Last Supper:
(The Lothrin Estate, New Alexandria of Earth #8193, 1991 AD)
Narrator
Chapter 36 = Last Supper... The dining hall is cavernous, its vaulted ceiling echoing with the clink of plates. At the center stands a great round table of polished oak, long unused, its surface gleaming in the candlelight. For once, no one sits at the head. Instead, they gather in a circle; Anya, Monica, Emma, Sophia, Zahrell, Jessie, Buffy, Gwen, and Emilia, each with a place, each with a voice.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
You know, I've lived here for almost all my life and I've never once used this room. Always felt too ceremonial. But tonight… well, somehow it felt appropriate. (amused tone]
Narrator
A ripple of laughter breaks the tension. Emma reaches for Anya's hand, Monica smirks knowingly. Sophia leans in, her eyes soft. Across the table, Buffy glances at Jessie, then quickly looks down at her plate.
Emma
End of the world or not, no one faces it hungry. Eat. Lutefisk waits for no one. [encourging warm tone]
Narrator
The circle begins to eat, letting the warmth of the food calm their nerves, if even just a little. Then Anya's voice cuts through, steady and commanding.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
As much as I hate added an extra layer to this already tense exercise in domesticity. We do need to talk. All of us. The Convergence Wave will strike in two weeks. When it does, every reality in this cluster will collapse into one. Most worlds won't survive the folding. But we will and we need to be ready. Tenjin display please.
Narrator
The table stills. Forks pause mid‑air. As over the center of the table projects a series of holographic displays.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
Tenjin already has vast levels of defensive and security tools at his disposal to keep this estate safe theoretically but the truth is we have no idea just what kind of threats this estate may face in the immediate time right after the convergence and so I am designating Buffy, Emma, Monica, Emilia and Zahrell to work along side Tenjin to keep this estate safe from any and all potential threats for the first hour after the convergence while me and my time close the Time Loop at the crashed ship.
Narrator
The designated members exchanges glances as their nod their heads in the affirmative, each of them deeply mindful of the potentially dangerous burden being placed upon them. Buffy cannot help but lock her gaze momentarily with Jessies as she makes a silent vow to her own heart and to Jessie to never fail her again.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
Now we will be getting help from some team mates from another doomed world like ours some of their heroes are going to meet us at the crashed ship to help us but the other half of their team is going to materialized here in this estate the moment the convergence takes place and you all need to be familiar with them ahead of time so you know the names and faces of who you are expecting to show up so their is so confusion. Remember confusion + chaos = mistakes and mistakes in this case usually means death.
It is not important that you have their whole bios in your heads but I atleast want you to know the names and faces of the one's who will be arriving to help you. Let me introduce you to our expected guests. Starting with Terra Reeves AKA Shield-Maiden she can change the matter of her skin into anything from steel to polished marble.
Next Buffy and Jessie will be getting a new friend their age in the form this girl, Sarah Bricktson AKA Ice-Girl, with a name like that she is obviously a cryomancer.
Sophia
"Oh my, she looks so no older than Jessie" [stage-whisper]
Narrator
Whispers Sophia to Zahrell as Emma takes Sophia's hand lovingly in hers while Anya continues to speak. Zahrell kisses Sophia softly on the head as they both continue to listen.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
Then we have Edward Zorrin and his younger brother Ashton Zorrin, neither of them have any powers, but they are both apparently good at tech and skilled with weapons. Then we have the apparently psionic Detective Lizzie Cullin, and then last but not lest we have this musical heartthrob named Ven Miller. Apparently, he has the power to emotionally and psionically manipulate others with his music. Tenjin is already fabricating the field emitter. Tonight, after dinner, I'll finish it with him. Once it's active, this estate will be meta-spacial ark of gilgamesh during the convergence.
Narrator
Tenjin displays the various faces and profiles of the different individuals as Anya gets to them. The rest of the table listens and watches intently each one of them understanding the true apocalyptic weight that they are all about to face together. Buffy can see the fear in Jessie's eyes and fills her heart with determination to be better than last time, to be truly worthy of the girl she loves… to protect her.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
I am so sorry I had to go over all that everyone, but it was necessary, please eat, Emma has prepared a fine meal and it will do none of us any good to starve ourselves.
Emilia
It certainly seems super powers are more common on their world than ours [amused tone]
Gwen
Indeed, I noticed that also. Which is good, we have no idea how dangerous things will get out here once the convergence happens.
Monica Bathory/Lady Crimson
That's true, we don't, but no matter what happens, we will all face it together, as a family. Because that's what we are, and family means no one stands alone.
Monica places a tender loving kiss on Anya's lips, returning to her full wineglass of blood and empty plate.
Zahrell
I am sorry. But since we are all living here, I just need to finally fucking ask, Monica is a vampire who can only feed on the blood of young girls, as I understand it, right?
Jessie
Yeah, I mean like she totally attacked me that night of gala, I get she is different now and I wish her no ill will, but still what gives? Where does she get the blood she is consuming?
Monica Bathory/Lady Crimson
Again, I am so sorry, my dear girl. I swear I would never do anything to harm. I was not myself that night.
Jessie
I know Monica, really I do and I trust you but still?
Monica Bathory/Lady Crimson
I understand and that a more than fair question given that we have two young girls right here at this table who I love with all my heart. I think the best person to explain the source of the blood I drink is Anya.
Narrator
The table turns their attention to Anya who chokes nervously on her own wine for moment before mouthing a sarcastic thank you to Monica before beginning to explain.
Anya Lothrin/Knight-Raven
Lothrin Industries owns and operates dozens of pediatric blood banks all over the world, and not to mention those located right here in the city, so I have simply diverted some of the supply from all of them here, where they are kept in cold-storage for Monica's consumption needs while Emilia and I finish working on an artificial blood serum sufficient for her needs.
Emilia
Honestly, the serum trials results so far on the last batch are promising. It may seem unethical to some but honestly the whole process has both very neat and orderly. No one gets hurt and Monica gets feed. It's not a perfect long-term treatment plan but it is an acceptable one for now.
Gwen
Honestly, I have seen worse compromises of ethics and care in my time, so fine, I get it. You should see the horrors of what used to pass as acceptable psych treatments.
Jessie
So basically, it is all from blood banks, makes sense.
Emma
Enough of blood banks and doom. Eat. The lutefisk is still warm, and I won't let the end of the world spoil it or talk of vampire feeding spoil it.
Narrator
The circle exhales. Forks clink again. Jessie passes Buffy the bread. Their hands brush, and Buffy blushes, murmuring thanks.
Emilia
Still, the sodium content of this delicious meal is atrocious [awkward musing tone]
Gwen
It's the end of the world, babe. I think it's okay to consume a little salt. [playful teasing tone]
Narrator
The table chuckles. Even Anya smiles into her wine. The laughter lingers in the dining hall, soft and fragile, like candlelight in a storm. Forks clink, wine glasses catch the glow, and for a fleeting heartbeat, the circle feels whole. But beyond the oak doors, in the marrow of the estate itself, something stirs.
A shadow vibrates against the walls, a smear of darkness that should not exist, pulsing with malignant rhythm. It listens. It savours. Its grin is a wound in the air. Then, with a crack like black lightning, the phantom streaks away, through stone, through steel, through the night, racing back to the Narrows.
Beneath Ashcroft Asylum, in a labyrinth no sane architect would claim, the shadow slams into a hidden chamber. The air here tastes of rust and rot. Chains dangle from the ceiling, clattering faintly in the draft. The phantom convulses, folding in on itself, until flesh knits over bone. The grin remains, but now it belongs to a man.
Hyrum's face comes into focus. His eyes are wide, fever‑bright, his smile stretched too far. He hums as he crosses the lab, fingertips trailing over rusted instruments and blood‑stained schematics. Before him looms a unknown machine: a lattice of black steel and sparking crystal, humming like a hive of wasps.
Hyrum/Ubermensch-Commander Thanatos
"So… our beloved little sprite has found her precious Jessie here too. How sweet. How fragile. How exquisite it will be to rip her heart again. To taste her grief on her lips as her soul shatters in my arms.
Narrator
His voice curdles into laughter, echoing off the stone like a chorus of knives. He presses his palm against the machine, and it answers with a low, hungry thrum.
Hyrum/Ubermensch-Commander Thanatos
"However, such euphoric bliss will have to wait. Our brave little heroes think they will ride the Convergence Wave to their precious ship, close the time loop, and my native timeline from ever happening. How noble. How naïve for now this Asylum is mine. Every sadist, every butcher, every broken mind rotting in these cells, I will loose them all. And when the Wave comes, they will ride it with me.
Narrator
He leans close to the machine, whispering as though to a lover. Sparks crawl across his skin, but he does not flinch.
Hyrum/Ubermensch-Commander Thanatos
And because I am nothing if not prepared even if they do somehow close the time loop I will simply have to use my marry band of psychos and villains to forge a new empire from the multiverses ashes. An empire truly worthy of the one true Master Race."
Narrator
The machine shrieks, a rising metallic wail, as if it too delights in the promise. Hyrum throws his head back, laughing, the sound reverberating through the catacombs, through the walls of Ashcroft, through the bones of the city above as in the warmth of the Lothrin Estate Lower East-Wing dining hall, Buffy shivers.
Two weeks later the convergence wave consumes the both Anya's and Aiden's Universes just as Liahona Predicted causing Tenjin to activate the Preservation Fiel Generator in the Knight-Gallery as Team A activates their Time-Teethers in order to send them the moment of the Valkeria's crash in order to close the loop once and for all as beneath Ashrcoft Asylum Hyrum activates his device in sequence with the others. cascades across the earth a shimmering blinding wall of light burning the world and the universe into nothing but confligareated sparkling essence. The brilliant wall of light continues it blaze through the multiverse consuming and worlds and realities before suddenly collapsing in on itself creates a new universe born from the ashes a thousand realities.