A/N: The first part has heavier stuff. TRIGGERS: implied non-consensual sexual relations between a minor and an adult who are related. It really isn't graphic, but it is pretty sad. It was hard to write. Everything else is pretty normal, though. Anyways, reviews are always appreciated!
/ Apollo – 3
The first time his father forced him onto the bed, he was eleven. He had been seven when it was Jade's turn.
There is a bed in this room
It was also the first time he went out on an actual mission. Sportsmaster took orders from someone, although Apollo didn't have the knowledge of who. He'd been so excited. His mother was quietly happy for him, if a little tense, and Apollo hadn't understood it at the time. He did now. He wishes, always, that he had never gone that day, had never begged to go.
it is his bed
But he did. They crept through Star City, Apollo's bow notched with an arrow, and his father practically glistening with the amount of weaponry he carried. Apollo killed someone that day.
and this is his first time
He remembers it so clearly—it is a stamp on his mind, embedded within his personality. His first kill shapes almost everything about his character today. Apollo knows that.
The men they were attacking had money that his father wanted, and he went blindly forward, into the fray. Sportsmaster engaged some of the guards in hand-to-hand combat while Apollo waited nervously on the side.
somehow, it is always his first time
His father motioned for him to join in. Apollo took a breath
creaking
and raised his bow
rocking
and pulled his arm back
groaning
and released.
smothering
The man died
caressing
in slow motion,
hurting
the squelching of the arrow
burning
was so loud in his ears
crying
as it went
groaning
through the head.
Are daddies supposed to do this?
His father was so proud. Apollo wasn't, not really, but did not hesitate to murder again.
Mommy?
Apollo became the puppeteer. He cut their strings off, so all they could do was lay on the ground, lifeless.
Please help, mommy!
He was a child then, and did not understand that they
Mommy!
would never
It hurts!
get up
Please stop…
again.
It hurts.
Apollo knows that now. He also knows what happens, night after night, to him, to Jade, sometimes to his mother, [to Rae], and he hates it. But he cannot stop it, he cannot leave. He does not have the strength or the hope or the intelligence.
This is all I have left.
Where is my faith, again?
/ Kryptongirl – 2
The genomorphs keep saying something, but she does not know what it is. Inside here, inside of this thing, there is no sound, there are no words. Instead, she follows their lips when they speak and wisheswisheswishes she could hear something, anything.
She can't.
Rage bubbles like a ram
Sometimes they shut her down, make her fall asleep, even when she isn't tired (she never is, not with how she's cooped up here, alone). She can only read one word off of their lips, and that's because they use it so often.
"Her programming is not complete." She can only be sure of the one word.
piercing her chest
The man, that man, he… comes to check on her progress. At least, that's what she thinks they're saying. He is bald and large and there is something inherently ugly about him, but when he looks at her, she thinks maybe there is a flicker of pride in there—a flicker of something. Something genomorphs do not have.
telling her she will never be good enough for him
Part of her hates him, loathes him, despises him, but another part of her wants to make him proud. So proud that he'll let her out. She knows he's the only one who can, she just knows.
She doesn't have a name. She wants one.
she will never be good enough
Maybe… he can give her one?
will never be good
If she's… a good girl?
Where is my identity, again?
/ Dixie – 3
They disobey orders, but there's a good reason for it. She knows daddy will forgive her.
And now, hacking the motion sensors, Dixie cannot bring herself to care. This is too… awesome. Will taught her that word—awe and some (a little bit of [awe] (as in awful) and [some])—and she loves it. Uses it every day. Mommy bought her a dictionary filled with more awesome words the other day. Dixie likes to make up words of her own, and daddy approves. Dixie likes it when daddy approves.
She remembers
when he didn't
others who dismayed him
she was punished
but they are all gone now
it hurt so much
only the Darkest Knight of all Knights
it hurt so good
remains to carry on a legacy
but DADDY hates scarring
of those who disappointed
her pretty skin
the Joker.
'Don't do it again, my doll.' He coos.
And Batman has never truly disappointed her daddy. Everyone else has, though. That's why daddy plays with him so—to see how long he can not dissatisfy. It's a wonderful game. Giggles likes to play it too.
As soon as the doors open, Inertia zooms in, and Dixie follows her. Kalda trails behind them, more wary and careful, but still excited (she can taste it). Rae… did not show up.
They take down guards (Luthor's guards, but he'll grow to appreciate this) and weird, cute little morphy things that make Giggles giggle really loudly and Kalda freak out a bit.
Will rushes into the room before them, and finds her, the person they've been looking for, the one they have dreams about (wellexceptforRae). She's beautiful.
When she wakes up, though, she is angry. That, too, is gorgeous. Dixie is drowning in it. Will is too, she can tell, and when the girlkryptongirlsupergirl pins Kalda to the ground, Dixie knows they've come to a decision. They offer her a way out.
Where is my destiny, again?