Teen Titans – Sun and Moon Rhapsody – Illuminate My Earth –

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Chapter 6: Spirited Away; New Answers

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Ami didn't weep, she whined most of the way, and sputtered tears in an ugly manner while blaming it mostly on her imaginary sister's possessor in horns and with pointed elf ears.

"Ava would never come after us and take away my powers! Why is this happening??" She wept and felt the whole world bleed grey as Ami gasped, the red in her turtleneck or the kimono she'd never have as Shoji showed to bring them to his secret lab, until Kaede in her more human guise said to turn towards the park.

"The shrine?" Haru sniffed and looked out at the streets from their car window. Ayane was waiting for Shoji to turn up, so Dick and Kori stayed while Ann went with the Titans and Aiden to help them through another portal.

The world was slowly fractured, bit by bit as Ami whimpered and held onto the broken mirror of Amaterasu in her grasp. The pieces couldn't be melted or glued back in place. She was…a failure as a goddess's vassal. It was over, so why were her foxes trying to help at all?

"You can just let me go, here." Ami swallowed as her mother gripped the child's arm, her grip taught yet never to punish. "We should then go as well –

"No." Ami bit her lip, Shoji lowering his gaze as he pulled up to the steps. "This, is not a fight at all, but a place to meet and…. fix what I broke." Ami opened the car door and took the mirror, the foxes reverting to their spirit guises with Ami in her normal mortal outfit. She was unworthy? Then why was she here??

Ami traversed the steps to the side, never the center where the gods walked as she'd been told. The teenager made her way, her breath even as she clutched the mirror, the realm shrouded in mystery as the stairwell was a gateway –

"Ami!!" Dick was stopped by Verra in his fox form. ~No. This is her battle, it's not your time. Let her go to the god's realm… ~ His ears lowered, Dick feeling helpless as he sat in the car and waited, the hours…too soon to know as time moved differently in the land of the spirits.

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Ami kept walking down a fox fire lit path as the song of the spirits tempted her to continue forth into the unknown. The waterways before her were a maze of planks and steps that she dared not climb unless it way the way to the god she wished to connect with. Her fox allies became kitsune and trod beside the sixteen-year-old converted miko. Her clothing again, was not as her blessed uniform of a sacred soldier to the sun maiden.

The three came to a gateway that was not lit, if not by the sun then the moon had iced it over.

"I…. can't go in." Ami's sigh though had her shake her head, her arms up as she tried. There had to be a power of the sun…of, her birthrite!

The bolts melted the ice, her smile returned briefly as the foxes craned their heads to see many more of their kind beyond those gates. Kaede switched bodies to her hybrid form as Haru stayed with her eyes wide as the moon.

~ Oukaa san!! ~

A tall, silver haired fox woman was there in a pale shade of blue as she nodded to the two to join her, Ami being allowed since she had passed the test. Barely.

~Child of the sun and the Earthen plane of the present era. ~ The mother to the two by her title was not the only shock. Ami bowed deeply in thanks and then spoke as she was expected to answer their questions. ~ I am. I came to see, if this relic…this gift can be repaired. ~ She brought out the mirror of cracked shards and saw the foxes all start to chatter as birds to a flock.

~The Goddess's charm! ~

~She had it all along? Is it real? ~

~Why is she not from the countries of our original creation? What was the maiden thinking! ~

~Mama? Why is that lady not wearing a kimono? She looks funny. ~

Ami blushed and kowtowed, this was too late a time to be at ends with the creatures she had protected for a few years now. ~I am a mediator of the sun goddess…. I beg you! I wish to talk to her…. she, she and I have a bond and she may be dying –

~Death?? This child brings ill tidings to us all! ~

~She is cursed! She is a human?? ~

~Calm yourselves, kitsune and spirit of the sacred space in time. ~ Kaede's mother seemed to be the head of the group, her dark eyes staring back at the teenager with curiosity behind them. ~You say that the gift was from the goddess herself, is this true? Then, what is your true reason for wishing to fix that mirror. ~

~To, save my world, and the people I care for –

~ Lies, to only you. ~ Kaede's mother swept over in the form of a dark blue furred beast. Ami held her breath, knowing her Onmyouji training. ~You wish to be special, to use the magic of the light relic to be as you were. You are no goddess. We will see to the mirror, for it shall take time –

~That is, it though! ~ Ami protested, Haru whimpering as Ami ignited her desire to step in. She couldn't for her race was one of order, not chaos.

~The spirit planes are also under attack, not just my world. ~ Ami told the goddess's allies.

~Is this the truth? ~

~It is, mother. ~ Kaede spoke up, her tongue dry as the older kitsune's eyes narrowed in annoyance at the interruption of her eldest. ~Mother, this girl is a vassal and a chosen of the east sun in spirt and body. You must trust her, for the goddess and we sisters are aware that this threat is in fact not of human knowledge. They are being harmed at a rate like our own of the realm of the gods…Amaterasu was healed before, yet that mirror and Ami, they are her lifeline to the world of the mortals in which Ami serves. ~ The fox explained. ~If there is no bridge between us, they will fall apart; every last being depends on the humans' thoughts and dreams to expand – to thrive. Without that earth….we do not need to exist. ~

The truth. The whole truth was that the mirror image of the human realm was the spirit boundary. The place where the Titans had gone to see the departed live new lives and to bring life to their world day by day, never ending.

~Then, we did help you to heal…the last time. ~ Ami gasped. ~ I want to save Amaterasu – hime! ~ She kowtowed until her face hit the wooden planks of the platform over the waterways to this realm. ~I will do what I must to allow that pact with the sun to never go out, so please…. ~

The disdainful parent and over protective clan head of the foxes returned to her hybrid body and made sure to look upon this world's smallest savior since Momotaro.

~Very well. You may proceed to the temple of the sun maiden, yet she is resting to heal herself. ~

Ami gritted her fists and nodded. ~ I understand. I won't let you down. ~

~We? ~ Scoffed the fox as her body swapped to that of a smaller blue kitsune, no a Kyubi by her nine tails she had kept hidden. Kaede walked over to Ami as did Haru, both pulling her from the ground to walk the path up to the most sacred of spaces.

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Their one goddess resided in that temple as Ami was told to go up a stone set of steps. To train her mind at the wafting miasma as it was contained. Just die off toxins from the earth's collapse. The foxes waited outside; they knew that the goddess had summoned only her before her final moments.

Her earth was in danger, as Ami made it to the mat of the goddess, her main body swathed in white…

No…. she couldn't –

As if the same would happen to any. Whether it was Vespa or Cici, their roles involved those that they were not exactly close to, or even Alue…she had mourned her teacher for a long enough time to seek out revenge…

~I…I'm so sorry…this is all my fault…. I want to save you; I don't care about my magic if…if it's meant to do…this…. ~ Ami bit back a whimper until she saw the goddess before her, in spirit as the face was chalk, the eyes so deep and inky to her even in the light . ~I am never to perish; you are my continuation. If that is what you wish…yet the world cannot forever fight the darkness without the sun to brush clouds away, you are their answer. ~ Amaterasu hime brushed a few tears from Ami's cheek as she put her forehead to the girl's. ~ Your sibling was tempted not by her own darkness, yet the one of the people whom she wishes not to be. Her own art is corrupted –

~ I don't want to hurt her…. there must be a wa y –

~Purify her, and then you will know…. ~

~The mirror, it…it can't lend me that power. ~ Ami sniffed as the goddess contemplated this information quietly a moment. ~ The time it shall take, you must use an exorcist ability to vanquish as you have, yet without the power of a goddess, simply as you. ~

~ Me? ~ Ami gawked. ~I'm…just useless if I can….do I have it? That gift or was…. was choosing me a mistake…am I the one that weakened you? ~

~Nay, the cycle of my life will end, yes and when you are ready…then my crown of the sun will be your own crest, my dear. ~ The goddess smiled warm as the sun to Ami, knowing that there was no error in what she had done. ~ The time with Athena made me remember my true purpose for allowing a half human child my rites; she is wise, and strong and shines as the sun must to cast away the dark clouds from our worlds. You are its protector through and through. ~ Amaterasu had started to wane as Ami blink away tears and nodded to sleeping body right below her.

~I…understand, I'll do everything I can. Become a real miko and save the world…can…I really do all of that in a few days??? ~

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