Previous Chapter question:
Q- What do you think the Cells were trying to do?
Answer: They were using themselves as a medium to send instructions for this situation to happen
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The first thing Ethan noticed was the dirt in his mouth.
He spat it out, and groaned as he pushed himself off the ground. With a dull pain in his head he forced himself to focus. All his joints ached like he'd been put together incorrectly. What happened? His memories were hazy at best. An empty road. A brilliant light. One thing smashing against the other. Screaming for Clark. Then darkness.
Something else too. Something truly Dark that filled everything
Ethan shook his head, forcing the feeling away. It was like a dream, or rather that he had been dreaming. A bad dream. That something had happened and he was just not remembering clearly. It was not as important as the fact that he was on the floor. A field maybe. He could smell the wheat, the approaching fall. Ethan pushed himself to his feet, swaying. There were long gashes of blood on the front of his jeans and a few places on his shirt. He checked his skin, his fingers coming away with sticky red.
Clark should have took me to the hospital or at least somewhere with medical center. Then this makes no sense.
Ethan's thoughts were jumbled. The last thing he remembered was screaming his brother's name as the light consumed him, as he thought death was claiming him. But he was in now sitting beside dirt, whole. And with the smell of home in his nose.
He needs to see Clark. He'll know what's wrong.
Ethan pulled himself together, using the night sky as his guide which was thought to him by his Brother
The house was the same, white walls, green windows, the porch swing waiting for him. The tree he climbed and fell out of as a child stood waiting for him to return.
So why did it feel wrong?
He shook his head, dismissing the feeling. Nothing felt different, as far as he could tell. The flower beds were in the same place Ma had put them, down to the pattern the bricks made. He was just tired, maybe in shock from whatever had happened to him, the event that landed him in this state.
The door was locked.
Unusual for them, neither of his parents ever locked it before midnight. It was only barely past ten, maybe eleven. He knocked, letting his knuckles make the sound against the wood. Footsteps sounded from inside, his mother's usual rhythm. The door opened to reveal Martha Kent. She looked at him, wide eyed. Then her eyes narrowed in confusion, a furrow moving across her brow as she looked him over.
"Can I help you?"
Her voice sent a chill down his spine. He looked at his mother, really looked at her, and felt his heart break. Her hair was gray and there were visible wrinkles on her face.
*Did she always have that? Why did I never notice?*
"Ma?" He tried, his voice cracking. "Ma, it's me. It's Ethan." He looked over her shoulder, making sure he wasn't dreaming. "It's Ethan, I swear, Ma."
Martha's eyes looked confused. As if she didn't understand what he was saying.
"I'm sorry, young man, but I think you have the wrong house. There's no Ethan here."
"What?"
Ethan blinked. "Ma, stop messing around. I was in an accident. I don't know how I got back here, but I need to talk to Clark. Is Clark here?"
"How do you know that name?"
"How do I..." Ethan started, letting out a laugh. "It's my brother's name! Ma, I swear, what is going on?"
"Martha?" His father's voice came from the other room. "Is everything alright?"
"There's a young man here," Martha replied, her eyes still on Ethan. "He's... strange. Injured. He keeps talking about Clark."
Heavy footsteps sounded from the other room. Jonathan Kent stepped into view behind his wife. The same suspicion filtered into his sharp eyes, though he was careful to keep his expression carefully moderated. He was a man who knew better than to make quick judgement of a situation, no matter how scary the prospect was.
"Your entire body is covered with blood," His father said carefully. "I'll call an ambulance to get you some help." His eyes flicked over his person, taking in his state of dress. "Just try to calm down, son,"
"I don't need an ambulance!" Ethan snapped, frustration rising in his chest. "I need someone to tell me what the hell is happening here! Pa, it's me! Your son! Ethan! I was born in this house twenty-three years ago! Ma used to make me chocolate chip pancakes for my birthday! You taught me how to drive the tractor when I was twelve! I broke my arm falling out of that tree right there which you said Grandpa himself planted with you!" Ethan gestured wildly at the old oak with his arms. Martha and Jonathan exchanged a look.
They thought he was crazy.
"Listen, son," his father said carefully. "I don't know who you are, but Martha and I never had a son named Ethan. We never had a son named..." Jonathan frowned, thinking. He looked to his wife, who blinked back at him, equally as confused. "Never had a son at all."
"Is there a problem here?"
Yet another voice. Ethan turned his eyes towards the door to see a familiar figure walking towards him. His brother. Clark. He was tall, broad shouldered, as handsome as ever though his hair was less combed than Ethan was used to seeing it. He wore flannel and jeans, as always when he was home. Ethan felt a measure of comfort at the sight of him.
"Clark!" Ethan practically fell to his knees at his brother's feet. "Clark, thank God. Tell them who I am. Tell them this isn't a joke. I don't know what's happening here, but you have to help me." Ethan stopped himself, looking up at his brother's face. Clark was looking at him with the same expression as his father and mother. He didn't seem to know who he was.
"I'm sorry," Clark said, turning to look at his parents. He placed a comforting hand on Martha's shoulder as she paled. "I don't know who this man is. These are my parents. Do you need help?"
Ethan grabbed onto the railing on the side of the porch for support.
His thoughts were racing. This was impossible, wasn't it? Clark should know who he was. He had known him his whole life. He had seen him grow up, seen him become this man standing before him.
It had to be amnesia. It had to be something simple. But he didn't remember anything. Clark should know him. It had to be something wrong with him, not Clark.
Unless...
Unless he was dreaming.
"what year is it?"
The words left his mouth before he could stop them. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at him, each with varying expressions of confusion.
"What?" Clark asked simply.
"The year." Ethan repeated. "What year is it? Just tell me the goddamn year!"
"It's 2019," Jonathan said, tightening his grip. His eyes narrowed. "Son, I think you need to calm down. We can call an ambulance, but--"
It was supposed to be 2024!
He had lost five years. No, gained them. He wasn't sure which.
His legs gave out beneath him, sending him to his knees. He would have smacked the back of his head against the porch if not for Clark catching him.
"You need proper care." Clark said, to no one in particular. "Ma, call 911. Pa, get some towels to press against his wounds. It seems like he's bleeding more than we thought." His voice was calm, but Ethan could hear the panic bubbling beneath the surface. "Clark, what's happening to him?"I don't know. But we can't just let him die on our porch."
Ethan wanted to answer that question. He wanted to explain everything. To give them his piece of the story. But the darkness was swallowing him whole, and all he felt as he passed out was Clark's grip keeping him from hitting the ground.
Then there was nothing. And then everything. [A/N: I don't know how to write the scenen of him getting pulled to the seifrah. TL you fix it] [TL/N: How do you expect me to do that??]
Ethan opened his eyes and instantly knew something was wrong.
He was staring into a sky that didn't make sense. Geometry didn't apply to it. Above his head (if you could even call it that) stretched on gray fog. Same with below him. It all bled into each other, creating the illusion of depth that wasn't there. Tiny specs of light floated around lazily like fireflies.
But in the center of it all there was a table.
Not just any table. It was huge, made of wood so dark it practically absorbed the light. Surrounding it there were twenty-two or twenty three chairs to be specific and just as many people. Only they were all him.
Twenty-two Ethan Kents stared back at him, identical to him at first glance but with second looks there were slight differences. One looked like he was literally glowing from within. Another had eyes so dark they seemed bottomless. A third had the appearance of a flickering TV screen. Ethan--the one who had just appeared--stood in the center of it all, dazed.
The one with green, plant-like skin shifted and said, "Ah. The last one finally graces us with his presence."
Wait, plant-like skin? That means.....
The pieces of a puzzle that had been laying dormant in Ethan's mind clicked together. Memory after memory of path way, of potions, of the surreal world and lore that made up this world Ethan stumbled into. Lord of the Mysteries.
He was a Beyonder now, Sequence 9 of the Sun pathway.
Which meant the plant-skinned Ethan was him too. So were the other twenty. All of them were every version of Ethan that had landed on Earth. [A/N: This is the best I can do]
"Dont hurt yourself overthinking," the warm-plant skinned Ethan said with a grin. "Yeah you're Sun. I'm Sun. None of this makes sense. Welcome to the existential crisis party."
"Sit down," another Ethan said, this one with shadows swirling under his chair despite the lack of actual shadows for him to cast. "Weve been waiting."
An empty chair appeared at the table. The real Ethan (or one of them, he wasn't sure which) sat down, hands shaking. He looked around at the dozens of faces that stared back at him.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"The Sefirah," replied an Ethan with eyes that seemed to stretch into infinity. "Or something like it. The rest is... unclear."
"Unclear meaning you also have no idea, Hermit," snapped another Ethan who looked as if he hadn't slept in three days. "Quit acting like you're on top of things."
"At least I'm trying, Fool. What are you even bringing to the table?"
"Comic relief. Someone has to do it. Look around: twenty-two flavors of midlife crisis in matching faces. Any worse and we'd need therapy."
Sun (the newcomer) scanned the table, picking up on more details. Hermit looked like he could see through people. Fool seemed to have an ever-present smirk plastered on his face. The one with the shadows was most definitley Darkness.
Others stood out too. One sat absolutely motionless--maybe Justiciar. Another merely kept on observing constantly without saying anything--Visionary, most likely. One sat with his spine rigid and an aura of self-importance surrounding him--Red Priest, no doubt.
"So," said Fool, placing his feet on his chair, "now that weve all arrived, do we share feelings? Trust falls? Introduce ourselves?"
"Let's start with locations," commanded another Ethan, his voice carrying an air of authority. Black Emperor, Sun deduced. "Where did you all land?"
"Ill go," said another Ethan. "Woke up in Kansas near the crash site crash, but not my Kansas. The Kents there never had a kid. Didn't recognize me."
"Same for me," said Sun. "Different Earth. Ma and Pa just looked through me. Even Clark."
"Fantastic," said Fool sarcastically. "Multiversal orphans. Love that for us."
"I'm in Gotham," Death said, "but not ours. This one is worse which is better for me"
"Central city," said Door. "Took over the body of a newly hired Janitor in Star labs. Saw some lightning. Speedstars maybe? Haven't had time to verify it" [A/N: This might change in the later chapters. Currently I have decided to go with Door]
"I appeared in a forest," said an Ethan who seemed to blend into his chair. "Dont know where on Earth or if it's even Earth in the first place."
The group carried on, some saying they woke up in cities while others mentioned wilderness or other various locales. It seemed to be random.
"Anyone know exactly which Earth they're on?" Emperor asked.
Most just shook their heads and muttered.
"I'm most likely in the Dark Multiverse," said Abyss.
Everyone fell silent.
Abyss leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.
"You're sure?" Hermit asked cautiously.
"Superman's dead fighting with Doomsday. I woke up in Wayne Manor. The Batcave. In Batman's body with Alfred being dead with Wayne family couple from the very beginning. The court of owls not even trying to hide their tracks, wonder woman having already gone back because she was disappointed in Men's society, Flash is nowhere to be found. The Bat family doesn't exist and the one that did exist got killed by the Joker after which Batman stopped holding back and killed the Joker and his entire rouges gallery before killing himself. So yes. I am sure" said Abyss.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Fool burst out laughing.
"Oh, man," laughed Fool, slapping the table for emphasis. "That's perfect! You got the worst deal. The Dark Multiverse! Everything goes wrong there! Hope? Forget it!"
"I'm aware," said Abyss.
Red Priest, who had been very serious until this point, said, "I'll pray for you. Whatever gods are listening, I'll beg them."
"Ill light a candle," said Darkness.
"He's losing conciseness," wheezed Fool.
"Something dignified. Or a limerick," said an Ethan with ink stained fingers. The rest of the table joined in with limericks, telling jokes and making each other laugh.
Abyss just shook his head, almost smiling. "I hate all of you."
"We hate us too," Fool replied, wiping tears from his eyes. "It's a very dysfunctional relationship we have with ourselves." [A/N: He might be the Deadpool]
Black Emperor silenced everyone again. "At least you have resources. The Batcave's stocked with tech and information. Even if the world is ending, that still helps."
Abyss snorted. "Great. Fully equipped for the apocalypse."
"That's the attitude!"
Everyone laughed again, even Abyss, though he only managed a small grin.
"Whats next?" Black Emperor asked. "What about the rest of you? Anyone land somewhere useful-or particularly horrible?"
"I landed on a Atlantic. Took over one of their soliders. Should be useful, depending on what they have," said a blue skinned Ethan.
"I awoke in a Mansion that feels positively ancient," said Priest. "There is power in the stonework so magic perhaps?."
"I'm in an ancient library," said Hermit."From what I deduced (got caught the first instance he arrived in his new destination and was in prison for one week before the high priestess saved his ass from getting killed because she saw he was their salvation which she explained to him and deduced it was Azeroth after seeing Tiny Raven) I think I am in Azeorath before it got fucked by Trigon so it should be relatively stable and should act as a powerful shield for some time"
"Show-off," muttered Fool.
"Ill just say that I woke up on a rooftop," another Ethan said. "Almost fell right off."
"I'm in a jungle," another said. "There is a settlement nearby that has yet to be explored."
"I'm in New York," said someone else. "Took over some rich second generations kid who has no family"
Around the table, more people began sharing their experiences. Some had found themselves in empty woods, while others had landed in the middle of a thriving city or on the edge of an unknown land.
"So we're spread out, it seems," said Black Emperor. "Some of us have found ourselves in various places across the multiverse, while a few have landed in particularly dire circumstances and all of us are Sequence 9."
"Rock bottom," said Fool with a half-smile. "Could hardly feel weaker."
"We need to organize," said Hermit. "Come up with a way to communicate with all of us if possible and try to find out if we can interfere with each other. Twenty-two of us wandering around, unable to speak with each other, is absurd."
"Still just twenty-two rookies," said Darkness.
"Then let's climb," said Fool. "I'll pour one out,"
"Sequence 2."
The moment the words were spoken every Ethan stopped their conversation and looked at the one Ethan that was speaking
At the far end of the table there was someone new. No, not new. He was there. Did we ignore him? Wait he is-
The Main Body.
"Sequence 2," he said again. "All of you need to reach sequence 2 as fast as possible."
No one said anything, the words hanging heavily in the air.
"Its... huge," said Fool first. His voice was strained as he spoke. "That's Angel level. Just One step below God."
"Yes."
"We're at Sequence 9."
"Yes."
"That's eight jumps per person. Twenty-two of us. That's... one seventy-six leaps. No way--"
"If you don't reach Sequence 2, we all die." The Main Body's body practically disintegrated before he reappeared. He looked at them all, eyes burning. "The division between us is unstable. We can't stay like this forever, not without a Sefirah. If we don't all meet the reunion will happen regardless, but it will be violent. It'll destroy us all. Every single copy."
"How long do we have?" asked Abyss.
"No idea. But it will happen. You all need to use the time difference between your world and mine to achieve this result. I have slowed time of my Universe to the limit to act as a bait and have forcefully speedup your own universes time and synchronized it with each other and have done that too many other universes by using all the authorities I can use to the maximum. The Seifrah is currently bearing the worst of the price but that doesn't mean I am ok" The Main Body looked at each one of them carefully.
"Don't look at me like that. There's no other choice. I don't have much options anymore. Someone is targeting me the main body and I fear I don't have much time. You guys at least need to reach Sequence 6 so you guys can bear the Seifrahs will when the merger happens, sequence 4 if I remain alive and if I do die you guys need to reach Sequence 2"
He flickered again, this time even more faintly than before.
"I repeat again. Reach Sequence 2. Nothing else matters."
With that, he was gone.
For a long while, no one said anything.
"Well that was fucking horrifying" said Fool finally, his voice small.
Nobody laughed. No one said anything.
"We'll need to hold meetings often," said Hermit. "Share everything we find, everything we know. It would be stupid to waste resources."
"Agreed," said Black Emperor. "If any dangers or opportunities arise, bring them to this meeting."
"And the main body," said Priest. "Is there anything we can do for him?"
"He's in a Kryptonian hospital in the original universe. The Justice League is surrounding him," The Suns said. "After that... we cant do anything."
"Let's do what we can," said Darkness. "Climb. Survive. Hope the rest of us do the same."
There were murmurs of agreement around the table. Nobody looked particularly happy, but they were determined as none of them wanted to die though some of them need to do that if they wanted advance but that's a topic for the future them
"That'll be all for now," said Black Emperor. One by one the Ethans began to disappear, fading away as they left the meeting. Sun watched himself leave, twenty-one times over. He was the last to go.
Sequence 2, or nothing at all. He muttered