There's still a part of me that can't believe I'm doing this. I'm running along the rooftops of the city, the lights spread out below me like I'm running on the starry sky, but this time I'm running with a Titan helping me take down my next target. Well, I say running with, really she's flying and she's a good few lengths in front of me. I'm following the folds of her blue cloak as they wisp around in the air and I'm struggling to keep up. I'm having to run at my top speed just to keep her in my sight and, even though I'm reasonably fit, this is still too much.
"Hey Raven!" I call out and although she doesn't turn around, she slows a little. "Can we walk the rest of this? I mean, I know I have many talents but flying isn't one of them."
"Oh. Right." She slowly floats back down and lands gently on the ground, still not looking me in the eyes. "Fine. We'll walk. It's not too far anyway."
We start walking, me meandering along quite casually whilst she strides ahead. She keeps herself a good two metres in front and I can tell she's determinedly not looking around. I would sigh and shake my head at how childish she's being but I don't want to make her more pissed off than she already is. Instead, my mind mulls over how I ended up in this crazy situation. This night feels like it's lasted a week with all the action I've seen. I went to a meeting, got captured, escaped, got captured again and now I'm tracking down the car of Jacob Zane with Raven by my side. Things honestly couldn't get any weirder.
We were able to trace the Zane's car using the city's traffic cameras; somehow the Titans managed to hack their way in there. Raven explained that they usually would have asked for permission first but it would have taken too long for it to be granted and time was something she didn't think they had. It was Cyborg who did it for us, it took him all of twenty minutes to get in and for some of that time he was eating a sandwich like it was about to run away from him. I've learnt all their names now; the metal man is Cyborg, the little green one who seems to annoy everybody is Beast Boy and the full name of the redheaded chick is Starfire. They seem to have warmed to me a little or they seem to have stopped shooting murderous grins at me. Starfire even wished me luck on our mission and called me friend, though I've been told since she does it to most people who ally with the Titans. So far the only ones who still seem to hate me are Robin (no surprise there, he still seems sore from the whole Bullseye thing and I can tell he doesn't trust me as far as he can throw me) and Raven which is a real shame as she's the one I would most like to get to know. I look up at her just as the wind blows her hair slightly out of place and for a second I can glimpse a few more centimetres of her long slender neck. It makes me bite my lip hard. I want to talk to her but I can't think of a single thing to say. It's like my throat is clogged up with cotton wool and every time I try to speak I choke on it. It's rare that I can't think of anything to say and I don't like the feeling.
Death's eyes are on me, urging me to speak and so I decide to open my mouth and just go for it. "It's a good night tonight." I hear myself say and it feels like an out of body experience. "Good level of darkness, cloud cover…perfect for sneaking around, right princess?"
Did I really just say that? That's the equivalent of talking about the weather but worse. Next to me I hear Death groan like I've fatally stabbed him. "That was even worse than what's up." He moans at me and I turn my head to see him face palm.
I look back at Raven, fearing her sarcastic response, but all she does is make a small huffing noise and then carries on walking like nothing happened. I give Death a confused look and he gives one right back. What is up with her? It's like she can't even stand to acknowledge my existence.
I try again. Maybe if I ask her a question, she'll have to respond. "So Raven…"
"Please don't try and talk to me."
Her voice is so flat and emotionless I feel like it's crushing me. I see the way she quickens her pace and it makes me snap.
"Why are you so mad at me?"
That makes her stop and spin around to face me, her cloak spilling out around her. "Who says I'm mad at you?"
I blink at her. "You're acting like it. You've been trying to avoid me since we set out and you don't want to talk to me at all. I get that you don't really want me to be here and you probably hate my guts but-"
"I don't hate your guts." She says, her voice softer and it takes me completely by surprise. "And I'm not mad or at least not at you. I didn't want to do this and I'm just…confused." She can't look me in the eyes and I start to feel a little bit of hope fluttering in my chest. Maybe this is my chance.
"Well I don't really either," I tell her and now it's her turn to look surprised. "It's freezing out here and I just want to get this done. Maybe if we talk, it will go faster and we can get this over and done with quicker."
She hesitates and I hold in a breath but then she shrugs and goes "OK, why not?"
She lets me catch up with her and I almost want to do a victory dance. Death gives me a quick thumbs-up and I return it with a smile as we start to walk, our steps now in sync. "So what do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know, I hadn't given it that much thought." I admit, racking my brain for something, anything to ask her. This is my chance and I don't want to fluff it up completely. "What's…what's your favourite colour?"
Why am I such a stupid dork? Death looks almost fit to explode beside me and I'm expecting her to look at me like the fool I am but instead she gives me an answer almost straight away. "Blue. I've always liked it, that's why my cape is this colour." She swishes it out beside her and for a second, she looks like a little girl playing with the skirt of a long princess dress. "It's a very calming colour. What about you?"
"I'm not sure. When I was a kid I always loved red but when I got older I liked grungy colours more like blacks and dark greens." I said. "Though I'm beginning to quite like purple."
She catches me staring at her hair and a red blush creeps over her cheeks as she whips her head back around to stare directly ahead. I do the same thing and I try to think of something to lighten the mood. "OK, my turn again. What's your favourite thing to do? You know, when you're not out heroing and stuff."
"Heroing?" She asks with a snarky smile on her face and I feel my insides cringe as she giggles. I don't mind too much though; I still get to hear her laughing. "Well, when I'm not out doing that I usually read, mediate or study my spell books. I feel at home around books…well most books. Some can really break your heart."
She bows her head slightly and I can see the flicker of pain that passes across her pretty features. I instantly want to find who hurt her and go punch their lights out but before I can ask about it, she raises her head and says "So what do you like to do?"
"You know, you can't just keep repeating my questions." I pretend to pout. "That's not how this is meant to work."
"Watch me." She smirks at me with a spark of mischief in her eye and my brain feels woolly again. "And you haven't actually answered it."
"That's because you're nicking mine, you little question thief." I shake my finger at her and give her a smirk of my own. "I demand a new question."
"Fine. You can have one." She strokes her chin for a moment in thought before she turns back to me. "OK. What were your parents like?"
I stop in my tracks and she instantly looks panicked. "I'm sorry, that was too personal, it's just…I heard you talking to them, up on that roof. You looked so angry before but then they seemed to calm you down. I'm guessing it was them who told you not to kill that guy, right?" When I nod, she looks away, her fingers weaving in and out of each other as they dance with worry. "I…just wondered what they were like. They must have been pretty amazing people."
"They were." I look up at her and a ghost of a smile reaches my lips as we start to walk again. "My mum…her name's Lydia. She's the kindest person you could ever meet, she would give you the coat off her back if she could and she would think nothing of it. She always put me and my dad first, we had to sometimes make her do something just for herself and she always protested. She was there at all my school things, every sports day, every school play, she was there recording it. She loved to bake and her pies were the best. She was always there…she used to call me her angel." I can feel myself smiling at the memories but there's a pain that comes with them, like something is yanking hard on my heartstrings. "Everyone used to tell me I had her eyes."
I look over at Raven and see she's staring into my eyes, like she's trying to see my mother behind them. She quickly turns away and the red across her cheekbones returns. I wonder if she's ever blushed this much in her life, she really doesn't look used to it.
"And what about your father?" Her voice sounds like she is choking on the last word. She stops and I almost raise my hand to pat her on the back.
"My dad's called Owen. He was a Green Beret and he taught me everything I know. All my skills are down to him; he was one of the best in the business. When I was a kid I wanted to be exactly like him, he was so brave and courageous. He was a big man and he was really strong too but he was also the gentlest man I knew. His job took him away a lot but when he was there, everything was so good as we were all so happy. His job was why we were at that hotel that day." I can't look at her anymore; I don't want her to see me like this. "My dad was going to get an award, a special one for all his years of flawless service. We were all so proud, my mum had a new dress, we both had new suits…" I'm gripping my rifle so hard, I'm scared it might bend but I know if I don't grip it like this I will have a breakdown. "All that time on the front line…and he dies in a hotel. It still feels like some sort of sick joke."
"That's awful." I hear her murmur next to me but I still can't look up. "What about you? What were you like?"
"Isn't it my turn?" I say jokingly but I still answer the question. The floodgates have been opened now and I don't think I could stop myself if I tried. "I was just a regular teenager. I played on my school football team, I had a group of friends, I even had a few girlfriends." I look quickly to see what her reaction to that is but her face remains the same. "I was confident but I wasn't cocky like some of the jocks, I got good grades and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life; I was going to join the army and follow in the footsteps of my father. I had it all planned out." I look up at her again, properly this time, raising my head to her shining sympathetic eyes, eyes that are telling me that it's fine to keep going on like this. "You know, when I was resurrected, my first thought was whether I could go back to my old life. It wouldn't be the same sure but I thought maybe it could happen. Then I saw myself and I realised how far gone I was. I wasn't the same Adrian anymore, I was this…whatever I am. I'm not dead but I'm not fully alive either. I listen to the dead but I feel disconnected from the living. It's like I've got one foot either side." Tears are beginning to threaten to fall and I don't think I can keep them back for much longer. Then I feel something gentle on my shoulder and I see her grey fingers there curling around it.
"It's OK, I get it, sort of." She whispers and I have to lean closer to hear her. "I didn't ask to be different either. I love my friends and I love this world but there's still a part of me that comes from another dimension, a part that doesn't belong." She looks at me and she tries to smile. "It's like you said. One foot in one world, one foot in another. One either side."
"Yeah." That's the only word that I can say, the single sound falling from my lips as I look into her eyes and she looks into mine. For a moment, it feels like she can see every bit of the pain inside me, like I've laid mine bare and she's done the same. I've just said I feel disconnected from the living but with her, it feels like we have a connection that no one else can have and I suddenly want to thank whatever deity is watching us that I found her here.
She's the one who looks away first when we each hear the screeching of car tires and the sound of a door slamming. "We must have been closer than we thought." I hear her breathe. "We're already here."
Slowly, I edge forwards and she follows me as we peer downwards from the rooftop of the building we are on, down into the dimly lit street. The street lamps look like the orange ends of cigarette butts and I quietly curse their uselessness. It's then when Raven points down at the corner.
"Look, there's his car."
I follow the line of her arm and it takes me only a few seconds to notice it. The giant black beast of a limousine is parked on the corner of the street and I can see some people standing by it. I'm too far away to hear them but they appear to be deep in conversation and are getting very animated about something. They keep gesturing to the building behind them and I avert my eyes from them to look at it. The building looks like some sort of strange shell as it's completely covered in scaffolding and I can barely make out what it's supposed to be, yet there's something about it that's making me feel uneasy.
"Raven, what is that?" I ask her and she drags her attention away for a moment to look at it.
"I'm not sure." She frowns. "I know the site was bought a few months ago but I didn't realise how much progress had been made. This thing really seems to have shot up out of nowhere."
Her words make me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. They are words I have heard before. "I don't like this, I don't like it at all." I tell her and she nods. She can feel it too, something really isn't right here.
"Let's take a closer look." I say and before she can stop me, I'm already over the edge. I hear her gasp and within seconds she's flown down and grabbed me in mid-air, holding me like she's about to carry me over a threshold. She glares furiously at me and I give an innocent smile back.
"What did you do that for? That's reckless, even for you."
"You really do wound me princess. I knew you'd catch me."
"I won't bother next time." She growls but she doesn't let go of me until both her feet are firmly on the ground. Death's also looking at me with disapproval but I ignore him. As soon as she does land, I'm running towards the building and she follows me, both of us covered by the darkness that gathers around the small pools of burnt orange light. I crouch in an alleyway and she does the same. She's so close to me, we are both almost covered by her cloak and her presence is suddenly overwhelming. I want to look at her but I know if I do, she'll feel awkward and move away and right now, that is the last thing I want her to do.
We watch as the men get back in the car and it drives away. Raven looks like she's desperate to follow it but I'm still staring up at the building and the more I do, the bigger the chill I get from it. Something is very wrong here and I'm determined to find the source of it. I dart out from our hiding place the moment the car is out of sight and I run for the building.
"Wait stop!" I hear her say but I'm already at the entrance. I duck underneath the web of scaffolding to make my way in and I can hear her as she clumsily follows me. I hear her knock into something and make a strangled noise and it makes me grin.
"You alright back there princess?" I call back but then something catches my eye that sends my stomach plummeting to the ground. I freeze in place as I stare up at the front of the building. My lungs feel numb and when Raven comes behind me, I barely even notice.
"Kain? What's wrong? Adrien?" She shakes my shoulder before she looks up and I hear her gasping. "No…how could…how could they have built it so quickly?"
I don't know how and I don't have the air in my lungs to answer but the horrible truth is staring us in the face. Above the doorway, hidden by crisscrossing silver poles and a draping shroud like something from a tomb is a glaring sign marked with bulbs of neon that hasn't been lit yet. It reads The Jump City Hotel.
