Chapter 21: Live

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"Have the courage to live. Anyone can die."

Robert Cody

Chapter 21: "Live"

(Friday-April 11, 2014)

Vision groaned in pain and fatigue as she slid to her knees. Every one of her allies was in a similar state. Even Colossus and Pandora were exhausted. After hours of throwing everything they had at Trigon, they had nothing to fight with anymore. Their enemy, on the other hand, had no such problem.

Staring down at them, Trigon laughed. Vision felt fury boil in her stomach. How dare he? They had given everything possible, and he laughed at it all. Vision would kill him where he stood if she could.

"You mortals never cease to amuse me," Trigon looked down directly at Vision, "Faced with an unstoppable force, you think if you just try hard enough, you can stop it. Well, guess what? You're wrong. You never stood a chance from the beginning."

Vision couldn't argue against that. She had seen it in front of her eyes. Nothing they could do would harm Trigon, but that was never the plan. They had to buy as much time as possible, and hope, pray really, that everything on the outside worked out okay. That was the plan, and Vision always swore by her plans.

Trigon raised an eyebrow as she stood, "Really? You want more?"

Her allies quickly followed her lead.

"You think that I'm unaware? I know of your plans, of your allies' movements. It won't work. None of your plans will work. My era is just beginning, no spells or reinforcements will change that."

Their response was a new wave of attacks.

"My amusement is quickly fading. Play time is over. Let's finish this, shall we?"

Death paused as she watched two figures enter the cavern, "They've come for him."

"Good. He is ready," The Entity did not look as the Fright Knight and Jinx struggled through the cave filled with his energy, "He will help defeat Trigon. Then, he will put an end to Nekron once and for all."

"And then what?" Death glared at Life, "You let everything he's worked for fade away. Did you forget about how he's defended everything you stood for all these years?"

"Your moral self-righteousness is understandable. You meet every life. You see how they struggle after I breathe life into them. That's the problem, though. I cannot afford to care about individuals. My job is to continue to feed life into this universe. Just as yours is to escort the dead away from it. How you choose to do your job doesn't affect me. Growing attached to Phantom was sloppy, though. He'd die eventually no matter what. It's sad when Life knows this better than Death."

Death just glared at the Life Entity, "And your lack of compassion is what will bring an end to everything. It's sad that Death knows this better than life."

"Touché, my counterpart…Zzz…Touché… " Entity's form began to fade away as it went back to sleep, "Perhaps…Zzz…We've both made mistakes involving Phantom…Zzz…Too late now, though…Zzz…I've already…Zzz…Prepared his body…Zzz…"

"I suppose you're right," Death gave the downed Danny a look of pity, "I can only hope that he lives through this. I know it's doubtful, but there's always Hope. He showed us all that before."

"Zzz…Indeed…Zzz..."

With that, they both disappeared into the light.

Delirium stood against the wall of the chapel. She watched as Spirit was sent crashing into the piece of wall right beside her, "Heya!"

Spirit looked up at the Endless, "You…"

"Forgot about me? Can't blame you. I kind of came in while you were all kind off 'wah' and stuff. Plus, I held back to see how things turned out," Delirium giggled. She then reached down to pull Spirit towards her. Just in time for a blast of magic to hit where the halfa just was, "Head in the game, Dani,"

Spirit looked back to the fight. Brother Blood was sending out dozens of blasts of magic spells. They had been doing very well against the demonic cultists. He was on the ropes, but he managed to get a few lucky hits in every so often.

"I was hoping to have a nice chat with you about the structure of the universe and all that before the end of this little adventure, but it looks like I'm running out of time," Delirium let out a sigh, "Oh well, it's been fun no matter what. I would like to point out that Raven could easily beat the old guy, so I would just chuck her at him."

"What?"

"Spirit! Hurry up!" Nyx shouted at to her friend.

Spirit's eyes snapped over to see Nyx holding Brother Blood with several different stands of shadow. While she was doing that, Cyborg was hitting the cultist with a continuous wave of his sonic canon. This had Brother Blood completely subdued on the ground, but he was still in his demonic form, and that didn't look to be changing any time soon.

"Remember to think outside the box, Dani."

Spirit's eyes snapped back to Delirium to see that the woman was gone. She then looked to Raven who was standing back and giving support through small mumbled spells that didn't seem to be doing much.

"Not that we need help, but I assumed that you'd want in on this!" Cyborg had switched from his sonic canon to trying to knock Brother Blood out with his bare fists. Still, the cult leader did not seem to be changing back.

Spirit quickly stood. Think outside the box… "Yeah, but I've got an idea. Raven, come here."

Dusk stood lost in a rushing sea of red. His mind buzzed in a familiar feeling of madness. Instincts that he always tried to suppress surged to the front of his mind. The only thing that he could manage to think was how much he wanted to kill, cut, and slaughter. Images of a mangled Wrath flashed before his eyes. He imagined just what he would do to the demon. Every new image was bloodier than the last.

The familiar weight of a weapon pulled firmly on his hands. Without even thinking, he fought. Even as the energy continued to drain from him, he swung his weapon with the full intent to kill. To his satisfaction, his efforts rewarded by the splashing of blood across his face.

"Little idiot. Calm down. Take some deep breaths. Remember."

"I'm glad. Thank you so much, Joel. For everything. Goodbye," Greta gave him one last beaming smile. She pushed herself onto her toes so that her face was right in front of Joel. Greta leaned forward and gently placed her lips onto Joel's lips. It was a chaste kiss at best, but it was one filled with love. In that moment, Joel thought that it was the sweetest thing he ever tasted.

Dusk found himself slowing in his moments. His stomached clenched in regret. Suddenly, the feeling of blood on his face made him feel sick. Still, in the back of his mind, a tiny voice whispered to him, urging him. Like a puppet being pulled by strings, he moved to the orders of his inner instincts. The killer's rage forced him forward to the fight.

"That's it. You made a promise, yeah? Destruction and creation shouldn't be done out of anger. They are a necessity."

Cujo closed his eyes in contentment. Little balls of light began to rise from the dog's body. Just as that happened, though, his body began to dissolve. Before Cujo could become one of the few ghosts to ascend fully, his body finally gave out. Soon, he was merely a pile of green slime sliding from Dusk's arms, and just like that Cujo was gone.

More blood was spilt. His enemy was on the ground. The dripping ooze from his sword seemed to increase the weight significantly. With his weapon raised, Dusk felt the absolute need to put it down violently right into his enemy's chest. Still, he paused. He fought against the voice. His reason and conscious fought against the killer instinct. This wasn't him. He wasn't an angry murderer.

"Now stop acting so stupid. Don't raise a sword like that if you don't want to kill."

The happiest day of my life. I love you, Joel

Closed eyes. Steady breaths. This wasn't him. This wasn't who he chose to be. Anger would never get the better of him again, not after everything that helped him make it this far with his beliefs. He would not let that be in vain.

Slowly, the rage fades. The desperate whisper in his ear began to become softer and softer. His instinct demanded that he let it take control again. He would need it in the future. Being soft wouldn't get him anywhere. Still, the halfa did not listen. Rage was the enemy. The killer inside him thrived on it, just like his father. He would never let it get the better of him again.

He was calm.

Opening his eyes, Dusk saw who he was attacking. Robin laid before him. There were several cuts on the Boy Wonder's arms, but it was nothing life threatening. If Dusk had gone through with it, though…

"There you go, kid," Destruction smirked at the half-ghost. His voice returned to normal now that the halfa had regained his composure, "I knew there was some reason I invested some time in you. I expect you to show everyone the other side of destruction, yeah? I could use a little good publicity."

"What?!" Wrath snapped out in anger at the sight of Dusk lowing his weapon, "Where did all the anger go?! It just disappeared! There was no way you could suppress it!"

"I didn't, I just remember some promises I made to important people," Dusk turned to Wrath and pointed his sword at the demi-demon, "I will not let the blood of the demon get the better of me again. Especially not because of Wrath."

"Jeeze, you're a strange kid," Wrath snarled out, "What cha gonna do, boy? Use that sword on me? I know you won't kill me."

"I don't have to," Dusk slowly stepped away from Robin, "I'm going to make you defeat yourself."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Come in find out, if you think you can handle me," Dusk stood ready with his blade.

Wrath gritted his teeth. He had absorbed a lot of energy from the halfa. There was no way the kid could form any of his big weapons, and he wasn't going to go for the kill with that blade. The brat was just messing with him.

Destruction's form began to fade away, "That's the way. I'm counting on you."

"Have it your way, brat!" Wrath swung a massive hook punch at Dusk's head. The halfa just moved the minimum amount of space to dodge the attack. His blade moved in a flash.

"Ha! Like that tiny thing will do anything!" Wrath snorted as he looked at the tiny cut on his arm, "I barely feel that."

"I figured," Dusk stood ready, "Tell me, have you ever heard about death by a thousand cuts? This is kind of like that, but only with less dying and more anger."

Artemis desperately crawled her way towards Envy. Her arms were screaming in agony, but she ignored them. Slowly, she dragged her way to the demi-demon. Her body was loudly protesting and she lacked a means to hurt Envy, but that didn't stop her. She continued to move forward in a desperate attempt to save her love.

"Gah!" Artemis groaned in pain as Envy flicked towards her and sent a concentrated pocket of momentum energy at her and send her skipping away again.

"Ar…" Kid Flash failed to finish the word as Envy's grip tightened even further. He desperately clawed, scratched, and struggled to try to escape, but it wasn't enough. Even he needed air for his powers to be effective.

"Cockroaches, all of you," Envy hissed, "Go away."

With that, Envy's body began to violently vibrate. Electricity sparked off of him. The vibration soon passed onto Kid Flash. With terror on his face, Kid's form slowly began to disappear. Even as his brain struggled to stay conscious, his body slowly became transparent. As he faded, he looked to the side.

His eyes met Artemis's own pleading eyes. Her face was twisted in agony, begging him to not die. Kid tried. He really did, but he had nothing left. His limbs fell uselessly to his sides. Tears began to fall from Artemis's eyes as she saw Wally's body give out on him. She cried out, but her words fell on deaf ears. Despite not hearing them, Kid Flash knew the meaning. He watched Artemis break down, sob, and beg her not to leave her in such a cruel world.

That was what Kid saw as his vision began to fade to black. His heart skipped a beat as the image burned in his eyes. He didn't want to die like this, slowly and pathetically in front of his love's eyes. So, despite his weakening state, he fought. He began to vibrate himself.

That was when he felt it. The energy passing from Envy to him was different. It wasn't strong. It was fast. It was speed. Speed…Speed…Speed…

His body instantly came back.

"What?!" Envy's eyes widened in horror as electricity passed from him to the real speedster. Before he could do anything else, Envy was suddenly sent flying back by a blast of electricity. After crashing to the ground, Envy immediately shot up and was shocked by what he saw.

Kid Flash now stood. His body was vibrating so fast that it seemed like he was at two places at once. Electricity danced off him almost lovingly. More than that, Envy could actually feel the power radiating off of him.

"This…" Kid Flash stared in wonder at his electricity covered hands, "This is…speed force…"

Lust and Youngblood stood across from each other. They were both covered in injuries, as was Zatanna who still stood beside Lust's side. While the red glowing eyes fading signaled that Blood's control had wavered, but Lust's powers still held true. Luckily, Beast Boy had run crowd control and kept the cultists out of the conflict. This gave Youngblood a fighting chance, but there was still a problem…

"Huff…Hahaha…" Lust let out a small laugh, "So the bird wasn't lying, huh? You really won't release that seal of yours. I may be one of my father's weakest sins, but you still can't beat me while holding back so much. That lucky shot of yours won't happen again."

"Maybe, but you're not using your powers to their full potential either," Youngblood argued, "You haven't had any of the people you control threaten to kill themselves."

Lust gained a displeased look, "I prefer not to use my powers in such a way. Brother Blood's methods are…distasteful."

Youngblood frowned, "You don't…Oh, I get it. You six…the Sons of Trigon…You're not really all that into this are you? You're just into this because of your dad."

"You speak about things you don't understand."

Youngblood snorted, "Trust me on this. I know about making choices to make sure your parents are happy. That's why I refuse to break the seal. But even that has its limits. Just like you have your own limits."

Lust was silent for a moment, but that moment quickly passed, "Perhaps, but it changes nothing of my goal. Everything I do is for Father."

"And everything I do is for my parents and my friends," Youngblood shook his head, "The only difference is that I'm on the winning side. Give up now, and I'll go easy on you."

Lust was the one who snorted this time, "Really? I know you won't release the seal, and I have a magician here that's proven to get the best of you. What can you do?"

"I can snap her out of it," Youngblood's hook shifted into a stun baton.

"Kill him!" Lust ordered.

Zatanna stuck her hands out, "Hsinif mih!"

The weapons that Zatanna had used before flared to life once more. The swords rushed towards him with magic flaring from the steel like fire. Youngblood felt too exhausted to fully dodge the swords fully. So, he didn't even try. To Lust's absolute shock, Youngblood rushed forward and allowed himself to be cut.

Despite several different gashes that were bleeding rather badly, Youngblood continued forward. He finally found himself in front of Zatanna. With a grunt, he then shoved his stun baton forward towards her stomach. He only kept it there for a second. After a few spasms from Zatanna, he removed the stun baton and frowned down at her, "I'm sorry, but it was the best possible way…"

"Ah…" Tears began to fall from Zatanna's eyes, "Thank you…"

"What are you doing?!" Lust glared at Zatanna, "Kill him!"

Zatanna didn't react to his orders. She just moved a hand to clutch her stomach and silently cried.

"There are some things that move people far above lust," Youngblood noted, "After all, we just talked about parents. Nothing tops the grief of one of them."

Lust gained an alarmed look as Youngblood turned to him, "Wait—"

Youngblood slammed Lust into the wall. The demi-god slid down on his back in a dazed state, "Ha…I always figured that lust would never take me far…"

With that, he collapsed onto the ground unconscious.

Youngblood nodded. He stood silently in the hallway with an unconscious Lust and a crying Zatanna. From down the hallway, Beast Boy stopped his crowd control and looked down to the hall to the ghost. Glancing to Beast Boy then to Zatanna, Youngblood quietly mumbled, "Yeah, it seems unfulfilling."

Agent Z stood in an inferno of dancing flames. Red, blue, and black swirled around in a massive dome of fire. The colors filled the area and covered everything in their beautiful dance. Surrounded by the fire, Agent Z had to grit his teeth at the pain. After years spent in Trigon's domain, he thought that he really understood pain.

Years of being surrounded by the flames of hell had all but dulled his senses. Agent Z now realized that it was only the dark side of flames that he had withstood before this fight. While the black flames were filled with hate and content, the red and blue were different. While not perfectly good, they were a far step above Trigon. They were flawed individually, but together, the red and blue burned with a brightness that Agent Z could barely stand to be around.

He knew the feeling he got from the combined fire. It was something he had missed for so long. These flames were not of monsters. No, they were the fire of humanity.

Looking through the waltz of fire, Agent Z spied his enemies. Ember and Torch still stood together. Hand in hand, they defied him and his master. They looked so determined, so filled with righteous conviction. It…moved him…

Suddenly, the images of Torch and Ember shifted to show the figures that haunted his dreams. Trever and Ellie stood side by side. Like always, they defied his wishes. They couldn't just let things be. That was fine, though. They wouldn't be his kids if they just blindly obeyed.

They wouldn't…be his kids…if they didn't question their fate.

The forms shifted again. Now, the two grown ghosts appeared as tiny babes. That was how he always saw Trever and Ellie. No matter how much they grew, Agent Z saw them as the babies he had held in his arms after their births and cried over. The two happiest moments of his life swept before his eyes. It was then that he knew for sure.

They were his children.

Lowering his arms, Agent Z dismissed the black flames. He couldn't fight them. He wouldn't. So he silently closed his eyes and accepted the blue and red flames. Oddly enough, they didn't hurt nearly as badly as he thought they would. In fact, they felt peaceful.

Plasmius knew that he couldn't hold on forever. He had been just hoping to hold out for time. Unfortunately, the time was up. It was now the point where he had to make a choice. Which way did he want to die? The choice was made by his instincts. He and his duplicates quickly vacated the bodies of the Leaguers and collapsed onto the ground as he quickly got accustomed to being a ghost once more. In a blaze of green, the duplicates returned to Plasmius.

"There we go," Greed quickly released the Leaguers who all collapsed as well. He then tried to move his control over to Plasmius. With a wave of his hands, he lifted Plasmius up and began to pull the halfa apart.

Before that could get too far, though, Greed had to release the hold and whirl around to protect himself from Batman and Miss Martian. Even though they couldn't use their ships to attack without risking injuring the Leaguers, they could come down and sneak attack Greed with the hopes that he wouldn't be able to use his powers on them.

Unfortunately, Greed sensed them coming. He managed to hold his hands up and used his powers to halt the two's movements right before they managed to get to him. Then, he realized the he had turned his attention away from Plasmius. Keeping his control on the two heroes, he turned back to Plasmius and stopped the halfa that also tried to charge forward toward the son of Trigon.

"Nice try," Greed admitted, "You almost got me. Looks like that's checkmate then."

Plasmius grinned, "No…It's just check…on my part…"

With that, Plasmius disappeared in a burst of ectoplasm to reveal that he was a duplicate.

"What?!"

Before Greed could recover himself, Plasmius burst from the ground and overshadowed the demi-demon. With his full will and power in tact now, Plasmius immediately went on the mental attack. He viciously threw himself at Greed's unprepared mind. The halfa gave no quarters.

He tore and ripped his way through his enemy's mind. Plasmius saw everything. Greed's hopes, dreams, and past were all laid bare. All of it was beaten away until Plasmius got to Greed's core. That was when he saw it. A tiny child in rages stood looking up at window showing an expensive suit on display. Desire was shown clearly on his face.

A desire that Trigon only encouraged…

With that, Plasmius released Greed and allowed the son of Trigon to collapse to the ground. The demi-demon let out a groan of pain.

"That was checkmate," Plasmius noted.

"Damn…" Greed hissed out, "I wanted to win…"

"Trust me on this one," Plasmius frowned to now sleeping demi-demon. He then looked as the Leaguers began to recover, "You don't always get what you want."

Sloth yawned as he stopped his slow approach, "Oh? Another one?"

Nightwing turned to see Constantine stepping up to them. The British exorcist was slowly twirling his cane around his finger, "John! I thought the Box needed you to charge it!"

Constantine stopped spinning the cane and caught in out of the air, "Well, I can't just let him get close and steal all the energy, now can I, bird man?"

"Well, good luck," Rocket floated above the wizard, "We failed to do anything to him."

"That's because you don't know how to handle these bloody demon types," Constantine pointed his cane at Sloth.

"Oh?" Sloth shook his head and continued his slow approach, "And what are you going to do?"

"This," Constantine stabbed his cane into the ground. Magical fire burst from the ground and began to run around the demi-demon. Sloth watched with mild interest as the flames circled around him, but it did not come close to him. Instead, it seemed to be writing something…

"Shit!" Sloth's eyes widened as he realized what this was.

"You sure your sin isn't arrogance, lad?" Constantine let out a laugh.

Sloth rushed towards the fire. He tried to reach out and weaken the flames with his powers but was forced back by the magical fire. It was too late. The symbol around him was complete. He stood at the center of a flaming pentagon, exorcist circle.

"No!" Sloth desperately thought about what to do.

"Sorry, pal," Constantine raised his cane once more and pointed it at Sloth once more, "I'm a professional."

Saying a low chant, Constantine unleased a burst of magic from the end of his cane. The burst flew and smashed into the chest of the son of Trigon. As soon as the burst made contact, the exorcist circle burst to life. Light shined through the area as energy spread through Sloth. Twisting in agony, Sloth's head shot up as red smoke poured from his mouth. Once all the smoke was out, it fell down and disappeared into the flames. With that done, the circle faded into nothingness, and Sloth fell to the ground.

Sloth scoffed lightly at himself, "Oh well…This was all too much trouble anyway…I just wanted to sleep…"

"Woah…" Rocket's jaw was dropped.

Constantine raised his cane and blew away the smoke at the end, "Be glad. Usually, I don't let people watch me work. Luckily, he was either too dumb or too lazy to move until it was too late."

"Is he going to be okay?" Nightwing questioned.

Constantine shrugged, "He'll live, but I took away his powers. I bet it feels bloody painful. He'll be limping for a while, but that's all."

"Good…" Nightwing gave Sloth a look of pity, "I didn't think his hear was really in this. Like…he wanted us to stop him."

Constantine nodded, "Maybe he did. Destroying the Box would have been a lot of work."

Frostbite took steady steps towards the equally towering form of Gluttony. Blue smoke drifted out of his mouth as cold seemed to radiate off the yeti ghost. Each step he took left a growing trail of ice behind him. His face was set into a vicious snarl. Gluttony just looked onto the approaching ghost impassively.

Superboy gained an alarmed look as Frostbite passed him, "What are you doing?! You can't get too close."

"I know that it's dangerous, but I do have a plan," Frostbite let out a growl, "Step back. I don't want you to get caught in the chaos."

Batgirl quickly grabbed the back of Superboy's shirt and pulled him back, "You heard the guy. I get the feeling that this isn't going to be pretty."

Gluttony let out a grunt and walked out in front of Frostbite, "You do know my powers, right? Are you just offering up your energy as a bribe?"

"No, I'm going to give you more than you can handle," Frostbite gave Gluttony a sharp grin.

"Oh, a comedian!" Gluttony rushed forward and grabbed onto the ghost, "I like entertainment with my meal!"

As soon as Gluttony made contact, Frostbite's energy poured from the ghost to the demi-demon. Blue flowed from Frostbite's shoulder to Gluttony's arm. Despite this, though, Frostbite just stood calmly. Slowly, he reached up with his fake arm and gently gripped one of Gluttony's arms. Just like with his shoulders, energy began to transfer from the point of contact. This time was different, though. As soon as the energy made contact with Gluttony, ice began to spread across Glutonny's arms.

With wide eyes, Gluttony tried to pull free, but Frostbite wouldn't let him go. He then tried to cut off the flow of energy, but he couldn't' stop it. The cryoplasm continued to transfer, and Gluttony was beginning to be completely covered in ice.

"Be careful what you eat," Frostbite noted even as his ice arm began to fade away and his muscle mass slowly began to diminish, "Some types of energy don't like demons from the flames of hell."

"No! No!" Gluttony pleaded as the ice spread over his face, "Please! I—"

Gluttony never got to finish that sentence as he was completely frozen over. With his opponent covered in ice, Frostbite finally pulled away. His fake arm was gone, and he was far thinner now. Nevertheless, he was victorious.

"Forgive me," Frostbite's features calmed as looked at Gluttony's frozen features that were twisted in fear, "You gave me no choice. But you'll live…"

Reaching up, Frostbite tapped Gluttony's forehead. The ice faded away to allow Gluttony to breath. He was still unconscious, but he wasn't in life threatening danger anymore.

"That seems like a costly victory," Superboy spoke up, "I mean. You lost an arm."

Frostbite sighed, "Yes, it will take a while to reform, but the Box is safe. Let us rejoice on that."

Vision fought back scream of pain as Trigon held her tightly in his massive fist. On the ground below her, all of her allies laid defeated. They all struggled to get up. Colossus did managed to get back up to his feet, but Trigon quickly stomped down on the ghost and held him down with a massive hoof.

"You're the leader, right?" Trigon peered at her with amused eyes, "So this is your fault? Does it feel good knowing that you lead your people into a pointless death?"

Vision couldn't speak. He was crushing her too much for her to get a word out. Even if she could speak, though, she wouldn't have anything to say. Trigon had defeated them with several wide spread blasts of pure energy. With the dome still around them, they had no way to dodge. It had been a brutal defeat, and by the looks of things, help wouldn't be coming all that quickly.

"Don't worry, though. You won't have to suffer through watching them die," Trigon's eye began to glow, "I believe in taking out the people in charge first. That's why I took care of Phantom personally."

Vision just glared up at the demon.

"There we go. That's the face I wanted to see when you…What's going on?!"

To everyone's shock, the dome around the area dropped. As the red energy faded away, the form of Greed stepped forward. He floated up to Trigon's eye level and spoke, "Father, I've taken care of the halfa."

"Good, but why did you…" Trigon's eyes widened, "You're not—"

Greed raised a hand and sent out a green blast of ectoplasm to Trigon's eyes. Said demon cried out in pain as he wasn't prepared for such an attack to a vulnerable spot. He instantly released Vision. This allowed Greed to grab her and pull her back.

Vision watched as Greed's form shifted, "Amorpho…What are you doing?"

"Saving you!" Amorpho pointed at Trigon with his free hand, "Charge!"

At his command, hundreds of ghosts fazed through the ground and swarmed around the massive demon. Still weakened by Amorpho's sneak attack, Trigon could only stumble back in pain as the ghosts attacked him from all angles. This freed Colossus and allowed him to help some of the ghosts at the ground level to collect the downed fighters and pull them back as well.

"You…did this?" Vision's voice came out as a whispered shock.

"I'm as shocked as you are," Amorpho sounded genuinely surprised with himself, "I never thought I would be able to do anything in the spotlight. But today is a day for miracles, don't you think?"

"Agreed," Vision smiled at him, "Thank you, Amorpho. You saved all of our…my life."

"Don't mention it. If we start keeping count on who saves who, then you'll surpass me within the next five minutes."

Jinx and Fright Knight were blinded as they flew into the white light. They couldn't even see their hands in front of their face. Yet there was no pain. Despite being in light bright enough to burn away corneas, they didn't feel any pain. Quite the contrary, actually. The white light actually was filling them with strength. Jinx instantly recognized the feeling.

"Ascended ectoplasm!" Jinx shouted out in shock, "I recognize this! It was just like when Danny transferred it to me!"

The Fright Knight was silent. Instead, he focused on the energy. It seemed to be pulsing from an original source. Keeping his hold onto Jinx, he began to head towards the source. He saw what seemed to be a cocoon wrapped in strands of white and gold. It was hard to make out, but it was there. For a brief second, he would have sworn he saw two figures standing in front of the bright cocoon. One looked like an angel while the other was a contrary black in the sea of white. He almost thought that the black figure gave him a look of pity before it disappeared.

That was when things got strange. A giant force began to push against them. It was like a hand was pushing them away. They quickly noticed how the energy flared off the cocoon. It was like the entire thing became unstable in their presence. They both had to fight not get be thrown back.

"It's him!" Jinx shouted, "I know it!"

Grunting in agreement, Fright Knight began to move forward. The force of the blast forced the two of them apart, but neither of them were thrown back. Jinx instead infused energy into her boots and used that to stay anchored to the ground. All the while, the Fright Knight tried to fly forward to get to his king. Both of them struggled to get forward even a few centimeters. Still, neither one of them were willing to give up.

As they slowly made their way to the cocoon, the energy seemed to take a life of its own. The white and gold slowly began to come together above the cocoon to form what appeared to be a large skeletal hand. It began to swing around wildly. Eventually, the swings made their way towards Jinx and Fright Knight.

Unsheathing his blade, the Fright Knight sung upward to stop the arm. Using every bit of strength that he possessed, the Fright Knight pushed back and stopped the skeletal arm. His body groaned in agony as he fought against the arm. That one blow was one of the most powerful attacks that he had ever taken. It was insane.

Sensing that it had finally hit something, the arm quickly whipped up and struck back down. Again, the Fright Knight fought against the blow. Then, it happened a third time. He had to fight not to fall to his knees.

"Go! Prove yourself and save him!" The Fright Knight shouted out to Jinx as the arm swung up again, "I'll deal with this!"

Nodding, Jinx began to push forward again. She used all her energy to create a dome of energy around herself to protect her from the flowing energy. Unfortunately, this was still not an easy task. Each time the skeletal arm struck the Fright Knight, a blast of energy spread out from the point of impact. The barrier around her came close to shattering with each spread of energy.

Still, she fought forward towards the cocoon. As she drew close to the cocoon, she reached out to it. To her surprise, the cocoon reached out as well to mix in with her energy. The energy dance out and drew her close. Once again, a giant blast of energy spread out. This time, though, the skeletal arm went with it. Freezing mid-swing, the arm began to shake before it violently shattering into one thousand pieces.

The white energy began to move once again. This time, though, it swirled towards the cocoon which was slowly breaking away to show the person inside of it. Phantom, who appeared to be frozen in stone, quickly began to animate once more. White and gold energy flared around him like a familiar halo. His skin regained its normal tone as white eyes snapped open.

Then, the energy stopped. Phantom stood in front of Jinx who was looking on in awe. Reaching out, he quickly took Jinx in his arms, "Thank you, Jen. You too, Fright Knight."

"Danny…" Jinx eyed Phantom's features with interest, "How are you…What happened?"

Phantom shook his head, "I don't know. I remember beating Nabu…then there was pain and a lot of red light. Then…an angle surrounded in white saved me and pulled me in here. That's all I remember…"

"Did your ascended ectoplasm kick in as a defensive reflex?" The Fright Knight questioned.

"No…No, it was something else. I think…" Phantom's head snapped up, "I feel something…Wally's in danger."

"Yes! They stayed back so that we could come save you, my Liege," Fright Knight quickly proclaimed, "We must return to them immediately or Envy shall dispose of them."

"No…It's not Envy…" Phantom looked towards the knight, "Hold onto me. I'm going to get us out of here."

The knight quickly obeyed. Jinx suddenly felt uncomfortable sharing space near Danny with the Fright Knight, "What are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here fast. Hold on."

Before he could get a response, the halfa went to work. His energy flared to life once more and rocketed into the air once more. With unbelievable speeds, he raced back to where his two allies entered the cave. Within seconds, he was far away from the cavern.

After the halfa was gone, the opening to cave closed and the tunnel leading to it was filled with rock and dirt. With the cavern now blocked off again, the Life Entity formed once more at the center of the cave. Quiet snores echoed off the walls. Its job was done. Every else was left to Phantom. Finally, it could sleep once more…

Raven had wide eyes as Spirit grabbed her and carried her forward, "W-What are you doing?"

"This!" Spirit rushed beside Brother Blood. To everyone's surprise, Raven's magic instantly lashed out and snapped at the cultist. He roared in pain as the magic latched onto him and began to tear away the demonic magic from his core.

As his demonic features faded and the red energy was ripped from him, Brother Blood desperately tried to hold onto his borrowed power. Cyborg just smacked him upside the head while Nyx constricted him with her shadows. With the side attacks, Brother Blood screamed out in pain as Raven naturally pulled the demonic energy from the cultist and then absorbed it. Once again, Raven seemed to age. This time, she was only a few years distance from her actual age.

"Gah…" Brother Blood groaned.

Cyborg let out a low whistle, "Wow. That's new."

Raven looked down to her hands, "It is. Lust mentioned how Blood never stood a chance against me, but…"

"Pride," Spirit suddenly spoke up, "You're Trigon's Pride, right? You have his dominance over demons. At least while he's in the same dimension as you."

Nyx blinked, "How did you even think about that? Jeeze, my plan was just to beat him up until his powers went away. It may have taken a while, but it would have been fun as hell."

Spirit shrugged, "I, uh, just thought outside the box. I remember Raven accidentally hurting Brother Blood while I was under his control. I thought it might happen again."

"Gah…" Brother Blood's eyes flickered open to glare at Raven, "You…I swear, I'll—"

Cyborg knocked him out with a solid punch to the back of the head, "Would you shut up?"

"Okay," Nyx waved her hands to have her shadows tie Brother Blood up like a gift, "So Brother Blood's done, we got Raven and Spirit, and Chuck…Chuck!"

Raven closed her eyes and focused on Youngblood's energy, "He's okay. His energy is stable. Lust is down."

"Good," Cyborg let out a sigh of relief. He then grabbed Brother Blood and flung him over his metallic shoulder, "But the fight's not over. We need to regroup and head back. Constantine said he'd need Raven for the Box to work. I think I know why now. Let's hope that Raven's demon dominance powers work on her Dad."

Dusk ducked under Wrath's various punches. Each strike was met with a swing of Dusk's blade. The demi-demon's thicker skin prevented the sword from cutting too deeply, but that was fine with Dusk. He didn't intend to do any real damage. At least to anything besides the man's ego.

"Stupid fly!" Wrath roared out as he continued to try to swat Dusk away. He was rewarded with more cuts.

Dusk ignored his words. He just continued to move. With each strike of his own, he slowly counting in his head. He was over one hundred at this point. It seems like he wasn't going to get close to one thousand. With each miss and each new cut, Wrath's face twisted with more and more anger. At this rate, it would happen soon.

"Damn it!"

Two more cuts.

"Why can't I hit you!?"

Four more cuts.

"RAW!"

Dusk smiled as he moved back. One hundred and twenty-six…That was a good number. He held out for longer than expected.

Muscles bulging and scowl growing, Wrath beat the ground with his fists a few times, causing the ground to shake. Dusk looked on impassibly as he floated above the shaking ground. With a roar, Wrath lunged himself at the halfa. This time, though, Dusk merely turned intangible and let the demon pass through him.

Surprised by the lack of contact, Wrath tumbled to the ground. Before he could get up, he felt a bola wrap around his legs and trap him. A quick glance to the weapon's origin showed that Black Bat had gotten back to her feet—

"AH!" Wrath cried out Robin landed on him and shoved a stun gun into his spine. His rage rocketing even further, Wrath bulged his muscles again. This snapped the bola and forced Robin off of his back. Whirling around with a snarl, Wrath was just in time to be punched by Troia.

Reeling from the strength of the Amazon, Wrath stumbled back. Before he could recover, Troia hammered him with several more blows that rocked the demi-demon away. She then grabbed the massive form of Wrath and threw him over head straight into the ground.

Before he could recover, different shuriken and baterangs slammed into the ground right beside him. Different gasses and ropes blasted from the weapons, causing the demi-demon to cough as he trapped to the ground.

"I don't get it!" Wrath roared as he struggled. This only helped the knock out gas spread through his system, though, "You were trapped in anger!"

Dusk stepped onto Wrath's chest. He pointed the tip of his sword at Wrath's neck. The son of Trigon instantly paled and went silent, "That was when you were calm yourself. I figured your control of them would drop if you lost your temper. That's the problem with using your own sin as a weapon. Those who fight with rage will only drown in it."

"But anger is all I have!" Wrath argued, "It's my father's gift!"

"No," Dusk removed the blade from Wrath's neck. He transformed it into a staff and slammed in across the demi-demon's temple, "It's a curse."

Looking at the downed demon, the other three members of Young Justice slowly approached Dusk. Black Bat was the first to speak, "How did you fight that? The anger…it was suffocating…"

Dusk absorbed his weapon and reached into his pocket to pull out a familiar necklace, "It wasn't easy. But…I have some reasons to calm down."

Troia took a deep steady breath, "That…That's impressive to say the least. We failed completely."

"It was a lesson I learned the hard way," Dusk admitted while looking towards Robin's bleeding arms, "Sorry about that."

Robin shrugged while trying to hide his wounds, "It's nothing, man. Could have been worse."

Black Bat shook her head as she pulled out bandages from her utility belt, "Hold still, Robin. We don't want you to bleed out. Well…maybe we do a little, but we still need you for Trigon. After that, though…"

Robin let out a snort, "Jeeze, thanks, Black Bat. Feeling the love."

Dusk looked out to the distance, "I saw a pretty big explosion while fighting Wrath. I think Torch and Ember beat Z. Otherwise, Z would already be here trying to kill us."

"So…We win?"

"We still got to deal with Trigon," Dusk blinked as he noticed the Exorcist Armor flying towards them, "And of course he comes back now. The convenient stuff always happens after the fight."

Envy frowned, "Speed Force? Really? That sounds stupid."

Kid Flash was too busy awed by the power he was emitting. He felt like he could do anything. It was amazing. The last time ever felt anything like this was when he first got his powers. This was different, though. He could never imagine getting used to this.

Artemis too was looking on in awe. She could feel her gut twist. Something about this was off. Where did this power even come from?

"Well, if you're just gonna stand there," Envy smirked. He rushed forward with the full intent to hit Kid Flash. He aimed at Kid with a punch at the speed of sound. To his complete surprise, he missed. The dozens of other punches missed as well. Every strike passed right through the vibrating form of Kid Flash. To combat this, Envy began to vibrate himself. The Flash wouldn't lose in a game of speed—

Envy didn't even see Kid Flash's punch coming. He was sent flying away in a blur. As he flew through the air, he immediately recognized that he would not win in speed. As such, he decided to go for endurance. His form shifted into that of Superman. As Envy landed, he glared to where Kid Flash just was only to see that the speedster had disappeared.

Suddenly, he felt blows hitting him from every direction. He didn't even see the blur of Kid Flash moving. He only felt the after effects of the punches. None of them did any damage. So, he now had a chance to come up with a game plan.

In an instant, there was a tornado around Envy. Kid Flash seemed to running around the demi-demon at speeds that wasn't even comprehensible to the son of Trigon. For a second, Envy wondered what this would do. The moment after that, though, he realized that the his breath was being sucked from his lungs. Envy instantly crashed to his knees clutching his throat.

Desperately, he switched to a person that didn't need to breathe. In the form of Phantom, Envy turned intangible as a way to defend himself. To his undying surprise, though, Kid Flash rushed in from his tornado and punched him right in the face. It seems like the Speed Force could overcome intangibility.

Envy's head swirled from the blow. Knowing the next blow would come, he changed into anyone he could conceive. It was Martian Manhunter.

Kid Flash just smacked him away.

Next was Wonder Woman.

Kid Flash kicked him away.

Finally, he made a desperate change. The form of Artemis looked up to Kid Flash who paused in his punch. Envy looked up at Kid Flash with a pleading look. Kid Flash looked at him for a tense few seconds before punching him away.

"Gah!" Envy groaned as he fell to the ground and transformed into a young man. He was very thin and dressed in rags. His features were rather average and did not stand out all that much.

"Artemis never looks that pathetic," Kid Flash noted.

"Hahaha…" Envy moaned pathetically, "Yeah…It was worth a shot…Not like I could compete against that power any other way…I'm jealous…"

Kid Flash watched as Envy slumped down in unconsciousness. He then turned to Artemis who was still looking on in awe. Kid went to help her up, but he paused when he suddenly felt very light. Looking at his hands again, he was horrified to see his form fading. He was vibrating too fast. Fear struck his heart as he reached out to his girlfriend.

"Artemis!" Kid Flash cried out as he began to disappear, "Help!"

Artemis reached out desperately as she watched her boyfriend fade away. She couldn't' move, though. She couldn't help him. In seconds, he disappeared…A hand reached out and grabbed Kid Flash to steady his form.

Kid Flash looked at the owner of the hand with wide eyes, "Danny?"

Phantom gave Kid a steady look, "You have to keep yourself steady. Trust me, you can't let your power get the better of you."

Nodding, Kid Flash took a steady breath. He focused on controlling himself, to slow himself down when the Speed Force demanded that he speed up. Soon, he was still vibrating, but it was far more stable than before, "Okay…I got it…"

Phantom nodded, "Good. Keep it that way. We'll need the power."

Artemis looked at them with tears in her eyes, "Wally…Danny…I'm so glad you're alive."

Phantom smiled, "I have no real idea what's happening, but I'm assuming that we need to stop Trigon, right?"

Kid Flash nodded, "Yeah, things are pretty bad. We came looking for you."

Phantom looked over his shoulder to see Jinx and Fright Knight where he left them, "They mentioned that. How is everyone else?"

"It's complicated…"

"Of course it is. Fill me in fast, I get the feeling we don't have a lot of time."

Zatanna was silent as Youngblood helped her through the halls of the church. Her magic was carrying the unconscious cultists in addition to a bound and gagged Lust, but she was having a more difficult time walking on her own at the moment. Thus, Youngblood decided to help her move.

"Shouldn't I be carrying her?" Beast Boy questioned as he walked beside the two of them, "You look pretty hurt, dude."

"I'm good," Youngblood gave a small smile to the other boy, "You're still fresh. I need you to go ahead and check on the others. Don't worry about us. We can hold each other up."

"You sure?" Beast Boy's wide eyes stared up at them.

Zatanna nodded, "Yeah, Gar. Go and see if they need help. We'll be fine."

"If you say so," Beast Boy quickly changed into a bird and flew down the hallways towards the entrance of the church. Youngblood and Zatanna waited until he was out of sight before slowly following after him.

"You can go ahead and talk about it," Youngblood stated, "He won't hear now, and I won't tell anyone."

"You aimed for my stomach. You knew that would snap me out of Lust's control."

"I did. Sorry I had to remind you about it."

Zatanna gave Youngblood a side glance, "How did you know?"

Youngblood gave a single shoulder shrug, "I noticed how you clenched your stomach and that look on your face. I've seen it before when I was doing some research on my seal years ago, and things just clicked for me. Don't worry, I don't think anyone else in your age group will figure it out. Kids barely think about such things right now."

"You act like you're not a kid."

Youngblood could almost feel the glare Polly was giving him at this point, "I'm not much of one anymore. This is just appearance right now. It's all I have left."

Zatanna frowned, "That doesn't sound good for you."

"It isn't, so we both have a problem for our futures," Youngblood noted sadly.

Zatanna looked down, "It wasn't something I thought about before…before Klarion's attack caused the damage. Hell, I don't think I was going to even think about it for years, but still…The option is gone, and I don't know how to deal with it."

"Adoption is always an option," Youngblood noted, "There's a lot of kids that need some love."

"So I should pull a Batman and recruit a few wards to follow in my footsteps?" Despite herself, Zatanna couldn't help but let out the joke.

Youngblood chuckled, "It wouldn't be the strangest story I've ever heard."

Zatanna's smile slipped again, "I guess I don't have the worst problem in the world. It could be worse…"

"Don't tell yourself that," Youngblood stated, "Parents and children…They're a big deal. It's what keeps our world going. There's very little that's bigger than that in the grand scheme of things."

"True…"

Youngblood let out a small sigh, "I, uh, for the record, I think you would make a great mom no matter what."

Zatanna smiled, "Thank you. What about you? You know all my baggage now. Do I get to know why you did research on this parent, mother thing?"

Youngblood gained a dazed look, "Let's just say, I have the opposite problem as you. My parents…They needed my help, and now they don't even remember I exist as long as this seal is in place. And if I let it go so they can remember me…I die."

"That's…harsh…"

"It is, but…" Youngblood's head picked up as he noticed that they were getting towards the end of the hallway. He could see his friends in the distance, "For right now, though, let's forget our own issues. Even with our personal problems, the big thing is Raven's dad. Let's deal with that parent issue and then we can deal with the others."

Zatanna nodded, "Right. We can't solve either of our problems if Trigon destroys the world."

Agent Z groaned as his eyes opened to reveal the face of Ember looking down at him, "Ellie…Why didn't you just let me die?"

Ember shook her head as she sat down and gently placed her father's head on her lap, "Idiot. Why would I go through all this trouble just to kill you?"

"Because I deserve it," Tears trickled from Agent Z's eyes, "I tried to kill you, all ghosts, multiple times. That's a sin a father just can't take back. I don't deserve to live."

"Torch agrees, but Ellie always had a way of getting what she wants," Torch stood nearby. His arms were crossed as he stared down at the downed from of Agent Z, "And Torch would be lying if he said that he didn't have…any desire to have his dad back…"

Agent Z snorted, "Trever…There isn't any going back. Not after everything that's happened."

Torch nodded, "Torch knows, Dad. He never said it was a smart dream. But he's never been known for smart dreams, has he?"

"I suppose not…Neither of you were," Agent Z admitted.

"We got it from you," Ember noted, "You used to want humans and ghosts to live in peace, right? No one believed in that, but you still went for it. Until our deaths broke you."

Agent Z sighed, "Yep. It seems that I'm just one big bag of flaming garbage."

"Tell us…" Torch gained as wistful look, "Do you at least regret any of it?"

"Trev, the only thing I don't regret in my life is having my family. After that was gone, every choice I ever made was a mistake," Agent Z answered completely honestly for once.

Torch closed his eyes and looked away. That sentence meant so much to him, "Yeah…"

"I can't undo anything I've done, though. I own up to my mistakes. That's why I wanted Joel to kill me," Agent Z's voice came out as light as a whisper, "No matter what, I'm dead. Either your side wins, and I die when Trigon is banished, or Trigon wins and kills me for my failure. There's no other way this can go down."

"Yeah, I guess so," Ember admitted, "But that doesn't mean you can't change sides. Be the hero for once. Give us one last good memory of you before this is over."

"Ellie…" Agent Z felt tears run down his face, "I'm not that person. I'm the bad guy. I've known that for a long time."

"We know. Being a bad person doesn't mean you can't be a good Dad one last time, though," Torch turned around to where Wrath had been fighting the heroes. He saw them waving at them, "It's time, Ellie. We have to go."

"Right," Ember slowly placed Agent Z's head down, "Well, I guess this is bye, Dad. Whatever happens, I want you to know that I love you."

"I love you too, Ellie. Again…I'm so sorry," Agent Z watched as Ember stood and began to walk away. He then looked to Torch, "Aren't you going to?"

Torch stared down at Agent Z, "Yeah. Torch just...Torch loves you, Dad. He always has, even when he was trying to kill you. He was trying to preserve the memory of what his dad used to be."

Agent Z was openly sobbing now, "I know, son. I know."

Taking a deep breath, Torch followed his sister. He forced himself not to look back. Not because he couldn't stand the sight of his father crying. No, it was because he didn't want to let his father see his own tears.

"Danny!" Spirit rushed up to the glowing Phantom and lunged into a hug, "Thank God, you're alive."

"It takes more than an omnipotent demon to kill me," Phantom joked. He blinked as another body made contact with him. It seemed Dusk had been worried as well.

"I assumed the worst," Dusk noted as he and Spirit pulled away.

"We all assumed the worst…for all of you," Plasmius stepped up to the other halfas.

Phantom looked over to Plasmius. He then noticed the crowd of people looking onto them in awe, "What? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The tension immediately dropped. Some people burst out laughing. Other sighed in exasperation. The rest just looked on with mild amusement.

Vision shook her head as she sat against a piece of rubble, "I bet you've been waiting years to pull that one out."

"The wait was worth it," Phantom gave the woman a hard look, "Well, you look like hell. Most of you do. Damn, the whole planet looks like it. I can't sleep for a few hours without everything falling apart?"

"Sleep he calls it," Torch snorted. He crossed his arms and turns away, "Torch went through the fight of his life, and he looks like he got ran over by a flaming semi. Phantom, though, gets killed by a demon, and he comes back looking perfectly fine, with ascended ectoplasm, and judging Torch. Just great. Today just sucks."

"Calm down, Trev," Ember shook her head, "He's just trying to lighten the mood."

"Got to say, glad you're alive, boss man," Robin waved a bandaged hand to the glowing halfa, "Nice look there. You should keep it."

"If only," Phantom couldn't hide his smile as he turned to Batman and Vision, "What's the plan?"

Batman looked over across the group that returned with Phantom, "I'm assuming there's a reason for the ascended ectoplasm and Kid Flash's vibrating. I expect a report after this. Until then, we could use that in our assault on Trigon. You two will definitely be on the frontline assault. That team will be distracting him while the other two teams get everything ready."

Jinx looked over to massive form of Trigon fighting off hundreds of ghosts, "Do we even want to ask?"

Vision tilted her head to a familiar figure, "You can thank Amorpho for that. I doubt I would still be alive if he hadn't brought that army."

Amorpho fidgeted under the attention, "It was nothing."

"No, it was good," The Fright Knight grunted as he carried Envy into a glowing circle that held the other five Sons of Trigon. Laying him down, the knight quickly turned back to the large group, "I'm assuming with these six dealt with, the only one left is Trigon himself."

Cyborg nodded, "We stopped Brother Blood too. He's tied up and being guarded by the cultists and Beast Boy. He's not going anywhere."

Nyx rubbed her temples, "We got back not long before you. Jeeze, no rest for any of us."

Plasmius shook his head, "No, we all came back here to regroup, leave the wounded, and end this."

"Whelp," Constantine stood on top of the Box, "This beaut is all ready to go. Took an effing long time to power up, and it was a pain in the ass to defend, but it's here. We're going to use the Bioship to get it close. We still will need all magic users on deck to power this. That will be the second team."

Phantom looked around, "And the third?"

"Not all of us can go against an all power demon," Nightwing mentioned, "But we've thought of something. Cyborg and Bumblebee had a few idea to help out, we'll go with them and try to find a way to attack from afar."

Artemis looked to her back to emphasis her missing weaponry, "Guess that's where I'm going then. Stay safe, babe. I already almost lost you twice today."

"It'll be fine, Artemis," Kid Flash smiled, "I mean, we're just fighting a guy with enough power to destroy the planet. We've been through worse."

Jinx shook her head, "That's a sad fact…What about the injured heavies? We need every hard hitter we can get."

Colossus scoffed, "I can still fight, girl. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"As will I," Pandora looked to her daughter, "I will make sure Trigon doesn't get close to the Box."

"I…" Vision looked away, "I will have to sit this one out. I have nothing left to fight with, and the strategy is made. It is all up to you know."

"So everything's settled?" Phantom looked around.

"It is…" Etrigan stood staring up at the box longingly, "It is time to move."

Constantine frowned down at the demon, "You sure about this, bloke? I could have you sit out…Guard Trigon's spawns in that seal."

"No…No, I need to do this."

"Alright then," Constantine looked around at the large group of people, "Let's hope this bloody thing works. I never tried something this big before. Theoretically, it will work, but practice is different. So try not let things get too out of hand, would ya? I don't need any outliers messing up the equation."

"No outliers, eh," Superboy shook his head, "You're in the wrong group then, pal."

(Play: Bring Them to Light by Apocalyptica)

Trigon roared with rage as he swatted at the ghosts that were swarming around him. His eyes had healed, so he could now see. Through his stumbling, the ghosts had managed to make him move into the bay of the city. They probably were instructed to protect the city as much as possible. The fools. This wouldn't make any difference.

Tired with the bugs and now healed, Trigon prepared for a large scale attack. He would kill them all at once. Just as he was about to send out a massive blast of energy, the Batwing rushed in and shot him in the head with twin rockets. This caused the demon to stumble back and cancel his attack. As he stumbled, something with surprising strength rammed into his leg. To catch himself from falling, he spread his giant hooves apart into a deep stance.

Before he could right himself, the water below him instantly froze over trapping his feet. A quickly glanced revealed that Frostbite stood at the edge of the bay with his hands over the ice constantly pumping it with a constant flow of cryoplasm. Another sharp pain his leg caused the demon to look down to see a blur of yellow surrounding his leg and constantly barraging him with blows that he couldn't even see.

Sneering in rage, Trigon formed a massive fist. Coated in red energy, the demon sent a giant punch downward with the full intent of killing the bug biting at his leg. He felt a strange power radiating from the bug, so he made sure the blow was powerful enough to obliterate anything in his path. As such, he was absolutely shocked when his attack was stopped. It just halted in midair. Something was in his way, but he had no idea what.

To Trigon's further shock, a giant blast of white energy blasted out from the end of his fist. The force of the energy sent his fist flying into the air. This allowed Trigon to see the being that actually managed to stop him.

"You! I killed you!" Trigon roared at the form of Phantom.

"Apparently, you didn't do it well enough," Phantom noted.

Before Trigon could respond, a large shockwave from Colossus smashed into the demon's face. This caused him to real back in agony and clutch at his face. His head was suddenly pulled back, though, when Troia hooked her lasso around Trigon's left horn and pulled with all her might. Trigon arced his back in response and was opened up to further attacks. The hundreds of ghosts that were still flocking around him also swarmed at his arms and desperately struggled to keep them place and allow the next few moves to play out.

The heroes wasted no time. The Batwing swung around to fire at Trigon's open torso. As Batman flew the plane, Robin and Black Bat sat at different gunnery spots and opened fire at the demon. The normal non-lethal rounds had been replaced with something with more of a kick to give them a chance to actually hurt the demon. The Exorcist Amor flew up to Trigon's stomach and opened fire at the red skin, trying to weaken it was much as possible. With the combined efforts of the two weapons, Trigon's torso was now covered in different marks of injury.

Trigon quickly began to struggle to get free. Troia and the ghosts fought to keep him from moving, but it was a losing battle. Seeing that the enemy was about to get free, Rocket flew Superboy up straight towards Trigon's neck. Coating the clone in a blast of kinetic energy to speed up his flight, Rocket threw Superboy towards Trigon's Adam's Apple. The effect was instant as Trigon broke free and clutched at his neck. Unfortunately, this meant that Superboy was trapped.

Phantom quickly moved to action. He rushed forward towards Trigon's stomach as the Batwing and the Exorcist armor flew away. The halfa hammered Trigon with a large blast of ascended ectoplasm right into the weakened torso. Trigon immediately grunted in pain and released the Kryptonian in his grasp. This allowed Superboy to jump away back towards the awaiting Rocket.

Looking over his shoulder, Phantom saw that the Bioship was approaching. That meant it was time to bring in their one-shot blows. Nothing would work on Trigon twice, but if they weakened him for a bit, then it was worth using now.

Raising his hand and flaring up some energy for a signal, Phantom watched as Pandora raced towards Trigon's face. The ghosts protected her and gave her safe passage towards the demon. Once in front of Trigon, Pandora stuck her arms out. Six spears made of electricity formed in her six hands. With a roar of battle, she thrusted them into Trigon's eyes and blinded the demon.

"Ah! Damn it, not again!"

Shouting in pain, Trigon reeled back. Frostbite managed to keep his feet in place and keep him from moving. This allowed Kid Flash to continue his barrage on Trigon's legs. In fact, Damon had joined the speedster, and the two of them were quickly weakening the leg to the point that hair faded away to raw angry skin.

With Trigon completely distracted, the Bioship made safe passage towards the demon. As the ship orbited him, the others quickly moved in for the next blows. Fright Knight escorted Dusk towards Trigon's head. Plasmius was with Spirit heading to Trigon's weakened leg. Colossus landed down next to Jinx at the center of the frozen bay. Everything was working out.

Of course, such good fortune would never last for them. Black flames burst out from every one of Trigon's pores. Every one of the ghosts surrounding Trigon was knocked back. The ice below quickly turned to slush, forcing everyone down there to retreat. The worst thing was that the Bioship instantly faltered.

The black flames quickly danced all around Trigon. No one was spared from the chaos. They all desperately tried to protect themselves from the attack. Even Phantom struggled as his ice instantly melted when formed.

Luckily, they had been expecting that. Torch and Ember quickly made their way into the inferno. With joined hands, they worked and spread out flames of their own. Red and blue made their way through the black. For the briefest of seconds, it almost seemed like they would succeed in stopping the black flames.

That hope was quickly killed, though. Trigon sensed their power and instantly targeted them. The black fire instantly pushed back the flames of red and blue. Ember and Torch were quickly caught up in their own firestorm. Trigon's fire burned at their skin in ways that had not occurred since their deaths. Despite this, though, they pushed on and continued to fight what seemed to be a pointless battle.

All the while, the Bioship began to shake and rattle. It took all of Miss Martian's effort to not lose control. Fire was always the Martians' greatest weakness. Even the Bioship was having trouble obeying her commands. If it were not for the magicians in the cargo hold chanting different spells of empowerment, they would have instantly fallen to the firestorm. Still, it was only a matter of time before they fell. They could only hope that the fire would be dealt with quickly.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be the case. Torch and Ember were now being completely beaten back by the black flames. Despite their combined efforts, they could do nothing to control the flames of hell. This was a completely different level than their previous fight. In a few seconds, their defenses would be shattered. For the second time, they would perish together within a burning inferno. This time, though, there would be no coming back.

Looking at each other, Torch and Ember gave small smiles. At least the death would be quick…

"Oh! Now you give up!"

To their absolute shock, a third figure shoved his way through the inferno to the fire ghosts. He quickly placed his own hand over theirs and forced his own will into the fire. Black flames quickly joined the red in blue in their struggle, and they actually managed to push back.

"Dad!" Ember cried out.

"You…" Torch was shell-shocked, "You came for us!"

"No time! We have only a few seconds before Trigon strips me of by powers!" Agent Z shouted, "Quick! Use my connection to him to control the flames."

Nodding, the sibling went to work. With Agent Z's power, they managed to force their own will into the firestorm. In a blaze, the storm quickly turned towards its origin. Trigon shouted out in surprise and pain as his own fire began to burn him. Desperately, he dispatched of the fire giving the heroes time to move once more. This time, though, there were several patches of land that had formed above the water during the firestorm from the evaporating water, meaning they now had solid footholds. This was something the exhausted fire users quickly used to keep them from falling into the water.

"Traitor! I knew it! You said that you could handle it!" Trigon roared in outrage.

"I thought I could," Agent Z snorted, "Guess even I still have a few soft spots in me."

"I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS!" Trigon roared as he tried to reach down to them. He was quickly stopped when a massive blast of sonic blue energy rammed into his elbow sending it off course. Another blast of energy rammed into the side of this face. The second blast was red, though. It was quickly followed by several dozen more blasts to the head.

From the shore, Artemis sat on a large red laser gun that had S.T.A.R. Labs painted across the side. Behind her, Nightwing and Batgirl were working with the battery that they pulled from the lab as well in addition to reading different coordinates and figures to the archer.

"Now this is a bow and arrow!" Artemis grinned as she continued to shoot the demon in the head. She made sure to stay away from Cyborg, who was using his jetpack to fly around the demon's injured torso and using his weapons to increase the damage. Like before, large blasts of blue sonic energy shot from his arm canon which had been upgraded with S.T.A.R. Lab equipment as well. Behind him, Youngblood carried a large battery to help power the canon while Bumblebee was flying around to make sure everything stayed stable.

"Damn it! You mortals need to learn your place! You…" Trigon paused in his words as the attacks all suddenly stopped. Despite still being blinded, he could sense three people beside his head.

"This is going to have one hell of a kick!" Dusk shouted over the sound of his Twilight Canon powering up, "Make sure I don't go flying away! With the little energy I have left, I'm going to dissolve if I don't get medical attention immediately!"

"You have my word, Dusk!" Troia shouted as she and Fright Knight braced behind the halfa, "We have your back…literally!"

"Alright then, hold on! Twilight Canon: 100% power! Firing!" A concentrated beam of energy shot out of the canon instantly forcing the weapon holder and his helpers back away from the demon. The kickback was extraordinary, but the beam was even more so. The energy rammed into the side of Trigon's head and instantly burst into a massive explosion.

The blast forced the three attackers back even further to the shore of Jump City. They landed with a crash into sandy bay. Both Troia and Fright Knight made sure to hold onto the halfa closely as the weapon shattered and his body began to dissolve. In response, the Fright Knight unsheathed his blade and placed it into the halfa's hands. Energy began to pour off the blade and into Dusk. Once dissolving skin quickly moved back into place much to Fright Knight's satisfaction and Troia's confusion.

"I thought thou had one of those ecto-boosts," Troia noted.

"No, but I knew this would work. Soul Shredder had taken to him…" The Fright Knight noted with happiness lacing his voice as he helped the young knight up.

Groaning, Trigon clutched at his nearly burnt off face. To his horror, his left horn snapped off and fell to the water below him. Looking down, Trigon saw something more than fear inducing that a broken horn. When Plasmius and Spirit were pushed back from the firestorm, Kid Flash had moved to help them. Now, he was carrying them back as speeds that Trigon could not defend against.

With a sonic boom, Kid threw the halfas toward Trigon's weakened leg. Both of the halfas carefully separated to either side of the demon's injured limb. Spirit quickly formed her spectral claws and extended them as far as they could go while Plasmius shaped his arms into hardened plasma blades. Together, they flew by the leg in a blur. They didn't even slow down as they cut completely through the leg.

Knowing that Kid Flash had something else to do and wouldn't catch them, both the halfas worked to slow their movements. They skipped a few times across the water before finally managing to stop themselves. Turning around, they saw Trigon roaring in a combination was agony and rage. Unfortunately for the demon, the heroes weren't done. Standing in front of the demon on a plot of earth, the trio of Phantom, Colossus, and Jinx worked to gather as much energy as possible.

On the right, Colossus gathered all of his remaining energy into his right fist, "Good thing we're aiming up! This would blow up the city if it hit it! Hahahahaha!"

Jinx shook her head. A blinding pink light shined from her hands, "This still might cause some damage."

Phantom continued gather energy into his left hand, "Not like we have a choice. We can't give Trigon even the smallest chance to recover."

With their energy gathered, the trio shoved their hands forward. Pink, white, and red energy mixed together into one massive beam of energy. The beam literally slammed into the demon's torso and cut right through it. The energy then continued upward right into space where it would eventually dissipate.

Trigon stood there with a slacked jaw. His face was half burnt off. His leg was missing. A giant hold stood where his torso once existed. Yet, he did not fall.

"Of for the love of God!" Kid Flash rushed forward carrying Superboy, "Fall already!"

A ramp of ice formed in front of them curtesy of Frostbite. Kid quickly ran up the ramp and then flung the clone towards the demon. Said Kryptonian flew at speeds that rivaled Superman and smashed into Trigon's face. Finally, the demon was tipped over. Superboy was quickly caught by Rocket as Trigon fell backwards and crashed straight into the water.

Lying there, Trigon took deep breaths, "No…Impossible…Mortals…cannot beat me…"

"It seems they have, Father."

"Pride…" Trigon's blind eyes stared blankly up at Raven. She stood on top of the Banishing Box. With the demon finally downed, Miss Martian had opened the cargo hold and allowed Etrigan to carry the box over Trigon. This allowed Raven to land on the Box and caused it to light up. It was brimming with energy thanks to the work of the magic users in the Bioship keeping it stable, "Why…You are my kin…My Gem…You could have had everything…"

Raven's features aged for one final time into her correct age. Her hair grew so long that it flowed down the middle of her back. Her once dark purple cloak turned a pure white.

"I already had everything I wanted. And you tried to take it away from me," Raven's glowing eyes stared down at her father, "For that, I'll never forgive you."

"Please…Daughter…Have pity on your Father."

"The only thing I have for you, Father is contempt. As your Pride, I am your greatest downfall. The key to banishing you once again," Raven pointed a hand at Trigon, "And this time, I'll make sure you can never come back to this plane in any form. It's over for you. Forever."

"NO!"

"Azaroth Metrion Zinthos!"

As soon as Raven spoke those words, the Banishing Box came to life. It glowed a bright white as the magic was released. Etrigan screamed out in agony as the Box began to physically pull all of the magic from him. His chest lit up as a ball of compressed magical energy shot out from his body. The ball of energy seemed to glow with the intesity of a miniature sun made out of magic. It quickly slid into the Box and acted as a catalyst for the last part of the Banishing Box's purpose. A beam of energy shot into the air and began to suck up everything related to Trigon. Red energy and smoke poured into the beam. Demons from across the globe were pulled to the beam and sucked into it. People changed back from their statue forms. And Trigon…

"NOOOOOOO!" Trigon screamed as his form changed to a red liquid and he too was pulled into the beam. He fought and struggled, but he was already too weakened. He never stood a chance.

To everyone's shock, though, the Banishing Box did not stop at Trigon though. There was one more target needed to shut the Box down. Still holding onto the the Box, Etrigan's form began to waver. Slowly, his image was pulled away to reveal that of Jason Blood. Slowly, the knight of old floated down below to an exposed piece of land. The man and the demon stared at each other for a few seconds, before nodding. Etrigan turned and willingly flew into the beam dragging him away from the mortal plane for the first time in centuries.

Then, the Box finally shut down. The beam banished, and the energy faded away leaving only a simple box in their wake. Still, Raven remained on the Box. She carefully carried it to the ground. Silence reigned through the area for a solid minute before Raven carefully placed a hand on the box and destroyed it with a blast of magic.

It was over. Trigon was gone forever, but like everything, there was a cost. Perhaps this time, though, it was a price that was eagerly paid.

Agent Z…David Zempell watched as the sky turned blue once more and sunlight beamed down on him. It comforted him, telling him that for once, he had done right by his children. A good distance away, Dusk stood at the edge of the battleground. The halfa looked to the man that he had once foolishly trusted. They shared a look for a few moments before Dusk nodded and turned away. David smiled at that. Nothing more needed to be said between the two of them.

"Dad?"

David turned to see Ember take a careful step forward. He smiled at her, "It's done."

Torch quickly stepped beside his sister, "Dad…Thank you. Torch doesn't know why you did it, but you saved us. You saved the world."

"I don't care about the world. I only thought about you," David noted, "If it ended up with other people benefiting, then so be it. Even if it was that bastard Phantom. God, I couldn't kill that jackass no matter what…"

"Still," Ember smiled at him, "It…means a lot to us."

"I'm glad," David paused as he suddenly felt hollow. Looking down at his hands, he noticed how he was fading away, "Eh…Looks like that's it. Knew it was going to happen. Could be worse. It doesn't hurt at least. Not like the last time I died anyway."

"Second time's always easier," Torch noted. He took several steps forward until he was right in front of his father, "Torch can't say that he will miss you, but he will say goodbye. And…he's man enough to admit what he was wrong. You redeemed yourself."

"No I didn't," David shook his head, "I'll still always be remembered as the bad guy. But if I was redeemed in your eyes, that's enough for me."

Torch pulled his father into a hug, "Yeah, it's enough."

Ember quickly rushed forward and embraced her father as well. She said no words. There was nothing more to be said. Instead, the small family just stood there and held each other as their father faded into nothingness. Content with his end, David smiled. He could have thought of worse ways to die.

Then he was gone, leaving brother and sister to hold each other and silently cry in their grief. He might not have been a good person at all, but he was their father. He loved them, and they would never forget that.

Spirit flew at top speed towards where the Box had landed. Knowing that she was being tailed by her friends, she didn't even pause as she passed the Box and head towards the form of Jason Blood. He stood on top of a large piece of rock looking off to the horizon. The halfa could see a smile on the man's face as he gazed at the rising sun.

"Mr. Blood!" Spirit cried out as she landed beside her teacher.

Blood turned to look at her and smiled, "Hello, Miss Masters. I'm glad you came. It would have been a shame if I passed without seeing you again. Oh! And my other students. Today is indeed a wonderful day."

"You knew about this, didn't you," Spirit accused, "You knew that using the Banishment Box would remove Etrigan."

"Of course, I helped design it after all. I actually played a big role in it, you see. The extreme amount of magic pumped into me during the Sorcerer Initiative acted as the final push to power the Banishing Box. I'm just glad that the others managed to power and stabilize it enough for it to work. I was my final shot..." Blood nodded and gained a far off look, "I've been searching for centuries for a way to end my curse. It just so happens that the cure was the way to banish all the demons from Earth. At least I did a little bit of good before the end."

"But what about us, huh?!" Nyx shouted out in anger, "You're gonna just leave us! Come on! You have to teach me more magic!"

"I have nothing more to teach you. You've all grown up to be wonderful young people. My work is done." Jason shook his head, "It's alright…This is the ending that I chose."

"Seriously…" Cyborg shook his head in denial, "This can't be real. You're immortal right?"

Jason gained a satisfied look, "Not anymore. Thank God. I've lived far too long. I'm tired and ready to move on. I'm sure even my library is empty at this point. The Banishment Box is very thorough for full demons. There's nothing left for me here."

"So…" Raven gave him a sad look, "The only ones left are me and my brothers."

"Yes. Half demons were not influenced by the box," Blood nodded, "Although your brother's abilities rely on Trigon's blessing. As such, they will probably be normal humans from here on out. I'm sorry to leave you without—"

Brother Blood broke off into a coughing fit. To their shock, his features began to rapidly age. His hair turned completely white. The wrinkles across his face and brow grew. Once solid muscles shrunk into weakened tissue. This forced the man to sit down while the sun continued to rain down light onto his back.

The young heroes instantly rushed to his side. Blood just calmly held up a hand as the coughing stopped, "Don't worry. My age it just catching up with me."

For the first time since the battle ended, Youngblood spoke up, "Does…does it hurt? To get old and die that is…"

"A bit," Blood admitted, "But it's also somewhat peaceful."

Youngblood took in that information with a hard look. He seemed to be pondering hard on that answer.

"Do…Do you have to go?" Spirit fought against the tears in her eyes, "Can't you stay a bit longer? For my parent's wedding at least?"

"Oh, I do wish I could have seen that event. I bet it would have been crazy," Jason let out a weak laugh, "But no…It's my time. It's finally my time. Took long enough…"

With that, Jason Blood closed his eyes. His breathes began to slow into a steady pace as if he was falling asleep. Each breath was smaller to than the last. After a full minute, his chest stopped moving. The heart that had been beating for hundreds of centuries finally stopped its movements. His cool skin was bathed in the sunlight of the new day. As he faded away into the next life surrounded by his beloved students, Jason's last thought was that he couldn't think of a better way to finally find the peace of death.

"Yeah…Brother Blood is gone…" Beast Boy looked up with guilt in his eyes, "After the whole weird beam thing, he just disappeared…"

Phantom, who had released the ascended ectoplasm, looked over to Constantine, "Do you think that the Box sucked him in too?"

Constantine rubbed his chin in thought, "Maybe. I have no idea how much Trigon changed him. He could have been more demon than man at the end."

Amorpho looked over to where the Sons of Trigon were trapped, "But it didn't affect them. Could he have escaped?"

Phantom sighed and rubbed his face. Looking around at the exhausted heroes and ghosts, he shook his head, "If he did, then that's something to deal with later. I don't think any of us have the energy to track him down right now. We'll just have to keep an eye out for him."

"And what about them?" Constantine gestured towards the demi-demons. Despite not being banished from the Earth, they did seem influenced by the loss of Trigon. Many of their features changed from the aspects that made up their sins to the exact opposite. Gluttony and Wrath looked a lot thinner, while Lust and Envy appeared less neat and proper. Even Sloth was looking less disheveled.

"No Trigon means no powers and no influence," Phantom noted, "We'll just have to keep them locked up for a bit and see what they're really like with demons whispering in their ears."

"Sounds like a plan," Constantine grunted, "I'll make they're secure. Then, I'm taking a twenty-four hour nap. I'm done with this shit for a while. Hell, business is going to be dead for a while…"

"You act like that's a bad thing."

"Meh, if I ain't working, then I'm smoking and boozing. Doubt that Zatanna will appreciate that."

Phantom gained an amused look, "Then I'll just keep you busy."

Constantine groaned, "On second thought, I heard that the Bahamas are great this time of year…"

"I think we could all use a vacation," Raven's voice caused them to turn to see the sole daughter of Trigon approach them.

"I'll leave this to ye," Constantine pulled out a cigarette and began walking away, "I still got work ta do."

Amorpho looked to Phantom, "I'll go get the surprise."

Nodding, Phantom walked towards Raven, "Hey. How you feeling?"

"Great…Better than I have in a long time," Raven took a shuddered breath, "I just…Thank you…for everything. I was ready to give up. You made me push on and now my Father is gone forever. I'll never be able to repay you for this."

"You don't need to repay me. We're family. I always stand by my family."

Raven let out a sob, "Y-yeah…"

Phantom smiled and looked over his shoulder, "I gave Amorpho a job to do during the fight. I think you might like what he found."

Raven's eyes followed Phantom's gaze and widened, "M-mom…"

"Oh, Rachel," The now unfrozen Agatha Roth rushed towards her daughter and pulled her into a hug, "You're safe."

"Yeah…You too…" Raven placed her face in the crook of Agatha's shoulder, "It's over…It's finally over. We're free."

Agatha yet out a loud sob, "Yes…Finally…No more worrying…We can finally, truly live."