Bonus Chapter, Part Eleven:

The Ghosts of Our Children

"…NOOO!"

Like an invisible tidal wave of pure anger, the force of Nekron's deafening scream tossed Raven twenty feet through the air like a leaf, with only the power of Selene counteracting the immense strength of Nekron's primal howl.

As her companions covered their ears and braced themselves against the scream's impact, Raven Wayne fell softly in Barry Allen's awaiting arms as the scarlet speedster had moved faster than the terrible sound, positioning himself to catch Raven's fall with the wink of his blue eye.

The man known as the Flash smiled down at Raven as he cradled her pregnant body in his arms, cocking his head in Nekron's direction.

"Want me to return the favor?"

Raven shook her head as Barry carefully set her back down on Terra Firma once again.

"This is finished…"

Raven's words were cut short as the enraged God of Oblivion levelled an accusing finger at his kneeling Hand Maiden, shaking with bitter anger as he screamed in outrage.

"Unacceptable!... My conditions… must be… satisfied!"

Without looking up from the wet grass beneath her, the kneeling Urd remained obedient as she replied to the elder God, whose cold anger began to freeze the grass around her.

"By your own Amendment my Lord, this contract will now be recognized by Fate. You have been given the child of the first-born daughter of Trigon…"

The world itself seemed to huddle in fear, silently awaiting Nekron's wrathful response.

Instead, dispersing into a swirling mass of choking black mist around the heroes, a murky Nekron suddenly reformed within inches of Raven, glaring with abject hatred at her engorged belly where her son waited to be born.

With a threatening voice full of dark promise, the Lord of the Unliving hissed his final warning.

"I shall have… what is mine... daughter of Trigon."

With a violet glare that froze time itself, Raven Wayne matched the God of Oblivion's passion with utter scorn, instantly dropping the air temperature by twenty degrees as the breath of her chilling reply became as frost against Nekron's misty face…

"You already have."

As the incredible power of Raven's icy glare held the Lord of the Unliving in its deadly thrall, Nekron suddenly vanished into a small puff of black smoke, teleported to the Great Sea by Raven's powerful will and terrible anger.

Beside her, Barry Allen shivered in quiet silence.

The Flash could have blamed his trembling on the sudden drop of temperature, but deep within his heroic core, Barry understood that he was just a man standing amongst Gods. As he nervously watched Raven, he hoped poor Bruce would never have to face that frightening glare. He honestly wasn't sure if Bruce would ever recover from it.

An angry Raven was a power to be feared by both mortal men and the Gods alike...

With an unvoiced cry of despair from above, Khamett and his Undead Lantern Corps once again shared their Master's fate – leaving nothing more than black smoke behind as their souls were sent plunging back into the watery depths of Oblivion in the Afterlife.

Two Rings of Power fell harmlessly from the night sky to the Cemetery's soft grass below.

Without the protection of Nekron's Prophecy, the Black Ring of Death and the Yellow Ring of Fear were no match for the anointed Champion of Six Gods.

The Dead had been sent back to the Dark Sea and now, only the Living remained.

Finally…

It was over.

Behind them, the Goddess of Mothers faded into a stream of divine light and warmth as an exhausted Raven stumbled to one knee, instantly supported on either side by Clark and Barry. Once her patron Goddess Hera had disappeared, Princess Diana of Themyscira also stepped to Raven's side in admiring enthusiasm, her very atmosphere radiating jubilation as she proclaimed to the starry skies above.

"You have done it, friend-Raven! You have called forth the Mother-Goddess herself and banished Lord Hades! Your deeds of this great night shall live on in wide-eyed glory among the tribe of the Amazons forever!"

With a heavy heart, a saddened Raven slowly raised her head and looked up at the joyful Amazon warrior. With tears flowing from her grief-stricken eyes, Raven's own sad response was a stark contrast to the echoes of the Amazon's cheery proclamations to the night sky.

"There was no victory here tonight, Diana... A sacred part of myself and an innocent life has been lost to us."

Diana abruptly paused… How could she forget that Raven had sacrificed her unborn daughter to save them all?! This woman had cast her own unborn child into cold Oblivion to protect them. Tonight was not a celebration of a mighty battle won, but rather the remembrance of a sacrificed child lost to the altar of an evil God.

"I am sorry, friend-Raven… My heartfelt regard of your noble deeds has caused quick words to spill forth from my warrior's mouth, without the necessary respect for the terrible sacrifice you have made. Truly, each of us owes you more than we shall ever comprehend… Forgive me."

As Diana watched the emotional young woman slowly stand tall, she was alarmed when Raven's troubled expression suddenly changed for the worse...

Raven hadn't intended to worry noble Diana or her friends in this way, but the Champion of Magic had suddenly lost the ability to read the thoughts of those around her, and to see those things which were unseen. The very powers which had been granted to the Champion by the Goddess of the Unseen.

She had lost Abraxas.

Raven was no longer aware of all things hidden in the Universe.

Realizing her terrible mistake, Raven had made the desperate decision to sacrifice her own daughter without any regard about how it may have affected her own divine half-sister…

Abraxas; the unwanted child of Suli. The tragic twin daughter whose own celestial mother had wished for nothing more than to have unseen Abraxas remain hidden from Existence forever…

The discarded daughter of Drax which Trigon had sought to manipulate and twist to his own cruel ends. The unwanted bastard twin left abandoned in the Darkness.

And now Raven had committed the same maternal crime as unloving Suli. She had created a daughter to be sacrificed before Oblivion. This very act must have wounded her sister's unseen heart grievously, a painful reflection of her own tragic past.

Raven had no doubt that her own sister Abraxas had now forsaken her.

It was almost a surprise when Raven felt Diana's comforting hand placed upon her shoulder as she turned to gaze into the Amazon's unwavering blue eyes, past the black curly locks which tumbled from Wonder Woman's forehead.

She knew Diana feared that her jubilant words had wounded Raven's heavy heart.

"I pledge myself to your happiness, friend-Raven. I, Princess Diana of Themyscira, shall embark upon a journey to the Underworld and face Lord Hades himself. I shall win back your lost daughter and make amends for my thoughtless words. As an Amazon, I swear it!"

Raven smiled weakly and stroked her fingers along the strands of hair which covered Diana's earnest eyes.

"That can not be, faithful Diana… By the contract, my daughter must remain loyal to Nekron for eternity… She is forever lost to me… Only… I am afraid that this callous sacrifice may have also cost me the love of my divine sister, Abraxas... That is the new grief which has seized my countenance, not your praising words."

As tears welled in the eyes of the mighty warrior, the taller Diana gently wrapped her strong arms around the troubled Goddess of Hope in a tender embrace, whispering softly into Raven's ear…

"Then I shall love you as your own Sister."

As she allowed the contentment from Diana's response to flow into her broken heart, Raven suddenly felt the unstoppable pain once again coming from below. It was time. As Raven gripped her womb, she used the power of Selene to gently push her friends backwards, creating a safe distance for what she must now do.

Shouting in pain to the skies above, Raven Wayne knew that this next struggle was something which she must bear as a woman…

"Shazam!"

After the magical clap of thunder, as Raven lay on the cold, smoking grass in mind-numbing agony, she caught a glimpse of fiery-haired Barbara cradling her whirling head in worried hands and heard her beautiful sister speaking two very distinct words…

"Hospital, now!"

As Bruce witnessed the incredible sacrifice his wife had made below, he finally took a deep breath when Nekron and the Undead Lanterns finally disappeared into puffs of black smoke - as if they had been conjured up by some magician's cheap parlor trick.

She had done it again.

When the Universe itself had teetered on the brink of collapse, Raven Wayne had saved them all once more... Wearing nothing more than a hospital gown and moments away from childbirth, his wife had prevailed against Oblivion itself.

She had been faced with the hopeless challenge of Nekron's cruel dilemma - with either choice leading to the end of Existence. But like Alexander the Great when he had been similarly faced with the resilient Gordian knot, Raven Wayne had created her own solution to the impasse.

Bruce had never expected that she would have created her own child within Nekron though.

Beyond a doubt, Raven's brooding husband understood that this decision would trouble Raven's gentle soul for the rest of her days. In her native Azarath, all life had been held as sacred from the very point of conception. He couldn't let Raven blame herself for this.

The Fates themselves had given her no other choice.

Bruce unexpectedly stopped mid-thought and stared at the mystic runes of lights that were manifesting beside him, announcing the arrival of...

The Goddess of the Past.

The man from Gotham watched as the tanned Goddess who had been kneeling below suddenly materialized before them in a shower of twinkling sparks, crouched over a gravely wounded and prone Richard Grayson. Had she been sent by Raven?

Bruce hadn't really had a good look at her from before when this white-haired Goddess had been bowed before Nekron, but he quickly realized…

Urd was breathtakingly stunning.

The incredibly deep plunge of the Goddess's neckline and her ample breasts made it difficult for Bruce to recognize the fact that her violet eyes were a similar shade to Raven's. The inverted mauve triangle between these seductive eyes and her dark skin seemed to suggest an Indian appearance, and yet, something about her seemed Icelandic.

Bruce chided himself for instinctively wondering if he could pick up an outfit like that for Raven sometime.

As Urd's bright violet eyes locked onto the blues of Richard Grayson (with no notice of Bruce Wayne), the Goddess of the Past spoke impatiently to the fallen hero as a mother might lecture a delinquent child.

"One day you'll go too far and I won't be able to save you…"

Like a mischievous kid, Dick simply grinned at her, replying with obvious effort and shallow breath.

"One day… but not... today."

Bruce was almost bowled over as he witnessed the tanned Goddess passionately take his wounded son swiftly into her arms, passionately locking lips with a receptive Richard while she physically crawled on top of him, as though they were lonely teenage lovers left alone on Friday night.

Bruce doubted that even lust-filled teenagers used that much tongue…

As he slapped a splayed hand over his unbelieving eyes, Bruce's paternal concern had finally managed to overcome the sudden shock of witnessing the steamy debauchery of his own son and this lusty Goddess passionately making out in a graveyard as if their very lives depended upon it, when Richard finally came up for air.

As Dick slowly rose to his feet with flushed cheeks, Bruce could only blink and helplessly stare at his ward - much like a teenaged boy who had accidentally walked in on a naked Nun. While Bruce ran through a list of things to say, Richard attempted to stammer out a quick explanation.

"Sorry Bruce, I guess I should have introduced you earlier…. This is my… Ahhh…. Girlfriend, Urd... The Goddess of the Past... Urd, this is my adopted father, Bruce Wayne."

With her eyes never leaving his floundering ward, the Goddess of the Past suddenly grabbed Richard by the back of his hair and firmly yanked his head back down, pushing her lips dangerously close to his earlobe as she spoke huskily.

"Do not mistake me for your Girlfriend, man-child… We are lovers!"

Bruce privately feared he may be in for Round Two… And there was no guarantee that the clothes would stay on this time. Still, as brave as his ward was pretending to be, he knew that Richard needed immediate medical attention. It might have been a preferred way to go for his young ward, but Bruce wasn't prepared to lose Dick to such a fate.

"Please take pity on him, Goddess… Richard really should be on his way to the hospital right now."

Richard paused, fixing Bruce with a quizzical look, and then like an idiot, the young man laughed out loud, proudly thumped his chest at the precise spot where Bruce had been positive where his son's ribs had just been broken.

Yet somehow, they weren't…

"Don't worry about me, Bruce. Urd reset my body back to where it was two hours ago… To the time before I got injured… I've still got the headache, but otherwise, I'm as fit as a fiddle!"

Bruce was at a loss. Richard really did look healed.

"That's… astounding, actually."

In his detective's mind, Bruce put the pieces together. It had been Richard's blood on the Cave that morning. Which meant that Dick had used this trick before, allowing the Goddess of the Past to replace his body with a past version of himself while somehow maintaining his own mind… Was it some weird form of sex magic though?...

A sudden flash of blinding light and a loud crack of thunder diverted Bruce's attention to the spot where his wife laid below, while Barbara, Barry, Clark and Diana had all gathered around her.

The baby was going to be born.

Richard looked at him, echoing the sudden concern which Bruce had just demonstrated for his ward.

"Go, Bruce… I'll be fine."

As a panicked Bruce Wayne began to quickly make his way down the grassy knoll towards Raven, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Goddess of the Past suddenly pounced upon an unsuspecting Richard, causing the two lovers to roll arm-in-arm down the opposite side of the hill.

He doubted if even Raven had been aware of their relationship. Bruce would talk about it with Richard later. But right now, he needed to get his wife back to the hospital, fast!

After their own Goddess of Hope had departed to bear her first child and the rest of the Blue Lantern Corps had dispersed, Tomar-Re watched as his friend Sinestro quietly retrieved the Yellow Ring of Power from the wet grass where it had fallen.

The orange-skinned Xudarian watched uneasily as Sinestro carefully examined the yellow Ring between his scarlet fingers, almost as if under its spell…

"Take care, Blue Lantern of Korugar. The power of Fear is not a thing to be trifled with."

"Indeed it is not, Tomar-Re. Its nightmares haunt me still. I am astounded that this one Ring was able to bring us all to our very knees."

"None of us are without fears, Sinestro. And Khamett was a powerful Guardian, even in death…"

Almost as an afterthought, Sinestro reached down and picked up the Black Ring of Power, tossing it towards Tomar-Re - who suspended Nekron's Ring in midair within a sterile blue sphere. The red-skinned Korugaran chuckled at his friend's cautious action.

"Just don't wear it, my frightened friend. Still Tomar-Re, I am surprised that the Lord of the Unliving would even possess such a thing."

"Perhaps all of our Rings came from the Gods, Sinestro... We draw upon their power after all. Consider that if there is a Yellow Ring of Fear, then surely there is a God of Fear who has created that thing. As for myself, after meeting with Nekron, I have no desire to taint my fingertips with his dark handiwork."

Tomar-Re gazed at the Black Ring of Power suspended in his blue sphere. Had the life of his sacred Goddess Raven once been bartered for such an evil thing? As if he understood the Lantern's thoughts, Sinestro nodded in agreement.

"Well said, my friend. Then let caution be our guide. Bury this dark circlet in the furthest reaches of space where none may reclaim it… and I shall do the same with its yellow brethren. Let us place our faith in Hope and nothing more."

Tomar-Re gazed with admiration upon his old friend Sinestro, the brave hero widely acknowledged as one the most powerful members of the old Green Lantern Corps. After all, it had been shrewd Sinestro who had once warned him of the possibility of treachery in their midst when Tomar-Re's own sense of duty had blinded him to Khamett's imminent betrayal.

And now, the Korugaran had spoken wise words once again. They would dispose of these two Rings forever and remain Raven's Blue Lanterns of Hope.

"In this task, you may rely on me, friend Sinestro. I shall seal this dark artifact within a hole so deep that it shall remain as nothing more than a distant memory until the very end of time itself."

"And I shall ensure that its yellow counterpart shares a similar fate, Tomar-Re."

Sinestro smiled as he watched as his old friend disappear in a blue light, eager to fulfill his sacred mission.

Sinestro knew he should do the same…

And yet, the same terrible fear haunted him.

The fear that their Goddess would inherit her father's birthright and utterly destroy them. And he could do nothing more than bear witness. The image of Raven from his nightmare as a red giant with four glowing eyes still disturbed Sinestro. She was the daughter of Trigon, the Crimson Scourge of the Universe who had destroyed a thousand of his brothers and sisters…

Could Raven not complete her father's terrible revenge against them?

If Sinestro had possessed such a Ring in the past, could he had have stopped Trigon? Could he have harnessed the Fear of an entire planet and used it to stop the Crimson Scourge? How many of his brothers and sisters would still be alive if he had possessed this very Ring at that time?

What if Trigon's madness seized Raven? What would they do then? They would be powerless before her, the very source of their power.

Sinestro clutched the Yellow Ring tighter as that terror gripped him.

Powerless?…

No, he would always have power. Fear was power. Whether it was Blue or Yellow, Sinestro of Korugar vowed that he would have the power to change worlds…

In a maternity ward only blocks away, Bruce Wayne finally held his first-born child. Within moments of their return, Raven had given birth to their son, a healthy baby boy whom they had named after his father and the bird of Spring which Raven had always admired…

Thomas Robin Wayne.

It was a moment Bruce would never forget. With this child, the potential of humanity was reborn, free to choose its own Fate amongst the stars. The past hour, when Existence itself had almost tipped into final darkness, now seemed a lifetime away.

Because it was.

Because their son's lifetime had never known the terror of Nekron or the struggle his own mother had faced just to meet him.

Raven's profound happiness mixed equally with her exhaustion as she cradled their child in the bed, smiling up at her husband. They had created this wonderful, magical, small life together. Their world had suddenly become more than they could have ever dreamed.

Their love had been given life.

Author's Note:

We draw inspiration from many places. At some point though, I instinctively knew that I wanted Raven to have that stare…

The Erza Scarlet Glare.

I've been watching the anime "Fairy Tail" lately and I have concluded that the character Erza Scarlet has the best glare in all of anime… Perhaps even the entire fiction-verse itself. Nobody can rock a bone-chilling glare like a ticked off Erza can.

For those unfamiliar with "Fairy Tail", Erza is a badass magic-warrior who conjures her amour and weapons from storage locations at will by means of her "requip" sorcery. In a world of magic where anything can happen, that skill doesn't really sound like much.

Except that her skills and weapons are legendary…

So when you find yourself on the other side of those angry eyes of justice, it's just not going to end well for you. Erza Scarlet is able to level a glare that guarantees you will be destroyed with absolutely no chance of escape… while remaining absolutely calm and focused.

That is truly unnerving.

In fact, Ezra's fierce stare makes Batman's "Bat-Glare" seem like he may be suffering from mild constipation. If you honestly think that Bruce's alter-ego has a profound intensity when those whitened eyes narrow, I can assure you that Erza Scarlet has the entire gamut of human madness nervously awaiting at her beck-and-call behind those scary, angry eyes.

That's the glare I was going for when Raven stares down Nekron in this chapter, once she realizes that the God of Oblivion can not accept her solution and will not love their daughter… The same glare that terrified poor Barry Allen.

(But don't worry, he'll recover. He'll just have more man-sympathy for Bruce.)

It's a side of Raven I don't get to show often.

The angry side, where she has the power to spread your molecules across the entire Universe like peanut butter. And with her own Thread of Fate now linked with Bruce's black Thread, she could probably yank out someone's existence from the weave itself! The entire history of the Universe would suddenly be rewritten as if they had never existed…

Scary.

Finally, to settle that age-old debate of who would win in a fight between Superman and the Hulk and Wonder Woman and Thor and Captain Atom, the answer is Raven.

Just so we're clear.

The next chapter should be the last one, where we visit everyone in the future…

Does anyone want to hazard any guesses as to what happened with Abraxas?