is something bigger going on in the underworld, and that Spider is not making it easy." He pats the pile of paperwork and fixes me with a stern look. "So don't do anything stupid or I'll ground you for the rest of your life."

"No, dad," I promise and sip my orange juice.

The lights flicker, and the world is black for a moment. Even the fridge lights go out. As does the light across the street. I breathe in and out. The lights go back on, and everything is back to normal.

The kitchen is silent, and the grandmother's clock dings to tell us we shouldn't be up to hear it. My eyes read little of the nearest report. Something about a scuffle between Spider-Man and some Prowler-guy over some electronics, and a car that got tossed in the East River during it.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Gwen?"

"Maybe you should be going to bed. I think the upper-ups would be very confused after receiving a report from Officer "State Georgia."

My father looks at me a little confused, and I tap the report in front of me. He snatches it and scrutinizes it over while groaning loudly.

I snicker and tiptoe to my room. The room with the door is open and the lights are on. I halt. On my bed are three new uniforms for the year. Why hadn't Mother woken up to instill the fear of god in both of us?

I step back to the hall and look to see my parents' bedroom door open wide. I pad closer and peek inside. There was no mother, and the bed was made. The closed doors were open, and my Mother's RIMOWA was gone.

"Dad? Where is Mom?"

kkkkkkkkk

Anyway, Gwen Stacy wasn't weak by any means. She would endure.

kkkkkkkk

To hear your own mother had taken off and gone on a "mental health vacation" without telling you or your dad was not something an original kid would want to hear.

But good for me, for I wasn't a normal kid.

I am a Drummer of Mary Janes.

I am Tempête of Mademoiselle Ross in ballet.

I am the Academic champion, or at least one of them, of Vision Academy.

I am the perfect daughter of the future chief of police.

I am Gwen Stacy, the living.

I would endure and I would survive and I would be doing so in style and grace.

I pack my bags. Mourning the fact that my drums couldn't come with me.

"Gwen?!" My Dad calls me.

"I AM COMING, DAD!" I curse his sudden impatience.

School wouldn't begin for a while, and as far as I knew, his work shouldn't begin until midday.

"GWEN!" I drop my phone, and it decides to be a bitch and slide under my bed.

"IN A MINUTE!" I dive after it.

I dig under my bed. My cheek pressed on the carpet. I held my breath as my laziness in cleaning my room became apparent. Dust was making my eyes sting. Now pretty much blind, I groped for my phone.

My fingers hit something, and I grabbed it. I sprang to my feet in victory and brandished my-

Box of hair dye? I don't remember buying this, and it was 100% father didn't know to buy this, and mother wouldn't want this in the house...

I stare at the lady on the cover with a pink mane of hair. She was smiling a mocking smile. I turned the box around to my chagrin; the box had taken a hit from something, and now the smiling lady looked like she was winking.

"Shegone, now is the time!" The lady was sending me truly evil telepathic messages.

"Don't mind if I do," I tell her and drop the dye box into my bag.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, GWEN!?" My father terrorized the neighbors from our front door. If they hadn't been awake before, at least now they were.

"NOTHING TO YOU!" I answered and dove down again to get my phone.

kkkkkkkkkkk

Great news. She was now a second-year student of Visions. The best school in the area. Brooklyn Visions Academy.

kkkkkkkkk

My legs swing as I watch the people moving through the street. Trying to make out who was a freshman and who I simply hadn't cared enough to identify as being in my year.

"Gwen, did I tell you about the Moraless?"

I blink and slowly look at my father. "No?"

"His son made it to the Visions Academy, too. A grazy smart boy, apparently. You should go and introduce yourself to him. Make a good impression and show him around." He nods to himself, way too happy about the plan he made for me.

"Okay..." I agreed slowly. "Do you happen to know what he looks like?.."

My father's mustache curved down, and he frowned. He didn't know what Son Moraless looked like.

"What about his name?"

The car was awkwardly silent, and two of us sitting on the front seat got the pleasure of hearing a 6-year-old kid making his best elk-noise imitation on the radio.

Followed by a really convincing Spider-Man imitation. The only problem is that I didn't ever recall the guy saying "Up and away!"

"I am sure you know him when you see him; he looks like his father." George Stacy dipped again in that weird well of Stacy confidence.

"Dad. I have never even met Officer Moraless." Now it was a fun game for me.

"Yes, you have!" He defends himself.

"When?!"

"I brought you to the station when the lizard toppled Queensboro Bridge. He was there then. I left you to him to be watched."

"Queensboro Bridge was destroyed before Spider-Man got his first sponsorship! The bridge has been destroyed at least 2 times after that."

"HE HAS SPONSORS? HE IS A CRIMINAL! A VIGILANTE!" My father's face turned into that box dye pink. Pink really suited him. It brought out his eyes.

I laughed. But my laugh is cut short when my dad pressed his foot to the brake and almost choked me with a seat belt.

"DAD?!" I complain and try to bend and pick up my phone, which had again flown from my hand.

"Don't 'Dad' me. A crazy kid wanted to taste the hood of a cop car."

"What kid?!" I look around only to not see any kids, but a delivery driver biking by, who was a very much grown-up person with an impressive beard.

"A fast kid." And our journey continues.

kkkkkkkkkkkk

Soon, the walls were too high and Gwen needed release.

kkkkkkkkkkk

Ahh, the lovely Vision Academy. The stupid white brick with way too many stairs in the middle of the city. The cradle of overachievers.

"Bye, Dad, love you. See you on the weekend!" I escape the car before he can start a last-minute session of advice for life.

"See you, Gwen! Make us proud."

I try not to wince as I wave him off.

"Gwen!" Glory calls me.

I leap up the stairs and hug her. Glory freezes for a moment before she hugs me back. I have to let go of her soon, for my bag is killing my shoulder.

"What are you doing here this early? Don't tell me your parents finally let you move to a dorm?" I tease, but the fact that she only had her school messenger bag wasn't courageous at all.

Glory shakes her head. "Still no. They say it's cheaper for me to commute to school and back every day. Besides, I think the smell of subway is starting to grow on me."

"That sucks. I could have finally gotten a dorm mate that wouldn't smell like a horse."

We make our way to the girls' dorm building. Waving occasional hellos to other kids from our year.

"Where is Bet?"

"She wanted to be here too, but this night that girl actually went to sleep, so I didn't have the heart to wake her up."

"Ooh, that insomniac bitch should be led be." I fully heartily agreed on.

"Look at that, Gwen." Glory points out the dorm list. "The horse girl isn't your roommate anymore!"

And look at that! I had no roommate! "That's a relief, I hope she and Gingersnap have been reunited."

A grin spread on my lips. "Hey, Glory. Want to help me smuggle my drums to my dorm?"

She scoffed. "And cover your ass when the inspections begin? You must be out of your mind."

"Excuse me." A small voice asked behind us.

We quickly move out of the way so the most likely freshman girl can see her dorm number.

"Sorry." Glory apologizes for the inconvenience, and I offer an apologetic wave and a smile.

Soon we get to my dorm of the year. A typical tomb. One window, one desk, a chair, and a bunk bed. The walls were institutional white.

"Tell me you have a poster or something with you. These walls make me have a Vietnam flashback." I ask Glory.

"Nuh uh. I don't idolize, nor do I draw. I have nothing for this nightmare and Gwen?" She raises me an eyebrow. "Flashbacks?"

I defend myself, "You haven't had to sit and wait for anyone for hours in a lobby of a police station just because your father happened to forget something at work."

"That doesn't sound so bad." At that point, I didn't know whether she was playing with me or not.

"Glory. Every single good Samaritan that saw me in that lobby thought I was a CPS case." I grabbed her by her shoulders. "A grazy cat lady wanted to foster me!"

Glory laughs, and I let her go.

We putter around some time. Putting sheets on the lower bunk bed and storing my things away.

"Do you want to take all of your books with you or just for today?" Glory rifles through my books.

"Take all. Let's have a study session after school in the library. A head start wouldn't be bad for us."

"Good idea. Do you think we can rope Betty into it, too?" I fiddle with the lock of my window.

Glory leans back in my chair and groans."If we surprise her, yes."

I finally get the window open and look outside. Car honks and people talking filled the air. The roof of the library was just a meter and a half under my window. This room was made for a special kind of people.

I would know just what I would use this advantage for.

"Can you call Bet and ask her to bring an extra set of sheets for the top bunk?"

"Gwen, you are enabling her. She cannot be your roommate. She is not in the list! If you we continue letting her do things like that, soon the only place she is going to find a roof is the underside of the bridge." Glory shakes her head and gets up from the chair.

"Gl,ory you cannot say that of her!" I gasp, but I could sense the joke hidden in it.

My phone vibrates. Glory had sent out the request into our group chat.

For now, everything was as it should be. Everything was just perfect. My rucksack still wasn't empty. There was something in it.

"Hey, Glory."

"Yes."

"We have some time till our first glass?"

"Yes? Wanna grab some breakfast?"

"No, I wanna dye my hair." I held out the box dye like it was the best thing since a slice of bread.

Glory didn't look impressed.

"Just the ends! Please!" I beg her.

"After school," Glory groans but relents. "At least you didn't offer that to Betty. She would color all your hair and your carpet after it."

"YES, GWENDY! LETS DYE YOUR HAIR!"

We both jumped up as Betty had materialized out of thin air. To be fair, we hadn't closed the dorm door, so her spooking us was deserved...

For now, all was like it should be. For now.

Starscream created a sparkling. Unfortunately, the only problem with this sparkling wasn't the fact Megatron is its sire.

Starscream had problems or a problem. For one of the problems was the fact that only one thing was the source of all these problems.

He stared down the squirming mass of disproportioned limbs, protometal, and mesh, and couldn't help but ask, "Where are your siblings?"

The tiny Mechling didn't answer. It wasn't like it had access to any vocabulary databank to form any coherent sentence. It gave out a whine and tried to online its optics. It most likely tried to look for something.

Something Starscream knew it wouldn't find...

To think Starscream. The Winglorld Slayer. The second in command in the entire Decepticon army. The leader of all Seekers alive had sparked a single sparkling.

Only one.

Starscream launched himself back to his shaky pedest and with an angry snarl, he bared his talons and gave the metal wall a swipe that shed sparks in the dim habsuit.

Seekers didn't spark singles. Seekers sparked in trines! Everybot knew that! Not four, not five, no pairs, no especially single sparks. How could HE of all seekers have only one sparkling?!

The sparkling whined.

Starscream servos found themself back in their place before his rageful fit. Clutched the side of the berth the sparkling had been left.

It was the first noise it had made.

He had thought the sparkling had offlined before the emergence because it simply didn't make any noises or make any effort to clear out its vents from gestational liquids.

Starscreams temper flared again and he had to use all his willpower to keep his EM field from lashing out like he usually did.

To think that he was the first seeker to spark after the start of the war and what Primus gave him was a single spark. A defective spark.

Starscream knew what he should do was to snuff the spark now. If he wouldn't do it then the sparkling's sire would do it. When that Buckethead would see how defective his offspring was he wouldn't hesitate offline it.

Starscream hissed at that. This was Starscream's sparkling, which he alone carried. It was his! Even if the sparkling was glitched, it was his! Overtaken by sudden possessiveness, he pulled the sparkling close to him and against his chassis.

He crooned in self-satisfaction when an interesting taught surfaced. Starscream could... Wait and nurture the spark until it was strong enough to be accepted by his sire or... Starscream could just kill that useless pile of bolts and bits. Then there would be no theatre towards the sparkling... Or him.

The sparkling squirmed again. Fussing. It was hungry.

Starscream pondered should he inform his trine about this new... Adition. In the end, he decided against it. Skywarp had too big a mouth and Thundercrack was too loyal to Megatron to hide something like this.

So it was that the sparkling would be a secret from people not worthy of Starscream's trust.

kkkkkkkkkkk

The sparkling was glitched. It was really glitched. It wouldn't refuel properly. It only screamed Starscream's audials off every time he tried to feed it. He was growing desperate.

The little glitch wouldn't take a line. No matter how much he tried to give it one. It only shrieked and grumbled, its face forming into an ugly frown that could only belong to the sire of it.

"Fraging glitch." Starscream sneered at it.

It answered with a swipe of its tiny little talons and a complaining beeb. It was telling Starscream it needed fueling, LIKE HE HADN'T TRIED TO DO IT FOR THE LAST TEN BREEMS!

It gave another beep. This time a little more urgently. Its round red optics dimmed a little switching into power-saving mode.

"Glitch." Starscream hissed under his breath while depositing it back to his berth where it stayed in the same position where he left it, but turned its helm to him.

Cursing in the name of Unicron and all thirteen Primes, Starscream pulled a syringe out of one of the cabins. If it didn't want to fuel then he would just force it.

The low-grade energon wasn't pure as Starscream would have wanted it, But it would have to do.

He paused himself before he started to look for a lowgrade.

The syringe reflected his own crimson optics back at him.

Lowgrade? His sparkling fueling on that disgusting stuff? No change in pithells. Heir of Starscream's the winglord of Vos wouldn't grow on the waste product that was called lowgrade.

"Frag it!"

Starscream plunged the needle into one of his energon lines.

Spin of from my series "Hound of Mandalore" Aran took a long nap and tried to take a deserved vacation in the world of Silver Fang. Too bad an isekaid soul can't catch a break and now as the only known and living heir of Champion fighting dog Tsuna Arashi, there is a need for intervention.

It was humiliating as fuck at this point of my damned existence. To be reincarnated again and again, but always end up being something else than a fully sentient being standing at the same level as the dominant species of the planet.

At least this time I was back on earth.

The chain rattled against the floorboards as I slowly walked to the terrace of the cabin. There I found my owner. Drunk off his ass like usual polishing an old-school shotgun.

My cropped ears bent back as he fumbled to pat me on my head.

"Anata wa totemo kawaīdesu, Tosa-Hime!" The man cooed at me from his seat on the porch.

Hime? As in Princess? Am I the pittbul named Princess? But like in an Anime way? Fuck it! I am way too tired to deal with this after the last live I've had! Now I gonna be the housedog the Hime sitting around all day doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

So with a huff, I sat down next to the drunken man on a porch in the middle of nowhere and took in the views I was going to enjoy for the next life.

It was beautiful. It looked like it was an early spring outta here. The gabbin was at a good spot on the side of a rising mountain. I would enjoy this for sure. The clouds obstructed the valley down the mountain root, but the rising sun was dealing with it nicely.

The cabin wasn't built on the dark side of the mountain. What a relief. I would enjoy sunny mornings and cool evenings just as I liked. My unrelief was the fact my owner was drunk before the proper beginning of the day...

Speaking of the day I could see how the day had removed the clouds away from the biggest mountain of the valley that was next to my mountain.

That thing reminds me of Mount Fuji... WAIT A DAM SECOND THAT IS FUJI! Yeehaw! My European ass was going to go and play some tourist and CLIMB THE FUJI!

A roar.

I sprung up and listened carefully the noise raised the hackles of my short fur up and made me take a step back.

I had no idea where that roar came from! It sounded like some big-ass-demonic-disaster was out there and I was praying that it wasn't a titan or mutated alien beast!

"Shinpai shinaide, Tosa-Hime. Utsu tsumoridesu Akakabuto, Sore ga watashi-tachi no kinai ni haitte kitara." The drunk-ass reassured me and tapped the shotgun confidentially.

Akakabuto?

Oh shit!

Akakabuto and we are in the region? I am in Silver Fang? As a DOG? This vacation should be refunded!

Part 4

The children must all have ADHD at one point in their lives  for  I didn't get how a pack of children could keep up with acting like a flock of sparrows in any given moment. 

First grade in elementary school  more   precisely  the first day  wasn't  my thing. I was going to go insane! I was tempted to throw maybe the first roll on the ground  temper  tantrum of this pitiful life! 

Worst of all  my  dear old Omni-dad had noticed my hesitation  and  even  if he was a good  father  he was a busy man.  So  despite  my protests, I was carried by the back straps of my overalls like a gym bag. My face was sour as a lemon  and  my  awfully short  hands were folded on my little chest.

"Sherry, Mom will get you after school." He informed me after the receptionist had given him my schedule. "Look  alive  this isn't so bad."

I frowned at the floor as I was being carried to the destination of my mental execution. "Dad, Why can't  be  home-schooled?"

"Because your mother wouldn't let me." He sounded a little wounded.

What an honest answer.  

"Darn."

"Sherry. Remember what  have we talked about?" 

"Yes daad, No bad words."

"Here we are," Omni-dad informed before setting me on my feet. "Now go and play nice. Maybe learn  something ." 

I apprised the fact that Omni-dad wasn't thrilled  by the fact  I was going to school with snotty-nosed kids , he  thought I was better than them. Which I was. But that wasn't the point. An adult's mind against a child's.

Beep, beep, beep.

There was an aggressive beeping coming from Omni-dad's ass. 

I sight. "See you at home..." 

Omni-man pulled a small device and silenced it with a quick tap. He looked me a moment over.  Then turned that device I now recognized as a small phone and klick , he  took one picture of me.

I blinked, and he was already gone.

"Hello, Miss Grayson." A chipper voice gained my attention. "Come in, come in. We are about to start."

And just like that  my  new homeroom teacher ushered me to my class which would be the pain in my ass for the next five years.

"That is my friend!" A familiar voice of Ned squeaked.

That?  I tried to keep my face nonaligned at that. Like I didn't grow up in a child's body who didn't like being called that  or it .

"Hello, Ned!" I chirped a greeting. "How was your summer?"

Ned scrambled through a small flock of children  who were  eyeing his beads like a magpie would a shiny object. He gave me a quick and stiff hug while he also tried to not touch me but still touch.

Summer  with  that bottle-looking sorry excuse of a  doctor  didn't do well for Ned's OCD and pudding germaphobia. 

"What was all that about?" I nodded at the group that had been surrounding him.

He blinked slowly at me before pulling away and grapping the pead band around my wrist. 

Alrighty then. It seems like we had a problem that I  as  a bigger  person  needed to solve it. And when I say  bigger  I meant stronger, since by  default  I was the strongest the crown of this school . In  Regina George style.

"I will take care of this."

The button-like eyes of the children focused on me as I pushed Ned  outta me way. 

Fast glance at the teacher. He was occupied.  What could possibly be more important than the children he was supposed to  take care of . I didn't know.

I stepped forward and jutted my chin out  looking  at them by the bridge of my nose. 

"What was that supposed to be? Huh?" My hands were set on my hips  and  my feet were planted firmly to the ground. 

I would say I looked threatening. Or at least to my own age group, I would seem threatening. If the memes were to be believed  then  even if I now would be labeled as a bully for putting these pint-sized snot spryers in their place  my  future achievements in P.E. would outweigh it.

Oh, how simple children  truly  were. 

kkkkkk

Beep, Beep, Beeeeep! 

"Hello? Nolan  Grayson  speaking." There was a crash and a muffled yelp in the background.

"Hello,  this is  Principal George from uptown Illinois private elementary school." There was another crash from the other side. "I am calling about your daughter  Sherry  Grayson."

"What has she done now?" An exhilarated voice of Omni-man groaned.

"She got in a fight. Mister Grayson." Principal George leveled me with a stare. 

Two other children were sitting in the chairs next to me , One  of them held a frozen peaback to his forehead. 

Like that would have been my  fault  it wasn't my fault nobody had ever introduced him to the magnificent word no. I mean  what  would you do if a rage-issued child would try and bite you like a rabbit mutt? YOU SMAK IT LIKE ONE! It wasn't my fault he couldn't take a light love tap!

"A fight?" Omni-man confirmed.

"Yes, a fight, in the first class  no  less." Miss George looked at me with an upturned lip from behind her glasses.

There was a moment of silence that restored my faith in god and got me to pray like a monk. But then...

"Did she win?" Everyone was floored  and  I couldn't help but giggle.

"MISTER GRAYSON?"

kkkkkk

So there we sat. All six of us. On small benches meant for juvenile humans. It was hilarious. Four  and a half  of those sitting were humans  and   one and a half  was not. 

It was a hilarious sight to see Omni-man  even  in his  civils  sit in a kids' chair.

His blue eyes met mine  and  I  kinda  expected him to be mad at me or at least annoyed.  But with a twitch of his mustaches, I knew he found this situation just as amusing as I.

"All  right  you had been called here to help us nip a problem at the pud." Principal George crossed her arms on the table. "In my school, I DO NOT accept fighting of any kind. In the first period of a first day especially!"

Two out of three parents scoffed.

She looked at me like I was the one to give the first punch. The boy with a pea bag sniffed.  Yeah, it was me... But they started it! Fucking wimp to get the teach involved.

"I want to know what exactly went down." She looked at me straight into my eyes  and  I cocked my head like I didn't get her even if I totally did. "Ladies  first  I say. So Miss  Grayson  would you mind telling us the situation from the start in your point of view."

"Excuse-" The mother of the Peabagboy tried to butt in  but  because Omni-dad chucks beautiful  eyes  her fish-like jaw snapped shut. 

" Sherry  you can start now, I am sure we all have something better to do." Omni-dad didn't break his stare with Peabagboy's mom.

 "Okay, Dad!" I chirped  amping  up my child facade.

"You left me at class. Then the hord, I MEAN my classmates were being mean to Ned  and  I  tried to tell them not to be mean to my Ned  and  I said to stop, but they laughed at me and that" I pointed at the Peabagboy "Shoved me so Just like dad told me to do I shoved back."

"YOUR FATHER TOLD YOU TO ATTACK MY SON-" That fucking Karen  Bansheed,  and had a voice crack in the end that cut her rising storm off.

Over Karen's coughing fit  my  dear father proved why Deb-mom should be one to handle other parents. "Yes, I have."

"MISTER GRAYSON!"

I facepalmed  hard .  Oh boy, this was gonna get ugly . The Karen's face got just as red as the principal's paled.

And  soon  three out of seven individuals were seated in the hall. Me, Peabagboy, and the no-name-kid sat in the hall. 

"You hit hard." The no-name-kid stated. "Are you hero?" 

"No." Peabagboy gritted for me.  No  would have been my answer  too ...

No-name-kid ignored the other boy and asked  tears  in his eyes. "Was I villain?"

Okay, now I felt  bad .

"You were a meanie, not a villain. We got off on a wrong  foot  that's all." I palcipated him before it would start to rain.

"Can we be friends?" No-name-kid asked like I didn't give him a real-life smackdown an hour ago.

"Sure-" "I want friends too!" Peabagboy hurried to interrupt me  gaining  my ire again in less than a second.

I sent a death stare to him and growled. "Watch your mouth little bitch boy."

"YOU SAID A BAD WORD!" Both of them gasped  ignoring  the other content of the sentence.

"MOOOOM! SHE SAID A BAD WORD!" Peabagboy screeched  killing  any joy I would have gotten in this damned school in an instant.

"WHAT WHAT WAA!" The beast clucked like a chicken.

I could feel how quickly Omni-dad's fuse was burning.  Oh shit, we were about to be so dead! Why did I have to dig myself deeper? Who needed a mine to be buried in when you can just anger an alien whit child-rearing bullshit?

kkkkkk

A week later  after  the  incident  was my new first day of school. Or at least my first class? Last time  I  didn't make it to the bell ring of the first class.

"Sherry?" Deb-mom was kneeling in front of me. 

Her thin lips were pursed  and  her narrow eyes were drilling into mine. I gulped. Deb-mom was really scary when you barely could reach her waist. Because I had  been already  an  adult  I felt no fear towards them, but after coming from a family where ass-beating was a real  punishment  I couldn't help but  cower  under her glare.

"Yes, Mama?" I dutifully answered  blinking  innocently at her.

"You will behave." Her tone gave no room for argument.

"Yes, Mama." I agreed but looked past her head to see No-Name-Kid getting the same kind of talk from his father.

My father switched with my mother  and   seems  like a similar thing happened with him.

"Sherry."

I quickly paid attention to her to see an annoyed grease had formed on her forehead.

"Sherry, I am serious. You will make it through this day without an incident. Got it?"

"Yes, mom..." I mumbled. 

"If you are good, Dad promised to take us all to Northpole." She whispered the end with crinkled eyes softening the silent anger she felt since the school called her on behalf of Omni-dad.

He felt  bad  for what he had done, but like every parent  in existence , he would never admit being wrong.

"Mrs Grayson?" The teacher called her  and  I twisted around to face this spineless bastard  once  again. "The class is about to begin  Mrs  Grayson."

I tried to suppress my snort but failed  letting  out a huff sounding like someone was air blowing their nose. I felt Deb-mom's spindly hand land on top of my head. It made me pull my head into my body like a turtle. 

"Yes, Sherry is joining the class now. We had a long talk about her behavior. It won't happen again."

At that, I naturally would have protested  for  I did nothing wrong.

Absolutely nothing wrong.

I only defended my friend.

It's not  my fault our teacher doesn't know how to do his job and break a fight before it begins. 

AND IT IS NOT my fault those said bullies didn't know how to take a hit.

I suppressed a growl when Deb-mom pushed me unceremonically in the classroom. I did have the strength to root myself onto the spot, and she most likely wouldn't connect the dots, but I still respected (feared) her as a mother.

The teacher smiled down at me but didn't say a thing. That pathetic excuse of a teacher. GROW SOME BALLS ASAP, PLEASE!

And just like that, I was again in the classroom with those wimps. Again.

It was like  man-made  Deja Vu. The setup was just like a week ago. Ned was there. No-name-kid and Peabagboy were there too. Whit Ned...  Was I about to whoop their asses again? I hope  yes .

But  then  as kids do,  Ned  my backwards-flying  friend  turned around to beam at me from across the class. 

"Sherry! Guess what I did!"

He didn't wait for my response.

"I made friends for you!" 

Oh no, not again!

Two boys looked at me just as confusedly as I felt. 

The teacher clapped his hands to gather our attention. It worked for most of the students.

But not with me, No-name-kid or Peabagboy  for  all three of us had the same colored beaded bands around our wrists. The shackles that bind us together. 

What a pretty color had Peabagboy's eye changed.

Stupid me. What an idiot me. Wy Ta aF I had to hop off from my free ride! This wasn't worth it!

I was grumbly chewed on the shard of Energon in run-down train storage. There was a shipment of what I assumed was a jewelry stone shipment. In the mix of the stones were real Energon shards. It was weird how much they looked like Amethys.

I set my jaw to my servo and munched with the determination of a rock crusher. Oh man, what was I even doing? I was drifting alone eating on some scarps...

Once I was done with eating I rose up and wandered over to the other crates and crouched down to scan the labels. It would be wise of me to search if there was even more of this stuff. You never know when you are going to find it next.

What even is silica mineral quartz?

My memory search came out empty and I could swear the Microsoft logo flashed in my mind, which was weird.

I didn't think that even made sense! Microsoft wasn't part of becoming a walking talking metal man.

Crash and a weird echoing metallic booming sound echoed in what was supposed to be pretty much wacant ware house district. When I biked off from that truck I spotted him talking with only one depressed-looking man in the security guard's attire.

My fingers clicked against the floor as I took a four-wheel drive. I didn't want anybody to spot me over the cargo boxes. There was a strange feeling pinging away in my soul replacement. It told me of something being closer than I wanted it to be.

"The signal was coming from here." A deep, but gentle voice stated.

"I cannot imagine why. There is nothing interesting here!" A young feminine voice complained.

I gulped or at least did something in that way. I hoped it wasn't me they were after. Or good gracious I hoped I wasn't the one sending whatever signal they had received.

"It's getting stronger!" The man cheered.

"I don't see anything from here!" Then there was a sound of the door opening and slamming shut along

"Miko! Miko, it isn't safe here! Come back, Miko!" The man yelled in frustration.

But most likely the girl didn't listen for the same kind of stammering continued for a while until the man let out a long and suffering groan before giving up with this "Miko" "Fine. But do be careful. You never know what those cons are up to next."

WTF is a Con? I mean the pinging in my head told me it was something like me? But there apparently was a difference between a bot and a con? Wasn't a con shortening on a convict?

"Yes, yes Bulkhead. I will be careful." Miko agreed even if the tone of her voice suggested she would be everything but that.

Well, someone's friends had been creative.

I grimaced as my sound feed turned up in a full circle and I couldn't tell anymore where Miko was. I needed to get straight outta here before I had to play a myth-buster off Yankees when they find an alien robot.

Carefully now!

I crawled silently forward aiming to get into the loading bay before I was found. Then if I could sneak into a truck or a train cart as a bike and continue on my road trip. And hope noone questioned the extra cargo that was me.

My plan was going perfectly.

Well until it wasn't.

I was at the door about to rise from the floor to open the door when it was opened for me.

I froze in my tracks afraid to lift my gaze from the boots that were now where in front of me. I slowly met the person's eyes. It was a teen girl. I was so dead.

"Wow." She stared down at me and I stared back.

Both unblinking. "Why are you so small?"

And now I was offended on top of this rolling mess. I however wasn't offended enough to find a quick and witty comeback for that I only managed to answer with weird-sounding old-school computer error noises.

"Sick." She stated and I bolted.

"Uff!" The kid went.

I tried to avoid her legs, but this form was never meant to be on all fours so I accidentally took her down.

"BULKHEAD!"

Oh god! I forgot that she had a partner! I am dead! I am dead! So dead! So, so dead!

I scrambled onto my pedest and hauled some metal ass down the alley.  

Clack, clack, clack.

I ran like a lunatic from his evening medication. I would have changed for wheels, but there was a fence to vault at the end of the street I changed to. So I didn't want to waste any time transformations for I wasn't good at those.

Oh no oh no OH NO!

I could hear an alarmed shout of another "MIKO!"

Then there were angry engine noises and screeching tires as this "Bulkhead" drove after me.

Meter by meter the fence got closer and closer. Unfortunately when your speedometer is in meters by second and your chaser is kilometers by hour the distance between you is bound to get short.

A honk and a Slam!

My rear was on fire and a tidal wave of error messages. None of them didn't wake any life-altering warning but their message was clear.

I, the neon-green electric bicycle was run over by a car.

Lying there.

On my back.

Absolutely traumatized by the fact I was run over, again.

I came to a funny conclusion.

I turned my helm to the car. That now sat quiltylly next to my prone form.

There was the noise of someone running towards us.

I lift myself enough to see over the truck's bumper. To find the seat behind the wheel was empty.

I sensed nobody but us here.

No one but us?

Back to the funny conclusion.

The car had no driver.

This car has no driver.

And I sense us.

I sense one further me.

And it isn't the girl rounding up the corner while brandishing her Nokia Fliphone like a weapon. "Bulkhead, You got 'em!"

This car had no driver.

This car was the driver.

This car was the Bulkhead.

This meant I was screwed.

"Smile!" and a click of a phone camera going off.

I did not smile.

Mark stared at me.

And I stared at Deb-mom.

Deb-mom stared at Omni-man.

Omni-man stared at Mark.

The dinner table was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was Omni-man's heavy breathing. He was still fully decked in his hero gear. A small shoe in his fist.

How we end up in this setting isn't a wonder. I had been just as sloppy as that neglected French dish Dep-mom had tried to make me eat today.

I hadn't been very good human today and Mark went and snitched on me. 

"Sherry. How did it happen?" Omni-man questioned hands crossed on his chest. His face was hard as stone.

How did it happen? Or better put, what did happen?

Well, you see I have always had a peculiar interest...

I loved rocks. I loved them and I used to collect them...

Yes used to have shelves full of rocks from tiny sand grains to full-on boulders. Because I was obsessed with minerals.

So, naturally, when Deb-mom told me to go play with Mark, I took him to hunt some rocks.

Sadly me being a viltrumate and Mark sitting in a red wagon. We ended up quite far away from our suburban house. And when I meant far I really meant it.

Imagine how far would a pintsized Viltrumate have to run while pulling a wagon to get tired.

Answer?

Well, really fucking far!

So there I was on a road that wasn't on any map. Staring down at the ditch. At the ditch that most likely was some sort of beginning of a mine or something.

And I saw it.

I picked up a reddish stone with jagged edges. And at that moment I knew I had found a place of reconnecting.

This was where in another dimension I chose to die. I chose to hop in that yellow truck and drive down a banned mine shoot. And then got buried under my own obsession.

Mark barked at me. 

I flinched and looked down at him. His round little eyes blinked up at me. I smiled at him.

"You know Mark. This isn't my first life." 

Mark tilted his head like a dog and then pointed at the mine shaft. 

"Yes, Mark. There my previous life ended. Under metric tons of stone inside a golden casket of metal. I am not even sure did they ever found my body..." I told him wistfully.

Mark captured me by my fingers and started to toddle to the mine. I, despite being the stronger one of us let him do so. Too preoccupied by him to take note of that.

I thought about this small human creature who hadn't yet decided if he was a human, a baby, or a dog. I felt that warm feeling I had denied myself to feel for Mark to come back. For half of the year, I had avoided bonding with him, but now.

"I think you don't deserve what is to come for you," I admitted, but the baby only hummed happily at that. "I think you deserve better than what is to come."

"You don't deserve to be beaten, humiliated, cheated, tortured, raped or be left behind. I am sorry for that. I am sorry for leaving you."

We stood there quietly and I felt a cold finger drag itself up my spine. I was apologizing for a thing I hadn't yet done.

A thing that I would do no matter what. I was gonna get the hell out here. What was in store for him wasn't for me. 

I truly was a bad human.

Mark smiled up at me not getting what I just told him. In a way, my opening up to him was a payment for his fate.

"Sis, look!" He continued with his childlike wonder.

We were now at the mouth of the mine. He bravely led us inside an unused grave. As a payment for my cowardness, I let him lead me in the dark.

Or was I in a trance? 

Walking half submerged in a memory of my human life. Looming over me, reminding me how human I still am.

I didn't believe I could be killed in the breakdown, but surely I would be hurt. Viltromites got stronger as they aged and I wasn't physically old. 

So I wondered what kind of brain tumor I have to have to follow Mark there. 

Every step I took gave away under me. The dust the sand, and the questionable liquid under my kiddy shoes gave no proper grip on the stone surface. 

I wondered how Mark didn't seem to slip... Then I glanced at his feet. Nope. Nevermind. Mark wasn't wearing any shoes. I could have sworn he had shoes on before we left. I shuddered at the notion. I hoped his vaccinations were up to date. Even if that Doc was a shipwreck after me. 

Suddenly we stopped. 

We have come across a truck.

I trembled. 

The light from the mine's mouth reached the vehicle, giving my keen eyes enough confirmation that the truck was yellow.

It was covered in rust, but there was no mistake. IT WAS A FUCKING YELLOW TRUCK PERIOD.

"Truck," Mark stated while pointing at that devilish nightmare.

"Fuck." I corrected him while pointing at the truck.

There was an amber alarm going on inside my head. Without further ado, I hauled Mark over my shoulder and booked it. Mark giggled merrily as I sped up the slide. I felt the soles of my shoes left behind. As I flew out of the little hell hole I had let myself be ruled in. They were not meant for a race for my life.

My momentum didn't stop as my feet met the earth outside the mine shaft. I abounded the damned red wagon. Not even caring where I was going I ran away with Mark clinging on my back.

"Don't panic. DON'T PANIC, MARK!" I panicked at Mark. 

I had no idea where I was, and I was starting to hyperventilate.

Or get winded. IDK, I hadn't ever overexerted this body enough to get winded!

The dirt road soon turned into an asphalt road, but I didn't care about that. If my true colors were noticed now then so be it! I was in a rush! 

I ran until we reached a lone bus station.

There I set Mark on the bench before I planted myself facedown in the bus stop's shade. I was sweating bullets and pleading with whoever sent me here to release me from this agony. 

I stayed lying there for who knows how long. The ground seemed to pull me in, and the sky above me seemed to spin. Around and round it went. I felt sick.

And we were lost.

I stared at the bus map from my position on the ground. Or at least what I thought to be a bus map. Where I was from there weren't much of busses...

Moving on! 

The point is that I had no idea where I was and was about 60% sure Omni-man would either kill me or someone else for this little trick... And about 90% sure I just busted myself.

"Oh, Mark. We are so dead." I told Mark as I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands.

A lone breeze threw some sand in them. I was annoyed and ready to throw my physical age-approved tantrum. But then...

"Look at you. Guite trouble makers the lot of you." A teasing male voice asked.

My hands flew from my eyes and I was set in an ass-kicking mode. Spinning to my feet. I was face to face with one of those so-called heroes". Precisely the red and fast one. A cheap imitation of Flash. The Red Rush.

"What you are doing here!" I hissed like an angry cat.

I hated surprises and despised people who were good at sneaking around and nosy. Just like our dear knockoff right here who was leaning casually against the bus stop.

"I am looking for you guys!" Red Rush stated hands on his hips. "Obviously." 

Cheek flushing red I stammered out my defenses. "What do you mean you are looking for us? I AM NOT LOST!" Yeah a cheap save, but in my defense, I wasn't thinking straight.

"Yes, yes. Of course, you weren't lost!" Red Rude mocked me as he scooped my lill bro under his arm like a football. 

Mark didn't look bothered by it. Contrastingly he looked utterly pleased as he got to be close to the young "hero", He even had the utter audacity to wave and smile at me. 

"If you aren't lost I guess I have to leave you to it..." Red Rush humiliated me further, turning around to leave me at the bus stop middle of nowhere.

"FINE! Don't leave me here... I am...." I submitted and admitted the truth "I AM LOST TOO! OKAY! Lost and I don't know where home is. You happy now?" 

"Yes." Red Rush admitted smugly, like didn't just bully a child. And then the mock Flash took me under his other arm and rushed off.

The speed really didn't feel anywhere with me because... Well. I was a half-hyper-sonic-alien thing so speed wasn't an issue and it looked like even if would be still more than a decade for Mark's powers to come through he too enjoyed the ride. Laughing at his little hearts contest and fladding his hands like he were a bird.

Before I knew it we were standing in front of a familiar house. It cast an ominous shade over the tree of us. 

Aw shit. If the heroes were looking for us then it meant Omni-man knew of our little rock hunt... Oh no! I might be in some deep shit. 

Mark knew no sucks a thing like deep shit. He squirmed around in Red Rush's grip until he was set down on the pavement. He wasted no time to scramble off to the door, try it, and then after discovering it to be locked started abusing the doorbell.

"DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!" The doorbell screamed.

I gritted my teeth as the noise threatened to cause my ears to ring. I loved Mark, but soon I would give him the same treatment as Omni-man will give to Red Rush.

My face met the lawn Omni-dad just like every dad in America had spent way too much time taking care of it with an uff as the devil himself dropped me on the grass.

"JOSEPH!" Exlaimed Deb-mom in rage after witnessing her only daughter being made to eat dirt.

I seized advantage of the situation teared up, took a sharp inhale, and cried. Cried like a child after tripping on a sandbox. 

It was humiliating hell to let tears and snot leak down on my face, but it worked. Oh, how well it worked.

"WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!" Deb-mom raged as he marched over to scoop me up. She shot venom and lighting to the mockery of a here we all know as Red Rush. "Have you lost your mind? Sherry is just a child!"

She propped me up on her hip and tried my tears with the sleeve of her cardinal. Red Rush flushed red in embarrassment. He shuffled awkwardly, not sure how to fix the situation. 

"I'm sorry?" that bitch offered.

"YOU BETTER BE!" Debbie snarled while fixing her grip on me, then to my surprise, she turned around on her heels. 

What ta hell! Woman, You were supposed to rip him a new asshole! Why retreat?

And then she added between her straight teeth, "My husband and Cecil will be hearing about this." 

I grinned over Deb-mom's shoulder at the now-paled Red Rush. His remorse disappeared the moment he saw me grinning at him. His eyes narrowed as he realized me to be an actor.

The door was closed between us.

Deb-mom set me down next to Mark and the mama-bear mode seemed to disappear as she scanned us from head to toe. I could see her eye corner twitch as she saw our unshoed feet. Not even our socks had survived our little voyage.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb and exhaled strongly. I thought she geared up to perade us. To instruct a fear of god on us.

But yet again she confused me.

"I ain't even going to ask where two off have been. This is again one of Nolan's heroings results." Debbie aired her frustration and shepherded us to the washroom. 

I felt Debbie bristle at every step me and Mark took on her white rug, which now was decorated by two trails of foot marks to the downstairs bathroom. Debbie cursed Nolan's name under her breath the whole time as she made us wash our feet and get new socks on.

And just like that, we were seated at the table and given the French delicacy that was ruined by us.

All would have gone well after that if Omni-man hadn't 'teleported' into the living room, looking like Viltrum just tried to reach him about his car's extended warranty. 

It was clear that he had been looking for us, with the guardians of the globe, and Red Rush had most likely tattle-taled a very exaggerated version of our "rescue". 

"Hello, Dad!" I chirped happily to him. 

It was an act that I hoped to calm him down and hopefully assure him of my innocence of the crime of inheriting him. Even if many wouldn't notice it I could sense whit some alien magick the rage that was wellowing inside his being it was like he was a hair away from saying fuck it and raising this shit down to the ground level.

"DAD!" exclaimed Mark as he noticed who I was talking to. "Dad guess where we were!" 

Wow, the longest sentence that made sense Mark had ever said was to snitch me out.

Those cold eyes bore on obvious Mark, Omni-mans tick eyebrow was raised as becoming of the information Mark so proudly wanted to share. And share is what he did.

"Me an' Sis were at a cave!"

"A cave? Where?" 

"There!" He said pointing in the wrong direction. 

"And what happened there?" Omni-man was almost playful.

"FRUCK!"

Aww shit!

"Fuck?" Omni-man asked me.

"Ftruck!" Mark proudly confirmed.

Debbie-exe had stopped working. She seemed to have an internal meltdown. The utensils she was holding stuck to the air and there was a customer service smile on her face.

"HE MEANS TRUCK!" I hurried to fix the mistake I had made to Mark.

"Shery? A truck 100 miles away?" Omni-man tangled those shoes fit for a child for us to see. He was not happy!

I swallowed hard despite not even touching the food. I was about to be busted for good. I sunk in my chair my hands in my pockets for comfort. One of them clutched around a cold and sharp object.

"Sherry. How did it happen?" Omni-man asked, his face cold as stone.

Oh no! OH HELL NO! Imma about to die! or get busted and then have to face the shit hole that Viltrum and their society were... I had to think fast! AGAIN!

Wait? Heroes have nemesis... and people who want revenge...

Bingo! My scapegoat was ready.

"There was a man with a truck." I dialed up my child's act and sang it to them.

"A truck?" Omni-dad was back.

"Yeah, the man gave me a cool stone and promised to take me to get more of them!" I chirped and presented the rock I had stored in my pocket.

Omni-dad stared at it then he stared at me, before staring at Mark before focusing his gaze on his malfunctioning wife. "At least the children are fine?" 

Ah, The safety net that was the Viltumate father who didn't understand humans and how slow movers they truly were. Now, the only problem was avoiding a grounding of a lifetime when Deb-mom finally settled her internal affairs. 

Next chapter

Whatever happened to the hayloft? Burnt to the ground, and what about Pop? He took his ass back to the crack shack With his long johns on, singing that old song

My eyes flew open. I was alive. The hospital's fluorescent eyes burned my eyes, but I was alive!

Why was I alive?

My breathing turned erratic, and it hurt. Oh, how much it did hurt. Tears gathered in my eyes, and I tried to move. My fingers twitched but gave no other response. I couldn't feel my legs or turn my head.

The machines around me started to blaret, and a pack of white coats flooded the room.

"Baby, be calm. Everything is fine." One of the doctors cooed at me and dried tears from my face. Distracting me as the other humans in the room checked my condition.

"Miss Sully, can you move your fingers for me." Someone asked.

My lower lip trembled, and more tears formed in my eyes. 

"Focus love, you can do it." The nice doctor cooed at me again.

I took a shaky inhale and willed my fingers to move. Slowly they curled into loose fists which were noted by the doctors.

"Miss Sully, can you feel this?" Someone asked, and no, I couldn't feel anything new or turn my head to look at what was being done. 

"No." I rasped weakly and the nice doctor gave me a symphatick smile. "What's happening?" I was terrified now. Maybe even more than I was on the roof.

"You suffered a spinal core injury, Miss Sully. You feel at least two stories down. Do you recall?" Someone asked.

"S-so I-I am paralyzed? Is that why I cannot move!" I started to panic, but the nice doctor shushed me and tapped something around my head.

"Honey you aren't paralyzed entirely. You have a neck brace and you can move your arms, can't you? It's only your legs that worry us, dear."

I started to feel tired again and the nice doctor glanced at something in my vision before smiling down at me again.

"Rest little one. You will need it." And darkness took me again.

Jake Sully was living a dream. He has four children. His youngest is daughter Tuktirey. His youngest son is Lo'ak. His eldest son is Neteyam and his eldest daughter is Kiri. He raises those children with his mate Neytiri in Pandora. It was a perfect family and Jake couldn't describe how much he loved them.

Jake Sully had a family before this. It was a dysfunctional family and at times it was hard to love. His parents were gone, He hadn't talked with his brother since he had healed enough from his injuries, His relationship with his girlfriend was falling apart and on top of that, he had a child.

Leaving for Pandora had many perks and one had been away from it all. Back then he didn't appreciate it. No, he did not. Only recently he had started to feel the twinges of guilt. The guilt stabbed the hardest when his daughters were still learning English.

They tried many names for Father. For starters, it melted his heart. Well, that was until they called him Pop. For a moment instead of Kiri in front of him stood Bebe. A small human child proudly showing off the new word she just learned. 

It was the last time Kiri called him that. She was a sympathetic child and noticed the word's effects on her father immediately. Her lower lip started to wobble and tears gathered in her eyes. Little arms rose, and she was picked up by him. 

Cradled safely in his arms.

"Don't cry, Kiri. Father loves you very much. So, much so that he will do everything for you." Kiri buried his face into his neck as her father soothed her and tried to dry her cheeks.

Jake loved this family and he will do everything for it.

Sitting in the wheelchair I feel my future die. My life, my dreams, and my hopes are all dead. Like my father, before me, I was bound to a wheelchair, but unlike him, I didn't have RDA and my brother's achievements to swoop in and offer me a new meaning for life. 

Uncle T wasn't here to die and save me from myself. How I wished he would have stayed alive and I still would have my Pop here for me.

My tired dry eyes scanned my surroundings. The neck brace was removed in the morning, but my neck still had an awful crick in it. My grip got stronger around my cracked screened phone.

It was too quiet to be public-hospital, but the machines and the people's behavior didn't match a private hospital's setting. Not this place was more like a laboratory than a place for healing. And that's not even mentioning the security of this place.

Everything was locked and I meant EVERYTHING. Doors, windows, airshafts, cabinets, and even faucets. Everything needed a code or a card which I didn't possess. The only thing that I had free access to was my phone and I had a strong feeling that my activities with it were monitored.

The double doors opened whit a beep as a strick-looking military woman unlocked the doors. I didn't turn to her but lowered the volume of my phone's speaker. My only entertainment in the past week or so.

My favorite pass time was making music playlists. Lately, the theme had been a murder in her mind, but daddy issues could also be in my top tree.

The strict woman stood in front of me for a moment holding a folder and a tablet under her arm before huffing and sitting down on my unoccupied bed.

"Ms. Sully it's good to see you awake."

"Don't call me Sully, call me B." I stopped the music and stared at the selection. 

"B, I come here on behalf of the Resources Development Administration." Hah I know it had something to do with this.  "We have offered you might be interested in." 

Yes. Oh yes. I knew this old song. I however didn't know I get to sing it too.

The familiar beats of Hayloft 2 filled the room.  Oh, how I had dreamed of this.  The months living like a rat were paid and the weeks in the hospital weren't going in wain. This was going to be worth it.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED BEING A KINDERGARDENER!

First of all, I napped every day. 

I made art and I was allowed the getaway whit some weird shit. Like making inventing an imaginary friend and drawing reindeer-giraffe-robot hybrids. Even my Fanart was complimented instead of being seen as weird.

Nobody wasn't expecting jackshit from me. I could roll in the dirt or dig a hole in the sandbox all day, but noone would be bothered. Which by the way I did for most of the days.

They even would be amused by my antics. Those same antics they hated once I was an adult. I could pop out from nowhere and people were happy to talk to me or listen to my rants and tellings of my dreams.

The only thing I didn't like was the other children. Or more likely how people expected me to socialize with the other fire extinguisher-sized humans. It was exhausting as fuck. 

I did like playing with them, but come on!! When the rules of the game are agreed on you follow them!

"Daad. I do not want to play with them." I whined up at Omni-father knowing that if I did that to Deb-mom I would receive some kind of lecture. But Omni-dad being secretly an alien seemed to be glad that I wasn't drawn on other humans. 

"Shery we have talked about this." He huffed at me as he walked me towards the kindergarten.

"But daaaad," I whined again my frustration as being an adult trapped in a child's body surfacing. "I don't want to play a game in which rules are changed on a whim. Why have rules if nobody follows them?" 

And there went the biggest reason I hated being a kid with other kids. They were going through the rule and that "I can affect it phase."

And I was on the last leg of my sanity. I had taken a half year off being there and being the victim of things like hidden seek turned into a strange tag where instead of iting the next person the chacer have to do some weird parkour thing and shout some shit that didn't make sense in any shape or form.

Omni-dad still hadn't used to me using full sentences. Apparently, I was late on that development train. His poker face was again tried. I had every once in a while tested the waters of his true heritage, just like he did every once in a while with me, and Mark-baby.

"Just try for me Shery, I'll come to get you earlier today." He promised, but I could hear a slight distaste for the other children who ran around like headless chickens around us.

We had entered the warzone aka the playground. The pair were greeted, by the class teacher. Headpat for me and a paper folder for him. I smiled up at Missis Turner. 

"Are there still any yellow trucks around?" I asked her innocently knowing fully how I had either launched them into the atmosphere in a fit of rage or buried them deep into the sandbox. I was a fast digger thanks to my inheritance and methodical dining.

It was not that I didn't like trucks. No, they were my obsession in my last life. It was the reason I lived and the reason I died. I was pretty sure I was buried under three kilometers worth of rocks fused with copper, and zinc. So to deal with my death I bury all those trucks as to bury my past.

"No honey. For some reason, I cannot find even the already existing ones..." She said and set her finger thoughtfully on her cheek. "I wonder where they have gone."

No, you don't. You just try to psycho-evaluate based on that one psychology course you went on in high school. She is determined I have experienced some kind of trauma in which I used trucks and digging holes as an outlet.

Which, She wasn't entirely wrong.

"OKAY!" I chirped and off I went to find a shovel to dig up another hole.

It took me some time and control to find and not bulldoze any kids in my way. Where I found a shovel was a place of wonder. It was a shrine of OCD. A child shrine that I wondered why it wasn't handled.

In one private corner of the play area (the inside one) was a table placed on a white rug that wasn't there on Friday. was a small white table. On it were all kinds of "Instruments" you could find from kindergarten outside settings arranged neatly on the table, like in surgery. 

I stepped forward to take a green shovel to start the mine of the day. But then someone slapped my hand off from gripping it or at least tried to. For I being who I was had about 5 times better reaction time than a child and 10 times faster speed to evade it than a human.

Bang! 

the child accidentally instead of slapping me slapped the table. Sending the objects on it sails across the air. We stared at each other in shock at the bizarreness of the situation. The child. the little boy looked at me and I looked at him and it seemed like our words had grinded halt at that point. 

And then he started to wail and I being the logical being shoved a hand in his mouth to stop that god-awful noise that strained my unnaturally sharp ears. I gripped his jaw with my thumb and then again we stared at each other.

And then he turned white and seemingly fainted. Or at least fell onto the carpet and balled himself up. I stared down his freaking-out form and the only thing I could think of was, Aww shit here we go again. 

"SHERY! What did you do to him?" Missis Turner turned out from who knows where.

She assessed the boy on the floor as I wiped my hand on my shirt and tried to not be annoyed looking or gold as Turner yet again included in some poor kids manifesting mental ailment.

But for some reason, I didn't need to hide that for I felt a sting in my eyes and my frown turning into a real one. Sherry had always been a sympathy crier. 

So there Turner had it. Two crying weeping children with two kinds of mental ailments. OCD and Isekai. 

So it was no wonder how we got a pass from the first lesson on music and expressions. I wasn't happy about that I loved art and drama. And now I was made to sit out from it. All because some weird kid got awfully territorial about the toys.

"Umm... I am Ned... What are you?" That poor OCD bastard asked from the other side of the table were both set and... left.

I ignored the form which I was asked and the fact he was hogging all the smallest wooden beads we were left to him us. 

"I am called Sherry Grayson." I introduced myself as I watched him make braseled. "It's nice to meet you."

His unblinking eyes stared straight through me like I were invisible. Then he narrowed his eyes and at that moment like he wasn't believing me. And then he went back to work.

I thought the nose out through the mouth.

I focused on my own bracelet or necklace I was working on. I was tempted to make the most grotesque-looking jewelry out of the ugly beads I was left with but held myself back. When the guilt tripped me. I needed to do something to compensate for my lack of...

Or more like the fullness of meness. So I decided to dedicate this peace of kindergarten art to my dear Deb-Mom. 

So No green or orange beads and leave it about the same size throughout the chain. Remember sometimes less is more, keep the colors similar. Look for shade differences and make them dance from shade to shade.

I took my time to make the necklace. I planned to make it into a key chain if Missis Turner felt happy enough to give me a key holder.

"This is for you." A neat-looking bracelet was slid over the table.

I paused my work and looked at it. It was red and white with a single big yellow bead in the middle of it. A pease ofering? 

"I made it."

"I can see that," I muttered and carefully picked it up to examine it further. 

"Now we are friends!" He hurried to pull his other sleeve up to show a similar one on his hand.

My eyes swept over the rows and rows of neatly arranged pears on the table then they flittered onto his face searching for a reason for his unlogical behavior. He had tried to hit me and I had shoved my hand to his mouth. There was even my thumb-sized bruise forming on his chin. 

Kindergardeners were fucking wierd. "Sure."

And that's how I got my friend Ned the not-be-Flash.

kkk

Sitting next to Omni-dad in the doctor's office. I could feel the first panic attack of this life brewing.

What ta hell I was supposed to do? There was a good chance that the needle used in this shot wouldn't even pierce my skin! How could I hide my Viltuomisis when the result of it punched the doctor in the face?

"Hello, Mr Grayson. And the little lady Grayson and the little man Mark. I am Doctor Robinson and I am here to do your yearly check-up." That bottle-looking man with a goggled face mask crouched in front of me and extended his blue-colored hand to shake mine.

I didn't take it. Instead, I sneezed purposely on him. He took a hurried step up and back and rushed to dig a sanitary wipe out of his pocket and wipe himself down.

Hah, I knew it! He was a germaphobe!

I could feel how Omni-dad twitched on my side. He was pissed off by the man's incompetence already.

And he was fucking right to be so!

I mean who has the bright idea to become a doctor whose job is to deal with all sorts of germs, sickness, and other unmentioned kinds of filth? And why the hell then he choose to deal with kids? The most dirty humans of them all.

But that gave me an idea... How to avoid a vaccine shot... 

Mark bless his little heart decided to have a little accident.

It was strange to think that Omni-dad being hundreds of years old VILTRUMATE who never before had taken care of a child much less do something so lowly as to change a diaper.

But it seemed like he was a 100% attentive father and was in the 20% off actual father who took on more responsive than the mother. I had a feeling that it stemmed from the fact he felt like Debbie being a human couldn't possibly teach his children right.

"Excuse us. We will be right back. Sherry behave." He said to me as he rose while carrying Mark. He said it to me, but it was clear that the warning was directed to Doctor Robinson.

"All right. I will start the examination while you are at it." 

Yes, lucky stars are shining down at lill o' me.

The door was shut after Omni-Dad and Mark. And I was left alone with the bottle-looking doctor.

I turned at him a whit the most shit-eating grin you could possibly think on my face.

Kkk

Glasses sailed through the air as I pinned the bottle man to the floor. I had tossed the glasses from his face to protect both the face and the glasses.

I didn't wanna harm either, for A bruise on his face would tattletale me to my father and broken glasses were bitch to replace. And I wasn't an evil person so I tossed them to the paper thrash.

The doctor was freakin out as my knee pressed his face to the cold tile floor. He was stuttering and hyperventilating but stayed still under my unnatural strength.

"Now listen here, pretty boy. I have no intention of getting poked and prodded so you will do just as I tell you." I told him evenly like I was talking to a toddler. "Or wanna guess what I do?"

He whimpered and I gripped him by his curls and pulled his head back. "Tell me what happens?"

"Y-u-yu- youll-" He stuttered tears streaming down his face.

"I'll introduce you to my ugly side." I pulled a wooden pear necklace around his neck. Its colors reminded me of the pears we had been offered in kindergarten "And Ned too."

He whimpered and shuddered as I gently tugged the chain that matched the stress jewelry Ned seemed to be obsessed with.

"You will tell no one-off this. Do you understand?" 

He didn't answer again just sobbing and I let go of the necklace and stood on him.

"Do you understand?" I asked more forcefully and crossed little my arms on my chest.

"YES!" He sobbed and I lightly halfhopped half flied from his chest.

My old terror of keeping myself grounded as possible reflecting on my flight training. Or more over lack of it. I only used flying when jumping around to lighten the fall. My mental barrier stopped me from shooting straight up.

"Now let's begin." I turned and snatched the tablet off from the table and looked at the knowledge they wanted from me. It was basic, but what else did I expect?

"First height, then weight, then blood pressure, vision, hearing, and reflex. And last off the uptade vaccination." I read out loud and grimaced.

"We measured this shit. But I tell you what to write there. Got that?" Without waiting for a response I added: "As for the shot I guess we have to write it off for I don't think it will even pierce my skin."

"And by the way I want you to tell my dad how well I behaved."

kkk

"And how was my little lady?" Omni-dad asked as he finally got back with Mark.

Mark had costume chace so I think he took him for a spin at home when he left with him. That was good for me for I could hear the lobby from here if I concentrated and knew how possessive he could be.

"I was good!" I informed him as proudly as I could while wearing the mask of his child.

"Truly?" Omni-dad his tick brow raised to me as if he was douping me. Internally I grimaced.

Did he find out? Was I busted by myself?!

"Yes! she was. She was perfectly behaved and in great health." The doctor rushed. His "cheeriness" edged hysteria. "You got a great daughter!"

Poor Mark. Getting to be examined, by a mentally wrecked doctor.

"I know I have." Omni-dad patted my head with his free hand. "Now let's see what you have to say about my son.

And off was Mark handed. He wasn't happy and went and barked at the doctor, but otherwise, he was fine.

Omni-dad chuckle. Who would have thought that Viltrumate could have humor? His blue eyes met mine. Not me. He was watching me.

Kkk

"What did you do to him?" He asked lowly as we walked away from the hospis. 

"I did something wrong?" I asked and felt his hold on my hand tighten. I had no escape.

"It seems so," Omni-man stated he was looking at me again from the corner of his eye.

Think fast. THINK FAST!

"I sneezed on him..." I admitted while looking away in shame.

"Sneezed?" He asked in a neutral voice.

"HE IS LIKE NED! NED DOESN'T LIKE BUGGERS! HE FAINTS WHEN I SNEEZE ON HIM!" I told the world like a kid would.

"Who is Ned?" Omni- Dad asked with a weird voice. "And why did you sneeze on him?"

Mark gurled as I grinned up at him. "So he would stay away from my mine!"

"I see." He said, but I bet he didn't.

NEXT CHAPTER

Yes, I am traumatized by kindergarteners. I was in job experience week in kindergarten. It still haunts my dreams.

part 1

Neon-green electric bike is driving wild all over North America. It's no no-brainer that this minicon is going around as an electric bike eventually crosses the paths of the other Cybertronians. It's no wonder Soundwave eventually meets a ghost of his cassette and now wants to take in a Neon-green spandex missile.

To be fair I didn't think this could have been even possible to end up like this. I didn't think fate would be just a huge bitch. But there I was living my life... As a neon-green electric dirtbike... That ran on energon. I don't know how that was possible but it was so there I was.

You would think it would be cheating to be an electric bike that used fuel and you would be right, but nothing felt more cheating than the fact that out of all the possible things there could be in a universe where robots-sized two-story houses beat each other you would ens of being in the 1% that wasn't a two-story sized bot, but as one that alt mode was just sizable enough to be a fucking bike.

I was a minibot now, or a minicon?

I didn't know, nor did I care. I had bigger things to worry about. Like finding energon.

Finding energon was tricky. It wasn't exactly common nor that plentiful once found for reservations most often didn't hang around on the surface where I had access.

So I was cursed to drive around the wilderness in search of some food or die. Luckily being a minicon/bot I didn't need that much and being a fat bike let me go in the rough terrains very easily.

Just like right now.

The sandstone crunched under my wheels as I biked down a ledge in the middle of nowhere. 

The rock slides of this area had proved to be plentiful but after a year of biking around the ledges in the wilderness. In conclusion, I decided to change my view. 

Away with the mighty mountain ledges and rock slides away with snow and pines, I wouldn't be here for another winter, I would head south. Welcome sand, sun, and heat!

The mid-day sun heated my surface and reached the down of the ravine. The gentle stream lapped my tears as I headed down the stream. The round rocks gave no resistance and generally didn't jostle me that much.

I was nearing the hike path of this national park so I activated the protoform on my seat. It wasn't pretty, by any means just a person in a tight spandex and whole head helmet on my seat seeming like some sport nut job going about their day in 80km/h. 

Electric bikes weren't yet a thing or at least so popular so I got a few stray glances as I went, but nothing major. Finally, I made it to the camping area and set myself next to the real bikes to wait and see.

You see I had no thoughts of driving to my new area on my own. Why waste the fuel? I was going to hitchhike there. 

Bike thieves were everywhere and opportunist kleptomanes could be anyone if given a chance. So now I needed to choose a person who would go in the right direction.

I let my gaze wander along with the people trying to play mindreader on the four groups loitering around the park.

There was a family with two small children sitting by one of the picnic tables. They seemed to be just arriving... And their clothes were too local so they were off the list.

They wouldn't most likely go far or have the mentality to take an unguarded bike.

The next one was a promising hiker couple. Scruffy looking and eyeing me with curios eyes they emerged from the woods. Whit giant packages.

I could bet they would at least try to steal me and the Texas logo stitched on their jacked promised a journey far away to shouth.

But then they sat on one of the tables and pulled a video taper.

"Hello! Here we are across the U.S.A hiking trip with 450 kilometers left, but we are here in Idaho right now in a little moose nature center!" 

Should have known.. a hippy nature hike couple. I had seen enough of them to know. +It seemed like they were European. 

No luck with them.

now let's see. hmm.

Oh.

There was a band of boys loitering around the fire shelter. They acted like 

your typical over-caffeinated teen-bro-angsts pushing and shoving each other in a bull-like manner as they grilled hamburgers over the surprisingly in-control fire.

They seemed very promising. I was about 99% sure these people were the ones.

They did their dance for a while and honestly? I found myself quite entertained for I had started to narrate the ordeal like it would have been some nature show.

"And now the lower statue male challenges the alpha male by pushing him on the shoulder. The alpha male responds by pushing him back a little harder and laughing with his teeth bared. The lower statue male realizes the superiority of the alpha male and joins in on the laughter but aims his laughter to the side to show submission." 

After that, the pack started to move. There were six bros in the pack and they all were jock-looking and speaking heavily with an accent I betted to be southern. Or at least hoped.

Honestly, at this angle, it was a bit scary to have them lumber over to me, but I was counting on that they wouldn't want to scratch my shiny green paint job.

They were now in front of me and I if I could was holding my breath.

And then they walked past me without even sparing a glance, before hopping onto the bikes and driving off to the woods. That damned one present! 

HOW HARD IT COULD BE TO GET STOLEN! 

I mean I was a pretty fancy-looking bike! An electric one! That ran on Energon... BUT ANYWAY, WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO TAKE A BIKE LIKE ME INTO THEIR SOUTHERN HOME?

Someone grabbed my handlebars. I guess the fourth one is the charm. Woo-wee I am about to be stolen!

Wait? What is this supposed to be? I wanted to practice my stealer for he was the father of the first group I assessed.

The man walked me away from my parking spot like he owned me. Across the park we went and into the parking lot of the cars. There next to a greasy and rusty pickup truck was the heist family waiting, The tailgate opened and a piece of plank leaned on it to make a makeshift ramp.

The children were already herded and hopefully buckled up in the truck. Judging by the panting of the father I guessed he wasn't in that good shape. He had half-jogged me across the park and was panting like a hotdog. we weren't going to make it up to the blank. I was going to end up on my side on the asphalt.

So I decided to play it safe. Sneakily as I could I powered my back wheel on and gave myself momentum to make it up the ramp. The pickup truck tilted a little backward as I ran up to the back. I was unceremonically set on my side and a tarp was pulled over me. 

Now I was off to new views! Hopefully, some views that have less snow!

Nextchapter