#au! different dimension

[bonniesfamiliar]

DIMENSION TRAVEL STORY IDEA: Summary: Harriet "Harry" James Potter has travelled to an alternate dimension during a spell gone wrong (Kreacher's actually responsible cuz he cares about Harry since she's the Lady of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black) Harriet knows it's an alternate dimension cuz she finds a newspaper stand and lo and behold, who's on the front cover? Tom. Fucking. Riddle. But not the ugly Voldemort Tom Riddle she killed. No this is young Tom Riddle who grew up FINE AS HELL.

And he's on the front page cuz he's The Minister of Magic and guess what he's talking about.

Dumbledore.

He's talking about Dumbledore.

And not manipulative gramps Dumbledore whose beard is longer than my hair.

No.

We're talking about this one

You know why he's talking about this Dumbledore?

Because Albus. Percival. Fucking. Dumbledore decided to become the epitome of "Be Gay, Do Crime," with Gellert Grindelwald, his husband.

DUMBLEDORE IS A DARK LORD WITH HIS HUBBY

So Harriet is obviously freaking out and does the right thing.

She goes to a pub and drinks her sorrows away in Scottish Whiskey, (Thank you, Minny)

But Harry never makes reasonable decisions so when she finds a quill and paper, guess what she does.

She writes to Misinter Riddle.

But the drama doesn't end there.

Whenever Harriet does anything, whether she writes or talks about Tom Riddle, she doesn't speak in English.

She talks in Pareseltongue.

(Cuz she and tom are the only Parselmouths. I think.)

So Parseltongue.

Harriet writes in parseltongue to the Minister of Fucking Magic on his wrongdoings in her universe.

The letter literally looks like this:

ssss ssss sssssssss ss ssssss s sss ssssssss ssssss sss sss ss ssss ssssssss ssssssss ssss ssssss sssssss ss ss sssssssss and that transcribes to 

"Dear Lord Voldemort, or should I say Minister Riddle, you are an ugly noseless hairless evil snakey bastard in my dimension,"

and cuz she's spiteful, she signs it off with "You-Know-Who"

But the thing is Harriet never mentioned her name or who her parents were.

So when Minister Riddle receives this letter, he freaks out and then does everything he can to find this person.

Not to kill them.

But to woo them.

This kind, thoughtful person has travelled from another dimension just to stop him from becoming evil.

AND THEY'RE A PARSELMOUTH.'

THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY HIS SNAKE MATE. (cuz he killed all of the Gaunts and Riddles so they're not family)

You can bet ur ass he was squealing to Nagini at the thought of having another Parselmouth in the world with him.

He's obsessed.

(He's not tom riddle if he doesn't have possessive issues and his jealousy issues are just as bad.🤭🤭🤭🥰🥰🥰😩😩😩)

Like it's not a want.

It's a need.

He needs the writer of this letter to be with him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and-

You probably get the idea.

Anyway, 1 year goes by.

Tom Riddle: I MUST FIND THIS PERSON AND MAKE THEM MINE

Harriet Potter: *forgets about even writing the letter* 

Tom is growing more obsessed as the days go by and then he meets a woman at a charity ball held for idk an organisation for potieneers? Potion Masters?

She's chatting up with Lord and Lady Dagworth-Granger cuz she's been working with them cuz they remind her of Hermione and she needed a job.

Anyway, he approaches the couple in hopes of talking to them and Harriet sees Minister Riddle approaching and quickly moves away to head to the drinks table.

And then lets out a breath of relief when she realises he wasn't heading for her.

She schmoozes for a few more minutes before calling it quits and heading out for fresh air.

The party is at the Dagworth-Granger's manor so she goes out to the gardens.

And hears a cry for help.

Her Gryffindor instincts push her to run towards the sound of danger.

But her Slytherin side made her hide behind the wall from where the cry of help had come from.

It was a witch being harassed by two wizards.

One of the wizards was holding her wand, taunting her.

While the other had begun to take off her outfit.

Before it could go any further, she brought the men's attention to her and with a flick of her wrist, Harriet had the men on their knees.

She then walked over to the one holding the witch's wand and grabbed it out of his hand, accidentally snapping his wrist in the process.

She gave the witch her wand back and accepted the shaky hug she received.

Harriet waited until the witch was out of sight before she turned to the men and smiled, watching as their faces fell into horror as they saw the fangs in her mouth.

(I'm in love with the prompt by a post on tumblr where  Basilisk!Harry is hugging Kneazle!Hermione and Dragon!Ron also wants his cuddles. I can't find the person who made it but I've lived by the idea that these would be their animagus forms if they ever performed the spell like James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had done to become illegal animagi for Remus Lupin)

Harriet rips into their throats, feeds on them and then turns their bodies into ash with the fiendryfire spell.

She grabbed a mirror from her purse to erase the blood from her face and clothes and began to walk away lest anyone come looking for the wizards.

But, Harriet suddenly slammed into what felt like a wall.

A very warm wall.

Regaining her bearings, Harriet looked up to notice that the "wall" was MINISTER RIDDLE.

AND HE WAS HOLDING HER ARMS.

"Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?" She said pasting a smile on her face.

Shift of POV:

Minister Riddle internally sighed at being stuck in another ball instead of being at home, analysing the letter once again.

He was certain it was a woman who sent it as there was a red lipstick kiss on the paper after it was signed sss-ssss-sss (You-Know-Who)

His thoughts are cut off when Lady Dagworth-Granger asks her husband where Harriet is.

Who is Harriet? he muses but when Lord Dagworth-Granger offers to look in the gardens, Tom leaps at the chance to run away from the party.

He goes into the gardens aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, lost in his thoughts of his mysterious parselmouth when a witch comes out of nowhere and collides with him.

He uprighted her by placing his hands on her arms and looked on curiously as she seemed to freeze in place when she looked up to see that it was he she bumped into.

Tom Riddle is the one to freeze when she speaks.

"Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?" She says an innocent smile on her face as if she had no idea his whole world had just flipped on its axis.

Parseltongue.

She's speaking in parseltongue.

She's his parselmouth.

The one from another dimension.

But he had to clarify so he replies honestly for the first time in his life, in parseltongue, "I've been looking for you," 

"Searching for me? Whatever for?"

A boyish smile widens on his face before he forces it into a polite smile.

"The Lord and Lady Dagworth-Granger have been searching for you, Miss Harriet I believe you are?" He reverts to English to test if she notices the change but she doesn't.

She just replies in English, "Ah, I see. I disappeared for too long with my break from the stuffiness of the ball and yes, I am Harriet."

Harriet, he muses in his mind, no last name to give for me.

She extends her gloved hand for him to shake but Tom riddle reaches for both of her hands and turns them over to kiss them gently and forces himself not to give into the urge of nuzzling into her hands (well not yet at least) and without letting them go, he straightens to his full height to tower over her (giving him a thrill at knowing she was shorter, meaning he could easily pick her up and carry her, be it over his shoulders or bridal style) and replies, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harriet. No last name?"

(Harriet has been wearing gloves cuz of the 'I must not tell lies' scars that cover her hands.)

Harriet smiles teasingly towards him and his cold heart thaws ever so, "I couldn't decide on a last name and I've decided I like the mysterious aura it gives me,"

Or maybe she couldn't risk using her real last name because she was from a different dimension, Tom muses in his mind, Nevertheless, Harriet Riddle has a lovely ring to it.

Harriet Potter: *staring confused at Tom Riddle as he smiles down at her

Tom Riddle: *Winter would be a lovely time to get married, wouldn't it?

I'm stopping here cuz it's a summary, not a story. Yes, I'm Evil.

Tell me if you like it tho.

I was this close *makes an inch between her fingers* to making this a Soulmate AU story.

Think of the angst that Harriet would go through all her life knowing that her soulmate's words to her are:  I've been looking for you

And it's an alternate hotter version of Tom Riddle, AKA THE BAD GUY WHO MURDERED HER PARENTS 

And think of how Harriet's words had motivated Tom his entire life to do his best to work hard (and cheat death) to live long enough for his soulmate to see him one day at a place be it a library or a gala or a hallway and ask him: Minister Riddle, what are you doing here?

Huh.

Maybe I should make them soulmates.

I need a timeline. fuck.

Um.

Riddle was educated at Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945, and was sorted into Slytherin House, a nod to his ancestor Salazar Slytherin.

Making Tom 34 cuz 1927 is the year Tom was born in if he went to Hogwarts in 1938 which would make him 11 in 1938 and 38-11 is 27 so 1927 is when he was born.

61-27=34 so Harriet is in 1961 but cuz of the time skip tom is 35 years old in 1962

Harriet was born in 1980 

The Second War technically began on 24 June, 1995, though was not officially announced by the Ministry until nearly a year later on 17 June, 1996, and ended on 2 May, 1998, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after the death of the Dark Lord.

Which made Harriet 18 in 1998, 24 in 2004, 24 in 1961 and 25 in 1962

 but she deserves peace so the year Kreacher sent her back was 2004 which would make her 24 cuz he's horrified that she hasn't attempted to romance anyone since Cedric Diggory.

Tbh, if he was my bf I would never love again.

But then hubby "I would burn the world down for you and rebuild a new one from its ashes" tom riddle is here and I'm like Cedric who?

But none of them compare to (long list of titles, I'll research later.) Harriet James Potter.

[nerdpoe]

Danny hops skips across dimensions to escape his parents, and ends up in the Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Problem; in his universe, Jack Fenton is that universes version of Bruce Wayne. Jack and Bruce are identical from looks to DNA, but mentally they are worlds apart.

In Danny's universe, the Waynes dropped that name and became Fentons some three or four generations back.

So when a freshly vivisected Danny stumbles through a portal in the Zone and crash lands into the alley behind the Hospital, he is immediately recognized as a possible love child from Bruce Wayne, simply because he's a dead ringer for a teenage Bruce, and Leslie knows that family gets fucking weird.

Just to be sure, though, she tests it.

She leaves the room to check on Danny as she waits for the results, and one of the new interns steps in, and...oh? What's this?

Fresh food for the Newspapers? Food that they'd pay money for?

The intern takes the paperwork and bolts, and the next morning Bruce Wayne's lost secret child (who has been horrifically abused and mutilated poor boy maybe their next scoop will be an interview from him subscribe now to the newsletter and-) is all over the front page.

Bruce himself is furious.

The boy doesn't look like Damian, so he isn't a clone. As far as Bruce can tell, he's a bonafide child that Bruce had with a fling and was never told.

A child who got tortured.

Needless to say, when Danny wakes up from running away from his family to see his fathers pissed off face hovering over his own, his first reaction is to punch first and ask questions never.

He goes invisible as soon as he turns a corner that's out of camera view.

Now Danny has to figure out where he is and outrun not only his father, but the strange furry that keeps following him.

@simplestoryteller

[tatck]

wha what if every chaos emerald had a guardian 👉👈 and what if the chaos emeralds didn't look like the chaos emeralds at all and what if they all had special powers and what if-

[stealingyourbones]

Short DPXDC Prompts #1011

The Justice league gets a call on their emergency hotline. The call is from a teenager who says that “he was summoned to this plane by a bunch of  amateur cultists and doesn’t know how to get back to the infinite realms.” Justice League Dark is called. They are tasked with bringing this ghost kid named Phantom back home.

[hitwiththetmnt]

Peepaws do some tech talk

P1 (what could go wrong with some tech talk) other doodles

P2

Based on @butterfilledpockets B.E.N.T. au

[ebonyheartnet]

Prompt: Dorathea has her position as queen be threatened because misogyny sucks, blah, blah, blah. Someone brought up the whole, “lack of an heir,” thing and claimed women just up and reincarnate/move on randomly, because they’re, “easily overcome with emotion.” The best way to keep there from being a riot without just giving it back to her brother? Just name an heir.

Now if only Dora had remembered to actually tell Danny.

[dontfindmeimscared]

what if Leo figured out Krang tech in the prison dimension?

[fabulous-fic-quotes]

Riddle did not ask again, he grabbed Harry's shoulders and moved him away. Harry looked at his dinky watch. 8:58am. "I have two minutes until I'm the property of the Ministry of Magic." So fuck off.

Riddle's smile was condescending. "Don't be silly, Harry. You are always mine."

"Where's HR?" Harry demanded.

Riddle's smile widened. "We don't have HR."

"Ok. First, let's create an HR office. Then I'll anonymously report you for harassment."

"How about dinner tonight to go over sexual harassment in the workplace in detail?"

Harry threw his head back in laughter and a few people turned to stare at the loud noise. "That was smooth," Harry complimented with a smile feeling reluctantly impressed.

Too Old to be this Young - Nadia_Castillo

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #91

Danny was dimension hopping, his original dimension was still there but after his parents disowned him when they found out it wasn’t safe anymore especially with the GIW stepping up their game. Danny just wanted to find a dimension where he could live peacefully after all he was part human and while he loves the infinite realms it wasn’t sustainable in the long run to his human half. He finally finds one where the GIW doesn’t exist at all, but the weird part is there are actual superheroes here. The weirder part is his counterpart in this dimension is part of the Justice League! The bad part is it seems in this dimension the portal fully killed him so how was he supposed to explain to his counterpart that he was half dead.

[coffinpal]

For the hillbilly AU, which of the boys spouts endless country-isms? Like "you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you had a shotgun full of buckshot" LIKE I feel Raph, but Leo's good with the quick wit too

Raph.

Definitely Raph(Robbin)

[rarestdoge]

I suddenly want him to shit and die a little less now

Context/Refresher: This is after ItA's GSPI ending, where Henry gets ahold of incriminating evidence on the airship to get both Reginald and RHM arrested.

[atiyasnake]

Danny phantom dc crossover idea:

Clone at the grave

Idk how but Danny ends up in gotham. Except da boi is a lil messed up. Aspects of his ghost form are peeking through in his human forms.

This inculdes

Green eyes (lowkey glow sometimes)

Some white hair

Some scars he got in Ghost form.

He also has a vivisection scar (could be part of reason he is there). There are also other various scars some that used to only show on his ghost form but are now on his human form, it's overall concerning.

The thing is Danny is also a bit bloody (red blood) and looking like he was in a fight. So he looks for a safe place and what better than to follow some kind ghosts from Gotham's cemetery. He's the King and Gotham (I love sentient ghost/spirit gotham) for some odd reason is like 'I like this kid/king so no spooky shit to hurt him' also in the cemetery I think there is just etiquette for the ghosts to not hurt each other and be respectful seeing as that is their final resting place. Anyways he's led to a grave and to just sit and chill and try to heal or overall not fully die.

Unbeknownst to him, he is sitting on the grave of formally dead Jason Todd. A grave that the bats have some surveillance on cause ya know of course they would have surveillance on an empty grave. So when poor old Danny is chilling there, the bats are made aware. When they look what they see is what honestly looks similar to a dead Jason Todd, albiet a bit smaller and white hair tuft not the exact same. And considering that Jason is very much (sorta) alive and not at the cemetery, they come to the conclusion that 'hey is that a clone?' Which is a very concerning question.

Cue bats taking a trip and coming close to the 'body' cause really it seemed like a dead body. But then Danny moves, opens his eyes and Boom ya got green, eerily close to Lazarus green which only increases their belief that this dude may possibly be some sort of clone.

So we got confused, suspicious, (concerned) bats. And meanwhile Danny is just ??? With seeing these dudes sorta surrounding him in a cemetery where he is still injured.

Now what happens next could go various ways.

They could go on the agressive detain and ask questions later.

There could be a fight.

Danny may use his spooky abilties to disappear.

Danny may simply fall unconscious and leave the bats to deal with him.

Danny could confuse them with sassiness,

OR he could be like 'ayo help would be appreciated'

OR he could be like 'can't a guy chill in a cemetery by himself'.

Overall the possibility of him leaving with the bats or going off by himself is up in the air and really depends on what type of vibes you want in this story.

Some fun things that could be included...

Bats insistent that Danny is a clone while Danny is like 'No'

OR Danny legit going like 'wait really a clone? Tell me more'

Maybe Jason and Danny meet on the street and are just like that Spiderman meme.

OR they meet and are like hey 'dead buddies' type deal

OR they meet and Jason is suspicious and shit

Batfamily members asking why there are two Jasons, wondering why one is smaller and how his hair changes.

Danny hiding from the bats causing confusion and chaos along the way

Hello batfamily adoption, Bruce reputation preceeds him.

Some 👀 when they see the vivisection/autopsy scar (maybe they don't even know its actually a vivisection until later)

Danny's spookiness peaking out more and more

Maybe at some point or something one of the magic users like Zatanna or Constantine encounter Danny and they are def unsettled. Maybe they can't tell he's the ghost king or a halfa but they know something is wrong. Maybe they knew Jason was a bit wonky in the death sense but they are like "this 'clone' is on a whole other level of fucked". This of course makes the bats wanna investigate more about the 'creation' of cloneDanny, wondering what is his purpose and how he came to be Danny and in gotham and why.

Ya know I like to think that Danny never actually tells them he's a halfa. Cause, ya know secrets and also who is he to crush their clone theory dreams.

The thing is, is that they def think Danny is a really spooky and unsettling 'clone'. Seemingly more dead than alive than Jason is. They never have moments where they think Jason is not actually breathing. His eyes seem more glowy green than Jason's and his tuft of hair seems to glow occasionally but so quick that you think it's a trick of the light. He seems so quiet and his 'presence' isn't that of a normal human. Sometimes they forget Danny is close by.

It makes them think of how Jason could have come back.

One thing I think would be present is that Danny is having issues with changing forms which was why they were sorta mixing. So when he finally is able to fully separate and they see his blue eyes, and fully black hair and they turn to Damian and are like 'ya know you two actually look pretty simi-'

So yeah this is an idea I've been in the process of figuring out. Lots of possibilities though, but if anyone also wants to have some fun with this, please do!! Never can have too many cakes after all.

[nights-flying-fox]

I realized I forgot to dress my boy according to the promo for the contest, so it's time to fix that :3 @tmntaucompetition

[little-pondhead]

I've been working on Victor personality Gremlin of course snarky a bit shy I'm willing to put up a fight for his friends you know if you take this idea of Vlad accidentally cloning himself and mix it with DC it gets a whole lot more crazy an funny

Listen these got stuck in my head and would not leave. The joy this AU brings me.

[socksandbuttons]

all the other dimensions with evil lunar, lord lunar, lord eclipse-

to unpack that all and with what we have right now.

the brain is turning

[waythroughtheice]

Crossed Constellations, Part 1

For @absolutely-normal-about-x, who has graciously allowed me to play in the Legends Reborn AU.

“Ow ow ow ow owww,” Geo moaned, landing face first onto something hard, but slightly warm. “Where are we?” 

A slightly shocked, weathered voice as his answer. “This is the airship Flutter. Are you alright?” Geo blinked as a large hand appeared. He took it in his own gloved one, and let it pull him up. 

“X?” Omega-Xis yelped, shocked. 

“This isn’t X, Omega-Xis, he’s too….” Geo’s answer trailed off as he got a good look at the man--and it was definitely a human, or something like it, standing in front of him. The man was probably in his early forties, with ankle-length brown hair that was braided down his back to be out of his way. A good portion of his hair was white, leading to a pretty cool-effect where part of the braid was white but the other portion was brown. The man(?) was dressed in loose clothing, gray sweatpants and a loose cobalt blue t-shirt while barefoot. His face was slightly scruffy, and he had what Omega-Xis called a “Dad’s bod.” 

At first glance, Geo would swear that he’d never met this man in his life.

But at a second, his eyes--green, calm, intelligent, and old (and dangerous)--took Geo by surprise, and he knew. 

“X?” Geo yelped, not unlike his partner. 

X’s eyebrows shot up, and he firmly shut a book that was resting on a nearby chair shut. “That’s me,” he said. “But I don’t know you. Mind telling me your name?” 

Geo gulped. Though the question was kind and X’s tone light, his eyes were sharp, and Geo knew there would be no running away. 

Oh yeah. Definitely X.

~~~

“You travel through timelines?” X said. “That’s a new one, even for me. Sit, sit.” 

Geo awkwardly sat down at a small kitchen table at a cozy warm kitchen nook. A hot mug of--something was pressed into his hands. 

“Just some tea with milk and sugar,” X said. 

Oh. “Thank you,” Geo said. “I don’t know if I can….” He was in Mega Man’s form, so his ability to interact with the non EM world was limited. 

“We should detransform, kid,” Omega-Xis said suddenly. “It’s X. We’re safe.” 

Geo considered that, and nodded, letting himself split away until he was Geo Doran Stelar, a twelve year old human boy once more. 

The air felt heavy, and odd, and pressed against his chest. The surroundings suddenly felt malevolent, and against him. X made a small noise in the background, probably shocked at his appearance. 

Geo’d gotten that a lot from WAZA--they’d assumed that Mega Man was at least sixteen, if not older, since his Mega Man form looked like an older teenager or young adult. 

“Breathe, kid,” Omega-Xis said. “I checked. You can handle it.” 

Geo nodded and sure enough, the heaviness in the air slowly dissipated, and the black at the corner of his eyes faded. 

“That’s not as new,” X said mildly. “Are you a Cyber Elf?” This was directed at Omega-Xis, who was using the Hunter VG’s properties to be seen by people other than Geo, and to appear and interact with the physical world. 

“Huh? Whazzat?” was Omega-Xis’s eloquent reply. 

X smiled. “That answers that question. Though I guess you could also have amnesia….” 

“I’m an alien,” Omega-Xis said bluntly. “An AMian from the Planet AM.” 

“Aliens exist?” X asked, genuinely shocked. Then he grimaced. “Of course they do. Why am I even surprised anymore….” 

“They might not exist in your timeline,” Geo said anxiously. 

“We probably do,” Omega-Xis said. “But we might not’ve ever visited. The EM Waves on this planet are weak.” 

“EM Waves?” X asked. 

“Like radio waves,” Omega-Xis said, waving a claw. “My species uses it to bounce around and interact with electronics and stuff. The Internet and all that.” 

“Ah,” X said, nodding to show his understanding at the paltry explanation. Geo had no doubt that he did. X was really, really smart and it would be scary if Geo didn't know that X could always be trusted. “So you’ve met me before?” 

Geo nodded. “A few times. But you always look--” he faltered. 

X quirked a smile. “Younger, I’m guessing?” He said. “Blue armor, red jewel?” 

Geo nodded, relieved. “Uh-huh.” 

“Back when I was an android, then,” he said. 

“Yeah…..what are you?” Geo asked. 

X sat back with an amused-fond-exasperated feeling. “A Carbon, a sort of human-machine hybrid,” X said. “And before you ask, no I don’t know how I became one.” He gestured towards the drink. “Before it gets cold.” 

Geo took a sip, and smiled. “Thank you,” he said. 

“You’re welcome. If you don’t mind my asking…” X’s eyes roved over Geo and Omega-Xis before settling their intense gaze on Geo. “What’s a child like yourself traveling through different timelines? You can’t be older than thirteen.” 

“You ask that in every timeline,” Omega-Xis muttered under his breath. X shot him a sharp look before recasting his gaze 

“I’m twelve,” Geo said. “I’ve done this before. Omega-Xis is with me, so it’s okay.” 

“If you’ve met me when I was an android you’ve probably seen Maverick battles, if not seen parts of the Wars,” X said. 

“When I’m Mega Man most of the attacks phase right through me,” Geo said calmly. How many times had he had this discussion with X specifically? It was always X, too--seriously, no other adult seemed to really care all that much. 

(Well, if X wasn’t around Zero always did it, and if Zero wasn’t around Axl tended to. If not one of them, Ciel or--heavens forbid--Signas did it. Geo still feared the Signas debrief.

Dr. Hikari had been….weird. He hadn’t really said anything, but Geo knew he’d watched any and all battles very closely. But he’d still let him go without saying anything, so? 

Dr. Light, the few times Geo’d met him, seemed more resigned to having a twelve year old fight than argumentative.

Vent and Aile had believed him without a fight when he said he could fight, and Gray and Ashe were more interested in sparring with him.

So basically, it was only X's time that had adults that actually argued with him on this. It was so weird. ) 

“Most isn’t all,” X rebutted calmly. 

“I’m faster than light as Mega Man,” Geo said. “I run when I can’t fight and they can’t catch me.” 

“Hmmmm,” was all X said. “Why are you traveling?” 

“It’s kind of habit at this point,” Geo admitted. “I got used to jumping timelines thanks to an older adventure of mine that needed me to jump through space.” He decided to change the subject. “Are Zero or Axl around?” That was always a fair bet with X. Where one went, the other two followed. 

A shadow crept over X’s face. “No.” 

Geo winced. “Sorry.” 

“It was a long time ago,” X said. “Thousands upon thousands. I hold out hope that maybe, but we’ll see.” 

“Do you live with anyone?” Geo asked. If he didn’t, then Geo was going to come back to visit. The thought of X living alone was too sad. 

The shadow fled away. “Yes,” he said fondly. “My kids and two family friends.” 

“The Guardians?” Geo said, surprised. 

X blinked. “You’ve met them too, huh?” He asked wryly. 

“A few times….” Geo said. Not always nice, but they were good people. “We met sometimes on the other sides of a battlefield, but they were always good--to me, at least.” 

“Battlefield?” X said sharply. 

Geo took a pointed sip of his tea (a lesson he’d learned from another X) and didn’t answer. 

X sighed, and moved on. “Well, I woke up to meet my youngest son, Volnutt.” 

“There’s a fifth?” Geo said. 

X smiled. “There’s a fifth,” he confirmed. “Sweet boy, hardworking too. You’d probably get along well--you’re close in age.” 

“Where are they now?” Geo couldn’t help but ask. 

“Out and about,” X said. There was no mistaking the light in his voice or eyes. X was happy. “They’re a good bunch, my kids,” he said. “A lot of trouble, no mistake, but worth it.” 

“That’s good,” Geo said. X was happy. Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon, X was happy. It came off of him in waves of contentment-joy-elation. 

X wasn’t often happy, from what little Geo saw. Though he sometimes had happy endings--at least the couple of versions Geo had met, did--that was only after Geo had been involved in a few things, which he didn’t think was the norm. 

“Are you staying for dinner?” X said. It was kinda late, wasn’t it, now that Geo turned and looked outside. The sunset turned the sky and sea red as the waves lapped gently against the ship. 

Geo shook his head. “I probably shouldn’t--” Then his stomach growled, the traitor.

“Go wash up, and come back and help me with dinner,” X advised, and there was something in his tone that Geo immediately responded to. 

“Yes sir,” he answered, and got up. 

“Omega-Xis, stay here, would you?” X said. “Bathroom’s on the left, Geo. You're sweaty--go take a shower. There are spare changes of clothes about your size if you look under the mirror. They’ll be dusty, but they’re clean.” 

From the way X was eyeing Omega-Xis, it was probably going to be a very thorough Q&A session. 

Geo sighed. “I’ll be back,” he said. Better take a shower like X suggested. The more time X had to question Omega-Xis, Geo’d learned, the better. 

Omega-Xis, for his part, didn't even protest. He and X'd gone through this song and dance before, and it probably wouldn't even be the last.