Title: Power
Summery: Part of my Definition series. Terry has been injured and has a strange dream. Inspired by the opening word Power.
Beta: Shiranui
Disclaimer: if I owned Batman beyond, it would still be airing.
Terry opened his eyes and saw black. This prompted him to blink hazily several times. The world around him shifted and he had to wonder what kind of fun drugs he was on now. His head was about as clouded as it had ever been, to the point where all he could really think was 'oh fuzzy lights' before he passed out again.
Terry was in a field, laying back on the grass and looking up at the twisted strikes of color in the sky. There were eyes there, green eyes glowing luminescent in the black. He knew those eyes and reached out to grab at them. To tear them from the sky and leave them broken, shattered on the ground. The energy within them boiled in anger then twisted into a mocking sneer.
"You wouldn't dare," they seemed to say "I am Death. Simply standing in my sight is tantamount to destruction. All that I behold is mine and will burn at my slightest whim. You are one tiny being in the endless spires of this, my city, a shadow, a speck not worth mentioning." As the voice spoke his words changed the surroundings. The grass around Terry grew tall, stretching up into the sky in metallic spears that reflected back the grime that they were planted in and the trash that sat at their feet. Terry stood as beetles became cars whipping past in all directions along streets with no names.
The eyes were no longer in the sky. Now they watched him from a figure wreathed in green flame. The figure stood looking down on the city from the full windows of the tallest building. All he needed was a glass in one hand and the scene would be complete.
The man smiled a green smile and from his feet spread a slow and twisting ash that seemed to engulf everything it touched. The burning green eyes seemed to laugh as if to say 'you see? There is no hope for you.'
The green eyes hadn't realized what they were doing though. For each new curl of ash and smoke sent another shadow into the sky. Blotting out the twists of color and leaving the world a place of black and white. Terry took a step and caught the last red spark as it fell from the heavens. He cupped it in his hands and grinning fit to fear the devil, he vanished.
The white light that touched the peaks could not slip into the depths between the towers, it was from the inside the dark that the boy spoke.
"A poison you may be, but your snake bite is no death kiss. Not to me."
The green eyes searched the shadows that spread from his own feet and found that he had lost his prey.
"Every act you make reveals your fear." Terry whispered from everywhere at once. "You're not death, just a poor imitation. I've seen fear himself and madness. Compared to them, you are nothing."
With the sky darkened only his green light stood out to fall on crumbling towers, an empire of sand and salt where even the smoldering fires gave no light. He turned, twisted around, growling and sending columns of fire into the dark, only for them to be smothered.
"Scream, king of ash. Nothing you do can stop the dark from falling, none of your power can stop the night. You witnessed a day so long no one realized the dark could ever come again." The dark rose up in a storm of rain and thunder. "Well here I am the knight, the night, come at last to reclaim my own."
Rain fell, washing away the ash from the sky, the air, the earth. Embers from still smoldering fires sent up gold sparks as one figure was backlit by the storm. A shadow with a red spark glowing across his chest. The rain struck the outline of green flame and each drop blackened him.
Stepping forward the shadow seemed to tower over the green figure. He knelt, placed a kiss between the fear filled green eyes and with a breath turned him to the dust he had threatened to unleash. A wind swept up through the crags scattering the ash and parting the clouds. The shadow looked up at the white crack in the sky and with a thought sent the single red spark flying up to paint the world in color. As the clouds parted further the black figure smiled even as he fell back into the shadows.
An hour later he opened his eyes for a second time. This time he was scared awake as the face of Bruce Wayne filled his vision. He cried out in surprise only to wince and fall back in pain from the movement.
"What happened?" he raised his arm to hide his eyes from the harsh medical light that he could have sworn was pointed straight at his face.
"Blight happened."
Terry could hear Wayne move away, probably looking at some medical chart or readout. He was obviously in the medical room in the cave. He had been there often enough recently to know it even with his eyes closed. He explored the pains his body was producing, there were quite a few of them.
"Really? Doesn't feel like Blight. Feels more like I was run over by a tractor on steroids."
"Yes, well Blight has apparently discovered how to change the type of radiation he emits."
"And that translates to tractor how?"
"You really don't remember?"
He shook his head.
"Then you can wait until you are on your feet for an explanation. Short term memory loss can be a sign of a concussion. I need to run more tests, you should stay here and try to get some more sleep."
"I think I've had enough crazy dreams, besides I probably have school or something else I need to be doing." He tried to sit up again but it really was painful and he only managed a few inches before seeing stars.
Wayne switched off the light, eliminating the daggers that it was sending at his eyes. "Don't worry, you'll be back on the clock soon enough McGuinnis. Get some sleep."
He could have resisted, but he was too tired to really put much effort into it.
Well, there it is the first of the definition series I'm working on. I know I've hinted at this collection to a few people but to those who haven't heard I am, and will be, working on a series of short stories, one for each word from the Batman beyond opening. They will not be done in any order and though they are connected they can be read in any order. All of them are set in the same universe as my other Batman beyond stories, and take place before Partners.
At this moment only two of these stories are finished, and I had planed on waiting until I had a few more ready before I posted this, but nothing seemed to be updating so here it is.
Hope you all like.