Through the Walls

Chapter 3: Aftermath

Dimension: Base

Time: 5:21 PM

Personnel: Dimension Jumper A0-004 (Harold)

After some time, Clyde and I had met back up with Hayden and Asriel. Once we managed to get the two girls conscious again, the four of us stood together.

"Alright guys," I said, holding out my arm to show my symbol fragment tattoo, "Let's head home."

I could've almost sworn I heard Clyde mumble something along the lines of "Who put you in charge?", but I ignored it. The four of us activated our symbol, and in a flash of multicolored light, we were heading home.

The last thing I had expected when we got there was for Melissa to whack me on the back of the head.

"Harold Turncoat Quintell! What in the name of all that is good and pure were you thinking, using dimensional magic so willy-nilly!"

"Mel, I--" I tried to say, only for her to continue over me.

"You know what it could do to you! To any of us! Remember what I say--"

"Ugh! Melissa, please, we already know this stuff--" Asriel said, trying to stop the incoming lecture. Sadly, the emphasis was on tried.

"Dimensional magic can't be taken lightly, especially not by rookies like you! Have you guys forgotten what Kronos told you about how it all works? Dimensional magic taps into the fabric of spacetime itself. If you use it too often, or too much at a time, you could end up scattered all across it. Or worse, you could punch a hole in the dimensional wall! But most danger is to yourself. Honestly, Harold, I have these rules for a reason, much like the rule about how Asriel and Hayden are under no circumstances allowed to enter the kitchen--"

"I take offense to that--" Hayden interrupted. Melissa continued, despite the interruption.

"--No one is allowed to touch Clyde's coffee mug without permission--"

"No one..." Clyde echoed right next to me, practically in my ear. I rolled my eyes at his stupid obsession, as I often did. And trust me, when I say often, I mean often.

"--No one is allowed to spar without supervision, etc etc. These are all in place to protect you assholes, and I would've hoped your self-preservation instincts would keep you from doing stupid shit like that, but noooooo, I just had to get four kids who seem to all have death wishes! I mean, come on! And also, why the hell did no one try to fully patch up Asriel and Hayden before getting here!"

At this point, Kronos, the seven-foot-tall, dark-haired and purple-eyed assistant of Melissa had come out and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her, although she was just a foot smaller.

"Mel, calm down. They've only been here a year. You've had at least three to perfect this system. This is our first time teaching them, they've got a lot to learn." He said in the calm, level-headed tone he always had. "Plus, Harold had a good reason to use the magic, and they needed to get home. They'll be okay."

Kronos looked up at the four of us. I shuffled a bit uncomfortably. I never liked his gaze whenever he was angry with us.

Okay, angry was the the improper word. It was more... Disappointed than anything. It reminded me a bit too much of my own father, before that bastard went to hell.

"They're strong, like you." He said, intertwining his hand with hers.

Melissa took a deep breath, and smiled. There was an air of sadness around it, and nearly everyone who had been at Home Base more than a month knew why.