Disclaimer: Teen Titans is the sole property of somebody else. I'm making no money, this is for entertainment purposes only. So don't sue, I'm poor, you won't get anything, anyway.
The Song Remains the Same
"In the stillness, the soul will speak." –The Oculatum
Somewhere in the 750 feet between rooftop and asphalt, Red-X couldn't help but wonder just what the hell he'd been thinking. They were not friends, it wasn't his responsibility, and, if he were to be brutally honest with himself, his job would be much easier with one less Titan messing around in his business.
With all that in mind, it shouldn't have mattered to him what happened to the dark sorceress.
But somehow…it did.
And when he'd watched from his place in the shadows as Cinderblock's gargantuan fist collided with her face to send her half-conscious body stumbling over the edge of Jump City's tallest skyscraper, for the first time in many years, Red-X acted without thought.
He jumped.
Head first, and pressing his limbs together firmly in an attempt to streamline his body and overcome her descent. Never mind that Raven still wouldn't hesitate to arrest him given half the chance. Never mind that this one brief encounter would do nothing to nullify any previous acts of villainy he'd committed in their eyes…not that he was terribly concerned how they perceived him, in the first place. No, in that moment, he knew, it simply did not matter.
Of course, in 50 more feet, nothing else would, either.
Stretching his arm forward against the rushing wind, his fingers managed to graze a boot, and he clutched greedily at the fabric of her heel. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
30 feet.
He tugged, gently so as not to dislodge the article, and brought her just the slightest bit closer. His sprawling fingers found their way to the flesh of her ankle, and he gripped it tightly.
20 feet.
He pulled forcefully, his free arm lunging forward to wrap around the back of her legs, climbing up the length of them until his mask pressed against the softness of her thighs and his hands could take purchase of her waist. Briefly, he noted that had their circumstances been different he might have actually enjoyed this.
10 feet.
Finally, he scaled the remaining distance until he met her eyes, half-lidded and fully confused. Without warning, he captured her in his arms and held her tight against his chest.
5 feet.
He leaned in close, pressing his face to the side of her head and spoke firmly against the roaring in his ears. "Hold on."
4 feet.
He shifted her weight…
3 feet.
Closed his eyes…
2 feet.
Pressed the button…
…And then they were gone.
He'd have to remember to kick himself later.
No matter how simple it looked, teleportation was no easy task, and teleportation under duress was just a medicine for disaster. It was a lesson Red-X rather wished he would have remembered a bit sooner; for as soon as they had reappeared, he realized that, not only did he have no control over their destination, but a considerable lack of grace in arriving to it.
Luckily for him, it turned out to be the ground level of a parking garage some three blocks away as opposed to somewhere he'd rather the enemy not be privy to. Unfortunately, his luck did not extend beyond that, and they abruptly, and quite painfully, tumbled to the ground in a messy heap of dark and tangled limbs.
For several long moments, X had only the thundering in his veins and the ragged shuddering of his breaths to chase the shock in his mind away. He neither moved nor spoke, and it wasn't until Raven shifted slightly and groaned that he realized he was still clutching her to his chest like a lifeline.
Slowly, as though not to bring her senses into full awareness, he released her and watched as she put her hands to the pavement on either side of him and propped herself upright. Shaking her head and unclenching her eyelids, the sorceress blinked rapidly, dazedly, to bring focus to her vision and take in her surroundings.
And then she saw him.
Raven froze and then blinked again. Once…Twice...Three times she faltered, before the situation seemed to penetrate the fog of her mind. Startled, she scrambled backward, only to tangle up in her own cloak and fall promptly on her backside with a muffled curse in the haste of her retreat.
He should have taken the opportunity for what it was worth—a chance to escape before she could get her bearings—a chance to avoid the awkward entanglement he'd initiated between them when he dove from the roof of that building to spare the life of an enemy.
Then again, X did love to live dangerously.
He sighed, leaning up on his elbows with all the casual indifference he could project from beneath the mask to regard the dark girl before him.
This time, it was his turn to freeze.
He'd never actually seen her face before, at least not this closely, and for a moment X was startled. Her cloak hung back limply, revealing the ugly bruise already stretching across the length of her jaw. Her lips were split and swollen and bleeding in tandem with the broken lines of her nose. However, the wounds were not what garnered his attention so.
It was her eyes, unfettered as they were by the shadows.
They were the sole untouched region of her face, and the most telling. While her expression had melted from one of instinctual surprise to one of carefully schooled reticence, Red-X could see every thought, every careful approach and awkward query to brush the surface of her mind written in the shine of her eyes. He could see them all for what they were; feel them as intimately as a whispered confession and a page from his own soul. It was unsettling in ways he could not begin to fathom—as though it were she looking past his defenses and reading through his every heartbeat.
Despite the mask, he'd never felt more exposed in his life.
And so they sat, trapped in the amber of the moment with nothing but the how and why between them—a mirror image cast in far too many shades of gray.
What might have only been seconds stretched on like lifetimes, and it was not until a cry sounded from somewhere in the distance that Red-X found his breath again. They were looking for her. She stiffened, and X knew it was time to slip out of the space between and into the roles they were meant to fill.
He stood abruptly, pushing his confusion and unease aside, and she watched him curiously but made no move to follow suit. "That's my cue, Sunshine," he spoke confidently.
"This doesn't change anything," and though it was little more than a whisper, he'd heard it clearly.
He paused and then grinned behind the disguise. "I'd be disappointed if it did."
"X," she spoke as he turned to leave, and he thought he might have detected the slightest bit of urgency in her tone. He stopped and peered over his shoulder to find her standing, and out of reflex he moved to face her fully, crossing his arms impatiently.
"Yes?"
The words died in her throat, and after several seconds he chuckled, already knowing what it was she'd wanted to ask.
"Don't get all sappy on me now, doll. Even the morally compromised are capable of a good deed, every now and then," he offered in the way of an explanation. "Besides, I'm a thief, not a killer."
A whisper in the back of his mind told him that it wasn't the half of it, even if it was what they both needed to hear.
Though her expression never faltered, she seemed satisfied with his response, and she stood a little straighter as she offered him a sharp nod in acknowledgement. He smirked, knowing she could feel it even if she couldn't see it and gave a mock two-fingered salute. "Catch ya next time, Sunshine."
And just like ash on the wind, he was gone, leaving only the slightest, imperceptible upward turn of her lips as she strode away in his wake.
"I'll be looking forward to it."
A.N.: So, this is my first attempt at a TT fic, and I hope you all enjoyed it. It's complete in and of itself, though it may serve as a prelude of sorts to another idea for a short multi-chaptered fic I've got rolling around in my head.
As always thanks to my awesome beta Gan Xingba, who served as the grammar police on this one.
Oh, and don't forget to feed the author! Read and Review, please!