Stronger Together chapter 249

The rest of the funeral was just as heart wrenching. River's son  spoke for him, and Dr. Pounder told a few stories about the big  sasquatch. They went up together since each person only got one eulogy,  and Sam was with them. I half expected some kind of drama but Dr.  Pounder had clearly gotten over River a long time ago, and she was  nothing but supportive to the tiny vampire. After the rest of them went  we thanked everyone for coming and then headed home, and decided to wait  a day or two while we got ready to talk to everyone about our departure  from this world.

The  first place I went was naturally over to talk to Charity and Michael.  Kara came with me, though Inari stayed at home, and we headed over to  tell them we were leaving. Charity answered the door with a smile when  we knocked and invited us inside, giving Kara and I both hugs as she  brought us into the kitchen where Molly was cooking grilled cheese. At  sixteen Molly was now the same age Kara had been when she got here, and  she seemed more together than she had last time I saw her. The exposure  to Raven was clearly doing her good because I could see obvious signs of  my girlfriends zen attitude on the carpenter daughter.

She  waved as we came in, happy to see us both. "Oh hey guys, didn't know  you were coming by but I made extras. Always assume you won't have  enough grilled cheese when you have this many kids around." She nodded  to the table where a riot of small children played. Connor wasn't here  but Bea was coloring with the other kids, and Gabby was chowing down on  her own grilled cheese right next to her. Molly slapped a pair of hot  sandwiches down in front of us on plates and slid them over to us as  Charity sat down to resume eating her own.

The  Carpenter matriarch looked at us placidly. "You're leaving." I blinked,  and the woman burst out laughing. "Cameron, you're hardly the most  subtle person, and Kara wears her heart on her sleeve at the best of  times." She gave her surrogate daughter a warm smile. "Something I could  not be more proud of. I take it from your somber mood this will be a  long journey? I'm used to Michael being away, so I can tell when someone  is going to be a long time coming back." She gave us both a sad smile.  "Will ever be coming back?"

Kara's  eyes welled up with tears and she rushed forward to wrap her arms  around the older woman. "I'm so sorry mom! I promise we'll come back if  we can, but we're heading somewhere far away. Back to Raven and Barb's  home actually, and I don't know how long it would take to visit if we  ever can. You could come with us? We're planning to invite Harry, and  some other people. You and daddy would love it there!" Her eyes were  bright and hopeful, but I could see the sadness in their depths. She  knew this wasn't going to end that way.

This  felt private. I nodded to Molly and picked up my sandwich, hugging  Charity and Kara as they talked. Much like I suspected, as I left I  heard Charity explaining to Kara why they couldn't leave. I knew she  understood but I also knew this would still break her heart. I couldn't  bear to hear her cry like that, so I headed over to Harry's to talk to  my mentor one on one. I'd considered taking Yang or Barb with me, since  they had bonded with him so well, but in the end this felt like it  should just be me. They could visit after if he turned us down, and if  not they would have plenty of chances to talk to him in the DCU.

I  made it to Harry's house pretty quick, and he answered within minutes  of me knocking. My mentor had his daughter balanced on his hip as he  smiled at me. "Hey Cam, come on in." He was whispering so as not to wake  the sleeping baby in his arms. He turned and headed back into the  house. "Sorry we haven't talked since the funeral, I figured you guys  could use your space, and you knew you could come here if you needed  anything." He sounded sad and a bit embarrassed, my teacher had never  been one for showing emotion, but he did his best for us because he felt  like it was his responsibility as a mentor.

I  followed him over to sit down on the couch, and decided to just rip the  band aid off. "We're leaving." His eyes widened and he opened his mouth  but I cut him off. "Just, hear me out boss. I want to get through this  whole thing before you respond, cool?" He gestured for me to go ahead, a  slightly confused look on his face. "This world sucks. Not the people,  we've made tons of friends here, but the world itself. It's kind of  hellish, and trust me I would know. We're heading back to Barb and  Raven's universe, and we want you to come with us."

I  could tell he was off balance but I wasn't done, so I pushed on with my  pitch. "Now granted DC is pretty nuts, but for the most part it's the  kind of nuts where the good guys win. Where people like Superman are  there to handle the big stuff and you could live a normal life if you  wanted. Where Maggie could grow up safe from outsider invasions and evil  faeries and shapeshifting fear monsters. It would be better, for you,  and Maggie, and Susan. Not to mention Kara's cousin, as you know, works  at one of the biggest newspapers in that world, he could put in a good  word for her when she was ready."

I  was babbling now but Harry held up a hand. "Stop. Cam. Just...give me a  second ok? I'm not saying no, just give me a minute to get my head  around this." He slumped back a bit, letting his head fall back over the  back of the couch. I mean, I admit I'm tempted. Not just because I  could meet fucking BATMAN, but because...well, you're not wrong. This  world isn't where I want Maggie to grow up. What's the line? 'Mars ain't  the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact, it's cold as hell.' It's  just...I don't know Cam. I have friends. Not many sure, but I have  them, and family." The flash of uncertainty and anger gave me the  impression Ebenezer had come clean to his grandson.

I  held up my hands to stop him. "Whoa, first off, we aren't just inviting  you. Inari is getting an invite I suspect she'll take, and I doubt she  wants to leave Thomas or Justine. Hell I'll bring a herd of alpaca if  you can find me one. Lucifer owes me a damned favor, no pun intended,  and that guy really pissed me off, so I'm milking that shit." Harry's  eyes lit up at that. My mentor didn't actually have that many close  loved ones in his, life. Taking all of them somewhere safer would  obviously appeal. Luckily he didn't seem too opposed to DC as a  destination, which I knew some people would. But honestly this world was  so much worse.

I'd  seen lots of people online back in my old world bitch about DC being a  death world, and insisting they would never go there, but I'd never  agreed with the sentiment. The main thing about the DC universe was that  it was balanced. Not in terms of good vs. evil, because honestly the  good guys tended to win more often then not, but in terms of power. DC  had a delicate ecosystem of power. Every hero of villain had other  heroes or villains restraining them. If you wanted to, you could retire  to some out of the way city and be pretty much left alone. Hell places  like Central City were pretty peaceful all the time. Even their bad guys  were fairly considerate.

Of  course you also had shitty dumpster fire cities like Gotham mixed in  there, but no one who wasn't literally insane or born there ever went to  Gotham. It was saying something when a city was next to a massive  supervillain hotspot that got frequently invaded by aliens and still  managed to be considered a place everyone should avoid. I shook off my  thoughts. "Anyway man, just talk it over with Susan. We'd love to have  you along, and with the invasion taken care of for the foreseeable  future there isn't a need for you to stick around out of worry." Having  said my piece I stood up. "Anyway man, we'll check back tomorrow, I  still have stops to make so I'll leave you to ponder." I stepped over to  kiss the baby. "Night Mags, love you."

I  headed out into the street to leave him to his thoughts, and considered  who to talk to next. Normally my next stop would have been Dalton, and I  felt a pang of sorrow at losing a friend I never really had. I  considered Joe and Ebenezer, but I wasn't sure if this counted as  reaching beyond the outer gates, and having to fight the old wizards  would really put a damper on our goodbyes. Other than Henry, we hadn't  made too many friends here close enough to ask who didn't have their own  stuff going on. Hana had died in the last battle, so that left our  roommates.

So  I headed back to the house and called a meeting of everyone who lived  there. Once everyone was gather I looked around at this strange family I  had here. Even my master was here, looking crotchety and annoyed at  being called. He'd been sleeping more since just before the battle, and I  suspected arming the rank and file with magic weapons had taken it out  of him. "So, you all may not know this, but we aren't from around here.  Specifically we aren't from this world." I gestured at the girls. "My  world is pretty much irrelevant, but those two are from a version of DC  comics, and we found a way to get back there."

I  shrugged, not sure exactly what to say next. "I know this is a crazy  thing to drop on you, but we're leaving. You're welcome to come along,  if you want, but we won't be back for a long time if ever. We're going  to try to come visit but there's no guarantees. We love you guys, and we  love having you around, so you're welcome to come. If you don't want to  tag along I'll sign over the house to one of you before we go, probably  Andi because she's way more responsible than the rest of you, no  offense." I stopped to let their brains catch up.

Morgan,  as per usual, just shrugged, cuddling Max on her lap. Raven had finally  trained him to sit still for the crazy vampire as long as she was  gentle. "That sounds super cool. I'd love to meet Raven's old friends  from before, and maybe fry her ex's brain a little for being such a  dick." I smirked because I had no issues with that, I was planning to  kick Grayson around a little myself. She turned to the others. "You guys  in too? Because it would be bummer to leave everyone behind." She  winked at Andi. "I'd miss you most of all, peppermint."

Andi  flushed and I laughed and cut them off. "Think it over. We aren't  leaving just yet, and Harry needs time to think too." I smirked at Yang  and Barb. "Though I'm guessing a little motivation from his favorite  apprentices would help him come to a decision." Yang's answering smirk  was loud and clear as she grabbed Barb and dragged her away and I stood  up to leave my roomies to their thoughts. After all, we still had calls  to make, I'd told Harry I was inviting Thomas and Justine, and after  this time to think I had a few other candidates in mind too.