When I woke up I was full size again, still cuddled between Cript and mom… I then noticed this pile was now… bigger? There were two other Dire Wolves here now. Both like me, they smelled… different, familiar but different. Do I know them?

“Uh...what?” I muttered, confused as to who the other two were.

With a yawn, Cript got up, stretching and allowing me to get up and get a better look at these two newcomers. One was the same color as me/mom, but the fur on her head had this...familier polish brown color, and the other, has a lighter take on the priors hair color, but their whole body was that color.

Looking I saw Cript shifting back to anthro form, dressed and cooking some eggs.

“Um...who are these two?” I asked nervously.

“What? Don't recognize the hair color?” Cript asked half awake. “I believe before God picked you up you called THEM Mom and Dad.”

“Wait, these are mom and dad?” I asked in surprise as I looked at the two again...and I’ll be damned...they actually are my parents.

“They wanted to have some family time also.” Cript said, yawning again as the smell of Frying eggs began filling the room. “They’ve been like this for… about five months. Den and the others have been helping them adjust to their new forms, and learning a few things about you as well, things they’ve missed since they were dead, and needless to say they were worried as all hell. So, figured kill two birds with one stone. One large family adventure.”

“Sounds great.” I said warmly as I gently nuzzled my mom and dad. “I’m happy they’re here.”

“Moning.” Mom-Den said, waking up next and Mom and Dad began stirring awake. “I smells eggs.”

“Cript is making eggs.” I said honestly. “Also, morning...maybe?” I asked, not sure if it’s morning or something.

"Sorta. It's five in the morning here." Cript said.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Good tok now what time it is cause...well we’re in a dungeon so I don’t know.”

"Clocks." Mom-Den said, humming, sitting next to Cript while in feral form still.

"Time to get up." Mom… said getting up. She looked at me with a big, warm smile as she gave me a lick. "Hi sweetie. Surprised?"

“More than surprised. “I said while hugging mom.

She hugged back… the squish between us made me blush so red I temporarily turned ginger. "Wow. You have your aunts boobs. Large and soft, yet firm and symmetrical." And now my blush might be permanent….

“Mo~m.” I groaned. “I don’t need you talking about my tits like that...I’m worried you copped too many feels in my sleep.”

"Nah." Mom said, breaking the hug. "So, wow… not exactly the life I imagined for you, but I can't complain with your success."

“Is it because your son basically let you both live in the lap of luxury?” I asked curiously.

"Actually it's all the grandkids." Mom said sheepishly.

“All of the grandkids.” I chuckled.

“Now, mind helping me get your father up? With this body he spends hours hugging his own breasts and while sexy it’s where I know you got your perversions.” Mom said, Dad was indeed faking sleep to hug their own cleavage.

“Listen, it’s not my fault that titties are always nice.” I said while picking up my dad with one hand. “Alright you, wake up. You can go back to fondling your breasts later.”

“Kill joy.” They hissed. Getting up, already i anthro form and getting dressed… my dad should not be that hot… so wrong… maybe? “So, from what I got you beat a giant skeleton and some kinda demon thing. Whats next?”

“Floor three.” Cript said, serving Mom-Den, Mom, Dad, myself and themself. “A giant F-off maze with about six Minotaurs roaming it. Found some info on this place after having my Assistant search for frequencies that give information.”

“Yay for a maze.” I said. “So are the walls strong enough to not just punch through?”

“This time yes.” Cript said, raising their Assistant up as a floor plan of this- Seven Hundred Floors!?!?! “Each floor gets harder, stronger, tougher, this place was built to give people like me a challenge, from the next floor onwards, it will be a challenge, injury and even death for Your moms and dad there is a high possibility.” Cript said, looking at me. “I can’t die, and you’re link to me make you the same, but Den…”

“I trust you love.” Mom-Den said, giving Cript a kiss on the lips. “If I can’t handle it, I know to run.”

“I’ll make sure to keep you both safe okay?” I told my parents gently.

“Ben, we came here not just to be with you.” Mom said, taking my hands. “We also came to prove ourselves.This power, this fight is not just yours, it’s ours as well. Your father and I want to back you up on the battlefield when shit hits the fan.”

“Yeah, can’t let you have all the fun.” Dad said, wrapping his arm around my neck and giving me a noogie like when I was four. “Gotta show my own son up somehow.” He laughed.

“I know I know.” I chuckled a little, my heart swelling as I teared up. “God...it’s...it’s been forever…”

“Eat up.” Cript said, he and Mom-Den finishing their food. “This maze might take a while.What I hear though it’s got a lot of good loot in it though.” they said, pulling out Darkest Hero… then tossing it to me. “Just in case Ben.” Cript said, taking out a strange handgun for themselves.

I took the weapon. “You sure?” I asked Cript honestly.

“I’m used to fighting things that can match or are stronger than me, did a lot before I picked that thing up full time. It’s just a loan though, once we clear this maze I’ll want it back.” They said, checking their ammo. “I also gave your mom and dad there some weapons also, they’ve been training with them also so, don’t be surprised.”

I saw Mom-Den was sharpening her nails. “We’ll be fine Ben.” She assured.

“I’m gonna need to learn how to make a Soul Weapon to be honest.” I brought up as I swung Darkest hero gently and away from the others to get a feel for it.

“I’ll show you in the next rest area.” Cript said, the door opening as we began heading out after rapidly scarfing down our meal.

The Door to the maze was a large, metallic gate and inside the maze I smelled… Death… I smelled a lot of death. Entering the door closed behind us...then vanished as a wall was now behind us. “Figured.” Cript said, sirking. “No turn backs, gotta find the exit now.”

“Yippee…” I sighed out while taking a deep breath. “Okay, so every maze should have a certain pattern, even if it’s magic.” I said as I already tried thinking of god knows how many kinds of patterns this thing could have.

“Let’s get going.” Mom said, we moved in a close group, looking both ahead and behind us for safety. We all caught the scent of bones. There was a split. One was strong with the smell of bones, the other smelled of… what is that? Bugs? “Which way, left or right?” Mom-Den asked.

“The smell of bones, or the smell of bugs…” I hummed as I took out Sharpshooters and fired an arrow down both paths, checking to see which one locks onto a target sooner.

The side that smelled of bones just hit a wall, the other… hit something… and it roared… and there was suddenly a lot of hard, fast paced thumping. “Oh I don’t like that.” Cript said, taking out his gun as Mom-Den readied her claws, Mom pulled out- … Is that a Rocket launcher?

“What?” Mom asked. “I like things that go boom.”

Dad had… a baseball bat? “Oh this is going to be… ‘fun’.” He said.

“Well...alrighty then.” I said while bringing out Darkest Hero and No Heart and donned my King Armor. “Alright, so depending on how this goes, we will probably have to run the other way.”

As what was rushing towards us came into… view...Spiders… thousands of… car sized spiders… “Nope!” Cript yelled, bolting the other way, and the rest of us followed.

“Nope!” I shouted as well. “All sorts of nope!”

We all bolted down the other path, the Spiders still in hot pursuit, Mom shot off two rockets, the blasts didn’t even make them flinch?! “I hate fucking Spiders!” Mom yelled.

“If the blasts didn’t even affect them, they must have a fire resistance on top of impact resistance.” Cript said. “Ben, mix Frozen Prides ice, Eternal Flames fire, and Foundure’s lightning to deep fry them.”

“Alright.” I said while I skidded to a halt and turned around. “Let’s go.” I shouted as I slammed Frozen Pride into the ground as ice rocketed towards the spiders, throwing massive fireballs from Eternal Flames, and hundreds of daggers from Foudre rained down. “Thunder Clap.” I said as I snapped my fingers, each Spider suddenly feeling electricity spark from their bodies as a massive bolt of lightning slammed into each of them with insane power.

They fell to the ground, twitching for a bit before finally they began stopping dead. Cript walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder in pride. “Nice work… hate Spiders…” He shivered. The spiders bodies now faded into ashes. “They had to have been guarding something… wanna check it out?”

“Alright.” I nodded. “Let’s go check what they were possibly guarding.”

Walking back to the split, we headed down where the Spiders came from. Needless to say, there was a lot of webs… wrapped up bodies… And a single chest in the center of it all. “Yeah, that’s not suspicious.” Dad said.

“Yeah, that’s an obvious trap.” I frowned.

“Not seeing a trip wire.” Cript said, walking around the chest. “Must be rigged from the inside.”

“Like when you open the chest the wrapped up bodies will burst out showing they were actually creatures waiting?” I asked.

“I’m thinking more along the lines of a bomb.” Cript said tapping the chest. “Or, or all we know it’s not even a chest, it could be a mimic.”

I took a bone and chucked it at the chest to see if it reacted. Nothing. “Okay so it’s probably not a mimic.” I said.

“Well, one tried and true method.” Mom said, walking just a bit away from the chest, then kicking the lid open with her leg. We all immediately got on the defensive. After a good minute of nothing happening, we looked in the chest. A...book? “All that for a book?” Mom asked.

“That depends on what the book is.” I said while checking the book to see what knowledge it held.

Nothing… Not a single word here. Not even a sign ink touched these pages. “A blank book… that can’t be right…” Cript hummed. “Let me see.” As I was handing the open book to Cript, when he grabbed it, before I could let go the pages suddenly filled with words. “Oh… now what’s this?” Cript asked, looking the words over, when I let go, they vanished. “Huh… only appears when two people hold it… interesting.” They said, having me take one side while they grabbed another, and the words filled the pages again… it was… names. A list of names that kept going. “Now what’s this about?”

“Um...how many names do you recall from this list?” I asked curiously.

"None." Cript said. "But I wonder…" He took the book, walking over to my parents and had them hold it, A single name appeared… my name… "I thought so. This book lists the name of every child you will ever have."

"We're not going to have more than Ben?" Dad asked, looking at the book.

"Can't we have more though? I always wanted Ben to have a little sibling." Mom said.

"If you do choose to, then more names should appear." On cue, more did, now filling the pages like how it did with me and Cript… wait… oh… oh wow… "And like that, Ben's a big brother… sister… eh."

“Now the better question is...who’s the father?” I asked. “Cause I’m dumb and immediatly thought of…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish that statement.

"Don't know. I'll have to examine this book more so to see if it can give us that answer." Cript said, putting the book away in his Assistant. "Well, if that was all, off we go then."

We all headed back to where we were, finding the room of bones. All of them were smashed to shards. "And Minotaur number one must be near…" Mom-Den said.

"Wonder how strong they are…" I hummed, preparing myself in case one of the does appear.

"Is It Right to take this stuff?" Mom asked, pointing out all the dead explorers items scattered about.

"Up to you really." Cript said.

I was looking around the items, finding most of it kind of neat… Then I saw some bones that were familiar. Alicorn bones.

"Wait...Alicorn bones?" I asked in concern. "Why...are Alicorn bones here?"

"This reality takes place in what should have been our realms future after the Admin war, or so, so Alicorns must have repopulated." Cript said, checking the bones. "Judging from the structure of these bones it was a male."

“Well...okay then.” I said honestly. “Good to know.”

Looking, I saw they were still holding onto their sword. A weird thing about it was.. it was wrapped in chains? “Why is their sword wrapped up in chains?” I asked curiously, looking over the weapon.

"No idea." Cript said. "Take what you can carry or what's useful then. Minotaur isn't here… yet."

I took the chain sword and put it in my Assistant, wanting to look at that later as I continued to search for whatever loot was hopefully useful.

Some throwing knives, potions, dried and canned goods, a spell book or two. Once all that seemed to be taken we headed off, another long hallway. As we werae walking Cript and Mom-Den stopped us. "You see it?" Mom-Den asked.

“See what?” I asked, looking around for what their seeing.

"The floor. The brick pattern is different there." Mom-Den pointed out, the floor bricks were in a different pattern. Normally they are in this odd X pattern, these ones are completely diagonal.

“Okay so...maybe we’re in a different part of the labyrinth?” I asked curiously. “Or this is a pitfall trap?”

"One way to find out " Dad said, tossing a baseball onto the floor above. The floor opened up, revealing a slide down into a darkness below.

“Well…” I brought out Eternal Flames and sent a small flame down the slide to see where it leads.

It kept going… and going… and I can't see the fire anymore… "That's concerning." Dad said.

“Yes...yes it is.” I nodded in agreement. “So who wants to go down first?”

"I don't think we should…" Mom said.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “So, that leaves us with what direction now?”

"Over." Dad said, the hole the slide was in went down was only a few feet long, the other half of the floor on the other side. Walking back a bit, then shifting to feral form, rushing then taking a jump, wall run then landing on the other side. "Easy." They said, shifting back to Anthro.

I literally walked on air over the chute. “You could have just asked for a levitation spell you know?” I asked honestly. “But that was cool.”

"Show off." Dad said with a chuckle. Both mom's jumped over the hole, and Cript just walked along the side of the wall defying gravity over.

"That was fun." Mom said.

“Alright, onward through this maze.” I said.

As we walked along I kept feeling… happy. My family wasn't just whole again but… better. Definitely larger. We came across another chest, this one just had a few more potions but for Stamina… keeping that for a… other use….

Then we came across something odd… a slot machine? "Oh wow… didn't expect to see these things again." Cript said.

“A slot machine here?” I asked curiously.

"Not just any, they give some.of the most insane winnings. Not just munny." Cript said, putting in five Rem amd pulling, landing on three cherries. Suddenly an ice cream truck appeared. "Completely random!" They said, opening the car up and checking on the frozen treats.

“Excuse me, what the hell.” I started.

"Like I said, random prizes." Cript repeated.

“Apparently.” I said honestly.

"Let me try." Dad said, putting in a single Rem, pulling. Landing on clovers, suddenly ten bottles of Irish ale appears around him. "Heh, just like Vegas."

“I don’t even want to know.” I said while putting in ten Rem and pulling. Three… are those wings? What kind of… and suddenly, I got sixteen roasted… is this sixteen whole ostriches? Roasted and wow that smells good… ”So...who wants to eat?”

"Guess we can take a short break." Mom-Den said, putting in seven rem. She got three hearts, and suddenly appeared a can of… spray? "What the?" She asked, reading It aloud. "True love in a can. Spray your love and they will love you as well, good for six uses, six lovers, never wears off. Huh…"

“Interesting.” I said honestly. “I don’t need that because I’m a walking chick magnet for...whatever reason.”

"My boy!" Dad said proudly, making me blush.

Now Mom put in some Rem, getting three gold pots. She was suddenly buried in gold coins. "I am not Scrooge McDuck!" She declared, trying to climb out from under the pile.

I helped Mom get out of the pile of gold. “All I can say is...never give this to Derpy, she would basically get anything and everything she wanted.”

"Heh. I'll try." Mom said shaking off a few coins.

After the meals and ice cream was gone, Dad put away the rest of the ale and mom put all that gold into her Assistant. With that done we headed off. A few small enemies were in our way. Goblins, a bear, and a very… very annoying mole thing.

“Well so far things have been simple enough.” I pointed out.

"That's worrying." Cript said. "Those Minotaurs should have shown up already."

"Maybe they're dead?" Mom asked.

"Not likely." Mom-Den said.

“Maybe their guarding the gate out of here?” I guessed.

"Would not surprise me." Dad said.

“But the lack of minotaurs...even their scent is worrying.” I said nervously.

"Yeah." Cript added. We continued on, finding another resting room. "Okay then." Cript said as we entered it. "This is here so boss, and those Minotaurs must be up ahead."

“And as far as we know it’ll be all six of them.” I said honestly. “And who knows how smart and fast these things are…” I said, thinking that pissing them off wouldn’t lead to an easy victory as they kept charging at nothing.

"There are five of us. So how are we gonna do this?" Mom asked.

“Either me or Cript takes two at the same time or I make a clone to make things even.” I said honestly. “Cause I kind of thought of trying to split them up so they wouldn’t have any coordination if they are a party instead of just singleton’s.” I explained.

"There might be a way. Though it in all honesty just adds to the running gag." Cript said.

“That depends on if their women.” I pointed out. “How many of them are women?” I asked curiously. “Cause we know six of them so...I hate how, again, a problem of mine is going to maybe solved with sex.”

"Not exact." Cript said. "Even if some aren't that spray Den got from the slot machine will work on them. I can add that to a special spell matrix that will give them intelligence. If they aren't already. In short, I can make a love bomb."

“Wonders.” I sighed out. “Well...that’s six more to the tally…” I said while bringing out a notepad with a pencil and flipping it open, writing down ‘six minotaurs’ and closing it. “Well, let’s get on with it then.”

"I'll start making the thing. You all just relax then." Cript said, sitting at a table with the can and began his magic ... literally.

Mom and Mom-Den were talking about their experiences with me and such, so I figured this was my chance to talk with dad about everything I was never able to before. “So dad…” I started. “How have...things been for you?”

"I got boobs and a vagina, still got a dick and I'm alive. I'd say things are going well." He chuckled.

“Glad everything’s going well.” I nodded. “But…” I sighed out. “Jeez, the one time I’m with my dad after god knows how long...and I don’t know where to start…”

"I did die a long time ago so it's understandable." Dad said with a nod. "Take your time. I'm listening."

“So many fucking things happened…” I sighed out. “So...let’s start with the simple thing of, what do you think of your son having a harem?” I asked curiously.

"Son… you are living my fantasy… which now I am technically a part of… heh."

“Which part? Me being alive and well, being a king, having more wives that I love more than anything, too many kids, or what?” I asked curiously.

"The harem part."

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Kind of thought you would be happy I was lucky on that.”

"Yeah. So, anything else?"

“Well...anything else your happy about me doing?” I asked. “Like...probably everything you heard what I’ve done?”

"I think the only thing I'm not proud of is the fact you are still… so sad. I can see it son, don't play it off."

“I will play it off cause it doesn’t matter that much.” I shrugged. “I mean seriously...shouldn’t really be depressed but it’s still there even after basically everything went my way.”

"And yet, it's still there why?"

“Because I’m a pessimist and there’s a bunch of other things that I feel like I’m failing at…” I sighed out. “As a father...as a husband...hell, even as a son…”

"You have no reason to feel that way. You need to learn to stop forcing your wounds open and let them heal."

“I mean, it’s been healing for a long time.” I said honestly.

"Then stop ripping them back open. Ben, I know about all the stuff that lead up to both my and your mother's Death, your other life as Diane, all the pain and suffering in your life, was done to you by someone else. None of it was your fault at all. It was Nexus that did this to you, if you want to hate anyone, hate them and them alone, not yourself. This whole thing with the Void Mother, Nexus, Coco… you don't have to carry the burden alone, and more will we let you."

“I have several things to blame myself about...and Coco is one of my failures…” I sighed out sadly.

"But who set Coco on the path that leads to this?" Dad asked.

“Who was the one that couldn’t save her from a blatantly obvious thing?” I countered.

"You are so much like me at your age."

“Oh, that’s still another bit of bullshit I have. Technically I’m not even me, I’m someone completely different, and even then if I was only me I don’t know fucking shit about what actually happened in my life that it’s like ‘well then who the fuck am I?’.” I growled in irritation at that.

"You are you. Ben, Diane, someone completely new. You choose your identity."

“Eclipsa already told me that.” I brought up. “But it’s a bit hard when you thought you had things understood, only to be told things are randomly worse and also your someone completely different.”

"Well, take her advice. Nothing worthwhile comes easy."

“Nothing literally came easily to me.” I pointed out.

"Save for the ladies." Dad said with a smirk.

“Hey, I’m just lucky they gave a damn about me to begin with.” I said honestly. “Seriously, Luna liked me because I’m the hero, Twilight just tagged along because she was dating Luna...and then the rest was due to a lot of random things.” I said honestly.

"And you say this Derpy is the luckiest?"

“I mean, she wins the lottery like once a week.” I shrugged. “I’d call that lucky...also she has too much porn of me…”

"Oh a Stalker now? Tell me more?"

“Stalker? No.” I shook my head. “She was a super fan more like it.” I said honestly. “All the memorabilia I didn’t know that existed she had...the first time she met me she literally went faster than the speed of sound to her room after she...kinda came.” I said sheepishly. “Yes, she literally looked at me, came, and then bolted to her room...hurt like a bitch cause my ears were bleeding and I think I went deph because of that before the wonders of magic healed my ears back up.”

"Ha. Nice… I never told you how you came to be born huh?"

“No, you never did.” I said honestly.

"Back before you were born I…" Dad called forth his Baseball bat. "Was scouted for the state Baseball league. I was their rising star. Rookie with promise. Your mother got pregnant with you halfway into the season. But she was there for every game, traveled with us. We lived in an RV at the time. She gave birth to you in the game that would have took us to the major leagues. I could not get out of that stadium fast enough to catch her getting loaded into the ambulance and to the hospital."

“So you were a major league baseball player and yet we lived in a humble middle class.” I pointed out.

"Ha. No. No we were going to become major league. I had some cash from my games, enough that I could have gotten a real nice place, but hospital bills are the biggest bitch. Heh. Just covered it and there was just a few grand left after words. I spent it getting us home and our little craphole. Got a job at the bread factory and never looked back, know why? I took one look at you and knew, no amount of money or career was worth being away for so many games in other states for weeks."

“Well then.” I started. “Good to know you’ve been a better dad than me.” I sighed out.

"Heh. Your mother thought otherwise, said you and she would have been fine. Maybe. Point is Ben, nobody is a perfect parent. There's just good choices and lucky choices. And unlucky ones. So long as your kids grow up fine that's all that matters. You grew up good, and your kids better. You're not a failure, you're just not perfect, and that fine with everyone."

“Problem is, you stopped what you were really good at, giving up a dream of being in the major leagues for me...and I have given up nothing as it feels like I’m just ignoring them constantly…” I said sadly.

“Dream? Heh, I was just talented, Baseball wasn’t my dream.” Dad said with a sigh. “No… my dream was to screw a thousand women. But, I met your mother and my first lover was the one I stayed for. Though we did have some three ways every now and then.”

“Good lord…” I chuckled a little. “Well congrats, I took your dream and then doubled it.”

“And that makes you the best son ever!” Dad said, giving me another noogie.

“Yeah yeah.” I chuckled. “Look at me being all special.”

“So...about this… whole thing though…” Dad said, letting me go. “You do know that us being this was because we… joined Cript as… spouses… Should I be worried...expecting something… or…?”

“You should expect literally anything at this point.” I said honestly. “Like how incest in this family means fuck all about genetic defects.” I brought up. “Cause you know, for some reason a five way just popped into my head...then I remembered the six minotaurs I’m probably going to have join my harem...good lord.”

“Hey… OUR Harem… I’m riding my own sons harem… know what, I’m okay with it.” Dad said laughing.

“So you’re okay with the thought of me probably plowing you and mom?” I asked, wanting to double check here.

“I mean, we’re all adults, genetics mean fuck all at this stage, an so long as we’re all equally awkwerd about it/horny enough to not care I guess it’s to be expected. Though when I give birth, if it’s your litter, I will bite you, and I plan on breaking bones.”

“Rude.” I said. “Why are you so hostile if it’s mine?”

“Despite having the parts you clearly have not given birth yet. When your mother gave birth to you, she broke my hand, then my wrist… then my lower arm… just to get something to grab and squeeze to distract from the pain… I was in a cast, for almost two years. I want some form of payback for that young herm.“

“Okay so let me start with how, back in the human world, that should be physically impossible.” I started.

“Never underestimate the power of an adrenaline filled woman giving birth who did weightlifting in high school. Women could bench press ME back then.”

“Yeah...of course she also was a weightlifter.” I said.

“There’s a lot about us you don’t know.”

“I mean, you two died before you honestly could explain when I was older.” I brought up.

“I know. And we will tell you now that we can.”

“Alright.’ I nodded. “So, besides you fondling yourself pretending to be asleep, how are you handling being a dire wolf?”

“The fur is… less hot than I expected. Not sexy wise I mean general heat wise, even in the sun I’m not as overheated as I expected. Night vision is cool, wish I had that back on earth, would have made all those nighttime bathroom runs a whole lot less toe stubbing.”

“Yeah, that was always a bit of a problem.” I shrugged. “But that’s good to know.” I nodded. “Anything else?”

“Aside from the obvious boobs, fine ass and triple X sized dick? The ability to sniff and know exactly what it is, is pretty cool.”

“I mean, the boobs and ass are nice.” I brought up. “And the nose knows ya know?”

“Heh, yeah. The only thing I hate is the amount of shampoo I go through and how hard as hell it is to dry off all the hair.”

“You get used to it.” I shrugged. “Plus, the floof after washing is both a blessing and a curse.”

“Heh. Nice. So used to having short hair, all this long head hair on top of all the body hair is… interesting.”

“It is, but the only problem I had adjusting to this is that women use too many kinds of shampoo. Like come on, you don’t need like six to do what two can do.”

“Your mom would argue the opposite.” Dad laughed.

“And I would argue against it, and add that panties are a terrible form of underwear.” I brought up. “Seriously, even if I didn’t have a dick in this form, panties would be uncomfortable.”

“And that came from where when we were talking about shampoo and hair a moment ago?”

“Sorry, just bringing up stupid stuff that my wives tried to explain but honestly couldn’t.” I shrugged.

“Heh. Well your issues. So how was your first few weeks when you got sent to Equestria?”

“Oh you know, normalish.” I said. “Even though several times I got my ass kicked.”

“Well, we never were able to get you those Fencing classed your mom wanted to get you. She thought it would look good on a college application.”

“Wait, mom wanted me to learn fencing?” I asked curiously.

“Since you were born, it’s something she would watch your grandpa do while she was growing up.”

“That sounds nice.” I nodded. “I would have loved to learn that...but given that all my weapons are not fencing weapons that might not have helped.” I said honestly.

“Alright, almost ready.” Cript said, holding the spray can glowing in magic. “It shouldn't affect any of us, just the minotaurs. Hopefully.” Cript sighed.

“And...why the ‘hopefully’?” I asked curiously.

“This shit is pure lust in a can I rigged into a bomb, give me some credit I didn’t blow it up while making this thing.” Cript quipped. “The mist won’t go far, so we have to make sure they are all within fifteen feet of the bomb, just a whiff and they’ll be… well, you can take a guess.”

“Alright, so it won’t affect me correct?” I asked curiously. “Cause I have a dumb idea.” I said. “And that dumb idea is to basically take the bomb, run right into the six of them, and then set it off.”

“It shouldn’t, but in all honesty I have no real idea.” Cript said.

“Alright.” I nodded. “So...best not to take that risk...I’ll try to clump them up, you said fifteen feet correct?”

“Yes.” Cript confirmed. “Let’s head out.”

Heading out, the walk to the final area was pretty uneventful. We arrived at the doors to where these Minotaurs should be, only for Cript to stop us. “Wait a minute… Something’s not right here…”

“How so?” Mom-Den asked.

“The door open a crack…”

“Okay...so something, or someone, is fucking with us.” I frowned. “Or ahead of us, either or.”

“There shouldn’t be anyone ahead of us, none of the other bosses before hand were dead.” Cript said. “This feels bad…” He said, taking out Biohazards Curse and pushing the door open. Inside were the Minotaurs…. Dead… “All of them slaughtered?”

I went to check the corpses, but I sniffed the air and caught someone’s scent...and I know that scent…”Oh hey, it’s the Cunt.” I growled. “I know your here, you can come out.” I said, fully prepared for her to appear out of nowhere.

There was clapping, Rune herself walking from behind the corpses. “About time you used that nose for something other than sniffing the cunts of your sluts.” She said. “How’s it been? Coco still comatose?”

“Like you cared to begin with.” I rolled my eyes. “So, what? Your here to die before you can hear Zeke’s speech to win your heart back?” I asked curiously.

“Heart? You act like I had one to begin with.” She said, pulling out a Void Key, her body suddenly covered in black moving lines. “Looking for this guy?” She asked, shaking Void Key. “He says ‘come and get me’.” She rushed in, clashing with my No Heart, the blast from the impact tossed the corpses against the wall.

Dad charged in, trying to get a hit on her back but getting a Void tentacle arm smacking them against the face and into the wall across the room.

Rune and I clashed repeatedly, every hit I tried to make she clashed in perfect pre-calculated predictions. Cript joined in, he and I switching out to try and throw her off but she kept up with impressive speed and agility. “She’s good.” Cript huffed.

I didn’t say anything, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself, I pulled out Darkest Hero and pointed it at Rune. “Alright, let’s see how she handles this.” I said, feeling the power of Cript’s Soul Blade crackle to life as I vanished and swung both No Heart and Darkest Hero at her.

She ducked, kicking me in the gut and slamming my head into the floor. She’s fast… “So much power, so little experience.” She taunted, Dad and Cript now ganging up on her while Mom-Den shifted to feral form, preparing a howling spell.

“Alright…” I muttered while I put Foudre on both Darkest Hero and No Heart, Darkest Hero now adding Rune’s speed to my own, Foudre’s natural speed boost stacking along with my own insane speed. “Alright, that’s fixed.” I nodded before drop kicking Rune before she could react. “Hooray, I’m fast as fuck.”

I managed to get a fast, multi hard hitting combo on Rune, Dad and Cript also getting a lot of hits in while she was staggered and Mom getting a Missile launcher shot right into Rune’s face. Rune has some injuries now, making her smirk. “Finally. Some fun.” She said, taking out black colored replicas of my Foudre, then stabbing them into her arms. Their electricity and metal bonding with her flesh, boosting her speed. “You aren’t the only one with fun toys~” She cooed sadistically, rushing off with a Flash style trail of purple lighting. She gave a hard gut punch to Mom and was now after Dad.

“Oh? You can do that as well?” I asked while Foudre embedded themselves in my body, as lightning crackled through me. “Let’s see what happens.” I said before clotheslining Rune out of nowhere again. “Come on, it’s like your moving in slow motion Rune.”

“Maybe you’ve been moving too fast.” She said, rushing up the wall to the ceiling, jumping at a fast speed down as Void Key crackle with Void and… Code?! She hit the ground, the impact shattering the floor and blasting everyone, myself also, back against the walls. Grunting as I got up, she was pulsating Void and Code. “Can’t do that now can you?”

“I mean...kinda?” I said while pulsating Nothingness and Code. “Just replace the Void with Nothingness and it’s basically the same thing.” I said, taking a deep breath as I also added Grey and Generation to the mix because I apparently want some overkill. “Doubt you can continue with what I’m doing here right?”

She smirked. “Oh I don’t have to. Just need to take away another loved one.”

“Gah!” We all turned around, seeing someone with this purple aura around them had punched Mom in the side… and her back should not bend at such a narrow angle.

“Awh, was hoping she had tougher skin than that.” The newcomer said, stomping on Mom’s leg, breaking it, making her scream even more. It was… a kid! “Hi there Ben, Name’s Deku, Tanya has told me a lot about you-”

“Bastard!” Dad yelled, swinging his bat at the kids head. Deku caught it, shoving it back into Dad’s face and breaking their jaw.

“Now, didn’t you ever learn it’s not nice to interrupt the one speaking in a room?”

I saw what happened...I knew I could have stopped it all...my eyes turned into both Psychopath and Humanity...Amplify was also being turned on as all my powers went haywire as my Den Mother instincts tried to fight against the oncoming wave of rage that...honestly I just felt numb. “Do you...know how much you fucked up?” I asked, my voice monotone and hollow.

“Oh? Heheh. Just like Kachan always used to say to me.” Deku laughed, putting a foot on Mom’s barely moving chest. “But, tests have to be run, data collected. Like the new Nomu.” Deku said, looking a bit to the right I saw Mom-Den and Cript were fighting these… amalgamation monsters, keeping it even between them and the monsters but the monsters numbers were keeping them there. Dad was out cold from the hit to the face. “Now then, what happens when I kill her?” Deku asked, starting to press his foot down as his purple aura began growing. “I normally only kill if it’s my last option, but…Tanya was rather interested to learn what your choice would be? Who’s blood is going to be spilled first here?”

I...honestly don’t know what happened. My mind just went blank as all I could feel was warm blood on my fur, bones breaking, flesh being torn off with my teeth...but nothing mattered at that point...the only thing I had in my mind was ‘save your family’...and that’s what I did...in such a display that it would even make Rune queasy. As I came to...the entire room apparently was completely covered in blood, bit’s of Nomu here...bit of Nomu there...and as I looked down...I saw Deku...his face in a look of shock and fear...as his head was literally the only piece of his body that was whole…”What…” I muttered, looking around as I got a closer look and...there was supposed to be a dungeon here...why do I see the sky?

“Hehahahahaha!” Rune’s laugh echoed through the rubble as she tossed off debris from where she was. “So there is a killer underneath all that Heros Morality you flaunt so egotistically.” She said, breathing heavily and badly beaten. “This has been educational. Don’t worry though, that wasn’t our only Deku.” She laughed, slipping into a Void portal and was gone.

”Just woke up, the fuck happened?” I heard a voice in my head.

”Go to sleep.” I heard another voice in my head say as the first one agreed and went back.

I looked at my hands, which were covered in blood and bits of flesh and bone...I can taste all the abominations I devoured…”What...what…” I muttered, panicking quickly. “Mom! Dad! Cript! Den!” I called out quickly, panicking and looking around in fear, hoping they were okay.

“Here.” Cript said, looking and seeing a glowing barrier under some rubble. Tossing the large rubble aside, and letting Cript disband that barrier. Mom-Den was healing Mom and Dad, dad looking better but mom was still… pretty banged up… “I had a point nine trillionths of a second to grab Den, your mom and dad and form that barrer. You now know why I never go full power Ben… You don’t even remember what you did huh?”

“Rage…” I said. “That...was all I felt...and...protect my family…”

“There’s nothing wrong with that Ben, but that much power with an unstable mind… Ben this Dungeon was seven hundred floors down, sixty million miles deep and everything below us is rubble now. I never go full power cause this power should not even be allowed to exist. We’re lucky you didn’t blow up this whole Creation.”

“Only reason...it’s special...is because it’s super enchanted.” I panted, not sure what to say...before looking down at Deku’s scared face again… “Oh god…”

“You blacked out, didn’t you?”

“He nearly killed mom…” I muttered.

“And while I can understand the reason you had for killing them, you blacked out, the power drove your actions… you… kinda ate him… then went after the Nomu…. Then just tore up the dungeon.”

I felt my Assistant buzzing, and when I looked at it my level went up a veritable ass ton as well as all the loot that was destroyed somehow went straight into it...but I really couldn’t tell with how numb I felt still. “The fuck…” I cried, falling to my knees and sobbing.

Cript pat my back, staying next to me as I cried. “That much power… takes away your mind, your soul… your identity. We’re the ultimate weapons, the ultimate fighters, but if we use too much of this power, we can’t differentiate friend from foe, innocent from guilty… I never go full power because this very thing you just experienced right now, has happened to me too many times.”

“If...I was in my right mind…” I shivered. “If...I didn’t just go numb with rage...I could have...seen something…” I said sadly.

“You should be glad though...killing them in your right mind… might have left a scar on your soul forever. But this will happen again… and next time, you can’t lose control like that again… you’ll have to kill again… and remember it all.”

“Yeah, something I really didn’t want to do again.” I sighed out. “But...I killed a child…” I said sadly.

“So have I.” Cript said, taking Deku’s head. “Granted, I was just a kid too.” They used Code to male a hole, placing Deku’s head in it then began making dirt to put over the head… a barriel. “His name was Cameron. He was about as fucked up as you could imagine. I just founded my company, and my first mission from Lord, long before I was an admin, was to kill this psychotic bastard of a kid. We were the same age, fifteen. I didn’t want to stain my magic with blood so I took a gun, was new to them at the time. He was winning, sliced my shotgun in half then… I reacted. Stabbed the broken barrel in his chest and pulled the trigger. It was… my first kill. First of many. It taught me one thing though… not everyone is worth saving, worth the effort, no matter the age, gender, past. In the end, he chose that life, they all do.”

“You weren’t a den mother at the time.” I deadpanned.

“No, I was a child. A child who grew up loving the passafict life of a mage, was tortured and experimented on by my best friend for a year, witnessed a scuicide and gained a company, and was thrown into conflict.” Cript said, once Deku’s head was buried, formed a tombstone for him. “I have this policy. Everyone I kill, I bury. Helps to ease my mind somewhat.”

“Difference is...you were literally born for this...I’m not, plus...you can kill with a decent enough conscious...I just feel like a failure to my very being because of this…”

“I think this is one of the reasons Lyra is obsessed with eternally expanding the harem.” Cript sighed, still rubbing my back. “She thinks all the sex and lovers will be a good enough distraction. She’s half right. The other half. Even for Admins, souls are hard to make. We take a lot from the afterworlds to be reborn. I like to think the people I have to kill… get a second chance in my family. I don’t know when or who they will be born as, but there are open arms in our family, past be damned.”

“I know but…” I muttered. “I failed as a Den Mother…”

Cript sighed. “Can’t say otherwise there. Just means you have to atone for this sin. One way or another.”

“Really can’t…” I muttered sadly. “How can I atone, as a Den Mother, for killing a child?”

“My guess…” Mom-Den said, still healing mom with some magic. “Children. Lots of children. Take a life, a young life, so bring as many as you can into this world. That’s what I’d do.”

“Didn’t Eclipsa do something similar?” Cript thought. “Taking care of kids, orphans on her world after killing that one pregnent Ventral?”

“Yup.” Mom-Den said. “Do the same I guess. Two people atoning for taking a child's life by forever having and caring for children. Sounds fitting.”

“I doubt it’ll help…” I muttered sadly as I got up.

“It’s better than nothing.” Cript pointed out.

“This is still all my fault…” I said sadly, looking over at both of my injured parents. “Could have just killed Rune and stopped everything from happening...but no, I thought ‘oh hey, Zeke still needs to talk things out’...but no, this is War, I shouldn’t give a fuck about the damn plot and actually do what’s needed.” I growled angrily.

“No taking back sins now.” Crips said, standing up now. “Only atonement.”

“There is none…” I said sadly. “Especially for me…” I shook my head. “I could have done something...anything to stop this, I had the power to...but no...I just stood there like a fucking idiot…”

“Look… Nothing I say will help you. We make mistakes, and we have to live with them. It was him or your mom, and even though she’s pretty banged up, she’s alive. That’s the right choice in my book.”

“I’m supposed to be a hero…” I sniffled. “Not let this crap happen…” I sighed out while walking over to Den and my parents. “How...how are they doing?”

“Your dad will be fine.” Mom-Den said. “Your mom has a lot of broken bones. But she’ll be fine, some healing treatments and bed rest for a week and she’ll be all healthy again.”

“Good way to spend a family adventure huh…” I sighed out sadly. “This should have been a fun day with family…but...at least they’ll pull through.”

“They’ll be stronger for it.” Cript said. “They got a taste of what we’re up against. We all did. We’ll be better next time.”

“We will.” Mom-Den said. “Because now, we know what they want to do, at least at the moment, is break us. Now they know what we can do.”

“Yeah, making me feel like garbage…” I sighed out. “Christ...can’t things just be simple for once?” I grumbled, feeling like a failure because I didn't do anything to stop this. “Does anyone know a good therapist?” I asked honestly.

"So, what brings you to my office today?" Lyra, Eclipsa's Lyra, asked. She was sitting in a chair while I sat on a rather fair sized couch.

“Where do I even begin…” I sighed out. “Well to start, I ate a kid in a fit of unholy rage.”

"Oh. And this child… what caused this? Were they the cause of this rage? What did they do?"

“The child that did this was ‘Villian’ Deku, an evil version of Deku from the My Hero Academia world...and he...nearly killed my mom, not Den Mom, but my earth birth mother…” I explained.

"I see. I understand you lose her once before, before Cript revived her, such a reaction would be expected. Given your Biology, eating them was likely pure instinct at the moment, as in moments of pure adrenaline fueled rage ones higher brain functions often shut down."

“Yeah, I couldn’t tell when I accidentally destroyed seven hundred floors of a super enchanted Dungeon and didn’t know how I did that.” I said honestly.

"I see." She said, writing down some things. "Now, given you are a Den Mother I take it you feel even worse about this situation?"

“You have no idea...I mean, I already feel like shit for killing again...and a child at that…” I said as the memory of Deku’s cut short scream surfacing. “Oh god...this is all terrible…”

"Suppressed memories are one method the mind protects itself, most of the time they surface with time or under specific conditions. Other times, they never do. Now then, as a mother and as a person such an act requires both punishment, and redemption."

“Both of which won’t be enough.” I sighed out.

"People in your situation will believe that whole heartedly. But acting to make up for it is better on the mind and soul over doing nothing about it."

“Kind of hard when I feel like anything I do won’t solve it…” I sighed out. “And to be honest...that’s not the worst part of this all...that would be ‘why did I stand there like a jackass and not do anything to stop literally everything that happened’.” I frowned.

"Simple shock." Lyra said. "One at your power thinks, you're invincible, nothing can harm you, you can protect everyone and no one can do anything about it… then someone does. That mentality shatters and you realize that even if you out power someone, they can still outsmart you, surprise you, hurt you. All your power and you fell for a simple sneak attack. It pains you to think you fell for such a simple tactic that ended up being far more effective that you would have expected."

“No, I mean literally, I could have just killed Rune before this entire thing started, and then when my Mom was on the ground injured by Villain Deku, I could have just simply knocked him out before he knew what had happened.” I frowned. “There is no ‘shock’ to this, I stood there, and did nothing to solve the immediate problem both times. When my mom was hurt, I could have stopped Deku before it continued, but no, I stood there and watched my dad also get hurt. There’s a difference between ‘shock’ and ‘standing there like an idiot’.”

"Many think that." Lyra said. "They just don't want to accept it. You might be an Admin now, but you were human first Ben."

“Yes, I know, and even if I was a human first, I would have seen that I could just solved the problem immediately instead of putzing around like an idiot.” I frowned. “This is War...I shouldn’t give a shit about my inner bookworm knowing Rune’s going to be begging for Zeke’s forgiveness after they have a talk and he beats the shit out of her.”

"You think that?" Lyra asked.

“As a smart person? I should. As a character in a story whose authors constantly fight about what I can and can’t do? No.” I said simply.

"Same fourth wall habits as Eclipsa. But people are harder to read the pages in a book."

“I know that.” I said honestly. “And sorry, I think she’s rubbing off on me...uh...that came out wrong.”

"Knowing you two, no it did not." She laughed. "All in all, what you need is something that can make you feel like you are writing the wrongs in your life."

“Well I’m gonna have fun with that.” I rolled my eyes.

"Question is, what do you feel would work to satisfy you?"

“Fucked if I know.” I said honestly. “I just go about day by day doing whatever, trying to ignore literally all of my problems.”

"And that there is your main problem. Ignoring ones problems leads to… this." She gestured to all of me.

“What? Ignoring problems leads me to talk to someone about my current problem?” I asked.

"It leads to more problems. Negativity attracts negativity. And Don't say some science stuff about that being wrong."

“If Negativity attracts Negativity then why the hell do I have literally everything I have at the moment?” I asked. “I don’t need ‘science’ to disprove that...I can have personal experience disprove it.”

"Hmm." She said, writing some more stuff down. "You have everything Physically, but mentally, why do you still feel like you have nothing?"

“Because, even though I have my heart, light, and soul back, I always doubt myself and am a natural pessimist.” I said. “I’ve screwed up enough to be scared things will fall apart, so there’s always that one little thing that might ruin everything for me.” I explained.

"Everyone has that, no one is exempt from fear Ben."

“Okay…” I said slowly. “I...already knew that though…”

"Have you accepted it though? You admit you have fear, but have you accepted this fear?"

“Does it matter at this point?” I asked honestly.

"It always matters. When you accept your fears, you accept part of you that all of us dislike."

“And what? Is that all of me?” I asked curiously. “Cause I’ve gotten to the point of ‘I’m okay if people just hate me for me’...I’m not really a good person in all honesty.”

"You may think that about yourself but others would sing a different song."

“Your right, they would actually sing that song really well while I’m tone deph without Arpeggio.” I rolled my eyes.

"Joking to hide pain, another coping mechanism."

“Not really.” I said. “I’m honestly being serious here.” I said. “Like, I can’t sing for shit without Arpeggio.” I said while trying to prove my point...only for my point to fall flat as I could actually sing well. “God damn it.”

"Sometimes a little self confidence goes a long way." She said, sifting through her bag next to her.

“Oh?” I asked curiously. “Pulling something out?”

"A suggestion." She said, taking out a flyer for the kingdom itself. "We all know you are the face of the crown and kingdom. Fluffy, adorable, and drop dead sexy. I recommend you focus on that to help build your self esteem up. I also want you to research this Deku fellow. The one you killed, see what kind of person they are, were, and decide for yourself if they were worthy of redemption or life in general."

“Listen, most people can get a second chance...a child especially…” I sighed out. “But...fine, and thank you for the compliment.”

"My pleasure. Please come back in two weeks for an update." She said with a nod.

“Alright.” I nodded gently. “I...really should go see John or the Foretellers...I hope they’re all okay…” I sighed out while getting up and heading out. Once out I headed to my office. Taking a seat I began thinking… focus on my job, and research Villain Deku… Personally I'd rather do just the later…”So...Villian Deku’s world I go I suppose…” I muttered.

Sighing, I opened up a DTN and headed there. The world seems silent. People walked around and minded their own business. Where to start?

“Maybe…” I muttered. “Um, excuse me sir.” I said politely. “Do you know where the Pro Hero Association Building is?” I asked curiously.

"Come to pay respects also? Down the road East." They said solemnly, taking their leave.

“Respects?” I blinked. “Oh no…” I muttered while heading off quickly down to where the Hero Association should be.

Once there… there was just a closed off rubble pile. A plaque read,

Here lies the Hero Academia, a once proud school now gone. All 3,598 students were killed by one villain. All the teachers fell to the same fate.

“Well….fuck.” I started. “Who...who did this?” I wondered worriedly.

"Who do you think smart ass?" Turning around, I saw… Bakugou, wearing one of those time cloaks. "It was Deku." They said, walking up to the plaque. "Killed everyone. Me as well. Had I not already had this Keyblade I would have been dead permanently."

“So...murdering him was fine apparently.” I sighed out.

"He was a monster… I'm the one who made him like that though." Bakugo sighed. "When we were little, I'd hurt him, make him cry because he couldn't fight back. He was quirkless. I found out he… took my advice… tried to kill himself. He was found not by heroes or a passerby. The League of Villains found him. A group of murderers, crooks and thieves… healed him. Treated him better than I or anyone else ever did. One day, in the middle of the semester he walks into the school with this purple aura around him… massacre is an understatement. I found out after he killed that version of me that, he killed his and my parents before heading to the school. Then, went after All Might."

“Okay never mind, he was treated like shit and then lead down a terrible path…” I sighed out.

"He chose that path…" Bakugo said. "He chose it because I, no one believed he could be a hero… so he became a villain instead. Killing him should have been my burden… I can't undo what I did, rules and all… I can't take any of it back either. I'll just be stuck living with the monster I created." They turned to look at me. "I'm sorry, you were the one to end his misery… I wanted to be there when he showed up but… I wasn't allowed."

“He deserved a second chance.” I said. “No one believed he was a hero...the only ones that believed in him were villains...if I just…” I sighed out.

"You didn't know… I just wish… if I could… I'd go back and undo everything." They summoned No Name. "Funny… I can… but I can't."

“You can’t…” I started as I summoned Fair Game, Code sparking on it. “But I can.”

"This isn't your mistake, Ben." They said, disbanding No Name. "If you make a mistake then jump back in time to undo it, you will.make something worse happen. Time has a way of punishing those that try and alter it."

“Well then I’d like to meet Time.” I frowned. “Cause I have been through time twice, and nothing happened.” I frowned. “What’s so special about Lord sending people through time that I’m not allowed magically?”

"Judgment. Time knows what's meant to happen and what should not."

“Convenient.” I rolled my eyes.

"Pre-calculated is more accurate. Look, Deku is my burden to bare. Let me carry that sin around. You just focus on the one you already have." With that, Bakugo vanished in a light blue flash.

“Wait...what?” I asked. “The...one I have?” I wondered. “What...do I have to go to another MHA or something?” I asked, legitimately confused on what Bakugo wanted.

Heading home… I didn't know what to make of what they meant. More confused than I liked… I looked for Zeke. As Diane he did often have good advice so...

“He better be around…” I grumbled, looking around for Zeke cause he’d probably know what the hell Bakugo meant by ‘you just focus on the one you already have’.

I found Zeke in the Library reading over spell books. He looked up and noticed me. "Oh. Hey Diane." They said, sitting up a bit.

“Hi.” I started. “Do you know what ‘just focus on the one you already have’ means?” I asked.

"Depends." They said, raising a brow and closing their book. "What's the context?"

“I ate Villain Deku in a fit of ungodly rage, and his Bakugo told me to not feel like shit over it...as I’m still feeling like shit over it.”

"... Okay, that's a new one." They said, shaking their head. "So, they were…?"

“They were what?” I asked.

"What did they do that brought this up?"

“That brought up Bakugo telling me that or what did Villain Deku do to make me eat him?” I asked.

"The last part "

“He nearly killed my Mom…” I said. “Not Den mom but...earth mom.”

"Hmm… that would do it. I don't know much about the situation around them, but in short, did they even want redemption? Did they care?"

“No idea, they were raised by Villains when he tried to kill himself, like Bakugo wanted, and then he got Void powers and then...murdered his parents, Bakugo’s parents, and then literally every hero on that world.” I explained.

"Murdered his parents, he cut all emotional ties off. Murdered Bakugo's parents, incase Bakugo survived, they'd have no one. Murdered the Heroes… personal payback. They ensured there was no going back before the larger scale plan. They were ensuring redemption was an impossibility for them. They wanted to make sure no one could save them." Zeke said aloud in thought. "How is your mom though? Is she alright?"

“She’ll get better…” I sighed out. “But me on the other hand...not so much.’

"This is going to haunt you no matter what huh?"

“I’m remembering his screams...the taste of his flesh...and the haunting bit of his face frozen in terror as that was the only thing I didn’t eat…” I sighed out.

Zeke motioned for me to sit next to them, and I did. "That would haunt anybody. For as powerful as we are, we still get afraid, we still make mistakes. In this was this… won't be the last time a twisted child fights us. But one thing I know is that everyone on that enemy line, wants no redemption. They just want blood."

I sighed out. “Cause of course they do…” I sighed out.

"What did you expect? Misunderstandings and happy endings?"

“If your Rune is going to get a fucking redemption when you have to fight her yes.” I frowned.

"... She doesn't want that… and neither do I." Zeke said, looking down.

I gently put a hand on Zeke’s shoulder. “She will be redeemed, and you’re the one that’s going to do it. I know I’m just basing this off of my vast knowledge of how stories go...but it’s going to happen. And you know that.”

"I know… how Rune really is now. This is ending in blood."

“Now I would have killed her when I saw her, but I thought ‘oh no, I have to let Zeke deal with this’...like a fucking retard.” I rolled my eyes. “If I just...didn’t stand there and do nothing, none of this would be happening.”

"Don't blame yourself… for a long time… she was one of us. Someone we cared about…"

“No, I’m going to blame myself for not just killing her when I had literally all the chances.” I frowned. “But no, I was like ‘she’s Zeke’s fight’ when we’re at war and I shouldn’t give a half ounce of deep fried shit at how the plot should progress.” I shook my head. “And she was long for you, that Rune fucked up and is now dead to me…”

"She Is my fight Diane." Zeke said. "But… I'll understand if you're the one that kills her. It's personal for me, now it's personal for you."

“And when I see her again she’s dead.” I growled. “Honestly, I don’t care if it’s ‘your fight’ at this point, she’s dead.”

"Just don't underestimate her or anyone else from now on."

“I don’t.” I said simply.

"Thanks." Zeke said, giving me a peck on the cheek. "Because now they know what we, or at least you can do fully. They can prepare properly now. Which means we need to prepare counter measures. I'll talk with Xehanort and Pecator."

“I mean…’what I’m capable of’ is destroying seven hundred floors of super enchanted and super reinforced Dungeon that was supposed to have creatures as strong or stronger than Cript at specific points...and killed them all without even knowing it.” I explained. “Just...now they know I will kill children that try to fuck with me.”

"They know how powerful you are, we are. Now they know how much stronger they need to be to kill us."

“They don’t know we literally can’t be killed though.” I said. “We’re Deathless remember?’

"Nothing's impossible." Zeke said. "Even if they end up unable to kill us, that doesn't mean we can't be trapped."

“Kind of doubt it.” I shrugged.

"I'd rather not chance it."

“Better to be safe than sorry ya know.” I nodded.

"So, what have you been up to?"

“Nothing much honestly.” I shrugged. “I mean, I had a clone of mine go to the Power Rangers world, happened into the Mystic Force side of things, and I got to show off with Arpeggio.” I smiled. “It was a grand time.”

"Sound fun. I've just been avoiding my parents really."

“Why are you avoiding your parents?” I asked curiously. “When I met your parent’s the first time and mentioned you they were super worried about you.”

"Says the people who taught me to drive when I was six, add the police snipers and road blocks. They worry about the Lineage, and what I will make of it. Promised me the world since I was born but I don't want a world drowned in blood and buried in bullet casings."

“Currently they’d probably just want to be with you and just hang out.” I said honestly.

"Hanging out for my parents is the same thing as walking into a deathtrap to see how it works. Eclipsa's Assistant showed she's with them on a very dangerous world, as I expected, camping. My definition of fun and hanging out and theirs has always been dramatically different."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded.

"Being around them just… reminds me of things I want to forget."

“Sometimes you just have to deal with it.” I shrugged.

"Someday." Zeke sighed. "But not today. Today it's spell books and such."

“Why? Not good with magic?” I asked curiously.

"I was only ever able to use it with Discord as my second hands Keyblade. After Bolitaria I managed to finally use it, but I'm still not the best with it. Out of all my stats my MP one's are the lowest. Ironic given Cript grew up primarily with magic and is best at that."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “But if you need help I’m your wolf given one of my weapons is a magical super Tomb.”

"That did sound helpful." Zeke laughed as they reopened their book. "My main issue is that I put too much MP into my spells. Discord used to do that for me since they had their own MP but I… have no idea what happened to them…"

“Which is weird cause Discord’s a Keyblade so you should know where they are.” I said honestly. “And to be honest, your MP thing is...kind of an easy thing to solve when you think about it.”

"Eh. As for Discord, you are right, so why can't I?"

“No idea, Discord’s weird.” I said honestly. “All I can say is raise your hand, focus, and then tell the old man to get his key shaped ass over here.”

"I've tried. Nothing. I know he isn't shattered he's just… gone. He was with Drezke last I knew but he told me it was all a haze on what happened after Lake was killed."

“Well…” I started. “Discord, mind coming down here?” I called out, my voice resonating to one of my followers to come here.

In a poof of, surprisingly nothing impressive or random, Discord appeared. Clad in some very sweet armor. "Yes, my… queen?"

“I have a feeling you weren’t around for…a lot of things.” I said sheepishly. “But question, do you know where your Keyblade version is? It was in Zeke’s Reflection and so far he can’t find him.”

"Hmm… where was he last?" Discord asked.

"With my dark half, Drezke." Zeke said.

"Hmm… I have a theory…"

“And that would be?” I asked curiously.

"Keyblades like Discord, that Discord, were people forged into them. While they are now stuck that way, their forms still react like how a person's would, meaning a heartless or Nobody version of them is entirely possible."

"But calling them should have at least summoned a heartless." Zeke said.

"Hmm… was there anything, anything at all that could have happened to make an alternate outcome?"

"Well… Lake and Drezke said that for them to be whole again, Drezke had to purge out all his excess collected darkness. Some unique variation of heartless was created as an outcome, I've tried but they don't reply to me at all. They are wild."

"If they came from you, their creation would have given them the ability to use Keyblades."

"You think one of them has Discord?"

"It's a possibility."

“Oh yeah, those things.” I said. “But wait, he’s Kingdom Hearts, he doesn’t have to care about if people own it or not.”

"They were formed from my heart Ben, my dark half, they would be pure dark replicas of myself, even as Kingdom Hearts, they'd be dark replicas of how I was back then, at the time a miniature version of it."

“Okay...that didn’t...really answer my question though.” I said. “Even if he’s from a normal person, Zeke doesn’t have to care because he’s Kingdom Hearts. Unless he was split apart because of this, I don’t see how Zeke isn’t able to just call him through sheer force of will alone.”

"Perhaps the Keyblades they are using are refusing, trying to keep these things at Bay. What I find most interesting though, is that so far, these Heartless have not shown up on any world's, they're basically off the map." Zeke pondered. "The only thing I can think of is that they might still be linked to me in some way…meaning my current power… would also be theirs… they might even have intelligence."

“I mean, they technically are your kids.” I shrugged.

"If they are linked to you, they must be leeching power as well as information from you." Discord said. "How do we track them though? And how much of a problem will they end up being?"

“Probably a lot, and most likely they would have an obvious trail leading to them even if they try to hide it.” I said honestly.

"If they have any of my level of knowledge in hiding and covering one's own tracks, then it's not as obvious as we might want. We'll start where they were born, the World Drezke colonized. From there we find whatever might be of use."

“There’s one thing that they can’t cover, and that’s their connection to you.” I said honestly. “Both as Keyblade Wielders, and as being’s to begin with.” I brought up.

"Question is, how do I weed them out?" Zeke asked.

“Take a moment and focus.” I said. “Follow the omnipotent trail you have to Keyblade and Darkness...well actually you could also have Heartless just target the bastards, using their keyblade energy and special energy as a homing beacon.” I pointed out with a frown.

"No, that won't be enough, it has to be specific…"

“How specific do you want to be?” I asked.

"... I might have an idea but I don't like it."

“Be live bait for them?” I asked curiously. “Or what?”

"No. We need help on this one… and if these things are like me in any sense… there is only two people in creation who can actively track me down no matter where I hide."

“Your parents?” I joked.

"Yes…*

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “But currently they are camping with Eclipsa maybe.” I said. “And I don’t remember if they have Assistant’s or not…”

"Hmm… Well, there is one other option." Zeke said, summoning a small Shadow Heartless. "Go fetch Pecator." He told it, the heartless vanishing into the ground.

“I mean, I could have just sent a message to Eclipsa telling those two to come here.” I pointed out.

"Over my dead body." Zeke muttered under their breath.

A few moments passed when Pecator finally arrived. "What's this about then?"

"We need help." Zeke said. "Thought your all seeing eye would have informed you."

"It only showed me the future when I want to see it. I take it that is why you called me then?"

“I mean, how good are you at hunting down literal Darkness Children of Zeke’s?” I asked curiously.

"Darkness children? You mean those wannabe Embodiments?"

"I guess." Zeke said.

"Look, I can see where they are but only where they were, not where they are or will be."

“Well knowing where they were is as good a start as any given Zeke doesn’t want his parent’s help here.” I shrugged.

"Good call." Pecator said. He pulled out Gazing Eye, holding it's eye up to his own, a blue light shot out from the Keyblade's eye into his own. When it was over, he blinked a few times disbanding Gazing Eye. "Alright, five ugly mugs found and possibly located. One is on Radiant Garden in the sewers, the other is at the Badlands of the Keyblade Graveyard, another is on the Enchanted Domain, one is roaming the lanes between, the last is at Traverse town, where though I couldn't tell."

“Good to know.” I nodded. “So, which one do you want to go after first?”

"I'll hit Traverse town first." Zeke said, opening a DTL. "I'll be back when they're all dead."

“Alright, stay safe.” I said gently.

"No promises." Zeke said. "You just keep those photo shoots going. I hear the next ones are all bikini~" Zeke said, entering the DTL then closing it.

“Oh boy, can’t wait.” I chuckled. “Everyone’s going to love them.” I muttered. “Wonder what else I’ll do today…”