Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue:

[Log Journaling system activated]

Log Date: 08/29/19, 9:15 PM

If you have received this message, then you may have far more knowledge of the situation and/or trying to find an answer to this problem. I write this as one of my many timestamps to help preserve and record the events I have witnessed and the folk I encounter. But hopefully as a way to preserve my memories for all of my friends and loved ones. My name is Dalv Vollin, I am a sorcerer from the planet Rorschach, and for the last five years, I have had the same nightmare and through that time, I never could make out what was happening until all but three days ago. An entity known as Asudem has awakened and has begun attacking planets and sub-planets turning all beings into stone, devoiding them of life. As of writing this it has claimed six planets and has yet to reach my home planet Rorschach and Earth. So far help has been sent to search for survivors and bring them to sanctuary. The thing that boggles me about this is: who summoned this hell beast? What purpose would they gain if all planets were devoid of life? But no matter Asudem must be stopped at all costs before the intergalactic petrification becomes permanent. However I fear this is part of something much worse, something even I believe the mystics could not predict.

Log Date: 08/30/19, 4:15 PM

Earlier this morning the Universal Counsel of Mystics and the Galactic Federation have agreed to join forces to assist the unaffected planets, aid in defense against Asudem's future attacks, and search for any survivors from the six affected planets. The problem is after the first six planets were affected, Asudem had not been seen since. But rightfully, no one was taking any chances. I do sense that the other mystics of Rorschach are not only having doubts but fear any efforts to stop Asudem are all for not. A few other mystics from other planets agree and believe that Asudem is the foretold sign of the end of days.I refuse to accept that there is no hope, I still believe we have a fighting chance, that we can at least take back the six planets and seal away Asudem. The nightmares since Asudem arrived keep getting worse and are taking a toll on my mind and body. I am absolutely horrified none of the mystics have had similar visions, it seems very off and very wrong. I mean it's not like I'm missing something within these visions, I hope I'm not.

Log Date: 09/01/19, 6:05 AM

Several hours ago, under the request of our high priestess Titania Nyota, I left Rorschach en route to planet Earth. At the instructions from Titania I am tasked with seeking out our champions of earth, I’m not sure what they’ll be able to do but at this point we'll need all the help we can get. Perhaps it would be great to locate any others to aid in our cause. Titania and I have started to suspect the behavior of the Rorschach mystics, it appears their lack of empathy and any hope has raised some red flags. It didn't help when I was met with jeers and snide remarks when I suggested seeking out help from our other allies. Titania chose to stay behind to keep an eye on them. I hope that I am not too late, I have tried to send a signal to contact them but it appears nothing will go through and all I receive is painful static. I will try again when I am a little closer to Earth, as for right now I have the feeling I'm being followed so I'll have to lay low and stop when it's only necessary. But then again it could just be me being paranoid as usual. Not like I have a choice anyway, I can't even contact Titania. Which is strange since my signal is supposed to reach the entire galaxy. This will be my very last message until I can reach Earth which is only a day away. Oddly enough I’m getting signals from Earth’s moon, is Earth aware of the life forms on the Moon?

[Log system went offline on 09/02/19 due unforeseen circumstances. System has been rebooted and all data has been recovered.]

09/03/19, 12:45 AM

I am grateful for surviving that crash, even though it should have killed me. My ship has sustained some pretty bad damage from a stray asteroid and may require some serious repairs. Although now that I'm running a quick diagnostic test, it appears the communication port was deliberately broken. Anyways, according to my mapping systems I am at the edge of a city called St. Canard, this is a major problem. Because both of Rorschach's champions live in the distant city of Mouseton, that's why!! Shoot!! And I can't just go waltzing out in the streets unless I wanna cause some full scale panic. I need to think all this through or risk getting caught and possibly killed. Oh well, I’m doing my absolute best to lay low, but in doing so, I have unfortunately made it difficult to get help getting to Mouseton.So unfortunately no public transportation or taxis, darn it. I'll just finish my instant noodles and ponder on this life threatening decision.

09/03/19 1:35 AM

After some careful consideration, I have decided to hitchhike to Mouseton. I don't have a choice, there is no time to waste. I just need to find a person or a taxi to get to Mouseton. A vehicle just pulled over. Wait, what the heck is S.H.U.S.H? Are they a transportation agency? Maybe Oh well, hopefully they'll provide me some assistance to get to Mouseton or at the very least get in contact with Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, the champions of Planet Rorschach.

[System temporarily signed off]

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

Date: 09/03/19 6:30 AM, 9 days before the Moonvasion, Location: Horsecollar/Cow residence, Mouseton, Calisota.

The morning in Mouseton was the usual for Horace Horsecollar, having breakfast with his fiancé Clarabelle Cow and her niece Betsy all while preparing for another day of work at his family owned odd-job shop.

Clarabelle noticed Horace looked more exhausted than usual. 

Betsy looked up at Horace concerned, and signed to him, “Are you alright Uncle Horace?”

Horace nodded, not wanting to worry Betsy, he smiled and calmly responded, “I am alright - I just had a bad dream.”

Betsy smiled and nodded, finishing her bowl of cereal.

Clarabelle asked, “Is it the same one?”

Horace hesitantly nodded, “Though something was different this time.”

Clarabelle was becoming more interested, “How different?”

“I could no longer scream.” Horace looked down into his coffee cup.

Clarabelle was stunned and made note of what he said.

Horace silently finished his coffee.

“After work, we’ll look into getting that dream interpreted, maybe through divination.” Clarabelle broke the silence.

Horace faintly smiled, “Anything’s better than the dream interpreter who couldn’t interpret my dream.”

Clarabelle tried not to laugh, “Everyone thinks interpreting dreams and using magic are the easiest things to do and profit from.”

Betsy nodded.

Horace would’ve been skeptical at the idea, but then again his friends and even enemies over the years had tampered with magic, magical beings, or magical objects they had had no clue and/or control over. Horace knew however that Clarabelle was a different case as she and her family had some form of history with witchcraft and some forms of mysticism; but to what extent, he had no idea. 

Once breakfast was over, Betsy hugged Horace and hurried to Clarabelle’s car. Horace and Clarabelle shared a hug and a kiss, hoping the day would be better. However unbeknownst to Horace, Clarabelle had begun sensing that the day seemed off.

“I’ll be by the shop after I stop at the Curiosa Botánica.” Clarabelle spoke.

Horace acknowledged, “Be careful on the way back, supposedly potholes tend to randomly appear near the shop.”

They both shared a light chuckle.

 Once Horace bid farewell to Clarabelle and Betsy, he began the routine of preparing to leave for his shop awaiting another day of chaotic jobs and equally chaotic customers. But then out of nowhere, he stopped. Something had caught Horace’s train of thought and made him ponder deeply.

His ears twitched as he began to hear sounds and voices he had not heard in years. Horace closed his eyes as if he was beginning to meditate. If anyone was there at the time, they would have seen the trance-like state Horace was in and even hear him faintly mumble.

“Horace?” A faint voice called out to him.

Horace couldn’t speak, in fact, he couldn’t even move. The voice continued to call his name, the tone changing from worried to frantic, one voice soon became thousands of voices calling for help. This continued for what felt like a long time until it abruptly stopped. Horace’s train of thought was broken by the sound of the doorbell. He wasn’t expecting company and thought it might be a solicitor, a bill collector, or one of his cousins abruptly showing up.

One knock on the door would turn to a frustrated pound on the door.

A voice on the outside yelled, “Mr. Horsecollar, please open the door, we know you're in there!" 

Horace opened the door confused but a little worried. Standing at the door were a pair of stereotypical agents in black suits and sunglasses.

“May I help you?" Horace questioned.

 The male agent replied, “Mr. Horsecollar, we're with the agency known as S.H.U.S.H, our boss has some questions for you.”

Horace got a little suspicious, "What kind of questions?"

"Regarding an incident that occurred last night." The female agent coldly responded.

"If it's anything related to Gizmoduck, Super Goof, or even Darkwing Duck, I don't know anything. I'm just paid by your employer to clean up after the mess they leave behind.”

The male agent replied, “No sir this is a completely different matter and we need you to come with us for questioning.”

Horace nodded, texting his father about the situation and to hold down the shop until he could get there. Without warning the agents snatched Horace’s phone right out of his hands, blindfolded him with a sack over his eyes, and zip tied his hands. 

“Guys, is this really necessary!?” Horace panicked.

“Standard protocol sir, we cannot allow you to know the location of S.H.U.S.H.” Female agent sighed.

“But I know where it’s at, I’ve done maintenance work for your organization!!” Horace was flabbergasted.

“It’s nothing personal sir, just come with us.” Male agent sheepishly added, as he began to escort Horace to the van.

Horace was nervous, starting to struggle. “Look what is going on here? What am I being questioned fo-“

Female agent interrupted. “That information is classified.”

Before Horace could even speak another word and put up more of a struggle, he was sprayed with knockout gas rendering him unconscious and placed into the van.

Thirty minutes into the drive to Saint Canard, Horace finally woke up with a slight headache, the sounds of “jazzy” elevator muzak and the engine of the van that needed a major check. This day was supposed to be uneventful, dull even; just another usual day at the odd job shop. To Horace, this whole situation felt incredibly silly; for all he knew this was just an overly dramatic way to request his services. But then again he didn't even have his toolkit with him and nor did they give him a chance to retrieve it. All of this was a red flag and extremely suspicious, but for his sake he had to keep those suspicions down. He knew he couldn't ask what was happening, the agents in the van were not allowed to tell him and he didn’t want to get sprayed again. 

So for the time being, Horace was left to ponder on his situation and plan what to do when he got home.

Horace thought to himself, “This has to be another witness interrogation involving Darkwing Duck, maybe Gizmoduck, or heck even Mickey. ”

Those thoughts would slowly fade, changing into what initially felt like a dream. All Horace could see was another world frozen in ice and snow, and every person he ever knew turned to stone. Horace would try to yell for anyone but his voice would not come out. Within seconds his hands began to freeze and when he looked up all he could see were planets disappearing into pure darkness. All Horace could hear were familiar voices calling out to him for help, he tried to move but couldn’t. Just when he finally saw a monstrous hand reach out, Horace was awakened by the sudden grip of a hand on his shoulder.

“Mr. Horsecollar, we’re here.” Male agent stated, finally breaking the semi-silence.

The van stopped after what felt like hours of uncertainty and slight annoyance. Horace was escorted inside S.H.U.S.H headquarters and straight to an interrogation room. Finally the zip tie and blindfold were removed giving Horace some slight tonal whiplash.

Without another word the agents finally left the room, locking it behind them.

“Mr. Gryzlikoff will be in shortly.” A voice announced over a hidden speaker in the room.

Horace looked around inside the room, he could tell that every corner down to the bottom of the ficus tree had either a camera or a microphone. Each one monitoring his every move and word, knowing anything he said or did could instantly be used against him. For what? He didn't know. It was already bad enough Horace was on edge about this situation let alone restless from these visions that wouldn’t leave him alone. For the time being while he waited, he tried to shift his thoughts onto something a little more positive. Which unfortunately didn’t last very long as Horace began to feel dread and regret for not being able to message Clarabelle. Staring into the table, Horace’s vision became focused on his blurry reflection from the metal table. His blood ran cold at the sight of a face he had long forgotten standing right behind him with a sinister mocking stare. He turned around fast, only to see nothing was there. Just the dust that danced around the lightbulbs of the room.

Horace thought to himself, “Either I’m losing it or the sins of my past are coming back.”

The door clicked and opened, alerting Horace to look back; stepping into the room was S.H.U.S.H’s lead director Vladimir Gryzlikoff. Horace sighed, dreading this was going to be an absolutely absurd long drawn game of twenty questions.

“Welcome Mr. Horsecollar, I do hope the ride was tolerable.” Gryzlikoff greeted.

Horace responded casually, “The zip tie, blindfold, and weak knockout gas did make it tolerable enough.”

Gryzlikoff rolled his eyes, “My apologies for that, they’re new agents that need more training in protocol.”

Horace nodded, “Before we get this game of twenty questions started, I have one question of my own.”

“And what would that be Mr. Horsecollar?”

“If it’s not involving maintenance work or the ‘superheroes’ on your payroll, what am I doing here?”

Gryzlikoff lightly chuckled as he activated a projector and dimmed the lights , “I have your answer on the screen.”

The projector clicked revealing a very blurry night sky.

Gryzlikoff pointed to the flare going across the sky, “Last night at approximately 12:35 AM, Calisotan time, we received reports of an unidentified flying object seen soaring over the borders of Cape Suzette landing twenty miles south outside of Saint Canard.”

It didn’t click right away for Horace just yet, not until the second slide came into view. A photograph of a damaged spaceship, no bigger than a large Class A RV. Horace paled as he recognized the structure of the ship and the Supernova Video Store bumper sticker.

Gryzlikoff continued, “We recovered an extraterrestrial spacecraft and its pilot, pilot showed signs of minor injuries but was otherwise unharmed.”

Horace tried to remain calm though deep down he was seconds away from screaming. But was at least thankful the pilot wasn’t killed in what most certainly looked like a deadly crash.

Gryzlikoff moved on to the next slide, revealing a mugshot photo of a reef green skinned alien with what appeared to be purple hair locks and pink eyes.

“The extraterrestrial pilot has been identified as Dalv Vollin from the planet Rorschach; when questioning them, they confirmed that they were here looking for you.”

Horace remained quiet, though internally was panicking.

The slideshow ended as the lights came on. 

Horace tried to stay calm, “I’m sorry Mr. Gryzlikoff, I don’t know them nor do I know why they need me.”

Gryzlikoff immediately could see Horace wasn’t being honest, and was not going to accept this as an answer. Horace looked like a kid that got caught, but still tried to keep up the lie of not knowing Dalv. Though he really didn’t know what Dalv needed him for.

Gryzlikoff sighed, “Look they asked for you specifically by full name, Horace Felipe Horsecollar.” 

Horace thought to himself, “Too specific if you ask me.”

Gryzlikoff dropped an open box in front of Horace, making him nearly jump. Horace peeked inside, staring at the contents in nervousness. It had been a long time since he had seen these items, though at least he now had the answer as to where some missing items went.

“Horace you’re not fooling me, your expired driver’s license is in here!” Gryzlikoff raised his voice.

"Look, even if I knew Dalv Vollin, we haven't spoken in five years!” Horace snapped, tired of playing dumb.

Horace gasped and covered his mouth in absolute shock realizing what he just said.

Gryzlikoff sighed, "That's all we needed to know."

Horace sank into his chair, terrified of what they were going to do to Dalv and distraught that he would never see his own friends and loved ones again.

"Mr. Horsecollar?" Gryzlikoff looked at Horace confused.

Horace was absolutely distraught, visibly upset he blew his own cover and brought to light the existence of aliens. He was clouded by the thoughts of the entire world coming apart, all because he couldn’t keep a life impacting secret. Horace’s anxiety was amping up and his face became cold with fear.

Gryzlikoff sighed, “We’re not keeping you or Vollin prisoners, we just want to know why they’re here and why they were looking for you specifically. You can go home when it’s all said and done.”

“And what about Dalv?” Horace inquired.

“We’ll get their ship repaired and send them on their way.” Gryzlikoff assured them.

Horace nodded and started to calm down.

Gryzlikoff continued, “They told us what you did for their planet years ago, I know you tried to keep a secret but eventually it had to come out at some point even if hardly anyone believed you.”

“It’s not about if people on Earth believed me,” Horace sighed. “It was a matter of protecting Earth from threats far worse than what the usual rogue gallery has to offer.”

Gryzlikoff immediately looked at Horace listening.

Horace continued. “I also kept everything a secret to protect Rorschach from the threats of the Earth, if it’s not our people and world leaders taking advantage of their technology, economy and planet then it’ll be something far worse.”

“You have S.H.U.S.H’s guarantee that we will not let the masses know the existence of Rorschach until their leaders are ready to reveal their existence to Earth.” Gryzlikoff noted.

“Thank you.” Horace breathed a sigh of relief.

“I do have one request, if this turns out to be a call for help I would like to send two of my best agents with you?” Gryzlikoff requested.

“Fine but I also have a request, I want Dalv’s ship to be sent to my shop to be repaired, no exceptions.” Horace sternly responded.

“Anything else?” Gryzlikoff asked.

“Give me back my phone.” Horace huffed

Gryzlikoff acknowledged, “Then it’s a deal.”

Horace shook his hand, “Deal it is.”

 Gryzlikoff called for Dalv to be brought in, true to his word he ordered to have Dalv’s ship ready to be sent to Horace’s workshop. Horace meanwhile looked inside the box, pulling out a pack of playing cards. Seeing that this was gonna take a while, Horace began to make a house of cards.

Gryzlikoff noticed this, “Will you quit playing with the evidence!”

“It’s not evidence, it's a box of stuff I left on Rorschach.” Horace retorted.

Gryzlikoff rolled his eyes.

Horace continued, “Even the box says Return to Horace.”

Gryzlikoff looked at the box, noting that the box had been scribbled with some extraterrestrial text.

Horace saw the look on his face and explained, “I have a universal translator implanted in my brain thanks to Dalv.”

Gryzlikoff huffed.

The door opened wide, Horace watched as his extraterrestrial friend wheel themself into the room. He was relieved they were safe but more so nervous as to why Dalv was here in the first place. Dalv even looked at Horace like he was in trouble too.

Dalv greeted, “ Horace.”

“Dalv.” Horace spoke up.

“Look I know we haven’t talked in years but this is a serious matter.” Dalv sighed.

“Please tell me this isn’t another false prophecy.” Horace looked at them

Dalv shook their head, “Not this time, this is something far more important.”

Horace sighed, feeling something was wrong, “What happened?”

“Was an ancient beast attacking planets on your list of unfortunate events?” Dalv sheepishly asked.

Horace dropped his face into his palm, “I can safely say no but my past coming back to haunt me was.”

Dalv nodded, “I thought so.”

 Gryzlikoff quietly made the call to have the two agents come over. Dalv noticed this and looked at Horace with dismay.

Horace whispers to Dalv, “I can explain.”

Dalv whispered back feeling a bit distressed, “What is he doing!? I’m not going back to that holding cell!”

Horace took a deep breath and whispered, “Mr. Gryzlikoff made a deal with me, since this is a clear call for help, he’s sending us help.”

Dalv calmed down and nodded, relieved at the idea of getting extra help.

“[Look I made a promise, I would come back if both our planets were threatened.]” Horace spoke fluently in Dalv’s native language.

Dalv responded, “[What about the normal life you wanted?]”

Horace shook his head, “[The safety of our home worlds is of higher concern right now.]”

Before Gryzlikoff could even inform them of the agents he called , the room began to shake causing the lights to flicker and burst. The table flipped into a wall on its own, putting a dent. In the table’s place a streak of red light began to form in the middle of the floor forming a dodecagram. Horace and Dalv paled, realizing what was happening. In the center of the dodecagram a hand with sharp black claws emerged, followed by another. Soon a full demonic creature appeared before them. The demonic being was lanky with unhinged fur and a missing lower jaw. All three backed up as the demonic creature bellowed out.

The demonic creature eyed Horace and started going towards him. Dalv raised their hands forming a magical barrier.

Dalv shouted, “What do you want?”

The demonic creature roared, “Give me the champion!”

“Who sent you!?” Dalv yelled back.

The creature eyed Horace and began rushing towards him, only to be met with a swift and defensive punch from Horace. Horace shook his hand feeling a little bit of pain from punching the creature, but immediately prepared himself to fight back.

“My friend just asked you a question, who sent you!?” Horace yelled.

The creature snarled, “Master…Enidu…”

Horace and Dalv paled at the name.

Horace responded to the creature, “That’s impossible! I watched Enidu die, I saw him perish before my very own eyes!”

“Probably decided to send us an attack from the afterlife…” Dalv was trying to process the situation.

The creature continued, “Master needs the champion's blood to become whole…”

“He should’ve come here himself instead of sending someone else to do his dirty work.” Horace remarked.

The creature roar and started lunging towards them.

Gryzlikoff drew out his taser gun, Dalv pressed a few buttons on their chair summoning a pair of talismans. Horace looked at the talismans with a touch of dread.

Dalv passed one of the talismans to Horace, “It's time to come back, I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you wanted.”

Horace nodded and accepted the talisman, ”All that matters is making sure there is a home to come back to after all of this.”

Horace raised the talisman allowing it to float mere centimeters from his hand, and in no time began to glow a calming purple. Horace closed his eyes and began to levitate, all while a glowing Rorschachian marking formed on his forehead. At the wave of his hand, a beam of light emerged from the talisman, spreading apart like ribbons and began wrapping around Horace. Magic began to course through him, transforming his civilian clothing into Rorschachian armor like paintbrush strokes on a blank canvas. The beam vanished revealing Horace in his new suit, gloves, cape and boots all colored in various shades of black and purple. His plow collar changed color to match his new look while the talisman magically fused itself within the plow collar. Horace opened his eyes gazing upon his armor and took a deep breath having admittedly missed this.

The creature leaped towards Horace, ready to tear him apart. Horace raised his hand forming an energy shield to protect Dalv, Gryzlikoff, and himself. However when the creature struck the energy shield, it caused a powerful blast that sent both it and Horace flying back in opposite directions. The creature was knocked down to the ground, while Horace smashed into a wall.

Dalv and Gryzlikoff looked on in horror.

Horace got back up dazed and brushed the debris off of him.

“Guess I’ve been out of practice for a while.” Horace sheepishly chuckled.

 The creature got back up and once again made a run towards Horace.

“Let’s see if I can remember doing this, I hope I can.” Horace muttered.

Horace waved his arm and from his hand sparked purple flames that engulfed his arm, and from those flames came a sword made of space steel and glowing crystal.

“He can still summon the sword of Rorschach, oh he’sdefinitely back!!” Dalv thought to themself, doing their best not to geek out.

Horace looked at the sword and smiled, “Yup, still got it!”

The creature pounced on Horace and began trying to attack him, Horace reacted quickly by deflecting the creature with his energy shield. Thankfully it gave Horace some time to strike back with the sword, causing the creature to shriek. Dalv’s eyes glowed a bright magenta giving them a chance to detect the creature’s weakness. A marking on the creature shined brightly indicating the weak spot.

Dalv shouted, “Horace, the marking on the forehead!” 

Horace responded quickly by leaping up to the table and soon leaping up towards the creature. He raised the sword aiming for the creature’s forehead, the creature instead grabbed Horace and pinned him to the wall. The force of the slam caused Horace to nearly drop the sword. Gryzlikoff saw his opportunity and fired his taser gun, the barbs hitting the side of the creature and shocking him. Horace smirked seeing his chance and raised the sword, plunging the sword's blade deep into the forehead. The creature fell to the floor letting go of Horace, its body began to disintegrate , crumbling to ash and bone fragments as the marking faded out.

The remaining three in the room breathed a sigh of relief that the fight was over. Horace and Dalv however were left grasping the concept that this was just the beginning of something far more serious.

“Obviously more are on the way.” Horace stated.

Dalv rolled their eyes and nodded, “Obviously Enidu won’t rest, till we’re roasting in the rivers of hell.”

“Of course.” Horace also rolled his eyes.

 Dalv waved their hands causing the room to magically restore and repair itself as if nothing happened.

Gryzlikoff noticed this, “You could’ve repaired your own ship with that ability!?”

“It’s possible but certain parts can’t be replaced with just magic alone.” Dalv responded.

The door opened as two agents, a rabbit and a cat both dawning black and white suits, stepped in.

Horace was absolutely slack jawed.

Dalv whispered to Horace, “[Know them?]" 

Horace nodded, whispering back, “[They're my friends, Oswald and Ortensia.]" 

Dalv nodded.

Gryzlikoff proudly introduced them, “These are my top agents, Agent 27 and Agent 28." 

Oswald and Ortensia stood proud, not wanting to blow their own cover. Horace also remained quiet, internally however he was freaking out.

“We look forward to working with Mr. Horsecollar and Mx.Vollin.” Oswald shook their hands acting nonchalantly professional.

Horace played along, gritting his teeth, “Please Mr. Horsecollar is too formal, Horace will do, Agent 27.”

Oswald gritted his teeth with a smile, feeling as though that was pushing it, “Oswald will do just fine.”

Gryzlikoff felt proud that no push back had occurred as he was used to butting heads with Oswald.

“Now then, catch us up on what the situation is.” Ortensia smiled, excited to be on board.

“Gladly.” Dalv replied, pulling out their hologram data pad.