Teen Titans; New Divides – Universal War – Finale

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Chapter 22: Breaching the Gateway – We Can Be Immortals

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Slade stood over the gateway leading to the confines of Hades' realm. The fires didn't lead him there, yet his nostrils flared as Nightwing came by to see if there was a remainder of hope in the man's redemption.

Chuckling nervously to start up a conversation, Dick wanted to get to Slade and have him spill every detail. Why Anna was working on sticking around now that the crisis had been averted. Had it, really? That Raku had mysteriously vanished with Hakuro was a thought none could help but criticize. He was family and Hakuro now knew his purpose beside his alter ally of the unknown.

"You have to be done with all this." Dick admitted he was as Slade shrugged out a sword from behind him attached to his suit. "I've decided to take on your daughter through a part time mentorship as she continues to work outside of Astarte's co - ops arrangement. Your child has too much presence and I intent to teach her to utilize that talent as she wishes."

"I told her you'd only push like you had with me." Dick snarled, Anna not being here but she had to be aware of it. This was what she'd wanted, someone more capable to guide an outsider like her.

She was becoming too unstable and Slade knew not to let her roam as far as Astarte had, she'd been meant to create if any and destroy like the fire bird. Her Tamaran light was too much for Dick and Kori was not on par with whatever her child was trying to become as Slade had told them.

Possibly dependent on his approval and Dick had to fight him to prove the man wrong. Anna was no one's charge. She was an adult with powers that were her right to know how to wield responsibly. Ron was back in his neck of the woods and even Kaien had offered, yet Anna felt incomplete and the fire bird knew how this bond would turn out.

Even if Dick won, no one was a winner in this duel.

Hades stood beside Slade and whispered words to him that had Dick strain. "What did you say to him?" Demanded the hero. Hades only smiled wryly and moved as Slade did his best to toss a blade to Dick.

"If I force you to kneel here, Nightwing, the girl returs for the year as my protégé or until the next spring. She's decided she can't be away from her duties entirely. We've worked out an agenda –

"She's not a cold hearted killer!!" Dick pounded the dirt with his boots until he picked up speed, the merc following as Dick was using the serum's gift to beat this crook. The man wanted his daughter….to make her into what Terra had been.

Their swords clashed as Slade parried, drawing Dick down further into frustration and his pain of losing a child.

"This is your way of getting even!" Dick shouted. "Grant was-

"This isn't about my son, Grayson."Slade whacked again as Dick rolled back away, blade clenched as his palms had blisters from so many wars being fought.

Infinity crisis.

Shadow War.

Dark crisis…God. And in this universe?

Minerva, Lilith, Ares, Apep, Deathstroke…

The underworld and the heavens both in combat, Dick was no savior. He was a frightened, selfish papa that didn't want his child to listen to a stranger for once. She'd lied about Astarte until she'd come clean due to Isa's suggestion. He'd let her join a fleet, a meta camp and she'd even killed a clone of Ra's (the last, since he had too many before running out of steam.)

Isa had not intervened after that, but yet he'd tried to think she was safe.

Then. The fire bird took over, twice. One time it fought Aiden when he'd been corrupted by dark magic. When the form had looked too hybrid, and Anna had fought to control it again – and she did!

But, why now??

Slade lashed out as Dick came out of his thoughts to parry back.

Why did she need him when she was her own kind of super power, and what power did Slade have over her now?? When she was old enough, he could…. he had to try to lay down the law. She wasn't twenty-one just yet.

"If! You take….my Ann under…. your wing! Anh ...You can't hurt her…. you can't make her….kill or break the law! She will not have alcohol! Drugs, smoke! All of those thing –

"She's not pure, but she has a fine head on her shoulders…. papa!" Slade had Dick grip at his item and swing in hard, hearing the reverberating song of their clashing metal swords cut through the motionless air of Athena's forgotten haven.

"I AM!" Shouted the younger male. "I am her father, so don't you….take pride in it! You're baby – sitting, guiding while my scope…is ALWAYS on you! So!"

"There is no need to declare a winner."

Slade saw Dick panting as he dropped his blade, sweat broken out with muscles engaged in the thrill.

Like old times.

Slade held out a pal to shake, Dick knowing Slade was of mortal men though not believing it.

"Anna…. will report to Astarte if you're lying." Seethed Richard as he walked over to the man, a few inches apart. "I'll see to it that the guardians castrate you if you try to do anything unlawful or if you drag her into a contract that hurts her without her consent."

"You have my word."

"Do I, Slade?" Dick huffed. "If this is for someone's benefit, then why Anna and you at all? She fought you as a co-op member on Astarte's team." He recalled. "She should want you behind bars."

"Maybe this is her way of recognizing that I'm not as cut and dry as the rest…" Slade sighed, arm still out as Dick grabbed it, fingers matched by far if his enemy's wasn't so damn big. Slade dragged Nightwing close to whisper in his ear, the two-toned mask hiding nothing as Dick's eyes narrowed with mindless pain and a grief of what he'd just done.

"And yet, when she does find out how the better half-lives…she may not think twice about returning." Slade shoved his ally back, Richard looking the picture of pathetic as Slade huffed and turned to nod to a now departed Hades. "Was his plan all along to see us make amends." Smirked the killer as he sheathed his weapon and walked away, leaving Dick to muffle back a sob of what Slade was after all that time.

"Astarte, you were wrong…" He croaked. "He wants a weapon, and I…. just handed it to him…. Anna…please, give up sweetheart...… please…" He wept.

Slade's real plan was to turn Anna's loyalty to the side of villainy. Or worse, the life of an antihero. The paradox of in – between of renegades. Like he'd been once, before escaping to come home.

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Aiden did eventually take on a camera person career in a big entertainment house that had a bar too.

And a place to vent once he'd turned twenty-one that next following year, right when Ami was in High school for her freshman year. When Ava had a crown atop her head in the snowy keep. When Anna made it up a rank to LT Commander in her division while learning a softer defense and killing art from Deathstroke to keep her fire lit. Or Raku, who was now a student and protégé on the move as Constantine's dowdy assistant – he'd come out officially this time as Asexual and non-binary, even if he was a male maybe had capped that crush on Aiden to let them both grow in separate directions.

Raku had not wanted to live among the gods, despite that being the reason he had pushed Lady A to grant him such a rite. She had given him a family, knowing that a true god was not cold yet could not keep one close. Raku was more human than that due to his mother's roots and his father? Well, he could still create from the book of Manifesto, even when Ignito rarely came round if Raku stayed on track with his studies to one day become a Guardian of Earth and a sole representative like Catalina and Shoji. He wanted to help those who had suffered to find purpose in the bleakest moments and that was what he did through a self-published book that….

Was a hit, and you've only heard the best of times.

So, where did that leave Aiden?

He was with a magic and the power to fly to taller heights so…why couldn't he?

Seeing a few thoughts creep by, he went to the bar while the band was still finshing clearing up their act. He was good for tonight off to lounge. This place was nice. New York was ok, he got on a plane and took his checks to a few places. Scottland, Istanbul, and even here in New York City.

There, across from him he had to chuckle and swing his hand out to wave.

She looked up and gasped, her eyes bright and her star-studded design replaced with a belt of the same fashion sense.

"Lisa!" He smiled as she had even repaired their friendship with just one chat bubble in the comments section of a post online.

She'd never forgotten a face, Alicia smiling too as Aiden embraced her while she did the exact same for an old childhood friend.

"You can hear in here??"

"What??" He snorted a laugh as she tugged him to a quieter spot by the outside.

They laughed together as Aiden talked about so much with the pop princess of his yester – year crushes.

"You met a god? How about that." She smirked and elbowed Aiden playfully. "Alicia and I just chat from time to time, and the band to a small break. We still want to play "Metra – palooza" (Metropolis.) She grinned. "I heard "Violet Retribution" is going to do a special –

"Aide?" As Lisa touched his hand, he could feel his feet starting to float –

"Oh! You're flying now??"

"Ann….d…that was my last summer as a grounded human being. Surprise?"

"Your mom, right?" Lisa tugged the blonde to his toes as he tried to help in keeping himself from drifting out to Times Square.

"Yeah, late bloomer." He grinned nervously, Lisa giggling and trying to take this information seriously.

"Wow! You are like your sisters now, wonder boy! You used to hate that stuff as a kid. It was…" She stopped. "Sorry. That was a sore spot to poke fun at, my bad?"

"Always, you just know how to push my buttons better than Ava ever could." He laughed softly ass they both saw the city from the bottom, the sky so clear tonight despite Manhattan being impossible to see the moon from.

"Let's get out of here." She gripped his wrist and smiled mischiviously back. "We're both on a break and we have the time….please? I just want to talk and see how you've been holding on."

"Why?" Aiden tried to understand with a frown why she was so intent on clinging. "Why did you go off and…I was just a kid then, I know. You had dreams but…I still haven't found it, Lisa." He put a hand to his temples and mumbled. "I can't impress you like the guys who you hang with, or a bunch of other – worldly figures that depend on you…so, why did you want me?"

"Because, dummy." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You don't remember, but meeting you saved my life. Made me think about…what's real and what's imaginary. That you can have a big cushy job and get what you want all the time, or you can soul search forever and EVERYTHING is like a dream. You can have any path you choose. Alicia told me, that Raku was like…. your wishing stone when I'd asked how you were from Shoji."

They did know, Lisa was a spy of Aria's industry and her lead singing prodigy to a very successful rock band.

"He's not here, but you really cared about caring for not just yourself for once, you try to deny it…you were less mature about it as kids so I needed time too. I was not ready until, I saw that spark in you grow…you're more than you think." She beamed and gave him an encouraging nod. "You are a hero of our world. And my best friend since I only took a break to find that, you ever abandoned us, you did what no one else could."

"Raku, brought us together when Roku cursed Dad…said he'd find a way back and sure, we stopped him. He caused a mess until I found that he needed someone. No one had ever looked to see why he was fighting his own kind. He didn't hate them; he had a plan once to help humans and Lilith warped that. He wanted to but found it tough and fell into a depression where she changed who he was…turned him into a monster that never stopped searching or wanting what it had lost. Richard Ainsley was able to find peace because like Azag, he replicated himself to find that peace, yet Lilith tried to erase the line by making Raku the only survivor. She wanted him to leach of his creating magic and once we found the page that was destroyed…he could finally be free and…. heck, he had a crush on me but we ended that real quick."

Lisa put her hands to her hips and hummed. "Go on."

"I offered to keep an eye on him during his rehabilitation on earth and…we had a few enemies go after us because of Raku's past. About what he did, he's planned to reconcile with the victims and his former allies to make sure that the Forgotten myth is remembered as a lesson, not a story to read before bed."

"He didn't write it, you know." Lisa shook her head, Alicia's silver and blue slipping through due to their pact. "Ignito is a keeper of records that existed before Raku was ever born or Lord Azag. He is the spirit of alchemy and transmutation that was only alive when there was first an earth to inhabit and people to write about charaters they could learn from and understand through those ancient texts. When the world was young, the planes were of few. That is a verse of the book." Alicia told the hero's son. "Raku is a protector of a tome connected to all of the unknown mysteries of creation and destruction. Also, Hakuro joined the Infinite to see to the balance and fabric being sewn back up between the planes."

Lisa's eyes returned as she chuckled and rubbed her neck, used to being borrowed when it counted.

"Alicia and I are like sisters from other universes. I understand her heart and she listens to my deepest thoughts."

'You always were like the stars, Lis." Smiled Aiden. "Endless."

"Aww…" She sniffed and pulled Aiden's arm as the two booked it to a street that sounded as loud as a carnival.

"Wanna try about now to see if We can understand each other?" Asked Lisa as she pushed a strand of brown hair from by her ear.

"Yeah, let's." Aiden grinned as they crossed to the other side, the stars looking brilliant as the fates allowed them one last dance among street corners while the world continued to live on by the law of the dreamer.

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FIN!! How was that small sweet end? I didn't want to crowd it, so? Finale is…Arc Finito! Last arc is Ami's - and I am fashioning her around the appearance (not the attitude) of Tohsaka Rin from Fate/ Stay night. Whatever! I don't draw anymore so neh. She is going to be a gifted model Japanese resident student during the day, and a bad ass demon slayer (miko) onmyouji at night on the streets of Tokyo! Noted, she is sixteen in this so a year later pretty much.

Wait until you see…The Sun and Moon Rhapsody will have cameos with Raku, Constantine, Dick and Anna with our boy DS and Amaterasu will finally show? Jackie Stone, a new villain and a new threat in a dark mahou shoujo way – don't wanna miss!

Epilogue

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The rain ran heavy even after the summer was coming to a close. She did miss spring, but the thirty first of October?

There was some sort of intrinsic intrigue to be had with what lurked in the temples surrounding the whole of a city called...

Tokyo, her home for a few years now. A school for young Miko and priests too was the solution that breathed new meaning into the words magical and girl.

"Ami - chan! There!"

A four footed familiar had decided to tag along on a night as deranged as this. The gods of old had no control over their own kin so these creatures got ansty and moved down a tier to find Earth as their landing pad. Among the living, she could condone none on these actions as just.

With a pendant swingng of the five elements round her throat, tall boots laced up tight and a coat not enough to have the Wraith in this miko's path pull back her hood and freeze in place. Yet, no. Amelia Ami Takahara Grayson Anders was no quitter.

"Hold it there, Haru! Kaede! Come with me. I have to use a binding spell." With her talisman in hand, a slip of paper was tossed, then a third and a forth as the wraith screamed LOUDLY.

"HURRY up!!" Haru covered her furry hybrid ears as she changed back from her kyubi form. She had gotten better at recognizing the efforts of her self before it had been erased. The gods had wanted her to grow up quickly and so shee had, all too protect the sworn to vassal of Amaterasu - Hime.

"Ami... Anytime, miss - miko!"

Kaede growled and used her raozr sharp fans to cut the wraith's hair back a bit, a symbol of its magic power over the dark arts.

"Mirror of the sun maiden! I call upon you to seal the creature sent before us! Undo what is done, be right again!! Illuminate!!"

The others covered their eyes as Ami sealed the wraith inside of the magical relic to be cleansed and sent to the realm from whence it had come.

"Ahh...that was...the last one, right?"

Kaede had Ami give her a look bordering on impatience and fatigue as well.

Haru yawned and let her ears droop before reverting to her human disguise.

Kaede did the same, her punk - Gyaru fall garb was a bit intimidating while Ami still looked like a basic "Tuffy" from a few decades ago. (Buffy.)

"We went around Shinjuku, Akihabara...where else are we going to find more haunters like those five from -

Ami shivered as a ping sounded from her cell in her coat pocket.

"You didn't turn it on vibrate?? Why not vibrate?" Haru gawked and slapped her own face with a groan.

"See who it is." Kaede coaxed, while Ami rolled her eyes and didn't bother with a "whatever back."

She clicked on the device to her ear and forgot to turn it on speaker -

~ ARE YOU NOT AWARE OF WHAT TIME IT IS?? AMI! KAEDE! AND, HARU?? YOU ARE ALL OUT PAST CURFEW AND I WAS GOING TO CALL THE AUTHORITIES -

"We had..." Ami seethed into her teeth at Yumi's distant chilly whisps agianst their backsides. A Yuki - Onna deity of a sort, Tsuki - yumi was a bit...mothering even if these were not her kids. More so that she should be since Shoji just gave Ami the tools to fight yokai with her familiars.

"Work, again." The foxes groaned and decided to call it a night. Ami had her last day of class before the weekend and Jackie was going to visit next month before winter came -back to studies and al of that but a year without Purin??

Unthinkable, as the trio marche their way back to the metro line to find a way in the dark to the suburb that was their current dwelling.

Miko or no, that night had taken a lot to think over. The fight wasn't over as November was ready to nod a salute, and too was the picture of mystery come to another world to spread its message...

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Ami Chan's a nearly full fledged hunter and cleanser of evil and lost Yokai is Japan. Her idea is to finish highschool and then become the successor of Amaterasu, but can she pull it off? When the veil shatters in two, the sides of moon and sun are bound to face a magnificent force of great impact to their worlds. Will a new adventure begin for our miko, or will she hide her face and never become a real magical heroine?