Okay, so I`ve been listening to music while studying in my Summer holidays. I always go online to YouTube to listen to fan-made cartoon tributes. Is it called tributes? Those vids that have music in the background and with different scenes added in there to coordinate with the music and/or lyrics (if any).
I suggest watching the music video of the music that inspired this song before reading this so that it makes sense. Or, at least, so that you know I`m only following the music at certain parts. After is also alright.
This is an AU where the heroes have mental/physical disorders and the bad guys are…normal people. Some are good while others are bad.
Disclaimer: Nothing`s mine but the plot.
Caution: Character death, mentions of self-harm, physical and mental disorders, dark thoughts and child abuse.
This one is inspired by Concrete Angel by Martina McBride.
7.25 a.m.
It was a lovely early autumn morning in Jump City. It was the rush hour and students were heading to school and adults were heading to work. There was traffic, with bottlenecks at tunnels and traffic jams on roads as everyone was heading off to school or work People were either going to school or work via public transport, private cars, bicycles, and motorcycles or walking on foot.
Jump City was known for its modern architecture and buildings all around the city. It was also a flourishing city filled with people of different countries.
In one of the apartments of the city lived a girl called Rachel Roth. She had just woken up and was getting ready for school. Dressing simply in a black sleeved shirt, blue denim trousers and a purple jacket, she walked over to her bed where her backpack lay. After checking her bag to make sure she had left nothing important for the day, she lifted her backpack off her bed and slung it on her shoulder. Grasping onto the knob of her bedroom door, she took a deep breath before turning it.
Opening it, she found out that her Father had left the house. She sighed in relief and walked into the kitchen, placed her bag onto the table in the kitchen, opened the fridge and looked in it. She took out the ingredients she needed and placed them on the table and continued searching around the kitchen. She found a few cans of food, took out one of the cans that contained ham, placed it onto the table as well and went over to the table to move the packet of bread closer to her.
Within 5 minutes, she put together the ingredients to make a sandwich for lunch, put them into a lunchbox, snapped the box shut and placed what was left from her sandwich-making, washed, cleaned and placed them to where they were originally and put the container into her backpack. Zipping it up and looking around to make she left the place clean and tidy and left nothing else, she took her mobile phone and watch off the shelf near the main door of the apartment and left.
It only took her about 10 minutes to walk to her school, Jump City College. School didn`t start until 8.20 and she was one of the early ones to arrive. She looked at her watch - 7:55 – still plenty of time to spare. She walked down the hallway to her locker, unlocked and opened it, and took out the books of the lessons of the day. She always had a habit since 1st Grade to memorize her schedule (*1), so it was a 'routine' to her that every year she would memorize her schedule for the year. She picked out the books she needed for the day after voicing it in her head: French, English, Chemistry, History and Physics. Not too bad considering she had a free period/study period in one of her lessons.
She was stuffing her books into her backpack when she heard a familiar voice. "Hey there, Rae-Rae!" She turned to look at the one who dared to call her by her nickname despite the number of times she told him not to.
It was Richard Grayson, or Robin as he liked to be called. He was wearing a red T-shirt, blue trousers, a black and yellow reversible jacket (*2) and a black belt with an R on the clasp. There on his shoulder slung his red bag. As usual, he wore his hair gelled up and sunglasses on his nose despite the fact that he was indoors.
"Take off those shades, you`re indoors. Stop acting cool…" Rachel said in her usual monotone voice.
"Aw, Rae-Rae! I`m hurt," Robin said, placing his hand to the left side of his chest. Nevertheless, he did take them off and put it into his glasses box that usually held his sunglasses if he were not to wear them. "It`s only because of you, but you do know that my identity would be revealed. Even after all the years I spent with The Titans and, despite knowing them longer, I felt most comfortable to take them off with you around. It`s when it`s only you, you know."
Rachel raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a look. Despite being flattered by his words, she still felt incredulous of how he would wear his sunglasses indoors.
Robin looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "Shoot! I`m late for a meeting! See ya, Rae-Rae! Bye!" And with that he ran off and left.
Rachel was closing her locker when she heard an annoying voice call her name. With the clicking of heels, she could tell immediately who it is and walking towards her. It was not a friend but an enemy.
"Oh, Rachel! How`s dear old Daddy doing? Is he still hitting you? Is your brain working fine? Bet you can go to some asylum to get that fixed, you know?" said Kitten. Kitten Moth was one of the annoying people who constantly picked on Rachel because of her mental disorder. A lot of people had accepted Rachel despite her mental condition and gotten used to her talking to herself, though there were still students like Kitten that picked on her for it.
Rachel put on her poker-face and turned to face Kitten. "That`s rich coming from somebody who fails purposefully in her subjects so that all the private schools in Jump and near the city had her kicked out of them, so she finally ended up in a public school."
That wiped the Cheshire-grin from Kitten`s face. Her face was plastered with an angry look and went tomato-red. It was only for a moment though as her face immediately turned to a sneer. "You do know who you`re talking to right? My Daddy-"
Rachel immediately cut her off to continue her sentence. "'-owns the school and I can get you kicked out.' Yeah! Yeah, Kitten! Heard it a thousand times." Rachel stretched the word 'thousand' long enough to emphasize her statement. "Seriously, the threat is starting to get old. 'Sides, your dad owns this school, but it`s mainly because of his donations to the school. The donations were forced too, if you remember."
Kitten was going to add one last resort of a comment when Rachel beat her to it. "Also, I am the top student in the whole year, and even the whole school. No matter what your dad does, I would not be able to be kicked out." And before she left, Rachel turned to Kitten, who was practically gritting her teeth, still at her spot. "Stop wasting your time threatening me. Keep your grades up `cause I don`t think it would be good for your family`s honor if a girl with mental conditions surpassed you. Hm?" And with that, she left to go to her first lesson of the day.
1:35 p.m.
Rachel went over to the bleachers at the football court and found a seat to sit down. It was far away from people and, since everyone liked sitting in cafeteria, she had the whole place to herself.
Taking out half of the sandwich from her lunchbox, she began to eat it with small bites whilst watching the students who had finished eating play football. Rachel wanted to roll her eyes at them. Such a waste to use so much energy gained just now on sports instead of saving energy for lessons later on.
She soon finished the first half of her sandwich and took the other half and began to devour it as well. After swallowing her bite, she heard the familiar voices.
"Hey, Rachel!" 2 people shouted in unison.
Rachel winced from the loudness of the voices and turned to the direction of where she heard the voices were from and saw the Titans - Robin, Victor, Kori and Garfield - coming towards her.
Her friends called themselves the Titans. Consisting with not only teens but young children and adults as well, their social group was quite big and was at different parts of the world, spreading out all around the globe. They constantly held meetings at Jump City since this was where the group first started. She wasn`t truly an official Titan since she, as she put it, didn`t like big groups and flat out refused, but the offer was still there.
Her 4 friends sat down near her and began eating their lunches as well.
"Oh, dear friend Rachel! Why are you only eating sandwiches? You need to eat more to keep up your strength! Why not eat some of my lunch? It consists of tuna, mushrooms, marmite and mustard mixed together. It surely tastes wonderful. It will surely give you more strength, no?" Kori said, opening her lunchbox. Rachel saw what was in Kori`s pink lunchbox and nearly wanted to throw up.
"Erm, Kori…I think she`ll be fine. Thank you," Robin said politely while trying to not look like he wanted to throw up as well. Victor and Garfield made no noise but they looked like they were in the similar situation as Robin. Kori shrugged and took out a spoon and began eating her 'lunch'.
"Rachel, you could have some of my lunch if you want. Bacon, chicken, eggs and rice," Victor said while he opened his lunchbox.
"No way, man! She should eat some of my lunch. It`s tofu-everything!" Garfield retorted.
"No way, man! She wouldn`t get enough energy for her classes later. With your lunch, she couldn`t last long for Physics class!" Victor replied.
"How do you guys even sleep? Do you know how many animals die so that they could end up on your plate? Millions of `em!" Garfield said frantically.
Rachel finished her sandwich, closed her lunchbox and put it in her backpack. They all then chatted for about 15 minutes before Rachel stood up. "I have to go, guys. My next lesson starts in 5." Without another word, she walked down the stairs and left.
The hallway she was at was empty since people won`t start going into their classrooms until the last minute. She was clear of any student`s way and made her way quickly to her destination. Halfway to her Physics classroom, she was pushed towards the lockers. She hit the lockers and was momentarily dazed. After a moment, with a cleared head, she looked at her attacker. It was David, or Fang, Kitten`s current boyfriend and the longest lasting to be in a relationship with her, and his lackey`s on the wrestling team, James, or Adonis, and Harry, or Red X. Fang didn`t look too happy and was cracking his knuckles.
Despite the amount of anger she felt off of him, she didn`t feel intimidated by him. "What`s wrong, Fangy-boy? What did I do to Kitten to ask her to come running to you to deal withme, a girl with mental issues?"
"You know what you did, Rachel," Fang said, placing his hands on his hips, puffing up his chest, trying to make himself look bigger.
Rachel gave him her thinking face and replied, "Oh, yeah! I did! I remember really well, in fact."
Fang leaned towards her and pointed a finger at her. "I`m warning you, Rachel! She`s the best girl a man can have and-"
Rachel laughed and used her hand to lowed Fang`s finger that was still pointing at her. "Put down that finger, Fang. Didn`t your parents teach you not to point. And best girl a man can have, Fang? Only you, Fang. Only you. It takes one to know one."
Adonis grasped Rachel by the throat and lifted her up, legs dangling off the floor. Fang walked right in front of her face. "What do you mean by that?"
Rachel was struggling to breath but she managed to get her words out. "It takes one rocks-for-brains to know another no-brainer."
Fang glared at her, retreated backwards and nodded at Red X and turned to her. "It`s your lucky day, Rachel. Red X is in need of a human punching bag and today, it`s you. Now, X!"
Red X pulled his fist backwards and was about to hit her when they heard a voice. The voice was so great that Red X dropped Rachel and she landed on her bum.
"David, Harry, James! What do you think you are doing?" Mrs. Mae-Eye shouted. They turned to where the voice was from and saw her standing in front of the Home Economics classroom. She waddled over as quickly as she could, which was surprisingly fast, despite her massive size.
"S-sorry, Mrs Mae-Eye. W-w-we were only f-fooling around. N-n-nothing much!" Fang stuttered.
"Fooling around? It seems like you`re bullying dear Rachel. Am I right?" Her thundering voice boomed angrily. No one uttered a word. "Well, then. Detention for the whole week for the 3 of you! Now…GET TO YOUR NEXT LESSON!" And with that, the 3 males left the hallway in a hasty retreat.
Mrs. Mae-Eye then turned to Rachel and offered her hand to help her up. Rachel took it and thanked Mrs. Mae-Eye before she left quickly to her next lesson.
After Rachel turned the corner, Mrs. Mae-Eye looked down at the floor and remembered what she saw. When Rachel was lifted to stand up, her sleeve revealed bruises on her arm. It was obviously from her Father. The whole school knew about Rachel`s Father abusing her and her psychiatrist and doctor said that her Father had hit her so badly in 8th Grade that it caused her to have hallucinations all the time. The school, informed about Rachel`s condition, had taken action, constantly monitoring her. Some idiotic teachers had spoken in the middle of a hallway quite loudly. Kitten had passed by. Being the gossip queen she is, in just a matter of an hour, everyone had heard about her Dad and her mental condition.
Mrs. Mae-Eye shook her head and headed to get a cup of tea before she had to deal with the next class she had to teach, bearing in mind to tell Principal Wilson of the bruises on Rachel`s arm as soon as possible.
4:00 p.m.
The bell had rung, signaling the end of school. Students packed up to leave their last lesson and some headed to their respective extra-circular activities, since it was a Friday, while others packed to leave the school. (*2) Rachel was one of those people who were packing for leaving school. In fact, she didn`t take any extra-circular activities all through the week. She would have if only there was a Reading Club, but since no one in school either liked reading or were not busy, there wasn`t one.
She slung one of the straps of her backpack onto her shoulders, hugged the file, notebook and textbook for Physics and left the classroom. Proceeded towards her locker, opened it, placed her Physics stuff into it, slammed it close, headed to the main doors of the school and went on her way to her next destination of the day. Luckily, Kitten and her minions had cheerleading practice today, so she wouldn`t be in Rachel`s way.
After walking a few blocks away from her school, she made it to the Watch Tower. It was a coffee shop she always went to after school. It was a place for people with or without mental disorder and disabilities to get together and socialize without people looking at them strangely. It helped the people with mental disorders and disabilities to talk, socialize, communicate and, if possible for the people who had mental disorders, to heal from their disorder and, for the ones who had disabilities feel better. It also allowed those who didn`t have mental disorders feel grateful of themselves not having mental disorders and disabilities and help those who had the. It was for a good cause. Surprisingly, despite people with mental disorders coming in, it was always buzzing with people. Well, as much as a coffee shop can get. She went there not because of the purpose of the coffee shop for people with or without mental disorders and/or disabilities, but to stay away from home as long as possible and avoid her Father.
She entered the shop and sat at her usual table - the one at the corner and more secluded - and laid out her pencil case and work for the day. After sorting out her items, she headed towards the counter. There, at the counter, was the blond-haired teenager serving another customer. Rachel recognized them immediately. It was Jericho (*3), one of the workers who had disabilities. He could utter no sound since birth. Roy Harper, one of the regular customers who had mental disorders and disabilities, losing an arm and sometimes thinking people were after him to kidnap him and clone him. He had a prosthetic arm, though sometimes he thinks the arm is secretly a weapon.
Jericho, upon seeing Rachel approaching, waved at her. Roy turned to see who he was waving at. "Hey, Rachel!" Roy shouted when she saw her walking towards them. Rachel just nodded at them.
May I take your order? Jericho signed.
"Just the usual, Jericho," Rachel said.
While Jericho typed in her order into the computer, Roy asked, "So, how are you doing, Rachel?"
Rachel just shrugged. "Same old, same old."
"Kitten and Fang still wasting their time on you?" Roy asked. Jericho pushed him, annoyed with him touching on such subjects. Roy could be so insensitive at times!
Rachel waved it off. "It`s alright, Jericho. They`re nothing much to me anyway. Just one of the obstacles I have to bear with. Actually though, Kitten made quite an effort to threaten me and, when she failed, went to Fang to deal with me. Was going to give me quite a number, but Mrs. Mae-Eye saw them. Got them running to their classes."
Cowards. When will they ever learn?
"I`ll bet all my allowance on the fact that they`d never learn. They just have the looks and power."
Is it wise, Roy? They might have the slightest chance to learn.
"The chances are slim to none. Only a bare minimum of 1%. They don`t even plan to pass their exams, I`d bet."
"Last year, Kitten spent most of the exams fixing her makeup and doing her nails. The supervisors of the exams taking place in the exam hall told her to do her exams. I heard that she wrote 'Daddy has a lot of money and owns a lot of things. I will inherit them. Why should I answer your stupid exams? Moth Enterprises will prosper forever. If you need me to take another exam, you will get fired.' on her English writing paper. During her Math test, she and her chair leaned backwards and stretched then turned her head to look at my paper. The 2nd time she tried it, when she leaned back, I put the tip of my pen under where head would be at," Rachel then laughed quite a bit. Regaining a bit of her composure, she continued, though still laughing. "She didn`t expect me doing that and jolted and her chair slipped under her and she fell. Her head hit the end of my table before hitting the floor.
Roy laughed loudly while Jericho, being the one with manners, covered his mouth to laugh.
A familiar female voice joined into the conversation. "I guess that incident made her lose more brain cells, not that she had much of them anyway." They all turned to see Karen making her way over to the group whilst carrying 2 cups over to them. "Here are your orders, Roy, Rachel. Black coffee and chamomile tea. Cinnamon`s in yours, Rachel. No teabags. Just the way you like it." Karen winked.
Rachel nodded in thanks while Roy uttered a 'thanks' before drinking some of his beverage with a big gulp. He immediately started gagging after downing the black coffee in his mouth.
"Hot! Bitter!"
Idiot, signed Jericho.
"Why do you always do that? You`ve done that lots of times yet you order black coffee and drink it before letting it cool down." Karen questioned.
Roy then did a pose. (In the back of his mind, he was probably thinking he would shine with holy light if he did that.) "Can`t you see? It makes me more handsome that way. A girl seeing me trying to down black coffee and brave the hotness of it. It would let her see my hotness radiating from the coffee inside me now! They`d faint from seeing how hot I am!"
Karen, Rachel and Jericho gagged. "I think they fainted from your weak attempt to impress them," Rachel said after recovering.
Roy just pouted and took another big gulp, forgetting that he`d done that. He gagged again from the bitter taste of the coffee.
Will you stop that?
"Okay, guys. I need to work. See you!" Rachel said.
"Bye!" they said. (Trying, in Roy`s case.)
Rachel headed back to her seat and placed her tea on the table. She then picked up her pen and looked at the work she had laid out. Looking at the amount, she took a deep breath. 'Okay,' she thought. 'Time to get to work.' She then got down to do her Business Studies worksheet from Mr. Jumbo.
8.10 p.m.
She had made it to the road her building was on. She stood in front of the doors of her building and looked up. After drawing a few breathes, she headed into the building. She would have chosen to go home after her Dad most likely had headed to bed, but since it was Friday, the Watch Tower closes earlier, at about 8 p.m., when it normally closes at 9.30p.m.
In the lift lobby, dark thoughts started going through her head. '-wish I had left…should have left with Mom…Need to use it again later…Wish I didn`t make it when I was born. Better yet should not have been born…or even conceived…'
Shouldn`t have been conceived. Then I won`t have to bear this. She arrived at the door of her apartment, turned the handle of the door and entered. She had just closed the door when she felt a hand grip the nape of her neck tightly.
Next day, 11 a.m.
Rachel sat in the waiting room, eyes closed, head tilted backwards and resting on the back of the chair she was sitting on, listening to her music from her iPod through her black ear buds. She had been here way too many times that the room was nothing new to her, with only a handful of changes of decorations since the day she first came here to be 'medicated'.
She scoffed. It had been quite a long time and she still hadn`t been any better. What`s the point of coming when it was no help to her?
She opened her eyes, raised her head and looked around. The ones that were in the Jump City Therapy Clinic were 2 regulars that were at the same time as her appointment, and 3 new ones.
She closed her eyes and just as she was about to tilt her head back to continue listening to her music quietly, she felt someone tapping on her shoulder.
She looked around to see who had tapped on her shoulder. When she saw him, she stopped the music and turned off her ear buds. She began to analyze the person next to her.
He had sun-kissed skin and long, black hair, which was tied into a ponytail. His blue eyes reminded her of the sea at the city`s beach she occasionally went to when she needed to find a place to think. He had the build of a swimmer. On his neck hung a yellow v-shaped pendant and he was wearing a blue T-shirt and skin-tight jeans with blue-and-white sneakers.
The teenager waved at Rachel. "Hello! What is your name?"
Rachel stared at him for quite a while before answering, "Rachel."
"Garth. What a great name for such a beautiful girl."
"Did you just come over to me just to flirt?" Rachel asked, an eyebrow raised.
"No, I did not. I just wished to talk since, as you can see, none of the others seem appropriate to talk with, as you can see." Garth made a small gesture to refer to the other people in the room.
There was an old lady with a cane that looked like she was about to doze off and another man who looked like he was having a stare off with the wall and was minutes away from glaring a hole into the wall. One was a mother who had brought her child along. The kid, however, looked like he wanted to shrug off her arm over his shoulder.
"So," Garth trailed off, thinking of what to say to break the ice, "what`s a pretty girl like you doing in 'Joker`s Therapeutic Fun House'?"
"Jack (*4) thinks I have personality disorder or something like that. I didn`t really listen to him when he said it. What`s your story?"
He looked about to speak when he was suddenly gulping air through his mouth and struggled to breathe. He grasped his neck with both hands and starting coughing.
The woman at the counter in front of the main entrance immediately got up, got out of the booth and rushed over to Garth`s side. The woman was Harleen Quinzel, whose 'stage name' was Harley. Another weird thing about the clinic was that all the staff that worked in there had a stage name. Something about making patients feel comfy in the clinic.
Harley eased him to sit down and was instructing him to breathe through his nose whilst glaring at Rachel every so often. Rachel gave her own glare back whenever Harley did that. Honestly, she shouldn`t blame Rachel whenever someone had their problem surfacing whilst talking to her.
Every time, whenever someone talked to Rachel, their problem that got them to go to the clinic would somehow resurface. It happened way too many times that there were rumors going around in the clinic that Rachel had sinister dark magic or something like that.
"Oh, Harley! Why didn`t you call answer the beep on the machine?" said a familiar chirpy voice. Everyone in the room turned to the voice`s owner, Joker, who was striding into the room towards Harley.
"Oh! Mista J! I`m so~sorry!" Harley said with that annoying, even more chirpy, high-pitched voice that made everyone hate. She wrapped her arms around his right arm and was rubbing herself up and down on him like she was a cat in heat. "Young Garth had his mental disorder resurface again. Sorry, Puddin`."
Joker pushed her off. Grabbing her shoulders so that she was looking at him, he looked into her eyes. "Not now, Harl. There`s a kid here. Besides, we`re at work." He then turned to Rachel. "Ah! My 11.15 patient is here. Come along, Rachel."
Rachel shrugged and followed him into his office.
His room was, as usual, filled with decorations of white, red, green and purple. It had furniture and toys of his theme color. He made his own toys, believing that they would be helpful in the process of recovery for his patients, and his furniture was specially made by, Sionis Industries, a company that made everything in the clinic. Roman Sionis, CEO of Sionis Industries, one of the famous companies in the world that made millions and helped people around the world with those extra greens they made, donated a fraction of his money to the clinic. Sometimes, Rachel questions if Roman`s donations are useless since only a handful of people have been cured or, at least, healed every 6 months.
Rachel sat down on the white sofa laid with 3 purple pillows with green eyes and a green smile sewn onto it. She then grabbed one of the pillowed and hugged it and laid her legs horizontally onto the sofa and leaned back to the sofa`s back. Joker sat on his favorite purple office chair that was at his dark brown oak desk, which was laid with some of his toys, stationery, paper work, snacks and documents.
A silence lapsed between them while Joker pulled out Rachel`s 'patient file'. After writing a few things down, Joker broke the silence.
"So, how`s my pretty bird patient fairing out? Still having suicidal thoughts or seeing imaginary friends?" Joker asked, popping a candy into his mouth.
"If I`m fine, would I still be coming here?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Come on, dear. You need to tell me more about you so that I can help you."
"I have told you many times, Jack. I don`t trust anyone."
"Aw, come on, Rachel! I`m your therapist! I`m supposed to help you get over your problem. You have to tell me more so that I can help you." Pause. "And it`s Joker."
"I`m fine, Joker. This is me. It`s normal. Can I go?"
"No, Rachel. It`s not normal. And it`s not healthy. Imagining friends is fine. It`s just a phase and a thing when the individual has no friends and is alone. It`s normal because the person is just trying to make themselves feel less lonely. However, it`s not normal to cut yourself when you`re 'numb' and to 'give yourself feeling'. Having suicidal thoughts is not normal…Has your father been abusing you as of late?" She didn`t answer. "Rachel?"
After a few minutes - Joker obviously waiting and wanting an answer - Rachel slowly nodded.
Joker sighed and wrote that down. "Have you still been going to the Watch Tower I recommended? Made any new friends?"
"Nope," she said popping the 'p'. "Just the usual."
Joker nodded, noting things down. "You should make more."
"I`m fine with those I have."
"Rachel, you shouldn`t put your walls up. It`s probably why you`re continuing to have these disorders."
Rachel casted her eyes downwards to the floor, her bangs covering the top part of her face, contemplating. Her grip onto the pillow she was clutching onto the pillow got a bit tighter.
Joker grabbed a red box on one of the shelves and walked over to sit on the green wooden chair next to Rachel.
"Come on, Rachel. Have some fun for a change." He popped the lid of the box open and a toy jester sprung out and it bounced up and down by the spring under it. "Maybe you`ll be like Little Jolly, being as jolly as he could."
Rachel grabbed the black and orange toy gun on the shelf next to the sofa and shot the gun. The flag with a 'bang' attached to a stick popped out (*5) and knocked the side of the toy jester`s head, making it move left and right.
Joker sighed. "Okay, kiddo. That`s it for today." He put the flag back into the gun and back onto the shelf and stuffed the toy jester back into the box and closed the lid. Rachel stood up and put the pillow onto the sofa and followed him to the door. He grabbed 2 pieces of coffee-flavored candy from one of the jars on the shelf next to the door. Giving the candy to her, he said, "Try, Rachel. Hm?" I`ll see you next time. Hopefully, you`ve improved a bit, at least, by then."
Rachel nodded and accepted the candy. Coffee-flavored candy was Rachel`s favorite candy flavor. Apparently, she could not resist the flavor of candy and Joker knew it.
Joker gave her a smile then opened the door.
7.17 p.m.
"So, got anything planned tomorrow?"
"Nah! Not really," Rachel said. She was in her bedroom sitting cross-legged on the chair she had dragged to the window she was at and was talking to Robin. He was leaning on the window of the apartment that he lived alone in, adjacent to Rachel`s and they would usually sit at the window in Rachel`s room and his living room since they were the only 2 windows of their apartment that would be close enough so that they could talk to.
"Wanna head to the park tomorrow? The Titans are going to have a day out tomorrow per Beast Boy and Starfire`s request."
"You know how much I`m not a crowd person."
"Who knows? You might have fun." Rachel just hummed.
The atmosphere around them was hung with a pregnant silence before she asked, "I realized I`ve never asked you this, but why do you never turn on your apartment lights? Afraid of the lights?"
"I`m not a vampire, you know. Besides, I`m a creature of the night." They both laughed.
They continued talking. However, unbeknownst to them, Rachel`s father, Trigon, had returned from his trip to the bar downtown. He was downright drunk and had way too much to drink. More than he usually had. Rachel and Robin were deep in the conversation that they didn`t hear Trigon`s footsteps when he approached Rachel`s door and the few noises that he made whilst spilling a few things onto the floor. The things he spilt were, surprisingly, small things or made little noise when they fell. It was the sound of the lamp near Rachel`s door falling to the ground made that they realized Trigon had returned home.
Robin stood up at the sound of Rachel`s door opening. Their eyes met and they looked into each other`s eyes. "Robin…"
Before Robin could say anything, Trigon stumbled into Rachel`s room. They saw Rachel`s father was holding a wine bottle in one hand and a knife in the other. Trigon launched himself at Rachel and pulled him away from the window.
Robin reached out to the Rachel`s window and cried her name, wanting to help her, but he knew he couldn`t. It was one of the conditions of The Titans he could not break. They could help a person, whether having physical or mental disorder, but it is to a certain extent. They could not interfere with anything beyond the conditions or else they would draw attention to themselves for humans to grow suspicious of.
Robin tried not to wince at the pained noises Rachel made. He has heard these noises many times, but he never gets used to them. He sighed before opening his communicator. "Cyborg?"
"It`s happened, hasn`t it?"
"Yeah…"
"I`m sorry, dude."
"I just wished we could do more. Or even stop it."
"Me too, but it`s what our job entails."
"I know."
"Just come back, okay?"
Robin hummed in acknowledgement before closing the communicator. He grabbed his backpack near the kitchen door on the floor and rummaged around in the backpack and found what he was looking for. He pulled it out and slung the bag onto his back and shoulder. He shot out his black grappling hook to the top of the building and jumped out. He got a glimpse of some people and families in their households in both buildings Rachel and, previously, Robin occupied. People were shutting the noise out. People closed their windows, in hopes to muffle the noise. Parents dragged children away from the windows and hugged them, as though to protect them from facing the cruelty and reality of the world and to keep their innocence just a bit longer. He saw one of the occupants of Rachel`s building that was dialing the police. He was very grateful for the man, for him being different from humans, being a prime example, calling the police, giving attention to the situation and not do nothing, and care for those even if he did not know. Robin didn`t need to give anyone else of both buildings a glance because he knew they were mostly the same. While he was lowering to the ground, he heard the sound of a bottle shattering - obviously from the bottle he had seen in Trigon`s hands just now – and flinched.
As he lowered to the ground, he could still hear Rachel`s cry of pain from down there. He retracted the hook into his grapple gun and put it away.
All of sudden, Rachel`s voices of pain slowly decreased in volume. Robin shook his head. He knew that it would be a matter of time before she would cease… As much as he wished to, he could not interfere and help, or else The Titans would be force to disband, they would not be able to help those suffering and in need. Furthermore, there would be no place for them there. Other things that link to that…Robin could not bear to continue the train of thought.
Slinging the bag onto his back and shoulders once again, he pulled up the hood of his hoodie over his head and walked away from the alley in between the 2 buildings.
8:44 p.m.
'Do Not Cross' crime scene tapes surrounded the perimeter of the building Rachel had occupied. Several police vehicles were parked outside. Cops went in and out of the building, asking questions to the occupants of the building. News reporters, journalists, cameramen and pedestrians surrounded the street, curious about what had happened or wanting to get a good scoop for the next day.
One of the people in the crowd was Robin. He had reluctantly come to the scene. He didn`t want to since he knew a lot about humans and how disgusting and perverted they could be. He only came here as a part of him wished that Rachel, against all odds, had managed to survive.
However he knew it was no use. No one could have survived Trigon`s brutal attacks, especially not when he was drunk. A long black bag was carried out of the building. The size of the bag was apparent to what was inside. It wasn`t Trigon though, since said man was handcuffed and was escorted to jail via a police car, where he would await trial in the High Court for his sentence, a good 20 minutes earlier.
Seeing Rachel`s corpse being moved into a vehicle, Robin immediately turned on his heel and left. He wouldn`t be seen as suspicious for leaving since no one could see him. Plus, he didn`t want to hear what people said to the cops, reporters and journalist since he knew a majority of them were prejudiced against her. Some were good people and understanding. Others were not. Some blamed her for something not in her control, making up and over exaggerating stories.
Trigon was known for being an alcoholic and short and bad-tempered man and a lot of people knew he was involved in the black market and was also a mob boss. Everyone was either scared or loathed him. Everyone knew to stay out of his way and away from him. His temper changed as quickly as a drop of a coin. He was also known for murdering people as well, though surprisingly few since people worth more when alive.
With Trigon known for his antics, Rachel was then prejudiced. Stories, gossip and stories were made up until there were a lot of versions were made up. Some were true while some were downright outrageous. The conversations about the Roth family were also cruel.
…Rachel and her father were intimate…She`s helping her dad since someday she would take his place…She deserves to die. The Roth family was never good people. They`ve been here since the start of this city…If the family dies out, the city would become one of the safest cities in the state…Hope they die out soon enough…It`s just bad luck being born with the family name…
Robin has heard a lot of the stories, gossip, rumors and conversations already and it was enough. Leaving here meant he would not need to hear them anymore.
A few days later, 2:42 p.m.
"…And in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, may they guide young Rachel Roth to travel safely into Heaven. May she rest in peace. Amen," (*6) the priest droned. He drew his fingers to his forehead, chest and shoulders, drawing a cross. He then closed the Bible in his hands and turned around and left.
The funeral was quite a small one, with a few of those that knew Rachel or were close to her as anyone can. Among those people were her friends in the Watch Tower, a few of the teachers, Principal Wilson, a few of the students in school, Joker and Harley. The money for her burial was just enough. Normally the government would help in paying the fee for a burial of people 18 or under. However, the prejudication of Rachel also extended to the government of the state as well. The government did help pay for the fee, but it was only a third of the usual amount. Furthermore, the price of burials had gone up last year. She was also treated as a criminal and extra amount was paid for a place in the Catholic cemetery. Originally, a lot of them had opposed for her being buried since it was pricey. Some of them had opted for her being cremated. However, some of them wanted her to be buried. Reasons varied but the most common ones were that they wanted all of her to be preserved as respect for the physical remains or to bring closure to Rachel and, the religious ones, so that all of her could make it to the afterlife. Through constant arguing, debating and insistence to some of the group, they had managed to agree to bury her.
After a moment longer of silence, Joker produced a handful of coffee-flavored candies from his pockets and set them onto the gravestone.
"She was such a sweet girl."
"Yeah. Despite being alone all the time, she loved helping people. Who`s going to tell the children in the orphanage that she`s not going back anymore?"
"I don`t know, but it`s a hard thing to break it up to them."
"She was also smart. Getting very good grades and awards and certificates."
"There`s also one less member in the chess community. One less person that would appreciate the art and strategy needed in chess."
"She had so much potential! A future awaiting her!"
"It`s not fair! It`s not her fault. Everyone - her neighbors, other classmates, the government and other people - blame her for something she had no choice of. Something she couldn`t stop! Something she couldn`t control!"
They continued conversing some more, discussing how unjust people were to her and how great a person she was and how a loss it is to lose someone so great, despite her disorder, from this world. They then gradually left.
Unbeknownst to them, Rachel and Robin were actually standing next to a tree not far away from Rachel`s own grave. They had seen the whole of the funeral.
"You had a lot of people that care for you, you know."
Rachel said nothing. She just stared at her grave for a while longer, pondering, before she turned to Robin. "Yes. Yes, I did."
They were silent for a while before Robin looked behind him and spoke up. "Hey! They`re here! Let`s go!" He turned his body around.
Rachel then turned as well and saw a few of the members of the Titans on the other side of the cemetery. There stood the other founding members of the Titans - Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire - and some other members of the Titans as well.
Robin and Rachel walked over to the group without a sound.
"Hi, Rachel! Glad to see you, though I wish it was of better circumstances." Rachel just shrugged it off.
Starfire held out her hand and opened her palm, revealing a Titan's communicator/badge she had seen so many times Robin had used held in it. However it didn`t have a T on it yet. Rachel knew what she was to do.
She held out her left hand and put it on Starfire`s palm and the communicator/badge. She then raised her right hand until it resided next to her head and in the air.
"Do you, Rachel Roth, abide the rules of being a Titan-to help out those that are suffering and in need?" Cyborg said.
"I do."
"Do you agree to the terms and conditions and bounds and the consequence if you were to break the rules of being a Titan."
"I do."
"Do you know of the terms and conditions and the consequence?"
"…I do."
"Then, you, from now on, are a member of the Titans, helping out those that are suffering and in need but not breaking the bounds of being one lest be punished. Welcome, Rachel Roth." There was a gleaming white light in that appeared between Starfire and Rachel`s hand and soon faded. The white T she had seen on several of the Titans communicator appeared and her name - Raven - was etched on the object`s side.
She picked up the communicator/badge, looked at tit for a while. Silence lapsed between the group before Rachel - Raven - put it away. She smiled at them and they smiled back. Robin held out his hand in the middle of them. The others placed it on top of them and they soon waited for Raven`s, looking at her expectantly. She shrugged and put her hand onto the pile of out stretched hands as well. They moved their hands up and down and said all the while. "3…2…1…Titans, GO!"
They then rushed off and out of the cemetery, continuing their main goal as the Titans.
They called themselves the Titans. Consisting with not only teens but young children and adults as well, their social group was quite big and was at different parts of the world, spreading out all around the globe. They constantly held meetings at Jump City since this was where the group first started. They were broken angels with concrete wings and could never fly. Despite that they had not sinned heavily, they were not pure because of what they had faced as a human. Their goal was to help those suffering and in need. However, they had certain bounds and could not stop something like murder and stuff like that, lest they drew attention to themselves. They neither belong in heaven or in hell. They are paying a forever debt so that they would not end up in hell since they do not belong in heaven. If they were to break the rules and the bounds as a Titan, they would go to the lowest level in hell-the 10th. Despite how painstaking sometimes the job could be, they enjoyed doing it.
(*1) I have the habit too. Oh! And senior high-school students of Jump City College have 6 lessons a day, each of about an hour with a 40-minute break-time and an hour of lunch in between the 6 lessons.
(*2) I figured that Mother Mae-Eye could actually be really caring person…without being an evil green-skinned and yellow-eyed witch bad guy, that is. And most extra-circular activities takes place after school on a Friday in this school.
(*3) No. Jericho is not related to Principal Wilson here. And in this universe, Arsenal is this Roy Harper. If comparing with the superhero universe,… Roy would be Speedy and then became Arsenal. Get it? And they are not in Rachel`s hallucination, meaning they hadn`t died.
(*4) Joker`s name has been mentioned to be Jack in The Dark Knight, I think.
(*5) The gun in Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.
(*6) I just made that up. I have no idea what the priest says from the Bible in a funeral. I have been to one but back in Hong Kong, so I figured it would be different in America? 'Sides this is my story, so… Also, the priest was made to 'drone' since I figured he had done these ceremonies so many times, I figured he would be used to it and get bored. Furthermore, continue how people prejudices Rachel for being born with the Roth family name. In my story, a place for a criminal to be buried, especially in a Catholic cemetery, must be paid for.
It was very hard to start this. I swear I took a month just to think how to start it. Hate starting stories sometimes. And I took what I have here studying abroad the UK and incorporated it into here and tried to make the story to have some American things in it. Accept for the extra-circular activity thing.
In case, there`s any misunderstandings, I`ll explain a bit more. Jericho, Garth, Roy, Bumble Bee and some others are not dead. Yet. Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Robin, Raven and some others are. They are just not all formed yet. People only know 9 depths of hell but they do not know of a 10th – the level for these 'concrete angels'.
Hope I cleared that up. If there`s any more unclear stuff, I will answer and add here. However, I will not answer those that I would like you to think of and use your imagination for.
Ending is crap. However, this story is the best one yet. Typing stories, sometimes logic gets thrown out the window. If you find anything wrong, tell me and I`ll correct it. Read&review!