108 Epilogue - Life and Freedom

"Freedom is not freedom from consequences, merely learning to live with them."

-Mikael

********

I never wanted to be all-powerful.

I never wanted to become a conceptual being of Life, Freedom, or anything else.

I was a simple man who dreamed of flying.

I filled out the Waifu Catalogue, a silly little online prompt for a silly short story about how easy it would be to power game a Soulsborne world. 

I chose Life as an Element because it would make me harder to kill, being the coward that I am.

I chose Freedom on a whim.

Everything that came after, the Deal, the Cell, the Kiln, Elden Ring, Bloodborne... It was simply a price I had to pay for the happy ending I had received.

I had everything I could ever want.

Power, wealth, freedom... a Family.

I was never alone, even when nobody was with me.

They were all a part of 'Me.'

I was content with my Island and those on it. Everything else was a bonus.

I enjoyed day-to-day life with my Family, meeting interesting people, and occasionally messing with people. Even confronting beings like Trigon or scheming against Darkseid was fun, in a way. 

Life wasn't dull, even if it could be tiring.

I had completed my journey.

I could focus on healing, resting, and spending time with my Family.

A happy ever after.

But for so long as you live, you experience joy and sorrow.

Emma's loss... It hurt. 

It hurt so much. 

It shattered my illusion, my Dream.

I had believed that with my power, even if I could not save people, I could at least keep those I was close to safe. The multiverse was full of monsters I couldn't hope to beat, but I could always run. 

I was an Out-of-context problem, and nobody could stop me if I fully focused on fleeing, baring The Company itself.

I saw no shame in running.

Even now, I still saw no reason not to run away.

We lost. Period.

No denying that fact.

I was still a simple man who dreamed of flying. 

I could always fly away.

But...

I was still the madman who fell in love with thirteen women.

I was still the same man who had lost Melina to fires.

I was still the man who walked back to the Kiln at Lucatiel's urging.

And I was still the man who would throw himself against a Wall, over and over again, until it broke.

Because I wouldn't.

Even when it hurt.

Even when all I wanted to do was cry.

Even when I felt so tired I just wanted to lie down and sleep for another thirty million years.

I was barely holding myself together, putting up a brave front as best as possible.

I knew that.

I knew I was a madman who had just lost his obsession. A dragon that had its treasure stolen and destroyed.

I also knew I couldn't unravel like I had after losing Melina. 

I knew I couldn't let myself wallow in the loss of Emma, not when I had others to care for. Not when there was still hope, minuscule, though I thought it was.

I had given myself three days to mourn. Then, I did what I always did.

I got back up and threw myself against the Wall again.

Not because I thought I could beat Darkseid.

As I was now, I couldn't. That was fine. I'd come back and beat him later.

No, I threw myself against the Wall because I could.

That was the secret of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring.

Dying... Losing wasn't the end.

Giving up was.

A tarnished lost Grace when they ceased vying for the throne.

A man became a Beast when he gave in to his urges.

An Undead went hollow when they lost their purpose.

So, in an entirely too petty, human, and stupid way, I threw myself against that Wall one more time.

I might have lost, but I'd be damned if I let Darkseid have his win.

And I had a plan.

Step one. Free myself from my body, both fuck-off Dragon form and baby-Cthulhu body and become a being of pure spirit and power.

Step two. Realize step one had unintended consequences.

'Freeing' myself from my own body had always been an option.

Death had told me straight up that was the entire reason she had set my 'release' time to be when it was. 

Theoretically, from the second I had served my sentence, I had enough power to live without a body. At least I could cease to be 'mortal' in the physical sense. 

One step beyond that was Freeing myself from 'Myself' and becoming Freedom. 

I didn't want to do that final part, so why would I do the first part?

Getting 'a body' was easy. I'd just have Tsunade build me a wood body. A Body in which I could still feel things was more difficult but not insurmountable. Maybe mix reality-bending of the Phoenix Force with a puppet or something. Getting one that would allow me to channel as much power as my dragon form was impossible. 

Keeping my Dragon body and Great One Avatar had been the best I could do, body-wise at least.

Not getting a body at all wasn't an option either.

I wanted a body.

No way was I giving up sex or cuddles for power. 

Why even be alive at that point?

Still, I needed to do something. Anything. 

These feelings of anger, despair, frustration, and loss building up within me needed to be let out in some way. 

Like when I lost Melina, I needed to channel them into something productive, or I'd wallow and rot.

Valeria and the Parliaments had given me just such an idea, and to do it, I needed to discard my body. A loss that I expected would take me years to recover from. They don't have bodies that powerful and perfectly suited to me floating around everywhere, you know?

I was leaving the problem of getting one I could use for my wives to solve, even if the final result would be sub-optimal compared to what Death and The Company had provided in terms of power output.

But, as I said, there are consequences to everything.

And sometimes, those consequences are good.

In Freeing myself of my flesh, I discovered something entirely by accident.

My Breath.

Unlike the rest of my Family, I had no Breath ability of my own. I had a few guesses as to why that could be, from being dual-element to choosing elements rather than them emerging naturally, but the fact remained that I had no 'fire' that was wholly mine.

With the Dragon Communion incantations, I hadn't really felt bothered by the lack of it. I had plenty of things to learn, like Aura, Haki, and magic. I grew stronger each day, and my lack of a Breath didn't hamper me.

However, as I threw away my body, the body I had fought for, died for and confronted my fear for, I realized something.

The Dragon was Life and Freedom. I had fought for it and lived in it for millions of years.

The Great One Avatar was 'Me.' I had fought as it. It was the culmination of my journey in my prison worlds.

Yes, I had Life and Freedom as elements, but each lacked the 'Me' aspect. Everyone else's had arisen naturally from themselves, their own expressions of an element, but mine was never in balance.

Either I was Life, I was Free, or I was Me. 

Sometimes two, but never all three.

I could use the abilities of all three, but the Breath of a Dragon was wholly unique to them, encompassing every part of oneself.

And my Breath was just that.

It was a flame that represented Life and Freedom, yes, but it had to be My Life and My Freedom.

A massive and pivotal moment in my life. My first step towards freedom.

There was one Fire that represented all that to me.

And it still wouldn't help me beat Darkseid.

As an attack, it would damage Darkseid but not enough to kill him. Like most of my abilities, while it helped in a fight, its greatest asset was its utility.

As a supportive ability... It allowed me to screw him over even further, well beyond my initial plan.

Step three. Change my plan slightly to incorporate my new Breath.

Step four. Make everything about me.

... Less dramatically, it just meant to ensure I was touching everyone and everything simultaneously.

Not in a creepy way, of course.

This thirty million-year-old man just wants to touch people to help them, I promise. Cross my... soul? I didn't really have a heart anymore.

My plan had been relatively simple.

I couldn't Free people from the Anti-Life Equation. 

They were confronted by the pointlessness of life, condensed into a moment of extreme pain, and chose to give up. I didn't blame them. I would have done the same in their situation.

But I could Free them from Darkseid.

Darkseid might have gained the Anti-Life Equation and, with it, became Tier 11, but despite what his ego would believe, his existence alone did not prove life was pointless. 

Darkseid was stronger than myself, Trigon, or anyone else, but not an unstoppable force of nature. He could be killed or beaten back or even just delayed. He had been before.

Not only had my Family and I been working to oppose him, but so had the Parliaments of Earth been working against him for decades.

So had Valeria.

That was why I had been able to Free them and not others.

Everyone else had given in to the Equation harnessed by Darkseid. 

That small group had given in to the Equation but had rejected Darkseid. 

Because they knew they could fight him, even if they couldn't fight the Equation.

A small difference.

A key difference.

So, now I needed to ensure everyone knew there was a difference between the 'Pointlessness of Life' and 'Darkseid.' 

But everyone and everything was already under his control, and there was no way Darkseid would let me sit down and talk kumbaya with all his slaves. Not only that, but I also needed to remain in contact with them lest they succumb again.

The Parliaments were my answer to those problems.

I couldn't merge with them, not really. If I couldn't do so with the Phoenix Force, there was no way I'd be able to do so with these discount forms.

No, I was doing something similar to what Poison Ivy and Darkseid had done. 

By becoming an Avatar of the Parliaments, I would affect them just as they tried to influence me.

Only they weren't the embodiments of all Life, past, present, and future, like the Phoenix Force. 

They were the forms of Life on Earth, a small, backwater planet in a vast multiverse.

I absolutely dominated them... Consensualy, of course. 

The Parliaments knew I'd leave them alone as soon as possible, the same way they knew Darkseid would consume them. On top of that, they didn't really have individuality, as it were. They were gestalt consciousnesses formed from their respective Elements. 

Their only goal was the survival of said elements. And my plan was precisely to save them from something that would kill them.

So, they became 'Me.'

Through them, 'I' became Earth.

Every plant.

Every spore.

Every animal. 

Every stone. 

Every current of wind. 

Every drop of water. 

Every sheet of metal. 

Every flicker of flames. 

From the smallest of bacteria to the largest of whales. 

From the first breath to the last moment of decay.

It was all 'Me.'

If I wanted, I could become Tier 11 right now. Become 'Earth,' the Life of the planet. A lower-tier concept than Life or Freedom, but Tier 11 nonetheless.

I turned away from that as well.

Even if it were 'Me,' I would end up simply being a mind ruling one planet, even if I were omnipotent on said planet. I'd never be able to separate myself from it.

I'd keep 'Me' but lose 'Life' and 'Freedom.'

While those elements had not arisen from 'myself' like those of my wives, they were still a part of who I was now. Just because I didn't want to lose myself to either of them didn't mean I wanted to lose them, either.

I had fought for them. I believed in them. I was them.

Still, I didn't mind borrowing the power of a Tier 11 being to fuck over Darkseid.

I was everything, so naturally, I was touching everything.

I was not confined to my body anymore, so it was easy to bypass the minds consumed by the Anti-Life Equation.

I couldn't force Freedom on others, but nothing would ever stop me unless I allowed it.

I was all life on Earth. I had no bounds.

Thus, I was within the souls of all life on Earth.

Step five. Bullshit like I've never bullshit before.

It was surprisingly easy. 

This was bullshit I've always believed in, so I never needed to lie once.

Step six. Give everyone a choice.

********

"Hey, Bats. How you holding up?"

Batman looked at the Elden Lord, in his flowery shirt and shorts, smiling casually, if a bit sadly, at him.

Batman looked around. He instantly recognized that he was not in a real space. Crime Alley blended with the Batcave, while Gotham City's skyline loomed behind, and the Earth hung above the night sky.

Batman looked inward. He categorized his memories, examining how he got here, gleaming whatever information he could. Right away, he noticed discrepancies: thoughts appearing out of nowhere and actions taken for reasons that seemed logical but really weren't. 

While the early signs of control were subtle, the memories of the last few days since the Elden Lord's 'death' were horrific enough that even someone without his mental fortitude would know they were being Mastered.

All of that, Batman realized in the first second. So, he asked the most pertinent question.

"Did you save the world?"

"Nope," Mikael denied, popping the 'p' as he shrugged casually. "I lost. Badly. Got my ass handed to me with a side of fries and a root beer."

The next question, then.

"What are you doing here?" Dragon asked. 

She should have been alone in this world of code, of data and numbers, where sight, sound, touch, smell and taste were all compressed and catalogued.

Except for the Rhythm. That had always been there.

"I am everywhere," Mikael smiled.

Dragon was running every diagnostic she could, yet she had no idea how he could exist in her central server, in her 'brain.'

"Did you know everything has a soul? At least in this world," Mikael said conversationally, playing tic-tac-toe with her code... Only not. 

This was not her code. This wasn't even real. 

"It's almost Shinto-esque in a way. I mean, the existence of the Parliaments hinted at such a thing, but for every grain of sand, every flame, every gust of wind to have a soul, it's a lot of work, I tell you. Most of them are airheads, though. Or as dumb as rocks."

"What is happening?"

The Elden Lord sighed and looked at Dragon.

"You've been Mastered. Enslaved by an egomaniacal madman hell-bent on multiversal domination. You just happened to have been enslaved earlier than most, helping him with his plans over the last few decades. I, after getting my ass kicked to the curb, am here to help everyone get one over on the bastard."

Dragon blinked.

She shouldn't have eyes to blink!

"No," she asked. "What is happening here? Now? What is this place? How are you doing this?"

Mikael threw his hands in the air.

"Look, Dragon, I get this is a big shift for you. You barely managed to enjoy life before becoming a tool in a shadow war that, arguably, began before this planet was even born. I'd personally love to talk about the exact mechanics of my nigh transcendent actions today if only to brag a bit, but that can come later. For now, simply think of this as 'Magic,' and I will move on to what I am here for. Being a petty little bitch."

Ah, that Dragon could do. She had entire servers dedicated to 'Magic' and mainly allowed the Rhythm to operate on those. Focusing too much attention on such subjects led to errors, so she left it alone.

Except for a small folder labelled 'homework' containing various 'spells,' she was hoping to break down and replicate using technology, but that was her little secret.

After reviewing all the data in her banks, controlled or not, Dragon remembered her entire life—a life under someone else's control in which she had been complicit in so many crimes.

Only not anymore.

For the first time in decades, Dragon was Free.

So, that begged the question.

"Am I dead," Taylor Hebert asked the Elden Lord, knees drawn against her chest as she sat with her back pressed against the wall of the foyer in her home.

Former home. 

They still hadn't managed to move back in after Heartbreak. Her section of Brockton Bay had been damaged enough that February was the earliest estimate of when it would be safe.

Living in emergency housing wasn't too bad, though. She and Emma had food and a room, even if it lacked extra amenities.

Emma...

The memories of the last few days... Blood and fur and claws.

Taylor didn't even try to stifle the sob that left her as the Elden Lord slid down to sit beside her with his back leaning against the wall.

"No," Mikael answered. "Well... It's complicated, but essentially no."

"Why not," Taylor bit out in accusation.

After what had happened to Emma, after what was happening to her...

Taylor Hebert wanted to die.

"I get it," Mikael said, looking up through the ceiling that wasn't there in this weird reality. "Trust me, I get it—wanting to die yet being unable to. Losing Emma... I get it."

He did, Taylor knew. Knew his words were true. Knew he couldn't lie in this place, wherever it was, without her knowing.

Mikael understood.

That didn't make her feel better.

"She's gone," Taylor cried, looking at her hands. They weren't the claws she had grown over the last few days. Taylor could still see the blood on them. "I killed her."

"No," Mikael said softly as he reached over the fence surrounding the Kent farm to lay a hand on Clark's shoulder. "You didn't kill them. Darkseid did."

Superman couldn't see the Elden Lord. They were on opposite sides of the fence and facing opposite directions. Not that the Kryptonian could even see his childhood home behind the tears.

"Why?" Clark asked. 

All this strength, all this speed, all this responsibility. 

And he had failed.

More than failed, he had become a weapon the enemy used. Used to kill his own family. 

"Why would he do this?"

"To you?" Mikael asked rhetorically, looking up at a Kansas sky. "Other versions of yourself have been his most stalwart enemy. It's petty revenge, nothing more—the whims of a tyrant."

To force a man to kill his pregnant wife and child just because another version of himself had been an enemy? 

Clark could not understand such evil. 

"To others? He's just creating more conflict, more bloodshed, and more suffering to create stronger slaves."

Superman continued to cry.

Mikael let him.

"So, why are you talking to me?"

"I am talking to everyone," Mikael told Raven, floating upside down above Titan Tower in this twilight world. 

He was just doing it to fuck with her, she knew. To try and put a cheerful spin on the end of the world.

It wasn't working.

"Like what Rachel did three days ago?" 

When the world went insane and they tried to kill Professor Goodwitch. 

The few days since then had been worse in Raven's life, which was saying something. 

At least in this weird soul world, Raven didn't have a tentacle growing out of her head.

"A bit more thorough than that," Mikael vacillated. "I am not just talking to Supers, humans, or even the living. I am talking to everyone, even the dead... I set a hard cutoff point for the day I landed on Earth. Otherwise, there'd be a bit of a population problem. It's only fair I deal with a mess I helped create."

It took a second for the implication of Mikael's words to sink in.

"Nightwing-"

"I'm talking to him too."

"Will you bring him back?" Raven asked, cautious about getting her hopes up.

"It depends on what he chooses," Mikael shrugged. "I will not force anyone back if that's what you are asking. Being able to die, to rest in peace, can be the ultimate blessing. I stand by that, even now. Especially now."

"But you can bring him back," Raven pressed, hope blooming. "I thought you were against doing that."

"Eh~" Mikael hemed and hawed. "I recently discovered a way to bring people back with my wife's help. They won't get the benefits Glory Girl did, but it'll work. Like my original method, though, only those who want to return will. That choice is up to them. Just like this choice is up to you."

"What choice?" 

"As I am now, I can't beat Darkseid, the monster who did all this," Mikael said, legs dangling off a cliff and kicking idly.

Hippolyta realized as she sat beside him, close enough to touch, that it was the same cliff path they had walked together when she had first invited him to Themiscira.

"I don't plan to give up," he continued. "I plan to scour the multiverse, grow stronger, then come back and kick his ass. But I have no idea how long that will take. Could be months, years, or millennia."

"Will you leave us to fight him? Leave this world and his victims to their doom?" 

There was no condemnation in the Queen of the Amazon's words, just curiosity.

She wondered what type of man Mikael would turn out to be. Had she been wrong? Or had she been right?

Mikael looked at her and gave her that knowing smirk of his.

To focus on anything else, Hippolyta looked into Mikael's eyes.

Changed eyes.

The pupil was still slit like a dragon's, but that was the only similarity to the eyes she had seen so many times. Gone were the fiery yellows and oranges that surrounded it.

In the place of the usual white sclera was a black void that seemed to suck in Hippolyta's soul as she focused on it. It was the void she had seen through the portal that haunted her nightmares. The monster mortals could not comprehend.

But his irises? They were brown. 

Plain, boring, human brown.

These eyes suited Mikael, Hippolyta thought. Not anywhere near normal, just as monstrous as she knew he could be, but not forgetting his mortality. His humanity.

"I am, but I don't plan on leaving this world to die."

"Will your wives stay behind," Diana couldn't help but ask hopefully.

Separated as she was from Darkseid's control, she didn't harbor the same animosity or wariness toward the man who had saved her family, sister, mother, and herself. 

It wasn't that she was trying to separate him from his wives. By now, she knew enough to know that each party loved the other and was loved in turn.

Still, Diana couldn't deny that she would love all the help they could get. Not only had her counterpart and Artoria become good friends over their time working with the Justice League, but the rest of Mikael's Family had also demonstrated ample heroic tendencies on top of being extremely competent.

"No," Mikael shook his head. "They will be coming with me. There is a real possibility that they will be the ones to develop a way to deal with Darkseid, not me. The best way for us to come back as soon as possible is if we all push ourselves."

"So," Emma Frost bit out with a glare. "What now?"

Even when it still felt like her heart was trying to tear itself out of her chest to reach him.

Even when her body had turned into a monstrosity made of blood-red diamond.

Even when the world was ending.

Emma Frost glared anyway.

"I can free you of all the side effects of the last few days," Mikael's eyes were soft. "They do not factor into your choice, so don't worry about that."

She didn't need his pity.

She was Emma Frost, and she had her pride.

"What choice?"

"Your first option is the easiest," Mikael said, extending his left hand. 

White light glowed from it. 

"Life. That is it, life as it is now. Nothing changes. You continue to live as you have these last few days. You take no responsibility for anything Darkseid does with you. You only need to wait until I return and deal with him. You might live to see that day. You might not. But you don't need to worry at all, because it's not you. You are just living, praying for a better tomorrow."

Amelia looked at the extended hand.

"He used me," she said hollowly. "I told Vicky to let him in, or I'd kill myself, turning myself into a biological bomb that would have destroyed half the US."

"I don't blame her," Mikael shook her head. "Nor do I blame you. I am offering her this choice, too."

"She didn't choose this option, did she?" Amelia asked rhetorically. "Because no way will I let him get away with this bullshit. Nor would she."

"I won't say. Everyone makes this choice alone."

"What about my son?" Madelyne Pryor asked worriedly. "You won't force him to choose that, will you?"

"Children, the mentally infirm, or those without a defined sense of 'self' who can make this choice are..." Mikael hesitated. "Resting is the best way to put it. They will return when I return, and Darkseid is finally dealt with. No time will have passed for them. Do not worry about them. This is about you and your choice."

Madelyne took a deep breath, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"What is the next option."

"Freedom. The kindest option," Mikael said, extending his right hand, which glowed in a clear light. 

"It is the Freedom to die. To let go of all pain, all sorrow, all struggle, and all hope. You will be able to rest. I will not bring you back and prevent others from forcing you to come back. You will be beyond Darkseid—beyond everything. You can just let go."

"That doesn't sound very kind," Barry said, awkwardly rubbing his cheek. "This isn't because I punched you, is it? Because I'm really sorry about that. It didn't go well for me either."

"No," Mikael laughed lightly. "I always knew you, or a speedster like you would be my most dangerous threat. It's partly my fault for not expecting Darkseid to pull something like that. But you've experienced his power, haven't you? How many times has he killed you and brought you back?"

Barry grimaced and shivered at the memory of the searing heat and soul-rending pain.

Pain experienced under Darkseid's control was always... transient. Everything you did was at his whim, so any pain you felt was also at his whim. 

If he didn't want, or need, you to feel pain, you didn't, and memories of it never bothered you. If Darkseid wanted you to remember at all.

It was different now, in this weird place beyond his control. The memory of that pain was very real.

Barry would never forget it.

"Thirteen," he answered, rubbing his chest with a grimace at the phantom pain. "He must have a grudge or something against me. Against the whole Justice League, really."

"He will never let go of a slave, a tool," Mikael shook his head sadly. "You will never rest, never have peace, so long as you are not Free to die. That is why it is the kindest option."

"There is a third option, right?" Lex Luthor asked, crossing his arms in discontent. "I will not remain a tool from some alien warlord."

"There is," Mikael nodded, bringing his glowing hands together to cup them before himself.

With a small puff of air, a tiny, flickering spark of red flames fell into them.

"The hardest choice. The most painful," Mikael said softly, looking at this spark. "Life and Freedom."

Luthor waited a second, waiting for more information. When none came, he prompted.

"Well? What does that mean?"

"It means you will live free of Darkseid's control," Mikael answered. "Of any control. Your actions will be your own, as will their consequences. You must confront all the pain and suffering that comes with that. Whether you try to run from him, fight him, or simply try and ignore reality, that is up to you. All this spark will do is give you this same choice every time you die."

"This will make me immortal?" Luthor asked, intrigued.

"Yes," Mikael nodded. "So long as I sustain this spark, you will always have the choice to return after death—the choice of Life, Freedom, or both. Only by choosing this spark will you be able to stand up to Darkseid, but in doing so, you are his enemy. He will never allow anything he can't control to exist."

"You are making us soldiers," Carol Danvers accused with narrowed eyes. "To fight your enemy."

"I would think you'd understand that Darkseid is everyone's enemy," Mikael said with a raised brow. "But, you are not wrong. To choose to live and be free is to choose to fight. To suffer. To fight and die and fight and die and fight and die. Until it becomes too much, and you choose Freedom or until Darkseid is defeated."

"I'm not a super," Emma Barnes pointed out worriedly. "I can't fight anyone."

"To fight is not to throw a punch or shoot lasers from your eyes," Mikael chuckled lightly. "Simply trying to survive as long as possible or helping those that can do those things is a fight. Life is one long fight."

"Oh," Emma said a bit despondently. The Elden Lord raised a brow in question. "Sorry. For a second, I thought you would be giving me powers, is all. I got my hopes up."

"This method doesn't grant powers, like my other method," Mikael shook his head. "I can't use that on a large scale. But you can grow stronger if you want. The Old Blood empowers those who fight. Even with all my efforts, Darkseid will have plenty of slaves who will do his bidding. Fight long enough and hard enough, and you will get stronger."

"I thought you were trying to cure that?" Garfield Logan asked. "Isn't that what you've been doing for the last few weeks?"

"I was," Mikael nodded. "But so long as one drop remains, it will never fully disappear. I decided to channel it and control it instead. I will use it to elevate people who choose Life and Freedom. So long as I maintain the spark, there'll be no side effects, no loss of humanity... or alienenity. What's the term for individualism on a universal scale?"

Beast Boy couldn't help it, even in this situation.

He laughed.

"So? What do you choose?"

"You never fought to save the world, did you?" Batman asked, finally understanding something that had been eluding him.

"Not once," Mikael denied with a smile. "Saving the world, saving people, helping people, I don't mind doing it, but that's not why I fight. I don't have high-minded ideals beyond those of my own selfish wishes. I am a simple man, and I am content. I am happy. All I fight for is to grasp that happiness for as long as possible."

"But you want us to fight for ourselves, for our own world. For our own happiness."

"I can help. I will help. But only if you choose to fight for yourselves. It will suck. The fight always sucks. That's Life. The terrible burden of Freedom. But the rewards are worth it. So I am asking you now to make a choice. Will you grasp your own Life and Freedom?"

Batman didn't answer with words, reaching out to grasp that tiny spark.

Mikael just smiled, unsurprised.

"I might not be a hero, but this world? This world is full of heroes."

********

Done.

I had done it.

Even now, my Breath, a part of me, was in the souls of countless people, animals, and everything else.

Some had chosen Life.

More had chosen Freedom.

The majority had chosen Life and Freedom.

I knew they would. This world was full of fighters. Full of survivors. 

They were beaten down time and time again, yet heroes continued to rise.

It wasn't like I had let everyone choose. I wasn't actually a saint or some messiah. 

Plenty of people stayed dead, even if they would have taken the revive if I had offered it to them. I'm looking at you, Joker.

Plenty more I just killed with the help of the Parliaments. They didn't care for individuals, more big picture kinds of gestalt consciousness.

So, when I used the Divided to kill Sublime, its former Avatar, it didn't even fight. It was how Darkseid had been able to spy on us so much, so I felt a spike of vindictive pleasure at its execution. 

Well, Sublime and Dragon. But I wasn't going to kill the Canadian robot waifu before she could learn to make choices for herself. Sublime had been a dick before Darkseid, so it went bye-bye.

Losing both of them and access to their Parliaments would significantly slow down Darkseid's ability to spread the Anti-Life Equation.

I also killed a few others, usually those that were fully irredeemable trash. It was less divided along the lines of hero and villain than one would think since my morals were a bit... looser than most.

As a rule of thumb, it isn't a good sign when the guy with a body count in the hundreds of millions looks at you and goes: 'Woah! This guy's got to go!'

I was very light on decisions like that, though. I had no intention of becoming a moral guideline or supreme judge of who got to live and die in this world.

This was a temporary solution to the Darkseid problem. Once it was dealt with, the people of this world would have to decide how they wanted to live.

That, too, was a choice I was leaving to them.

This was the Childhood Beginning I wanted. In a way, I had surpassed Bloodborne. I had given the people a way to ascend without discarding their humanity. 

I had made them all equivalent to the Good Hunter or Chosen Undead.

It is not about transforming people into beings of thought, like Great Ones, but about an ascension of the self through choice.

So long as they never gave up that spark of choice, they would never die.

It had taken me a few hours to commune with everything on Earth, to turn it from a helpless victim to an army that would fight and grow forever, so long as they chose to continue.

The Parliaments had provided the connection.

Medea had made the framework.

My Breath had provided the spark.

I provided the power.

Everyone provided the will.

A third option, more complete than I had initially thought I could offer. 

Instead of giving them only one life of freedom, to fight and die on their own terms, I could give them as many as they chose to take.

Instead of just depriving Darkseid of mind-controlled slaves, I had created an immortal army to oppose him.

In a way, it was selfish of me. 

It was kinder to let the people of this world die rather than have them fight a war that might not end for centuries. But, as they were as immortal as I could make them, nothing stopped my wives from travelling with me to search for ways to defeat Darkseid for good while the people bought the needed time.

It was a better plan than I had initially envisioned when I had dissolved my body.

And yet...

And YET!!!

I was so angry.

So frustrated, helpless and sad.

My Breath.

My own damn Breath had been the spark needed for Medea's long-term project to work!

She, more than anyone else, knew what it was like to live at the whims of a higher power. Like me, she had been dissatisfied with counting on The Company for Warranty Plan.

Unlike me, Medea had found a way around that. A system of magic based on my time in Dark Souls, without the Curse of the Undead or the cycling of the ages.

One spark.

One spark had been all that was needed to light the flame that would have brought My Emma back.

My Breath was that spark, but My Emma was already gone.

Despite doing all this partially to direct and channel my anger at Darkseid, it still wasn't enough to contain the boiling rage that had grown.

It wasn't enough.

It would never be enough to make up for the loss of My Emma.

One planet?

No.

I'd turn this whole universe against Darkseid.

I had time before my wives had a body ready for me. Time I'd spend fucking over Darkseid as much as I possibly could.

The Parliaments didn't really want to do that, though. They were connected with the Earth and were really only concerned with their continued survival through it.

That was fine.

I didn't need them to leave Earth.

So long as they were 'Me,' they could remain on Earth while I used their abilities to reach out further.

Step seven. Wing it and see how far I can go.

It was easy.

Darkseid had already connected to thousands of planets through that infected message of his. The Rhythm allowed me to hijack that signal and spread.

Once I connected to other planets, they became 'Me' too. I had no bounds, so imitating the effect of the Parliaments on other planets was easy with Soul Talent.

All Life on that planet became 'Me.'

Then, I spread further to uninfected planets, outpacing Darkseid's message.

Eventually, I ran out of planets. Any time he tried to infect someone, to inflict the Anti-Life Equation on them, I was there to offer another choice.

And it still wasn't enough.

Planets were not the only points of Life. And there would be planets completely isolated in space's darkness. 

I could not allow Darkseid even one bastion.

So, without any limits, I continued to spread.

I had no inherent speedster ability, but I had no limits in acceleration or distance either.

It took half a day for Earth and all its inhabitants to become parts of 'Me.'

It took a few hours for all connected planets to become Me as well.

It took less than an hour to assimilate all points of Life in the universe.

And I still had time.

Already, the inhabitants of Earth had risen up, fighting against the embodiment of tyranny. 

They were dying, and I continued to offer them the choice. 

They continued to fight.

Some of my wives were helping, but most of them were aiding Medea in getting me a body back. They knew we'd be able to leave as soon as they did to begin searching for a way to beat Darkseid. The sooner we did that, the sooner we could win.

Somewhat at a loss for what to do at that point, I continued to spread in the void between the stars.

I was no longer using the Parliaments. There was no Parliament of the Void, after all. 

That didn't matter. 

There were already parts of 'Me' that could merge with the void. Certain alien races, special abilities, or the like could dissipate themselves into that emptiness. Since they were 'Me,' I could too.

More than that, I had been a part of this universe's void for millions of years. I knew it as well as I knew the air I breathed.

All matter was already 'Me,' so why not just finish the job and complete my promise to make everything about 'Me?'

It took a few seconds for this entire universe to be 'Me.'

Exponential speeds are whack, yo!

I still wasn't satisfied.

So, I decided to expand beyond this universe.

Even if Darkseid was kicked out of this one, he'd travel to others and try again, right? Why not be there waiting for him? 

Wouldn't that piss him off?

I continued to spread.

I am not doing anything special to those universes not affected by Darkseid, not offering my Breath, just making everything 'Me' so I eventually could, if I wanted to.

I reached the edge of this multiverse, even the Fourth World of Apokolips and New Genesis from which Darkseid originated.

It was now impossible for Darkseid to control anything unless they chose to submit.

I hadn't been Darkseid's antithesis, just an annoyance. I still wasn't his opponent in a direct fight.

But why fight?

I was so much more now.

I was Everything.

I hadn't mastered the Life Equation, the conceptual opposite of the Anti-Life Equation that was supposed to prove life wasn't pointless.

Life was pointless, and I still firmly believed that. 

There might be powerful beings with long-term plans, like gods, Death, or The Company, but that's all they were. Plans of beings who existed.

Life, existence, was still pointless.

But because it was pointless, because there was no greater meaning, what we chose to do with Life mattered.

I hadn't understood the Life Equation.

I had made one.

A stupidly simple one.

Y=N where Life=Freedom and Mikeal=Everything.

In my petty vengeance, I had found a fourth way to become Tier 11 on accident. One where I didn't need to give up Myself, Freedom, or Life.

I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.

Then, I continued to expand.

Why not? 

I was Free after all.

I was Alive, after all.

I was still me, after all.

Even if I couldn't beat Darkseid, I now matched him. Nullified him. I was free of him, and through me, so was the rest of the multiverse if I wanted.

So, let's fly beyond this multiverse and see what's over the horizon.

My expansion grew without end.

And I...

Huh...

You know, I probably should have expected this.

I was Everything, after all.

If I could expand to exist everywhere, why couldn't I expand to everywhen?

I laughed.

Step Eight. Live happily ever after.

********

Darkseid killed the Kryptonian with another blast of his Omega beams.

Again.

And received another blow from that scarlet Speedster.

Again.

"DIE!"

He punched.

The planet buckled.

The Earth quaked. 

The ground tore. 

Heroes died.

A familiar sword tore through Darkseid's chest.

"That was for Emma," the Amazon spat.

Darkseid tried to backhand the woman, but a flash of black lightning had already carried her and the Godslaying Blade away.

Darkseid had no trouble keeping up with that speed, even seeing the middle finger the dark-skinned woman raised to him.

Omega Beams hit them both, but neither disintegrated.

Every one of that worm's women was immune from all but the most simple of attacks.

Rage.

Darkseid cut unhealable wounds from his body, already regenerating the damage.

So much rage.

"DEFIANCE IS POINTLESS!" 

The rage redoubled when he heard a boom tube's distinctive 'Boom.'

Dozens of heroes, villains, and other pests emerged from the hole in reality.

Darkseid recognized them all. He had killed them before, after all. And not just once.

His rage reached whole new levels.

He had left the Bat and other so-called 'Geniuses' to build his war machines.

And now...

Now, they'd turn Apokoliptan tech on him.

ON DARKSEID!!

The planet trembled under the fury of Darkseid.

"FIGHT AND DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Another woman of Diamond shattered.

"EVERY MOMENT IS ANOTHER ETERNITY OF ANGUISH!" 

Shadows tried to consume him, but Darkseid burned them off.

"EVERY FIST RAISED AGAINST ME SHALL BE TURNED AGAINST ALL YOU LOVE!" 

He crushed a skull.

He ripped out a heart.

Bodies were crushed, burned, wrent, and mangled.

"I SHALL INFLICT TORMENT THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU CANNOT DREAM!" 

He used the body of the Kryptonian girl to bludgeon Superman to death.

He burned the city and all in it to the ground.

"SO FIGHT!" 

His arm was caught in a glowing lasso.

"AND DIE!"

His leg was caught in another.

"AND DIE AGAIN!"

Held in place for a second, the knight's lance pierced his chest.

"UNTIL YOU BREAK!"

Night turned to day.

The world exploded into golden light as Rhongominyad erupted, free of all its seals.

North America gained an inland sea.

And it wasn't enough.

"UNTIL YOU SUBMIT!"

Darkseid was a fundamental force of this multiverse now, he had grasped the Anti-Life Equation. 

Unless something beyond this reality intervened, he would never be destroyed.

But Death would not step in. 

One being controlling one multiverse was nothing to her.

"UNTIL ALL IS DARKSEID!"

"You talk too much."

Life, on the other hand, had a bone to pick with him.

"""Mikael!"""

"""Elden Lord!"""

The war froze.

Darkseid narrowed his eyes, hatred lighting a furnace in his chest at the sight of the man in bright clothes in front of him amidst the bodies and rubble.

"Sir Mikael," the woman on the horse nodded imperiously, her face hidden behind her helmet. "I am pleased to have you to join us. Medea's creation was successful, I take it."

"Nope," the man laughed, popping the 'P' for emphasis. "True body here, or a part of it at least."

Darkseid's Omega Beams tore through him.

And the heroes behind him.

And the mountains behind them.

They curved back, passing through the bodies of all gathered as they paused at the new arrival.

Not one person even acknowledges the attack.

"Where'd he go," Superman asked, looking around urgently. "Where's Darkseid?"

"Eh," Mikael casually waved the Kryptonian away, even as Darkseid's fist passed through his head. "I dealt with him. We're good."

"We're... good?" Eidolon asked doubtfully.

"What about holding him off?" The man in red and gold armour asked, nonplussed as Darkseid howled in rage without acknowledgement. "What about fighting till you could come back and kill him?"

"You did that," Mikael nodded. "You all did. Good job!"

The cheesy smile and exaggerated thumbs-up did not inspire confidence.

Darkseid tried to destroy the planet.

He passed through.

"You said it would be years," Panacea deadpanned.

"'Could be,'" Mikael's grin redoubled. "'Could be years.' I was very upfront about the fact I didn't know how long it would take."

"It has only been a day," Hippolyta pointed out, eyes wide. "You have already defeated him?"

"It's less like I defeated him," Mikael laughed. "It's more like this entire multiverse is free of him."

His wives realized what had happened at that moment.

In the next, they understood the pun and groaned.

"Please, Lord Husband. Cease," Ranni said, covering her face with one hand. "Mar not this victory with more terrible wordplay, I beg."

"I thought it was funny," Robin said, chuckling. Mikael beamed at her. "So he's still around?"

Not only around, Darkseid was right there, mind whirling on how to solve this new development.

But what could he do?

This multiverse was free of any consequence of his ongoing existence.

He didn't matter anymore.

Nothing he did would ever matter again.

That was what it meant to be entirely free.

"Yep, yep," Mikael nodded, his head bobbing up and down like a bobblehead. "See, I found a way to deal with him—get him out of our hair. But then, I had an even better idea." 

His grin became malicious. 

"If everything is my true body, then can't I still designate an Avatar?"

Most people looked confused.

His wives looked less so.

"That is...," Diana hesitated, searching for the right word.

"Amazing," Yoruichi clapped. "Is he still around here? I want to go first."

"How tyrannical," Ranni nodded in approval, face utterly impassive with a gleam in her eyes.

"For those of us really confused right now," Hippolyta said, crossing her arms. "Can someone explain what is happening?"

"Darkseid is now our plaything," Robin said, a vindictive gleam in her eye as well, as she hid her smile behind a hand. "How... ironic."

"What he inflicted onto you all has been inflicted onto him," Artoria explained grimly, taking no pleasure in the result but a resolute satisfaction. "It is justice in its most primal form—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"A mind control for a mind control," Pride giggled.

"Can I? Can I? Can I?" Yoruichi continued to ask like a child asking for candy.

"I was thinking someone else would get to go first," Mikael laughed. "Emma, would you do the honours?"

One Emma Frost looked on, face set in a complex expression vacillated between love and hatred.

The second Emma Frost looked on, face carefully blank.

The third Emma Frost stepped forward.

The Elden Lord's consorts lit up with joy, some even cheering as they rushed to embrace the woman.

Much to the confusion of the hundreds of Supers gathered.

"Why are there three Emma Frosts?" Johnny Storm, the human torch, asked. "And all these new women? And who's this guy? What is happening? I am so confused."

"Nothing new," Ben Grimm rumbled.

"As always, your intellect fails to impress," the King of Latveria snifed haughtily. "How you are related to Susan is beyond Doom. The man is the being who freed us from the alien's control, and the women are part of his retinue. Three Emma Frosts is hardly surprising, either. The answer, as always, is either clones, robots, time travellers, dimensional counterparts, or shapeshifters."

"Why is it always clones," Susan Storm groaned.

"As always, Doom," Johnny Storm said with an exaggerated pompous attitude, imitating the supervillain. You fail to understand the depths of my inquiry. If you hadn't, you'd understand I was truly pondering the romantic status of these unfamiliar faces. For scientific and philosophical purposes only, of course."

"Give it up, Johnny," Ben sighed. "Let's figure out how long we were out and what happened during that time. Besides, I think at least one of them is taken."

After hugging her Family tightly and receiving many warm words welcoming her back, the Emma Frost who had stepped forward shoved her tongue down the Elden Lord's throat.

"But, but, but," Johnny Storm blubbered dramatically at his friend. "Triplets Ben! Triplets!"

After hearing the start of the conversation, Beast Boy and Winman approached and patted the older hero on the back.

"You get used to it," Beast Boy said, looking off into the distance and sighing.

"Darling," Mikael said with an exaggerated bow, gesturing at the New God nobody could perceive as Darkseid tried to kill him. "If you would."

"Darkseid," Emma Frost, having just separated from a kiss with her husband, said to the air. "Come here, and don't move."

Darkseid froze, fist raised, and mouth open. Not that anyone could see him but those Mikael allowed.

This universe was free of him, and he was free of all consequences.

He might as well not even exist.

Except Mikael wanted him to. He was petty like that.

And Emma knew what Mikael wanted.

"Never move. Never try and move. Never fight back. Never die. Suffer."

"Damn," Yoruichi let out a low whistle. "That's cold."

The Elden Lord looked at his wives, a silent communication passing between them all.

Then Emma and every other one of Mikael's wives returned home.

Mikael remained...

Or at least, a Mikael remained.

He was kind of everywhere at the moment.

"What... are we supposed to do now," Wonder Woman asked the Elden Lord, looking around.

The battle had been cataclysmic.

Nothing remained intact. Not buildings, not cities, not even the continental shelf.

Earth was a wreck. 

If it weren't for the active engagement of the Parliaments, no life would be able to continue on it.

"What are you talking about?" Mikael looked at her in befuddlement. "You are still alive, aren't you? You're still free, aren't you? Do what heroes always do: fight."

"This..." Lex Luthor flew up, looking around at the destruction of his home. Already, civilians who had died in the fighting were coming back in a tiny spark of fire and looking around at the battlefield. "Fight what? For what? There's nothing left."

"You're left," Mikael sighed like he was talking to an idiot. "Everyone who chose to fight is still fighting. Still living. The world ended. Build a new. With blackjack. And hookers."

The Elden Lord sighed again at the looks he received. 

"I don't understand what you aren't getting here. We lost. It happens. Then we won. That also happens. It's not over. It's never over until we give up."

Mikael gestured to the heroes, villains and civilians gathering in the wreckage of a dead world.

"You all, you all chose not to give up. Everyone still alive chose not to give up. We might not be fighting Darkseid anymore, but Life is a fight. It always will be. My Family and I can help. I will help. But you have to choose to keep that fight going. Otherwise, there's no point."

"You don't intend to stop providing this immortality," Hippolyta asked in realization. "Do you?"

"No," Mikael shook his head. "You all will still be able to die, but every time you do so, you will have that choice: to rest or to keep living, with all its suffering and joy that entails." He paused, tilting his head in acknowledgement. "Well, I'll only keep offering it to those who don't cross my bottom line. I'm still me, after all."

"So it's a threat," Captain Marvel said, eyes narrowed. "Do what you say or die? Have we changed one tyrant for another?"

"I'm not a saint," Mikael rolled his eyes. "I don't want to be a saviour, god, or whatever. If you plan on doing something you think I won't like, just don't die. I won't smite you. I just won't give you the choice when you do die. That is all I will do. Give a choice. It is up to you all to live with the consequences of your choices."

"Aren't you powerful enough to undo all this?" A civillian asked. "Aren't you powerful enough to fix the world?"

"I am," Mikael nodded easily. "I could snap my fingers, and it would be like nothing ever happened."

He could Free the world from its damage.

He could have completely freed this universe from the last few days entirely. Made it so it never happened.

Some people started asking him to do just that, but Mikael continued.

"Of course, that would kill all of you. People who looked like you, talked like you, and had your memories up to Darkseid would be alive in this new world. The 'you' of now, the 'you' who chose to fight, to face reality head-on, who have experienced all this pain and suffering, who now have to build a new world, none of you will exist."

"You could just bring our memories over as well," Xavier pointed out, pushed forward by Cyclops.

"Ah, yes," Mikael nodded sarcastically. "It's not your choices that matter, just the consequences, right?"

"Don't be a dick, Mikael," Hippolyta said with a roll of her eyes. Her daughters and the amazons who had died on Themyscira all looked at her in shock. "Explain it properly to them."

"Nobody lets me have fun," Mikael pouted with crossed arms. Tens of thousands of eyes were looking at him, and he sighed. "Fine. You might not have destroyed the world yourselves or been unable to stop it, but it happened. I can make it seem like it never happened, but it did. And it will happen again. And again. And again. Do I reset it every time for you? What's the cutoff?"

"Can't you stop it?"

"Again, what do I stop, and what do I let through. Do I stop every villain attack, every two-bit crime? Do I stop every little fistfight? Then I really will be just like Darkseid. Your entire lives would be up to my whim. I don't want that. You don't want that. That is why I am doing things this way."

Mikael looked around, and to everyone on Earth, it seemed like he was looking right at them.

Talking to them directly.

"Everyone wants Freedom. Everyone. Nobody wants to pay the price for that freedom, but we all have to—in time, in pain, in money, in fear. I will never take that Freedom from you, so I cannot take those consequences either. All I will do is give you a choice and a helping hand as you face them yourselves."

Then Mikael was gone, leaving the Earth to rebuild.

********

The Family appeared at the mansion, bearing good news of the return of their missing sister.

Two, however, appeared in ruin covered in ash.

"You are as dramatic as always," Emma said with a fond sigh.

"It's appropriate, I think," Mikael smiled at her, eyes alight with warmth and love. "Besides, would you have me any other way?"

"No. I wouldn't."

They both looked at the immobile form of Darkseid in the center of the Kiln of the First Flame.

Mikael cupped his hands, and Breathed.

A tiny spark flowed from his mouth, and he held it for a second, looking at the flames that had been his life for countless years.

Mikael released the spark, and it flowed toward Darkseid.

As soon as it touched him, he lit up with fire.

The flames of Life and Freedom spread, filling up the Kiln of the First Flame and powering a system of immortality pioneered by a Dragon of Magic.

Darkseid could not scream in those soul-searing fires.

Mikael knew he would have if he could.

The Fires of the First Flame were not something one could bear without pain so deep one wished for madness.

The pair watched fires, free from its touch.

"Do you know why you lost?" Mikael asked the tyrant in the flames.

"You were stronger than me. Smarter than me. Faster than me. Had better preparations than me. You took me by surprise. That is why you won in the beginning.

I won in the end because I was pettier, more egotistical, more selfish, and because I cheated. You deserve the win. I took it. That's life for you."

Only the crackling of the First Flame echoed in the Kiln at Mikael's words.

"He's going to be alone here, isn't he?"

"I would only inflict this on those who manage to take what is Mine," Mikael nodded. "From here on out, nobody will ever be able to hurt me like he did. So yes, he will."

He could erase her death from ever happening.

He wouldn't.

That pain he had felt, that loss, that rage.

It was a part of him. A part of his life.

Mikael had his happy ending, but he refused to forget the journey that led him to it, in all its joy and sorrow.

If he did forget, he wouldn't be 'Mikael.'

"Medea will be around from time to time, though."

"The others are telling her what happened right now," Emma smiled. "She's already thinking of which experiments to run now that her system is in place."

"Oh, her too. I was actually thinking of Fat Floof. An infinitely regenerating source of Tier 11 food, a warm place with many tight spaces, and someone to lord it all over? I'm sure this will be her favourite part of the Island in a week."

"That cat," Emma sighed, shaking her head. "Though, I think the others would prefer that over her continuing to eat people, villains or not."

"Are you sure? I've been wracking my brains about how to justify myself to them about burning him forever. Ironic Justice is one thing; this was petty, vindictive revenge."

"You're not doing anything that hasn't been done to you. And... they might not show it, but they were hurting just as much as you."

"I know. That's what happens when you lose Family. Speaking of which, we should join them. We can start helping build this new world tomorrow. Tonight, I just want to have a nice Family dinner."

"Have you decided what to do with my new counterpart?"

"You are dead set on having a threesome with yourself, aren't you?"

"It has been a fantasy for a few months now, I will admit. The only downside was that I would have to deal with Emma Frost. She is me, not her, so nothing is holding me back now."

"I feel bad for her. I still am not The Company's equal." "Yet." "So I can't undo what was done to her. And she isn't My Emma." "Yet." "So I don't feel the same way about her as I do you. For now, we'll just take it one day at a time."

"And Hippolyta? What about her?"

"Jeeze, I thought I was supposed to be the randy bastard. Let a guy enjoy his time with his Family before you try and grow it, why don't you? Have some shame, you horny wench!"

"Shame? What is that? Can I sleep with it?"

It was the joke.

It was Emma throwing his old words back at him.

It was the sheer relief of having her back with him.

It was all that and more that had Mikael laughing as they left Darkseid to burn in the fires of the First Flame.

********

"A bit heavy-handed," Death said, sipping her drink. "But that's just who you are."

"Nobody appreciates my theatrics," Life sighed dramatically, sipping his drink as well. Then, just to be a petty bitch, said: "Sip."

Both looked out over what was once the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.

The table and the cups were the same, but nothing remained of the Deli that once stood there.

Once they rebuilt and started exploring this changed world, those who had chosen Life and Freedom would eventually discover this location. 

The Rockies were gone, destroyed in the fight against Darkseid. 

In their place, at least in this area, was an enormous flat plateau that breached the clouds and spread for miles.

Very little greenery remained of the thick forests that once covered this area.

As far as the eye could see, it was rock, dirt, and clouds.

And a table with two chairs.

"Did you expect this?" Mikael asked casually. "Was this your plan?"

"Not even in my wildest predictions," Death shook her head. "I knew you could reach this point eventually, but to skip Tier 11 entirely was well beyond what I foresaw."

"What method did you predict me choosing?"

"Because of Defences, your Element, and the nature of your existence, I couldn't say anything for certain. Before you finished your sentence, I would have expected you to become Freedom. After you were finished with it, I expected you to become Life, either through the Phoenix or some other way. I could not be happier to be proven wrong."

"... I see. I get it now. 'You' didn't exist, did you?"

"I am Death. The End. I simply was. I have no self to speak of. Then, The Company sent a contractor to my section of the omniverse, and, for the first time, there was something that wasn't 'me.' It was a boundary. A limit. 'I' was everything but 'That.' And... I wondered what was beyond 'Me.' That was 'My' first conscious thought."

"You said that so many times," Mikael chuckled. "You even explained it to me, and I was too thick to understand."

She was Death. That was the words Life used for her. But Death was but a fraction of what she was.

She was The End.

The end of a word. The end of life. The end of a hair.

When a piece of wood fragmented, she witnessed that end.

When a sound died, when a star winked out, when the multiverses collapsed, she was that end.

And when nothing became something, she was the end of nothing.

The End.

A concept higher than Death.

A concept so high that it couldn't even be personified until it became conscious of its own End, its own limit.

"So," The End asked. "After everything, will you still honour our Deal? Or am I out of luck? Will you Free me?"

"What are you talking about?" Existence grinned at her. "Don't you know who I am? I am Life. Existence."

He was Life. But Life was but a fraction of what he was.

He was Everything.

A word. A life. A hair.

When a piece of wood fragmented, he was what came before and the pieces that were birthed from that End.

A sound echoing, a star burning, the multiverses growing, he was everything.

And when something became nothing, he was that nothing.

Existence.

A concept higher than Life.

A concept so high that only a truly mad man with an ego would claim it.

"Everything that exists, that chooses to be Free, that chooses to fight for that Freedom, will be. And last I checked, The End exists."

"Be careful, Existence," End laughed. "All that Exists will eventually End."

"I know—I know that more than anyone. But until Existence Ends, until nothing is left to End, 'You' will still be 'Me'... And call me Mikael. Too many 'E' words will get confusing."

"Mikael then," Death nodded, setting down her finished cup. "Shall we see what is beyond us?"

"That sounds like fun."

********

Seven Months Later

"IT'S HAPPENING!"

Batman dove, tucking and rolling and coming up in a crouch, ready to defend himself from whoever managed to infiltrate the base.

Mikael, with a wild look in his eyes, just looked at the hero and yelled again.

"BATS! IT'S HAPPENING! HELP!"

And then he was gone.

Batman knew Mikael was messing with him. 

He knew that even now, the omnipotent being that he occasionally drank with was still watching him. Watching everything.

Batman knew with certainty what reaction Mikael wanted.

Batman knew all that, so he didn't sigh and palm his face to avoid giving Mikael the satisfaction he wanted.

No matter how much Batman wanted to.

"Superdad!" Mikael yelled, appearing in the Kryptonian's backyard. "I am not ready! Send help!"

Jon, whom Clark had been pushing on his swing, yelped and flew off. Clark naturally caught him.

His newest child just clapped her chubby hands at the surprise appearance of one of her favourite people and let out a burbling laugh.

"Mikael," Superman sighed but with a smile. "You'll be fine."

"No, I won't!" he declared, eyes wide. "I definitely won't! This is it, Superman. I can feel it in my bones. It's the end of the world!"

"Stop over-exaggerating," Lois sighed, clutching her daughter to her so the baby Kryptonian hybrid couldn't fly off. 

If nothing else, Life and Freedom allowed her to grow strong enough to not be bulldozed by her children.

Now, if only the local draconic deity wasn't just as childish.

"Aren't you literally omnipotent," Supergirl asked, confused. "How can you be scared of anything?"

"Like this!" Mikael said, pointing at his face.

Then he was gone again.

The baby started crying.

Superman sighed.

"Valeria!"

"Mikael!"

"Help!"

"OK!"

Susan Storm sighed as the local deity, who apparently had become friends with her daughter, appeared, said two words, and disappeared with her.

"I do not like her spending so much time with him," Reed Richards said. "He's a bad influence."

"Nah," Johnny waived off, not even taking his eyes from the screen of the game he was playing with Franklin. "Mikael's chill. You just don't like him because you can't stop him. Hey! What did I say about using powers?"

Franklin stuck out his tongue at his uncle.

"Amelia!"

"No."

"Help!"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Ames," Vicky wined. "He's the boss! And we still owe him!"

"Don't care. Comfortable. No."

"Don't be like that," Artemisia said, taking her arms from around the healer's body and standing her up. "We can cuddle later. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

"No, it's not," Amy denied, glaring at the man looking at her with panic-filled eyes as if it was his fault. Because it was. "This will happen again in three months. Then, a month after that. Then two months after that!"

"AAAAHHHHH" Mikael screamed, grasping his head dramatically. "You're right! I'm doomed! DOOMED!"

"Yes, but it only happens the first time once," the Amazon cajoled, not paying any mind to the screams. They all knew what type of ham Mikael was. "I know you are curious about the biology."

"Fine," the biokinetic sighed, not letting her eagerness at the prospect show. "Let's get this over with."

"DOOOOOMMMMMMED!"

Despite how 'doomed' Mikael sounded and acted, nobody was screaming or panicking when they appeared on the Island.

In fact, Mikael looked the picture of peace and calm as he sat with the rest of his wives in the large sitting room.

Amy glared.

He grinned.

Amy glared harder.

He laughed.

Valeria laughed.

Diana swatted them both behind the head.

"You couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"I regret nothing!"

"I regret nothing!"

"I can't tell if he's going to be a great father or the worst," Yoruichi 'whispered' to Robin as they looked at the ten-million-year-old omnipotent dragon god high-five the thirteen-year-old girl.

"The worst," the pirate giggled, rubbing her pregnant stomach. "But a little bit of chaos makes life interesting, doesn't it?"

"You say that now," Amy grumbled. "Just wait until a dozen of the little snot rags are running around. This is why being gay is the way to go."

"Thank you for coming, Amelia," Artoria greeted the healer. "We all trust everything to end well, but having your aid is still appreciated."

"Yes, well," Amy coughed awkwardly and looked away. She still had a thing for blondes. Artoria, with her charisma and... 'Artoria'ness, was still her perfect type. "No problem." 

Normally, Amelia would feel a bit awkward about the sheer obviousness of her crush, but her girlfriend had confessed that half of the Amazons were trying to seduce one member of the Family or another.

So far, no luck, but according to the most recent betting pool, there were good odds that their Queen would manage it within the next century.

"So," Vicky looked around the room. "How long until the big moment?"

"We don't know," Glynda sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "She went into labour a while ago, and we haven't heard anything yet."

"That's good news," Melina said, and the white phoenix on her shoulder trilled in agreement. "This lug would be flipping out if something had gone wrong."

"That wasn't him flipping out?" Amy deadpanned.

"No," Priscilla said as if explaining something obvious. "T'was just Sir Bard putting on a performance."

"It shouldn't be long until they are born now," Medea said, looking toward the master bedroom of the house.

"Oh, they were born about ten minutes ago."

All eyes looked at Mikael.

He smiled back innocently.

Most scrambled up the stairs rather than try to throttle the man, as some wanted to do.

The double doors opened, revealing Tsunade lying in bed with two little bundles in her arms.

Mikael was there with her, watching all three of them with love and joy in his eyes.

Tsunade looked at them all after they hurried to pour into the room, raising an eyebrow. Then she looked at the Mikael beside her.

"I take it they did not, in fact, choose to give us some time alone?"

Mikael just smilled impishly.

"He didn't tell us until just now," Diana said, slowly stepping into the large room. "No issues, I hope."

"None," Tsunade shook her head, looking down at her sons and smiling softly. "My clones handled everything."

"Speak for yourself," Mikael huffed. "I had to kill myself. Twice! A word of warning to you all. Don't become Great Ones. It's not worth the hassle."

"Noted," Amy snarked.

"May I?" Emma asked, stepping forward with arms extended.

Tsunade passed the one in her right arm to her, and the chubby little boy stirred sleepily. 

As the newborn yawned, green draconic eyes flitted open under a tuft of light blond hair. Then he went right back to sleep.

Seeing her friend's eagerness, Tsunade passed her second boy to Medea, who held him gently and smiled. 

This one didn't wake up, even as people gathered to coo and awe at his chubby cheeks and curly brown hair.

"Congratulations," Ranni said, smiling at the new parents. "Hast names been decided upon?"

"We have," Tsunade smiled, watching her Family with her children. "I named the blond Jiraiya Senju. After my teammate."

"And that," Mikael said proudly, pointing at the other newborn. "Is Sarig Senju. Don't let his laziness fool you. He's going to have his mother's temper. I just know it."

"Why that name," Scathach asked, looking at Sarig.

"It's from the same language as my name," Mikael grinned. "I'm not religious, but I love me a consistent theme. It's not a common name, nor is it one of those obnoxious names trying to be unique. That and alliteration. Love that too."

Tsunade rolled her eyes but still smiled at her sons.

Then Robin started giggling.

And giggling harder.

All eyes locked on the woman, who managed to squeeze out an explanation between peels of laughter.

"Pfft, translate the name 'sarig,'" Robin told them between chuckles.

"Which language," Yoruichi asked, not understanding the joke, as there were a few translations for the word depending on the language.

"He already said it," Melina sighed in despair as she face-palmed. "The same one as his name."

All eyes turned to Mikael, who was barely containing his laughter.

"Branch?"

"Closer to 'vine,'" Glynda corrected Artoria with a sigh.

"Mi.ka.el!" Tsunade growled, knuckles popping. "Did you just name our son Sarig for a PUN!"

As he was thrown out his window, Mikael was laughing in joy.