Hey guys! I know it took me a while to update, but I was having trouble deciding which climax I would use for this story (I have three for goodness sake). However, a friend helped me decide, and so here we are! I hope you enjoy the following chapter of The Story of a Girl, muh ha ha…
---Jaime
Disclaimer: No, I still do not own the Teen Titans. Rub it in, why don't you?
Ch. 37: Unbridled Fury
It was a bright and sunny Friday morning, a few days after Yuho's adventures with Dominique. Rune was sleeping in rather late, having been up reading until nearly five A.M. the night before. It was only eleven o'clock when her mother walked into her room and opened the thick curtains, allowing light to consume the dark room while effectively waking her tired daughter. Rune glared up at her mother, squinting through the sudden light. Raven smirked down at the girl and moved to her closet to find appropriate attire for the day ahead.
"Come on, time to get up. We're going shopping," Raven said, picking out a white skirt from Rune's closet curiously before tossing it aside. Rune groaned and covered her head with a pillow, mumbling incoherently. "If you insist on doing it the hard way…"
Before Rune could react, her mattress was flipped out from under her, causing the poor girl to land on her floor in a heap of blankets as the bed floated gently back into place. Rune untangled herself from the covers and looked up at her mother tiredly before she stood and sighed in defeat. Glancing at the outfit her mother had chosen, Rune walked passed the older woman and picked out her own clothing. Raven shrugged and tossed aside the blue summer dress, not honestly expecting her daughter to wear it. It was worth a shot, though…
A few minutes later, Raven and Rune were leaving their apartment; the latter had chosen black jeans and a red T-shirt to wear, while her mother had on a long blue skirt and a white blouse. She was about four months along in her pregnancy, so Raven had decided that it was time to go buy baby clothes and other necessities for her son. As the two women walked down the hall and to the elevator, they debated over baby names for Raven's son.
"Your father suggested we name him 'Logan Jr.', and that's when I decided that I should ask you instead," Raven stated.
"What about something like…Deimos?" Rune offered, pressing the down button by the elevator doors.
"I though about that, but I didn't know if a name meaning 'fear' would be appropriate…"
"It sounds cool, though." Raven couldn't argue with that.
"What do you think of 'Dorian'?" Raven asked as the doors parted and they entered. She pressed the button for the first floor as her daughter raised an eyebrow.
"Never heard that one before."
"I was looking up baby names online yesterday," Raven admitted.
"Well, it sounds pretty neat, I suppose."
"Any other suggestions?"
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"David?"
"Ew, no. Marius?"
"Hm…pretty cool, but I'm not sure. We'll come back to that. Lucious?"
"Hm…that would be interesting…what about, 'Lucious Mark Falle'?" Raven suggested.
The two had been window-shopping for the past half hour, debating over different names for the baby. They had yet to completely agree upon a name for the child, but were getting close. Currently, they were walking on the sidewalk next to a bridal shop; Rune had a strange feeling of deja vu that was making her slightly nervous. She brushed it off as hunger, considering that they had not eaten that morning.
"I like that," Rune agreed. "And we could just call him 'Lu' for short."
"I'll run it by your father," Raven said with a small smile. "Knowing him, he'll probably wa-"
BANG. BANG.
Rune's heart nearly stopped at the sounds of gunfire from across the street. Civilians ran screaming into buildings for safety, whereas Rune remained motionless at the sight before her eyes. Raven Falle had fallen onto the cement, clutching her stomach and trying not to cry as her dark, thick blood pooled out around her on the ground. Rune couldn't think clearly, panic swarming through her mind at top speed. Her breathing was irregular as she remembered the dream that had plagued her for months. The dream of a Titan dying. She turned around to see three familiar men run away down an alley as the sound of sirens drew nearer. Shaking with both rage and grief, Rune fought back tears of her own as she took a step into the street, eyes slightly tinted red. Only when she heard a soft cry from her mother did she remember the dying woman on the ground.
Whirling around quickly, Rune knelt beside her mother and watched as the woman's body was covered in shimmering blue energy in an attempt at healing herself. Rune acted quickly, pulling her communicator out of her pocket and hitting the 'Panic' button on the side. Almost immediately, she saw Nightwing's face on the screen.
"My mom's been shot!" she yelled before he could ask what was wrong. "She needs help! We're at the corner of Main and Brunsville, hurry!"
"We're on our way," Nightwing responded before the transmission ended. Rune stuffed the communicator back into her pocket, looking down at her mother with tearful eyes.
"D-don't worry, mom. They're coming. Just hold on-"
"Rune…" Raven interrupted. Her voice was strained from the pain and effort to heal herself. "I can't do this alone…I need help…"
Rune understood immediately what her mother wanted. One hand on top of the other, Rune positioned her shaking hands above the two bullet wounds in the side of her mother's abdomen. Trying to regulate her breathing, she concentrated on the wound and nothing else. Eyes closed, slow breaths, tingling sensation in her arms and hands… She peeked through her eyelids and saw what she had been hoping for; her hands were covered in her own shimmering silver energy. Not only that, but with the combined efforts of mother and daughter, the wound was slowly closing. Rune was unaware of how much time had passed. Seconds…minutes…hours…they all meant nothing now. After a tiring effort, Raven and Rune managed to fully heal the wounds inflicted on the former. When Rune placed her hands back at her sides, she felt another hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sebastian watching her with both sympathy and pride.
"You did it," he said.
Rune did not have the energy to smile. She look around and saw that people were coming out of the buildings now, some resuming their daily lives, some watching to see what had happened. Surrounding the mother and daughter were the other Titans; Starfire, Changeling, Cyborg, and Selina were checking over Raven to make sure she was okay. Covyll, Andrew, Kimi, and James were investigating the area across the street where the shooting took place. Sebastian knelt down next to Rune, trying to calm her down after witnessing her tremble slightly; Nightwing was talking to some police officers that had arrived around the same time as the Titans. Rune caught a few words of the conversation.
"-didn't catch them, they vanished by the warehouses on-"
"-three we didn't catch at the raid a few months ago-"
"-Scott, Eric, and Dale Morrison, they're brothers from-"
Rune froze, which didn't go unnoticed by Sebastian. She could barely hear his concerned questions as her eyes widened slightly. Those names…she should have known who they were from the moment she saw them… Eric, Scott, and Dale from her first mission had never been captured. Her body was shaking more noticeably now, and her eyes were clenched tightly closed. Sebastian, Nightwing, and Raven were watching her cautiously, wondering whether she would break down into tears or-
"I'll kill them…" she whispered so quietly that only Sebastian heard at first. Rising to her feet, she opened her eyes, which were a startling bright white, glowing dangerously to express her rage. "I'll kill them!" she shouted, gaining everyone's attention.
Cyborg, Sebastian, and Nightwing all tried to grab Rune as she leapt onto a building nearby, but to no avail. She couldn't fly, but she could jump high enough to fool you. As Rune ran across the rooftops and out of sight, the four Titans across the street ran to join the others.
"What the bloody hell was that about?" Covyll asked, talking about Rune's outburst.
"Titans, we need to go," Nightwing said. "Rune is on her way to find and kill the shooters. We have to get to them first and stop that from happening. Starfire and Cyborg, you-"
"Wait!" Raven said, sitting up with some help from Changeling. "Rune is in a very fragile state right now. If you get in the way of her goal, her rage won't accept it. She'll hurt you, too. You have to calm her down without force; otherwise, she could end up hurting even herself. I'll go talk to her."
"No, I will," Sebastian said. Everyone stared incredulously at him. "Mrs. Falle, you just overcame death, you need rest. Rune knows me; I can stop her while the others catch the criminals."
"Sebastian, this isn't the ordinary Rune you know and love," Cyborg said, causing the younger boy to flush. "If she's anything like Raven, it's dangerous. One wrong word and you could push her over the edge."
"Isn't she already?" Sebastian countered. "I can handle it; I get that she is way beyond pissed right now, but I can handle it. Trust me," he said, looking pointedly at Raven for permission. She nodded in reply, and Sebastian took off after the runaway Titan as quickly as he could.
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The sun was halfway beneath the horizon, and Sebastian had yet to find Rune. He had been searching for hours without rest, but could not find where she had disappeared to. Her communicator had either been destroyed or deactivated, because he could not find her through its tracer. He had even enlisted his friends' help, but no one seemed to find her anywhere. He was currently running around a bunch of warehouses near the docks, ignoring the random raindrops that would fall on him; the sky was even darker now, and storm clouds were moving in.
'How come it is that every time something bad happens, it rains?' He wondered. Sighing, he thought, 'I've got to find her before it's too late, before she does something she'll regret forever… Rune, where are you?'
Almost like magic, Sebastian turned a corner and saw Rune headed into a warehouse. He called out her name, but she ignored him, as expected. He ran the remaining twenty-yard distance between them and entered the building in search of her; she had disappeared again. His eyes glowed a brilliant scarlet as he punched the metal wall beside him, leaving a smoking indentation of a fist. Only when he heard screams of terror did he get over his anger and run in search of the noise. It seemed that Rune had found her prey.
Running around a multitude of boxed, he finally found her at the far end of the warehouse, standing before three cowering men. Sebastian instantly noticed Rune's fists, which were covered in a blue energy he'd only seen once before. She was advancing on the men, the intent to kill radiating off of her in waves. Sebastian ran into the scene and stepped in the way of his friend and her goal, arms out to block her path. He then noticed her eyes, which were glowing a shade of crimson so brilliant it could rival his Starbolts.
"Rune…"
"Get out of my way, Sebastian," she said, tone dangerously cold, "or you'll be sorry."
Sebastian didn't waver. "No. I cannot let you do this, Rune. If you kill them, if you even try, I'll take you down."
Rune growled. The sound was low and frightening, and it caused the three criminals to whimper in fear behind Sebastian; the boy did not even flinch. In a flash, Rune charged towards the Tameranian half-breed and aimed a punch at his face. Sebastian dodged the blow and countered by grabbing her arms to hold tightly behind her back. At this point, Eric, Dale, and Scott ran as fast as they could towards the exit, yelling about how "that demon wench" was going to murder them. Rune blindly kicked at Sebastian's legs in an attempt at freedom, squirming as much as she could to no avail.
"Let go!" she yelled as a burst of energy separated the two, putting ten feet between them.
Sebastian gathered up his anger and produced two glowing red Starbolts, prepared to fight if need be.
"Don't do this, Rune," he said calmly, trying to reason with her. "They aren't worth it. I don't want to see you become a murderer."
"'They aren't worth it'?" Rune repeated. "How about you get your mother shot a couple times and see how 'not worth it' the shooters are then! Don't tell me you wouldn't be doing the same thing as me if Starfire was the one bleeding to death, Sebastian, because I know you would!"
"And I know you would be the one standing in my way and telling me to let it go, Rune!" Sebastian countered.
"Shut up, shut up!" She yelled, using her powers to throw a large crate at him. He blasted the crate with his Starbolts, creating a large amount of smoke in the room. Suddenly, Rune ran through the smoke and jumped on him, pinning the boy down to the ground. From up close, Sebastian could see the silent tears running down her face.
"Rune…" he whispered.
"My loved ones are all I have," she admitted angrily. "How would you feel if someone tried to take away the person most important to you in this world?" she demanded.
Sebastian rolled over so that he was the one pinning Rune to the ground; she tried to get free, but he was heavier and stronger than she was. "I'd be devastated, Rune," he answered truthfully. "I'd want to kill any person who dared to try and take you from me!"
Rune ceased her struggling and stared wide-eyed at Sebastian for a long time. He was breathing heavily, and his crimson irises bore into her very soul as he looked down at her. He was dead serious. Rune's eyes slowly faded back to their usual sapphire state, allowing Sebastian to see the shock hidden deep within.
"…Me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Did you just say…?"
Sebastian sighed and sat up, helping Rune up in the process. He looked at her, crimson meeting sapphire as they stared at each other for a few minutes that felt like hours to the teens. Finally, Sebastian turned his head to stare at the ground, a very light blush present on his face.
"Yes," he said quietly. Speaking louder, he said, "You are the most important person in my life. I do not want to see you thrown in jail, Rune. It'd be heartbreaking…"
Rune stared at the boy before her in bewilderment, wondering how anyone could care for her enough to call her their "most important person". She almost couldn't believe him, but surprisingly, deep down inside, she wanted to. She wanted so badly to believe that what he was saying was the truth. She wanted him to care for her, but sighed, knowing he was probably lying. Sebastian noticed movement in his peripheral vision, and turned to see Rune standing, offering a hand up for him; he smiled and took it.
"So what exactly are you saying, Sebastian?" she asked accusingly. She wanted to know the absolute truth, no dancing around it. "That I'm more important to you than your parents? Yeah, right."
"Not exactly…It's k-kinda hard to explain…" he responded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"I'm listening."
He looked up at her and saw that she had her arms crossed and a stubborn look in her eyes; she was not going to let it go.
"I-I need to call my dad and tell him where those crooks went…"
At the mention of the criminals, Rune's eyes narrowed in disgust. Still, she said, "I know where to find them. Now explain it to me, or I'll go finish what I started," she threatened.
Sebastian sighed. He turned pleading eyes on Rune, but they did not work. She rested her hands on her hips and waited for an explanation.
'Crap, she is really going to make me say it! Does she really not know? Everyone said it was obvious, how can she not know?'
"Well?"
Seeing no way out of his predicament, Sebastian began explaining. "My parents are the most important family I have. Covyll and Andrew are my most important friends. But Rune, with you, it's different… You're the most important girl in my life."
Rune blinked. "W-what are you trying to say?" she asked, arms falling limply at her sides.
Are you really so blind that you don't see it, woman? Smarty yelled.
'I don't want to make an assumption… Besides, what are the odd of him actually saying-?'
"Rune, I love you."
Yay for climaxes! So, was this chapter cool? I hope so. There was a power surge in the middle of it, and I was SO CLOSE to being done, but I hadn't saved it yet. I almost had a mental breakdown until I realized that Microsoft Word had recovered the file. THANK YOU, MICROSOFT!!! So yeah, this was my neat little chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it!
---Later!