Thanks again for the various comments. It's definitely eye-opening to realize how long I was gone since the regulars I remember commenting on my stuff before don't seem to be around any longer. I hope life is going well for all of you readers out there.
Chapter Sixty: Unite, Push Back Against Destiny
Wonder Woman breathed in and out heavily. Cuts and burns adorned her arms and legs. She had a small gash over her right eye that leaked blood into it, obscuring her vision.
Superman and Aquaman were also in similar states. Superman's healing factor had stopped working, and the Atlantean Hero was using his trident to support himself.
"Ahahahahaha! Is this seriously the best you can do!?"
Klarion stood before them. Glowing brighter and brighter with each passing minute. He was almost like a miniature sun in his golden armor. There wasn't even a scratch on his skin.
The glow coming off him was also the reason Superman's healing factor no longer worked. Using his magic, he could make it as if he was a walking red sun, weakening the Kryptonian in the process.
The boy was still probing the limits of his powers now that he was being unchained from the rules of Order. And it was truly awesome what he could do with very little restraining him!
He even had three of the most powerful members of the Justice League on the verge of defeat and he wasn't even breaking a sweat!
Screw Vandal Savage and hell, screw Darkseid! He was the new big cheese in town! And once he was done here, he was going to take control of the universe and-
Kssch! "Ahhhh!" Superman screamed as he managed to push out another pair of lasers from his eyes. Aquaman similarly grunted as a geyser of water burst out of the ground towards Klarion.
"Huah!" Wonder Woman burst forward between the two attacks in a blaze of speed and thrust her sword toward his chest. Yet it was like he could see all of it coming from a mile away.
"Pathetic."
Klarion swiped the heat lasers away with one gauntlet, grabbed the water with some red gold energy, and simply smirked as with the other gauntlet, he backhanded the heroine across the face before she could strike him.
"This... this Witchboy is really annoying me now." Superman groaned as he put a hand over his eyes.
"We… we must not give up." Wonder Woman forced herself to stand again. "The others, cannot deal with him as he is now."
Especially since the battle against the demons was still raging. While they didn't know it had happened, Rage's defeat in Raven's mind had not broken the spell strengthening their foes right now.
Kaldur and Aqualad were slashing with water swords or water whips into the demon's ranks. But they were hot enough now that some of the water evaporated with each strike, making each hit and kill more costly for the two water-based heroes.
Not like they had much choice though, as they were defending the Flash, who'd seriously burned himself defeating one of the Demon Generals. This kind of situation was happening all over the battlefield.
Shazam, who'd been pretty hurt by Klarion in a previous attack, was being helped by Jinx and Kid Flash. Both of whom sported injuries from their encounter with Rage. While the hextress was still throwing bad luck around and dealing with some of the demons, her magic didn't work on all of them, and both she and her boyfriend were beginning to get tired out.
Speedy, Green Arrow, and Artemis were also starting to run out of arrows. As they reached their quivers simultaneously, a large surge of demons came towards them as well as Elastagirl and Mento.
"Huagh!" Undeterred, the giantess threw a large slab of rock from the ground into the horde. Dealing with a surprising amount of them.
However, she was grimacing in pain. Burns covered her large hands and feet from striking these pests. She was also having to resort to ranged attacks. And she couldn't deal with every single demon coming from almost every direction.
Blue Beetle flew through the air nearby, both of his sonic cannons firing off at the same time as he and Red Star watched each other's backs. The pair were, for now, managing to hold against the numerical advantage in the air. Though it was unknown how long that'd last for.
"No, we're not blowing up this freaking cavern! That'd kill everyone else!" Weird, why did Blue Beetle keep on talking to himself like that?
And why did his inner ideas always sound so... dark?
"Stand tall… we must defeat this boy. For everyone's sake!" Wonder Woman raised her sword and shield in her hands defiantly.
Aquaman nearly slouched over from exhaustion but managed to pull himself upright again. He still had a mad grin on his face despite the foe they were facing seeming so impossible to overcome. As said foe began to make an infinity symbol with red and gold energy in front of him.
…
Weird. As he stood there facing certain death alongside his teammates, the thoughts in his mind traveled back to Mera. His wife leading the kingdom of Atlantis back home in his absence.
How long had it been since he last thought of her? Like, really thought of her? Before this mess? Before the Justice League became obsessed with hunting the two young Heroes thanks to this boy's spells and manipulations.
He wished he could have at least called her before they went to battle. In case, this really was…
Nah, this wasn't the end. And knowing her, she probably would have yelled at him for at least an hour for not contacting her at all the last few months. Maybe give him the cold shoulder for a week or two before caving in and making up with him in the bedroom.
Aquaman smirked. Man, he loved that fiery woman. He couldn't wait to see her again.
"Take this!"
A blast of energy burst out from the infinity symbol at the three Heroes.
Kssch!
Superman grit his teeth, his vision fading away as he fired off his thickest heat vision lasers in retaliation.
"HAH!" Aquaman thrust his trident into the ground, and a huge geyser of water burst out before him, surging forward alongside Superman's attack toward's Klarion.
The two attacks slammed into Klarion's attack, pushing it back for a second. But then, the infinity symbol glowed brighter in front of Klarion, and the two Hero's attacks were overcome.
Wonder Woman sheathed her sword to block the remainder of Klarion's attack with her shield. The ground underneath her cracked as she braced herself.
Boom!
Yet, even after her two fellow Hero's attacks had weakened it, it took only two seconds for Klarion's overwhelming power to push Wonder Woman off the ground.
KaBoom!
The three Justice Leaguers were blasted across the room over the entire battle. They slammed into the back wall with another loud Boom! before falling to the ground.
"Oh crap! They're down! Superman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman are down!" Blue Beetle yelled into his comm.
"Where are they at?" Superboy grunted into his communicator.
Blue Beetle had to dodge around a demon that tried to tackle him in midair. His sonic cannon blasted the back of its head away, and it fell lifelessly down to the ground below. But more of them surrounded the hero on all sides, forcing him to continue fighting.
More demons began to approach the downed Justice Leaguers.
"Cliff, Larry, help them out!" Mento ordered.
"A little busy here!" Cliff smashed another demon with his fists. "Damn it, my circuits are starting to overheat!"
Negative Man's soul weaved through some of the demons around his teammate, blowing them up for him and giving him a reprieve. It didn't look like either of them could assist the three Leaguers though. Mento scowled and considered asking Rita, but she made up the bulk of the Hero's attacks on the demons. If she pulled back, the other Heroes would be in more danger of being overwhelmed.
"Nair nwod eci sekips!"
Large spikes of ice rained down on the demons, impaling some of them. Zatara approached, looking somewhat better thanks to Mas and Menos helping him out. "I shall do my best to assist."
The two small speedsters then appeared, moving the three Justice Leaguers to a ring of Heroes one at a time while the older magician held off the rest of the horde.
As he was casting another spell, Black Canary stepped up next to the old man and let out a loud screech. Red Tornado then appeared on his other side and unleashed tornadoes from his hands as well.
"Gnirb nwod a tnerrot fo retaw nopu ym seimene."
A tidal wave of water appeared out of thin air, washing over the horde.
While the initial few were dashed to pieces, the remainder was cooled into rock. And after the wave passed over them, that rock burst, showing they were still just as hot and strong as before.
"There's… seriously no end to them." Black Canary said hoarsely.
"Indeed. But we must fight on. The fate of the world depends on it." Red Tornado said before unleashing another pair of tornadoes from his hands.
Easy for him to say. As long as he had power, he could still fight.
She was only human. Her voice was going to give out anytime. If her body didn't give out first, that is.
Black Canary breathed in deeply and screeched again. Blasting more demons out of her way.
All the weary heroes all over the battlefield were forced to fight on. Failure here meant the end of the world. If they didn't hold them back, these demons would ravage Earth, along with every other planet in the universe.
Only, this time, no one would survive.
Klarion would destroy everything. And remake it as he saw fit. Everyone there who could fight pulled deep into reserves they didn't even know they had, pushing back against the tide threatening to engulf them all.
It was truly heroic. They were giving up their lives to save everyone.
And it only made Klarion laugh all the harder. Seeing their futile struggle for victory.
He'd just defeated Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. No one else there stood a chance in hell of defeating him!
Even if they somehow did pull out the W over his hordes of loyal minions, he'd just have to snap his fingers and they'd all die on the spot! Hell, he could probably do that right now if he wanted!
Ahahahahaha! This was true power! They were all in his hands! No one could stop him! No one at-
Slash!
As he was internally gloating, a bright green cheetah raced out of nowhere and cut along Klarion's calf as it passed by.
"Ack!" The Witchboy cried out in pain as he gripped the wound in surprise.
It was already healing over. It wouldn't leave any kind of scar. But the fact remained that he'd just been hurt.
"Ahahaha! You should see the look on your face dude. Talk about priceless." Beast Boy laughed nearby as he changed back into his human form. He was smirking widely while resting his hands cockily on his hips.
"You- you stinking little-" Klarion turned to encase the green boy in a wall of energy, only to be impacted by a large wave of pure white ethereal magic.
"I'm sorry. Were you saying something there? We didn't quite catch that." Raven said monotonously. Her face was still blushing from Beast Boy's earlier comment.
Oh well. She might as well put these out-of-control feelings to good use here.
Raven sent more waves of power at Klarion while Beast Boy turned into a peregrine falcon to dart in for fly-by attacks.
The Witchboy's armor activated this time though to defend himself. And he began releasing retaliatory blows of his own against the pair.
Beast Boy weaved through the attacks in the air, and Raven portaled around on the ground, allowing her attacks to come from random directions.
He really should have warded his room to prevent that from happening. It'd definitely made the fight against Superman that much harder.
"You pests! You really think you can stand up to ME!?"
Another energy blast struck Klarion's back, and the shining armor around him shattered. In that moment, Raven and Beast Boy both appeared in front of him at the same time. Raven's eyes glowed white, and Beast Boy turned into a sasquatch.
"Yes, we do." Raven's energy-covered fist and Beast Boy's hairy one impacted Klarion below his helmet simultaneously.
The Witchboy flew back and up through the air. However, the two young heroes grimaced as they saw a ward of energy had appeared around his neck.
Getting the helmet off him wouldn't be that easy.
"To think you managed to overcome the spell I placed upon you! And a demonic oath to boot!" Klarion scowled under his helmet. "I'm going to make certain your maggoty deaths are slow and painful for annoying me so thoroughly!"
"Yeah yeah, like we haven't heard that a million times already." Beast Boy rolled his eyes.
The fight continued from there. Though the two of them didn't have much hope of winning.
Beast Boy continued flitting around as a bird to avoid attacks. Klarion kept on unleashing one attack after another, but couldn't quite land a hit on the green boy.
He darted around so fast, and whenever an attack would hit him, Raven portaled the green animal out of the way and the game repeated itself.
As for Raven herself, she either threw large pieces of rock, computers or other debris with her powers at the boy. Or she used her energy in creative ways to trip him up.
One such event happened when she pulled a steel pipe up from the floor. Causing the boy villain to trip when he formed a blade of chaos energy in his hands to try and slash at Beast Boy with.
Beast Boy then took the opportunity to bite the villain on the arm as a wolf.
"YEOW!" Klarion howled in pain as he shook his arm to try and get him off.
Why hadn't his automatic armor protected him there?! This was so freaking annoying!
Was Nabu still resisting him inside the helmet?! That old bastard was nothing but tenacious! Why couldn't he just give up already so he'd have full access to his unlimited power?!
Oh no, if that was true, then if these two actually managed to get a hit on him at the right moment. The helmet…!
Sure enough, while he'd been distracted with Beast Boy biting down on his arm, Raven had portaled close and gripped onto the helmet with her hands and the hands of many ethereal constructs.
"Nooooooooo!"
A large burst of energy came off his form, launching the two Heroes off of himself.
Raven quickly righted herself midair and formed a barrier next to her to catch Garfield in. The green wolf slammed into it, and the boy groaned as he turned back into his human self.
"Ow... I didn't see that coming."
"Neither did I," Raven replied.
Klarion laughed crazily in front of them. The helmet on his head was smoking, but the glow around him began to get brighter.
"You fools! You can't take the helmet off me! No one can! Absolutely positively no one alive can do it! It's impossible!"
"Hey, taking on Superman also seemed impossible, but we still did it!" Beast Boy countered back.
"That Boy Scout wasn't at full strength for that fight! And I was influencing his actions! There's no chance in hell you could have taken him on if he'd been at full strength!" Klarion countered angrily.
"So what you're saying is your 'help' made him weaker?" Raven asked. "Guess that shows just how strong you are in the end."
"SHUT UPPPPPPP!"
A wave of energy came off the pissed-off villain. Raven portaled both her and Beast Boy out of the way, and the attack destroyed every single demon it went through behind where the pair had been.
The two young Heroes watched incredulously as the wave of destruction continued to go through the boy's own forces. It just went on and on into the bowels of the prison dimension where more and more demons were coming out.
They looked at Klarion again and the boy was seething maliciously. It didn't even register to him to cut off the earlier attack so more of his minions didn't die. "I AM ALL-POWERFUL! UNSTOPPABLE! YOU ARE BUT ANTS BENEATH MY BOOT!
"YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! YOU WILL DIE HERE!"
The two young Heroes frowned deeply. Klarion began to laugh as order and chaos energy swirled around in his hands.
The two then wondered. Was he lying to try and get them to give up, or was it really impossible to take the helmet off his head? Raven did know that Doctor Fate had to give permission to the wearer in order for them to take the helmet off.
But this wearer was Klarion, a Lord of Chaos. This was a worst-case scenario that meant the imminent destruction of their universe if they didn't find a way to stop him. Surely Nabu had some kind of back-up measure in case this ever happened?
"Ahahahaha! Yes, grovel in your own futility! Realize that nothing can stop me, the great-"
"Ezeerf ni emit, noiralK ehT yobhctiW!"
Klarion began to turn his head toward the voice, but then he went stock still. Not even his eyes under the helmet moved around.
It was like the air itself had frozen around the villain. Nothing moved in a small sphere around his form. Battles were still raging on all around, but the small pocket of space was frozen in time.
...
"What the…" Beast Boy slowly turned, and Raven's gaze followed his.
Zatanna slowly approached, her hands outstretched toward the boy villain.
She had burn marks on her arms and legs and her outfit was a mess. She was already grimacing deeply from pain as well as exertion, but she forced herself to cast another spell despite that.
"Nepo pu a latorp otni eht temleH fo ubaN!"
Just like that, a bright gold portal shimmered into existence in front of Klarion.
Despite her bleak look, her eyes glowed with determination. "You two, go in! I can't hold him in place for forever!"
"Wait, did you literally just freeze him in time dude?!" Beast Boy asked the former Heroine incredulously.
Raven frowned. She didn't think that was an ability Zatanna had before. But then, she thought about the magic she and Rage had used before.
Perhaps Klarion, in tearing down the rules of order for magic, had inadvertently done so for any magic user. Yet the fact that Zatanna somehow had the energy to freeze the villain in time, if only for a brief while was still impressive…
"Please, go, I'll hold his attention out here!" Zatanna pleaded.
"Can't we just take off his helmet now?" Beast Boy asked.
"I… I already tried once before with my Father when he was knocked out." Zatanna said, almost sobbing as she admitted it. "As much as I hate the bastard, he isn't lying about that. The helmet has properties that keep others from taking it off, even when the wearer is knocked out. Either he'd have to take it off himself, or you'd need to go inside and free Nabu if you wanted to make that happen."
"But then… why us?" Raven asked.
"Klarion wanted the two of you separated for a reason. Maybe it was because he feared your Beast or Raven's potential. Or, perhaps he feared what the two of you together could accomplish…"
She looked to Klarion, then back at them again. They were surprised to see tears rolling down the sides of her face. "I'm so, so sorry for my past actions. All of this is my fault… If I'd just stayed back. If I hadn't let my grief or my desire to see my Father again overwhelm me...
"If we live through this, I'll pay for my sins. Even, even if it means exile, or prison, or…"
...
Raven frowned at her. "Don't go thinking either I or Gar will just forget what you've done."
"You tried to have the both of us thrown down into hell." Beast Boy said next, in just as cold a voice as his girlfriend's.
Zatanna still looked sad. She didn't expect forgiveness, and she most likely didn't want it. Beast Boy glared at her, but Raven grabbed his wrist and shook her head, saying now was not the time. "We'll go into the Helmet to free Nabu."
"... After this, you are sooooooo going to get an earful from me, dude." Beast Boy spat at Zatanna. "I'll make you regret ever messing with us."
"That's if she survives this, Gar." Raven rebutted.
Zatanna hung her head at the green boy's words, and couldn't help but chuckle at the demoness's. It was true what she was about to do was tantamount to suicide.
But Beast Boy didn't address her further. He instead took Raven's hand in his, and the two rushed into the portal leading into the Helmet of Nabu together.
As soon as they ran in, Zatanna closed the portal, nearly slumping to the ground in exhaustion.
She'd gotten their best chance of beating Klarion inside the helmet. Yet, her work wasn't over yet.
Still holding her time freeze spell in place, Zatanna muttered an incantation under her breath. After she was finished, a glow surrounded the helmet on Klarion's head.
'That... should do it.' Tired at the thought, the sorceress finally released her spell.
Klarion stumbled forward. The boy villain looked around in puzzlement.
"What just happened? Did I miss something? Where did those two gnats go?"
He put his hands on the helmet. It was still there, so whatever had happened, they hadn't managed to get it off.
Still, he had a bad feeling. He didn't like this one bit.
Zatanna breathed in deeply. Then, hiding her exhaustion and depression behind a facade, she put on her signature smirk as she sauntered forward.
"Hey there, boy."
Klarion's gaze immediately focused on her. Zatanna allowed her smirk to grow a little wider as she spread her arms out. Despite all the energy she'd used thus far, she suddenly felt revitalized seeing the look in his eyes at the sight of her.
"W-What are you doing here?! Where did those two cowards-" Klarion began to ask angrily.
"What am I doing here? Simple, I'm going to prove once and for all who the greatest magician between us really is." Zatanna cut him off with a confident swag in her tone. "Then, I'm going to seal you away once and for all so I can gloat over your prison for the rest of my life."
...
Klarion's eyes narrowed at her words, but then he started to chuckle. "Bold words from a useless rat. Begone, I have already had my fun with you these last few months. It would be a shame for your last moments to be spent struggling in futility to beat someone as awesome and powerful as-"
"Awesome? All powerful? Pbth, those are not words I'd use to describe a wannabe upstart such as yourself." Zatanna giggled into the back of her hand.
"I AM NOT AN UPSTART! I HAVE BEEN AROUND FAR LONGER THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY BEGIN TO COMPREHEND-" The boy villain began to explode in anger.
"You know what I'm starting to think?" Zatanna suddenly interrupted, cutting the boy villain off again. "I don't believe you stole Nabu's helmet in a pathetic attempt to make yourself a god. No, that'd be too simple! I can't believe I didn't see it sooner!"
"You wanted that helmet just to keep others from seeing how ugly you really are!" Zatanna shouted incredulously like she'd made the discovery of the century.
…
"W… Wha?" Klarion looked very confused.
She may have been fighting demons and been absorbed in her own guilt, but the sorceress hadn't just been idly fighting during the battle.
She'd observed the fights against Klarion. What had taken him by surprise. What angered him like nothing else. She'd also taken stock of all her interactions with him when he was a voice in her head.
"No one can pull that helmet off your head, so it's like the ultimate paper bag! You poor thing, if you'd just told me I would have gladly sent you a lifetime supply of bags so you'd be able to hide your face in public!" Zatanna said in mock sympathy.
As stupid and childish as what she'd said had been, it was perfect against the boy villain. His eyes filled with murder under the golden helmet.
"I-I'm not ugly! I am the most handsome being to walk the face of this pathetic universe! There is no one as good-looking as me! No one! NO ONE!"
He might hold all the power in the universe… but he was still a boy. And acquiring the helmet had only made his personality flaws worse. He'd even said all that in his signature nasally immature voice.
Zatanna grabbed the raw nerve Superman and Aquaman had stepped over earlier and rubbed more salt into it.
"No wonder you want to destroy everything then. That's the only way that statement of yours could ever come true." Zatanna said with pure glee in her tone. "You poor thing. To be born with such a curse and suffer under it for all these years. I should have realized all along that was the reason you wanted the Helmet of Nabu for yourself. I would have gladly done the universe a favor by hiding your terrible face from our prying eyes for forever.
…
Klarion's left eye twitched under the helmet.
Bingo.
BOOM!
Zatanna swiftly jumped to the side as a blast of red and gold energy came from above. Obliterating the ground where she'd been standing.
"YOU STUPID PEST! DIEEEEEEE!" Klarion proceeded to launch another large beam of energy at her.
"mroF a latrop ni tnort fo em!" A portal appeared in front of Zatanna, capturing the energy attack in it.
The end of the portal opened up behind her, obliterating thousands of demons coming out of the prison dimension to fight the Heroes.
At this point, Klarion had killed more of his minions than any of the other Heroes combined.
"elapmI ym tnenoppo htiw a mrots fo eci!"
Klarion raised his arms as a large storm cloud appeared over his area. And then, large spikes of ice rained down on him as a dome of red and gold energy covered his form. All the ice that fell through it melted before hitting the ground as water.
"Ohohoho! Not bad little girl! It's no wonder that freak Nabu wanted you as his wielder over your Father!" Klarion grinned maliciously as the storm dissipated, and the remaining ice around him melted under the heat of an infinity symbol he'd formed with his hands.
Zatanna barely dove out of the way in time as the energy attack surged past her. She'd expected it but knew just how much more powerful the infinity symbol was compared to his regular energy attacks. She did not want to try and hit it or block it.
All she could hope to do was dodge it when Klarion unleashed it.
Instead of chanting though, Zatanna formed her own symbol in front of her. Klarion looked taken off guard as she drew a flame in the air, and then sent a large ball of fire directly at him.
"Since when can you use more than just backward chants?!"
"Since you tore down the rules of magic binding all magicians, stupid!" Zatanna replied with a wide smirk. "Man, stupid and ugly. What a waste of raw potential you got there, boy."
Klarion easily put out the fire with his fist. "Keep bitching you pathetic girl! That'll just make killing you all the more fun for me!"
'Kill me? In your dreams. I'm going to defeat you myself to atone for what I did before.' Zatanna kept the thought to herself as she breathed in again. "Go ahead and try pipsqueak. You'll need another power-up or two before you're capable of beating me!"
There was honestly no hope of her victory. She was no longer bound by rules, but Zatanna wasn't limitless like Klarion.
She would eventually tire, and then she would be defeated, or worse, killed.
But that was the thing. She wouldn't mind if she died here.
At least she would have died doing something good. Even if it meant she'd never see her Father again…
It was that thought, the thought of being able to hug her Father after this was all over, that drove her to push on. To throw off her exhaustion. To pull from stores of energy she didn't even know she had. And to fight Klarion to a standstill just like Wonder Woman had tried to do.
It wasn't like this was her first time fighting against a God, after all.
"Come at me, boy! I'll make you rue the day you decided to mess with the best magician on Earth!" Zatanna boldly declared.
Klarion screamed in rage as he charged her again. "Stop calling me boy!"
"Why don't you stop acting like one then!?"
And so the sorceress continued her little dance with death with the all-powerful villain. Keeping his focus on her.
Only on her, and not the events going on inside the helmet he was wearing.
Beast Boy and Raven stumbled out into a gold-twisted landscape.
The pair almost immediately died upon arrival.
"R-Rae-" Beast Boy began to fall back, and an ethereal hand from Raven gripped his collar. This was then followed by Raven's actual hand, as the ethereal hand quickly disappeared after forming.
"Gar!"
"Urgh!"
It took a lot of effort on the empath's part, but eventually, Beast Boy's feet were planted on the ground.
At least, he thought they were. He still felt really disoriented. It was like his body was trying to fall backward for some reason. Did gravity not work properly in this place or something?
Then he looked behind him and his eyes widened. "Dude, what the heck is that?!"
The pair were standing on a large floating island. The landscape around them was twisting and bending like iron that'd been left in the forge for too long. The landscape in front of them was dotted with hills and mountains with no trees in sight.
Well, there was a singular tree in the distance. But then, it was torn from the ground and sent flying through the air over their heads. Raven turned her head to see where it was going as Beast Boy spoke, only for a shiver to run down her spine.
The tree, as well as parts of the island behind them, were being sucked up into a bright red swirling portal. It was like staring into a lake of blood, only everything that fell into it was shredded out of existence, including the tree.
It wouldn't have been wrong to compare the writhing mass of angry red to a wood chipper. Only, this thing appeared to work with everything.
There were also multiple of them spaced out around the island. Raven spotted other red portals of malice in the distance.
'Knowledge, do you know what those are?' Raven asked her emoticlone nervously.
'"That… that's pure Chaos Raven." Knowledge answered after a pause to look through an old book. "I don't believe it. Klarion has not only put on the Helmet of Nabu. He is tearing apart Order itself from inside."
Raven didn't need to ask Wisdom just how bad that was. She shivered and realized how cold it was where they were at.
"Rae?" Beast Boy questioned again.
"Gar, do not go towards any of those," Raven said gravely.
"... Well, I didn't plan on doing that." The green boy grimaced as he faced forward.
"At least part of you has wised up over the last few months." Raven drawled.
"I can thank you for that." Beast Boy gave her a big grin.
Just like that, a lot of her nervousness disappeared. She gave him a smile as her hand fell into his. "Think you could portal us to where that golden glow in the distance is, mama?"
"Golden glow?" Raven looked ahead again.
The entire landscape was a gold color. But in the distance, nestled in the middle of the hills and mountains, a bright glow like the sun was emanating from there.
That was probably where they needed to go then. There certainly wasn't anywhere else that didn't pique their interest.
Unless you counted the swirling vortexes of death all around them.
Raven tried to form a portal. However, the moment her magic formed, it was torn apart and sucked toward the swirling chaos behind them. Just like the ethereal hand she'd made earlier.
"I'll take that as a no." Beast Boy shook his head.
He considered morphing into a flying animal, but then that'd make it easy for him to be sucked up.
"Master, might I suggest a form that goes on all fours?" The Beast suggested in his mind.
'Good thinking.' Beast Boy morphed into a large grizzly bear. With a low growl, he dug his four paws into the ground.
There, now it felt less like he was falling backward and more like he was holding onto a vertical incline.
"Rowr." Beast Boy the bear gestured with his large head to his side.
Raven nodded and moved beside him so she could grip his fur tightly.
With large, shaky steps, the green grizzly bear began moving forward, resisting the pull of chaos as it headed towards the bright golden glow located at the center of the island.
It was not an easy process, even though he was a freaking grizzly bear.
Because yes, if it felt like he was stuck to the side of the wall after they first got here, now he was literally trying to climb that wall, which sloped upward whenever he had to climb up the slope of a hill, and he was having to make sure Raven didn't go flying off on top of that.
Oh, and did he forget to mention how the landscape was being sucked away from beneath their feet?
Yeah, he'd nearly lost his footing… pawing? Whatever you called it, more times than he could count thanks to those freaking red blobs in the distance. And that didn't include when large rocks hit his face or side whenever he shifted to protect his girlfriend from the debris.
"For the record Gar," The green bear looked at her during one of these times when he was protecting her. "In a way, the landscape is depicting how Order is giving way to Chaos."
'Would… that mean that we're walking on Order right now?' Beast Boy thought confusedly.
"That… is deeply disturbing." The Beast, which struggled with understanding human concepts in general, could not wrap his mind around the fact that they were walking on a human concept right now.
Beast Boy was in the same boat. Raven chuckled when she saw steam come out the sides of the bear's ears. "Don't overthink it Gar. Just know the longer we take, the worse it'll get here."
Oh, good. Garfield could at least understand that much.
The two began to move more quickly after that. Beast Boy grimaced with every rock and boulder that hit him and with every time the land beneath his feet began to lift into the air.
Raven gripped tightly to his fur like it was a lifeline. And, indeed, in this situation, it very well was.
The panting, heavily breathing bear was her only anchor in this place. She couldn't even call out her powers for more than a few seconds before they lost form and were sucked toward chaos.
It could have been seconds. It could have been minutes. It could have been years for all Raven knew. She could barely tell if they'd made any progress or not.
Looking behind them, it looked like the mass of chaos was further than before. But the area they'd originally appeared in had been sucked away into Chao's hungry maw.
There was no going back. Only forward to that bright gold glow. Where… she didn't know what they'd do next, but hopefully that was where Nabu was-
"Ah!" Raven cried out in shock as the ground flew out from beneath her. Just like that, she was hurtling into the air. Heading towards one of the maws of Chaos and-
A firm green paw snatched her from the air. Raven nearly coughed as she was pulled tight into the chest of the Beast.
"G-Gar?" She said in surprise.
"Y-Yeah, it's me." Beast Boy managed to speak through the Beast's new vocal cords.
Raven couldn't speak. She gripped him tightly in a hug as tears forced their way out of her eyes.
What the hell were they doing here? Could she live with herself if she got herself or her boyfriend killed in this forsaken place?
Their struggle seemed so meaningless. They were going up against the equivalent of a god, and, and...
"Don't worry… I'm not losing you again." Beast Boy promised. "And you're not losing me."
"We'll get through this, Raven. I know we will. Just don't give up."
...
Raven stared up at him in awe. Just like that, the thoughts that'd invaded her mind before disappeared like dew from a leaf.
His back feet dug into the rocky ground, and with his remaining hand, Beast Boy in the Beast's form pulled them forward once again.
Raven continued to stare at him. She would be lying if she didn't admit that her heart had skipped plenty of beats over the last few seconds. The first was from the shock of nearly being sent to her death. And the rest from Garfield and how awe-inspiring he was being right now.
'I didn't know he was able to control his Beast form now.' Knowledge said in surprise inside their mind.
'I didn't know that either.' Wisdom sounded similarly surprised.
"Woot! Way to go BB! We're rooting for you!" Brave cheered.
"Go BB!"
Raven lifted an eyebrow. Was that Happy or Rage that'd just spoken there? She had no idea whatsoever.
And honestly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not. Because she was too enthralled with BB to want to give her emoticlones any attention right now.
Beast Boy kept moving, grunting and breathing heavily as he used the Beast's form to push themselves forward. Climbing over large rocks, shielding Raven from debris, and a host of other things that challenged them in this world.
Yet, the more he pushed, the less the pull of chaos gradually became. It was getting weaker, it was getting easier. He just had to keep pushing. Keep pushing.
Keep... pushing!
Finally, they moved down the side of one last hill, and the pull of Chaos on the pair nearly disappeared entirely.
Beast Boy grunted as he set Raven down onto the ground. He then promptly collapsed forward, morphing back into his human form. His face was covered in sweat. And he panted as he tried to catch his breath.
"That… that sucked, so much."
"... Would you say it was as bad as Robin's training?" Raven asked curiously.
"Worse. So much worse. I can't believe I'm saying this dude, but I'm so going to look forward to being able to do his stupid obstacle courses again when this is all said and done." Beast Boy admitted tiredly as he sat up and smiled at her.
...
"..." Raven didn't immediately answer. She merely helped Beast Boy back up and pressed her forehead to his to show him her gratitude for getting them there safely. And for keeping her spirits up during that time.
He didn't seem to mind the chakra. In fact, he nuzzled into her touch.
"I'm relieved we can have this moment amidst all the… chaos." Beast Boy chuckled at the joke.
"..." Raven almost wanted to kill herself upon hearing the pun. But allowed Beast Boy a small kiss on the cheek in return.
…
As they stood together silently, she couldn't help but wonder. Could they actually return back to their former lives as Titans after this? Beast Boy had probably been joking about that, but if they could…
But she didn't know if things would be able to work out that way or not.
There'd been so much that happened. And everyone knew her secret now. And Beast Boy had been supporting her throughout it all. She was doubtful that anyone would ever see them as 'Heroes' again.
...
...
Would… would taking up Nabu's offer to become his bearer really be the best thing she could do for them?
…
"We're not bringing that up to him right now," Rude said firmly in her mind.
All her emoticlones agreed with the orange-clad emoticlone for once.
"He's going through enough as it is," Brave said.
"Better to not add to the burden on his mind." Happy said next.
"Let's leave him with something to hope for after this mess is all over." Love suggested.
"We still need to think it through too. There could be other options out there that'd make both of us happy." Rage said fiercely.
Even Sloth agreed with everyone. Which was, in and of itself, almost as miraculous as everyone agreeing with Rude. "It'd be too much energy and too much of a headache to deal with that right now. Let's just focus on the immediate problem in front of us so we can nap as soon as possible."
"Garfield…"
...
The two turned towards the source of light.
It was a portal of pure gold. Waves of energy came off of it in all directions. The land around it seemed to shine as bright as it.
But the further out you looked, the more that glow faded. Until you could see the point where Order seemed to fight against Chaos for control. And it looked to be a losing battle for Order.
The pull of chaos had lessened a lot here. But the longer they stood around, the stronger it began to become again. A nearby mountain's former summit flew up in the air towards another swirling mass of chaos.
"In there?" Beast Boy asked.
"Hell if I know." Raven sighed.
For all she knew, it could lead out of this realm back into the real world. And if that was the case, their trip there would have been for nothing.
But there weren't really any other options. And unless they wanted to give the swirling red masses a try…
Beast Boy gripped her hand tightly, and she gripped his back.
"On three."
…
Raven nodded and kept a tight grip on his hand.
"One."
They turned toward the portal.
"Two."
Sweat beaded their foreheads. Their lungs heaved in air in anticipation. Their pupils narrowed in concentration.
"Three."
They ran away from Chaos towards the Portal. The pull of Chaos disappeared entirely, and they jumped into the swirling gold mass. Who's warmth seemed to envelop the pair like a bright summer's day.
Raven and Beast Boy fell together into Order.
Raven took in a deep breath, and slowly opened her eyes.
The beautiful view of the ocean. The forest and the mountains. The fresh air and the cool breeze. She and her boyfriend having so much fun together...
These thoughts, memories, and emotions swirled in her mind as she slowly stood up.
"Urghhhhh, five more minutes."
"Garfield?" Raven looked beside her.
Beast Boy was still laying on the ground. He'd put a hand over his eyes and had turned over, not wanting to deal with anything for the next million years.
"Please, just five more minutes." Beast Boy muttered again.
Raven rolled her eyes. Her foot nudged at his side. "Gar, you need to get up."
"Nooooooo." Beast Boy groaned as he tried to hug her leg.
Raven focused and found that she was able to levitate again. So she levitated up and out of his reach, dropping his arms back onto the ground.
"Hey, no fair." Beast Boy rubbed at his eyes before finally opening them and pouting up at her.
"Is now really the time to take a nap Gar?" Raven asked dryly.
"But the transition to here was so peaceful." Beast Boy morphed into a cat and stretched out his body. Looking him over, Raven found that all of his injuries from earlier had vanished. And, looking down at herself, all of her injuries were gone too.
"This is far better than before." Raven's ethereal energy sparked around her hands. "And it looks like I'm able to use my powers here. Wherever here is."
The two finally looked around themselves. While they'd formerly been on a floating island that was slowly being devoured, they were now standing on an endless expanse.
The ground here was a mixture of different colors that came together like a painting, and the glow from some of them was almost enough to blind them if they looked directly at it.
It was so strange. There was no sun here, so where was all the light coming from?
"Well, this definitely isn't anywhere in our world." Beast Boy pointed out. "Unless you took us to another dimension or something Rae."
"I don't think so, but if we were in Nabu's realm before, where is this?" Raven asked.
"It'd probably be appropriate to call this place the consciousness of Nabu."
The two quickly turned at the deep, melodic voice behind them.
The endless expanse around them seemed to zoom past them. A range of sights flew past their eyes like stars in the night sky. The pair closed their eyes as the light became brighter...
And then, they were standing on a field of grass. The two of them were able to open their eyes.
Trees surrounded them on all sides. Animals grazed next to a nearby stream.
And directly in front of them was a figure sitting in a meditative position.
He wore bright gold robes. His gold-colored hair flowed down on both sides of his face and from a well-kept beard. His skin was fair, and his appearance almost made him look like a Greed God. And when he opened his eyes, they were met with dazzling gold pupils.
For a being so old… he looked like he was a middle-aged man. Not quite old, but not young either.
At one time, he'd been called Nabu the Wise. And he had been wise back then.
These days… even he questioned if he'd ever been wise, to begin with.
They certainly wouldn't be in this situation if he'd just paid a little closer attention to what was going on.
"At least, I might prefer to call it that." The man, deity, whatever he was called, Nabu, spoke in a soft, strained voice. "I do not believe I have ever had to give this place a name. For I have never had to bring someone here. So perhaps just calling it my consciousness would suffice."
"You're… you're who we're looking for?" Beast Boy asked.
"Indeed, I am," Nabu answered. "And I'm sorry to say, you are already too late, Garfield Mark Logan and Raven Roth."
Author's Notes:
That should be enough for now. Didn't want this chapter to drag on too long. Watch out for the cliff by the way!
Till Next Time
Allen
