Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey June? A-are you alright?” The voice sounded distant and faded, but June Del Toro recognized it was Jack Sullivan’s voice. She tried to reply but she instantly froze up, she collapsed onto her knees as images flashed through her mind suddenly, the scenes were not what she had seen or experienced, but she sensed that they seemed so… familiar…

It felt like some sort of strange replay, as if she was watching a movie flashing by fast at whatever speed as the images flicker. 

She felt someone shaking her while speaking in a stern but shaky voice “June!” It was from Dirk 

Savage, and she looked up at her friends gathered around her with all concerned faces but they all looked… different, they didn’t look like what she saw a few minutes ago.

“Wait friends! Look at her eyes!” Quint Baker exclaimed, sounding a bit disturbed “They weren’t  blue and purple before!” 

June glanced at Quint, who looked much older with much more gadgets and weapons then she had seen someone carry before, same with Dirk except he looked more intimidating with a scar  across his arms. She took a long gaze at Jack, who seemed to be the most different then what she remembered.

Jack had a huge strange glove that engulfed his whole arm and seemed to be made out of a rough monster tentacle as it pulses with weird power she suddenly senses, but her heart skipped a beat as she looked at his face… he had a huge slash across his face from the top of his deep blue eye to his neck.

June couldn’t bear seeing them like this, she looked down at her own arms. She shivered at the disturbing look of her right arm, it wasn’t normal either, it seemed to be replaced by a weird flowing blue energy taking the shape of her arm as wisps of it floated off of her forearm. 

She closed her eyes as the images came back, becoming more clear and a bit more disturbing but it feels like she experienced these strange memories before…

“June! Please say something!” she gazed back to Jack Sullivan, who looked as if he was back to his normal look. She looked around again, Quint and Dirk were back to normal too, and even the surroundings were back to what it was a handful of minutes ago. The giant monster Blarg carcass is still in front of the slightly damaged treehouse with Jack’s broken baseball bat still stuck in its forehead.

Her head felt dizzy and her eyesight became fuzzy, shortly after that she shut her eyes and passed out right after that.

.    [Time-Skip]   .

That was only the first time she experienced the incident, and it only got a little bit worse after that. From the information her friends gave her, her eyes would turn fully blue and purple for a moment or two before going back to normal right before she loses consciousness for a short amount of time. Each weird ‘Flashback’ incident added more chunks of memory that gets embedded into June’s mind that she assumes that it is some sort of vision or possibility that could have happened if she didn’t make certain choices, but she was never sure, she doesn’t know how to really explain it to the others without them worrying to much now that they have to deal with Rezzoch and even more villains.

June woke up to a very concerned Jack at her side, “It happened again right?” She said shakily as her head was still slightly buzzing. Jack nodded and helped her back up “are you sure you don’t want Yursl to check it out?” June looked away from him and back at the Fortress in the horizon “No, we have already gotten enough on our plates with the monster Apocalypse being all dangerous and world threatening” She sighed.

Ever since Quint and Dirk disappeared after the battle with Thrull a week ago, June and Jack have continued in their search of the monster Fortress, but now that they have found it, they really don’t know what to do next. If Quint was here he would come up with a foolproof and successful plan to invade the Fortress and stop Thrull’s plans to summon Rezzoch the Ancient Destructor of Worlds and all that. And Dirk would help drag them out of dangerous trouble when needed. Without their friends, they now feel a bit lost and worry where they could be right now.

June sat down at the edge of the billboard platform, where she and Jack have been watching the fortress for any scraps of information they may need to form a plan to get inside and wreak havoc. But with the lack of action and adventure, they have done many other things to pass the time, like playing some Lego Marvel or tag, but usually they would be chatting about a random topic, but June has usually avoided the discussion of her weird ‘Flashback attack’ incidents as Jack dubbed it.

Jack sat beside June, but still gave her some space, “You can’t keep all your worries bottled up, I’ve already learned that. Don't you want to talk about it?” he asks and jolts back as June glares at him. “I’ve already told you Sullivan, there are more important things to discuss other than my worries” She looked away from him and felt tears well up in her eyes, from feeling guilty for worrying Jack.

Jack scooted closer to her and threw his arm over her shoulder, trying to calm her down “if you can’t talk about it, why not write it down, you are a journalist in case you have forgotten” he gave her a goofy grin. June doesn’t want to really admit it, but she does feel much more relaxed and comfortable whenever Jack is nearby, he always tries his best to make the situation better in any way he can even though he doesn’t know what he is doing most of the time. As she looked back up to him, he took his hand off her shoulder and the two teens slightly blushed as Jack realised what he was doing and gave June some space again. 

She paused, thinking about his suggestion, before moving closer to Jack and throwing her arms around him “that is a good idea Jack, I’m sorry, It’s just a bit hard for me to share some things I’ve seen” she apologized softly. Jack pulled away from her and got up “I can go get a notebook and some pens, be right back” he swiftly started to leave, but June caught up to him “I would like to come too, maybe the Fortress is messing with my head a bit.. I’ll take a break” she smiled. 

After a short while, they were back at the billboard, Jack using his binoculars to find small details about the Fortress while June sits in her beanbag chair writing her ‘Flashbacks’ down. Jack would occasionally and obnoxiously sneak over and glance at whatever she was writing but always failed and laughed it off. She is starting to think that his lame efforts are just to make her laugh and feel better, and it is working to her surprise. Although writing some things down made her shiver, as to her realization it was a version of herself if she didn’t make certain choices when the apocalypse started, but she keeps writing. Scribbling all of the visions and strange memories so far made her ease up a little bit, and it does make a good story despite her not wanting to share it.

Chapter Text

It started since Jack and June were talking on the school rooftop, with Jack trying to convince June to come to the treehouse. “Jack, I’ve already told you-” she started before being cut off by an excited Jack “There is a zipline, video games, an- and we even have a monster dog!” June grabbed him by the shoulders to get his attention “I have to wait for my parents to find me Jack, they know I will be here. I’m sorry, but I have to refuse” Jack stuttered, trying to find some other way to convince her, until he decided to make the wrong move by leaning close and kissing her.

June pulled back in disgust and pushed him away, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??” she exclaimed, being extremely confused and uncomfortable about his action. Jack blushed in embarrassment “I-” he started before June interrupted “This isn’t some game Jack, you, Quint, and Dirk will leave first thing in the morning otherwise I will force you out with my spear, do you understand Sullivan?” she spoke in a harsh and low tone, scaring Jack as some tears welled up in his eyes and dashed back into the school as June stayed on the rooftop.

Her eyes started to well up with tears too, but she wiped them off quickly. She may have regretted denying Jack’s offer, she had been quite alone and afraid since the apocalypse started. Since Jack and the two other boys barged into the school and found her, they made her laugh again with their stupid games and antics, but she knew she had to stay here. It was the only safe place she knew, and her parents saw her in this building so they would soon search for her when they could. 

June grabbed a tennis ball from a bin and hurled it at the shambling zombies below as her thoughts and tears flowed. She didn’t need to be in some silly romance or hang out with those boys, she had to stay right here for her parents no matter how agonizingly long it takes. Or… she could look for them.

She gazed at the view of the town, squinting her eyes as the golden glow from the sunrise appeared. She knew her parents weren’t in Wakefield anymore, she had to make a hard choice to leave and explore the unknown of what lies outside the familiar area, and if she had to do that to find her parents…. She would easily make this tough decision, but she was still unsure. Wait for her parents here in this lonely school with the boys probably coming by to annoy her or explore the dangerous outside world to search for them?

June wiped the dried tears off of her face before heading back down into the school and heading to the classroom where the boys and her stuff were located. She slowly opened the door, ready for the boys to question her about her reason for staying alone but was greeted by their silence. The boys were peering through the window mumbling something until Dirk noticed June was behind them. “We may have a problem we brought along with us” He declared softly. June rolled her eyes “What? Some extra zombies show up or- WHAT IS THAT?!” She shoved Jack aside as she saw the shape of a giant monster outside the window, slowly stomping towards the school. 

Quint quickly explains the ‘Blarg’ situation as June gets more concerned. “I-If he comes here, he will surely tear this place apart! We will have to leave quickly, including you June!” Quint exclaimed as he took another worrying glance through the window. June frowned at his suggestion “I told you guys, I’m not going with you”. Jack glared at her and opened his mouth to argue, but was immediately interrupted by Dirk screaming “GET DOWN!” as massive talons swiped the ceiling right off and large chunks of rubble began raining down.

It’s too late to continue thinking about her options, June has to make the tough choice in only a matter of moments. The monster (now called ‘Blarg’) arrived at the school with an alarming sudden speed, and is currently gazing down at the teens now that the roof is gone, it focused on Jack and a large roar escaped from its gigantic maw. June noticed the monster’s glare was completely on Jack, as if it wanted to specifically kill him for some reason, “Why is it looking at you Jack?!” she exclaimed. Jack sheepishly states “I stabbed him in the forehead, h-he’s been hunting me” and shrugs as the others facepalm at his idiotic explanation.

Blarg roars again and starts swiping off chunks of the school walls with massive strength. June has to leave now, without the boys. This was their situation, she doesn’t need to be dragged into this problem, she has to tackle her own. She swiftly grabbed her backpack and spear but stopped at the doorframe to look at the boys “This is your problem, not mine, Goodbye” she declared slightly harshly. She locked eyes with Jack who looked so surprised, and yet also distraught and it made her stomach twist with guilt, “Good luck Jack” she said quickly before making her swift departure through the hallways and out the back of the school.

She kept sprinting away from the school, not glancing back at the rumbling chaos behind her as Blarg continued to tear through the school. She ran faster, dashing through the zombie infested streets and demolished structures. Eventually she reached the outside of town and paused to regain her breath and her thoughts back on track. She had to leave for her parents, although it was not right to leave the boys in a desperate and deadly situation, she had already made the choice to leave them and Wakefield behind and that was final. 

June sat atop of an abandoned truck, taking one long last view of Wakefield before she would leave this place to search for her parents. It was still morning, with the golden rays of the still rising sun reflecting off of the strange vines and familiar buildings blinding her eyes as they adjusted. She couldn’t see the school anymore, now it was a massive pile of rubble and debris like most of town, Blarg had mysteriously disappeared too or was out of her sight she guessed. She wondered for a second about what might have happened to the boys, but she shook off the thoughts and continued to gaze at Wakefield.

She heard shuffling and quickly turned around and readied her spear. After a few minutes she came to the conclusion that it might have been a zombie and continued to relax. That was a huge mistake. Suddenly there was a gag around her mouth and her arms were tied up before being swiftly shoved into a large bag. She saw for a moment who the attackers were, they were monsters but they looked somewhat human and spoke in a strange language that sounded like gibberish to her. All she could recognise in english was “Rifter boss” and that was it. 

After many hours of being in the bag and listening to what she could hear, she was suddenly dumped out and her gag was removed. Her hands were still bound behind her back, so she couldn’t reach her stuff that was right next to her. June looked at her surroundings, it was a large yet cluttered room full of arcade machines stacked atop each other in piles and some other knicknacks here and there, display cases and frames covering the walls and shelves. Not only was the room full of random items, but also with the strange humanoid monsters, all equipped with armor and strange weapons.

“Soo, this is an alive human? This dimension sure has weird creatures” said a heavily armored monster in a bored tone. “Ryyk- er boss, we thought you would like a creature from this dimension to add to your- fascinating- collection of strange knicknacks, alive humans are much rare compared to the undead” a tall monster piped up from the other side of the room. The heavily armored monster (Which June assumed is Ryyk) replied in a agitated tone “No, I don’t want this alive human in my collection, looks too similar to the undead version, throw her in a cage to rot I guess, I don’t care” he flicked his hand to a group of monsters and they dragged June out of the room, she was still too confused about what was happening to even speak.

June was jammed into a small cage right outside the building which she recognised as “Chaz & Slammers” an old yet famous arcade structure that has quite a lot of locations. It was a barren field of dirt with some patches of grass dotting the landscape and a line of trees in the horizon as she could see from between the thick metal bars. The tall monster from before stood right at the entrance, fiddling with a rubik’s cube before getting frustrated and crushing it against the wall to reassemble it. June hoped to get at least some information about what the heck just happened and what even is this place these strange monsters transformed this place into.

She tossed a small pebble she found at the bottom of the cage at the monster’s head and it bounced off his helmet, he continued to try reassembling the rubik’s cube “What do you want?” he asked in an angered tone. “Do you mind answering a few questions?” June asked and the monster nodded but was still focused on the cube. “What is this place?” She continued to look at the building as the monster answered “Rifter base, we simply collect what Ryyk wants since he is old boss and we respect him”. June continued asking “What are Rifters?” and the tall monster answered again, “We used to be a feared group of scavengers and pillagers, now we are scattered around the place and follow whoever has highest power” he shrugged “No more questions”. 

June noticed the tall monster has been struggling to piece back together the rubik’s cube since the start of the conversation. “Would you like some help with that? Humans like me can put that back together quickly with these hands” she offered and the monster walked over and untied her hands and gave her the disassembled pieces. She swiftly put it all back together and gave it back to the monster who went back to the entrance of the building to continue trying to solve it. Her hands were now free as the monster had forgotten to tie her hands back together.

She silently picked the lock without the tall monster noticing, it was easy since his attention was fully on the cube. June left and silently ran to the trees in the distance, to find some cover in case the Rifters noticed she escaped, although it seemed like they didn’t really care. It was already sundown and the night was coming quickly. June stayed in the line of trees, glancing in the direction of the Rifter base every now and then to see if any scouts were sent out.

After taking a few more cautious glances June relaxed a bit, leaning against a large and rough tree. She was out of another weird situation, and now was again unsure what action to do next, get her stuff and spear back and risk getting captured again or continue walking aimlessly without supplies? She groaned in frustration and furrowed her brows “Ugh why does the stupid apocalypse have to be so complex and in disarray..” she complained to herself. She did have to continue searching for her parents, that was the main goal taking up most of her mind, except it seemed impossible to find her family let alone other humans without running into trouble.

Her trail of thoughts and frustration were put to a halt as an ear-piercing shriek erupted from the tree. She jumped back in surprise from the sudden and alarming noise, but as soon as it happened it stopped but was replaced with a loud WHOOSH as bright blue energy and wisps of cold were drawn to the tree. What June thought was a tree wasn’t really normal, it looked as if it was rotten and jagged, with a large split in the center but the two top branches form an arch above making it look like some sort of strange doorway. The energy continued swirling into the gap in the strange tree, before taking up the whole doorway gap in a strange swirl of blues and purples. 

Even though she was standing a handful of feet away June felt the extreme cold emanating from the strange tree doorway, but it also felt like it was beckoning to her to come closer. She considered it was a stupid idea to get closer to the possibly-dangerous-weird-tree-thing but she had a strong drive to investigate this strange energy. She cautiously stepped closer, reaching her right hand towards the doorway, right before her hand was close to touching the strange energy she pulled her hand slightly away, but the swirling energy seemed to lunge at her arm, and it yanked her closer to the doorway.

June screamed in agony as pain shot up from her right arm, now engulfed by the energy doorway. She felt that she was being pulled in by her arm, and now was desperately trying to yank her painful arm out of the energy doorway. After a few hard tugs she freed her arm, tumbling backwards away from the large tree. 

She quickly recovered and got back up, but fell on her knees because of the unbearable pain in her arm. She looked at it to only find her right forearm isn’t even there anymore. She couldn't bear to look at it so she reluctantly looked back at the tree, and saw the energy from the doorway was reaching towards her again. June wanted to run, but her legs were frozen in place, and she couldn't even move at all. The energy was drawn to her missing arm and it seemed to take shape of her arm and the pain subsided.

June was still frozen, not really able to process what had happened so suddenly. The pain still in her arm wasn’t helpful, even though now it seems as if the blue energy has replaced it. She took a moment to examine it, taking her time as she felt the pain fading. June saw it did take the solid shape of her missing forearm, but it was dimly glowing in the dark night with wisps of blue and purple slowly drifting off of it. She felt a surge of power from it when the pain subsided, her arm felt powerful and strong and somehow full of magic just itching to be released. 

She thought of her spear for a moment and all of a sudden she felt some pain in her arm and she winced. Her energy hand glowed and a spear that looked like hers was conjured out of thin air right next to her, it seemed to be made out of the energy but it was solid as she picked it up. This newfound power was strange. June knew that, but with this power…. It would be able to help her find her parents, but first she needed something back from those Rifters, her supplies. A small grin grew on June’s face, she now knew exactly what to do and how, and why not some revenge too?

Chapter Text

June sat on the grimly decorated throne in her office room, it was quite spacious since she chucked out all of Ryyk’s useless items and weird collectables. The room was quite large and tall with it being about the similar shape of a football field with the ceiling being about 60 feet high she guessed awhile ago. The throne had neat but slightly cracked stairs leading up to it and discarded spears and spikes behind and to the side of the throne with her enemies and traitor’s skulls impaled on some of the pointed weapons that did emit a foul odor but June had gotten used to it.

She looked through some of the recent reports with her normal left hand, her strange energy arm concealed in her half cape since she still slightly despised looking at it for its strange presence. June frowned at the monster reports, it seems as if the Rezzoch resistance has been gaining power and as the reports say that a certain group is gaining interest in the massive Rifter base.

She chuckled to herself. Ever since she took over the base and killed Ryyk around 4 or 5 years ago, the base has been massively improved in her image. It was built more like a city within defensive walls instead of a dinky building in the middle of nowhere. Her office was in the center of the base of course, with another thin wall of weapons ready for any invader daring to attack her along with the addition of trusted Rifter soldiers in case things get out of hand. The main walls that surround the Rifter base are more like a maze, on the outside of the walls there were ballistas and catapults ready to demolish any army. If somehow any invader had gotten past those outer defences, there are massive axes and hammers that are waiting to swing when activated in the gateways. The inner gateway leading into the base is in the back, so the invaders would have to walk around the inner wall to the second gateway facing the front of the Rifter base where a defensive squad will be stationed and ready to finish off any creature who somehow got through.

June had also decided not to share her real name with the Rifters when she became the leader, so she claimed her name was “Rift” when they demanded what they should call her. It did match her current strange energy arm powers where she could summon weapons, ice, and with some practice she could move objects and monsters. But whenever she activates the powers within the energy arm (depending on how intense the summoning is or how much of the energy she uses) it would cause intense pain. And to hide that weakness from her peers, June had grabbed a white mask that was decorated with blue streaks surrounding the eyeholes and long curved horns above.

The rest of June’s outfit was typical leather armor with some scale plates on her shoulders, but she still had her red jacket tied around her waist since she wanted to keep something from before the apocalypse with her. With the armor, mask, half cape, and her strange arm, it was hard to identify her as a weak human and it did make her appear more menacing.

She tossed out the reports that weren’t that important or serious like sales in the shopping chunk of the base or prisoners that escaped (and didn’t survive) to a short monster below whose job was to throw away or archive the reports June tosses out. The final report was one that piqued her interest, about numerous sights of a small trio of humans nearby. As June was about to read the information below the headline as tall Rifter bursted in with some interesting news.

“Boss Rift! My squad has gathered humans from outside the walls!” The tall Rifter reported. June’s eyebrows shot up and she froze as her thoughts ran along her mind, other humans?! This close to the base? After all these years they could be my parents or at least people with the location of other groups! She shook her head and commanded the Rifter “Thank you sir, please bring them here and after that take a break, as a thanks for your achievement” Her voice sounded a bit robotic, without much emotion but her heart was slamming around her ribs in excitement at the thought of seeing other humans after these years. The tall Rifter bowed and swiftly ran off, obeying her orders.

June is confident that her subjects and soldiers obey her, although the first 2 years she did rule through fear as she used her energy arm as an enforcement of their loyalty, but nowadays she has earned their respect even though there are some members that fear her. June had tried her best to appease the Rifter community and continue gaining their trust so they are more willing to follow her orders and less likely to betray her, although that doesn’t mean that no one has tried (and failed to) sabotage her in the years she ruled.

She heard a little scuffle outside the doors of her office, but she still waited patiently for the Rifters to bring in the human newcomers, as the door opened she flinched as the Rifters tossed them in and slammed the doors, she might have forgotten to tell him to treat them nicely as she doesn’t want to appear as an enemy to any other human despite aiding the servants of Rezzoch.

There were 3 boys who all looked to be around 17 or 18 which was close to her own age, one was large and bulky and had a massive scar on both his arms with a massive sword strapped to his back and looked a bit tan as if he has been outside for quite awhile with a blonde fluffy mohawk, another was skinny but had all these gadgets and a few belts filled with flasks and knicknacks that were all colorful against his dark face and curly dark brown hair, and the last one seemed strangely familiar, he was pale, but muscular and thin with short jet-black hair and deep blue eyes, he wore a worn dark blue jacket with a black shirt and jeans, and rad glowing sneakers that looked a bit goofy compared to the other’s boots. The boys looked dazed and confused and quite tense, which June didn’t find that surprising since she doesn’t know if the Rifters treated them nicely or not.

The Rifter soldier by the door ushered them forward towards her throne, and the 3 boy’s eyes were all locked onto her as they approached. But her eyes stayed focused on the 3rd one’s right arm which looked like a gnarly octopus hand which she found strange for a human even though she has a weird arm herself but it is hidden in her cloak instead of obviously exposed. As they were about to walk up the stairs leading up to her throne seat the two Rifters held out their spears to stop them.

“That is as close as you may go, may I ask for your names?” She tried to sound calm and cool, despite a large smile on her face growing, but she knew no one could see it with her mask on. Even though none of these boys were who she was looking for, she was still glad that at least they were other humans. The boy with a lot of gadgets answered “I don’t think we came here for a conversation, but we came here for information as we have heard someone named Rift could help us in this area” he states clearly but not really confidently. June frowned, “Well, what you have heard is correct, I can help you. But first I would like to know your names”. The boys looked at each other as the guards’ attention loomed onto them as the conversation got interesting. Any speaking with June was usually short and clear, but hardly ever long and stubborn.

The blonde bulky boy rolled his eyes at the others and spoke up “Name’s Dirk Savage, short nerd here is Quint Baker, and he is-” June (not meaning to) gasped loudly as she recognised the boys, they were the ones who tried to invite her to the treehouse when she stayed at the school, and the ones she abandoned because they dragged a monster to her hideout about 5 years ago. All eyes stared at her in confusion and she felt a few beads of nervous sweat on her face. “My apologies, continue please Dirk Savage” her voice had some nervous tension in it but to her luck no one really noticed it. Dirk nodded but was interrupted by the last boy, “My name is Jack Sullivan, now can we please negotiate some information?” Jack exclaimed impatiently and gazed at June, looking at every detail of her mask as if he was trying to read her expression.

June held back another annoyed sigh freaking Jack Sullivan, why is he here? “What exactly do you need?” she said with an annoyed tone. Quint spoke again this time “We are looking for the location of the tower, the construct Thrull is creating to summon Rezzoch” June’s eyes widened, Why in the whole freaking messed up world would they ask for that kind of information? Do they have a death wish to interfere with Thrull’s plans?? She was a bit concerned, even though she didn’t really like the boys, they were still other humans and she didn’t want them to die either. Jack elbowed Quint but the dark kid glared at him so Jack spoke up again “I- er- We are also looking for another human named June Del Toro, if you don’t know where she is that’s fine” he looked serious, but also a bit embarrassed to ask.

June glared at them through the mask, but she grinned at their dumb request “Well I can’t really give you the first chunk of information you asked for, but as for you second question, I’m right here you idiots” She removed her mask with her energy arm, and the 2 boys gasped while Jack’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth hanged open. She wasn’t exactly surprised at their reaction, since what she had done to them in the past and her face looks a bit different too. Her wavy brown hair was slightly longer and pulled back in a low ponytail, and there were small scars on her face that weren’t really noticeable unless they looked closely. Her eyes don’t have a soft expression anymore, she seemed to have a blank, but slightly furious and calm amber eyes. But June noticed that Jack was staring at her energy arm, then back at his own gnarly arm and then back to staring into her eyes again.

The Rifter soldiers in the room exchanged glances, all murmuring to each other in confusion, but all June heard was that they thought her name was Rift, not June. She waved her energy arm to the guards “You are all dismissed, you may ask me any questions later but I have to deal with personal matters now” The Rifter soldiers' faces relaxed and they left the room reluctantly. Their job is to make sure nothing gets out of hand or anyone tries to attack their leader. But June knows the boys won’t likely fight her, and even if they did she is confident she will handle it.

The boys were silent, clearly too stunned to speak so June resumed the conversation “I know you are surprised that I’m still alive” she chuckled again “And so am I. I thought you doofuses died to Blarg almost 5 years ago” her smile faded as she realised how wrong that sounds now. She forces her expression to be blank but her eye twitches as she feels her stomach twist in guilt and sudden regret she hadn’t felt in awhile. Jack broke eye contact and looked down, June couldn’t read his expression but his friends stepped in front of him slightly defensively. “We didn’t exactly come to see if you are alive, but thank you for that, but about the information on the tower perhaps-” Quint started but she cut him off with sudden concern in her voice “No, I don’t want you guys to interfere with Thrull’s plans, he can be quite… gruesome and I don’t want to put you idiots or myself in danger-” she bit her own tongue to stop herself from continuing and showing much emotion to the boys.

The boys were taken aback by her sudden concern, the last time they had seen her she was the opposite, she had abandoned them with little to no emotion, but now she seems to show some regret? Quint squinted, thinking what else to say and continued “I can assure you we are quite capable and we have our own monsters to help us, we could strike a trade perhaps, for the information of the tower we could give you something in return?” June’s face morphed into frustration as she stood up and exclaimed “I already said NO. What is it with you boys and your thick skulls? I don’t want Thrull to kill me or the Rifters just because I gave you a piece of information that could ruin the truce!” She glared at the boys below as they looked defeated.

The door slammed open, and a huge monster was standing in the doorway. June immediately recognised it was Thrull and she quickly put on her mask again as his attention was turned to the boys, and the boys glared back at him and readied their weapons. Thrull’s voice boomed throughout the large office “Why are these meddling boys inside your base Rift?”. June was about to answer until the boys started charging at Thrull and a fight started breaking out. After a moment of watching the scuffle she ran down the stairs and her energy arm pulsed with power as she summoned a giant axe and slammed it between the fighting individuals, Thrull on one side and the boys on the other. Pain seared through her arm, and she shoved it back into her half-cloak. Her mask hid the pain showing up on her face but the boys still looked at her in fear, but not exactly fear of her, but more like concern. The axe disappeared and Thrull’s menacing gaze glared at June.

“If you don’t punish them, the truce is off! I promised supplies to your base in exchange for information and aid to Rezzoch's servants, and yet you allowed these boys here?!” he bellowed. She could clearly tell the boys had some serious beef with Thrull, but she didn’t want the Rifters or her to die, but strangely she also wants the boys to stay and she doesn’t want to get them hurt again. “I will deal with them Thrull, you can continue scavenging the reports in the archives as usual, there are quite a lot of reports about Ghazt and the rebellion’s whereabouts and sightings sir” June replied. Thrull took one final glare at the boys before leaving the office room.

The boys turned to June, worry and hints of fear on their faces again as she can see from the corner of her eyesight. “Follow me boys” her voice wavered but she was trying to hide her emotions as best she could. She waved her arm and started walking, hoping for them to follow right behind her but they weren’t unsurprisingly. June turned around at the door and saw that Jack was right behind her and reaching out for her energy arm with his normal hand. Her eyes widened at his sudden action and moved her arm out of the way moments before he could grab it. But Jack clumsily lost his balance and grabbed June’s cloak and pulled her down with him, causing June to land on top of him, they both said “oof” in sync as they hit the ground.

She could hear both the boys facepalming and Dirk muttering “impulsive idiot” as they approached to help them up. Jack and June were still on the floor facing each other and June’s eyebrows furrowed in slight anger but a hint of pink dusted her freckled cheeks ugh what a weird as hell way to land on someone. Jack looked embarrassed, with a light tone of pink spreading across his face too. He squirmed beneath her to try and get back up as June continued glaring at him “stop squirming, you got my cape all tangled up Sullivan” Jack reluctantly obeyed as June started untangling her cape from him. Dirk and Quint reached down to help them but June snapped at Dirk as he almost accidentally touched her energy arm “If you touch my messed up arm it will leave a nasty injury or even kill you” the two boys back away as June finished untangling her cape from Jack and stood up to brush herself off.
(idiots in love lol teehee)
June held out her normal hand to help Jack up, which she surprised herself because she didn’t hesitate to help him strangely. Jack paused for a moment with some confusion on his face but grabbed her normal hand and her mask that fell on the ground before getting back up. Quint and Dirk continue watching the whole thing, but they seem tense as they don’t know if June is going to lash out or not because her face seemed to show some frustration and anger (which was actually her resting face or when she is trying to hide her other emotions). June reached for the mask with her energy hand but Jack held it out of her reach. She felt like she was about to laugh but immediately stopped the feeling and glared menacingly at him, Jack dropped the mask and June caught it with her energy hand and swiftly put it back on her face.

“I’ll imagine nothing ever happened, we can ignore this, right now I need you guys to follow me otherwise Thrull will find out I’m taking way too long to punish you and he’ll kill all of us” she declared harshly to the 3 boys. She continued to walk but was yanked back by Jack’s strange hand, he kept holding onto her normal hand with his gnarly octopus hand since he grabbed her hand to help him up. She didn’t turn back at the boys, but spoke again a bit softly “Release me dork”. “I’m trying to, the cosmic hand was a Scrapken tentacle so it's like an octopus hand” he replied sheepishly. June sighed sharply before using her energy arm’s powers to pick Jack Sullivan off the ground, and his cosmic hand released immediately and she placed him back down. Searing pain shot through her arm and beads of tears flowed down her face, dripping out of the bottom of her mask. She was good at hiding her pain but her face and tears were a dead giveaway still, and the boys noticed it.

June interrupted them before they could speak “Yes it hurts to use my powers, and that is enough about me, and No, I cannot let you go scot-free otherwise Thrull will notice, outside of my office he has his army in every nook and cranny. I-” she cut herself off, and motioned her arm for the boys to follow and they finally did, she led them towards the walls through a path that was hidden to most Rifter citizens so they wouldn’t stare at her or the boys to make things more awkward. Jack walked right beside her the whole time, sneaking a few glances at her every now and then, she doesn’t know why he keeps checking her, is he just trying to find any other signs of emotions from her, take notes about her energy arm, or is he just concerned? June is a bit confused at his actions but that doesn’t really matter right to her right now.

She knows the punishment may kill them, the defences within the walls have killed almost every intruder. So she is trying her best to not care about them despite regret and guilt still twisting her stomach and her heart feels way too heavy as she knows she is sending these boys to their death again. Ever since she left Wakefield she never had any contact with other humans, and when she took over the base she was hoping for reports on other human’s whereabouts to possibly find her parents. But the report on the boys earlier that day was the first info about other humans she has ever gotten in nearly 5 years. She won’t admit that their presence was nice, even though they definitely weren’t the people she was looking for, they made her feel relieved since they were still alive.

But now, June might have to get them killed for her own safety and to protect the community she has built.

As they arrived at the gateway, June shoved them inside the gate and closed it. Tears started to trickle down her face, she knows she will regret this decision, but hopes they will still be alive even though they may hate her. Quint and Dirk shouted in protest at June, cursing at her and banging into the walls to try and break it for whatever reason in an attempt to escape. Jack held onto the bars and stared into June’s eyes again, his deep blue eyes full of fear but also still concern and… sorrow? June stepped towards the lever to activate the defences and paused, her heart was slamming in her ribs again telling her not to get them killed but her mind says make the right choice so herself and the Rifters are safe from Thrull’s wrath. She turned to Jack, who was still watching her, and took off her mask to show her tearful face, hoping to show him that she will regret this decision and not be mad at her if he lives.

June leaned closer to Jack, “I’m sorry for this- but stick to the right side of the walls, that way you can see where the defences and traps are” she quickly said some advice to him softly so no one else around her hears other than Jack. Tears started to well up in his deep blue eyes, and he seemed conflicted and still confused, June’s face was still covered in streaks of tears, not from the pain of using her energy hand earlier but also from the guilt of hurting the boys before and hurting them now. She stepped back to the lever and pulled it down, the walls hummed with electrical energy as the traps activated and came alive and ready to dismember anyone inside the defences. She couldn’t speak, she felt like she would break down in tears if she did, so she mouthed “good luck” to the boys as she put her mask back on and disappeared back into the pathway leading back to her office as screams erupted from the walls and echoed throughout the base.

It was the next morning

June still hasn’t really gotten over the events of yesterday, tears seeped out of her amber eyes as any thought of the boys came back into her mind. She was filing through reports again, hoping to find any information about the boys if they escaped or not. She tossed the reports down where the short Rifter was stationed to collect the papers and put them in the archive. But after a moment June waited to hear the shuffling of taloned feet as the short Rifter would gather the papers, but that didn’t happen. June looked down and peeked around her throne, no one was here except for her strangely. The Rifters that would normally be stationed in her office all day to protect her, but not a single guard was in the room.

It was quite strange… but June didn’t exactly worry since she was still somewhat confident she could tackle most enemies and problems. Something out of the ordinary in the Rifter base was weird though, and June did take note of that. She stepped down from her throne to collect the papers when she found another weird detail.

All the reports were the same monster sightings as yesterday, they even had the same day marked on the corner, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration and she impaled the stack of papers on one of the spears beside the stairs leading to her throne. Something is going on and June feels like solving it, but in her current emotional state would be a disadvantage. She still felt constant regret of yesterday’s actions, and her heart still felt heavy from the memories and any thought of the boys, especially remembering Jack she felt the most guilt.

June shook her head, trying to break her chain of thoughts and to shake off a few tears. She headed towards the door but when she got to it she hesitated. She knows that if any of the Rifters either a citizen or soldier, find something fishy, they would report it to her, not the other way around. She reluctantly went back to her throne, not exactly sure what was happening or what to really do. Right as she sat back down she noticed someone right in front of the door. He must have gotten in somehow or opened the doors quickly and quietly. She squinted at him, trying to identify who he was in the dim morning light peeking through the windows that line her office. Just as she stood up to say something, the figure came running towards her and she panicked. She started to raise her energy arm to summon spears to prevent the intruder from getting any closer to her but it was too late as the figure was now running up the stairs and still advancing towards her.

She closed her eyes ready for the intruder to attack her, but instead the person slammed into June, causing her and the person to fall onto the throne while he wrapped his arms around her. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognised the boy, it was Jack Sullivan, he was alive. She stifled back a sob, trying not to cry that much but tears fell down her face and a soft gasp escaped her mouth. June noticed he was also crying as he wrapped his arms around her tighter and she wrapped her left arm around his back. Her mask had fallen off and tumbled down the stairs and a small crack appeared on the side of it from falling.

Unintentionally she buried her face into Jack’s shoulder, until he pulled away from her to face the door when they both heard the door open and close quickly and almost silently as 2 other boys entered June’s office. Quint and Dirk start running at them, weapons at the ready until they paused at the foot of the stairs and glance at each other then to June and then Jack as if they thought they interrupted something and Dirk looked away while Quint continued glaring at June and Jack with a confused expression.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up and he started blushing in embarrassment “Oh- oh no, it's not what you think it looks like Guys” he said quickly and nervously to Quint and Dirk below. Quint’s expression shifted from confusion to worry as he glanced out the window, “You running into here caught Thrull’s attention Jack, we need to leave before we blow this place up!”. June gazed at Jack with confusion but also frustration, were they going to blow the Rifter base up? What in the world is going on??!.

June noticed Jack had bandages covering half of his face and she winced, she knew that injury was from her when she threw the boys into the wall’s defences. June let go of him and stood up to face Dirk and Quint, “What is going on? Why exactly did you guys come back?” She has way too many questions for them right now, but only said the two most important ones that are bugging her the most at the moment. Quint spoke up again, “First, Thrull is planning on killing you and taking over the Rifters to aid in the tower’s construction, and second, ask Jack later it was his idea” June’s jaw was wide open in shock, now the dots were connecting, Thrull must have killed the Rifter soldiers and sabotaged the reports so June would be alone and confused and then he will walk in and kill her easily.

The doors slammed open, Oh speak of the devil, he’s here now, crud. Thrull glared at the group but grinned “ah great, all of my targets in one place, perfect” he started charging after them. A deadly fight has now begun.

Everyone pulls out their weapon of choice, Dirk has a giant sword, Quint has some sort of gadget cannon, Jack has the Midnight blade, and June has her energy hand which was all she needed. Thrull was charging at the throne, as if he was about to ram into it like a bulldozer. Jack and June jumped down and out of the way and Thrull plowed through the throne and demolished it into rubble and broken spears. They all charged at him while Quint stayed a bit distant to fire his cannon as the others took their weapons and started slicing at him. June summoned a spear, like the old one she had long ago, and successfully stabbed Thrull’s shoulder.

Thrull shook off the other boys while June started summoning other weapons despite the pain in her arm to continue stabbing Thrull. Thrull was able to grab June and held her by her throat as he took his massive battle axe and readied it to chop her. Jack screamed as he saw what was happening and stabbed Thrull’s side with his Midnight blade which stopped Thrull’s axe from chopping her head off, but the axe still sliced June’s face and Thrull dropped her to deal with him. Quint started firing his cannon more, while Dirk continued to aid Jack while continuing to slice at Thrull.

Thrull grabbed the 2 boys and threw them back, he paused suddenly, his face full of anger and rage, “pitiful, even when you fight together you are no match for me” he grinned as vines erupted from the ground, turning the floor into an uneven surface and a large gash in the ground that looked quite deep. June got up and wiped the blood out of her eyes that was pouring out of the gash on her face. Thrull’s attention was turned back to her “Oh, you're still alive? Well not for long” he chuckled maniacally as he charged after her with his axe ready to chop her in half again. Dirk, and Jack got back up and they tackled Thrull into the wall, and continued slicing away at him with their weapons.

The wall that Thrull was slammed into has a crack slowly growing and spreading across, it was getting weaker every time they were slamming into the walls and damaged the floor structure as the building seemed to be slowly collapsing now. Thrull threw the boys off of him again, and Quint was still throwing chemical flasks and firing his cannon at him as a distraction. June took this opportunity to use her energy arm again, this time summoning ice to freeze Thrull. Despite the pain in her arm she flung the large chunk of ice and it engulfed Thrull, stopping him in his tracks.

After a short pause as everyone processed what just happened, the boys started cheering and high-fiving each other now that the fight was finished. The pain in June’s arm became unbearable and her head buzzed and she felt dizzy probably because of the blood she was losing from the slice on her face. She didn’t notice she was staggering towards the large gash in the ground until the building shook again and she stumbled into it.

Jack immediately noticed and sprinted towards her and caught her energy arm with his cosmic hand just in time. Rubble began pouring down from the ceiling as the office started collapsing, a sharp chunk sliced June’s face again, causing an ‘x’ marked gash covering almost half of her face. She winced in pain from the bleeding wounds on her face and the pain still in her arm from using a lot of power. Jack was able to pull her back up without the other’s help, and helped her back up with her energy arm around Jack’s shoulders and Dirk came up to help and June’s normal left arm was around Dirk’s shoulders so they could help her run out of the building, Quint shortly followed after them as they exited the collapsing building just in time before it crumbled down.

The Rifters all poured out into the streets, seeing what the commotion is all about and a massive crowd gathered around the gang, the monsters all murmured to one another in confusion at the sight of their leader being injured and accompanied by human strangers. June tried to speak up but all that came out were some quiet words, but Jack spoke up for her to her relief, “Rifters, I know we may seem like strangers but we are your boss’s friends from a long while ago, and recently Thrull has tried to murder her but we stopped him from being successful with his plan, right now he is currently under the building but he may break out soon, you monsters all have to evacuate the base so we can blow up Thrull in it and stop him from using you all ever again” June winced at the word ‘friend’, after all this time she is surprised that he still considers her a friend or ally at least, despite her betraying and abandoning him two times.

June looked up to the Rifters, who were looking back at her to confirm the information and follow her orders again, she mustered up her strength to shout at them “Just get out of here you idiots, and follow Sullivan for now” The Rifters looked at Jack, whose expression was now nervous, and he nodded to the monsters. Right after that moment the Rifters fled the base rather quickly, and in only a few minutes it was only them that were still in the base.

Quint had already placed bombs in the base, that was what he and Dirk were doing until Jack ran to June after they overheard Thrull’s plans to kill her. And all of that happened. Eventually they reached far enough from the base so the explosion wouldn’t reach them and Quint was ready to hit the button to detonate it. Despite June currently being weak, she slammed the button in the middle of his countdown and they all watched the base explode. Well, Quint was glaring at June for pressing the button while the whole explosion happened.

Her face was already bandaged up thanks to Jack before they started the long trek to the Mallusk. And she doesn’t miss the base at all, it was quite useless to her since it didn’t have any help whatsoever to finding her parents or other humans. But she did care about the Rifters inside the base, they were more like a community or team that reminded her of before the apocalypse, when June was the director of the yearbook team for her school.

June hadn’t really been feeling much better but most of the pain subsided, since her injuries are still recent and she lost a lot of blood in the fight, so he had her energy arm around Jack so he could help her walk to the Mallusk. He noticed that he was touching her energy arm, and some question had been bugging him for awhile. “Hey June? How did you find out that anyone touching your energy arm could die exactly?” Jack asked softly, looking at her dimly glowing blue arm around his shoulders. June paused for a moment, before answering “I used it to kill Ryyk a long time ago, he was the original Rifter boss before I took over. While I was killing him with a spear he grabbed my arm by accident, and it… burned him alive.” There was a long pause after her answer.

Jack continued, “Then how come I can touch your arm without getting burnt to a crisp?” He knew she might not know either, but he did want to hear one of her theories and not Quint’s scientific chatting about it. “I guess it only burns monsters, not humans, or it's because of your cosmic hand, it could be preventing the energy in my arm from injuring you” she nodded at his gnarly octopus hand. Jack held his right arm up, “well I think that answer is valid, I don’t exactly know what it is capable of still” He sighed, not really knowing what else to talk about with June.

June saw him pause again, and decided to continue the conversation “Why did you come back for me? Even though I hurt you twice or more, you still helped me” she winced. Jack hesitated, not really sure how to answer, “I knew you had reasons, I- I knew you hurt me the first time because you needed to find your parents and not deal with our problems, and the second time was because you didn’t want everyone you knew to be killed or yourself although it was quite selfish” He didn’t really answer June’s question, but she spoke again “I know my actions were stupid, and really selfish, I’m sorry…” She trailed off, not really expecting Jack to respond or continue.

Jack continued anyways with another sigh, “Well I don’t really know myself, I just had this gut feeling that I had to warn you, and to tell you I was alive. I don’t know what it actually is but I’m glad we are all alive because of it” he grinned at her and she weakly smiled back, until Dirk butted in “Ooh whatcha talking about?” June laughed while Jack looked embarrassed “Nah, nevermind, we are almost at the Mallusk” he pointed at the giant centipede monster with the large Mall fused to its back. It was freaking massive, much, much bigger than the Rifter base or anything else June had seen and her eyes widened in surprise.

When they entered the mall, it seemed the Rifters had already joined with the Mallusk monsters and were already helping around the place without anyone’s orders. The Rifters used to follow orders from whoever is the most powerful party or individual, even if they were good or bad, and they weren’t content. But now, they are within a community and helping those fighting against Rezzoch instead of a disposable army they seem to be more happier now. June knew she wasn’t exactly the best leader, she only chose actions that benefited her and her goals and the Rifters followed along. And now that she isn’t the boss anymore she doesn’t have to worry about leading an army by herself, she has the boys with her to help.

Quint headed off to organize and check in with the monsters while Dirk attended parties that were happening all over the Mall. Jack led June to the sporting shop where the boys had set up their area to hang out and to sleep when they were aboard the Mallusk to let June rest up from her injuries.

She sat down at the makeshift table which was made out of flimsy cardboard boxes and a chunk of a ping pong table, while Jack was blowing up an inflatable pool bed for her. She looked at the wall which was full of sticky notes and pins like a noteboard, it had information and quick notes of events that the boys encountered during the apocalypse along with some tacky photos to prove it.

June took a photo from the board, it was a picture of Jack’s treehouse in Wakefield, with rad upgrades like a moat and a zipline. She chuckled softly as Jack noticed she was looking at the photo from long ago. “You still take pictures huh? Well you have improved quite a bit with your photography” she compares the slightly blurry old photos to the more focused and cleaner recent photos on the board. He sat down next to her and quickly snagged a photo of both of them together with his old camera he grabbed off the counter. And the photo was printed out of the camera and Jack shook out the photo to make it more clear before handing it to June.

“Well the apocalypse is basically an excuse for a load of free-time, so I picked up a few tricks over the years” he shrugged as if it wasn’t that cool. June snickered at Jack’s slightly funny antics, she had missed his goofy personality and almost forgot what it was like to laugh and relax despite the apocalypse’s unforgiving obstacles. “I have picked up a few things during the apocalypse too you know? Like the location of the tower, but that's for tomorrow” She admitted and Jack’s eyes widen “Oh, I almost forgot about that heh” he chuckled. “By the way, your inflatable pool bed is ready and It's quite comfortable,” Jack reminded her.

June got up from the cardboard box chair and stumbled to the inflatable pool bed before faceplanting onto it "finally some sleeeeeep” she mumbled, then turned over so she was laying on her back, and right before June was about to ask him to shut the lights off, Jack already did. “Thanks” she responded. After a few moments she heard him walk towards her and plop down on the inflatable pool bed with her, with June’s left side touching Jack’s right side. She couldn’t read his expression in the dark and June hoped Jack couldn’t see her now red face either. His warmth and presence were nice and calm, so she shut her eyes and let herself completely relax.

She was surrounded by darkness all of a sudden, it was normal for her dreams to be like this, but it felt… strange. June felt like she was standing on solid ground, and felt an unnatural cold breeze surround her. She opened her eyes, but still saw darkness, until a huge blue mist spread in front of her. June was completely unsure what was going on, and her curiosity was telling her to wait and see what happens.

A ghastly blue and distorted face formed in the fog, it didn’t look human or monster at all. But June felt a strong and powerful presence from the ghastly distorted face as it spoke, “I am Rezzoch the ancient, destructor of worlds, but I thought you would have already known that Rift”. June’s eyes widened in shock as she now knows who this is, but why and how in the world can he speak to her? Her thoughts scrambled around in her mind as she thought what next to speak, but Rezzoch spoke again, this time in an agitated voice “How in all the dimensions did you acquire a speck of my power? I demand you give it back-” June suddenly raised her arm towards the ghostly face and it seemed Rezzoch was being shoved back as he screamed in agony and frustration.

“Nah, this is my power now, and I will aid Jack and his friends in killing you” she declared as she glared at Rezzoch, who looked angry. “Well, now all that will await you is pain and you may suffer as long as I still live” He cursed at her, until June used the strange energy in her arm to make Rezzoch disappear as his scream faded.

Darkness surrounded June again, but she still spoke, “Then I wish you die quicker Rezzoch” she spat. And the rest of her sleep felt normal without any war god screaming at her that night.

Chapter Text

June finished up writing her most recent Flashback Attack, and checked how many more empty pages she has, which she noticed she was almost done filling up the notebook Jack gave her. She was currently sitting on the roof of the mall outside the Mallusk, so she could see the landscape slowly move by as the Mallusk traveled to the Tower. They had been traversing on the giant mall centipede for a few days now, after the whole event in the Fortress and Quint and Drik came back.

She made herself quite comfortable on the rooftop, with a beanbag chair and a few pillows scattered about. June mostly hangs up here during the evenings or when the boys are off doing whatever shenanigans so she could have some unbothered time to herself to write the Flashbacks down in the notebook. 

June heard the door leading up to the roof open, and some footsteps followed shortly after. She didn’t turn around because she already knew it was Jack Sullivan, and he did usually come by to check on her if she needed anything or if it was late. 

( Jack’s POV )

Jack came through the door opening to the mall rooftop to check on June again, he doesn’t exactly know if the notebook was helping June with her stress and Flashback Attack problems. He looked over her shoulder to see the notebook was almost full, but didn’t expect that she didn’t close the notebook or move the contents of it out of his eyesight, June let him look at it this time....................... 

(Original notes for this version of rift are below this text)

Quick notes/short draft: June takes over rifters, a few years pass (the kids are all around 17-ish?) and chapter 3 intro is about her current power and high status in the rifter base, Jack and the boys show up hoping for some info about the tower, June is surprised the boys are alive and so is Jack although he is a bit depressed [look at chapter 2], June denies them the info because of past actions but quint strikes a deal that they will give her something in return, Thrull (who is an ally to the rifters because he also follows rezzoch and gives the rifters supplies) shows up and decides to immediately fight with the boys, June breaks up the fight and Thrull threatens to tear down the rifter base unless June punishes the boys, June throws the boys into the defences of the Rifter base, Jack gets a nasty scar on his face while Quint and Dirk are alright, The boys flee, but return shortly to try and convince June to give them information because they are desperate for the info of the tower location, the boys also warn her that Thrull is planning to take over the Rifter base so he could use the armies to help build the tower, June gets the warning from them but Thrull appears and starts fighting the gang and almost killing June but Jack saves her, Thrull gets trapped and the gang decides to blow up the base with Thrull in it after June evacuates the Rifter monsters, the Rifters join the Mallusk monsters in the fight to stop rezzoch, June apologises to Jack and the others for hurting them before, Chaper 3 ends with Rifter June getting a vision from an angry Rezzoch (he is angry because she accidentally took a chunk of his power when she got her energy hand from the portal tree which somehow had his power)(about 2-3 paragraphs describing Rift June’s vision dream thing of Rezzoch being pissed off about her stealing some of his power)

Chapter 4 is normal June finishing writing in the notebook about her current flashback attack around the end of the events of book 8, (switch to Jack’s POV when tired of writing in June’s POV hehe) she talks to Jack about Rezzoch and how she thinks he might be connected to her weird flashbacks, Jack helps her not to worry about it until June gets another flashback attack and notices it is also connected to other dimensions, June decides to let Jack read her notebook about the flashback attacks and the chapter ends with his reaction and June’s theory.

(I am aware there are many typos, but I just wanted to add these notes so those who read the whole story will know the ending FOR THIS VERSION OF RIFT, I am not spoiling anything for the rewritten version except it will have a smidge more of the Jack x June ship and explain more of how the boys handled being by themselves)

Chapter Text

Notes from writer: Sorry to inform y'all but I don't have that much free time now that school is around the corner, and I'm currently struggling to write things down due to creative burnout. My apologies but the rewrite and other fanfics I have in store will take much longer than I expected. If you have read this far into 'Rift' I thank you for your patience and appreciate your time to read my writing. <3

Update: School is currently eating my time like how fast i eat pizza. Apologies for taking so damn long writing this thing, but I don't got much free time not more ;-;      so uh yeah, sorry if you are getting impatient reader, I understand that I have no update schedule but as a lil spoiler for the rewrite, I will be putting descriptions for the Ocs im shoving into this story as side characters/Rifters hehe. scroll down for the characters, updates will be random but you can help me with names by suggesting some name ideas in the comments since that is what i struggle the most when creating a character lol.

Writing process:

Brainstorm: [BACK TO DA DRAWIN' BOARD]

(storm of ideas I type out and sort around, basically a mess of notes)

Plot line notes

(basically type out the general plot and events and their order, reason why it happened, conflict, etc.)

... 0% complete [restarted this sorry] ...

Story Writing - (still haven't figured out how many chapters it will take)

Scratch/Rough draft

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

2nd round of draft:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Finalized Draft: 

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Characters summary! 

These are my Original characters, I have created them specifically for this story to fill up some plot holes and gaps since I'm too lazy to write another community system for the Rifter base.

Scarab: Despite his name, he is a tall for his kind (also known as a Splotcher, a type of monster introduced in Book 8!). He looks like a very tall beetle and grasshopper combined, and humaniod. His legs and four arms are long and bony while his body is a bit short, and he does have a slick green shell covering his back unlike the other Splotchers, who's carapaces are rough with battle. His head is an insect, but his eyes are hollow sockets as if they were scooped out but he can see with his glasses apparently, maybe his eyes are just really small? Anyways, about his story, He was one of the Splotchers that refused Wracksaw's alterations, since he didn't want to live in agony as a disposable solider. Scarab is a bit of a lazy ass, and so he kinda ran away to avoid the punishment of refusing to offer his services to Rezzoch. Since he didn't want to live in the wild, he decided to take shelter in the Rifter base. He became a scribe and records events and news, in addition to creating and filing reports. Scarab doesn't really care about anyone, just himself, and when he is threatened he will always fold unless someone made a good enough offer for him to risk his limbs. And yes, he can regenerate in addition to seeming a bit intimidating because who wouldn't when they first see a 8ft tall and skinny bug man with hollowed out eyes and glasses?

Tarak: A scaly reptilian creature, they look like a wyvern but he has a human-ish posture (although he slouches alot). Basically looks like Fern but more dragon-like with a 'suped-up nerf gun' and ungodly amount of armor. Storytime! He pledged alligience to Rezzoch, but ended up in the Rifter base during an unsuccessful raid a long time ago, but decided to join since they got bored of being a pawn in the cosmic servant's warfare. His wings are torn up, so he cannot really get off the ground, but he makes up for it in being a literal tank in fights. Yes, he doesn't like warfare since he doesn't like to be shoved into deadly unfair battles, but he loves fighting monsters they find weak. They have pale orange scales but you can't really see that with all the steel armor he wears, and the upgraded nerf gun/rocket he has is somehow hidden as if he has an invisible pocket to hide it in. Rather chill dude, they like to crack a rather dark joke here and there and finds scars amusing since he loves to tell tales once you distract them enough.