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Timelines and Where-Realms

Epilogue

For Taiko and Studley-Destiny

By Draconicon

Of course, Nemean wasn't going to make it easy for him. The second he was through the window, the mane tendrils came for him again. Stabbing left, right, up, down, and center, they were desperate to find purchase and bind the wolf once again, to take control of the fight away from him. Studley smirked. It was going to be harder than that.

For he was Chaos, after all, and Chaos was not bound so easily.

He flowed around the stabbing limbs, spinning in a cyclone of katana strikes. The mane shattered, grew, and was shattered again, the wolf little less than a buzzsaw of slashing blades dancing along the lines of hair and fur streaking for him. He became a blur, sliding along the fur strands until he was in range.

Nemean ducked, lurching down, then back as they fell. A kick to the face, blocked by a blade, followed by a punch to his knee. Studley took the hit, followed it up with a pommel-punch to the face. The lion groaned, bleeding from the nose as they fell through the air.

Time stretched, and the building below them changed, becoming a deep cross-country pool that cars were driving - could not drive - were not driving towards. They hit the water just before they could have hit the cement, fell through it, the world going silent.

Studley hit the bottom first and kicked back. Nemean followed, moving almost like a cross between lion and octopus, swimming, no, charging after him at a pace that he couldn't easily match. But he could strike back.

He grabbed one tendril that came for him, letting it yank him back. Nemean's power was strong, the telekinesis seizing hold of his arms so that he couldn't easily strike back against the lion. He chuckled, the air bubbling out of his mouth as he was dragged in closer, pulled in towards the other male. Those teeth were spread wide, obviously planning to chomp off his head when he was close enough.

Studley didn't let it happen. His eyes glowed, and he punched out with his mind.

Nemean's head cracked backwards, almost hard enough to make Studley believe that he had snapped the other man's neck. If it wasn't impossible, he might have thought he had. He did, however, accomplish the small gain of breaking a tooth off and sending it to the bottom of the pool.

More to the point, the distracted lion was still pulling him close, and he could twist around now.

By the time Nemean brought his head around, Studley had cut two large concrete blocks out of the bottom of the pool, and he jammed them into Nemean's oversized maw. The lion chomped down and screamed from the pain of trying to bite through something too hard, and the wolf kicked his way to the surface. He broke through, sucking down a deep breath before something gripped his ankle and pulled him down again.

Persistent pussy cat, I'll give him that.

He was dragged all the way down to the bottom of the deep end again, his arms heavier in the water than he would like. Chaos could have changed this, but it would be the first time that he had done it in a full time stop, and he didn't know what the consequences would be. Besides, he was holding his own well enough...and though he was hesitant to admit it, he was having some fun with the idea, too. Facing this asshole was giving him the chance to vent a lot of pent-up frustration.

"You...you will pay for this humiliation..."

"Oh, this is humiliation for you? I seriously think you need to reevaluate that."

"You will be a meal for me, and nothing more."

"Hamming it up again?"

"Stop interrupting me!"

"Stop sounding so annoying."

Studley wasn't sure if those bubbles coming out of his mouth really made any sort of sense for anyone outside of the pair of them, but hey, if it worked, it worked. However, he didn't have time for this. It was time to see just how much more he was allowed in the time-stop.

So, the wolf spun. His katanas cut the water like propellers, spinning around and around, but he didn't stop there. He spun to the point of creating suction rather than propulsion, dragging himself to the bottom of the pool. A whirlpool surrounded him, dragging the lion along with it, and he grinned as he watched Nemean have to fight the current to keep from being drawn into reach of the wolf's blades.

"What's the matter?" he called out, once the water had been pulled away from his head. "Afraid of these?"

"You puny...I will finish this...I will finish you!"

The lion must have finally realized that he had other powers pulled in, other people that he could draw on, because he finally used something besides super-strength. He glared, his eyes burning hot -

"How about no?"

Studley turned the current the other way, spinning violently in the other direction. Not only did that stop sucking the lion towards him, but it sent Nemean flying towards the other end of the pool, slamming head-first into the other side and cracking the concrete. More than that, the heat vision that followed turned a great deal of pool water to steam almost immediately, and the lion's howling roar made it clear that the heat could still cause pain.

Studley, however, was already airborne, riding the water currents that he had created, turning it from a whirlpool to a water cyclone. He spun it forward, crashing it down on the mutated, empowered lion, leaving him battered against the concrete again and again.

But of course, that wouldn't be enough to end him. As best he could tell, Nemean was now effectively immortal. There was no way to actually end him, just contain him.

Not that Studley was much of a killer to begin with. It was something that he could go through with, but it wasn't something that he actively enjoyed.

As the water cyclone faded, the momentum that carried it burned out by hitting land and lion over and over again, Studley landed at the edge of the pool with a thump. Most of the water refused to come down from the sky now that it wasn't in contact with him anymore, and the cars running to either side of the pool clearly weren't aware of the fight going on. They were frozen in time, Erwin keeping them from getting affected by the fight.

A good thing, too. He had a feeling that it wasn't over yet.

He leaned over the edge of the pool with blade pointed down. The lion lunged at him, only to get stabbed in the shoulder from his precaution.

"You really, really aren't used to people taking care, are you?"

"You...bastard!" Nemean growled, gripping his bleeding shoulder.

"You know, I'm starting to get less bothered by you."

"I'm going to end your miserable -"

"Do you villains ever get better material?"

"Shut up!"

"Make me."

Then, Nemean grabbed the blade. Studley fully expected the other man to just wink out of existence as he gripped the blade tighter than ever, but while the lion's blood - darker than it should have been - rolled down his fingers, he didn't flinch, nor did his arms start fading the way that they should have done. He blinked twice at the snarling, nearly feral lion, and winced.

"Oh boy."

He was heaved right off the ground, thrown towards the nearest building. Studley tumbled end over end, flipping this way and that as his sword was left behind. He threw his arms out, calling it back, but he'd scarcely caught it before the lion was hot on his tail, flying through the air -

THUMP!

Only for a building to grow up where the lion was traveling, creating a perfect barrier for Nemean to faceplant into. Studley chuckled as he landed on another building rising up to meet him, shaking his head as he ground to a stop.

"I'm going to guess I have you to thank for that, Erwin?" he muttered.

Don't thank me yet. Finish the job.

"I plan to, but just saying. Thanks."

You're welcome. Now finish -

"The job, yes, I know."

Shaking his head at the tetchy tiger, he walked to the edge of the building. Unsurprisingly, Nemean was charging right up the side of it. He shook his head, spinning his katanas around as he waited.

Just as the lion was about to throw himself over the edge, he whipped the blades down and around. He caught the increasingly-bestial lion by the underarms and threw him further into the sky. One katana, then the other went after him, piercing him through the shoulders and locking into place through his skeleton to disable his arms.

Studley bent down, then leaped with all the power that the Beast offered him, thrusting himself through the air. Chaos bent the laws of physics, and he grabbed Nemean by the throat, twisting him around and bearing him back down towards the building below.

"I think it's time that we got this over with, don't you?"

"Nnngh...what...even...are you?"

"Hmm...let's go with complicated."

A snarl was answered with a light punch to the nose. For Nemean, the blow was probably closer to a little tap to a startled child, but the effect was the same. The lion stared at him with complete incredulity.

"Did you just -"

"I'd take a deep breath, if I were you."

"The pool did nothing last time."

"You aren't going in a pool."

Concrete, however, particularly from the top of a skyscraper and falling to it, was quite a different story. The lion visibly depressed, going down into nearly the shape of a furry pancake, and Studley rolled off him, groaning at the impact and the way that the blow echoed all the way up his legs. He got back up, but he grumbled at the residual sting.

"Ain't as young as I used to be..."

"Nnngh...mmmph..."

"Going to stay down this time?"

"You...you..."

"Or do I need to keep finding ways to remind you that you can't win? I'm very inventive. And I'm more immortal than you are."

"..."

"And more creative."

"..."

"So, are we good? Are you going to be a good kitten and stay where you are?"

"...Yes."

"Good."

He preferred villains that knew when they were beaten. Doubtlessly, Nemean was considering how to get his chance to strike back, but that was going to be far more difficult than the half-undead lion probably thought. The whole point of getting him involved was to ensure that such things did not happen.

"Erwin?"

Finish dealing with him, and then we will talk.

"You know, this mysterious stuff is getting real old."

I have survived for this long doing this. Do not endanger my city further.

"If you say so."

Shaking his head, the wolf knelt down by the lion. He smiled despite the whole fight, poking Nemean's slowly-reforming face.

"You know what's going to happen to you now, right?"

"I suppose...you take me in."

"That's right. But you're not going to jail."

"Hmmph. That would be too easy."

"Yep. So, you're going to come with me. Come somewhere that you'll wish that you never heard of."

"There is nothing I cannot think of a way out of."

"I think we'll find the exception today."

"I doubt it."

"I don't."

Studley opened the portal. It was something that he generally had to keep closed, as a rule, since it was always trying to get out and mess with the world at large. To release it, all he had to do was relax his hold on it. The ground opened up, something that was less regular, less standard of a portal compared to the usual doorways from universe to universe. Of course, this wasn't leading to a universe, so that was to be expected.

Ripples of unreality started pouring out, wrapping around the lion's legs, his mane, his face. The blackness turned to rainbow turned to oil-slick colors, all of it slipping and sliding around the lion's body.

"What...what is this?"

"Chaos, of course."

"You - how?"

"I told you. Complicated."

Nemean struggled against the chaos and its pull for a few seconds, but naturally, there wasn't anything that the mortal villain could do. Even with all his power, there was nothing that could keep him from being pulled down to a realm that was a killer of gods. Studley watched over the transfer, ensuring that he wasn't going to find some creative way to get out, and then closed the portal as soon as it was done. No point in adding further chaos to a city that already seemed to be infested with it, after all.

As soon as the portal was closed, the city started flowing again. Cars beeped at him for standing in the middle of the road, and construction workers that hadn't been there were now all over the place, putting down yellow caution lines and ensuring that the crater that their landing had made was getting fixed. The pool was nowhere to be seen, but the falling water made its own miniature downpour for a few seconds before it faded, too.

With the smell of hot chlorine still in the air, he stepped out of the way of the flow of traffic, only to immediately run into a started Erwin. The tiger growled under his breath.

"I truly despise your ability to hide from me."

"It's not exactly intentional, you know."

"I know, and that makes it more annoying."

"So, walk and talk?"

"Let's."

The tiger followed at his side, shifting constantly from one version of the feline to another. He shifted from a dock worker to an office executive, from a super-hero to a stripper, from a homeless man to an archfiend villain. Dozens, thousands of Erwins kept popping through as they walked along, none lasting for long enough to see more than a hint of details. It was like walking beside something that was living impressionism.

They were silent for a while, and the city moved on without them for the most part. They were two outsiders in very different ways, but still outsiders to the city around them.

"You did...well," Erwin said. "And I thank you for following up with your side of the bargain."

"It was less a bargain, and more just taking care of business. He'd have been a problem."

"I doubt the rest of the multi-verse is your responsibility."

"You know about it?"

"You cannot slide along time without seeing the splits where its river goes."

"Good to know. I can be a little less circumspect next time."

"Yes...that might help."

"Are you going to be this pissy all the time?"

"You are a walking headache. Literally. I am glad to have your help, and I am very thankful for all that you have done. However, that does not mean that I am happy to have you around."

"Heh, fair."

"I believe that it is time for you to consider leaving."

"I only just got here, Erwin, seriously. Besides, Nor and I have some unfinished business, still. I want to see what this city is all about."

The tiger was clearly unhappy about that, but he knew that he was going to get at least part of what he wanted. After all, there was nothing unreasonable about it all. He might have been the one that started the potential for disaster rolling, but that didn't mean that he hadn't fixed it. Hell, he'd fixed it in a way that only he could.

Finally, the supernatural feline rubbed his forehead, pinching the bridge of his muzzle.

"I suppose two more days will do little enough harm."

"I'm glad you see the light."

"But...and I stress this, but..."

"Yeeees?"

"I want a guarantee that you will not interfere with me if you see me out and about."

"I can agree with that."

"I'm serious, Studley. This was nearly too much."

"For you, maybe."

"But it nearly was. And you will not always be here. You are a traveler, and not one that comes quickly when called. I will not tolerate a true danger to my city. If you are a guest, be a guest, and leave me alone when I'm working."

"...Okay, fine, if it has to be that way."

"Good."

They stopped outside a café. Erwin stepped forward, the flow of people inside stopping for a moment as he slid inside. Studley cocked his head to the side as the tiger walked behind the counter, slowly fixing himself a coffee rather than placing an order. The world remained frozen inside, almost like he couldn't actually take the time to interact. The wolf followed, getting in line for later.

Once time resumed, he placed his own order, eventually joining the tiger at a table further back in the café. Erwin was taking slow sips from his coffee, looking down at it intently but never quite taking sips of a size to match the intensity of his stare. Studley cocked his head to the side, looking back at the barista, and then back at the tiger.

"Issues with social stuff?"

"I rarely socialize."

"Find most people boring, or?"

"No. It is...draining."

"Multi-tasking?"

"Constantly."

"Ah, the many-me problem?"

"I have yet to call it that, but yes."

He understood. The tiger was spending so much time looking after the city through thousands of eyes up and down the timelines that he was always busy, always distracted. Probably always having a headache, too, so he kept his interactions with others minimal. It was probably something that he couldn't help, either, otherwise he'd be less good at it. If someone had the ability to turn that off, then they risked the chance of missing something, whereas someone bound to the power would be forced to see it all, interact with it all, all the time. There was no escape.

No wonder Erwin was constantly dealing with a headache. He couldn't really let go, nor could he sleep, nor could he ever really do much to spend time with people. He just had to deal with this all the time, managing this city in a way that only he could.

In a way, Studley realized, Erwin had become something that wasn't really mortal anymore. He had become something almost elemental, except rather than wind or water or something like that, he was elementally linked to time.

Well, that explains the tetchiness...

Studley sipped his coffee, the wolf looking back out the window of the café. The world seemed to be more or less back to normal. There was no sign of what Nemean had been trying to do, and the police seemed to be back to work, heroes leaping from the rooftops. Novus Ager was more or less itself.

He wondered how much of that was down to the removal of Nemean the Undead King, and how much of that was down to Erwin doing little shifts all up and down the timeline. His mind itched as he felt little twitches occurring, his memory splitting the way that it had done on a planet where the land was constantly dividing with each new creation of pocket multiple universes, where each choice created a new little chunk of possibilities on the planet. It had been a very uncomfortable experience then, and it wasn't that enjoyable right then, either.

He shook his head, swallowing a bigger gulp of coffee. The bitterness brought him back to the moment and almost gave him a headache of his own.

"Drink slower," Erwin muttered.

"I didn't want to think about something. Ugh."

"Hmmph." The tiger shook his head. "Studley. I understand that I am brusque and blunt. I understand that I am...easily irritated, and irritable. That does not mean that I do not value your contributions. With the chaos that happens here without you, I imagine there will be times when your services may be of use again. And I also understand that you will want to visit Nor once more."

"I sense a but coming."

"There is none."

"...Then why sound so formal?"

"I organize my thoughts in formal lists. It allows me to keep the details correct."

"Ah. Then go on."

"With those understandings in mind, I ask that you give me notice when you are coming, and where you will be staying. And that you keep the condition that I set for your further visit in mind during those visits, as well."

"You want me to stay out of your way constantly?"

"If it was up to me, I would have you stay out of my way in perpetuity. However, there will likely be times when we may interact, so I am not closed to the idea of...socializing. However, I will be honest and state that this is partially to acclimate myself to your presence so it causes less discomfort."

"I'm fine with that. I'd prefer you figure that out, honestly. That way, I can actually spend time with someone that relates."

"...I suppose you would enjoy that."

"You can't take anything less than seriously, can you?"

"No. I can't."

Studley shook his head. At least they were talking. That was better than the alternative. He sipped his coffee again, wondering how the rest of the night would go.

By morning, he barely remembered. He'd suggested hitting a bar where there was a little more to do besides just talk, and that had worked out. A game of pool, yeah, that happened. A bar fight? That too. He remembered there being some sort of winning forfeit, something that the bartender handed out for Brawl Night, but other than that, not much stuck. He might have had a beer or two too many.

Thankfully, he woke sober, and he rolled out of bed with ease. Nor was sleeping on the couch in the living room, meaning that they'd come back to the same place together. He tapped the side of his head, trying to fill in the memories, but there wasn't much after getting the Brawl Night trophy.

Hmmm...probably Erwin fixing things, and me not remembering, he admitted to himself. Ah, well. Nor will.

Not to mention that Nor probably would have a good bit to say about the fight with Nemean, questions of where Studley went, and other things that he'd have to figure out. He imagined that Erwin was leaving it up to him how he wanted to cover their tracks, and what sort of story the mule would need to be told.

"Hmmm..."

He had a few ideas of different stories to spin, but that would need to wait until after coffee. The wolf made his way to the kitchen, getting the coffee-maker going, and sat down to wait.

The coffee pot had half-filled when Nor rose from the couch, the mule rubbing one eye. He yawned, pulling on a bathrobe to cover himself before sitting down.

"When did we get in last night?" Nor muttered.

"No idea. I was hoping you could tell me."

"Not a clue. I was so busy dealing with Nemean that I honestly can't remember what happened afterward."

"Must have been a hard fight."

"He's never easy."

"I guess that's true." Studley nodded. "Sorry I wasn't there."

"It's fine. It worked out. Figured you had something more important to do."

There was more truth in that than Nor knew, but he wasn't going to get too deep into that. He imagined that there was only so much that Erwin wanted the mule to remember. His existence was probably the only thing that the mule would remember from the night, all things considered.

Shaking his head, he took the little whistle from the coffee pot as a thankful distraction, getting up and pouring himself and Nor a mug.

"Want some breakfast?"

"Yeah...sure...Eggs in the fridge..."

A sleepy mule meant for an easier lie, that was for sure. And it gave him time to come up with a better one.

Let's see...what story should I spin for this one...

The End

Summary: And the end of the series arrives, with Studley duking it out with the undead lion villain.

Tags: No sex, fight, lion, wolf, mule, tiger, uptight, supers, capture, series, win, novus ager,