Genre: General, Angst, Hurt, Dark.
Characters: Speedy/Original Roy Harper, Kaldur'ahm/Devil Ray/Aqualad, Red Arrow/(2nd Clone of) Roy Harper
Idea/Prompt: Speedy finally meets Kaldur.
Length: 1,814 words.
Pairing: broken!Roy(Red Arrow)/Kaldur
Rating: Teen or PG, somewhere in between, because of hints of sex, and maybe swearing.
Summary: Speedy meets Kaldur, and understands why Red Arrow speaks of Kaldur as if he were still a great man. Red Arrow finds out why Kaldur left the team.
Author's Note:
I was always curious to why no one write about Kaldur ever interacting with the original Roy Harper, because he would've sometime sooner. And this came up, so I hope you find this interesting enough to read. Enjoy, Read, & Review!
Warning(s): Spoilers for Season 2, Slash. Mentions of Death.
First Meeting
"Kaldur, right?" he asks, blue eyes hesitant.
Kaldur raises an eyebrow, says nothing, but nods instead. He watches his surroundings carefully, watches the brick walls stained with graffiti, and trash all over the ground. Notices the faint sewer smell, and focuses on the boy dressed in gold and blue-not red. Ignores a pang in his heart.
"You-you were a hero, weren't you?" blue eyes widening slowly. A golden bow in his hand, with familiar trick arrows.
"Indeed I was. But now I am not." Kaldur answers calmly, lips pressed in a thin line. Because this boy reminded him of Roy, 9 years back. "You are Speedy, if I'm not mistaken?" Kaldur asks, his pale green eyes looking sad, but his tone suggests everything, but sadness.
"Yeah I'm Speedy." He pauses, before gazing at him determinedly, ignoring the firmness of the blond's words. "They said you were the best." he chooses his words carefully, glancing at the pale green eyes, pale pink lips, and Speedy thinks he can understand why Red Arrow was in love with the man in front of him.
Kaldur says nothing to that.
"I wished I had met you then~" his tone slightly wistful, eyes dazed, he remembers Cadmus, cold, and wishing he could have fallen in love before all of this had happened.
Kaldur's heart hurts, as he waits for the boy to finish his words. His expression remains serious, eyes fierce, and ready for any sudden attack.
"He talks about you." Speedy tells him all of a sudden, looking quite serious.
And Kaldur feels confused, wondering why Speedy changed the subject so suddenly. To a subject Kaldur has been avoiding for 3 long years. He remains neutral to the words, despite how his emotions were reacting uncontrollably at the remembrance of memories. Memories he'd tried to bury away, ever since Tula's death.
The original Roy smiles. "Not me. The other Roy. The one who was your best friend".
And Kaldur feels his heart clench painfully, from years of bottled up pain. He finds it difficult to breathe all of a sudden. But on the outside, he only shows a flicker of annoyance, and remains calm.
"He said you were the best of them. That Young Justice wouldn't have lasted without you." A sad smile fills the 17-year-old Roy's face. "I can see it even now."
"I-I was the best. Now, I am not". He tells the younger, because even though he looks like Roy. He isn't his Roy. Not the one he loved-still loves. Not the one who made love to Kaldur like Kaldur was everything he needed. Like Kaldur was his safety net, and nothing else mattered.
His Roy had moved on. And so he did as well. The plan could not be compromised for their love. The lives of millions were on stake. He ignores the smell of salty tears, filling his eyes. And tries to keep the memories from re-surfacing.
"Hey Kal. I know I don't usually say this. But I-I...I think I love you".
"I don't think so." Speedy tells him. His tone holding the same arrogant-yet-confident tone that his Roy always had, when it came to any question about Kaldur that needed to be answered, that was the tone he used, which usually stated, "I know everything about Kaldur. Don't even try to prove me wrong".
Kaldur remains silent. The wind howls against the almost empty alleyway. A crumpled paper rolls away along the direction of the wind.
"Because if you really were. You would've killed me already~" Speedy states, blue eyes twinkling with mischief, and confidence.
"Hmm" he begins, and in a few seconds, his silver dagger is against Speedy's neck. "Don't underestimate me Speedy. Or you'll die. Just like Artemis."
Speedy doesn't look scared, but slightly startled at the change in their positions. He fiddles with his fingers to try and keep a hold on his bow.
Kaldur's heart races insistently. Because Speedy looks like Roy in that moment. When Kaldur had found out that he was Black Manta's son. He had threatened to hurt Roy to keep the other away. And Roy didn't even care then. He told Kaldur "If you trusted me despite how I almost led the fall of the Justice League. Then I don't care who the fuck your father is. You're still Kaldur. And I've known you for 5 years now. And I trust you more than I trust Dinah. I love you Kal. No matter who your father is." There was only surprise from Roy that Kaldur hated. Roy didn't let him go for a long while, and when he did. He had told Kaldur while caressing his cheeks, "I'd love you even if you were my poison."
Kaldur frowns, and waits for the words he knows Speedy has not spoken yet.
"I know. But you wouldn't. Not now anyway." A smirk graces the younger's lips, an almost familiar one, and yet it's still so very unfamiliar as well.
Kaldur remembers three long years without Roy's warm embraces, harsh training, days without food, and the lack of comfort. He also remembers the coldness that his father surrounded himself with.
He returns the smirk. "Indeed I would not. You are not my target Speedy. But when we meet in the battlefield. I will not hesitate to hurt you, or kill you if needed." and ignores the stab of pain he feels, when he remembers Caldur'ahm. His father, the one who raised him, and taught him not to kill, or hurt others, so that he'd never become a villain like Black Manta. Unlike Black Manta, the biological father who had tried to kill him so many times, when he was Aqualad.
He walks away, and places his silver dagger back in its hilt.
Speedy calls out to him, when Kaldur is about 15 meters away. "If you could ever tell him something. What would you tell him?"
A tear manages to escape, and strolls across his cheek. And Kaldur is glad it is night, and that his back is turned to Speedy.
He murmurs calmly, regret lacing his every word. "Tell him I am sorry. Sorry for everything..." And he leaves the alleyways, soft words echoing, while Speedy stood still.
"You hear that partner?" Speedy calls out to his communicator, eyes looking dark, as a frown marred his youthful features.
"Yeah. I did". A raspy voice replies, sounding choked.
Speedy raises an eyebrow, and says nothing for a moment, while his brain tries to asses the man who calls himself 'Devil Ray'. And Speedy saw no devil in that exotic man. He saw a man filled with sadness. And he wonders, how the man's former teammates could ever believe he was evil. And tries to ignore the bubble of disgust that filled his mind when he remembered his first meeting with the former Kid Flash. He wasn't impressed -by Kid Flash that is-, and he doesn't ever think he will be. The man Nightwing and Red Arrow spoke about seemed to fade away with every passing day.
The man that Kaldur was, lingers still, like a shadow, suffocating the man with bittersweet memories. Speedy doesn't know if he should admire him, or pity him. He does neither.
While somewhere, 20 stories above the ground, Red Arrow, is clutching a blue sapphire necklace to his heart -Kaldur had given that to Roy as an anniversary gift, it was a pair of a necklace that Kaldur had once wore around his neck.
Red Arrow is crying silently. All the while thinking angrily 'You bastard!' Because he's already figured out Kaldur. He's read every expression perfectly. Kaldur was lying the whole time. And he knew, because Kaldur always stood straight when he was stressed, or pressured to do something. The only time Kaldur hadn't been standing straight, when he told Speedy he was sorry. And Kaldur had cried. He had seen that tear. And he felt suffocated. Because whatever Kaldur was doing, it had to be very important. It had to be. For Kaldur to be lying about anything, and for Kaldur to be hurt. It hurt Roy even more...
"C'mon Speedy. Let's head back to GA's. He'd kill me if I kept you past your curfew kid." A forced tease in his now-hoarse tone.
"Alright Red Arrow. And stop calling me kid. I'm actually way older than you~" Speedy whined, sounding slightly annoyed.
Red Arrow almost smiles, before he notices the faint shadow of a man heading towards the pier. And as he watches his ex-lover walk into the ocean beyond his reach, he puts down his Binoculars, and moves away from the roof he was on.
"You know? He wasn't such a bad guy." Speedy comments after a moment of silence.
"Oh really? Why'd you think so?" Roy asks, a bit curious, though his heart kept calling out for the man he loved more than anything in the universe.
"Well, because he felt no remorse for stating Artemis had died. I mean, from what you've told me about Kaldur, and what Nightwing's informed me. Kaldur is the self-sacrificing type of guy. Turning evil doesn't change one's habits completely. He should have felt remorse or sadness. He didn't. Only when I mentioned you."
Red Arrow says nothing to Speedy, and waits for further explanation.
"Meaning that she's not dead. Or he's under mind control. Which I doubt is true, if he was, then I wouldn't even be here, and suggesting this to you right now."
And Roy's stomach lurches, as he remembers.
"Roy."
"I love you so much"
"I could never hurt you. You, or the team. You've become my second family here on Earth. And I just-I don't think I could last without you".
"I'm yours, just as you are mine."
He closes his eyes, and tries to breathe again.
"Red Arrow?"
It fits. Everything fit in that moment. Why Wally wasn't there for the mission. Why Nightwing had called Artemis. And oh God. Kaldur was a mole, for instead of working for the Light, he was working with Nightwing. And Roy curses himself for not noticing any sooner.
He bites his lips hard enough to draw blood.
"Hey Harper, you still there?" the worry evident in Speedy's tone.
"Yeah. I'm here." And lands down gracefully.
Speedy peers at him for a moment, before stating "You're still in love with him, aren't you?"
He says nothing in return to the fact, only watches Speedy silently.
Speedy murmurs something, before telling him "Let's go. We're done for today anyway."
He follows. But he can't stop thinking about Kaldur's eyes. His beautiful serene smile. And pale green eyes.
'Damn it Kal. I LOVED YOU! I still love you...' he thinks angrily, and he wishes he could have told the Atlantean everything he'd ever wanted to tell Kaldur, instead of letting Kaldur leave. Letting Kaldur suffer alone. He bites down on the acid rising from his throat. He wants to smoke, and forget.
But Kaldur's already gone.
And it scares Roy that he may lose Kaldur when the mission is over. He hopes for a miracle.
The wind only blows against the now-empty alleyway.
End of First Meeting.