The sudden arrival of the all too familiar life force and the combination of the voice so close to us startled me for a second. I retracted my now wet fingers and looked over to find Raven leaning against the doorframe of the house, watching us with crossed arms.
The sight of her just standing there after I had been stuck in this universe for almost 2 weeks now stunned me for a second. Felicia looked over as well and reacted to her presence with a groan even quicker than I could register who I was seeing.
She knew what would happen and even though I knew she would rather tie this opportunity down, now that I had decided to bone her, I wasn't going to ignore Raven to fuck another woman. I stood up and jumped at her before picking up the cambion in a bear hug. She groaned from the squeeze, but she let it happen all the same without struggle.
Despite the fact that I wasn't an empath, I knew she wanted to do the same even if her expression said that it was a farce. Of course, I could have tried to read her feelings and even her mind and she would probably let me, but I just wanted to hold her. If she didn't want this to happen then she would tell me off.
"N-Nate, I c-can't breathe." She struggled to say, making me realize that I was a bit rough.
"Oh, sorry," I said a bit ashamed that I had almost crushed her before setting her down to the ground again. With my hands still around her waist, I continued to hug her with my chin resting on her head, gentler this time. I could feel her fingers clenching my clothes before she sighed.
She pushed herself a bit away to look at me properly and was about to say something when I interrupted her words with a kiss. She whined for a moment clearly surprised and startled that I interrupted her before she melted into my hug. Although she was somewhat shy with a public show of affection, the only one around was Felicia, someone that she had known for a while now.
Her hands grasped me tightly as if I was about to leave her touch again. It was nice to feel this. How she missed me despite the relatively short time apart. Her words seemed to have been forgotten as she instead pushed her tongue in my mouth, playing with my tongue almost desperately and yearningly, while her hands roamed my body.
Of course, I accepted her approach eagerly and kissed her with as much passion as I could. She then jumped up to wrap her legs around my waist as we continued to kiss. Honestly, I wanted to push her into my bed and mess her up in the way I knew she would love, but I couldn't ignore Felicia. I didn't want her to feel like I would leave her the moment someone else from my girlfriends was present.
So, reluctantly, I separated from Raven as I knew it would only escalate if we continued like this. She chased after the kiss subconsciously until realizing that I had purposefully stopped. Her eyes were a bit dazed from the kiss and just watched my face for a moment. She placed her hand gently on my cheek, while she continued to just look into my eyes, though her gaze wandered to my lips more than once, clearly wanting more than one kiss.
After several moments of just gazing into each other, she just sighed before turning her head towards Felicia, who was lying on the daybed, and watched us with a suggestive expression. A half-lidded gaze and a seductive lick across her lips before she bit her lower lip with anticipation.
"Hmph." Raven scoffed at the admittedly seductive sight. "Don't let you fool yourself. Currently, she is extremely jealous and feels left out."
Felicia looked shocked, conveying the same surprise I also felt inside. Raven wasn't one to just reveal what others felt if she wasn't extremely annoyed or the emotions were of some importance, so her revealing Felicia's inner struggle contrary to what she portrayed was certainly unusual, to say the least.
She just smirked at Felicia's dumbfounded expression. "What? Since Shallot decided to take you in, it means there aren't any secrets among us."
Felicia's mouth opened to speak up, but nothing came out instead her expression changed several times as she processed Raven's words before setting in with a confused look as her gaze switched from her to me. "Thank you?" Her gaze then stayed with me as if I should clear the situation up, though was there something to clear up?
"You heard her. From now on, you belong to me if you don't want to, just say the word now. This will be your chance to back out now, but afterward, there is no way back." I approached her calmly like a predator walking up to its hunted prey. I knelt down beside her bed and pinched her chin with my fingers before staring deep into her eyes again. "What is your answer?"
"Yes"
Good, I thought as I watched her wet lips as she gulped with anticipation, though now wasn't the time for this.
I turned around and looked at Raven again. After the feelings of our reunion had faded and before my relationship with Felicia was finalized, I needed some answers to my questions. First and foremost, "How the hell did you get here?" It wasn't easy to get here. If I hadn't Giblet on my side as we traveled through that strange dimension that somehow connected all the universes, I would have died a couple of times over by now, yet here she stood, having done something I had almost died to.
She smirked at my question. At a surprising show of pride, she waved me off casually, "Please, jumping universes is easy peasy. Who do you think you are talking to?" She even raised her head slightly.
"…" I glanced at Felicia, who just shrugged, clearly not aware of how she could possibly be here. Though then again Felicia had been able to arrive here as well with just a random teleporter that the scientists of Almerac had invented, something that even Darkseid hadn't at his disposal. Of course, I wasn't sure if Darkseid just didn't travel universes because it would interfere with his avatar in that universe. Something to ask when I beat up another version of him the next time.
"The greatest magician, Raven?" I tried answering her rhetorical question, which she seemed to appreciate as her head raised slightly again. "…So, how did you do it?" She clearly knew that I would continue to ask until she revealed her method, so she answered.
"I used up Trigon's essence to teleport here." She started as she walked to sit at the table next to our fireplace, which I had set up after being annoyed about having to sit on the ground.
The previously sandy ground was now glass-like and solid after being heated up by my ki. With some chairs and a table, it was rather cozy. Giblet just accepted it too, though he looked more comfortable with the new furniture that just 'appeared'.
"I had tried to replicate my father's teleportation runes and because of the inspiration, I had to use up the remnants of the other universe's Trigon's essence to deliver me here." She continued, though her answer only created more questions and birthed a creeping concern.
"And you were just able to find me instantly? Even if you created a teleportation rune, it shouldn't be easy to find me, right?" I remembered what Giblet had told me of an ever-changing multiverse. The position of the universes was always different and without the anchor points, the place was hardly easy to navigate through, at least from what Giblet had told me.
"You remember that I am bound to you, right? I placed some of me into you, which makes distance irrelevant, and I can basically find you wherever you are. Of course, there are some limitations, and the distance obscures the accuracy, but with enough time I would always find my way to you." Her serious look at me and her words, made me pause for a moment.
"That's… really cute."
"Ah?" She didn't expect the compliment, causing her to just look at me stunned before finally gathering her bearings with a roll of her eyes, though I could tell she liked it. "Whatever. There are some problems with it, though. I can't return and I wasn't able to carry anyone with me as Trigon's energy wasn't enough to bring anyone else."
"I see." I placed my hand on her head and gave her a guilty smile. It wasn't too hard to realize the consequences of using the other universe's Trigon's essence inside the gem entailed. After all, they had initially planned to use it to find her father and end him permanently. That goal had taken the back seat ever since Chronoa and the others announced the big bad in a year. "You good with how things turned out?" I asked concerned.
"What do you mean, I am here, am I not- Ah, that's what you mean. It's fine, it was an easy choice to make. If I had to decide between you and my revenge, it would be you all the way." She nodded resolutely, clearly already aware of what it would mean for her, and she still decided to go through it.
"Your revenge… it's more than revenge for you. It would mean that you would be free of worry. You would be at peace."
"I am at peace with you." …Dang, she really knew what to say, didn't she?
"Stop, you are making me blush." I teased, which caused her to approach me with a sway in her hips before hugging me. We just stayed like this for a while before I couldn't help but speak up again.
"Not to put down your success, but couldn't you have waited for Westmob's scientist to figure out how to create a wormhole again?" She smiled wryly at my question. Seemed like something had happened.
"There were some changes. For some reason, they couldn't make any progress for the past few days. Something is blocking their detection, something big. The Justice League got worried as did the others, so we decided that I would come here first and maybe find a way to bring you back to our universe. We are worried that something big is going to happen and we would feel better if you were with us to help you in case you need it or if we needed your help."
"Shit. Yeah, it was probably the best call. We really need to find a way back." At my musing, she looked like she had tasted blood.
"Is Trigon still around in this place or did you already hunt him down?" Oh, she was truly out for blood. It seemed like she would be Trigon't death in more than one universe, though I wasn't sure about this one.
"This universe is incomparable to the others we had encountered before. It will be difficult to beat him without some preparation and scouting of the true strength level of this place."
She nodded confidently. "Of course, we won't head to fight that demon without a plan." It seemed like she had already thought about something. There wasn't much I could do anyway, so whatever she had in mind would probably be the best shot at our return without having to confront the numerous dragon ball and dc villains.
"What about the teen titans?" I questioned as she had joined only for a short period of time and then with everything else happening with the conflict with the Justice League and our own displacement into another universe, there was a lot to do and basically no time to rest or do something else. The month I had spent mostly training was probably the only 'leisure' time she had in a while.
"They are fine. I help out once in a while, but only if something big happens. Mostly, I was training and studying to get this spell just how I remembered it to be. Was quite messy to dive into my memories of that time again. Wasn't sure if that would trigger a response from Trigon."
I nodded at that understandably. Even dreams apparently could manifest into reality if what she had mentioned a month ago was true. Besides cosmic awareness was a thing. I wasn't sure if that was only limited to what was being said. I could imagine that such an active recall, especially since there was obviously a magic technique involved, would attract his attention.
Wait- Oh shit. Even if he didn't know she recalled that event, Trigon must have noticed something else- "You good, Nate? What did you figure out?" She asked with concern lacing her tone.
"You used Trigon's essence to travel here. Even if your recalling what happened back then didn't attract his attention, his essence being used up for some spell surely will and if that is the case, he might know where our location is."
Her face paled slightly as she realized that he might be onto us. "Felicia!" I called out while my telepathic abilities reached out to Giblet's mind. There was a natural rebound from his god ki, but not something that would keep me from trying to communicate with him.
"Giblet. They might have figured out where we are." I said with urgency and a blink later he stood next to us with a bunch of different food stored away in a gigantic bag. One could see he had hunted some game enough to fill up two Saiyans' stomachs. He tossed the bag to the side before approaching me and looking at Raven, who was yet another new face on his island, making him scowl a bit.
"What do you mean?" He asked, knowing the severity of the situation and not willing to delay from knowing what had happened.
"Raven used Trigon's essence to teleport here, so he might know where she traveled to..." Giblet looked serious as I explained the situation. He then glanced over to Raven before letting out a breath.
"Trigon, huh? I fought that demon some time ago. He is tough." He said before picking up his food again and walking inside the house while shouting "I caught some octopus for us." Felicia and Kara had dumbfounded expressions as they looked at me for guidance, but I wasn't sure what the best course of action would be since their arrival would whirl up a terrifying storm.
However, more importantly- I walked into the house while being followed by the two women. I glanced at Giblet who was calmly packing in his groceries and I couldn't help but be speechless.
Honestly, seeing him take out the octopus without any care made me question, why I could even stick around this insensitive dick. "This is the third time... I already told you, I don't like octopus! It fucking stinks!"
He only scoffed at my comment. "You sure? You are missing out. It just smells strong, but it actually is quite delicious."
"Hell no."
"You know in my days we didn't care how it smelt just how it tasted."
"We are the same fucking age!"
"Whatever." He then stuffed the cut-up giant octopus into a custom pot that was seriously too huge to be put onto the stove, which was why he brought it outside. After seeing that he went outside, I looked through the bag for something to eat before I was interrupted by a tug on my sleeve.
My head turned to Raven while my eyes were still on the groceries, scanning them for something good, though that tactic was short-lived as well as Raven dropped the groceries into her shadow. Since I knew I wouldn't be getting that back without her willingly giving it to me, I turned my attention to the bewildered Raven.
She held up her hands. "What the fuck? Hello, Trigon is coming here with whatever goons he brings along."
I nodded my head, conveying that I understood.
"...Felicia said you had a run-in with him and several others that were near impossible to beat with just the two of you?"
I hit my open palm with my fist in understanding. "Yeah... that was before I had god ki-"
"Indeed. If it comes down to it, I will hold down the others while Shallot kills the natives. Besides, there is no way that they will have the entire line-up this time. After all, we aren't the only one they are searching for and they still need to find a way to get out of Chronoa's barrier, which is a far bigger concern for them."
"See- Wait, we aren't the only ones?" I truly thought we were the only ones that they were aiming to kill off. Regardless, even if they came with the same people, I could end them instantly as I was right now. Giblet looked at me confused as if I asked something that should have been known.
"No, we aren't. Anyway, the enemies from our universe just want to get the dragon balls first, while the natives want to kill us all or at least get us out of this multiverse. Since they should know where the last dragon ball is and with us being somewhere else, there is no way most of them are stupid enough to cause trouble and risk us interfering with their plan."
"Oh, that's good to know."
"Did you expect to find all of them Here? You do know that the natives will be significantly stronger in this universe than in whatever universe we were in during our last encounter, right?" I nodded my head and he looked at me like I was a crazy person. "By the way, where the fuck are my groceries?"
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Raven stare blankly at us conversing before she rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. Saiyans or does it run in the family?" She groaned before dropping the bag into his hand, making it almost look comical with him holding that all up with one hand as he walked outside again.
"But you have a plan, right?" She asked, crossing her arms beneath her cloak.
"Obviously," I cracked my neck and then my knuckles. "if it gets too heated Felicia is going to teleport back. Giblet is going to distract any backup Trigon might bring and we two are going to kill him. You absorb his powers and then go on to kill anyone else that came up. If at any point it gets too much, Giblet, you, or I will teleport us away and then we see from there."
"...that's your plan? You want us two to fight Trigon unprepared, head-on?"
"Worked the last time." I shrugged. Of course, I saw her concern, but I was so much more powerful than the last time that I dwarfed my previous might, easily. If that wasn't enough, we wouldn't be having a conversation about how to stop him. Giblet seemed to have fought him before and if he wasn't too concerned it meant that we should be able to take him. "Besides, since there are some ground rules most of the natives seem to have to adhere to, it would be best to stay here."
"Shallot is right. Even if he knows that we are here, the natives can't just come here with their full power. We might even be able to avoid a fight entirely since they can't enter this place at all." Giblet backed me up, shouting from outside.
"You know, I figured you would be the one to say we had to move. This is your main base, after all. What if they came here and messed it up?" I asked as he walked back inside for some kitchenware.
"Well, here are also the most powerful heroes on my side that I had met up until now. They would help us if I called for them, so we wouldn't be without support. In multiple universes, I have seen the Justice League battle numerous enemies including those that pursue us. Most of the time, they were equally matched or at least the gap wasn't too large for them to be completely ignored. In any way, it is better to be here than elsewhere."
"See," I told them nonchalantly, not wanting to bring up the argument over the innocent bystanders that were sure to get in the way if we fought here and took the heroes as support. "be more confident in us, in yourself. It's not like we can avoid confrontation forever."
Raven narrowed her eyes at me before sighing. "I am not looking forward to fighting him without a plan and an entire dimension backing me. The last time was already too close to my liking despite us having a trump card up our sleeves."
"...If we defeat him, I will give you a good fucking and do whatever you want me to" My words seemed to have done the trick as soon as they registered in her mind. Her cloak started flapping dramatically as she hovered over the ground with white glowing eyes and her hands encased in pure darkness.
"Let's drag him into this universe and rip him apart!" Her demonic voice called out as she almost growled with anticipation. Her skin slowly turned red as she also gained another set of eyes. It almost made me worry that she had lost it.
"Raven, your pride and lust is showing." Her four eyes turned to me before she licked her lips. Though her state slowly calmed down and her demonic and magical aura lessened as well.
Giblet had already run outside to prepare his meal, while Felicia held up her hands. "And here I thought, I was down bad." She then walked outside.
Raven's face turned red from embarrassment, making her hide her expression underneath her hood. I chuckled slightly as I took her in my arms. "Don't worry about it. I thought it was pretty cute."
She stayed silent for several moments before speaking up again. "He will probably have to use this version of me to invade the universe, otherwise, he might not be able to do anything even if he knew that we are here... So, what should we do, ignore him?"
"That's probably something that would hurt him the most. Being ignored is probably hell for such an insufferable and lousy father."
"So, he feels right at home- Wuah" She joked as I picked her up and carried her outside.
"Can you get the meat?" I asked before I sensed her telekinetically picking up some ingredients and pans for our campfire.
I sat next to the sulking Felicia on the bench, dragging her into a side-hug, while I took over the numerous ingredients with my own psychic powers and cooked us dinner. Raven didn't say anything about my sudden show of affection toward Felicia. She didn't seem to be too bothered by it if I didn't treat her differently, at least that was what I was getting from her silent hug. I was certainly not going to ask and bring that topic up right now. That will be a talk for another day, I decided.
Though there was something I wouldn't delay as it might change a few things. "Hey Giblet, do you think your anchor technique will work on people as well?" If that was the case, I could just tag Felicia with it and follow her back to my universe without needing to traverse the space-time dimensions.
He looked thoughtful for a few moments. Although I could already guess the answer from what I knew from the technique, I wasn't the creator and didn't know all the nuances that one got to know by creating it from scratch. There might be some difficulties that I wouldn't be able to fix in a short time frame and I would like to get back as soon as possible.
"It might be possible, though their own life force might interfere with the process. You could always overpower them, but I don't think that will have any positive outcome for the person. We would have to try to see whether it works."
"What exactly are you talking about?" Raven asked as she got some spices and gave our meal some flavor.
"Giblet has a neat little technique to give objects his god ki and use them as anchors to teleport to. If I could stick it to a person and have Felicia teleport back to our universe, I could teleport us back without issue."
She nodded slowly with a frown on her face, which told me that she thought of something, but was hesitant to ask. "...Why didn't you give Felicia something with your ki and have her carry it back to our universe? Wouldn't you be able to use that as an anchor?"
"..."
"..."
"That would be a possibility." I started before looking at Giblet wondering why he never brought that up, which he returned with an equally incredulous look. Fair, since I knew the technique now as well and I hadn't thought about it either.
"It wouldn't be a permanent solution as the ki inside smaller objects fades away faster." He attempted to excuse how we didn't think about that, but I knew it would be better to just take the L and leave it at that.
"Right, so I guess you want to explain to Kara, why she had been frustrated for no reason for the past two weeks?" There was a certain edge to her voice as she asked Giblet this question, which sent shivers down my spine more than her demonic state could ever hope to achieve and that was when the question wasn't even directed at me.
Of course, I also knew that I would have to be the one that should have thought about it, making me gaze into the flames as I thought about a viable excuse to explain to the others that were worried sick because I didn't properly evaluate my available options.