CLII
Darkseid vs. The Justice League
Part Nine: His Body and His Soul
Author's Note: "Mi alma es tu alma" translates as "My soul is your soul" in Spanish. Yes, Bruce can speak basic Spanish.
And Abraxas (the Goddess of the Unseen) does have a body, you just can't see it.
Raven had never traveled so easily…
She did not flow across the dark dimensions of a distant Universe and return to Gotham from a chasm on Maltus as she had before. She had simply willed herself to be where she wanted to be - and appeared in a darkened bedroom with Bruce. This was true teleportation, not the dimensional travel she had known so well.
This was the magic of the Source within her. The shock of the extreme ease of her far-reaching travel suddenly gave way to a new shock as she stood and gazed upon Bruce's unconscious body… Raven became acutely aware that the Phantom Stranger's sacrifice had not been in vain… Her husband would never have survived what had to be done upon Maltus, no matter how badly he had wanted to help her.
As her eyes examined her fallen lover, the power of the Source coursed through her body, lighting every nerve and sensation at the very sight of her man – and then the soul of Azar within her implored her reach out to him. Setting her hand gently upon his bruised chest, Raven let Azar bring forth arcane healing magic through her quiet touch… to find it amplified by a million-fold with the awesome power of the Source she now held.
Brilliant light streamed from her fingers and into Bruce as his bones mended and his battered flesh was made whole once more until he was a being of radiance, and then the light spilled forth from Bruce and through the room, and then extended through solid walls, until every atom of Wayne Manor was permeated with her pure light.
Bruce suddenly drew a deep breath as his wife softly withdrew her hand, returning the room to darkness…
"…Raven?"
"I am here, my love… I am here... Are you alright?"
He slowly reached out and took her soft hand in his own… It had taken a moment for his bleary eye to realize that she was now in her Goddess-form, with glowing eyes of amber and a deep crimson skin... A memory flooded his consciousness of the first time they had made love in the garage and it made him smile, as he struggled to recall more recent events. He remembered being carried by the Phantom Stranger and then hearing the sad tale of Longinus.
All before the world had gone black once again and he had awoken to his dark angel.
"… I feel like I was hit by a truck… but I'm happy that you're here. How long did I black out for, lovely lady?"
"Not long."
"Was it you that made that light? I saw it… felt it… flowing through my entire body. It was beautiful."
"I was attempting to heal you."
Bruce examined and then flexed his free hand a few times. Satisfied with the outcome, he then clenched his teeth in the anticipation of extreme pain… and moved his right leg up and down... suddenly smiling. With an elated expression of surprise, he ran his left fingers over each rib in marvelous relief.
"Raven, you did it!… Feels like I've been kicked by a dozen mules, but there's no broken bones... Does that mean?... Are we going to face Darkseid now? Did you become the Champion?"
"I am the Champion, my love. And I have selected the six Gods of Maltus. But you must help me free them before I can face Darkseid."
"Of course I will… Raven, where did the Phantom Stranger disappear to?"
"That's a sad story, my love. I will tell you… but first I must ask your soul to journey with me for a short while. There is something we need to do together."
Bruce began to slowly lift himself from the bed with a terrible groan while Raven gently - but firmly - pushed him back down to its soft embrace. She had prevented him from rising. At first, his steely gaze challenged her opposition, but then he was forced to accept her decision. If this slim woman could prevent him from rising that easily, he was far from recovered.
And she knew it as well.
"… Just your soul, my love… that is all I require. With your soul by mine, I will be able to bend cruel Fate to the task which is now at hand upon Maltus. Although mended, your body still needs to rest and heal."
To seal his fate, she leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead.
"Alright, you win, Mrs. Wayne… Mi alma es tu alma."
As they departed in Raven's body, a tired Alfred strode along the darkened hallway outside. In a matter of seconds, he would knock discreetly at their door and then call out their names. Only seconds after that, he would find an unresponsive Bruce Wayne laying on the bed… his soul now far-away on Maltus. Alfred would then call 911.
Bruce had been in Raven's soul before, but this time was different. This was like floating in the sum of all existence… He had heard Raven talk of the wondrous Source before, but to feel it like this was beyond anything he could describe. It was light, it was energy, it was all that ever was, sheer potential and infinite possibility.
It was how Trigon had stopped a one-hundred megaton impact from Clark by simply holding up the palm of his hand. It was how Trigon had sent the citizens of Bialya to the moon with nothing more than the Omega Effect and a gesture.
And now this power belonged to Raven…
He had never been more acutely aware that he was married to a Goddess… literally. She strode both worlds, the mortal and the immortal, yet she was the most gentle and humble soul he had ever known. She who had also been the cursed daughter of the Beast who had destroyed a thousand civilized worlds. This was his Raven… the half-God daughter of Arella and Trigon who had been fated to destroy the very Universe by a two-thousand year old prophecy.
Which their love had broken.
Raven allowed Bruce to see the memory within her of the Phantom Stranger's last moments… Of his ultimate sacrifice which had freed her father. And of the meeting with Death when the pale girl had collected the dying Trigon, and how Raven also inherited the power to utilize the Source, like her father and grandfather before her.
The thoughts of Raven now spoke to his own soul, diverting his attention from the light of destiny as she now stood upon the soil of Maltus.
"It is not mine to command, my love. The Source is the ultimate power, beyond singular will... Any path forcibly lit by its divine light - whether by the hand of men or Gods - leads only to madness and despair. When we finish this task, the Source must be immediately returned to the its rightful home…This sacred light must be reunited with the Source above mighty Yggdrasil."
"Raven… have you forgotten about Darkseid? With this amount of power, you could easily stop him! Save the Universe from him first and then return this power…"
"With this much power, I would become Darkseid. His Prophecy of Stone is irreversible… so that even if Darkseid is stopped, the Prophecy is not. As the most powerful force in existence, Fate would choose me as the logical successor for Darkseid's ominous role. Do you understand, my love?"
"You're saying that you would have no choice regarding your actions? That Fate has doomed the Universe, whether we stop Darkseid or not?! That another will be chosen to fill his role? That what we're doing here doesn't matter?!"
"No my love, everything matters… Suli explained that the events of Fate are immutable, but also that their sequence and their meaning may be altered. As part of my own dark Prophecy, the Phantom Stranger was fated to die tragically because of my birth – and then finally be released from his wanderings because of me, so that he would tarry no more. Suli couldn't change that. But she did allow him the opportunity to craft the manner in which he ended his long pilgrimage.
It's like we're all following a script in this heavy-handed drama of destiny… but our roles can still be improvised. The main events will always occur, but if we're fortunate, we actors can still choose how and when those events will transpire, and even what they will mean for our shared future."
"But I can change Fate…"
"We can all alter the course of Destiny… but the final destination must always remain the same. You're just incredibly good at reweaving the threads and altering that direction, my love."
"So the Universe is still doomed… but it could be billions of years from now, depending on how we choose our actions?"
"Yes."
"Then I suppose I'll have to accept that. What do we need to do to free your Gods, Raven?"
"…Pull."
As Bruce contemplated her quick reply, he noticed that Raven was levitating… that she was flying upwards to look at these massive Gods eye-to-eye… until he suddenly realized that this was not the case. She had not levitated, she had grown!
Raven had used the power of the Source to make herself two-hundred feet tall!
Like a crimson giant, his wife flew towards the fifth cross… towards the invisible Goddess Abraxas. As they approached, Bruce could feel strong thoughts and emotions pounding through Raven and affecting him - as he recalled his own frightening meeting with the Goddess of the Unseen, the first time Trigon had transported him to Maltus alone.
Bruce understood that if any Goddess could topple Darkseid's dark ambitions, it would be this one. It was always the unseen threat which brought down empires, the unpredictable consequence that caused the best laid plans of mice, men and Gods to go astray. And Abraxas was also the Goddess of the unpredictable…
He felt Raven's hand wrap around one of her secured Needles and then pull... He pulled with his spirit as well.
The Needle refused to budge in the slightest.
She now wrapped both hands around the steadfast pin and pulled once more, straining with all her two hundred feet of her power to dislodge the Needle which fixed her step-sister to this crucifix… The Source within her became a molten volcano of white fire, pouring incredible might into her straining arms and legs.
But all to no avail. How could anything be beyond the Source?!
Frantic and breathless, Raven's thoughts questioned a perplexed Bruce…
"Why won't it move?! Is your physical body required to alter this Fate, Bruce?..."
And then... he understood the answer. In a strange way, it was all completely logical…
"They captured Fate!… Raven… Do you remember what Metron told us about the Maltusians? That they needed to imprison the third Goddess to ensure that the first two Goddesses of Magic could be held for eternity? They used Fate itself to secure these Gods, not just Needles…"
"Yes… Ananke, Mother of the Fates. Bruce, you believe that the Goddess of the third cross is the key to removing these Needles of Fate?"
"Needles pull thread… And I think that these Needles were designed to pull her threads. To sew their captives to these damned crossed. None of the Goddesses here can be freed… until Ananke is freed."
"And that is how you alter Fate, my love… you are a very clever man."
"But only when I'm right."
A gigantic Raven now streaked to the third cross… which held billions of multi-coloured threads which constantly spun and whirled in infinite loops and coils. Bruce felt some of these threads wrap around and then gently embrace his wife – caressing Raven like a mother would embrace a lost daughter. They had waited for her so long…
Raven gripped both hands around the Needle which held the right 'arm' of Ananke and began to pull once again. Immediately, Bruce aligned his own will to hers, feeling the muscles in her crimson arms - which were now the size of locomotives - tense and strain while fingers as wide as trees clung firmly to the head of the Needle.
And this time it moved. The Needle moved.
Bruce felt his wife's overwhelming elation and satisfaction as she pulled the first stake from the crucifix and then triumphantly cast it to the ground… quickly placing her hands upon the second Needle. Again she pulled. And pulled some more. With stubborn effort, the second Needle was slowly dislodged.
And then, with further effort, so were the third and the fourth.
She had done it! Raven had freed Ananke, ancient Mother of the Fates. A billion threads caressed and coiled around her tired body, a trillion lives touched and remembered, before the old Goddess spun upwards and disappeared into the emerald sky.
Raven smiled as she knew exactly where Ananke would go…
"Shall we try and rescue your sister now?" asked Bruce's spirit from inside her own soul.
"No my love… I shall free Selene. I am in need of her power. Our time here is limited."
Bruce became painfully aware of what she had meant by her last remark. Besides the fact that their friends still battled Darkseid in a life-and-death struggle upon the distant shores of Kahndaq, Bruce's soul had also been removed from his physical body. By accompanying Raven this way, he was having an out-of-body experience… the same as when Trigon had pulled their consciousnesses into his own dark soul. Separation of body and soul would kill him if it did not return soon.
But worst of all, if he died, so too did the greatest hope their world - and the entire Universe - had of surviving foul Darkseid. Because when Bruce Wayne perished, so too would the Champion Raven Wayne. The lovers shared one single fate. If one were to end, so too would the other.
Hurry!
With a new sense of urgency, Raven laboured to free the Goddess of the Moon upon the first cross. Bruce almost felt his soul physically drawn from out of his wife, so powerful was Selene's gravitational attraction at this close proximity. In her mind's eye, Raven replayed another memory for her husband, this time of her visit to the Rock of Eternity.
Afterwards, Bruce was suitably impressed…
"The power of Selene… If you had the same gravitational pull as the moon, you could topple skyscrapers just by being near them."
"...Really?!"
"Yes. That's an incredible amount of power! If I recall, the moon's mass is about seven septillion kilograms. The moon's pull doesn't seem that powerful because Newton's formula for gravitational force is exponentially inversely proportional…"
"…And what does all of that mean?"
"That Selene's power – her gravity - really depends on how close you are to another object. And also that Newton wasn't even born before Azarath separated from Earth… But don't worry, once Metron is freed, you'll probably be explaining all of this to me."
"With the Knowledge of Metron?"
"Yes… That one attribute frightens me a little… You'll really have to be careful with that, Raven… Power, Magic, Favour, Sight and Senses are one thing… But having the advanced knowledge of how to apply them could lead to disaster. In the wrong hands, rapid advances in technology and science aren't always a good thing… I should know."
She felt his sorrow and guilt well deep within her own soul.
"You torture yourself needlessly, my love. You must promise me that you will forgive yourself for your past transgression. You have not murdered anyone... Ra's al Ghul could have killed those people in a hundred different ways, but your weapon was the most convenient. He alone was the perpetrator of that crime… Not Bruce Wayne. You have saved more lives than you will ever comprehend."
"I still made the damned weapon. Yet the Stranger showed us that Redemption is always within our grasp... We need only to strive towards it… So I will honour his memory this way…"
As Bruce made his resolve, Raven finished pulling the last Needle that affixed shining Selene to the giant cross before them - so that the Goddess of the Moon was also free! Raven rested her hands upon her shaking knees and took deep breaths before continuing, watching the celestial Goddess ascend to the stars above.
"…I hope this gets easier."
"It will, Raven… Let's keep it going."
Hecate was indeed easier… the Goddess of Magic actually pulled her own Needles out once Raven had loosened them. Her desire to be free was truly frightening! The power that the Maltusians had employed to affix the Gods was truly waning. Fate could no longer hold them.
With another deep breath, Raven headed to delicate Zareah and freed her cousin in the same manner. And this time, grateful Abraxas was much easier. She felt her cousin and sister embrace her tired body, and felt their adoration and thanks. The true sister-Goddess that had finally came to save them from slavery - when their own fathers had only used them for evil ends.
Raven felt their wet tears of joy fall upon her shoulders as all three embraced.
She knew that they were the future.
Raven then felt the pains in her chest and suddenly realized what these were… Bruce's body was slipping away back on Earth. She had to hurry! She kissed Zareah and Abraxas and like a woman possessed, flew to Metron, and immediately began to tug on his stakes. The God of knowledge only turned to her and calmly stared.
"Have the Maltusians fallen, young Goddess?"
"Almost… The last of them battle against Darkseid and his Manhunters."
"Ah… I have much to learn then. The Universe always moves on, child."
"Not if I don't free you right away, it won't."
"…Darkseid?"
"Yes. Help me Metron…"
Raven's strength was failing… The Source still burned brightly within her, but her arms felt like burning jelly. Her chest was on fire with its need for the stale air of Maltus. She regretted not joining her husband in the weight room for his daily workouts...
The God of Knowledge suddenly pulled his hands and feet free from the Needles while Raven assisted as best she could, finally pulling them free from Metron's appendages and casting them to the soil below. She barely had the time or energy remaining to smile at the God of Knowledge before she teleported from Maltus once again with the soul of her lover Bruce Wayne in tow…
And appeared in the back of an ambulance racing towards Gotham General Hospital.
Raven's sudden appearance caused the attending paramedic to buckle and collapse in shock. Luckily, Alfred - who had never left his ward's side since discovering an unconscious Bruce - had the presence of mind to catch the surprised woman. The old man looked up at the newly appeared Raven while he fanned the paramedic…
"Perhaps Mrs. Wayne, if you could take on a more familiar complexion…"
Raven breathed in deep breaths as she felt Bruce's soul return to his own body, before she understood Alfred's full meaning. Of course!… She was still in her crimson form! Having something that looked like a red female demon suddenly appear in the back of your ambulance probably would be a shock. Catching her breath, she smiled at Alfred and changed back into her human guise.
"Sorry Alfred… How's he… doing?"
"Unresponsive, I'm afraid... What happened to him, Raven?"
"The fate of all life… depended on me… borrowing him for awhile… Are you alright now… my love?"
Bruce opened his eye and looked around at the cramped medical environment curiously.
"…Where are we, Raven?"
He reached out and took her hand while Alfred graciously answered.
"You're in the back of an ambulance, Sir. You're on your way to the Gotham General. I'm afraid I panicked when you did not respond to my attempts to rouse you. And quite frankly Sir... you look like Hell."
"No… we have to go… I'm fine… Darkseid."
Raven placed her hand upon her husband's cheek.
"No my love, you are not fine. I must leave you in Alfred's capable hands for a short while. Do not be angry with me, my dear… There is something I must do alone."
"Raven… No… Take me with you!"
"I can not, my love…" Raven stood and regarded the black overcoat that the old gentleman had hurriedly draped over him... smiling.
"Watch over him for me, Alfred."
"I shall, Mrs. Wayne… Godspeed."
Raven then leaned over her husband and kissed him full on the lips. Now holding his gaze from only inches above, she gently stroked his stubble-filled cheek and whispered to his ear.
"I love you, Bruce Wayne."
Bruce ran his fingers through her long, ebony hair and grinned.
"I love you, Raven Wayne… And don't forget your magic word."
"I shall not, my love. Now rest and dream of me. I will always return to you."
Bruce watched as the bravest and noblest hero he had ever known disappeared once again, leaving both him and the Earth behind. With a sigh, Bruce glanced over at Alfred, to catch the old gentleman wiping a tear from his eye.
"...She's great, isn't she?"
"Indeed, Sir… I believe we have yet to learn how great she truly is."
"I know… I really wanted to be there for her."
"You were, Master Bruce. You were there when she needed you."
"Yeah… How's the paramedic?"
"I believe she's coming to…"
Alfred winked at Bruce just before the female paramedic suddenly snapped open her eyes. She carefully peered up at the old man who had caught her and then suspiciously around the back of the ambulance before questioning him…
"...What happened to the red demon-lady?"
"Red lady, my dear?... Are you alright? You seemed to have fainted."
"I knew this double shift was a bad idea… I'm so sorry! It must be the lack of sleep… I thought I saw…"
"It seems like our patient has also made some progress in the meanwhile. He's finally conscious."
The Paramedic quickly returned to her duties over Bruce, taking readings from various monitors while the ambulance pulled into Gotham General housing one of its favoured sons. As the doors burst open, Bruce was quickly wheeled into Emergency by men in white as Alfred followed behind, pausing to smile at the rising sun breaking in crimson against Gotham's shadowed skyline.
Another morning with Bruce.
Alfred had never known how very much he could miss these times with his ward until only a mere handful of moments ago… Or just how passionately he could whisper an impassioned prayer to God for a man's life… only seconds before the Mistress of Wayne Manor had appeared in the back of the ambulance and gave him the one who had been like a son to him.
Yes... It was going to be a great day.
Next Chapter: Three Wishes. It's going to be amazing!