Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lilyfay had an absolutely perfect plan. It was so genius, in fact, that there was no way it wouldn’t work.

She giggled to herself, pleased with the sheer brilliance of how great her plan was. It had taken a while to learn all of Earth’s weird customs, and even longer to try and read the weird lettering system that was present in most of the books in the library, but her research had paid off: this was a plan that truly was super-duper cosmic zing!

She walked through the streets of Tarabiscoville excitedly, enjoying the feel of this solar system’s sun on her skin. She’d never been out at day on Earth before, but it was something she’d definitely do again. The sun didn’t give her quite as much power as the night stars did, and she couldn’t fly freely through the city (not because of the power difference: but because she’d gotten really weird looks when she did), but there were a lot of Earth People around, and the sights and sounds and smells were so exciting and unfamiliar that she couldn’t help but enjoy herself, even with the social restrictions on her powers. No wonder the PJs are so dedicated to protecting the day. It’s so lovely here! I was scared that the sun here would be like on terg’yng, but there’s no lcx ui-kjl around at all! She gasped with excitement, coming to a sudden stop. Maybe there were, and humans managed to defeat them! Maybe their magic is so powerful and awesome that they can only use it on really special occasions, and that’s why I was getting weird looks! She had to find out immediately. The town looked different during the day, but she could probably ask someone where the library was. She just had to remember how to say the word in the human language, because one time she’d accidentally told Newton Star about her encounter with an M-type asteroid in dplgeth, which freaked him out because apparently it sounded like screamning to human ears, which was so weird and oh, I wonder what human languages would sound like to some of the other species? Oooh, maybe I could bring someone to the Xotr cluster with me! Maybe Gekko, ‘cause he kind of looks like the tribes that live there with his scales… I should ask him tonight!

…What was I doing, again?

Oh right, the plan! She facepalmed, wondering how she’d forgotten something so important. It was the whole reason she was out at day in the first place, after all.

The plan was simple, but she decided to go over it one more time in her head just to make sure she didn’t forget anything. One time, when she’d been on the Ql-xe-ju planet, she’d completely forgotten the sapphire snow she was meant to bring back for Ginekilie, and he’d had to use drynxec vine as a substitution, which didn’t work out too well. To this day, her hair still looked pinkish in a certain light and- focus, me!

The. Plan. Was. Simple. All she had to do was confess her love to Ice Cub. He would either like her back or not, and she would not quit the power heroes and fly off to another galaxy to hide forever in shame if the latter was true. Because it wouldn’t be, because Ice Cub would be so dazzled by her amazing plan that he’d fall in love with her immediately, if he wasn’t already.

Polar bears liked the cold. In fact, they lived in a land made of snow and ice with nothing else in sight, according to Ice Cub. Lilyfay had icy cold starlight powers. And everyone knew that in order to show your affection for someone, you had to trace your magic in a place close to them, and they’d put their own magic over the markings and therefore bond the pair in magic and soul, or at least that’s what the old fables said. But Lilyfay wasn’t just going to leave a mark. Ice Cub was a dear friend to her, and she cared for him in a way that was different and much greater to how she cared for any of the other power heroes. So of course, she had to show him just how amazing and special he was to her by giving him the environment he lacked in Tarabiscoville. Her plan couldn’t fail at all!

Luckily for her, the heroes that lived in the city at daytime had given each new hero a tour when they joined the team, so that they couldn’t get lost when fighting villains. This tour included where the other heroes lived, so they could get their help if they weren’t out that night for some reason. Ice Cub’s house wasn’t far from where she was now, so all she had to do was walk the rest of the way, use her magic, and then she could do anything for the rest of the day. She didn’t even have to worry about Ice Cub coming home and spoiling the surprise for himself, because he was currently at school, something that humans made their offspring attend during the day in order to obtain knowledge. Lilyfay didn’t really see the point of school (most of the other planets she’d visited had a less formal education system, or none at all, and most of the inhabitants of those planets turned out fine. Well, there were a few exceptions, like when Rwl the Whatever His Title Is tried to take over the frwgalian forest by stealing the rsrul plants… actually, she should bring him to Earth. It would be really funny to see him fight with the nighttime villains, although her fellow Power Heroes probably wouldn’t approve of her getting villains from other planets to fight the villains from Earth if it meant someone could be hurt. Maybe she could put them somewhere enclosed, where they wouldn’t hurt any civilians, like a cage. wait no, that’s illegal on Earth.), but it worked well for her plan, at least.

When she did finally reach Ice Cub’s house, she paused. I forgot to plan how I’m going to get in. She could just float up, obviously, but if any humans saw her using her powers, they would probably freak out again, and she wasn’t in the mood for any more pointing or shouting. Then again, she wasn’t quite sure what the etiquette for entering human houses was. It was possible that the humans would freak out anyway if they were to see her enter Ice Cubs house. Besides, she didn’t want to try and find a regular human way in, or risk being discovered by Ice Cub’s parents, so she might as well just fly through the window, right? It would be quicker, and there would be less chance of her being seen.

With a final glance to make sure nobody was walking down the street, she jumped up and glided to one of the windows on the second storey. Inside was a bed, a desk, and plenty of comic books taking up every spare corner of the room. Ice Cub definitely lived in this room.

The window was closed, but not locked. Carefully, Lilyfay opened it, floating inside without touching anything. As much as she wanted to look around, Ice Cubs parents would probably be confused to see her, and she didn’t want to explain what she was doing. She raised her hands, pointing the blueish-white magic at the walls of the room, and put her plan into motion.

***

“So, what’s your plan for tonight?”

“I don’t want to do anything too fancy, just in case it makes Lilyfay feel bad if she doesn’t like me back. I’ll just ask her if she wants to hang out with me, and we can go stargazing together! Do you think she’d like that, or do you think I should do something else?”

“No, that’s a great plan! I’ll let Connor know not to assign you two to any missions when I get home,” Amaya reassured.

“Thanks! Wait no- please don’t tell him about my plan.” Ivan knew that his friend would never tease him for his crush, but there was a reason the only person he’d told was Amaya. If things went wrong, or it turned out Lilyfay didn’t like him, he didn’t want anyone else to get sucked into his problems. He hadn’t wanted to tell Amaya, either, but apparently her secret superpower was figuring out when someone had a crush, and she’d been the one who encouraged him to pursue his feelings. Amaya is a good friend. She wouldn’t put me up to this if she thought it wouldn’t work.

“Don’t worry! I’ll just suggest to him that you and Lilyfay could do some tasks in Power Q, since neither of you have had a chance to take a break from crimefighting yet. He won’t suspect a thing.”

“Thanks Amaya.”

The girl grinned. “Happy to help! Let me know how things go, okay?”

“Okay! See you later!”

Ivan arrived at his house only a short while after he had dropped Amaya off at hers. I don’t have to worry about tonight. It’ll be fine! Everything will go just as planned. He transferred to his crutches and climbed up the stairs. Everything will be fine! And I still have a few hours to prepare.

“Ivan?”

He flinched at his mom’s voice, too busy worrying to realise that she was right in front of him. “Hi Mom! Is everything okay?”

“You didn’t leave the air-con on in your room today, did you? I got a chill when I walked past.”

He shook his head, confused. “I didn’t turn it on at all.” Unless a nighttime villain did something to my room! “I’ll double check though!”

“Alright then, but make sure it doesn’t happen again. Electricity is expensive.” Mom disappeared back into her study, and Ivan quickened his pace. Romeo must have used some sort of ice beam on my room! Or maybe Night Ninja made an icy splat!

Or maybe he did just leave the air con on and forgot about it. He’d preferred cold places ever since he’d gotten his powers, and poor sleep made people forgetful, at least according to his mom.

His room looked like a winter wonderland. Icicles hanging off his bookshelves. A layer of frost covering his blanket. Snow dusted every surface. Ivan groaned. Of course it wasn’t the normal explanation, not with so many villains running around.

***

“…And I had to spend the whole afternoon cleaning the ice out of my room so it wouldn’t melt and make all my stuff wet!” Ice Cub wasn’t usually one to complain, but getting all the ice out without his parents finding out about it was really difficult, and his comics almost got ruined from the water soaking them. At least nothing was badly damaged.

“That’s awful!” Gekko sympathised with a pat on his back. “Hey Catboy, do you think it could have been Romeo’s ice machine?”

The cat hero tapped a button, causing the holographic globe to turn to videos of the villains. “It doesn’t look like Romeo’s out, but the rest of the villains are certainly causing trouble. Ice Cub, we’ll find out what happened to your room later, but right now we need to stop the villains from ruining the city!”

Owlette whispered something in his ear, casting a glance at Ice Cub. Catboy nodded. “Ice Cub and Lilyfay, you two stay here and look for clues on the picture player. Everyone else, we’ve got villains to stop!”

It was weirdly quiet in Power Q without the other heroes around. Lilyfay didn’t say anything. In fact, she seemed to be purposefully not looking at him. Did I make her mad? Oh no! “Are you okay?”

Lilyfay finally turned to face him, and he almost flinched at her wet eyes. “I’m really sorry.” She whispered, looking at the ground.

“Huh? But you didn’t do anything wrong!”

Lilyfay tugged at her skirt guiltily. “I was the one who iced your room… I’m really sorry.”

“Oh.” There was another awkward pause. Neither of them looked at each other. I feel bad about making Lilyfay feel bad, but why would she make my room all icy? “Why?”

This time Lilyfay finally looked at him for longer than a few seconds, her face red. “It’s… on some other planets, it’s a tradition that um, if you like someone a lot, you share your magic with them. I thought you’d like it because polar bears like the cold…”

“Oh.” Lilyfay likes me back!? Wait, ugh! Lilyfay likes me back, and I ruined it! Shuddering snowflakes, I really messed up this time. “It’s okay! I did like the cold, really! I just had to take all the ice out of my room so my stuff didn’t get wet. But it was a really good surprise!”

Lilyfay didn’t look convinced. “You’re only saying that because you’re nice.”

“No! I’m sorry for upsetting you Lilyfay, I’m really happy you put so much effort into doing something nice for me. Can I make it up to you?”

“You don’t have to do anything… look, can we just forget about this?”

Why does this keep getting worse? How can I fix this? “Can I at least do something nice for you in return? That’s actually why I asked Owlette to make sure we could hang out tonight, because I like you a lot too, and I wanted to hang out with you!”

Lilyfay gasped in delight, sadness suddenly forgotten. “You’re really not mad at me? And you like me too? Super cosmic zing, this is awesome! What are we doing?”

Ice Cub couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. I thought Lilyfay was going to hate me forever, but this went way better than I was expecting! “I was thinking we could go down to the park, and go stargazing together?”

Lilyfay nodded her head excitedly. “I’ll point out all the ones I’ve visited and tell you all about them! Come on!”

Ice Cub smiled, watching her dash ahead of him in the tunnel to the vehicles. Today has been a wild ride, but I’m glad it all worked out in the end.

Chapter Text

The clouds that night were thick and fluffy, like a giant blanket wrapped around the earth. It was a peaceful night; for once there were no villains rampaging through the town and no heroes out to stop them. The world stood still and silent. Not even the old alley cat that usually came out around this time of night was around.

Perhaps it knew what was to come.

***

Days and nights were the same now, the only difference between them being whether he had his powers or not. At night, he was strong and fast had a fighting chance. When day came…

…well, day wouldn’t be a problem if he just made sure he had somewhere to hide where they wouldn’t find him. He just had to be quiet and still, and grab the biggest stick he could find, just in case they found him anyway and he needed a weapon.

His current residence was a building that had been abandoned when the city was, but it looked as though it had been uncared for much longer than that. Windows were smashed, the cracks forming a crystalline spiderweb across the surface. The door could barely stay on its rusted hinges, and he couldn’t even enter the kitchen for the overwhelming stench of rat droppings and rotted food. Before everything, he wouldn’t have dared step inside a building like this. Now, it was the safest thing in this broken city. They didn’t seem to like the smell any more than he did, and to their elevated senses, it was unbearable.

The building was only a temporary home anyway. The monster in the moat (he didn’t call it Octobella, because that thing was nothing but a mindless, contorted husk of what it once was, nothing like it was supposed to be in a world that wasn’t so awful) kept him from getting to the totem, but with the help from his fellow heroes, he knew he could defeat it. Within the safety of the PJ Mask’s HQ, he’d never have to worry about the monsters again.

He just had to find his friends. He knew that they were alive somewhere, and that they were looking for him too. He just had to keep looking, and everything would be okay.

***

He had never felt such a horrible pain before. He was quite fortunate to have lived a safe life before the world ended, where the villains couldn’t hurt him through the protection of his pyjamas and the worst pain he received during the day was a scrape on the knee. It seemed now, in this word where all was twisted and wrong, that his fortuitousness had been a hidden curse all this time.

He was unprepared for his agony, and with no chance to ever build his pain tolerance, it was taking all his will and his favourite giant stick acting as a gag in his mouth to avoid his screams from reaching the ears of the monsters. His leg was mangled, bits of inside he didn’t want to look at on the outside of his leg, staining his pyjamas a dark red.

He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t, because they’d tear him apart and make the pain thousands of times worse. Every involuntary whimper and groan of pain left him rigid, afraid that one of them would find him.

That was how he sat for hours, until dawn broke and his pyjamas turned back into regular clothes. The pain was still there, but the same stabbing bursts had dulled, just slightly, from staying perfectly still. He needed a way to fix his leg, and fast. Once, doctors would have given him a cast, but he didn’t know if there even were any doctors left in the city, or where he could find a cast. He needed to improvise. He needed to do whatever he could do to survive, for just a little longer. He’d gotten this injury looking for the other heroes, and if he was looking for them, they surely must be looking for him too. He just had to hold on a little longer, and then they’d save him.

Just a little longer.

***

The thing that once had been known as Luna Girl was the most destructive of the beasts. It was easy to tell where it had been: just follow the trail of decay, where the lifeless city was cold as a moonless night and frost left everything withered and dead. He’d made the mistake of getting too close once, when this whole thing had started and he couldn’t tell the difference between a monster and a girl, and he had felt his very soul freeze over. It was the only one he’d encountered who hadn’t attacked him. It only looked, a bored glance over its shoulder, before it drifted away to freeze someone else. He liked it the most out of the monsters (it looked the most like a person, even though its skin was cracked and its eyes were dull and it never touched the ground, gliding silently on its board, it still looked like a person.) Sometimes, when he started to lose hope of finding the other heroes, he liked to think that at least he wasn’t the only person in the city.

The other monsters were ruthless. The one who had attacked him was made of the sky itself: it hid in the shadows and clawed at whatever it could take to fill the void where there should be stars. It was the one that had broken his leg, and if he hadn’t managed to escape, no doubt it would have sucked him into a bleak and endless night forever.

His leg was still broken, but he could walk now, no longer having to crawl around and eat whatever spoiled food he could find in his abandoned house so he didn’t starve. His trusty big stick went everywhere with him, a cane that he relied on while his leg was still too sore to put weight on.

Things were finally getting back to routine: look for the other heroes, find some food and water to stock up on, avoid monsters. 

His routine didn’t last.

One night, he decided to go to the school. He didn’t know why: perhaps he was simply feeling nostalgic. He’d fought the villains at this building so many times…

That night was the night he heard a voice in the school, for the first time in months (or was it years? It was so hard to tell) one that wasn’t crying out in agony or screeching as it ran towards him. The voice sounded familiar… that of a boy, saddened and seasoned and in a state of permanent unease, but someone who hadn’t been corrupted and turned into a beast. He knew that voice. He would recognise it anywhere, even though it had been such a long time since he’d heard another human. Even though it sounded so much more broken than before.

Once, he would have rushed towards it like it was the only thing that mattered, back before everything happened and his biggest worry was the others liking him enough. He’d learnt to be more cautious during his time alone, however, so slowly, ever so slowly as to not alert the voice with the sound of his stick hitting the ground, he crept towards the school wall and peered in through the dusty window.

Just as he’d hoped, five figures stood in the room. He knew it was safe now, yet he didn’t go inside. Something- some weird feeling at the back of his mind, was nagging him to stay.

In one timeline, he said no to the voice, ran inside anyway, and was greeted with friends who didn’t know he was still alive but were pleased to see him, and was invited to join the team of power heroes. In this timeline, he worked with them to take down the beasts and make the city safer for everyone. In that timeline, he wasn’t alone.

In this timeline, he stayed outside the building for a little longer, just to hear them talk. Just in case his eyes were playing tricks on him through the blurry window.

“Since Mystery Mountain isn’t safe anymore, we need a new plan. We still have the same goals, but we’ll have to rethink them.” That was Catboy, definitely Catboy. He was always the leader, wasn’t he? It made sense that he’d be ordering the others around. He smiled, just the slightest bit, at the mention of ‘plans’. Surely that meant they’d planned to look for him, that they’d just gotten distracted by Mystery Mountain and wanted to look for him as soon as they could, right?

“We should try and get HQ back first. It’s the safest place in town. The only question is how to get rid of Octobella.” Owlette decided.

Finding a safe place to live should definitely be their number one priority. He’d be happy to share his surprisingly safe house with them when they looked for him, but of course, they couldn’t have known that he’d found such an awesome place, so this was definitely a great number one, and he was not at all upset that they’d prioritised it over finding him. It made sense, after all!

“We should try and cure the villains as soon as we secure headquarters. Especially Night Ninja- we’d still be safe on Mystery Mountain if he hadn’t opened the gate… Maybe that should be our first priority? The pagoda is way more comfortable- it has those fluffy warm blankets and everything.”

Oh. They’d been living comfortably in the pagoda while he starved and froze when the monsters got too close and piled mouldy pillows into a makeshift bed? That was fine. It wasn’t like they’d known he was living like that! They’d probably been searching all over for him, and it was just bad luck that they hadn’t ran into him. Yeah.

“That would take way too long,” Newton disagreed. “We need a place to sleep now, especially when you, Owlette and Catboy lose your powers in the day. I propose we rearrange our goals like so; we start with taking back HQ, then move on to curing some of the villains. I think they’d be willing to ally with us if we saved them. Once we have enough on our side, we can take back Mystery Mountain. The artifacts there will make everything way easier, and then we can cure the rest of the villains. We’ll figure out what to do from there.”

His heart shattered.

He couldn’t make an excuse for that. They hadn’t even mentioned looking for him. Had they ever looked for him? Had he been risking his life running all over the city to try and find them while they were living comfortably far away from the monsters?

Had he broken his leg for nothing? Had he had to ration the mouldy food in the kitchen and gone for days without food or water because he couldn’t walk for nothing? Did he need to move carefully wherever he went, carrying around a giant heavy stick that weighed him down when he rolled for nothing!?

He wanted to scream. He wanted to tear the roof off the school and yell at them all for abandoning him. He knew they didn’t like him when he was a new hero- he knew he was annoying and got angry too easily and the villains tricked him too much because nobody ever told him they were the bad guys but he was trying, and he thought they liked him better now.

He thought they were his friends.

In one timeline, the night would end with him in a group, pleased to be reunited with the friends he wrongfully assumed had been looking for him all this time.

In this timeline, he curled his stick to his chest, and as quietly as he could, rolled far away from the school.

***

He was a fool, a stupid, naïve fool who dared to forget how bad everything was. He’d gotten good at avoiding the monsters- stay away from the moat, if the temperature drops, run, do not go anywhere near the flying factory, and keep an ear out, because nowhere was safe.

He’d been burdened by his memories of what had been. All he was doing was dragging some canned food back to his base when he heard something. Sounds were so rare now; other than a screech of fury from a monster or the cries of whatever poor animal had ended up in its clutches, there was only silence.

When he’d heard growling, he should have tucked his staff to his chest and rolled home as fast as he could, but he didn’t. He looked, because apparently he was an idiot who hadn’t learnt from the last time he’d followed a strange sound.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting. Of course it was them- or rather, the caricatures they’d become after the world became such a mess. The wolfies hadn’t been threatening villains (he even liked to think that they’d been friends) and these beasts were far from the deadliest thing in the city. An amalgamation between man and wolf, they prowled the city with limbs that were far too long and teeth that were far too sharp, chasing anything that moved.

They’d chased him, of course, as soon as they caught the scent of him. Their barks were so loud he could have sworn he felt something trickle out of his ears, and they were fast- not as fast as the shadow monster, but still fast enough that he had to scrunch his eyes shut and pray that he could shake them off.

 He somehow made it through that night, and when his powers faded once again at dawn, he vowed to never let such stupidity blind him again. A monster was a monster, no matter how harmless they’d been before.

***

He knew them all by now.

He knew the boy, body limp and suspended in midair, bound to an animated bearskin that patrolled the streets at night and wouldn’t hesitate to freeze anything that moved. He knew that it could be warded away with foul smells, so he never bothered to try and clean his house even long after the food in the kitchens had all expired and the pipes were rusted through and stunk of drain water that was filled with all kinds of weird algae.

He knew the shadow monster that moved too fast for him to see and would strike him every time he fell, the one that had broken his knee in the first place, the one that cried as he attacked but never stopped, the one that disappeared for weeks on end only to come back and almost kill him once again.

He knew the monster that was more machine than man, that lived a lonely life high in the sky and hunted for whatever unfortunate creature it could find to experiment on.

He knew the monster that never wore the same face twice, that bit with the venom of an adder and scratched with the claws of a lion.

He knew every single monster in the city. He knew who most of them had been before.

He didn’t know who this girl was.

She had red eyes and moved cautiously, walking on all four of her limbs. She looked just like a cat, but she was far too big to be one. When he saw her face, it was...

…so incredibly human. A face twisted with unease, eyes that were filled with emotion instead of glassy and soulless. He hadn’t seen another human in so long. He wanted to run up to her and relish in the presence of someone else that didn’t want him dead.

He couldn’t. Nothing had been safe since before the apocalypse. Just because she was human, didn’t mean she was good. It was better to just leave, to creep away before she noticed him. His stick tapped against the floor when he took his first step. It was fine. She couldn’t have heard that.

Unfortunately, she seemed to have much better hearing than he’d anticipated. At the first tap of his stick against the ground, her ears swivelled towards him, and she ran towards him.

He froze. She looked furious, in a way that was much more human than the monsters, but still enough to make him freeze up. This girl didn’t seem to be a monster, but she was still unfamiliar, and clearly angry. He could probably fight back if she attacked, but the thought of using his powers directly on another person made him wince.

“Armadreado! I should have known you would be here. What have you done to this place!?” The girl hissed, so close to his face that he could feel her breath on his skin.

“Me!? I didn’t do anything! And my name’s not Armadreado, it’s-”

“Meow! Silence! I have no time for your lies, Armadreado. I know your spell book contains the power to unleash untold destruction, but I never thought you’d go this far.”

“This isn’t my fault! I don’t even know what happened!”

“Who else could bring such an awful curse upon the world!” The girl seemed more than just angry; she was crying now. “Fix it! Undo your curse!”

“If I could fix this, I would-”

She screamed. “Fix it! Fix it right now!” Her claws dug into his shoulders, and she sobbed, her demeanour suddenly switching. “Please. This is so… wrong. I can’t even feel the sun.”

“I know,” he agreed softly, and he couldn’t find it in himself to be mad at her. “I don’t know what happened. I was asleep, and when I woke up everyone was screaming.”

The girl rubbed her nose. “You’re lying. You have to be- if not you then who could have done this!?”

“I already said I don’t know! I-”

A high-pitched whistle beside his ear was all the warning he got, barely managing to stagger to the side in time. A loud hiss filled the air as the ground beneath the projectile started to fizz.

In the beginning, he used to talk to himself. It made him feel like he wasn’t entirely alone to narrate what he was doing and hum to himself as he looked for the PJs.

He quickly learnt that it wasn’t worth it. It was better to just stay silent, because the monsters would hear him and chase him until he couldn’t run any more. He looked up wildly, searching for the source. He already knew that there was only one monster capable of melting the earth away, but he needed to know where it was.

“Listen.” He said to the girl without looking away from the direction the splat had come from. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

“Bu-” another projectile, this one hitting her ear with a sickening sizzle. She caterwauled in pain, clutching at the wound.

“This is how it starts! We don’t have much time before it comes down here and actually starts attacking us.”

The first time he’d met Night Ninja, he’d tied him up with a lamp post. He remembered that night: he’d felt so powerful enacting his twisted sense of justice, on top of the world. He’d thought himself so much stronger than any of the villains. He’d thought that Night Ninja was weak.

The monster certainly wasn’t now. It was one of the worst to deal with: it threw sticky splats that melted everything they touched. It moved as if it were one with the shadows. It toyed with its prey. It caused all this suffering for fun. It was nearly impossible to see: a spot of starless night, only standing out due to its lifeless eyes.

Quick as a flash, it was on the ground. Its icy blue eyes looked at him, then the girl. The beast had no mouth, but it almost seemed to smile. Armadylans’ heart pounded. Neither of them would survive this. Last time he’d tried to run from it, it had chased after him until it broke his leg. He had only survived that injury because his supplies were so high, but if it happened again, he was dead.

The monster took a step towards the girl. She snarled at it, a warning that went ignored. Then, so smooth it was as though it was gliding, it lunged. The girl screamed and thrashed and bit at the monster, but it wouldn’t let go. He could see red pinpricks of blood bubble up beneath its grip. She was going to die, and when it was done with her, he’d be next.

He could get away if he ran. But…

This was the first sapient person he’d met in so long. The first one since the apocalypse that hadn’t abandoned him. He was still a hero, despite everything. He couldn’t just let someone die without doing anything, even if it meant he could live.

He grabbed his cane and lifted it as though it was a javelin. His leg buckled and shook without the support. Before it could give out and damn both of them to their doom, he threw it.

It hit the monster head on. It shrieked in outrage, the force of the impact knocking it off the girl. Armadylan stumbled, throwing his hands out so he wouldn’t fall. The girl scrambled upright. The monster rose, anger clear in its soulless eyes.

“Sun Disc, rise!” She yowled. A Glowing shield formed around her hand, growing into a giant gold-white portal. “Quick! We must leave before he attacks again!”

Armadylan didn’t hesitate. Rolling through a strange portal with a girl who had been accusing him of causing the end of the world only a minute earlier was probably a bad idea, but staying behind was even worse.

When he opened his eyes, he was laying on the roof of some random building, no monsters in sight. Breathless, he turned to the girl. “Who are you?”