Author's Note: While this chapter is entitled Hunters (March of the Witch Hunters), it mostly concerns the theme of Deeds (No Good Deed). I was thinking about putting these two themes as separate chapters, but I decided not to. If you haven't noticed, the songs are highly suggested listening.
Note 1.08.06: That stupid alena-chan-bashing thing--Even if alena-chan is a poor writer (which she is not), I find it amazing that someone would willingly waste his or her time by reading a fiction that (s)he opposes so greatly and then rant about it. If you completely hate the writer's style so much, why are you reading the stories, then? And there was a Robin-Star who replied with a similar point-of view—I pity R/S shippers, not because I don't sail their ship, but because there are so many airheads who are ruining their otherwise good reputation.
And so, for that reason, this segment is dedicated to you, Ms. Alena. I hope you like?
--
One
question haunts and hurts
Too
much, too much to mention:
Was
I really seeking good?
Or
just seeking attention?
Is
that all good deeds are
When
looked at with an ice-cold eye?
No Good Deed, Wicked! the Musical
No
good deed goes unpunished
Sure,
I meant well—
Well,
look at what well-meant did—
All
right, enough—So be it
So
be it then:
Let
all Oz be agreed
I'm
wicked through and through
Since
I cannot succeed
Fiyero,
saving you
I promise no good deed
Will
I attempt to do
Again!
No Good Deed, Wicked! the Musical
Wickedness
must be punished
Evil
Effectively E-liminated
Wickedness
must be punished
Kill the witch!
March
of the Witch Hunters, Wicked! the Musical
--
Robin opened his eyes cautiously. The darkness was awake, mumbling and murmuring wickedly; the noise was deafening to those who could hear it, and Robin, being one such person, could not sleep.
His mask had fallen off the end table onto the floor, and for the briefest of moments he considered leaving it there. It was three in the morning; no one would be awake. But the, Raven, he thought uncertainly, would not be sleeping. The thought disturbed him and he picked the item off the floor rather fiercely. Raven understands better than anyone, his mind argued, but his heart protested, It's not about trust.
But before he could set one foot in the kitchen, the lights turned on suddenly.
"Instant or no?"
"Raven, I wish you wouldn't," he said to her—referring to the sudden change of light—though his eyes were shut closed.
"Believe me," he could already picture her mouth upturned in a smirk, "I wish I wouldn't either. But I could sense you ten minutes ago."
His eyes opened, "Huh?"
"Feelings, in sleep, are normally weak enough for me not to pick up on it," she said carefully. "Instant, then?"
"Yeah, sure." He wasn't even up ten minutes ago.
She nodded, pouring some of the hot water in the teapot for him and took out his favorite creamer—hazelnut—from the fridge. He smiled inwardly at the gesture for some odd reason. It was these little things that surprised him most; even when they first met, her perception astounded him more than her powers.
"So why are you down here?" he asked.
"Same as you," she replied, evasively and he wondered how much she knew.
"Nightmares?" he blurted out. He didn't mind telling her…much.
"You got your demons…and I've got mine."
"What was it about?" he asked, hoping Raven didn't mind.
She raised an eyebrow, "We've been having a little bonding ritual, haven't we?"
He grinned sheepishly, "I guess we have."
She smiled too, shaking her head in slight disbelief. She turned serious once more.
"I never said nightmares, just insomnia. You're demons manifest as nightmares and mine manifest," she paused, and said darkly, "as emotions."
His interest rose. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," she repeated, "nobody is awake at night, so I let them out once in a while. They play around and trash my room and make me clean the mess up."
"Um…"
"Ever see Alice through the Looking Glass? It like that, only Nevermore is full of my emotions, is much more crazier, is…ugh…My emotions don't…reside in my body. They're trapped in a place called Nevermore as separate entities. They drove Cy and B.B. mad."
"Is that where they were…um…"
"Yeah."
"Can I see?" he asked excitedly.
"No!" Raven practically yelled. "I told you, they're absolutely nuts; even Sanity is just barely…Anyway, you try to hide your emotions the entire day and s—"
"So you do hide your feelings!"
"So what?"
"Why?"
"Robin, we've been through this," she said exasperated, "My emotions control my powers. Uncontrolled—"
"—uncontrolled rage, I know. But what about everything else?"
She abruptly pushed her chair back and placed her cup in the sink. He saw an almost visible layer of ice shield her from him and he at once felt so weary of fighting this battle. Stop, he wanted to say, stop doing this to me.
"Rage is all that matters," she muttered, "everything else is human."
The words hit their mark and Robin felt Hatred—Rage. How dare she? Trigon's arrival had been one of the worst moments of his life—he had been scared. He had been scared for her, for his team, for everyone—he almost cried when he saw her helpless without any memory. The villains deserved to be punished and he had stuck by that creed, if only because it was the only thing he knew and because it was revenge. But on that day, he believed it with everything he had, only because he had let her down. He wanted to apologize then—I'm sorry I failed you. I promised you and I couldn't keep it. I almost stopped believing.
He practically ran over to sink and spun Raven around to meet his eyes, his hands on her shoulders. He shook her softly, roughly, whatever.
"Raven, you are human!"
"No, I'm not!"
Robin heard something thud upstairs and the argument—or whatever it had been—abruptly ended. The tension permeated throughout and Robin all too greatly felt the heat linger in his body before it seeped away through his fingers. He looked at Raven. She had suddenly found the pattern of the kitchen tiles very intriguing. Her hands were balled into fists, and like a pulsing heart, they clenched and unclenched. The light flickered.
"I'm not human," she whispered, and Robin almost never heard the steady monotone chip and crack.
"I never was."
And then she turned and retreated to the haven of her room. Robin returned to his coffee, of course, and things were normal once more.
--
He had waited calmly right outside her door, to the point where Cyborg had stopped by with a look and dinner on a paper plate. She never came out, however, and he left soon after.
For a while he busied himself at the computer, in the frightening darkness, searching for new leads on Slade and every other villain on the database—but mostly Slade. He needed to stop it, he needed to go back to sleep, he needed to drink his coffee, he needed…to see Raven. He needed to talk to her and tell her—
"Searching for Slade again?"
He knew it was Raven, who else could it be? He was filled with some unnamed thrill at seeing her stand there, but… something was…amiss.
"I was thinking of you," she admitted softly, smiling wide, "but I'd never thought you'd be up. I'm happy."
She smiled again.
"Happy? Because I'm here?" he questioned, and he felt that unnamed thrill again.
She nodded enthusiastically, "I'm always glad to see you, Robin. You should know that! Besides, you're happy to see me, too."
Robin stared at her for a while, and she turned her head to one side.
"I'm sorry, Rae," he blurted out, "for what happened…I didn't…I didn't mean to make you—"
But she just laughed and gave him a hug. "No, thank you, Robin. Raven needs to understand that, but she can't do it without you."
What?
"Rae?" he asked, uncertainly.
He heard a crash from outside the room, and saw the light turn on outside. Raven gave a little squeak, and hid behind Robin's chair.
"Where is she?" an angry voice thundered, obviously not caring if anyone awoke.
The door opened, and Robin saw Raven enter, livid and without any hint of calming down.
"When I find her I'm—" she paused in the middle of her tirade and looked straight at Robin.
"Oh, no. Did she talk to you?"
"What? Rae, what's going—"
Out from beneath her cloak, Raven pulled out a mirror, aiming it straight at Robin.
"Come on out! You've had your fun!"
"Raven, I don't want to go," the other Raven said, pouting, and then suddenly bursting into giggles again.
Here, Robin was able to look at her in the light. By all appearances the two Ravens looked alike—except this one had a smile plastered to her face and the light reflected on the mirror revealed a rather…pink cloak. He wheeled his chair away from her.
"Who are you?"
The blue-cloaked Raven—assuming she was Raven—stepped closer, and the mirror gave off an ethereal light. From seemingly within the mirror, Robin could see a green-cloaked Raven cheering, "Yeah, Happy! That's a whole five minutes longer than last time!"
What the hell?
Pink Raven was sucked into that mirror and all that was left of her was their conversation replaying in his mind…"I'm always glad to see you, Robin." "She can't do it without you."
" Uh…Who were they?"
"The demons I told you about," she said. Raven unceremoniously plopped down next to him. She took out the mirror again, and titled it to the side. Robin could see them. They all looked irritated, except for a couple—like Happy. She looks extremely proud of herself. Happy waved to him.
"This one is Reason, Happy, Courage, Lazy, this one here is Insecurity—but everyone calls her Timid— and," her voice took a dark tone, "you've met Rage."
"Uh….Happy—is that her name?—didn't seem that bad."
"They were all a bit subdued." From this morning, no doubt.
"I want—"
"Don't," she said with finality, giving him a small smile, "I guess watching Wicked so much made me bitter…"
"Parallels?" he asked.
She didn't answer. She scooted closer to his chair, "Who are we hunting down this time?"
"Slade," he said, and sitting beside her, the darkness wasn't so frightening anymore. But he noticed how the mention of that name made Raven frown.
"What is it?"
"Like I said, your demons manifest as nightmares."
They looked at the screen again, where Slade's profile picture glared at them. Raven shut the monitor off. She looked even more bothered about Slade than he was.
"Hey, isn't it my job to worry about Slade?" he asked jokingly.
She took no notice of the attempt.
"Robin," she began, "we're not really…heroes, are we? We're hunters…That is, I—" she couldn't continue. It was one of the few time—the only time—Raven could not express herself in words.
Robin understood instantly. They were only human, and, superpowers or no, they were only children. Slade's reagent was a permanent reminder of his limitations, and it almost killed him, mentally and physically. They were hunting the bad guys, but then, who defined the line between? What separated the Joker and Batman? Two-Face?
"Too many burdens," he finished, but she shook her head.
"It's much more than that. You and I…feel the need to prove ourselves, I guess—too much to redeem, too much of the past to forget…"
"We can't help it, can we?" he asked, though there was no question in it, "It defines who we are."
"Yes," she agreed, but, "I'm tired, Robin. I've been running for too long. I don't want to run away anymore."
Robin initially thought it would be all over once Trigon was gone. She would be free to live her life. Soon after, Robin remembered, Raven became even more distant for a few days, and he had wondered why. Raven was more open now, more willing to show her love for her friends. But her distant nature wasn't because of Trigon, not really, anyway. Though he hated himself for it, Robin understood perfectly—the past was all she knew.
"Then don't."
"Is it that easy?" and he was reminded of a little girl he met once who looked exactly like Raven did. I can help you, he had said to her, but you have to let me.
"No, but you can't do anything if you don't try," he said, and he turned the monitor back on, only to shut the whole thing off. "See?"
Raven looked at him, Hypocrite. Then she looked back down to her lap.
"You're right, Robin," she whispered, and even though her voiced didn't break, there was still that forlorn tone in that monotone, "there are parallels."
He didn't like where this conversation was heading—to a confrontation he wasn't able to prevent.
"I am a witch, and I am wicked, and it doesn't matter what you think or what I want to think—"
If Robin didn't know better, he'd say she was in hysterics. Her voice was in a strange high pitch, and her eyes were already dark with some emotion he didn't want to identify. The folders and documents began glowing and levitating and spinning wildly… He didn't want to argue with her anymore… Stop it!, mind and heart both screamed, but he didn't think Raven ever noticed…Raven…
"—the fact is that I will always be—"
The folders landed on the floor with a splat and the glow disappeared, just as Robin sat down again and leaned back into his chair. Raven's eyes were wide and bright and her mouth was parted slightly in shock. His lips were dry and chapped, and he had no doubt Raven felt it…His left hand still felt warm from where he had placed it on the base of her neck, right above her collarbone, and he knew she felt how her forehead tingled from the brush of his lips…
"Rae?" he questioned without question, and his voice sounded strange and parched.
Her stare was long and unreadable, and he moved closer. Her shock disappeared as he did so and she let out a cry and wheeled away from him. Their breath came in short, shaky gasps; Raven disappeared into the shadows again and Robin had the queer feeling that she had seen beyond his mask. He shut his eyes tightly, in an effort to calm that feeling, but instead of the tranquil darkness, all he could see was violet irises…
--
--
Author's Note: I really wanted Happy in this chapter somehow, and when I was writing this segment, I orginally ended it at
"No, but you can't do anything if you don't try," he said
and Raven becoming more optimistic, and overall, I didn't like the way I was writing the interpretation of the theme. I understand the theme, but how do I express it in words? I still have that problem, even as I'm writing this, but as for the ending of the chapter, I think I'm satisfied, aren't you? I tried to write the ending as realistically as I could (though I have no experience in the matter).
There should be one more chapter left (guess which song?) and perhaps an epilogue. I'm not sure whether the setting should be the Tower (Jump City) or Bruce Wayne's manor (Gotham), though? And no one has voiced their input for the plotbunnies I mentioned?
Please review!
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