Gateway 65

The sword in my hand faded away as light exploded out of Luna, her spiritual pressure shooting up to the level of a seated officer.

Instantly, I caught her falling body, watching as the light dimmed to reveal her new form.

Now wearing a shihakusho, Luna was staring in wonder at the silver short sword in her hand. Her Zanpakuto had a sky-blue leather wrapping around the hilt and a crystalline pommel that reflected the moonlight like a diamond.

And then, her face closed off into a glare as she rounded on me.

“You lied!” She exclaimed, waving her Zanpakuto in my direction. “I was ready for the pain of being stabbed in the heart! Only for it to feel like I was being hugged!”

As Luna whined, Isane silently approached her to begin running diagnostics on her spiritual body, while I was already finishing my own on her physical body.

“You’re welcome,” I said, standing up and kissing her forehead with a smile, even as it looked like she’d stab me with her new sword at any moment.

She pouted at me and turned away, muttering, “I can’t even get mad at him,” as she walked towards her father.

“Nothing wrong with the body,” I said to Isane as Luna walked away.

“Her spirit is fine, too,” Isane said as we moved back towards the table where Xeno was spinning Luna around in a hug, with Luna awkwardly holding her sword out not to hurt her father. “Did you find any evidence of this ectoplasmic body you mentioned?”

“No,” I shook my head as we reached the table while Xeno was letting Luna down, a huge smile on her face. “And if you’re asking, that means you didn’t find it either.”

“I didn’t,” Isane confirmed.

“That means that the best-case scenario came to pass,” I said with a relieved smile. “Although…”

I looked at Luna’s Zanpakuto, or better yet, her Shikai. That wasn’t something she should have gotten just by being turned into a Shinigami. She was supposed to only get a sealed Zanpakuto, with a fully formed Zanpakuto spirit and inner world, sure, but still sealed.

An idea popped into my head, and with a quick motion, I pulled an Asauchi from my pocket and extended it to her.

“Luna, take this,” I said, letting her take it with her free hand. “Now, do you feel this new power coursing through you?”

She closed her eyes, her brow furrowing in concentration.

“I do,” she nodded. “I also feel you, Dad, and Isane.”

“Good. I want you to focus all of the power inside of you into the sword I just gave you,” I said calmly, conjuring a cushion on the ground. “Here,” I gently guided her to sit on it. “Take your time, there’s no time limit on this.”

“Why would she need another Asauchi, Alex?” Isane asked, looking at me curiously.

“Look at her Zanpakuto,” I said, pointing at it. “Why would it start already in Shikai? She doesn’t even know its name.”

While Isane thought it over, Xeno turned to me with a confused look on his face.

“Why would she need to know the sword’s name?”

“The sword is part of her soul now, and it’s alive. Without knowing the name, you’re stuck with it in its sealed form,” I motioned to my own Zanpakuto. “Skipping a step like that is not something that should happen normally.”

“And that something is a lack of an Asauchi to seal it, isn’t it?” Isane said.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “My theory is that, without a base state Asauchi to guide your Zanpakuto’s power and seal it when needed, you’re stuck with it in Shikai. I don’t know if there are any adverse effects because of it, but there must be a reason Shinigami use Asauchi, so I’d rather she have one as well.”

“Makes sense,” Isane said, settling on the ground next to Luna.

It took several minutes before Luna gave a soft gasp and muttered, “Got it!” And with that, a long, drawn-out process of harmonization began. Her Shikai, which was resting in her lap, ever so slowly dematerialized into motes of light that were drawn to her Asauchi, slowly transforming it into a proper Zanpakuto.

When Luna opened her eyes, she had in her hands an all white Zanpakuto with silver accents and two tassels coming out of the end, one sky-blue and the other pale lavender.

“Congratulations, Luna, you are officially a Shinigami,” I said, smiling as her eyes widened in surprise. “Now all that’s left is to figure out which division you’ll fit in best,” I looked up at the night sky, “but that’s for later. You’ve had a long, stressful day, and it’s already late. Let’s go to sleep and we’ll figure out the next step in the morning.”

“Divisions? Is that what you’re thinking the next step is?” Isane said as she pulled Luna into a hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll start teaching you how to use a sword and Kido tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Luna said, smiling brightly at Isane and then shooting me a smug look.

“Hey! I was planning on teaching her that!” I complained.

“I’ve seen your methods, Alex,” Isane said, unamused. “Attacking her until she figures it out is not how normal people learn. And don’t even try mentioning Yachiru!” She said, stopping my objection cold. “She’s a prodigy with better control than all other Lieutenants, barring Sasakibe, and he’s one of the founding members of the Gotei!”

“Fine,” I sighed in acceptance. “Come on, Luna, let me teach you how to get back in your body.”

___

Luna had attached herself to my arm after returning to her body, and I could feel her holding onto me to keep steady. The exhaustion of the day was hitting her hard.

As we quietly made our way back inside, Xeno looked curiously at Isane.

“Say, Miss Isane, about this, Lieutenant Sasakibe,” he said, making sure to pronounce the name correctly, “How old would he have to be to be one of the founders of the, Gotei, was it?”

“From what my Captain told me, he was quite young at the time,” she hummed in thought. “So I’d say around 1150, maybe 1300 years old if we’re going by her definition of ‘young’.”

Xeno choked at hearing those numbers.

“Well, we’re going to sleep,” I said, rolling my eyes at Xeno’s comedy routine. “Or, at least Luna’s going to sleep, and I’m going to serve as an oversized teddy bear. So, Good night to you two.”

As Xeno and Isane replied with good nights, I guided Luna up the staircase to her room, where she promptly fell face-first on her bed, dragging me with her.

“Ugh,” she groaned, kicking off her shoes and turning to stare at the ceiling.

I held back a snort, putting my arm under her and pulling her towards me.

“What a day, huh,” I said mildly.

“Don’t start,” she muttered, squirming both of us around the bed until our heads hit the pillow.

“Hey, everything went well,” I said, caressing her hair as she put her head on my chest.

She huffed, looking up at me with a pout.

“Next time you travel, I’m going with you,” she stated, frustration coloring her tone.

“Sure, all you ever have to do is ask,” I smiled, giving her a peck on the lips.

“You better,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she closed her eyes.

I looked down as I went to respond, only to see she had already fallen asleep.

___

Severus

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’ he thought as he ran through the corridors, cursing himself for waiting for Alex to arrive instead of going after Crouch the moment he went away.

Even though he had seen evidence with his own eyes, it was still hard to believe that the curse that had plagued him for most of his life could be dealt with so easily. That the Dark Lord, who had an entire nation too scared to say his name even a decade after his downfall, could be crushed the moment of his ‘glorious’ return.

But he knew it was true. He had known since the moment he learnt of what Alex had done during the World Cup that the Dark Lord would be no match for him. And after seeing the other world through the Doorway he put on Xeno’s house, helping the Order of the Golden Star with their growing of potion ingredients, meeting the boy’s parents…

Severus knew. He was just mad that he had spent 13 years on a meaningless mission, stuck in a place he hated, and forced to work a job he despised. All for a child to come along a do all the work in the amount of time it’d have taken him to fix up a batch of Pepperup.

He needed to hurt something. To let out his frustrations on someone who would scream, who would beg, who would cry.

Someone who would die.

Luckily for him, Crouch was the perfect target for his rage: One of the Dark Lords' most fanatical followers, an Azkaban convict who escaped without anyone’s notice, who had been masquerading as a retired legendary auror to teach at Hogwarts for most of the year.

Severus only needed to find him first.

He turned down the last corridor toward Moody’s office and stopped, bending down to catch his breath while trying to listen through the closed door to see if anyone was inside.

A voice, Moody’s, loudly ranting. And then a shout, the sound of furniture smashing against a wall, and a scream.

He didn’t think, standing upright and with a wave of his wand, blasted the door inwards and stepped through.

Inside, he saw Crouch in Moody’s form, pointing his wand at a crumpled figure on the floor, Potter, who was trembling in the way all victims of a short burst of the Cruciatus do.

“Avada Kedavra!” Crouch cast, the Killing curse passing harmlessly by Severus and down the hallway as he had stepped to the side after entering.

“Sectumsempra,” he cast, slicing Crouch’s wand arm off at the elbow, spraying the office in blood.

“AHHH!” Crouch screamed, falling backwards with his hand holding his new stump.

“Hello, Crouch,” Severus said quietly, his voice carrying over the man’s cries.

“Snape!” Crouch snarled.

“Me,” Severus said, advancing on Crouch’s fallen form. “I should have known you weren’t the real Moody. He’d never stood so low to cast the unforgivables, much less use any of them on students.”

“Hah!” Crouch laughed, his appearance as Moody slowly starting to melt away. “And I did it under yours and Dumbledore’s watch! And now the Dark Lord is back! No matter what that boy and his dead humunculous say!”

“Oh, he was,” Severus nodded, malicious glee clear in his tone. “That was part of the plan. As was the Dark Lord’s death.”

“LIES!” Crouch cried, Moody’s fake eye falling off his face as he reverted to his true form. “I FELT THE CALL! HE IS BACK!”

“Truly?” Severus asked, smiling in amusement at Crouch’s denial. “Then where is he?”

“Preparing!” Crouch grinned, insanity shining in his eyes. “Now that he’s back, the Wizarding World is his!”

“Potter,” Severus called, prompting the boy, who was frozen watching their confrontation, to look up at him.

“Yes… Sir?” Potter replied in confusion.

“How did the Dark Lord,” Severus stopped, “Voldemort,” he corrected, “die?”

“He… He tried fighting Alex,” Potter said slowly. “But Alex just… appeared in front of him and, pushed.”

“And that killed the Dar- Voldemort?” Severus pressed, watching as Crouch ground his teeth, his complexion growing paler and paler due to blood loss.

“No,” Severus could hear Potter shaking his head. “It just… took his soul out of his body.”

“What did you say?” Severus turned towards Potter to give him an incredulous look.

“It’s true!” Potter defiantly replied. “Alex was also holding a killing curse that Wormtail cast at Fleur, so he dropped it on Voldemort’s body to see what happened. And after that, he cut Voldemort’s soul with his sword!”

Severus shook his head. Leave it to Alex to do something in the most exaggerated way possible.

Looking back towards Crouch, he saw that the man was so apoplectic with rage that he was foaming at the mouth, but the blood loss was taking its toll on him, making him too sluggish to properly move.

“And that’s how your master died: without being able to fight back, used as an experiment, and then cut down when his usefulness ended.” 

Severus saw when the fight left Crouch, his body sagging in defeat. It didn’t mean he would stay that way if he survived, but, for the moment, he was broken.

He waited for the feeling of triumph to emerge. For having broken his opponent not through magic, but words.

But the feeling never came. All he felt was tired.

___

Minutes later, as Dumbledore burst past the broken remains of the door in Moody’s office, he found a bound, armless Barty Crouch Jr. knocked out on the ground, Harry sitting down on an armchair while drinking hot chocolate, and Moody grumbling as Severus gave him a green potion.

“By Merlin’s hairy ballsack!” Fudge, who had followed him after he noticed Harry’s absence in the infirmary wing, exclaimed. “What happened here?”

“I also would like to know, Minister,” Dumbledore replied while staring at the pool of blood on the floor.

“You’re late, that’s what!” Moody barked, finishing his potion and letting the glass shatter on the floor. “Too damn late…”

___

Doni

He passed through the Doorway to Xeno’s place for his early morning training.

Alex’s Authority was really convenient. Instead of needing to go to the outskirts of São Paulo to get to the rainforest for training, he could just go to Xeno’s place and have miles of empty fields to do as he wished.

Doni had been doing it for months. Going out before sunrise and returning for lunch. It was a nice system. Allowing him to keep his word to Alex while letting him keep up with his schedule with minimal exertion.

Pity that there weren’t any Heretic Gods for him to have some fun with, but Andrea said that, after Alex killed Odin, the other cults in the region went silent. The local Mage’s Association didn’t know if it was from fear or if they were planning something, so Doni let them keep on alert as he went about his business.

Alex had better come back soon, though. He was getting bored.

The moment he fully passed through the Doorway, he felt it: his brother was back.

Grinning widely, he drew his sword.

Time for some fun.

___

A/N: And that’s that.

Believe it or not, that little tidbit about Moody is canon. The guy spent the entire war doing his best to avoid killing, and he had a massive hate boner for the unforgivables.

As always, thank you all for your support! See you again next week.