Um…boo! LOL yes, yes it's Halloween. For those of you who entered my challenge, over the next few days I'll be reading and analyzing your stories to select a winner. I'm not sure if I found all the stories, though, so make my life a little easier and leave me a review saying that you wrote the one-shot. The winner will be notified and then they can decide what they want to do to me in the following twenty-four hours.
Mina: Yeah…it didn't sound too much like your story, did it? I know it's kind of a similar situation… Slade: Foolish girl. Either you are immature or incredibly stupid. Dusty: -bops on the head- BACK, BACK YE DEMON! BACK TO THE TOILET FROM WHENCE YOU CAME! Slade: -hiss- Dusty: Thanks!
Iris Night: Slade: Damn yourself, ignorant whelp. Dusty: Shut it, you. Yes, yes torture is my specialty.
Jambey: In a nightmare? Since when do we get to win in nightmares? Hmm…not quite but something like that. :P Don't use my words against me, dumby-poo-fart. LOL.
CWAC: Slade: Not the brightest tool in the shed, I see. Dusty: I said, SHUT IT! I would if I could but I can't so I won't.
Azn Sister 92: LOL ain't it true? Slade: I quite like the press. What a marvelous instrument of destruction…Dusty: Riiiiiight.
Rebel-Aquarius: I know. We should just flush them all down a toilet… No problem, like you said, school's a beast. Yeah, I've always wondered what kind of emotions must be raging through them…I can't even imagine what it would be like (lol well I guess I can, since I wrote it). Thanks, I love your writing too:D
Umbro Draco: No it's not you I just kinda blanked out for a sec there. Good, I hoped it would be interesting instead of dull or confusing. I will endeavor not to betray your confidence. :D
Raven of the Night676: LIVE, LIVE! Slade: DIE, DIE!
Psychicflower: Me too…writer's block is the stuff of horror films. LOL wow…neato. Slade: That's for me to know and you to die ignorant of. Dusty: Shut up, no one's gonna die. Slade: That's what you think… Dusty: -rolls eyes- Thanks!
Robins#1fan(you lie! I hold that position!): She was eaten by a rampaging Glorg. Hmm…to kill Robin, or not to kill Robin…that is the question. Goodness you are bored.
Child of Blood: Is that good or bad?
-clears throat and sings- SO HEERE WE GO, ON WITH THE SHOOOW!
…-cough- I could go on but I don't want to kill your poor brain cells.
Timmy was vaguely aware of the thumping of his heart, the trembling in his limbs, the burning in his eyes. In that moment, he believed—he truly believed—that his father was a murderer, a cold-hearted killer that had used his mother and abandoned his son. His worst and most secretfears had all been proven true with a handful of words from a stranger. The eye scrutinized him as tear after tear slid down his cheeks, bottom lip captured between his teeth and bitten furiously to keep it from trembling.
"My dear boy, why are you crying?"
He ducked his head, a violently shaking hand reaching up to wipe away the tears as he tried and failed to swallow, instead choking on the lump in his throat. Pains shot through his chest as a dull ache awoke in his head and his very skin began to crawl. He had never felt so unhappy to exist before.
Slade took hold of his chin with a firm but gentle grip, tilting his head upward until his violet eyes met the gray and the eye patch. The man smiled slightly, his other hand resting on Timmy's shoulder to steady the shaking. "All is not lost. Wait. Listen. I will not abandon you. You will always have me to rely on. Do you understand?"
Sniffing slightly as he fought to hold back tears, Timmy let the words roll around in his mind, unexplainable hesitation keeping him from giving the obvious answer. His trust in others, already quite limited, had decreased immensely since his father's betrayal; yet, if he was unwilling to trust in this man, he would be left in the hands of a murderer. As simple as the answer should have been, he still couldn't bring himself to say it. Hoping to gain time to think, he sniffed again and looked at Slade as calmly as he could. "Y-you asked me to listen. I w-will."
For a moment, Slade seemed taken aback by his answer, but he quickly recovered. Releasing the boy and leaning back in his chair, he traced his mouth thoughtfully. Silence reigned for several moments before he spoke again. "I believe you expressed doubt when I stated that your mother was half-demon?"
It wasn't really a question, but Timmy nodded once to confirm that he stood by those feelings now.
Slade steepled his fingers and studied them with detached interest. "Raven is the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, Lord of the Demon Underworld. She was born to Arella Roth on Azarath, an alternate dimension. A prophecy given at the time of her birth brought her to this dimension, and this planet. Driven to help others, she was almost magnetically drawn to the Teen Titans. Her demonic abilities allowed her to keep up with her new friends and, in her mind, overcome her dark past. And yet, she never felt completely welcome among them. Her lineage forbade that."
On any other day, he would have written this man off as insane and dismissed that speech as crazy babble, but with everything else that had happened to him in the past few days, Slade's revelation seemed terrifyingly possible. He unconsciously leaned forward, drinking in the words with a morbid curiosity. He had never heard much at all about his mother's past. Horrid and unbelievable as it was, he couldn't help but show interest.
Slade's eye drifted upward, resting on Timmy's forehead so intensely that the boy had to fight to stop himself from covering it. "Raven struggled daily to control the influence of her father. Her powers acted as a midpoint, a door between her mother and her father; the winning side is reflected by the actions of her abilities. When Trigon was victorious, devastation spread in Raven's wake and destruction fell upon everyone around her. Knowing this, Raven devised methods of suppressing her father's will. For the most part, she was successful…until her sixteenth birthday, the year of the prophecy. Through Raven, Trigon was able to claim dominion over Earth, destroying everything in his path and making every living thing his slave. Complete annihilation was avoided by a mere technicality, and Trigon lives within her still, waiting for an opportunity to return and claim his vengeance on his daughter and the world."
Timmy was speechless, his mind a perfect blank. It couldn't be true, it made no sense! It just wasn't possible!
Slade let out a gusty sigh that made Timothy jump, his eye fixed on the ceiling in expression of exasperation. "Children in this day and age are impossible. They think far too much of themselves to be humble enough to be taught. Nothing and no one is more important than them, their thoughts, and their microscopic world."
The boy's eyes were surprised for a moment, but soon enough dormant embers were kindled, a faint glow lighting up the intense purple depths of his eyes. One small, white fist lay clenched on his lap.
"You must think very highly of yourself, Timothy. No one has attempted to hide your intelligence from you. Adults constantly praising you, the jealousy of your peers… However, though your IQ may be unusually high for your age, you are no more intelligent than a dog." Slade regarded him casually, a smirk on his pale lips as he waited for the reaction.
"Shut up," Timmy whispered, his fists shaking as the knuckles glowed white. He felt as though he was fighting back a raging inferno just in keeping his voice steady.
"Intelligence ins more than knowledge. Intelligence is born of experience, of understanding. An intelligent person is able to interpret the outcome of any choice and any situation they encounter. Knowing this allows them to manipulate the smallest details until the outcome is of their own creation. An intelligent man is capable of ruling the universe. You, child, are far from intelligent. You are not even capable of understanding why your father does not love you." The last sentence was delivered with the confidence of a knife to the heart, the calm knowledge that the blow had met its mark.
Timmy's face lost any color, draining until it was as white as paper. His jaw clenched until the veins in his neck protruded, the violet of his eyes losing some of its darkness. He didn't trust himself to speak.
Slade's eye flickered across his face analytically, no emotion whatsoever in his expression. "Yelling at you for the smallest of things, avoiding your company, looking away when speaking to you….all unmistakable signs, my boy. He sees himself in you. Every flaw, every weakness. You are, in his mind, an exact copy of that which he has come to hate the most. To Richard, you are merely an extension of himself, darkness and all. That is why he hates you. You are just like hi—"
"SHUT UP!"
The shriek resounded in the small room, the table was cloaked in moving shadow, he felt a heat gather and release, wood shattered—
Suddenly, everything was still again. The silence was unbroken, save for his gasps for air and the wild thumping of his small heart.
The sound of clapping rang in his ears as Slade brought his gloved hands together, a slight smile on his face and a strange look in his eye. "And that, my dear boy, is demonic power."
He was too shocked to put all the pieces together; he wanted someone else to do it for him. "That…that was—?"
"You, yes. It took much more encouragement than I expected…you have remarkable control over your emotions. Yet somehow, once again, I'm not surprised." Slade stroked his chin thoughtfully, leaning back in the chair and paying no mind to the chunks of wood and shattered bowl on the ground around him.
"En—encouragement?" Timmy's eyes widened slightly as he understood. Everything that Slade had just said, all the cruel words…he was trying to hurt Timmy—to hurt him enough to make him retaliate. Slade was testing him.
Only one word came to mind. "Why?" he choked, his tone reflecting accusation and shock.
"Why?" repeated Slade, his eye opened in surprise. "How else am I going to train you?"
The words echoed in his mind, reverberating again and again as he tried without success to extract their meaning. His tongue moved slowly and stumbled often. "I…I don't…understand."
"Did you never give thought to how your father would be stopped?"
"Wha…stopped? I don't—"
Slade sighed, bringing his chair back to earth with a clunk and fixing Timmy with a serious gaze. It made him squirm in his seat. "I am asking you to join me, as your parents once did. I will teach you everything they know, and under me, you will learn to master your potential and use it to fight against the forces of evil. I can teach you all that I taught your father and more—and, when you are ready…we will bring his reign of fear to an abrupt…close. Together." Slade extended one leather-gloved hand, his mouth drawn into a solemn line, his eye screaming "trustworthy".
Timmy licked his lips and swallowed hard, his violet eyes drifting from the hand to the face. The small boy placed his hand in Slade's, completely ignorant to the gravity of his decision.
"O…ok. Ok."
It was over before it ever began.
Mean place to end, isn't it? The next chapter could very well skip a couple stones in the path, so don't be lost. I'm not entirely positive where it's going, however, so it might take longer than this one. Catalyst should be the next in my updating cycle, so watch for that. -Dusty