Glynda: "Why am I not surprised?" Glynda asked herself out loud having just heard who Atlas wanted as the next Winter Maiden.
Logan: "Well, while they were the brightest, they were never the 'brightest'." Logan commented as he patted his wife on her back. "As they say, hindsight is 20/20. But, yea, I can understand your pain."
Glynda: "The worst part was that my parents tried to set me up with James at one point." Glynda groaned.
Magus: "I'm curious, how did that turn out?" Magus asked when he heard what Glynda said.
Glynda: "That 'date', ended up with a black eye and a broken nose and James in the hospital and me banned from several restaurants in Atlas."
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Logan had to look away and chuckle at the picture that Glynda just painted while Magus had a wry smile on his lips.
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02: "Wait, that was you?" 02 asked suddenly as if he just found something he misplaced. "I was out trying to find 01 when she went off on her own on us and I saw a blond girl throw a guy threw a wall. You nearly hit me with him."
Glynda: "I'm not sorry for what I did." Glynda defended herself.
02: "I'm not blaming you, all I could hear from that man was swearing left, right and center." 02 said as he shook his head. "That, and a few unsavory comments."
Glynda: "And those were why he was sent to the hospital." Glynda spoke truthfully.
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Logan and Magus eyed each other, silently having a conversation. Magus slightly shifted his eyes as he messaged Logan to never piss Glynda off. Logan eyed him back, saying that he rather fight a horde of Grimm with his bare hands rather than piss her off. They both kept it quiet as 02 and Glynda continued to discuss what she did to Ironwood that warranted such a reaction and punishment. Both wisely not saying anything about Glynda's temper.
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Magus: "Anyway," Magus spoke up, getting everyone's attention back on track. "The reason I had those pieces absorb a portion of your mana was so they could pull in mana of that type and purity from the air and Ather. This way, we can fast track the mana needed for the spell required to bring the Brother Gods down to Remnant as mortals. But these chess pieces will also collect the necessary mana for a barrier spell so they can't run away, however, this also means that once it's up we can't escape either.
Logan: "So, you're planning on trapping yourself in there with them." Logan said as he shifted Dorothy to a more comfortable position. "That's one hell of a gamble."
02: "That's why you're our backup plan." 02 told Logan. "If we should fail, that way we are putting our hopes in you to finish what we started."
Logan: "I understand." Logan spoke seriously. "But there is one thing I don't understand. From the way you have this all planned, this dates back farther than when the Brother Gods wiped Humanity off of Remnant. What's the truth?"
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Magus sighed and 02 looked downcast. From what Logan could sense from the two, this wasn't going to be pretty.
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Magus: "The Brother Gods... have done something similar before the Great Wipe, as we come to call it." Magus said softly.
02: "I and the rest of the Homunculus are from ages they wiped away without destroying all of Humanity." 02 reveled. "Before the Great wipe, they would periodically destroy all but five percent of all the sentient population on Remnant. Gathering that percent into one place before wiping the rest of Remnant away."
Magus: "Doing so did not alert the Elder Gods to their plans, they assumed that they were purging those that tried to destroy the world or were doing far too much damage to manage otherwise." Magus explained further. "Other new gods did the same to make it easier to manage their first world or worlds. It was by this that their plans were never discovered until Salem and Ozpin happened. I'm from what we believe to be the fourth or fifth time they did it. I was just a Mage's apprentice at the right place at the wrong time. It was only thanks to being amidst of training my barrier spells that I managed to avoid the mind manipulation they did. For the Homunculus, they are from other eras like me."
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Glynda was horrified at what she just heard and Logan was far off either. His muscles tensed across his chest and arms at the shock of hearing it, causing Dorothy who had fallen asleep earlier to wake up crying. It was the crying that knocked Glynda out of it first as she took Dorothy away from Logan to pacify Dorothy. Logan just handed his daughter river to her without much fuss as he stared into Magus' eyes. He could see the horrid truth in them without an ounce of deceit.
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Magus: "It was only thanks to Salem trying to fight against the Brother Gods that they were found out. If it wasn't for her anger at them for taking Ozama the first time and them giving her immortality, they would have left Remnant and done this to other worlds." Magus finished.
Logan: "That's why everything here is like this." Logan realized. "You've been preparing to do what it takes to protect the future of Remnant from them. And now that they're banned and bound from ever touching Remnant, this is your chance to take them out of the picture for good."
Magus: "Yes." He answered simply.
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Glynda: "But, how did they keep the past from coming back up?" Glynda asked suddenly. "How can they keep people from rediscovering what was once forgotten?"
02: "A simple but powerful spell." 02 explained. "The reason we call ourselves by numbers is due to this. 01 is the first after Magus, I'm the second, 03 the third, etc. Hell, I've just told you my name three different times now and you can't remember it."
Magus: "The spell is worked in such a way that makes it nearly impossible to break." Magus told them. "However, once the Brother Gods are dealt with, the spell will be broken. Even I told you two my real name just now, and you didn't even react to it. The worst part is any recorded history is removed as well."
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The two shook at the thought of their names being unable to be heard. But the more Glynda thought about it, the worse it became. Not a single person capable of remembering who you are. Not any family, friends, or people you were close to. Being completely forgotten about. To her, that was a fate worse than death. One of eternal loneliness.
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Logan: "What else do you need for this plan of yours to work?" Logan asked, trying to push past what they were just told to keep what was left of his sanity.
Magus: "With the Life and Air pieces already filled, were are missing a few pieces and are in the process of finding them." Magus stated. "Earth, Fire, and Water are needed to be taken from the respective Maidens. Being the Summer, Fall, and Spring. 01 brought back who was needed for the opposite of life, that being Alica. Yes, the one you fought Logan." Magus said when he saw Logan's surprised face.
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Logan: "How?" Logan asked. "She disintegrated in front of me after I accidentally turned her into a mana bomb. Hell, the place she detonated is still a barren wasteland."
Magus: "Logan, due to her embodying the attribute of Death, she can't die by any other means than destroying her very soul. Even if her body is destroyed, she'll just reform somewhere else at a later time." Magus sighed. "She's what is called a Deathless, a person incapable of dying until their soul is gone or destroyed."
Glynda: "What's going to happen to her?" Glynda asked when she heard about Alica.
Magus: "Sice she can't die unless her soul is used for something or destroyed, we're going to use her soul to empower the spell." Magus told her truthfully. "She'll be given the chance to die in a way that benefits the rest of Remnant. That's the best we can do for her."
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Glynda realized that she couldn't be saved and kept quiet. Logan glanced at her and saw that she was getting uneasy with all that she was learning about Remnant even though she was told ahead of time. Logan sighed as he knew that he'll have to comfort her about this soon or it would eat her alive. He loved his wife, but Logan rather not have Glynda get in too deep with how sick Remnant really was.
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Magus then discussed a bit more with Logan before 03 busted in and drug Glynda away with Dorothy asleep in her arms. 02 admitted that he had sent a mental message to her to come and drag Glynda away to help get her mind off of all that they had discussed. Logan thanked 02, knowing full well that Glynda need it.
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Then he realized something, 03 has a bad habit of giving out mountains of clothes when she gets into it. Logan glared at 02 who had a mischievous smirk upon his lips as his smug look bore into Logan. Magus just sighed as those two just stared at each other. Their previous talk was all but forgotten. Soon after, 02 began to block and deny Logan the chance to go and stop 03 from going overboard from making Glynda and Dorothy several mountains of clothes.
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Magus shook his head and went back to his board that had the chess pieces upon it. Looking over various runes and symbols that adorned the board. Not even caring when various grunts and pained groans started being heard from where Logan and 02 began to fight. Casually throwing a spell over his shoulder now and then to stop them from destroying something. 04 entered in even and ignored them as he brought Magus some food and drink, skirting the dustball they had devolved into
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Finally, with a victorious roar of triumph, Logan bounded off to go find 03 as 02 lay beaten and bruised upon the floor as 04 looked at him in pity. Knowing that 02 could have easily won if he had used his magic against Logan from the start. Yet, due to his good nature, he decided to play around and got caught unaware when Logan tackled him to the floor. From there, it was Logan's win as he grappled and threw 02 around like a ragdoll.
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Logan dashed through Magus' home, heading straight for where he could feel where Glynda was. As Logan slid to a stop in front of a massive door, Logan opened it to find Glynda and 03 talking while Dorothy looked around in wonder. They were discussing which color would be best for Dorothy as of right now. 03 was going on about using a light pink or dull gold for her. Glynda countered by saying that a violet-blue or aqua-green would be best for her.
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After the two decided to use dark purple to contrast her hair, they started to go about which design was best. Glynda wanted to go with a onesie style but 03 countered that they were too hard to deal with if she needed to be changed. 03 then suggested going with a long sleeve shirt and pants that had booties attached to the bottom of the legs. Glynda relented but denied the booties, not liking the idea. After that was if they should have a print on the front of the shirt or not. They agreed on it having a print in gold and red.
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Logan watched and listened in complete bewilderment as the two women started throwing out idea after idea after idea for what Dorothy's top should have on it. From dolphins to zebras to falcons. All the while the clothing in question floated in front of the two of them. Constantly changing to what each said or thought aloud.
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Meanwhile, Logan just stood there dumbfounded as he watched on as they made a mountain of clothes for Dorothy.