So….. Hi. Long time no see. If you read my Heroic author note you'll know I went through something traumatizing and only Jeffrey and Jordan know what it is. Again boys, I'm sorry for sending like a 20 page message of me venting. I don't have enough energy to retype my message to you two or to reply to reviews today. So if you're wondering what my message to Jeffrey and Jordan is, it's on ch 7 of my story Heroic. All I can say is I love you two with all my heart.
Happy New Year everyone! And let's hope this year is better!
Outside in the garden, two teens were happily sword fighting.
"Engard!" Boyd swung his sword forward nearly poking at Lizzettes chest. In a split second, the girl clashed her sword against his and held it in place. She pushed against his sword as he did the same, trying to hold back some of his strength to not hurt her. Lizzette gave a fun smile and rolled her eye's.
"First of all, it's touché not engard when you get a touch. Second of all, don't you dare hold back on me," Lizzette pushed his sword away and posed in another fighting position.
"I can't, if I give it my all I can….." Boyd was interrupted when Lizzette tried to strike a hit on him.
"Don't worry about me, mother trained me to be the best of the best," Lizzette swung her sword towards Boyd's head making him douge and fight back," She hired an engineer once to create a robot to fight me. You should've seen it! That thing was mercilessly trying murder me until my father had to intervene."
As she spoke she continued to swing her sword left and right. Boyd calculated her every move, making sure to block every one of her moves. He blocked her sword from the right and pushed her back, this time not holding back. His strength was enough to push Lizzette back but the girl simply smiled and made herself in a ball. She rolled backwards and was able to push herself back on her feet.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Lizzette laughed in glee making the robot smile. Lizzette again swung her sword towards the boy.
"So your mother taught you everything?" Boyd asked in some disbelief and curiosity.
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Lizzette asked, still considerate in the fight.
"It's impressive to think your mother taught you everything you know," Boyd explained, "Sword fighting, archery, defense, bilingual…"
"Quadrilingual," Lizzette happily corrected him, "English was my first language. I learned Greek around 6 years old I believe, French and Spanish when I turned 10."
"And you know music and dance, where did your mother find time to teach you all that?" Boyd asked.
"My mother was just the best," Lizzette spun her sword against Boyds and swung it out of his hands. The sword landed a good distance away from him causing him to be impressed. Lizzette giggled at his expression before speaking again, "Mother helped me a lot throughout my life. Father was always working so it was only her and I in this life. She always told me life is too short to be spent on low class skills like cooking or cleaning. So she always made sure I learned higher class skills."
"Huh, you can sword fight, speak multiple languages, but you can't sweep a room?" Boyd pointed out innocently. Lizzettes nodded with a smile before realizing what he said. Her smile dropped for a split second before laughing and nudging him.
"Shut up," Lizzette laughed as she picked up her swords and put them away in her sports bag, "Mother grew up almost homeless. Her family never had enough money until she met my father. Her and him were childhood friends! They built trust and love for years until finally they got married. Mother didn't want me to grow up like her so she gave me everything the higher class had to offer and kept me away from the lower class."
"I guess that makes some sense." Boyd placed a finger below his beak and thought about it, "I still believe everyone should learn basic skills."
"Well maybe one day mother will teach me," Lizzette took out some archery supplies from her bag and tossed them to Boyd.
"You still want to do some sports? It's around 9 pm?" Boyd asked.
"Come on, you're a robot! You can't be tired just yet!" Lizzette still had a boat load of energy left in her. She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She rushed past Boyd and held onto his arm, pulling him towards the house, "Aunt Persephone has a training area inside if you like."
Before the robot boy could say anything, he was pulled inside the house and into a room that looked like a combination of a trophy room and a training room.
Targets were placed on the walls, punching bags on one side and weights on another. At the very entrance there was a glass case with trophies and pictures of what looked like some competitions.
"What are these?" Boyd walked up to the glass case and looked at the pictures. A majority of them were of Lizzette holding a trophy or ribbon.
"Pictures of our last family reunion. Every year we have a competition split up in teams based on the 12 olympian gods. Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Ares, Artemis, Demeter, Aphroducky, Dionysos, Hermes, and Hephaistos. And every year I win around, I don't know, 10 events for Aphroducky," Lizzette explained like it was no big deal.
"10 events? Oh like the Olympic games?" Boyd concluded. Lizzette simply nodded in agreement.
"I guess you can compare them to those." The girl took out her bow and arrow and aimed it at some targets. But before she could shoot, some arrows passed by her head and hit all the targets in the middle. Except for the last target that hit the wall instead of the target.
"Awe man," a males voice whined. Lizzette gasped in shock and turned to see 2 ducks at the entrance.
"Coral! Dylan!" Her voice was happy but her smile was forced.
Boyd watched as Lizzette walked up to them but noticed she kept her distance. Lizzette held out her hand for a shake but the girl named Coral just scoffed.
"Save the formalities Lizzette, we know you hate us," Coral stated. Lizzette let her smile drop and took a deep breath in.
"I wasn't expecting you to come help," Lizzette said.
"Same could be said for you," Coral eyed her cousin head to toe, "You haven't been much help to Persephone the last couple years. Why are you here all of a sudden?"
"What do you mean?" Lizzette asked, her voice full of confusion, "I always help before every family reunion."
As the girls talked, Boyd looked at the pictures again. Each one was labeled a date and Lizzette was in a majority of them. One showed a 10 year old Lizzette with a 1st place ribbon, another with her holding 1st place trophy at the age 11 and so on. Each one had Lizzette holding the 1st place prize but the pictures eventually stopped at the age 15. Instead, the pictures of the last 2 years were filled with Coral winning the 1st place prize.
"You haven't competed since you were 15," Coral tried to get through Lizzettes head but the girl just stared at her blankly.
"No… I'm sure I'm still 15," Lizzette said, even more confused. Coral snorted when she tried to hold back her laughter.
"Ok sure, whatever helps you cope," Corals eye's moved to the robot parrot, "Who's that guy?"
"Boyd?" Lizzette turned to look at him. His name caught his attention and Boyd looked over at them, "He's helping out too. He's going with me to the family reunion."
Coral raised an eyebrow at this statement, "Heh, didn't think you ever get yourself a date."
"Date? No, he's a robot, I thought everyone would love meeting him so that's why I invited him." Lizzette explained while Coral walked up to Boyd. She circled the robot as if he was some kind of merchandise. Boyd felt very uncomfortable at the way this girl was circling him.
"I see, couldn't get a date naturally so you settled for a toy to play with at night," Coral snickered as she walked back to her brother. This comment left Lizzette red faced while Boyd just looked confused at what she just said, "So I take it you'll be competing this year?"
Lizzette gave a rough nod, her tongue too tied up to say anything. Coral's blank expression didn't change as she began to leave.
"Well then, let's see who wins this year," with that she closed the door and left a room full of silence.
"Who is she?" Boyd broke the tense silence.
"Coral and her brother Dylan, descendants of Poseidon. They always compete against me every year…." Lizzette explained as she placed her arrow on her bow. Quickly, she released it and sliced Coral's arrow in half. One by one, she sliced eached one, including the one on the wall. Lizzette proudly smirked as she finished her sentence, "... And every year I beat them."
Otherside
On the other side, a certain green triplet was trying to fall asleep in Goldie's arms.
"Let me sleep!" Louie was whining.
"Not until you tell me everything you saw," Goldie didn't even let the boy shut his eyes. She walked down the streets, careful not to get hit by any incoming cars. The sun had set and the moon was high in the sky. Louie groaned even louder before snapping at her.
"Look lady, you pretty much kidnapped me, we've been walking for hours, and we're lost! Just let me rest for one hour!"
"No!" Goldie nudged the boy awake and placed him down. Louie just moaned even more and let himself fall on the sidewalk. Goldie rolled her eyes, clearly done with the boy's attitude. She grabbed his arm and dragged him across the cement behind her.
"Where are we even going?" Louie mumbled, his face pressed against the floor.
"Somewhere with someone who's just like us," Goldie was blunt about her explanation.
"Just like us how?" Louie glanced up at her.
Inside a pink house, Gandra was cradled in a ball on the ground. Louie looked down at her completely bewildered by her actions.
"Vultures with biddy eyes, three of them looking down at me. A ghost with glowing eyes, he's dressed in black and bright green eyes….." Gandra mumbled what seemed like random things. Louie shook his head no and made a beeline for the door.
"Oh no you don't," Goldie pulled him on the couch and forced him to sit down, "She has seen more things than we have."
"What things? They're just hallucinations ok? I'm sure in a few days they'll stop and I'll be living happily again in the mansion with uncle Scrooge." Louie tried to get out of this crazy house.
"That's what you think, but I've seen these hallucinations as well," Goldie explained, "It's another world, a world where another us exists. Louie can't you see? This could be something huge! We all see something many can't see, the truth!"
Louie looked at the blond lady like she just became the most bizzare creature to ever live. Correction, the second most bizzare thing. His eyes glanced back at the crazy Gandra who was playing around with some black gloves she was wearing.
"A wacky woman in a red dress, a metallic arm. A man in a white suit with a metal steel beak. Electricity flowing through my hands and eye's!" Gandra mumbled even louder. She removed her gloves to reveal the burnt marks she got from grabbing the wires in her head phones.
"Whoa, that's a nasty scar. How did that happen?" Louie asked. Gandra sat up and looked at the little boy at lighting speed. A craze smiles over her beak.
"I got electrocuted! Isn't that crazy?! Electricity cannot flow through our hands right? So when I grabbed the wires I electrocuted myself!" Gandra went back to the fetal position she was in and began to mumble again. Louie took a closer look at the chicken to see she had cut her long blonde hair. It was uneven, with some parts of her hair over her shoulder and some parts past her shoulder. Her blue jacket was wrapped around her waist leaving her with a whit top on.
"I got her some gloves to cover up the scar, only, the gloves seemed to have unlocked some kind of hidden memory," Goldie explained.
"Hidden memory?" Louie repeated, still scared and confused by all this, "Ok ok, you ladies better start making sense or else I'm calling my uncle to pick me up."
Louie crawled over to the phone line only for Goldie to pull him back down.
"No you can't! Scrooge doesn't know what's going on," She claimed.
"Then start talking!" Louie demanded. Goldie took a deep breath in as she thought of her words carefully.
"For years, I've been seeing things. Things that look like another world. There's been times when I look in a mirror and it isn't me. Of course I think it isn't. It's a version of me I don't recognize," Goldie looked down at Louie to see he had nothing but bewilderment in his eyes. Goldie simply sighed, "What I'm saying is, no one else but us three have been seeing these glitches. And that can't be a coincidence."
"But why do you think I'm seeing the same things as you two?" Louie asked, a little calmer now.
"Well, what is it that you saw?" Goldie asked. Louie pondered a little bit, humming while thinking.
"My brothers, they looked different. They were kinda….. boxy? Their shape and eye's were different. And Webby! She looked more tomboyish, not her usual pink bratty self," Louie explained. The more he spoke, the more relief Goldie felt. She wasn't wrong, he was seeing the same things as they were. Louie noticed the smile on her face and felt a little uneasy, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"That's what we see too," Goldie said in a more gentle tone.
"He sees it too!?" Gandra finally snapped from her craze and looked at Louie. The green duck looked back and forth at the two women, scared of what was going on.
"This must be a lot for a kid to take in, Gandra may you please bring us some tea?" Goldie asked.
After a few hours of talking, it was around close to midnight. A new day was about to start, and from what Louie knew, one more day left for something he didn't know what for.
"3 days huh?" Goldie thought out loud and sipped on her tea, "You must be a nervous wreck."
"Not as much as her," Louie looked over at Gandra who was shaking. She tried to serve herself some tea but her shaky hands kept missing the petite tea cup.
"She doesn't seem to have such a good life in the other world," Goldie explained, "From what she has told me the last few weeks, she seems to have lived quite a, how should I say it, unfortunate life in the world."
"There was a spoiled man with a metallic Frankenstein baby in his arms!" Gandra snapped one more time, spilling tea all over the table. She shook her head and looked at what she just did in disappointment, "I'm sorry, I'll clean it up."
She got up to get some towels, Goldie just chuckled while Louie stayed deep in thought.
"What is this other world you're talking about?" He asked.
"We're not 100% sure. We believe it might be some kind of alternate dimension where other versions of us live. Tho we can't explain why we're the only ones who can see it, or even explain what these visions might mean. But you have to admit, it has to be something big."
"Yeah, big," Louie agreed with a yawn. Goldie looked at the wall clock to see the hands have finally clicked 12. A loud ding filling silent room signifying midnight as struck.
"Time for you to go to bed dear," Goldie got up and picked Louie up in her arms.
"Goldie?" Louie looked up at her with tired eyes.
"Yes?" She replied as she went up the stairs.
"If Gandras other life isn't great, what is your other life like?" Louie asked. Goldie slightly hesitates on taking another step up. The question nearly left her unbalanced and nearly made her fall.
"My other life?" Goldie thought out loud, "Not sure if you want to hear about it."
"Why not? It can't be any worse than what Gandra is seeing?" Louie commented. Goldie simply sighed as she took him to a spare room. She laid him down and tucked him in carefully.
"Maybe not worse than hers but it wasn't pretty. Let's just say I wasn't the best person in this other life either," She said. Louie simply nodded before dozing off to sleep. Goldie gave a light smile before placing a kiss on his head.
How was she supposed to explain to him that she betrayed him in this other life? Left him alone and stole his gold after he saved her life. This couldn't be all there was to her other life right? A no good sneaky thief who steals from children? There had to be more.
In the Underworld
"I thought you said we were safe in the Underworld?" Lena snapped at Abigor.
"From Magica and Merlock, not my uncle Zeus." Abigor snapped back.
"Sorry to do this to you Abigor but I can't let you spoil any more of the plan," Zeus looked down at a ditch where Lena and Abigor sat.
"You can't keep us in here!" Lena yelled at him, throwing a blast of magic. Zeus simply dodge the blast before shutting the ditch closed, leaving the two in pitch darkness.
"Why that no good little son of…." Lena charged up some of her powers only for Abigor to place his hand over her arm.
"Don't even try it. Zeus put us in the same ditch Hades put the Titans in. The only way out is if someone opens it up for us." He explained.
"We can't just sit here! We're supposed to wake Louie up in one more day! If not, the sleep potion will wear off and he'll wake up with a gem controlling him!"
"And I'm very well aware of that! Thank you for the news flash!" Abigor snapped even harder.
Lena just gave a loud groan and kicked a rock as hard as she could. The rock went down a darker cave, echoing and sounding like it went deeper in. Lena's eyes widened when she realized this cave wasn't a dead end. She looked back at Abigor who simply shrugged as if to say it was up to her. Lena looked back at the cave, thinking for a good while about this. Making up her mind quickly, Lena summoned a blue light above her hand and went into the cave with Abigor behind her.
In Duckburg
"Stop everything!" A lady screamed. Della and Donald were hoping in a submarine until they heard Daisy from a distance. The twins could see the fashionista running in the moonlight.
"Daisy?" Donald questioned why she was here so late at night, "What's going on? It's 2 am."
"Stop whatever you're doing!" Daisy climbed to the top of the submarine with the journals under her arm. Her hair was a mess, she lost the black bow she always wore and her bun was half undone.
"Whoa, Daisy, why are you so….. Muddy?" Della noticed all the mud and dirt smeared all over Daisy.
Without answering any questions, Daisy swiped the journals from her arms and placed them in front of Donald's face.
"You can't go! It's too dangerous!" She warned. Donald, confused, grabbed the journal and was about to open it.
"I'm afraid we don't have time for this," a voice said calmly. Daisy gasped when this familiar voice reached her ears. She looked past Donald and Della to see the same blue bird emerging from inside the submarine. He looked down at the journal in Donald's hands and grabbed it.
"No! Let that go!" Daisy shoved Della and Donald aside and grabbed the journal tightly. She yanked it out of the birds hands and hugged it like it was her own baby, "You two can't be here, you can't trust anyone!"
"Daisy relax," Della placed a hand over her shoulder, "It's ok, Uncle Scrooge assigned this man to help guide us through the sea. We're going to search for Dewey and if we don't find anyone by the end of the day we'll come back. Daisy if….."
"You can't trust Scrooge!" Daisy blurted out causing Della and Donald to freeze in shock.
"What?" The twins said in confused unison.
"You can't trust him!" Daisy repeated, holding onto the journals even tighter, tears beginning to form, "I know it's going to sound crazy but you can't trust him. Magica teamed up with someone named Merlock, and they're using gems to control us."
"Daisy you're not making sense," Donald didn't understand a single thing she was saying. Scrooge was a greedy and selfish man but he never hurt his family or friends.
"You have to believe me please," Daisy begged.
"Should we go back to the mansion and talk this out?" Della was about to hop out of the sub but Daisy stopped her.
"No! The mansion isn't safe, Huey is waiting for me," Daisy claimed.
"Huey?" Donald didn't understand why Daisy sounded so scared when saying his nephew's name.
"Huey sent HERO after me. He wanted to kill me!" Daisy pleaded for the twins to believe her.
"Daisy, are you sure it was Huey?" Della refused to believe her son would do this. The fashionista gave a shaky nod. She was holding into the journals so tight that it looked like she was to crush them within seconds.
"Clearly the young lady has gone through something horrific that it scrambled her mind," The blue bird started to talk again, "An attack must've taken place at the mansion. Pity really, but nothing Mr Mcduck can't handle. We need to start the search like he asked."
The blue bird held onto Dellas shoulder and guided her into the submarine. Daisy let out another gasp and tried to reach out for her only for Donald to stop her. He held into her arms and pushed her back gently.
"Go back somewhere safe," he started to tell his wife, "We'll meet up with you when we come back, I promise."
"Donald no," Daisy tried to pull him off the sub but the sailor resisted.
"Please listen, we'll discuss all this when I come back. Right now go somewhere safe," Donald said a little more sturdy this time. Daisy had no choice, he and Della were leaving in the sub just like Scrooge wanted them too. Why?
"Mr Duck, we're already 5 minutes behind schedule!" The blue bird called out from inside the sub.
Donald looked down at him then back at Daisy, giving her an assuring smile. All she could do was give out a sigh of defeat and slowly climb down the sub.
"And if you feel comfortable, go back to the mansion if you like," Donald told her before hopping into the sub. Daisy let down a nervous gulp as she watched the submarine slowly dive down.
"Please be careful," she whispered.
In the submarine, the blue bird was happily and calmly driving while Della looked at the map.
"Ok, we're searching north first and then west. If we find nothing we'll just head east before going back home….." As Della explained the plan, Donald zoned off.
He thought about what Daisy just said, how they can't trust Scrooge and how Huey used his own invention to try and hurt her. All this sounded like a messed up story any teenager would make up. Except Daisy isn't a teenager and wouldn't make anything up like that. Which is why Donald had to keep the journals he grabbed from Daisy a secret from the blue bird.
The sailor quickly and swiftly slipped the journals into his backpack, making sure no one saw him.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!