Teen TitansThe Chaos Round-Part Two Between Worlds, Against all Odds

by Inkblot24

Our heroes' plight continues as the Chosen's promised vow to a daemon of manifestation is tested -he's forced to fight his own sister to the death, an old enemy resurfaces, and a bond that could unexpectedly save his planet, is brought into question -find out the rest in part two! The chaos round continues, here!

4. Chapter 4

Teen Titans – Chaos Round Arc - Part 2: Against All Odds – Chapter Four: Ice Cold – Twin Stars Divided – Like an Open Book.

/

Back to the exciting conclusion! It's a- go -go!

/

As the tea party tore out the worst born in each and every patron at the witch of chaos's table that evening, Eris had a grin on her face while her supposed allies became no more than wooden – hearted and hollow. As a sorry end to one old oak, the next to grow in its place would be….

Eternally hers, forever!

Raku saw that his vision had grown dull and a bit blurred. He looked to see that all but Eris were in this same pain; he'd seen Roko cough a bit earlier as it only increased with each sip she took of the goddess's elixir -rich wine.

Charl had a face blue as a typhoon stretched sea. His hands were pale while his palms shook each time, he reached to refill his glass.

Raku's heart pounded; a strange feeling, as if he were no in control –

Roko turned to the side and heaved. Whatever it was, the wine had either been rancid, or –

No!

You drink tea at a tea party. What was in that pitcher!

Charl moaned and grimaced with a newly - salvaged palm centered over his ribcage and stomach.

Poison; a toxic elixir made to decimate them in these new forms! He wasn't yet as tangible, and Eris was becoming less so predictable with her methods as they sat here. Helpless.

~Go ahead, young servant. ~ Eris waved to Raku to take a bite of some of the delicious looking foods she'd had set up by her phantom crew.

~Why do you hesitate? The wine is strong; only the gods may stay well while sipping its contents. ~ She said in a low voice. ~You are a god, are you not? Was I wrong to paint you as my rival? ~ She turned to Roko and sniffed; watching the demoness fall to her knees and off of her seat. As she clutched her gut to ease the suffering, Raku did not want anyone else to know of that cursed liquid. Eris would kill any who dared enter into her domain without an invite –

Including Aiden…

He had to best her. She was expecting something from the eclipse child and his age -old craft to manifest dual aspects…What would suit him here? Who could stop her BUT her true enemies?

~Well? Will you accept my challenge, little boy -God? ~ She said again; hoping Raku was still able to hear the witch through the intense fog brewed well inside his skull.

~I cannot deny what I am to you. ~ He said clearly before reaching for a cup on the long table. ~ Your tricks will not keep me here, not ever again. Let us drink! ~

Eris had a smile on; wide as a tiger's many teeth were sharp and pointed. She responded with a glimmer in her two dual shaded eyes;

~Splendid decision! If I win, you have to bring it back to life! ~ She giggled and had Raku's hand shaken while in mid reach.

~Your book, the Manifesto of the Sand Lord of Time's Wrath. You will summon my whole power, and if I lose….? ~

Raku felt his heart move too quickly as Eris stated her rules to the tween.

With a snatch of her cup up to her lips, Raku did the same. Now unfrozen as she downed her third dose, they felt alive. Ready to do or die in this battle of will without end.

~If I lose, you can play with me and my minions any way you'd like…After all, you are no hero. You are an outcast as my brothers are to my departed papa. ~ She sighed and poured a new glass.

Raku took a big swig of the second cup; his hands were on fire while his mind stood on this ice. Action inn his palms, he had to take it seriously. If he had the win here, he could banish or put Eris and her allies to rest. Eris would be no longer a threat to anyone, Aiden especially.

~I must protect him…~ Raku gulped as he took to pouring himself a cup, then another, then he took Roko's up to his lips, to add to that increasingly rupturing, fire on his breath.

Eris's grin was even worse than before as her fifth cup made the child at her table itch with envy at the goddess's skill. She was a maniac with a death wish. A suicide he'd not wished to take part in.

~What is…. Nnh…In this potion? ~ Raku steadied his glance to catch hold of Eris's mis -matched eyes. His mind -spoken words were changed. They didn't need to be so formal after all. Slurring, he tried to will on the sacred fire from the desert world to protect its remaining creation. Himself, all Azag had sired.

A vision shone past his sights from within her red eye's lens. He peeked over with a clouded gaze. Raku's eyes saw a serpent pull a dark-haired woman in a worn dress down far, far, below those same dunes on another plane….A place, he'd likely never be able to return to. Until, he recalled a trick; one Lilith has talk Raku in his hay – day to avoid an early loss against the best of the best.

And that skill also involved removing the poison from the keg earlier in order to have such a win.

~How can I do this to them now?... No no! ~ Raku shook his head, which triggered a startling wave of nausea. He'd lose, he had to use it. A skill that demons owned by their development.

~Are you almost through? Silly me! ~ Eris laughed as sweetly as a songbird before her gaze grew more malevolent with each cup she downed. Was it blue or red? What eye was really portraying the true goddess?

~Guh! N- no! I…. I…~

~ Blueh!....~

Raku held back a bit of reflux in his throat…. That however, was a human illness! Why was he unable to fix this?

~Oh myyyy! ~ Eris snickered as her seventh became a tenth, then an eleventh cup of that poisoned brew.

~On this plane's edge, you are almost too human to best me at all! The gods made you so weak, my little lord! Oh - ho! ~ She laughed and let the rest of her words turn to a wicked cackle, her hands now the color pink and her face blushing full of a drunkard's determination.

~You….! ~

Raku gasped and willed back the rest of that nausea he'd battled in the beginning. His stomach was human here. Why did Eris not say it? Was she also changed by this plane's power? By her banished acts against the Universal orderlies?

~You….Are…Half –

~No no, little boy - God!... ~ Eris chuckled and found her head was full of such a toxic mess, that she had to steady herself to sit upright. ~ I…C- can't lose to you…. ~ Her mind was numbing, her eyes sagging into her skull. Sometimes, a sacrifice was necessary.

~S…stop….WE…..aren't…..gods –

~Shut it! ~ Eris slammed a cup angrily into the table top. ~ I can do this; you'll have no choice but to evaporate into nothingness…. BOY KING! Now, do it! Best my medicine or you too will lose all you stand…Cough! Cough! Argh! ~

~You'll die …too! ~ Raku shouted, and had no choice but to best her as best he was able. She was willing to kill them both for the sake of her vengeance.

~That me, in your memories….! ~ Raku coughed up some of the poison as he spat a wad of it into the table's clean covering. ~You…. You were right, he wasn't a…king….I…am no better, if I –

~Talk talk talk is all you ever did! You aren't a king, not yet…. When I win…. ~ Eris grunted as she spoke back across the table. An eighteenth cup in her grip. Her eyes brimming with steadfast droplets.

~I'll be the only one who has the power, to see to you ever rising up again…. I too, can be reborn – but you? ~ She twitched by how the amount in her body was only toxic to those not venerated as 'true' gods. She was still in exile, which meant the poison could warp her mind (not like that scared the goddess of chaos.)

She spat out a bit of back wash mucus from her bitten, pink lips.

Her wild eyes spoke of misery, pain, and the agony she'd brought onto herself for disobeying her true leader and sire, back on Mount Olympus.

While Raku attempted to remember the technique Lil had taught him eons ago, Eris displayed the tenacity of a sweating, ill maiden in need of her next fix.

Only, she was ready for another dose, before she felt it happen.

Her eyes started to itch. Her nose was first a sniffle, then a cough followed her earlier fits.

Raku saw it too and realized she'd tainted her immortal half too quickly.

~You… have to end it or you'll! –

His eyes saw not her features, yet those of a shadow - cast, dark haired immortal with skin as grey as death was to be simple in itself.

~Her real body is dispelling the toxins…~ Raku noticed, as he too had been willing to turn the tables with this impossible dueling.

~My true body would have never let any harm come to it. ~ Raku felt his lips go numb as the next cup had him struggling to focus on the ache in his stomach. He had only eyes on her; the suicidal witch with her twentieth serving.

~It can be my opponent. ~ Eris started to relax as the toxins were turned by her true self into a pleasurable aphrodisiac.

More so an opioid effect as Raku decided to only do this once, he had no choice if Aiden were to awaken again. For he had put the boy into a coma without knowing…

~I'm sorry, I could not keep it…So…Gulp! * Goodbye, for now…~ His whole body froze up as his eyes went blank, scaring Eris as she blinked over from her side of the table. She leaned on her wrists to strain, to see what he'd just done to himself. They wore masks, all gods must have had the ability once. Yet Raku, was a Demi - God.

His rank was no higher than her own. Yet given, his ego was not that inflated to make the same mistakes as his old body.

~What?Did he just…. No! NO NO NO!You won't succeed! Hero, my foot! I'm –

/

Ava drew in a breath. It was like ice to her lungs as she attempted to lessen this gut feeling, deep inside her.

"Ave? What's wrong?" Gar looked up from his space by the mainframe computer and saw that Ava was colder than usual. Her breath was showing every time she opened her mouth to let another strained feeling past.

~ I…D…d…don't…uuuhh…." She nearly fainted from the lack of oxygen, as Kori ran to her child on wings so mighty as to stretch across the cosmos.

"Ava Marie! Dear X'al! Oh no! What has happened to her? Gregory? Cyborg? What is going on?"

Her endless array of questions left Raven to seek out Aiden; hoping that this was not due to Ami or Raku in any way after the fact…...

"Damien! Are we clear to get the heck on the T -Ship, yet? Soon? Give it to me straight." Cy was back from his session from watching over Aiden and the team's senior empath. Miss Martian took a quick look into Ava's mind, but all that she found was blocked by icy wall after wall.

Robin; the late ward and blood son to The Batman, looked over the tower's images and saw that no zombie – humans or otherwise, had come out to play. Even a few hours ago; when the teams had been hulled up inside the large T.

That whole night before had felt like an episode of Apocalypse After; a game that Dami and Blue Beetle had somehow been playing in their spare time. No school meant more time to train, but not every senior Titan or JLA member was present to participate in this end - of – the world – slumber - party.

"We should get everyone onboard, now." Conner turned towards the view outside and frowned out at the fire – scorched oblivion that awaited them. "If this is all just some illusion trapping us here –

"But we are leaving, right as soon as the jet is at full capacity –

~We should not attempt it all so early, yet. ~ Greg shook his head and stood next to Damian in his new form. ~If the barrier has this plane trapped inside its creator's paradox, then should we breach it from the outside –

"We may alert others that they have some bodies they missed to mind – control, wiz." Beetle bit the inside of his cheek as he let out and exhale sharply.

"None of us are gonna last, we are sitting ducks! And I've been one out of…One, two…. Out of ten of em! Including Canada geese! That's not a duck!" Gar spouted this while Damian slammed an aggravating palm into his own face, hoping he'd not just witnessed the great Changeling in action. The famed ' coo coo labanza – beast boy of 03.'

Even senior heroes had their own fears; a loss of their livelihoods, families, of questions still unanswered in their day -to day – struggle on a planet that did not understand them, nor ever would.

Of course, it would all soon be pulled down into the netherworld before the Titans had a chance to come out of their miserable funk.

~Our emotional wants are the enemy here; we should harbor them wisely. ~ Wiz informed Gar as the miserable changeling pouted in the corner by himself.

"In a way, the wizard dude is right." Blue Beetle nodded, while Damian relaxed a bit by the control panel. "We aren't ourselves right now." He claimed; taking some part of the blame for having been only human enough to sympathize with the meta – human Changeling.

"What comes next?" Zan asked the ebony teen at the controls. "What do you want the Titans and Young Justice to do for now? We can't find any civilians that weren't hypnotized by the enemy's powers. Also, Kori still isn't out of her shock; Aiden is comatose…. Sort of, and we are sitting here. He's right about that –

"Not you too…" Damian spun around to face the magician miss.

"I'm just stating that, we have to dig a bit deeper. The root of our concerns isn't in plain sight." She shut her eyes and imagined the crying children, the wounded men and women trying to protect their burning homes and the city of Jump, their screams at the power that had overtaken every mortal's daydream with a wave of its hand. This enemy was nothing more than a distraction. It was not the misery that enveloped the people. It was, just a way to….

"We aren't in the right place!"

Zan suddenly gasped, pulled back away from her awful thoughts.

"The real enemy is –

/

~ I'm stating…. Buuuuurp....Unna…. My, head…. gulp...Head quarter…quarters….In the city…..That dumped me!~ Eris took another swig, holding the glass of poison to her lips as her pride would not allow her to lose….

While Raku had lost his boyhood and the face which wielded it. An older teen sat at the table, made her look like a drunken fool with his newly added – rather, recovered abilities.

Roku was returning to this table, and he had barely even looked a day over with every ounce that his body had drowned down; downing glass after glass - and she'd not even set out the good china!

~You! You…. lied to that…hic! * Boy…. You, never let it go…. That form, is the devil's child! Hic! ~

~ I lied to protect him. ~ Raku; rather, seventeen – year old Raku, said this calmer than he should have. It only ticked off the goddess more. She held the weight of both chaos and order. It wasn't at this table, then why exactly had they still been here?

~Oh? So, you are a good man, nee'ow? After all the 'ELL you put his family through? They'll mark you as a…BUURP!*…. Scuse' me… monster all over…Hic! * All over, again! And again! An' A…GAIN!~

She took a swig that made her eyes pull back; her teeth now as black as that tar – poison left in the two exiled beasts' hands.

Raku froze again. This time, he'd soon realized how duped he'd actually been. As his emotional side waned on, he saw clearly WHAT he was facing.

~I've won, yet you keep her far safer from me, Shifter imp. ~

The bulging eyes of the imp were there; withheld no longer as it turned its sights about as a drunken chameleon glued to its seat. It pinpointed the location, the eyes of a peeved demon it had once favored were as red as lava left on a rampage.

~Ahh, Right answer as usual, hic! My lord –

~And they say you can't out - smart an imp in a drinking game. Looks like the myth holds true. ~ His voice was older, but the fragile sheep he'd been, no more remained. No less than his impressive aura that rained down as a sky full of comets and asteroids so hot - enough to scald his enemy, once and for all.

~Welcome back! ~ The imp soon reverted, in the poorest of manners, to that face of a crying and sniveling Charl's. He looked as pink and rosy as a newborn child.

~I'm not staying. ~ Raku snorted and had the imp – in - man's - skin shrink back by…His old influence. Raku grimaced at that look he'd gotten.

He hated this body. It was Lil's curse. Yet, he'd made it so! Then, then the witch had not lied. His demons WERE his own, to bury with his wounded heart. Aiden would grieve, not he in this form, the boy however…

~I want to speak with the real Queen of Chaos. Now, if you please, imp –

~She was here, watching the whole ordeal take place…. Your robes glow as hot as the sun - god's chariot…My lovely…. Dragon! ~

A 'leaping' cry of laughter lit up the room, though it remained dim enough to see through this intense miasma that bubbled forth.

The sickly Charl on the ground rose up slowly; its softened vessel a mere illusion to the re - birthed tyrant in this waking hour. The tresses fell forth, the clothing; that of a darkness which could only be, as voluptuous as Eris's real body. Her Immortal beauty; a curse on mankind.

The cherub was done, dead to them in this room of shadows. The imp swapped forms from across the table; changing to that of a bat winged pet from earlier on. Its eyes now resembled the cherub's. Red and blue, Concordia's elemental calm and Eris's pitch-black heart made of serpent's venom.

~You've awoken, just as I'd hoped…And now…! ~ With a wave, Raku was sent back into the wall, side - ways the long table.

~I'll see your last efforts at forgive-ness burned by my hands! You; he who now walks not as a god, yet as a traitor! ~

~Enough of this, I…. did not come here to be tormented…. By any more women! ~

A dark shade of ash and ember lit up the air as the lights, went blank from above.

Fool! The purest darkness is chaos to me, for I may only grow from its essence! ~ Her flowing robes stretched round the table and tossed it in to the dragon's sights as he used his new powers to shield himself from the blow. His counter then left him stranded, his body reverting to that of a fifteen-year-old, then fourteen. She knew how to drain him?

So…He could manifest ANYTHING!

~Manifesto's tome! Come! ~ Raku called it forth; guaranteed no way out of this cave – in he had created by agreeing to that silly drinking competition!

The book came to him as a speck, then dropped well through a summoning portal that only he could bring about, for he wanted to remain as powerful as this fallen Gorgonite.

~Manifesto pages…. I summon a thousand bolts of lightning! ~ Lil had not believed Raku to have needed such a thing, yet it kept his dark - eclipsed magic from getting out of hand. He'd once been able to wield the book's power, and now, he could again prove his worth to Azag. Lord Roku, was dead forevermore.

Smiling calmly, he raised a hand to redirect the lightening at the evil (turned) goddess. She'd already been banished for misdeeds he'd gotten not a part to play in – at least in this form.

Berlin, San Francisco, and Paris were not his to bury, not his. For he was on the side of the righteous today.

~Strike the blow! So, mote it! Go!~

Eris screamed out as if Zeus had been there, leaving her in her dying state -yet Immortal blood could not be spilt. He had only to keep her busy here.

Before….

~My queen! ~ Medusa, the furies, and…. A god who stood against time's laws.

Ares, the God of war.

He was surrounded. The lightening died back into the tome's withered pages. Raku left it back inside a portal only he could witness.

~It seems, you lose. ~ The kindred of the Gorgon girl sniveled, snickering at Raku's hopeless rioting.

Raku's eyes fell as he reverted to his twelve-year-old body. His hopes were dashed. Why? He had the power to beat them! Oh, his…His contract…. He recalled it. It was that string which now held Aiden on a thin thread back on Earth.

~If you break all ties, you may destroy my sister. ~ Ares smirked at his little opponent crudely. Raku shook his head. No, he was not a killer, he'd wait…. He'd gain back that light from Aiden's aura and….

~Oh! He depends on a mortal to fight for him. What a silly virgin! Once a seeker of the bosom, always to a crying bitch of the runt's litter. ~

He, was weaker, because of Aiden…

But…

Raku gulped, willing back his tempted side. The darkness in his moon's eye.

~I will not bow to my powers. ~ He snarled as bravely as he could.

The fury - harpies only pointed and laughed away, their Mistress was now back to herself. Her body, tall as a pillar only to topple her brother's quaking might. Gods had this attribute, theirs was super - human at best.

~He's not at all one of Lil's subjects. ~ Medusa sniffed and snipped off a snake from her crown, tossing it at the boy's feet as his instinct was to hop out of the way.

Laughter echoed throughout the chamber. He was, the fool now. The idiot who'd brought shame to the name 'Eclipse god's son.'

~It was no wonder she had to ruin you! You were, ech….so puny….! ~ Eris laughed, but not so loudly as her allies did.

The snake sprang up at his ankle as the demi- god's dewy angst had left the child stunned, unable to raise a finger in battle or up in protest. He collapsed in a heap with his eyes glazed over, full of that same poison he'd downed in three - hundred gulps total. For surely, he had been a monster to them all, even to the demons he'd usurped in their plans to overthrow the old Immortals, as he had once sought this exact path. He'd lost his crown; his rites were no more righteous than Eris's were alight with her passion for utter vengeance.

What might only happen now, now was left up for fate to decide as he slowly closed his eyes tightly, left to rest until another judgement day had passed him along.

/

Ava gave a short gasp as she clutched her chest; fighting the urge to choke on some invisible miasma that was not there where her mother could notice her child to the side, with a sharp pain that egged her to seek treatment for its faults.

She was growing weak, vulnerable here since she'd relinquished a drop too many of her humanity to become a protector of the Northern Plane.

The Snowy Barrens was an alpine treasure that went along for miles without a map to guide it -it existed to keep the realms elsewhere from collapsing into themselves. Ava bit back a groan in her own voice as she recalled her soul ended bond with Christopher in his wolven guise.

~He is still alive! ~ She realized this as the pain did again hunt her down; forcing her knees to quake under the tremendous pressure. She had not sensed him earlier, he'd been a sacrifice so that she could escape, as always.

In her earthen body as Ava Grayson, she'd had no more a crush on Christopher Jean than he'd had an admiration for his childhood sweetheart. So now?

Aneiu, the white wolf guardian of the Aurora Realm; farther north than her own Snowy plane, had made it so that Chris's body would not end up as Alicia's when she'd finally used up her strength. She had only lived on as a separate soul inside of Lisa Viscado. Christopher was actually born to earth and incarnated as another to protect Ava, the last Raven – Winged, besides Lady Aluehainyu. He'd lost his old form to take on a new guise, only to have that corrupted by Hati; a deity of the Norse who believed Ava to be a goddess reborn from his time.

Chris had taken on a curse when he'd finally been freed of Hati's influence. He'd kept the astral body of Hati's wolf self and could be as a phoenix, reborn every time he vanished. He could no longer leave her side. He had to rise up, yet Ava wished for the curse to be no more. Getting to become as hollow as ice, watching the love you'll never know fully die -Again and again just to please you…

Immortality was a curse and she would soon never be able to escape; princess, or a reaper without its wings…She'd seen too much to turn away, yet this human heart she had left, would only be with her for a few more years…

As long as she stayed young at heart, one could escape, leave that pillar in the snow and find a way back, to where they truly wished to go.

Chris, could not do that. His mother was neglectful, and his health such as his asthma no longer plagued him. He'd become a fae. He was a Faire being, just like Ava.

She was never human, and yet she feared for all she knew. For who she'd grown up with in her happiest moments; as a daughter to two very powerful individuals fighting back on Earth.

Her mother still wept for her children. Even those not related by blood she didn't fear shedding a few simple tears for. Her husband was off protecting some plane where Ava's youngest sibling lay comatose. Still alive.

She had to try. Chris was bound to her forever. He wouldn't let her go, never again.

Ava brought out her eyes to search the room. There was a deathly calm overtaking this place, she saw. The door to her brother's resting place was as if by heat vision, infested with some sort of…

Cave, In a cave! A vision!

~Chris…. If you can hear me…~ Ava started through the speak. ~ Come to me, find your way back to Earth. I need you. ~

She was a strong summoned due to her powers of ice and the full moon's glow. She could have some lacking wordplay to her craft with all she already carried. It was not a god or a demon, so the formalities were not in play tonight.

Night…The time she needed to perfect her work. The moon was red in the sky.

She longed for the mountain ridge overlooking a wolf's song orchestra. Ava would return, just as she'd help to save her family here on the Earthen Divide.

~Ava! ~ He sounded excited to see her as she listened, his voice a distant melody and a howl came forth – her eyes were now glowing white.

Ava noticed the Titans' looks. Zan pointing out the spell to Dami. Kori holding her bolts at the ready in case a beast had possessed her eldest child. Beetle's shock and his wings up in the air, ready for action.

Superboy was frozen in place. Magic made his ears prick a bit. He could not get over Miss Martian's mind games half the time.

~Come! Open the door to ice and frost! Return to your ruler's side!~

Ava allowed that title to pass her lips. She HATED the feeling, as if she were cursed to wield such a powerful spell in front of her family. She didn't budge, she only did what was right.

An astral bound wolf, its coat covered in stars and barely corporeal, leapt through the doorway that Ava's magic had summoned with all its might. Its dark eyes were slightly transparent, yet very strong a gaze as Ava's company could not hope to look away. He would have been a night-colored wolf had he been really there to seek out every star against his matted fur.

~ I gladly continue to fight again by your side…. Princess. ~ The wolf bowed and then turned to a new form. One almost as mortal in feature (save for the elven ears,) as Ava or even Greg.

Gar's jaw closed before he'd attempted to spout something silly – Raven cut him off as she came back from her lookover of Aiden's state. In the doorway, she could not seem to calm herself down.

~No.~ Raven frowned and had her hood up, her eyes glowing white and back at poor Ava where she'd closed the portal for good. Ava clung to Chris's arm for support, frightened a bit by how angry Raven must have been at her. She'd left them open for a psychic attack. She was one angry sorceress by how Ava's magic attempt had left them all vulnerable.

Chris looked Raven over as readily got to his trusty blade in time, only for his princess to put a soft hand to his scabbard.

"No." She shook her head and looked up at his eyes of green – earthen fear. Fear for his princess's safety.

She said softly to him. "I'll talk to her. You help out the Titans of Earth." It was a sure command at best, yet it baffled the reborn knight as he scratched his head over the demand. He released his hand from the weapon he'd carried till death and unto rebirth. She was not going to take no for an answer, anyway.

"Thank you –

"Ava, Kori. Cyborg?" Raven ushered her allies to the door. Greg came long, as did Superboy to clear some things up.

Beetle and Gar, Zan and even Dami tried to get in on the action, but were shut out by the angst fueled empath.

"Now what?" Cy broke the silence once the group had set course towards Aiden's temporary domain.

She didn't turn around to answer, and instead didn't even both to open the door.

She took to Ava, who guessed that her magic would be needed this time.

"Ah…. Aunt Rachel…What, what is going on here?" She looked to the older empath for answers, nothing came.

"I want you to put your entire feeling into what is on the other side of this door. It will open, I know what to do so don't expect what you see once it is opened, to be…Something –

"Raven!" Kori shouted out. "Why do you require my daughter's assistance? Is Aiden still in his slumber or is he…."

"Still, or was he even still asleep is what we're here to discover." Raven said this in a way that made Cy's skin crawl. This Raven, she wasn't trying to do something crazy…She wasn't Robin!

"I…A cave…." Ava gasped and Raven managed a quiet smirk from underneath her darkened hood. "Yes, exactly. This is not the room because he was never in the tower –

"Wha! We were just visiting his bed, Rae? Are you tryin' to tell us…? –

"He's not in the tower, when Ava opens that door, you'll know what I mean." She coaxed Ava to draw up a great deal of energy, to imagine her poor brother still in bed on the other side.

"I…. That's not…. possible!" Wiz Greg soon broke the child's concentration. Raven stared the taller sorcerer down before he'd excused himself for the poor timing.

He knew it. Now, the rest of her team would be left in disbelief by what really lay behind those solid sliding, electronic doors.

Ava's magic power kicked in and she saw it; a creature that should not have lived, a monster that was keeping the boy in its web.

A being without a true voice, a shadow.

Dreamer, philosopher, monster, a king of the night.

~Hy…Nos…! ~

Hypnos had Aiden inside a dream - a dream inside a cave built of so much darkness, that the girl's form trembled at the very scent of Morpheus's own miasma. Meant to keep you still, comatose.

This was not because of Raku's influence. It was due to Aiden being susceptible to the overpowering darkness without his own shadow to fight it back.

He'd lost his dark side to Apep. The large beast had swallowed it whole in one gulp.

The snakes, the webs, the lies he was being fed! Now, just as her castle, (Arcs prior, Ava in her twisted redemption arc) Ava was frozen stiff. This was a parallel realm on the other side of that door. In to a dimension woven by nightmares.

Wiz Greg tossed a hand onto Ava's and gave her the strength to release the door's hold. The thing flung open, and just as Raven had proposed….

A monster was there, feeding as it so pleased. Tousling Aiden's golden amber locks as if he were a pet to be held so tightly. A vile dream. A dream where there was no waking up to another reality.

Ava gulped, as did her companions.

~You…. Infected him. I should have guessed the attack on the Barrens was no more a way to draw on more power for yourself. And to excite my lady, Ava. How dare! –

~This pup wants to make things right; you'd only ruin his perfectly amusing rest by being here. ~ The shallow eyed immortal smiled as he said this, then with a wave, tried to shut the door with his craft.

Raven wouldn't have it.

~Azarath Metrion Zinthos!~

She tore the door from existence, sending it flying by Cy's head in order to drag out the parasitic god from his happy hour.

~ My, me! Anger, in your waking time? Lady Ravenna… Why must you fear my hand here? He is calm, do you not see it? ~ Hypnos was loving every minute of this game he played. Raven could not enter his realm. She'd already tried. That was where Ava had to come in. But first?

He continued to toy with Aiden as the blonde dreamed inside the man's wafting cloak of night and betrayal.

~You were loyal to the gods. ~ Wiz Greg suddenly said to the creature of mass - daydreams.

~Why do you fight us when we are also as close? –

~Hermes, you jest. ~

The shock was only just as powerful as Kaien being Apollon, or Aria a siren of the high seas.

~You would have guessed it; he is a vagabond. ~ The nighttime explained. ~A walking, lost cause who was no more a hermit than he was a priest of the Athenian Order and even to those of his birth realm of Olden Arcadia. ~

Raven was unsure of whether to use this talk to distract the god, or to go ahead with another spell.

~Yawwn! Oh, what luck. My Queen had no idea we'd be making a stop in this country. I was in Japan. It was not as pretty as I'd recalled it. Stuffy, congested…Too, merry…And just as your city continues to crumple apart…~ He yawned, his power plenty to win this fight if he so chose to move his pawns ahead.

~Ami…~ Ava's stomach churned at that place in time. Ami, was in Japan. Had he already gotten his vengeance on the country of the rising sun?...

Raven readied herself as Greg too had enough power to supply. Kori had gotten barely out of her funk with Cyborg, long enough to put their combined star power and cannon 'magic' to work.

~I must warn you all, that what you see, is what you'll get –

Raven stopped her attack mid flare. Kori had not been told of his ace in the hole yet. There was a force field in place.

Aiden's dream, was not in that room. It was somewhere else. A cave, as Ava had plainly stated.

The princess's lone bolt hit the wall and bounced back at full force into the alien mother's sights. She deflected most of it, but the remaining debris dusted her hair and skin from the shockwave's effect.

"What have you done to my child, monster? Answer us!" She raged on through the rubble. A force to be reckoned with.

~He is with me, stupid woman. I am keeping an eye on his fire for my queen. How unfortunate that you may never know a thing…So sad…. That we are done here! Hem! *…And, as is your planet. We intend to crush it and, to seek a new cosmos to rule over. What an interesting dream…. Don't you think so? ~

"What?!"

The group was not so much disturbed by the big reveal, yet Hypnos was out of control. He wanted to destroy Earth? Not to rule over it?

"I cannot believe a word of what you speak of so easily…!" Kori readied her strength to break the force field in one shot. She had to concentrate.

~Alien woman. Don't test my will. I am above all matter and of the mind, of man's warped belief. You cannot break into my domain with your fire and smoke. ~

~Though a dragon woman CAN. ~ Lady Arianna's voice rung out as her amber bolts returned to aide Kori in her fight. ~ I only know that the barrier is not here. No, it is much closer than we see blindly. ~

The dark, daemonic being rose up as a web of sorts caught Aiden from a fall into the abyss.

~This will be interesting as well. I have only fought Orpheus in his dreams, and Cassandra inside her visions of a fate worse than death. ~ He claimed to know every instance he'd been a part of some dispute. Both characters though, had been mortals inside their late tales of woe.

Arianna was of Spirit and of a plane non-existent to the eyes or ears alone; a mortal – touched by immortal bonds, with immense power to those who could sense it.

The realm of spirit was, unbound.

Imaginary.

Fantastically gifted and given premise over the rise and fall of many voices.

A simple child's daydream brought to life, and an artist's passionate world given form.

A place where dreams lived and died as one whole; a perfect excuse for the former God of Dreams to make his move quickly.

He'd become a king of false illusions. Of trips down memory lane and of, one's hopeful wishes come to the forefront of battle – as Arianna currently guarded her rites well enough against this parasitic version of a good deity turned hellishly rotten.

The god had been branded a Gorgon or a fallen star from the gods' eyes at Mount Olympus. He had a name, and chose to wield it as a warning, rather than as a true weapon. He was no peace keeper. Rogue gods were dangerous. They only made a claim for their own desires, caring about nothing else in the process.

He was vain, this version; while the true Hypnos lay sleeping deep inside Hades within the creator of all gods' minds. That thought made the hope rise in our heroine's heart. He could be brought to justice.

That, as for here he did NOT lay forever young and inquisitive as an old owl, hooting to the night as it stalked the trees for fresh meat.

For the hunt was here, on this Earth. He stalked the earth as a beast to its decided, late night snack.

His powers were growing by how Eris just loved to share in her successes. She was no cheat. For she was his kin. And after all this time apart, it had made their chaotic bond all the more deadly.

Arianna was the vermin, not he. He'd granted her dreams of a love that she'd lost all on her own. It was not his fault that the Princess had taken advantage of such a gem in the rough. She should have treasured her lover's dreams better.

And for that, the princess was now worse even as a human, at being their ally on this god-forsaken plane. He refused to remain hidden as Eris's puppeteer – for – hire, or anymore!

A sickly-sweet aroma drifted by his senses as his eyes narrowed into angry slits.

Aiden was his ticket; just as Raku had been Lil's. As Rokuro Noburo Ainsley had been his father's immobilized power – source.

Hypnos's gears began to turn, his mind aching to give this new life of trial and error a shot. What could happen? The gods would not falter to have him branded a true gorgon. He'd at least be rid of Momus's relentless whining for good.

Music to his ears. He accepted his fate and took out the first strike at that so -called, princess.

~In my era, women had no such power. Again, I will dictate this to my foolish sibling once I am done with you! Mother the Golden Dawn's new beginning. You will fall to the will of your own nightmares! For I am the Only Lord of Dreams and always am to be such…! Prepare yourselves wisely, for this era will know of MY vengeance! ~

/

Slade was all well and good with forming an alliance with a few corrupted killing machines, but as far as ones that used dark magic?

Her 'moves' were not brutish, nor formed around the ego. They itched, just as Cecilia had done injustice to his false eye, by what others would have turned their noses up for attempting. Housing a curse inside a false eye, she had it coming!

He grappled a large praying mantis warrior and rocked it loudly to the ground as the bugs' ringleader; the successful elemental of natural forces here, did a warm up of her own.

~Ah, just lemme…. Take it slow? Uh. No way my bug soldiers can leave this to their own strength. They need their mama's love! I'm all over this shit! ~

Her eyes began to grow green as reeds reflected back through them; a mirror for the enemies she was facing. What she'd do next was only what the oracle could picture vividly.

A precognitive event where the winner was uncertain.

The furious vining began, as the witch with magical ties to the dogs of the four passages, sprang into action all at once.

She knew martial arts which was a shocker. She also was a fast - footed child, with eyes in the back of her head. A real goddess in the making.

She'd trained for this day, to pulverize her family's opposing element of darkness. She also had to keep ties with Vespa and Vee, since darkness in some forms was a beneficial part to her kin in keeping the balance on multiple traverses.

Her swift kicks had Cici in a corner, or so she thought.

Before Slade could intervene, again this newly born – again 'witch 'took his breath away.

~Dark shadows, link to her sense of foresight! Darken the girl's view! ~ A command; not a spell. She could call to the earth's core for dark wafting miasma to drag down her enemies.

A witch of the high - moon, of time's own end and beginning. She was short and seemed meek, yet she was powerful. Not as old as her mother, though stronger than the light – impaired duchess back in Rome's capital region.

She wove the demonic art as easily as a brush stroke put to its original canvas. As water to the pitcher from whence it had been brought forth. Meant to wash away all mistakes.

Was she too not to be royally labeled a newly crowned goddess, just as Hecate had predicted? Was that why she'd not been entirely cast out? Due to her powers?

And this was why Alicia had been in danger to the dark sibling; that she wanted to pull her sister from the misery their birth rites had brought unto them both at such a tender age.

She was a rebellious soul without a map to guide her. She chose to lose her connection to all else but a single goal. A deadly sort, just …What? What was that from?

Slade blinked and realized that he'd believed Cici to have been, glowing? Was he getting pulled in by her dark craft?

What he did NOT know was that Miss Crescendo had been given the power of seduction by Eris and had little understanding of how it was to be kept at bay inside her heart and mind.

~ Agh! Those shadow guys are rippin' up my city! Don't you come any closer!~ Cybill pressed at the fact that her walls were coming down. She forced up more rock walls, more boulders and vine traps, but to no avail. Cici had fed off of the anger of herself and this city. Leaving it a waste, a rotten hull.

~Ahhh, Shoji is gonna kill me! You are not gonna leave New frickn' York without payin' the price, ya old hag! ~

How, in the kid's case did it all play out? He'd seen Raven's fits before. Those were PG at best. Even Kid Wykid and Scarecrow had their debuts. But, a dark sorceress from ancient times?

They had no need for censorship.

Cybill retreated. The bugs were all mauled by what looked to be shadowy spiders, bent on pulling them apart from the inside out. Gorging until their bodies were fat and coated in that slime - blood of the mantis army's last life -force.

A real delicacy, and she'd made sure her enemy could know this defeat well.

"What a performance." Slade looked over the toppled dead and let out a sharp, low whistle, impressed by the sibling's kill – log.

"I did not want to make it all seem fake." Cici sighed and recovered some of her energy from her corpses. "I'm a crone goddess's ex – protégé, and the one of underworld matters was not unkind." The girl smirked and let up a wrist to command one of her pets. "Such as this trick I learned from her teachings."

She used her power to open up a hole in the ozone, which sucked up every speck of debris and spider remains.

He was impressed by her powers having come this far, though he was also wary. She could kill him without Eris to stop her, or Ares.

In a way, he was no longer protected by the gods. The hole finally vanished and the sky lost all light. She'd sucked it dry, life - force and all as the city remained standing. A cold, stone grey feeling above it all.

As the modest and deceitful, yet undecided witch brought her hand back to lay at her side, Slade saw her look; a gaze far more becoming of any such being born of unforeseen circumstances.

She was just as the demonized women in historical print; two sides to their grizzled tales of depressing beginnings.

She had a longing in those golden orbs, a wanting of someone to share in her pain.

He turned his head, guessing it her powers and their growing influence over the weak – he was not going to let this ploy keep him from ending it all. And the witch?

She would be no more than an onlooker; never truly to grasp what mere mortal men could accomplish from their desire to dominate, man or woman. What perhaps mattered here was that while Eris had decided to divide her so – called gifts to her company and servants, it had left her vulnerable.

Vulnerable towards being betrayed by those inside her circle.

The Titans were the least of the chaos woman's worries.

Slade turned to head up to gaze out at a crumbling slope, what had been a side street in need of a new remodeling. Badly. This was New York. It was the perfect example of what had yet to be accomplished by man's stubbornness to dominate and thrive.

~Funny how a nature goddess candidate from that world has decided to make this filthy city her home. ~ He had seen Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. New Delhi and Jakarta, Sydney and even Rio De Janeiro. Cities are built to eventually fall. It all depends on how they are built onto or built as again, once the dust has cleared.

What kind of world DID Eris even want?

/

As the rest of the world took a tumble, the real rumble was on a certain traitorous pup; Sten Andersson was in deep water with Astarte up his –

~Alert! Alert! ~

The screen turned to a face that made Sten's hopes rise. It was Klara. She was rustled up and in her dog's form with a heart shaped attitude and eyes as big and teary as a cartoon character's.

His hopes fell. She had come across another attacker to her city in Budapest.

~I cannot tell, but I witnessed some terrible events! Sten! You are well? Did the monsters come at you too? Please speak!~

"He's facing trial on charges of treason. He tried to protect his country by selling those infected with the enemies' influence, information. Top secret data." Astarte never beat around the bush. Sten turned bright red as he hid his head from Klara's very disturbed sights.

~That, that cannot be!~ Klara protested. ~Our brother is innocent! He cannot be taken from Sweden's homeland yet! We must fight together –

"He's not trusted by my class of god, not today. Unless he can prove his innocence in the Celestial realm –

" I cannot go." Sten interrupted the goddess and soldier of the netherworld with a stern glare.

"You don't have a say, I'm in charge of seeing to order on behalf of -

"You sound like a royal monster, not a just executioner."

Astarte stood firmly beside the half - witted elitist and waited to gain back her momentum by that description, of her. Her power didn't make her a ruler to anyone. He was prone to the same ends. Ruling was too much to bear. She'd once been a queen of a country long, long before time's awakening.

"You have already risked the lives of your country -men. And all of those born tomorrow with a brain may as well take a lucky guess; he, the traitor who soullessly pushed too far." Santiago snorted and leaned in to hiss at the light eyed brat - fox.

"Then we are the same." Shrugged Sten with a dip of his head to the sky. The ceiling was high. He felt as if he'd never get out of these chains without some, outside help.

"As a guardian of my age and rank, you must know it too." Sten was in even deeper muck than this swelling swamp could hold back. Astarte didn't dare take her eyes off of the runt. He had made his last remark.

Bark, and the bite to match. He wasn't safe to remain. The plane of Mortals had corrupted him. He'd sold himself for his country to be untouched by this viral infection of the airwaves.

Zombies? Gutted souls is what they now looked to become…

"I'll give you this; a last chance to drag yourself before the courts. No quips. No more bullshit, and NO outside intel. You are in your own mess and WILL learn to clean it up properly. Hear that?" Astarte brought a hand to her ear, as if listening off into the distance. Sten sneered back in annoyance.

"It is your last bit of guilt, being swept off into another place in time. ~ She pulled back and crossed her arms over her strong chest. Her hair swayed as a cluster behind her shoulders. The long woven, beaded braids never had changed. Astarte was Astarte.

~That, you should be grateful that you still own." She spat out the last part with such avarice in her tone that Sten was afraid to raise a word of protest to the former god's face.

~You wouldn't strike me as the domineering deity – type. ~ Sten mind spoke as Astarte rolled her eyes to the side, a bitter frown already the foundation of her withheld moodiness. She was a goddess second, and a sect councilwoman only first and foremost.

The sect that Isis also had founded after Egypt had become a modern land full of so many complex additions. No more gods to pray to, no more enslaving of man or beast. And women were venerated - of all things, as gods and among the men of other countries! Isa had backed this as being 'the future to culminate order, not chaos.' Astarte, was forced to watch the wars rage. Sometimes, even change wasn't enough on the surface to seek out. Enlightening her soldiers to find balance was as if she had a gun to their heads, not wanting to let the trigger loose. She just came to this plane of the Earthen to aid the next Chosen, and to find Isa's charge Ava Rothschild. In the end, she'd gotten a pupil out of the deal.

Nina was a hot -headed woman. She was all but human, while her robotic heart beat loud and proud.

Astarte as Sara Santiago had sailed seas far rougher than this continent had to harbor.

Sten was still a pup. Getting used to seeing how humans confronted fear was his job. He'd failed, for he'd tried to dissolve all conflict and for the sake of remaining useless to his original kindred.

The foxes were just as their myths had been based.

Troubling.

Mischievous.

Frightening and good at turning heads

Oh, and…

Wily beasts. Figures of sin, forged from man's very day -dreams.

Demonized as women and girls by sickly artists.

Boys who had a bone to pick with their families.

Kings and princes who were never satisfied with their kingdoms' laws.

Wild children.

Sirens.

Sneaking about, they never thought of those who they had to seek, not what they wished. Plus?

They loved to be the center of attention.

And now? They were too coined as gods.

Astarte believed it a ridiculous concept; reincarnation. She'd rebirthed herself and had a body that was all hers. Isa, Kaien, Aria, Vespa, Clifford, Ron, Tsukiyume, even Sten (after a rare swap, so did more guardian breeds. They had never had to take over dying souls as Verra had to.)

Sten was lucky to be a part of this phenomenally broken system. Chaos had not done that much. She gritted her jaw shut and awaited the last few words this dog could speak in public.

~I'll help you stop the enemy. For the release of my soul from this baseless argument. ~ Through the speak, it resonated with no one but the two warriors.

"My armies are no longer; I do have the technology to face this crooked person in the dark –

"We don't need anything from you. It wasn't what had to be done." Astarte interrupted, while poor Klara stayed quiet on the screen as her breath hitched; Sten was trying to fix the problem, as if he'd not been guilty of a disastrous crime.

Still, she felt sorry for the heir to all of his country -men and women. Klara was no bureaucrat in Budapest. She was just a celebrity like Esme, Cliff and Aria were to their fans.

The underground was not where he wished to turn to. If only this day in time had been anything but an intervention.

Astarte swished* her arm up to open up a portal to another path; once he'd gone past that point of no return, she'd be done with his wishful thinking for old times' sake.

He took to her word; yet she, never did to his. He was still a child in her tiger's eyes. Sten had no say, he was to be held accountable for have wanting the whole world to have burned, just to save himself from this 'miserable business.'

/

The racketing noise only had the youngest Gemini twin roll off onto the pavement of a well -cracked bit of cobbles.

He'd been facing up against the sky, in berlin where his luck could have not been any greater or lesser; Lothos was griping over a setback. While this copy wasn't perfection 'indispensable' to the chaos comrade and queen, he was quite an anarchist as she'd expected his angered and reborn self to be.

He'd damaged the red-headed chosen's twin. Ami was thrown to the temple grounds for a bite that could infect her powerful guise (should it spread like wildfire first.)

However, it had not. Ami had escaped that set demise, and Anna had been spared from the misery her transformation had wrought unto the solar - spectacle bringing soldier.

He'd seen their fears, though his were greater for they reeked of death.

Just as the scythe too swung overhead, the Gemini twin wasn't spared. He'd only narrowly escaped the fate which had befallen his older brother. At the hands of the new - faced Apollo; a god of the sun and one of not peace, yet righteous light.

A light that he'd kept hidden from his foes. A murderous male in the guise of a flashy looking human on the Earthen divide, stuck there.

How he longed to go back; back before the stars had swum about to create the twins' lunar bodies. He was not a spirit; he was an incarnate creation born by the goddess's hands.

Her hands seemed a tad too willing to undo the mess she'd made. For his brother had failed. For HE TOO had failed her highness!

The younger twin scrunched into himself for warmth as a pit pattering of rain had started to fall over the old city. A destroyed tower sat in the distance, beckoning the twin to search its walls out for a way into the lair of his supposed savior.

Eris was a witch. Their powers had been far from this way; completely organized and without a dragon to hunt them down in the stars up so high…

How he wondered if being human was really the gods' greatest mess, about having this plane thrive in the first place.

The twin decided to find a way, a way back to the stars in the sky where he would be forced, along, to still his aching memories for an eternity. He'd rather have Hades serve as his guide, not Apollo or his siblings from the Celestial divide!

The twin gathered up his strength and used one last spell to have it so.

His body morphed into the form of someone he'd hoped never to picture from within his plans. The face looking at his as he turned to view a store front's glassy reflective mirror, was a human teenager. A dirty haired runt who could not fly, or scream. He'd change back only once his bet had been completely fulfilled.

~ I will eradicate our killer. For his blood spilt is also my own blood dyed full -red.~

The twin was one of two; a whole of many stars in the sky. He was a tiny speck compared to those who had not been given a firm grasp of other worlds beyond their portraits of such an unforgiving plane.

~I will lead the bull warrior into a closed space. I will watch his eyes burn as I bring him to HIS knees for having killed my brother! ~ He snarled at the reflection before turning to the streets about him, every which way.

Not a crossroads. Hecate was not here now to guide the blind fellow to where he ought' to be.

Judgement would be placed onto another's shoulders. Giants and the mighty Atlas had no say in this time – line. The innocent were those he could call to, he could be as she and would be a better match to undo all that the humans had made of their home. The gods were eager to rip it all to tatters and asunder. They'd weep! And he, would finally return as a twin star, to be with his peace of mind for the very first time.

Zeus was gone. Athena was powerless, and Hecate?

She could not leave her cave to stop him cold where he walked along. That road would do the being of the twin - sign some justice. He had only to find out what next, he could accomplish in this fake and fleshy body…

/

Apollo was not here, as the twin had decided. Though, Kaien was without a doubt still kicking.

Raven's escapade through alternate realities with her team watching, had the empath stricken in surprise when the fox came out of no -where, his back turned to the sorceress as her team gawked, with Hypnos snidely willing to speak out of turn;

~This game cannot wait. Do you intend to fight on their behalf? ~ He frowned and only held Aiden's wrists bound back behind the blonde, unable to open his eyes as the god squeezed tightly -using his dark craft to show off his immense strength.

Eris had only been a stepping stone. She was already not to be trusted. There was no god in the realms below or above to confide in any longer!

Apollo's form was that of an older relic, similar in ancient behavior and garb to the man's nephews. He had a set staff in his hand and fire light all around his body as the vortex stayed open. Raven bounded in with Kori, Ava, and Greg, while no one else bothered to stay out of the fight. This included Cy and Garfield Logan.

~Are you going to face me? I should even those odds. Night – walkers! COME! ~

Hypnos raised his pale palm to the air and saw how the miasma caused his enemies to squirm.

~You'll be stepping' down as a god today. ~ Apollo's mighty voice sounded out, reassuring the Titans that their ally was serious enough to end the sand – man's rants.

~I don't care about that! ~ Chuckled the dream – eater, as he shook his head with a smirk.

~I can do as I please! The boy here is a power -source, just as the dragon's kin and those touched by the demi-god's own power. ~

Apollo seethed as if the cat were well out of the bag. It was somehow, true. Ava looked back at her brother while Chris tried to keep the princess from being devoured by the night – breeder's miasma attack.

~You can only just understand. ~ Apollo hoped to say more, but this god was rogue. He would not listen to logic now that Hypnos had tasted the forbidden fruits of such a sinful undertaking.

~ He's napping sound. So, don't you dare wake my prize. ~

The night walkers bolted after the heroes. Kori blasted, while Raven and Cyborg made a powerful barrier forged of magic and science as one.

Ava was unsure if she could fight back. As the dragon's old picture lay in her head, she recalled in many times how she'd been beaten because of her inability to bleed freely. She could gather the pain, yet she was bound by her immortal body. Right now, Aiden needed her. She was afraid to end up joining him…

Chris sensed Ava's anguish and tried to look at her calmly, reassuringly. He spoke only to she;

~We will stop this madness, call forth my wolf self. He can be your strength –

~But you just recovered for me! ~ Ava shook her head through the speak. ~I can't lose you anymore! I can't watch you die…. I'm…I'm not going to! ~

Her strength had ice and frost as a steely blade to her complexion. She raged as a tireless winter storm. Her magic would not be enough, so she grasped the amulet Reia's spirit had given to the Raven – Winged surviving princess.

She ripped it off, her powers would not be held from sight. Not Hypnos's eyes or Raven's two orbs.

If the amulet were not on her, she could trial and error her powers for a short while before a burn out took hold. Chris could catch her. No matter what, he was not going to fight her battles.

The blizzard froze the lengthy feet of the night – walker drones. She didn't have to raise an arm to the villain, an eye of the wolf kin was fine enough.

~Release my brother, or prepare to end up buried inside this cold wasteland! ~

The temperature rose, higher and higher it froze the Titans very bones. Apollo reverted to the form of his fox -faced hybrid Solario.

His power was weakened by her lunar strength. Hypnos was of that same magical direction! She was going to make him –

~Hmmmm! You are connected! I see…. Then let me grow from such a feat! Give it all you have, Barren's keeper! ~

Raven gasped out and saw the amulet on the ground. It was to seal up Ava's magic until she was ready to rule the Snowy realm in all its entirety. She was a walking meta -human with a death wish.

~Ava! He is lunar magic holder! ~ She called out to the other sorceress. ~You can't use his same element, or else he'll end up –

~Lights out!~ Greg had seen enough. It was a fight that had been poorly organized by a pitiful daemon's wants. He had magic too, and unlike Ava it could not go in either direction.

He was in balance with both the sun and moon.

~ Light that bridges gaps from within Space and Time…Weave about the one who's heart remains empty….do it! ~

The void shook, a booming echo pierced through the lives of the Night -walkers as they vanished into nothing.

Hypnos felt his face burning; his body warping as Hermes's old tricks had finally been seen to. He'd erected a spell, a counter spell to quiet the fighting.

~You cowardly bunch! I gave to you, your dreams! I cannot be silenced! ~ Hypnos turned back towards Aiden, though Kori had her last shot with Cy and Raven to help her concrete the blow. It hit and he, went down before Aiden had even seen his capture's shock up close.

~We did it! ~ Ava gasped and levitated towards her brother. Chris bounded on from behind. ~ Your pendant! No, wait! –

The way closed, then it spun again. A void that came without instructions.

Kaien braced himself for the over -load. They were being rejected from the space. Ava grabbed onto Aiden and tugged him loose from the vines made by his keeper.

She saw how he had his eyes shut, even if hers did flutter and tear up too much.

~Awww, too bad! That boy isn't waking for you, lonely princess! ~

Hypnos had not given in just then. He lashed out at Ava, while Kaien and Chris used their powers combined to halt the attack. Kaien was not the only god - figure there however, wishing to regret all or nothing during their battles.

Greg, or rather this Ardius fellow, used his staff to aid his allies in stopping Hypnos, his face turned to pity and disbelief that an old friend could go, so far as to attack a relic of peace like that.

Kaien shouted out to the dark figure built on hatred, his own insult much worse by where it truly originated from.

~Why? ~ He pleaded out.

~ Why are ya' helpin' them, brother? You stood for diplomacy in our time as real keepers a' the peace! Why break the forever vows, now? What has time done –

~Time, stole away my kingdom of the night and of a decent slumber. ~ Replied the irritated anti - God. ~ TIME imprisoned my brethren! ~ He barked. ~ Just as you are made to be servants to the Celestial and Eternal for all of TIME'S wishes! I choose to oppose its law! I chose to be freed of my chains, and with my sibling's magic now growing exponentially. ~ He cackled so that Kaien and Greg would be the first to know of his plight.

Throwing his arms up into the air, Hypnos blew the horn of action well; he had finally become a shattered, unshakable dream, built of his own desires.

~ There will only be the suffering of human lives to fuel our glorious take – over! First; the planet of Earth, then, onto the Universal Divide to reclaim our lost kingdoms! ~

Yet, you do not do as she commands! You intend to overthrow your sibling once you have more power than you can control! ~ Ardius beckoned to Hypnos, begging him to see reason before it was too late to turn back time's hand.

Ava looked on as she held tightly to her brother's cold hands. ~Wake up…. I need your strength! I'm…I'm powerless against him…I don't want to lose! You cannot –

~I, can do what I must to aid you in helping your brother. ~ Chris slowly floated down to be beside his future ruler. ~ I cannot have a life which thrives and a heart beating proudly, if you cannot be satisfied with your new life…I wish for you to trust in your magical strength. You can awaken him, by entering his dream -

~Don't! ~ Raven shot over to Aiden and her young ally, in training of becoming a true sorceress. Why was Chris so willing to have them both risking their lives? It had to be his curse; she couldn't truly be –

~Ava, Chris could put all of our lives in danger. You can't fight in this battle until we know Hypnos's one weakness –

~And if we decide to let this world go, your fears will have only cemented that my will was in fact just! You are wrong, and Ava has the power to enter his mind, just as you do with your craft. ~

~Then what? ~ Raven demanded of the spectral wolf -male. ~Aiden isn't strong enough, and we don't know what caused his condition. If we tamper with his affliction without knowing how to cure it –

~ Ava, IS the cure, blind witch! ~ Chris shouted in the empath's ear by the mind -speak.

~I can see just fine. ~ Raven's eyes started to glow whit with impatience. Chris was still reckless as he'd been weak under Hati's curse. This was no different. He was trying to dominate Ava's rule, whether she wanted to trust him or not.

~Then why do you hesitate? Ava is of the Golden Dawn Chosen's rites. She protects his name and his light above all else. Her lunar element is intact. The red headed daughter's light is the one that is sullied. Without the two in balance, Aiden must cement his own cause. Ava can bring this to the fold. She has the power to balance his light again, as Chosen and protector of the dual directions. ~

~Aiden is not only going to be caught off guard if I let you do what you want with my niece's future. ~ Raven rebuked. ~She'll be defenseless. Powerless while she's inside the mind of another living creature. ~ The empath's dark representation had the wolf to lower its ears, backing away by the Azarathean's mystic presence.

~She has the gift! Her mother was capable of such feats –

~She's not Reia! ~

~ A- Actually! ~ Ava stopped the two with a stammer. ~ Her…. Reia's real memories are, returning…I, don't think I was made to be her daughter, but her reincarnation…~

Ava bit her lip and lowered her face from sight. The wolf looked surprised, though almost overjoyed as his attitude soon switched, along with his demands.

~ It is so then! Ava must lead her realm with the strength now granted to her! The fated Void calls it to be! Ava! Let your brother not fall with our allies! You are capable of more than you claim! Do not let this petty sorceress hold your powers back any longer! –

C- Chris? You're telling me to help my brother! But, what about me? You said you'd protect me! What did Raven mean by, unprotected? Wh-

~Ava! He's not what you think he is! ~ Raven called out, while Kori caught a few words and went flying towards her children. ~Raven!? What is going on! We are still unable to escape Hypnos's trap! We must flee! Why are you –

Chris grunted and turned into his male form with silver eyes and hair to match his cold, selfishness.

He grabbed Ava's hands and brought his control of the unknown onto his princess. His growl in her ear, brought back the feeling of someone other than her childhood crush holding her close.

~You are being foolish, my queen. Your power is unmatched! You must show these cowards how you ARE no longer their servant! Do it! Free the Chosen from his prison! Before Hypnos has us all cast back into your former family's world! ~

Ava was afraid to put a hand to her brother like she was; her power was uncapped -she could defeat the sleep – deity's army with a single swing of her sword. She…Had the power, just like Aunt Rachel, to put a stop to this façade once and for all…But, Chris was acting strangely. He, loved her, didn't he? So, why was he…Trying to control her fate?

/Ohhhkay! Turn for the worst, Chris finally went a little wack since his curse keeps Hati's influence still in check. Guessing he absorbed the astral wolf's body because his is certainly not one - hundred percent. Ava has gotten weaker becaue she's come to depend too heavily on the burden of trusting in Chris; though he is not the same as the Chris she knew back in high school on Earth.

Aiden is inside a dream - world made as a way to protect him, as the teams will soon learn. Raku decided to unconsciously keep Aiden safe by not allowing him to fall prey to any other daemons while he takes care of business for his contracted ally's sake.

Raku does things almost as inconspicously as Raven when she goe off to meditate in private. He's no true empath, yet can see the future based on his ability of un - catagorized foresight. He is after all, the sun of a relic who could maintain the prophetic power over the eclipsed sun, thus making Lord Azag more of a god than a underling to many patron deities.

As if Lilu knew Raku could do good shoul he end up a king after his father, she rolleed the dice well and made her mark on her student. Raku also believes thanks to his past, that Azag's power is a cursed one; that no one should get too close or he could awaken a black hole in space meant to erradicate all obsstacles. This is because his lineage involves those beings who are unseen like the void. It is a powerful cconsequence to awaken in him, so he keeps this a secret from his allies and foes.

Aiden wants Raku to join him and eventually no longer need the use of his magic so much. However, rigth now Raku has taken on more than he can chew. He wants to believe his fate can be manipulated so that Roku never existed. So that he can look to the future with a brighter perspective. xxd4zz

/