Chapter III, Act I
Jericho was falling through the air. The bike he had been riding on before flipped and twirled just inches above him even as he continued to fall straight down. He flailed his arms as the other person screamed as loud as he could. But it did nothing for them as they continued to fall closer and closer to the water, the liquid splashing against the rocky base of the cliff behind them its white foam up being lapped up along its sides.
"AHHHHH-HAAAHHHH!" Jericho wished he had control over the person's voice just this once. He tried to clench down on his jaw, forcing his mouth closed after drawing in a breath. But he could feel his heart racing faster. He wanted to take another breath, try to calm down, or something! He tried to hold on but let go as the water came closer, breathing rapidly again . The other person kept screaming, the noise ringing in Jericho's ears.
The body plunged into the water quickly, the entrance almost unnoticeable as waves coming back from the cliff side swarmed over them. The motorbike landed only a split-second later, mercifully having fallen away from them.
Jericho closed his eyes in the water for a second, the liquid coming into contact with them. He opened though almost as soon as he blinked, the pain only temporary. He knew it would only get worse if he didn't get used to it now. He tried to look up towards the surface, seeing in blur the bike sink past them down through the water. He swiveled his arms up and down, trying to straighten his twisted body up.
But he was underwater; there was no time for this! He had to get to the surface, and fast! He wouldn't last long here, hadn't taken a large enough breath! Had to get up to the surface, had to!
The water's current suddenly began to go against him. A sharp pain hit in the back, his body flipping over. Jericho almost lost the air he was holding from the impact, the mental strain of keeping his jaw shut worsening as he wanted let go and yell. The wave continued to push him to the side, instead of up. He could feel the screams still coming up from inside the body, the other person terrified by what was happening. Guilt swarmed into him from the thought of another being put at risk because of him. But Jericho tried to ignore it and swim up, getting away from the bike after a few seconds.
He didn't have a few seconds though; he barely had any at all! He had to get up, and now!
He swam up and away from the bike as fast as he could, the current continuing to carry the bike in the other direction. It was dying down now though, the movement of the water dissipating as the current edged farther and farther away. He could see... light piercing the top of the water, from the sky! Close, so close! His throat was beginning to screech for air, tightening and closing on him. Running out of air too quickly. Only a few more feet now, just a couple more separating them, had to get up and out, had to--
Another current from the other direction smashed into him, pulling him down even as it pushed him towards the cliff side. Jericho struggled to try to gain any kind of supremacy, but the wave refused to relent. His throat clenched even tighter, the air was being used up... too quickly. The other person was panicking even worse than Jericho, attempting to scream even under the fierce movements of the water. He looked down through the liquid, seeing his body was approaching the bottom faster and faster as they were continually pushed down. He moved as desperately as possible, trying to swim up. Jericho felt something soft and mushy under his shoed foot. He looked down, the pain in his throat and chest, growing more... and more. Images were beginning to... flash before his eyes...
A piano... him, sitting at it... it looked so... dreamy though... so...
NO! He had to swim up, he had to get away from the bottom, from the--
--Sand, he touched the shallow bottom. Desperately, Jericho looked back up, and tried to use the sea-ground to push off from. But the sand was too soft, and his feet only got buried more in it! No, he had to get... out! His throat was screaming to release, to open his mouth and take in air, breath it and fill his lungs with air. The pain was becoming unbearable, his chest was burning. Only a couple... more seconds to swim, couldn't hold out much--
A knife... cold and sharp... flashing in the room's light... falling...
The boy finally released and exhaled into the bay. Water rushed into his mouth even as he inhaled vainly, as if expecting air to come rushing in. Jericho choked, unable to do anything. Dark spots were already beginning to come over his eyes, blurring more images as they came to him. A man in an orange mask... running over to him... He was losing control of his body, arms falling to his side, giving up on trying to reach the surface. He looked up at the distant surface, even as the water began to come back from slamming into the cliff side, already beginning to drag him out towards the main bay again.
Something... clutching him... his body in a... bed...
The light was still shining from above. Bright spots, intermingling with the dark spots in his eyes danced across the surface area, shimming and moving gently. They disappeared more and more as Jericho found less and less control over himself, the darkness creeping over him. But then... something else disrupted them. A large break in the water... or was it something else... developed. A large object was barreling towards him... or was it just the spots in his eyes, almost completely claiming his... sight...
A large, black object mixed in with silver blots across it in several places. He could barely see it; his normally vibrant eyes were closing, perhaps of his own will. It was moving closer and closer, blurring more and more with the rest of the black he was seeing. Barely any of the blue water could be seen now, the spots in his eyes and the object, whether it really was something that was separate from his own sight, blocking it out.
It was only a little way... away from him. His sight was blacking out completely now, his chest was feeling colder than... he had ever felt in... water before... but at least... he had gotten his wish today... to see her... and whatever was coming at him... could keep doing so... a small smile came across his numbed lips.
His dad... once told him about... the thing coming now... He thought he had called him... Death, in his stories...
But... no... Death had a white skull... and this...
Had one of part-orange.
Whatever it was, Jericho's eyes finally closed, the blackness swallowing him just as the black and silver shape came right at him, a very-faint feeling on his shirt being lifted off from his skin, and tugged at even as he finally lost all consciousness, drifting off into the abyss.
-T-
Raven tried to block out the sound of her captor's motorcycle as it rumbled down the street. She felt Red X's grip on her and the goo tighten as he turned a corner of the hillside, her back rubbing against the rails of the chair. A few bumps in the road caused the vehicle to "jump" up and down, upsetting her stomach even more than the rose was. She sneezed again at the pollen, snapping her eyes closed at the same time.
'Well, at least my allergy's minor.' Raven thought grimly to herself. She felt another unpleasant feeling in her stomach. It wasn't from the allergies, or the road, but--
'That person who fell over the rail... he was trying to save me. But now he's...' Raven didn't let herself finish the last part. She turned her head to Red X, glaring at him. The thief sensed her staring, and took his gaze from the road.
"Got something to say to me, baby?" he asked her in his computerized voice. Raven gritted her teeth, her eyes glowing white.
A rock suddenly shot up from the ground around them, and hurled itself at the villain. Red X turned just in time to see it, ducking before he got hit. The rock sailed over them, and crashed into the road ahead. Red X gripped her shoulder (an area not covered by the goo), causing her to wince in pain.
"You really shouldn't try that again," Red X taunted her, turning his head back to the road. The empath turned her face away from him. She couldn't do anything worthwhile while he was still holding her. Even if her allergic reaction wasn't that strong, she couldn't concentrate greatly, and do more than maybe throw a couple objects, or let some of her powers spiral a bit out of control. And the only person who could've really done something back was... gone.
More like fallen over a cliff. Raven could barely make out the rail and hilltop that the other rider had fallen over at. He couldn't be... gone though. Nothing had seemed really remarkable about him, just like one of the average teenagers that chased her around sometimes in the city, video-recorder in hand. But this one... something had seemed different. His moves, not everyone could just do that, and on a motorbike too.
And then there was the J sign he had flashed. Had that somehow actually been him? Had that actually been Jericho? But... how? That couldn't have been him, he looked nothing like the teen she had seen at the cafe, and shared a table with. He had been almost twice as wide, and... shorter. Still... there was just something strange about it... something that couldn't be dismissed at first glance...
Those green eyes...
"We'll be at my place in a little while, so try to stay comfy for the ride." Red X spoke out loud, keeping his masked face straight ahead. Raven furrowed her eyebrows and upturned her mouth a little at the words. Comfy, right...
She sneezed again. The back of her throat felt rough, the sneezing making it only feel worse. The empath turned her head to the side a little, looking at Red X. She spied the rose hanging out of his belt from the stem. Raven gritted her teeth, trying to go through all the possible moves she could make.
'But they all require my powers, and that means concentration! And I can barely do that without facing the rose...' Raven turned her face back away, letting herself sneeze. She winced at the pain in her throat from it. Had to do something though now... it was only going to get worse the more she waited, and the more she exposed herself to pollen. Needed to do something, needed to... concentrate.
"Az-azarath..." Raven began slowly, quietly. Without a good concentrated and clear mind, her mantra would have to do at the moment, even if it put her at risk of being heard. "Met-etrion..."
The rose began to waver, almost as if it was being tugged. Raven narrowed her eyes, glowing with negative energy. Concentrate... have to--
The empath suddenly felt her throat go funny. Raven's nose began to twitch, and her eyes started to water. 'No, not now, have to concentrate. Can't--'
"Zintho-Achoo!" Red X turned his head when she sneezed, just as Raven reared her head back, sniffling. He stared at her for a few seconds, before speaking in his usual tone. The bike jostled a bit over a few cracks on the road.
"Want a tissue babe?"
"No, don't really need one," she sprouted back, keeping her gaze to the fields around them. Her voice sounded just as it had a few minutes ago. Of course the pollen wouldn't just go away after just a few seconds... but, she still had hoped it'd get better faster. The quicker her nasal passages could clear up, the faster she could get away.
"We'll see about that, still got my gift," The thief responded, turning around to get the present. Raven smirked even as the bike hit a few more rough spots, waiting for Red X's reaction. Still not clear enough to make a more concentrated attack, even with a low-subsconscious healing factor. Just had to wait a little bit more. "What the--"
Red X stopped himself in mid-sentence, before looking back to the front of his bike. He made a sharp turn right, causing Raven to feel like her stomach was doing cartwheels. She could breath a little more clearly now, no longer as nasally. Just a little longer...
"Heard that little chant of yours before, but didn't think you were actually doing anything. So how could just you throw that rose away? I stole it for you," The teen spoke out, looking over at her as he navigated the bike around another turn. Raven gritted her teeth, trying to keep her stomach from getting upset. The last thing she needed now was to throw up, even if it would provide a good distraction. Red X suddenly took his arm off the handlebar, reaching into his suit. Raven's eyes followed his arm as it shuffled around, beneath the sleek fabric. "Here we go."
'No!' Raven nearly shouted out, as Red X took another rose from his suit. He placed the dead plant's stem into his belt, close to the empath. The pollen was already drifting... towards her. She had to get away now if she was going to at all. No more waiting.
"Azarath Metrion--mmph!" Red X had clasped a gloved hand over Raven's mouth. She looked at the teen, her eyes fading from pupiless white back to their normal way. She felt her chair slip a little from his grasp, her feet less than a foot off the ground. Red X took his other hand off the bar again, waving a finger at her.
"No way babe, can't let you do that. Still haven't arrived yet." Red X taunted her. Raven gritted her teeth and tried to struggle against his grip. Her chair slipped a little more down, and one of the legs began to scrape against the road. She stopped moving for a second, both of them hearing the noise.
"Careful, or you'll fall." After a moment Red X finally removed his hand from her face, catching a lock of hair and flinging it over her face. Raven glared at him, before rearing her head back as her nose started to act up again. She could feel Red X put his arm back under her, the chair rising back up. The pollen was starting to get to her again, her eyes beginning to water. Great, no way to get away now, other than trying to fall...
"Almost there babe." Raven braced herself as the bike started to pick up even more speed, the fields on either side becoming blurs to her. She tried to gulp down an uneasy feeling, but it only became worse as her allergies picked up in her throat. Maybe falling wouldn't be so bad now, she was covered in goo after all. Probably would shatter if she hit the road, let her get away easier...
'For about five seconds until Red X turned around and drove back for me.' Raven moved her head to the side, grimacing. She tried to look forward, her vision blurred by her allergies. She could feel the bike slowing down a little, just as wherever they were driving to started to come a little more into vision. Large... objects, definitely not things you'd find in fields. Brownish...
'Are those... buildings?'
Raven kept staring, looking away only when she sneezed into Red X. Where was he taking her, a city? He had kidnapped her from one city to take her to another?
A slow thought of realization came to Raven as they were just a minute or so out of the place. It wasn't a city, no, not enough buildings. Plus, they were all industrial, with smoke stacks and pipes going all over the place. She blinked away some of the painful tears welling in her eyes, and kept staring. And it they all looked... abandoned. None of the pistons outside were moving, no smoke billowing out of the stacks, all the windows just... black. Red X started slowing down even more as they were just out of entering the first street. Made sense if the buildings were, actually...
"Well, we're here babe. My place."
Raven jerked forward as the bike stopped. She looked at the thief miserably as he stepped off, continuing to hold her, moving over to the side of the building. The empath watched as he reached a door on one of the many black and grey buildings. He grasped a doorknob, and turned it. Raven listened to the grating noise, hearing it take longer than usual. Why was this place still around? It seemed so large for a factory or... whatever it was.
"Come on in."
The two entered the room. The only light illuminating the room came from the outside, which cut off as Red X closed the door behind them. Raven tried to look around, ignoring the pain in her eyes, but she couldn't make anything out past the floor just in front of her. It was dirty, with grime and muck stuck inbetween broken-up pieces of tiles. Red X kept going, moving over the little bit of seeable flooring, and into the dark room. The empath felt a chill go through her body. Being here was definitely a lot worse than outside, on the bike. She couldn't see anything, not even the space right in front of her face. Anything, or anyone could be in here, completely hidden.
Her chair's feet clattered onto the room as she felt him put her down. Raven listened to the echo. Definitely was a big room, no doubt about that. Her focus shifted, as she heard Red X start to walk away from her, his boots slapping the floor. Being where they were, it probably didn't make any difference how loud he walked. Confidently, arrogantly.
'Well, I guess he has reason to. There's no one to stop him, and he has what he wants.' Red X suddenly spoke to her.
"Let me just get the lights for us."
CLICK.
Raven closed her eyes and jerked her head to the side as the room was flooded with lights. A few patches of ground were covered back into darkness almost as quickly, before being lighted back up, as the ceiling lamps blinked on and off. The sounds of Red X's shoes on the factory floors started up again, then stopped. The empath let her eyes get use to the new illumination, before opening them fully. The stinging was getting a little less again...
She turned her head a couple times, trying to find where Red X had gone off to. Nowhere in front of her, that was certain. Raven craned her neck a little painfully, looking behind herself. 'Found him, but what's he... doing?'
The sounds of keys being tapped started coming to her ears, as Red X sat hunched over a... desk? A large monitor was set up in front of him, currently blank. What was this, his "secret lair"? An abandoned factory made sense for a hideout, but not a large one, or at least one with a computer and the other high-tech equipment she noticed nearby.
"It's a good thing your allergy isn't that bad, can't risk you getting sick. Too valuable to let that happen."
Raven listened to the words, letting them slowly register. Too... valuable?
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, fighting more against her constraints. He kidnapped her because she was... valuable? Red X kept typing and hitting the buttons on his key board. The screen in front of him began to light up, several menus of different colors came on. Some closed immediately, while others stayed open. After a few minutes, the last one went down, leaving the screen blue, with a few words Raven couldn't read on it.
"What do you think it means? The Titans'll pay anything to get you back," Red X said to her, leaning back in his chair. The blue screen disappeared, and was replaced by another black one. A large empty bar appeared on the monitor, and slowly began to fill. Raven stopped struggling in her chair. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to get the sting out of them. Pay...
"You kidnapped me just to bribe the Titans?" she croaked, hanging her head low. The bar finally filled up on the screen, and the screen blinked out for a second. It reappeared after a moment, but this time had an image on it. Raven let her eyes look over for just a moment, before she brought her whole face in it's direction. Her jaw dropped. It was... their lobby.
"Bingo. I could've picked up any Titan, but you were the easiest. Did you actually think that I was interested in you?" Raven cast her eyes back onto the floor, before sneezing. "Who'd want to date you anyway?" She clenched her hands, biting her nails into her skin before releasing them. The empath didn't respond out-loud, no reason to give him the satisfaction of hearing her.
'One person did... even if he's not here anymore because of you.'
Jericho.
-T-
Light... shining down... from the sky... onto his face...
Jericho opened his eyes slowly, before closing them back up almost immediately. The sunlight hurt them, he had to get used to that again. He opened them back up, before turning his head to the side. Something was... wrong with his throat--
The mute started to cough and sputter, his gasps and pains just as silent as his words. He got some water back up, clearing his throat a little. After a about a minute he stopped, feeling better. He slowly stood up, using a hand to keep his balance. Jericho looked around for the first time at his surroundings. He was... on a rock, right next to the bay with the waves lapping up against its side. But hadn't he just been underwater?
Jericho reached up and grabbed the front of his tunic. He felt the fabric inbetween his fingers, before letting go. It was... dry. But, how? He had just been in water, hadn't he? That was the last thing he could remember, sinking... and that... thing coming for him. Jericho nearly sat back down, to think out whatever had happened. Had whoever that had been actually rescued him? It wasn't that weird, to think that, but... how was he just there at the right time? Well, was still nice of him though to save him, or, them...
The other guy. Jericho spun around, looking on the small rock. He spotted the man, just a little ways away. The teen moved over to him, his legs at first feeling a little wobbly.. He got over to him and crouched down, grabbing the unconscious man's hand. Jericho felt for a pulse. Yes, still there. The guy's breathing seemed normal as well. Jericho let out a silent sigh of relief, falling onto his bottom. At least his attempt hadn't caused someone else to get hurt.
Raven.
Except for her. Jericho started to look around wildly again, at his surroundings. He had to find someway to get back to the road, wherever that was. Had to get to her, save her. He spotted a wall of solid rock behind him. The mute looked up, and spotted the top of the cliff side. Not too high, he could probably climb it quickly.
The teen ran over to the cliff side. Without any hesitation he dug his foot into the first nitch he could spot, and began to push himself up, grabbing the closest rocks ahead. In less than a minute his body was already several feet up the "wall".
It took him less than that to get back into the rhythm of climbing. He had done it before back on his mountain, whenever he needed to get water to drink, since the stream was a little way down. It had been hard at first, but eventually it became almost as simple as walking. Never close enough to see the little village that was nestled at the foot of the mountains, but always a bit more than he had to. Doing it now almost felt enjoyable, if he didn't have to hurry. Raven...
He heard a crack even as he reached up for the next rock. His hand slipped as the rock tumbled away, his body almost swinging from the imbalance. Jericho gripped as hard as he could with his other hand, digging both feet into their holes along the rock cliff. The mute watched as the broken ledge crashed on the rockbed below, shattering into dozens of tiny fragments. He caught his breath for a few seconds, letting his heart slow down a bit. Had to... slow down a little. He turned back to cliff wall, and reached up for a steadier rock. Finding one, he starting ascending again, picking speed back up. Had to get up, try to get to her...
After another minute or two he reached the top. He put his right arm over the ledge, and helped push himself up with it. Jericho quickly grasped the guard rail right in front of him, and jumped over it. He then looked left and right several times. Which way did they go, which way... had to find out, find her...
Jericho burst out into a sprint, stumbling up the side of the hill onto the grassy top. He could get a better look up there, maybe see some sort of trail or clue they... she left behind. The mute got on top of the hill and looked out, his hands at his sides. He looked around, turning his body a couple times.
No...
He looked down both roads again, trying to find something, anything. No tire tracks, no skid marks, nothing. He looked again, over into one of the fields across him. Maybe there was some grass flattened, like if that thief rode over it, to try to cover his tracks.
The wind rustled through the tall grass, blowing it gently. Nothing was flattened or stuck to the ground, nothing. Jericho looked back to the roads, searching for some hint. He had to find where they'd gone, where she'd gone! But... how? Even if he followed the road the way he had been going before (Thanks to there being a faint outline of Jump City in the background of the other), how did he know that Red X didn't drive off somewhere else? He had to do... something!
Maybe not alone though...
An idea struck the teen suddenly. He reached into his vest, looking for the device. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? He didn't need to do this alone, not with the horn Herald gave him! Just one blow and--
Jericho kept moving his hand around his vest, but couldn't find it. No... where had it gone? Had he dropped it somewhere? Had it... had it fallen out while he was in the water? It had to be here though, it had to! No, he needed it... he needed to help her...
The mute fell to his knees on the hilltop, clenching his hands shut. It was his fault Raven was in trouble, his fault! But... what could he do now? How could he get to her, find her, rescue her? It was his fault she was kidnapped, if only he'd been able to alert her to Red X quicker, or ran up to get in the way. But he hadn't! And now...
He couldn't do anything. Nothing but sit here in the grass. A small stream made its way down his cheek, coming to his chin before dripping off. He wiped at the tears, doing at least something in his mind. A weak wind began to pick up around him. No way to find her, no way to help her. What he supposed to do now?
Jericho was snapped out of his thoughts as something collided with his wet cheek. He looked forward, the wind bringing a slight pain to his eyes. He moved a hand up to his cheek, and picked off whatever had landed on him. He looked at the small red petal, part of it still blowing with the wind.
A... rose petal?
The teen stopped crying as he continued to stare at it. A rose petal? What was it doing out here? He moved his head from side to side. There weren't any roses around here, so where did it come from? Jericho stood up, and looked a little more at his surroundings again. He turned to the street after a little bit of looking in the fields some more. There... there was something on the road.
Jericho broke out into a sprint over to whatever it was, keeping the petal close to him. He reached the object and knelt down next to it.
It was... a rose. Almost completely intact too. The mute reached for the flower, and picked it up by the bottom of its bud. He eyed all the petals, folding out mostly in unison. One or two seemed bent though, probably from just falling and hitting the road, or the wind itself. He kept staring at it, wondering where it could have came from.
Red X. Jericho nearly dropped the rose at the thought. His bouquet. Had it... had it fallen out of it? Had to, there was no other explanation. This was definitely from his bouquet, meaning they had traveled past here! Jericho looked out across the lone road, as if hoping to actually see the villain just in front of him, egging him on.
But no, Red X was long gone, wherever he was now. And all Jericho had was the... rose. He still could have driven in any direction, even back to the city. The mute's heart sunk at the recurring idea. Not much to really go on at all.
Jericho's senses flared as electricity seemed to suddenly shoot through his body. He dropped the rose and petal to the ground, falling down himself. He shook, even as the rose appeared to jiggle on the asphalt road. Then,Jericho watched as the flower and petal became enveloped in an... obsidian haze, before settling down.
Raven'senergy. Jericho continued to stare as the substance jumped off the rose and bounded down the street. Without thinking he got up and tried to follow it, seeing it make its path down the abandoned street. It soon disappeared out of his sight, continuing on the road off into the distance. Jericho stood, stunned at the marvel.
Raven's energy.
He took a step forward on the road, before another. That had been... Raven's energy. Had she... tried to contact him? Had she left that behind maybe, to show him the way to wherever she was? No, it couldn't be possible, could it? Had she even known that had been him back there? He took a slight corner on the street, following the yellow line in the center. He had signed to tell her, but still, that hadn't been exactly him on the bike, had she really gotten it?
Had to have, there was... nothing else possible. This was the way to wherever she was, Jericho was sure of it.
Had to be.
-T-
"You know, I would've thought your friends would be home right now and eating," Red X pondered, keeping his head facing the monitor. Still nothing different on the screen, just the emtpy lobby. Raven could guess he was getting annoyed at this point, and grinned at the small victory. Had been probably a few hours by now, and anything to annoy him was welcomed by the empath. A faint sizzling sound could be heard, coming off from somewhere. Raven had gotten used to most of the electronical noises, and wasn't bothered by what was probably a new one by a frustrated villain.
"Uhh!" Raven suddenly yelled, just as she felt something shock her. Her vision blinked out for a moment, as if something bright had been shined into her eyes. She almost felt like she was going to fall over dizzily, chair and goo or not. After a moment or two she collected herself, before looking down near her feet, where the pain had jumped from. No, nothing was around her feet, nothing to shock her with... what had that been?
"Was that a yes?" Red X asked her. Raven ignored the taunt, and kept looking into other reaches of the room. Huge old canisters with gauges and valves on them sat in one area, collecting dust and cobwebs. There was a highrise going along the side of the room, near the ceiling. If she had more of her concentration back by now, she could probably tear one down and collapse it right on him... "Hey, we're in business babe."
Raven snapped out of her plans and looked back to the thief. He was watching the screen, already going back to his keyboard. Somebody had entered the lobby.
'Oh great,' Raven thought to herself, seeing the green Titan in the background. Just the perfect person to get the message...
VRRMM.
The monitor blinked off, just as all the lights went dead. Raven could hear a chair scrape back on its legs and fall over from behind her.
"Who's there?" Red X called out. She could hear him starting to walk near her. Her allergic reaction wasn't so bad anymore, now would be the perfect time to hit him with one of those rises.
CLICK.
A single light turned back on, illuminating a small patch of factory floor. The two teens stared at it, waiting. Raven could hear Red X make more noises behind her, then next to her.
A shadowed figure stepped behind the light. His entire body was enshrouded, save for one thing on his face. The left side eye. Raven gasped silently at the sight, even as the person began to take another step forward.
'It can't be him. It can't be Sla-'
"You?" Red X said, his boots echoing off the floor again with a few steps of his own. The other teen did nothing to respond, only stand in the light. His blonde hair seemed a little ruffled, and his clothing had a few tears in it, the ones in his purple vest exposing more of the white shirt underneath. He blinked his eyes once, the green pupils shining out into the rest of the room. They gave him an impression of kindness, but to Raven, the rest of his face did not match. A small frown was written across his lips, and his eyebrows were furrowed. His hands were closed at his sides into fists. The empath spoke the only word she could think of at the moment, seeing the change in his demeanor from before.
"Jericho?"
End of Chapter III, Act I