[Crossover Universe - Titan's Tower]

After everyone was awake and ready to go, Raven had the tear open. Solor was waiting with his wife and the rest of the team, while Soskrein was still in her room, playing with some of her toys while she waited for her uncle to arrive.

After a moment of the Tear opening, Edward and a very pregnant Rachael walked through, and Solor smiled, glad to see his best friend. He walked over, pulling the denizens of the other universe into a friendly hug. "Hello, Edward, Rachael. It is good to see you again." He smiled at his "older sister". "And how is little Callisto treating you?"

Rachael smiled. "I'm sure that when she is born, she'll bring a lot of joy into my life." She then frowned. "As of right now, though, she's killing my back."

Solor chuckled. "That sounds like a complaint belonging to the department of Edward."

"Yuk it up, hatchling", Edward said, smiling. "How is Susie doing? I'm surprised she hasn't tackled me yet."

As if on cue, the doors opened as soon as he was done talking, and a little red blur sped through the room, right towards its target and knocking Edward over. "Uncle Edward!" cried out the young dragon, nuzzling her uncle. "I missed you!"

"Hey, Susie", Edward replied, chuckling. Good thing he was strong enough to handle the human Soskrein. "How have you been? Doing alright?"

"Yep! Daddy keeps trying to eat me, though."

Edward let out a laugh, along with Rachael. "Well, who's fault is it that you're so adorable?" he teased, lightly poking Susie on the side. "Now, get up. If we're going to play, I'll need to be able to move."

He made a move to "eat" Susie which got a squeal out of her and she jumped up and ran behind Rachael. That got a laugh out of the resident Raven.

Solor nodded, helping his brother up. "So, Susie... you up for flying to the park today?"

Susie's eyes got real big. "You're gonna let me fly to the park myself?"

"With supervision from me and Uncle Edward, of course. We don't want anyone thinking you're going to hurt the kids, right?" he said, winking. A lot of the city knew about Soskrein, so that wasn't really an issue.

Then, again, since the end of the war, dragons were becoming commonplace. The end of the war, as it happened after Trigon was banished, was captured on video and was the talk of the planet for weeks afterwards. It was one reason why Solor got an inflated ego for a while. That didn't last long, though, as the entire team learned Solor's physical weakness: He was incredibly ticklish! The team members took turns torturing him, except for Raven who only used her powers on him for a few minutes before saying "You're done. Just remember to keep that famous ego in check."

In fact, the President was as good as his word, meaning that he asked Congress to send him a bill allowing dragons to fly over the country and that Edward and his Titans were exempt from immigration laws given that they were citizens of the USA in Edward's universe. He also took the unusual step of issuing a pardon to Edward and his team just in case some folks wanted to charge them with illegal entry. That, however, was kept in his desk drawer. Congress, out of a rare sense of bipartisanship, had the bill drafted, sent to the relevant committees and was passed in the House and Senate easily. The President signed the bill into law with the Teen Titans there. Edward was not able to attend that, so, entrusted Solor with any words of thanks.

The Circle realized that the genie was well and truly out of the bottle and even if they wanted to retreat, they couldn't. So, it was decided to stay in the open, but, staying out of the way of the world's governments. There was talk of treaties to formalize the status quo, but, the Circle respectfully declined, saying that even a treaty could be seen by some as interfering with mortal affairs. They were also busy training Grand Death's heir because the Circle was not complete since the current Grand Death had stepped down. Solor was the official liaison between the Circle and the mortal world anyway, a task that since he settled down, he relished.

But, at the Tower, Edward nodded, "You're ready, Susie. Poppa and uncle will be right there just in case. How is your shapeshifting coming along?"

"It's still uncomfortable," she said.

"It will be until you get used to it," Edward said, "Your big cousin in my world had the same problems with the bones shifting. After a while, you don't notice it anymore. Keep working with Uncle Beast Boy and Daddy. You'll be fine."

He looked at her eyes and saw they were glowing red.

"We'll have to work with you on the eyes, sweetie," Edward said, "They are a dead giveaway to your true nature. There will be times when you have to blend in. That's why Uncle Beast Boy can't blend in as another animal. He stays green.

"Think of your eyes as the lights in your room. You can turn them on or off, right?"

Soskrein nodded, "Yes."

"It's a simple switch that allows power to go to the light or keeps power from the light. I want you to practice turning off your glowing eyes or allowing them to fade on or off. Watch me for a moment."

Edward's eyes slowly went from their normal look to yellow, then, through orange into the same shade as Soskrein's eyes.

"Cool!" she said. She had rarely seen Edward's eyes change color unless he was actually emotional. This time, he was completely calm.

"Now," he said, "I want you to focus on dimming your eyes to the way mine usually look. Look into my eyes, sweetie and try to follow me."

She nodded and as Edward slowly returned his eyes to normal, she tried her best. She managed to get her eyes to the same "turned off" status as Edward and they stayed that way for several moments, but, as soon as she lost concentration, they lit back up.

"Darn it!" she said.

"Keep practicing," Edward encouraged, "Cousin David went through the same thing. His eyes would glow a lot when he was about your age. It's like morphing, you'll get used to it and it will be second nature to you. Daddy's eyes have a lot of different colors as well.

"I like this, though," she countered, "It's neat!"

"You won't get an argument out of me, but, the humans out there are still getting used to dragons and would not understand," Edward explained, "They would think the worst and that you are in a bad mood, so, it's really important that you practice daily on controlling your eyes."

"OK, Uncle," she said, "Can we go to the park now? I want to play!"

"Sure thing!" Edward said. He gave Rachael his trans-universal communicator and picked up a regular Titan communicator. He didn't want to be called away by Nightwing or one of his team mates back home, but, available for the local Teen Titans, just in case.

"We'll be back later, dear," he said, "If anything comes up..."

"I know," Rachael said as she carefully sat down. She certainly was not up to heavy activity, in fact, Cyborg put his foot down, and told her that she was no longer fit for active mission duty. It was something that Edward also agreed with. She fumed at the duty restrictions, but, when Nightwing glared at her, she kept her peace.

Edward picked up his adopted niece and the three dragons headed for the roof.

"A beautiful day to stretch the wings!" Solor exclaimed as he went to his hybrid form. Edward nodded, "That it is." He set Susie down and morphed to his mini-dragon form.

Soskrein went to her dragon form and winced a little bit before extending her wings.

"Yep," Edward said to her dad, "It's still a little painful for her to morph."

"She gotten better in the last month," Solor said, "Beast Boy's been a huge help."

"I'm glad to hear that," Edward said, "He's matured a lot in the last few months. Is Robin letting him lead the team now?"

"Robin actually listens to him more and does allow him to lead in the training simulator," Solor said.

"So, he's not tossed out the window?" Edward asked.

"Raven's cool with him, so, no," Solor replied, "Besides, her and Robin are quite close now. They've started dating since your last visit."

That got a huge smile out of the older dragon! He hoped that the seed he planted when the war ended would take root. Raven had lost Beast Boy in two universes, and Robin never had a chance with Kreinyol. So, it was logical that Edward gave a gentle nudge to the two.

"Let's go!" Soskrein complained.

"Ok, Ok!" Edward said playfully, "Seeing how this is your first solo flight, I think Daddy and Uncle will be right beside you. What's the first thing that you do to start flying?"

"Get a running start," she said.

"That's one way," Solor said, "And it's how we're going to do it today."

Edward nodded.

"What else?" Solor said, "What do you do when you reach the end of the Tower?"

"Jump off and flap my wings," she said.

"What direction?" Solor asked.

"Down," she replied.

"Good," Edward said, "What happens if you don't do that important move?"

"You fall, silly," Soskrein said.

"Right," Edward replied, "You go into a dive. Sometimes, that's what you want, but, as you're a beginner, let's get you used to the joy of flight."

She giggled, "That's what k'norfka says."

Edward smiled, "You know that when she was a little bumgorf, she could fly? It's one of the first things a Tamaranian learns how to do?"

"Soskrein's been learning about Tamaran," Solor said, "She's also learning different languages from Raven and Kreinyol."

"Excellent!" Edward said, "But, time's a wasting."

"Can I go first, daddy?" she asked.

Edward winked at Solor, so, he said, "All right."

"YAY!" she cheered and ran off at full bore. Edward and Solor raced to keep up with the young dragon as she jumped off the edge of the tower.

As Edward mentally crossed his talons, Soskrein took her first downstroke and started flapping her wings hard.

Edward and Solor also took to the air and caught up with her.

"Easy," Solor coached, "You'll tire out flapping that hard. Feel the air currents as you fly. Use them to glide."

"How do you do that?" she asked.

"Easy," Edward replied, "When your wings are straight out, don't move them up or down. If the air currents are going up, you can rest your wing muscles for a minute."

As Solor was closer, he said, "Watch me."

He started gliding, as did Edward since there was a good updraft. Soskrein wasn't sure but, did as she was told.

"This is fun!" she said over the wind.

[The guys are enjoying the show,] Rachael said.

[I got a feeling Cyborg's recording this for posterity,] Edward said before relaying the message.

Solor laughed, "Oh, I would expect him to be recording this day."

By then, the updraft ended and all three were casually flapping their wings as they came ashore and headed for the main park.

They flew on and Solor told his baby girl how to land with Edward offering to show her. He was silently impressed as she was a natural flyer.

They arrived at the park and looked for a safe spot to land. It didn't take long for the folks enjoying the park to clear an area for the three to land.

Edward landed first, allowing his back legs to take the gentle impact as he backwinged to lose his forward speed.

Solor was next to land safely and Soskrein came in a little too fast and almost crashed, but, managed a relatively good first landing. Meaning that she had to pick herself up.

"Not bad for the first time," Edward said, "You're a fast learner."

"Thanks!" she replied happily. She loved when Uncle Edward would be pleased with her. She especially loved it when he'd take the time to play with her.

A few of the parents were happy to see Soskrein and Solor. They visited a lot when they could, and had made plenty of friends there. Of course, there were still people who weren't exactly happy with dragons, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Even if they voiced their opinions, most dragons were a master of ignoring them. The few that weren't all managed to talk their way out of a real confrontation. Solor remembered a few weeks ago, he had to talk to an irate father who didn't want his son playing with some overgrown gecko. Instead of lashing at him, Solor managed to get between him and his daughter and talked him out of his anger. Eventually, the father apologized to both him and Soskrein, and now his son was good friends with her.

Several parents and kids walked over as the trio morphed to their respective human forms, Susie wincing once again.

Unknown to any of them, there was one extra child there who had some nefarious plans for Edward. Nightmare was hoping that kids were one of Edward's weaknesses.

Nightmare waited, though. He needed to make sure that only Edward was taken. He needed Solor and Soskrein to not be harmed physically. he wanted to punish them a different way.

As the families began conversing, Soskrein noticed Nightmare playing by himself. Curious, she began to approach the boy, ignoring the world around her. Something about him seemed... familiar. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but it felt like she had sensed this aura before. As she got close, Nightmare suddenly noticed her approaching him. Deciding that he would need a good distraction for Solor, he tapped into some of his inner strength and shoved her away just as she got close.

Solor noticed his daughter falling to the ground, and quickly moved. Edward was a bit distracted, and could not check on his niece as he was talking with some of the families. As the Light Heir approached his daughter, he noticed her eyes were wide as she stared at the boy. "Susie?" he called out, kneeling next to her. "Are you alright?"

"Daddy", she said, still in shock, "are most boys that strong?" As she spoke, she raised her hand, pointing at the child that had pushed her away. Solor followed her gaze and finger, and once his eyes fell onto the child, he felt his blood go cold.

The boy also had red eyes.

Solor saw the boy turn, extending his hand as he faced Edward, who by now was finally noticing what was happening and was beginning to approach Solor. Solor immediately realized what was happening, and opened his mouth to speak before the words from Nightmare began to echo in the park.

"Bex nu! Luv do Oblivion!"

At that instant, Edward could feel the suction before he saw the tear. Behind him, like what he had seen years ago, was a single tear, with a very powerful force trying to pull him in. Immediately, the much older dragon dropped to the ground, grabbing onto the earth and holding as tight as he could.

Solor roared, wanting to attack Nightmare. Unfortunately, his priority was pulling Edward away from the tear. If he could get the older dragon far enough away, then the tear would eventually collapse on itself, and they'd be able to apprehend the Dark Dragon. So, in an attempt to save his brother, he charged, grabbing onto a metal fixture of the playground near Edward, reaching with his free hand. "Edward! Take my hand!"

Edward, meanwhile, was trying his best to crawl away. However, he noted that the suction was getting stronger the longer the tear was open, and he looked around. While he was the target, a lot of parents and kids were trying very hard not to get pulled in themselves. He knew if this kept up, everyone would be pulled in. He looked at Solor, locking eyes for only a mere moment.

The younger understood, but it didn't make it any easier. He felt the tears form in his eyes, and he let his expression become stone cold. "We will find you, brother."

Edward gave a sad smile. "I know you will."

Then... he let go.

As soon as he flew through the hole in reality, it shut down, leaving everyone else safe. Solor hit the ground hard, beginning to sob. Soskrein, in the mean time, was staring in shock. She had never seen that spell cast like that before, and she knew it was a transportation spell of some sort. She turned to the boy that cast it, glaring. "Where did you send Uncle Edward?" she demanded, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "Why did you take him?"

The boy only smirked. "Be glad that's all I'm going to do today", he said, his voice surprisingly old. "Because tomorrow I'm going to make your family's life a living hell."

Soskrein growled. "You won't do anything to my family, you freak! Now, bring him back!"

"I can't", said Nightmare. "I didn't have time to punch in coordinates. I saw my chance, and I cast my spell. He's probably long gone now. And you'll never see him again!"

"LIAR!" she roared, her eyes glowing blood red and her aura becoming surprisingly dark. "BRING BACK UNCLE EDWARD NOW!" And just like that, the anger she felt towards this boy, the desire to do something to help her Uncle... awoke something in her. Her aura shot through her hands, and for a brief moment, Solor could see her soul, a mix of Light and Darkness, enter the boy's mind. Since he wasn't expecting it, Nightmare was immediately knocked unconscious by Soskrein's attack, and the two "children" immediately crumpled to the ground.

Solor stared at his daughter and the other child, and knew that he needed to bring them home right away. As he picked up their bodies, he could hear his communicator going off. He answered as soon as he had Soskrein on his back and Nightmare in one arm. "Solor here. I'm assuming this is Rachael?"

"Where is Edward?" she said, and he could hear the pain in her voice. "I... I can't sense him anymore..."

"I'll explain when I get back. Tell Robin I have a prisoner to interrogate. A very... Dark... prisoner."

That told Rachael more than Solor let on and she collapsed from the strain. She not only couldn't feel Edward … the link had snapped as well. She was caught by Starfire and set on the couch before she hit the panic alarm, causing everyone in the Tower to race to Ops.

Raven took one look at Rachael and announced, "Something bad has happened. The link between Edward and Rachael has been severed. I can't hear the echo any longer."

"What happened?" Robin said.

"From the echoes I picked up, Edward was attacked in the park," Raven said, "It didn't last very long, though."

By then, Solor had returned, having cast his own Tear to the Tower and jumped through it quickly.

"Edward's gone," he said, "This kid cast a Tear of Oblivion and Edward was pulled through. He could be anywhere and without coordinates, it's exactly what happened to me and Starfire. He could be someplace in the future, but, that's unlikely since he could teleport back. He's possibly in another universe."

"So, call him," Kreinyol said.

Solor pulled his communicator and tried calling Edward, only to hear the communicator that Edward left behind chirping.

Solor closed his communicator and swore heavily in the native tongue.

"Of all the times he leaves it behind!" Solor said, "Now, we have no way of finding him in this universe or any other."

By then Starfire noticed that her adopted child was out cold and said, "Soskrein?" When there was no reply, she tried again, louder.

"What happened?" Robin said before she went into a full panic.

"I don't know," Solor said, "After Edward disappeared into the tear, she confronted him. I thought I saw a soul-self going into this other child."

That got Raven's attention in a hurry. She floated over and placed her hands on either side of Soskrein's head and said after a moment, "She's not there at all. She's invaded this other child's mind. We'll worry about the how later, but, she could be in the right place to help us."

"Her dark powers have awakened," Rachael said as she sat up, "I think seeing Edward attacked shocked her to the point that the powers asserted themselves early. She's untrained and she will need help getting out. And if this other child wakes up, she will be forcefully ejected and without the training...she may be harmed beyond anyone's ability to fix. Raven, you will have to go into the male child's mind as my powers in that area are disrupted due to the baby. Take Starfire with you, and only her. Solor will be needed here to start the search for Edward...and may Azar have mercy on this child's soul because if my husband cannot be recovered, I shall send it to TRIGON!" Her voice changed at the end as her demon side came into play. Her eyes switched from two to four blazing red eyes as well.

Solor immediately moved to Rachael's side. "We will find her, Rachael. They were able to find me when I was launched to your universe. With the knowledge we have now, we shall be able to find Edward much quicker. For now, though, I need you to calm down. As powerful as you are and I'm sure Callisto is, I'd rather not have anything happen to you when you're so close to giving birth. I do not want to face Edward's wrath, either. Please... for Callisto's sake."

At the mention of her child, Rachael immediately began to work to calm down. Her four eyes changed back into two, and she sat back down. "You're right... I've gotta keep calm if I'm going to keep her safe."

"Just relax. I promised Edward that I would find him. And I will as soon as I can make sure the rest of my family is already safe." He turned to Raven and Starfire. "Sis, Kreinyol, follow me to the infirmary. We shall hook these two up, bind the Dark child, and then we shall find Soskrein. I will keep you both safe while you look for her inside the Dark dragon's mind." He turned to Robin. "If you wish, you may come as well. Cyborg should keep tabs on Rachael, and Beast Boy and Terra should return from patrol soon. We can update them then."

Robin nodded, and the four of them (plus the two kids) arrived at the med bay. After hooking both of them up, tying up the criminal, and setting up everything, Raven and Starfire stood on the sides of the Dark child. Robin collected a sedative, and put it into Nightmare's system at Raven's request. "If we're going to find Soskrein, we'll need to make sure this kid doesn't wake up too soon", she explained.

Kreinyol remained silent through most of the preparations. Eventually, Solor placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him. "Are you okay, my love?" he asked, looking into Kreinyol's eyes.

Her response was for her eyes to glow with righteous fury. "If this clorbag hurts my bumgorf, may X'hal have mercy on his soul, for I shall not be so willing to forgive."

Solor smirked, and pulled her into a hug. "With you as her mother, I'm sure she'll be fine." He sat her down next to Raven. "Be careful, both of you. And if possible, at least try to identify him before you bring Soskrein out. I'd rather know the name of the one I am interrogating."

Raven nodded. She then took Kreinyol's hand, and with a simple chant, both of them began their trek into the mind of a very Dark Dragon. Unlike the trip into Solor's mind nearly a year ago, this time, it could be a nasty fight.

"Someone call Nightwing," Solor requested, "Might as well tell them the truth about Edward's disappearance. Also, I will need to talk to my father as well. The Circle knows the most about these random Tears of Oblivion. I know that he still has a communicator. But, if my baby girl is harmed...no one shall diverge my wrath and may the First have the mercy I will not show this Traitor."

With three Titans swearing to avenge this wrong, the others shuddered. Two had the ability and motive to kill this dragon and one could send his soul to wherever Trigon was banished to. And that doesn't include whenever Edward returned. He would want his turn as well.