Teen Titans – Galactic Eros Arc – Finale – Chapter 25: Big Brother – His Final Scene?
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Aiden was still considering plucking the kid jinn and bringing him back to Earth, but that little "voice of reason" would not quit.
~ If I leave too soon, they may try to do more harm than I'm willing…AND, this IS Raku. Which means… ~
Aiden looked the hollow-eyed jinn over. "You are his immortality, then he's out there –
"A…m…. mortal; a warlock, a deserter to his kind." The jinni boy frowned and rubbed his arms anxiously. "M…m….my powers……depend on…. on –
"You can't do anything." Aiden sighed. Well, no problem. The kid was harmless.
"I can keep my form, or swallow the magic left to stay…. I don't want to lose him!" It started to weep. Aiden's brow deepened empathetically over the spirit's crying face.
"I don't either." The blonde smiled weakly and pulled the jinni to his chest, breathing out as it wept like a child into his tunic. "I…if…. he…h…he…. hate….hate……hates meeee!!!" The jinni had the world rumble again until Aiden soothed the boy by petting his head like…. like a brother would? Was this too much?
"Y…you……only…on……unh……see…us……as this…. weak…. dumb……pitiful……." The boy continued to sob, but as Aiden looked down, he saw the spell; the unbreakable scare of it all, breaking apart as tiles to the floor.
"Can you go back?" Aiden paused. ~ Back? Home…. could he….one last ride… ~
"We can go home; I won't let them hurt you or him –
"Lies…." The boy's eyes turned red as they shot a glare at the blonde. "LIAR!!!" A shrieking below led Aiden to duck his head, never letting go of the boy's shoulders. "I……promised! All…...the selves!!" Aiden bellowed, trying to stay close enough, to not be –
A set of hands, wait –
Dark tendrils. Great.
"I can't go back! They hate me….I hate –
"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT! I CARE! –
"NO!" The boy shook and struggled to get free of the vines. Aiden shouted out as more shadows pulled the two apart, biting and clawing for freedom. Aiden let his spark end one vine's existence, but then another shot up.
" YOU CREATED THIS MEMORY! GET RID OF IT, BEFORE –
"NO…… NO !" The boy's tunic was ripped away, his eyes red and falling off into space. Was Aiden not being patient…. He had to try over.
"SHE DOESN'T…. CONTROL YOU! HE DOESN'T! YOU CAN BE YOU ! RAKU MADE YOU…. BECAUSE HE WANTED TO NEVER BE ALONE, ANYMORE! I GET IT…. YOU'RE AN IMAGINARY…. FRIEND…."
Aiden panted as the vines' motions stilled. Raku looked up from his crying fit. "Who…. what..."
"Raku…. you have a name, he just…didn't give it to you yet." Aiden couldn't believe it. Jinni were fae, but Raku's little ally had pulled him away, to give him things (by force) because his "prince" could manifest life, and it had been a friend.
"The love you wanted all along, wasn't love. It was to be accepted." A tear started to form at the corner of the blonde's eye. The world trembled as the vines began to disperse. Aiden swung over to catch the little trouble maker, chuckling by how stunned his companion still looked.
"You're like a guardian TO HIM, already…" Smiled the bright-eyed half – alien mortal.
"I…. I don't understand!" Gasped the jinni. "How? How can, you be sure??"
"Because, I know that being a kid…. can be hard. You and I both have powers that we can't always control, but there is always a friend there –
"You'll grow up…. leave us…. I…. can't trust –
"Then how about right now?" Aiden saw as the collapse was coming. His body breathed out pure energy.
Light filled the room and allowed the jinni to calm down as well…he looked up, shocked by a seriously sunny halo atop the blonde's busy "fro" of gold and auburn strands.
"You…. speak the truth…. Why? Why do you want to save my soul too..." The child rasped the question, as Aiden thought out the perfect answer that he could. Yet, it never came in time.
The portal was widening, and there stood before them Raku, Slade, and Anna Grayson. "We've come to take you home, little brother!" Anna grinned with her eyes on the two, seeing that he'd succeeded in taming the wild child's heart.
"He's coming too." Aiden nodded to Slade, who could not delay now the Athena was waking up in her rage – she'd see the changes and rile at all the earth…
A risk he'd take if it meant being able to live in peace later. Cici had given him a vision she'd shared of a new time, and new heroes to come of it.
"Let's get going then." Young Raku agreed, smiling at both his brothers. "Home. Where we belong."
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"Athena, did what??"
Verra ground his teeth and came before the JLA just in time to see Bruce lose his marbles.
"Your enemy is taking a break, but she's preparing to fire' come time…" Verra looked over to Raku as he used his book's healing spells to have Aiden back on top. "See, now that the myth no longer can be the Universal's nightmare fuel, you have to expect the very worst from this disgruntled war goddess. Her pride is legendary, and deadly! She hates to be second best, and Raku's case to her is incorrect on all accounts."
"My slate is far from clean." Raku sighed and tried to recollect his manna for another workout to come. The jinni self beside him, nodded "I was the only part of you she hated, maybe the very first…I came alive in your fight with Marcus, and I was the being that replaced Roko in the brothel….when…"
"The past is a lesson to us; it is a guide and step into the next stage of our journey. Our goal is to gather enough forces and council members remaining to oppose Athena's war. She means to eradicate those who speak of protecting the guilty. In her eyes, this is –
"Unethical." Bruce stopped Isa as he understood how Athena's want for a just society had blinded her choices. The ones that were just, had been lost due to her grudge against those who were against her reign in the past. Man created her, so she had every right to take her life back by destroying them in any way that she could.
"What about Raku's magic?" Anna wondered to her team. "If he can't hide it anymore or merge with the kid, then what about what the council might do…"
"Leave that to us, Annie." Dick grinned at his teammates and children, now grown practically. "I know a suitable "mentor" who can help Raku to get in touch with his powers and not have you –
"You. Don't mean!" Gar gawked. "No way! I told you… he's a nutty –
"Who." Slade cocked his head at the news. "I'm curious, Grayson. Who has the very mental stability to manage a boy with powers of his magnitude?" He craned his neck to point at Raku and his mini self. The little Jinni blinked.
Dick's eyebrow rose, expecting more of an audience than this crowd of sorry faces. "John Constantine." He responded, confidently. "Bruce and Raven even approved it."
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"I, don't think that idea will hold water…" Slade stepped back and went to ready for his ride home through the void with Isa and Autur. Her tail twitched in annoyance. ~ You want a warlock to teach a warlock about the dark arts?? Why in the world! ~
"I agree." Isa frowned. "I know of the character you speak by title, yet his methods are…. rougher than the boy knows to –
"I can have more than one teacher. Aunt Isa." Raku spoke up. At fifteen, he'd decided to stay in this age until he was ready to properly earn a new year under his belt. "I can learn with Ardius if it is healing, and with this…. mortal wizard if it is to control my magic. The side that would harm others if it is not properly tamed."
He looked to his self and smiled. "Plus, Raku here needs a ne name. I want him to become the sorcerer in my stead at times and I can also have him learn to control his rages this way."
"Or, you can be normal and let the jinni replace what was, your…Raku." Slade spoke up as he'd let Isa raise her hand for a portal to summon. "You don't have to have that responsibility always, you're right about that…yet you still made a mess and should be responsible before you settle into your new role. The kid followed you, listening to your thoughts. Both negative and positive…Just saying." He shrugged. "You're not a king anymore. You are a human with an ancestral witch's blood who can cast a few spells. Big whoop. It's up to you if you want to embrace that life once more. Make it count, but don't drag any of us into your head." He snorted. "I'm this close to my retirement."
"Aren't we all." Snorted GL.
"Well, I'll be off with your middle kid to see Astarte. See if she's not turned her back on this world."
Anna nodded and turned to her mom and dad first. "I made a promise." She lowered her gaze; Starfire was petrified in place. "When?" She forced her anger down for her family's sake. Slade…. he must have!
"Was this because of what Slade said, about working as a team?" Cy asked while Dick stared down Wilson without remorse. He'd already known….
"Astarte won't listen to me, so he's my back - up. We think…she's close to agreeing on the deal –
" What?"
The ship was a – gasp.
"When did those two wanna tag team it at all??" Wally barked from the side. "Someone say "no," already to this guy!!"
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So, one more note; Raku's next look will be as a warlock under the watchful gaze of Constantine?? Well, like attracts like, right?
As for Slade and Cici sharing that vision? She did so to warn the heroes through the villain to make up for her sour attitude in the past. What if those two hooked up after the fact, can't spoil it! And Aiden got his wish. He transformed the worst villain in the spirit world by turning back time, and I say this as a point; in the kid's head, Raku wasn't at all the enemy but a victim. His immortality had a face, and the story teller aspect he has now is actually his mortal side brought into being. A split identity; yet what about Ignito? Is he still the voice of reason? Last chapter of this finale arc part A. Part B? The Universal gods attack earth to get back at those who let Raku and company get away scott free. And..that means that the heroes are all targets. Dead or alive.
Will Slade stick to his word this time?
Will Anna stay steady with Wilson watching her back?
Will Vespa and Cici save Hecate in time, even when Hades has her arms tied?
Athena; is Solario really her watchdog and just as guilty? What about the Gemini twin? Will he have more to say?
And what is going to happen to our heroes on earth right now??
Stay tuned! Read on for much more.
