Time, it changes everything Characters: Teddy (Capt Marvel aka Hulkling) Narrative Setting: Months ago, in another world/different timeline. Intro post. Content: R for mild graphic description of the aftermath of violence. Character death. Summary: Billy is mysteriously gone. Teddy has a very, very bad feeling about this. Note: Reposting my in-character sample from the app, but this is the backstory that sets this Teddy's storyline in motion, so I figured it might help make sense of where he's coming from :D
The day Billy disappeared, Teddy had been entertaining a sick, sinking feeling since morning. He searched for clues everywhere and found nothing, but he saw certain key items were missing from Billy's things, and he knew his companion wasn't coming back. Teddy had grown considerably in power through the years, and was now truly on his father's level, so when a near berserk Captain Mar-Vell on a rampage of destruction demanded of Kang that he send him after Billy a week later, the despot accessed the chronal signatures of the time stream and sent him as close to where he had last sensed Billy to be as he could.
He was too late. He had missed his Billy by hours. What he found was a broken Billy Kaplan, one who had stayed Asgardian in his timeline. His body was shattered, and he was surely dying, but orbs and flashes of blue light danced erratically around him where he lay on his back, keeping him alive even though he couldn't so much as turn his head.
One hand was stretched out, fingers laced with a hand Teddy knew, because it was his own. But there was nothing there but a small crater past the shoulder. Teddy realized this broken Billy was paralyzed and could not realize that, and promptly turned aside, throwing up the contents of his stomach before approaching the morbid scene.
"You're not him," the dying Billy said.
"I know he's dead," Billy went on with that pained, beatific little smile on his face. Teddy watched the boy blur in his view. He hadn't even realized he was crying. "Is he...?" the whispery voice went on, and Teddy could see Billy's eyes straining to look to the side, to where his hand was joined to what remained of his Teddy.
"He's at rest," Teddy replied mercifully, his voice hoarse and low.
"Y-you just missed him," the boy muttered, and Teddy feared he was delirious. He had to know where his Billy had gone. "He's killing himself. To fix the world. I tried... we... we tried." The boy on the ground seemed to have a moment of lucidity, to remember what had happened to him and his Teddy. An animal whine screeched out of his dry throat.
"I have to stop him. I need to find him! But now I'm here, stranded," Teddy nearly shouted above that horrific sound. "If I can't follow him, he'll do this again, and again!" His voice was nearly a snarl. He was being cruel, shattering the last peaceful moments of delirium of a Billy not his own. "Please! I've got to stop him."
Billy was killing himself to save the world. He understood now. He understood, but he couldn't allow it. "PLEASE!" he hollered at the boy.
"I love you, Teddy," came that reedy voice again, and Teddy thought Billy had not sound that sweet in years now.
"I love you too," he heard himself say, even though this was the wrong Billy. Then the boy was chanting, chanting, and the orbs of blue light were surrounding Teddy. Fainter blue light flowed towards him like a mist, and he breathed it in because he felt he had to.
With his last dying breath, this universe's Billy had cast one last spell. His magical energy resonated with this Teddy's Sorcerer Supreme Billy, and Teddy himself was from his killer's universe, so like would call to like. Teddy would not understand what was happened to him until much later, not until he had been drawn from one timeline to the next. The dying boy's magic had been weakened and erratic towards the end, and so was the spell. This was no direct flight to his errant lover, but a mad chase across timelines with no idea whether he would get there in time to catch up with his Billy. Considering Asgardian had been dying as he cast it, Teddy could only conclude that the spell would run its course in time, leaving him stranded somewhere in the multiverse if he didn't catch up with Billy before the magic was spent.