Title: Mars: An Elseworlds Story (Revised)
The Absorption of One
()
Bruce could have been mad at having been kicked out of his own body, but he did promise a certain alien he'd return and it had to have been awhile since their last visit. He couldn't be sure though; it was hard to keep track inside the mindscape. Promise in mind, he went without complaint, though he did stare at his body for a bit longer this time. Tubes and wires ran everywhere and his skin seemed to be glowing with energy –had it always done that? He couldn't remember otherwise but there was a niggling sense of wrongness to it all. One often referred to him as a 'human'. Did humans glow?
Deciding to ignore it for now, he continued on until he was standing in front of Malefic's body. This time it was his turn to wait, floating above his..well, he guessed they were friends. Promising to return seemed like something a friend would do, as did getting upset over how much pain they were in...The screams of agony seemed to fall from his lips much louder than the others. By the time Malefic came 'outside', he was practically boiling with fury, forgoing the greeting to snap, "How bad does it hurt?! Someone should stop Them!"
Malefic didn't care about the pain. All he cared about was that his friend had returned. "You came back!"
A scowl. "Of course I came back. I promised, didn't I?"
"That doesn't mean much. They promise things all the time and never –ack!" His words were lost when he was yanked forward by an enraged human. He struggled briefly but the boy's hold was strong. "L-let me go!"
His plea went ignored. "I am nothing like Them. Do you understand me?! Nothing!"
"Then why are we still here?" Malefic whispered, almost aching with emotion. "Why haven't you saved us yet? You're the only one who can and you wont! Why?!"
Bruce let him go, trembling. "I'm...But I can't even...I'm too weak."
"You're supposed to save us! You PROMISED!"
Blue eyes narrowed in aggravation. "I promised to return, not to save you!"
"But you will."
Staring at Malefic, Bruce knew it to be true, felt it in his very being. Ridiculous, the way he was being stared at, as if he held all the answers to the alien's problems, answers that he didn't have. It would mean sacrificing everything to One, to absorb and be absorbed in return. In the end though, what did it matter?
They needed saving, he was apparently the only one who could do it, so how was he supposed to say no? He suddenly felt very tired. "Yes. I will save you from this place. All of you." The last thing Bruce saw before retreating back to his mindscape, was the look of utter relief on Malefic's face.
Shouldn't have looked back. Now he had to go through with it.
()
In the mindscape, Bruce sat down. Things weren't hurting, which was a nice considering the pain he'd been feeling from the earlier Rage. One had quite a temper, another reason why trusting it was so hard but that wasn't important anymore. *One, I am weak.*
The usual black, swirling mass appeared in front of him. *Not as weak as before, but yes. One's Chosen is still very weak.*
*The...absorption..thing. It...I'll be stronger, right? Strong enough to save people?*
Save people? What an odd thought. Regardless, it answered honestly. *Yes. But you still do not trust One.*
*No.* He laughed slightly. *But there's other things to worry about now. I made a promise. And if we're going to do this, I need you to promise me something too.*
*What is it?* One was eager to start the process. It should have introduced its Chosen to Purple's ages ago. *What do you require of One?*
Bruce's fists tightened. *You have to make me strong. Strong enough to stop Them. Promise me I'll be able to stop them all!*
Again, One's Chosen seemed to be reading directly from its being. It swooped forward, wrapping itself around Bruce's form. *Yes. One promises all that and more. * Slight pause. *Do you still wish it to hurt?*
A tired smile. *Surprise me.*
Truly, they were meant to be together.
()
Absorbing One was a curious process in that it was painful in some aspects but not in others. Memories that aren't his own swam about in his mind, and there was a constant tugging at the back of his mind that said the experience was mutual. Nothing was held private between them.
Bruce felt it all. The urge to draw blood that constantly drummed in One's being. Excitement over the chase, such a glorious moment when the kill would come and blood, in such beautiful colors, would spill out! So many different shades of the stuff, he'd never known. Green, silver, purple, blue, brown – but red was by far the most beautiful of them all. Chosen bled so nicely when pained, it was so much fun! And it was fun, Bruce could feel the joy and happiness that One felt whenever the color would bleed out.
And the darkness, there was so much of it, threatening to swallow him whole. There was no escape, the shadows filled to every corner and crevice until all the light was gone, leaving him helpless to its whim. He tried to find the light, his light, and despaired at how faded it was becoming. That was important, it was but he couldn't remember why.
*The light is weakness,* One's voice pointed out.
*But it's mine,* he argued, not willing to budge. *I need it.*
One sighed. Things had been going along so well, it should have known. Still, it tried to be patient, tried to keep in mind that its Chosen was young, and thus, foolish.*The light is hurt by the darkness, is it not? In order to fight darkness, you must become dark. Light will never understand the darkness and so, will never be able to stop it.*
*No.* Bruce remained stubborn. *I'm not like you, One. I like having a little bit of light. It helps me see the darkness.*
It had never considered that. Needing light in order to see the darkness? One had never had any light to begin with, could only go off what it had observed and from what it could tell, the light did nothing but cause its Chosen to hurt.
Such weakness, why did he care to hold on to it?
*It's a part of me. I won't get rid of it just because it hurts! I need that pain! *
Bruce seemed determined to keep hold to that part of him, which meant that rather than smothering, One was going to have to absorb the light.
There was only a small amount of the stuff though, probably wouldn't even feel anything. Cautiously, One brushed against it, jerking away at the unexpected warmth. That was – what was that? It touched again, and the warmth returned, sending tingles throughout One's entire being. The light was dim, but thick in density and seemed to follow when it tried to pull away. One wasn't quite sure how to handle that – light liked it?
Liked One, who was so cold and dark and everything not light? Confusing, not at all what had been expected – the light was supposed to cower and try to avoid One, not eagerly seek out its presence!
*One should destroy you,* It told the light almost sulkily. Normally, there would be no doubt about what to do. The light was weakness and warmth and so beautiful, just begging to be devoured. But for the first time, It thought about the consequences. Bruce, Chosen, didn't trust it but was putting his entire being in its care regardless. If One did this, how could it honestly think to be any different than the Creator? Getting rid of the part of Bruce that 'annoyed' it, as if that part didn't matter – no. NO! One did not want to, would not be like the Creator.
So One said the words it had wanted to hear from the Creator all those aeons ago. *I accept this weakness of yours, Creation mine.* Wrapped itself around the light, but didn't know if it could resist the temptation if it tried absorption and decided not to try. Instead, it would protect the light from the darkness, both inside and out.
After that, Bruce seemed more willing to trust it and the absorption process went a lot smoother.
()
Having a pretty-much barren mindscape, Bruce absorbed information from One like a sponge. Which made the darker parts of One especially trying, as its Chosen apparently still liked to question everything. Honestly, One had never been so – okay yes, it had.
Sometimes One had a feeling that the Creator knew what was happening and was having a great big laugh somewhere.
A big issue Bruce had with the darkness was the Death To All Things part. Even after having seen all that They had done to the children, he was still reluctant. *Why? Why do we have to kill?*
*Because it's fun!* What was so difficult to comprehend about that?! *The blood, so many colors – has One shown you the colors?*
His Chosen smiled slightly. *I've seen the colors. And the screams and..* his fingers twitched. *Right. I'm not saying that the hurting and pain isn't fun. But once we kill, they're dead.*
*Oh? One wasn't aware.* One had recently learned about sarcasm and found great amusement in applying the knowledge often.
*Then we can't play with them anymore! They get to die and we're stuck with their deadly remains. How is that fair?*
Hmm. One's Chosen made a valid point. It had never thought of things that way before. *Keep them alive so we can play with them more? But then we'll grow bored – do we let them live afterward even then?*
*Would you rather them die so they can forget about all the fun we had together?*
Just the suggestion was enough to make One balk. Had all its hard work along the years, to be remembered and etched into its enemies' memories forever – truly been a waste?! *They FORGET?!*
*That's right.* Bruce's voice was hard, and there was a faint image of a beautiful field with a river, and no pain – nothing hurt anymore. Bliss. Oh, but One's Chosen was unfit for such a place (YoureNotSupposedToBeHere) and was cast out – by his own Creators? Hard to make out the details of a memory half-destroyed by fire.
"Don't...lie...Not...it's...okay! It's NOT...Not...We sacrificed EVERYTHING...they SAID..."
One hadn't been aware that it was possible to feel such pain for another.
Even if its Chosen didn't care for the sympathy. *I killed them – of course I wouldn't be allowed in that place – where ever it was.*
*If you have killed before, why hesitate to do so again?* It honestly didn't understand what was holding him back. He had such potential..
*What if I can't stop?* Bruce's sounded like he'd given the topic a lot of thought. *What if we kill and kill until there's nothing left and there's just us? Could you imagine?*
One didn't have to, could easily recall its time trapped in solitude with only its own thoughts for company. It had been so boring and lonely, worse than death as it could remember a before and that had been what hurt most of all.
*Wouldn't it be horrible?*
One didn't believe in lying. *Indeed, yes. Very well, One shall try its hardest to not kill if you do.* It paused slightly and then firmly stated, *But there will be blood.*
*Oh yes,* Bruce agreed easily. *A lot of blood.*
*And pain.*
*Yes.*
*Screaming?*
*Of course. What would be the point without it?*
*Can we bleed too?*
*If you like.*
How did One ever get so lucky?
/Author Note /
REVIEW! Soon, well, maybe, things will pick up again. I say maybe cause as I type this, I've yet to write anything else, so I dunno if things will pick up in the next chapter or not. Either way, lemme know what yall think of One and Bruce's relationship. Isn't it interesting? I think so.
