learnfromthem | [debut]

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Okay, so this looks bad.

Okay, so bad’s maybe misleading. A nice stretch of beach bathed in moonlight is probably a step up from a flooded parking garage in Jersey for most people. Except I’m supposed to be in a flooded parking garage in Jersey, because I’m supposed to be going to get Mrs. Stafford her meds. Which means the sudden Hawaii vacation is sort of a problem.

I blink saltwater out of my eyes, ignoring the sting as I try to refocus. I’m still thigh deep in the ocean, solid cement stairs having given away to soft, mushy sand, and I have to shake off a few slimy strands of seaweed as I step forward. At first it’s like traveling in slow motion. My dress drags in the water, pulling me back, but I fight past the resistance until my waterlogged shoes hit bone-dry sand. Feeling over my shoulder, I do a quick check of my quiver before I move so much as another inch, making sure everything made the trip with me. Satisfied the inventory checks out, I pull out an arrow and nock it in my bow.

Because come on. I’m alone and I have no idea where the hell I am. I’m not taking any chances, even if the beach does look totally deserted. I turn around to look back out at the ocean, but it’s more of the same—just an inky black abyss with the moon reflected in waves I hear more than see.

Is this the Savage Land? Because it feels pretty safe to say it isn’t Jersey. Even if the whole building washed away where I stood, the water wouldn’t be this warm, and there’d be—people. Not a beach that’s wrapped around a dense looking jungle.

Except, even if it is the Savage Land, I have no way of knowing short of stumbling across the welcome sign, because that’s one thing I never got to cross off the superhero bucket list. (Wait, does the Savage Land even have a welcome sign? That’s—Probably not important, Kate.)

Great. Maybe I should be focusing less on where I am and more on how I got here. Magic? It’s totally magic. Some kind of weird teleportation spell. That sounds legit, right? What else could it be? And if it’s magic, then maybe it’s—

“Billy?!”

Crap. Why’d I shout like that? Of course it’s not Billy. He hasn’t done magic in months, why would he—

What was that? A rustling sound. A creepy, jungle-y rustling sound. Something’s coming towards me, and fast. On reflex, I lift my bow and take aim.

Here’s hoping I don’t have to fire.

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"Diana!"

Trust their dog to make a nice, relaxing walk with his boyfriend and his dog into nothing but totally unnecessary exercise. Billy doesn't even know why he's chasing after her, only that she's gone off like a shot and despite being on an island, there's a lot of jungle for her to get lost in.

Billy relaxes and slows down to a brisk walk when he can tell Diana's found whatever she was chasing after. At least, she's barking the way she does when she thinks she's cornered some big bad stranger.

"I bet it's just a stupid squirrel," he tells Teddy as he ducks a low hanging branch and breaks out of the jungle and onto the beach.

"Nighttime on magical island? Could be Godzilla," Teddy points out, easy sprint dropping off into a loping kind of jog as they hit the beach, bright enough with moon and starlight that Diana's easy to pick out right away.

No sign of giant lizards.

There's a person, though, who cuts shockingly familiar silhouette. It's really the bow that jolts him and his eyes go wide behind his newly island-gifted glasses.

"...Oh my God, Kate?"

I almost shoot the dog. In my defense, it could've been some-- Crazy, wild boar or something else that's ferocious and lives in a tropical climate, but instead it's just some crazy adorable mutt, and I'm left feeling guilty for something I didn't do and kind of stupid for being this jittery.

Then mostly I'm left confused, because Teddy's wearing glasses and looks about as surprised to see me as I am to see them. I lower my bow, feeling my shoulders sag with relief anyway. What is going on?

"What is going on?"

"Kate!"

Maybe it could have been anyone else, some other new and lost brunette, but the body stance, the dress, the bow -- it's all so undeniably Kate that there isn't even a question.

Kate looks a little jittery and totally wet, but Billy doesn't care. He walks forward and pulls her into a tight hug. It takes having her in his arms for Billy to realize just how much he's missed her.

"Oh my God," Teddy says again, and walks forward to hover close while Billy attempts to squeeze the life out of their friend. Teddy can wait his turn.

"Diana," he adds, and the barking stops and a nose touches his ankle before Diana moves to sniff at Kate's dress and general person.

"Uh--"

I don't mind the group hug. The dog's new and there are more than a few people missing, but it's nice, being surrounded by loved ones. Nice enough that I'm not even too worried about the total lack of information coming my way just yet. One arm awkwardly wrapped around Billy while the other's held aloft so I don't accidentally stab him in the thigh with an arrow, I try to feel grateful for the fact that I'm not completely alone out here.

And that lasts maybe ten seconds before curiosity comes back with a vengeance.

"I missed you guys, too, but Billy, I'm gonna get you soaked."

"Don't care," Billy says, and he means it, even if Kate smells a little weird. He lets go and steps back anyway, bouncing on his feet a little. "You're here. And by here I mean a strange island in the middle of a pocket universe that nobody can figure out how to get off of, but! You're here!"

"It's really good to see you," Teddy says, seamlessly stepping in to wrap both arms around the archer and hug her fiercely.

"And we'll explain what Billy said better but just- It's really, really good to see you."

I pull the same not-stabbing-anyone move as I did with Billy and probably get Teddy just as wet. We never had matching uniforms back when we were all superheroes, but I guess it's never too late to start matching.

"Yeah, I think I'll need a flowchart to follow what the hell he just said," I admit, though I did clue into the most important part of the explanation. Enough so that I cut the hugging short to peer up at Teddy, expression settling into something stony.

"We can't leave?"

Billy tones the joy down a little, knowing that is never something new arrivals take easy. "Not willingly," he says. He crouches down to pet Diana when she nudges his leg. "We've been here a while, but still at home. Nobody really knows how it works."

"It's kinda... magic," Teddy says, pulling back at last.

"But in a Bermuda Triangle way, not a cool or useful way."

"...so you didn't bring me here," I say, looking over at Billy now. I feel like I just tuned in halfway through some missing episode of Lost.

"I thought maybe, with the hurricane..." I shrug, dismissing the idea. It had been dumb when I thought it and it sounds dumber now that I've said it for other people to hear, especially given--

"Wait, hold on. You've been here a while?"

Billy shakes his head as he straightens up, and holds his hands up. "No magic. That's the other thing, nobody has powers here. And yes. Uh, just about three years now."

"Me, not so long," Teddy offers, absently and self consciously adjusting his glasses before flashing a mildly chagrined smile at Kate.

"Guess my eyesight isn't self correcting anymore."

My voice dies in my throat. About a million questions rush through my head, most of them starting with some variation of how is that possible. I'm not a girl easily thrown for a loop, but the loop's been tossed, like, halfway across the world at this point. I don't know what to say, because it never even occurs to me they might be lying. No matter what we've been through -- and we've been through a lot -- they're still my best friends.

But if Billy's been here three years...

I cough a little, standing straighter.

"...what's the last thing you remember? Of home? Since I'm guessing... Time's not really working linearly."

Kate's a strong one, has always kinda been the backbone of the team, and Billy feels terrible for being so happy she's here when he knows it has to be hard.

He looks at Teddy when she asks the question, and is almost reluctant when he answers. "Me? We were trying to find some fake Young Avengers."

While he's curious about what's happened since then, from what Teddy's told him, he doesn't want to know just how much time has passed from Kate's point of view, if any.

Teddy's gaze tracks from Billy to Kate, and he feels a sudden knot of worry under the sense of excitement and real happiness he felt at first seeing Kate.

"Latveria, for me. Right when- When Eli fired one of your arrows, at the Scarlett Witch and Doom."

No one on the island from home has been from after that point, at least that he knows of. The idea of suddenly knowing what happened, what he missed, is daunting.

My stomach drops when Billy speaks and Teddy was my last hope -- but even he's missing months on me. Important months. They don't know what happened, that Cassie and Vision are dead, that the Young Avengers don't even exist anymore. I'm good under pressure, but neither of them know what broke us.

And I'm not sure I want to be the one to tell them. Not right now, at least. My mind's still racing with the thought of being here -- wherever here even is -- and if they need to know, I want to do it right.

So I put a smile on my face and force out a laugh. "Wow, you guys have seriously missed out," I say. "I'm from way after that." I look down at the state of my dress and gesture towards myself. "I was, uh, visiting a friend in Atlantic City. She's getting married."

Billy's relieved when Kate doesn't suddenly tell them the world nearly ended yet again (probability on that was pretty high, all things considered) or that either of them were dead.

"That explains the dress, but not the-- wow, those are some tiny man shoes. Where did you even get them?"

I look down at my feet for a sec, then shrug a little.

"Steve Buscemi's tiny grandpa," I reply. "I needed shoes that weren't heels in a hurry, and his feet looked small enough. Desperate times, desperate measures. I'm more disappointed about the dress."

"You always looked good in distressed purple satin," Teddy offers fondly, smiling more now that Kate's response to his exit point, as it were, wasn't Oh you mean seconds before the world ended.

"Were you in a fight? Do you need, you know, water or food or to sit down? We have a place-" he adds, twisting a little to gesture back the way they came.

"And an extra bedroom," Billy adds as though there's no question Kate is staying with them, because there isn't.

Other than Teddy, Billy hasn't seen a single one of his friends since Kate disappeared the first time. He's fighting the urge to cling to her and never let her out of his sight.

"A hurricane, actually," I reply, nose crinkling. Now that the adrenaline rush is easing up a little, I have to hope that the me who's still there -- however that works -- gets Mrs. Stafford her meds.

"I'm fine," I'm quick to add, holding up my free hand. "Food and water and an extra bedroom and some clothes that aren't soaked are basically all I need right now."

"Well," Teddy says, putting an hand on Kate's back, "we just happen to be uniquely suited to providing all of things, and also dog cuddles."

Billy nods in agreement. "The dog cuddles are kinda the best. We named her Diana."

"Like the princess or Wonder Woman?" I ask, looking down at the dog and crouching a little to scratch her behind the ears. I glance back up at the guys. "Who else is here, anyway?"

"Wonder Woman," Teddy replies, "we're a different generation of gay. Cap is here, and Bucky, and some other Avengers but from a different version of the universe. Thor and Iron Man, and..."

Hulk, of course, is the natural next step in the progression, but Teddy finds himself trailing off, leaving a space for Billy to step in and finish the roster.

Billy glances at Teddy when he trails off, but he picks it up easily enough. "Hulk and Wasp. Oh, and Professor X is young and has hair, and Magneto, too. Is young. ...and not evil."

I almost blurt out Professor X is dead and it hits me just how far ahead of the guys I am. We've been messing around with time-travel for as long as we've been a team, but this is different. This isn't some glimpse into an alternate future or a trip to the past. This is what actually happens.

"Well, there's something different," I say instead, frowning a little. "How young are we talking? Our age?"

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