Death
"I. Am. The. New. God. All is one in Darkseid. This mighty body is my church. When I command your surrender, I speak with eight billion voices. When I make a fist to crush your resistance. It is with eight billion hands! When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams. And break your heart. It is with sixteen billion eyes! Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you. Nothing will again. I will take you to a hell without exit or end. And there I will murder your souls! And make you crawl and beg! And die! Die! DIE FOR DARKSEID!"
—Darkseid, Final Crisis
********
It was the end of the world, and I couldn't help but laugh.
The whole world was against me.
Good.
It wouldn't be fair otherwise.
I let another one of Lightray's energy blasts pass through me to crash harmlessly against the Jewel, rematerializing to try and cut off his arm with the Godslaying blade.
He dodged.
Because, of course, he did.
I swear, as soon as we were done with this world, I was finding a way to raise my speed in the next one we visited. It wasn't too much of a problem when I could ambush people, set traps, or prepare countermeasures ahead of time.
But when I couldn't, Comic Bullshit became extra bullshit.
The attack by the New Gods of Genesis had been a surprise, as had the revelation that Darkseid had been framing me as being him, but I honestly wasn't too put out with it. It seemed to be his MO with his current plan, pitting people he couldn't control against each other.
More surprising was that Darkseid had completed the Anti-Life Equation.
In that weird scooter thing that looked so silly in the comics, Orion was able to engage Lightray on a more even footing, speed-wise.
I took the chance to ambush Big Barda with hundreds of Homing Crystal Soul Spears.
It was a veritable ocean of pale blue light that drowned the woman.
She shattered them all.
Fucking comics, man.
Still, I had expected it.
I had spent the last few months working with Medea of Colchis, one of the greatest mages in all of history. My spells had evolved well beyond the limits of the original Soulsborne games.
The blue tide of crystals shattered, releasing an eruption of Fia's Mist that choked the sky with pale grey energy.
I imagine the woman held her breath, but that didn't really matter for this spell. It wasn't poison.
Big Barda never escaped the cloud.
When it dispersed less than a second later, thanks to the shockwaves of the fight, her body was trapped in a macabre display. Black barbs of roots and vines had erupted from every inch of her body like a pin cushion, trapping her in place as maggots and flies were birthed and started to consume her body.
Deathblight was one of the worst ways to die.
I would know.
The spell initially only worked on Tarnished like I had been, but I had adapted it with Medea and Priscilla's aid to target all 'Life' I wanted. It was as close to a conceptual attack as I could manage, its only weakness being that it acted like a gas, making it slow.
Which made it useless unless I took opponents by surprise.
"What did you do to her?" Scott Free, Mister Miracle himself, asked me as he fought another of his compatriots. I didn't recognize this one off the top of my head.
"She was a big bad barda. I put her in time out."
And it still wasn't enough to kill the New God.
I could sense it like I did with all my kills. Just like I knew the Simurgh had died, I knew Big Barda was still alive, even trapped and being consumed by Deathblight.
I guess it was for the best.
While I wasn't opposed to killing these people, they had attacked me before being controlled, I still preferred to Free them if I could.
The problem was that I still had no idea how they had gotten infected by the Anti-Life Equation in the first place. As far as I knew, they had been on Earth for less than a minute and had not interacted with anything that could have transmitted it to them.
So I either killed them or put them out of the fight until I could deal with Darkseid.
All things considered, things were going well.
Sure, the surprise attack wasn't what we were expecting, but it was honestly for the better, in my opinion than the alien invasion alternative.
By targeting my Family directly, we didn't have to worry about civilian casualties for the most part, which had been the most significant limiting factor in the battle against the Endbringers.
Sure, some battles were literally unwinnable. Artoria and Diana, despite being two of our strongest, had no way of beating Zion.
We weren't trying to win.
We were trying to stall while keeping most of our opponents alive. Scathach could have slain her enemies pretty quickly if she wanted to, but we all knew they were little more than mindless victims. Slaves to the Anti-Life Equation.
Perhaps the greatest example was Melina's fight against the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Valeria. More than anything else, that proved that Darkseid no longer needed the emotional component of his plans.
We might have already lost if the Phoenix Force hadn't been actively counteracting Franklin Richard's power.
As it was, Melina was fighting them all with shocking efficiency after semi-separating herself from the psychic entity.
They were one, and they were two. Different, yet the same.
A way to maximize the use of the Phoenix Force while being a substandard host.
Melina wasn't winning, but she wasn't losing either, showing how far she had come from initially becoming a Host of the Phoenix Force.
I was increadibly proud of her. Of all of them.
I couldn't use my main body against most of our foes due to collateral, but I didn't need to.
By not losing, we were winning.
Because some battles would be won eventually. My money was on Caster and Emma sealing Eden, Schatach trapping her foes in a rune, or Raven subduing literally everyone else.
Darkseid even did us a favour by pitching the missing heroes against us. We had been genuinely helpless to find them, but they had delivered themselves to us on a welcome platter.
A cascade would begin as soon as even one of our foes was dealt with, and the others could work together to take down the rest.
Darkseid had to know this.
He was throwing everything in the world against us and failing. If he wanted a chance at victory, at forcing my actual body out, he needed to step forward himself.
We were trying to force a confrontation with Darkseid. He was the key to all this.
Kill him, and we won.
From there, I could Free everyone.
He needed to kill me to win. Otherwise, his control would never be absolute. I would keep Freeing people and resurrecting those who died (In his mind, at least. I probably wouldn't keep resurrecting people since that would involve Binding them.)
I couldn't deny a small pit of excitement at finally facing this shadowy opponent who had slipped my grasp time and time again.
Who had manipulated me against his enemies.
Who was practically my antithesis in every way.
Death had chosen well.
Darkseid would be my Wall.
'Scathach, are you almost done?' I asked as I ducked underneath a blast from some sort of arrow construct. 'Can you back up, Melina? I'd rather not hurt Valeria if we can help it, creepy little girl or not. And I don't want to give Doom or Reed Richards time to scale up.'
I wanted to say the person attacking me was Antinoos? Maybe? I didn't know much about the New Gods of Genesis since they weren't a significant focus of the comics.
'Scathach?' I asked again as Mister Miracle suplexed...Lonar? Probably Lonar.
Despite it happening right over my Island, I was mainly on the fringes of this fight. New Gods were simply way ahead of my human form in specs, and I was reduced to an onlooker who took potshots when I could aid Orion or Scott Free.
I wasn't opposed to it, as it allowed me to be flexible.
Case in point, I shifted myself almost completely Free of the dimension, letting attack after attack pass through me as I reached out to Scathach through Emma's link to ensure everything was all right.
And found nothing.
Not just Scathach, I could reach nobody at all.
I looked over at the Shadow Clone of Tsunade. She wouldn't know if her original psychic link was also cut off unless another clone dispersed and shared the memory.
And, as I watched, a New God released an electrical blast that popped it. The original would have just tanked it.
I didn't have any psychic powers at all, but I did have Psychic Talent that let me piggyback off of others' abilities, specifically Emma's and Melina's.
This is why, when I focused, I realized I could feel no psychic connection to anyone, I started to get a bit worried.
How long had Emma been out of contact?
Was she focusing on the fight with Eden, or was her ability somehow blocked? It wasn't impossible. Psychic jammers were pretty standard in Marvel, given how widespread telepathy was in the setting.
Emma was immensely powerful by psychic standards, almost ridiculously so, but she couldn't bypass things without me touching her. She'd have to break them down by force, which could take time.
Still, better safe than sorry.
"Love," I called aloud, and the tiny form of Raven in a purple cloak appeared on my shoulder. Even when Raven and Pride fought almost every Super on this planet, they still left a version with me for safety's sake. "Can you check on Emma and Medea for me? My connection is cut off."
"Got it."
I wasn't too worried about the others, all things considered. Baring Ranni, all of them were fighting on Earth and Raven or Pride could intervene if things got dicey there.
Besides, I had full confidence in my wives. Nothing Darkseid had thrown at them yet was enough to-
Wrong.
Love's face scrunched up.
Wrong.
"I can't reach Emma's shadow."
The world tilted.
"I'm trying Medea's."
Everything was out of line.
Everything was crooked.
Everything was wrong.
"Don't bother."
My voice was wrong.
"Here she is."
The swirl of a magical cloak was wrong.
"Mikael-"
The look of loss and pain on Medea's face was wrong.
"-Darkseid, he-"
This world was wrong.
"Darkseid killed Emma."
My words, the proclamation of what I felt with soul-deep certainty, were right.
And that was wrong.
Emma was dead.
My Emma was dead.
A part of My Life was dead.
My Emma was dead.
Emma was dead.
I felt it the moment it happened, and I felt it when that diamond-bright part of 'Me' died.
I had been holding Medea from the second she appeared, Freeing her from danger.
Protecting her.
"Tell everyone to retreat to the Island."
"Mikael-"
"He's shown his face. Either he wins and enslaves everything, or I do, and I Free everything. Either way, I can do more damage when I am alone and don't need to worry about others."
"...Don't you dare go hollow."
Hollow.
To have a hole or emptiness inside.
A familiar order.
"Don't worry."
A brief memory of waking up in a small stone gazebo in a wide field of tall grass. Of finally being Free of the Kiln. Of a kind woman listening to a broken man cry.
That same woman now carried my children.
That same woman's clone gave the same order.
To that same woman, I gave the same answer.
Only this time, she heard it.
"I can't go hollow."
I carved the returned memory into my mind with Life.
It joined the others, making up 'Me.'
Emma would be annoyed.
She hated it when I reinforced 'Me.'
But Emma was dead.
And I was still Me.
"I'll bring you there."
I nodded to Medea.
Darkseid might have left already, but that wouldn't change the fact that I needed to see it.
To see her.
And, even if he left, I could find him again by knowing where he had been once.
Darkseid would not escape.
With a swirl of a cloak, we left the New Gods and Earth behind.
Darkseid hadn't left.
He stood, floating above the world with his arms behind his back as he waited for me.
Diamond dust sparkled as it floated around him.
That was all of Emma that remained.
Her soul wasn't there for me to bring back.
I'd known I'd never be able to bring back any of my first ten wives with my abilities from Death's patronage.
After all, they had died tens of millions of years ago in long-dead worlds.
Still, as I looked at the shattered remains of the woman I loved, I expected to feel heartbreak.
Sadness.
Rage.
But I didn't.
"Go home, Medea."
I never lost contact with my wife until she teleported away, unwilling to let Darkseid tear anything else from me.
He didn't even try.
Darkseid was in no rush. He hadn't been since the beginning. This was his game to win.
I looked at the being that had killed Emma.
And felt nothing.
"Submit."
I didn't comment on the stupidity of asking someone whose wife he just killed to submit.
"There is no freedom."
I didn't point out that the mere existence of tyranny, the removal of Freedom, means there has to be Freedom to remove.
"There is no life."
I didn't say anything about the fact that his own existence proved there is Life, even if he ignored everything else.
"There is only Darkseid!"
I didn't joke about him speaking in the third person.
I didn't say anything.
I just looked at my enemy.
He was taller than me. Bigger than me.
That wasn't rare. Most of my enemies had towered over me.
What was unique was Darkseid's simplicity.
Despite his power in the comics, I had always considered him an almost silly character.
Yes, he was responsible for countless deaths, dead-end worlds, and the torment of endless slaves, both physical and mental.
But he was comic book evil.
There were plans and complex schemes, but his motivations were as two-dimensional as they came. Darkseid was a quintessential comic villain of the worst type.
He was simple. Boring.
The human touch I so loved, the failings of mortals, the complications of life, motivation, internal struggles, or character growth were all absent from him.
Darkseid simply was.
From beginning to end, he might learn, but he'd never change. He might grow and shrink in power, but Darkseid would always be Darkseid.
I never asked myself what his goal was because I knew it.
Everyone who had ever heard of Darkseid knew it.
Domination. Tyranny.
The subjugation of all realities under Darkseid.
I had admired his complex planning, the net he had weaved around this world, even as I subconsciously looked down on him.
Because he would always be limited to 'Darkseid.'
As he loomed in front of me, a figure of malevolence and evil, I realized something.
That simplicity I had looked down on.
It was the point.
Even now, after everything I had done to stymy his plans, to act as his very antithesis, Darkseid still demanded submission from me. Because he always would. He demanded the submission of everyone and everything.
He wasn't offering mercy, a life free of pain.
Just submission.
I'd still be tortured, still be tormented even if I gave up now. All that would change was how much pain he desired to inflict. It would be proportional to the amount of opposition before submission.
But there would always be pain, of that I had no doubt.
Because that's what tyranny was in its simplest form.
Power over others.
His slightest whim would lead to an eternity of torture.
No complex motivations. No mess of conflicting feelings. No connections to others would hold him back.
There is only Darkseid.
I looked upon a path I could have taken. The simplicity of it.
The power I could have held.
The power that, even now, I could hold with but a thought.
And felt nothing. Empty.
Hollow.
But no matter how empty I was, no matter how tired, I couldn't go hollow.
Because I was Me.
Because I chose to be Me.
No matter how much it hurt.
"You talk too much."
A black hole swallowed Darkseid.
I had let the New God ramble on so long because I had been giving my Family time to retreat and to set up my own countermeasures.
Darkseid would not have stood here waiting for me if he didn't have a plan.
I would just have to break whatever plan he had.
My spell shattered under a punch that distorted space.
"You cannot surprise Darkseid. I see with a trillion eyes."
With his trillion eyes, Darkseid saw my actual Avatar, humanity discarded in place of an abomination beyond mortal minds.
My trillion Eyes, litteral not figurative, Called from Beyond and stars rained.
A supernova, powerful enough to burn the moon to ash, bloomed across the darkness of the void.
Darkseid was not daunted by my display of enough firepower to make a pyromaniac orgasm.
Two lines of red light erupted from his eyes, moving faster than I could follow.
The first travelled straight, impacting my Call Beyond and halting the nova in its tracks.
The second zigzagged around the blast and hit me.
The Omega Effect was Darkseid's most potent weapon, baring the Anti-Life Equation itself.
His Omega Beams were faster than speedsters, never missed, and disintegrated the targets they touched. Anything destroyed in that way he could later bring back, only to repeat the process repeatedly.
He could also inflict other cruelties, such as atomic dissociation or forcefully trapping people in a succession of fake lives, each more hopeless than the last.
Darkseid used the Omega Beams to torture slaves that were too useful to kill outright, breaking them until they submitted.
That was probably what he hoped to do to me.
Tentacles, eyes, and blades burned under the Omega Beams.
And... that was it.
For the first time, I saw Darkseid surprised.
Hundreds of mouths opened across the monstrosity that I had become.
In a discordant rictus of mirth that transmitted sound through the void of space, I laughed at the monster who had taken Emma.
"It's NOT goIng to Be thaT eASy."
It wasn't arrogance that had me facing Darkseid one-on-one. I had a few tricks up my tentacles.
The Company Defences, when taken to their full extent, operated best the more absolute the thing they were defending against was.
A low-tech camera would see me well while the greatest mages' spells could not.
A simple punch could hurt me, but something meant to completely disintegrate me barely singed.
"The Bat knew how to kill you months ago," Darkseid answered, eyes narrowed. "For Darkseid, it takes but a thought."
"tHen THinK harDER."
Wrathful spirits flew from me, a wave of pale skulls in the hundreds of thousands.
Darkseid waved a hand, pulsing with red power, and they were consumed in a portal to who knows where.
Space opened behind the New God, and thirteen eyes poured curses on him.
He didn't even flinch, flicking a hand, and my eyes burst in a squelch of pale blood.
Meteorites, crystals, fire, lightning, or even Fia's Mist.
Darkseid dealt with it all with a wave of his hands or a blast of the Omega Beams.
He wasn't even trying.
I knew he wasn't because he was deliberately moving at a speed I could follow.
That arrogance would be his undoing.
A tiny hand opened near one of my eyes, a thumb raised.
A shadow covered the planet, protecting it in a dark cocoon that blended it into the darkness of space.
Raven was going all in on the defence.
She needed to.
My Terra Magica bloomed across the whole planet, a ritual circle larger than Earth that glowed a pale white.
Darkseid couldn't see it; he was drowned by the phantasmal dragon heads I had unleashed around him, trapping him in a cataclysm of destruction.
Fire, lightning, rot, glintstone, ice, magma, and ruin.
I unleashed it all on Darkseid.
As a distraction.
He shattered Dragon Communion Incantations with a punch to see my actual body.
Six white wings and a tail, all wrapped around a body larger than most countries, as I curled into a ball.
Rennala's Full Moon was larger than Earth's actual moon.
It crashed into the New God's face.
The explosion of white light could have destroyed the sun.
Darkseid's skin was scuffed.
"Useless. Useless. USELESS!"
Darkseid moved.
His hands grasped the space around me and squeezed.
I Free'd myself from space, and his attack passed me harmlessly.
"Resistance is useless!"
Attack after attack passed through me harmlessly, whether it was my Avatar or when he tried to attack my true body.
I was Free from everything he tried to throw at me.
"Submit! Or I shall destroy everything you hold dear!"
I received a brief image from Melina.
I saw Wonder Woman, Superman, Eidolon, and dozens of other heroes. They were on my Island, trying to tear through the bounded field that kept my home separated from the rest. My wives held them off, the home-field advantage almost absolutely under Medea's control.
I understood what had happened when I saw Victoria among the attackers.
I had kept my distance from Glory Girl, content to let her live her life at a distance for the most part so I wasn't at risk of succumbing to her orders. Naturally, that also meant I hadn't told her about Darkseid.
The Defences only worked so long as you wanted them to. All Darkseid would have had to do was threaten Amelia, and Glory Girl could have lowered them and succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation.
Still, Darkseid had made a mistake in having them invade my Island.
My true body kept up the barrage on the New God as my Avatar teleported back.
Dozens of tentacles reached out to everyone, attacking my home, wrapping around them and Freeing them from the Anti-Life Equation.
My Avatar was torn apart.
What?
I was overcome with shock as, rather than be free of the control, the heroes pulled my body to shreds.
"I know you, worm!" Darkseid laughed as my true body. "I know your limits! The weakness you live! You are a coward who cannot enforce your will. These heroes, these slaves, chose servitude. They chose DARKSEID! And so will you, or I shall force you to watch as I kill and despoil your Family! All you love will be ashes!"
Knowing what I did from meta knowledge didn't even take me a second to understand what was happening.
The premise of the Anti-Life Equation was that it was mathematical proof all life, hope, and freedom are pointless. It forcefully confronted those who saw it with this proof, 'killing' them in the process as they were unable to deal with that kind of knowledge.
I had thought my ability to Free people worked against it, a hard counter.
Who would ever want to be a slave, after all?
I had been asking myself the wrong question.
Who would want to face all that pain? Who would choose suffering? Why not give up when confronted with the pointlessness of it all?
I couldn't even blame them. I had wanted to give up before.
I hadn't been able to, forced to suffer because of Diana's order.
The revelation shocked me, but not enough to stop me.
I felt guilty for Victoria for bringing her back only to fail to adequately prepare her.
But she was not Mine.
I brought her back from the dead, and with a thought to the dead, she returned.
Victoria's body dissolved into nothing as I ceased keeping her bound.
The rest of the attackers suddenly found they could not touch anything around them. I had Freed my pocket dimension of them, and now they were flying over Earth's ocean, unable to interact with my home.
The Jewel was a part of me; I was always touching it, even when I was far away.
Once I killed Darkseid, I'd bring Victoria back and apologize.
For now, I had a New God to kill.
As much as I had been surprised by the revelation of being able to Free the heroes, Darkseid was just as surprised by how easily I handled the situation.
He had probably planned to grab another one of my wives and force us to lower our defences or watch them die like Emma.
That would not be happening.
The ritual was finished.
The Terra Magica flashed.
As a Dragon of Life and Freedom, I was much better suited towards defence and utility than offence.
Still, I knew how to pack a punch.
Every spell, every incantation, every pyromancy had been compacted into one little container of glintstone. If I hadn't maintained constant magical contact with the spell, freeing it from the limits of space, it would have been bigger than my Island.
As it was, it was smaller than an atom.
The Comet Azure that erupted was almost invisible compared to the titanic draconic mouth that released it.
Darkseid screamed as the pale white spell pierced through space and his chest.
It was the most beautiful sound I had heard in years.
It still wasn't enough to kill the tyrant.
So, I added another.
"IF YOU WILL NOT SUBMIT!"
And another.
"YOU WILL DIE!"
A dozen.
A hundred.
A thousand atom-wide Comet Azures, packed with every death I could think of, blasted toward the man who had taken Emma from me.
Darkseid was more holes than body.
Yet he still wouldn't die.
"SO DECLARES DARKSEID!!!"
My burgeoning Haki tried to warn me.
It was already too late.
Localized invincibility.
That was what this new power was called. He didn't know how he knew, and he didn't know how it worked.
All Barry Alen knew was that he needed to run.
And run.
And run.
He ran for weeks in which lifetimes passed.
Time lost all meaning at this speed.
He didn't eat. He didn't sleep.
The Flash ran.
Beyond time, space, and light.
Yet the moment of truth came almost in slow motion to the hero.
Batman had told him he was the best hope for stopping the Elden Lord.
Batman had told him that there would be a moment when Mikael would have to be in real space when he attacked.
Bruce told Barry that the Flash was their only hope to save the world from the dragon.
So Barry ran as fast as he could with a laugh.
He had always wanted to be a hero in a fairy tale.
It looks like he would get to slay a dragon, after all.
There was no pain.
It was too fast for pain.
One moment, I was.
The next, I wasn't.
********
Darkseid looked upon the remains of what was once the 'Elden Lord' and, with an errant thought, disintegrated the speedster with his Omega Beams; his purpose served.
A useful slave. No point in letting him die due to not being able to breathe.
No satisfaction or pride filled him as his body healed from the dragon's final attack.
Why would it?
This was but a sideshow, an interlude to get rid of an annoyance, before he moved on to his primary target.
The only emotion that crossed Darkseid's mind as he flew off to confront his son, his nemesis, was a bit of pity.
The Elden Lord's death was a waste of a useful slave.
His dealing with Trigon, the annoyance of the gods, and bringing that Blood to this world had all been boons he hadn't been expecting but accelerated his plans by decades.
Darkseid truly hoped, as much as a being like him could hope, that the Elden Lord was just as immortal as he was.
Orion had done one thing right. His hunt of Darkseid through the multiverse had given the ruler of Apokoplips the perfect way to break foes.
Whether it was Orion, his ungrateful ward Scott Free, or the Elden Lord, Darkseid would hunt them down, time and time again.
Until they submitted.
Untill all was Darkseid.
********
While Darkseid went off to his dramatic confrontation with his son, both armed with the Anti-Life Equation, to hold a battle that would rock reality and determine the fate of this multiverse.
While twelve women, in a home that seemed so empty now, tried to decode what had just happened. While grief, pain, and loss threatened to take them as it started to sink in that Mikael had lost.
That Mikael had died.
While the world ended.
A fat cat with two tiny wings too small for its chubby body started to hack.
Medea the cat coughed. She wheezed and hacked, back arching as she gasped and wretched at empty air.
Even amidst the shock and loss, the grief and pain, the Family was not the type to lose themselves to the degree where they would allow one of their own to suffer when they could do anything about it.
Within the first few seconds of Medea's sudden inability to breathe, Robin had scooped the tubby floof in her arms and carried her to Tsuande, even as the cat continued to wheeze and hack.
"The continued existence of the Jewel and this Island means that he is not-"
Medea's tear-filled explanation was cut off as eyes turned to the pain-filled coughing of the cat that bore her name.
"What's wrong with her?" Priscilla asked worriedly to the former Hokage.
"I don't know," Tsunade answered. "I'm not a vet. I can't find anything wrong with her." Her voice, in contrast, was almost as dead as Mikael's had been when he left to fight Darkseid.
Once more, she had outlived someone she loved.
"Hairball?" Yorucihi joked weakly.
"She's technically a familiar," Scathach answered grimly. "If Mikael..."
Nobody said it.
They just watched Medea's body hack and wheeze pitifully.
It almost looked like the cat was crying.
Like she was wailing in grief for the man who had raized her and loved her and who wouldn't be coming home.
Medea slumped, all struggle and fight leaving her.
"Mrow."
One last pitiful mewl as the chubby cat gave up, hanging limply from Tsunade's arms.
From the chubby cat's limp head, her mouth opened.
And opened.
And opened some more.
From the hole in reality, roughly the size of a human fist, something fell to the ground with a wet 'Plop.'
Even used to weirdness as the Family was, they stared at the object that had fallen from Medea's mouth for a long second.
It was a heart.
A red, bloody, and all too human heart.
And it was pumping blood.
More than blood.
With every beat of the heart, red ichor coagulated around it and grew. And grew. And grew.
Within the first few seconds of falling out of Medea's mouth, the human heart had been covered by layers of blood and flesh.
"QUICKLY!" Medea, the witch, shouted. "Throw it in the ocean!"
Diana didn't hesitate, grabbing the still-growing pile of flesh and throwing it out a nearby window.
"MROW!!!" Medea wailed in distress as the heart sailed out over the cliff edge and into the water, still growing.
"That bastard," Tsunade hissed, smile wide even as tears flowed from her eyes. "That absolute bastard."
"I wonder," Robin asked airily, but her voice was tinged with relief. "Did he hide this plan from us intentionally? As a backup? Or did he just forget?"
"Knowing our Lord Husband, it could be either."
"Irrelevant," Glynda said sternly as she adjusted her glasses, pretending she hadn't subtly wiped her eyes. "He's cut off for at least a week."
"A month," Raven deadpanned.
"Let's not be hasty," Pride hurridly said to herself. "Don't punish us all for Daddy's idiocy."
"We'll start the count once he has a human body again," Melina agreed, looking out over the ocean where the heart had fallen. "He'll try to weasel out of it, trust me. But he won't learn if we don't stand united."
Already, it was starting to surge as Mikael began the long process of regrowing his sub-continent-sized actual body.
"And what of her punishment?" Artoria asked, looking at the fat cat still held in Tsunade's arms.
Great big kitty tears beaded the cat's eyes at seeing her meal disappear into the water. Every once in a while, pitiful mewls escaped her lips, and she tried to flap her tiny wings to escape the woman's grasp to chase after it.
Tsunade was having none of it and held on to the cat firmly.
"Is she not suffering enough?" Priscilla, moved by pity, asked.
"""'No.""""
"No leftovers for a week," Yoruichi said as she grabbed whiskered cheeks and kneaded them like dough.
"MROW!" Medea yowled, sounding like she was actually dying. Not from Yoruichi's face squishing, of course, but from the threat of losing her food. The tubby cat looked to her only hope for salvation. "Mew?"
"You scared Mommy to death," Medea chastised. "You're on dry food. For a week!"
Medea began to cry.
The Family wasn't whole, there was a glaring hole in the room.
But so long as Mikael was alive, there was hope for Emma to return.
Three days.
They had three days before the Warranty Plan was supposed to bring her back.
Everything would depend on what happened in three days.
********
She found him sitting in the ashes.
"How long have you been here?" Diana asked softly.
"A few hours. How'd you find me?"
"Mo- Hippolyta saw you. She comes here regularly and let me know you were here."
"I didn't notice her. Do the others know?"
"I haven't told them yet. I wanted to see how you were first. Medea might find you, though. She's looking for that one."
"Why? What did she do?"
"Scared us to death when she was hacking up your heart. She's been on dry food for the last few days and been trying to sneak food every chance she can."
"...I didn't know. She appeared as soon as I built my Avatar."
"You got better," Diana complimented, sitting beside Mikael. Her movement sent a swirl of grey ashes through the air.
Mikael didn't react. His only movement was the continual petting of the tubby cat sitting and purring on his lap with stubby tentacles.
His hair was still a wriggling mass of blades and barbs, and his skin was still the pale, milky white of an infant Great One. The occasional tentacle, fin, blade, eye, or mouth sprouted here and there.
But he was unmistakably Mikael now.
No longer was he the deformed monstrosity, flickering in and out of reality as space bent over himself. Nor was he the admittedly cute miniature squid baby. He was human-shaped, roughly the size he was supposed to be, and had distinct facial features.
Facial features as blank emotionally as Diana had ever seen them.
"Thanks. Fourth time's the charm. Another day or two, and I'll look the same as before."
Which was good because they didn't have Panacea to fall back on.
They didn't have anyone but each other.
"Why didn't you tell us about your heart?"
"Didn't know it would work. I did it on a whim one day while feeding her. Basic lich-phylactery type thing, only better. It's not a second Avatar, if that's what you are wondering. It's technically still part of my main body, still connected to the spot I removed it from. Like a quantum field. I simply 'Freed' two points of space from regular space-time, like when I let things pass through me."
"And fed one to Medea," Diana couldn't help but shake her head.
"A whim," Mikael repeated. "I was already feeding her parts of my Avatar, I figured it was worth the shot. I don't know the smallest point I can regenerate from, but it should be anything that counts as 'Me.' I define myself as my head and heart, more metaphysically than biologically, so it was good odds that I could regenerate from one or the other. I was right. There were much larger chunks of me left over from Flash's attack, but I regenerated here."
"And you didn't tell us because you didn't want to give us false hope?"
"That's one of the reasons. The other is Medea herself. She treats it like an endless source of food. Like one of those candies you hold in your mouth layer after layer. I constantly regenerated it within her stomach, so it wouldn't be destroyed. That's another reason it's so small: regenerating it wouldn't impact my other abilities."
"...You forgot to tell us, didn't you?"
"..."
"...And you've already given her another, haven't you?"
"So long as she lives, so too will I."
"How strong is she by now?"
"Who knows. Continuously eating my blood nonstop? I'm guessing she's already Tier 10, but all she uses her power for is eating."
Not once had Mikael spoken with even the slightest hint of emotion since Diana had found him here, even as he talked and petted the cat he loved, even as he spoke of his loss to Darkseid.
"You don't believe Emma will return, do you?"
"...The best case scenario is that My—our Emma returns. In that case, from this day forth, your lives and deaths will be determined by The Company. Every time you die, your return will be up to them. And even if you do come back every time, there will always be the possibility you will never be able to not return- To always be forced to Live."
Mikael finally did something that wasn't petting Medea.
With a movement as simple as turning his head that seemed so impossibly inhuman, he looked at Diana.
"To come back to Life is a blessing I am praying for. To be unable to die is a curse I would only wish on my worst enemy. That possibility will hang over us for the rest of our existence. We will always be at their whims."
And that was the best outcome.
Neither of them brought up the other possible outcomes.
"If..." Diana hesitated but pushed forward. "If she does back, if she's our Emma, you are planning on leaving, aren't you?"
"There's no point sticking around. We'll travel the multiverse, getting stronger and come back to kick Darkseid's ass when we can. We are in no rush. We have eternity."
"Just like that? Give up and run away?" Despite the words, there was no accusation in Diana's voice.
"I've lost countless times. I've run away countless more. Once more doesn't matter. We can't beat him now, so we'll return when we can."
"And all the people he's controlling? All the pain he's inflicting? We'll just leave them to their fate for who knows how long?"
"I can't do anything about it."
"Cities are becoming dens of pain and suffering. It's a bloodbath out there. People are fighting and killing, and they feel all of it. They are forced to feel all of it. The suffering is triggering X-genes or shard awakenings. People are doing unspeakable things for power. Darkseid is creating an army of Supers to spread his reign of terror through the multiverse."
"That was probably his plan all along. Using the Entities to turn this world into the new Apokolips for his endless conquest. I guess Earth will continue to live up to its reputation."
"...Those who don't become Supers are becoming Beasts from all the bloodletting. Those that do gain power are becoming closer to Kin."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Mikael didn't sound angry as he looked at her with helpless eyes.
Just tired.
"Nothing," Diana shook her head softly. "I am not asking you to do anything. You've done your best. The entire reason there is hope left is because of who you are. I am not asking you to do what you cannot do. I am simply explaining my reasoning."
"...Diana?"
The amazon looked down at the bracers on her wrist and the small strips of leather poking out. A silly little bit of sex play had come to mean so much more to her.
Mikael really was an absurd existence to make her feel this way about simple leather cuffs.
"If Emma comes back, we'll have proof that the Warranty Plan works," the heroine said softly. "And I am also a Dragon of Freedom. Freedom for others."
"Didn't you hear? People don't want to be free. They gave up."
"You know that's wrong. Just because someone can't confront the futility of all Life doesn't mean they want to be slaves to Darkseid," Diana denied with a glare. Then she softened her tone again. "But that's not the point. So long as you live, I will always come back. I've fought Darkseid many times. I might not be able to beat him, but he will also not be able to completely stop me. I can buy time for you to grow."
"Diana..."
"I won't be alone," Wonder Woman continued, looking away from his pleading eyes. "Hippolyta wants to help, as do the rest of the Amazons. Darkseid killed their gods and still had her daughters. If you Bind them, they won't fall to the Anti-Life Equation unless they choose to and will also come back to life. And, since you are leaving, you won't need to worry about them giving you orders."
"You expect me to leave you to fight an eternal war without a hope of victory? Expect to let you die and die again? You expect me to be able to be happy with that? To be able to live while you die?"
There was the anger. The rage.
It was so much better than the emptiness.
Diana looked her husband in the eyes, running a hand along his pale cheek as she spoke sadly.
"We lived like that."
It was like she had punched him.
Mikael flinched from her touch, his entire body rippling as Diana's words reminded him of a truth.
They had been in that position, helpless to do anything but wait as someone they loved fought an eternal war.
"I expect you will never force us to be someone we are not." Diana hated seeing him like this. Hated having to use his own words against him. "I expect you to honour the deal we made."
Every word seemed to hurt him just a tiny bit more, and Diana closed her eyes, choking back her tears.
"This is too much, Diana," Mikael croaked. "You can't win. You might not even slow him down."
"Heroes don't fight because they'll win," Wonder Woman said softly. "They fight because it's the right thing to do. There's always another fight, another life to save, and another injustice to be righted. You were right. Heroes don't get happy endings. So, please. Honour your promise to support us. Trust me to be a hero. And I'll trust you to find our happy ending."
"I hate heroes."
"And you love them."
Diana knew she was hurting him. Knew she'd hurt the others with this choice.
Either Emma returned, and they'd lose her, or she didn't.
No matter what, Mikael would lose someone.
But it was Diana's choice because she couldn't live with herself if she didn't fight.
Even if she couldn't save this world, even if another Earth, so similar to her original home, was forever lost to the Anti-Life Equation, delaying Darkseid's expansion by even a few days before Mikael's return could save countless lives and countless other worlds from bad ends.
Too many times in her life had Wonder Woman seen the difference a few seconds could make between victory and tragedy.
Diana would not be a hero, not the woman Mikael fell in love with, if she didn't fight.
"...Have you told the others?"
"No," Diana denied. "I only had the idea when talking to Hippolyta just now when she asked me to let them fight Darkseid."
"Artoria will probably join you," Mikael said sadly. "Maybe Raven or Scathach. They're heroes too, after all."
While Diana wouldn't deny she did not want to be alone in this fight, there was an issue.
"You and Melina are still our best chance to eventually stop him for good," Diana shook her head. "I am just buying time. I do not want to leave you without our heavy hitters."
"I don't think even Melina, with full control of the Phoenix Force, can stop Darkseid while he has merged with the Anti-Life Equation."
"Then you need to find a way," Diana said, standing up. "I know you will. You always do. Besides, I-"
"There you are!"
Diana's words were cut off as Medea appeared in a swirl of her cloak, sending the ashes around them spiralling into the air once again.
"You are still in trouble, Mikael!" Medea's tirade against the fat cat was interrupted when she saw the humanoid figure it sat on.
Immediately, the witch rushed over and hugged the man tightly.
The Caster did not say anything for a long moment, just holding the man in her arms.
Diana understood. She might have acted the same if she hadn't known to expect him here.
"I'm sorry," Medea eventually said, pulling away from Mikael.
"For what?"
"For not saving Emma."
"Not your fault. Darkseid killed her. He's to blame. Me too."
"You are-"
Mikael held up a hand to stop Diana's protests. His tentacle-fingers wiggled.
"I am not fully blaming myself for her death, but there is no denying that my arrogance played a big part in it. In our lack of preparation. If I had Raven focusing on our own support rather than trying to save the world, she might have been able to teleport you two away in time."
"None of us went against our plan," Medea pointed out with a frown.
"No, but I was the one who made it. And I made it because I let my arrogance get the better of me."
"What do you mean?" Diana asked.
While Mikael made jokes and behaved in an egotistical manner most of the time, she knew it was primarily a facade for humour's sake. He was an 'egotist' in the sense that he saw the world through his own lens, but the person he was most strict on was himself.
"I bought into my own myth," Mikael said, turning from them and looking around the ash-covered Kiln. "I saw Darkseid as a rival, in a way. A Wall to overcome for me to grow stronger. Death chose this world to force me to grow, knowing I couldn't beat Darkseid unless I became Tier 11. I made the plan assuming he thought the same way, that I was his opposite he needed to get rid of. I was wrong. It was never about me. He spent more effort dealing with Orion and Mister Miracle than with me."
Diana grimaced at the memory of that fight. She and a few others had seriously debated helping the New Gods, but with Mikael healing and Emma already dead, as well as their lack of a way to kill Darkseid, only Raven and Robin had helped since they could do it safely.
In the end, it hadn't mattered.
After a climactic battle, Darkseid killed his son and adopted son, ushering in the current state of the world.
"I was just a curiosity with power—another slave he would eventually break. I had wives I loved and people I cared about—all points of weakness he could use, just like everyone else. Even if Darkseid didn't believe he could kill me permanently, he just didn't care. I wasn't a rival, I wasn't even a threat. I was just an annoyance."
"You are thinking too lowly of yourself. There is no doubt that he was conscious of your moves," Medea shook her head. "He would not have had so many plans to use against you if he wasn't. He would have attacked the New Gods and ignored us if we truly didn't matter."
"Maybe," Mikael allowed with a slow nod. "Still, it doesn't change the fact that my plan indirectly allowed him to kill Emma."
"Is that why you're here? To punish yourself?"
Almost in response to Diana's question, a cold breeze blew through the Kiln of the First Flame, sending more ash swirling in the air.
"Nothing so dramatic," Mikael denied, his voice completely empty once more. "This place... I hate it. I hate it so much. But it is a part of me. Except for the Dream, I've spent more time in this Kiln than I have out of it. I am using those memories to recenter myself before meeting everyone again. A reminder that I am not some sort of destined protagonist. I am only me."
Mikael looked out over the dunes of ash, the burned rubble once was the Kild of the First Flame.
"That is enough for us."
Mikael didn't respond for a long second, eyes transfixed on the Kiln.
Diana wondered what he saw.
"I'll be back at the mansion before Emma is supposed to return," Mikael said, expecting them to leave him. He wanted to be alone.
Diana would give him that time to think and be alone while telling the others of his return, knowing that sometimes he needed his space.
Medea, however, had something to ask.
"Emma... She said something to me before I left."
"Hm?" Mikael made a sound of acknowledgement, still staring out over the Kiln.
"I was trying to convince her to stall for time so you could Free her. She wouldn't allow me to. She said she refused to be a chain around your neck."
"Huh."
"I don't think she was talking about our ability to order your Avatar. I think about something else. Something you know about."
Mikael didn't say anything, just scratching his cat as his flesh wiggled and rearranged itself to be closer to human form.
"It's not how I would put it. Less of 'chains around the neck,' and more of a cage, though. Or maybe a cast? I guess the metaphor doesn't really matter. But yes, Emma is right."
"In what way," Diana asked warily, walking around to look Mikael in his eyes.
He paused, staring off beyond her as his pale lips pursed.
Weirdly enough, despite the inhuman features of his face, Diana recognized the look. Mikael sometimes got like that when he was thinking about how to convey his thoughts in a way that would make sense to others.
"Can you love the wind?" He eventually asked out of nowhere.
"What?" Diana responded.
"More importantly, can the wind love you?"
Medea, however, seemed to understand something from his absurd questions.
"You can love the wind," she nodded. "But the wind will never love you. Inherent in its nature, in its existence, is the phenomenon of transience. Of always moving, never being fully contained."
"Exactly," Mikael nodded. "Diana, you're a hero, through and through. But that is because you choose to be. There are countless universes where you are not, where you either retired, never left your home, or made some other choice and hung up the lasso. The wind can't choose to be anything else than the wind. It simply is."
"What are you trying to say with this," Wonder Woman asked.
"That's the difference between Tier 10 and 11," Mikael said softly. "Both can have infinite power. Some Tier 10s might even have more than some Tier 11s. It is a difference in quality. One is a being, the other is a part of the universe, a piece of nature."
"Like the Phoenix Force," Diana understood that much, at least. "Are you saying we are holding you back from becoming Tier 11?"
"Yes," Mikael said plainly, not sugarcoating his words. "I know two ways to reach that threshold, one for each of my Elements. You know the second one already. The Phoenix Force. It is already the embodiment of Life in this universe. I am a perfect host for it. Merging with it would elevate me, but it also wouldn't. Because the being that emerged from that union wouldn't be me; it would be something else. Closer to a child between me and the Phoenix. I am not really becoming Tier 11. I am creating something that will be Tier 11 with my memories."
"But you have another way," Diana said. "One to become an embodiment of Freedom. And we are holding you back from it."
"I had this thought."
Diana realized Mikael was smiling. The inhuman nature of his face had made it harder to notice, but he was definitely smiling.
"It was a thought that came to me the moment I was free, the moment Emma woke me up. I had served my sentence and had all of eternity to look forward to with you all the benefits the Catalogue had provided. I had my happily ever after. But I had this thought; Why limit myself?"
Diana had seen countless smiles on Mikael's face before. Most of his life was spent smiling, laughing and joking. But this was not a smile of joy or mirth.
"I was Free, wasn't I? Why limit myself to just this? Just this body, just this universe. I could do it. I just had to Free myself of everything. Why limit myself to all these painful memories? Hadn't I earned it? Hadn't I suffered enough? Why couldn't I live out that wish-fulfillment fantasy anyone who filled out that Catalogue has? Why not travel the multiverse, seeing what I wanted, doing what I wanted? Why care? Why not enjoy myself, as Free as the wind?"
It was a smile of relief. The smile of a man coming home from work, exhausted and worn down, and finally being able to sleep.
Mikael was tired, and rest called him.
"That is what it would mean to be a Tier 11 embodiment of Freedom. I'd be free of my past and future. I'd be free of sorrow and joy. I'd be free of all consequences. Love and hatred. I'd be free of the phantom of the First Flame burning my soul. I'd be free of the pain of losing people. I'd be free of loneliness. I'd be free of the Company, Death, or anything. I'd be free of the chains that were 'Mikael.'"
The smile faded.
Shoulders hunched as exhaustion returned.
"If all of you weren't here, I'd have taken that option. I'd become Freedom. And I'd have died for it. I would have discarded everything that made me 'Me,' all for Freedom. It is the opposite of everything I hate about mind control, but the end result is indistinguishable. I wouldn't be Me. Because I am my pain, my memories, my love and hatred. I am the consequences of my actions. My plans gone wrong, my terrible jokes, my connections. It makes up 'Me.'"
Mikael looked up at Diana, meeting her eyes, draconic and alien blending together in a rictus of a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, and black.
"I am obsessed with this thing called 'Self.' The loss of self, the erasure of self, the replacement of self. It all stems from fear of that. You all are part of it. Every memory with you, I carve into myself using my Life Element. Every second with you all reminds me why I choose to be Me. You are Mine. By having things be Mine, I confirm that 'I' exist. That the Mikael trapped in a cell, the Mikael burning in this Kiln, the Mikael discarding his humanity as he faced his fear, and the Mikael here and now are all the same person."
"And Emma knew about this?"
"She was in my mind when I had the thought," Mikael answered Medea with a sigh. "Just another way I hurt her. But I couldn't help it. She might see nothing wrong with discarding everything for me, but I do. That's not what I want."
"What do you want, Mikael?" Diana asked.
"I want to fly," he answered immediately. "I never wanted to be an overpowered protagonist with a harem of women at my beck and call. I took the Deal to fly through the multiverse, see impossible sights and do impossible things. All I ever wanted was to be me."
Unlike everyone else, Mikael's elements did not come from himself. He chose them while filling out a form for a short story. He never wanted to be an embodiment of Freedom or Life.
He had been a simple man, similar to everyone else, placed in an extraordinary situation.
"Everything else, despite the pain and loss, has been much more than I ever hoped for. My life is fantastic. I have a Family that loves me, and I love in return. Despite my caution, I am powerful enough that most things can't hurt me. I have met and had drinks with some of my favourite characters, fought villains and gods, saved lives, and traded jokes with the devil. And all that? That wouldn't have been possible if I did not choose to be 'Me.'"
It was exhausting, painful, and filled with loss and mistakes, but Mikael chose to face that battle every second of every day—to not give up.
Despite herself, despite the recent loss of a woman she considered a friend, despite the imminence of a never-ending battle she had no hope of winning, Diana couldn't help but smile.
Falling in love with a man like this had been the right thing to do.
********
We sat in the living room in silence.
It was almost time.
So much rode on what would happen in the next few seconds.
Would My Emma come back?
And, if so, what then?
Diana hadn't yet mentioned her plan to the others, wanting to know if Warranty Plan actually worked before doing so.
On the one hand, I appreciated her effort to communicate with me, like I had asked her to.
On the other suction cup, I had no idea what to do.
It seemed like no matter what happened, I would lose someone.
Sure, Diana's plan would only be temporary until we found a way to deal with Darkseid. We would, I knew that. The multiverse was vast, and nobody was unbeatable, but that didn't change the fact that if I got Emma back, I'd lose Diana for who knows how many years as she fought and died.
Maybe not just her, either.
I distracted myself with my continued attempts to return to human form. Without Panacea, it was slow going. My skin tone was a more human colour now, but my hair still looked more like the Moon Presence than anything else.
At least Medea was happy, munching away on one of my tentacles.
Nobody had the heart to tell the cat off for breaking her diet.
"How long left," Tsunade asked from beside me.
"Any second," I answered. "There were some clauses about quicker returns based on the number of 'amazons' bound, but I don't think that applies with Black Mark."
"Maybe you should go grab Wonder Mom," Yoruichi joked, trying to lighten the mood. "You did say she had a thing for you."
"I don't think I am in any state to 'grab' anyone."
The mood fell again.
"Sorry," I sighed, rubbing my face with a hand that only had a few blades and mouths poking out. "I'm just... tired, is all. The waiting is the worst."
"I think we all are," Medea said, getting affirmative nods around the room. "We've been in limbo for three days now. I trust everyone has given thought to how we need to proceed." More nods. "Once Emma is back, we have a few options to discuss—worlds that might give us the tools to deal with Darkseid."
"I don't think any of our home worlds, or those similar to them at least, have what we need," Tsunade shook her head. "We need to be thinking in terms of more out-of-context solutions. That has been our greatest advantage so far."
"I have been going through the library," Robin nodded. "There are a few worlds with potential. Particularly those based on Eastern Daoist or similar principles. They might offer a way to reach Tier 11 without sacrificing our individuality."
It took me to realize what Robin was talking about, on top of realizing that she had been watching me while I spoke to Medea and Diana in the Kiln.
"Cultivation worlds?" I asked incredulously.
"Exactly," Robin nodded. "We need to find worlds where any power we can gain is not limited to those with inherent traits, like chakra. On top of that, we all possess Martial Talent, Soul Talent, and Psychic Talent, which generally covers the three common aspects of cultivation, as I understand it. We also have our Elements, which I believe will give us the direction for growth."
"That is..." I shuddered. "We'll put that on the maybe pile, and only if we find the right kind of world. Besides, any sort of cultivation that would allow us to deal with Darkseid will take time, even with talent—centuries or millennia."
I had read more than a few Xianxia stories in my day, as well as similar genres, both Western and Eastern-based. I wasn't unaware of their potential for power, with our advantages from the Catalogue, but I hadn't intended to go anywhere near that part of the multiverse.
If comics were insane, then those universes were downright bat-shit.
How else do you describe worlds where egotistical maniacs could sneeze and erase trillions of lives? Or casually rearrange entire universes on a whim?
"If t'would take so long, I shall have mastered mine Order by then," Ranni joined in. "Counteracting the Oppressor in this world would be possible."
"The problem is that Darkseid isn't limited to this world," Diana pointed out. "He's expanding his power every second. Any plan we devise needs to consider that he is not stagnant. He will spread to others once he fully conquers this universe, and his control will grow exponentially."
I grimaced at the reminder. Dragon Blood wasn't the only way to grow in Tiers. Raven had reached Tier 10 by absorbing her father. Darkseid certainly should have been stronger than Trigon, but not to the degree he was now.
Merging with the Anti-Life Equation had pushed him to Tier 11, and even if I eventually find some way to reach that same level without losing 'Myself,' he might have already assimilated every part of this multiverse under his control.
While I don't think he could reach Tier 12 with Death around, he would still be at the limit of his Tier. That was one of the reasons I hadn't been able to argue against Diana's plan to slow him down.
"Should we give up?" Melina asked the room. "Take our survival as a win and leave? We are not confined to the same limits as Darkseid. We can go where he will never reach. And there are countless other universes in just as dire straights as this one. This will simply be another bad end."
I could see everyone giving the kindling maiden's word genuine thought.
"From a tactical standpoint, you are correct," Artoria nodded imperiously. "We have already fought and done our best for this world. It would not be wrong to say that without us, there would have been no hope at all. There are other worlds out there. Other battles to fight. Choosing to retreat in front of a superior enemy is not cowardice."
I closed my eyes, a helpless smile tugging up at my lips.
"But I refuse to do so. I refuse to only fight battles that I know I can win. I refuse to allow this grand injustice to continue while I still have hope. And there is hope. So long as we live, so long as we fight, there is hope. I refuse to accept this 'bad end.' I will keep fighting for a good end. In every world we find, I will keep fighting for that promised utopia."
I hated heroes. Never wanted to be one. Every hero's life is a tragedy waiting to happen, and I wanted a happy ending.
"I know not all of you hold my beliefs. I know not all of you fight for justice or an ever-distant utopia. But I do know all of you! And I know not one of you is content to let Darkseid win!"
But man, did I love heroes.
Their charisma, their passion, their larger-than-life nature.
The way they inspired everyone, whether that was a young boy reading a book, a little girl opening her first comic, or a jaded old man listening to his wife give a speech.
Humans needed heroes.
I needed heroes.
I guess that's why I fell in love with so many of them.
"Well said," Diana nodded at her friend in pride.
"Some revenge doesn't sound too bad," Medea allowed with a smile.
"We might be a bunch of losers," Yoruichi said with a laugh. "But nobody can kick our ass and not expect us to get even."
"If nothing else," Scathach laughed lightly. "It will be a fun fight."
I doubt I was the only one who saw Melina conceal a smile. But I was definitely the one who understood her best.
This was hardly the first time she had provoked me to cheer me up.
Love welled up within me as I looked around this room, this Family.
It was a Mad Love, but it was Mine.
The exhaustion, the loss, the pain, the heartbreak, it was all for small moments like this.
Once more, I didn't Free myself.
I chose to live.
But life doesn't always go the way you want.
A portal opened up in front of me, white-grey and rectangular.
Emma stepped through it, no different than how she usually teleported back to the Island.
She was wearing the same clothes as when she died, and she looked at me with the same love and understanding.
Joyeuse smiles lit up the faces of my wives at the sight. They hurried to greet her, to hug her.
I closed my eyes, unable to watch.
I should have known.
"Mikael?" Raven asked, sensing my emotions.
"She's not My Emma."
One last fuck you from The Company.
And I doubt it was even maliciousness.
A Warranty Plan does not provide a repair service. It provides a replacement.
It was obvious in retrospect.
They were an interdimensional slaving organization. They probably had trillions of 'Emma Frosts' waiting to be handed out to contractors. I'm sure it was more cost-effective to simply copy/paste My Emma's memories into this one than trying to resurrect My Emma.
This Emma didn't know the difference. Most contractors wouldn't either.
But I built 'Myself' using my wives and my memories.
She might look the same, have the same memories, same feelings, and with an identical soul, but she was not Mine. Her point of origin in the multiverse was different, even if now she was indistinguishable.
I opened my eyes to see Emma Frost looking at me tearfully as she read my thoughts.
She was more of a victim than we were, knowing that her memories were not her own and that she had been manipulated to feel like this.
She loved me madly, just as My Emma had, but I didn't love her back. Because she wasn't Mine.
And she knew it.
I hated mind control.
It always led to tragedies like this.
It seemed like 'Mikael' and 'Emma Frost' were forever doomed to hurt each other.
I closed my eyes in grief and pain.
...
...
...
... And rage.
Fuck this.
Fuck this bullshit.
Fuck The Company for pulling this shit.
Fuck Death for not warning me better.
Fuck Darkseid for killing the woman I loved.
More than anything, fuck myself for being such an absolute cowardly piece of shit.
From rage came action.
"Mikael!" Melina shouted in surprise.
She wasn't the only one to shout, but I was already in front of my maiden.
My hand reached through her chest.
I knew I wouldn't hurt her. I never hurt those who chose Freedom.
And the Phoenix Force wanted nothing more than to be free to join me.
In that second of communication between me and the sapient force of nature, I made one demand.
'You have to promise that, whatever we become, you will bring her back and burn Darkseid to cinders.'
The Phoenix trilled a cry of pure joy as we became one.
White.
Everything was white.
I was the white, the pure being of thought and life. I was the Phoenix, and it was me.
Joy. Overwhelming joy engulfed me.
Finally.
Finally, we were one.
Finally, 'I' was born.
Together, I would do extraordinary things.
Together, Life would never end.
Together, I would-
"GAH!!" A yell tore from my throat as I fell to the floor.
Besides me, the Phoenix Force cried in shock and loss.
""'"Mikael!""""
My Family reached me, so many faces so much love surrounding me.
And it was all drowned by the rage.
"Why?" I cried, tears blurring my eyes as I pounded the floor with alien limbs. "Why, damnit!? Why can't I do it?"
I knew why.
I knew that the second I felt 'Myself' dissolve, felt the White Phoenix of the Crown come into being, I knew I couldn't do it.
It would have saved Emma. It would have killed Darkseid. It would have accomplished my every wish.
It wouldn't have been me.
And I hated 'Myself' more than anything else at that moment.
I hated 'Mikael,' I hated this obsession, this fear, this immaterial and useless thing called 'self.'
Yet I chose it over everything else.
I was not a hero.
I was not a monster.
I was not a human.
I was me.
And I hated myself for it.
"We'll find another way," Melina whispered in my ear as I cried.
"We'll bring her back," Medea promised.
"We'll bring her back," Emma repeated.
Ah, why?
Why?
Why did a simple man with dreams of flying get so lucky?
"I know thirteen ways to bring back the dead," Raven said over my shoulder. "One of them has to work."
"The Lazurus pit," Diana offered. "If we can gather her pieces, it might work. You can Free her from the side effects."
"We can try the heroic spirit summoning ritual," Artoria joined in. "A counterpart of mine made a deal to be summoned while still alive. With all this help, it's not impossible to summon Emma from right before she died."
"Perhaps the Black might bring Lady Emma back to us?" Priscilla whispered kindly.
Something niggled in my mind as I cried, surrounded by women I loved and grieving the one I lost.
"Should we find her original dimension, mine Order might return her," Ranni said.
The niggling grew. A familiar sensation.
"A few of the worlds I reviewed had abilities related to time," Robin joined in. "It's not impossible to grow strong enough to pull her from before she died. Paradox Defence would protect us."
A sensation that reminded me of a destroyed clinic, of rage and pain. Of realization, then fear.
"If we can find enough of her DNA and find a world similar to mine, Edo Tensei might work."
"The Green."
"Mikael?" Melina asked as I whispered.
"The Green," I repeated louder. "Why could I Free The Green?"
"What?" Yoruichi asked. "What does that have to do with Emma?"
"Not Emma," I shook my head, standing up. "You all are right. We have options. I am not giving up on saving her. But I just realized something. My powers worked on The Green." I paused. "No, not just The Green. The Amazons, too."
"What about them," Diana asked with a frown.
"We know for a fact I Freed The Green. We saw it in action. Every other time, there was no change when I tried to Free someone because I really wasn't Freeing them. But why have the Amazons not tried anything? They must have been exposed to the Anti-Life Equation, either when facing Leviathan or when we went to watch Priscilla. Both times, I Freed them before returning to the Island, but why did it work with them and nobody else?"
"You think they are infected?"
"Just the opposite," I denied. "Darkseid would have had them attack with Victoria. He didn't know I'd dismiss her and boot the others out. If they joined the attack against the bounded field, it would have fallen quicker in his mind. He'd have hostages to break me. So he'd have used them if he could. But he didn't. They definitely were exposed but aren't infected anymore. Why?"
"You think there's a way to slow him down," Diana said, eyes lighting up. "A way to free those infected, even if only a few."
"We lost," I nodded. "We got our ass kicked. No two ways about it. But if we are leaving this world, we're leaving with a laugh, a pun, and a big fuck you to him. Now help me think of a way to screw him over."
I was a tired, pathetic, heartbroken, beaten and bloody fuck-up of a coward, too obsessed with 'Myself' to change.
But I was alive.
And so long as I was alive, I'd find a way to get My Emma back.
Until then, I'd have to think of a way to screw her killer over, even if only a little bit.
I was petty like that.
"That's what I like to hear," Yoruichi laughed.
"We should reach out to the Green again," Emma said.
I knew she was dealing with some of the pain I was, though from the opposite end. She might not be My Emma, but I still appreciated her ability to compartmentalize to work towards our goal. She wasn't a replacement, same memories or not; she was someone else and had forever to decide who she wanted to be.
Say what you will about Emma Frost, but I had never met a version of her who I considered weak-willed.
The absurdity that I now had met three versions was not lost on me.
"I gathered all I could from it," Tsunade denied. "We'd have better luck with the Amazons or the other Parliaments."
"The Clear," I said instantly. "Why was it broken instead of subverted?"
"Because Darkseid was using an incomplete Equation?" Robin offered.
"Yet he managed to subjugate both the Metal and the Divided," Melina pointed out.
"In my world, both realms were some of the newest ones, baring the Grey, which came from a different planet," Diana pointed out. "The Divided doesn't even have a Parliament."
"Ciara targeted Solomon Grundy because he was of the Grey," Priscilla added. "The Black believed he was at risk of falling."
There was something here, something I was missing.
A unifying thread, a common point of connection.
What was I missing?
The Anti-Life Equation worked by mathematically proving the futility of all life and forcing a being to confront that truth. A mortal mind cannot handle something like that. They gave up. They chose to 'die,' I.E., submit to Darkseid, rather than continue to live.
I understood that pain, that surrender.
Once, I had chosen to give up, to 'die' and go hollow instead of feeling the pain of existence.
But that had been a choice I had only made after years of suffering. If I had the option, any other option, I would have taken it.
I offered that option, but people weren't taking it.
Why?
Why did some choose to be Free while others chose to surrender?
My powers only worked when people chose Freedom.
By their very definition, you can force tyranny on people but not Freedom. You have to choose Freedom.
No... wait.
You can't choose Freedom.
That's not how it works.
You have to fight for Freedom.
No matter what sort of form Freedom takes for you, you have to fight for it.
Not only can Freedom not be forced on you, but it also can't be given.
Whatever form it takes, whether it is freedom from oppression, freedom to live as yourself, or the freedom to die, you have to fight for it.
If you are not fighting for your freedom in your own way, if you are allowing others to dictate your choices, you aren't free.
Freedom cannot be given.
It has to be taken.
"Raven!" I called quickly, interrupting the ongoing debate. "Valeria! Find her!"
Credit to my big-tidy, goth wife. She didn't even question me.
Shadows spread.
It only took a few seconds.
"Found her."
"Bring her here."
There were some noises of protest since Valeria was firmly under Darkseid's control, but Raven didn't hesitate to do what I asked.
A powerless little girl with a too-wide smile appeared in the living room.
I was already holding her.
Freeing her.
"Wah-"
I held the little girl as she looked at me.
The smile fell with the tears.
"What, why?" She asked me as I Freed her from the Anti-Life Equation and from the self-inflicted brain damage.
"You were fighting this entire time," I told her, looking into her eyes and seeing years of pain and loss. "You've been fighting a war alone."
"I lost," Valeria cried, wrapping tiny arms around me in a hug. "Uncle Ben. Uncle Johnny. Uncle Doom. Mom. Dad. Franklin. They were counting on me, and I lost."
"No," I shook my head. "You didn't lose. You lasted just long enough."
"How did you know Freeing her would work?" Melina asked.
"I didn't Free her," I denied. "I gave her the means to Free herself."
I looked around the room, seeing thirteen pairs of eyes looking at me with renewed hope.
"I still need to touch people," I informed them. "If they're reexposed to the equation, they'll still fall under his control again."
"What do we need to do?" Diana asked.
"Nothing," I repeated her words. "This next part is all on me. Just take care of her until you can call me back."
The Phoenix Force gave a trill of acknowledgment as it heard my mental request.
"Mikael," Medea asked as my body dissolved.
"I am a petty, possessive, egotistical, cowardly idiot," I smiled at them all. "Always have been, always will be. Even if I wanted to change, I can't change who I am."
"What are you doing?" This Emma wasn't My Emma, but I let her see my mind all the same. "Stop it!" She ordered.
But they could only control my Avatar, not 'Me.'
"Isn't this what you wanted," I laughed.
"You're not ascending!" Emma tried to hold on to me. "You're not becoming 'Freedom.'"
Her hands passed through me.
"No," I agreed. "I'm not."
"What have you done, Mikael?"
I gave my Family my widest smile at Diana's question.
"I'm doing what I always do," I laughed. "Making everything about 'Me.'"
They seemed to realize they couldn't stop me then.
"That sounds just like you," Melina sighed as she placed a hand over her face.
"Our Lord Husband is truly a tyrant of the worst sort."
"I guess we're all idiots for falling in love with him," Robin laughed.
"I trust you'll be back in time for dinner," Medea said, looking away.
"You better be back before the kids are born," Tsunade glared. "Or I'm punching you into the next universe."
"Sir Mikael is only doing what he believes is right," Artoira nodded imperiously. "He saw an opportunity and took it. I have full confidence in whatever he has planned." Nobody commented on the way she bit her lips in worry.
"If nothing else, he still owes me a fight," Scathach said, poking a spear through me in jest.
"We will sing together again, right? Sir Bard?"
"If nothing else, trust this lug to be too stubborn to die," Yoruichi reassured Priscilla.
"Or stay dead," Glynda sighed before giving me her best teacher glare. "This better not be another one of your stupid pranks."
"It's not," Raven assured the huntress. "Though he is dragging it out."
"A laugh, a pun, and a fuck you," Pride laughed. "That's how the world ends, right, Daddy?"
"That's right," I laughed back. "And you all are going love this next prank. It's a real screwball."
I 'Free'd myself of my body as my Family groaned at my terrible pun.
The titanic body of a great white dragon dissolved into the ocean.
It hadn't even fully regenerated yet.
Death had chosen the moment to give me my Defences based on when I'd have enough power to support myself without a body. She'd hoped I'd either become an embodiment of Freedom or Life.
I chose to be me.
I hadn't done this before because I had no way of getting a body back.
Speaking from experience, having thirteen hot wives and not being able to do anything with them kind of sucks.
Still, I trusted my wives to find a way of containing my Free'd soul.
I had no intention of dying, of becoming Free of myself or ascending to become something I didn't want to be.
I'd always be Me.
Petty, possessive Me.
This was about reassuring my heroic wives that we would have time to grow before returning, and they didn't have to fight in an endless war.
This was about fucking over Darkseid for all the shit he put me through.
This was about Emma.
Free of the limits of flesh, I reached out to the Parliaments of the Earth.
All of them.
They roared back, each in their own way, in their own tongue. Each vying to have me as their Avatar.
Trees swayed.
Waves rose.
All right, you useless bastards, this is how things will work.
Limbs extended.
Decay spread.
We all lost. We got our ass kicked.
Vapors swirled.
Fungai flourished.
But we're going to keep living and keep fucking this guy over.
Stones rumbled.
Flames grew.
You want Life? You have to become Life!
The Divided were united.
You want Freedom? You have to fight for Freedom!
A metal heart beat to a new Rithm.
You want to fuck this guy over? You have to be Me!