2.4

Content warnings: violence typical of fight scenes, including stab wounds and broken bones; alternate self; descriptions of torture (detail below; skip if you prefer surprises)

• A character gets stabbed.

• A character communicates with and is then taken over by an alternate version of themself. This is not mean to be an accurate depiction of DID (see disclaimer here.)

• A character remembers repeatedly getting tased in the past.

~.~

Dani took a deep breath as she sprinted down the hallway, shields up to block the gunfire coming from behind. Peter and Lian were ahead of her—Ridwan behind her—as the group ran through the halls of the Company HQ. They’d successfully deleted the records—that was no longer the problem. No, the bigger problem was the guards who’d found them deleting the records.

As Dani skidded around a corner, her blood went cold. Dani recognized this hallway. He’d dreamed about this hallway.

And like a bad dream come true, several things happened at once. The group ran into two men in suits. As they changed direction, Ridwan now in the lead, a burst of laser fire whizzed over their heads. And then, the sickening sound of a knife embedding itself in Lian’s back—

Dani kept running, dragging Lian behind him. He wasn’t sure how the knife had broken through the shield on Lian, but it had, and that was Dani’s cross to bear—but he’d bear it later. Pain bloomed in Dani’s calf, causing him to stumble. Despite all this, Ridwan just calmly grabbed Dani’s wrist in one hand and Lian’s wrist in the other and continued to run.

The pain was excruciating, but that wasn’t what bothered Dani. It was with dread in his heart that Dani finally turned around, knowing what he’d find.

Peter was nailed to the wall by a dagger through the throat.

~.~

Pain shot up Ridwan’s neck as the dagger pinned them to the wall by the throat. They gritted their teeth despite the overwhelming sensation and focused instead on bending the light to make it look like Lian was bleeding. It felt like the photons were slipping through their well-practiced fingers as the pain made everything blurry and fuzzy, and god this was not the time to be losing control of their powers—

Peter, take Dani and Lian and run. Ridwan prayed that those thoughts reached their destination. From Lian’s gasp, they could tell that the thoughts had leaked just a little—that had been a message meant only for Peter.

Ridwan opened their eyes just in time to see Dani and Peter hit a roadblock as another group of mafia members rounded the corner. Silently, Ridwan cursed. Their head throbbed with every heartbeat.

Fuck, okay. Time for plan B then, Ridwan said grimly. Peter, grab Lian. Dani, put up a shield. Now. Ridwan prayed Dani’s shield would be enough to protect the trio from what they were about to do next.

Aye, aye, Captain! Peter replied. For once, Ridwan thanked their lucky stars that Peter was willing to go along without asking questions.

Ridwan you're an ass, Lian said thinly. Did you really have to make it look like I got stabbed? Ridwan tried to reply, tried to piece together the thoughts to explain that yes, they were an asshole, but this was for Lian’s own good. If the enemies thought Lian was down, they wouldn’t stab the music teacher a second time.

But the pain was overwhelming, now, and the blood flow to their brain started to falter. It felt like their head was going to explode. They couldn’t breathe.

You can’t do this alone, the soul splinter hissed. For once, Ridwan agreed, and they handed a little control over. Vibrant indigo flames flickered to life around their form.

As the pain started to overwhelm Ridwan’s last bits of rationality, they lost their iron grip on their powers. Black and indigo flames started to spiral out of control around Ridwan’s limp form. The lights began to flicker wildly. The illusion around Lian began to falter.

No—don’t you DARE pass out now, the voice hissed. We’re doing this together. Ridwan wanted to agree, wanted to force their eyes open again, but everything hurt so much, and they were so, so tired, and their soul was practically screaming for energy. It was like the fatigue of the past few days—no, years—was coming back all at once, and Ridwan felt their mind flickering in and out of sleep.

Ridwan sensed Dani’s shield go up, and they finally let the last bits of control escape them.

~.~

All of the pieces came together in Dani’s mind at once. It wasn’t Peter who’d been stabbed—it was Ridwan. At some point the illusionist and the telekinetic had switched places. Lian hadn’t been stabbed at all—it was all a trick of the light.

So why did I get stabbed for real, then? Dani grumbled.

Don’t worry about it! Peter said cheerfully. Now, let's trust Ridwan's ability to be immortal, and get the fuck out of here.

No! No, we can’t just leave them— Lian broke off as Dani fell to her knees, struggling to keep up the shield. Dani had been stabbed of course—it wasn’t the pain that was making it hard to keep up the shield. No, it was something else—something much more terrifying.

~.~

Wave after wave of energy exploded from Ridwan’s core, decimating everything in its path, and for the first time in a long time, Ridwan let it happen, let the power gush from the confines of their mortal coil. Holding back that much power had been exhausting. It was nice to be free.

Ridwan barely registered screams of pain from the Company members as they extended tendrils of their power around the ten enemy souls in the room and pulled, letting the souls fold into their own. They knew they shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t be feeding that hunger, but they were in too much pain to be rational.

The last conscious thought Ridwan had was a feeling of regret. Then, their soul slipped away, finally overtaken by the pain, and their body went limp.

~.~

When the light cleared, there were no men in the hallway anymore—just piles of dust. An unconscious Ridwan was pinned to the wall by a dagger at their throat. Dani collapsed forward as he let the shield down. He was vaguely aware of Lian kneeling at his side.

Dani had no idea what had just happened, but he had a feeling that his shield was the only reason the three of them were still alive.

As if there hadn’t just been an explosion, Peter casually strolled over to the unconscious immortal and removed the dagger with telekinesis. Cautiously, he poked Ridwan with a single finger.

Ow! Peter exclaimed, quickly withdrawing their hand. Hot to the touch!

Can you be serious for one minute of your life? Dani groused. Here, help me get this dagger out—

At that moment, the lights flickered out.

And then, a flash of silver.

~.~

Minerva launched herself at The Necromancer, form cloaked in flames, and readied a punch. The Necromancer ducked under her flurry of attacks, then shot a laser over Minerva’s shoulder, straight at Kai. The blast sent Kai flying into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

At the same time, The Necromancer grabbed Minerva by the wrist and reversed her momentum. She slammed into the ground hard enough that she heard a crack—something was broken, though the starburst of pain from her previous stab wounds made it hard to tell what.

Minerva couldn’t help the panic rising in her chest as silver and black restraints snapped shut around her wrists. For a second, she was back in the prison, on a cold metal exam table, resisting as the guards tased her over and over again. Her breath caught in her throat.

“I don’t know why you bothered coming all this way to fight me when you were so weak to begin with,” The Necromancer gloated. “You weren’t going to win. And if you were trying to distract me…”

He waved a hand, and three holographic screens appeared before him. The first showed Lian kneeling next to Dani while Peter fiddled with an unconscious Ridwan. The second showed Ilia, Karyme, and Morgan standing stock-still in Dellah’s diner, facing a clone of The Necromancer. And the third showed Joshua, Juli, Rae, and Mateen standing under a translucent red shield as water crashed down around them.

“I can’t claim to know exactly what you’re up to,” The Necromancer said calmly, “but I have you exactly where I want you.”

In the corner, Kai sat up slowly, only to find himself tied to the wall. “That’s hard to believe.”

“Oh?” The Necromancer taunted, sauntering up to Kai. He leaned forward, raising Kai’s chin with one hand. “And what do you think I’m trying to do, exactly?”

Minerva paled. “You’re not trying to kill them,” she realized. “You want to punish them.”

“Indeed,” The Necromancer agreed. “And since you’ve done me the favor of gathering them all in neat little groups…” He grinned. “It’s that much easier for me to send them to Dimension X.”

Minerva’s blood went cold.

“You wouldn’t,” Kai said weakly.

“Just because Yaran was too cowardly to send mortals to Dimension X doesn’t mean I am,” The Necromancer said with a shrug. “It’s the perfect punishment for their transgression.”

For a second, horrified silence enveloped Minerva and Kai. Then, The Necromancer clicked the crystal in his hands, and a burst of silver light enveloped the mortals on all three screens. When the light cleared, the mortals were gone.

“You’re not going to break them, you know,” Minerva snarled, pulling against her restraints. “They’ll come out stronger. You’ll see!”

The Necromancer hummed in disagreement.

Minerva really wanted to punch the smirk off of his face, but… She exchanged looks with Kai. The mortals came first. They would always come first.

Minerva’s restraints shattered, and in a flash of pink, she followed the mortals into Dimension X. As she teleported out, she was just able to catch The Necromancer’s last words.

“Perhaps it’s not them I’m trying to break.”

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