Two weeks had passed since Ethan had entered the Rift. For Elena and her youngest daughter, those days had been a torment of uncertainty. He had returned home exhausted, covered in scratches, and though he insisted he was fine, neither of them was easily convinced.
That night, seated in the living room, the air was heavy. Elena kept her hands clasped, her gaze fixed on her middle child. Beside her, Ethan's sister, still in her school uniform, stared at him with a mixture of worry and curiosity.
"Ethan…" his mother's voice broke the silence, gentle yet firm.
"You need to tell us what's going on. Two weeks gone… without any explanation. I can't keep pretending this is normal."
He sighed, leaning back on the couch. His gray eyes shifted from the two of them to the ceiling, before returning to rest on them again.
"I know," he said quietly.
"I can't hide it anymore. But I promise you… it's not something bad. Things are just… changing a little."
"Changing?" his sister narrowed her eyes, leaning forward.
"What kind of change?"
Ethan drew in a deep breath. Slowly, he stood up, adjusting his dark overcoat.
"The kind of change that involves my... powers," he confessed. "
Elena exchanged a quick glance with her daughter. The tension in the room was palpable.
Ethan raised one hand.
"But before anything else… don't be scared."
Both of them held their breath.
He murmured the word that had now become part of his very essence:
"Arise."
Darkness spread across the floor like liquid smoke, and from it a colossal silhouette emerged, quickly shrinking down. When the form was complete, both of them shot to their feet in alarm.
Before their eyes, its tail swaying and three heads sniffing at the air all at once, stood a black pup. Its fur looked as though it were made of living shadows, and in its bluish eyes flickered a cold, chilling glow.
"M-Mom… is that… is that a three-headed dog?!" his sister stammered, her voice jumping an octave.
Elena stepped back, a hand pressed to her chest.
Ethan, however, only crossed his arms and cast a sideways glance at the creature. A firm thought echoed in his mind, directed at his new companion:
Act like a puppy now, you bastard. Win them over.
The little Cerberus understood immediately. Its shadowy tail wagged with even more energy, letting out three muffled growls—almost barks—and it dashed in circles around them, stumbling over its own paws like a clumsy pup.
Ethan's sister let out a nervous giggle. Elena, though trying to hold back, brought a hand to her mouth in surprise.
"He… he's cute… I think?" she murmured, incredulous.
Ethan arched a brow, a half-smile forming on his lips.
"See? I said you didn't need to worry."
The pup tried to climb onto the couch, its three heads fighting for space at once, until it slipped and toppled onto its side. A triple whimper echoed through the room, drawing laughter from his sister and even a faint, amused sigh from his mother.
For a moment, all the tension melted away.
Ethan breathed deeply. He no longer felt the need to overexplain himself. The little icebound guardian in the form of a puppy had done the work for him.
Elena was the first to break the silence, still trying to process what she was seeing before her.
"So… you… you summon puppies?" Her voice came out uncertain, almost incredulous. "Three-headed puppies?"
His sister met his eyes, finishing with astonishment:
"That's… that's your power? Summoning… demonic puppies?"
Ethan blinked, not entirely sure how to answer. He rubbed the back of his neck, thoughtful, before murmuring with a faint, ironic smile:
"Yeah… something like that."
The Cerberus pup barked in triplicate, all three heads wagging as if agreeing with its master's explanation.
"You don't have to worry," Ethan continued, more serious now.
"He's here to protect you."
"Protect?" Elena repeated, frowning. "Protect us from what, exactly?"
Ethan leaned forward slightly, meeting her eyes.
"Think of him as a… guard dog."
His sister let out a nervous laugh.
"So… basically we just got a pet dog. Except with three heads."
Ethan sighed in defeat and chuckled under his breath.
"Yeah. Pretty much."
The two exchanged confused looks, but the tension had shifted into something unexpected: a strange sense of lightness and safety. The little Cerberus jumped onto his sister's lap, all three heads trying to lick her face at once, while Elena simply watched—still torn between fear and fascination.
Ethan crossed his arms, observing the scene.
"Stay here with them." he ordered mentally to the pup. "Give them attention… and protect this house."
Cerberus seemed to understand, letting out a firm little growl before going back to play with his sister, as if he really were nothing more than a pet.
For a moment, Ethan allowed himself to relax. He no longer needed to hide that part of himself—at least, not from them.
Two days later…
The silence of the Vale family's office filled the air with an almost ceremonial weight. The dark wooden walls and the perfectly aligned furniture reflected Nathaniel's seriousness. Ethan, however, seemed out of place in that atmosphere—legs stretched under the desk, a pen twirling between his fingers, his eyes scanning through a stack of ValeTech documents.
He had tried to stay focused, but every line of those reports about branches and contracts felt like it dragged him into a reality that had little to do with the monsters he had faced days earlier. Even so, he did his best to honor the role of representative, just as his brother had asked.
On the desk, beside a cup of coffee gone cold, his phone buzzed. The screen lit up with a name he hadn't seen in a while.
Nathaniel Vale.
Ethan drew a deep breath before answering.
"Hey, Nate."
His brother's voice came through firm but tired, cutting across the static of an international call.
"Ethan. I'm glad you picked up… I need you to do something for me."
"Here we go…" Ethan muttered, leaning back in the chair. "What kind of favor?" he asked, already bracing himself for the headache to come.
On the other end, Nathaniel let out a sigh.
"I'm in Japan, on business. LexCorp demanded my presence for a negotiation on rare minerals, and I couldn't turn it down. But… it keeps me from attending an event in Metropolis."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of event?"
"A charity ball, organized by some of the biggest corporations in the country. Wayne Enterprises, Queen Industries… and of course, ValeTech." Nate's voice carried that usual serious tone, tinged with impatience. "I need you to go in my place, as the company's representative."
"A… charity ball? You want me to put on a suit, smile, and pretend to be you?"
"No," Nate shot back quickly. "I want you to go as yourself. The company already recognizes you as a representative. This is a test, Ethan. I want to see if you can carry yourself properly."
For a few seconds, silence. Ethan leaned back in the chair, eyes half-narrowed.
"You really think I'm going to feel comfortable surrounded by a bunch of suits?"
On the other end, Nate chuckled quietly.
"Funny you'd say that… considering you brought a magical three-headed dog into the house."
Ethan froze. The silence hung for a few beats.
"…What did Mom tell you?"
"She told me everything." Nate sighed. "Ethan… nothing slips past me. At least, not within our home."
Ethan pressed the phone tighter against his ear, his expression hardening.
"And you're okay with this?"
On the other end, his brother took a moment before answering, as if carefully choosing his words.
"Look, after you've seen Superman save people just a few feet away from you from a giant robot invading Metropolis…" his voice carried a hint of irony, "you kind of get used to strange things."
Ethan let out a breath, unsure whether to laugh or be even more concerned. He scoffed.
"It's not the same thing."
"It's almost the same thing," Nate's voice came back firm. "And there's one more thing."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"Don't go alone."
Nate paused, letting the weight of the words sink in.
"It's a gala, little brother. You need to bring someone."
Ethan blinked, incredulous.
"What?"
"A partner." Nate's tone sounded almost amused. "Don't embarrass me by showing up alone.
Ethan opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, his brother finished:
"And please… choose wisely."
Ethan opened his mouth to retort, but all he heard on the other end was the flat tone of the call ending. He sat there for a few seconds, staring at the phone as if he'd just been betrayed.
He stayed silent, then let out a long sigh.
"Brilliant. And now… who the hell am I supposed to take?"
Ethan sat in silence for a moment, resting his elbows on the desk and running his hands through his hair.
"Bring someone…" he repeated under his breath, dripping with sarcasm. "Sure, like that's simple."
The first options came to his mind almost automatically—and were dismissed just as quickly.
"My mom?" He let out a short, ironic laugh. "Great idea… showing up to a gala with my mother. That'd be perfect fuel for jokes."
His younger sister also crossed his mind, but he shook his head before even considering it.
"She's only fourteen… no chance."
That left the girls from his old school. He forced himself to dig through his memories, but none of them brought up anyone he'd ever had a real connection with. He wasn't exactly known for keeping close friendships.
"Seriously, is there really no one left?" he muttered, scoffing.
The silence of the office pressed down on him. Until, at last, a face surfaced in his mind. Deep violet eyes, an expression always kept under control, and that distant aura that hid more than it revealed.
Raven.
Ethan leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh.
"This is going to be one hell of a headache…" he grumbled.
Even so, there was a strange logic to it.
"I saved her life… so she owes me one, right? "he thought, raising an eyebrow. "If she agrees to go with me, we're even. And if she doesn't… well, at least I tried."
Ethan closed the laptop, taking a deep breath. "It was almost nine o'clock."
He rose from the chair and walked to the office window. The city was still alive outside—lights flickering, sirens wailing in the distance, the endless rhythm of the night that never ceased. He opened the glass pane and let the cold wind hit his face.
With a snap of his fingers, one of his lesser shadows rose beneath his feet, taking shape like a liquid cloak. And then, he gave his command.
"Take me to the Tower."
And with that, his summon vanished into the night.
The shadow stretched across the asphalt like a tongue, slipping past houses, crossing streets, darting over rooftops and blocks at high speed.
Ethan waited patiently for several minutes, until he felt the pulse within his consciousness.
Through the eyes of his summon, he saw the outline of the tower take shape ahead of him—the massive "T" rising against the night sky. Isolated on its island, it stood like a beacon over the waters.
"Switch," he murmured.
In an instant, his body vanished and reappeared on the other side, right at the base of Titans Tower. The sensation of displacement was still strange—like stepping through an invisible doorway while being washed in ice—but he was beginning to get used to it.
Ethan stood still at the base of the Tower, his eyes tracing every line of the structure. Up close, it looked even more imposing than in the broadcasts he had seen on TV. A modern fortress rising from the middle of the ocean—definitely not the kind of place one broke into without thinking twice.
Then, from above, something moved. A shadow cut across the sky, and when Ethan looked up, he saw a falcon spiraling down. Its wings flapped one last time before the creature landed, and in the next instant, its form twisted and shrank.
In place of the bird stood a young man with spiky green hair, clad in a purple and black uniform, a mischievous grin plastered across his face.
"What's up, man?" Beast Boy said, folding his arms. "Just so you know, this is private property, you got a good reason for barging in like this right? "
Ethan held his gaze, steady.
"I'm not barging in. I just want to talk to someone."
"Oh, yeah?" Beast Boy raised an eyebrow, theatrical. "And who might that someone be?"
"Raven," he answered without hesitation.
The young Titan fell silent for a moment, scratching his chin as if thinking it over. Then, with a half-smile, he tilted his head.
"Alright… but first, what's your name, man?"
"Ethan Vale."
Beast Boy's eyes lit up in recognition.
"Ahh, so it's you! The guy Starfire and Raven were talking about… even Robin mentioned something."
He narrowed his eyes, amused.
"Okay, you helped out last time, right? Then we're good."
Beast Boy motioned with his hand toward the entrance of the Tower.
"Come on in. But hey… watch where you step, got it? Cyborg freaks out when someone dirties up the floors in the Tower."
The corner of Ethan's mouth curved into a short, almost ironic smile.
"I'll keep that in mind."
And together, they headed inside Titans Tower.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hello everyone!
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By: OrderNerd