Chapter 1: Enter, Mitsu!
Chapter Text
Mitsu tapped his foot as he waited impatiently for class to be let out. It was world history class, the last period of the school day, but when his teacher moved on from a brief lecture regarding the Shinobi Era, he had lost interest. As he absentmindedly sketched a sea snake in the margins of his mostly blank notes, he wondered what it might have been like to live back then. The teacher's scarcely taught about it anymore, but it sounded like a far more interesting life than the one he was living today, he thought as he brushed his lavender hair out of his eyes.
Centuries ago, people were able to manipulate a strange force known as chakra, and use it to do extraordinary things, such as conjuring fire or lightning out of thin air, healing what today would almost certainly be lethal injuries, or summoning and making contracts with animals. After the Fourth Shinobi War, technology advanced rapidly, allowing the shinobi to spread all over the globe and teach others how to use chakra. What they didn't know was that, although chakra seemed to originate from the human body itself, it was as finite a resource as water, oil, or oxygen. Eventually, humans used up all of it, and even powerful, nigh-immortal ninjas eventually died out. Those who came from clans who were born with unusual abilities lost them over time, for without chakra, one could not even use the coveted Sharingan, for instance.
Perhaps chakra still exists in some form, he wondered wistfully. He did have a couple of friends online who claimed to be able to see ghosts, and another who practiced Hellenistic witchcraft and had successfully executed several spells. Hell, one person even claimed to have mild telekinesis. The video he'd posted a few weeks ago certainly seemed convincing! There's probably a boring explanation for it, though, he thought grumpily, kicking his desk.
He was soon jolted out out of his reverie however by the teacher shouting his name in an annoyed tone. "Mitsu Katou, are you even paying attention? I just asked you a question! Who was the father of modern medicine? Answer. NOW! Slightly irritated and confused, he blurted out the first name that popped into his head. "Uhhh.....that guy....Kabuto Yakushi? The teacher leaned over on his desk, and snapped her long red fingernails in his face. "Modern medicine, Katou! The proper answer is Hippocrates, you'd have known that if you weren't wasting time daydreaming. Now go to the office and fix your clothes - wearing crop tops to school is inappropriate!"
Swearing under his breath, Mitsu shoved his binder and textbook into his bag. "I can wear what I want," he mumbled. The teacher's face went red with fury and she opened her mouth, probably to send him to detention, and he was suddenly overcome with the urge to snicker at his teacher's ridiculous expression. Luckily for him, the bell that dismissed school for the day went off at just the right time. "Byyye guys!" he said, turning to wave to his friends in the back row who were already packing their things despite the teacher's protests. He walked out of the school and the two block to his house with a spring in his step.
His good mood didn't last long, however. No car was parked in the driveway, the house was once again deserted. Frowning, he retrieved the house key from beneath the dirty welcome mat, unlocked the door and went inside. His mother said she would be waiting at home today to take him out for dinner after school with the rest of his family. It was his birthday, after all. He threw his backpack unceremoniously on the couch and curled up beside it. He took his phone from his back pocket. Perhaps she was running late and would be here in a few minutes, Mitsu thought hopefully as he checked the phone's notifications. Nothing. Not a single text message from Dad or Mom! He felt tears welling up in his eyes, but wiped them away quickly. In a daze, almost as if he were on autopilot, Mitsu began throwing several days worth of clothes into his backpack, only remembering to grab a toothbrush as he called an uber.
Mitsu waited outside for fifteen minutes, hoping that the dark blue sedan turning the corner was his mother. He hung his head when he realized it was just the uber driver. He dug a wad of cash out of the pocket of his baggy gray sweatpants and handed it to the driver. "How far will this take me?"
Chapter 2: Basket Case (Enter, Alexei)
Summary:
Okay guys, long chapter ahead. I feel like I'm being selfish, devoting this much text to my character alone, but I know him better so it's easier for me to write for him I guess. Also, Orochimaru makes his first appearance as well.
Chapter Text
Alexei ran out of the student center as fast as he could. Once outside, he looked around frantically for his bicycle. Yes, there it was, locked to the lamp post by the sidewalk, just where he'd left it. He fumbled with the bike lock frantically - the lock was jammed! Damnit, damn it, damn it! he thought as finally managed to pry it loose. He threw the lock into the basket at the back and hopped on the bike, pedaling as fast as his legs would carry him. Maybe if he was lucky he'd be able to get away before the dean called security on him.
He zig-zagged through the city, sticking to the narrow and nearly hidden alleyways between the buildings. It was evening, and near time for the creeps to come out. One man in a black hoodie lunged at him once he was out in the open streets but Alexei swerved around him. The man ran after him for a few minutes shouting profanities and brandishing a switchblade, but he wasn't fast enough and soon fell behind. In a particularly dirty alleyway that he was barely able to fit through, Alexei ditched his bike, locking it to the remains of a chainlink fence that lined the walls of the alley. He hoped that no one would vandalize or steal it. At the very least, hiding it here would make it more difficult for campus security to track him.
As Alexei cautiously stepped out of the alley onto the sidewalk, rain began to fall. Fat, warm drops of water began pouring form the sky, seemingly all at once. This wasn't normal rain, this was Florida-in-the-summer rain. Joy. Bolts of lilac lightning seemed to split apart the nearly black sky, and Alexei glanced around, trying to find somewhere to get out of the storm (and out of sight). He didn't recognize the streets or buildings around him, perhaps all of his nervous energy had gotten him further away than he thought. It was a small, historic city, and there wasn't a part of it Alexei hadn't explored. Then a rare smile spread across his face. On the other side of the street were two quite dilapidated red brick buildings. A sign a few yards away from the larger building indicated that the building had once been a school of some sort.
"There's no way anybody's still using this dump," he muttered to himself while crossing the thankfully empty road, eyeing the smashed in windows, crumbling walls on the larger building, and the large tree that practically seemed to be growing into the smaller one. The rain was beginning to pour down harder, and a sudden gust of wind nearly blew him into the muddy ditch on the roadside. Alexei dashed to the nearest of the buildings, the larger one, and chucked his book bag through the lowest window he could find. With much difficulty, he shimmied up the brick wall before crawling through the window himself.
Inside the building was dark and dusty. Despite how warm it had been outside, Alexei found himself shivering. He picked up his book bag, dragging it towards a dark closet at the corner of the room. Best to stay away from the windows. He pulled out his phone, attempting to ignore the sinister graffiti on the walls around him. Opening up the Discord app on his phone, he hesitated before typing the words "Well guys, I really fucked up this time."
It wasn't even a slight exaggeration. Alexei had had a rather intense panic attack earlier that day, due to another boy knocking him down and stealing his wallet. It had been the same boy who had slashed his bike tires two weeks prior, and had ejaculated on his bike lock during finals last year. He had reported the boy to the dean, but of course no one believed him. Logan was a model student, and everyone loved him, including Alexei's now-ex girlfriend. The wallet snatching had been the final straw. Once back on his feet, Alexei kicked Logan right in the knee, unfortunately just in time for a bunch of freshmen to see. Of course, he hadn't noticed their presence until he delivered a couple good kicks to Logan's ribcage.
Predictably, the campus cops had dragged him off to the dean's office, and the dean, not caring about Alexei's side of the story, had expelled him and had called his mother, a very controlling and violent old woman who essentially kept him prisoner in her house whenever he was forced to come home for the summer. Alexei panicked, and as often happened when he was frightened, objects began flying. Like his grandmother before him, he had mild form of telekinesis, which always skipped a generation. He had never learned to control it, and it frequently came out when he was angry or frightened. However, before today, he had never injured anyone. It wasn't remotely intentional, but once the dean brought up sending him back to his crazy mother, a sharp pencil shot out of the coffee cup on the dean's desk and buried itself in his left eye.
As he told his friends of the incident on the chat, shaking and trying desperately to keep the tears from falling out of his eyes, he was surprised that they didn't call him a monster or block him. He was utterly shocked by their sympathy, and even a little disturbed. Why are they being nice to me? he thought, I must be deceiving them somehow. That was the last thought that ran through his head before he collapsed on his backpack, sunglasses still on.
Several hours later, he awoke to both silence and a very full bladder. The rain had evidently stopped. He checked the time on his phone: 3 AM. Of course he'd have to wake up and find a bathroom in this creepy old building during the goddamn devil's hour! He removed his sunglasses. In this lighting, it was easy enough for his light-sensitive eyes to see without being completely blinded. He hesitantly shuffled towards the doorway when he heard creaking and footsteps. NOPE! he thought. Like hell am I going out there! Of course the building would be full of spirits. The place was at least a century old. Alexei only hoped he wouldn't encounter any of them, but being a medium, he often did. "I can't pee in here either," he said to himself, trying to drown out the spirit's footsteps with his own voice. The room had too many windows and the streetlights were shining right through them. Gritting his teeth, he put in his earbuds, and played AC/DC at the highest volume he could without attracting attention as he stepped out into the hall.
It was pitch dark out there - Alexei couldn't even see his own hand, held only inches from his face. He laughed nervously to himself. I don't care how gross this makes me, I'm not going to look all around this freaky building at 3 AM for a bathroom. Something plastic banged against his foot - a waste paper can! He pulled down his pants and sat on it, trying to get things over with as quickly as possible. Perhaps it was the storm, but his MP3 kept skipping and making whispering noises. As he zipped up he could have sworn he heard a voice whisper ALEX into his earbuds. He let out a muffled scream, accidentally kicking over the waste paper can before ripping out his earbuds and dashing back into his room.
Somebody was already there. A dark figure only a few inches taller than he was stood in front of the window, bathed in moonlight. Whoever it was was dressed in strange clothing from what was either a different time period, a different country, or both. The room was ice cold and the air seemed to fill with the same whispery, smooth voice whispering his name over and over again. He froze in place as his MP3 player thudded to the ground. The ghost turned on the spot and started towards him, practically gliding across the floor. As his face emerged from the shadows, Alexei realized he recognized him from the grainy pictures he'd seen in old history books. The pictures hardly did him justice. Still frozen on the spot, Alexei managed to choke out one word. "Oro-Orochimaru?"
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Summary:
Orochimaru confronts Alexei about his psychic abilities and his group of friends after having listened in on his angst-filled conversation with the rest of the fanclub on Discord.
Notes:
Oro's POV here, mostly.
Chapter Text
Orochimaru curiously eyed the now shivering man in the middle of the room. Pitiful, but at least he had the self control to refrain from screaming. He had overheard Alexei's breakdown but a few hours before when he had resorted to using the voice channel, evidently far too shaken up to text. Psychic abilities? Telekinesis in this now-mundane world? How fascinating. He grinned and drew closer.
He stood across from Alexei and touched the side of his face lightly with the back of his hand, annoyed when it passed straight through his head. Alexei jerked back as if he had been electrocuted. Orochimaru stared at his hand in irritation - how often he forgot he was actually dead! Alexei mumbled something, his eyes hidden by his dark, overgrown bangs. "What was that, Alex?" he whispered, he whispered, staring intently. "A-are you going to kill me now?" the man repeated, staring at the ground.
"Kill you?" Orochimaru laughed, the sound echoing off the cinder brick walls, "That was the furthest thing from my mind." He gestured at a spot on the floor beneath the window. "Sit down."
Alexei's mouth was dry as Orochimaru sat down beside him. He didn't want to stare, but he was too captivated by those golden serpentine eyes to look away. "So...you heard everything," Alexei said abashedly. Orochimaru nodded. "No need to be ashamed. Now that I know of your power, I'd like very much to see it in action," he said.
Alexei's eyes widened, a blush spreading across his face. He held up a finger as he stared hard at a piece of chalk lying on the ground. It rolled around for a while before it rose in the air and drew a circle on the chalkboard above. Alexei let out a gasp, and the chalk fell to the ground, along with it's manipulator. He could feel Orochimaru's eyes on him as he forced himself to sit up, now red-faced with embarrassment. "I can't .... control it that well," he panted, "I can only move big things when I'm angry, and it's usually by accident anyway."
As he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, he was surprised to see Orochimaru was still smiling at him. Orochimaru reached out to brush Alexei's hair out of his eyes, but froze, remembering he could no longer touch anything. "You have red eyes," he mused, "They remind me of the Sharingan....I wonder...." Alexei stared at him. "I-it's not the Sharingan," he sighed, "It's albinism. I just dyed my hair because I didn't want people staring at me." He hid his face with his hands. "Why are you looking at me like that...like I'm somebody important?"
The sannin pursed his thin lips. In reality, he found Alexei a little annoying, but he could be useful to him. Him and his friends. If his memory served him well, there were at least two other mediums he was in contact with, as well as a witch by the name of Bee. There was another boy in the group named Jan, who nobody knew much about. This intrigued Orochimaru as well. If this boy contacted his friends and told them of the encounter then perhaps....
Orochimaru leaned in close to Alexei, their faces only inches apart. "Because I believe you and your friends have great potential. I believe you eight can help me restore chakra to this world." Alexei froze on the spot. "How?" Orochimaru grinned, thankful that the history books had no records of his illegal activities. Alexei didn't see him as a criminal, only a powerful man who had made a village for outcasts, for people like him. A hero of sorts. "Just tell them about this, and arrange for all eight of you to meet up in one location. You will conduct a seance, and I'm sure that witch knows a spell that could help me. Tell them first thing tomorrow."
Alexei nodded. "I promise I'll do it, Lord Orochimaru...but I have a question." Orochimaru almost froze. Did this kid know of the experiments he had done? "Why are you here of all places?" I read about he lost continent the Shinobi Nations were established on - it's all underwater now." Orochimaru relaxed. "When shinobi colonized the rest of the world, I set up an underground hideout here. My summons liked the humid weather. I'm afraid the building has turned to dust long ago. This school was built directly on top of where it used to be," he trailed off wistfully. Alexei nodded, then his eyes widened as if he'd been startled.
"You're fading away," he observed with a frown. "That's because I an only visually manifest at this hour. It's almost 4 A.M. now. Rest, you will need it." he whispered as he faded away. Alexei swallowed, hating the fact that he'd be alone in this creepy place now. He reached for his phone to distract him, opening the Discord app. In the message box in all caps he typed, "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS AREN'T GONNA BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME!
Chapter 4: Chapter 5
Summary:
Bog is introduced in his chapter! I hope I have his characterization right. Lots typed dialogue here. I apologize in advance.
Chapter Text
Bog was jolted awake as his phone buzzed loudly next to his head. He swore, he'd forgotten to mute his notifications again. Bleary-eyed, he traced the pattern on the screen to unlock the phone. Seven A.M.? It's too damn early for this, he thought, but opened the app anyway. The first message he saw was a frantic one from Mitsu. He skimmed the message, trying to force his eyes to focus. Apparently Mitsu had run away from his home and was now stranded in the middle of nowhere. "Where the hell are you?" he typed. Mitsu's reply was littered with spelling errors, he must have been on the verge of a panic attack, He read through it more carefully.
Judging from his message, Mitsu's uber driver refused to take him any further than an old Shell gas station that had closed down a long time ago. Mitsu informed him in panicked tones over the voice channel that he hadn't seen any businesses or houses around for miles. "Wait, you said an old Shell gas station right?" he typed, the memory returning to his sleep deprived mind, "Is there a billboard on the other side of the road advertising live baby gators? Does it have a big, well-drawn dick spray painted over it?" Mitsu's reply was a yes, and that the spray-painted disembodied phallus was blue in color. "I know where that is - it's only a few miles from my house!" Bog replied, "Hol up I'll come get you. Don't go anywhere."
Bog dressed in a hurry, pulling on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans he found laying on the floor. He frantically searched around for his keys before finding them on his bedside table. He rushed out of the door and walked down the long, twisting tree-lined drive way to his car, and old pick-up with a faded and peeling dark-blue paint job. He pulled into a parking spot in the station's parking lot. Mitsu was standing out front fidgeting nervously, tears running down his face. As he stepped out of the car Mitsu nearly threw himself at Bog, giving him an almost back-breaking hug. Stunned, Bog looked at Mitsu, "Shit, man, how long have you been out here?" Mitsu quickly wiped the tears from his face. "Since five A.M.! Do you have any idea how creepy this place is in the dark?" Bog suppressed a snort, "I dunno, I'm used to it. Come on, get in the car. If you're hungry there's a McDonald's about ten miles from here but....not much else."
The two boys drove to the McDonald's in silence. After parking the car in a nice shady spot, Bog watched as Mitsu took a big bite out of his breakfast sandwich. It must have been some time since he'd last eaten. "Didya see Alex's message?" he asked, mouth half full. Bog shook his head as Mitsu took out his phone and scrolled a bit before shoving it in his face. Bog's eyes widened as he read the message. "He saw Orochimaru's ghost? Lucky bastard." "Yeah," replied Mitsu, "and apparently he wants all eight of us to meet up for a séance or some shit so he can bring chakra back to the world or something. We just need a meeting spot, that's all. Bog scarcely heard the last of the sentence. His heart pounded. He sometimes worried about Alexei, wondering if the guy had lost his mind a long time ago. All the same, this could be his one chance to meet the man he had idolized for years, whose pictures he often found himself staring at, wondering to himself what he must have been like. "We can use my place," he said, "I live alone, so we won't have to deal with any questions. Sure it's old, but it's big enough."
Bog held up a finger and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He made sure the message of their meeting place was sent out to every member of the group. Tigre replied in a hurry. He and his brother Dhanvin were nearly on the other side of the U.S., but they'd be there in a few days. "We need to gtfo anyway," Tigre replied, "We'll pick up Kai, he's on the way in the next state over. Dhanvin's coming too, but he keeps saying the séance is a bad idea. He says the whole thing's fishy. Too bad for him, lol!" He received only a brief text from Jan: "see you there". Bee informed them that they had their own car and would be driving down to meet them as soon as they packed their supplies.
Meanwhile, Mitsu sent a private message to Alexei, asking him where he was currently. He handed his answer to Bog. "He was only two hours from here the whole damn time?" Bog exclaimed. He turned to Mitsu, a gleam in his one good eye. "How do you feel about a little roadtrip?"