Gamer4 in. Well, I'll admit, it feels a little strange to be coming to this moment. It's been around three months since this story got started, and now, it's just about over. Thank you all for staying with it all the way. I'm just worried this chapter might be bit shorter than usual. Like I said in an earlier chapter, I'll round out the last chapter with a quick summary of Johnny's story from the original book, just for those of you who are interested. But enough of that, let's get right to it.
Chapter XXII
The Final Chapter
As the video comes to a close, the film returns to show the Titans' faces. If they weren't horrified before, they certainly are now. For a long while, none of them speak at all. Finally, Starfire breaks the silence. "A month...?" she says slowly. "He has been in that unpleasant, dark Labyrinth for... a month?"
Everyone looks up at her, the realization dawning on them as well. After all, they've seen what happened to Terra, Jinx, and Aqualad after a few days in the Labyrinth, let alone an entire month.
"Alright," Cyborg says, standing. "Now, we can go back to the tower."
Raven holds out her free hand. (Her other hand holding the cane she is using to support her bad leg.) "Hold on," she says. "Are we planning on going back into that Labyrinth?"
"If we have to, yes," Cyborg says without missing a beat. "He's our friend, we're not leaving him down there alone."
"That's all fine and good," Beastboy comments, "but how are we supposed to track him down? You know what that place is like- how are we supposed to find him, if he's been in there for a month? Heck, it could be even worse than that- isn't time weird in that place? Remember when he got stuck down there last time? It was a few hours for us, but it was a couple weeks for him. And he's been down there a month- by our time..."
Starfire gasps. "WE MUST GET OVER THERE RIGHT NOW!" she cries. She grabs Cyborg, the designated driver, right out of his seat and rushes out of the room, dragging him along with her. Raven and Beastboy exchange an awkward glance, then follow them out.
On the outside, Cyborg is struggling to wait up for them as Starfire urges him to start the car. "There is no time to waste, friend!" she is repeating. "If Robin has been down there for so long, we do not have a moment to lose!"
"I'm just waiting for Rae and BB," Cyborg says quickly. "We'll want them to come along, too-"
At this point, Raven and Beastboy appear, and waste no time in jumping in the car. Finally, Cyborg fires it up and takes off down the road. Everyone looks worried, but no one more so than Starfire, who looks like she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Only one very brief scene takes place inside the T-car itself. As they make a rapid turn, Starfire begins to speak. "I do not understand, though," she says. "Why would Robin blame himself for these things? I do not see how he could have caused-"
"He couldn't have," Raven says. "He's not responsible for any of it. But you know what he's like. It's called survivor's guilt. There's this belief among survivors of catastrophes- and I think people like Robin are most prone to it- that it's somehow their fault, no matter how out of their control it was, or that they should have done something to stop it."
Starfire looks ready to ask another question, but she notices Cyborg preparing to make a left turn. "Cyborg, what are you doing? This is not the way to the tower!"
"We're getting some fishing wire and markers and stuff first," Cyborg explains. "Don't want to go in there naked, do-"
He is cut off by Starfire, who shouts, "WE ARE NOT! WE MUST GET TO THE TOWER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"
The lungs of the distressed alien princess are enough to convince Cyborg to go straight, rather than left, at the next intersection.
XXXX
Night has fallen by the time the Titans reach the tower. And it is storming. The sky is consumed by angry-looking clouds, complete with lightning and pouring rain. The T-car finally arrives on the island, and, ignoring the garage, opts to park outside the tower itself, so the Titans can enter through the front doors. Sure enough, there is another car sitting nearby that they recognize as one Robin had rented about a month ago.
The cameras the group has brought captures each one of their faces, each one consumed by its own brand of terror. It is clear that none of them are happy to be back at this building after all that's happened. However, Robin is somewhere within it, and they aren't about to leave him if there's anything they can do about it. So, armed with only their cameras, they approach the door and open it up.
The inside of the tower is dark, but not the kind of unrelenting darkness that was characteristic of the Labyrinth- it was the simple, normal kind of dark that could be dispelled by flicking a nearby light switch- except, as the rescue party quickly discovers, flicking the switch does nothing. It seems that the storm has knocked out the tower's electricity. Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy look even less thrilled at this, but Starfire persists. "We have our own methods of lighting, yes?" she said. "I can use my starbolts, Cyborg has his flashlights in his shoulders, and-"
"Star," Cyborg says, "maybe we should put a hold on this for now."
Starfire turns on him in anger. "What do you mean?!" she cries. "How can you say such a thing?! Robin is depending on us to-"
"We won't be able to do much for him if we die, too," Raven points out. "We come in here unprepared, in the middle of a lightning storm, and with the power knocked out? I agree with Cyborg. We should go back and come in some other time."
"It is kind of the biggest horror movie cliche," Beastboy agrees. "The heroes go into the big, spooky mansion or whatever, stormy night, unprepared, no lights, and they get killed. Let's go back and try again on a better day."
Starfire still looks immensely unhappy about it, but she finally concedes the point, and together, the group heads back down to the T-car, and drive away.
XXXX
We hear nothing about the intervening time, as the film simply cuts from their departure to their return, as they pull up on the island once more. According to the cameras, it is a few days later, on October 10th, that they make their return trip. Compared to their last visit, the day is bright and sunny, not a single cloud in the sky. The group climbs out of the car, and this time, each of them has a backpack slung over their backs, ready to plunge into the Labyrinth for the final time.
Once again, they head up to the tower's front doors and open them up. Mercifully, this time, the lights come on when the switch is flipped. The group is solemnly silent as they cross the hallway where Tim had fallen. They are incredibly wary, ready to turn and run back to the entrance if the floors begin to shift again. However, whatever had caused that to happen seems to have dissipated- the hall is perfectly still as they cross it to the elevators.
The elevators run smoothly as well, carrying them up through the tower to the top floor. They grow even more solemn as they go through the main hallway, passing by all their old rooms, not daring to open them. They only have one destination- that door on the side of the living room.
Finally, they arrive in their destination. As the door opens, they gasp. While Raven was the only one who had been there to witness it, she had explained to the others how the entire room had tilted, with a mysterious pit of darkness swallowing up all the furniture in the room, and the tape that ultimately made its way into the film had corroborated her story. However, the living room looked exactly like it had before all this had happened- the couch was in its usual position, as was the television, the Gamestation- everything had returned to its proper place.
Finally, the group turns to the door sitting innocently in the wall. Interestingly, it is Starfire that steps forward towards the door, slowly reaching out to touch the wood. It is the exact door that Tim crafted to hold back the darkness of the Labyrinth- the door that had ultimately failed. But... wait... no, there was one small difference.
Starfire kneels down next to the door, looking for what should be there, yet isn't. "Friends... come and look at this..."
Slowly the others approach, and they come to the same realization- the four locks that had kept the door sealed had disappeared. Everything else on the door was the same, but it no longer had the capability to lock.
"Okay," Cyborg says, "now that's weird." Self-consciously, he reaches up with one hand, which converts into his sonic cannon. Raven raises her hands, black energy forming in her palms, and Beastboy turns himself into a raptor. Once Starfire looks around, making certain that her friends are ready, just in case something pops out, she personally summons a starbolt to her hand, and uses her free hand to turn the knob and open the door.
The other side elicits another gasp from the four. It was far from a horrifying sight- in fact, in any other context, it would be abnormally commonplace. However, what the sight implied, what it meant in their current scenario... that was a different story.
The sight that greeted them on the other side of the door was only this: a shallow closet, only a couple feet deep at the most. There are coat racks across the top, the walls are made out of the same material as the rest of the tower, without a sign of black or grey anywhere. There is even a light at the top, complete with a switch just inside the door. A quick test confirms that the light works, perfectly illuminating the shallow space. Sitting on the floor, meanwhile, is a long coil of fishing wire.
"N...no... no!" Starfire exclaims. It is a strange moment. In any other circumstance, the disappearance of the Labyrinth would have been considered a good thing, not bad. It is strange that the group should be so distressed over the disappearance of something so antagonistic. However, it goes without saying that, while the Labyrinth had brought them a great deal of sorrow, it was also ironically their ray of hope- as long as it had existed, there existed a way to retrieve Robin. Without it... there was no other possibility except that their leader was...
"No!" Starfire cries. "I will not accept this!"
Raven turns to Cyborg. "Can you measure the tower real quick?"
"On it," Cyborg says. He taps a few buttons on the side of his head. Shaking his head, he says, "103 feet, 11.75 inches. The inside's back to being the same as the outside."
Looking up, the same thought seems to occur to them, and they rush out of the room, and down the hallway. Funnily enough, because Raven's room is closer- more convenient- the enter it, rather than Beastboy's room. Raven has no objections, only thinking to get to their destination as fast as possible. However, they are once again met with disappointment- the walk-in closet that started everything has disappeared as well. There is no door in Raven's room except the one they all entered by. Slowly, Beastboy crosses the hallway and into his own room. A second later, he comes back, shaking his head. "It's not in my room, either," he says, hopelessness entering his voice.
The filmography perfectly captures the looks on the faces of each of the heroes, but none of them is more downcast than Starfire. A shadow seems to have crossed her face, as she looks down at the floor. Hope seems to have abandoned her altogether. Finally, she speaks. "Please... I must be alone... for a moment."
"Starfire-" Raven says, putting out a hand, but Starfire pushes it away.
"I wish to be alone," she says. "You may return to the car. I will be there soon."
The other three look at each other as Starfire steps out into the hallway and moves away. Cyborg says, "You two stay in here, in case something goes wrong. I'll head out and... start the car."
Slowly, Raven and Beastboy nod.
XXXX
From here, the film follows Starfire as she stumbles down the hallway, struggling to hold back tears. Finally, she arrives in front of her destination- a door simply marked Robin. She looks up at it for a second before moving forward, causing it to slide open. Even in her despair, it is notable that she goes out of her way to turn the lights on.
Inside, she looks around at all the things Robin left behind when he'd rushed out into the hallway. She wondered if there was anything he'd forgotten. He'd certainly gone out of his way to remember the newspaper clipping with Slade and Emma. Perhaps it showed just how much he thought about that day, that he'd taken that object with him above anything else in the room. Scattered around the walls are several posters and newspapers that showed Robin's undying obsession with catching criminals. A great deal of them were dedicated to Slade- it seemed he'd never truly let it go, even after Slade's death. Not that she'd ever expected him to act differently. His bed was set against the wall. It was a simple, basic bed- Robin didn't splurge on luxuries where sleeping was concerned. Next to it was a computer that had probably seen much more use.
Moving slowly, Starfire crosses the room to the bed. Collapsing on top of it, she seems to be flooded with memories of her greatest friend. Her body is racked with sobs as the realization overcomes her. Her friend is gone, and will not be coming back.
The camera stays focused on her, so even the audience is thrown off when Starfire straightens up, wiping her eyes, and turns to see the sudden change in the room. It's fairly subtle, and there's no pop or any sort of rushing sound- nothing that, in film, typically indicates the sudden appearance of something that wasn't there before. And yet the look on Starfire's face shows that she doesn't remember seeing it there before. The camera even goes dark for a moment as she checks it to see if it shows up in her recording. According to her reaction, it doesn't. "What?" she asks, standing. "How... how did this..."
Once more, it is a fairly simple sight. Sitting on top of Robin's bedside table is a duffle bag. It is red and carries his symbol on the side. Starfire moves towards it as if she is in a dream. She reaches down and unzips it, revealing the contents. On the inside is a scattered assortment of items, including flares and neon markers, as well as some items of food that, strangely, still seem to be fresh. However, the items in the bag that most capture Starfire's eye are the various tapes. They are all in pristine condition, sitting silently in the bottom along with everything else, as though they were waiting for her. A small flicker of hope seems to cross Starfire's face- perhaps there is hope after all?
Moving quickly, she picks out one of the tapes and rushes over to the computer. She has become well-practiced in this art by now. She turns the computer on, and begins tapping her fingers impatiently, waiting for it to boot up.
As she waits, she fails to notice the strange change that comes over the room. Behind her, a shadow forms on the opposite wall. Slowly, it begins to spread all over the walls, moving in the same strange ink-like fashion that Raven observed during the evacuation. The walls steadily fade way, replaced by simple darkness. It swallows all the papers and posters, consuming everything in the room as Starfire works on the computer. However, she remains oblivious.
Finally, the computer finishes booting up, and she wastes no time in plugging the tape in, eagerly waiting for the video to show up, revealing what has happened. Even now, as the entire room behind her is consumed in darkness, she remains oblivious. This continues until the moment she turns around, which, of course, she inevitably does when she realizes that the tape shows