Teen Titans – New Divides – Universal War; Finale –
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Chapter 19: The Face of the Ancient Order of Athena
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Aiden's body floated between here and forever as Hakuro was tossed away, his powers backfiring over the fear in his dead eyes.
~ N – no! You can never defeat your hated alternate; for I am a part –
~ YOU CANNOT BECOME A GOD, FOR YOU ARE A SPIRIT SINCE ERRADICATED BY YOUR KEEPER. MY SON, THE CHILD OF THE DARK AND MOON'S BOW WAS MADE TO PERISH AND TAKE YOU WITH HIM…YOU DID NOT SURVIVE. YOU, LIKE MANY OTHERS, WERE ONLY REBORN IN MIND, THE BODY YOU CARRY IS NOT YOUR TRUE FORM!! ~
Aiden gasped, Ignito floated as stone while Raku's pages spilled and trapped the four from within.
A barrier of pure magic.
~ IT IS TIME, BROTHER OF THE ETHEREAL AND CELESTIAL ORDER….YOU MUST FACE ME AS YOUR TRUE SELF. FOR YOU HAVE A HEART, A HEART TO THE BOY YOU ONCE LOVED AND TO I, THE CREATURE YOU HAD ONCE DESIRED TO SAVE….YOU ARE FOREVER ALIVE BEFORE YOUR DESTRUCTION…AND WE MAY NEVER PART…~
~ IGNITO ! ~ Aiden shouted to the creature of wit and madness.
"What is he saying???"
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Slade had lain with a goddess, but he had a job to do. Inari was a few beats off ad gods, were tricksters to some.
Slade slipped a small talisman from Cici into Haru's hand, not letting a soul see it as she reluctantly nodded, her body transforming and Kaede following the younger's lead.
~ Kyubi of light!!! ~
The two siblings went after Inari, while Athena had left to locate her army.
Slade slipped over and went to try one way to wake up this miko hostage.
"Hope Cecelia's item has a warranty if I fail…." Gripping both sides of Ami's young skull, he opened his eye to reveal the magic from Eris's gift, the one he'd taken out to have fixed. Yet it came in handy also to remove spells and enchantments, so this was as good a time as any to get her help as Cecilia Crescendo Daia arrived from the shadows.
"The gate?" He asked from the side, Ami as woozy as ever while he caught her unconscious body –
"Slade."
Wilson turned as his arms stayed by Ami's petite shoulders.
"You look well, Grayson."
Anna stood by him, Isa and of the gods, Hades. ~ My true form could not pass between, yet Constantine fixed it. Now, we may wage war against this sacrificial alter. ~
The cop was just glad to not be a war god any longer as he and Anna scooped up young Ami, a side glance from Ann as she went to stand beside Deathstroke.
Breaking her father's heart.
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Constantine by himself could only interrupt a goddess for so long, Aiden had to get his act together. Raku was a demi God of creation and destruction, why was he so afraid?
~ My rule is not for you to trample upon, mortal magi!! ~ She said it like a curse upon his line, a claw to her word as the episode STUNG. Gods were tricky as demons, and far more positive of their win, haughty.
Guessing her blade was pure magic, John decided to make those hits soft as butterfly kisses.
~Καὶ οὐ γράφει μὲν ταῦτα τοῖς δʼ ἔργοις οὐ ποιεῖ. ~ (FOUND IT!) ANCIENT.
~Afíste ti lepída sas na gínei adýnami kai poté min vlápsete, eímai aníkitos apénanti se aftó pou kóvei kai aimorrageí ólous tous thnitoús! ~ (MODERN.)
(Translated: Allow your blade to become weak and never harm, I am invincible against what cuts and bleeds all mortal men!) In modern Greek, TOP IS ONLY IN CHARACTERS. Until I find a good ancient dictionary.
Her sword however was genuine for a goddess and soon transformed into a venomous snake boa; (Mainly borrowing from Xiaolin Showdown.) the binding cutting right into flesh as John cut the thing, the spell wearing off as she went to slice his neck again. A bloody thirst in her vision as a goddess of war, at any cost…
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He tried, but the fire was dying out.
Aiden trembled as a flashback of the planets and Blackfire's fate pursued the light ally, Ignito caging him with another wall as Raku's mind too…
Went very cold and dark…
~ Do I deserve to suffer…why? Why have you harmed my family?? ~
Raku gasped, and was not in the temple of Athena, well underground.
He was within it, the beginning and end….
Ignito's voice was not here, his face…he felt tears fall while his emotions did not match.
Two priestesses of olden eras to the order of Crescendo beckoned him on, so he took the path and walked. Walking in the darkness as a strange cry called out.
~ Whoo ! Whoo! Whoo are you? ~
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Raku's mind floated between places, his eyes upon the air as he saw images of the great war, and then…
He saw a statue of a creature that brought his nightmares to life…
An owl, like her…
Like Lady Lilu…
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Raku breathed, his heart longing for sunlight, the moon here was not!
~ What…what is this void?? Am, is it my execution –
~ Nay. Child…~
A voice of the night soon arose and let its form be known.
A younger version not of Hecate, but of a darker haired Cecilia Daia. Her later appearance.
As the Crone mother's replacement.
~ The stars spoke of your lord being far smaller, should he remain inside his cocoon. It is time to evolve with us. ~
~ But, my contract –
~ There is no need for it once you have granted yourself the power of a true relic. ~ She smiled and placed out a light hand to the scared teen. He, was still so small to she, it was his heritage. He had to stay this way to not destroy any more planes.
~ The wise can see, and you are of knowledge not yet actively known; your tome is but a key, the gateway to your role in this time. ~ She spoke so cryptically, keeping him curious as he was brought before the relic of an owl. Raku fliched at it, his mind racing back to a time when he'd felt too powerless to escape its gaze.
~ Do you know why Lilith swore to turn the gods of creation to her aid? Including your Lord? ~ Cici spoke as if not she, yet through the voice of a goddess of prophecy.
~ No. I….pledged at my ceramony, to Astarte that I was to the goddess –
~ And to ye, the goddess is of many forms. The woman, the crone, the mother, that of a child as you still carry her wounds. ~
Raku's eyes looked and peered upon the red gems that were the owl's, seeing a face staring back.
~ Roko…~
~ Your face, when you were in shame, in pain. And Lilu tore it from you, a god of chaos secondly, or further creation –
~ I cannot control it yet! ~ Raku felt his lip tremble at Cici's expectations.
~ The owl took my life, sold it to her cause. The dragon, once had freed me, so I allowed –
~ The dragon is of another piece of a god's rite. ~ Cici explained and came up behind the relic of a red eyed owl.
~ Then, it was not of fire, yet prophecy. Of wisdom, as all Archivists possess. Even Aneg, whom is well on his way to joining the Cosmic branch. ~
Raku gasped.
~ There is one more –
~ Too many, and an Infinite number of oceans to grasp….so, you too much find the flow of power. Let the owl know it. ~ She beckoned the boy, and his fears did melt into a puddle. Lil, was afraid of him, she always had been.
All of his power was directed to bury who he really was.
Raku let his hand move forth as the owl started to shift and its beak –
Bit down on his flesh. The flesh, of something Eternal.
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The both started to see it, Aiden breathing out as before him, a silver speck turned to rust colored shawls, or red and black eyes and hair, to a tone not of this realm.
Of pure alchemic golden, he coaxed the Ethereal Haku to shed a tear.
~ We must join. ~ This strange dopple of Raku and…. Ignito, spoke in an echoing voice.
~ Why…. are you…. ~ Hakuro shook his head, his mind altered to remember.
~ Let us face them. ~
Both boys had forms that none could tell. Raku turned into a form akin to fire and light, a dragon not of dark energy but of rebirth.
Hakuro became the sky and night, something truly Ethereal as both merged.
While Ignito again, had vanished.
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Dick was wary of how Slade looked to Anna like he had his own children. It really growing to be a problem.
~ Anna, we –
~ Later, dad. War plans going on. ~
His arms did not reach her as Slade's one eye seemed to MOCK.
With clenched fists, Hades saw this.
And he wanted to make waves, right down to the underworld's sacred core.
Someone needed to learn a valuable lesson in knowing thine enemy from afar.