1A/N: Well here's another one, a long one too. Feels good to be passed 10,000 words. Technically two in one day, though ch. 5 was finished at like 4 in the morning. Its amazing that when you know you have to study you do everything else possible except studying. This one is a little angsty. Gets a little humorous at the end. It may not seem to fit but I think that using humor is a defense mechanism by Robin and Cyborg to help deal with everything that is going on cause it sure is a lot.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Teen Titans so don't even try suing me for the minuscule property I have.
Ch. 6: Soul Sacrifice
Robin P.O.V:
Of all the damn times to wake up you have to choose now. I was going to do it, I was going to tell Raven, but no, you have to be a jerk and wake up. Calm down Robin, It wasn't his fault, or maybe it was. If it was you can beat the shit out of him. Heck you should beat him up for hurting Raven in that fight. And then you can kill Brother Blood. And then Slade. Definitely Slade. When I find him I'm going to cram that mask of his so far up his…calm calm calm. I really need to get one of the stress balls.
Stupid...you really shouldn't have sworn so loud in front of Starfire. She doesn't need to know those words. Bruce probably heard me all the way in Gotham, yeah right like that's possible. I quietly laughed to myself as approached the infirmary. Immediately I felt myself wander to the task at hand as I knew it was time to get answers, answers that should help me protect Raven, to help end her nightmare. Cyborg was waiting by the door as I approached with a strange look on his face.
"Hey Robin, did you just scream a few seconds ago? Cause I could have sworn I heard you dropping F-bombs." I smiled sheepishly at Cyborg.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Cy. I was asleep." Yeah that should work nicely. No need for anyone to know anything about my personal life, well except for Starfire who seems to know more about it than me. I still am in awe about that girl. Just when you think you have someone figured out. "So how is our patient doing?"
" He's awake but you already knew that. He's little groggy with one hell of a headache apparently but other than that, he seems physically fine."
"Do you think he's dangerous?"
"Man even if he was the guy can barely get up. He's about as dangerous as Starfire's cooking." Cyborg began laughing at his own little joke. Had I not have my mask on he would have seen me raise an eyebrow.
"Need I remind you of what happened to us last time she cooked for us. I never knew a person was capable to vomiting more than their own body weight." We both started laughing it up as Cy patted me on the back in agreement. "Well let's get this interrogation over with then shall we Cy."
"After you fearless leader. After you." Cyborg mock saluted me as I walked past him into the infirmary. Time to get serious. Our newest visitor was currently in bed though he had managed to sit up. His eyes immediately fell on us as we walked in. I quickly noticed his eyes since they stood out as much as Starfire's did…or Raven's. They were such a pale blue that they almost seemed translucent. I know eyes are supposed to be windows into the soul but this was a little too much. I felt like if I looked hard enough I'd be able to look right through and see his brain. It was slightly creepy.
Normally, I would have also taken immediate notice of his hair which was pure white but I had already encountered that feature during our battle, and then later when he first was placed in the infirmary. His skin was pale but nowhere near like Raven's. He just looked like somebody who hadn't been in the sun for a while. As I took in his appearance, I got the impression that he was doing the same thing to me. I met his eyes but realized that he wasn't really looking at me, but rather seemed to be looking right through me. With his eyes, it was slightly unsettling.
"Where am I? Who are you?" A raspy voice managed to get out with some slight difficult. Apparently he was still in pretty bad shape.
"My name is Robin. I am the leader of a group of superheroes called the Teen Titans. You are currently at our home and base of operations Titan's Tower. The gentleman behind me is called Cyborg. He is my number 2 in charge." Cyborg silently nodded at him as his gazed moved over to him at Cyborg's mention. The unknown young man seemed to be processing the information. A strange smile crept to his face as a quiet chuckle escaped him.
"Titans…fallen Gods." That was all he said as he looked down removing his gaze from us.
"We've introduced ourselves now I'd like to know who you are. I would also like to know what you are doing here and what connection you have to Brother Blood or a man called Slade." I tried to keep my voice calm but saying Slade's name always seemed to come out as more of hiss when I spoke it." The young man seemed to shutter slightly at Slade's name, a typical reaction by anyone who had the unfortunate pleasure of encountering that monster.
"I…I do not know my name, but…that monster you call Slade chose to call me Soulburn." The words came out slow as if each one was harder to say than the last. "I am here because I needed help, needed to get away from terrible things." He let out a deep breath as he raised one had to his head.
"Whatever they injected me with to keep me asleep when I was of no use, I became resistant to it. I finally was able to gain a small amount of control of myself and I teleported myself here, away from the pain. I looked for the cold blackness that I fought against when I attacked you. I found it and brought myself to it. I believed that you would help me since you fought against the one who controlled my mind. I do not like the blackness, it hurts me to feel it, but it is nowhere as bad as the void I feel when I am around Slade. I was his tool. So much blood on my hands. So much blood because of them." He stopped speaking. His eyes seemed to gloss over as he stared off into space. His body shook slightly as if was seeing something horrible that only he could see. I knew I would have to be careful in my questioning. He didn't seem dangerous but he did seem unstable as of the moment.
"How long were you forced to work for Slade? What did he make you do?" I tried to make my voice sound friendly but I'm sure I failed miserably at that. He began speaking but never once looked at us.
"I do not know for how long. I do not know even who I am. I was only awakened to do the terrible things and even then I had no control. He used me because I have power. He used me to hurt so many innocent." He stopped talking once again. It seemed even speaking these words caused him great pain.
"Yes. This is not the first time Slade has used someone because of their powers." I could feel my fists clench as I looked down, thinking back to all the times Slade had manipulated those around him to get what he needed. Thunder and Lightning, the H.I.V.E, me, …Terra. So many lives affected by his mad quest for control and power.
"You do not understand Robin." I was pulled from my thoughts by his sudden desire to speak. I looked up at him and saw a haunted look in his eyes. "No one should have to understand what it is like to rip the essence from someone. No one should have to watch the life drain from their eyes as their soul is pulled from them." I stepped back in shock at his comment. I could hear Cyborg gasp. Cyborg managed to find his voice first.
"What! That's not possible. Who even knows if souls exist let alone be able to remove it." Cyborg became silent when I noticed a dark look form in SoulBurn's eyes.
"You can call it a Soul, call it essence. You can call it the core energy of a person's being. It does not matter what you call it but it is there. In everyone of us, even you metal man." I could feel the anger build up in Cyborg at the last comment.
"Now listen here you white haired freak…" I turned to Cyborg and raised me hand to silence him. With a reluctant look he refrained from finishing his sentence. It was my turn to speak.
"How are you capable of such a thing?"
"It is…It is hard to explain. Imagine there are strings connecting everyone and everything. Ever person, every tree, every piece of dirt, it is connected through these strings. In a way, everything shares a common bond, an underlying energy that covers every inch of this universe. I can feel these bonds. I can feel this energy and can manipulate it with great effort. It is through this that I was able to connect to those poor people, and rip their souls away. I do not know how I have these abilities. I don't know anything about myself. Slade somehow found me, knew what I was capable of, and used me." I stood there trying to take all this in. It was hard to believe someone like this could exist. I didn't want to admit it but it frightened me a little.
"You said you were forced to do this to people but there have been no deaths or people claming they've been attacked in Jump City by you. How do you explain that."
"When you lose a soul, in a sense you do not die. You fall into a coma that you will never wake up from. You are dead in every sense of the word only your body continues to look as if nothing happened. I have committed this foul act not only here but around the world. Slade did not want to be noticed." A grim look crossed his face. I listened to his answer and thought back to recent reports I had read in the paper. I recalled one about a convent in a nearby city where 4 nuns had inexplicitly fallen into a coma at the same time. It was believed to be some strange disease as there was no sign of a crime. Maybe he was telling the truth. If he was, he had been forced to commit terrible crimes. I looked at him again.
"How many. How many lives were you forced to take? and why for that matter."
"I do not know exactly how many. It became a blur after awhile. All the people were innocent, truly innocent. Holy people, children, entire loving families, taken away. It had to be in the hundreds." My eyes widened in shock. "As for why..." his voice lost all emotion as he spoke, The souls are meant to be offered up as sacrifice in order to open the Gate."
Whatever feeling of dread I had been carrying around with me just magnified about a hundred fold. Soul stealing and unholy sacrifices was bad enough, but that damn gate again. Raven said she is the gateway to Hell. This is bad. Very, very bad. Maybe I was guilty of ignoring the true scope of what Raven had said, maybe I just truly didn't want to believe in demons and devils and hell, but it was at that moment that I realized that it didn't matter what I wanted to believe in. Something very bad was coming, and it was coming for Raven, and me and the other titans were the only thing standing in the way of the coming storm.
My head felt like it was going to explode but I maintained my composure because I needed to be solid right now. I could feel Cyborg's eyes on me, waiting for me to say something but I couldn't think. Fortunately I was saved by the sound of the door opening. I turned around a little to quickly, slightly jumpy with all the information I had been privy to in the past day or so. I couldn't help but smile when I saw Raven standing there. It was the first time in a very long time I had seen her with her hood down when around us. She truly was beautiful.
"So I see our visitor is awake. Has he told you any useful information?" Straight to the point. That's my Raven.
"Yes in fact. Let's just say there's a lot going on we weren't aware of. A lot of people out there that are dead because of Slade." Even Raven seemed taken a back by the news of people dead. As superheroes, we had been successful in protecting almost everyone we ever had to. Terra was our most regrettable loss, the one that hurt us deepest, but death was still a foreign concept to us since we had started saving people. Death was a part of my past and I had hoped it would stay there, but I was never naïve enough to believe that it would stay there. I just didn't believe it would come this soon.
"What do you mean dead?" I was about to respond but was halted by the sound of someone growling deeply behind me. Raven seemed to notice it first because she seemed to be glaring threateningly at SoulBurn. I turned around and no longer saw pale blue eyes. Instead SoulBurn's eyes had turned completely blue, much like Starfire's turned green when she was using her powers and he was indeed growling toward Raven. I heard Cyborg form his arm into his sonic cannon in case an attack was going to occur. I felt my self instinctively go for a birdarang as I stepped in front of Raven. No one would hurt Raven, not while I was here. Out of nowhere, the growling stopped and his eyes returned to normal. He seemed to shake his head as if trying to gain control.
"I'm so sorry…the darkness…it…but there is light…don't have to fear." He seemed to be rambling to himself trying to relax. I could not hear all his words nor could I really understand what he was talking about as if to show he wasn't a threat anymore he had laid back down in bed staring at the ceiling. Cyborg was the first to resume breathing.
"Someone want to tell me what the hell just happened there." I turned to Raven who had managed to even look paler than she normally did. She caught me looking at her, holding the gaze she knew came from under my mask. The room had grown silent, or maybe it hadn't. Ever sense I had was focused on the young woman in front of me. Such beautiful eyes…
"I have to go meditate. I'll be in my room," and with that Raven raised her hood and disappeared at the door. My attention turned back to SoulBurn. There were still some things I wanted to know but instead found that he had fallen back into unconsciousness. I turned toward Cyborg who had a slight smile on his face.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" Cyborg only chuckled to himself. "I'm serious. What?"
"Ya know Rob," again he chuckled to himself, "Its amazing how bad you have it for that little lady." And for the second time it a matter of about an hour, I was being busted by one of my teammates.
"What! How did you…" but Cyborg cut me off.
"You'd have to be blind not to see it man. Me and Beast Boy talk about it all the time. Wondering when your going to toughen up at tell her. I think the only one who doesn't know is Starfire which is probably a good thing." I smile crossed my face.
"Would you believe Starfire just confronted me about this whole thing right before you called me down hear" Cyborg's human eye grow large.
"Really now. How'd that go."
"Surprisingly good. She seems to be okay with it or at least will be eventually. She's stronger than I think any of us gave her credit for. She just regrets never telling me how she felt about me earlier and doesn't want me to lose out the same way with Raven."
"Now that's some good advice. With everything going on, you really should tell her soon. Also, now me and BB can talk behind your back with Starfire so try to make things more interesting will ya." Cyborg had the biggest smile at his face as I glared at him trying to look intimidating but even I couldn't help but smirk.
"Don't worry Cyborg. I'll tell her. I'll her when the time is right which I think is coming up very soon." A huge smile spread across my face. "I just don't think its proper to confess my feelings to Raven on the same day that I kissed Starfire." Cyborg nodded his head in agreement but then stopped.
"WHAT!"
"Calm down Cy. I'll explain everything, but can we do it outside. Talking about my personal life in front of that guy is just creeping me out." Cyborg looked at me for a sec before we both busted out laughing walking out the door. It's amazing after all the terrible things I had heard just a few minutes ago that I could laugh like that. I guess having great friends and being in love can make everything seem a little bit better.
In Slade's Lair;
Slade kneeled on one knee in a dark cavern in front of a symbol of fire and a dark altar. A ring of fire surrounded him as a voice of the purest evil echoed through out the room.
"What do you mean he's gone! I should rip you in half right now for this failure! I clearly told you we need him to collect the souls. Without him the Gate can not be opened." Slade could feel immense pain shoot through his entire body. It felt like he was being burned alive all over again only it would not stop.
"Master please. We have collected enough pure souls. He is no longer needed. He knows no details of our plan. He doesn't even know himself. He is no threat." Every word was fought out against the pain. Slade had not shown weakness before, he would not show it now. The pain suddenly stopped as the booming voice continued.
"Good. We have part of the sacrifices. The time draws close. Now I must only wait for the release. Then the gate shall be opened. Do you know where he disappeared too?"
"Yes Master. He is with your daughter. Should I go retrieve him for you? His powers are still needed to open the gate and he will be very useful when the time comes to obtain the final pieces"
"That is not necessary emissary. Let him have his freedom for now. He is broken already but still; let him have time to obtain a little bit of hope. It will be more enjoyable to crush it when I claim this world because I know who will be watching and that will make my revenge all the sweeter." A dark laugh erupted, shaking the very walls.
