And time for an important chapter! Well, they're all important, but this one's different. Kind of.

A lot's gonna happen this chapter before we hit "Fearful Symmetry".

Now, to reply to some reviews!

DrWhoFan13: First off, nice guess, we'll see soon. And there's no Homo Magi form 'cause you'll see later, when the whole Anam thing gets revealed in its entirety. For "Once and Future Thing" I have a really big plan I'm excited to write—though I will say this: it won't be exactly like the future episode.

For Jason there's a comic going on that tells his story in the DCAU, Batman: The Adventures Continue. At this point in time, he's on the Outlaws, with Artemis of Bana-Mighdall and Charmcaster. For Zatanna's look, it's based off the DCAMU movies, so Justice League Dark and Apokolips War. And for the Endless at this point in time I don't know much about them, so probably not in this story, but definitely in the sequel.

I'm glad you're enjoying the story! And I promise to do my best!

Raidentensho: I'll say this—not too far off about the guess.

Halo312: That's exactly when the Anam activated.

Okaze: Well, y'know, Zee and her dad use spells backwards, so I thought it'd be a nice addition. And hey, no need to wait any longer! Thanks for the compliment and here you are with the next chapter!

Ben 10 Fun Fact 4: The DS version of Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks is mentioned in the Ben 10 episode "Ben 10,000 Returns". In that timeline Albedo was trapped as Alien X for a year.

Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!

The Passenger

Eric

I groan as I open my eyes to find myself in a field.

What the hell? What happened to the hotel? What happened to Zatanna?

"You're dreaming, she's still in the hotel room."

I sit up to see a person sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket a few feet from me. They have a gentle smile on their face as they pat the empty space next to them. "Come, sit."

I narrow my eyes before slowly getting up and walking over to them, I then sit down next to the person as we both look at the sky. "What is this place?"

"My prison," they answer.

Interesting. "Why are you here?"

"Because I escaped a life I didn't want," they answer.

They're being rather vague, aren't they?

"It isn't time for you to know yet," they reply.

What? Are they reading my mind?

"Yes," the person answers.

"Stop doing that," I glare.

"That would be harder than you think, Eric Mercer," they reply.

"Great, you know my name. What's yours?"

Just as I ask that everything begins to break away, the sky being first, revealing a black abyss floating above us. The person groans and holds their head as they mutter. "No, no, please, not yet."

"What? What is it?" I ask.

"I can't keep you here for long. I just-I wanted to meet you, and I must say, you will do good," they say.

And then the ground shatters beneath me.

I groan as I open my eyes. The sun blinds me for a moment, I slowly blink to get used to the light and look around. I hear a moan and look down to see Zatanna resting her head on my chest. Her hair's messy, and the blanket is over our naked forms haphazardly, memories of last night quickly come to mind, and I blush slightly before moving some hair behind her ear.

Zatanna grumbles something about bears in space before nuzzling closer to me.

I smile at her before resting my head on the pillow and looking up at the ceiling. The hell was that about? Who was that person? How did they bring my mind to them? And what did they mean about wanting to see me? I try to remember what they looked like, but all I get out of it is a headache. Dammit.

They said they were imprisoned, what for? Then there's the fact that our meeting didn't even last long, they seemed in pain as everything broke down around us, that must mean whoever imprisoned them figured out what they were doing and put a stop to it.

Whoa, hold up a minute, did they call me 'cause I was their only hope? Was that like Leia's scene in A New Hope? Awesome! Wait, but wouldn't that make me Obi-Wan? Does that mean I die? I look down at Zatanna's peaceful sleeping form. Yeah, I don't want that.

I groan before resting my arm under my head, my other arm around Zatanna as I stare up blankly.

Huh, so me and Zatanna are a thing again. Sweet.

I look down at her again, a smile plays on my lips. No, not sweet, perfect. I remember, after the breakup, Mom and Dad would constantly try to make me feel better, there were even talks about her not "being the one", but I just knew they were wrong, after the breakup I felt like a part of me was gone. Even when I was dating Hope there was a little bit of me holding out for Zee, guess Hope knew that too, thankfully she didn't take it too hard, leading to a mutual breakup.

And now here I am, in bed with Zatanna. For once it seems like the universe isn't using me as its personal punching bag. I mean, I'm awake, in the morning, totally happy, if that isn't a good sign then I don't know what is.

"Hell must be freezing over."

I look down to see Zatanna smiling up at me. She moves up and kisses me before resting her head on my shoulder. "How so?" I ask.

"I mean, for one: you're awake early in the morning, and two: you're smiling, like, a genuine smile. When was the last time you did that?" She asks.

I just let out a quick laugh. "Well, now I have a reason to smile. How'd you sleep?"

She cuddles closer to me. "Like a baby," she says into my neck. "Sorry about the buttons on your shirt."

I shrug my other shoulder. "Nothing Chronos can't fix."

"Or my magic," Zatanna replies with a smile. "So, we're continuing then?"

"Huh?" I ask.

"Us. Instead of starting over we're just gonna continue from where we left off?" Zatanna clarifies.

I lean down and pull her into a passionate kiss. After a few moments I pull back. "That answer your question?"

She sighs dreamily. "Yes sir," she then sits up and stands up in front of me. "Come on, let's take a shower, we can plan what to do in there."

I get up, turn her around so our fronts face each other, and pick her up, her legs again wrap around my waist. "I think that's a great idea, Ms. Zatara."

She rolls her eyes playfully before leaning back, forcing me to stumble towards the bathroom. "Of course you do, Mr. Mercer."

After the shower, the two of us are sitting on the now made bed, I'm wearing only my dress pants as Zatanna puts on some panties and my now fixed dress shirt.

"Hey, Kory just texted the group chat, they're wondering if we can make it to Titans Tower later today," I tell her as she puts on her light makeup.

Zatanna purses her now lipstick covered lips and thinks about it before nodding. "Yeah, we can do that," she then walks over and sits down next to me, her finger tracing my newest scar again. "You got this one when you..." She trails off, holding back a sob.

"Yeah," I simply say.

Her finger then goes across a scar that goes horizontal on my left bicep. "How'd this one come about?"

"Deadshot," I answer. "I was pretty dirty after a fight, and I didn't want muck between me and my armor, so I deactivated it over my arm, Deadshot took that moment to shoot. It's a good thing I heard the shot coming, so all it did was leave a mark instead."

"Aren't you bulletproof?" Zatanna asks.

I do a so-so motion with my other hand. "I'm immune to small arms, high caliber rounds can do some damage though, and Deadshot's bullets were specially made to pierce even my skin."

Zatanna hums before reaching over and tracing over a scar on my right shoulder. It's a line with jagged sides. "I think I remember this one. Darkstar gave this to you after he kidnapped me, right?"

I nod. "He captured you 'cause of your medulla jewel. He had hoped that with it you could feed his need for energy forever. Well, that and he has the belief that the two of you are destined to be together."

Zatanna rolls her eyes before resting her head on my shoulder. "Ugh, "my dearest Zatanna, the two of us together could do anything. Forget your father, forget Triumph, together we will be unstoppable"!" She mocks. "God, he was annoying. Where is he anyway?"

"Still in prison if I remember correctly," I answer. "Then again, he could've broken out and the warden decided to keep it secret, hoping he could handle it," I notice Zee's look. "It's happened before."

Her fingers trace over a small one on my back. "This was from that Cultist, wasn't it? When you transformed back from Heatblast."

"Yeah, that one really hurt," I reply with a nod.

"Right," Zatanna then traces the last scar. It's a long one that travels along the lower right side of my abdomen. Like the one I got when I died (still weird to think about) it has a matching scar on my back. "How'd you get this one?" She asks quietly.

I sigh deeply before grabbing her hand and looking into her eyes. "After the breakup, I was called to an alien planet, they were being invaded by Vilgax. I'll admit, I was reckless, didn't really care for myself. Vilgax and I fought, he stabbed me with a sword, I hit him with a powerful blast as Feedback. We nearly killed each other then," I chuckle humorlessly. "That was the closest I was to death before, well…"

Zatanna's silent for a moment. She looks down, her forehead resting on my shoulder. The two of us sit in silence before I feel a tear drop on my arm. My eyes widen in surprise before I lift Zatanna's head by her chin. Yeah, she's crying.

Oh crap, I'm not good with emotional stuff like this.

I slowly bring Zatanna into a hug and gently rub her head. "Hey, what is it?"

She sniffles and wipes her tears away before looking up at me. "It's just that, well, your two deadliest scars are because of me."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"

She touches the one from Vilgax. "The breakup was my fault, and because of it you nearly died," then she touches the one from Hex. "And this one was because I didn't pay attention back in Italy."

"Hey, hey," I lift her head up. "Both of them are on me, I was reckless and didn't pay attention. Besides, I recovered from both of them (kind of). No one's to blame but Vilgax and Hex."

Zatanna looks at me before pulling me into a kiss, once she pulls back, she doesn't go back far, our foreheads touch and our lips are barely apart. "I don't deserve you."

I smirk. "I was gonna say the same thing."

A knock on the door derails any further plans of fun. Zatanna sighs and gets up. "Probably Sophie telling me when we're gonna leave for our next show."

She heads over to the door and opens it. "Oh, hey, Daddy!" Not Sophie. "What's up?"

"We need to talk," Zatara replies in a serious tone. Zatanna turns and lets him in, his eyes widen a little as he sees me before he sighs and nods. "Eric, fancy seeing you here."

"Y-yeah. Fancy," he's not gonna kill me, is he?

Zatara seems to notice my discomfort and laughs lightly. "Don't worry, I'm not mad, in fact, I'm happy. The two of you seemed better when you were together."

Zatanna and I let out breaths we were holding before she sits next to me on the bed, her dad stays standing as the three of us look at each other. "So, what'd you need to talk about, Dad?"

I notice his eyes quickly flicker towards me. "This is rather…private. Eric?"

I nod and get up. "Right," I grab my tank top and suit jacket and put them on. "I'll be eating breakfast with my family."

The two nod before I exit the room and close the door. I think about listening in, but that'd be wrong, they wanna talk about something privately, let them talk about it privately.

I stretch my arms upwards and notice a woman in her early thirties with blonde hair and green eyes walking towards me. She wears a red blouse and a gray pencil skirt with a brown belt and black high heels. How she can wear all that early in the morning, I'll never know.

She stops and looks at me with narrowed eyes. "Oh, Eric."

"Sophie," I reply with a nod. "It's been a while, how have these last three years treated you?"

She folds her arms and cocks her hip. "They've been good," her eyes then narrow. "Look, Eric, just because you're good with Big Zee and Little Zee doesn't mean you're good with us. When Zatanna started talking about you again I warned her about you, after all, you broke her heart last time. So I'll say this: hurt her again, and we'll make sure you never come anywhere near them, got it?"

I narrow my eyes before nodding. "Got it," I walk past her to the elevator.

Should've seen that one coming.

I sigh before pressing a button to go down a floor, there our rooms are. A short elevator ride later and I head over to my hotel room. Thanks to our relationship with her, we're at a high-end, five-star hotel, everything's super expensive here and ornately decorated.

I open the door to find Nova sleeping on one of the beds in the room, Rachel and Esmeralda watching TV as they sit on the other.

"Why are you in my room?" I ask. "You guys have a room, Mom and Dad have a room. This is mine."

"Well I wanted to prank you when you woke up, but you weren't here," Esme answers. "Did you just get back from your mission?"

"No, I got back late last night," I answer as I head over to my suitcase and grab a new set of clothes, black jeans, a gray shirt with long black sleeves, and a black hoodie with a Green Lantern symbol on the back.

"Oh? What were you doing when you got back then?" Esme asks.

Rachel rolls her eyes and smirks as she lightly elbows Esmeralda. "Isn't it obvious? He and Zatanna were "having alone time"."

Esmeralda sputters and blushes before shouting and burying her head in her hands. "I don't wanna picture that! I don't wanna picture that!"

I just sigh and head over to the bathroom, once inside I change into my new clothes. I head back out to see Esmeralda with a faraway look in her eyes as Rachel looks at me with a smirk and shrugs.

I shake my head and sit down next to Nova; the cat sits in my lap and purrs. "Look, I'm about to go get some breakfast, you two wanna come with?"

Rachel gets up and turns the TV off as Esmeralda slowly gets up, the blank look still on her face, as Nova hops out of my lap and onto her shoulders. The three of us exit my room and run into Mom and Dad, the former looking grumpy.

"Dad dragged you out of bed?" I ask.

She glares at him. "Literally."

Dad just keeps his smile. "Worth it," he then looks at me. "So, did your whole thing with Batman last the whole night? You weren't in your room at all."

"We saved the day and came back to the hotel pretty late," I look at Esmeralda and Rachel from the corner of my eye, making sure the two don't say anything unnecessary.

Dad just hums with a smirk. I don't like it. "Really now? 'Cause I went to your room after I woke up, you weren't there."

I look between him and Mom, the two have smiles on their faces. Screw it. I sigh. "Okay, Zee and I spent the night together, that's it."

Mom hugs me tightly. "Oh, Eric, I'm so happy for the two of you!"

"What your mom said," Dad agrees as we enter the elevator. "You did use protection, right? I'm not exactly ready to be a grandpa just yet, you know."

I grumble some curses in Spanish as I try to sink in on myself. "Please stop."

"Fine," Mom reluctantly agrees, now more awake than before. "So, Esme, your birthday's in a few days-"

"Not just any birthday! My Quinceañera!" She shouts excitedly.

"What's so special about that?" Rachel asks as we stop at the ground floor and head to the hotel's dining room.

Before any of us answer we get some food and sit at a table a little ways away from the other patrons of the hotel. Esme also put a spell over Nova that makes him invisible to anyone outside of our group, since pets aren't allowed here.

"A Quinceañera is a special celebration for girls in our culture, it's seen as them becoming young women," Mom hugs Esme close to her and kisses her forehead. "Oh, I remember mine and Johanna's like it was yesterday, and you have no idea how excited I was as soon as we found out our second baby was a girl."

"So like a sweet sixteen but a year earlier," Rachel summarizes.

Esmeralda nods. "I guess that's a good way to describe it. Are you gonna have one?"

I notice Rachel's eyes flicker downwards as her fist tightens a little around her fork. Kinda hard to look forward to a landmark birthday when your demon dad's gonna come along that day.

Rachel just shrugs it off. "Eh, not my style. When's the celebration?"

"May 27th," Esme answers. "Then Eric's twenty-third birthday's gonna be a month after."

"Did you have a Quince as well?" Rachel asks me.

I shake my head. "Nah, that tends to be a thing for girls only. The only time I had a real celebration was my eighteenth birthday. Man, Dad, and Uncle Hector got schwasted."

"And you?" Rachel asks.

"Can't get drunk, my metabolism makes sure of that," I answer with a shrug.

"He gets it from me," Mom boasts. "Daniel and Hector are lightweights."

Dad scoffs as he eats his breakfast. "Sweetheart, I'm Irish, alcohol is in our blood."

Mom gives him a blank stare. "Your dad moved to America when he was sixteen. You were born in Austin, Texas, Daniel."

I look up once I feel a familiar mana signature, I then see Zatanna walking into the massive dining room, now wearing a sleeveless black shirt with a golden necklace and skinny blue jeans. I wave her over as I notice her look around.

She smiles and walks over, sitting down in the empty seat next to me, she kisses my cheek before taking a cinnamon roll from my plate. "Morning you guys."

"You two did use protection, right?" Dad asks in lieu of a greeting.

Zatanna chokes on the cinnamon roll as I groan and put my fork down and run my hand over my face. "Jesus, Dad."

"Well…" Zatanna says as she thumps her chest, coughing to clear her throat. "That cat's outta the bag. Speaking of cats, where's Nova?"

"Oh, he's-" Esmeralda pauses and looks around. "What the…?" She closes her eyes and focuses before they open again with a panicked look. "I-I don't know," she gets up quickly. "I gotta find him!"

Great, one animal hunt done, another begins.

"Esme, calm down," I say. "He's disappeared before, what makes now so different?"

"Because I can't feel the connection, Eric! He's my familiar, I should know where he is all the time!" She says hysterically, the other people begin to look over and whisper to each other, bringing attention to us.

"Esmeralda," Mom reaches out and holds her hand. "We'll look for her. Your father and I can look in the hotel, you and Rachel can look around the hotel, and Eric and Zatanna can go farther."

"Yeah, don't worry, kid. With all of us looking, we'll find Nova in no time," Zatanna affirms.

Esmeralda calms down before looking at Zatanna. "And your dad?"

"He's busy with something else right now," she answers. "But trust me, we won't need his help for this. Come on, Er, let's go find Nova."

I nod and get up, on the way to the doors I pat Esmeralda's shoulder as a way of comfort before the two of us exit the building, the two younger mages following closely behind. Zatanna and I walk away from the hotel, holding hands.

"So, how far can Nova go in such a short amount of time?" Zatanna wonders.

"You'd be surprised," I shrug. "He's a lot more agile and faster than your average cat, that doesn't even include his ability to teleport."

"He can teleport!? Oh, how could I forget?" Zatanna sighs. "This is gonna be harder than I thought. Can't you track him?"

I shake my head. "He doesn't have a lot of natural mana, a lot of it comes from Esmeralda, chances are, I'd track her instead."

"Shit," Zatanna whispers as we walk down the sidewalk.

"Okay, let's see. Nova tends to go for the high places, he likes being able to see everything from a vantage point, so that narrows down some places," I plan. "Though Gotham's made of a lot of skyscrapers, so maybe not so much."

"Guess we'll just have to find cats on- double shit!" Zatanna shouts.

I follow her gaze to see a group of people with cameras running towards us, the cameras already flashing. Oh, it's the paparazzi. Lovely.

"Zatanna! Zatanna!" They shout as they get in our faces. "What are your plans after your first show!? Who's this? A lover or a "friend"? What are you doing out here?"

There are other questions, but the cacophony of noise drowns them out.

Zatanna raises her hands, quieting them down. "My plans can be easily seen if you look 'em up online. This is my boyfriend, yes. And no, I will not be telling you his name. And we're out here to see the sights before I have to go off for my next show. It's been great talking to you all, have a great rest of your day."

Zee then holds my hand tightly and pushes through the crowd, pulling me along.

"Will you address the death of your mother during your tour? After all, the ten-year anniversary's coming up soon!"

Zatanna stops walking and stares forward blankly. I tighten my other fist and slowly turn around, glaring at the people. "Who asked that?" I demand in a growl.

A guy who doesn't look to be that much younger than me shakily raises his hand, his phone in it, the recording app open. I let go of Zatanna's hand and step forward, I then grab his phone and squeeze it, I ignore the sparks as I crush the phone.

"We're done here," I growl.

They get the hint and all run away.

I take a deep breath to calm down before turning around and standing next to Zatanna again. "Hey, you okay? Sorry about that, we should've just-"

"Over there!" She shouts.

Zatanna then runs ahead and turns into an alley. For a second, I'm lost, but then I shake my head and follow after her. The two of us enter the alley, here we find Nova climbing up one of the buildings.

I arch a brow in confusion, he doesn't climb buildings, he teleports up them. "The hell?"

"Ekat su ot eht pot," Zatanna and I float to the top of the building Nova scales.

At the top we find the cat walking in a circle, meowing in a pattern, he's also in his Luna form, his tail creating an hourglass on the roof of the building. Zatanna and I look at each other with arched brows before walking forward slowly with our hands raised.

"Hey, Nova?" I begin slowly. "What're you doing, buddy?"

The cat ignores me, he instead focuses on his pattern.

My phone rings, I look to see Esmeralda calling me. "It's no use, he's not in the hotel, and he isn't around it."

"Me and Zatanna are with him right now. Something's off though," I reply.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"He's walking in his Luna form, walking in a way that his tail creates the Omnitrix crest, and he's meowing in a pattern. You need to see this," I answer.

As I hang up, Zatanna continues to try to get Luna's attention, but it doesn't work. She eventually sighs in defeat and stands next to me. "I've never seen anything like this happen before."

"Esme probably has a better idea," I say as I fold my arms. I then turn my head to look at her, keeping Luna in the corner of my eye. "Zee, back down there, about your mom-"

"I'm fine, Eric, really," she interrupts with a smile.

It's obviously fake.

"No you're not," I reply. "Zatanna, I'm here to talk to you, you know that."

"Yeah, you are, but you need to know that it works vice versa. Eric, how many times have you avoided telling me something because you didn't want to? And how many times did I let that slide? If we're gonna talk about this, then you can't keep secrets from me," she replies with a stern look.

I break eye contact and look at Luna. "Right..."

Suddenly Luna stops what he's doing, he then transforms back to normal and saunters over to us, he then purrs and rubs himself against Zatanna's legs. The two of us look at each other before she reaches down and picks him up, she then puts him across her shoulders. The hell was that?

I walk over to see the magenta Omnitrix crest is now disappearing slowly. Well, this mark didn't last long, but what's it for?

"Nova!" We turn around to see Esmeralda and Rachel flying towards us, Esme in her Victorious form and Rachel wearing her Raven suit.

Her suit's mainly black, with a gold and red belt hanging across her waist, thigh-high boots and shoulder-high gloves with a navy blue cloak connected to a hood that is currently up, which casts a shadow over the top half of her face.

She stands in front of Zatanna and glares at her cat. "Where were you, mister? You had us all worried!"

"Not me," Rachel comments next to me.

Esmeralda then sighs and rubs his head before looking at Zatanna. "What happened to the weird things he was doing?"

"He suddenly stopped, and the magenta symbol just slowly disappeared," Zatanna answers. "Do you have any idea what it might mean?"

Esmeralda sighs and shakes her head. "No, I don't."

"Well, one mystery solved, another learned," I comment.

A ringtone can be heard from Esmeralda and Rachel, they pull out circular walkie-talkies. "Calling all Titans, this is Nightwing. I need all of you at Titans Tower, there's something important we gotta talk about."

Almost immediately, mine and Zatanna's phones vibrate, we pull them out to see a message in the group chat.

Space Princess: If you could all come to Titans Tower now that'd be great.

Me (Disco King): Zatanna and I will be there with Raven and Victorious.

Fastest Man Alive (heh): I'll be there in a flash!

Zatanna and I share a deadpan look. No he isn't, he'll be the last one there.

Mr. Roboto: Let me get some stuff done real quick, I'll be there ASAP.

I activate my armor and send a text to Dad about Nova before bringing up our upcoming meeting with the Teen Titans. "All right, Mom and Dad know about Nova."

"All right, gather 'round, kiddos, Auntie Zee's gonna tell you a quick story," Zatanna quips as she changes into her superhero outfit, this time with the blue and black blazer. "Tropelet su ot snatiT rewoT."

Well, time to meet Esmeralda's friends.

Titans Tower

We arrive in what looks to be a living room, a massive red sofa a little ways away, a table in front of it and a massive flat screen TV in front of that. There's what looks to be a kitchen behind us and some stairs leading up to what I'd guess to be bedrooms on a higher level.

Dick and Kory turn around as we teleport in, both in their suits, though Dick doesn't have his mask on. "Well, you're the first group here, we're just waiting on the others now."

"What's this about, Dick?" Esmeralda asks as she transforms back to normal.

"It's regarding the future of the team's setup. Don't worry, it's nothing serious," he answers.

Rachel and Esmeralda share a look before both shrug and sit down on the couch.

As they talk, Kory walks over and hugs Zatanna. "Sorry we couldn't make it to your show. We promise to be at the next one as soon as we can."

Zatanna just waves it off. "Eh, it's no problem, Kory. You were in deep space and Dick had to take care of Mari; life gets in the way sometimes."

Once they stop hugging Zatanna stands close to me, our hands instinctively wrap around each other, something Dick and Kory notice. "Sooo… I take it the divorce isn't a thing anymore?" Dick asks with a cheeky smirk.

I roll my eyes. "No, Grayson, it isn't."

Kory squeals in excitement before pulling the two of us into a hug. "Oh, what wonderous news! Mari will be extremely happy!"

The elevator pings before the doors open, in walks four teenage boys.

The tallest of the group is Hispanic, with black hair and brown eyes. He wears a dark blue hoodie with a black Nightwing bird on it and dark green cargo pants. My guess, Jaime Reyes, otherwise known as Blue Beetle III.

The next tallest is a Caucasian boy with black hair and blue eyes, he wears blue jeans and a Superman hoodie, a cape connected to it. There's Jon Kent, otherwise known as Superboy, who might have a thing for Esmeralda. Definetly gonna keep an eye on him.

Next to him is a boy with black hair and green eyes, who happens to look angry at everything. He wears a red jacket and gray pants as his hands are deep in his pockets. Damian Wayne, Robin V. Or IV, I'm not sure if Stephanie Brown exists, or if she even became Robin.

And the last one of the group, who also looks the most striking. He has light green skin and dark green hair with golden eyes. He wears a red and white hoodie and black and purple shorts. Here's Garfield Logan AKA Beast Boy.

The four stop talking and look at the two of us in surprise. Well, that look at Zatanna in surprise, Damian looks at me with a critical eye.

Beast Boy shoots forward and grabs Zatanna's hand, shaking it vigorously. "Whoa! Y-you're, like, Zatanna Zatara, your dad's the Giovanni Zatara! I-I love your guys' shows!"

She blinks in surprise before smiling and shaking his hand as well. "Oh, well, thanks! Always great to meet a fan who isn't a stalker… Uh, what's your name?"

"G-Garfield Logan, though I prefer Gar! On the field I'm Beast Boy!" He covers his mouth quickly. "Oh! I shouldn't have said that!"

Zatanna laughs lightly before dropping her glamour spell. "Don't worry about it."

The four blink as they stare at her before Gar facepalms, Jon lets out a sound of recognition, and Jaime mutters, "how did we not see the connection?"

"It's a simple glamour spell, helps me keep my superhero life and celebrity life separate," Zatanna replies.

Dick coughs into his fist.

"Oh, right! I'm Jaime Reyes, or Blue Beetle," Jaime says, straightening out and shaking each of our hands.

"(Where're you from?)" I ask.

"(El Paso, Texas. You?)" He asks.

"(Phoenix, Arizona,)" I answer.

"I'm Jon Kent, or Superboy," the next kid says. As he shakes my hand, I study him closely. Hm, I could take him. Probably won't even need my Kryptonian form. "What's your name?"

"Eric Mercer," my eyes narrow. "Esmeralda's older brother."

His eyes widen in fear a little as I hear a snicker from Gar and Jaime and a groan from Esmeralda.

"Oh. Uh, nice to meet you?" He rubs the back of his head and avoids eye contact.

I narrow my eyes. "Hm."

"Eric!"

I turn around and look at Esmeralda glaring at me. I just shrug.

Dick disguises his laugh with a cough before putting a hand on Damian's shoulder. "Your turn."

The kid tsks before walking over and staring both of us in the eye each. "My name is Damian Wayne," and he walks to the back of the group.

Zatanna and I share a glance and a silent message. 'Not the most sociable of kids, is he?'

The elevator pings again and the doors open, revealing Victor, and surprisingly, Wally as well, both in their suits. Well, Victor can't really get out of his, can he? And is it really a suit when it's him? Questions for another time.

Dick nods at the both of them before clapping loudly, the kids then get in formation across from us. Huh, six of them, six of us. Wally stands across from Gar, Victor and Jaime stand opposite each other, Esmeralda's in front of me, Rachel and Zatanna stand across from each other, Dick and Damian are on opposite sides, and Jon and Kory at the other end.

"Okay, you kids are probably wondering what's going on right now, well, you're not alone, neither do these guys," Dick begins.

"Great opening," Wally whispers.

Kory just rolls her eyes before continuing where her husband left off. "Dick and I have been thinking, the Teen Titans aren't really a next generation Justice League, they're a next generation of our group. Look at the person standing across from you, you may find many similarities between the two of you."

We all do that; the kids look slightly surprised and nod as they notice the similarities as well.

Gar and Wally can be seen as the hearts of their teams, both are the comic relief that have a lot of power behind them. Victor and Jaime are two young men forcibly fused with alien tech, but they've found ways to make the best of their situations. No need to see the connection between me and Esme. Zatanna and Rachel are the magic users of their teams, and they're pretty much sisters, I think Zatara officially adopted Rachel, actually. No need to see the connection between Dick and Damian as well. And Kory and Jon—two powerhouse aliens.

The Teen Titans really are mini us.

"So, to best train you, we've come up with a new system for the team's makeup," Kory says.

"There're still gonna be two mentors, but now, they won't always be the two of us," Dick finishes.

"What does that mean?" Esmeralda asks.

"Sometimes Zatanna and Eric will be the team's mentors, or Wally and Vic, or me and Zatanna, or Dick and Wally, or Victor and Eric," Kory answers. "It will be shuffled, to help improve synergy between the team."

"But the others are on the Justice League, and Eric's my Dad's second-in-command, how often can they be mentors?" Jon asks, which happens to be a really good question.

"Kory and I will still be the main mentors. Besides, the League's massive, they won't always be on missions," Dick answers before he and Kory look at us. "So, what do you guys say?"

The four of us look at each other and nod before turning to the couple. "We're in," Victor answers. "Though a heads-up would've been great."

"Yeah, I'm with Vic on that one," Wally agrees. "So, now what? Oooh! Let's hangout! Best way to improve team synergy is to have a party!"

Damian tsks again (he's gonna do that a lot, isn't he?) "What a waste of time," he mutters.

Before Dick can admonish him, an alarm goes off. The Teen Titans head over closer to the couch, the four of us follow them. The TV then shifts to a live news feed, showing a whole bunch of familiar short creatures wearing black, red, and silver suits with golden slits for eyes. The camera then pans over to their leader, Esmeralda and I groan in annoyance.

He's a massive being with orange skin. He has two black horns extending downwards from his jaw and his lower teeth are connected to his jaw. He wears a suit of armor that's mainly navy blue with light blue knuckles, elbows, and shoulders, the rest is silver.

"Whoa, who's that guy?" Gar asks.

"Vulkanus," Esmeralda answers. "He's a Detrovite criminal who loves collecting rare minerals to sell them on the galactic black market. Pretty sure he's wanted in five different star systems."

"Six," I correct.

"Tamaran is in one of them," Kory adds.

"Wait, what's that?" Wally asks. The TV then zooms in on an individual fighting off Vulkanus' forces.

He looks to be a little older than Esmeralda. He's made out of a crystal that looks a lot like Diamondhead's. His arms become hammers as he whacks some of Vulkanus' goonies away. Esmeralda and I blink in shock before looking at each other.

"I take it you know him?" Rachel asks.

"Yeah, his name's Travis, our moms are friends," I answer before activating my suit. "We gotta help him, I don't know how long he can handle them on his own."

"Okay. Beast Boy, Robin, get ready, the rest of us will go deal with Vulkanus and his guys," Nightwing orders.

The two hurry over to the changing rooms as the rest of us stand around Zatanna. "Tropelet su ot sunakluV."

The ten of us arrive in the middle of the street, civilians screaming in terror, laser blasts streaking through the air, and the sound of crystals hitting bodies. Cyborg barely avoids one of Vulkanus' people.

"All right, Zatanna, Victorious, Flash, get the people outta here. Cyborg, Blue Beetle, take care of that thing," Nightwing points at a giant ship that wasn't shown on the news. "Starfire, Triumph, Raven, help…what's his name?"

"Goes by Alloy," I say before shooting forward, Starfire and Raven flying on either side of me. I dial through the Omnitrix. "All right, time to try this guy out in a live fire exercise," I slam the Omnitrix down and become my Tamaranean form, Blazefire.

Like Icarus, the physical changes aren't too drastic, my skin becomes orange, as do my eyes, and my hair stays black, but it bleeds into red closer to the tips of my hair. I wear an orange sleeveless shirt with black sides and a silver necklace, silver belt, and silver arm bands, my pants are black with orange lines going down the sides. The Omnitrix crest is on the silver necklace.

"Try to keep up, Blazefire!" Starfire shouts excitedly as she boosts ahead. She flies fists first into one of the Pickaxe Aliens, sending it flying away into a group of its friends just before it can jump onto Alloy's back.

Alloy stops and looks up at her in surprise. "Whoa, you're Starfire, with the Teen Titans!" A black claw grabs some more Pickaxe Aliens and tosses them aside. "And you're Raven," he then looks at me as I shoot some more away. "And you're… I don't know who you are."

I just arch a brow and point at the Omnitrix crest.

His eyes widen in recognition before he smiles. "Oh! Hey, Triumph! Is Victorious here too?"

To answer his question, a giant magenta disc flies away, civilians being ferried away on it.

"There you are, Triumph!"

We look at the ship as a giant hologram of Vulkanus' face appears above it, looking down at us. He looks at Blue Beetle and Cyborg, the ship's defense mechanisms then lash out and send them both flying back with powerful electric shocks.

"Vulkanus! Still illegally smuggling endangered creatures?" I shout. From the corner of my eye I notice Robin and Beast Boy have arrived, the two moving stealthily behind the ship.

"Eh, that's on tomorrow's agenda," he answers nonchalantly. "Now I'm tryin' to get back what's mine!"

"Slavery's illegal, jerkoff! Both here and all over the universe! Well, most of the universe!" Alloy shouts as he stands next to me. I look and finally notice, he's made out of taydenite, the most sought-after mineral in the entire universe. It's also the only thing capable of piercing NRG's armor, hell, maybe it can even pierce a Kryptonian's skin.

"I bought you fair and square! Now get back in here or else this'll keep on happenin'!" He threatens as the guns of his ship whine and ominous red lights appear in the barrels. "You got five minutes."

I avoid a swipe from one of the Pickaxe Aliens and Starfire flies in and kicks it away. The two of us then stand back-to-back as we fire star bolts at them. "Tell your minions to back off then!" I shout.

Vulkanus guffaws. "No," the hologram then deactivates.

"He's just as vile as I remembered," Starfire whispers. "When I was a child, Vulkanus came to Tamaran, hoping to mine some of our X'hal stones. Father was very…vocal about his disagreement."

"What happened next?" Alloy asks as he throws a Pickaxe Alien into a magic blast from Raven.

"There was a battle. Vulkanus was pushed back and he is now a wanted criminal in Tamaranean space," Kory finishes as she dropkicks some Pickaxe Aliens away.

The Pickaxe Aliens still awake stop fighting and run over to the ship, once they're all inside, the ramps close and the ship takes off. The thirteen of us stand together and watch as the ship rises.

"I really don't like the look of that," Alloy mutters.

"Same here," Victorious agrees. "How are you, by the way? It feels like forever since we last talked!"

"I know, right!?" Alloy replies.

"Get serious you two," I admonish. "He's most likely gonna shoot one of the cannons, show he's serious. We need to send in a team to deal with Vulkanus. Me, Alloy, Victorious, Cyborg, and Beast Boy would be good."

"The rest of us, we've gotta minimize the damage from Vulkanus' ship," Nightwing orders. "Titans Together!"

The five of us fly up, Victorious creates a platform that allows Alloy to come up with us. As we near the ship, the ramp lowers, letting us in. Hm, Vulkanus is watching us, but he should know what we're planning. Then again, he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed outside of criminal enterprise.

Almost immediately, we're fired upon by multiple Pickaxe Aliens. Victorious quickly puts up a shield. "Plan!?"

"Cyborg, see if you can take control of the ship's functions! Beast Boy, these guys aren't that big of a deal, if you're careful, you can run through them! Alloy, Victorious, you're with me, we're going for Vulkanus and we're gonna take him down!" I plan.

Cyborg nods and a holographic screen appears in front of him. "Good news, the defenses aren't too strong, I can help Beast Boy fight these midgets off and hack the ship, you three deal with the big man."

"Shields coming down in three…two…one!" Victorious shouts.

As soon as the shield goes down, Cyborg shoots a powerful blast from his cannon that sends them all flying away. Beast Boy transforms into a rhino and runs among them as Alloy, Victorious and I fly through them, going straight towards Vulkanus to the bridge.

On the way, we run into many of the Pickaxe Aliens, but frankly, they don't really matter, we run through them and quickly arrive at the bridge.

We find Vulkanus standing in the center of the room, his hands behind his back as he looks outside, his ship firing upon the city, thankfully the Teen Titans and The Group are able to block every shot, but they're losing it, sooner or later one of Vulkanus' shots is gonna hit, and when it does, it won't be good.

"Hey! Vulkanus! Let's go, the three of us, one of you!" Alloy shouts as one arm becomes a shield and the other becomes a blade.

Vulkanus doesn't turn around, instead the right shoulder of his armor shifts, and a rocket launcher appears, it then shoots some missiles at us. Alloy and I dodge out of the way as Victorious telekinetically grabs the missiles and throws them back. A barrier appears behind Vulkanus, protecting him from the explosions.

Should've seen that one coming. We're fighting in his home turf, his ship, of course he has home field advantage. "You two keep him busy! I'll deal with the bridge!" I slam the Omnitrix dial and become my Conductoid form, Feedback.

My body is mainly black with a singular orange eye. I have two antennae and a tail, silver square plugs on their tips, I have four-fingered hands, silver plugs on them as well, and three silver battery bolts on each arm, one on the shoulders and two on my biceps. The center of my body is orange and the Omnitrix crest is on my chest.

I run around and hop on the head of a Pickaxe Alien, avoiding a swing from it. I then slam my hand into the console in front of it, the energy drains from it and enters my body, giving me a boost that makes me more energetic and feel nimbler. I then flip around and absorb energy from more consoles, making the ship flicker due to the lack of power, it beings to dip downwards as well.

"Do you have any idea what you're doin'!?" Vulkanus shouts as he grabs Alloy and tosses him aside just before Victorious hits him with a powerful gust of wind that sends Vulkanus flying back.

"Taking the power out of your ship?" I rhetorically ask. I then aim my hands at him. "And shooting it back at you!"

Blue electricity shoots out of the plugs and hits Vulkanus full force, sending him flying into the wall behind him, leaving a giant dent in the wall. As I stop, Vulkanus falls down and shakes his head, before he can recover, Alloy runs over and hits him with a right hook, and thanks to his taydenite body it chips Vulkanus' left horn and sends yellow blood flying from his mouth. Victorious then creates a hand of mana and slams him down on the ground repeatedly.

He groans in pain as the three of us stand over him.

"Dare I say, the three of us make a good team!" Alloy says excitedly.

Victorious nods. "We really do! You should team up with us more often!"

Alloy smirks. "Y'know what? Yeah! Let's be a trio!"

I fold my arms with a slight frown. "Yaaay, two kids to take care of," I drawl.

The two give me the stink-eye before having their own excited conversation.

I just look at them then at my hand, a small smirk on my face. Heh, Esme's our magic user like Gwen, Travis is our Kevin, and I'm the Ben of our little trio. Nice.

From behind us, Beast Boy and Cyborg enter the room, standing next to me. "So, I've got full control of your ship. If ya still want it, you'll leave. Now," Cyborg threatens.

Vulkanus groans before slowly getting up, glaring at the five of us. He turns and stares down Alloy, the two glare at each other before Vulkanus spits some blood on the ground and turns around. "Get off my ship."

And the five of us do just that.

We stand with the others as we watch Vulkanus' ship leave Earth, heading off to who knows where.

"He just left?" Superboy wonders.

"Not really," Cyborg says with a smirk. "He thinks he has full control, but in reality, I had called some Green Lanterns, they'll meet him halfway, then Vulkanus will be arrested by the Green Lantern Corps."

"Awesome!" Victorious and Cyborg high five before she hugs Alloy, I notice Superboy flinch at that. "So, what were you doing with Vulkanus?"

"Right. Some of his Pickaxe Aliens were here on Earth, mining some minerals when I came along to deal with them, but it was a trap," Alloy sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "He had me absorb some taydenite, that way I'd be an endless supply of it. But hey, works for me, now I've got a taydenite form!"

He shifts back to normal, now wearing a gray suit with white boots, belt, and sides, a black A without the middle line on his chest. He wears mainly black arm bands that are capable of transforming into different materials, something I made for him when he started being Alloy. Like the Omnitrix, when he becomes a new material for the first time, the arm bands record it, allowing for him to transform into it at any time.

"Awesome," I reply with a thumbs up.

"Hey, guys," Zatanna says, looking at her phone. "I gotta go back to Gotham, my tour's gonna leave. See you guys later!"

"Guess we should go with," I mutter. "Well, see you guys later."

Raven and Victorious come with us, but before we leave my sister waves her arms. "Oh! Hold up! My Quinceañera is in seventeen days! I'll be sure to get you guys invites!"

Before anyone can reply we're teleported back to Gotham.

Seventeen days later

Zatanna

I stand in a corner of the room with Eric, Dick, Kory, Wally, and Victor, as Esmeralda's Quinceañera goes on. The others talk as Eric occasionally looks over to see Esme dancing with Jon.

"Hands where I can see them," I hear him whisper. he smirks as Jon's hand stays high on Esmeralda's back.

I smack his chest with the back of my hand. "Quit it! I think it's cute."

He looks at her with a deadpan stare. "Oh, so you're totally fine with whatever's going on between Damian and Rachel?"

"That's different," I state. He just folds his arms and continues his stare. I sputter and fail to reply before pouting and looking away from him.

Victor just laughs before putting a hand around his shoulders. "Gotta say, this is dope, you get anything like this?"

Eric shakes his head. "Parties like this are for girls, besides, I'm fine with how my fifteenth birthday went. Me, Mom, Dad, and Esme just hanging out, wouldn't have it any other way."

"Well, your twenty-third's about to be insane compared to that one!" Victor shouts excitedly.

"Please no," he mutters.

"Please yes," Victor counters.

The song ends, which gets our attention. The dancers on the floor go out to socialize, and Esmeralda, who wears an extremely beautiful purple and black dress walks over to us. She then stands in front of Eric and holds her hands out.

"It's our turn to dance," she says with a smile.

Eric smirks before taking one of her hands. "That it is. See you guys in a bit."

The siblings then head over to the dance floor and begin to dance. I smile gently at the sight. "Y'know, he's been smiling a lot more lately," Wally comments as we watch. He then looks at me with a genuine smile. "Wonder why."

I just shrug with a hum. "Guess you'll keep on wondering," I then notice someone walking towards us from the corner of my eye. "Oh, hey, Dad!"

"Ah, hello all of you," he greets. He then looks over and smiles as he looks at Eric and Esmeralda dancing, Esmeralda laughs at a joke from her older brother. "Quite the celebration, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," I reply. "You did get her a gift, right?"

Dad scoffs. "Who do you think I am? Of course I did!"

"Whatever," I roll my eyes with a smile.

He then becomes a little serious and looks at each of us. "I came to talk to you regarding Nova."

"What's up with the cat?" Wally asks.

"Well, from what Eric told me, when they had first found Nova, he already had a connection to the natural mana of the world, yet strangely, he was naturally attuned to Esmeralda's signature," Dad begins. "And the fact that Eric just happened to find him one day? Something's odd."

Dick hums and rubs his chin. "I see what you mean, there are way too many factors to make this a coincidence."

I look over at Eric's dad, Daniel, talking to his brother-in-law, Hector. "Wait, isn't there a whole theory that their grandma's an alien mage?"

They all share glances, but Wally's eyes widen, and he snaps his fingers. "Yeah! A few months ago, some satellites from guys like Mongul and Vilgax have been found destroyed, the Omnitrix symbol was on them!"

I look over again at Daniel. Man, if what Eric told me is right, his dad might not like this.

There's a sharp pain that causes me, Dad, Rachel, Eric, and Esmeralda to cry out in pain. The visitors become worried, but Esmeralda's able to wave off their concern and sits at the main table, here her parents and aunt, uncle, cousin Sara, and grandfather worriedly fuss over the two. Looking over, I can see that even Daniel looks uncomfortable.

Eric's able to separate from his family and walks towards us with Rachel and his sister. "What the hell was that?" He asks.

"And where the hell is Nova?" Esmeralda asks.

"Oh for…" Eric trails off and we all look around, the cat nowhere in sight. "That's the fourth time this week, where does that cat keep going?"

"We need to look for him," Esmeralda says.

"No," Dad shoots down. "We can, this is your party, you and Eric need to stay."

Esmeralda nods and heads back to her parents as Eric looks less sure before eventually nodding and kissing me on the cheek. "Find the cat, find the source."

I wink. "Sir yes, sir."

The six of us then leave the party.

Almost an hour later and Cyborg's the first to find Nova, who happens to be in his Luna form again. Dad and I head over to his position, during the flight our communicators activate. "Flash, Cyborg, Zatara, Zatanna, this is J'onn. There was an anomaly detected in Seattle, I take it you're investigating?"

"We are, J'onn," Dad replies. "Victorious' cat has something to do with it we believe. Cyborg has found him."

J'onn hums. "Understood. If backup is required, just call."

"Will do," Dad replies before ending the call. He then looks at me. "Any changes in Eric?"

Right, he's talking about that.

I sigh deeply and look at my hand. "Sometimes when we hold hands or touch, I feel my mana drain just a little, and he seems a little more energetic," I look at Dad. "But he isn't doing it actively, it seems like an automatic thing, Daddy."

Dad hums. "I see," he's silent for a while as we approach the rendezvous point.

"Why can't I tell him?" I ask.

"Because this could lead to more things going on out of our hands. We already have enough to deal with, him being an Anam user can wait," Dad reasons.

I sigh deeply as we float down with the others, all in their suits. It doesn't feel right, keeping that from him. I hope this doesn't bite us in the ass.

We float as Cyborg points a thumb up to the top of the Space Needle. "He's up there, meowing up a storm."

"Mroftalp," Dad chants, Nightwing and Flash step on it, we then fly up to the top of the Space Needle.

We reach the top to find Luna indeed meowing, loudly and in a faster pattern. We look at the cat, Nightwing walks over and pulls out one of his detective gadgets, scanning the Omnitrix symbol the cat traced.

"Hm, similar signature to Esmeralda's, but older, more refined," he hums.

"Well, that's because I'm her grandmother."

We all turn around and get ready to fight as a being made of pure mana, which for someone like me is just absolutely insane to think about.

The being obviously has a female form, their voice adds to this as well. Their body's mainly purple, with light pink energy acting as hair, they don't have any real physical features, no lips, nose, or ears.

"Who are you?" Nightwing demands as he draws his escrima sticks, the tips of them spark with electricity.

"I thought I already said," she tilts her head. "I'm Eric and Esmeralda's grandmother. Daniel is my son. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Morrigan, nice to meet you."

We continue to watch her carefully, Luna then walks by all of us, he meows and rubs himself against her leg, Morrigan reaches down and picks the cat up, rubbing her nose against his. "Oh, if it isn't Nova! I take it your mission's been a success?"

"Mission?" Nightwing asks as he puts his sticks away, the rest of us follow his lead.

"Oh, I had Nova here come to Earth to keep an eye on my granddaughter, after all, she's the only person on the entire planet with The Spark," she answers, further confusing us.

"Uh, what "Spark" does Victorious have?" Flash asks.

"Ah, Victorious, how lovely," Morrigan praises. "You see, The Spark is what lets an Anodite manipulate mana as well as we can. Though, if the children are hybrids the isn't a hundred percent chance they'll get The Spark. And even less of a chance the further down the bloodline you go."

"Explains why Daniel can't use magic," Dad whispers. He then activates his communicator. "J'onn, the anomaly has been dealt with. It's Triumph's grandmother."

"…understood," the Martian replies, actually sounding a little surprised. "Keep us updated."

"Right, so that's dealt with. What now?" Starfire asks.

"Well, if I remember correctly, today is Esmeralda's birthday, isn't it? Come, to the festivities!"

"Hol-" She flies away. "Up…" I finish lamely. "Oh, this is gonna explode in our faces."

"How so?" Starfire asks as we fly back to the party.

"Oh, you know, she left when Eric's dad was just a kid and now, he has unresolved childhood trauma from his mother never being there," I answer with a shrug. "I remember bringing her up once, his mood went from happy-go-lucky to Batman level brooding."

"Holy crap," Nightwing whispers in awe. "We gotta get there before her! Who knows what'll happen?"

"Ekat su ot eht ytrap," I chant.

We arrive in an alley next to the building rented out by Eric's family, I chant another spell that changes us all back into our suits and dresses and we all quickly run inside to find Eric and his mom talking to Morrigan. Well, Ashley's talking to her, Eric's eyes are darting back and forth.

He sees us and lets out a breath before walking over to us and pulling me into a hug. "She didn't hurt you guys, did she?"

Victor shakes his head. "Nah, man, we're fine," he leans into whisper. "Does your old man know?"

Eric shakes his head. "No, and I don't want him to know. If he finds out, he'll get mad, but he'll hide it," like you do, don't you, Eric? "But Esme will totally notice it, if not before than definitely during their dance. We gotta get her outta here. Now."

"She went inside," Kory suddenly says.

Eric's eyes widen and he turns around quickly. "MIERDA!"

"Eric!" His mom shouts.

"Sorry!" He flinches as he apologizes.

His mom then sighs and stands in front of us. "Okay, here's how this is gonna go. Zatara, you're the opening, keep her busy, find ways to compare Earth magic with space magic. Zatanna, Eric, when she's done with that conversation you two roll in and tell her about your relationship, that should buy us a lot of time. Dick, Kory, talk about your romance as well, but avoid any talks about parenthood, we have no idea what that could trigger. Victor, Wally, you two do what you do best, comic relief. Got it?"

Eric blinks in surprise and we all look at each other before nodding. "Uh, yeah, Mom."

"Wait, but how long is this party gonna last?" Wally asks.

"We're nearing the end," Ashley then stands behind Dad and pushes him into the room. "Hurry! We don't know how long we have!"

Dad recovers and quickly walks over to Morrigan just before she manages to walk up to Daniel, Eric and his mom let out breaths they were holding. Talk about a close call.

Ashley then notices Esmeralda waving her over. "It's Esme, I'll be back. Remember the plan!" Dick and Kory go to dance as Wally goes to flirt with one of Eric's distant relatives, Victor goes to talk to Daniel and Hector, keeping them busy.

Eric moans in defeat and runs his hands down his face. "You'd think meeting one of my grandmothers would be cause for celebration."

"Meeting your other grandma could be better."

Eric jumps in surprise as Jon and Jaime appear next to us, both with cups in their hands. "When the hell did you get there!?"

Yeesh, he'd normally hear them coming a mile away, this must really be getting to him.

"Just now," Superman's son answers with a shrug. "Heard about her," he points his cup at my Dad and Morrigan, looks like he's keeping her busy. "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes. First off, kid, don't listen in on my conversations ever again, got it?" Eric threatens. "Second, my other grandma's dead. She died when my Mom was a little younger than Esme, so I never did get the chance to meet her."

"O-oh, sorry," Jon meekly apologizes.

God, that kid is so cute.

I elbow Eric's side and nod at him. Eric sighs. "Look, I'm not gonna explain myself, Jon, you know why I'm hard on you. Just know if you hurt my sister in anyway, I'm gonna kick your ass, and I don't care who your dad is."

Jon nods and looks up, a determined look in his eyes. "I promise I won't!"

It's official, I want a kid. Not now though, still too young for that. Later, definitely. And seeing how cute Eric was as a kid, and how cute I was, I know we'll have a cute kid.

Eric rolls his eyes. "You'd better not."

Jaime looks around in awe. "Man, I hope Milagro can get a Quince like this."

"How old is she?" Eric asks.

"Ten."

Eric shrugs. "Remind me in five years, we can pay for it."

"Oh! N-no, no way! I can't ask for that! T-that'd be too much!" Jaime tries to wave off.

"Jaime, you don't have to worry," I say as I put a hand on his shoulder. "Eric's got more money than he knows what to do with half the time. Besides, if he can't pay for it in time, I can, okay?"

Jaime looks like he wants to continue arguing, but eventually he sighs and drops his head. "L-let me talk to my parents first."

"Zee, we're on stage in five," Eric warns. I follow his gaze to see Morrigan excuse herself from the conversation with Dad, she's now walking towards Daniel, Hector, and Victor, the three still talking. Thankfully, Daniel's back is to her.

"See you guys later," I wave as the two of us quickly walk towards her, we walk past Dad and the three of us nod at each other before Eric and I reach his grandmother.

He quickly leans over and pats her shoulder, catching her attention. "Eric! How are you? My, you've grown into quite the handsome young man these past few years, haven't you?"

"Uh, thanks…Grandma," he nervously rubs the back of his head before motioning to me with his arm, the other one around my back. "Right! Grandma Morrigan, meet Zatanna Zatara, my girlfriend."

She smiles and takes my hand. "Well, glad to see my grandson knows how to pick his girls, I can feel the magic radiating off of you! How long have you two known each other?"

I smile and shake her hand. "Since we were seventeen. I'm sure my Dad's told you, he met us at one of our shows, since then we've hit it off."

"I can tell, the emotions between the two of you are strong," she then sighs dreamily. "Reminds me of myself and Carter when we first met."

"My paternal grandfather," Eric answers at my confused look.

"Where is he? You'd think the man would make time for his granddaughter's birthday, especially one as special as this one," Morrigan asks.

Eric grimaces and looks down, something Morrigan notices. "Oh," she covers her mouth with a hand. "…How?"

"Suicide," Eric whispers. "I was eight."

"I see…" Morrigan then looks down as well, tears welling in her eyes.

This took a turn. "Hey, if Daniel's anything like your grandpa, then he wouldn't want you to be mopey on your sister's birthday, would he?" Eric smirks and gives me a quick kiss as thanks. I smile and turn to look at Morrigan. "So, mind telling us the romantic tale of Morrigan and Carter?"

Morrigan moves over to one of the empty tables, we sit down across from her. "Well, it all began in Ireland…"

Eric and I sit down at a table at the edge of the room, both of us tired and looking at the couples dancing on the floor. Right now, Kory and Dick are talking with Morrigan, though it's obvious to see she's getting annoyed.

"You're mom said the party's almost over," I mutter.

"Yeah," Eric replies tiredly.

"That was an hour ago."

"Yeah."

"This plan's gone to shit, didn't it?"

"Yeah."

I groan before dropping my head on the table.

Eric does the same.

"What's your theory?" I ask.

"Dad's gonna let all of his bottled-up rage explode. It's gonna be terrifying, like, Narcissus terrifying," Eric replies. "You?"

"He's just gonna be real quiet and walk away," I turn my head to look at him. "Like you."

He turns his head and the two of us look into each other's eyes for some time before he sighs and closes his eyes. "I know I'm not the best with sharing my…negative feelings, I-I just don't know how."

I sigh and bring up a hand, caressing his cheek and messing with his ear. "Just talk about small things that bother you, we'll work our way up from there, okay?" At his nod I smile and lean in, he does the same and we both kiss.

I love kissing him. It's like an explosion of energy that stays just as potent every time. Though, ever since his resurrection they've been a little different, like he's becoming one with me for a little bit.

"We failed."

Eric and I pull out of the kiss to see Victor and Wally sitting down across from us, we then look to see Morrigan standing in the crowd as the party comes to an end, Daniel and Esmeralda being the only two on the dance floor.

"Shit," Eric whispers before slowly getting up. "Come on, maybe we can-"

"There's nothing to do," we look to see Ashley walking towards us. With a sigh, she sits down in the seat Eric was just in and looks. "We just have to see this play out."

We slowly get up and join the crowd as Esmeralda and Daniel's dance comes to an end, signifying the end of the party.

Almost half-an-hour later the only people left is Eric's immediate family as well as Rachel, Dad, and me. Morrigan's here as well, helping put the chairs away, much to Daniel's confusion. "Who's that?" He whispers to Dad.

"She'll introduce herself," Dad replies before standing in the center of the room. "Selbat dna sriahc, yawa."

Once the room cleans itself up, Morrigan walks to us, a nervous smile on her face as Daniel watches her approach with an arched brow. He walks forward and holds his hand out to shake, instead, she pulls him into a hug, much to his confusion.

"Uhhh… Okay?" He slowly pats her back.

"Oh, this is gonna explode," I hear Eric whisper as his right-hand drifts towards the Omnitrix.

"Who is that? Why is Nova so close to her?" Esmeralda asks, she prepares some spells due to her brother's actions.

Ashley just puts an arm out in front of them, signaling them to stand down. She then turns to us. "Thank you for coming, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. Family only, you know."

Dad nods. "Of course, Ashley," he turns to the Mercer Siblings. "See you two later."

Esmeralda's confused, but she hugs the three of us. "Bye guys, thanks for coming."

I hug Eric, after the two of us kiss we keep our faces close together. "Tell me how it goes, okay?" I whisper.

He nods. "Of course. Good night, Mi Amor."

I feel butterflies in my stomach at that. He hasn't called me that in what feels like forever.

Rachel, Dad, and I then leave the building, but just before the doors to the room close, I turn around and get a glance of Eric's family listening to Morrigan's story.

I hope it doesn't go to shit.

So, how do you think it went? Go ahead and leave it in the reviews, there'll be an answer in the next chapter, which happens to be "Fearful Symmetry"! I like writing canon chapters, mainly to see what it would be like if Eric were there. I mean, we've seen what it's like if Ben was there in Ben 10: Unlimited, and we've seen what happens with Sandman in the picture with Sandman Unlimited, but Eric's different, a little more ruthless and tactical than Ben. Well, only one way to find out.

Something I've gotta say, the Teen Titans/The Group (They'll get a familiar name in the future) parallel was not something I planned, it just happened. When I got to the part where they stood across from each other I just saw the similarities and it just took off from there, so that's something.

And Travis is back, and he's the Kevin of this universe! I have a planned chapter for him, Esme, and Eric in the future, I think you'll like it!

Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!