To Conquer Fear

To Conquer Fear

By greenrandomness

Summery: After the execution of Warren's father due to his actions in From Discord, Warren begins to see what he can only assume is his father's ghost. Day after day, he catches glimpses of a very familiar dead man as his own life falls apart.

Author's Note: Hello again here is the first official chapter…and I believe I have everything worked out exactly as I want it now. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Italics are emphasized words or Warren's exact thoughts. You should be able to tell which is which.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High, any of its characters, nor settings. Although, I do own any plot points you do not recognize as being in the movie.

Chapter 1- Remembrance

Warren stared out the window as the rain briskly pelted the glass. Leaning his forehead against the cool surface, he blinked lethargically while watching the damp road beneath him passing swiftly by. His mother sat in the drivers seat tensely, following the rather short funeral procession to the gates of the cemetery. Each mile led them closer to a destination he had never intended to be at. Two days ago he had decided not to go to the execution, and in doing so he had thought he wouldn't be attending the funeral either. His mom hadn't even expected him to go, but the more he thought about it the more he questioned such an action.

Almost immediately after his mother returned home, she began to make phone calls, and each one made him think just a little bit more. Thoughts constantly raced around his head while he watched her make arrangement for his father's funeral. By the time everything had been sorted out, it had finally sunk in. Both the men he had known were gone; all that was left was an urn full of ashes.

The idea that his father and the man he had become were together now was disturbing to say the least, but he couldn't stop it from bouncing around his head. He knew it bothered him, and he knew he shouldn't even be thinking about it, but the very thought of them both being the same man undermined everything he had worked so hard to separate himself from. He knew deep down that the man who destroyed so many peoples lives was gone now, but every time he heard his father's name it was all he could picture. He had separated them in life through their actions, but now in death they were the same. There was no longer a distinguishing line in his mind.

He knew that he couldn't keep going if that line was gone. The separation between his father and the man he had become had been one of the only things he could hold onto after it happened. He needed to do something to bring the line back, and the only thing he could think of was the funeral. Maybe it would be a way to finally put his father's demons to rest while simultaneously easing his own. Maybe it would allow him to once again view them as two separate entities. Maybe it would show him that the man who had destroyed his life was gone and that his father was finally at peace. God I hope so.

Warren just wanted to be at peace again. The calmness he had felt, the absolute tranquility he had felt once he had accepted that his father was truly gone, that he had never committed any of the atrocities associated with his name, had been amazing. It had been revitalizing. He needed that again, he needed that peace. He needed to know that the murderer was gone; he needed to know that his father was still his father, and he needed to know that the same thing wasn't going to happen to him. The needs, the maybes, the uncertainties, had all pulled him from his bed and into the car today, but he wasn't sure if it would even work.

Sure the ceremony had been nice in the usual sense. People had cried, the pastor had talked, everyone said a prayer, but it had seemed so fake…so completely contrived. The people, our family, had shunned us for years because of his actions, and yet now they were weeping as if they had been there all along, the pastor hadn't seen Barron since he was twelve, and yet he was suddenly an expert on the man's 'strength of character and courage', and the prayers had seemed insubstantial in the all but empty, cavernous church.

Sighing softly he shook his heads in an attempt to lose his train of thought. The fakeness of it all would only make him angry, and today was not the day to lose his cool. Focusing his eyes, he realized that they had reached the gates to the cemetery. Sitting up straighter, despite the discomfort his damp dress shirt caused against his warm skin, he looked straight ahead towards the hilly rows of tombstones. He glanced at his mother out of the corner of his eye as they pulled into the green area, although when she sniffled, he looked away. It only served as a reminder that she shouldn't be driving. She had been crying since the middle of the service, and yet she had refused to surrender the keys. No matter how much he had insisted she refused to let him take the wheel on the way here.

Flashback

"I'll drive." He monotoned as they left the grey stone church that had housed his father's funeral. When she didn't respond, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the once beautiful building seemingly fading into the cloudy sky behind it. As he watched, a few more people trickled out of the interior, each seeming to be just as gray and lifeless as the rest of the scenery. Looking forward again as they neared the car, he held out his hand for the keys.

"No." Katherine snapped belatedly, seemingly in her own world, "I'm okay. I'll drive."

"Mom, you really shouldn't." He responded his voice calm but firm as he continued to hold his hand out to her. If her red teary eyes and slow response were anything to go by, she really shouldn't have the keys.

"No, Warren, I'm okay. I am perfectly fine to drive." She stated quickly, unlocking the car and getting in.

"Mom—"

"I'm driving." His mother affirmed loudly closing the door and all but ignoring his still outstretched arm. She started the car deliberately as if trying to prove she could do it.

"You can't—" Warren tried to protest as he opened the door again, but when he did so the sky that had been threatening all day long let loose and began to shower him with thick, wet drops. Warren, ignoring the cool water cascading over his face and the droplets sticking to his eyelashes, stared her down in lieu of words.

"Warren." She sighed, her voice loosing its former strength, "It's raining, please, just get in the car." He held her stare challengingly for a few seconds as the rain pounded down onto him, soaking his borrowed suit and drenching his tied back hair. Pushing a loose strand of hair from his forehead, he broke eye contact and closed the door on her stare before moodily walking to the other side of the car and getting in. The rest of the drive was spent in silence.

End of flashback

"Warren?" A soft voice asked, breaking into his reverie. "Warren, we're here."

Snapping back to the present, Warren nodded, and looked at the small figure of his mother. "Do you think you can you handle this?"

"Yes. I think so." She smiled sadly her dark eyes dim but determined. "I said goodbye to your father along time ago, now it's just being made official."

"Yeah…" He responded thinking the same thing as he looked at the sky through the window, "At least the rain looks like it's letting up."

She looked outside with a small smile gracing her features in confirmation and opened the door. Warren followed suite and soon they were both trudging up the hill where the rest of their family were gathering.

The light rain still drizzled down from the clouds, but even as they walked the sky's color was fading from grey to white. Upon reaching the top of the hill, they both gazed at the Battle family plot with quickly quelled resentment. The huge space was covered with tombstones, each holding the name of a Battle family relation. Some of the stones seemed old as if they had been around for centuries, but all of them were in good condition. One in particular seemed to shine above the rest in the gloomy light, and it acted as a beacon pulling them all towards the freshly dug hole in the ground.

The group of ten men and women, including Warren and his mother, gathered in a semicircle around the grave so that they could all see the pastor from his current positing at the head. The man looked up at the sky as if asking God for permission to begin before he pulled open his bible and selected an appropriate verse. As the drizzle coated them all with water, the pastor read solemnly staring at the page. He looked up and began to advise them all on the will of God, God's plan, and everything else that is suppose to be said at a gravesite, but Warren wasn't really listening. Unlike his family who was focused on the man preaching of virtue and eternal life, all he could think of was the ashes of his father in the coffin.

His mother would have preferred if her husband hadn't been cremated but it was regulation. Any super villain who was indestructible was considered too dangerous to bury intact. Headquarters figured that no being would be able to heal from ashes, or at least they hadn't found one yet. That was the thing about those who are indestructible; they are impossibly hard to kill, you could never be quite sure when they were down for the count. Although, few were able to regenerate from death, no one wanted to take any chances with villains bad enough to be executed. As a precaution, every one of them was cremated with power suppressant cuffs on because if there was even a single spark of life in them they could potentially resist the burning. So now, because of his father's resilience, he was staring at a coffin full of ashes as it was lowered into the ground.

His mother had insisted they get a real casket, despite the fact he was being cremated. The funeral director had been confused, but in the end he had obliged. She must have seen it as a way to gain some sort of control over the situation. She couldn't decide his state when he was buried because of regulations, she couldn't decide where he was buried because it was tradition for his family to be buried here, but she could decide how he was buried.

Finally, the box was all the way in the hole, and his father was in his final resting place. The pastor motioned to Katherine, and she picked up a handful of soil. She gave Warren an encouraging look for him to do the same, as he did so she threw it in and he followed suite throwing his small handful onto the dark wood. The pastor said one last prayer as the diggers filled in the hole, covering up Barron Battle for the final time.

Warren could hear his mother crying softly to herself as she stood by the rapidly filling grave, and he could here the muffled sobs of a few other members in the party, but he had yet to feel a rush of emotion. He seemed, for the most part, disconnected as the last of the dirt was patted down. He watched as the Battles slowly walked away in their respective groups, and yet he stayed. His mother took a few timid steps towards the mound and placed a single hand on top of the wet grave marker before walking towards the car. When she was about to descend the hill she looked back at him as if to ask 'Are you coming?'

"I'll meet you at the car." He replied to the unanswered question his voice slightly rough from silence. Once she was further down the incline he stepped up to the stone and stared at it, reading the delicate script.

In Loving Memory Of

An adoring husband and father

Barron Battle

1964—2007

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.

Warren looked incredulously at the quote for a minute. He hadn't thought his revelation would be quite so straightforward. He knelt down, not caring about the mud dirtying his pants and traced his finger over the words. He paused on briefly on 'fire' and 'death' unintentionally before continuing.

As the drizzling rain washed over his face he let a small smile slip through his lips. Of course it didn't solve all his problems, but maybe it was some sort of 'Cosmic Message'. He had never necessarily been against the idea of signs, although he had never witnessed one himself, but maybe…just maybe this was one. Taking a deep breath he stood up and started walking to the car with his thoughts going a thousand miles a minute.

The man who had attack Headquarters years ago was gone. He had died leaving only the memory of a husband and father to his family. All of the malice, all of the rage, everything his father had felt was gone now. Everything that had transformed him into the man who killed and maimed was dead. The only thing that was left was the memories and deeds he left behind. If he remembered his father before the attack, if he remembered all the people he saved and the villains he stopped; that's who his father would always be.

The good things his father did would always be real as long as he remembered them. The terrible things, the deaths, the fires, the destruction, they would be remembered only by those who knew him. As people died names would be forgotten, dates would be erased, everything that had happened would be gone just like the man who committed the atrocities. Generations from now no one would remember Barron Battle the villain, but as long as Warren was alive he could remember his father as the man who had carried him on his shoulders. He could tell his children of the great things Barron Battle had done. He could tell them of the heroic battles, and the hundreds of people his father saved.

His father had died the day Uncle William died; he had accepted that a long time ago. Now that the man his father had become had died, Warren could truly remember his father as he once was. There was no longer a man masquerading in his father's body, mocking the very life he once lived, and destroying the people he had cared about. He no longer had to fear the man's actions; what he could do, what he could say, what he was plotting. He could focus on the man who his father should have been and not what tragedy turned him into.

On that thought Warren realized that he was back at the car, and just as he opened the passenger side door to get in, he saw the sun appear from behind the clouds. He stared upwards for a moment, his hand still on the door, and a small smirk pulled at his lips. Sliding into the seat he looked at his mom and said, "It stopped raining," as they slowly followed the road out of the cemetery and towards home.

TBC

Author's Note: Hey there I hope you guys enjoyed this, and please review so I can know what you think. Tell me if you see any grammatical errors or the like. The next chapter is when the plot is really going to start going…so I hope you find this interesting enough to keep on reading.