I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Separated
I'm sorry for pushing you two away and worrying you. Can you forgive me?"
Cassandra nodded, smiling, and Rose did the same, both of their eyes watering.
"We forgive you," Rose said.
Cassius smiled and nodded tugging their hands. Both stepped forward to give him a hug, and just as he moved to wrap his arms around them, there was a blinding light and they were gone. Cassius recoiled like he'd been slapped, staggering backward before looking around. Kaldur and Robin were gone too. He turned, sprinting to the hangar, finding Batman, Zatanna, and Red Tornado all present, but the rest of the Team was gone.
"Who are you?" Batman demanded.
"Void," Cassius said. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say the rest of the Team disappeared in a flash of light?"
"Yes," Batman said. "Robin, Aqualad, Orphan, and Ravager too?"
"Yeah," Cassius said.
"Let's go," Batman said, all of them heading to the briefing room where Batman pulled up the computer.
Already reports were streaming in. Every child was gone. Anyone seventeen years old or younger. Cassius frowned. Apparently he counted as an adult, despite his body being about sixteen currently.
"This has to be a spell, right?" Cassius asked.
"I do not know any sorcerer with this kind of power," Zatara said. "Even Doctor Fate."
"What about a group of them?" Cassius asked.
Zatara was silent for a long few moments before nodding. "Bring up the globe. I will locate the focal spell."
Batman nodded pulling up the globe, and Zatara chanted his spell, a small red dot appearing on Roanoke Island.
"Okay," Cassius nodded. "We have a location."
"I'll inform the Justice League," Batman said. "Once we've gotten a grip on the chaos that's about to ensue, we'll head to Roanoke."
Zatara nodded and everyone split up. Cassius headed to his room before punching the wall hard enough to crater it. He could not deal with this right now. He was worried sick, and not knowing if they had been erased, teleported away, cast into a separate dimension, or some other magic bullshit was tearing him apart with anxiety. And the longer he was in his room trying to calm himself, the worse his stomach twisted into knots.
"Void," Batman said from behind him. "You have to calm down."
"I'm trying," Cassius said.
"They'll be okay," Batman said. "Wherever they are, they're not helpless. They can take care of themselves."
Cassius sighed heavily. "You're right."
"Why did you change your appearance?" Batman asked.
"I thought it might help," Cassius said. "And it did, a little."
Batman nodded. "You remembered who you were, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Cassius said. "It's been...difficult to adjust."
"Who were you?" Batman asked.
Cassius shook his head. "I have too much going through my head right not to have this conversation."
Batman nodded. "Alright. I'm going to return to monitoring the League's activity and the news. Once you've calmed down, join us."
Cassius nodded and Batman left. Cassius waited a few more minutes, his anxiety returning rapidly, until his stomach was twisted so tightly that it hurt to sit still. He stood, walking out of the room and back to the briefing room where Captain Marvel was talking to Batman and Zatara.
"There are two dimensions," Batman was saying. "One for the adults, and one for the children."
"Wait, they're all safe?"
"Yeah!" Captain Marvel said. "I can travel back and forth between the two dimensions, too!"
"That's great!" Cassius said, his stomach untwisting itself slowly. "Can you let Rose and Cassandra know I'm okay for me?"
"Sure," Captain Marvel said. "Shazam!"
Lightning struck him in the chest from the ceiling, and suddenly he was gone. A moment later, he reappeared in another flash of lightning.
"So, Cassandra started crying, and Rose said you're an asshole for scaring them," Captain Marvel said.
Cassius snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah well, fair's fair. They scared the shit out of me too."
"Captain Marvel, you'll be relaying messages so that we can coordinate," Batman said.
"Roger!" Captain Marvel said, saluting.
And so, the planning process began. It wasn't easy, but after about an hour and a half, the plan was set for a strike from both teams together on whoever had cast the spell. They all left togethers, reaching the location at night. As they arrived, they found a seal with five spots for sorcerers, currently having four present, meaning one was in the children's world. Present to face them were Wotan, Felix Faust, Wizard, and Blackbriar Thorn, all extremely powerful wizards. If Cassius had to guess, the children would be battling Klarion.
Cassius looked to Batman just as he gave the signal and everyone moved in. Captain Marvel reached the four sorcerers first, landing behind Wizard. A moment later, Batman landed behind Blackbriar Thorn, only for his magic to cause a tree to burst from the ground behind Batman, its roots binding him in seconds. Tornado landed behind Faust and sent a pair of cyclones at him, only for him to extend an arm, effortlessly sending a blast of flames through his tornados into Red Tornado's chest, hurling him away. A moment later, Zatara blasted all four with a bolt of lightning, only for the lightning's energy to be transferred into a golden crystal in the center of the seal. Wizard hurled several boulders at Captain Marvel, who smashed them, only for two more to explode into him from the sides. Then, Cassius was in place. A massive goo tendril burst up from the layer of goo that had used the dark ground to mask its approach, grabbing all four and flinging them away from the seal. However, just as he did, a blast of blood red magic energy exploded into one spot of the goo from the crystal, forcefully reverting Cassius to his newest human form and hurling him away. He bounced once before flipping, goo instantly exploding out of his side and grabbing the ground to yank him out of the way of a fire blast from Faust. Just as he did, however, Zatara shot past the seal, grabbing the crystal and beginning to chant. Suddenly, Cassius felt dizzy for a moment before blinking several times and finding himself standing beside Artemis and Robin, who were both unconscious. At the seal, Klarion was kneeling down with a shining, golden ankh trapping his head and hands, and the other four sorcerers, who were just reaching the seal, all groaned and collapsed as the spell being canceled took a sharp draw from their energy.
"Boy, they sure don't make evil immortal sorcerers like they used to," Klarion said. "Oh well." He snapped his left hand's fingers and the ankh began to fade from the left side over, allowing him to stand and dust himself off. "Fun while it lasted. Teekl."
His familiar cat, who he'd apparently transformed into a massive saber-toothed Tiger, released Connor, who it was pinning down, and ran back to him, shrinking back down to its normal size on the way. As soon as he jumped into Klarion arms, Klarion opened a round, red portal.
"See ya later amigos!" Klarion smirked. "Unless I see you first!" Then, he laughed and leapt through the portal.
"Aren't you gonna stop him?" Wally asked Fate.
"To what end?" Fate asked. "Klarion is chaos personified. He cannot be contained."
"Cassius!" Cassandra sheered, tackling him in a hug.
Cassius laughed, sitting up and hugging her back, holing his other arm out to Rose as she reached them, Rose holding him as well instantly.
"We were so worried!" Rose said.
"You?" Cassius asked. "How do you think I felt? I went to hug you both and you were just gone."
"Sorry," Cassandra said.
Cassius smiled, shaking his head. "It's alright. It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you're both safe."
Both squeezed him before letting him stand, slipping their hands into his. Just as they turned to the others, Zatara went to confront Fate.
"Fate!" He shouted before taking a breath to calm himself. "Great Nabu, release my daughter."
"No," Fate said flatly. "Witness the Hell that can be wrought in hours. The world needs Doctor Fate. And the girl's natural affinity for the Mystic Arts makes her the perfect candidate."
"You can't do that!" Artemis snapped.
"She has her own life to live!" Robin shouted.
"Kent would never allow you-" Wally began.
"Kent Nelson did object, strenuously," Fate said. "So I released his soul into the afterlife. He is gone."
"Take me instead," Zatara said. "My skills are already at their peak, my body is physically stronger, better able to withstand the strain of your power."
"All true," Fate said. "But if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?"
"My word," Zatara said, spreading his arms and speaking an incantation.
Fate remained silent for a moment before flying down and landing before him. Then, he reached up, removing the helmet. After a moment of coming to her senses, Zatanna smiled.
"Dad!" Zatanna gasped, hugging him.
"Zatanna!" Zatara smiled, holding her tightly, then pulling away. "Remember. I love you." He kissed her on the forehead before taking Fate's helmet. "Take care of my girl."
"You have my word," Batman said.
"No, please!" Zatanna said, shrugging Robin's hand off her shoulders as he raised the helmet. "This was my fault! Dad don't! Dad!"
Then, it was done. The helmet shone as Fate's outfit spread over Zatara in a wave of golden light. He turned to the four restrained sorcerers.
"Leave these to Fate," he said, flying into the air, the sorcerers flying after him. Then, both he and the other sorcerers shone gold and faded from sight.
Zatanna fell to her knees in silence and Robin, Wally, and Artemis hurried over to comfort her. After a few more minutes, they all left, the Team taking the Bio-Ship to the cave, the leaving via Zeta tube to go home and see their families. While they did, Cassius headed to see his own family, bringing Rose and Cassandra with him to introduce them properly.
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