I'd like to take this space to thank Broconi and OMG Pterodactyls again, this chapter wouldn't have come out without them
This part, however, is something a bit different. Here I would like to recognize the inspirations for this story, I feel not doing so would be unfair to those who do such great works. First would be Akumakami64-most especially "Beast Boy's little secret", writerzero, most especially "Belonging" and "At Odds" and finally LamontCranston1066 for "Love in Shades of Green and Gray" all of them are amazing and this story wouldn't have happened without their marvelous works. Besides my two Betas, listed above, Lunahras also inspired this story. To all of you thank you. And to you as well my dear readers.
Through the haze of bloodlust and pain he painted everything red, seamlessly it fell and covered everything in perfect crimson, it washed away all his pain as more and more red flowed. It started inside until he could no longer contain it and spilled out across the world. The bubbling laughter of the insane, he could feel it crawling under his skin like so many spiders. His father had told him that true insanity was the imperfect freedom to not know what you were doing.
He was wrong.
True insanity was the perfect restriction for him. The laws he saw stood only in his mind…and changed like fluid.
Saw. Saw? Saw…!
He opened his eyes and awoke alone. As always. But blinking rapidly he became aware of only the heat of the sun on his face. Growing more and more agitated he realized what was wrong. There was no blood. He couldn't smell it, there was no panic, he couldn't hear it.
Deadpool held in one hand a detonator, the device that would explode he had shoved into a gaping wound on Croc's side before it healed. Seated next to his heart was the equivalent of fifteen pounds of TNT. The Mercenary was in a constant battle. If he pushed it everything would be done. But he wouldn't get the answers he needed. "Okay Waylon. You tell me what I want I don't get to see how far a geyser of your blood can go, understand?"
The black and bruised mutant shook nervously. He could feel it above him, only a few floors right above him. "W-what do you want?"
"Who told you about the Boss?"
"I-I got a call from that really old guy…talked about some war and peace book… I-I don't know" after a moment he twitched "Ca-can we move…I can feel it and it's freaking me out"
Blood rushed in his ears blocking out any sound he should have heard, it clogged his lungs as he could only breath in the liquid as it crushed him, it's iron tang so familiar…so comforting. It was a lovely shade…a voice inside him whispered 'wouldn't the others like to see this pretty color? Why don't we share it with them?" he agreed, he shared his life, his blood, his soul with them, why not the pretty color?
Everyone but Deadpool and Kikao were sitting behind the glass of the interrogation room, Raven probed the reptile in the room and found his panic overwhelming. His beady eyes constantly twitched up, the only thing above them was-She let out a scream as it engulfed her and rocked her soul to the core. Wade's eyes twitched upward and he sprinted to his boss's room. There was no mistaking that scent. But it wasn't welcome here. Not now, not ever.
He saw heard someone "Do you want to see the pretty color Funny Man?" the man said something dumbly as he shared the color and slit his wrist and smiled as more and more fell "More! More!" he giggled as he continued to spill the lovely paint fall on the floor. He was sad for a moment that he couldn't see it but he brightened, the others would see it! Maybe they would paint with it too! He smelt a nice smell "Lovely Lady, would you like to see my pretty color?"
Calypso fell to the ground shaking and throwing up everything, her entire body ached and Nightwing leapt away as the acid splattered on the ground, Raven and Deadpool had been terrified and confused and she had keyed in on that as her powers dictated. Then something hijacked the link. Now she couldn't see but she could feel blood so thick she couldn't move, it drowned her as it pulsed through her head so loud that it blocked out everything else and it rushed into her open mouth. To her horror she couldn't get enough, it was too sweet to be anything but perfect and suddenly she craved it. Then fell into the black.
He giggled at the silence "Of course the Lovely Lady would like to see my pretty paints!" he opened more and more tubes and he began to get the giggling highs "Looky! Looky!" He didn't care that he was speaking like a child, it was all too fun. And he was sure the Lovely Lady and her friend would love the color. Then another mind filled his "Little Dove, would you like to see my pretty colors?" when she fell asleep he giggled, she liked it so much she wanted to dream of it! He listened around him. There! More people to share his color with! Oh, he was so excited! More people to see his colors! Then he felt the Lovely Lady's arms around him 'don't go' she told him. He nodded happily "Don't worry, you won't run out! I have plenty to give you!" and more and more of the pretty color he couldn't see flooded the floor around him.
Cyborg entered the room and picked up the detonator before turning to Croc "What's going on?" he demanded.
"T-the creature's gone mad" one of the few people taller and stronger than him whimpered.
Looking up with concern he whispered "BB…"
Bee heard the words and looked at Surt and Artio "I know you want to see Gar, but stay here and watch your sister…I have a feeling that your dad's a bit of a mess right now" the two girls nodded hesitantly as their friend rushed out the door and up the flights of stairs.
Then a voice caught her "Don't worry, you won't run out! I have plenty to give you!" looking inside she couldn't believe what she saw.
He could smell more people looking at his work! That was three people, the Funny Man, the Lovely Lady and-and the Softly Lady! That's what he'd call her! She spoke so softly if he wasn't him he would have missed it "Softly Lady, are you here to see my pretty colors?" she said something so softly he didn't catch it "So many people want to see my colors!" he giggled before stopping and staring at the newest person. He tried to see past the Softly Lady "What should I call you…. He giggled sporadically as he rubbed his chin "I think I'll call you Ammi!"
For the first time since he woke up he really heard the voice "Well, My Heart, I'm glad you didn't forget me"
Tilting his head quizzically he giggled again "Ammi want to see the pretty colors?" he quickly turned around and scolded himself "Of course she wants to see the color!" and four more spouts opened up as he smiled at the group.
Wade had thrown up long ago now he was just a shivering wreck. Raven was the same, even when her mind had briefly merged with her father's there had been nothing this wrong. Beast Boy, Changeling, Kikao. Gone. There was nothing sane left in his mind and his blood was all around them, slowly the dozens of cuts across his body were draining him and he was pale and tilting alarmingly. Gaia opened her arms "Would you like to come with me?"
He giggled madly "Only if my friends come!" and he gave a huge smile and Gaia teleported them to her realm where the damage could be mitigated. But then he stuck out his lips in a pout and his demeanor went from a ten year old to about that of a four year old and his voice shifted to match "They aren't all here" with a insane clapping of his hands he squealed "There they are!" and suddenly, the rest of the Nightmare Guard and Hephaestus's husband was there.
Everyone save the mad man was in shock. Gaia's face paled for a second. He had breeched her realm with ease to pull in five people. Without her consent he had ripped a hole in reality and pulled them through her countless wards.
Cyborg snarled as the girls disappeared, but at the same time Croc seemed to calm down. Nightwing nodded and started looking for the girls while he continued the interrogation "Okay, start at the beginning and tell us what happened Waylon or I'll see how much electricity it takes to fry that skin of yours a pretty black"
The croc-man put his hands on the table and eyed the detonator with a hint of fear "Batman had put me back in Arkham, when I got a note, that immortal guy said he'd bust me out and I'd get paid it I helped him take out some punk" he snarled before slamming a fist on the table "HE LIED!" the beast roared "Said it would be easy. About two weeks ago we started, I snuck up on him and bashed him with a streetlamp…he turned into something I ain't never seen and literally bit the head off the general before starting in on us…I don't know what happened to everybody, we tried taking him out" he shuddered "But we spent more time hiding than anything, maybe we tried a group but he didn't go down even when the midget with the backpack burned through him with a laser he still came on…then you got here" The metallic man knew why the messages he sent were so clipped. Kikao had been fighting for his life while he had been dying. But what he said next was utterly terrifying "I can't get the image of him eating that stretchy bitch outta my head"
In human form he had torn into her and ate, her stomach was spilled and his arms and mouth covered with blood as she screamed, his eyes weren't dead as he ripped her apart. Not even close, there was something there that the beast in Killer Croc wanted nothing to do with. If only he had listened.
Cyborg had been the only one listening, the other having gone out to search, but he stood up and walked out closing the door he chose not to care at the moment.
Gar gathered everyone in his arms that seemed to stretch to accommodate the group-Raven, Wade, Artio, Surt, Calypso, Hephaestus, her husband, Bumble Bee and Gaia. He stared at them proudly "My family" he grinned.
Gaia and Raven teleported out of his arms and the other took the chance and used the extra space to slip out, Gar looked at them sadly. His family didn't want him. His eyes filled with tears as he sobbed "No leave?"
Raven hesitated "I've got to go"
Deadpool replied "I've got to get my stuff"
Artio took up position of the girls spokesperson "We need to say bye to the Titans"
Bumble Bee shook her head "I've got to get back to my team"
Gaia stayed as a silent observer. Gar sobbed out a pitiful whimper "N-no leave…"
With a growl the daughter of the forge god grabbed him into a rough hug "We ain't goin' nowhere." her husband joined her in the hug and tears ran down the green skin.
"Ammi, Lovely Lady, Softly Lady, Funny Man and Cubs leave…but Warmly Lady and Glowy Man stay." he smiled and lovingly held the duo in his arms.
Artio was confused "We never said we wouldn't be back" but he didn't respond.
Raven felt a roar of anger and guilt. Slowly she sat down feeling faint.
Nevermore was not a small place, for the eight housed within it was the entire world, within it's confines were several different buildings-each one home to an emotion's primary embodiment, for Knowledge a library, for Happy her field. Raven stepped into this world and looked around to see the giant maze that had grown to take up a near half of the realm. All her emotions, save Timid and Rage, sat around the entrance of the maze with worry written on their faces. Raven walked closer "What's going on?"
Happy just pointed to the stone behemoth in front of them. The gates were closed by a wrought metal barbed gate in the shape of her namesake, to break the silence was the constant rattling of the gates. Whatever could rattle the maze spiked her fear and without warning the doors were thrown from their hinges and across a few hundred feet of the plains before half way burring themselves in the hard packed dirt.
Timid and Rage came out, the former heavily leaning on the latter and both of them injured, it was clear Rage had a broken arm and lacerations all up and down her body while Timid had a broken leg and the way she cradled her free arm to her side broken ribs on top of the bruises and minor wounds.
The dark blue rushed across only to hear Timid snarl, taken back she asked "What happened to you?"
Rage looked up with four red eyes "You did this to us. You locked us away. Now we're leaving. He offered you peace and we're taking it"
Raven blinked "What are you talking about? You can't leave Nevermore, that's how it's always been!"
A light green hand wrapped around the three of them and they were slowly lifted away, through the sky and back to the real world.
Raven jerked up to see herself in Gaia's arm and Timid and Rage leaning against her, seeing the others asleep she turned to the Goddess "What's going on?" her fear overpowering anything she felt before and she caught Timid's form shudder and begin to take deep breaths.
The Great Mother looked at her in a way that she didn't understand, it seemed mostly sad and upset but there was a hint of curiosity and amusement in it as well "You locked away all your fear and anger. You locked them in the maze and slowly battered and starved them, a few more days and they might have died. But before you passed out Gar told you he would offer all of you peace. Rage and Timid seem to think that their peace is away from you."
"But they can't exist away from me!" her anger at Gar was mounting, how dare he shatter her like this! Her other emoticlone started to breath deeply as well, their coma changing into sleep.
"Don't look at him like that" Gaia snapped and the four red eyes turned to two violet ones "He did it because he thought you'd be happier with them out of your body. And for your information they will still be attached to you but they will not be inside you" indeed looking at the two there were faint strings that attached the three.
Glancing once at Garfield her breath caught. She couldn't help it.
Every day since they had first met he never looked so peaceful. His body was still battered and broken but his face was relaxed, his eyes weren't darting around as they had been since she met him, nor was his body moving as it always was during his days on the West coast, and his brow had no wrinkles that he always seemed to have as Kikao. His face was smooth and his body moved only as his chest rose and fell.
He had no worries. Out loud she always said she didn't care. But to see somebody she knew was as haunted as he was, the death of his parents, the death of his kidnappers, the psychotic Doom Patrol and finally the Titan's betrayal…
She almost wondered if bringing back his sanity was a curse rather than a gift.
Gaia watched as the two violet orbs stared at her son, the Great Mother couldn't help but hope things turned out well. Too much had happened "Raven, look at me" her tone defeated, the young woman did as she was told "The other two Primordials, my sister, Death, and the other, Time, haven't decided if they will allow him to live." Raven didn't know what to say, these beings were beyond her scope of understanding "If they feel that he will destroy the universe they may intervene… "
There was an unspoken word-death.
They would kill him to maintain what they had.
"I-I can't do anything…"
The few words she got as a reply chilled her, because Gaia knew "Your half-hearted hate poisoning him" Raven stared at the ageless before a hand waved over her face put her to sleep.
Affection looked out of Raven's eyes to see Timid and Rage sleeping peacefully side by side, turning to Knowledge she asked "Can they survive out there?"
The yellow pushed her glasses up her nose "Unknown. They still have the strings that connect them to Raven…though I do expect there will be some difficulties, but there has never been anything like this before…"
Affection looked down at the mask in her hands with disgust before throwing the cloth down "I don't know if it's worth the few moments Nightwing gives us. She's trying to get rid of Garfield for him"
Brave looked at the purple "Who knows, we may end up with Gar as a friend and with Nightwing on our arm!"
Rude grit her teeth and muttered to herself "There's no way that'll happen. Wing is to much of a player" she wasn't the only one to realize that when Starfire and he weren't together different women would leave the tower almost every morning. Happy stared at Brave before looking at Rude, she wanted Brave to be right but she knew that Rude had a point.
Sloth looked to Raven and could only wonder what the green demigod was dreaming of. And she felt sad in knowing that she would never have that much peace.
Rage woke up to a green child, maybe a very slim and fit four year old with two sets of eyes and a single vertical one sitting on it's nose looking at her before smiling brightly "Rawr-rawr and Shy-shy awake!" and he giggled rolling on the ground covering his mouth with both hands.
'Rawr-rawr ' blinked her four red eyes that quickly reverted to two violet orbs in confusion. The Grey beside her blushed as the tiny child threw his arms around her waist 'Shy-shy' patted his head gently and he became a giggling mess again.
The red looked around to see the rest of the heroes sleeping peacefully in a small group to the side with Gaia watching over them with an expression that read how much she wanted to toss them into oblivion.
Rage tapped Timid's shoulder and the message was passed, the duo walked to the Goddes and Timid spoke "I-If y-you want we can watch them while you play with G-Gar…" the green goddess gave them a bright smile before hugging both of them and rushing off to have fun with her son.
Watching a mother chase her giggling son across the grass was a beautiful scene.
Shattered by the knowledge that the boy was a broken man and that they made him that way.
Rage suddenly blinked as realization crept in "Gar" she called out to no response again she tried, a different name a dozen times with no more response, she frowned he answered Gaia what did she call him again? "My heart" she tried and the boy rushed over and stared at her, each eye held a faint sheen to it. In the depths of her chest she could feel something tightening "My heart, you can't see can you?"
He cocked his head to the side and nodded. Despair rushed through her at that.
The Titans and T.E. watched as Superman slowly touched down with a grave look on his face "Forgive me for being late but a series of major accidents have kept the Justice League busy."
Nightwing scowled "Then mind telling us why one of our own ate another human?"
With permission Bee had passed along her knowledge of the situation to the Man of Steel, after all if Kikao went as insane as he believed then no matter who they were, everyone would die. "Technically speaking he isn't 'one of our own' and neither is he human…get everyone and I'll explain what I know"
Sitting in the Main Room of the Nightmare Guard's home Clark began "Very recently I came here to ascertain the goals of the Nightmare Guard. Besides Wade they are not fully human. Each of them has a parent that you and I would call Gods. However Kikao's divine parent is…different"
Speedy blinked "Are you freaking kidding me? Gods and goddesses? Who believes this crap?"
Cyborg stared straight ahead "Raven is the daughter of the inter-dimensional demon known as Trigon, who for a few hours at least, froze the entire world in stone."
Superman continued "And if Raven is right then Scath now serves Garfield in exchange for the fear he can feed him" they went silent. Trigon, who was Raven's greatest fear now worked under who was their weakest member.
Aqualad was the one best equipped to mentally handle things of this nature so he was the one who continued "So if Garfield's parentage is higher then that…who is it?"
"Gaia, the Creator, Mother Goddess, Earth, or any of the billions of names she's made since she willed creation into being"
Rage knelt willingly. For the first time since her conception she was putting herself in a prone position to wrap her arms around the little insane creature. He didn't giggle but returned the embrace. Timid joined in as well. They could feel it. The insanity surged through him violently and tossed aside everything else.
Gaia stared at the trio before saying "I have to go explain some things to Death and Time, I'll be back shortly" she muttered only for Gar's ears "and the others" but in his current state of mind, no- even if he was sane, those words meant nothing.
Rage nodded "We'll keep him safe" Timid nodded and wrapped her arms even more tightly about the boy's chest. No matter how Raven felt about things Garfield comforted Timid and placated Rage, to both he was invaluable. Nobody else could do it, Nightwing pushed Timid deeper into her maze and forced Raven to restrain Rage which lead to more and more power escaping. Starfire didn't know how to deal with either of them and Cyborg's fear of Rage enflamed her. There was no other option for the two emoticlones then to be near him.
But for the other emotions it was a much different scenarios.
Affection was her namesake towards everyone though the more Raven felt towards that person the more the purple became apparent, so towards Nightwing she was expressed most with the trio of demigod girls being second with Cyborg and Starfire tied with them. Gar was below that. If she was to be quite honest Affection wasn't influenced at all by him so to her he was nothing more than a rock, in the way or not it could never affect her.
Knowledge grew on puzzles and more information, Nightwing was predictable so the first half of her growth never fed off of him but the information always found something to hang onto with him. But with Garfield it was never the same, very rarely did he ever act in a predictable manner but the reasoning for it was never expected, but the information fed oddly, at times it would starve with random gorgings that threatened to break her.
Happy didn't directly thrive off Nightwing or Kikao, but through their links, Nightwing to Starfire and Cyborg, and Kikao to the Nightmare Guard. But for her to have to choose a person she would say Nightwing she would have made it her mission to make him laugh if she was an independent person. But again she was balanced to a stalemate. Brave respected both of them though-she saw what the Titan's leader had done for years, but in argument the Nightmare Guard leader started even earlier with the psychotic Doom Patrol and even after his horrible banishment he continued to be a hero though he would deny otherwise.
Rude and Sloth, the two most ignored and least felt of Raven's emotions were in a battle with Affection. Neither of them liked Nightwing, he couldn't take the sarcasm or rudeness while Kikao enjoyed it, he seemed to use it to propel her into more emotions. Sloth was…different, the Blue never unwound, he was almost always on the clock except for when he was between the sheets, being as she was she could never do that. But Kikao did something that none of the hero community ever expected. He forced her to take time off to do something other then meditate and forced her to go out into the town and see other people and occasionally forced her to sleep in. That little bit of unwinding did wonders for her, she found that she didn't have to meditate quite so much even if her emotions flared.
The balance was held between them but since Raven herself loved Nightwing then it was so.
That is why Rage and Timid wanted out so badly. They didn't want to go against themselves anymore.
That's why they enjoyed sitting with the man-turned-boy who couldn't see but ran anyways. Watching him never shying away from them they caught a glimpse of something the couldn't have named.
As the emotions battled things out amongst themselves Knowledge made a plaque that she hung above the Great Library door
"Awareness is the enemy of sanity, for once you hear the screaming, it never stops"
-Emilie Autumn
Time and Death stood beside Gaia watching the people sitting in a room not their own, Time was the only Primordial that took the shape of a man, an middle-aged white man with a combed bushy beard and sharp steel gray eyes that matched his three piece suit…for the moment "I see that these are the ones that worry you?" the confusion in his tone giving away what he thought of them.
"They do not worry me in what they can do, they worry me in what they can say to my son" Death gently held her sister's hand as Creation spoke.
A twitch of movement caught the man's eye "Gaia…why don't you go talk to them, make them understand what is happening? It could give Garfield an advantage." she nodded before teleporting to the kitchen to introduce herself to the mortals. "Now to see what happens here" he said with a faint smile before turning to watch those in Gaia's realm with Death staring intently at the trio.
Gaia appeared in her human form and alerted them to her presence with the question of "Would you like something to drink?"
They whipped around to see her moving comfortably behind the counter, each of them was in a battle stance until Clark looked at her with a vision that none knew he had. Behind his skin a third eye opened and she tapped her lips with a finger and a grin. He instantly knew who she was and bowed deeply, unsure of what to say he went with the most formal "Greetings Lady Gaia"
She laughed lightly "Good afternoon Clark"
The other heroes slowly relaxed as Starfire asked "Friend Superman, you know her?"
He chuckled "This is our first meeting but if you'd look you'd know who it was" she opened her own eye hidden within herself and gasped quietly before bowing to her as well.
The Goddess giggled "No need to bow…although it would probably be nice to answer my question" a moment later nine glasses sat on the table with a tenth in Gaia's hand.
Speedy looked at her skeptically "Are you really a goddess?" Starfire, Superman and Aqualad looked on with horror at the faux pas.
Earth watched him intently "You don't believe I am" it was a statement rather than a question. As if playing a game she tapped her chin "How to get Roy to believe I am who I am…hmmm. What if I showed you a picture of what could happen if you aim that arrow you have in your hand at me?" indeed he had an arrow in his hand.
He shrugged "Not really, I can chalk that up to sight. And I know that Kikao could have seen me move from miles away"
"What if I…you know what, this game isn't as much fun as I thought it was" and she snapped her fingers, suddenly a vision appeared. It was a man staring directly at the portal "Roy, if you ever want to hold a bow right you have to take your time…that's it breath…slowly." A thump and a scowl. "No! slow down! There is no rush, you have all he time in…the…world…There!"
The archer paled. It was his mentor…the first time he pulled off a bull's-eye…some ten years ago…
Today was a day of firsts. Rage would fear for herself for the first time.
A creature stepped into the realm, six eyes sitting in two rows of three but an otherwise human appearance. His hand extended towards her and just the sense of his power paralyzed her.
A small green body stood before they could touch "No hurt Rawr-rawr and Shy-shy!" he demanded.
The intruder chuckled "Look at the little boy! You seem to be their friend…but you know that's she's Trigon's daughter right? Just let me take her and you won't have to worry about that demon again"
He reached again before the entire natural world roared at him in defiance and anger loud enough that those sleeping thought the world was ending as they jumped to their feet. Beyond the horizon for a moment everyone but the man saw it. A flicker of a being that looked like the God form Gaia had given her son, but different, though at a size to dwarf planets. The man snarled back "Oh, look a two eyed shape shifter trying to play with a six eyed" he smarmed before backhanding Gar hard enough that the thundering crack was meant to kill.
Blood pooled from the boy's mouth and the intruder tried again, this time throwing the morphling thirty feet and grabbing Rage and Timid by their necks. Then the Changing took place.
The groan that stopped every movement wasn't one any mortal could make. Death and Time shuddered at the wretched sounds as his body twisted and mangled itself before the being with twenty-nine eyes and countless arms stood before them once again.
The intruder snarled before leaping at Kikao. This time, however, the results were much different. The Son of Gaia wrapped three hands around the man's throat and stared deeply into the six that had tried to take from him.
Eight eyes in every orb. The irises had fused together forming an eight branched star that now sat in each of the orbs and looking deeper he could see that each one of those splintered off into perfect fractals. Then came the voice they hadn't heard, the voice of their leader proving he was more than any mortal "You will leave what is mine alone. And Scath is no longer of any concern to anyone. I hold his leash as I hold your throat." the intruder disappeared back out of the world.
Then his body twisted back to a man's his left eye filled with blood while his right looked even more like a green gem. Rage stepped forward "Are you okay?" she hissed quietly.
With a soft smile he cupped the side of her face and ran a thumb across her cheek "I am. Thank you Rage."
Timid had rushed up to him as well and quietly asked "Can you see?"
His hand moved the same way "I can. Thank you Timid" Both emotions felt a deep wrenching as the spell he used while insane started to unravel, with a growl he jerked back on the chords and they felt themselves back on the ground, his whisper was caught only by the two "Do not dare try to take the only comforts I have!"
Deadpool watched silently as his commander stood between two aspects of Trigon's only daughter with no fear. A light blue hand touched Kikao's shoulder and he let go of the cords allowing Rage and Timid to float in the air for a moment before returning to Raven. His boss clenched his jaw tightly as he opened a portal silently, a large one-wide enough that everyone could step through at the same time.
The talk with Gaia took a sudden turn when she shot up with a growl of rage "Death, Time…." and rushed to the side of the room where the group that had been missing appeared as the sun fell. Blood fell to the floor in great pools as Kikao grabbed his left eye with a scream-the immense pressure of the portal had collapsed the already compromised eye. It all happened so fast that nobody knew what to do.
Gaia instantly took charge and snapped out her orders "Cyborg, Raven, take my son to the medical bay, Starfire take the girls outside, the don't need to see what's going to happen next"
Calypso, the least assertive, stepped forward "We're staying with him. We didn't before and that was our mistake, this is our only chance to make it up to him for giving us a second chance" Deadpool and Hephaestus along with her husband nodded.
The Goddess sighed "The rest of you…go to dinner in town, go back home I don't care, just don't come back until I call you." with a livid grumble she added "as if things weren't bad enough"
The Son of Aphrodite and Hephaestus's husband, James, sat down on the couch stiffly "W-why don't we stay here, that way we're out of the way and they can call us if anything happens"
Everyone sat down with no small amount of anxiety.
Within the Medical Bay Cyborg had sedated Kikao who had been thrashing in absolute pain before examining the man "I dunno what did this…it looks almost like his eye was crushed but there ain't any signs of anything!" the metal man sighed and sat down hard as he ran one hand across his head "I can't do anything"
Gaia walked in at that moment "Thank you for getting him here" she said kindly "Victor, would you mind leaving this to me and Raven" he rushed out sensing the hostility that the women had, his survival instinct kicked in and told him to get out.
The two ladies stared at each other, neither moving until Raven spoke "Why did you want me here?"
"Why else?" Gaia spat causing the other to recoil as if slapped "I wanted to see if you'd help my son. You didn't, even when he was nearly dead you only did it because Victor asked!" the goddess started clenching and unclenching her hands rapidly. It didn't take a empath to know what she wanted to wrap her hands around: Raven's neck. "Do you hate him that much? To want him to suffer every moment from now until his death?"
Raven pulled back again "Of course not! We may not be the closest friends but I don't want him to suffer!"
"Even to me it doesn't seem like that and I know you better than a vast, vast majority of people" came the voice from the door. Bumble Bee hadn't been able to take the silence that surrounded the others so she came here to see what could be done.
Gaia turned and put a hand over Garfield's eye "Such a simple thing to heal"
"Then why didn't he do it?" Raven snapped back.
Karen closed her eyes "Raven, he couldn't. His shift to his god form healed everything but his eye, that means it was beyond him then and I know you saw how much pain he was in…why are you so cold to your friend?"
"Nightwing-"
"Will never look at you the same way as Starfire, get over it. Your crush is an asshole who started this because he felt that Beast Boy was starting to become independent and 'encroach on his territory'. That's why I told my team to stay out of it"
Before their tempers could flare again Gaia whispered "It wasn't supposed to be this way…"
"What?" they asked in unison.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way…Time told me what it was supposed to be, I got angry…but he can't tell the future he just has perfect understanding of the past…" she sat beside her son on the small stool "Raven was supposed to be reasonable and not side with Robin out of a crush and Titans East was supposed to be there. Karen would have stayed out but Aqualad and Speedy would have pointed out all the flaws that Robin threw at them, when the first attack happened Mas y Menos would have taken him to Steel City before things got out of hand where Kid Flash and Jinx would have gotten involved and seeing how bad things were turning would take it up with the Justice League."
Both girls stood ashamed. Their flaws led to this. Then a whimper broke the tense silence. A twitch. Then the man started thrashing as more and more pain spiked in his partially healed eye. At the sound the mechanical man rushed in as Raven, Gaia and Bee held him down, the needle slid into his flesh and the drug kicked in quickly. Cyborg panted "Who knew string bean had that much in 'em."
Bee quickly grabbed the man's hand before pulling him out into the hallway. As the door slid shut Raven turned to Gaia "So my…infatuation with Robin was the start of this?"
The woman before her shook her head "The start of this was long before your time. It started when he was born. Even that wasn't supposed to happen." she imparted with a quiet chuckle "But as they say life will find a way. I guess my husband was just lucky" the goddess toyed with the thin gold band on her finger.
The sorceress blinked "Did you really love him?"
The goddess sighed quietly "Raven…I've never been in love before or since then, and I can say that nobody will ever replace those precious years I had with Mark. That's why I want nothing to go wrong for Death and Wade and if something tries to stop it…whatever that thing is I will annihilate it."
"What do I do?"
The question caught her off guard. "What do you mean?"
"This got out of hand because I love Nightwing. I made a stupid decision. You're The Mother of Us All, what would tell me?"
"As me to you or a Goddess to a Daughter of Trigon?"
"Me to you"
A few sparks of power flashed before Raven got them under control, her emotions were waiting within her with baited breath "From me to you…I despise Nightwing. As Robin he was a smart boy who was a bit strict, yes, but he had his priorities straight. Then he changed…I don't care to know what caused it but he started to see things differently, if you'll remember he was switching between the two when things happened. But I will say that if he doesn't accept you for who you are and build you up then leave him behind. All notions of a relationship…gone."
"Did your husband do that?" a bit of anger built up at the goddess. Saying that was one thing but how did she know if somebody liked her for her? She was brought up believing that every breath she had that didn't kill somebody was a gift.
"Not at first….but he had his own problems."
"Wait, what?" she had been expecting some overly romantic 'boy-meets-girl' not reality.
A corner of her mouth twitched up at the Goth's surprise "Mark had a lot of things wrong with him, first he was very sickly-it seemed he couldn't go a month without being in the hospital. The doctors gave him prescription painkillers that are illegal now for a reason…he got addicted he also took illegal drugs like marijuana to help him deal with the pain. He was shy too, could barely talk to anyone. I had a temper that was…well, it was over the top. I watched him surrender to things and got angry…yelled at him to fight it." she shook her head before looking into the violet orbs "I punched him in the gut and accidentally sent him to the hospital."
Raven couldn't help the comment that slipped out "Let me guess, love at first punch?" the stupidity of the situation was…immense.
"More like guilt. I felt so guilty that I visited him everyday. Then when he got back to school I helped him get from class to class. He was so weak that my outburst seemed to drain him so I held back more and more until I eventually gave up my temper." it was another moment of silence as Gaia continued to remember her human life "That was our junior year of high school. I started trying everything I could to help him get better, we tried being out acupuncture, hypnotherapy, we tried pretty much everything. Then we tried just sitting in the forests. I…guess I had just enough power there to help heal him. From then on we were inseparable."
Raven didn't know what to say and left without a word.
Bee pulled Cyborg into the hall an they watched each other for a moment. He scratched the back of his head "I guess I owe you an apology…"
She shook her head "Nah…the entire thing was a bad decision for both of us."
"Then why'd you yank me out of there like that?" he wasn't angry, thankfully, but curious.
The lady hero thought over telling him what she knew. It wasn't a decision she made lightly "You won't breath a word of this to anyone" he nodded at the order "When Kikao took us to Gaia's place the first time she told us that there were two ways Gar was going to stay sane, one is if he got into a serious relationship and the other is if he has kids of his own…and that he was soft on Raven…enough that he would love to have a serious relationship with her"
"Even I knew that" the metal man interjected.
"But her think with Nightwing is…bad"
"Huh?" for having the brains to build a supercomputer hundreds of years ahead of anything else sometimes the man displayed a wonderful lack of knowledge.
"For some reason Raven thinks that doing anything with another guy is going to offend Nightwing, she won't even heal Gar without that thought running through her head" she paused "This isn't the place to be talking about this…" she led the metal man to the room she had used before sitting down and continuing with the story. It was time he knew everything.
He knew it was a dream. In his bones he could tell, deep in his marrow he knew this was just a cruel trick. But damn did he wish it was. A little girl giggled as she ran around his legs. His little girl giggled as she ran around his legs. Scooping up the light green elfin girl he tossed her into the air before catching her. Malaika. Angel. He kissed her cheek as pudgy little arms wrapped around his neck and she nuzzled into his cheek. A squeal came from the kitchen of the Nightmare Guard home and the little girl and her dad rolled their eyes to walk in and see a stick think little boy being tickled by gray hands. Behind the scrunched gray eyelids of the boy of the boy he knew he would see the emerald eyes, just as the little girl had violet ones.
But just as he stretched a hand out to touch Raven it all faded to black and beside him was Death who looked at where the woman had been seconds before "Dreams from Beyond are always…hard"
"This is from the Beyond?"
The pale tattooed woman nodded "Dreams that show our most desperate desire. Yours was beautiful…."
"Why do you have that look?" indeed the Lady had a sour expression.
"The Dreams are the heralds of the Visions, bits of the future that are set in stone. Some say a gift, others a curse. I came here to warn you. That's all I can do" and the woman he called family disappeared.
Kikao shot up with a scream of fear before curling in on himself and whispering frantically the prophecy given to him
Wings of fire, tongues of black
Wings of fire, tongues of black
Wings of fire, tongues of black
His hands covered his ears as he whimpered. All those voices, harsh voices from Beyond…"What happened to you?"
Below his shirt, below his skin, his spine grew jagged half inch serrated barbs. It was the voice he loathed the most "Hello Nightwing. What are you doing here?"
The blue and black hissed "I'm asking the questions here"
"You are in my home, in my room no less watching me sleep. I fail to see how you have the right to question me"
"You disappeared and took one of my members with you, I fail to see how I don't!" Nightwing snarled harshly "And the only excuse I can get out of any of them is that you went insane, that isn't good enough!"
The demigod stared at the mortal for a long moment "I woke up yesterday blind and believing that blood was the perfect paint, I woke up later that day to the idea that destroying all sentient life in this universe would be a good thing, which I still can't disprove. I wake up now from Death telling me I had the most horrifying vision of what is supposedly the true future, something I can't escape."
"That's not good enough! Answer my question!"
The changeling looked at the man with no fear "Why should I? You hold nothing over me."
The man growled "I'm pretty sure I could beat it out of you!"
The other said nothing but stood to his full height a few inches above the other and held out a hand, slowly it changed. a three toed sloth's long talons with the sharpness of a molecular blade. The tension rose as Nightwing growled louder and louder as his opponent did nothing.
Then she appeared.
Raven appeared in their midst and shoved the still healing Kikao back onto the bed before grabbing Nightwing and warping out. Rage was livid and screaming about how she would attack the injured man in order to protect his assailant. They appeared in the living room and Raven forced Nightwing to sit with the rest of both the Titans and Titan's East. The Guard stood around the outside of the room, their intuitions picking up something that made then angry, something that told them what happened in that room. Calypso clenched her fist and the mist veil that shaded her eyes flickered silver sharply-like the edge of a blade, Surt's eyes started to glow, Hephaestus and her husband stood straighter with a coarse glare and Deadpool's fingers twitched towards the holsters that, at the moment, held his shotguns. But at the moment the scariest was the eldest girl, Artio growled deeply in her chest and it reverberated around the room and caused a deep rumble to be felt in everybody else. The door slid open and Bee and Cyborg entered only to wonder if they should have stayed out.
Calypso hissed "Why don't you take a seat?" even as young as she was there was no going against that tone. One she learned from her Father. Nightwing was getting more and more agitated. In his mind Beast Boy was becoming an upstart trying to become the big man. Starfire's hand on his arm did nothing to calm him as the door opened again.
Kikao came out dressed in his full uniform, and his gaze covered everyone in the room before he nodded and the Nightmare Guard relaxed and fell in close to him. All of them, save Raven, were with him, unlike last time he had somebody to rely on when it came to Nightwing. Raven stayed seated next to Nightwing, but when she opened her mouth to speak Kikao held up a hand to stop her. Raven, Bumble Bee and everyone else in the room could feel his anger, not only were the veins across his temple standing out but his entire body radiated it. His words, however, were calm and emotionless "I am going to address Nightwing now, and if anybody has something to say shut the hell up and wait. Are we clear?" everyone in front of him nodded, the Guard behind him stood at attention waiting for an outbreak of violence. Two emerald eyes glared painfully at the masked hero "Nightwing, if you threaten me like that again in my house I will eat you, bite by bite while you writhe on the ground in utter agony. I will prolong your life as long as I can so every second of your exquisite suffering will last an eternity."
Surprisingly it was Speedy who came to the Titan's leader's defense. Or rather who's curiosity got the better of him and he asked what was on everybody's mind "Wouldn't the Justice League try to stop you? Or at least do something back?"
"I reside out of the Justice League's jurisdiction. For them to interfere with anything I do would be like Azar telling a jackal how to live. They deal with whatever crimes they deem worthy of their time while I'm busy trying to help demigods and keep the entire universe from falling into oblivion"
Nightwing's irritation reached it's zenith and he snarled "So what? You're the big man now? Huh? Is that it?!"
The room was fatally silent. There they had it. Nightwing and Kikao. "It was never my ambition to do more than protect who I cared for, Nightwing. Never. You misplace your ambitions onto me because you can't accept that I want nothing more than a family. I don't care to be the top frog in the well. I don't. Even all my irritation at you during training all those years ago was nothing close to anger at the level difference between us. Now I don't even have the will to be irritated at that."
To everyone it was surreal. Garfield Logan was being the mature one in this situation while Nightwing was being the childish one.
It took Raven a long time to come to the realization that something within her had changed. It started when she met Nightwing again, it grew stronger at every incident where she pushed Kikao away or injured him. The peak was when Gaia pointed out her hate and now when she saw the difference between the two men, ambition against protection. It was the entirety of existence made in a microcosm, one wanted the fame and worship that being the best assured him and trained everyday so that he could achieve that, the other trained so that when his time came those he taught would be best equipped to move on in the world and to allow him to fade into obscurity.
Then came the question that Rage had asked "Why did you change how you acted towards Gar?"
She had thought about it for a long time, but now, in the silence between the men she had her answer. When she had seen Nightwing again she wanted to get closer so she pushed him away, Nightwing hated him so she aced harshly towards the green man. Her own affections had blinded her to her duty and her friendship with the Nightmare Guard and the Order of the Fallen Graces, the idea of growing close to Nightwing and possible becoming more than a friend had blocked out all her rational. But now it was back and deep within her stomach, she felt the emotions that had stood against Nightwing surge up.
There wasn't anybody who could break the silence, if Starfire had it would have hurt Nightwing, if Cyborg had it would have seemed to undermine the Titan's leader, Raven was stuck in her own internal turmoil. The Guard could only support Kikao and Titans East felt like any say they had was out of place.
Kikao had said his peace. It seemed the only one who could speak would be Nightwing himself. The student of Batman snarled and lashed out with a birdarange. His target didn't move as the metal cut deep into the jade flesh of his arm.
The breath at the attacker's back stopped him from any more movements. And the voice of the woman with a skull tattooed on her face shook his bones "Why did you do that little mortal? If that hadn't healed you would find yourself in a very long dark hallway…" the chill in Death's voice caused those who didn't know her to recoil at what lay beyond her.
The voice that held her back was very tired "Death, just let him go. Weren't you the one who told me that the visions were absolute?" the specter nodded "I saw him there." her hands let go of Nightwing's throat as she hovered past her nephew who granted her a tired smile, hidden mostly by the mask, as she settled beside Wade.
The primordial snapped once and the entire scenery changed, from the interior of the room to night in the desert, the only end of the sand swept land was a bright light in the distance. Starfire leaped up and down in joy before Death spoke "Since all of you are needed here for the preservation of this universe…welcome to Tamaran, principal home of those who worship the four eyed X'hal"
The Citadel City was almost empty, few people buzzed about here and there, probably trying to stay away from the dust they let off like a stench. After they had been unceremoniously dropped off they walked through the night, the day and had arrived near sunset.
Now as they approached the throne room there was an air of fevered activity. Kikao opened the doors and the scene exploded into violence.
Tamaraneans leapt to attack those who barged into their Grand Ruler's home. But the assault was quickly brought to a halt. Starfire was the only one of the 'intruders' who didn't have at least one enemy in a prone position. Nightwing had one pinned on his stomach with his bo angled across the back of his opponent's neck, Raven had three in a dark claw and Cyborg was standing over his opponent who lay on her back with his cannon thrumming with power.
Mas Y Menos had grabbed their attacker and slammed her into a wall knocking her unconscious immediately, Speedy had an explosive arrow pointblank at the back of one of the assailant's head while Aqualad had a water straight jacket around on orange enemy just up to under the nose, a centimeter higher and life would be nonexistent. Bumble Bee's razor sharp stinger blade was pressed to the base of another warrior's spine.
But nothing could compare to the brutality that the Nightmare Guard used to force their opponents into submission. Deadpool had one knee on a Tamaranean's back with a pulse rifle pointed at her head, in the other hand was a sword held blade side to him with a male Tamaranean's throat in immanent danger. Calypso had three in the grasp of her spell and they lay on the floor moaning and crying out at phantom pains. Artio had the ghostly short faced bear pinning two down with six inch claws while she herself held one by the neck with her free hand coated in the starry sky with claws. Surt grinned wickedly, these aliens were supposed to be able to fly into the sun with no ill effect but now their skin was chapped and starting to burn as sweat poured down them as she continued to bring her flaming hand closer and closer.
Kikao ignored them and walked to the seated giant. He would have continued his trek but a spear at his neck halted him. Turning his head lazily the son of Gaia let four more eyes on that side appear "Put that toy down"
The solider snarled "This toy could cut your throat from your body in a second!"
His 'captive' disappeared and he felt something hover over him, when he looked over his shoulder he quickly wished he didn't. The Beast stood over him, at near eleven feet tall and weighing close to a ton it stared down at him with nine eyes that seemed to bore into his soul. He dropped his spear and the man turned back and suddenly the floating aliens were forced to the ground as gravity seemed to multiply thousands of times.
Galfore held up a hand to stall any more attacks on these superior opponents before he leveled a glare on the multi eyed monstrosity before him "What are you doing here? Who are you?"
Kikao allowed gravity to stabilize "I am here because my aunt, Death, does not wish to deal with you. Therefore you are needed to live."
Starfire stepped forward "K'norfka…please forgive-EEP!" she squealed as he picked her up in a bear hug and shook her.
After laughing heartily and setting the girl down he looked them over and introductions were made and the hostages released. But he got to Kikao "I remember a green man…" he hesitated.
"That was me. Blame this new…harshness on time"
The giant smiled "Let's get you some rest, all of you. From the smell I'd judge a long walk too!" most of them burst out in laughter. Kikao didn't. He knew what was coming.
"Enter" was all the shape shifter said at the knock, from their familiar scents he knew who to expect…though it was a bit surprising "Hello Galfore…Blackfire"
The Royal Commander of the Fleet smirked lazily "Hello Beast Boy"
"Do not call me that or I will eat you" two more eyes flashed on one side of his face in anger and promise.
The Grand Ruler tilted his head to the chairs across the room from where the green man sat, who nodded back. Both of them remembered a green joker and the former caretaker of the royal family voiced it "You used to be so happy…I know it is not my place to ask but what happened?"
Gaia appeared only to her son "I know you don't want to think about it…but if you don't then it may drive you back there…"
The young man grit his teeth "What I tell you stays between us. I don't want anyone else to know of this conversation"
Blackfire nodded "You have my word"
"And mine as well" echoed her king.
"Not good enough" he pointed to the man "Swear by X'hal" and to her "Swear on scar you wear" she put a hand beneath her right breast and stared at him.
"How did you know?"
"Scar tissue has a unique smell, the hint of necrosis can never go away" he rolled up a sleeve and both warriors hissed at the markings "That is why I always smell like a graveyard with the plague"
They both swore by their respective allegiances. Kikao opened his mouth when another knock happened, this one frantic and it slid open after only a second.
But this was no Tamaranean. It was human in shape but it had black skin and scales around it's joints, it had no visible mouth and it's eyes were reversed from a human standpoint and brilliant blue. It leapt forward with a screech from it's formerly invisible mouth, the chin opened up vertically, from it's nose to the base of it's clavicle was one giant fanged mouth. The creature leapt at the Grand Ruler only to be caught in mid air by the Beast's long arm before he transformed back into a human and stared at the flailing creature.
"I take it these are what will be attacking you soon?"
Blackfire nodded "This is an assassin sent ahead…they should be here in a week…maybe two if we're luck" she stared at it in horror as it pulled a hidden knife and buried it up to the hilt in Kikao's shoulder. The target squeezed his hand tighter around the creatures neck while the other removed the knife and returned the favor, albeit in the leg, before breaking off the hilt and tossing the useless part aside.
"You'll want to look away for this" the morphling warned. But they didn't. the claws around the creature tightened and a loud crack echoed forth. The creature fell limp with glazed eyes. The souls was gone but the flesh remained for only a few moments. Kikao lifted his head back and to the side and opened his jaws beyond the limits of human bone and slammed his head into the stomach piercing the cavity and covering himself with blood. Quickly he started taking hulking bites of the still warm flesh much like a tiger, one after another as hot blood pooled around his crouched form. Soon another stench filled the room. Bile. Gastric fluid. And both Tamaraneans fought to hold back their own meals as with a swift strike the creature gained access to the brain cavity. Soon after that he was done and the only evidence of the grizzly meal was blood, those few drops on the floor and that which dyed the gourmet's hide, and the multitude of foul smells that eclipsed every other stench in the room.