Chapter 58: Homecoming (Patreon)

“After I dealt with the vampires, I decided that I’d had enough running away from my problems,” I said. “I’d intended to return to the mountain directly, but Liliana offered me a final lesson. Something about balancing debts owed.” I waved my hand. “I didn’t pay attention to that part.”

“And you trusted her?” Ritz asked with a smirk.

Raven glanced up from her book. “Finally someone with sense…” she muttered. I laughed.

It was strange, being happy again. But Ritz was always good at that part.

The three of us were sitting inside my fake Gran-Grimoire. It took the form of a cozy tea house, with a cushioned window bench and quilts. I remembered loving quilts when I was a child, perfect to snuggle under and tell stories.

Which, fittingly, was what I was doing right now.

“For all that I dislike her,” I replied. “Liliana has forgotten more about magic and planes than I’ve ever learned. The difference in skill is enormous…” to say nothing of raw power. Give me a few years and maybe I’d have as much mana to call upon as Liliana Vess, but even still I was barely a neophyte when it came to matters of Planeswalkers.

“What did she teach you, anyway?” Ritz asked.

“Divination,” I said. “Or, to put it another way, the spells that ended up leading me back to you.”

Ritz smiled at that, taking a sip of her tea.

“What, just that?” Raven asked. “It took you days to track her down.”

“The Blind Eternities are rather large, all told,” I said, before giving a sly smirk. “But I never said that was all she taught me.”

Ritz leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “What else?”

“Oh.” I tapped my chin. “This and that.”

Raven flipped a page. “She enjoys being mysterious.”

“Spoilsport,” Ritz said. “Give me a hint at least.”

“You’ll see it all in time, I’m sure,” I said. “But how have your studies been going?”

I’d done my best to share some of the magic we first learned in Ivalice back with my old guild leader. It was…going.

“I managed some of the self enhancement spells,” she said, trailing a hand over the hilt of her rapier. On the way back to the team, I’d stopped by a few other planes to get some better equipment, though that took an annoyingly long time as well. “I’ve gotten most of my old Fencer’s repertoire again though.” She grinned. “How does it feel, knowing that one of your companions is the greatest sword fighter from her home plane?”

“Like a good start,” I said. “But don’t forget who won our bout.”

Ritz pouted. It made her look young. “Hmph. It was a lucky hit.”

A younger me would have said something like ‘oh, all of them?’ But then, a younger me had barely managed to lay a blow on Ritz in the first place.

“It was nostalgic,” I said instead. “Sparring with you again.”

Ritz laughed. “Yeah, you’ll have to show me some of those tricks you pulled.”

“Unorthodox fights lead to unorthodox maneuvers.”

“I get that,” Ritz said. “But stabbing your sword into the ground just to flick it at me? Where did that even come from.”

I clicked my tongue at that, fingers ghosting over to my prosthetic.

“Actually,” Raven said. “That was when she saved my life.”

“You saw?” I said. “It wasn’t my best moment.”

Ritz saw me holding the metal of my fake limb. “Was that when…”

I nodded. Raven and I shared a look. Her eyes said, don’t sugar coat it.

I leaned back in my chair, letting out a sigh. “Ritz,” I started.

“Oh no,” she said. “I can hear you gearing up for a talk.” She stood up, crossing her arms. “Look, I know I’m no one special. The multiverse is a big scary place, I get that.” She drew her rapier, holding it horizontal across her palms. “But I’ve spent my whole life wondering what was out there, even after I got a taste of it. I can’t…I can’t just sit back now, Taylor.”

Raven flipped a page in her book.

“It’s…” I glanced to the side. I almost wish I had more scars to show her, but when I’d absorbed that bit of order and chaos into myself, it had wiped my slate clean in that regard. I’d gone over my time traveling after Ivalice in an attempt to capture some sense of what dangers I’d faced but…

Well, it all sounded like a grand adventure, didn’t it? When you never saw the pain firsthand.

It was so strange.

“Do you know that I’m not human anymore,” I said at length. Raven glanced up, and Ritz opened her mouth to say something, but I waved them both off. “It took me longer than I’m proud of to accept that, to move past it.” I was more solid than energy these days, but all it took was a flex of my will and my form began to crackle and shift. I would be glowing gold, I knew, with chaotic arcs of black and red mana rippling against the constraints of my sense of self.

As always, thanks, Kent.

“In a very literal sense, I am not the same girl you met in Lutja pass,” I continued. “In that there is nothing physically the same about us. As far as I’m aware, I don’t even have DNA anymore.” I turned to look at Ritz, form snapping back into its human approximation. “That was me getting lucky. That was me achieving what was perhaps the best outcome possible.

“That was me failing, but someone else taking the fall for it.”

Ritz swallowed, but she met my gaze head on. God, she was a year older than me but still…

“I understand.”

“Do you?” I said. “Because I thought I did as well, I thought I understood after the first time I almost died, and after the second, and third, and fourth.” I shrugged, “Now, I’m not sure I understand at all. But, Ritz, there are no judges out there. There are no second chances, even with magic.”

Or at least, no second chances for any price I was willing to pay.

Ritz sheathed her sword. “I know, or I guess I don’t, but I accept that,” she said. “I’m not saying I’m not afraid, or that I somehow think I’m ready for all that the multiverse will throw at me. But what I do know for certain is that if I don’t take this chance, if I give up even after seeing this, after knowing I could have gone beyond the horizon, if I could have seen things that no one on my world had ever seen and chose to give it up instead, if I did that, then my boring life would kill me more surely than any blade.”

I chuckled. “Still the same Ritz,” I said.

She grinned fiercely “And you better believe it!”

“I do,” I said. How could I not, when I saw the fire of determination burning in her eyes. Maybe if I was better person, I’d do the right thing, make sure she stayed safe on her world. But then, I was a bit selfish too, wasn’t I?

“I was never going to talk you out of this, was I?” I said. 

Ritz huffed. “You’re not my mother, Taylor,” she said. 

I blinked, taking in her wane smile. “Ah,” I said. “Just one more thing we have in common then.”

Ritz’s smile turned grateful. “Yeah,” she said, folding her hand over mine. “I guess we do.”

“God, where were you a month ago,” Raven said, rubbing her forehead. “If I’d known that being sappy would get her moving, I would have tracked you down myself.”

Ritz laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. “What’s this I hear about Taylor being depressed recently?”

“I was in a bad spot,” I said. “I guess I was lucky again, having some friends to help me through it.” I bumped Raven with my shoulder. “This one can’t leave well enough alone.”

Raven sighed. “I too, think it’s strange how invested you’ve gone and made us all.”

“Hey, I…”

She shrugged. “I hear saving someone’s life tends to do that. Consider it a fair trade.”

Ritz laughed. “You really do know how to pick ‘em, Taylor.”

“Just wait until you hear about the insane vampire assassin.”

“Hey now,” I said.

“What?” Ritz looked at me in askance.

“One of the other mages at the college,” I mumbled. “I may have glossed over that part.”

“And also the part where she tried to kill you,” Raven said.

“What!”

“Look,” I said. “Let’s just say there’s more than one reason I have no desire to go back to Nirn. Not the least of which being that woman.”

“She sounds like a criminal,” Ritz said.

“She’s also a hero,” Raven said with a sigh. I glanced over in surprise. “I spoke with some of the other students at the college. Apparently, she’s most famous for riding a dragon into the realm of the dead to kill a god of extinction. Among other things.”

Ritz made a complicated expression.

“In short,” I said. “I didn’t feel like I qualified to serve as her judge, jury, and executioner. Perhaps I should have.” I shrugged. “It might come back to haunt me, enough of my other mistakes have, but killing her would have stayed with me in the worst way.”

“Is this what it’s like,” Ritz asked. “Being a Planeswalker?”

I tapped my chin. “I think,” I said. “That being a Planeswalker is mostly what you make of it. The one unifying factor is phenomenal cosmic power, but what we do with it is entirely our choice.”

“As shown by the archmage,” Raven said.

I nodded. Turning to Ritz. “I want to do good in the worlds I travel to,” I said quietly. “But sometimes I feel that finding out what the ‘good’ is, for this plan or that one, is the hardest part. Power is easy for me, finesse…not so much.”

Ritz nodded, slipping back into her chair. “It’s strange,” she said at length, “not being the strongest member of the Clan. I’ll have to keep it in mind.”

“We’re not a Clan, Ritz,” I said, rolling my eyes.

She smirked. “You know, I started Clan Ritz at a table a lot like this one, with no-one but Shara and Isola by my side.”

“Clan Ritz,” Raven said, turning to me. “Are we sure about this one?”

“No one’s perfect,” I said.

Ritz flicked my shoulder. “Rude. But my point still stands.”

“I really don’t think it does.”

“So,” she continued. “We obviously need a name!”

“I think I could very much do without that,” Raven said.

I raised a finger, but then I had a thought. “The hero team we’re on doesn’t have a name either, does it?”

Raven raised an eyebrow, “Why are you asking me?”

“They had a brochure for you.”

“And you expected me to read it.”

Ritz slapped the table. “And this is exactly what I was talking about,” she said. “Names are important you know, otherwise, how  else will your enemies know to fear you when they hear you’re coming?”

I sighed.

“Technically, we’re a covert operations team.”

“Technically,” Raven added.

“Taylor,” Ritz said. “Everyone knows Area 52 exists.”

“Area fifty…” I shook my head. “Well, we can talk it over with the rest of them when we get back,” I said. “Unless Raven has any standout ideas.”

She shrugged. “Young Justice?”

I laughed. “That will go over well.”

“It would be worth it just for the expressions on their faces.”

“Maybe,” I said, standing up. “Let’s go ask, shall we. I’ll take us there, don’t drink all of the tea while I’m gone.”

“No promises.”

Ritz grinned. “It’s really happening, isn’t it?”

I smiled and stepped out of the cozy little teahouse. 

The real world, Ritz’s to be precise, took shape around me. The Elder Scroll, still glowing faintly to signify it was active, sat on the bed of the hotel room I’d rented. I’d woven arcane protections over the walls before we’d slipped into my little pocket world to have our chat. Those were the first to come down, as I slipped the scroll into its case.

Either Raven or I could carry it between Planes without issue, so powerful were the magics woven into its form, but for this first trip, I wanted to be the one holding it.

With a twist, I Walked.

I landed in an ally in Happy Harbor, two blocks from the mountain. 

And in perfect position to witness the absolute chaos on the streets.

“Well,” I said as people ran up and down the street, phones out, yelling and screaming to high heavens. “I guess it’s a good thing my sabbatical is over.”

With a flick of my wrist, I unfurled the Scroll. Raven and Ritz appeared next to me. They took in the situation as quickly as I had.

“Hmm…seems like we missed something,” Raven said.

“I’m going to check the mountain,” I said. “I’d bring you both, but the new protections…”

“Go,” Ritz said, hand on her sword. “We’ll be waiting.”

With a nod, I sprinted to the nearest access point.

The mountain was Empty, but there was a note waiting for me on a table by the entrance. Aqualad’s neat handwriting explained the situation crisply and gave a set of coordinates. I picked up the paper, resolve firming in my chest.

I’d hoped for some time to get my bearings, but on the other hand…

I always performed best under pressure, didn’t I?

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A/N: We're back. The hiatus ran longer than expected, as real life caught up to me. But I have time again now, and a backlog. Thanks everyone for staying around!  We're gonna make it to the end of this.

I hope you all enjoy, and once again, thank you for the support.