Chapter Text
Warm darkness. That's what surrounded him, which didn't make sense. From his experience as a criminal and kingpin, darkness was normally cold and unforgiving, not cozy. Maybe a little too cozy in fact, the position he was in was making his back hurt so maybe if he just-
Crack .
Huh? What the hell was that sound? He tried to move again, and once more he could hear a crack, this time closer, close enough for him to see branches of light coming through it, maybe if he could just push through it, he would be able to see what was going on. He did so, burst through the hole he created to see… penguins? Two giant penguins were staring down at him, no, wait, they weren't the ones who were giant, he was the one who was small. Too small. Small enough to fit between one of their legs where it was annoyingly comfortable, even more so than just the egg. Now, Oswald had never been a big guy- he definitely lacked Ed's long legs- but this was ridiculous, even for his standards. Even weirder was the fact that all around him was complete white save for the waddle of flightless birds surrounding him. None of them seemed hostile nor to mind Oswald that much, which was weird.
There were so many questions in his mind, like how did he get there? Did he shrink? Where was Edward? And batman? Why was he feeling so tired? Why was he covered in goo? So many questions and no one to answer besides his own mind. The best thing he could do right now was think. He closed his eyes, refusing to throw a tantrum where all of those odd looking penguins could attack him, especially in his tiny size, and then he focused. Focused on the memory, the last thing he saw before the dark.
It wasn't supposed to happen. Gotham was never meant to hold the phoenix's gem, but after an incident involving the cargo ship, they were forced to stop for a few days by the city's port. The gem was said to contain the power to give a second life to someone who had been taken from the world too soon, and once you had lived in Gotham for long enough, you learned to believe legends. There wasn't a single rogue not interested in it. Who didn't have someone they wished had gotten a second chance to meet? That meant this would be a race, and one that Oswald didn't intend to lose.
Convincing Ed to help him had been fairly easy, the two had been working side by side for the past two years since the Batman appeared and Ed owed him for their last unsuccessful scheme because he left one of his riddles behind. That was the hard part, the riddles. Two-faces kept teasing him, asking why Oswald kept Riddler around. He and the others thought Penguin would have better chances on his own, but they didn't understand it. He didn't do what he did just for power anymore, he also did it after love and no one had ever said love was easy. He knew that for sure. Besides, Edward wasn't incompetent by any means, it was just his rules, those stupid rules that always seemed to drag him down and they couldn't beat him without them, because otherwise that would make them cheaters and they didn't cheat. Riddler wanted to prove that they could do it by following his rules, and as long as he had an escape plan and they stayed together, Oswald didn't mind his shenanigans too much, except for this once.
This was the one time that they couldn't afford to escape later. This was his only chance to see his mother again and even Ed wasn't worth that price. He needed that gem and he made it very clear that, if Ed couldn't let go of his rules this once, he shouldn't be part of the heist. Riddler still agreed to do it, promising that he would do this once. For Oswald.
Maybe he truly was a fool in love,for he actually believed it.
When they arrived at the ship following a very convoluted plan including a piano, a shark's carcass and bad scottish accents, Oswald wasn't surprised to find not one, but the entire gallery there, even less known villains like music meister and condiment men had gathered to try and get the gem, meaning it was an Easter Egg with lots of fighting, swearing and destruction, but even that shouldn't have attracted the Bat so soon, not when Ed promised him he was keeping him busy with a decoy charade. Oh. How had he not seen it?
Because of Riddler's hint, Batman made his way to the rogues before they could get their paws on the gem and soon they fell prey to the dark knight, all, but one criminal. The one man who had predicted that turn on events and was, in fact, hoping for it. Joker hadn't been interested in getting the gem, just eliminating the competition which was why he waited until they were all busy trying to escape the vigilante and find the gem to activate his trap, the bombs he had left hidden all around the ship.
Some of the rogues had managed to escape before the water quickly submerged the vehicle, most weren't that lucky. They were just too deep, sinking too fast, and to make things worse, one of the bombs made a piece of metal fall on Oswald's leg leaving him unable to run away. "Come on Oswald," Edward said as he tried to pull him down from the debris, the room was up to knee's length in seawater, the level continuing to rise fast, "j-just a scratch," Edward's voice wavered, just before he fell back after all the pointless effort to try and get him free.
"It 's useless, Ed!" Oswald cried out, punching the water, "even if you do manage to move it away, my legs are broken, are you going to carry me out of here?!"
"I damn will if I have to!" Edward shouted back.
"And then what, huh?! We both die here?! Let the clown have what he wants?!" Oswald shook his head rapidly, "no, no, I refuse to let that lunatic take over Gotham, Edward, you need to get out of here, save yourself, take over the city for me like we said we were going to all those years back." The water passed Oswald's shoulders.
"You know I have no interest in ruling! It is supposed to be us, our plans, the Riddler and the Penguin, Gotham's greatest criminals! You and me, Oswald! You said it yourself, there is no me without you!" Edward tried to yank him up, only for Penguin to yell, tears falling in the water.
"I'm sorry, old friend, but you are going to have to find out on your own. It appears I have reached the end of the line, the Penguin's swan song," he forced a smile, "we all knew it was going to end like this, right? With one of us dying in the other's arms? Honestly, I'm just glad to be the one to go first." He cupped Edward's cheek, his glass sitting on the bridge of his nose couldn't hide the teary brown eyes, "goodbye, old friend. I just hope that you know that even after all these years, I never stopped lo-" he was cut short by salt water making its way in his mouth.
"Oswald?!" Edward tried to pull him higher, only making his legs ache even more while his head remained underwater, "no, no, no, not him! Anyone but him, Oswald! Oswald!"
He no longer could make out the words that came out of Edward's mouth, all of it seemed so distant, his face blurred by the water and his vision fading. Even then, Oswald couldn't help but notice how beautiful his friend looked, all the years only helped increase the warmth he felt in his chest whenever he looked at him, stupid riddles and all. At least it was a fitting end, he supposed, for the man called penguin, drowning a few inches away from the man that had since long stolen his heart.
…
Well. That was embarrassingly dramatic, even for Oswald's standards, but it did explain a few things. Kind of. He had died and been reborn. Probably not as a human, by the looks of it, as a penguin. Not ideal. He supposed it was the effect of the gem, were they close two it? Shit. Now he had two goals: one, find a way to turn human again and two, find Edward before he overdosed on something. For a man that wasn't in love with him, he sure tended to overreact whenever Oswald wasn't around. The problem was that his new body wasn't very cooperative. He was weak and too small to do anything. Well. He supposed that he could wait for a while. How long would it take for him to become a proper penguin able to fish all on his own?
Two years.
The answer had been two years. Two years trapped in his own mind unable to do much besides watch the other animals and carelessly flop around, constantly in fear that something would come and snatch him away, kill him a second time. It wasn't all useless, however, for during the period that progressed Oswald learned a few things about the creatures that surrounded him and the world he was in.
First of all, he wasn't on his Earth anymore, that much was clear. The penguins that surrounded him weren't any species he knew of and, more importantly, he was pretty sure that penguins couldn't use magic. It wasn't anything too elaborate, just freezing a small area, normally to fish better. Most animals seemed to have similar abilities, fishes could boost themselves in the water and some other birds could use the wind like blades. All things that nothing in Oswald's world could do.
Oswald also learned that it wasn't just magic, creatures much like himself grew physically more powerful the more they killed, not unlike one of the videogames Edward liked to play and Penguin pretended not to pay attention while imagining himself as the prince that needed to be rescued by his friend and then, by the end of it, they fell in love with their first kiss. In any case, he learned about the leveling system during his first time fishing.
It was his first time fishing with supervision and the man in bird body noticed after some very frustrating attempts that there was a very likely chance, something like two in three chances, higher if they were newbies like himself, that the fish would escape. The fish were much faster due to their natural ability to control the water and the penguins needed quite some precision to hit their breath underwater during a hunt.
That got Oswald thinking, what if, instead of trying to freeze the fishes he just froze the area they were more likely to swim to like a net?
And so he set up his plan. He calculated the best route for fish to use to escape and began making his net before any other penguin showed up. Then it was just the time to watch.
The penguins jumped into the water and the fishes began running away as usual until...success. The fishes hit the transparent ice wall he had created, either killing them on impact thanks to their own ability or leaving them confused enough for Oswald or another penguin to finish them off.
As his plan came to fruition, he realized he didn't just become fueler with a stock of fish, but actually stronger, faster, more resilient. He even noticed that he had grown considerably taller than his peers -a first for him- after managing to catch a lot more fishes than the others even though they also ate well.
The following day, he did it again and again and soon enough he noticed that the waddle of penguins he was in stopped treating him like just one more, but actually followed him around. They let him eat the best food, kept him safe from any threat, hell, he even received a lot of rocks, for once he was the most attractive one around. The most important factor to consider was how organized they were. Not a single one of them dared to jump in the water until Oswald gave them a sign by jumping back on shore. That's when he realized they could actually be used for his own good. A penguin alone couldn't do much, but a whole waddle of them organized and ready to strike was a dangerous weapon that shouldn't be messed with. Maybe it would take a bit longer than expected, but he was coming to return to Ed.
[SKILL ACQUIRED: KING'S CALLING]
Permits the user to telepathically share its desires and emotions with its nearby followers of the same species.
As it turned out, the problem with the incoming amount of food and fish income was that it attracted other predators such as the parasitic seagulls and, of course, shorcas or that was what Oswald called the fish like creatures as big as a blue whale with the patterns of a killer whale and the body of a shark. There were two of them that lived around the area and these creatures were able to control the blood of creatures in short range, meaning that they could use their ability to just paralyze their victim and swallow them whole. Oswald had been unfortunate enough to be connected to a penguin as it was devoured and felt as his own skin as the penguin was slowly killed by the acid of the monster's stomach with no chance of escape. It took him a week to recover after that and he decided he would wait to take care of these monsters later.
Seagulls first. The seagulls didn't eat penguins, but they competed with them for food. It had happened more than once for one of his followers to be cut into smithereens by the creatures so they could steal their fish. Well, if it was fish that they wanted, he would give it to them.
The seagulls were in advantage on land due to their higher range, but their attacks barely scratched underwater and without their wings they couldn't do anything, so he would take their wings away.
The first part of his plan involved gathering a bunch of fish on an ice platform with several holes all around just big enough for a penguin to stick their beaks through it. Then he just waited. He waited until an entire flock had gathered and then commanded all of his companions to attack through the holes, freezing their wings and leaving them completely defenseless for Oswald to finish them off and, oh, how good it felt to have all that added experience. He leveled up again and again, doing the same arduous process everyday to diminish the amount of curious seagulls that approached- and even better, they used their bodies as bait to keep the shorcas away.
Skill acquired; Water expert
Permits the user to use higher leveled water spells.
Skill acquired: Air novice
Permits the user to use low level air spells
Spell Acquired: Air Slash
The user can use the movement of its limbs to create a blade out of air and attack any nearby targets.
Spell Acquired: Ice Creation
The user can control the nearby humidity to create objects made of ice.
After a month or so, there didn't seem to be any more birds around. If there were any left, they have become wise enough not to defy his waddle of penguins.
Feeling quite braver now and wanting to test his new spell, Oswald decided that it was time for them to counterattack. He organized a small squad using the younger penguins to come with him to explore while the more experienced veterans stayed behind to protect their nests. They knew the region better than anyone.
As expected, there were some seagulls left that tried to defend their nests, but they were too few and most were too poorly fed. Those that didn't run away became target practices for Oswald's newest spell that had an even bigger reach than theirs. It was a breeze, pun intended.
Oswald ordered that all eggs found were taken back to the penguin's nest where they would be raised like any other penguin. His goal was to make an army made of seagulls and penguins alike completely faithful to him. He would raise the seagulls himself to make sure that they became his personal security. It was just another step closer to growing powerful enough to return to Ed.
New evolution available, would you like to access it now?
>Yes No
Oswald was surprised by the words that spoke in his ear, the same voice that normally told him about new skills or abilities. Evolution? That was new. He had no idea what that meant, but so far all changes had been positive so why shouldn't he just say yes?
Yes.
Initiating evolution to: Harpy
Oswald stumbled to the side before suddenly falling down tiredly on the floor. Oh no, what had he done? Would he die again? In a stinky nest that wasn't even his unable to find Edward? He let out a whimper before finally succumbing to the dark.
---
On the other side of the ice continent, the South Queen could sense something she hadn't sensed in a very, very long time: One of her children was evolving, actually evolving. How long has it been since that happened? One thousand years? Maybe she would finally have someone after all these years.