All right, next chapter! This one's going to have some repercussions throughout the story, and there'll be a little hint to Eric's future, maybe you'll catch it, maybe you won't. Only way to find out is to read, yeah?

Story element I'd like to address. If it has either Eric's or Zatanna's name in bold at the beginning of the next section that means the chapter will switch between their perspectives, thought you should know.

Oh, and as mentioned in the last chapter, the following chapter will be year two for Eric.

Now to reply to some reviews!

Raidentensho: You'll have to read to find out. But a Forever Knight managed to escape with the Charm of Luck because, well, he was stupid lucky as soon as he got the Charm. After the avalanche, the Charm of Resurrection ended up in Northern Italy.

Yukid999: In fact, I have, might I ask why?

JLU Fun Fact 3: Joker was originally going to be played by Tim Curry in Batman: The Animated Series, due to his performance as Pennywise in the Original It, but Mark Hammill got the role thanks to his performance as Ferris Boyle in Heart of Ice.

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


Life After Death

Eric

A few hours after Mordred's whole deal we head up to the Watchtower, just finishing our reports of the mission. I walk out of the room and extend my arms upwards. Man, I'm hungry, let's get some food in the cafeteria then go home.

"Yo, Triumph!"

Or not.

I turn around to see Wally, Victor, and Zatanna walking towards me. Our large, cybernetic friend has his arms out. "What happened down there, man?"

The four of us begin to walk together. "There was some kid named Mordred with the Amulet of First Magic," I explain, noticing Zatanna's eyes widen in surprise. "He banished the adults of the world to another realm. Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and I kicked his ass and fixed everything."

Wally gives me a fist bump as Victor claps my back. "Nice! Oh, are you hungry? We're headed to the cafeteria now."

I smirk up at Victor as I lower my facemask. "That's where I was headed," I then notice Zatanna studying me closely. "What?"

"How did you guys get back to Earth?" She asks. "I mean, if the spell banished adults you couldn't have returned, even with the help of a powerful sorcerer or sorceress. Unless…" Her eyes widen as a large smile comes on her face. "Oh. My. God."

I blush in embarrassment and look down. "Zatanna, don't."

Wally and Victor look at each other confused. "What?" The former asks. "What are you…" He quickly catches up, Victor does as well.

"You were turned into a kid!" The three shout excitedly, bringing attention to us as we enter the cafeteria.

I groan and contemplate transforming into Big Chill, Phantasmality, or Silencio to get out of here, but Zatanna seems to know exactly what I'm thinking, so she grabs my right arm tightly. "Nuh-uh, no way. You aren't getting out of this that easily."

The three of them continue their teasing for the next few minutes as we get our food and sit at an empty table. "I hate you guys," I mutter as I place my tray down. "I really do."

Victor just reaches over and messes with my hair. "Sure you do."

"Y'know, that actually leads me to something I've been wondering: what happened on the Watchtower?" I ask as I poke at my salad.

"Oh, it was chaos," Zatanna answers. "We lost contact with all the teams on the ground at once. Some teams were sent down to try and figure out what was going on-"

"I was on one," Wally says.

"-And then we lost contact with them as soon as they were teleported down. Thankfully us magic users were able to figure out some powerful spell was affecting the Earth, so we stayed back to study it," Zatanna answers. "But I guess Superboy, Batboy, Wonder Girl, Teen Lantern, and Angsty Eric solved that one, huh?"

They laugh at her little joke as I groan in annoyance again. I do that a lot with these guys, but it would happen even more if Dick and Kory were here. "We weren't even teens, we were ten," I mutter.

Crap, I shouldn't have said that.

"So he was Kid Lantern?" Wally says with a laugh. "Oh, that's even better!"

Zatanna coos. "Aww, and you were Wittle Eric!"

The three continue to make jokes for the next few minutes, and Zatanna even conjures up a little image of us when we first transformed into our kid selves. She then notices my demeanor and calms the others down. "Okay, okay, I think that's enough," she then turns to me. "How did you guys get back, anyway?"

"Oh, Morgaine Le Fay. Mordred's her kid. She wanted us to beat him so she could take care of him again," I answer. "Though now that he's broken the spell, I don't think he's a kid anymore."

Once we finish our food, I slide the tray forward and rest my elbows on the table, my hands folded under my chin. Wally and Victor become serious as well. "She told me where to find the Charm of Resurrection."

Their eyes widen in surprise. Zatanna then leans forward and looks me in the eyes. "Where?" She demands.

"She wasn't exact. Northern Italy's all I got," I answer. "I want to go out there as soon as possible, can't give Necro, the Cult of the Cold Flame, the Forever Knights, or Hex any more of a head starts on us."

Wally nods. "Right. We should call Dick and Kory; they'll want in on this as well."

"Won't they be busy with the Teen Titans?" Victor wonders.

"Those kids can watch themselves for a few days if needed," I answer. I then turn to Zatanna. "We should get your dad in on this as well, his skill would be really useful."

She nods and gets up, the three of us doing the same. "I'll go get him."

"I'll call Dick and Kory," Victor says.

"And I'll input this mission in the log," Wally says.

"All right. Meet at the teleporters," I say.

The four of us then exit the cafeteria, Zatanna and Wally go to do their objectives as Victor and I head towards the teleporters, my large friend informing the other two about our plans.

I look down and clench my fist before slamming it into my other palm.

Charm of Resurrection, we're coming for you.


"I don't know how I feel about this, man," Victor admits as we wait for the others.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Magic," he answers. "I mean, I've fought it a few times, but I really wasn't the most helpful. You know?"

I fold my arms and lean on the console next to me. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Even if I was trained to fight it, magic still weirds me out. We've got it, though."

"Yeah, we dooo…" he trails off and glares behind me.

Curious, I turn around to see what he's glaring at, and would you look at that, it's Constantine. The smell of cigarettes and alcohol should've been a dead giveaway. I get up and glare as he walks towards us. "What do you want, Constantine?"

"Well, that's a rather rude greeting, innit?" Constantine sarcastically asks.

I just continue to glare.

He sighs before shaking his head. "I heard you were goin' after Nick. I want in."

Victor and I share a glance. I then look back at him incredulously. "You're a reserve member, you don't go on League missions unless you're needed. Guess what? You aren't needed."

"There's nothing against us going on a mission if we want now, is there?" Constantine counters. I grit my teeth in annoyance. He's right about that, there's no rule against a League member wanting to join a mission. "Besides, I have more at stake than you or tinman over here."

But then another rule comes to mind. "I'm a higher rank than you, so I deny your request to join the mission. Who knows, you may be needed elsewhere."

"Then I'll just ask Flash. He's a higher rank than you, he can overrule your decision," Constantine coolly says.

Wait a minute. "How did you know what we were planning?"

"Oh, I was eavesdroppin'," he simply replies. "Used magic to hide."

Victor and I grit our teeth. I step into his space, ignoring the stench, and grab him by the collar of his jacket, ignoring the stares from the others in the area. "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."

His smirk drops as his face becomes serious. "I'm coming with you."

"Triumph?"

I look up to see Zatanna, Zatara, and Flash walking towards us, Zatanna's face looks concerned as she walks closer. "What are you…" She then notices who's in front of me. Her face becomes blank. "Oh. You."

"Zee," Constantine says as he tries to get out of my grasp.

Zatanna glares at him. "You don't get to call me that."

"Why are you here?" Zatara asks.

"He eavesdropped on our conversation regarding Necro. He wants in," I answer for him.

"No," they both say.

"Come on, just give a guy a chance," Constantine says. He then turns to Flash. "In the end, it's your decision, mate."

We all turn to Flash as he looks at Constantine and then Zatanna. He sighs deeply and gives her an apologetic look. "I hate to say it, Zee, but if he wants to help, then he can."

Zatanna glares at Flash. "You owe me big time for this."

Flash nods with a sigh. "I know. All right, let's go!"

"Northern Italy," I say to the technician as we step on the pad. Zatanna stands on the circle next to me, a scowl on her face. I slightly turn my head to look at her, since she can't see my eyes. She looks at me and a small smile plays on her lips before we're teleported away.


Northern Italy

The six of us arrive in a field after the teleportation. Some of us stretch to get used to the sudden change as we begin to look around. "Triumph, sense it?" Flash asks.

I close my eyes and focus for any powerful artifacts of magic. I find it, and I find Necro and some other mana signatures with him. "Yeah, but we're not alone. I sense Necro and some other mana signatures with him. They're heading towards the Charm," I point north of us. "That way. Think you can get Nightwing and Starfire?"

Flash nods and speeds away.

As expected, there's an awkward air about us, Constantine's a distance away from the group as Zatanna occasionally glares at him. Not good with uncomfortable silences, Cyborg walks over and places an arm over her shoulder. "So, Zee, how's being home feel?"

She looks up at him with a thankful smile before breathing in the clean air around us. "It's great, Cy. Though you should ask Dad that question, I've only lived in Italy for the first, like, five years of my life. We would visit occasionally though."

The three of us turn to Zatara, a serene look on his face. Constantine just looks away. "It's great to be home," Zatara admits. "I wish I had more time to visit. Sadly, the Justice League is really demanding with time."

"It really is, isn't it," I agree with a whisper.

Flash then appears with Nightwing and Starfire. The two look at Constantine, the latter with a glare, before coming over to us, Starfire pulling Zatanna into a hug. "It's been some time, hasn't it?" Starfire says as she pulls back from the hug, looking at Zatanna, Nightwing, Cyborg, Flash, then me. "Since we've fought together."

"It really has, hasn't it?" Nightwing whispers in shock. A smirk then comes over his face. "Let's fix that."

"Oi, Super Friends," Constantine interrupts. "Isn't there a Charm we have to save?"

I sigh in annoyance before breaking off towards the Charm. Constantine follows behind me with Nightwing next to him, Starfire and Cyborg behind them, and Zatanna, Zatara, and Flash in the back.

"How far is it?" Nightwing asks.

"About five miles out north. We're closer to it than Necro is," I answer.

"Can't you guys just teleport us to it?" Flash asks the mages.

"I can't do complicated spells without the right items," Constantine replies.

"And our mana sense isn't as acute as Triumph's. He is the only way we can find it," Zatara answers.

"Can't I run us to it?" Flash asks.

"You are not carrying me," I say as I turn around and put a finger in his face.

"Yeah, and how are you gonna carry me around?" Cyborg asks.

Flash slumps his shoulders. "Well, crap."

"Quit complaining, we've got a mission to do," I admonish. "The sooner we get there the sooner we can beat Necro's ass."

"On that, we agree," Constantine whispers. "Oi, how does your magic sense work anyway?"

"Why do you wanna know?" I reply.

"Just curious is all."

"Well, guess you'll stay curious," I reply. Then again, I don't really know the specifics of it myself.

"(How does it work?)" Nightwing whispers to me in Spanish.

"(I don't know really. It's like…I get this need, I guess. Like I have to go to the source, you know?)" I reply.

Nightwing nods. "(You should ask Dr. Fate or Zatara, they might know.)"

"(Yeah, they might,)" I nod.

"Hey, how do you know you're sensing the Charm of Resurrection?" Flash asks.

"All the Charms have a similar energy about them, with some differences to tell them apart. And this energy I'm sensing is similar to the other Charms I've felt," I answer. "Enough questions, we've got a Charm to find."


It takes some time, but eventually we crest over a hill to find the location of the Charm of Resurrection. And what a perfect place to find it.

A cemetery.

"Oh, that's just great," Cyborg sarcastically mutters.

He's right. If a fight does break out here it's gonna be hard to avoid damage to the tombstones, I don't wanna disrespect the dead, that's how you get haunted.

"Triumph," Zatara says. "Where is Necro?"

I scan and immediately lock onto his signature; my mask hides the grimace on my face. "He's already here."

With that, Constantine gets up and saunters into the cemetery. "Nick! We know you're here! May as well get out now, mate!"

The rest of us look at each other and sigh and shake our heads in annoyance before sliding down the hill to join Constantine at the cemetery's entrance. "Nice going," Zatanna snidely remarks. "Not like we needed a plan or anything."

"It was gonna get thrown out the window anyway," Constantine replies.

Cloaking spells are dropped as Necro and a group of five high ranking Cult of the Cold Flame members appear. Necro has a smirk on his face as he walks in front of his group with his arms extended. "Zatanna, John, Eric! How nice of you to join us! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Zatanna glares as magic circles float around her hands. "You know why we're here, Necro."

Hm, looks like she picked up calling him by his last name from me.

Necro has a fake look of hurt on his face as he holds his hands over where his heart would be. Let's be honest, this asshole doesn't have one. "Well, ow. I went from "Nicky" to "Necro", that hurts, Zatanna, it really does."

Cyborg steps forward as his right arm becomes a massive cannon. "What's gonna hurt is this beatdown we're gonna put on your ass."

"Where is the Charm of Resurrection?" Zatara asks as a wand appears in his right hand.

Necro pulls it out of his pocket, a protective bubble around it, stopping Flash from just swiping it. "Oh, this? Yeah, it's coming with me, hope you understand."

"Yeah, like we'd just let that happen," Nightwing scoffs as he twirls his escrima sticks.

Necro looks at him before rolling his eyes and looking at Constantine, the brit's jaw tightens as they make eye contact. "Really, Constantine? What are you doing here? All you're good at is getting people killed," Constantine grits his teeth as he reaches into his pockets. Necro's smirk grows as he looks at me. "Like now."

What? What the hell is he-

Oh.

I look down to see the blood coated magic spike sticking out of my chest.

"Fu-"


Zatanna

I don't really know how it happened; it just did.

One moment Eric's fine, standing with us, ready to fight. And the next he's got a red magic spike through his chest and he's falling over face first to the ground.

"ERIC!" I hear myself shout as he falls down, the spike disappearing as blood begins to pool around his body.

Suddenly, black bands of magic wrap around our wrists and ankles, forcing us all to kneeling positions. From behind us walks the man who killed Eric.

Hex.

He has gray skin and a white face with designs that make his face look like a skull. He wears a red hooded top cut down the middle of his torso. He has a black design on his chest of two U's, one atop the other, the top U has a gem in the center of it, the design also goes around his shoulders. He has black and gold bands around his biceps and similar colored, longer bands on his forearms. He has a red cape with a black border that's gray on the inside. His pants are black and connected to similarly colored boots.

He has a small group of Forever Knights with him, five as well. As Hex walks towards Necro he pauses and looks down at Eric's body in disdain. "Hm," is all he says before he walks over to join Necro.

"Well, if I had known it was that easy to kill him, I would've done it months ago," Necro laughs.

Oh, he's going to regret that.

I look over at Eric's body and flinch as tears begin to fall down my face. Dammit, I should've seen it coming, should've protected him. I clench my eyes shut and take deep breaths. Someone has to tell his family. Dammit.

Someone wipes away my tears. I open my eyes and look up to see Necro kneeling down in front of me. The Charm of Resurrection floating above his left hand. "Y'know, the damage to him wasn't too extensive," he begins. "Hit him with this baby and he'll be as good as new."

"When I hit you," Cyborg says, his voice cracking a little. "You'll be as good as dead."

One more band wraps around his mouth, silencing him. "The mages are talking," he then turns to me. "Or I could bring your mom back with this, Zatanna," I notice Dad flinch. He extends his hand to me. "Come with me, and I'll be sure to bring her back. Oh, and him too, I guess."

The band around my right arm becomes elastic, allowing for me to move my arm more freely. I look into his eyes and slowly bring my hand up to his. Necro smirks. "I knew you were smart. Unlike Constantine."

"Yeah, I am smart. Unlike you," I glare as my eyes glow whitish-blue. "KCOHS!"

Necro shouts in pain (Which brings a smile to my face) as a massive surge of electricity goes through his body. After a few seconds, he's blasted back and slams hard into one of the tombstones, the bands around us disappear, and the bubble around the Charm of Resurrection disappears as well.

"Get the Charm!" I hear Nightwing shout.

While they do that, I focus on Hex. He killed Eric; he needs to pay.

I wave my hand through the air, multiple magic circles appear in front of me, I then clench my fist, bolts of lightning shooting out at Hex. He quickly puts up a barrier that cracks once the lightning bolt connects. The other Cult members aren't so lucky. Two are exhausted almost immediately and one gets hit with the lightning bolt full blast.

A rock shaped like an arrow comes flying at me, I quickly raise a hand that creates a barrier, blocking the stone arrow. I glare down to see Necro looking up at me in shock, slowly crawling backwards. He distracted us, that's why Eric died.

"NEKAWA."

The arms of the corpse below Necro shoot up and wrap around his midsection, trapping him in place. The arms then claw into him, leaving deep gashes in his abdomen. I clench my fist, the zombie redoubling its efforts.

"Zatanna!" I look down to see my Dad glaring up at me. "Control yourself! We are not here to kill! We are here to get the Charm!" He then notices a bolt of fire come flying at him. "Reirrab!"

I look back at Necro and have the zombie stop its attack, letting him go. As he slowly gets up Flash runs by and manages to grab the Charm of Resurrection. He then speeds over to me and my Dad, the others coming over as the fighting comes to a stop.

"We've got the charm," Nightwing says with a glare. "And we have you outnumbered. Give up, and I promise this won't hurt. Much."

"My husband does not speak for all of us," Starfire says as her fists and eyes glow green.

Hex just studies us, the Cult of the Cold Flame members still standing looking between him and us. "Kill them," Hex orders.

The fighting starts again, but not before Flash quickly hands the Charm of Resurrection to Cyborg; he then puts it inside one of the containers in his body.

I notice John sneak over and pull Eric's body away from the fighting. That's one good deed he's done in a sea of bad decisions. A powerful gust of wind then slams into me, sending me flying into the hill in the distance.

I shake my head to recover, and once I look up, I see Hex looking down at me as he floats in the air, his arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised for whatever reason. All I know is that I need to kick his ass, so that's what I'm gonna do.

"This power…" Hex wonders aloud. "What was he to you? A friend? A brother? A lover, perhaps? Ah, yes, a lover. There would be no other reason for this absolute loss of control now, would there?"

As he floats closer, I slam my fist down on the ground behind me, causing the dirt and stone to erupt upwards in a massive pillar that slams into Hex, sending the mage flying into the air.

"LLAF!"

Hex then comes flying down and slams into the ground in front of me, grunting in pain and coughing up some blood as he slowly gets up, a smile on his face. "Necro was right, you have power."

"Adfishio Potentia!" Hex chants. Multiple red beams of mana shoot from his arms at me, all coming in from multiple directions.

"Elbbub," a bubble of magic forms around me, protecting me from the mana blasts.

Hex then slams the right side of his fist into his other hand, extending it out, a staff coming from between his hands. He then slams the staff down and aims the crow-like head at me, the beak open. "Berdi Mordo Nata," a gout of flames then comes at me.

The flames impact my shield, slowly pushing me back due to the power behind them. I grit my teeth and rear my arms back before pushing forward, the bubble becomes a wall and flies towards Hex, slamming into him and sending him into the gates of the cemetery.

"Hsup," I chant. Hex then flies through the gates and slams into one of the Cult members just as Starfire hits him with a star bolt, hitting the two.

A sharp rock then hits me in the side, stabbing into me just a little bit. I lose focus and fall down to the ground. I then reach over and wince as I bring my fingers back from my side, blood dripping off of them. I grit my teeth and pull the rock out, I then look up to see Necro glaring at me, his abdomen bleeding profusely.

"You bitch," he spits. "All you had to do was unlock the Books of Magic, that's all! But nooo, instead you had to be the hero, fight against me, even after you promised to never leave my side!"

I grit my teeth and stumble to my feet, an arm around my bleeding wound. "Yeah, well when you're goal is to join a psycho cult of dark mages, I think I'm in my right to leave you," my glare intensifies. "Especially after you hurt him."

Necro scoffs. "Eric? Zatanna, he was holding you back. He doesn't understand magic, not like we do. If anything, he's better off dead," he then smirks. "Wonder if he's met your mom yet."

Oh, he's dead.

"Sisenikelet!" I feel myself gain telekinetic control over Necro. I move my hand around, slamming Necro into the ground, tombstones, Forever Knights, and whatever else is available. I then hear a snap and Necro cries out in pain before I pull him towards me, his left leg bent at an awkward angle. "Edalb fo dnomaiD," a blade that looks like a creation of Diamondhead's appears behind me. "Edalb fo taeH," a Heatblast blade appears next on the other side. "Edalb fo egaR," an orange and black blade reminiscent of Rage's claws appears above me.

"Z-Zee, you don't wanna do this, d-do you?" He begs.

I glare at him. "I do. I really do."

The blades then shoot forward, one to his stomach, one to his heart, and one to his brain. As the blades near Necro closes his eyes and turns his head away. As if that'll save him.

"Zatanna!" Dad suddenly appears in front of Necro.

I stop the blades just a few inches in front of him. "Dad. Move. Now."

"No," Dad says with a stern look in his eyes.

I grit my teeth as the blades move around him. "Dad, he hurt Eric, he insulted Mom. I'll ask one more time: please. Move."

"Zatanna, look at him!" Dad shouts as he steps aside a little, not enough for me to stab Necro without possibly harming him. "He's defeated! End this now and we can arrest Necro, go home, and give Eric the burial he deserves."

"Necro is the reason Eric's dead!" I shout, tears streaming down my face.

"A-actually, that'd be Hex," he mutters.

I clench my fist, causing Necro to cough up some blood and groan in pain. "Shut up."

"Zatanna," Dad says, this time softly. "This isn't what Eric, or your mother would want."

I look over to see Eric's resting body, images of our time together coming to mind. Dammit, Dad's right. While Eric can be brutal in his takedown of criminals, he's never killed them. Hell, he's done everything he can to avoid killing them. And then images of Mom come to mind. She was always kind, never wanted to hurt anyone, honestly, I don't know if she was even physically capable of harming anyone. Now look at me, willing to kill in their names. They'd be ashamed of me.

With a gasp I let go of Necro, which leads to him falling down to his knees. The blades disappear and my eyes stop glowing.

Then it kicks in.

Eric's dead.

I blink rapidly as my vision becomes blurry, but it doesn't matter, the tears run anyway. As I break down into a sobbing mess, I feel Dad's familiar arms pulling me into a hug. "Let it out, Darling, let it out."

As I sob, I notice things have quieted down relatively. I look over to see the Cult members and Forever Knights are out of the fight, but so are Nightwing and Cyborg. Hex is currently holding Starfire, Flash, and Constantine at bay with what looks to be the Charms of Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis.

I wipe away the tears and get up with Dad's help. "Th-there's time to cry later. The mission has to be done now."

Dad looks at me in concern before smiling and shaking his head. "Eric would've said the same thing."

"Too bad he's de-URK!" We look to see a red spike sticking out of Necro's neck, cutting him off.

We then slowly turn around to see Hex, his arm still up as he looks impassively at Necro's corpse. "Fool," he then throws a few stones on the ground, the stones then quickly become five golems. Hex then conjures a portal behind him and walks through it, leaving us with the golems.

Not giving the others the chance, I summon the three blades again and have them shoot towards the golems. Three are immediately destroyed by the impact, the other two are then sliced to pieces.

Things then become eerily quiet as Cyborg and Nightwing come to, but Flash still has to help Cyborg walk over and Starfire helps Nightwing as Dad and I go to join them, the seven of us meeting in the middle. We look at each other in silence before Starfire hands Nightwing over to Dad and brings me into a hug.

I feel tears on her cheeks as well, so this hug comforts the both of us, in a way.

While this happens, Flash goes over and brings Eric's body to us, some blood still dripping from the wound, but not as much like before. He then carefully puts Eric down on the grass and kneels next to him, his eyes closed as he looks down. "Dammit," he mutters.

His head then shoots up. "Wait! The Charm! Victor!"

Cyborg sighs deeply before looking at Flash. "What?"

"Think about it! We have the Charm of Resurrection! We could bring him back!" Flash says excitedly.

The others look at each other, unsure. "Flash," Nightwing slowly says. "I don't know if that's entirely possible."

"Besides, you might just make 'im a zombie," Constantine unhelpfully comments. He raises his hands in surrender at the glares. "Just makin' a point is all."

"I know, I know," Flash admits. "But…Look, I don't wanna be the one to tell his parents what happened. Or his sister," he then looks at me. "C'mon, Zee! You understand that this is our only chance in bringing him back, right?"

"Zatanna's used too much energy when she fought Necro and Hex. She needs to rest," Dad says as he squeezes my shoulder gently.

"The longer we wait the less chance I have of bringing Eric back," I whisper. I then look at Cyborg, my hand out. "Give me the Charm."

"Zatanna," Dad says worriedly.

"I know what I'm doing, Dad. I'm the best choice for this, anyway. You aren't as close to Eric as I am, and Constantine sure as hell isn't. I have to be the one to do this," I affirm as Cyborg gives me the Charm of Resurrection.

Better live up to its name.

I kneel next to him; I then clench my fists over the charm and place it over the wound. "Laeh," nothing. "Nekawa," again, nothing. "Evila," I grit my teeth in frustration as it doesn't work.

Dad's right, I did use up a lot of mana during that fight, even attempting these spells is tiring. It doesn't matter, I won't stop until Eric's back.

Before I go for another attempt Dad puts his hands over mine. "As you said, your relationship with Eric will give you a higher chance of succeeding, so think of your time together, that will push you forward."

I nod before looking back at him one more time before closing my eyes, taking a deep breath as I do. The first time we met comes to mind, followed by our first quiet conversation, it was about magic and science and how they're similar yet different. The first time I snuck out to help him fight crime, Dad read me the riot act after that, nearly stopped his lessons with Eric, too. Our first date at the carnival, he was so happy then, a far cry from how he is now.

And then our first kiss comes to mind. In a word it was…magical, pun absolutely intended. It was like a burst of energy going off, the world around us fading away, leaving me and him in our own little realm, I haven't felt anything like that since. I feel a blush on my face, something I hope Dad doesn't see as my final memory comes into play. Our first night together. It happened a year after the kiss, and if anything, that's been the best night of my life so far.

With a deep breath, I open my eyes, I can feel them glowing again. "Esira, cirE recreM. I deen uoy."

I feel the wound close beneath my hands, which causes me and Dad to gasp and sit back as we stare at the now closed wound on Eric's chest. Constantine stays back, but the others come over and kneel around Eric, curious to see if it worked.

My heartbeat goes through the roof as I stare at him. Come on, Eric, wake up. Please.

Time passes, I don't know how long exactly, but nothing happens, the only sound being the wind that goes through the field.

Nightwing sighs. "I-I don't think it-"

"-UUUUCKING HELL!"

Eric lurches up and quickly takes off his mask and goggles. He then leans over to his right and coughs up some blood before resting on his forearms, gulping in deep breaths of air. "Oh man, I never wanna do that again."

I stare and blink at him in shock, my mind taking a moment to catch up with current events. Holy shit, that actually worked.

I let out a quick laugh before lunging forward and wrapping him in a tight hug, I also plant a kiss on his cheek that leaves a red mark there. Eric slowly wraps his arms around my waist as he lets me rest my head on his shoulder, tears of joy running down my face.

"Thanks," he whispers. "I don't know what happened after I saw that spike, but I know you fixed whatever happened."

"Don't ever do that to me again, got it?" I reprimand as we slowly stand up.

"Got it," he then notices my injury. "You okay?"

"Laeh," the wound disappears but I nearly fall over in exhaustion. "I am now."

"AW, COME HERE MAN!" Cyborg shouts before pulling the two of us into a crushing bearhug, tears comically running down his face as he rubs his cheek with Eric's, an uncomfortable yet amused look on the shapeshifter's face. "I'M SO HAPPY TO HAVE YOU BAAAAACK!" Cyborg breaks down in a fit of sobs.

"Great…to be…back," Eric strains to get out of Cyborg's grasp to no avail. "Let us go. If you don't, I'll die again, and Zatanna's gonna come with me."

Cyborg obliges and slowly lets us down, but his hands are still on Eric's shoulders. "We are gonna have one hell of a party today."

"That's great and all, Cy, but I'd rather spend the rest of my day at home, thank you very much," he replies.

Starfire steps over and brings Eric into a tight hug, careful not to squeeze his spine like Cyborg just did. "Of course, Triumph. If you need anyone to talk to, know that we're here."

Nightwing and Flash also hug Eric, the three of them have their heads together as they look down like they're planning a play for a football game. "Got ya," the former says. "But when you're rested, hit us up, like Cy said, we're gonna have one hell of a party."

"Yeah, of course," Eric then pulls out of the huddle and looks at Dad. "Thanks for being here, things could've been way worse if you weren't."

Dad brings Eric into a quick hug before nodding. "Of course, my boy," he then looks at the Charm of Resurrection resting in my hands. "Well, we have the Charm, now what?"

"There's still Nick's corpse we gotta deal with," John points out.

Eric looks confused. "What? What are you talking about?" I point at Necro's body. "Oh. Damn. How'd he die?"

"Hex killed him," I answer with a yawn. "Put a magic spike through his neck before disappearing in a portal. We have no idea where he is now," I then stumble as my exhaustion catches up with me, thankfully Eric catches me and holds me against his body as I fight to stay awake.

"You okay?" He asks, concerned.

I nod tiredly. "Yeah, just, bringing you back was more tiring than expected."

Eric nods before looking down at Necro's body with an unknown emotion before shaking his head with a sigh. "Dammit," he whispers. "Well, we gotta go back to the Watchtower and file this out in the reports. Don't know what we have to do with the body though, there hasn't been a mission that ended in a death," he looks down and clenches his fist. "Let alone two."

I lean over and put a hand over his fist, looking at him with a concerned face. "Are you okay?" I softly ask.

Eric nods. "Yeah, it's just surreal is all. Dying then coming back."

John then steps forward. "All right, all right, I can deal with Nick's body," his eyes then glow gold as magic circles appear around his arms. "Emoc, esuoH fo yretsyM."

A giant mansion then appears in front of us. The lights can be seen from behind the curtains and the doors open, tendrils with hands at the end reach out and pick up Necro's body, placing it inside.

John turns around to face us. "There, done."

Dad looks at John with narrowed eyes. "Constantine, how did you get a hold of the House of Mystery?"

John smirks as he pulls a cigarette out of his coat pocket and puts it into his mouth, a small flicker of flame appears on his finger to light it. "Oh, won it in a card game, that's all," he then hops on the porch. "I'm out, see you hopefully never."

"Constantine, wait!" Eric calls out, but it's too late, the House of Mystery fades away. "…he's supposed to write his report."

"I'll find a way to get a hold of him. Right now, we should return to the Watchtower to get you checked out," Dad advises.

"I don't need to get checked out," Eric says. "In fact, I've never felt so good in my life."

As he stretches, his left arm waves in front of Kory, causing the Omnitrix to beep and the orange lights to be replaced by yellow. "Unrecognized DNA detected. Cataloguing," it says. The core then pops up and a yellow beam of light scans over Kory's confused form.

Once the scanning's complete, the core returns to the Omnitrix and the faceplate slides back into place. "Unknown DNA catalogued," it then becomes orange again.

"Uh, what was that?" Kory asks.

Eric looks at the Omnitrix in a new light. "I think it scanned your DNA. Now I can transform into a Tamaranean," he then brings the Omnitrix closer to his face. "But why scan now?" He whispers.

Kory has an excited look on her face. "Oh, that is great! When the time comes be sure to show me this new form of yours, so I can teach you our ways!"

Eric nods. "Yeah, was planning on doing that anyways," I then yawn rather loudly. Eric looks at me with a small smile. "Someone's tired."

"Yats ekawa," I chant, my exhaustion temporarily going away. "Fine now."

Eric shakes his head in amusement. "Temporary fix, but whatever."

Dick then walks towards us. "Hey, sorry, just got a call from Titans Tower," he shakes his head with a laugh. "Blue Beetle somehow got trapped in our Javelin and none of the kids know how to get him out. Esmeralda and Rachel aren't at the base either."

"So you gotta go back," Eric says. "Got it. Thanks for coming, guys."

Kory and Dick pull him—and by proxy, me—into another quick hug before they're teleported away.

Flash then activates his communicator. "Watchtower, this is Flash. My team's ready to return."


Watchtower

Once we're teleported up, the five of us step off the teleporter pad, I ignore the smirks from Vixen and Black Canary as we walk through the bridge. Near the doors, Dad turns to us. "Flash, even though Triumph is against it, I'd like for you to take him to the infirmary to get checked out."

Eric's eyes widen in surprise. "Flash, no-"

The two then disappear in a red and black blur. I'm then helped down onto the nearby bench with Dad's help. "I'm gonna go get started on my report then probably head home. See you guys later," Victor says before heading through the doors.

As Victor leaves, Dad turns to me, a serious look on his face. "When you brought Eric back, did you feel something odd?"

I look down at my hands, the Charm resting in my right one. "Yeah, I guess I did," I answer with a nod. "I thought it was because I was tired, but if you felt it too then it must've been something else."

Dad nods. "It was like something was draining the mana out of me. But what?"

My spell begins to fade away, exhaustion begins to creep in again. "Maybe it was," I yawn. "The Charm? Bringing people back from the dead is one of the most dangerous spells ever, so the Charm must've used our energy to make it work perfectly."

Dad rests his arms on his knees and his head in his hands as he looks at the ground in front of him intensely, thinking it over. He then looks at me and a smile is on his face. "You're tired, let's go home."

I shake my head. "The Charm, and the report."

Dad waves Dr. Fate over, he then takes the Charm. "The report can wait," Dad then puts an arm around my shoulders. "Ekat su emoh."

I close my eyes and fall asleep as we're sent home to Shadowcrest.


Eric

I nearly puke after Flash stops running me to the infirmary. I lean down and rest my hands on my knees, taking deep breaths to calm down. "God no, please," it takes a minute, but my stomach calms down eventually. I glare up at a grinning Flash. "Never do that again."

"Excuse me," we look to see one of the civilian doctors standing in front of us. "Might I ask which one of you needs assistance?"

Flash points a thumb at me. "On our last mission Triumph here had a, uh…" the two of us share a glance, I shrug. "Pretty bad injury. Could you check it out?"

The doctor nods and steps aside. "I'm gonna go fill out the report," Flash says before speeding away.

I follow the doctor to one of the cots and follow her instructions, a few minutes later, she comes back with the results. She has an eyebrow raised in confusion as she looks over the results. "Are you sure you were injured?" She shows the results to me. "Everything looks perfect here."

"That's what I've been saying," I reply as I sit up in the cot. "But does anyone listen to me? No," I take out the medical devices and get up. "Thanks, Doc."

The doctor nods before going off to do her doctor thing.

I get out of the medical wing and head over to the debrief room, here I find Obsidian and Gypsy talking as the latter writes a report. She's the first to notice me. "Triumph, hey!"

"Uh, hey," I wave. "You guys just got back from a mission?"

Obsidian nods. "Yeah. There were some weird fire monsters in Australia, me and Gypsy took 'em down no problem."

"That's awesome," Oh my God, I am bad at talking to people I don't know.

Gypsy seems to notice my awkwardness and decides to carry the conversation as I activate a computer to input my side of the mission. "So, what were you guys doing in Italy?" How'd she know we were there? "Flash and Cyborg told us you were there. Didn't get into specifics though."

I rub the back of my neck as I write the report. "There was a powerful magic item we had to get from there. Mission successful."

Obsidian smiles. "That's great!" His stomach grumbles. "Man, you really can get hungry when on missions, huh? I'm gonna go eat."

Gypsy just finishes her report. "I'll join you. See you later, Triumph."

I wave as the two exit the room. That was an okay conversation, I guess.

I look around to find the room rather empty, which is surprising. Other than the bridge, this is probably the second busiest room, what with heroes coming back to file out their reports. Today must be a slow day.

A few minutes later I hit the complete button on the report, officially getting rid of it.

I then lean back in the seat, resting my feet on the desk and look up at the ceiling of the room. I bring my left arm up and then bring it down, resting my hand over my heart. I had a spike go through it. I died. And yet, here I am, as alive as the next person. In fact, I've never felt more alive in my life, I'm not sure if it's because of my resurrection, or because of something else. Something tied to the Omnitrix.

I bring up the settings and look at the status. Would you look at that, one hundred percent, strange. It's been at eighty-five percent effectiveness for, what, almost thirteen years now? Everything else worked perfectly, but I couldn't scan new DNA for some reason, but then, after my rebirth, Kory was scanned, I have a Tamaranean form. So what changed?

There's also the fact that right after I woke up, I felt more energetic than I ever have before. Maybe the magic fixed the Omnitrix? Yeah, that has to be it, there's no other way to answer it, really.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I jump out of the chair and turn around to see Bruce standing behind me. He has his arms folded as he stares at me standing on the desk, a few shurikens in each of my hands. "Those are rather expensive desks. I'd rather you don't dirty them."

I sigh and put my shurikens away, hopping off the table. "What do you want, Bruce?"

He crosses his arms. "The report, I read it."

Of course he already did, he's Batman.

"Yeah, that was a shitshow if I've ever been in one," I admit as I look down and rub the back of my head.

Before the conversation can continue, Booster Gold, Huntress, Hawk and Dove, and Wonder Woman walk in, the five having an excited conversation, they then stop once they notice us. "Oh, Triumph, Batman, hello," Wonder Woman greets.

Bruce nods and goes to walk out of the room, I give them a two-finger salute before following. "The Charm?" Bruce asks as we walk down the hallway.

"Last I saw, Zatanna had it. Where is she, by the way?" I ask.

Bruce inputs a code and the two of us enter a private meeting room. "Went home, she seemed extremely exhausted after bringing you back to life."

"Right, I should thank her for that," I mutter. "Maybe dinner? Or a movie?"

"What're your intentions with her?"

I look at Bruce in surprise. That came out of left field, didn't it? "What?"

"You heard me," Bruce says as he folds his arms.

"I- wait, why do I have to tell you anything? This is my private life we're talking about, there's no need for you to know anything," I say.

"It's entirely possible your relationship with her could affect your missions on the League," Bruce says.

"I highly doubt it. What's the real reason your asking for, Bruce?" I ask, my arms folded as well as the two of us stare each other down.

He lets out a breath through his nose. "When I was training to be Batman, I went to Zatara, he taught me his skills in escaping practically any trap. Zatanna was a child then, and I grew to see her as a sort of little sister."

"Ah, so you're looking out for her," I then think of Esmeralda. There were a few boys who had the intention of asking her out in recent years, I'd make sure to scare them enough that they never went through with it, now Superman's son is one of them apparently. "Yeah, I see what you mean."

"So you'll answer my question?" Bruce asks as he folds his arms.

"Yeah, sure," I look down as I think it over. "I…care for her. In a way I haven't felt in a long time, you know?"

Bruce looks down as well, thinking about someone else, I guess. Probably Diana. "Hm. Yes," he then nods and heads towards the door. "Get some rest," and with that, he's gone.

I walk out and stand in the hallway of the Watchtower. Well, 'least I can go home now.

"Triumph."

I close my eyes in annoyance and grit my teeth. Madre de Dios, I'm going to stab someone.

I slowly turn around to see Dr. Fate walking towards me. "Hey, Doctor. What do you need?"

"I'd like to speak with you," he pulls out the Charm of Resurrection. "Regarding this."

"How do you-? Right, you're Dr. Fate," I answer for myself. "I don't know how it happened really. One minute I had a spike sticking out of my chest, the next I was in pain and laying on the ground. If you wanna know about anything in between you'd have to ask someone on the mission."

"I see," he hums. "I will speak with the founders about the Charm. I intend to take it to the Tower of Fate and study it. If you'd let me."

"Uh, sure, you'd have a better chance of understanding it then me," I agree. "But one quick thing: my sister has a plan to find the Keystone, and maybe even the other Charms, could we work something out for her plan?"

Dr. Fate nods. "Of course. Come to Salem, Massachusetts tomorrow, she can implement her plan at the Tower of Fate. Farewell," he then disappears with an ankh portal behind him.

Huh, looks like we were just invited to one of the most sought-after magic locations of the universe. Esmeralda's gonna flip.

I turn around and head over to the bridge, thankfully no one else interrupts me as I try to go home.

As I step on a teleporter pad the technician's already inputting buttons. "Space Needle?"

I nod. "Space Needle."

I'm then teleported home.


Seattle

After getting teleported I fly home as Jetray, moving so fast the naked eye couldn't hope to find me. Once inside, I deactivate my armor and turn on the lights in the living room. With a sigh, I go over to my couch and flop down on it, staring blankly at the still turned off TV.

I was dead today, and now I'm not.

Never thought that would happen to me, and yet, here I am. The life of a superhero can be insane.

I then grit my teeth in anger. How could I be so careless? Hex got me so easily, what's stopping him from doing it again? Dammit, Eric, the only person to blame for your death is yourself. No, there's Necro also. He just, he got me so damn mad that I couldn't focus on anything other than kicking his smug ass. And now he's dead, killed by Hex, no less.

I should've been the one to beat Necro, not Hex.

Wonder how he killed him, maybe it was the same way he killed me. Question for another time.

Curious, I get up and walk over to the bathroom on this level of my house. Once inside, I take off my shirt and look at my left pectoral. Yeah, there's a scar there, all right. It's a perfect circle, weird. I turn on the front facing camera of my phone and angle my arm over my shoulder, once I feel like I've got a good angle I take the picture. I pull my phone back to see a scar that looks exactly the same on my back, both about the size of the Charms of Bezel. A new scar to the collection.

I sense familiar magic, so I don't get ready to fight, but the crashing does catch my attention. I quickly run out of the bathroom to find Zatanna on the ground, the vase on the TV stand knocked over next to her.

"Zee!" I shout in concern before hurrying over and helping her up to the couch. "Are you okay?"

She weakly nods. "Yeah, just tired is all," she chuckles humorlessly. "Why did I have to go and do that? I could've come tomorrow. Guess I couldn't wait," she then looks over my half-naked form with a tired smirk. "But maybe it was worth it~" She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

I shake my head and notice her bleeding hand. I hurry to the bathroom and grab some bandages and alcohol from the medical bag. Once I return, I kneel next to her. "Give me your hand."

As she gives me her hand, she waves the other one around, bringing the envelope to my attention. "My show's next week. I wanted to come and give you the VIP tickets personally. Could you give them to your parents and Esmeralda?"

She winces as I put the alcohol over the cuts on her hand. I then nod as I wrap the bandages around her hand. "Yeah. Why'd you risk your health for some tickets?" I ask as I lean back and sit on the table.

She doesn't answer at first, instead she traces her injured hand over my scar, her finger following the circle. Her soft touch brings goosebumps to me. "I was worried," she finally answers.

"What for?" I ask, letting her trace the scar.

"You know what for. How do you feel?" She looks me in the eyes, stopping her tracing, but her finger stays in place.

"I feel…good. Better, in fact," I then close my eyes and sense the mana around me. Now, the world has mana radiating all over the place naturally, but specific people and items have more concentrated mana in them, that's what lets me sense them. And right now, Zatanna's a shining beacon in the dark. "It's weird. Since I came back, I've felt, I don't know, stronger."

"How do you mean?" She asks, tilting her head in that cute way I love.

"My magic sense has never been so acute. That feeling I get when someone teleports in? I felt it before you arrived," I answer. I then put my hand over hers, a surge of euphoria coming over me. "And the Omnitrix. For years it's always been at eighty-five percent effectiveness, but when you brought me back, well, now it's at full power."

"Which is why it scanned Kory," Zatanna muses with a yawn.

I nod. "Which is why it scanned Kory," I notice her head dip down as she fights to stay awake. I pick her up in a bridal carry. "Come on, you should go to bed. I'll tell your dad you're here."

"I can just…teleport home," she tries to say, another yawn interrupting her sentence.

I shake my head. "After what happened when you came here after resting? No way. Don't want you passing out 'cause of mana exhaustion."

Zatanna snuggles into my chest. "I forgot how warm you are," she whispers.

I try to fight down the blush as I enter one of the guest rooms. I try to put her in the bed, but she seems to have enough power to keep her arms wrapped around me in a vice grip. "Zatanna. Bed."

"No," she whispers. "Your room."

Knowing how stubborn she is, I go to my room. I try the same thing, but she still keeps her grip on me tight. "What now?" I ask exasperated.

"You sleep here too," she mutters.

I sigh before pinching the bridge of my nose with my arm that was around her legs. "Fine, fine. Just let me turn off the lights in the living room."

"Promise?" She asks.

"Promise," I affirm.

She lets go and I tuck her in under the covers, a small smile on her face. I back up and watch as she sleeps. It's weird, as soon as she let go the euphoric feeling went away. Do I really miss her that badly?

On the stairs I pull my phone out.

Me: Zatanna's here at my place.

Zatara: Thank you for telling me. Good night.

I head downstairs and quickly transform into Chronos, reversing time around the vase before putting the envelope with the tickets under it. I then grab the medical supplies and put them back to where they belong. I grab my shirt and turn off the light in the living room before heading back to my room. I then change into some pajama pants and put my clothes away.

I shake my head before going under the covers, and almost immediately Zatanna latches on to me, one arm around my chest, a leg over mine, and her head nuzzled into my neck. I look down at her, my eyes adjusting to the dark. She really is the most beautiful girl out there, isn't she?

I bring my right arm around and pull her closer to me. I fall asleep to the rhythm of her heartbeat.

"He…l-?"

"C...n h...ar e?"


The feeling of a finger tracing my jaw wakes me up. I let it go on for a few minutes before opening my eyes, I see Zatanna study my face intently as her finger continues to move. Once she notices I'm awake she smiles softly. "Hey."

"Hey," I reply as I sit up. "How long have you been up?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "A few minutes," she stops tracing my jaw and rests her fingers just below my chin, her thumb on my lower lip. "I'm gonna kiss you now."

"Are you?" I ask as we lean closer to each other.

She lets out a quick laugh. "Yeah, I am."

Just before we close the distance, her phone begins to ring.

"Are freaking kidding me!?" Zatanna shouts in annoyance. She turns around and angrily pulls her phone out of her pockets. "What? I'm kind of busy right now."

I chuckle and get out of the bed, heading to the bathroom to get ready. As I shower I can hear Zatanna's side of the conversation, seems pretty important if her changed demeanor's anything to go by.

I finish showering and continue with getting ready, by the time I get out I see Zatanna's still on the phone. She looks at me before turning back to her phone. "One minute, Sally," she turns the phone away and turns to me again. "It's about my show, we've gotta go over some details before it begins."

"Right. I'll go make breakfast," Zatanna gives me a grateful smile as I go downstairs to the kitchen.

As I cook breakfast, I contemplate calling Esmeralda about the plans for today, but then I realize it's almost ten in the morning, she'd be in school by now. I'll just pick her up from there, should call Mom and Dad to tell them first though.

I feel two arms wrap around my waist and a head rest on my shoulder. "Mm, that smells great as always, Eric."

I turn and Zatanna and I make eye contact. "I made sure it was vegetarian."

Zatanna smiles. "You're the best," she then frowns and looks away. "I can't stay for long though, it's important for me to be in Gotham. Sorry."

I shrug as she backs up to let me turn off the stove and put the cooked breakfast on a plate. "It's all good. It's your first soloshow, I understand how important this is for you."

Zatanna smiles as she grabs some food from the plate and eats it real quick. "Promise you'll be there?"

"Of course," I promise.

Zatanna pulls me into a quick hug and kisses my cheek. "See you later."

"See you later," I reply.

She then teleports away, leaving me with all of the breakfast. Now that I think about it, I never did eat after my resurrection now, did I? I could totally eat breakfast for two right now.

As I eat the breakfast, I think about what happened in Italy. I didn't get to do much, if anything at all, really, but now I know Hex is back. He was most likely working with Necro to get the Charms of Bezel and Books of Magic, and now that he has five of the Charms Hex felt that Necro was now useless.

There's also Zatanna. She and I got close pretty quick, then again, we were rather intimate when we were dating three years ago, I guess we're just continuing from where we left off is all.

I finish breakfast and change my clothes, hopping into my car and heading to my parent's house, I make sure to grab the remaining three tickets though. After the drive I head over to the door and use my key to get inside. "Mom! Dad! I'm here!" I announce.

Mom comes downstairs with a yawn before pulling me into a hug. "Morning, Eric. You want me to cook something for you?"

"I'm fine, Mom, I just ate before I came over," I put the envelope in her hands. "Zatanna has a show in Gotham in a few days, these are VIP tickets for you guys."

Mom has a smirk on her face as she grabs the tickets and heads upstairs, me following. "Oh? Zatanna gave you VIP tickets, did she? What's that about?"

I shake my head. "Yes, it's absolutely what you think. I think, at least."

Mom squeals in excitement and hugs me tightly. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! The two of you were just perfect together in my eyes!" She pulls back and looks at me with a curious gaze. "What brought you two back together?"

My new scar decides to make itself known; a feeling of phantom pain hits me. Thankfully, I don't show any sort of pain, so Mom doesn't notice. "Uh, we just thought we'd give it another try is all. Though it isn't really official yet. We just slept together-"

"QUÉ!?" Mom shouts.

"No, wait! Not like that!" I exclaim as I wave my arms around in surrender. "She just teleported over but she was really tired! I didn't want her to teleport again due to her lack of mana! That's all, I swear!"

Mom studies me intensely and hums. "All right, I'll believe you. For now," she then smirks. "Besides, I'm not ready to become a grandmother just yet."

I try to respond but all that comes out are sputters.

Mom laughs as she puts the envelope away in the drawer next to her side of the bed. "So, did you just come to give us the tickets or what?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Those Charms of Bezel I was talking about last time I was here? We managed to get one, I wanna pick up Esmeralda from school and go over to Salem, Massachusetts so she can go through with her plan," I answer.

"What's in Salem?" Mom asks as we head back downstairs.

"Oh, Dr. Fate has the Charm."

Mom smirks as we sit down in the living room, the TV on in the background. "She's gonna freak."

"I know," I lean back in the couch as Mom and I watch TV. "Hey, where's Dad?"

"He's in his little gym. You know that man, can't sit still for more than ten minutes," Mom says with a roll of her eyes. "You're sister's exactly the same."

"I know," I then get up and head downstairs. Once there, I see Dad running on a treadmill, some sweat flying off his forehead as he focuses on running, earbuds in his ears. I walk in front of the treadmill and rest my arms on it.

Dad turns it off and drinks some water as he takes out one of the earbuds. "Hey, kid, what's up?"

"A few things. Zatanna gave me some VIP tickets to her first show, they're in the drawer on Mom's side of the bed. I also came to tell you that I'm gonna pick up Esmeralda from school, we managed to get one of the Charms of Bezel and I want to bring her to check it out," I answer.

Dad nods and sits down on a chair; he wipes his face with a towel. Once it's down he looks at me with a smirk. "So…Zatanna gave you tickets? Personally?" He then trails off at my unamused face. "Your mom did this already, didn't she?" I just nod. "Dammit, I wanted to make fun of you."

"Of course you did," I deadpan. "There's something else I wanted to talk about. Regarding your mom."

Dad's fun-loving demeanor instantly disappears, replaced with a serious air about him, a flash of anger comes over his face before it becomes blank. "What about her?"

Should've seen this one coming. There are two topics Dad always avoids, his brother, and his mom. He and his brother never really agreed on most things, which got real bad when they joined the military, and then there's his mom who left when they were kids, after all. Every time they're brought up, he tends to go on the defensive, closes up and says as little as possible. I should choose my words carefully; this could end badly.

"There've been some satellites from guys like Mongul that have been destroyed. They had the Omnitrix symbol on them," I answer. "That's not all, they were colored magenta, like Esmeralda's magic."

Dad hums and looks down. "I see," things become quiet for a moment. "Do you have any idea why she's doing this now?"

"I think she's planning on coming back at some point. Or visiting, at least," I theorize.

"Why now?" Dad whispers. He then smiles again. "Ah well, we can talk about this later. You hungry? I sure as hell am!"

"Uh, no, I just ate," I reply. I study Dad closely. His right hand's twitching, like he wants to make a fist. And his smile doesn't reach his eyes, it isn't even close.

"Well, you're missing out. More food for me!" Dad shouts as the two of us head upstairs, his back to me.

I watch him carefully as we go upstairs. His jovial attitude is totally fake, this news is weighing down on him.

It is a good question though. Why now, Grandma?

Life is just full of mysteries, isn't it?


I was so worried I wouldn't have enough content to put in this chapter, but look at that, over 11,000 words, guess I had nothing to be worried about.

But yeah, a lot happened in those 11,000 words! The return of Hex, Nick Necro's death, and Eric's temporary death. Then there's the fact that the Omnitrix finally scanned Kory after Eric's resurrection, that'll be answered later, trust me.

Well, next chapter's gonna be the second flashback before we get to "This Little Piggy" followed by another original chapter. I do that a lot, don't I? Original chapters? Sorry if there's too much, but I just wanna add to this story and find a way to differentiate it from Ben 10 Unlimited and Sandman Unlimited.

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!