Chapter Text
The Manifestation - Deity Katie
Mood Song: All I Did Was Dream of You — Beabadoobee
“See you later, baby.”
Katie said to her beloved son, Nacho, as the nuclear bomb her co-parent Multi once made was being used for no good reason.
As she kissed her baby, staring at her HQ, Katie's hands curled into fists as she watched the bomb descend.
She couldn't move.
Couldn't stop it.
A part of her felt it was her fault she didn't chase down and destroy the clumsy heist the Dark Federation had caused to get this bomb.
As she was flashed by the blast, Katie thought about many things.
She thought about how ugly her dead body must've looked—her widened eyes as the bomb blasted through the island's surface, her restless eye bags after the continuous days of never being able to fathom a break.
Yet she also thought about her families—yes, families—which she concluded was due to her open-mindedness.
She thought about her brothers, Don and Ash, and how they were probably stuck beneath rubble, but she knew they were tenacious enough to somehow survive.
Her thoughts also drifted to her platonic co-parent, Multi, and her beloved son, Nacho.
She knew she had abandoned him once and greedily given him up to Dark Cucurucho—the same person who led everyone to their current fate.
She knew Don's frustrations over not rescuing him back at that temple.
She knew how she had betrayed Ash by wedding and adopting a member of the Federation.
And with that...
She gave up.
She silently concluded...
nobody was going to dig her out of the rubble.
She was alone.
And as her body died, and the world moved on without her, there was someone who watched the very thing nobody noticed.
There was something that could sense every blade of grass and the next slight push in wind speed.
It watched as the Federation grew stronger.
It watched how Katie laughed when things hurt because it paid attention to the things it knew nobody would notice.
It was something that could hide through clear glass and could only be viewed by those it deemed worthy of its knowledge.
There was an entity that browsed through the island and watched how the human race could deny the fact that the untroubled woman wasn't someone dumb or carefree—
She was someone who never planned what would happen next because, deep down...
She already knew.
The entity could now be identified as something of great importance.
Something the mere humans who resided on this island could never conclude.
And Katie—
The girl who was once disrespected by Ewron, misunderstood by her dearest brothers, and understood by the people the island hated the most—
Had something manifesting and huddling inside her all along.
The Awakening
Mood Song: Difficult Love — Malcolm Todd
As Katie was slowly swallowed by the black abyss, she found herself surrounded by nothing but her thoughts.
No voices.
No touch.
Nobody came to find her.
She found herself spiraling about the mistakes she made in her very short-lived life.
The weight felt as if it would crush her chest as the anxiety eventually made it hard to breathe.
The shame.
The guilt.
The belief that she could've done something to make her situation better.
But there was one thing that slowly grew within her.
Anger.
As her eyes swelled up and her cheeks heated up in pure despair, only one thought kept resurfacing.
Who did I live for?
Tears rolled down her eyes like a never-ending storm as she frantically searched for an answer.
Names popped up in her head as she tightly shut her eyes, hoping to never think again.
Was it Don and Ash?
No... we were just living to see the future.
Not each other.
Maybe Multi and Nacho?
But how could I live for someone I gave up on and sacrificed?
And in Katie's heart she wanted to say herself, but deep down she knew that she would never heighten her life to that pedestal.
Her life was never that important.
She only knew herself as a friend to (almost) everyone.
And in the current moment she proved that a friend to everyone is a friend to no one.
Through her shut eyes and quiet sobs, she could see an obscure light through her eyelids and hear a faint voice.
The voice sounded like the person speaking was on a cloud.
It was slightly muffled but softly echoed through the abyss.
To Katie's acknowledgement, the voice sounded like her...
But calmer.
The voice resonated in Katie's ears and suddenly all the tears on Katie's face were gone.
The more Katie relaxed, the more clearly she could hear this entity.
Its delivery sounded much more mature than Katie.
It sounded as if she were the version of Katie that could accept.
The one that didn't ask questions but could still make her own decisions.
Katie slowly opened her eyes and saw an amazingly tall, intimidating woman who was...
Glowing.
Her beautiful, long straight hair gleamed through the darkness, and to Katie, her presence felt light.
Suddenly, Katie sat up straight to look the tall woman in her eyes.
Her sharp jawline, blue eyes, and sharp eye structure resembled Katie's.
But there was something strong about her.
Not her unbelievably strong arms or soft-looking fingers.
Her poise.
Katie couldn't help but feel cowed—like whatever this version of her said would somehow make sense, even if this woman did not fully resemble a human.
The woman did not say a word as she maintained eye contact with the frightened, yet curious Katie.
Katie swallowed hard as she stressed about the words the woman would inevitably speak.
As both women stared at each other, Katie's mouth opened on its own.
She spoke fast and without thinking before quickly covering her mouth.
Multi thinks he failed me. He's panicking...
The words that left Katie weren't Katie's because Katie would never know the information that had just been spoken.
Katie's eyes widened as her hands swiftly covered her mouth.
The woman's eyes softened, carrying a sadness Katie couldn't understand yet.
The silent woman looked down at Katie—still sitting—and lowered herself beside her in a child-like crisscross applesauce position.
The sight made Katie chuckle.
The woman smiled for only a split second before returning to her gloomy expression.
The woman held Katie's cheek with one hand and wiped away a tear Katie had forgotten to wipe herself.
She opened her mouth...
But no words came out.
Instead, the woman's eyes suddenly turned bright yellow.
The sight resembled a star—
A view capable of capturing any creature on the face of the Earth.
The light suddenly felt important to Katie.
Like a memory she couldn't quite place.
Then, without warning, the woman hugged her.
With enough courage, Katie finally asked—
"Who are you?"
Release em!
Mood Song: Stranger In You — Ebril
The seemingly simple question Katie asked seemed to catch the glowing woman off guard.
The woman began to reserve herself while tilting her head at Katie.
The woman...
Smiled.
Nothing.
Katie's frustrated.
She starts thinking.
Thoughts overflow her brain.
Her thoughts are...
Arguing.
Then, a word is seemingly highlighted in Katie's mind.
Without meaning to, a single word suddenly blurts out.
A Deity.
Through the dark void, the words echoed.
She noticed that the powerful voice didn't come from the woman...
But from herself.
Katie covered her mouth, and the woman's smile only widened.
Not because Katie had something on her face.
Not because she'd said something that was extremely overlooked.
But because Katie found the answer.
Sitting in her crisscross position, the newly pronounced deity and Katie stared at each other.
They both decided that no words could describe an event like this.
And that was...
Okay.
As they smiled at each other, the black void slowly faded away, and Katie could feel coldness.
She realized that the deity had brought a familiar warmth.
Katie almost wanted that feeling back.
As the void disappeared along with the deity, Katie found herself back inside her HQ.
It seemed as if nothing had happened.
The messages of Multi's panic still existed.
As well as her goodbyes to Nacho.
But the room felt newer.
The air felt cooler.
Her eyes weren't as tired.
And that's when she heard her "bestie," Ewron, climbing through each floor of her stainless quartz stairs...
Great.