[discontinued] the wrong portal

suspicious little god

"Wh- stay a- wait. What?" Luz cried out, jumping from her bed, she frantically stared around at her room, scanning for her attackers, but after about a minute of glancing around from her bed, wide eyed, she realised that she was alone, laying tucked in bed, in her pyjamas. Tearing off the covers, she grabbed her phone. "Shit!" She was late. "Fuck!" Very late. She tore towards the wardrobe without a second thought and swung the door open, throwing on her guard's outfit and sprinting out of the door, not noticing the slightly red stained hoodie laying crumpled on the floor, barely covering the red, bloodstained bat underneath.

"It must have been just a dream! Yeah! I had a talk about my feelings and then went to sleep!" She reassured herself, muttering as she ran.

"Human! Do you have any idea how late you are? Steve had to take over your post for you! Go and take it back, and thank him for covering for you while you're at it!" Hunter snapped, spotting the girl bolt down the hall.

"Yep! Sorry Hunter!" She called back, not slowing down until she got to her post. "Hey! Steve, I assume? Thanks for covering me!" 

"Yup, no problem, I'm just glad to be of use!" The lanky guard called out jovially, happily strolling away to the castle. Luz skidded to a stop and hunched over on her hands and knees, wheezing for oxygen after her sprint through the massive castle. After a minute or two of strangled breaths, she stood back up and waited at her post, a squeaky voice sounding out excitedly.

"So, did ya sleep well last night?" 

"Umm, yeah? Why do you ask?" 

"No reason, just being there for my host!" He mischievously shot back.

"Well, thanks?" She said, not sure how to respond to his tone, she stood, confused for a second before speaking again. "Did anything happen last night?" 

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He nodded affirmatively and crossed his arms. Convinced, Luz went back to her post, and her uneventful day continued. After a few hours of waiting, a guard walked up to her and motioned her away for her break, she gratefully accepted and strolled off to her room, sitting down on her bed.

"Wait a second, I need to wash my hoodie, I'll just grab it and-" 

"Nah, just leave it, how about instead you go for a walk, or take a mission, I'm sure the cleaners can sort that out for you!" The Collector piped up and motioned her out of the room hurriedly.

"Okay then." The clueless girl accepted the suggestion and walked over to Hunter's room down the hall, knocking on it frantically.

"What? Shouldn't you be off doing whatever humans do?"

"Well, I'm bored, are there any missions that I can do?"

"Yeah, but why in the name of the titan are you asking me? Just go to the job board outside the conference room!" He snapped, irritated by her question.

"Alright! You don't have to shout at me!" She snapped back, turning on her heel and storming away. Luz got to the conference room and checked the job board for something to do, after a minute of browsing, she settled on a mission involving arresting a few men in suspicion of sexual assault, she pulled out her notebook that she used to draw glyphs on and jotted down the key information, muttering it as she wrote.

"Greasy looking fat guy, red bat, tall lanky guy, younger guy, got it!" She finished writing and determinedly marched toward the castle exit, glyphs on hand. 

After a few hours search she stumbled into a forest, The Collector suddenly deciding to pipe up. "Hey, I don't think you should go in there, there can be dangerous people in there." 

"Uh, that's why I'm looking there, dumbass." She retorted, glaring back at the shadowy figure floating around her, he shut up and just let her walk after that. Luz stumbled around in the forest, calling out randomly.

"Hello? Rapey guys? I'm here to arrest you-" She stopped in her tracks after pushing past a branch and coming into a small clearing, her voice caught in her throat as she saw the sight in front of her, horrified, in front of her was a bloody mess of bodies, strewn around, the bodies were of three men, if they could even be identified as men anymore, one man, matching the description of a chubby, sweaty man, lying on the ground, head caved in and blood sprayed out from it, paired with a mutilated and crushed arm, the next body was a tall, thin man, matching the description on the board, with a gaping hole in his chest, the final and worst sight, a splintered tree with a mixture of blood and guts stuck to it, a familiar jacket matching the one belonging to the youngest man.

Luz stumbled back and, without a word, started sprinting back the way she came, stopping after a few minutes of running to double over and vomit onto the ground, retching for a few minutes before clearing her throat and turning to The Collector, floating with his eyes captivated on a small bug on the tree, carelessly idling by as the teen stared daggers through him.

"Collector." Her voice was cold, but wobbly.

"Yep?" He turned and looked at her, not picking up on the change in tone and glancing carelessly at her.

"What did you do?" She interrogated him, voice monotone, he shrugged and put on a front of mock ignorance.

"Nothing." He tried to come off as sincere, now realising how much he had upset the girl.

"Don't lie to me, what did you do?" The usually enthusiastic teen was dead serious, not shouting or letting any sign of anger show as she stared into him.

"Ugh, fine, You people are no fun! I killed them to protect you!" He retorted defensively.

"You didn't have to kill them!" She yelled out, holding back tears as she shrieked at the figure.

"Make up your mind! One second you want me to help you and then when I do you get angry at me!" He snapped, frustrated at how he couldn't do anything to please her.

"Yeah! Help me by all means! But don't kill anybody!" 

"They were going to hurt you! I can't let that happen!"

"I could have dealt with them!"

"Now you're the liar!" He snapped back, angry about her ridiculous amount of self confidence. "You had no chance and I helped you!"

"Do you really think I'm that weak that I can't handle them?" She cried, tears in her eyes.

"You are that weak!" 

"Then help me get stronger!" She sobbed back, done arguing.

"Ok." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, sure! I said I would help you!" He enthusiastically spoke, completely forgetting about their argument.

Gonna be honest, I think this one is kind of shit, but I wasn't sure how else to do this part