(General P.O.V)

"...and so, left with no other choice...I took a risk."

Aden said.

"What do you mean?"

Dr.Martin asked after furiously jotting down something in her notebook.

"Before anything else doc...you need to understand something. This other side...it's not just a part of me...it is me."

A chill spread out across the room, the shadows of the various furniture stretching out ghastly. Aden sat up with a thoughtful look in his blue eyes.

"Infact...I can show you what I mean."

He offered.

Linda clutched her notebook tightly before giving a single nod. Instantly, a foreboding feeling took over her as Aden lowered his head. His shoulder length hair kept loose fell over his face obscuring it...until it didn't.

Red eyes and a rictus grin over his face, showcasing his straight white teeth greeted Dr.Martin. Her mind went blank for a few seconds, heart hammering as she made eye contact with his eyes. Linda's psyche started unravelling at the seams. Thoughts of trashing her office were the least terrifying out of all the ones she had running inside her mind.

What if I took this pen and jabbed it in my eye? I should steal an airplane and crash it at an occupied stadium, that would make more beautiful fireworks than the fourth of July... no! What am I... She shook her head and looked to Aden. To try to tell him to stop it. Then her eyes trailed over his form. The black shirt, folded over his muscular tattooed arms had her salivating thinking about...'I wanna fuck him. I wanna FUCK HIM sooo bad! I'VE NEVER FUCKED SOMEONE YOUNGER BEFORE!

Her hands were going for her buttons when the feeling vanished like a wisp of smoke.

"What the fuck was that!!?"

Linda lost her cool, she staggered up to her feet, Aden rising up to help her now that his eyes were back to normal only for her to hold up her hand.

"Stop! Don't come close!" He stopped. Dr. Martin poured herself a glass of water, before drowning it down fully. She then started fanning herself with the notebook. She felt...out of control! Even now that the feelings had faded, there were undertones of the emotions she felt. It was like she was back in her twenties and not giving a fuck about anything only that was multiplied ten times over. She considered ending the session right there and then. However, she had no idea when she would see her youngest client again. 'Suck it up Linda. You have to push on.'

She took one last breath and walked back to her seat.

"I'm okay. I'm okay."

She proceeded to say, cutting him off before he could ask. Aden had a face full of regret. He sighed.

"I apologize doc. That...that...I wasn't thinking. I thought that...I thought that you wouldn't be affected by it."

"Its alright." She waved him off. "Just be careful next time. Whatever that was..."she shivered with a slightly haunted look. "It made me want to do terrible things. I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff and were I to fall over...there would be no coming back."

"I call it the penance stare." He softly explained, his head clutched between his palms. "That... malicious warped energy is a personification of all my fears and... potential. There are a lot of things I'm afraid of doc but arguably the one thing that scares the living shit out of me is...me." He looked up.

"You said that you felt like you were at the edge of a cliff...I feel the same. Only difference is while you have the possibility of stepping back to safety...I am standing on a rope separating two extremes. Chaos and order...and if I fall on either side...no one can stop me."

He said ominously. Doctor Linda Martin swallowed nervously. It didn't feel like he was lying...

"Then don't fall."

She finally said to which he burst out laughing. The laugh was self deprecating.

"I forgot to mention...the rope is burning on both ends."

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(The Elemental Dimension)

"You're fighting a losing battle." Nabu's voice rang out as Aden floated in mid air, two orbs...one red and another blue roiled around each other, clashing, pushing and pulling. A web of golden energy, mystical power supplied by the Lord of Order to stabilize the fusion or at least the balance between the two opposing fundamental laws, surrounded the orbs.

Aden floated alone in a rapidly changing environment. One minute his body would be in a white space then the next it would be in a reddish black environment. The alternation was uneven. Just like the rapidly changing surroundings.

"Come on! Come on!"

He pulled more of the power offered by Fate, the almost bottomless power Nabu had access to, overloading the connection to the helmet.

"Stop! You are only delaying the inevitable!"

In the main dimension, a golden glow suffused nthe horizon. It's origin point seemed to be a chasm of dark energy, scarring and separating the dimension into two sides. One side was structure the other was amorphous reality.

In between, a shirtless Aden, his body dripping with sweat that evaporated due to the coat of yellow energy he desperately pulled to save his dimension, floated. The helmet of Nabu was on his head. Iroh looked on with a serious gaze before turning his attention to the game of chess in between them.

"He cannot afford to lose this."

The old spirit stated.

"You worry too much. The boy thrives in these situations. It is perhaps his greatest power."

Lucifer said moving his bishop to D2. The game had been going on for sometime now and neither parties seemed to one up each other. Then again this was to pass the time not to defeat anyone.

"I still prefer Shogi."

Iroh commented before making his own move.

"Mmmh." Lucifer looked at the board intently, sparing a gaze at the occupied Aden.

"I know what you're thinking... you wonder if I will intervene should it be required."

Iroh brushed his hands over his beard.

"Naturally. Aden is strong. But this...this more than just about strength."

Lucifer snorted.

"It takes a certain kind of strength to admit you need help of any kind. He hasn't made a move to request for it. So my answer is no." He made his move, positioning the pawn in a way that forced Iroh to take it using his rook, unaware that it was just a strategy that would lead to him losing an important piece on the board, a few moves down the line.

"Even if he did indeed request for help...would you?..." Iroh trailed off, shaking his head slightly.

"Sorry, we both already know the answer to that."

Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

"And what do you mean by that?"

Iroh blinked and refused to break the eye contact.

"It's your move."

Lucifer glimpsed down at the board. They continued playing, as the fate of the dimension was being decided by the realm master.

A whoosh of green color was tackled out of the air by a purple one. Kai blocked Sai's way. They could feel Aden's power and spirit fluctuating heavily. Sai wanted to go help their dad but Kai was blocking him! He felt the gentle touch upon his mind from Aden. Feelings of reassurance, care and love that assaulted the three Spirits from thousands of miles away. He had sent them that far out to avoid having them caught in the blast radius incase he failed.

Sai swallowed his indignation and flew back down to the mega huge island that could have passed for a continent back on earth.

A small boy, wearing a white body suit with the insignia of the house of El, walked forward to place a hand on his friend's snout upon his landing. Match was unknowingly displaying a gesture of comfort while looking at the golden horizon.

Back in Aden's mental space, Nabu's voice rang out once more.

"Your spirit is too weak to sustain true balance between both sides. I tell you this not to weaken your resolve but to make you understand that this WILL NOT WORK!"

"SHUT UP NABU! I am not giving up. Not yet! I fucking can't."

His fingers expertly danced in the air. Like molding clay, he pushed the energy together, careful not to destabilize it. Careful not to fuck himself over. The blue and red spheres orbited around one another, growing closer and closer... finally they touched.

For a second nothing happened and then...the world exploded in Aden's eyes. The blue and red shifting surroundings blended into a weird collage of colors that felt unreal, before giving way to a gray space. A gray space that hummed silently and ominously.

Aden brought a hand to his front and saw the gray color of his skin which matched the greyness of this new space.

"Where am I now?"

He asked out loud, his voice spreading out in echoes.

"Don't you remember?!"

Aden was not expecting the question that literally came from all directions. He tensed his body and looked around.

"Behind you, stupid."

He turned around and jumped away at the next second, landing a couple meters from his previous position.

Before him was a dark red version of him. A small smile on his face.

"How...?"

Gray Aden could not fathom what was going on. Red Aden cocked his head to the side.

"You insisted on denying me...for so long I had to watch you let that...that thing take over when I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE!!!" He roared in anger.

"Order has no place in a word like DC. You fight fire with fucking fire Aden."

Speechless.

Gray Aden paced around the red version as he took in his words and came to a terrifying conclusion.

"You mean..."

Red Aden's smile stretched out.

"Oh yeah...I am the Avatar State. Your chaos driven Avatar State."

(Back on earth- Linda Martin's office)

Aden stiffened. Linda picked up on it.

"What is going on?"

The boy had a look of abject confusion as he stared at his therapist.

"Doc, did I ever tell you about what I really am?"

Linda's face scrunched up.

"Well..."

"Nevermind. I'll explain it anyway." He leaned forward in his seat.

"I am what you call a puppet. This body you see right now is merely an ability of mine that enables me to create and control one other unit. So while you might consider this all I am...my real body is behind the reigns and fighting to ensure, we continue our wonderful conversations. But that's not the point, Doc."

He sucked in a deep breath.

"Self Sabotage. That's what this is...those two words have been ringing inside your mind ever since we started getting deep into it...my question is this, why?"