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Ghostbusters: Regenesis Chapter 17 (Full Circle) Written by Leo_Todrius

Heat... Scorching, searing, sweltering. There were many words for it, but few managed to capture the essence of just how hot it was. The sky seemed faintly orange with the haze of the heat even hours before sunset and the black top seemed to glisten like lakes of molten rock. It had been a week of record breaking temperatures and the entire Willamette Valley was on a severe weather advisory. Portland had even set up 'cool shelters' to try and protect at risk elderly and youth as the weather hit one hundred and twenty degrees. Oregon had never been so hot, and the Ghostbusters had never had to work in such a heat before.

Eli ran up the slight incline of the promenade of Portland State University, crossing the cement paths and moving past the benches and statues. His tan brown uniform was soaked with sweat and his blond hair stuck to his face as he ran. Eli was panting, trying to expel the hot air from his lungs. Gray had managed to figure out a mesh to put into their tan uniforms to pull extra heat away from their bodies. While it wasn't perfect, it did help a little. Eli took a turn and darted under a sky bridge, making his way through narrower passages. Seth watched Eli running from up on a roof top, crouched down low behind the molding. He glanced across to where Gray was on the next roof top over before lifting his radio.

"Alright, Nico, get ready. It's almost time to trigger it." Seth said. They waited and soon enough the buildings began to tremble. A moment later, it appeared... The ghost looked much like a giant glowing green and white rhino with eight horns and armadillo plating on its body, snarling and thrashing as it chased Eli. Seth and Gray had to resist the urge to use their proton blasters, but its plating had rendered their typical attack rather useless. Seth and Gray turned, watching the ghost follow Eli into an alley way... an alley way that had been covered with a grid of traps at the entrance. The beast slowly advanced, sniffing at the air, pawing at the cement as it moved toward Eli, its eyes glowing darkly. Seth and Gray waited until it was standing in the midst of the grid.

"NOW!" Gray shouted over the radio, but nothing happened. Seth looked across the roof, seeing Gray shout at his radio but not hearing him. Seth lifted his own radio.

"Nico, turn it on!" Seth shouted, but there was still no response. Seth dropped the radio and pulled out his proton blaster, aiming for the rhino's head. He opened fire and the stream shot out, but as soon as it hit the armor plating, it deflected and hit the near by building, sending a rain of bricks down. The rhino let out a shout of pure rage before it swung around, its tail hitting Eli and sending him flying into the wall.

"What are you doing?!" Nico shouted upwards, coming out from his cover, "I thought you said no blasters?!"

"TURN IT ON!" Gray and Seth shouted in unison. Nico turned around before he saw the rhino and his eyes widened. He ran back and grabbed the controller, pressing it tight. Sixteen box traps opened up, glowing white as the entry of the alley was enveloped in ionized light. The rhino let out a screech before it was divided up into raw energy and consumed into the grid before the energy ran down the wires and was deposited in the yellow disc trap around the corner.

"Eli!" Nico whispered before he ran over into the alley way, pulling Eli up gently. Eli groaned softly, looking around blearily.

"When this heat wave hit, people stopped calling in. It was like the ghosts were on vacation, trying to get away from the heat too. Why is it that our first call is an armored rhino?" Eli asked. Nico chuckled.

"Maybe he likes the heat?" Nico asked.

"Or his hiding spot didn't work anymore." Eli replied before he moved to stand up. Eli turned, looking back. He had left a faint imprint of sweat on the cement beneath him, though it soon evaporated, sizzling away into nothingness. Eli looked over at the trap grid and then at Nico, "What took so long on the trap?"

"They didn't tell me it was time." Nico replied.

"Actually we tried, but the radios aren't working." Seth said, appearing around the corner as Gray came out of the door of another building. Nico pulled out his radio and clicked the button, but nothing came out of the other radios. Eli pulled out his and tried.

"Testing, 1...2... nope." Eli said, meeting with equal failure.

"It wasn't the ghost either, he's trapped." Gray said softly, "Let's get the grid down and go home to the air conditioning to figure this out."

"Sounds good to me." Seth said, moving to pull traps off of the framework they had built.

"You sure you're okay?" Nico asked Eli. Eli nodded, reaching to caress Nico's dark hair out of his eyes.

"I'm fine, I just want to get home. Let's get these traps down." Eli smiled, moving over to help Seth dismantle. Nico quickly joined in, but Gray was busy looking around. The city was dead because of the heat... and now even their radios were dead. It was hard to keep from feeling incredibly nervous about it all.

****

The Ecto 11 rolled into the firehouse and the door rumbled down behind it, shutting out most of the sunlight. The Ghostbusters had put tin foil up in the windows above the garage door to try and keep the heat from soaking in, though thankfully the air conditioners were still running full bore in the firehouse to keep it a manageable 88 degrees. The Ecto actually creaked a bit as the metal shifted temperatures. Seth had turned the air conditioning in the car down and then off before they got back, giving it some time to change temperatures so it didn't crack when they turned it off.

The Ghostbusters pushed out of the car, peeling off their uniforms as they moved. Before long Eli was in nothing but his robin's egg blue underwear, groaning in relief at the temperature change. Nico followed after with his jaw hanging open, drawn in by the irresistible sight. Seth and Gray got out afterward, though Seth merely unzipped his tan uniform down to the waist. Gray moved around the car and over to the desk that sat a ways back from the parking space, pulling out the small camping television they had.

Gray plugged the television in and turned it on, but rather than a signal there was merely a field of digital static. Gray changed the channel a few times, getting the same result each time before he sat down at the computer and typed in the web address of a local news channel. Thankfully the web page loaded effortlessly, but the news reports confirmed his fears. Gray followed the links to the news reports they had uploaded as video.

"I'm Geoff Gianola and now your Breaking News at this hour. An unthinkable phenomenon has struck world wide. Scientists have reported that some sort of interference has disrupted all radio waves across the globe. It came like a flash, blanking all digital broadcast televisions, cell phones and wireless internet all at once across the entire planet. The sudden collapse of technology has led to wide spread panic. The FAA has grounded all flights and other countries are following suit until the cause of this problem can be identified." The reporter continued on, but Gray slowly rose from his feet and moved back to the front door of the firehouse and eased it open, looking outside at the sky and the growing orange haze.

"What is it?" Seth asked softly. Gray closed the door before he turned around.

"It's... got to be Zytu. He's here..." Gray whispered.

"Zytu, the... devourer or... No, not already. We're still missing a piece of the device." Seth said. Gray turned and ran up the stairs to the second floor, moving over to the computer that had been churning through all their data. He sat down quickly, trying to open the program, finding error reports. Several of the sites the program used had gone dark due to problems with the interference.

"What's going on?" Eli and Nico asked from where they had been. Rerun slowly floated in from the kitchen, eating a fudgicle as he watched the Ghostbusters.

"Zytu is here, it has to be him, but we need to get that last piece. We're out of time... and this damn program hasn't figured..." Gray stopped mid sentence.

"Gray, you need to keep us up with you, what's going on?" Seth asked. Gray stared at the screen in disbelief for a long moment, his eyes starting to glisten.

"No... No..." Gray murmured, clenching his teeth. Seth moved over and put his hands on Gray's shoulders.

"What is it?" Seth asked.

"I plugged everything we knew into the system, tried to figure out where all the portals would be. We got so much data with the naga world and the wild west world and the orc world and everything, but... it didn't predict any future portals, it predicted a past one... One we couldn't have possibly gotten to, we were kids." Gray said.

"So what do we do?" Nico asked softly. Gray took a deep breath.

"For decades ghosts have been breaking through into our dimension, causing problems. We made tools to fight them... Maybe we can use those tools to break into this last portal. We have to do something." Gray said gently.

"Then we'll do it." Nico nodded, "I'll call Dakota and then we'll grab some gear and head over to wherever it is." Nico said.

"You can't call, cell phones are out. We'll have to pick him up on the way to the water front." Gray replied. Nico grimaced.

"Then we can't contact any of the other Ghostbusters. Not Rodgers, not New York, nothing..." Nico said.

"If Dakota's heading here because of the emergency, we won't have a way to get in contact with you." Seth said.

"Alright. We'll try to pick him up but if he's not there we'll go to the water front. If he shows up here, you can drive him to join us." Gray said. Seth looked a little sad that he was being left behind, but he understood. Dakota, Nico and Gray were the gear heads. They knew the technology and if they had any hope of saving the world, they'd have to work together.

"Alright, let's get going." Nico said. He turned to give Eli a soft, lingering kiss before he headed back for the stairs to grab some gear from the laboratories downstairs. Eli watched Nico go downstairs before he looked back at the computer screen. It had overlaid a geometrical pattern over the portal sights and a mathematical formula for when the portals appeared relative to their position. It all seemed to make sense, at least everything but why the last portal had been missed so long ago.

****

The hours had passed and the sun had started to set. The sky filled with salmon pink and citrus orange, bathing the city in the colors... but the heat had not broken. If anything it had started to get warmer. Eli and Seth had tried to pass the time by playing chess, but their hearts weren't in it. They moved the pieces and set them down, seeming rather disinterested. Eli had managed to put on some shorts, but his bare back was sticking to the pleather of the chair. While the two Ghostbusters played, Rerun floated next to them, trying to understand all the rules, though the heat was making it hard. Rerun pulled his lime green hourglass t-shirt off and set it over a chair, going shirtless just like Eli. His usually gleeful face was contemplative. He hated to see his friends so sad and he knew they were quite worried. He still wasn't sure what to do.

"Check mate." Seth said after a moment. Eli looked up in surprise before looking around at the board.

"Thank god." Eli said. Seth looked perplexed. Eli blushed, "Sorry, I like playing with you, it's just my heart wasn't in it."

"I know what you mean. I keep wondering if its time to go check on them or something." Seth said. Eli was about to say something when the lights suddenly snapped out. The air conditioner rumbled and slowed to a stop before there was silence. The only light to make it into the upstairs came from around the corners of what they had stuffed in the windows. Seth and Eli sprung to their feet and moved to pull the coverings out, letting some light in... and revealing the outside. The sun was going down but the orange coloration was still present. Even the stars peeking out in the evening sky seemed tinted.

"The next block over is out too." Eli whispered.

"So are the bridge lights... and the west side... Eli, I think the entire city is out of power." Seth whispered.

"What if it's everywhere? What if..." Eli paused, thinking of the containment unit before he gasped, turning. He ran at full speed down the stairs, his feet thumping on the wooden steps before he darted past the computer desk and down the metal steps, emerging in the basement. He ran over to the containment unit, seeing only one panel was still lit. He moved over and swiped his finger across it to get the diagnostic.

The right side of the screen was the power indicator, showing that the chemical battery backup had been activated when the generator failed. Eli knew that didn't give them much time, but none of the alarms had gone off. Seth came down the stairs behind Eli, followed by Rerun. Eli started moving through the tiny screen's interface before he stopped.

"That can't be possible, the... volume is shrinking." Eli whispered.

"The... containment volume?!" Seth asked.

"We're losing them, the ghosts, they're just..." Eli paused, "Dying."

"How far has it gone?" Seth asked.

"We're down to ten per... eight... three..." Eli murmured before the containment unit chirped, indicating that it was empty. A moment later the screen went dark, the power depleted. The micro-universe inside the large red machine ceased to exist and everything turned back into solid hardware in a dark, faintly cool basement. Eli stood in shock, thinking of the thousands of ghosts they had captured over the years. There had been no humane way to dispose of them, no just way to send them back home... and they had just ceased to exist, all of them. Eli turned and looked at Rerun who still was floating there, looking around with the child like fascination with the power outage.

Eli moved over and wrapped his arms around Rerun, clinging to him tightly. The blue skinned ghost hugged Eli back with a warm smile, snuggling against the blond boy's neck, loving whenever he could get hugs from his friends. Seth took several breaths before he looked back at the stairs and moved back up to the ground level. Eli and Rerun soon followed after, watching Seth cross the dark garage before he opened the front door. The heat from outside spilled in, but Seth didn't care anymore. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked around. A moment later, Eli and Rerun emerged as well.

People had started to come outside with the black out, looking around themselves... but something felt very wrong, very unearthly. It was quiet and still, too silent. The entire city had lost power. Every car, every plane, every electronic device was dead. It was an unearthly quiet that hadn't existed in the Willamette Valley in hundreds of years. Seth took a few steps up the sidewalk before he paused, seeing something in the air. It was a small particle, drifting down ever so slowly in defiance of gravity.

Seth looked around, spotting another and then another, realizing there were hundreds, even thousands. He reached out his hand, expecting to feel the particles land like ash, but as the tiny flakes landed on his hand, they melted into water. They were snow flakes. Seth's skin raised into goose bumps. It was over a hundred degrees and it was snowing. The flakes were coming down more and more, melting whenever they touched something. The air grew thick with them, creeping toward a blizzard.

"Seth, I want to go inside..." Eli murmured, "Please? Please come inside." He begged.

"Alright, we... we can do that." Seth said, moving back toward the building. The three moved back into the firehouse and slowly closed the door behind them, praying that their friends would be able to make it back in time... for whatever it was to come.

****

The sun had set and the moon was out, but there had been no relief in the heat. Much to Seth's disgust, he had been forced to use candles to provide them with what little bit of light they had. Eli had curled up in a lounge chair with Rerun and was staring out of the window at the snow, but Seth had dug through the drawers and found Lucas' Journal from when he had been a vampire. Seth had poured through the inane ramblings before he found the passage that had stuck out to him.

"And the sky shall bleed frozen drops in the blazing heat; the rivers shall turn to blood..." Seth whispered. Eli looked up, looking at the journal.

"That's Lucas' prophecy, isn't it? The disaster the vampire was trying to escape?" Eli asked. Seth nodded slowly.

"The ghosts could tell this was coming, someone set all the pieces up for us but one. It feels like we've been caught in a check mate, that there's no way out of this doomsday." Seth whispered.

"There's only one thing I want right now, and I don't-" Eli stopped as they heard the faint sound of the door opening downstairs. Eli looked at Seth in fear, "Looters?" he whispered.

"We're back!" Nico called back. Eli grinned, springing from his chair, running down the stairs again. Seth and Rerun followed after, coming downstairs before gasping. In the moonlight through the windows, they could see that Nico and Gray's uniforms were as red as blood.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

"We fell into the river when the rocks gave way, we found where the portal was supposed to be... A stone circle at the water's edge, but- Gray sighed, "I couldn't do it, there wasn't anything I could do." Gray whispered.

"I know, I know... it's okay. The power went out everywhere, there wasn't anything you could do." Seth said. Gray's eyes widened.

"The containment unit, oh my god..." Gray whispered. Seth shook his head, though Eli nearly broke into tears.

"They're all gone, they just stopped... being." Eli whispered. Nico looked stunned.

"What?" Nico asked.

"They were dying off slightly faster than the containment unit was shutting down. In the end there just... weren't any to escape." Seth replied.

"So that's why we weren't busy? All the ghosts were just dying?" Nico asked. Gray looked very somber at that.

"We should go upstairs." Gray said softly. Eli was about to ask why, but the day had been so full of questions, so full of fear. He decided not to and the Ghostbusters headed to the stairwell, heading up to the top floor with trudging, heavy steps. Seth reached out to rub Gray's shoulders as they ascended.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked softly.

"I'm just really tired." Gray said.

"So am I." Seth replied. Gray hesitated.

"I know." Gray replied gently.

The Ghostbusters made it to the top floor and moved over to sit down on the couch and chairs. They leaned back and sighed with relief, feeling weary.

"So you guys walked from the water front?" Eli asked after a moment.

"Yeah. It wasn't too bad other than the heat." Gray said.

"And the looters." Nico added.

"No sign of Dakota?" Eli asked. Nico and Gray shook their head.

"He's always been a bit paranoid, maybe he saw Doomsday coming and just snapped." Nico said softly.

"Maybe..." Gray said before he stood up, "Can I get you guys anything? Tea, or... water or something?" Gray asked. Seth's brows furrowed slowly.

"Gray, you're not acting right. What's going on?" Seth asked. Gray looked startled before his face changed, looking more shamed.

"I just want to make sure you guys are comfortable." Gray said. Seth paused.

"As in the last comfort?" he asked. Gray said nothing. Nico and Eli looked over at Gray, their eyes demanding an answer. Even Rerun was looking around, watching them all. Gray moved back to sit down.

"Energy is being disrupted. Electromagnetic energy first with the radio waves and electricity... There's evidence that the psychokinetic energy of the ghosts was breaking down as soon as the heat wave started. If that continues, then we'll be next." Gray said.

"Because our brains use electrical impulses." Nico said softly.

"And even the chemical battery in the containment unit broke down." Eli added.

"So it's time to get... comfortable." Seth said with realization, taking a deep breath. The ghostbusters looked at one another for a long moment, thinking about everything they had been through. Hey had fought countless ghosts, demons and monsters to get to where they were, but they still hadn't succeeded. They had missed the last challenge, the last piece of the puzzle. In a strange way it was almost comforting to be so certain of what was to come. Gray felt relief that their work was done, Eli took solace in the fact that he was with friends, while Nico was glad that Lucas had escaped their world to live with the Naga... at least there would be one survivor.

Seth stood up and moved over, sitting down with Gray before pulling him close. Gray leaned his head down onto Seth's shoulder and closed his eyes, taking one of his boyfriend's large hands in his. Eli stood up and moved over to sit in Nico's lap, cuddling as close as he could. Nico kissed Eli's head before wrapping his arms around his lover. They said nothing, sitting still and together.

****

Minutes had passed, then hours. The heat had continued and the darkness lasted. Rerun had tried to pass the time with a nap, but his solid white eyes slowly opened as he realized that it was still dark, dark when it should have been light. He floated up from the floor between the Ghostbusters and moved over to the window, looking outside. The sky was dim, a dim orangey purple. The sky continued to drop its odd snow flakes and in the distance the Willamette river was a dark crimson color.

Rerun turned and moved around the room. He didn't want to make his friends mad by waking them up, but he was scared and lonely. He moved over and touched Gray's shoulder gently. Gray didn't move. Rerun poked him again but there was no response. Rerun took in a breath before he floated over to Eli and shook his shoulder gently, then poked Nico's shoulder. Neither Ghostbuster would wake up either. Rerun was growing anxious and then he poked Eli's neck. What he felt was far from normal.

The skin was no warmer than the room itself. Rerun felt no life, no existence, nothing but an empty shell. Rerun's eyes glistened sharply before silver tears started to run down his round cheek, falling to the floor below. He checked Nico and found the same thing. Soon his floating body was trembling, his four fingered hands shaking. He floated back over to Gray and checked him, finding the same thing... but when he reached for Seth's neck, he found heat. Seth stirred gently before his eyes half opened. A faint smile crossed Seth's lips.

"Hey Rerun... Sorry, I must have nodded off." He said gently. Rerun sniffed a bit before he moved to hug Seth, not wanting to let go, nuzzling his pointed ears against the large man's long brown goatee. Seth reached a hand up and stroked Rerun's darker blue hair, "When I met you I had a feeling that we'd met before, I always felt like there was something special about you. I'm so glad that you joined our family. You were... so..." Seth murmured, trailing off slowly before he slumped in the chair, his eyes still half lidded. Rerun looked at Seth, waiting a moment for him to finish his sentence. The moment passed.

Rerun slowly let go of Seth and floated back, the silver tears streaming down his cheeks without end. His heart hurt, his chest was tight, his fingers dug into his hands. He had lost them all, all his friends. They were gone, everyone was gone, everyone he loved and cared for. Rerun felt all his anguish build up inside of himself, creeping up from his throat, pooling in his head before it exploded out of his mouth in a whisper.

"No..." Rerun murmured, the very first words he had ever spoken. Rerun gasped in surprise, but before he thought about it, he knew how very right the words were. "NO!" he shouted, "NO!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Rerun was panting, blue blood starting to leak from the palms of his hands where his fingers dug in so tightly. Rerun wouldn't let it end this way. He wouldn't loose his friends. He would use everything he had to save them.

The time wyrm floated out to the center of the room before he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and then concentrated before he opened his eyes again, light spilling out of them. The silver clock arms on his back left their wing like configuration and started to turn. The silver scales on his blue tail shimmered. The air around him seemed to ripple for a moment before there was motion again. Seth and Eli moved, but in reverse. They went around the upper floor, they went downstairs in reverse, then Eli and Seth came back up. Everything was happening in reverse and it was picking up speed.

Rerun watched their lives running in reverse around them before everything became a blur. Every time that they had come upstairs, paced, cooked, eaten dinner. Soon there was a gray motion blur of everyone walking everywhere. The windows were full of an odd opalescent light, the light of days and nights happening simultaneously. Rerun felt the weight and heat of Zytu fading away until the air was a cool, comfortable temperature, but it wasn't enough. Rerun kept pushing it, using his powers more than ever before. He felt the strain, time itself stretching him thin. He tried to hold on, but then it came to a crashing halt as time resumed.

The time wyrm panted softly, trying to recompose himself before he opened his eyes and realized he was being stared at by eight strangers. Rerun was startled but he looked around slowly at the eight cleanly shaven men with well groomed hair, wearing suspenders that held up their Kevlar like pants.

"What the hell is that?" One of the men asked.

"It's a ghost..." Another said softly.

"This isn't New York... What do we do?" Another asked.

"Get the fire hose?" Another asked. Rerun grimaced and shot down the stairs to the first floor, but much to his surprise he had to come to a sudden stop before he slammed into a huge, bright red fire truck. He turned around only to realize one of the walls he was used to being there was missing, leaving room for one more fire truck where the equipment laboratory had been. There were screams and shouts upstairs as the firemen came running after Rerun.

Despite disliking passing through solid objects, Rerun closed his eyes and flew forward, passing through the firehouse garage door, barreling across the street and through several passing cars before he arched up, flying over the roof of the building across the street, gaining as much altitude as he could. He climbed upwards more and more before he turned back to look at the city below. It looked different, very different. The billboards had different colors, the cars were more angular, people wore brighter colors. Even the air felt different, like there was far less static going through the air.

Rerun knew he had traveled to the past, he had come this far back to save his friends... but he had no idea of how far back he was or where to start, at least for a moment. Rerun thought about what Seth had said to him, about feeling like he had met him before. Rerun thought back to when he had met the Ghostbusters in the kitchen of a random family home. The very first time he had seen Seth, Seth said he had seen him before. The pieces fit together. Rerun had to find Seth and get him to... save himself and everyone else. Rerun looked back down at Portland below, wondering where he would find Seth. He could rule out the firehouse, it was currently full of firemen... That only left the rest of the city to check. The time wyrm slowly started drifting along, trying to pick out a place to start, knowing if he was caught, he could loop back time a few seconds and avoid it. He just didn't know how long he was going to be looking.

****

Early afternoon light shown across the west side of Portland, seeming white and clear with just a hint of the heat of the day. Most of the neighborhood was at work or school, but rumbling down the sidewalk came the area's youngest resident. Seth Dillon was a child beloved by all that met him and few days were complete without seeing him ride around in his mustard yellow playschool peddle car. The six year old's dishwater blonde hair seemed to be darkening every day, taking on more and more brown to match his eye color.

Seth worked the plastic rings on the side of the car, maneuvering it over toward the cement steps and coming to a stop. He climbed out of his vehicle and grabbed the front lip, lugging it up step by step before it was at the top of the hill and he pushed it into the side yard, tucking it out of the way. The six year old then turned to move up the rest of the steps to the porch, grinning with glee at the vast network of pale wooden Brio train tracks his mother and he had established.

The six year old sat down and started moving the trains around, talking to himself as he imagined the world of the trains, telling all the passengers to look out of the left side of their windows and they could see the Geo Cruiser from Captain planet. It was an innocent and care free moment, one Rerun was surprised to have come across. The blue time wyrm floated just above the roof line, peering down. He had been in the past for three months before he found a mail box lettered "Dillon" but it hadn't been the right one.

Rerun had encountered numerous humans before looping time back and avoiding detection. Only the firemen at the firehouse had any memory of him, but after three months they had decided the building was haunted and moved on. Rerun had never waivered in his hope, but at long last he found Seth. He didn't know why, but he could tell without any effort that this was the boy that would grow to be the largest Ghostbuster on the west coast and his dear friend. Still, it only occurred to Rerun then that he still had a rather large problem... How to get Seth to help save humanity.

"Seth, time for lunch!" Seth's mother called through the open door. Seth smiled and stood up before moving in, leaning down to pet a gray and white half Siamese cat with a crook tail.

"Come on Frank, time for lunch." Seth said. The cat followed the boy into the house, seemingly for want of the boy's company more than even food, though food was never turned down. Rerun watched Seth disappear inside, still plotting.

****

Night had fallen and the moon had risen over the Willamette valley. At long last Rerun had figured out how to try and accomplish his objective. He floated outside of Seth's bedroom, the large window covered over with a red and white tapestry of lions and a vague floral pattern, no doubt to keep it from getting too bright during the day, but now Seth was no doubt asleep. Rerun took a breath before he pushed forward, passing through the wall, an over-stuffed closet and the closet door before coming into the long, somewhat narrow bedroom.

Red terracotta fireplace flues and wooden boards created a bookshelf at the east end of the room while a long wooden box held a plethora of toys. The bed was across from the toy box by the window and the room had three doors; a door to the living room, a door to the hall by the bathroom, and the closet door. Rerun looked around to try and get his bearings before he turned, making a silent gasp as he saw that Seth was not only awake but well armed.

The six year old stood next to his bed wearing a hollow blue plastic proton pack connected to a blue proton blaster with an orange ring around the tip. The boy rolled a blue plastic box across the carpet with white and black striped doors before his foot came down on the inflatable foot pedal. Air was forced into the toy trap, causing the doors to snap open just as he depressed on the trigger. The proton blaster made a growling noise as Seth worked the blaster around, but when Rerun didn't go into the trap, Seth tilted his head a bit.

"Are you a ghost?" Seth asked finally. Rerun considered for a long moment before he nodded that he was a ghost. Seth looked puzzled before suddenly grinning, "Then you must be a good ghost like Slimer, that's why you didn't go in the trap." Seth said. Rerun couldn't help but grin at that conclusion. Seth seemed born to be a Ghostbuster even if all he was equipped with toys. Rerun looked at the boy and opened his mouth to try and talk.

"Se... Sehthhh..." Rerun murmured. He had only been able to force one word out in desperation before, even if he said it three times. It still seemed he wasn't ready to speak.

"You know my name? Did we know each other before?" Seth asked. Rerun shook his head before pointing to his throat. Seth's eyes widened, "Oh, you can't talk... Gotta sore throat?" Seth asked before looking around for something. He finally spotted it in the corner and moved over, lifting up an orange plastic device with orange and yellow buttons and a small screen. He brought it over to Rerun and offered it up with a smile, "This is a speak and spell. You write out stuff and it can say it." Rerun looked at Seth with a soft grin. Even so young he was thoughtful, but Rerun knew that he wasn't going to have a better opportunity. He moved to float over the bed, starting to type information into the speak and spell.

"Need - help - Everyone - in - danger. Seth - can - help." Rerun typed out.

"What do you need me to do?" Seth whispered in excitement.

"Go - somewhere. It - maybe - scary." Rerun typed out.

"I'm not scared. You saw me with my blaster, I ain't scared of anything." Seth said happily. Rerun smiled at that before he looked back at the speak and spell.

"We - have - to - sneak - out. Parents - mad." Rerun typed.

"My dad slept through an earthquake, but getting past my mom is gonna be hard." Seth whispered, considering, "Maybe if we go out the back door, but I can't reach the latch." Seth said. Rerun held up his blue hands and wiggled his fingers with a smile. Seth grinned at that before he moved over to his closet and pulled on a blue long sleeve t-shirt and some turquoise and blue stretch pants before putting on his small shoes. Once he was dressed, he looked around for any tools he might need before grabbing a screw driver and a roll of tape, stuffing them into his pocket.

Seth led the way to the back door of the bedroom, easing it open. He quietly padded across the kitchen floor to the door that led to the pantry. Rerun looked around before he unlocked the door and eased it open. Seth moved out into the pantry before he moved out of the screen door and down the steps, stopping just outside of the deck surrounding some of he backyard trees. A play house made out of recycled windows glistened in the moonlight, home grown corn and tomatoes swaying in the slight breeze. Rerun shut the doors behind him before floating down to Seth, still carrying the speak and spell before he started typing again.

"Climb - on - back." Rerun typed out. Seth paused.

"You're a good ghost, right? You're not trying to trick me?" Seth asked. Rerun gave a soft smile before typing.

"I - am - friend - of - Ghost - Bust - urrs." The machine said, having a hard time with the last word as it was not in its cartridge memory. Seth considered before he nodded, resuming his earlier belief that Rerun was a friendly ghost. He slid one leg over Rerun's back before coming to rest against his spine like a jockey on a horse. Rerun started to float up and Seth grabbed around his waist tightly, his hands resting just below Rerun's blue nipples.

Rerun lifted up higher and higher, flying into the night's sky. Seth tried to suppress his squeals of glee, hugging Rerun tight, watching his house disappear beneath him, then his neighborhood. Powell boulevard, McDonalds, Saint Vincent DePaul. Everything Seth knew flew by beneath before they approached the river. The water was inky black other than the reflected moonlight and the lights of the boats, but Rerun finally lowered down toward the water front, coming down where the land was closest to the water. It seemed so different with some of the park unfinished, but Rerun was glad as it was a little easier.

Seth watched everything in wonder, holding onto Rerun for dear life, but up ahead he saw something strange sticking out of the water... Stones, forming a perfect circle. It almost looked like something built to surround a man hole cover, but instead of metal, the center was still water. Rerun stopped just above the ring, looking down. This was the spot Gray had talked about, he just prayed it was the right moment.

"Is this it? Is this how we save the world?" Seth asked. Rerun hesitated, but then the water beneath them started to bubble and broil before it spun around, creating a vortex before it seemed to pull away, creating a tunnel beneath them. Rerun wasted no time. He took a deep breath and went down. Seth clung to Rerun tightly as they dropped down into the tube, flying for almost a minute before they shot out the other side, rising up from the ground again. Seth shivered as the cool night air washed over him. Rerun leveled out before he looked around, his eyes slowly widening in absolute shock. It was a feeling that Seth shared himself.

They had emerged into a completely barren landscape. There were still hills and valleys, there was a river, but everything else was completely desolate. There was rock and water and dirt, but nothing else at all. There were no trees, no plants, no animals, no sign of anything living at all. It wasn't even a wilderness, it simply was nothing like a rock quarry that went as far as the eye could see. Rerun moved down and followed the river, watching everything go by. Even the river was completely sterile. There was no algae, no moss, nothing at all.

Seth reached down and traced his fingers through the dirt, but it didn't feel right. It was dry, sandy, sterile and rocky. There was no life in any of it. The two clung to each other a bit more as Rerun continued to head south. Minutes passed just the same beneath the moon and starlight, but Seth stirred, pointing into the distance.

"There, look!" Seth exclaimed. Rerun followed his tiny outstretched arm, spotting something that didn't seem natural. It looked almost like a building carved out of stone itself, glistening black with veins of green. Rerun adjusted his angle and moved up to the building before coming to a stop, lowering down to the ground. Seth slowly climbed off of Rerun's back and reached out, running his hand over the surface, feeling how smooth it was.

"Mom says that rain a-roads stuff until its smooth, like how the ocean makes sand." Seth said. Rerun smiled and nodded at that, though he still was a bit worried. He looked at the dark doorway with concern, but then he felt something brushing his hand. Rerun looked down to see Seth's fingers sliding in between his own, the pale pink colored hand small in comparison to his light blue flesh. Rerun gave the hand a squeeze and gave Seth a reassuring smile before they moved forward together.

They stepped into darkness, but after a moment there was a faint glow coming from the floor. Small rectangles started to glow, leading on to more and more, almost like the lines of a highway. The path split off into different angles and other lights started to slowly come to life. Crystals mounted on the walls started to glow gently, sending out a faint bluish white cloud of light. Rerun and Seth looked around in wonder at the surroundings, quite amazed.

Unlike the perfectly polished exterior of the building, the interior was quite detailed. There were etched lines and patterns and iconography across the shiny black walls. There were chairs, tables, and even desks, though a layer of dust covered everything. Rerun could feel the age of the place in his core. Whatever it had been, it had been there a long time. Rerun and Seth kept looking around, but Rerun's eyes widened as he realized the entire building was made out of obsidian lava rock, just like the artifacts that the Ghostbusters had been finding in other dimensions.

"Ow..." Seth murmured. Rerun turned to see that his friend had bumped into something in the middle of the room. Rerun swept over and leaned down, looking into Seth's eyes to make sure he was okay. Seth smiled gently, seeing Rerun's concern. He nodded, "I'm okay, I just bumped into this thingy." Seth said, looking up. The light in the room was still dim, but as his eyes adjusted, the young boy gasped. In the middle of the room was a carved statue... of a time wyrm.

Carved in realistic splendor was the stone form of a time wyrm similar to Rerun, though several details were different. The spade on his tail had a gap in it almost like a tuning fork while the arms coming out of his back were more spindly like wrought iron. A long bushy goatee hung down from his chin, carved in great detail and instead of hollow rings in-between each centipede like section of his tail, the carved wyrm had a diamond pattern.

"D... Dad?" Rerun whispered, his solid white eyes wide. He reached up and pet the statue gently before his head looked down for a long moment. Seth reached up and pat the statue as well, but as his hand rested on the statue, the black stone seemed to change color. Seth pulled his hand back, leaving a red hand print that remained for a long moment before the air shimmered and the image of a human in purple robes appeared, translucent and staring into the distance.

"If you are seeing this message, then you have come a greater distance than any could imagine for a purpose more important than any has ever imagined before." The figure said.

"We did come a long way." Seth smiled. Rerun watched the message intently as it continued.

"If you come from a civilization as advanced as our own, take heed... but it is with a full heart that I hope you have come from a reality where technology and culture has taken a more restrained approach." The figure said. Seth grimaced.

"What's he talking about?" Seth whimpered. He knew many large words, but the hologram was still using too many. Rerun reached over to pet Seth's hair.

"When I was a young man, we became aware of a being whose size was beyond calculation, a parasite that would consume entire dimensions, stripping them of all life. Everything from bacteria to sentient beings would cease to live, leaving an eternally sterile universe in its wake... and we learned that the parasite was heading to our world." The figure said. Seth leaned in closer to rerun.

"Is this what we're here for?" he whispered. Rerun nodded eagerly, watching the projection.

"We began to prepare, trying to find a way to escape. We began work on devices to transport us to other realities, we even tried to find a way to stop the beast, but we were not advanced enough... but then they came, the greatest allies we could have ever hoped for. The first was Cronah, a time wyrm... a wise, ancient spirit. He told us of the part we would play in destiny, of the heroes that would rise to stop this evil beast, he told us of what was to come in violation of his people's greatest laws, but rather than being punished... a higher force itself intervened." The projection explained.

"Your dad helped these people?" Seth asked. Rerun nodded gently again, smiling a lop sided grin.

"The next to come were the keepers of the light, spirits emerging from the desert as if on the end of a long pilgrimage. They never spoke, yet we understood them. They offered to be the messengers, the guardians, the deliverers, the method of our eventual victory. While they never came out and said it, many believed these keepers of the light were in fact acolytes of death himself. Our people had evolved to fear death, but... it has its part in natural order. There is life and there is death, but wherever the parasite went, there was one death and then nothing ever again. I believe these spirits of death wanted to save life as much as the rest of us did." The projection explained. Seth's jaw slowly dropped.

"I never knew death could be so cool..." Seth whispered. Rerun grimaced a bit at the lessons he seemed to be imparting to his friend.

"We had our allies, we had our purpose... we began constructing a weapon, but as we near its completion we grow concerned that we will not be able to activate it in time. Cronah has ensured us that our legacy will live on. If not in this reality, than in all the others protected by our sacrifice. If you are seeing this message, then hope is not lost. The keepers of the light have promised to take the pieces of the device to as many realities as possible to protect them from the parasite, but if they can be assembled on a world before it is devoured, if our work can be brought together once more, then this evil threat could be destroyed forever. You are our hope and you are our legacy. We trust you with the lives of every universe... Please, take this... and save them." The image whispered before flickering and disappearing.

As the hologram disappeared, a portion of the floor opened up and a platform raised. On it was the last artifact, a piece of obsidian stone with a light green jewel in the center. Rerun moved over and gently lifted the device up, looking at it. It was the piece the Ghostbusters in the future needed, the one relic they had been missing, the one thing they needed to save humanity. Rerun knew he was crossing his own timeline to get it back to them, but the entire trip had been about this moment, and it had taken Seth's hand print and his time traveling to make it possible, as if it was all foreseen.

Rerun looked up at the statue with a soft smile before he lowered down to the ground again, looking at Seth. Seth realized it was time to head home again. He climbed onto Rerun's back and wrapped his arms around his friend's waist before Rerun lifted up again and flew out of the building and across the dark landscape back the way they had come. Seth held on for dear life while Rerun held the artifact and the speak and spell. He glanced to the east, seeing the horizon glimmering with the start of dawn. He had to hurry. He rushed down stream, his body reflecting on the perfectly clear waters before he saw the stone archway and dove through it once more, passing through the vortex and emerging back in Portland once more.

The sudden deafness of the other world disappeared, replaced with a world full of cars and people and animals, the sound of technology and innovation and life. Seth laughed with glee, letting out a woop of excitement. Rerun could only smile at how wonderful the sounds of life were in general. He flew up into the sky, hoping to get Seth back as soon as possible. Seth, however, didn't care about anything. He was chilled to the bone and loving it, looking at the city from such great heights, his heart pounding in his chest. It was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen in his life... and as much as he tried to stay awake and enjoy even more of it, the boy let out a small yawn, his eyes growing heavy.

****

The blankets were slowly drawn back and Seth was lowered down into his bed, fast and deep asleep. Rerun slowly pulled the covers up over the boy, tucking him in comfortably before he moved to set the speak and spell back where it belonged. He turned, looking back at Seth one more time, looking at the six year old boy that had saved every dimension from the wrath of Zytu. Rerun held the artifact in his left hand as slowly floated out of Seth's room and made his way out of the back door, reaching an arm through it to lock the lock again once he was out.

The sun was slowly starting to rise and fill the heavens with the peachy glow of sunrise. Rerun smiled gently at the beauty of it, though he felt the sinking feeling of what was ahead of him. He had never been able to move time forward, only backwards. Even if he could jump back forward in time, he didn't want to do anything to risk the artifact's well being. He would have to take the slow path back home in order to make sure everything worked out, but Rerun knew he'd have something interesting to do in that time. He'd look after Seth as he grew up, as best he could anyhow. Rerun floated upwards into the trees, trying to find a nice isolated branch to settle down on and sleep. It was going to be a long twenty years.

****

The yelling bouncing back and forth in the house woke Rerun up from his slumber, his white eyes opening. It wasn't uncommon for the Dillon family to fight, but things had rarely gotten so loud so late. Rerun moved to peek down, seeing the back door swing open. Seth stormed out in a huff, his lanky teenager body making quick strides. He had grown his brown hair out long, past his shoulders and his skin was a bit pale, quite a contrast to the black jeans and skull black covered t-shirt he wore.

"Seth, come back here!" His mother shouted out of the back door, but Seth was already going down the street. Rerun moved to follow Seth, but he paused above the pantry.

"Amy, calm down. He'll come back, he always does." Seth's father murmured.

"I just don't know where he got it... He's so obsessed with death... All those drawings, the photographs, the books, he's going to become one of those gothic boys..." She sniffed.

"It isn't like he's burning bugs with a microscope or doing anything to animals, he's being constructive about it. If we don't make a big deal, maybe he won't try so hard... Teenage rebellion and all. When we stopped making him go to counseling about his imaginary friend, he eventually forgot about it." The father replied.

"I suppose you're right, but... what are we supposed to do?" Amy asked.

"Act like it doesn't bother us. He's our son and we love him. We could always try to get him invested in music or something. Just love him, it'll work out." Steve said. Amy took a deep breath.

"But the earring..." She murmured. Steve laughed.

"He's a teenager, let him be a cool teenager. Earring holes can grow shut." Steve replied. Rerun slowly lifted up from the pantry roof, heading along from house to house. He felt terrible that his visit had such an effect on Seth's life, but at the same time it was the Seth he had always known... When Rerun looked at Seth, he had seen the gargoyle and the Viking and the pissed off teenager, all the Seths he had been strung together in a line. Now he was seeing it happen in real time.

At the end of the block, Rerun found Seth sitting beneath a large maple tree, gazing up at the night's sky. He was looking at the stars and the moon with a long lost longing. He didn't even remember why anymore, but there was nothing more beautiful than a night's sky. Seth kept gazing up at the stars, imagining he was above them, drifting off in thought. Rerun smiled gently. He would remember why the sky was so special for both of them... and for always.

Time ticked past second by second until over an hour had gone by. At last Seth slowly rose up to his feet and headed back towards the house, trudging step by step. Seth was tired of his mother ragging on him all the time. She simply didn't understand the complexities of death. It wasn't morbid, it was amazing. It was something that the Ghostbusters had understood in New York, at least before they had gotten so good that they went out of business. Seth thought about the article he had read about Doctor Spengler teaching at a university in New York and wondered about writing him a letter. Seth smiled as the thought crystallized in his mind. He would write that letter, he was sure of it.

Rerun watched the teenager move up the steps back toward his house, seeing the moonlight shine across his skin. While usually his peach fuzz was invisible, the faintest hint of hair along Seth's chin glowed white as the moonlight hit it. Rerun smiled, knowing the man that Seth would grow into in a few more year's time. Rerun passed over the house again, finding the spot in the tree to resume his slumber and await yet another day.

****

The microwave beeped and Seth opened it, pulling the hot pockets out onto a paper plate, blowing on it to try and cool it down in a futile effort. He moved out into the living room and sat down on the couch, kicking his legs up on the coffee table before turning the television on. He'd been waiting for the brand new show Supernatural to air all summer and he wasn't about to miss it. From his vantage point outside the window, Rerun was excited to take part in one of his oldest hobbies... Watching shows he had already seen.

Keeping an eye on Seth had grown harder for Rerun over the years, especially when he had gone to college, but with his degree in hand Seth had come back to Portland. He was looking for work as best he could, but with no job experience it was still a little difficult. Seth tried to bite into his hot pocket, bouncing the bite around his mouth to try and let it cool. As one commercial on the television ended, another started with up tempo music. White swirled around the screen before forming into a very familiar image of a ghost before a large red ring came slamming down around it. Seth's eyes got as large as they could and his jaw dropped.

"If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call? The Ghostbusters!" Came a voice eerily familiar to Rerun. The logo disappeared, replacing itself with the image of an eighteen year old Asian boy in a tan Ghostbuster uniform with a proton pack on his back. Seth was so captivated by the Ghostbuster emblem that he forgot about his food until it burned his tongue and he spat it back out.

"Oh my god..." Seth murmured in excitement, reaching up to stroke his two inch goatee.

"Portland is a lively place full of culture and life, but it's recently become a hot bed of supernatural activity as well. My name is Grayson Kale and in the next month I'll be opening a local franchise office of the Ghostbusters corporation. Please call the number at the bottom of your screen or go to this web address to find out how you can help. Busting ghosts isn't just a business, it's a passion." Gray said before the emblem came back up again. Seth sat on the couch for a long moment before he sprung to his feet, running for the phone as fast as he could.

"MOOOM! I think I figured out what my job is gonna be!" Seth exclaimed. Outside the window, Rerun threw up both hands in victory, flying around in circles of excitement.

****

It had been harder for Rerun to cross town and it grew harder every day. Cell phones were advancing, camcorders were becoming common place, but Rerun had to see it. He made it down to the west side, navigating his way up to a place he knew better than any other. He came across the roof line before scrunching down behind the architectural molding around the edge of the roof, looking across to the street where the old abandoned firehouse was.

Standing out in front of the building was an eighteen year old Grayson Kale and a twenty one year old Seth Dillon. They excitedly talked to each other, sharing every story, theory and idea they had. Rerun watched them talk and saw how happy they were, and for the first time in fifteen years, he knew that Seth was going to be safe, that things would work out. He also knew that it would be impossible to keep watching over him. One stray casting of the PKE meter would reveal his presence and then things would not unfold properly.

Rerun slowly backed up across the roof before he floated up, thinking about his options. He had six or seven more years to wait, years that he couldn't risk changing. He would have to go elsewhere and bide his time. He'd have to leave Portland, but then come back in time to save his friends... and every other living thing in their universe. Rerun took one last look at the firehouse, Seth and Gray before he turned and lifted up into the sky, heading to his own destiny.

****

The basement of the firehouse was often the coolest part of the building, something that Rerun appreciated with the rising temperatures, but that appreciation was lost in light of the present tragedy. Gray had disappeared through the firehouse wall into another dimension and there wasn't anything he could do to get Gray back. Seth, Eli and Nico hadn't rested to try and save him, and failing that, to call in every ally and favor they had to figure out everything about Zytu. They were in the laboratory networking away which made the sound of the front door opening and closing with no corresponding foot steps quite odd.

Rerun slowly lifted his head, brushing his blue hair out of his eyes before he turned, spotting something he had never expected to see at the top of the stairs - himself. Rerun backed up slowly in shock but the other Rerun at the top of the stairs lifted the last piece of the artifact. His younger self gasped and then grinned and moved forward to embrace the other. The older Rerun was caught off guard as he was hugged, but after twenty years of no human contact, he didn't mind embracing himself. The two time wyrms brought their arms together, exchanging hugs. It was amazing how identical both looked. Despite having spent so many years in the past, the elder Rerun looked almost completely the same, though there were several subtle differences. It was quite likely that time wyrms aged at an incredibly slow rate. The elder Rerun slowly detached from his younger self.

'You got it! Or I did, how did I get it? What should I do?' The younger Rerun signed frantically. The older Rerun looked a little bit sad.

'I'm going to show you what would have happened, as if it did happen to you... and then we'll be full circle. It won't be easy though.' The older Rerun signed back.

'I don't care, I want to help.' His younger self replied. The older Rerun moved forward and reached up, putting one hand on the younger time wyrm's head. They brought their foreheads together and as they touched, images started to pass from one to the other. At first it was random facts and figures, then shapes, then colors and senses before they were full memories. The younger Rerun lived through the memories of his older self, of Gray getting back from seeing the orcs, of the heat wave, and then the untimely death of his friends. As the memories unfolded in precise and complete detail, silver tears started leaking down the cheeks of his younger self.

"No... No! NO!" Rerun called out in his weak voice. The arms on his back started to spin and he disappeared, the shockwave knocking the elder Rerun back. Rerun panted softly, shuddering at what he had made himself experience, but there was no other way. He needed that motivation to go back and save them. For all he knew, he had been shown the same memories rather than living them, but in the end it didn't matter. His friends were alive, he had the last piece, it was going to work out.

Rerun looked up as the wall started to warp and shimmer. With no warning at all, Gray stumbled through the wall with his own artifact in hand. Rerun caught Gray in a hug and Gray grinned wide.

"Rerun! How are you doing?" Gray asked. After two decades, Rerun was reunited with Gray and able to interact with him. The time wyrm placed wet sloppy kisses all over Gray's forehead and cheeks, even wrapping his tail around the man tightly. Gray chuckled at the affection before Rerun unwrapped from around him and took him by the hand, leading him upstairs. Gray jogged a bit to keep up, though Rerun slowed down to open the door ahead of them both. The sudden entrance of multiple figures caused everyone to look up, starting with Seth andthen Eli and Nico and finally Dakota.

"Grayson!" Seth said, springing from his seat and moving over. Rerun floated back slowly out of the way, giving them their moment, though he looked at the artifact in his hands as Seth and Gray exchanged an eager kiss.

"I missed you so much." Gray said.

"I missed you too." Seth replied.

"You have no idea how much." Nico said jokingly.

"Is that the artifact?" Eli asked.

"More importantly, what did you see? Aliens? Rabbits? A civilization of narwhals?" Dakota asked.

"Orcs actually." Gray replied.

"Orcs? Like... Warcraft?" Dakota asked in surprise.

"Aww, you didn't bring home anything? No tusks?" Nico asked with a smirk.

"Trust me; I have a feeling Rerun is going to bring out about four different kinds of orc from me later if he tries." Gray said. Rerun looked up in surprise at that before he remembered how he used to play with the Busters, turning them into things. Gray hadn't noticed Rerun's fascination, but he had noticed something else, "I just wanted to be home and... and... Oh my god, is it really hotter than when I left?" Gray asked, starting to sweat again.

"It hit one fifteen." Seth said gently. Gray shook his head.

"It doesn't get that hot in Oregon." He replied.

"It isn't just Oregon. New York is at one twenty five, Detroit's at one ten." Eli said somberly. Gray looked around slowly.

"He's almost here... Zytu is almost here." Gray whispered softly, looking at the artifact in his hand before he moved over to the workstation with the other pieces. He slid the curved piece in to complete the fishbone shape, securing the other pieces where they were, but one notch was left empty, one slot at the very back was missing its piece. Gray looked at the other Ghostbusters.

"H... Here..." Rerun said softly. The unfamiliar voice caught all of the Ghostbuster by surprise as they turned, seeing Rerun lift an artifact of his own. Gray gasped in shock, moving over to lift it.

"Oh my god, Rerun, where did you get this?" Gray asked.

"He can TALK?!" Nico asked in shock. Gray carried the piece over and looked at the other artifacts, seeing how they fit together.

"This is it, it's a complete shape, I can see how they all go together." Gray said.

"Since when can Rerun talk?" Nico asked.

"Gray, we've got other Ghostbusters on the line. Detroit, New York, they're all pitching in." Dakota said. Gray slid over to network with the other groups about his findings, but Nico was staring at Rerun... and so was Seth. Seth looked over at the piece Rerun had obtained, then he looked back at Rerun, realizing he wasn't wearing his shirt... the shirt he had worn since the time they let him stay.

"It was you..." Seth whispered softly. Rerun blushed, his blue cheeks turning a bit purple. Nico looked at Seth.

"What?" Nico asked. Seth stepped closer to Rerun and then moved around to his side before leaning down, wrapping his arms around Rerun's waist before gasping, his back arching.

"It WAS you..." Seth whispered before standing upright.

"Rerun was what?" Nico asked.

"I... I haven't thought about it in a long time, it really used to irritate my parents... But when I was a kid I had this amazing dream that I went on an adventure with a ghost to save the world, flew really high and went into the river and... and it wasn't a dream at all, all this time. You looked familiar all this time because it was you. You were my imaginary friend, you were the ghost that got me... that got me onto the path to become a Ghostbuster." Seth whispered.

"Y... You Mad?" Rerun asked, his voice sounding oddly melodic despite being forced.

"Mad, of course I'm not mad!" Seth said, moving forward to hug Rerun tightly. Rerun gasped at the hug before he closed his eyes and slowly wrapped his arms and tail around Seth, embracing him fully. Across the room there was a soft click and then a murmur.

"Okay, I didn't mean to do that yet..." Grayson whispered, watching as the piece he had bumped in fused to the rest. The seams between the pieces slowly started to disappear as the device unified itself into a whole, the glowing green crystal radiating light from the center.

"It's building up energy..." Dakota said.

"Should it be doing that in here?" Eli asked.

"We could take it to the roof..." Nico replied.

"It's a being that is surrounding our entire universe, I don't think that it's going to make a difference where we do it." Gray said.

"If that's a weapon to kill a being bigger than our universe, can we at least take it to the roof?" Seth asked. Gray took a breath before he nodded.

"Alright, help me move it." Gray said to the others.

****

The roof door squeaked open as Eli got out of the way of the others, running out onto the large flat roof, moving to stand over by some of the solar panels they had set up. Seth, Dakota, Nico and Gray emerged with the device in hand. Despite being the size of a watermelon, it was incredibly heavy. They managed to get it out to the middle of the roof before setting it down. Rerun moved out of the stairwell, swimming through the air to float near Eli, watching everything unfold. The green light inside the device pulsed so brightly with each flash that it caused the entire roof to turn green. The Ghostbusters backed up slowly, looking at the device, though it grew harder with every passing moment.

The intensity of the growing crystal grew brighter than any light, almost as bright as the sun... and as the light reached its zenith, the crystal seemed to erupt into green flame. The flame started to spread, but as it did, four shadows appeared on the roof, cast in the cardinal directions. The Ghostbusters shielded their eyes from the great light, but as they looked where the shadows should have originated, figures started to slowly appear. Soon enough, four spherical figures wrapped in bandages stood around the device, holding out lanterns with green fire of their own.

The lantern ghosts slowly lifted their lanterns skyward and as they did, bolts of light shot out from the device, hitting each lantern and connecting it to the next. The light grew brighter and brighter and a deep rumbling sound started to drop in pitch before they could no longer hear it, only able to feel it. The sound got so low that it disappeared entirely, and a moment later the prism of fire shuddered and exploded. The wave of green light spread out in a massive sphere, traveling and growing faster with every second it grew. The Ghostbusters watched the wall of light head off toward every horizon and rise into the sky, filling the heavens as it moved further and further away from their world, disappearing entirely.

The six Ghostbusters gazed upwards at the sky, not sure what to expect. For a long moment there was nothing, but then in the distant stars there seemed to be a faint shimmering, an orange flash, and then nothing... nothing but a cool breeze. Eli let out a soft moan as the air rippled through his shirt, then Nico and Seth sighed with relief before Dakota groaned, pulling off his shirt to reveal his dark chocolate colored chest. Gray, however, was still staring up at the stars in disbelief.

"But we couldn't have seen anything from the edge of the universe, it takes light eight minutes just to get here from the sun..." Gray murmured. Seth moved over to rest his hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Don't look a miracle prophecy device in the mouth... I think time and death itself just saved us from a giant universe eating parasite. Let's go have some ice cream or something." Seth said. Gray smiled.

"You're right, maybe we should - Death itself?!" Gray asked in shock. Seth just chuckled and moved back toward the stairs.

"Hey guys, are we just going to leave this out here?" Dakota asked.

"After ice cream!" Seth's voice echoed up from the stair well. Nico and Eli shrugged, moving to follow after their team mate. Rerun just smiled at that.

****

Six pints of ice cream sat out on the table, all in various stages of being consumed. There had been a scarcity of ice cream with the intense heat world wide, but with temperatures returning to normal it seemed that the ice cream crisis had been averted. Eli moaned, his hands resting on his over full stomach while Nico tried to comfort him. Seth, however, brought out an old shoe box and set it down on the table.

"What's this?" Gray asked. Seth smiled, sitting down.

"Hey Rerun, come over here, you should see this." Seth said. Rerun floated over, his cheeks covered in melted chocolate mint ice cream. Seth pulled the lid off of the box, revealing countless sheets of aged paper inside. He started pulling them out and spreading them apart. Some were done in crayon and colored pencil, but others were done in ball point pens and sharpie markers. The crayon drawings looked like the efforts of a child, but the depictions were clear... In almost every drawing there was a blue creature with silver wings and white eyes and a smile on his face. The more advanced drawings showed other things like black architecture, a man in robes, then drawings of figures of death fighting the world's injustices.

"Oh wow, some of these are amazing... and this was all... Rerun?" Gray asked. Seth smirked.

"I guess so. I spent so many years trying to make myself forget because that's what my parents wanted, but I never should have... I never should have forgotten. It wasn't until I saw the artifact we got that it all came back to me." Seth said.

"Maybe it's good you didn't remember everything, or our lives wouldn't have unfolded the way they did." Gray said. Seth narrowed his eyes in consideration before looking at Rerun.

"Do you think that's the case?" Seth asked. Rerun nodded eagerly at that. Seth smirked softly at that before leaning back, "Then I guess I'll defer to the judgment of the expert." Seth said before he scooted his chair back and patted his lap, "Come on big guy." Seth said. Rerun smiled slowly before he circled the table and moved to lie down, draping his ten foot long body across both Seth and Grayson's laps, his tail hanging off of Gray's hip while his head nuzzled Seth's ribs and he closed his eyes.

Seth pet Rerun's hair as he looked through all the old drawings with Gray. Dakota pulled up a chair and started going through them too, letting out a whistle.

"Damn, these are pretty epic. You should have been a tagger." Dakota smirked. Seth rolled his eyes at that but Gray just broke out laughing. It felt so good to laugh, so good to be past that threat. It had been a long time coming, decades or even centuries. It had been a hard puzzle spread across five dimensions... but they had done it, and they had done it together. Gray had never been more sure that things would work out, that they could manage so long as they had each other. When the universe had a problem, it knew who to call... the Ghostbusters.