AN: References used: Teen Titans, Marvel/X-Men, Bleach, Naruto, Pokémon, Total Drama Island, Harry Potter and Final Fantasy. In this chapter: nothing new.

Chapter 11 — Closure

(Background music: "Auron's Theme" — Final Fantasy X.)

The next morning (at 10:30), the ten New 12 members awoke in happy moods—pleased (to different degrees) from their much needed and desired Friday night. Once they all put on new clothes after freshening up on this Saturday morning, they all gathered their things and moved to the B-Jet to pack them in.

Once the group was together on the shore, they noticed that there were no signs of discontent among the group at all. Before Durango showed up to dismiss them, they all decided on making a silent oath, raising their fists as they did for Subspace and in the Heartless realm.

The horse appeared on the scene, accompanied by those who stayed in the Gracement for the whole week. Seeing the raised fists, Felix and Bonnie immediately joined them.

"What's this?" Durango asked, never seeing this in person.

"Their promise." Derby answered. "I saw this in Subspace, and they said that they do this for some good cause... I don't know why they're doing it now."

They lowered their fists and turned to the host, after Derby stopped speaking. The New 12 showed faces of happiness and determination, standing close to each other. Hoppity's vision came true.

Durango crossed his arms and nodded approvingly with a smile.

"What's up?" Bongo asked.

"Right now, at this very moment... I'm looking at a new New 12. By the looks on your faces and by the closeness I sense in y'all, you've evolved. You've outdone yourselves."

"Wait a sec... we've outdone ourselves?" Megan interrogated.

"You heard me. Aside from helping you gain your unity in more ways than one, all the extra stuff you did wasn't mandatory."

This startled some of the New 12 members, except Felix and Bonnie, who weren't included in this conversation.

"What? So all those facts you mentioned before, about what was gonna help us come together—" Sly uttered.

"Yep! I made them up on the spot!" Durango boasted, chuckling.

"That's insanity! What have we been trying to do for this whole week?" Lucy wondered.

"All of you should know... because you all passed the test I put in front of you from the start, including Felix and Bonnie."

"Ugh, now I'm confused." Slowpoke murmured.

"Then let me explain." Durango began, pacing back and forth. "You all knew that you were going to be put through some insane stuff this week; most of which was adult-oriented, so I had to leave Felix and Bonnie out of the picture. And even though you didn't realize it, you all took your roles into account and acted accordingly, even when I didn't tell you to. All I was doing was acting in a real-life situation, when all of you were NOT. I simply gave you suggestions, and honestly, I thought that they would break you apart from each other. Overall, this experience was, indeed, meant to establish long-living bonds between all of you and eliminate the problems... however, at the same time, it was also a way to get everyone, i.e. the world, to know what you're going through and HOW you got through it in flying colors. That about wraps that up!"

Ewey lowered her eyebrows. "The author, whoever it is, is gonna pay for this." she muttered.

"I'll say." Bongo followed her. "It almost sounds like Durango didn't do a damn useful thing the whole time we were here."

(BGM: "The Splendid Performance" — Final Fantasy X.)

"Yes I did. I got you all to step out of your comfort zones—in other words, I kept you from yourselves."

Hoppity shrugged. "Well, I suppose that helped." she said.

"All right everyone. Before I let you go back home, there's three things I have to address. The first is important: never forget about what bonded you together, and don't lose those bonds because we've worked hard on them. Second, the Memory Room should have caught every detail of your experiences here, so if you want to watch them, feel free to. I'm sure that a few of the other Bean Titans are. And the last thing... how was last night?" Durango said.

"Awesome!" exclaimed both Felix and Bonnie.

"Um..."; "You see, uh..."; "Well..." were the comments quietly coming from the mouths of the rest of the New 12.

Durango chuckled. "Oh, no...! Don't tell me that you all went at it last light! Show of hands—be honest!"

All ten of them raised their hands.

"Wow..." Felix murmured, bulging his eyes.

"Derby? What does your dad mean, 'went at it'?" Danielle asked.

Derby twitched. "Um, you don't wanna know." he replied.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Bonus!" the horse exclaimed.

Bonnie tugged Durango's shoulder. "Durango, is the confessional still open?" she asked.

He was surprised by her. "Yeah. Speak to your heart's content."

"Come on, Felix!" Bonnie said, taking Felix's hand and using Lightning Dash over to the mansion.

Durango grabbed his shoulder. "How'd she do that? I never even saw her move."

FELIX: What's up, y'all?
BONNIE: Woooo! (initiating)
BOTH: (more exclamations)
FELIX: I don't know if you guys saw us on camera or not...
BONNIE: ...but we were here, under the mansion.
FELIX: If you weren't there, you weren't ANYWHERE!
BONNIE: At least... we didn't have to do the things the rest of the New 12 did. (*aside*) Not that I wouldn't want to do a couple of those things...
FELIX: I know, right? They all got busy last night—now THAT'S crazy!

"Is there anything else?" Ears asked.

"Nope, you're free now. You can leave whenever you want... I'm going for a walk on the shores." Durango responded as he started off from the B-Jet, heading towards the eastern shore.

"Thanks, Durango." Christina mentioned on behalf of the New 12.


As soon as Felix and Bonnie got back, the New 12 boarded the B-Jet and prepared for takeoff. Before taking flight, Mooch asked if Slowpoke, who was piloting, could stall the jet over the mountains of the island.

Soon enough, the B-Jet was in the air, positioned just over the eastern mountain's peak.

"Hey..." Felix uttered, "is that your sword Mooch?"

The gibbon saw his zanpakutō, and it was a black-colored blade again. Mooch knew then that he succeeded in overcoming Zen no Kyoudoutai's challenge. He stood beside his zanpakutō for a brief moment, after jumping down to the peak.

"The thirteen espers we first encountered are like the thirteen signs of the zodiac. Ophiuchus is the proper name... the other is "Serpentarius". I remember because Dotty mentioned it during the tour a few years ago. When I mentioned "snake" while I was talking with Bongo yesterday, I could feel this faint spiritual pressure from you when weren't in your vessel. That was when I knew that something had changed. The thirteenth aspect: it's like a snake, binding everything around me into countless bonds, never to be separated. Just like how the esper, Zodiark, is bound to his metal vessel." Mooch theorized, as he reached for the handle of the zanpakutō.

"Exactly." Zen no Kyoudoutai responded mentally, as his vessel was pulled off of the mountain peak.

"Mooch?" Sly called, from the open door of the jet.

"It's fine. Let's go home." he replied.

With everything in place now, the New 12 depart from Team Z's island, now stronger than ever before. Their union was finally complete.

I~~~**~~~I

And that ends BTA Part 14.

I'll be off for a while, taking care of college and whatnot, so if I get antsy a bit earlier than expected, be on the lookout for Part 15.

I'm always open for your thoughts and/or reviews!