Needle and Thread

Deadpool

[Fandom+ (1)]

Lyra's stomach began to burn around the fourth gate. By the fifth and sixth, she was sweating and on her knees. Benjamin tried to get her to stop around the time she started opening the seventh gate, but she'd already stopped hearing anything other than a high-pitched whining by then. She wasn't even sure that she would've been able to stop, anyways. At the eighth gate, Lyra had stopped seeing. At the ninth, she couldn't remember what she was supposed to be doing anymore. Her body was moving on its own, holding up the last key...

[@2D3D4D]

Benjamin was in agony, though not as much as he suspected Lyra and Roxy to be in. Lyra was practically on the ground, but still holding up the final key. Roxy blinked rapidly, trying to ignore the sting of sweat in her eyes, as she moved the gates at an agonizingly slow rate together.

"I can't take this," Winter said. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Nope," Benny said. "I wish we could. I mean, even Andesine gets to do something..."

"Hey, I have to open a portal into the realm of the dead," Andesine snapped. "It's nerve-wracking, okay?"

"Is that why you haven't done it yet?" Winter asked.

"Do not fight," Ananda interjected. "Come now, Andesine. Just do it."

"Okay," Andesine shivered, and took out the key. He held it out in front of him nervously, and said, "Gate of the Mortosphere, I command you to open! Bring forth what shades may help me in my hour of need!"

A new gate opened. It was black, instead of white like Lyra's gates. All light seemed to shine a little less for a moment.

Then came the spirits.

They poured out of the gate and swirled around Andesine, formless and terrifying. Finally, one of them said something.

"Oh, it's just this asshole."

The shades materialized into a group of Andesines.

"What the schist," Andesine said.

"Oh, right. Hello, Mr. Liver. The Guy Who Is, In This Timeline, Alive. How can we serve you?"

"Uh, I just need the gate open so that I can save the universe and stuff," Andesine said, gesturing the the Black Portal of Doom in the corner.

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever. But do you need anything from us?" One of them demanded.

"Uh. No?"

The shades collectively sighed.

"I can't believe that half of us used to be this guy," one of them remarked. "okay, so let me spell it out for you. Do you want us to do a badass Thing and keep Lyra from dying, or do you want her to kill herself trying to save everyone like she does in every timeline?"

"Uh, sure?" Andesine said.

"Too bad, we have no power here," another shade smirked. "The only way to keep your girl is to close the gate."

"But don't you need all eleven keys?" Andesine asked. "All the gates have to be open."

"Yeah, well, that would have been the case, if Lyra had snagged the Death gatekey instead of you. Remember how the gate's black? Your fault, dude."

"So..."

"So only the keys bound to Lyra count," one Andesine explained. "And before you ask if we're sure, yes we are. I'm the you that didn't close the gate. Look where I've ended up."

"Oh... kay." Andesine looked warily at his other selves. "And... I can trust you guys, right?"

"Of course," they chorused irritably.

Andesine closed the gate and turned to look at Benny, the mute witness to the weirdness. Benny shrugged. "From what I know, they're right."

"Great," Andesine sighed. "Somehow, the fact that a bunch of dead mes are right isn't comforting."

Benjamin shrugged and turned just in time to see Lyra fall to the ground. "Shit!" He yelled, and ran towards her.

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Roxy concentrated. She felt as though she were moving boulders and not little doorways made of light. Sweat was already trickling down her body. Some of it ran into her eyes, but she paid no attention to it.

She didn't see Lyra collapse. Her vision had tunneled: Move one door over here. Move another door over here. Move another door...

She heard shouting. Whose voice it was, she couldn't remember. They were trying to decide what to do about something.

Just keep going, Roxy told herself. Just keep going, and it will be okay. You'll be all right.

Last gate. It took forever to move around. In the back of Roxy's mind, something stirred. An idea, moving sluggishly as an iceberg, drifted through her consciousness. Why not use the Ravenium? There wouldn't be that much risk. She could just let go.

No, Roxy though resolutely. I'm not... I can't do that again. It was scary enough the first time.

She pushed the door onward. It sailed slowly over to join the others. When they touched, a sound came, like distant wind chimes. The doors flared with light and then became transparent. They all revealed the same thing: a black sky with a golden palace in it.

Roxy concentrated. Slowly, the doorway got bigger, along with the pain in her hands and head. It occurred to her that she might die here.

She kept going.