A Lullaby For Gods Chapter 145

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: NOBODY BELIEVES YOU NOW

The coast of Florida was flooding.

It had to happen someday, but for it to be minutes after the entire state had gone into a statewide blackout wasn’t what most people expected. The doomsday preppers, of course, already had Carrington Event Two Electric Boogaloo and Noah’s Flood on their bingo cards, but the rest of the general population were left baffled to see that the ocean had stopped being satisfied with snatching tourists off the beach and had come to meet them on their doorstep.

It would recede, they’d thought. Perhaps some sewer system had been blocked, resulting in water climbing up to their knees. The heat of the day will dry it all up.

But while the ocean had come to them, the heat of the day was running off with the sky, which had started flickering two hours after the blackout. Nearly 24 hours later, the thing had sputtered like a faulty screen and completely shut off.

The sky was dark, the waters were rising, and residents were fleeing towards higher ground, carrying pets and children and whatever precious belongings they could bring. Those with vehicles sped away into the hills. Those who didn’t, waited for cabs that barely drove past (as drivers were busy saying fuck it and hightailing it out of there in their vehicles), and were soon forced to escape the waters on foot.

48 hours after the blackouts began, the dead began to visit their living.

#

JANUARY 29, 2014

NIGHT VALE

“Very helpful for him to just pass out on the fucking couch,” Vriska said, glaring down at the prone form of the boy who’d introduced himself as Cronus Ampora on one of the living room couches. Almost everyone – save for the two human girls who were asleep – was gathered in said room, warily watching the troll as he slept.

They had a hurried introduction and a summarized version of why he’d suddenly shown up at the estate two hours ago, before he decided to just conk out right where he was sitting. The other troll he’d brought with him who Vriska refuses to believe was Dualscar (even though he did have two huge scars on his face) was similarly asleep, though he’d been moved to one of the guestrooms by the boys, since there was no way he was going to fit on the couches without his horns gouging into the furniture.

The humans were rather touchy about things getting broken in the estate. Probably some sentimental bullshit to do with their recently-deceased Anathema Point. Vriska didn’t really care.

Currently, both of their visitors were dead asleep, and they were all too curious to wait.

“Are you guys, like, friends?” Vriska heard Wilde asking behind her.

“No, but he’s one of our, uh, friend’s dancestors,” Terezi said.

“What the fuck’s a dancestor.”

While her moirail was busy with explaining the simple concept of ectobiology and bloodline succession to the human, Vriska quietly approached the couch with the sleeping troll; nobody stopped her, not that they were awake enough to, as even though they were curious, most of the humans were already drifting in and out of sleep from where they sat behind her.

Cronus was older than them, clearly, unless he was just one of those lanky sprouts who loomed over the rest of their peers even when they were the same age. He was alive, though he reeked of blood, and his clothes were torn and tattered on places.

Several jagged tears on the shin and thigh areas of his pants indicated the fabric harshly dragging across surfaces and ripping. The bottom left portion of his leather jacket was completely burnt off. Most alarmingly, the collar of said jacket and the undershirt beneath it appeared to have also been burnt away, only hanging onto his torso by the sleeves.

Whatever had hit him had hit him square on the neck, or under the jaw. It had been strong enough to burn his clothes, but somehow, he was alive.

Was he godtier? Had he ascended? What the fuck was someone’s dancestor doing here?

“Should we really be watching him while he’s sleeping?” The Palmer kid in orange asked, slurring his words from how drowsy he was.

“Maybe he’s faking it and he’ll kill all of us when we’re asleep,” Vriska deadpanned. “You never know.”

She turned, slowly; Benzedrine and the Palmer in violet looked slightly concerned, but the one in orange just gave her a flat stare. She snickered.

“Oh, lighten up. It was a joke.”

“How the hell did he even find this place?” that was the one with the spiky hair now, sitting on the floor blearily looking at their guest. What was his name? Something kinda like Leijon? Leon, right. “I thought this city was supposed to be like mysterious and all that shit.”

“Probably something to do with how we can see live news from the rest of the world now,” Miscer murmured. He was still on his phone, lying flat on the carpet as he scrolled. “Everything’s going to shit out there.”

“How bad is it?”

“Like two steps down from the movie 2012,” he said. “Except like, apparently people are getting lost in mystery spots and some people are seeing the sky go dark.”

“How fast is it spreading?” Vriska asked.

Miscer took his time looking at her, as if surprised to heard her speak, though his expression didn’t betray much. Eventually, he said, “Forty-six out of fifty states are affected. I can’t fucking remember the route we took to get here so I have no idea which state we’re in, but the entire country’s nearly gone under.”

“The rest of the continent’s probably next,” Leon grunted. “You think people will have any luck if they cross the ocean?”

“The ocean’s rising.”

“What?” Leon sat up, pushing off from where he was leaning into his seat. “For real?”

“Yep,” Miscer said. “It’s bad out there, I’m telling you. It’s 2012, Day After Tomorrow sort of bullshit.”

“Jesus fuck,” Leon breathed, turning towards Cronus. “And that was the sort of shit Saph was holding off?”

They did a shit job at it, Vriska thought, but she held her tongue for Terezi’s sake; the girl looked way too tired to break up any fights that would break out between her and the dead kid’s friends.

“I don’t think it’s all just the end of the world,” Benzedrine muttered.

“Yeah?” Vriska raised an eyebrow, turning on her heel so she could face the rest of them. Benzedrine stiffened, surprised to be addressed. “Stop mumbling, share your thoughts with the rest of the class.”

“It’s just a hunch,” the boy said. “But the timing’s a little suspicious, isn’t it? We already knew the world was ending but why’s it suddenly accelerating at a pace we’ve never seen before?”

“Maybe something’s reached a breaking point,” Orange Palmer said, shrugging. “Something had to have been tipped off the edge for an apocalypse to suddenly spread this fast.”

That was a good point. And since Cronus and his friend were the only people here who came from the outside world, they were their only clue as to exactly what had kickstarted the apocalypse. With any luck, Vriska would be able to pinpoint what the problem was, and if she could, she could probably find a way to fix it. It was already proven that there was a way to hinder the end of the world, after all, that’s what the Anathema Point had been. Angeles just did a piss poor job of stopping the apocalypse.

God, what were these people going to do without her? Flounder in the face of catastrophe, that’s what. Good thing whatever separated this city from the rest of the world was going down. Maybe she could just walk out and get to where she needed to go this time.

She marched forward, intent on kicking Cronus off the couch to jolt him awake, but she was hurriedly telekinetically pulled back. She froze for a moment, the memories of being brutalized and thrown around by Aradia cropping up in her mind, before she whirled on Cecil Palmer with a glare. The boy held his hands up placatingly.

“Let him sleep, you idiot,” Kevin Palmer hissed, disapproving. “He’s clearly been through a lot, he’s not going to be much help when he’s sleep deprived.”

“How are we supposed to get answers out of him?”

“We wait,” Kevin said. “It’s not like we can do much even if we did find out what’s wrong with everything.”

Vriska begged to differ, and was about to say as much, but Terezi turned to her, shaking her head. The girl frowned. If she didn’t see the merit in making sure the information they got out of Cronus was as reliable as possible, she would have contested but – she’ll let Terezi have this. Besides, the girl had been sullen and tired since they’d fallen into this universe. It was nice to see some life back in her again; good for her that she’s found some fascination with their new surroundings instead of being way too tired to deal with being back in the saddle again.

Still, Vriska made sure to stay awake even as the rest of the house slept. She wandered around the house’s massive library even though she couldn’t read the books displayed there, took a walk in the estate’s massive backyard, before eventually making her way back to the house as soon as the sun was peeking over the horizon.

By the time she’d gotten back, Orange Palmer was already awake, and was handing a mug of tea to Cronus who was similarly slowly pulling himself out from exhaustion.

Vriska sat on the couch next to Palmer, crossed one leg over the other, and looked at Cronus expectantly. The older boy stared and then blinked at her.

“Yes?” he hazarded.

“Aren’t you going to explain what you’re doing here? You’ve made us wait for hours, you know. Don’t you have any manners?”

Cronus stared at her some more. “…I don’t know why I expected you to be like Aranea.” He took a sip of his tea. “Guess that’s on me since Eridan’s also a little shit. Our descendants are just worse, I guess.”

Vriska glared, but he didn’t seem to be too bothered, instead taking his time in blowing steam away from his mug and taking small sips from his drink. She kept her gaze on him, waiting for him to take the hint, but the only thing he did was continue to drink painfully, annoyingly, almost deliberately slowly.

Asshole.

Half an hour later, two other people came down from their rooms – Cecil Palmer and Ruben Benzedrine. Upon seeing Cronus awake, they huddled close, nervously standing behind the couch Kevin and Vriska were on.

“Twins?” Cronus asked, eyeing Cecil and Kevin.

“Yep. I’m older, he’s younger.” Kevin pointed to himself and then to Cecil. “Do you guys have twins on Alternia?”

“I’m from Beforus,” Cronus said, though he said it with a smile. “And no, we don’t. Every generation is laid by the mother grub.”

“Ohhh,” Kevin said, nodding. “That’s pretty neat.”

“Thanks,” Cronus said. “Are twins common on Earth?”

“Oh my god, can you stop talking about anything but the situation at hand?” Vriska kicked the coffee table. Benzedrine immediately turned to her, furious, but she ignored his stare in favor of crossing one leg over the other again. It got everyone’s attention, didn’t it? So what if she kicked around some dead person’s furniture. “Helloooooooo? It’s the end of the world? People are dying out there, aren’t you supposed to be good guys, you selfish assholes?”

Benzedrine’s glare tightened, but he said nothing. Cronus, meanwhile, raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue. “Are you self-aware or is guilt tripping just a poor replacement for your social skills?”

“I can trip you in real life too and smash your ugly mug on the floor if you don’t start talking.”

“I can’t believe I actually prefer Aranea,” Cronus muttered. “What part do you want clarification on? I think I told you the gist of where I came from.”

“How exactly did you find the city?” Kevin said, eager to put the conversation on a much more productive path. “What’s the Moon?”

“Oh, right. I didn’t explain that.” Cronus extended a foot out, hooking the top of his shoe under the table so he could drag it back towards him. He set his mug on it as soon as it was within reach. “I was helped here by the Full Moon of Derse.”

He reached into empty air and with a quick flick of his wrist, plucked a large silver coin out of thin air. Vriska’s eyes widened in surprise. Huh. This Ampora was a magician.

“She’s one of the treasures of Derse,” he said, turning the coin over to them. Vriska frowned. All she could see was one of those ordinary silver coins used to buy merchandise on the few markets scattered all over the wasteland of Alternia. What was so special about that, that it would be a Dersite treasure?

“A Liberty dollar?” Kevin asked.

A what now?

“Ah, is that what she looks like to you?” Cronus asked. “Well, she’s no ordinary coin. I think this is just her physical form; she’s…hm.” He paused, returning her to nothingness. What the hell. “It’s a bit difficult to describe, but she’s like an entity.”

He paused again, before snapping his fingers.

“You know those NPC guides I games?” When he got nods, he continued, “She’s like that. When you hold her, she can help you find what you need, and call what needs to find you. Or find her, specifically.”

“Ah, and she helped you find the city,” Benzedrine said.

“I wanted to find someplace to rest and hide,” Cronus said. “That said, I actually have no idea where I even went. I just followed the path she showed me.”

“…where did you go through?” Vriska asked.

“A mausoleum,” Cronus said. “It was so weird. I opened the doors and there was a whole town on the other side.”

Both Palmers and Benzedrine shared a look at that. Vriska tapped her fingers on her arm. It lined up with what Miscer was reading about last night, about people suddenly finding completely different places behind doors that shouldn’t lead to them. This coin of his must have showed him a doorway that happened to lead into the city.

“How exactly does she show you things?” Benzedrine asked.

“Moonlight,” Cronus said. “She draws moonlight and makes it shine on certain things.”

“Huh. Like a searchlight,” Kevin said.

“Do you know anything about the apocalypse happening out there?” Vriska asked. “Considering you got here looking like you forgot how legs worked.”

“For your information, I was trying to stop the apocalypse. That’s why I look a little worse for wear. Some gratitude would be nice,” Cronus said through a tight smile.

“Well, you were shit at stopping the apocalypse weren’t you?”

“Did a better job than you ever could, I’d bet,” Cronus muttered bitterly, picking up his mug again.

Vriska sat up at the challenge. “Yeah? I bet I’d fix whatever’s causing it under an hour or something. An Ampora really shouldn’t be trying to fix something a Serket easily could, you guys just make things worse.”

“Be my guest.” Cronus’ smile widened. “Eridan would eat you alive.”

“He’s causing the apocalypse?” Kevin asked.

“No, but he’s guarding the person who is.”

Vriska snorted. Figures. Of course Eridan would fuck things up for everybody.

“And you lost to him?” she asked. “How much of a loser are you? Sure, he’s got some fancy magic now, but he doesn’t even have control over it. Last I saw, he keels over when he uses something even a little bit powerful.”

The older troll’s eye twitched, his grip on his mug tightening briefly. “You know what?” he said, “You should definitely go and clean up my mistakes. I totally need your help since I can’t do anything; I was having a hard time just knocking out my descendant. Silly little me.”

“Keep yapping, Ampora.” Vriska rolled her eyes. “Put me out there and I’ll have everything solved, you’ll see.”

“Sure you will.” He turned away, bringing his attention back to the others. “Do you guys know who Anshu Jaeger is?”

Kevin tilted his head in confusion before recognition sparked in his eyes. Cecil and Benzedrine, however, shared surprised, knowing looks.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” Benzedrine asked. “She’s the girl Saph told us was killed by the, uh, Empress? And her corpse was delivered as, like, some calling card.”

Cronus blinked. Vriska turned to Benzedrine, eyebrows raised.

“Wait, what?” Cronus asked.

“We heard she was killed after the escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Empress sent her body to her friends as some mutilated trophy,” Kevin said.

“Huh,” Cronus said, staring down at the coffee table. “No wonder Eridan’s a little off his rocker.”

It’s the Empress, of course she was going to do something that cold and fucked up.

“Anyway – apparently, the Heir of Blood’s managed to sink his claws into her so she’s helping him accelerate the end of the world with her – ” Cronus waved a hand. “Manifest powers. The way it’s been explained to me, her body got thrown into a sprite kernel with some of the Heir of Blood’s magic, so now she’s a walking corpse being puppetted around by him.”

He traced the handle of his mug, brow furrowing. “Kinda fucked up. The poor girl couldn’t even rest in peace.”

“Does Eridan know?” Vriska asked.

“I’m not sure,” Cronus said. “I just know he’s unhealthily attached – with her death and her reanimation being so close together, I’m not sure the kid’s had time to process his grief. Which kind of explains it, I guess.” He made a face. “Asshole didn’t have to shoot me point blank, though.”

“You should probably see a doctor for that,” Benzedrine murmured, but Cronus waved his concern off with a laugh.

“I’ll be fine. I think. I mostly just got tossed around,” he said. “Dualscar’s got it worse.”

“That’s not Dualscar,” Vriska instantly said.

“It most definitely is Dualscar,” Cronus said, then, after another hesitant pause, “Whoever the fuck he is on your planet.”

“You have no idea who – oh, right, you’re from Beforus.” Vriska clicked her tongue. “No wonder you got your ass kicked, you’re from the weak planet.”

“Sure.” He barely paid attention as he replied. “But, anyway, if you’ve got doctors who can help, you should probably get that sort of help for Dualscar. He might lose his arm.”

“…well, the city’s weird enough, I think we can find a doctor who knows your biology, somehow,” Kevin said. “What about the apocalypse outside, can we do anything about that?”

“If we can kill Jaeger,” Cronus said. “Though, again, we’d have to get through Eridan first.”

“Let’s go then,” Vriska said. “That sounds easy enough. I’m getting tired staying in this stuffy house.”

“That’s easier said than done, who knows if we can get to New York with what’s going on out there,” Benzedrine said.

“He’s practically got a cheat code that lets him take advantage of map glitches, stupid.” Vriska pointed to Cronus. “That coin of his or whatever. We can just use that, find this girl, and then kill her.”

“And Eridan?” Kevin asked.

“I’ll deal with him,” Vriska said. “It’s nothing I haven’t done before.”

The trio shared another look between themselves before turning towards Cronus, who shrugged.

“I’m not Alternian. I don’t know how power levels work on their planet, and me trying to guess before’s made me eat shit,” he said. “I say let her have at it, though I’d appreciate it if we got Dualscar fixed up before we went anywhere.”

“I’ll try to see if there’s anyone in town who can help,” Benzedrine said. “In the meantime, uh…rest up, I guess. You look like you need it.”

“I’d be glad to, honestly. You guys got a kitchen here? I’m starving.”

Cecil stood, bouncing on his feet as he motioned for Cronus to follow him towards said kitchen with a smile. Kevin, meanwhile, turned towards Benzedrine to discuss which doctors they could consider going to – Vriska turned them all out, instead sinking into her seat with a widening grin on her face.

Finally. Something to do around here. She was getting tired of being benched – Terezi had told her that Angeles kid brought her here as a contingency, but screw that. That was a stupid plan; they already had matters under control, she wasn’t needed here. And she didn’t have anything to do.

But kicking someone’s ass and stopping the apocalypse, however, that was definitely something up her alley.

Oh, she couldn’t wait.