AN: Naming these chapters after lyrics from songs in Re:zero is quite the challenge. But art is filled with hardship. Like a famous painter once said: The word pain is in painting! Or Something like that. Anyways, some people gonna die! ENJOY.

ARC Nine: Infinite Crisis

Chapter Eighty Nine: I Pray Again

The rain kept drizzling down upon them, masking the entirety of the battle torn city in the stench of corpses and smoke. It was a truly dreadful smell.

The Flash tackled through some windows as he escaped a wrecking ball construct by Hal Jordan, who flashed an enraged leer on his face. As Flash spun around a corner, he quickly saw that the Atom was attempting to get into his ear and attack him from the inside. He quickly vibrated his entire body at such a fast frequency that the Atom's molecules bursted apart and he became nothing but blood and veins. Flash swatted him away, only to punched to the ground by Barbara. Getting back up, he took his chance and hit her with such speed, it looked like he barely moved at all, and sent her flying into a semi-truck...it instantly exploded.

Still, he knew these injuries wouldn't keep them down for long.

John Constantine used some magical barriers around himself as he blasted away with fireballs. This only irritated the Black Lanterns, but soon something hit him through several houses. He rubbed the back of his head; though the barriers protected him, he still retained some damage.

"Ouch. This is turnin' out to be a real shit show."

As he looked ahead of himself he saw Echidna floating over to him with a smile.

"Hey love, listen I'd rather not mess up a pretty face like yours."

Saying this he readied another fireball in his hand.

"Oh what a gracious person you are, putting me in consideration."

"Hey, gotta show some kind of charm to the ladies."

"Such pleasantries. Still, I'm afraid I'd like you to become one of us, your odd magic would be useful to us...not to mention I'm quite interested in it."

"Maybe take me out on date first lady, pints and steak sound good about now."

"Ah, such a humorous magician you are."

Then her eyes narrowed, but she not never lost her smile, just several beings crash landed in front of Constantine. Through the dust and debri, he saw exactly who they were.

"Oh."

"Yes, I'm afraid me AND my sisters are not requesting you die...we demand it."

In front of him the Six Witches, now all Black Lanterns were glaring at him.

Minerva and Daphne both spoke to him.

"I wanted to save people from harm and pain...so it's onluy obvious that if we all die, there will be no more pain, RIGHT?!"

"And the feeling of hunger can be ended through the peaceful masking of death! Isn't that right Con-Con?"

Typhon and Sekhmet did as well.

"The greatest sin of all is living; when the universe was meant to have no life~! So it's easy to just kill everyone and let everyone be at peace!"

"Yes, we won't have to do anything, hahhhhhh, if we just croak over and die, huhhhhhh."

Carmilla mumbled as well.

"If...if we have to...we just, you know...can be happy together, if...um we just...DIE TOGETHER."

Constantine could feel the strength emanating from these Black Lanterns, and knew just what to say in response.

"Fuck."

They all charged at him; Constantine then had several fireballs, each a unique color float around him-

"AL GOA, YA BROADS!"

A rainbow colored fire blast shot out of the house and into the hazy, smoke filled skies.

Garfiel smashed apart Liliana's head, before grabbing her small body and using her as a battering ram against several other Black Lanterns. He tossed her away as he let Mimi jump over and let out a sonic scream at them. Garfiel caught her in time, but soon had to jump back from a strike by another opponent. Mimi's eyes wavered when she saw who it was.

"C...Captain?"

"Yo! Mimi, how have you been doin?"

Ricardo dragged his large blade on the ground as he smiled wickedly at them.

"Captain...Ricardo…"

"Mimi, leavin' me back there hurt my aching heart ya know?"

"No...Mimi didn't-"

"-I know you better than anyone right? Since the day I found the three of you."

"Stop…"

Mimi's trembling continued as she held her staff tightly, Ricardo rested his sowrd on his shoulder as he watched the young girl fearful...his vision which was essentially color blind, seeing the world as a mute grey and black; saw Mimi, glowing both yellow and purple. His teeth clattered together…

"Fear and Compassion huh?"

"Mimi is...Mimi is-"

Ricardo charged forward, black ooze trailing out of his mouth, reaching out to Mimi in an obvious attempt to punch out her heart. Still, it was fruitless as Garfiel punched him away, then sliced clean in half by Julius. His two halves flew off and were strewn across the ground, Mimi's eyes watered as she dropped her staff. Seeing how she was, Garfiel reached over and hugged her.

"Ahhhhh, that really sucked ya know?"

"Shit!"

Tendrils sprouted from Ricardo's upper half and latched onto his lower one. They quickly reformed his body and he quite effortlessly got back up, black slime sliding down his white eyes.

"I can respect you guys protectin' your teammates from harm, right? In the past I would've done anything to protect my lady and our mercenary brigade...BUT NOW…"

From behind him, through the cloud of debris, emerged more Black Lanterns...some of which they horrifyingly recognized.

"I'M PART OF A NEW TEAM, NOW. AN EVEN BETTER ONE."

Ricardo slammed as his sword's blade to the ground as he snarled at them, behind him were Joshua, Louis Arneb, Arch, Grimm Fauzen, Carol Remendis, Kiritaka Muse and Galic Fabless.

They all let out horrific hisses and groans as they glared at them, all in their own unique Black Lantern uniforms. Garfiel clenched his fist-

Then, a voice reached his ears.

"Garfiel…"

"...No."

Hearing a voice nearby, a voice he remembered from so long ago...one that touched his heart, he turned around and saw it. Saw her. Saw him. His eyes, lost their color and became empty husks, he was truly disturbed, more than any other time in his life.

"No…"

"My baby boy...all grown up...SO HAPPY."

Reala reached out to him, her green eyes reflecting his terrified visage...he vision seeing the colors pink, yellow and red.

"I love you too!"

Her smile flashed across Garfiel's mind.

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!"

With his terrified scream, the rest of the Black Lanterns charged forward.

Batman fought his way past Linnea and grabbed Ram by the face, slamming her head into the ground and smashing it into the pavement. Inside his armor, he was sweating profusely and his skin was drying up so quickly, that it even began to crack. The armor was designed to eat up his metabolism in order to function, though he was able to bypass it with the help of Dr. Fate, letting it leach off his gate and draw in power from his own mana...it still would require some of his own physical energy.

"Hahhh haahhhhh…"

Batman blocked another hit from Linnea, then kicked her away and into a nearby wall. He readied himself again, only to see something dash past him.

"Huh?"

He zoomed in on it...and saw it was.

"That's...oh no."

A Red Lantern ring was flying through the air looking for it's new host. And he slightly shook, as he knew who exactly it was going for.

Reinhard held his master closely as he felt the distant shockwaves in the air, the Lanterns continuing to battle the dead. He used one arm to block a Black Lantern, just in time for Knight Subaru to swing his sword and releases several slabs of dark energy that cut up the general vicinity, along with their attackers. He then summoned several orbs of light that shot forward and blasted apart several more of them, only for Petra to fly past them and make a construct of broom and slam it into his sword. She smiled deeply at him, only for his own Rem to litter her body in icicles, making her fly back and into a nearby light post. They felt the ground shake, as if an earthquake was occurring...and sure enough, the ground in front of them cracked away and molten ash raised to the sky. Normal Subaru looked to his side and saw the crack went across the city and had emerged where Black Adam was fighting multiple opponents.

"He did...this?"

The strength he exhibited astounded him to no end.

The large crack then spewed out bits of magma, and the heat could be felt by all. Reinhard took a few steps back, only to feel Felt grip his uniform tightly, muttering to herself.

"...em…"

"Felt-sama?"

"...them…"

She then moved her face away from his chest, revealing her expression to everyone.

Eyes devoid of any glimmer, a small light in them instead...her mouth snarled and her eyes furrowed to a point of anger no one had ever seen in her, tears drenched her cheeks.

"I'll kill them! ALL OF THEM!"

"Felt-sama…"

"All the Black Lanterns...All of the Society….PRIDE! I'll...I'lll"

"I'M GONNA KILL THEM!"

At that moment the Red Ring floated over to Felt and hovered around her.

{Gemma Lugnica. You hold great rage in your heart.}

Felt stared into the red object and opened her mouth slowly, letting blood float out of her mouth.

{You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.}

She broke free of Reinhard's grasp as she let out a vicious roar, a red aura surrounded her body and blood floated out of her mouth. Her usual clothes now colored to be a Red Lantern uniform. Her eyes glowed intensely.

"Felt-sama, hang on-"

Before he could fully reach her, she lunged at him and tried to slash at him with a knife construct.

Reinhard dodged it, but then had to block a kick from her, before she used the momentum to push herself away from him. She then caught sight of Married Subaru, her eyes shined in a deadly glimmer, letting out what one would describe as an animalistic growl.

"GRAGGGHHH!"

She shot forward and made several knife constructs around herself. The survivors panicked as they could tell she had every intention of killing Subaru, even possibly everyone there.

Red Tornado leapt forward to block her path. Ram snapped out of her stupor, but still held onto her child.

"Red Tornado?!"

[All of you stand back! She's become a Red Lantern! She's now uncontrollable, blind to her own rage. She'll kill everyone here if nothing is done about it!]

Red Tornado shot out several twisters against her, only for Felt to zip past them.

"HRAGGHHHH!"

Felt then kicked off the ground, flying straight past a twister and holding her fist with Red Tornado's. The resulting shockwave sent pieces of the ground flying into the air, Felt simply clenched her teeth at the robot. That was before Red Tornado tried punching her with a wind assisted corkscrew punch...she spat out a large amount of viscous red plasma from her mouth covering him in it.

Everyone gasped in horror as they saw the metallic skin he had simply began corroding away. Tornado did his best to try make a step back, only for his left foot to simply melt off it's joints. The robot turned around slightly as he looked back at the crowd he was trying to protect. Sparks flew out of his melting head and his eyes began losing their color...the flesh around his face melting away, revealing his metallic skeleton underneath.

[I apologize...it appears *zzt* I cannot *zzkt* hold-]

Felt crushed his head with hands, before she reached into his chest and tore him completely in half. Tossing the two chunks away she dashed forward only for countless Black Lanterns to surround her, all of them attracted to her unyielding rage.

She let out a horrid howl as she spat out a massive amount of plasma out of her mouth, covering her enemies in it and giving her the chance to break through. Reinhard had made it around her and could feel it...the sword wished to be drawn. He made a pained look to her master, not wishing to use his weapon against her. She screamed out at him as clenched her sifts, her ring glowing ominously.

A portal opened up next to Reinhard, looking as if it was made with actual blood. She fired a beam right at him, he used his sword to block it. However it knocked him back and through the portal, he looked back and saw he somehow ended up on the other side of the city, near a lake where Aquaman was fighting alongside several other Lantern Corps. Before he could jump back through the portal, it closed on him.

"Reinhard! What are you doing here?!"

Aquaman asked this as he summoned lightning to strike down more Black Lanterns to the ground just so the other Lantern Corps could shoot their beams at them...incinerating them into nothing.

"Aquaman! There is trouble, Felt-sama has become a red colored Lantern and is attacking everyone...she...killed Red Tornado."

"...Then I will come with you!"

Though it was obvious he was hurt learning his friend was killed, he felt no ill will to the girl, knowing full well that a Red Lantern ring was quite dangerous.

"Very well! I will accompany you to take my friend's place!"

"Thank you. Let's go!"

The two men dashed forward towards their destination, hoping to brave through the war torn city to reach their friends.

Felt continued unchallenged as Halibel, Knight Subaru and Karagarian Batman were busy trying to fend off more Black Lanterns, but as it was clear she was aiming her ring at the civilians, and their versions of Emilia were ready to fight back if need be.

Batman smashed through a wall and tackled her away. She spat out more plasma, but Batman held her in a way that kept him safe from the projectile attack. He then threw her through a wall...walking through the hole to confront her as she slumped back up.

"Felt...please stop."

"HRAGGGHHHH!"

"I'm sorry about what happened to Rom."

"Errrrr.."

"Please...I don't want to fight you."

Felt let out a mighty roar as the building they were in began to shake violently. Batman took a defensive stance, letting out a pained sigh. Felt ran at him with an unrelenting fury.

Rem was fighting with Joker and Harley in the dilapidated building, blocking card constructs from the Joker and a giant hammer construct from Harley. She jumped up and kicked her away, before flying up and firing an ice spear through Joker's head. But the two of them laughed at her. She then used her morningstar to slam the two of them into a wall. Even though they got up and laughed it off...from above a familiar face arrived.

"Ah! Kilowog-sama!"

"Leave that honorific behind sister! Came to help put these creeps down for good!"

"Yes!"

Rem made devious grin at the two clown faced adversaries, the two of them taking cautious steps back.

"H-Hey now, let's talk about this shall we? I-I mean we don't have to have to-"

The two allied Lanterns let out proud yells as they fired their two beams at the two undead villains, it was obvious they tried to run away, but the both of them were incinerated to nothing, their rings shattering into pieces.

Rem took a deep breath, before she saw that her ring was blinking. Kilowog saw this and let her lean on his shoulder, as he did this her ring flew out of her hand and she returned to normal.

"Oh, it seems Rem has lost her powers."

"It's alright, you can still fight right?"

"Yes, Rem wishes to help in any way she can!"

Kilowog nodded as he flew out of the building with her in tow, they landed in the streets and could easily see the battle was intensifying. Lightning, fire, magma and even streams of light. A spectacle that would astonish anyone.

While Rem did it once before she flew off into battle, she would do it again. She held her hands together and did a simple prayer.

"Please...Subaru-kun, everyone, please be safe."

With Subaru, he used King's Reach to try and snap Pride away from him, he blocked it with a shield construct.

"Asshole, you can't beat me! No one can!"

Pride then shot out black ooze from his mouth, Subaru moved his head back, dodging the slime. Pride moved forward and tried to stab him with a knife construct, only for Subaru to grab his hand and flip around. Pride glared at him, using his ring's power to make him float off the ground and kick Subaru in the head, knocking off his helmet and sending him flying back to hit a support beam.

The two versions glared at each other.

But soon Pride was taken surprise by a sudden appearance of a roaring enemy.

"HUH?!"

"GROOAR!"

Smashing through a wall, Pride was tackled away by the recognizable ground dragon.

"Patrasche!"

Patrasche nudged her head to Subaru. She noticed small droplets of blood from the side of his head and licked it away. She stopped and growled when she noticed Pride picking himself up and glared at them.

"Stupid dragon, just gonna die like the rest of them!"

"Grrrrr.."

Pride pushed away some of the rubble and began to float above the ground. His sneering continued as Subaru began to think of something else he could do, so he concentrated.

"In fearful day, in raging night! With strong hearts full, our souls ignite. When all seems lost in the War of Light. Look to the stars, for hope burns bright!"

Subaru now had his Blue Lantern powers activate, using it to make a hand construct to grab his helmet. Patrasche got herself ready, she was also prepared to fight alongside Subaru. Subaru let out a small roar as he fired a massive beam at Pride, making him create a shield construct. The collision knocked him back several feet, dragging his feet across the uneven ground. Pride spat out more black slime, just for Subaru to float around and toss Batarang constructs at him. They stabbed into his face, but black blood was the only thing that escaped from him. Pride let out a hurling growl as he charged forward and made an axe construct. Patrasche tail whipped a stone at him, which he simply smashed away with his axe, only for Subaru to meet him face to face and kicked him in the face, Pride tried to cut into him with his axe, but Subaru ducked under him, elbowed him in the chest. With that, Subaru grabbed his arms and judo tossed him away, just for Patrasche to whip him with her tail with such strength it sliced him in half. Once the two pieces fell to the ground Subaru created a construct of an overly large fly swatter and slammed it on top of the pieces, over and over again.

Pride let out a yell as he barely crawled away from the attack. He focused on healing nothing but his black hand, so he created a shotgun construct and fired away. Subaru created a forcefield around himself and Patrasche, saving them from the attack.

"Invisible Providence!"

The Unseen Hand punched away the mass of flesh and tendrils and into a nearby open fire. Subaru painted a bit and so did Patrasche...but both of them knew it would do nothing.

From the fire shambled a fully healed Pride.

Pride looked so enraged, that his eyes seemed to glimmer with a vicious intention. Patrasche let out a grand roar as Subaru got into battle position.

Only for both of them to be shocked by the sudden crash landing of Batman between the two opposing parties. Following behind him was Felt, who was leaking blood out of her mouth.

"Felt?"

"S-Subaru! Run! She can't control it!"

Felt muttered as she looked around, then set her eyes at Pride, who only closed one of his eyes at her.

"W….W…"

"Hm?"

Felt roared out as hot viscous blood flowed around her fangs.

"With blood and rage of crimson red, Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead! With my hellish hate! I'll burn you all-That is your fate!"

Felt vomited out a huge stream of plasma, seeing this even Pride panicked...then took a deep breath, he flew back and looked around quickly...but only saw Yuuji fall back to his general direction, so he grabbed him and threw him at the blast. His body broke apart, just in time for Pride to side step the attack. He then charged forward, with Felt also following suit. As Subaru watched on, Batman got up and looked at Subaru.

"Subaru! You have to help her!"

"H-How?"

"Your Blue Lantern Ring, it can remove the ring from her. Hurry, before she ends up getting killed!"

Subaru took a moment, only for him to nod back and fly back to Felt. Patrasche was not far behind, she took a look back at Batman who nodded back, so the ground dragon continued.

Subaru made it behind her, only for her turn back and snarl at him. Then he affectionately reached out to her, whispering sweet words to the enraged girl. Pride tried to take his chance to kill them both, but was shot in the head by a yang beam by Batman.

"It's okay Felt, I know you're angry. It looks like it hurts. And I know that rage oh so well. But you have to let go."

"GRAGGGGHHHHH!"

"Let go. Let go of the rage. Felt! Let hope come back to you!"

He began to glow bright blue.

Soon Felt's eyes slowly began to return to normal and her clothes lost their shading, the ring slipped out of her finger. She lost her floating ability, so Subaru caught her and flew back. He left Felt with Batman, just as Pride let out a disgusting howl and stared back at them.

But just then, Subaru's ring began to blink and he returned to normal, it slipped off his finger and flew away.

"C-Crap! That must have taken too much power!"

Subaru sighed and saw the Helmet of Divinity next to his feet and put it on.

"Guess this is the only option left. Bruce, take care of Felt!"

"Got it."

Subaru flew towards Pride, just as Felt was coming to.

"B-Bruce?"

"It's me Felt, easy there."

"Wh-What did I?"

"Nothing to be worried about it's okay."

He brushed her soaked hair...just as she took his hand and looked up at his face, even if it was hidden under his armor.

"I-Is…"

"Hm?"

"Is Rom-Jii really dead?"

He took a moment to ease her into a gentle embrace…

"Yes. I'm sorry."

He couldn't see it, but he felt it, even under all that armor. She was crying her eyes out.

He then...felt something odd in the air.

Subaru fired Minya spears at Pride who rolled away from them, and then dodged a kick by Patrasche. He stood on the side of a wall as he snickered a bit.

"This is all pointless, Natsuki Subaru! You and everyone else here is gonna die!...No wait! HAHAHA! I'll let you live long enough so you can watch your buddies get killed one by one! Then and only then...I'll chop you up and kill you myself!"

Subaru was disgusted to the bottom of his heart. Not only for his hideous sins, the results of machanations and the overall vileness of his character...but the fact that he was Natsuki Subaru.

It made him want to puke his guts out over the idea of him ending up like that, even if it was in another world. Subaru prepared himself...only to feel something odd in the air. So did Pride, and he stepped down from the wall. Looking up at the rainy, hazy sky.

Karagarian Batman fired several beams at the Black Lantern Rom, making topple over and slam through a nearby skyscraper. He looked down from the air and saw more Black Lanterns trying to reach the civilians. Even with Halibel, Static, Knight Subaru and Raven helping out, they were too numerous...then he saw the other Julius pick up a sword, intending to fight. He could see that version of Emilia trying to stop him, just as a random Black Lantern broke through the ground and reached out to him.

He shot out of the sky and stomped the undead enemy into the ground, before kicking him away.

"You alright?"

"Yes, thank you!"

He looked around his side and saw Plum and her mother being beset by the Black Lantern Sylvia, so he shot forward and kneed her away. He aimed his palms out fired several yang beams out in the general direction.

Rigel watched on as the rain drenched him down to the bone. He didn't feel it though, he just looked around in sheer confusion and terror as everyone continued to fight. Just then, the Black Lantern Liliana, using her splendid musical talents to further cause them despair.

Rigel held his little sister in a desperate bid to keep her safe, his mother shot out an icicle at her, only for the young girl to keep shambling towards her. Then she kicked off the ground and lunged at them. Her husband hugged all of them, facing his back towards her.

"I can't lose my family! Not like this. NOT LIKE THIS!"

But he became hopeful when he looked back and saw his Batman punching her away.

"Is everyone okay?!"

"Y-Yeah! Thanks Bruce!"

Rem smiled up at him, though it was obvious she was tired. Spice did as well...then Rigel nodded.

Batman took a deep breath, he was glad that his family was okay. But he quickly noticed Rigel had blood trickling down the side of his head.

He turned around to tell Rem.

"Rem, Rigel has a cut."

"Oh no, here son."

She began healing him-

A hand broke through Batman's chest spraying blood across the floor in front of him.

"HUH?"

Batman coughed loudly, as he saw the feminine hand had his heart in their grasp. The family watched, their eyes disbelieving what they were looking at. The hand yanked back and Batman fell forward, dirt and water covering him…

"Oh why, oh why...did my daughter end up like this?"

"Yes, it seems being useless and getting others killed is the only thing she is truly good at."

Rem looked in a horrified state, as if her mind was so close to breaking apart. Her long hair was amess, matching the state of her heart.

In front of her, was Quark and Temae, her mother and father. Temae crushed the heart in her hands as it evaporated away.

"How cumbersome."

Batman tried to pick himself up, but blood leaked out of the hole in the armor's chest….he looked forward and saw the traumatized faces of the people he cherished the most in the entirety of the world, or any other. In his sights, he saw something differnet as well.

The park.

Where they would spend time on their days off.

Halibel laughing as he sipped on some sake.

Tia hugging Spica as she happily tugged on her hair.

Rigel frowning at Halibel as roughed up his hair a bit.

Subaru and Rem smiling as they would.

But now his senses were back and he could see the fear and panic in their faces. He didn't like it.

He looked. He stared. Reaching out a hand to them, even if it was shaking uncontrollably... spoke.

"I'm sorry….I love you all...haaahhhh….please...Tell-"

He flopped forward and no longer moved.

The family sat there...only for Rigel to scream. His face contorted to reveal his pained emotions, tears flooding out of his eyes. He brought out his horn, and almost charged at him, only to be stopped by his much stronger mother.

He could only bawl out to him.

"BRUUUUUUUUCEEEE!"

Halibel glanced back, his usual slant eyes opened and widened. He saw his best friend...dead in front of the people he loved like a family.

"Bruce…"

Several tears streamed down his eyes.

Just then, a ring floated around his corpse, before it latched on to his finger.

{Bruce Wayne of Earth. RISE.}

And like that, Karagarian Batman, rose up. His armor now matching the Black Lanterns colors, he clenched his hands into fists as he glared out to the family. Subaru in that regard, felt his sanity begin to slip and teeter off the edge.

"I lived for you all, abandoned everything to be with you. I want something! Something from you!"

"...Bruce."

"I want you to pay me back. One simple thing…"

"Ah!"

"DIE."

But lightning rained down and shot the three of them back, heralding the arrival of Reinhard and Aquaman.

Once the Sword Saint got there, he could see the crying family holding each other and looked out and saw the other Batman.

He shut his eyes for a moment.

"When will this end?"

Aquaman also grimaced at the sight.

At that moment, they all felt something odd in the air.

Soon, a loud booming sound echoed throughout the air, temporarily stopping the fighting as a single sparkle of light appeared in the clouds above them…

With it a single voice echoed out to them.

"FORGIVE ME...BUT IT MUST BE DONE."

As the voice finished, Subaru saw Patrasche lose her footing and flop down.

"P-Patrasche?!"

He hurried over and kneeled next to her, rubbing the side of her head.

"Patrasche! Patrasche?! What's wrong girl?!"

Patrasche looked tired and began breathing oddly. Then...she began to look up at Subaru. It was obvious she was happy to see him, even he was wearing the helmet. Subaru shook his head and took off his helmet to look eye to eye to her. Pride tried to take advantage, but Batman actually tossed an entire house at the Sin Archbishop which crushed him in place. He hurried over, with Felt not far behind.

Patrashce liked Subaru's face...then nuzzled him as she usually liked to do...Subaru followed suit by rubbing her head. She let out happy noise from her mouth.

"Come on, get up. We got a lot of things to do!"

"..."

"Please, get up."

Tears streamed down his face, but she simply continued nuzzling him...then, her body began to glow slightly.

"What...what is this?"

She straight at him and made what even he would describe as a happy smile. Then the light formed an orb outside of her body, leaving her body and began floating up slowly into the air.

Patrasche slumped forward.

Subaru began tapping her.

"Hey...Hey!"

She wasn't moving, even with his touches.

"Come on...COME ON, PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF!"

He couldn't accept it. He just wouldn't. Not after everything these two had been through, not now. Not here.

"PLEASE..!"

As tears ran down as his cheeks...he had to accept it.

"PLEAAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEE!"

Patrasche was dead.

He looked up and saw the orb of light float up...as he did, for some odd reason, he saw the day he first selected Patrasche from the stables of Crusch's estate and of her saving him from the tomb of the Sanctuary.

He began crying and trying desperately to reach out to the light. His face plastered a pained and insane expression. He couldn't understand what was happening. Why was this happening? All he knew was-

"PATRAAAAAASCHE!"

Soon more orbs of light floated up high in the sky, numbering in the thousands. Batman looked up…

He saw the day at the Sanctuary when he was able to finally pet Patrasche, which she seemed to enjoy, and of them working together in the battle at the mansion.

"No…"

He gritted his teeth seeing this. Then he saw another orb.

He saw the memories of racing forward to get to the Batwing and taking in the crisp air.

"Zorro."

The ground dragon that helped him all those years ago...was among all those orbs of light.

Otto looked around the orbs floating the sky...he was surprised how this stopped the battling as everyone was glancing up at them.

Then Otto saw an orb...he saw the memories of resting near his friend during cold days and the insightful conversations he would have with him. Otto fell to his knees and cried uncontrollably.

"Verhoe, no…"

His ground dragon was now gone. His first friend. No longer there.

Rem raced through the streets and looked up at the orbs of light.

She then saw the first time she met Patrasche and glared back at her, then of her later days when they would play with each other. Tears crawled out of her eyes.

"Patrashce-chan…"

Emilia saw the memories of the ground dragon helping her out in the Sanctuary and of a day when tried to ride ehr, but almost cried at how scary it was.

Now Emilia couldn't help but cry painfully.

Garfiel saw the race between her and Verhoe, as well as the time she scared off a Water Dragon in Priestella.

Petra saw when she would feed and pet her in the stables or when she would have to masterfully break up fights between her and Verhoe.

Frederica saw the moments she would brush her skin and how happy she would be or when she would walk her to town with Bruce on their days off.

Deathstroke saw the times she would growl at him when he trained Subaru, or when she would care for others in the Watchtower.

Ram saw when she would care for Rem at the Watchtower or when she would roar at Subaru whenever he did something truly stupid.

Sarah saw the days she watch her and Verhoe frolic around the grasslands and when she was allowed to pet her for the first time.

Even as Beatrice faced Iris in the air...she saw how Patrasche almost picked on her by tugging on her drills or when she refused to let her ride her without it becoming an absolute fright for the little spirit.

Still….Beatrice couldn't help but weep.

"...P-Patrasche…"

All of them, were having tears escape from their tired expressions.

They lost yet more friends.

Julius looked up and saw the memories of him and his brother playing with him and of the days when he would charge forward with him and feel as if he was flying off the ground.

"Shaknar. Forgive me."

He had a few droplets of tears escape his noble eyes. He knew he would never see that radiant blue dragon ever again.

Thus, the end had come. The world's ground dragons, birthed from Volcanica countless years ago, were now to return their lives. Their mana and Od to be drained, to strengthen him further.

A necessary sacrifice, to save the world...at least, that's what he thought.

Now, the world was empty of these dragons. Yet another wound it would have to suffer from, just to survive.

Subaru watched as the last of the orbs floated up and out of sight. He turned back and showed Pride a crazed expression. Something of which that seemed to bring the Sin Archbishop some joy to see.

"When..?"

"Hm?"

Subaru screamed his heart out to the mastermind behind all this.

"WHEN DOES ALL THIS END?! TELL ME?!"

"When all of you are dead."

"Have you no fucking shame...HAVE YOU NO REGRET FOR ALL THE LIVES YOU TOOK!? HUH?! DO YOU!?"

A moment of silence between them as the rain, suddenly...and without warning had come to a stop.

"No. I don't."

The mute expression on Pride's face, made Subaru snap. He tried racing over but Pride was much faster and actually made it past Batman and Felt.

"Look around you Natsuki Subaru! After everything you went through and all the friends you've made, what do you have left?! NOTHING! Because of one simple fact!"

Subaru clenched his metal hand and swung it into a punch, Pride did the same with his black hand as he smiled insanely.

The two fists collided.

Subaru's hand broke into pieces and he was socked in the cheek, making some of it crack.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE WEAK!"

Subaru fell to the ground, as he coughed out blood.

"No matter what you do, what you train in or who is your friend, YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING!"

Pride kicked him in the ribs before grabbing him by the hair and slamming his face into a muddy puddle.

"I have done everything to be at this point, sacrificed so much, killed so many people and have betrayed anyone close to me! And through those deaths I have risen to this point. But you're an idiot who tries to save everyone or tries to fix all these problems in front of you! STUPID!"

Pride lifted Subaru's head and slapped him across the face.

"A weak piece of shit like you, should just be eaten up and die already!"

Subaru snapped back and headbutted Pride before upercutting him and tackling him away. He dashed back and got a hold of his helmet. He put it on and flew to Pride, who just snickered at what he saw was just a useless attempt at survival.

He was going to win. He would win. No matter how many billions would have to die to do it.

Crusch kept staring, she didn't know what else to do at this point.

Fourier simply smiled at her. Unlike the others she saw rise from the realms of the dead, other than the color of his clothes...he looked normal. His striking red eyes were still there, his skin still had some color to them and smile seemed, genuine at least.

"Crusch, I just came back to let you know something. The very thing you know that shpuld have been said all those years ago."

"Stop it."

"Crusch Karsten...I loved you and wanted to marry you."

"...Please."

Fourier spread out his arms in a joyful manner when he looked over at the pained Ferris.

"And Ferris, my dear Ferris. Heh, you know when I was going to marry Crusch, I wanted to make you our official knight. It would've been something."

"Hk."

Ferris held back his emotions as he felt the comforting words of this person. Someone he has missed for so many years now.

Crusch was doing her best to try and think of something to do. Attack? Run away? Give up? No, that last option would never be taken. She was the type never to give up, especially seeing the bravery of those around her. Even on that night years ago...when Natsuki Subaru, Wilhelm Van Astrea and Bruce Wayne fought to the bitter end against the White Whale. She strived to reach not just their level of commitment, but ahead of it.

She took a deep breath and looked straight into Fourier's eyes.

"Fourier-"

"-Before I go, can you at least say one thing to me?"

"Huh?"

Crusch was now once again at the receiving end of the conversation, not having been able to speak. Fourier placed a hand over his dark colored attire and gave a hopeful grin.

"Would you please tell me you love me?"

Crusch hesitated to speak. Ferris kept watching...even going as far as to ready a dagger he had on hand. He never really used it, he wasn't the kind of person to fight physically, but to protect Crusch, he would do anything.

With a small breeze, or at least, the post wind from a nearby shockwave or explosion; Crusch gripped her uniform and made an uncharacteristically soft flushed expression to him. Ferris was surprised to see this, and Fourier seemed more than content.

"The truth is….yes I loved you."

"...I see, thank you."

"I wish things went differently, I truly do. Yu would have made a great king and I would have stayed by your side always, to make our country greater than it ever was. With Ferris...and Wilhelm by our side, we would have done so well."

Streams of tears fell from her amber eyes, making Ferris lower his ears.

"And that is-"

"-WHY I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER…"

A sudden appearance of a voice, behind her, startled Crusch.

Only for a hand to smash through her chest, clutching her heart.

Crusch stared down at her heart in sheer panic, slowly turning her head to see who exactly it was.

It was herself.

Crusch Karsten, leader of the Partisans, who was killed at the Pleiades Watchtower.

The two stared at each other. One of terror. One of affection.

The woman's short fluttering a bit.

"With this...you'll love Fourier, for all time. The duty you truly always wanted...other me."

"HUKK."

The hand snapped back through Crusch's back and she fell forward. Fourier walked over to the other Crusch and held her in a beautiful hug, just as Crusch's heart evaporated in her hands.

"Look at what our love can achieve, it truly is fulfilling to know such a reward."

"Yes Crusch. That's why I will only want you."

The hugged tightly as they stared down at Ferris.

His eyes, lost any twinkle of light. Vacant. Nothing to them. In front of this knight...the one person he cared for in the entirety of this world or any other...was dead.

"Ah...ah…"

He wasn't even able to make a single syllable or function as he began to scratch his face. Soon it intensified and he began heaving and clawing away flesh from his cheeks.

"-sama…"

Ferris now had a demented look on his face, going against his cute features...then he ran forward with all his might.

"CRUSCH-SAMA!"

He ignored the Black Lanterns in front of him and kneeled down to Crusch's corpse, covering himself in blood and mud.

"Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, Crusch-sama, PLEASE!"

He tried to use healing magic, but felt nothing being done...so he decided to do it. With an unhinged smile, he began focusing on her.

"Ferri-chan...Ferii-chan...FERRIS WILL SAVE YOU! SAVE YOU!"

Years ago, during events he experienced with Crusch and Fourier, involving his own father and many conspiracies around them...Ferris learned a powerful spell. A spell that he didn't practice much often, but he felt he could do it. He had to. He could not lose Crusch. Not here. Not with this in his hands.

Ferris cried with a grin on his face. With his hands glowing blue, she touched Crusch...the Black Lanterns seemed to curious about what he was doing and kept watching.

"Go then, come back Crusch…"

"Immortal King's Sacrament."

The ultimate healing spell. A spell to revive the dead.

Here and now the blue light radiated over her body. Ferris seemed to be in splendor seeing the spell was…

"HUH?!"

Out of nowhere a Black Ring shot over to Cursch and was beginning to latch onto her finger.

"Nyo! NYO! GET AWAY!"

{Crusch Karsten of Lugnica. RI-...Error. Error.}

"Please! Please!"

{Error. Error.}

The light began to fluctuate….and the ring began to crack as it too began flashing. The Black Lanterns kept watching in stunned silence. Then a humongous light broke their line sight...and the Black Ring shattered.

Ferris' ears twitched as the light died down.

Then he twitched as he watched it happen...Crusch began raising herself from the muddy ground. He watched closely to see what happened.

Then a wave of emotion flooded him.

"Crusch-sama."

Crusch was not adorned in a Black Lantern uniform at all. She was alive again.

Ferris crawled to her and hugged her ever so tightly. He was beaming with joy that the spell worked, that he saved her from death itself.

He placed a hand on her cheek, before seeing all the mud on her face. He wiped it away and smiled brightly at her.

"Crusch-sama, Ferri-chan is glad! So glad. So happy! Nyou came back!"

Crusch...then tilted her head.

"Auww?"

"Huh?"

"Ngh...Auh?"

"Crusch-sama?"

Ferris then saw it.

Her eyes...devoid of light. Simple dull amber voids, where once there were bright and proud ones to be seen. Crusch had some drool slip from her mouth as she tried to speak again.

"Auhhh, Uwaaa...Ah."

"Nyo."

Ferris began to break into a weeping fit.

He knew it; the chuckling Black Lanterns knew it.

CRUSCH KARSTEN WAS NO LONGER IN THAT BODY.

"Nyo….NYO!"

"Owu...Awuu..?"

Was the spell imperfect? Did the Black Lantern Ring interfere with the magic?

Who knows…

Ferris hugged Crusch as his eyes sunk into the deepest pits of despair, tears spilling out of them at an uncontrollable rate. Ferris...screamed.

"NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

With everything in his body and soul, he screamed into the hazy sky...now a man who healed and saved others...wanted nothing more than to just die.

A bright light blanketed the skies, attracting everyone's attention to it. Sure enough, they watched as what appeared to be a single figure floated down.

John Stewart clenched his fist and gave a grin.

"About time you showed up."

Pride and Subaru stopped their fight, as they too looked up.

Batman made it over holding Ferris in his arms, staring up with her as he grinned under his helmet.

"Finally."

The figure in question crossed his arms.

"Sorry, there was some things I was taking care of in Sector 711. Still, when I heard what was going on...I knew I had to come."

He looked down and could see the devastation all around him, looking as if the very converged Earth was being swallowed into hell itself. It was indeed a frightful scene to see.

So he raised his fist into the air…

"But I'm here now! I'm putting an end to this conflict! RIGHT NOW!"

Kyle Rayner, the White Lantern had arrived to battlefield.

Pride leered up at him and the light he was emanating.

"Tsk. I already hate the guy."

Batman grew wings on his back and flew up to meet with him, still carrying Felt in his arms.

"Rayner!"

"B-Batman!? Is that y-"

"Yes, it's me! Listen to me, we need you to resurrect the vassal for death, it's the only way to end all this!"

"Sure...but…"

They looked ahead and saw the rest of the world's Black Lantern Corps racing towards him, possibly in an attempt to kill him.

"Damn it!"

"Not much we can-"

"-Wait! Deputize someone!"

"Like a temporary?!"

"Yes! Do it! That person can at least go after Pride if you can't!"

"Okaaay!"

Kyle focused and his ring began to glow; it shot out another White Ring and floated around them for some time...before it shot forward and past all the Black Lanterns…

Still…

Even Batman questioned…

"Who will it go for?"

The ring flew past the various battlegrounds around the city, above Nightwing kicking away Joshua, Julius slicing Ricardo in half, Black Adam punching down two White Whales, Cyborg blasting away more Black Lanterns, Starfire beaming down Atomic Skull, Raven capturing several Black Lanterns in a shadow trap.

It still flew through the air.

Flash punching away Hal Jordan and a newly arrived Guy Gardner, Reinhard slicing Karagarian Batman's arm off and dodging a punch with the other, Dr Fate firing Minya spears down at Roswaal's ancestors, Roswaal and Ram facing off against Faust who was also revived-

{Appropriate host detected.}

The ring shot down and was soon facing the person it chose to take its power.

{You have shown purity and the love for all that lives.}

Her undead eyes turned to look at the object, unsure of it or what it wanted.

But, it chose her. And her duty had been ordained to save others...the very purpose of her goals in life.

{Minerva of Lugnica. LIVE.}

The Ring latched onto her finger and a bright light blinded everyone around her.

The other Witches took steps back and Constantine threw away his finished cigarette.

"Well woulda' look at that."

In front of them, Minerva stood there, returned to life. He clothing now white and silver, and the crest of the Corps on her chest.

"I...I'm alive?"

She shook her head and looked at her hand, it was back to having warmth and color to it.

"Wow."

Soon her amazed expression changed to a cute frown.

"Using me to kill people...I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"

She took a battle stance against her friends, who were now Black Lanterns.

"I really don't know what's going on, but I know you guys are up to no good! So it's time, I knocked some sense into you and everyone else here!"

She gave a usual look of determination, even if she also had a tear form around her left eye. Echidna made a disgusted look as she began to float up.

"Looks like we'll have to kill you and bring you back to us."

"Not a chance...cause I'm saving every last one of you!"

Minerva began floating up as well, startling her a bit as she waved her arms around, before finally settling down and readying herself.

Constantine took out another cigarette and began puffing away.

"Things have gotten rather interesting, almost too much if I guess. Heh."

Everyone in that collapsing building, was ready to fight.

In the space where Anti-Monitor and Satella were, they watched as Volcanica funneled the last of the energy he leeched off from the ground dragons, his aura increasing exponentially. The Dragon narrowed his eyes at the two.

"Now we will turn the tide of this battle! And put an end to your schemes, whatever they may be!"

He flew forward, blasting the dunes behind him apart and releasing a shockwave twice as big as him. The rainbow aura around his wings twinkled as his eyes sharpened.

"Imbecile. You march to an early death."

"Kill you...You...and then…"

Satella smiled up, no longer looking or caring about her opponent, if just for a moment. A small blush appeared on her cheeks, making an Unseen Hand brush along it.

"I can have….SUBARU."

Behind them, the Black Lantern Battery Corps, slightly glew a little brighter...with the shadow of a skeletal figure being seen, with what appeared to be scythe in its grasp.

{Battery Power Level: 95.98%}

In the darkness there is despair and suffering, but all darkness can be cast out by the light, and in that newfound brightness...might be hope and salvation.

AN: There are things worse than death right? See ya next time.