Sell you a Bridge chapter 175

February 14th 2011 The OZ 11:00 AM EDT

We  agreed to hear the old man out, and his body seemed to relax. "Thank  you. And I'm sorry if I scared you all back there. There's never really a  good time for the old beast into man moment. Best to just rip the  band-aid off and just...hope for the best." He gave an apologetic shrug.  I had to admit he had a point, even I was pretty shocked by the  transformation, so it was inevitable that anyone who saw it would freak.

DG  frowned slightly. "I don't know. I don't think it's a good idea to let  someone we don't know come with us on such a dangerous mission. I  mean... you're still a stranger." It was genuinely weird to see DG  turning the guy down when I could see in her aura she wanted to welcome  him with open arms. She was friendly and trusting to an insane degree  and the guy HAD freed her from a dungeon.

He  gave her a wry smile. "Am I? Let's just see about that." He reached  into his coat and pulled out a doll in a green dress. The doll was old  and a bit ratty, but it looked well cared for and pretty high quality.  It's aura was thick with care and affection, and I could tell the owner  had treasured it.

DG's  eyes flew open wide. "Hey! That's mine!" Then she blinked. She clearly  hadn't meant to say that, or even been aware it was true. She'd just  reacted instinctively to the sight of it. I noted again how much it must  suck to be in my friend's shoes, with your whole life trapped in your  brain and no way to access it except for random moments of revelation  when someone accidentally triggered a memory.

The  old guy smile approvingly. "Yours when you were a child." He held the  doll out and then released it, leaving it handing in mid air. It sat  suspended there for a moment before it began to spin. In my aura sight I  could see the magic radiate up from his palm suspending the thing. It  wasn't really a shock that the dude who could literally turn into a dog  could do magic so I remained unimpressed.

That  changed pretty quick when DG held her hand out and the doll floated  over to her, her own aura reaching out to pull it across the gap between  them. I blinked. "Did...did you guys know she could do that? I didn't  know she could do that." DG had magic? I mean sure, magic princess  bullshit, but like, normal learnable magic she could train? I looked to  Zee who just shrugged, apparently she hadn't known either, though she  looked really excited by the prospect of her friend being a magic user.

DG  looked just as thrilled. "Am...am I really doing this?" The thing was  floating above her hand, spinning like a top, and seeing her aura shift  into a magical tendrils was impressive. It was pretty damn strong  actually, which I had always just taken for the natural purity she  exuded. Princess power, to put an absurdist spin on it. Now though, I  could see that she could pack quite a punch. Not as big as Zee, with her  monster level magical reserves, but she was definitely a force to be  reckoned with.

The  older man grinned widely. "Indeed you are. Magic's in your blood." He  gave a beatific smile. "Let it shed light on your past, so may better  face your future." Which was basically the same fortune cookie crap that  Jim liked to spout when he had no idea what was going on to make  himself seem wise. I had a brief pang of homesickness when I thought of  my ghostly mentor. I hoped he was doing ok without us. Gods knew that  old man would get into more trouble than should have been possible  without us around.

Zee  bounced up to DG, taking her hands and squealing. "Oh this is going to  be so much fun! You can be my apprentice! I've never had an apprentice!  The closest I've ever come is trying to teach Artemis, but she's a  stabby philistine who only uses her magic to beef up her murder stick  slinger." Artemis glared at her and Wally tried not to burst out  laughing at his girlfriend's indignation.

Said  murder stick slinger was being drawn from her back menacingly until  Wally tackled her and stopped her from trying to shoot my girlfriend.  She stuck her tongue out at Zee instead and they both giggled at their  own antics. Despite what they might act like on occasion the two of them  were close as sisters. It was nice to see them acting like themselves  again. Artemis smiled encouragingly at DG. "She really will be a great  teacher though. All jokes aside she explains everything so simply and  really cares about her students. That hocus pocus stuff just isn't my  bag."

Wally  gave his girlfriend a proud look that made Zee and I roll our eyes.  Wally wasn't ridiculous enough to deny the existence of magic at this  point, but he did still avoid it when possible. It was fine though, Zee  and I could be the magical couple and they could be luddites who refused  to get with the times. The old man ignored us, smiling at DG who still  looked a bit dazed. "Now, try it again. And concentrate DG. You have to  concentrate."

She  closed her eyes, and I saw her aura shift as she most likely  experienced a memory. Her emotions flickered as they were exposed  to...whatever the hell she was seeing, and then her eyes flew open. She  gazed at the old man with recognition, her lips peeling back into a  familiar smile. "Todo! You were our tutor!" Well, that explained why  he'd helped her escape at least.

He  gave an approving nod. "Before you were sent over to the other side  your mother put a spell on all your memories, in case you were taken  into the wrong hands." DG looked put out as she indicated she was aware  of that fact. Todo (and I was ignoring all this Wizard of Oz related  nonsense since it was almost definitely just some kind of conceptual  echo because this entire world was in the Dream and was defined by that  story) just smiled. "Well she sent me now to help you awaken those  memories, and to find the Grey Gale, and the Emerald of the Eclipse."

Her  eyes snapped to his face frantically. "Wait, how did you see her if  she's in Azkedelia's prison?" It broke my heart to hear how raw her  voice was at the idea that her mother might have some way to contact  her. I couldn't imagine finding out you never knew your real mother and  that your parents were robots. That wasn't even taking into account her  evil sister and the weird thing possessing her or any of this other  princess bullshit.

Todo  looked startled. "She came to me in a dream. But she's getting weaker  and weaker. There's no time to waste." That last bit seemed a bit  suspicious to me, but again, as long as I was here there was no reason  to worry about Azkedelia, and the longer she waited the stronger I got. I  was at fifty six hundred points and I'd hit sixty two hundred in an  hour. Not to mention the huge boost I could swing from the tantric  ritual if we had time. I gave DG a subtle nod. This guy obviously had a  way to help with her memories. I could handle it if he tried to backstab  us.

DG  brought up the mystic mans directions to head south, and Glitch asked  Cain if that seemed like a good idea. I knew jack and shit about this  place so I deferred to the most experienced regional guide. Cain looked  annoyed. "We'll have to go I guess, but that's going to be a problem."  He looked right at me. "The only road south leads to the fields of the  papay." His voice was grim as he spoke, and I knew why.

I  groaned as we all turned and started heading in that direction. "I hate  the fields of the papay. What do you think are the chances that giant  spike bomb wiped out all of them and the place is now a nice place for a  casual stroll?" Everyone just looked at me blankly and I sighed. "Yeah,  I know. But just once I wish the weird nonsense that seems to crop up  wherever we go was in our favor instead of pitted against us."

Zee  came up to me, snuggling up under my arm as Dreamer pushed herself  under the other, and gestured to our girlfriend. "Well we ran into a  super hot goddess who happens to be perfectly suited to helping me  awaken my divinity and is fine with sharing? I'd say we do hit good luck  sometimes." I snorted at that, and noted she mentioned her divine  abilities, apparently Dreamer had mentioned talking to me and she wasn't  keeping it to herself anymore. I pulled her tighter against me and  kissed the top of her head, and she gave me a hesitant look until she  saw my smile.

I  knew what she was thinking, I could see it in her aura. "I'm not mad  that you decided Dreamer should join us because she can help you get  stronger. I already hinted I knew about it a while ago if you'll recall.  You wanted her with us and you know I'd do anything for you." I glanced  back over at the bodacious goddess. "Though some sacrifices are less  arduous that others." The girls both snorted and Zee elbowed me  playfully, but I leaned down and kissed her again. "But honestly I think  it worked out. She's been a ton of help to me, and I suspect she's been  talking things through with you too."

She  flushed. "Well...sometimes talking. Point is, yeah. She's been a real  help with things. I've been working with her on meditation to try to  learn to manage my bloodline. Not just harnessing it but integrating the  godly portions of myself to try to gain better control over my impulses  so I don't do rash things like trying to randomly pull pretty goddesses  into threesomes." I snickered at that. "I think this is good for me  though. I've always kind of bottled any attraction to girls up because  of the way my house was." She smiled at Dreamer. "I can't think of a  better person to help me learn about myself."

Dreamer  beamed at both of us. "I for one thing you're both amazing. I cherish  the chance to help you get to know yourselves and each other better. The  fact that the sex is better than anything I've ever experienced  definitely doesn't hurt, but I would enjoy spending time with both of  you even if it wasn't." I pulled them both close to me at that, and we  all lapsed into silence comfortably. Dreamer had kind of been shoved on  us by Zee's godly nature, but I thought she was starting to fit in just  fine.

As we  walked I looked over our group. Wally and Artemis were walking cuddled  together as my best friend listened to DG gush about her magic powers  with a soft smile. Cain, Raw, and Glitch were sticking close to Todo the  tutor, while Dreamer's crew were lagging behind, with Vykin and Serifan  keeping lookout and Bear playing with the cornerpups. The little devils  were trying to confuse him by darting in and out between his legs while  Patches rode in his puffy made, staring down at his new siblings  imperiously. All in all, it was a good group. I felt...at peace. In a  way I never had in Gotham. I still wanted to get home, but I wanted to  remember this. To carry it with me when I left. My time Somewhere Over  the Rainbow.