Sell you a Bridge chapter 295

June 15th 2016 Hollow Bastion 1:00 PM EDT

It took us a fucking hour to find the coats. And most of that was walking  time. Even with only the four of us. Seriously, I had massively  underestimated the damage that my girls would be able to do with  keyblades. Zee's Star Seeker gave a massive boost to every fucking spell  she cast, which, considering her already freakishly high Intelligence vis a vis leveling in the dungeon, meant she could essentially cast  endlessly. All she needed to do was toss out an underpowered softball  spell and the Star Seeker turned it into a fucking RPG blast or  something.

The oddest part of it was that Zee had started  using new spells halfway in, and not ones I recognized. She told me  apparently Star Seeker had used to belong to a master wizard with a  penchant for teaching and that her keyblade was actually showing her new  magic she could use. She insisted we could all use the spells, and had  tried to teach them to us as we walked, though it looked like it would  take a bit more than an hour for us to learn. I had plans to spend time  in the outer body trance to learn the spells. Some of them sounded  awesome, though she'd only managed Thunder so far.

Drea  hardly used her illusions in combat, mostly because her power was aimed  at a longer wind up time to be effective, a weakness heavily mitigated  by Oathkeeper. Between herself and Zee, anything we came across was  basically asking to die. Drea would lock them down with an illusion and  Zee would fucking glass them. It was honestly kind of terrifying, and  made me wonder if I hadn't been underutilizing Tartarus.

Of  course, those were only the ones that we even managed to get to. Rana  was ranging out ahead of us with my shadow abilities, assassinating  every heartless she could find before we reached it. The only reason we  had even gotten to fight was because there were so damn many of them and  she was more suited for single combat. Still, it was damn impressive to  watch them work.

Which was how we ended up standing in  front of a secret compartment I'd found with aura sight, staring down at  a whole bunch of really edgy looking coats. "Ok, I'm so glad I don't  have to wear those." I said stoically. "My reputation as an edgelord is  already bad enough among people who know about me. If I show up in  Gotham wearing that I'm going to be permanently branded as the edgiest  human being who has ever lived."

Zee held one up with a  grimace. "It is kind of...much. The coat itself isn't bad, nice lines,  but the hood is kind of over the top." She cut off my next words with a  glare and a pointed finger. "Make a comment about that being a pun and  you aren't going to touch me for a year." The twitch of her lips belied  that for the empty threat it was, but despite my grin I held up my hands  in mock surrender. She gave a regal nod.

Rana picked one  of them up and held it in front of her. "What? I think they look cool.  Kind of dark and dangerous. People would think we were all mysterious  when we showed up out of the shadows with these." Her face looked  pensive, and I only had to look at the expression on Zee's face to curse  my daughter's dark and edgy little soul. Where did she learn this from?  I'd fought against the edge since I first got my power. How could my  own spawn embrace the darkness like this?

I cleared my  throat. Averting my gaze as I responded to Zee's unspoken accusation.  "Ok, this isn't on me. People have their own tastes. Besides, how do you  know she got it from me." I glanced back at her carefully, meeting her  accusatory eyes. "Really. I just fell into my image, you two are the  ones who dated a total edgelord. Maybe you secretly have a goth fetish?  Ever think about that?"

Drea had started giggling lightly  as Rana picked up the coat and finally burst out laughing, collapsing  against the wall as gales of laughter wracked her body. All three of us  glared at her, and it just set her off even harder, sliding down the  stone nearly crying from mirth as she pointed at the three of us. "I-I'm  sorry. It's just...your faces. All three of you. Like mirror images. It  just hit me all at once." She gasped a few times until she calmed down.  "But if it helps she might have gotten it from me." She gave me a once  over. "I always thought the tall dark and handsome thing was sexy."

Rana  grimaced. "Yuck. And on that note, regardless of how these look, we  should get them back to the others. They're holed up in the library  still, and while mom's shield should be plenty to keep them safe I'm  betting Grandma and Uncle John are getting worried." I raised an eyebrow  at that. "What? That's what mom calls him. And grand uncle John just  sounds weird."

I snickered. "Taylor's sad pining after  Sindella aside, we should definitely get back. Once everyone is geared  up we can all go the fuck home. I miss Gotham. I want some Gotham style  pizza. Or maybe a sub." Zee nodded emphatically. I smirked at Drea. "We  also haven't gone for bubble tea in a while. We can stop for some when  we get back." My goddess's eyes lit up at the statement, excitement  coursing over the bond in the cutest possible way. Drea may have seen it  all, but she still reacted to bubble tea like an excited kid.

The  trip back to the library was much easier than the search, since A: we  knew where we were going, and B: none of the heartless we fought on the  way were still alive to bother us. When we finally got back to the  library Zee took down the shields with zero effort and we filed in to  pass out the coats. Artemis took hers and held it up, staring at it in  horror. "Ok...no. I'm not wearing this. I'll take the soul corrupting  insanity. This is hideous. I look like a star wars nerd dressing up to  go to a movie premiere."

Wally, who had changed into his  happily at super speed, gave her a betrayed look through the opening of  his ridiculous hood. She noticed his gaze and winced. "I mean...yay,  safety gear. It's always a good idea to wear protective clothing in  dangerous situations." Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she spoke, but  she clearly worried more about offending her live in boyfriend than she  did looking stupid. She glared over at me. "Shouldn't you be wearing  one? The B-guy is looking for you right? Shouldn't you like...cloak  yourself for the trip?"

I snickered at her straw grasping.  "Nope, sorry. Not how it works. He's a god, not a universal  consciousness. If I use the ability myself he'll notice it for sure, but  since I'm catching a ride on the Rana express, there won't be any way  for him to see me. I'm safe from the influence of the darkness, so no  coat for me." I gave her a sadistic grin and a thumbs up. "But you are  going to look absolutely adorable in your little raincoat sis. Don't  worry. I won't even take any pictures." Of course, I had perfect recall  and the manual dexterity to sketch everything I'd ever seen from memory,  but I didn't see a need to mention that.

Kit giggled. "Oh  gods, I forgot how much you two bicker. It's good to see some things  haven't changed. You know, I used to think you guys would end up  together." She winced and looked at my girls and Wally. "Like, before  they had other partners I mean."

I snorted. "Please.  Artemis and I are far too similar to ever date. We'd have killed each  other within a week. Plus she's not my type. I like my women with  curves. She'd flat as a board." I was already moving when I finished  talking, avoiding the bolt of lightning sparking from the fingers of mt  best friend's fingers. Her eyes were blazing with irritation and she  leveled her hand for another blast before Wally grabbed her and started  talking her down.

Not that I was bothered. Artemis didn't  have self-esteem issues about her appearance. I'd drooled over her  enough at the beginning of our friendship that she knew I found her  attractive. I just liked to mess with her. She eventually huffed out a  sigh and rolled her eyes. "You're such a dick. Also I am NOT flat. Your  girlfriends are just built like porn stars." She stuck her tongue out at  me, which I could tell from her aura was her way of telling me we were  all good.

Jim rapped his cane on the ground. "Alright  children. As much fun as your sniping is, we should be going. I'm still  not convinced these coats will work, but I'd rather die in truth than be  stuck here listening to your pubescent nattering much longer." Artemis  and I both shot him offended looks, which he ignored, but he wasn't  wrong. Better to get going while we had our spirits up. I gestured for  everyone to put on the coats, which they did with a not insubstantial  amount of grumbling, and once that was done I gave Rana the nod.

She  exhaled, a long slow breath, before she reached into herself and  touched the dark. I'd opened corridors plenty of times before, but the  Nightside was the first time I moved so many people at once, and it was a  markedly different experience. It took time and concentration so I left  my daughter to her work. The dark began to spill from under her like  liquid, rolling out to encompass the floor below us and licking up like  some sort of strange fog in tendrils that lapped at the bottom of the  coats. I made sure everyone synched the hoods as closed as possible like  they said to in the notes.

With one final push, Rana  called to the forming corridor, and we all felt the world dissolve in a  sea of dark. The others probably felt completely out of their element,  but I was fine. I could see into the dark...sort of, and I was used to  traveling this way. Still, there were jarring differences as we entered  the abyss of blackness. The dark seemed thicker, more mercurial, and I  could feel Rana's corridor beginning to shift slightly.

We  should have been traveling out, toward a thinner spot in the darkness  but we weren't, we were being drawn inexorably deeper, like we were in a  whirlpool. I frowned but couldn't interfere, if I used my power in the  dark here, HE would feel it for sure. I was pretty sure my friends  wouldn't survive me getting his attention when we here in his domain.  All I could do was let Rana take the reins. She knew where we were  going, Gotham was her home as well as mine, and she should be able to  find her way back easily enough.

We finally emerged from  the dark, and even with the coats, the others began gasping, falling  against the walls of the buildings of the alley we were in. That was the  first clue something was wrong. There were parts of Gotham that were  old and run down, but not THIS run down. The walls to the sides of us  were moldy and crumbling. I walked down the alley, leaving the others as  I stepped out onto the street and looked around, noting the ankle deep  wetness blanketing the street with a sinking feeling.

If  the dark energy in the air (denser than Gotham should ever have been  curse or not) wasn't a giveaway, one look at the drowned skyline made me  blood run cold. "Ok." I said without turning around. "Rana, is there  anything you want to tell me? Because I don't remember Gotham being a  destroyed hellscape when we left. Or at least, not one that is mostly  UNDER WATER." I knew we were in Gotham from the buildings, but I was  pretty sure this wasn't the RIGHT Gotham. We'd officially entered the  dark multiverse, and I wasn't sure how the hell to get us out.