Teen Titans New Gen Presents- Tokyo Knights-
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Chapter 37: New Years Resolutions
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"I MISSED IT???"
Ami's jaw remained slack as her dad returned wkth three bags of gifts from the Christmas that had hopped over them thanks to the rift opening. To them, it was a time skip ahead, and Ami didn't even believe it when Jackie had to stand up to do the same. "That's dumb, I was with dad and he –
"Raku is missing, so of course you have questions." Dick rubbed his neck as Haru and Kaede were still poking through the gifts on the floor. Even so, Yumi had to sigh at the picture. "Richard, the question was never answered. John Constantine was in the fight where we found Ami and her family."
"I think they were there to divide us up, and it successfully shows. John lost Raku, he went after Roko –
"What, wait. That crazy dopple – lady was with him??"
"I, didn't know until Shoji spoiled the moment."
"UNCLE SHOJI IS ALIVE??" Ami blurted out. Ava was in the kitchen with an electric kettle and the memory if such a shriek almost, nostalgic to her frost bitten ears. She poured herself a cup while Ichiro just shuffled in their seat. "You, mirror something. Is it impatience?" Ava soon asked, using her lounger to cool down her cup a bit.
"I am. The case with that cult, no one has told me what they found out about it. I can't leave yet –
"Should you? We are keeping you safer here than at the station." Ava took a new sip and pursed her lips, letting the heat mellow at her tongue.
"Is it too hot?"
"It, isn't my temperature, mainly preferable to spring water." Ava lied, only a bit. This person was still an outsider…Ami was trusting, though a might careless in being subtle about her abilities as Amaterasu's prodigal future replacement.
The same with the daughter of the north, Anya. Child of Lady Reia and Grandmother Hel.
"You're siblings, yet she is so different. I never had any brothers or sisters that I know well of." Ichiro shrugged and took a mug to pour a cup and join Ava in deep reflection.
"There is some similar quality in this meeting." Ava said, sounding rather prophetic by her soft and haunting tone of a cold wind blowing. "My sister is a polar opposite to me even though we aren't related."
Ichiro took to a tea strainer and chose Orange Pekoe. Yumi had clients that went all over the globe so nothing was a knock off of the original. "Wow, this is…"
"The world is so very large, but it is better not to share these small moments all alone." Ava smiled to her sister's new friend. "I know, your energy truly is as my own was, yet it tells me that your growth into the type of character you need to be is coming. Ah, it was…Very nice to get acquainted."
Ava took her cup to the next room as it held the perfect temperature. Ichiro sipped theirs and looked over the rim as the princess never seemed to say just what she felt, that she knew more than your average visitor from another world.
In spirit, Iyori – she could sense the magic in Ava and it stunned her as a high moon's bow. Touched by a winter moon, Ichiro stayed in the kitchen, feeling the tea warm them as it never had within the teen's old estate. Not since her family was together.
/
Kohaku made a call right off the bat to the inside eyes of his genius tech wizard. Takahara Corp had time to gain back its working parts, yet Shoji had vanished …as had his lovely vice chair person.
Sakurano Ayane.
He was greeted in the midst of a vicious voicemail by his ancestral spirit guide, the eight legged monster had his full attention as Kohaku went to close the blinds in his manor. The dark was what she needed, being a nocturnal entity.
"Jorogumo – San." He was nervous enough to mix up honorifics as she slipped past in her large, bulbous base if a spider, yet with the upper body of a real creature.
~ I cannot meet you now, yet you will allow me the privilege to foresee any events with the miko of the goddess. I wish a truck be played. There is a powerful curse. One of icy hearts, and so.~
She returned her hand with a card, a note inside that was scented of poison and death. "What, and to whom?" The CEO swallowed, not touching the note. He knew she was deadly in her desire to take. While he wanted Iyori to stay for this all to work out. Her power was not yet at its zenith, but when it was…
~ My underlings saw that your young child has left us.~
" She will be found. I cannot allow for the plan to fail –
~ See that this then, brings her out of hiding. While incapacitating the threat of that sorceress of the sun God's light.~
Kohaku caught his breath as the note lost that aura of disease. His sigh was permanently a given that she had won his mind over the instance.
~ This will go to someone whose soul is not long. The miko will come to rescue it. You shall have Saturday delivery this notice, and my dear Ageha will be going after the runt fox that might try to disobey his exiled orders…you must not let them back. That, and the soldiers from earlier. She shines so, of our enemy.~
Kohaku nodded. His mild bow pleased her. "As you wish, Jorogumo. To think that the ancestors have brought you to me. It is a gift, truly. I will do as you wait on, and to that…" He withheld a breath as she smiled toothless back.
~ The woman you knew is close, very. Very close to this plane. I hold her body, yet her spirit lies beyond. The web casting preserves every inch, though what of that child? ~
" She is nothing. Her arrival was the reason my partner…she was to die. A sacrifice. Iyori – san is not my child, not anymore."
/
They parted as the spider by his window watched on. The demon left to go seek the gateway to her realm of the past.
~ Lord Raku…was it?~
~ Nay, I am never.~ The child was in her web in her realm as beside the demon, was a new mind to toy with. So she believed.
~ Raku, this is insane that you won't gain back your full abilities to free us both! Why take orders from mortals and celestial?~ Roko leaned onto the wall and Raku only groaned at her question.
~ You know I'm trying to help you. We are merely bonded by lore. By the possibility of rebirth –
~I chose to guide and guard. Never to harm again.~ Raku huffed out from within his cage. ~ I've faced Lilu. Befriended an Ethereal heir. Contracted with a chosen of light on earth. Awakened the bird of rebirth to save a time-line that should never have been in mortal peril. Defeated and erased every ounce of the Red Lord, Lothos from existence upon my skin. Saved a fallen deity Eris from finding no great peace in her time to now. Recovered from the death of my father, thrice. Knowing he still guides me, that - I wish to do it all. I do not fear what is to come of me, as you say.~
~ Then be it as it may, you'll abide by your new contract.~
Jorogumo sniffed. ~ Your contract with me, is to become a catalyst and to craft a world that was once alive. Not one that is not. I want the past of my sun – country, reborn –
~ It can be done, yet I have not the power without being bound to it. True Djinn are boundless, yet I still reign as half a mortal.~ Raku shakily stood, only to be pulled back down.
~ Rest, for you'll be ready. I only need a second part; a key to unlock that potential fire if creation in which your ancestors sought to never touch.~
Raku rose his spine, his anger not there, yet his anxiety did spike. ~ You can't know of that flame. There are only few that do-
~ Those that I've met, Saturday? He is one of your kind. A djinn. He said to me, that they still are alive. That he will take you to them once our wish is granted.~
Raku's eyes fell to longing, until he saw in the corner a panting body. A coat wearing mortal that made his voice cry out. "John??"
"Only demon's can get in, but I heard every bloody word. He made a promise at that. Take it or let us both out, beastie. Roko?"
~ Right.~ She snapped her fingers as the bonds broke. They didn't see however the hoard of spiders as they were outnumbered fairly quickly.
John stuck by Roko as they gathered up a point of energy and shot at the spider queen's staff. She yelled out, and the spiders lunged at John first.
Roko took in a gulp of air, vanishing and going right for Raku to drag him from the swarm.
"Help…John –
"You don't order me, and I'm not here to save the man that branded us."
"He, can help. I can't use my powers." Raku confessed. Roko clicked her tongue as she worked her gaze at the spider squad. They hissed and fell back in a few leads from her red eyes, the rest on John who was using spells in Hiragana to get the creatures off of him. Jorogumo however their luck, was gone. With a book that belonged to John. A crystal he'd used to get this place.
"You…." John huffed at Roko as she used her powers to cripple the spiders before they turned to smoke and left the cave. "You put us all in danger, and now she's run loose into the city. Who knows where! I can't catch her alone, and him?" He pointed at Raku as the boy tried to gather himself. "Your neck." John pointed with a softer and more concerned set of eyes on the kid's nape "You're not going to lose her that quickly."
"Ageha took me here, as my professor. She disguised herself, then sucked out something…I can't cast or I'm worried Ignito will become reckless in my state."
"That he will. Like you." He pointed his chin to dip at Roko. "Why did you lie and run after them? Was it to find a way to free him, really? You told me –
"That I do want to change. Humanity, may not be great in the long term, bit it fits. What I need. So, Raku?" Roko helped the teen up as they made eye contact. "After Jorogumo is stopped, I want you to grant me one wish. To become a human girl. Not without my witch's heritage for protection, but…" John saw her in another way, maybe what he'd only looked at her as a monster up till now.
That, or it was a good trick and Jorogumo wanted them to run for it. If Roko was right, then he had to know the very truth deep in those red eyes.
"I can try, it will take time. At this stage, my powers are revealed only in crisis." Raku explained, his voice sounding very strained. "Jorogumo could hide, but Ageha's influence still keeps me weakened. If I can't help you then…"
"You will." John cleared his throat, wanting to be the very hope that Raku wasn't happy to carry upon his back. "Roko. If she means what she's said and stayed for, then she won't leave us to suffer. Right, lov?"
"Call me by my name, if you please."
Roko swished her long mane aside as Raku struggled without them. So, being the eldest personally, John took over taking them all home. "She's not returning here." Roko told the magi. "Raku, he can free me. I know so. He has to get better…fight the damned mark like Rokuro had tried and failed to."
John didn't say much as Roko added her magic to increase the gap that would set them back to their present day.
/
In the corners if that world, Jorogumo's spying spiders had one clung to Roko's dress as she moved to leave the nest of arachnid demons.
~ She will take us to the children, yet a gift.~ Jorogumo soon smiled as her body started to shift and crackle full of magic. ~ I've had my fill enough to aid my dear descendent in your earth, Chosen children…~
/
Ageha heard it as a sound as she used her craft to find Roko's whereabouts in her mind eye. Her wings were now outstretched to show how the moth powder did work. To create illusionary visions of ill defeat, to taunt those she was willing to devour. Saturday showed up as the cab was set to find the many. Osaka was not far, though Tokyo was a light off where John had decided to stay the night.
She grinned by where in the city. The dog was alive and well, Shoji was not kicked hard enough. And…was a hotel nearby holding an aura of the sun's protection to the southern plane?
~ That, is their body guard.~ Saturday told Ageha as she nodded, tapping a long nail to her chin tentatively.
~ We, more like two or three. Slade and Anna, I believe. The assassin's that are keen on Shoji's home a few times now.~ Hummed the djinn. ~Though, I do wonder why they gather here where they are targeted by anything –
~ That fire can burn us.~ Sniffed Ageha, bobbing her neck and rolling her eyes by enough disdain for the topic. ~ That child must be caged. I know what to do, yet as a Dreamweaver of nightmares, that should be once and for all the miko we attack. I instead think….~ She tapped her finger deeper to her chin, biting the tip. ~ That the sisters need be not a peace forevermore. Conflict is well and good, who knows? We might even drive out the young fae of the clan lost. Jorogumo – sama will have her happily ever after!~
Frowning, Saturday looked on through eyes wider as Slade moved towards Anna's guest room. ~ Oh?~
The two watched, waiting to dig up more dirt on the enemy. Even while what rendezvous it looked to be, was all in a misunderstanding.
Even at best, while Rose scrolled on her phone.
While Shoji detoxed his dark energies via a mantra.
While Anna gripped her own skull and stifled a sob out.
/
"Why did you do it?"
Slade stood by the door, clicking it in place quietly.
"Why did I….change the rules, you mean? You have your family. I thought it best to still have a choice –
"Not that. You…you gave up, on going full blown immortal. Don't lie. You, really didn't want to hurt anyone. Dad is like a son to you, weird as that is and me? Am I the same as Rose or…"
"You're overthinking your position as my charge, that's all."
"You literally stopped the fire bird and now you SAY that you're helping people." Anna snorted. "You even stopped dad from getting back at you and Eiji never made the contract at all. But you pushed him to ALMOST do it… So, why are you still with my family? I thought-
"Guilt." Slade said, his voice dropping with his mask, the sweat caking around his patch as he wiped it with a stray tissue from a box by the dresser. "When your father was saved because of my blood, my serum, I didn't just owe it to him to keep walking. I wanted him to survive, endure. I knew back then that it was Roku controlling my thoughts as to why, and now? I'm guilty for not changing things as we…let them be. I stayed, because, I do care. I respect your father and Shoji pays very well on his own to keep my pockets full on this fun little winter vacation. I also know that if you had stayed with your father and mother, you wouldn't be here. Safe. Alive. Comforted."
"Only you, could be him. You really hate my dad. I wasn't wrong."
"The spite of it all, Anna, I don't want you to "never" go back to what you were with them. Not ever."
"What? But you ah….is this a proposal??"
"In a way, to keep my long-term promises standing and that eye on only you, then yes. To be, my eventual partner."
Anna ran for the bed and stood on it. Her heart racing. "What the hell?? You're old and, I'm a student, only because you want me to not destroy the world, right? Reset it back to the beginning?"
"Or a world you couldn't imagine to ever fathom, my dear. I wanted to protect you. Grayson could not allow me to do the same, to make him stronger. But, you need me." He said in a smoky hued voice. "You want me to stay by your side, immortal or not. And I have decided that I will, if you'll allow that. Or?"
"Or…." Anna raised an eye, pulse dropping as he stood up. "You get to remain collared and leashed under this petty path we've got. You'll be as useless as Terra was, nothing. Just useful. Would it be any better to think of this as a promotion, the thing Astarte never gave a damn about to a thing like you?"
"You … sick…I have a life out there!"
"TAILORED BY OTHERS." Slade shot down her throat. "You wouldn't have anything without your powers. No, my dear. Like your father, a below average life never suited you or him. If you imagine it, you could rewrite the world up to that point. Before he'd ever met me or Roku. But what about Raku? He'd go back to being a creature of myth as a mass murderer. Your brother would never awaken, he's fine with being what you refuse to admit. You never liked the limelight once, and yet you're your father's child, Anna." Slade tilted his head at her. "Would you ask to join an army with more bruises, more cuts and less wit than you've ever had? I don't see that in you, even if you have the power to run the world without them. Even then, I 'd still follow you to any ends, help you along on –
"Shut up!..." Anna felt her wave of magic drift as she only left her lips to breath smoke, coughing on it. "That stupid rank, was because it was earned. You have no right to call my family out. Not me, not -
"It backfires, hurts. Doesn't it? If I upset you, I can make you stronger as well." He ignored her, making her nervous as their first meeting. "You can't admit our compatibility on that field. The same one Nightwing refused, I'm giving you the chance to snatch it back.
"Not-
"Think on it." Slade walked to the door, letting Anna cower to her knees on the bed in her uniform. "IF you say yes, I won't even touch you. I will only be there to make sure you cannot burn away this world on your own. Ami may be the innocence of that fire, Aiden could be the courage within, Raku is the manifestation of it all, but you? Are the contrary of that fire. And it, is amazing to see you lose control." He smirked back. "Call for me. Anytime…"
She gasped, his face moving away as the door opened, his last words making her skin crawl. "Sleep on it. Dream well, Hanna."
He…fuck it!
She tossed a pillow at his face but missed as he'd already clicked the door shut. Shit. Shit, he didn't…
He was trying to manipulate her before, when did he act so goddamn –
"Dad…" She swallowed a gulp and dug for her burner. "He tried to warn me, I…I can't do this anymore…"
She put up with it for the security. The benefit. For the fact that Slade despite his flaws was …better than her own father. Slade had written over the entire chapter as if Grayson didn't exist at all. She was happy to have money, food, a job. The one she had was like being spit on constantly. Here, she…she made it work, but he wanted to …
A false union. Like Terra.
She didn't want to go to sleep.
~ IF you say yes, I won't even touch you. I will only be there to make sure you cannot burn away this world on your own. Ami may be the innocence of that fire, Aiden could be the courage within, Raku us the manifestation of it all but you? Are the contrary of that fire. And it, is amazing to see you lose control. Call for me. Anytime…~
Anytime. That meant, to keep her out of the line or to cross it to benefit his needs. Was she a lighter in the dark? No! And she….she was what? Twenty or twenty-one?? She wasn't not legal. But, it was indentured work! Was Rose even aware??
She tried to hit the button, yet the entire thing turned off. Charge? Dead, no. Disconnect. She fished for another. All gone. She got up and started to try a trick of meditation, to c-
Her body was stiff, all of herself fell back into the bed with eyes wide open. In the doorway, was Slade as she didn't speak a word yet. "You can't leave until you've made your choice. If you defy me, I'll know how to get rid of them, Anna. You, would be a shell of your former self to betray nothing you didn't intend to by staying at my side before."
"Get….out…"
"Frozen. I was given the ability by Autur to keep you locked up. A stun spell, and the collar stopped working so I've got ten a new one on pre order from my client. Think of it as a wedding gown. From the groom. Lady Autur, will still give me my crown if only I keep you in your chains - taught enough for us both?" He rubbed his chin, wondering if Autur had a loophole to go through about what he was insinuating. "Like your father, just a caged songbird unless you agree. Go to sleep, no more of this."
"ASS…HOLE!"
"GOOD. NIGHT." He shut the door as her body moved by her heart beating, but her arms and legs were hit almost by a venom to stay stunned that way all night.
Curses and angry fucking gods. Autur was dead meat!
Anna shut her eyes and wanted to believe that his words weren't true. Like Tara, she had to fight. She could. Not now, because a true Grayson took time enough to consider their plan of attack and to find a way to freedom.
~ If only I'd not been so stupid on my own, dad…praise isn't love. It's scary. I'm sorry…~ She cried through the night. Though not knowing, using the speak.
Ageha saw it and dabbed at her eyes, Saturday hummed away and floated. Both had a plan. Grayson, the male father figure was currently with Jackie and Ami , and Ichiro. The boy that has another aura he held…
Very, very curious.
~ The plan, will be to feed on their disputes. This time, brother against brother. That should bring out the one we are searching for and weaken the defenses of the miko.~
/
Ahega smiled as they flew off into the city. Shoji sneezed as his last candle burned out. Not a good sign.
"Looks like I'm active. Probation my ass." He rose, getting his garb and weapons ready before morphing into Verra, the cutest crazy hybrid fox in all the world.
~ No sounds to wake them. Have to take my time …I sensed demonic energy just now. The candles.~ He grumbled on all fours. ~ Went out there, were dangerous, something is wrong enough to call in…ugh…her help.~ He groaned, opening a vortex as the winding underworld was looking a tad darker these days.
/
What did Slade mean by, Partner?? In that context is it blackmail, and why is Autur not aware of how manipulative he is?? Is Dick really aware that Slade turned Anna against her father's wishes because of Nightwing's love - hate relationship with the sociopath?
Who is Shoji going to find in the underworld?? Ami and her fam are in danger! Find out, and is Roko legit and a good aspect now?? Where is Rokou? Find out!
