Prompt: After the disappearance of her brother and parents, the young Vanessa is actually (somehow) sent to live with her missing aunt and namesake, Vanessa Holt.

Additional notes: Important things you may need to be reminded of: Vanessa Holt is the mother of Dylan Averty, who in canon supposedly witnessed Crossroads Baron Jeremiah Dallant and his people execute her parents in service of Galazien the Iron-Souled. More recently, canon timeline wise, Dylan and others learned that her mother actually willingly worked with Galazien to help protect him from those who wanted to drag him back into this universe. Which he's trying to avoid because if he is in this universe, then the giant Abyssal monsters from Tartarus can come back too. Vanessa Holt is Galazien's ally and willingly had her memory and powers suppressed in order to live as normal a life as possible while raising her daughter. She wanted Dylan to have a safe and ordinary childhood, at least for a little while. Despite having her memory suppressed, however, she has become a semi-successful author by writing novels about Galazien. She believes this is all from her imagination.

Eleven Years Ago

Vanessa Holt was a writer. No, wait, author. You were supposed to say author once you were published, right? It still felt weird to think about, even though she'd actually put out three full novels in her Galazien the Iron-Souled series over the past four years. They weren't exactly New York Times best sellers, but they sold well enough for the publisher to come back for more. And she had no trouble giving it. The ideas for more of his stories kept flowing out of her. Stories about the alien being who had been cursed with immortality and was now being chased through multiple universes because the evil, cthulu-esque monsters who wanted to destroy this universe could only do so if Galazien came back here. His presence in this universe would allow those beings to enter as well, and there were cults devoted to forcing him back here to let that happen.

Yeah, Vanessa had no idea where those thoughts came from. It was downright weird if she sat and thought about it for any length of time. But whenever she sat at her computer and let the ideas flow, they just came out of her so easily. It was honestly hard to stop writing them down.

Even after all that, it still felt strange to think of herself as an actual author. She felt like some sort of imposter every time she opened the mail and looked at another royalty check. This was her job, her career, and none of it felt real. Would it ever? Her life was like some sort of dream. An even stranger bit was how real things felt when she was actually writing. There were only three times when her life felt like something real. The first was when she was writing the stories about Galazien, and the other two were when she spent time with her husband and daughter. Walking around the city, going shopping, talking to her agent, even watching television always seemed to come with a haze of fiction that she couldn't rightly explain. But writing her stories, that was real. Spending time with her daughter, Dylan, and her husband, Marshall, that was real.

But being called an author? That definitely didn't feel real. Still, it was her job, and she enjoyed it. Which meant she really didn't like distractions that came just when she was settling into a groove with her writing. It shouldn't have happened today. Marshall had taken their toddler-aged daughter to the park to play, and there were at least four signs on their gate and front door that told people they absolutely did not accept solicitors of any sort. They didn't need their roofs or windows done, they had all the religion they needed, they bought Girl Scout cookies in front of the grocery store, and they were perfectly happy with the cable service they had, thank you.

And yet, it was while Vanessa was deep in the zone, the words about Galazien's latest quick escape flying out of her fingers and right onto the computer screen, when the doorbell rang. It jolted her, making the dark-haired young woman start, thinking for a moment that the chime had been some sort of warning bell from her laptop. But no, it was the door. Leaning out of the little nook where she had settled in to write, she saw a shadow shuffling around by the door itself.

For just a second, Vanessa considered ignoring them and going back to writing. They weren't expecting any deliveries, had no interest in having anything to do with any neighborhood events, and if someone was selling something, the fact that they had ignored all the signs telling them to go away didn't bode well for how easy it would be to get them to take off if she was fool enough to actually open the door. That sort of annoyance didn't deserve to be rewarded with contact.

And yet, after debating with herself briefly, Vanessa was rewarded with the sound of the doorbell again. Whoever was out there clearly wasn't about to leave on their own. The best way to get rid of them so she could go back to writing was to answer the door and tell them just what she thought of whatever they were trying to sell. So, with a sigh, she stood up and walked that way.

She wasn't naive. Vanessa Holt was well aware of the potential dangers of being a woman alone at home when someone came to the door. Rather than open it up immediately like some sort of idiot, she stepped beside the door, checking the peephole. A man was there. He looked ordinary. Just a middle aged guy with dark skin, a graying beard, and slightly balding head, wearing an ill-fitting suit. Great, definitely some sort of salesman, just as she had expected.

Except for the child. She didn't notice her at first, but movement caught her attention. A tiny blonde girl was there, holding the man's hand while looking intensely uncomfortable. The kid couldn't have been much older than Dylan. She stood beside the man, hand in his with the expression of someone who had been told in no uncertain terms to not let go of that hand.

If this was an attempted home invasion, it was the strangest one Vanessa had heard of. Seeing that girl really threw her off. Just as the man started to reach out as though to touch the doorbell again, she unlocked the door (which was an extensive process on its own, since it really meant undoing five separate deadbolts and chains) and tugged the thing open. Standing there in her comfy sweatpants and an old tee-shirt, she gave the man a cursory glance before her eyes went to the girl. Definitely not much older than Dylan, probably about seven. And she wasn't very happy to be here, going by the kid's expression. She looked unhappy in general, squinting up at Vanessa suspiciously, like she expected to see an evil witch from one of those old fairy tales or something. There was an edge to her stare. The kid clearly didn't trust her, or want to be here.

"Can I help you?" she finally asked, returning her attention to the man himself. "If you're selling something, or you have a petition, or anything else like that, you really should've read the signs."

"No, ma'am," the man assured her. "Nothing for sale here. I ahh-- well, there's no easy way to put this. My name is Duke Marsh, I'm with the Department of Human Services." He showed her a sort of government identification or license or something, then added, "And this is Vanessa."

Well, that made her do a double-take, eyes looking at the girl he was gesturing to for just a moment before going back up to the man as she managed an audibly confused, "I'm sorry?"

Duke coughed. "Sorry. Uh, Vanessa Holt, this is Vanessa Moon." Again, he gestured back and forth between them, having finally let go of the kid's hand while adding, "She's your niece."

"My what?" Yeah, that didn't help. "No, sorry, there must be some mistake. I don't have a niece. I don't have any siblings. I don't have any living family at all. I don't… what?" Was this some sort of joke after all? Was it one of those video pranks? What would even be the punchline to that?

"Not a mistake, Mrs. Holt-- uh, you do go by Holt? Your paperwork said you were married, but--"

She interrupted him. "I kept my maiden name, yes. But I still don't have any siblings. I mean, I never had any siblings. Or much of a family at all." It was one reason why she had resolved to always be there for Dylan, which being a writer (author) really helped with. She could be home, making memories with her daughter. Every time Vanessa tried to think of specific things she'd done with her parents, she drew a blank. There were basic memories. She remembered what school she'd gone to, the names of teachers and classmates, the fact that she'd gone to Disneyland on vacation with her parents when she was twelve. But trying to call up anything specific didn't work. Her childhood was just a blur of names and dates. She couldn't picture it.

"Ah, well, according to our records, you were adopted as an infant," Duke informed her, clearly doing his best to make sure there was no ambiguity. "But I assure you, we have triple-checked, and it's all clear. Haiden Moon, Vanessa-- ah, that is, this young lady's father, was your brother."

"Is." That was the first thing the young Vanessa had said. Her expression had turned stubborn as she glared up at the man. "I told you, my dad is still alive. So is my mom. And my brother."

Before the adult Vanessa could ask what she was talking about, Duke grimaced. "Ah, might we come in rather than have this conversation at the door, Mrs. Holt? There's quite a bit to get into."

Well, she was hardly going to send them away now, was she? Especially not with this little girl standing there. A little girl who had her name. If she really was her niece, what-- how-- damn it, she had to know what was going on. Stepping back, the adult Vanessa nodded. "Come in, then."

After letting both of them walk in past her, she instinctively looked up and down the street, taking in the view of the neighborhood. Two cars were in sight that didn't belong to people she knew. The nondescript sedan right in front of her house was presumably Duke's. But there was also a plumber's van down the street, parked in front of Alison and Henry Shales' home. Both of them were on vacation, and the odds of an empty house having a plumbing emergency seemed low.

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What was she doing? The plumber van was probably just parked across the street from where they were going, or next door. She'd obviously been watching too many weird spy movies lately.

Shaking that off, Vanessa closed and locked the door (only one deadbolt and a chain that time), then turned to face her guests with what she hoped was an easy smile. "Okay, well, I don't know what's going on here, exactly, but why don't we all have a seat in the kitchen and have a drink.

"Then you can explain everything."

***********

Things were complicated. But one thing was clear, she'd had a brother. Or still had, if the young Vanessa's words were anything to go by. The state said that Haiden, his wife, and their son were abducted and probably killed by some sort of gang. Probably drug related. The kid, on the other hand, insisted that her family had disappeared into thin air when one 'mean man' in a suit showed up with a magic crystal ball. The ball broke and everyone except the young Vanessa disappeared. Duke, in private, told the older Vanessa that it was simply what the kid's memory had made up so she wouldn't have to cope with whatever had really happened in that house.

Whatever the truth was, the fact remained that the young Vanessa had nowhere else to go. Or rather, if she didn't stay here, they were going to put her in a home. After a stop off at a mental care facility for who knew how long. The older Vanessa discussed the whole situation with her husband, but in the end there was only one real choice. Especially after Dylan had come in during part of that conversation and actually met her cousin. The kid would be staying with them.

To keep things from being too confusing, after a discussion with the seven-year-old, they all decided to call her Nessa. That was a nickname her family had used. A family the kid still kept insisting had been magically transported to some alien world or something by a magic ball. The real problem was that Vanessa didn't know how firmly she should put a stop to that sort of talk. It was pretty obvious that whatever her niece had seen was so traumatic that forcing her to really confront it now could do some intense damage. They needed to talk to some sort of expert and see just how to handle this. That could wait though, at least until Nessa had settled in a bit more.

They had been working on that 'settling in' part for the past couple weeks, and in that entire time, Vanessa still hadn't been able to shake the idea that the house was being watched. It was completely ridiculous, clearly the effect of a newly-awakened imagination after finding out she'd had a brother she never met. A brother who had been abducted and… and murdered by a gang along with his wife and son. Who wouldn't have been a bit paranoid after learning about all that?

One thing was clear, she needed to get her mind off all that. And help Nessa feel safer. She had to make sure her niece knew everything was going to be fine now. The bad guys, whether they were the actual gang who broke into her home and attacked her family, or the strange old man in the suit she had made up in her head to try to cope with what she saw, weren't going to find her here. They weren't coming after her. More importantly, she wasn't going to be sent to live in some mental care facility. She would stay here with them. Vanessa might not have known she even had a niece, or any other family, up until a couple weeks ago, but she did now. And she damn sure wasn't about to send Nessa away. They just had to give her time and understanding.

Possibly just as important as time and understanding was helping Nessa feel like she belonged here, like this was her home now too. They had the girls sharing a room, but Nessa already had her own bed. A bed she had picked out for herself, along with her own sheets and blankets, and an assortment of stuffed animals. Dylan, who was beside herself with the news that she had a new (slightly older) sister to live with, had helped with that last bit. Nessa herself was much more interested in picking out books to line her new shelves with. For being only seven years old, she was reading novels that would've challenged some high schoolers. The girl's reading level and memory were both astounding. Vanessa had tested her, and she recalled everything perfectly.

So if her memory was that good, just how… how bad did that trauma have to be to make her think she'd seen something so totally different than what had actually happened? What the hell went on in that house to make this poor kid completely rewrite so many of the details like that?

The thought made poor Vanessa Holt shudder whenever it came up. And she was determined to help the kid, this wonderful, amazing and brilliant little girl, make some much better memories.

That was why they were here at the zoo, herself and both her kids. Her husband was still at work, but would be meeting them after so they could go out to dinner together, as a family. The three of them were standing in front of the hippo enclosure, watching as the keepers fed them pumpkins. Dylan kept bouncing up and down, cheering as the pumpkins were crunched into smithereens, and even Nessa was smiling at the sight. Or maybe she was smiling because she still had half a carton of tater tots in one hand. That kid loved potatoes. All potatoes, of every shape and size and manner of cooking. She would've had them for every meal if she could.

Standing back a bit as she watched the two little girls standing together like that, Vanessa found herself smiling too. She sure hadn't expected to have a new mouth to feed and little person to care for earlier in the month, but now she wouldn't have traded it for anything. Whatever happened, however long it took to help Nessa process her trauma and move on, they would be there to help her through it. The kid needed people to be there for her now. She needed some--

In midthought, Vanessa straightened just a bit. Something was wrong. There weren't any other people standing here by the hippos. There weren't any other people in sight at all. The cement pathways leading in three different directions to other enclosures were completely empty. The sound of the crowds were gone. Everything, save for the animals themselves, was just silent.

Nessa seemed to have noticed that something was wrong too. While Dylan chattered away, the other girl lifted her head and started looking around with a visible frown. She even took a slight step over in front of the young Dylan, like she was going to protect her from whatever it was.

The hair on the back of the older Vanessa's neck seemed to stand up. Everything had stopped. Even the distant birds were silent. And Dylan had noticed by that point, her cheerful chattering cutting off. For those brief seconds, there was absolutely no sound whatsoever. Nothing at all.

That nothingness was abruptly shattered. Danger. Vanessa was absolutely positive, with the sort of certainty that matched anything she had ever known, that they were in danger in that moment. She was in awful danger. And that danger was coming from… right behind her.

Without thinking, without any conscious desire at all, Vanessa was already pivoting. Except that wasn't the right word for what she was doing. It didn't convey the full impact of that motion. She went from standing still, facing one direction, to abruptly facing the other in a move so quick, it should have been impossible. But that was nothing compared to what her hand was doing. That rose, fingers abruptly snapping together to catch the blade of the knife that had just been thrown at the back of her head. It stopped inches from burying itself right between her eyes, now that she'd turned.

The man who had thrown it-- there was something wrong with him. His skin was dark blue, eyes a very deep shade of green with no white at all. He froze like that, clearly almost as surprised by what had just happened as Vanessa herself was. But soon enough, he recovered and sent a second sharp knife whistling through the air at her, while an audible snarl of anger escaped him.

That knife came at her so quickly, it should've been impossible for Vanessa to do anything to stop it. Should have been. And yet, she was already catching that one out of the air before the realization of what was happening even finished coming to mind. At the same time, she twisted, hand lashing out to send that first knife sailing back over her shoulder without even looking that way. She heard a fleshy thunk and heard a scream, telling her the knife had sank itself right into the leg of a second man. That guy had been sprinting toward her kids, but was stumbling now.

By that point, the blue-skinned man who had thrown those knives had reached her. He tried to grab Vanessa, but she had continued twisting around, the second blade still clutched in one hand as she sliced right through his throat and deep into his jugular. As orange blood went spraying, Vanessa let him stumble past her until he was at the exact right position for her rising foot to collide with his body just as it started to collapse. The impact was enough to send him flying a good forty feet, where he collided with two more figures who had been waiting near the edge of the hippo enclosure for their partner to grab one or both of the children. All three went down in a heap.

Both kids had, in that moment, finished turning toward the sound of the cursing, stumbling man who had been running at them. Even as the pair started to cry out, Vanessa was there. She didn't run there. She didn't jump there. She didn't hop, skip, or slide there. And she sure as hell didn't walk there. She was just there. One second she was twenty feet back, and in the next, she was right between the girls and the incoming, injured man. Her hand grabbed his throat, and she pivoted to hurl him clear off into the hippo enclosure before he knew what happened.

It was then, as the man she had just thrown hit the cement down there hard enough to liquefy his bones, and the one whose throat she had slit finished bleeding out, that another feeling came over Vanessa Holt. It was… it was…

Good. It felt good. She felt a sudden rush of pleasure, and saw a strange, bronze glow briefly encompass her. As the men she had hurled that first dead figure at clambered out from under him, shouting something about a Heretic, she was already reaching down to grab the kids. They were shouting too, babbling in confusion even as she hauled them up against her. Leave, they had to leave, right now.

And they did. They were gone. That was all it took, that single thought. Suddenly, Vanessa and the kids were standing in the middle of the parking lot for a mall halfway across town. Quickly, she set them down before stumbling back a step. There was a strange, intense pain in the back of her head, something… something… she forgot, something important that was--

"Mom!" Dylan was grabbing her hand. "What happened, how'd we get all the way here when we was at the zoo before!?"

"I… I don't…" Slowly, Vanessa turned her attention to Nessa, who was staring at her somberly. The two locked eyes, and Vanessa felt an even more intense moment of pain. There was a name, right on the tip of her tongue. It was so close, so… so important right now.

"Duskraiser," she finally managed, the word coming like the last gasp of a person desperate for water. "Duskraiser. We have to find Duskraiser. He--who… what the hell is a Duskraiser?"

"That would be your spaceship," a new, strange voice announced from behind them, making all three of them jerk around to find themselves facing a figure none of them had ever seen before. "And don't worry, I'll help you remember who you really are.

Standing in front of the younger Nessa and Dylan, Vanessa stared that way. "What do you want? Who are you?"

The stranger gave a soft chuckle before replying, "Yeah, I suppose this is a lot to take in. What I want is to help you remember everything you had erased from your memory. You'll need all of that back if you're going to help these kids survive. Not to mention find your brother and the rest of his family. As for who I am, well…

"My name is Denuvus, and it's time for us to talk."

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