Chapter Text
~ Seabastian ~
As he stepped out of the portal onto solid ground he took a deep breath excited for the new place. He put all his weight on uneven ground and proceeded to immediately faceplant into the dark alley that the portal opened up to. “Well this is already off to an excellent start wouldn’t you say?” A slightly more cold voice returned “Well I would say so, but you… do you need a hand?” “NO NOT AT ALL THE FLOOR IS DELICIOUS”. Sebass got up off the floor dusting himself off glaring at his friend unaware that his nose was now bleeding. “Your so nice basing the trajectory of the rest of my life off one interaction was an amazing idea”. His voice was thick with sarcasm. “Hey your nose is ble-” Seabass quickly cut him off “I KNOW MY NOSE IS BLEEDING”. He quickly grabbed something from his hoodie pocket stuffing into his nose. The other chuckled in return, no one would be able to take his friend seriously when he was mad. The pair began to walk down the alley that they landed in. The older remarked "At least we appear to be in a more urban center”. “Yea I guess there is that. Ooh I wonder If we can get some decent nonperishables here. We really need to start considering what we take into the wild more serio-”. Suddenly a lanky pale woman with dark glasses, a trenchcoat and black cargo pants ran into them. Seabass spoke up “Oh hi sorry we didn't see you there are you okay?” He awaited his response but she stared like a fish in his sights. He wondered if there was something wrong or if she was hurt or something then it clicked. “Oh I'm sorry, are you mute? I apologize for my rudeness”. Her eyes went wide and she suddenly nodded rapidly. “Oh okay bye-”. The girl quickly sped off to her destination not even acknowledging his good bye. “Well… that was interesting”. “Hey she was mute what was she supposed to do?” the other voice chimed in. “I… well I mean I guess you're right, but like still didn't she seem a little off?”. “Seabastian look at us we aren't exactly blending in. I'm wearing sweatpants, a shredded hood and arm bracers nothing about me looks from the same century, and you… you are a fish”. “HEY, I’m a merman thank you very much”. “Sorry a merman wearing a hoodie that doesn’t exactly scream natural”. He stood there considering his friends words for a second before reluctantly giving in. “Fine I guess that makes sense”.
~ Winter ~
The duo had spent three days in the city exploring, and learning about the city. Learning how the city had various districts with heroes ever present and watching. How people were labeled villains for things outside of their control then treated like rabid dogs needing to be put down. The city had some amazingly advanced technology, yet they used a guillotine to execute anyone who they deemed a villain. They read about this girl who after losing control of her powers was thrown in prison and is set to be executed by the end of week, and another trying to get her partner out of prison everyday.
Seabass spoke up after reading this “Honestly… I don’t think execution is fair here?
Winter looked over the article. The girl looked positively jubilant in one photo and soulless in her mugshot “No not at all”.
“Don’t you think this place could use a little chaos?”
Winter stood there considering his options “Not yet”.
“Awww it's been a good while since we actually made some pricks reap what they sow”.
“Yea, and it's been a while since we had to deal with people that had access to more than swords”.
Sebastian stood there processing this observation “I guess it would make some sense to get a better understanding of the world around us” Seabass thought everything over before finally concluding “In the meantime lets focus on destroying some food I'm starving”.
Winter stared at him for a few moments “Really? You went from dismantling society to hungry? I really need to reevaluate my choice in friends”.
“You say that like you had a choice in my friendship”.
“I should've left you behind”.
“But then you would've had a lot harder time convincing people to like you cause respectfully you don’t scream approachable”.
“Then why did you follow me?”
Seabastians face flashed through several different emotions. “I-I… I had no friends… Okay?” The mood had shifted noticeably even the people around them seemed to be more solemn.
“Shouldn’t you have had friends in the mermaid kingdom? I mean I heard that it was densely populated and plus weren't mermaids beloved there?”
“I was a pariah. I didn't agree with everything that they believed and I had… Nobody”.
“I-I didn’t”.
“I know Winter… Can you just find someplace to eat? I need a few minutes to myself, okay?”
“Alright”.
They parted their separate ways winter went to go looking for some place with fish he just hoped his friend would be okay when he returned. After what felt like an eternity of searching he finally found something that was right up his alley. As he returned to where they had been earlier he noticed a few people surrounding someone. He went to go check it out and the people seemed to get louder hurling insults. “FISH FREAK”. As he realized what was happening he began to hurry over when he heard laughter and what sounded like a melody before everything went
Black.
He dreamed. Other worlds and meteor showers floated on by before he felt himself suddenly be pulled back to the night he got his powers. To his dimension, he was sitting on the hill again watching the meteor shower. It was named Artemis’ wrath for how close some of the meteors got. As he sat there watching it again he saw the familiar glowing dot in the distance. As it grew closer and closer he felt the same impact that never truly happened. He awoke in the same bed with the same neon blue portal in his face as before. As he went to stick his face in the portal just like before he suddenly awoke. He stood there arms in an X a blistering headache making it hard to concentrate on the world around him. He heard the sound of sirens and saw Seabass getting arrested with no hope in his eyes and a gag over his mouth.