203 Unsavory Truths

30 advance chapters in my Pat.reon. Pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.

Please gimme 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Your Powerstones People.

::--------------------------------------------::

(General P.O.V) (Themyscira)

The warm sunny day that had been there only minutes prior suddenly disappeared. Apollo's light was instantly covered by dark and roiling clouds. Hippolyta's heart grew heavy with worry and care.

She spared a look behind her and saw every one of her sisters and subjects sharing that same concern on their faces. They had all...her thoughts were cut off as a magnificent pillar of light landed on top of the raised stage that the priestesses of the gods carried out their ceremonies.

Immediately, all the Amazon's knelt down. Hippolyta was about to follow the example when her shoulders were lightly gripped by her daughter. No...not just her daughter anymore. Diana was different now. Diana was more. And the sooner Hippolyta understood that, the better it would be for everyone.

"Mother? What is this?"

Diana asked with a tone of confusion. Hippolyta dared to raise her eyes, establishing contact with Diana's own beautiful blue eyes. Her lips parted in muted shock.

The armor covering her was... beautiful. She was beautiful. And her aura, standing so close to her daughter, Hippolyta felt the motherly love she held for Diana almost consume her. Her daughter had done the impossible. Diana had become what they worshipped.

"We all saw the Iris projection. We know. We all know Diana."

She told her, rubbing the hand Diana had placed on her shoulder.

The Themysciran princess could not believe it. This was not how she wanted to address this matter. She gingerly stepped forward and cast her gaze across the whole courtyard, filled to the brim with every Amazonian apart from the ones guarding the Island's perimeter.

"Arise dear sisters." She spoke up, her voice easily projecting through the whole area. "I have fought, trained, feed and bathed with all of you. I am still your Diana. And nothing can change that."

The roar of approval that escaped them was deafening. Diana's face split into a smile.

"Tonight, we celebrate in the honor of our daughter and sister, Diana of Themyscira, God queen of the deities!"

The high priestess took over, making the crowd go even crazier.

Meanwhile Diana turned to her mother, somberly.

"We need to talk."

Hippolyta nodded with a grave expression on her face. She knew what being a god entailed. It came with powers that mortals would never understand. And after millenia of raising her daughter, she could almost predict every single one of Diana's motives. Hippolyta knew what Diana wanted to ask and she prepared herself to receive her hate.

Once they were in her private chamber after the wild celebrations that carried on through the night, Diana went straight to the point.

"What really happens to the sons of the Amazons?"

Hippolyta sucked in a deep breath. It was exactly as she feared.

(Aden's P.O.V)

I breathed in deeply. The sun above us hit my bare skin, feeling pleasant when paired up with the soft breeze brewing all around us.

Yaotl stood before me as well. A Torquoise flame suffused his War god form, as he shifted into a dark brown young looking man. So far all my spirits had the ability to shape shift into a human form and it seemed as if Yaotl was no different.

I stretched my limbs, hearing a satisfying crack while readying myself for the spar. The spar was hand to hand only. I wanted to test just how powerful Yaotl was when he wasn't in his Jaguar form or War God form.

We moved in an unseen signal. Turns out he was just a shameless cheater. I had been training with Bronze Tiger who had completely broken down my close combat skills and helped me build them up from the ground. Yet Yaotl was more than keeping up with me.

We sparred for a few hours then ended it as I used my superior speed to place him in a submission hold that he couldn't get out of. I then introduced him to the joys of GRANGO! the day ended with a barbecue on the beach, watching the ocean water softly hit the shore line.

The next day was spent trying to find out what he could do and some bonding time with the kids. For the power testing, I had the kids mob him. It was funny to see how Yaotl was struggling to overcome getting blown sideways from left to right by Breeze. Then Kai and Sai would send flame attacks that were on par with Yaotl's own mystic flames before Match took advantage of the openings and dove in with his stronger body to land heavy kicks and punches.

"Their team work is amazing."

Kori commented while grabbing the popcorn in the bowl between us.

I nodded.

"I'm tempted to say it's the innate link they possess but the truth is they're just that good at working together."

I felt Kori turn to me with an unsure look on her face.

"Hey, so...I was wondering..."

"You wanna leave."

I concluded with a small smile.

"Yes. I have duties to the team." She responded looking away.

"I love being with the kids but I cannot be stuck here forever Aden. And neither can they."

She added.

My heart grew cold at her statement.

"What do you mean by that? They're not stuck here. This is their home."

Kori was silent and I found myself hoping that we dropped the subject.

"Aden, you're too overprotective at times." She started, placing a hand above the back of my palm.

"They need an education. School. They need to learn how to interact with other kids their mental age. And loathe as I am to admit it, you cannot give them that. Not really."

I inhaled a slow breath. There was a dozen ways I could respond. Anger, a joke to divert our minds...

But the fact remained that Kori had a point.

"I would like to tell you I'll think about it Kori but..."

She sighed.

"I understand and so, here's my second suggestion, let them visit me occasionally. I want to spend more time with them and I know they would like that as well."

She squeezed my hand, prompting me to look into her green eyes.

"I'll keep them safe. The team will keep them safe. This I swear."

She said with conviction dripping off her voice. I couldn't really say no to that. Especially when I knew how attached they were to their 'mom'. Because that's what Kori was. Even though things between us were complicated and wouldn't be solved in only a few days of interaction, no one could take her position in their hearts.

"What about Match?"

I asked her.

"How long will you keep him away from them without feeling guilty?"

Kori asked me.

I looked at the kids playing with their big brother.

"To be honest...it's already started feeling guilty."

"I need to be there for the next briefing."

Star said while getting up.

"I'll take you."

I rose up as well, feeling dejected that I was about to lose her presence. I placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her to look at me.

My lips stretched into a sad smile.

"Hey...umm, I really missed you, you know."

Star pulled in closer, laying her head on my shoulder. My heart started hammering inside my chest. Star felt warm. A warmth that reminded me that I'd lost it once.

"Me too."

Star said, pulling me back from my thoughts.

"We should talk. About us."

I told her raising my hands to wrap them around her body.

"We will. Soon."

Star nodded as I held her for a few more minutes before Yaotl's cry of frustration reminded us of the match happening and had us laughing.

(A few hours later)

Now normally the kids were very self sufficient. I could leave them alone in the realm for a few days and they would be okay. However, I would have felt more at ease if there was someone to baby sit them for me whenever I was away.

And because Vaatu needed a Raava, why not kill two birds with one stone? So I was already making steps to creating a spirit of order, one who would hopefully be the big sister that Sai and the others needed. At least when Star and I were occupied by other things.

Unfortunately...I had no idea where to start with this. I did ask Star for her opinion but she was similarly stumped as well. She did ask me why I didn't use the same process I brought about Yaotl to create Raava but it wasn't the same. Yaotl was a byproduct of the old magic suffusing the old Aztec ruins. Vaatu was forged of chaos. Raava needed to be forged of order.

Back to Vaatu, the spirit of Raava was forming inside him. She would remain nascent up until I took the initiative to separate her from him. And I needed to do so because they each needed a balance, otherwise Vaatu's sheer presence would cause things to fall into chaos even without trying.

So what Raava needed was a vessel that was strong enough to handle her. Vaatu had been formed by pairing the chaos spirit with Zeus' unborn godly child. Raava needed almost the same. Someone who would be Vaatu's equal in everything.

This led me to considering an unusual option. The last time I had been in Nimue's shop, something had caught my eye on her extensive library. There was a branch of magic called destiny weaving, it's utility was minimal in the grand scheme of things but after perusing it lightly, I understood exactly what it allowed.

Nimue had in her hands a way to influence Plot. Saying it like that makes it sound very powerful. Plot is what ensured Jason Todd survived the beating he would get in the future from Joker. It was what ensured that at the end of the day, no matter how bad things were, the heroes eventually won. Destiny weaving couldn't control that. To my knowledge no one except one being could. Even the Fates were restricted but...Destiny, my brother wasn't.

There in laid the problem. Destiny never interfered. I had asked Dream about our other siblings and that is what he'd told me about him. He only observed. The good thing is while Destiny weaving was only limited to actually viewing people you had a shared Destiny with, my powers were weird. If I could somewhat tweak the spell with some help from Zatara or Constantine, then I could essentially find the best candidate to become Raava, instead of creating her from scratch. They would be like an Avatar. My Avatar.

I was giddy with the prospects.

As we stepped into the Watchtower from the boom tube, the first thing I noticed was the scuff marks along the walls of the structure. Yaotl was behind us in his human form, dressed in his war god armor. The mood along the table was subdued and in some cases hostile. Wonder Woman sat at the end of the table, very decidedly in her human form and a frown marring her beautiful festures. Welp, that answers whether or not she talked with her mother.

It seems as if she was yet to inform the League on her new status as the god queen of the Olympian Pantheon though.

Starfire smiled upon seeing the team all safely gathered along the huge Justice League table.

It seemed as if we had just arrived in time for the briefing.

"Intruder alert! intruder alert!"

The Watchtower AI started blaring the security breach throughout the huge chamber because of my god of war.

"He's with me."

I spoke up, feeling Yaotl tense behind me as he readied himself for a fight situation. The Leaguers were really really really not happy to see me.

"We need to talk."

Batman gruffly directed the statement my way.

I smirked.

"But of course."

Glad to see nothing has changed too much. I wonder what they will say now? Haven't they realized that no one can control me like the League has always tried? In any case, it doesn't hurt to humor them. In the future they will be an integral part of some of my plans anyway.