Chapter 6: An Eventful Conversation

Hello, my fellow community! It's now that time of the week, one you've all no doubt certainly been waiting for.

Your weekly Friday update with a new chapter!

*Insert Clapping Memes and Pics*

Man, I'm swamped. Work's been a chore like most things, and I haven't been able to write as much as I like, which is a ton! My hands have been itching to pile up some more chapters.

Alas, I could only settle for reviewing what I already have ready for now. Hopefully, things will be different this week.

My answer to people wondering if I actually have a life is "Yes".

I've only been able to make time to review what's already been prepped for you guys in the later weeks, unable to write any chapters due to how tired I am.

But I haven't lost my interest or commitment to finishing this book! And not soon hopefully, as I really wish to see it through!

Enough about that though... in some personal-related news, I've just recently watched "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."

It's now officially my new favorite movie.

I didn't expect some of the things that happened there, and it shook me and got me thinking A LOT!

That movie was soul-deep I tell ya.

Without going into any spoilers for those who haven't seen it, the directors managed to tie in a lot of subtle and direct facts or tidbits incredibly well, with their animation styles, drawings, and certain scenes being so incredibly well done, I can't even begin to describe how awesome the experience was!

The music was one of the best as well! Some of the songs were so amazing that I couldn't resist not replaying them over and over again.

Fun fact for new authors. Music is an incredible inspiration when it comes to writing since some of the lyrics or lines hit hard in some ways.

Anyways, I predict an increase in all Spider-Man-related art, fanfics, and novels for a while haha.

Lord knows how many tik-toks I've scrolled through related to it.

On current news, in this chapter I decided to give you guys a craving for an experience I know most of you readers overlook or didn't even know you needed.

Dialogue!

If the title wasn't enough to hint for you guys, then I'll spell it out for you. This chapter was practically pure dialogue and a slight info dump on some powers and other things, setting things up for more of MC's future powerset and whatnot.

I know how some people like to read more on the dialogue between characters than having a narration being told on events.

Well, this chapter hands it to you!

All I can really say about what's discussed or introduced here is that magic is wonky in DC like with Marvel.

Obviously like with everything else, too much dialogue isn't too good, as there needs to be a certain balance in what's written so that the events or things I write and I try to deliver to you don't become stale. So this will be the last chapter with something like that for the moment.

Now one more thing before you guys get to your chapter. I just wanted to give weekly thanks to all my patrons who have continued supporting me due to how much it means to me.

I earned two more patrons this week, and I wanted to just let my heartfelt gratitude to you guys be felt.

A big thank you to @JayJonnaJamison (Incredible Username BTW), and @Adam.

For all of my patrons currently reading this, I will be posting chapter 9 later as I need to take a huge nap first as I'm utterly exhausted. It's already prepared as mentioned but still needs to go through final checks as usual.

I believe I've held the attention of all those reading up till this point for long enough.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for all the support!

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Date: January 30, 2007

Location: Unknown, Somewhere Near/In Gotham, Shadowcrest Manor

Time: 10:04 P.M.

The Shadowcrest Manor is a place that could be considered a marvel of magic.

Since he learned of his gifts, Giovanni Zatara bought the manor for the purpose of using it as his area of study, before he swiftly moved in when he had gotten married and his daughter was born.

Over the years, he had it warded and armed with defense spells extensively in response to the trespassers who constantly tried to meet him at his home thanks to his shows.

At one point, a man had gotten so violent in his attempted intrusions that he ended up finding himself suddenly swimming out of the San Francisco Bay at some point.

The man swore he had turned into a mollusk for an hour.

Although the occupants are more outdoors than indoors usually, the manor today was much more quiet than usual.

An older woman could be seen residing inside the lounge area, a book in her hands as she flipped through them in a slow manner, seemingly contemplating the words on each page until she closed it and leaned back into her seat in exhaustion.

At that moment, a white light began shining on the mirror in the corner in front of her, before 4 men walked out, seemingly as if they appeared out of thin air. Among them, she noticed the figure of her beloved husband who swiftly noticed her as well and went up to hug her.

Meanwhile, Batman and Robin immediately began examining the area as their extensive training and developed habits dictated, with Ben attempting to do the same as well, only for him to pause without warning and seemingly enter into a daze.

Noticing this, Robin was about to pat his shoulder only for brightly colored lights like that of an aurora to begin washing out from Ben's pupils, as his head began jerking around erratically as if he was having a seizure.

With alarm crossing his face, Robin jumped back with Batman following suit, worry in their eyes as they looked at Ben, and noticed how his head was moving in a manner that only the Flash seemed capable of doing.

Giovanni and Sindella, noticing the commotion, also turned around in alarm only to have their eyes widen at the sight in front of him.

"What's going on?" asked Batman in a stern manner to his friend, ready to dropkick the Zatara's at the first opportune moment.

Although it hurts to be betrayed by someone you consider a friend, he's Batman. He's dealt with betrayal before, and should this be a similar scenario, he would not hesitate until every bone was broken in Zatara's body and his son was safe.

Thankfully for both sides, it wouldn't come to that.

"I have no idea what's going on as well." spoke up Giovanni.

The second Zatara, Sindella, did know.

"He seems to be reacting to the excess magical energy in the area in my opinion. His reaction itself seems more different than normal though. Give it a second and it should recede all on its own." she spoke.

True to her words, around a minute later the lights began to die down, showing Ben standing right where he had entered, his eyes wide in surprise as if he received some sort of strange revelation.

Walking back up to him, Batman put his hand on his shoulder, before giving it a light squeeze, showing his concern.

"What happened?" he asked.

Before his words could even begin to form an answer, Sindella interrupted them.

"Let us move from this area first before we move to discuss anything. I believe that some refreshments are in order, and I would very much like to get to know the friends of my husband better. He seems to have… misinformed me of his plan to bring guests." she said while giving said husband a side eye, promising a thorough talking too later.

While Giovanni was doing his best not to sweat at her words, everyone else nodded their heads, accepting her invitation, before they began walking down a few corridors inside the mansion, moving into a lounge area, a couple of butlers and maids being seen walking around cleaning things up as they passed.

Even though they called it a corridor, the hallways themselves were bigger than some of the rooms, with giant doors sealing off the entrance into said rooms, strange designs covering them, with depictions of demons, mystical eyes, stars, and all manner of strange sights.

"Wow. You guys must be rich if you can invite all these people to work for you." commented Robin, as he waved at a few of the personnel, only to receive no response in return.

"That is because we didn't invite all of these people to work for us as that would be a security nightmare. No these are not real people, but faux servants created by magic meant to help us keep the manor in order." replied Giovanni.

To that, Robin looked both awed, excited, curious, and slightly wary all at once.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a door down the corridor of the manor, with symbols and images depicting stacked triangles, before Giovanni spoke one word backward, which Ben missed due to his thoughts and current feelings since the earlier incident, causing it to open.

As they once more followed behind the Zataras, the room itself was revealed to be a lounge and living area. There was an assortment of couches surrounding a massive fireplace that was crackling, giving off heat without smoke in some way as Ben noticed.

A couple of the faux servants came up behind them, closing the doors on the way in, before they came up to the center table, placing an assortment of light pastries and snacks while serving hot tea for the guests.

As the 2 families took their seats across from each other, before someone could even begin the conversation, the doors opened once again, causing them to tilt their heads in that direction and witness a young girl in pajama-like attire entering the room.

"Hey mom, I was- Oh! Dad, you're back!." began the young girl, only to stop herself midway and turn her attention to Giovanni and run into his embrace.

"Zatanna my love." began Giovanni, confirming the identity of the girl for their guests. "While I miss you as well, you should be in bed right now. Is tomorrow not a school night?"

At his words, the girl straightened up as she responded in annoyance.

"I know that dad. But I felt a huge increase in magic activity in the library which woke me up and had me come find mom to figure out what's going on." she huffed.

"Ah. That would be because of me then." interjected Ben.

At his words, Zatanna seemed to be startled, most likely not expecting company, as she whirred around from where she was standing catching sight of the rest of the people present, before standing statuesque for a moment at the sight of them.

"Woah! You invited Batman, Robin, and Wildcard?! This I have to stay for." she eventually concluded excitedly.

Giovanni was about to interrupt the girl and send her back to her room before his wife decided for them.

"Leave her be love. She's responsible enough to know when to go and not go to school, and now that she's woken up, it'll be harder for her to sleep right away."

At Sindella's words, their daughter's eyes lit up with hope as Giovanni sighed and nodded his head at her, causing her to smile in happiness as she went to sit at the right of her mother, taking a pastry from the table with her.

As for the guests' reactions to this series of events, Batman for his part remained as usual, stoic and cold, with no emotion to be seen reflected on his face as Ben noticed.

For Robin… the second Zatanna seemed to have entered the room, he became starstruck.

His eyes had not left her for a while as she was conversing with her parents before he seemed to notice his actions and forcefully averted his eyes, only to turn them back to her once in a while.

As for Ben, he just wanted this conversation to start already, many questions and inquiries rattling off inside his head.

As Sindella reached for her cup and prepared to take a sip of her tea, she started introducing herself. "It is nice to meet you all, you already know my husband of course, and if you don't already know my name is Sindella Zatara, and this is our daughter Zatanna."

The second family in the room took this as their cue to introduce themselves as well.

"Batman."

"Wildcard." said Ben straightforwardly as well.

"Nice to meet you as well, I'm Robin." responded Robin, in a more normal manner, smiling slightly awkwardly at the rest of his family's introductions.

An awkward smile that was being mostly pointed toward Zatanna.

Zatanna having noticed this gave a raised eyebrow and sly grin as an indication.

"So, may I ask the reason for your visit tonight? Not that it is unwelcome of course, but my husband bringing guests over… is unusual, to say the least."

As Giovanni was about to inform his wife of the matter they had discussed, he took a look at his daughter randomly for a moment before freezing, realizing the mistake he made by allowing her to remain here for their conversation.

Ben, finding this amusing, decided to rip the bandaid off. The girl was going to find out anyway at some point, and what's a better way of informing her than while discussing possible solutions so she doesn't break down harder later? At least, the damage of them keeping it a secret from her will be less than it would've been should they have kept her in the dark longer.

Even though he wasn't one to make decisions for others, he decided to do so just this one time.

"We are here to discuss the current status of your cancer, as well confirm and brainstorm our ideas on how to cure it." spoke Ben, his voice as calm as usual, as if discussing the weather.

By the three sets of widening eyes looking back at him, they didn't seem to feel the same way.

"Wh-wha-what is he talking about? You ha-v-ve cancer?" asked Zatanna in a shaking voice, as she looked at her mother.

Sindella glared at Giovanni, before looking at her guests as well in what was now an unkind manner.

She first turned to her daughter in order to try and calm her.

"I'm sorry my love. We did not wish to worry you. Yes, I was recently at the hospital when they found me to have pancreatic cancer." she spoke softly.

Before things could get heated, as Zatanna seemed like she was about to snap at her parents, Bruce decided to intervene and move things along a bit, to save further time and drama.

"Due to Wildcard's powers, he noticed Giovanni's distress at today's party right after looking at him, before directly asking him what was wrong. After hearing about the problem, Wildcard asked more about your family's magic and why it couldn't be used to fix the situation.

"We discussed a solution at length before we ended up settling on something that Giovanni deemed feasible."

"We are here in order to further discuss this solution, run it by you, and ask a few more questions as well."

After Batman laid down the groundwork, Giovanni quickly continued where he left off by explaining everything they had discussed earlier today at the party, Ben's thought process on how the procedure would work as well as how they had questions concerning magic and the nature of Ben's powers.

The whole time everyone was listening in closely, with Zatanna slowly calming down from the shock she was just given as her mother attempted to comfort her as they continued speaking.

Her emotions glowing a deep blue in Ben's eyes were also another reason for her calm state, showing how hopeful she was of the solution provided.

That hope was quickly dashed the next moment.

"While I appreciate it, I really do… your solution won't work. I have already thought of everything possible in order to help me stay longer with my family. I had even thought up a solution slightly similar to what you're saying earlier a few days ago before having to dismiss it."

"Why my love? Is there something we missed?" questioned Giovanni insistently in an agitated manner, his fear for his wife's life showing.

Before she could answer, Ben decided to make his thoughts known as his curiosity was nibbling at him constantly from the inside since he stepped into this manor.

He felt like there was more to the situation than what meets the eye.

"Does it have anything to do with whatever is inside you and your daughter's head?" he asked in curiosity.

A stunned silence followed his words, with Batman immediately leaning forward in his seat, eyes narrowed to the extreme, and Giovanni looking at the only two women in his life in shock and confusion not knowing what was going on.

Zatanna for her part, seemed to be lost in this conversation she joined at the last minute, with surprise after surprise shooting at her like a machine gun.

Robin for his part, was just 'whelmed'.

Ben will never understand how he started having a hobby of questioning the English language.

Sindella's face paled faster than a dimming lightbulb as she shouted, "How do you know about that?!"

Stunned at his wife's outburst, Giovanni immediately questioned her. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

But she only ignored him, intent to focus her full attention on Ben, seemingly ready to attack him at any moment if the swirling energy he could feel gathering in her hands was anything to go by.

'Is that magic?' Ben thought, before turning his attention back to the woman.

"While I don't mind explaining how I found out, I don't like how people just give out their secrets so easily to each other without warning or properly thinking about it beforehand." Ben spoke, giving his father and Giovanni a look, showing how displeased he was with the earlier display at the party.

Batman for his part, didn't show a change in reaction, but Ben knew he already realized what he was talking about and was probably introspecting currently.

Giovanni for his part looked guilty, realizing Ben's point. After all, he had the guy put up a magic spell first to preserve his own privacy, and he broke Ben's first after he woke up and spoke to the League about his powers.

At that point, it would be rude to dismiss all their questions and inquiries, no matter how much he wished to shut them down.

Even if he knew that his father would back him up, he didn't want to cause tension for him among his colleagues.

"So while I don't mind sharing since I also have questions of my own…" continued Ben "...I would first like to make sure we have a way to keep each other's secrets first somehow. Is there a way to use magic and form some kind of contract where we can decide how to hold this conversation?"

The magically inclined family took glances at each other, with the energy swirling around Sindella slowly calming down as she slowly gathered her wits back together.

"There is in fact such a thing." spoke Giovanni after a while. "There are different ways in which we can do it such as 'Magical Binding Oaths', where we swear on our magic to keep your secrets lest we lose our magic as a result."

"Then, there is 'A Magical Contract' where we can use an ancient contract that allows us to write down the rules of said contract, before binding it to our souls with either magic or blood for those without, where if someone breaks the rules of the contract, punishment would be given by the ambient 'Spirit of Magic'."

"Finally, a 'Magical Witness Contract', which is the exact same as a magical contract and the same steps, except instead of the ambient 'Spirit of Magic' upholding the rules, a witness is chosen by those deciding the contract, upholding the agreements themselves at all times."

Taking a moment to think over the options for a moment, Ben turned his attention to his father and brother for any input they might have as well.

"And these forms of secrecy are absolute, or are there ways to circumvent them?" the former questioned in his gruff voice.

Zatanna looked thoughtful for a moment as she responded. "Well, like everything else it's not perfect. There are some ways to go around the vows and contracts that magicians know of, and maybe a few more that haven't been discovered or are secret as well."

"So which one would you consider to be the safest and with the least amount of loopholes?" asked Robin.

"If you're looking for the safest option, then that would be the third choice, a 'Magical Witness Contract'. Depending on the power of the witness chosen, it can either be extremely easy to bypass those rules, or absolutely impossible." Sindella responded, having calmed down significantly by now and extremely focused, trying to get this out of the way in order to get her answers.

At her words, a flash of inspiration seemed to go off in Ben's head as his pupils changed to a light blue/normal blue hue. Zatanna and Sindella, noticing this for the first time were confused.

"And absolutely 'anyone' can be chosen as a witness?" he questioned.

"Yes." Giovanni responded simply.

"Even 'planes of power' as you mentioned them earlier?" Ben tried to confirm.

At Ben's exact words, Giovanni's eyes lit up as he realized what the boy was getting at.

"Yes absolutely! Brilliant!" exclaimed Giovanni before he calmed down, and had a frown on his face.

"However, even though planes of powers can act as witnesses, a lot of unnamed ones don't have lords or beings presiding over them, meaning there is no sentient guide to properly carry out the contract. In that case, it would mean it's better to use a normal contract since the ambient 'Spirit of Magic' is more capable."

"You keep mentioning this ambient magic spirit name. What is that exactly?" questioned Robin curiously.

"The ambient 'Spirit of Magic'..." emphasized Sindella. "...is the collective consciousness of all of the magic present in the universe. In the magical world, there is an order when it comes to ranking the powers of certain beings, with their trustful nature being the second thing to be ranked."

"An example would be the Lords of Chaos and Order, the first beings to be born into existence since the creation of the universe. They are considered to be the most powerful beings magically, yet not widely trusted. Therefore, they are last on the list of beings you could consider making a deal with like demons."

"You already know of one of the Lords of Order, the previous Doctor Fate as I had mentioned." spoke Giovanni.

"So as long as there is a sentient guide, it would be safe to use a plane of power as a witness?" confirmed Ben one more time.

At the nods given to him by the family, Ben was satisfied.

"Good, then you can just get that ancient contract ready and then explain the steps properly. Since my connection with the Emotional Spectrum, an artificial consciousness has been formed which can most definitely carry out whatever rules we decide on."

"And since it's a multiversal and primordial force, I don't think anyone can even break the agreement." explained Ben, his eyes lighting up light blue once again.

Obviously, he didn't believe that for a moment. If this was a mirror universe to Marvel, then all sorts of creatures and powerful beings must exist in this universe somehow.

But he has to carry out hope that even if they do exist, they won't mess with him for whatever reason. Right?

While the mother and daughter were surprised at him being connected to such a powerful force, Giovanni didn't need any more words to be said as he waved his cane and spoke a spell backward, an old and brittle-looking parchment appearing in front of him in a flash of light.

"What rules and agreements do you wish for this contract to uphold?" questioned Giovanni.

"I already have a general outline, and if it's bad or too risky in some way, someone please interject so we can fix it up." spoke up Ben, before he began listing said rules.

"Rule 1: Everything discussed between the parties present now will be considered secret unless agreed upon by everyone to not be, and impossible to be told in public settings unless agreed upon by everyone present, or another person is included in this contract later and falls under everyone's further agreement to be informed."

"Rule 2: Everything discussed between the parties present now that is considered secret and sacred by any one party will be impossible to share with anyone else around them through any possible form or method such as written, verbal, telepathic, magical, etc. Whether it be willing or unwilling, it is impossible unless said party grants permission."

"Rule 3: Everything discussed between the parties present now will be further kept safe and secure in their minds from the probing and attempts of others wishing to intrude upon them, through the power of the witness decided upon said parties."

"Rule 4: No outside forms of manipulation will be able to alter or affect the parties involved in the contract's agreements to breaking it, nor alter or affect the terms of the contract through forms of possession, manipulation, coercion, etc. This will be carried out through the power of the witness decided upon said parties."

"Can those last two rules be added as well? I believe it's possible for the powers of the Emotional Spectrum to do such a thing since it is literally the source of all sapient thought and spiritual existence, especially ESAMAL since it has great control of the ES through me."

"Yes, it's possible to grant more power to the witness through the agreements written to actively grant them more room for upholding the contract's sanctity, which could also include wishing to keep any secrets more guarded." confirmed Sindella.

"Then are the terms included ok with everyone?" Ben asked.

"In my opinion, your 'general outline' is practically perfect. You actually pointed out everything that could possibly be used to circumvent it."

"If one person says it's a secret, then everyone has to follow the contract unless the person who earlier brought it up says otherwise. If everyone decides on a huge secret together, then you'd need everyone's permission to share it. It's simple, but genius!" spoke up Zatanna, awed at Ben's thought process.

But the boy himself wasn't satisfied, as he thought about the recent Joker incident.

"No, it's definitely not perfect, just less susceptible to being broken. Is it possible for this to include preventing our secret identities from getting out due to people just unmasking us or something similar?" questioned Ben.

Surprise colored the room from his words, wondering where such a question could come from, while Batman knew exactly his reason for checking.

"While it's possible for the contract to prevent people from simply reading our minds, preventing us from ever having a slip of a tongue or anything like that, that's just because the plane of power we are using as a witness presides over the domain of thoughts and emotions as you yourself said."

"It can't simply prevent people from taking off your masks, or preventing someone from ever changing their clothes unless stipulated in the contract in a way that makes sense." explained Giovanni.

"So if for example, we willingly told you our secret identities, nobody would be able to use the methods we've already listed to figure it out through you or us unless they put in some type of physical work like trying to tail us, destroying our disguises, or even saw us suit up due to a moment of carelessness or something like that, correct?" questioned Ben.

"Yes, that's exactly correct." nodded Giovanni, with Sindella next to him doing the same.

Batman, however, caught on to Ben's 'hypothetical' question.

"No." the Dark Knight denied, looking at his son with a hard stare, the Bat Glare inches away from coming out.

Everyone was confused at the man's outburst, looking at each other not following.

"It's going to happen sooner or later, it HAS probably happened already, and I'd rather we took the initiative to protect it in a manner that seems more infallible than coincidence." tried explaining Ben.

"Even with all of these explanations, we know too little to put our faith in such a method." Batman replied sternly.

At this point, Robin understood what they were talking about, with Giovanni following shortly after him if his shock and amazement were anything to go by.

After all, he was listening to one of the most paranoid people argue about sharing their secret identities with them.

"Listen to me. Even with all of our powers pooled together in a team like the Justice League, so far we have nothing to be proud of when it comes to our own personal safety."

"Yes I understand that our identities are meant to be that wall that separates those dangers, due to the people who can make use of them such as the government or other psychopaths out there, but we can't let that prevent us from sharing it with each other.

"If the last incident has shown us anything, then it's the fact that it won't work keeping it from each other."

"As heroes, we should be treating each other as family, so that no one would be able to drive a wedge between us in any manner. Together we stand, divided we fall."

"You all work well together in the League, but just a whiff of anything regarding secret identities and all of a sudden everyone becomes Batman, and are pointing fingers at each other questioning trust and why their noses are poking in places they don't belong."

"Obviously, most of our enemies don't even have secret identities in the first place."

"But that's because they are not trying to hide their true selves most of the time, but trying to prove and show their nature to the entire world. This is what allows us better understand their mannerisms, behavioral patterns, trains of thought, and more, and swiftly defeat them in battle."

"Now imagine if we could do the same for each other?"

"For us, that's almost impossible. You've mentioned it yourself to me before, and I've noticed it these last few years, but Batman is not a person, but a symbol, a legacy. Just like Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, and almost every other hero."

"You're pretending to be something that's not entirely yourself under the mask, and that limits us in so many different ways. Coordination is not as high as it could be, trust can easily be broken due to reasons we will never fully understand unless we can even ask about them."

"I understand your worries, and I've thought about them over the years as well. The entire system we've created is flawed in so many different ways and listing them all out will only show the problem, not fix it."

"This right here is the first step. If it works, then great, we will never have to worry about anyone we don't know poking their noses in our business any longer."

"If it fails, then go back to the drawing board, because we will not, should not, stop until a solution is found."

"It all comes back to perspective. Do you want someone to figure out your identity because of an accident, or do you want them to figure it out because they asked and you decided whether or not to tell them? Just a little bit of trust here can probably go a long way for us in the future."

"Because, whether you like it or not, since we've been compromised in one way before, we can be compromised in many other ways again, and we're not prepared. So, just trust me and Mr. Zatara now, do a few tests using less-than-important secrets, and then we'll see if we can tell our identities."

Ben's speech echoed throughout the ears of the five who heard them, leaving them absolutely still.

His sternness, determination, logical and thoughtful reasoning, and silver tongue had them all absolutely hooked. While the Zatara's had some idea of what incident they were talking about, both them and Robin were shocked when Ben mentioned they were already compromised in some way.

"We were compromised?! How?!" he shouted in shock, surprise, and slight fear.

"Not us personally of course. But what do you think our stakeout last year was for? No offense to you three, but we can't say anymore due to the risks involved. If the contract works, then maybe we can inform you and ask for your opinion." spoke Ben, addressing Robin's concerns before turning his attention back to their hosts.

To which they just nodded their heads, with Zatanna shrugging.

"Hey, I've had more ups and downs today than I've ever had my entire life since I walked into this room. I'm all for a few less information dumps right now." she said.

Accepting her answer, Ben turned his attention back to Batman.

"So? Would you like to go for it?" he asked, his eyes shining in a blue light.

Batman remained silent for what felt like an eternity before he finally nodded his head.

"Very well then." spoke up Giovanni when he saw the man's answer. "Give me a moment to draw up the contract, and then I'll inform you of what to do."

Taking a few minutes, he and Sindella began writing up the contract together, checking it over, before handing it all around for everyone to check it over as well.

After getting green lights all around, Giovanni then turned his attention back to Ben.

"Alright, now what you need to do is after we all sign our names using magic and blood, call out the name of the entity you wish to serve as our witness, and it will be able to respond to the magic by accepting or denying our request for its judgment."

Nodding his head, Ben reached into his belt to take out a knife, and without hesitation slit his thumb, before printing it onto the parchment.

Everyone but Batman flinched in surprise at his calm reaction to what should've been painful. Even Robin was taken aback, seeing this side of his brother.

Passing the parchment over to Batman next to him, he noticed the stares he was receiving.

"What?" he questioned confusedly, to which everyone shook their heads attempting to remove the sight from their minds.

After everyone was finished, Ben did as he was told.

"ESAMAL of the Emotional Spectrum, I ask of you to be our witness and uphold the terms of our contract!"

Immediately, swirling lights appeared over the contract, causing a mini aurora borealis, as everyone watched on in amazement at the sight. A distorted voice suddenly sounded, as if right next to their ears.

-All. Parties. Rules. Acceptable?-

"Yes." spoke up Ben, with nods going on all around.

Shortly after, the image disappeared as the paper in front of them exploded into six pieces, before drilling into their chests.

After allowing everything that just happened to settle down into their minds, everyone returned to their seat, a lull descending upon them.

"So… how do we test it?" Robin eventually asked.

Ben turned his head to look at him attempting to say something, only for his face to stay still mid-opening and closing again.

When he finally spoke, he made an observation "It seems to work, better than I thought too. I tried telling you a secret about myself I never have and instead of muting my words or something, it just stopped me from even moving my mouth. Perfect against lip readers."

No one knew what to say to that line of reasoning. If Batman was the world's greatest detective, then this kid was the world's greatest analyzing machine. He seemed to pick up on certain details much more quickly and processed them even faster.

After hearing his analysis, however, everyone began trying to do the same, only truly confirming him to be right after testing it themselves.

"Great! So this should be enough to show it works right? asked Robin.

However, Ben shook his head at that remark. "While unlikely, you can never be too careful. All this shows is that one aspect of the rules we set up works."

"We still need to see what happens if it works in a public setting with more people."

"Perhaps we could even have Martian Manhunter attempt to read one of our minds, and see if our secrets are protected. Better him than an enemy. Though I don't think he can read my mind as he would most likely faint like last time."

"Oh, I have a spell I could use! It's not telepathy, but it can compel someone to tell their secrets and the truth." spoke up Zatanna.

Turning his attention to her, he nodded his head before looking over to Robin.

"You're up." he said.

"Wait what? Why not you or Batman?"

"Want to convince Batman? Be my guest. I'm not volunteering cause I have no idea how my powers would react to that."

Sighing at his answer Robin looked over his mentor for a moment, sensing an impending Bat Glare, before he swiftly turned to Zatanna. "Alright then, make it quick please."

In response, she just raised her hand as she spoke.

"lleT su ruoy tsepeed terces."

Suddenly, Robin's body straightened up as his mouth opened to speak, only to freeze mid-movement, before Zatanna seemed to have suffered a small shock as she froze in her seat, before falling over to her mother's shoulder.

Her parents were alarmed and ready to check on her until Ben spoke up.

"Don't worry she'll be fine. I've been questioning ESAMAL this whole time in order to understand if this is working well or not."

"Turns out, thanks to that last clause I added, ESAMAL can set up the many different ways in which he can prevent our secrets from being exposed, and tell me how they work and who attempted to breach said secrets. So we basically have an alarm as an early warning system."

"I had him see if he could sense Zatanna's attempt, before asking him to give her a tiny jolt into her body. That's the lowest setting that can be used as a 'backlash' for those attempting to breach the agreement." he finished.

Her parents breathed a sigh of relief while giving him a reproachful look for not telling them first.

Sure enough, Zatanna was up again in a few seconds, looking back at Robin in slight awe.

"Well that's new." she eventually concluded.

"I believe that this should be enough proof for you to determine that the contract works. So, can we please return to the matter at hand? Tell me, how do you know about the jewel?" Sindella eventually questioned agitatedly.

Nodding his head at her, and trusting ESAMAL, Ben believed her to be correct.

"While I don't understand your reaction, nor do I know what Jewel you are talking about, I can explain how I noticed."

"Maybe it's because of that magical reaction thing you were talking about earlier, but since I stepped into your manor, my emotion sensing seems to have received a substantial boost in prowess."

"Although it's hard to explain, I will try my best to paint a clear image for you. All emotions are different regardless of the person, but there are certain subgroups to differentiate between first."

"Women and Men are one gender differentiation, since women are capable of being more emotional more often than men, hence they give off two different signals to my senses."

"Another differentiation is child and adult. Children below the age of 15 are in less control of their emotions, therefore causing constant fluctuations, while those above 16, adults, have more control, leading to their emotions being more placated."

"When I look at the emotions surrounding me, it's as if I'm looking at a movie screen on mute the whole time. I can see them, but I can't hear them, unless I interact with residual emotions, leading me to be able to tap into certain past thoughts, memories, impressions, or events associated with those emotions."

"When I entered the manor, the previous emotions that bled all around the inside felt more… alive. As if they were actually sentient beings, which should be impossible. ESAMAL is the only sentient being made of ALL emotions in existence from what I can tell."

"Some more knowledgeable people of the universe will argue with that statement by using the being sitting inside the Green Lantern's central battery, Ion, as an example. However, he is one of the Emotional Spectrum's Guardian Entities of the color that represents will and determination. Not a sentient being related to ALL emotions."

"Having felt and noticed this difference for the first time, I received some sort of epiphany, a 'magical reaction' as you called it. I can now sense a strange new energy that is intertwined with all the emotions surrounding us, and I now assume it to be magic."

"I didn't sense anything different about you at first, but after we sat down and I was studying the magic surrounding me, I noticed how there were some strange energy pulses coming from around your head in an erratic manner. It's strangely purple in color, and seems to be doing something to you I cannot tell, while leaving traces in the surroundings."

"Then there's Zatanna who entered after a bit and behold, she has the same thing inside her head too. However, hers beats in an extremely steady manner completely unlike you, and leaves little trace. It doesn't seem to be doing anything to her at the moment either." Ben said, concluding his observations.

Sindella was stunned at his explanation, turning to her daughter, who was also stunned by what she heard, meeting her mother's eyes.

Giovanni for his part looked dazed, not knowing how to respond or react to the information provided to him.

Eventually, Sindella sighed as she first said, "What I speak next is considered a secret that can never be shared unless I say so."

At everyone's nodding heads she sighed again as Ben watched yellow begin to overtake her.

"Years ago, I used to live in a rural village in the country of Turkey. It was a simple life, and one of the elders of the village was a magician. He took notice of me, and brought me up as his daughter while teaching me magic." she said, Giovanni nodding along at her story, clearly showing he already knew that.

"Except, I lied."

Shock crossed Giovanni's features at that, his heartbrokenness clear for all, not understanding what she was saying. Zatanna as well was shocked but not to as far of a point as her father, waiting patiently for her mother to continue.

Sindella for her part, seemed ashamed and refused to look at her husband's direction for the moment.

"Instead of what I told you all this time, the truth is that I lived in a hidden city near northern Turkey. It's a city full of all manner of magical marvels and filled to the brim with Homo Magi's."

"Homo Magi is the terminology used to refer to humans with the power of magic. I was one of the city's inhabitants, growing up an orphan without knowing who my family was."

"Then one day, one of the Hidden Ones attempted to approach me."

"I learned that day that the world is filled with more lies than one could imagine. It was believed that no one person ruled our city and that everyone was invited to decide things together. How foolish I was."

"The Hidden Ones are the true rulers of my home. Their names show how they loved to act towards our home, to control the city from the shadows."

"I do not know for what reason, but I was special to them due to how I was born with something known as a 'Medulla Jewel'. It seemed to be of great importance to them for they wished to harness a sort of special energy only capable of emanating from my forehead."

"They wished to use me as a battery for their wants and needs, a mere object in their possession."

"I escaped that day, fleeing for my life from that place where I truly then wandered around that rural village in Turkey. It was there where I met Giovanni around 1993. He seemed to be injured from some form of battle at the time."

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, then seemed to find the courage to finally look into her husband's eyes.

"I did not know you were a magician at the time, yet when I found you and took you back with me to nurse back to health, I grew to love you over time when you treated me like the most precious person in the world. A form of love and endearment, I could never receive from the place I was born."

"I thought that with you, I could truly escape, in mind and body, from that place."

A smile seemed to grace her lips as she then looked at her daughter with love in her eyes, as she placed a hand on her cheek.

"Then finally, two years later we were wed and gave birth to Zatanna a year later. I felt truly complete at the time, feeling that this joy would last forever."

Sadness seemed to take over her features, as tears began leaking out of her eyes as she began weeping slightly, shakily reaching for her daughter's hands for support as Zatanna met her in the middle, holding onto her mother tightly for support.

"I do not know what this jewel truly is. I fear that my daughter will suffer a fate similar to mine in the future. When I found out I had cancer, I felt like whatever little illusion I had left in life shattered."

"Now, after hearing how my daughter seems to have inherited this same exact thing as myself, and in what is probably a stronger manner, I fear for when I leave you two all alone that at some point. That somehow… they will find you both and take her away."

As she finished her words, she finally broke down, sobbing in a loud manner, as Zatanna went up to envelop her mother with tears in her eyes as well, and Giovanni wrapped both of them afterward into a full family hug.

Ben could tell that the man was relieved at the full story. He probably had assumed that the lie was something dangerous and vicious in nature or something along those lines.

He probably would've broken down had that been the case.

Giving the family a couple of minutes to settle themselves, the Batfamily turned to look at each other as Ben put a hand on Dick's shoulder, attempting to make a joke, but in a deadly serious manner that brokered no argument.

"You ever hide something like that from me, and we'll see if you can survive MY training instead."

Dick for his part was terrified, as Ben could be more inhuman with his training sometimes than even Bruce.

So he nodded his head in a speedy manner.

Heh... get it? Speedy?

Finally, the Zatara family seemed to collect themselves, as a tissue appeared in front of Sindella in a flash of light, which she used to clean up her features.

"So, now you know why I reacted so strongly earlier. The reason I believe your solution wouldn't work is because this is most likely not a regular form of cancer, but something magical based on the jewel's special energy."

"From what I could gather back then, even the Hidden Ones did not have a complete idea what that energy was, only able to harness it in a superficial manner. So unless you can identify it somehow and see how it interacts with my body causing this cancer, there is no solution." she concluded.

Another silence seemed to greet them, no one knowing how to respond. Giovanni seemed to be in an even bigger pit of despair than earlier as well, with Zatanna shaking in her seat, thinking of the idea of losing her mother.

Ben had other ideas.

"Well, hearing your story and your description of how you don't understand the energy, I'm now certain of what's going on." he spoke calmly.

His words brought disbelief to everyone's faces, wondering what in the world he was saying at the moment.

Giovanni was practically fuming in his head at the moment. 'This little bas-'

"Language." Ben suddenly said, his head facing the man.

Everyone paused, staring at him in both confusion and incredulousness, wondering where his outburst came from.

Except for Bruce. He already knew about his son's tendencies to remain pure in both mind and spirit.

"Foul language poisons the mind." he had said with dead seriousness one time.

"As I was going to say, I seem to know what the true problem is." Ben continued.

A hopeful but wary look appeared on the family's faces, with Sindella being the one to answer.

"Well, we would be grateful if you could explain it to us so that we can judge whether it's the truth or not. Forgive me if I'm worried about the complete truth and understanding behind your words."

Nodding his head, Ben explained. "Due to the nature of my powers, I realized almost straight away that I need to be in tune with my thoughts, emotions, and self-identity."

"As such, I did much research with the help of ESAMAL and many theoretical and philosophical books about emotions, their meanings, the symbolism of the body when it comes to such things, information on meditation and what it entails, and so much more."

"I even took psychology and sociology as one of the first subjects to be studied, mastering the two in only a couple of months due to their importance."

"When doing all of this research, I experimented with many tidbits of information I found from ESAMAL coming to the startling conclusion that I am in tune with an energy, extremely similar to the one you are giving off."

At this point, his pupils flashed a sky-blue hue.

"That energy is known as spiritual energy."

"You may have not heard of it, as from what I learned, throughout the entire universe, the number of people who are in possession of some form of manipulation regarding the energy can be counted on both fingers, maybe even only one. Even then, they may not even know the true nature of the power they use."

"The easiest manner I can describe it to you currently is that it is a form of energy, born through the soul from self-enlightenment and the true identity of self."

"What that means is that you should be capable of answering every type of question that pertains to what life means to you as an individual solely."

"Do you understand all of your emotions and the need for said emotions? Do you understand how those emotions lead to your trains of thought? Do you understand how those thoughts lead to your actions? Those actions to your needs? Those needs leading to your relationships? Relationships to your treatment of others?"

"It is a never-ending cycle of questions that can most likely never be answered even within an Aeon, or a billion years."

At this, Ben paused for a moment, before turning to the mother-and-daughter pair.

"You two, however, are producing what I've now confirmed to be spiritual energy. I was unsure at first due to the strange color hue it's taken throughout your body since it's usually colorless, and I haven't ever seen it within another person, but your story mostly confirmed it for me as it coincided with what my research entailed."

"The reason the Hidden Ones called it an unknown form of energy, is because due to my newly given magic sense, it's almost indistinguishable from the stuff."

"It's an energy that melds so well with magic in fact, that unless you know of its existence, you can't differentiate it that well. How they even sensed it is a mystery to me."

He then looked back at everyone in the room with his pupils once again changing to a mix of ivory and light blue, showing his curiosity and excitement for the subject.

"If magic, from what I've currently understood from your words, is the energy that binds the universe together in a way that allows reality to flow and alter, then spiritual energy is what gives birth and form to the soul, imagination, and idealization."

"It is what grants people their form of ego, super-ego, id, and self-worth and thought. The very basis that the human mind functions on."

At this point, everyone was finally numbed to the surprises they were feeling in this conversation, with Sindella even waving down a faux servant to get her a bigger cup to drink her tea from. Ben at this point in the conversation had his pupils change color to aquamarine and amethyst, turning his attention once again to the two women in the room.

"From what I've confirmed, both of you were extremely lucky to be born with this 'Medulla Jewel'."

Before Sindella could erupt in anger at her 'luck', Ben held up his hands placatingly at her in order to show his mistake.

"In ancient Indian tradition, there they explained how one must meditate on their seven chakra points in order to be able to unlock their connection with their 'supreme selves' or in my earlier words, become one with and understand everything about yourself."

"The symbolism behind the reasons is extremely deep and well explained, but that's for another time."

Reaching into his belt, Ben took out a small miniaturized disk, before opening one of his wrist gauntlets showing a mini-computer. He then took out a wire and connected it to that miniature disk, before typing something.

Suddenly, a holographic image popped up from the disk showing the outline of the human body.

"The chakra points in that tradition start from the base of your spine called the root chakra…" the location was highlighted following his words, "before going further upward, towards the crown chakra at the top of your skull."

6 more light points followed his words, with the final one at the top being purple in color.

"Which, in fact, correlates to the location of your Medulla Jewels."

Surprise seemed to finally color everyone's face, even Batman this time, as everyone took a look at his image. Even though his speech was deep and informative in the beginning, everyone was starting to see where he was going with this.

Getting up from his seat on the couch, Ben began pacing around the room, a hand on his chin, with his ever-calm expression, yet his pupils showed his increasing sense of excitement if the brightening light blue was any indicator, as he pieced together the final pieces for everyone.

"My conjecture is that due to whatever extreme stroke of 'luck'..." he spoke using finger quotes for the woman's mental health. "...both of you women were born with your crown chakra already opened, and your spiritual energy somehow developed with your identities as Homo Magi, mixing with your inherent magical energy to give birth to this purple-colored energy."

"This energy seems to have an extremely deeper tie with imagination and thought than both spiritual energy and magical energy alone."

"Sindella already explained earlier how she tried to escape from the Hidden Ones in both 'Mind and Body', telling me the rest of the details needed to know what the problem is."

"She physically left her hometown on terrible terms and came here, her 'Body' escaping from there."

"Now as for the 'Mind…"

"With enough mental power, or in this case spiritual energy, one can force their body to feel different things and have it act against its instincts, moving in accordance with your 'supreme self'."

"Thanks to the energy in your possession that I will now refer to as psychic or mental energy for better reference as that is the closest match I can use, any powerful thoughts or emotions embedded deep within your psyche can cause catastrophic results to your health depending on certain ways of thinking."

At this, Ben stopped pacing and turned his full attention to Sindella, his pupils back to being sky-blue yet more intense.

"You said that now that you found out that Zatanna was born with the jewel, you fear that the Hidden Ones will come one day and take her away from you, treating her as an object you feared you yourself would become."

"But I don't think that to be the case. Your fears are obviously true, yet the time you say they manifested, which is now, is probably incorrect."

"This means that you lied to yourself, your 'supreme self', which is a huge error when the whole point is to understand everything about yourself and accept the good and bad."

"You most likely already thought of the idea and had doubts about Zatanna inheriting the Jewel through you since her birth. Instead of facing them head-on, you bottled those thoughts up, leaving them there to fester, rot, and grow over time."

"This led to our current situation. The disruption I see originating from your jewel and stability emanating from that of Zatanna's is not indicative of its power as I thought earlier.

"Now that I know it's a form of spiritual energy, it's meant to show your state of mind."

"Normally, this wouldn't be anything but a conjecture on my part, but the manifestation of your pancreatic cancer is the final factor."

He went back to his seat and typed up something once more on his wrist computer changing the highlighted image of the seven chakras to the body's organs.

"In symbolic terms, each of the body's organs has a certain meaning when it comes to certain emotional states. It just so happens that the pancreas is symbolic of worry and pensiveness, self-doubt, fear, and over-thought."

"That basically includes everything you mentioned you felt before about your daughter, and you probably felt from the beginning when you hid these things from your husband."

Ben leaned forward in his seat, his eyes matching Sindella's widening ones in both realization and fear.

"So, the root cause of this whole problem is that in some way or form, you feel that you need to die in order for your family to live in a more happy and safe manner. Since you want to die, your body will help you with that endeavor."

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Don't you just love cliffhangers? I know I don't.

But unlike you guys, I already know how the story's going to go!

Like I said earlier, magic is a wonky topic when it comes to DC, since there sometimes doesn't seem to be limits to what can be performed.

You have some magicians affecting time and reality on a large scale, and others that are unable to even light up a candle without using a spell that costs them their liver.

I'm exaggerating on the last part, but you get my point.

But this leads me to my next point, so listen up, because this is important and I'm going to be clear about this right now.

In the beginning stages, magic will be an important topic for our MC, but even though it's a powerful system all on it's own, it can only be considered some sort of training wheels for what you all should already be realizing by now is making way to a greater power he had and that will be unveiled as this story goes on.

To true beings of power, magic is nothing.

Dr. Manhattan actually once quoted on magic as well.

"...I see this power you harness is in reality the scraps of creation. Like the random errors in computer code, discarded and forgotten... left to be picked up and used by those who also find themselves discarded and forgotten."

...That's a solid punch to the gut to all magic users if I've ever seen one.

Although magic can be powerful, it is more unpredictable in nature than anything, just like our MC is becoming in fact, shocker!

John Constantine is the perfect example of how magic can backfire on you in more ways than one.

Although he's proved the usefulness on the matter when certain spells are performed in certain situations, the unpredictability factor isn't worth it a lot of times considering the friendly fire that occurs due to him as a result.

Plus, magic doesn't stack up against really powerful foes that I'll be introducing.

And I'm not talking about people on Superman's level...

Now for those of you who haven't yet realized, I gave Ben an easy and believable introduction into the world of magic using Batman and Giovani's relationship.

I kept the part of the YJ timeline in tact where they made Zatanna younger, meaning she wasn't childhood friends with Bruce.

You'd think that by doing so, the directors would've at least shown more on the friendship between Bruce and Giovanni that they hinted at in a couple of episodes, but NOOOOO!

I felt upset that their friendship wasn't explored all that much as it should have been, deciding to come up with my own.

I ask of you guys to continue with your gifts and offerings, leaving reviews, comments, power stones, and everything else in between that I missed.

It's been a huge motivator for me, and I can't thank you enough for all you guys have been doing to support me.

I'll remind you guys one more time that the previous offer is still standing for now. Whenever you reach 1.5k stones, you'll get an extra chapter on here and Patreon.

I believe I had more planned to say, but I'm really tired and need to take a nap right now.

Once again, Chapter 9 on Patreon will be up in a couple of hours after I manage to review it.

Thanks again everyone!

patreon.com/Geo_Ruler