No One's POV:
News of Tabitha's sudden departure had traveled all around camp, and now everyone was on a high alerted panic with refugees rushing from tent to tent as if the world was going to end. Cole was found tied to a table that Tabitha had thrown at him with Vengestone cuffs around his wrists, disabling him from using his powers to get out. Perillia used whatever magic she capable of using in order for her to open the cuffs off of the king. The Vengestone was soon disposed of.
Once they found out about Tabitha and Cole's fight, many emotions were being felt.
Varian was pacing around the room trying his best to control his horror filled thoughts, small red stones began to poke around the camp which caused more people to feel fear due to the rock's fright magic infecting them. Adrien was roughly squeezing his tail like a stress ball as he sat on the ground while Marinette tried her best to calm him down, rubbing his back in a circling motion. Leo hadn't said a single word as he struggled to stay standing up with the huge shock that filled him, his eyes almost seeming to bulge out of their sockets, trying to process what had happened. Izuku was in a whole matter of disbelief, but you could tell that he was beyond angry as he sat down in a chair, his hands covering his face, bouncing his foot very fast. And then there was Cole. He still sat in the spot that Tabitha had left him in, slowly shaking with each breath while not looking at anyone in the room with shame written all over his face.
Max, attempting to think of a plan, looks up at all the adults in the tent, "we need to go after her. There's no way she's gonna be able to take on all of them by herself." He tells them with a frightened expression. "They'll destroy her!"
Varian screams at the thought, placing his hands over his ears while shaking his head. "Don't say that!" Hunter hurries over to his husband to comfort them from having a panic attack. More red rocks began to form the more Varian freaked out.
"I want to know who the fuck Alondra is!" Izuku hops from the chair with an angry glare aimed at Cole. "Who is she, Cole? I've been hearing you say her name every time you talk to Tabitha." Everyone had eyes on the rabbit man and the king, both curiosity and worry on their minds. "Who is Alondra?"
Leo nods his head. "Yeah, what's with the secrets?! We're her brothers for crying out loud! Is there something she's hiding from us? Like how she was acting strange when we found the Blade of Fate." He was aggravated as much as Izuku, but the turtle still seemed to be in a state of shock from the recent events. "We need to know Cole. Spill it!"
Everyone began agreeing with both men as now they were all pressuring Cole into spilling the beans on Tabitha's secret. The king held onto his held with anxiety from all the yelling.
"HEY! Calm down!" Walter hollers above the others from the entrance of the tent, his spirit powers no longer activated at the moment. Pikka and Cubo hid behind their father, scared of all the yelling going on. However, Pikka spots Loki next to Yugataro and clings onto him, yet instead of pushing her away, Loki holds onto her as well with nervousness shaking his body. "I get that you want answers, but angrily yelling at each other isn't how we're gonna solve this. The man just got beat up by his wife, let him have moment to collect himself, for God's sake! Come on guys, you're better than this!"
They all sadly look away from each other in embarrassment, grabbing their elbows or rubbing the back of their heads. Cole grabs hold of his shoulders, hair falling over his face when standing back up with a small stumble. He really didn't want to tell them Tabitha's secret without her permission, but it was too late and too hard to keep from them all any longer. However, instead of him being the one to tell them, Phillippio was the one who explained everything. Each detail of Tabitha's sad story was described to a very fine line.
Everyone was astonished upon hearing the truth about the girl they once knew. Everything that they thought they knew was a lie. She had fooled every single person she has met.
"Why would she hide this from us?" Varian was on the verge of a breakdown, holding himself back from crying. "This is just so wrong."
Adrien, finally speaking up after not saying a word, unclenched his tail gently. "For so long she's kept this secret, and nobody has ever offered to ask what her past was like."
"I don't think she could've remembered." Cole admits with a low and weakened voice. "It was such a long time ago. When I was with her in the Penitentiary, she could only remember her mother."
"She wouldn't have been able to tell you in the other worlds as well. The portals cause parts of one's memories to fade away when traveling to another world, and with dearest Alondra hopping to and from dimensions, the possibility of that happening was definite." Phillippio tells their friends. "I've watched her ever since she was a little girl, sympathizing over her whenever she was in trouble. I even went against my Master's wishes when picking a human to fight my battles. I just knew that she was the one to stop all the wrong doings I had done, yet I never realized the consequences just like I've always done." They look to Perillia who watches their brother, seeming to finally forgive them after a millennium of hate. "We need to make things right for her. I need to make things right."
A sense of hope begins to sliver its way into our heroes' hearts as one by one, each person looked to the other with a determined smile on their face, raising the morale. Cole looks around the tent at all of his friends and family. Kids and adults, mutants and vampires, and spirits and human plus many more were waiting outside for further instructions, in hopes to calm them down.
"Phillippio's right." Cole says when walking over to a chest at the back of the tent, while placing his hair in a bun. "Tabitha has sacrificed so much for us over and over again, and it's only fair that we help her this one last time." He picks up the Blade of Fate from the chest that was in between the books that Walter had found months before.
"What do you mean by 'one last time'?" Max asks his dad, raising a wary eyebrow not knowing what he was planning. "What are you doing with that?"
Cole sighs, forgetting that no one knew really knew about the promise he had made to Tabitha when they were trapped in the Penitentiary. This makes him realize that his time with Tabitha was drawing to a close. The end was coming very soon, and he wasn't sure how much time he would have left before she had to leave. He turns around, unsure of what to say first.
Taking a deep breath, Cole finally tells them. "I promised Tab that I would bring her back home after all of this was over." He says in a calmer tone to keep the tension low, but that didn't work as the others started to refuse and protest against his decision. "She deserves to live a normal life without having to constantly worry about the fate of the worlds on her back, like a goddamn time bomb is strapped to her back! You all know this!"
Silence fills the tent once again as they know this was the truth. Tabitha had done so much for them throughout all her lives in their worlds; saving them, helping them, being their friends, and trying her best to just fit in. It was only fair that they returned the favor.
Max, however, was still in denial of the whole affair, rubbing his arm and looking away from Cole. His father takes notice of this, asking him what the problem was. Max responds with him not wanting Tabitha to leave and that just wanted things to go back how they were in the past.
"I know that things are hard now, buddy, but this is how life is. We were bound to find this sooner or later." Cole tells his son, kneeling down to his level in order to talk with them, understanding Max's sudden change in behavior on the subject. "I'm sorry for not telling you guys about this either," he looks to the rest of his family who stood by their upset brother. "I promise you guys that once this is all over, I'll make things right. No more secrets. No more false promises."
All of his kids look at him, hope entering their hearts when walking over to hug the proud king.
"I promise...." Cole says once more. "I'll fix this..."
After they release him, Cole sees Lee enter the tent. Their eyes were flashing with some sort of dark matter and an inky puddle of tears leak from them, dripping onto the grassy floor. A bandage wrapped around her head where Chat Blanc had attacked her before his departure back to the castle.
Yugataro heads over to her, concerning written all over his face. "Hey, kid, you alright there?" He questions the elf as he places a comforting hand on Lee's shoulder. "We've been worried about you."
Lee pushes his hand off without a word being said to his previous question. A blank guise plastered onto her face as she walked over to Cole. The tent felt to be blanketed by a darkened mood.
"Where is she?" Is a Lee said.
"On her way to save Elio." Cole replies in the same dark tone that Lee used, not keeping his eyes off the short elf unless she tried to do anything against his better judgement. "We were on way to help save her. She's not thinking straight right now, and I suggest that you take a deep breath before you do anything brash like she did, Lee."
His calm yet firm wording looked like they worked as Lee was now pouting regretfully, clenching her fists, closing her eyes, and gritting her teeth to keep from crying. The king kindly pulls her close as she soon began to cry in his embrace. Cole looks up to the others making a small notion of his head to signal the others to prepare for battle. Everyone besides Walter and Yugataro left the tent.
"It's okay, Lee. Everything will be fine, just take a breather." Cole soothes. He softly loosens his grip on the girl in order for him to get ready. "After we end this, I'll make sure you're able to get home. Don't think that Tab and I have forgotten about our agreement. I'll escort you there, myself, if you'd like."
Lee, inky tears still flowing down her cheeks, nods her head. "I'd like that very much, sir." She says with a chuckle. "But we have to finish this first, so what's the plan? How are we getting back at Noah? When Chat Blanc kidnapped Elio, he looked like he didn't want to take her. It seems that Noah really has some sort of power over them, and they don't wanna be evil."
Walter scoffs, "Noah was always able to get things, no matter the consequences. He's a master persuader and manipulator. That's why I stopped being his friend."
This confuses the king.
"I though you guys stopped being friends because of your bullying streak." Cole says while getting his supplies into his bag. "You guys used to be so close. What happened?"
"Spencer happened. After Noah's mother died, he completely shut me out which didn't help with my abandonment issues given to me by my parents." Walter rolls his eyes, averting contact with the others. "Spencer made Noah obsessed with authority and power in middle school, and when he tried bossing me around, I didn't like it. I dropped him after that day. Now that he's in control, the clones are afraid, like how I pestered kids back then."
"Pestered?" Cole raises an eyebrow. He had his scythe in hand when eyeing Walter.
The new guardian grunts angrily at this.
"What I'm saying is that, maybe, Lee is right. What if the clones really don't want to be evil?" Walter suggests.
"That would explain their strange behavior while they were here." Yugataro admits after being quiet for a while. "They actually enjoyed themselves when they joined us by the fire that one time. And a couple of them seemed to really like being around Tabitha. I know Charcoal did. And Vian even cracked a smile one time when Artemis mistook him for Varian."
All these instances gave Cole more of the conclusion that the clones weren't evil. They were variations of him and his brothers after all, just with a bit of Dark Magic in them. Whilst they were technically evil, Cole and the others were purely good-hearted so maybe there was something to do about this.
However, there wasn't time to think about this any longer. Tabitha needed them. Cole slings his bag over his back along with his scythe, smiling proudly at this before marching close to the exit. Except something in the chest Tabitha had caught his attention.
Strolling back to it he notices several books, each with a different colored cover and gold trimming on their spines. He remembers when Tabitha had locked herself away in their study one time, saying that she was do something very important. It was like that for almost weeks until she eventually stopped. All that came out of the supposed important were these multicolored books. The queen never spoke of them after hiding them away in her chest of irreplaceable objects from the other worlds she was in.
Taking one last glance at them, he nods and marches out the tent with his head held high. The others do the same. Walter on the other hands took one more glance at the peculiar books prior to leaving.
_______________________
As the drums of war banged through the hearts of our fellow heroes, and dastardly villains, the end inched nearer to a close in the Dimenscape. It had felt like hours the longer Tabitha ran to her destination, but it was all worth it when finally reaching the village gate. Her anger still fueled and giving her the will to kill anyone that would stop her.
Knife in hand, Tabitha zooms pass multiple guards and henchmen wandering around the streets, looking for a helpless person to loot from. Keeping to the shadows she rushes through the streets until finally making it to the castle. However, just as she was about to pass the gate to it, a brash voice catches her off-guard.
"HEY!" They shout from behind. "What are you doing here?!"
When making their way over to bash Tabitha's skull in, he made the mistake of approaching her while she was in this state, and once she turned around it was over for the lone goon. She flips over him with the grace of a swan, landing on her toes before she spins around to create a bright tornado buzzing with energy, and plant-like substance grabbing at the henchman which pulls him in where Tabitha begins to pummel him to a pulp.
Very aggressively in fact.
After his beat down, Tabita places the man's unconscious body in a corner by the gate before rushing back in the direction of the castle. A dingy, broken aura provided the place she once called home with an eerie feeling of loneliness that seeped into her body that wept furiously. Each crevice and crack that was seen and passed by broke Tabitha more and more profusely. From the smashed windows to the ripped paintings and pictures that swung from their hinges as some of their frames were hanging, practically, by a thread from the nails that barely stuck on the wall. Doubt inched in her mind the longer Tabitha stayed in the withering castle.
Eventually, she finds herself walking in the direction of the Study where she could hear the voices of her brothers from inside. Knowing that they were the clones, Tabitha grips her dagger prior to turning into a ghost and phasing through the door without anyone seeing her. From inside she sees the clones gathered by the fire, Elio in Chat Blanc's arms as he cradled her gently while feeding her warm bottle of milk provided for the precious child. Surrounding the villainous clone were the others who watch curiously. Leon even tried playing with Elio, lightly tapping the baby on the nose in which he would receive an adorable coo as a reward. Vian sat on Chat Blanc's right, tilting his head from side to side as he tried to understand the little person in front of him. Zuk stood behind Chat next to Charcoal while eyeing the cat-man with a puzzling guise. The vampire clone crosses his arms while watching the clone taking care of something instead of destroying it, wondering why the sudden change.
"Isn't she cute?" Chat Blanc asks the others once Elio had finished her bottle, placing it on the floor afterward. "She's so well behaved too. I've never seen a baby this good before. Do you guys wanna hold her?"
Leon was more the excited to pick her up, yet all the clones declined, not wanting to psychopathic turtle to hold onto the innocent baby. He grumpily slumps down upon the refusal, pouting and crossing his arms too.
"I'll hold her," Charcoal grumbles. He holds his hand out to grab Elio, but Chat hesitates. "I'll be careful, cat, now just give her to me. Technically she is my kid after all." Eventually the baby was given to him, and he holds her sweetly, making sure that the head had support and that they were warm enough.
Elio smiles. She places a small hand on his nose with a little gurgling noise before laughing. This causes Charcoal to actually to let out a genuine smile slip, chuckling at the baby's kindness. The other clones watch wide-eyed when seeing their leader's actual enjoyment of the captured baby.
From the shadows, now using her ability of invisibility, Tabitha observes the peculiar yet heartwarming scene, slightly loosening her grip on her dagger, however, this causes her to accidentally drop it onto the floor.
CLANG!
All eyes turn in the direction of the sound as each clone got their weapons out, and their powers ready for a fight. Charcoal finds the dagger on the marbled floor and begins to sniff the air.
"She's here." He says with a small lick of his lips, grinning sadistically.
"Where?" Zuk grabs hold of his jagged knife from its sheath attached to his belt. "We can't let her go anywhere. Noah would kill us if he knew Tabitha was in here looking for her baby."
Vian growls, searching the room for the overruled queen, looking towards the shadows and dark crevices in the room. From where he was standing, he notices a shadow being projected onto the bookshelf from the light of the fireplace.
"You can come out, Your Highness." Chat tells the queen from his spot by the fireplace, calmly looking towards the shadow being casted onto the bookshelf. "We're not going to hurt you, or Elio, I promise."
Tabitha swiftly reveals herself, snatching her weapon up from the floor and prepares herself for a fight, "how do I know that you're not tricking me this time? I trusted you guys before and you lied to me." She spat this out with a hiss that made her sound like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. "Give me my baby back!"
The clones flinch nervously at her sudden raise in voice.
"K-keep it down, lady!" Leon says with a vigorous wave of his arms towards the vengeful mother, in hopes that she would get that they really weren't trying to hurt Elio. "If Noah finds out that you're here talking to us, then he'd have us all killed! Please!" His voice pleads for mercy.
All weapons and powers were put at ease besides Tabitha's, yet she slightly kept her guard up, not wanting to trust their unforeseen kindness. She tightens her grip on the dagger and asks why. Charcoals walks over to Tabith while holding Elio, firm and steady steps were taken in order to drop the child.
"Because Noah needs to be taken down." Was what he replied with, handing Tabitha her child. "And we're going to help you, but this time, we're not holding back until he's dead."